The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - NFL Free Agency: the remaining questions & the latest on Deshaun Watson

Episode Date: March 24, 2021

First, Robert and Lindsay discuss Deshaun Watson and the sexual assault allegations he’s facing in sixteen civil lawsuits brought against him, what’s happening on the NFL-side of things, and how long it could take for these cases to be resolved, one way or another.Then, they break down the remaining questions they still have after the first big wave of free agency has crested, including why the Bengals haven’t done much to help protect Joe Burrow, how can the Ravens improve their passing game, where are the Colts going to find an LT and an edge rusher at this point, which team outside the draft’s top five will make a splashy trade to move up and get a QB, if anything about George Paton’s tenure in Denver has been surprising so far, why the Eagles want Joe Flacco to back up Jalen Hurts, if the return of Dak Prescott makes the Cowboys an NFC East contender again, and what Tua’s second year in Miami will look like.Right now you can get an annual subscription to The Athletic for just $1 a month when you visit theathletic.com/footballshow or for just 1 CAD when you visit theathletic.com/footballshowcanada Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic football show. The athletic football show. I'm Robert Mays. Joining me today, my good friend, Lindsay Jones. Lindsay, how are you? I'm great, Robert. How are you doing? I'm doing well.

We are about a week into free agency. I can never actually understand where the barriers are because I think it technically started on Wednesday, so it's about to be a week. No matter how we describe free agency and when it actually begins and ends, we're about a weekend. And I think that this is now a time. we can let those conversations peter out a little bit and start looking forward. So what I wanted to do today as kind of our last little free agency wrap up before we get to our draft coverage is ask what big questions we still have now that the first wave of free agency is over.

Obviously there are going to be some signings trickling in. We're going to have some guys get signed to one year deal. Some veterans are going to find homes. All of that. But the big names are off the board. So I feel like this is going to be a good time to kind of shut up. the door on the conversations we're going to have about free agency and start looking a little bit into the future. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think we've learned a lot and you and Nate

got into a lot of the messaging and what we've learned about these teams, but we have a pretty good idea now what rosters are going to look like. And also what holes are still left and what teams might end up doing in the draft. It's almost kind of silly to have those draft conversations in early March because so much, you know, so many things about rosters change through free agency. but now we have a pretty clear plan of which teams still need quarterbacks, which teams are really going to be in the market for the best corners. And we're going to get into a lot of that today on the show. That's exactly right.

I mean, now the draft is less theoretical and it's more, okay, this team needs a wide receiver, stuff like that. Now we have a much better and fuller understanding of that. Before we get to the questions about team needs and roster construction, we felt it was important to address what's been happening with Deshaun Watson and the civil suits that have been brought again. against him. Obviously, his standoff with the Texans and whether he might be available via trade was one of the biggest questions about this NFL offseason.

And while we wanted to wait until enough information was out there to discuss the situation properly, we felt like it would be strange to talk about the biggest questions looming over the rest of the off season without talking about Deshaun Watson and the status of everything with the league and their investigation. So you wrote a story that ran on the athletic today about the NFL opening an investigation into Watson and the allegations against him. Can you just lay out what we currently know about the suits that have been brought against him and what happens next on the NFL side of things? Sure, yeah, because it's very complicated. It's very layered. I've had a number of conversations with people with teams who work in the league

office side about this. And even people who are very experienced in this kind of arena, it's still really complicated. And teams are still learning kind of how this works. I think as the weeks go on because unless you have had a case, you know, a player on your team who has been accused of some sort of crime against women, you know, something like this, you might not know exactly how this process works. I've been reporting on the personal conduct policy, domestic violence, sexual assault within kind of the NFL's sphere, really since 2014, since the Ray Rice, the Ray Rice incident happened. So I feel like I'm pretty well versed in how all of this works, but it is still really, really complicated. So basically where we're at right now with Deshaun Watson is that over the course of the last week to week and a half, there have now been 16 civil lawsuits filed in Houston by a Houston attorney from 16 different women, all who have filed anonymously who have accused Deshaun Watson of some sort of level of sexual assault. And each lawsuit has a little bit, has some differences to them. But in general, they are women who have said that Deshaun Watson reached out to them online over social media, direct messages to solicit massages and then cross the line in some sort of manner from inappropriate conduct to full sexual assault allegations. There have been 16 of these as of 615 on Tuesday evening when we're recording this. There could be additional.

I mean, two additional ones, number 15 and number 16 were filed shortly before we began recording this podcast. What we do know for sure is that the NFL has opened their own investigation. This is an extremely common step whenever there is a player who's accused of some sort of incident like this. And it's hard to save in crime right now because these are in a... civil lawsuit. At this point, there's not a formal criminal investigation. There have not, there's no arrest. There have been no charges filed. But basically now the NFL is going to

look into this. The NFL's investigators are going to look for evidence. They're going to try to speak with all of these women who have accused Deshaun Watson of these sorts of acts. They're going to try to get text messages, direct messages, copies of, you know, if there's voicemails, any sort of evidence they can. There could be hearings. Eventually, Deshawn Watson will likely get called to New York to speak in person with Roger Goodell, assuming that's something that's COVID safe at some point. But so that's really where this process is starting. We should expect that this is going to take a really long time. This isn't something that's going to be resolved this month, next month. It might not be resolved by the end of 2021. It might drag into 2022. These cases,

are very complicated. There's a lot of nuance there. And when something is in civil court and just at the very beginning of civil court, it could take a very, very long time. For comparison, the Antonio Brown civil case, where there are the sexual assault allegations, those were first filed in September of 2019. And that case remains open and the NFL's investigation into those allegations remains open a year and a half later. Obviously, this is far less important than some of the other implications and some of the other issues going on with this story. But what does this mean for his football future and just the situation that's ongoing with the Texans solely because that has been such a bit of news and it's been on the forefront of people's minds here over the last

couple months before any of this had come up. Well, as you mentioned, as we started the podcast today, what's going to happen with Deshaun Watson's future was the biggest story heading into this off season before any of this happened? And it remains so now it's just infinitely more complex. And people that I've talked to in the last couple days around the league, people who work for teams that may be in the quarterback market, they've basically just said everything kind of has to be on hold. And everything that's going on legally right now with all of these allegations has to take precedent. Any team that might be interested in signing him has to do their own due diligence. You couldn't trade for him now and you couldn't give up massive trade asset, you know, draft capital without speaking with him first. And that's something that probably can't happen at this point. So, you know, really, Really right now what's going to come first and is foremost in the team's minds and the league's mind is what's going on with all of these allegations. And, you know, football stuff is really going to come second. I got into some more of this in the story and the athletic. I encourage you to go, you know, go read that story right now.

We get more kind of into the weeds about what's going on, you know, with this entire process. But it's just something that's going to be hanging over the league, Deshaun Watson, a bunch of different teams as we move forward into the soft season. And I think that that's why we wanted to talk about it. It seems very disingenuous to talk about the questions associated with the offseason and not talk about what's happening with Deshaun Watson because whether there are some of these teams that we're going to talk about that might have been in the running to trade for him previously. Now that becomes a little bit murkier. So I definitely wanted to talk about that.

Please go check out the work that Lindsay has done on this. Aaron Reese has also written on this for the athletic if you want a fuller understanding of where everything is with Deshawn Watson and the civil suits that have been brought against him. Obviously, it's difficult to transition from a topic with that sort of gravity to football questions and roster construction and team building and everything else. But we're going to try to do our best here, even if that does feel a little uneven. So let's start with one of the biggest questions that we had heading into free agency and one that I still think is worth exploring. And that's whether the Bengals have done enough to help Joe Burrow. You look at some of the moves that they've made, especially along the offensive line, there were no splashes.

It's not as if they went out and signed one of the biggest names on the market at any of those offensive line spots. They reportedly were in on Joe Tooney. He eventually landed with the Chiefs. They brought in Riley Reef, but I don't think any Bengals fans are getting overly excited about Riley Reef. So in your mind, Lindsay, if you look at what the Bengals have done, do you still have serious concerns about Joe Burroughs' well-being when it comes to him being protected and the guys he's throwing the ball too? I'll say I'll feel a lot better about that if they draft Penae Sewell at the end of April. I think I want to see them invest some major capital there.

I know he's been kind of a target there and maybe isn't quite as high up on the priority list now that they did sign Riley Reef. But it has to be the number one priority there. So I mean, I guess they feel a little bit better, but I'm not all the way there. I want to see a little bit more of what their full offensive line plan. is going to be beyond, you know, kind of a second tier offensive line, right tackle, left tackle. He's going to play left tackle, right tackle, he'll probably play right tackle because Jonah Williams is over on the left side. So if you look at it, and I know that nobody's going to get overly excited about Riley Reef, but I can understand the plan from the Bengal side of this. So they sign

Riley Reef to a one year, seven and a half million dollar deal. The structure is such that he's going to be counting for $4.7 million against the cap in 2021. That is the 39th largest cap hit for an offensive tackle in the league this year. That's okay. That's pretty good. It's right behind Jonah Williams, actually. They're neck and neck at 38 and 39. So the money that they theoretically would have spent in a guy like Joe Tuny at $16 million a year,

instead of doing that, they were able to sign Reef and a guy like Mike Hilton and bring back somebody like Quentin Spain to play guard. again, might not be the most exciting thing in the world if you don't want Joe Burrow to get hit, but I can understand the thinking when you're looking at the opportunity costs associated with this stuff. So they bring back Quentin Spain on a one-year deal, and they still have Xavier Suofilo, who's been much of last year hurt. So I would assume their thought here is, if we sign Reef and allow him to play right tackle, which he's done before, he's played a bunch of different positions,

we bring back Spain and Suofilo, we have Trey Hopkins to play center. that's five starters. How good that group is is up for debate. But both Suafilo and Spain are guys that have had a lot of starting experience in the league. And I think that by bringing those guys back and having five players that you can say, this is a starting level offensive line, the quality of which we can argue about, it allows them to go any direction they want to with the fifth overall pick. They don't feel compelled to go with one specific position because they have to.

And that, to me, is the next big question here because they can do a lot of different things with this offense. Outside of offensive line, Auden Tate is slated to be their second outside receiver starting across from T. Higgins this year. Tight end might be a question for them. So now do they try to go out and get somebody like a Jamar Chase who played with Joe Burrow at LSU? It's Kyle Pitts in the running for them at number five. I just think that the signings they've made give them a little bit of flexibility. and I am very curious to see what direction they will go in with that pick. Yeah, I mean, I just think, you know, and we talked about this with our AFC questions heading into the offseason.

Everything you do know, if you're the Bengals, has to be within the framework of how is this helping Joe Burrow. And protecting him has to be priority number one, because we saw what happened last year when he was not protected, and we do not want him to get physically beaten out of this league. But I think there are, like you said, a lot of other options that they could take in directions they could go there to give him a nice skill position. I still really want to see them take Pene Soule, though. It'd be great. And they can. Signing Riley Reef to a $7.5 million deal doesn't stop you from adding a tackle with the fifth overall pick if that's what you want to do. If you want to trade back a little bit for one of those quarter, if one of those quarterback needy teams wants to go up to number five and you think you can get Slater, I'm still not super well-versy.

and all the guys in the draft that are available. That's going to happen over the next week. But if you think you can get a tackle at 12 and you want to have somebody come up like a Patriots team or the Niners or somebody like that, then it just opens up your options. I think that not having to draft a starting offensive lineman is nice, but you can still do it if that's the direction you want to go.

And I went back and I was watching Quentin Spain and a couple of those other guys today because I wanted to get a sense of what they were like last year. He was not very good playing right guard, left guard, They was bouncing around a bunch, and maybe that's some of the Bengals thinking, is that he came over mid-season. He was bouncing around through a couple different positions. Everything was so unsteady and unsettled at those spots that guys had a hard time settling in.

I don't know how they're going to end up approaching this, but I still think that, again, anything is on the table. And I'm very curious and I'm very interested in what they're going to do solely because I like watching Joe Burrow. Go watching him today. I was like, oh, yeah, this guy's good. I'm ready to watch him in year two, and I just hope that he's set up for success in the right ways.

All right, let's stick in the AFC North here with one of our next questions about the rest of the offseason, and that is how are the Ravens going to improve their passing game? Because while the Bengals, even if they're not exciting, have brought in guys along the offensive line. They have made moves. The Ravens have done nothing.

I mean nothing. They were reportedly in on Juju Smith-Schuster. I think they offered him a one-year-9. million dollar deal. Understandable. They had Sammy Watkins in for a visit this week. He's making the tour around America to all the wide receiver needy teams around. But that's it.

They have not made any additions to their past catching core, not a starter, not a depth piece. They are standing pat right now. Are you a little bit concerned about how this is going to get fixed if they don't start adding some talent? I am a little concerned. And this isn't an issue of like money and how much these guys were costing because really outside of Kenny Goliday, the receiver market was very affordable, even kind of

complimentary pieces. And yeah, I mean, if I'm Lamar Jackson, I'm wondering, like, what else are we doing here? And, you know, he's like the most happy go lucky guy. And I'm sure he loves his, he loves his guys and feels like he can win with who he has. But we've been banging the drum since before the trade deadline last November about how much we wanted the Ravens to acquire some additional wide receiver help. And clearly, Eric DeCosta is not listening to the show. We probably need to send him a subscription deal. But we would like to help him out. One dollar a month for the next six months. I think he can afford it. I'm pretty sure they could make that happen at the Ravens. I've seen their facilities. It is beautiful out there. It's really nice. And one of my favorite things from last

draft season was seeing how Eric Acosta and John Harba are neighbors, like out in the Maryland countryside. Like, they're fine. They can afford our $1 a month deal. But yeah, I mean, I think we've just been really wanting them to add, look, we've had really high hopes of like, go trade for Julio Jones, you know, get like a true number one. And now we're here at the point where we're like, just add somebody, like hoping they'd sign Sammy Watkins, who can be kind of a serviceable, you know, guy, but nobody's going to look at Sammy Watkins right now is like, you know, know, a pro bowler. But yeah, it's just, it's, I'm very curious about kind of the path they're taking. They don't have a ton of money to spend there. They weren't going to be one of the

highest spending teams in free agency. But, you know, they did make some moves. You know, they signed Kevin Zitler to, to help fill one of their holes up front. But they just continually do not address this receiver position. Well, we'll see what ends up happening, right? So I think they have the 27th overall pick. If you look at some of the projections about what receivers might be available or how deep the receiver class is in this draft. It seems like there might be someone available there for them. Maybe they trade back and think they can get somebody in the second round. This team, they've done a pretty good job of understanding how to deploy their draft

resources and accumulate more over the years. So if you look at the moves they have made, their offense is probably going to be better just by virtue of signing Zitler and getting Ronely Stanley back. So now you have two quality starting tackles. Do they end up drafting a tackle and trading Orlando Brown? I don't know what's going to end up happening with them in this draft, but we've gotten to a point where they need to draft someone. They're going to need to rely on the draft.

And we talk about the Bengals kind of filling these slots in order to have a little bit of flexibility. If the Ravens don't get a guy like Sammy Watkins and we're sitting there wondering, all right, who's it going to be? How are they going to do this? That question may still be there at the end of April because it certainly has not been addressed yet. I mean, you look at the guys who are available on the free agent market outside of Sammy Watkins. We're talking about the golden tates of the world, Willie Sneed, who was on their roster last year.

There just aren't that many options left. Even the cheaper guys that you think might have made sense like a Marvin Jones, kind of that big physical presence that's unlike the other guys they have on the roster, that's dried up. So we're going to see which direction they end up going because it has not been addressed up to this point. All right, let's stick in the AFC with another team that is definitely a need to hit on a couple spots in the draft. We had a conversation about this yesterday,

but I wanted to drill down on these positions more specifically. One of my questions is, where are the Colts going to find a left tackle and an edge rusher? Because similar to the Ravens, those spots have dried up a decent amount in free agency, and they have not addressed them quite yet. Where are you at with the Colts plan here over the last week or so and how they're going to fill these spots before the start of next season?

So I'm not entirely surprised at the way that Chris Ballard and the cults have approached free agency. I mean, they had money to spend, but they were never going to kind of go crazy on the market. And the positions that they were needing to feel specifically left tackle, it wasn't a super attractive free agent market. Really outside of Trent Williams, it was not a deep class. There probably wasn't anybody worth spending a lot of,

because those guys don't hit the market. They just, teams don't let their quality left tackles go. And so I'm not surprised that Ballard didn't spend at the left tackle position. So that feels like it has to be where they're going to go in the draft and probably pretty high in the draft. This seems to be, according to the people who watch a lot more college offensive line film than I do. I promise I'll start. We're through the first wave of free agency. So I'm going to dive right in right now on that college all 22.

But this is a good draft for tackles. And we can't say that a lot. So that feels like the way that they're going to go in the draft. I'm a little surprised that they didn't do a little bit more at the pass rusher spots because this was a pretty good free agent crop of pass rushers, which you wrote about for the athletic earlier this week. You kind of got into the guys that were available, what the cost were, and how those guys are going to impact their teams.

But they might be able. I mean, there's still some guys out there. Maybe he'll be able to get a kind of a value signing here in the third or fourth wave of free agency or whatever it is we're officially in now. So they signed Sam Tevey from the Chargers to a one-year deal. I'm sure Chargers fans are just screaming in horror at the idea of Sam Tevey starting for a team after what they watched last year and over the last couple of years in Southern California. I keep wanting to say San Diego. He's just not their left tackle.

I'm sure they are. But it's also, it's a little bit different when you're playing next to Quentin Nelson and not Forrest Lamp. Like there's a reason that it took the Chargers three minutes to sign Matt Filer and Free Agency to be their left. guard. I still think that they're going to need a plan that goes beyond Sam Tevi at that spot, but I do think that overall putting him with quality players on that Chargers line or that Colts line would give him a better chance to be their stopgap option if it comes to that. But I still think they're probably going to try to go get somebody. So they have the 21st pick in this draft. We talked about this a little bit yesterday. I would not be surprised that they moved back because

they traded for Carson Wentz. They need to accrue some more draft capital. They cherish those. draft picks. If there's somebody who really needs one of those tackles at 21, if one of the receivers is there, I could see that happening. But they probably do need to come away from this draft class with a tackle and an edge rusher. I mean, there absolutely is a world where maybe they go sign an Olivier Vernon or a Melvin Ingram, even if that's not really a scheme fit, to be that other spot.

But I still think that they need to thread a needle if they're going to reach the level that they want to this year because you know you have a guard that you need to fill a slot corner a second safety those spots okay like you could do that with cheaply in free agency you can stumble into those it's much much harder to stumble into your number one edge rusher and your and your left tackle that just doesn't really happen so they're going to need a couple breaks here to fill those spots in quality ways before next season gets started and also they're in the market for a receiver. I mean, Sammy Watkins is part of his tour.

He's headed there next after getting done in Baltimore. So I am very interested in what their draft is going to look like and how quickly they can find difference makers at some of those spots. Zach Kiefer did a really good job today on the athletic talking about why the Colts have a need at left tackle, kind of the swings and misses they've had over the last couple of years with Ben, Banagoo, options like that just haven't really worked. for that Camico Torre and his injury issues.

So, you know, we've reached a point where their drafting has helped them in so many ways. But at that spot, they just haven't gotten it right quite yet. I want to see what's going to happen with Ty Hilton as we're looking at this wide receiver group. And if he winds up coming back there, because if you're the Colts right now and you're surveying kind of the veteran guys that are still out there, would you rather have Sammy Watkins or T.Y. Hilton? Probably T.Y. Hilton, right? Yeah, absolutely. I'd rather have the guy you know. But I think, and we'll see.

I mean, do they think, and we talked about this yesterday, that guy they drafted in the sixth round last year, Desmond Patman, you know, he's an interesting kind of athletic profile guy. If you can drop him into the mix, they're getting Paris Campbell back this year. I think they really are expecting him to contribute in ways that we've never seen him do before because of injuries. So what does this team look like at receiver, I think is not as big of a priority as what's going to happen at tackle and edge rusher. Yeah, absolutely. I think if we're going one, two, three, those are the priorities.

All right. Let's move on here. I think this is arguably the biggest question. And that is who is going to make the splashy move for a quarterback in the draft? I've started to look at the teams with top five picks, the directions they make go, some of the rumblings now about maybe the Jets aren't going to pick a quarterback, they're going to stick with Sam Darnold. I mean, my mind is running wild with what the top five and top 10 of the draft are going to look like.

Is there a team in this group? I'm going to list them and you tell me if I'm missing anybody. Okay. Panthers, Broncos, Patriots, Niners, what other team do you think that's outside of the top five or so right now could make one of those big pushes because they want a quarterback? I mean, I think the Lions are a team that we still have to keep in the quarterback conversation. But I think you're right on the other ones.

I think they're the one that I would kind of maybe get into that mix just because, you know, poor Jared Gough. You know, he just wants to be loved and appreciated somewhere. And I'm just not sure if that's going to be long term in Detroit. But that's one. And at seven, I think they have a ton of options there. But as we're, you know, we're kind of moving into these quarterback conversations now, we're past free agency. So we are officially in like silly season for draft talk. I know, it's great.

Anything that we hear where it's, you know, you have to kind of consider like, why is this person saying it? What could be the motivation here? What sort of leverage is at play? And, you know, teams are trying not to show too much. They're going to, if you have a high pick, if you're the Jets, you want to make teams think that you're going to hold on to Sam Darnold. So maybe they'll up their offer for you for what they would trade. And it's going to be really interesting because there's not a ton of teams left with like the clear quarterback. need. You know, all of these teams that we've talked about, you could make a case for,

okay, they'll stand pat with Drew Locke if you're the Broncos or Jimmy Garapolo, but you also very easily could make the case of they're going to make the big move because they need to upgrade. This is their time to take a swing. They have a new general manager. If you're the Panthers or the Broncos, you know, maybe your quarterback has reached his ceiling within that offense if you're Jimmy Garoppolo and the Niners. So that's what's going to make this next month pretty fun to see. But I think we have the right teams. Is there anybody else you think we're missing?

I think those are the important ones. And let's just can just assume that the Jets are going to take a quarterback at two. And that this is all noise. It gets really interesting after that. Because Miami, I think, is a perfect trade candidate. I think that number three overall pick reminds me of when the Colts had it and they traded out of it because they hit Andrew Luck and the Jets went up and got Sam Darnold. And then you have Atlanta at four.

if Atlanta and Terry Fontno want to say, all right, we're going to stockpile picks, we're going to be able to rebuild this next year, this is our chance to get a haul. Maybe that's what they do and they don't pick a quarterback. At five, the Bengals have a quarterback. Maybe they trade out. So there are these teams. And I do think that if you look at some of the things that have happened in free agency and a lot of the moves that have been made, I think the Broncos and the Patriots have kind of put themselves in a spot where they could talk themselves. into the idea that they're a quarterback away from being something.

That they, if all they need is to go make that splashing move, the Broncos especially. So do they feel compelled to do that? Like, does George Payton sit there and say, this is it? We can absolutely, if we get one of our guys, that is the skeleton key. We are a real team. And which of those teams thinks that they're that move away, I think could be the deciding factor on what the top 10 of the draft ends up looking like. Could get real interesting.

Patriots are so intriguing to me because, you know, it would be a very un-Belichick-like move to trade up, especially to trade up that high into the top 10. There have been a lot of un-Belichick-like moves in the last week. That's what I'm saying. We're seeing a whole new Belichick. So, you know, and they're kind of at a position where they need to do something. You know, resigning Cam Newton a couple days before free agency began was kind of assigned to me of we're doing something so that this isn't kind of like the big lingering question.

We're not kind of trying out all of the different guys, but that in no way were they content or set with their quarterback play from last year. So, you know, I think they're the most interesting to me, just given what has already transpired this off season to see where they go, what sort of quarterback Bill Belichick wants now. I mean, does he, you know, dip into his deep connections with Nick Saban and take back Jones, who is the closest to Tom Brady, the Tom Brady mold. Let's not say he's the closest to Tom Brady. That's not fair to anybody. He can't move just like Tom Brady. Exactly. But or,

you know, or is it one of these other guys that, you know, maybe he could fall in love with. So those are the ones I'm most interested in. And my goodness, Jeff Howe is going to have a lot of really interesting stuff to write. It's going to be a long month for Jeff. It's going to be a long month for Jeff and a couple other writers that we have on staff. But if you look at the moves that they made, I think it's a lot easier to get excited about that tight-end duo and some of the holes they plugged on the defense and the fact that they have a legit starting offensive line. I mean, if you look at that roster and you drop a Trey Lance into that equation, it suddenly gets really cool. I mean, that is a real team if one of those guys hits. And that's kind of how they've set themselves up.

By plugging all those holes, they've made it. So if they get a quarterback and they figure that spot out, they instantly become relevant again. And I think you said that's the most intriguing team. To me, it's Denver. I just, it was sitting there with a ninth overall pick and how good their defense might be and the amount of capital that they've pumped into finding weapons over the last couple years. That to me is a team that is in striking distance for one of those guys and should have the motivation to go get one. But I think those are the two because while Carolina has been really open about they're wanting a new quarterback,

and the fact that they would be in the market for one. We've heard so much about that. I still think that the rest of their roster is far enough away, where they're less interesting with one of these guys than the Patriots or the Broncos are to me. Yeah, when I look at the Panthers, they felt like the team that was counting on making a run at Deshaun Watson more than any of the others. And that potentially is off the table now or should be off the table now. and, you know, move forward with Teddy Bridgewater.

But, you know, I, look, I live in Denver. I cover the Broncos a lot. And I totally understand where you're going. And I don't think they're done at quarterback yet either. I just, I'm so intrigued at what Peyton is going to do. And if they might make a major move. I mean, being at nine, they have a lot of flexibility there. I will say there are still a lot of people in that building that like Drew Locke,

a lot, but I would love to see like a real legit competition and somebody to actually push him in a way that he hasn't been pushed yet so far in his, I guess, two seasons now in Denver. That's the problem, though, is that when you have that, when you're holding on to that hope, it limits your options. It cuts you off in ways that I think it ultimately doom your process. I've lived that life where the bears had to trade for Nick Foles because they couldn't just give someone else the job. They had to create competition there. And if you're trading up for someone in the top five, that's not a competition. That's your starting quarterback. So if they feel like they can't do that because they still have to leave the door open for Drew Locke, then what does that

end up doing? So are you surprised, we haven't talked about this really, are you surprised that they have been so aggressive in the way that they've spent money in the first year of Peyton and how that's meshed with the previous approach when Elway was in charge? Not necessarily because the bulk of the places where they spent the money has been on defense. And that was really what Elway's kind of prerogative was over the last few years. They did bring back Kareem Jackson today on a much cheaper deal. You and Nate referenced yesterday that that was something that could happen. I believe he's back on like a one year, $5 million deal.

So their defense is really set. Like they don't have really any defensive starter quite. They have one safety position that, you know, maybe they could address in the draft. That's a pretty good spot. to be when you consider some of the other defenses around the league. Yeah. So, but, you know, in terms of like a philosophy, I'm not super surprised about it because, you know, the pieces that they brought back, you know, resigning Justin Simmons, picking up von Miller's option, resigning, um, Ron, uh, resigning Shelby Harris. I'm not sure if I loved

the Ronald Darby signing, just in terms of the value that they got there compared to some of the other cornerbacks out there. But it really does fit the way that John Elway has wanted to spend his money over the last few years. And now, you know, maybe, you know, maybe. he's signing off and spending the money and letting George Payton pick the players. The Derby signing is just the type of deal that typically doesn't work out in free agency. When a guy was available for next to nothing a year before you sign him to a big contract, the track record of those does not work out very often. That being said, we have a proven history of Vic Fangio getting the most out of his defensive backs,

no matter who those guys are. So if Ronald Darby is going to succeed in this, this is his fifth act, I don't even know how to frame it at this point. Landing with Vic Fangio and Ed Donatelle and those guys is typically a way to make that happen. Speaking of teams picking in the top 10 that may be in the market for a quarterback, apparently the Philadelphia Eagles have signed Joe Flacco to a deal that includes $3.5 billion guaranteed and $4 million in incentives. Can you think of two quarterbacks more different than Joe Flacco and Jalen Hertz?

No, I just think that Joe Flacco, was probably like I could just drive from my house in Delaware. Like I can like stop at Wawa on my way to work. It'll be great. Like he's kind of at the point now. I'm very excited about watching Joe Flacco try to run the read option and do some of the mobile stuff that Jalen Hertz does. All this,

all the arguments about wanting a backup that looks like your starter maybe out the window. Also is Jalen Hertz the quarterback in Philadelphia? Are they in the market for a quarterback? And what does that do to the top 10? So these are the questions that will be looming here. over the next month and a half. All right, let's move on to a team that is set at quarterback, but we have not talked about really at all over the last week or so.

And that is the Dallas Cowboys. And my question about them is, is getting Dak Prescott back enough for this team to make a push in the NFC East? It's kind of shocking to me how little we've discussed the Cowboys in the last week or so, but it really shouldn't be. Because if you look at their history, they have not spent a lot in free agency. They're right in line with teams like. like the Ravens, the Patriots, teams that have spent less than $70 million combined

over since 2017. It's a small group. And Dallas, for all the jokes we make about Jerry just wheeling and dealing over there, they typically do not dive headfirst into the market. Are you surprised that the Cowboys have essentially seemed to be okay with standing pat with the roster that we saw last year? I mean, a little bit because I think having DAC back is going to fix a lot. lot of things.

It helps. And your question, though, was their quarterback last year? Who was the guy that took over from? Some redheaded guy, if I recall correctly. It's great. You should maybe look them up. Just, I mean, your question was, does just having DAC back make them competitive in the NFC East?

And yes, it does. But is the goal to be competitive in the NFC East, which, you know, could still be the worst division of football next year? or is the division or is the goal to be competitive with the Rams and the Seahawks and the Packers and the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers? Because I don't think they're there yet. And their defense was really bad last year. Their defensive roster was bad last year.

Their defensive coaching was bad last year. They hired Dan Quinn. Dan Quinn in turn is signing a bunch of former Falcons, which if you watched a lot of the Falcons over the previous five years, shouldn't make you feel great about how they're improving their defensive roster. And I like Dan Quinn, but I'm just saying I would like to see some better players on the Cowboys defense. And they haven't really done that yet. I'm assuming a lot of Cowboys fans are coming into this season with the idea being,

how could we be any worse on defense? And I've got some bad news for them. The Cowboys finished 20th and weighted DVOA on defense. last year. They were not a disaster by the end of the season. They're now, they lost guys. Chinobey Uwizzi, I know was hurt last year, but he is gone in free agency. Alden Smith is no longer there. Some of the guys they had along their defensive line are now gone. I mean, it's, this is not a situation where they have to be better than they were last year. Dan Quinn has not done a great job as a defensive play caller when he's gotten the chance to do that over the last couple of years

in Atlanta. And they have. serious questions about the personnel on that side of the ball. So I don't think it's some given that just because they've made a bunch of changes to the defensive staff over there, that this is going to be a markedly better defense in 2021. I think they're going to need to really hit on some guys. John Machoto wrote today that he just thought that, or maybe a couple of days ago, on the athletic that corner was probably a big need for them with that 10th overall pick.

It seems like there's going to be some guys in that range that they could possibly get. They brought in Keanu Neal, who reportedly is going to play linebacker for them in certain packages. And safety is still a big question mark for them. I think Malik Hooker and DeMonte Casey, who had played for Quinn and Atlanta, had been in there on visits and that could be possible signings. But again, these are not high profile players or quality signings that we typically see in the first way of free agency. These are tinkering moves. And I don't know what that defense is going to look like.

I have faith that they can turn it around, but I'm not writing in pen that the Cowboys defense is going to be better than it was last year. I think they're really going to need that offense to pick up the slack, and I think that's possible. Because it's not just getting deck back. It's Tyron Smith being hopefully healthier, which I think we say every year at this point, and it's starting to become something we can't really count on. But if they get Lyle Collins back, I thought one of the best signings any team is made in free agency was the Cowboys bringing Tainaseki in to be their swing tackle, because tackle depth has torpedoed this team over the last five years when they've had injuries there. So their offense should be better and it should be insulated from injury more than it has been years past.

But I truly think that side of the ball is going to need to carry them if they're going to make any sort of noise in the NFC. I am not counting on that defense. Yeah, it just feels like they're setting themselves up to be like a team that scores 500 points and gives up 485 points. Yeah. I mean, I really do think that that offense is going to need to carry them. And it might be able to. But when they were playing last year, even though they were throwing the ball all over the yard, the efficiency was not that great.

I want to say DAC was middle of the road and stuff like EPA per play and everything else over those first four games. The numbers, the raw numbers were great. But I still think that there's meat on the bone with that offense. And hopefully it's better in year two with McCarthy and Kellyn Moore. Hopefully it's better with DAC having another year in that system. I have faith that it can work out because the players in that. that side of the ball are very good. But again, they're relying on those guys that we have seen

before to really carry them. All right, Lindsay, a couple more here. One that I definitely am intrigued by just because of kind of the cards they hold in the draft is how the dolphins plan to use this last loaded draft to finish off this project that they've been working on. They have three picks in the top 36. I keep forgetting that the Texans gave them their second round pick. as part of that trade. So the dolphins are, they were on the verge of being a playoff team last year, really good roster, a lot of good players. And now they have three picks in the top 36 and four in the top 50

to just add more and more talent to this team. And like we talked about with some of the other teams that we've discussed, because of the moves they've made in free agency and some of the holes that they've plugged, they could go anywhere with these picks. I mean, anything is really on the table here. Is there a direction you would want them to take with all of the draft capital they have coming into this year? Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, I think pass rusher is a place that they're going to have to address.

I think offensive line is going to continue to be one of the most important positions that they're going to have to address. You know, they have a couple of maybe stopgap guys in place right now. But if they're set with Tua, and right now it seems like they are. I mean, I think a couple weeks ago, a couple months ago, there was a lot of, you know, could they trade out? Could they be in the Deshawn Watson sweepstakes? could they make another move? But if they are fully in with Tua, it has to be about protecting him

and giving him better weapons. I think wide receiver is going to be a really interesting situation for them, given how deep this wide receiver classes, but they could probably get one of those guys in the first round. I think those are kind of the wide receiver offensive line and pass rusher

are the top three places that I'd like to see them go potentially with those top three picks or those three picks in the top 36. Yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense. I mean, obviously they brought in Will Fuller, but it's not a one-year deal. That shouldn't stop them from drafting a pass catcher. I think they have the 18th overall pick with that, with their second pick in the first round.

I also think they could even move out of that third pick and get more picks. I mean, they could have a ton of draft picks here. So you look at receiver. Offensive line, you know, they're bringing back those young guys that they had last year. But again, I don't think that that should stop them from picking a guy they think is a quality starter they can plug and play from day one, let's say, at right tackle, something like that. And then pass rusher is another one. You know, they, Shaq Lawson was traded to the Texans, Kyle Van Nuay was released. So that's a spot where they

absolutely could use another body or two. And then the other one is running back. You know, they have all of these picks at the top of the second round. If one of those high profile running backs is there, do they go with one of those guys, whether it's a Najee Harris or Travis Etienne or one of those guys that could be available in that range, just to add a little bit more used to their offense. I mean, they're going to be in a place where I think the only question, potentially, about this team going into the season is what is going to happen with

two in year two. And if you're Chris Greer and if you're the team, the guy's building that team, that's the place you want to be. You want that to be the only remaining question about your team heading into 2021. And I think we're trending in that direction. Yeah. And I just,

I just love the teams that have options. And I remember a couple of years ago when the. you know, the Browns always seem to have multiple first-round picks and just be these complete wild cards heading into the draft. And the dolphins are setting up to do that, but hopefully in a much smarter way than the Browns ever did it in those years where they had multiple first-round picks. Yeah, and I think that, you know, we've seen that happen for the last couple of years. They've had all of these picks and eventually those need to turn into players, but it's always good to give yourself several bites at the apple. And that is what the dolphins have yet again. All right. Lindsay, do you have anything else?

Any other looming questions that you want to be asking before we keep going here with the offseason? I mean, I have a lot of questions. But no, I think we hit on like kind of the big ones. You know, I just, I feel like we have a much better understanding now of where these teams are. I'm just so curious to see kind of how the balance of power is shifting in some of these divisions, the AFC East, the NFC West, especially. But, you know, it's been kind of a fun week. You know, I think we always get so excited about free agency, you know, who are the big names that are going to be on the move. But more so for me, it's just figuring out what these teams are going to look like and having a better idea of what the rest of this off season is going to look like.

And I think we're there. I think the teams have answered a lot of the biggest questions, but that doesn't mean by any means that these teams should be done tinkering with their rosters and figuring out how they want to move forward. All right. That is the period on the end of the free agency sentence here. That is all we're going to do in terms of free agent-centric shows in the 2021 season here at the athletic football show. We are officially pivoting to draft coverage later this week. Dan Bruegler is going to be on Friday show, and we're going to do an idiot's guide to the 2021 NFL draft

because that's exactly what I am right now. I am a draft idiot because I've spent all my time post Super Bowl thinking about free agency and the professional players moving locales. It is time to really dig into the draft. So we're going to set the table with Dane on Friday. Until then, please rate and review the podcast on your podcast platform of choice. I would very much appreciate that. Also, please subscribe to the athletic.

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We'll be back on Friday with Dane. Until then, thank you so much for listening. I'll talk to you guys later. This was The Athletic Football Show.