The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Confused by JuJu, Daniel Jones has no excuse, the Broncos might be back, Raiders risks & more free agency lessons with Nate Tice

Episode Date: March 23, 2021

After a week of free agency, what have the transactions told us about certain teams? Are the Giants all-in now? What kind of risk are the Raiders taking? Is this a make-or-break year for Kliff Kingsbury with the Arizona Cardinals? Robert Mays and Nate Tice dive into 5 specific lessons they learned from 5 separate teams during free agency on a new Athletic Football Show.:00 -11:11 Confused by Juju11:11 - 13:48 Chiefs13:48 - 17:21 Raiders risks?17:21 - 31:00 Giants out of excuses31:00 - 40:44 Broncos might be back40:44 - 49:50 Colts aren’t spending49:50 - 55:56 Packers are locked in55:46 - 1:01:26 Kingsbury’s time is out1:01:26 - Chargers gonna protect HerbertGet access to The Athletic for $1 per month at theathletic.com/footballshow 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. Joining me today is my good friend Nate Tyson. How you doing, buddy? I'm good. March Madness, you know, Badgers are out. First week of free agency is over.

I'm kind of like, all right, now what? Like, oh, my juice is gone. So maybe I got it all out last week. So I'm trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my March. You know, I know I live in Vegas. But yeah, now that Wisconsin is, out. It's kind of like, oh, okay. I spent most of this weekend trying to enjoy the weather a little bit in Chicago. There's a lot of walking around, a lot of sitting on rooftops and just seeing friends that I

haven't in a while. That was very nice. It's a good time of year. It's an exciting time of the year. The sun is out. It's been gorgeous here over the last few days. So I'm in a great mood. And free agency has died down a little bit to the point that I think this is a good time to have a bigger picture discussion because we'll get to this a little bit later, but I think that free agency is, we often overreact to the individual signings, right? We'll shit can something or we'll celebrate something in the moment and eventually it just becomes totally wrong on either end of that spectrum. And I think that's why I always like to have a little bit of, take a little bit of a cautious

approach with these conversations. But I do think, and I've said this before, I do think free agency is a way for us to understand a team's thinking. and for us to gain insights on them. I think teams are trying to tell you what they are and tell you what their plan is this time of year. So what I wanted to do here about a week after the start of free agency is decipher some of the messages that teams have sent us.

I want to hone in on four or five of them and say, all right, what's the plan? What is this team trying to tell us are we going to listen? So we're going to get to those in a little bit here, but I want to start with a few little bits of news that didn't really fit into those larger conversations. First of all, the Rams signed to Sean Jackson this week. We have not seen the details on that contract.

Makes perfect sense to me. When you were thinking about the needs this team had, and you and I have talked about this, pretty homogenous at receiver. I mean, even bringing in Van Jefferson to go along with Robert Woods and Cooper Cup, it's like, where's the speed? Give me the speed. And with Matthew Stafford there now,

it becomes even more important. And going out and getting a guy like Deshaun where I'm assuming it's a one-year deal, low risk. Also, speed doesn't age. I think Matt Bowen told me that. It's like fast stays fast. So if that's what you're looking for, you can go get a 34-year-old Deshaun Jackson and not necessarily have to bet on him.

So I just thought that was a fun one. I don't know if you have much to say about it, but I think it totally aligns with what they needed. Yeah, it makes perfect sense. Classic fit matching familiarity, scheme, need. I mean, just everything. You know, McVeigh has experience with Deshawn Jackson, so that's an easy transition.

That's right. In Washington, yeah. So it makes all the sense in the world. So we've harped on it for the, like, since we started this podcast is how much the Rams need some more explosiveness to their offense. Well, let's get one of the greatest deep threats that's ever played the game. Hopefully, you know, he's older. He has to stay healthy, of course.

But that's actually where the Van Jefferson actually made more sense to me. Because I was like, okay, they spent second rounder early third on them last year. It was the second round pick. It was the second. It was a late second, right? Okay, thought so. it makes more sense now because now Deshaun doesn't have to play every snap. He's truly a designated hitter that you throw in there.

So now Van Jefferson could take more of a chunk of the plays. They like to be an 11 personnel, I mean, exclusively. So you need depth that receiver if you're going to have three receivers. Especially now that Everett's not there anymore. So you lose a tight end and now you slot into Sean Jackson. That is exactly right. It makes, like you said, free agency moves make a lot more sense on what they're viewing, how they view themselves, the self-awareness of themselves.

They let Everett walk. Okay. sense they probably want to stay in 11 with Higbee because they have a tight end already, but we need more depth that receiver. I think it just makes it's just a perfect sense in a world where Van Jefferson can almost be A's super backup where he backs up all three spots. That X spot and that offense, the other two roles, the cup and Woods rolls have to be almost interchangeable with what they have to do, but that other role, the Brandon Cook's

role as we know it, that's verticality, true X spot. So he doesn't have to do all the other world kind of, you know, interchangeable stuff to other guys do. I think they'll train Van Jefferson for that. So it just makes a lot of sense. I like the signing. Like you said, I just want to see what the numbers are, but I really like it. And then now, we do go one step further. The guy he's replacing in that offense nominally, Josh Reynolds, signs a one-year deal with the Titans, where he replaces Corey Davis. The Titans offense stems from their time with Matt LaFleur, who is the office coordinator of the Rams. So Josh Reynolds is fluent in this system. He now comes in and plays the other outside spot opposite A.J. Brown,

in that offense. It's all this musical chairs, but it makes sense. Like when you see all the moves start to happen, the waterfall, it absolutely makes sense and it tracks when you think about

what these teams need and what they don't. So one other bigger name receiving move that I wanted to talk about is the Steelers resigning Juju Smith-Schuster to a one-year $8 million deal. First of all, not a big market for Juju Smith-Schuster apparently.

He definitely wanted to put it out there that he took less money to return to the Steelers, which everyone always takes less money to return to the team that they came from. It's not that the market didn't materialize in the way they wanted to. So it's a one-year $8 million deal

to return to Pittsburgh. I have a question for you. Who does this benefit? Do the Steelers really need juju back and does he really want to be in that offense to kind of rebuild his value and try to hit free agency again next year? It's a one-year $8 million deal,

which that is. not a lot with four void years on it. Did the Steelers really need to do that sort of cap accounting to make sure they could fit Ju-Ju Smith-Schuster back on the team with a $2.4 million cap hit this year? I just don't understand who benefits in this situation. I really don't. I didn't either. I thought that whole offense was going to have a total revamp this offseason, especially

what's happened with the offensive line. And I thought Juju for sure was walking. Claypool, ascended, had a nice rookie year. You know, that kind of seemed like a good kind of one-for-one repeat. I know they're not the exact type of player, but that size, kind of like that type of goal for that. But they have those types of players. They have Dejohnson. They have James Washington. They have players there. It was the one spot where it felt like, okay, we have drafted replacements. He's going to be priced out. And that's just how this works. Apparently not. Nope. I mean, that's how I mean, that's with all the writing on the wall seemed like for the last 12 months. It's, oh, yeah, Juju's gone. He's going to sign some three year, 14 mil a year, blah, blah, blah. He's gone. But obviously not. It's kind of funny. It's kind of funny. A team, it's not surprising at all, though, that a team that's only had three head coaches in like 60 years, likes a little continuity with their team with how they like to do things in Jensir land over there.

But yeah, I don't know, man. Like we were talking pre-show and I was putting my notes together on it. I was just kind of like, all right, they signed juju, now what? Like defense, they lost about Dupree. There's going to be obvious regression there. Offensively, Matt Canada will be interesting to watch with him having like kind of full rain. I'm sure him and Big Ben will get. in the three fist fights a week, but it's going to be hilarious.

It's all right. It's going to be amazing. But yeah, I don't know what the Steelers are doing. I think it's going to be entertaining. I just think they maxed out last year and they're kind of running it back with the same group. Yeah, I don't know what the path is. I think that's a better, better answer for me.

I have no idea what this team is or what their ambitions are or how they're going to get there or what the plan should be. I think they might be okay. I mean, they're the best defense in the NFL last year. but every single bit of evidence points to that defense not being as good this season. I think they finished fourth and weighted DVOA. You saw them start to diminish a little bit at the end of last year. They're going to get some guys back.

Obviously, Devin Bush is back. But the depth that sustained them last season, when you had guys like Alex Highsmith kept stepping in, Cam Sutton stepping in, Robert Spillane stepping in when those guys started getting hurt, those guys are no longer the depth. Vince Williams is gone. They've allowed Stephen Nelson apparently to explore a trade because they need to save money there. So now Cam Sutton, who they resign, is a starter.

Spillane's going to have to be a starter. Alex Hithen is a starter. So you're pushing everything up one notch. And I just think that that is a recipe for being a little bit disappointed, even if they're the eighth best defense in the NFL this year. I have no faith in the offense, which has had no investments from outside sources, and has a ton of moving pieces along the offensive line to be much better this year. So if the offense can't pick up that slack, and we assume just by virtue of some of the changes that have happened,

the defense is going to be worse. Is this like a 6 and 10 team that's just treading water? Like, I just have no idea. Did you ever see the new Jurassic World movie, the first one that came out a few years ago? I saw the first one, yes, not the most recent one. Yeah, not the most recent one, which is garbage. Don't see it. But the Jurassic World at the end, in the climax, spoilers, oh my God, there's dinosaurs in it.

They go at the kid and the nerdy kid goes, we need more teeth. And how they find them more teeth to beat up the bad dinosaurs to get a T-Rex. Where are the Steelers going to find more teeth? Like, that's what I don't get. It's like, is Matt Canada going to find five more points for them this offseason, like per game? Because that's really the difference they have to make up. If they're retread and all this with worse off its line, they're hoping some of these young guys stop up. But guess what?

every team of the world hope some of the young guys step up. So I just don't see. But also the guys aren't that young. Yeah, exactly. They're like 29 and 32. If Zach Banner is going to be their right tackle, like that's fine as a plan, but Zach Banner is not some young ascending player. Like, BJ Finney, if he ends up taking over at center, it's not like an unknown quantity.

BJ Finney's been around for a while. So I do think that there's a healthy amount of risk involved with the way they're approaching this. They need a great draft. We've seen what can happen when teams hit those. If they find a tackle, you know, another corner, all of this stuff in the draft, then maybe it looks great. I still have a lot of doubts about how good Ben Rathesberger is going to look after what happened at the end of last season. But it still feels like they need to thread the needle in the draft and that is much easier said than done. So I just don't really understand exactly what they're trying to accomplish. Maybe they just thought, you know what? We're locked into this version of

roster. We'll do a couple tweaks here and there. And after Rathusberger moves on next year, we have a real discussion about how we want to rebuild this. As soon as he decided he was coming back, it kind of put them in a holding pattern. I would assume that's some of the thinking. But again, I just don't really have a sense for what they are and where they're going. So the chiefs apparently were in on Juju. And, you know, we've talked about the chiefs a decent amount over the last week, but you and I haven't really. I'm just wondering, what do you make of the, the plan that the chiefs have brought into this offseason. They go get Joe Tuny.

They reportedly were trying to go get Trent Williams. They were in on Rodney Hudson. Peter King reported that one of the reasons that the Raiders traded Hudson was to keep him away from the chiefs. They were talking to Jujo Smith-Schuster, is receiver really what this team needs. What do you make of how they're trying to approach this? Well, they, okay, their hands are, they have one arm tied beyond their back just because of where they're at. But I do think they're going about it the right way. they threw a bunch of money at Tooney.

They're trying to find at least something to some stability there. It's like they always have these nice pieces, nice things. And I think they're just tired of always going like, what guy do we sign off the street this week? So who they get? Okay, maybe Tune might not be the all world guy, but he's very, very good. And he's never missed a game and he has versatility.

So I think they're just like, okay, let's just get some like just some complacency going and something we can rely on up front. The kind of long thing, I think is just like when they signed K.O. last year. They're taking a chance on a guy that's very similar. Yes. Very similar. And this is the best way to do it because if it hits, you're getting a stud that knows that's already a pro. You know, it's like, okay, that's nice. That's nice to have. He's always going to be, you know, know how to prepare himself every week. Yeah, he has to play to full season since 2015. But if you're going to take a chance on the guy, this is a type you guy you do. And he, you know what's the other thing? Speaking of like the positional

flexibility, versatility is that he can play tackle in a pitch. So it's like, okay, that gives himself, I think they're just tired of like everybody being bang. up and them going like, who's starting at tackle this week? So they're just finding guys that can play every position. But it makes sense. I'm actually kind of glad they didn't splurge on a receiver and just save the money they have. I think that's something they can attack in the draft, preferably like with their second round pick. That's what I think if I were the Kansas City Chiefs with Patrick Mahomes. That's my quarterback. I get what they're doing. It's just I think they have one hand tied behind their back. But I like this. I like what they're doing. This is

what they have to do. I think they trust bags to just, you know, generate some chaos for them. They already know they got my homes, but this is the best way they can help themselves out is just shoring up the whole line. I'm curious to see what they do at left tackle. Obviously, there are some guys on the market still that might be relatively affordable. You know, like Villanueva is a free agent. Russell Lou Cung is a free agent. Do they feel like we can get one of those guys for $8 million a year, whatever it's going to cost, to have a stopgap starter at that spot? Or is that something they try to fill through the draft?

So we've talked a lot about the Chiefs. I was just curious about your thoughts. So Rodney Hudson, who they were apparently in on, his replacement, one of the reasons that the Raiders apparently thought they could trade him is because they like Andre James, who was a college free agent from a couple years ago, has never really played for them, has very few snaps on tape. They reportedly signed him to a three-year, $12.5 million extension today with $6 million guaranteed. It could certainly work, but goodness does that seem like a gamble? We're going to move on from Roddy Hudson and we're going to pay his replacement starter level money

without ever seeing him play real meaningful action in games. You know, they loved him so much that whenever one of their guards got hurt, they made sure they saw the field. That's how much they loved him. It's like, what the fuck he'd do it? It might work.

It might work. I mean, shit. My dad moved on from Jeff Christie, got Mac Burke, who's a six-rounder. But, you know, that's like, that's like, that's like, outlier of outliers. But it's, I don't get it, man. I have no idea what they're doing. The whole, that whole little segment, like you said, that they cut them and then they didn't

want Rodney to go with the chiefs, which seems like he should have gone and probably was going to go to. I just don't get why they're just like insisting on tearing down the strength of their team. I would say tearing down, but they're like really trying to just kneecap it a little bit, which is the old line. You know, Rodney, we've talked, I love him. You know, he's leader of the team basically holds all, all of their protections together. And then Gabe Jackson, I kind of get Tom Cable just he's going to run the zone stuff. He's not a scheme fit. Never was. He's probably declining

a little bit athletically, but you know, he's still a solid starting guard. I just don't get this whole like paying the guy that they're going to have backup. Shouldn't they try to have them keep them on the cheap and kind of go like, okay, you know, prove it. And then maybe a two year deal where it's like cheap and then you know, get him for cheap after that where we have a viable

starter. I don't know. I don't know. I did like the John Brown signing. I will say that for the Raiders. That's a great signing. That's a great siding. I think that's very good, even though all the resources they spent at receiver. That one was probably one of the better moves they'd done at that position. But what they're doing with the whole line just is very, very confusing to me. It's very similar to the conversation with just had about the Steelers.

Yeah. It's really nice when Denzel Good can be your depth piece and step in for guys that are hurt last year. But now he's a starter. Now you're relying on him. Now he's part of the core plan. And when you start stepping down each year and those are the little tiny things that happen and the little tiny changes, those things.

things eventually, they can come back to bite you. So we'll see what happens. I mean, apparently they were in on a Dory Jackson, which we'll get to in a second. They're trying to use some of that freed up money to spend on defense. It seems like every time that there's a shiny object, they just can't stay focused. It's just like, no, now, now we have defense. We got money. We got to throw it out of the defense.

That's what we have now. Every 10 minutes, the focus changes and they cannot concentrate on one specific approach as to how they want to build this. Never in a million years I think Kenyon Drink was going to be a raider because I was just like, oh, they don't really have a need for it.

Does it? They paid him that much, that much money too. That's the shiny toy. It was like that one passed by and they saw it on the list and he's like, oh, I saw him week two preseason.

I loved him. No, not week two preseason. It was the one Alabama game that John Green watched. You watched him the national championship game like six years ago. And that same was Josh Jacobs. Listen, man,

we got a lot of Clemson and Alabama players lining that Raiders roster right now, which I don't think is a coincidence. All right. I don't either. So let's get to some of those messages that teams have sent us in free agency

with the plan that they have put together. And I want to start with the team that is very recently in the news. About 10 minutes before we started recording this, Adam Schefter reported that Adoree Jackson signed a three-year, $39 million deal with the Giants. We'll get to that deal. But I want to get to the message that we think the Giants are sending. And in my opinion, watching what the Giants are sending.

And in my opinion, watching what the Giants, have done in free agency over the last week or so. The message I'm getting from them is Daniel Jones is out of excuses. The time for us is right now. Is that what you're picking up from the way that the Giants have operated here over the last week? My line for it was we're not that drunk. That's the message that they're sending out there. It's like, no, we have a plan.

God damn it. That's how that's the message I got from them. But yeah, what you're saying is they're taking away all they're doing more or less what the Broncos kind of sort of did with Drew Locke last year and just loading it up with receiver and weapons and all that. The receiver course is nice. It's good. I like the synergy they have. Tight end mix up. It's nice.

So let's talk about the Galaire thing. So obviously they signed Gowarday to that deal. It's a four year, $72 million deal with $40 million, more than $40 million guaranteed. It's a monster contract. Yes. For Kenny Gowadet. The type of contract that. he apparently wanted when he was entering free agency.

As we've seen the rest of the receiver market be a little bit slower to develop, he got way near the top of the market money. I mean, this is the sort of money and the sort of contract he probably would have been hoping for if last year had gone well in Detroit, which it did not. So now you're putting him into the mix with those other guys. So now, what were you thinking about the group that they have when you drop him into that equation? I like it. They just have a nice synergy.

You know, they have Slate and Shepherd, Sterling Shepherd. It makes you close your eyes. It makes sense if they're an 11 personnel where everyone lines up. They took a little, you know, chance under retres with John Ross and Dante Pettis, you know, and that makes, that's nice. Ross has a path for a role. He can be to take the top off guy and, you know, and he has pedigree. So let's take a chance there.

The tide ends, I actually like how they mixed and matched him. Kyle Rudolph will bring something, you know, even if he's 60 or 70% of the player he was. He's still not bad why. And then, you know, anger him and Tolole. Tolovo was actually a pretty good blocker and all that. But like you said, they're taking away any excuses they have for Daniel Jones. And the problem with all this, I just said all those players, would you say any of them are a star? You know, like any of those guys, would you just go, that guy's a star.

Are you, am I including Galdet in this equation? Yeah, I would include Galdi, include them. I think Kenny Goladay can be really good. Yeah. I would not have paid him $18 million a year. Yeah. I think that they are, they've been against themselves. It feels like a couple of different times over the last week.

I mean, the numbers that were reported with the Bears contract that was offered to Gallaudet was between 11 and 12 million. And they gave him $18 million a year, which, let's not talk about that. I don't want to talk about that because I'm just going to get mad if we talk about that. You're going to cut Kyle Fuller and then spend $12 million on a wide receiver. Talk about getting distracted by shiny objects. Oh my God. Jesus Christ.

What is the possible plan? I would love someone to articulate that. We're going to tear down this defense. We're going to get marginally better on offense with mediocre to bad quarterback play. And this is the path forward. Hey, they're taking away all excuses for Andy Dalton. That's what they're playing. I can't even do it.

But I went back and I was watching Gala Day today because I think I had a similar thought. How good is he really? And I went back and I watched a bunch of his targets from the first half of last season. And he is a special player on contest. the catches. And I think in our minds, when you think about Kenne Gallaudet, what do you think? You think nine routes, go balls, vertical shots down the sideline. He's a ball winner. He is. He is. He is. But when I was watching him today, the thing that I forget about him is that he'll go get it on in breaking routes over the middle of the field. And I think that is the aspect that I hadn't thought about when it comes to the Giants. Because I went back and I watched a few games from the end of Daniel Jones's season. I want to talk about this in a second.

And I'm watching Sterling Shepard and Darius Slayton and Evan Ingram run deep dig rats. Now we can eject those into outer space. And that's the nice part about bringing in a guy like Golodeh is it allows the other guys in that room to fit into roles that are more suited for their skill sets. So now you have Slateon as the speed option on the other side. You have Shepard in the slot. You have Ghaladay as that true, true X that I never want to see a dagger concept with Darius Slate and running the dig ever again. And now I won't have to. And you, like you said, you sprinkle in Ross with that speed.

You have Ingram. It's an intriguing group of skill position players. But the biggest question about this offense now, outside of the offensive line, which we can get to if you want, it's about Daniel Jones now. And as we sit here, it is March 22nd, 2021 at 640.4. 49 p.m. Eastern time. Do you know how good Daniel Jones is? No, I do not. I, I, this past year was very disappointing to me because he, his rookie year, I mean for everything, but every Giants fan, I'm sure, but his rookie year, it was one of those at first I was cracking jokes about him. And then I washed him. I was like, okay, I actually see a path to him being a viable starter in this league.

I didn't think I never, star has never been uttered with him, but a good solid starter. I could see it. This past year, no. It's just, there's just, there's just, there's just, So what concerns you? What concerns you the most? That internal clock's got speed up. It just has to. He's going to die if he doesn't. It just has to.

And it's almost he's too coachable. That's what it seems like to me. It's that he, it's the concept. It's blah, blah, blah. We have a post. We have a dig. We have a checkdown.

He's like, okay, I have to hold on the post now for one second. I have to go to the dig for one second. Now I'm going to check it down. He doesn't shortcut anything. Like he's almost too smart for his own good, where he's smart, but not a fast processor. So it's one.

one of those guys. I bet you afterwards every time he makes a mistake, he comes off to field. He knows exactly what happened. I hung too long on that. That guy was open. I saw the corner come off, but he's not a fast processor where he just like, he knows how to like kind of like adjust to the shit that's happening in front of him.

So I'm not all the way out on him. I just was very, very disappointed and kind of like I thought that shit would speed up a little bit the second year. I thought that was just rookie, him being aggressive. That is one thing I've mentioned multiple times. It is better that the quarterback is too aggressive than two.

passive because it is easier to take the wild horse out of them than to make him get tougher or more aggressive with the ball. And that is just how quarterback play is now. You have to be aggressive. You have to be tough. And I think he does have that in him where I do see the positive science. But it's just like, man, you know, he's just, there's no that there's no leap of improvement, I think where the mental clock is speeding up.

And I know he's a smart guy. So it's just can he? Now it's getting to the point where is it a won't he, a can he? It's one of those types of things. And that comes down to, we just have to keep watching. come. I get James vibes. I still do. When I watch him play, I just, when he's throwing the ball, he looks good. There was a touchdown he threw to Pettus in the Cowboys games, last game of the year. And it was like a beautiful little bender up the seam. And he just let it rip. And I was like,

okay. Like, okay. There are some throws that he makes and some decisions he makes, those aggressive choices he makes every once in a while that really make you sit up in your chair. But the mistakes are so catastrophic and they just happen too often. The consistency is just not nearly there. And he's still very young. So maybe that happens. But I don't know if it's going to happen with this current iteration. Because for all of the excitement that I think we're going to have about the group of

skill position players, and it is exciting. Like him with Golodei, that's a recipe for some really cool stuff. Signing Kenny Golodei to play with a guy who takes too many chances. is like buying a 16-year-old kid, a Maserati, and being like, don't drive it too fast, kid. Yeah. It is a recipe for disaster. I mean, the amount of contested catch jump ball yolo throws

we're going to see from Daniel Jones to Kennedy is very fun. I don't know how efficient offense is going to come from it, but it's going to be exciting. But this just feels like one of those teams where we're going to look at the skill position talent and you're dropping Saquan Barkley back into it. And we're going to say, okay, maybe they take the next. step. Maybe that leap is here. They've given him so many things to work with. And it feels like the Giants are going to go with all of their young guys along the

offensive line. So that's another question mark. I mean, that's just a lot of risk. Also, do we believe in Jason Garrett? Do we believe that this coaching staff is set up to get the most out of this group? And that's my thing is I sit here and I look at all the big moves they've made and how aggressive they've been, 20 million a year for Leonard Williams, 13 million a year for Jerry Jackson. Logan Ryan and Jubeel Peppers are recruiting all these guys to the Giants. We're going in. We're doing it big. And it's just like, who are the people in charge and do we trust them to create efficient offense? I think both you and I are excited about the defense. I think Patrick Graham did a very good job last year. I don't think of Dori Jackson's worth $13 million a year,

but I do think they have gotten the most out of the players they've acquired on that side of the ball. Leonard Williams, Blake Martinez, James Bradbury. If you had told me last year the Bradbury contract was a bad idea, I would have nodded furiously. And it looks great. So I think that has potential. I just think that we're going to get potentially get excited about the offense because of the guys catching the ball and not focus enough on those underlying factors that typically make or break offensive success or failure. They're going to have a couple games that they look fantastic where it's going to be like, who, that man, that look at that explosive offense. It's coming together. And like you said, it's going to be, there's going to be the inconsistencies

with Jones. But the offensive line too, because like my note on them, like Thomas did come on, the left tackle did come on in the second half of the year. When they made the coaching switch, it looks like he's settled in after the buy week because at first I was like, oh boy, that was the first tackle taken and he might be the worst one of the bunch. But he ended up being, he's going to, I think he's going to be a good player. They lost Zitler. I think he's, think they're just a guy short up front like you were just mentioning it a different way how I'm saying it. It's just that that's a lot of question marks for with a quarterback that has a tendency to lose the ball a lot. Hold on to the ball too long. He's going to take unnecessary shots like we already talked about.

But now you're combining it with maybe a little worse offensive line. Like you said, Jason Garrett, is Jason Garrett going to be creative with these guys now? Or are they going to just be stagnant standing there? You know, it's like if this was some modern coach and I was like, okay, and I could trust it. Daniel Jones is almost in a funny way is that he's so smart. You almost want to make it easier for him to let him just go to one, two, three real quick as opposed to going like,

he's kind of tricky smart. Like I'm just saying, I always said he's more of a not really good fast processor, but more of a long processor. It's just like they paid a lot of money for a lot of question marks. Yes. I just tweeted this before we started.

They spent a small fortune on players and I have no idea how good or bad the team is. I have absolutely no idea. And I'm excited to watch the defense again. I think that that has the potential to be something. But what is going on on offense, I think, is just a huge mystery. It certainly could work out. Maybe he takes a step.

Maybe some of those mistakes get eliminated and he matures a little bit and those flashes that we see become more consistent. The ratio of good and bad flips potentially. But that's still yet to be determined. That is still a mystery in my mind. It is we don't know and we will not know until the games actually start getting played. I do want to keep watching James Bradbury this year, though. Like it's unbelievable. Such a big contract signing playing in New York could still somehow be underrated.

Like the most because I thought he was good. I thought he was a low end number one high high best number two you could have. That's what. And I was like, okay, you overpay for a good solid number one. And he's like top tier number one. Like I am a number one corner I mean. Like I think he is the threshold for good number one corner if that were a bar. Like if you're like, is he better?

If you were looking at another corner, you go, is he better in James Bradbury? or as he were. That's the bar and it's fun. That contract, I mean, I'll readily admit that corner evaluation is certainly not a strong suit of mind. It's hard. But that contract is one of those where when cornerback deals get handed out in free agency, outside of like a deal for like Ron or Darby at $10 million year, which we're about to get to, that to me is not typically smart when you've seen how many games he's missed and how many he's bounced around and everything else.

But when a team hands William Jackson, a monster deal and you look at the physical or a shack Griffin even. Those, I'm just like, I'm going to reserve judgment. We will see what happens with those because I can understand that process at least. Yes. Even if premium position. If you're going to spend a money, spend on a premium position, that's fine. Especially the guys with traits like those two have. So I completely understand that. Oh, with Bradbury, when you're sitting there thinking, all right, he's played in this sort of zone heavy system for most of his career. We want more out of him. What can he he look like when we demand more of him? I think Griffin may be in a similar situation. with Jacksonville. With those, I like to slow play those a little bit because I want to see it before I make any kind of strong throated determinations. All right. Our next lesson here, George Payton in Denver, the new Broncos GM, believes that the

Broncos are closer than most of us thought. Because I, when I looked at this and he came in, is your one on the job. And it's an interesting setup, right? You have John Elway there still. Elway steps down, but he's still in the building. So even though it's a new general manager, the regime isn't necessarily different. So I was wondering,

how much are they going to try to continue the plan from last year when they really assembled some pieces? You know, they've gone out in the last couple of years and signed Juan James, sign Graham, Glasgow, and mates a couple moves in the secondary to try to get better there. Are they going to keep spending and keep building this

or are they going to kind of take a step back in order to start a mini rebuild? And they have really been aggressive in the last week or so, they've pumped $63 million guaranteed into their secondary by resigning Justin Simmons, signing Ronald Darby, and then finally a one year $9 million deal for Kyle Fuller. And after they signed Fuller to that deal, which everyone could have seen a million miles away. By the way, do you think it's a good sign that after you caught a player, it takes a half an hour for him to get signed on the open market? Officially side too. Not even like, oh, rumors and everything.

It was like pen, paper, faxed, everything. 30 minutes. 30 minutes. That's some teams when they look at the players they cut before camp, they always like to see if other teams put in claims for them. Or when they claim players, they'll be happy that they put in the only claim. It's just like a small little way to gauge the quality of your scouting department. When you cut a player and he gets signed in a half an hour, you probably shouldn't have been cutting that player.

That's all I'll say about that. So if you look at it after the fuller signing, I went through this exercise. I was looking at their depth chart, just in my mind. I was like, all right. Maybe Kareem Jackson comes back. Apparently they've kept the door open for that. So now your secondary is Ronald Darby, Kyle Fuller,

Bryce Kellehan in the slot, Justin Simmons, Kareem Jackson potentially. Yeah. They re-signed Shelby Harris. Yeah. And they have Bradley Chubb. So in mind, I was like, oh, who's their other edge guy? Where do you put on here? It's Vaughn Miller.

So now you're looking at that defense, a defense that finished 11th in past defense DVOA last season with that patchwork secondary they were working with without Von Miller. And now things are starting to get, in my opinion, very interesting over there for them. My expectations for them, especially on that side of the ball, have certainly shifted over the last week or so. And I don't want to read too much into free agency. But when you're talking about Vic Fangio and you're talking about some guys like, Fuller, who are known quantities. To me, there is no risk involved with dropping Kyle Fuller into this fan geo defense.

We've seen him played an all pro level doing that. And I think he absolutely can again. So the Broncos are staying aggressive because I think in their minds, they can be successful right now with the right breaks on offense and the right breaks at quarterback. Yeah, that's the last part. Well, that's true. We're going to get to that in a second. Extremely pertinent is the right breaks on quarterback.

But yeah, in last year going into the season, I remember going over the Broncos roster. And I was like, you know what? They have a lot of fun players. Like this is so much more to them than I thought they would ever be. And also they have a ton of good assistant coaches. Like, of course, with the head coach. But then also, you know, Munchak on the offensive line coach, that's pretty nice. Because so no matter who you put, I mean, we got a pro bowl season out of Bowls out of nowhere that was like that guy, I thought was going to be a bus.

And now he was a pro bowler at left tackle. But it's like, okay. So we have great offensive line. coaching. It looks like offensive play calling is fine. They got put. Also, we're talking about a guys coming back,

Cortland Sutton coming back at the receiver position. Joanne James potentially right tackle. John James. It's just like, okay, that is a really good roster. That's a lot of players, not just like with the Giants where it's like,

oh, that guy's fun, that guy's nice. These are like good, good players and fair contracts for some of them. Drew Locke. I mean, that it all comes down to Drew Locke. It really does.

Last season it did. I think this season it did. does. And I really just didn't see anything last year that encourages me. And that's what's scary is that they are setting themselves up for just almost all in year with the wild horse back there. No pun intended with the Broncos. But it's like that's what they have back there. And he's going to lock in on his receiver. He's going to do he's going to throw a ball in harm's way. I think they're kind of saying like, okay, we know that. We'll just make it so it's like we can just play as safe as possible with him, keep us in the games and maybe makes a couple wild plays. That's what's just scary for me is. always that Drew Locke is going to be behind center for it. Because the rest of the roster, they're 21 other starters for for both sides of the ball. I really like what they're doing. I mean, this DB core is like you, you mentioned a couple times.

That's going to be a lot of fun. Up front's going to be a lot of fun. They're short up at the two most important spots and they have two bonafide edge rushers. It's like, there's a lot of good things that are going on. And you know, you know, you know, is another guy that came on, sorry, is Noah Fant, by the way, is like really, he is like going to, I think this year of three is going to be really fun with him. But again, it's just all going to come down. And Judy and your two potentially.

All of those kinds of things. It's just, you can see it. You can absolutely see it. There's one member of their coaching staff, I think this is kind of interesting. I'm sure they'll be fine. Rinaldo Hill is somebody that people loved. He was their DB's coach for the last two years. He's now the defensive coordinator with the Chargers,

who they're very excited about him. But I just think they still have Adonatel there, I believe, is their defense coordinator. Fangio's there. Those guys know the system. That group is going to be great no matter who's coaching them. You can see it. So now, here's my question, okay?

The Broncos are picking the ninth. How much do you give up to potentially go to six if you think that's where you need to go to get the fourth quarterback? Is this the time if you're Denver to make that sort of play? I think so because they're not trading from 22 or 27. They're trading from nine to maybe like you said six or five or four. You know, I think it just who knows who knows how this is going to be. We're getting huddled in there now, right? Because we talked about this with Atlanta.

If this is a sign with the Ryan restructure that maybe they're not dead set on taking that quarterback at four, then things get really interesting. Because they have to make sure if they really want one of these guys, if they think this is our time, they have to worry about Carolina at 8. And I think potentially they might have to worry about Detroit at 7. I mean, there is no telling if the lions love one of these guys. I don't think there is anything stopping them from drafting one of those guys. So it's going to be fascinating to see how those teams jockey for those spots and how much they think they need to move and who they need to jump and just the intel going back and forth. Because if you're Denver, I think your roster is strong enough, absolutely clears that bar of

we need to give away a future second or this and that if we really want one of these guys. They have crossed that threshold to me where it is worth making a splashy move if they think one of their guys is there. I do too. I think they are in more positioned than countless other teams that think they're close. I truly do think they are. Yeah. I mean, that is just such a viable spot. It's what we wanted Atlanta to do.

But who knows what they're going to do now. But it's like they really are in that kind of they can get really interesting here. And it's going to be cool. On paper, they could absolutely be the best defense in the NFL this season. If I told you they were number one in every major category, that would not be surprising to you. You'd be like, oh yeah, that makes total sense. Again, they were 11th last year. Look at the types of guys they were having to put in the secondary.

I mean, it was not a well-constructed group and they were equally hurt. There is absolutely a world where they are one of the one or two best defenses in the league. And when that happens, when that lightning in a bottle is possible, you don't need much on offense. If you're a good offense, you can be a playoff team in a hurry. And that's why I just think this might be the time for them to get a little bit aggressive if they want to. Yeah. And honestly, I think they should. I've seen enough of Drew Locke that I think they should either way.

I know you hate him. You're the wrong person to have this conversation. I know. I know. Because I'm like, hell yeah, trade up. Send it all. Send it all. Get rid of them.

But yeah. But that's what's going to hold them back. I love this roster. I really do. I've, it's just that it's just what's scary. It's the most important position is their biggest question marks. So that's not a lot of fun.

But yeah, that is so interesting. draft's going to be awesome because there's just so much so many dominoes there and we'll have to fall in these next couple of weeks. Do you think that Peyton, it being his first year there, do you think that influences how splashy he wants to be with that move? It hasn't yet because some guys don't want to do that right away. Your first few months on the job, do you want to make the move that could make or break your tenure with a team?

That doesn't happen all the time. But it doesn't seem like he's been slow to make these moves and to make a push. and this would just be another step in that, obviously. But I think that's something to consider is where he's at in his time with the team. And also what you said at the beginning, you're like, oh, Elway's still there, but he's not, but so how much does say does he have still? So that's something because that could be all press talk. Oh, yeah, yeah, he's kicked upstairs. He's not, he has no football responsibilities.

And there he is in the draft room, I'm sure we'll see him in the draft room still. So it's like, that's his guy. So it's he still have the ear of everybody else. I'm like, no, no, that's our quarterback. We're not moving or anything. So that's something else that we have to take a new account. All right. Let's get to our next message that we've gotten from a team over the last week or so.

This one comes from a team that hasn't done much spending. And that is that the Colts are not going to be sped up. Market forces be damned. So they have, if you look at over the cap right now, they have $35 million in cap space. That number isn't totally real. That you have to pay your rookie class and, you know, in season moves and everything else. They're a team that doesn't typically spend over the cap in the sense of a lot of signing bonus money and everything else. So that's probably closer to $25 million.

And they're not a team that likes to hand out money in free agency. But people thought they were going to be a spender coming into this offseason. So far, they have handed out three contracts. Xavier Rhodes, one year six and a half million. Marlon Mack, one year two million. Isaac Rochelle, who they like, who was a guy that had to, was. not tendered by the Chargers that gave him a one year $2.5 million deal. That is the splashiest outside move that the Colts have made so far.

Are you at all surprised that with the amount of cap space they had coming into this offseason and I guess how quote unquote close we thought this roster is that the Colts have not been more aggressive in the market? I'm, yeah, they're sitting on their money like smog, you know. That's what they're doing. That's what Chris Bauer does. He just sits on his gold coins. But I'm surprised and not surprised.

I thought, okay, they're pining. Okay, they're lining everything up. Okay, here's our, I'm going to say all in move. But here we're going to make a big little push here. I thought maybe this was the time. But I guess, you know, Chris Bauer and the Colts just thought it wasn't. So I'm not surprised in that sense that they still show patience. So I'm surprised that I thought this was the window, not surprised that they still were patient with everything.

You know what reminds me a lot of is the Celtics a few years ago when Aange was just, accumulating pick and asset after asset and he had all these super role players kind of going and they were kind of like setting up to like trade for stars you know like okay well trade for stars we'll sign for stars hasn't really worked out for them but that kind of is what I feel like they're in they have like even on offense they have all these kind of super role players they're great I really like a lot of them at naeem hind so I mean I'm going to change my name to naeem but it's they don't have that true one a you know that true guy and I I think that's something that they are going to be looking for, maybe in this draft,

you know, maybe down the road. Maybe they have somebody on their roster right now that they like at the receiver or tight end position. But that's what kind of reminds me a lot. They're kind of like setting themselves up over and over with constantly making these smart moves to send themselves up for the big move. I thought it was going to happen this off season. Kind of did with the went stuff, but not really because that's the move.

But it wasn't as it wasn't as gigantic, I think, as everyone was expecting. It's more like, hey, that was our big move, but that was it. That was our big little lump that we're doing this off. season. Well, let's go back through the other moves. Let's go through the other big splash moves they made the last couple years. Okay. Last year, Rivers, who intimately knows Frank Reich. There's no risk involved with that signing. It's circumstances are such that a quarterback like Philip Rivers doesn't often hit free agency. That's not really a free agent signing. The Buckner deal is a trade. That is the sort of player that does not hit the market. And

look at the guys getting traded for two first round draft picks over the last five years. years. They got Buckner for half that. That's a move you make a hundred times out of a hundred. I look back at that trade always. I'm like, what else was attached to it? Nope, just the first. It's like what? Not even like, like with that one first, you're even happy to give him the $20 million

a year deal. Yeah. So you have a team that historically does not believe that you find impact players in free agency. This is a team that signs DeNico Autry for $6 million a year and then lets him walk for eight, three years later. This is a team that signs Justin Houston after being released so it doesn't affect their cop pick formula. They think that Rochelle is the type of guy that can come in and approximate what Autry has given them over the last couple years.

And if you look at their development of interior and hybrid defensive alignment over the last three or four years, they're fighting Grover Stewart under rocks. I mean, they have done a very good job of developing players at those spots. And I remember last year, I was having a conversation with someone there about their secondary. And I was like, man, you guys are a little thin at safety. Do you feel like you needed to add anybody? And this is in the spring. And they're like, no, I think, I think we're going to be okay. And then Julian Blackman and Curry Will's end up coming and just playing so well.

And it's like, well, I'm a moron. I should. And they, they and I, and I, this is, it's important to kind of talk through because it is. We, we, we, we crush the teams that get distracted. And they, they're not going to get distracted. Maybe to their own. detriment, but they are not going to get distracted.

They have a plan. So the idea of we're not going to spend in free agency even if we have the money as part of it. The other part of it is they have two guys, two and a half guys, that are going to set market setting extensions in the next calendar year. Quentin Nelson, Darius Leonard, and Braden Smith are all going to get contracts. Look at a team like the Bears who let Leonard Floyd go, cut Leonard Floyd, and then use the money that Leonard Floyd was going to make to sign another player from the Bears.

the market at his position. That's not something that's going to happen with the Colts. They are going to reward their guys and they are going to build that way. And that's always how they've done it and they're not going to get pushed off that spot. And you look at positions like receiver, I think they would rather try to re-sign T.Y. Hilton on a reasonable deal. Bet on a guy like Desmond Patton, who they drafted in the sixth round last year, who was a developmental guy with really nice 6-4-frame, 225, right, a 4-4-8, is athletically very, very similar to Zach Pascall. They actually have the number one physical comp

over the last 20 years on mock draftable. The Colts are seeing something in these receivers. I don't know what it is, but they're seeing something. And that's how they want to build. They know they need a left tackle and edge rusher. They know that. But they are not going to overspend for one

because in their minds, the guys available in free agency aren't worth a premium you're going to have to pay to go get those guys. And they have a plan. They are not going to get distracted from that plan in the way that other teams have,

and it certainly helps that they have gotten more value out of the draft since Ballard has gotten there than essentially any other team in the NFL over that stretch. So I'm sure as a Colts fan, it's frustrating. You're sitting here being like, this is the time we're close, we need to make these moves, and it's just not going to happen. Maybe they go sign a guy that's the next Justin Houston for them at Edge. Maybe that's what they're going to do.

though. And I just think that Chris Ballard has tried to tell us who he is over and over and over again. And it's just time that we listened. Yeah. He's never, they're never desperate. They're just always going to give himself ability to pivot. And that's what's so funny is I think always really with everything in sports is just the ability to pivot and be able to transition. It's like, yes, this is our best option, but can we do a different option? And he's always going to have it. And he's always done it the last few years. And that's what's just hilarious. It's like, they managed to acquire rivers and then wents, and they still have ton of cap rooms, you know, a ton of picks and everything there. Other teams like your bears are struggling to get Foles and Dalton. They're trained third rounders.

They're signing them to big. And it's just like, and then meanwhile, over it off to the side, it's like, okay, we got these other quarterbacks. Like this is what the Colts. They're actually doing something that's proper.

He's just going to do what he's going to do. That's what Bauer does. That's what the Colts regime is going to do. They're just going to keep going about it. If they have an opportunity like they did last year with the Buckner trade. I don't think last year in James, January, Bowerd was thinking that DeForest Buckner would be available for a first rounder. You know, you don't know how that goes. And then two months later, he's trained for him.

I think it's just that he gives himself ability, because he always has assets, the ability to do what he does want to do without overdoing, overspending or overpaying for something. And that's just good management. It just really is. He's asset managing and he's doing a really good job of it. And that's it. They're just going to preach patience and they're just going to build this whole team, this whole franchise. to be just like always good and competitive and then just have these abilities to pivot and go all in. And maybe not even do that. Maybe it doesn't I ever do that. But the ability to compete when they want to compete when they feel like that window is right. And they're doing a good job.

I also think that the Wence trade and the picks they gave up in it has made them more conscious of the draft capital they have at their disposal. And those comp picks that they could potentially get for some of the guys that have left like Autry, those matter more now because they've given up draft capital to go get Wence. and I wouldn't be surprised to see them trade back in this draft to try to accumulate more picks. It's not an accident that Rochelle, because he wasn't tendered, doesn't count to the compic formula. It's just those little tiny things

that teams trying to gain edges in the draft are consistently thinking about, and this is absolutely one of those teams. I think one of the other messages that we've gotten sent is that the Packers believe in their formula. The Packers, so the Colts have spent a couple, hand out like one or two small deal. in free agency, at least one outside deal.

A couple of bus passes. They gave out a couple of bus passes. The Packers have spent $0 so far on outside free agents over the past week. They've done some little tiny things. They've restructured the Darius Smith's contract to fit Aaron Jones in. Mike Silver said today on NFL Network that the team is talking to Aaron Rogers about a potential restructure. We saw they converted Bakhtiari's bonus. So they're open to kind of creating some wiggle room for themselves, but they have not jumped headfirst into the market.

So if you're looking at what they've done so far, especially on offense. When you think about letting Lindsay go, signing Jones to that extension, what do you think about the path they're following as it relates to their offense right now? I think they're just running everything back from last year. And then they're going, hey, we'll figure out next spring. I think that's just literally what they did. They say, hey, we scored 500 points.

We're on fire. I think we got a groove right now. It's just not rattle any cages. Yeah, we overpaid for Aaron Jones, but he really is a great player. It's just hilarious that they basically punted on last year's draft. still made the final four. And then they're going to, they're going to run it back basically with the same group and they might score 500 points again.

I'm fine with it. It's just that they're more or less all in this year. Because I mean, that's kind of what the window is, right? Like that's what kind of just seems like. But you would, I don't know. It's funny that the Packers also reverted right back.

They splurged the one off season for the Smith boys, for the Smith brothers. And then also a couple years later, they're like, okay, we're back to not signing any free agents. Like, like pre- Charles Woodson days.

I mean, they're just not, I mean, that's, they were willing to do that because they needed an injection of talent. And those contracts have been spent and those contracts aren't cheap. You know, Preston Smith, I think got a pay cut to stay. But Sedaria Smith is still a really expensive player. Aaron Rogers isn't getting any cheaper. They've spent a lot of money on these guys. Bactieri's extension. They're going to have to extend Devante Adams here in a second. I mean, they are locked into this version of the roster to a certain extent without some significant cap gymnastics. So I don't think we should be surprised that there haven't been the. moves. The overall plan and formula on offense intrigues me because they've essentially made a bet of we're going to let our center walk and resign the running back and we have faith in our ability to piece the line together. I don't think that's unreasonable when you consider the success they've had in developing those players over time. And I know there are different coaching staffs and everything else, but I mean, Goot Coots has been there since 1998. I mean, he's been there for a long, long time.

He's watched the Josh Sittins and T.J. Lang's get drafted in the fourth round. He's watched Corey Lindsay get drafted in the fifth round. They have Elton Jenkins that they could potentially move to center. They drafted Runyon in the sixth round last year. I think they like him. Maybe they slot him in at one of the guard spots. They try to find a tackle somewhere. They're fine piecing this together.

They have never stretched themselves when it comes to finding and developing offensive of lineman on that team and it's typically worked out pretty well for them. So they clearly have some faith in their ability to shift some stuff around, promote from within and drop Jones back into that equation because of what he gives them in a multifaceted way. It's really easy to say we have drafted AJ Dylan in the second round. How could we possibly pay Aaron Jones? They do two totally different things.

Yeah. They're very different players. And you could absolutely argue against how smart it is to hand Aaron Jones that contract. But I think it's, you can't argue that having Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon makes you a more well-rounded backfield. I mean, they're very, very different players. So we'll see what happens. But they're not done from potentially trying to sign a bargain offensive tackle from trying to get another corner. Like a Richard Sherman could absolutely end up on this team.

A K-1 short could absolutely end up on this team to try to give them some juice inside. I mean, those are the types of signings that may happen here. Just because they weren't super active in the first week of free agency doesn't mean we're not going to see some new guys with new skill sets in Green Bay. I also still think they need a receiver with a tiny bit of a different feel to him. They need one guy that has a slightly different flavor on that offense because one one playing space change of direction guy could help what they do. I know they scored 500 points, but that is the one thing on offense. I was like, can't we get one guy who can create separation in the middle of the field? Just one guy that's not Devante Adams.

That's all I ask. They want every throw to be that 0.001% accuracy throw. That's exactly right. That's what they want. They want nothing but trick shots. That's what they want. They're like, okay, Devante Adams, you get the easy ones there. Okay, trick shots.

Everybody else. We're going to make it as hard as possible. One thing that's interesting with Aaron Jones, he didn't prove a little bit is he's not very good in protection. And so I just thought of like Lindsay gone. And then now he's back there if they do want to make. I mean, you're paying a lot of money if you're going to keep him off their down. That's something that's just very interesting.

I always find curious to watch is sometimes these stud running backs are just so bad protection that it's just like, can I keep him off the field unless he's running around. It just makes sense. I mean, they ran it back with this team just makes, I mean, that offense is so much fun. And I mean, they got they got little mini leaps from guys like Robert Tonian and, you know, guys like that. So it's like, okay, do those guys to send again? Like, you know, another little leap out of that. They need to spend something to shore up the line a little bit.

you know, just to generate a little bit of talent if they're not going to sign anybody. But no. That's the question now because now is Billy Turner your right tackle? You know, Rick Wagner was hitting free agency. Just like we talked about with other teams, you just start to slowly chip away at the depth and you have more and more question marks at that spot. And I think that applies to their offensive line. Yep. I completely agree.

All right. Let's get to one more here. Something that we talked about a lot last week, but I wanted to ask you about because this is a team we've discussed often, but not in this. free agent context. I think the last message that we got is that the hourglass has been flipped on Cliff Kingsbury's time in Arizona. With the moves that they made, it feels like the sand is starting to fall here. Talk about the AJ Green signing, trading for Rodney Hudson, going to get J.J. Watt. As you're looking at their plan this off season, what does it tell you?

What are you reading into the moves that they have made? They're playing their foot and getting north, just like a running back. Like, that's what they're doing. They're planning their foot and they're getting north. I mean, they saw the hole and they're trying to hit it. Not exactly how I thought they were going to do it. I thought this was going to be kind of like a slow build team. You know, okay, DeAndre Hopkins was just obviously you have to get that.

If that's the deal you can make to get DeAndre Hopkins. But I thought more it was going to be an accumulation of picks and maybe a couple other signings, not so much a getting JJ Watt, Rodney Hudson. It's like, whoa, okay. But honestly, Rodney Hudson is going to be do more. I know I'm just going to be always vouching for this guy. But he is going to do more for that offense than any. offense to tackle, any skill guy or any cute passing concept that Cliff steals for the week,

like any one of those, like Rodney Hudson is going to do more for that offense because he will short, like there are so many times I watch that. That's always been my negative. It's like the protection doesn't match up to what they're trying to do down the field because they have no rules on their stuff because they stole it. Not only, but Ronnie will be able to like, because it's not that complicated, is that he has a personality a little bit too to kind of maybe speak up as as the center and go like, hey, are. sure we're going to point out that way like i don't like that or really we're going to slide that no what's what's try i made you know just i he has that kind of leadership personality and that

intelligence and that just aggressive personality as a person that i think he's not going to put up with any bullshit and i think that's going to help them out so much just to shore up maybe trim some fat with their offense then that's rare from a player quarterback yeah that happens from a center roddy hudson has that clout a j green whatever uh i mean that whatever it's like it's whatever. I don't know. You assume that that means we get more Christian Kirk in the slot in some of those three receiver sides.

I just, I don't know how it looks. When you talk about the giants and you can close your eyes and picture it in your mind, it's harder for me to do that with this collection of receivers in Arizona. It's easier with that. If Hopkins wasn't there, it makes so much more sense because they're going to have the same type of role on the outside.

They'll be left and right side, I'm guessing. It's just weird to me for an offense that maybe it was because of protection or maybe just what Cliff does. that throws so much, gets a ball out so much, so many package plays, you know, like bubbles and RPO's and stuff of that sort, that they're kind of getting another vertical intermediate receiver, you know, another ball winner. And that just doesn't match to what they have done this last two years. I don't know if that's because of necessity or because of just what they do at the NFL level.

So that's what kind of was very curious to me with that fit. Whatever, let's go for it. I do, I do really like Chase Edmonds. So him getting some more shine this year. That's going to be something interesting to watch. But I don't know. It's like they're all in in a weird way in a team that didn't have to put themselves all in. Now they are.

Like I mean, really, if they don't make the playoffs this year, he's got to be gone. So I think, but the Rodney Hudson trade is going to be awesome for them. That's better than anything they could have done. Really. I truly mean that. J.J. Watt, Marcus G. and Chandler Jones can be fun on defense. They got there.

We talked about this. Surprisingly better on defense than you would think when you watch this team. And that's, but it's funny because when you watch what they did last year, one of the reasons for that is because of that kind of nebulous amoeba looks that they would do on third down and all the weird pass rushing packages that they had and, you know, a lot of aggressive man coverage and piecing together a pass rush. And now it's like we have JJ Watt Chandler Jones and Marcus Golden. And that's really it on defense. That's it. Because the corners weren't good last year. Patrick Peterson and Drake or Patrick are first round picks and everything

else. And Patrick Peterson's a legend. But they didn't get great cornerback play. They just somehow managed to piece this together. Now they have so much more in the front and how does that translate to what the defense looks like on the back end? It's just they've flipped the defense in this weird way and now I just don't know what it's going to look like even though I still think it can be pretty good.

So it almost feels like this is a team that was on the verge of making the playoffs last year and they've remade themselves in like the course of an off season in a really aggressive way. And I just think like we've talked about with other guys, they're stripping away excuses here. If this doesn't work, if they look out of sync in the structure of the offense and what they do protection-wise, all of that stuff, now there's no reason for it.

You have eliminated any sort of ways to explain away the issues they might have offensively. If they don't have it this year, they just ain't got it. And I think that's as simple as it gets. That is as simple as it gets. Yeah, they forced their hand. We said, hey, Daniel Jones doesn't have any more options or excuses. Block doesn't have any more excuses. Yeah, Cliff doesn't have any more excuses. That offense doesn't. They really have what they need to be a good offense and consistently good offenses. We've seen the

flashes. Can they do it for now? 17 games. That's so weird to say, by the way. 17 says 16. I'm going to say 9 and 7 and 7 and 9 for the rest of the time. I'm so proud of myself right there for saying 17. But they're stripping away excuses. Just like you said, it's just a weird way to do it. And that's kind of how the Cardinals have been the last few years. They haven't done anything kind of normal. And they're doing it again in 2021. All right. One more that I wanted to get to very briefly. We can spend 30 seconds on this.

The Chargers are not going to let Justin Herbert get knocked around this year. That is the message they have sent us. We talked about the Corey Wednesday signing. The Matt Fowler signing. I love both of those. This weekend, they signed O'Day Abushi to a one year, $1.75 million deal. That's a name probably no one knows. He played both guard spots intermittently for the Lions last year.

He's 29 years old. a guy that Brandon Thorne and I both really like, has an attitude about him. And I think Filer is not necessarily the most physical presence, neither is Corey, bringing an ass kicker into that equation up front that really likes to knock guys around. You have Bologa there. They'll probably try to go get a left tackle in the draft. It was my assumption. They draft one at 13. It's a plug-and-play guy.

You have Eckler. You have Keenan Allen. They signed Jared Cook as a cheap Hunter Henry replacement. Mike Williams is back. I am going to be too excited about the charges. I know. When they decided Lindsay and Filer, I was just like,

oh, the Robert May scouting notebook. That's what they said. But I love it. I mean, more than anything to help a QB, it's not a receiver. It's not okay.

That's what everyone thinks. It's like, we got to give him a receiver. Get him a fucking center. And that will help out a quarterback more than anything. This is the center podcast. Especially a young quarterback. Especially a young quarterback.

A year or two, young quarterback. that never did in college. I know for a fact he did. And they took a lot off his plate mentally last year. Not that he's dumb or anything, but just to make it easy as a rookie. And now,

because now you're letting Herbert do what he can put his mind, use some mental processing to where he needs to, where it's like, hey, I got this concept, got to get the ball out, da, da, da, da, now he doesn't have to spend any mental energy

on protections or any of that. He can, depending on how they do it, but now he doesn't have to. He doesn't need to. He can if they get comfortable with that down the road. And I think that is just huge. And especially you get that comfort level, you get a guy like Lindsay who's done it all, who's been in big games.

That's going to really help having in the huddle. That's where that's one of those off-field things or my in-between the snaps kind of things that really add up. It's like it's like the box score for a basketball player. Those kind of in-between things that aren't just points that add up. That's what a center and really just offense alignment can do. So I think I love that signing, even if it is a slight overpaid. That's what you have to do for those types of guys. Love it.

Sure up. I never want to see another Andrew Luck situation. again, where guys to retire because of injuries because you got to beat up. So I like it. I really like what the charges are trying to do. And yeah, I can really see myself keep talking myself into them every single month. That it's going to be like, man, I really like this. Obviously, people are excited about the defense and what Staley is going to do with the defense.

I can't wait to see what the offense looks like. Yeah. Because so this is, if you look at it. Herbert's fun in himself. Herbert's just fun by himself. Herbert's fun on his own. So they bring in Joe Lombardi and who Staley is known for. a long, long time. And it's so funny when you talk to people around the league.

And I think one of my favorite things, every offseason is talking to offensive coaches and be like, would you watch? Who would you watch? Why'd you watch it? Would you learn? And all of the projects that teams do. And every single offensive coach you talk to over the last 10 years, it is just a given that you watch the Saints.

Oh, yeah. It is understood that pretty much every single year you go watch the Saints. And one of the reasons for that is just that it's one of the more creative offenses out there. But it is not an accident in my mind that to me, the best defensive coordinator in the NFL last year, hired an offensive coordinator that is fluent in that offense because it's a pain in the ass to deal with because you got to deal with 100,000 formations, a ton of different personnel packages. It's a deep, deep bag of nonsense. and what that looks like filtered through this personnel, I'm very excited to see and what Staley's imprint is on it because I think he's going to have a voice offensively

in the way that a defensive head coach typically wouldn't. Just what this team looks like on the field when you consider the additions they have made and X's and O's-wise what they want to be is something I'm very much looking forward to. Yeah, that's such a great point with the same stuff. I mean, still is. That's one of the teams I watch every single week.

It really doesn't matter what the game. is I at least watch a half on game pass. When you watch a lot of kind of like fun or new plays, sometimes for coaches, you're like, okay, that's cool. I know how to draw it up. Like if I can copy it to paper, pen and paper. I don't know how to teach it maybe. Some you can make guesses.

You can go like, oh, okay, I can, okay, you probably read this one to two and you check it down there, a single high you go over here. With the Saints, it was always so nice when you watch Saints film. It's all clinic tape because Drew Brees is going to throw the ball to the right spot every single time. The offensive lines can be way coached really well. and the run concepts are going to be extremely sound. So like that's why watching the same stuff,

it's like it's the best teaching stuff or it's the best stuff to like kind of, you know, steal because you're just like, okay, well, I know how this reads out. I just saw Drew check out that safety. So obviously he's looking at weak side safety. Okay, he probably went one to two here. Okay, cool. But it's also just sound concepts.

So might as well get the guy that's been around those sound concepts. Probably knows how to teach, you know, he, we're seeing these other younger guys are backing up Drew Brees. That's becoming that whole little, you know, whatever it is there. Okay, let's take that. It's a quarterback finishing school. Yeah, I know. I was going to say almost like with the Packers in the 90s beyond FAR,

remember it was just like a who's who of all the backups. Like is that what the saints are going to become over the years? Well, Breeze has gone now, so never mind. But that's kind of, let's just take that. This guy knows sound concepts.

We don't know how he's going to be as a play caller, but at least when he's installs these plays, they're going to go in how they should. Not I'm copying from somebody else I watched on film across the league who I never talked to. He knows he's been in those teaching, those installs every single day, that's great stuff to have for a young quarterback. Because now you're going to read these plays and these plays are going to be installed properly.

That's pretty exciting stuff. I'm really excited to see what they look like. And I think that they've made smart bets. A free agency is just about smart bets and about smart process. It's all it is. Do you have a plan and do the parts of your plan align? Part of your plan cutting defensive players in order to pay wide receivers when you don't have a quarterback. If that's the plan, it's not a good one.

I think it's difficult to judge individual signings and whether they'll work out. But I think it's easy from a bird's eye view to understand how different plans fit together and what teams are trying to tell us with those plans. As teams make moves this part of the year, listen to them. Listen to what they're trying to tell you about how they see themselves. And that's what we tried to figure out a little bit today. All right. Guys, that's all we got for today.

I'll back tomorrow with Lindsey Jones doing one more, a little free agency wrap-up show. Until then, please rate and review the podcast on your podcast platform of choice. I would sincerely appreciate that. Please subscribe to The Athletic, theathletic.com slash football show. Our dollar a month promotion is going on right now for the NFL content. There is a ton of amazing stuff. Pretty much every single one of our writers broke down what the depth charts for their

individual teams will look like. Now that free agency has kind of gotten in full swing. I learned a ton just by looking at those today. So please go check that. out. We'll be back tomorrow. Until then, thank you so much for listening. We'll talk to you guys later. This was the Athletic Football Show.