NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Vita Vea Trade Request, Baker's Dilemma and All-Under-25 Team

Episode Date: July 28, 2026

Gregg Rosenthal and Nick Shook get you caught up on news from around the NFL including Vita Vea requesting a trade from the Buccaneers and Baker Mayfield playing next season without a new contract with the team. Also, Gregg and Nick react to the Eagles giving Jalen Carter a new contract and reveal Shook's All-Under-25 team!NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. There's no shortcut for saving time, but saving money is simple. Just combine your car and home insurance with Bel Air Direct and save. Get a quote at bellair direct.com. Welcome to NFL Daily, where we're a long way away from being eligible for the all under 25 team. I'm Greg Rosenthal. I'm with a man who's well over 25 as well.

It's Nick Shook. He wrote the article we're going to be talking about a live. later, but not before we get to some news. First day, teams are all showing up to training camp, and like, as we're taping, more and more news is popping like the Jalen Carter contract just now. Yeah, you know, teams, players show up, contracts get done, apparently, when you need a little face time just to get the pen on the paper. I don't know what it is, but it's flying left and right. And you know what, Greg, you're right about the all under 25. As I get older, I just think, God, I'm thinking of myself in athlete years, and I'm close to retirement.

in an athlete years. That's rough. That's a rough admission. It is eye-opening when you realize, yeah, you're older than almost everyone you're quote-unquote covering. So you're almost there, shook. I'm proud of you. You really know you're old when you start calling like professional athletes' kids if

they're in their young 20s. That's what they seem like to me. Yeah. Let's talk about the bucks first. So I will get to that Jalen Carter contract extension. We have some news. And like I mentioned, we're going to talk about Shook's all under 25 team. It is an amazing list to be on.

All the players want to be on. It's highly coveted. And he had his big list out on NFL.com. But we'll start with the Bucks who had two big items of news. Vita Vaya has requested a trade. And Baker Mayfield has showed up to training camp with the news that he will no longer negotiate a contract and he will be a free agent after the year. Have thoughts on that one.

but let's start with the Vita Vaya news because it was more surprising. I think there's a real chance he ends up back with the bucks and that this is just negotiating, Nick. Let's start with the odds that you think Vita Vaya could actually get traded. Oh, God. I mean, I think it's less than like 50% possible. Okay. Just because I don't think that he's, it's not that he's not an,

excellent player because he is, but you have to consider age with this and contract demands. He's 31 years old. It's going to be hard to find a partner that is going to be willing to give up the capital necessary to acquire Vita Vaya that the Buccaneers will demand without considering his age. And then also there's the idea of you acquire him to then extend him and he's going to want money that mirrors his production. That's where it gets weird is because he was a rookie in 2018, which is crazy because it feels like just yesterday I was listening to him talk at the combine, but that's how quickly time

goes and how fast these things can change. So I think that you're right. They do come to terms on an agreement eventually. I don't think it lands near the money that he wants, though. There's going to be, it could be a drawn-out process. And the weird thing about this is that he's going to be at training camp. They don't know about his participation yet. I anticipate a hold in. We'll see how long that goes on and whether that forces either side's hand. But I don't think that, I think it's going to take a lot of negotiating a lot more than has happened so far, which led to this trade request. And it's a really weird time for Jason Light, the general minister. or the Buccaneers.

It is really tricky between this one and the Baker-Mayfield contract because I think they're both complicated. I would put the over under if I had been setting it for you, like around 35%, which is actually high in my mind. I think there's a legitimate chance he could get traded. I think the most likely outcome, the one that makes the most sense for the bucks, as long as Vita Vaya was okay for it with it, would be to get a big one-year raise. and they just make him happy by making him a top five to eight top defensive tackle for money this year.

Is that enough to get him into the building and just happy? And they're not worrying about the long term of it all. I put it as high as 30% though, because I think the bucks don't want to give him a big contract. He is older than most people that were drafted back in 2018. He was an old prospect. He's a very unique player. who I really respected, did a list on his substack. People should check that out, Audibles and Analytics.

He had him as the number 12 defensive tackle. That feels about right where he lands. Like he gives you pass rush that most guys that strong don't. But he's not Peaked Exter Lawrence. He's not Jalen Carter. You know, he's not Jeffrey Simmons. You know, Jalen Carter we're going to get to is making $34 million a year on his extension. And Vita Bay is an 18.

So I could see him getting a big raise. he's also a type of player that it's just tricky. Body size, how much he's actually on the field. Do you want to be paying huge money for his age 32 that's next season, age 33 season? Maybe, but it's all about like where the guarantees would be. And yet, if you're Vita Vaya and you're like, if I hit free agency, if, for instance, I have to write about it, I'm now going from his voice to my voice. I'm now Greg Rosenthal, if I have to write about it. Like some team, like Tyler Linderom got $28 million.

Like Vita Vail would make an insane amount of money if he actually got out there. And so it's complicated. It's complicated. You don't think so. I'm not sure because we're in this weird place now where veteran detackles, I think are valued more than they've been over the last decade. I think about guys like, I use the Browns as an example because they were plugging their defensive interior with veterans for years. It was Sheldon Richardson.

More recently, it was Malik Collins and Shelby Harris. and they do still carry value, both of the experience in production, if you can marry the two and prove that that's still within a player. But I'm glad that you brought up the Dexter Lawrence and the connection to the Bengals

because I think that this actually could mirror what happened with Trey Hendrickson in the Bengals last year, which is that they gave him that one-year raise and they basically agreed after this were done. I like that that is your projection, is that could be the possible outcome of just a hefty one-year raise

and a new part-year ways. Because let's think about it. At 32 years old, you might cash in with a team that's desperate for defensive interior, help that believes that they can win now, but that market's going to be a lot smaller. So it's a very, very precarious situation for Vita Vaya to be in, but I also understand because if you look at him versus the rest of the market, he's pretty far down the list. He's behind

Cam Hayward. He's just slightly ahead of Ed Oliver. He's behind Christian Barmore, Kenny Clark, Leonard Williams. In terms of APY, way at the top is Jeff Simmons at 35.2. We got Vita Vaya at 17.7. So he's not going to double it, but he's got to climb a little bit based on his production. I don't think the Buccaneers are necessarily going to be the team willing to do that over multiple years. Right. Milton Williams got about 26 per year last year. Would he be asking for something around then? Are the Bucks at all worried about the fan base? He's beloved. They just lost Mike Evans, the most beloved player on the roster. Their quarterback is entering a free agent year. Vita Vaya is now probably the most beloved player on the roster. It's actually a relatively young team. And he is

still productive. He tied with Byron Murphy for the most pressures last season of anyone from a zero one or two technique, which is, you know, about how far you are and what gap you're in compared to the ball, basically a gap or right over the nose. He was second and double teams faced. That's partly because of the position that he plays, but he's unique. And if he's declined, I think it's only, you know, by a little. He's kind of a one of one. And so it's tricky. And why I, give it as high as 30, 35%. Like, yeah, it sounds like a lot. You got to pay them the money and give up.

What I would imagine would be a second round pick. I think that might get it done. I don't think a third should get that done. I mean, we just saw like Trent McDuffie go for a lot. Like Hendrickson, the original Max Crosby trade, the Dexter Lawrence trade, what Miles Garrett is. I know Vita Bay is not at this level, but, you know, Odigy-Zuo is one that's a little lower for a third, but like people are giving up picks.

People are just doing things. And there is a lot of cap room. out there. And so there was a report that he wanted to play for a West Coast team, California. His former GM is with the Raiders. To me, that makes no sense. Why would they do that? You know who has the most cap space in the NFL right now? It sort of doesn't make sense to me. It's the San Francisco 40-hams. How about Vita Vaya? Just how about him adding to that group? Give up another traffic. This team's old anyways. You have so much cap space. Like a team that's trying to win like that, could it be at arms race, you know, in the NFC West? That would be fun.

Yeah, I think that would be very exciting for 49ers fans that are looking for reasons to, you know, I mean, they're already excited based on what the team did last year and then they think, well, we're going to be healthy this year, so they're going to have a better chance. It would be another thorn or another, you know, twist of the knife and Buccaneers fans, hearts if they were to lose Mike Evans to the Niners and then trade Vita Vea to the Niners. And just kind of make this whole thing. It's funny because I got a text from one of my closest friends who was a diehard Buccaneers fan going way back to when we were, you know, kids. We met in high school. and he just texted me out of nowhere, this bucks blow up and rebuild is going to be legendary, L.O.L.

Basically him coping with the idea that more of his favorite players are going to be gone soon. That's a good transition to Baker Mayfield, who showed up to camp, and according to Greg Alman of Fox Sports, who was a longtime beat writer there too,

said he showed up with the intention that contract talks are over, that they maybe never even really happened, and Baker Mayfield doesn't want the distraction. ESPN said earlier this week, Jeremy Fowler, that Baker Mayfield was comfortable.

You know, if they had to use the franchise tag on him next year, he would be comfortable with that. And that would be, you know, upwards of 45, close to $50 million a year if they had to tag them. It makes sense for both sides, really,

but especially the Buccaneers. And yet, Baker Mayfield on a prove-it contract year has some recipe to be chaotic in maybe a good way for us as podcasters, but maybe not the best if you're a Bucks fan. Yeah, I don't know if you saw Netflix's new quarterback season this year. I have, yeah. Baker, one of them.

I almost feel like he came to the realization that, hey, maybe trying to play through every injury to give my team the best chance of success and also to be stubborn because I refuse to go off the field is not the best move for me. Like he reflected on him, you know, suffering his shoulder injury, with the Browns and it kind of derailing his time there. And then he experiences a similar thing with the Buccaneers this past season as part of their late season meltdown. And now he's going to go into a contract year in which, you know, he's going to have to

prove to them that he's worthy of another extension. But it's funny because I don't really necessarily think that he, like, I think he's earned more than that in his time with the Buccaneers. Like, let's think about where they were as a franchise. Post Tom Brady, they had no idea where they were going. Oh, Baker Mayfield happens to be out there needs a job. let's take a flyer on him. He succeeds.

Let's give him a three-year extension because we still really don't fully believe in him, but we believe in him enough to give him a three-year extension. It's almost like he still is never going to earn the trust of this front office that he needs to to really get this contract that he desires. And it feels as if he is aware of that at this point and it's going to take that, put the chip on his shoulder, and make it even bigger than it already is,

and say, fine, I'll just go prove to you that I'm worth all the money this year. But is he going to risk it by playing through a potential another injury if he were to get injured again? obviously you don't want any players to get hurt, but it's like there's a weird balance between the two of like contract year, stubborn, got to prove my point, but also have experienced in recent years that playing through injury is not the best. So it's going to be one of those things that we're going to monitor week by week throughout this season because he's got the most to lose this year. He also has a lot to gain. And he's also one of the streakiest quarterbacks in the NFL.

Right. The streakiness, you hit it there, the pressure of it all. Like it could be electric. you know, Joe Flacco's Super Bowl run and him finishing on the NFL network desk and literally saying like, well, that contract's going to be expensive after he won the Super Bowl and the owner having to fork over the biggest contract over.

It's high variance, and yet when I watch that, Baker comes across as very likable, much more mature. I have a lot of thoughts on that quarterback. I think I haven't been able to finish it the first couple times because I just found it boring

the first two seasons. I thought this season was easily the best one because Jaden Daniels was probably the only one to me that wasn't ultra compelling, but Flacco Baker and especially Cam Ward were all really dynamic in different ways. Cam Ward was incredible.

But it got me thinking about Baker of like man, his career outcome it could have been it could have been different worse in a lot of different ways. Like he's really carved out like a pretty incredible career and even when he's going through all these injuries and he's drinking beers

at the New York City Marathon and he's just, he's not a big guy. You do wonder how he's going to age a little bit. Like, have we already seen the peak of Baker Mayfield? I feel like that's possible. I could, he could have another big season or two. Like, it's certainly possible, but he hasn't won with overwhelming physical skills.

He's an extremely accurate quarterback with a great arm. Don't get me wrong. Like, he's very athletic. And sneaky mobile, too. Like, but he is streaky. The whole chip. on his shoulder, like, cliche in the mentality does seem like it really does matter for him a lot. And, like, those players are volatile.

And, like, he's had a volatile career. So you do wonder if, like, you know, the bucks are a little worried about it. I'm going to go out on the limb here. And I think you're right. Because they worry, like, well, his style of play, his build, is it really the long-term success that we're looking for in a quarterback, especially as he's 30 years old now, which, again, reminds me of my age. 31.

31. Okay. Even worse. How about this for a career ender, like an ending arc? This is a bit of a reach, and I understand this, because they're not the same quarterback, but I do see some similarities. Do you remember John Elway's physical state

in his last like three to four years in the NFL? Yes, one of the most physically dominant quarterbacks of all time. Yes. I hear what you're saying. But age hit him pretty hard. Now, we all remember the helicopter hit in the Super Bowl and everything else. That was one of his defining moments of his career and everything else.

If you shrunk that down in terms of timeline and then reduce the overall athletic ability, you could maybe find a comparison between the two. So it could drop off a lot sharper and it could be a bad situation for them. So I understand they're hesitance. Baker just looks like a normal dude a lot of the time, which is...

Yes, he's not built like that one was, no. For an NFL player. I mentioned the Jalen Carter contract. We'll move on from Baker because we'll be talking about him plenty, but just a lot on the line. By the way, free agents next year. I've already started looking, you know, talk about a guy who would be excited to hit the free agent market.

I mean, he would get a good contract. Him and Kyler Murray right now are the class of the potential free agents. Mack Jones, Kirk, Cousins, you know, Tua, like it's not great. It's basically him and Kyler at the top. So great quarterbacks don't get to free agency. Great defensive tackles don't either. Jalen Carter didn't even get to the second to last year of his rookie contract because they had already put a fifth year option on.

And so what they did on Tuesday is they extended him four years, which means it's a total six-year contract. The extension part of it is four years, $152 million with $106 million guaranteed. So topping $100 million guaranteed is big time. The next three years, essentially knowing that, are going to be locked up. That said, he gives up his control for six years. If you tack on the years that we're already on his contract, it's more like a six for 180,

then it's 31 per year. And more importantly, like the percentage of the cap is going to go down and down and down as you go. My takeaway when the contract is this long for such a young player is the Eagles will have Jalen Carter on their roster as long as they want to for the rest of his career. He is giving up that control.

If he has a Hall of Fame caliber, all-pro type of career, he's going to be an eagle until he's ineffective. And that's what you give up when you when you take this much guaranteed money, this long on contract, and it makes a lot of sense for both sides.

Yeah, it does. I felt like this was, this is obviously the big question mark that was next on Howie Roseman's agenda when it came to, who is he going to extend next that are these key pieces? And I know that there had been

some chatter that maybe they weren't long for each other, but anybody who's got a working pair of eyes and understands football knows how important he is to this team. Anybody who watched this defense play last year when they didn't have him knows how important he is to this team. And so if you try to go through his accolades real quick and contextualize all this,

you're like, well, he wasn't an all pro last year. Yeah, he played 11 games, got himself tossed from the first game of the season before it even started. Was a little up and down. Was a little up and down. He was a little up and down. He was a little up and down his whole career, though, to be honest. Yes.

Don't you think? The splash plays are so big that they justify the lulls. And we can always go back to their run to the Super Bowl two seasons ago as a concrete example of how important he is to that team on that, you know, fantastic defensive front that they have. So while you keep key guys like this on your team and continue to try to retool around them, you're following the chief's method to a degree, but in the Howie-Rosman fashion, this makes a lot of sense. This is money that's well-deserved. And as long as he can stay healthy, he'll probably prove that he's worth it. And like you said, as the years go on, the cap continues to increase,

it's going to be more and more team-friendly. Where does it place him? You said it was 160 over 60-1-80- You know, the way that Schepter frames it, in the agents Drew Rosenhaus, who he cites. So it's to make the agent look better. Carter is the highest paid defensive tackle by about $3 million over Jeffrey Simmons, who's $3 million over Chris Jones, Dexter Lawrence, and Milton Williams last.

But that's only counting the extension money. I'd have to go into how their deals work with the extension. But either way, even on average for the six years, he's over $30 million. We are now at that point where defensive linemen are making quarterback money. Okay.

Jalen Carter is making quarterback. money and he's making it next to Jordan Davis who just got a big extension too. So this is a team that pays their defensive linemen and this might be a pretty direct result of them not being able to

keep Jalen Phillips like maybe there is more money in the cookie jar this off season instead of putting it off another year before they played paid Carter. Yeah if you take their APYs per year and the two extensions of their sign with their defensive interior which I think is important, especially when they're healthy, because it's the best defensive interior duo I think in

the NFL when they're healthy. Fifty-six million dedicated per year to those two guys. That's a lot of money. That's a lot of money. Who is next to Fletcher Cox all those years? I feel like they had a great, a good defensive tackle duo. But yeah, he has paid a lot of defensive linemen over the years. And it's a position that usually you aren't at your best the first two or three years. Just physically, it is just hard to hold up. So the fact, Jordan Davis, we've seen like dramatic improvement.

So they're betty on Jalen Carter getting even better. And when I say he's up and down, what I mean is that for entire games, for entire week stretches at a time, he looks like the best defensive player in the NFL. Like, he's right there with like Miles Garrett.

Like he is that dominant a player for like a game or two at a time. And then he just, he gets a little quiet. And maybe you don't, you don't see it like on an every snap basis in the same way the great grades like a Miles Garrett do game after game.

But he'll be paid like a great. You know who was a great back in the day? Upcoming Hall of Famer. Luke Keekly, going to be inducted into Canton. You'll be there. Is that only a week away? Is that right? Yeah, the Hall of Fame games next week.

Nine days. Crazy. He is going in as a linebacker, and it's a big Luke Keekley year. Not only was he on NFL Daily at some point. Maybe that was last year. He's going to be the number one analyst for Netflix football. I don't know if you're aware of this.

I'm throwing this into the news rundown. Lou Kikli is going to be their first number one analyst. Before they were kind of like rotating guys that worked elsewhere, but he's going to be like the dedicated Netflix guy on all the big Netflix games. So the second game of the season is Noah Eagle, who's usually with NBC, and it is an NBC production. It's a little confusing on Netflix. But Kikley gets a big spot in Australia.

with the Rams and the 49ers. So NFL Daily has long been established as a fan of alternate broadcasts, you know, especially on primetime games. And Luke Keekley sees the spotlight in the alternate broadcast space last year with ESPN. Specifically, it was the Colts primetime game, Philip Rivers' first start against,

I believe, the 49ers, right? Where Keekley is doing the Tony Romo but doing it a million times better, which is that he's essentially telling you what's going to happen on the field, doing it with less words, and doing it more clearly and without the whole rise and fall of energy

that often accompanies Tony Romo and just showing his expertise and how he made himself into one of the best players in the NFL during his time which guys would often recall stories in which he would be calling their plays out before the snap because he knew what was coming and then would go make the tackle.

Now he brings that to the broadcast booth. He was excellent in that ESPN broadcast on that primetime night and he's going to be excellent in this job. It's a well-deserved opportunity for Luke Keekely. I'm looking forward to it. You know, I've interviewed him.

I've seen him in interviews over the years. He's so low-key and calm. I was like, does he have the juice to be like a broadcaster type? That's the key, though. You don't have to have the juice and be screaming into the microphone. You got to have a little, though. There's like a balance. You can't have no juice at all.

And I think that that will come. But what he's going to be able to do is educate the average viewer on a platform that has lacked that voice in their, Still, you know, it's like the nascent era of Netflix streaming NFL games. I think that's going to be so valuable that he's going to be a fan favorite among anybody who's curious about the game of football. No, all I mean is you've got to speak authoritatively. It's not like you have to scream or anything like that.

And for all I know, like he already is and can and does. And I'm really looking forward to it. They said he had great chemistry with Noah Eagle. That was Andrew Marchan in the athletic with that report. And he's been doing radio for the Panthers. It's not like I've been listening to the radio broadcast of the Panthers. So that is great practice. of like learning your craft.

Let's pivot to the Kyle Shanahan news, which we talked about on Monday in terms of his car accident. I did just want to update. He has been showing up to practice on a very limited basis. He's still coming off of that concussion. And we'll see when he's back fully. Grant Cohn of Sports Illustrated.com, who covers the 49ers, found a public records report

that said Kyle Shanahan reportedly had a cell phone in his hand at the time of the accident, but the officers made no charges because it was the victim who he crashed into that actually went over the median into his side and crashed, and they determined afterwards that no one was at fault. So that is the official police vantage point of the Kyle Shanahan accident. And I don't think that there's going to be much more on that. And we just hope that Kyle Shanahan is ready. And eventually, obviously, he'll answer questions about the accident and about his recovery when he's back and good enough to be in front of a microphone.

The Vikings signed Jamal Adams. Remember Jamal Adams was in the league last year on the Raiders? Yes. The Vikings also suspended their defensive backs coach, Gerald Alexander, for three weeks, for a DUI. This is the second DUI from a position coach. in as many days. When it came to the commanders,

their coach, Gerald Alexander, was suspended for three weeks. And then I'm just going to run through some news really quick before we get to your all under 25 team. When it comes to Pup lists, you tell me what stands out to you off of this list that I give you. Devon A-chan, not on the Pup list. We'll be ready to practice tomorrow.

And if you're just tuning in, six teams have been practicing. Now the Panthers and Cardinals for about a week. the Seahawks, the Patriots, the 49ers, the Rams now for about three days. So we've had these practice reports. Every other team was showing up on Tuesday and we'll start practicing on Wednesday. So that's why we got a lot of Puplist information and more will be coming tomorrow. Devon A. Chan of the Dolphins will be ready to practice tomorrow on some basis.

DeForest Buckner, the defensive tackle for the Colts, was cleared to return from a neck injury, will not be on the Puplist, we'll be practicing. His teammate Alec Pierce will be on the Puplis. He is at least a week or two away from any level of practice, according to the GM, Chris Ballard. Tucker Kraft, no surprise coming off at Torn ACL is on the Pupplist. And Jalen Ramsey is going to be out for a few weeks with an injury we didn't know about for the Pittsburgh Steelers. What stands out to you for those injury updates to start camp? Probably Ramsey, given his age and importance to the Steelers defense as kind of a star.

not, you know, he's a little bit of a safety slash slot corner type of guy at this point in his career. Not encouraging, but they're also not too worried about it. That's probably what stands out to me the most. Good news for A-chan because he's going to have to carry that offense this year in Miami. Right. It's nice for him to hit the ground running. That's about it. As we're taping this, by the way, more contracts are happening.

The Vikings signed tackle Brian O'Neill to a four-year $96 million contract extension. That's too bad. I've been working on my top, my early. top 25 list for next year's free agent. Brian O'Neill was under consideration. An aging, you know, tackle that's had some injury issues, but rock solid, good starter when he's been out there. He's been on the Vikings forever. So we'll get into the details, at least I will, behind the scenes and just see where the contract guarantees are, but I'm sure he's going to be locked in for the next couple years. So that's good news for the Vikings, bad news for my list.

Baker Mayfield would be very good news for my list. So I hope he makes it to free agency. The Chiefs lost an edge. Ethan Downs to a torn ACL. You hate to see that early in camp. People that cover the team closely thought he was a good bet to make that team as a kind of edge-depth special teamer. So unfortunate for downs.

The Panthers keep having bad luck. The cart was out for tight end Mitchell Evans at practice on Tuesday. So we'll find out more on him. It's an ankle injury. Dave Canales didn't sound that worried, but we'll see. And then J.C. Horn, their cornerback is off.

the PUP list. That's it for the injury news. Who knows? More might happen by the time we finished taping, but we're going to take a break and then we're going to come back with some of the controversial picks on Nick Shook's all 25 and under team. Or is it under 25? It's under 25. There's no shortcut for saving time, but saving money is simple.

Just combine your car and home insurance with Bel Air Direct and save. Get a quote at bellair direct.com. Back on NFL Daily. It is contract season, Shook. You're an important part of NFL Daily. Your eyes are raised. Where is this dude going? You know, we got I-Heart.

We got NFL media. Is it out with the new responsibilities you have on the written side yet for NFL media? Big responsibility? I'm not sure that that's public yet. But you're going to be seeing me more this year. I'll tell you that. So we're working on it. We're working on making sure Nick Shook is locked in.

like Jalen Carter and making him a bigger part of the NFL Daily Universe. And I couldn't be happier. He'd be on my all under 35 team. You're still under 35, right? Yes, I'm 34. Let's go. You're playing days long past, but you are an offensive line expert. We will get to the offensive linemen in a minute. But this exercise is on NFL.com. Check it out. You can find it. Just look up shook, all under 25 team. And we start at quarterback. was easy to go with Drake Me? Yeah, you know, I understand that you could think about Caleb, you could think about Stroud,

I had to go with Drake May. The guy finished second in NFL MVP last year. He led his team to the Super Bowl. Okay. I just couldn't pick anybody else regardless of the arguments, and Jane Daniels doesn't qualify because he's not under 25. And that's the key. Under 25 by the start of the NFL season,

we had a couple of guys that missed it by mere days. Yeah, Jaden Daniels wouldn't have even been an option, but it is amazing how things change fast because I think Jaden Daniels would have been the consensus answer a year ago. Caleb Williams would definitely have been the consensus answer two years ago. And yet, I think there's a pretty big gap right now. And Caleb and Drake May both have the advantage that they were compared to a lot of these quarterbacks, drafted pretty young. So it's like, yeah, Drake May is just turned in 24, and he could still be getting better.

I like that C.J. Stroud is eligible for this list, but Jaden Daniels is not. A reminder that C.J. is still developing. At running back, it's really just deciding between the best running backs in the league. This was just kind of a reminder to me that John Robinson and Jemir Gibbs are still both under 25 entering the season. And so is Devon A. Chan, by the way, you could absolutely make the argument. That's one, two, three in the league, depending on where you have James Cook. And A. Chan's only, he's under 24, I think. like it really is something that running backs, it's unfortunate for them, but they're at their very best right away. Yeah, they are. They are and then they usually fall off a cliff that's the old

dreaded age 30 wall. Not always true for everybody, Derek Henry looking at you. Congratulations on beating the allegations of the age 30 wall. But yeah, they're usually their best right when they get the NFL because of the wear and tear that is associated with the position. But it was nice to have two running back slots so I could put Bijan and Jemir in there. Sorry. Well, that's because you're making the slots. I didn't, I don't think that's okay. I would have just had one. I'd fall in previous formats in a column that I picked up from somebody else. You're just a lemming. I know you're picking up a lot of columns these days. Yes, just send me down this path. You can do whatever you want. So if you wanted to do that, you absolutely could. And

the argument would be that Jemir Gibbs is a better player than any third receiver you could find, because your top two receivers was Jackson Smith in Jigba and Teteroa McMillan, which was cool to see on this list already. And so is Jemir Gibbs better than any third receiver? I would imagine he is. The options would have been Malik Neighbors, who's hurt, Brian Thomas Jr., who wasn't the same in his second year.

Ladd-McConkie, I guess, would be an option there. But it's crazy. When they do the top 100 reveal, I wonder how high Bejan and Jemir Gibbs are going to be, period. I mean, if you're if you're kind of taking away positional value, are they top 10 players in the NFL? Yeah, I would put them there just because of how important they are to their offenses. Like both just as three down backs.

I mean, we know that Bejohn's like the central focus of the Falcons offense, both under the previous regime and will be under this one too, because he's one of the best players in the NFL. And the same is large of the true for Jemir Gibbs, who took over that backfield and gave the lion's reason to trade away David Montgomery. But you're right, it is the process that I can still do anything I want, right? and you know what affords me that opportunity? The flex position, which is where Devon A.C. and landed. So he did make the team jokes on the haters. Okay, this is where I have a problem.

And I'd have very few problems. I wanted to have more problems. It would have made a better segment. Malik neighbors just too hurt to put on. No, I can't justify any of the other receivers because Brian Thomas was dealt with injury and drops. Here's a thing. I would much rather have run a too tight end set here

with Brock Bowers and Colston Loveland. then put A. Chan out there with a third running back. I think you could even make the argument. You just leave Bajan Robinson. You say sorry to Jemir Gibbs. And you go 13 personnel and you go, you go Tyler Warren and Colston, Loveland, and Brock. That's actually too much.

I don't think Tyler Warren is as good. I do think Colston Loveland, if I'm just buying stock in players, I would rather have him on my team than Devon A. Chan or any third receiver, I'm going Loveland here. I thought you were going to say that you wanted three receivers because the modern NFL often sees three receivers.

Although you're right, the shift toward 12, 13 personnel does create space for another 10. I love Loveland. Lovelland kind of is that third receiver. He is a bigger Puka Nakua. I mean, he's not as good as Puka Nakua, but he can do a lot of the same things. But he's also operating in an offense

that also has another good tight end opposite him in Cole Commit. So you have to consider that as well. And let's consider the positional value argument that you just made. I think if I'm looking at each of those players individually, who is most important to me if I'm building this roster

out of this offense. I'm taking A.C.N. over Loveland. You're crazy. No, I'm not. I love A.C.N. And ultimately, I would put Gibbs in my starting lineup just because he's so good.

I have a little bit of an issue, putting him as high as Bejant. Like, I guess I want to see another year of Gibbs in this all do everything. Yeah, that's fair. Inside runs to just, but to me he's like a top 25 player

in the league and he's a strong number two running back. A. Chan, I'm not there yet. Not all the way there. And it's going to be a difficult situation. Yeah, I'm worried you're not going to get there this year either. Would you take Loveland over Warren if you're drafting right now? That's tough because you have to consider how do they use Tyler Warren.

You have to think about the quarterback situation and how it evolved over the course of the season with the Colts. You only have one year of sample size. that's, because, like, Loveland's your long-term answer at that position in Chicago. Oh, yes, I will. I will. You know why?

Because for as good as Tyler Warren is, and he's excellent, he's almost a bit too much of a throwback for me to want to take him as highly as I would take Colston Loveland. But I do think that the jury is still out on this debate because we haven't seen Lovelin thrust into a tight-in-one situation yet.

I think he was the last five games of the year, but I hear what you're saying that. There's two guys on the field. He doesn't have to do everything. But that's fine. That's just the NFL, and he can block. And it's why I had Trey McBride as my tight-in-one one. I got into trouble on Twitter on Monday with Raiders fans

when I said, Trey McBride is tight-end one in the league. I was making the case that the Cardinals' offense is really exciting. And one of the things I said was Trey McBride's Tide-N-1. This isn't fantasy, bro. Tray McBride is the king right now. It's not Brock Bowers could go. to Canton. Brock Bowers, I've been pumping up since the day he got into the league. He is special, special, but he wasn't fully healthy last year. And the two-way flexibility that Tray McBride gives you,

he has a chance to be like the best at that since maybe Gronk and Kiddle. Like you got to put Kiddle in that, in that, you can't just ignore Kiddle. But he is in that conversation already with Pete Kiddle. And so for now, I know we're getting off track your all 25 team, but Mike Bryant is a clear tight-in-one to me. Yeah, he is. Obviously, he's not eligible because he's 26 years old

coming up on 27. But you know who agrees with you? The folks who make Madden NFL because they list him as one of their six 99 overall players. So I think you're on to something here. Top six players in the NFL. That's pretty wild.

It was Stafford, Josh Allen, Miles Garrett, did JSN get in there? JASN and Jemar Jays and Trey McBride. That was your six. I feel bad for Justin Jefferson. What did he do?

I know it wasn't great season, but... He's probably a 98. I would put Bajon in there at a 99. I agree. I agree. Offensive lineman, you went Joe Alt and Josh Simmons as your tackles. That's interesting. Tyler Booker as one of your guards.

Gray Zabel as another one. Tyler Booker, of course, of the Cowboys. Gray's Abel of the Seahawks. The first round pick of the Chiefs last year who missed a lot of time and Joe Alt who was hurt for the Chargers But has looked great when he's been out there and then at center a little bit of a surprise Tanner Borna Bordalini what who is the toughest one of these guys to put on who did you think about? Joe all was a slam dunk Simmons was difficult just because he hasn't played a full season but when he was out there. He was very good

I zabel was a bit of projection I I think because he wasn't super consistent as a rookie, but you see the signs of what he can become. I think about when he played against the Steelers and kind of got victimized by Cam Hayward, but that happens to young guys. Welcome to the NFL. Tanner Borderline was very easy to pick.

He's been one of my favorites since I saw him at the Combine a few years ago, and he really took a huge step forward last year on a Colts offensive line that I think you and I both agreed, they were headed in the wrong direction a couple of years ago, and then their rebuild turned out to be the right move and surprised a lot of us. he's a key part of that.

So that was an easy choice as well. And I think Tyler Booker, maybe there's a bit of personal, wants to see him on that list. I'm telling you, it's a little bit more projection, but he still finished 16th among 81 qualified offensive guards according to PFF,

so we'll roll with it. Well, the theory that if you're closer to the ball, that it might take you a little longer to develop, and that makes sense because you need to get the strength to hold up the NFL, is borne out when you look at the options because there just aren't many good guard and center options. They're not many good defensive tackle options.

And these are all the interior players. And so I didn't have a problem with that because I didn't know where I would go at guard. Skoranski from Tennessee would have made sense. He was a month too old. So no fault there. He was initially on the list until I verified age. Center could have been Zach Frazier.

Graham Barton are two good young centers, but I have no problem. Bordellini makes sense. Tackles where I would change. Simmons. Simmons, and you're calling your shot. The ceiling is probably the highest. It might look best, and NFL GMs might agree with you.

The fact that he was away from the team, and you're not really sure what was going on there, some personal issues. You got Armand Membue just sitting right there, who was there the whole time and is physically awesome. You also have Darnell Wright, who Bears fans will tell you, and real ball-knowers will tell you,

he has developed into one of the best right tackles in the league, and he's going to get paid, and he's still under 25, so those are two good options. I would have taken Mambu over Simmons. Plus, you kind of took two left tackles and cheated, let's be honest. I know. Well, Alts's playing right because he doesn't have to play left.

Oh, my bad. No, no, I'm an idiot. You're right. He could be playing left, but not on the Chargers. He could be playing left. He's a left archetype, for sure. He could be playing left. He might play left someday.

Actually, no, Darnal Wright doesn't qualify, by the way. Darnel Wright doesn't qualify. He turns 25 in August. Ah, I understand that way didn't make it, just like Scoronoff. At edge, you have Nick Herbig. We've talked a lot about him. Abdul Carter.

I feel like we were ahead of trend having Abdul Carter in our top 12, I think, Edge draft. Some options, although I agree with your two picks, would be Tully Polotu. He's only 23 years old. How was that possible? How young was he when he got drafted? Super young. That's incredible.

And he's due a new contract. He's someone to watch in terms of a possible hold out. Not many other great options. It got me thinking there's been a few busts and slow developers at edge the last couple years. Dallas Turner. I think Jalen Walker has potential

for the Falcons, but Chop Robinson, Miles Murphy, Mike Green, some players that haven't worked out. And so there weren't a ton of options I think behind your edge picks. Any thoughts on your edges? No, because I thought about, because part of the exercise is going through the recent draft class is to make sure I didn't miss

anybody. And I laid on a guy like Chop Robinson, landing on to Miles Murphy, and I'm just like, it's just not there. I think that what I've found is the trenches are where the young guys have the hardest time to find instant success and end up on a team like this. You know, it's crazy. Will Anderson, who might be in the top three, top five, top 10, certainly of the top 100 players list. He only missed this by a week. So that's how, he's still a young guy. Makes the job that much harder. Defensive tackles, I mentioned, not much depth. You have,

Byron Murphy from the Seahawks. Man, what a good young player that is. And Walter Nolan from the Cardinals. And this was the position where, yeah, they're just, you had to sort of make a projection from Nolan. Why did you do that? Yeah, because when he stepped in the field, you could see that he was immediately one of their best players

and made an instant impact. He just didn't play very much as a rookie because of injuries. He began the season injured. He suffered an injury, ended the season injured. It was just a rough rookie. rookie year for him. But when he's healthy, I mean, there was a reason that when we went into the pre-draft process last year, you heard his name being mentioned all the time because his college tape was fantastic. And in the games that he played, it translated immediately. It's just a matter

if he needs to stay healthy for a whole year. I'm really excited to watch him play football this year. I hope he can stay healthy for a full season. I think he's the name that a lot of people don't know yet, and they're going to know it soon. Totally agree. And yet it points out how hard it is to find a good young defensive tackle. And the classes recently have been pretty disappointing. Tileak Williams for the Lions last year. Jerry Newton for the commanders has been hurt his first two years. Mason Graham, we'll see. Like not a bad rookie year, but it makes sense. You went with Nolan. Like Kenneth Grant struggled his rookie year. Morrow Ogimo from the Eagles just missed the cutoff. Good, good young player, but only missed it by a month or two. I tried to poke some

holes in your list. And finally, I found one. At linebacker, you have Cedric Gray and Carson Schwessinger, I would definitely go Edron Cooper. This is the first one I was just like, I'm going Edron Cooper over Cedric Gray. And you know what? Cooper with the Packers, by the way, for everyone just tuning in. And as soon as we arrived at this group, I

thought, oh, Cooper's not on the list, and that's where I think I got lost in the process. Because not to say that these picks that I made weren't good, but I agree. I think Edge Cooper is one of the better inside linebackers and he probably deserves to be on this list. So that's a blind spot missed for me, but Senator Gray piled up a ton of tackles on a bad Titans team.

but also on a Titans defense that has Jeff Simmons on it that had Devandre sweat in the interior last year. He did his job well, and I think that there's always going to be value in a player who consistently piles up a lot of tackles unless you're like a Joe Schobert and you're making those tackles six yards down the field. I mean, Cedricer grade's a good player.

I like him too. I just think Cooper could be special. Jehad Campbell of the Eagles is one to watch this year as someone who could really emerge. I started thinking about Schwessinger. And if you look at the defensive rookie of the year winners, it used to always be offball linebackers. At one point, like five straight years,

it was offball linebackers. It was like Jonathan Vilma and Dimeco Ryan's, Drodmeo. And I was starting to think there are kind of two archetypes of defensive rookie of the years at linebacker. And some turned out to be all-time greats. Erlacker, Keeckley, Patrick Willis. Jonathan Vilma's like a tick below that

but he was an incredible player and then others are more like they were so mature and smart and professional right when they were rookies they were kind of like as good as they would ever be as a rookie and they were good players but defensive rookie is a year that never kind of went to the next level

I would throw Gerard Mayo the former Patriots coach in that mix Damico Ryan's as a player is kind of in that mix he was a good player but but he didn't really take that set Brian Cushing is another Texan the Texans of Edith. had a few.

Which bucket do you think Swessinger fits in? That's a good question because I think about archetypes when you're describing

those two groups, what made them special? And when you mentioned the likes of a Keakley or a Patrick Willis, it's not only

the understanding of the game and the instinctive play, but it's also the athleticism, the ranginess of it. And especially now, as we lean

so heavily on sub packages defensively, that if you have that range and you can go sideline to sideline, then you can carve

about a very productive long career. And I think Schwessinger leans in that direction. That's a big strength of his. It's just a matter of can he stay on the field? I mean, he played 16 games last year and he gutted out his final game, the win over the Steelers, which earned him a lot of praise in the locker room

from his teammates. Can you do that consistently over the next five to 10 years? That's really what's going to define it. And I hate to couch it with like, oh, can he stay healthy? But I think for him, especially, because that's his greatest strength is his athleticism.

I think that's going to be an important part of it. Well, player type, you're absolutely right. And what are they similar questions? We're asked about Erlocker, Kikley, maybe even Patrick Willis in terms of size. So in terms of range, you're right. Shrest Nair has got it. And he was a walk-on. He hasn't been playing big-time football.

Like, he's still learning things. I do think, like, archetype, he kind of fits into that mold versus the other. And then the secondary list was almost laughable because it was so good. Camari Lasseter, Christian Gonzalez, Cooper DeGene, have kind of as a flex, but I put them at, let's say slack cornerback basically. Safety is Nickyman Worry and Brian Branch. I mean, that could just be your all pro. That could just be who are the five best defensive backs in the league.

They all happen to be 20 or under 25, which is just an interesting thinking about different positions, which ones are good early, which ones aren't. That it's just, it's instructive. Soss Gardner's not even on this list and he only missed it by a week or else he would have had to make a tougher decision, but he got that monster. contract before he was 25. So it's like a lot of good young defensive backs. Yeah. It's the like we said, it's harder, I think, to flourish earlier in your career when you're closer to the ball as opposed to when you're playing secondary. The same is true. I think for a

receiver for young guys that and especially now we get guys to come out of college with a complete route tree and can immediately make a difference at the NFL level. The same is kind of true now for cornerbacks. You know, it's kind of the evolution of the game. Receivers getting better. So our cornerbacks need to get better. Our safeties need to get better. But it is funny, little inside baseball, the debate I had with editors about how exactly to classify some of these guys, because like Dejean spent his career as a slot corner, he was also an all pro corner opposite Quignon Mitchell last year. Does he end up in the flex because he's a slot corner? Even more, he played all over the place. Right. He's classified as a safety everywhere except next gen,

but he played all over the place. Some people could see him as a slot as well. I keep him with his standard classification as it stands right now. Branch gets on the list because even though he battled injuries last year, his production over his first three years, has been worthwhile. The one guy that I need to see a little bit more from, and this is going to rub me the wrong way, is Christian Gonzalez. He's the, I think of the five in this group, he's the one that I still need to see more from. Because Lasseter opposite Derek Stingley has been an excellent player for the Texans. I agree. Christian Gonzalez is almost like the Jalen Carter of cornerbacks in that you see it. It's just everything you want. He's going to get this monster contract.

he's taking a surprising route that he's practicing fully at camp despite needing the new contract, wanting the new contract, he's going to be in pads and everything. Good on him for doing that, but I respect either way of doing it. I agree with you.

I don't think it's been in every week, every month, every game situation for him. It's just the flashes, the streaks are capital E-elite, like better than Camari Lasseter even and as good as, as anything Sauce did.

But I agree. I kind of am with you there. Awesome. I'm glad that we don't, and I will say this. I want to give one mention because I didn't have room for honorable mentions.

And again, apologies to Edge Cooper, but the one guy that I wanted to put in the secondary group that I tried my hardest was Xavier Watts. I know. This was the only one you asked me about.

I was flattered. Yeah. Because I couldn't, I was, I lost sleep over it. I wake up at the morning. I was like, I'd text, Greg,

because I need to eliminate one. Brian Branch has done so much and I know he's coming off in England, but that he's been, great. Yeah. Watts had five picks last year.

Watts is going to be a good player. He was really good at Notre Dame. I don't know how he lasted to the third round. I can't wait to watch him this year as well. Shout out Terry Fontno for that Falcons team. That draft with Jalen Walker actually might age well, but he won't get to see it.

We're on another rebuild. We don't need to see any more out of Nick Shuck. We know he's contract extension worthy. I'm looking forward to working with you all season long, Shook, but not tomorrow. Hit that music. we're going to do some news. We're going to do another division preview.

People have been liking the division preview format. Thank you for that. Jordan will be with me. In the studio, we're going to be talking AFC North. Shoot, we should have Shoki on that show. Maybe we'll get them in the mix. We'll see you then. This is an IHeart podcast.

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