NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL ATL: Free Agency 101

Episode Date: February 27, 2014

A room full of heroes -- Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler, Gregg Rosenthal and Chris Wesseling -- make sense of the free-agency madness by running through their rankings of the 101 best players on the market. Elsewhere, the heroes tackle the biggest headlines around the league, including Steve Smith’s uncertain future in Carolina and rumblings about potential interest in Darrelle Revis throughout the NFL. Don’t miss two more offseason forecasts, this time featuring the Baltimore Ravens and the Kansas City Chiefs. So, grab a seat, tune in to the brand new “Around The League Podcast” and join the conversation on Twitter: @NFL_ATL or #NFLATL.Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the League podcast is above the law. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the League podcast. My name is Dan Hansis and I am joined by a room filled with heroes. Chris Wessling, Mark Sessler, and Greg Rosenthal. What up, boys? Hey, Dan. Full house.

Back together. There, finally, waited so long for this. It's been a while. I can't remember the last time we've all been together. Does anybody remember? No. What's happening in the world on a weekly basis? That can be recalled.

I can't really remember anything. You're asking the wrong crowd. We don't know anything except football. We don't track news events. Yeah. Societal happenings. We don't know. That's true.

We've been over that ground before. Football is the top of the list. And it will be on this podcast, well. This is going to be a busy show. There was like a science laboratory guys in a lab like working on Excel files next to me. Greg Rosenthal and Chris Wessling hammering out their free agency top 100 list. 1001. Oh, it's 101? Well, there is some debate over this, but Marks came up with this idea. Free agency 101. I like that. Oh, that's a good title. You notice the double entendre? Yeah, no, I get that. I like that too. Is that trademarked anywhere? Is it possible that you can be sued for a massive

amount of your income? It means, Dan, that you would be, like, in a classroom learning because of the... I like how Dan sees that there was an Excel chart used, and he immediately was like, these guys in a crazy laboratory using their fancy math and calculus, and we're just ranking players from... I grew up in a cold town, Greg. And, you know, school hard knocks is as far as I got. All right. Anyway, so, yeah, we're going to go over some of that. list. Mark and I are going to kind of pick at it a little bit and maybe hopefully things will get awkward. We're going to do

some more off-season forecasts on a couple of AFC potential contenders in 2014. We'll hit that, but before any of that happens, the gold standard behind the glass, how are you, buddy? Doing fine, thanks. I sat in on the Damashek podcast with the gold standard

behind the glass and there was some more awkwardness over him being referred to as Zach Ty by the Damashet contingent and then I made a point of it to say that's not right. Zach, Goldsteiner played it nicely. He kind of played it down the middle, which you have to. But we all privately know how he feels about this.

Definitely. And thank you so much for stepping to the plate on that. Appreciate it. You got it, man. Let's do some news, all right? Let's do it. We will start in Carolina. A couple of things going on in Carolina, but we'll start with the biggest news. Steve Smith, who is the stalwart franchise wide receiver there forever,

as we all know, you guys are at the Combine and Dave Gettleman, the GM, raised some eyebrows when he asked about Smith's future, said the bottom line, it's part of the evaluation process, even referred to him in the past tense by saying Steve's had a great career. As you might imagine, knowing Steve Smith's history, this did not sit well,

and he had some comments to a radio station in Charlotte today. I guess I'll read one quote. There's a lot of great lines, but I'm just taking it one day at a time. I don't really know what's going on, to be honest, until a couple days I didn't know my football career was in jeopardy. So it's a lot that I have to process. That's just one sound right.

The guy said a lot of interesting things. What are we to make of this? Is Steve Smith, first of all, he's right to be frustrated by this, I would think, because he says that no one gave him any heads up about him potentially being in jeopardy. But will Steve Smith be back? Well, I think there was a message sent there, and the message is you have to take a pay cut. The other part of Steve Smith comments

He talked a lot about They asked him if he would play anywhere else And he spoke for Probably 30, 40 seconds Just on the fact of how much he loved Charlotte And didn't want to play outside of Charlotte So it seems like he doesn't want to play anywhere else And the fact that he's talking about his career being in jeopardy

Would seem to back that up That he wouldn't go anywhere else If the Panthers released him Seems like a logical move When either you've already been asked to take a pay cut Or you know you're about to that perhaps your agent said this is coming is to take to the airwaves

and to build some empathy around the fact that you've been here forever but it's funny to me always although I'm not making light of it because for these guys their careers end so much sooner than they should but you're in your 30s and you're wondering why a team is coming to you

and say time to restructure we don't care who you are the part that surprised me is he said he heard it second hand so that means there's been no conversations either between the team and Smith or between the team and Smith's agent unless Smith's agent's keeping that from him,

which doesn't really make any sense. And when you look at his contract, it doesn't make a lot of sense to cut him anyways because he's guaranteed so much money. So I'm confused by this whole thing. I blame it all on you and Mark. They didn't have a chance to have these conversations because Getteman and Rivera weren't sure what they were going to do

until the intrepid reporters at the NFL Combine kind of caught them, you know, surprised. We talked about whether we even wanted to write a Steve Smith post the first day because we asked, are we blowing this up out of proportion? Are we kind of twisting their words? And we didn't want to do that. So we mentioned it, but lightly in another article. And then we followed up the next day with Rivera.

And he seemed pretty clear about that Smith's future is uncertain. So, yeah, I'm going to pat ourselves in the back. You guys created the news on this one. Well, Gettleman, you know, is one of the few guys that seemed like a straight shooter. And he was asked point blank, will he be back? just said, I don't know. And they don't know. And these are the facts that you cannot deny with Steve Smith. He's turning 35 in May, which is pretty much ancient for a wide receiver. And he's coming off a season in which his production dipped significantly. I mean,

there's no way around that. So maybe he's not a number one wide receiver anymore. And maybe the Panthers need to see what's going to happen in free agency in the draft. And then they'll know what they want to do with Steve Smith. It's an evaluation. It makes sense. Well, I hope they're ready to line up Armani Edwards as their number one receiver because Brandon Lafell's a free agent. Ted Ginn's a free agent. Ted Gind's a free. agent. They're talking about getting rid of Steve Smith. Forget about it. I don't think there's much of a chance he's not on the team. The fact

he said he hasn't talked to them makes me think... At the same cost? It's not the, it's not a huge priority and he'll be there. I think it'll be that way. One more, a bit of Panthers news, Jordan Gross, his retirement ceremony was and it was a ceremony

in Charlotte today. He retired after 11 seasons with the team. Obviously, was a steady, potentially underrated left tackle for 11 years. I made light of the fact that they had an entire procession where they had singing in a highlight reel of Jordan Gross panaking people. I remarked on Twitter that, you know, one-time all pro, and then I got a lot of Panthers heat, including their PR guy who was not happy with me. So I had to make some peace on behalf of the Shield. That Jordan Gross set up reminds me of the Cheers episode where Cliff goes to Florida and comes back with the, you know, the old slide shows like the circuit.

feeler slide shows where you have to put in the slide and he shows everyone and nobody in the bar is paying attention to him Jordan Gross is actually going through slides and pictures in his like ceremony very well prepared yes it was it was nice you know in fairness to those Panthers fans Dan you did choose the day that this guy retired after an 11 year career to take a shot at him well and I think the big takeaway

what was the big deal can you just let him have some fun at a barbershop quartet well it wasn't a barber shop quartet well it wasn't a barber Barbershop quartet. It was the play, but the play, it was Ryan Khalil doing it. It was the players and some coach doing it. It wasn't an official barbershop quartet. They were having some fun. They're singing.

I feel like, I mean, I said this, Dan's going to have a second career showing up to people's funerals and heckling them. Well, if you want to go even further with this, how would you feel as a Panthers fan? The face of your franchise is talking about his football career being in jeopardy, Steve Smith, and the best offensive tackle. So two guys, I know Greg hates this turn, two guys on your franchise is Mount Rushmore could be done

after they brought you the division championship. Right, their sweet moment was quick. There's a lot to do in Carolina. And Gross said that. He said it's good to know that I was a big part of bringing the division championship back and he can end it on a high note. I kind of saw that as,

it's going to be hard for us to repeat next year. Moving on the Tampa Bay Bucks, obviously signed Dorel Revis to that massive contract last year. A report surfaced yesterday that teams had reached out to the Bucks at the Combine about Revis's potential availability. Ian Rapp report reported Tuesday that more than one team did make preliminary inquiries but no offers were made and it wasn't apparent that any of the interest was real. Is there any chance that Dorel Revis is not on this team?

You know what this is? And we never talk about this when Trade Report surfaced. people in the NFL are nosy. They just want to know if a guy's available. Like they want the rumor. Like all these executives, they kind of want to just know how the Buccaneers stand on Rivas. That doesn't mean they want to trade for him. They just kind of want to know what the rest of us want to know.

How does he fit in your plans? It's a trade that would make sense for Tampa for a coaching staff and a front office that inherited him. Revis trade doesn't make sense for anybody because he makes $16 million a year, which is $6 million. It's for Tampa, I'm saying. If they could unload him for the right. price, I don't see why you would maybe not do that. Well, you were going to mention he makes $6 million more than any cornerback in the league. Yeah.

Well, that's why I think the answer to Dan's question, is there any chance he's not on the Buccaneers? I think the answer is yes. Because maybe they want to give him a pay cut or maybe another team's willing to pay more than they are. They have given no public indication of that, but it wouldn't be stunning. Again, we're talking about an aging player who was making $16 million here. He played well last.

year, but it wouldn't be totally shocking. I have a wild suggestion of who this might be. And coming from me, this might not be that surprising, but I look at, pick someone who coached him in the past, right? A team with massive cap room. Go! And a guy who organized a defense that thrived off of using, let's call it one and a half shut down corners.

Jacksonville. No. Oh, wait. The London Monarchs. No. The Browns? You got all the cap room in the world. you're missing a second cornerback to some degree

you could pair him with Hayden it actually wouldn't even do much to your cap you could do it and maybe it down the road restructured that deal with him and that's exactly the defense petten ran in New York he's already got a quarterback just as good as Revis but he'd have two men that's what Cromarty and Revis were in New York

nobody's going to pay Revis 16 million really the only team that was going to pay him 16 million was the bucks last year I feel better and better about the Jets parting ways with Revis because 16 million for a cornerback. It's an outrageous amount. I think, I mean, he isn't he probably right?

They're just reaching out to see what the deal is. Can't you, yeah, I think Chris is probably right, but you could make an argument. He was awfully good last year in his first year back from a torn ACL, tough position to return from cornerback. Maybe he will be that old Revis. I mean, we talk about Revis like he's some other cornerback. He's not. He's one of the greatest cornerbacks, I think you could argue of all time, at least when he was at peak. No, I agree with that.

And he's still more likely to be released than trade it. And we were, I have some news to go through for the Cleveland Browns as well. I was hoping to get to this part of the news without the Browns coming up, but Mark just wouldn't let it happen. All right. According to our own Daniel Jeremiah, the Cleveland Browns, it's not Johnny Mansell that they're after for, after who we had heard that they were, quote, prepared to move heaven and earth to acquire. It's actually Derek Carr.

Oh, Mark? I mean, at this time of year, and I think that, you know, Jeremiah acknowledged that the whole Johnny Mansell thing was a massive smoke screen dating back weeks or months. But this also, I mean, this also could be equally a smokescreen. What do we trust at this point? Really anything? I mean, he's hearing that, but. Could be smoke screen. If I was a Browns fan, I'd be thrilled with the idea of getting a quarterback who's not as good as David Carr.

I think the theory was. I didn't say he's not as good as Dave Carr. Because he's not nearly as highly rated coming into the league as David Carr was coming into the league. Yeah, it's not a name that suddenly, you know, people are rolling the red carpet out for. I think the point more was they don't want to move heaven and earth and give up their entire draft for one of these quarterbacks at this point. They want to use their fourth and 26 pick. Or this is the old smokescreen to the smokescreen and they really want Johnny the whole time. Very hazy.

Or Jimmy Garoppolo. Who we met multiple times. Mark asked him if he talked to the Browns in the airport Mark asked him A dogged Mark Sessler Intrepid And Groppler said Yes I have talked to the person

Sessler's never off the clock Apparently Other Browns news Inside linebacker DeQuelle Jackson Who's been a mainstay there Since 2006 was released Today after the two sides got together About I guess talking about

Maybe restructuring That wasn't happening And now he's been released He was due a $4.1 million roster bonus on March 15th. The Browns didn't want to pay it, and now Jackson is heading toward free agency. You're going to hear that this was a cap move because he's set to make a lot of money, but they have a ton of cap room, as Mark mentioned. So it's just a football move.

They don't think he's that good anymore. And they released a bunch of statements of what a great leader he was, and he has been, by all accounts, one of the guys in that locker room that the organization really depended on. He was a very dependable player, but they couldn't agree on a restructure. And ultimately, they just don't see him as a premier player, and that's what he was assigned to do. Seems like he will still get another job relatively soon, I would imagine. Yeah, I was doing some research when I was writing up the post.

And there are Marvin Lewis, Bill Belichick. These are coaches that spoke very highly of Jackson during the season, praising him. But, you know, as Mark, you had sent me the no pro football focus, had him ranked as the 13th best inside linebacker in 2011, 41st. in 2012, 42nd, and 2013, so maybe he just wasn't the guy he used to be, and you just move on. Mike Zimmer needs a middle linebacker in Minnesota after they cut Aaron Henderson. Connecting the dots. Ooh, I like that.

Well, I don't want to give anything away, but he's going to be on that Free Agency 101 list. Right smack in the middle. We both had them around the 50s area. There's a couple good inside linebackers, Brandon Spock. Bikes, Donald Butler. I think those guys are younger and they'll get signed quicker, but Jackson shouldn't have any problem getting a job. Carlos Danesby, Daryl Smith.

There now seems to be some linebackers. It looked like a weaker list this year, but now we've got five inside linebackers there. I really like this free agency 101 thing. And I just heard, and Gold Center is nodding his head in approval. It feels right. I just feel like maybe it's taken. Is that possible?

Yeah, I don't know. Wouldn't your, I feel like relatives. would understand what that means, the concept of it. You know, just people that aren't even, they don't even know about football. Oh, yeah, 101. That means you're going to learn something about the subject just mentioned. Speaking of which, I'm holding in my hand an email that has,

see, this is what I don't get. This is why you guys are throwing me off in your laboratory is it's a top 1001, I would assume, if it's Free Agency 101, but I only see 100 names here. You know, that's because we were developing that after we printed these sheets. We're going to throw the best kicker on there at the end. Graham Ganoe 101 Graham Ganoe got the 101

Yeah so we're looking at the list here And Mark and I We're not involved in the creation This is a pure Wes and Rosie joints Because you didn't have a Bunsen burner There was no Bunsen burner I didn't have my protective goggles

I forgot to bring them in So I was punished Mark I'll throw it to you first And I'll just say Just for the purposes of Giving some type of context Number one on this list is Tight-end Jimmy Graham

and we have the Crack and Greg Hardy at number two and Brian Arakpo at number three. Those are the top three on the Free Agency 101 mark. I want you to kind of go through the list and let me know what jumps out to you. Well, I think there's a... Take some shots at him if you want. No, there's a lot of places to look. I look at your top 10 and he started that and I think that it's hard to disagree with anything I see there.

You guys probably didn't have any two major disagreements there. In the top 10, we were closer. We were pretty close for the most part. And most of these guys are going to get the free agent tag. Or a lot of the guys in the top 10. So we'll be updating it on NFL.com, and we'll be adding cut players and adding who signs and all that. I think, well, listen, let's just start in one place.

It was interesting how you ordered Alteron Werner at 11, Akeeb Toulib, No. 12, and then T.J. Ward 13. Was there any disagreement with that scenario? Did you have any of them any other places? Great had Taleb considerably higher than I did? I still don't, I don't know if I would invest in his character. I have issues with that, and he's had hip issues for two or three years in a row now. Since when did you become someone that cares so much about character here?

Oof. Usually just, you judge what I. The scientists going at it in their lab with their white coats on are going to be stained with blood. You look at who's the best player, who's in his prime, and. What did you say that when you're investing millions of dollars, it matters if you have a guy who's going to end up in jail or, and or, suspended for multiple games? Well, he's had his act together, and I had Talib actually as the number eight player overall.

I think Wesleyan had him about 16, so you see it landed somewhere in the middle. I don't think there's a big difference between all the top cornerbacks. There are a number of good ones this year. Alteron, Werner, Bonte Davis is 16. You could even go down to Sam Shields. Brent Grimes, it probably got some votes as a top cornerback. Here's where I think a beaker fell over and just tipped over something ugly where one of You guys just like spill the liquid, like a light blue liquid.

Hydroclone on the panel and like smoke and... B.J. Raji at number 20? You know, I just look at this guy. I thought it was my turn to talk to them. I'm going to go silent after this. But I just look at a guy that I think that is going to get run out of Green Bay potentially and has underperformed and he's above some remarkable players. Yeah, like Linval Joseph and...

It's going to say, I don't know, how could you dare to do that? I'm not remarkable, but I would take... I would take Randy Starks over B.J. Roger. I guess it has to do with scheme, too. But Raji, to me, is just an unimpressive guy that I'm not going to give a long-term contract. It also has to do with age, and Randy Starks is 30 years old. I think Randy Starks is a much better player than B.J. Raji. And I think I might have had Starks higher than Raji on my list.

Raji was one of those guys that, in the back of my head, I was like, am I over Rating him because he's a big name? And I didn't put him that high. I put him about 20, I thought. and I was thinking, well, maybe Wesleyan will knock him down a few pegs. He was a tough guy to figure out, because he's still in his prime. He has shown that he can be a great player, and he's still young. So those are the guys that I'd like to pay. And there are very few men his size that are good.

So you paid a premium for being big. We disagreed a lot on Henry Melton, too, who I had very high, and Wesleyan did not, and we ended up having him as the, the 19th player overall just ahead of Raji in terms of interior defensive lineman. And again, my theory is guys coming off injuries, especially young guys in their prime, a lot of times they get underrated. ACLs aren't that big of a deal anymore relatively. If you can get a guy like Melton who's shown he can be a top five defensive tackle

for the next four or five years, isn't that worth the injury risk? Give him a little extra money. People so afraid of signing ex-injured players. I like to call him melt on. I think it's generous to say he's top five tackle. For like a year. Right. And I do have more of a problem paying a guy coming off an ACL injury.

I just don't think it's as much of a given. All right, scientists. But a year ago at this time, he would have been a top five free agent. Yes, he would have. So that's why we knock him down a little. All right, I'm going to pick out something from the list, and I will do it because it's even kind of little newsworthy. Jeremy Maclin and Riley Cooper, two free agent-wide receivers to be with the Philadelphia Eagles,

report out today from Jeff McLean at the Philly Inquirer that a deal is very close with Cooper, a multi-year contract that could happen in the next few days. And Jeremy Macklin might not be far behind, although that seems less concrete. Why I find this interesting is they get the deal done with Cooper first. However, on the top 101, the class of 101, Jeremy Maclin ranked number 29, and Riley Cooper ranked number 72. So I ask you, gentlemen, I know Macklin's coming off a knee injury, but is that the only reason why he's... Wait, Maclin's coming off a knee injury, so why is he that much better, even with a destroyed knee?

He's 50 spots better than Riley Cooper, who's, you know, has done things in his own past. We factor a lot in guys you would want to go to concerts with. I was going to say, the Kenny Chesney concert. I think I see Riley Cooper's emergence as a direct result of Chip Kelly's offense. In terms of his views at Riley Cooper concerts? As far as having a breakout season. Oh, I got you. I'm not sure that's transferable to offenses across the NFL.

And as a for instance, I would rather have Andre Roberts on my team than Riley Cooper. Riley Cooper going into this year with someone that wouldn't even be considered on the top 100 list. try to think about that when I'm doing these rankings. Don't just rank it off a last year. Rank it off what we've seen out of their careers. And Macklin is the poster boy for what I was talking about with overrating injuries. I think it's smart to get him on a one-year $6 million contract or whatever he's going to accept. Or maybe even try to get him to a multi-year deal for not too much money because we've seen it.

Young receivers, they can recover from a torn ACL. And to me, he is an NFL starter. And that's how I basically did this list and categorize everyone. Who's a starter? Who's above average starter? Who's below average start? Macklin, to me, is about an average prime of his career NFL wide receiver. Cooper, to me, is below average.

And I also look at your number 25 in this list, four spots ahead of Macklin. And I guess this plays into, Greg, at least your viewpoint, of getting guys coming off bad years, maybe some injury issues, but also in the prime of their career. Hakeem Nix at number 25. Well, to me, that's low, because he's a guy that a few years ago, we thought could be a top 5 to 10 receiver. And he showed that sort of game-breaking ability. And that's about where I put him. I don't mean we have them ranked too low, but we do have them ranked below guys like Jason Worlds is 22. Everson Griffin's 21.

You know, Alter on Werner's up at 11. Jason Hatcher is 17. So you're already getting a little further down the list where you're getting a bit of a bargain. But a guy that young who has shown that much potential. To me, he's an intriguing guy. On the list of guys who are responsible for the giant second Super Bowl, Hakeem Nick ranks possibly first or second. That's fair.

So he's shown it, like Greg said, he's been a gamebreaker. On the other hand, zero touchdowns last year. He was thoroughly outplayed by Ruben Randall, his backup. I have some issues with that. Do we know, obviously, the leg injuries have been a part of it. Is that explosion gone for good? or is it just taking a two-year hiatus like Antonio Gates did? So those are things we can't know.

That's why I ranked him closer to 30 than 20 or 15. I struggle with, we get down into the 50s, and you've got Darren McFadden at 50, and down at 61, no Sean Moreno, two spots above Ligarrett Blount. I mean, Moreno, to me, you know, I understand his career fell off for a bit and he had a nice comeback scenario with Denver, but McFadden, I'd really, really struggle as a team to give McFadden a longer contract

with any hope that he's going to produce. Marino has been a guy who's been talked about every offseason of the last two or three years the Broncos could possibly cut him because he's that far down on their depth chart. Nobody believes he's that good. Out of all the starting running backs in the NFL might run the slowest 40-yard dash.

I take McFadden because like Greg explained earlier, We're talking about the last few years. We're not basing this all on the 2013 season in which Marino had benefit of playing with Peyton Manning in the most explosive offense in the NFL. I think much of Marino's value stems from the offense he's in. And what is he exactly? To me, he's a backup or a guy you split carries with. He's not a guy that you're like, this isn't Moreno's offense.

Now, that worked out with the Broncos for half the season, but that's because they're the Broncos. And he can play all three down, so that's valuable. It's amazing how low these running backs were, though. As low as that sounds, number 50, McFadden was our number two running back. And we'll break down these free agents by position on the site. That's a bad running back.

Right. Ben Tate is the highest running back, and that's because Wessling had him rather high, and he's number 36 overall, and he kind of fits that mold. You had him higher than I did. What? Don't let the backs get in the way. Another beaker spills.

Let me point out. One more thing on these. I think Greg and I think alike on this issue. A lot of these guys, we want the best case scenario. We want the option of having that. If Darren McFadden recaptures 2011 for him, he's way better than anything No Sean Marino could possibly ever be. So, Jamichael Finley is another guy that we thought about that with. He's a risk.

But would I rather take a chance on Finley's best case scenario? than signed Dennis Pitta? Yes. We had Finley at 26, and we agreed. I was surprised. That was one of the hardest guys to rank overall, just mixing them in. But I did it based on if he's cleared to play. Dan, totally not buying that.

If he's cleared to play. That's pretty high for a guy that we don't even know if he's going to play again, and it's not like a knee injury or it's not a torn bicep. That guy has a neck injury that is spinal fusion surgery, C3C4 vertebrae. Take some chances in free agency, Dan. Shoot for the moon. You could draft the tight end in the third round to be an okay backup like your boy Jeff Cumberland. But if you're going to bother to go to free agency, shoot for the moon.

You take Julian Edelman. Nice safe pick guy who's been injured every year of his career until last year. All right, scientists. Get off my back. Let me ask one more question before we move on. If you could break down for some of the disagreements that the two, doctors had in terms of maybe Greg had him high, the other guy had him low, who knows, big disagreements.

Speaking of Edelman, that was one of them. I see this everywhere where guys are ranking Edelman so high just because of volume, because no one else was around to catch passes for Tom Brady last year. Edelman's getting ranked as a guy everybody wants, completely ignoring the fact that Edelman sat on the market all offseason last year and nobody wanted him, settled for a one-year deal for maybe one and a half two million.

Nobody wanted the guy. But I guess this is the way the NFL works. It's all what have you done for me lately. Edelman's the same player he was two years ago. Andre Roberts is a better player than Julian Edelman. No, that's not true. Edelman's one of the best. You put Andre Roberts in NFL history, you get a little, you get, well, just in terms of the statistic.

Put Andre Roberts in the Patriots offense. Well, hold on. Edelman came into the league having to learn the position. I gave him a lot of credit for the development we've seen. I didn't... Would you argue that he had 100 catches last year because nobody else was healthy for the page? I see what you're saying,

and I'd also say that they asked him to do something and he did it very, very well. I grouped those receivers all close together. James Jones, Emmanuel Sanders, Julian Edelman. They were all in that second tier for me. I didn't have Edelman too high at eye at all. A month ago, you said James Jones was better than Eric Decker.

Now he's the same as Edelman? So Edelman's almost as good as Decker? What's going on here? Decker's overrated. Decker is not overrated. Maurice Jones Drew is a guy that Wesley now surprised had very high for a broken down running back that hasn't done much of anything lately. I believe he was not in my top 50. Why did I write him down as a big disagreement?

Because you had him at like 80 something. Neither of his is that high on it. Wes just took the Bunsen burner and turned it into a blow torch. Neither of us is that high on him, but I think there is some discrepancy. there. He's a guy that I thought played better towards the end of last year. I'd sign him as a tandem partner. Would you rather have

Moreno, Mark Sessler, or Maurice Jones Drew? I would definitely would rather have at this point Moreno. I saw what you did there, stretching out your answer as you thought of who you're going to say in your head does not feel strongly. I like the idea of putting MJD into an offense where there's like three other backs pounding the ball. I don't want him have, I don't want to deal

with him as myself. I'd much rather have NJD than than Marino. He's got another good year on him potentially. If you put him behind a team, that can actually play a little. Why do we think that? One of the best running backs of the last 10 years. That was five years ago. Yeah, but where is he now?

He led the league in rushing in 2011. Two years ago, he led the NFL in rushing. Hurt in 2012? He played behind one of the worst offensive line in the NFL last year with no other weapons on the team. I'd rather take a chance on a guy named Lageret Blunt running through defenses last year. It's funny you should say that.

You know what he does? You guys have him at 63, Greg, and Wes. Yeah. And if, let's say, because he had those two amazing games or late in the season, it was two or three in a row, right? And then he did nothing in the elimination loss. That elimination loss, if he had another great game, would he be, like, in the 40s? Would he be way higher?

Well, yes. Well, I didn't rank him in my top 80, and I probably wouldn't have ranked him in there no matter what. Bunsen burner blowtorch. He's a one-dimensional player who has faded from relevance off and on throughout his career because he, the fundamentals of the game, escape him. And I think you have to find a coaching staff willing to put up with it. Greg, he says the fundamentals of the game of escape him. Answer that. Dan thinks this segment is so bad that he has to add sound effects and start yelling back and forth. It's a good

segment, Dan. Hold on one note. Wait, I'm enjoying it. If you've got three million dollars sitting around and you don't know what to do with and go to number 75, Josh Freeman. It came up for three million. I really struggled with... That worked out well for the Vikings when they picked them up for three million. It's impossible in the middle of the season. I really struggled with where to put Freeman. Would you rather have Freeman than Matt Castle, for instance, or Josh McCown? And then, if you would, how high do you put him in this overall top 100? Do you put him ahead of, you know, reasonable starters?

He's a guy that's still young and has some talent and plays quarterback. It depends on the rest of your roster, specifically at quarterback. We don't really have that luxury making the top 100. I know. Before we move on, I do want to just commend both of you for putting Alex Carrington ahead of Garrett Graham of 93 and 99. I thought about putting Alice Graham in my top 60, or Alex Carrington in my top 60, but I couldn't put him there.

Well, he didn't make my top 100, unfortunately, which is why that's the only way you can get at the very bottom if you're only on one of our lists and not the other. So the fact that Ted Ginn is number 100. I think he's 101 now because we've got to add DeQuil Jackson in there. That means I ranked him dead last, and Wesleyan did not rank him. Nobody believes in Ted Ginn. Wait, we've been saying great things about Ginn all year. I'm surprised you like Golden Tate so much.

What's not to like about Golden Tate? He's like 90% of Heinz Ward. He's in four years of his career at no point has he ever been particularly consistent or trustworthy. Talk about a guy who if you put him on the Patriots would blow Julian Edelman out of the water. Golden Tate is a very good receiver on the run-heavyest team in the league so his numbers don't look good. Is it Heinz Ward a borderline hallfamer? Yes. And you say that Golden Tate's 90%?

percent of a borderline hall theater? Wow, Zah. You know what's part of being a pro, though, is... This is fun. I'm enjoying this. Getting up to speed with your offense, knowing exactly what they need and what they don't. Golden Tate is a guy when you read between the lines,

listening to Russell Wilson and even the coaches and stuff. I don't know if he's been a guy that's always been exactly on the same page of that. Pete Carroll and John Snyder have been nothing but effusive in the praise of Golden Tate. How would we know that? You got to read between the lines. Why we're reading between the lines? What's this about Brandon Albert doesn't care for the game of football?

Well, that was offline. I didn't know that would be brought up. Well, I had him in the mid... Well, as you know, Wes will speak his minds. I want to know what that's code for. Okay, Brandon Albert, you have to move on eventually, guys. I just want to let you know. But go ahead.

You had Brandon Albert ranked 8th. I had him 16th or 17th. I think there's been questions within the church. Chiefs within the league. Is he a guy that you want to give a big long-term contract to? Is he a guy that showed up every day of his career and is known for being the hardest working guy there in the room and having a great work ethic and wanting to be great? Is he that guy?

That's interesting. Well, you are more plugged in than I am, so maybe you know a few more things. He can't be the hardest working guy when you've got Dwayne Bo in that room. I'm taking Jared Valdier over him. This is not the- Eugene Monroe. This is not the end of our talk about this list, and free agents. In fact, on Friday, we're going to cook up some type of game.

I'm going to put my Wink Martindale tie on, and we're going to go to town on this. Winktai. It's Wink time. You'll be producing Damashek show in no time as Winktie. I don't like the sound of that. All right, let's move on. That was good, guys. Everybody okay?

We got a little hot. Oh, that was nothing. Wait until we have our top 10 safeties segment coming up. what? I'll sit that pot out. Wait, you had Malcolm Jenkins below Thomas Dekood? Give me a break, Wesseling. Oh, we have to throw Dekud on the list, too.

I thought it was Deku. I thought it was a silent D. I believe it's Deku. That would be the French penanceation. Oh, see. I pronounce things in the French way, always. All right, moving on. By French, you mean abnormal.

Yes, exactly. Offseason forecasts. We're going to start with the team that entered the 2013 season as the defending champion. Didn't even make the playoffs. Of course, that is the Baltimore Ravens. Mark Sessler wrote our off-season forecast on our site, so I will open it up. Mark, the forecast for the Ravens, partly sunny with storm clouds, potentially, rolling in.

Well, they're in better situation than they were a year ago when they had literally almost no cap from when they were in hot water. Remember how we were fretting? I like what Mark steps on. I set you up with a weather forecast. I wanted you to mark on that. that, but just rolled right over. Yeah, listen, maybe not the most seamless transition of all time. I feel like we got a lot of our news for the Ravens at the Combine and leading up to it

because it's clear that of their biggest free agents, they are prioritizing getting either a deal done for Pitta or he's getting close to a no-brainer for the tag potentially. They're very hot on resigning Eugene Monroe at their tackle spot, and I think they want to make him their long-term left tackle. and it sounds like one question was Darrell Smith I thought they did a very nice job

for them last year played the second most amount of snaps on their defense they want him back too and you know then it it bleeds into guys that if they don't get them back

guys like Michael Oren Douse Clark all these people who cares if they don't come back Michael Orr's gone he's totally gone he's gone they don't even want him back

they're going to do what they do which is smart they're going to be active and free agency they said that but that includes signing their own guys really number one

and if they do anything outside of it, I think it's going to be more filling holes with stuff that makes sense the Ravens' way. They don't go out and blow you away with deals for guys who shouldn't get those deals. What's their biggest needs? Overhauling the rushing attack. I wrote about that this morning. John Harbaal said they need to just overhaul the whole thing. Offensive line, he wants to add running backs, which seemed peculiar to me when you have Ray Rice and Bernard Pierce. But maybe it's a message to them that three yards per carry isn't a number.

And we don't, I don't think we can watch, say that we watch offensive line play and we can dissect how everyone's doing game to game or what they're... I can't. Outside of Greg. But Gino Gretkowski at Center is not fit to be a starter. And I think that a lot of their pressure came right up through the middle of that line last year. Would you say that was because he was a first time starter and he got gradually better as the year went along or the fact that he was making the calls for a six-time? And Probler, like Matt Burke. Not an easy job to take off at the start, but I just think that they, in general, the line needs a lot of help,

and there's going to be a lot of turnover again. They will have a new right tackle. And they have a new offensive system, and you mentioned Monroe as a priority. I could see Monroe leaving in a heartbeat, just like we thought Paul Kruger or Lerby, maybe one of them could have stayed last year. Neither of them did. We have Monroe in our top five free agents overall, in all of free agents. So if he doesn't get the tag, and he's this close to free agency, it wouldn't shock me if Eugene Monroe is the highest paid free agent this offseason.

They might have a tough time keeping them. And then maybe ore's gone and you've got no tackles. You've got Gino at center. That's a problem. He said you're not getting any discount, not a hometown. When it's only been his hometown for one season, it's not going to come easy. I think he's going to go out and get the money he wants. Let me ask you a question, Mark.

And, Wes, the story you did Wednesday, about, about the overhauling the running game. We hear the support from the new coordinator and from Ozzy Newsom that Ray Rice is a major part. Is there any way this guy is cut? Could it happen? Well, I mean, I think a lot of things can happen right now that would seem improbable, but I think...

No, I think Ray Rice is in the plans, and I think that, you know, they must know the bulk of what occurred in that incident. They've seen... Ozzie Newsom said he's seen video of it, and they said that they talked with... Ray Rice and that they're satisfied with his side of the story. But if it goes off some legal mountain cliff, then sure. Or that video gets out of him potentially clocking his girlfriend.

That could change a lot of things. The Ravens, like, you know, I mean, they've kept on, they've kept guys in the past with questionable legal. They've been so strong in supporting Rice. There's no reason to question it. Greg, is Ray Rice in the NFL at the age of 30? How old is he right now? 27, 26.

It's a good question right there. That's a great question. Thanks. I'm going to go no. Wow. So you don't see him rebounding from what happened? Almost as anticlimactic as Blindside 2, which is going to be coming out, the sequel, and it ends with Michael O'R ranked 55th in our top 1001.

Second string guard of the Cardinals. For all of you Dynasty Fantasy Football Leagueers out there, Greg Rosenthal just advised you to trade Ray Rice as soon as possible. Is that not already happening? Well, I think there would be a lot of people that would say, the smart move would be to buy low coming off a like a worst case scenario year he was injured all last season how old is he he's really only 26 come on you guys are just making things up 27 maybe i'll tell you right now ray rice is 27 he won't turn 28 until next january

centering his age 27 a lot of that a lot of miles under that would mean that would mean he needs to get to three more NFL seasons to prove me wrong um before we move on mark offseason crystal ball time, what will happen with the Ravens this offseason heading toward September? Well, I think they're going to re-sign Pitta and I think they're going to get Smith back. I think that Greg is right that Monroe is going to be tougher than they thought. Draft-wise, you know, there's another big need for Baltimore is wide receiver help. I think that they're going, it's a great draft for the receiver class from what we're hearing in that they need, you know, the bold and trade did not work out for them last year.

We saw an opening week against the Broncos. They were throwing to Stokely and other bizarre characters that just made the Ravens look like they were on an average age of 57 years old. And, you know, they need a guy that can come in and do what Bolden did and let Tori Smith do what he does. It's amazing. That's been a need for them every offseason for a decade. Yeah.

There has never been a point. It's like, we've got to get rid of Mark Clayton. We've got to get rid of this guy. There's been no point in the last decade where it hasn't been a need. And now you've got Jacoby Jones and DOS or free agents. It's just, you know, you're suddenly low. Their whole franchise, really. When have they ever had that species on their teeth?

Well, they have Tori Smith, which worked out. But you're right. For years and years, they did not. They won a Super Bowl with a pretty good combo, and then they broke it up a little bit. For years they had no quarterback and no receivers. Right. Moving on, another AFC team. The Kansas City Chiefs, obviously, coming off a.

Bounce-back season, which they made the playoffs, lost that heartbreaker to the Colts when Andrew Luck went nuts in the second half. They head into a new season. It doesn't seem like there will be a lot of changes. If anything, maybe a philosophical shift on offense that began as a season progressed. Chris Wessling, I ask you, it appears like it's mostly sunny with a chance of glory. I don't see many chances of glory here. Because off-season forecast.

I don't know if I go with glory. No, everyone just for fusing your weather analogies. This is not in an AFC that's why, I know. In a way, this would win the award for a running bit that has received the least amount of support from the group. Would it be the first one? In a wide open AFC where the Broncos could come back to Earth and Tom Brady is, you know, getting older. Why can't the Chiefs be the team that comes out of the AFC? Aren't they, isn't there potential for glory?

I'm telling you, I don't see it. Do you believe that, Dan? I do. I think the AFC's wide open. I think they had an easy schedule last year, played a little over their heads early on. We're an uneven team, and they seem like they'll be similar next year. And they still are a team if Jamal Charles gets hurt, they're done. Okay.

They have a lot of questions in free agency. They have a lot of issues to solve for a team that you would think they're sort of rebuilding, but really they have the problems of a veteran type of team. So who are the biggest free agents right now? Well, Brandon Albert by far is their biggest, and if they don't lock him up, you know, Greg pointed out they've been hesitant to do so. The dolphins and Cardinals are waiting to snatch him up, and we'll pay extra for him. Greg doesn't even like hearing that name come up.

I had him in the top 20. He's fine. Just disgusted. Who else? The dolphins have to be happy not to have traded for him last year, by the way. Now they can get him for without that. After that, they've got some borderline starters like Tyson Jackson. Dexter McCluster, and a couple of guards in John Assamois, Asamoa, I don't know how you

pronounce it, and Jeff Schwartz. So their offensive line have some issues. They're going to have to, you know, and they had a guy like Eric Fisher who came in and didn't exactly blow the doors off as the number one overall pick. I don't like teams where, like you said, easy schedule to some degree, found themselves in the AFC West at the right time, and the rest of their schedule played out well. They had one of those years where everything right went right turnover-wise. You net a ton of turnovers, you gave up very few. Either that's who they are, and that helps.

But a lot of times those are the teams in the next year, they have three or four fewer wins. All right, so what... They started scoring about 40 points a game, though, for the second half, and that gives me some hope that they could be good. But you kind of glossed over it, West, oh, they got to replace these other guys.

They have a lot of started. Tyson Jackson was a pretty good player for them. I was surprised you didn't rank them a little higher, not to get back into that. I mean, he was a solid three-flex. starter for them. They have two offensive line starters who played pretty well. Kendrick Lewis, who maybe he's not great, but he's a young in his prime starter.

That's a lot of starters that they have to replace maybe five or six of them. Well, I think a lot of those guys are below average starters. That's why I probably glossed over them. I think Kendrick Lewis might not even get a starting job on the open market. Wes openly insults like 12 NFL players. So, Wes, what are their biggest needs? Well, they're going to have to reshuffle or tweak that offensive line. That, to me, seems like a big need.

Dwayne Bo, if he's lost forever as a number one receiver, that's a need. Tight ends a need, but they're probably counting on Kelsey to come back healthy this year and take that role. So those would be, I would think, their biggest needs. It is at NFL honors when Dan and I had the assignment of kind of grabbing these guys coming down the red carpet and annoying them because they were trying to have a pleasant night where they weren't being badgered by anyone but we were trying to do our thing and i you're doing it again next year too i know well no listen i grabbed jemal charles and what it is funny because

i asked me if you felt that the chiefs had been overlooked for what they did late in the season on offense and he said you have to realize we didn't really as a as a group learn really what we were supposed to do on offense the way reed wanted us to till week nine 10 11 and he's like i think you're going to see us to do that from the start and they were on fire down the stretch well i We haven't even mentioned Alex Smith to this point. I think players would tend to credit the fact that the playbook wasn't open enough. In reality, it was more of a game momentum situation when you had to start passing more because your defense was allowing more points.

I think that's really what happened. And Alex Smith, yeah, we haven't really talked about him, but this is a guy now. We've now seen it on the biggest stage in the playoffs twice now, where he's had just these masterful games. are we confident that he's a guy that they can really power their offense through along with Jamal Charles, or is he always going to be a guy that's complimentary?

I feel better about Alex Smith right now than I have at any stage in his career, which is now going on, what, eight or nine years? 2005. So that's saying a lot. I think he's clearly on the good side of the Andy Dalton scale. I think he's reached the point where you can say this guy is my franchise quarterback.

He's not a high-end franchise quarterback. I think... They're going to give him more money this off season. And I think Dan's raised a good point. He's been in the playoffs a couple of times now and has had two of the better playoff games of any quarterback. I mean, it's like you look at a team like good Bengals, and we can't get out of that Bengals preview

without going all over the Dalton thing. I think with the Chief Smith is who he is, and there's no reason to move on from him or replace him this season. But that's like kind of what I was saying is like, who is he? Have we been underestimating him? and should we just take the shackles off and make Alex Smith a stud? He's highly productive and he doesn't kill you in games.

He doesn't have the arm for it. He was carving people up for about half a season. Nick Foles did that and people wanted to give him the MVP. Underrated runner too, don't you think? I think he's just underrated. He's one of the top five or six runners in the NFL. So not to dig back in on the 80s scale because we got to go soon,

but does that make him, what is he, a top 15 back end of the top 15 if you were talking about franchise quarterbacks? Off the top of my head, I'd say 15 is fair. 15 to 20. I think Dalton is right around 18 or 19 right now or 20 or something. All right, gentlemen. I brought up the...

That's a tough way to end this podcast. There's an outside chance at the after Dalton scale, and I'm breaking this news to you guys. I don't know if you'll even be cool with it since I basically stole it. I was going to say. From Wesley. Well, I gave him the credit. Well, this was initially,

a fan idea. I brought it up. They do those top ten shows for NFL films, and they did top ten quarterback teases. And number seven on the list was Andy Dalton. So I went on a rant about the after Dalton scale. So maybe it's going global. You get a television spot and just completely crib Wesleyan's. I mentioned the podcast, which probably guarantees it won't mention.

Oh, that'll get hit the cut of the floor. Wait, so you did more of those TV things? Yeah, in Indianapolis. Wowzers. Wait, Mark and I weren't invited to do this? Aren't she's sneaky? You guys are... Greg showed up in a suit.

It's funny how you guys didn't even find out until right now. They were probably like, hey, Greg, we'd love to also get whoever else is there, Mark, West. I'm sure Dan is there, too. Get all you guys on, and Mark was like, yeah, I'll tell him. And then he shows up, and then it's like, oh, where the other guys? Oh, they couldn't make it. They're not feeling well. Hey, there's always next year.

It's not that big of a deal. The cat's out of the bag now. It actually, you guys never came up. Oh, that's the sad truth of it. Wait, I've seen some of the jokers they have on there. I know. You wouldn't think it'd be a hard, like the Sclar brothers are on, like, every single countdown. Like, we can't get on there?

Anyway. All right, we got to go. We'll be back on Friday, and we'll talk some more free agents and news and all the stuff we do. And we have a guest next week in studio, which we'll reveal. But until then, this is Dan Hansa, signing up for the mailman, the sizzler, the boss, and the gold standard behind them. the glass until Friday.