The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - What roster holes remain after the 2023 NFL Draft?

Episode Date: May 5, 2023

The heady days of free agency are in the rear-view mirror. The draft is over. Yet, there are still roster moves to be made across the NFL this offseason. Robert Mays and Nate Tice detail what the moves they're still waiting to see teams make on this episode of The Athletic Football Show.Follow Robert on Twitter: @robertmaysFollow Nate on Twitter: @Nate_TiceSubscribe to The Athletic Football Show...AppleSpotifyYouTubeThis episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/mays and get on your way to being your best self.4:18 Post-draft FA signings15:23 Veterans who could get traded49:43 Remaining roster holes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic football show. Welcome to the athletic football show. I'm Robert Mays. Joining me today. It's my good friend Nate Tyson. How you doing, buddy? Doing very well. Jumping right into it.

Let's do it. No, doing great. Got the midday workout in. I'm motivated. I have no more excuses. That's what I even said to my mother-in-law because she's kind of a health nut. And she comes over and every time she looks through our pantry, she's always just so disappointed at me.

And then today, she looked through. We made a big Costco run yesterday. She went through and she was like, okay. She kind of gave me a little nod. Maybe a B minus she would have graded me on my on my Costco run. But I'm feeling feeling very good and energized if you guys can't tell. Yeah, there's no junk in our house ever. And it's not because I have discipline.

It's because I have no discipline. That is why there is no junk in my house ever. Because I have a problem with control. I do too. If I know if it's like 9 o'clock, 930, we're laying a bed. And I know I have leftovers or a snack that I'm real. I know I shouldn't eat it. I'm already full.

It's like my brain goes, it's like OCD eating. It's like, well, you got to finish it. You got to finish it. But that's great. It's not in the house. Exactly. My problem now is I can eat three pounds of grapes and like one sitting, but it's only grapes.

Yeah. So that's why we're, that, that is my like guilty pleasure snack of choice. And that's, it's not that bad. So that's as far down the road as we get right now. I like that. I do carrots. Carrots is mine because then it's even better. That's it.

That's it. That's all I got. But sometimes it's chips. So we're taking the chips out. We'll try to do our best in May and June and July. Got to get into training camp shape, you know, that that's what I'm going for right now. All right. Well, we're going to talk about some teams that need to eat their vegetables today.

Some teams that potentially need to add one or two pieces at the holes that still remain on their roster post-draft. You know, this is, I think, kind of the logical next conversation after we wrap up the backwards looking draft stuff, looking forward that now that the draft is over, what's left? Which holes haven't been filled? which needs going into the draft are still needs coming out of the draft. So we're going to talk about that. We're talking about it from some team-centric perspectives,

some teams that what are the needs on X team? You know, do the Bengals still need a tight end, getting ahead of ourselves here. And also some of the guys who might be available, some of the veteran free agents who are still on the market, where some of those fits might be. And then what veteran trades might potentially be on the horizon?

Yeah. The last year we did a, like, what's a weird trade we do? I think it was just some filler episode. we did. And I think we did nailed a couple actually, like signings. I think what it was. It was the veteran signs. That was like the Anthony Barr going to the Cowboys. Yeah. And that's like and we're not quite there yet. That's that was kind of like a early July, late June. So this is always nice to,

it's nice to reset, you know, after the season, after free agency, after the draft. And it's, those are kind of the chapters of the off season. So we're entering this chapter as we enter into mini camp before we take the July break and enter training camp. It's nice to just reset, look what the roster is and to go, is that six round pick really their backup or is it that six round pick their starter in case if you're the Rams. But it's like some of these, it's nice to look at some of these teams and just kind of reset like you said and look at what look what the landscape is. A few of those signings have already happened.

Obviously the floodgates open after the draft ends because the signings don't play into the compic formula anymore. So we had a few that have come in over the last 48 hours, I think since we recorded. The first one right on schedule, baby. The Ravens signed Rock. Yes, into a one year deal. The Ravens are the team that you expect to get in the mix at this time of year. I don't know if they're done.

They were going to come up probably a couple more times on this show. But Rocky Sin was pretty much the top corner outside of maybe Marcus Peters, which obviously with the Ravens, there's some complications there. Left on the board. And the Ravens probably still had a need there after losing Marcus Peters. One year deal worth up to $6 million, just the type of low risk bet that this team makes. So it makes a lot of sense on a few different levels, not surprising there at all. It kind of stylistic change from Marcus Peters, which I like.

More physical, you know, more of a zone corner. You know, Marcus Peters is kind of a man, you know, which I think speaks to the transition that they've made over the last year under Mike McDonald's. So a guy that maybe fits what they do a little bit more and somebody that they can afford. They're going over soundness over style like right here. I think that's in it's kind of fun just looking at the tradeoff, you know, what free agent A for free agent B. I really like that.

But like we said, with the draft signals personnel changes, schematic changes, even these little signs do the same thing. I think that Rockout sounds a perfect one. Yeah, I like that one a lot. Sticking in the AFC, a FC contenders, Puna Ford signing with the bills. Do you know how many goddamn defensive linemen

the Buffalo Bills have? I think it's 10. Okay. All right. So Greg Rousseau, Dequan Jones, Ed Oliver, Von Miller, AJ Epinessa, Tim Settle, Puna Ford, Shaq Lawson,

boogie Basham, Jordan Phillips. Is like, that's like they're, that's legit. Like those are like 10 real NFL players that they have in their defensive line rotation. It more than warm bodies too. Like those are all like fine players like or better. That's that's ridiculous.

10 of them. Remember in a mighty ducks when Charlie whiffs went early on in the first muddy ducks and Gordon Bobbago's keep swinging Charlie. Maybe we'll give him a cold. That's kind of how the bills off the defense of line feels at this point. It keeps swinging. Maybe you'll give him a cold. You know, there's still, I think the question being who are the needle moving players

among that group? And the fact that Ed Oliver didn't ever turn into that or hasn't turned into that, another guy that may come up a little bit later on this show. It still feels like that is a question for this team, but the depth is on a saleable. Yeah, it's, yeah, a lot of B minuses, but there's 10 of them. Maybe that adds up. It's, is that how it works? I think so.

Yeah, the GPA. If you have 10 B minus players, do you get one Aaron Donald? Man, no. That's, that's the classic math. But I do truly like Puna Ford. And I like them more in this type of role as a kind of rotational plus guy as opposed to what he had to be in Seattle where it's like, you're really our only disruptive type of guy that we kind of have. So this was another single that the bills just keep hitting in this off season. It's just another interesting team.

I like the signing. But yeah, it's it's another B-Modest, but I mean that in a good way. Complementary. We didn't talk about the bill's defense at all when we were having our discussion about the bill's offense, folding in Dalton Kincaid, folding in O'S, Irons Torrance and what that shift might look like. A listener whose name I cannot remember, and I feel very bad about this, sent me a message kind of prodding me about whether the bill's defense is moving in a new direction potentially.

Leslie Flazier, not the defensive coordinator there this season. So Doug McDermott. Sean McDermott, you know, taking over as the defensive play caller. And then if you try to pick up a couple breadcrumbs with the team building moves that they made. So they bring in Taylor Rap. And this is a team famously over the last few years. We know what they're in.

It's nickel. Every play with forward defensive linemen. That's what they're in. Not a lot of blitzing. You know, just enough. But so now you lose Tremaine Edmonds. So many guys are the same last name. I'm screwed up here.

You lose Tremaine Edmonds, okay? You signed Taylor Rap. The draft Doree Williams in the third round. You have Trell Bernard who you drafted in the third round last year. But Taylor Rap is somebody that has played all over the formation in Los Angeles. is this just a little bit of a signal that maybe we're going to be getting some different personnel packages in the back end. Do we see more three safety looks in Buffalo than we saw last year? Are they more aggressive in certain ways that they weren't under Leslie Frazier?

Not sure yet, but if we're trying to read the tea leaves, I'm curious if we have a couple small changes on that side of the ball that indicate that they're going to push in some new directions. We talk about flexibility with their offense and ability to pivot. Same right now with the defense. And that's where the safety's come to play. I love how teams are using these guys. And also it gives them depth. You know, so now it's a guy that could be a safety. That's the first stop, right?

You lose Mike Hyde last year. When Jordan Poir got hurt, you're sitting there like, oh, man. And then that's before you even mentioned what happened with Tomor Hamlin. And, you know, they really had to dig deep into their safety depth last year. So the depth is the first and most important thing.

But can we see all three of those guys at the same time in a way that we didn't with this team over the last two or three years? I think that's the next place in my mind goes. And some of the Rams did. You know, the Rams had them in the box sometimes. So, yeah, I think, I think that's an interesting one. That's a good call especially. I think that's what they're, they're just shoring up, giving themselves answers on offense and defense.

And it doesn't always have to be the Vaughn Miller signing, you know, to do it. It can be just these guys that have flexibility. They might just be okay at all, everything. But again, that's worse. It's better than being less than okay and going like, I don't know who we've started this undrafted free agent. Sure, but see if he can play. And also gives them different body types.

You know, he's way different than Johnson would be in the slot, you know, just a different type of player. Again, ability to pivot, ability to give them different looks. I don't think there's going to be a wholesale philosophical change on defense, but I think they're just giving themselves more ways to mirage the defense and bangle it up a little bit. And even beyond him playing in the slot,

because I think Toronto Johnson is a really good player and more physical than somebody his size. But can Taylor Rap play dime linebacker for you in some of these situations? Again, we haven't really seen because those two linebackers that they had in Buffalo, they want to keep those guys in the field at all cost. Do things change a little bit now as your roster has shifted a little bit? Last one that has happened, Donovan Smith, one year, up to $9 million with the Chiefs.

Did some asking about that today. It does feel like that up to is not as generous as it is in some situations that he probably has a chance to make a decent amount of that. So trying to figure out what that signing means. Here's my guess. And I'm curious what you think about this. they signed Juan Taylor, presumably, to be their left tackle with the amount of money that they gave him. You go into the draft, you think we could probably use another starting tackle. We got Lucas Nying as our starting right tackle, as things currently stand with Andrew Wiley moving on.

The way the draft falls, you don't find a guy until the third round, and it's more of a traits-based developmental player anyway. So you're sitting there like, if we put Juan Taylor at left tackle, we got these two third round picks at right tackle, and we're not sure about either of them. And we've learned a lesson over the last couple years that as long as we have an offensive line, we're probably going to be the best offense in football because our quarterback is from another planet. Let's take a step back after the draft. You look at the available free agents and think,

oh man, you know, the guy we signed to be our left tackle was a right tackle. And that's what he's done for all of his career up to this point. And he was a really good right tackle last year. The best offensive tackle left on the market has been a left tackle for his entire career. And he was dinged up last year.

was not a good season, but maybe if we can get him for the right price, this is just the best way to provide ourselves an insurance policy for our offense, to ensure that we're just going to be in a good spot no matter how things break. And I kind of think that's what it was. I think it is too. I think it's, let's just keep 15 number upright. Patrick Mahomes upright. It's only $9 million.

The guy's been a 16 game starter at left tackle several different times. On a Super Bowl winning team. he was on the field. He was on the other sideline when the chiefs learned this lesson a couple of years ago. And he was not good last year. We know this. But he hyper extends his elbow in the first week of the season. He misses two games.

He has a foot injury at the end where he's in and out of the lineup. He's dinged up the entire year. It was not a good season. But it's a $9 million bet in the best case scenario. So let's shoot for the middle. Let's say it's seven. For a starting tackle when you're at this stage of what you're trying to do. And again, just trying to make sure that no matter the worst case scenario,

what it looks like, you're protected. Yeah. It's a good move. Smart move. And it leaves. And also just again, if another, if some pizza mountain camp, you know, who cares? Who cares? You know, if like Luke's Nyang does.

Like, who cares? Like, that's great. Good for everybody. And because you're still paying the room a totally reasonable amount based on how much everybody is making. The positional payment or what the total payment for each position is. Yeah. It's however you want to shuffle.

everybody. And I think, too, is that the Bucks had such a morbid season last year, making the playoffs, but just everybody was just down, even Tom Brady was down. And Donovan Smith, you know, his MO throughout kind of even at Penn State and in the league is that, you know, motivation is that he can be very, you know, frontrunnery. And of course, the Bucks have won a lot of games. So it hasn't been an issue. And then I think last year we kind of saw that. Now he's leading the league. I think he led the league in Holdings last year or. Oh, he sure did, buddy. I'm sure. I think it was way up there as well like 14 of them something ridiculous but rough yeah but now he gets into with a system with andy heck offensive line coach Andy reed ton of vets ton of strong joe tunis right next to him uh

patrick mahomes is the quarterback behind him and you got a lot of motivating factors here oh we're almost basically guaranteed to win 10 plus games 11 plus games we're going to be competing if you're not motivated here how else can be motivated and he's only 29 he's about to turn 30 next month in june but still that's fine i think that's right in the realm of where tackles are fine there's not going to be a huge drop off. So I love this flyer. I think it's a flyer plus for a true potential starter at left tackle. That's good business from the chiefs.

In my mind, it's can we make sure we got five? Can we do everything we can to make sure we got five? And I think that's the motivation. I think that's the thinking behind a move like this. And I think it puts them in a pretty good position to make sure they do. He can be, he can, their strength of their office line, even last year was the three interior guys. And so, yeah, it's the best five. And we invested in Taylor, so we're hoping he could be even better.

He could be our third best or second best guy. And now, all right, what's the drop off from Orlando Brown? Orlando Brown from two years ago is probably very comparable to what Daven Smith brings this year. That's fine. That's totally okay. I know we just keep saying the same thing over and over. But this was one where I was like, okay. Yeah.

Because people are freaking out. Really? Chief Sands are like freaking out about it. It's like, oh, man, he was terrible last year. It's like, I just hate that everyone has to be terrible. It's. Yeah, that's why he's still on the market, guys. But chiefs, this is what's great about being on a winning team with an all-time quarterback and an all-time coach is that they're going to get the most out of guys because otherwise they don't have any excuses not to.

So I think it's going to be, I think it's be a good one. All right. So we're going to talk about some of the other guys that are available still as free agents. I think when we talk about some of these team specific holes that remain. So let's talk about the veteran trades that could still be on the horizon. Some of these names that theoretically might be available. and what some potential fits for them might look like. Where do you want to start?

Oh, boy. Can we just start real quick because this is the quick and dirty one, which go, the vet running backs, which to me, I just want to get it over with. To me, it's Dalvin Cook and Derek Henry, okay?

And honestly, their contracts, I don't know if you peeked at them. Kind of hilarious. Derek Henry has a $10 million base salary. Davin Cook has a $10.4 million dollar base salary. So the discussion is basically the same, except for Derek Henry will come off the books after this year.

but I think just it'd be interesting because there's one team that comes to mine that could use a bigger back and they have about $16.5 million in cap space. And that's Derek Henry Adelman Cook to the Cowboys. They have found some vet kind of plug-ins for this year. Maybe let's just keep the good times rolling. And I think both of those guys would be complimentary to Tony Pollard when he comes back. They drafted Deuce Von. The story is great.

I do like Deuce Von. We just have to be realistic about what he is as a player. So I think, I don't know, Derek Henry, I know he doesn't really catch. And I know Dak Prescott likes of Pepper's running backs, but behind that Cowboys' offense a line, I can see you're doing a lot worse than feeding him, you know, rolling with him for 12, 15 touches until Tony Power gets 100%. But that's where I'm going to start because I think it's just the quick and dirtiest one, the quick and dirtiest one where I can find an answer to. That's a lot of money to spend. I know.

10 million was a lot. It's not even 10 million. And you're running back room because you're paying power 10 million on the tag. Yeah, I know. That's a lot of money. But I think I think just how the Cowboys are configured this year and it's off the books after this year. So I think that's why I'm with it because it's done after this year,

Pollard and Henry, if it were Henry, that's all you're paying them. You're paying them that. I know it's a lot for the cap or I'm sorry for the tag and that 10 million, but that was just my quick answer. If you could one year. Maybe if you can play with that a little bit and you spread it out a little bit,

you know, throw a couple void years on there, you know, convert to a signing bonus, whatever to kind of keep that cap number down. maybe I can talk myself into that. But who else have to sign? Rookies? I still just,

it's over. I think there's much left. You can carry over cap space, man. Part of me would just like, let's give Kareem Hunt $2 million and call it a day, you know, rather than trading for $10 million worth of Dalvin Cook in 2020. I just haven't fun with this.

I think it's useful and I think it's instructive because I think that's one of the reasons why there might not be a robust market for these guys. Because the contract that you're taking on is fairly onerous. There's only a certain amount of teams that can swallow it. And even some that have space, you're going to have like, you know, that have less space. That's probably a bigger cap hit if you want to ask the Titans to like, say,

swallow a bit of that money. That was just the, that I also like kind of like would need a back. That's, uh, I've been trying to kind of like parse my brain. That's the only team that comes to mind to me. So that's why it was like, all right. If these teams want to do or if the cowboys want to do it,

there's their answer right there. I would much prefer. actually I know we're doing that's why I just focused on that for trades because kareem hunt would be the easiest answer like just that well you know it would be the easiest answer you bring zeke back back on a cheap deal yeah or that if the easiest answer is you like hey zeke you want one year and three and a half million uh and do the up to language yeah throw on some up twos in there uh some incentives yeah by all accounts it doesn't seem like it there's a fracture there you know it no the relationship was pretty good so if we're talking about the easiest answer

I think that's my easiest answer. I think I just want something different. I totally understandable. All right. Is the veteran running back thing out of your system now? Don, I got it out of the way. That's why I wanted to just get it out of the way because there's just, let me get the, let me get my two bullet points out of the way. All right.

Let's talk about, I think the big name that we were all maybe a little bit surprised, you know, didn't get moved during the draft. And that was DeAndre Hopkins. And Jonathan Gannon or Moni Austin, four, one of the two, I believe, came out, you know, during the draft and said, you know, he's a, he's a cardinal, you know, kind of the idea that he's going to be a cardinal. I don't know how much that aligns with where you are, you know, I mean, this is a team that I think is going to be pretty terrible this year. You know, maybe you're talking yourself into, ah, you know, if we draft it, I can't believe I'm already shipping off Cameron Murray from this team.

It's hilarious. I know you're the fan fiction in your head or the, that, the head cannon. It's already there. I'm already to when I think about DeAndre Hopkins on the 2024 cardinals. My argument isn't, well, you have Kyler and, you know, how good can your offense be right away? It's, you know, when you have Caleb Williams, you need, it would be helpful to have a true number one receiver that can help his development. That's already. You're building for that 2024, 2025 card will seem all already. Look at all those draft picks.

Well, that is, so that's the question. Yeah. Do you, is it worth having the draft pick or is it worth having him in the fold for the next two years? He has a $29.9 million dollar cap hit this year, 19.4 in baseball. salary. So you can get rid of that 19.4. And for a team that's trading for him, it's not terrible. There's a chance he wants a new deal, some of the things that you have to sort through. But he still feels like he's attainable. And he played well when he got back from the suspension last year. And I think he could be a real piece for a team that was looking for that sort of player and looking for that sort of difference maker,

of which I think there are still several. And difference maker. That's the thing. He still got it. He still has gas in the tank. No gas pun meant there. But it's the, he still has it. Like so it's when you're trading for him, you're still getting a number one. And that,

that matters. And so that's why that whatever the cap hit is, it's, let's try and make this work if you really do want to push it. And I think it's interesting if a team, especially the contenders, because weren't like chiefs and bills rumored as an interested team for him, at least,

or I know there's so many rumors with his trades. I don't know what actually it was, sourced or what was just fan fiction or people throwing out ideas. But it's interesting what teams could break down to get him because also he could put you over the top. And I truly do mean that. It's not just a guy that's like your number three. It's like he comes in. He deserves those 10, 12 touches or targets a game. Like absolutely deserves them. So that's the big difference about his trademark compared to a lot of other guys that were talking about like a Dalvin Cook or Derek Henry like I just talked about for running back. The rumblings right now, I think Ian Rappaport said this,

is that they're planning on to probably move forward together based on where things stand right now. But who knows what's going to happen between now and the start of week one or now in training camp. So if I was the Cardinals, I'd listen because I think it's probably in your best interest to listen. And let's say they don't want, let's say that they didn't want to trade him at this point because it was so out there and it was so obvious that they were just getting low ball left and right that it's like, we'll give you the 65th pick for Deoddian Hopkins. And they're like, we're just going to hang on to him. There's nothing pushing us to do this right now. If we get into camp and there's one receiver injury or there's one team that's like, God, this isn't really coming together.

And we could really use just a little jolt here. I still feel like he'd be a guy that's worth making phone calls about based on where the Cardinals are at in their timeline. Absolutely. I would dango out a day two pick. Just hope they blank. And I love your line to think, though, about the Cardinals. They have no incentive to do it like, oh, we got a tradeoff.

We go, whatever we can get for him. It's like what I just said about him being. needle mover. It's or a difference maker. And what you just said as well is that they know that too. They know it's like we're this not a guy just just fodder that we just have to get off the books. It's like no, he can actually make a difference.

So let's get this market drummed up a little bit. The team I keep coming back to the team that I would like to see go get him based on where they are and what their needs are is Detroit. Yeah. So they have an extra third round pick next year. as part of the TJ Hawkinson trade. So they have a little bit more ammo than even other teams might in the middle parts of the draft. If they wanted to trade a three and maybe one other, you know, day two pick somewhere along the way to try to go get him.

Because if you think about where the lions are. Yeah. And where they think they are. And what we said this week about how they think they're going to be pretty good. You're missing Jameson Williams for six games. And even if you weren't missing Jameson Williams for six games, think about the skill sets on that offense. even if you're confident of what Laporta and

Jamir Gibbs can give you you have those two Amun Ra as a true slot player Jamison Williams is a speed move kind of guy and your big body guys as your number of the number three spots right now are Josh Reynolds and Marvin Jones I'd want an upgrade there

personally. Oh, especially Marvin's done the last couple years but him and Marvin Jones are cut from the same cloth. So let's just get a guy that's plus plus two tiers better than when Marvin Jones is right now in his career. This is not Marvin Jones, Detroit Lions 1.0. You know, this is a different version of him.

So, God, the Lions is a great call, especially for their mindset because then I could see that being extremely realistic, that they're like, oh, this is really going to put us over the top because they're making moves that they feel like they're 90% there or 95% there. And if they think that DeAndre Hopkins is that guy, that what we say, that needle mover, I could see the mindset for wanting to make that move. That's a really, really interesting one. 25.6 million currently in cap space. So they could absorb the deal without restructuring, which I assume they would want to.

The one consideration here, I think it's the consideration when you're trading for Deander Hopkins and maybe part of the reason that the market for him has been a little bit colder than we might expect. There are personality concerns. There are practice habit concerns. And, you know, the Lions have been this football guy mecca over the last two or three years. And I think you have to ask yourself the question of, is that something where, we feel like we built it up so well. Yeah. And maybe we could absorb a veteran personality that didn't necessarily jive with the way that

we want to do business here. Or we have drawn a line in the sand about the type of guys we want in this building. And if he's not going to want to practice and that's not something we want to have to deal with. I don't know. I could see it going both of those both ways, considering which way you want to lean with it. But that is, that's the one I keep coming back to in terms of urgency, fit, cap space, draft capital, so many different things potentially. lining up if you just dropped him into that offense because he gives you something they do not have

even things like it's not the same division that helps too you know like just little things like that where it can align perfectly no that's a great call with personality stuff that always has to be considered there's always the line of thinking and uh it is the kind of the 10% rule of can our team handle the 10% of guys that might have the best practice habits might be you know skew with their day to day and then there's the 90% of the rest of the Ross is like roster good workers, good leadership and all that. If you do think that 90% of our roster is, okay, we can maybe handle a guy that's not kind of,

kind of up and down with his work habits. The lines do have some decent, you know, personalities as far in that regard. Like you know, they roll the dice on CJ Gardner Johnson. Yes. So does that indicate something?

Right. And that they're like, hey, we can withstand this hit. I mean, that's what, that's what the Patriots did for years and years. That's why they brought in guys like the Corey Dillins of the world. Like where they're like,

no, the rest of our roster is good. We can handle a personality like this. So there's a lot. There's a lot that aligns there. And I really like that call from you. Other Cardinals, okay? We keep talking about DeAndre Hopkins.

Marquis Brown is a free agent after this year. Okay. Is he somebody that we maybe we should be thinking more about because he's hitting the market anyway after this season is over? So that one I keep coming back to. And then Buda Baker actively wants to be traded. So I feel so bad. It's like when you're ever being in a fantasy league

where they're just one team that just doesn't know what they're doing. Yeah. And they're the team that just gets peppered over and over again with trade requests. That's what I feel like I'm doing to the Cardinals. And I feel somewhat bad about it. But I also think it's the logical next step here. It is. With Buda Baker too.

Or it just feels like it's like a house foreclosing. And you're just like, you know, not that I've had experience in this. It's like the happy going to see. That's my experience with it at the end. And it's just like you're bidding on it. And it's like, well, it's value to $300,000. $100. Like you're just going way under market price for what that player is or that house is.

That's what it feels like with the Cardinals and what they're selling as far as their players. I'll call everybody. I'll call them about everybody. Hey, what? What do you feel about as Samans? Is he a scheme fit for you guys? Oh, well, you know, what's, you say that like it's crazy. I absolutely think that teams should be doing that.

It's a new regime. He's hitting free agency. So why wouldn't you make a phone call about a guy like that? So outside of DeAndre Hopkins, I think we should just have a bullet point that's just the rest of the Cardinals. Yeah. And so those are the guys I think that are worth keeping in non-Kyler, non-Rookies. That that's for now for Kyler, but for non-ruchies that basically is what I would be called about. Next for you on this list, anybody that's interesting.

Corey Davis for the Jets just because of Randall Cobb coming in. And I thought. And Alan Lazard was the first because him and Corey Davis, they're very samey. Yep. That they, they're kind of really same tier, same type of player. And so I thought, I mean, a team that I think would be a great trade candidate for that for Corey Davis. I'm just a fan of the player as well is the Atlanta Falcons, Arthur Smith connection. They kind of need that number two receiver.

I know they signed Matt Collins and I do like Matt Collins, but Corey Davis is a little better player. Same type of scheme fit, everything. Also a good vet for a team that's kind of reconfiguring everything. So that was like one trade spot that I think makes sense for Davis. But I'm just curious, do they hold on to them or they just move on from because they have enough, They have a lot of bodies there now, and they have some sameness with Alan Lazzard, who they invested in. My mind went to the same place as Corey Davis because of the Arthur Smith connection in Atlanta. Ask some questions about it.

Would be surprised if it happened. He's expensive. He has a, I think, a $10.5 million cap hit, I believe, just a base salary. And the way the Falcons are going to play, you can look at their way their roster is constructed and think, all right, even with Matt Collins, you need a third receiver, you know, theoretically. They're not going to be an 11 personnel team. Like so they have, and I think if you look at the way,

Pitts is their next receiver. So that's exactly right. Yeah. So let's say it's, let's say it's third and six. And you want to be in, you know, quote unquote 11 personnel.

And you want to have somebody running an option route from you from the slot to get you your seven yards. I think it's much more likely that the personnel on the field in that situation is 12 personnel. Yeah. With Kyle Pitts is your ex. receiver and Drake London playing out of the slot for you.

So I see a bunch. So that makes a ton of sense. Yeah. So I think that's more likely than them going out and spending considerable assets on what would be their third receiver. And they, Cardo Oj has been a useful player at times in his career. Yeah.

You know, Josh Ali, who somebody that they signed as a street free agent, you know, he's been banged up. I think that somebody that they're fairly confident that they could have a role on the team. So I would be surprised because that's the first place my mind went. So I was curious about.

it, but again, I would be surprised that they made that sort of move. They already, they kind of already did it with Mack Collins. You know what I mean? Like, kind of just go, oh, we got that Z, you know, and that, that's well, personnel stuff. This is why I'm so bullish on the Falcons. You know, that's following me on Twitter and, and heard us on here is just because of that, that they can stay in 12 personnel, stay in a lot of different four

arrangements, 13 personnel and do so much with it because of how flexible Cal Pitts is and what a dynamic player that he is. and the potential of Bijon Robinson and even all the stuff that Drake London could do. That's why I love it. They can just stay in that personnel grouping. They can go tempo. They can huddle back up.

They can stay at all 10 plays of a drive, stay in the same personnel grouping, and do a dozen different things out of it. That's what's really cool, which you just mentioned about pits kicking outside, London kicking inside. Bejohn could be the slot guy. They could just do so much out of those same group of guys.

So it makes sense that they wouldn't be interested because of the Matt Collins stuff too. I wonder who it would be then if it wasn't the Falcons. If you're looking at wide receiver depth charts around the league, I mean, I think a lot of teams have made a conscious effort to make sure they don't have holes there. But that's for paying those other guys kind of pain. Yeah, you've spent a lot of money on those spots. I mean, the team that actually needs the most receivers is the tightness, which is, you know, the irony.

The irony there. But yeah. That's like, who's a good. trade candidate for D'Andre Hopkins. The Texans. You're like, oh, no, that'll never happen ever again. The Patriots. Oh, who's our offense coordinator?

Never mind. You know what, though? I mean, it's talking about potential lions moves at receiver. You know, why couldn't they go get a Corey Davis? You're going to be their third guy. He wants to block. He's got the mindset. I mean, I think that that's the one team that if it wasn't going to be a Hopkins,

who I think does have more of the skill set that they need, just one more outside receiver if they want to. upgrade there. Could they go get a Corey Davis? 10.5 million is. It's a lot. But it's not a ton. You know, if you wanted to move some of that money around. But yeah, Corey Davis is another one that I think is worth mentioning. Now that I think of it, he actually has some great synergy with their guys.

That's actually a pretty good one. For a guy that he's not the same tier, obviously, as DeAndre Hopkins, probably not two tiers the same. But it's, yeah, it'd be an interesting guy there because it's just his physicality, like you said. Last receiver, I think that's worth mentioning. Two more, actually. this is a much, much, much, much smaller scale.

Donovan People Jones is going to be a free agent after this year. All the moves they made. I'm not saying he's going to be a difference maker for your offense, but if you just need another body who's played a decent amount of snaps, he's somebody that based on a lot of other moves, I think could theoretically be available in the right circumstance. And then Tim Patrick. You know, they pick up Jerry Judy's 50-year option.

It seems like Cortland Sutton is not available there. But they drafted Marvin Mins in the second round. Is there somebody who's going to be the odd man out? and is that Tim Patrick and is he worth making a call about? I thought, I still think it's Judy because I just feel like Patrick's exactly what Sean Peyton wants. I, I feel like he's Marquis Colston. And, you know, and he's 30 years old coming off in ACL.

So I don't know what his market is really booming right now. I bet you, but Judy, a 24 year old, like you say, it's a very good point. It's a very good point. And that's where the, I interviewed Jim Leonard last year, who was defense coordinator Wisconsin. He played with Sean Payton briefly. And I think that's stuck with me of this interview. I know this sounds so random.

But the thing that he stuck with me, and this is not like a new thought, but he goes, Sean Payton really likes each receiver, pass catcher to have their defined role. What are you the A plus player at this? Is it you're the deep ball guy, you're the choice runner.

You're the slant runner. You do the seams, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, for all the pass catchers. Judy in his pro career, even coming out of college was more of the, in college, he was everyone's like, oh, he's going to be the slant guy.

He's going to be the yak guy. And in the pros, he's been the deep ball. guy. Him and Russell have inside fades, inside fades, go balls. That's what he does. You know who does that really well as well? Marvin Mims, who Sean Payton and the Broncos moved up in the second round four. So that's where I don't know, that's where the samuiness I think is he might be the expendable guy. But who knows? We'll see. But I think Tim Patrick, I think Sean Payton's going to like him. But yeah, he is 30 years old. So it's not someone you're going to really invest in long time.

You want me to throw you just a nice juicy piece of red meat here? Yeah. And we're all around the Broncos. What about Albert O? Okay. I did not bring up Denzel Mims when we're talking about Corey Davis. I know you wanted to.

I know you wanted to. Oh, so bad. So bad. But, oh, Albert L. He's going to be a free agent after the season. They just traded for Adam Troutman. Yes. And he's still an enigma.

It still feels like he should just be better than he is. Is there some team out there that feels that way and is going to go make a move? If you were the Cincinnati Bengals. and you have a hole at tight end. And there aren't that many avenues to add one now. Here's a little fourth or fifth rounder, fifth rounder of dangling it out.

I mean, I think you do for less than that. And here's a sixth round. Sixth round. Based on what the coaches thought of them the last couple of years. Yeah, might be even a seventh rounder. So that was the other Bronco.

It's like, oh, well, you know, they've got some tight ends there now. They just made the Troutman trade and he's going to be a free agent. Is that one that is worth considering? And then the other tight end I had on the trade market. What about Noah Fantt? okay he's going to be a free agent after the season he was kind of a throw into the russell wilson

trade now that they're probably going to be an 11 personnel more than they were last year after drafting jsn do they need fan and disley and colby parkinson i think is their third tight end and i'm pretty happy that i just pulled that that was good do they is there one of those guys expendable now that they're going to live in 11 more than they did over the last couple seasons and is fan that guy because they actually have emotional investment. They're pot committed. They just love Will Disley so much. They can't part with him.

They are financially committed to Will Disley beyond this season. Most of the guaranteed money is gone, but his contract is through the 20, 24 years. So as no offense, one of those guys, just, we're throwing out there. Could have grouped it together as athletic for Broncos or former Broncos tight ends. I guess is how he how he serves. Yeah, tie it all. all together tie it all together but uh no that's that's an interesting one both guys i have been

fans of because again my theory with tight ends is just the biggest athletes and hope they figure it out but these are they're coming off of their first contracts okay let's take a chance on them i would take flyers on either of these guys so i'm glad you brought a fan too but it is interesting because parkinson is a free agent two after this year so it's like i don't know how what they what they think of them as well it's a big year for him it's contract year well parkinson if we want to do this now. One of the needs that I think I wanted to talk about was the Chargers in tight end

and what the Chargers could do with tight end. And I think that they need blockers. Right. So the three names that I was thinking about for guys that Chargers could add between now and training camp, Parkinson be a trade potentially because that's something he can do for you. So he's the third guy there.

And the other two guys, and we're really talking sexy stuff here right now. This is what people want. People want to know about the blocking tight ends who are available and free agency. And the running back trade market. The chargers could potentially sign for like one year and $2.8 million. And the two guys that I was coming back to were Tyler Croft and Jeff Swain.

You know, guys that are free agents and just like, you know, this is what you've done. You're blocking on 75% of your snaps. We just need you to be a big body here. So do the chargers go that direction? And again, we're really giving the people what they want here. Tyler Croft is getting a match. But good call with him because that is his MO. And that's it.

You're just a dirty work guy. go grab us 10 rebounds like that that's what you that's what we signed you to do but honestly and i i know this like you're saying this doesn't sound sexy it matters these will be eight to 12 snaps a game that where it's like okay we're getting by with this guy but if it's like a plus blocker at least yeah it might not be a good run threat if we can just add those are yards add up those plays could become efficient now they do matter so no i like that i like a little tyler croft chargers connection that's not what I came into today thinking I wanted to see in my life, but I wouldn't mind seeing that this summer.

A couple other potential trade candidates. Okay. Patrick Queen that declined his fifth year option. They drafted a linebacker in the third round. You know, do they feel like he's expendable at this stage? One that I actually am pretty interested in, just based on where this team is financially. I think Zach Seeler from the Dolphins is a really good player.

I've really enjoyed him. Him and Christian Wilkins are both free agents after this year. Yeah. So does something have to give with all the money that they've moved around and all the money they push into future years? Is he somebody that the dolphins could afford to bring back with having to pay Christian Wilkins? That that's somebody that I was thinking about, Chase Young. Yeah. And I talked about this on Barnwell show this week.

You're buying super, you're selling super, super low. I mean, you might be worth just hanging on to him and seeing how this year goes. But if I was a team that had a need hit edge, I would at least call. Absolutely. Because they decline the fifth year option. They probably can't afford to pay him and sweat anyway. So is he somebody that might be available? Like if you're the bears, right?

And it's like you call. It's like, here's a third round pick. And if they tell you to fuck off, then whatever. Whatever. You lost the minutes on your cell phone plan. Like that was the downside of doing it. So that's one guy. And then again,

keeping it really, really sexy here. Matt Hennessy from Atlanta. Hennessy, I guess is like, you know, just the Hennessy term, you know, what's applying to alcohol, maybe it makes it a little sexier.

As I was, this is where I'm at right now. I'm just looking at 20, 24 free agents that are potentially expendable on their current teams. Matt Hennessy was, he has been a solid player for the Falcons over the last couple years. He's an interior offensive lineman. He was their starting center that was drafted by the previous regime.

When this regime got there, they drafted Drew Dolman from Stanford in the fourth round. They liked Dolman. They think he's a good player. He was their start. starting center and has made Hennessy expendable. Hennessee is a free agent after this year, so they drafted Matthew Bergeron in the second round to compete with him at left guard.

If he loses that left guard battle and he's just guard depth for the Falcons, he is a starting level interior offensive linemen for a team that potentially could need one. It's worth at least a phone call, even if that phone call happens a little bit closer to the season. Yeah. And they, God, they use them like really well. Like that's again, commanding the Falcons and their offense and Arthur Smith and everything.

It was just how well, how they short up these offense alignment's weaknesses. It's like sometimes that's nice is the those those types of offenses that are zone heavy and boot heavy. It's like all the offense alignment's like, wow, they look really good in that. Like, hey, but honestly, you're right though. Like it weird place too that the Falcons might have depth at offensive line. But if someone has to be the odd man out. Especially on the interior after Jalen Jalen Mayfield is just getting lit on fire two years ago. Oh my God.

How far we've come? That meme of him like trying to help out Matt Ryan is just like, the saddest thing because he was like, I'm to be his protector. It was like his first start. He almost killed Matt Ryan. It's like, yeah, poor guy was just fed to the Eagles in week one. That's just, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, dudes.

But no, Hennessy, no, that's a good call, a good call as well. Just the, uh, kind of offensive line depth is always just going to be something that like, you know, you want to hold on to. But like, right offer comes for somebody that needs a starter. Like it's like, okay, if they, they can juicy enough. I think that's exactly what it is. Yeah. That's exactly what it is.

You're not incentivized to move him. You're not making calls to get rid of him. But if we get to camp and somebody loses an interior offensive linemen, somebody gets a little bit urgent and they're like, we'll give you a third round pick for him. It's like, oh, all right, you know, and that stuff happens. It does. So again, I think that this is a, you know, if the team has a whole and they're slow playing

a little bit, and we get a little bit further into the off season and they're incentivized to do something like this, who are the guys who might be available? And the last one I had, Washington D.Bs. Okay? they draft Juan Martin and Emmanuel Forbes. Kendall Fuller and Cam Curl are both three agents after this year. Similar situation. It's possible that Washington is so interested in being good this season

that they just want to protect themselves. And the future third round pick you're getting for Cam Curl, who I think is a good player, isn't worth it to Ron Rivera because he might not be the coach slash general manager when you're getting that third round pick. So they might not be incentivized to make those moves. But again, that's just another group where, There's a lot of bodies.

There are guys that were drafted and there are guys going to be free agents. Is there somebody among those guys that's going to be available? Let's sniff around about four. I would just, you know, if I were team chargers, you know, something with those teams. Another guy about $10 million in base salaries. So that's like that's the only deterrent. Is that the going great? That's like it's the trade rate.

10 million dollars for a trade. But it's actually nice. Like when we're doing the free agency show and it's like where the tier break every position was. It's like you could just ball without even knowing. It's like, oh, he's the second tier offense line. 16 million. You know, like you get, I can just tell you it right now. It's nice these tears.

But fuller out sniff around about because like you say, he has, he has some pedigree, starting, um, has kind of done a little bit of a few, like, of different schemes kind of kind of kind of things where you can kind of project him a little easier. Not a bad one to take a flyer on, especially if you think you're maybe a half step away or step away or you just want some little bit of depth or insurance there. All right. Let's get to some of these team specific questions and these team specific holes that might be lingering still after the draft and ones to consider between now and week one.

Where do you want to start? What was the one that came out first for you? Oh man. I don't know which one I want to start with because I don't know what like these aren't like again, it's not very sexy. None of them are sexy. I mean, they're like for the most part,

the number one receiver slots are filled by the time. The draft ends. We're talking some like real niche shit here. This one is like only, probably only interest me is do the dolphins want to add one more linemen? And just a, Another insurance, I thought, you know, they didn't have a lot of draft picks. They kind of put a, they're just juiced even more going with a running back in the third round.

That runs a four or three. And I love it. Don't get me wrong. As a football watcher, I'm going to love it. But from our team building perspective, the one guy, and this is really just to talk about one dude. And that's Ben Jones, who was just with the Titans for a while, mostly as a center has had some interior and offense line experience. I wouldn't like, I would like that to have some depth there or even a potential starter. If you want to beat that, beat out one of the guys.

They're all beatable. I would say the dolphins offensive line right now. It's not like they have a true, true plus players, Armstead, of course, be his injury history. So I think just getting one more offensive line piece, of course, that it's not a very deep market right now. That's why we're in the middle of May talking about this. There's not a lot of guys on the market, especially offensive line.

But Ben Jones would be one, I would think, interesting, and specifically the dolphins. Just want to be curious if they had one more body. A lot of the teams that had a need at center heading into the draft filled that need or tried to fill that. that need. You know, the Jets were a team that had been rumored to potentially be interested in Ben Jones. And then in the course of about four days, they re-signed Connor McGovern and then spent a second round pick on Joe Tippett. The Texans needed a center. They drafted Juke's,

in the second round. The Giants were a team that theoretically needed a center. Ben Bredison was pencils in there. You know, that's somebody they were spent about a million dollars on. They drafted John Michael Schmitz in the second round. So the Cardinals, you know, would be a team potentially that Yalta Froholt is currently their starting center right now who did some spot duty last year for the Browns. So that that's where we're at. You know, the fact that I even know how to pronounce Yalta Froholt is probably because I've heard Marissa say it because he was teammates with her husband last year. That's the only reason I know. But for the most part, you know, there aren't that many teams that have a glaring need at that spot.

Yeah. And I know they vested in it before. It's not, you know, they had a guy to start there last year. and I'm one of the Connors. I feel like there's 20 offensive linemen named Connor. So Connor Williams, this one from the Cowboys, different Connor from the Cowboys. They had McGovern before as well.

Connor Williams, and he was okay. You know, he's, he's basically a replacement level. And that's where, you know, just even have Ben Jones in the room wouldn't be the worst thing possible. So that was the one team. I just is like,

who needs offensive alignment? And Dolphins kind of comes to mind, especially how the draft went for them. So I don't know. I also think he's scheme versatile for what, for what they want to do. athletic enough even if he's getting up there in age. So even though dolphins like to have those guys on the move,

just that would be an interesting fit. Sticking in the interior of the offensive line, I am really wondering what the Colts are going to do, if anything, at that right guard spot. You know, Will Fries is still there. They didn't really add anybody. You know, the offensive lineman they added in the draft where kind of swings at tackle.

Yeah. They got the guy from BYU who is a really good athlete. Is he going to be their third tackle? You know, Bernard Ryman is potentially could they push each other to be the left tackle with Braden Smith on the right. They got the guy, dance guy, Jake Witt. Michigan is kind of a developmental piece, but they didn't really add anything on the interior,

and I do think that's still a need. So this is a team where I'm going to the veteran free agent market potentially. Does Dalton Reisner fit as their right guard potentially if they need to fill that hole a little bit later in the offseason? So are they a team along with a couple others that could look at the Dalton Reisner's of the world or Justin Pugh potentially or Gabe Jackson, and just somebody to be a spot starter for you for one single year before you find a long-term play. No, it's a great call because they also just, yeah, you look at the backup offense alignment there.

It's not a pedigree, a lot of, you know, free agent, free agent, street free agent, you know, former practice squad, fifth round. So usually if it's 2020 in your fifth rounder and you haven't started yet, it's like, okay, we kind of know what you are at the NFL. Otherwise, you've been trotted out there by now. But yeah, they, especially with potentially starting a rookie quarterback. That's why it's interesting to me. Protect it. If it were Gardner Minshue or veteran quarterback, does you get it? We'll get it next year.

But now I just want them to have as much stability as they possibly can in front of that guy. They got 22 and a half million in caps base before they signed their rookie class. And that's too, not just like, okay, we'll take a fire on these guys. It's like no vets, not project types. The tackles are fine. Taking swings on those tackles is totally fine on day three. Just guys and vets that have been around, they've been around live reps. That's going to help your young quarterback so much.

Yeah, so that that's one position. And again, a couple of just players that, you know, might be a potential fit there. All right. What's your next one? Do the Raiders at a vet corner to be a warm body? Again, this is just something that's just been hanging over their head, it seems like. You know, especially maybe Rockies Singh getting signed.

We kind of like put it in my brain even more. But just they just really didn't address it much. I get it. We're kind of that, oh, they did a little bit. But they, but for the Raiders, you know, they could fill. in a lot of spots. Offensal line corner. We kind of just were waiting for kind of more moves there and they just didn't really make those swings.

I like how their draft went at least initially. And they didn't draft the corner until the fourth round. Fourth round. And we're talking about right now, Duke Shelley and David Long Jr. As the starter is on there right now. They didn't draft a corner in the fourth round. I think it's a worthwhile question. It is. And so that's where I know Patrick Graham will run a little bit more cover too

and you can hide some of these guys, but just they need some bodies. They need guys that at least can, what tangible starters, even if they're not, again, you're not going to find difference makers, of course, but somebody out there. I don't think it's, it would be bold to trot out kind of a similar tier of group that they did last year and kind of saw how that went for an entire season and then going into season kind of with that same mindset, a little dicey for me.

Yeah, I mean, there's some, you know, corners left on, you know, the veteran free agent market, not a ton, you know, like Marcus Peters is going to be the biggest name there. You know, if there's a team that really wants to go take a swing at that position, you know, Shaq Griffin is now available formerly of the Jaguars, Troy Hill. is still a free agent. You know, Kyle Fuller is still a free agent. So there are some guys who I think their name recognition outpaces what sort of players they are at this stage.

Marcus Peters, I think is worth a swing. You know, he's somebody that a little thinged up. But when he's been on the field, I think he's still a good player. But not a ton of guys. We're like, ooh, this is an interesting move. I think Rock Yucin was kind of the prize of that group. And the Ravens wasted no time in making that happen. Swooping that up.

But yeah, that's where we're at. It's May trying to find a premium position. Yeah, it's not going to be pretty. It's not going to be pretty. A couple teams that I'm wondering what they want to do with edge depth or edge pieces in general. The Jags being one of those teams. They lose Arden Key. They don't draft a pass rusher until the fourth round in Tyler Lacey.

I believe from Oklahoma State. So, you know, a little bit of depth there, but still, you know, do they need one more piece? And, you know, there are a couple of different guys that I think are available as veteran free agents, especially at that position that might be intriguing. you know, Judeavian Clowny is still available. Yon Gawke is still available. He won't be on.

It will not beotic. I can tell you that. Very, very good point. So for them, I think that, you know, they have to maybe spend a little bit less.

I mean, Cloudy's in mercenary mode, man. I think that that's the type of team that should be in the mercenary category. And then the one that we did not mention on the veteran trade situation, because I think he was going to come up here in a couple different moments.

Where does Zedarius Smith fit, potentially? Yeah. Is there a team that wants to go get as a Darius Smith that plays more of a nebulous front to kind of move him around? I mean, he absolutely can play the role that Arden Key played for you last year. You're spending on it. It's not going to be cheap. So I think that there's an argument against it there.

And then the other team that still really hasn't filled a need at Eddrushar, I think is worth mentioning. He's Carolina. Other than Brian Burns, they do not have a ton of options there. You know, Yitor Grosmatos hasn't come along in the way. they probably want him to the name i keep coming back to there that i think makes a ton of sense could be leonard foot yeah played for ever row in la i think that he's the type of skill set that you could drop in flexible he understands the system so that's the one that i was like ah man i think that one actually makes a lot of sense yeah even for the jaggs too was uh melvin ingram i thought

would yeah that just think what how arden key was used okay boom melvin ingram now uh i had this category when in my own notes says do you want to build a pass right or rush because that's kind of how it feels of these teams. You just, okay, what vet? How can we, you know, get this guy here. But yeah, I Jags, Panthers another one, and then Ravens. So same discussion that we're having for all these teams. And I even had Seahawks.

And then like, and then I had a tear break. And then I said bears and giants as well, just teams that maybe just want to, you know, I just want to categorize these teams. Bears makes perfect sense. Yeah. The Bears one that I came back to was Justin who played for Matt Eber Fluse in Indianapolis. is he's somebody that we just need a body. We just need a body who can eat some snaps for us.

Good vet too. Yeah, I don't know if he wants to come play on a team that's probably a 500 team in a good set of outcomes at this stage in his career. But him, Frank Clark is still available. You know, guys that are four or three type guys. They, you know, they play defensive end over the last few years. Those are the two guys I was thinking about. And one more guy that it's going to be a roll of the dice because he's coming off the injury.

But I really like the way he played last year. DeWan Smooth. is a free agent. And he's coming off the Achilles, but I thought he was really good for Jacksonville last year. And if you want somebody that can have inside, outside versatility and you know, you really need an innings eater on your defensive line,

I don't know when he's going to come back. But that's another intriguing name in my opinion. Yeah, no, that's good one. And that's a guy too. It's a you call him in July ago. How's that Achilles? I feel it. Yeah.

Yeah, let's get a trial. Yeah, he might be like a July 31st siding, you know, right? So we first week of camp, team, see what they're trot. out there and go okay let's spin the spin the roll decks let's see what are these vet guys that we get for a one yeah but no that's a good one a one you're taking that kind of post-injury discount flyer on like you said he was god he was ascending too right as like right as you got i was love and

was fantastic in that dallas game for i know week before which is the most brutal thing uh but no that's another good one to throw in there because that's a guy you take a flyer on and then if you're competing it's like okay we don't need them we don't need them we don't need them we don't need him and then like the second half of the year he comes along and it's like he's he's ascending as everyone else is kind of getting worn down so those types of guys are always interesting we mentioned the bengals and tight end you know i think they absolutely could use another guy they thought they were going to draft one they didn't draft one so you know who among the available tight ends would make sense for them they were they were interested in uh kinkade by the way yeah i think they really i think

they really liked him and i think that so i if he was i didn't think i think they knew he wouldn't get there. Correct. So everybody knew the cowboys were going to take them. Like it seemed like if you just even like, uh, Beane, Brandon Bean had like he was talking about his trade discussions with Trent Balke. And he even said like, he's like, I'm not telling you who we're going to take. And, you know, Balke's like, is a big or small? And he goes medium. Medium. Yeah. Which I think it was amazing. But I think, yeah, they everyone kind of knew what the cowboys were leaning weird. Uh, so I think that's why they kind of like got in front of that. So Bengals tight end, I think is worth consider, you know, mentioned a few of the guys who might.

be available in the trade market there. Guys, it might be worth sniffing around. Chargers tight end we mentioned. I also think it's worth mentioning Chargers safety. You know, Alohi, the Nisior Adderly retires. A loheed Gilman is currently slotted in to start next to Derwin James. And one of the reasons

I think that that one's kind of blinking to me is that John Johnson is available. And he played for Staley in Los Angeles, had a really good season for that one year the brand Staley was in L.A. So is he somebody that they could get at the right price to kind of bring in and bolster the depth they have at that spot there's familiarity there that was an early athletic football show favorite yeah that was johnson he

was a that 20 20 rams team had a lot of those uh and i'll just i'll transition real quick i'll practice this but i would say the packers with safety as well is do they just bring amos back and just say hey you want to come back on this deal that's another guy that's out there adrian amos he's only 30 he's one of those guys in my brain he's older like i thought he was older than me and i was like man he's playing really well and he's 34 years old he's not he's only 30 sorry Adrian. But yeah, kind of slim pickings right now on the on the safety market. I mean, a lot of these positions, of course, that's why we're talking about it. But, you know, a cheapie vet that want to bring back for the Packers, but maybe even the Chargers want to sniff around at them because

he is a smart player. Last one that I had, are the Jets done done adding along the offensive line? We thought the tackle might be in a position of need for them. They didn't draft the tackle until Carter Warren in the fourth round. You know, Roger Jones is somebody that had been mocked to them. He went before they could pick. So are they, do they feel good about that position right now. And I don't know where they would add. You know, the guy that I think is probably the best available player now after Donovan Smith came off the market is Isaiah win.

They watched him a couple times a year or when he was healthy over the last couple of years in New England. But right now you got Dwayne Brown, Mackay Beckton, Max Mitchell, you know, it's hard to rely on. Bechtin at this point. Browen makes a lot of sense for them actually. Where they're at? Why not?

Why not? Similar to the chief's thinking, it's like, we just want to make sure that we're. we're ready. You know, we're just planning for the downside. One O-line injury doesn't cripple our whole season. Exactly. That's what you're protecting himself.

That's the insurance. Yeah, they're average players, but it's just non-cripling injuries. And maybe you feel like you have that. Yeah, right. Maybe it's like,

all right, well, you know, we got Dwayne Brown there for that. We got, we have some depth now. We dropped the guy in the fourth round and Mitchell was okay last year. We think he's going to get better.

But, you know, can you be in a spot where you're really not counting on Mitchell and Brown making it through the season. And so if you have two offensive line injuries, you're in a spot where now Max Mitchell is your swing tackle, Hardin becomes a developmental guy. It's only a one-year flyer on somebody like when, you know, where their headspace is at, at those tackle spots is something that I want to see what the answer is before we get to the start of the season.

It's been like a need question mark for like this whole process. Like every month of this year, it's like, where the Jets can do a tackle? February comes around. Where the Jets going to do a tackle? Outside quarterback, that's the other question. But another guy interior difference live, because I was going to bring him up, though, was Shelby Harris. I was wondering where he's another one.

Yes. Yeah. I mean, that's, he gets his hands on balls. He does, he's, you know, a fine starter.

And that's, I don't think, I feel like a team should be interested in him. They want to shore up the inside. Yeah. And I think, again, I talked about the bears with Justin. I think they could be a potential Yonika and Gakwa destination.

I mean, that is one of the most glaring holes on any roster right now is the bears an edge rusher, but they have a ton of money. If they want to go sign somebody as a stop gap option and, you know, see what the big swings are a year from now. you know, we'll see what happens there.

But that's definitely one position worth mentioning. Yeah. I think we talked about all the guys I wanted to, including the Matt Hennessy conversation that we saw in a show in May. I didn't was, what was I expected of that one? I was like, oh,

I was expecting your Hennessy talk. No, that was great. That was some dudes talking about some dudes, talking about some teams. That was, that's an hour of that. We're in May,

people. This is exactly what we look at. But it's fun. It's really fun. I actually like talking about looking at the contracts and who could actually be traded. So that was, that was, it was an interesting exercise.

last thing that is worth mentioning as we were recording this giant's defensive tackle dexter lawrence gets a four year 90 million dollar deal with 60 million dollars guaranteed we knew that these defensive line contracts were going to roll in and this man is certainly deserving of one i don't think it's a stretch to say he might have been my favorite player in the league to watch last season just down in and down out game in and game out i I just one of one, you know, the way he affects the game and the way that he's built, you know, truly ascended last year. I think he's going to be a good player in the league for a long time still, you know, I believe he's only 25 years old. So you compare this to the deals that some of these other defensive linemen got, essentially the same deal that Duran Payne got.

It comes in one tick underneath, but with more practical guarantees than Jeffrey Simmons got. So this is the going rate for an all pro level defense. offensive tackle. And I think that's exactly what Dexter Lawrence is right now. Yeah, perennial all pro, all these guys, even Payne was borderline second team for me. Uh, but man, Simmons is it's crazy. I love Jeffrey Simmons. I have him like third in this group of the guys, because Quinn Williams, I'm including as well, uh, but he's next in line. He's next in line. There's a reason he's probably last, uh, but it's no, but Texer Lawrence, I agree with you. Like truly, truly two years ago, I was like, oh man, he's really fun.

that's why he got drafted so high. And then last year, you don't see a big nose move like that and rush the passer like that while also being good against the run. Like when I say balance, I mean, good against a run and good against the past while also being plus sized. Usually it's that nose that's like good against both. They're like, oh, they're 298, 295. I know that I'm like acting like that's small.

But he's a true, true big body that can do it all three downs. He's a really, really fun player, really good player deserves every single penny that he just got. All right. That's all we got for this week. And that's kind of all we've got for our draft coverage for the 2023 draft. This is the last draft adjacent show that we're going to be doing. And we're going to be pivoting to our off-season schedule starting next week. When I say off-season schedule, that still involves four podcasts a week.

So the only day that we will not have a show coming your way, starting next week and going all through May and June. And the first part of July before we get to training camp is Tuesday. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. You guys will still have shows in your feed. Thursday will still be football GM. Randy Mueller is now a full-time employee at the athletic. You'll be writing for us as well. So welcome Randy to the family in a bigger capacity.

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