NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Texans Trades, Maxx’s Market and Biggest Offsseason Questions
Episode Date: March 2, 2026Gregg Rosenthal is joined by Patrick Claybon and Ollie Connolly to react to the pair of Texans trades that landed Houston David Montgomery from the Lions and sent Tytus Howard to the Browns. The guys ...also give you their biggest offseason questions. Where will Kenneth Walker play next season? How will the Chiefs replenish their offense? Are the Bills maintaining or pushing? What is the asking price for Maxx Crosby? What is the Vikings' plan at quarterback? Will the 49ers make a big move this offseason? Those answers and more! NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Welcome to NFL Daily where the trade tsunami has begun.
and I'm Greg Rosenthal here in Los Angeles
with a couple of friends and I'm not next to.
Ali Connolly is in Manchester.
Patrick Claibon is actually in the Red Zone studio right now
in Inglewood, California.
And he is telling me it's a terrible idea to tape from there
because a tour just walked in as we started taping.
Are they still, you're going to have to unmute here for a second, Patrick.
are they still, you know, conducting the tour as I throw it to you.
Yes, Greg, I can't confirm that, Ollie.
It's good to see you.
Okay.
We're going to mute Patrick again.
We're going to assume that they don't stay in there just showing the different spots
where, you know, Scott Hanson's Spittle hit the ground for like 20 minutes and that we can get Patrick into the show.
But I mentioned the trade tsunami, Ali.
You know, we weren't sure if we're doing a show today.
And I thought, look, the regular season is the next two weeks.
In the next two weeks, we're going to basically get all the.
news that we end up talking about and re-analyzing for the next six months. And I was like,
things are going to start happening. And we got some trades. So we're going to ask some big
questions about this offseason. And we're going to talk about the trades and the Houston
Texans delivered for us. How are you doing post-combine, by the way? I'm doing good post-combines.
Still digging through the minds of these draft prospects. And I peeked my head above the parapet
for like 10 minutes and trades are going off all over the place. Yes. And I just expect like a slow,
steady drumby of news all up until next Sunday when we just start going daily. We're going to be
live with a lot of shows excited to tell you about all our plans for that. But let's talk about
those Texans trades right off the bat. So two deals. David Montgomery is going from the Detroit
Lions to the Houston Texans. The Houston Texans also send Titus Howard to the Browns. Titus Howard,
the offensive lineman who's played guard, who's played right tackle.
We'll take these two moves separately, but I did want to just say,
kind of there are two Texans moves.
Now, David Montgomery trade terms.
The Lions get a fourth, a late fourth, a seventh, and Juke Scruggs,
who was a second round pick three years ago.
I don't know if he was a lock to make the Texans,
or if he's totally a lock to make the Detroit Lions,
who he's now traded to,
I'm going to take the risk
and throw this to Patrick Claibon
and hope that the tour is over.
Are they still in the room?
Because when this trade happened, Patrick,
my son celebrated a Texans fan,
like they and a huge David Montgomery fan,
like they just won the Super Bowl.
He ran around.
He screamed and yelled.
Did you have as much enthusiasm?
Do you think it'll help the Texans that much?
Yes, Greg.
Confirmed, as I unmuted.
And, yeah, Sarah, Riles, our esteemed director was giving a tour
because everybody's got, you know, multiple facets here.
Everybody does multiple things.
And they came through, they get out.
They got out pretty quickly.
I mean, the NFL, like, we don't make enough money on these deals.
It's the tour money that actually really locks it in.
I guess that's maybe going straight to SO-Fi, if we really broke it down.
But what do you think about this?
I thought it was a lot for David Montgomery.
It's a lot for David Montgomery.
David Montgomery is a good football player.
I wanted to see him in a nice landing spot
where we're thinking about the Houston, Texas.
Because initially the trade is
Lions send David Montgomery to Houston.
And it's like, okay, that's interesting
because we fought and we scratched and clawed
to get the Texans to have some sort of semblance
of normal on the offensive line.
And Titus Howard was a part of that at multiple positions.
He missed two games combined in the last two years.
And you find out that he's the guy that's going back.
And you just wonder, like,
what the ultimate plan is, like what the run game is going to look like, because Woody Marks
kind of came on late, you get some more explosion with David Montgomery, but there's still
like these lingering questions, like, what is the ad now going to be up front to facilitate
David Montgomery playing well for the Houston, Texas? Yeah, it's bizarre. So Titus Howard is
going to the Browns. That one happened first, and you thought, okay, that's interesting for a fifth
round pick. And then you hear, Ali, that David Montgomery is going to the Texans for a fifth round
pick. Then 30 minutes later, we find out, actually, David Montgomery is going to go for more than a
fifth round pick. It's going to be a fourth, a seventh, and juice scrugs. And when this happens,
it's usually because a team out there in the wilderness saw the deal going down and contacts the team
and says, actually, we could do better than that for you.
And then the trade terms happen.
I think that is what happened here.
Who knows who that team, you know, stepping in was.
But like, it is very confusing to me that the Texans get rid of a guy who I thought was coming off his best season
and is getting big time money from the Browns in Titus Howard.
And then they hurt their offensive line in theory on a day where they help to solve their running back problem.
Yeah, very strange for the Texans.
the second year in a row where they just move on from their most dependable offensive linemen
after having a bad offensive line.
And it seems like they are really comfortable each off season just completely resetting
the old line and thinking you can figure out on the fly and that plan has failed two years
in a row.
So I find that concerning, even just going and saying we're going to trade some like legit
assets, not huge assets, but legit assets for David Montgomery at 29 with 1,500 carries
in his career.
Oh, and by the way, we've stripped our offensive lineback.
the teams that would have been out there in the wilderness that you're talking about, Greg,
are probably teams who feel they are a complementary back,
a one or two down back a game,
away from raising from maybe,
middling to upper level of offense to push them into the next tier,
I would guess.
That's just not where the Texans are at.
They don't have the foundational pieces even really in place,
I think, to maximize Montgomery.
And I just think Marx is, frankly, at this point,
you could say over the next 12 months,
a better overall player.
Wow.
But you need two.
I just was hoping that it would be like Kenneth Walker and Woody Marks or Travis Etyn and Woody
Marks. And you could get a little rejuvenated David Montgomery. I actually thought he looked
pretty good last year despite the numbers. He stayed consistent in general during his Detroit run.
But this is going to be like a tougher place to run well, of course. The contract's actually a
plus. He's making $6 million this season. I assume they're not going to renegotiate that. So that's a relatively
low cost if they looked at the market out there and thought Travis E. TN. was maybe going to cost
too much or they didn't want to get in the Kenneth Walker business. I just wanted a little bit more.
But David Montgomery proved me wrong many years ago when I questioned the fact that him and Gibbs
whether he would be that much of an upgrade off their previous regime. And they proved to be like
the best one two punch in the league. I do like just from a fantasy angle too, Patrick, that like
When Dan Campbell took over play calling, I felt like the biggest thing he did was like,
let's just give Jemir Gibbs all the touches that David Montgomery used to get.
And Jemir Gibbs just went absolutely nuclear the rest of the year.
So like more Jemir Gibbs as they're about to pay him a lot of money also makes sense.
Yeah, it makes sense.
The question is, do you want to give Jemir Gibbs that volume of carries?
Obviously, I think they were at their best when they're sharing carries.
And, you know, Jameer has that opportunity to get those breaks to provide that experience.
explosion that makes him so valuable where you hope the lines aren't saying, well, now that we're
going to pay Jemir, it's just going to, we're going to grind him into pace. That's not what I want to
see because I want obviously the single fantasy season, right? We all enjoy. I would like six,
seven, eight more years of Jemir again. So it's one of those giving tape type things.
Yeah, it's tricky too. I do, I just want to see what's behind door number two. It just feels like a
really big push year for the Texans. They also have some big content.
that they have to give out. Will Anderson. That deal is coming soon. But I'm just curious what's
going to be behind door number two in terms of this offensive line build. Maybe they're close to a
deal with Ed Ingram, who was pretty good for them last year and is a free agent guard.
Maybe as our friend Steve Palazolo speculated, like, is it Trent Williams like level trade
coming for Houston where they go crazy? Like all of these moves at this time of year, you kind of have
to wait to see like the final piece. I want to see the final term.
on this Titus Howard contract for the Browns
because supposedly it's a three-year
$60 million extension,
$20 million a year for Titus Howard.
But it's an extension, like how much of that is guaranteed?
Most likely it's really like a two-year deal.
It's an extension.
So without knowing the details, we don't know.
But we went into this off-season, Ali.
The Cleveland Browns and Andrew Barry
needed five starting offensive linemen.
They have one.
And he can play multiple positions.
So four to go.
Let's go, Browns.
The money will be interesting, I think, because they put themselves over the barrel by having five spots to fill.
He can fill multiple spots.
That's, I think, the beauty of trading for Titus out is he can play right tackle, right guard, left guard, has played all three in the past season.
And I think it's just a dependable one-on-one player, not a star, not a grinder in the run game, but probably an upgrade in terms of just reliability snap-to-snap on a lot of the guys they've had in recent seasons.
Yeah, sometimes with these running backs, too, you get a little pop.
You're in a new spot.
I'm not saying he wasn't, like, doing his best for Detroit.
But it wouldn't surprise me if we see, like, the very best of David Montgomery for one more season,
like a James Connor to Arizona type of year and that this reflects fine in the long run.
All right, let's move on.
Juan Taylor is an ex-Kansas City chief.
We thought that this was going to happen.
They could save $20 million against the cap for what I would call a mediocre starting tackle
and a guy who ultimately wasn't worth the money for them.
them and wasn't really that great a move for them. We'll say, we'll put a pin in that because I know
you have some Chiefs talk later when we asked some big questions, Ali. The Bengals re-signed Dalton
Reisner for $5 million. That's good business, I think, a one-year deal for Dalton Reisner, who played
pretty well for them last year. Don't even let him get to free agency. That was a big concern
for them. And then the one just little speculation article I just wanted to hit you guys on that I
liked, because there's a lot of just buzz happening right now. But I liked from S&Y in New York that the
Giants are reportedly ready to make a big push for Kenneth Walker.
And we might as well start our segment now because I don't see any other like hard news out
there.
And one of my questions was going to be like where does Kenneth Walker land?
Because I'm a simple man.
I look at the big shiny objects.
If you have a Super Bowl MVP, like a reigning Super Bowl MVP available in free agency that can
change.
That's one of the most exciting players to watch in the league.
Like I am fascinated by where he is going to go.
The Giants would be a curveball.
They obviously have Cam Scataboo, but he's coming off a major injury.
So that just lets you know maybe Patrick how they are thinking.
So what do you think about Ken Walker to the Giants?
And I don't know if you have any just in general Ken Walker destination thoughts.
I have some too.
But why don't you get us started?
Yeah, I like Kenneth Walker to the Giants.
I think that's fun.
I think he's been able to, he's shown that he can have success on the biggest stages,
which is why it's very important.
that he plays in New York City, or at least adjacent, over there in New Jersey,
where the pressure is so much, I'm being facetious.
I do think he could be successful as a runner there,
because the play style is really just something that can translate.
I think the frustration, right, at least the frustration that from the outside looking in
was Kenneth Walker isn't necessarily always going to get all the yards that are blocked.
He tries to hit these home runs.
Well, he stepped to the plate and he hit him late,
down the stretch and in the Super Bowl,
and this is a guy who can have success.
I question, you know, the way things could look in New York,
but then I think about how are they going to deploy Jackson Dart?
Is this full-on dart in Yolo mode where he's putting himself at risk
and they're going to have a lot of read option?
Well, yeah, I think Kenneth Walker could be great there.
You know, is that something that, you know,
Coach Harbaal is going to want to do with his second-year quarterback?
I think that remains to be seen.
He was blessed to have a quarterback who was very gifted at protecting himself in that situation.
And we go to the exact opposite there.
So I do think we will see Dart run how much they are going to do it.
And can they use Kenneth Walker in that capacity remains to be seen.
I would really like to see Ken Walker with the charges.
I think that would be maybe the most exciting spot.
You put him with the mad, crazy, inventive guy with Mike McDaniel.
If you're going to try and rebuild the offensive line,
I would way rather bet on Ken Walker.
term bad blocked stuff into amazing plays.
Even he blows a few of the, you know, better and more creative stuff, as Patrick mentioned,
he does leave some stuff on the table.
I'd rather do that than try and go to the top end of the market for Tyler Lindelbaum,
which is kind of how they're looking at, we could completely reorient the run game.
I'd rather just say let's get combatant to solid, maybe slightly below average starters.
Let's bet on Ken Walker, bring a real jolt of electricity to the backfield,
and have everyone in a complete panic about, is it just an other bit in the dropback game,
or is it Mike McDaniel and the wizardry in the run game with Ken Walker?
Yeah, my top 101 selections have gotten a lot of people.
Like when you hear certain buzz over the last week or two,
you feel better about some rankings, you feel worse about others.
I feel good about where I put Zion Johnson in the top 30
because if nothing else, I think NFL teams are going to agree,
even if he's not a complete player, it sounds like he's going to get a lot of money.
I don't know if it's from the Chargers.
So if he leaves and they cut Mackay Beckton,
they would have three interior line spots to fill.
They're kind of like where the Bears were last year.
They have a ton of cap space.
They're fascinating.
I didn't think of them for Walker.
That's a great shout out.
I think Kansas City would be fun.
I think Kansas City's been tied to Travis T.N.
Some sort of home run header for Kansas City would be fun.
Denver would be fun.
And then other ones that just make sense to me of teams
that would actually spend the money it's going to cost.
And it sounds like Seattle saw what Kenneth Walker's price tag was going to be
and was like, wow, I don't think we can handle this.
Washington has so much cap space.
and I just feel like I could see them going for Kenneth Walker.
And even though it doesn't really make saints for the Saints,
it just seems like a Saints type of move.
I could just absolutely, I don't want that for Kenneth Walker,
but I could see him in New Orleans.
Washington fascinates me.
I don't know.
Who do you like out of those possible destinations the most, Patrick, before I let you see out.
I think Washington sounds good.
I like the idea of Kenneth Walker being able to get the ball in space
with a quarterback that can create.
and get them those that aren't necessarily drawn up and schemed up.
That's the most readily accessible thing in my mind.
And I think a healthy Jane Daniels is going to be able to do that.
But also, I do think watching him in Shuck play, Greg, would be fun.
You know, we, you know, in a Saints team that's in contention in the division.
It's not like you're, it feels like you've had to apologize to Mickey or felt like
pushed towards an apology to Mickey.
And now you're running counter to the operation.
But that could be fun.
It's okay to feel like that would be fun.
Okay, that would be fun.
That would be fun.
I just don't know.
I hate the fact that it probably means the end for Alvin Camara there.
I don't know.
They just gave him an extension a year ago, so then they take a cap hit.
Could he just be the backup?
I guess that could be fine.
All right, let's move on to our segment.
Our questions.
Our big questions post-combine is this can be almost anything,
but it's looking ahead mostly to free agency and this offseason,
and maybe how the combine impacted that.
We could have some draft stuff in here.
But as we set the table, I just see so much cap space
and I see so many teams that I think are going to have to be ultra-aggressive.
And I think these trades on Monday, like a week before the tampering window opens,
are a sign that we're just going to have a ton of trades
because it just makes more sense to improve your team that way
when there's only so many good free agents out there.
Ali, what is your first question you want to throw out?
My number one is how will the Chiefs replenish their offense?
Both, they may be trying to find another rotational piece along the offensive line,
but then trying to chase fireworks.
I think that they're in this really unusual rare spot for a team
who consider themselves in the mid-dynastie portion
to wind up with a top 10 pick.
In the middle of Mahomes is prime.
They probably never thought they would get that.
They probably don't think they'll ever be in that situation again.
And if you just look through the draft board and how it's falling,
you can go through the three Ohio State guys, Mendoza,
one or both of David Bailey or Ruben Bain
and you start knocking out who could go
and you quickly get to a short list of Jeremiah Love
whether he goes early or not,
Kenyon Sadiq whether he goes early or not,
Carnell Tate, who could also go higher,
or one of those four guys is likely going to be available to them.
And I just wonder how all in they are
and saying let's go chase fireworks in the offseason.
We don't have reliability at receiver,
our tight tenders aging, our running back room stinks,
let's go and chase the through the roof prospect on the offensive side of the ball.
I love that, but I hate that, you know, free agency comes first.
So it's kind of like they're going to have to prioritize like where they see value most
and where they think they can get affordable firepower in free agency.
And if that's Travis ETN now, then that kind of crosses off Jeremiah Love, you would assume.
But this is such a rare opportunity to have that draft.
And yet, I can't think of a real analog for where they're at right now.
Because because they have Patrick Mahomes, they're always going to be in the middle of their championship window.
And yet, man, they have so many needs, I think, on this roster.
They have some really great players, too, like outside of Mahomes in Creed Humphrey.
And, like, you have a handful.
But they have so many needs, Patrick.
Like, because the defense just didn't have, like, a lot of juice last.
year. And they have so many of my top 101 free agents that are out there. Jalen Watson,
Cook, obviously, at safety. Leo Chanel is a free agent. They just cut Juan Taylor, which I think
made sense, but that opens up another spot. Travis Kelsey's getting older. Is Rishu Rice going
to be available? It's just like so much stuff. It's really putting the onus on Brett
Veach and Andy Reid to kind of like do it again. And it's the hardest part of being great in the
NFL. Yes. And what makes that considerably harder,
is we expect Mahomes to just come back and carry it,
but it's going to take time for him to be that
version of Patrick Mahomes,
which was the most dangerous runner.
Like even later stage,
Patrick Mahomes was the most dangerous runner on this team
where if it's not ETN,
if it's not love,
like what are they going to do?
Like you can't bring this version of Kareem Hunt
and have like Isaiah Pacheco clearly, isn't it?
So there has to be some sort of clarity.
Love's not getting past the saints, I don't think.
But I don't know.
I guess you don't know, though.
You're right.
It's a good top 10.
It's a good year to be nine because it feels like,
tell me if I'm wrong,
Olly, but it feels like,
I don't know.
There's like a,
there are a bunch of good,
like it's a good top of the draft.
And yet then after,
I feel like you don't want to be 15 in this draft or something.
No, that's right.
There's like a really like ballooned middle class where from,
and this happens almost,
in most draft cycles, particularly when you get the best players being at what's considered
the non-premium positions and the league just can't help themselves because they consider
off-ball lineback or move defensive piece of non-premium as they pass on Kyle Hamilton and
Brian Branch and on and on down the list you go. So if Stiles and R. Val Risa are going to go as
early as we expect, then yeah, and the two tackles, one of the top tackles is probably going to
go in there because the league can't help itself. You suddenly will start getting to, will the
Chiefs have a cracker either love or or Sadiq.
But yeah, you're right.
I think from 16 to 44, it's pretty much a wash.
There's a lot of like rotational pass rushes.
Do we love them?
Don't we love them receivers who fit certain body types and certain skill sets?
So it's kind of eye of behold a bi-positional tier for a good round and a half.
Yeah, there's somebody's there.
Like you mentioned the litany of needs and just how it can impact Kansas City.
Somebody's going to be there at nine.
And they conceivably could just go BPA,
which is what everybody, you know, in theory, should be doing.
But they really can make a case for it.
They could do that, Patrick.
And I agree on the needs.
But wouldn't you, if you're in their position,
just say, we have to chase Blue Chip at premium position?
I know I just made fun of premium positions.
But how often are they going to be in a position to draft someone,
if he's there, someone like David Bailey,
with that level of first step quickness,
I really would if I was them to circle like four positions
and say, let's just go shoot for the moon.
We're not going to be here very often.
We can go into Franty to find.
you know, volatile cornerbacks who may have a career year with us for one year,
then we move on from the following year.
That's why I think I would approach it if I was there.
They've got the blue tip player at the premium position.
That's true.
You're good in that capacity.
There's a lot of talent that they're going to lose here in the next three to four years
where like focusing on position seems like hustling backwards.
And they got a premium player, we think, at a premium position at the end of the first round last year
and Josh Simmons, who, you know, they are going to feel great about moving forward quickly.
Who's the quarterback you want, though?
Because of all these chiefs questions, we just brought up, like, who is starting for them,
week one hasn't even come up.
I have now settled on, I want it to be Kirk's landing spot.
I don't know if that's going to work out.
It seems insane, but I think that's like a perfect, like, actually Kirk go win you some games for
four or five weeks, and then he's just, like, having fun as.
as Patrick Mahomes' backup.
I don't know if you're going to do better than that.
I think it has to be Marcus Marietta.
I think he's exactly what they won
and will be efficient and stable enough
and you may not win you the game,
but he's not going to throw the game away for you.
And Kirk probably I think he has like two throws in him
to maybe one week actually get you the game
that you don't expect to get,
but not much more than that.
I think Kirk's going to want to have a real shot
to be a starter somewhere.
Yeah, it's a real strike to my theory
that Marcus Marioo is actually Alex Smith
in a Silicon mask where it would just
it makes too much sense for that.
But I've been saying Kyler Murray for months now,
you know, just in the capacity of, yeah,
there may be more money somewhere else,
but Kyler could just, you know,
throw up a middle finger to the establishment
and play for the empire.
That would be incredible.
All right, Patrick, your first big question here.
So first big question,
looking through playoff teams
and near playoff teams,
trying to divide them up into who is simply trying to maintain
like the Seattle Seahawks.
where they're, you know, facing big departures at cornerback and wide receiver,
potentially, you know, the Rams trying to just keep on to this last few years
or however long it's going to be of Matthew Stafford.
And you kind of try to put the Eagles there, knowing their capacity to do so.
And then the teams that are pushing, pushing towards building off of what they
accomplished, like the Chicago Bears, the Patriots, the 49ers,
potentially the Chargers having that opportunity.
And then I got to the Buffalo Bills.
And I looked at their, you know, drafting at 26, the cap space, an issue.
They do have change in the area, but it's a part of the previous regime.
Are the Buffalo bills maintaining or are they pushing right now?
I think they're pushing while remodeling, which is, it's not impossible to do,
but I think the defense is going to change dramatically.
and they don't have as much flexibility.
I don't think as they want.
It'll be interesting to see, like, how they create cap space
because they have negative cap space right now.
But how can you have to look at it as a two to three year process,
but maybe they're in a little bit of a spot
where the Rams and 49ers were, for instance,
the Rams going into 23, the 49ers going into last season,
where like, yeah, it feels like it's a step back,
but it really, like, shouldn't be when you have Josh Allen.
And if you can make enough moves around the margins this year, you can be creative.
They're going to have to hit on a lot of, like, mid-tier guys that are going to have big roles for them.
So Brandon Bean, like, he kept that job, Ali, and, like, it is probably the most challenging off-season that he's ever had.
Yeah, I don't think it is a two, three-year process.
When you have Josh Allen, you either have a parade or you failed.
I mean, that's just the reality of the world they live in.
And it's what's tricky, I think, for Bean particularly is they need to completely remodel the defense.
in terms of the kind of archetypes of players they have for the new scheme that they're going to run.
And then on offense, they still have to do the cosmetic surgery, figure out which linemen they're
bringing back, what they're doing at receiver, all that kind of stuff.
So there's just more on the plate than I think you would expect, as Patrick said, when you're
walking with starting healthy in week one, one of the two best quarterbacks in the NFL,
and feeling like we have maybe 12, 50 moves we have to nail to really feel good about ourselves.
Yeah, it's hard because they have a ton of free agents that I think they're going to,
going to say goodbye to that have been around there for a while, like guys like Matt Milano,
guys they brought back to like Dredavius White and Jordan Poyer, which I don't think will hurt as
much.
Joey Bosa, I don't think is going to be back there.
And you're hearing like, okay, maybe they might be in the Shahid sweepstakes or they might
get in on some of these receivers.
And it does just feel like a situation where the salary cap is somewhat real, not in the
sense that they couldn't figure it out to fit everyone in, but that there's just so many more
teams with more resources that are going to go over the top for these premium pass catchers
or pass rushers where like I don't see it when when people are trying to think like maybe
they're at trey hendricks and team like i don't think they're going to have get have a chance to go
that big i think they're going to have to look at either a guy on a rookie contract still
whether it's like a brian thomas union just blow someone out the water to go and do that or you
try and chase a distressed asset and hope it's it's improved whether it's jordan addison someone
like that. Can you steal someone away cheaply? He put the way Josh Allen. Everyone has a party.
But there's just a lot of work to do with that much maneuverability.
And in terms of making the maneuvers, because we've seen, if you want to go like with a
parallel with Adam Peters coming from the West Coast to the East Coast, and then you saw the
sequence of events that led to 49ers coming to Washington, where you wonder like these
partnerships are operating across the league. Like we have tree proliferation as well as like
these front office relationships where where is where's that coming for for brandon bean
Carolina has been where it has been coming is it still yeah I don't that like there's been so much
turnover now like where is the influx of this of this capacity of needs before free agency starts
like when do these conversations and how they happen and you start to wonder like oh no like this
this feels like it's going in in a difficult spot even more difficult than I initially thought yeah I
I'm such a whim because we were being pretty hard on Brandon being in this podcast,
but then we have him on as a guest, and it's all just, you know, playing footsie.
Meanwhile, I got Eric probably in the background wondering, like,
can you ask him why this man has helped to ruin my January's the last handful of years?
He is really up against it.
Let's take a break.
On the other side, I mentioned Max Crosby quickly.
That's a big question for me.
Let's talk about where his market may be.
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I'm Daniel Jeremiah.
And I'm Greg Rosenthal.
This is 40s and free agents.
The games may be over, but the NFL never stopped.
This is my favorite part of the calendar.
Yeah, mine too, Greg, free agency, the combine, the NFL draft, Pro Days, trades.
This is where teams reshape their future.
This is where Daniel Jeremiah makes his money.
On 40s and free agents, we break down every move that actually matters.
From my draft evaluations, mock drafts, and team fits.
To my top 101 free agents and how real rosters are built, cap space,
contracts and all the tough decisions included.
You got quarterbacks on the move.
We got teams rebuilding.
It's hope season.
Yeah, absolutely.
It's hope season.
We'll tell you what's real, what's noise,
and what it means for your favorite team.
Smart analysis, real conversations every week.
I don't know about the smart, but definitely analysis.
Listen to 40s and free agents on the IHeart radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Back on NFL Daily.
I mentioned Max Crosby.
The fact that trade terms got out there to pro football talk in terms of them wanting two firsts to the player, the more I thought about it, the more I thought, okay, well, that's a starting point.
And that's what Shook reminded me on Sunday Night's podcast.
And that's an indication of a willingness to actually trade.
Then on Monday morning, Albert Breer throws out just casually that he thinks this deal can and it sounded like probably will happen.
and he thinks it could happen this week,
that it's very sensitive all around
because Max Crosby doesn't want to be seen to be wanting out.
Mark Davis doesn't want to be seen to wanting to trade their best player.
There actually is a lot of mutual, I think, appreciation.
And if he stays there, it's not the end of the world.
But in terms of their team build and where he's at, in his age,
it might make sense, and he could join a team that's more ready to win.
And then Breer has a list of,
spicy teams that are monitoring the situation, that are engaging with the situation.
I love this list.
The Dallas Cowboys, the Chicago Bears, the Baltimore Ravens, the Buffalo Bills, the Patriots,
the Eagles, and the Rams.
The last one really stuck out to me as like, man, I could see the Rams doing something
like this for the right price.
Where are you at, Ali, in terms of thinking if Crosby would get traded and who
Who strikes your fancy out of that list?
I think he is going to get traded.
The price I had heard was a first or third
and a quality player. And I think the books
are sitting right there with an offer
of first or third and one of
either Luke Gedecki or Kalajekhii
which will I think just cross the threshold
for it to be a third.
It is a lot, but trades hurt.
If you wanted to acquire a player like Max Crosby
right at the fringe of his prime, you've got to
go and give up some assets that you don't really want to do.
It's got to hurt you too. So I think that's
kind of the asking price. And if you look at the other
outside the Rams who have kind of that spare first round pick, they wouldn't have been
necessarily expecting to have in that range.
It's hard to find a comparative player to someone like a Kedeki and Kansi at that age
with that talent, where then it does become two ones and a three, and that just feels really
rich for a bunch of teams on that list, particularly someone like the Patriots who've had
so many misses in the draft that you just can't bring in over expensive veteran and give up
that kind of future capital, I think.
So the books to me feels like the easiest landing spot for everyone in the first.
There's also the spy tech connection with the bucks, and Patrick was just talking about it with
the bills, and that is how a lot of deals do get done. I think you're right. The bills to me seem
like such a long shot because of the reasons we just talked about. The Patriots and Eagles actually
don't make sense to me for where they're at in terms of wanting to give up all those picks
and in the money. The bears are a little up against it. It's not what the Ravens typically do,
although I think it would be fun.
The Cowboys, actually, of those teams and the Rams probably make the most sense
in terms of the ones that Breer mentioned.
But you made a convincing case.
And as much as Patrick, like I appreciated Max Crosby making like the Monday night,
Week 14, like, Raiders recap that they got in, like, more watchable and more,
like, I kind of want him in a better home, in a better, on a better team.
Yeah.
And I think despite, you know, the alleged, you know, protesting from Max Crosby, I think he would like to be in a place where he's able to win.
You know, you look at some of these players and the marketing is a big part of it.
And you have to market yourself as a guy who, you know, is working harder.
Max Crosby is an incredible athlete.
He's one of the more gifted athletes in the NFL.
And, you know, they tread a lot of people attribute the volume of plays because there was a couple of years span.
there where he just never came off the field.
You know, it became essentially worthless to continue that in a lost season in Las Vegas.
But you just don't do the things that Max Crosby can do without being incredibly gifted.
But, you know, to keep that up, to keep up the appearances, it's, you know, I just want to control
what I can control and come in here and lunch pail.
These conversations about a trade are also going to involve a deal.
And so the trade partner to me has to be a team that can make that lucrative offer long term.
Because like trading for Max Crosby, a first plus on some kind of win now thing.
Yeah, it may be an interesting idea for Max.
But I don't like that deal for the bucks.
I mean, get a key or cancy are good players.
I'd feel a little uncomfortable about two picks, two pretty good picks,
especially a first and a good player.
If you got me to like a second, a third in one of those,
it's a lot, but I know it's going to cost a lot.
I also know Max Crosby's like ridiculously good.
Yeah, he's pretty dominant.
And I think the books are particularly in a strange window
in which this could be the final year for everyone in town.
And so there's a real pressure.
They have been desperate for pass for a shelf.
I've just, can we find a one-on-one winner?
I think desperation breeds changing your asking price from a second and a third two.
Let's just do the one and bleep it and go all in.
At least we'll line up with Max Crosby to Open Week 1.
I think losing Godecchio, I think it's one of the better right-tackers league would be a silly move to make.
But once you start feeling that desperation, you feel like you can internally develop talent,
then you could maybe talk yourself into it.
And you've got SpyTech, your buddy, you're having beers, you're on the phone.
He starts convincing you of it.
It's good for everyone, buddy.
let's get this thing done.
I could see why Jason Light would do it,
then maybe wake up with a hangover
with a couple of regrets the next day.
Obviously, there's tears between,
but I think if you can try to consider,
like, is there a Kvon-Tibode type option for you,
like that allows you to improve your past rush
in certain capacity without limiting other aspects of the team,
long term.
Maybe that makes a little more sense.
That would be fun.
And they also have to consider the Stephen factor.
A lot of people who listen to NFL Daily
are saying that John Spitech, the GM's mentioning of my friend slash trainer, Stephen,
is becoming the best annual bit on the show.
And I think trading Max Grozby would be tough for the Raider Nation and for Stephen out there.
All right, Ali, all right, we should pick up the pace, get through as many questions as we can.
What do you got?
What is the Vikings planet quarterback?
Do we have any ideas?
Does the staff not like J.J. McCarthy?
Are they going to go into Frayancy?
Is it Kirk?
Is it Gino?
Is it Kailor?
Is it Tewer?
They're going to call Derek Carr?
They're going to trade for Tanna McKee.
What is the plan?
I am all in on the Geno Resurrection 2.0.
Let's make this happen.
But the only thing I feel confident about in that entire question there is that they do not believe in JJ McCarthy.
Like I think there is a greater chance that J.J. McCarthy is not on their roster in week one.
And there is that he starts week one.
Do you think that's crazy?
It feels borderline excessive.
I mean, not to jump back on the bills thing,
but the amount of conversation about their, you know,
their, you know, early round receiver, earlier round receiver
that wasn't panning out.
He was like the most hated man from the front off.
I like J.J. McCarthy and the not-so-secrette whispered campaign
against J.J. McCarthy out of Minneapolis
may be even more fervent than any conversation.
I'm not saying it's fair.
I'm just saying for him to start week one,
I think an injury needs to happen for the guy that they want to start week one,
like is going to need to happen?
Because I don't think they are going to want JJ McCarthy.
And then I could absolutely see him going in the next week or two in a trade
or if things are going well enough in August that he goes in a trade in like in August.
I think they have to be the front runners for Anthony Richardson, right?
So you can't move on from J.J. McCarthy.
If you bring in Anthony Richardson, if you're concerned about the health and well-being of the guy,
you really want to consider starting come week one.
And that might be the most combustible quarterback room in terms of variance.
Richardson would be the backup in that scenario?
I think you would bring him in hoping we're going to try and start Anthony Richardson.
We think we can tap into all the potential.
That's still pretty volatile.
JJ, I agree with you on the dislike of JJ.
I think when your whole kind of philosophy from when you wake up in the morning to go to sleep,
as Kevin O'Connell does, is about attacking the middle of the field in football
and ways to kind of rip apart the middle of the field.
shell and you have a quarterback in which by week two you're saying we can't do this stuff let's
remove everything from the playbook that i've spent my lifetime building i think it can get pretty
corrosive then there's the behind the scenes talk too so i agree with you that he's not going to
start it's just what what is the the break point is it kirk on a cheap contract is it betting on
kailer where you would have similar issues for building the offense that you do with j jay mccarthy
i have a hard time thinking they'll just completely bail on him being on the roster i'm drawing a
hard line at no matter what happens at at least nine years starting experience in the NFL
to play for Kevin O'Connell and the Minnesota Vikings like at this point I I don't want to see
another like oh they're investing in this quarterback because if you go from McCarthy to Anthony
Richardson it could we could be in a similar situation and now another like you know
sacrificial GM is on the way out to you know because I went with the wrong guy like
could I at least interest you in a package of curve
plus Richardson, steady hand, get through the first couple weeks,
and then behind the scenes, they've been working with Anthony Rickton,
and now here comes the Renaissance.
It's got to be vets.
I'll take that and make it Gino and Anthony Richardson.
But yeah, I think...
Gino and Kirk.
Yeah.
They laid it out, you know, Dan Graziano and Jeremy Fowler,
where they made it really sound like, and I suspect you can kind of get a feel of like,
all right, what's real, what's not.
I suspect they got a line in here that their tiers were
Kyler and Gino is Tier 1
for like the old guy.
And then Tier 2 were like was like cousins and maybe Rogers
if for some reason he shook,
loose or Flacco even.
And tier 3 is like Richardson.
But in that scenario, I think like, yeah,
I think they're getting rid of J.J. McCarthy
because I don't think they could see Anthony Richardson
as a potential starter.
Because if you're going to do that,
you're trying to win now.
All right, let's keep asking questions.
That was a great one, though.
Patrick, you're up.
All right.
Is a released Kyler Murray scenario going to absolutely ruin the market for Malik Willis
and force Malik Willis to go to a team that's actually good,
but he's not getting paid what he should be?
I don't buy it.
I think that the family guy thing with there's anything in the box,
it could even be a boat or whatever applies to Malik Willis.
You can talk yourself into this untapped franchise potential
that Greg's spoken about,
where with Kyler,
I think teams will feel pretty complete
on who he is as a player,
and it's kind of where they're at
in their kind of development arc.
If they want to maybe hang around,
win nine games,
maybe squeak out a division
and a bad division,
they'll bring Kyler on board.
But if they're shooting for the moon
or it's a rebuild,
the Vikings being a good example,
if it's the dolphins or cardinals
of these teams who are in that rebuild stage,
then you want to shoot for the moon
with Malik Willis and then figure the rest out later,
I think.
So on one hand,
I feel like the regular season,
is just like a sprint,
literally two weeks removed from being in Santa Clara for the Super Bowl.
I was already in Indianapolis,
and now, like, most of free agency will be done,
what, about 10 days from now?
Like, it would basically be over.
And yet, despite that short timeline,
I feel like the Malik Willis, like, stock,
I'm now a little worried, like, who is the team that's actually going to give him the big money?
I think he's going to have a plenty good market, Patrick,
to kind of answer that question.
And I think he'll have a better market than Kyler.
But it wouldn't surprise me either.
And it doesn't matter to me that much,
whether he gets $37 million a year or $22 million a year.
But he might settle in like a little Justin, closer to somewhere between Justin Fields
and maybe Geno's contract of last year.
And it might be closer to the Fields portion because I guess I'm not,
if Miami isn't going big money-wise on him,
And maybe they're just staying quiet, but then I'm not sure who will.
Arizona is to me the most likely and makes the most sense to me.
I don't know.
He's got to be playing football this year.
I feel pretty good.
He's going to be a week one starter, which is all I really want to see.
Yeah.
And, you know, with the proliferation of the tree, there's a lot of places where he could go.
I know we've talked about Kurt Cousins in one spot, Michael Pinnock, Jr.
coming back from another injury, you know, I think that would be a fun circle.
circumstance.
We're hearing Jimmy G as the potential starter for Michael Lefleur in Arizona.
Can we,
can we discuss this, Greg?
Why?
You can discuss whatever you want.
I mean, Ali just covered his face.
LaFleur-Hacket Garoppolo brain trust leading you into week one.
Because if we've, like the, if there are genockeptics out there, like significant genockeptics,
which with a good reason, because like a morose season in Las Vegas should be deleterious to
your long-term viability, then are we forgetting the Garoppolo experience where Devante was
screaming on the sideline on Netflix that get them out of here before he's dead?
I agree, and I've been heartened that, like, in that ESPN article that, like, that there's actually
some talk, well, people thought, Gina, which I agree with was as terrible as it was last year,
the situation was so bad. And if you, if you watched it, like, he's turning 36 years old this
year, but that I actually get the feeling that Gino might be atop this sort of reclamation
project pile and might have a decent market if assuming the Raiders do cut him and don't
find a trade for him.
I love Gino as much as anyone, maybe not as much as you.
That is such shameful either analysis or agent talk to pretend like last year was not as bad
as it was.
He was awful last season.
You couldn't see the field.
He just threw the ball up in hope.
I know he was worried about getting hit.
and I'm not a huge Kyla Murray believer
maybe as a bridge started
but to not have Kyla given what he's capable of
ahead of Gina Smith would just be
a dereliction of executive duty
I think they're both going to be starting week one
but I appreciate having a different
viewpoint because I think that's healthy on this show
the 49ers are a team I just wanted to bring up
like what's their big move
they
if I had to rank like the most fascinating teams
this off season they are right near
the top. I just think they're always in the mix, but they've gotten close so many times.
John Lynch was reportedly close to retiring at one point. They have a ton of cap space.
They also have Trent Williams, Fred Warner, and Nick Bosa kind of near, you know, I'm not saying
Fred Warner's near the end of his career, but these are highly paid players who have had injuries,
who have been out, and it just feels like you have the two best Goliaths in your own division.
and like it's go time.
This is a team that's been ultra-aggressive over the years.
And it's just a thought exercise of like what's their ultra-aggressive move?
Could it be Hendrickson?
I don't think John Franklin Myers qualifies, but he's been connected to them.
I've seen that that could be part of a defensive line rebuild.
Could they be a team that gets into the receiver market because they really need a wide receiver,
whether that's like moving up in the draft or whether it's A.J. Brown or, you.
DJ Moore. I'm just kind of fascinated by a team that is absolutely sick of not winning the Super
Bowl essentially and feeling like, yeah, like let's freaking go this year. Like what are the 49ers
going to do as their like big move? I'm not sure if either of you have any just like grand ideas
of what you see. Yeah, the number one thing I would do is I would call the Jets and I would try to
talk them into the 33rd pick for Mac Jones. Then I would take that pick and I would package it all
around and I would call everyone for the best players in the NFL. I would call about Max
Crosby, which I think they're in for. I would call about Jalen Waddle and find out if the new
infrastructure in Miami is into Jalen Waddle. I would call about Brian Thomas Jr. I think that
that's the approach they should take is if we're going to go onto a two-year timeline, essentially,
having Mac Jones as a quality backup is awesome for us. But if we can look at this market where
it's Gino and all these guys and teams talk themselves into the reclamation of having seen
Sam Donald, Baker and Daniel Jones
and on down the line, what can we
extract from Max Jones to then turn
into either Crosby or Brian Thomas
or a real blue chip player?
Yeah, to me,
they just have to, you know,
obviously getting healthy is going to do a lot
for the 49ers, but they need to add depth
at those spots where
they had the concerns.
clearly Max Crosby does that
in a certain capacity, but
how long do they want to push this
version? Like, this
particular window of the
Warner, the Bosa,
Trent, you know, if
Trent elects to maintain
you know, residents in Santa Clara,
you know,
how long are we, you know,
cutting out. One more year. They're all coming back.
So, yeah, let's go.
So then, yeah, go.
But not
to stop it at rookies in draft picks.
Like Ali said, swing
for fences. Like
have ETN backing up
CMC.
Like, they could be a Mike Evans team.
They could be a Jalen Phillips team.
There was reporting from the athletic that maybe the Mac Jones market wasn't, you know,
what they hoped for.
To me, it doesn't, I don't think Mac Jones is going to have much of a market just
because I don't think there's enough of a difference between him and these other guys
that we're talking about that'll just be freely available.
But if you're swinging and say Kevin O'Connell really likes Mac Jones, you could turn it
into Jordan Addison and then maybe you don't want to get involved with the off the field stuff
after all the receivers stuff you've just dealt with but you could give it a swing if you're talking
about big swings like let's just do let's build a package you send us a fourth or fifth round back
you send us Addison maybe he's now on the team by week six but we're swinging here Greg you asked
us for big swings yeah no I appreciate that it would be delightful um if if they replaced the guy
who um did an Instagram of like driving 100 miles an hour past the stadium um with another guy who's
been arrested a couple times for a driving. But you air that with the signing of Mike Evans,
all of a sudden's like, well, this is just kind of a moonshot, if it goes well or not.
Yeah, I really wanted to point them out, especially just as like, watch this space more. I don't,
I don't know if you guys hear the police sirens in my background, but I guess they think it was
bad questions. Just watch this space. I think they're going to be one of the main characters
of the next couple of weeks. I'm not sure even who's up next. Let's go, let's go, Ali.
What is Trey Hendrickson's market?
We've kind of talked about him in a couple of landing spots there.
It feels like for a guy who was second in defensive player of the year voting a year ago,
it's not as though he's like the runaway favorite for a monster contract.
And it seems like the board is set where teams are going to try and trade for Max Crosby
or the teams who can't make that work are going to start looking at Trey Hendrickson
or just decided for one or the other.
I wonder, Greg, how you stack it up between trading multiple picks for Max Crosby
versus Trey Hendrickson, who on a per cent basis at least the last two seasons has been a
pretty close facsimile of what Crosby gives you. I think Crosby is a better all-around player
by a decent distance, but pure pass-rush get off and go. It's pretty close and the contracts are
probably going to wind up being somewhat similar. Yeah, I think you won't even have to pay as
much for Hendrickson in the end, like not that much guaranteed money, certainly not past year two,
maybe not even a fully guaranteed two-year contract.
I think because of his age and coming off of an injured year,
it's going to be something like two for 50, two for 60.
Like it'll be plenty.
He'll do well.
It's not going to be like a long-term deal,
but I'd always rather do that.
And I think there are enough intriguing pass rushers
at the top of this market.
I know AdafioA is not nearly the same player,
or boy, Maffei and Jalen Phillips is somewhere in between.
But I'd still rather do that than give up big pick.
So I don't think his market's going to be like quite as good.
people are going to be blown away
when some of these offensive linemen
get as much money as Trey Hendrickson.
I think the positional value
gets it to a place where
if it's Buffalo, and they've
maneuvered enough to have some space,
teams that miss out on
Max Crosby. It's a good
backup option
to have Trey Hendrickson being able
to get out there. I think
you're easily north of
20. You know, they do
all kinds of mad, you know, lies with the APYs, but we can get up north of 20.
To me, I guess, is whether he's confined to the tier of, like, the contenders who want to
try and get an A-plus player with healthy, or it's more the middle band guys like the bears
who are happy to overpay because they think it can push them into a different tier.
And it feels, to me, like the conversation is mostly around those, the Niners, the bills,
can they maneuver caps face to the Patriots consider themselves a legit force?
And it's more, as Greg's saying, that that kind of two-year fully guaranteed deal effectively, as opposed to the middle band teams trying to jump to another level, whereas the books who I consider a middle-band side are looking around at someone like a Crosby.
Right.
Or the Chargers are this team that's kind of sitting out there that have so much cap space.
The Seahawks actually have a lot of cap-space.
We want to think of good teams.
Does he consider just taking the bag from a team like the Titans who I think are going to be spending a lot of money?
this off season.
There is a lot of
a lot of cap space out there.
All right, Patrick, you're up next.
Okay, so going through the combine
and checking backup on the guys
that leapt off the screen
athletically, it's like,
I got to go watch them tape.
I was charting Ted Hurst
and I just wrote,
ah, with several exclamation points
where you have a 6-3
and 7-A's wide receiver
with good hands, went down to Mobile,
Excel,
great plays in practice.
And then I'm watching the tape and it's Georgia State.
So you're having to go through and try to find the players that he made plays against.
I had to go all the way back to 2024 when they played JMU.
This was before DeAngelo Pons transferred to Indiana where he would eventually win a national championship.
He gets him in the corner of end zone and hands finishing after the catch.
I'm all on board.
And I just wonder with all of these receivers.
you know, the value for free agents may be kind of pulled back with all these guys you can get in the second and third round.
So I feel like, you know, between Hearst being a really good player that could be going on a really good team and these free agent wide receivers, I think somebody is going to get some a real game changer at receiver either way.
Yeah, I think it was a more shallow free agent receiver crop than normal.
There's a few fun names at the top, and it falls off pretty hard.
And whereas the draft looks deeper in terms of rounds, two and three guys.
Yeah, big picture.
What did you think, Ollie, about Hurst or the receivers, and we're kind of wrapping up here.
So maybe any players will wrap kind of with the discussion, because I thought about this, too,
that you thought really helped their draft stock over the last few days.
Well, I love Ted Hurst.
I'm so glad he's getting a shout out this early in the process.
on NFL Daily.
It's a great job by Patrick.
I mean, talk about size, speed, weight, everything,
vertical threat, really smooth,
not just an explosive up and down guy,
like the Tennessee people who get spat out
every year into the draft.
So I think he's going to go far early
than he's currently being projected.
Guys really help themselves.
I think Dylan Theanaman,
and I know it's kind of still at the top end of the board,
I think there's a chance here,
based on the safety class,
where we end up getting four guys
going in the first round,
more of some of the hybrid,
slot safety types a bit in the
Brian Branch mold
but I think the enemy is going to wind up going
in the top 50 maybe even as high as 10
gets tricky. There's so many of the
premium edge defenders are up there and I think
teams are jostling with how they actually see those guys
where a guy who's won on certain people's board
whether it's Bain or Bailey are actually seventh on other teams board
based on what they're looking for at the position
whereas it's pretty calcified. The downs
is a star and are we willing
to kind of look past our priors to just go and take a great
player as early as we can in the draft. And I think Fiannaman has a chance to be pretty special too.
So those two, I think I'll go really early. Then the Stoaks at Arizona, who I think has a chance
to be really great and he could sneak into the first round. And then there's McNeill Warren at Toledo
who didn't quite test as well as I think people are expecting, but he's going to have a chance to
go in the fringe of round one too. Yeah. And it's funny, where would Nickyman Worry go in this
draft because of the Nickyman Worry effect? You know what I mean? Like he's made
people want, they're like, oh, shoot, we shouldn't have let him go as far. And I know there were some,
you know, questions about his college tape, but it's funny that he played so well that if he was
in this draft, like, is he a better prospect than the enemy? I don't know. Like, you would think,
right? Or they're in the, they're in the same ballpark. Well, you get into that range where I think
the ability to put force into the ground and move at 205 versus 215, like those 10 pounds around
that, that 200 pounds, like those are a significant difference.
where you kind of have Eman Worry and Kyle Hamilton
in this particular class of player where Downs,
I think Downs or these other Tiananmen or these guys
who have more capacity to be deep in the bit.
Like if you look at Tiananman's time at Purdue
where he's playing more free safety
he's in the backfield running around making plays back there,
where at Ohio State with a pass rush that they had,
to get a really good football player involved in the game,
had to have Downs more in the box.
And it's like, well, Caleb Downs is a box safety.
No, like, I think he's better in the back end.
So, like, you have these really good free safeties in this class versus I don't think
there's an E-Man warrior Kyle Hamilton here.
And those guys, it just may have to wait like every two or three years before you get
a type of player like that where teams are going to try to force feed like we did for Randy
Mawson, Calvin Johnson.
Like, anytime you had a tall, fast guys like, oh, that's this guy.
No, those guys aren't around a lot.
Yeah, I thought you said something interesting to me on text to Ollie, which is that, look,
Stiles, Sunny Stiles, like his workout was insane, but maybe the league are, like, I was thinking,
does this make it so that he could be in that top five mix?
And you thought, like, the teams, I think, were there on him already, that there was
disagreement maybe between David Bailey, Arville Reese, Sunny Stiles, but he was, even though he's
an offball linebacker, he was already looked at a guy that could go.
go as high as, who knows, like as high as possible.
Yeah, Patrick's right on those safety body types.
Those guys come around once in a lifetime for a franchise.
If you're lucky, maybe we'll get some more of them.
Now there's like a prototype out there, but it's unlikely.
That guy is sunny styles.
That is the guy with that size and those movement skills.
You don't need a dime linebacker on the field.
We just have sunny styles.
And he plays every down and he covers like Fred Warner,
but he's got five inches and a bunch of pounds on him as well.
So the combine for the teams, they've had all these measurements for as long as they
want. They've also got them from the senior ball. It's mostly cross-offs. It's medical stuff.
It's like one really bad meeting and they go back to the notes. Maybe there's some thresholds
they have where they cross guys off. But they're crossing off and guys move up a few spots.
They don't have the kind of media side jump right guy goes from 36th on their board to 18th or something
like that. So that's it for our big questions. We will have Patrick back later in the week.
We will figure out when we got Ali back on the show, but I'm looking forward to it. We also have a couple
live shows next week that we're getting excited for.
I want to go live on YouTube Sunday night with Shook, so we're going to work on that,
but we are definitely going live during the week, including on Monday from the studio,
the first day of the quote-unquote legal tampering period, which is the busiest day of the
entire off season.
So we will be live on the NFL channel, which is the Fast Network, but we're trying to
work on getting live on YouTube, and we'll have all those shows out.
I am really excited for that.
One other just tiny news item I wanted to mention is Donovan Ezraku had hip surgery and may not be ready for training camp and that's not an injury you want to see for literally anyone.
And he had such a great end to his rookie year.
And it gets me to one question I left unasked today, which is like, what are the cowboys going to do with all this cap space that they just freed up?
It sounds like actually the cowboys are going to be pretty active.
They need a lot of help on a lot of defensive positions.
but we'll talk about that throughout the week.
Let's hit the music.
Let's get out of here.
Sorry, guys.
Patrick, no more Taurus came through the stage five, by the way.
We're all saying.
Just me and this cut out of Scott Hanson.
Oh, wait, that's stage four.
Stage four, the Scott Hanson studio.
Thank you to Ollie.
Thank you to Patrick.
We will be back in the feed on Tuesday with 40s and free agents.
Me and Daniel Jeremiah.
We'll see you then.
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