NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Free Agency Grades For EVERY AFC Team

Episode Date: March 16, 2026

Gregg Rosenthal is joined by Jourdan Rodrigue and Patrick Claybon to grade every AFC team's start to free agency. The show starts with the AFC West, followed by the South, North, and East. NFL Da...ily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. I'm Daniel Jeremiah. And I am Greg Rosenthal. I know that, Greg. We're teaming up on 40s and free agents, the podcast that owns the NFL offseason. This is where teams are built.
Starting point is 00:00:15 Free agency, combine, pro days, trades. Every move matters. From my draft boards and mock drafts. To my vaunted top 101 free agents and how rosters come together. Quarterback movement. Surprise signings. We'll tell you what it means. And who really.
Starting point is 00:00:30 really wins. Open your free IHeart radio app. Search 40s and free agents and listen now. Welcome to NFL Daily, where we never sold all of our Justin Field stock. I'm Greg Rosenthal. I'm here in the Chris Wesleyan podcast studio. We've got our red pens out because we're going back to school today. We're giving grades for free agency. It's really back to school because I don't have my pen. I need to go back to school because I haven't even introduced my host Patrick Claibon and Jordan Rod Rieger with me. Hello. We're back. We're back. Thankfully because Greg, we have the cleanest bathrooms in the world in this facility.
Starting point is 00:01:14 Yes. Because of the repetition. And Greg was walking back from another way to saw me. Yeah. Because I, you know, I'm a creature of habit. I'm thinking we're at a different time. Greg is like, hey, you know we're doing this right now? That's why I'm here. Yes. Right now. That's why you don't have your pen. It's going to be loose, though. I don't want to get carried. The grades are not that important. It's more of, okay, we had the big week of free agency. see, I almost feel like this may be just personal, but this almost feels like just a quiet little start of the off season to me. The regular season is definitely winding down. It actually feels a bit of a sprint from the season to the combine to now.
Starting point is 00:01:51 And so I thought this is a good time, just take stock of what each team has done and do what Jordan Rodriguez loves to do, which is, you know, evaluate things and put a number on them and rank them. They're not really ranked, but great. famously definitely don't clench up at the thought of ranking. I mean, don't take the grades too seriously. It'll be similar to when we go around to each team. We were going to hit every AFC team on the show. We're going to hit the NFC a little later in the week.
Starting point is 00:02:20 Spend a few minutes on each team. And let's start with Justin Fields and the Chiefs. Let's start in the AFC West in general. We talked about Kyler Murray, potentially being that guy who filled the gap for Patrick Mahomes while he's coming back. And we don't know. There's a chance Patrick Mahomes is ready for week one. We really have no idea.
Starting point is 00:02:40 But if not, Justin Fields is going to be there. They sent a 2027 sixth round pick to get Fields. I love that for him. I love that for them. What we're going to do, though, is with each team, I'm going to present to you the offseason so far before we start the entire discussion. So that was the last thing that the Chiefs did.
Starting point is 00:03:01 But they also signed Kenneth Walker. of course, $29 million guaranteed on a three-year deal. They bring back Travis Kelsey. That was fun. Kairas Tonga is a member of the Chiefs. The defensive tackle hasn't played a lot of snaps, but he is now going to be in their line, $14 million guaranteed.
Starting point is 00:03:17 In the back end, they signed Kater Kohu, who is a good nickelback for the dolphins. They signed Aloi Gilman, who kind of revived his career with the Ravens, $15 million guaranteed. They give a lot of money to Taekwuan Thornton to come back, kind of as a third or fourth receiver, two years, $11 million. And then they lost so much of their secondary.
Starting point is 00:03:37 Trent McDuffie, you get a huge draft hall for him. Love that. Jalen Watson, Brian Cook, they're gone. They also lost some lesser players, at least in terms of impact, Isaiah Pacheco, Charles Amanahue, Gardner Minchu. There's still a ton of their players that are unsigned, that played for them, which is not a great sign. Hollywood Brown, Joanne Taylor, Kareem Hunt, Jujus Smith-Suster.
Starting point is 00:03:59 they have about $15 million in cap space that was before the field's move. It's a lot I'm throwing at you. You're laughing. Why? Because people don't want their free age. Do you want a pen? Yes, I would like a pen because Greg said Gardner Minshu and it made me laugh. That he congratulates us to Gardner Minchew, not just for the contract,
Starting point is 00:04:15 but that you get included in this. It was very important. There are some people that just don't get included in these rundowns, and that is a slight, but they won't have their names said. Let's start with the fields of it all before getting to kind of the whole picture. this to me actually kind of continues the trend of this offseason. Like they were in a very difficult spot and they've lost some really good players. So it's hard to say they're better.
Starting point is 00:04:42 But considering their constraints, overall, I feel like their off season as a whole makes sense to me, considering this constraints and Fields is a good part of that. Yeah, because you're able to get the value there and understand the constraints are part of it. and it's tough for people to listen to what, like, a grade that I would give. Because that's not considering the constraints. It's just like the circumstance. Whatever you want to do. Yeah, I would like to not be relative to those alleged constraints because we've seen teams be able to navigate them.
Starting point is 00:05:14 This is a significant departure where it's like, all right, spags, here you go. Like, we're going to get a new crop of these guys that's going to work. You can't do that forever. And like there's a reason that lessen company were able to provide those and willing to provide those contracts. to McDuffie and Watson that we, I feel better about Cook's addition to the Cincinnati Bengals. Like we feel good about those things. Good point.
Starting point is 00:05:37 I can't also feel great about the Chiefs just starting over back there. Justin Fields is solid because I know the overall critique, which is what I have as well is Fields hitting the top of his drop and the ball not necessarily coming out. But I don't know if people have been watching 15 play football in the past few years. Mahomes occasionally does that as well. And so the ability to play that second reaction.
Starting point is 00:05:58 action, I think it's good and this is a great spot for Justin in a similar way that I felt it would have been good for Kyler. It's going to be a little bit of a hatchwork offense at first because Justin Fields just for all the ways that he could absolutely be a value add here, especially this was a chief's team that was also relying completely on Patrick Mahomes to buoy their run game through most of last season, especially the start of last season. This could be something that like sort of is a band aid to them. But it also, you're talking about changing your scheme quite a bit around a player who's your backup now in case that backup has to go. And it's been done before, you know, Matt LaFleur and between Jordan Love and Malik Willis
Starting point is 00:06:40 has done it. I have no doubt Andy Reid could do it. They needed a backup. And Justin Fields is about a solid of a value at as you could possibly get. And to your other point about the secondary, they clear they this organization basically follows the same pattern year over year over year and they basically have just set themselves up to say we're just read we're just drafting all of our guys in the secondary and go make them good spags like they'll probably be very good coming in they'll probably spend premium picks on on those players but like hey spags you figure out how to put all this together and then the the veterans that they added there at least set a certain floor for for them in terms of the talent yeah they need cornerbacks
Starting point is 00:07:21 like they're counting on Christian Fulton to start and play the whole season right now. I think they're going to have to draft there. I did think if they spent like considering they don't have a ton of cap space, Tonga and Gilman, you know, they paid free agency prices for those players. But I think I think they're going to they're going to play for them. And in terms of, you know, different offense. I mean, show me what you got, Andy Reid. I think Eric B. Enemy, Andy Reid, the way things went last year,
Starting point is 00:07:47 I want to see a little new, a bit of a new offense in general. So I wouldn't be surprised if they just look different. Matt Nagy kind of dodging some criticism on that. Well, him not being mentioned, he should take as a slate. I take their constraints as a real thing because I wanted to see they strike me a little bit as kind of an old school team. Are they a team that's not willing to spend as much like because they don't have that like influx of, you know, money and they're trying to move and all this. But they're pretty high in cash spending in each of the last two seasons, including this. season. And so I'm taking the
Starting point is 00:08:21 constraints as a real thing and I'll give them a B minus. B minus. You gotta give a grade. Yeah. I was going to say B minus. Okay. I gave him a B plus because they did recoup a lot of draft capital for for trading guys who they also could have extended. Yeah. That's fair. Maybe
Starting point is 00:08:37 I'll bump it up to a B. I'm very easily influenced. Wait, can we get a number on a B? No. You just got to say the letter. That's too confusing. Do you want to give a number? How's it too confusing? It's a number. Okay, 81. Well, I just moved it up to 83 now.
Starting point is 00:08:53 80. 80. This is great. I love just throw numbers out. The Broncos. The letters are just things thrown out. It's all just thing. The Broncos are going to be the quickest team I think we talk about.
Starting point is 00:09:06 Well said, Greg. Well said. It's all just things. Don't forget that one. It's true. I do try to, yeah, tell my son to stop using the word thing as a descriptor. And there I am doing it. Broncos.
Starting point is 00:09:18 The only team not to. assigned an outside free agent in the entire NFL. I think this is going to be the quickest discussion of any of the teams. That's a challenge. They did re-sign a handful of players, Justin Stranod, who was in my top 60, Alex Singleton. They both got $10,11 million guaranteed. J.K. Dobbins is back. He got $8 million guaranteed.
Starting point is 00:09:38 But there was reports that they got outbid on Travis E.T.N. And Romeo Dobbs at Receiver. I think they wanted to spend more money. Adam Troutman also got a surprisingly large money, which is, yeah, that's, That's what happens with Sean Payton, guys, capital SP&G there. They cut Dre Greenlaw. They say goodbye to John Franklin Myers. That wasn't a surprise.
Starting point is 00:10:00 They did create a little bit of cap space. They are near the top in cash spending. And I think that does inform a little bit of the lack of movement. But I think they wanted to do a little more. And I don't think they're done yet, if I had to guess. No, I agree that they're, I don't think they are. It's interesting. I did a large story for the athletic
Starting point is 00:10:23 looked at all the teams' moves and free agency and what it says about their team building strategy. And the Broncos were such an interesting one to talk to other teams about sort of behind the scenes because there's such a variance of opinions about what they are versus what they think they are. To me, I think that they're pretty clearly calling their shot that they think they can win with the guys that they have,
Starting point is 00:10:47 that they think they were just a quarterback away. I think in some ways you could argue that case. Best offensive line in football, one of the best defenses in football, keep those guys intact, try to go all in to see, probably add either in the draft, star power, firepower at skills and maybe running back or trade ahead of the deadline. Try to go all in win now while your quarterback is still on a manageable contract. While you can keep this entire team intact, we'll see if it works out for them, though, because they're flying close to the sun, not going a little harder in free agency.
Starting point is 00:11:21 Always be wary of the team that's just running it back. That said, I do think there's just some circumstantial coincidence here that they did all their free agency moves essentially last year. That's why they're so high in cash spending that they got a year ahead, which we always reward them. And if you look at it, they're basically returning all their starters on both sides of the ball. That's just a unique situation. And I don't, again, think they're done. I wouldn't be surprised if they make a trade or some splashy stuff coming up.
Starting point is 00:11:47 And I realize it's two players who will be starting in the places they went to, but how different would the circumstances be? Because Dobbs has like a potential out for the Patriots in 2028. There's going to probably be a little more action his way in terms of opportunity to catch the ball. And A Chan, you know, who, you know, shout out to Travis for telling us how to pronounce his name, you know, five years into this. But, you know, playing at home. Right. I forgot. Introduced that. A Louisiana kid being able to go back home probably.
Starting point is 00:12:17 had a little bit involved in Mickey being able to outbid Sean and maybe that's just Mickey trying to jab at the old guy Etienne we're going with that's what I'm going to go with Yeah well and again I think also being at home makes it a little bit easier for the Louisiana guy to
Starting point is 00:12:33 inform people who have great ties to the state of Louisiana as Greg Rosenthal does Yeah but he still didn't get the intro right Wow Big spot There's a lot on his shoulders It's heavy like this team being on his back at all the time
Starting point is 00:12:46 I'll give them I'll give them a C I'm not gonna like fail them or anything because they were inactive but I feel like they would have liked to done a little more so I'll just give them a C I'm a pretty easy grader C C minus
Starting point is 00:13:01 I'm gonna give him a 73 yeah I'm the circumstances I have to I have to go below that a 70 is the C plus because I like their team C plus because I like their team and they do too clearly
Starting point is 00:13:15 the Raiders, they're next. At first I made the mistake putting LAC ahead of LV, but loss alphabetically ahead of Lowe's. Linderbaum is there. We've talked a lot about him. $60 million guaranteed, broke the center market. Tyler Linderbaum, big move for them. Nicopi Dean and Quay Walker are at linebacker.
Starting point is 00:13:39 They get very similar contracts. Quay Walker gets $28 million guaranteed. Nicoby Dean gets $20 million guaranteed on three-year deals. Quitty pay, I did go into over the cap to see which deals were real, how they were structured. Most of them are there. Great work by them over the weekend. Because they have the official numbers. Quitty pay did get $31 million guaranteed.
Starting point is 00:14:00 Most of these three-year deals all across the league are really two-year deals. So it's kind of two-for-31, like the linebackers are mostly two-year deals. Jaylon Naylor, similar, three-for-35, but it's really probably two-for-20. traded for Terran Johnson, spent a lot of money on him because he's due a good amount of money. Matt Gay's back in the league. I just wanted to mention that on the show. Malcolm Coons and Eric Stokes get pretty good money to stay. They traded Gino.
Starting point is 00:14:26 They really didn't lose many players of consequence. I would say Dylan Parham played the most snaps. And they obviously have Max Crosby back, which is why, Patrick, they went from $121 million in cab space to only $24 million. million dollars left. Only. I'd have to go. That actually is pretty low. The average amount of cap space left right now in the league is about 30 million, which is crazy.
Starting point is 00:14:52 However, I do, I really appreciate you explain that to me, Greg, but I'm saying 24 million. It's a lot of money. What I was going to say is, I wonder if our researchers get on it. I have to imagine that's the most amount of cap space. If you took the Crosby thing away for a minute or whatever, that's the most cap space ever spent in a week. I don't think anyone's ever spent $100 million in gaps based on the week. Probably not.
Starting point is 00:15:15 It's aggressive. SpyTech, he's cooking. They're sending out memes of SpyTech, the chef. That might be a little much considering they had the worst record in the league. But, you know. Well, when you have the worst record in the league and a lot of money to spend, you can. You can chef it up a little bit.
Starting point is 00:15:30 And then they get a five-time pro bowler, two-time all-pro in Max Crosby, in an unexpected transaction. Where, yeah, it's hard to feel bad about what they've done because they had so much space to improve, but they get, what, five starters and free agency on a team that probably needs 12 of them, and they're doing good. And brought back a couple of them, too.
Starting point is 00:15:49 The longer I've sat with this, the more I thought, okay, like, now they have a respectable-looking defense, creditable, potential. That said, Quitty Pei-Pay, Quay Walker, Nikobe Dean, Tehran Johnson are not guys that their previous teams,
Starting point is 00:16:05 or even probably we felt like we're difference makers, needle moves. They were like good players, but they weren't like great players for their previous team. One of the issues that I have with the way that free agency is often discussed or thought about is like thinking about it within only the terms and the parameters of the year ahead. When really you have to think about each move as a series of moves over the next couple of years. It's never one move just in a vacuum. And if it is, it's a dysfunctional terrible franchise that's doing it, which, you know, who's to say? We'll see.
Starting point is 00:16:39 But this to me is like, especially you talking about the two year, the three year deals that are really two year deals. This to me is, okay, yes, going after Fernando, also drafting players who will eventually replace these players that they just signed, eventually. And having that core grow up together, essentially, but you have to lift the floor of the defense or whichever side of the ball is having the most issues.
Starting point is 00:17:01 You have to raise the floor of it at least to a creditable way in order to actually be competitive and like put together a functional, season where people are learning and not just flailing and struggling to stay afloat. Yeah, I agree. And they could have used that thinking a year ago. And I think they, they think they spent that money on defense in part because that's just where the players were. So I think that's where the value was and they had to play like a little bit of extra like Vegas tax for some of these players. But that's fine. They're all almost to a player young other than Theron Johnson who was the trade. And even he's what, 29? Like these guys are
Starting point is 00:17:38 in the middle of their careers. They won't all work out, but I like it. You had to do something. Let's go. I would have given them an A-minus, but since they traded Gino and that hurts my feelings, even though it made sense, I'll make it an 89.
Starting point is 00:17:52 These are going to be capricious. Yeah, no, I'm in the low 90s. I'm in 92. Okay. I'm giving them a 92 as well. Okay. Good job. Don't Spike Tech. The chargers are...
Starting point is 00:18:04 Why a season late, though? Yeah. I... Yeah. I'm giving you guys a grade for last offseason. And, and they're a... Power dynamics, Patrick, that's why. Yeah, but you have to share that power.
Starting point is 00:18:17 And yeah, you get a D-minus for last year, ultimately. That's high. I'm going to go lower that. That seems high, honestly. The Chargers kept Cleo, Mac, and Tart with big deals. And I was a little critical on our last show about them not spending and doing the restricted free, I mean, the compensatory pick game a little bit. But then I remembered, like, the Tierra Tart deal looks great right now, by the way.
Starting point is 00:18:41 Like, it's aged well. Cleo Mac, that's a big signing. And then I kind of grouped all the, like, blockers that they sign. Charlie Kohler, the blocking tight end from the Titans, $17 million guaranteed. Tyler Beattish, the center, gets $15 million guaranteed, three for 30. Cole Strange and Alec Ingle, a little cheaper, but a fullback and a guard, maybe a sixth offensive lineman, but Strange does get $9 million guaranteed, so that's good money. They bring back a couple of their trays,
Starting point is 00:19:07 Trey Lance and Trey Pippiggins. So that's important. They just keep working at the margins here with Keaton Mitchell, Dalvin Tomlinson. They bring back a lot of their guys. Delshaon Phillips, Denzel Perryman, and a ton of players leave. Adafioi, DeShon Hand,
Starting point is 00:19:25 three offensive, four offensive linemen. Zion Johnson, Bradley Bozeman, Jamari Sawyer, and Mackay Bechtin is cut. He's still not signed out there. They still have $62 million. in cap space. I kind of point out all that. They're very low in cash spending.
Starting point is 00:19:38 That's where you could kind of critique them. And I think they should spend a little more. I point out that out to say that like these teams have different years where there's cycles, Jordan. I just think they were in a cycle where this was going to be one of those off seasons for them where they're incredibly active signing, losing everything. And just was that, always going to be that way. I would like to see like a little more.
Starting point is 00:20:03 But considering they're from the Ravens mold. I don't think they're quite done yet either. Yeah, and they're looking at the compics like you mentioned, and I think that goes toward whatever happens after, for example, you can no longer agree to terms with Phileo Mac. Whatever happens after you assess, like, really what's needed once your tackles come back, if you still have needs that are significant enough to merit
Starting point is 00:20:24 some of these higher draft picks or bundling some of these picks. You have to be prepared in the just-in-case part of this, which is what the charges are doing. They're kind of acknowledging the fact, that, hey, we think we've got this figured out. We think we're going to be very, very competitive and maximize Justin Herbert with all of these people that we've brought in, including offensive coordinator,
Starting point is 00:20:44 Mike McDaniel, who's going to use all of these blockers in ways that I am just really excited about because they aren't just going to be blockers. They're going to be move players and gap changers, and it's going to be fascinating to see what they do. You're maximizing one side of the ball in particular and trying to make sure that you do have just enough depth to get you through this year.
Starting point is 00:21:05 They did try to have just enough depth to get them through last year on the offensive line. And then a position catastrophe happened. So I'm a little on the fence with have they done enough for their offensive line depth specifically. But we'll see how it goes. And they tried to sign Zion Johnson. It sounds like they were very competitive and just the Browns went over the top. Hey, they were able to retain bringing back Trevor Penning. Oh, I remember that one day that he played left tackle.
Starting point is 00:21:32 Me and Patrick and Greg were in the newsroom watching it. And I was watching the Jaguars on one screen and the Chargers on another screen. And every time I went, oh, Trevor. Which one? Which one? Came very clear very quickly. I don't know how many counter bids there were in that one. If it were an overall offseason grade, you know, now southern left coast, Mike Mack is the biggest acquisition of all.
Starting point is 00:22:02 I would be able to make that. Wait, I'm hearing from the committee. They're not allowing the coaching moves to be included in these great. Yeah, so can't do it. Got to ding them in terms of that maybe we see more of a Mike Mac influence in terms of the draft. Because I know, like, you could pencil in, you know, somebody that ran in the low four-fours, high four-threes to come into this backfield. But they bring back Camonte Vidalgo, Trojans. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:22:30 Kind of loaded there in that position. So I don't think that necessarily changed. I don't know how much more there can be to change or to improve this overall grade. So I'm going to be low. Okay, yeah. Well, look, guys like Mackay Beckton and guys who aren't in my 101, for instance, are just going to be out there. Mikey Beckton a year ago at this time, I'm just using him as an example, was good enough
Starting point is 00:22:51 to get like a $20 million contract. And now he's just going to be free floating out there. And there are guys of that level that can give you that sort of $10 million plus dollar of year value that will be out there. So I think they're going to be a team that needs it because, defensive line, they are a little thin. Dalvin Tompinson was, and in the secondary, I think they're a little thin, especially at safety.
Starting point is 00:23:11 I'm not in love with this all. And since you missed that you wanted Zion and you didn't keep them, I'm going to go 76. I am going B minus 80. Jordan's definitely going to have the highest grade point average. He's the easiest. Well, I am a very positive person, Greg. But I also, I want to correct something.
Starting point is 00:23:33 said earlier to Adafé OA is currently their only comp pick and he is the third rounder obviously reportedly these are not official yet. Nick Cortay over it over the cap does a great job with that. But they're being very conservative while hanging on for dear life for that third rounder. That third rounder I know that they think is going to turn into somebody who's going to be a core piece for them in the future. Yeah, if not for Khalil Mack, I would be in the 60s. It would be 72.
Starting point is 00:23:58 Yeah. I like it. It doesn't surprise me that Patrick. I just love all the big. He expects a lot out of his students. He deserves excellence, and he's going to demand it. Let's take a break. We're going to come back and do the AFC Sapp.
Starting point is 00:24:12 This is a fun, fun little exercise. A big one on a Monday. I'm Luke Wilson. Join me each week for Film Never Lies. Since retiring from the NFL, I've had a lot of my mind, and now, I've got my own show. So if you're tired of lazy takes, if you want honest conversations, join us each week. Film Never Lies available on all TSN platforms in the IHeartRadio app. I'm Daniel Jee.
Starting point is 00:24:38 Jeremiah. And I'm Greg Rosenthal. And this is 40s and free agents. The games may be over, but the NFL never stopped. This is my favorite part of the calendar. Yeah, mine too, Greg, free agency, the combine, the NFL draft pro days, trades. This is where teams reshape their future. This is where Daniel Jeremiah makes his money. On 40s and free agents, we break down every move that actually matters. From my draft evaluations, mock drafts, and team fits to my top 101 free agents and how real rosters are built, cap space, contracts, and all the tough decisions included. You got quarterbacks on the move?
Starting point is 00:25:14 We got teams rebuilding. It's hope season. Yeah, absolutely, it's hope season. We'll tell you what's real, what's noise, and what it means for your favorite team. Smart analysis, real conversations every week. I'm not about the smart, but definitely analysis. Listen to 40s and free agents on the IHeart radio app,
Starting point is 00:25:32 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Back on NFL Day. I don't know if we've ever led with the AFC South. I feel like they're always second or third. There will be a day that we lead with the AFC South. They deserve it, but today is not that day. They are going second. The Houston, Texas.
Starting point is 00:25:54 We traded for David Montgomery. They gave Reed Blankenship $16 million guaranteed. Three years, $24 million. They signed Logan Hall. I don't know if that made it ever onto the show from the Bucks. Good player. Like any defensive player, I just assume he's going to be great with the Texans. You know who didn't really agree with you was the rest of the NFL?
Starting point is 00:26:14 Because he's a guy entering his second contract that got paid very little money. John Ledyard thinks he's a great player. So I'm on team John Ledyard for the Bucks analysis there. Could be getting better. Offensive line, they sign, man, there's just a lot of in and there's a lot of out. They signed Braden Smith, the former Colt that can play tackle or guard. They signed Evan Brown over the weekend, who might be kind of a fill-in, interior offensive lineman. They re-signed Trent Brown and Ed Ingram. Ed Ingram got paid a lot of money.
Starting point is 00:26:44 On the other hand, they traded away Titus Howard. They traded away Juice Scruggs. They also extended DeNeil Hunter, their pass rusher in Dalton Schultz. They're tight end for one year each. They re-signed a couple defensive contributors, Naquan Jones, Sheldon Rankin's, E.J. Speed. And a lot of their players are still free agents. Christian Kirk, Nick Chub, Derek Barnett, just to just to throw out a few ones. They have $31 million in cap space. That is 14th in the NFL. So plenty to do some more work. If they want, what do you make over all of this off season so far, Patrick? In terms of the things that they needed to improve, maybe I got to delve a little bit more into my offensive line understandings. I'm not necessarily seeing it. I don't know that the pieces
Starting point is 00:27:30 around the quarterback are necessarily going to improve things that much for CJ Strzsche. out considering just in purely free agency. So I got to go relatively low here. You know, David Montgomery. You can throw it. We've been throwing out the grades at the end. You can do it early if you want. There's no rules.
Starting point is 00:27:48 All right. 76. Okay. I kind of like, I mean, I just don't have any questions about their defense. I never, at this point, I just, I trust them to make the right decisions for their defense and on their defense. And so obviously a couple of the moves that they made their Blankenship and Hall, like they're not stars, right?
Starting point is 00:28:07 by themselves. There are guys that complement a system or compliment stars very, very well. And I think that's exactly what they were going for here, is sort of part to whole signings versus go after somebody with a splash, even though they do have
Starting point is 00:28:23 the money to do it. And them bringing in David Montgomery to be in tandem with Woody Marks. By the way, locally, maybe Seth Payne can help us with this. Someone locally came up with the nickname Woody and Buzz for Woody Marks and David Montgomery.
Starting point is 00:28:41 I'm looking to cite that person. I don't know who it was. I just saw it floating around. So if it's you and you're listening, please let us know. I love that nickname. And them doing that makes me absolutely know that they're not done with their offensive line.
Starting point is 00:28:54 Braden Smith, I think, should play guard. I think he could be really good, especially zone blocking. And I just, I think they're still fiddling around and figuring that phase out. and maybe they just, you know, understood that they couldn't do everything at once, especially in free agency.
Starting point is 00:29:11 Maybe they're looking trade, maybe they're looking draft to keep boosting that area because that's the biggest question for me is their offensive line still. Yeah, and they traded one of their best offensive linemen and Titus Howard, but on paper, Braden Smith is now one of their best. So it's similar-ish.
Starting point is 00:29:26 Montgomery, does he have to be part of like a cartoon? Cartoon combination nickname everywhere he goes? Well, they're going to use a two-back system. They love Woody Marks. Absolutely love him. They want to bring him. Doesn't he deserve to have his own nickname? Why does he always got to be the sidekick in a cartoon?
Starting point is 00:29:45 I would make the case that the entire narrative of the Toy Story franchise, if Woody wasn't so selfish and jealous of Buzz's acquisition, that everything would have gone a lot better. Everybody probably would have gone to college and everything would have worked out. I have a confession to make I haven't seen Toy Story. What? Or any of the Toy Story. It's understandable.
Starting point is 00:30:05 And he hasn't seen Monster Zink either, which is a really, really great lesson. A really great lesson about corporations. I think Ratatooey's the only Pixar and Wally, the idea of everything. Ratatoui, creditable. I'll give them I'll give them an 80.
Starting point is 00:30:21 That's kind of my like, yeah. Yeah, they exist. Do more. If you guys want better grades, be more active. Yeah. Yeah, but again, I don't look at it as just in a vacuum. I've given them an 85 because I think they're going to go after somebody. I really do think that, like, they're, that they're not done here. And they love their skill guys already. Like a big trade or something? Yeah. I mean, I, like, you can't be done with your offensive line. I mean, I don't buy it for a second than Nick Casario's thing. I mean, on paper, this is, they can be done because it's about the same quality they went into last year with. And as Nick Casario said, that was their best offensive line in a while. We're not watching the same film that he is. I mean, and they were okay. But yeah, they're probably going to do in the draft at this point. Yeah. They made their formerly, like, Very good and promising quarterback look worse.
Starting point is 00:31:06 That's not good. Speaking of a quarterback that's been promising at various times, the Indianapolis Colts brought back Danny Dimes and Alec Pierce for roughly $74 million per year combined. That's why I describe it. I know. I decided to kind of combine them. Wow.
Starting point is 00:31:25 I wonder what Greg thinks about this. Well, it's just like, it's just a tricky situation is that they're, you know, you're bringing back a similar team. You're losing some. some players, but you're paying those two guys way more money. Considering how they end, I just think it made sense in the end. I don't really hate either deal on its own. I just think expectations need to be managed.
Starting point is 00:31:47 They end up signing Michael Clemens to a three-year $17 million contract. Only $7 million guaranteed. That didn't look as bad. It's really a one-year deal. Arden Key is a pass-fresser that got $11 million guaranteed. Both those guys, well, Key signed before they would have lost out on Trey Hendrickson, but really felt like that put a dent into their offseason. Ian Rappaport said they appeared to be in pole position for Trey Andrickson and lost out of them.
Starting point is 00:32:12 So it makes you wonder if they could do something else here, like in a trade. Mostly there aren't big free agents out there. So $42 million in cap space. They are fifth in cash spending. So they've spent a lot of money. They basically gave up on Michael Pittman. They would have cut them. They just moved up like 15 spots in the sixth round.
Starting point is 00:32:29 They traded Zaire Franklin to the Packers. they lost some key contributors. Quitty Pay, Nick Cross, Braden Smith. They all played a lot for them. And just wanted to point out, LeQuan, Treadwell, and Jonathan Owens, Mr. Simone Biles, are on this team. Shout to Megakwan. I know.
Starting point is 00:32:44 Still getting re-signed. That was one of those where they put the team announcement. I was just like, yeah, Laquan Treadwell getting re-signed as a special teamer in the first couple of days. You are now Mrs. Colts, Jordan. No, it's always covered. Colleen till the end of time. That's true.
Starting point is 00:33:04 We do over index and cult. Defend your cults if you feel like you need to. Well, I mean, they still need questions to be answered along their offensive line. And they absolutely have questions to answer in their pass rush. I don't expect them to be done with either of those things. I don't think there's free agents now available. Like you said, Greg, who are actually going to be like day one factor, like absolutely improve or answer all these questions. they have to look at a combination of trades and or picks.
Starting point is 00:33:34 You know, them willing to be in on Tri-Hendrickson says a lot to me because, first of all, the ripple effect of that Max Crosby situation, we'll probably be finding out what that actually was for months to come in terms of which teams were navigating in different ways predicated off of that move. But I don't know. I feel like everybody spent a lot of time freaking out over these contracts. And I just, I just, I can't muster the energy to do that. I, I feel like they actually gave themselves a relatively conservative contract,
Starting point is 00:34:07 uh, situation in totality with Daniel Jones. They're, the words up to a hundred or million dollars. It's like a one year deal. It was fine enough from a team perspective. If it goes poorly, they can cut them. And also like he's like the fifth lowest paid once Matthew Stafford's deal gets done. He's like the fifth lowest paid like franchise starter in the NFL. And then even less so once all of these guys who come do this season come up,
Starting point is 00:34:32 then you can decide how much you actually are going to invest in this guy. Oh, and by the way, that's when you'll probably know not early in the season, but late in the season, you'll probably know how he's really coming back from that Achilles. It's just they've just bought themselves time while also locking in like the franchise player, which is Alec Pierce. So it just, to me, it just makes sense. A lot of it, they have, they have holes. Don't get me wrong.
Starting point is 00:34:52 But this does make sense to me. Those two teams, those two moves in a vacuum do make sense. They're almost the ultimate running a back team because I don't even know where their holes are. They are expecting Jalen Travis, their fourth round pick at right tackle to step in and be their starter. Like Ashton Doolin, maybe, that's not a guy you want to start. Otherwise, you basically have the entire team back from a year ago,
Starting point is 00:35:13 Arden Key might be the one new guy that is starting at this point for this team. It's just if running it back is good enough. This is Nick Crossy ratio to ignore, well, you know, we don't want to do that. That's a good point. I kind of forgot about the safety spot there. You know, because we've seen Coach Loo's defense be very good and have a safety leave and, oh, everything falls apart. So I want to acknowledge that. You know, obviously as Alex Pierce, Homer, early adoptee and Alex Pierce, I'm all about that.
Starting point is 00:35:45 The Dimes contract, as you guys said, is escapable. I just, for my grade, I need to know, Greg. If you felt as though that if the Arizona Cardinals did not passionately hate Kyle, and they had decided to send that tweet five days or six days before they ultimately did waiting to the very last second to do so um if kiler was a real possibility here to allow dimes to have fully functional body parts before he plays football uh do you think that could have been a possibility if so i i have to i have to grade lowly because yeah you can get out of it but you also want to have a viable team that plays and this is a significant injury that they need to be ready to deal
Starting point is 00:36:26 with. And if there were quarterback options available, then yeah, I got to ding ballot for not fully seeking those out. I think I would have given them more credit for doing it than I will ding them for not doing it. There was never any reporting whether it was considered. I think they like Riley Leonard. And
Starting point is 00:36:41 with that in mind, I'm going to give them a 78. Yeah, I'm giving them a 79. Oh. Yeah. That's lower than I expect. Because I didn't want to quite go be, just there's so much uncertainty. I wish they would have give had, I wish they do have more clarity. I would have liked one more splash because I'm just a guy.
Starting point is 00:36:57 And on defense, their defense just fell through a hole in the floor last season. And I just haven't seen enough so far to say, to argue that, hey, they've done enough in that phase. And they tried. Yes, they tried. But, you know, Gold Star, you tried. Pretty poor. Yeah. Yeah, I agree.
Starting point is 00:37:15 I agree. Pretty poor at linebacker, too. I really misspoke when I said they're just running back. I think they'll make some more moves. But like I said, they've spent a lot. it's time for the off-season ride-along presented by Toyota. The Jaguars, they have only made one outside signing. It is the running back Chris Rodriguez.
Starting point is 00:37:33 I think, what did we call the Basal Tutton Fan Club, Jordan? Yeah, Tutton Hive. The Tootin'n Hive, the Rootin-Tooten's. It's been a good off-season for him, I think, because Tutton is going to be RB1. Chris Rod is a good player who I think will have a role, but otherwise not much to talk about with them. They re-signed Buster Brown.
Starting point is 00:37:51 They gave him $20.6 million guaranteed on a three-year deal. There's a lot of like three-for-thirties to three-for-36s around the NFL. They re-signed Dennis Gardek and DJ Dallas. They lost Travis at Genn, Devin Lloyd, Greg Newsom. That trade didn't work out for them. That trade they made mid-season. I don't mind the process of that Greg Newsom trade, by the way, because you might get a comp pick and you gave it a shot,
Starting point is 00:38:18 and it didn't work out for you. They have $7 million in caps, not much right now, 12th in cash. They were first in cash last year, and I think that really informs what I was talking about before, which is I think teams have cycles where like, it's a year where you're making a ton of moves and then a year where you're stepping back
Starting point is 00:38:36 and you have a bit of a three to four year plan to Jordan's point. That's what good organizations do. And I think this was always going to be a quiet off season. But I'm not going to give them extra credit for that. I'll just give them an 80 right off the bat. I get it. This was your season to kind of take a lot. step back. Yeah, I'm going in the lower 70, 74, in terms of just, again, I recognize the circumstances,
Starting point is 00:38:58 but did you improve? Did you get better through a free agency? And the Panthers and the Saints got a little better in terms of what they're able to do where you had two very good pieces on both offense and defense of a very good football team and not to slight the folks in Duval, but I think everybody recognizes that they haven't gotten better through, you know, recovery and, you know, injury luck and everything. They could be a better football team at the end of the day, but I think it's a downgrade from H.N. to Tutin. And obviously, with Devin Lloyd in the season he had,
Starting point is 00:39:30 I got to feel like that's a downgrade as well. I'm going to give them an 85 because I think that the best thing that they possibly could have done this offseason was not pat themselves on the back too much for what they just accomplished and continue to push aggressively and stretch and kick the can down the road a little bit further. Like we've seen teams do in the past. Instead, they went super conservative.
Starting point is 00:39:52 They're going for the comp pick game, understanding that they have to refill some of these positions that are aging out on their roster. What team, you know, really love to get metal round picks that turned into bona fide starters? The Rams, obviously James Gladstone was the figurehead of orchestrating those things behind the scenes with less Sneed. This is absolutely the formula that they're doing. They're basically saying, we are getting rid of the guys that maybe we don't think either are. are going to always be full-time contributors. We saw when Bachel Tutin's snaps increased, A-Chann was amazing last year. Please don't take this as a critique.
Starting point is 00:40:29 But we saw the amount of snaps that were increased with Bachel Tutin, and then also this franchise that will keep doing, again, following a very similar pattern, drafting running backs every single year that will contribute and keep them cost-controlled, essentially. And then kind of getting rid of a couple of guys that didn't work out, Greg Newsom being one of them, getting rid of veterans, Johnny Munt, Devin Lloyd, who we love,
Starting point is 00:40:53 but is somebody who they weren't even committed to in the first place, and playing the compit game. They didn't do anything that was outside of, basically they didn't chase outliers. They basically were like, we aren't even an outlier. We have to stick to a plan. And I like that. If anything, they're running back more than I would expect.
Starting point is 00:41:12 I'm surprised Eric Armstead is still on this team. I think they're setting up contracts that they could sign in the future, like Trayvon Walker stands out to me as one of them. And they made some of their moves early. The committee decided the Cole Van Lannin contract from last year doesn't count, even though it was late in the year. But that was essentially a free agency signing. I like the Buster Brown contract too.
Starting point is 00:41:35 That was, I mean, what a find. That worked out for them and he earned himself a lot of money. And the Jacoby Myers acquisition, that was like a free agency or trade move early. That was the offseason ride-along presented by Toyota, because when people are the destination, your ride is important. Learn more at Toyota.com and find the vehicle that fits your people. The Titans, much more active. They sign Alante Taylor for three years, $60 million, $42 million guaranteed.
Starting point is 00:42:05 Amazing. Alante, who was so high on my free agency, like top 25 that I did last August, gets the bag. Cordell Flot getting $32 million guaranteed. Thank you. I think I made it happen. Cordell Flott getting $32 million guaranteed is almost as surprising. Three for 45.
Starting point is 00:42:24 They definitely paid a Titan's tax with a lot of these contracts. Jonathan Franklin Myers gets $42 million guaranteed. Three for 63. They signed a bunch of other defensive players. Jacob Martin, Josh Williams from the Chiefs, Solomon Thomas was traded for. They traded for Jermaine Johnson who's going to start. And yet, despite all that, I think they still could use an edge and they might draft one at fourth overall. We'll see.
Starting point is 00:42:45 Check out 40s in free agents this week. talk about that. Daniel Jeremiah as an intriguing number four overall pick in his new mock. On offense, Wondale gets $38 million guaranteed. Essentially, that's a two-year contract. Bellinger, Daniel Bellinger from the Giants, the tight end gets $14 million guaranteed. I thought that was a bad contract. Slotman, the former Giants Center, gets $2 for $7. Mitchell Trubisky. Over the weekend, they kept Calvin Ridley. So that's pretty big news. I thought he might get cut. They lost Chigo Conquo. They traded to Vondre's sweat.
Starting point is 00:43:20 They cut Ligerious Need. They cut Lloyd Cushenberry who's still sitting out there. Despite all that, they still lead the NFL in Cap Space. Isn't that amazing? Yeah, they do it. They do it through a formula that works. It's signing friends and people you know, which was the upset to me for Alante Taylor, where he's the acquisition that, hey, like, nice to meet you guys.
Starting point is 00:43:43 Everybody else knows these dudes. That's a fair point. That's what Greg did for me, you know? Same. You are so much more than Alante Taylor to me. I'll respect to him. He can play multiples. But, you know, good player.
Starting point is 00:43:58 He's fun. This is maybe the toughest grade because do you just give the team that's almost like the most active, a high grade? No. Okay. What do you give them? Not just for that reason. Well, I'm going to just go in the middle.
Starting point is 00:44:12 I'm going to give them a B minus because they had to do this. They had to spend, first of all. They spent, in terms of their total contract sum, they spent $298 million and then some change on just these new contracts. It's like something like 12 free agent contracts in totality, right? And that's, they still have $72 million left over. They had to spend. They had to do this. They had to reset multiple floors within their roster.
Starting point is 00:44:38 And it was so clear that it wasn't just that they're paying the Titans tax. They're also paying the, hey, we really need you to. to come in and reset our culture and our identity and we already know you. And so we're just going to give you more money because we really need your help here, guys. Like that makes a lot of sense. And because you're better than the guys on a roster. So that's why I think I'll go a little higher.
Starting point is 00:44:59 I'll go like 87 because I think they did get better. And I don't hate any of these contracts. How could they not have gotten better after what, what that roster looked like? The Taylor and Cordell-Flock contracts are the riskiest ones, I think. Wondale, I think you know what you're going to get. Jonathan Franklin-Meyers, I think you know what you're going to get.
Starting point is 00:45:17 The history of free agency would tell you that either Alante Taylor or Cordell Flatt will age really poorly because it's hard to hit on those contracts. But I would have said that about the Patriots last year and other than Harold Landry maybe, all those contracts aged pretty well. Do you feel differently about them having the benefit of all the free agency and hindsight to see that we had these corners signing one-year deals around like $10 to $15 million versus the Titans feeling like they needed to be active early on and go ahead in lock up guys at corner because they don't necessarily know what the circumstances are going to be like at that time.
Starting point is 00:45:50 Yeah, they paid a little bit of a premium plot especially. I mean, clearly they're bidding against the Giants. That's the reporting for that money to get that high. And Alante Taylor, there was a lot of bidding too. Patrick, are you laughing because you're imagining the room? Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:46:08 I want Dave All and, you know, I just want to see the reunion. It does make you a little worried because you don't want to punish the Titans because in, theory, their GM Borgonzi, it's his first year really running the team, but he's been in the building for two years. It's a new structure every year. Who knows next year their GM might be Brian Dable. How about that? Exciting bald. Wait, did you give a grade? No, 79. Okay. The Ravens, curious to hear Patrick's grade here. They signed Trey Hendrickson, $60 million guaranteed. He gets $112 million over four years. Really more like a two-year deal. They killed the max deal. That was good for content.
Starting point is 00:46:46 I will give them an extra point or two for that. John Simpson is back. That was a very popular and sensible deal. $17 million guaranteed. Former Jets Guard that started his career with the Ravens. They re-signed Chidobey Ousier for $5 million. Tyler Huntley got $5 million over two years. His deal was not nearly as good.
Starting point is 00:47:10 That was one of those that I was disappointed to see. The real money wasn't there. and then here's where their grade gets tricky because they didn't really add that many people. No. They lost Tyler Linderbaum, Isaiah likely, Charlie Kohler,
Starting point is 00:47:23 Patrick Ricard, Aloie Gilman, Ardarius Washington, the safety, Draymont Jones, who they had picked up last season, David Ajabu, and your boy Folele still out there.
Starting point is 00:47:33 So it was Van Noid. They have $30 million in Capspace. They lost a lot of people. How does that inform what you think about this offseason? Well, it's nice that, you know, Eric Acosta,
Starting point is 00:47:43 the day after the Raiders let everybody know that the deal wasn't happening, came out and told us what the plan was, right, to have both Max Crosby as well as Trey Hendrickson. And you're going to have a guy who could do it all on one end, a guy who could just rush the passenger on the other. It's going to be great. I understand it's great to have plans. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:48:02 But you need to have plans to be able to execute in the event that those plans don't necessarily. Grated on the execution, not the plan. Yeah. Like you have to go with that. And so I'm seeing corners on a. team that needs corner. I'm seeing every, like a lot of value corner
Starting point is 00:48:17 signings to where we're talking about the flock contract being, you know, cost prohibitive. Why not? Why not become a player in this, in this two-way conversation between Nashville and East Rutherford?
Starting point is 00:48:29 Like, why not? Because they, because they were busy with Max Crosby. I do think that and Trey Hendrickson got in the way of what happened. Okay. On a surgery that happened in January. Like, not to rehash the whole thing,
Starting point is 00:48:41 but nothing was a surprise. here. Could you have, the biggest fault you can give him, I think, is could you have gotten him in for the physical on Friday or Saturday? Why did it all happen Tuesday? The surgery was eight weeks ago. What's the physical showing you? So, and also I would say this,
Starting point is 00:48:57 they were planning, if they were planning, if they were indeed planning to have both of these guys on their roster, structurally speaking, the plan for everyone else remains the same. They still didn't sign a receiver. They still didn't sign
Starting point is 00:49:13 corners. You're not just doing one thing. You're budgeting. You're gaming out scenarios. You're budgeting these things. So if that was actually the plan, then you're ending up with the same lack of plans anyway. Do we not believe that that was the plan? Who knows?
Starting point is 00:49:29 Like, it still didn't happen. He said it was a plan. We're talking about execution. I feel like maybe it was a plan if-Banner to the Raffirs. It was the plan if Trey Hendrickson was going to take a deal at a low number that they that they were hoping he would take. I'm just saying either way,
Starting point is 00:49:46 they're not ending up with competitive pursuit of corners. They're not ending up with another receiver. Either way, whether the plan was executed or whether, and it wasn't, either way, they're not ending up with players of need that they absolutely need. Yes, they also need a pass rush help. But they needed a lot of things to continue to, as they say they want to do, maximize Lamar Jackson's prime.
Starting point is 00:50:11 I feel like there's some doubt here with how it's gone. I'm going to give them, I think they wanted Linderbom too. And it's good to want thing. No, no, no, that's what I mean. So I'm going to ding them because they didn't get what they want and they get punished for it. 76. Kind of low. 70.
Starting point is 00:50:34 Yeah. 67. Okay. I should be a harder or greater. I think that you, I think that you, like a lot of people have an admiration for how the Ravens typically have gone about their plan. And, you know, I just think we need to look kind of closely at these last two years and what they need to be doing and the hump that they have to get over. And, okay, let's see it. Last year was a disaster.
Starting point is 00:51:02 They've had, they've been a team. I just mean in terms of the decisions that they made and then what happened. You could go total if you want. Yeah. Three compics also that reportedly scheduled to get three comps. So that'll be good for you next year. Just in general, I think you could just as a world. It was kind of like, I don't know if you guys watched the Oscars on Sunday night.
Starting point is 00:51:24 No. Conan had a pretty good joke that I'm going to butcher now, which was essentially like, you know, last year we were here in Los Angeles and in the city, you know, was unfortunately like on fire at the time. but at least everything is good now. It's like, good call. Bengals, let's go to Boya Mafi's contract. They do this old school thing where everything is super front-loaded, and so they spend the cash early. They're kind of the opposite of what the Eagles are
Starting point is 00:51:56 with all the void years and maximizing every dollar you can there. His contract's bizarre, three for 60, but it's $27 million in the first year. There's almost no guarantees after that. some reason it went really poorly. It's like a one-year contract for Boye Mafi. Jonathan Allen gets $26 million over two years. They re-signed Orlando Brown.
Starting point is 00:52:19 They brought in Cook at Safety, who fills a nice need. Dalton Reisner comes back as well. They lost Joseph Asai and Trey Hendrickson. Josh Johnson is on this team. Hey! Yeah. Which I was excited about him being the backup. It sounds like they're leaving a light on for Joe Flacco that they
Starting point is 00:52:37 want Blacko to come and that it would be Flacco and Josh Johnson. That alone is worth a couple extra points. They have $31 million in cap space right in the middle. I mean, just the idea of Josh Johnson and Flacco. I just like the way you say things sometimes, Greg. Just like the imagery of like a candle. Oh, yeah, it is. Lickering in the window along a dark lane.
Starting point is 00:53:00 Like the winds blowing. Well, that's how they save on electricity too. They're doing all sorts of things at the facility. Oh my God. What do we think? I think it's an improvement. Because in terms of production, right, Jonathan Allen was,
Starting point is 00:53:18 you feel like a square peg in a round hole in the Flores defense. But he was out there for almost 80% of the snaps and they did execute the offense and everything. Fair? Not necessarily putting them in a position where they're going to have all of these counting stats, especially on the interior defensive line,
Starting point is 00:53:33 but he makes them better in terms of adding like three veteran defenders where this whole like, yeah, we're just going to draft guys and Al Golden's going to lead the, it didn't work out. And so like moving and improving on that, I got to feel good about it. But they're still kind of doing that.
Starting point is 00:53:50 Yeah, they're still doing it. You know? So it's like, it was like I religiously read Paul Dainer, who does a great job covering the Bengals for us at the athletic. And he said the same thing. It's like, man, that first day we're feeling really good about the Bengals and they're making moves and they're being aggressive. and then it was like, boom, like just nothing.
Starting point is 00:54:10 And then just nothing, just a leaf slowly. They got Jonathan Allen eventually. They got. No, I'm just saying they start. I agree. They have holes. I'm counting Jonathan Allen. I'm counting Brian Cook.
Starting point is 00:54:20 I'm counting boy of Moffey. I'm counting those in that first like splash. This is going to, they're going to fix this defense. What they've actually done now is again, set themselves up to mostly draft to fix their defense. And on the one hand, it's, it is. like, are they doing the same Bengals thing that they've been doing? On the other hand, I kind of understand the perspective of operating that way because your entire investment now at this point is in your offense. And you basically are saying we have to go maybe one premier player, maybe
Starting point is 00:54:53 maybe pay one premier position in free agency, maybe two, if we can get a guy at the right price on a shorter deal and draft the hell out of everything else and just and continue to try that model. And I think they've done that in this free agency period so far. I just don't know if it's going to work. I'd like a little more, yeah, more like more swing so that you can miss some. Because you're right, they have the same issues going into this draft that they had last time. Like linebacker, interior offensive line, third receiver in jet like they somehow, you know, got boy Amafé, who I really liked was one of my favorite signings. And yet they, their pass rush is worse. There's no way you can argue that it's not worse because you lost Trey Hendon.
Starting point is 00:55:35 and Joseph Asai. I was going to say, do you know who would really compliment Boy A. Mafet quite well is Trey Hendrickson. Like, they could rush off of each other. That would be good. I liked the Orlando Brown and Dalton Reisner moves especially for, and they were resigning. So I'm giving them a little bit of credit there for the money. So I'm going to bump it over.
Starting point is 00:55:54 And I like Mafe and Cook enough. I'm going to give them an 82 in the end. Whoa. Nice. It's because I like the players. I just think they'll be hits. Ultimately, if like Cook. and Mafei are hits,
Starting point is 00:56:07 and that's what I'm just going to project, then it's a good job. At those spots, I'm in the high 70s, 79, just because, you know, it's the same regime, so I'm going to go back and ding you for not trading. Also, Josh Johnson is there? I'm going 84 now.
Starting point is 00:56:22 I just, I just, put it up. You're up. Come on. I'm going C, as in check out the draft. You need a number because now I notice that Eric Roberts are our great producers, putting the numbers in, but sometimes it's like Greg 87, Patrick 79, Jordan B minus.
Starting point is 00:56:38 So that's it. You got to give a number. Well, don't blame Eric for my short-offing. That's what I'm saying. It just looks wrong. So help them out. I thought the number would help us get a total. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:56:50 75 for the Bengals. And it's, I'm bumping them up from what I would have had them. Because I do like the Maffa signing. I do like the Allen signing. I do like the Cook signing. I don't even like the Allen sign. It's not enough.
Starting point is 00:57:02 But the Allen signing, again, stop looking at things in a vacuum. It's a compliment to every other stuff that's coming. I will look at things how I want. We need a Dyson sponsorship for the- I know. He was a significantly declining player in Washington. I think the Vikings gave him a bad contract. I think this is going to prove to be a bad contract. But they're not asking him to be a star.
Starting point is 00:57:22 This is not- I mean, I'm not saying a star. I'm saying he wasn't like a great role player. They need competent defensive player. Yes. Like the Browns. Like, what are we talking about here? You've got to be able to draft and develop. I agree there.
Starting point is 00:57:36 The Browns, they signed four offensive line starters. They needed to. Elton Jenkins. They need five. He's going to give him an A. $20 million. Because they did it, Patrick. The Zion Johnson gets $32 million guaranteed.
Starting point is 00:57:49 Tevin Jenkins on what I imagine is a low-cost deal with the numbers aren't out yet. Titus Howard. The extension was a little different than it was initially reported, but they're giving him a lot of money. $34 million guaranteed. They also gave up a fifth round pick to get him from the Texans. That's the good news that they filled those spots. The bad news is they have a ton of holes on their roster. They gave Quincy Williams $9 million guaranteed.
Starting point is 00:58:14 Some people really like that move, actually, that you could have a bounce back season next to Carson-Swessinger. But they don't have much cap space. They have $77 million in dead money and $50 million almost for Deshawn Watson. And so that's a lot of money between dead money. and I consider Deshawn Watson dead money. That's like 120. So it's the same group that did this.
Starting point is 00:58:35 They set up that horrible offensive line situation, and they lost Devin Bush, and they have a few free agents still sitting out there that are relatively high on my list. David and Joku, Wyatt Teller. We don't know if Joel Betonio is retiring, by the way, just throwing that out there. Do you give them more credit for filling in their offensive line or not?
Starting point is 00:58:54 No, I don't. They were going to have to acquire some humans, right, to do the individual thing. And again, we heard from the committee earlier. We can't consider, you know, the Brutonberg of it all and the whole antagonism that led to the shorts departure and all that. Who knows what led into that situation? But Schlesinger now is going to have to play in some form of a different defense where they still needed to make the ads. And yeah, I'm one of those people who likes the Quincy Edition a little bit.
Starting point is 00:59:27 you saying those people makes me feel like you. No, no. I think it, I just didn't know who it was. I think it was maybe John Ledyard, as you mentioned. Child of John Ledyard. And Ali Conno. And a lot of pop. Shout to all the OGs who have NFL in their name on social media.
Starting point is 00:59:42 That's how you know. A lot of pop. They've been there for a while. I will not grade them high, even though they did the thing that they were supposed to do because they also set up the reason that they had to do the thing that they were supposed to do and then did. Whenever a Packers lineman is not fought very hard by the Packers to keep my eyebrows raised because I do trust the way that they evaluate and retain their offensive linemen.
Starting point is 01:00:10 So Elton Jenkins, he's a fun player. I hope it works out. I'm just not sure. I do like the Zion Johnson move. They absolutely had to have somebody at the sort of the top of the pool here. But again, I can never, I can't grade them well with the way that. they're structured right now with all that dud money with Deshaun Watson's contract. And also they did this to themselves.
Starting point is 01:00:31 All of these linemen came due at the same. That's hard to do. I think it's like a bad student when we're grading them that has a history of year after year, one of our worst students, unfortunately. And so you're not going to give them the benefit of the doubt just because they wrote in a different style this year. Do you know, do you know, I was always the kid in elementary school that they would sit the problem kid next to?
Starting point is 01:00:54 because invisible labor. So, like, I'm not giving them a good grade for the bar is in hell at this point. I'm not giving them a good. They do not have the benefit of the doubt. And what I was surprised by when I sent out this idea on Twitter of like, okay, they got these offensive linemen, but they have all these holes and all this dead money and Watson. It's a bad situation. Do they have a lot of holes?
Starting point is 01:01:19 I think the roster looks pretty good. And I was like, what? What are we talking about here? I guess you look at the defense and feel like it's in pretty good shape. I think you could use a safety. I think you could use depth everywhere. But yeah, your receivers, your quarterbacks, I would put running back as a whole because Quintchard Juggins, you can't count them.
Starting point is 01:01:34 They have plenty of holes. And the offensive line is still a hole because you cannot count on these guys to laugh. Last. So, yeah, let's because they try to give them a 67. Can I just point out, they also didn't draft a single lineman last year. So they knew that all these contracts were coming up, and they did not draft alignment. All right.
Starting point is 01:01:54 I'll knock it down three more points. I'll give them a 64. All right. I'm giving them a 60, a D as in dead money. 70. Jenkins.
Starting point is 01:02:02 70. Yeah. What are we? Prices, right? We're playing the prices. Because I hated the Ravens Free Agency and I have to. Ah, I see.
Starting point is 01:02:10 Ethics. Yeah. All right. The Steelers, they moved up 16 spots, or moved down 16 spots in the sixth round and acquired Michael Pittman for that. I still want to see the details on
Starting point is 01:02:22 his guaranteed money. It sounded like it was a new contract, not an extension. Just my spidey senses up of there might be some funny money, but it was reported as three years, $69 million. Sounds fine, depending on how it's structured for Michael Pittman.
Starting point is 01:02:39 Jamel Dean, that was one where the contract, the deal does not look nearly as good for the player after seeing the details. It's essentially a one-year $13 million contract. I mean, and then they can keep them. which is again, like my issue with these teams that weren't able to get corners. Good point.
Starting point is 01:02:56 Like everything Jamel Dean did, there were like six weeks last season consecutively. He did, teams didn't complete a pass. The Steelers did really well waiting a day. Greg's grade. That contract that the contract that they gave, what was my grade? Just checking. Just notice. The Titans especially, if you look at those cornerback contracts compared to Jamel Dean,
Starting point is 01:03:18 that looks like a nice deal. They extended Cam Hayward, by the way. the Steelers $16 million guaranteed on a two-year deal. They re-signed Cole Holcomb and Asante Samuel Jr. For very little money, they did lose some good players. Kenny Gainwell, team MVP. There it is. Forever more.
Starting point is 01:03:35 He has never been on the Steelers and not been the team MVP. 100%. Isaac Seamalu, who was a good signing by them a few years ago, leaves. James Pierre, who had a good year for them last year at cornerback leaves. Calvin Austin is a member of the Giants right now. They also cut John Hussmith. They're still waiting for Aaron Rogers. You got to just assume that they know he's coming back and doesn't want to do OTAs or something.
Starting point is 01:03:59 They have $22 million in cap space. Your overall Steelers vibe. The Steelers overall as a roster, I think it's teetering toward decline in terms of the age and some of the money that they've invested in, especially in that defense. However, I really like what they did in free agency. I thought that they had a pretty solid free agency. It wasn't like the, you know, the splashiest or anything like that.
Starting point is 01:04:24 But bringing in Michael Pittman is awesome for them. He absolutely, to me, becomes immediately the volume number one receiver because of all of the different things he can do, how physical he is. He can do anything you ask him to do. And that also will then free up D.K. Metcalfe to do the things that D.K. Metcalf really wants to do, which is stretch the field. So I love that. I like the Jamel Dean signing a lot. I'm excited to see what he does in this defense specifically. I give him a B plus, honestly,
Starting point is 01:04:52 because the quarterback thing is always going to be sort of their deadweight question. We don't know, even if Aaron Rogers does come back, we don't know what version of him it'll be. We don't, you know, he's a player on the decline of his career. So absolutely huge question mark one, I wish they would have answered in free agency, frankly. But we did learn from Omar Khan that they love Will Howard
Starting point is 01:05:12 as a possible, you know, as the backup. They really, really like him. Mike McCarthy loves him. And, you know, we'll, we'll, kind of just see how this goes if they try to run it back with with Aaron. I actually, I give him an 88. Nice. And I forgot to mention Rico Dowdo, by the way, replacing Kenny Gainwell on a pretty
Starting point is 01:05:30 low-cost deal. And so, yeah, you lose a little bit of that. Get Rico on more screens. Yeah. Rico wants to call the screen. Yeah. You know, to great success in, you know, he's had a success in the passing game. But as a receiving back, I think Kenny G.
Starting point is 01:05:45 Yeah. Was up there with the Echens or, you know, if I could properly Louisiana pronounce. it like Greg can. I don't think I can. Well, I lead, I lend to you on that. But just the, if I'm going, thank you, Greg. If I'm going to, to grade them,
Starting point is 01:06:03 I would be up there in the high 80s where Jordan is, but the fact that we don't just say, hey, yeah, Aaron is coming back. He just doesn't want to, why not just come out and say that? It's just, it's just, it's just exhausting. That's fair. Putting us through it is, we're not even going through it. Well, we know he's in shape, guys.
Starting point is 01:06:21 Oh, yeah. For the... Gotta keep his stamina up. For the extracurriculars. But, yeah, other than that being annoying, and the fact that the Steelers have had such a good free agency being annoying. Yeah. It's an 85.
Starting point is 01:06:34 Okay. I'll give a... I'll take Jordan's grade. What was it, 88? Yeah. I'll not get down one for the Rogers' annoyance of it all. But I kind of forgot... I really like their free agency because I kind of forgot...
Starting point is 01:06:47 Jaquan Brisker, Darnel Savage. and Sebastian Joseph Day are all defensive solid players. And what I was going to say, like when I would think about lowering the grade was, well, I'd like to see them, you know, take a few more swings like we asked the Bengals to of like, let's just, let's just add a little more depth here. They are an old team that somehow got older, like in free agency, which is hard to do with Jamel Dean and Pittman. But they kind of fit the model.
Starting point is 01:07:14 But like they have a type. Sebastian Day fits as well. I'm going to bump it back up a point now that I thought about him. It's back up to 88. Let's take a break. Our last one, we have four teams to go. It's the first time we've done this sort of exercise. I give us an A minus.
Starting point is 01:07:31 Nice. What's the minus four? So far. Just a little carrot, you know, for you to improve. Hopefully don't want to get the stick. I'm Luke Wilson. Join me each week for Film Never Lies. Since retiring from the NFL, I've had a lot of my mind and now got my own show.
Starting point is 01:07:51 So if you're tired of lazy takes, if you want honest conversations, join us each week. Film Never Lies, available on all TSN platforms in the IHeartRadio app. I'm Daniel Jeremiah. And I'm Greg Rosenthal. And this is 40s and free agents. The games may be over, but the NFL never stopped. This is my favorite part of the calendar. Yeah, mine too, Greg, free agency, the combine, the NFL draft, Pro Days, trades.
Starting point is 01:08:16 This is where teams reshape their future. This is where Daniel Jeremiah makes his money on 14. And priorities and free agents, we break down every move that actually matters. From my draft evaluations, mock drafts, and team fits. To my top 101 free agents and how real rosters are built, cap space, contracts, and all the tough decisions included. You got quarterbacks on the move? We got teams rebuilding.
Starting point is 01:08:40 It's hope season. Yeah, absolutely. It's hope season. We'll tell you what's real, what's noise, and what it means for your favorite team. Smart analysis, real conversations every week. I don't know about the smart, but definitely analysis. Listen to 40s and free agents on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Back on NFL Daily.
Starting point is 01:09:05 Shout out to Darius Fleigh, who retired since we started taping this show. Great career. Yeah. Overindexed in memorable plays, memorable press conferences, being in big spot. Was a very good player, too. A first team all pro and part of the Eagles championship. ship around in 24. Happy trails.
Starting point is 01:09:27 Absolutely phenomenal quote on anything. Love Dariusly. He did not want to be a member of the Buffalo Bills last year. What a way to retire. Be like, nope, not showing up there. Didn't want to be part of what was going on. Maybe he would not give Brandon Bean a good grade for this off season. Here's what Brandon Bean did.
Starting point is 01:09:48 Traded a late two for DJ Moore. They did get a fifth back in that trade for what it's worth. They guaranteed $15.5 million of DJ Moore's 2028 money, which is absolutely knocking him a couple points. That was one of the most unnecessary contractual moves, I think, any team made. They signed Bradley Chubb on a contract that doesn't look quite as bad when you peek under the hood, but isn't great. Three for $42 million, $21 million guaranteed. D. Alford, this slipped under the radar? Was it day one signing?
Starting point is 01:10:21 It was really surprised about that. But again, the money wasn't nearly as bad as the agents sort of made it out to sound with the up to. It's really like a one year, $7.8 million contract. That's fine. Connor McGovern, $31 million guaranteed. They re-signed him. That aged pretty well as free agency went on. Extended Dawson Knox a few years.
Starting point is 01:10:41 They signed CJGJ. Kyle Allen, I believe, is going to be their new backup quarterback. At least he is right now. They did lose some players. David Edwards signed with the Saints. They traded to Ron Johnson. Reggie Gilliam, their fullback's gone. They have a ton of free agents still out there,
Starting point is 01:10:57 like Joey Bosa, AJ Eponessa, Matt Milano, Shaq Thompson, Larry Ogen-Jobie. There's actually like five or six more guys you recognize that just haven't been signed by those teams. Bosa and Eponessa could add to a team, possibly even the Buffalo Bills. So we'll see. On paper, they have negative cap space,
Starting point is 01:11:13 which is not a thing that's allowed. So, you know, these things are in process. And part of what's maybe informing that, Jordan, is their second this year, cash spending. So they are spending a lot of money in cash for this roster. Considering where we were in January, where we are now, how do you think it all looks for the bills? I am looking at over the cap right now. And it is interesting. It's negative 6.4 million in cap space, but actually the effective cap space is even lower in the negative. Right. So a lot of these contracts, we haven't
Starting point is 01:11:48 seen the numbers in it all change. Yeah, but it's like the fact that that number's higher, it's like they're looking at some of the deeper layers of the contracts over the cap is. And they're saying, actually, you have even less money than you think you do. So I think this is fascinating to me because this is a team that by all accounts and moves they made in terms of coaching staff and the trade for DJ Moore, it was like, we are going to be all in. We're going aggressive and all these things. And then it's like, oh, they look at their books and they're like, maybe we actually can't be as
Starting point is 01:12:22 aggressive. And yet they gave Bradley Chub all that money. We thought we could be. And Bradley Chub being, I would say, like probably one of the more middle tier pass rushers that was, that was available in free agency. They have a lot of holes. I'm, I have questions about even their offensive line, usually a strength of the group. David Edwards was a great continuity guy there. Aaron Kromer retired. I have questions there. I have questions all throughout their secondary. I have questions up front. I have questions at pass rush. This is a team that has too many questions to be this in the red financially. Yeah, and I think the biggest question is because you go from this defense that we've seen
Starting point is 01:12:59 all these guys play in it from such a long time and the same guy calling it, you know, through various stints as the head coach of the Buffalo Bills where he would come in and out of defensive play calling, where Jim Leonard is, everything's going to be different. And I think we see that in like the Johnson departure where Dee Alfred comes back in from a very aggressive, like, D. Alfred's played in multiple Falcons regime. and this last one was so blitz happy where you can put De Alfred in a lot of situations he's going to be able to execute at a high level
Starting point is 01:13:28 where you're trying to grade this relative to the changes that they're having on defense where the offense is going to be mostly the same with the addition of DJ Moore. I feel relatively good about it considering they did address their needs in some capacity. Did they go about addressing those needs in the right way? Maybe not, but in terms of the talent on the field,
Starting point is 01:13:50 I think it's an improved. It's like, Brandon Bean's like, I got you, your damn receiver. Now everyone look away. Right. I don't think they went about it the right way because when you have such limited space and you're spending all this cash, they are a remodeling team. They're not rebuilding. But I think they could have stood to be a team that was very active attacking a lot of different positions
Starting point is 01:14:15 in the lower middle of the market. Instead, they gave Bradley Chubb a ton of money for a declining player. And they gave DJ Moore a ton of money and guaranteed money and a pick. I'm giving them a 67. And that's what tells me that internally they feel so much more urgent than a remodel would require. And maybe that's the wrong direction. Maybe leaning into the remodel would have been the smarter decision. But those moves tell me how urgent people in that front office feel that they must win.
Starting point is 01:14:46 They must get over the hump here. Yeah. And those two are not necessarily. congruous thoughts. Like maybe, maybe it's not just about what you think you are or how urgent you feel, but really what you actually are and really looking at that honestly. What do you give them?
Starting point is 01:15:02 Oh, I give them a 65. Ooh. I love. They're in contention for lowest right now. I love the D. What are you going to do? I will say that.
Starting point is 01:15:10 73 would be, I think I could have made the case for keeping Edwards and McGovern. Like if you want to maintain on the offense and improve, you know, considering the money went elsewhere. But I understand choosing McGuver. govern over Edwards, but why not both? I don't know. I'm going to bump him up to a 68 because I do love the DJ more move. I think he could have a very good year and it's not a good move.
Starting point is 01:15:32 It's one of my overall. Just considering everything that was out there potentially. So yeah, 68. They're not going to score well. Miami, really interesting offseason. They have the most free agent signings in the NFL. Malik Willis is the only one that got a significant amount of money, though. His contract was very heavily guaranteed.
Starting point is 01:15:50 $45 million. of his 67 was fully guaranteed, which essentially means it's a two-year contract, not at crazy money, but they're pretty committed into the second year. I'm just going to list off the guys that they named. I mean, that they signed. You guys ready?
Starting point is 01:16:05 Let's do it, Greg. You could do this at 2.5 speed if you want, if your podcast device has that capability. Here we go. Tutu Atwell, Jalen Tolbert, Ben Sims, Jamari Sawyer, Matthew Butler, Robert Beal, Seth Coleman, Willie Gay, David Ajabu,
Starting point is 01:16:21 Joshua Uche, Cameron Good, Zane Anderson, Alex Austin, Daryl Baker, Miles Battle, Omar Brown, Lonnie Johnson, Marco Wilson, Tucker Attington, Zane Gonzalez, Riley Patterson, and the UFO punter Seth Vernon. That list was that order was provided by Simon Clancy, who I called the game over in Dublin with. Great, great Dolphins voice out there. They cut Tua, they cut Bradley Chubb. They traded Minka. They lost Cater Cahou. and Alec Ingold and Free Agency, they don't have much cap space. They're towards the bottom of the league. Overall, it all makes sense to me. I don't know.
Starting point is 01:16:58 I don't think they're better, but the process makes sense to me. So I'm going to give them like a, because they signed Malik Willis, which I wanted someone to do, and I like that kind of. I'm going to give them a 89, just for process. Yeah, 82 for going and getting your guy.
Starting point is 01:17:14 Everything else is just kind of a wash. But I like the idea of like they had guys they targeted for whatever reason, and they're just flooding the system. Some of these will work out and will be with the team when they matter. Most of them obviously won't. It's a sprint rebuild. They're eating all of their dead money at one time. Well, over the next two years, they're sort of splitting it.
Starting point is 01:17:36 There was some reporting out of Miami Herald about the way that they like pulled a leader in the contract. Yeah, they have 40 plus million dollars into next year. Right, where they can sort of reallocate it a little bit. But they didn't fear the dead money. And I think that's important here because they, Yes, they signed 11 free agents to your point, Greg, but they're still like 20th in spending of free agents. And that's significant here because what they're doing is they're basically saying,
Starting point is 01:18:03 we have our quarterback on a team-friendly deal, and we think there's a high ceiling there. There's definitely a high floor. We also have multiple difference-making players on offense. So we're going to be fun. We're going to score points regardless. And the defense is a total rebuild. And everywhere else, you're patching low-cost veteran acquisitions or low-cost in general acquisitions to basically set space and to contribute while these draft picks are developing.
Starting point is 01:18:33 And that to me, there's a blueprint for this. It's the 49ers. It's the Rams. It is the bucks from a few years ago. It's teams that don't fear the dead money and instead say, who do we have? What really are we? and how can we actually make this whole rebuild go a lot faster by keeping certain players intact and adding to the quarterback room and then getting rid of the things that don't serve us anymore.
Starting point is 01:18:57 And they don't have quite as much as those teams had, but it is crazy in the 2024 playoffs that, like, most of the good teams had were among the league leaders in dead money, which was great. Like the Rams, the Packers, the Broncos made the playoffs with the Russell Wilson. Broncos did it. Money. Their defensive players are intriguing. And they drafted, you know, they like Jordan Phillips, who was a nose. tackle a fifth round pick.
Starting point is 01:19:18 Like they have Chop Robinson still there. They're not as far away, but they're, they're pretty far away. The trick is. I didn't give them a grade either because I'm giving them an A. Okay. Because I think this plan works. If you do it right, if you can coach, you have the right coach to front office tandem. If you are identifying the correct players in the draft, and that's a big if, but this is
Starting point is 01:19:37 absolutely very clearly the plan. And I appreciate how they're executing it so far. It's the easy part of the process. You got to find the good players. that's the hard part of the process, but it also makes sense the way that they're doing it. And who knows, they might win too many games if they got the coach right.
Starting point is 01:19:54 And that would be good from Lake Willis because then you don't have to worry about the quarterback crop next year. The Patriots, not as active this offseason, but plenty active. Vera Tucker, Elijah Vera Tucker, gets $21 million guaranteed. He also gets the most per game roster bonuses ever, we think. It's like almost $5 million a year in just like playing. So if Veritaka plays that his contract really goes up quite a bit, Romeo Dobbs only, I say only, but to me it's only got $35 million guaranteed.
Starting point is 01:20:27 It's all in the first two years. Draymond Jones, for instance, got $23 million guaranteed. Those are basically two-year contracts. They signed Kevin Byard. I feel like there's a lot of funny money and it is up to $9 million. That my guess is probably half of that or something. They cut Stefan Diggs. They cut Anthony Jennings.
Starting point is 01:20:45 They traded their center, Garrett Bradbury. They lost their safety, Jalen Hawkins. They lost Kaira Stanga. They lost Katovon Chason. They lost a lot of people that played a lot of roles for them. And most importantly, they have $41 million in cap space. And this weekend, the stop and shop bag that was bought, I think, four years ago, when I was visiting my parents in Massachusetts,
Starting point is 01:21:13 was brought back out when I went to the beach. with my kids. Now that me and Mac have like a personal connection, we got to use that old Mac stop and shop bag that only cost $2.00 back in the day and use that as our beach bag. Just call it a tote. But it's not a tote.
Starting point is 01:21:30 The Mac Jones tote? I love that. What's a tote bag? Yeah, but that's more like cloth. This was like a... It totes things. If we have to call it like a... Is it not just a bag? It totes. I think there's difference
Starting point is 01:21:42 between a tote bag though and a grocery bag. And this is like a grocery, you know, you're reusable. It's a big ass bag. That's why it's working. Bab? So it could towed a lot. It could tote a lot.
Starting point is 01:21:54 But you wouldn't want to be like walking down the street in London, I think, with it over your shoulder. Why not? Not as fashionable as maybe like one of those don't book bags. You know, that's a tote. What's got those two? A book bag? People know. People know.
Starting point is 01:22:08 Yeah. You know a backpack? No. It's like a bag that you buy at a bookstore. Oh, like a book bag. Like a tote. Like a tote. Oh.
Starting point is 01:22:16 Like a book bag. That's where you get your toes. Oh, to show everybody that you read books? No, that's just, you get, that's what keeps the books that you just bought, you know. That's a strand. The strand sort of famous. Is it a bag with books in it, not a book bag? No, because that means something else.
Starting point is 01:22:29 People are running on the strand, Greg. People are running and walking. Not a lot of books. The strand I'm talking about in New York. Performative, am I right? What do we think about the? I don't know what to think about the. I like it.
Starting point is 01:22:43 I like it. It seems fine. Yeah, seems good. You get some of the band back together. It's okay to be excited. Brable in Byrd. I think Romeo Dobbs is a good addition, a solid addition to this team. I mean, I think we've picked the old Titans Vrabel stuff, you know, dry a little bit.
Starting point is 01:22:59 Like, that's not really something that I'm that excited about, that part of it. Like the Harold Landry thing, for instance. He was a huge part of the defense that let the NFL and turnover. Yeah. I know. I'm with you. He's just, he's a total quintessential brable guy. Should be fine.
Starting point is 01:23:15 I love it for him. The thing that I love the most is the Romeo Dobbs signing. I just think he is an absolutely wonderful fit here and basically just takes over the stuff on Diggs role and probably and then some just such a high volume target. Somebody who is going to continue to grow and evolve with Drake May, the young quarterback. This was a fantastic pairing. If this is not one of the more productive pairings in the 2026 season, I will be very surprised. Jemont Jones is a risk, I guess, because Seattle,
Starting point is 01:23:45 that contract did not work out for him for them when he was in Seattle. But yeah, between these three contracts, I mean, Dobbs and Veritucker are two of my very favorite. I guess I looked at all the players that they lost. Like, those are significant. You're intentionally trying to make your voice a little bit more monotone talking about the Patriots I've noticed of late because that's how excited you are to be so back with the Patriots. They're back. 87.
Starting point is 01:24:12 Yeah. I was going to even go 90, but I didn't want to get accused of bias. Oh, I'm giving them an A. I'm giving them an A 90. A, that's an A minus. We'll let, oh, yeah, an A minus, excuse me. Okay. I'll go 88 then.
Starting point is 01:24:24 Let's go Jets. I didn't get many of those, so. I know. I don't know what the numbers are. You didn't get a lot of A minuses, please. I got a lot of A pluses, Greg. Oh, here we go. That's me that didn't register very highly.
Starting point is 01:24:40 Here we go. Great skill. DeMario Davis, $15 million guaranteed. at 37 years old? Two-year deal. David Oumata, one year, $10 million. Nashon Wright, only $3.5 million base salary. Joseph Asai gets $22 million guaranteed,
Starting point is 01:24:57 very similar to the Draymond Jones contract. They traded Tevondre Sweat for Minka. I mean, they traded for Tavondry Sweat and for Minka Fitzpatrick. They traded away Justin Fields for a late-round pick. They acquired Gino and are only going to pay him $3 million.
Starting point is 01:25:13 They signed Dillon Parham. which some offensive line guru said was among the worst starters in the league last year. They re-signed some kind of back end of the roster guys that they like. Jolani Woods, Andrew Beck, Max Mitchell. They lost John Simpson. Their offensive line is supposed to be great on paper, but they did lose their two great guards, John Simpson and Vera Tucker. Quincy Williams, they were happy to say goodbye to him.
Starting point is 01:25:38 They traded Germaine Johnson. They still have $40 million in cap space. despite all that movement, they're actually 27th right now in cash spending. So they're not spending a ton of cash this year. I really didn't like what they were doing on defense day one. I like it a little more with time because they had to do something. But I just don't like the situation that they entered into January with. It's tough for me to look past what's going on with Aaron Glenn and Darren Muzi.
Starting point is 01:26:10 But they, the addition of Nishon Wright, like, I've got a very high grade out here, and again, which causes me to pull, you know, what remaining hairs on the male pattern baldness head of mine. I have out that Nashan Wright has such a great year where he's turning the ball over so much and playing at such a high level in that second. And then only warranting this particular deal
Starting point is 01:26:31 with the Jets where it's just another corner signing another one-year deal. And I have to, you know, not to defend the transition tag and the franchise tag, as, which I normally der out as cost control metrics, I think the compensatory pick formula, and the way that that
Starting point is 01:26:47 kind of generally lowers the floor for veteran compensation as well, I need to start pointing that out as a cost control metric as well. But the fact that you can get to Sean Wright for what you did, I'm in the 90s for the judge. That's fascinating to me. You know what's interesting I just occurred to be
Starting point is 01:27:03 is like no one paid these bears guys in the secondary. Joaquin Brisker didn't get paid, Nation Wright didn't get paid, Kevin Byer didn't get paid. That's the NFL making a statement on our Sons discussion. They felt like the Allen Sons was the true song. The Denison. They did say the, yeah, they're giving all the credit to Dennis Allen.
Starting point is 01:27:21 Which is hell. Yeah, that's who we send the scons to. That is a wild that you're giving an A to the Jets. All right, you're up. I'm giving a B, flat B, 85 to the Jets because I see what they're trying to do. Like, listen, I'm not giving them overly the benefit of the doubt. Like, we understand this has been. a dysfunctional franchise for a long time. I understand that. But I see their plan. And it is,
Starting point is 01:27:46 it is the same plan that a lot of these rebuilding teams have and also with familiar players to Aaron Glenn to say, hey, you want to reset a culture you are going after guys that you are familiar with that you know. That's one part of it. The other part of it is some of the ages are very like eyebrow raising for some of these signings. But they're not costing you a ton of money, first of all. And also, you're going to replace those guys with the mass amount of draft picks that you have. And you need these veteran players to tell these guys coming in and to basically set a floor for all of these young guys that are going to be coming in to this roster over the next, you know, several months to two years. Now, does it predicate what's going to happen to the coach? I don't think so.
Starting point is 01:28:30 I still think he's, unfortunately, you know, on the hot seat. But I absolutely see what at least the plan is for this because you have. have to at least establish what the floor of your team is going to be. I just worry with Onyamada and DeMario Davis specifically that it's like one stop too far, that they could just be huge liabilities and they have a coach that can't help them because he hasn't been shown to help his defensive players in a while. And it is kind of like the Browns that I'm grading them based on a little bit on their past as well because I think it's going to affect their future that the next regime is going to inherit
Starting point is 01:29:06 these guys. and the one thing that they did for him is that it won't be many long-term, like, deals that get in their way. But I would have liked, like, if you gave me the Raiders offseason, like, the younger, like, investing in those sorts of players make more sense to me. Like, Oniomada is not a consistent player. He's been a, like, kind of a disaster for his team every second or third year. DeMario Davis is a pretty big gamble, I think, at this.
Starting point is 01:29:31 But I think you get the known quantities where you know what they can do and you get veterans. and if Kevin O'Connell, you know, the quarterback whisperer gets the, well, he needs a veteran to be able to do this. This J.J. McCarthy thing couldn't work because he had to do this. Then I'm going to give Aaron Glenn the credit of being a coach who's maybe better suited to play with guys who know what they're doing. I agree with you there, Patrick. And I also think that you're also signing guys, you know what they're not to. You're not signing them to be everything. You're not signing them to even be plus two players.
Starting point is 01:30:02 You're signing them to understand what spot. or what traits specifically are being filled and you know exactly what they are and what they aren't. And then you go fill in what they aren't with your draft picks and also fill in guys that will eventually, again, replace these guys. That's, to me, it's very clear what their plan is. They've been good in terms of like the trade acquisitions too. Adi Mitchell and Harrison Phillips last year were good. They were good with their draft, the top of their draft. I like it was their free agency. Here he comes. Here he comes. It was their free agency though last year. That was a disaster. Damien Sherwood, Brandon Stevens was okay-ish.
Starting point is 01:30:40 I'll give it a, because they got G now. There it is. I'll bump it up over 70 at least. God, I thought we were getting close. He's toaded his grade up over 70. 73. This free agency, if it was- Did you give a number? I forget.
Starting point is 01:30:54 Yes, I did. Oh, yeah, you gave a B. We did it. We graded the entire NFL. I gave all the other numbers, too, but you, you know. Throw Eric under the bus. That it was like B-minus, you know? We did the AFC.
Starting point is 01:31:07 Now let's do the NFC. Like right now. Okay, let's do it. Let's have a three-hour show. Now, hit the music. Hit the music. Let's get out of here. The next time you hear from us in this studio will be me and Jordan and Colleen on Wednesday.
Starting point is 01:31:23 That's exciting. But you will hear from Daniel Jeremiah and us, 40s and free agents. In the feed, talking about his latest mock draft on Tuesday. This is a treat. The regular season never ends. I'm Daniel Jeremiah. And I am Greg Rosenthal. I know that, Greg.
Starting point is 01:31:45 We're teaming up on 40s and free agents, the podcast that owns the NFL off season. This is where teams are built. Free agency, combine, pro days, trades. Every move matters. From my draft boards and mock drafts to my vaunted top 101 free agents and how rosters come together.
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