NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 221. Fixing The Washington Commanders

Episode Date: January 3, 2024

Hosts Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers take a deep dive into the Washington Commanders. They look into new own Josh Harris and some of his previous moves with the other sports franchise he owns to get an idea of what might happen in Washington, run through GM/HC candidates, examine free agency options and fire up a 3-round Commanders mock draft.

This episode is brought to you by our good friends at NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV. I'm sure by now you've all got back into your Sunday routines, but they could be even better. With NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV, you get the most live NFL games all in one place, every game, every Sunday. And you can even watch up to four different games at once with MultiView, one of my favorite inventions of this decade. It's exactly what you need to catch all the action. Make your Sundays more magical. And also, YouTube TV is great. I got it this year.

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 are fixing the Washington Commanders.

You guys know the drill at this point. We're gonna talk about everything there is to talk about that could go into what is changing this franchise. And that means new ownership with this franchise. We'll also talk about potential new general managers, potential new head coaches, what they can do with the salary cap, some team needs,

and then cap it off with a mini three round commanders mock draft. I'm Trevor Sycamore with me as always 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 at the beginning of the week. And not just the beginning of the week. The beginning of the damn new year. 2024, baby. Kicking it off right with an episode of NFL SE.

And today, you're fixing the washington commanders a lot to talk about in this one i know that we say that every single time but we've got an even deeper rebuild with this team because new ownership so we're going to dive into the new investment group who owns the team you know talk about some of the tendencies that we've seen from them because a couple of the people in here, especially the main guy, he owns the 76ers and the New Jersey Devils as well. So we get a little bit of a taste of like, oh, okay, does he have any tendencies? So we can figure out, okay, who might be the next GM? Who might be the next head coach? Because spoiler alert, I think there's going to be a big regime change. Got a lot of draft picks, a lot of salary cap, a lot of good stuff to get into. Connor,

how you doing, my friend? How was your New Year's? Did you do something big for New Year's? What'd you do? I'm good, man. Not really not really actually you know what i did this new year's i played a lot of mario kart wow yeah nothing really that wild yeah me me and kristen were like you know what because we had we were invited to only one party which is that's just enough but it was in the city it's football season it's really hard to get through midtown and out of midtown and uh listen i love i'm from new york i love new york as much as anyone but new year's is a big hard pass for me for the most part so we we stayed in we didn't do anything crazy uh which was nice honestly there's no reason at this age to have any crazy

plans but happy new year to you i hope it was great did you did please tell me you topped me from sitting on the couch and just having beers if i topped you you mean i i went to bed maybe earlier than you did wow we're done we're cooked my fiance had to work super early the next day that's the problem when you work in football there's like the holidays in football they're fun but they're so congested so we went to do stuff on monday like even even things as simple as she went to go get starbucks in the morning right when she was going into work and there's no starbucks open she's like why is it what and you forget that it's a national holiday because when you work in football that's i mean new and you forget that it's a national holiday because when you

work in football that's i mean new year's day is not really a national holiday so um no we we played it pretty low-key um fireworks should be illegal to the public that's my brother that was another thing big that's my that's my that's my new year's take uh if anybody wants to debate that in the comments and it's just not a new... I get it on 4th of July. I've had dogs my whole life and it's part of the deal. But 4th of July, I totally get it. I love the fireworks. I'll go

anywhere to watch them. On New Year's, dude, I just don't get it. I really don't get it. Here's the thing. I'm great with fireworks. We're getting on a tangent. I promise we're going to actually get into the show. But I'm great with fireworks. We're getting on a tangent. I promise we're going to actually get into the show. But I'm cool with fireworks on the 4th of July. And I'm also cool with fireworks like for New Year's as like a big show.

Like somebody putting it on. Like an organization or the city or something putting it on. That's always fine. To the public, y'all take this way too far. Okay? We don't need to be blasting off fireworks at 3 30 a.m on new year's day new year's morning whatever it is like even if we didn't have to wake up early we don't need that people with dogs don't need that thankfully our dog i don't

know how gracie is but thankfully our dog doesn't really give a shit at all about fireworks she's actually okay it's surprising it's got all my labs before her, though, they're like berserk. People take it too far, and fireworks should be illegal to the public. That's my take. That's my curmudgeon take for the New Year. Oh, and a lot of people are not going to like it. There are people that are just firework fiends. But listen, I get it.

I really do. Could do without it. It leads to more trouble. Anyway. Yeah, anyways, let's get into this. Happy New Year, everyone. Yeah, Happy, I get it. I really do. Could do without it. It leads to more trouble. Anyway. Yeah, anyways, let's get into this. Happy New Year, everyone. Yeah, Happy New Year to everybody. So Washington Commanders, obviously, this is a,

I think we waited for a good time to do this. Well, they lost to the Jets, and I promised somebody online that was angrily, jokingly, but angrily tweeting at me, fix the Commanders, and I was like loser of jets commanders gets fixed gets fixed we're out of my word so the washington commander is currently sitting at four and twelve now with one game left in the season now the reason why we wanted to wait on

the commanders is because one we didn't know exactly where they were going to draft now we have a much better idea it's basically one of two picks and we'll talk about that when we get to the mini mock draft at the end of the show um and we wanted to wait because we figures that there's gonna be some gm some head coach changes but dude we could just do that like i think that we understand where this is going at this point this is a big prove it year for head coach ron rivera for the president of football personnel, Marty. Yeah. Marty Herney, Marty Mayhew, who is the general manager of this. Like this was a big make or break year for them.

And very clearly only winning four games, having a top three pick. The answer was break. Like it braids, it's breaking this regime, new ownership with commanders. I think there's going to be a lot of big changes so that's why we waited to this point but it also sets things up very nicely for us fixing them now because it's going to be a lot of fun like the free agency portion is going to be a blast uh the mock draft like we said at the end of the show is going to be a lot of fun we're going to give you some gm candidates we're going to give you some head coach candidates all that good stuff so I think it's going to be a fun episode, Connor. Me too. And you nailed it. There was a reason why you wait on certain teams, right? And for Washington, in all seriousness, good news is

they lost that last pivotal game against the Jets. They really tried to make a crazy comeback, and they technically did, but they couldn't hold on onto the lead. That was a win that could swing this thing too far one way or the other that it wouldn't have felt authentic when we're doing the mock draft. Like if they, if they beat the jets, instead of talking about them picking a two, we're talking about them picking five or six. I was going to say somewhere around five,

right? Like that's a really large difference in this class. I want to make that very clear for a team that probably will be looking for a franchise quarterback. And that's a whole nother conversation we're going to have, because I think Sam Howell did a lot of good things this year. And they are such an interesting franchise because going into the year, it felt like and this happens with new ownership a lot in sports. I often reference it on this podcast, especially the fixing ones. I've done it with the Panthers. I cover the Mets only on a podcast.

I'm not a beat reporter for the Mets. Obviously, that'd be tough to pull off. But covering the Mets and covering the sale from the Mets or Steve Cohen, you know, I witnessed basically like an owner will come in. And rather than just blowing it all up day one, he'll observe what's working, what's not working, what needs to be changed. And Washington was in a scenario where Ron Rivera and upper management and even a lot of the roster had a shot this year to get it right. And I'll say this, Trevor, I think that it's good that they bottomed out rather than I never thought this team and, I think that it's good that they bottomed out. Rather than, I never thought this team and this coaching staff was good enough to be, you know, an upper echelon NFC playoff team.

I thought they would be an annoyance. And for a lot of this year, they were. They gave a team like the Eagles a tough game and things like that. But if you're going to fully move on in every aspect, bottom out, have a great asset now. You could sell this to who you're hiring and start to build a team. And Washington has needed this kind of change for a really long time. Yeah. And, you know, it's kind of it's kind of crazy because I went through this exercise. And, you know, when I was thinking about head coaches that might take this job and the situation that they have, you know, maybe getting a new franchise quarterback, maybe all this flexibility in my

mind, because I'm, I'm 32 years old. Okay. So I was born in 91. Spider-Man meme. All right, there we go. Dan Snyder bought this team in 99. So I was eight. So me as a sports fan, all I've basically known when I think about this Washington franchise is Dan Snyder is the owner right and the first thing that I wanted to talk about with this team is this new ownership being able to cleanse the reputation that the that this Washington franchise has because I've been told that this Washington franchise you know for as long as it has existed one of the most storied franchises in, in the NFL, in football has such a rich history, a rabid fan base,

a rooted fan base. Like so many people care about the Washington franchise now, obviously known as the commanders. And it just, for the majority of my life, I felt like it wasn't like that. I felt like Dan Snyder was a hated owner. I owner i mean this dude the fans didn't like this guy i mean i i read that he sued season ticket holders when during the great recession in 2009 they couldn't pay their season ticket bills because obviously because we were in a great recession and he's like yeah uh f you whatever you signed the dotted line like i get it that it. That's business. But like, God damn. Right. You're a billionaire, man.

Like, and people are going through tough times. I know that that rubbed people the wrong way. They were constantly raising prices for tickets, for parking, you know, sometimes when it wasn't warranted. You know, talked about how FedEx Field has just been falling apart with no upgrades and no renovations. Just the approval rate between the fans and the ownership, it felt like it was at an all-time low, especially over the last five years. And that's not even getting into the reports

and the accounts that have come out of sexual harassment in the workplace, a toxic environment, bullying, all this kinds of stuff that was just going on in this Washington franchise, let alone the name of the team itself for so long under Dan Snyder that I always just felt that it's like, yeah, okay. Like, all right. Washington might have some salary cap here or might have some draft picks here, but it's Washington, right? Like you got to work for Dan

Snyder. And that's not the case anymore with Josh Harris and this investment group. It's not just Josh Harris, but he's, he's spearheading it. And so with him now taking over with this investment firm as the new owners of this team in 2023, that to me, Connor is where we have to start with all this because it is truly a new chapter. Not even a new chapter. It's a new book, man. It feels like it's an entirely new book for this team. And that reputation that has been soured for so many years now might be gone in this new ownership

and then the new general manager and the new head coach. And I think that's a really, really big deal for Washington moving forward. It is because one, it makes coming to work for you much more appealing, knowing that there might be more patients. There might be a work environment that is more football focused. I think that's been a big issue here is that, you know, guys will go work there and then you're doing pressers and you're answering

questions about awful things going on in the news, whether it's about ownership, whether it's about something else in the organization, whether it's about how they treat the fans, whether all the way down to the jokes that what Mike McDaniel said earlier in the year that you step to go pay for his own coffee when he worked there. I mean, just like things that are like unheard of when you're talking about the NFL,

it's a billion dollar industry. So yeah, I think that it's a big deal. It's a really big deal. Now I'm not going to lay out, you know, the red carpet here and say that like Harris has done a perfect job with the other franchises he's owned.

It took a really, really long time after some really rough years for the Devils to turn things around. And we know the 76ers have had a bit of a roller coaster as well. But I think at the end of the day, what matters if you're a Washington fan is that there's more stability at the top of the organization and less BS, I would think. Yeah, I agree. So a little bit of, you know, a little bit of background information and less BS, I would think. Yeah, I agree. So a little bit of background information on Harris, who I mentioned. He's rich. That's where we begin.

That's where the dating profile starts with this guy. 58 years old, worth $8.1 billion, according to Bloomberg. That is significant. I mean, the man's not even 60 yet and he's already worth 8.1 billion dollars obviously he's owned multiple sports franchises now he was part of an investment group that bought the Philadelphia 76ers in 2011 so that's 12 years ago um this dude was 46 he was buying the 76ers it's wild wild. Just an incredible amassing of wealth that he had through his, I think, private equity firm is how he got most of his money.

And so he bought the 76ers in 2011 and then bought the New Jersey Devils in 2013. And the reason why those dates are key is because I went back and I looked up some GM history with them. We'll get into those in a second, but I did want to read off this quote because you talked about things being more football forward, probably the way to say it, focused, maybe the way to say it. And he had a quote when he bought the team. I think I read this either on Wikipedia or one of the articles I was reading about him and harris said this in sports when you own a franchise it's very different than a business the public holds you personally accountable there's so much publicity that people expect from you as the managing partners to be

accountable for the organization that's a huge responsibility that that keeps me up at night because life is very complicated things happen you do your absolute best and i spend a lot of time thinking about how do we set things up so we stand for integrity excellence inclusion diversity all that kinds of stuff when you are managing and and moving a team and a franchise forward. And that just is in and of itself night and day. It feels like from what Snyder was, certainly as things were very public with him over the last half decade, decade, whatever, uh, however far you want to go back. And so to me, that's just, it means that you're kind of starting off at a good place. And I think it's also washington fans should take solace in

the fact that he has taken some big swings with these other franchises whether it's the general managers that he has hired the trades that he has empowered them to pull off um the way that he has gone about because i mean you talk about hey it took the devils a long time and i think i agree with you i think that was a lot of trial and error there um but the 76ers you know they had the whole like trust the process thing and i'm gonna get into the sam hanky hiring in a second but 76ers okay they haven't won a championship winning championships pretty damn hard but being in that conversation as a world-class team, world-class caliber organization, that means as an owner, you are doing your job.

Now, to get that cherry on top, you need a lot of things. You need the timing, you need the luck, you need a lot of things to kind of work out in your favor. But as long as you were in the conversation to me, that means that you are handling things correctly as an owner. And I just believe that that quote that I had read from him is going to mean a lot for this franchise. And as we kind of dig into some general manager candidates and some head coaching candidates,

I wanted to make sure that that was a baseline to say that the roots of this thing, I think, are at least in a really good place. Yeah, I think so too. And I think it gives you hope that as they face the most important hiring cycle they'll make in a really, really long time in terms of like, I don't know. They've just been so weird. Do you realize the people that have been in this building, like the people they have let walk out of this building?

I forget what year the commander staff is. Basically every good head coach ever. I mean, there was a time where they had on staff i kid you not under mike shanahan kyle shanahan sean mcveigh matt lafleur and mike mcdaniel that is and i understand like i get it to an extent that you're especially if you're an owner you're not going to know the tight ends coach or the wide receivers coach like this is the next guy right although if you have a good handle on your organization i mean you probably should you do hear things through the cracks if you got one guy if you had just like let's say you they only had mcveigh that to me is like all right if

you happen if you happen to let him out of the building i get it timing is is sometimes everything with uh promotions you know getting to be offensive coordinator getting to be a head coach all this stuff timing definitely goes into things so if you had one of those guys leave the building and be successful it's like ah you know you know we're just you know you'd be happy for him whatever then all four of those guys. And it gets better. And they didn't get any. Hold on. It gets better. I had to look because it gets deeper. Raheem Morris was the DB's coach. Oh, great.

Bobby Slowik was the linebacker's coach. Bobby Slowik is coaching his balls off for CJ Stroud. I'm about to mention it. I'm about to mention him as a candidate. Dude, it is truly wild the coaches that have walked not walked in that building that have worked in that building which really wow kind of makes me take a second to tip the cap to mike shanahan because growing up in new york and and a lot of people uh around the country know this because he's coached a lot

of places but it was always like the parcell this because he's coached a lot of places. But it was always like the Parcells tree. That's always what you're taught. And the 98 Jets have an example of this. They have an insane assistant staffing list. But now you look at the next era. It was Mike Shanahan. That was the next guy.

I mean, he he literally developed the best offensive minds in football. All of them. The Shanahan tree is very real. And I think when people hear the Shanahan tree, they only think of Kyle. And his dad was the real roots of that tree. And Chris Forrester was also on that staff you know he's been the offensive line coach and run game coordinator for the niners for the last couple years like it's all right it's just crazy so let's so let's kind of talk about who they have on staff right now okay uh

head coach is ron rivera and and i will name off these names you tell me if there's any objection i think they're cleaning house completely. Yeah. You're sitting here at a 4-12 record. You're about to have a top three overall pick. And the last four years for the Commanders have gone like this. In Rivera's first season, they went 7-9. They made the playoffs at 7-9.

Funny enough. They ended up playing. I think that was the year that they played Tampa Bay. So they lose in the wild card round, but they make the playoffs at 79. The following season, they expanded the season. It went to 17 regular season games. So they go 7-10. Basically the same season, but instead of first in the division,

they finished third. Last season, so 2022, they go 8-8-1. So a little bit better. However, the rest of the division was getting a lot better they finished fourth in the NFC East and then this year it's 4-12 so it's basically been mediocre for this team for three years and then this year like we said at the beginning of the podcast make or break season and it's very clearly a break so I think Rivera is out and when you look at the guys in the front office it's um Marty Mayhew as the general manager he's been there since 2011 so he hasn't been there that long but he's been there for two seasons and then the VP of football and personnel player personnel

is Marty Herney who was the general manager of the Carolina Panthers he had two stints where he worked with Ron Rivera as a front office member of the Carolina Panthers. He had two stints where he worked with Ron Rivera as a front office member with the Carolina Panthers. He also has been there since 2021. I think all of those guys are gone. I think it's a total cleaning of the house. I don't know. Do you have any objections to that whatsoever?

No. I mean, there's not even a lot to hold your hat to, right? It's not like they just walked away from the draft and they're like, oh you know they passed on christian gonzalez for emmanuel forbes is malpractice um tough i mean there's so many there's so many issues team building here but that's just there's a lot of issues with coaching and talent evaluation and i think they go hand in hand with both the guy at the top and Ron Rivera, obviously coaching the team,

but also the front office as well. This is a wipe the slate clean job because it makes it more like who's taking this job if the other guys are just hanging around. And Harris is no dummy. He knows he's been through this with multiple franchises. And I think going back to your point, when you brought up the Mets kind of saying, okay, yeah, we're taking over new ownership, but we're giving ourselves time to evaluate what we have.

And if there's people who are worth keeping, people who are worth being around, building around, then okay. We'll be able to do that i think that harris in his investment group so the last um couple of purchases of sports teams for the devils and for the 76ers has done that exact thing he bought the 76ers in 2011 he kind of made a hire where the guy who is the head coach also like, he didn't retire, but he didn't be head coaching more. So he like went into a front office role, but that wasn't a real like hire of a GM. The first GM that he hired was two seasons later and he was Sam Hickey. And if you go to the devils, he bought the team in 2013, the first GM that he hired,

because he gave the current GM time to kind of prove himself. If he was going to, you know, still be good, he was going to keep him around. Same thing, two years later. Now, I don't think that he's going to wait two years because I don't think that timing window is exactly the same. But I did want to look at the two guys that he hired in both of those instances as those first-time general managers when you go to the 76ers he hires sam hinkey who was more of this analytical you know the whole trust the process he's the godfather of the trust the process thing with joel and bead and building it the right way and basically tanking like losing games intentionally to get better draft picks to build the team the way that they need to. So it was more of like an analytical-driven, new-age approach. But then with the Devils, he ends up hiring Ray Shiro,

who was the longtime general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins for many, many years. And so he went in a complete opposite direction with that one. He went with a, you know, we said before the show, like a, like a football guy, but it's, you know, hockey guy. It's somebody who had been a GM way before I had a ton of experience, um, was much more of like, you know, came up throughout through the industry, that kind of a thing. So I don't really have a way that I think that Harris is going to lean, whether he's going to be much more of an analytical guy, or if he's going to go after more of a football guy, I don't really have a leaning one way or the other because he has done both he has them both and I think it'll come down to finding the right pairing here right

does he now here's the question I guess Trevor comes down to if he brings in a front office do they just get full autonomy over who the coach is? Right. Like that's the thing. And if that's the case, he might look for experience here because it feels like the volatility of this thing. If you bring up a more because you could have a football guy and then build out an analytics team. But the football guy is leading who the coaching staff is going to be. Yeah.

If you go with a young up-and-comer, I respect the swing for the fences, but a lot of times when guys like this come into ownership, they want to set a floor. It's not often a guy comes in and they're like, man, I got to swing for the fences, and if this fails miserably in three years. But he kind of did that with Hinckley right right which tells you like his and he learned yeah but like i think he thinks weird too hinky didn't like he didn't survive to see the 76ers like it fully blah that plan fully blossom you know i'm sure 76ers fans would tell you like hey that had to be done

to get them where they needed but right he did take that swing but i i do cut right a little bit but i do i do agree with you i feel like he's going to lean more of of as much experience as he can you know ed dodds of course like comes to mind when that's the case he's been in a lot of these gm interviews and a lot of these conversations been around the league a long time um you we brought up glenn cook who's been the the league a long time. We brought up Glenn Cook, who's been the assistant general manager for the Cleveland Browns. He's gotten interviews over the last couple of years.

He's got a lot of experience in kind of like the football side of things as well, but he's young. I think he's 39, 40 years old. So he's a young gun. And so, yeah, I wonder how much he is going to weigh that kind of experience. And it's just going to be very, he is going to weigh that kind of experience.

And it's just going to be very interesting to see which way he goes. That's something that it's very hard for me to predict here on this show as we fix this franchise. And one that I'm just more looking forward to seeing what the answer ends up being. Right. It's not easy. It's not easy when you're trying to figure out, essentially, what is this guy that we've never really gotten to see him operate in the nfl space before looking to do but when you go through his history which you did a great job of it probably tells you that he'll look more for the floor rather than trying to come in and be like this ultimate ultimate innovator um in a

space that could be very intimidating as we're seeing david tepper go through an awful reality check of how hard it is in the nfl yeah doesn't mean you gotta throw drinks on people but yeah i mean my god i saw i saw a meme on twitter that was like if a billionaire threw a drink at me this would be me and it was the spongebob guy who's like made out of glass like he's just got casts all over his body i'd have hypothermia immediately hypothermia leads to pneumonia i'd yeah somehow trip and just like shatter my leg you know yep? Yep. $1 million of settling for my PTSD of having a drink thrown on me. It's crazy.

So head coach candidates, who do you like here? I know there's a lot of like factors that have to play out. The general manager pairing and personality means so much to working with a head coach. So obviously determining that goes a long, long way. But are there any names? We've gone through this process a couple of times.

We've done this for the Chargers, the Patriots, the Panthers. We've talked about, okay, some of these situations, we like some of the old guard. We like maybe a Bill Belichick, a Jim Harbaugh, a Dan Quinn. Some of these we go, okay, Ben Johnson, Bobby Slovic, guys like that. Do you have a leaning one way or the other what you maybe think Washington might do and then also what you would like for them to do, especially given the fact that we're going to have a top three pick? Might mean Drake May, might mean Caleb Williams.

What do you think? Exactly. This is a team to me that is moving into an era now with a, what they hope will be their franchise quarterback. They are going to select this player with a top three pick, maybe top two, although it's looking top two as we sit here today, especially since they close out the season against the Cowboys team that

needs a win. So that's really important to keep in mind here. There'll be probably two touchdown underdogs washington you're probably looking to pair this coach to basically staple this coach to that player now yes you could argue the panthers just did this and it went horrifically right with uh obviously you know the bryce young yeah but that doesn't mean that frank reich no right that doesn't mean the philosophy was wrong exactly they just picked the wrong guy they picked the wrong guys like they didn't mesh together at all and when i say that i could mean they picked yeah right incorrectly or cj incorrectly. One of the they picked the wrong guy somehow.

So somehow. So I do think they follow that philosophy because you can argue that there is other places where it's gone just fine. Right. And there's a lot of places where it's gone just fine. that will be their mindset is that we need a head coach that's going to be here for a couple years that's going to develop this this quarterback and get it right because we are owners know this now in the sport especially owners without a franchise quarterback having one is a commodity that you can't put a price on it for so many reasons it's one obviously just the face of your franchise if you have a quarterback in the league a franchise quarterback in the league it's what

everybody identifies your franchise with that trickles down to season tickets to jerseys in the stands to marketing to belief and hope in the roster. If you have a quarterback, it makes life easier on everybody else and how to build this thing out. Owners, it's the easiest thing for them to, I don't know, reconcile with or understand, right? A lot of these guys too are not football people. They're not. They're billionaire investors.

I'm sure some of them have been big fans of the game, but they are usually older men that are being that are entering an industry that is truly wild the nfl it's not comparable to any other league so it's the one thing they can relate to and understand right away so if you go inside the mind of somebody like that and harris you're thinking, okay, I got to get this right. And I, there's no like zigzagging around it or shortcuts, or I have to take the most direct route, the highest probability. Remember this is an investor, a guy that plays numbers and money and understands probabilities and percentages and chances. I need the highest percent chance that

this works out, whatever kid we take to be the face of this franchise that's why trevor to me this is one team we haven't done this with the other teams i'm not even looking at the defensive guys i'm not yeah i wrote down mike mcdonald from the ravens because he's just he's coaching so well sure i think he deserves a shout out for how well he has coached both at the pro level um and at the college level but i agree with you i i don't really think that that's going to be realistic and i think they're going to much go much more for those offensive guys i got three guys that i wrote down their names okay Okay. I've got Ben Johnson and Bobby Slovic. Those are the two that we have talked about before.

Now they're young, right? Ben Johnson's 37. Bobby Slovic is 36. So like, these are young coaches and that would be a big swing to take on those guys. But they're all the rage, right?

You talk about getting a new identity, getting the fans excited. That is getting one of these guys in the building could be a way to do that. If, of course, they go through interviews and you think they're the right guy to obviously lead the team. The other guy that I will bring up is Frank Smith, who is the 42-year-old offense coordinator under Mike McDaniel with the Miami Dolphins now he has been Mike McDaniel's offense coordinator for each of the last two seasons and we haven't talked about him a ton on this show at least I haven't so a little bit of background on him um he's been in the NFL since 2010 so he's got a lot of experience but he doesn't have a ton of play calling experience beyond the last two seasons so he's still a lot of experience but he doesn't have a ton of like play calling experience

beyond the last two seasons so he's still kind of green in that area but i found this quote from mike mcdaniel that i thought was really interesting about smith this is quote he has a thorough understanding of the game and he is a great teacher which is really what coaching is all about he also has a unique ability to anticipate problems before they arise, be that on the field or in administrative type things related to the schedule, questions that will come up with players, coaches, et cetera. He operates on a daily basis with a passion, positivity, humility, and that is rare and that sets him apart. I get it. Coaches kind of like talk up their guy, right? I mean, I don't shit talk many of my friends.

You know, when I talk about my friends, I pump them up. I tell you the best versions of them. But like, damn, if that quote isn't appealing, the fact that McDaniel is saying he is a great teacher, that lends itself to, hey, next franchise quarterback, this guy is going to be able to really teach them what wins at the position. Because, hey, if there's anybody that understands how well offense is playing right now in the NFL, it's somebody who works on the offensive staff

for the Miami Dolphins, right? I mean, like they're putting up crazy amounts of points all the time. They're getting a ton of Tumutunga-Vailoa, all that kind of good stuff. They understand what works. They understand the speed element, the mismatches everything so i love that experience that he has i love the part where he says that he he is a he's able to predict or see problems before they arise and he mentioned not just on the field stuff but within the personnel within uh the rest of the coaches within the rest of the players that's a ceo type of guy like that's a that's a head coach type of

a guy too so you know who knows how true all that is but if it is man i'm throwing his name in the hat as well and i really like the prospect of him getting to be the head coach with a guy like caleb williams or drake may if they end up picking with that pick number one or number two, it's a fun, well, can't be number one, number two. You know what I'm saying? Whoever's. Yeah, no, I like it. It's a fun one. It's a name we don't talk about a lot. It's definitely one of those ones that if you're on the outside like us, but actually doing the interviews, not like us, you'd love to sit down with him and just know, like, what were you responsible for? You talk to other people. What was he responsible for?

What was your day-to-day? What are your philosophies? What do you believe in? Just to be around the guy and get a sense for him of being, you know, the head guy. So that's a fun one. I align with you on both the first two names you brought up. And then, obviously, Frank Smith is a really good call that I hadn't thought of. My third name that i thought of

that is a little bit out there and sure it's not a favorite okay it's a guy that i'd really like to see get a shot and that's todd munkin oh sure my man yes todd munkin right now obviously it's the offensive coordinator for the ravens and which means he's the offensive coordinator for the soon-to-be two-time mvp Jackson this Ravens offense it took a little while they were you know in the early part of the season it felt like they couldn't find their identity then they were able to really lean on the run now you watch them they can play however they want it's just ridiculous there's nothing they can't do as a unit and lamar jackson is undoubtedly such a unique player in this league that it's always going to scare you to pull away from a staff

and ask them to build something without having their best calling card right a unique player like that but you look at munkin it's not just what he's done with with the ravens i mean it's really really not he obviously was carving teams up when he was calling plays for the championship Georgia Bulldogs Trevor you were still on the Bucks beat when he was there as far as I remember you could speak you know very well to him um in a second here I remember when Munkin interviewed for the Jets job the same year Adam Gase did the people I talked to that were a part of that process were blown away like there was some people that walked away from the building

that year and they're like how did we end up with Adam Gase after all these interviews instead of Todd Munkin it's a funny thing to look back on now I think Munkin has the personality that can not only succeed in developing a young quarterback. He's clearly coming from the college level just a couple years ago. He's also been a college head coach. So he understands working with young players. He has a really good rapport with younger players. But I also think he has this kind of careless in a good way attitude. Like, I don't care as much what people think about me

that could succeed in Washington. I think that's kind of a guy they need, not a guy that's, you know, logging on Twitter and worried about what the writers are writing about him, or they're going to lose. They're going to lose your one because they're still rebuilding and not

going to be able to handle that. He it's definitely an outside the box one. It's definitely one that they'd have to miss out on some of their top guys. But if they went with a guy like Todd Monken, cause they couldn't get their top guy, I would trust him to develop who they're going to draft a quarterback with a top pick. Well, it's going to be really tough for Munkin

to be the head coach for Washington when he's the head coach for Tampa next year. But other than that... I'd love a comeback story. Other than that, if he wants to cash two full-time paychecks, then... Winners in Tampa. Winners in Tampa, early part of the season in Washington. he wants to cash two full-time paychecks then um they can't make winners in tampa winners in tampa early part of the season in washington there's nothing in the bylaws that

say that a guy can't be the head coach of two franchises there's nothing stopping him look it up look look up the bylaws i've literally said the word bylaw every year since i heard it in the movie dodgeball like in 2005 i was gonna say i was like i was every year since I heard it in the movie Dodgeball, like in 2005. I was going to say. I was like, I haven't heard that in a while, and then it hit me. It's bylaw. So, all right. Anyways.

Yeah, look. I love Todd Munkin. I echo everything that you said. Really enjoyed my time covering him as the offensive coordinator when he was the offensive coordinator for the Buccaneers. You mentioned it. He was a no bullshit kind of a coach. He told it like it is. He was a straight shooter for the Buccaneers. You mentioned it. He was a no bullshit kind of a coach. He told it like it is.

He was a straight shooter. And you're right. I mean, he was somebody who, he didn't like throw players under the bus or anything. He wasn't like, you know, saying the truth on everything. But he was somebody who was just like, hey, you know what? Football and managing a football team, there's a lot of stuff that goes on behind the scenes.

I'll tell you guys what you need to know, but I'll also not tell you what you don't need to know and I think that that's a really good characteristic of a head coach and I I think that your point to him having really thick skin and I do believe that he does can work really well in Washington because that is a major market and again you know, I've never lived in that area. I never really understood it. I grew up in Florida. So when people told me about what a strong fan base and what a crazy market the Washington area was, I was just like, okay.

I mean, all I know is that Dan Snyder is a shitty owner to work for. Like, that's about it. But I feel as though when the right guys now get in this building, it's gonna rejuvenate that. And I do believe that Munkin can be a head coach that can take both the highs and lows of being a head coach in a major market. Where it's not maybe as much of a guarantee with some of these guys who are more green. You know, the Sloviks, the Ben Johnsons, even the Nolan Smiths, the Frank Smiths.

So I think that's a really good call-out. I absolutely love it. Let's get into the roster. Let's get into the roster. We'll talk about – we're going to get into some of the team needs. We're going to talk about the salary cap because there's a lot of fun salary cap money to play with here, and then we're going to give you a mini mock draft.

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That is meetfabric.com slash NFLSE. Policies issued by Western Southern Life Assurance Company. Not available in certain states. Price is subject to underwriting and health questions. So when we look at this roster, team needs. Let's go ahead and talk about it. Top four, top five team needs, and then we'll get into the cap situation some guys that are free agents coming up some money that they could have play with some targets that they might have but when you look at this depth chart when you look at

this Washington Commanders team where's the team needs what do you think they need to hit the most offensive line stands out to me and it's it's yeah it's a unit that just needs to be replenished. They're going to have to do it. It's really tough to go out at the top of the free agent market and solve your offensive line in a way that's super high ceiling. I think back to when the Dolphins signed Teron Armstead. Those are so few and far between. They're so few and far between that those kind of guys get to the market and they're just

open free agents and and armstead even for as great as he was everybody knew like this a dude that's going to manage injuries almost every week of this contract but when he plays this is a big time ad so it's hard to say that they're going to be able to do that but when you look at their day two draft capital that's where i have some faith in them because you look at the skill talent here trevor they got wide receivers like you know what terry mclaurin could do johan dotson is a much better player than what we got to see this year he for whatever reason has been a little handicapped by this offense so you need to build it up on the offensive line for the new young quarterback under center and then you look at defense i mean this is a team that traded montez sweat and chase young like you

gotta find you gotta find replacements for those guys on the edge rusher they're gonna need an edge pass rush because i don't see them just going back into the secondary well right away they just use a ton of resources both on emmanuel forbes and kwan martin i don't think this is a team that's like man we got to keep drafting corners until they're going to try to develop those guys, the new staff, assuming. And if it doesn't work, they'll get to draft their own. But this is a team that needs a new young pass rush and a lot of pieces on the offensive line as a very, very, you know, simple starting point for a new regime. I agree. I think that there's two tiers, if you will, when it comes to Washington's biggest team needs. I think the three are three of the biggest positions that you could possibly have for team building.

And quarterback's one of them. I think offensive tackle's the other. And the gadget rusher's the other. Right. And, you know, I think I would love to hear what people think of Sam Howell right now. Where are you on Sam Howell? Because I am of the opinion that certainly with this team benching him for these last two weeks for Jacoby Bursette to take over, it makes me feel like they understand.

They are very close to picking potentially Caleb Williams or Drake May. I know some people just say Drake May because they're picking number two overall, but I do think it's going to be a debate with what Chicago maybe does at number one or who maybe they trade that pick to, who they like better. And the spicy thing is, Caleb Williams is from Washington.

He's from the DC area. Like this, Washington, if Washington gets a number two overall pick, there could be a world where they trade up to number one because they want him. They want the hometown kid. They want the Heisman Trophy winner. They want him to come home, if you will.

So I think that there is a strong possibility if they end up with the number two overall pick that Caleb Williams ends up being the guy in the franchise, whether they pick number one or whether they pick number two. But I do think that a new quarterback is coming in. And so i think that those three needs are the tier one needs and then i would throw a linebacker and maybe corner in there as well um we'll get to free agencies in a second they've got kwan martin they hit they have uh emmanuel forrest but they're probably losing kendra fuller you probably let him walk um and so i think that you'll need a little bit

there as well so i'm getting go ahead no No, no, no, you nailed it. Okay, I was just gonna jump right into the cap situation. Yeah, please do. If you're looking at over the cap, total cap space available for this team, 81.7 million projected for 2024. That is first in the NFL. So a lot of money to play with there.

Effective cap space. So this is taking the rookies into account, which they've got some extra draft selections. They've got an extra second round pick. They've got an extra third round pick. So that's going to be extra money that you need to sign those guys to the 51, 53 man roster. Um, that money is a projected $64 million. So that's kind of what you really want to go off of you know you don't you you can't spend we know when people go into these exercises and look things up on on over the cap or wherever you look it up they look at that projected cap space and they go oh this team's got 80 81 million dollars to spend it's like no not really because you have to sign your rookies with that money

so that's why the effective cap space number is a much better judge of what you can actually spend in free agency if you would like to so and that includes like some of the guys they're bringing back 64 point yeah 64 million dollars is is the second most effective cap space in the league so these are a couple of guys that they could be losing some unrestricted free agents that they have. And I'm curious, Connor, what you think of some of these guys. The ones that I highlighted, because there's more than just this, but I think these are the ones where you're really kind of making decisions on. Cam Curl is a free agent. Jacoby Brissett is a free

agent. Jeremy Reeves, who's a big-time special teams guy for him. Curtis Samuel. Kendall Fuller. That's a big one. And Antonio Gibson. Those are kind of the, how many, six? Those are the six that I think are the most debatable or just like, yeah, you got to bring those dudes back.

Because I think you bring back Cam Curl. You know, I don't really think that's too much of a debate i think he's a really good football player but the other guys i think there's a debate so you met who were you saying that's a big one for kendall fuller yeah i would i would think they should make an effort to bring back fuller the only reason why i would say maybe not is because there are some decent corners that are hitting free agency. But he's one of them, right? He is. Although, you know what? I'll say this.

I don't love the idea of signing corners and their first year for you will be their age 29 season. Like, that's not good process. And how long has he been there? At least three years, right? He's been with them. With that trade? So he was with washington from 2016 to 2017 then he was with the chiefs from 2018 to 2019 he's been back with washington and then he's been back with washington for the last four seasons yeah he's gonna be 29 next month in

february i think they might be like hey, I might be careful with this one. You know, just... Not that they don't need it, but... I've got a swap-in, swap-out solution. Okay. I think maybe you let Fuller walk, but you don't just want him to walk for nothing and then just play new guys. Jalen Johnson is somebody for the Bears

who I like a lot as a corner. He was given permission to seek a trade, so I feel like they're going to just let he was given permission to seek a trade. So I feel like they're going to just let him hit the market when the market opens. And that would be kind of like a trade of those players that I'd be okay with. You get somebody new in the building, Fuller gets to go sign with a contender

or something like that. And you get Jalen Johnson in there to still mitigate what would be a open spot at corner. And you're filling that with a guy who I think is certainly starting caliber level in this league. So that was my thoughts. I'm with you all the way. That's getting a lot younger. I mean, he's 25.

I was going to say he's got to be like 25, 25. So even if his season next year is his age 26 season, I'm with you on that corner swap. And then if one of them make it to the market, which is really, really hard, but if one of them make it to the market, I'm doing everything I can to sign either Brian Burns or Bryce Huff. Yeah, I have both of them on here. Like that.

Now, here's the thing. This is what makes this exercise tough. Burns could get tagged in theory. I don't think Huff warrants, because that number for the edges is really, really big. What's Huff going to get? What's the projected? Is it like 20?

No, I would say closer to 15. Okay. Because I also have Jonathan Grenard on this list too. Okay, that's another good one. There's actually some pass rush depth in this free agency class. And that's the conversation that I wanted to have when we went through this free agency exercise is, I totally agree with you. I think they need offensive line upgrades.

But there's way more possibilities at upgrading edge in free agency than there are offensive line so i'd rather try to spend the money for a bryce huff for a brian burns for a jonathan grenard and then hit offensive line heavy in like round two of the draft then try to do the opposite yeah i i i'm sorry i was reading some more free agency stuff it's i'm with you all the way so you're looking at it bryce huff uh josh uche yep you brought garnard i mean even a like a rotational guy like andrew van ginkle like when he's had to play now now he'll play a pivotal role because both chubb and jalen phillips are out i mean there's pass rushers in this free agency. They got to go get one.

They got to go get one because they traded both theirs. This kind of, though, brings me back, and I guess this isn't really the show for it, but you kind of wish they just paid Montez Sweat. Well, it looks bad now, doesn't it? Because he's been really good. And look, I was skeptical of the trade when it happened. Yeah.

When I looked at Montez Sweat, I was like, okay, not a very high pass rush win percentage guy. He's been around 11% at the highest his entire career. Great against the run. Yeah, I'm not really paying a run defending edge that much if he can't win as a pass rusher. And he has absolutely won as a pass rusher this year, I think, for both teams.

So hindsight, yeah, maybe you hang on to that one. But at least they got a decent pick for him. That's true, they did. And they'll have a chance to solve the needs that they they prioritize a new regime so it's an attractive job when you look at the resources 100 it is so you brought up a great point like tonic most cap in the league active cap they can fill their needs at edge and free agency they could draft their needs a little bit on the offensive line that quarterback it's a lot to like so the all the the other player that i would throw out there because i do think they need an upgraded linebacker

i wouldn't go after devin white no i would go after frankie louvu i don't i don't know if the panthers let him out of the building because he's been damn good for them. He's been awesome. But if he hits the market, the baseline dream that I would have for the commanders for the offseason is you're bringing back Cam Curl, you're bringing back Jeremy Reeves because he's great for you on special teams. You're probably letting Curtis Samuel walk. You're probably letting Kendall Fuller walk. You're probably letting Antonio Gibson walk. I'd sign Jalen Johnson if you could do it. I'd sign Jalen Johnson if you could do it I'd sign Frankie Luvu if you could do it I'd take a big

swing at Brian Burns if you could do it and if I miss out on Brian Burns I'm going for like John Grenard Bryce Huff uh Dorrance Armstrong like or like maybe a couple of these even Leonard Floyd right so that's an awesome year for the something like that so that would be my cap plan before we head into the draft i'm with you all right bill basically you're going to build up the defense as much as you can because it's the reason because the uh supply is there yes yeah and you gotta that would to me is maximizing the supply and demand ratio of both the draft and free agency for this team. So we're going to do a mini three-round mock draft, which for the Commanders, that's five picks

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over at pff.com so let's dig into it right commanders currently holding the number two overall pick now i will say this margin of strength to schedule tiebreaker is so tight the commanders are four and two or four and twelve sorry the patriots are four and twelve and the arizona cardinals are four and twelve the commanders have a strength of schedule tiebreaker of 0.515 the patriots 0.518 so that is just razor thin going into this last week of the season so we will see if they actually end up with the number two overall pick if they end up with the number number three overall pick maybe we could go through like separate scenarios but let's just do the one where

they're picking a number two so i think they're in good shape right now they're in good shape either way for sure all right so caleb williams goes number one in this mock draft which means drake may or you mentioned offensive line are you tempted by offensive line no you got to take the quarterback here and try to capitalize on offensive line with your other picks on day two or do you trade back no no you gotta take the quarterback now if people want to get into the conversation and go i like jayden daniels or i like michael penix or over it maybe like that's a different conversation but i think as we sit here today it's drake may i agree i'm thinking about washington trading back to five with the giants getting multiple first round picks still ending up with jayden daniels and i don't know i don't

know if that i don't even know what that happens at this point i don't know man i could see three of the top four quarter three of the quarterbacks going the top four picks could take michael pennix at five after what we saw in the sugar it wouldn't miss he didn't miss insane we'll have that conversation your pennix qb3 stock is at an all-time high today i know i know i woke up a new man with the silk robe on and the cigar. Courtesy of Tampa Bay legend. That's right. All right. So we'll go with Drake May here.

We will go with Drake May. Now, let's say they were picking a three. Okay. Let's say the Patriots were picking a two instead. Are you going offensive line? Are you going like Jaden Daniels at three? I would have a team. I would trade the pick.

Okay. For a team that wants Marvin Harrison. Because I think a team would pay a really high price to get him. And then I would just take the best left tackle available, most likely. Actually, depending on how far back you go, I might take Penix, honestly. Man, let me tell you, we're going to do the offensive tackle episode on Thursday. And we're going to go through our top 10 offensive tackles

that we've done, some of the regrades of these players. I love the top three, man. Yeah, we've been texting a little bit. I think that... And I don't want to spoil too much of it cause we'll get into it on Thursday, but I like that strategy of you saying, Hey, trade down from number three and you can go down to a variety of spots. You don't have to go down. Oh, we can only go down two spots. Cause if we don't get Joe all we're screwed, or if we don't

get older, we're screwed. I don't think that's the case. I think that you might be able to go anywhere, trade down anywhere within the top 10 and get an offensive tackle that you really love. So I just wanted to shout that out to say, I do like that thought process of them. Maybe first and foremost, looking for a trade down if they end up getting number three, but we'll go with Drake May here.

So Drake May at number two. Now on the clock, second pick of the second round. We can still get Jadenden daniels and michael penix okay all right so these these guys are not going to be here we've got to update the board so we're going to act like these guys are not going to be here well doesn't matter we got our guy anyway so hold on it's crazy jayden daniel's average draft position is 12.5 how did he make it to 34 i don't know he he got the laramie Tunzel treatment. Yeah, man, it's true.

It's like, what are you doing with a gas mask on the night of the draft? Hell yeah, brother. God. Hell yeah. All right, so what's our offensive line depth looking like here? Let's look at offensive tackles. Oh, I'm taking Troy Fontenot. Troy Fontenot is here.

He is somebody who can play offensive tackle for you. He can play interior. Again, not to spoil too much, I like the same for Jordan Morgan. I think he could be an offensive tackle. I think he could be an interior guy. Yep. With both of these guys here, yeah, I like Fountainow here. I think that makes a ton of sense.

He's a really good offensive lineman. I mean, Guyton has been a big riser, obviously. Haven't watched him. I've got to watch him before Thursday. Give him a watch for sure. Yeah, I mean, getting fought now at 34 is an absolute heist. All right. I think he's a top 20 player.

Hold on. Let's go top 20 player. Oh, yeah. Let's look at the edge rushers. Okay, so edge rushers, we got joan ellis got jack sawyer we got a deezer isaac yeah i mean complimentary guys right yeah we had a run on edge rushers right chris braswell went right before this jt2 maloow ended up going in the first that's okay we signed brian burns and bryce huff that's that's what i'm saying but i i just wanted to look at

edge no it's a good point say hey this is maybe what the scenario might be like. And this is with their first second round pick. Right. This is with their second second round pick. So I think we made the right move going with the edge rush strategy and free agency offensive line strategy here in the draft. So we'll take now the offensive tackle from Washington. Pick 42, so only what?

Nine picks later yep back on the clock because this was the Montez sweat trade selection from the Chicago Bears man you double up on O-line I might take Patrick Paul here honestly man yeah I like Jordan Morgan more than I like I do too I was thinking the only problem with the morgan fontenelle pick is like is there a scenario where two years you look at you're like damn we got two guards and they're both sure i don't i don't know yet and i'll have a better answer for everybody on thursday uh because morgan is at the towards the end of my list but that's the only thing i'm i think i've had morgan and font now ranked much higher

than the other guys on the board still okay i i don't know morgan's got such good feet i think he could play tackle i really do i think he can too you i want to pull up their depth chart again um and just kind of look how this would shake out. Because now, this is looking like a really good draft for the commanders right here. Very. I think I would ask Fatnow to play left tackle. And then I'd probably play Morgan at one of the guard spots. Or the other way around. Depending on what my staff thought.

Yeah. They might both be playing tackle. They might be playing both tackle spots now that I look at their roster. Well, they have Wiley, right? Yeah. So Wiley's going to play there, so one of them's going to have to play guard. Which is fine. Off the bat, which I think is fine, yeah.

Yeah. Does anybody else tempt you here? Because we've got TJ Tampa on the board. No, because I love TJ Tampa, but we've got TJ Tampa on the board. No, because I love TJ Tampa. Keon Coleman's on the board. They've got to develop some corners, and they've probably got to sign one in free agency. Adrian Cooper, I talked about a linebacker need,

but I don't think they need to do that. Not with this asset, right? I mean... Jonah Ellis, I mean, maybe. Maybe. Maybe Jonah Ellis. I really like the idea of hiring one of the three guys with like the theme of the show. Hiring one of the three guys we said. Yeah.

And then drafting the quarterback and then building the offensive line in front of him. Like that's that's everybody aligned to me. Yeah. Cosme is playing pretty good guard guard, at one of the guards. Which is on right guard. Yeah, and the other two could stay on the left side, which they played over the last couple of years. Right, and they'll grow together.

Yeah. Didn't they draft? Who did they draft? Did they just draft? Man. Didn't they just draft a young dude at center? Am I crazy? I'm pulling everything up right now.

Yeah, they drafted Ricky Stromberg in the third round. Yes, yes. I totally forgot about that. Yeah, right. Did he get hurt? I think he is hurt. He has to be hurt. Yeah, he's been on IR.

I thought so. That's a shame. But he could be a big piece next year if he comes back all right. Okay, so you want to double up on the offensive line? Yeah, knee injury in November. Yeah, I would double up on the offensive line. Yeah, I think that makes the most sense with the board the way that it is. Just get an extra.

I feel great. I love this draft. Yeah, we're doing real well here. Okay. We're not walking away from the table. I'm here all night. Top of the third here. Okay. We're not walking away from the table. I'm here all night. Top of the third round. Okay.

Oh, Jeremiah Trotter Jr. That's a need fit for sure. Him and Peyton Wilson. Or Peyton Wilson. Him and Peyton Wilson for sure. I think Peyton Wilson's probably more likely to be available at 66 just because of the injury history. I think so too.

And Jeremiah Trotter probably going to get a little bit of a bump because the line history i think so too and jeremiah trotter probably gonna get a little bit of a bump because the linebacker class is thin okay yeah i would i would go with one of those two really knock out need but also get a little bit of the value back here oh man can we get maris lafu i have to watch him still oh i like him a lot it sounds like you do when's our next pick when's our next pick damn it's a comp pick yeah it's the end of the round shoot i don't think we're gonna be able to get him is that the chase young pick it is yeah this is chase young yeah damn do you see the game byron murphy had dude he's he's a beast him and him and sweat are just bro he might

go top 50 yeah he's been flying he might be he's been flying that dude can that get that dude can get into the backfield and there's just not a lot of three techs that you could say like oh yeah he's he's definitely got great pass rush ability no he's explosive he's been playing really, really well. So Trotter, okay. I like that pick. Let's take Trotter. Yeah, I mean, I think that that'd be really good for them. All right, let's take Trotter here and then see what we got at 100.

Simulating it. All right, all right, all right, all right. I actually would think running back here. So we're probably letting Antonio Gibson walk. Right. They have Brian Robinson, and they have Chris Rodriguez. They do, and Rodriguez has run really hard when he's gotten a chance. Right.

But they need a guy that can be a legit pass-catching threat, unless they go out and I will say the running back class in free agency has a lot of good third down style running backs. I know. I feel like Austin Eckler's market. I don't think it's going to be great. If you want to go get somebody like that, Jarek McKinnon,

Tony Pollard had a tough year. Like there's guys that can be that, that change of pace pass catcher for you. If you don't want to use a draft pick on one, but I don't know. Donovan Edwards is intriguing to me. Unless we want to just use all our resources on more premium needs. I have no problem with that. I like the running backs that are here.

Right. It's just a matter of you really want to use a top 100 pick on one. Right. Like for a team that I don't you know curtis samuel's a free agent right yes i don't hate jamari thrash or some kind of explosive slot unless i'm gonna just play dotson in the slot instead next year and play him la clorin on the outside and look for another perimeter target yeah that's kind of the way that i would yeah about it but who do we have it was check wide receiver uh okay it's trey harris i gotta take him out because he's not he he today he's going back to school i guess it's not like totally official he could he could come back out but

no it's not really a big body what about the depth of the edge pass rushing all All right, let's take a look. I mean, now we're looking for like a rotational guy. So I like a lot of these guys. Powell Ryland said he's going back, so I got to take him out as well. What did Gabe Murphy end up doing? They declared him and his brother. They did. Wow, because they played in the bowl game.

Yeah, him and his brother did. And they're pretty good. I really like them. Yeah, they are. Murphy is quick as hell man i'm very interested with gabe murphy with this pick okay i'm i'm definitely cool with that he can't be like your only edge rush edition for them no but if he's your third guy after you signed two in free agency perfect yes with the two big guys they got on the interior and paying it now. And like it all kind of starts to add up here. Yep.

Stand up rusher. Yeah. All right. This is a good draft. Like it, it makes you feel really good about the commanders when you go through this exercise, because the fact that they have that premium pick at the top and then can

fill out the rest and they have all these free agency dollars. Yep. This team, they could turn this thing around in a hurry if they get it right, a head coach. They really can. All we're saying is, Josh Harris. We're available. Consulting.

We are here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're not leaving the podcast. You've done a lot. Yeah, of course not. No, no, no, no, no. We know that you've done a lot of consulting in the past you know how valuable that it could be hit us up nflsc hit the line so for everybody who's audio only can't see the screen that i have in front of me right now we took

drake may with the number two overall pick in the first round i took troy found out the left tackle from washington at pick number 34 in the second round and then it at pick 42 in the second round, we took offensive tackle Jordan Morgan. One of those two guys is probably going to play left guard for you, so new left tackle, new left guard. In the third round, pick 66, we went linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr., and in the third round, pick 100, we went with a specialized pass rusher, another guy to get into the rotation, Gabriel Murphy, a guy who I really like. A lot of good quickness, a lot of good hand usage,

just as a knack for getting off blocks getting into the backfield um i really like gabriel murphy there we go we did it we fixed the commanders we fixed the commanders they will be winning the nfcs next year place your preseason tickets while you can yeah not for the games you're betting tickets right of course yeah right right right right um we would love to hear from you as we always like to do here with these fix your franchise episodes best way to do that youtube.com backslash at nfl stock exchange hit us up in the comments we're reading and replying to as many as we can again this is one of our favorite exercise to be able to do that because the possibilities are endless especially with team with the draft capital that the commanders have, the flexibility with the coaching staff, with the front office.

Let us know who you would go for there, where you would spend your free agency dollars. Maybe if we missed a player in free agency who is a free agent for them or just a target that you like, we would love to hear whatever it is. You don't have to give us the full game plan, even if it's just, hey, one note. Hey, this part of what you guys are talking about, I would done this hit us up in the comments the best way to do that if you're audio only you can hit us up on x as well as instagram at tampa bay trey at connor j rogers i teased it before the second episode this week is going to be offensive tackle rankings for the 2024 nfl draft and let me tell you the class is noise there's a lot of good guys at the top that we really like a lot of potential first rounders um and i think it's a pretty deep

class as well there's a lot of names that i'm watching these players i'm like man we gotta be talking about these guys a little bit more so we're gonna get into not just the guys that we love at the top and the order in which we would take them at the very top but also some of the depth position because it's not often that you have a class where you go, yeah, you can wait to get offensive line. Right. Might be a class where you could actually get away with doing something like that.

I know that's, that's what's exciting is that you get to some of the guys that are projected towards the backend around one. And you're like, Oh, like this is, this guy could maybe start right away or develop into a starter. obviously this is it this isn't even a spoiler you know all the talk around all and for shanu and now who's better and you and i have been texting about a third guy in the mix that we are extremely extremely high on as well there's a lot to unpack with this one and um not only will it be exciting to do the top five of the tackles but to talk about the guys on the outside looking in and then ultimately prepare for

when our rankings significantly expand i know yours have already as well uh because like you said trev this class is really deep and i think the commanders mock drive was a great teaser of that i mean we were sitting there with day two picks and we're like damn right we we can really rebuild this offensive line right now back to back o-line picks yep yep dude it's it's i'm i'm excited to get your full thoughts on this offensive tackle class i'm excited to do the same from everybody after they watch and listen to the episode getting in on the comments there as well the calendar now says 2024 folks which means we are just four months away from the 2024 NFL draft. We're going to have a ton of different types of coverages for you guys.

The mock drafts, the rankings, the mailbags, all that good stuff. I'm very excited about what this calendar year has for the draft season, has for this podcast, has for the interaction that we get to have with you guys. And Thursday is going to be the next chance that we get to do that. I'm Trevor Sikama. That's Connor Rogers. Thank you guys so much Thursday is going to be the next chance that we get to do that. I'm Trevor Sykema. That's Connor Rogers. Thank you guys so much for watching and listening to the NFL Stock Exchange podcast. We will see you next time.