The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - NFL Free Agency Day Three Recap: Danielle Hunter to the Texans, Diontae Johnson to the Panthers, the Cowboys' inaction, and more with Chase Daniel

Episode Date: March 13, 2024

What an exciting three days it's been in the NFL. Well, unless you're a Cowboys fan. Chase Daniel joins Robert Mays to discuss Danielle Hunter joining the Texans, the Steelers trading Diontae Johnson to the Panthers, the Cowboys' complete inaction, and all the rest of the big news from day three of NFL free agency 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. Welcome to the athletic football show. I'm Robert Mays. Joining me today. It's a long time NFL quarterback, Chase Daniel. Chase, how you doing, man? Good. It's been a while.

We're doing a live show for the first time. I know you guys have been killing it. You and Nate the first two days and literally free agency starts in 50 some odd minutes. So yeah, this is exciting. It's like someone mentioned to me. Like, you know, March Madness, really isn't about basketball. Like, it's football year-round and some of these contracts.

I mean, there's been like $2 billion worth of contracts signed so far. So it just shows you that the NFL never sleeps, man, like ever. So I'm excited to get going. It really doesn't. And obviously, real free agency, technical free agency, when these deals can actually become official, starts in about an hour. When I started doing this show, it was 2021, it was our first spring. And I was looking at the calendar.

I was like, oh, free agency starts on Wednesday. You know, that's when we'll do our first free agency recap show on Wednesday. And then I'm sitting there and I'm like, wait a second, isn't all this stuff going to start happening on Monday? So I've learned my lesson over the years. And even as we title the shows in the feed, like, it's free agency recap day one. I don't care about tampering period or when the actual calendar says the free agency starts. This is free agency week.

All the bylaws be damned. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and really it starts. at the combine. Let's be real. That's when a lot of these deals get done, not officially, because that would be tampering and we don't want to tamper, but let's be real, like, let's call a spade a spade. That's what it happens. And yeah, this, you know, they implemented this legal tampering window. Man, I want to say like six, five, six years ago. I'm not exactly sure

when they did it, but I remember a time when there was no such thing. And when I was a free agent, And like, you know, deals were done. Like, it was like a handshake deal. Like, hey, you know, you better get on the bus. You're going to miss it, especially with backup quarterbacks because it was just like, dude, we got to hurry up and roll. You got to pick a spot because they're all going to get filled up. There's five to seven backup spots a year that are available that really will pay.

So I was like, all right. And then you do that. And I remember like the first year without it or like the year right before the legal tampering window on Wednesday at one. P.m. Pacific, 4 p.m. Eastern, which is the start of free agency today. I mean, the insiders, the, like, all the guys on Twitter, all, like, I'm telling you, they dropped. 25 signings apiece stacked up at that point. They dropped at least 100 signings right at, because they had all these scheduled tweets that their, that their platforms helped them tweet. I remember

Adam Schefter. It was like a tweet a minute for like two hours, announcing all these deals. And I think that's when the league was like, all right. Like, let's do something else about this to spread it out, to take more room up on the calendar. Exactly. And have more people like us talking about it to just widen their spread on the NFL. And here's what we're doing. We're doing a live show because it is technically the start of the new league year in 53 minutes. Wait till we get tampering week.

Wait until they realize that if they just decide to move it up a week, that they can own the entire new cycle for the first week in March, along with the actual free agency week. It's only a matter of time before the tampering period lasts a month and before we have NFL games six days of the week. We are slowly getting to that point, but we are going to get there. Don't you fear? No, no doubt. We already have a Friday game in Brazil.

So, like, that's another day of the week that they're wanting to take. And look, I can't imagine. I'm sure you heard the news, right? Fox is having this primetime college game on Friday because they're getting rid of WW, or they're moving. raw or whatever it is that that's on Friday, high school associations weren't happy with it. But I guarantee you the NFL wasn't happy about it because they just dropped that they're playing in Brazil, the Eagles are playing in Brazil opening weekend on Friday night.

So that'll be an interesting dynamic, like you said, there will be football multiple days of the week. Schedule, who cares about it? Guys, who cares about it? Injuries, who cares about it? You're playing six days a week. I would not be surprised. We're going to have that conversation at some point this offseason about player safety and about

the messaging from the league. Let's get into some of these signings, though. There have been some big ones since we signed off yesterday, and that starts with DeNeal Hunter going to the Houston Texans, two years, $49 million. 48 of that guaranteed. So essentially, a fully guaranteed deal for Daniel Hunter, okay, only two years. So now on top of getting $50 million fully guaranteed essentially, he's going to be able to hit free agency again at age 31. So there's a chance he gets the cash in again. With this deal, he's going to have made $143 million playing in the NFL, and there's a chance he gets another contract after this. I knew he'd have a market, but this sort of market is kind of ridiculous. The only other player in the NFL,

defensive player, who has an almost fully guaranteed short-term contract at this age, is Aaron Donald. That's it. So I think this says a lot about how rare a player he was to hit free agency and what the Texans thought of him in this process. Well, I'm just surprised, first of all, like, why didn't they give him the extra million to be fully guaranteed? I assume it so it wasn't fully guaranteed. That'd be my assumption. But, like, at the same deal, it is.

So, like, you're trying not to set a president, but, like, there already was a precedent on quarterback, so I guess they didn't want him to be the only one. Well, Donald's deal was fully guaranteed as well, I believe. Which is, which, like, it's crazy to me. Like, just, like, you're talking about, that's what pisses me off. Like, we'll get, like, that's what pisses me off about some owners and some teams is like, we don't want to do it just to say we were the first one to do it. Like, you gave him technically pretty much a fully

guaranteed deal. Why not add the extra million? Sorry, I just come off my soapbox because I just, I've been a part of the PA. I mean, we've had conversations like this. Like, I just, it is very silly. It doesn't really make a lot of sense. No, not at all. Anyway, yeah, I mean, Damiqo Ryan's, first of all, they're having a wonderful free agency. Like, They really are. And to add a guy like Daniel Hunter is special because you got a different guy opposite of Will Anderson Jr., right? So you're not going to be putting your best guy on Will Anderson, Jr.

at all times. And I just look back to like my time with the Saints when we were playing the 49ers, when they were rolling on the edge. And I know they weren't part of it. But like, this just brings back, like, shades of like, hey, you just can't have enough pass rushers. You're seeing what the 49ers are doing right now, just continually adding pass rushers, right? Like, I don't care about, like, that's the, like, I feel like the motto that that coach is doing, man, and just bringing these guys in. And, I mean, they're going to get after the passers.

I mean, they're a four-down team. It fits, it fits Hunter perfectly. And I'm just excited to see him. like go out and play in this scheme because this scheme, this 49er scheme is, I mean, literally they tell the edge guys to just pin your ears back and rush the passer every single snap. You play the rod on your way to the quarterback. Exactly. I don't care about screens. I don't care about draws. And honestly, at the end of the day, through three quarters or four quarters as a quarterback, you're like, these guys just won't stop.

Yes, he's a really good pastor, but his motor is insane. Like, he's, keeps going. I'm surprised the Vikings let them go because they obviously had the money now that Kirk is in Atlanta. I think that's worth looking at, right? So we had a past rusher swap. Jonathan Grinard goes to Minnesota and DeNeal Hunter goes to the Texans. And I think that actually says a lot about where these teams are. Minnesota understands, all right, we're probably going to add a young quarterback maybe in this year's draft. We're slow playing a little bit. We want a little bit of a longer runway with the pieces that we're signing in free agency. The message that, the Texans are sending with this contract specifically, but I also think what the overall level of

aggressiveness they've shown this week is, we think we can win a Super Bowl in the next two years. We know how good our quarterback is. We're not paying him anything. There's a chance we get borderline top five quarterback play for rookie quarterback money over the next two to three seasons. We are pushing it all in right now, and not in an irresponsible way, but just understanding that we have a real Super Bowl window to do this. And that's the swap and the upgrade short term for Hunter over Gernard, I think says a lot about the thinking of these two teams. Oh, yeah.

I mean, and I think Hunter is a much better, like pure pass rusher. Like nothing against. He's a more dynamic player. I mean, he just stays. Like, without a doubt. And, and look, led the league in sacks. And the thing that I love that the Texans are saying is like, you talk about all the time, or we talk about all the time, like, hey, the Super Bowl window on a rookie, quarter.

quarterback deal. Like they're, like you said, they're paying him nothing. CJ, nothing. And it's going to be interesting to see how it all shakes out. Because look, now that we're into day three of free agency, like I know this deal got done, but you're going to start seeing some other pieces added for teams that are really wanting to win now and not necessarily, hey, draft a guy. They can do both, but also make him sit or develop him or stuff like this. And I just think the Texans. surprise so many people, probably themselves last year on like how good of a roster they had and to add a stud at the pass rusher position that can literally, like I remember offensive coordinators that I played for, specifically Andy Reid and really the head coach. But his whole thing when we were

playing elite pass rushers was like, first of all, we're going to spend way more time game planning for them. Second of all, we are going to take a running back and chip them. Okay. So, take the running back out of the route. And then third, the only thing you cannot do to lose this game is sack fumble, sack fumble. And that's the only thing on Andy's mind. And like literally one sack strip sack fumble can change the game. And it's just crazy to me that these edge russers are getting this money,

but it's obviously worth it. And then, I mean, look, I love all these guys, like getting all this. money. There's been three or four hundred million dollar contracts like kudos because people don't understand. Like like, okay, you, it might say like Kurt Cousins, 180 million dollar deal. Okay, the number you want to pay attention to is the guarantee. Yeah. And by and in and, and beware, not just the guarantee. There's three parts of a guarantee. Okay. It's injury, cap and skill. The cap and skill are fully guaranteed the second you sign the contract. The injury is different. So for Kurt, He has a $90 million full guarantee with a $10 million injury guarantee.

Pretty much it's $100 million. But there's all these agents out there that are feeding these insiders and they want their names attached to it. Just beware on what you hear. Now, there's a lot of really good deals. Most of these four-year deals are two-year deals. Rarely does a stud player, unlike a pass rusher or a quarterback, get anything more than half of their contract guaranteed.

So that's really what you're going to look at. And I love this for Hunter. because like you said, he hits the free agent market when he's 31. Just practically, I was looking at the numbers while you were talking. C.J. Stroud over the next two seasons, 24 and 25, will count for about $18 million against the cap. Baker Mayfield, on his extension, will count for $50 million against the cap. So we're talking $30 million in savings for the Texans over the next two seasons. For again, what I believe could be upwards of top five quarterback play.

And that's why you see the urgency to really try to make something happen. And along with Hunter, De Nico Autry is now there, as he's Al-Shayir. They got fully fought through Kasi. They traded Malie Collins today, so there's potentially another move on the horizon. But the other thing about the Hunter deal, the last thing I want to say about this is he, last year he played a thousand snaps for the Vikings. The second most snaps of any edge rusher in the NFL, the only guy who played more than him was Max Crosby. That is not going to be the case playing in Houston. That's not how they want to play their guys.

So that number is probably going to be 800, maybe. 7,800, yeah. So they're like full on line shifts. You're hoping that you can get even more per down explosiveness and disruption out of him if he's playing a few less snap. So I completely understand the thinking and I get why he'd want to go to a place like that where there's not going to be quite as much mileage on his tires because even though he's 29, he's been in the league for eight years. He's played a lot of football because he came to the league so young. So I think this makes sense for him and for them. Yeah, but also, like, I want to say one more thing, like, just from a player's perspective,

when you're the Texans and you get a playoff win and you're really close against the Ravens to upsetting them, and you've got a CJ Stroud, you got Domingo Ryans, we've talked about it nauseam on this show, how those two have changed an organization for the next decade. I mean, just two guys, okay? But when you're a player on that team and you saw what you did last year, and then you're, most of these guys are at home just following. on their phone. Like who are we signed and they have no clue. I know offensive coordinators and defensive coordinators in the NFL right now that have no idea who they're signing. It comes down

to owners and head coaches and who they can afford. Like legitimately I was texting with an OC the other day and I'm like, hey, you're interested in so-and-so. This quarterback, he's like, oh, really? Well, thanks for telling me because I haven't been talked to at all. That's normal. I just want people to understand that. I have much with an offensive coordinator during the combine. And we were talking about stuff. like that. I was like, what are you guys going to do? And he's just like, I don't know. There's no clue. It would be great if we did this and this and this, but I don't know what we're going to do. Oh my gosh. It's, first of all, that's wild to me. But that's just how the NFL works.

Second of all. Some teams, right? That's how some teams work. Not all. There's some, some staffs are more involved in those decisions, etc. But there are teams where there's a pretty hard dividing line. Yeah. And then so anyway, sorry, I'm just making point after point. But if you're a player at home that plays for the Texans, And you see the free agency they're having, like, capitalized by this hunter signing, you're like saying, oh my God, like this is, we are all in. And there's just a feeling amongst the team that like, hey, we're not settling for just a playoff win. Like that invigorates some guys, especially some veteran guys, because I've been a part of a team where they haven't really done anything in free agency.

And they're like, oh, we'll just draft. and just like, oh, okay, home. Like, we're just going to do the same thing over and over. I've been part of some teams where they've tried to build, like, very aggressively. And they haven't been super aggressive. This is a really nice deal for a really good player. But just from a standpoint of thinking from a player's perspective that's at home, that's maybe on a three-year deal that's looking at this,

like you are freaking pumped up. I can totally understand that. And I think that's the general vibe down there, period. I mean, what they needed to do is they needed to beef up that defense after what we saw last year because that was a group that, they just hadn't invested that much in. You know, but you had Nico Collins develop, you had Tank Delcom in there. They added some cheaper pieces on offense last year to give CJ Stroud a chance.

The offensive line was banged up, but they still have most of those guys coming back. And when they're healthy, it's going to be a different looking group. Defense was the question. And I think that they have answered a lot of what we wanted to see from them on that side of the ball, and it's easy to get excited about it. Other big move from last night that we did not hit on yesterday's show. Big trade. Interesting trade.

The Steelers sent Deonté Johnson to Carolina for. for Dante Jackson, the cornerback. He has some picks involved, but not really. I mean, for the most part, it's a player for player sort of deal. Whose side of this trade do you like better after sitting back and looking at it? Oh, I love the Carolina standpoint. I do, too. I mean, you're getting a legitimate, like, number one.

And he's young enough. I know the Panthers, like, are probably, I mean, look, the biggest thing when watching film, right? I can only tell you what I see watching film. other than a feeling who isn't really a separator he's more of a route technician who gets open in the slot they had nobody with separation i mean it was mind-blowing as a quarterback to sit back and like everyone wants to blame bryce young which bryce made some bad decisions there was nowhere to throw the football so you bring this guy in and you watch his film and you see what he does well he's a separator he's fast he gets open.

I don't understand, I mean, I don't understand fully why in Pittsburgh that you're trading a guy like this because I do think just from on the field, I know he's got some off-field stuff, purely on-field, like the dude has some juice. So he steps in to the Panthers offense as a true number one. And you look at what the head coach of the Panthers did with Tampa and those receivers. Like I love this fit because I just think it's like you've got to have juice as a quarterback and then you have Thielen as a slot guy. You're probably going to pick another one of these receivers like what do they pick at 33 and 39 after the Brad Burns train. So I think you still take a guy there because you absolutely could. The receiver draft is so, so big and so much depth in this receiver draft. You're going to get a good guy. And it might be like an Xavier worthy. or an Adnye Mitchell or someone like that, who I love. But it's a great move because you've got to, they had no weapons, bro.

Like you watch and everyone watch it's like, well, you're throwing into tight windows every single time. You can't play quarterback like that. Everything they've done over the last few days is a signal that we're going to spend our resources trying to get everything we can out of Bryce Young. I don't know how it's going to work, but that's what we're going to do. And trading Deonti Johnson for Dante Jackson is exactly that. And what they did is they made that trade and then they signed down. Jane Jackson and free agency today.

So even if that's quote unquote a downgrade from what Dante Jackson was giving you at one of those outside corner spots, who cares? That's the tradeoff you're willing to make. And the same thing goes with the Brian Burns trade. Listen, they mishandled this every single step of the way, not dealing Burns when they could have a couple years ago. But the thought process of, all right, we'll get a two for him. And then like you said, we could potentially use that pick to pick a receiver.

Deonti Johnson's in the last year of his contract, just using all of your, and then the two guards that they signed, using all of the. your resources to build up that side of the ball and potentially just give your quarterback a shot, I think that is the right approach here for your Carolina, because after everything you gave up for Bryce Young, if he fails, none of the rest of the shit matters. You're all fired. You're all fired. You have to do everything you can to prop him up, and that's clearly what they've done.

And I think what you said about Deante Johnson is right. His main appeal is separation, and they could not create separation last year. On Pittsburgh's side of this, just reading the tea leaves, this seems like, They wanted to get rid of a guy they'd soured on, and we might as well get a starting caliber corner in return. Now they haven't second starting cornerback. They can, you know, not necessarily have to chase it in free agency in the draft as much as they could have. But in terms of on-field impact, the quality of these two players, the Panthers got a better one and one that aligns with, I think, their needs at this moment more than the Steelers said. And then you talk about the Steelers side of it.

Like, I, I go, okay, you soured on them. But, dude, your defense, you don't need more defense. You don't need more defense. Like, you don't. Your defense is good. Dude, their defense is good. Their offense has been the issue that has been holding them back the entire time since Ben Rothers has been gone.

And that's the issue. You go out and get Russell for $1.21 million, which is an insane steal. And you don't sign with the Steelers unless you were promised a starting job. I don't care what anyone else says out there. You have multiple other places you could go. I guarantee you, Tom, I'm like, all right, look, we're going. going to give you the benefit of it out. You're going to have to play well. We want to make sure your baggage is checked at the door. We don't want none of that in this locker room.

We got a good locker room. We can handle it. But you're trading away. You're giving away a good weapon. Now, they're going to have to draft some people in free agency. So that's the pivot, right? Now that they have the 20th overall pick, I think a lot of people were thinking that they may try to get a tackle. But Dan Moore, who started for them last year is still there. So now it seems like receiver might be the way they have to go. It's some point in the first two rounds. If I'm Russell and I'm looking at Pickens and Johnson on the, I'm like, dude, this is sweet. This is why I signed. And I guarantee you they told him. But still, I'm like, you're getting one less weapon as a quarterback. It freaks me out. And yeah, you might draft a good receiver at 20, but no one knows if he's going to be ready to play right away. So it's just a little bit puzzling. I know they soured on him. I know they wanted to go. But like Carolina finally got a W free agency. You look at it right now, outside of Pickens, the receivers on the Steelers roster. Johnson, Calvin Johnson, my God, late in the week, Calvin Austin. I was like Calvin Johnson came out. He'd be better.

How old do you think Calvin Johnson is right now? Calvin Johnson's 38 right now. He's 38. Do you think Calvin Johnson would be the second best receiver on the Steelers right now? Hell yes. I think he probably would be. But anyway, it's got some tread on those stars. It's not Calvin Johnson. It's Calvin Austin, who the undersized speed guy that drafted in the fourth round a couple years ago. Then we got Des Fitzpatrick. Denzel Mims, Marquez Callaway, Deuce Watts, and Kailon Harris. Those are the other receivers currently on the market.

That's who you're walking into. That's what you're walking into right now is your Russell Wilson. So a way to make your new shiny toy pissed off already because you're trading away a weapon. They have the 20th overall pick, though. And I think there is renewed urgency to potentially go past catcher with that pick

because they probably need it at this point. Let's move on here. Let's talk about just some teams and some plans that you've liked or disliked here over the last few days. Is there a team that what they have done or their approach to this has just kind of made you shrug, shake your head, not really understand what's going on there? Yeah, I mean, also I have both.

Like the first one, without a doubt, is the good, and that's the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Jason Light. Like, he's absolutely crushed free agency. And today in his presser, he made it known that he crushed free agency. Like, new deals for Baker Mayfield, Mike Evans, Levanti David, kicker Chase McLaughlin, Greg Gaines, Chase Edmonds. They held on to Antoine Winfield Jr. With the franchise tag and they got Jordan Whitehead.

Like a lot of their own guys. And that's, to me, like two potential Hall of Famers there, Levanti David and Mike Evans. Those are huge. And as soon as you saw Mike Evans come back, Baker was coming back. Like, there's no doubt about it. Mike Evans had 10 or 9 straight 1,000 season, 1,000-yard seasons. Maybe 11? because he was drafted in 2014. Yep. So like he, they won free agency. And, and like he said in his press

comp, I was, I was listening to it right before we got on because I was like, this dude won free agency. He's like, it's time for the national media to take note that we have good players here. And I mean, if you would have told me at the start of last year that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were going to win a playoff game and almost go in and beat Detroit, truly, with Baker Mayfield on a $4 million salary, I would have said you're crazy. I'll say you're not getting in the playoffs. You're going to win six games with the roster that they had, but it just seems to be coming back together and together, together.

And then you keep the band together. You get all these other, like really a lot of your own guys back, which a lot of media people were talking, oh, you're going to lose this, Baker's, maybe Patriots and all this stuff. You get your core back, man, and that's huge. That's huge for me. So that's probably the good. What about you?

What about good for you? Let's talk about the Bucks for a second. Yeah. I get it, right? You're excited about bringing the band back together. You were surprising last year. Baker was so much better than you thought he was going to be. But part of the reason that Baker was so valuable last year is that Baker was making $4 million.

Okay. Now he's not making $4 million. So this Bucks team with all these guys coming back, and I like Jordan Whitehead, I think that's a smart signing. You pair him with Antoine Winfield. you can let Winfield do a bunch of different things. What do we think the actual ceiling for this Bucks team in 2024 is with all these guys bringing back, all these guys brought back and as currently constructed? I mean, playoffs, like playoffs for sure.

Like another playoff win if you get a home game. I mean, I don't know. I mean, they're not the favorite to win the South anymore because Kirk Cousins just. So that's kind of what I mean. If they're not even the favorite to win that division, what is all this for? You would be, yeah, I mean, look, look, we can talk about free. MC winners in March. It doesn't matter until football field in August. I got that. But at the same time, when you can build on something that you've had success with and you can continue getting better and

continue developing your young guys and get like the core nucleus together, like there's a lot of change, man. You know, year and you're out on teams. The teams I've been on that have had the most success have been teams that have stayed together. And so I do think this is a W for J.C. and light in the bucks. And I do think it's a W. Look, you still have Baker. And I would say, yeah, look, the value is Baker was making $4 million this year. Now he's making life-changing money this year, but he still played really well last year. Like, I still think he can play that well this year. He's in system, same system for the first time in back-to-back years. And who knows how many him. He's been in so many freaking systems. So I do like what's happening here. If they stay

healthy. Like I think it's going to be Atlanta in the Bucks in the South. And it's exciting time because I think for last year, no one talked about them. And maybe this year we're talking about it or I'm talking about them too much and they're not going to do anything. But I like the way they're positioning their team right now in March. I totally understand why they did all of this. And I think that them getting Evans and David back and first of all, them losing either of those guys just would have felt wrong. I don't want to see either of those guys playing in a different uniform. Levante David, especially, like, Mike Evans, because he's still such a good player, if they didn't want him anymore, it would have been exciting to see him in a really good

situation. But Levanti David's playing anywhere. Yeah, exactly. But I'm fine with him staying because he's a lifetime buck and the same goes for Levanti David. I just don't know what the end result is. Like, you're going to need to keep drafting well. And there's a chance that they do. It's a well-run organization, I think Jason Light and the people in that front office deserve a ton of credit for how they've handled the last four or five years, how they dismounted from the Tom Brady era, the financial difficulties that came along with that, them continuing to be competitive. They had a really good draft last year. I think they've done a lot of really good things. I just still have questions about what the ceiling of this team is and how many victory

laps we should be taken about bringing the band back together when the ceiling of that band is again, like maybe you win the NFC South again. Yeah, what's your, as an S, what do you, what do you think their ceiling is? That's kind of what it seems like. And that's fine, right? Like, that's what you should be trying to do. And, you know, you build a certain culture and you can potentially move on from Baker after this year or next year. If it doesn't work out, if you want to try to go seek out a young quarterback next off season and have an off ramp from the Baker Mayfield experience, which I think is probably the way you should handle quarterback situations like this.

I get it. But I still think that the way that they're built. and with Baker a quarterback, even if it's a good story, you're looking at 10 wins as your best case scenario. Yeah, I mean, 10 wins is good, but probably wins you the, maybe wins you to South. Depends on what they do in Atlanta.

So, can I say my bad? You absolutely can. The freaking Cowboys, dude. Like, you know, it was coming. What, like, what? What are they doing? Like, the, the quote of the century, all in comma, comma, my ass.

Like, I don't, I don't get it. Like, that was the question. of the century, dude. It was like Bayliss for the win. But I just don't, I don't get it. Like the guy that they signed after Jerry Jones said they were all in and they decided to keep their head coach was a long snapper. Hey, this is a pro long snapper show. I don't like that time. Yeah. But it's still a lock snapper. Like you got to figure out like you got to replace Tony Pollard. You got to replace your left tackle. You got to redo DAC. Nothing has happened. nothing.

And maybe they're being quiet. What is your read on the DAC situation? Because looking at his contract coming into this office. He has a $59 million cap hit. It is very hard to do anything in free agency, let alone be aggressive. And the Cowboys rarely are. But even moves on the margins are difficult to make when you've got a $59 million cap hit for your quarterback.

I always just assumed that they would do something to that contract to give them a little wiggle room heading into this year. what do you make of them not making any progress on figuring that out before free agency got started? Well, I just think that the number's not high enough for Dak. I think they're going to extend them. And I think that he's going to be making in the upper 50s of the year because literally like they didn't they didn't extend them a few years ago. And Dak was like, all right, Dak balled out had the best year of his career. Now he's a cap hit for 50, what, 59?

59 million. 59 million. The dude could be making 60. I mean, I said it on this show and I'll say the dude could be making 60 million AP. like with his next contract. Like quite honestly, because he holds the keys. Like, like he could do nothing right now.

And the Cowboys would have to eat almost $60 million cap it. And like you said, they can't do it. So I don't know if Dax playing hardball or I don't know if the number in APY and guarantee is not high enough. But they're sort of,

I mean, not sort of. They are cap strap. And you also have some holes you got to figure out, right? Like that's the issue. Yeah, we got multiple starters missing along the offensive line.

They've lost a lot of depth. on defense. I mean, we're, it's hard for me to imagine a path where the 2024 Cowboys roster

is anywhere close to as good or as complete as the 2020, Cowboys roster. They lost a ton of guys of the commanders with, like a ton,

which is usually the case. But yeah, I mean, they're not going to have the same, they're not going to have the same like wiggle room or roster or anything like that. But it all, it all starts and ends with Dak.

like if Dak doesn't want to do anything, he's sort of honestly hurting the Cowboys by waiting so long. because most of the guys are picked over and agreed to deals. And maybe they're like, hey, we got, we have just a good enough, like, core nucleus that we're going to, like, sign some tier two, tier three free agents, build through the draft, get, I don't know. I mean, who knows?

That's the thing, like, they've been quiet. Like, they haven't leaked anything to anyone. No one knows anything about what they're doing. They don't even know if they're an NFL team still because they're not, they've not been talked about one time, except for the long snapper, which is wild to me. They have a ton of cap space in 2025. partially that's because that doesn't include Michael Parsons' his fifth year option and CD Lamb needs an extension as well.

CD Lamb too. But it just, I don't really understand what's going on. It's always felt to me like they would try to get the DAC thing figured out as soon as possible so they could have some flexibility. But clearly there are some hangups there and we haven't heard much about it. But whatever the reason, this is not a good situation to be in for Dallas. And I'm not asking them to shop at the top of the market.

But I think that if you look at which teams have been successful in recent years, there aren't that many teams anymore that just sit out free agency. The Packers were quiet for a couple seasons as they were in transition, but you saw them jump in the fray again this year was Xavier McKinney. The Bengals are a team that had not traditionally spent a lot in free agency. That has gone away over the last few years. They've been good for a splash or two essentially each of the last few off seasons. Teams that we generally think of as patient, well-run, smart, the Chiefs, the Ravens,

those are teams that consistently are trying to get in the mix in free agency. The chiefs just restructured Mahomes to save $20 million against the cap. I mean, there's a chance they bring back with Jerry a Sneed and keep doing this. Yeah, it's either for Sneed or a number one receiver. So there you go. So it's a some sort of big move. So all these other teams, even if we have categorized free agency spending traditionally as misguided or not the best way to be successful, most of the teams that are winning

Super Bowls are competing for them in the NFL are making aggressive moves, the Eagles, the Niners, the teams you're competing against in the NFC, they're trying to do everything they can to build the best roster possible. And the Cowboys can say anything they want about what sort of team they are and how aggressive they are and what their goals are. If we're being honest, that messaging and what they actually are, there's been a real disconnect between those two things for a few years now. And I don't really, it's strange to me. Like, I don't understand why Jerry Jones has this reputation as somebody who wants to win and, oh, he's getting older and, you know, it's so important to him. Like, give me any evidence that this is important to the Cowboys.

And the most important thing isn't how much money do we get to count at the end of the year? Because that's what it seems like to me. Well, I mean, every owner is like that. But yeah, especially Jerry. Yeah. I don't even have anything to add. That was amazing by you. and everything that I feel about the Dallas Cowboys signing a long snapper in free agency.

Hopefully that can move the needle for them as they compete against all these other teams in the NFC. Let's talk about some of the other dominoes we're still waiting to drop here as the league gear is about to start. I think the big one is Calvin Ridley and what that decision ultimately looks like. Everything we've heard about from the last couple days is that it's between the Jags and the Patriots. He wants to go back to Jacksonville but does not want to sign there until the league year actually starts. because it changes the draft pick that the Jags have to give up in that trade to Atlanta. So it really does feel like the fact that he has not landed somewhere yet gives us some indications that he's probably going to be back with the Jaguars here in the next couple hours.

Yeah. I mean, but, but like if you're a team like the Kansas City Chiefs and you have the best football player in all of history and Patrick Mahomes, like he sort of fits. It's what they need. I'm not saying I've heard anything. I'm just purely speculating on like another reason why you may have not heard anything. And I know the Patriots are in it. I know Jacksonville's in it.

I know the draft pick. But I've known the chiefs to sort of sniff around in places where they usually don't belong and usually land some good players. And this would make all the sense in the world to me. I love it. it's probably not going to happen. I don't see them doing it. I think the price tag it's probably going to take.

I would almost guarantee you that is number. What do you think is APUI is? At least 20, right? And I just don't think the chiefs are willing to get into the fray there because they can draft somebody. In that range of the draft, they can find a receiver. And I think this is going to be the part in the market. This is going to be the spot in the market to me that I'm most interested in.

The top guys are going to get paid. We know this. But these guys who are talking. $22 million a year receivers, are your, our team's going to be willing to continue to show out these sorts of contracts when you can pick 80 Mitchell with this 30 second overall pick. Is that,

you just saw what happened to Mike Williams too. He's making 20. He and that's exactly, that's exactly what I'm talking about. And his market, is that going to be a big market? I think his market should be there, yeah. That's,

he's the guy. Is there a way that with its incentive based, you can keep the number down, does he make sense in Kansas City? because he gives them that big body outside the numbers receiver. The speed isn't there. And I think that's the ingredient they lose when you swap him out for MVS. But that's one where I would be like,

does that make sense for the right price? Because they need that sort of skill set in their offense, even if the juice isn't necessarily there. Yeah, I mean, that makes sense too. And it just, everything I've heard from Casey is like, like, I mean, obviously, if you know anything about football and you watch football, like you saw the issue for the chiefs last year, was the separation issue, right?

Like, there was none. Everyone started to play man-to-man coverage against him. Kelsey really wasn't himself until the end of the year and got into the playoffs. NVS wasn't winning. Rishi Rice was the only receiver that was winning in man-to-man, and that's a rookie. And so I think, look, I love the Mike Williams thing.

I just don't know if he makes fit for KC because they just look like, they are like over the top about speed. and separation and like Mahomes can take literally a nine-step drop out of gun by time and that was their biggest issue so it will be interesting to see

that's why I said Calvin I know they can't get their APY probably but like a guy like that like a shifty speed guy veteran guy true number one that's what they missed now I guess they don't need it because they want another freaking Super Bowl but that's going to be addressed probably in the draft but Yeah, the Calvin going back to Jacksonville, I mean, you got some weapons now for Trevor Lawrence.

Yeah, I like what they've done. I think it makes sense. They didn't really pay Gabe Davis anything. If Gabe Davis's main role is just popping him outside the numbers and letting you use Calvin Ridley the way that you want to, I like that. My favorite thing about the Calvin Ridley saga is that Jonathan Jones from CBS this morning tweeted that he may be back with the Jags, even if the deal is similar when you consider taxes and cost of living. as if you need to care about cost of living when you're making $20 million a year. Taxes, though, that's a real thing, dude.

Taxes is real. There's eight states with NFL teams that don't have taxable income. So, like, I would try to suck. I get that. And I'm sure cost of living in Jacksonville is very reasonable. But this idea that what him searching on Redfin is helping him make a decision when he's making $20 million a year is very funny to me.

Are you a Redfin guy? I am now. I am now. Not zillow, not Releiter.com. I don't know. I don't know why I went with the Redfin. That's what we started when we started when we started, we're looking at houses. And now when I'm, I'm just pining for homes in different areas, that that's my red,

like the redfin alert I have for Denver, Colorado or other places in the country that I'll just peruse every once in a while. It's mostly like ambition now. Yeah. Just lifestyle. I like Relator.com. Because we moved a lot. I use you realtor.

com. But the Zillow is interesting to me because it gives you that zestiment. It's never right. But like, you know, like, oh, my house is worth this much. Like, well, maybe. I try to avoid that. I don't like to ride the wave. Gives you false hope.

Let's talk about some of the other big dominoes yet to fall. We talked about Mike Williams. I think a huge question about what's going to happen with the other Chargers guys. Khalil Mack back on a revised deal. That always made sense to me. I haven't heard anything on what that looks like. We have not heard anything about the money there. But if I'm looking at, God, my dog is driving me crazy.

This is the perils of live recording. I love it. I love it. People love to see your life. The four, I really don't think they do. The four people that had decisions to be made on the Chargers was Mike Williams, Khalil Mack, Keenan Allen, Joey Bosa. I talked about this with Daniel Popper, our Chargers writer, a bunch over the last couple

months. The ones I felt best about were Mike Williams getting released and Keenan Allen being back with the Chargers. And I think that probably will happen. He's a lifer. He had a really good season last year. He's got such a good connection with Justin Herbert. So those I felt good about.

I wasn't sure what was going to happen with Kalil Mack and Joey Bosa. So the fact that Mac is back, now I wonder what is actually going to happen with Joey Bosa and whether or not he ends up getting traded. Look, they're cap compliant right now. So they need no other moves. And quite honestly, this Kalil Mac deal,

when it comes out, we'll see it, the restructure or whatever it is, revised deal. Maybe they tore it up. Maybe they didn't. Probably saved them some cap space. But, I mean, I just think, I felt like,

Mike was probably the one to go, being on the squad for two, like the last two years, really, in the past. Just his knee and the injury issue and, you know, he's played 17 games since the 2021, 2021, 2022 season. So that's an issue, obviously. The Keenan Allen, like, I didn't even think about it because I just know how Justin feels about him. And I think that was a huge driving factor. Like Justin got to bring back his quarterback coach, Shane Day, which he loved, which was fired. He was fired and like, like, shouldn't have been fired, but was fired.

And he brought, like, he was like, that's a Justin move, like 100%. And this Keenan Allen, like, yeah, you can't, you can't, you can't let go of a guy like Keenan Allen. Now, the Joey Bosa thing, I just have a hard time. I get that you have to be cap compliant. I get that you still have to have room to sign draft picks. I get that you still need. I mean, they got Gus Edwards at a really good deal.

But, like, I have a hard time if I'm the new GM or really head coach. I know you want to put your stamp on it, getting rid of really good players. Like, I understand the issue, unless someone's going to trade and give you some good return on investment, and you're just going to start young and you're going to blow the whole thing up. But if you can find somehow, like, like, like, Joey's still got a lot of gas in the tank, man. And he's one of the top pass rushers in the league. So I just have a hard time.

Like, I get it. You can play GM, all that. I just think, in general, good teams keep around good players. And I think Joey is one of those. And, you know, who knows what's going to happen? Because they are cap compliant. New league year starts in 13 minutes. We'll see if anything comes out then.

But I do like them trying to keep some of these guys. He's like if you if you can build around, Sean Slater, Khalil Mack, Mike Williams, Justin Herbert, uh, like Joey both like all these guys,

I think it makes sense. Now he does have a high, huge cap hit and I'm wondering if they're trying to work on a revised deal like, like Khalil, but, um, I'm glad Khalil stayed as well because honestly he's become like one of the leaders in the locker in the last two or three years.

So that was the other question I was going to ask you. Personality wise, Joey's a different kind of guy, right? And now you have Jim Harbaugh coming in there. do you think that there's something there potentially just about him being one of the highest paid players on your roster, him just being a different sort of presence? I don't know him very well, but just things I'm heard and just personality wise is what he

brings. Do you think that is a potential consideration how the Chargers would take care of this or approach it? I mean, it shouldn't. It shouldn't because you're allowed to be whoever the hell you want to be. And like to be honest with you, like he's not that weird. He's a little bit like different in terms of like communication and just, like fun, but I don't think, I don't think Harbaugh. Yeah, I don't think Harbaugh is, I mean, I don't know. Look, that's what I wrestle with with the Chargers is like when you have to blow things up front office and you

hire a new head coach, like a lot of these times, these GMs and these head coaches want to come in and put their stamp on the team and change the team. So is it a fire sale? I don't know. It didn't look like it. Like I get the Mike Williams thing, like I heard that they want to try to bring them back. I just don't know about the type of money. Like he's going to have a big market, but wouldn't that be something? If there's not the market that he hopes and you're able to get him on a really team friendly deal, incentivize him, like stuff like that, like who knows, they could be keeping the band together. We just don't know anything. That's why I like this time of the year. It's like, well, you know, the Chargers are a big team, a big focus, especially with the new head coach. It's like,

what are they going to do? If you can get Mac, so Mac is a $38 million cap on right now. Keenan Allen's a 34. If you tweaked that both of those contracts, let's say you get those cap hits to 20 million each. That's $30 million in cap savings. You would save another 14 million if you traded Joey Bosa. You're in decent shape if you end up doing all of those things. So, yeah, we'll see what ends up happening there. But again, like you said, they don't need to do anything, but it still feels like there are a couple things looming with how they're going to approach those numbers. Other big name guys left on the board here. I'm wondering when the tackles start coming off. The tackles have not really been moved at all. Tyron Smith.

Trent Brown, guys like Jonah Williams, they're all still available. I wonder if that is a result of how strong the tackle draft class seems to be, where teams aren't necessarily feeling a huge push or a huge squeeze to get these guys right now because they can get them in the draft. But none of those guys have landed anywhere. And now we've got a couple third contract defensive linemen that I'm curious about. DJ Reader reportedly visiting the Lions, according to Mike Garifolo, like that a lot. where is Eric Armstead going to end up?

Some rumors about the Texans potentially being a landing spot. Now they've traded him to Lee Collins. Detroit, another team. Could he land with a team like Cincinnati? So these kind of guys who, again, maybe a little bit closer to 30 on their third deals, but are still impactful players. Those are the guys that we're going to see come off the board next.

And I'm curious where some of them went. Well, and you might have put it in the rundown. I'm looking at it. What about Justin Simmons? Yeah, forgot about Justin Simmons. Justin Simmons, to me, like playing in that division for a long time, he's a G, man. He is a absolute baller. Like I heard that the Eagles are, they were, they were originally going after him.

Now reports are saying, oh, they're sort of out of it. Well, they side see Jack Carter Johnson. Yeah, but I mean, like, wouldn't it, I mean, you've seen Howie, though. Like, how he can, you know, fit some money in there. And it will be interested to just see where he goes because to me he's like one of the, not the top safety in the league. Like, that's just, that's how I feel about him, watching him. Like, maybe he's lost a step in coverage.

He's not a man cover guy anyway. He's a quarter safety. They'll come on him bust you in the mouth. Like, that's what he is. He's a leader. He's an amazing locker room guy. It'll be interesting to see where he lands, but not only where he lands,

how much he signs for. Yeah, I agree. And the safety market, you know, we'll see. Obviously, Xavier McKinney got that big deal, but Xavier McKinney's much younger. Xavier McKin's only 24. You know, and what he's shown over the last couple years, our team's looking at it Justin Simmons and just saying, hey, he's 30.

You know, we can skimp on that position compared to others. For the most part, the safety market in general over the last couple years has been pretty depressed. And you got to wonder if Justin Simmons is going to be one of the victims of that. I don't know, man. I just, gosh, I hope he signs for something because it was a surprise. Like, I was on a trip. So, this world is so small. I was on a trip to Guatemala with my son.

That's why we didn't do a show last year. We did a mission trip with Compassion International. Anyway, there's a bunch of NFL guys down there. Nate Soder was down there. Colt McCoy was down there. And we had a chaplain from the Denver Runkers. And he's very close with Justin because Justin's a Christian. And he was like, dude, when news broke, like day two or day three.

And he was texting him back and forth. He's like, he was completely blindsided by this. Like had no clue at all, like really tough. because what he brings, this is from the chaplain. Like what he brings to the locker room and to younger guys. He's an all-time guy. Like all-time guy. So look, I get there trying to save money, but at the end of the day, it's a business.

But these dudes are players too. So you got to recognize that. A few other smaller moves today that are worth touching on. The Jets traded for Morgan Moses, the Baltimore Ravensbrite tackle over the last couple of years. Fourth round pick swap of about 20 picks plus a sixth for Baltimore. And he's only making $5.5 million this year. and he was on the Jets a couple years ago. They probably should have just kept him when he was there a couple of years ago,

but they rectify that now. And if you look at what the Jets have done along their offensive line, now you have John Simpson, formerly of the Ravens, at left guard. You've got Joe Tipman potentially moving to center, which I think makes the most sense. It's where he played in college. There's a second round pick last year. AVT now is allowed to play guard instead of tackle with Morgan Moses coming in,

and picking 10th, you're in a position to draft a left tackle. So now, when you think about how much of a disaster that group was last year, year, you're at least going to potentially go into the season with a lot more certainty and a lot more stability up front than you had last year when Dwayne Brown and Mackay Beckton were your two best answers to tackle, both of whom just couldn't stay healthy over the last couple years. Yeah, I love it. I love it.

I mean, look, look, you spend all this money and all these players and all this capital on Aaron Rogers, right? If you can't keep your quarterback upright and we saw all the disaster sort of that offensive line was last year, I mean, it makes sense to me, especially at $5.5 million. I mean, that's what you said he's making. It's insane. I mean, the tackle, you're going to get a legitimate left tackle at 10 for the next decade. And you're going to have to worry about them.

And it's going to be Aaron Rogers' best friend for one, two, or three years, unless he runs for VP, like you're saying, I don't know, all that stuff. It's wild to me. Yeah, typically opposing pass rushes were the real problem for the Jets offense last year. This year might be RFK, I did not necessarily expect, but this is where we've landed. Unbelievable. My looming question here with this trade, though, is now what happens with Baltimore. So now Baltimore's lost two of their starters in free agency or just via transaction. They moved on from Kevin Zitler.

Patrick McCarrey is still on the roster. Does he get moved to right tackle? What does that mean for their two guard spots? So Baltimore's offensive line was a strength over the last couple years, I think. And now, even after restructuring Ronnie Stanley's deal to make sure he's intact as their left tackle, I still think there are a lot of questions about how Baltimore is going to approach that position group here over the next couple months. Well, not even that position group. The whole team, I mean, they lost 10 guys.

Patrick, Patrick Queen, Geno Sohn, Morgan Moses, John Sensen, Gus Edwards, Ronald Darby, Tyos Bowser, Devin Duvinday, Delshan Phillips, Tyler Rock, which is Longsap. We love talking about Longsaps on this show. So, like, they lost some key pieces. Now, they added Derek Henry, which I love, he fits Baltimore. He's great for it. But if you have Derek Henry, you don't have anyone really up front to block. Like, that's an issue to me.

A couple other smaller moves. the Niners traded from Lee Collins. Like that a lot. Obviously, there's some scheme familiarity there with him being with the Texans over the last couple seasons. The Texans saving a little bit of money there is they make some more splashy moves. And that makes sense for both sides. And then the other one I think is worth noting is the Rams put a second round tender on Alaric Jackson, who was their left tackle last year.

So that is a pretty good indication that he's going to be back. So now their offensive line goes Alaric Jackson, Jonah Jackson, Steve Avila at center now, Kevin Dotson and Rob Havenstein, that is a group that I think you can easily get excited about. There's a lot of physicality there. And it's the way the Rams offense played last season, I think some indications that they're going to be able to carry over a lot of that success with this group. Yeah, I like it.

I like it. I mean, these are the moves that, you know, these smaller moves we're talking about that don't get a lot of fanfare. They just want the big names and the big money. But these few and far between are those huge massive $100 million deals, right? $60 million. deals. And rarely do those really move the needle when it comes down to it. Yeah. It's that like middle class to lower level free agency signing that you can get a teamer like a special teamer for two million a year.

And you're like, man, this is going to change the face of a four core unit in our in our team. So all this stuff is awesome. It's like head spinning for everyone. And I think Diana at the athletic obviously has done such an amazing job this week. She's been on top of everything and every move from Kirk Cousin. to who knows, like what the next move is. She's got her ear on the ground, so it's awesome to see that. But all these teams and all these moves, they make a lot of sense

because that's how you build some of these teams with new coaches. You can't always draft a guy. Like this middle level of free agency is a big deal because I was a part of it for a lot of times and you're like, okay, you're not the top of the top, but we still need somebody. We need our core.

This is how the core gets built. Jordan Poyer is the other one that we haven't mentioned on the show at all, him going to Miami. I think that makes a lot of sense. when you consider the scheme that the dolphins are going to be running. Yeah, that's right. That's right. He's from there or spends time down there.

So, again, if you're having to skimp a little bit because of where you are financially, the two of a contract that's coming, I think that one makes a lot of sense as well. But that's about all we've got today. We'll be back tomorrow with Nate to essentially wrap up the rest of these. Slight tweak to the schedule this week. We are not going to have a show on Friday afternoon. Instead, we're just going to let the football GM guys take. care of that on Saturday, but we will have another one coming away on Monday.

So be back here tomorrow, 4 p.m. Eastern for our last live show, and then football GM on Saturday, and then we'll be back in the feed on Monday. So just pay attention to that. Other thing to mention, if you're watching this on YouTube, if you're discovering us on YouTube, please subscribe to our podcast. You can click on the description below, the link below in the description of the video. That's where you can subscribe. If you want to go to your favorite podcast app, find the athletic football show.

We would love it if you did that. So please take note of that. Please be mindful of that. That's all we have today. Sincerely appreciate you guys listening. We'll be back later. This was the Athletic Football Show.