The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - The 2023 Non-Quarterback Draft

Episode Date: May 26, 2023

OK, with quarterbacks selected, it's time to move on to our non-quarterback draft for 2023. The premise is the same. Which player do you most want on your team for the next three years, taking into account his current contract status? Robert Mays, Nate Tice and Yahoo's Charles McDonald make the selections in this five-round, 15-player exercise.Follow Robert on Twitter: @robertmaysFollow Nate on Twitter: @Nate_TiceFollow Charles on Twitter: @FourVertsSubscribe to The Athletic Football Show...AppleSpotifyYouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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We have a great show for you guys today. This is kind of the, I don't know, the second half of our, yearly drafts that we do. We did the quarterback draft earlier this week with our buddy Derek Klasson and Nate. This is the non-quarterback draft show. And here to help me pick some guys and talk about some dudes, I have two wonderful guests. First of all, it's my good friend, Nate Tyst. Nate, how you doing, buddy? I'm doing excellent. We are not only wrapping up like a lot of these draft type shows and everything, but also nearing your wedding. So this is a big day in several cases. And I feel like we're in a panic state, which I think we'll make for a very entertaining show today.

And that's not even including our chaotic guests that I'm so excited that he's on the show with me today with us today. It's going to be amazing. Just beautiful chaos. Also joining us today from Yahoo Sports. It's our buddy Charles McDonald's. Chuck, how you doing, bud? I'm feeling good. I turn 29 tomorrow. So I'm kind of having like my late 20s crisis a little bit. Your midlife. Fuck off. Quarter life crisis. Yeah. Yeah. My quarter life. I have crisis here a little bit. But I have a question for you, have you ever gone on here and say, we're about to have the worst podcast ever. No, because we never do.

Afterwards, we go. Afterwards, yeah. But going in, going in, they're all going to be bangers. I never know if it's going to be good, but I know it's going to be tolerable. That is what I can give you every single week. If I can just be like the Kirk Cousins of Podcasting for the rest of my life, that's a fine life that I have lived. high, high on base percentage. That's all we're after, right?

I'm going to be like the Chase Daniel of podcasting. Oh, that's even better. That's even better. No, if I could just be like a podcast guest for the rest of my life and just kind of like ship in one or two jokes to show and make what Chase Daniel makes, that would be even better. But unfortunately, the price point in sports media is a little bit different than being a backup quarterback. Yeah. Oh, I know.

Yeah, I made the problem of being a backup quarterback in college, not the pros. I should have pushed to at least make it to the pro. I was like to get at least a couple of years of that money. But no, I decided to go, no, it's be a backup and they'd be a GA. That's how you make a lot of money. That was my career path. You don't need the quarterback career in the NFL for the money. What you need it for is your post career life when these idiots on Twitter.

Who is Nate Tice? What's a, where does he ever play? You guys, that's someone you can actually Google there. Right, right. And my name's not Mike Smith. That actually really helps sometimes. Like Nate alluded to, I get married on Sunday. So this is the last show that I will be on for a while, kind of.

We are still doing our normal podcast schedule over the next two weeks while I'm gone on my honeymoon. This is the beauty of recording things in advance, which is a wonder of modern technology. We're going to have four shows a week coming your guys way. Monday mailbag, same as it always was. Nate will be hosting a couple shows on his own over those couple weeks, but I will still be on two podcasts a week. over the next three weeks while I am not in the country. So nothing will change for you. The show will be coming to you on the same schedule.

It always has. It was important for us to make sure that was the case even while I was gone. So be on the lookout for that. But this is the last show before I go away for a little while. And I'm excited for it to be this show because this is going to be a hell of a lot of fun. Ground rules. It's not that complicated. We're doing five rounds.

Same as you do with the quarterbacks. We're doing non-snake draft. Contracts matter. that's it. You can take this any other direction you want to. And the fun thing about this is, unlike the quarterbacks, there are a million different directions that we could go in a million different arguments that you could make. Because we're not doing a snake draft,

I felt again it was fair as the one making that decision to pick last to make everything just above board. So Chuck's going to go first. Nate's going to go second. I'm going to go third. Charles, you have the floor, sir. You have the number one pick in the 23 non-quarterback draft. Where are you going? I'm going to go ahead and take the most underpaid non-quarterback in the history of the NFL,

Aaron Dollar, 99. Don't care what the cost is. I know he's at, you know, low end starter quarterback money at this point, I guess. It's 30 million average over the next two years before he hits free agency. That's right. And we're still handing him a blank check at age 33, too. Look, I don't think there's really been that big of a decline. in his play, which is kind of crazy when you look at how the Rams defense kind of dwindled around him.

And this year, it's going to be the ultimate Hercules fee because if you go ahead and look at that depth chart and you show a common fan the Rams depth chart on defense, the only player they might be able to name is Aaron Donald. And that's not a joke, especially when you look at specifically just a front seven. Maybe you can get some, you know, SEC fan that's going to get Daryon Kendrick out there, a cornerback, but this is the Atlas feat that he is going to have to take on as he enters, you know, sort of the end of his career, but I think he's still up for it. And that, to me, is enough high praise to get the first pick in this draft. It was hard. It was, I looked at his,

like, I was just trying to look up his age. So I looked at his pro football reference. I tweeted this. And then you just look at his accolades. It's just all pro, all pro, all pro, defensive player of the year votes. Defense player of the year votes. And it's like hilarious. I could have just tweeted that. And everyone goes, oh, Aeronald. It's like that's where it is. I like the Atlas nickname. That's actually pretty good for him.

He is going to have to carry the world tomorrow. He's going to carry the next year, buddy, tomorrow. I'm in the same. My brain is frying the same way the Chuck says. So here's my, here's my counter. If I'm playing devil's advocate, last year is the first year those accolades did not happen. Okay. He played 11 games.

He got hurt for the first time in his career. How hurt is probably depending on how bad the Rams season was going. So we could acknowledge that. You will get 32, 33. 33 and 34, and he will cost $30 million a year, and he's coming off his first quote-unquote downseason that he's had in his career. Those are my only arguments against it. I think it's a fair pick. We're going to make it up for it very soon.

Just watch. He gets cheap after this. Just like the Rams defense. That's right. All right. All right. So I'm not upset about this because I was not going to take Aaron Donald with my pick even if he was probably there. So the top two guys that I would have on the board, I now get one of them. and I'm very excited about it.

Nate, where are you going with the second? I want to take one of them just to piss you off. It's, yeah, I'm down to two guys right now. Really three, if I'm, if I'm being honest, but really, this is nice. I'm going to go, I'll tell you that one that I'm not going to go. I'm not going to go Justin Jefferson, even though I want to so badly. I really, really do. I was hoping that Chuck would maybe take this other guy and so I could just take him

because I like Justin Jefferson a lot and he's dominant, all that stuff. I'm going to go with Michael Parsons. It's a clear second choice to me. Yeah. In his third year, all pro, his first two years, he's the actual dominant force. I hope someone could take the mantle of Aaron Donald, but it's really hard. I know they play a different edge and detackle and all that, but just the dominant defensive force on the front. There's a few of these guys in the league, but I just think Michael Parsons at his age.

He's still cheap for a couple years, cost control, all that, but just a down-to-down basis, just the, like I guess I'll say again, that dominant force. You feel him on every snap. He makes everybody else around him better. he's going to never be an off ball linebacker ever again because that is definitely making a A plus player, a C plus player, just watched the Packers game last year where the Cowboys played. But him as an edge rusher, him as a pass rusher, him as going against the run, him as a knifing inside on games, him on blitzes where they line him up with Dan Quinn will get creative

with him. He's just incredible. Just one of these players that's incredibly fun to watch. And I think he'll just continue his dominance for a long, long, long time. And it's already been dominant in this first two years. years. You could make an argument that even if we didn't include contracts, if it was just the best players for the next three years, that you could make Micah Parsons, the number one pick in this draft. Yeah. I don't know how I've never really talked to you about Michael Parsons, Chuck. You

like him, though, I'm sure. Oh, yeah. Well, I remember when he was coming out of the draft, I was like, you guys talk about this guy's an off by linebacker, but he's strong as any offensive lineman and runs a four three. Like, let's see what happens. And to me, it's, it's the strength with him because I know they were talking earlier this offseason about how he's going to, you know, move to about full-time edge rusher and people are saying, oh, does he need to bulk up? Maybe like five pounds. Yeah, why? I don't really know for what.

Von Miller's been able to do it for a long time. He led the Lincoln pressures last year. He does. I don't think he needs to change anything about who he is except for never lining up off the ball again. Watch him against the Giants and he knives inside and blows back a guard about four yards. It's like it's yeah, strength. Strength is not an issue with Michael Parsons.

And I think about Michael Parsons, it's like how big of the weight difference have to be for me to start being concerned. Like, it's some going against some other players. Let's say a 360 pound offensive lineman. Like I'm still, I'm still taking Michael Parsons in the run game, let alone the past game. So I think he's one of the most unique talents in football because, I mean, the fact that he could even be like a C plus player off the ball. How many defensive ends are we even talking about in that breath? And I know his rookie year when they're still trying to figure stuff out with him as far as like, what does this look like in our defense? What does this look like long term for him?

There's still some wild plays that he's making him coverage just off this year athletic as that he has. That Saints game. When he covered the wheel like 20 yards down the left sideline, I was just like, this is insane. He's the, are you the best pass rusher in the league and he can still do this shit? Yeah. And he's also one of those guys where I still am having a hard time getting my brain around like pro day results being more. acceptable than they were maybe about like 15 years ago. So when I see Michael Parsons, oh, he runs a 4-3 at Penn State's pro day.

I'm like, ah, whatever. That's fake. Fast track. Get out of here. Home cooking. Yeah. And then I see him play on the NFL field. I'm like, oh, whoa, whoa, whoa.

That's exactly what he ran. Penn State might actually be legit. Like the Penn State numbers might actually be legit if you look at some of the testing that they had. Chuck, I went through the same thing. Because I remember he didn't have a crazy production in college. And so I watched him. I'm like, oh, he's a freak.

But yeah, we'll see. I was like, four, three. Okay, yeah, okay, uh-huh. Yeah, we'll see. It's probably more like a four or five. And then sure enough, no, it's, it's, it's a four-four flat at the very least at 250 pounds. I get so much stuff wrong. But I remember Nate, when we talked about Michael Parsons heading into that draft, I said pretty confidently.

I was like, he's best moving forward. Like, I don't understand why we're talking about him as an off-ball linebacker. Like his past rushing snaps and when he's moving toward the quarterback, even coming from a linebacker's alignment, that's where he's best. That's what he should do. and then we found out that that's what he should do. He's just thrown out pass rusher, and he's one of the most dominant in the league. Talk about the contract thing, though.

I mentioned even if you threw it out, he'd probably be worth mentioning in this spot here. Over the next three years, he makes $4.6 million this year, 5.4 million next year, and then $18 million probably or so on the third year option. Okay? So that's like $29 million combined.

That's how much Miles Garrett will make this season. And that's actually how it was the time. tiebreaker a little bit because that's another guy that was on this short list for me. So it's unbelievable. I mean, beyond just being the best, arguably the best pass rusher in the league already and moving differently, the value you're getting from a guy who turns 24 today. When this podcast comes out, he will turn 24 years old. It's just absolutely insane.

So he was number two for me. I'm going with Justin Jefferson. Yeah. Justin is the best receiver in the NFL, in my opinion. He's 23 years old. Mm-hmm. Okay. He makes $4 million this year.

he'll make 19.7 on the fifth year option, and then he'll be out an extension. You assume that number will be pretty low in the first year of that extension. So if you look at what's going to happen with like Jamar Chase, for example, right, who's one year later in the draft, Chase is 8.4 this year, 9.4 next year and probably 18 million on the option. Those three years combined, the cost for Jamar Chase and Justin Jefferson, probably going to be about the same.

And I think that Justin Jefferson is the best player in the league in his position. We don't need to relitigate the positional value discussion that we had, He breaks it for me. Like that's the thing. He's so elite that it's like, just I don't care what position he is. He's a, he's a queen on the chess board type player.

So I, that positional value doesn't matter for me. He's, he's worth it. For me, it's just like, I'm going to go with the receiver. Like the receiver is going to be the tiebreaker for me and he's the best receiver.

So I would have taken him number one. The fact that I can get him third, I am pretty happy about that. Not going to complain. All right. That's round one. That's round one. That,

I thought we might go that way. In some order, I thought it might be, Justin Jefferson, Michael Parsons, and Aaron Donald, even though I probably would not have taken Donald, just because, again, the reasons that I said. Well, now, I'm throwing a bit of a loop here because a guy that, but I went heavy on the contract with Aaron Donald the first round. So I'm going to scale it back a little bit this round.

But we're going to stick with the superlatives, all right? So the first one, we had the most underpaid non-quarterback in the history of the NFL because rookie contracts are moral, and Drew Brees will not see heaven for that. Two, the second round pick, we're going to go with the guy who has possibly the worst cover story art in the history of the NFL. Sauce Gardner. Sauce, you're an incredible player. I don't know what happened to you. I feel your rage.

Because to me, if I took a picture like that where it looked like I had brown goop just sitting all over my hands, I would appreciate that as an outtake. not just the blast on Sports Illustrated. But he's good enough to get a story like that about him. Publicist me to make a call about that one. Yeah. That was crazy. That was crazy. Like,

he started hearing that he's not happy about that. I get it. I wouldn't be happy about that. I get it too. Yeah, I would not be happy about that. But, I mean, the fact that he's even good enough to get this kind of, you know, story done about him just one year in his career is, it's pretty crazy. You know, I kind of struggle.

to argue about like how good cornerbacks are, but anytime like you're looking at metrics and you see a rookie who's just no matter what kind of stat you're talking about, he's always at the top or within the top three or top five. That's probably someone worth investing in investing in. And I think that he's kind of one of those guys that that help change the Jet's culture, help change how they play on the field from a schematic standpoint because they haven't had a cornerback like this in a really, really long time. I mean, since Revis and Cromarty were there pretty much. Because I remember, you know, when I was covering the team and Greg Williams, the deepened coordinator and throwing out like bless Austin out there as their starting cornerback and you're trying to, you know, well, maybe if we blitz enough from this angle, we can get blessed while he's getting beat and we can get him to get a pass inflection

or interception. But with Soss, like, you can leave Soss there. He's going to handle his business on that side. And, you know, he just finished his first year. so you still got four cost-controlled years left on arguably the best cornerback in the game. I'm going to take sauce on my first pick of the second round. Totally understand that. He's 22 years old.

He's going to be 23 this year. Like you said, he's half of what the best corners in the league cost. And there just aren't that many guys that you feel good about potentially being elite, elite, at that position. My only concern is it's only been one year. Like, that's my only concern. And I'm more than willing to bet on it. Nate, I wanted to ask you this. And now I feel fine asking because one of them's off the board.

in this exercise, would you take sauce before Patrick Sartan? I would not, but that's like, it's splitting hairs. I was just curious because I know, I know you love Sertan and I actually, when I was stacking them up, I had Sertan one spot ahead. My quasi big board, they're next to each other. And it's basically, I would look at them in the next round, like one of those two, that if I'm being honest, well, I don't want to spoil anything. But they're right next to each other. I think they're the two cream of the crop at the position. And yeah, Sertan is a little bit.

little bigger, a little better against the run just because of that size. But sauce is physical. Sauce is tough as shit. Like even though he's skinnier and stuff like that. But I, Sauce at Cincinnati, he didn't get challenged at all. So I remember being like,

okay, you know, and watching corners in colleges, you know, pull my hair up, pull my teeth out is better than that. It's the worst. It's the worst.

And watch it. I'm like, okay, you can see he's smart. Okay, he's got great ball skills. He's long, okay. Then you watch him to pros.

Day one, week one. It's like, this guy's a savant at the corner position. And long. and physical. And it's just, he's a, these two corners, Sartan and Soss are just, they're special. It's, yeah, I think it's splitting hairs to pick one by slightly prefer Sertat. I was curious what you were going to say.

And I, that's exactly how I had him. I had him right next to each other on my rankings. And I had Sertan one spot ahead, again, because we've seen him do it for multiple years. I think that's the other thing. And then he's, he was asked, his role and what the lift that he was asked to perform in the Broncos defense is heavier than the one that Soss was. He travels. He's not on one side.

He was manned up on the best receiver on the other team. that kind of stuff. And actually, even though Sartan's one year older in terms of the contract, they're going to cost about the same over the next three years because of how high sauce was drafted. So it's pretty close. But again, I knew it's split-hares, but I was curious who you prefer to doong those two. It's definitely split-hairs, though. Yeah.

You go either way and be fine with it. Yeah. This is a little, this is higher than I expected sauce to go, but I understand it. Yeah. I was, but I'm not like, I'm not mad about it. Have to reshuffle the cap space after that first pick. Yeah. That's right.

Well, that's, and that's why with my next pick, I'm kind of, I, I'm looking at it. It's the fifth pick. I remember the first. I'm just trying to read this. Fifth pick. When we did this the first year, I built the Galacticos. I think I had Aaron Donald and then this guy and then like, uh, Trent Williams. I had the most expensive team of all time.

Uh, I probably had a rookie quarterback. You know, that's why, that's why I could do that. But I, I, this was really hard to decide between these two because I do, just the one I'm not picking one defensive player of the year, and I have some stats once someone does select him. But I'm going to pick the other edge rusher. I'm going to build one of the greatest past rushing forces we ever seen. This guy is one of the most, another dominant force, kind of getting underrated a little bit because we were not focusing on this team.

And that's Miles Garrett. Absolute force of nature. One of the greatest physical specimens, I think we've seen in a long time. Good against run, of course, but also just does these crazy, bendy things at 275. 280 pounds is an absolute force. There's not many tackles that can even hold up against them throughout a whole game one-on-one. Like he is, if you are having an above average or worse, good or worse tackle, you have to provide chip help him on miles got every single snap.

He turns it up on third down. He is a closer. He provides in the first quarter. He can do it on first and second down. But just length, size, play against the run, play against the past. Just one of the best defensive players in the league, one of the better ones we've seen in a long time. I think pairing him with Michael Parsons, I got my expensive guy, I got my cheap guy. Let's go. Between those two, they're going to just dominate. So I really like this. I think this

is a good slot for him because he is super expensive. That is be the one knock I think I have against him. But other than that, just a special player. That's really it. I mean, it's just a price tag. And so I'm curious, why Miles Garrett over Nick Bosa? And that's what was hard. I think Miles Garrett, I like a little bit better because he's a little there against the run. I think, and that's really it. And Nick Bosa keeps, you know, gets hurt a little bit. So I, Garrett's missed some time. But, you know, Bussett misses those two to three games every year. Yeah, he missed, he missed one game this year. And he did not miss any games in 2021. And it was really just ACL two years ago. Because I had the same thought. I was like, oh, it seems like he gets dinged up.

But you look at it, he hasn't missed that much time over the last couple years. But he's only 25. So that would be my only question is just like, why one over the other? Because Nick Bost is about to get very expensive. But Miles Garrett is like already deep into a monster contract, essentially 30 million a year over the next three years. Yeah. It's again, but just like we're talking with those corners, I think these two are splitting hairs. I really including Parsons in there. I think those three are kind of splitting hairs. It's kind of those three are really the cream of the crop. There's maybe a couple other guys in that tier, but those spoilers, we have an edge show coming up. But, but, but those three, man, I, it's really hard. I, I'm happy with any of them. I'm glad I got two to the three. It's a

movement skills with Garrett, man. It makes no sense. Like he's he's legit, you know, the 270, 275 pound guy that's pushing four or five. I mean, one of the most explosive fast guys on the field. I would never forget the game against the Bears during Justin Fields rookie year where Miles Garrett had, you know, 40. Me neither, buddy. Me neither. Oh my God. Miles Garrett had 40 years is wondering why the hell did I get off that bow, bro. I was having a good time. And now I'm running for my life trying to chase down one of the most athletic pass rushes who've literally ever seen the NFL. I can't get enough watching him play.

And he's one of those guys where you could tell from his rookie year or his freshman you excuse me at Texas A&M. And you know, you had all the recruiting hype. But sometimes the five star label doesn't match five star play, especially when you get to the SEC. And then you see him like as a freshman just stand next to everybody else. Like, oh, okay. Yeah, this is probably good.

I get it. There are two guys that I have seen in person in an NFL. locker room that just were different species than the rest of us. Like, they just, they were sent from a different planet, and I do not understand how we are the same. And it's Aaron Donald and Miles Garrett. Just like the way that they are built makes absolutely no sense. Like Tyrant Smith, yes. I mean, Aaron Donald is insane. Like Aaron Donald, like just when walking around just makes no sense. Tyrone Smith is a little bit like that, like when you see Tyrone Smith. But Miles Garrett and Aaron Donald look like Marvel superheroes. I mean,

it's absolutely ridiculous. The other thing about the contract with the edge rusher, there aren't that many cheap edge rushers anymore. Pretty much all of the guys that are dominant players, except for Michael Parsons, now that Nick Bosa is going to be aging out of that rookie contract, all of them are expensive or they're about to get expensive. Miles Garrett, T.J. Watt, Joey Bosa, obviously has been expensive for a little while. So there aren't that many guys if you're looking for another edge rusher to find cheaply as part of this exercise, which I think is worth mentioning.

Absolutely. And that's actually why the Parsons thing is more insane is usually. Is that, like, that good, that early. I mean, even during his rookie year, not to, like, I know we're talking about other guys, even during his rookie year, you asked, Eric, have you seen anything like this? I was like, I don't know, LT. Like, I haven't seen anything like that. You don't see him like that.

Even guys like Kille Mack were like five sacks the rookie year, you know, and then you're to maybe. Nick Bosa, actually, his rookie year, he was pretty damn dominant, but it's rare. It's way more rare than maybe some other positions when they get those impact players. I will also be doubling down in his strength here with the sixth pick. I will be taking Jamar Chase. Wow. We're going to beat the hell out of your team. So I look at that and again, it's another thing where there aren't that many like young dominant receivers than on those sorts of contracts.

There are guys who might get there. You know, like we'll see what happens with this list last year's group. But Jamar Chase is, I think, 22 years old. He's cheap for two more years. So and there are other tackles I would consider here. There's a lot of like tackles, offensive tackles that are like right in my next kind of tier of players. But just like the explosiveness, how differently he moves. And you could easily pay or play Justin Jefferson and Jamar Chase together.

Justin Jefferson could play in the slot. You know, I think that there's no way or there's no reason you can't have both them on the field. So even if we're actually building like a real football team, I think you could be just fine with both of those guys. So I'm taking Jamar Chase. Just two seconds or less offense. That's what you're building. Let's it up. Just chuck it up, man.

Hey, I got more. I got more picks. I got more picks for offense. Yeah, exactly. You can shore it off. It'll be great. Yeah, exactly. So he's 23.

Charges is 23. 23. I'm trying to figure out if I want to screw up your plans here right now, or if I just want to take who I feel like is the best player left from the board. Because I feel like Nick Bosa is the best player left on the board. I think so. That's who's next on my board. But I can't go edge.

Wait, so, okay, so can we only take one position, one player from each position? No, you can do whatever you want. I just went to, I went to, you went to, because you, yeah, I got to get to receivers. Yeah. I'm going to take Nick Bosa. I'm going to keep a seat. here we're going to take Nick Bosa next to Aaron Donald we're going to wreak havoc and

soft gardener is going to pick off a bunch of passes on the back end. We just talked about Nick Bosa. Look, he's been he's another one of this guy that's been everything that you want him to be seen him in college to the pros. It all translated. He's a dominant player. He's going to get paid north of $25 million a year on his next contract. It's not more.

So to me, look, for, Just looking at the team building, we got to squeeze in some winning while we still got Aaron Donald this early 30s on this contract before we have to pay him. You know, the rights to my next child or my first child, I should say, not next first. On this contract. So, look, Aaron Donald, Nick Bosa, sauce gardener. I think we're set on defense as far as far as thars to go. And we should have to take longevity for the next two, three years. Yeah.

I love it. It was hard by Bosa, when I first put, I had him ahead of Garrett and that kind of like bump Garrett up late. And I have some, I mean, Nick most of this year had 48 QB hits. And according to pro football reference, I know we have the true media stats, but just pro football reference is the third most they've ever had in their database. And the other top five is four JJ Watts seasons, which is also freaking hilarious. He had 48 QB hits.

That's, yeah, third most ever. It's ridiculous. And then Aaron Donald had one in the six. He's about to get paid. It's like, that's like one knock. It's the only only reason that I took, that I had him down one spot. I want to retract my injury statement, by the way, because that actually, that maybe I just have that ACL and then that you got banged up last year and Mr. He was heard.

He was kind of college. Yeah. I think that's probably what it is. So I do want to retract that that negative. Andy and both Bosa brothers kind of have that to them. It's the Julio conundrum is what I call it, where the guys always banged up, always banged up. Questionable, questionable. When you look at the actual games, they're playing most of the games.

And he's a dominating when he's on the field. Right. That is a great call. The questionable. every week questionable. Oh, he's got a hamstring. Always got a quad. Always got a groin.

Always got a foot. And it's like, yeah, they are. You get to the end of the season. You get to the end of the season. Like, wait, they only miss two games. Yep. Yeah, like a lot more. Yeah.

I know. I actually thought that you missed more in my head. That's actually really when Robert said that. And I was like, yeah, that's right. He, two years ago, you played every game. I feel like a fraud. Because I had the same thought. The only reason that I wouldn't have taken Nick Bosa with my pick or just I had

had him one spot, one kind of tier low. than the chases of the world is that he's about to get expensive. That's it. If we had done this a year ago, I probably would have taken him with my pick and maybe even had him even higher. But again, he makes $18 million this year on the option and he's going to be the highest paid defensive player in the league, not named Marendon, after this is over. So that's the only argument against it.

Man, this is hard now. Yeah. I was hoping one of these guys would be gone, so I didn't have to, like, pick. You're eight, is the eighth pick? Eighth pick, I believe. Yeah, eighth pick. this is when I think the run on tackles begins. Listen, I need one.

I'm ready to go. I'll just lay out. It's basically for me, it's like one of the rookie contract guys. And I'm going to lay out. And I think all three of these guys are elite. I should say it's four rookie contract guys. Penes Sewell, Andrew Thomas, Tristan Worse, or Roshantz later. Yeah.

That's what I've decided. Those four I'm deciding between. I think even though he plays right tackle, I do think Penet Sewell might be the one that becomes up the best, but I'm going to cheat my own board. here. I'm going to go with Andrew Thomas. Wow. I think he's about, he should have been an all pro last year. He is fantastic. Just a true, true left tackle, a blindside protector who's also very good in the run game. I think he's amazing. He's awesome. I was actually, I was really hoping that

I was going to. It's hard. The way it was falling, I was hoping I was going to. I have these guys stacked up. I have Sewell one step lower, just because I think there's still more projection there are with the other guys. But I had the, three tackles in a row on my rankings here. So you could have gone either way with it. I love all these guys. I really do. And I'm excited for Steve Slater healthy. Whoever picks him, we can talk about him. But I think just with Thomas, he was so much fun last year. And I, and Chuck knows this. I was a little, I mean, after his rookie year, I was like, oh, boy. I was like, that was a miss. Like, man, he's not. And then he has come along fast.

I don't know what happens. He's, he's great, man. He's really, really good. I think he'll get a lot more attention this year. I think it started to pick up last year. That's how it kind of works with line play. It's always a year kind of delay. But he, I, he was on my all pro team last year easily, like, easily made it. And I think he'll be one of those types of players for next decade. He's fantastic. Andrew Thomas plays for the Giants. I just, I don't think we said that. He has the left tackle for the New York Giants. Just want to be clear about that. Yes. No, thank you. Thank you. He's one of those guys to me, like when you watch his projection from where he was in college to where he is now. It's a reminder.

that like especially we were talking about the guys who get drafted at 21 years old like they still physically grow as they get into the league you know i know it's funny like how hard we talk about some of these guys who are like great athletes at 20 like you know you you guys grew more athletic and stronger just naturally as you get older so it's not really surprising to me like i think more as you think about that someone who was a little bit you know like right there in terms of athleticism at Georgia, you just get a little bit more athletic, athletic as he gets used to like NFL training regimens, learning more about your body and stuff like that. Because when I watch him now, he looks like a more athletic player than he was at Georgia. I agree. There were,

there were some legit concerns about him coming out to Georgia where people were saying, oh, you know, he might be a guy that's a kick in the guard and be like, I kind of see it. But now, like, he's a franchise left tackle. And he's one of those guys where I feel like when I'm watching him play, it feels like an art form. Like everything is. His footwork and his hands. It's perfect, man. I love watching. You can feel the uptick in confidence.

It's so apparent when you watch him. Like he just is playing with so much confidence. And the other guy that I would compare to that in past protection, like the way that Laramie tonsill plays in past protection, like he's starting to get little shades of that with how confident his movements are. And that was nowhere to be found early in his career. And they were switching offensive line coaches and the team was a disaster on offense, all of that.

But just, again, how assured he. he looks as a player now compared to what he looked like early in his career is crazy. And that's the thing too. It's like we, these guys just keep coming out younger and younger and younger at these spots at quarterback and offense aligned where that never used to happen. Those guys were automatic red shirts back in the day. He came out as a true junior. And so just adding on to what Chuck's saying, it's like sometimes I got to check

myself sometimes. Well, he's not all the way there. It's like, yeah, no shit, Nate. He's 21. That's like, that's like you got projected a little bit, a little bit. Even like, even what you see and all that. But yeah, I think everything just want to reiterate what you guys saying. It's see it all come together.

It was really fun last year and seeing that confidence like you guys are speaking about. He's never out of whack. His balance is perfect. His arms. His hand placement is perfect. He's a technician. Weaponing the length combined with being a technician. He's so incredibly long, but he doesn't just win that way.

There's some other guys who have that length that's all they got. And that's not him at all. They run guys by. Yes. And that's not him at all. You almost forget how long he is because he doesn't have to lean on it in the way that some other guys do. He is such a good player.

I totally understand it. And cheap over the next two years. 10 million this year, 14.1 next year. Look at what Tunsell's making. It's half of what the top left tackles in the league get right now. So I totally get it. I'm happy to get one of the other tackles. Right.

I mean, I would have taken any of the three here and been happy with it. Now I have a decision, though. I had to go 104. If you got one of it's hard. Do, do, do. I think I'm going to take Slater. Okay. And it's so close between him and Wurfs.

They're both 24 years old. The injury thing was Slater getting hurt last year. You know, Wurfs hasn't had to deal with that at all. He's been dinked up a little bit, but mostly he's been healthy. So that's one point in his favor. But you get one more cheap year for Slater and you get somebody who plays on the left side. And we know it's comfortable over there. So it's really, really close.

But I think those would probably be the two tiebreakers and that's where I'd go. It's four and a half million this year, five. then 5.3 next year, 15 million probably on the option. I mean, it's, again, that's how much Fliterman Tunsel is going to cost this year. And you get it for three seasons for a 24-year-old guy. So you go either way, but I'm going to go with Rayshon's later. I get it. The left tackle is what broke the tie for me.

Even if I've always, I think everyone says, has noticed this, is that, you know, more good past pressures are going over the right tackle. So the need for those guys not to be stiffs anymore is, it's a real thing. And I, how I've kind of stated is now, I think it's more like they're the same value, but it's kind of like baseball pitchers where it's like, yeah, you prefer the lefty. Just like you give the bump to the lefty just because that's what you want. So that's kind of how I look at tackles and that's why I gave the bump and I understand that argument. We'll see what happens with worse this year.

I mean, we'll see if he's going to be a left tackle for the rest of his career. A decision I hate, but we'll see how it works out for the bucks. Ten. Yeah, I'm going to go Tristan Werfs here. And it's funny how locks up in locks that we were in that last round because I almost pick Andrew Thomas So Probosa. But I don't know, I couldn't do it. I couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger on that. So we're going to go at worst here, start to build our offense because we have nobody on offense.

It's standing right now. But, I mean, dude, me and Nate, I think we talk almost every day when the worst draft was leading up. And I was like, dude, this guy is amazing. Like, he's absolutely incredible. From an age standpoint, I think he was 20 when he got drafted, Leticism, technique, strength, power. Like, it checked all the boxes. Like, I was surprised when he fell into the teams during that box draft

because it was just about as slam duck and offensive tackle prospect you can get. And he's been amazing in the league, you know. He was the fourth one taken, wasn't he? Yeah. Yeah. After, who's the. So Bechtin, Thomas. Will.

Will's. Will's. The guy. Yeah. Geez. Yeah. Geez. They want what else is that. Yeah.

I was still feeling pretty good about the one they. you know? Yeah. Yeah. No, I, I remember that process because that was kind of my first time in the media world, like doing the scouting stuff. And I'm watching him. Like, this guy feels like a no-brainer. Am I missing? Is he, is he an asshole? Like, what am I missing with this guy? He's like, no, he's great. Everyone loves him. Hard work. Out of this world athlete. Yeah. Out of this world athlete. Yes. With unbelievable size, he, and you could already see the flashes of technique. Like, I thought he was more polished than Thomas coming into the league. And that's what, yeah, I don't know. I think he got ding for playing the right side and I think it's one of those where everyone goes afterwards goes,

oh, that doesn't, who cares? He still got to have to block, you know, in his own division, Cam Jordan twice a year at the right side. So this is. So we're at 11 now. Okay. And we got two more picks each, right? Well, Chuck's got one more. Yeah, one more.

Okay. Oh, God. So that was my top seven. My top seven I had coming into it. Now they're all gone. Retris was the last one. All right. Let's complete the run on tackles.

I'm going to Penae Soule. I'm getting the right tackle here. Year three, he's 23 years old. I think he's already elite. He was an all pro vote for me last year. He made the Pro Bowl. So at least there is some of that recognition. I think this guy's a baby.

He's young. He's cheap. He's fantastic. There are some growing pains when he's flipped from the left to the right side. He's going to flip back to the left side in a few years. And it's going to be seamless because that's what he was in college. That's what probably should have been in the pros. but the line's kind of had a, you know,

kind of have a wealth of options there, apparently. But I think just his movement ability, his strength, he's great in the run game. You can, one of the greatest sites, and I've said this before, but one of the greatest sites in football is Penae Sula pulling, or out in space or on a screen, something of that sort,

when he just in space, controlled and blows up a DB, or just move and he's pulling, he nails a linebacker, just double teams are fantastic. He also, he got some pass, past catch's bonus, too. So he's a pass catcher.

He's my first pass catcher. He had the great first down in the late game this year. You can see his athleticism in that play. So I got my bookend tackles for the next 15 years. And I got the edge rushers to go against him. It's going to be great battles and practice. I love Penae Sule on the rookie deal, just everything about him. I think he's going to just keep ascending.

22 years old. Yep. Every time I look at it, I'm surprised again that we're going into year three and he's 22 years old. He's a baby. And again, he had to do a position switch. his rookie year. I mean, just all the different things, reasons that he shouldn't be as good as he's been over the last couple years and he's still been fantastic for them.

Yeah, he's special. All these guys that we just talked about are very, very, very, very, very, very good. So if I ended up with two of any of these guys, I would have been happy, even though one would might have bump to the right side. Man, all right. So I had a guy that I was higher than I think most of you guys would have been, but I don't think it fits with what I've done so far. And,

man, I'm torn between two guys. Okay. There aren't, there's not a lot of past rushing pop left. And I'm concerned about that. And so that is going to drive

my decision here. I'm going to take Chris Jones. Okay. That's your boy. I love Chris Jones. That's a good, that's a good value at this point. It is good value.

I think that Chris Jones is, He was my defense player of the year last year. I think he was as impactful on a down-to-down basis as any of the edge rushers that you want to talk about. He's 28 years old. So you're going to get 28, 29, and 30. The only real argument against him, he's expensive, right? It's $28 million this year, and he's about to get a massive contract that is going to be one of the highest-paid defensive players in the league. But again, I just don't think there are that many, like, true impact front seven players left in this conversation.

And there aren't any cheap ones, period. So there's no cheap ones left. So as part of this overall exercise, if I wanted to leave with one of them, he's the one that I feel best about. By the way, Chris Jones, after this year, will have made $87 million. And he's going to get another huge deal. So there is a very real chance that when it's all said and done, he's like second to Aaron Donald and career earnings ever among interior defensive linemen. And he probably deserves to be based on the way that he's played over the last few years. You know how much Sue is made?

So Sue is currently number one. How much do you think Godamic and Sue is made? I'll guess $150 million. $162 million. Oh. He came into the league in 2010. He was the second overall pick. That's right.

That's before the contracts. Yes. So he was the rookie. He was the second overall pick in 2010 before the rookie race scale came in. Right before. So he was getting paid like quarterback money coming into the league. And then he got the deal with the Dolphins. that piggybacked on that rookie deal

where they had to pay him like an astronomical amount. So good for him, man. That's unreal. That's so much money. I mean, yeah, both fantastic players. No, Chris Jones, though, like, talk about closers. Talk about, no, I mean, one of the best players cranking it up on third down or just in big moments. That's why I think a lot of people remember him in the playoffs is like, because he steps up.

Dominant force gets his hands on balls. Gregor gets a run. It can kick outside when they needed to. I don't really love it all. time, but he can do it. He would not be kicking outside on my team. No, he'd be playing inside full time on my team. It's nice to have the option, I guess, you know?

But I think he's one of those players, this whole list that everybody we talked about so far as dominant forces, and he continues that trend. He is a dominant force in this league and just an amazing player. Independent of position, okay, he was third in pressures last year, period, at any position. I just think, okay, coming out of this, can I find like a focal point of my my front four. Just a guy that you can build that position group out of. And I think that even though he's a defensive tackle, he absolutely applies there. Like just look at what the chiefs are. So I think that's, again, he was one of the only guys left with Garrett off the board. Maybe you can make an

argument for T.J. Watt. But I just think that what Chris Jones has been over the last few years, it's hard to argue with that. And that's why he's my guy. Did you look at Max Crosby at all? Well, well, whatever, Nate. Maybe not. Maybe I wasn't looking at Max Crosby. Why don't you shut up? It's going to be around a little bit. So Chuck's up. Is this your last pick? This is my last pick. And I've been sitting here thinking about it.

And I kind of came down to two guys. Quinn and Williams, who I'm not going to pick. I think at this point, this would probably be a good spot for him. He's about to get big paid. So that's another point that I should have brought up. All of the young defensive tackles who are like all pro-level players are about to get paid. So there aren't any like Quinn and Williams, Jeffrey Simmons, Dexter Lawrence, all those

guys just got paid are about to get paid. So that's why it's like, all right, well, fuck it then. I'll just go with Chris Jones because he's the best one. Go with the ace. Yeah, go with the ace or the guys as opposed to the guys that might be an ace. Yes. So that was just wanted to mention that. That was important to bring up.

Because we have Jeff Simmons got paid, Durant Payne got paid. Dexteran got paid and Quinny Williams. He's about to get paid by someone. Yeah. His contract expires after the exterior with the Jets. And I'm not sure that this is the guy They want to get into the franchise tag game with. So good luck, Quinnin, but he's not on this team.

We're going to get expensive here again, right? And I'm going to sell this to ownership by saying we can sell tickets to nine on seven sessions, right? We got Tristan Wirfs. We got Nick Bosa. We got Aaron Donald. If we're going to stand a chance in practice, Tristan is in running mate. So I'm going to go Chris Lindstrom. I love this.

The newly highest paid guard. Indiana fell ticket. You have one homer pick. You had to have one homer pick. This is ridiculous. I'm so glad to do this. $5 million. Look, it's a lot of money for a guard. But I think he might be the best guard in league.

So look, we're going to put worse next to Lindstrom. We're not going to hide what the hell we're doing on any given play. We're running right. All right. We are we are high school style, baby. Yeah. I don't know who this left guard is, but we are going to have to have. have Lindstrom and Worst cave that all defensive line.

We're pulling the left guard. Could you imagine those two next to each other? Every single play. I'd pay. I'd pay for the 9-on-7. I'd pay for those practice session. Here we go. You're in for season pass.

Those two double teams would be just magic. I love that. I love that's not actually, I figured you get one Homer pick in here and that one is just perfect. That's hilarious. That's unhinged. I totally support it, though. I do too.

You could go so many other directions. There are so many other players you could have taken. That's amazing. This is hard. The too rich at this point. That is the 13th pick, by the way. So we're on 14 now. I actually thought you were going to go pits.

So this is hard because I really, really, really, really, really want to take Devante Adams here. But then they're kind of realistic of how old he is, how expensive he is, kind of pulls me back. I went through the same thing. I mean, it's, his third year cap, it is $44 million. It shocked me. I mean, because they had to keep it so low. And then you're getting what, 31, 32, 33 seasons? That's just hard to do.

He's because he came on late. He became Devante Adams later because the Souther Packers were and everything. So it's like one of those things I always forget. Oh, yeah, he's 31. It's like, I always in my head. He's like 28, 29. I don't know. It's just one of those things.

But I love him. I still think he's a top three receiver. I don't think that's shocking anybody. He's still even produced last year. he changes how defenses play against him, played against the Raiders last year, and that's helped out Josh Jacobs. He should owe half his money to him.

Two guys in their own stratosphere with that, by the way, right? So Dan Pizzuda tweeted out something I thought was really interesting today. Essentially middle of the field, open, middle of field closed percentages for quarterbacks. And the two quarterbacks in the NFL who face the highest percentage of middle of the field open looks are Kirk Cousins. Or Kirk Cousins and Kerrachar last year. So just the receivers that are, and then Joe Burrow was right there. So the two receivers that I drafted are, It's guys who change the way that you have to play against them.

And that's those three guys were in a league of their own. That's the receiver version of it. Everyone thinks it's like double coverage. It's like that doesn't really happen truly like what how people think. Sometimes don't get me wrong. But it's clouding. Cover two to their side is that is how they changed them at that receiver. Chip help if you're a pass rusher and then not needing chip help if your tackle is the other way.

So that I just want to like get that out there to just make sure. You have to bring him up because I went through the exact same process. I almost want to go Max Crosby here. Already have two edge rushers. Crosby's fantastic. One of the best three down guys who only gets a run in the past. Not going him. Want to go T.J. Watt, too.

Want to mention him as well. I want to make sure I check all these boxes and all the other guys I looked at. Again, expensive. Battle on some injury stuff, but he's fantastic as well. I'm going Patrick Certan. It was one of the two guys I would have gone with. Good. Okay.

He deserves to get drafted. Just him and sauce, or I truly think of the league of now and will be for a near future. He is just amazing. Against the run, gets the past. I've already talked a little bit about him. Bigger. Perfect.

He's ideal. He's prototype. Size, length, technique. He was coached by frickin' Nick Saban in college and like, and also his dad. So it's like he has just been born and bred and trained to be what he is right now. He's the prototype at the corner position. I love sauce. Don't get me wrong.

But I just think Sir Tan, just what he brings to the table, technique, playing man, playing zone you can do anything with him he could be a cover two corner like antoine winfield and fill the run like he could just do it all so i love certan uh entering year three this should be a perennial turn 23 yep he just turned 23 it's not fair 6-2 200 23 years old can play man can do whatever you want him to do whatever you want like it just and i i mean we don't do this coming out like he ran better than anyone expected him to he's more explosive than you might that was the big knock where everyone's like oh it's a long speed it's like oh no he's a freak He's just big.

He's just big. He's just big. He had against Devante Adams earlier this year. Just go watch them go totus with each other. It just, that is so few guys could even dream of playing him like that. And he can do it in his second year.

It's crazy. Yep. He was doing it like, I mean, the last second half of his rookie year, I was like, holy crap, you shouldn't be able to do that as a rookie.

Because, well, Fangio was like, hey, you're a man coverage. Go. And then year two, what he did last year,

it's, he's an awesome player. So I'm happy to get him because he's literally like actually one of my favorite players are watching the league, and usually I don't like watching quarters. He makes it fun. Him and sauce I should talk about. He is one of the two guys I was going to take.

So I actually really appreciate that you took him because it makes my decision easier. I'm going to take Max Crosby. Okay, good. And the reason it's Max Crosby over some of the other, T.J. Watt, other potentially expensive edge guys, Max Crosby's contract is really good compared to some of those other guys. He's $13 million next year, $25, 27. So you're getting him for half of what the other guys are going for this year, and then he gets to normal market price. And he's only 25? He's going to be 26. You get age 26, 27, 28. And I also think that his actual accounting stats are very good. I want to see him in like a real NFL defense where they have depth. He doesn't have to be the guy who plays every single snap. Like on a person at basis, I don't think we've seen how disruptive and impactful he can be because he's.

asked to do so much within that defense. So I'm putting him next to Chris Jones. And I feel pretty good about the help he's going to get for really the first time in his life. Yeah. The, uh, his, uh, he tied for the league last year in TFL and run stuff. All the position. Defensive explosive plays.

He was right there. But he's anybody combined sacks and hits. Yeah, he's, he's, due to circumstance, but I can't think of many defensive linemen that are playing 90, 95% right. It's great. It's wild. It's wild. That's why I had him as an all,

I think he was my second team all pro defensive end last year because it's the overall impact. Like if you just measure the total impact he had over the course of the season, it's just higher than other guys because he had to play so much. And his purse snap, like pass rushing metrics aren't as, his efficiency isn't as good because of that. But again,

in totality, the amount of impact he had in the game was crazy. He shouldn't get knocked because he's on the field so much. Exactly. It's that balance of fine of that. Exactly. So who else was on your short list, Chuck? You kind of, sorry, Dad, take your question.

No, let's do it. I was going to do best of the rest. Who else did you guys write down? Whose name was on a document that you did not pick? Oh, I didn't write anything down for any of this. At a boy. I love it. I love you so much.

I woke up like 15 minutes before we started recording and just started going. It's probably well, it was a little so rough at the start. We talked about Quinn and Williams. And I think this is a fun part of the exercise where you start working through it. And you're like, oh, wow, there is a lot of good players in the NFL that don't play quarterback. back. And I think even the guys that we didn't get to, like Quentin Williams, for example, he's about to see a huge market rate deal and he didn't even land in the top 15 of this. So I think that this is a fun exercise because it really gives you an appreciation for the league as a whole.

Just there's so many damn good players right now. And I feel like a talent level is in such a high place that, you know, I can even make a homer pick of Chris Lindstrom in the fifth round. And it kind of makes sense. You can argue about how much it makes sense. I'll be honest with you. I have questions about how much sense it makes. But what you're saying, Chuck, though, it's so true.

I love Chris Lundstrom. Yeah, I think every year we've done this, we kind of said, it's like, man, you know, the league's got a good spot. There's a lot of really good young quarterbacks. There's a lot of good, really young talent, guys in their mid-20s and stuff. Like, yes, Aaron Donald's getting up there, Devante Adams, these guys. But it's like, there's other guys that can take the mantle. and maybe not to Aaron Donald's extent of being the best player probably ever at the defense positions.

But I mean, there's other guys. But I didn't mention Laramie Tunsel who might be the best tackle in the league. But, you know, so. That's just price. That's it. The GDP of a small country. To his credit, he has earned that. He has earned those contracts.

He got the agent bonus or agent fee too. I mean, other guys, like, I mean, Kyle Pitts was one, Brian Burns. We never even mentioned. Yeah. I mean, a Cooper Cup. I mean, I know, but he's third. he's fairly expensive. But even guys that were maybe the quote unquote non-premian positions are the best of their

spot, Mika Fitzpatrick, Fred Warner. Derwin James. Yeah, Derwin James. I mean, there's even this kind of second tier younger guys like, you know, AJ Terrell, he got hurt last year, but he was a guy was on this list last year. AJ Terrell was on my short list. He would have been like one of the next picks I would have made. Yeah.

Another one that I would have taken him because he was on my top 15 board, but I had taken two receivers. AJ Brown. Oh, yeah. AJ Brown is 25. Okay. AJ Brown makes $8.5 million against the cap this year, 12.5 million next year and 26 and a half the year after that. We're not going to talk about what happens in year four or five of that deal,

but this is three years. So those three years, it's not that much more expensive than what Jamar Chase or Justin Jefferson are going to make, even though he's on his second contract already. I don't know if I can call it a Homer pick, but the one, my version of a Chris Lynchroom pick, I would almost want with Chris Alave with my last pick. Oliva was one of my first guys off. He would have been the next receiver I picked as far as just because I want a cheap guy. And he was so funny you say that.

He's the cheap. He's the cheap. I mean, I just want to spill some Chris Olave stats because no one has unsubscribe from him yet. So it's, uh, he, he was fifth highest. This is that I talked about our show when we did the awards at the end of the year. Fifth highest yards per route run among all rookies of the past 10 years. The only ones above them are OBJ, A.J. Brown, Justice Jefferson, and J. Marr Chase. Second highest and first downs per route run.

But the other one, and this is the stat I kind of was stumbled upon when I was bored a few weeks ago, a successful target per route run. He was sixth in the entire NFL last year. Ammon Raus St. Brown, Tyree Kill, Stefan Dix, Cooper Cubs, C.D. Lamb, Chris Olavet. It's like, as a rookie in an offense that wasn't amazing with Andy Dalton throwing the ball, he's a very, very good player. He would have been one of the first guys. I mean, he was on my list.

And if we had gotten past a certain number, I absolutely would have taken him. if I hadn't taken two other receivers. Chris Olavet was there. AJ Terrell was another one that was right there. Just a couple other guys that I think are probably worth mentioning. T.J. Watt, expensive, right? Like, just been banged up a little bit, but he need to mention his name. A couple younger, cheaper guys.

Tarik Wollen. Yeah. Okay? He was on a dirt cheap deal over the next few years. Jalen Phillips is fairly interesting to me. I thought he was really good last year compared to what he was as a rookie. He looked a lot bigger, a lot stronger. he'll be 24 on Sunday.

He's got two really cheap years. And again, there aren't that many super cheap young pass rushers. And even though he wins in a slightly different way, I wanted to mention his name in some capacity. A couple other guys that I had. C.D. Lamb is kind of like the next tier of receivers who hasn't gotten paid yet. Yep. And that's really all that I had. It was like C.D. and Devante Smith were kind of-D.

Smith, I think is also worth mentioning. And the other Seahawks guy, young guy, rookie last year. and just keep eyes on it. It was Charles Cross, the left eye on the C. Yep, that's a good way. And that's, keep an eye on him. Like, he could ascend this year. Same kind of deal, Christian Darrasaw is one other guy I wanted to mention because, again,

young, cheap tackle, you know, I think that is worth throwing out there as well. Absolutely. That's all we got. That was fun. Good. Happy birthday, Chuck. Happy wedding. Thanks.

Let me get a big birthday president here real quick. I just want to put all the fantasy writers who are slamming the good name of Kyle Pitts. You can put on notice, okay? I cannot believe you people, of all people, fantasy people are out on a 22-year-old who hit a thousand yards as a rookie tight end. Watch out. You don't get to be on my bandwagon this year. Listen, you don't get to say this after you took Chris Lindstrom over Kyle Pitts.

Yes, it does. Yes, I do. He's a guest guard in the NFL. $105 million to beck it up. I have a rant on a pod that's going to come out in a couple of weeks that we did with me and on. I have a similar Kyle Pitts rant. I'm glad Chuck's getting that ball rolling on it. I'm sure it'll be the last we hear of either from you on that subject.

Oh, you'll never hear me talk about the Falcons offense this year. I'll never bring it up again for the next eight months. If the Falcons offense is good this year, you're going to be insufferable. But I also, I'm also going to be insufferable. Okay.

Right. Guys, that's all we got. I appreciate you guys. I'm going to miss you over the next couple weeks, even though you will be hearing me. I will be in Greece, just eating my wife. wait in good for you. Seafood and a bunch of other things. So excited to take a little bit of a

break, but also excited to get back to you guys. It was very important for us to keep the feed programmed while I was gone. So you will be hearing for me twice a week from a different dimension and we're very happy about that. So thanks to Beller. Unnecessary. Unnecessary. Very necessary. All right. All right. All right. Fuck you, back. That was amazing. Appreciate you guys. Nate, I will see you in two short days, my friend.

Yeah. See you soon. Very, very excited about that. And thank you to everybody for listening. We'll talk to you soon. This was the Athletic Football Show.