NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 158. How Early Free Agency Has Already Changed the 2023 NFL Draft

Episode Date: March 16, 2023

Hosts Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers go through some of the early free agency moves and discuss how they have changed projections for the first round and beyond

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It's awesome. Sign up now at youtube.com slash BS, device and content restrictions apply. Local and national games on YouTube TV NFL Sunday ticket for out-of-market games excludes digital only games welcome to the NFL Stock Exchange podcast in this episode we're taking a look at the early moves from the tampering period and free agency and taking that to the NFL draft order how did some of the early signings affect the 2023 NFL draft we're going to go down the list and talk about everything from teams in the top five, the

top 10, the top 20, top 50, even going into the second and third rounds. How have some of these signings really changed how we are viewing the draft? A lot of these team needs and where the focal points could be. I'm Trevor Sycamore. With me is Connor Rogers. Let's ring the bell. Welcome to the opening bell of the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast. I'm Trevor Sikama.

That is Connor Rogers. Joining you guys in the middle of what is a free agency frenzy. My guy over there on the other side of the screen has been on Aaron Rodgers watch for what seems like weeks now, months, maybe years. It does feel that way. And it's finally coming to a head because, uh, well, Aaron Rodgers said it himself. He plans to play for the New York Jets as we are recording this show. Obviously free agency is still going live. So if things break, we're going to react to it however we can. on this show what we want to do is we want to take a look at the free agency moves that have already been made and tell you how we think they affect the nfl draft could just be round one stuff round two round three total team draft plans a lot

of this stuff we're gonna dig into all that connor how you feeling my friend have you finally like caught up on sleep a little bit has the adrenaline adrenaline come down a tad? How are you feeling? I'm a little tired. People can probably see it today. This is a rare morning episode for Trevor and I because we've been trying to time up my awful schedule with Aaron Rodgers' watch when free agency would really wrap up at least wave one because we wanted as many moves as we can get in this thing

to kind of talk to you guys about how they impact the draft. But I'm good. I mean, you run on adrenaline during this week. You never actually feel tired until you get to maybe Friday night or Saturday morning. You're like, wow, that was a really, really crazy week. And it's been fun here, obviously, in the New York market. Everybody's really excited about Rodgers. And I think across the NFL, as much as this free agency class was deemed as a down year and overall talent, I still think a lot of impact moves were made that gave us some hints about the top of the draft.

Yeah. I mean, what's the, what's the perfect strategy, right? Fill your dire needs, your weaknesses, your roster weaknesses in free agency as best you can to allow you to take best player available. However, the draft comes to you you that's always what teams are striving for so we have a lot of team needs for a lot of different teams that were addressed that we've seen over the first couple of days of free agency and of course the tampering period taking that into account as well so a lot of really good conversation that we're going to have here on this episode we're also as we said on the monday show going to come to you with a post-free agency mock draft that we will have on Monday. So we'll be able to categorize a lot of our thoughts and put that into practice there as well. But, dude, I want to start with Rodgers because obviously it's the biggest shakeup.

We don't know the official trade package yet, right? Aaron Rodgers goes on Pat McAfee and he talks about kind of what feels like, it felt like from his perspective, Green Bay turning their back on him a little bit, ready to move on. And because of that, Rodgers, who, as he said, before he went into the darkness retreat, was leaning on retiring. Then he kind of figured out that he wanted to continue to play football. It wasn't going to be in Green Bay. He wants it to be in New York, but we don't know the trade package yet. You and I have talked about this over the last couple of months, whether it's been in mock draft format or others we didn't

think that rogers going to new york meant they were going to lose the number 13 overall pick now it kind of seems like that might be the case is that what you know you're tapped into this a lot more than i am but from what i've heard that green bay is seeking multiple first round picks multiple premium picks one of them being from this year. Do you think that ends up happening? I don't. I don't think the 13th overall pick is in this trade. I would just be really surprised. I think the only way it is, is if that's the bare minimum the Jets gave up and almost would need a pick coming back to them. Like, do they get the Packers second round pick? So it would need a pick coming back to them like do they get the packers second round pick so it's really a pick swap of 30 something spots right that that's kind of the and that's

the max i don't think that happens i know the takes on this on twitter like you got a duck right now if you whatever side you're on because they asked you yeah and my the truth always lies somewhere in the middle right trevor we've seen the green bay side say it went from but even before rogers went on mcafee a staffer trade or it was like russ trade now a staffer trade now not a staffer trade but a first round pick needs to be in it i really think the truth lies somewhere in the middle. I imagine when Rogers, you know, it felt slighted and let's be real. I don't think Rogers has liked Gutekinds for a long time. This is just, this is really just the peak of it. So I'm sure number

one, Rogers is going to the jets with the thought of, and thought of and knowing how all in they are on him coming there, like maximize every asset. You've seen this, Trevor. When the Bucs got Brady, it was let's try to win a Super Bowl. Like, let's not. Hey, we got Tom Brady. This is fun. It's like, no, we got Tom Brady. Now there's a lot of work to do.

The Jets are in the same mindset with Rogers. Rogers is in the same mindset with the Jets. He doesn't want he's not. Listen, everybody forgets. Rogers has leverage here. Rogers Rogers is in the same mindset with the Jets he doesn't want he's not listen everybody needs to forgets Rogers has leverage here he would be a 60 million dollar signing bonus backup if this thing completely falls through there's no world where that works so on the jet side they need them so at the end of the day I go back to what we said not that long ago I think this trade is probably there's the J jets second round pick this year and

that's why green bay can't drag their feet too much like are you gonna not get this trade done before the draft and then jordan love is playing without that asset you got back from this year right like we don't know so i think it's the second round pick this year and then gigantic conditional terms in 2024. i think the 2024 pick starts at a third and can work its way up. And I know a lot of people don't see it that way. A lot of people see it as, you know, a two that becomes a one. This year might have a little bit more assets. I've seen people say all of the Jets day two picks of the next two years.

I don't see that. I don't see it. It's not the way Joe Douglas has operated. I don't think Rodgers would be happy if that was the return. He's not happy with Green Bay's front office right now. And the Jets will hold firm, especially when $60 million is owed to him. Woody Johnson is involved in this deal. Like fans don't care about 60 million in cash. They care about the cap and this is cash, but owners do. It does matter in ownership structure and talks so yeah a concrete first round pick in this deal i don't see it so i i texted pff's um salary cap guru and also just

our ace during free agency brad spielberger who is who is awesome at this for somebody who is like on the outside if you will the way that he nails a lot of these contracts numbers i mean brad's fantastic so i asked him basically what the numbers were as of this morning for what the jets would have to take on what would rogers get what would green bay have to take on this is what he said and i you know if i'm misquoting anything here then don't go after brad this is simply me reading text he said that rogers will have a $1.1 million salary and then a 58.3 option bonus that will be spread over the next four years. He said the 2023 cap for the Jets this year would be just 15.7 million. And then I asked him, what about the Packers? Because how much money the Packers would take on would obviously go into what they were looking back for compensation.

That's where the Matthew Stafford deal comes into play. And he said the Packers would be taking a 40.3 dead cap hit, which is obviously a lot of dead cap hit, which is what they were looking for with like a Matthew Stafford type of a trade. But I agree with you. I, I find it hard to believe the jets are going to give up 13 and maybe the second that we publish this podcast, it comes out and they do end up giving 13

and and obviously if that's the case then i think the jets are going to have to start to look into offensive line options in day two which we think that there's plenty of which we could get into in the monday episode but you know green bay would then have their chance to draft a lucas van ness a miles murphy but also a darnell washington a michael mayer you know you're doubling up in the first round you could do a lot of different things there. So Rodgers, not quite a jet yet, but it feels like he is trending in that direction. And to the trade back and forth negotiations as well,

I think this is another point. Green Bay only has so much that they can really hold against the jets right now yes they have rogers yes the jets are all in on rogers but rogers basically said on mcafee i'm not going back to green bay if they can't figure out a trade i'm going to retire so either the either green bay gets something for aaron rogers or they will literally get nothing nothing for him no they do get something they get a shit ton of dead money sure right right with nothing in return like listen i understand a lot of people that are either packers fans or just non jets fans whatever probably looking at my lens and thinking well of course he's gonna spin it like that and i do think

green bay has some kind of leverage here don't get me wrong i spun it like that you didn't you didn't have to say it but i said dude every national report i have read or watched a hit on is like green bay has all the cards and i'm like not really because the longer this goes the worse it gets for both parties it's really just both of them strangling each other down to the bottom of the ocean and everybody looks like a moron so that's not a good outcome and here's the other thing trevor that like in this world we live in my guy's going in my guy's going in right now in this world we live in where everybody and i'm guilty of it at times too is so spreadsheet transaction based like we just sit and go sell after sell after sell and spit out money and draft capital. And this does Aaron Rodgers relationship and legacy mean anything to Green Bay?

He is arguably the greatest Packer ever. And if you think he's not, he's in the top three. That has to mean something. You just burn that down to the ground on the way out. Like I'm floored at how little that is brought up i know for me and i've never had this opportunity because the jets have never had a well i guess the closest thing would be rebus when the jets traded rebus as a fan especially at that stage of my life it was heartbreaking at the time it was like this is how this is the greatest New York Jet I have ever watched in my life to this day still my favorite NFL player of all time and that and yes they did

make good because eventually they brought him back and he did have a really good year when they brought him back and Revis is very ingrained of the Jets now but at the time when he went to the Bucks because they the Jets traded him because they wouldn't pay him. It was soul crushing. Soul crushing. I couldn't imagine that with a franchise Super Bowl winning quarterback. Yeah. I mean, you said it. It has to be something. You said it.

You said it. I thought it was a little bit weird. And we'll move on from Rodgers talk because we want to get into a lot of these other transactions. But you guys knew we had to open it up with the show. I will say that at the end of the McAfee interview, when they were saying goodbye to Rodgers, I don't watch McAf into a lot of these other transactions but you guys knew we had to open it up with the show i will say that at the end of the mcafee interview when they were saying goodbye to rogers i don't watch mcafee a lot but somebody somebody who's one of the producers must be a packers fan because they kind of like went to him and they're like what are your thoughts yeah he's a diehard

yeah and he was he was talking about like okay like i understand where aaron's coming from it's obviously a super bummer as a fan you're one of the best packers of all time it's been awesome to watch you like all this kinds of stuff. And then he said at the end, he's like, I'm just bummed you're not retiring a Packer. And I thought that would be the moment where Aaron Rodgers would go, no, well, I'm gonna retire a Green Bay Packer,

but it obviously just didn't work at this point in my career. I wanna play, I'm gonna play for another team. But I'm gonna retire a Packer Bay Packer, but it obviously just didn't work at this point in my career. I want to play. I'm going to play for another team. Like, but I'm going to retire a Packer. He didn't say that. Not at all. He didn't say that.

Not at all. So I'm don't, don't have to look too far into it, but it is crazy exactly how this is going down. And I'm excited for Aaron Rodgers to be a part of the Jets. Cause you and I talked about this so many times before. If you even put a mediocre quarterback on the New York Jets last year, they make the playoffs. And now they're putting a guy who went back to back MVPs just a couple of seasons ago.

So it's exciting times in New York for sure with the Jets. Let's move a little bit further down the draft order. We know everything that's going on with Carolina. And holy cow, like Carolina, they're making a lot of great moves. I think that they are filling out their team. I love what they've been out their team incredibly well. Let me make sure they have them all here.

They brought back Shaq Thompson, got Shai Tuttle, signed Vaughn Bell, re-signed Bradley Bozeman, signed Andy Dalton. Let's go, baby. Signed Hayden Hurst and then signed Miles Sanders as well. So they are truly rounding out their team as best they can for whatever quarterback they're going to draft at number one. So good on Carolina there. I want to start our conversation

and how free agency might have changed the draft with number three overall in the Arizona Cardinals. You and I, when we've gone through these mock drafts, look at Arizona and we go, all right, trenches stink, especially on the defensive line. Defensive line's been bad since Chandler Jones hasn't been there. J.J. Watt was probably their best defensive lineman, and he retires. When we looked at the depth chart for Arizona,

we basically said it's Zach Allen and then nobody else. And even then, it's like Zach Allen's a solid player, but he's not like this premier pass rusher for you. No. Now Zach Allen's gone. Zach Allen signed with the Denver Broncos. So they don't even have Zach Allen. Their defensive line right now on our lads is Jonathan Ledbetter,

Leckie Fotu, Rashard Lawrence, Majay Sanders, and Cam Thomas. That's pretty young edge rushers, number one. So my thing is, does this change the draft for Arizona? Because before we said, here's a spot where they can trade down and, again, get more players. But are they at the point where they can't even trade down that far because they just need a good player? They need a Will Anderson.

They need, if they believe that Tyree Wilson is as good as he, as a lot of people are projecting, Tyree Wilson, Jalen Carter, maybe a three, who knows what's going to happen with Jalen Carter. But can Arizona even afford to move down now? Or are they more likely to stay a three, given the fact that not even Zach Allen's on that defensive line anymore? It's a great question. And from everything I've been tapped into this week they are still looking into moving down but what does that mean what does that mean though like is that

swap with the Colts and nothing changes in our pick because I think that makes a lot of sense because the Colts you know the iron's hot on the Colts let's be real they already got jumped with Carolina going to one Houston's taking a quarterback at two Arizona is openly telling people we will trade this pick do you really want to have option number four and if a pick swap is cost effective that makes sense for both parties the Colts go up to three They get to pick from the last two quarterbacks. Arizona goes to four and still gets to take the first defensive player, which, like you said, Trevor, is probably Will Anderson, maybe Tyree Wilson. I think those the top eight that would take Jalen Carter. That would think right now, if the draft was this week, that would think about taking Jalen Carter. That's how, you know, how much variance that is with him right now, that all the other teams are operating besides one in a sense of we just we can't take him that early.

And sure, you could say, well, a lot of those just we can't take him that early sure you could say well a lot of those teams are taking quarterbacks anyway but there are also a couple teams in the top eight that could use jaylen carter yeah really badly this was this was our number one overall player tape he's the best player in the draft so what does that mean anymore so i do want to say this because there's a little bit of context here and i want to dig into this a little before we move on to the next team but seth emerson who uh works for the athletic tweeted this morning which is thursday yeah days are days are running together thursday one said jalen carter has entered a deal with athens clark county solicitors per his lawyer carter has pled no contest and will

receive 12 months probation pay a thousand dollars in fines perform 80 hours of community service and finish a driving course he will receive no jail time so it seems as though that part of what we don't know about carter is getting resolved with plenty of time until the draft but then you look at what happened on Wednesday. It was Georgia's pro day. And I don't know how much you were able to follow what was going on in Georgia's pro day with all the Roger stuff going on. Definitely enough. They purposefully pushed Jalen Carter in the drills.

Like, okay, you do one drill, you get five seconds. We're doing the next rep because they wanted to push his conditioning. They wanted to see where he was. And according to a lot of the reports, he didn't look good. Apparently he weighed nine to 10 pounds heavier at Georgia's pro day than he

did at the combine, which wasn't even that long ago. That's two weeks. Now there's a lot of people that are saying, this is a job interview that you can, that you can consistently plan for. And for you to show up out of shape and heavier and not looking good, like not a good heavier, that's a really bad sign. But I will say, I do agree with that in a vacuum. But with full context involved, what Carter has been going through since January, what Carter went through in Indianapolis with going, having to go back to Athens and get booked and then get bailed.

And then all the, like, I do think that we forget the human element that goes into a lot of this for people, the stress that this guy must have been under that. Well, and I'm not saying I'm not, I'm not absolving him of blame i know i'm just

saying that when people look at this it's not as simple as wow this guy must have just gotten fat maybe it is but i'm saying that if you if you could step back and look at jaylen carter's situation i wish somebody maybe would have stepped in in his inner circle and would have been like, hey, bud, have your own pro day in a month. Do a private workout. In a month. Yeah. And that didn't happen. So I don't know.

I don't know exactly what happened. I don't know how Jalen Carter got to this point. But just to bring it all back, I agree with you, man. The thoughts and opinions on where he might go in this draft even with this legal stuff maybe wrapped up for him those whispers those talks those discussions those projections are not going to stop and i'm i'm serious anywhere within i feel like the top 20 is in play for jalen Carter at this point. Absolutely.

It's fascinating the conversations that opens up, right? And nobody's denying Jalen Carter's talent. Nobody's taking away from him that he is still a young man that, you know, people make mistakes, right? And we've seen guys with character issues go in the first round still and figure it out with better infrastructure around them. The right locker room, the right veterans, the right management. And we've also seen time and time again, guys with all the talent in the world completely fizzle out in the NFL within two years. So and that's that's that is a general manager's biggest fear. Yeah, because it gets you manager's biggest fear. Yeah.

It gets you fired eight out of 10 times. It gets you fired when you make that mistake. So I bet the selection with John Robinson in Tennessee, I bet that loomed hard over the beginning of the end, the eventual decision to let, to let him go. Yeah. Yeah.

So we can, we can, we can move on from that though i want to go i want to go a little bit further down in the order and if i skip a team that you wanted to hit please well we can go back to it we can bounce around and for everyone listening if if we didn't get to a specific signing or player that you were hoping to hear we're also going to tie this into the mock draft like we're going to have a mega mock and you'll hear so much more detail we're just reacting real quickly off of the legal tampering news bonanza.

So the Raiders are getting Jimmy Garoppolo. And it's not the most lucrative deal in the world. But I do think it was a little bit of a statement deal. Adam Schefter was on ESPN and he was talking about what the Raiders when they were signing Jimmy G and they certainly made it sound like the Raiders are no longer in the conversation to move up for a quarterback and what I believe what Schefter said when he reported this is that they did not think the quarterback that they wanted was going to be available and that's at number three so my question to you is who is that quarterback Stroud it's got to be Stroud right so they thought that quarterback wouldn't be available at three I wonder if this is no longer no longer would no longer be available at three is the only name I heard

they liked but this was in their range this doesn't mean much was Le, but this was in their range. This doesn't mean much was Levis, but that was in their range of seven. They probably really liked Stroud. He fits everything McDaniels wants to do. I think so too. I'm with you. I bet they really liked Stroud and I bet they maybe like Levis, but

they don't want to trade up to four for Levis. Exactly. I wouldn't take quarterback off the table at seven, but it sure sounds like the Jimmy G deal at least means they're not going to trade up to three at this point in time. That's kind of what I think. Probably.

And then it makes you wonder when the Raiders were doing all the work on the quarterbacks, one thing I was asking around was, well, what else? Because you're at seven, there's no guarantee. And this was a time period where everybody was like, one of the quarterbacks will be there at seven and Oh, how things change. Um, they're doing work on corner too. So I think at seven, you're looking and we kind of, I definitely beat this drum to death, but I say it all the time. The Gonzalez Witherspoon conversation. It's, you know, the lot we'll get to the lions.

Lions did a great job addressing the secondary but corner is not off the board but the lions the raiders the falcons i don't think chicago uh but then the eagles although they're probably gonna bring back slay now a big plot twist they have to bring back bradbury so that six seven and eight spot is the the hot corner zone we're looking at too yeah and it's there's not really like an obvious sign of like which team, a lot of those teams did a nice job addressing corner or at least bringing in new names. Yeah. Like a bridge guy.

Yeah. Which makes us think going to the lions, which is right before the Raiders, you look at some of the moves that the lions made in free agency, signed cam Sutton and they didn't sign Cam Sutton for cheap either. Three years, $33 million. Yeah. So three years, $33 million. They signed Emmanuel Mosley, who's coming off an ACL tear.

Love this deal. One year, six months. Mosley was great when he was talking last year. He's so good when healthy. Yeah. Loved that for the lions so two corners right there they re-sign alex anzalone they re-sign john kaminsky okay maybe not the biggest splashes there but at least it brings some bodies back you're not super desperate

did the same with isaiah bugs and then they also signed david montgomery which is a little bit of a one-in-one out because it seems like they're losing jamal williams so it'll be david montgomery and deandre swift there in the backfield. I don't think this makes running back too tempting for them with the money that they're giving Montgomery. But yeah, you still think that six could be a cornerback selection for the Lions, despite them bringing in Mosley, despite them bringing in Sutton? Yeah, I do, because that one-year deal to Mosley is the perfect balance of depth guy

that can compete with that rookie corner. I mean, listen, if you take, I think one of those, so say your depth chart is Sutton, Mosley, and then Gonzalez. Can't Sutton or Mosley kick inside and you keep gonzalez on the outside and then if you take witherspoon witherspoon can play inside i used to and they have akuta right god i always forget akuta is there they still have akuta they gave themselves flexibility right that the lions probably thought this we're going to spend a corner because if this draft really goes quarterback,

quarterback, quarterback, quarterback, that means we are getting one of Will Anderson or we have the opportunity if we want to draft Will Anderson or Tyree Wilson. And we always say it on the show, like, we're not there on Tyree. I like him a little bit more than you, but the league is obsessed with this guy. So now they, now, if the draft doesn't go,

how I said, then they take the BPA at corner. It's just the lions have this flexibility now that they weren't granted before free agency. And I think it's phenomenal. When did they have to pick up a Kuda's fifth year option? Cause he's on the last year. I think that passed right. Or no, I don't, because he's on the last year of his i think that passed right or no i don't i he's quietly been around longer than we think i think i thought when is the deadline

i can't remember when it would have passed already oh no um no i think you're right i think it is coming up i don't think they're coming that up by the way no because i'm googling it right now and and i don't i don't see that they did or didn't pick him up i just see a lot of like pros and cons article yeah so i mean and you got to realize too like a guy like brad holmes who i think has done a good job when he's looking at it and saying okay i have mosley and akuta this year but what do i have when we think we're going to be rocket fuel two years from now like the lions are probably looking at things and thinking we're gonna be we're gonna be good this year we might be great in 2024 with the way this division is set up yeah you're gonna need a corner

so maybe they still take a corner and say we're just gonna stack the deck and they have that that that extra first round pick right they're picking at 18 as well So maybe they still take a corner and say, we're just going to stack the deck. And they have that extra first round pick, right? They're picking at 18 as well. So maybe they're looking at 18 and going, ah, maybe we can steal a Joey Porter Jr. Deontay Banks. Something like that at the back end of the top 20. So I think that corner is still on the board for them. And that brings up a good Eagles conversation as well.

I do want to talk about the Falcons, but since we're talking about corner, we might as well go back to where the Philadelphia Eagles are. It's funny. We've done mock drafts for so long for the Philadelphia Eagles, and we've had them constantly taking corner at number 10 overall. And the reason why we had them taking corner is because we thought they were going to lose James Bradbury, right?

We were like, oh, they're going to lose Bradbury. They're going to need a corner opposite Slay. Well, then all of a sudden Bradbury resigned. So we go, all right, well, I guess a corner might not be on the table for them in number 10 overall. And then it comes out that they might have released Darius Slay. And we're like, all right, corner's back on the menu, boys. And so, you know, you're thinking about different corners and who would be a good pairing for James Bradbury. Then it comes out they don't release Darius Slay. So it looks like both James Bradbury and Darius Slay are coming back. It looks like they're restructuring

Darius Slay's contract, which I assume is going to come with an extension. So it looks like they've got those guys for a couple more years. I still don't think it takes corner off the table for them. And number 10, if they believe that that's best player available, which is what the Eagles are all about. Certainly they love to build through the trenches, offensive line, defensive line. These guys can be in the conversation there,

but I think corner could still be a pick for Philly at number 10, especially if it's a guy like Witherspoon, who you mentioned earlier, can, can, can, can you imagine a cornerback group that's Bradbury and slay on the outside and Devon Witherspoon on the inside?

That is sick. That is demented. And their roster is so good they could do it. I know. Now I kind of love it. So, yeah, I don't think corner's off the table for him at 10. That's a really fair argument. And the fact that, I mean, Slay's not young, right?

Like, I can't express this enough. Teams do not draft in one-year windows all the time. So you're thinking long-term of how to stock up the secondary. What was Bradbury's deal, ultimately? Or did we not get numbers on that? Three years, 38. So he's getting paid. Wow, good deal for James Bradbury.

Yeah. That is the second time he's made it to the market and gotten a big payday. He's mastered that. I thought James Bradbury was so underrated when he was in carolina and then obviously he paid he's great with the giants and then i thought that he was underrated again with the giants and then i thought that he i couldn't believe the eagles got him for what they did i knew james nobody gave a shit or really underappreciate james bradbury when i when i did comparison uh comparison for sauce gardner and i was like i honestly think sauce can be a better version of james bradbury and people

were like that's so disrespectful like bradbury and i'm like do you realize number one bradbury is really good they are very similar with that those arms down to the ground their play style and then you know obviously sauce had a great year but so did bradbury and it's like yeah this is this is who he is i think brad i think bradbury funny enough was second in the nfl in forced incompletions yes yes sauce is one it's nuts yeah sometimes guys we do know what we're talking about here, but no, I I've, I've known the Bradbury is good. You know, Carolina is obviously hasn't been the best team over the last,

you know, four or five years, especially when Bradbury was there, but I'll tell you, nobody played Mike Evans better than James Bradbury did year in and year out twice a year. Nobody played Mike Evans better. Maybe March on Lattimore and Lattimore is considered what a great corner.

So it's those two guys. And that's the reason why I've always been a big fan of Bradbury. But you look at what else they did. Loved, loved the Rashad Penny contract. If Rashad Penny stays healthy, one year, $1.3 million. Even if he doesn't. As opposed to what Miles Sanders got in Carolina, this big four-year deal. Man, good on Philly.

They get Fletcher Cox back as well. Losing Javon Hargrave makes it tough. So certainly interior defensive line, like, with Fletcher Cox back, obviously you like that. But number 10 is a legitimate spot for Jalen Carter to go if he slides to 10. You know, if they do the background and they're okay with Jalen Carter, you're reuniting Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis on the same defensive line you got fletcher cox in there for one more year which you love that's the key with that group and and you gotta you

gotta replace hargrave right i mean i think one way or another somebody's got to step up either they're on the roster or they're drafting a guy at the top like that but i think that that certainly goes into addressing some draft needs too yeah and i And I think, you know, it goes back to our pick of taking Kansi to them at the end of round one. Yeah. So, yeah, the Eagles definitely need some D-line help. I'm looking at some of these running back deals. It's so fascinating how teams get value. Like, how about the Dolphins getting Raheem Mostert on a two-year $5.6 million deal?

Great deal. Like, Mostert is great in that offense. Mostert is great in that offense. Mostert is great in that offense. The Dolphins maybe have had my favorite offseason from a volume standpoint. I think they've done a lot, starting with hiring Fangio to trading for Jalen Ramsey. And then they signed David Long like a joke of a contract

how in the world did he get that little of a deal two years 11 mil silly i mean yeah they've just they didn't really have an overwhelming amount of money to work with and they found a way to maximize it and i i understand the conversation with the dolphins is always going to go back to their one two a hit away uh now from being with mike white under center but mike white's always one hit away jets legend so then it's skylar thompson again sorry jets hall of famer jets hall of famer i didn't mean to shortchange him no no no no and and uh didn't burn any bridges on the way out left a nice goodbye note hit all right we'll do ring of honor for mike white he'll be in the ring of honor yeah that's how you that's how you treat a franchise quarterback folks take notes uh yeah just to keep going off

the running back point um zeke getting released by the the cowboys certainly we have talked about the hell does he go i don't know where he goes uh rick stroud of the san bay times who i love rick but like he he tweeted hey bucks are probably going to be interested because he was probably heard that from somebody that they're going to inquire about zeke and i'm just like god please no they just signed chase edmonds as we were doing the podcast who did bucks bucks yeah oh okay so they're not gonna be done then they're not gonna be in on zeke at all um actually i like the chase enders deal i actually like that you're breaking news to me oh yeah there it is breaking news so a cowboys don't have zeke anymore tony pollard's on a franchise tag but tony pollard

is also coming off um injury so you never know exactly what that's gonna be like with him getting back they're hoping to get him back obviously for training camp at the start of the season but who knows what exactly what he's gonna look like because it is a lower body injury for running backs it's always tricky i genuinely think the bijan robinson or jameer gives is on the table for the cowboys at the back end of the first round genuinely genuinely believe that certainly if it's bijan um new orleans another spot that i thought could have been a jameer gibbs spot because they've got a decently early second round pick which i've liked that there we've talked about alvin kamara and how he might get suspended and how he might that might change the

guarantees in his contract because his contract cap hit goes up over the next two years but they just signed jamal williams so at least they're mitigating that there it could still go after a guy like jamir gibbs or a different running back somewhere on day two but i think that it's a little bit different with jamal will there. So that's kind of how I would see that changing things for the saints. I don't think they're thinking running back at the back end of first round. Maybe if it's B Jean, but I think it's probably going to be something along the interior defensive line, though. I'll be honest.

They signed Nathan Shepard and then who's the other one? It was Nathan Shepard and Kallin saunders from the chiefs so they got two like interior defensive linemen there so they're not like just nothing there because it looked like there was a chance where a lot of guys could have been gone um david on umada's gone uh shai tuttle is gone very different looking group you're at least replacing them a little bit i think that if the right d lineman is there that could certainly still be on the table for him speaking of running backs and I guess offensive weapons, I want to touch on New England. I feel like we don't touch on New England a ton on this show just because,

I don't know, never know what Belichick's going to do, to be honest with you. But they trade Johnny Smith. They trade him away to the Atlanta Falcons, which I loved, by the way. And I don't think that is a Kyle Pitts negativeitts negative i think that's kyle pitts positive because i think you could put johnny smith out on the line of scrimmage and you could flex kyle pitts out and have a lot more flexibility there and versatility and how you use them you don't always have to use them on my scrimmage so i like that move there but they move on from johnny smith they also let jacoby myers walk but basically signed judy smith schuster to the same contract there so yeah that was kind of weird you and i have talked well it clearly was just a whatever jacoby myers

has been for us has not been enough we're gonna try somebody else yeah but that says to me you and i have mocked you know maybe jack smith and jigba maybe zay jones there are um zay flowers to them zay jones zay Flowers to them in the first round. That's not happening anymore. No, you're spot on. Yeah. They're not going offensive weapon anymore. Yeah.

He's a power slot at his best. So. Yeah. Right. Right. No, I mean, Juju is exclusively a slot. Yeah. For player.

Like that. He won't play anywhere else. If you. Yeah, it's funny. It definitely takes Jsn off the board because he brings the same exact skill set and yeah i think i think jackson's where the jig was a better player but still i do too um but still you're right you're right no you're they're not taking a wide receiver in that mold at 14 um so yeah new england is fascinating you know do they still

go after a vet right like are they going to call for Hopkins? And then there's the Bill O'Brien dynamic. Right, they can't. No, but somebody said they did. Yeah, I need to find this right now. It was Bill himself who called. That would be wild, man. Yeah, there's been a couple.

God, navigating Twitter for news is a nightmare these days. This week is an absolute flood this i can't believe how bad it's it's what'd you say this week is an absolute flood of news that you just know because everybody has a blue check mark so you have to go to every single bio and then it's like 200 followers and it's just like a fan saying like it's saying like Patriots thinking about trading second round pick for Hopkins deal close. And you're like, are you a beat reporter?

Maybe, maybe no check is the new check. Okay. You and I need to change our Twitter handles and just get rid of the check. Yes. Checkers. I like that.

It was from Jeff. How, who is obviously has really good New England ties, even though he's a national guy for the Athletic now. He said the Patriots have made trade calls for Hopkins and Jerry Judy. Oh. But, I mean, who knows? I mean, Judy and Smith-Schuster kind of play the same position.

Yeah, the Broncos are fascinating right now. Why are the Broncos just flushing now like they've just been put why are the broncos just flushing the toilet on all their wide receivers they are hell-bent on anybody not named tim patrick right now which i mean i'm getting rid of anybody respect to tim patrick but like what do we do we didn't play last year i don't know it's sean payton man tearing up at the studs i guess he's just sean does sean payton not go out and get like a rust proof team in free agency he's like if you could block we are signing you yeah what were the uh broncos yeah let's pull up the broncos real quick i feel like every move i saw from them not a lot of defensive moves to sign ben powers sign jared sit-in sign mike mclinchy

sign chris manhurst dude they just guard tackle blocking tight end yep they gave out two mammoth offensive line deals yeah mammoth they got one of the underrated blocking tight ends in the league right they signed a fullback they signed michael burton they did indeed sign michael burton they signed samajip ryan yeah like everything yeah everything they did was like yeah this isn't let russ cook anymore this is let russ this is let russ microwave dinner this is shit get out of the way dude this is let sean this is this is let sean cook let sean dial up let sean establish uh uh really quick tennessee titans i we have talked about them moving on from chair lejuan

they sign andre dillard does that change your mind at all about the desperation that they might have to target an offensive tackle and the reason why i ask is because this is where the offensive tackle run gets interesting right because it's tennessee at 11 it's houston at 12 it's new york at 13 and then if you want to go into that patriots conversation that we just had i think that they're bringing in wide receiver talent in order to try to really improve the trenches in the first round of the draft with hopefully an offensive tackle that's going to make it to them so if tennessee is no longer in the market for an offensive tackle, it kind of changes things. But I don't think Dillard moves the needle that much.

What do you think? The deal was bigger than I thought. At first when they did it. I agree. I agree. Yeah, at first I was like, yeah, it's not going to change anything. Then you give him starting left tackle salary on a three-year deal, obviously not fully guaranteed,

but it depends what they think of Nicholas Petit Frere, right? Trevor, like he's projected to play their right tackle. When I look at this move, I kind of think it opens up the door for them to take Skowronski and play him at guard. And then maybe down the road, you kick him to a tackle spot. That was my thought. And hypothetically, let's say the Bears take Paris Johnson,

the Titans take Skowronski, and then the Jets take Broderick Jones. Like, there's your O-line run. Pretty cut and dried right there. What do we think about the Jags losing Juwan Taylor? Juwan Taylor now going to the Kansas City Chiefs. The two offensive tackles in the NFL, who I believe combined together, gave up the most total pressures,

was Kansas City. It was Orlando Brown and Andrew Wiley. Andrew Wiley was, I think, top three in the NFL in total pressures allowed, although he did get better as the year went on. Wiley signs a deal with the Washington Commanders, which I do think goes into the Commanders' first round plans. It's not as desperate to go get an offensive tackle there but back to the jags they lose juwan taylor we have often thought about maybe offensive tackle for

them maybe corner in the first round it seems like you and i have leaned corner more so and with them officially releasing shat griffin that is without a doubt on the table as a priority pick but do you have faith in walker little because it felt like walker little was kind of battling juwan taylor there a little bit do you think do you think this is a sign that this team has faith that walker little is going to come in and they're probably not going to draft one in the first round i i do and it makes you wonder like where they are theoretically they could take DeJuan Jones right I still think they might be able to get Darnell right so it's a great question I think they do have faith in Walker Little and maybe they take a tackle on day two instead and have that guy be the swing guy and throw him into the mix so but, but yeah, I think when you look at Jacksonville,

it's pretty clear offensive line became a bigger priority, whether it's more of a depth development ad on day two, or if they do ultimately take that swing in round one. And how about almost a statement by the Chiefs? When you look at the money they gave a guy to come over and switch sides to them, rather than just paying Orlando Brown. It's interesting to me. I thought it spoke volumes.

Is Juans for sure going to play left? That was the initial reports I saw. Okay, okay. Because I also read that the Kansas City Chiefs had called about Laramie Tunsil. I saw that as well. You know? And like, that would be pretty crazy of Casario to get rid of Tunsell, in my opinion. It would be pretty...

Oh, no. Yeah. Especially if you get Bryce Young, which it's looking like they very well could. It feels like he's waving the white flag. Because what are you going to get for Tunsell? Number 32? Or 31, technically? Because the Dolphins...

I send that every day. Right. That's the cost. Yeah, right. That's what i'm saying so like i i don't know houston's had enough draft picks it feels like they just gotta gotta you gotta keep your good players start playing good players yes and and larry mcdonnell is one of the few ones so maybe the teams kind of aren't done there certainly with them moving seeing orlando

brown gone do you want taylor's in there they still have an offensive tackle spot that i think is going to open up for him yeah of course i think they'd love to get an offensive tackle but who's going to be there for you at 31 like a lot of the good offensive tackles are already going to be off the board i feel like the big three so broderick jones peter skronsky paris johnson jr they're going to be off the board i think darnell wright's going to be off the board um maybe anton harrison gets there because i feel like we on this show love him more than the nfl might but who knows dewan jones feels like he's a to be off the board. Maybe Anton Harrison gets there because I feel like we on this show love him more than the NFL might, but who knows?

DeJuan Jones feels like he's a back end of the first round guy, so who knows if he's making it to 31. And at that point, are you comfortable with that? We'll see. I guess that that's the debate. Bengals, man. Bengals go out and they get them. They get themselves Orlando Brown Jr.,

which they are hearing it loud and clear. We got to keep Burrow upright, man. the offensive line was not where it needed where it needed to be and uh when you're in a winning window and your offensive line's falling a little bit short there's no doubt about it you got to attack that with some uh ferociousness and and that's absolutely what they did so salute to the bangles they're really going out and prioritizing that again yeah and they they kind of went an avenue that they're not accustomed to going to. I think he has guarantees beyond the first year and the Bengals are starting to operate with a little more urgency, which I think Orlando Brown has become overrated, but that doesn't mean this wasn't a good signing for the Bengals. I still think both things can

exist. I think he came in cheaper than I expected. I think he's an upgrade for them. And I think when you, you can only operate with what the upgrade for them. And I think when you, you can only operate with what the market offers you. And he was on the market and the Bengals went out and got a guy that will help them. A couple of things we'll do rapid fire before we get out of here. I don't think the Steelers signing Patrick Peterson takes corner off the board for them in the middle of the first round. I think they needed more corner help than even just one spot with an aging Peterson.

So he signed a two-year, $14 million deal, which didn't jump change to play corner. But I still think that corner is up there on the priority list for them in the first round. I still believe that it's that and offensive tackle for them. Do you agree? I do. And they got Nate Herbig on a two-year deal and he filled in really nicely for the Jets when Elijah Vera Tucker got hurt. He obviously, you know, has his limitations, but he filled in nicely. So I thought that was a good value offensive line play for Pittsburgh. Yep. Yep. I think again, those offensive tackles that I just listed off, they're available for Pittsburgh. I think they're going to think about all of them,

especially those back three guys, Anton Harrison, Darnell Wright, DeJuan Jones. I think they're going to think about all of them, especially those back three guys, Anton Harrison, Darnell, right. The one Jones, I think those guys see Darnell, right. In a Steeler uniform. I don't know why he just looks like a Steeler. He does look like, is that the, is that a, you know, he looks like a Baltimore Raven. He just feels like. Those two franchises are the ones we always do it with. It looks like a Raven, looks like a New York giants. I want to make sure that I remembered everybody. So re-sign,

re-sign Sterling Shepard let's go baby 1.3 million dollars locked him up they got Rakeem Nunez Roches who is a really nice rotational run defense guy in the middle of that defensive line uh Bobby Okereke four years 40 million dollars at linebacker so linebacker big need for them they fill with Bobby Okereke so it's it's not to say they can't go linebacker. I just really doubt that it would be anything in round one. And then love the Darren Waller acquisition as well. If tight end was on the board, which that was a little bit disrespectful to the kind of year that Corey, Cody Bellinger, right?

Did I say that? No. Daniel. Daniel Bellinger. Daniel Bellinger. I said Cody Bellinger last time. And I wanted to make sure I didn't mess up again. Cody Bellinger plays baseball.

Daniel Bellinger. And Darren Waller, that's a really nice one-two tight end combo. Do you think when Cody Bellinger and Daniel Bellinger are in the same town, they get together for dinner? Yeah, they have to. Yeah, they have to yeah they have to got to do it um so that i think that that still allows wide receiver to be the main mock draft pick for the new york giants because i think you hit linebacker you hit tight end you hit interior defensive line um and that just makes it all seem like wide receivers

got to be next aaron waller's a great receiving tight end so i think that certainly helps but i think wide receivers definitely still on the table for him i think so too and waller is a fascinating ad right it really didn't cost them much a third round pick that they got in the cadareous tony trade besides the money you owe him and the upside of waller is better than any pass catcher that was available in free agency he just needs to find a way to stay healthy and he has not been able to do that in recent so i like to swing for the giants because he didn't have a lot to work with in the pro market so you take a gamble on a on a guy that didn't cost much draft capital and you see if it works and i think more

large athletic middle of the field pass catchers for daniel jones is how brian dable wants to operate that offense there we go those are some thoughts on how the tampering period as well as the early free agency period uh has really shaped the nfl draft first second round and just some overall draft strategies. Some guys that are still available, obviously, what happens with Lamar Jackson, who knows at this point, Dalton Schultz, Chauncey Garner-Johnson, Bobby Wagner, Jadavion Clowney, Odell Beckham Jr., Marcus Peters, Dalton Reisner,

Isaiah Wynn, Adam Thielen, Mike Gusecki. A lot of these guys are still available, so I think there are a lot of players that are going to find new homes that might go into this as well we're gonna tie that all together over the next couple of days and have a brand new mock draft for you on monday we'll call it a post free agency mock draft obviously guys can still sign with teams even after that but we think that a lot of the big splashes will have been made especially for something that would affect the first and second round of the draft. So that's coming for you guys on Monday.

But let us know what you thought of the early free agency move, which ones really shook up the draft, especially in the first round, maybe in the top 10, the top 20 something. Let us know what signing you were surprised about, excited about, disappointed about, whatever it is, how this free agency period has shaped your team's draft strategy and what you're hoping that they can pair with some capital that they spent already with the draft capital that we've got about a month from now. So let us know.

Hit us up in the YouTube comment section. It's the best way to get in on the conversation with us. We're reading all those bad boys. And of course, we're conversing with you and going back and forth as much as we can. If you're an audio-only listener and you want to get in on the combo, at Tampa Bay Trey, at Connor J. Rogers on Twitter and Instagram. That's where you can find us and forth as much as we can if you're an audio only listener and you want to get in on the combo at tampa bay tray at connor j rogers on twitter and instagram that's

where you can find us and that's where it can happen connor got anything else before we get out of here i'm looking forward to our next mock draft it just makes it more fun when you have so much more to work with right it's like getting new pieces to the puzzle we start out the year and we we have a 500 piece puzzle and we have about 20 pieces now we have about 300 so we're getting closer and closer. And man, it's just that best time of year where you can really start to hone in on what this thing is going to look like. As much as mocks are speculation by nature, certainly before free agency, it's just pure

speculation because we don't know which players from even the teams that they're already on, who's going to still be there when draft day rolls around. After free agency agency the team needs really get set you get to figure out what teams were able to do with their cap space and then what they're going to have to do in the draft sometimes it affects in a big way and sometimes yeah it just makes it all the difference in the world for these teams and how the rest of the nfl draft is going to go because we know that it's an incredible ripple effect i'm trevor sycamore that is connor rogers thank you guys so much for watching the NFL Stock Exchange podcast.

See you guys next time. Bye.