NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Post-Combine Free Agency and Draft Buzz: What Positions are Deepest?

Episode Date: March 3, 2026

The NFL offseason is heating up! On this episode of 40s and Free Agents, hosts Daniel Jeremiah and Gregg Rosenthal break down all the latest movement following the NFL Combine and dive into the early waves of free agency buzz. Together, they sort through the deepest position groups in the draft, analyze where the veteran market is strongest, and spotlight how supply and demand could impact draft boards across the league. Which position groups are loaded in this year’s draft? Where does free agency offer the most value? And how might team needs shift now that front offices have fresh numbers from the combine? If you’re looking to understand how the combine reshaped evaluations, which positions offer the most depth, and how free agency could alter draft strategy, this episode has you covered.NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Welcome to 40s and Free Agents. I'm Greg Rosenthal here with Daniel Jeremiah. I am lucky to have the most wanted man who was in Indianapolis and just got back. And the first, you know, big show he's doing back is his favorite show, 40s and Free Agents. How are you doing, buddy? I still doesn't get old seeing the little flipping the names on the screen there due to our little wager that we had from the regular season.

Yes, it does say with Daniel Jeremiah and Greg Rosenthal, I think that's appropriate after the big week that you had. DJ is so big in Indianapolis. He didn't even speak to me. We tried to book them for NFL Daily or for this show. And we actually have some photos here. If you happen to watch it on YouTube or the NFL channel. The crowd that was at the Daniel Jeremiah press conference was bigger than any player, I think, all week long. Like I tried to get a question in, couldn't happen, tried to work it through PR to get DJ as a guest.

No, he said, no, he's doing serious. He doesn't want to talk to you. And I saw this other shot of you at the podium, too, where it's like, DJ looks angry. Did someone ask you like a bad question or something? You're just pretending to be the GM. You're the man in Indian House. Oh, I got, trust me. I got texts from GMs after like this stuff started circulating on social media.

And it was like, oh, really? we've got media doing press conferences getting questions from media is that where we are right now so i got busted pretty good on all that stuff i mean a massive press conference uh you should push back i'm old enough to remember dj mayock used to do the same thing yeah so i don't know if that's a first for you yeah i have not i have not done okay mayok used to do it like after the the quarterbacks used to go earlier so the quarterbacks were thrown i think it was after that he would do is uh but it was at a podium it was at a podium people asking meaq questions so you can push back and there you go and um who knows It's nice we got to book you for this show.

Couldn't get you in Indianapolis. No, but do you want to tell the story real quick of how I got you and you were walking with Tice and Harmon and all your buddies? We're walking. So I'll tell the story. So I'm getting ushered to go to the next thing I got to go to and they kind of running me through it. And then I see Greg, I haven't seen him, you know, the whole time.

And he's with all of his guys and chest out. And I stop. I go, hey, Greg, did I tell you what that personnel guy told me about you and the podcast on 40s and free agents? You go, no. I go, yeah, because nobody's told me anything. And then I just kept walking and just watched the air kind of come out of your lungs. And then it was the highlight of my day that day as I was bustling around between interviews.

Well, I'm glad I could give that to you. 20 seconds with me in Indianapolis was your best 20 seconds. And I did hear from people from literally multiple teams in Indianapolis that they like listening to our show. So we're going to try to give them a good one. Here's what we're going to do. We're going to give a 101. We are on the doorstep of free agency. We're taping this on Tuesday.

It's going to come out. Franchise tags are flying around as we're reporting. Tag Day, Breece Hall has been tagged. And we're going to kind of give the 101 of like where we're at for all the different free agency positions, but also based on what we learned in Indianapolis in terms of the veterans, but also what you saw in the field and maybe how that impacts free agency position by position. And I've come to a thought about the quarterbacks.

We'll start there. We'll go through each position. That actually, there are a lot of quarterbacks. I know people don't think there are a lot of quarterbacks. It's a lower level of guys at quarterback and free agency and possible trades. But there's a lot of them. And the way I thought about it, and here's my theory, here are the amount of quarterbacks. I would rather have start week one than whoever you have as QB2 in this free class.

Malik Willis, Kyler Murray, assuming he gets there. Daniel Jones is going to stay with the Colts, but he'd be there. Gino Smith, I think there's more interest in than people expected. Aaron Rogers, Marcus Mariotta. Wow. Kirk Cousins, Tuatung of Iloa, Tanner McKee, now we get a little tricky. Jimmy Garapolo, Jacoby Brissette, Mack Jones, Anthony Richardson,

Justin Fields, Joe Flacco. We're getting a little hazy there towards the end, but I think the way the NFL looks at it, I just listed 15 guys that, like, if you just have to win a game tomorrow, aka week one, you might rather have those guys. And there's only about seven or eight teams that are looking for starters. So between all those guys,

Like, that's, you get that guy in place first. And in this quarterback class, it kind of gets hurt because of that. Yeah, I think that's fair. And I think it's, you know, man, like the busiest name, you know, the biggest conversations, I should say. And it's even more media driven than team driven. But like the Thai Simpson conversation is everywhere. So I went to an exercise this morning, not on the frequency side. But I went through his my, as we're recording this, he's my 40th player.

You know, maybe he'll probably move up a couple spots. but he's not going to be inside my top 32 guys for this draft. I think he's a second round pick. But I'm like going through, okay, where does he fit? Because I do think he is, I think in the right fit in the right spot, he has a chance. He can be successful. So I'm going through it and I'm like, okay, I don't see him as a fit in Cleveland. I do think Cleveland's going to roll with Watson and see what they have with him this year.

And then they're in the quarterback market next year, try and continue to build out their roster so that they can support whoever they would take at the quarterback position the following year. The Jets, I feel the same way about where, to me, they've got, I believe, three ones next year. So I got two this year, three next year. It feels like, again, trying to build out your infrastructure. Then with three ones, they're either going to be in position to take a quarterback or they have so much ammunition. They're going to be able to blow somebody away to go up and get their quarterback next year. So that doesn't really feel like a fit for them. The Steelers, I don't see that as a fit. I just don't think his, you know, physical size and

attributes. We've seen the Kenny Pickett experiment, and that did not work there. And, you know, I just don't see that happen. And so they're out. So then where are the fits? The Rams are one that's often discussed. But I think the Rams are in go for it mode right now. They're right on the cusp of a Super Bowl. That doesn't feel like that would be a move when you don't know how much longer you have Stafford. How much longer is McVe going to stay? You know, this feels like a push to me. It doesn't feel like it's something we're planning for the future. So take them out of the mix. So I came up with two teams. Okay. And the two teams I came up, first and foremost for me was Arizona because he feels

like to me like an NFC West quarterback. We've seen Purdy be, you know, obviously successful in that division. I think his skill set will work in the floor's offense. I just, I like the fact they're indoors, all those things. To me, that one makes sense. Now it's not in the top of the first round. So is that we kicked around the idea at the combine with Rich. I said, you know, second round or if they want the extra year, you know, if you want to come and do that at the bottom of round one. So the Arizona is the first team. Running through the rest of these teams, running through the rest of these teams. The one that I looked at and I'm like, huh, from an offensive standpoint, like playing indoors, how does he, how does he fit how they want to play the position? I was like,

gosh, I literally tweeted and I said, I'm going to duck and turn off my mentions. But like, you look at Minnesota and say, Kirk Cousins operating that offense, what he did. And I'm like, He's kind of in that family of quarterback and that style of quarterback. Again, not at 18. It would be your trading back or whatever you want to do with them and try and maneuver around the board, however you would do it. And then people would say, obviously, I would never want the mentions on because it'll be, gosh, JJ McCarthy has no experience.

Now we're going to get another quarterback with no experience. Is he better than JJ McCarthy? I don't know. I just didn't get the sense of, and you tell me what you heard, but I didn't get like this, there's this excitement around McCarthy in Minnesota and this is something that's going to get turned around. I mean, it is, it's very early on in his time there, but I didn't get a sense that that was going great to put the,

no, that's a leaky ship and it's not positive. I can't remember a situation where you're hearing that a team is, is almost ready to move on. I said it on NFL daily. I think he has a better chance of being on someone else's roster than being their week one starter. I think the most likely outcome is he's on their roster and he's not the starter, but I could see in a world where they took Ty Simpson that they flip J.J. McCarthy as part of some other deal,

and he gets to try to restart somewhere else. Maybe as a recommendation project for your time. I realize how it sounds crazy. Like when you just look at, they have just taken a quarterback. There's similarities between the two of them. But I also go, okay, it's kind of, you know, Questie's out. And then it's not like you're saying, well, this was his pick. And Kevin didn't have any impact on it. Obviously, he had to have some influence there as the head coach and someone who develops a quarterback position. But I'm just saying it kind of makes it a little cleaner of like, okay, GM's gone. A quarterback that was taken on his watch is gone. We're going to start new here.

I think that finding a veteran because the team's ready to win right now makes a lot of sense. But I'm just, I was scrambling trying to find a home for that guy. And I struggle to come up with it. Which makes me think you don't have to trade up for him if you're like in Arizona. like sitting weight in two. It could be a situation. Tyler Shuck. Like Malik Willis's draft where the guys after the top guy just fall.

And yeah, that was one of my takeaways I wrote down was I just think the Vikings are getting a starter. It's not going to be JJ. And that's where you did hear a little bit that there's a little more interest in Gino than I would have expected as maybe a fallback plan in Arizona or like a 1A option for the Vikings along with Kyler. and then, you know, you do hear some Kyler jet stuff, which... I don't buy that. Fusing. I don't buy that one. Okay.

Yeah, that one didn't make as much sense to me. Okay. I wanted to throw that by you because I'm not sure about that either. Jimmy G. In Arizona kind of makes sense if you're thinking about the Ty Simpson because I hear, you know, Michael Fleur and likes Jimmy G. And he wouldn't be like a guy you really are moving forward with, but just a guy to have. Bides your time.

Bides your time. Yeah, that you combine. And so you add up all those guys that I just said. And again, they're not guys that are going to. to get the fan base excited. But there are just like a lot of options and they can play football. Who evoked the strongest opinions on the veteran market when you talk to people there? Because I've got mine. Oh, the strong opinions. Like negative and or positive? Yes. Probably Willis who because I just got so many people telling me I was crazy,

but then some people that was like, you see the vision. Thank you. That's the one. That's the one. There are people that say this is the number one option. There's excitement there. There's upside there. You know, warranted, go get them. There's going to be a fun future for whoever gets Malik Willis. And there's other people that say you are, the numbers that are getting thrown around on him are insane. There is nothing to justify that that he would get that much money.

So I just, that was the one guy who people are. There's no, I like Malik Willis. this is going to be awesome or this is going to be a colossal train wreck. Like there's nobody in the middle. And it does worry me. I don't know. And they would probably keep it quiet if there is a team out there. Like, is there are there two teams out there that are on the high end of that spectrum that really love them that drive up his market?

I'm not sure. So it could be a little closer to that Justin Fields contract from a year ago compared to maybe a Gino Smith or Sam Donald contract for a year ago. But either way, I think he's going to get paid. I think he's going to get an opportunity. That's what I want to see. And it is interesting. all these teams, the Falcons, specifically, Vikings and Chiefs, where you're just like looking for, like, maybe the Vikings are in that category, where you're just looking for short-term starters.

I'm really interested to see where the Chiefs go there. All right, that's quarterback. And we spend a lot of time on quarterback, but it's quarterback. Running back, like any guys you think watching this, is there anything like watching what happened on the field with the combine with this class that chain, you know, makes you feel any different because it's a super deep free agency class. I know Brees Hall is now off the market. He got tagged, but you still have E.TN and Rico Dowdell and Kenneth Walker, you know, the Texans solved their, you know, issue. If you want to call it that with David Montgomery, I think

they'll be happy there. I heard back that I was a little too low on Tyler Algear. I think he'll do well in free agency. Aaron Jones is still a good player. He's going to be out there. there's a lot of options where I think people are going to check that box in free agency before you even get to this draft. Yeah, it's not a deep group in the draft. So the two Notre Dame kids where as advertised loves top 10 guys, my second overall player, he lit it up. His teammate, Judarian Price, I really, really like him. I think he's a second round guy. You know, I think because, and we'll get to the offensive line, and I think because it falls off a cliff after the group of tackles that, you know, maybe Price where you could say he's one of the 32 best players in

the draft potentially. I think that he still goes in the second round somewhere. And then I think we have a couple guys go in the third round. So that's like Mike Washington Jr. from Arkansas, who you knew was going to fly. He did that. And then you get the Nebraska kids. So that's, that's four guys. But it's not, we've had other years where it's like, man, I love the guys we're going to get in the fourth, fifth round. I think that's why you're seeing Breeze Hall get tagged and Javante Williams get done. Like, I think teams are going to prefer the veteran market. Yeah. And like the David Montgomery trade to the Texas. Yeah.

Okay, that's a $6 million contract. I think teams look at the running back position and think, like, this does not cost that much to take care of that position. Kenny Gainwell, Rashad White, two more names that are out there. Yeah, Gainwell, I'm curious to see what goes on with him. Good player. I think he'll do well. Yeah.

I think he'll do well. Everyone needs a Kenny Gave. Well, you mentioned offense plan. Let's just go right there because you said it's such a drop off at tackle. I think of the same thing in free agency. There's three guys that stand or four guys now. if you want to include Joanne Taylor, who just got cut by the Chiefs, but he's not, he's not a great player. Jermaine Illuminaur, Rashid Walker, Braden Smith, are the three names you hear as guys that at least you can sign.

They're going to start for you. You know, they have strengths and weaknesses. They're not going to make the Pro Bowl, but they're okay. Juan Taylor, I think, is going to get a contract to play. After that, it's rough. There aren't many tackles out there in free agency. It sounds similar in the drive. There's seven guys.

there's seven. So when you look at it, I think there's a real chance. All seven of them end up going in the first round. Because if you need one, you've got to take one. And you're going to, like, I've got the Arizona State tackle. You're not sure it's like in the early 30s for me,

but I think he could go in the 20s, just because if you don't get on that ride early, the ride's over. So there's seven guys to go along with a big time interior player in Yawane from Penn State. eight. So that's eight offensive linemen. Then there's a couple other intriguing guards, but I think, you know, see maybe those guys go early in the second round, mid-second round. But those tackles, I just think there's enough need around the league. And it's such a

decline and drop off after those guys. I think they get pushed up. Yeah. And like there, there are some guys a little deeper at tackle that maybe you can sign and you can figure it out. But it's just, it just strikes me. We had Brandon Bean on on the show. You know, he would like, he wasn't too big time enough for us. Like, you know, a guy who came and joined us as well. Yeah, who's run a team that, you know, made the playoffs year after year after year. Like, he wasn't big time, but you were too big time. And I asked him about possibly losing his interior offensive lineman.

And his answer to me, without directly saying it, I think was telling, which was, hey, look, those were two guys, we got pretty cheap in free agency. Like, one of them was a sixth offensive lineman. One was a little later in free agency. And that spoke to me of like, that's a position where we think coaching and development, and that's going to be what you can maximize. And it just hits me every year,

and they just lost their offensive line coach. It was a great one. Those guys are under, that's who's underpaid is the great offensive line coach and having the right offensive system to develop these positions. That's such a huge advantage for NFL teams, because then you can take a David Edwards or a Connor McGovern, and three years later you spit them out

and they're going to make 15, 20 million, in free agency, but you can find the next ones if you have a good internal system. It's just such a value add. I would just add, though, that increasingly it's become difficult for quality tackles to get to the free agent market. And I think you can find a lot of reclamation project guards. You can even find some tackles who've failed to guard, and you can get some real, real value with those guys.

It's hard. It's hard to, you know, getting a big time discount on a quality tackle. Like, it's hard to find those guys. You have to pay the premium. That's why I think those, you know, and I don't think free agency even really has him this year. So that's how it impacts a draft is, boom, those guys, those guys are going to go. Yeah, it's a good call. Like, Jermaine Illuminaur, to me, I'll be really fascinating.

There's, like, I saw a lot of nice things about him. And a couple of the teams that I talked to, and we brought up the names, and it was like an hard no. Like, no. That's what I was going to say was he's a guy in the past who's just kicked around. Like, he's bounced around the league. But he has good. He started a lot for teams that have successfully, protected the passer. And so maybe he's not going to be for everyone. But what I mean is like he's a guy who's

been in free agency before and not getting paid much money. And I think this time you'll see just because of the lack of the market, he'll get it. But you're right. At Guard, there's, there's a lot of guys, the two bills I mentioned. We'll see if Joel Betonio retires or not, but you have other guys who have played for the Browns at various points. Wyatt Teller, Kevin Zitler, the Texans, you know, they just traded Titus Howard. Can we pause there? Yes, sure. I'm curious. I'm to see how the Texans are going to build this thing out. Like, they join the ring. Like when we look at the teams that need to overhaul the offensive line, right?

Okay, the Raiders, the Jets, the Browns. And then all of a sudden, it's like, oh, my gosh, the Texans, like the Texans are a Super Bowl caliber team that have to rework some things along their offensive line right now. Nick Casario cracks me up because he got annoyed by a question where the premise was your offensive line essentially wasn't great last year. you know, what are you going to do to fix it? And he was like, are you watching the same tape that I guess I got to watch that

tape because the tape I watched, I thought they were much improved essentially. And I know what he was getting it. I thought last year. Like, Ursary got better as the year went on. And Ingram played well for them. And I thought Titus Howard was okay. I thought last year they did kind of what we asked. Can you just have a normal offensive line?

And for much of the season, they were probably in the 16 to 24 range or something. They weren't, they weren't the worst group. in the league anymore. But for a second straight off season, they just wave goodbye to their best player. But so long Laramie Meetonsil last year, so long Titus Howard this year. And Ingram, maybe they're gearing up to give him a big contract. I'm going to say, I'm going to tell you right now, I will be shocked if when we reconvene after free agency, if they haven't gone top of the market shopping along the interior. And it might be a, it might be a trade. And okay, so some of the top of the market, I mentioned a couple of them, but Isaac Sayamalu. There are numbers. Like you said,

It's easier to find Cade Mays is a center for the Panthers, who I think is going to get a bigger contract than people expected. Sean Ryan's played for the Packers, Zitler. So there are guys out there. I think those bills guys. I think those bills guys make sense there too. I think they make a lot of sense. Let's do the rest of offense before we take a break.

Wide receiver is very top-heavy, not a lot of depth. And this is where it seems to me in most years, actually, I think free agents have more good wide receivers available. And you have Romeo Dobbs and Wondell Robinson, who I think teams will give like solid contracts to guys who will play. Mike Evans will see what he gets. The Rashid Shahid market is quiet out there. I have a heart.

I have no idea what he's going to get. But I do wonder, it seems like this draft class is just deeper. It's actually a position where you can find guys to play right away versus the free agency where the money doesn't quite add up. Yeah. And I think because we're going to see the offensive linemen dominate the first round, Like who's going to get punished because of that. You know, edge rushers deep, but I still think the edge rushers go.

I think the benefactor is going to be teams wanting wide receivers in the second round. I think in second, third round, day two, there's a, there is a plethora of quality wideouts, all different shapes and sizes, skill sets. It's like discount shopping. So I think, you know, the fact that we don't necessarily have a deep group and free agency, that they can get that problem solved. And to go back to the Texas. real quick. I almost wonder if they take the approach with the interior

offensive line, potentially that they took with receiver last year, doubled up on those those Iowa State receivers on the second round or the second day. Maybe they use that same approach with a pretty good interior offensive line group. Ooh, but just do the double up on the bills. We threw out that idea for the Raiders, but they should just import the bill's offensive line. They need both of those spots and like they have all the cap space in the world. I like that because it's also a position where like,

who would you rather have a second or third round pick, even just to play week one or let's say Jahan Dotson or Marquis Brown or Kurt. Like it's a reasonable discussion. There's some guys in the middle. Joanne Jennings, you know, could end up in Tennessee with his old coach or, you know, there'll be guys who signed decent conduct, but it's not great. Tight ends pretty awesome, though. Remember when tight ends were supposed to take forever to develop at the NFL level?

I am curious to ask you that. Like, they've had quick impacts. lately. And I don't know how you think that could impact, you know, Kenya and Sadiq or the rest of this class. Because it's a really good free agent class at tight end. I think maybe the strongest position pound for pound. Well, we had one of the best tight end groups who've ever had last year. And it was, you know, we talked about it in the run up to the draft. There's nobody in this draft that approaches the top two guys from last year. Even the class before, though, those guys came in and they played right away, Laporta. And, you know, they made a difference. Yeah. I think the, the higher end of

The last two classes is better than this class. So there's Sadiq, who's kind of an interesting guy because he's a little bit undersized, but super dynamic. He'll go in the first round. And then after that, I think you maybe, you could see a pause in the second round. And maybe we start seeing more third, fourth, fifth round guys. So I don't think the impact will see will match what we saw with Loveland and Warren and my guy from Bowling Green to the to the Browns last year, Harold Fanon, who was a really, really good player. So I don't see that immediate impact of this group. But in terms of your point, like the ability for these guys to get on the field,

I mean, yeah, I mean, there are, a lot of these NFL teams are flexing them out. They're doing a lot of the same stuff that they did in college. And way more two tight end, even three tight end sets. And so that's one of the reasons why I think you're going to see money flying at tight end. I don't think they're going to be monster contracts, but just teams picking these guys. Who are the other top? I know. Pitts is gone now.

But after that, you have Isaiah Likely. You have KDOT and who I think is a good player. You have Goddard, you mentioned. You have Chigo Conquo. Travis Kelsey does look like he's going to come back to the Chiefs, which kind of crosses off the Chiefs as probably a big time tight end team. Charlie Kohler is a guy. I was surprised to hear.

I think teams do like him as like a second blocking tight end. It's tough to find those guys. And then like there's even depth, like in Joko, I haven't mentioned yet, is a good player. Darren Waller looked shockingly good when he came back last year. I think he'll have a place. Some Sean McVeatry is going to sign Tyler Higby to be their tight end too and be really happy with it. And so these are guys that are all going to play varying levels of contract.

But most of those first guys, like Oconco, Aten, like, like, those guys are going to be playing 40, 50 steps a game and getting good contracts and free agents. Yeah, that's a good group. Yeah. It is kind of interesting how it kind of leans draft or free agency with most of these positions. So I'll lean towards free agency with that one. All right, that's the offense. Let's take a break. We'll come back and we'll talk defense.

I'm Luke Wilson. Join me each week for Film Never Lies. Since retiring from the NFL, I've had a lot of my mind. And now I've got my own show. So if you're tired of lazy takes, if you want honest conversations, join us each week. Film Never Lies, available on all TSN platforms in the IHeart Radio app. On 40s and Free Agents, you know, unlike Rich Eisen,

DJ doesn't get. that flight right as the show. He got out, man. You didn't even get home until Monday evening and here you are back grinding Tuesday morning. Like what is a DJ post combine? Like do you do anything to celebrate? What goes on?

Not yet. We'll do a couple days of shows here. And then I got to work through Wednesday, Thursday. Yeah, Friday will be my, that'll be my. Maybe go hit a golf ball on Friday or something. Get outside and see the sun. a little bit. I've been indoors. So I got to get out. We got a little world baseball classic coming. Oh, is that starting? That starts Friday. You know, I'll probably watch. I'll be watching a lot of

that. I love side note. People are like the, the DR team. Everybody's super excited about it. It's like Tatis, Machado, Juan Soto. I'm like, how did that team, how did that Padre team not make the playoffs in 2023? I still don't get that. Yes. You were the only one that's still wondering about that. I guess you and the rest of the Padres. Oh, yeah, Blake Snow won the Cy Young that year. Still, I didn't make the playoffs. Make that make sense. Let's talk.

Let's talk edge. So you mentioned deep class. And it's maybe the deepest class in free agency, too. Whereas you, it actually almost looks like maybe it mirrors it in terms of the draft, where you have the top shelf guys, Hendrickson and Maffei and Jalen Phillips and Daffaioi. Okay, we got some high price guys. But then you got the mercenaries like Bosa and Mac, Hassan Reddick. There's Cam Jordan, a lot of those.

types of guys. And you have some good up-and-comers, like Joseph Asai, kind of in the middle of his, of his, you know, I heard Arnold Abacetti might get a pretty good contract, AJ Appanessa, Caleb on Jason. Like, you've got a, you got different flavors. And then you can just pick out like eight more solid veterans that at least can play for you. So I do think it's a position where people aren't going to be crossing off edge, but they're going to be at least feeling like we don't have to take them in the draft because we can get some in free agency. I'm curious to see where the like the middle tier market is because I think the the the Seahawks and the Eagles we've talked about it a bunch is just the number of guys so instead of saying I want one 25 million dollar

player maybe I'm going to go try and get two 11 million dollar players 12 million dollar players so I think people will be really excited about that group that you mentioned kind of that lower that middle tier group of guys right but then then they end up not being that big of a bargain but yeah I Some names, even I didn't say Kingsley and Iqbari, I think we'll get an okay contract. And then you have like the older guys, like Al-Qahid Muhammad or Kyle Van Nuoy who, yeah, it's probably a one-year contract, but they put up good production. Give you some snaps. Good snaps last year.

And like in the draft, did this group kind of play to type when you saw him on the field? Yeah, it was good. I mean, the top guys were the top guys. I mean, obviously Ruben Bain's arm length was a big discussion. But I mean, everybody knew he had shorter arms coming into it. So, I mean, it's not like it was this shocking revelation that he had short arms. Same with Cassius Howell. I think Howell maybe gets punished a little more.

He could slide, you know, maybe he slides out of the first round at A&M. But there's a lot of depth there. So it's a really solid group. I thought, like, when the Titans traded for Jermaine Johnson, people are in people were like, well, then, you know, then they don't have to necessarily draft an edge at the top of the draft. And I'm thinking, Jermaine Johnson can't be. impacting your number four overall peck. In fact, they could sign someone else in free agency.

Maybe it's not the top of the market, but it's one of those guys we mentioned as a solid starter type of player. And even then, that shouldn't affect to me what you do at number four overall. I mean, what's talking about? Saul is a defensive guy. He's seen with, you know, when his Jets defense was really good,

they had a lot of depth up front on that group. He's seen inside the division with Seattle and with the Rams. you know, and he saw what happened when his depth was depleted last year with injuries. So they want waves of guys. That's a nice middle-tier guy. They're going to continue to keep going at it and keep going at it. Exactly. When you have a pick that high, you want to get the potential of a guy that one day is getting that huge contract,

not through free agency, but from your own team. And these are more middle-tier type of guy. Defensive tackle, there's not many. And it seems like, you know, I did, I remember I watched, I watched like every second of the defensive tackle. Nice. You know, you guys did a good job, you know, kicking that off. It's not a flashy class, but it feels like in free agency, there's just like guy. Like Jonathan Franklin Myers is an interesting guy who will get paid good money.

And after that, you're just looking at kind of guys who can fill gaps. I don't think a lot of defensive tackles in free agency that teams are excited about. It seems like it's probably pick your flavor. the draft. Yeah, but I like the day two. I mean, like Banks is the one that everybody's kind of buzzing about because he's six, six and changed 327 pounds. He ran well, but he only played a couple games this year. His tape is a roller coaster ride. He goes to the senior bowl. There's the flashes, but then he disappears. Like, that's the profile of a boom-bust second round pick. And there's people talking about him going up there in like the top 15. I can't, I can't get there on

that one. I just can't. There's too many other solid players with, you know, higher floors. To me, this, this detackle group lacks, you know, the star power. I think there are guys, there's a handful, five or six of them that are day two picks that I think will be good players, but there's nobody in there that I think is a top 15, even a top 20 player in this draft. And yeah, there's the equivalent of kind of a day two free agency pick. Like, there's a lot of DJ Reed or Callais Campbell, O Nymata, Dr. Montiott. Jones, Sheldon Rangans. What this group lacks, though, is what you were talking about, kind of the second tier of, like, guys who are coming off their first contract. There's almost

none of that. I thought it was telling, oh, go ahead. I was going to say real quick, you know who we should give some credit with looking at this group, free agency in the draft. Let's give the much maligned Dallas Cowboys some credit. There is nobody in free agency of the draft that comes anywhere close to the talent that Quinn and Williams possesses, you know, that they were able to bring in last year. Now they've got other things they need to fill in. And I know Micah Parsons, that's a tough one to replace. But I think that if you look at, but I'm just going to give you the little Cowboys positivity here, which is not popular. But if we've talked about this in the waves of pass rushers and you think about the last two Super Bowl teams, didn't have anybody

with double-digit sacks, like they found one of the hardest pieces to find, which is the defensive tackle. Now, can they build not a Micah Parsons level player, but can they build up the waves of players to be able to roll through there. And who's their defensive coordinator, Parker, where did he come from? Came from the Eagles where they appreciate the importance of that depth. Yeah. And I think they could be an interesting team on Jalen Phillips, who I haven't heard a lot about.

But you hear Jerry Jones, they do this every year, saying like, oh, we're going to spend this year. This is the year we're going to spend. That one makes a lot of sense. For impact, familiarity, you plug it. you know this to plug him in and you got proof of concept to how he plays there. He played great with the Eagles. And they have Osa de Guzua in the middle.

They have Kenny Clark still. That might be the, that's the one. If you're going to tell me the free agent pairing that makes the most sense, you take it, you rob a division rival. You already have his coach so you know he fits the scheme. They know him really well. He's a young ascending player. They have room.

They have money. I need at the position. Like that just makes way too much sense, Greg. I like it. Let's go to linebacker where suddenly offball linebackers are back. Not only did I think the position, there was some improvement, including like Devin Lloyd's at the top of my list, but I think this is a nice group in free agency. And it really seems like it's a great group in the draft, which I don't know if that's not

going to help each other. Because I think this is kind of the equivalent to running back or tight end, where at least in free agency on the defensive side, I would say it's probably. the deepest position along with Edge. Yeah, I would say this group has helped themselves the most from when the season ended to now. Like you saw senior bowl performances that elevated guys. You saw Combine where they ran extremely fast, but not even just that. The field workouts were excellent.

They caught the ball as well as any linebacker group that I can remember. I think it's a loaded group. Obviously, Stiles is going to go all the way up there in the top 10. And however you use Rvel Reese, I think on the edge, some people would leave them off the ball. But those are two premier, premier guys. And then there's a whole host of guys, I think, are second round, third round, like really, really solid players. Yeah, I don't think that's going to help, like Devin Lloyd, who's, he's another guy. You mentioned who did you get the most reaction for at quarterback?

It was Malik Willis. Devin Lloyd was kind of that guy for me at linebacker where not everyone liked him as much as I did. You mentioned, too, on the show. But between him, Nikobe Dean, Kaden Ellis is a good. veteran who's going to get some money. Leo Chanel's an interesting guy. Quay Walker, there's opinions all over the place. And then a ton of just veteran players to Mario Davis. And Alex Anzolone, I think he'll do okay. Quincy Williams is out there. Alex Singleton, Eric Wilson, like there's just players in depth there where you can, you're going to fill holes.

Of all those guys, the name that I heard the most was Leo Chanel, just because he's a unique player and skill set. He's a name that came up. And that was definitely, I think he's going to do well and for agency. I wonder about him because he played for Steve Spagnolo and on a per snap basis, he made a massive impact. It was always interesting though at the end of the year, you know, I'd be looking at the list and be like, huh, he only played 450 snaps. They never played him more. They had a very specific role. They never trusted him to be on the field. So I don't know as a personnel guy like how you evaluate that and how a guy like that gets paid versus maybe a more standard like three down guy.

Yeah, I mean, it's just personnel packages and when you've got Bolton out there. So, you know, you can throw an extra DB out there and then you're limited. But he's a good player and there's love for him. I know that. I think the cornerback class in free agency is typical. It's average. There's plenty of guys who are going to get $10 million contracts. In free agency, there's not a lot of super duper stars.

But everyone has different like flavors of the types of guys. that they like. I think Cordale Flott is going to sneak you get a good amount of money. Yeah, his name's been popular. Yeah, Alante Taylor will too. I have no clue about Rick Wullen. I'm not totally sure about Jalen Watson and the Chiefs, what kind of money he gets. And then there's plenty of other names like Monteric Brown. I think I'll do okay from the, from the Jaguars. But there's a lot of good, not great cornerbacks available. I don't know how that matches up with the depth of the draft. Yeah, it's good. It's a good group. Again, I'm excited maybe more so about the second tier than the top tier.

And it was interesting, I had to talk with a team that's desperately in the corner market, outside and inside. And they told me, they're like, look, we're prioritizing the nickel over our outside corner. We feel like in our defense,

and really a lot of the defenses we've been discussing this, right, having impact guys in that position and that role. So they were like, man, if we're going to take one, if we're going to take a couple of them in the draft, we might choose to take the nickel first.

and then turn around and take the outside corner in a later round. But that's interesting to me. And it's a really good group of guys that can play inside of the nickel. And it's some bigger guys you can find, too. A guy like Kilgore from South Carolina has really, really helped himself. And teams, they're going to value that type of player, that profile. Well, when I think about free agency and thinking about that, the name that stands out to me there is Alante Taylor,

guy who I've always been intrigued by. When he's at his best, I think has been a really, good player. Otherwise, we're looking at mostly outside guys. Flats played a little bit on the inside, but yeah, not a lot of guys with that sort of versatility. There is versatility at safety, though. Like, it's an awesome group. You have, you have 10 to 12, like real deal starter slash plus starters, but I think the amount of them works against them. This happens a lot at safety where a lot of teams, I think, will wait it out and try to find that next camcourl contract. His last contract was two for $9 million, and he's a free agent again specifically too. But there will be

deals like that for safeties that wind up playing 2,000 snaps over the next two years. And you only have to pay him $4 million a year. And they're going to be pretty good for you. There's good names out there. Yeah, I would say there's five guys I love in the safety class, including three that I have first round grades on. And then two more that I would take on on day two. And then it goes pretty deep to 10, 11, 12 guys that I think have a chance to get on the field next year. So it's a, that the two positions, I think, that have elevated themselves in the draft side of things since the end of the season till now that have ended up being better than we initially thought, most people initially thought, is linebacker in safety. That those guys have really

kind of jumped and emerged. The athletes. What's the deal with all the athletes playing safety now? Yeah, well, it's hard. Yeah, they were faster the freaking than the corners, the way they rolling out there. And we have some of those guys in that safety group that are going to be the big nickels that I was that I was talking about. So yeah, those two positions exceeded expectations. And there are guys available. So I'm really curious what the Cocks are going to do in their secondary in general. I don't expect Rick Willen to be back, but they have Kobe Bryant at safety who is very good for them. They have Josh Job at a cornerback who is good for them. But then I have Brian Cook is just a blast to watch play football. I think Nick Cross of the Colts is an under

player that I think will do okay in free agency. I mentioned curl before. And then there's guys like Reed Blankenship. Jalen Thompson is a good player for the Cardinals. Jaquan Brisker is a big risk because of the concussions. But if you want a guy who hits, like look no further. Jalen Hawkins played well. Eloy Gilman.

Like there's just guys at safety where I think that I'm going to be updating a different safety signing every day next week. While I'm working hard, you're out watching baseball. We're cranking out shows every day here for N. NFL Daily moving forward. We're live all week next week. This is this is my time of year. I don't know, you know you're not a listener, but we call it the regular season. Oh, is that what we call it? Yeah, the regular season. What do you do? Okay. Yeah, well, don't love it, but workshop it. Keep workshopping it. By the way, you know, you hear like all these different rumors while you're at the

combine. I was just, give me some good ones. Well, I was just thinking about what you were talking, and we were talking about Seahawks. And there was a rumor of like they could be the, a Max Crosby team. That would, like, shock me. Have you heard that? Did you hear that? No, they have so much cap space. It's a little under the radar. If you look at the teams, like with the eight teams with the most cap space,

it's many of the worst teams in the NFL, and then it's the Chargers and the Seahawks. And you're like, huh, well, that's interesting. Well, a lot of their own guys, you know. Like, I think Job, I think Joe would be a priority for Seattle, try and get him done amongst all those guys. and Crosby would be fascinating to just say like, hey, this is our team right now. We can do it.

Let's take advantage of this window. I don't have a rookie quarterback contract, but they have a quarterback contract they feel good about that they're not going too crazy for. But I mean, you'd have, that would be, got, already got to Marcus Lawrence. Gosh, I mean, they've got Cheno Wosu on the other side. Like all of a sudden you got Max Crosby with all those DTs. Holy moly. Okay. So you mentioned Crosby.

That's great. I have a proposal for you. Yes, sir. I know you're big on the draft and all this stuff. For three weeks every year, you be NFL insider, Daniel Jeremiah. You know, we've got potential changes here at NFL Network. He's been all this stuff. The more you can do, those guys get top money.

I mean, you see the suits that Pelliserra wears and everything. And Ian, you have so much information that I know that you get. You could act. different. They're getting all their stuff. There's a lot of agent talk from them, self-serving talk. You're getting it straight from the sources sometimes. You could be NFL insider Daniel Jeremiah just for like three weeks. Blow them out of the water and tell your agent that and get a big contract. Nope. I just like talking to you about it on the side so that when it happens two weeks later, that Greg's, Greg's respect for me just grows just a little tiny bit.

It annoys me. DJ has all this good stuff. I can't say anything about it. You're not saying anything about it. It's ridiculous. Well, some of it's going to happen soon. Okay, so, yeah, we're not supposed to say, you know, anything. But, yeah, the Patriots are going to get AJ Brown, Max Crosby, and they're back in the quarterback. No, I'm going to be off and running in free agency.

And DJ, thank you. That was great stuff every year on the Combine. Appreciate it. I love watching you and Ray. Rich, do it year after year. And we'll see you next week. Appreciate you, buddy. This is an I-Heart podcast.

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