The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Best fits for the top-10 remaining NFL free agents, with JP Acosta

Episode Date: July 6, 2023

Training camp is right around the corner, and there are more than a few intriguing free agents available. What are the best fits for DeAndre Hopkins, Dalvin Cook, Jadeveon Clowney, and the other free agents we know will be playing football in 2023? JP Acosta from SB Nation joins Robert Mays to help find these guys some new homes on this episode of The Athletic Football Show.Follow Robert on Twitter: @robertmaysFollow JP on Twitter: @acosta32_jpSubscribe to The Athletic Football Show...AppleSpotifyYouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic football show. Welcome. The Athletic Football Show. I'm Robert Mays. Fun show for you guys today. We are about, I don't know, three weeks away from training camp, a little bit less than three weeks away from training camp. I will be getting out a plane to start my trip around America going to training camps

18 days from today. So it's definitely less than three weeks for me. But we've got a little bit of housekeeping before training camp actually kicks off. We've got, I don't know, a dozen. guys, 10 guys that probably are pretty big names that could make a difference for a contender or some other team that wanted to sign them before the season gets kicked off. And we are going to talk about that set of players today and the best fits for the top remaining free agents left on the market here in early July and here to help us do that.

An NFL writer from SB Nation, it's J.P. Acosta. JP, how you doing, man? I'm doing great. This is like a bucket list thing. for me. Oh, you're being silly. Not being a hundred real. Like, I used to tell my friends, like, all the time, like, going to school, I'm like, I'm going to be on this show as a guest one day. So now I'm just like, I actually did it. So this is kind of cool. You've been all over the place, though. You've done

me in a show a couple different times. The funny thing is, I want people to know this. This is not a situation where you put in the work elsewhere, and that's why you're able to come on. We've actually known each other for a while now, you know, when you were in school, one of your professors is actually, I know her. She's my wife's aunt. So little things like that. And, you know, you were working extremely hard and, you know, we're pounding the pavement. And it's turned out well for you. You are reaping the rewards now and you certainly deserve it, my friend. Yeah, it's, it's super cool.

Just being able to do these, be on me and this show. It's just like, man, I used to, I used to be, I used to listen to you guys. I still listen to you guys all the time. I'm like, wow, I can't wait to be like those guys one day. And I'm like, wait, I'll kind of do that. Kind of do that. All right. We have 10 guys or so.

You know, I think we'll hit on at least 10. guys as we run through this. I want to start with the biggest name that's available right now and somebody who has been available over a month now. He got released by the Cardinals like a day before I got married. This was in like late May and nothing has really materialized. I think him and his people are probably waiting for the right landing spot, the right after. And that is DeAndre Hopkins. So what is in your mind the best fit for DeAndre Hopkins here for the 2023 NFL season? So I think it's interesting. One of the teams that initially got linked to DeAndre Hopkins was the New England Patriots, and I think that's ultimately the best fit for him as a player right now.

I don't think the extension of Devante Parker kind of stops them from adding a player like Hopkins. I think they kind of do similar things, but DeAndre Hopkins is better than what Devante Parker does at his best. And in addition of that, in Arizona, what DeAndre Hopkins started to do last year was he played a lot more in the slot as his body begins to break down, as he gets a little a step slower, you can put them in the slot and basically matchup hunt. It's like when they do in the NBA, when you pick and roll, you get a big man on a little guy,

you're just matchup hunting. And you can match up hunt with DeAndre Hopkins in New England. He's a different style of receiver than they already have. And his most productive years by D.YAR were with Bill O'Brien and a living, breathing quarterback in Houston. So it stands to make sense that if you reunite Bill O'Brien with DeAndre Hopkins right now, that would provide some life for a Patriot. gets past rush, or not pass rush, past catching unit that desperately needs it going into this season.

It's always good when you make several moves at one position group and then after you make those several moves, you're like, I think we kind of need one more. And that's exactly where the Patriots are right now. They go out and sign Judges Smith-Schuster this offseason. They signed Kendrick-Born a couple off-season ago. Obviously, they spent all that money on tight ends a couple years ago. John Smith is no longer there. They extend Devante Parker.

And that's beyond spending a second round pick last year on Tyquan Thornton, and we still think they need more help in their past catching group. And that's when you know you're not in a good way. I think that makes sense. I think the fit makes sense. The one hang up that was a serious concern, I think, when we were talking about this is more of a hypothetical, is whether Bill O'Brien would be a deterrent to DeAndre Hopkins actually ending up in New England. The fact that he took a visit there, and it seems like there's a little bit of mutual interest. I think there's less worry than there would have been previously. I just, I'm not going to put him there because it's not fun for me. The idea of putting DeAndre Hopkins on the Patriots is not enjoyable to me.

It's the same as putting him on the Titans, where he also took a visit. It's like, okay, yeah, I think DeAndre Hopkins makes sense for the Titans. I think that they would benefit by going after a player like him, especially if they're going to play Will Levis at some point this season. You want to put him into fairly cushy circumstances, and they don't have those right now with their offensive line and with their past catching group. But it's still not enjoyable to imagine him toiling away down there in Tennessee with a rookie quarterback and a half-constructed offensive line and all of the questions that they have.

There are two teams that I want to talk about. One is a team that I brought up on this show many, many times in connection with DeAndre Hopkins. I think on a football level and where they are at in their team-building process, it makes a ton of sense, and that's the Lions. They need a player like DeAndre Hopkins, just in terms of skill set, the way it kind of rounds out their receiving room. Jameson Williams is going to be suspended for the first six games of the year. even with Jameson Williams on the field.

We're talking about Marvin Jones and Josh Reynolds as that kind of bigger bodied receiver in that trio and then that pass catching room. And I just think DeAndre Hopkins puts this team so much closer to where they want to be if they're actually trying to compete for a championship this year. That being said, Dan Campbell came out, I think last week when OTA's wrapped up, he was asked about this. And he said, I like our receiver room right now. And I always wondered personality-wise if DeAndre Hopkins would be a fit with that team and with that organization. doesn't love to practice, which is why I'm shocked that the Titans are interesting after they went through the Julio Jones extravaganza a couple years ago. It doesn't seem like Detroit is a likely landing spot. But let me run this one by you because I think this one makes sense. They have the money

to do it and I think gives them an avenue to this type of pass catcher that they wouldn't have otherwise. What about the Panthers? See, I was thinking about them when I was doing this. I'm like, hey, if you really think you can win this division right now with Breitians, Young is your quarterback, you go and sign a guy like Deontre Hopkins to give them a much better receiver on the outside. They're a pass-catching group right now. They sign guys that I think kind of fill slots and make you feel like it's not going to be a disaster for Bryce Young, and those guys being DJ Chark and Adam Thielen.

DJ Chark has missed 19 games over the past two seasons. We're one DJ Chark injury away from Terrace Marshall and Leviska-Channull, Adam Thelan, and a project in Jonathan Mingo being what Bryce Young is dealing with as a rookie here. And this isn't just about this year, in my opinion. I think that trying to put yourself in a really good spot and give your young quarterback answers is always a good strategy. But I don't think over the next couple seasons, the Panthers, with the lack of draft capital that they have, have as clear a path to this type of receiver, even if he's on

the decline, then they would in this situation. I just think that getting a guy like Hopkins right now, I don't know if they're going to have another chance to do that necessarily over the next calendar year. Yeah, it makes a whole lot of sense when you look at where the Panthers are, especially offensively with Frank Wright coming over. They kind of need a bigger body outside receiver who can win or at least turn those 50-50 catches into more 60-40. Yes, especially with a young quarterback, that shift and that changeover to that 10 percentage points, those matter a lot.

Exactly, because the windows aren't going to. be the same as they were at Alabama. I'm not going to be the same right now. It's going to be the NFL. You need a guy who can kind of make those windows a little bit bigger. I wrote about last year, but maximize the margin for error for your young quarterback. You want to give him a little bit more runway for him to be like, oh, if I make this a, if this is a bad throw, D'Andre Hopkins can go get it still. So it makes a whole lot of sense for the Panthers to be in on D'Andre Hopkins. They have $27 million in Cap Space right now. It's the second most in the league after the Bears. They've got a ton of dead money. They're

their cap is in a very weird spot. They've got a lot of dead money on guys that they've released, but they have a decent amount of room. They've restructured some guys. Taylor Moten has like a $29 million cap at next year because some of the money that they've moved around. But they can absolutely afford DeAndre Hopkins, both this year and over the next couple years, if they wanted to potentially give him a multi-year deal. And again, I just don't know what other pads they're going to have to a high-quality receiver with the lack of draft capital they have over the next couple years.

All right. Next one here. Where did you put Dalvin Cook? So I put Dalvin Cook on the Denver Broncos. And one of the reasons I put him with Denver is because of what Sean Payton has done with multiple running backs in that offense, you think of Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram. And you look at what Denver's done this off season. It feels like they are very committed to improving or maximizing their run game to kind of minimize the amount of damage that Russell will sink and do, which is guard rails. Those are the terms we use on the show.

guard rails the way i say it before is it's giving him directions for cooking you're not you're not just going in there like remi from ratatouille just throwing stuff in you there's directions now so at maximizing that run game is going to be huge and with javanti williams still coming back from acel surgery you don't have to rush him back and i think with what dalvin cook is said with wanting to be a part of an offense where he can get carries he can get reps in that early portion of the season while you're working Javante Williams back from injury, you can put Dalvin Cook in that offense and you can make it work. Sean Payton has not been a withholding to one scheme or another. They run multiple zoning gap schemes like with Alva Kamara and Mark Ingram.

So I feel like Cook. And then when Javante Williams comes back, you have a two-headed monster at that position so you can just rotate in Cook and rotate out Williams whenever each one gets tired. Samajai P. Ryan did sign a two-year, seven and a half million dollar deal there with about three million dollars guaranteed. And that feels like the type of money you're giving to a rotational running back. But like you said, if it takes a while for Javante Williams to get back, then you're really handed most of the load over to Samajai P. Ryan for the first, you know, four or five weeks of the season. And do you really want to do that? The Broncos are pretty cash strapped. So I'm curious whether or not they'd be willing to throw that money around and kind of what feels like a luxury move.

and at this stage in the calendar, but I can absolutely see that just because of the Javante Williams question and whether or not you want to give P. Ryan that sort of run. Devante, the question I want to ask about Dalvin Cook, I'm curious what you think about this before we, like, dig into the teams. You think Dalvin Cook is still good? I think he's good. I don't think he's the same running back as he was because just injuries have taken a toll on him.

But when he's at his best right now, I think he's still one of the 15 best backs and elite. I put him around 12 to 15 range. But it's just, it's so difficult because how often are you going to get that guy? How often are you going to get him? Because he's going to, it's not just the catastrophic injuries. We're not talking about catastrophic injuries. It's the nagging injuries, like the hamstrings, the sprained ankle.

The shoulder problems he's dealt with for the last several years. He played 17 games last year. But again, it's always a question of, how close to 100, percent is he actually. Exactly. And you want Dalvin Cook as close to 100 percent as possible. That's how you get the game changing agility, the speed. He showed it against the dolphins on the long breakaway touchdown. I'm like, oh, that's the Dalvin Cook. I remember. That's who he used to be. I just, I don't know how often you can get that guy, but if you can rotate him in and keep him on a pitch count, I still, I still think he can be pretty good. So that's my, that's why I wanted to

him on the dolphins, just because if you're going to make him a member of like a three running back stable or four with Devon A chain, if we're throwing him in there, that I feel a little bit better about that than making him like a feature part of what you're doing on offense. And so you look at some of the underlying numbers from last year. He was 41st among 48 qualified running backs and rushing yards over expectation per carry. 41st. He was 45th out of 48 in the rushes that or percentage of rushes that went over expected. he's even in an offense that was not known for running the ball and wasn't really set up to run the ball well

it's not like he was getting more than your typical back would get in those same situations there was there was still meat being left on the bone even in a bad situation within that viking's offense last year so i just if any team wants to sign him i just don't know how aggressive you want to be in the sort of deal that you're giving to him if you're Miami and you're looking at regime mostly who consistently gets hurt jeff wilson who's been banged up during his career even in limited time and a third round rookie that is really more of a, really more of like a seasoning that you're dropping into this offense rather than any sort of featured player, that I think somebody that could handle a little bit more of the workload and be somebody

that could take a bunch of carries for you in a very good situation within that Dolphins offense. I think that makes sense, but the price would have to be right. Yeah, I definitely, I think the Dolphins were my next pick, but I kind of just took it to account, like what did Dalvin Cook say he wanted at this point in his career? He was like, yeah, I want to go somewhere where they value me. They want to give me carries. And I feel like in Denver with Devante Williams out for maybe the first four or five weeks, you don't have to rush him back.

You can let Dalvin Cook get a whole bunch of carries. And then once Javante Williams gets back, you can figure that out. Because like you said, Samaday-P. Ryan signed two years, seven and a half million dollars, three and a half guaranteed. But that's that's very much not a I don't think the Samajai PRI contract is too big of a hindrance from if you want if the Broncos really want to add a player like Davico to that offense. And looking at the offense, I mean, you can really kind of say it makes sense for that offense to kind of add a little bit of a luxury with the amount of stuff they did. They're in, man. Like at this point, we'll talk about a couple teams that I'm going to throw out there, I think, are in a similar.

spot, but at this point, why not push a little bit more in? You know, why not make sure that you're talking about at the beginning of the season for the Broncos? My consideration Dalvin Cook is at the end of the season. Do we get to a point in December where you're going to need him to run the ball 18 times because most hurts hurt Jeff Wilson's banged up and you can't put that sort of workload on, again, an undersized rookie that's more of a speed element within your offense. And I think that there's a world where that happens. There's plenty of timelines where that happens. And if you're the dolphins, I think you have to be protecting yourself in every single one of these timelines because of what is at stake for you this season

and the way that you built this thing. Exactly. And the dolphins are really interesting when it comes to Dalvin Cook and what he can bring to that offense because he's, like we said, he's not the game changing back consistently like he used to be. But you can see an offense with Dalvin Cook behind that offensive line. It's still a work in progress. But with Mike McDaniel calling plays opening the,

the gaps and with the offense they have in the passing game, you can see him kind of flourishing in a role that doesn't necessarily need him to pound the rock like 20 times. Get what's there. Get what's there 12 times a game. And again, it's going to be a much better circumstances within that offense, just the way that they're set up and the box counts and everything else than what he's dealt with over the last couple years, especially under the previous regime in Minnesota before this one got there.

Looking at the contracts that Mostard and Jeff Wilson signed, both there been like the two years, $6 million range with $2 to $3 million guaranteed. So I don't think either of those deals is necessarily prohibitive if you wanted to bring in one more running back as part of the overall equation. I didn't throw him in there, but I'm curious. Do you have an Ezekiel Elliott one that you like? It was really difficult with Zeke. And the first team I thought of was the Jets, but I really don't know if the Jets would

want to take on Zique. Even with Brise Hall and Michael Carter, like Brise Hall coming off injury, Michael Carter, kind of being more of a specialty back, but it's difficult with Zeke because what does Zeke, what is Zeke good at at this point in his career? He is a short yardage back who can do some work in pass protection. How many teams already have that on their roster can say, yeah, we don't necessarily need the back to do. There is one team that absolutely needs both of those things. I think it's right there. It's the Chargers. They absolutely need someone else who, could pass protect and they need somebody who can just take some of the physical workload off

of Austin Eccler's plate and their offensive coordinator literally came from Dallas where Zico Elliott was for the last three or four years. He knows the offense because I look at every single running back depth chart and where he fits and what they need. It just makes way too much sense to me for him to land there. They've been looking for another running back for the last like four years. Yeah, man, they've been giving out carries to Justin Jackson, oh, Larry Roundtree, over the past few years. I think now that you mentioned the charges, I think CEC would be really,

that'd be probably the best place for him right now with where he's at as a player. They don't have a ton of money to throw around, and I understand that. But if you can do something really cheap, you tack a couple void years on there, have it be a one-year deal. I don't know what he wants,

but I think in terms of skill set and familiarity, that makes a ton of sense. A lot of the things we talked about with the dolphins in terms of, all right, you want to protect yourself from all of these different eventualities in terms of what the offensive makeup you're looking at is.

I think that's why a guy like Dalvin Cook can make sense for them too, just because, all right, we're in. This is our year. We got to make sure that we're not sitting here by the end of the season, thinking, God, we have really a massive glaring hole in this spot. And that's why I think he makes sense for them in the same sort of way that he makes sense for the dolphins. Yep.

Contingency plans everywhere for this season. All right. Jedevi and Clowny. What was your best fit for Jedevian Clowny right now? So with Jadavian Clowny, I kind of had to figure out, like, what is Jadavian Clownie? Clowny at this point. It's an important question. DeVian Clowny to me is he's a very energetic run defender when he wants to be in the pass rush. He is a knifer. He is a, he's going to try and cross the face of a tight end or a tackle.

Or he's going to do work as a looper or as a guy crashing in on stunts. Sounds like the San Francisco 49ers. That sounds like a San Francisco 49ers, defensive linemen. there right now, they're 20th and according to Spot Track when it comes to available cap space, 11 million left. I don't think today, Vian Clowny demands that much money. And it really just comes down to right now opposite Nick Bosa's Drake Jackson, who they're very high on as a pass rusher. I think he can work as a pass rusher.

But after that's Cleland Farrell. And I don't know what Cleland Farrell is at this point. I think Clowny gives them a more disruptive run defender at that point. and you can be a little bit more versatile when it comes to pass rush. It seems like that would be like an embarrassment of riches when you consider the way we've talked about the Niners in years past. But I think it's a really good point because their edge at those step spots just isn't what it looked like a couple years ago. They lose Samson-Ebecam in free agency. He goes to the Colts.

Drake Jackson was a rookie last year, didn't get a ton of work. Farrell's obviously a reclamation project. They're not as deep there as it might seem. When you said that, I was like, oh, come on. You're really going to throw him on the Niners with all those other dudes. but it actually does make more sense that it might seem like at first glance when you actually take a look at the depth chart. That being said, I think there are several other teams that have a pretty glaring need at one

of their past rushing spots. I'm going to run through a couple of them because I think you could make an argument for any of these. What about the Saints? They drafted Isaiah Foski in the second round, but other than that, you're looking at Carl Granderson and they don't really have much after losing Marcus Davenport. Peyton Turner hasn't really come along in the way that they would have won it. they have $14 million in space they're in.

And they've sniffed around clowning before in the past as well. So I wonder if that would make sense, given the holes on that roster. Baltimore. Like you said, just a kind of a chaos creator within that defense, they're not going to really have their guys just be, yeah, we're going to put you at one defensive end spot and ask you to rush the pass. There's so much chaos within how that front operates, dropping somebody like him in there to kind of accelerate that chaos, I think could make a lot of sense.

They don't have a lot of proven. bodies at those spots. And the other one that I actually really like is Carolina. Oh, Carolina. That I really like the Carolina spot. They don't really have anyone opposite Brian Burns. They've got a ton of money to throw around. And you talk about that style of defense and what the Broncos looked like last year

and all of the different games and simulated pressures. And again, just that feeling of chaos on defense. That's what Denver felt like when they were healthy and clicking last year. And I think he potentially fits that style of the way that they would want to play plus the fact that they have a need there. Yeah. When you look at Carolina last year, they had Marquis Haynes and Yaturgros-Matos opposite Brian Burns, who I think are both more of designated pass rushers at this point. Marquis Haynes was a little better as a designated pass rusher this past year. But they had Frankie Louvre out on the edge a lot in that defense.

As much as we love Frankie Louvre. That's a lot of outside work for Frankie Louvo. That is asking a whole lot of one guy. And Janadian Clowny can kind of take his spot along the edge and the run game. And it allows you to be versatile and have that personnel versatility where you can possibly play Marquis Haynes, Brian Burns, and Clowny all on the field. You can have that versatility. So I really, really like that Carolina spot. That makes a whole lot of sense. A couple more past rushers I wanted to run through.

What about Melvin Ingram? What do you think the best fit is for Melvin Ingram right now? I have a feeling I might know where you're going with this. So Melvin Ingram, I went a little bit of a homer, a little bit. I won't with the Jaguars. JP is a Jacksonville Jaguars fan for those of you who did not know. I'm a Jaguars fan. I went with the Jaguars.

And the main reason, because it feels like he is another similar style of pass rusher that the Jaguars want to have, which is a power rusher. They are big and angry. They want to get after you. They want to go through you. But one of the things that really stands out about how Melvin Enger was used in Miami was it allowed them to be more versatile up. front with what they want they have been saying about travon walker putting him in a three-point stance

this year moving them across the defensive line it's kind of crazy that they're like oh let's put this guy in a three-point stand the number one pick in the draft yeah it's like hey this is this might be something he was pretty good at after you saw him do what he did at georgia but giving them another versatile player that they can have along that defensive line he will kind of fill the duwant's moot or arting key role where he is an interior pass rusher but you can be versatile you can move to on Walker inside and let Melvin Ingram play on the outside. I think that would make a whole lot of sense for the Jaguars. Right now, it's go time. This is the time where you can make, absolutely make a run because you have the quarterback. And now you need that defense to step up.

I wish I had another one to make this a little bit more interesting. I don't. I think the Jags are absolutely the best fit for him. You could probably get him for pretty cheap at the stage of his career, but he's still productive. And think about all the different places Arden Key wind up and what role he played within those past rush packages last year. It's exactly what Melvin Anker mess. If you want him to plan up over the guard, cause some damage in there. He absolutely can. If you want him to play on the edge, he can. They need one more body.

And I think he is the exact type of body and the exact type of player that they need, and he can be got at the right price. It just makes way too much sense to me. He doesn't have to move very far too. But in Miami last year, to me, of all those guys, and there are several of them that are kind of in this late career mercenary, past rushing role. We'll talk about Kloni already. We'll talk about another guy in a second.

He's the one to me that makes the most sense for the jack. Yeah, I think his ability just to just cause havoc with the amount of power that he brings, that feels like a type of pass rusher that the Jaguars want to use in that defense under Mike Caldwell. And it would take a little bit off of Devin Lloyd's plate. He doesn't have to be like, oh, early in the season, they used him a lot as a pass rusher along the edge. Now you can purely focus him in on inside linebacker where you can let him develop more there. and then be like, oh, you can do this, but we're not going to force you to

because we don't have the depth there. Would you want Clowny if they were willing to spend a little bit more? Because you didn't bring the Jags up at all when you were talking about him. I would, but it just depends on the price. I am very much with Clowny. I think he can still serve a purpose. I just don't know if he would be at his best in Jacksonville with the amount of, I don't know.

I just think, I think Ingram would be a better fit for this Jaguar's team than Jadavian Clowny, who is, I feel like Clowny is a little bit more along the lines of, let's get with a team who doesn't, doesn't need Clowny to kind of generate more pressure at this one. I feel like with the Jaguar is going into this season, you're kind of hoping Trouin Walker generates more pressure, but that's why you bring in Melvin Ingram, a guy who can kind of take that a little bit off the plate without saying like, oh, I want to be the number one guy, draw games up for me, which is what Jadavian Clowny did last year.

Exactly. And Melvin Ingram is the opposite of that. He's just going to be somebody that you can drop into your overall plan and have him play more of an ancillary role. And I think that is what they need. Next guy here in the past rusher circuit, Justin Houston. What is the best fit in your mind for Justin Houston this season? So I know you called this group the mercenary pass wrestlers, but I won't with the Chicago Bears. And the reason I went with the Bears is the, The Bears defensive line group needs an adult. They need the OG in the room that can kind of like teach the younger guys, like how this, how this game works. When you look at their depth chart, you look at who they have currently on the edge. You know, you're looking at guys like DeMarcus Walker, who they signed over from Tennessee. You have Travis Gibson, Dominique Robinson, Rishim Green.

They got DeAnthney Jones as an undirected free agent out of Houston. Those aren't exactly guys that inspire a lot of confidence. don't say. So you bring in a guy like Houston and you're just thinking like, hey, help help us get these young guys development sped up a little quicker. You think about what the work that he did with Adafio way. You think about the work that he did in Baltimore where he was kind of the lead, the vet leader of that group. And that's really what they, that's really what they need. They need an OG. They need an old head in the room. I also think there's a connection there. Matt Eberflus was the defense coordinator in Indianapolis when Justin Houston

was in Indianapolis for those couple seasons. So you don't really have to use a lot of imagination there. You could do any of these guys for the Bears, essentially. And I actually had Yanik and Gakwe as the one that I thought fit best with the Bears. Because he's 28, and I know that it seems like he's deep into his career because he's playing one year here, one year there, pretty much every single season. He's played on five teams at this point. But he's still only 28.

And in my mind, if you sign him to like a fairly cheap multi-year deal, if you're the Bears, maybe you can get something out of him next year when you know that you're a little bit closer potentially to competing. But I think Justin Houston makes a lot of sense. If you didn't have Ingakwe going to Chicago, where did you have in Gakway going? I had Engakway going to, I had him going to Baltimore, I believe. I had him going back to Baltimore. And I think it's mainly because if it really comes down to how much, how comfortable they are with Ojoabo going into this year, coming off the injury. If you don't think that he's ready at this point, sign Yonik and Gakway, you know what he can do at this point. You're not going to ask him to be

a consistent defender against the run. But he is speed around the edge. He would bring something that the Ravens just really kind of lacked last year. They lacked pass rush juice from the edge. They finished 17th at ESPN's pass rush win rate last year. I feel like Ingaqua can kind of boost those numbers and ultimately kind of feed some pressures over to Adafioa and kind of ease the transition for OJabo so you're not saying, hey, you need to start right away off of this injury.

Yeah, whoever it ends up being, it just feels like they need another body there. Again, if this is going to be a team that wants to compete this season and they want to say, all right, we're making sure we're checking every single box as we head into the year. That just feels like a spot where they need one more body to give them reps. So we'll see how those four guys end up shaking out. Sticking with the Ravens here for a second, Marcus Peters. In your mind, what is the best fit for Marcus Peters this season? I put Marcus Peters with another team whose room needs an adult.

I put him with the Minnesota Vikings. And the Vikings, first off, Marcus Peters is not his own corner. I think we saw that last season. It just did not work. That transition from Wing-Martindale to Mike McDonald. That just was not good for him. So you need to put him in a system where he's at his best, where you can use his length, his aggression, and a man's game.

It sounds a whole lot like a Brian Flores corner. And if you look at the depth chart for the Minnesota Vikings right now, it's Mackay Blackman, a Caleb Evans, Andrew Booth Jr., Juan Williams. You got a random Kaelin Barnes in there, Atay Gallen, walking around somewhere. That is very much an island of misfit toys. And for a team, we don't know what Minnesota wants to be this year.

There's the whole- So that's my hang-up. The competitive rebuild part of it, but the DB room is more rebuild than it is competitive. I feel like Marcus Peters would give them a little more competition and so they can have a living, breathing body on the outside corner. So my only concern with this, because I think it makes a ton of sense when you look at the players that they have and where their needs line up, I wonder if they don't want to take reps away from those younger guys. If they're truly saying, you know what, we're a year away at least from really competing.

We want to see what we have in some of these young players. We want to have A kale Bevins and Andrew Booth and Mackay Blackman get these reps in practice in games to make. sure that their development is the most important thing. That's the only downside when you think about signing StopGat veteran free agents is it takes away opportunities from some of your younger players. And based on what seems like an organization that's taking a little bit more of a long view, I wonder if they wouldn't be all that excited about taking away some of those chances from that young group of DPs. Yeah. And that makes a whole lot of sense when it comes to what do they want to be this year? Do they want to kind of emphasize more of the rebuild part of it?

where they're getting the young guys a whole bunch of reps. Or this is going to be more, this is the last year of Kirk Cousins contract that we really, that's the list going to be the last year that Kirk Cousins is in a Vikings uniform, probably. Do we want to make the best run we can with Kurt Cousins at this point where you're, you're going all in to see if you can try and make the playoffs again? If you, if you're saying that, Marcus Peters would be a perfect fit here. But like you said, it just depends on what do this?

want to do. I feel like that's the biggest question with the Vikings this off season is, what do you want to do? What do you want to be this year? It's a totally reasonable question. Because I have no idea what the answer is. And I think that wherever you land, it's going to give you some information on moves like this. So I think that's totally reasonable. I had a hard time at Peters. I had two teams that I kept coming back to just because one, the whole is so apparent. And they just need somebody. And that's the Raiders. Like the Raiders cornerback room is an absolute disaster. They don't have a lot of money to throw around. Schematically, I don't know if it's a great fit, but any corner who's available, it seems like I'm going to throw out the Raiders because of

how dire the situation appears to be there. The other one, though, that I actually felt a little bit better about because of where they are, and we talk about the kind of the mindset of some of these teams that head into this season. What about the Broncos? See, I didn't think about the Broncos when it comes to their depth in the DB room. But now that you mention it, and I'm going back and looking now, like Damari Mathis, Riley Moss,

who they drafted this year, instead of having those guys be forced to play a role within that defense, you just slot Marcus Peters in there and say, okay, we have a veteran presence opposite Patrick Sturtan,

we are ready to roll. Because unlike the Vikings, we know what the Broncos are trying to do. The Broncos spent a shitload of money in this off season. They are trying to win immediately. So I think the development of some of those younger players maybe isn't at such a premium for a team like Denver as it might be for a team like Minnesota. So you just say, you know what?

Even if there's some questions about the fit and the style of defense that we're trying to play, does he make sense for us here? And Vance Joseph doesn't play a lot of man coverage. Two years ago in Arizona, they were up near the top of the league. And I think that's just because they were so banged up in the secondary that it was easier to say, that guy's your guy. We're not worried about this. They play a lot of zone behind the blitzes. But now that he's got some like real horses in Denver and guys that he can really lean on, I wonder if they would be a little bit more willing to say,

we'll challenge some people play a little bit differently than we have over the last couple years. And Peters, I think could play into that a little bit. Yeah, I definitely think Peters would make a lot more sense in Denver than Vegas. Even though Vegas' DB room is really, really bad right now. It's all. I mean, it's awful. It's horrendous. But if you look at, like you said, what Denver was.

wants to be this year is they got to win right now. I mean, you, you have a whole lot of money invested in a lot of aging players. It's, it's time to roll now. And you think about what Marcus Peters wants to do and who he can be. That's a team where, yeah, you should try and win now with this guy. They have $9 million in cap space right now. They have spent a lot of cash this season. But again, if this is a team that's willing to throw it around, stack a couple void years on there, pay him $3 million against the cap and figure the rest out later. I think this is a team that has shown that the money that is actually coming out, the cash being spent might not be an issue for this new ownership group. Money is no object. That's Walmart money. They can make that back

anytime. Going from potential Broncos to former Broncos, Dalton Reisner, the only guy on this list, I feel compelled to say which position he is. He is a guard who played for the Broncos for the last several seasons. He is now a free agent. What was your best fit for Dalton Reisner this season? So my best fit was the Tennessee Titans. I think when you look at the Titans, offensive line. It's really bad right now. They signed Daniel Brunskill to play right guard this season. Nicholas Petit Frere is suspended to enter this season. They're playing Peter Scorotty at guard and tackle during the offseason kind of cross-training him. But if you have a guy like Rizner, who can come in and immediately be a starter at left guard, you can move Brunskill to right

guard and just say, hey, Pete, you can play left tackle. I know they signed Andre Dillard, but I don't know how much confidence you have in Andre Diller right now. And even if you have confidence in Andre Diller, Scranton play right until Petit Frere comes back and then you figure it out. But you just need stability along the offensive line. They lack stability along the offensive line. That's what Risenner gives them. Yeah, they have no bodies. And so I think he makes absolute sense there. I stuck in the AFC South with a couple teams again that just were a little bit more fun in terms of where they are

right now. How are you feeling about your team's left guard situation? Oh boy. Once Cam Robinson comes back we are potentially looking at left guard Walker Little which he's never played in college. They cross-trained him a lot. I think in January Doug Peterson mentioned out of the blue like yeah this guy can play guard and everybody was like

that's weird. And then they draft to tackle. So it's kind of like, oh, I guess this is where we're going now. This is another team going back to that idea of, okay, when it's December 15th, I want to make sure we have answers to so many different problems. And you think back to what the interior of that offensive line looked like at the end of last season and in the playoffs last season. You don't want to feel that way again. And they really haven't done much to add bodies to that group unless, like you said, they're going to move Walker Little to guard and maybe that's how you shore it up. But the Jags were a team that I was thinking about based on how

they looked at the end of last season and what their aspirations look like. And the other team, even if it doesn't make perfect sense because he's only played left guard in Denver is the Colts. Yep, that was the other team I was thinking. So I think that's a question you have to answer. Like, is he only a left guard? If he moves over to the right side, what would it look like? Because you have a quarterback that you spent a top five pick on that you want to put

in as good of circumstances as possible. And the right guard spot for the Colts is still to me one of the biggest holes in the entire league along any offensive line. So is Riser somebody that could slide over there and just give you a slightly better option for not a lot of money when you have a lot of cap space? Yeah. So those are the two teams I was thinking about. Yeah, I was thinking about the Colts as well, but then going back and looking at Riser, who has never played right guard in his career, that's a major question. But the Colts have seen this game plan before with the top quarterback.

You want to bring in as many guys to protect that guy as possible. So it might just be worth it to say, hey, can you play right guard? we're going to find out because you at right guard is a lot better than what we were going to play. Yeah. And if it's $4 million or $3 million or whatever that is, that's a worthwhile bet. Even if it doesn't work out, it's like, okay, maybe he's just a depth piece then and we shore ourselves up and protect ourselves from a couple of injuries. You just don't want the worst case scenario. With a lot of these guys and a lot of these position groups, I think that's what you have to keep in mind. At this stage in the calendar, we're just protecting ourselves from the worst case scenario.

And on the offensive line, it's more important than pretty much any other position group, except the defensive backfield. The last guy I wanted to ask you about, John Johnson III, what is your best fit for John Johnson for the 2020s season? We are going pure throwback Thursday for this one. We're going to the Los Angeles Rams. And the reason I went to Los Angeles is because, man, that DB, that defensive backfield just does not inspire any confidence right now. Jordan Fuller is coming off an Achilles' injury, and outside of that, you're looking at Russ Yeasts, Quentin Lake, and five rookies. One of them was drafted in the seventh round.

That is not the roster on the back end that you want to inspire confidence going into this season. I know that the Rams are kind of in this, like, semi kind of rebuilding mode, but you just need a warm body back there who can kind of be the old end. again, you need somebody who knows the defense already. He can just come in and play while you let the, you don't have to play Rusty's. You don't have to live like this. That was my biggest thing looking at the Rams defense.

There's three, there's four guys on this roster who were drafted on days one and two. Three, not counting Aaron Donald. You don't have to live like this. Here's my question, though, do they want to live like this? And that's my question with the Rams this year. Are they just saying, you know what? We're going to tear it down to the studs this year. It's going to be what it's going to be and we'll figure this out moving forward.

Are they another one of those teams that doesn't necessarily want to cut off pathways to opportunities for young players because of where they're at in their team building process? Because Reiser is another guy that you could make an argument that he could fit the interior of that offensive line, even after drafting Steve Avila this year, Logan Bruss last year. But I just don't know if this is a team that wants to make those sort of moves to shore up anything in the short term because they understand what they are. They're dead last in cash spending. That's my only question because you absolutely can make an argument that that's the best

place for him in terms of need. But do they want to do something like that this offseason? Yeah, that's a question that you definitely have to consider. But when you look at who they have, like, it kind of feels like they should be a little bit more along the contending lines because you have the aging Aaron Donald. You have the aging Cooper Cup, the aging Matthew Stafford. And you've seen already, like, what you can do. Like, hey, if we can just get the pieces together and see if we can make a run,

we know what they can do. But you just need a warm body back there along the defensive backfield. It's just, I don't think, they don't have to live like this. I said it before, but it's just, it's really bad back there. It reminds me of that meme where, like, it's like Max Goof, like walking in and like that apartment's all, like, trash stuff. He's like, damn, you live like this. I appreciate your optimism about what the

2023 Rams are trying to accomplish. I think even with those guys being on the roster almost feels like an accident when you consider what this team is trying to do right now. They are in, they're being pulled in multiple directions just because of the way that they did things over the last couple years. Now they're paying the bill. So I would be surprised if they went out and signed somebody like that.

And again, you know, went away from some of those younger players at that position. A team that I think is on the other end of the spectrum in terms of what they're trying to accomplish. And we're going to do another reunion here. I think the Chargers make the most sense. Yeah. Right. So you got a Lohe Gilman and D.T. Woods playing next to Jerwin James slash behind Derwin James.

John Johnson played the best football of his career for Brandon Staley a couple of years ago that led to him getting that contract with the Browns. So again, one more time revisiting this idea of worst case scenarios. if you're the Chargers and you you are all the fucking you are all the way the fucking like you're 60 million dollars over the cap next year you've restructured everybody so in the last cheap years of Justin Herbert's deal like this is it like it is time and I just think it's difficult to go into a season like that with unproven players or guys that haven't gotten that much run Gilman's played a little bit JT Woods didn't play that much as a rookie this is a team with a true championship Super Bowl aspirations having

one more body in the defensive backfield to kind of protect yourself from those worst case scenarios, I think would be very prudent for them at this stage. And it goes along the lines of the contingency plans. We know what the chart, we know the joke around the chargers. It's every year something catastrophic happens. And yes, you need to protect yourself against any catastrophes. Adding John Johnson makes a ton of sense because, because Gilman has played before, if John Johnson gets hurt, you know that you have a guy who's gotten reps back there. You don't want to be stuck with, oh, if Gilman gets hurt, now you're looking at playing one of your undrafted free agent safeties back there next to Derwin James. You don't want to be in that position because, like you said, they are all the way in.

It is put up or shut up mode right now for them. And John Johnson really makes a lot of sense both in where they want to be and where John Johnson is right now as a player. Yeah, and he knows the fact that there's familiarity there as well. And he could hit the ground running and the terminology and those sort of questions. I think that's also important to consider. So he just makes a ton of sense there. There was kind of a semi-viral moment this week when he took a picture while working out with, I think it was Morgan Fox and Sebastian Joseph Day.

They were all together. Like, just, it would be so easy. And I think it would be very smart just to protect yourself in a season that everything is on the line. Every single member of the organization has something on the line this year. So that is one that I would like to see. All right. It's all we got. Those are the 10 guys.

J.P. very, very much appreciate the time, my friend, especially in a holiday week where a lot of people are, you know, taking some time to themselves. Thanks for jumping on with us. I was really looking forward to making it happen. And I'm glad that we did. Yeah, I'm glad too. This was awesome. This was really cool. All right, guys. That's all we have for today. We will be back tomorrow with a little fantasy football talk. It's early July. I'm going to start my prep here very soon. And we're going to get a couple of guys on that really do, you know, as well a job. and as good of a job in this space as anybody. And that is Hayden Winks and Josh Norris from Underdog. They're going to come on and talk about the players who are going to win you your fantasy league this year. If they're wrong, you can blame them. I'm completely protected here. So that's why we're doing it this way.

They will be with us tomorrow. Until then, appreciate you guys listening. We'll talk to you soon. This was the Athletic Football Show.