The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Kirk Cousins to the Falcons, the Eagles' spending spree, Tee Higgins' trade request, and more from day one of NFL free agency

Episode Date: March 11, 2024

Well that was quite the first day of free agency, huh? Oh, excuse us. It was quite the first day of the tampering period. Kirk Cousins to the Falcons! Saquon Barkley, and lots of others, to the Eagles! Guards and defensive tackles cashing in! Tee Higgins wants out! And a whole lot more. Robert Mays and Nate Tice break it all down on this episode of The Athletic Football Show.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. It's the athletic football show. I'm Robert Mays. Join me today. It's my good friend Nate Tyson. How you doing, buddy? I'm doing wonderful. We had Tampa Paluza.

All the stars came out. We had Les. We had Howie. We had Trent. All the guys, all the guys came out today. So it was a good day one. Rockest day one. No, so I'm doing wonderful.

It's a good, good start to free agency. I'm glad we get to do these live. heat of it. There's a lot going on. I don't know if I'm just misremembering how it's gone the last couple years when we did this. It seems like there's more happening. And as I said earlier today, a lot going on. I, there's so much happening. My nerves are so afraid. It's partially because I've had I'm just Ken stuck in my head since like 10 p.m. last night. And so there's, there's just a lot happening to my synapses right now with all of the stimuli from today. So if I just go off the rails at any point know that it's because I've been enduring a lot over the last 20 hours or so.

How is structuring the notes? I was fine. I don't even know how I managed to do it. Everything was rolling in at different times. So if this feels all over the place, it's because this day has been all over the place. But we are going to start with the biggest domino that we were all waiting to fall. I mean, this is the discussion at the Combine last week. This was going to be the biggest kind of moment that happened early in free agency to dictate

how the quarterback market will go, how certain teams decided to spend. and that is Kirk Cousins officially landing with the Atlanta Falcons on a four-year deal worth $180 million per Tom Bellisero. $100 million guaranteed, $50 million signing bonus, as Diana said, $45 million per year in 2024 and 2025. This is a massive deal for Kirk Cousins, but not necessarily a surprise. It's a natural markup on the Derek Carr deal. It's in the same range as the Daniel Jones deal. And this is why it was always going to be difficult.

for the Vikings to keep him because there was going to be some team that was looking at a short-term window and was needing an upgrade that was willing to go to this place for Kirk Cousins. And Atlanta absolutely made sense when that market started to form here over the last few weeks. Yeah, the car deal, his previous deal, you know, part duh. Like this just feels like his last extension, just again, you know, with some natural market inflation, you know, with the cap going up and everything. And I think Greg Rosenthal from NFL Network put it best where he said essentially the Daniel Jones deal with a little bit of inflation. And then that little $10 million sweetener. It's like a two year deal plus one. Like it's a two plus one kind of deal.

So when you break it down that way, yeah, this makes total sense. That's the exact. He is going to get whatever the cap of this market was or the top of this market. And that's what it is. It's the natural progression of the last one he signed. So this is a great pick for him because of the young talent, the Falcons. have with a workable offensive line as well, which I'm sure Kirk Cousins has a lot of experience with not so workable offensive lines in Minnesota. Had a decent one last year, though.

Decent weapons with Drake London, Kyle Pitts, hopefully fully healthy, Bejohn Robinson, it should be a strong run game, the play action, the offensive system. There is no translation needed. This is the offense he's been in for his entire life as a professional. So I think it makes total sense and the money makes total sense. And it makes sense for the Falcons as well, wanting that type of upgrade and where they're selected in the draft. This makes all the sense in the world. Like you said, Zach Robinson is their offensive coordinator. It comes from Los Angeles, obviously, where Kevin O'Connell came from. So it's going to be shared language, shared ideas. It's going a very easy transition for him. My only thought about this is now you're going for the immediate

upgrade route rather than the theoretical upside route in the draft. You had the eighth overall pick. Could you have been in range to go get the fourth quarterback or trade up for one of these other quarterbacks, them not deciding to do that lets me into their thinking that they didn't love those guys, maybe beyond that first tier of quarterbacks. And so by going to get Kirk here, you're giving yourself a two-year window, essentially, to maximize the savings you're getting on some of those young draft picks. Cal Pitts is still cheap. Drake London's still cheap.

So now when you're going to have to eventually pay those guys, you're probably going to have to transition to a cheaper quarterback. Whether you can do that if you're a borderline playoff team and you're picking in the 20s, that's the existential question all of these teams have to face when you're going for the short term upgrade. It's going to be hard to pivot away from this, but it doesn't seem like that's the most important thing on the Falcons agenda. And yeah, Chicago gets a decent amount of construction. I know we do in Las Vegas is, you know, building new off ramps are expensive. And this is, that's what you're doing. You're just building yourself off ramps every year going like, okay, in two years,

we'll, we'll make sure. Is there a guy we can transition to or we do one-on-one? You know, like with an old We got a young guy. Okay, but at least we give herself space for a season or two and just have an answer. They already have back on the roster. You know, it's like, so it's like, okay, we could just get off the carousal that we see all these other teams getting on. That's what, that's the price you have to pay for that. It seems like the best case scenario here is what's going on with Jared golf in Detroit, right? Golf is only a $30 million a year for the last couple years, but we've obviously had a huge $50 million-dollar-ish spike in the cap.

So you're in a general similar range where it's, you know, the back half of the top 10 in terms of quarterback pay. And that's worked out well for the Lions, but that's a tough needle to threat. You need really good offensive coaching. You need to have guys put very much into the best positions. You need to get the most out of your cheap skill position talent or your cheap pieces, period, the way that the Lions have. So I think that if you're trying to find a model that's put you that where the Falcons, if they want to, the team that's in a position where the Falcons want to go, I would say it's what. has happened with the Lions here over the last couple of years in acquiring Jared Goff in the direction they've gone from there.

Yeah, they're a little further along than when golf got there. Yeah, for sure. Absolutely. Yeah. So this is more like this year of the Lions and golf and everything. I think because that's what the Falcons obviously want to push. You don't sign Kirk Cousins to kind of go like, yeah, 9 and 8, 10 and 7. No, this is the push and get a top two seed, you know, a host and a playoff game.

You know, this is the type of thing you want to do. The question now, now what for Minnesota? you missed out, which direction are you ultimately going to go? Diana reported that Sam Darnold could be a bridge target for them, which makes sense. If they're not going to go for the guy who's going to be a needle mover in the way the Kirk is, you might as well shop all the way at the other end of the market if you want a stop gap guy. But eventually, they're going to need to go get a quarterback. They're going to need to go get a long-term answer at quarterback.

Jefferson, Hawkinson, Derisaw, all those guys that are 25 to 27 right now. you're going to want the guy who is your plan, your long-term plan, in there sooner rather than later. So in your mind, does them missing out on cousins potentially give them even more urgency to try to come away with somebody in the top 10 of this year's draft? It's nice that they have a natural stopgap in Darnold, I guess. If they like a guy, though, I think they commit to it. If they like, if they think they have an avenue to even get like a Drake made, now we're just talking about J.J. McCarthy or Jane Daniels, you know, the non-Kalb guys. if they feel like they have an avenue to get into that range. And I know it's silly season right now.

And it just seems as you don't know who everybody likes, but everything, everyone is, you know, nagging Drake May right now like a bad pickup artist. So that makes me think that he's everybody's guy, you know, with everything like going on. But getting into that position, yeah,

if they like the guy, if they don't, then I don't know. I've been a big believer in just like, don't do it just to do it. You know, that's why you sign the Darnolds of the world. Maybe you get a Gino out of that.

You know, you know, that's the new term for that maybe, oh, shoot, or a Baker kind of situation. Like, that's the dream. If not, okay, well, then we get back to it next year and we have a workable contract with Darnold and, you know, maybe we get through this season, just go through that. So I don't think they have to, like absolutely have to if they think they have a plan with these other guys, these other guys being Darnold or just whatever have you, Jacobi Bresset of the world.

I'd never want you to take one just to do it. But my concern always with that, well, you know, we'll find workable quarterback play. it. Let's say Donald's pretty good. And then you are 10 and 7 and you're picking 18th again in a bad quarterback. Again, it just puts you in a spot where it's going to be harder and harder to find your guy. This is a, again, the existential question facing a lot of these teams that are having to find imperfect answers at quarterback. And this is always, it was always going to be the case with Minnesota when they kept rolling with Kirk. It was always going to be difficult to find that off ramp in the terms that you used. And that seems to be exactly where they are again. So how they come out of this offseason.

quarterback-wise is going to be one of the next big questions that we're going to have to answer. Let's stick with the quarterbacks very quickly here. Russell Wilson signs a one-year, $1.2 million vet minimum deal to stick with the Pittsburgh Steelers. We talked about this last week and whether or not this made sense and you don't love the fit with Arthur Smith. But it just seems like they're willing to bet on the value here. It's $1.2 million who gives a shit. And I guess I kind of understand that. But at the same time, my reaction to this, even I hate that I'm doing this.

This feels like something like Bill Simmons would have done like five years ago. I'm going to compare this to like fantasy football spending. This to me feels like the guy in your fantasy football auction who saved all of his money until the end. And yeah, he picked off a guy for like a decent price, but you still need the good players to win. So that's kind of what this feels like to me. It just feels like a convenient half measure where they don't have to spend anything. But what are the 2023 Steelers with Russell Wilson? I still think not enough is how I come away from this,

even if you're paying him absolutely nothing. He's, you know, there's about a half dozen to eight quarterbacks that Russell Wilson was better than last year. And Kenny Pickett was one of them. As the, as that's the downside. Maybe that's enough.

Maybe that's the downs. I know. That's the downside if you, if you miss out on the quarterback contract, too, is the Kenny Pickets in the world. Now you're shopping in the Russell. Anile. I just, there's that I don't want to overblow it, but I do want to bring it up that. I just don't think it's a perfect fit because Sean Peyton last year would be running a similar offense to what I think Arthur Smith would be running. Not identical, but similar to type of attack and similar flavors. So it's like, I already kind of seen this. I've seen the training wheels with it. I've seen the limitations and what the strengths will be, it'll be deep balls. It'll be a lot of stuff to the outside and George Pickens will get fed. And it'll be a ton of run game. It'll be a ton of checkdowns to runbacks, especially on third down. And so that's why I just have hesitations. with it. But again, it's like, whatever, you know, workable, like fine. Like, he's replacement level

starting quarterback. He's fine. He's fine. That's what he is now. But it's just you don't have that crazy upside or crazy bursts of good play that you maybe expect with the signing. Yeah. And the lack of upside is, I guess, where I just am left a little bit cold by this. It's like, okay, I understand it. By doing this, you're allowing yourself to continue to operate on a rookie quarterback financial timeline while giving yourself options and competition at the position. Which, you're just, is objectively a good thing to have as a team building measure, but at the same time, I just don't know what it really does for you in the short term. And when you look at what the Steelers are, especially on defense, like those guys aren't getting any younger. We've talked about this.

So while it is objectively a good move for the value, I just don't know how much it moves what your chances look like and how competitive you are in the short term. It is a smart move. It is a smart bet organizationally, but I'm just left very unmoved by it. The upside feels like the similar to last year, but just like a little cleaner results. Like it would be like the same results as this year, but just like, oh, okay, they didn't have as much luck to bounce their way as far as injury stuff, you know, from other teams and everything. So that's saying it feels like a nine and eight-ish upside move, upside move and getting it does six or seven. Which is their natural upside anyway. That's it.

That's why it just doesn't feel like it's moving thing for me. No, no, no. No. It's more about the needle. Same exactly to say. That's your. Last quarterback move to hit here. Baker Mayfield signs a three-year 100. million dollar extension with the bucks, $50 million guaranteed.

They can get out of it after one year in about 40 million. The big question for Baker and Diane and I hit this several different times when we were talking about him over the last couple weeks, including at the combine, was, where is this going to fall in the range of the Gino Smith deal and the Daniel Jones deal? And the answer is pretty close to the Gino Smith deal. Gino's had not nearly as much guaranteed at signing. So the Seahawks theoretically had an easier out after year one. But overall, this feels like a pretty natural markup for inflation on what Gino Smith got from the Seahawks, even if they're probably committed to him for more than a year.

And I think if you're the Bucks, that's fine. As long as signing Baker and bringing Baker back doesn't preclude you from trying to chase a long-term option, maybe as soon as next year in the draft, then I'm totally fine with this. You're trying to compete in the short term, but you're not cutting off avenues for yourself to hire upside, at the position starting in 2025, maybe at the earliest. And I think that is okay. So I'm fine with them doing this. It's a maybe we can get hot signing. That's it.

And living in this world is fine. Again, it's staying off. They're just saying, we're not going to, we're going to stay off the mess. We're not trying to figure out. We're not going to commit our future to anybody right now. And that's what that's what a Baker signing kind of does or a darn old move. Like we're talking about the Vikings kind of does. Or the Gino stuff.

It's this kind of world that this middle ground. these competitive middle ground, the upper middle class of the NFL. That's what these guys are going to fill out. So this makes total sense. You're saying that, I think, is a good way to frame it because this is for the first time, it does feel like we're developing a middle class of quarterback contracts. The Gino deal, this is similar to the Jimmy Garoppolo deal that was signed last year. Obviously, that was a bad contract, but it was still in this same range.

Same type of signing, yes. So the fact that we have these now, where if you are the 15th to 20th, best starting quarterback in the league, or even lower than that, the 20th to 24th best starting quarterback in the league that's not on a rookie deal. This feels like the natural place where those contracts should land. And we really didn't have that space for guys over the last three, four, five years. And this is where we, a lot of times, and I'm guilty of this, is that we think of everything in just numbers, oh, it's 16th best quarterback. Well, that means the 17th must be bad because it's below 16. Sometimes there's 22 workable quarterbacks in the NFL or 24. So that's what we're saying

is that this is that realm of 14 to 22. You know, it's really more, it's not really 14 to 18. It's 14 to 24 ish quarterbacks that have work in that range. And this is, this is one of them. And this is the not you have to pay when you're not punting on the position. That's it. This is the going rate when you are not punting on the position. And I think that is totally fair. The only concern with these quarterback deals, if you're going to sign one of these, is that, You are, again, cutting off avenues for future planning at the position, where if you, you know this guy's probably not good enough to make you a consistent contender every year, but you've committed to him for three or four years, which is where the Vikings were with Kirk for a

good chunk of that time. That's a dangerous place to be, in my opinion. But if you are giving yourself flexibility and ways to wriggle out of this if you eventually need to because you understand where you are and where you want to go as an organization, that's fine. And I think that this deal does exactly that for the box. Speaking of markets at the position and shifting markets at the position, my God, what is going on at the offensive guard market over the last two weeks? So this started, I mean, it started last week when the Rams gave Kevin Dotson that contract. But I think where things were going,

The marker for that was the Landon Dickerson's extension that was signed earlier today with Philadelphia. So he signs a four-year, $84 million extension, $21 million a year, $50 million guaranteed at signing. That is the next step from the Chris Liddstrom contract from last off season, which again... Yeah, it is the evolution of where that was going. Totally fine. And I think that Landon Dickerson has been a good player. I get wanting to do this. This is very Eagles committing to this position group with your own homegrown guys.

but the trickle-down effect from where that was to some of these free agent deals that are handed out, I mean, Robert Hunt got five years 100 million with $63 million guaranteed to go to Carolina. That is the Kirstlenstrom contract. But I guess this is what happens when guys hit the market. When you can get multiple offers, this stuff ends up happening. So Hunt gets that deal. And then Jonah Jackson gets a three-year, $51 million deal with $3 million deal with, $34 million guaranteed to go to the ramps.

So teams are really willing to spend on this position specifically right now. What do you make of that? Do you think that's indicative of any sort of larger shift? I think it's just where the money is available and also teams going, hey, what just happened with all the defensive tackles that got paid as well? Who's blocking those guys on every single snap? That's where I would go as well. I think it's, we always say it too, and this is a term, and I'm starting to really just think.

It's best five, best five offense alignment out there, not best tackles, not best, you know, center or left tackle combination, not best left guard left tackle. It's best five. So let's just pay our five offense alignment divvied up however. We'll skip a little on center or try and find a cheap one there, because I think that's fungible if you find the right guy. So that has happened. As the market has shifted over the last five years or so, there's been an increase for right tackles specifically. Right tackles where the explosion has happened because past rushers are going over the right tackles.

Well, yeah, naturally, I think all of us like five or six years ago is like, why do right tackles make significantly less than left tackles? Can anyone explain this to me? So you can't. So that's why that has happened. And then as the explosion for the impact and the price for interior defensive alignment, I think we've come to understand that those guys can affect the game just as much.

If you have a one-on-one with a three technique and a guard, how different is that than a one-on-one with a star pass rusher and a left tackle. So I think those markets have all started to converge a little bit. And also everybody has a subrushing package now, where a NASCAR package. Everybody has, they line up Micah Parsons over your center or your guard. We would talk about that. Where's Michael Parsons or Miles Garrett lined up this week? That means they think that guy is the weakness.

So again, you're getting your best five out there. If we have a short-arm guard that we're just hoping can get through this game, the other team's going to watch that. They're going to line up this defensive end that usually, defense is in the best pass hursers you should just line up over the left tackle it's used to how it was you know some snaps over the right tackle but just the left tackle now you see these guys everywhere you see miles garrett doing crossovers over the center now you know before the snap of the ball you see those spinner looks and everything you see the 5 o looks so that's what you have to do that's

just paying for your best five best five blockers i think dickerson is a slight slight overpay uh for what It is, but a lot of money for who I think is above average to good and maybe not to the star level. Maybe that's some of his namesake has gotten. But that's a little rich. But I mean, having said that too, with seems like a decent pay compared to Robert Hunt as well, who I think is a fine starter, you know, to good. And that's the thought I feel like with Philadelphia. They wanted to get ahead of some of these deals because they're going to get crazy. I'm sure Dickinson's people, if these numbers that started to trickle out before that deal got signed would have said, well, if Robert Hunt's were $20 million.

a year. What are my worth? And I think that was the... Chris Lindstrom's probably going like, logical way to handle it. They're probably looking around, go, wait a second. And these are just some of the cards that got signed too. So Robert Hunt goes to Carolina for $20 million a year and $63 million guaranteed. Carolina absolutely needed interior offensive line help,

offensive line help, period, based on the way that that group played last year. Some people have been comparing this to the way that the Saints built their offensive line when Drew Brees was there just to give a little bit of space within the pocket, which I sort of understand. But Robert Hunt's selling point is not solid pass protection. His selling point is he is going to bring an ass-kicking mentality to your entire group. And if that's what you're chasing, if you're Carolina, that's totally reasonable. But this idea that he's like a jari Evans-type presence in the middle of your offensive line,

I think is a misrepresentation of what Robert Hunt is. He's a hammerhead. Yeah, he's the blow. Which is fine. It's fine. I love me a hammerhead. but that's the type of player he is. He's a singles hitter.

The guy gets on base getting paid like a home run here right now. That's kind of really, he's going to, it's not like Kalechi, assembly when he got paid. You're not getting the highlights with Hunt. Well, you are, but it's just in a certain way.

It's a certain way. But even Kalechi, when he got paid, he had Gart tackle versatility. I mean, he was a really ascending player. So, I mean,

that's a throwback in terms of what he got paid. I wasn't surprised when that contract got handed out, but the guard market has changed. a lot in the, God, how many years has that been now? Eight years now? Yeah. In the eight years since Clutchie Assembly got that deal. Let's talk about the Rams a little bit because they have spent a ton on guards in free agency.

And I think this is just a further indication of where the Rams are moving, right? You bring in Jonah Jackson. He allows you to be even more flexible in some of the gap scheme run game stuff that you can do. And as soon as they signed Jonah Jackson, who presumably will be their left guard, Kevin Dotson, who they signed for $16 million a year last week, is going to be their right guard. Steve Avila played left guard for them last year and played it pretty well as a second round pick. He did. All indications, according to Jordan Roderig and everyone else here that knows the Rams,

is that Steve Avila at 325 to 330 pounds is going to be moving to center with these two guys next to him. This instantly becomes like the most ridiculous ass-kicking trio in the interior, I think, in the entire NFL. It's so much beef. It's awesome. It's crazy. Even the way it's going to look is going to be insane. So you have a couple centers in the league. They're very tall.

So Mitch Morris is very tall. Ragnow is very tall. Now is very tall. But you don't have somebody built like this playing center. This would be like if Landon Dickerson moved over and played center, which he's bigger than Alabama. He's bigger than Travis Frederick. Yeah.

That's he's bigger than that. Trevor Freddie was like 6, 4, 2, 320. He's bigger than that. So if we're looking at. The way that the league is shifting, right? When we had all these tiny little zone blocking centers to what the Rams are doing right now, this is a harbinger of the way that offenses want to play in this moment. It's the best.

It's the L.A. teams now that Harbaugh's going there are going to be the ones that have the gritty styles. It's great. But it's huge. They went from, and this is the meta transformation that the Rams offense, this is what we've talked about, that they went through this past year. They went from the team that runs zone one of the most over the previous. you know, four or five years under McVeigh to the team that runs duo. Duo is power without the polar.

That is as, it's at you as you as getting it's all about beef. Why does my dad love duo? Why do I like duo? It's because I was around offensive lines that had a lot of beef. You know, it was the center of those Vikings teams. Matt Burke, six, four, three, 15, you know, like Dave Dixon was one of the guards, you know, like just guys with a lot of size. And so I, this is, this is all what you need to do. So I love this.

And again, this is a, we're seeing all these. massive defensive tackles, athletic defensive tackles, just kick these smaller guys, 290,300 pound inside guys because they're athletic enough to beat them athletically along with the size and the mulling ability. All right, let's get some size to actually just move them. Integrity of the pocket, I think is becoming more and more of the consideration. And also the defenses want to do all the shifting and moving and getting defense, defense of line or I'm sorry, linebacker types onto the ball, all right, which is rotate them, which is outsize them. So that, I really like what the Rams are doing, starting with last year

and this is just a continuation of it. Another team that's done this that we've talked about a lot that I think is also worth mentioning with this mindset is the Bills. Okay. So the Bills, they go get Osirons torrents in last year's draft. They sign one of the Conners who's, I'm not going to try to figure out which one to play left guard for them.

It's a great bit. And then this off season, I still don't know. And now they're all playing center because the bills have moved Connor McGovern, I think it is, over from left guard to center after moving on from Mitch Morse. And now David Edwards, who was on one of,

he was on the Rams previously, is going to slide in a, play guard for them. So that's another shift that has taken place. And I remember talking to Brandon Bean about this last summer because we'd always discussed, is this a transition to more physicality in the run game? And when I was asking him why they wanted to do this, again, it was about integrity in the middle of the pocket and not having Josh have to essentially dodge traffic cones every single

time he was driving back to pass. So it seems like that has been one of the considerations with a lot of these teams that have made these moves. So the Rams offense now essentially set, right? You got to Marcus Robinson that you brought back. Puka. Oh my goodness. Cooper Cup, whose name I forgot.

Cooper Cup. They're going to tender Alaric Jackson, who played left tackle for them last year. Did I have. Jonah Jackson at left guard. You have Avila, Kevin Dodson. Rob Haven't signed still at right tackle. You still have Higby. And then they just signed Colby Parkinson, who is a guy we really liked.

Was a secondary piece. Very good blocking tight at and very well-rounded. So this is your 2020. for Los Angeles Rams offense. And based on what they did last year, I think it's easy to get excited about this group. I'm pretty stoked. This is leaning into what they're doing. Like they totally are realizing, okay, this works.

And they got, it's not just like, oh, we're signing this guy for an identity shift. It's like, no, these guys are actually good. Like, Joan Jackson's literally a pro bowl level talent. He's just saying, like, you know, his injury stuff. But he's talented and he's powerful. But Colby Parkinson's a legit good blocker. I have clips of him one-on-one, Miles Garrett, pass protection and run blocking. and think of him more as a guy that's going to spell Puka and Cooper Cup.

Yeah. We're more too tight end looks. So it gives him versatility, which is, and guys. He's also a good athlete. So that stuff like coming across the formation, like the way that they want to play, he aligns with that sort of play style. This is good signings. These are really good pro signings that match what they're trying to do, you know,

which makes sense for what the Rams have done the last couple years. The only thing I'll say is that I expected the Rams to use some of this newfound financial flexibility or just newfound resource. source period to bulk up the defense. And the fact that they have not gone that way, and they still have some, you know, they have a first round pick this year for the first time in 20 years. They still have some money. If they want to move money around, they can.

You know, Jot and O'Boom has a $20 million cap at this year. I assume he doesn't see that. There are certain guys that they can restructure if they wanted to move some of Stafford's money around, some danger in that because of his age, obviously. But this is not necessarily the direction I anticipated them going in the first. four hours of free agency, but that doesn't mean I'm not excited about it. No, it's the same feeling as when the bills did their stuff last year ago. I'm like, oh, okay. Like, all right, that's interesting. Yeah. No, I like it. I like it a lot. Even a step down from that top tier of guards,

Graham Glasgow goes back to the Lions after they lose Jonah Jackson, three years, 20 million, only nine and a half million dollars guaranteed. So that's probably a one year deal. You compare that to kind of what Ezra Cleveland got from the Jags, which was $8 million a year with 14 and a half million guaranteed. And then John Runyon, formerly of the Packers, gets three years, $30 million with $17 million guaranteed from the Giants. So this is even trickling down to that next group of guards. It just seems like teams are willing to pay for one high level play at the position, but even

willing to pay attacks for competency when it comes to interior offensive line play right now, specifically at guard. It's like four. Yeah, yeah, the competency. That's what it is. It seems like it's four to five million. hours per tier break. That's kind of what I'm breaking it down as.

You know, that's kind of what seems like the peer tier break. So if you're a replacement level starter, that's what I'll call it. You know, you're a starter. It seems to be $8 to $10 million a year. You know, that's the going to be able for a six-round pick last off season or at the trade line line last year, six-round pick. And he just got $14.5 million guaranteed. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. It helps when you go with your former old line coach. We'll get into some of the other Jags moves here in a little bit. but I want to move on to a team that another team that had an aggressive set of moves today, including the Land of Dickerson extension, I did not expect the Eagles to be throwing money around in these areas specifically. Let's start with the Saquan-Barkley contract because this was always the thing about Philly

over the last couple years is that they seemed content to just rotate through these cheap backs. I mean, the guy I threw out last week on the show when we were talking about Fitz, I was like, oh, maybe they'll go for a Zach Moss type in free agent. this year. Instead, three years, $37.8 million with $26 million guaranteed for Saquan Barkley. If you look at Jonathan Taylor's deal last year, four years 42 with $26 million guaranteed. So with the uptick in the cap, this is a slight devaluation from what Jonathan Taylor got. And I just didn't know if that sort of market would be there for these guys, but the answer right now seems to be a resounding yes.

Yeah, I mean, obviously I thought Sequin would be the one that got paid, age, pedigree, talent, skill set and everything. But, yeah, again, the suitors or the suitor was not really the landing spot because like you said, the, what they did was Swift last year made a lot of sense. And even Rashop Penny, the signings like that or the trades like that made a lot of sense to me where it was like, oh, yeah, yeah, day three picks, get some guy on the last year of his contract, maybe second last year or some guy that's. moving. Just keep it moving. We invest in the old line. We draft the trenches every single year. This is why we invest in Jeff Stalind. This is why we do that. And it's interesting because if there is the natural drop-off and there will be a drop-off going from Jason Kelsey to however they work, they work out the rest of their middle of their offensive line, is that you get the more boom-busty type running back,

which Sequehuan is, to compensate for that. He maybe is not on the tracks as well some of the other guys are, but do you get him to compensate for the bad, you know, maybe a miss block that happens more often on the interior of the line to make, be the explosive play when maybe it's not going as great as down to down and all that. So that was the one, as I've talked myself a little bit more into it. It's like, okay, I can understand that because he's, how DeAndre Swift is kind of like that, little boom busty. Sequan's a better version of it. So maybe that's, maybe that's just that was the line of thinking as well. But this was just not expected. It's, I'm very, very curious how it's going to look, too. Do you buy that thinking? Because I think

that thinking is totally fair. If you're going to downgrade from Jason Kelsey and they're right, Camp Jurgens is now moving to the last year. So now Jurgens moves to center. You have a whole right guard. So I get Tyler Steen or however you piece that together. So the set of downgrades that are going to happen from Kelsey and arguably the

last line in the league, try to talk yourself into we need a running back to carry more of that load. I guess I can track the thinking there, but I still don't necessarily. buy it. I think it's a huge premium to pay. Having said all that, I do think that I would much rather have some middle pick. And, you know, I think I've seen some tweets on it and saying, oh, this is a reflection of how the running back draft looks, you know, or this year's running back class looks in the draft, which I kind of disagree with. I don't think there's a top end talent,

but I do think there's six to seven very workable backs that you can find in the third or fourth round. So maybe even eight. I also hate that line of thinking. The idea that there's not a running back available in this draft, so I'm going to pay $8 million a year on a running back. I do not like that. We'll get to other teams that did the exact same thing. So that's why I don't agree with that at all. This is not quarterback receiver, left tackle. You know, it's run a back.

You can find guys always. There's always runnybacks in the banana stand, especially, you know, late day two, early day three. The other side of this that I just don't know how I feel about the fit is one of of Sequin's main selling points is what he can do for you as a pass catcher. And have we seen any evidence from who the Eagles have been over the last couple years? that that's going to be a staple of their offense. And maybe that is a scheme thing. Maybe the transition to Kellynne Moore and maybe a little bit more of a traditional

passing game, a more traditional approach will push them in that direction. But all of that stuff is a projection and speculation as it currently sits right now. Yeah, it just seemed very rich and seemed very idealized thinking. I think that's what that's what the signing really felt like to me. Yeah. Even like, again, even the Dickerson thing to me, it was like, oh, that's rich. I get what you're trying to do, but it's still just, it was a little rich for the talent level. And I get you want to pay your homegrown guys.

Let's get to another curious move that Philadelphia made today. They signed Bryce Huff three years, $51 million with $34 million guaranteed when they already have Hassan Reddick and Josh Swett and Nolan Smith on the roster. So what this signals to me is we're open, and this has been reported for the last two weeks, they're open to trading some of those guys. Let's say you get, what does Hassan Redick have left on his deal? Is it just one year, right? Is in the final year of his deal? So what do you think Hassan Reddick goes for on the trade market? A third?

A fourth? Maybe fourth? Yeah, he's older too, right? So he's 29. Okay. So you're, I think the thought process here, if you're Philadelphia is we're getting three to four years younger, right? Bryce off's only 26, I would assume. And we get a pick as part of this calculus.

Again, it seems like a lot of moving pieces to wind up in a fairly similar spot. You're projecting Bryce Huff to go from a 40% snap share to 65. So that is something that you're having to extrapolate a little bit. So even if the thought, again, is, well, we can get a little sweetener with the pick if we move on from Reddick for a similar price to get younger at the position. I still think that that's just a lot of moving around some deck chairs. I don't really understand it. And also, I don't think it's an idealized scheme fit for what Fangio wants to do. Yeah.

So they don't, the outside linebackers, the roles. Okay, say for sure, I think Redick will be gone. They, I think they have to. It makes more sense because his skill set aligns more and usage aligns more with what Huff would do than what Josh Sweat does. And I'm about to, yeah, this is, we're about to pull some house of cards here. Because like, okay, so I have to keep sweat then. Because why I'm saying that is then if you don't keep sweat, if you move on from both and you're going with Nolan Smith and Bryce Huff, who I like Bryce Huff a lot. Again, this is two undersized players as a designated pass rusher who has never played more than 480 snaps in a season.

You think of him as a one to a 180 and that was last year. All right. All right. So if he's a one to one for Hassan Redick, Hassan Reddick coming out of Temple and even as a pro was, oh, he could play coverage. He could rush the passer. He's turned into a very good pass rusher that could do some coverage stuff as well.

That works for the Sam role in this defense. That's why he blocks snaps from Nolan Smith. so far. Okay, so say you put Nolan Smith in. Nolan Smith's about 235 pounds. Okay, so you have a 235 pound guy at one side, and then you have a designated pass rusher at the other side that's never played more on 408 snaps. He played 132 snaps against the run last year, Bryce off did. Okay, not really liking that. The outside linebackers last year for the dolphins were Bradley Trubb at 270 pounds, J-1-Philips at 265, and then Van Ginkle was the Swiss Army knife. He was about 245. Okay, so that's one guy. One guy that's that size.

knife. That is a Swiss Army knife. That is the situational specific skill set sort of player. Yes, that's our game playing three of those. No, and playing every single snap. So they have to keep Josh sweat because if they move on from them, this is untenable. As they are structured right now, you know, how he's never going to sit still and do all that. But it's just to me, it's, ooh, this is a little dicey. And you have no linebackers to cover that up. You know, and Jordan Davis is Jordan Davis not playing very well. You're putting a lot on this. Okay, 480 snaps. Sonny Redick played over 800 snaps the last four Cs. seasons. Half. Bryceoff hasn't played, has played more than half of that once in his entire career. So it's just a little dicey if you want to go one for one, even if I really like Bryce off.

I think here is we're just trying to get younger. Yeah. That is like the main goal. We just have to get younger and more explosive on defense. But that coming at the edge rusher spots and not in the secondary, where the age is really what seemed to be hurting you last year, that is the curious part about this to me. Can you trade Darius Slay?

and try to get younger at corner. That makes sense. That was what I maybe had expected. You know, where they are a surprise team at the corner market, even though they're committed to these guys because that's where they needed to get younger. But apparently they're going to try to pull off that same magic act up front.

And I don't know how that's necessarily going to work out for them. And I'm saying that Braceoff can get after the passer. Don't get me wrong. He's a great player for what he is. But this is a projection. I had more questions going in that I thought like with this landing spot and just all the other stuff that's coming out of Philly right now. All right, he's played 1,300 snaps in his career.

Okay, Bryce Hoff. Max Crosby played like over a thousand last year just in one season. Like this or that. That's just again, bringing up the snap levels of these guys are getting paid. This is just one of those moments where the notes absolutely make no sense, but this is just how it all rolled in. Michael Pittman getting an extension with the Colts earlier today. We don't have to spend a lot of time on this.

Three years worth up to $71 million, $46 million guaranteed. This is exactly where I would have assumed he would have landed and I think where he should have landed. If you look at the AAV, the actual AAV and the guarantees, this is essentially just an evolution and a markup from what Chris Godwin and Mike Williams were getting in 2022 as those 1B receivers. Those guys were three years 60 with 40 million. This is three years 71 with 46 million guaranteed. So I think it's totally fine. It is a natural place to land if you're the Colts. It's a natural place to land if you're Michael Pittman.

All parties can be happy about this. We get to move on. That's it. He's the innings eater at receiver. It's perfect. I think, and this is where T. Higgins is going, I'm not that. I'm the step up from that. I think that's exactly right.

And that's the battle of T. Higgins. He's going, I'm not two, you know, a 1A or 1B. I'm sorry, I'm not 2. I'm a 1B or really a 1A is what he's probably arguing for. So T. Higgins today, it comes out that he has requested a trait after being franchise tagged, which I understand that why he's frustrated as you see the market start to explode and some of these deals handing it out. I would assume, and this is not based on any sort of real knowledge or talking to people,

but from the outside looking in, I would think that him and David Moogalota, who is his agent, are looking for a markup on that Debo Metcalf tier from a couple years ago, not on the Chris Godwin-Michael Williams tier. And that's before we even get to the limitations on guarantees that the Bengals put on their deals and the fact that they're not going to put it into your three in the same way that some of these other teams might. So this brings me to one of the questions I wanted to ask you. If you're Cincinnati, what do you think the best path forward is with T. Higgins based on the tension that we're seeing right now? Based on this tension, it feels like a trade because it just, I mean, it just feels like a lot of feet dragging going on as opposed to, to the opposite going like, we're trying to get this done.

It's kind of gone, I don't know, from the Bengals in, I should say. So I, to me, it's trying to get that weight first and try and get off of it. I mean, that really, that's to me that would be the best path forward. And if it just doesn't feel right, even if you do have the money, it feels like. But it just, to me, it just seems unworkable at this point. So let's say, this is not knowing anything, by the way. And again, and I don't think a lot of us do know because my, I've, I've asked this question a over the last few weeks even as we talked about this.

You and I have talked about this. Like, why can't they afford T. Higgins? Yeah. Why is this just not doable? And I assume it's because his people want to go to a place with structure and money that the bankers just aren't willing to go to. Fine. If that's the case, I think your best move if you were Cincinnati is to trade him if the price is right. Okay.

So let's play out this hypothetical. You're Carolina. You have very few pathways to difference making receipts. receivers. You have no first round pick. You're sitting at 33. If I called you right now and I offered the 33rd overall pick to the Bengals if I was the Panthers, would you do that? Yes. If you can not find somebody ahead of that, but that's first pick to the second round. Yeah? I think I would do that if you're Cincinnati. Because the reason you wouldn't do that is because you're talking yourself into the window that you have right now. We can win right now. I don't want to move on from him because

we have a chance right now. We still have this nucleus together. Like, we have to maximize this. That is such a narrow needle that you need to threat. If you can move on and get real draft capital for this, instead of theoretically, maybe getting a third round comp pick for him a year from now, which I think is even slightly misguided because you're going to have a ton of cap space. You're probably going to sign some free agents.

So there's no saying there's no, there's a chance you won't even get that comp pick. I think having a real draft pick in my hands right now to kind of take the next step of this to potentially find a receiver at that range of the draft. I think that is the smartest move from a team building perspective if you are the Bengals in this moment, even if it's a tough pill to swallow because in your mind you've had, oh, we're going to keep this group together. We're going to squeeze everything we can out of this. But I think you have to be realistic about making a decision for the next three years and not making a decision for right now. it's keeping the options open. It's building new paths. Now you have two picks, two high, high picks, that you know, that you can just do stuff with in a class that has stuff that you need, offensive line and receiver. And especially at those types of selections where they are in the late teens.

If they had theoretically pick 33 or say some pick in the late 20s and all that. So I don't know. I feel like this is, to me, it's like get it now. And we're also seeing like the Brian Burns is of the world. We're seeing when you don't pull that trigger on these deals, what can happen on the flip side of all that. So sometimes, I know, markets are always hard to time it right. That's why the stock market exists because no one can time it ever time it right. So, but I think right now, it's hard to, it's a hard pill to swallow because, again, you're kind of giving up a little bit on the idea you had for what sort of team you wanted to be this year. But I think teams that have been willing to do this, it has benefited them. Think about the chiefs getting a second round pick for D. Ford in a really similar situation.

What the chiefs are doing with the Jarius need right now. Kansas City moving on from Tyree Kill. These are not easy choices to make because you're giving up the idealized version of what you thought your team was going to be in that moment. But I think eventually two, three years down the line, it's going to benefit you. If you're the Bengals, losing him for maybe nothing next off season, that's harder to stomach in my mind than losing him for a second round pick right now. Especially since you've already paid Joe, you already pay Burrow and you're going to pay Chase no

matter what it seems like. Okay, well, this is the way to have your cost-controlled contracts. This is what, this is stuff. It feels like a sacrifice, but it's not really a sacrifice. It's just opening up a different window. It's a different way to replenish your roster. You just have to think of it that way. It's moving stuff around, moving assets around.

Would you do that if you were Carolina? Oh, yeah, because it's a lock thing, guarantee thing. The injury stuff is a little concerning with me with Higgins. Of course. He did not play as well last year when he was banged up. And it's just, that is an important data point to mention here. We're having this conversation. And again, and that's another thing.

Carolina, to me, is maybe not the perfect home because, again, it just feels like a Carolina move as opposed to maybe just getting a young guy and, you know, taking a chance there. So I don't know. They may or maybe not my favorite landing spot for them, but I understand if they do want to go down that. I think there's better options too. You know, there's better options for the Panthers in that range if they wanted to draft the receiver. Yes, and better options for Higgins landing spot. Once I would just ideally like better.

which ones would those be for you? Could, you know, they have that pick, could Jacksonville? Do something? Some interesting there. So this is, this conversation and this cost benefit that teams in this range, so late first, early second are going to have to have with T. Higgins. This is where the wide receiver saturation market conversation becomes really interesting to me.

Because at the top, it's not real. You're going to pay Justin Jefferson $35 million a year. You're going to pay CD, Lamb, $35 million a year. True stars or $32. Third stars. And then I think the third tier has settled naturally. Gabe Davis getting $13 million a year.

Jacoby Myers getting 11. Like that to me feels like the right range for that type of player. So what is going to happen from $19 million a year to $24 million a year? Is that the group where teams are in that position, the Jags, the bills, the, the the, the, the Panthers, for example, they're going to say, you know what? Our picks from 25 to 35, I'd rather take a swing in the draft than spend $22 million a year on one of these guys. So that to me is where the inflection point may happen.

And I wonder if T. Higgins is a canary in the coal mine for that a little bit. Is it overpaying for the B plus or drafting maybe a B minus, but he could, oh, he could be a B plus or it could be an A minus. Or, you know, like, look how many receivers. Receivers come from everywhere. last year. Look at Rishi Rice last year compared to what you would have had to spend on the free agent market for a player that would have filled a similar role quote.

DeAndre Hopkins or Rishie Rice? You know, now it's like, yes. It's a great comparison. Hopkins signed for $13 million a year last year essentially. That's the exact range that we're talking about. That's it. We're going for that. We know what he is, but he's not that star anymore.

He's that B plus type of player or do we get this guy that can grow into that role? So let's move on to another team that made several moves today. that is the Green Bay Packers, officially moving on from David Boktiari, that always seemed like the natural end point. They needed to save some money. He had a $40 million cap hit. So that saw the end at the end.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Bactiari moving on and then a fascinating set of moves at running back. The Packers signed Josh Jacobs to a four-year, $48 million deal with $12.5 million guaranteed. That's what Beller has in here. So not a ton of low risk in the sense of the guarantees up front, not very big.

But still a sizable deal for Josh Jacobs. After signing Josh Jacobs, the Packers release Aaron Jones, who had a 12 or so million dollar cap it this year. And they had talked to him about taking a pay cut for the second straight season, apparently, understandably, not interested in that. Now he is gone. What do you make of this? Because we've had a couple of these where teams are trying to get younger at the position. and they're moving on from a guy to spend at the same spot. This one, we could kind of pick up some breadcrumbs.

They were in on Jonathan Taylor last year. It seemed like they wanted to add a little bit more size and maybe some youth to that running back room. I just didn't expect it to unfold like this. I think LaFleur wants his true three-down guy, which Josh Jacobs is. He can play all three downs. He's a good pass catcher, even if the Raiders kind of didn't use him that creatively. last year, I was for the first half. He was kind of a slow starter last year, too.

Like kind of a, you know, and then he kind of came on a little bit. The Raiders offense was nothing to write home about for about six to eight weeks. It was a bad ecosystem, but at the same time, he had a significant step down from what he was in 2022. Yeah, and that's, I have figuring out what you said, if it's the ecosystem, if it's him, if it's a little bit of both. You know, he also had a lot of trail on his terrors from the year before. That was a lot of touches that he had from the year before. So, again, you're getting into that. I think it's a little different.

him and Seaquin kind of how their usage was was always kind of a little different. You know, he takes a lot of, also Jacobs can do a lot of things well. He checks a lot of boxes. I'm sure the floor is going to love him because, you know, just because of all the stuff he does, he's good in protection. He's good as far as like what types of runs he does. He's kind of a clean runner of the football. So I understand why the coaches like him.

It's a flip down to a younger guy. It's a known commodity, which is some pedigree and everything. So I could see that. But again, it's a little rich. But I don't know. I'm not going to like split hairs about it. It's not that much money, you know, in the grand scheme of things. It's not.

You're saving money still on running back or still a quarterback. You know, Jordan Love is a $12.5 million cap at this year. You've spent no money on receivers. You still, I think you're going to go into next season with the cheapest wide receiver room in the entire league. You're spending two rookie deals at tight end. If you bring, if, I assume they'll go cheap at left tackle, either with Rashid Walker or somebody in the draft. So a lot of premium positions, they're still not spending a lot of money. So maybe that's the argument for it.

it, but I think it's pretty telling that they just wanted to get younger at the position. That being said, Aaron Jones can still play. Aaron Jones still has a lot to give. And I'm actually very interested on where he could land and what sort of role he could be in in an otherwise pretty good offense. Because when we saw him last year, I mean, literally the last game that he played, he was still playing at a pretty impressive clip. Yeah, it's just getting being on the field. It's just that he's, you know, that's it. But he'll find a home.

Oh, man. I know. I'm just thinking about him. he's the guy who kind of with the Cowboys. I think that'd be perfect. He's from Dallas. He's from Texas. So you go back to Texas.

So I would absolutely love that. And I think that he provides them the type of skill set that you would potentially need. Also want to say, Aaron Jones is NFL or Packers career worth eulogizing. Like incredibly fun player from the moment they saw from the moment they drafted him. He was one of those guys that justifiably everyone was like, why it doesn't he touch the ball more? He's one of your best players on your entire roster. also all-time dude like truly one of the all-time people that have ever come from the ever come through the NFL and that needs to be acknowledged everyone loves them everyone loves them yeah no he's he'll find

a home everyone always talking about high high standards about him or says high high things about them other move the packers made today this one does make a ton of sense they are the team that went big on Xavier and McKinney formerly of the giants so we wondered if the packers would be spenders at safety what that would end up looking like The answer is four years and $68 million for Xavier McKinney per Adam Schaefter. I've got no issue with this whatsoever. They needed pieces back there and I was willing to them. I was ready for them to shell out for one.

The fact that this is where they landed. McKinney is a good player. I was curious where he would end up because I thought he was kind of the class of this safety crop for free agency. So, yep, no. Very versatile as well. Very versatile. He's done a ton of stuff over the last couple years.

do a lot. So this makes sense, especially for their defensive identity shift. Yeah. No, this one, and they need kind of like a little vet back there, too. So I think this is a good one. Let's talk about a position that has cashed in here over the last three or four days. The defensive tackle market has had some sizable contracts handed out. All not surprising and all completely justified in my mind. Christian Wilkins headlines today, four years, 110,000, $805 million guaranteed to go to the Las Vegas Raiders. So this tops everything. This tops the Quinn and Williams contract from last year. This tops what Matt Abike got. And we said this about Wilkins. This is one of those guys that you can't find a reason why he's a free agent.

There are so few concerns. The guy played more snaps than any defensive tackle in the NFL over the last couple seasons. He gives you full three-down capability. I mean, he stops to run well. He has juices at pass rusher. He's young. This is just the dolphins not having. the flexibility or the money to retain him.

So he ends up hitting the market. And I'm not surprised at all to see him break the bank like this. And we always thought that the Raiders were a logical landing spot based on the money they had to toss around and the fact that they did not have a defensive tackle on their roster. I think heading into today. And some familiarity with Patrick Graham. Yep. So it's a, and I think their defensive line coach was also in Miami for two years.

That's experience too. Yeah. A match. Like Tinder. No, I think this is great. I can't wait to see him with Max Crosby. You get the Iron Men of defensive line. I tweeted.

I don't think it's start playing a little bit less. That's my hope. With Tyree Wilson coming along, Malcolm Coons is pretty good. Do these guys have to play a thousand snaps a season? No, they got Tom Tibido is their defensive line coach. They're going to see every single minute out there. No, I love this. It's a good fit.

I think that defense could be sneaky good. We liked what they were doing last year. and I think just have that pairing up there. They both play the run really well. Max Crosby and Christian Wilkins. This is pretty awesome. Yeah, he deserves to get paid. Like you said, it was just a victim of circumstances why he hit the market.

But Young can do a lot on defense. I mean, shoot, whatever Patrick Graham wants to do, like as far as like, because he's leaning a couple different things. It makes sense. So, yeah, really like this for actually for the Raiders. He could be a gap shooter if you want him to be. He could be a guy who controls blockers if you want him to be. He is a good player.

And to get him, to get a guy truly hitting his prime. in free agency that is a needle mover. Those opportunities are few and far between. I think he does check those boxes. Before we move on to the other defensive tackles, some news rolling in about the Raiders here. Deshaun Reed of the Athletic confirms that the Raiders have signed Gardner Minshu to a two-year deal.

The numbers reportedly from Tom Pelliserro, two years, $25 million, $15 million guaranteed for Gardner Minshu going to the Raiders. I had heard that he wanted an opportunity to be a starter somewhere, and this is the you have an opportunity to be our starter level of quarterback play. So good for Gardner Minshu. And this gives us an answer on where the Raiders may turn at quarterback if they end up striking out in the draft. That's what it feels like to me.

It's like, okay, we at least got Gardner. We'll always be competent back there. He'll get the job done. Garner-Bershue gets the job done. He's going to know what to do. He'll scramble a little bit. It's fine. It's fine.

That's what it seems like to me. If we kick all these other cans and none of them really are, you know, for two, it is what we want. We always have Gardner and his handlebar mustache. We always have that in the back pocket. He is the ultimate line to me of you could do worse. That's exactly what he is

to me. You could do worse. And so I think if you end up striking out, this is you have somewhere to turn. But in my mind, okay, you have Krosby now, you have Wilkins, you have Devante Adams still on this roster, you have Colton Miller, you've got some pieces. I think this is

the team where I would like to see them be aggressive to try to go get a quarterback in this draft. Because I think eventually you need to get on that path. You've got some guys that you're already paying and some guys that are getting up there. It's not like some of these guys are in their prime or even in the back half of their prime. So I think that some urgency to really get the overall plan started for this team is worthwhile in this draft. I think so too. Yeah, like you said, just the build of their team and also a pivot point after that build doesn't work, you know, if the quarterback works out too.

I think they could be aggressive. Other defensive tackles get monster deals here over the last week. The Chiefs bring back Chris Jones, five years, $32 million a year, $95 million in guarantees. He bests the Aaron Donald contract. We were wondering what it would end up looking like and he gets paid. I have no issue with it. I mean, based on his production and based on what he is for your defense, he has been the second most impactful interior defensive lineman in the league for several years. he was a defensive player of the year type candidate for me last year.

We saw him turn it up when he wanted to situationally into the playoffs this year. He is still one of those guys that can wreck shit when asked. And this is what the going price for those guys is. This is truly an elite defensive player independent of position type pay. And I think that's the exact range of players that Chris Jones is in, even if he's creeping toward 30 here. It's the 99 overall pay. That's what he is. Yep.

and how the chiefs are in the world of Mahomes and getting to do this, you know, the wonderful world of Mahomes is that they can turn it up. And Chris Jones is the closer. He is the Mario Rivera of the NFL right now. There's no one better. Once that ninth inning starts, with that fourth quarter starts,

you don't want anyone else on the field. Like watching what he did in his playoffs, he single-handedly won the game against the bills because of just with the pressure he put on against Dionne Dawkins, who just got paid. Like, that's what this guy can do. And I've made jokes about him against the run and all that. stuff. But that thing is, he's still freaking Chris Jones. And when he wants to crank it up,

and he's going to crank it up. It's just that he's the best, one of the best right now. So this is why you pay him. A fun moment for you, Justin Matabeeke, four years, $98,000, $75 million guaranteed. Congratulations to him, but more, congratulations to you as the president of the Justin Matabeeke fan club for the last three years. This is a worthwhile and fun culmination for you here in this moment. And I'm sure next year they'll pay Rashad Bateman. I'll get a two-for with the Ravens. My Ravens player love. No, he deserves it.

Awesome player. I went back and just was kind of like, did like a little two, three game just going like, okay, is he worth the pay? Was some of the scheme stuff? Yeah, the scheme stuff did help. But I just watched this dude wreck guards the entire year. One-on-ones, like they created one-on-ones for him.

And that's the types of dudes you pay. And that's why guards are getting paid because of the guys like this that are 310 pounds and shoot gaps and beat you in the blink of an eye. So he deserves to get paid. Good for him. What he got from the Ravens, I think it's already aging pretty well after we saw the week deal. And that's not surprising. Baltimore is very good at this and getting in front of it.

And so this is, again, just a small markup on the Quinn and Williams deal. Quinnon was four years for 96 with $66 million guaranteed and $47.8 guaranteed at signing. Madi Bke, four years 98, $75 million guaranteed, $48.4 fully guaranteed signing. The Quinnon deal already looks fantastic. Yes, it does. And what Dexter get, too, Lawrence. So he, because he got paid too. Four years 90, 46 and a half fully guaranteed $60 million in total guarantees.

That one looks even better. Yes. A little different position. But like, oh, my God, yeah, those look great. Get out in front. And that's exactly how you should feel about the guard market as well. I mean, even if Chris Lindstrom wasn't his best last year, the fact that Quinn, or Quentin Nelson and Chris Lindstrom are now making $20 million a year as Robert Hunt. is, I mean, that's pretty damn good.

Or if you have a guy like Tyler Smith, now how like just surplus you have about that. I've all pro caliber guard on a rookie deal. It's like that's what nailing those picks, he becomes even more important now because of just the pay difference. And I think this, again, could influence the way that we maybe think about interior offensive line men in this year's draft. Are there guys who are guards or I don't know everyone's name yet, but the guy from I think it's Washington who plays guard and tackle. Like if he ends up slotting into guard, right? Fahnu. Yeah.

If he ends up playing guard for you. and you draft him 13th overall, who gives a shit? Guards are making $22 million a year now. I mean, that's worth spending a first round pick on a guy. And the same thing goes for defensive tackles. Yeah, yeah. If you're playing, it's about snaps. If you're for defense, if you're at their 40 plus snaps,

offense, you can play on the field every single snap. Yeah, we're going to find value out of you. One more defensive tackle contract. Grover Stewart staying in Indianapolis, three years, 39 million, I think, are the initial reports. I always assumed he'd be back. They seemed, they were confident that they could. bring him back. And so that's, he's a nice piece of that defensive line rotation. He's 29.

He's got, this is his third deal. So, I mean, he's, he's 30 right now. That's perfect. Because knows his age well. That that's so I think this, this makes total sense. Yep. And I mean, he's just there, you could see the difference in their run defense last year when he was and wasn't on the field. So bringing him back even if it's at a, you know, a decent premium. That's a good contract for a run stuffing defensive tackle. Not surprising at all. Let's stick in the AFC South and let's talk about. some of these moves from the Jacksonville Jackdons. Okay? What is, I'm curious what your tone is here.

Are you just like completely out on everything they've done over the last day? Like, walk me through your feelings about the Jackson moves here. I want to start, I want to start the Gabe Davis deal because of course they're the team of science Gabe Davis. Gabe Davis topped 100 yards three times last year. One of those games was against the Jacks. I think it was week five, six catches, 100 yards and a touchdown. The next six games for Gabe Davis last year after that,

100 yard, a little top off. He had 15 catches for 170 yards and one touchdown combined in six games. He's the same exact thing that the Jaguars and Trent Balke did when Christian Kirk only had one 100-yard game in 2021. And it was against the Jaguars. Only time. He stopped all the yards the entire season. Against the Jaguars, we're signing.

Markets setting a deal. So for over $50 million a year, the Jaguar's past catchers are Christian Kirk, Evan Ingram, Gabe Davis, and Zay Johns right now, under-contrad. trick. That's my tone right now. I know it's not crazy. They're not breaking the bank. It's not crazy. It's a game Davis is an upgrade, I think, over Zay Jones. That's a lot of money to spend, but that's a lot of receiving court on a guy. It's a lot of money for no, I didn't hear, yeah, I didn't say Calvin Ridley in that group. The guy only guy that's a true number one type. It's a lot of three. Let me play devil's advocate here and try to and try to convince you of this. Okay. Okay. You signed Gabe Davis to this

deal. What was our biggest issue last year with the way that the Jaguars past catchers were deployed? They're trying to use Calvin Ridley as this true X within this offense and it's driving me fucking crazy. Just get that guy off the ball, let him have some free releases and let him go to work. And the moment they started doing that, we saw a better version of this offense. So the problem was when they really drifted away from that last year was when Zay Jones was hurt. Okay. So this to me screams, we want a guy that we can just pop into that ex-receiver role, put him outside, make him our vertical target, and not worry about it anymore. So this signals in my mind, moving on from Zay Jones, if they manage to bring Ridley back

at some reasonable price and their receiving court is Gabe Davis, Calvin Ridley, who is now in his more natural position, Christian Kirk and Evan Ingram, even if they're paying a ton for it, I am fine if they ultimately land in that spot or if they try to go get some other receiver to place into this mix if it's not Calvin Ridley, if they try to do it in the draft, for example. So that outcome, with Ridley coming back specifically, I understand the path to that, even if it's a little bit more expensive and a little bit messier than it has to be. That's my justification for it. No, no, it's, he's an upgrade over Zay Jones. And he is. And it would be the same role. He's vertical. He can block.

And there's things that Gabe Davis does well that I actually like for the Jaguars and what they need. And why you need him to block is because Evan Ingraham isn't blocking. And Christian Kirk isn't blocking. And if you want to run game, all the guys in certain positions aren't really playing the positions that you're asking them to. So you're always asking some guys to do some weird stuff in that offense. And that's it. Their team makeup is just fragile.

That's what this is. Gabe Davis does help to give them some flexibility. And I do like that. But you're paying a premium for this type of player. that's not really a needle mover. He just shores it up. And he's a glue guy. And Calvin Ridley, if they bring that back, that's okay.

But when I look at, like, say, the bills the last few years, it's turned out the bills really needed a number two pass catcher. You know, and it was because Gabe Davis didn't step up to the role that they thought he would. And now the Jags were like, sign me up for that. And so that is kind of just some of the thinking, too. It's like, of course you guys pick up this guy. So that's just some of the frustration for it.

But I do like potentially for the role if they bring back. Calvin Ridley or they get phone and find someone somewhere else. The darnel Savage one, we'll see. I actually, again, I want to see Savage and sloth. You have to be thrilled that there is another darnel savage believer somewhere out of the world. They keep doing this. The fact that it's Trenna. Balke can't make you feel good about yourself. They keep doing this to me. Even when they sent Christian Kirk a couple years ago, it was so funny because we did the preview pod and we're like, who's like an under the radar guy that you want to, like, maybe could get a sneaky big deal that you would like. And my guy was Christian Kirk. And it was like, okay, would you defense a line?

Who's a nose tackle? And I did fully full of the Koski. And then the next day, the Jaguar signed these guys. And I'm like, no, screw that. They overpaid for him. The same guys that I was hyping up. That's what Darnell Savage just felt like to me. It was like, no, not like that. Not there. But I like it in this defense with Nielsen. I'm curious. I'm curious. Okay, maybe playing the slot as a blitzer. You know, Savage doesn't read the game that well. and I actually think that's, well, I'm a little scared because that defense is going to put him on, he's going to be in a lot of binds. So that's a little curious with that. But if you want to get versatile with him or creative with him, I don't hate it.

So that one I don't hate. So darn El Savage to Jacks. Do not hate that the Mitch Morris signing was very smart. It makes total sense. He's one of those players as a veteran center. So Mitch Morris was released by the bills earlier this week in a cost cutting move. The Jags moved very quickly to sign him. Two years, $10.5 million, $7 million guaranteed. when you look at what Andre James got,

look at what Lloyd Cushing, Barry is ultimately going to get paid, even though he's younger. Getting Mitch Morris at this price, even in his early 30s, I think makes total sense based on what the Jags needed and where the Jags are. They're trying to win right now.

They're trying to win the AFC East today, or the AFC South today. So bringing a guy like Mitch Morse in to be a stabilizing force along that line. So now left to right, you got Cam Robinson at left tackle, Ezra Cleveland, who they brought back at left guard, Mitch Morse at center,

Brandon Sherr found a reworked deal coming back at right guard and then Anton Harrison at right tackle. So their bet is if we have more better center play, if we have better health across the board, and that is good, that's the bet that we're making. If we can be a little bit healthier and Morse can just raise the level of the line overall, which a good center does for you, right? It takes a little bit off of Trevor. I think that's the bet they're making up front as to why this is going to be better than it was last year when the offensive line was objectively a weakness.

Now, don't draft any linebackers and draft another offensive line. And for depth, depth, it's the thing behind your starters. That's what you need. So get another guy that can snap. Make sure he's on the roster as well. So that no, but no, I'm with you. It's that bring up the more stuff makes me feel a little bit every, uh, and Cleveland's whatever and Scherf is another year older and hopefully he's healthy and everything.

Harrison is a risky bet, man. It's a very risky bet. If we're healthy, that's going to be enough. It is fragile. And I think that they understand that they were a little bit too varied in the run game last year. They need to streamline that a little bit. So I think they're aware of their issues. But the fact that Mitch Morris and retaining Ezra Cleveland are the answers to them for their offensive line problems,

there is inherent risk that comes with half measures as fixes with that group specifically. Yes. Last move the Jags made that's worth talking about here. Sixth round pick for Mac Jones. No issue with it whatsoever. Yeah, it's a backup. Whatever. Was a starting caliber quarterback early in his career, has shown flashes of the totally

workable play at the position. He's making $2 million this year. So whatever. I mean, that's totally fine. Yeah, I know. He belongs in the league. I know there's a lot of jokes about Mac Jones, but he does belong in the league. Absolutely, he does.

I'm surprised he actually didn't have more of a market. So this is my concern here. What is going to happen with Justin Fields? If Mac Jones went for a six to be a backup, and now we're running out of places for Justin Fields to be a starter. If Minnesota wants to go the cheap route without having to give up a pick, which I totally understand and whether the Bears would be willing to trade the division anyway. So they go Donald.

Minchew is now in Las Vegas. Kirk Cousins is in Atlanta. Russell Wilson's in Pittsburgh. We're out of starting spots here very, very quickly. So there is a chance that Justin Fields goes to a place where he will be a backup, and what does the market for that look like? Trey Lansmore for a four last year with more time left on his rookie deal with one more season than Justin Fields has. Justin Fields obviously showed more as a start-old.

Exactly. And that could be a good or bad thing, right? Justin Fields has shown more in the league, but there also is more of a defined opinion about what Justin Fields is. So we're getting to a place where I think people, especially in Chicago, are going to be disappointed with what that return looks like. I've said this a couple times over the last couple days. what would Caleb Williams go for right now? Several first. A lot of firsts.

Several. Several first round picks. If you're Minnesota, or maybe let's have the same Minnesota, we're talking to the Broncos. He said, all right, you want to come out from 12 to one. What would it take? It would take 12 this year, a first next year, a first in 2026, and probably more than that. Justin Fields is probably going to end up going for like a fourth or fifth round pick. The right decision is being made.

This is the correct way to handle the quarterback position. Oh, I trip it over. I know. If this was a year and a half ago, I could tell you where he was gone. David Tepper was sending some third rounder. So you guys have guaranteed I have that another third rounder from Carolina. That would have been easy to add. I know, you start looking at like teams like Seattle, you know, it seems like that where it's like a, hey, maybe we can strike gold and find another starter for cheap.

Or a Gino backup as well. So a team like that is where my head starts going. I think that's totally reasonable. A team that is looking for a little bit more youth, a little bit more upside of the position. Let's see what they have here. So something like that, I think, is the correct way to think about it. I've also thought just high-end backup for teams that have quarterbacks that aligns of their play style. Baltimore, Philadelphia, would they be willing to make a move like that?

So I think that's the type of stuff we're talking about now. And again, that's a pretty big departure from what it seemed like might happen before some of these starting quarterback seats started getting filled. let's take in Chicago really quickly. Bears make two moves, including the first move of the day, going to get D'Andre Swift for three years up to $24 million, $15 million guaranteed. This is just a shrug for me. Yeah, a big shrug.

It's in line with what the market is for that position. Tony Pollard got a similar contract. If you look at what Devin Singletary got from the Giants, it's a three-year, $16.5 million deal. So this is just kind of what veteran running backs get on the free agent market. This is in line with the Miles Sanders deal from last year. But why? Why Chicago?

Yeah, that's what I don't get. You already have Clio Herbert. You already have Rochon Johnson, who you spent a fourth round pick on last year. Like, why? And drop another. Yeah, I know. I didn't get this one. He's got more juice than those guys, maybe.

Maybe you can talk yourself into him as a pass catcher in ways that those guys aren't just in terms of what he could do with the ball in his hands. If they didn't have one of Herbert or Johnson, totally get it. But they have both. And I don't know. And I felt like they could just drop another young guy in and fine, whatever, going with that. I actually like the Rochon can pass protect too.

I don't know. Yeah, it was just a weird landing spot for me. It doesn't make a ton of sense for me. I don't understand what the connection is. You know, again, he was in the NFC North, so you had some exposure to him. But the fact that two things that I would look at here. One, the lions moved on from him. and then immediately spent a top 12 pick on a running back and had spent money on David Montgomery

and free agency. The Eagles move on from him and then immediately sign Sequin Barclay to a massive contract. And these are two teams that think about value, they think about plans. I'd be a little bit weird with strong offensive lines too. Very good offensive lines. This is not going to be a deal of torpedoes this team. They've got a shitload of money to throw around. I just don't understand the motivation or the thinking behind him.

He's a, yeah, Swift's a very, and I think Swiss a frustrating running back. His vision's not very good. And he's, he's explosive. And so that, again, it's like maybe those guys after time, you're like, oh, this is great. And then over time, you go, those patch protection is not great. And, you know, he kind of takes off the table as much off the table as he brings onto the table. That's how I assess Swift. Again, that's why it just doesn't seem right to me, especially how the bears have been,

I've been really liking some of the guys the bears go after. It seems a lot of smart players, like a lot of players that were just like very like football savvy players is what they've been kind of going after. So that's why it was curious to me too. Like Kevin Byard. Right? Like Kevin Byrd.

Yes. To a two year $15 million deal. It makes total sense. Total sense. That's in line with what I expected them to do over the last few days. Yes. The bear's trading a fifth round pick for Ryan Bates and getting ahead of the interior offensive line market that was about to explode.

Make sense to me. DeAndre Swift thing, I just never would have expected it in a million years. Yeah. Yep. Like you said, it's not crippling or anything. It was just, oh, things that make you go, hmm, kind of signing. Let's get to some other team-wide plans here. Washington, who had more caps based than any team in the NFL coming into today.

Two signings thus far. They bring in Doran's Armstrong, formerly of the Cowboys, can play inside, can play outside. It's always been a personal favorite of mine. Three years, $33 million. dollars base according to niki job vol of the washington post the max is 45 million it's fine with me this is rotational starter level defensive line play this is a we're not wanting to pay montes sweat twenty five million dollars a year let's get a second round pick and doran's armstrong for 11 i'm okay with that thinking i think you need needle moving edges at some point but i understand if you're going

to be where washington is right now going this direction this is just a player this is just a tangible starter level player that we can play 30 to 40 snaps and we're fine doing it. And we're not in a position where we need to be spending top of the market money on guys like this. The other move they made. You're not pushing the sand forward. You're pushing it to the side with these types of moves. You're like, okay, we're just spreading it out a little bit.

We're just not pushing into the center box. They need guys. That's it. They need players of some kind on this team. So I think that's what it fits here. It's your one of a rebuild. That's how you have to look at them right now. But I think the move that also, to me, aligns with where their timeline is, them being

the team that was willing to spend on a Tyler Biotish and getting into the veteran center market, Tyler Biotish formerly of the Cowboys, reportedly three years, $30 million, very much in line with what the Raider spent on Andre James. And this is a guy who is, he's a veteran presence. He's a solid veteran center presence when you are likely drafting a quarterback in the top five. I've always enjoyed trying to pair those two things together. So I think going this route makes a ton of sense to me.

And operating an offense that he had to do a lot with his quarterback too. with DAC and stuff because you have the license that they gave those too. So again, $8 to $10 million, that's the starter level into your guy contract. So this makes total sense to me. And again, it's a stabilizing force. You're just kind of going, all right, we have competency here as opposed to, hey, rookie quarterback, go have fun with another third rounder that we drafted. Okay, you should go figure it out against the Eagles.

It's funny. You mentioned third rounders because Ricky Stromberg, they drafted in the third round last year, and they're choosing to go this direction instead of developing him. And it's funny watching teams eventually land here because the Jags did the same thing. They took Luke Fortner in the third round to pair with Lawrence. And eventually two years later, they're like, ah, fuck this. Get me the guy who can give me a stabilizing force within the middle of my office. Give me my Alex Mack.

Yeah. Yes. Give me my Rodney Hudson. One more set of team. Actually, it's had a couple more teams here. The Vikings today. Yeah. I think all of this stuff makes sense when you're looking at it.

So they are the team that ends up paying. up for Jonathan Grenard. Four years, $76,000, $42 million guaranteed. If I were an impartial observer to this team, my first reaction to that, as Daniel Hunter is set to hit free agency, would be, why would you let Daniel Hunter walk and then pay a guy $19 million a year to come in and be an edge rusher for you? If you look at the Vikings over the last year, the two moves that they made in free agency last year, essentially, they signed Marcus Davenport and Byron Murphy.

If you look at the ages for those guys when they hit free agency, it's very notable. And then where did Quasi Adolfo Menta come from? Cleveland. What has Cleveland done systematically over the last three, four, five years? They are so young all the time. So going from a 29-year-old, 30-year-old Daniel Hunter to a 26-year-old Jonathan Grenard, I think that's all you need to know about why they would be motivated to make this happen. and they like the injury discount a little bit.

Like they try to find some, some, and that's fine. I'm, I've been fine with that. You know, sometimes it doesn't work and sometimes it does. And you get a little discount there. Just a few million, but it matters. Grenard's a good player. But just good to get a lot of things. Good against the run.

Good pass rusher. Played 630 snaps last year. His next season highest is only 413. So again, but it's like he hasn't played a huge role because he's gotten injured over his career. But the thing that I like about Grenard, and this is a thing, it's a intangible thing that really matters. You're paying this guy. He plays really fucking hard.

And that, I'm paying the guy that is going to set the tone. He's good player. Every single time in this free agent market. Yeah. And he's 26. Like you said, you're getting him and you're paying in this prime. And so that's the window that you're paying. So again, these are the calculated risks.

This is what the premium I think to me is the injury history that you have to pay on him. But he's a good player that's going to play a lot of snaps and plays. positive snaps. He's a winning football player. I think in the locker room, on the field, all that type of stuff. So it's one of those and withhold with other stuff that they did. It was like, oh, okay. I'm sure we'll talk about one second, but I like this one. It was one that like it makes sense, how much they paid for him, the type of player and everything. If you look at the way they use their edges last year, the Daniel Hunter was kind of that ace, queen on the chess board, ace, whatever you want to say. They moved him around a bunch. But he's a pass rush. He's going to rush the

passer 95% of the time. That is his role within that defense. That's what Grinard steps into play. If you go to the other edge spot, DJ Wanam was, who is a traditional edge player. That's what he's in his entire career. They were asking him to do all this wild stuff within that defense last year. I actually think he acquitted himself pretty well. For the most part, I actually think him in coverage dropping back and all the things they asked him to do, I thought he did a fine job. But it always made sense for them to chase a player who more naturally fit that skill set within this system. And the guy that I had pegged last year, last week when they were talking about this was

Andrew Van Ginkle. He's a connection to Brian Flores. He fits this role specifically. And that's exactly what they did. They go get Andrew Van Ginkle two years, 20 million, $14 million guaranteed. It's the only thing I'll get right this entire free agent period. But I am happy that I got one. The Dutch army knife, him and Cal Van Nuoy.

No, but it makes all the sense in the world. Hey, in a defense that's going to have a couple guys kind of just do everything. Hey, you're going to rush the pass or you're going to drop in the coverage. You're running with a receiver on this play. Van Ginkle is amazing at it. Like he's played off ball linebacker. He's been a pass rusher. He sets the edge.

Perfect. This makes, again, we were talking about it's that he fits in a lot of different defenses. You can't go more different than Flores and Fangio and what he's played in. And so I think Flores loves that versatility and all the things you can do. Makes total sense. I love these two signings for what this defense wants to be. I really like them together. What do you think about Blake Cashman for three years and up to $25 million?

They did that as well today. Yeah. Okay with that. He's a Blitz boy. So, again, it makes sense for his type. He could be the Drew Tranquil for Flores a little bit. You know, it could be that. Again, he's a specific type of player.

This type of defense makes sense more for him than I think actually Houston. So I actually like his role better in Minnesota. It's actually an interesting comparison that you bring up because Drew Tranquen. got extended three years 19 million. So pretty much a similar range for those two guys. And again, I think that we've seen, we've talked about this a little bit over the last six months or so as we were watching the season unfold and we were thinking about what

the free agent market would look like. The fact that Trankel was available for next to nothing on last year's market and now is worth three years and 19 million, you can't just punt on blindbacker. You don't have to spend on the top of the market, but you need workable players at those positions. So I think that second, third tier of offball linebackers, we're seeing that get pushed up a little bit as teams are coming to that realization. And I think a guy like Blake Cashman coming off what could be a one year wonder season,

but he played well is one of the benefactors of that. And a guy is benefiting from that. We're an hour and a half in. I don't know what words mean anymore. It's all right. I know. I looked at the clock. I was like, yeah, day one, baby.

No, it's also specific type of defenses too and how guys can really be unlocked in certain roles. So it's like, again, too, like a tranquil and a Spag's defense, it's like, oh, yeah. And we saw glimpses of it before. You know, Staley used them in a unique way too and with the chargers too. But again, when you get these guys in certain roles, it's like, oh, yeah, you truly get unlocked with that. And like you said, you need bodies.

Just like we talk about guards, you need starters. You need starters at lineback or otherwise other teams are just going to pick at it the entire game. One more team-wide plan to discuss here. The Titans, three signings, they go get Tony powered on a very similar deal to the one that DeAndre Swift signed. Again, I like, these teams for running backs, I just, I'm unmoved by them. I just like, well, my reaction is just kind of like a shrug. Yeah, and also, Paul, like, that's an identity difference than I expected.

That's not a Paulward landing spot to me because I thought they kind of Titans were all about tough guy stuff. So we kind of, Paul Ward is a, he bounces a lot of things. So him and Spears together, Tadje Spears, like, I don't know, the fit there didn't make a lot of sense. I like Paulard in different places. That one, that one was curious to me. For him to be the innings eater with like an explosive option like Spears, it is a curious pairing.

So we'll see how that works out. But they, two more signings. They're the team that goes and spends for Lloyd Cush and Barry. We still don't have the terms on that. I assume it's a pretty sizable deal. But again, you're pairing a second year quarterback or if you end up moving on from Will Leveson trying to draft another one, a rookie quarterback contract. Well, who knows? This is a new coaching staff.

Who knows how that ends up shaking out? but you're pairing a young quarterback, no matter who it is over the next couple years, with a guy who has now become a veteran center. Really good in past protection, very smart, can handle all that stuff for you. And they also go and get Chidobiawuzier, who I was curious what his landing spot would be, because he was banged up last year, but we've seen him play some very good football over the last couple of seasons. I still think he's a starting caliber corner, like above average starting caliber corner in the league. So I think that's exactly what the Titans are getting with a guy like that.

And again, familiar with Brian Calhant, et cetera. Yeah, I like the Cushenberry signing a lot. Again, that was the weakness for them. So you got Skoransky at left guard and maybe they draft a left tackle. So now the, I think the offensive line becomes true strengths. I like Cushenberry. He's like the, he's the line of, I think everybody above him is a good center and everyone below him is an average center. Like he is the exact line for me.

Like he's that level, he's the Kirk tier for centers. But he's smart and I bet you Bill Cahill-Hine's going to love him. because he's going to just be able to handle everything. So like you say, this is a true opportunity to take a lot of load off the quarterback. So, yeah, I like that one a lot, actually. Something to hit on with the news kind of rolling in right now. Sounds like, according to Diana Rossini and some others, there is some real smoke brewing here about the Panthers and Giants and a Brian Burns trade.

This makes sense when you look at the Panthers cap situation and the Panthers' needs and where they should probably be investing. And I also think the Giants clearly need another edge rusher. The Giants have cap space to burn. So trying to chase a guy like Burns, I think makes a lot of sense. My ideal outcome here, if I'm the Panthers, whatever I pick I get for Burns, I'm flipping that to Carolina to go get a T. Higgins. Like, I'm using the Brian Burns money for receiver or for receiving help because of where

you are with Bryce Young. And that's why they should have done this two years ago. This is, well, and this is what, why I've been frustrated with Jacksonville for all these years, because I always thought load up on the offense. Well, not like this, how you guys did it. It was like true, no, true guys, like actually. But this, I always just think that you shore up your star quarterback, getting to shootouts, whatever. Put him in a two-minute situations all the time, but make sure the offense is okay in a good ecosystem. Then we'll, you know, as we used to say, bangles the defense, you know, down the road.

I don't know. I think that's the team building plan itself. But how about your star number one pick that you just took and traded? a boatload for. You drop Brian Burns onto that front for the Giants. Now you have Brian Burns, Kvon, Tibodeau, he's been fine. And Dexter Lawrence, all in that group. That is a pretty formidable trio.

And again, if you're the Giants, I think that's exactly the mindset you should be in. Can you trade, I guess it would be the 38th overall pick to Carolina for Brian Burns and would be willing to give him an extension? I think that's a totally reasonable move for the. Giant specifically. It's a true star. So you put a star next to another star next to Dexter Lawrence. Yeah, that's a great.

And you got intriguing Deonté Beggs, the corner. Like, yeah, I really like that, especially with Bowen, too, going there defense coordinator. One more pass rushing note. Sounds like Leonard Floyd is heading to the Niners. I don't know exactly what the numbers are on that. Here we go. In Rapaport, two years, 20 million worth up to $24 million, $12 million dollars guaranteed in year one.

So, this year's Chris Casaric career rehabilitation plan belongs to Leonard Floyd. They always needed another edge rusher. I was wondering how much they were going to try to pay up for one. The answer is they wanted to land in the Leonard Floyd tier, not in the Daniel Hunter, Jonathan Grenard, whoever tier. You made it sound like the Chris Casaric, you know, rebuild rehabilitation plan. You made it sound like the special scholarship, you know, to like a special. It is.

It really is. but it's like, yeah, it's the Chris Casaric, you know, uh, who's the first one? It was, uh, what's his face, uh, from the Jaguars. Uh, and it's not like the, uh, oh, no, I'm Blake in his name right now. I mean, there's a ton of them that have, there's been 20 of them. I know, but I want to name it after him, you know, it's like this last week. And it was the, uh, Wake Forest has the Arnold Palmer scholarship, you know, for their top scholarship. This is what, that's what feels like for Chris Casarick, the 40s defense

a line. A few more smaller ones here, uh, the Texans. continue to shop in the same bin that they've always shopped in and free agency. And when it got to Nico Autry, they signed Jeff Akuta on a short term. So, 199 DVDs. That's, they love those one 99 DVDs and check out. And I, I don't mind it, right? So then going and getting Fatu Kasi, after he gets the monster payday from the Jags and is now available at a discount, I think that's exactly how you should think about free agency if you were these teams.

Or even they try to, they pick up tier or tart after you got cut last year. Yeah, exactly. It's like they're trying. Exactly. I love this. I love this. I love this. Find it.

Especially this type of that type of position too. So, no, totally makes sense. A couple others here to, uh, to tick through. The Chargers make a couple smaller moves. We were wondering what that Chargers running back option should look like. Gus Edwards going to the Chargers to play for Greg Roman makes total sense. So it. It was just sitting there.

We probably should have known that was likely going to happen. And then Will Disle going to the Chargers on a three-year deal. This is a team that just needs workable tight ends. You know, that's been the case for the last couple years. A couple others, Cardinals, three smaller moves, Ballal Nichols, Justin Jones, Sean Murphy Bunting, all on just starting caliber free agent contracts, which I don't mind. Like they just need starting caliber players. Curious what the Cardinals are doing.

Just every move they make, I'm going to be like, oh, okay. All right, right, right. So what you got to see in that guy? Last one here, Gino Stone goes to the Bengals. Two years, $15 million, $8 million in years. year one. So the Bengals clearly just looking for another answer at safety. They went with Nick Scott last year. Clearly not work out the way they wanted to. Say the Jordan Battle, Dax Hill combination. So I think this is just the next guy in the mid-tier starting caliber secondary market that the Bengals

have consistently shopped in here over the last three or four years. Yeah, sweet Lou going, give me my vet. Hey, he can call a defense. Yeah, sweet. This is great. That's exactly what he wants. And Von Bell now also on the market after reportedly being released by the Panthers. So he's somebody worth paying attention to as well. I thought they would maybe bring him all back. I'm sure that the conversation with Gino Stone probably started before that news about Von Bell had even crept out. I think so.

I think Gino Stone going there makes a ton of sense. They're very familiar with him. They needed just one more safety to drop in there. So I get it. All right. I think we've hit most of this stuff. Frankie Louvre to Washington. That's the last one.

All right. What do you think about this? Frankie Louvo going to Washington. Need players. that's fine. That's good. He's Bruce Irvin type. That's, hey, who Dan Quinn used to coach. There we go. So, I don't know. It's a player. He's a good, solid player. All right. We are right now it is 4.36 p.m. Central, 5.36 p.m. Eastern. So when you guys are listening to this and you're wondering, well, why didn't you hit this? Why didn't you talk about this guy? We have to cut it off eventually. So we will be back tomorrow doing this again at the same time. 4 p.m. Eastern. Eastern right here on YouTube. Please come back and listen to that. If you're listening on the podcast, same idea.

The show will be up as soon as possible after we're done recording tomorrow. So just something to keep an eye on. But very exciting, very fun, day one of free agency. I'm still waiting on the Bears to get their edge rusher. That's all that matters to me right now. And all I will be paying attention to we're thinking about over the next 24 hours or so. But hopefully you guys had fun. I know we did.

We'll be back tomorrow. Same time, same place, doing this all again. for now. That's all we got. Appreciate you guys listening. We will talk to you soon. This was the Athletic Football Show.