NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Rams Go Big, Diggs Cut Loose and Colts’ Big Bet on Dimes

Episode Date: March 4, 2026

Gregg Rosenthal is joined by Jourdan Rodrigue, Patrick Claybon, and Colleen Wolfe to react to news from around the NFL including the Chiefs trading CB Trent McDuffie to the Rams, the Colts tagging Daniel Jones, Alec Pierce's future with the Colts, Kyler Murray being released by the Cardinals, the Patriots releasing Stefon Diggs and more! NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. I'm Daniel Jeremiah. And I am Greg Rosenthal. I know that, Greg. We're teaming up on 40s and free agents, the podcast that owns the NFL offseason. This is where teams are built.

Free agency, combine, pro days, trades. Every move matters. From my draft boards and mock drafts. To my vaunted top 101 free agents and how rosters come together. Quarterback movement. Surprise signings. We'll tell you what it means. And who really.

really wins. Open your free IHeart radio app, search 40s and free agents, and listen now. Welcome to NFL Daily, where we're all staying in shape for a variety of reasons here in the Chris Wesleyan podcast studio. I'm Greg Rosenthal.

We got a full house. We got an all-star cast today. To my right, Patrick Claibon. To my left, Jordan Rod Rieg. And for the first time, I think, since the season ended, Colleen Wolf in the mix. Hello! What is up? Great to be here. Great to see you all.

Yes. We're doing it. We've all been in various states of the country and the football activities of the country. It is happening. There is news. We've got trades. We've got tags. We've got everything.

We've got Aaron Rogers speaking on Pat McAfee right now. And I figured, oh, some news is going to happen about that. But he's just like yammering on. So we'll find out. What is he talking about, Greg? We'll find out during the show. Apparently, though, his wife has been. been located. You told me. Shout out to the

sports gossip show. If you guys missed that episode, they did, I think, a respectful job of not revealing the identity, but have tracked her down. Charlotte Wilder and Madeline, I'm so sorry, Madeline Hill I think is your last name. They do a great job. Love that. I'm not a conspiracy

theorist, unlike Aaron Rogers, but that was one conspiracy I kind of enjoyed getting behind. And I appreciate their commitment to maintaining the privacy as we have seen, especially today. Privacy is of the utmost importance with regards to that relation. Yeah, and like, oversharing,

like, who would do that? I don't know. Who amongst us? Colleen was barely in Indianapolis. They centered, get them Friday night, and leave Sunday night or something like that. Here's what we're going to do. This is going to be a nice, quick show. We're actually going to tape a couple shows while we're here. We have a big

game that's coming up later in the week, but we didn't want, we wanted to leave that as much time as possible. So this is going to be a show where we talk about some big news that happened on Tuesday, and Wednesday. We're taping this Wednesday afternoon. And let's just get right to it. The Chiefs did the thing that they do. The Rams did the thing that they do. And that is acquire a missing piece for their secondary

when they're trying to make a run to the Super Bowl. And the thing for the Chiefs that they do is trade away a big piece because they can't afford all their good players because they have so many good players and they get some picks back. In this case, they are trading. Trent McDuffie, the cornerback to the Rams for a package including the 29th overall pick in this year's draft. The same pick, coincidentally, that they got for the Tyree Kill Trade. Isn't that right back in the day? 29th. They get 29th, a 5th, a 6th, and a 3rd round pick in 2027.

That's what the Chiefs get back. A huge haul. Ian Rappaport has that for NFL Network. it's a move that I think makes sense for both sides. Jordan, why don't you get us going on why it makes sense for the Rams? Because they were a disaster, especially at the perimeter cornerback positions last season, a year where they were contending for a Super Bowl, probably a year ahead of their intended schedule back when they did their partial rebuild in 2023.

He is absolutely a missing piece. It is the Rams basically cycling back to an era that we are very familiar with that actually started with a trade for two cornerbacks, Jalen Ramsey and Marcus Peters, back after their first Super Bowl run and then they weren't able to get the job done, obviously, that year. And then set up for their next Super Bowl run that one they won. I don't think they're done for that reason. I think they are, they so badly needed help on the perimeter that this is one of probably a couple of moves that they make. It's interesting because I think a McDuffie as a guy who

had his best season in the slot. Like that was his all pro season. That was the season where everyone's like, wow, Trent McDuffie's a dude. Since then he's played on the outside, mostly. Not been as good necessarily, but still very good. Did have an injury last year. It doesn't seem like it's a major concern that he missed some time with a knee injury. But it seems like a great fit. McDuffie moving to the Rams. Great fit, especially because it's a little reunion between McDuffie and and Jimmy Lake, who he worked with at the University of Washington. Now that's what the Rams DB coach.

So this is a nice familiarity kind of built in already, and that'll lead to some consistency. And obviously it gives the Rams some draft flexibility to because they already have that other pick that Jordan had mentioned. Yeah. And I think back to the Legerious need trade, but that was vastly a vastly different situation. And you had Trit McNuffie already.

Yeah, Kansas City, it's like the financial problems are actually problems when you have a team that's trying to contend in the same capacity that Kansas City would like to. They have a need at corner. So many teams have a needed corner. And you let Trent McDuffie leave after, as you pointed out, Greg, he has this versatility where he can play him in so many different spots, kind of like the quintessential Spaggs corner. And now he's out. And like the whole onus being on, all right, guys, Brett, find another corner in Spags. Get another guy to the Pro Bowl. Like eventually, you're not always going to be a.

able to do that, which is why I love this trade for the Rams. I don't know. I like it for both sides, but and I like the process for the chiefs. When I saw that many picks, I mean, the comp is not a legarius steed trade. You're right because of how young Trent McDuffey is.

And then also because of the compensation, it's very close to the Tyree Kill trade in terms of comp. They got two forts in that trade. Instead, here it's like a fifth and a six. There was like a second or a third. But either way, like that's a huge haul for a quarter. cornerback, and it's kind of a cheat coat to have Steve Spagnolo. You're right. They haven't found

any other Trent McDuffies. And I think they have a lot of problems, and I have questions about whether they're going to be able to fill it. But I don't have questions about Spagnolo has turned a lot of mid-round guys, including Jalen Watson, who's a free agent right now going to be one of the highest paid guys, including Brian Cook, a safety, different position, obviously, who's going to make a lot of money. Josh Williams, who's a guy everyone forgot is a free agent right now, but he started a Super Bowl alongside alongside McDuffie when they were both rookies. And so Spagnolo gives them a little bit of flexibility to go cheap in the secondary when they need to go cheap because, frankly, they're spending too much money on George Carloft. I think they're spending a little too much money on

Chris Jones, too. Yeah. And I think some of the moves the Rams have made when they are in a contending window often get critiqued for being high, high cost. right, but, you know, it's been pointed out by some and also something that I was looking at this morning. Now, every team uses their own analytics chart for draft compensation and what capital equates to in terms of the first round. This would be pretty close to what that pick is actually worth. And the 29th pick is actually worth. And we also see that the Rams, they will much prefer paying for guys who they have a known body of data on as a pro versus drafting at that position. and developing over time.

They are ready to win now. This team has never been afraid to push a higher cost in for players who they believe that can help them win now. And I think there's a little bit of a recency bias about him being a slot player. This type of trade makes it very, very clear. And their deal that they gave to Quentin Lake as well, who plays in their slot and is a team captain. It makes it very, very clear that these two players are interchangeable, but that we'll

actually see Trent McDuffie on the outside quite a bit, at least. to start. And he had a really good season there in 2024. I think people forget. I think he was like a second team all pro or something. I thought he was better this year. I thought he struggled and he did not earn that. And he got like you could see like his size sometimes against people on the outside.

This year when he played in general, like his metrics look better. I think he's been good for the most part. And because that season stands out to me so much, which is now three seasons ago, I think of him as great at that. But the last two seasons, he has been on the outside. That's where the chiefs thought best to use them. flexibility is great. I do think they, they know the person and they can put him in this. Like, it's a great problem to have that you have two extremely versatile guys. I think, like,

worst case scenario, it is the most unpredictable position in the NFL. And he is one of the most predictable, like, rock solid in the middle of his prime players that you could possibly have. Yeah. And for the chiefs, now they're just signaling, obviously, after last year with what they experienced. They're trying to put the emphasis on draft cap. So they have a variety of needs that they can address now with the extra picks. And it's just sort of a pattern of them kind of avoiding these long-term deals that they usually don't love to do, especially on defense. And great for the Rams because they can't draft corners.

Look at their recent, they cannot draft corners. They can trade for them and usually it has worked out. They can't, they cannot draft corners. One of their best corners of the last few seasons was Darius Williams, kind of more in his prime years a few years ago. And he was an undrafted free agent who was let go and then came back into their building. They can't draft corners, but they can pay for them. And one thing that works on both sides of that is Tripp McDuffey was one of the youngest players

in his draft. He's younger than Kobe Turner. And so if the chiefs don't want to make a long-term investment and the Rams want to avoid draft in a corner for a while, hey, there we go. You're chocolate in my peanut butter. Right. That's why I wanted to start it where it's like I think this is a good trade for both sides. It's riskier for the chiefs.

But in general, it's a high wire act that they fell off of last year of how they're trying to do this team build. And they need to find more draft picks like Trent McDuffie. Everyone looks back to that Tyreek. They can draft corners. Right. It works out great because they end up with Carloptois and McDuffie in that draft and some other players. It's like, yeah, but they have not been hitting lately. That said, I've seen some things about, like, you know, this could be a gap year for the chiefs.

there's no such thing as a gap year. Could they be taking... There was no such thing as what they did last year before they did it last year, though. Right. I think it can be a year, but the last... Okay, here are the recent gap years, at least in the NFL that I can remember.

The Bills in 24, everyone said, was taking a step back in the off season. Ended up being one of the best, you know, bills teams of this... You know, they've been great throughout, but that team had a real chance to make the Super Bowl. The Rams in 23, everyone thought,

was taking a gap year. They made the playoffs that year. The 49ers last season. There you go. So the RAM, the 49ers last season, everyone was taking a step back. You're not taking a step back. But I do think they're trying to get like their finances in order. Now they're speculation of like, well, does this make them more or less likely to take Jeremiah Love the running back here at number nine,

which is just like one of the favorite, everyone's favorite team fits? We'll even get there. Would they dare trade up for a generational running back? Because that's what it costs? I think they would. I actually think they would too. I don't think they care about, like, things that everyone else cares about. The window.

The window, Grant. And they do care about. They might not care about everyone, quote, unquote, everyone saying it's a gap here. Well, we know. The Chiefs do care about everyone. And, you know, you can doubt and disrespect them, but ultimately you're going to have to deal with them. You absolutely will. And that third round pick in next year's draft,

that's what really put this over, over the top for me is like, okay, I'm good with it. I'm good with it from both sides. And yeah, they like playing their defensive linemen, not their defensive backs. Everyone likes to pay quarterbacks. And so that's what the Colts are going to do with Daniel Jones. They give him the transition tag. And for anyone unfamiliar, the transition tag is a little lower than the franchise tag. It allows teams around the NFL to potentially sign Daniel Jones to an offer sheet.

If they, if Daniel Jones accepted that offer sheet and the Colts decided not to, to match the offer sheet, he would leave with no compensation going back to the Colts. This is a $6 million difference between this and the franchise tag. So for this year, it's around $37 million. They're basically, for now, just trying to kick the can. Maybe daring another team to do that. Who knows? Maybe they'll even have a deal done with Daniel Jones before Free Agency even starts.

As someone who loved, and Jordan nailed this, that they would use the tag for Daniel Jones. but Colleen is someone who weirdly has built a little corner. Colts Corner in the Chris Wesleyan podcast studio that you live in. How are you feeling like this? Just a lot of emotions, a lot of ups and downs with the Colts that they choose to do this. And for now, Alec Pierce is just floating in the wind. And like Alec Pierce is my guy. He's always been my guy.

But my love for the Colts has been renewed as well after being in Indianapolis. spending so much time at Lucas Oil Stadium, specifically with Reggie Wayne, who I was working with. So I did get to pick his brain a little bit, too. I was surprised that they didn't get Daniel Jones deal done before this and tag Alec Pierce. But I think that it makes sense that they tag Daniel Jones because this is someone coming off of an Achilles injury. And you have a ton of teams that don't know where he is in that rehab process. And so if you're another team that's going to be a lot of team that's going to be in a kiddney's going to make an offer, like you're going to play it safe as that other team.

So I think that they will end up getting a deal done with Daniel Jones, especially after the success that they experienced last year. But I also think that they're going to get a deal done with Alec Pierce, too. I think they will both, I think both of them will remain in Indianapolis. I hate this whole thing. Why? Yes. Just, well, first of all, you hate tags in general because they're just annoying.

I just hate his injury for everyone. In the same way that the Chiefs' Rams trade felt like a win-win, I feel like the Daniel Jones tag and Pierce is involved a little too is like a lose-lose. Like he's getting more money, but he's earned a lot of money, and I have faith he's going to earn a lot more money in his NFL career. So I'm kind of putting that to the side.

I just think they have such a tough needle to thread for a guy coming off a torn Achilles tendon. The expectations are going to be high. His contract's going to be high. It's going to limit what they do elsewhere, potentially. And I just worry about a world where you're counting on Daniel Jones in a win now year for this whole regime. Ownership made that very clear. They have to win now that Daniel Jones is going to have to play really good football coming off a tour and Achilles this year for the Colts.

Nothing's really changed, like putting the tag on him or whatever contract he got. Nothing changes there. I just think it's going to be very difficult to do that. He just had surgery in December. I just feel like I'm taking crazy pills a little bit where everyone is just slotty in. Like, oh, of course we're going to have weeks one to seven Daniel Jones back, even though that's totally inconsistent with how he's played for most of his career. I might push back on you a little bit here, Greg, because I don't think that's what this is saying at all.

I don't think the Colts think that they're going to have one through seven weeks Daniel Jones back. I think that sort of subtly and maybe the subtext of this is they're committed to specifically Shane Steichen no matter what. So they're keeping, they would keep Shane Steichen the long term knowing that Shane Steichen and Daniel Jones are a partnership. And if that requires patience, keeping Shane Steichen does not necessarily mean keeping Chris Ballard. And even if he's the one that ends up getting an extension done with him. To me, this transition tag is an investment not necessarily into the player, but in time as a construct, right? And it is basically them buying time to check in on all of his, first of all, to negotiate a deal, to dare another team to tell Dan, what the market thinks his value is, which they clearly assume is going to be lower than what

Daniel Jones wants. Otherwise, they wouldn't have transition tagged him. And to also, as Colleen mentioned, keep all of his medical checkpoints in-house, basically keep his medical information under their roof and under contract where they can actually know what his measurables are in returning from such a significant injury. Part of the issue when these quarterbacks come off of an Achilles injury like this is it is an unknown what their measurables and their touchpoints are through the course of what now has become an expedited process. You have things like explosiveness, how much tension the ligament can handle. These are things that you, as a player, the second you leave the building, you have ownership

for, and the other team doesn't have to know that, and you can say whatever you want. They don't know, and they can't test it out of their building. If they keep it in-house, this is them saying, okay, we're basically giving you a longer runway to recover, giving us time to get the contract, negotiated giving you time to understand that your market won't be anywhere near as high as what you think you think it is, which helps us in the long run get to a lower number. And also a subtle nod towards Shane Steichen and a, hey, get back whenever you're ready. We're keeping the head coach.

That all makes sense. I think that's really well said. And it's kind of in a tough spot where I don't think there was a good way to solve this. My main thing is, I don't expect Daniel Jones to be a good quarterback in 2026. And like in terms of a plus at the position, partly because he's kind of. Coming off at torn Achilles. Okay, but he could pull a Dan Marino. And obviously, Dan Marino is Dan Marino, but Dan Marino did it and came back

all the year and one comeback player of the year. And Achilles that was torn while he was playing with a broken bone in his leg. Yeah. By the way, there were multiple things going on that were a part of the injury. And so now we've added all that onto this process of surgery and rehabilitation while the Colts are using this cost-control metric that's often used in league with other cost-control metrics to control quarterbacks, whether it's the transition tag or the non-executive.

exclusive franchise tag where everybody pretends like, oh, you know, here's a quarterback that's won a couple of MVP's. We don't want to necessarily make him an offer because that would be weird, right? And so like, you know, it's not necessarily everybody in a room saying let's not pay these quarterbacks, but here in this circumstance, where you've got the injury,

there's plenty of excuses to make for teams to not send any kind of offer sheet to Daniel Jones, which as Jordan wanted out, behooves the Colts. And it's a timing thing. I mean, it's bad luck for everyone because I just think it would be great for have, it would have been great for them to have seen the rest of the season with Danny. I guess that's, like, I'm thinking about him versus Kyler Murray, let's say, who we're going

to talk about, just got cut. And I got to put him on the top 101. I put Kyler ahead of Daniel. I don't think that's a hard decision of him coming off of Torn, you know, Achilles and one's healthy. But I also think of like literally at any point in the last six years, if you had asked basically anyone inside the NFL, outside the NFL, who would you rather have? Who's a better, like, football player?

It's obviously Kyler Murray. It's obviously Kyler Murray. And now you have Daniel Jones who's had a very up and down kind of system-dependent, um, injury-plagued career who I think even more than Kyler Murray relies on his athleticism. And now he's going to have to come back from a torn ACL. And I hear you on betting on stiking. And to me it's going to be maybe a bet on stiking in that he's going to make it work with Riley Leonard and whoever else is going to be there because that's nice to bet on chain stiking.

but if they're six and 11, they're getting fired. I don't care about the betty on. Like, they have to win games. I just don't think. I think Stuyken's safe. I do. I don't think the front office is, but I think Stuyken's safe.

And I think Daniel Jones is going to be better than you think he is, Greg. I hope so. Holtz Corner with Pauline Wolfe. I just hope he can play too. And that part of it is those couple games where he freaked out a little bit and at the time I was defending it.

Was this during the broken leg era? No, it wasn't. That was the thing is. I think people have kind of conflated these things. He broke his leg. He actually played okay after he broke his leg for a couple. Acknowledging again, it was insane that he was playing with a broken leg. He was playing with a broken leg.

Okay. The two games, the two starts before his broken legs were by far his two worst games of the season. He had two touchdowns in those games. He had 10 combined interceptions and fumbles. He took 12 sacks. You know, he was the lowest graded quarterback in the NFL, according to PFF. Broke his leg in one of those. No, no.

The chiefs game I'm not counting here. He actually played pretty well. And like, I'm not counting the broken leg in. The two completed starts before he broke his leg were the two. I will find a reason why this happened. Right. All I mean is like I kind of wanted to see how the league reacted to Daniel Jones and Stuyken and all that. And you didn't get to see that.

What I wish, I know we loved it for content and for a show, but I actually wish that they had not signed Philip Rivers because I think there's some regret internally right now about not being able to see Riley Leonard for more games. game. And we, and, yeah, that's, that's not hindsight. That was foresight. Yeah. And to, just throwing it out there, Captain Obvious over here. And to point it out, we did say that at the time too. This is great. This sucks, but it's tremendous content. Riley Leonard could be great. I kind of am excited about that. You know who else could be great? Who's that? Colleen's guy and Patrick's guy. A rare co-guy. I mean, Alec Pierce, you have

been singing the praises of Alec Pierce, who now could hit free agency. Okay, if you, if you were making a top 101 rankings. First of all, would you have put Kyler Murray number one over Malik Willis? I already have regrets that I did not. And then more to the point, would you put would you have put Kyler Murray or Alec Pierce

ahead of each other? Like one, Alic Pierce is number five on my list. I would have had them one too. Obviously, I'm exceedingly biased. In that order. Kyler one, Pierce, too. Yeah, that could make sense. Right now, Jalen Phillips is two, Malik Willis one, Tyler, Linda Brom, Brom three. How much sleep do you

lose over this? A considerable. I lost sleep last night, but it wasn't related to this. Me too. It wasn't related to this. It was related, at least in part. General impending doom. Pretty much. There's a lot of doom. The world

is burning. I read a book that I had been, I'm going to get to the Alec Pierce. We have some sound. I want to hear Patrick talk about. But here's what partly made me loose sleep. I read a book that I received through the mail from a

publisher. Sometimes they like just send me books. Greg just got it like that. They think I'll like. Hashtag read a book, Greg. Because I used to recommend them on the Jessenick and Rosenthal Vandy Project. J.R. VP. And you know, I have a Goodreads account.

Follow me there. Got like a thousand followers there. You know, you could sell some books. Rosie, big book book. Look at the brains on Greg. I want to be a book influencer. But I haven't really done any work to get there. So I got this book like a year and a half ago. It's just been sitting there. It's a big one. And I'm just like, I don't really want to read it. I should just get rid of it. I'm like, it's annoying me. And then finally,

I'm like, finally I'm going to take it out and read a book. And I read this book. And it was horrible. It was one of the worst books I've ever read. I got to the end. Name and shame. Life is too short to read bad books. That's what we're getting at. I love this. I love this. It's a book called, I mean, I feel bad about this. Get them out there, Greg. Well, I loved her first book. It's by an author named Julia Phillips who wrote a book called Disappearing Earth, which I loved, like set in like Kamchuka, Russia. It's great. The second book, not so much, but it's a book called Bear.

And the book ends. I'm going to spoil it here. Oh, boy. With the bear eating one of the protagonists with like 20 pages left. No. And then for much of the 20 pages left, going back occasionally from the sister's point of view and describing how like the teeth were crunching on the skull, but that maybe the sister was happy because she loved the bear, the bear was happy.

You know what? Was the bear a metaphor? I kind of relate to this because I think is, but. I kind of relate to this because I, too, always choose the bear. It is a little bit about that, but it was, it's a little ham-fisted, and I did think about that, like, I think about it all the time. Let's say if I'm reading, like, you know, that's, it's my addiction right now. So it's like, it's like 50 to 60 books a year.

But let's, let's give me, my pace is going to slow down eventually. Let's give me another 30 years over under. Like, how many books is that? That's like a thousand maybe. I just wasted it on this. Is the bear a metaphor for colonialism? Ooh. Did you just look it up?

Yeah, I'm just... I think the bear was a little bit of a metaphor for like their mom was dying and just like... Wow, it sounds like a great read. It could have been good. Let's listen. No, my God. Not quite the metaphor that Colleen and I were referring to. but okay, go off.

This is like the opposite effect of what... A publisher? And I'm friends with... Not anymore. There's no way she listens to this podcast. It's not going to happen. Let's listen to Alec Pierce. Hey, your book was on the...

Got to get out of here. Let's listen to Alec Pierce on the K. Adams up in Adams show. You're amazing, Greg. You know, at this point now, it's like... I love indie. I've loved playing there. Great organization, great people in the city. You know, just a lot of a ton of support.

I know we haven't been as good as we could be, and I know we can be. But yeah, now at this point, I kind of earned the right to explore a free agency, see what's out there, and just, you know, make a decision that's best for my career and from my family. I'm not a big electronica guy, you know,

dubstep, all these things, but there's a moment where you wait for the beat drop and then it happens. Yeah. When he finally got to that butt, I was like, yeah, because Alec is sitting there. That webcam is looking like mine. He's backlit in front of that window.

Run this man his money. Like, Alec needs his money, and he acknowledged that there. And through this chicanery with dimes, we're going to get Alec his money. That's a great result of the Dimes tag. Unfortunately, that looked like a terrorist, like a hostage video. I was going to say, you know, I have a good friend. She's recently reentered the dating pool, and he kind of looks like a man who would ruin her life from Silver Lake. Oh, wow.

Does she play corner? Because that's what he does. he also he great line he also sounded like he had to get that line out

like the like his personal PR told him to say it in that exact way beforehand that was my reading of this situation but who knows exactly what I was thinking that this was coming straight from his agent that like

I feel like Alec Pierce wants to be back in Indianapolis but he is saying that so then he can get the offer up a little bit more who would want to lose and leave Reggie Wayne

You know? Exactly. I think Reggie would be the first person and say, yeah, go get your money. I think it all goes back. True, but he does love Alex. Colleen called her shot at the beginning of this,

and I agree. I think they keep both of them long term. I think they get extensions done with both Alec Pierce and Daniel Jones. I agree. I sent that out there. I know there's a lot of Alec Pierce curious teams. Just teams out there,

like especially fan bases. He is that guy this offseason, that 12 different fan bases, like the second this happened yesterday, they're like, oh, we're getting Alec Pierce. It is Alex Pierce,

curious. It is the year, the era of the shallomay. I don't know if he's going to go, go out there on the market, you know, I think he's going to say. I won't say what it is,

but I just had an all-time comment from a bono in my headset. I mean, this is literally an audio medium. If you're not going to say it, then you can't say that. Now you have to say it. And we'll potentially,

we'll potentially, Beep it out. I wouldn't blow up Crispibona spot like that. We'll potentially beep it out. Good for Alec Pierce.

Here, he has earned all the money that he's about to make. Buddha, you're not saying. It keeps our sources, nice and safe. Nice and tight.

Yay to Pearce. Nice and tight. They might not want it to set the bar, by the way, with a tag too because like his average per year is probably going to be

a little less than the franchise tag even if he does get out to market, but maybe not that less. I think it would have been, what, 27, 28 million? He's probably getting somewhere in the mid-20s.

bully to him. Let's take a break and then we're going to come back, talk Kyler Murray, and get out of here and consider the meaning of it. Oh, oh, no. Sorry. It's just like. Oh, Craig. No.

So many good books that I could be reading. I'm Luke Wilson. Join me each week for Film Never Lies. Since retiring from the NFL, I've had a lot of my mind, and now, got my own show. So if you're tired of lazy takes, if you want honest conversations, join us each week. Film Never Lies, available on all TSN platforms in the IHeartRadio app. I'm Daniel Jeremiah. And I'm Greg Rosenthal. And this is 40s and free agents. The games may be over, but the NFL never stopped. This is my favorite part of the calendar. Yeah, mine too, Greg,

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on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Back on NFL Daily. The bear can, you know, discussion continued. It sure did. It sure did. Through the break. Always has been. Maybe a little more about like the bear.

Like, is it better to die feeling alive, doing the thing that you love? The bear really made her feel alive for the first time in a long time than it is to live. What is the metaphor here? talking about death because I'm here on the show back a little bit but I think it's always there it's the human condition it's what separates us I think having the barrel on the island is like a checkoff's gun situation and you want that to pay off perhaps not you know 80 pages to go in the book but my theory that I've just come up with when you needlessly kill a protagonist late in a book maybe signals some some internal thoughts on the author about themselves whoa whoa that's heavy for

no reason. I don't mean a protagonist being a martyr in certain situations but, you know, when it's just like, oh yeah, they're gone now. We're going to get to Kyler Murray and Aaron Rogers in a second but I mean, look at him just throwing out Chekhov's gun there and that reminds me

of Gutenberg's Bible. Yes. Oh my God. Yes. Do you know Gutenzburg Bible? It's not one of his best ones. The Gutenberg Bible. I don't. The Gutenberg's Bible. You don't? I don't. I don't. Let's go.

Singular. The Gutenberg Bible. Okay. It's more about the press than it is the Bible. Yeah. Yes. You know, it had heavy circulation in the day. A lot of people didn't like the ending to that one either.

I thought his best work was, you know, Police Academy 4, but that's just me. So, Chekhov. There's a book that is by George Saunders, if you've ever heard of George Saunders. And I'm only bringing this up. Is this your neighbor? This is my neighbor. I saw him this morning. And so there's a book by George Saunders who essentially goes through why different short stories are great. It's almost like you're taking his college class.

He's a college professor. It's called a swim in a pond in the rain, which I really highly recommend if you're into that sort of thing, Russian short stories, all this stuff. Oh, cool. But I saw him this morning walking home from dropping off my daughter at school and he's walking his dog. And every time I see him, he's in the neighborhood, I get too nervous to just like say what's up. Hey, I'm a big fan. And he was kind of looking at his phone and walking his dog. It's like 8.30 in the morning. And again, I froze up, even though we're the only

two people on the street. That's like too big of a celebrity. Believe in yourself, Greg. I'm going to do it. It's a lot of honky. The problem is when you told us to break up the shows, I was like, oh, we just got a big canvas to play on.

Aaron Rogers, though, isn't going to extend this show at all. We said he was talking on McAfee as we started the show, I thought we'd be updating that he is coming back to the NFL this season. And he, quote, said,

if you're expecting me to announce some big decision here, just leave now, shut it off. So thank you. How long into the interview did he say that? Well, we lasted five minutes.

I had never... What do you mean we? I did. I watched it. First five minutes I've ever watched straight. We were just a captive audience. Of McAfee. That's not true.

I've watched Aaron. That's why Aaron works out to keep the same. The tweet was posted at 1136. His segment, assuming, started around 11.05, 1110. It was about 30 minutes in. You know, it's pretty great, though.

Myself, Patrick, and Colleen were all telling Greg, let's start the show. He's not going to say anything. Greg says, we might. He's right on the verge. He might say it. But it did take a show note from our producer, Eric Roberts, saying,

specifically he has said now. He's not going to say anything for us to move on. Well, Eric's the boss here. You guys just co-ho. I don't think Greg. actually believed that Aaron was going to say anything. He just, he's about the action. Greg's about the game.

I'm trying to get as much news. He did discover the Matt McAfee live chat, though. He discovered. I did. They were bagging on AJ, AJ Hawk. Kyler Murray is no longer a member of the Arizona Cardinals. We expected this move in one shape or another. I think it's hilarious, Patrick, that the Kyler Murray era in Arizona,

essentially ended with a one-two punch of Montaacin Fort going up at the combine and saying, oh yeah, we talk about Kyler Murray every day. I spoke with Kyler Murray this offseason. And literally 12 hours later, a source quote close to Kyler Murray tells ESPN, he never talked to us. And that's how it ends. Like a total lack of communication, a total bumbling from the Cardinals organization and like messaging and just not all being on the same page,

ruining any little bit of leverage that they would have had, and now Kyler is free. Good job by Kyler's source, by the way. I don't think they had any leverage. It's been Kyler's fault for years, and that's been the overall statement for the vast majority of his time in Arizona. And so if they were going to convince somebody like,

hey, because Monti Assamford step into a podium and Indy on a random Tuesday and being like, I talk to Kyler, someone's like, oh, they really like Kyler Murray now. No, this has been the overall message. We don't like you anymore, and it's your fault things are bad. They were trying to get it out there, though.

I saw what they were doing through the insiders that like, hey, maybe we actually will see Kyler. So it just seemed typical for a run where unfortunately it felt like it took a while for him to ever be on the same page. Like him and Cliff was tricky. I think him and Gannon were on the same page and I do not think they apparently were on the same page

as Austin for and ownership. I always wonder what the point is of a GM or coach. with a quarterback situation in flux to get up to the podium and say, yes, we are in communication, knowing full well that once you make the move that you are always planning on making, the other party can very, very freely just say, no, we actually weren't in communication at all.

Like, why, like, this has nothing to do with the transaction itself. I just, I will never understand why the messaging, this happens over and over and over again. Every year at the combine. At the Combine. That it is. The Combine press conferences are, honestly, hilarious to track because Greg and I used to do like 10 years ago.

We used to do live coverage of the press conferences. And then I would go back and look at my notes. And there are just like amazing things in there that the GMs and the head coaches would say like they would just speak so so lovingly about this person. And then the next week they would be cut or whatever. So it's like if anyone can find that NFL now coverage from the other building. in Culver City and send it to us. Like, we were just young. It lives somewhere.

I remember the example where Matt Ruhle went so far as to coordinate an in-house video package of him sitting on a couch, talking to a personnel person about how valuable and how valued he thought Cam Newton was only to, A, not

communicating with him and then cut him. Or however that, I don't remember how that, like, cut him or like a week later. And I'm like, wow, you produce. a whole video. Holy cow. Kyler's out there. Kyler is.

Another source close to Kyler said he had two, I think this was CBS Sports that said this, had two specific landing spots in mind personally. Now, the Cardinals owe him $36 million guaranteed the way these NFL contracts work with offset language. Unless someone paid him more than that in 2026, which we can reasonably assume is not going to happen, the Cardinals essentially have to pay all that money.

And so he'll probably wind up signing, according to the insiders, to a minimum contract this year because he's getting that 36 from the Cardinals. And then it's a minimum contract. When you hear two possible destinations, what do you think, Patrick? Well, I think the one is the Kansas City Chiefs. I think that makes the most, in terms of Kyler and his evaluation and the conversations, be they, you know, leaking that we've got certain language in his contract about video games and all this other stuff. Kyler wants to extend a big middle finger to a lot of the NFL and what better way to do that than to start the first six or seven games for the Kansas City Chiefs while 15 comes back.

And then you get a chance to pick your team once again, try to get some more money. I don't think it's the Jets where, yeah, where he's been attached to. I have to assume one of the two is the Vikings. The Vikings. The buzz, the chatter has just gone off the charts in the last couple days that maybe this is happening, Kyler Murray, to the Vikings. Right, to compete with J.J. McCarthy. Or he could also potentially land in Atlanta maybe while Michael Pennix Jr. is rehabbing as well.

Minnesota gives you the possibility that, A, it's a whole season or that it's multiple. It gives you the chance that maybe it's a forever home and obviously a coach that has a great reputation. And I think even more importantly to someone like Kyler Murray, arguably the best wide receiver in the entire NFL on that team. And a chance to, if you want to put a middle finger up right away, Jordan, to win some games, Minnesota works. I have a galaxy brain take on this with multiple steps. But I know that we have another show coming up where we're matchmaking. We're doing some matchmaking. And there's stakes involved.

Oh, you don't want to give it away. And I'm a very competitive person. So, you know, I just... Well, I'm definitely not going Kyler Murray to anyone else that we haven't mentioned. So if we all promised that, then you could do it right here, you know, that we wouldn't... Oh, you want to know bad. No. Well, we'll find out.

It's a good tease. Later this week, we're going to do a matchmaker's game. And, yeah, I think Kyler Murray is an incomplete court. Like, he has some limitations to his game. But, man, he has played a lot of football. football and it's been streaky at times, but the baseline is pretty good. And the high level play has been excellent. He's been a really productive guy. And I do think the narrative that like, his team doesn't like him, he's not as hard to work, all this sort of stuff. I think quietly,

it hasn't changed enough nationally to what the last couple of years have been like. I think if you listen to the people around that building and his teammates and everything, I think since Cliff left, that it's improved on that front a lot of bit. A lot, I think he's thought of as a tough player as well. And look, I don't think that's going to get in the way of him getting a good job. He's kind of at the top of the food chain when it comes to the quarterbacks. While we were taping, we thought Rogers might add to the news with, you know, he's coming back. No, but we did get some news.

Stefan Diggs no longer with the New England Patriots released going into his age 32 season, Patrick, he essentially was on a year-to-year contractor. It's around $22 million a year, made it very easy to cut him. I thought he performed better than could have been reasonably expected coming off the torn ACL. So what do you make of this? Yeah, it was a huge bounceback season again, awfully an injury where this is now the Stefan Diggs thing. You have a talented young quarterback.

Stefan Diggs comes in. Things are great. And then you say goodbye. So I think it's absolutely the combination. of the salary and the arrest and the charges that he's facing. He's currently facing felony, strangulation, and suffocation charges. Really serious accusations. Who knows if the NFL could potentially suspend him or what is going to happen on a legal front?

I think they appreciated everything that he added to the team from a football and leadership perspective in terms of how he was in that building. But I think when you combine those two things and freeing up that much financials, financial space, maybe you feel like, all right, we're getting, we had a good experience, but we're getting out a year ahead. Greg, it makes sense, especially with all of the rumors swarling about AJ Brown, potentially going to New England, that maybe that is the next shoot-a-drop. That would be a good move.

That would be. I would like to see that. I think this is one of those things where if you, unfortunately, a team will not show a ton of urgency in the middle of a playoff run in investigating said accusation. and charges. And this is one of those things that has to be cleared up by the Patriots post-haste. The second their sort of magical run is over. I have to think that that is a big part of this, like you said, Greg. And then also they need to basically not take what happened for them in sort of a magical outweighed expectation season last year and hold that as, oh, we can just run it

back with the same people. They have to continue to improve their roster in a lot of areas. And that includes at receiver getting a little younger, a couple more guys who will be able to help them for the next few years. Yeah, I'm not buying the idea that they're suddenly going to be quiet this off season, which they've kind of thrown out there. We're like, we're not going to spend as much. They have a lot of needs that they got to shore up and that that starts at wide receiver. Really surprising news that Drew Dalman retired on Tuesday. He was the center for the Bears who was at the top of the free agent center market last year. a nice contract.

$14 million a year was part of like a big overhaul for the Bears' offensive line. And look, I think they have a really tough off season in general, Patrick. And this is just a move. I really doubt maybe they had some inkling from him personally, but certainly the outside didn't. He's 27 years old and has only played five years in the NFL. And he's doing something very few NFL players have done, but some really have,

just pass on a lot of guaranteed money and what would have been like a lucrative career for the rest of his life. Yeah, it speaks to a couple of things that they inherit violence with regards to the game. And I think Drew Dalman could look across in the division out of some other guys

who have gone through trying to extend careers in constant pain. And so, you know, electing to retire makes, you know, financially it's tough for us to put it in perspective, but it makes sense from a human level. And for the Bears, this puts you in a sudden change situation,

a season after an off season where you feel like you fixed everything on the interior. And right there, where it starts, you got to start over because, like, you look at the spreadsheet, which, you know,

is the dichotomy there, the spot on a spreadsheet versus an actual human being, 27 years old, just signed $42 million. You feel like, we're good here. But now you're not. Yeah, he's forfeiting $9.5 million guaranteed.

He's made about 24 in his career. They could potentially go after his signing bonus. I kind of doubt they would do that. They do, save $10 million in cap room. So while it creates a big open hole, they needed to create cap space in some way. And that is just one thing financially.

That's a factor. They also have their left tackle who's going to miss months of 2026. So that now creates a lot of instability on the offensive line in general. Yeah, it was a position they had. I mean, we talked to Ryan Poles about it at the combine. He called his shot. He said he was going to fix the offensive line. Then he went and fixed the offensive line.

And, you know, it was incredible to watch. There are some adjustments they can make in a pinch. I don't think they want to pursue this type of thing. I think you want to replace in the draft and or trade or free agency. Unfortunately, they do have to clear cap space at this point. A couple of triggers they can pull. We'll do that. But they're probably going to have to say goodbye to a couple of their DBs who are free agents.

If they were planning on to resigning them in the first place, which it didn't sound like they were. I know they don't want to get to this point. because it went so terribly when he was with the Rams, but Jonah Jackson could play center in a pinch. He has before, if he's not thrown into a sudden change situation, if he gets an entire off season to ramp up into the position,

it went so catastrophically bad when he did it for the Rams because in part it was all of a sudden a pivot out of what he had been training to do the entire offseason, but he has played the position. I talked to him at that time. He's confident in his ability there. It was a disaster when it happened. But the Bears could potentially say,

Okay, we're going to at least see if this works ahead of the draft. We're going to explore this option ahead of the draft. Otherwise, you really have to draft high there. I just think that they have a Ryan Poles and Ben Johnson just have a lot to do this offseason to back up what they did last year. And I think losing their offensive coordinator, offensive line coach and Eric B. enemy is right at the top of the list of why it's going to be difficult. So this just kind of adds to that. Joe Tune played a little center for the Patriots back in the day, but I don't think that's...

I said it before the draft. Like Frank Ragnall. Exactly. He retired in June last year. So that puts the lions in a bad spot. And the Bears reportedly were asking around at some centers. And like, so I think I have a feeling their reporters thought maybe they were just looking for depth when they heard maybe some chatter at the combine. But I have a feeling they knew about this before we did.

But either way, a big loss for them. So happy trail to Drew Dalman. I always really respect anyone who makes a decision that it's just not kind of me. I don't know if popular is the right word, but no matter what, you have to imagine his dad is a football coach, like how difficult a decision this would be. I'm sure how much he loves playing the game and being around his teammates

and to pass, obviously, on the financial part of it. Hopefully everything's okay with him. Right. I'll respect to Drew Dolman. And they did have Tyler Biotis in to the building for a free agent visit. And it sounds like Tyler Biotis, who was cut by the commanders, is healthy. So maybe he's just a quick one-for-one replacement. Before we leave, the Vikings are looking to trade Jonathan Grinard. Kind of the last thing we'll hit quickly, but just a reminder here, to me, why

Kyler Murray or any cheap free agents is going to be great for Minnesota, because this really indicates to me they're trying to save some money, because Jonathan Grenard is a good player. And the report from Jeremy Fowler of ESPN was that they're looking for a day two, which would mean round two or round three pick for Jonathan Gernard. And an edge that obviously when you're playing with Flores, the ability to rush to pass around, drop back plays heavily into that. And Dallas Turner was playing more.

And so you can get more Dallas Turner on the field. And Gernard taking advantage of having this piece that you could use to get some more talent to facilitate the not JJ of it all. Nine. I feel like always when by the time you hear these reports, it's probably going to be a cut. If it's getting to the point where it's actually out in the media atmosphere, it's, there's a potential for it to be a cut instead.

Yeah. I think once it gets out there, I agree that they're ready to cut them if they need to. I think Jonathan Grenard is good, young, productive enough. And the contract to me is good enough. $18.3 million this year, I think it's totally reasonable for a 29 year old. Jonathan Grenard, but I bet they can't get a pick. So if they're looking for a day. Carolina Panthers.

Yeah. The Panthers. Right. Hello. We fixed it. The Titans would make some sense to me. I know they just added Jermaine Johnson, the chargers potentially, who are going to be looking for edges depending on what happens with Cleo Mac.

It's just tough because he wants a restructure or a raise, and he's coming off a season where he had a shoulder injury. So the year before that was great and all. But it's kind of a tough spot to be in when you're demanding more money. That makes a trade more difficult. And so if that is the case, it obviously could be a cut. But I think someone will give up something for them. Speaking of cuts, the Chargers have released Mackay Beckton, their guard who they gave a lot of money to last year.

We expected that. And Bobby Okariki, the linebacker for the Giants, also released. That's it for us on this news show. Oh, my gosh. It was a little meaty. It's the problem. Make that into a drop. I dare you.

Let's get out of here. Play the music. I got to go take a shower. Hold on, hold on. Good to have you back, Colleen. Hey, great to be back. What are we holding on for? I'm going to have filibuster here for a second because I got something.

Oh, uh-oh. Wow. I have never heard Roberts filibuster. You have to talk to this filibuster. It's not going to work well because I'm trying to, like, drop things in the folders at the same time. Which brings us back to the bear. No, but Colleen mentioned a throwback of Greg and. No, you did not find something.

NFL Combine stuff back in, what year is this? 2015, I think I got it. And Chris can take this full screen. Oh, it's a, I'll fix this in post for a better picture. But I found a photo. Whoa. Look at that. I think this is from 2015.

What? Yes, I think it was, the second was on the beat. On the beat. Does that sound familiar? No. No, what was it? It was something like that. This came from, I think you guys were talking Seahawks here.

That does say 2015 scouting combine NFL winners. And losers. And losers. Oh, my God. I want to know who lost. I'm in my, I'm in my ill-fitting suit. Can we listen to some of it? Look at the babies.

Wow. We got a clear copyright first. Infants. What? Oh my God. Here we go on the beat to go through the winners and losers from the pro side of things. All right. So we'll start with the good and then we'll get to the bad because, you know, we want to end on the bad, right?

It's always. It's always the best to talk about. So the first one here, Jay Gruden, talking about. Something's never changed. So high. Redskine starter. What a winner. RG3.

He didn't win much on the field last year, but who would have thought he would have been the unquestioned starter in Washington this option? Cut it right there. We're not going to top that.

Oh my God. Greg, congrats on your voice dropping recently. Oh, my God. Started off with a Gruden and a slur. Wow.

Maturity. I know. Jay Gruden. I kind of forgot he ever was an NFL head coach. Yeah. The R word, which we studiously avoided.

but snuck in there. And then a big dig on RG3, not playing very well. So I'm... And the octave. Mostly. I mean, let's talk about the octave for a minute. Octave.

I mean, what happened? The octave. Octavia. Octavia. Yeah. Let's get out of here. Creditable. On the beat.

I can't believe that just come back. Jay Gruden is now a reply guy on Twitter, I think. Oh. Dumps for us all. Cool. Well, I am too. What a show. Love having you guys back.

Why don't you come back for another show this week? Let's do it. Do some matchmaking. We'll see you then. I can't believe you found that. Oh, my God. That was great. I'm Daniel Jeremiah.

And I am Greg Rosenthal. I know that, Greg. We're teaming up on 40s and free agents, the podcast that owns the NFL off season. This is where teams are built. Free agency, combine, pro days, trades. Every move matters. From my draft boards and moms. drafts to my vaunted top 101 free agents and how rosters come together quarterback movement

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