NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - JSN Scores Big and 20 Players Suddenly Important at Work

Episode Date: March 23, 2026

Gregg Rosenthal is joined by Patrick Claybon and Nick Shook to get you caught up on news from around the NFL including Jaxon Smith-Njigba getting paid big money by the Seahawks, the Cowboys' plans at linebacker, the future of the Raiders and more! The guys then give you 20 NFL figures who find themselves more important to their team than they were before free agency including Bhayshul Tuten, Jalen Nailor, Boye Mafe, Jahan Dotson, Isaac TeSlaa and more!   NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

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Really wins. Open your free IHeart radio app. Search 40s and free agents and listen now. Welcome to NFL Daily, where we're just some dudes naming some guys. Guys naming some dudes. I'm Greg Rosenthal. I'm here in the Chris Wesleying podcast studio with my friend Patrick Claibon, Nick Shook, joining us from across the country in Cleveland. It's that time of year. We're just going to be talking about some guys, in particular, some guys suddenly important at work. today. Which people may be able to relate to that intimately. Yeah. There's the famous meme of the guy who lied on his resume

and he's standing looking at a wall of electrical wires. And it's like, oh no. There's some guys in that circumstance in football. That is what we're really leaning in here. Suddenly important at work. The second part of that and it's ruined my life is usually kind of part of the meme or the tweet or whatever you want to say. This isn't ruining people's lives.

It's guys across the NFL who maybe are more important, whether they're players, whether they're just. general managers, whether they're analysts like Nick Shuck. It's been, it's been too long, Shucky, since you've been on the show. What's going on? It's been like a, what, a week? But with you two, it's been a while. This is a very Sunday night type of feel. Oh, yeah. That we're doing it on Monday. Well, you know, we spent... We should put a game on for to distract me. Yeah, just put it in that back monitor there. Just play a game, any game. Especially if it's the Ravens, you're going to get like 60% of

of Patrick. But instead... 420. Yeah, let's talk about JSN. Jackson Smith and Jigba. We'll do some news before we get to our segment. And there was a little news popping Monday morning that

Jackson Smith and Jigba is the highest paid receiver in NFL history, at least if you're evaluating on new money, average and guaranteed money. It depends. We can get into that if we even care, but it's $120 million dollars guaranteed. At least that's what we hear.

We'll find out. $168 million over four years. That's a four-year extension. He's locked up for six years, though. And so that's adding on to the contract years that were already there. You're an Ohio State guy. And the thing with Jackson Smith and Jigbin,

I've been thinking about this, Shook, while looking at the wide receiver prospects, is, you know, all the smart people, no one saw this coming. I didn't even hear people say it was coming before. last year. Why was he getting taken in the third or fourth round in fantasy league? I wasn't hearing anyone saying this could be the best wide receiver in the league. I definitely wasn't hearing anyone say that when he was a prospect.

So how has this man had such a come up since he was, you know, playing for the Buckeyes? Yeah, that's actually fair because the Ohio State receiver that got the whole best wide receiver prospect could be a top five receiver in the NFL was Marvin Harrison Jr. Who has understandably undergone some struggles, experienced some struggles in his first two years in Arizona. Jackson Smith and Jigba really popped on the scene way back in the Rose Bowl against Utah when he went crazy and ran a billion slot fades for touchdowns. And he's only built on it since then. But I really think this is a product of Sam Darnold coming in.

The Clint Kubiak offense really hitting their peak. And he's a great route runner. He's great with his hands. He makes fantastic contested catches. He does basically everything that you want, except he's not, you know, a massive six five frame. Otherwise, though, he's, he's everything you wish you could have. And he makes the money now that he is deserving him. I mean, 1793 yards, 1,700.

93 yards. Best in the NFL this year. Offensive player of the year. That's nothing to scoff at. So good on the Seahawks for rewarding him in an offseason that has usually is the case with a lot of contenders included a decent amount of change. Maybe I'm getting too deep on this, but maybe we got to rethink what's a quote

unquote number one receiver these days because he's not that big X receiver. And yet he is kind of the prototype, I think, of what you need in today's NFL, which is all the versatility. Obviously can run every route. go deep, can go short, can move inside and out, and just gets open.

And so maybe we got to rewire our draft thinking of like, actually that is what number one receivers look like. Yeah, if you can have a wide receiver that's actually Jackson Smith and Jigba, then that can be a one. I think the lesson may be just to get rid of the idea of the one and X, like, meaning the the same thing. Good point. Just we have to evolve past us.

And in defense, right, to the man who, you know, was foundational in the, construction of so many things, Brick-Bodberg, in defense of the fantasy community. If you'd have said that Jackson-Smitha-Jigma's going to get 163 targets in 2025, there were a lot more people taking JSN there, there, and as Shook points out.

But he's getting the volume because he's open. Yeah, and this was a Sam Darnold's statement, I think, by the average draft position. You know, in defense of Quessie, again, he was not the only one that thought, hey, maybe this Donald thing isn't necessarily, you know, the crowd, the wisdom of the crowd, allegedly, didn't feel great.

about Sam Darnell. And there wasn't a real number two. Cooper Cup was not that guy. Even when Shaheed came, he's not that guy. They didn't have tight ends catching a ton of passes. But it is a special level of receiver

where the opponent knows the ball is getting funneled there and he can just make it happen. Now, financially, I did want to kind of get into the numbers here because it sounds insane that a wide receiver is making over $44 million on his new money and his contract. But the key is the word extension.

It's a six-year contract. They now have, you know, his rights through, you know, I'm doing the math here in my head, 2031. And in today's NFL, we're doing these shorter contracts. This gives them a ton of flexibility. And if you average out the entire contract, it's not 44 per year. It's like over 32 per year, which is still a great number. And the fact that he's getting this deal two years before he would have hit free agency

because they had the fifth year option. It's a great deal for both sides, but it's not quite as crazy as it may be sounds. And you know what? They also left a little room for Bobo. More Bobo. There was restricted free agent drama shook. The Vikings, I mean, rather the Jaguars,

tried to sign Jake Bobo. And the Seahawks said no. Right before we got to taping, they kept Bobo. And so we get to keep the Bobo-J-S-N combo in terms of total value of the contract. Jake Bobo making a hundred and fifty three million dollars less though than JSA just five just five point five on a two-year contract which feels they kept most of that receiving core intact which is what's important here especially as you try to transition from one offense to the next now it's not supposed to look a lot

different with the new offensive coordinator but it is not going to be one to one the exact same because the guy in Clint Kuwiak is not calling the plays for you anymore so it's important to keep as many familiar faces there as possible especially after you lost your starting running back to the chiefs and who does love a little Jake Bobo. You know what? The news that the, uh, restricted free agent offer, the offer sheet was signed, came through. I was like, wow, he's already been in the league for three years. I'm getting old really quickly here. I forgot that he's already been in the NFL that long. So good for them keeping it all together. But yeah, you're right. With, uh, with JSN, too,

that the whole archetype thing that I think we hold ourselves to. We can wash that away now, because I think these offenses are so multiple and try to, you know, accomplish things in different ways that we don't need to fit guys into boxes anymore. I think he's, He's a great representation. Also, getting that deal done now, how much did the cap just jump over the last year or two? It's going to continue to jump. Receiver salaries are going to continue to rise. You sign him now. You got him under team control for six years. That's going to be super affordable in about two or three. Yeah, 23 years old. Imagine like you go back to. Really? He's still only 23. This was his 23 season. He's about to turn 24. You want to go back to Antonio Brown in 2014. You could sign Antonio Brown and have control over that contract for six more years after he had 16, 98 yards. that was on 181 targets. Load him up. Let's get to 200 targets for JSN next year. That's not a bad.

It's honestly not a bad comp. I think. Volume shooter. Antonio Brown. At 15 yards to catch, by the way. This is a crazy season for Jackson Smith and Jig. It really is. And I think Antonio Brown's a pretty good on-field comp for him.

Like, there is something about the way Antonio Brown moved on the field, which I feel like is unique to him. Yeah. But I just think in terms of how they win and the type of... Off the field, unique to them. Yeah, yeah, that's a whole other problem,

and there's nothing to worry about there for JSN. But I think that is kind of the prototype of, let's face it, a Hall of Fame caliber receiver. Antonio Brown, I would always argue with Wesleyan. You might be the best receiver I've ever covered. I actually think he's at that level. I think you get a K today.

I don't know, but the end of his career wasn't great. It wasn't great. It's getting open. Here's the thing. The receivers, While we're still on the money, they are getting paid more even as a percentage of the cap. Robert Mays pointed this out, who does great work on the athletic show. 13 wide receivers salaries account for at least 10% of the cap compared to only one receiver

where that was the case 10 years ago. I think that's just a correction in terms of their value, but I do think it makes sense that essentially the other positions, including Edge and defensive tackle, is getting there. and wide receiver and tackle. Like more positions should be closer, at least in the ballpark to quarterback salaries, and they're still quite far away. And so I think that's more of just a correction.

But it is a reminder as we're drafting these guys of like what positions the NFL is paying. Yeah, the cyclical nature, right, of all these different cost-controlled mechanisms between the compensation, right, the franchise tag. It's all going to do, everybody's going to take their turn at getting underpaid. And so it's just going to work its way,

through is everything coalesced. And the fifth year option kind of hurts guys like Smith and Jigba, who is two years away from free agency. And so that's, this is really a six year contract. It looks like he's making $7 million more per season than

Justin Jefferson, but that's just nonsense. It's just, it's just accounting from agents to make it sound better. But yes, they keep Jake Bobo. My last point on this, and like, we'd only have time for this at the end of March here. If you're going to sign Jake Bobo, to a restricted free agent tender.

Why don't you mean something with it? You know? Make it happen. Two years, five and a half million dollars. The original tender shook was one for three and a half. And I was wondering how come I never saw the terms. Why? I don't even get it.

Were they just doing him a favor? Like, it didn't even do him a favor. You got to go at least two for eight. Two for nine. Drive up the price. Make them think twice about keeping him. They really did the Seahawks a favor. They literally lowered his average contract.

Like it was one for three and a half. And then they're like, hey, we'll sign you two for five and a half. Of course they were going to match that. He's Jake Bobo. Are you suggesting perhaps that they're working together? No, no. You know, that's what pops into mind. I would never make the accusation.

But it seems like if I'm Jake Bobo, I would be like, hey, did you all ever? Well, he could have not signed it. Right. I know. He could have not signed it. So I also thought I was like, this was a stupid move by his agent. Like I don't even know. You always sign it though because you have to at least see if they'll follow up.

I guess if you're Jake Bobo, you've made, you know, probably $1.5 million in your life. So signing $5.5.5 guaranteed million is a lot of money. You're rich. I would have maybe bet on Bobo and hits free agency a year from now. He's their fourth receiver, though. You got Rashid Shahid. You got Cooper Cup. It's fun.

The Seahawks are bringing the gang back. Let's talk. And by the way, Devin Weatherspin also got his fifth-year option. They gave JSN the fifth-year option right before this deal happened. expect a Devin-Wetherpoon contract soon. I think kind of like the lines did this a few years ago with their guys that were heading to fifth year options, they're going to get these deals done really fast.

Let's talk about this flag football over the weekend. I was going to totally avoid it, but that felt like trying too hard to say we're not carrying. I actually think there are some actual angles here. And the main thing is that Team USA took destroyed the fanatics, you know, NFL all-star teams that included some non-N-FL players to like Logan Paul

and I don't know, some other YouTube show speed I think Tom Brady was in the mix and guys like Luke Keeckley and Harrison Smith were randomly out there. This was untested. Logan Paul was participating. He was test.

He did get, he did pull Jalen Hertz's flag, which is a little embarrassing for Hertz, I feel like. Well, you're saying, you're saying, way football's unregulated. Yeah, yeah. I'm just, we know what, we know what's going on in Jalen's veins.

This was, this was, it was, it was, it was mostly nonsense from the NFL side for, according to Greg Olson, who did the game like that they had like a couple light walkthroughs, basically. Yeah. They were not really taking it seriously. And they got killed. They literally didn't stop Team USA from scoring one single time the entire day. This is the three games flag football team in America, right?

Right. And they're facing a bunch of NFL guys who play NFL football, 11 on 11, tackle football. Field is larger. There are more players. You can make contact legally. This is like almost a completely different sport except they're using the same ball. And it was very obvious from the outset. Other than Tom Brady's great move where he dropped and slid and found digs in the corner of the end zone for a touchdown pass. The rest of it was, you know, I mean, there was a play in Team USA lateral the ball like seven times before throwing the ball down field. Of course these NFL guys are not going to be prepared for that. And there's another one where there's a quick toss to

the forward to the left very quickly just to pick up a few yards. It's like I It's a completely different sport, basically. They're not used to trying to pull flags. Which is great. They're not used to trying to avoid getting their flags pulled. It's a good example of how if they want NFL guys involved in the Olympics, they're going to have to get them adjusted if they want them on Team USS. They're going to have to take it seriously.

And I just don't think that many NFL players are going to make sense for it. It's a different body type. Like the best, the best player on the field was 5-7-135 and just moves like crazy. It's a different sport. But I think it was good, actually, to show all the fans. And maybe even the NFL players that, like, hey, be humble. This is not your sport. You can't really compete.

They did some okay things on offense. Like the NFL All-Stars. They moved off all a little bit. And Tom Brady did have the best stats, I will say, of all the quarterbacks that were out there. Yeah, I mean, that's what he does. He's pretty good at that whole quarterback thing. As Shook points out, it's a reminder,

a lot like you'll see a video of, like, Strongmen doing something. They have, like, a guy put on overalls. It's like, this is a blue collar worker. doing it and people like well that's real strength versus weight room strength but the thing is like your strongest in the range of motion that you train yourselves in. Yes. And so these guys train themselves in flag

football and so they're good at flag football and it's like you can't be like oh, what Tyree Kill out there? No like Tyree Kill even Tyree Kill even somebody who we think would be excellent. Be clear he was not out there recovering from an injury. Still recovering from a significant knee injury but like the body type the explosiveness the ability to break tackles

at that speed like that's related to the actual game of football. It's fundamentally different sports, but hopefully, you know, we can all appreciate it and uplift the brand and the shield, which we will protect. Right. So I think we, this is something that will help have less NFL players

in the Olympics. But Joe Burrow wants to play in 2028. He says he wants to be the team's quarterback in 2020. I think Bengals fans who are watching this game are like, hell no. And thankfully, no one got hurt. But Jaden Daniels is out there as a wide receiver. Well, Gronk got hurt. Grong got hurt. Gronk scored.

Wait, did Brady send Gronk on another mission that got him hurt? I don't... The turf got Gronk. Oh, yeah. He actually... Artificial turf barrier around the grass field and Grong slipped on it trying to get up and pull the hammy. He scored men of his age.

They were up eight nothing and it was all looking okay. He scored and but like OBJ was involved. He says he wants back in the NFL, by the way. He was not in the NFL last year. He was coming off an injury, but then no one signed him. He was there. But I actually thought it was, it was lucky that

Jay and Daniels, Joe Burrow, like, they were playing hard for what it was, and there was a lot of contact on a Joe Burrow play. There were a couple of times, like, the guys like Jaden Daniels went down, and you're just watching this and thinking, man, the worst case scenario is not worth it for what this was, which was,

to begin with, and pretty clear, like a sports-washing Ponzi scheme effort by Fanatics and Tom Brady to just enrich themselves, right? I mean, it was just nonsense. And then because there's a war going on, they can't actually play it there. I don't know if they still got paid the same amount of money,

but they were still out there, out there playing. I think keep the NFL teams away from the flag. Maybe like one player. At least in this capacity that we had, as you pointed out, Greg, and all the things that you literally just said, flag football can do a little better than what we had.

Right. And if they were going to do it, take it seriously and don't have like the YouTubers and stuff out there. All right, let's fire through the rest of these news items pretty quickly. I thought it was interesting. Multiple reports shook that the Cowboys were looking to trade for a linebacker. And one of them was from ESPN, another from a local reporter. And they named the same linebackers, Aziz Al-Shayr and Jordan Brooks. I don't know the Cowboys are trying to get it out there that they want to trade for a linebacker.

Patrick Queen is maybe another name that that could be out there. But I always find it interesting when the same presumably Cowboys sources are putting this out like, I don't know if they're just trying to stay in the news or that they're just like, hey, will you guys give us Aziz Al-Shahir? I have seen no reason why the Texans would want to do that, but we need a linebacker because our linebackers don't look too good on paper. I think they probably have a higher chance of maybe trying to get Jordan Brooks than Aziz Al-Shire. But they are going for an archetype, that's for sure.

And they need a starting linebacker opposite DeMarvian overshone. So it makes a lot of sense. But it is funny when they trickle it out. It's like, oh, this person is giving it to this source and that source. Increase the pressure. Heat up the trade talks that are apparently not existing. because they're in the market and they would like it if their phone rang. Dan Quinn has been the head coach of the commanders now for,

we're going to go into season three. This was a need that they had on Dan Quinn's defense, what he was the defensive coordinator of Dallas Cowboys. This has been a whole thing for a very long time. And I love overshone, but yeah, one man does not make an entire unit. He's had some injury trouble.

So we'll see. Patrick Queen was supposedly being dangled out there, but he's still on the Steelers. Christian Wilkins is a name that did not make our top 101 because it was uncertain if he was healthy or what his situation, was his agent has let Adam Schaefter, but probably some other people know too, that his client intends to play football in 2026 and that 26 teams have showed interest. I want the list of the six, well, you can presume the Raiders are on it. I want the six teams who just aren't trying and

haven't called up about Christopher Wilkins. That is a very specific. Do they not know? Is that why you had to reach out to Shefti to? I guess so, but he's not healthy yet. And so the plan is once he's healthy, then he will be playing football again. A guy who earned a $100 million contract. So, before... 26 teams? Is there a whiteboard in this agent's office in which he's just keeping tallies

of every team that calls? Is this Greg Williams saying that he's got eight head coaching offers just on standby when he was a defensive coordinator back in the day? Like, this sounds a little inflated. And what does express interest? Right. Well, I think what that means is one, they're just having this conversation

with the agent over maybe all of his clients or a variety of things. They're like, hey, is Christian Wilkins going to ever play? like what's up with him that would probably be qualifying as interest I don't know if it's more than that but

so maybe the other six they didn't immediately ask and so he had to tell them that and then ask if they I think the other six are we got to find who they are they're not they're not trying not interested

they read they read the the stuff the alleged stuff that no one has ever figured out that Christian Wilkins did in the locker room but apparently toes were involved there was some there were some talks about toes

uh the Falcons acquired Sydney Brown since we last tape. The Eagles safety for two trade downs in the fourth and sixth round from the Eagles. The Eagles also signed Damian Pierce, running back formerly of the Texans.

Marcus Epps and J.T. Gray, so some safety help. While we're talking restricted free agent, last week, we were covering the issue really strongly about Ryan Van Denmark. He is a member of the Vikings. Have you ever heard of a name that fits more on the Vikings than Van Denmark? No, he and Van Ginkle on the same team.

Wow. Yeah, that could be a multiple vans. Can we get a van Sweden? Maybe. Van Finland? It's time for the off-season ride-along presented by Toyota. Mark Davis, the owner of the Raiders, has reportedly agreed to a succession plan. Is everything okay? Everything is fine.

He says he is not going to sell the team right now, but he is in, I think he is, I think, He's 71 now, but now he has a structure in place for when he does decide to sell, then he has the next owner. And so the NFL has to approve this. And so we'll see. Just something to watch there. I think he's also selling maybe like 10% of the team to this next owner. So that'll be kind of sad one day when the Raiders are out of the Davis family.

Some other very just little bits of news, and then we'll take a break and get to our segment. Appanessa, formerly of the bill, signed with the Browns. Josh Dobbs, the backup of the Patriots has been cut. They're going to go with Tommy DeVito as their backup quarterback, presumably Greg Dorch and Peyton Turner, both back in the league as members of the Lions. And happy trails to DJ Chark and Logan Wilson, two NFL players who have decided to hang them up. Unfortunately, I hate to do this.

You know what I think, you know what I always think about with Logan Wilson? What's that? the penalty in the Super Bowl. I'm actually glad that I'm the only one that ever brings this up. But it was like second down where if the Bengals got three straight stops,

the Bengals would probably won the Super Bowl. And on second down, he got called for a pretty questionable PI. It probably was a PI. But it looked for a second that the Rams were down to two plays or else the Bengals were going to win the Super Bowl. They called it on Logan Wilson.

That's what I think of them. But a very good career with the Cincinnati Bengals earned a lot of money and happy trails to him. That was the off-season ride-al 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. Let's take a break and we're going to come back

with a segment of different NFL figures who are suddenly important at work. It will thankfully not include Logan Paul. 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. 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. 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. 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 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, quiet week. We're getting ready for the league meeting. But we're also getting ready for the NFL draft. We're breaking down the wide receivers coming up later in this week with Ollie Connolly. We've been watching the film.

We're starting getting into draft takes. Also 40s and free agents coming up on Tuesday. But before that, it's a phenomenal. phenomenon that happens sometimes when changes occur and suddenly you're important at work. And so we're thinking about how the league has changed over the last month. And both Patrick and I both thought of one man to start this exercise. And that was Basial Tutin of the Jaguars who sees Travis CTN leave and suddenly feels very important to what the Jaguars are going to do this season.

Yeah. And we've seen it so many times. Our colleague Maurice Jones-Drew always points this out where the second running back looks explosive, makes so many plays, but that's because the starter is getting the volume of the work, especially in the past game, where Travis E.T.N., excuse me, H.N.

excels, and we see Tudin with a 35.8, missed tackle rate with the ball. His head's looking pretty good, but he's going to have to keep that up for a whole game now, and the Jags are going to have to facilitate backup and support around him. I think he can do it, but suddenly when I'm thinking about guys who are becoming

very important at work, Baye Shulte Tudin, is it? And I don't need to see, like the metrics. You got to just trust your eyes. Anyone with that burst, when he gets the ball, the zero to top speed is so fast and he's so rugged.

I know we've heard, oh, Chris Rodriguez, who they brought in is going to be like a big factor. And yet, I still think Tutin is going to be leading the way because he's more talented than Chris Rodriguez. Chris Rodriguez is a good player.

You had two Jaguars. While we're at the Jaguars, you might as well just throw out your other. You were going deep here. Yeah, it may be, It may be even more difficult for Ventrell Miller to come in and replace what they were able to get last year from a pole ball and all pro who's now going up and playing in Devin Lloyd in Carolina. But Ventral Miller played about 40% of the defensive snatch played well. He's going to have to slot over the Jags.

You know, they've got time to try to fill that out. I don't know if you replace a veteran with a draft guy. So here we are. You've got a veteran there. Ventral Miller's suddenly going to become very important. to work. He's going to be picking off Patrick Mahomes and running it back 99 yards, no, but he's significantly more important. And they have four picks in the top 100. Three in the third round within about 20 picks, like 80 to 100. Is that a spot where they look at linebacker? I don't know.

It's an organization that hasn't put a premium at that position. Let's get to you, Shuck, and pick your favorite guy who's suddenly important. We're no offensive side of the ball. We're going to go out to Las Vegas, where the Raiders have lacked a name of significance since moving on from Jacobi Myers, and they have since added Jalen Naylor, a guy whose previous career high stand at 29 catches, 444 receiving yards, and six touchdowns, which is relatively respectable for maybe a two or three receiver, except now he walks into a depth chart that includes Jack Bess and Trey Tucker. And they know that they need more production from receiver. They cannot solely lean on Brock Bowers, especially if he isn't healthy, like he wasn't for a good

portion of last season. So Nailer steps into a great opportunity to really hit his maximum, but he's going to have to do it with a team that's probably going to be relying on a rookie quarterback, as we all expect them to select Fernetta Mendoza with the number one overall pick, and hopefully that rebuild offensive line holds up. So it's going to be an immediate, prove-it situation for him, but he is suddenly very important at work. Yeah, he's a different category of guys who fit well here and being suddenly important. And that, like, yeah, he never really got the volume there in Minnesota.

And I think it's a big early test of the new John Spitech era Raiders, where he's actually in charge. They got Pete Carroll out of there and the pro personnel department. Everyone likes Jalen Naylor's tape, but there's not a ton of production on it. And you heard in Minnesota last year, I think the staff there really liked him.

I think they expected a big season out of him. And look, Justin Jefferson didn't even have a big season. No one had a big season catching the ball there. So you're really trusting the tape in your evaluation. The money's not crazy, fully guaranteed. It's only $18 million. Like, he is getting paid more. like a two slash three.

So if he shows up and catches 60 balls and has 900 yards, like that is a huge win. I will give a win to John Spitech if that happens. I'm going to go, let's go with someone that has a new title. And that's Rob Brzezinski. And I don't think they officially changed his title, but I wanted to get a little creative here. Like he's kind of the GM-ish with the Vikings.

He is the executive vice president of football operations, a man who has been helping run their cap since before Mike Zimmer was there. He has been there forever, like 20 years. He has outlasted, you know, Rick Spielman and now Quessie, and he's there, and suddenly you got a draft where I'm sure Kevin O'Connell has a big say, maybe the biggest say. But you do have someone who's trying to organize everyone who's been there for a long time, maybe been a little more middle management and has got to maybe like keep all that job by not,

getting too high. That's a good strategy in middle management. And now, like, this draft is going to partly be authored by him in KOC. They got to prove it. Especially in a circumstance where relationships, seemingly in, you know, the social aspects of those things, maybe the most important part, considering what we heard

about the departure of Quesia dofo Mensa. And so we know that Rob can do that. How's he, how's the relationships go when, you know, maybe you're not necessarily the one making the decisions, but you're going to be one at the podium. I actually think there is a way to have a GM type of guy who's not the scouting type because they have so many, so many scouting types.

Why is that? You're giving me a, Nick. Well, because I happen to live in Cleveland where the Browns, I don't know if notoriously or infamously hired a man who came from baseball and Paul D. Podesta and had him run the analytic side of the way the organization ran for a long time. Drew a lot of fire when the Brown struggled. I'm just saying when you promote a numbers guy, which I'm, look, I'm all on board with promoting the numbers guy. When you promote a numbers guy, they will be within the target of fans who are upset. But I hope, you know, given that the time that this happened, because it was kind of out of cycle when they moved on from Questi, you hope that they can do well and that the relationship is strong. What I'm kind of getting at, though, is it's more of a, it can be a management job.

And it always confused me a little bit, like, what is everyone doing in these huge scouting departments? Because you got the area scouts and then you got the higher scouts. and then you got the other scout. And then you have the GM who actually makes the final decision on top of that, who was also a scout. And does every, like,

ultimately, like the GM is kind of making all these calls. So I'm saying someone who could manage an entire department who's been there who knows the people, their strengths and weaknesses. Do you need another scout on top of all the other scouts? What's everyone doing? How many scouts do we really need? I mean, you could say that about a lot of management positions, right?

Like in general, it would be great if everybody in all those positions would be able to clearly delineate, what their actual day-to-day is like and what other people's decisions and how they play into the ultimate decision. But I think generally, based on what we heard out of Minneapolis, regarding the departure

of the last GM, I don't think we're ever going to know that. Right. I'm kind of getting on, like, you know how they think about Mike Tomlin and John Harbar, two great head coaches who are really good at, like, managing the building. It's not about the X's and O's and stuff. In theory, that's maybe

the most important thing for a GM to have. And yet we have no idea who's actually good at that because what we think of as a GM is just who can scout the best. But I think some people who either are good at player evaluation or not get to that role, and they're not really good at managing everything. I can think of a couple who seem like they're quite bad at it. And they don't really prove that they're good at scouting either. So maybe Rob Brzezinski's got the tools.

We have no idea. Let's get another one for Patrick. Yeah, I'm going to go back to Florida. I'm going to go over to Jacob Parrish, a corner going into the second year. year where Todd Bowles didn't mince words at all, he asked about it. He's like, oh, yeah, Jacob's going to play. And he was right, the 72% of the snaps. And Jamel Dean is now playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

I would imagine if Jacob Parrish didn't have the rookie season that he did have, that we wouldn't be saying that. Jamel Dean would maybe still be there. And so, yeah, he's going to get more snaps at a more prominent position, and he's suddenly more important at work. Great example. And it's part of how they do things there. They develop at cornerback.

They pay sometimes. they paid Diane McCollum. They used to pay Jamel Dean, but they also have Benjamin Morrison. They have Jacob Parrish, and they kind of trust Todd Bowles' ability. And if they didn't, they would have paid Jamel Dean again

because he didn't really get that much money. So he was a third round pick. Morrison was a second round pick, and that's going to be very important for them. Why don't you go shook with the next one? It's funny because I targeted Tampa Bay's secondary as well, and I had Morrison on my list. Now you've got to go for a different one.

We're crossing him up. We're moving to a different team, but we're going to stay on the defensive side of the ball. We're going to Cincinnati where one of my favorites, I think one of your favorites too, Greg. Boy, Maffa has arrived as Trey Hendrickson's replacement of sorts, a guy that Bengals fans are going to hope is going to produce off of the edge and help that pass rush, which has been nonexistent,

especially when Hendrickson wasn't there. They also added Jonathan Allen. But Maffay steps from a rotational guy, one member of a very strong crew where he was playing alongside Leonard Williams and DeMarcus Lawrence. And now he's the guy. He's the guy in Cincinnati. He's no longer just starting four games.

He's playing a full. season and he's going to be expected to fix a lot of what was wrong with that defense from a past rushing perspective. So I hope that he, with the increased snaps, that he can be a producer like we've seen him produce at times, especially earlier in his Seahawks career when he had more playing time, but a lot of pressure on him, he's suddenly very important in Cincinnati. Yeah, he's a guy that played 20 games last year and yet he only had 630 snaps because his teammates were so good. And I do really like him a lot as a player, think it was a good contract, and yet I am a little worried about the expectation level.

But maybe he can just do a lot more. He did have a nine-sack seven quarterback hit season back in 23. And maybe he can do more winning one-on-one. But I do think of him as someone who would be great in a group. Like there's no reason to think, like to expect just because he's getting paid more, that he's going to be a completely different player. What he needs is some help. Talk about someone else who could.

Let's do a whole series of, uh, I'm going to group some guys together just so we can talk more players. I'm going to give a list of wide receivers who have a bigger role than I would have expected. Jahan Dotson right now is the wide receiver two in Atlanta. Will he be come week one? Most likely because they don't have a first round pick. Wide receiver is a fairly likely place for them to go, but that's a mid to late second round pick. Will he beat out Jahan Dotson?

I don't know. Zakias is behind them as a wide receiver three. They gave Dotson pretty good money. So this is his chance to really step it up. And I'm going to just throw out a couple other wide receiver names that I think are kind of in this group too. Luther Burden is going to be asked to do a little more in Chicago. I'm very confident that he can do it.

We saw the proof of concept late last year. And then our guy, Patrick, Isaac Tislaw. I did think when they let Kaleaf Raman go especially, not that Raymond and Tassla are that similar, but it did hit me that like, okay, it's going to be Tisla. season in 2026. Grow the mullet now. And maybe not as many,

not as many shot plays. Just kind of incorporate Isaac Tislah in like non-in-zone targets. No, he's not going to be leaf in the return game. And I think, you know, Ben Johnson's familiarity was a big part of that as well. But I'm excited for Tislai. You know what? They did give him more, and there were some injuries,

more snaps later in the season. And he just didn't get a lot of targets. And he's a rookie big body receiver, learning, I think, how to run. and, you know, defenses at the NFL level. But, yeah, I'm excited to watch a little to Sla, a little burden. And then Jahan Dotson, who I've always thought could do like a little bit more, might be asked to do a little bit more.

What do you think about those three guys in particular, Shook? Pick one that you like the best. I had Zakias actually listed, even though he wasn't one of the guys that you threw out there, just because he's back in Atlanta after he's had a bit of a nomadic career. And I've loved where he's been, no matter whether it was in Washington or Chicago. He's like an under the radar guy who produces. And I think that that's a good just mention of the, the Falcons receiving core as a whole is figuring out who else is there opposite Drake London and

especially with their uncertainty at quarterback, you know, when his penning's going to be ready, is Tua going to be the guy to start the season? We're going to find out a lot of these things under Kevin Stefanski a whole lot of change coming there, but I think Zakias is a good fit. But I want to add another receiver. Okay. Instead of opining on those guys. Let's go with a guy who was a former first round pick who washed out in Tennessee and may have found new life in Washington. and trailing. Oh, wow. Because he's one of the top three in Washington opposite Terry McLaren, who, you know,

as we know, missed a lot of time due to injury last season and Luke McCaffrey. And I think Washington likes Luke McCaffrey more than the average football fan and that's fine. But if Jayden Daniels comes back and can be completely healthy throughout the whole season, he might end up throwing a lot of balls to the big receiver with Burks on the back of his jersey. And maybe, just maybe we finally see a little bit of return on that first round investment, even though it wasn't Washington's pick. I liked what I saw in the brief moments in which he had success down the stretch since he joined the commanders in the middle of the season.

Just I'm very intrigued. I would love to see if it actually panned out. There was like a small window there. It's like a couple of games where Traylon Burks was getting loaded up with targets. And if you weren't aware of any of the other stuff and you're like, there was a former Titans receiver that got traded to a team in the NFC East and it's being successful. You might look at that and be like, it's Traylon Burks.

If you took his top three catches from last season and compared them to the top three catches of everyone else. Isaac de Slah might be on that list pretty high. And Traylon, which is maybe not the best way to measure, I love, this is some real, you're hitting me. Because, yeah, I, when I saw those couple games with the comming, I was like, could Trayland Burks happen? Because I feel like he looked snappier there than he ever has before.

He gets like $4 million to come back. They have a million receivers and they're going to draft someone and maybe sign more, but they brought in Van Jefferson. They brought in DeMami Brown. They have a fourth round pick, Jaylen Lane McAfrey, as you mentioned, it's kind of been a disappointment for them. But you're right. I actually am buying what you're selling.

Why don't we just finish all the receivers that we have listed anywhere? Because I had one more. I just will throw out there, which is Jalen Tolbert for the dolphins. The former Cowboys receiver is going to have a chance to make a lot of noise for Miami if they actually throw the football forward. I'm going to continue, though. And I'm going to go to a left tackle. Jordan Morgan, the first round pick from a couple years ago with the

Packers is now the presumptive left tackle. They let Rashid Walker go in free agency. Morgan's kind of bounced around at the interior positions the last couple of years was a guy that our Daniel Jeremiah, you know, according to his rankings, they reached a little bit for it's taking him a little while to get going. And suddenly, you're at left tackle for a team that expects to compete for a title. And this is sort of trusting in your development and trusting in your draft picks that they are going to make this work.

Jordan Morgan protecting Jordan Love. Yeah. It's a significant amount of pressure and, you know, you are very important protecting the most important man in Wisconsin. So congratulations. They are really, if you kind of look at their offense, they are really counting on coaching and development because it's still just all their guys. The offensive line is the same. The wide receivers are the same and they just need to be better. They had the most, like they had that continuity for two years up front.

And now it's like, that's all gone. Here you go. I just looked at your list in full. and I don't mean to skip around, but you wrote down Aaron Rogers. Oh, let's do this. Am I spoiling the end of the show or something?

No. The grand finale. No, it's fundamentally different. Okay. The power and the way that which he's, he's navigated this process, the past few years has dominated things. And collectively there's been like a,

oh, he's coming back. And if not, who cares? Mike McCarthy is the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers now. And this is probably it. This is probably it. it. This will, this one probably means more than any of the previous ones, specifically to Aaron Rogers and probably to, why? Because this is probably it. This is going to be, this is going to be it.

Didn't we think that last year though? No, because people still generally, like, I didn't know. Like, if you want to go to Google trends and look at Aaron Rogers searches, like it during and after the regular season, people were trying to find out, is it going to happen? Yeah. Coming back. It's not there. The interest generally isn't there. where there's the collective like, oh, he's on McAfee. It's, people are waiting until after the fact to find out.

And so like that, I think that declined in interest means that this is probably it. He's probably done. And the fact that this is going to be the last one is pretty important. The crazy thing is that I think this is a very competitive roster shook.

And it's an, that makes it important too. It does. It is an absolute indictment. on this entire organization if they're wrong about Aaron Rogers. And they thought they were right about them last year. To me, it was sort of incomplete. Like, I'm not going to say they were right or that I was wrong on that one.

I was like, yeah, it was like on the high end of outcomes, but you weren't really competitive against real teams. And if you dig beneath the numbers, the offense was pretty putrid for long stretches. Yeah, I mean, recency tells us that they were overmatched by the Texans in the playoffs. but they don't get to the playoffs or anything closer about Aaron Rogers. I thought he was fine.

I thought he was better than he'd been in his time with the Jets. Probably his best season over the last, what, three or four. Sure, but you could have, if Jacoby Brissette was their quarterback or maybe even Andy Dalton, I think they could have made the playoffs too. I wouldn't, I'm not going to sign up for that. I wouldn't sign up for Jacoby Percette, even though he threw a million passes in Arizona because they had no running game. I think Aaron Rogers earned another shot.

I don't think he earned the leeway that everybody gives him. And I think Patrick makes a great point there, which is that we're also. so tired of it. The football world has collectively hit the point of fatigue when we're just like, okay, come back. We're done tracking you. This might be your last season. I think you're spot on, Patrick, and that I think this is his last go around. Everybody's over the whole wait and see thing. And if he comes back, he completes that competitive roster, I believe that will help them contend in what should be a tougher AFC North. So yeah, he's very important because if they don't have him, they have Will Howard. Will Howard, who the Steelers fans are trying to convince themselves,

has some sort of long-term developmental potential, which maybe he does. We don't know. But if that's your fallback, Aaron Rogers is really important to what you're planning on this year. Will, I'm sorry.

I didn't need to set you up like that. Yeah. What I didn't realize, what I didn't realize here, we're dealing with a crazy person when it comes to Shook and Aaron Rogers. He ranked Aaron Rod, and the crazy person is Shook and Aaron Rogers.

Yeah, that's fine. Shook ranked Aaron Rogers as the 16th best quarterback in the league that played football last year. Ahead of Baker, I don't accept that, but you could maybe argue that. Ahead of Bo Nix,

that's ridiculous. Ahead of Jalen Hertz, don't agree at all. A head of C.J. Stroud, don't agree at all. A head of Bryce Young, Tyler Shook, Jackson Dart,

Malik Willis, Mac Jones. Don't even agree with all those either. He wasn't good. If he was pressured, the play was over. His success rate in general was down near the bottom of the league. He hits a couple big plays and he was good in high leverage moments and he prevents mistakes, including sacks and interceptions.

That's all very important. So that's why he is not where he is statistically like in terms of success rate, which is with Joe Flacco and Mason Rudolph and the worst quarterback. in the league. But he's not good. Like, he limits, he really limits, I can't believe you ranked him that high. Well, I think his general lack of mobility forced them into a box

when it came to how they operated their offense. They got the ball out incredibly quickly. But he was really good at that. He was really good at finding guys. It's just that the success rate's going to be lower because they're not gaining a ton of yards per play because they're getting it out so quickly. They took it in small football. It's to gain yards. Unless this is the only quarterback that you've

equipped yourself with if you're the Steelers. And I think he did a good enough job, given the situation that he was working in. And oh, by the way, a receiving core that was just DK. Metcalf and Calvin Austin and a bunch of tight ends. They've improved that group. I think that he'll, if he produces like he did last year, they'll be in the playoffs again, which is good enough for me at his advanced age, which is totally fine. Because guess what? You could say the same thing about the whole, oh, well, he couldn't move. And he, when you pressured him, it was going to be an ugly situation about Tom Brady at the end of his career because he also

couldn't move. And he won with his eyes and his brain before the snap. But Tom Brady, Tom Brady was awesome. Tom Brady was one of the best deep ball throws in league. Tom Brady was contending for MVP's at his age. Like there's no comparison. No, I'm sorry for putting Aaron Rogers name on this paper to initiate this discussion, but I will not stand by the disrespect

of Super Bowl champion Ben Skoronic. That is ridiculous. Ben Skoronic does not deserve this. Thank you. That's fair. You know it's a problem when Kenny Gainwell is one of your best receiving threats and he's coming out of the backfield. Wow. I did not. I did not expect to dive that deep into Aaron Rogers on March 23rd.

Let's wrap up some rapid fire names of guys that you really want to put into this show. Yeah, Chris Cooper just lost his job as the offensive line coach in Minnesota. And now he's got the most pressure. Jeff Stoutland is God in Philadelphia. He could do no wrong. They would blame everybody. Big Dom would get blame before Jeff Stoughton. Stoughtland said he's out.

Chris Cooper has the biggest target in all the sports on him right now. Not to mention, Lane John. in a podcast appearance said that he believes Jeff Stoutland could still have a role with the Eagles. Yeah, this was weird because this was like rumored for a while, like to the point where I had to double check to make sure that he had. What does that even mean? So this is, things seem unhealthy. Welcome to Philly. They do. Philly does not seem like a good situation right now.

Right. There's guys looking over your shoulder if you're Chris Cooper, like Sean Mannion's got a guy looking over his shoulder and Josh Grisart. Like there's, it just feels like it's. set up for a lot of a lot of palace intrigue. But that's a good choice. My coaches that I thought about were actually an offensive line coach, too, the Ravens offensive line coach, Dwayne Ledford, who did a great job in Atlanta. I think this was a sneaky good hire for the staff for Jesse Winton.

But right now, they are short a couple starters. I'm sure they're going to fill those spots. But either way, it's not going to be a lot of big names. Also, yeah, replacing Clint Kubiak is a little tricky for Seahawks, O.C. Brian Flurry. So the tight ends coach from San Francisco with a lot. Give me some rapid fire ones before we go, Shook. I'm going to keep it in coaches.

New defensive coordinator in Cleveland, Mike Rutenberg, replacing Jim Schwartz. We know how ugly that divorce was because Schwartz lost out on the head coaching job and spent the same, you know, the immediate hours after telling everybody in the building goodbye and the Browns couldn't keep them around. They had the fourth best defense in terms of total yards allowed per game last year. They've had some minor changes on that side personnel-wise, but a new defensive coordinator is going to have a big job. ahead of him of keeping this team competitive on that side of the ball because we all know

their offense is not competitive. So a lot of pressure on him. And because we're doing offensive line coaches, I'll go another Browns coach. George Warhop. He's got to come in and coach up a rebuilt offensive line. Joe Thomas, Hall of Famer, is a big fan of George Warhop. That was his O'Line coach in Cleveland early in his career. He's got to come in and put together a team that has three new additions up front and potentially could have a fourth if they don't believe in Dewan Jones. So a lot of pressure there for a couple of assistance. And also, guys, I know this is maybe two on the nose for this exercise, but very important at work suddenly is Malik Willis, quarterback of the Miami Dolphins. I mean, my God, maybe it's just too on the nose.

I, no, I like that one, but I can't get past the name Warhop as an offensive line coach of the Cleveland Browns. Has there ever been a more football name than George Warhop, new offensive line coach? And yes. Hank Freely is a good name too. Willis is important. But yeah, he was the number one player here on the free agency list that the expectations are going to be a little different because he doesn't have a lot of around. Yeah. So we're trading everybody. Hey, but Devon A chance still, they are not trading a chance. So he'll be able to handle the ball off, I guess. Well, look, Shook, you're, you're very important here at work. As are you. Patrick's going to be back with me later this week. Maybe we'll call up Shook for a double duty on Thursday. You're around.

Yeah. Sign me up. Got to keep the importance, right? Yes. We will be back in this feed on Tuesday, 40s and free agents, Daniel Jeremiah and I are doing an exercise. For all the poor teams that don't have first round picks, we're calling it March sadness. And we're going to tell those teams who they should be taking in the middle round. Only DJ would know. And then we'll be back in this studio with Colleen Wolf and Jordan on Wednesday. That'll be a fun one. See you then.

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 off season. This is where teams are built. Free agency, combine, pro days, trades. Every move matters. From my draft boards and mock drafts

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