NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Myles Garrett Trade Conspiracy and the Best/Worst Drafting Teams

Episode Date: March 27, 2026

Gregg Rosenthal is joined by Jourdan Rodrigue and Patrick Claybon to get you caught up on news from around the NFL including a trade conspiracy around Myles Garrett, NFL Draft chatter around Ty Simpson and Arvell Reese, possible changes coming to the NFL, Penei Sewell's future with the Lions and more. Plus, the crew tells you which NFL front offices they think are the most and least trustworthy headed into the Draft. 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 not really into conspiracy theories. I'm Greg Rosenthal. I'm with Patrick Claibon and Jordan Roderigan and Chris Wesleyan podcast studio. However,

this conspiracy theory that the Cleveland Browns changed the structure of Miles Garrett's contract and they're introducing a potential rule at the owner's meetings to allow teams to trade draft picks five years out has me

buying into the maybe they just want to trade Miles Gareth conspiracy theory. What do you think, Patrick? Somebody was motivated to share the story and so I'm going to have to delve into that a little bit more before I try to develop my own conspiracy theory because I am prone to it as well.

Maybe this doesn't even qualify as a conspiracy theory. It's just kind of like putting a few things together without any real basis in reporting. It just, it actually is making me think, okay, maybe this, maybe this thing could happen. You would also have to assume that the Cleveland Browns are setting up a long-term infrastructure for success for themselves in this scenario. And I also think that this is actually a thing that a lot of teams have talked about for a long time. And sometimes you draw the straw of like,

the one that volunteers. Who's going to be the one to introduce it, right? I feel like the Cleveland Browns, particularly ownership and that front office, maybe owes the league for taking one for the team at this point. So maybe that's a conspiracy. I mean, they own the, they, you know, owe the league just for the blight of the entire Deshaun Watson era. It's really more that this. That was what I was.

Yeah. No, I get it. I like the structure, um, the structure change of the Miles Garrett contract. I think it might just be because we don't have a lot of heavy news, uh, to talk about. But they pushed back. I would like to see it. That's how I would say. They push some space.

They pushed back an option bonus that basically had no, impact on their salary cap situation from the end of this month to, you know, closer to the season, which in theory, Field Yeats was the first to report this from ESPN, in theory would make it easier for them to trade Miles Garrett during the draft or in the lead-up to the draft. The whole rules proposal thing, that's really part of the conspiracy that doesn't matter because it's not going to happen fast enough to really help them out. That's more of, you know, they're their entire front offices, including Andrew Berry's like long-term Ponzi scheme to just keep getting tons and tons of money from the Browns despite having terrible results.

Like, let's just make this into a 12-year plan when our seven-year plan has us in the worst spot in the entire NFL. If you obtain a 2030 first-round pick, you probably keep your job. Right. But I also think this is interesting to me. I honestly thought that Miles Garrett should have been traded a while ago. But at this point, it is funny to me because his value would not have been higher. Now he's got the contract.

Yes, the contract is easier to be traded now. But his value pre-contract would have never been higher to a team who could have then designated the terms of then created the terms of that contract themselves. Yeah. And it always felt like that was more of an ownership thing. And Miles Garrett kind of wanted to get out. And I think the front office would have seen the path that that made sense last year. And then ownership was like, I'm not going to get rid of this guy. because maybe he's going to do something like set the single season sack record,

which is exactly what happened. That'll fix everything. Yes. So I think his value would still be high. By the way, you know, we're doing some news here. And we're also going to rank some teams later in the show who we trust on draft date and who we don't. This situation is not necessarily impacting where I feel about one team in the amount that I trust them. What, the Browns?

Yeah. Well, they're going to be, they're probably going to be in our. worst teams in terms of trustworthiness. In general. What could you get do you think for Miles Gere? I did poke around. I was like, do you think this is a real thing? And I don't think anyone knows. I don't think any, like if this trade actually happened, I think it will be one of those

surprised ones that does not have a buildup of the insiders doing a lot of reporting around it, that everyone on all sides is going to deny it, deny, deny that it's possible until the moment that it happens. But for salary cap purposes, like Miles Garrett, if you're looking at 2026 specifically, but even the next year or two, there's a lot of flexibility. Yes, he's making a lot of money. But this year especially, you're not really adding much cap to your, you know, you're not adding much salary cap if you're taking on Miles Garrett.

And it's pretty manageable and flexible to like figure things out in future years because the Browns paid all those signing bonuses. So is there any teams that you would even think about? Like what would Miles Garrett cost? The Eagles? Yeah, the Dallas Cowboys have a need for generational edge rusher. Yeah. I think you look at.

And I think they would, I think they would do it. People are like, hey, he's from Texas. Yeah, he's from Texas. Yeah, Cowboys, I think, you know, at a certain point, maybe they're not saying it so much as they more subtly are self-aware that they are in need of an adresher. And they'll never admit fault. Of course, not ever.

would do that. But yeah, they would need it. I think that a team that is win now with a quarterback that still has a couple of years left in his prime would absolutely be someone who's looking for a premier edition like that. Or a rookie on a quarterback that's good on his rookie contract and is in a win now mode, which would describe the bears and the commanders, possibly. Or the Patriots, maybe. More so I could see bears than commanders. But also, there's probably a lot of young people in the Ohio area who have been fans of a team that is consistent to let them down and have been a fan of a player

who has played at an excellent level despite all that. And I think the most value, you know, as much as we feel horrible about the Browns and the things they do and from ownership on down, to have Miles Garrett finish his career in Cleveland. I think that the Jim Schwartz thing has anything to do with this too,

the way that they handle that situation. I mean, you know, he has played some of his best football had played some of his best football under him. And I almost wonder, it's like if ownership's making a statement about who they want to keep versus who they don't want to keep, does that player then kind of come back and say, hey, I thought we were going to keep all of this intact for me here, you know? Well, there was a report that Todd Munkin had not been able to reach Miles Garrett, like a few weeks into his tenure. Who sends that out?

I don't know. Just saying, it feels like the coach. I think they maybe asked him at the press conference. and he tried to talk around it. But yeah, like, I think he hasn't been able to talk. Just, it'd be fun. Jim, if you're out there, if you can hear our voices. Yeah.

Call us. Hit us up. Come on the show. Figure this out. Man, we just jumped right into it today. No, no hi, no hello, no. Wow, it's crazy that Patrick's already been offered a sag card after his performance. Yes.

On our last show. We're wrapping up the week here talking about. trades because there was a nice article that I just thought I would remark on by Alec Lewis in the athletic just about the Jonathan Grenard situation. Jonathan Grinard wants a big new contract, feels like he's underpaid. Some of the statistics would indicate in terms of pressures, quick pressures, he's a top 10 type of pass rusher and his pay is much, much less than that. His sack total wasn't huge last year. There was reports that the Eagles were in on him. Alec didn't exactly report that the Colts were also in on him or that the Eagles were in on him,

but he mentioned those teams prominently as the two teams that would maybe make sense for Jonathan Grenard. So we know enough to know that that's not said just out of the blue. What do you think about the Colts and the Eagles and the fact that the Vikings made it publicly known that they would be open to trading Grenard at this point while also valuing them? They don't want to just give them away. Oh, I mean, we all want things, right? Like, but making something public like that does sort of change the terms of the entire conversation. Yeah, I, Alec is one of the best beat writers in the country.

And for a beat writer to say, hey, this would make sense. Yeah. And he absolutely knows that those are the two teams on it. Now, I don't, I'm not saying this for him. I don't want to put words in his mouth. But putting that in the article like that says, this is who is actually absolutely. absolutely interested in this situation. And I can see, I can see this, I can see the Eagles wanting to make sure that the price

does not go up in the, in the chance of a two-team competition for said player. But the Colts really, really need a player like him. The fact that he were said in the article a few times, like he can't imagine they would ever do it for less than a day two pick. It makes me think, wow, would they just do it for a, like a third? Like a, now the Colts don't have a lot of picks when I was trying to come up with teams that would possibly trade for Miles Garrett. Like, I couldn't include the Colts

because they don't have first round picks for a couple of years. The Eagles, however, have... Maybe that's why the Browns want future first round picks beyond... Right. Right. They got to change the rule. They're not going to change them for this year, though, would they? If they...

I guess we have to find out next week. You will be at the owner's meetings, and they're going to talk about this rule to possibly make it, you know, available to trade picks five years out. Now, there's a lot of GMs, by the way, in the NBA, would say, trading your future picks far down the road will not help you keep your job whatsoever. Because there's a million of them who have made dumb trades and gotten fired.

And there's so many bad NBA teams because of that. And then the new GM inherits it. So who knows? But wow, what a third round pick? Like in this year's draft, really good. It always, the price that we always see, it never really makes sense when we first see it. That's like, yeah. They get a quality player for that.

Like you're drafting. It was a dart shot. When I saw this Garrett thing, I wanted to believe in it because, you know, I feel like this draft needs a little more juice than it has right now. And that's okay. Not every draft. Like, it's interesting because there's obviously great players in every draft. But in terms of the skill position, it's a little lacking, which is where the basics like me really get in. And then overall, in terms of like elite, elite players, it's probably a little less where the strength of the draft feels like it's 20 to 70.

everyone keeps saying and people are less into that. And so I say all that to bring up the Arvel Reese controversy from Wednesday. I'm not sure if you are aware of this at his pro day. Look, he had this drill and he looked good at the combine. You know, it's like it's like a dip and rip edge rush move. And a lot of the draft Knicks out there were kind of mocking how stiff and how there wasn't like a lot of bend to him. And they're like, oh, see, he really is an offball linebacker. See, he's not an edge racer.

Here, compare him to Ruben Bain. Here, compare him to some sixth round pick that I like better. They're moving more fluidly than that. And it became a big thing in the draft community. And I don't think there's anything meaningful in this entire analysis, except for the fact that I think people are just looking for something to talk about and get mad about. And that's why also it became national NFL.

news that Dan Orlovsky likes Ty Simpson better than Fernando Mendoza, which is very possibly a bad take. Do you think that's a bad take? Dan will forget more about quarterbacking than I will ever acknowledge. I have not, as you guys know, my wife is a University of Alabama graduate. I've watched every Alabama football game probably since I was two years old. I did not think that was the game. But, you know, things remain to be seen. My larger point is that in a normal draft cycle where we're talking about quarterback trades and different players and whatnot. Dan could

just make a have a bad take or just a take that is, you know, different than contentist. It would come and go. But we spend a week talking about it and we spent a day on this Rvel Reese stuff when really it's not that meaningful. What I would just say to the people who really want like that pop, that juice coming into this draft, right? Remember, it was very quiet, too quiet, one might argue, last year. And then what happens? It happens that two general managers, to their credit, the Cleveland Browns and the Jacksonville Jaguars, were concocting a crazy trade-up for an absolute unicorn of a prospect in Travis Hunter. And that ended up being like all the pop that we really wanted and needed for the draft. So just because you're not seeing it now doesn't mean it's not potentially happening. And

maybe we all just touch some grass for a little bit before that. But the people are hungry. As Greg points out, the people are hungry for draft information. There was also a visual element so people could see. And it was a very simple one. Like, oh, well, this guy can bend better at this particular thing. Like, this still

frame, like, you know those still frames that we get before the season? Right. Where it's like somebody stomach is, like, maybe they're a little bloated that day. And it's like, oh, this weight game. Leonard Fournet weighs 600 pounds. And it's like, what's going on? That means football is back. Also, I don't like the idea that people are like, see, he's an edge rush. See, he's not an edge rusher.

He's a linebacker. As if that's some sort of horrible scarlet letter, our guy, Ali Connolly, who we're going to have to talk about linebackers next week, thinks he's a generational linebacker prospect. And that that's where he's going to end up in that he had him, he had him as high, he had him as his highest graded linebacker. And linebacker's kind of his main position. That's where he grew up as a scout as the second best linebacker since Luke Keeckley. So maybe he should be a lot.

linebacker. That would require nuance and critical thinking, Greg. What are you saying? And as you guys always note, I'm not on the, you know, C-SAM site for Elon's great replacement theory anymore, but there was that great discussion about Derek Henry on the bag drill. I don't know if you got to go way back. He's doing this drill for the first time ever that he's never done. All he's done is run for a billion yards. Oh, yeah. And in college, he does this drill and people look at it's like, this guy can't play running back. Also, you know where Arval Rees didn't have that much trouble dipping pass? tackles, like in major college football game.

That's why people are talking about him as an edge rusher when really that's not his main position. I will never forget a very, very prominent front office member, not a GM, but someone in a key role in a front office several years ago. I was on the phone for a story with him and I asked, oh, I'm at, I'm an indie right now and you're not at the combine. This is, of course, you said no, but I have it on. It's background noise as I watch actual college tape.

Wow. So it's like, you know, it's, this is, let's be real here. People, it's the tape. Watch the tape. Good call. And Arvel Reese has some great tape. And justice for the off ball linebackers. They have now reached this spot like the running backs like four years ago where I don't

know if it's galaxy brain thinking. But actually, if you have one of the seven truly game changing ones, it's such a massive advantage. They're the most underpaid and useful positions in the league because they were are only a handful, like, however many it is, guys that can be on the field all three downs and be difference makers all three downs and can rush the passer a little bit. And if you have one of those dudes, you pay him Zach Bond money and maybe Arvel Reese will be one of those guys. The Lions have a tackle that at this point is on his way to the Hall of Fame in Paisal in terms of the early

track record. He's got to keep it going. I thought it was very interesting that this week, Brad Holmes, the GM circled back on something that was kind of talked about, reported before free agency, which is, yeah, like, we might just, like, everyone's saying how we need a left tackle. Like, we'll see how this, you know, the draft and rest of free agency goes. But we might have our left tackle and his name is Penae Soule. What do you think? Yeah, you put a really good football player difficult position. I think Penae Sle can do it.

We've seen other people make this right, left conversion. I think a big part of it is how good are you at football? And the problem with Penae Soule is he's very, very good. it right tackle. So people think, well, you know, you don't want to lose that. No, he's still, he's still Penae Sewell. He'll just be lining up on a different side. I think you can do it. You could also try it out and kind of have a backup plan to switch back if for whatever reason, you don't like it. But maybe that will help them out in a draft where, yeah, it's hard to find left tackles. It's hard to find right tackles. But maybe, okay, we'd be open to taking a right

tackle because we can put Sewell over there. Yeah. I don't want to diminish the challenge of it because they always say it's like just retraining your brain again to react very differently in in terms of how your feet are set up and where you put your hands and all of those things. He can absolutely do it. And again, not to diminish the challenge of it, but they always say, too, that the guard to center, center to guard, or guard to shift

is more difficult than the right to left tackle. For certain players, a really gifted one such as Penae Sewell. That would be a cool little subplots. It's just something to watch. I noticed that. And I was like, all right, let's talk about it. Let's talk about it. Let's talk about it.

And I don't see any opposing edge being like, All right, we got Penae it, right? I'm going to move over there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. You got me. I mentioned the league annual meeting is coming. I will be there. Jordan's leaving for it over the weekend.

And Patrick and I will be recapping. There's a lot of news that comes out from those coaches breakfast. So we'll have some early shows. With the shots of the orange juice in there. You remember that time I called. I FaceTimed you guys into the show from the beach. That was beautiful. Try to get a nice.

this time. I'll look for it. I'll look for a good back. That is a very nice facility that they're having it. I have been there. I don't know if you can get that shot, but the pool is very nice there. I'm going to try to position myself right in front of. Remember Mark Caboli, on the Steelers Beat, fell

asleep next to Tomlin that is a whole. I'm going to try to position myself right there and just FaceTime you guys in from that scenario. I do remember that Arizona owners being. Actually, I went to a couple there, but one where, yeah, I really admired the media members who felt comfortable enough to go in the pool while there's like NFL owners around.

Usually it's like one of our coworkers because I don't know. That's next level. That's next level. Let's give a quick preview, which is just they're expected to announce and confirm that Vegas will be the Super Bowl in 2020. We actually don't have the Super Bowl just two years out, which is pretty interesting. We also don't have a date for next year's Super Bowl, which has Mike Florio, speculating that they're trying to push the 18 game season that quickly? Listen, it's just proper planning. There's a lot up in the air in the world right now. Fair. They're going to not talk about the tish push.

We mentioned the draft pick stuff, which I think is cool. I actually think let's give teams different opportunities to build their team however they want. I don't think it's crazy to allow teams to trade draft picks five years out instead of three years out. I like that. and they have some stuff which we haven't in the rules proposals to get ready for the potential referee strike. We have not mentioned any potential referee strike. Nobody cares about the ins and outs of like labor negotiations.

I do. I was going to say I kind of care. I know, but the lister's like the nitty gritty. But the fact that they're bringing this up at this point. I mean like I don't want to be reporting on it on a day-to-day basis. Let's get it when the big head. lines are coming, not that they're prepping for it. But the fact that they literally might be voting on rules shows us this could be something we are talking about a lot in September if they

don't get this thing done. And we have, you know, ownership, at least the particulars making the decision. We've lost some since the last notable incident of a labor disagreement between the officials and the league. But the lasting memory of that being the fail-marry and being closer in a lot of people's minds I think gives them a little more power in this and I am a noted person who's critical of referees but you know

they are workers and this is interesting for you because it is referees but you and I agree we're pro labor but now so now it's like the Venn diagram of it is also the referees yeah no I you know they're not cops

they're actual workers who perform a job and you know I stand in solidarity with them I hear everything you're saying, and then I think back to the fail, Mary. And you know what that was great for back at the time? What's that?

Content. Like NFL.com. It's just, it's true. I feel horrible for our country. Yeah. Thank you. I don't know if I've... I actually am pretty sure about this

because I used to be pretty in on the numbers of it all. I wouldn't be surprised if the night of the fail Mary was the most. red knight, like in the history of NFL.com. I definitely never, because I remember being up late that night and just like continuing to write like different versions of those stories. And I would guess that that was like my all time night of metrics. Just people could not get enough of the fail, Mary, everything that came together.

People, people love to hate on referees. They love drama, you know. It's like all combining. And normally if I'm not saying this is good for football, but it might be in the back of their mind. But it's good for great. Well, not anymore. I'm not writing,

but I want the NFL.com. Shout out to David Ealy and Kevin Patrick and shook to keep it going. And 10, 950, West Washington Boulevard, all the things that happened back during the fail-and-marry time. But the thing that I remember about it

the most is normally with officiating discussions, there were arguments about, was it all right, was a call wrong? There was a little bit of that, but because the disagreement was so immediate, the only thing was, hey, there's a work stoppage.

And we've got to, we got to get this figure, Well, that's the key to social media. Just focused on outrage. And just to remind the listener, some of whom were probably quite young at the time, that was the replacement refs. Yes. So this was obviously the-

That ended their strike, essentially. Yes, they could not come to terms on their contract. Now this contract is up again, and they're trying to avoid another situation where there are replacement reps. But so far, the officials have accused the NFL of not coming in good faith to the arguments. This is the first time the refs have actually spoken up about the state of the negotiation. So high drama in store for next week. Great context. And yeah, I believe that was week three. And that was when I was working for the NFL from New York, from my apartment

with a bus stop going by every seven minutes. Every Halloween costume that year was replacement refs. A couple other quick items. I noted that NBA Hall of Famer George Gervin, is planning to battle Caleb Williams over his plan to trademark the nickname Iceman. Apparently, that is the nickname Caleb Williams enjoys is going with, is called already. I wasn't aware of that. Thoughts on Caleb William as Iceman. And if it's okay for current players to take a very famous nickname from a player that most 20-somethings have never heard of, but it was a pretty iconic nickname.

Copyright law can be an interesting aspect. I think of Val Kilmer when I think of Iceman. Good call. And I think I can also think of Caleb Williams. I hope everybody gets what they deserve. Yeah. Money? That's what they're looking for.

Also, I think one thing I do appreciate about this, it's the fan base gave him the nickname. He didn't just assign it to himself. It wasn't like a pro football reference thing either. It was literally like the fan base after watching some of those incredible fourth quarter comebacks and particularly the Iceman. You know, especially some of the, in the cold and the snow and all that stuff.

They have given him this. Gary Payton did that with the glove. He just told people to start calling him the glove. And also, you know, Black Mamba for Kobe came just straight up from Nike. That was nothing. You can call yourself. Shout out to George Gervin, by the way. Just pulling him up here on pro basketball.

Yes. A four-time scoring champ. One of the best to ever do? MVP, 12-time All-Star. So shout at him. And while we're talking other sports, let's go to break. And let's just look up at a picture. We're taping this on opening day of baseball.

It'll come up on Friday morning. And I just want to give a shout out to the Mets, David Stearns, who broke out the quarter zip under a zip combination, which is new ground for the quarter of a button down. Over a button down. I feel like I've seen Joe and Troy. The quarter zip under a zip up? I don't know.

It's like a quarter zip and a half zip. Our friend Jackson Bevin's pointed this out. It does zip all the way to the bottom. So the jacket over the quarter zip is not two quarter zips, but I think someone needs to just go full double quarter zip. Make it a half zip. Just a thought. Wait, you want another level?

I want another level. Oh, I want a quarter zip over another quarter zip. If we're going to go this way, I feel like he is caught in the Matrix right now, and I love it. There's a lot of texture happening here. He's listening. Intently, though. I've had a shack it, Greg.

It is an audio medium, so that's a problem. 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. 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 IHeart Radio app. I'm Daniel Jeremiah. And I'm Greg Rosenthal. And this.

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. First down in 10-I formation with commit right. Snap. Caleb, Clayfink.

Looking to throw. Going deep. Searching for. DJ Moore over the shoulder. Catch made. Touchdown. Bears. It's over at Soldier Field.

The Iceman coming. The Iceman take it. A 46-yard. Spirled to the end zone to DJ Moore. What a strike. Ben Johnson going for the big ball. And it's Captain Crunch Time. Caleb does it again.

Oh man, Jeff Joniak. The Iceman cometh. The Iceman, take it. I love that. And yeah, I guess I should remember. The Ice Man was happening in the same stretch of games that DJ Moore was happening. It really is amazing to think of the drama that DJ Moore added not only to the Chicago Bears franchise, but the end of that season with two iconic catches and then one iconic bad route that also ended their season in a bad way.

Amazing. he also lent some really amazing drama to the start of the regular season too. Love us some DJ more. Love us, uh, Iceman. The Iceman for everyone. All right. We've got a, we've got a very. Iceman.

Serious, important draft today. We are drafting the teams we trust the most when it comes to the 2026 NFL draft. Basically, the organizations that we trust will do the right thing for their franchise draft good players, make good trades, make good decisions. Basically, the front offices we trust the most specifically. for the draft. And we're also going to do some, some teams we trust the least. Now, in an extremely complicated and contentious off-camera procedure. Only because it was you two.

Sure. Jordan will be choosing first. Patrick chose to choose second after, after winning the lottery. And I will be choosing third. So you get to start us off, Jordan. who is the best, the team you trust the most? The delight in the NFL. I didn't want to, I just didn't want to lose the off-screen competition. I am going to plot twist a little bit because I think I know what all the listeners think that I'm going to pick right now.

But I'm going with the Seattle Seahawks as a team that currently I trust to draft the most. When I was sort of doing these trust the most in the draft, the upcoming draft, this was a lot of thought about, this exercise overall was a lot of thought about continuity, how much of an advantage continuity can be in a front office when the language of evaluation is understood, not just within the scouting and talent identification departments, but also between the GM and the coach,

between the scouts and the head coach. I think with Mike McDonald in this position has really shown a high skill level in communicating specifically what types of players he wants and how to build a complete puzzle with those players and not just draft to fire, fly to traits or to need, but to also look at some sort of intersection between the players we need, the players who would best help us quickly, and the players that absolutely can be maximized by this coaching staff. So that right now, I think that for John Schneider, what a turnaround, some questionable draft decisions in recent years, free agency

decisions, contracts, but has been consistent and has continued to sort of rebuild these teams without ever totally tearing the roster down. That means that they draft well. If you can do that, it means you draft very, very well or consistently. And so I think the consistency and then the ceiling of this means that I pick the Seahawks first. It brings up a larger conversation here in general, which I could have prefaced this whole exercise. Like, is there such a thing even as good drafting teams? Because over a long enough timeline, usually, go through dips and lulls and you speak to that for Schneider was once on the hot seat. And yet since 2022, and this is when care is still a two years left of Carol,

no one's been on a heater like him. He gets the Charles Cross, Maffa, Kenneth Walker, Abe Lucas, Kobe Bryant, Rik Willem back in 22. Then he follows that up with the best two first round picks in the same draft. I think of any team this decade so far. I mean, do we have anything topping Devin Witherspoon and Jackson Smith and Jigbubb? I don't think so. And then two very solid drafts after that.

You had Eamon Worry and Zabel. That's even better, obviously, than solid. And we'll see if anyone else contributes. Had a lot of picks last year. Tori Horton looks okay. And even the year before, which wasn't as star-studded, Byron Murphy and A.J. Barner are two great starters there. So that's the McDonald era, you know, the last two years.

And it does get me thinking, though, like as I did this exercise, I kind of thought about, do we believe that, like, obviously drafting is like the most important thing you can do and continuity is really important. And yet the numbers will tell you that over a long enough timeline, it's almost impossible to find teams that are better at drafting than other teams and that you could have no scouting department whatsoever and just draft off the consensus board

and someone with a basic knowledge of their team needs like me or something. And you might still be in the middle of the NFL in terms of drafting. You'll probably have teams that are better and teams that are worse than you. This is a lane in the profession and in the sport where a 35 to 40% hit rate is considered successful. And it's not even high quality starters. It's just contributors. So keeping bearing that in mind to have one or two players who fit into a larger puzzle per year, in my mind, automatically makes you a good drafting team versus a bad drafting team.

where they rank in between that, I think is a matter of preference, which is why this is kind of fun today, because it's our preference. Right. If you can get two solid starters, I think that's a good draft. If you can get a great starter

and a solid starter and a contributor, then it gets to another level. When you go beyond that, that's the epic stuff. All right, you got number two. Yeah, and we have to be so results oriented when it comes to this because people talk about hitting a baseball

being the most difficult thing in sports and around that hit rate of 300 is like idealic. but in this the pitches that you see you don't even play a role in determining that there's so much randomness that goes into drafting in the first place and your team need and retirement and all these other things that lead into it so i have to consider the total apparatus apparatus of these organizations that's going to be the second time i don't even know if i've said that that word exists it works uh i like that it sounds good that's the most important there's and that's where i go you can include trades by the way like draft day trades in terms of your analysis and so in that Like, I have to evaluate because this is where I made a mistake. Last year, famously, in the GM rankings, total organization. That was your Ty Simpson over Mendoza was taking poor Terry Fountain. I'm not going to go there.

Because I think the Atlanta Falcons have some talent. You had them ninth and they were like the 16th best team. That's fine. I will be overly predictable and go with the Philadelphia Eagles. I think you have to have a cohesive team that makes these decisions. decisions there needs to be a plan and a structure within making those decisions. A lot of the people who are kind of flailing about to try to keep their jobs, they're in that situation because of ownership, but also if they had performed better, they would not be in that

situation. So they will be a little bit lower. But as far as the, you know, Lurys and Howard Roseman, they would be mine. And another option, by the way, for two first round picks in the same season would be the same year as Devin Wetherspin and JSN. It would be Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith. I wouldn't put that. I take the Seahawks duo, but that's pretty good from 9 and 30, because you have to consider where they're drafting too. They got the defensive backs in 24. Yeah, that's why I was.

In general, they take, they have a system, which is they take big guys and they take big talented. And they also take talented guys that fall a little further than you're expecting. Like a Devante Smith didn't exactly fit their bold. And yet, yeah, you look at the top of their drafts and that's where they excel. I think I probably would have them first, too. One thing that matters to me is they're often, especially recently, picking later in the first round, and they still manage to find value there. And then what I really like is how when they do have an above average scheme, last year certainly was not offense, but defense, they've had it for a couple years when it has been offense as well. They've really been able to find really good players that they can attune to that scheme or that really can be really mutually compatible within that and lift the ceiling.

and that's what happened with those secondary players, Quignan-Mitchell and Cooper DeGene. Yeah, I think they also trade more than just about anyone. I think they've been really good about being patient, and that's where ownership and continuity helps too, because they often trade into the future and get great value out of those trades. I was looking at the drafts, though.

It's like with anyone, though, you can find years where they slumped. They took Jalen Rager famously over Justin Jefferson. And that's where the Consensus Board would have won that year. Like Justin Jefferson was very underdrafted, was expected to go ahead of Jalen Rager. They needed a slot guy, which was what people thought of Justin Jefferson at the time. They took Jalen Rager. But they also, in that draft, got a little creative, pissed everyone off, and took Jalen Hertz higher than everyone expected.

That worked out. Fantastic. But they had like an Andre Dillard, Artega Whiteside, Miles Sanders year, which, you know, not great. even the best teams. All right. Number three. This is tough. A lot of good teams on the board.

It's a snake draft, right? No, it's not a snake draft. You go to you. I want to see how long you will try to just push against what you think the listeners are expecting in terms of taking the Rams. And so I won't take the Rams just to put you on the spot for the next spot because this is. very scientific. He's always doing the most. You know,

I wanted to take the choice, but I don't quite believe in it. No. This is for the three spot. So do what's right for the three spot. No, I will do what's right for the three spot. Bucks fans will be shocked, but they have been an extremely

consistent lasting team. And if you go to some of these models that are out there and I did, I don't think it's cheating. Like there's a way to do it. Steve Patton put this out, but it's using kind of the approximate value on pro football reference over expectation

for draft picks since 22. Number one on the list is actually the Rams who get a huge benefit from the fact that they've been drafting later and hit big. The bucks are number two on that list for approximate value over expectation over the last four years. But one of the reasons I will go with Jason Light

is that because I think it's been consistent throughout the years. I don't think he's, He has a lot of big misses. He maybe hasn't had quite as many high level. Like, wow, these are just absolute home runs. Those are hard to find. But man, he hits singles and doubles, and he is absolutely consistent.

So I'm going to take the bucks number three just to put you on the spot. No, I love that because they're up super high for me as well. You know, I've always spoken highly of how they do things when we're on this show. And like that's so I like how you put that. First of all, I love that study with the value over average. position or the estimated value over expected of the picks that Stephen Patton did. That was a really cool chart. I will say I appreciated too.

He showed he talked about where some of the maybe blind spots were, which is it was not weighted by position for example. So I think you do factor that in when it like, yes, approximate value from pro football reference is a very flawed stat in general. But it's just a good like overall. I liked it. It was a great exercise. And it also helped you show it also helped show how many picks because volume picking is

really important too when you have such a low success percentage possible from draft picking, that volume picking is awesome. I love it because their floor is so high with how they pick. Like you mention it, Greg. It's not too many egregious misses or outside

of process misses. It's always like we have a formula, we understand the players that we want, we understand how we scout those players, and they don't second guess themselves much, and they build complete groups. Their receiver's room is about as complete as any in the NFL, even

even though it's not always the sexiest. Their offensive line is one of the more complete offensive line groups. They're defensive line. Yes, they need pass rush help. But it's, especially on that interior, it's one of the most, they just build complete groups. They understand how to build complementary skill sets. They have for years. And I really like that about the bucks.

Yeah, the Abuka is a huge hit at 19. Graham Barton, I don't think people realize it is a massive hit at 26. Colisea Canty is a hit at 19. A lot of their second round picks, like Cody Mock. and I like the defensive backs they took. Even the year they didn't have a first round pick. Okay, Logan Hall doesn't work out great at the top of the first, the second round. But then you get Getaki, Rashad White, Kda, and right after that.

It's really just try on Choyanka, Kyle Trask draft that didn't work out for them. But the one right before that is Tristan Worf's Antoine Winfield. Just very consistent, hitting singles, hitting some doubles, finding some later guys like Jalen McMillan, Bucky Irving, just a really solid drafting team. I did punish the Rams slightly. It's not their fault. Maybe I shouldn't for not having these first round picks because they have used them so well in the trades that they've made. So maybe that should be counting.

But I was thinking a little more about draft classes, maybe that was my own bias. Yeah. I think thinking in totality of team build, certainly hard to knock them for. All right. So you're going to take them. I think ultimately I did ding some teams because of the circumstance of being in a bad spot, put them in the place where they could. draft the quarterback.

And if not for being able to have Jared Gough is the number one overall pick, that we never would have got Matt Stafford on the Rams. And so, like, I did kind of insert that into the... I think that's fair. And, like, I don't give... It's like the Patriots. We're going to do worse drafting teams of Patriots I thought about. They, you know, in terms of the teams I trust the least,

because in the Elliott Wolf two years, it hasn't been great. We'll get to him. Because I'm not giving much credit for Drake May. I think 32 teams out of 32, like any of us could have, would have should have taken Drake May there. in your team the year before, which they didn't have anything to do with, but I'm not going to give them that much credit. All right, you're up.

You're up with pick four. We're going to go through three times, but we're going to speed it up now. Yes, absolutely. And again, I might surprise you here, Greg. Oh, no. Because, and I do think the Rams should be in this group. So much Rams suck before the Rams are up.

If they're not, it would be egregious. And there's only that talk because I know that's what everyone expects me to pick. But here, like, I'm picking the Detroit Lions here. And part of that is because I give them personally, this is subjective, a significant bump for the level and scale of rebuild that they had to do and specifically doing that through the draft after making that trade that helped bring them in extra picks in the Matthew Stafford trade that brought them in extra picks so that they could undergo that rebuild. Brad Holmes can be a little bit of a wild card with his value.

He comes from a background of being an NFS scout, which means that he has a very strict standard of how he evaluates positions. And so sometimes it's a different. doesn't necessarily look the same as what we see on on the draft boards. And so, but they pick in volume, especially in the top 50. They have 13 top 50 picks over the last six seasons. And when they did start rebuilding this with the first three classes, they had Penae Soule, Alie McNeil, Eminemann Rae St. Brown, Aidan Hutchinson, Kirby Joseph, Jamir Gibbs, Brian Branch, and Sam LaPorte, among others, that really helped reset a core foundation of what this franchise was going to be. The significance of that rebuild and turning this

franchise into an incredibly high floor, high ceiling organization at this point, to me is a direct credit to how they've drafted and developed these players. And so I put them as my number 14. Yeah, I thought about them hard at number three because, yeah, the last two years haven't been as productive for them, but I'm looking at the total big picture. They have had a lot of dip on their chip, though, with trading some future high picks for like Manu, Tassla was kind of like a lot. Like, they've taken some swings, but ultimately I trust in the process. But it is crazy. One thing I learned from this exercise looking around and just, like, almost every fan base is unhappy, unhappy with how their GMs have drafted.

Even the, even the best teams and the best drafting teams, the lions I'm thinking about specifically are like not happy with Brad Holmes right now. It's like, calm down. Let's calm down. Yeah. Only one team gets to hoist that trophy. Right. You get to watch Jemir Gibbs. Bucks fans like are really unhappy with Jason Lites.

Like, calm down. All right. number five, you're up. Yeah, I'm going to take the Green Bay Packers in this situation where I understand that last year's draft, there was a significant fall off over like the Van Ness,

Musgrave, Tucker Kraft, Jaden Reed, like that type of talent they were bringing in to Green Bay, but continued success in the collaborative capacity, which we know that I am a fan of, a community, own football team. And so yeah, let's do that. I like that. And I thought it was interesting to them, they are the team

that has added the most value just specifically, not over-expected of any team in the entire league. Because they've had, I think it was the fifth or sixth value of the picks that they've had. They've made a lot of picks. They value those picks. They don't give them away.

It was actually the Packers and the Seahawks are the two highest. Just in terms of total draft value, they've gotten out of their guys. They've gotten very good at drafting, like receivers specifically, Watson and Dobbs being in the second and fourth rounds.

Musgrave and Kraft. I think of Kraft as a receiver, ultimately in the second and third round. Getting Eddren Cooper in the second round. Evan Williams in the fourth round. They haven't been as good at the very top as some of the other teams. But they're not picking.

Yeah. But I even mean their first round picks. Like Jordan Morgan, Van Ness, Golden, is an even Quay Walker is not a great four-year stretch. Eric Stokes. Jordan Love took some doing, but the fact that they've been maybe the best team

in the middle of the rounds makes them a good pick here. I will take the Rams here. Let's just do it. I won't make Jordan do it. We've kind of already mentioned. I mean, their creativity, the fact that Jared Verse is their only first round pick

in this entire era, unless you're counting the less need era with Jeff Fisher, which would also include Jared Goff way back in the day, to get as many hits as they've had. with verse, Fisk, you could even say, like, Quorum, Steve Avula, Byron Young, Kobe Turner, just hitting in the middle rounds, Kobe Durant, Kyron Williams. That's where I think you can say that my whole thing I just said about the consensus board

and like the average person with, instead of spending millions and millions and millions of dollars on an entire scouting department, you could spend nothing and maybe get a creditable team. what the Rams have done and obviously it shows what other teams do too of really picking the right players for their system that fits what they do is why you get paid. It's another team that understands

how to build a complimentary picture. I had knocked the Giants earlier this year about I think they draft well in terms of traits and finding above average to elite players in certain spots but they don't all seem to fit altogether all the time. And so they draft with complimentary traits. They do the,

this very methodically. They redesigned it over the years, especially when they, um, you know, had to thrive off of those really insanely valuable 2023 and 2024 classes. I did some napkin math coming in this morning. 18 of that 30 draft pick in three years, uh, sort of situation was, uh, were starters or key contributors during the 25, 20, 2025 season. So a 60% hit rate in an area where 30 to 40 is considered insane success. Their last year's, class was not as good, but they also were sort of a full roster, so they were drafting more for depth. Conate Mumfield and Josiah Stewart were where I think the gems of that class, DJ would probably agree with me on Josiah Stewart. But I got to see them do it again. They're now

in their, their model has shifted. I think team building models are a big part of this too. Their model has now shifted once again to all-in picks for players after rebuilding through the draft in such rapid fashion. So I'm very interested. to see how that changes the way that they draft. I'm not giving up on my Terrence Ferguson stock. Takes tight ends a little time. I mean, any guy that moves like that, he's going to be okay. All right, your last pick of the best drafting teams.

I've got some high picks. We're going to do nine picks. Yeah. Teams that we trust the best, so the most. So you're up here with pick number seven. This is really tough for me to decide because there's a lot of really great candidates here. I actually am going to go with the Kansas City Chiefs here. That would have been my pick, too.

Yeah. Oh, nice, guys. Thanks. I had the Rams in teeth very high. I'm like flinching. I'm like flinching ahead of time. So they're consistently picking near the end of the first round in their dynasty years. They've had six top 50 picks in the last six drafts. I love that they have nine and 29 this year. And they pick at 40. So that's three top 50 picks all in one swing.

And they're consistent. They really are consistent. They understand their quarterback. They understand where I would, I would like to. to see them invest a little bit more in different types of receivers. But at the same time, you can't argue with a lot of the moves that they've made on offensive line. On defense, they really find guys that match their coaches very well.

And again, like I have a broken record, but I really like teams that can draft with complementary traits, and they certainly do that. They have some blind spots, surprisingly, for a team that has Andy Reed as the coach and Patrick Mahomes as the quarterback. McColl Hardman in the second round, Sky Moore in the second round, Rishi Rice in the second round, and Xavier Worthy at the back end of the first round,

is not a great overall group. I would say Rice on the field has lived up to that and more, but the risk that every team knew about Rishi Rice coming into it has kind of borne out. We'll see about Worthy. I haven't given up on him, but so far, a little underwhelming. So they haven't been great there, but man, they find good value, including Josh Simmons last year.

Yes. Let's go with your number eight overall pick here, Patrick, your last team. My number eight overall pick would be the Denver Broncos. Okay. The Denver Broncos in this particular spot collectively over the court. I know the, in terms of finding a quarterback, that's the big thing. And I valued highly the fact that the Chiefs, when they did get Patrick Mahomes, because this is, you know, that same.

It's not a, oh, well, this is the guy here at one. So we take the guy. And being able to find Bo Nix in that spot in Paramount, with Sean Payton. The continued success after the Zertan draft to kind of add in that secondary. I like the Broncos. Well, I wasn't sure, and I think you are right to do it, how deep to give George Peyton credit.

Because remember, Sean Payton inherited George Payton, who, you know, was part of the whole Russell Wilson. Collaborative. He also fixed it in a season. Yes. In part by how he drafted. Did he draft Patrick Sertan? I'm trying to think.

When was he hired? It was... Yes, that was his first draft. It was Patrick Sartan. So that was a great draft. You got two all pros. You got Patrick Sartan in the first round and Quinn Miners in round three.

And oh, by the way, a very excellent, excellent seventh round pick. One of the best seventh round picks of the decade, Jonathan Cooper, even Baron Brownie in the third round. So George Payton came out swinging and has stayed solid.

Was not on my long list, which makes my last pick. The Broncos weren't on your list? No way. Well, I just thought, You know, they haven't had high picks, and the last few years, yeah, it's kind of, they would have been in my middle of the pack. I see what you did there. I think I'm kind of a bias.

Stir pot, stir pot. Well, since I'm last, I can mention who the honorable mention types are. I think. More rules. I think the, well, I'm going to get to my overall. I'm going to get, you know, the day, Darren Moogie is kind of one for one. They were pretty good last year, actually, the Jets. I'm not going to give it to it.

Not enough data. Yeah, I'm not trusting. Not enough data. I wanted to make a case for Brandon Bean because there's actually multiple, like advanced metric ones, the approximate value one is very kind to the bills. There's other ones, which are similar. They have found contributors pretty significantly. But then I looked at the number, you know, the last three or four drafts have been just not good.

But I think they were given him credit for previous years. So maybe he can get his mojo back. Ryan Poles and Ben Johnson has been quite a combination so far one for one. But Poles in general, like he started with that brisker, Kyler Gordon draft. Other than the Chase Claypool trade,

I think overall he's been quite a good drafter, Darno Wright was a good pick. In general, they've been good, but I am going to settle on Nick Casario, the misunderstood Houston Texan head. And look, I'm going to give an assist here to Domeko Ryan's

because most of these picks are on defense, but if you're rebuilding a team without a lot of high draft picks, he inherited a tough situation. And I was thinking, why didn't they not have picks back then? It was because of the Laramie Tunsel and Kenny Stills trades that Bill O'Brien made back in the day. So he inherited a team that did not have a lot of high picks. And yet in his very first draft, he finds their long-term backup in Davis Mills in the third round, which I think was a good pick. And then Nico Collins in the third round, which is one of the best third round picks of the decade. And then after that, you get Stingley and Jalen Petrie in the next draft. You also have a huge swing and miss at 15 overall in Kenyon Green.

You get C.J. Stroud and Will Anderson in that bold move up. You also get Toa Toa and Tankdell in that draft. You don't have a first round pick the next year, but you still get Camari Lasseter and Caden Bullock. Like that is awesome. And then last year, I'm pretty high on the Jaden Higgins, Arante Ersery, Woody Marks overall and some of the other. guys. So overall, it's the combination of Ryan's his coaching, but he's found the right guys for his system. I think he's been pretty solid. You can't really find a bad draft that Nick Assyrios had. Texans were in my top five. Yeah. It's really high ceiling, high floor drafting. I thought that would be more controversial. Good. They should let Damiro have some say on the offensive side of it.

I mean, maybe he does. He probably does. He probably does. They would be third in the total value that they've added, but they've also had really high picks. So in terms of adjusting it for where they're at, they didn't rank quite aside, but good job, Nick Casario. Another GM, I think the fans aren't that happy with. Let's take a break. It's going to be a supersized show going into the weekend.

And let's come back with Jordan's favorite part of a busy week. Her drafting first teams that she trusts the least. 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 and 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 podcast. Back on NFL Daily. Tight shows all week until today. What do you mean?

I'm having fun. I'm loving it. I feel like I'm just hanging out with you guys. It's nice. That's, that's it. It's nice. That's the podcast. And

The way he said that HR, can I Can I get HR? Get him soon. In a surprise move without her even knowing, there actually has been a change in the draft order. I have made a trade

with Jordan Roderick. No, I do not consent. And I'm going to draft first overall. With that, You get the honor of getting to go to the NFL annual league meetings as paid for by the athletic, but we won't get into specifics. You're going to have the second pick.

I'm going to take the Browns as the team I try. There we go. Okay. I just didn't want to give you the out. I was more curious, who would you go with if it wasn't the Browns? Would have you taken the Browns first? I guess you'll never know, Greg. This feels like a really unfortunate show.

You may be able to control the structure, Greg, but you can't control what's inside my mind. No, that's true. And honestly, you could look at last year as a great process year for Andrew Barry. You get the defensive rookie of the year. You get Harold Fanon. This draft saved his job. I really believe that.

Quintan Jenkins obviously looked fantastic while he was out there. And that was about trading back. It was like all the principles you want to see. But I guess I guess maybe I'm being overly punitive for the Watson trade, kind of including that. also not finding a lot of wins outside the first round, like some of the teams that have not had their first round picks. And everything that you felt great about, you had a guy that's going to the Hall of Fame,

set the sack record, you had the defensive rookie of the year, and then it ultimately transpires where your defensive coordinator gets mad at something and ultimately leaves, like the structure of which you look in the draft room, during the draft, and there's Kevin Stifansky, there's Andrew Barry, and Jimmy Haslam is 17 inches away from them,

literally looking over their shoulder, where like you're asking me what I trust. I don't trust that. Yes, that was where I came to. Because even though I would find the non-draft moves probably more regrettable, I'm so into the message that you send with your first ever draft pick and your first draft.

It's why we probably always knew Questy was not long for that job. One of the worst first drafts anyone's ever had. Unfortunately for him, traded back and ended up with two bus. Andrew Barry's first pick, Jedrick Will's at 10 overall. didn't work out for him. And then after that, like Greg Newsom's then his first pick. Emerson's been okay. Cedric Tillman.

These are third round picks, Michael Hall, who has some off-field issues. Just, yeah. I don't trust their process. Yeah. That's really as simple as that for me. It's inclusive to the ownership stuff and how involved he's getting in the 11th hour. Like, I just don't trust their process. I know we hear all the time, and I have no reason to believe this is true that they've got

some really interesting things that they're doing. doing, analytically speaking, and studies that they're running, whatever. But where is that showing up in the actual process? I'd like to know, and I don't see it. So that's, I just don't trust it. You know what's really funny? They have drafted one pro, oh, no, they've drafted two because Jeremiah Ousu Coromoa made a Pro Bowl.

But their second Pro Bowl was actually drafted in the 2025 draft. Pro Bowlers should have standards. All right, you are up with your second, overall pick here. We're only going to do six teams here in the worst, the worst drafting team. Yes, the show is, it's a meaty show. They, um, a lot of this was based on the unknown. So I, I think it's easy in hindsight and, and, fair in a lot of ways to criticize Kuezio Flemensa for the,

the bad drafts. They were the worst team in approximate value of expectation for draft picks, uh, since 2022. Um, the very, at the very bottom, the Minnesota Vikings, I'm not going to hold a person who is no longer there accountable for future drafts. obviously. But for me, a lot of this, like I mentioned at the top of the show, a lot of some of, a lot of this has to do with continuity as well. There are still a lot of people in that building who preceded his regime who are still there. So it's also like a lot of the same people who are also contributing to making these decisions are still there through the draft and they don't have any official actual GM. So I've got to put them in second to least trustworthy for me.

And certainly actually would have been my first pick because I did like the round's draft last year. Fair. So this, for me, I, I would have put the Vikings number one and in large part because I don't even know what direction they're going to be taking at the GM position. Rob Brzezinski has been with a team since 1999, 27 seasons and was as high as VP of football administration all the way back in 2001, EVP football. It's also Ryan Grigsin has been there too.

So these guys proceeded, then we're there, and then now are still there. So it's like these are, it's not just one person in a vacuum, making these decisions. Right. I mean, that is, that is like the Dennis Green era Vikings when he arrived. So yeah, it's confusing. The coaching staff will probably have a bigger say this year. What do you got, Patrick, number three? For my number three team, I am going to go, I took my other number three team off the board

because I've developed a relationship and a kinship with the fans of the Arizona Cardinals. So I, you know, I stand in support. trying to be nicer to the Cardinals. With you. I've still got to think the Las Vegas Raiders. I think you get to this place where it's pretty much consensus in those awful destroying the planet market betting circumstances where it's pretty obvious that Fernando Mendoza is going to be the number one overall pick. Like you kind of get into that situation. The guy was a national championship in the Heisman Trophy.

We expect him to do great. I love what they've done thus far in free agency. but I can't look away from what actually happened last year and how weird and nonsensical it was. This was foresight, not hindsight. And then everything that transpired since then, all love to Ashton Genty, who I think is a great player, can be a great player.

You got to have a football team, and I'm going to need to see it before I feel good about it. Yeah, it's called trust, and I think that's fair, because at this point they don't have a track record that you can believe in. and then if you're thinking about above the GM, is Tom Brady trustworthy?

Like, as a football operations, I mean, like... If I speak. He, I mean, he couldn't get... Maybe not even with that caveat. He couldn't get any people to go see some of the best football players in the world in Los Angeles for that flag football thing. And then Mark Davis, like the front offices under Mark Davis have not worked out. I'm going to go to another organization where ownership has been an issue over the years.

Now, back in the, around the NFL day, we would kind of defend Duke Tobin because when he came along with the Bengals, it felt a little bit like a new day. He didn't get the GM title, but he was on a heater pretty early on with Marvin Lewis, and they really did improve where they were at. But I'm going to be a victim of the last four years, and it hasn't been good. And then you start to think about the lack of infrastructure and spending that you hear about in terms of their scouting department and how that is married up with what the coaches have wanted.

and maybe him and Zach Taylor not really having the right vision. Because the fact that they love these young linebackers, Demetrius Knight and Barrett Carter, despite what they saw in the field last year. And then Shamar Stewart and Dylan Fairchild, that was a rough first year from that rookie class. And then you think back, Amarius Mims was a good first round pick,

but the rest of that draft class has not really borne much fruit. Jermaine Burton is in the mix. Miles Murphy was their first pick the year before, really hasn't contributed much, got Chase Brown deep into that draft, but not a draft where, you know, DJ Turner might turn out okay. And then they've taken a lot of defensive backs. Daxston Hill, Cam Taylor-Brit.

They haven't all been misses, but they haven't been hits either. And overall, it's pretty inconsistent to pour over the last four years. And so knowing that, and I considered ownership and I considered just the Zach Taylor, all of it, them being a little bit on the hot seat, like I'm not trusting what's going on there right now. I think that's fair because when I think of the word trust, can we trust their process? That's really a lot of what the untrustworthy teams were to me. And year over year, and they've delegated and there's a couple of high-ranking, like, an assistant GMs.

There's like a triumvirate of assistant GMs there now that, you know, have a good reputation around the league. But at the same time, like, I just, their process, I don't buy it. It hasn't worked for them thus far. And they're sort of still coasting off of the got Joe Burrow, got Jamar Chase, got to the kind of situation that's lifted the floor of what this team looks like, at least on paper, for quite some time. And that's the circumstantial aspect of the evaluation where this group of kids in Baton Rouge has

the best offensive season in the history of college football. Are we even like, are we even considering not having them in the bottom? Okay. If not for those two guys, like knowing each other and playing well with each other. Their process used to be, too. Just draft the biggest, most famous guy from a major school like when they're up. That was always

I worked for him in that circumstance. It worked for a while. Sometimes you land, I don't know if John, like there are some clunkers who here that I'm including to Jonah Williams, the offensive lineman, Billy Price and John Ross in a row that came before Borough.

And so I'm including Duke Tobin and his offensive line picks. All right, you're up with number five. Number five, I'm going Washington Commanders here in terms of the lack of trust. So I'm just going to, so they hit, they nailed it on quarterback. Jaden Daniels is sensational. Hopefully he bounces back from this injury and then a little bit of downplay before he had the injury. So hopefully this is a really positive strong season.

I'm just going to read the last two draft classes from Adam Peters and company. Johnny Newton, who, since the injury recovery has showed some promise. Mike Sanders still, Ben Sinott, Brandon Coleman, Luke McCaffrey, Jordan McGee, Dominique Hampton, Giovante Jean-Baptiste, Josh Connerly, Trey Amos, Jalen Lane, Cain Madrano, and Jacori Croskey Merritt, who we love Bill Merritt. But it's just not inspiring to me. Outside of the quarterback, it's just not inspiring to me. They haven't had a ton of draft picks to work with either this last class, their first class they did.

And when we talk about trust, I don't fully trust that they even know where. they're at in their team build. Because if you're looking at where they, what they could have really decided was say, hey, this is a mostly tear down minus the quarterback and a couple of guys along, you know, in certain positions. Like, this is mostly a tear down.

But you also need a lot of draft picks to be able to do that. They haven't had those. And then they have not, in my opinion, maximize their draft process where they could. Well, I think they had a huge opportunity in the Jaden draft. And that's the draft if they hit that you talk about for years to come as the draft that changes everything because they had about as much draft capital

in that draft as almost any team has had in any draft. Three seconds and two-thirds. You're hoping to get the core of a team. And right now, Sanra still is definitely a contributor. Although, even though he was good as a rookie, he was not great last year, which kind of slipped under the radar.

And then you just have a lot of question marks. I think Trey Amos, their second round pick last year, is going to work out. But yeah, not great. Six top 100 picks that year. Right. You need that to hit. Especially if you're going to draft like the son of a guy you're super close to.

It's not, it actually didn't help him out because it's like, we know your buddies with Ed. You know, it just puts a little bit of a target on Luke's back. All right. Wait, is this a last pick? Yeah, this is my last pick. And it's a chance for me to get weird in an offseason front office evaluation. I'm going to put the Buffalo Bills in my bottom. I thought about them for my top 10.

I know you did. And here I will make the case because it's a sense of trust. And yeah, there are some absolute hits. But in the last two years, in terms of win adjusted value, you know who the most valuable player they've drafted is? Keon Coleman. So let's ask the Buffalo Bills how they feel about their ability to draft players. By the way, that they're absolutely submarining,

one of the players that they took in this situation where you had the defensive-minded head coach who was able to facilitate a certain type of player, a certain type of veteran that they could get for, a low cost and allow them to invest even more resources in the draft that they never necessarily took advantage of where they're in a situation now where they have to trade for DJ more in the first place less than 365 days after screaming at people on the radio about the insistence to need to acquire a wide receiver. Like I would like to ask, I would like to ask Sean McDermott

how much he trusts the situation and how he was treated in the way things ended in Buffalo. So like in terms of do I believe, I think maybe the front office is flailing. I think maybe ownership is also flailing when you've got a situation where we have one of the best quarterbacks that we have seen and in my time watching football and not being able to take advantage of that is a failure

and yeah, the other team that I like very much would also be in the situation as well. Damn. Fire! Who says the worst team draft isn't going to be a lot of fun at the back end? No, you're right. I think ultimately literally nobody said that. Eric thought the worst

I just, I love it. So shut it. So, you know, maybe make it a little shorter. Eric said it. You're right. And you know what? It's a good reminder about the Kean Coleman of it all. Kean Coleman, it's easy to forget now,

67 catches, 960 yards, eight touchdowns in his rookie season. That's not just like a solid rookie season. That's a great rookie season. Now, I think that was a little misleading in terms of like, is that going to be translatable skills year after year? But he also was, you know, a second round pick top of the second round.

And maybe the Kian comeback is back. I don't know. For them still? Or for another team? Well, he just showed up to that state fair or whatever at the last second in our last episode as written by Oscar-winning screenwriter Eric Rabbit. What a fun week. I like this one.

I didn't think I would, Greg. Oh, why wouldn't you think you would? I knew that. I knew that. I'm just pushing your buttons. Patrick will be back with me on Monday. Let's hit that music. And we are going to have a relatively early show

because we're going to be reacting to those coaches breakfasts. Who ate what? Yeah, that's what I had food in their teeth. Got to do a food right. Who answered the questions. No, there's a lot of news that comes out of that. Looking forward to that. Looking forward to talking to Jordan.

That'll be on Tuesday. Enjoy your trip to Phoenix. We will see you there.