The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Lingering questions with the free agency dust settled

Episode Date: March 19, 2026

Free agency is, for all intents and purposes, over. Sure, meaningful players like Jauan Jennings and Taylor Decker are still out there, but the vast majority of the player movement for the 2026 offseason has happened. So what questions still remain now that all 32 teams have spent most of their money? Robert Mays and Derrik Klassen raise some big ones on this episode of The Athletic Football Show.Connect with The Athletic Football ShowYT: https://www.youtube.com/@TAFootballShowPodcasts: https://podfollow.com/the-athletic-football-show/viewX: https://x.com/TA_FootballShowIG: https://www.instagram.com/tafootballshowTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tafootballshowDiscord: http://discord.gg/theathleticfootballshowBuy our merch! http://theathletic.lnk.to/tafsmerchCall us: 847-448-0701Email us: [e-mail]: Robert MaysCo-Hosts: Derrik Klassen and Dave HelmanExecutive Producer: Michael BellerVideo Producer: Katy DuffyAudio Producer: Michael BellerSocial Producer: Scott KrinchFollow Robert on Bluesky: @robertmays.bsky.socialFollow Derrik on Bluesky: @qbklass.bsky.socialFollow Robert on X: @robertmaysFollow Derrik on X: @QBKlassTheme song: HauntedWritten by Dylan Slocum, Trevor Dietrich, Ruben Duarte, Kyle McAulay, and Meredith VanWoert / Performed by Spanish Love SongsCourtesy of Pure Noise / By arrangement with Bank Robber Music, LLC Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the athletic football show. I'm Robert Mays. Free agency, the first couple of waves of free agency, have settled down. Most of the guys that we were very curious to see what their landing spots would be, the guys who are going to make big money, they have found new homes for the 2026 season. And so this will be essentially our last free agency themed show. Now that a lot of that dust has settled,

what are the big questions that are still left? Those can be kind of bigger existential questions. Those can be how certain positions are going to be. be filled by certain teams that still have needs there. So that's what me and Derek did today. Just about a dozen questions we still have left as we wait for the draft to happen, but after free agency has already unfolded. Where are these teams at?

How are they going to solve some of these problems? What guys might still be traded? Which players are we still curious about their landing spots? That was what we dug into today. Tomorrow, we are shifting our focus to the draft. Dane Bruegler is going to be joining me and Dave Hellman. we're going to do a little idiot's guide to the 2026 NFL draft. I am the idiot.

I know very little. Dane knows a lot. So it's a show we've done in the past. The show I very much enjoyed doing. So today, it's our last beat on the 2026 free agent crop with me and Derek asking the biggest questions we still have left. Let's get to that conversation right now. All right. It is March 18th here on the athletic football show.

And as this week comes to a close, pretty much every year at this point, point in the calendar, we really put free agency to bed. We have about two full weeks of free agency conversations. Those started in earnest two weeks ago. We obviously had our big week of free agency reactions that started on Monday. And then we have about a week of shows that deal with the fallout of that first and second wave of free agency before we officially turn the page to draft coverage for the next month. And we have reached that point. So today, Derek, we're going to dig into some of the biggest questions that we have left after the first and second waves of free agency.

Many of these will be addressed in the draft. And so these aren't like huge blinking, terrifying holes for these teams. But the dominoes that now have to fall because of what happened in free agency, that's what we're digging into today. And I actually thought going into this and trying to figure out my questions, I thought I would have more specific like this whole, this team, or this available players still left on the market. And I really didn't.

I have one or two of those, but it was a couple more. like grander topics than that. I've got a couple where it's just pretty big holes on teams that should be competitive and aren't positions that there's like chock full of options in the draft. We'll have a couple of those. There's some other kind of bigger picture ones. But yeah, we can go any direction on these. But these are essentially the questions we still have left after most of the free agents have

signed and before we see where some of these teams go in the draft. So why don't you kick us off? your first question that you still have after a vast majority of the free agents have found their landing spots. I'll start with one that is based on the remaining free agents potentially and one that I think is like a, will this team address it?

I really want to know what the Chargers are going to do to solve their edge problem and solve some of their edge depth because I obviously bring back Kalil Mack, I think we were both really jazzed about that, but he's older, he's been banged up the past couple of years. You just don't know how long that's going to hold for you. And even regardless of that,

they don't really have like a true number three right now. Like currently it would be, I guess, Bud Dupree, but he's kind of a, gives you a half a dozen really good run snaps a game, and that's about it. And so if you look at the remaining edge market right now in terms of free agents, it's a lot of the old veterans.

It's like, do you bring back Joey Bosa? Are you the Jadavion Clowny team? It's a lot of guys like that. The only guy who's really younger and like could potentially maybe you would want to resign him again as like an AJ Epinessa. And even then, like I think given that they only need a number three, I think that that could be a solid signing.

So to me, it's like, do they go try to address this with a lot of these vets, some of these older guys, or do they wait until the draft? I would still say both, right? Like, I wouldn't want to go into April being like, we have to take a first round edge rusher. I wouldn't like to do that. That would be like we sign an

Epinessa, a clowny, whatever it's going to be. And then if we love who's there at 20, whatever, then we can take him. Yeah, I mean, it's having only two at this point that you feel really good about it. It does look like a very thin room. To be honest, though, it kind of felt like a thin room heading into last year, too. And that's why they had to make the Odafei Osh trade halfway through the years,

that they just didn't have enough guys to feel good about that spot. And that's kind of where they are again. And I would make an argument that there's a couple different positions where it's like, you probably want to draft somebody pretty early on here. The edge is a spot where you want to come out of maybe the first two rounds with the guy that can play. And I still think they need into your offensive line help. Mm-hmm. A hundred percent. If there's a guard there that they like, It's like you would rather, like if they went into April 23rd, absolutely needing an edge player, but then there's a guard you like there. Then you have a really, really difficult choice that you have to make.

Whereas if they could solve this now and at least have a guy you feel okay about being your third guy, then if you love a guard there, then you can just take them and you don't have to think about it. Like I think them at least using one of these remaining vets in the free agency pool to at least like we can get by with that if we need to. I kind of think that they have to do that. And then again, if you love who you want in first or second round, then you can take another swing of that dresser. Mine is similar just in terms of, again, playoff team, very much a playoff team,

figuring out one position how they're going to address it. Who's going to play running back for the Seahawks in week one? I mean, I guess Emmanuel Wilson, who like... Emmanuel Wilson's deal was for $1.6 million. I know. He's funny, too, because, like, I actually think both of us at certain point, points last season we're like, Emmanuel Wilson,

kind of nice. He kind of gives you something. But when that's your week one starter, it's a bit of a different consideration. Then like week 10, he's getting like eight carries for you in a game or something like that. And so I think if he has to, if they have to get by with him for a month,

six weeks or whatever, I don't think it's that big of deal. I also think like, maybe this is a bad way to frame it. But like, this is a Seahawks team that is clearly okay taking a little bit of a step back and like a reset year.

and I think they are maybe not that press to go out and have a guy. I would still love to see them draft somebody, but like if you don't get Jeremiah Love, which they're not going to with where they're picking, obviously, it's not a very deep running back class. And so they're going to have to take a swing on some guy in the third round and just kind of hope that he gives them something.

You look at it, they don't have many picks either. They had their first second and third round pick, and then they had a sixth round pick from the browns. They have four picks in this entire draft. And so even the idea of, oh, we'll just take a late round dart throw on a guy He can be a part of the mix. Right now, it pretty much seems like their week one plan.

If they don't bring in anybody else, is going to be some combination of Emmanuel Wilson and George Halani. Maybe that's fine. Maybe you can live with that for the first month of the season like you're talking about, but it's just you're really scraping by if that's your week one start of the season running back plan. And they can probably live with that for a short period of time. But we saw that the best version of the Seahawks offense as we got deeper into the season required some real play at running back

and some real dynamic play at running back. And so the complexion of the offense just dramatically changes for as long as Zach Charbonnet isn't in there. And I would argue into when Zach Charbonnet is in there, considering how important Kenneth Walker was to what this team felt like by the end of the year. 100%. And it's also like the idea of, oh, we can get by.

I feel like that stuff is great in weeks 8 to 12, where it's like, okay, we know who we are as an offense. We've kind of jailed them some stuff. We know how to do, you know, we know what holes we need to patch. Having to go into that week one when you're not entirely sure where the issues are with your offense and stuff like that

and having that thrown into the mix, I think could be a pretty big issue for their offense, especially too, because they're obviously changing offensive systems now. And so we'll see how that goes. My other thing with the Seahawks, you bring up the draft picks, I initially went into this being like, man, they still have some cap space.

Maybe they're in a Bronco situation where it's like, okay, they've got a lot of cap space to play with. Maybe they want to go trade for somebody. They just don't have the pick. to do that. Like, you cannot trade your first round pick and then be stuck with a two or three and a, what did you say, a sixth round pick? Like, that's just not a way to sustainably build a roster.

And so they have the cap to do it. They don't have the resources to do it, really. That is not a way to build a sustainable roster and they can't do it are two different considerations. That's fair. They could if they wanted to. Yeah, it's a team that, we talked about this last week when we were just discussing their offseason and whether they were a better roster.

it just feels like with how much cap space they have, is there another shoe that might be dropping? Or, again, are they just saving some of this money and some of this cash for some of the extensions that they're going to have to hand out? But it has been a relatively quiet offseason for this team, and I think that that is very well expressed by their lack of urgency

in finding a solution or replacement for not only Kenneth Walker, but for Zach Charbonnet, for however much time he's going to miss. What's your next one here? Your next big looming question, now that the first couple of waves of free agents, are over. So I'm going to a little bit tap into the last question I had here, which was the Chargers, how do they approach Edge? I'm curious about what is left for the trade market. And obviously

the big name there is potentially A.J. Brown, which you can talk about here at the end. But I think a lot of the other potential trade candidates are Edge players. I think Max Crosby is still on the board, obviously. You know, he could be a Raider. And if he is for the rest of the season, that's totally fine for them. But I imagine that he's still on the board as a trade candidate. Lucas Van Ness, from the Packers, like they seem like they're not entirely sure what they want to do with him, who knows how he fits into the new defense. I think if some team wants to take a swing on a guy who was a former first-round pick, big body, like a team like the Chargers could make sense.

It obviously wouldn't be very expensive to do that either with draft capital or the money. Obviously, if they won't do that his option, what do you mean? You think based on their current, the bodies they have at that position right now, you think they could afford to trade him away for a middling return given what else they have on the roster at that position, that feels scary to me because he was playing well last year when he was healthy. I mean, I don't think they should. I just wonder how he really fits into their defense being

a bigger bodied guy. Like, I just wonder if that's something that they want to pursue. And obviously, he played well, he started to play a little bit well last year, but generally he has been pretty banged up for them and also been very up and down for them, even when he was on the field. The trade candidates, that's

where my mind went. Like, that was one of my questions. It's like, who else are the guys that we might see dealt before the start of the season. Like, is there another Jalen Waddle potentially looming for guys that might be available? Like, Kavon Tibido is a guy that comes to mind.

The Dexter Lawrence thing is interesting to me. I got in them trying to find a little bit more money. Dan Doggin today was talking about how they doesn't seem like they want to restructure Lawrence's contract in order to find a little bit more cap space. Does that mean that they're not necessarily committed to him long term in the way that you might think? That's the guy on the Giants, like more than Tibido

where I'd call and be like, hey, this is an getting older expensive player for a team and a regime that is in transition, what would it take for us to get Dexter Lawrence? So that's a name that I would at least be thinking about. And obviously we don't know how the J.1 Carter thing is going to be settled, you know, whether he would be available for the right price on top of what's going on with A.J. Brown.

And then there's some other less sexy ones too. Like what happens with Keon Coleman? Is Keon Coleman destined to be a bill? Is that somebody that you think that you could potentially salvage? Anthony Richardson is absolutely involved in this conversation. So I think there are a bunch of different guys that I would at least be sniffing around about over the next three or four months here, even as we get a little bit deeper into the offseason. So one of my separate questions was the quarterback specifically, but I'll host to that for a second.

There was one other player that I do think, based on this team's timeline and where his contract is at, I wonder if there's a competitive team that would want to make a trade for this player. Jesse Bates for the Falcons is still a really, really good player. and the fact that Falcons team is not going to really be competing this year. And he's got one year left on his deal. He would be 30 by the time this deal is done. They're most likely not going to pay him after that. And so they would only save like a few,

I think they would only save like $7 or $8 million if they like post-June 1 designated to trade. And so it's not like it would be saving a whole ton of money or anything. But it's just he does not really fit their timeline necessarily. And so I wonder if for the right price like a competitive team could go trade, you know, a third, fourth round pick for a player like that. and really juice up their secondary. Oh, now you got my gears turning. Is there a team that you had in mind

that you think might make sense for a Jesse Bates? I mean, initially I wanted it to be Seattle, but I don't know if they would trade with so few resources left on their board to go and do something like that. I mean, it's apparently a big charger show. Like, if the charges wanted to do something like that, I think that he could fit their defense pretty well

and they, I think, have a hole there. Like, currently their safety rotation, assuming Derwin plays a lot of the nickel again or could play a lot of the nickel again, or could play a lot of the nickel is RJ Mickens and Elijah Mulden. Like those are your starting safeties. I think if they wanted to juice up the secondary

a little bit that way, that could make sense. So I would probably have to think more about the team and the fit and who's got the resources, but I'm like, if you need a safety, that seems like the guy to go and do it. I'm just going over some of the other former first round picks. Teams are going to have to make a decision about their options. I'd be surprised if Quinn Johnston was available

in the way that you might think for somebody who was a first round pick but hasn't been overly productive. I think they like him more than like the outside perception would lead you to believe. He obviously fell off in the back half of last year. But so that's a name that I would throw out. Yeah, yeah. That's a name I would throw out.

That's probably it, right? There aren't a lot of other guys from that draft that immediately come to mind that would be worth trading for that teams would be willing to move on from. Yeah, I mean, like you mentioned it earlier, Thibido was kind of maybe the only other one that is like, okay, if somebody really wanted to take a swing

on a past star show. But even then, that would be the type of swing. Like I want to already have an ace in place, and he's kind of just our second guy. What do we think about the Anthony Richardson market? Is this the move that you want to see the Rams make still? A hundred percent. I desperately want them to go and make this trade.

Or the other one is, again, I'm still going to be pushing for this player. I think he's okay, but like a Spencer Rattler, I think kind of would be pretty fun over there. But I think seeing how the offense operated with a quarterback who can throw down the field, obviously Richardson is nowhere near as talented or as good as Stafford, but I wonder how Sean McVeigh would do that. And then also, Richardson is mobile,

and I've said it for years now. I want to see what Sean McVeigh's offense looks like with a guy who can move a little bit. And obviously they wouldn't like quarterback run game him a ton because of some of the injury stuff. But the fact that that could at least be like an element of the offense, I think is kind of interesting. Yeah, it just doesn't seem like there's a ton of downside

in making a move like that. And look, I'm trying to figure out right now. How many games do you think Anthony Richardson has started in his career? Eight. No, it's 15. He started 15 games. Started 11 games in 2024. Obviously, the best case scenario here,

and the most analogous case that we've seen recently, is a team like the Packers trading from Alec Willis, having him be in the building for a little while, and then you see enough flashes from him that eventually a team is willing to pay him $20 million a year. The hope would be that Anthony Richardson can become a guy who's worth paying $20 million a year in your own building as like a potential off-ramp at quarterback,

I just think a team like that, just trying to get him in there, getting a look at what he is, seeing what he feels like in their building and their program for a couple of years before they have to make a decision about Stafford. That's the type of team that I would love to see, just take a dice roll on a player like that. And they're really the only team in that position. Like the only other team with like a good veteran quarterback that maybe you would want to bridge to the next guy is like maybe Dallas and Dak. But even then, I think Dak has more of a runway than Stafford.

like Stafford, it's year to year constantly now. They already have Anthony Richardson at home. Joe Milton's on the roster. Oh, come on. That's really funny. I totally forgot that. They had Trey Lance at one point, too. Like those the big 6-5 just like throw the shit out of the football.

They chase them so maybe Anthony Richardson could fit into the building. I don't know. My next one here is just something that is like an existential question I've been thinking about for the entire off season. Where are the Bears going to find past rush help? Like their big move along the defensive line and free agency was going out and getting Neville Gallimore. and they signed James Lynch today. And if you look at the depth chart, you know, they have,

they go three deep at edge when DiO Dio Dengbo comes back. They still have Austin Booker, they still have Montes-Swed, they still have DiDangbo. At defensive tackle, they have bodies. They have Grady Jarrett.

They have Gravon Dexter. They sign Neville Gallamore. But especially the Jarrett contract and the O'Dangbo contract, those are deals that they can move on from after this season. And so I just think that somewhere, there's a reason they were in the Max Crosby discussion,

even if you have guys that you've committed resources to, this team still needs more pop up front. And so I assume that is a position, either defensive tackle or defensive or edge rusher. Whatever one you want to add, that's totally fine. I just think you need, hopefully, to find a guy who can be a contributor for you

in this draft in the first two rounds. And Shamar Turner will be back next year. He had a very weird rookie season as a second round pick. He was hurt, I think on the first day of training camp and missed almost all of training camp. he comes back he moves around a couple different positions he only plays a handful of games and so he hopefully will be more a part of your plans in 2026 but even if you're counting on that to a degree this team still needs to add some sort of pop up front for them to be for them to take the step forward

defensively that they absolutely need to if they're going to be a real player in the nfc and so where that comes from somewhere along the way is absolutely one of the bigger questions that i have you expect that to be more through the draft now at this point right It has to be, right? Maybe the Crosby compensation has come down far enough. I guess that really is their only other answer because they, given the way that Dennis Allen runs the defense,

I would not expect them to be like a Kvon-Tibon-Tibino team. And then even if like, you know, Van Ness, who I mentioned earlier is on the board, that's in division. That's absolutely not happening. And so at a certain point, you kind of run out of edges to trade for. There's not that many guys that they can sign.

Again, it would maybe be like an Epinessa. It probably is going to have to be through the draft. They also are what, they're up against the cap. They were always going to have to move some money around if they were going to do something like the Crosby deal, how much money they want to move around. They have restructure options.

Like there are five or six guys that they could potentially touch the money. I don't know who of those guys they want to be pushing money into future years for. Like Jalen Johnson's, this is his age, he's 27, he was hurt last year. Kyle Gordon was hurt last year. Joe Tune is 34 years old. Dio Dangbo, somebody you'll probably want to move on from. Jonah Jackson has a $15 million base salary, but he has an injury history and is getting a little bit older.

So they do have flexibility, but there just aren't a lot of clear-cut guys of, yeah, I'm willing to push money to 2028 or 2029 for ex-player because I know he's going to be here. There aren't a lot of those guys on the roster. And so that was always my question with the Crosby thing at the beginning is whether they would actually want to move enough money around to bring in somebody like that because even if they have flexibility

to restructure some of these things, are there clear candidates that you'd want to restructure? And I just don't know if the answer to that is yes. And so to see them not be overly aggressive in spending and to not do any of that so far isn't necessarily surprising. There's probably still going to have to touch somebody to get the draft picks under though, aren't they? Yeah, they have to.

Yeah, something is going to have to happen. Who would you expect it to be? Or actually, let me rephrase that. If you were in their shoes and you had to pick one or two of these restructures, who would it be? Because it is a lot of tricky positions. It's a lot of guys that you maybe don't expect to be on the roster in three years or like you said those offensive linemen they're old jonah jackson's hurt all the time

uh kiler gordon at corners heard all the time even if he's a good player like it's it's some tough decisions i really don't know i truly don't know the best answer to it because a lot of these guys i mean montes sweat and jonah jackson are going to be free agents after the 2027 season and so and same with jelan johnson so i don't know who the best answer would be there and i assume that's why they haven't done a lot of pushing money into the future because there aren't that many guys that you want to be on the hook for as we get into like 2028 here. All right, let's take our first quick break and then come back and chat about a few more

of these big questions we still have. All right, what's your next one? What is one of your other big questions that you still have to have answered after the first couple of waves of free agency? I'm kind of curious about like why none of the young dice roll quarterbacks really got moved. Like there just were not a lot of them that got moved

and I wonder if there's still a market for any of those guys. obviously we just talked about Anthony Richardson, potentially to the Rams, but like Tanner McKee, I think was a big discussion for a lot of people. Could he be a guy who maybe the Cardinals go and take a swing on? Spencer Rattler, I think is in that same boat.

Will Levis is in that same boat to me. Listen, I know some of like the, his worst plays in Tennessee were embarrassing, but that was like, that was clearly a very bad situation to begin with. And then he got supplanted by a very talented first overall pick at quarterback. And so I'm not saying that Will Levis is going to be good.

the future. But that is the type of guy, like, if you can get him for some, like, mid-day-3 pick and just get him on your roster the same way that Malik Willis got to Green Bay, like, I think that that is probably a decent bet for, even for a team like the Rams, I think that that would make a lot of sense, like, in the same mold as like an Anthony Richardson. And so I think you've got teams like L.A. where that obviously makes a lot of sense. Dallas, I think it makes more sense for, you know, if they wanted to bring in, like, one of the lower guys, like a Spencer Rattler, like somebody who's probably not going to potentially cost you as much or, like, Will Levis.

And then I'm, I know that Arizona already has Jacoby Reset. I know they signed Gardner Minchew. I would still want to take one of the dice roll young quarterbacks if you can get them for the right price. Like if you can get them for a fourth or a fifth,

I think that to me is worth doing because you're probably not going to get anybody as interesting in this draft class. And I know that they're tanking, but like it's kind of a free lottery ticket if you can get them for one of the right prices. Is it free though? I think that's one of the questions.

Like how much would you have to? give up to get one of these guys. McKee is the one that I think is going to cost you. Of course it will. Because there's no way he's going to let him go for nothing. Exactly. That's the one that I think is going to cost you. Rattler, I think, could because I think he is shown that he is a competent young quarterback

for that specific team. And the quarterback that they have ahead of him, Tyler Shuck, has a massive injury history. And so maybe the Saints are not actually willing to move off from a player like that. But like Will Levis to me is, Will Levis and Anthony Richardson in particular, those two guys feel extremely movable to me for potentially not that big of a price and so again if you can get them for like a day three pick I think that that is like a pretty reasonable

spot for a lot of those teams to be in I also the other team that doesn't fit into any of those buckets like Dallas and LA right those are like aging quarterback we want to have a guy just in case Arizona is obviously in the we just need like a scratcher ticket here Green Bay is the one where I'm like they really do not have an option that backup quarterback they just did They just lost Malik Willis.

Exactly. And so it's like, if they're the Will Levis team for a sixth round pick, why not, man? Like, he fits the offense. He fits what they want to do. Like, I think that that could make a ton of sense. Yeah, that was the other team I would throw out because you're looking at the teams that theoretically, like,

need quarterbacks. I just don't think that. So the Cowboys just signed Sam Howell, by the way. So that's, they just added somebody to their quarterback room. Tennessee, I think the Will Levis thing is completely well-founded because, you know, Mitchell Chubisky is there now as the backup. And so he's not. the third quarterback.

And so is that something that's worth doing? I would say, honestly, weirdly enough, I think the Bengals for a team that you would think about here, they signed Josh Johnson, but like the amount of time that Joe Burrow is missed, like do you want maybe a little bit more upside

with your backup quarterback if you're Cincinnati? But essentially all the other teams we're talking about, I don't think really fit the bill. You know, the Jets obviously made their thing with Gino. They're going to be in play for quarterback at 2027. They're not one of those teams, really. And so I think Greenback,

is definitely up there. We talk about the Raiders. Right now, Aiden O'Connell is the only quarterback on their debt chart. But it seems like Kirk Cousins, that's going to be the Kirk Cousins team when this is all said and done if he wants to go there. So I think Green Bay is probably the last team on the list. I'm like, you know what? You might as well take a little bit of a swing.

The Bengals are a good shout, though, because I saw them sign Josh Johnson. I was like, really? Still, that's incredible for him. But, yeah, I would probably want at least like a younger chance to get a guy behind Joe Burrow probably. I've got a few more positional ones. Those are most of the ones that I have left. Next one for me, what do the Ravens do with center?

Dude, I truly have. I had a very ravens one here that was similar, which is like, how do they do something on offense? Which the big glaring, you know, flashing red thing there is the center position. Like I don't know what they're going to do. They are stuck now in a position where you mentioned it. Maybe you signed Lloyd Cushenberry. Other than that, though, it's kind of like they have to draft the guy.

Like that's probably your best bet left on the market. But they might be like a Lloyd Cushenberry team if it's for the right price deep enough into free agency, like deep enough into the off season. So again, all of these ones that we're going to throw out here, there is a chance that they address this in some way, shape, or form over the next few months, including the draft. But how the Ravens address that position is absolutely at front of mind for me.

And we talked about past catchers. This came out yesterday. This one, I think, is a fun one. David and Joku was visiting the Ravens yesterday. Oh, I love that. I actually really love that. Because again, I've been saying, like, he, I think he's quietly still like a pretty decent player.

Like, I would be into that. Yeah, I think that one for, again, that offense with Declone Doyle coming in there, they're going to be one of those teams. Sometimes when we have play callers that are new and are first-time play callers and they come from a certain system, there's always a how much carryover is they're going to be? Like, are they going to take all the same DNA from that previous play? with the Ravens, my assumption is yes.

I think that they will do what they can to have that offense express itself in a very similar way to what Ben Johnson wanted to do in Chicago. I don't think there's any like, and now that I get my chance, I believe different things. That's not how I see the Ravens' offensive plan unfolding this year. That's what I would say.

I mean, that's kind of what I hope that it would be and it fits really well with a lot of the personnel that they have, honestly. I mean, especially at running back. Like, I think if they frame the offense around that and then Lamar has become, I think, a much better, like, just true dropback play action type of pastor if they wanted to do more of that. Like, I, if they shifted the offense more that way,

I'd be into it. And again, and Joku's like a good glue it all together piece for that. You bring over Durham Smyth. Derm Smyth is now their third tie-ed end. Every new play caller gets, or every new coach really gets one or two guys that are like, he knows my stuff. He can at least communicate it to everybody.

I didn't expect that it would be Durham Smyth, but it makes sense. It is definitely Durham Smyth. But yeah, what the Ravens end up doing at Center. I assume they will address it somewhere along the way. And it might be with a Lloyd Cushenberry type. But right now, that is a pretty big glaring hole, even after bringing in a depth piece like Danny Pinter and Free Agency, which they did.

And I also, with the Ravens, obviously Center is more of the priority here. But I'm looking at the past catcher room, and I'm looking at the history of the kind of stuff that they do. this could be like a Joanne Jennings team, I feel like. I feel like that makes a lot of sense for them to try to do that. Just the guy who, because say Flowers is not really like, can you just win and embody someone on third down? Rashad Bateman is not really that style of player.

I think maybe in previous iterations of the offense, like Mark Andrews could have been that matchup guy for you, but I think as he gets older, that is less true now. And so Joanne Jennings just kind of being like, one, he blocks his ass off too, which I think given the way that they are going to run the offense and have in different iterations always run the Ravens offense. I think he fits there.

And then again, just having a guy who's like a mover for, like a chain mover for you, I would be into that because your quarterback, your quarterback gives you the explosives. Like they will come if he is on the field. And so if you can just get guys who are like chain movers for them, you have Zayflowers, you have Derek Henry who can move the chains that way. That might be their best solve for receiver at this stage. Is Joanne Jennings the free agent that's left available that you have the most interest in what their landing spot is, who else would be in that conversation?

I mean, yeah, it probably is him. I wasn't like that jazzed about a lot of the other guys that they're left. Like, again, I still think if you need Young Edge, like AJ Ebenezza was kind of the best guy available that you have for that. But other than that, I was not like particularly jazzed about a lot of the guys left. Because a lot of the guys left to me feel like Band-Aids. Like, Joanne Jennings is not a band-aid. Like, that is a, he can be a pretty useful player for us.

We can really mold him into the offense. but a lot of the other guys left are like the old offensive linemen like the Joel Betonios, the Taylor Decker stuff like that, guys that we are hoping like can you get us by for a year which I think is a different consideration than like a Joanne Jennings. The other guys

that I would throw out, Jawan Taylor is still available right? So Jawan Taylor is still out there and I completely understand why the chiefs moved on at that price but I think that if you need playable right tackle if you need a playable right tackle he can give you that and Stefan Diggs was really good for the Patriots last year

and so if you need somebody who can come in and be a playable, not even just a playable receiver for you, but somebody who can actually be like an impactful guy within your offense, I do think he still is capable of doing that. So those are probably the two guys, I would say, I'm most interested in where they end up landing at the end of this. Yeah, no one else really comes to mind. It's not a lot of guys who pop, yeah.

We're in the spot now where like DJ Wanam is signing for one year, $6 million with the Lions. Like that's the spot. a free agency that we're currently in right now. That's another one of mine is, what are the lions going to do up front? Like, where are those guys going to come from? Looking at their edge room is,

it's like startling. Like, I think we've known for a couple years now, it's been a lot of like Aidan Hutchinson and then piecing it together with a couple of guys here and there, but it's looking at it right now is, it's startling because it's one, it's one who you just said signed for like $6 million. It's Tyler Lacey,

who has not played a whole lot of snaps for them. and then Ahmad Hassanon, who I think was a sixth round pick for them last year. And that's it. That's all that they have. It's not a lot of guys who have done very much contributing for them. Yeah, I mean, and they've done this the last couple years, right? I mean, like, Al-Qaeda and Mohammed played a ton for them last year. They have not overextended themselves at this position specifically over the last couple years.

But I wonder if that this is the year that changes. Like, is this the year, as they're picking a little bit higher in the first round, do they take a swing on somebody who can play next to Aiden Hutchinson? because as it currently stands, that positionally is absolutely one of the things that I have circled for among all of the teams we're talking about here. And I actually, I will say not to get like two draft specific now, then picking at 17 with this, it's a deep edge class in general, but it's a lot of edges that are also like what they need to pair across from Hutchinson. Like Hutchinson is your weak side rusher. He's a race car. He's going to get around the edge.

On that other side, they like a lot of the guys who are a little bit bigger, longer. And so Keldrick Falk is there. Zion Young is there. Like, there's a lot of guys who fit that mold that if that's something they are really pressed towards getting, it should not be that hard for them to find one of those guys. So it's a good position for them to be in. What's your next one? So my next one and really my last, like, big one is when and how does this Trent William

things, Trent Williams thing get resolved? Like, does it get resolved? He has, so this is going to come out Thursday, but Friday he has an option that will kick in for about $10 million. But basically the kind of ongoing feud between them is that Williams has one more year on his deal. He wants more guarantees into it. San Francisco does not want to pay him more guarantees, it seems, and wants to try to

lower his cap hit however they can. And so how that gets resolved, I'm very curious of. Because if they move on from Trent Williams, they're either going to be left in a spot where they're obviously drafting his replacement, or it's like these one-year stopgaps. It's like a Taylor Decker, a Cam Robinson. and they did sign Vedarian Lowe already on the roster who is potentially insurance swing depth stuff, but I don't think that they would want to start a Vadarian Lowe

given how good the roster is right now and how ready they are to compete. So I'm just for a team that is, I think by the time we get to like July and August and start doing these, you know, how good are these teams? This is going to be a team that is like really, really high up there in Super Bowl odds.

We're picking them to be very good. If they lose their potentially very good left tackle, that goes a really long way for an offensive level. line that is shaky as is. A couple more just positionally that I would throw out. When did the Broncos start addressing their interior defensive line depth after losing John Franklin Myers? I thought that was a position they could potentially take in last year's draft early on.

They didn't end up doing that. They went with corner instead. But now without John Franklin Myers on the roster, that feels like a spot that they're going to have to start bolstering again as they've had a little bit of attrition. I mean, now they drafted Savian Jones in the third. round last year, but, I mean, you got Malcolm Roach and DJ Jones still there, but those are guys who are getting older. And so at some point, it feels like they're going to want a little bit more pop in the middle of their defensive line. And so them going that, obviously don't have a first

round pick anymore, but with their second round pick, wouldn't necessarily be surprising, given the current state of the roster. And the last one I would throw out before the big one that I want to talk about, are the Chiefs just going to roll with this group of pass catchers? Is this just going to be it? I really hope not. And so this is where I get, again, not to submit it too heavy into the draft. This is why I'm very curious about what they do at nine. Because in my mind, you're the chiefs. You never get to pick this high.

You have to pick a premium position in my mind. Like you need a tackle edge anywhere in the trenches. It does not matter to me. That's what you should be thinking. But you look at the skill player room and it's like, they really need that badly. Like I would not be surprised if Andy Reid saw the flashy thing in like a Kenyon Sadiq and was just like, I'm going to take that at nine, I don't care. Or maybe they like one of the receivers.

Maybe it's Jordan Tyson, Carnell Tate. I could totally understand that. I just, I think it would be really difficult for me to see them having a premium pick that they never get and then spending it on. Not that those are not important positions, but it's like they rarely get to take trench players as high. They probably should. That's fair. I think my mind goes to they can live with the tackles that they have right now.

Like having J-1 more as a stopgap after having. and move on from Juan Taylor. Like their offensive line if they had to play with those five guys today would be fine. And so it's tempting for me to say, all right,

if you can live with that group, is it worth trying to upgrade that big body perimeter receiver that we want them to have because it seems like they might have an option for one of those guys at nine. And I'd make an argument

that they don't always have options for those guys in the draft. Like those sorts of receivers that's fair. Like a big time receiver, even if this class is like a tiny bit watered down, a lot of those guys are going in the top half of the first.

round. Like when you're finding a receiver in the back half of the first round, it's your Xavier Worthies, right? Like those are the types of guys that you're usually finding in that range of the draft. So I think you, I'll know more about the draft in two weeks than I know now, but the idea of them finding a receiver in the top 10 and then trying to find edge help in the back half in the first round, that does seem like it's at least possible in this draft class. You know what? Actually, you've convinced me, especially if they're trying to find like size specifically, right? Because you mentioned even some of the good players that get drafted in

the, let's call it, 25 to 50 range for receivers, it's guys who are a little bit thinner. Like, Ricky Pearsall is not that big. Ladd-McConkie is not big. Those are good players, but that's not necessarily what they... Zay flowers. Exactly. It's guys that can be good NFL receivers, but are not...

They are imperfect in some way and usually a little bit smaller. So that's a good point. If they want to go get one of those guys who is like true X-ex-reserver type of body type, they would have to do that at nine in a class like this. So that actually does make a lot of sense. You've changed my mind on this one. All right. Before we move on, let's take one more quick break.

I mean, this one, I don't necessarily think we have to spend a ton of time on it because I think we know the answer. But if you're looking at teams that want to be competitive this year and the biggest remaining needs on depth charts purely, as we sit here on March 18th, the Steelers quarterback is number one. Who's playing quarterback for the Steelers is the actual answer to that question. Even if we think we know who it's going to be, it's not that guy right now. It's currently not that guy. It's ridiculous.

And like, I'm so fed up with him. I'm also in the, I'm, you know what's funny? I know that we saw Aaron Rogers be there last year. He has some familiarity, obviously, but the offense, all that other stuff. I find myself in the same position I was last year and it's not going to happen because there's already rumors of this player signing elsewhere, I would legitimately rather sign Kirk Cousins than bring back Aaron Rogers.

And I know that they're not going to do that because Kirk seems like he's going to go and play for the Raiders, be a backup, and that's going to be that. But, like, Kirk Cousins was better than Aaron Rogers to me last year. And obviously, he didn't play a ton of games. He's, like, still banged up.

There's a chance he doesn't look healthy again next year. But, like, that's what I would rather do. And so, like, I've just, I've been baffled by their entire process. How much more interested would you be in the Steelers if Malik Willis was the Steelers? was the Steelers quarterback. Oh, so much more interested. Like, yeah, that's

because here's, this is the important thing about the Malik Willis stuff. Malik Willis in Green Bay looked pretty good. Obviously limited snaps, but he looked pretty good. Is a team that the pass protection is usually set up well. The running game is good. They had a bunch of quality receivers.

The play calling was good. It was a good situation. Him going to Miami, probably not going to get a lot of that. But a place like the Steelers, while not as good as Green Bay, they've got some stuff going. That offensive line is good. They have some decent running backs. They've got past catchers. Who knows about how good

the Mike McCarthy offense is going to be ceiling-wise? But he usually puts together like competent, like NFL quality offense. And so that is a situation where it's like you could totally sell me on Malik Willis and that offense being if not good, at least better than last year and like kind of

interesting and more explosive. I'm looking at the numbers right now just because I'm curious about this. Okay? So we talked about this a little bit when discussing the J-1 wattle trade. But Malik Willis, and I think part of this is, you know, do you leave yourself a little bit more flexibility if you want to try to trace, chase a quarterback in next year's draft, for example. Malik Willis, if the dolphins were to move on from him after this season, it would be a $26 million dead cap hit in 2027 and then I think $13 million in 2028.

That's what it would look like. The Steelers as of right now have $74 million in 2027 cap space. And they have a couple aging players that they'd be able to to theoretically move on from. Like Jalen Ramsey is $22 million. None of that is guaranteed. And so I think that transition will likely happen anyway, where they get even a little bit younger and shed salary after this season.

So they have tons of money. So to me, the idea of giving Malik Willis the exact contract that the dolphins did, where if it goes poorly and you decide you still want to chase a quarterback in the draft, you're eating $25 million in 2027 and then $13 million in 2028, you'd still have like $60 million in cap space to work with,

even if you had to eat some of that money. And so for the exact same reason that it's a worthwhile swing for the dolphins because you're not paying that high a price to potentially solve your starting quarterback issues, why is that any different for the Steelers? It's an even better gambit for the Steelers because the upside of him hitting is that you have so much else that you've already built around him. Yes, there is an upside. like he, listen, the percentage chance

that Malik Willis is like actually like it like turns into a game changer is maybe like 5 to 10%. But I think at this stage in his career, we know Aaron Rogers is probably, it's not going to give that to you. Like he's just, he can set a floor in a certain way. But once we get to January, he's probably not going to do that for you.

Whereas at least Malik Willis, maybe there's a chance. And so I would have been interested in almost any of the young options that can go like here. The other thing is the Steelers have a boatload of draft picks. If they were one of the, if they wanted to flip even like a late third round pick or a fourth round pick for like Spencer Rattler

who I'm going to bring up for the millionth time. Competent quarterback who I think has more upside than Rogers again is he going to reach that? Who knows? But that to me is more compelling than them running back to Aaron Rogers thing again.

Even if like because of the other additions they made there's a chance to Steelers are better than last year, right? Like Pittman's a better number two than they had. But like I still don't know if Rogers plus those additions actually gets you anywhere different. Yes. I get to anywhere meaningful.

And I think that's why the Willis thing, like when you look at it, I understand that, oh, well, then you're starting to eat into your 2027 cap space if it goes poorly, but it's just not that much money. Like if you had signed him the exact same deal, the dolphins had signed him to, I'd think I could have easily gotten behind that. And so the idea that it's, we don't have an answer for their quarterback, but it's probably going to be Aaron Rogers. And that's just not satisfying is kind of where I sit with this. It's very frustrating, but that's kind of the line for the Steelers over the last handful of years. Any other lingering questions you want to hit before we get out of here today? That was really it.

I think we hit a lot of the like who are the teams that have certain, you know, openings and stuff like that. Again, with a lot of chargers talk, both at receiver edge and stuff like that. So I think I've mostly covered my bases here. There are other like big picture ones that have probably be questions we talk about closer to the start of the season. Like I'm fascinated about what the bill's defense structurally is going to look like with Jim Leonard. There now it's going to be such a huge departure from,

where they were a year ago. But like that's, those aren't really the questions that we're talking about right now. Bengals linebacker is one that I would throw out, right? Like, I mean, they obviously, they had the super young guys last year. Are they comfortable just rolling that back again and hoping those guys are going to be better? Because that's a spot where I'm just, I'm surprised that they have done nothing to add to that room this offseason, considering how bad the play was overall there last year. Dallas is kind of in a similar boat.

Like, that's another team where I just assume they would have done something, given the amount of players available in free agency. And so the fact that neither of those teams did anything at linebacker, those are probably the two other ones I would throw out there. Dallas, like, what's funny is,

I think with Cincinnati, I don't know how much Bobby Wagner is going to help him in terms of quality of play, but just getting a guy in there who has done like a ton and obviously could I think help a lot of the young guys in the room.

That would be good. Dallas, they obviously, I think they probably need two linebackers, but at least with one of the spots, they seem like they are very dead set on holding out for like de merri and overshone just getting healthy one year and like really having it because some of the flashes have been exciting and they clearly continue to or at least over the past couple of years even despite some of his injuries in the up and downs have not invested a ton at the position I think again

holding out like it's going to hit at some point he's going to be healthy and he's going to be good but even beyond that they probably still need another guy next to him the other name that we haven't mentioned at all that I will throw out just as a trade candidate I'll be curious if a team is willing to pay up for him. I think he's a good player. Obviously, this team needs to shed salary. What happens with Jonathan Grenard? Like, Jonathan Grenard is a player worth chasing to me.

And, you know, we talk about, we were mentioning the Bucks is this team that's kind of in this holding pattern. Like, do they want to, which way do they want to go? Like, are they a team that would give up like a real pick for Jonathan Grenard to add a little bit of pop to their pass rush? So that's the other name that I think has been kind of thrown around in potential trade conversations that we didn't really hit at all. Do you think Minnesota should at this point?

To me, it was always one of those, like, if the price, if a team really does blow you away, is that something that you can do? And it seems like, based on my understanding of the situation, he's just unhappy with where he's being paid relative to the market. So I think that's part of it. So is he going to want a new deal if a team trades for him? Like, I still think right now the Vikings are a better team with Jonathan Granard than whatever day two pick they would potentially get for him. I think this is more about a player who's a little bit unhappy with how much he's getting paid and a team that does need to shed a little bit of salary. But by the time you get into like 2027, they're going to have a decent chunk of money.

Some of that is going to, you hope, be earmarked for Kyler Murray. Right? The best case scenario there is that you have to give him a new contract and he's going to be your quarterback moving forward. But they still have a little bit more flexibility starting next year than they do right now. And then the other, the last one that I'll throw out there is what's Washington going to do at receiver? Is that is the answer to this? Is it the same thing as the Aaron Rogers thing?

Where it's like, we know who the name is. It's just we have not arrived there yet. Like, is Brandon Iyuk going to be that guy? Is that enough? Do they feel like there, do they feel obligated to address it high in the draft? But positionally, that's probably the last one I would throw out. And that one's, I think, interesting too, with it. Like, if they bring an Iyuk, they already signed two other guys.

They still have Birx. They still have McCaffrey. It doesn't necessarily stop you from drafting a guy. But then it becomes a point where like one or two of the, these guys that we signed is on the roster is going to get cut. And like either somebody

who played significant snaps for us last year or someone we just signed is going to get cut. Which given how bad the receiver room is like I think you kind of hunger games the room a little bit

and just like we have five spots we're going to throw seven guys at it and pray but it is interesting. My assumption is that the Van Jefferson contract and things like that that wouldn't prevent them

from moving on from him if they add to that room. Same with Yamie Brown most likely. All right. That is all. All we've got for today, tomorrow, we're kicking off our draft coverage on these shows on the Athletic Football Show channel. Obviously, we've been doing Building the Beast the entire season into the offseason,

but we, you and I will be shifting our focus to draft coverage starting tomorrow. It's going to be my first show with Dane, this off season, which I'm very much looking forward to. The Idiot's Guide to the Draft is tomorrow on the Athletic Football Show. I am the idiot. I'm going to say this tomorrow, but I'll say it now. in terms of people who do this for a living all the time, I don't think there are two people on further ends of the spectrum

in terms of how much they know about the draft on March 18th every year than me and Dane Brugler. Mm-hmm. We're five weeks away, and that guy could probably, if he really needed to, rattle off a thousand names in this class. I could not. So that's what we're doing tomorrow.

Dane is going to teach me and Dave's going to help about the 20, 26th draft class. And for the most part, it's going to be all draft all the time until our live draft show this year, which we are already starting to plan. We're already excited about, already looking forward to. So be on the lookout for that show with Dane tomorrow. Excited about digging into it.

For now, that's all we got. Appreciate you guys. Listen. We'll talk to you very soon.