The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Football GM: Wrapping up the first week of NFL free agency.

Episode Date: March 16, 2024

Football GM has returned! Mike and Randy discuss some of the recent free agency moves and how they fit around the league. Then the guys take a closer look at each division and give their likes and dislikes of these recent moves. And lastly, we wrap the conversation up with the GM Notebook. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Football Show's Football GM podcast. Welcome everybody to the Football GM podcast. And welcome back, everybody. After a two-week hiatus, the football GM podcast is back with me, Mike Sando, the GM, Randy Mueller. Good to see you again, Randy. How you doing? Hey, great to be back, Mike.

I'll tell you what, it was enlightening and very encouraging for me. And I think you mentioned this too. We spent a little time in Indy a couple weeks ago. And it seemed like everybody, buddy, we met, whether out on the street corner or in the media room or even NFL teams, the first thing out of their mouth when we said hello was that they listened to the podcast, which absolutely took me back. It did me too.

You kind of record this thing. You don't really know always who listened. I felt that too. It was great to know there were so many people in the league. People I hadn't even met, you know, in some cases, that would be the first thing that came up. So we're glad to have you all here. and Randy, I noticed you don't have your golf tan. You've been in the film room a lot late here.

You were a little worn down. I know his free agency was about to begin because you'd been spending weeks going through looking at these players, but you sound rejuvenated. How are you doing? I'm doing great. I love the process,

and I've been asked on several radio shows this week, do you miss it? Do you miss it? I do miss this part of it. I love the process and the grind. I love, I miss having eight or ten guys, in the same room with me and hashing this all out and getting it all sorted out and building a consensus and critiquing every minute detail of these players and how they some might fit better

for us than others. Because at the end of the day, as you know, and we don't know this as we sit here, it's what these teams view as being right for them, not necessarily right for anybody else. And I think the teams that make the most, hey, are the ones that can just turn a shoulder or a blind cheek to the criticism by saying, hey, you should have done this, you should have should have done that. What did Jim Morris say at the press conference? Sometimes you really don't know and you never will because we don't know what's going on and what that criteria that is being set by these team builders inside buildings. But I love the process. I do miss that part of it. And as we'll get through the spring, we'll do it again come draft time, a little less involved in the draft stuff,

but still look at some players. And it's been fun. I've enjoyed it. Oh, what I've just noticed, too, Randy, is because you really did the work on the film with these guys this year and putting together the top 150 free agents, which probably had you watching 250 guys, you're just, you're much more authoritative, I think, this year on the free agency and just really seeing how it all fits together. That's been awesome. I've really enjoyed that because you were good before, but there's no, you know, there's no substitute for really having to be on the gun to put your name on a list of players. You're going to do the work in a way that really pays off. So well done. It's been great. Thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah, and today, folks, we've got NFL free agency superlatives.

The best and most puzzling moves so far is up on the athletic. It is Randy's piece, kind of looking at the first wave of free agency, which is a great primer for me, Randy, to read because I spent the last three days in New York City, if you can believe. I knew that. There's free agency going on. Tell us about it. Tell us about it. It was awesome. So they had me and Diana Rossini and James Boyd, who covers the Colts, and Alison Kletzanika, who is our, you know, in charge of the NFL group, really, as our top editor there to sit on a panel for the state of the New York Times annual meetings. So that was great because, you know, in the media industry, you know, I wouldn't say people are independent contractors, but we're not all in the same office every day. So sometimes it's really great to just get together or get feedback, right, or see people. So for me, that was great.

had this really good discussion on this little stage there in this auditorium and a bunch of employees were watching and we went to the lunchroom afterwards. We got great feedback. Just a lot of people who appreciate what we do or enjoyed some of the stories of what it's like to cover the NFL. And one of the highlights for me, Randy, so we went into the lunchroom. There was the athletic areas right by the guys who work on the wire cutter stuff. You ever read wire cutter?

No, I don't, but I've heard you mentioned a couple times. Wirecutter is awesome. So wirecutter is like reviews of all kinds of products. And some things are just like things you didn't even know you needed to know, you know, interesting things like just on different products. But they do a great job. And I met this guy there named Jordan Curl, who's in charge of their, I think, data and analytics and insights or something like that. This guy was a star quarterback in high school in California. I think he was actually recruited maybe by Jim Harbaugh to San Diego right before Jim left to go to Stanford.

So I was telling Jordan, I said, just think how close you came to becoming the next Andrew Luck. Jordan was a quarterback in high school. But that was just sort of the fun sort of thing. We ended up talking about free agency. We talked about wire cutter, all kinds of stuff. It was just good to be with a bunch of people that are helping us put out the product every week or our teammates in different ways. So I loved it. But while I was gallivanting around New York showing some real prima donna tendencies, Randy,

he wearing nice clothes and, you know, going after dinner. You were grinding away on free agency, carrying our coverage, doing stellar work. And so that showed, I think, through your column. And since your column posted, by the way, the Vikings have traded, moved, acquired the 23rd to pick in the draft from Houston. They've now got 23 and 11. I thought that was interesting because in your column today, you threw some flowers to the Vikings, which I thought was really interesting.

they're a team that a lot of football people have been skeptical on here for a while. So let's get into that, get into your column. What do you got? Yeah, no, I hear you. I think the Vikings did some things that surprised a lot of the football world. But I must mention this first, talking about Jordan and wirecutter. I think I need them to review my headphones because I feel like during this podcast they're going to go out at any second. And I'm going to have to reach out to beats and complain a little bit for our beloved friend John Clayton.

What do you think would happen if John's headphones went out during a podcast like this? Do you think anybody would hear about it? Oh, yeah, John. The rest of his soul, he asked. John could sometimes complain, raise a complaint for two. He taught me years ago. He had these strategies of how to get through customer service things. You had to use the word escalate.

John, so use the word I'd like to escalate, then you'll get to the higher up people. So I was like, John, I just don't really care that much. I'm going to, you know, roll with whatever happened. But that wasn't, John. What a beauty. I'm going to just Google here. Hopefully my headphones, yeah, wirecutter headbeat, wirecutter earbud reviews here, Randy.

How about this? January 22nd, 2024, the four best wireless Bluetooth earbuds of 2024. You should be reading wirecutter, buddy. I'm going to send me and text to this right now. In fact, you go through this. When we hang up, I'm fixing to order something. Well, I'm going to do, I mean, because of all you carrying my butt on here every time, I'm going to look at the prices on here.

I'm buying you one of these. Yeah, I'm buying you the one that. Their picks only $54 bucks on Amazon. I could do that. Oh, my gosh. That's a steel compared to these things that I've been wearing for the last two years that I struggle with every day. Yeah, we're getting to the SoundCore Space A40s, buddy, the best true wireless earbuds. So I don't know if we get advertising revenue off of that.

But let's go to the Vikings because, man, it's been flying. And I'm going to turn it over to you because you liked what they did, even though they lost a lot of guys we've heard of, Randy. Yeah, no doubt. And I thought they had risk in entering free agency because of that. But the Vikings really, beyond adding players to fill holes, I think, you know, created by normal changes that we see in free agency, they had the guts to say no to Kirk Cousins. That one for me is probably a whole podcast, right? Teams in the NFL struggle to say no when it's akin to not having a safety net, right?

They didn't know. They had to say no early in the process or at least dragged their feet long enough to, to be able to secure Sam Darnold to have a safety net and that's really what he was. So they did a higher wire act that a lot of teams wouldn't do. I think that really should surprise people and they should be lauded for that. What I really like though is the Vikings had a plan. I mean, they might have vetted this plan during all these meetings that we had in Indianapolis as teams with agents.

I think people probably don't, they probably, underestimate the importance of these meetings that teams set up with agents during that time in Indy because that's really when your plan formulates. And so they knew going in that they had a chance to lose Danil Hunter, DJ Wanham, a couple other front seven players, Jordan Hicks, the linebacker. But they acted quickly when free agency started. I love the way they stood by their convictions of their evaluations and signed Jonathan Grenhart from the Texans right away, who was, by the way, years younger than Daniel Hunter who actually went to the Texans. He's a little more sudden off the ball to me. He's a little more of a piece that I think can be around longer. I think in Brian Flores'

blitz-happy defense, he's going to be great. They also added Van Ginkle, the rusher from Miami, who ended up this season hurt, but I think will be healthy. They added Grinhart's teammate, Blake Cushman, who was one of the underrated free agents for me during this process. So, he runs their defense. He's much younger than Hicks. He's athletic. He can play on three downs. So I just think they did really good in pivoting and making some moves based on conviction and a plan. And so that's why I kind of threw the bouquets to them in the column this morning. I really like what they did. And you like the film on these guys because I think without watching that film, which I haven't. And wouldn't know what to do with it anyway. But my question would be, I think from afar you could say,

Okay. They're just getting the guys Brian Flores wants, you know, for his scheme. They're kind of listening to him. It's not necessarily a global eval. He's just getting his guys. That's the path of least resistance. And in the meantime, some guys who've been there a long time and made some real plays for them are gone. But what you see on film makes you feel that's not what's going on.

And these are actually going to be good fits, good players, maybe younger in some cases. And they can actually come out maybe ahead from where they were. I don't have any doubt about it. I think they did come out ahead. And really, with moving on from Kirk Cousins, they had the money to do so. So that stems the whole plan right there in that everything happened after that. A decision was made in their mind. And yeah, I mean, I get critiqued a lot by readers, especially on the site where they don't think I know what I'm talking about.

But I really don't say anything that I haven't seen on tape. I love the comments. I don't say anything I haven't seen on film. So I don't know how people sometimes come up to the conclusion. they do, they must think we just pull these things out of our backside and not have anything to back it up. It's just hilarious. So yeah, film leads me to say what I'm saying.

You're evaluating it. You got a thing and then some guys and they're like, yeah, no, I'd see it totally differently, you know, based off of nothing. Love it. Or they say, hey, what does he know? He hasn't been a gym in 15 years. Why would he know this? I kind of just laugh at it. It's crazy, you know.

Hey, welcome to the media, buddy. I just go on the film. Hey, welcome to the media, buddy. It's just like walking out in the field as the GM on before the game. And some guys yelling at you from the stands with a beer in his hand, you know, in a hot dog in your hand. Yeah, no doubt. That happens too. They paid to get in.

It comes to the territory. Absolutely. Before we get on, I want to talk to you about Darnold. I'm going to wrap up my visits to New York Times building because I forgot to mention, besides the wirecutter head highlight. They were celebrating the 1,000th round of the whirdle game. Okay. now. They had wordle-themed donuts there, Randy, which I'm not a, I don't eat as many donuts as I used to, but I ate one. It was pretty good. You a world player? You a wordle player, Mueller? I am sorry to admit that wordle has not caught on in my truck in the mountains of Idaho. I play

whirdle with the fish in the lakes and cricks and that kind of stuff, but no, my brain works a little different and I have people around me that play whirdle, so I understand a little bit about it, just enough to be dangerous. Kind of like sometimes our listeners or our readers. I know enough to be dangerous. So I try to stay out of that lane. No, well, while you're watching film, I'm playing the world game. Every morning I'm on a text game with my sister and brother-in-law. We compare our scores. I look forward to it all the time. So we'll get you in there. We'll get you in there. Randy, after I get these headphones for you. Yeah, I've followed enough to know that words with friends is about as deep as I get in the word games. And I do like to play words with friends and have for a long time. So that's a

That's my version of Word. I play Word with Friend. I play Word with Friend. I got one guy. The computer. That's me. I play with the computer. All right.

Let's get back to the Vikings here because, okay, I got to press you on Sam Darnold's signing. I get it. Donald for 10 million versus Cousins for 45. Shoot, you brought that up weeks ago here saying, don't be surprised. This could be a good plan. Let's you free up other resources. And shoot, now they're, they've acquired and that are picking the first round.

So they may have Donald. and then trade up and get, you know, one of these quarterbacks in the draft, which I think would be pretty interesting. Likely. Yeah. Like the way to go forward. But let's just stick on Darnel a little bit because I had to laugh a little bit. I felt like I think someone in the media or somebody was tweeting something along the lines of,

hey, the fans might be down on Darnel, but people in the league remain high on him. And I was kind of like, okay, I get it. You know, sometimes when a guy doesn't play for a long time, people sort of revert to the things they liked about him when he was coming out. But shoot, the last time Sam Donald, Randy, was in the quarterback tiers in 2022, I pulled the 50 coaches and execs. He was 32nd out of, he was one spot behind Marcus Mariotta. And people were talking about struggling to process.

The game overwhelms him on game day. Not everyone can handle the modern past game where you might face a bunch of personnel groupings and blitz coverage schemes and on third down. And this guy looks the part throwing the ball, but he can't decipher that. He can't process it enough. the football IQ just isn't there. You're never going to be able to put it all together. So my challenge to you,

not as the guy in the comments section, but just as somebody who wants to play at least devil's advocate here or represent, I think what is a big contingent of maybe our listeners even saying, all right, Mueller, you know, are you leaning on that talent eval of him coming out and just blaming his coaches? And now if it doesn't go good for him in Minnesota,

we're just going to say, well, the system or whatever failed him again? Or is there more that you can hang your hat on in feeling good about Darnold? Well, I hear what you're saying, and I can appreciate the testing of the results for me, but really the film from this season is what sold me. For the first time in this kid's career, he had answers in his backpack to make decisions that helped him make progressions, reads, an offensive line that actually protected him. The other thing is Minnesota signed him for one year as a bridge guy.

One year, as you mentioned, for $10 million. So as a ticket to be, would I consider possibly be in the next Baker-Mayfield to bet on himself? So there's a lot of reasons that I do like it. Maybe I'm nuts, but I'd buy that ticket. I think they will draft a quarterback, like you said. I think it's very early. And now with two first-round picks, it makes them be able to wheel and deal. I also believe in this.

I think Kevin O'Connell is a really good offensive mind. I see him with Donald, thinking with Donald what maybe McVe saw in Stafford. This guy's not Stafford, that's not what I'm saying. But that same type of reclamation project, so to speak, I think Sam Donald was in horrible situations before he got to San Francisco this year. But he played really good at San Francisco in some film that for me was easy to decipher for his strengths and weaknesses. I think the system will be similar in Minnesota

to what he's been asked to do in San Francisco. It's really the Kyle Shanahan way that all these guys are running now, really came from Mike Shanahan. I think everybody seems to forget, too, what O'Connell did with, after Cousins was hurt, really three marginal NFL quarterbacks.

They still won games and were pretty effective on offense for the most part. They had their ups and downs, but I think they see. see a steadiness. I think they see a path to a younger, more permanent long-range plan. And for me, it makes sense. And I can understand that there was pushback and that he was at the bottom of the barrel for him to quarterback tears. But I think both can be true. I think both sides can have something to hang their hat on here. And I liked what I saw on tape out of Sam Donald and thought that he

might be an option for others. And that's really what we just got done talking about this. That's all NFL team see. They see film and they sit down like me and I try to put myself just like I was in my office as a GM. I'm going to look at the film. I'm going to write what I see and we're going to try to connect a few dots that we don't see and do the research and come up with the answers to the question. And I think in his case, this was an easy one to solve for me and to make the connection to Minnesota just made a lot of sense. Okay, I'll buy that on the Eval of Dernold. I thought the a quarterback situation went a little more off the rails for after

cousin, but I know they had the nice game that everybody got excited about Dobbs, but it felt like those other guys by the end. I didn't feel as optimistic about what they were able to do with them. I believe they ended up with Nick Mullins, I think, through eight interceptions over the final

three games. Dobbs had a four-pick game. So we'll see on that front, but I think it is interesting, and also we're just at a snapshot in the process. We need to see what they're fully going to do. They're not just putting it all on Darnold, right? As we go into the season, this is just one move before we get to the draft and whatever

else might happen. Well, we should have a column to wait to see and just put this in the column of wait to see how it shakes out because I understand the pushback. I get it. I just think it's a ticket that I would be willing to buy just like the Vikings, I guess. That's all I'm saying. Yep, absolutely. All right, so that wraps up the Vikings.

Love that answer, Randy. The film is what led you there on Darnold. not just an old eval. You also had some good things to say about the giants and the buccaneers. Let's take a little look, a closer look at those teams. The Giants get Brian Burns. He was your number one ranked player in Free Agency. They gave up only a two and a five,

I think partly because Burns commanded a really expensive deal. Whenever we see a player like this change hands and it's not a first round pick involved, I think we tend to say, wow, the Panthers were really able to get him at a discount. But are the Giants were able to get him at a discount? But I'm sure the Panthers called more than one team. So why was the price what it was? Maybe Burns is controlling where he's going to sign.

Maybe that's a part of the equation. But was this cheaper than you thought it would be? Why do you love it so much for the Giants? Well, I think not only cheaper than I thought it would be, cheaper than what the Panthers had apparently turned down a year ago in that the Rams had offered two first round picks for him. So that was a leap of faith that I struggled to connect on how you could turn down two first round picks if that is true and then settle on a two and a five. Different people, some different people in the moves, but yes. And also Burns had more time on his

rookie on his other contract back then, but still, I think your points well taken. Yeah. I think Burns is like getting a free first round pick, to be honest with you. Yeah, he comes with an expensive contract. I get that part. But the skill set that he possesses never gets to the open market. Unless you're drafting first in a draft in any particular year, you're not going to find this kind of skill set. So I think it's a no-brainer for the Giants. I think liking his guy on the other side with Tibado playing opposite each other, I guarantee you Wink Martindale probably wishes he was still back in the building. Because now they can create a pass rush without the crazy blitzing packages that come with the risk that's associated with doing that. I'm not saying the Giants

their Super Bowl team. I'm saying they upgraded their roster, and that's what I said in a column, between this move and signing of who I thought, really two, really young but proven offensive linemen, once again, guys that I think are above and beyond the average free agents, they signed Runyon Jr., the guard, they signed Eleanor, Elamore, I can't say his name correctly, you can help me with that, the right tackle from Vegas. These are you. are two really good players. And I think a lot of critics want to focus on the negative of losing Saquan Barclay, but the fact that they didn't pay that allowed them to do some of this other stuff. So I think they've upgraded up front. They got two starters in an offensive line that

that is hard to do. And I think they'll fit in quickly because these guys are proven players. They are not learning to learning their trade per se. But they're young enough that I think there's upside with both these guys too in the giant system. So I love that. They reallocated their cap. That's really what the giant. did. They said, hey, we're going to spend some money on our offensive line. We're not going to spend it at running back. We're going to upgrade our pass rush. And by the way, we're not really done yet. We didn't sign McKinney, our safety, but we may spend some more money here at some other areas than we have in the past. So they had to wear withal to reallocate their resources. And I like that.

It's just a move that for me made them seem like they have more of a long-term plan than they've had. And now you hear the rumors about what they're going to do with Daniel Jones. Maybe, maybe not. We haven't seen the end, I think, of pivoting by the Giants to put the best team on the field they can for these next couple years. Yeah. And I feel like they almost couldn't have done anything to make Sequin happy at this point. That that situation was kind of screwed up. And maybe that's their own fault. And we can criticize that for how things were handled in the past. But to try to recover from that situation, I don't think they could have poured enough money into him in a prudent way that would have fixed the situation.

So he's an excellent player. You'd love to have him on your team. But once it became a little bit untenable and it kind of just gone sour, this seems like a pretty good recovery. And they did it in, you know, on their lines, right? Which, when you're trying to build your program, that's what you want to see. You want to see that you're getting better on being able to rush the pastor or being better able to protect your pastor or, you know, have a, have a solid front. So I do think these were fundamentally sound moves that put their roster in a

better position. I think to summarize it, they just felt like they needed more things than a top-notch court running back, no matter how good the running back was. They just needed more things to build this team to go forward in the right way. And I think they did that. So took some money away from this. Like you said, put it in the front seven, put it in the offensive line. I don't think that's bad thinking at all. In fact, I loved it. And that's why I had them as one of my team. teams that actually has done the best so far. From the Carolina angle, I really struggle with trying to figure out what their plan is. It seems like it's a little bit pivoting too often. We've thrown bouquets to teams that have pivoted. Carolina's pivoted a little too much for me.

I struggle to let good players walk out the door. They let Burns walk out. They let Frankie Louvo walk out. They let Jeremy Chin walk out. A year ago, I would have said those might be their three best players on defense. And now they're without all three of them. So I struggle. I wanted to finish up on the Giants, though. So you had remains to be seen Daniel Jones quarterback. They're obviously picking early in the draft. They acquired Drew Locke from Seattle. Do you sense that this is going to be a run-it-back with Daniel Jones and give him his best chance one more time? Or, hey, we're up there. What would you be leaning towards? What might you advise? I know, I think you've looked at some of the quarterbacks in the draft, you know, and it might

have a feel for some of them. What would you be thinking for them where they're sitting in this draft? Well, I think they're going to have a chance, even if they do nothing with their pick early on, their first first round pick, because I think one of these quarterbacks will be there. And now it may not be the quarterback in the top four, but they may have some love for Michael Pennix or Bo Nicks in their system. So they can do nothing probably and get one of those guys. So what they've done is they've given themselves options. I only read this into it. And I don't know if you heard this, Mike, it might have been when you were flying back. on Thursday night, but John Schneider did an interview locally in Seattle on the radio where he talked

about how they didn't want to let Drew Locke go, but Drew Locke had relayed to him the fact that the Giants had kind of promised him a chance to compete for the starting job. And that alone kind of told me that the Giants might not be as all in on Daniel Jones as some might think they were or they were in prior years. So I think there's a little bit of wiggle room there for them to have a different starting quarterback if someone steps up, whether it's through the draft or a guy like Drew Locke. I don't know he's capable of beating out Daniel Jones, but you know what I'm saying. The message was delivered to Drew Locke, if we can believe what was said, in a way that tells me, hmm, I'm not sure that Giants are sold on Daniel Jones going forward.

Yes, Giants, do you hold the sixth pick? I think their next one is in second round, so they could possibly get a quarterback in that spot, is what you're saying. Yeah, that's right. It's not Daniel Jones. Okay, the Buccaneers, you really liked what they did in keeping together a team that really could have fallen apart. I guess my question is, are they going to be the same sort of team coming back or can they be a better team? What are they keeping together? Even though I agree with you, it's a pretty good job of keeping it together. Well, yeah, they won the division last year.

They were, you know, a team that I think people were surprised at the end result, but they're a pretty good team. And I thought, Jason Light, their GM, going into free agency, I know he was fearful of this whole thing falling. apart and I think beyond his wildest dreams was able to keep some guys that were on his roster that are really good players. And this is kind of the other side of the Carolina theory of letting good players walk out the door. I think what he did was secure the floor for his team. That doesn't mean the ceiling has to be status quo, but for now he secured the floor. This is always going to be, to me, a team that competes for a playoff spot. Now they need to work on the second part of that plan. They receive.

a third round pick for trading a corner to the lines. I think they can get a starter there. That's a spot in the third round where you might be able to get somebody that's in your top two rounds on your draft board because as we know, nobody stacks their board the same. So that could be a starter. They're going to have to acquire some younger ascending players in the last month of this free agent period, I think, and that's still possible. I see some quality guys still that won't cost a lot of money. But I like the fact that they secured their own good players. They've minimized change to a playoff team, which I never think is bad. And now we'll see if they can build some value signings or a draft pick or two to get better in those ways. We don't

always have to sign free agents with top dollar to get better. There are other ways to improve your team. And I think positioning the bucks now and what they've done to make the next step was worth noting. And people are going to anoint, of course, Atlanta went in that division, just like last year it was the Saints. Hey, the Saints got Derek Carr. Look out. They're going to run away with this division. And now this year you can see, hey, Kirk Cousins comes to Atlanta. They're going to take this division. And Jason Light and Todd Bowles and those guys, Baker Mayfield and Tampa, are going to be sitting there going, okay. We'll see. We heard that before, right? Where are you lean? You lean towards Tampa? I do lean towards Tampa. I like what Atlanta's done. I like the

fact that Atlanta figured out that we're a slow plotting team on offense that's really going nowhere. unless we add some speed. And they did that. They signed Darnell Moody, the receiver from the Bears, who's really explosive, I think, is not near as good now as he will be when we're sitting here a year from now. I think he's potentially a breakout player next year. He struggled with the offense in Chicago. We all know what's happened there.

I think he's in a much better position. One thing that's underrated about Kirk Cousins is his deep ball. He throws a really good deep ball. I think Mooney will be used better and be more productive because of it. We're going to talk about a couple of these later trades. They actually made a trade in sending Desmond Ritter to the Arizona Cardinals the other day. They get another speedy, fast weapon, Rondell Moore in return, that they might be able to use it in a way that they can get the ball in his hands. And again, add speed and explosiveness.

The problem with Atlanta was that they have good players, but they're just not, they can't score from way out. And they never gave anybody a reason to defend them different. So they always saw a crowded box. They always saw people not fearful of perimeter weapons running by them. And you get defended different when you add some speed. And I think that's one thing the Falcons have done that should be looked at and would be fun to watch. I think they're super interesting because of that reason. And it's like, don't forget, they got B. John Robinson, who was spectacular talent,

but we didn't really see it fully in bloom all the time last season. he could have a huge year for them this year, and we're not even really fully talking about him. So I think they are an interesting team, but I'm with you that it doesn't guarantee anything. And we'll see with Kirk Cousins with the injury or, you know, adjusting to a new place. It doesn't go quite as seamlessly as they're hoping. So I think that NFC South will be fun this season for those reasons.

Let's go to NFC North, Randy. Let's talk some Chicago Bears football. moves because before we get to Justin Fields in that situation, I don't know if I've seen you as excited as I did yesterday when you were talking about the Keenan Allen acquisition by the Bears. And when it happened, I kind of thought, okay, he's in his 30s. He's been a sensational player, but 30s had some injuries going to cold weather. Where are the bear bears in their build to add an older receiver, but I have to reassess because your reaction, kind of like probably a lot of people who've, anyone who's been with Keenan Allen, like you

were when you worked for the Chargers, anyone who has been with him, man, is all in on him. So where are you on that move for them, especially the fit with them and where they're at in their team build? Well, I think their team build is to be determined. I think they've got obviously the quarterback solution. at some point here to be to let us all in on. But I'll say this about Keenan Allen. And yes, I was with the Chargers really for the majority of his career and was there

when we drafted him. He is a great addition for any offense, any scheme. Whoever the quarterback is, he's going to be that quarterback's best friend. The guy is always open. And he does it with a style. And I was talking to David Deshaun, our editor about this last night. He does it with a style who that is really hard to cover because he changes speeds in his route, and I've seen it in person where he may run 4-6, but you may think he's

running 4-4 at one second, and then the next second he's really running 4-7-5. And so you don't know, as a defender, really how to defend him. He changes speeds within a route that allows him to separate as good as anybody I've ever been around. The last guy to do that for me, Mike, was a guy named Steve Largent in Seattle. I was just going to say, you're saying Evers. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. He's changed, he changes speeds as good as anybody I've ever seen. He has a great catch radius. He catches everything that gets near him. I just think he's always available and the quarterback knows that. Ask Philip Rivers. Ask any of these guys who have played with him. He gets away from people and runs by people when you say there's no way on paper. This guy can,

he doesn't measure to those facts, right? But you watch the tape and you say, wow, this guy's, he's performed above and beyond. A lot of things get made about players being underachievers. This guy is an overachiever, but he's a really talented overachievers. So I love the move for Chicago. I'm not in favor of Chicago signing older guys. I think we might get to that point where they signed a safety that I'm not thrilled about on the other side. But in this case, I think Keenan Allen brings a lot to the table, both on and off the field for the bears where they are in their team built. I know.

And you called him the leading wide out in Chargers history, which I immediately started thinking, wow. I mean, we got Charlie Joyner, we got West Chander, briefly John Jefferson. There was a guy named Lance Alworth, who was pretty good. And now we brought up Steve Largent, who's an all-time great, one of the few players in the history of the league to retire as the all-time leader in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns. Jerry Rice, I believe Don Hudson also did that. So it's a pretty good company, a lot of respect for him and Keenan Allen, his ability to play the position. You know, we can sometimes get into too much detail over what makes a good receiver, but someone smart once said, can you get open and catch the ball, right? And that's what,

think it either. Yeah. Keenan Allen can do. He gets open, catches the ball. So that will be interesting with them. You did not like the Kevin Byard move. I don't like it either.

I know they probably value his, you know, leadership to their team. I think they're a little bit of a transition there at that position. But that one did not excite me. What did you see on film from him? Yeah, I'm in the same boat. You're talking about a guy who is not what he was a couple years

ago, this will be Kevin's third team in the last six months. I thought Philadelphia did right by trading for him last year and said so at the time. But that experiment didn't go well. There was spatial issues that Kevin really struggled in. It is hard. And you saw it this year with prior to free agency, all the safeties that got cut. Everybody got rid of safeties that made money, especially the older guys. The game has changed so much to where there's no more strong safeties, there's no more box safeties, there's no more people that can really insert in the box and be a factor because what's happened is offensive coaches isolate them and they find ways to stretch them out in coverage. And that's what I see is happening to some of these older safeties. They get caught in space and

they're dead. They just can't react because they can't move like they once did. Justin Simmons was really good at that, the Denver safety who was released and still hasn't found a job yet for the first seven or eight years of his career. Even he, who I consider still one of the better safeties, struggles sometime in space. And I saw Kevin Baird really struggle in space with the Eagles last year. So that that kind of failed. And so this will be his third team and trying to do that over six months. Didn't love that signing, that's all. But you're right, he probably brings a lot to the table in the locker room and from a leadership standpoint. Yeah. And I think the one benefit of that I will give is that when you have a defensive mind of the head coach like Matt Eberflus, who did a really good job

with their defense last season, there's a vision for who they get on defense. This isn't just a personnel guy. Ryan Pohl's saying we're getting them. This has to happen with the buy-in of the head coach, and he's going to be invested in making it work. And so I would say it was a little bit of a coaching disarray last season on defense in Philadelphia where they brought in Sean Desai, put him in a really tough spot where he couldn't hire a staff and then had everybody second guessing them for an office on down, I'm sure. And then they made a switch. They brought in Matt Patricia, which was kind of an undercutting move early and then we're eager to push him into the role. That was my perception. It was just kind of like, all right,

that's a great way to not make use of your players well. And then you add in Byard in the middle of the season on that. That is a recipe to make Byard probably look as bad as he can look, in my opinion. So there's a more coherent defensive plan in Chicago. We saw last year they got Montez sweat. It changed the defense. It was a piece that he was able to work with. And I'm not comparing Kevin Byard to Montez Sweat in any way at the junctures of their career, what they can provide. But I will give a little bit of benefit for the doubt to Matt Eberflus with the defense. And I will bet that Byard, if he's still there, unless they, you know, you never know. They acquired him doesn't guarantee he's going to be starting or a huge role there.

But I think if he does, he'll play better than he did last year at least. Let's get to Fields because I think there's been a lot of misunderstanding of what Justin Fields has been worth and how he's been viewed. Because if you go back to the middle of last season, people are talking about whether they should even pick a quarterback with the first pick now. Shoot, now people are wondering, can they get anything for Justin Fields if they trade them? What's going on? Are you surprised by it? Do you think there's any setterfuge here or what's going on? Well, a couple things.

I don't know that they have miscalculated the market. I think what happened since season end is once again, teams watch tape, Mike. I'm telling you, they get in the film room, they study why things happen. I know that shocks a lot of people, but they watch the tape too. And we said on the podcast, the early last season, that the one thing, Justin Fields had to prove to us was that he could get the ball out quickly. And that is the one thing that as we sat here and watched their whole season unfold, and I agree, a lot of faults, a lot of places to point fingers, Justin still struggled to get the ball out on time and to deliver it consistently in

an accurate fashion where a receiver could make a play. So everybody has seen that. You can also complicate it now with the fact that everybody knows the bears want to draft Caleb Williams. So at some point, they're going to have to do something with Justin Fields. So why would I give you something crazy to make that happen now when I know that as the more time goes on, the price has to continue to come down. So at some point, there'll probably be a life preserver thrown out to the Bears for Justin Fields. I don't know that it's going to be a starting job at this point because that music has stopped for the moment unless you're going to get one of these frontline quarterbacks in the draft.

I think you probably know who your starters are going to be. So I don't know who that team would be that would give the bear something to say, hey, let's let this kid even compete for a starting job at this point. It's probably going to be a backup role or reestablishing himself in some way. And that's got to be with the right system as well because the ceiling with Justin comes and hits you in the face when you see him still holding the ball and still not coming out like we know happens in the NFL and hitting these tight window throws that are needed to progress and be good at the NFL level.

So long way to answer. but that's where I think we're at right now. And I don't know how it gets solved. I would assume in the next couple weeks someone may make a secondary move to say, hey, the reward is way outweighs the risk right now. Let's do this. But time will tell. Well, absolutely.

And there were a couple teams where you could have seen it making sense as a backup. Like, you know, you could have seen, okay, if Arizona has Kyler Murray, would they consider bringing in Justin Fields? Seattle had Drew Locke leave as their backup. would they bring in a fields to be behind Gino Smith or, you know, maybe eventually compete for a starting job? But we saw those two teams make other moves. And so we saw Sam Howell being acquired by the Seahawks and we saw Desmond Ritter being acquired by the Cardinals. You've watched the tape on these two guys. What do you make of those moves? Well, I like it in the Seahawks case.

I think Sam Howell is a more professional passer than people want to give them credit for. And you probably remember this. Last year when the season started, I wrote a column on the young and up-and-comers quarterback for the athletic. And he was one of the guys that I was, frankly, really surprised at how much he had progressed. Because as people know, he sat around his rookie year. I don't even think they knew what they had until they put him in the game at the end and played well against the Cowboys at the last regular season game in 22

was their starter all this year. Early in this past season, I thought Sam Howe showed enough to say, hey, this guy might be projected to be in our guy for the future. Then, as you know, everything fell apart in Washington, the protection especially, no pun intended, and Sam fell apart from then on. He was not capable of carrying the system that Eric B. Enemy had installed, and they couldn't keep him upright, so he took a beating. I think by Seattle acquiring him, and I don't know that this is part of their thinking at all,

they may have a competition more on their hands more than they realize, because I think Sam Howell will show that he's a professional passer of the football. That's the one thing I have seen on him and with him. So that'll be interesting to follow that. I know they wanted to keep Drew Locke, but I'm pretty sure if you forced me into a decision, I might rather have Sam Howell for sure. So they've, to me, upgraded their backup spot and may have created a little competition at the starting spot.

With regard to Ritter, I think what Atlanta proved last year by playing him and benching him, playing him again, benching him, he's probably a bit of. backup quality player at the NFL level. He's not a starter. There's still inconsistence in his accuracy, still in consistence with making critical errors at the wrong time. These are the things that plagued him at Cincinnati as well. So those are still things that are in the back of my mind when I look at Ritter. In the cardinal system, yeah, it makes sense. They need a backup. They need a guy that's played some. The game's not going to be too big for him when he gets in the game if he

fills in for Kyler Murray. But I don't see that as being a competition. I see Desmond Ritter clearly being the backup in Carolina, and it makes sense. And they really gave up nothing to get Desmond Ritter. We talked about Rondell Moore. That's the receiver. I thought it was interesting about the trade, that Ritter goes to Arizona. Moore goes from Arizona to Atlanta. Just a couple stats with regard to Rondell Moore.

43 catches with the Cardinals last year, 67 targets. Nine of those targets came in a game against Adelaide. Atlanta. So it just shows that if you play good against the team, they put it in the back of their mind and they may come back to get you for that reason. Well, and guess what? Howell just about won at Seattle last year. Howell had a big old game, you know, with a bunch of yards and he had him down there at the wire. I mean, I think Geno Smith had to have a late drive to win the game where Washington, with their season kind of in disarray, would have won at Seattle. So that was another example of that, I thought, where when Seattle got him,

That's the first thing I thought of was there was a game in Seattle last year. Hal must have... Yeah. He threw for a ton of yards against Seattle last year. So, yep, those things do stick in your mind. That ever happened to you, Randy, as a GM? And is it a mistake to do that to read, you know, hey, this guy killed us. And so I want him now.

Well, I think it definitely puts up a red flag in that, is this the only time he did that? So you've got to eventually go back to the film. But it's hard to erase something that you see with your own two eyes. I can tell you that. So I'm sure it's happened to me a time or... two, no doubt over the years. Yeah, absolutely. A few hundred teams here I wanted to hit on,

and one of them will be Washington, the former team of Sam Hal. But let's talk about the Packers and the Texans. Their behaviors could possibly be construed as a couple of teams that have ascending quarterbacks who maybe their teams are excited about. They got a taste of the playoffs. and they feel like, okay, we've got these quarterbacks for a short period of time on deals we can really afford that are cheap.

These guys aren't making $50 million a year. They might be soon, but they're not now. Let's make some moves that might not be exactly in character for what we've done recently. So Green Bay goes out and signs Josh Jacobs, which is a little bit of a swap out for Aaron Jones. But they also get Xavier McKinney, you know, our top safety. So they get two of, I think, your highest rated players. in free agency this year, say goodbye to a few others. You on board with Green Bay, hey, is this, am I reading that right?

This is a team that thinks they're close and they're making a little bit of a move? Yeah, I'm very much on board with what they did, not because necessarily they had these players rated to hire, but their plan makes sense. I think take those two rooms in particular in Green Bay, the running back room and the safety room. They had some maybes at safety, some young, possibly ascending players that weren't ready to go yet. I think McKinney is clearly the best and kind of combines the Darnell Savages, some of the other guys that they've thrown out there at safety and upgrades it. Same can be said at running back.

They had Aaron Jones. You mentioned that. They have A.J. Dillon. Kind of a combination, two or three-headed monster in the backfield. Josh Jacobs does everything for them that all those parts can do. So I thought that was a great get for them. It took a maybe at running back with a bunch of parts and solid. solidified it. Now, he's got to stay healthy, but I think he really does a good job of solidifying

what they have at running back going forward. By the way, while we're recording this, Randy, Aaron Donald is retiring. How about that? Wow. Really? Aaron Donald, that's interesting. Retiring from the former St. Louis Rams, now the Los Angeles Rams. Wasn't this rumored a year or so ago, Mike, that this came out at some point that he might be done? I feel like we've, yeah, he's been talking about it for a while. Been down this road a little bit. Okay, yeah. But he got his Super Bowl ring, right? And had a Hall of Fame career.

One of the all-time greats, really, and you've been around some great defensive tackles. You were there in Seattle when Cortez Kennedy was drafted, and certainly some others over the years. Aaron Donald, though, he goes into that probably Mount Rushmore of defensive tackles, right? I mean, for sure. Well, dominated the game for 10 years at a position that's really hard to dominate the game from.

So he definitely fits the criteria. and you'll be talking about him in your Hall of Fame room in five years, right? Oh, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, we should waive the five-year period for him. So that's an interesting move for the Rams too. I mean, that changes their team, changes their defense. He was really the only guy in that defense last year who was earning any money at all.

And boy, he was earning it. Great player. But that affects them a little bit. So we'll have time to digest that and see what is going to happen there. But congratulations to Aaron Donald on one of the all-time great career. three-time AP defensive player of the year. He started over, I think he started 150 games. He's a Super Bowl champion.

Eight-time first-team all-pro. Ten-time Pro Bowl. I always marvel at the Pro Bowl thing for him because I believe, I'm going to get this right, Aaron Donald, right, the greatest defensive tackle in Rams history. But there was a guy by the name of Merlin Olson. Merlin Olson went to the Pro Bowl 14 straight years to start his career. Pretty good.

Wow. The thing that jumps out at me when you say in Aaron Donald retires and my GM hat is squarely on is how do the salary cap ramifications affect this? What has to happen? You mentioned his contracting the amount of money he's made. The first place I want to go is where does this money have to count now? And does this allow us to do something to fill that gap? Have we known about this being a possibility? And how does this money all wander through the salary cap system now?

Yeah, yeah. So they did restructure his deal. So to reduce the cap number and now we'll just have to see how all of that goes. Pretty amazing. Pretty amazing. So we have a little excitement on the show here. Let's get back, though, to some of the teams we're talking about. We've talked about Green Bay, you like it.

now, Houston acquires Joe Mixon, signs to know Hunter, Janico Autry, who is an older player, but a good pass rusher. They re-up with Dalton Schultz. What do you feel about them? Do you feel, hey, this team's taking another step now and is close and might get over the top? Well, I think they definitely had to make some moves to really affect the exit plan that was going on. I mentioned earlier losing Grinhard, losing Cashman. These are really vital cogs for them.

they upgraded to your defensive line like you said with Autry. I think obviously the back helps them. I mean, I guess Joe Mixon isn't what he was three or four years ago, but he's still really good and probably better than what we've seen there. I can't believe that he'll do anything but be the best thing that's happened to C.J. Stroud. So I like the moves that they're making. They're a formidable team.

I mean, they lost a lot of games over the years to get to where they are. But I think Houston's going to be in the mix for the foreseeable future. I really do. and I have trust that Nick Cessario has made the right moves here. So, yeah, I kind of like what they've done. They still have some good young players that I don't think the rest of the world knows about either. And they had some injuries that creeped up on them last year. They're going to get them back.

I got to believe that they're the favorites again for their division, for sure. Were they a team, though, just a couple years ago? We were questioning all those moves they made some of those moves. It seemed like they were signing a ton of guys, and we didn't really see a rhyme or reason to it. So you've got to give them some credit, huh? I think their roster was totally different back then, too. They needed volume. They needed to be able to line up.

So the philosophy was totally different. Now they have quality. Now they've got some quality players, and they're not just looking to filter a bunch of guys through. They're probably right now where, or back then, where Washington is right now, in that they just needed to purge all new guys,

try to change it around, and then come back with some more quality moves. And I think they've done that. God, that's just perfect, Randy. I mean, did you know I was looking for a segue to Washington? because you had said going into this process, look out everybody. The 31-100 team should be looking at Washington this off-season because the commanders are the perfect team that's going to turn a cold shoulder to their own guys

and they're going to want to bring in a bunch of guys from the outside. So look out. You might be able to find some guys that you value more than they do. And so they traded Howl and added Marcus Marietta. Oh, man, not exciting for me. They signed soon to be 34-year-old Bobby Wagner, Hall of Fame. great player. But if he's going to keep playing 99% of the snaps at this stage of his career,

I think the rest of the NFC East is signing up for that. They're happy to see that. Zach Ertz is 33. He's played in 17 games out of 34 to the last two years. Austin Echler is going to be 29 suit or running back. Not always a good combination when you're signing those guys. So a bunch of signings, they've got a lot of other ones. I just signaled out some guys that are older.

Is change for the sake of change, all this team needs, or are you questioning some of these moves by Washington? I'm not really questioning their moves. I do think they need change for the sake of change without a doubt, but I don't think for a second that all of these additions they've made are going to have an impact. You're not going to swing, you know, 100% on all these guys. I do see Wagner is bringing value to them because he's a proven winner because he has been able to stay healthy. He's going to be able to get them lined up on defense and kind of give their young guys some swagger. You put Frankie Louvo next to him who's running around like his

hairs on fire. I think that's a great tandem. I think he'll learn a lot from Wagner. I think that's a great fit. I think Jeremy Chin, if healthy, can be a Kyle Hamilton for them on defense, can do a lot of things. This guy a couple years ago was a really good player in Carolina, one of their best, I think, chips going forward. He just didn't, he got hurt and that's been a problem for him the last couple years. I see those guys as being really good fits. I like Echler, I think Echler, if teamed with the right other back, can be a football touchdown scoring, pass catching, third down option in the red zone, all the above. I don't see any doubt about that.

I think he plays bigger and faster than you would think when you're standing next to him and say, how does this little guy do it? I just think they have made some impact moves, in my opinion. Maybe not had to pay top dollar to get him. But I like where Washington's at. I think the amount of change they have, they can't have a number of change from where they've been in the past. So I like where they're headed right now. How about how in signing Marioota? I think Howell paid the price for having been with the

Washington commanders the last two years. That's it. I don't think you can say anything bad about him. He's paying the price. So sorry, you were here, got to go, we got to move on. The Mariotta deal doesn't really float my boat either. But I'm not so sure that we're going to have a starting rookie quarterback that excites the whole place come week one of the regular season. No doubt. They're going to make a little move there. All right. Before we get to GM Notebook, I wanted to hit on the Ravens a little bit, signing Derek Henry,

because a year ago, Randy, all the focus was on the Ravens opening up their passing game. They signed OBJ. Everyone applauded their progress in this area throughout the season until Baltimore lost to Kansas City in the playoffs. And then they took a bunch of criticism for not running the ball well enough. Mark Jackson looked a little bit like he looked in some of those other playoff games where he wasn't as good of a passer. And so now the signature move for Baltimore and Free Agency, to this point anyway, delivers a running back.

And Derek Henry, whose presence, to me, signals one thing. We're going to run the ball. This is a two-down back. He's not a big pass catcher. When he's on the field, there's a good chance he's getting the ball or it's oriented around him. And I understand you pair that with Lamar Jackson as a running threat. The defense really has to look out. But is this a little bit of a step back away from the evolution they made on offense last year with

Amar Jackson? Are they saying, wait a minute, the way we lost in the playoffs, that's not for us? And they cut OBJ as well, so we'll see what happens there. Well, I think they definitely have had to embrace change there. We knew it going into free agency. They had a lot of good players that were going to be free and probably leaving. They've done that. I think they released OBJ because they had built this part into his contract knowing he'd be a one-year guy.

I actually think OBJ is a valuable piece for somebody at the right time going forward. They drafted a couple of young receivers there that actually had stepped up last year, made OBJ his opportunities disappear. So that's a whole other story. My thought on Henry, we both know this because I think you mentioned it a couple times in columns toward the end of last year. This team plays from ahead more than any other team in the NFL. And when you get ahead, a big back like Derek Henry,

who is hard to bring down in the first quarter, much less the fourth quarter, can run the clock out for you. And I think that's why they got him. Very few backs, in my opinion, can bring with them this kind of swag, this kind of culture, this kind of physicality without ever playing a down. And he brings that right now because everybody's saying the same thing. He just brings a different feel and flavor to a physical Ravens defense that or physical Ravens offense that's taken some hits. I agree. They lost Gus Edwards, too, who I think was there Derek Henry and probably could have still been, but as we know, he signed with the Chargers. So nobody wants to tackle Henry in the fourth quarter. Like I said, he is a beast that people fear because of that physicality. So

this kind of stems the tide of all the change. I think he is a guy that in the running game can force offenses to, I mean, force defenses to have to game plan for him, to come up with a little bit of a way to fill the box differently, which I think definitely opens things up for Lamar Jackson. So I think it's a good fit. I really do. Would I have rather had Gus Edwards a younger maybe running back? But I see what Baltimore's doing.

They're trying to offset a lot of change there. And if nothing else, their identity has been kept in that they are going to be a running team. And if we get ahead, we're going to be able to finish out. out games like they did all last year. You know what came to my mind when you were saying that Randy, too, was last off season when they signed Odell Beckham Jr. And they paid him like a $15 million APY. And you easily could have said, hey, based on where he's at in his career, that's an

overpay. But what we talked about at that time was, hey, this was kind of a sent a real signal to your quarterback in your locker room, right? OBJ ended up serving a purpose for them that went way beyond his stats, wouldn't you agree? And I think Derek Henry is that type of player. Even if we can make the case in the film room that you just as soon have Gus Edwards, Gus Edwards being your guy doesn't move the needle in your locker room on your team the way that we got Derek Henry.

Holy, geez, we got Derek Henry. There's only one of those. And he probably has at least as much left physically as OBJ had last year. He has not fallen off. And he may in the next year, too. I mean, you know, we know what happens to running backs, but you really haven't seen that that was starting to happen yet. So I do agree this could be a wind in their sales type of move for them.

As to your point about closing out games, the last three seasons, the Ravens have blown fourth quarter leads to lose 11 times. That's tied for most in the league with the Colts and the Bears. But unlike the Colts and the Bears, they're in that position a lot, like you said. They've held a fourth quarter lead 41 times in the last three. seasons. Think of that. If we have this, you know, 17 game seasons, you're in the 50-some games, and 41 times they're leading in the fourth quarter, which is second only to the Chiefs.

So they're going to, hopefully for them be in that situation more. They're 30 and 11 in those 41 games, which sounds good, but the win rate is only 25th best in the league, because most of teams, when you're leading the fourth quarter, you just win the game, even at a higher rate than that. So that's a great point. We'll see if that works out for them. And if, they can kind of, you know, you mentioned too, you knew they were going to get rated. They have, but they've also been a team that's been very good at adding players late in the process and signing veterans to third contracts. And so we'll see maybe they can patch that together and not look as bad roster-wise, you know, in May as they do now.

I think it takes a little patience sometimes to see what the plan is, but the Ravens have had plans in prior years. And just consider when they signed Judevian Clowny, when they sign, Kyle Van Nuoy last year, it was after camp started. And these guys became formidable edge players in a defense that really was looking and struggling before they got them. Yeah, I think that's interesting to watch some of the teams that are sort of sitting on their hands a little bit more in free agency now early can still do that late. And your fan base kind of gets nervous in the meantime. But there are some values to be had later. And they've done a good job of maximizing it this year, a little bit more of a challenge because they've had a lot of staff turnover on defense as well.

but you can't write off Baltimore by any means. They do seem to find a way. A couple things in the GM notebook. Randy here before we wrap up, what do we got? Well, one thing kind of stems off what we just were talking about in free agency as a whole and kind of where we are in that process. I see more of these value deals happening right now, which is sooner in free agency than usually happens. I think some of these $2 million, $3 million, one-year type deals, usually we, in my opinion, have to wait till May for these things to happen. They're happening already and we're not even a

weekend. So I think veterans are worried about the music stopping and not having an opportunity. And teams have done a good job of selling these players to commit early on. And we've seen that around the league where a lot of these value deals are happening right now and I think will continue to happen over the next couple weeks. So it's kind of what we were saying. Another note I had in here is I hear a lot of as much positive comments as we've heard about the giants. I sure hear still a lot of chaos about the Jets. And we haven't even talked about our new vice president candidate yet coming into the world of the political criticism this week. And so I just, the Jets have been such a circus. I would love to be a fly on the wall in Joe Douglas's

mind to say, what is going on here? Is this really what I wanted? Is this really what I signed up for? there is so much chaos that happens with the Jets and the narrative by the media, I get it, is completely off the chain when it comes to Rogers. But I just, do we really think this can work, Mike? I mean, you tell me, do we think this is all going to come together nicely? It just sounds ridiculous. It evolved into a super bowl run.

And Aaron Rogers did put out the statement at least, you know, clarifying that he wasn't holding some of the conspiratorial views that he was alleged to be holding. But he didn't come out and say, this political stuff's ridiculous. I'm fully committed to being quarterback of the jets. There's no political stuff going on. It's like he kind of wants to have it both ways.

And by the way, he's the one who said, hey, to do this right, we just have to weed out all the distractions. Give me a break, you know. I mean, it's just one distraction after another. It does get tires. And I'm kind of proud that we didn't lead with him or spend too much time on him,

but I think it's perfect in the GM notebook and we can almost leave it of that. I'm with you on that. I think the GM notebook has been an hour long topic here, So those are the only things I had left that we hadn't talked about. Yeah, absolutely. We got a ton of stuff. All right, Randy, I think that's it.

We've had a great wrap up here to the first week of free agency. We look forward to what else is going to happen. Everybody can check out again, Randy's column on The Athletic, taking a look at these moves in the first week. It's called NFL Free Agency Superlatives, the best and most puzzling moves so far. I will have a column coming up early next week looking at another angle to some of this, stuff. And we look forward to talking to them. We're back on the weekly schedule. And before you know what, the draft will be here. You're in the film room for that yet, Randy? I am, buddy. Tape

your ankles. We'll be ready to go on some of that stuff soon. Yeah. Great. I can't wait to steal your knowledge for my own on that. Sounded about 50% smarter. So good deal. We'll talk soon. Thanks for coming along. This was the Athletic Football Show's Football GM podcast.