NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - The first 24 hours of free agency

Episode Date: March 10, 2017

A room filled with some heroes – Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling & Marc Sessler – break down all the action from the first 24 hours of free agency including an unprecedented trade between the Texans and the Browns that lands quarterback Brock Osweiler in Cleveland, and the Redskins firing general manager Scot McCloughan. Plus, are the Patriots really willing to trade Jimmy Garoppolo? And could Tony Romo be the missing piece for a Texans Super Bowl run? It’s your one stop shop for free agency news!Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the NFL podcast must talk more. Welcome to the Around the NFL podcast. I'm Greg Rosenthal in a room filled with some heroes. This feels weird. Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and no Dan Hanses today, unfortunately. Hey, Greg. Well, our friend had to attend to some business, and so we hope he'll be fine, and we'll carry on.

Yeah, unfortunately, it's obviously a big day in the NFL. Dan's been cranking out posts like the rest of us the last few days as the start of free agency. And right before we came up to the podcast studio, unfortunately, Dan just got taken away from some urgent matters. The show must go on. Dan wants it that way. And, you know, it's not like we have a shortage of things to talk about here, Mark Sessler. Not at all. You're beaming.

He's back in. The cloud has been lifted. He's back in on the 2017 Browns. We're going to make Matt Money Smith happy. Plenty of Browns, Doc. We can get into that. But, yeah, I think that, you know, a team that had absolutely nothing but desolate darkness surrounding it has maybe made some steps. We'll see.

How's your free agency been so far, Wes? It's been grand. Thank you, Fred. Wes is on his way. Well, he's on his way somewhere that we can't say right now. It's a man-canon vacation. You can't wait to get out of this off. It's a weekend.

It's a weekend away. Oh, you're heading out. I'm heading out this afternoon. You're ditching us. We're just pounding outpost. I mean... Well, I've had no vacation since last year, and this is the first day. Wow.

And unlike some other people, I asked off three months ago, so... shots fired right off the... Wow. The bat. We actually, you know, we have a relative short time in this studio considering how much news and stories that we need to get through before the next podcast, the fantasy podcast, comes in here. So, you know, I guess we'll just kind of cut short

all the little chit chat and get to it. God forbid we push them back 15 minutes. Let's do some news, Sid. Oh, I can't believe it. Oh, Brock Osweiler, the ultimate Brock Osweiler moment. Hello, Sid, by the way. I know if I was a better, you know, quote-unquote host. This is why we have Colleen Steppen.

You're already up to a rocky start. Yeah, we didn't really have time to go get a substitute host or anything like that. It's all right. We're pushing on. We are pros. You're doing a good job, Greg. Thanks. The Browns and the Texans are pushing on from the Brock Osweiler era.

together in a move that I would say no one saw coming, but some guy on a Reddit board and Bill Barnwell apparently saw it coming. Amazingly, the Texans pulled off a deal that we've really never seen in the history of the NFL before, sending Brock Osweiler and a 2018 second round pick to the Browns, A couple compensatory picks in late rounds also exchanged to finish out the deal. To Cleveland, just to get rid of Brock Osweiler, get that $16 million in cash off the books. It's going to be coming out of Jimmy Haslam, the Brown's owner's pocketbook. He carries a pocketbook around.

$10 million in salary cap space, gone from the Texans. Osweiler, for now, is property of the Cleveland Browns. Like, what was going through your mind when you first? heard this mark well initially i read it as the browns had given the texans a second round pick for brock oswalder and i was about to just get in my car and drive off uh the i 10 but when i found out what happened i mean you you framed it as the texans pulled off the deal it's very much an unprecedented transaction that very much involved both teams sure and it tells us a lot about where these teams are you mentioned the texans side how much they wanted to get rid of osweiler

and cleveland's it's a deeper look into cleveland's analytics base and if you want to call it that, but really just how much they value draft picks. And they came into this free agency period with such an excess of cap space that they're one of the few teams in the league that could entertain or potentially spearhead this kind of a deal where you take on this cap space

that you don't really care about this year. And they made it very clear in their press release, which was a crazy press release in a way, where they write up top talk about how excited they are to acquire a pick. and then, you know, buried below, oh, by the way, Brock Osweiler, he might compete too. I don't think he'll be competing in Cleveland at all

unless any other plans they have at quarterback completely fall through this offseason. Just stockpiling those draft picks like noted moneyballers, Jimmy Johnson and Bill Belichick. I mean, it's not a moneyball thing to stockpile draft picks. I don't like it that's, it's smart, and I give both franchises credit for thinking outside the box. They both solve some problems,

The Browns have too much money to spend. They've got Confederate money. Nobody wants it. It's funny money. They can't sign Tony Jefferson and they offer him way more than the Ravens do. This is what happens. It's the whatever you want to call it, the losing tax, that if you have a dysfunctional franchise, nobody wants to play for you.

You're not going to spend all $102 million. So if you've got extra cash, why not get a draft pick? But also, they're ammunition over the next two drafts. You've got two number one, three number ones, and five number two picks. Right. You have incredible leverage to go get the guy when you find the guy. If that quarterback, it has to be about the quarterback. I think accruing picks is one skill, and then accruing, drafting good players is another.

They have to prove they can pull off that side of it. Or they flip the picks for someone. We'll get to that in a second with possibly Jimmy Garoppolo. But I think the Moneyball and the Paul DiPedesta influence comes in. I mean, this was a story that was interesting enough. I threw it out there at the dinner table at like at 9 p.m. Because my wife, she's watching Moneyball. She knows Paul Deepett's like it's a crazy idea.

And I think where it comes in is that they value a second round pick at $16 million. That they've done work, that they believe that four-year contract for that player who has a good chance to be a starter is worth. $16 million because you can say it doesn't matter that didn't happen in a vacuum it wouldn't have happened if they didn't have historic an historically high amount of cap space but i think that this is a creative and smart way to use that cap space i think the thing that's lost a little bit is you said well this is funny money it's actual money and i really don't think there's many owners out there who would be convinced to spend $16 million essentially just on a draft pick i mean that's

actual cash that could do a lot of things. And it sounds easy to us. Oh, that's, you know, he's a billionaire or whatever. $16 million is $16 million. I mean, think of like the budgets that they go through in terms of renovations at their stadium or whatever. Like $16 million is a huge amount of cash that he's just essentially buying a draft pick for. So you have to be convinced that it's worth it. I agree.

I also think that it, like you said, it's not just $16 million is what they see as a second round pick. they are putting themselves in position to outbid anyone else when this bidding war for Player X happens. And I think that they absolutely, it tells you something else, this is a front office and an organization that for the last five plus years, if not the last 20, have been flamed for being toxic from top to bottom. There is, at this point, I think, owner of ownership buys into the plan to the point where they're willing to put a lot of cash into it.

And for the first time, maybe in a long time, and the coach and the front office seem to be getting along. They've got to nail the draft, though, or the whole thing could go down. Well, and you've got to get a quarterback. Absolutely. You know, they're getting rid of Robert Griffin the third. So that was reported by Michael Silver originally. That saves you some money.

On Thursday, that saves you money, but you don't have a quarterback. I mean, that's why I think thinking about keeping Osweiler throughout the offseason, if they can't trade him, isn't crazy to me because is he better than, Is it really that embarrassing to have him on your roster? Or do you want to just see if he's better than Kevin Hogan? Because if he's better than who is set up to be your third-string quarterback now, I don't know. Why not let him go through OTAs and see if he fits with Hugh Jackson at all?

So they get rid of RG3, but they look like they have a plan. I mean, you said if they could get Jimmy Garapolo, Wes, you might be all in. It looks like they have a plan because it's not like no one's taking their money. Kevin Zaitler is the highest paid guard in the league. We'll mention that a little bit later. They have a starting center. They replace Terrell Pryor with Kenny Bray. I mean, they're making moves.

It's not like they can't get people to go to Cleveland. I would broaden the scope even beyond Jimmy Garoppolo. It sounds like the Patriots are pretty serious about keeping him. And if they're not, this is one of the best con jobs Bill Belichick has played on the NFL and on NFL reporters. But it also, you brought in the scope and say, hey, next year, you've got, plenty of ammo if you don't get the number one pick, maybe you get the number three pick in the draft or the number five pick,

you can bundle all these picks and try to trade up for Sam Darnold or whoever the guy is there because you've got, it's going to be hard to say no to all that draft pick ammo. Absolutely. Or a Kirk Cousins. I was just thinking off the top of my head when he becomes, you know,

if he becomes available in a trade next week, like whoever it is that you end up wanting to go get, you can go after him then. Absolutely. And a little bit from the Texans' point of view, I give them credit, too. They could, nothing they've done in that quarterback room for the past two or three years under Bill O'Brien has led anyone to believe that they realize they have a problem at quarterback. Because they continue to say both those kids can play all the time. You don't like it when people lie to you.

I don't like it when they lie to me, especially Bill O'Brien, who's handled that quarterback room so poorly for a few years. And this shows, it shows me that they want to get Romo. They also don't have a quarterback right now, and they're not guaranteed of getting Romo either. What are you trying to say about the quarterback that's in the room there? I mean, they do. Tommy Savage? Tom Savage is real.

All right, he's real. But I mean, Brock Oswald, there was also a real human being, but he's not a functional NFL quarterback. I mean, everyone's getting so excited about the moneyball aspect and the Browns, and yet the Texans are the bigger. This is going to be remembered more. I think because the Texans are clearing the deck for Tony Romo, which is going to be the biggest story of 2017.

So as a football story, I think that's going to have more lasting impact. Wow, it's great the Browns pick up a second round pick. Everyone thinks that this is going to start a new style of trading. I don't think so. I think this circumstance is unique. I mean, it could happen. Both franchises the circumstances unique. Yeah.

And I think it could and probably will happen in the future, but I don't think it's going to happen too often that you have. The NFL might step in and make a rule against it. Well, the NFL... It's unclear if it's even approved. Like, if the NFL is okay of it. It is approved at this point. I've heard that.

But I will say that I think that they were probably not... They were thrown off by it a little bit. I don't think this is what the NFL wants to happen. But if you look at Cap Room in general, it's an NBA-style trade. We all know that. But how many teams every year are going to have the opportunity to do what the Browns just hid from a cap-space angle? I don't think the NFL is going to encourage. And how many deals do you see where all of the money,

$16 million is guaranteed into the second year. They're literally, like, I don't know if there's any deals like that in this year's free agency. Maybe Stefan Gilmore, maybe A.J. Bouillet, like there's not a ton of guys getting those type of contracts. In part, I think, because Brock Oswell is going to scare them away. We move on to the other quarterback. One thing that, props to Bill Barnwell, our friend, who wrote about this months ago and

nailed it on the head. I mean, I'm essentially convinced that Bill Barnwell is like traveling through time. There was also a guy on Reddit that did it. Not only nailed it on the head, but it would not surprise me, and I think it's probably more likely than not that the Browns and Texans got the idea from Bill Barlow. It's not crazy. Well, I think Bill's great.

One of the best football writers out there. People should check out his podcast. I go back way back. He wrote for the Rota World magazine back in, like, 2006. I think Bill's part of that analytics community, and maybe these are sort of ideas. is that have been talked about. Like, how can analytics be used?

Like, I'm not, I'm not in that community. I don't know. And it's common in the NBA. Like, NBA fans around our office were like, this is commonplace and bad. It's just not, we have older people. We have older GM types and. We're starting to sound old in this conversation. I'm feeling like Charlie Cassner.

Why are these crazy kids with their abacations and everything? Some of the guys that are from front offices from a long time ago, this is not how the NFL was allowed to operate. This was hard to unpack for everyone when it first happened. So the Brock Osweiler era is over. one of the biggest free agent bus I think in NFL history because now there's no recovering from this like he will just be remembered as a total disaster

the Brown say goodbye I can't believe it I'm sorry brock I feel bad at this point oh you created that it feels like beating up on the guy I think he could stand to be knocked down a few pegs from the way he was acting at I think he has been I think he's you know money's great in all his life has been fine on his 37 minutes million guaranteed, Greg. Money doesn't make you happy, Wes. Well, maybe he should consider that next time he leaves the Broncos for the Texans.

Maybe he'll end up back with the Broncos. There's no way he's going back to the Broncos. I think the bills and Rick Denison will take him as a backup at some point. He knows that system. He maybe could be a little better in that system. We have a mere 67 more times. I know. I know.

I linger. This is the best stuff, though. The top. RG3, bye-bye. Brock, so long. Jimmy Garapolo still in New England although for a few hours

Friday morning Mark people thought he was saying goodbye to New England yeah I mean I have dealt with some version of insomnia for years and years you always heard me complain about it and last night I was I had to go out on the couch and just lie out there

alone and I was looking at Twitter you know there's a lot of stuff still happening during this free agent craziness and then suddenly on Instagram Word leaks out that on Jimmy Gropolo's Blue Checkmark to Prove Instagram, he types this with a picture of him with all the Super Bowl confetti around him. So grateful for my time in New England, peace out Boston. I thought, my God.

And so I'm sitting there wide awake. The entire country is mostly asleep. Other people in England are responding to tweets and stuff. But I checked it over and over and over. Blue check mark, is it really there? Did it disappear in one minute? It was there for another 20 minutes. I tweeted it out.

around the NFL, tweeted out. Other people did the same and other, you know, other media. 4 a.m. Eastern. It was an unbelievable sudden explosion of whoever was up at that point saying it's got to be Cleveland. Maybe it's Chicago and they're doing something else with Mike Glennon. There was so much speculation. And ultimately, NFL inside, NFL Network Insider Ian Rappaport was shaken awake by our newsroom.

You know, he's complaining about being up at 4.30. I get it. He was still up at 2 in the morning, by the way. yesterday, because I was up and he was tweeting out, he was tweeting out reports. Yeah, I mean, he got mere minutes of sleep himself. And, you know, he fished around with the Browns and the Patriots and whoever else. And they said, we're asleep. No one's making deals right now.

There's no deal for Jimmy G. And Jimmy G, meanwhile, completely AWOL, after Rapid Port had confirmed that this was essentially must have been a hack, the post stayed up on Instagram for hours more, adding more confusion to it until it was finally deleted. but in my body, in my mind, I thought for a minute, my God, Cleveland has pulled off the greatest 18 hours in life. Ladies and gentlemen, for one night only, sashi. They had a good day, but that would have been a wicked, gigantic cherry on top,

and instead it was the complete opposite. If Dan was here right now, he would probably would have already set up a sashi drop before, but he would also admonish you, Sydney, for waiting that long for a sashi drop. This is like Sashi day. I've been like sitting on it. forever. And I was like, when is it? When's the perfect moment?

Good luck. That was semi, okay. That was good. Good luck getting back to sleep when the adrenaline is surging for your body at a level you haven't seen. This is the first time you, I know you like Garablo a lot. Yes. You would have been, if this went through at one o'clock in the morning while you were

on guard, you would have been more excited than you've been since Tim Couch was drafted number one overall. It's like the Berlin Wall crumbling down. I was about to shake my children away. and just put them out in the middle of the living room. What are the, like there's a, I would say there's a greater than 50, 50, my version of the Berlin Wall. People are so confused.

They're like, why are we sitting in the middle of living room? We traded for Garablo. They're like, the wall is crumbling. I mean, no way, Carapolo. But it was, there is some, there is some Cold War tactics going on here. I mean, if it's as easy for Russia to hack into our entire political system and shake that up, I guess it's not too tough to, you know, figure out Jimmy G's. Passwords like Brady rules like 97 or something like that.

I play it behind Brady. I mean, so do you, do you, are we convinced when I, my one thing is like 19 out 20 times when athletes, you know, call out hack, I've been hacked like it's not true. In this case, it feels obviously completely true, but it's strange. It feels true. Unless there was, you never know, I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but you never know if he had like a timed out post and he thought yesterday it was. going to happen? I don't know.

I think he probably got hacked, like a Laramette Tunsell situation. And Adam Schaefter, and you referred to it, he was on the radio in Cleveland today saying they're not trading Garapola. This is not news. Adam Schaeffer has said this. He's basically saying it, period, that it's not happening, no matter what they're giving up. He has said period for weeks. Adam Schaefter has said this all along, which is fine.

That's great reporting if Bill Belichick told him that to his face. But Adam Schaefter doesn't make deals in that. in the New England Patriots front office. Bill Belichick doesn't have to clear deals with Adam Shepter. Well, even if Bill Belichick did tell Adam Schaefter that, you know, you have to question the motives because I think this is going to be the story of the next six weeks, not to look ahead, but it's going to be talking about Jimmy Garapolo

and possible trades with the draft. Yeah, I would say nothing is off. In Cousins, too. Cousins is still out there, I believe. What if Cleveland, I'm not saying this would be wise, but Cleveland could say we'll give you, you know, two firsts and five number two, Is Bill Belichick still saying no? I mean, if Cleveland really, really wants this quarterback, they can do it.

And other teams, the one thing that did come out of the reporting yesterday from Matt Garifolo and Rapaport was that other teams that are put, that had thought about Jimmy G. And the chips have fallen to suggest this, all can see that nobody can outbid Cleveland at this point. They're the only team that has a shot. And if Belichick simply wants them, then maybe it's all. Well, and I do believe the notion.

and I think you would buy this, too, Wes, that it's not all just some sort of leverage game. They truly do think Jimmy Garapolo is a quality starting quarterback, so they feel no need to get rid of a starting quality quarterback. Yes, Tom Brady's on your roster, and you're always thinking about the future, but because of that, it's like we retain his rights. You don't know what's going to happen in 2018.

You don't know possibly ways that you could creatively come up to keep him when his contract comes up. Like every year is important. And I would, you know, as a Patriots fan, you'd love to have Jimmy G. on your roster next year. I absolutely believe that Bill Belichick, a guy who said last year in October that the difference between Brady and Jimmy G. in practice is seamless. There's a seamless transition.

I absolutely believe that he's the successor to Tom Brady. And I also believe he's enjoying the hell of the leverage he's created because we chase that which runs away from us. Yeah. The Browns are just going to want Jim. Jimmy G. more and more, the more that Billichick says you can't have it. But then if he truly is not willing for a trade to happen, they're also driving up the price to keep him on themselves.

He's going to be incredibly more expensive than he would have been had he just essentially done nothing behind Brady the same way a Brian Hoyer did or someone else. Now it's going to cost them a ton of money to keep him. Well, it was going to be, them coming up with a contract that he would actually sign presuming Tom Brady's still healthy is going to be. close to impossible. Not impossible, but it's going to be very difficult anyways.

I think a lot of people are downplaying the importance of actually playing out the 2017 season. Right, exactly. Injuries come out of nowhere. Exactly. And you are in a Super Bowl window. I think Belichick is fine with the notion that I'll go through this season, have my premium Brady, the best Brady insurance I can find, and maybe he does see.

Or who knows? Or a little Dan's gradual decline starts sprinkling in. He's not here. Well, Dan would root for a Jimmy G. trade somewhere far away from New England in a second. But what's more valuable? You're absolutely right. Another Super Bowl title that further entrenched these guys

as the absolute legends they are or a couple draft picks. So Garapolo, amazingly, wasn't the only person to say goodbye on social media before it was actually time to say goodbye. Hey, everyone. It's been a crazy 48 hours here, and I want to say thank you, and we have a lot to think about here going forward. we'll see what happens until that I'm just going to keep listening to Bob Dylan

that was Tony Romo in a very strange goodbye not quite like you know the tearful press conference he had a strangely timed goodbye on Instagram right I believe I believe so it was Instagram

right when free agency started making it sound like the Cowboys had already released him, which would make sense if you were watching NFL network, ESPN, or basically any other news source out of Russian state television on Wednesday, which all said Tony Romo was going to be released, that Tony Romo was told that he was going to be released. But right before free agency started, we got the news, no, the Cowboys are going to keep him for now. Ian Rappaport says the plan was never to waive Tony Romo very strange and that he as we're taping this

Friday late Friday morning he's he's still part of the team and they want to try to trade him we praise the Browns and Texans for you know give them credit for thinking outside the box and being creative and thinking in a new way and then here we are the Texans and Broncos in March of 2016 initiate a bidding war for Brock Osweiler in March of 2017 refused to initiate a bidding war for a much better quarterback.

Yeah, it's a strange dynamic. I still think that Cowboys have to get Romo out of the building before team activities start again before that whole thing happens. I mean... You could just stay home in theory. But you're, I agree. Aren't they just trying to see if they can get

literally anything for them before? Why not? Don't you? They got a little bit of leverage from Houston's trade. The Oswell trade. Because you can tell that Houston,

I would think you could tell that they want Romo now. Conspiracy theory. I got two of them here. All right. Number one. Suddenly you are a conspiracy theory.

Yes. This one's more of just a theory. Tony Romo and his agent, you know, this is a theme today, maybe just because I read this big article. They're trying to sow some chaos. Again, like the Russian government

has been trying to do to our political system. They're trying to sew some, chaos out there in the media. Where does it come from that Tony Romo was told that he was going to be released? I mean, that sounds like it's coming from someone that's Tony Romo, essentially. That's strange news to be out there that it doesn't come true at all, and the Cowboys essentially are saying that was never true.

So that's number one. On Thursday, we see reports from ESPN that the Broncos are getting involved. in trade talks for Tony Romo. That's another strange one. Immediately, James Palmer goes on our network, say that's not happening. They haven't been in trade talks. These things seem like they're coming from Romo's camp.

The first one, maybe to put pressure on the cowboys to actually release them, they thought maybe if that's just out there, the cowboys would feel the pressure to do right by him, quote unquote. And then the second one, maybe to inspire Houston to get off their ass, and trade for them, because I think they want to go to Houston. That's my takeaway from the last few days. Denver's great in all, maybe, as an option, but they don't have an offensive line.

They're not close, whatever. I think he just, I think he wants to play for the Texans. I think maybe they even knew the Texans were clearing the decks here for Romo, and that's why they held on to him. But I think it's all pointing towards Tony Romo Texans. One point. It involves more than one person your theory, so it is a conspiracy theory. Number two, I think it's very plausible.

You're absolutely, I think you're absolutely dead on with that. That this is, all this stuff about the Texans and, or the cowboys and Tony Romo just want to make this peaceful transition to the next stage of his life. This is one of the cleaner breaks we've ever seen, but none of these breaks are totally, up to now. We might be talking about it in May. Right, up to now, it's just that I don't think that Tony Romo is some wilting flower that's just going to be released. staff to what happened next season without having some impact in it, and it does feel agent-driven. Yeah,

I'm not going to be happy if this drags on and the Cowboys get like a sixth round pick for it. It's not worth it. It's not worth it. That is probably, that's the thing. That is probably the end game. It's like a best case scenario. They're probably getting like, what, a fourth or a fifth round pick? I don't know. He's about to, Tony Romo's about to have

a third child. Is that the number? There's a new child on the way or the new child has arrived. I think it's on the way. The drive from Houston to Dallas is very manageable. It's about three hours. It means you could be around your home, around your wife and kids easily. And, by the way, it's probably as good of a setup as what Broncos are.

That's not how franchise quarterbacks rule. He'll be taking Bob with Air's Private Jet. Right. And they look like a team that's ready. I'm not saying he's driving in a rental car between the two cities. And they look like a team that could compete for a Super Bowl if they had a starting quarterback. Absolutely. I think also if you, again,

to come back to this competitive nature that Romo absolutely has. I think he's undersold on that front that to be in the same state and get the other team in Texas to the Super Bowl would be one of the most fascinating stories and he knows it and nothing would rankle Jerry Jones more. Right, which is maybe why

they're holding on to him. People have thrown out whether he could possibly retire if this doesn't work out getting to the Texans. But when two sides make so much sense for each other, I think it's going to happen. It could drag out.

One thing to make clear, the Cowboys have no financial incentive to get rid of him. They only get the cap relief from getting rid of him after June 1st. So in the meantime, it doesn't really matter. That's one quarterback situation that's kind of just like hanging out there. And another one we're going to be talking about over the next few weeks. Kirk Cousins and Washington, we've talked about it a lot. But the news on Friday was that he signed his franchise tag West. Do you see that part of the equation that he's now officially signed with the Redskins changing anything?

Yeah. Who knows what's going to go on with this situation? Just because the Redskins are so dysfunctional. But it seems like there might be some light at the end of the tunnel if the Redskins are willing to negotiate from that standpoint of 24 million. If they're willing to do that, maybe. But they're also reports that Kirk Cousins will not sign long term as long as Bruce Allen, remains in the president rule. It's such a toxic.

That house is absolutely on fire, but Washington has the leverage over Kirk Cousins now that he signed it, and it's going to carry on for another year. I feel like this is another. They have a modicum of leverage, but it evaporates after the season's point. Oh, no, just for this season. I mean, you sign that thing and it's over,

but it just feels like such a depressing situation in Washington for multiple reasons. You said that report that they won't sign a long-term deal while Bruce Allen's there. I mean, and that, it sounds like that's, from both sides. It sounds like Bruce Allen doesn't want to sign him to a long-term deal, which is crazy.

What's Bruce Allen doing? What's this guy doing? He's just... He's tearing the franchise down. I think it's called pride. I think there's a lot of, a lot of pride. So trade him.

If he's not going to be on your team after this year, then they should trade him. Yeah. I never really... When it comes to Bruce Allen, it's not just the Kirk Cousins. It's his fingerprints over the entire organization. Well, that's the fact

that they were never good when he was running the show. and then Scott McLuhan started getting credit and Bruce Allen bristled with that. And now Scott McLuhan's not there anymore and the Redskins are going to be as bad as they were when Bruce Allen was running the show. Right.

So the Redskins fired general manager Scott McLuhan. We've talked about this situation in the last couple shows. But I think it really, this is something, I have the worst memory ever. And this is something I think I will go back to whenever I'm making any sort of like Redskins are dysfunctional rants in the next 10 years, that this is the franchise that,

fired their general manager on the day that free agency started. That is an amazing thing to have happened. I think it almost, we were getting ready for it. So in the moment, it didn't seem that crazy. But what could possibly look worse as an organization and be more embarrassing that you literally fired your general manager the day that free agency started? Well, well, the only thing that could make it even worse than it already is, is that we know that Scott McLuhan very publicly acknowledges a.

struggle with alcohol. And it's out there. He's out there with that. And that there are people out there reporting to some degree that the Redskins used that against him when that wasn't necessarily the only issues that Scott McLuhan faced. The issue he faced was Bruce Allen and the power struggle and the pride and the contentiousness inside the organization. That is what makes the Redskins the most toxic organization in the NFL right now. Well, the distance to number two is pretty deep. I think you should look askance when the Washington Post is quoting anonymous sources saying that he was a problem in the locker room and showed up drunk in the locker room, made a spectacle of himself.

And then they quote six players saying that was never an issue in the locker room. Scott McLuhan was perfectly professional in the locker room and there was never an issue. That is a major disconnect. Liz Clark and Mike Jones wrote a great long piece in the Washington Post. They've been really good reporting this that people should check out. I think Jay Gruden has done a really good job trying to work with a really tough situation because it sounds like McLuhan never really had all of the power that Bruce Allen was making plenty of decisions and now you're in a situation where they are literally the first team in NFL history

to lose two 1,000-yard receivers in the same off season. You have this cousin's thing hanging over you. You lost, by the way, your best defensive lineman, Chris Baker. I'm not saying they can't recover from that. But there's a lot going on. you fired your defensive coordinator and you didn't get the big name defensive coordinator that they were reportedly going after. They thought they were going to get some great coordinator, maybe a Wade Phillips.

Instead, they ended up promoting from within. This situation stinks. Yeah, well, I don't blame Kirk Cousins for not wanting to sign. Welcome back to the Bruce Allen era. And it's not a good sign for the Redskins when Scott McLuhan and, you know, Seth Wickersham wrote an incredible feature on him a couple years ago, tweeted last night that people from the Seahawks as former employer, the 49ers is former employer, and people all around the league have come out to speak in favor of Scott McLuhan,

one of the most respected talent evaluators in the NFL. We don't know the Redskins side either, and it's a very complex situation when you, from all reports, it seems to be that he is a functioning alcoholic who is very good at his job. Absolutely. How do you deal with it? Which is not necessarily the easiest thing for the people around them, but we are not inside the building. You're right. so that is one spot where the quarterback situation is kind of open and another one of those spots is with the Jets and after J. Cutler was released on Thursday as expected there were reports that the Jets and J. Cutler have mutual interest.

I also happen to think, and I'll just throw this out there, if Kirk Cousins got traded, I could, I see that as a very large. landing spot for Jay Cutler. I think he could work in that Jay Gruden system, and that just seems like a Redskins, Jay Cutler type of move, but that's looking way ahead if they did get rid of Jay Cutler. For now, Jets,

Jay Cutler, Dan's not here to be excited about it, but we know he's kind of in on this. I think Dan is in on the idea of the Jets getting the number one pick. How many times has he mentioned that over the last 48 hours? I'm not in on this because the Jets are going to be so bad. It's just going to be

What's the upside for Jay Cutler? Making money, I guess. I mean, that's big. I think Jay Cutler is the guy that if you're trying to get the number one pick, he's going to go win you four or five games and keep you out of the number one pick. He's going to do just enough to not be bad enough. I thought it was interesting that conventional wisdom is the New York Papers will eat Jay Cutler alive. And Brandon Marshall told the Rich Eisen's show on Friday that Jay Cutler has the absolute

ideal personality to deal with the New York media because he doesn't give one damn. That is what they say about. He doesn't care a bit what the media thing. Most athletes, they say they don't read their stuff and that they don't care and you don't believe him for a second. And you 100% believe it with Jake Cutler. He, from that angle, he fits perfectly. He's never going to pick up a tabloid the entire time he's ever.

He's never changed, which is that, you know, Dan wrote this and it is to his credit. There's no, there's no, like, maneuvering the media with him. He is, he is who he is. He's, and he's better than, you know, he's a punching bag. And yet if he was on the Texans last year, it's like they would have had a shot to maybe beat the Patriots in that playoff game. No, they would have lost in the most heartbreaking way possible

but I would have thrown an interception in the last month. Probably, but it would have gotten down in the last few minutes and he would have been a lot better than a decent handful of starting quarterback situations out there. So we'll see. I think that that's probably coming in New York. Let's flip to a team that on our NFL network hit on Friday, which if you listen to this in time, you probably won't.

To be honest. But if you listen to it in time, we're on the Free Agency Frenzy show on Friday, NFL Network in the afternoon. We'll also be on up to the minute live on Monday between one and two Eastern time. So people should check that out. Hopefully we'll be on. Barring crazy news happening because then we'll quickly be bummed. And we might get blown out, but, you know, it happens. And we listed the Philadelphia Eagles as one of the biggest winners,

specifically Carson Wentz after what happened in free agency, Chris Wesley. Yeah, I don't, I don't know. Carson Wentz is a winner, but there's some kind of spidey sense that I have that this is not all going to work out well. Al-San Jeffrey and Tori Smith both signing contracts with the Eagles. On paper, you've got two outside receivers who are deep threats. You've got a jump ball artist in Al-Shan Jeffrey, which should work well because Carson Wentz was sailing so many passes at the end of last year. And you move Jordan Matthews to the slot.

On paper, it works well. Do you fix your offensive line? Do you fix your running game? Is all that coming too, I guess? But from Alshan Jeffrey's point of view, it sure seems like a risk to go sign with one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL last season. It is the highest. I know he's got potential, but he was one of the worst quarterback.

It could be like signing with black portals. But he threw for 4,000 yards, am I wrong? Everybody throws for 4,000 yards. Right, but that's what I mean. But that's what matters for receivers is yards and catches. So, I don't know. I mean, there's plenty of yards to get, even if in a bad season he has 4,000 yards.

They are paying him, outside of franchise tags, the most money for a one-year contract of any player in NFL history, Alshun Jeffrey. I'll say this, though, part of the problem for... Really? That's what was tweeted. Wow. I didn't... Part of the problem for Carson Wentz was the lack of weapons around him.

There really was not... Dysfunctional wide receiver group. So I like Free Agency, and the Eagles love free agency under Howie Roseman. You cannot fix everything. Tori Smith, if he's the guy he was, you know, for times in San Francisco, he's not going to come in and completely, you know, spread out an offense the way you'd want him to, but they're addressing it.

They can still draft someone, but it gives Wentz a chance and more weapons, and if he the worst yards per attempt outside of Brock Osweiler last year, I think it's easy for people. I love the idea of Carson Wentz, and then you go watch some of what happened to him in some games, and a lot needs to change for him next season. Yeah. but he also he he was up and down I just want to see it

I just want to see the second season I think he showed enough that you could be I'm not writing him off it's just risky yeah it is risky you could be excited

about his second season I am to watch it I don't think it's that risky for Alshan you know he reportedly turned down long term money from the Vikings

now it probably was not a top of the market I'm one of the top three or four receivers in the league type of money or else he obviously would have taken it but he's taking a little risk.

And I think this is a little way of like this is how the NFL is moving. Every year the contracts get shorter, the guaranteed money gets shorter, the Patriots have been doing it this way. You want to talk money ball, you know, analytics. Like the Eagles have a heavy influence of analytics in their building, and they have. It's Howie Roseman. He has a right-hand man, Alec Calabee, who comes from that analytics sort of background. And I think, I'm just spitballing here,

but I think these contracts that are short-term work out really well for both sides in the NFL. Maybe Jeffrey is great, and he ends up signing a long-term deal elsewhere next off-season. I think it's even more likely that he's great, and he signs a huge extension with the Eagles. If you look at the Tori-Smith contract, he only got $500,000 guaranteed,

and it's a series of essentially $5 million option. So that's a very team-friendly deal. If he's good, you get him, at a very cheap rate, and you can decide to keep him or not every single year. And if he's not good, you can cut him in training camp or you cut him after one year. A byproduct of this new phenomenon you're talking about. Players union and the players railed against the franchise tag for years. Well, look what's going on now.

Kirk Cousins has more leverage than any players ever had because of the franchise tag. Alshan Jeffrey would have gotten paid more had the Bears franchise tag. It's a good thing to be tagged at certain positions now. Yeah, I mean, that's true. And I think this idea of like doing the one-year thing and going back into the market, it can work. Like Chance Warmac is a top, former top-10 pick. He signed a deal with almost no guaranteed money in Philadelphia. If he has a good season there, maybe he goes back in the market.

It worked for Nick Perry, who signed a one-year deal for Green Bay and then signed a $50 million deal this year with them. And by the way, Elshon, Jeffrey, suspension in his recent past, I mean, he's got injuries. Why not take a year and see what you get off of one year? I love the fit. because Wentz has a big arm, and Jeffrey's one of the best at just going up and getting the ball, making his quarterback look good, 50-50 balls. I mean, they needed it. They needed options.

Now that's, you know, assuming they don't get rid of Jordan Matthews, that's a nice little three-man group. Wes is making wild faces over here with a little bit of what I like to call breaking news, Sydney. I'm putting you on the spot as she's doing some other stuff. Oh my. This one is from ESPN, and it'll be a tricky thing to report over at NFL Network because the report is from ESPN's Adam Schaefter, and it's that NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock has emerged as a candidate to become Washington's general manager.

Sources tell Field Yates and Schaefter. That's wow. Wild! We were just saying on the last episode, I would wonder if more teams start to look beyond the typical ring, the old boy network of the same people, the same old scouts, the same old pro-personnel guys. Mike Mayock would be a fascinating individual to take that job.

Mayock met with the Raiders long ago, famously. He met with Al Davis for the Raiders general manager job. Am I remembering this right? He did indeed. This is a long time ago. Daniel Jeremiah, our guy here, met with the Bucks and the Eagles, remember, just a year ago, it seems. So, my biggest thing.

Louis Riddick met for the 49ers job, and most people believe if Josh McDaniels was willing to take that job, or it's a little unclear who said no to who, but if the 49ers went with him, it would have been McDaniels and Riddick. Here's how the sausage is made. Mike Mayak's about to get paid a lot more by NFL Network. Yes, he is. I will say when I did that calling the game piece

where I talked to color guys, analysts, the whole crew, Mike Mayock made it one thing over-clear. If you want to cover football from what he has to over, you have to break down film. You have to love it more than anything. And people can say that. I don't think every role in the NFL requires that, but for his it does.

But I'll go back and listen to that 17 minutes I spoke with him. He just literally... You just go back and listen. No, I'm saying if I were... Wes wakes up at, like, I mean, Mark wakes up at like one in the morning. I'm already awake at one in the morning. I told you that. It's just like listening to a whole Mike Mayock.

it, like, it's all he cares about. And I think he'd be a fascinating person to have that kind of an opportunity. I could see him take it, actually. I think he'd be a little worried about the situation in Washington, and I know you could get a raise from NFL Network. And I know we're really diving into a strange topic here. But he's lost his NFL TV gigs over the last few years. He had a couple, right?

He had NFL Network, and then he was doing Notre Dame, sorry. And one was so one was in college. So he's a little, he's a little less out of the limelight and a little, maybe than he loved a few years ago. He's just doing the draft, and I think he loves that, but I don't know. He also knows hundreds and hundreds of people. He's raised, she's out of the house, good Twitter follow. You know, so many people around the league that it would be,

the transition would be less rocky. West doing the rare move that Dan does. We are down to 27 more topics. Hey, I like football too. I like talking about it. We're down to like 20 seconds per topic for the next. Lightning round, baby. We can talk a little bit of Mike Lennon,

but I don't think we have to talk too much because we've talked about him so much. I like Mike Lennon, and I'm sick of talking about Mike Lennon, but he did finish off his three-year deal with the Bears, as we expected. The money was interesting, three for 45, essentially $19 million guaranteed,

which tells me he's probably getting paid a lot this year. There's probably a little bit of money guaranteed into next year, but they could probably cut them after one year with some pain if it was a disaster, and it's really more of a two-year deal. I like the contract. I'm not wild about the idea of settling for Mike Glennon when you get rid of Jay Cutler. I think you should aim higher. But this is not Brock Osweller.

I think he has more tools. He has a much smoother release. He also has... You went back and watched the little guy. I did, but he also has disturbing penchant for throwing balls up for grabs. And when you have Mike Evans and Vincent Jackson, that works. When you've got Dion Sims and Marcus Wheaton, you're in for a world of hurt. I think the Bears are going to be a very run-heavy offense in 2017.

My one takeaway from this, because a lot of Dominoes have fallen at the quarterback position, was just looking at who even might still think about a quarterback in round one. I came up with these teams. The Jets, the Bills, and depending on what happens with Jimmy Garoppolo, the Browns, maybe the Cardinals at 13. Definitely the Cardinals. And I think the Houston Texans, if Romo fell through, You go up and down the list.

There just aren't any other teams. And I think half of those would not do it. So it's like a lot of these quarterbacks may fall into round two that we thought in other years they get cycled up deep in around one. Bears will be looking for a quarterback, though. But not at number three. No. That's what I'm saying.

It's second round. That's true. Glennon, I think he has a shot. Wes is putting sandwiches or something on the line that he won't be ranked in the top 16 of my QB index by the end of the year. I feel very comfortable. I like Glennon, and I think, like, you know, a great outcome for him would be to be, like, the 20th best quarterback, because as someone who I know is going to take a beating if he struggles this year, I'm not really liking Cameron Meredith, you know, Kevin White and Dion Sims, they signed as a tight end and they signed Marcus Sweet. That stinks.

Yeah, it's a tough situation. And Jordan Howard, you know, that's, it's like what quarterback is coming in there unless they're truly a top ten type of guy and really, turning that team around. I don't know. That organization has issues from the very top down. Let's move on to what looks like a man who's going to win me some high-octane sandwiches. Stefan Gilmore.

I love you, baby. Gross. Sounds like he is going to get the most amount of guaranteed money in all a free agency, which I'm not stunned by. I put sandwiches on it, but I am stunned by that he got the money from the Patriots. It's not too often they go at the top of the market. They did it for Daryl Revis. They basically did it for Adelius Thomas back in the day.

Rosie Colvin got a lot of money. But this kind of came out of nowhere. Mark, what do you think? Stefan Gilmore with the Patriots. Well, the only thing that would, if I were you, would counteract your obvious excitement. I'm actually mixed feelings. Well, the mixed feelings would come about whispers

that maybe Malcolm Butler is going to get. shipped out of town to the Saints, was it? That was one rumor in the Brandon Cook's trade. Do you really want Gilmore over Malcolm Butler? I mean, it's an interesting signing by the Patriots, but I barely would want my son Walker over Malcolm Butler. Malcolm Butler is amazing. He's your favorite Patriot, correct?

I mean, he just, why not add strength? It's the greatest play in football history in my mind, and then he follows it up with two great seasons, a undrafted kid out of West Alabama, and he's such a fun guy to watch. I mean, I love watching physical cornerbacks that just kind of, you know, he's undersized. I'm a little undersized, you know. He's physical, I'm physical. He pushes people around. I push people around.

I love this kid. We had him here in the studio, Malcolm Butler. I know. I wasn't even there that day. I know you're slightly impervious to this mark because of the Jamie Collins fallout, but how do you resist the temptation to just say, if Belichick evaluates this player at that level, who am I to question it?

Oh. If Belichick likes Stefan Gilmore, I'm with you there. I'm already thinking he must be one of the top five corners in the NFL. I don't think that it's questioning Belichick. I just, the idea of getting rid of Malcolm Butler to me is, but they, but even if he got rid of Butler,

wouldn't you second guess yourself and say maybe Butler's a product of the Patriot? Well, of course. Like, I now expect Stefan Gilmore to play very well. And, oh, by the way, if he was a free agent at this time last year, you know, he would have been the, he might have been the number one player on her entire list. He had a very impressive first three seasons. He did. Some people thought he protected himself a little bit of his free agency year. I think the Patriots do a better job than anyone, maximizing strengths. They're not going to put him out there in bad situations like Rex Ryan did and just like let him get flamed. He's going to, I mean, I would be stunned if he didn't play well. So I'm excited about that. But what I would really be excited about is Stefan Gilmore on one side. Malcolm Butler on the other side, Devin McCordy in the back, and now you're playing with fire, and you're going after...

A secondary in the NFL? Yeah, you're going after, you know, another Super Bowl reminds me a little bit about 2017. Wes is circling his finger, but I have some breaking news for you, Wes. What's that? I've negotiated 15 extra minutes for this podcast, so we have a little...

Because we must make this an 85-minute production. How about this for a badly needed transition? Dan was getting on me for, you know, keeping the show short. Like the show has been short over the last year or two. I gave up on that one. Dan is going to click into this file and see the play length and have an outright heart attack and he'll miss the next few episodes.

He's going to be happy that, you know, he's going to be happy that we missed him so much. How about this for a badly needed transition? There is one cornerback the Patriots will not be with next year. Who's that? That'll be Logan Ryan. Thanks, Mark. I mean, you could have just gone and taken. There's no rule that I have to say.

all the news. Why not? Yeah, let's start doing that. Yeah, I mean, I don't need this. Start moving and shaking here. Logan, right. Well, now we've gotten through the biggest story. So I was fine. You chew the fat a little bit. I hear you. I'm fine with that. And then you crank through the Logan Ryan three-year deal with the Titans. I mean, what do we really have to say about these Titans?

They've long needed a slot corner. And their GM came from the Belichick School. Logan Ryan. He drafted Logan. I mean, he was there when they drafted Logan Ryan. If he's not the best tackling cornerback in the NFL, he's in the conversation. How many times do you see a cornerback lead a team in tackling? And he's done it year after year, and it popped in my head and watching the Super Bowl

on some of those plays early in the game when they were getting stops. People forget they got stops the first two or three Falcons drives. And a couple of those were because of Logan Ryan's tackling out on the edge. All right. So let's use our logic from the previous segment. If Belichick doesn't want him, is he just flat out garbage at this point? No, I think he didn't want him for $10 million.

for a slot corner. Yeah, he's a guy who plays inside who's been probably a solid starting cornerback, like average. And maybe that's what it costs in free agency, but that's a lot when you can get Stefan Gilmore for only $4 million. I think like when they leave the building, Belichick, like, in their sleep injects them with a serum where he'll never have like a season with more than five productive games again.

Titans also pick up Jonathan Sipri and from the Jaguars. He'll start next to Kevin Byard, I would think, at safety. So they're set at safety. They should be. And they still need an outside corner and a very corner heavy draft. But they also were in the market for a wide receiver and didn't get one.

So maybe they'll concentrate on, maybe they'll get Brandon Cook. And they have Jason. The Brandon Cook's asking price sounds like it's that the Saints are asking incredible stuff from teams. And I think the Titans are maybe not going to win that one in the end.

Yeah, they were in on Alsaan Jeffrey. That didn't happen. And they have Jason McCordy, who I thought they might cut, but they don't. Suddenly, that secondary looks pretty good. That's kind of a... If they get another cornerback.

Bayard was a nice pick, I mean? This is our lightning round. We're into minute five on Logan Ryan. We are not in the lightning round. And one of the good things about going to the Super Bowl thing is like, now after seeing Logan Ryan, like, he's like a spitfire. He's kind of a leader, a mouth, you know, he's the guy that's going to, if the energy's a little bit low, he's got to go around the room pushing some people.

You could tell he had a lot of respect. He goes around the room pushing. Their secondary was as fiery, I thought, as Denver's the year before, surprisingly. They had a lot to say. Jacksonville, another team in the AFC South, picked up a big piece in their secondary. A.J. Bouyet, you know, a guy is a tasty free agent signing when every single team in the division is going after him.

I mean, that to me says something. I also says something about the divisions. The cornerback. Lack of cornerbacks. Five-year deal with A.J. Bouye, very similar overall money to Gilmore. A little less, it seems like a lot less guarantees for Bouye, where in the third year he doesn't get it. But the Jaguars get the deal done with A.J. Bouyeiyeiye. They also did finish that deal for Callais Campbell, which did we talk about that on the last show?

We did not. So Callais Campbell is going to Jacksonville. He was in our top five free agents overall. all. And once again, the Jaguars are making moves. We did talk about Barry Church. That's what I was thinking about. So three big-time free agents and two of our top 10 free agents, Bouillet and Campbell, going to that defense. At this time, two years ago, Sen Derek Marks was the face of the Jaguars defense,

and they're only above-average starter. And now look what they've done since then. Calais Campbell, A.J. Bouillet, Barry Church. Tashon Gibson at safety. They pick up Malik Jackson at defensive tackle. Draft Dante Fowler. Draft. In Gacquay, was their best pass rusher last there.

Draft Jalen Ramsey, who's an all-pro talent. This is a transformed defense, and it wouldn't surprise me if they're one of the top five or six defenses in the NFL. They were showing signs. Look what they did in December. They were showing signs at the end of the year, exactly. Jalen Ramsey was a legit shutdown in December.

They should call up the, the Chargers and see if they can trade for Gus Bradley. Bring Gus Bradley back as their defensive coordinator. He deserves to coach this team. Wait, didn't they only get good toward the end of the year once he was gone? They were okay on defense before.

That's fair. I just hope to say, I know A.J. Bouye, Ile is a good, seems like a very good player, but it was just a couple years ago that little Alter on Werner was high atop our free agent list and we loved him. There's not a huge body of work with him. him. You just want to make sure that it's going to be the guy.

Yeah, the Texans in the end didn't extend themselves like crazy to sign them. Although they were signing. That's always a positive sign to me. When the team really is trying to bring them back, I mean, they wanted to keep Bouye. They were offering big money, but they didn't have the cash space. They're trying to get Tony Romo. So that's it for Jacksonville. I like what they've done. And I love what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have done. Weirdly, the most underrated signing, I think, in all the free agency is Deshawn

Jackson. I don't know how Deshaun Jackson is so famous, and he's underrated at this point. I love that move for them, and I think he really changes any offense he joins. This was the perfect landing spot for Deshaun Jackson, and I disagree. I think the most underrated signing is the one on the other side of the ball for the Buccaneers. Chris Baker, who was the only productive defensive linemen for the Redskins the last couple of years, and one of the most disruptive, unknown defensive linemen in the game. And you also, it's like not only do you have Mike Evans and Deshaun, Adam Humphrey's great season last year

Cameron Brate at tight end You've got weapons And depending on what they end up doing At running back This is a playoff caliber offense And their defense had great moments last season I look at their roster And I see

I think it has a little more problems On defense and the offensive line Like I don't think it's until They're running back Right Well that's what we need to find out Until they added these two pieces Which I really like

I looked at the roster I said, well, this is really no different than the Bucks team, like with Rahim Morris or Shiano or any of those guys, other than you have James Winston and Mike Evans, which is a monster other than. I mean, you have the quarterback that's huge, but I don't think it's like, I'm just not penciling them in, even though I like them a lot, but now this offense, I'm loving it for James. I think who's their running back, the draft has an incredible running back group, and maybe you go there. Maybe, you know, what it costs you a lot less than, you know, going out and getting someone who's six, seven years older. the numbers of Deshawn Jackson,

I put this into my daily debrief, which I've been writing in Free Agency, NFL.com slash debrief. The numbers, Warren Sharp on Twitter put him up, of Kirk Cousins throwing deep to Deshaun Jackson and Kirk Cousins basically throwing deep to anyone else. It's like Deshaun Jackson makes quarterback's good vertical throwers, not the other way around.

He did it for Nick Foles. He helped out Michael Vick's late career Renaissance. I mean, that's what Deshaun Jackson can do. And now he's just going to see single cover. I mean, he's a guy that you have to account for. But now you're opposite Mike Evans. It's like, that's a problem. It is going to be a problem for defenses.

What else do those numbers tell you? What? Kirk Cousins without Deshaun Jackson and Pierre Garcone. Yeah. With a often banged up Jordan Reed is not worth what the Redskins will pay him or what the 49ers will pay. Well, that's maybe why the Redskins. That's maybe why the Redskins should just trade him now.

Like before there's any chance of his value going. down. I think you get a ransom form. The 49ers, they're not worried about spending the, you know, they're not worried about it. I think they would give a boatload for him. Just trade. Maybe Mike Mayock gets in there and solves this whole mess. I like that.

Let's move on to No, let's stay on this issue. Let's talk about this for another three, four, a little tackle talk. You didn't think tackle talk was coming back, did you? It felt like it was. You didn't think tackle talk. It's always around the corner. It's coming back. People really not

a big response to tackle talk. No sponsors. no song. Was there any response at all? Sidney doesn't even pay attention when we get to Tackle Talk. Sydney checked out like a half an hour. Sydney's like doesn't have Dan, you know, I am in her every two seconds. She's like, yeah, Dan involves me in the show more. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Listen, I have been negotiating extra time for us. Yeah. I've been talking to Shadow League figures. Wow. There's a lot going on back here. All right. Fine job by you. Tackle Talk.

The craziest contracts in all of free agency were at Tackle. Matt Khalil getting $25 million guaranteed. getting more than $10 million a year, Russell O'Coon getting a very similar deal, not as much guarantees in his contract, but from the Los Angeles Chargers, Riley Reef, we haven't seen the money, but I bet it's huge from Minnesota.

What do you got to do at tackle to not get a lot of money? Because Matt Kaleo was a borderline disaster when he played, and then he missed all of last season with hip surgery, and he got this kind of money. You'd have to be hit by a car probably. I mean, it's so hard to find, good tackles. They're getting paid like crazy

people. Well, Dave Gettelman has the benefit of all my doubts on the offensive line. They signed Michael Ower and turned him into a passable left tackle. Matt Kaleel's better than Michael Ower, I think. And look, you can't discount the fact that they just wanted to recreate stepbrothers on their offensive line

with Ryan Khalil and Matt Kahl. I mean, that's cute. I hope it works. Yeah. But they've got excellent offensive line coaches in Carolina. Right. It's true. They turn careers around. It's true. It's often the system and flipping that around, like, whatever is going on in Minnesota, they clearly do not know how to coach offensive linemen.

Why not make an offensive line out of the, you know, 2000 Wesleyan brothers? You guys, when I've been around you, you don't always get along. You know, and having the brother in the locker room can be very good sometimes a little fire. You've got six that are available, right? A swing tackle? Only a couple of us are stocky. Well? I don't think the tall, thin ones are going to work out well in the offensive.

Why not? They're tackles. They're at tackle. They can beef up. You know how the offensive linemen once they retire? Got a power set right there. The one who's a year and a half younger than me is 6'4. If Wes, there you go.

If Wes was an NFL player, he's not going to like this. But he would definitely be a right guard. That is some bograt. I can see him as a center. That's a lot of great. I've been laying the wood at safety. Okay. It's about me.

What position would you be, Greg? I don't know. Gunner, I would try. I mean, what's a little, you know, you can't really. I guess kicker. You can't be small and be in the NFL. But Gunners, they're not on the field a ton. They just got to be a little bit of crazy special teamer.

I think I could handle the pounding for a few plays. Probably not. I would die. No, I'd be like a little third down running back that like annoys teams. Your woodhead. Chargers and Vikings still have more work to do, by the way. Russell Okun, who is okay in Denver, they cut DJ Fluker.

They've got spots all up and down their offensive line. that they need to fix. And they've really, Tom Telesco's no ability to do it. Overrated Russell Okung, the left tackle, underrated Russell Okung, the agent, who just got himself $25 million guaranteed. There is Mike Kliss from Denver tweeted that industry sources believe the chargers may have tampered with Okung.

So more to come on that. He's his own agent. Does that work? Yeah, but you're not allowed to talk to him before the free agency. Yeah, they were maybe there were whispers. It's a tricky situation then. Oh, the thing is, you know, that's not a conspiracy if you're Okun, Greg. It would be only Okun from that side of things.

Who's he conspiring? Well, I'm just saying. Sneaky loser in Free Agency, by the way. The Vikings didn't get Alshan Jeffrey like they wanted. Haven't really done a lot exciting. And then they're desperate at tackle. So what do they do? They sign the guy Riley Reef, who their division rivals,

the Lions, were all too happy to replace with old Rickster, the Ricky Wagner. Let's move on to more offensive line talk quickly. The Saints signed Larry Warford. I don't know how this really even... That could have been an 8 o'clock delight. We don't need to go... By Jari Evans, potentially. Yeah, you know, we don't need to go to it.

He got in a lot of money for, you know, a solid run blocking type of type of... Saints always have a pretty good offensive line. They always like these big run first offensive linemen, a little shorter. Warford, good signing. You know, fine. They got to keep moving. The Browns, on the other hand, it's crazy because the Jimmy G. and Brock stuff got all the attention.

And yet their offensive line overhaul is going to have a much bigger impact on their 2017 season than any Brock Oswalder trade. I love number one that they believe in Joel Botonia who, when he's healthy, he's had some durable... Five years, 51 million for them. That's a good extension for them.

He's been one of the few draft picks that have really outdone his draft stock. Kevin Zitler is a... I don't care about the money at this point, honestly. Kevin Zitler was the number one guard in this class and he absolutely helps them. And you don't have to deal with the Cam Irvin experiment at center, which was a failed experiment.

You get J.C. Treader, who also has had some durability issues. But up and down... He's the center from Green Bay. It was pretty good as a starter there. You look at the line up and down. They have to figure out who the right tackle is, but that is a Hugh Jackson. That can make a Hugh Jackson offense go.

He wants to run the ball. They can do that. Seems safe. If you're going to give someone a lot of money, I guess Zightler is not exciting. But there's very little chance, I think, that that's just like a bus. And you steal him, you steal him from the Bengals. You say that.

Yet last time, last time this happened, Eric Steinbeck was a bust for the Browns after stealing him from the Bengals. I wouldn't say he was solid. He was there when they. Little Steinbeck talk. He was older. He was older. Right. Yeah.

Little Steinbeck talk. Yeah, I think if you're the Bengals and you're a fan of the Bengals, you're a fan of the Bengals, you're pissed. You can't be happy. Well, let's look. at where this team was at the end of 2015. Bill Pullian said they had the strongest roster in the league. John Harbaugh said they were the most talented team in the NFL, and

then that playoff loss to the Steelers happened. And look at the team. At that point, they had arguably the best running, best backfield in the NFL, best wide receiver cord in the NFL with Marvin Jones and Mohamed Sunoo and A.J. Green. One of the best tight ends in the NFL. One of the best offensive lines

in the NFL. Go to the other side of the ball. A great secondary, deep at cornerback and safety. Pretty good defensive line, pretty good lineback. They're worse in almost every single area. An offensive line that was top two or three is now bottom five. They have nothing to replace Whitworth and Zeitler. Their backfield has questioned.

They're going to start coming off. Supposedly they're starting a buoy at left tackle. That's a disaster. He was terrible at right tackle. Sounds like they're a candidate to draft the running back in the first round. You also had a string of coordinators, three of them that left to become head coaches. You're one of the best coaching staffs in the NFL. You have a window in the playoffs.

You have a window and this is why I love what the Texans are doing by embracing the notion that you need a quarterback because they are loaded with talent on both sides of the ball. This is your window. It is fleeting as the Bengals show you. The Bengals are not a playoff roster right now. I think losing Whitworth really hurts. He's older.

I know he's 35 years old. He's still at the top of his game. But he's playing great. And at some point you have guys that are your guys. and by all accounts he was like the leader in that offensive line and really in that team started the third most amount of games in team history and playing at a high level. And when you lose guys like that who basically want to stay,

I think, like if they had offered them just a little guaranteed money into a second. I don't know. As a fan, that's a bummer. They made it awfully hard for Whitworth to want to stay because he did want to. Right. As a fan, too bad. How about another team from Ohio gets a chance? Yeah, they're.

You had your chance. Don't live in Cleveland. Not a good. Andy Dalton could be a loser. Well, they gave up, only six teams gave up more sacks than them last year. And now you've gone and done this. And you've gotten rid of the two good parts of the line. Finally, before we get to 8 o'clock.

Yes, please. More items. The 49ers have just spent an incredible amount of money. And so I just thought that should be noted. I mean, they gave the worst contract, I think, and all a free agency was the monster deal for Malcolm Smith, who was essentially a bust in Oakland on a two-year, $7 million contract.

So he got like a 300% raise in San Francisco to get below average starting play. At that Texans Raiders game, I remember thinking, but the one, my biggest takeaway watching that game live was, oh, their entire game plan is go after Malcolm Smith. Like, he can't stop CJ Fedorowitz and Ryan Griffin. Like, that is all they did was pick on Malcolm. Smith, who's one of the worst coverage linebackers. So I didn't understand that.

And they just like, the Garsohn move, we talked about, I think it's good, but it's just a lot of money. They were a little too eager to pay more money than necessary. Like Kyle Eusecheck is going to make more money probably than any running back in this entire class. He's a fullback. Kyle Eusecheck, look, Kyle Shanahan loves fullbacks. He uses them.

They're very important to his offense. So let's get that out of the way early. Euse check is going to get more than $10 million guarantee. No fullback. history has gotten more than 2.3 million guarantee. Right. So that's like why. They have to see him as much more than a classic bullback.

No, I get it, but it just shows it's like bad negotiating. Like if there's no other market, okay, make them give him five guarantee. That's double what's ever been before. Well, he might be the most versatile fullback. He's got some Hback to him. He's got some running back to him. But if he's your lead blocker, what was so great about the Ravens running game? Nothing.

If he's such a great pass catcher, wouldn't he have a better first down rate than other full He doesn't. He had a beautiful drive to almost beat the Steelers. And one of the best games of the year. Is this a John Lynch in experience issue? I don't know. I mean, I wonder who it boils down. I think he's getting the players that Kyle Shanahan wants.

And, yeah, the agents are maybe winning some of the battles once they kind of decide who they want. It's like, you probably don't need to get Logan Paulson in the building on day one. Maybe wait a few days. It's another team with a lot of money to spend, too. That's true. It's not the same thing as the Raiders. when they were overpaying aging talent because this isn't necessarily aging talent,

but it's get guys in here. Whatever was here was stale and old and we're getting new people in. All right. And before we get to 8 o'clock to light, we have a little bit of breaking news. NFL PR is releasing a statement about Mike Mayak, double Mike Mayock breaking news,

that he has never had any contact with the Washington Redskins. Fascinating. I think that's interesting. How are you guys not into the Mac Mayock? No, I like it. I just, I don't... By the way, read in between the lines. Yeah, okay, you didn't have any contact with the Redskins.

Maybe your agent did. So I wouldn't expect you to have it. You went double-breaking for Mayock, but you ignored Lawrence Timmons to the Dolphins. Well, I was going to throw it into 8 o'clock to the line. I had a plan. We're going to get Dan back in the studio at some point here. He's essentially had a full night's sleep at this point.

Per ESPN. Yeah, and Dolphins signing Lawrence Timmons to two-year-12 million-dollar deal, including $11 million in guaranteed. Wow. That's a little much for Lawrence Timmons. I would not want to sign somebody away from the Steelers' defense. Right. Aging.

I think you lose in free agency by signing other aging, slow linebackers. That's like what the Saints love doing. Hey, let's get the middle linebacker, like, Man Titea, who is supposedly visiting, that no one else really wants. Well, while we're on the Dolphins, you also, I mean. Wait a second. We have more dolphins breaking news. This isn't breaking.

I got breaking news. Jordan Cameron has announced his intention to retire. So he'll have played his last down. We don't know if that was breaking news. With the Miami Dolphins, but we were here. I thought go triple breaking news. It's never been done before. Andre Branch, three years, nine million.

A year and a half after you refused to give Aletia Vernon that money, seems a little weird to me. But the dolphins do weird things. They have to be in the news cycle, it seems. Right, and actually, I lied. This wasn't, you know, we're moving into the 8 o'clock delight portion of the program. But first we're going to listen to the first guy we'll hear from when we talk about 8 o'clock delight, William Hayes, who was traded.

Got traded today for a staple and a coffee machine. I'd like to give a shout out to Coach Fisher and Crunkie Man for giving me the opportunity to play here in Greg Williams, too. But damn, a coffee cup, though, man, and I'm up. I think that's the Rams version of analytics. Basically, he got traded to Miami for a move down from the 6th and 7th. He shouldn't be complaining because he keeps his old contract, and that might be better than he would have done anyways. Yeah, I think he's just not a fit for Wade Phillips' 3-4 defense.

I like William A's. All right, let's do a little 8 o'clock delay. Ravens agree with Brandon Williams. How did this get into 8 o'clock to late on a $54 million contract? Highest paid nose tackle in the league. they're also releasing Lardarius Webmark. I love the Ravens free agency period. You get Tony Jefferson.

You also keep Brandon Williams, someone that would have been a big guy to lose. Nice job, Baltimore. They always get it done. Poor guy. Don't be a nose tackle. Top five guy on our top 101 list and he gets stuck in 8 o'clock to light. Julius Peppers also can be angry. He's a future Hall of Famer.

He's returning to Carolina, Chris Wesleying. Going back home, he grew up in Carolina, was a two-sport star at North Carolina University and started his career, had an NFC defensive player of the year in 2004 with Carolina. They might have the deepest front seven in the NFL. You've got Mario Addison and Connie Ely coming off the bench. They are getting aggressive this offseason. I don't think Dave Gettleman liked being seven and nine.

Rashad Jones, this one was under the radar, signed a five-year extension to stay with the Miami Dolphins, Mark. I arguably one of the best bus safety in football. I mean, I don't know. That seems like a no-brainer resigning to me. Miami hasn't been too crazy active. Good job. Restraint Tannenbaum. Although you gave a little too much to Timmons. Mike Hyde signing with the Bills,

who also picked up, you know, a couple full backs on day one. One of the most versatile defensive backs in the NFL. Good pickup for the Bills. The Detroit Lions, let's run it back one more time. Released DeAndre Levy just signed a big-time extension a few years ago and then couldn't stay healthy. Had any issues, turns 30. Yeah, I mean,

Lions are, you know, spending some money. They're getting rid of some money. Saints, bringing back Nick Fairley, the only man to eat himself out of New Orleans and into a bigger contract. He gained weight in New Orleans like everyone does. Gets a $30 million deal. Yeah, he's coming off the best season of his career, I think. The Saints also added some slow linebackers.

I'm not sure if that defense is going to change. By the way. I'm not sure you want Fairly on a long-term $30 million deal. I think you'll like him when he's on the one-year hungry deal. In the middle of the night, right before that Garoppolo news hit, read an article about the fact that Fairly got into some sort of public war of words with the beloved R&B group Jagged Edge during some public festival. Whoa!

You don't want to mess with Jagged Eds. So he's a headcase. I would have taken Jagged Edge for like a hard rock group. I'm more of an H-Town guy. Finally, Broncos adding ex-Cowboys guard Ronald Leary. Only move Broncos have really made. Yeah, so your tackles were swinging gates last year and you fixed guard. I don't know how that's going to work.

That's it. See? I shouldn't screaming. It's going to be terrible for people's ears. We missed Dan Hansis. Before we leave the news portion of the show. Well, that's the whole portion. There's no more.

I come back to us, Dan Hansis. I believe the Osweiler trade is a nail in the coffee. Look, Dan was doing this all for a bit or to teach a lesson to Hansom Hank. But it's a nail in the coffin to anyone who used the logic that Brock Osweiler led the Texans to playoff. They gave away a second round pick. They invented a move to get rid of the guy that you claim led them to the playoffs. You got to bring that up when he's back in the room, baby.

Yeah, the, uh, I don't even blame Dan. I blame all the thousands of Twitter followers that came at me and took Dan's side because they lack any semblance of logic. Dan will listen to this and he will come in and declare utter vengeance on you. Good job. I hope you enjoy your vacation weekend. Well, it is something. At least Brock, the era, has something

because now, whenever players get dumped for salary, you got Brocked. You got Brocked. You got Brocked. That means you got Brocked. Oh, I can't believe it. I can't believe we got through this in time. Of course, you know, we mentioned him so much.

You would think he was even here. That's how much we missed Dan. Unfortunate, he couldn't be, you know, with us, so we're thinking about him. And the good news is, This train rolls on. We'll be back on Monday. This felt like a session of Congress.

What? That it was long? Very enjoyable, but I mean, how old am I now? What's happened? What's going on? We will be back on Monday, and we'll also be on up to the minute live on. Colton's getting married this week. Monday.

Can't be there. Got to be working tomorrow. David Ely. Colton just, he's just getting back from the Combine. It's on you, David Ely. Monday, Wednesday, and we will have a third show next week. I'm not sure if it's going to be Thursday or Friday, but until then, everyone enjoy their weekend, everybody.

For Mark Sessler, Chris Wesleyan, Cindy Carlson. I'm Greg Rosenthal. We'll see you next week. This is an I-heart podcast.