NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Top 101 Free Agents of 2024

Episode Date: February 23, 2024

In a room full of heroes - Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal and Marc Sessler take a look at the biggest stories going on from around the league. The heroes start with the news (9:30), including Justin Fields and his decision to unfollow the Bears and if he wants to stay in Chicago. Next, Dan presents an interesting tattoo proposal (25:00). And, finally Gregg gives his top 101 free agents of 2024 (32:22) Note: time codes approximate.NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the NFL podcast is absolutely certain your team will nail free agency. From the Chris Wessling podcast studio, it's Around the NFL. I am Dan Hansis. I have heroes here. I do. Greg Rosenthal and Mark Sessler. Free agency is a redire.

Down the corner, boys, the Greg Rosenthal top 101 conversation on this show today, live on NFL.com Monday. And I've been thinking, Mark, I did some real thought about this. Exciting. So we're doing our competing, and I just want to make it clear, this is not about one upsmanship of you, Greg. It's not, none of this is personal. this is just business you know what I mean competing would indicate it's a little I don't know elements of it being but the point of a competition is to win not to lose

right but it's business you ever hear that term it's business not personal it's a bit this is business um so this is what I'm thinking mark okay Greg has a 101 he's got 101 blurbs we wanted to go bigger and at one point I asked a big funk behind the glass dude contact the union and find out how many free agents they were maybe we'll do them all that seems even for us and what our ambitions are a little bit over the top so then i was checking out the pf which is a widely respected um analytics based football website uh if you're not aware um they put out a free agency 200 oh okay so now we have a baseline to work off now i would say should we do a free agency 2-01, but no, because

what I want, and tell me if you agree, because this is our joint project. I want people to say that, oh, wow, Dan and Mark did well over 100 more than Greg. And then I thought, what would be well over 100? And I came down

to the number 213. Okay. So, the free age did 213. Okay. And then I was thinking, we got to blurb them all out. Because, like, PFF did 150 blurbs. Greg's only grow to 101. Did you do 101 blurbs? We'd actually do much more because you end up using like 120 people.

Right. It's probably about 10020. But what lives on the side is 101. We AI that bitch. And then we get, so we get all that. And then what we do is we then go in, let's say in the top 50, and we just little hands this like pop culture interjected. Little color.

Little zuzer humor. And then cess dog with his cesslerisms and son of it. It is like... In the deep dark night, Marcus Davenport, you know. Right, and mostly the top 50. Greg's on edge about that. Yeah, he sees this as a good plan

that I put thought into it. So he put some cesslerism and some, you know, turns of phrase in there in the top 50 because most people stop reading after that. Then, last step, and this is the most important. Do we preempt Greg? Get it out before Monday?

Yeah. No. Do we put it out right after Greg? No. We do the Mayock move. Remember Mayock? Everyone is like, he did one mock draft it was like the day before the draft we put out one we drop it a couple

days before free agency the legal tampering period and that's becomes what everyone's truly waiting for what do you think i think i first of all i appreciate the fact that i had not even thought about this list in the interim between our last show but you have put a lot of thought into it quite um i have i can tell you up from proof i've been ai in articles since roughly 2021 and it's got the technology's gotten better so I think it won't be hard for us to layer in some of our own little spice and jazz and no one will know except for mostly in the top 50 yeah then you get down on the little one cent you get to the one sentence blurbs when you get real low oh sure uh and one of the things I like about this plan because you guys are so passionate about it

and so you you would obviously know this that with all the cuts yes and all the last minute signings, that list is changing more than ever right up until the end. So that last four or five days of you, like you can make your list now, but you're going to be working feverishly keeping up with all the transactions and signings and things added to the list and changing around and really meeting together quite a bit in those final 48 hours. I actually am kind of glad I'm getting mine done out of the way now because that I see what you're doing. That would only, you know, require someone who really loves the game. Because I'm in deep right now.

You're trying to get Shake Sessler out of the project. That could tell. It's a convincing effort by Greg. But I don't think he understands the powers of AI and how much will lean into that to be tracking all this on our behalf. We've got, you know... You didn't think about that, Greg.

It's like, oh, Lord's Guy, should I put him ahead of Tierra tart or not? Like, that's waking... Someone's calling you at 11 p.m. from the news desk. Or actually, do you have a method to be actually produce this anywhere? He thinks the lady doth protest too much. I do think there

could be some fair questions about like tangibly getting approval to have this on our website. Except that we've been writing this website for 15 years. Like, come on. You slip I'll leave them perry, a $20 bill to do anything. It on. Actually, I think they would take some extra content. It could be like

mock draft central competing. In fact, my biggest concern really is that if we turn this in, they're going to ask us to be writing again, which that's a concern as well. So these are all things to think about here in the offseason and a project that could really make or break our careers. Yeah, I think we've got to tread carefully. What a show? It was great, great having everybody here. This is the Thursday edition of around the NFL, behind the glass today, by the way, sitting in for the great Eric Roberts,

who is with his lovely wife, and they're doing, they're on that wonderful journey towards their first child landing on earth and they have an appointment of some kind. What do they call it? Sonogram? Yeah. Sonogram. Big funk.

Behind the glass today. Big funk. In a big chair. Big funk. Big chair. He ain't scared. What's up, bud? What's happening, guys?

Could have went for another hour. Dang. Damn, though. It's hard. Big funk at the best intro music. Mark, I'm still waiting for our intro music. Randy Chavez. What's happening?

Big funk. Big funk. Our... Our podcast was now just a hangout podcast. We were just like, hey, what's going on? How are you, buddy? I'm doing good. How about you guys?

This is interesting. This feels different. It's new. You're in control. A rush of power suddenly and to be sitting in that seat. Yeah, how does it feel to be potentially have a power play opportunity of your own with Eric out of the studio? I mean, it's tempting to abuse it right. Power corrupts all, doesn't it?

But I think I should be okay. And I believe you have. This is a great, speaking of powerplace. I think you have something for a member of the show that you wanted to share. Oh, that's right. I do. Yes. Okay, I see, Cynthia, you want to bring him?

It's on the chair. It's a special. The great Cynthia, who does incredible work on a show. What is this? Oh, my goodness. Thank you, Cynthia. And what is in March? Explain what?

Well, I mean, this is actually quite weak changing because I got my unsoiled Super Bowl program. which you remember was on my desk. It was so old. Someone had touched it. And this is the ticket in case to class. Let's say, let me show the audience on YouTube. There's nothing in it.

Oh, you can take the little. You got to take the film up, but we can do that way. We'll do that later. I want to keep it pristine and pure. How about that? What a move by Randy?

That's great. Thank you very much. I don't know. How do you feel, Mark? You feel like, first of all, I think I learned the lesson is like complain about more things. And then results start to happen. It's true.

There's that. But I have to say, one thing about our company. And right now, you know, we're in this building where, you know, half the place is leaking. You've got all the outdoor shrubbery under the temple of arms. Yeah. It's got issues. But I had multiple people inside the building who listened to the show who reached out and said, you can have my ticket. I don't want it. Which is like, you know, I think that was, that's a positive thing about our company, about this corporation. It shows that there's still a human element to the operation. Right. I feel that.

So Randy's sitting in. Thank you. for holding it down today, like we said. Yes, the Free Agency 2.13 is coming. But the one of record right now, it is the Greg Rosenthal, Free Agency 101. And we're going to get to that and dig into it. But before we do that, let's hit the news. We're waiting to snap, Justin Bills, moving off the left side,

free play for Justin, worked it down to left side. He's got DJ Moore at the 5. Looping into the end zone for the touchdown. Touchdown bearers. They're back in front. So many big moments for Justin Fields this past season. Not, maybe has not lived up to the highest of, you know, expectations. But he certainly has flashed multiple times in Chicago.

And now with the Bears in a major crossroads moment, we talked about it with Connie Fox. On the Monday show, the Bears had to make a decision what they're going to do. We talked about it in the news that Justin Fields had unfollowed the Bears, bears on social media, which of course becomes a story in today's football culture. He was a guest on the, everybody's got a podcast now. Anybody noticing this? I do

not know a human being that does not have a podcast. Every player. This is the newer thing. Now, podcasts are hugely popular now, obviously, and media folk like ourselves, that makes sense. But now it seems as if almost every player in the league has a podcast, as does Amon Ross

St. Brown on the St. Brown Brose podcast posted on Wednesday, they hear is Justin Fields when asked about his move to unfollow the bears on social media. Why do people take social media so serious? Like, why are you unfollow this and that? Like, I still mess with the bears.

Isn't that? I'm just trying to take a little break. I'm following the bears and the NFL. Bro, I'm not just trying to have football on my timeline. Like, I don't believe that at all. And here I do. He said he was going on vacation and he's just sick of seeing all the like fields reporting and stuff.

But he unfollowed the bears. The bears don't have that. reporting. Sure, they're putting out stuff of like college stuff of like what should we do with the draft, you know, stuff like that. I don't think it's like... Yeah, but like... But if you unfollow your team during this time, it's going

to lead to many more distractions that he has to deal with. Anyway, there's a tonal difference than like when Kyler Murray created all that drama a couple years ago and kind of started this trend. He said he's tired of here. He's the godfather and does Justin Fields want to stay in Chicago? Do you want to stay in Chicago or what's up?

Yeah, of course. Of course I want to stay. To be honest, bro, I'll be trying to, like, you know, with all to talk, it's hard to, you know, I guess kind of just boom being in one place, but I can't see myself playing in another place, but I know how that league is, like EQU is probably the same way before you left Green Bay, but I mean, if it was up to me, I would want to stay in Chicago. I love the city. The city's lit. The fans are, you know, they're great and the people. But it's a business. I ain't got no control over it. whatever happens, happens. But I feel like the biggest thing with all this going on right now, I just wanted to be over. So I get that. That I get. Yeah.

And that I believe that it's weighing on him. And we'll find out soon enough what happens. I think he's like, because you know, you get later on in your career as a quarterback and you can pack in like a no trade clause or need to agree to a trade, you know,

if something's going to happen, if there's quarterback movement and more than ever before in the history of the league. But he is powerless. Like if they move him, he doesn't have any choice over that. and like a team that probably has a lot of issues is going to want to trade for him.

And it's like you're a couple years into a career where like there's zero patience at quarterback and suddenly Justin Fields like a first round pick is getting moved and who knows where he winds up and his life has changed entirely. Yeah, it's he's, our offseason is just starting, you know, but he's been in it for what, six weeks now? And he has seen countless tweets and posts on Instagram

and everything like wondering if he's going to be there and he probably knows the score that it's less likely and it must be a powerless, annoying position. You could just use the mute button, you know, I feel like that. I mean, I just looked at the bear's Instagram.

When you mute people, sometimes it still kind of shows up anyways. So all the bears have on their Instagram is like happy birthdays and thank yous and appointments of coaches. It's not like, what will we do about Justin Fields? We love the college kids.

But, you know, by the way, and that's why free agency is so important. And how amazing it is the, think that until like the early 90s I think they didn't even have free agency for the players in any real way so it could it's going to be and I think I think the real stories he knows what's happening just like we all kind of know what direction that seems to be heading that he will be traded and then that team will control his rights and could pick up his 50 year option and then

maybe franchise tag him he's a couple years away potentially from having any real power over where he wants to play and that's part of the reason why it's a bummer for him that the Bears thing didn't quite take. One little note on their side. That looks like an entertaining podcast and they're obviously, they can get good guests. That's nice. But little microphone tip, like I can hear an airplane in the background. So I just

you know, these are the little things that, you know, with time and experience. That's a loss, but what a win. The producers and, you know, Equanimius and Amonrod, they must have been pretty excited when they were like, oh, we got fields on like the day that he had to follow because I'm sure it was planned ahead of time. It's just like a big pump this. We're getting

some pop on the around the NFL podcast. it's big times beautiful timing uh in other news i love this story uh and uh listeners of this pod you know that nick seriani's been on my radar for a long time uh and before the the eagles went up in flames uh last year after their 10 and one start they just lost out uh essentially and got embarrassed in the playoffs and it all kind of started with big dom uh the curse of big dom who is the security officer on the sideline, the chief security officer who was banned from the sidelines

for the regular season, the bounce of the regular season after a December 3rd incident and a blowout loss of the Niners in which he had made contact or gotten to a sideline quarrel with Dre Greenlaw of San Francisco. And this is wonderful. I just love this.

Derek Gunn, who is a Philadelphia radio host, been there for a long time. I'm just going to read the whole tweet. It's got a little other juice in it too. And it gives you an idea of a lot. According to sources, Jalen, I love this, by the way, radio guy tweet. This one got ignored, I think because people were confused. Yeah, it's a little weird.

According to sources, Jalen, big contract, pulled in numerous directions on slash off field, put him under a lot of pressure. He didn't handle well. Ellipsies. Big Dom suspended. Dash controls Siriani's emotion on sideline, comma. In his absence, Nick gets in numerous arguments with players slash coaches during games. so that's the headline that Sirian as soon as Big Dom was banned from the sideline

could no longer control himself and was just fighting with everyone and that perhaps I guess this is inferring led in part to the meltdown of the entire operation it's like the most unbelievable NFL offseason story I can think of in a long time but if that's true that that's true they kept the head coach that's wild I mean we kind of flashpoint

flashpoint focused this all over it because we know you know there was the trend that the team went one in five down the stretch without dom but it's wild to be waiting for that bonus as the associate producer for presenting that guest that week under coming we'll have a sit down yeah we'll discuss we'll break bread mark and i talked about that while we're celebrating that was a big moment for for me and and i haven't really seen anything we'll get there we're going to break bread after the top two 13 blows up sure and over big cigars and a glass of brandy on a a brown suede cap. Lather couch. We'll touch on that. Okay. Yeah. We'll hit on that item. No, not at all, but I just, I, this to me is just, it kind of confirms everything, Dan, you were

saying about Siriani, where I don't think it, that felt, it felt like a, a you thing. And now it's clearly a real Eagles thing. It's good to get a dub every once a while. Yeah. When he was shouting at the, I think it was the Kansas City fans after they kind of lucked into that prime time win, that was a tipping point for me personally. Yeah. And then it pretty much all.

apart. Wait, what was that, Greg? I love that for the Eagles. You do? I don't love this for the Eagles. He feels very diminished in terms of his leadership. Like, the owner and Howie, I think, came in and made some decisions about the coordinators, you know, that they wanted him to have possibly, and the players are smart enough to

know that. And then this report comes out. And just in general, I think it puts you in a tough spot as a leader going into the season that, like, this information is out there. And it makes you think about how A.J. Brown reacted and really how all the players reacted. Like, there is, there has been no smoking gun, like no great answer for what happened there. It just, it's one of the most mystifying like meltdowns of any team I can remember. You shot up the hot butts rankings in unprecedented fashion. Right.

It is in a Super Bowl year ago. They were the one seed. And they went from the, not only the one seed, but like the best record in the NFL by two games at that point to being a little surprised. He even kept the job. What did you think, Dana, the Jalen part of it? Well, you know, I've been wondering about Jalen too.

And because there was obviously a leadership void there when the, when the team went down in flames. And it kind of begins with the quarterback. And I thought that quarterback and head coach. I mean, that's how locker rooms are won and lost in a lot of ways. So I don't, we don't know really. maybe more will come out. But I think it's pretty clear that Siriani is his he's in a vulnerable place and maybe

doesn't have a real handle on the team anymore. And I think we'll learn more about Jalen Hertz this year. This is such a huge season for the whole operation, obviously. I'm checking out the rest of Derek Gunn's tweets, by the way, because I'm kind of blown away by the structure of that tweet. That's not typically how he tweets. He's usually a little shorter bursts. So maybe that's when he starts more of a detail-oriented.

but that's a tough one in the sense that that that's the one that probably has gotten more noticed than anything he's ever sent out you want to put together a fully form paragraph he is one of those local reporters and he i know he's respected there in philadelphia we were he'll just have like one or two bomb drops per year that's a good one stuff like that you like to be you like to be that guy but you don't want to leave the comma a space away from from this you know the word and if you're going to do an ellipsies hit us i love it we're editing the tweet now Hit us with the third period if you're going to do an ellipsies. Don't hit us with two.

But Greg, you also on, you know, and I don't roam X. Good job, Mr. Gunn. I'll have lots of typos. Well, you seem intentionally, you would go intentionally to kind of zig on capitalization, non-capitalization on your tweets. That's stylized. I think so I'm not saying it's a mistake-ridden effort, but that's intentional. Yeah.

Very intentional. Lack of punctuation, lack of capitalization, it happens. I want to move into what. But, you know, Derek Gunn's also tweet. Like, for the last tweet is like, oh, go ahead. You know, is a nice look at some seasoned chicken on the grill. So I want to get into those kind of tweets. That's good.

Yeah. Sometimes to, and it's not just Greg, I've done this as well. Sometimes you don't capitalize and you don't punctuate. And it's almost kind of like a, it's a way of expressing your take in almost a matter-of-fact tone or almost a little bit of a sarcastic tone. I mean, I get how it works. Like, I don't, thank you. But I'm saying that's like a looser medium. I don't think that Greg's, I think it's intentional.

But I do, too. It's a choice. And he's, you know, I don't think, I know that Greg as the editor of the around the NFL section of the website understands basic and also complex grammatical. I think Twitter, the rules are different on Twitter, you know, it's a lighter medium. It's not worthy of punctual. I think it helps you appear youthful and, you know, with a. This is a bad pocket. We're bad at this now.

Let's move on. Let's get into, oh, all right. You know what? I'm going to get out of the way. Yeah, me too. I feel like we're, this here is the good news. I feel like we're running out of these where we have to throw it to Greg because it's a Patriot retiring. Because how many more can there be?

Because now we're at special teams ace, Matthew Slater. And if we're at the special teams ace, we have to be near the end. Go ahead. The floor is yours. Dantaya Hightower was just hired as part of this staff. So, like, we'll now get to live through these guys as coaches, which I'm injured.

Gerard Mayo, too. Although I don't... Well, we don't have to live. Yeah. That's a personal choice. Look, if Bill Belichick says that he's the greatest core special teams player and... You want inspirational music under this?

Go ahead. I don't need it to be long. I'm just saying, let's... Give us a little inspirational. Let's put it out there. Yeah. Go ahead. Matthew Slater is the best special teams core player in the history of the league, according to Bill Belichick, a pretty great expert on special team.

I thought he was an expert on football until nobody hired him. Ten time pro bowl, pro bowler, two-time first team all pro. I don't think that makes you a hallfamer personally, but a ring of honor guy for the Patriots and just, you know, a unique career, the son of an all-time great Jackie Slater.

The one thing about... I didn't know that. Just give some love to a special team's ace. And he was a fifth round pick who really was in danger of not making the team right out of the gate and made this choice to make special teams his thing. I always found a weird though because I'll never forget going to the Rams like intro in Los Angeles where it was like they brought all the L.A. press in and you know, hoopla and all that business. But like Jackie Slater, like a Hall of Famer was there.

And Jackie Slater is 6'4, 277 pounds. and Matt Slater is six feet tall, 205 pounds. Do you don't typically see a son that isn't like, why didn't you, I would have thought, odds on, would say you produce another guard or tackle. She's three foot six. She's Rio Perrin. Well, actually, that was where my mind went in the mom

or someone must be very small in the equation. And there are generations to get skipped with certain things. Yeah, and we don't know the whole story. I mean, you know, now that I got the Twitter thing, let me get to the genetics. Okay. It's a science, but an uneven. even science in a way.

You care for me to go on. No, you've made it so crystal clear for me. I mean, you're making it sound like 6'205 is some, like, mini guy. It's not, but it's, you're like, oh, that's an impressive. How often are you four inches shorter and 70 pounds lighter than your dad? That was also Jackie Slater's plain weight.

He's trimmed down a little, but he's not a, he's not diminutive. Jackie Slater's only, only 50% of the DNA of Matthew Slater comes from Jackie. I did not know that. So we need, okay that's uh that's what's happening in the news before uh actually let's take a break and then uh i want to cover one bit of behind the scenes uh a massive conversation that needs to be

had and then we're going to get to the 101 let's take a break great welcome back so uh you may remember about a week or so uh you may remember about a week or we can have for so before the Super Bowl we had our annual don't say Super Bowl episode or we cannot utter the words and if you do there's a monetary penalty and all three

of us incurred fines also we and this maybe seems a little unfair Eric I announced after the fact anything that he missed in terms of the buzzer he would have to pick up the fine so he's into this now the pot and then we're like

all right what are we going to do with the money and got an idea so Big Funk let's bring back Big Funk behind the glass What's up? He didn't really go anywhere Where's this? Where's this going? Right. What's up Funk? What's happening?

Big Funk has had a distinguished, for a young man, a distinguished career in broadcasting. Sure. Part of his journey was at a radio station and I don't know, I can't speak to

any of the the talent working there either good or bad and so this isn't a hit piece your former employer I don't know if you want to name them that's up to you I mean you think you know where I'm going by the way I have a hunch but anyway

it was like a Z morning zoo type thing and there was a radio bit where the die hard Packers fan Randy Chavez was offered a sum of money. How much?

A thousand bucks. One G. Whoa. Ten rocks. If he got a tattoo of a rival of the Packers on his body. The catch, of course, being it must be done live on air. And I think we, do we have any footage from this incident? Any rival?

Well, I'll explain in a second. All right. And now we're watching it on this radio. When was this? How long ago was this? Oh, man. This is like three. Four years ago.

Fun fact. The guy tattooing me, he's on McMasters. Oh, very good. At least it was something professional. So there's Funk, and check it out on the YouTube channel. It looks painful on his thigh, and it looks like a Chicago Bears logo. If you subscribe to our Patreon, you can see an exclusive version of this, which is a little racy. It really is.

I haven't seen this video in years. This is so... We might have to blur it. It's that salacious and sexy. But Funk. so yes here's what the plan is because I don't like that I you can take it back in show I don't want I personally to put a young radio producer in that position like hey for the bid on the show tattoo yourself and we'll give you some money like when I was however old you

were there 23 years old or whatever I would have taken the thousand to because I had to pay rent so I have an issue now here's the question yeah are you okay with that tattoo in the modern times Or does it annoy you a little bit That it's still on your leg I'm not gonna lie It does it does annoy me a little bit More so because every time I go anywhere at all Usually someone I roll with

Whenever there's like a lull Like a little bit of silence It's always like you know Randy has a bear's tattoo Okay so that's exactly where We step in on this podcast With the money that we've raised From don't say Super Bowl And perhaps with the help of the listeners

I propose We eliminate that tattoo for me Randy's leg, either through laser removal or go the Johnny Depp route, the Wino Forever route, where we could modify it and turn it into something else. I know it was fairly intricate. How do you feel about that as a possibility? I mean, I'm not opposed to it, right? Don't get me wrong. The tattoo is a funny reminder. I guess depends how you consider funny of what I use, like my where it was before years ago. But I have no problem covering it up. But that's, it's merely an option, of course.

Of course, yeah. So if, if Randy is, if that's something he would want, like if that's ever something that crossed your mind, like if I could do it over again and get rid of it or if I could, you know, cover it up somehow, we, the around the NFL podcast and our listeners are here to help. Well, after viewing the tattoo, I don't think we can cover it up. Like, we were like, oh, can we change it into the Packers logo?

No, they can do amazing things, though. I know that I don't have tattoos myself, but they can do amazing things. What a bear's tattoo? It's the face. It's got to be too tough. I think it either needs to be... It's a very great thing to just assume that they can't be. Because I feel like if we got someone on the phone, he'd say, oh yeah, we could definitely do something. Well, the guy that did it to begin with probably knows. She sounds like his career. I don't know if we can get him, but... You could also catch like, FU Chicago Bears...

So my backup plan, my backup plan was like I would just write socks underneath it sometime. And I mean, I've added more pieces to my leg since. But I mean, you know, I'm not I have nothing, I love tattoos, so I have no problem adding more stuff to my leg. It's just, you know, it tells a story to me. It's memories. I have, I don't have the best memory, but looking at tattoos, it reminds me of where I was, and it takes me back to a place, so. You seem somewhat attached to it, actually.

No, it's just, it's, I don't like the bears. I'm a Packers fan. And we're certainly not going to do what those shock jocks did once upon the time, and it's put pressure on you. It's merely an option if you want to go down that road. I wouldn't mind seeing some mock-ups from each of you guys. Oh, so you, so you would, prefer instead of the removal some sort of

adjustment. Potentially, I'm not opposed to anything, really, honestly. Because that's then like a two-part process. Okay. Right. Okay. And add-on, okay. And now I think whether it's our listeners on social media, whether it's the subreddit or wherever, if we can get some, you know, if Randy does give us the go-ahead to do some crowdsource fundraising, because I don't know the cost, it could be potentially pricey, but we're going to use the

the power of this platform to make Randy Chavez's right leg pure again. I appreciate the offer. That's very nice of you guys. I've never had someone extend such a generous offer such as that to myself. I think, Dan, for you, your streak of charitable behavior,

we've got a couple of mementos over in the corner of the studio. It just adds to that legacy. Yep. Because this was your your idea. So you are a Benavisini. He sent me an autograph. Dabo? Dabo?

Dave Oswanao. He sent me that ball for the helping those underprivileged kids find a home. It was like the business. That is not like the future business leaders of America or whatever. All that work I did with the orphans down in Clemson. Now I can add this is, yeah, you're right. I didn't look at it that way, but it's starting to turn into it. Well, yourself, you wouldn't see it that way.

But others can't help it see it. All right. It's going to be up to Randy, though. I think we could afford it. I'm looking at the price. I think we could afford it. Okay, good. Funk. Yeah.

Let's give you one week, and we'll circle back. We'll let you kind of really ruminate and think on it. Because I understand that is part of the ink journey for people that it takes you. That's a place and time. That's where you were then. We're not here to change rewrite history. I will say, though, you three happen to be some of the most creative guys. I know.

Thank you. Keep going. Truthfully. I mean it. Who's Eric? So if you guys want to come with some fun ideas, I'm also open to that, too. I would genuinely would like to see what you guys. Can you get us just a photo of it so that I can, I will work on it some mock-ups potentially in my free time.

What about that old? You don't see it as much anymore, but remember the cars that had, let's say, a Dallas Cowboys logo and then it would be Calvin and Hobbs, like urinating on the logo. I remember those. That would be a little bit of throwback, for instance. I do love Calvin and Hobbs, big Bill Waterson fan.

Wait a second. But getting Calvin peeing on my leg might be, because he'd have to be giant. The logo is big enough where the Calvin would have to take up most of my leg and that would probably be a bit of a hard sell yeah all right well that's just one idea but see that creativity i like idea men here thinking outside the box appreciate you guys always you got it funk all right i feel like uh i feel like that was progress and a potentially great situation for us well you're giving him the choice uh which i like he's one week right

he has what you have one week no you have one week all right here we go moving on how many years we've been doing this on uh whether it's NFL media or your old job at NBC or a how long have you been doing a free agency list Greg I don't know 15 years or so and do you find yourself because I certainly was and when I was in the power rankings game I was very competitive about it I wanted to have the best power rankings do you have certain people and you don't have to name them that you kind of use as a measuring stick and you want to reach that bar or exceed it? I don't like to look at the other list

until mine's out. Okay, yeah, once you've done yours. So I think the PFF, you mentioned, they do a lot of work out there because I've seen them send it up different ways. They got a lot of production behind it. That looks great. And they have something that I really like, by the way,

which is a comp, free agency comp for that player in past years. I don't like to look at it until mine's out because then you just end up, like, it's like mock drafters end up just like making a combination of all the other mock drafts. I never, I do the same thing of Powering is never look for anybody else out of them. They all do great.

Great. Excellent. And you enjoy doing it? I do. Yeah. It kind of really does start the offseason in a lot of ways because the, this offseason journey begins with free agency.

Well, kind of begins with a coach and staff hiring cycles into free agency. and then, of course, the draft. And all of a sudden, teams are pretty much fully formed. The first time we've ever let it go exclusively on the podcast for the first time. You know, nice little pop. Hmm.

That's fanfare horn once more because I did not know that. Hit it. You hear that? ATN. Exclusive. Greg Rosenthal, Freedancy 101. So let's get into it, Greg. And Mark, you and I will.

kind of prod around the list ourselves and Greg's going to throw out some things that he took away from putting it together. We do look at other lists before we do our list. Yes, I studied the list,

of course, because we have our big free agency 213 coming up and that takes a lot of research about the genre. But the top 10 just so people know and then we can go anywhere we want. Number one, Chris Jones.

Number two, Kirk Cousins. Number three, T. Higgins. Number four, Josh Allen. That's Josh Allen of the Jags, the pass rusher. Number five, Christian Wilkins. Number six, Brian Burns. Number seven, Legerius Sneed.

Number eight, Justin Matabouquet, right? Bucke. Yeah. Number nine, Antoine Winfield, and number 10, Daniel Hunter. I have to say, my big picture, and right on the outside of the top 10, Mike Evans, one of the great, most consistent wide receivers of this era or any other era, potentially about to reach free agency. I love this list this year. And I know it's going to be pillaged, Gregi, by franchise tags.

That window just opened and then, you know, anything else that goes down. But the list itself, I feel like if you're a team that needs to make upgrades, almost every major position has some studs. I think it's a strong list. It's a big drop off maybe after the top 13 or 14. You mentioned Evans. Jalen Johnson's a really good one with the Bears, Michael Pittman. And then there's kind of a drop off.

And most of those players probably are getting. tagged, like eight, I would guess, if I had to put an over under out of those 14 players. But I'm with you. I think it's a good list. And I think there's another drop off around 40 or so. It feels like you could do a, you know, it's a good thing you're doing 213 because it does feel deeper. I don't know what it is with the trend of the NFL, just more players on short term

contracts is what I suspect that there's like 140 good players, like guys that can actually help your team. So I think it's a deeper list and it's pretty high quality. you're right throughout. And for the first time, in a long time, you know, one and two, Chris Jones and Kirk Cousins, they could actually change teams. Right.

You don't see that too often. It's odd. I mean, I think there are years when you kind of take a larger look at the class of free agents. And it's like, all right, we're going to hype this up and we're going to talk about it a lot, but you're kind of struggling to find real juice. But this list is dotted with intriguing, especially on offense, I think intriguing wide receivers, running backs through a couple of

quarterbacks out there. And right away, it's like, in the top 10, I look at the chiefs and the Vikings is having a lot of tough decisions to make, try to navigate this. They've got four of the top 10. So Cousins and Hunter both have elements in their contract that say they can't be tagged, which is amazing for them. I mean, Hunter is going to, and the Vikings can't afford both. And maybe that informs whether, you know, how aggressive they are in trying to keep Kirk Cousins,

if they want to keep Hunter or neither, who really knows. And then the Jones Sneed example with a Super Bowl champion, I can't think of anything like it. Because Chris Jones got such a big contract last year, he doesn't have the tag number, which would be, I think, under $20 million. Instead, his tag number is $32. And that really raises an interesting question with this Chiefs team

that can you sign both of these guys? Can you sign Jones long term and tag Sneed or vice versa? With all the money, they're already paying to Mahomes and the rest of the contract that they're looking at, maybe adding a wide receiver. I don't think you can. And when I think logically about it, I actually think it's more logical

that they tag Sneed, kick that can down the road, and that Chris Jones might leave. And they just might realize, like, you have to make tough decisions. We've gotten the very best out of this guy. He's getting a little older. And we can't tag him for 32, and it's going to be so hard to get him signed before pre-agency starts.

that actually the move is to tag Sneed and that Chris Jones gets out there and just makes an absolute killing someone. I kind of think that's what's going to happen. And I know what you were saying, Mark, on the last show, because I agree with you. Sometimes this free agency when a big fish does shake free, and they sign with a bad team looking to make a big splash.

And I mentioned how PFF has these comparison players in recent years. And the comparison player is exactly what you're talking about. And Domican Sue, who obviously the lions were in a powerhouse when he was there, but he was the face of that franchise. as he signs a massive deal with a kind of under the radar struggling dolphins operation at that point and he kind of like just disappeared in a lot of ways he was still a big time player he was fine but he was it wasn't like as impactful as if he would have went to a big time team or if the lions figured out around him the interesting

thing about the chiefs not to get off course here but no i think they're there to be the most interesting conversation if they do say go the route you're talking about keep the cornerback and sneed is so valuable and the spag's deep defense, Chris Jones obviously the most valuable, but cornerbacks and cornerbacks who could cover is a huge deal for that day. What's great about being the Chiefs is even if they just won a Super Bowl with a great defense and Patrick Mahomes as a game general. And they found their way back to the Lombardy. There is a fun way where they save that money and let Jones walk, like you're saying, try to find someone that can fill out the void and then attack the offense and build another super. offense around the greatest quarterback alive they they have like some different angles they can go here

and the team can end up being a lot different in structure than the one that just won the super bowl uh be interesting to see there is like that again we mentioned like on the last show that christian sounds like he wants to stay in kansas city right money and a monster deal from someone kind of changed that like just a field just said that and he probably wants that this situation is a little more special than like certain other players stick you know sticking with that hamenegger type team where they've been for a while like you could win more Super Bowls. You can get paid really well in some form

or fashion, but they're in a tricky situation. To my point, so if you have, if you do attack offense instead, the Chiefs have a list like running backs for instance. Great example. I know they like their running backs, but Sequin, Henry, Jacobs, Eckler, wide receivers, which they certainly need.

Higgins, Evans, Pittman, Ridley. These are all options out there potentially right now anyway, but some of these guys will be gone, but some will be out there. Evans would be a fascinating one and people have connected. So you, if they have some money to spend, like getting that second receiver or first receiver would would be a game changer for them. They can create a lot of cap space. They're already well under. They could cut MVS. They can move the money around in Mahomes's contract. They have

some people they can cut. And so they they could make it all work. And there's a very recent example of them letting Charverius Ward leave for a big contract to San Francisco. And that worked. And And they might feel that like cornerback is a position that they can develop. And Spaggs is so good at doing that that they'll let Sneed go. And I could be totally wrong. And that they'll view Jones is the irreplaceable one because he is more irreplaceable. That's why his number is so much higher. Their defensive line is quite thin if they didn't have Chris Jones.

But it's a very, it's a compelling conversation. It's just that Sneed's so much younger that I do wonder if they think about timelines. But to be clear, they can't do both. They can't keep Sneed. They have a massive contract to Jones and make. big splash and free agency on the offense. Probably not all three. That's what I mean. They have to make a decision. And I can't imagine

they went after this whole season, even after winning the Super Bowl, not thinking, man, we got to make some type of moves on offense. I agree with that. I think they'll be aggressive, getting a wide receiver and keep one of these two guys, but not both. And Sneed was someone, I passed this list around in early forms

and Steve was someone, I just think if he gets free, the league loves him. You know, he's just, there's no cornerback on this list. Jalen Johnson, I'm almost certain is going to get tagged. At some positions, there's just not any players. The two positions are

cornerback and tackle. So if Sneed did somehow shake free, he'd make an obscene amount of money and I think they'd want to just keep. That's where free agency to me feels like a bit of fools gold if you're the team that goes and gets some of these players, because part of Sneed's like success and

journey is how he's used by Spags, how he fits in that defense. I mean, not that it wouldn't translate somewhere else, but I think if you suddenly are the chiefs minus like Chris Jones, it becomes a gaping void where everyone visually can realize how special he's been on that defense. He's just

in such a good spot. He's kind of like Kirk Cousins when he left Washington that it's just so rare to actually have all this leverage where maybe they can tag them. Maybe they just feel like let Steve go, we'll make some moves, we'll put the $32 million

on them somehow and then we'll get a long-term deal worked out that lowers that number at some point. But that number is so big because he knows now if he could somehow get to free agency. He's going to make more than Aaron Donald.

He's going to make the most any defensive player has ever made. The salary cap is reportedly going up to around $250 million according to pro football talk. We don't really know. It could be anywhere from 243 to 250, but either way it's going up a lot.

Where else do you want to go, Greg? What jumped out to you? Well, let's go 10th to 20 just because that is more fun, big names. Daniel Hunter we mentioned was 10. Evans is 11. Jalen Johnson, I think it's going to get tagged at 12. Michael Pittman, I think, will also probably get tagged with the Colts.

And then it's Tyron Smith, the only good tackle on the market. Sequin Barclay, to me, easily the best running back on the market. Calvin Ridley, an interesting situation where the Jaguars get a better draft pick or have to give away a better draft pick if they re-sign Ridley. so they're incentivized to not sign Calvin Ridley at this point. So a good chance he gets free. Jonathan Gunard of the Texans, Leonard Williams, Michael O'Wenew, who is the highest guard tackle I have,

and then Chauncey, Gardner Johnson. That's 10 to 20. And one of the reasons Owenu's up there and Tyron Smith's up there is because the two positions that they're just not on this list are cornerback and tackle. And it just says a lot, I think, about the NFL. It's like, you can get defensive tackles. You can even get defensive linemen,

but there's like no tackles, no cornerbacks. available whatsoever. You got to get those in the draft. Defensive tackle is not the easiest to necessarily find in the draft sometimes as well at that one position. But one name that stands out to me because part of this like, I think smart for agency

is keeping core people around especially if you have a young quarterback. Like the Colts cannot let Michael Pittman go in my book. I don't think that he's a flashy number one type of guy in every, in all aspects of his game. But it's like he is imperative to what they're trying to do on offense

and what they're trying to build. well i it might be the worst receiver group of the league if he's gone i think he's one of the more interesting cases if he ever did get to free agency because he has produced even with a lot of bad quarterback play but he's also maybe not a a game changer necessarily so how possession like again like where he's i i would love him as a one b or a two as opposed to split paying him like a one especially as like we're saying like there's so many good wide receivers coming out of the draft every year and every round uh he's a guy that you see those like can't Kenny Goladay is a good example, not that they're similar players, but where you get paid,

he'll be our number one, our true number one, and he wasn't, and then all of a sudden it doesn't work out. The guy Tyron Smith jumps out to me, he's on your list. Where is he on your list? Like I think, for instance, my team, the Jets are going to be all over Tyron Smith because they're going to want to sign a big tackle and then draft a tackle with their pick. And that's going to be great news for Smith, because if there's not a lot of big tackles on the market, and there's a desperate team like the Jets.

that's going to drive his market up. So he is going to get a lot of money, maybe more than he deserves at this point. He played great last year, though. He stayed healthy. What's his age, though? Where is his age? He's, I think, now up to 35?

He's going to get a lot. He's going to get more money than you would think a 35-year-old tackle. He's 33, actually. Okay, my bet. Just turned 33. So, yeah, look, he was on the Hall of Fame all 2010's team. I mean, this is a guy who's probably making the Hall of Fame someday and had really struggled with injuries the three previous years.

But he had a healthy year this last year. I think that he actually might get to free agency because Tyler Smith, who they drafted, is quite good. You know, GM Aaron is going to be all over that one. Right. And again, it's a position that it's so bad. Michael Owenu for the Patriots who can play guard or tackle. I think he's best at right tackle.

He's going to get paid a lot of money because there's just not many young players available. And then after that, it's just like, come on. It's like Trent Brown, who's a bit of a nightmare in terms of injuries and like off-field stuff. have one good year and then he becomes a headache. He's the next guy.

Maybe Jonah Williams, who Bengals fans probably aren't in love with, but at least he can just play, Illumanor, who is with the Raider. These guys are. He can just play as those are where you get in trouble. The signings are getting trouble.

Right. Exactly. I'm having to work around Jonah Williams in Cincinnati. And some fun guy, like I saw someone, I did see, had Bechtin, you know,

like, Bechton might get some money just because he played last year. Big ticket. He was bad, by the way. Right. And there's no one available. So there's some project.

out there, but those positions get paid. You mentioned a classic one, by the way. Pitman, I think he will get tagged. I think Evans will get out there, though, and it is fascinating to think where could he go. And then I think of who else will get out there at wide receiver. Marquise Brown, I think, is going to be that guy you

mentioned. He's not going to be like Goliday, because I think he's a good player, but he's going to make more than people expect. Because him and Ridley, they're fast and they're available, and you kind of need three receivers, and they can be one of your three receivers. They can be your two or your three.

They're not your one. But a two, like a Pittman, is probably worth $20 million a year now. So people are going to have sticker shock, but Markies Brown or Calvin really will probably get $20 million a year. Well, it's like years in a row where the wide receiver pay days

for free agency have been insane. I mean, I guess you could find a team that really needed that wide out help. And you could almost pair like a Markese Brown with another wide receiver on the free agent marketing completely change your room. I like Mark East Brown.

Yeah, but you want to play $20 million for Markis Brown and go get a guy in the second round. But it's kind of like when Christian Kirk got paid $17 million a year a couple years ago and, man, that looked bad at the time. And now I'm like, actually he's pretty dependable and you need receivers and that's like an okay price. That's just how it is, I think. Yeah.

Like you, I'd have no problem with you putting Higgins above Evans. I mean, I think Higgins, you know, they could tag him too if they want. They probably will tag him, but the Bengals are such a mysterious operation. But is that an age thing a little bit for you with Evans? And like, because I kind of wonder what kind of contract. I think Evans could find himself go to a playoff type team and be in a wonderful playing situation

but like what do you pay him is he 30? 31. 31? I mean I don't know a problem paying him a lot of money but it's like is he that guy three years from now. Right. He's come off one of his best seasons in a long time. He's kind of ageless. I'm a little worried

I have him too low that he should be even higher on this list. He'll be turning 31 in August. But I would guess something like a two-year $50 million contract, you know, or it's a three-year contract, but it's really a two-year $50 million contract. Like, I see no reason why he wouldn't get paid.

And the most surprising buzz to me is, like, the last week or two is that, like, oh, the bucks actually aren't going to pay him. I don't know if I totally believe that. It makes no sense to me, but that's what's out there. What do you think of OBJ now as, like, 80th on this list? I have Gabe Davis quite high. I like me some Gabe Davis.

Curtis, Samuel's another receiver. Receivers are always fun to talk about. I have Beckham on my subcategory contract year fall stars, at least in terms of your rankings. He's down at 83. And his agent, who deserves a presidential like Medal of Freedom for what he's gotten, O'Dell Beckham compared to the production over the last five or six years, you could point to again, oh, by the end of the season,

he was kind of looking like O'Dell again. And then you pop the hood and the analytics are pretty good. good. They said that he's a, you know, a premium number two, maybe wide receiver, but somebody else can pay for him. I know, for instance, my team was poking around before he went to the Ravens. I hope they don't. Again, I don't want like wrong side of 30 wide receivers that are going to be commanding a big salary when I could find somebody in the draft instead. So I don't think he will this year. I think he's going to get knocked out. I think he's going to play on one year deal again. Like a one year. I think the rest of his career is just one year for about half the money that

he made. But I'd rather have a game David. I think Gabe Davis, like, you could talk yourself into, there's a lot of untapped potential, a lot of big play. But even Darnell Mooney, I would rather have our guest on the show, KJ Osborne, I think is kind of a fun guy. I'm with it. I'd rather go, I'd rather go young. You have Austin Echler, by the way, way down.

Oh, I noticed that. Like, you have them 20 spots lower than James Winston, I believe, which is wild to me. And in general, I overrate the backup quarterbacks. I rank them somewhat high, yes. From what I understand, this is not a great running back draft class. So I would say you probably should bump up some of these running backs. But at the same time, it is, I think, telling that coming off last summer

where we were all talking about all these running backs getting bang, these stars that aren't getting the contracts they want or deserve. And Echler tried to get traded. You know, he tried to get a raise. Josh Jacobs held out. Sequin Barkley held out and got it ridiculous. Like, that contract is more ridiculous with every day. They gave him this absurd incentive deal.

but he got no money out of it. What kind of money they get, where they stack up. Derek Henry is out there. I'm curious. I love the idea of Derek Henry going somewhere. On the right team. He is. More than any of those other players,

I think Henry in the right setup could be a real dog for a team. I had a thought because the team that's going to look so different on offense, I think will be the Greg Roman Harbaugh Chargers. Like, what about Derek Henry behind Justin Herbert? That would be fun. And look, I send them to the charges. I don't know. I think they're going to be a different type of team.

And now they have Jim Harbos and now things will change. But I mean, what name of coach is going to want to go find a mauling run? No, I love it. I love it as a fit. Yeah. So I struggled with where to put him in Jacobs. Jacobs was about 20 spots higher a year ago, had a bad year. And that kind of follows his career where three and a half yards per carry.

He's like one great. It did look much better. The eye test, especially by the end. He's a great receiver. He's a complete back. But I have him and Henry around 30. And that's where, to me, a lot of the good value in free agency actually comes as these one-year deals for veterans. Like, you can say what you want about Clowny or even Zedarius Smith last year, who has paid more than Clowny, certainly.

It's like those guys were actually bargains compared to paying the like $14, $15 million a year for some young guy. And Derek Henry and Jacobs, to me, are like the veteran running back equivalent app. But they're not going to make much money. I think they're nice one-year ads and position scarcity. and the money is all a factor. So that's why I have guys like Pollard and DeAndre Swift and J.K. Dobbins. I have them all ahead of Echler

because they're younger. I think Dobbins... Echler didn't look very good last year either. No, he didn't. I think Dobbins is actually... I like guys. I always think teams should pay guys on two-year deals coming off injury

because Dobbs could be a nice longer-term bet, even if he's coming off injury. Not like seeing his name on this list, it's like, this stuff raises by because it's like he's already going to free... Right. The one thing I got to bring up here because you got your QB

like you gave it the positional chart on how you rank these guys obviously Kirk Cousin's number one obviously and I know it's like where do you go from this because it's not like plug and play star players there's a lot of help at quarterback behind him but you have Jacoby percent above Baker Mayfield

yeah that was where I just had to go with my gut I know I'm going to that one is probably going to get the most such a Greg move pushback of anything but it's it fills a certain role for Greg, type of a quarterback. Yeah, a minchew like 4,000 miles down. A good one that's overlooked.

You know, what I decided to do, Mark, was kind of split the difference. Be fair to Mayfield. They're both in the top. They're right around 30. So it's not like they're that low in the 101. I was like, if I'm going to stand up for Jacoby and really believe that he's a Dalton line type of quarterback, just like I see Baker Bean, which has to me a lot of value. Like, would you rather have that or would you rather have Derek Henry?

I would rather have that. I think it's like some teams need that. It raises the floor of your team. So I put them right next to each other because I do think Jake Brisket is very similar to where Gino was a couple years ago where it's like he could step in and he could have brought your team

to the playoffs last year, Dan. He could have... With who? With the Jets. With Hackett? Maybe. No. He would have improved their team a lot.

I think that's the... I truly believe that. that's a level he's playing it. He played it for the Browns. He looked fantastic in that Washington. He's still only 31. He's learned a lot. Like, to me, he's in his prime and him and Mayfield kind of occupy a similar space. But ranking them versus like Robert Hunt or, you know, Gabe Davis is kind of impossible. It's kind of hard to figure out where to put it like a mid-level quarterback. But that's where I truly believe Jake Brisket belongs, that he's better than a decent amount of quarterback.

And you could argue because both of them played in the same offense, the Stefanski had more success, you know, ultimately with Jacoby than he did with Baker. James being your number five free agent quarterback is hilarious. Darnold, not... But he's not in the top 80. Tyler Huntley is just personal and I... I'll be the bigger man.

Some of those positions... I'll be the bigger man. To be fair, Darnold's moved up. Some of those position ones you're looking at are a little off. He is on my long list of 101, whereas Huntley is not.

So Darnold has overtaken him. That might have been... Congratulations. that means it's time to take a break or is there breaking news what's happening back there funk but really feeling the space right now well what

I thought you wanted me to play it every time you mentioned 101 and I'd kind of been uh I love it works I was I was good actually I think it added some excitement and then earlier you were like you were like you made the little DJ reverb effect so I haven't had a close thing half a dozen air more listen listen Funk

explore the space back there you're doing great I appreciate that guys let's take a break and when we come back we will finish our conversation on the top world one quick that like people don't realize we don't take we we say we're taking a break and then we start talking one second later in real life you told the audience that like two weeks ago i know but it remains on my radar as a problematic item for us i would think mark you the last thing you would want to do is take a break and extend the amount of time you're in the office you're right because we could start to take a break if you felt like it was like not authentic just take a go walk experience i just think it seems like but i mean you know that could easily

real with the listeners. But during that break, you have to listen to your DeZorno ad read. Scrap all that. We could keep you here in extra 15 minutes if we take authentic break.

Negative. No. All right. We'll be right back. All right, we're back. And yes, we are, if you're just joining us, this is...

We're going deep. Rosenthal 101. Not to be confused with the hands of Sessler 213. She's coming on the doorstep of free Aides. to see you next month.

Greg, let's get back into it. Let's dive in. So here's, so QBs we just talked about. Running backs. There's some really big names there and a draft class that's not high on RB talent being told.

What is the, what's a positional group if you're, if you're a team that needs to plug a position where you're very excited because there's a lot of depth. As always, there's a ton of interesting quality safety. Just teams just don't play safeties. They always feel like they can find them or a

some, but I think the linebacker discussion is probably more interesting because there are a lot of players available that our plug and play, mostly three down linebackers in their primes that are going to start next year. So that it's one of the only positions where you can look at and say, wow, there's a lot of guys that will, I think, get big contracts. Patrick Queen is one of them coming from Baltimore. Frankie Louvo from Carolina who's kind of been a gem, you know, Diamond in the rough there, but it's played really well. Jordan Brooks, who was the first round pick. Bobby Wagner's out there, Devin White, a couple of the chiefs linebackers,

Willie Gade, Drew Tranquil, Aziz Al-Shayr, who I really like for Tennessee. So a lot of linebackers, and it's kind of a question of like, it's a position that went really out of favor to the point where, like, teams almost ignored it. And now I wonder, is it going to start coming back in? because we've seen these teams like Baltimore and San Francisco and even Kansas City's done a good job with their

linebackers. Like, if you have a three down linebacker, it's such an advantage because no one else does. And it's so hard to get these guys up to speed that a lot of, I tend to think these guys like Queen and Louvo and Brooks, they're just coming into their prime. They had some major ups and downs

the first couple of years because you have to learn coverage. And I think they will start getting paid in this market. I really struggled with where to put them. Frankie Louvo to me every time you watch the Panthers

he's doing something and he's like the kind of perfect free agent pick up for me because it's like you're not going to have to blow

the market to get him but he's going to be productive we got to be do you have any concern because Patrick

Queen I thought was underwhelming for big chunks of his time then wrote the Ravens they didn't pick up

your option but Smith comes in and completely transformed very queen's space on the field so if you go

and is that kind of like a classic he's going to get a ton of money and then he doesn't shine the way you'd. Very possibly. Unless it's Mike McDonald and Seattle giving it to him and I would just like

trust him, I don't feel good about that ranking and that feeling because I don't like how these rankings often and teams pay just off the contract year instead of looking at the full four years, you know what I mean? Or the average year that they have. And he's someone who's definitely like peaking

at the right time. And I give it up to him because he really did have a good year, even if he didn't get to 10 sacks. But Jadaven Clowney is another guy with With Patrick Queen, yeah, the Mike McDonald effect. Like he was a perfect scheme deployed the right way and you saw their games jump up. Would that take place with a different team?

It is fun to rank, like, see where Clowney's ranking. Every year, it just gets like a little bit lower. Even though he had a great year, he's now 41. He's right next to Levante, David. He's the perfect like Levante David. He might set the record. One year of good value. Yeah.

Like how, I'm sure someone's tracking this. Like what player, non-special teams, has the most one-year contracts. He's got to be up to about five now. Yeah, Sue had a bunch in a row at the end of his career. I think a similar type of player. And there's a lot of players like that

that are like, wow, they could really help you. But it's just like, just give them one year. And you'll help your team this year. Like a... Wait, one more linebacker. Go ahead. One more linebacker. You didn't mention there.

I don't think you did. Was Levante David. Yes. Who's up there in years, but obviously is one of the great linebackers. in Buck's history. He could still great cover linebacker, which is so important. Obviously,

even with his age, he has all the instincts still. There is a very real world where the Bucks don't have Levanté, David, or Mike Evans on the field in September. Like, that's pretty wild. They're finally kind of turning the page into a new era in Bucks football.

And Devin White, who, you know, when you think of that, that Super Bowl team, he made the All-Pro team back then, and he was almost on his way. It felt like to becoming a superstar. And White, yes. And I have him ranked really low because he just seems like he drives the coaches there crazy. And I think it'll be. There's some controversy last year.

Yes, last couple of years really. And I tend to think they will keep Levante, David, as they did a year ago. He was a free agent a year ago. And that'll say a lot that they're happy to just let Devin White go. You mentioned Clowny. That is one position where it's like, man, there's a lot of good defensive line. defensive end, defensive lineman available. If you need like 500 quality snaps out of interior or defensive end,

that's, I think, where the sweet spot is in free agency. I love some of these guys, like Andrew Van Ginkle. I really like Van Ginkle. He's great. He'd be a good signing. Like, you know, like, I thought Zedarius Smith was a huge difference maker across from Miles Garrett and Cleveland. And if you go back, if you're the Browns and you don't resign him

and you don't find someone to go do that same thing, that defense is completely Mark. But you can't, that's a good thing for a team like them. Like, you can find someone, whether it's... There's a lot of option. Him or it's like a Leonard Floyd. Clayish Cam. DJ Wanham was an okay player for Minnesota.

Like, there are players. Your guy, Bryce Huff, I think, is going to be an interesting guy to watch. I struggled with where to put him because all he does is win. His past, like, past win rate is like godlike. And he pops off the screen, too. He just is so explosive. Yet, you know, he never earned the full trust to get, like, you know, 50 snaps a game.

I'm not sure why that is, but I think he's going to make a lot of money. So they didn't, because he's young. Based on the playing time, the jet staff didn't trust him against the run. So if he is somebody that's limited in that, in that respect and that doesn't develop, then you're paying for like, just a pure pass rusher and how much money does he get? Like he is a guy, I fear, because they made the mistake I thought of taking Will McDonald last year when they had so much debt. depth at defensive line.

And now they're probably going to let Huff walk because they have this first round pick that they need to develop. A team could get a guy that's like an 18-sac guy. And if he develops in the other end of the game, he's an all pro. So I think he's a guy. Like, give me a chance on Huff if I'm a team out there more than pay big money for Chase Young, who a little bit maybe of issues with motor and the health issues with the surgery.

Like, give me a guy with upside. I think West used to talk about that with. fantasy sports a lot, and probably maybe it holds for this. Like, give me the upside shot of a guy being a real stud rather than kind of paying a premium for a guy that has a much lower floor. And the Jets are not

in great cap situation at the moment either. So it's like, how would they value the Huff thing? Right. Jonathan Gernard is another guy who get paid a lot of money off the edge. There's a lot of different options there. You mentioned Wes, see, the Jacoby Brissette thing, this is where I need, West. You asked how long have I been

doing it. I did it for a few years before. we're coming here, one year without West here. And then, you know, we would have our battles. We would have our two lists. We would bring them together. I still got some of those lists from Wes saved on my, you know, laptop and my Google Docs and everything.

And he would know I would like Jacoby too much. So then he would purposely rank him even lower than he wanted to to even it out. And I can't argue with the checks and balances are... I'll never forget the James... He was founded on that. The James Winston, Marcus Mariotta battles between West. I'm not sure who won that. We both lost in the end, I think. The listeners

lost. According to your rankings, he's one of the top free agents out there. He is 90th or something. I stand on the hill, and Ryan Tanna Hill's there too, that a backup quarterback is worth a lot. It's worth maybe more than a replacement level safety or like a rotational linebacker. And I think they're underpaid. So that's, I rank them that way. That to me, they're more important. I struggled with where to put Minchu, where to put Josh Dobbs. There's actually... Minchu is low. Minchu's a little low.

He's just reliable. I mean, like, he's a... One guy's a knucklehead and a career loser and one guy who stepped in and did a nice job last year. Why? How could they be so different? They're not. They're right next to each other on the list. But why is the guy that really stepped in and did well last year behind the guy that

went into victory formation and called a touchdown run? I'm not, I'm not knocking him for the touchdown run. Minchu, I think if you peek behind the... He actually finished the season playing well, but I don't think he was playing that well most of that. He was fine. He was okay. James has been a productive player, is still relatively young.

I think he's more talented. They're close, though. But if you need a backup, though, there's a million flavors. James, Dobbs was out there who's probably going to end up on the 101 once the tags happen because he's right outside. Tyrod actually played pretty well.

Darnold's out there. Mason Rudolph's out there. Drew Locke's out there. There's like kind of a million of those of those love. Is Tannahill, too. good to be a backup. I mean, does he take a starter's job away if there's issues? I mean, I kind of liked him. Maybe I overrated.

I think he's like the baker of this year where he's going to sign somewhere where he is a chance. I would have had him wait. I did a list earlier in August, like before the season. And he was so much higher. So was one of his old teammates, Christian Fulton, who was in my top 20. And

his play this year spooked me a little bit. I'm like, oh yeah, this guy is 36 years old. And he gets sacked a lot. He had a moment. Well, but behind a terrible offensive line with a lack of skilled positions Absolutely, but I just started to think,

okay, maybe he's reaching that Matt Ryan part of the career. Not everyone's going to be Aaron Rogers before this year and playing so great at 37, 30. I'd still, if I were Pittsburgh and I know that they've got their whatever they're doing over there, but like you just pick up Tanna Hill pairing with Arthur Smith and there you go. Right.

Why not? I mean, do more. Well, do more also, but I'm saying, they'll do nothing route it's like there's a ton of options here by the way a lot of listeners reached out about the summer what is a summer in a day uh the ray bradbury uh tail about the poor girl locked in the closet and now all pittsburgh fans locked in that closet wanting to be let out to see the sunshine you really connected with the with the listener they really did i have to think about the entire story again to even understand why this applies to the steelers

because she used to be on Earth and she saw the sun regularly. That was like the peak big Ben. Yeah. She knew what it looked like to see an exciting offense in Pittsburgh. And now she's in this other world, planet.

Who are the other girls locking the Steelers in the closet? The GM. Okay. The Steelers themselves. The girls, the Steelers fan essentially or the football viewer. Yeah. What, Randy?

Sorry, I'm sorry. That was an accent. No, don't tell us that. I just liked it. It was a good condo. So let us say, you know, Mason Rudolph probably is holding that door closed. Yeah, sure. I'm sure he has a role in it.

Venus is closer to the sun. That's all I don't get the, I can't see the sun. I'll take it up with the estate of Ray Bradbury. He passed away in 2000. I mean, he had a firm grasp on science fiction, so I'm not going to go nuts with it. But one of the things you notice doing this exercise is what teams pop up a lot early in this list. And for such a terrible roster, I was like, man, a lot of the Patriots best players are free agents. now. They are in a tough spot. Kyle Dugger is a top 25 player on this list. There's some

I'm a little lower in him than some others, but I still like him. He's a big playmaker. On Wen You is one of the best offensive linemen on list. Trent Brown is one of the best offensive linemen on this. Hunter Henry is my number two tight end on this list, but behind Dulton Schultz, it's like, this is a bad roster that's about to get work. You could see every one of those players going somewhere else. I kind of do think they all were. Maybe Dugger, I don't even know. We need to come up with a list of overly familiar free agency 101 names. It would have like Hunter Henry, Curtis Samuel. I like Curtis Samuel. I'm not saying they're bad players, but I feel like we're always talking about these guys. Leonard Williams is now

become a somewhat regular. I do wonder with New England because they got the second most cap room in the league. Like new leadership, what do you do there? Like are you going to spend the market? I hope you need to. I have a feeling Robert Kraft has has this story. line in his head in New England that he doesn't spend money. I'm sorry, is this the rainfall sound effect? Yeah. He talked about not seeing the sun, so I was looking for rain. I don't like that

we have to make him explain every time. I like it, though. I just like having random sounds beneath this. Thank you. Thank you for that. You're doing great, fun. Anything else? I want to say the 101, number 101. Oh, yeah.

I did want to talk about this. I really debated it. I love it. I was thinking I like it this year. This is not a final list either. So you guys can have some influence if you want. Michael Thomas is the choice right now. I mean, this is the guy that does he hold the all-time single season catch record still?

Feels like four years, 4,000 years ago. It feels that way. I think it was 2019. He was the offensive player of the year. A lot of injuries finally stayed somewhat healthy last year and no longer the guy. But as a 101, as a 101?

A little bit of a like locker room. Menace? Yeah. I mean, more than a little bit. Caused some issues, I believe. Nothing too serious. He has spent a decent amount of this offseason. I've held back on bringing it up on the show.

Burying Derrick Carr again. Like, it's happened more. That was now a month ago, but he made it very clear. To the point, Derrick Carr, like, had to respond while, like, doing some sponsor obligation in New Orleans and just said, I want the best for Mike. I don't know, you know, why he's doing this more or less. So whoever gets Michael Thomas, you better hope that he likes your quarterback. But he's like, for instance, I know this isn't how you do the 101 because there's a little, like with Twitter and the lack of punctuation,

a little winking nod to the whole thing. Yes. You need to find someone in that ballbert. Tart. That wouldn't move the needle necessarily. It should have been James. Okay, so I thought about Minchu. I thought about, but I wanted Minchu a little higher unless he's gotten down a lot.

James would have been much better. Wasn't Gino 101 one year? Gino was 101, which in hindsight, way too low, way too low. How mad were you going to put Teddy Bridgewater on this list? this year. How mad did it mean? It was sad, but he's helping the youth of America. I thought Josh Dobbs would be a fun 101,

but I tend to do that where it's always some like out of you know, kind of left field quarterback. And I thought Michael Thomas was a nice change of paint. We can't have Austin Echler at 92. I understand. Why? That's so low. He's almost off the list

Greg. Well, he won't be seen. All right. I did not check this. Out of curiosity, I'm going to check one of your competitors. I won't say what it is. That seems, I feel like Wes would push back on that. What is Echler giving you right now that Devin Singletary isn't, who's not on the list, for instance? He's maybe the best pass catching running back in the league outside of McCaffrey.

And I know he didn't look great last year, but maybe he was beat up. I mean, 92. I have a list from a metric site that we mentioned previously. He's at 56. Okay. On their list. I live with that. I could live with 56.

Like where do you have? His comp is Dion Lewis. Where is, where's Josh Jacobs on your list? He's like in 32 or something? He had average three and a half yards of carry last year. Got more juice, moves better. He did get better after McDaniels left. And then he got hurt again.

Echler's had a lot of wear and tear on a relatively small body and just... I'm going to tell Matt Harmon about this. I'm using my... I'm telling Harmon. There you go. Right now. I do a show together. It's some of those plays that you called out, Dan, during the season.

Yeah, the piano on his back. The lack of explosiveness With a running back, I found You don't want to chase him He had a goddamn piano on his back You got to take that With running backs, you don't want to chase The rebound at age 29

I think it's a sensible contract It's safer to just be like, okay I wouldn't mind him in like a committee situation. Two years of the club option And maybe he was dealing with things And he comes back rejuvenated I just think that's Almost off the 101 seems extreme.

I'll move him up a little bit. literally like 40 touchdowns the previous two years. Didn't have any season career derailing injury. All right. I might move him up at six spots. Just do me this favor. Packers guard John Runyon and Jet Safety Jordan Whitehead. It is really annoying.

Whitehead has a nose for the football. These guards. They've got to keep them behind Whitehead. Ranking these guards because like finding out who likes what guards or what the league like and just like pretending I really have a hot take on John Simpson, who's in my top 50. and Lloyd Cushenberry, who's a nice young center, but it's like,

you guys are fine with 101. You're fine with Michael Thomas, I guess. Yes, no, it's a good one. It's actually kind of hurting his value because in the end, with players getting taken off and added, like, it'll be like the,

he should be like 80. If you want my real thing, I would put him in the 80s and put James at 101, but we're not going to fight that battle. James isn't a fun 101. Michael Thomas is fun. Okay.

You know what I did this year? Yes. I made sure to check that free agent kicker list and have respect. for the position. And I realized quite an underrated kicker is worthy.

He's in my top 90, Kaiami Fairband. Shout out to Oh yeah, he belonged. Kiami Fairbent. Maybe he should be even higher. Where do you have him? He's like in the top 90.

What about Lutz? He just got cut a year ago. If you've been annoying as a kicker within a year, then I, you don't make the top 100. But Kyami Fairbant has been awesome in the last two years. I feel like he deserves it.

Greg the Legg-Zerlind was a monster this past year. I didn't realize he's a free agency. He's a free agency. You got to lock him up. We've got to tag his ass. Yeah, they probably will give Fair Round a nice little deal. Big Bone Randy's out there. Dicker the Kicker?

He is not. He would have been, I honestly would have put Dicker the kicker in the top 50 or something, but he's one of those fake exclusive rights. Oh, yeah, yeah. He has no actual bargaining. All right. else, Greg. I think you did an excellent job. Thank you. Minor quibbles overall.

Certainly it's going to seem incomplete when compared to the free agency 213, but honestly that's just, that's not even your fault. That's more our ambition towering over all rivals. And we, you know, according to our plan, we need to probably get to work in the next hour or two on that.

Oh, send the bots. I don't know what you do. Send the bots to work. You know, scheduling note, we're not scheduled to be back till Tuesday. There'll be NFL Combine. We'll be talking about all those press conference, but you guys have a long weekend in front of you of just in the lab,

watching tape, working on these. It's a couple drop downs and then an enter click. And then we go get a couple beers and we come back and most of the work's done. AI, quite frankly. Beautiful. Yeah. That's how it works, I think. Well, it's going to work fine. Does it comb, does it literally combed through

the internet and grab bits and pieces of everyone else's alerts? I mean, it will probably grab some of Gregs. So that's what we're going to have to be careful of. Well, we'll replace some of the more obvious bits of plagiarism with a little Sessler player. I love it. I would like thank you, Randy. I would like to see an AI

try to generate an average Mark Sessler post. Like I said, it's been happening for years. We're going to supplement the AI with some Sesslerisms. Really just to sneak it past editorial too. A couple key words and they believe that we've done

all the work. I come in with a happy Gilmore reference everyone in a while. Dan's back to his old tricks. It's like, hey, What about live? Like, they really bang themselves by calling themselves live before the internet. You know, I make a couple like Logan Roy references here and there. Send. Glory.

Glory is ours. All right, Randy, you did a nice job. Who's the Kendall Roy of the free agency list? It's a good one to think about. All right, Randy, get back to us in exactly one week. Thank you for filling in. My pleasure. All right, till Monday.

until Tuesday. Tuesday. He'd the call. This is an I-Heart podcast.