The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Best fits for the top free agents of 2023

Episode Date: March 10, 2023

Free agency preview week continues with a look at the best possible player/team fits. Among the suggested pairings by Robert Mays and Nate Tice...Javon Hargrave to the Bears, Chauncey Gardner-Johnson to the Lions, and Dalvin Tomlinson to the Browns. Listen to their rationale for those three, as well as the rest of their matchmaking, on this episode of The Athletic Football Show.Follow Robert on Twitter: @robertmaysFollow Nate on Twitter: @Nate_TiceSubscribe to The Athletic Football Show...AppleSpotifyYouTubeToday's show is brought to you by...Atlassian: For projects impossible alone, visit www.atlassian.comPhilo: Sign up today at philo.tv and use promo code MAYS to get 50% off your first month3:30 Javon Hargrave8:15 Mike McGlinchey and other OLs10:30 Dre'Mont Jones14:40 D.J. Chark16:53 Byron Murphy19:10 C.J. Gardner-Johnson20:19 Lavonte David21:44 Drue Tranquill24:18 David Onyemata27:23 Dalvin Tomlinson30:32 Zach Allen33:28 James Bradberry35:23 Jamel Dean36:47 Jonathan Jones and other CBs41:12 Miles Sanders45:02 Orlando Brown47:31 Isaiah Wynn53:00 Allen Lazard Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic football show. The athletic football show. I'm Robert Mays. Join me today. It's my good friend Nate Tyson. How you doing, buddy? Doing very well. I went with my blue light glasses for this show.

Not that anyone could see it as we are recording. It's a podcast and a live show. But yeah, we decided to rock these. I've been staring at a lot of Google Docs and staring at you. And blue light glasses, they might be a placebo. I don't know. I'm not advertising. I'm not sponsored by any particular brand.

But I've been. I like them. I really do like them, but I'm rocking them for this show because I realize when I look at these bright lights afterwards, I'm like, have like a headache and everything. But maybe that's just because we talk about restrictive free agent potential signings and like some random stats that we throw out there. A Rock Hill facility reference yesterday. So maybe that's why I end the shows with a little bit of a strain. I've got a T-shirt and a hat on today because we're on day 404. So, day four and five.

We're deep in the week podcasting wise. I'm working Atlanta Legends starter sweatshirt right now. We're both killing it right now. But we're deep into this week. So I think we're both feeling it a little bit. But there's just so much stuff to get into. You know, yesterday we talked about the veteran trade candidates. We spent so much time talking about the Daniel Jones news, the Lamar Jackson news, everything happening on the quarterback front.

And we still haven't really gotten into kind of the top free agents available in this class or kind of the meat of the free agent class that's going to kick up. off on Monday. So we're going to do a little bit of that today. We're going to do our favorite fits for the top-ish free agents. You know, we're not going to go through the top 20 guys, but just members of that group, certainly in the top 50, guys you're going to see on virtually every free agent list with a couple hipster weirdo thrown in there. But for the most part, these are the guys who are going to be some of the best players available when free agency kicks off next week, which officially opens on Wednesday, unofficially the tampering period. It starts on Monday.

Just a quick reminder that we're going to have live recap shows every day. Next week as free agency starts to unfold, me and you will be Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. And Mike Sando and Randy Mueller will be coming to you guys on Friday because I'm taking the day off. The closers. Yes, that's right. Bringing in the heat, Hunter, too. They're coming in while I'm going to be at some New Orleans sports bar watching the tournament with my friends. So really appreciate them kind of coming in and cleaning up for us.

But we're going to dig into some of the big names today, run. through, I don't know, a dozen, 15 of these. It's going to be fun. So I want to kick it off with one of the best free agents available in this class and a fit for him that I think makes a lot of sense on multiple different levels. And that's Javan Hargrave from Philadelphia, 30 years old, hitting free agency again after cashing in. Rarely do you see this where a guy plays out his entire deal and is up there in the top five

of his respective free agent class the second time around trying to get cash in on his third deal. But that's exactly what Yvonne Hargrave is trying to do. And my fit for him was Chicago. I think he's going to be expensive. I think that he's probably going to make upwards of $18 to $19 million a year, even at age 30. He still is one of the most devastating interior rushers in the NFL. He has been over the last couple years. Interior pass pressure and interior pressure in general disruption is, I think, as valuables,

it's ever been. So the gap has closed between those guys and the edge guys. I think he's the sort of talent that isn't always available in free agency and it is because of the circumstances in Philly. And the bears have a need at this position. And they try to do this last year. The first go-around with Matt Iberfluse and Ryan Poles, they tried to sign Larry Ogun Joby to be that dominant disruptive three technique in that defense that Matt Eberfluce runs.

And they didn't get him. There was a physical issue. They didn't end up signing him. So clearly they've shown a need and a. a desire for a player at this position, Hargrave would give them a difference maker in the middle of their defense, even if he's going to be a little bit expensive. Yeah,

and literally the same defensive system that he would just be coming from, even though from Jonathan Gannon going with Iberflus. I mean, yes, I'ma flus isn't calling plays, but same type of scheme and same usage that he would have. So it's very easy to translate what he's done in Philadelphia. And that's what's actually really nice about Hargrave, like even when he wasn't in Philly when he was in Pittsburgh,

or totally different kind of fronts and everything he was using. It was still productive, just in a different way. And that kind of speaks to Hargrave. No matter what he's going to be useful, just plays a good amount of snaps. He's held up. I get it. I get why people are going to pay him. He's a fun player.

It's kind of been everyone's kind of like a little fun guy that everyone liked. And then this year he got a lot of praise deservedly. It finally kind of caught up the national recognition. And you don't see a lot of guys outperformed their second contract. And he easily did. And so that's why he's about to get. paid on the third one. I love the fit and I love it. I love the player and yeah, I mean, he's going to get paid a lot of money, but the bears have a lot of money to pay. And this is kind of a

building block and it seems like by all accounts, a hardworking professional. These are the type of guys that you want when you pay a guy is like make sure that they still come in and work their asses off, which obviously this guy did when he produced on a second contract. So totally makes sense where I think, uh, uh, uh, uh, for the fit and the player. Paying for pass rush productivity and free agency. It works out. You know, you talk about the Millsap doctor, no need to do that here. You don't need to project a larger role for him. But if you're paying for pressures, I think that that has worked out for teams in the last few years. Looking at the list right now, he was third in the NFL last season in pressures, according to

PFF among interior players, only guys higher than him with Chris Jones and Dexter Lawrence. It's not purely a volume thing either. He didn't get as many snaps as some of these other guys, only 486 snaps last year. On a per snap basis was the third most productive pass rusher on the interior in the league this year after Chris Jones and Quinn and Williams. Go back last couple years. Those are all pros you're naming. All all pros. That's how good he is. Go back two years, 2021. Fourth in PFF's pass rush productivity among interior players, sixth in pressures. Sixth in 2020, and he's 10th in past brush productivity and he had 37 pressures that season, but played far, far fewer snaps. So this is a guy who's been in the top 10 among interior rushers

in each of the last three seasons. was in the top five in any category you'd want to see for past rush numbers at that spot. And that's what you need. I mean, getting a guy who can affect the game in that way from that position, there aren't that many of them who can do it at that level. And I know you're going to have to pay up to get him, but I think I'd be okay with it, honestly. And he's missed, just off top of my head, he's missed three games in his entire career.

So that's, again, reliability. And that's what you're paying for because there's nothing worse than you pay a guy. And then he only plays half your staff for the season. So, no, this makes sense. I really like this one. Like I said, really like the player. He's produced in different types of schemes, been asked to do different things, especially up front.

It makes sense for where the bears where it's like, okay, we have this guy. We know we can count on them. Let's start plopping things around them, drafting guys and finding maybe more middle tier guys as well. So these are the guys you do pay because the productivity has been there consistently. Other guys that Chicago, I think, might consider, while we're talking about top guys, Mike McGlinchie might make sense there. They need a right tackle. Insert Lyman here.

Yeah. And so Mike McGlenshy makes sense because if they're going to have that kind of run heavy style to the way that they still want to play and they're running the ball a lot, you know, does Juan Taylor make sense? Is McGlenshy kind of the nice middle ground between Caleb McGarry and Joanne Taylor at that spot? You know, Chris Morgan is a Shanahan guy. So I think there's not a lot of imagination necessary for what they'd ask him to do. You know, Chris Morgan worked under Kyle Shanahan in the past, who's the Bears' offensive line coach. I think just my guess is McGarry. he ends up back in Atlanta.

Because if McGlenshy and Juan Taylor both have pretty robust markets and there isn't one for McGarry, I do think he has value to them. I just don't think they want to overpay for the type of player that he is. So that one wouldn't surprise me. And then I think, like you said,

offensive line-wise, they could go a bunch of different directions. They have so much money and so many holes that all the guys were going to mention, it feels like on this show, they could end up in Chicago. So, like, Dalton Reisner, Nate Davis, Ethan Poich, all these guys, do they kind of remake their offensive line with some capable starters with that all the free agent money that they have and all the cap space that they have? I wouldn't be surprised that they signed multiple starters at that spot.

Yeah. And I would love, we talked about on The Bear Show that I think going through the interior and finding a center, if they want to go to a veteran center, take a mental load off Justin Fields. And, you know, there's a couple of guys out there, Pochichich, you mentioned, I think is a great candidate. You can kind of hit a great year last year under Bill Callahan. Of course, they have a good offensive line. Just the system works, but he looked fantastic in what they did. That's more of a pinpole gap, more heavy scheme as opposed to what I think the Bears want to run.

Chris Morgan being a Shane-A guy zone, but the Bears turned into a run-everything type of scheme because they just had to figure out some way to make it work. And another guy like Gary Bradbury, like two with the Bears. That's another one. They have some familiarity from the division. He's also a zone kind of athletic guy. He's kind of been up and down throughout his career, but that's a guy that he may be, his market might not be, like, ridiculous and that it could make sense for, again, they just need competency.

And that's what you pay for that position. But all these guys make sense. The McGlitchie one, I think there's a lot that aligns there as far as just type of player and what they want to run. Along with Yvonne Hargrave, another guy in the interior that's probably going to get paid this offseason is Draymond Jones from the Broncos. Best fits for him. What makes sense for you with Draymond Jones? I mean, for play style-wise, I almost won him with the 49ers, just because I think, I don't think they'll break the bank on it. And I think they have to figure out where they're going to divvy up their money as guys are going to pay.

We talked about Eric Armstead as maybe, you know, a trade candidate or something, they might move him. We don't know, just thrown out theories. But Draymont Jones still with the 49ers would just be a lot of fun. Disrupt a player can kick out to the five tag, move inside when he needs to, which is a, on a defensive front that, you know, loves that type of stuff, especially on past downs. just like an aggressive player and an aggressive style. So that's more of like a, to me, a schematic fit where I'd really want to see that. But, you know, there's others. And I think you have one on your mind.

But I really, I think that's the one that pops to my mind. I really like Dremont Jones. I think he is one guy. He is going to get paid because he is one of the top guys on the market at his position. He has a small chance that he can live up to whatever contract that he gets paid to. And that matters where he outperforms that or plays up to it. I really do think that. I think his game is just only getting better as he becomes more of a consistent

player, but he's a very disruptive, exciting type of defensive player. He just has to be more consistent. He's only 26 years old. Exactly. These are the types of guys that have we not even seen the best of him yet? What can he be in the right situations? You talk about that, some of those underlying pass rush numbers. He finished tied for 11th in pass rush productivity this season.

He had 45 pressures this year, which was tied for 11th among all interior defensive the players. So he had a decent amount of production. And again, only 26 years old. And he did that in only 13 games. Yes. The spot I had that I thought would be fun was Carolina. Jero Evereaux is there now. They came into the last couple weeks without a lot of financial wigger room. They restructure Taylor Moten's contract to open up about $11 million in cap space. They still got moves to make if they want to. Jack Thompson has a $25 million cap hit this season. I just have a hard time imagining he'll play on that, even if he's on the Panthers. they save about $11 million if they move on from him.

And DJ Moore is a $20 million-based salary. Like if they want to restructure DJ Moore's contract, they could free up with that Pat Elfline easily talking about $35 million or so in cap space. And they could potentially drop a rookie quarterback contract into that. Even if you have to go out and get a stop gap, what's Jacoby per second to cost you against the cap? Shoot, just low teens. Let's say you do the James contract from last year, whatever.

So it's like the average is out at 15. but you can keep his cap hit in a year one at $7,8 million. So they're not going to spend a ton on quarterback, even if they piece that room together. So it feels like even with $32 million in dead money, which is what they currently have, it's just brutal, that they do have a decent amount of financial wig room. And Matt Ionitis also hitting the market. So they don't have a ton of interior defensive line depth. So I thought that one was pretty fun because he did it.

It played very well last year in Evereaux defense for that Broncos team. It was a lot better than we expected. And I'm glad you brought up the underlying numbers. And what I think, why I like Drayvon Jones is I do think he's a scheme proof type player, like no matter what he's useful. And that's why it's kind of cool. We can talk about, yeah, the translation from what Denver did last year and now going to be in Carolina or going to the 49ers, Banshee for down front, you know, like where he can move around depending on how they need them.

So like that, that's why I think he's a really interesting player. And like I said, I think he already has had cool production and underlying numbers, but I think he's only going to get better on top of it. So I think he fits anywhere, if that makes sense. And that's why it's hard for me to find one with him. But it's more like these two would be really interesting because it'd be a nice, what's boost of like a strength of our team even more because with a guy that's on the upswing. All right.

What's your next one? Well, let's stick with a fit with the bears. And this is one I brought up last year. That's DJ Chark to the bears. I think this is a fun flyer to take. No pun intended because he can roll. He's battled some injuries and I get that. But he has been productive when he is.

been healthy. That's why I think you're not going to be breaking the bank for him or he shouldn't. If I think his price is outrageous, then I wouldn't. But if you can get him on a short deal, a two-year-ish-type deal, even something like the Lions did last year, it was like a one-year deal and they had a lot of void years afterwards. But something like where it's short where you're getting another useful player, I don't think DJ Chark, obviously, is not like a Pro Bowl, amazing player, but I do think he can be a valuable top three option and a good passing attack. And that's what you're paying for. He's a true. true X in a league that those are valuable.

He can play outside for you. He's a ball winner. He can go vertical. These are all things I think the Bears need. And it also matches with their quarterback that loves to push the ball and give his guys a chance. That's why I liked him last year with the Bears that obviously went to the Lions. But I think this is an interesting fit. And it's funny talking about DJ Chark as one of these names.

But that's where this is where this receiving class is at. He's like the number two or number three name at this class right now. But so yeah, yeah, got to find out what his contract is. of course, you know, of course you have money, but you don't still want to just spend it just to spend it. But I do like the fit. I like the player. If you can get a good amount of games out of them, I think he can be a really valuable piece for that receiving room. We talked about it yesterday.

I want them to be more ambitious with whatever that third receiving spot looks like. Right. Right. I think they do obviously need one more at least. And they need that type of skill set. But it's more exciting to me to think about the Adri Hopkins than it is. It is. I can't throw every single $20 million a year player that's available this offseason. to the Bears as much as I want to.

It's just, you have options. And options are great. That's what it is. I love because it's like even like team needs. I was trying to, you know, you go through this process. Sorry, who needs what?

Who needs what needs what? The Bears, it's everything. So it's just say, like what are the top guys? Yeah, everything. So you can just throw it out there and it makes sense. There's a lot of fit for that. But I do like this pairing,

but I get what you mean. They're, yeah, being a little bit more ambitious for that spot, especially what that role is. So you have DJ Richard coming from the Lions. You also wanted to put someone on the Lions. Who's your next one? That is Byron Murphy,

who is with the Cardinals in his first few years in the league. The Lions have space. They have a huge need for corner. Byron Murphy's going to get paid. I do think that. He's 25 years old. It makes sense for the timeline that the Lions are on. I think his strength and why you would pay a guy like

Byron Murphy is he now has proof that he can play inside and outside. I think he's actually maybe a little better on the outside, but still can play on the inside. He's a physical presence. He can tackle. he can't tackle. He's willing to tackle. Everybody can tackle. He's willing to tackle. He's willing to tackle and bring the wood. There's a clip I've found that I tweeted out like I guess the Eagles where he's just knocking out Kwez Watkins. He's has experience playing in the man in zone coverage and blitz heavy schemes. So what the Lions kind of reconfigured their defense throughout the year ended up being more in man coverage. I know we talked about this. But I think that's what's nice about Byron Murphy's. I can see him in any type of system.

Being a physical player makes sense for what the Lions want to do. And that versatility matters. And I think, you know, the contract that I would offer him is basically what Carlton Davis got last year, like a three year, 45 million total. You know, so 30 million guaranteed. But, you know, it's, it's crazy. You know, that $14 million range. I know that sounds like crazy.

There's a lot of, like, useful corners getting paid that. Like, DJ Reed's contract was right in that same range. Like those sorts of guys. And that's the thing. I'm not saying this guy, you're paying them to be your ace, but in a rebuilding, and I think they might draft a guy, that's really how you replenish a room. pay a guy, get another middle to your guy, and then draft a guy high. That's how you replenish a weakness.

And I think he's just useful. Exactly what the jested last year. Right. Just yeah. Exactly with the jested last year. Saw DJ, Jordan Whitehead. Yeah, boom, done. But that's exactly.

Same game plan in my head, how I think I would rebuild that room. And that's, you know, a glaring weakness. But I think his versatility is so important because then whatever else you draft, he can kind of move where you need him. And I think that has so much value when you're paying a guy. Again, comparing offensive line and defensive back. that matters so much. We talk about Joe Tuny.

He can play across the line. So when other guys get hurt, he can pop in there. Same type of thing with Byron Murphy. I want to talk about some of the other bigger name corners a little bit later on because I have a corner fit that I like. But I also send a defensive back to the Lions. It's kind of similar thinking, but a lot of it being mindset driven.

CJ Gardner Johnson going to Detroit, I think would be so fun. Because they play a decent amount of man. If they have a need in the slot, they have a needed safety. He's versatile. you could put them in a couple different spots. And he just, I don't know, he just fits with what they want to be. And we talked about this yesterday when we were talking about potential trade candidates for them with Jalen Ramsey and what the splash for them is going to be defensively.

It might not be one player. They might piece it together like you've mentioned. If it's, we got $25 million in free agent money to spend on defense and we use it on three different guys because we fill in three different holes. I just want to see where those excess resources are going to go for them on defense. and he feels like the type of player that checks boxes. They can play multiple different positions, gives them like a real identity and a physicality on the back end that they just don't really have right now.

Yeah. Or, God, no, we're talking about DBs and the lines too. And they need linebackers as well. Malcolm Rodriguez played well for him. But this was not planned. I never threw this to you at the pre-show. But maybe take a one-year deal with Levante David. Like that would really help kind of like tie the room together.

Like, he really wouldn't really kind of solidify a lot, whatever splashes they want to add. Levante David is still a productive player, still a plus player. But I don't know, that was, as you were talking, that just made me kind of think of like other weaknesses they have on that defense. So what I was thinking with Levante David is possibly the Raiders. They have a ton of money and they have a huge need there and just, he'd be a stabilizing force. You know, I think that's the biggest argument in favor of him compared to some of the other guys who might be a little bit cheaper. But there's so many guys, even than a division, if the Raiders just want to stop gap. option there.

Alex Singleton is a free agent. Drew Trankel is somebody I want to talk about to another team. If you're the Lions, and again, you're just looking for a capable starter, is Leighton Van der Esh on a one-year deal? Does that make sense for you? T.J. Edwards is a free agent. So I think it's just depending on how much you want to spend at that spot if you want to find a stopgap starter.

Do you want to shop at the high end of the market or do you want to try to find a guy who's available for one year and $4 million? I think that's the question that a lot. lot of these teams are going to have to ask. And so I might as well do my next one here because shopping in that same kind of range. I love, and this is a little bit further down pretty much any list. I love Drew Swankle will go into the Giants. This was a, I love this.

That was the, this is, hey, I'll compliment here. This is inspired. This really is. I really like this fit. I mean, you think about all the pressure that the chargers brought last year. And again, going back and looking at it, look at it. They ran him back as a post safety from the line of scurbing. I just thought he was really good as a blitzer last season.

Yep. And so if you just, again, you look at rate stats last year. On a per snap basis, here are the offball linebackers who got more consistent pressure when blitzing last season than Drew Tranquo. Alandon Roberts, Christian Kirksey, David Long, DeMario Davis. That's it. He was fifth. He finished with 13 pressures on 63 pass rush snaps. And I believe he had five sacks.

So I thought he looked really good as a blitzer, and I just think they need a capable body there after what they tried it out last year. I know they re-signed Jared Davis, what I assume is a pretty modest contract, but just one more person who can be a functional player in that spot. And I think that's exactly what he would give them. I love it. Wink last year, especially Wink Martindale with their linebackers, was just trying to, anybody can play? Can you do this? They signed Jared Davis in week 16, and he was their starter in the playoffs. It's so great.

I love it. I love Edis Season Rosters, by the way, because it's so funny. Like, especially like in a month or two from now when I kind of start reviewing film again, NFL film after I dive into college. And I'm just like, oh, yeah, that game happened. Oh, yeah, this guy was playing here. Oh, yeah. Deshaun Jackson's with the Ravens. You know, that you have those remembrance as you look at these players.

But I really like that fit. Just because of play style, there's nothing. He's already shown it as being a smart blitzer. He was one of their best defenders. year. He was. I really liked watching him in the back half of last season. Agreed.

Yeah. Once the Chargers really figured out their defense, especially passing down, so it was really fun. And he was a part of that. His versatility and his skill set, that's why a lot of it got unlocked because they used them well, and he allowed them to use it. If they want to go a little bit more expensive, or I don't know how much more expensive, but I think kind of similar thinking, I think David Long to the Giants is also fun.

Love it. I love it. David Long anywhere would be fun. These teams that have like a real glaring. need at linebacker. I mean, like the lions are another one, like where he lands with one of these teams that has a hole there. I'll be curious. All right, what's your next one? Oh, my next one. I don't even know which one I'm going to go with. I'm going to go with this is, I couldn't narrow it down which team I wanted. So I just went with AFC West, uh, contender. So to me, that's the Chargers

and the Chiefs and the Raiders fans. But that's what I'm talking about. Chiefs and Chargers here. And I'm going with David Onimata. Onimata. Onamata. Onamata. I think. On Yamada. I really, really useful player plays a run, plays the past. He's been productive.

He's 30 years old. So to me, that's a perfect kind of quasi gun for hire, especially for these two teams. They're, you know, their windows are open.

I think like a two year kind of deal, two year 20 mil type of deal. Why the chiefs would want him? Pair him with Chris Jones. Oh my goodness. I would love those two, just ass kicking in the middle. Really helps solidify a defense that

really was a real. improving the second half of the year. And again, he has a decent health record. He's been good against the run and pass. I like that. And then for the Chargers, of course, they need to build through the spine so badly. We all know that we knew it last year. He would give them anterior help.

He can kind of just do it all. And I like those type of players for signing, especially for contenders like this. Just kind of a nice kind of timeline matching for him. And those are two teams that came to mind for me that I think he would really help them out and it matches their timeline. there are a lot of interesting kind of middle range interior pass rushers in this group. Anyamata is in there. Sheldon Rankins was a really good player for the Jets last season. Can you get him on a modest deal?

Matt Ionitis again, we talked about it was a cap casualty for the Panthers, but he's still a useful player. I thought that Morgan Fox had a really nice bounce back year. Another always been useful last year for the Chargers. Yeah, nope. And then a guy who, this seems like a perfect by a low candidate, very different players.

and the guys we just talked about is not going to give you as much juice as a pass pressure nearly as much. But I thought it was a huge part of a championship winning roster in 2021 and there was hurt last season. What can you get Aishon Robinson for? Right. I mean, remember him?

Like, you can get him on a one year flyer because he was hurt last year just as a, again, a stabilizing force for your run defense. He played really, really well in 2021. And he's still only 28 years old. Yeah. So that.

He really helped them out. Like when they, that was the thing, they were getting gash on the ground. Of course, Von Miller helped. But no, he had a big part of it where no one could get to the edge because of him. Because they just haven't like just beaten, beat dudes up out there. It's tough with these types of players because we were talking about this in the pre-show. There's a couple of positions we're going to talk about where it's kind of easy to identify the teams. Yeah.

This guy, a left tackle just plays. Yeah, you don't have to worry about him rotating in. No, with these, with the defensive lines. edge rushers, interior guys, especially that are kind of rotational pieces. Any team could probably use more juice at these spots. So landing on where the best fits are is a little bit tougher, especially at those spots. I will say, talking about interior defensive lineman and run stuffing interior defensive linemen. One of my favorites is Dalvin Tomlinson and go into the Browns.

Just make him your nose and a four-man front and just let him eat blocks. Because their run defense and their interior play in general over the last couple of It's just been so bad. And the Browns have no cap space right now. But if they, which I assume they will, restructure to Sean Watson's contract, they can free up a ton. And I think that that spot, to me, is the most glaring where they need help. I know. It seems like there's like five of the same dude, like the Tomlinson and the Jonathan Hankins would be another one.

Like just one of those guys. That becomes the question with Tomlinson. Would you want to spend at the top of that group? Or do you want to try to? Would you rather have A. Robinson for what is likely going to be a cheaper deal. Spoiler alert, that's the show we're doing Friday for Monday. We're doing the Kirkland brand guys of the best of some of the top free agents in this class. So a lot of the big name guys that we're not going to hit today, hopefully we're

going to hit on that show for Monday. So before you guys say, why didn't you talk about so and so? That's the reason. We're hopefully going to talk about that. Thank you for throwing this out here. So I don't get like three tweets where people are like, why don't you talk about that guy, but also reminding us So maybe we talk about them too. Dalton Schultz, Jesse Bates, Marcus Davenport, Tremaine Edmonds, all guys we're going to talk about on Monday's show. We'll cover it. Got you.

Can I talk about another defense alignment? Let's do it. I actually like, I actually threw this out there kind of late in our pre-show, and I actually now have talked myself more into it. It's Zach Allen to the Seahawks. This is a team that desperately needs front seven help, especially up front. The front four or front five, however you want to put it, front three. I really like Allen a lot.

He had a breakout year last year, and truly was one of the most improved players in the NFL. Can play across the line, which is really nice. Can play five, four-eye, three tech, depending how they want to use them. Last year, they kind of had some varied fronts, and that's really useful, really productive. He was tied for second in the whole NFL and TFL's and run stuff's rate, you know, per snap. He was tied for second, which is ridiculous. I think only behind Ed Oliver. Ad Oliver's first per snap, which is kind of funny because he's such a boomer bus player.

Allen has a little bit more down-to-down productivity. He just said a useful player. Really, yes. He had about half a dozen sacks. I think he had five and a half. He had eight PbUs. Maybe he just watched JJ Watt put his hands up, and he was like, I can do that.

Like, maybe he got a little translated there. But I just think it's a useful player. I think they have space for him. I think he's going to pay a decent contract. And I think he's another player that's ascending. I really like this fit. They have some familiarity again, playing against him in the division.

So maybe not a coach. But they have that. where they played against. I'm like, hey, we like that guy. So Zach Allen to the Seahawks, one of those that I threw out here at first that the more I've thought about it, the more I like. Shelby Harris is going to be 32. When the season starts, Zach Allen is 25 right now. Alwood's also, you know, getting a little bit older. They play different positions, but just like the interior players up front for Seattle.

And then Punta Ford is hitting free agency. So they need to remake that group up front, I think, from end to end. So some of that you could probably do with the higher-end draft picks that they have. But supplementing that in free agency with some of the flexibility that they have, I think wouldn't be a surprise at all. No, that's exactly. End to end worked like perfectly there. Like that, that it's like, it's a good end.

Good. Yeah. Edge to edge. Edge to edge. Yeah, right? Outside linebacker to outside linebacker. The, no, but that's exactly it. And that's why, again, and it's pulled the string and I'm repeating myself here.

But again, when you have a guy that can play across positions in one unit. So we talked about, you know, DB wise. and Murphy playing inside and outside, Gardner Johnson playing safety and nickel. Same thing here is that because he can play three spots as a plus player, that just helps you plop everything else in where you can find the guys that make sense for everywhere else. That really matters, especially when you're splashing the bank. You don't want to pay a bunch of money for a guy.

Offensive lineman can be left tackles, left tackle, like you said, that's just one spot. That's where you kind of get screwed because then like it, oh, we paid this guy to be our slot only. We paid this guy to beat our outside guy only. Paid this guy to be right guard only. that kind of gets a little dicey when you're trying to really fill it out because you're paying these guys for a reason because you have a hole there. You want some versatility with these guys. All right.

Let's stick near the top of the list here. I have James Bradbury going to the Raiders. Any defensive player there makes sense. I think it makes sense in a couple different levels. One, they have a ton of cap space. They have no starting corners. Rocky Sin is one of those interesting guys. There's a lot of interesting corners.

We can talk about some of them in a second. Real quick, this whole. free agency class is a bunch of interesting dudes. Like it's not top heavy. Of course not. It's free agency, but there's a lot of useful, useful players in this class. I really do think that. The contenders should be really happy with this free agency class. I want to talk about the corner group in a second, but I think James Bradbury rightfully is up near the top of that group along with probably Jamel Dean. Bradbury, they have a need there. I think that they could use kind of a veteran presence on the back end of that defense. And he played for Patrick Graham two years ago. I mean, he was with the

Giants when Patrick Graham was there. So there's that familiarity. He had a fantastic season last year. We've talked about him. If you're paying him to be your number one corner and you're paying the number one corner money, it might be a little bit rich, but that's what happens in free agency. And that's what happens when you're in the position that the Raiders are right. Exactly.

And that's what you have to pay a premium to get a bona fide starter. And that's what they need. They need starters and plus starter. And like you said, you're not getting the top, top tier, no, he made several all pro teams. I think he was your second team. second team. Yeah.

He was, he was my first off, like basically. He would, so if I had a third team, he was on my third team all pro. Uh, but fantastic year.

And that's the thing. When he was with the giants, even with Graham being more of a cover two heavy guy there, he still is useful because he's such a smart and aware player that that, that, he's scheme proof. You don't want him living maybe in man coverage every snap, but in a zone heavy scheme.

He's a good, good player. So I love that fit and they just need dudes. They really, really need dudes on that defense. The guy who, could get paid even more than Janice Bradbury and free agency this year, and likely will, based

on his age and how well he's played the last couple seasons is Jamel Dean. So a couple that I would throw out for him, I'm curious what you think about this. We talked about Dallas's need for another outside corner last year, or yesterday when we're talking about Jaywin Ramsey. They typically don't... Well, they just typically don't wait

into outside free agency in that way. So that would be a little bit surprising. The other one that, division, used to him, has a need there, has a ton of money to spend, would be Atlanta. Oh, yeah. Oh, my God. Put them with Terrell. Oh, yeah. I love that, actually. And they have the money to spend on that. I love that. That one makes, of all these, I always said, that one makes a ton of sense. And that would be, they would have one of the best one, two pairings in the league. I mean, easily.

That's awesome. I like that one a lot. Yeah, especially with AJ Terrell, I'd plop any quarter in there. And you're going to get a boost effect because they can just be the number two. I know we talked about another day. We were talking about how many true number one corners are there true lockdown guys. And of course, we pet, you know, Certan's going to be one of those and sauce. So I forget about Terrell. He has that potential too. So I mean, that's pretty exciting for the corner group. But I really like that pairing. Yeah, that's a sweet one. Kesey Hayward is there. He has a $7 million cap at this year. He's making $5 million. He's 30 years old. I don't know if that precludes you from going out and getting somebody in that spot. And they have money to spend?

The other one that Jonathan Jones has been a useful player on the inside. He showed he can play a little bit outside this year. I wonder where he lands. One team that jumped out to me a little bit just because I don't know how they're inside, outside corner situation is going to work out. They're probably going to lose Marcus Peters in free agency. They just traded Chuck Clark today to the Jets. So those roles in their defense, I think, might be shifting a little bit is Baltimore for Jonathan Jones.

I mean, because he, in nickel packages, he can play inside. when you're when you have two corners on the field, does he pop outside? Brandon Stevens comes off the field. So that, that one just made a little bit of sense to me. Who knows where he actually ends up, but that one jumped out.

Is that a Giants one too? Because all the man they play, that might be interesting as well. Yeah, maybe. I know. I never really thought. Jonathan Jones should call J.C.

Jackson and say, hey, you owe me half your contract because I'm not going to get paid like I, you did. But that anything time to sign up Patriots Corner. We've already talked about it several times. It's that you get a little scared, but I think that's going to actually make the price for him more fair to what he actually should get,

as opposed to overpaying for him. But any man-heavy scheme, I like him because it would just translate to maybe I'm not creative enough to see it. The Ravens found their way in what defense is called, they call it in the second half of the year, especially. So that does help for him. Because actually, this Patriots team last year was running more quarters. They're running more too high and cover two. So it's a little more easy, it's a little easier to translate his game in different defensive schemes than you. usually coming from the Patriots.

We talked about some of these other guys at that spot. And again, a lot of teams, I think, just could use a stopgap starter. But Cam Sutton is on that list. Rocky Sin is on that list. We'll see what happens with Marcus Peters. These guys, you could potentially sign to deals between like $7 and $10 million a year. Yeah. Where it's just like, I just need a capable starting cornerback.

And I think that there are several of those guys available in this group. Yeah. Especially if you already have a dude, like, or you're a contender and you're just like, hey, we just need to shore this up and we'll get another, like you said, stop gap. It's like plus stop gap. If that makes sense. It's like not stopgap where we're just getting replacement level player, but like an actual good player that we're going to get through the year with him. But also on top of it, he's actually going to provide good play.

I mean, this is what the Eagles did, but their whole defense, it felt like last year getting all these kind of guys, especially with a guy like Bradbury. So I think the Seahawks go get another outside corner that's capable of starting. Yeah. What do the Vikings do at corner? Right. Because Duke Shelley is a free agent. Patrick Peterson is a free agent. Do they not want to spend?

Are they looking for somebody who can just kind of eat snaps there? Is this how the lines piecemeal their DBS together? Do they find a guy like this? You know, one or two guys like this? That's another spot too. The Bears have an endless amount of money and Anita Corner. So, I mean, they're worth mentioned in any of these conversations. Those are the teams that probably jump out the quickest.

Bengals, you assume Cam Taylor, Brides, steps in there for. The dolphins are another team. Because of Jones, right? Yes, because no Byron Jones. And so the dolphins with the other one was like, what kind of splash or what kind of move do they make it corner? Yeah. And do they use whatever available money they have to kind of shore up that spot? Because they're fine up front.

You know, the offense, they've spent taking their swings on that side of the ball. So is corner another spot? And what kind of corner with Fangio there? I didn't have a fit for them because I don't know what they're looking for. I don't know which guys necessarily fit the best there. but they were the other team that jumped out for sure. And he kind of always figures out how to use a guy. So that's what's tough.

Good coaches are actually hard to find guys for because they're like, oh, they can make this guy work. It's like an offense alignment with Skarnakia back in the day. It's like he had, I want to miss fit toys, but he always made work. Fangio can do that with DBs. They have $727,000. They're over the cap right now, but that's before the Byron Jones thing happens. Yeah.

So if they make him a post-June first cut, it saves them $13.6 million. I mean, they have enough wiggle room. And there are other ways that they can save a little bit of money here and there. They already restructure Bradley Chubbs contract. We'll see if they try to extend Christian Wilkins, just a bunch of different things, hopefully, for them. So that would be the one spot, one position where I'm interested in what they want to do. I like that. I go with another dolphins pairing, kind of just real quick.

Other dolphins pairing feels like this has been like 10 years in a row. They've needed this. But running back, and I went with Miles Sanders. This is a same thing. I think they can find a way to pay them. I loved our running back discussion from a couple days ago and talking about how the market might be a little suppressed because there's actually a lot of interesting names and the class is pretty good

and the top guys got tagged. So as Sanders is, he's better out of the shotgun, which helped a lot when being with the Eagles. Pass protection has always been an issue for him. But guess what? They run a lot of RPO's. Don't really need you. It's great.

That's a great way to nullify bad pass protecting backs. It's just run RPO's because they don't have. to worry about it. But I think at a gun run scheme, he's improved running on the inside. He was another guy. I was one of my, not just statistically, but as an actual player, the process of how he was as a running back has improved tremendously. He's, you know, staying in between the tackles. He's become more patient. He used to just try and bounce everything. Interesting run scheme they had. And I think he would just kind of fit in any type of run scheme. Why not get him with a Shanahan type? The dolphins did run a little bit of everything. So I think that helps. Hey, we're going to try this this

time. He plays a lot of games. I like that fit. I think that's a one good spot for him where it makes sense for both parties. We talked about this a little bit yesterday. It's just hard to find that many teams that have like a glaring need at running back that where they haven't, they've either like Atlanta, for example, right, Alger pops last year. So it's like, okay, we can ride with these guys. We got plenty. The bucks, if they ever shot white, I don't think they want to spend more money at running back. They have no money to spend. Okay. So many of these other times. teams, Christian McCaffrey, Kenneth Walker, guys they've invested in. The Packers don't need a running back. We'll see what happens with the Vikings, but. It's one spot the bears are good at.

I mean, there aren't that many spots. It's like, oh, yeah, this team could definitely use one. I will be interested to see what the Chargers do at that spot. Do they have an innings eater that they want to go get based on after having struck out with Spiller and Josh Kelly and all of those guys that they had. We talked about them not restructuring deals like Keenan Allen's deal because they didn't want to keep pushing future money into future years. They did it. So that's how they ended up freeing up some of that money.

So I think they're going to try to add a couple pieces here and there after doing that and we'll see what ends up happening. But they're a team that I think because they have Austin Eckler doesn't jump out at you, but I think they could use somebody with a little bit of a different body type and with a little bit of pop at that spot. Just somebody to help him out. Poor Austin. I mean, he's just like, it tries his ass off and pass protection. He's great at it. And it's just like, but you can tell he's just exhausted. He was when Williams and Keenan Allen were out, he was getting what 15 targets a game, it felt like. Their third down passing attack was choice route to Austin Echler. Like that was their passing attack for like six weeks. I can't believe he held up. Like he really, like for his size to take that many touches and that much of a beating. He's just somebody give him help somebody. So I really like that one. That's an interesting. That really is interesting. one. They've probably benefited the most for maybe finding a nice kind of middle tier guy that they

don't have to splurge on. So yeah, that's a great call as far as with the Chargers because they need help there. So so much depth in this class. Yeah. So if the Chargers, I mean, I'm trying, like, random names throughout there like Damien Harris, right? If they, the Chargers get Damien Harris for one year and four million, whatever that ends up looking like, just a player like that. There are a lot of those guys available if you don't want to wait for the draft. Okay. And it's, yeah, And you've got proof of concept. Like, yeah, actually you've seen these guys play. Oh, man, Jamal Williams actually would be pretty sweet with that.

Just somebody like that. Like guys in that range and there are plenty of them. All right. Let's stick near the top of this group here. Orlando Brown. I struggled to come up with a spot for this because, again, there aren't that many teams that have a lot of money to throw around and a glaring need at left tackle. Easy to say the Bears.

You know, we'll see what they end up doing with Braxton Jones at that spot if they want to roll with him again. But other than that, there just aren't that many teams with a huge hole at that spot. The bucks have one, but they just cut their expensive left tackle. They don't have any money to spend. It's the same tier of player. Yeah. I mean, and so many other teams have kind of committed to a player at that spot,

either with a high draft pick or a decent second contract. So the team, two, I think, options that potentially could make sense based on how much wiggle room they'd have financially in the need there. first was New England. Yes. Okay. So makes a lot sense. If they move Trent Brown back to right tackle, they would have a need at left tackle, just the type of player that isn't often available in free agency, a really useful guy at that spot.

And then the other one that jumped out to me was potentially Pittsburgh. They could free up a decent amount of money pretty fast. And I think that would kind of be a stabilizing force for what they've been looking for on the left side for a couple of years now. Yeah. The Patriots one is interesting. I can talk myself more into this one. Bill Belichick has a history with Orlando Brown's dad.

He coached him in Cleveland in the 90s, which I think is really cool. There's a cool clip, by the way, if anyone wants, Bill Belichick talking about Orlando Brown buying like his first suit because he couldn't fit in a suit before, and Belichick hooked him up with a tailor. So it's pretty, it's someone Twitter search for it and you'll find it. They can pay him decently. They have a huge need. Kind of actually, a lot of stars aligned for that kind of fit. So I actually don't hate that one.

But doing the thought exercise with you in the pre-show, really, there's not a lot of left tackle seats. Like, there's just not when you really break it down because other teams are either invested in it or they're, yeah, they're committed to someone developing there. So that's why you can kind of narrow this down. But I do like the Patriots there. That wouldn't make sense for me at least in a lot of ways, narrative wise as well. The Steelers right now don't have a ton of salary cap space, but they move out from William Jackson, $12 million, $8 million. from Mitchell Trubisky. I mean, they can get to $20, $30 million in cap space pretty quickly.

So it would not be hard for them to fit in Orlando Brown if they wanted to end up doing that. We'll see. Right. Can I talk about the guy that, speaking of Patriots tackles, I'm going to go with one fit. And Bengals fans, do you guys, I know you guys love injured offense alignment. So let's keep it going. I'm going to go with Isaiah win going to the Bengals. I think this is a great buy low candidate.

We just talked about not only either invested in tackles, but if you can spend that much money for Orlando Brown, this, Isaiah Wend has never been like a Pro Bowl caliber tackle, but he's had flashes of good play. I would say more he's in that above average tier, but he's been hurt a ton. He's missed over 20 games in his career so far. But a, I think this is a viable, buy low candidate. It makes sense for the Bengals timeline. So in this situation, are they moving on from Lyle Collins? Yes.

Okay. And or just fair, yeah, they have to. But the thing is, they're just given, in my brain canon, they'd be giving them the same deal as Lyle Collins last year, which is like a two, three year deal, seven, eight mil a year that they can get out of, a bunch of playing time bonuses. So if you are healthy, then we give you incentive for that. But honestly, that's like the exact same contract I would give him. I just, I think he'd get good coaching again. He's a guy that did regress away from Scarnacia. A lot of guys do away from Dante Scornacia. And, but he'd go to Frank Pollock, who is a fantastic offense. line coach and has done a lot more with a lot less with that Bengals offensive line the last couple of years. I've said this before. There's a lot of time that Bengals offensive line didn't lose mentally. They would lose physically because of talent level. And Isaiah Winner is talented. Again, he's not the best lineman in the world, but he's solid.

And again, that the Bengals have to shore up that position, I think this would make sense to me, even if he does have the injury history that I'm sure Bengals fans are tired of with their offensive line. What they end up doing at those spots, if they move on from Collins, like, would Jonah, Williams is going to be a free agent here soon. Yeah. If they feel like they need to kind of reshuffle that even after reshuffling it last year, John Williams is a free agent after this season.

So what their plan is along the offensive line is like, again, just like a sneaky thing about the Bengals off season that I can't quite figure out. They have all this money, but they have a lot of guys hitting free agency. So it just, how would they try to reshape this team in one of the last years where the young guys and the good guys are cheap? It's just something I keep coming back to over and over again when I start thinking about this off season. It's,

there's such, it's, because it's not a team you think about in free agency. And so, they're not. And we, I mean, we should,

we now value what they did a couple years ago and who they signed and piece together that defense, but that's the thing. The price is going up for those players. So their plan is going to be apparent, you know, how they feel about this year and what they want to commit to this year and, you know,

what they have to do with the following years when all those guys they have to pay. All right. You had one more, right? One more receiver you wanted to talk about. I do have one more receiver. And that, is, again, this is if Lamar Jackson returns to Baltimore, but that is Alan Lazzard to the Ravens.

I think Alan Lazzard is actually going to have a decent market out there because he's a useful player. He's not going to be a star, even though the Packers try to convince all of us that he's their number one guy last year. He is a super number three. But if he's your number three, you have a good offense. For the Ravens, he'd be your number two or quasi number one with Rasha Bateman being healthy in theory. But I think- You have Bark Andrews there. I mean, he's like, no, that's what I was I can say, yeah, but if you have a Rashad, Bayman and Mark Andrews and Alan Lazzard, I love that synergy. Bateman having a little more speed.

Alan Lazzard is the short intermediate guy. Mark Andrews does the intermediate guy as well. I really like that. He's valuable on third down. He has been one of the most productive players on third and fourth down as far as first downs per route. He's a fantastic blocker. No matter what, Craig Roman might not be there anymore.

Whatever offense is in with Lamar, I'm assuming Lamar is going to be there. They're going to be run heavy. It's just by necessity. He provides value with that. can dictate personnel. Now you don't have to have Patrick Ricard on the field and still run the ball. There is, he's just a valuable player and he has size. He gives you kind of that size that receiver that Lamar has never played with.

Mark Andrews is a tight end, but I'm just talking about an outside receiver. But I just like it. He's a useful player. I think this one would match a lot. Match a lot. Jesus. Nice. Good English, Nate.

But this is really just a guy that I just think would match as far as play style, skill set that he brings, and what they need as far as size. in usefulness, at a position that they haven't had a lot of useful players at. All right. Those are all the guys we got. Nailed it. We ran through like 15, guys. We said we were going to do 10.

Of course, we didn't do 10. We are going to do, again, talk about just the guys we think could be available to a little bit of a discount compared to some of the bigger name guys in free agency. We're going to discuss that on Monday. So please be on the lookout for that. And like I said, the beginning of the show, live free agency recaps. day on our YouTube channel. They'll also be available as podcast very quickly after those shows are done. But if you want to come hang out with us as Free Agency is rolling next week, we're going to

start those up on Monday. Plan is 3.30 p.m. Eastern Time on our YouTube channel. I will be tweeting them out. We'll be reminding you guys. So no worries, but be on the lookout for that because it's going to be fun. It's going to be great. So that's all we got for now. Please check out the Football GM with Mike Sando and Randy.

Mueller. They were back on Thursday. Excited to have those guys back in the rotation. We will be back on Monday with our next free agency preview show. Followed very quickly by our first free agency wrap-up show. In the meantime, appreciate you guys listening. Talk to you soon. This was the Athletic Football Show.