The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Key questions heading into the 2024 NFL offseason

Episode Date: February 19, 2024

What will the QB carousel look like? How do the Lions keep this thing going? What can we expect from the WR market? Robert Mays and Nate Tice discuss all of that and more as they share their biggest questions for the 2024 NFL offseason. Follow Robert on Twitter: @robertmaysFollow Nate on Twitter: @Nate_TiceSubscribe to The Athletic Football Show...AppleSpotifyYouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic football show. The athletic football show. I'm Robert Mays. Join me today. It's my good friend Nate Tyson. How you doing, buddy? Doing very well. Battling the second wave of a Super Bowl sickness, and it's been great.

But no, I'm actually doing very well. I really am. It's nice to actually get some nice sleep, some sustained sleep, some, actually a deep breath. I'm watching some college film catching up on some guys for getting ready for the combat. I got plenty to come. Okay, we'll be a future coming soon I'm writing about. but also just combine stuff just got to keep up with Dane. I put out top of top 40.

Dane puts out top 100. I said I had a medium-sized big board. He went to exile already. So that keep up with Dane. Prospects of Pros this week was very good with Dane's big board, top 100 big board. I'm saving it for my plane ride tomorrow. That's a good for. I'm saving it up.

I have it queued up for when I get on the plane tomorrow. It's my plan. I was trying to divvy it up a little bit better, but I was just turning it to like I was to talk about everybody. And Dane, you know, Dane's as well, you know, it knows everything about everything. So we're willing to go with it. It was great. Just pull the string on his back, baby.

It was letting him go. I'm so ready. Yeah, ready for the combine, but no, life is good right now. So good to be here. I also am fighting off a little bit of a post Super Bowl sickness. I think spending all that time in that stale casino air eventually gets to all of us. We'll talk a little bit about Vegas a little bit later. I wanted to do a Vegas food download because we had a couple meals together and we ate very well while I was in Las Vegas.

Really enjoyed that. So we'll save that for the end. As you can tell by the tone of this, we're getting to off season, baby. Jason and I did a little bit of a Super Bowl film rewatch on yesterday's show. That's it. That is closing the door on the 2023-20204 NFL season. So it is off-season time now. Just a heads up for context.

We're recording this on February 15th, which is a Thursday. It's being released on Monday because I'm going on vacation starting tomorrow. So if anything monumental happens over the next three days, that's why we're not hitting it on this show. So just a heads up to everybody. As you wait into this thing, we're recording this. A few days for a day's coming out. Just me flying solo on a pod. Yeah, I don't know, guys.

Pretty crazy, huh? There's Robert is here. Talk about the offseason stuff. 2024. I had to change in my Google Doc. I try to be very good. Everything is 2023 NFL season, 2023 NFL season at the end of every doc,

just so I can search. Yeah. 2024 NFL season. First doc is this, this podcast today for what I was prepping for it. So now you're making me feel shudy about myself because that is one of my off season to do list things, is just to be better organized and to have a better system for how I put all this stuff together. Because I'm terrible at it.

I'm terrible. People would be horrified if they saw how all my rundowns for this are collected. So that's a conversation for another time. We're going to spin this forward. We are going to look forward at the 2024 NFL offseason because it is about to begin. We're in offseason mode. We got players getting released. We got free agent rankings happening.

We got a lot of draft talk kicking up. So that's what we're doing today. We are going to talk about and throw. out our biggest offseason questions for the 2024 NFL offseason. We typically do something like this every year. I think it's a really useful exercise just to remind ourselves what we should have in mind as the offseason gets going. So I'm going to give you the floor, sir.

What is your number one question that you have entering the 2024 off season? Mine is going to be a team, maybe because they are just such an interesting team. I loved how you did this. I did mine like big, big picture questions. you did a lot of team-centric stuff, which is a very good mix. It worked out very well. And then the ones that were kind of, we cross-pollinated, like, makes sense because they are a team and player fit kind of stuff.

So that actually kind of makes sense. But this team is just so interesting because the quarterback, one, is always going to make them interesting as long as he is healthy and playing in the NFL. And that's Josh Allen. So this team is the Bills. How are they going to sort out this off season? What are they going to determine needs fixing? Brandon Bean has already said that he's not shopping in the high-end aisles.

He was trying to find, no, I'm trying to find it, the Madison Ave, like, metaphor. Like, he was like, I'm not shopping at the New York City high-end stores. Like he's trying to. Is the knockoff still on Canal Street? That was like a very early 2000s joke. I'm not sure if that applies anymore. I don't know what's on Canal Street anymore. It's probably a lot of high-end stores.

Would it be Michigan Ave in Chicago? Michigan Avenue in Chicago? Yeah. Yeah. That's all the nice stuff. Yeah. Okay. We'll go to a Midwest reference here.

So, but he already said that, which is what he did last. season and we, I think, banged the drum all year that we love those singles and doubles. And I think that's not a bad thing that you just want to shop into kind of the middle markets of the NFL free agency because I think you can find some what the everybody loves to say. Everyone's favorite S word surplus. You can find it with these guys. And that's what they did last season. I really did think that.

But then you got what's happening with Stefan Dix. That his kind of tail end second half of the year is really interesting. I'm very interested to go back and studying. Von Miller. What's the questions like kind of what's the next steps with Von Miller? Tredavius White. How do they add to their DB room as a kind of just as a whole? What are the questions with the safety? So you maybe hear my son there, Jack. But they're losing several role players, Gabe Davis, which fine. Dequan Jones, AJ Panza, Leonard Floyd. So all those guys that they have, those are huge role players for them that are really, that's a part of their strength.

So really just interesting Crossroads year, which we've hit on a little bit before, but I'm just, what were they kind of go about this little free agency, and then the draft is going to really indicate a lot of things the next year, the next two years, next three years. I opened up there over the cap page right before you started talking. It's messy, right? The very red number in the cap space column really just jumped out of me. I was almost shocked by how big it was. They're entering this off season, $51 million over the cap.

And there are plenty of teams that walk into those situations, right? The Saints do this every single year, but the Saints have these built-in mechanisms that they just keep kicking the can down the road financially. just going to restructure everybody and go about their business and just try to stave it off for as long as they possibly can. The bills don't have that many guys on the roster that have big base salaries that you can just easily convert. So Josh Allen is a $47 million cap at this year. That will not stick, right? They're just going to convert that whole thing to a base salary or convert the whole base salary to signing bonus or however much they can. Get that thing down by

20 million and keep on going. The usual switcheroo. Yes. This is where we are with elite quarterbacks. A lot of the time, if your owner is willing to pay, these elite quarterbacks are never going to see the fully realized cap hit. The chiefs have gone off and on with Mahomes, I think, depending on their situation that year, I would guess this year that there's a chance they convert his entire roster to a signing bonus to create a bunch of cap space for reasons we'll talk about later. But even after the bills do that, Diggs and Von Miller are the only other two guys on the roster with huge base salaries. You want to restructure either of those guys? to push future money, to push money into future years? I don't really think so. And this, when it happened in the moment,

and we looked at the Von Miller contract, he thought, okay, I understand why they're giving it out. I understand why they think this is their time and this is their opportunity to really push their chips into the middle. But when you had the guarantees go into that third year for a guy who was going to be, I think, 33 when he signed the deal, this was always the downside. Is that two years from when you signed it,

you are going to have to eat it. And he has a $24 million cap this year that they essentially cannot move off of. And he was a non-factor last season for the most part. So there are a lot of big time questions that this team has to answer to even get cap compliant beyond figuring out who they're going to add in order to get themselves back in the mix in the AMC. It's interesting. The Von Miller one is exactly it. You have to pay it.

At some point you have to pay it. There's times where it's like, oh, this guy's still playing at his peak or 90% of what we thought we'd get. That's great. But this is sometimes the downside when you make these types of bets and then you can see it. And on top of all the all field stuff, too. Like, that's just another part of a huge indicator of this. And the same thing with Diggs. Because you got him and the tail end of his stuff like last year once Joe Brady took over. Again, that's something that's going to be interesting. What better are they going to make on that? They're saying, that's a blip or is this the indicator of what's the come? Do we need to move on? Because then that

turns into, wow, we not only need one more pass catcher. We might need two more past catchers this off season if we want to be, you know, double-digit wins again. Or is this a revamp season? Is this an eat or our vegetables types of off season? It's just really interesting because they could be competitive. I'm not saying contender, but they could be competitive with the right moves. But it's like a lot of them just have to be, these little singles and doubles have to add positively as opposed to, like, they could really truly just whiff on a lot of this.

And it could really set the back, not just this year, but two years. Like then you're just going a whole new thing. There's a new head coach and all those types of things. That's why it's so interesting to me. the offense comes back almost intact. Virtually every single contributing piece outside of the secondary pass catchers Gabe Davis is a free agent,

Trent Sherfield is a free agent. That offense was in really good shape by the end of the year. So there absolutely is a world where they can bring back an offense that's still a top five unit. I think it's about the supporting pieces on defense. And again, those little contributing pieces they need to figure out on offense.

So they're in a fascinating spot. If they traded digs before June 1st, it would be $31 million in dead money. So they wouldn't even get any sort of relief if they traded him early in the offseason because he has a $28 million cap head right now. So some very important lingering questions about where the bills are. Let's take this wide. My first one, where do the veteran quarterbacks go?

Essentially, what does the quarterback carousel look like this year? I had four guys that I threw out just off the top of my head that seem like they're going to be on the move. And I think are still probably starting caliber quarterbacks in the least. somewhere in the hierarchy. Kirk Cousins is the biggest one. Where does Kirk Cousins go? Who wants to pay Kurt Cousins?

How does it align with a certain team's timeline? If the Falcons signed Kirk Cousins this year, they suddenly become pretty interesting. But the Falcons have the eighth overall pick in the draft. Would they rather just try to make a play to trade up in the draft? Would they try to, even if they sit at eight, are they going to be able to draft somebody? Is Pittsburgh in the mix?

Do they think he's that guy that they can be a competitor right away with a Kirk Cousins type of question? quarterback. So who feels like Kirk is the best fit for them is one of my biggest questions. Is it Minnesota? Justin Fields. Where does Justin Fields go? We missed our window to do the big, should the Bears draft Justin, trade the pick or use it on a quarterback. I think everyone has come to understand that they are probably going to move on from Justin Fields and pick a quarterback. So unfortunately, that tension is gone. But now the question becomes, where does Justin Fields go? Is it Pittsburgh? Which we've heard some rumblings about. Is it Atlanta? Is that, is that the move

that they want to make? Is it New England? So fields, and then the other two I had were Russell Wilson and Ryan Tannahill. So then the teams that you could potentially pair those with, again, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Las Vegas needs a quarterback, Denver, New England. So how that whole musical chairs get sorted out. I think that is my biggest question because it affects me, and that's where my mind is at right now. Absolutely. That matters a lot. They know a lot in your division too because the Vikings are involved.

Kirk Cousins evolved. Yeah, a lot of that. But it feels like the Steelers of all the guys you mentioned, maybe minus Russell. Wilson. They feel alive for Cousins, Fields, and Tannahill. I agree. Connections. Yeah.

Like they feel like in Falcons, I would say as well, maybe some of the same, some of the reasons. But Vegas is interesting because I didn't even think about Russ as kind of this move guy, but he almost certainly is after they betched him and all the things that happened at the end of the season, the contract stuff. But it's, remember his original list? Wasn't, was in Las Vegas on his original list? I think it might have been.

Yeah. Who he'd be okay being traded to? Yeah. That's interesting connection. I didn't even think about until just now. But yeah, Broncos. Broncos to me seem like such a move-up candidate. And I know I think we're going to talk about some of these guys that are going to be prospects and everything.

And I think that's what's so interesting is that there's a couple guys in this draft, their eye of the holder. And that's going to be, that's going to affect the free agency kind of thing, too, obviously. But I think that's what once these guys get eyes on some of these quarterbacks, I think that's we're going to get some interesting whispers starting to happen about who likes who. So let's transition into that. Because my second one is who actually wants a rookie quarterback in this year's draft. The Bears in Washington feel likely. The Bears, I think we've, again, you heard all the rumbles over the last couple weeks.

Seems like they're going to draft a guy. Washington is in a position to draft one. This seems like the right time to do it. It feels like New England at three is the pivot point. Does this new regime and new front office want to take the third quarterback? Do they want to take the best position player? They say, all right, we're just going to take Marvin Harrison, Jr. We're not going to think about it.

Or does number three become the spot that if one of these teams wants to move up, that's the potential pick that they could. you know, take a run up the draft. Is a team like Denver or Vegas at 13, Denver at 12, Vegas at 13, Minnesota and 11, do they call New England at 3 and think that's their opportunity to get into a position where they can come away from this draft with a quarterback? Yeah. And I think that's it because there's, I think to me, May and Williams, which is a tier above,

clear tier above the other guys, but other teams might think differently. And of course, we're in silly season right now that I'm just trying to weigh through and get to April 15th and to be okay and to just get up. out on the other end of this like Andy Dufrein. But they, but really just going, sorry, the rumor stuff is already just,

I'm like just like, come on guys, we're doing this. It's like, yes, of course we're doing this. Dane seems to think that J.J. McCarthy is going to go.

That's fine. And this year's draft. Well, I, I've come around on JJ. He's, because he hasn't thrown a lot of reps. So I talked to Dan at this on Prospects Bros.

And we, as we're talking about JJ, now that you fight whole season of film, one sitting, you know, four or six games, whatever watched and just kind of over a couple of days. and just watching him, he really grows on you.

And I could see the certain types of offensive systems and certain types of offense coaches are going to love him because of what he does well. He's a good athlete. He throws well in the move. He's got enough zip on his arm to push it. And he's got some balls. He's going to move in the pocket and he's going to throw the ball over the middle.

He's skinny, which is my huge red alert, but he's a good athlete. And so are you going to make a living running him like Josh Allen? No, but you can get sprinkled in once or twice a game, you know, get it in there. So I think guys like the Vikings, Kevin, Kevin O'Connell. Sean Payne, I'm a little interested in, but even like the Rams, Sean McVeigh, guys in that offensive system. Or Atlanta.

Because Atlanta is now running, Zach Robinson is now in Atlanta. So there's a couple different teams that it feels like they could be in play. They're going to love him. So that's why he is such a huge wildcard that. Yes, Dane and High have him grading the same tier. Dane's kind of the upper end of tier. I'm the lower end tier being like a late first or early second kind of thing. And looking at that, it's like, okay, half grade inflation.

Okay, that's top 20. All right, team loves them. That's top 10. It's like just like just that simple math. I know I'm getting way out ahead of myself before we get in this draft. But that's, but that's, this is the conversation that we're having.

Right there. So he's live. So if there are going to be four quarterbacks available in the top 12 now or four quarterbacks that we think that we're taking in the top 12, it shifts the conversation as teams look at the veterans, how earlier are they willing to take one of these shots. So it shifts the market and the available seats as we're talking about the position. So I think it's totally relevant.

Yeah, absolutely. And that's, again, it's hide the beholder. Like I might think this is like clear cut. Oh, that's a different tier. Everyone's going to think differently of these guys, especially when they sit down with them. So that's a whole wildcard. Then the comfort level of who they can possibly like trade for. Like there might be some guy on some team, some personnel guy, some offensive coach that goes, I loved Justin Fields.

Oh my God. I cannot wait. So they're not even thinking of anything else. And we don't know that yet, of course, or there might not be that. So those are, these are just all the wrenches and all the just very. variables you got to get in because these guys are such different flavors. Even if I consider May and Caleb Williams, Drake May and Caleb Williams in the same tier, there are such different types of quarterbacks.

So even that brings a preference thing. I prefer May. Even Dane prefers Williams. We have them in the same tier. So again, that changes stuff. So, oh, it's going to be insane. It really is. And we're not even at the combine yet, which is where it's just going to turn us into turbo mode.

That pocket of Atlanta at 8, Minnesota at 11, Denver at 12, Vegas at 13, that is going to be fascinating to see how it all unfolds and which of those teams thinks we're not safe we need to try to make a move up the board in order to make this happen and i would be making calls let's say you think let's say you're arizona and you think new england is going to draft marvin harrison jrison junior and they're going to pass on a quarterback do you feel like you need to be at four still or would you be willing to move back do you think that there's a tier drop with after marvin harrison jrison junior with the position players you're the chargers let's say you again marvin harrison jrison is going to be gone do you really have to draft brock bowers at five

or do you look at your roster, try to be realistic, and say, we could probably use a couple more picks? And is that a spot where a team might be willing to move up and try to go get a quarterback? And then the other wrench in the top 10, when we're talking about that position, I think, is worth watching. What do the Giants do? Yes. Do the Giants look at this, see four draftable quarterbacks in the top 10, arguably,

with the top two guys, Jane Daniels and J.J. McCarthy and say, we have no idea when we'll be here again. We have one more year of Daniel Jones. we like this guy, why wouldn't we just do it now? Right. And just move it. And now you have their transition plan. You just have one year to eat it and just move on from there.

You don't have to do anything. You don't have to give up a single pick. And next year, let's say they're better next year. Let's say they're picking 17th. You know that you have to move on from Daniel Jones eventually. Now it's going to be harder to find a quarterback. It's all dependent on whether you like these guys or not. But it still feels like this is a pathway for them to find a guy in a position just based on where they're drafting.

My hope is that five quarterbacks going like this. the top seven and that all the receivers are set there when the Bears drafted nine. That's all I care about it anymore. And then there's two premium tackles, too. Like, no matter how you shake it, it's another conversation like that, which one you prefer. And that's another thing. So, I mean, there's three, Dane and I talked about. There's three legit top 10 receivers, two legit top 10 tackles and two legit top

top 10 quarterbacks and then two wild card quarterbacks. That's an interesting draft. That's an offensive star power. It's a good year to have a top 10 pick. It's a very good year to have a top 10. Premium offensive positions, no matter how you should. shake it like and these guys are worthy of that it's it's it's super interesting and then you got some other guys are pretty interesting too at the offensive tackle and the receiver position it's it's it's

it's going to be really really interesting because a lot of teams are going to be I don't want to move off of this I can get this guy and this guy can change my passing game or this guy this offensive tackle can be my blindside protector joe walt for the next decade like you know it's going to be those that's another thing teams might just and if that's the case can the teams wait a quarterback can those teams in the back half of the top 10 and in the top 12 wait right this guys say oh no I have a franchise left tackle. I need to stick here and draft this guy. So it's going to be so interesting how it all shakes out.

The one that I also have circled. Again, we're going to have so much time to talk about this. Tennessee at seven, they seemed like such an easy match for a tackle based on their needs, based on how the draft was going to shake out. Now that they have Bill Callahan, does it go the opposite way? Where they think we can get the most out of whoever we're going to draft. Can we afford to wait a little bit? So how these new staffs affect the mindset and the strategy with some of all of this.

But again, we're going to have three months to talk about this. But it's already easy to get excited about it. Real quick. So Joe Alt from Notre Dame, who's one of those elite tackles, has been kind of mocked to the Titans over and over and over. Because everyone wants that left side. Brandon Thorne, when I did it, when I did it, everybody wants it. It would be awesome, especially with Calhahan there now. So now I've been picturing, I was like, oh, when Callahan got there, I was like, maybe they moved back and get like J.C.

Latham from Alabama, who's his 360 pound. He's built like a globe and like he's just a mauler in the ring. It's the strongest player to watch. But it's like, but he plays tackle and he can move. So but now it's like I want to see him with Calhane because he likes those type of guys, like just those oversized types of guys. So now it's like my head cannon has kind of shifted to that. It's like maybe do that Titans.

Maybe just straight back a little bit and take him out like 11. I mean, they could use a couple more pieces. It's not the strongest roster. So which of those teams picking in that range think, you know, it's not about one guy. We just need pieces here. And I think a team would be willing to pay because we've got some. premium players and premium positions available. What's your next one before we get too deep into the draft talk here on February 15th?

It's great, though. We're transitioning. I'm talking about guys I've never watched. It's like, oh, yeah, Joe Long. He's great. Hey, you send me the, hey, let's watch some film today. Let's talk about some film some of these guys soon. So I know you're interested in the draft, maybe a little bit earlier even usual.

It's because my team owns the draft. That's the reason that I care so much. You're right. Because all these guys are possible. Like all these guys are just answers and like possibilities. Another team one. Same kind of thing with the bills. I just think this is an interesting team.

This one's more positive though. It's how do the lines just keep this thing going? They have an interesting kind of pivot point type of season. Gough on the horizon. Sewell on the horizon, St. Brown on the horizon as far as contract extensions. Do they make a stab at DBs? Logarius Sneed could be a way.

One of my other ones was about the chiefs. Lagerius Sneed or Chris Jones, but that would be just stealing for Barnwell because I did shows earlier this week. he asked me which one I prefer. I ended up on Chris Jones. But yeah, it was a fun discussion actually because I was like, oh, yeah, who would I? We talked about that yesterday with Chase too.

And I, if you would ask me, I don't know, if you had, at various points, I would have changed my mind. But I also think that the development plan that the chiefs have had for their DBEs over the last few years, that's the tiebreaker to me, is that Chris Jones is just harder to find. And they've been able to develop guys like Legerius need consistently because Dave Merritt, who's their defensive backs coach, and Steve Spagnow apparently are just the best identifying and developing these guys every single year. Just unlocking all of them. Yeah. So I know about Jones because it's just like that positional stuff. I think also Jones doesn't miss time.

Sneed is pretty sweet now because he's outside and inside. Can Blitz can play man and can play zone. Why not both? Why not both? Well, no, they could. They could. Oh, no. It was a whole fun discussion on it because it was, yeah, I know they could.

They could thread that needle with it. But having said that, I would like Sneed with the lines. I think that would be. Pretty sweet. Oh, lines, back to the lines. Didn't need to add to pass rusher as well. Or are they going to do kind of more developmental plan with this? I think that's what they're going to do with their linebackers.

That's why I'm going to keep them out of this. I think they're really trying to develop those young guys. And then are they betting more on Jameson Williams? Or do they think they need to make a splash there or just add more something there? They're sitting in an interesting spot in the draft where I think there's some decent corner prospects available and decent receiver prospects available at the end of the first round. And those are two positions I can find and even kind of the same. type of pass rusher that they would like more of this high-end number two type. So yeah, they're an interesting spot, and I really think that they could,

another team that can nail it if they kind of do this right. And I'm interested to see what they do because sometimes they go off the beat path and how they do things. So they have $46 million in cap spaces as it currently sits. And that number is fungible. Just like as we throw that number out over the next couple months, that's before you sign your draft picks, your functional cap space and what your listed cap space are, are two very different things.

The point being they're going to have some financial flexibility that they can wield if they want to. And they've been pretty choosy in how they've handled free agency over the last couple years. And it has worked out well for them. We've talked about this a lot. Their patience and how steadfast they've been in developing their own guys has been very fruitful for them as a process. Do they keep going that way or do they sense the urgency and do they sense that they're close enough that now it's time to be getting a little bit more aggressive in how they're going about their build. It's going to be very interesting to watch.

Ben, Johnston's coming back? Okay. All right. Ben, next year. Is it another year after that? Like, because that's another thing too. Because we assumed that even last year. Oh, yeah, he'll be gone.

He'll be gone. That's a whole, like, bonus. What's the opposite of a bonus monkey wrench? This is just a bonus. I guess a good thing. Cherry on top. Like, yeah, a bonus charge. Yeah, that's what it is.

But also, it's like the Ragnon stuff is interesting. to me too because that sounds like a guy that's really, I don't know how long, much longer he wants to play. He has had a lot of injuries kind of stack up. So like his succession plan, because this is a strength of their team. So, you know, they have decisions to make on their left guard spot or both guard spots, really. So it's, again, it's another team that's in transition, but could be in a very good way because they have some really good stuff going on right now. A lot of contributors on their defense are hitting free agency, you know, guys that played bit roles Kendall Vildor, Jerry Jacobs, just,

guys who were role players within that defense. The Joe Jackson is the big one. Yeah, they've got a lot, most of their team is coming back. But Jonah Jackson is the big one on offense. So that's the one that they're going to have to think about. How do we replace him? And then what do they do with that receiver position that they kind of cobble together? Because Josh Reynolds is a free agent now.

So pass rusher and pass rusher guard and pass rusher guard receiver and corner. Are the other places that, okay, how do they choose to fill those positions? Right. How aggressive do they get in doing it? Yeah. So that kind of transitions me to my next one here. What do the wide receiver and edge rusher free agent markets actually look like? Because we do this every single year.

There are a ton of names available in free agency or set to become free agents at those two spots specifically. How many of them actually hit free agency? So the four receivers that you would throw out at the top of this, T. Higgins, Michael Pittman, Mike Evans, Calvin Ridley. I could see Higgins and Pittman being franchised. I would be surprised if they weren't if those teams didn't come to any sort of resolution before now and then. Evans, maybe harder to imagine that.

He's getting a little bit older. Do they just get him on an extension? Do they let him explore the market? What does that look like? And Ridley, I don't think he'll get franchised because I think the Jags, if they have to, will use the franchise tag on Josh Allen, who that's the other set of concerns.

The edge rushers at the top of the market, DeNeal Hunter, Brian Burns, Josh Allen, how many of those guys actually hit the market? I assume that both the Panthers and the Jags are not going to let either those guys out of the building. If the Panthers did not take two first round picks for Brian Burns and they let him leave in free agency, that's a tough one. I know it's a different front office now, but that's a tough one.

They can know what else to pay. Just pay them. Just come on. Come on. What are you doing? It feels, though, like DeNeil Hunter might be available. And that is the type of guy that you, rarely see become available as an edge rusher.

It's interesting. So we've talked about this. I said it months ago when we kind of shifted our gaze to the market for the first time, he to me is a very good fit in Chicago. And that's not just a I want my team to sign all the best players. The bears have $70 million in cap space and $55 million in effective cap space. They have a need at edge rusher. And stylistically, I think he is a perfect fit with Montes Sweat.

Like the combination of skill sets that you're getting with. with those two guys. So I think the Bears and several other teams will be lining up for his services. Well, he's the, yeah, one's a strong side D-N and one's a Leo, a week's idea. Yeah, so like that's kind of what, one, it's perfect exactly what you said.

He can be a four-down guy too. He just got funkied up this year. It was kind of fun to watch him. That, that defense is getting to be. But that's the world he comes from. He was in a four-down world forever under that previous Vikings regime. So drop, you can do all that stuff.

Yeah, no, he's very, very comfortable. The receiver one is, Mike Evans is so interesting to me, because it's just, I mean, he's at an interesting age, but always ever been as productive. That's it. Especially last year. And you get him with the, just, like, I don't know, I want him to be a mercenary and just be.

I would love to see him just lined up in Kansas City and just see how that would go. That's exactly what I was thinking of. Just as a football experiment, I would just love to see how it went. That's it. I mean, just, but he is, yeah, he's just a very interesting one to me because he doesn't miss time a lot. I know he's past 30 and that's always interesting, like, but he has size.

And when you start at running up four, four, three, you know, whatever you did coming in, you know, it might dwindle, but still a guy running a four, five, five at six four, two hundred thirty five pounds. So I, I don't know. I think he should just have such an interesting market because I'd be willing to give him that, you know, that kind of two year deal, you know, it's a splashy two year deal kind of thing for him. Two years 50, just like not even think about it. I think for the right team. That makes total sense. Yeah, for the right team. Yes, exactly. I was like, not for everybody, but yes, for the right team. So let's say that the receivers either get franchised, Mike Evans goes back to Tampa, Calvin

Ridley comes back to Jacksonville, which would not be shocking. You can see that happening. Then the receiving talent and free agency goes from all of these marquee guys to a world we're very used to where Hollywood Brown suddenly becomes the most attractive wide receiver in free agency or Gabe Davis. And then, okay, if that's the top tier, then we get to the KJ Osborne Kimmer K. And those are you useful players. This is where you shop, though.

This is where you shop. You don't, you don't oversign those. other guys. You shop here. I think that's right. If I could have Gabe Davis at $18 million a year or Kendrick Bourne at eight, it's probably not even a conversation. Yes. But again, it's more about how quickly the market could shift based on who gets franchise. And the same thing goes for the edge rushers. If Brian Burns and Josh Allen get franchise, that suddenly we're looking at Chase Young, Jonathan Granard, and Josh Uche as the most attractive guys on the market outside of DeNeal Hunter instead of these big name potential stars that are currently slated to hit free agency.

We do the song and dance every single year. Every year. But this year, it just feels like maybe one or two will slip through the cracks for one reason or another. Well, and another thing. So Dane had, it's a loaded receiver class. 17 wide receivers in his top 100. That's insane.

17. And all of them, I didn't bat an eye at any of them. I wasn't like, really? That guy's like, no, no. I get all of them. Like there. So anywhere 15 to 18, that kind of range. legit top three round type guys.

It's a loaded class. We each had four top 20 guys. I just had three top 10, four top 20, including Brian Thomas. And then we each had about four or five that kind of next tier. So that's going to affect the market too. Why splash on these guys? Why could just spend a second round pick on what might be

receiver 12 of this draft, but that guy could turn into the best one. Maybe not Marvin Harrison Jr., but it can be turned into a pro board. But you never know because it's such a loaded class. If there's that many guys in that tier, anyone can outplay that draft position. So I don't know. So let me ask you, because I've been thinking about this as I, as I start waiting into it. Let's say you're Chicago and you think that O'Donze might not make it tonight. Would you rather trade a fourth round pick to move up in the top 10 and make sure you get him? Or would

you rather trade down and see what you can get from the next tier of receivers? I would trade down a little bit maybe because you could still maybe get Thomas from LSU. And then Coleman would be interesting. He's kind of that next tier. Troy Franklin from Oregon. I would, but I think Adunzei and neighbors and Harrison, but he's in his own thing, are kind of, they're difference makers,

like, and the other guys are good, which chance to get. I know, so that's, yeah, they're close to a purple tier for me, which is absurd.

They're blue tier, but they're true blue chip guys. So, I don't know. I think that's a little rich. They've got an extra fourth, and we'll see what they get from the fields trade. So that's,

that's already where my mind is. That's already where my head's at. Is it what could they do for, that spot. But it is worth keeping in mind what sort of receivers are in this draft as we think about the wide receivers in free agency because they always have a relationship. Well, Charles McDonnell and I did a mock and we could save this. Charles McDonald and I did a mock and then both all those guys were gone. All the receivers gone. The tackles were gone. And it was like and so I ended up going with Bowers, but I was I talked myself into it. But that was just kind of we didn't do trades.

So, but that was just that's the kind of what, what happens? What happens if that happens? Like, yeah. How worried should I be about that picture of Brock Bowers from Radio Rost and next to Gronk and the fact that people think this guy's a top five pick? Should I be concerned about that? No, because his arms went down to his knees. He's a freak. He's, I hate the moniker of this, but the offensive weapon thing is very true for him. He could legit line up as an isolated receiver. Like, I don't know, he's like mini gronk. Or not gronk. How much do you think Leporta's season can or should influence the way that people are thinking about type? tight ends. It should because we talked about with Barnwell on our lessons of Final Four.

Those guys, how coaches are using tight ends in the run game to run legit runs, like, you know, the duos and the powers of the world, the pinpoles. That's loosened my stance on guys that are quote unquote receiving only tight ends. And but by the way, Bowers is a good blocker. He just gets, he just has lax size. Like, so he'll lose to bigger guys. He's not a bad blocker. He just have to hide them a little bit. But I think absolutely Leporta, how the Rams use their guys. how, I mean, how the Packers use their guys, they can, or even how Callahan is used in Joku the last few years. They can get them in better positions now and have him climb or have better blocking eels that now I'm not always going,

you only take a Y in the first round. He has to be an in line guy. Now I'm going like, no, screw it. These guys are on the field every freaking snap. They can play in the slot. Like they, I mean, just look at Kincaid. Kincaid is also too. Is how the bills revamped their run game and made him playable?

Yes, it's an adjustment, but I think it's worth the juice to squeeze now, especially with Bowers, is worth all the juice. But it's like, you know, if we're getting to lesser tier, maybe not. But like, if you have a guy that's worth beyond the field for 50 snaps, yeah, then you have to then you make those adjustments in the right game. The port of thing, too, is him being able to line up as your number one X receiver and some of those inbreakers and like him being the number one receiver within your offense on certain designs. I just think that the value of those guys, we've always tried to figure out, okay, even if we say he's a past catcher and the tight end market is depressed compared to wide receivers, so you can get one for a little bit cheaper. The

concern has always been, well, if you put a lesser receiver in that spot, you're still going to get better production and better results. But with LaPorteur this year, I think you could make a real argument that they were getting more out of him than they would have gotten out of a second tier receiver that you could put in those situations. Because he was beating safeties. Yes. You have to beat a safety one-on-one. If you can do that, then it unlocks so much. And it's so cool with the alliance because this is, Almond's around St. Brown is not great up from the outside.

He's actually pretty good, but he makes his living from the slot. So him and LaPorte have that two-man game. Yeah. where they that invert game and that it's yeah it's like they turn kind of their quote unquote weaknesses but also their strengths and that's why ben jonsonson's good he's like no i'm gonna actually weaponize this and that's why it actually turns into all these first down for them so yeah no it's it's such a i wouldn't say a newer line of thinking but a more comfort level that these coaches are showing and again this is these younger coaches that are more exposed to it that's all it is they're so they don't need

sorry i'm rambling because this is changing my football dogma like because it's like changing I love this so much. And the reason that I'm smiling is just because this is supposed to be like a table setting show for the offseason where we're asking some like loose categorical questions. And you and I can't fucking help ourselves. I know. I already just like, where did the time? I was like, where would that? Where could this guy go?

Where could this guy go? What if they drafted this guy? What's this guy's value? I'm going on vacation in like six hours and I'm going to be sitting in the whole plane ride thinking about how the top 12 should shake out. I'm losing my voice and I won't shut up. Because I just, the tight-ed stuff is. fascinating to me though it really is it's such an interesting thing so yeah what's your next one but let's i don't even know where is mine i got i got i got prospects of prosopos doc open because i was looking up a stat

i'm a loser i don't really i what else i have oh okay this is my last one all right what about this is just the what are you soundbite what are you the non-playoff trio of c teams the chargers the cardinals and the commanders what are you with chargers what's the harbauda organization going to happen. Who they go after in free agency. Are they the most interesting team of the offseason to you? Well, the bears. Yeah.

The bears obviously holds so many cards. Chargers, yeah, because they could quickly, not quickly revamped. They just have the quarterback. So that and Harbaugh. So it's like, I just think they have such, they have unique pads because they can blow it up if they wanted to.

And I think there's actually a lot of justification for blowing it up and just taking your medicine. But even if on the blowup side, do they go receiver or tackle in the top five? What does that tell us about them? Do they not blow it up? Do they try to move some money around and keep this core together because they want to be competitive a little bit earlier?

I just think that there are so many balls in the air with them specifically that I have no idea what the answer is going to be. So I just find them so intriguing as we kick this off because I think there are more questions about them than there might be for virtually any other team. At least we understand who the bears are. Right, right. Yeah, exactly.

And we could see the path to their answers. and that's, yeah, the first pick with the charges. And just who they want in free agency, because they went and got, he's getting his usual cast of characters, you know, Greg Roman's back and everything. So it's like, okay, all right. So we're doing that.

Is that good or bad? I'm not sure. That's what I don't know. So that's, yeah, so I guess they are one of the interesting ones. But the Cardinals, because the Cardinals could, you know, get a little turbo boost.

They get a little booster into this revamp, into this rebuild. If they hit this right, because they have a ton of draft capital, a ton of draft picks in the first round, multiple picks in later round. They also have for agency space, I believe. They have Kyler, who I thought looked very promising.

Just watching that Eagles game especially. Again, I've sung the praises of Drew Petzing. Just give him, I mean, drop him in a receiver from this class. One more pass catcher. Him, Trey McBride, another pass catcher. I love what the offensive line coach does there. You know, so get him some more talent with Paris Johnson and the other guys. Like, man, I really just interested in the Cardinals.

I think it could be a very frisky team next year. Maybe not playoff. I wouldn't say that. but frisky, and they could really hit the soft season. And then the commanders who are building one of the wonkiest coaching staffs I've seen, but I'm not saying that in a totally bad way. But, you know, Cliff's there. And I'm watching a lot of UFC offense right now.

I'm like, oh, God, man, you're back. You're back into my life full time. Let's do this. But they hire Anthony Lynn. That's interesting to me as a run game coordinator and everything. So what are you? That's what this whole section is with these C named teams in the NFL. Let me see here. So 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Washington has five picks in the first three

rounds and five picks in the top 101 because they have the trades from San Francisco. I also believe the Cardinals have five picks in the top 105. So they're picking at 105 in the fourth round. They have an extra third from Houston. They have an extra third from Tennessee because of the Will Leavis trade. My God. Oh, that. That's where it came from. Man, I've been wondering where that pick came from. There you. And I assume that's what it is.

It is. Pick 71. Pick 71. It is from 10. 6.71. And then they have 35 and 4. So both of those teams are going into this with a lot of ammunition as they need to rebuild their rosters.

And what the Cardinals end up doing it for is Marvin Harrison, Jr. there. If he's not, are they fine taking one of the tackles? Because DJ Humphers is getting a little bit older. They did a little bit expensive. So I agree. Which direction those teams take and what that. that ends up meaning for both the short and long term. I mean, I would assume that if you're looking at a draft value chart,

like total draft value coming into the draft, they're both at or near the top. I'd have to guess. Yeah, I'm sure. Yeah, because it's just day two picks, a bunch of them. So absolutely. I'm just curious too,

I have no idea what types of players they like. Because the scene last year was just this patchwork team where they're just working with what they got. Rondale Moore was in the backfield all the time. They were just trying stuff. That's why there's so much fun to watch. The defense just threw everything. at the wall.

We heard C.J. Stroud say, I was going to bring it up. Your favorite moment of Super Bowl week was C.J. Stroud talking about how cool the Cardinals' defense was because it validates everything about your existence. I lit up because he had a couple of picks in that game. And but also it's, yes, it's because it is so wonky and so well coached. It was like every time I watch it, like they don't have, they have no players, but they're

going to get there. They get some players. So that's why they're so interesting because that's what you get. If they can get two starters on defense out of this. okay and get a couple free agent guys. Okay, that's half the defense that we're really picking up.

So yeah, very interested. That's CJ Stroud thing was great because the other thing was the other thing he had. Oh, everything, really,

just phenomenal. He was so geeked up. As soon as I showed him, I was like, I was like, hey, we're going to talk about some exos and he was like,

uh, and I go, no, seriously, I got small 22 here. And he's like, oh, sweet. And I went over.

I was like, hey, so I'm going to show this touchdown against the Cardinals. And he started breaking it down. I was like, Oh, hold on, hold on. I was like, we got to turn the cameras on.

But no, that's great. That's great. And I go, so this other one against two men, I'm just wondering, like, how you got to that out. Like, that was really interesting to me. Like, and he was just like, yeah. So what I saw was the, I saw the guy lurking down. So we're going to do this on the video, but he couldn't wait to explain it.

And that dude was a machine. That was one of the most impressed. I've interviewed dozens of quarterbacks. That's one of the most impressed ones I've ever done. And it was for video. It wasn't like a call. Seven minutes. He had never met you.

You guys started recording at 10 seconds after he sat down. Never met me. Never. Didn't know what plays I was going over until 10 seconds before, 30 seconds before. We'll say that. And also I was just like, hey, what's to talk about it? And then he recalled every player, recalled the routes. Also was praising his teammates in the middle of the explanation.

And it was just casually doing it. Did the protection. He knew the hots and the protection. There's guys starters in the NFL. I just went in on Baker Mayfield. He was in the playoffs. Doesn't know his hot protection rules. Phenomenal.

Like, yeah, Stroud. That was the highway in my entire Super Bowl week. I'm glad we got a lot of video. I think it was the highlight of a lot of people Super Bowl weeks. I was giddy. By the way, I was wrong about the Cardinals. They have six picks in the top 105 because I forgot that they have another first round pick because the Texans traded up to Go Go Go-Go-O Anderson.

So a lot of picks for the Cardinals. If you guys have not watched the CJ Stroud video that Nate is referring to the question we did during Super Bowl week, it is available on our YouTube channel. It is excellent. You will get a lot of insight into how C.J. Straub thinks and why C. C.J. Stroud was the guy that he was last year. So please go check that out. My next one here, how do the looming

quarterback extensions play out this offseason? Because we've got four or five of them that are on tap, and I wonder how these teams are going to handle them. Dak has a massive, massive cap hit and an insane amount of leverage. It really does seem like DAC is probably going to be the highest paid quarterback in the league by the time this offseason is over because of the situation, him and the Cowboys have found them

themselves in. The discourse on that is going to be wonderful. But it seems like we're trending in that direction. Two other ones that may end up hitting near the top of the market. What are the Packers going to pay Jordan Love? He's got one year left on his deal and that kind of weird deal that they did where he signed that mini extension because the fifth year option, which was a coup for the Packers. If you look at the number, he's a $7 million against the cap this year. But I assume both the Packers and Jordan Love understand that's no one. That can't, that's That works. Yeah.

Situation has changed. So is that just a we give him $55 million and call it a day? Because I think it might be based on the season that he had. If I'm Jordan loves people, I'm going in and saying I want top of the market quarterback money. Absolutely. I, you, my guy had to prove it. He proved it.

This is what we want. And I assume the Packers might be amenable to that conversation. All the young quarterback or like look at the youngest roster. That's what he just goes. Yeah, look at the youngest roster. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Look at our offensive production last year with all these guys making $20,

you pay me $55 million. And then the last one, and again, this is going to be an interesting one for the discourse. Do the Jags just pay Trevor Lawrence? Because he's eligible for an extension now. So is that just a, you know what? You're one of those guys? This is just what happens next? Or is there a little bit of trepidation on their part because of what sort of returns they got out of their offense this year?

I don't know the answer. You never know about he land. So those are the three big ones. He's probably going to run through some Oklahoma drills to prove his toughness. Play through with like broken ribs, high ankle sprain, all this stuff. Yeah, I'm not sure about his toughness whether he wants to win or not. So, yeah, I'm not sure. Those are three guys at the top of the market.

And I'd be fine if they did. But I think that's one of the looming questions. And then the two guys who I think are probably a step down from that $55 million plus highest paid quarterback in the league argument is, what do the lions do with Jared Gauphin? what do the dolphins do with Tua? I have come to a place where I'm comfortable with the lions paying Jared Gough. The vibes are very good. He is central to their culture, all of those things. He's played some very good football.

If they end up giving him a near top of market extension, I'm fine. But what the dolphins do with Tua and whether they think he's worth that sort of contract, I think that remains a pretty big, important kind of franchise defining question for Miami. Absolutely. That one, I'm very interesting what they do because that, obviously, just the don't to affect that entire dolphins team that's been kind of all inish. So yeah, next steps. Yeah, the golf one, I'm kind of very comfortable and I think they'll find a fair deal.

I know Holmes seen Brad Holmes seems just absolutely adore your golf and it. Well, Brad Holmes seems to adore every move he's made. So it's so, hey, hey, I got it. Smoking of you got. I would, I would bring up those receipts too. If everyone came after me for what I did and they actually worked out like that. So, but I think the golf one, too, especially with Ben Johnson coming back, that offense system, everything like that.

Even if Johnson leaves after next year, it's kind of like he's the stabilizer for that offense, Jared Gough, I mean. And then you can look at maybe the succession plan. I think it's just like you don't rush it. And once you really have some nice exit plan, yeah, no, you keep a guy around like Gough around because of what he can do in that offense. We've seen them be a top five offense year every year. He's played at a very high level.

He is what he is. Like we know what Jared Gough is at this point, but he is more than capable of piloting an elite offense. They were this close. They were on the doorstep. So, I mean, yeah, I think, yeah. Just the other guys, we know what he is. Exactly.

I think it's the best way to put it. The last one that I have is what ends up going down with the wide receiver market and the top of the wide receiver market. Because we've got some guys up for big time extensions. So I'm wondering, is Justin Jefferson just going to get the Nicoposa deal or 10 cents over the Niposa deal? Because they have the same agent. And I assume that was. the conversation. And based on talking to Diana and other people at this time last year after

and Bosa got that contract and after Jefferson didn't get resigned or extended, that was the discussion. It's like, okay, that Nick Bosa number comes in. It's $34 million a year, five for 170 with 122.2 and a half guaranteed. That's the number. I want to be the highest paid non-quarterback in the NFL and I want to beat that. So is that going to be the conversation again? Right. And if that's the conversation with Justin Jefferson, what is the conversation? look like with C.D. Lamb. And are we going to get to a point at this position specifically, like you said, 17 guys in Dane's top 100 at receiver, is one of these teams going to look at these deals even for a 26-year-old star and say, you know what? I'm good. I'm fine moving off this.

I don't know about those two. Those two, I don't think so. Those two, I think they'll be back. but at a certain point, I think that we're going to see it trend back the other way. And I think we're going to see it work out a little bit better than the AJ Brown thing did for Tennessee. Yeah, or where the GM got fired after the last Adrian Allen off of them. No, just looking at the money too, but also, all right, Justin Jefferson goes, all right, I want that money. Then the Vikings go, well, it looks like we're getting a rookie quarterback because then. And I think they understand that. And I think they know that at some point in the next couple of years, they'll have to get out to a rookie quarterback contract.

Absolutely. I just wonder, would they be okay for this year specifically, bringing Kirk back for one year, drafting a quarterback, and having that be the succession plan where you can let that guy sit for a year? Because I think they would be open to that if the money worked out in the right way. The Vikings are patient. Like, that's the thing. So that's why even the sometimes I feel like we're always like, this is what they ideally should do. Like that's always a possibility, I think, with this Vikings regime, even just head coach and GM.

I mean, usually we're talking about GM and stuff like that, but especially the head coach. Like they're willing to try stuff or be the patient team or look down these avenues. So that's why it's what you just said. It's like, I could see them go a rookie quarterback. I can see them bring him back Kirk or I can see them doing both or whatever door number five is, I guess, would be the other one. How the Cousins thing plays out and whether they want to pair that with a rookie quarterback. I think that that we've seen a workout so many times recently. There seems to be value in sitting.

And I, based on my understanding of that situation, I think they know that too. They've seen that work out in a bunch of different places. So is that the model that they're going to end up chasing and how does Jefferson's deal fit into that? So those are my big ones. What does the quarterback carousel look like? Who's actually after a rookie quarterback?

How do these looming quarterback extensions work out on both sides? What do the wide receiver and edge rusher free agent markets look like? And how do teams end up handling the top of the wide receiver market with those extensions this off season? Those are my big ones as we get set to kick this off. So my was bills. What are you doing? Lions, what are you doing?

CCC teams. Cool, call them collected. Like the Romans. They are the other ones. And then also kind of, yeah, the receiver and quarterback carousel, brouhaha, extravaganza of the offseason. It's going to be fun. It's good.

Premium positions, man. It's going to be a really fun month. It's going to be really fun a couple months as we get up toward the draft. Last thing, before we get out of here, let's talk about some food. I had four meals, four like big time meals in Vegas. We went to Lotus of Siam on Tuesday when we were there, which is a local Thai place that recently was reopened. There was a fire.

Yeah, that threw me off. So they had a new location. So that threw me off. That place has been a staple for years in Vegas. It was very good. Trying to figure out what my favorite thing was there. I loved the short-ripped basimon curry. I thought that was delicious.

And then seafood curry that we got was also very, very good. So both of those duck for me. Oh, yeah, and the duck was great. The crispy duckery was also fantastic. Yeah, that was delicious. So we did that Wednesday night or Thursday, Tuesday night. Wednesday, we went to a place called Esther's Kitchen, which is a local pasta spot. They also have pizzas.

They've got plenty of stuff on the menu. But what we did is, I love places like this. They had just a bread and fixings section on the menu. So you can get two loaves of sourdough bread, and I think it came with eight different dips. there's like a basil ricotta there was like an anchovy dip a nidia sausage and about three or four other ones with just two loaves of bread so we did that and we got seven pastas i want to say among all of us and just split them excellent if you were in Vegas that was my favorite meal i had all week highly highly recommend checking that out it's in the arts district in Vegas which is a cool

little area that we saw a little bit no i'm kidding but But if that's, if you want to hang out in Vegas and you want a little reprieve from the strip and have just a nice little afternoon, that arts district area is great. Which is also where we got pizza on Saturday. You took us to Good Pie, which is your like local pizza spot in that area. The pizza was unbelievable. Oh. Unbelievable. It was so good.

We tried all. There was to say like a thin crust New York style. There was a grandma style pizza and then a Detroit style pizza. We got all of them. There was one with pepperoni and jalapeno and like hot. honey on it that was delicious. Sausage, yeah, that was great. But the Detroit one with the stuffed chicken parm.

So it was like a stuffed chicken parmesan Detroit-style pizza was absolutely insane. That I would have eaten two of those, like two whole pizzas of that. That was so, so good. And I just went with, I, oh, the good, I think it's just called the good hot is the sausage one. Yeah. And then fried ravioli. How was the salad? You guys had the salad.

Salad was good. I wanted to put a vegetable in my body because it had been about three days since I I put a raw vegetable in my body. No, Good Pie doesn't have Twitter, and it really annoys me because I always want to tag them because I send so many people there. And it's such a good spot. And they have a spot right next to it. And I always blank, it's a number. But the owner's wife, she's more of a bread specialist at Baker.

And she just opened up her spot two doors down. And it has the best bread, baguettes, anything, any pastry you can think of. It's a number of something like 1668 or something like that. 1492. No, something like that. But it's, it's, that one's fantastic. That whole area, though, the arts district is great. A lot of cool bars there.

A lot of, like, just, yeah, it's what you think the arts district would look like. But it's in Vegas. It's near downtown, which is Fremont, what it was what we call downtown and somewhat near there. We, us Vegas locals, I'm six years now. So I could say that now. But no, fantastic spot. I'm glad you guys like goodbye. Because I take everyone there and I never go like, hey, this is the best pizza I've had outside

New York. I was just, I just don't say anything. It was fantastic. It was really, really good. I love spots like that where they have different kinds, too, where you can have a little bit of everything because I love the variety. So the fact that we got three different kinds of pies was great. And then the other dinner we went to, we went to Bizarre Meat, the Jose Andres Stac House in the Sahara.

It was one of the best stakes I've ever had. It was phenomenal. I'm not a huge steakhouse guy. I enjoy steak, but to me it's just not the most interesting food. I would rather go to a place like Esther's kitchen and get seven pastas and be able to try them all. We had a few different little small plates things at Bazaar meat, but the steak that we had, it was half Wagyu, half Black Angus, I think, like the combination. And they smoke them for a long time as part of the process. And it tasted like bacon.

It was truly one of the best pieces of steak I've ever put in my mouth. So if you're looking for a fantastic steakhouse meal, that is just a cut above, the bizarre meat was very good. So I highly recommend that. A cut above. Yeah, right? They have a cotton candy foie gras thing. So it's like cotton candy around like a bite of foie gras. They put on a stick.

That was also very good. So if you're looking for a fun, let's get after it sort of meal, I would highly recommend going there. Which one get after it? I felt like the carbol loaded Esther's kitchen is pretty good right there. Oh, yeah. I definitely hate way too much last week. There's so much good food in Vegas. I honestly am sad that we couldn't try like 10 more places.

And I'm planning on trying to go back with my wife and just doing a food trip there. I had an Uber driver recommend me three spots. I knew two of them. I hadn't been, though. And I was like, all right, well, I'm going to trust this guy. He actually kind of knew what he was talking about. And he gave me another one. And I'm going to try it this week.

So I can't wait. Don't even know what's called right now off top of my head. But I have done Google Maps saved. But also, if you go to the Chinatown area, you can get great Asian food in general, any type Chinese Japanese. I wish we would have done that a little bit more because I'd heard really good things about. Highly recommend that for people. I have people always ask you at which spot. I'm like, I don't know, I'll stumble upon one.

It's good. It's kind of just no matter where you go there. Great food. I typically wouldn't care. I would go eat my ass off in Vegas, have a couple weeks at home, work out, eat some salad. The problem is I'm going to Mexico City tomorrow, and then my wife and I are spending five days in Oaxaca, and our only plan is to eat. Is it good to Mexico City? I haven't heard.

I haven't heard. It's phenomenal. It's going to be a tough bounce back for me after that week in Vegas. So I'm going to come into the combine. I'm going to be rolling in and, like, the biggest sweat. you've ever seen. I'm going to wrestle or workout this next week. I'm wearing sweat bags.

That's what I should do. I wish I had. Because I know how the combine is and I'm just going to be eating my ass off there. Oh, man, Mexico City is where I had my best steak I've ever had in my entire life. It was Mexico City. The night before we played the Texans when in 2016. Oh, my God. That was a long time ago.

It is going to be an unhealthy couple weeks, but that's okay. We deserve it after the season. That is all we got, guys. I will be gone for the rest of this week. like I mentioned, I'm going on vacation. We will still have a slate of shows coming your way, though. We've got prospects to pros. We've got football GM.

So please be on the lookout for those at their regularly scheduled times. And then we'll be back with a full slate when we get into Combine Week. So not long before we all gather in Indianapolis and before we really, really kick off the 2024 off season. Until then, really appreciate you guys listening. We'll talk to you soon. This was the athletic football show.