The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Buying or Selling NFL Offseasons: The Playoff Hopefuls

Episode Date: May 10, 2024

Should we buy or sell what the playoff hopefuls did this offseason? Robert Mays and 670 The Score’s Danny Parkins debate the moves of 8 teams and whether or not they are buying or selling stock in them this year.Follow Robert on Twitter: @robertmaysSubscribe to The Athletic Football Show...AppleSpotifyYouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic football show. Welcome to the athletic football show. I'm Robert Mays. Great show for you guys on tap today. Over the next month or so, next six weeks or so, we're going to be doing a series of shows. We're going to buy or sell NFL off seasons. Just a little pull behind the curtain here.

We're originally going to do just a small set of teams and then figured, well, why wouldn't we just do all the teams? So what we're going to do is we're going to split this into, four shows because eight teams a show felt right. And we're going to divide it by pecking order within the NFL. So we're going to have the teams in transition, rebuilding teams, the teams, the middle class, the contenders. But today we're going to start with the playoff hopefuls in the NFL, some teams that made the playoffs last year, some teams that are projected to make the playoffs this year. And to help us do that, we're going to welcome my friend from 670 to score

here in Chicago, Danny Parkins. Danny, how you doing, man? Robert, an honor. I like this role reversal. You've been on the show a few times, so it took you so long to return the favor. Not true. Not true. I don't think I have.

I've been on with, this is going to be very not interesting for people who are familiar with Chicago local radio, but I've been on with Dan and Laylo a bunch of times on 670, but I don't know if I've ever been on your show before. I know you've been on my show before,

and that's how memorable it was that you are denying that it's happened. Yes, you do go on with our midday show more than you come on with us. But I will just say first time, long time for me with the athletic football show as a listener. But congratulations to Nate. You guys built something absolutely amazing. And it's an honor to be here. And I will send you the link to your appearance from the Parkinson's Spiegel show.

I promise you. I feel like an asshole that I don't remember. But I don't. It's been a while. That's what I'll say. If I have been on, it has been a while. Yeah, last season. Okay.

All right. No, I feel even worse. Are you from Chicago originally? I don't think we've ever talked about this. Where are you actually from? Yeah, so born in the city, raised on the North Shore, so grew up in Glencoe, went to Newture High School, and then worked in Syracuse, New York after college at Syracuse, then worked in Kansas City, covering the chiefs, left right before the 2017 draft.

I don't know if you remember how that one went for the chiefs and the bears. I do, I do. Yeah. So I left Kansas City, came to Chicago, and have been in Chicago back home ever since January of 2017, just in time for the Mitch Trubisky experience. Well, hopefully there is a transformative quarterback arriving in this city now that you're here as you left one down there in KC. I'm still holding out hope, and I know you are as well. Very much so. I feel like all of our years and many decades.

0,4,000 yard passing seasons and 030 touchdown quarterback seasons. I think at least one of those numbers falls this year. And yeah, it's a very exciting time, finally, for offensive bears football. We were going to talk about the bears today, but I feel like the pool of teams

I was throwing the bears in in this exercise was not as exciting of a start as the pool of teams that we're going to go with. So I mentioned it a little bit at the top, but what we're going to do over the course of four shows here over the next month or so is go through each. offseason for every NFL team and just say, are we buying or selling what they did?

Are you buying into what they're trying to sell you as far as their messaging goes? Yeah, this is why we did XYZ. And the place I wanted to start was with the teams were calling the playoff hopefuls. A lot of these teams made the playoffs last year, maybe a step down from the contending class, but still teams that should be pretty good in 2024. So this is pretty simple. I'm going to name a team and you're going to tell me if you're buying or selling, and then I will follow up.

So let's start with this. Let's go with the Dallas Cowboys as the first team here. I feel like this is a very fraught, very complicated place to start, but are you buying or selling what the Cowboys did this offseason? How can anyone buy the offseason? Because I'm playing the game, right? Like we're not talking about the team that scored the most points in the NFL last year. We're not talking about the team that won 12 games. We were just talking about an offseason.

where they basically did nothing. I mean, it is a, it's a remarkable thing in a salary cap sport to be this reactionary to the market, not just for quarterback, but also for receiver. What are they doing, Robert?

We can talk about Zeke Elliott coming back if you want. It matters. We can talk about the draft. Does it matter? Does it really matter? I mean, Cowboys fans will tell you that it matters. Cowboys fans will tell you that it matters. But I just, I don't.

So they're just going to wait. They're just going to wait on both of these positions. And they're just going to punt and they're just going to make us speculate the entire year on where Dak Prescott's going to play football next year. And that's going to just hang over this team like an anvil. It's, it's an off season of quick. sands. They're completely stuck and the personnel side to me is way less interesting than the money side of it for this team. This offseason is a perfect encapsulation for my relationship with the

Dallas Cowboys because you see what they did with the money. You see what they did with the contracts and you see the lack of movement and free agency in part because they have no financial flexibility. And then you look at what they did in the draft and it's like, man, that's pretty good. It's exactly how the draft needed to go for them. They trade down in the first round. They still get a tax let's say in that top-ish tier. You know, one of those guys that's developmental in Tyler Guyton, but somebody that hopefully by the end of his rookie year can be a solid starter for you.

The same way that Tyler Smith was for them a couple years ago. They have a really good track record developing these guys. And by trading down, they get an extra third-round pick. They pick Cooper Beebe from Kansas State with that third-round pick, and then theoretically get a starting center out of the plan. So all the holes they had on the roster because of their lack of action and free agency, there's a chance they filled them all through savvy drafting.

And we've seen that for years with this team. Wilma Clay has done a very good job putting this roster together in the draft, but that every other organizational decision about how they build the roster, how they build out the money is confounding and it remains that way. I want a tell-all story, like an active journalism to be done on Will McLeigh. This is a fascinating thing. He's so clearly great at his job. But he doesn't get to get to.

get any of the credit because Jerry Jones gets to say that he's the GM. But it's like, eh, you're not grinding 90 hours a week of film. You're drinking Johnny Walker Blue. Will McLeigh is the brains of the operation. And he won't go anywhere. I want to know his family's

from like North Texas, North Dallas, and they is one. He has to be healthily compensated for the work that he does. Has to be. Honestly, that sounds amazing, though. To live in relative anonymity and make like, I don't know, let's say Will McLean makes a couple million bucks a year.

And that's what you get to do. Even the pains of having to deal with Jerry on a day-to-day basis, that is a life I would sign up for every single time. A thousand percent, you know what's better than being rich and famous? Rich. His gig is so good. But I just want to know more about him. I want to know what it would take for him to leave.

You say a couple million. What if it's 10? You know what if it's just some sort of, hey, for me to get all of the credit for your genius, I will triple the salary of the next highest paid director of pro personnel, you know, or director of football personnel. So I'm just, I'm fascinated by everything that comes in with him. Did they fill every hole on the team if I say to you what happens if C.D. Lamb gets hurt? No. Absolutely not. Receiving options are still a weakness. I think they still need another one. If you look at it, they did not replace Tyler Guy with anyone. They're essentially rolling with Jalen Tolbert right now as their third wide receiver. So past catching, they did not fill all the holes that they had even with the strong draft because you only have so many picks. They didn't have a fourth because they traded it for Tray Lance. So I'm looking at linebackers still, even after the Eric Kendrick signing is still a big question mark. And the kid from Notre Dame, right? Yeah, they drafted him in the third round. Dane didn't love that. He thought that was a pretty huge reach. So even if you're bullish on that guy, a third round pick coming in

and being an immediate contributor for you, I think is a lot to ask of somebody. And then you look at the past catching options, and I still think there's a lot to be desired with that group. So they didn't get better at any single position group this off season. And if you look at the rest of the NFC and what some of those teams were doing and how aggressively they spent, Danny, this team is 31st in cash spending right now.

They're 32nd in cash to cash. cap spending. They didn't do anything this offseason. And I don't know what they expect my reaction to be. I don't either. And I will say this, like as someone who consumes a lot of sports media, both like the very smart and then the very like mass appeal stuff, which I also enjoy, you know, like our national talking head TV shows, those shows always talk about the Dallas Cowboys when it's not warranted. This time I actually think it is a hundred percent warranted. what are they going to do? They don't have a succession plan to Dak Prescott.

What are they going to do? It is one of the most fascinating situations of the entire league that isn't who's going to win the Super Bowl. I have no idea how this story ends. It's rivul. I'm so glad that you feel this way because I feel like I've been harping on it

over and over again this offseason. So to have someone come from the outside and validate my concerns and my just fury about this is very, very nice. I appreciate you doing that. Well, what do you think? I mean, honestly, like, if you had to bet 12 months from now, is Dak Prescott a cowboy?

Yes. Okay. Me too. So then is he the highest paid player in the NFL? Yes. But if you know that's the end point anyway, why do this to yourself in the intermediate term? That's the problem,

is that if you look at some of these other teams we're going to talk about today, and there are other teams on this list that we're going to discuss, that have quarterbacks near the top of the league in terms of cap hit. I understand why the Rams aren't moving Matthew Stafford's money around. He's 36 an injury pro. I understand why the Browns aren't moving to Sean Watson's money around.

You don't want to burn yourself in two years when you're going to try to get him off the roster. With DAC, he's 30, and in theory, he's a championship caliber quarterback if you put the right pieces around him. And those other two guys, what could you get for them in a trade? It wouldn't make sense. So if you didn't want to commit to DAC, you should have tried to facilitate something. this off-season where you could move into the next era of your franchise. Doing nothing either on the contract side or the asset side is not the right answer. It's so insane because I completely agree with you and like maybe you think the Dak Prescott's

the ninth best quarterback in the NFL or maybe you think he's the fifth best quarterback in the NFL or wherever you have him. But he's he's obviously good. And the whole, the whole purpose of the operation is to reward your players. What more could Dak Prescott have done last year? He had the best year of his career. He was an MVP candidate legitimately until the final quarter of the season. So what more could he have possibly done to then play this thing out like this against him? He's so, so, and it's going to cost them somewhere.

It's going to cost them with C.D. Lamb or with Parsons, it's going to cost them somewhere. Stephen Jones just said to Adam Schein, he's like, we've got these players. you have to pick and choose, you can't have all of them. Okay, okay. Or you could try to sign someone early and then let the market build up behind them. You don't have to wait till the bitter end in the staring contest. So I hated their offseason. I'm not a huge fan.

I just, again, even if you can in a vacuum say it was responsible because they didn't overextend themselves, they have three fifth round comp picks, all that stuff. Whatever rationalization you want to throw on it, I still feel like for the stage you're at in the team building process, you have handcuffed yourself so badly that you've really given yourself no avenues and no recourse to improve your team when you were a playoff team last year. And when in theory you should be trying to push. So I'm with you. I think it's hard to buy anything that they've done. And even if it takes two to tango with the DAC thing, you know he has you. Just submit. Just do it. You know he's going to win. So trying to talk yourself into

you, ah, you know, is he really worth this and hemming and hauling over it? That is already gone. That has already passed. If you're going to worry about that, if you're going to in the back of your mind have this bug that's like, I don't know if he's worth it,

then you should have traded him. You should have tried to work on him on a trade. Yeah. And now you're in a situation where he's got you over a barrel. And I was never, like, I thought the DAC went from underrated to overrated to like,

he's very, very good. But now I'm rooting for him. Because he just doesn't, he does not deserve, it should not be a controversy on whether or not the Dallas Cowboys paid Dak Prescott, unless they actually think Trey Lance is awesome. And I don't think anybody.

Who's also a free agent after this year? So that's one more thing that they have to worry about. But yeah. Let's get to our next team here. The Green Bay Packers, are you buying or selling the off season for the Green Bay Packers this spring? So,

I think you have to buy, it because the offense is so young that simply continuity is an asset for them. Let it grow, let it develop, let it mature. Obviously what happened with Jordan Love in the second half of last season is enough alone to give you so much excitement if you're a Packer fan. Aaron Jones is a spectacular football player. Josh Jacobs can be hit or miss. back and forth between good years and bad years, but you got younger with Josh Jacobs from Aaron Jones. But the biggest thing, I think pretty clearly of their offseason,

is the personnel shift on the defensive side of the ball, going from Joe Barry, who was public enemy number one among Packers fans. They were 27th in defensive DVOA last year to Jeff Hathley, who I'm not going to say I watched a ton of Boston College, but you read about the game. guy seven years in the NFL, press man, single high safety when he can get away with it. And they add Xavier McKinney, great safety. So it's like it should help Stokes.

It should help Alexander with the scheme shift. They were such an underachieving defense given all of the talent that they had invested in the first round with first round picks over the last few years that we can get to the draft and any other moves that you want to. but they can't be worse defensively, and I think continuity should make them even better offensively. So I thought that the plan made a lot of sense this offseason. Yeah, I'm with you. I think that you can make a good argument for everything that they did. And the Halfley move, the most intriguing part of this,

I think if you had asked me this three or four years ago, as I was thinking about big structures in the NFL, I would have been like, oh, man, single high in this world and this economy, you're going to run a single high defense. And I've softened on that because I think that the mentality you play with and the details you're coached with are the most important aspects of NFL defense. Scheme agnostic from that. And if you think about where Jeff Hathley comes from, he was a Niners guy, it's going to be a penetrating,

attacking defense. And I think instilling that mindset, independent of what the coverage structures look like, can only be a good thing for this team. Getting Kenny Clark, Devante Wyatt, those other guys in the front, in that sort of one gap we're getting upfield mindset, I think that's going to be the biggest departure you see from this team. So leaning into that plus the where they tried to improve. We'll see what happens at safety.

The draft of Javon Buller in the second round. We'll see what happens at linebacker, Edger and Cooper, another guy in the third round. But everything they invested in, I know why they invested there. So when you combine that with hopefully a tonal shift on the defensive side, I can get behind that pretty easily. Yeah, I mean, they took a safety in the second, fourth and fifth round. Yeah. And the guy they took in the fourth round, I think he's more of a hybrid player.

So, you know, we'll see what you can do in third round. three safety looks. It makes sense when you're trying to rebuild their defense that refilled the back seven what they

did in the players that they added in theory. Right. They threw darts and the tonal thing it's hard to quantify but on the defensive

side of the ball they clearly needed an attitude adjustment. Joe Barry is a very nice man. Exactly. Exactly. And it can translate a little bit. And they have an awesome head coach who is brilliant and a quarterback

maximizer and all of that. So if you have this guy, Jeff Hathley, who's like, we're going to attack, we're going to hit you, we're going to penetrate the gap, and just like that then, and make them competitive on the defensive side of the ball, that's probably all they really need to win double digit games this year is to, and they still use their premium asset in the draft on protecting the most important player in the organization. So, you know, Like I just in terms of like offense is generally speaking more important than defense, then whether you like Jordan Morgan or not, they did use a premium asset on protecting the thing that they need most to be successful.

So I really did like it. And Jordan Morgan specifically, if you look at the way they've handled the offensive line over the last couple years, they just kind of roll the ball out in camp and it's like, all right, who are the best five guys? It doesn't really matter. Who are the best five guys? They've moved Zach Tom all over the place.

They move their guards all over the place. And that's why I think Jordan Morgan is particularly, particularly interesting. He was a left tackle in college. So he projects to be able to hopefully do that in the pros, but there are some length concerns. So if he bumps inside the guard, which they have a need at guard after losing John running in a free agency, and they just keep Rashid Walker at left tackle after the season he had, I can get behind that too. So even the flexibility that a guy like Morgan provides you, I think I understand the process there. I understand the thinking there.

The only thing I think you could ding is probably using the savings you got from Aaron Jones to invest in running back with Josh Jacobs. But that's how this team operates. They've always had two guys. When they had Aaron Jones, they drafted A.J. Dillon. They tried to trade for Jonathan Taylor last year. So this is just how they conceive of the position and a combination of Jacobs and Marshawn Lloyd as a replacement for what Aaron Jones was.

I understand it. Even if it's probably rich for the position, I get the thinking behind it. Yeah, that's exactly what I was going to say. It seems to be an organizational philosophy. And you talk to people around the. Packers, I mean, there are people who believed that Aaron Jones was the best football player on the team. Like that in the locker room, that is not an insignificant loss. So I do think if they would have gone from Aaron Jones to, we're just going to do what the smart analytically driven teams do,

and it's a fourth round pick, and it's a fungible position, and we don't have to invest in it. I do think it would have felt like a big loss, whereas now they can say, no, we're bringing in a dude. we're bringing in a guy who can do it. And so I think that just like Aaron Jones carried a lot of weight as a veteran on a young offense. He absolutely did. And his presence is real. I mean, that guy, I've spent time with Aaron Jones, talk to Aaron Jones. That is a real consideration.

I'm glad you brought that up. The Jacobs thing, he's been dinged up a little bit over the last couple years, but not significantly. I mean, missed three games last year. He's missed a couple games every season. But it's not like he's missing huge swats of time. and I said this on the show I did with Barnwell that ran on Thursday, I'm betting against the 2023 Raiders offense. I'm betting against it with every fiber of my being

when I'm projecting players moving forward. So that's why I'm okay with thinking we might get a slightly different version of Josh Jacobs this year than we got last year. Yeah, I'm with you. I mean, how much, the guy's what, 26? So three and a half years younger than Aaron Jones. Right.

So that is, that may as well be 13 and a half years in dog years or running back years. And so you put it, you put him back to, he's not that much worse of a player than he was in 2022 when he had 1650 yards and averaged nearly five yards of carry and caught 53 balls.

He's still a very good player who's in his athletic prime. So I thought it was very sensible, even though I love watching Aaron Jones play football. Let's get to our next one here. The Miami Dolphins. Are you buying or selling this off season from the Dolphins?

So I'm selling a couple things I get the argument that given the cap situation they maybe did as well as they could that's about where we're at but if that's your argument and you lose Christian Wilkins

and you don't make serious investments in protecting your small quarterback who has an injury history I can't I can't buy what you're doing in the big picture. You added veterans, you know, Jordan Poyer replacing Brandon Jones. Okay. He's 33 this year.

So you're just, you know, I've been waiting for the John Hsu Smith breakout year for forever. Maybe this is a good year. He's coming off a career high, but obviously it's still less than 600 yards. So, you know, Jordan Brooks to replace Jerome Baker at linebacker, I just, I didn't think that they did enough to protect to a, and there weren't enough splashy things. And the biggest splash was obviously losing Christian Wilkins. So I got to sell the offseason. I'm with you on they did a decent amount with the money and the resources that they had. And that's kind of where I started.

This almost seems unfair because they had no financial wiggle room. But the tiebreaker for me that takes it from indifferent to sell is the offensive line investment and the lack thereof. Because beyond the protecting of Tua, my biggest concern with this is the same thing has happened to this team every single year in the playoffs. And I know that their defense was decimated last year. But offensively, they've run into a wall every single year. And I think part of that is because they can't tap into a version of their offense that some of these other high-flying teams can't. If you look at what's happened in Kansas City, Buffalo, and San Francisco over the last two years, these teams that were a little bit more finessey at one point.

They've said when we get into December, we want the flexibility to be able to kick your ass. And the way that they've built those teams, you see the investment. Creed Humphrey and Trace Smith in Kansas City. The bills added two new guards last off season. San Francisco, it's been a little hit or miss in terms of the personnel on the offensive line, but them leaning into the gap scheme run game in the way that they have, they have a wider menu of how they can attack you. There's more flexibility there.

Miami doesn't have that. They don't have that downhill at you run game, and it's partially because of the players they have up front. So they got worse along the offensive line, losing Robert Hunt and Connor Williams, and didn't do anything to create that pivot point. So I just don't know why it's going to be a different end to the story for the Dolphins offense based on what they did this offseason.

Yeah, I'm with you. You know, Isaiah win tore his quad in week seven last year. So they think that he's an upgrade and going to help them. Okay. Okay. I'm just, I'm giving you the counter argument, even though we're on the same page, right? So it's Aaron Brewer, it's center. But again, Connor Williams gone.

So, and more of a pass blocker than a run blocker. Yeah, severely undersized. It's again, it's a B. It's what they did at every other position. It's a B plus B minus replacement for the guy that you had last year. It's the same type of player just slightly diminished. And then Jalen Wright, the kid from Tennessee in the fourth round, is a speedster. Which, how much more speed does this team need?

Exactly. And they traded away a third round pick next year to move up and get him. And if you look at the way the run happened, there weren't that many interior offensive linemen that were going in that range. I get it. But I still think the allocation of resources. as overall just makes me look at this team and say, eh, you're 92% of what you were at your best last year.

Why should I be excited about this? Yeah, and instead of drafting Chop Robinson, I would have said, well, we invested so much in Chubb. And, like, our defensive guys will come back healthy. And then I'll use a premium asset up front for the running game to your point and protecting to mine. So, yeah, it's a sell for me. And that's the problem is when you spend a first round pick and change,

a first round pick and a fourth they didn't have this year in the Bradley Chub trade, and you give him that contract, and you still need to draft pass rushers in the first round, that's what can't happen. If you spend that on a guy, the pick and the contract, he's got to be lights out. He has to be a true difference maker. And the fact that they still felt like they needed to pass rush help, that's where you start to get into trouble because you're compounding purchases you've already made. And that's what this offseason feels like a little bit.

They're going to pay to her. It's one of the most fascinating questions of the entire offseason. It's a great one. I would. I would neither. But everything they've said, and whether that's them posturing

or that's Mike McDaniel's relentless need to instill confidence in guys on his roster at all times, I have no idea. But the way that they've talked about this makes me a little bit worried. Yeah. Who is the... Yeah.

When if you have Mike McDaniel and you have Tyreek Hill and Jalen Waddle, I'm not saying that anybody can run a high level offense because it's escaping me now. Who played for him? Who was the guy who came in last year and had a terrible game for them? I don't know. It'll come to me. But it's not anybody, but it's a lot of people. You know, it is an objectively good situation.

Well, Tua was healthy the entire year last year, but it was Skylar Thompson the year before. Skylar Thompson. Thank you. Thank you. two years ago. Skyler Thompson. Thank you. Thank you.

Skyler, yeah, that's why I couldn't remember it was two years ago. And so, okay, it has to be better than Skyler Thompson.

There's a large gap there where, so I would not be comfortable giving to a 60 million plus annually and thinking it's all because of him. And so for me, they already can't afford to fill out the roster. That's exactly, man. So they,

they're maybe in more of a win now spot than they, really should be because of their build and the talent of the quarterback, but they have to win now because it's only going to get more complicated. The only other thing I wanted to mention before we moved on here, they hired Anthony Weaver to be their defensive coordinator actor, McFangio left. Intrigued to see how that goes. This mini movement of these teams adopting Baltimore's defensive philosophy, if you want to list last year was one, right? Baltimore ran it, and I guess to an extent the Giants ran the same system, but it was a much more aggressive, kind of mutated version of what Mike

McDaniel, Mike McDonald did. So now you have the Ravens, the Chargers, the Dolphins, the Titans. And I think there's one more. I think there's five total that are going to end up doing this. So watching that little movement happen, just curious to see how that plays out. And I'm bullish on what Weaver can potentially do in that role specifically for the dolphins. We should have mentioned Shaq Barrett, too, in terms of all the investment at, you know, at Russia and all that. So yeah, it's a weird situation for them.

but, you know, if they're healthy defensively and their defense is improved with the scheme change that you're talking about, their offense is lights out. I think they could still absolutely be a playoff team. I just don't know if I love the overall plan this offseason. It could absolutely work out. The idea of Tierra Tart on the first along the front, Jordan Brooks on the second level, Kendall Fuller, these are solid players. Like, if we're going to have to find replacements for guys that moved on for money reasons, this is not a bad place to start. again, it just feels like a slightly diminished version of the team they've wanted to be over the last couple years. All right.

Let's get to our next one here. Cleveland Browns, you buy and or sell in the offseason from the Cleveland Browns. This is not an easy one. No, it isn't. So it's a pretty limited offseason overall. So I said sell. James Winston over Joe Flacko. not the biggest decision that they made this offseason,

but what more does my guy Joe Flacco need to do? You can't have him in the building. He was too good last year and too fun. That's the problem. But that's such an indictment of Deshawn Watson, man. That can't be the actual answer. I don't know if it is or not, but I think you absolutely have to take that into account.

Because we can have every indictment of Deshawn Watson's play we want at this point. It's all deserve it. So them saying, we can't have this guy who gave us higher level quarterback play than our starter in the building or the locker room. I understand landing there. Okay. Okay. I mean, I just, so you're just, your quarterback makes you actively choose worse players for your roster. It's not a good situation.

That's not a good spot to be. So, like, I know it's not the biggest thing that they did, but I couldn't get over it. I was like, he did that for you. He doesn't have a starting job. and it's not back with you. That just doesn't compute for me. The Jerry Judy thing is fascinating. Because it's almost the opposite of Dallas.

They traded some, what, day three picks for Jerry Judy, who's never had a 1,000-yard season, is obviously inconsistent with the whole catching of the football thing. but he then they sign him to an extension immediately and the extension is just going to keep aging well based on what's happened with the wide receiver market after him and Elijah Moore's in the last year of his deal Amari Cooper's in the last year his deal Cooper was so good last year that you'd like to think that Judy doesn't need to be a true number one you have to invest around to Sean. So in terms of bang for your buck, I actually really thought the Jerry Judy edition was

like shrewd and smart and financially practical. So we can pause there for a minute. That's again, a bet against a former situation. That is a bet against what the Broncos have been over the last couple of years. And the way I understand it and why they were after Judy is they felt like they he gives them a dynamic within the offense that they lacked with their current receiving core. They see him as a Christian Kirk type player. You are going to be a vertical slot player within this offense. And if you look at guys in that role, getting paid $17.5 million when the wide receiver market is now going to be $34 to $35 million, potentially, you can live with that. Christian Kirk got paid $18 million two years ago to play a similar role also never had a

thousand yard season before he was given that contract. So on a value level, I completely understand it. and you take a look at that move in the broader context of everything else they did, from a roster building standpoint, I buy it because I don't know what else you would have wanted them to do. They're loaded all over the place. Hopefully they're going to be healthier,

even some of the smaller moves they made, going to get Quentin Jefferson and dropping him into this defensive line rotation, bringing Mo Hearst back, bringing Zadarius Smith back. There's nothing about this roster outside of the quarterback that I can really nitpick or complain about. Everything comes down to whether or not you can play good enough defense

and insulate that guy enough to get somewhere with someone who has become a win with, not win because of quarterback. That's all there is to this Brown season. And I don't think that their off-season moves have anything to do with that. I think you can isolate and investigate those things separately. Yeah, I think that that's a case well-made. Because, again, I like the Judy thing. and then you mentioned Zadarius Smith.

That was smart. People will look at the only had five and a half sacks. His pass rush win rate was really good. He's still a very disruptive football player. So I think that that move made a lot of sense. It's obviously a very good roster. The Chubb injury hangs over this team in a big way. Deonti Foreman felt like he was unfairly used in Chicago.

He is a useful back. as a thumper as part of a rotation, I love that move for them that was essentially free for them to bring him in. And if you look at the numbers, he was really good on Gap Scheme runs last year and they do so much of that in Cleveland. I think that he can be a really good innings eater

for them as they wait for Chubb to come back. Yeah. So I mean, it's just there wasn't enough there for me to be very excited about the off season, but then you talk yourself through it and you're like, are any of these moves bad?

like Jordan Hicks reuniting with Jim Schwartz. Okay, solid veteran, five straight years of 100 plus tackles. Such limited draft capital that it was hard to feel very good about like the young talent that they added in. It was interesting that they didn't do anything with Deshaun's money. But what you said at the top made sense. Like it probably is the right thing to do if you can afford to do it. And if you can live with the limitations of the offseason because you want this contract to end as soon as possible. even if it does hurt you now.

I think that's the feeling is that two years from now, I think when I was looking at yesterday, I believe two years from now, if they make him a post-June first cut, they can realistically move on from him. And I think keeping that door propped open as long as possible and using other levers and mechanisms

to give yourself financial flexibility, that's what they want to do. If you look at their cap, almost everyone else is zeroed out on a base salary perspective. Everyone else has void years tacked on. So I think they're going to try to navigate their way through this without touching his deal as often as they can for the next two years.

Yeah, which is, again, I mean, a deal that is aging so horribly in so many ways. Oh, it's one of the worst contracts in NFL history. It's one of the worst moves and trades and move. It's one of the worst transactions in NFL history, period. Correct. Because you can't forget about the trades and the picks and what the Texans have done with it and the quarterback that they got and then the contract that you gave him and the guarantee and the scandal and then the limitations that it puts on you in all of this and how it hampers

your ability to bring in young cheap labor. I mean, it's all time bad. It really is. Did you like their draft? I understood it. I understood it. I think Mike Hall is a high upside guy. He was really, really good on a person at basis at Ohio State.

Personality concerns, you know, just a guy who isn't for everybody, but the actual skill set, you can talk yourself into it. And I like doubling down on a strength. And it's not like defensive tackle, especially pass rushing defensive tackle, is a strength of this team. Moherst is rotational player. Quentin Jefferson is an aging player. So I understand vesting more there. And the guard they drafted from Michigan, these guys are going to get old eventually.

At some point, Petonio and Wyatt Teller, they're in their 30s. Potonio is going to be, I think, 34 years old. So I understand where they devoted those resources, yes. Yeah, the only thing that I had, I mean, they had such limited draft capital. listen, you get a guy who's 300 pounds and runs a 4-740. Like, you're right. Like, upside is the way to describe him. But there's some boomer bust there to them.

I was thinking that they'd maybe go with a little bit more proven commodities. And then the lineman's coming off from a pretty big leg injury. And that's their only other premium pick. And it was the 85th pick in the draft. So I thought they'd maybe go with some, like, maybe safer picks just to be like, we need to draft good, young, cheap guys. And we can't really afford to have draft picks that have bust potential. But they don't need starters.

They really don't need any guys that can start right away. So guys that have a little bit of runway or guys come back from injury, for them it actually makes more sense than for teams drafting for immediate need in this year's draft. That's not where they were. Injuries happen. That's true. Well, yeah, ask their offensive line from last year. Yeah.

And Nick Chubb. The coaching moves, I thought were interesting. They remade their entire offensive coaching staff to Sossi. They brought in Ken Dorsey as their offensive coordinator. Tommy Reese, comes in as he's the tight ends coach, but really he's just like a mind in the room. Like that's why he's there. He's a past game specialist if you look at their coaching roster.

So how that looks on the field. They brought in Dorsey because they wanted to expand their dropback package. There were conscious decisions made about how this group could kind of take them into the next stage offensively. We'll see how that goes. But there has been a lot of kind of understated change on that staff this year. Well, and it goes back to Deshaun. when you can't move him, obviously,

and apparently you can't feel the best backup quarterback that is available to you, what can you change? You can change the people who coach him. And it's like, oh, the hitters are something? No, it's fire the hitting coach because the contracts in baseball are guaranteed. It's like, don't make a cross sport comparison

on the athletic football show. About the Sean Watson, you can because it's a baseball. And the coach was there, and the coach was coach at the year. So the coach asked to stay. he's actually done a pretty good job, but something has to change. Yeah, and Deshaun Watson's a baseball contract. It's a fully guaranteed contract.

So it's like, it's like the one guy that you could do the crossport comparison. It's like, okay, yeah, changing the offensive system, you probably should because you had to do, you had to change something. Let's get to our next one here. Los Angeles Rams. You buy and are selling the Rams off season. Okay, I'm, I'm buying. And I'm buying pretty big. Okay.

All right. Yeah. So let's see. Matt Stafford is excellent. He's an excellent football player, but he's old and he's got injuries. So let's invest in protecting him. They re-signed Kevin Dotson, didn't even let him hit the talk to other people window. So it's proactive, signed Jonah Jackson, one of the best guards in the NFL. Okay, you're protecting Matt Stafford. You lose Aaron Donald. All right. Some unprecedented draft in terms of the first 14 picks are offensive players. Jared Verst just falls right into your lap. High floor player.

Old for a rookie. Was he just like a man amongst boys in college with the Bull Rush, whatever? But like, high floor player, he's not going to bust. Pair him with Byron Young. Then you trade up to take his teammate, Braden Fiske, defensive tackle who had six sacks each of the last couple of years as an interior pass rusher in college football that's a pretty good way to go about replacing arandallum not saying that you can replace aaron donald but premium assets replacing a first ballot

hall of famer and even jimmy g like okay if stafford gets hurt i got i forgot about the jimmy g thing jimmy g was not in my notes i'm just saying man the guy's got a 500 record for his career. The goal for a backup quarterback is, if you're a starter to loser is out for four games, you want to go two and two. Jimmy G's the king of going two and two. And we've seen what he can do in well-constructed offenses.

If you take as much off of his plate as possible, he can be functional for you. And that is what this situation would be. Obviously, I'm not saying that Jimmy G is good, but there are worst backup quarterbacks in the NFL. And so there are less experienced backup quarterbacks in the NFL. and we can talk about the secondary stuff,

but just in general, protect Matt Stafford, replace Aaron Donald. I really, really like what this team did. I understand every single move that they made and the arguments for why they made those moves. Oh, but you're a seller, Robert. I see it in your fold.

I see it in your face. This one was not easy for me. I'm selling for this reason. I think everything they did was maybe a little bit richer than it had to be. And I think there's an opportunity cost that comes with some of those moves. I'm with you.

And they've made their intentions clear on offense. As long as we keep this guy clean, he is going to sling that shit all over the yard. And doing it on the interior of the offensive line, which has benefits in past protection, but also has benefits with the evolution of their run game. This leaning into Gap Scheme runs that they've done, Jonah Jackson gives you so much flexibility. That Detroit running game is an expression in part of Jonah Jackson's skill set. So I like that. I like doubling down on that strength.

You paid a lot for Jonah Jackson, though, who's missed at least a quarter of the season each of the past two years. That's a lot to pay for a guard when you also splurged on Kevin Dotson, and you have holes in the secondary. I know you signed Trey White, but he's hurt. He's coming off an Achilles injury. What's he going to be able to give you? So Corner to me is still such a huge concern that I feel like divvying up those resources

a little bit more than they did may have been a more prudent way to handle some of those needs. but I understand why they did what they did, even if I think it was a little rich in some moments. In my notes that as I was researching this, the Rams team doctor is the guy who did Trey White's Achilles surgery. He must have loved the results. What an awesome piece of inside information. It's like, oh, how's this is Achilles?

Oh, well, we can actually ask it. I've got it. I've got it right here for you. The only thing, the Bradenfisck thing, So their sell of it isn't fascinating. So they told Jordan Roderick, who did a really good piece about the scouting process for the last year with the Rams, that they were looking for pods of defensive players to replace Aaron Donald. That was always going to be the plan. We can't replace them with one guy.

So we need a pod of pass rushers to do this. And the reason that they were so aggressive in getting Braden Fisk and they were really aggressive, if you look at what they gave away, trade charts, whatever, it's equivalent of a top five pick that they spent on Braden Fisk, trading away a future second to move up and get him. Part of the reason that they were so motivated to do that is because he played with Jared Verson College. It's because there's no projection about what the kind of synchronicity

between those guys is going to look like. That's a fun idea, but you paid a lot for that sort of familiarity, and that's my pause here, is I just don't know if the premium they paid to do some of this stuff is ultimately going to be worth it. Same with Play Quorum.

I get saying, Cowron Williams is banged up. We think is a Kyron Williams clone. We're doubling down on this. They doubled down all over the place, but sometimes when you double down, you spent money that you shouldn't spend. And I think that is why I just can't get all the way there with them.

How many, okay, two things. Because I read that piece by Jordan also. It was fascinating. It was really, really well reported. You're right. This is not like Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase, like quarterback in wide reasons. they were teammates in college.

They have chemistry. This is edge of pressure defensive tackle. How much does that matter exactly, but they already know each other? I'm not sure. But how many more years do you think Matt Stafford can be excellent? I think a few. I think he can play for a few more years. Based on the way he played last year, it really does seem like that guy is going to age pretty well physically with how he throws the football.

I mean, the arm talent is some of the best we've ever seen. It's just, when you get to be 36 and you've made a gazillion dollars, you know, tick, tick, Aaron Donald. Maybe that's part of the calculus, though. They're like, as long as he doesn't get the shit kicked out of him, we'll get him for three more years. Let's do everything we can to prevent that. That's what I'm saying. He's the franchise.

Not that McVeigh isn't great and everything like that, but he's so damn good that I'm not sure that, like, they are, Les Need was famous like, F them picks, right? It was great. It was like one of the great Super Bowl parade lines ever when he just screamed, fuck them picks. But now it's like, all right, we still have this dude.

So we got to build around him and they think that they can win the Super Bowl this year. So I like being aggressive when you have a quarterback who is still clearly excellent, but you don't know how long it can possibly last given his age. I'm not a full sell. I'm lukewarm. Let's say that.

I can get on board with a lot of the things they did. I love, they're just so transparent about their plan. They are number one in the NFL by far in cap spending on offense. Like, by far, they are dead last on defense. They're spending $77 million on their defense. And even what they did in the draft, I think the Cam Curl signing makes a lot of sense. I understand. Cam Kinchins hopefully can come in for them as a third round pick and be a

contributor. Even if they spent a lot on it, I understand why they did it with Fiskin and verse. So even on defense, the plan, there's risk involved because you're betting on a lot of young players to be contributors immediately, but they made it happen last year. So it's a narrow margin for error, but I do think that there is a world where they pull this off. Yeah, that makes sense. Young cheap athletes on defense and proven commodities and protection for expensive players on offense. I mean, it's an offensive week. Teams that if you're going to have a disparity on spending on one side of the ball or not, I'd much rather it be on the offensive side than the defensive side of the ball.

Let's get to the Atlanta Falcons who stole the Rams defensive coordinator from last year. Are you buying or selling the Atlanta Falcons offseason? Okay. So here's, I want you, I want to make my case and then I want you to tell me if I'm buying or selling. Because I know how I feel about it, but I don't know what has. line to put on it. And I, Robert, when I tell you I spent too much time thinking about whether or not I wanted like buy or sell to come up next to my name on this, it's a little embarrassing. Because I liked everything they did, but then I hated the Michael Pennix pick so much that I'm just like, does it cancel out everything else that I liked so much? Why do you like everything else they did, though?

Because that, that's my thing here. I actually have soft. on the Pennix move, and I don't mind it as much as some others do, but I'm not buying the overall plan outside of that. All right. Well, they upgraded significantly at quarterback. That's important. Yeah, yeah. They got the best quarterback that was available on the market, and then they upgraded

significantly at coach and play caller. So, like, I know it's a complicated sport. I know this is the athletic football show. I know we need to know the 59th guy on the 53-man roster, but you upgrade to Rahim Morris and Zach Robinson and you bring, in theory, competent leadership and modern offensive football to Bejohn Robinson, Kyle Pitts, and Drake London. I don't know, maybe Zach Robinson will draw plays

to get those three first-round pick skill position guys, the ball. And then they upgraded with Rondale Moore, I really still like Darnel Mooney. This is part of my issue is that I'm not there on Darno Mooney for the money that they gave him. This idea that Darno Mooney was just worth $26 million guaranteed this offseason. He had 31 catches in 15 games last year. I know it wasn't a great offensive ecosystem. DJ Moore ate just fine last year. Okay?

And you look at it, he was 99th among 122 receivers. in yards per route run last year. He was tied with Quentin Johnston. He was three spots ahead of Skymore. We're just going to give that guy $39 million. Did you see what the other wide receiver contracts were? I mean, here's the thing about Darnell Mooney. Justin Fields didn't get to him, man.

And I like Justin a lot as a guy. He didn't, he threw the ball to DJ Moore because he didn't trust that anyone else was NFL open. and they needed to be college open for him to throw them the ball. So Colcomette had a good year and DJ Moore had a good year. And I still think, I think Darnel Mooney and Rondale Moore and Ray Ray McLeod are upgrades behind the big three in Atlanta. You might say it's an overpay for Darnell Mooney. That's certainly reasonable based on the production from last year.

I'm not going to dispute it. But I do think they upgraded so significantly on offense, both with coaching and quarterback and the we'll call them the secondary weapons on offense that I just think they're off that they're they've separated themselves significantly

from a division that has just been a clump I just consider them significantly better now than Tampa and New Orleans based on their offseason. But that's not a ringing endorsement. We are now the NFC South favorite is not a ringing endorsement.

And I still have enough questions about the rest of the supporting cast. The idea that you could spend $26 million guaranteed on a receiver and then still need a number two receiver, that's tough. And I think that's where they are. And Kyle Pitts, I would love to believe in Kyle Pitts. I would love to think that one day we will see the best version of Kyle Pitts. He has not been healthy for two years.

So I'm still a little bit worried about that. We've never seen Zach Robinson as a play caller, even if he's a guy I would have bet on in the process. So I think that this idea of we have Kirk Cousins and not Desmond Ritter anymore and a lot of the enthusiasm and optimism being rooted in that, that's fine. But I think if we zoom out a little bit further and look at the moves and the roster, there's not as much to be excited about as people are projecting there to be. What do you think about Zach Robinson? I'm excited about Zach Robinson.

I wish Zach Robinson was the office coordinator for the Bears. Like, he is the guy I would have bet on if I was building a staff this year. If you're trying to pick off a tree, that's the tree I want to pick off of. So I'm totally fine with that. I think he can be really good. so is it an overly simplistic thing to say that they had a significant upgrade at coach and quarterback and offensive scheme and that's not a good offseason? Is that overly simplistic? No, it's not overly simplistic because those are the most important things.

I just, I think this is me trying to push back on some of the pre-Michael Pennix pick narrative about the Falcons this offseason, where I'm just not quite buying as much as other people are because this is, idea of, again, we're the best team in the NFC South, I don't care. Like, congratulations on your NFC South trophy. That just doesn't mean that much to me. So I just have a hard time getting all the way there with this team. And then if you look at the draft, like,

I get what they did. They added a lot of physicality to the defensive line. That was the idea. Rukaroro. They went out and got Brandon Dorliss. They got Braylon Trice. There's a lot of like power and we're going to have big bodies that are flexible on that defensive front. I get that. But I just

don't know. It's hard for me to get all the way there because I still think there are enough holes across the roster that this feels like a 10-win team of the NFC South gets obliterated in the wildcard round, and that's just not that exciting to me. Yeah, I mean, but what could they

have done this offseason that would make them a Super Bowl contender? Probably nothing. There's probably too, there are probably too many holes on the defense. Because, I mean, I think an interesting thought would be like you don't, what I was thinking about is, if you if you loved penics that much and you were willing to take him at eight then don't go get kirk cousins

and spend the money on christian wilkins you know something something like that and do you feel i think people would feel a lot better about penics if it's like oh they just they're going to play him right away jeremy fowler wrote something interesting this week that i i took note of he said that this may be a product of the coaches coming to the draft process. Because by the time they had to make the cousin's decision, those guys had only been in place for what, like four, five, six weeks. So they probably weren't ready to say, we like Pennix enough to draft a mate overall.

When they got more involved, maybe you get to that point, but you had to make the cousin's decision in the interim. And I think that may have been what happened. And listen, the rest of the NFL agreed that there wasn't a defensive player worthy of the eighth overall pick because one didn't go until 15.

You can trade back though that as an option. Exactly. Exactly. You can trade back with the Rams who are trying to trade up with them and you can draft Jared Verse in the spot that the Rams drafted Jared Verse and have a lot more to work with over the next couple years.

Right. Right. That's why I can't get there on the Pennix pick. It's not about Pennix. It's about opportunity cost and I'm with you on that. Yeah, I can't get it. I understand Jordan Love. No, Jordan Love was a late first round pick and you thought Rogers was done. You just gave Kirk Cousins $100 million guaranteed.

Like this people are trying to get like a little too cute on the justification for it. It's not about Pennix. It's about the eighth overall pick in the draft to the Atlanta Falcons who just paid Kirk Cousins, given Penix's age. It's just, it's a nonsensical move. And maybe that's what's ultimately stopping me from getting to a buy spot. because if you are asking, what could they have done to try to get themselves

over the top for the next two years after you spent big on an aging veteran quarterback, using that draft capital on a guy who could have played over the next couple seasons would have been a good place to start. Yeah.

Yeah, exactly. And I mean, even, I'm glad they didn't. It's a Bears guy, but Roamedoondonze. Yes, that's what I think. They needed another receiver. They needed a second receiver on this offense, even with Darno Mooney.

Yeah. So they could have just done that or take your top offensive linemen on your board because I know no teams had consensus on who the next offensive lineman was. But it's like you could just do something to help Kirk Cousins and try to become a great offense in a dome and do that. So yeah, the pick is just so you tell me, did I buy or sell their off season? I think you bought it. I think you're buying it because I understand the points that you're making about upgrading

a coach, upgrading a play caller. I just think overall the plan. the plan when you consider the Cousins investment, when you consider the Pennix investment, and just how lukewarm I am about some of the other splashy things that they did to improve areas of need. I just can't get all the way there with it.

All right, we got two more here. Jacksonville Jaguars. You buy and or sell on the Jaguars offseason. I didn't love it. I think Areka Armstead is a monster when healthy. And that helps Walker and Allen, so that makes sense. $51 million.

deal missed 13 games the last two years, but he'll turn 31 this year. Gabe Davis, fine, solid edition, but this is maybe a little bit of a Monday morning quarterback situation, but if they would have signed Josh Allen earlier and then they could have tagged Ridley, they would have had a lot more flexibility in the first round of the draft. And

that, I just think Brian Thomas is an exciting player and maybe he'll turn into the number one. And I know you investing around a quarterback, I'm never going to hate you giving a quarterback another weapon.

But it felt like they needed secondary help so significantly and that first round pick would have been a very reasonable opportunity to go there and do it that I just thought some of the allocation of resources and like the sequencing even of the resources held them back from it being a better off season. I think that's totally fair. I'm going to play a game I don't like playing and I'm going to go results over process here. I think the fact that they got Brian Thomas in the first round makes me feel okay about everything else that happened. Because of what his skill set is within that offense, because of how he fits with Kirk,

with Gabe Davis, with Evan Ingram, I get it. It all comes together because they drafted Brian Thomas in the first round, and they were able to get him while adding third and fourth round picks next year. They moved down five spots and still got the guy they probably wanted anyway. So I think the way they handled that in the draft, it couldn't have worked out any better for them. And then you look at some of the other moves they made on offense, going getting Mitch Morse and dropping him in. He's, you move on from him

if you're Buffalo because he's expensive. I get it. But he's perfect for what Jacksonville needs right now. Veteran Center can take a little bit off your quarterback,

more of a short thing than what Fortner's been given them over the last couple years. They invested in some offensive line help a little bit later in the draft. So hopefully there's a little bit

more depth there. And I like the Armstead move. I think there's a ton of risk that comes with it for the reasons you said he's getting older. He misses time. But this team needed another pass rusher. This team needed another presence up front. And doing it on the interior

versus doing it with another edge rusher, I'm fine with that. I actually think I might like that more. And there's a chance that because of his flexibility and what you can do with him along the front, he was the best player available for them to get what they needed to hopefully take that position group over the top. So I get what you're saying about the secondary and that is the area I'd feel the worst about. But I think overall I'm tepidly buying it. yeah so i they lost darius williams at corner darnel savage comes in like to throw another body in the secondary i just they better be right on offense because i think they're going to just be i think they're going to be in some shootouts and investing in Trevor Lawrence again they they got to pay them

and they should pay them obviously but you want to see do you have a top 12 quarterback or do you have a guy who can win an MVP one day so uh if they think think that Brian Thomas Jr. helps them answer that question, then I don't hate to pick, but I just don't think it was, I don't think it was close to the biggest need. I also think they're betting very big on bringing Ryan Nielsen as their defensive coordinator. He did a good job in Atlanta last year. He has a very good reputation. And I think he's the type of guy that, all right, here's a B-minus group of players. We need you to make this the 17th best defense in the league. Just that we need an average defense out of this group.

I think he's the right. What, 11 foot? They were right there. I think it's a similar type of bet, and he's the type of guy that I think can provide you those sorts of results. So I am bullish on him getting that defense where they needed to get to. Okay. That's reasonable. I mean, I can't make the case that the coaching upgrade for Atlanta is such a big reason to believe in the whole process, and then you turn around and do it for Jacksonville and disagree with. with it. So if that's going to be the thing where it's like, all right, we didn't invest in one of those premium positions in the NFL, but our coach

is going to get us to be a group of overachievers. Okay. That's a big bet. It's a big bet. New York Jets. Last one. You buy it or sell in the New York Jets offseason. Okay. I'm buying. Do you play poker? I don't.

Okay. You struck me as a guy who might play poker. I do not. I've played a lot of poker in like 2003. And since then, it's not quite as often. Okay. So I don't, yeah, it's not as often for me anymore either, but I wouldn't tell every day if I could make money at it. But it's, there's something called a line. Like you, you're supposed to be telling a story with your hand. So if, you know, two hearts come on the flush, on the, on the flop, and you want to represent the flush draw, when the flush hits, you better bet.

Because you've been telling the story with your bets over the course of the hand that you're in on the flush. your hand has to make sense. It's an analogy might be getting bastardized for people who don't play poker but I promise to make sense. They are doubling and tripling and quadrupling down on Aaron Rogers.

So they are old and injury prone and so they went out and they got some old injury prone guys to try to protect Aaron Rogers. They draft Pichano in the draft. Morgan Moses in Free Agency, John Simpson

the Guard, Tyron Smith that left tackle. They're just like, our only prayer of making this work is if we have the dude in his 40s coming off the Achilles, who's the crazy ayahuasca guy. Our only prayer is if he's good and if he's healthy. And so they threw a bunch of resources at trying to keep them healthy. And they invested in Tyrod Taylor to upgrade from Zach Wilson so that if Aaron Rogers only gets minorly injured, they can stay afloat as opposed to completely sink like they did last year. So I just think that they were totally pot committed through Rogers to keep the gambling analogy going, that a lot of these guys are probably going to get hurt because they've gotten hurt recently,

but they're trying to tell a story of old and injury prone is fine. We're trying to win one Super Bowl with Aaron Rogers. I get that. And I think that they've done a good job of building contingencies at a lot of those spots. Drafting Fashano, Carter Warren was an intriguing kind of development. mental tackle for them. If he needs to get more snaps this year because Moses gets hurt, fine. They're protected along the offensive line in a way they weren't last year.

I understand every move they made there. On defense, I think you can argue against some of it was $15 million worth of Hassan Reddick, the right move when you had limited resources. I don't know. I mean, this is a guy that is a 240-pound edge. You have him now and Will McDonald. You moved on from John Franklin Myers, so you're a little bit less flexible up there, but you have enough bodies.

That's nitpicking. I think overall, the personnel moves they made, Malachi Corley and Mike Williams, their skill sets with this offense, I get all of it. The idea that you can bring back this offensive staff and just roll with it again after what happened last season, that's why I have to sell. I just can't get behind it. I know that you have to do it to appease Rogers. Exactly. But it's indefensible. There was the worst offense in the league.

I get it. I get that you have to bow to him at every single step, but it is very simple. maddening to me that let's say it gets hurt again. You're just going to roll with this group again and be the worst offense in the league? I guess. Season's over. Yeah, yeah, man. There is no player in football more powerful than Aaron Rogers.

That's absolutely true. So, so yeah, like I, to be, here's the thing, Robert. Obviously that point makes sense. Obviously. I didn't even consider it as a possibility. Didn't even consider it as a possibility. that they would fire them, man. So that, like, I don't,

wasn't even on my score sheet for the Jets off season. Of course they deserve to be fired based on what they did. But I didn't think it was even possibly in play. I'll give you one little, do you think there's a safety team? Like a veteran safety?

Probably, because they have less depth there. Chuck Clark comes back, but they've had, I mean, obviously he got hurt before last season started and they were fine, but they've typically had more safety depth than they do right now. Same goes with a corner, too. Yeah, like, I don't know that they'll be, like, a Justin Simmons team,

but I could see them, whichever safety in the game of musical chairs, veteran that has to take a one-year deal, like, I don't know, Eddie Jackson, I think Micahide's still out there. You know what I mean? Like something like that. So I don't, it doesn't strike me that they're done in that, in that spot on the team when I was just looking at the depth chart. But, yeah, they're old and injury prone, and that is reflective of their quarterback.

I just, this idea that, and here's my biggest issue with this. It's not that I think Nathaniel Hackett should have gotten fired because we knew he was coming back for all those reasons. This idea that they can just look at what happened last season and say, well, we get a do-over because the quarterback got hurt. That mindset, that's never going to end well. That is never going to end well. And that's the exact mindset that they have right now. So that's the reason that I just, I inch towards selling because I just think that that's going to get them into a lot of trouble. listen, I don't

so I said by and you said sell and I don't disagree with a word that you said I just reject your entire premise you know what I mean? I didn't even think it was in play so like I didn't even like change a coach what are you talking about?

Aaron Rogers wants these guys to be the coach well he's the offensive coordinator so that's why it doesn't matter when they lost him they lost their coach and their offensive coordinator and I just find it it makes me uneasy to reward a team for thinking that way and that's why I can't do it.

It's okay. It's just a buy yourself podcast. There's no real reward that they get. My approval is what every team in the NFL is seeking out at all times. I don't know if you knew that. I didn't. You are, you are powerful,

man. It's a good thing. We're doing three more of these. There are going to be a lot of final judgments that I get to lay down for every single offseason. Danny Parkins, sincerely appreciate the time, sir. Love the work that you guys do over there at 670. If you are a Chicago resident and you are not listening to

the work that Danny and those guys do over at the score, highly recommend that you do that. I'm sure people can also listen nationwide because it's 2024, but I'm talking to Chicago residents first. It's not just, it's not just AM radio anymore. We're on Twitch, YouTube, the Odyssey app. But yeah, big fan of your work, man. Thank you very much for having you. It was great having you. We'll do this again very soon. All right, guys, that's all we got for today. Thank you so much to Danny for joining us. Really enjoyed that conversation. Hopefully you guys did as well. We will be back on Tuesday with Derek. and Deontay doing the non-quarterback version of the draft that we did earlier this week with the QBs.

Just felt it was right to bring those guys back and run it back one more time. So please be on the lookout for that. And then continue to be on the lookout for the other shows in the series that we're doing right now. We're going to keep going with our lingering questions next week. We're going to go with the NFC East as our next division. So be on the lookout for that in the middle of next week. And then we've got more buying and selling of off-season also coming your way. next Thursday. Excited about all of that. For now, that's all we got. Sincerely appreciate

you guys listening. We'll talk to you soon. This was the Athletic Football Show.