The Fumblerooski Podcast - On To The Offseason -Ep 337 The Fumblerooski Podcast

Episode Date: February 14, 2025

The 2024-25 NFL Season has come and gone and now it’s on to the offseason! Which big names are on the trade block? Which players are most likely to get tagged? Which players are hitting the open market? Which teams are swimming in cap space? Which teams can’t afford to make splashes? How will the top 5 picks in the draft shake out? Will Aaron Rodgers end up on a new team or in retirement? Adam Wright and CJ Medeiros debate these topics and more in our special offseason preview episode!

Super Bowl 59 is in the rearview mirror along with the rest of the 2024-25 NFL season. As we head into the offseason, I'm Adam Wright. This is the Fumblerooski Podcast. It may not have always showed it in the stat sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws. Back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's got to get that six or seven spot. by Power 88 and Secret Weapon Consulting. I'm Adam Wright with CJ Medeiros. And CJ's bio right there says it all. Rest in peace, the 2024-25 NFL season.

It is now officially over, for better or worse. It certainly wasn't the best quality season. The quality of play was certainly way down. Congratulations, again, to the Philadelphia Eagles, who won their second franchise title As far as Super Bowls go I believe they just finished up their parade today Did they not?

Yeah, they had a great day I can't speak to whether or not it's finished But they did have it And C.J. Gard gardner johnson with the whole uh he with the t-shirt that he wore wait wait what do you want i didn't see it look it up oh boy it's it's taylor swift related so it's it's interesting not like it's not like rated r but it's certainly like a little... He was trying to get a rise out of a certain fan base.

But we have a great show planned for you guys tonight. So we always have to give this little spiel every single time the season ends. Because it is a common misperception that once the season ends, it's a massive dead spot until the beginning of next season for the NFL. The only real dead spot in the NFL, in the NFL league calendar year, is the summertime when it's training camp, it's all smoke screens. It's all, you know, you get some preseason. That's pretty much all you have. There's many camps, there's OTAs,

all that stuff. I just saw you by the way. Yeah. Wonderful. It's funny. It's funny. Just, you know, that, you know, what he's trying to get a, get a rise out of a certain, but I'm going to take you through the timeline right now. So as far as the NFL offseason goes, franchise tags, that window starts from February 20th at 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time to March 5th at 4 p.m.

Then after that, we have the combine that goes from February 27th to March 2nd, free agency. So there's two versions of free agency. There's the real free agency, and then there's the legal tampering period. And the legal tampering period is basically where teams are allowed to talk to free agents legally and verbally agree to deals, which it basically ends up poaching the real free agency that starts. The tampering period goes from March 10th at 12 p.m. Eastern Standard Time to 4 p.m. on March 12th. And from then on, it's free agency galore. It just goes on until whenever you decide to sign free agents. There could be players who get signed over the summertime. And it goes all the way up until April 26th.

So the end of April is, that's really when the league news starts to simmer down a little bit. But free agency is always a frenzy. It's probably the most, one of the most active free agencies among the main four sports in America. And the NFL draft is always fun. You get to kind of go through some of the mock drafts, kind of figure out where players are getting taken, which ones will be bust, which ones are going to pan out. That's always a fun time.

And trades can always happen at any time. And I believe, honestly, I think those are the most fun because they come at you by surprise. There's really, like, there will be nothing going on during the summertime and some crazy trade ends up getting pulled. And it could also, like, things could happen during the playoffs when a couple teams are out of it, right? The Matthew Stafford trade that occurred between the Rams and Lions a couple years ago, CJ,

that happened right in between the conference championships and the Super Bowl, like right during that two-week span where not really much was happening. But make no mistake, we have a lot of stuff going on all the way up until practically the summertime. So you guys just sit tight and we'll take you through the entire offseason and give you all the insight that we can give you, because it should be a fun one. But we're going to start off with the latest news, and the offseason has already started off with a bang, which is that Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets have officially agreed to part ways. This will be a post-June 1st release. The writing was kind of on the wall with this one.

And this was starting to become a thing later in the regular season when the Jets were really starting to play poorly. They didn't have a good season at all. This was about the worst case scenario that they could possibly have. Even after trading for a new toy for Rodgers, his favorite toy, Devontae Adams, even after doing that, things were still bad. And you did everything you could. You fired your head coach, Robert Sala. You fired your GM, Joe Douglas. You did everything you possibly could to fix things, and they continue to get worse. That being said, we have really no idea what's going to happen with Rodgers. He's made it unclear whether or not he is going to play next year and enter free agency. We have no idea if he's, you know, going to retire. We don't know, but CJ.

Well, I'm not shocked. And I, for one, from the moment Rodgers was traded, said that it had potential, but my hopes weren't high. I can now thankfully say I'm vindicated. A lot of people doubted me when I said I don't think the Jets are going to win a Super Bowl at Rogers. Some of them were athletes who ran track. Some of them were ginger. You know, the people to which I refer, Adam. Now, I can now sit back and say, well, well, well, looks like I was right again. Because we have to look at why Rodgers is leaving, not how, why. And so the Jets, you know, they sat him down, they had a conversation about, you know, their expectations. And apparently the Jets made too many unreasonable expectations for Rodgers.

Ooh. By the way, the Jets' expectations were that he shows up to all mandatory minicamps and stops going on the Pat McAfee show. To which Aaron Rodgers, man-child that he is, just turned up his nose at it and is like, no! It's like, dude, what? Those are very reasonable requests. Go to all the mandatory camps and stop bitching and moaning on Pat McAfee. Like, really? Is this that hard for you? And this is what I hate.

Whenever you criticize someone who does something objectively stupid, all his fanboys will come out and say, yeah, well, at least he's on Pat McAfee. He has more money than you. He's a quarterback. Yeah, and he's a disgusting, immature, drug-addled man-child on top of it. And this whole saga, from the moment he set foot in New York to now, literally just reeks of immaturity. And you did everything he wanted. Woody Johnson literally, you know, got all his scapegoats out of the building, fired Joe Douglas, one of the better drafting GMs in the league, pushed Robert Sala onto the sword, got Alanard randall cobb uh davante adams

you know to go appease rogers and it still didn't work meanwhile rogers was pissing off your uh young up-and-coming star in garrett wilson you know to the point where Wilson literally said, if Rodgers is on the team, I want out. So this whole thing was just very Jets-y. And that's the worst part. Though Rodgers crashed and burned in his time with the Jets, this is literally just business as usual for them, is it not? I mean, nobody just, I mean, I feel like when it comes to luck, very few teams, maybe like the Browns, have it worse than the Jets.

And obviously, Rodgers is going to be a post-June 1st release designation, you know, I think he's still going to be like a $30 million dead cap hit. You know, because they're trying to shuffle all the money around, which is, I get you're doing it after June 1st, but I don't know. It's just, I guess the real question is, aside from Rodgers, where do the Jets go from here? Because this isn't really a stacked QB draft. And the only two prospects worth going in the first round, Shadur Sanders and Cam Ward, are going to be gone unless you trade up. They're going to have to trade up if they do that. Yeah, they're going to have to trade up, which, do you really want to risk that in a qb class that really isn't that great and if you go to free agency do you want to try to take another swing at sam darnold i highly doubt you want to be back after what you did to him do you want to

take another swing at zach wilson i mean come on who else is there like Like Trey Lance, Jacoby Bursette, Taylor Heineke. It's just, once again, the Jets try and fail to find a franchise quarterback. That's really the main takeaway here. Yeah, and if you, like, I want to say that they, it seems they want to take a quarterback in this draft, which would almost guarantee that they have to tear the team completely apart because they'll have to trade away not just their first-round pick, but probably an impact player as well, because you're not going to want to trade multiple first-round picks to trade up.

You're going to need to rebuild on this team. So Garrett Wilson may have to be included in a trade to trade up from where they are to go and get Shador Sanders or Cam Ward. That's what they're going to have to do. Also looking at Aaron Rodgers, if he decides not to retire, he does have his landing spots. You have the Vegas Raiders who are taking outside of the top three this year. They're going to be looking for a quarterback. The Pittsburgh Steelers are officially moving on from Russell Wilson. So there's another one. And those are two spots that I look at and I say, well, maybe you won't do poorly over there. Maybe, I don't know. Let's, I mean, let's say it is the Jets. Let's say the Jets were part of the problem. of a losing culture that they just can't break out of. And then he just goes to another team and he shakes off that Rogers,

that Rogers Jets magic dust goes over to the Steelers and ends up reviving his career. I would not rule out that happening. I don't think he's going to be like Tom Brady on the Buccaneers or Peyton Manning on the Broncos, but I certainly think that he does have a little bit in him to at least be a competent quarterback. You know, you have a valid point. However, the Steelers, though, you really think it'd be better on the Steelers? And look, you know,

Adam, you've known me for a long time now. You know my Steelers criticisms. Mike Tomlin is your stereotypical players coach, and he has shown time and time again, he can't control his players. So with an already volatile, cancer-ridden locker room, what do you think is going to happen when you add Aaron Rodgers? And oh my God, Rodgers and George Pickens? He's known to work with them. He's known to work with them. He's dealt with locker room cancers before and turned them into competitive teams. Am I saying that they're going to be a Super Bowl contender? No. No, no, no.

I'm not saying you're saying that. Can they be 10-7, 11-6 with Aaron Rodgers? Absolutely. Oh, no, no. They probably would. It's just that they're going to make an already tumultuous locker room even worse. And the thing is, sure, Tomlin took all these divas and cancers and made them competitive but it's that lack of cohesion that just the drama that keeps them from winning

and like I said George Pickens already a handful who by the way allegedly they're not even gonna extend because of just how detrimental he is to the team. And you're going to throw Aaron Rodgers on top of that. That's literally the equivalent of pouring gasoline on a fire. I just think that's the absolute wrong way to go. I mean, it's the same thing with every single team, though. This is Aaron Rodgers is going to have that same baggage. He's going to bring that with him no matter what.

You are correct. I think he should too. But if he doesn't, I think the Steelers are the best spot. They've dealt with Divas before. They've still been able to be competitive in spite of all of it. Now, have they been a Super Bowl contender? No, it probably robs them of that because they don't have the discipline. But they can still be a competitive team. They're

a buttoned-up organization. They've dealt with divas before, at least to the fullest extent possible. I think you can do it. If you can deal with Antonio Brown for as long as you did, Juju Smith-Schuster's TikTok dances, Chase Claypool...

All of their wider receivers. I know. I know. I mean, kind of Ben Roethlisberger, too. Aaron Rodgers is going through a little bit of a Ben Roethlisberger-type phase where every single year he's just contemplating, maybe I should retire. Yeah, honestly.

Maybe I should get out of here. Yeah. I just feel like. He's done with me before. like before no no you're right you're right it's just I but then again you and I are in agreement on that he should retire because the longer he stays in the league I just think so apparently I never thought so but apparently the people the great unwashed have said that there was a goat debate between Brady and Rodgers. I feel like he's played himself out of that, and it's happened for a while. And honestly, after this season, there's a case to be made that he played himself out of the top five. And the longer he plays, just the more he's going to remove himself from that upper echelon.

Now, he's obviously going to go to the Hall of Fame, but just at some point you've got to save face and cut your losses. Sure, but was he even in the top five? This is just a side argument. Yeah, fair. And I'm just saying like he's only hurting himself. Brady, Montana, Manning. Who after that?

Probably, I don't know, Mahomes. That's what I – yeah i yeah my homes number four but afterward it kind of gets murky i mean i'm not a big drew brees fan you could argue for john elway you could argue yeah it depends on but whatever it doesn't really matter and rogers is irrelevant to the greatest of all time conversation now i mean the guy is really yeah ever since 2021 where he probably shouldn't have won the league mvp award anyways so it's yeah it's been a it's been a tailspin ever since for him but we're going to get into the rest of our offseason coverage, kind of to preview this offseason. We'll start with franchise tags. That's going to come first this offseason.

Going to trade candidates, NFL free agency, and the coveted NFL draft. That's all next. You are listening to the Fulmer Ruski Podcast. It may not have always showed it in the stat sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws. Back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's got to get that six or seven spot. Welcome back to the Fumble Rooski Podcast by Power 88 and Seeker Weapon Consulting. I'm Adam Wright with CJ Medeiros. We've reached the franchise tag deadline.

So the window goes all the way from February 20th to March 5th. It starts and goes on around that window. And the thing is, the franchise tag is rarely used. Every team gets one, but only a few are used every year. And this year feels like, it just feels like the well is drier than it usually is um now there's a couple of different franchise tags that we can go over um pulling it up um right now um but there's the the exclusive tag there's the non-exclusive tag, and there's the transition tag. The exclusive tag is pretty simple. You place the deal, and And only – it opens the window up until I believe it's July 15th where you're allowed to negotiate a long-term deal.

And if a deal isn't reached before that time, then the player just plays under that contract. And that's kind of the basic gist of it. That's the one that's usually placed. Otherwise, it's a very, very murky situation. And another thing I'd like to point out is we can go on and on about the franchise tag itself, but it's very difficult to work with. It pisses the players off, makes them not want to be there anymore. You end up giving them a one-year deal that is worth the average of the top five of that position in the league.

And the player's losing a year of his prime a difficult situation to work with and players are playing on it without their consent or they're holding out which rarely happens um but let's go over some of these names here and we'll start off with the Chiefs. And this one is Trey Smith, the guard. Trey Smith is arguably the best guard in all of football right now. And he is a big part of the Chiefs' success recently on their offensive line. Almost every single year, the Chiefs' success recently on their offensive line. Almost every single year, the Chiefs, over the past few years,

have had one of the best interior lines in all of football. Between him, Creed Humphrey, and Joe Tooney, they've had one of the best interiors in football. Now, the thing is, the guard position does grow on trees. It's pretty easy to find good sheets out there. But the Chiefs, their offensive line, especially on the edges, has been extremely thin. They can't really afford to lose any pieces on that line right now

because it's already in shambles as it is. They kind of gave the finger last offseason to the tackle position when they lost Donovan Smith to free agency. They let him go. They decided, you know what, we're not going to replace him. And that's become a problem. How about this one, CJ? So the thing with Trey Smith is it's not whether or not he's going to get tagged.

It's whether or not Kansas City can afford to tag him. Because you mentioned it's a one-year deal, right? Average the top five positions, obviously. However, one thing that I want to make abundantly clear is that it's a one-year deal. Like you said, we got all clear is that it's a one-year deal, like you said, and we got all that, but it's fully guaranteed, meaning that's going to eat up a large part of your salary cap. Now, my friends, let's crunch some numbers.

The projected franchise tag value for a guard is, we'll just call it nice, even 23 million. You know, it's 23 point whatever, but we're just going it nice even 23 million you know it's 23 point whatever we're just gonna say 23 meanwhile the kansas city chiefs as i mentioned in our super bowl recap episode are not swimming in cap space in fact after all the incentives have been doled out you know and you know the new league year is about to start everything's been reshuffled their cap situation has gotten worse the kansas city chiefs as it sits right now in 2025 have 5.3 million in cap space so it's not that it's not whether or not they are gonna it's whether or not they can and they just straight up can't afford it and mahomes already restructured his deal kelsey

might retire and if that's the case then he just becomes dead money loans at least last season and i imagine this season too will say that he doesn't want to restructure so i'm leaning towards that it doesn't happen because they can't afford it otherwise they're they're going to have to part ways with a lot of players to make it work. Yeah, they might have to do it through the draft. But at the same time, they may have to just spend whatever money they have this offseason on that franchise tag and just keep Trey Smith around because, like I said, they need to improve their offensive line situation,

not just keep guys together. They can't just replace what they've lost. True. They need to bring in some external players. No, I mean, like, according to SpotTrack, like I said, they only have, like, 5.3 mils. So, I mean, and as I keep saying every offseason, you've got to set aside about 10 mil for

your rookies so they're already behind the eight ball as it is at this rate they unironically might not be able to afford a first round pick i mean obviously they'll find a way they'll have to shuffle some things around but the homes already restructured his deal kelsey's not gonna chris jones isn't gonna it's just it it's not looking good and also for kansas city nick bolton i have heard is another one who could get tagged but once again same situation where the tag outsees literally how much cap they have yeah so all right moving on to the next one we can't we can't spend too much time on one. Let's go to our next one, which is, I think,

maybe one of the more likely scenarios. It's the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with Chris Godwin. Now, Godwin is – so this – it's important to understand, as we also move to Sam Darnold as well, the franchise tag does not include just players who were drafted and are on their rookie deals. It's on anyone who's become a free agent, an unrestricted free agent who was previously on your team. So Chris Godwin may not be on his rookie deal.

But he's an unrestricted free agent. He's an unrestricted free agent for the Buccaneers. So they do want to keep, if they want to keep this core around Mike Evans, Baker Mayfield, Chris Godwin, they need to go out and prioritize their main core. They need to keep them together and start with Chris Godwin, who's still in his 20s technically. Looking at their cap situation, the Buccaneers,

where are the Buccaneers here? Yep. They have about 5 million cap space. So they will have to work a few things around. But if they just place the tag, if they just place it... Wait, Adam, wait, where are you looking at? Spot track. Wait, I'm on it too, and I'm looking at Tampa right now.

They have negative 3.5 million are you sure you're looking in the right space it's saying five cap space all spot track season 2025 cap space top 51 that's where it is that's not 25 are you sure you're in the right spot yes dude like i can share my screen if you want basically it's uh you sure you're in the right spot? Yes, dude. I can share my screen if you want. Basically, you look over cap space all, which is the amount of money they have in Kansas, and it's literally saying right now negative $3.5 million. You have to go to top 51. Why? What do you mean?

Because that's where it actually has the cap space. It's highlighted. Either way. You're right. But yeah. So once again, 5.6, still not enough. Right. So they'll have to move some things around, but if they just place the tag during their, during their time,

during that window, I think that's something that they could also, that they could also work with um here's another one wait hold on before you you want to throw my two cents in real quick yes so the tag to cost him a second time because here's the thing chris godwin has already been tagged before and every player can be tagged twice and then that's it that's all you get and if i'm not mistaken i want to say it increases the cost to do it a second time and the tag for wide receivers is going to be just under 40 million or we'll round up and call it 40 million that's more than

what he's being paid now he's coming off an injury He's about to be 29 And that is about, according to Pro Football Focus A 144% increase Over last year's salary So for Tampa, I don't know It's another one where It's going to be some tough maneuvering Yeah, and

Never mind, I think So he actually has been tagged twice. So I believe Wait, has he been tagged twice? And I know you can only use it twice. But um yeah didn't think he would yeah you can't use it twice or you can't use it i think you can only use it twice i mean you can't use it three times but no they they can they can apply it more than twice so he's already twice but he's he's a candidate for this this time as well oh fair enough oh wait wait is that part of the new cba because i know it used to be you couldn't tag them twice or you could but that's all yeah fair enough continue i going to look it up um

yeah so it's very I mean the whole oh it's three times it's three times so it's three times so God can be and I just want to say I can confirm like I said

earlier it does become more expensive every time you use it. Right. So he's a candidate, but it's going to be a tough situation for them to iron out. Speaking of unrestricted free agents who are coming from a different team, as we mentioned. Sam Darnold was drafted by the Jets.

He was signed by the Vikings to a one-year deal to be a backup. He wound up becoming the full-time starter because J.J. McCarthy tore his meniscus. But here he is. He had a career year and now looks like one of the most highly touted prospects as far as free agents go on the quarterback market. They'd be kind of crazy not to tag him and try to trade him for something. Because then you can get a lot if, let's say, the Steelers or the Raiders decide they want him. Because those are, I mean, you talk about quarterback-needy teams that could offer this player a platform to really succeed pretty early. Those two teams are at the top of the list.

And they also don't have a good enough pick to get a quarterback in this year's draft. The thing is. They probably won't be bad enough in the next couple of years to go and get that quarterback either. So there's another possibility. I just want to say the thing is i like where your head's at it's just let me ask you this how often do tagging trades happen in the nfl if you really stop and trade for assets, but the issue just becomes,

if you want to execute a tag and trade, any odds of you getting a first round pick, even a second rounder, are not great. Because it's only a one year deal, and most teams, they're just going to wait you out. You have no leverage. And on top of that, you're're gonna have to pay him the actual tag and extend him so that's the thing when you trade for a player that needs an extension

you have to pay to get him and then you actually have to pay him so in reality you're paying twice i mean that's why like i said i think they're so rare is because that it i mean maybe there's like one every two to three seasons but it's because the team that's doing the tag and trade really doesn't have any leverage and honestly even if you do tag darnell and you can't find a trade partner for him he's gonna cost a lot of money because the qb tag as we all know is far and away the most expensive one. And it's almost 40 million, like the receiver one,

it's 39.6. So if they place the non-exclusive tag and this version of the tag allows the player to sign an offer sheet with another team and the original team has the right to match the offer, which if they're doing this, they probably aren't even looking to keep them or receive receive two first round picks in compensation if the player leaves. At least they'll get some form of draft capital if they do it. So this is one that's a possibility.

Because I don't think, I think they're nailed down to jj mccarthy who was their first round pick this past year yeah sam darnold had a really good year but not good enough for them to move on from their their first round pick quarterback and from what i've seen from mccarthy in training camp and preseason games, it looks pretty good. So you're moving on from Sam Donald. It's just a matter of how you let him walk in free agency and don't do anything.

Or do you tag him and try to get something for him? If I'm them, I try to tag them. I'm tagging them and seeing if I could get the most I possibly can out of them, get some draft capital. Even if it's not multiple firsts, get something out of them,

then that's something that'll help build a team around JJ McCarthy and help to help to build towards the Superbowl. And part of that is, is using sort of using your resources that you don't necessarily need, like Sam Darnold, and turning it into something to help you. And there's plenty of teams out there that need a quarterback. So maybe, just maybe, maybe the Raiders are willing to do it or the Steelers, because both are looking for a new quarterback. And with Sam Darnold, the year that he had, he may be looking to be the next team to benefit

from his mini career renaissance. I want to bring up this last one. Actually, we'll bring up two. This next one is Alaric Jackson for the Rams. Now, according to reports, it's very unlikely, but this is too crazy of a player to not be mentioned. He's about to be an unrestricted free agent. He was an undrafted free agent, by the way, that they brought in. He's young, he's still in his mid-20s, and he's one of the better young left tackles in the league this year. If this guy hits free agency, he has to become the most highly touted tight end, capital free agent on the market. I mean, the Rams need a tackle.

At least they need to hold on to the guy they have. And Joe Noteboom's also becoming a free agent. How do they not think we need to tag this guy right away? You know, you have a valid point there with the Rams. And the thing is, what makes it more perplexing is that they have a little over $40 million in cap space, which can more than afford you a Larrick Jackson. So I just, I don't understand why they are it. I mean, it's not impossible, impossible but i mean we all saw the reports they're all unlikely like they all just said it's like highly so i i just it's a real head scratcher

i mean he's gonna if he does hit free, which I cannot believe he actually is going to, I just don't see how he doesn't become one of the higher paid young tackles in the league. He should be. An undrafted free agent, mid-20s, you sign him to a four-year deal, that's a bargain and a half. It doesn't matter how expensive it is. Because you're getting your franchise left tackle for years to come. This is a guy, if you're the New England Patriots, if he hits the market, they need to go all in on him right away. That's the first free agent you should be going after.

A left tackle stud like this guy, boy will this guy be really good if he hits the free agent market but that's the thing i think he should get tagged i thought he'd be likely to but according to reports he's not even supposed to i once again and it's not like the Chiefs or the Bucks we were talking about, their tag candidates where they can't afford it. That is the weirdest part, is that the Rams can't afford it. So I just, their GM, Wes Snead, I got to wonder what he knows. He obviously has to know something that we're not uh yeah that we're obviously

not privy to so i i don't know like i i'm just like i said i'm perplexed i just i don't understand I, there's nothing anywhere that has him as even a candidate. So, I'm shocked. I, if Joe Noteboom, especially with Joe Noteboom being, this guy, being a, with Joe Noteboom being a free agent, they have to retain one of them. So I don't see why they wouldn't be trying to tag. I mean, maybe they could sign him in free agency and this ends up, and maybe they do end up tagging him and it turns out it was all a giant smokescreen, but I don't know. The next one is Javon Holland.

One of the better safeties in the league. And the Dolphins, as far as cap space go, negative $15 million. They need to move a lot of things around. And their biggest contracts, I i mean you just signed two up tyree kill is basically telling him to screw off or else he's asking for a trade most likely i mean they can move some things around but i mean he has been a he has been a possible – he's been a popular franchise tag camp. Yeah, and I get you. So, like you mentioned, this is very different than we talked about, you know,

how Kansas City and Tampa aren't exactly swimming in money. When you just look at the top 51 miami's at negative 15.8 million now credit where it's due they just released running back raheem moster which is a room that saves 2.9 million but you're still over the cap and this is another one where is it possible to tag holland i've seen no buzz indicating that they will so there's that so yeah there's that we're gonna move away from the franchise tag because it's a giant shit show um there could be players who are not even talking about who could end up being tagged so who the hell knows but either, we're going to move on,

and we're going to talk about potential trade candidates. And believe me, with the offseason starting, there are a lot of them already. That's all next. This is the FumbleRisky Podcast. It may not have always showed it in the stat sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws. Back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's got to get that six or seven spot. He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie.

Truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. Welcome back to the Fumbled Brewski Podcast. I'm Adam Wright with CJ Medeiros. So we're going to talk about some trade candidates. There's no deadline for any of this to happen. Anything could happen at any time. Could happen during February before anything happens. Could happen right now. You never know. Could happen during the playoffs. That's literally what happened a few years ago with Matthew Stafford. That was the infamous Matthew Stafford trade,

Lions trading Stafford over to the Rams. That was right before one of the Super Bowls. All right. But going over our first deadlock, our first trade candidate, Cooper Kopp. It's not even that he's requested to be traded because he literally said, I want to retire a Ram. They said, well, I think we're going to deal you away. And apparently the Rams, and this is a really bad decision on their part, they've made it public. They want to trade him away as quickly as possible, which only means to teams they can send as many low balls as they want because they're just trying to trade them away quickly.

That's not a good business decision on their part. They probably should have kept it quiet. How much of a return do you think the Rams could have gotten if they weren't so public about them wanting to trade them away? Because Cooper, Kopp wanted to stay a Ram. If the Rams just shut the hell up, maybe you'd get more of a third or fourth round pick. But now maybe you'll get a fourth or fifth round.

I don't know. It's just, I, even to begin with, it was very unlikely that they were going to get that much of a return for him. I mean, anything, if you want anything more than like a third round pick, you're SOL. You know, he's older. i think he just turned 30s and he's got a just racking up injuries huh he's gonna be 32 jesus christ 32 yeah now third might even be generous you'd be lucky to get a third you know he's 32 racking up injuries he's's still good. But you take that into consideration, right? You were never going to get anything regardless.

But now, oh boy, now you've gone and ran your mouth that you want him gone and you have surrendered pretty much all leverage. I mean, teams can just say whatever they want. It's at the point where maybe he gets released. And if you don't mind, I'd like to transition into the next guy sure speaking of guys who are most likely going to be released debo samuel there's a very good chance according to recent reports that not so not only has have the 49ers given Debo Samuel's agent permission to request a trade, but they also, if they can't even find a partner, they're just going to cut ties with him.

And it's at the point, apparently, all season long, Debo Samuel was 20 pounds overweight. It very, very severely affected his game. It may get to the point where they can't even find a trade partner for him. And especially with Debo's mouth, that's a problem in itself. I don't know what they can do at this point. I mean, they've screwed themselves too. It's not even the 49ers camp. It's Debo's camp. I don't know what they can do at this point. I mean, they've screwed themselves too. It's not even the 49ers camp.

It's Debo's camp. The kid has the worst attitude of all time. He's out of shape. He had a bad year. And now it's made public that they want to trade him, kind of like the rams before like it's hard to find to get any sort of especially given his age he's he's 29 it's gonna be hard to find any sort of return for him for the 49ers which screws them over and devo may end up on a bad situation. Yeah, honestly, Debo did this to himself.

I can't speak to this, but I would imagine the Niners would be less eager to get him off the team if he wasn't not in football shape and if he wasn't, you know, a cancer, like his biggest highlight of last season was getting fact-checked by community notes on X where he says, Oh, I don't have any problems. They just need to get me the ball.

And people said, Hey, guess what, buddy, you'll lead your team in drops. And if you're the Niners, I, all right, I'm going to be honest, I can't speak to how much dead money they'd eat if they cut him. But I know they're pretty good when it comes to cap space. I believe they're at 50.3 million. I'm looking at it right now,

and they are, in fact, at 50.3 mil. So, yeah. Okay, that's at least top 51. When you look at cap space in total, they're at 43.5, which still is going to suck you that dead money, but he seems to be a net negative. And when Juwan Jennings looks promising, you're going to have Ayuk coming back from injury. Ricky Pearsall is going to be on his rookie deal.

And on top of that, you have to pay Brock Purdy next season. Yeah. Might be just time to let him go. Yeah. So the report that the 49ers, if they can't trade him, that they'll cut him, it's from ESPN's Jeff Darlington. The report of him being overweight this season came from a 49ers

insider. Forgive me on the pronunciation. It's one of those local reporters. Not quite sure, but I'll give it a try. Tim Kawakami? Yeah, I believe that's his name, yes.

Yes. So he's the one who reported he was 20 pounds overweight. He was out of shape all season long. That may not seem like too much because 20 pounds overweight, if you know a lot about health, then you can know, well, that could be, it may not be fat, it could be muscle. Well, even so, with the amount of cuts and the amount of weight distribution that he makes through being one of those shifty types of players on the field, all that weight being thrown around, that's a lot on your legs. And that could cause a lot of injury. And also, you're not going to be able to throw yourself around as much

because that's a lot of weight to just distribute, right? If you're that quick, if you're shifty, then if you rely on it like Devo does, then that becomes a problem. So being 20 pounds overweight, maybe a lot of it is muscle. Maybe it's fat. If it's fat, then it's really bad. But maybe it's muscle. If it is muscle, that's still not good because it doesn't match,

doesn't really blend very well with his style of play. Usually the bigger guys, you want to be the guys who are trucking guys, like the Derrick Henrys of the world, right? The Julio Joneses of the world, the Rob Gronkowskis, right? Those are the big guys that can just pull those through you. Debo Samuel's not that kind of guy. If he gains 20 pounds of muscle, that's a problem for his performance. All right, here's the next one. Myles Garrett made it very public in a statement that he wanted to be traded from the Cleveland Browns. The Browns are in an interesting, the Browns are in a precarious spot because they don't have much leverage, but they're seizing as much as they can because

they've made it known that they will not trade miles garrett will they trade them most likely they probably will i think most people do but they're here's where cju and i will disagree is that they, maybe they wouldn't get a massive deal for Garrett, but if they were open about finding a partner with him, kind of like how the Rams are, you'd get a smaller return. Smaller. They're trying to get the largest that they can out of them. That's all I'm saying.

Yeah, no, no. I agree. It's just, I don the largest that they can out of them that's all i'm saying yeah no no i agree it's just i don't know if they can i think they're gonna get like at least a first and they can't really be that picky because i know you were talking about trades before you and i were going back and forth about this you once mentioned well you know russell wilson netted three firsts well the thing is russell wilson's a quarterback and it's the most valuable position and you said well khalil mac once netted two firsts well khalil mac was much younger than miles garrett so the thing is you garrett who i believe is almost 30 two year difference mile khalil mac was 27 okay cool yeah and miles garrett's about to be 30 though that's the thing and miles garrett's still in his prime,

but the big 3-0 that is upcoming is going to scare a lot of teams off. And the thing is – Yeah. Huh? He actually just turned 30. Oh, he just turned 30. He'll be 30 at the end of the 2025 NFL season. So that's – Yeah, but still, that's going to scare a lot of teams off and honestly is there a decline

in this play no not really not at all in fact but i just it doesn't matter like you know you said like little mac was 27 that's still a reasonable age to get to first form it's just i just feel like this is so different and also i don't trust the browns front office to swing a trade that's going to benefit them you know andrew berry has already shown his hand as a bungler you know because you we all remember the deshaun watson trade and how swimmingly that worked out for him. And on top of that, the Browns, if they held all the cards and if they had a good team around them, then maybe I wouldn't be concerned. However, Joel Batonio is already considering retiring. I don't know if you saw, but Denzel Ward is now questioning his future now that Garrett wants out. And I know the Browns want

to keep Garrett because he's going to keep everything together. But the way I see it, the writing's on the wall. And Jimmy Haslam, stubborn as he is, he has to realize, I think, that if, you know, how do I put this? If they keep around Garrett, they're basically just going to be holding him hostage. He's not going to play. He's going to sit out, and then all sides lose. And once again, if you think teams won't wait you out, you're wrong. And I know it's the classic thing, how GMs do where they try to regain leverage. But the thing is, it's Garrett who wants a trade out. It's not the

Browns trying to move him. It's Garrett who wants out. So just based on that alone, they just have no leverage. And I imagine they're going to cave. I don't know when, but soon. I would say they'll probably get a first, a solid player, and a late round pick. And honestly, just take it and run. You don't want to get too greedy because when you do, you end up like the Carolina Panthers. Remember when they tried to trade Brian Burns? I think the Rams offered them two first and ended up having to settle for like a third and a sixth from the Giants. Learn from that. Don't let yourself become the Panthers they'll get a good return for them either way I would imagine yeah but either way this is going to change a lot for this offseason even if they hold on to them

I think this changes the draft. They're probably going to take an edge now. So that's something to consider. Either way, looking over to another one, there's a lot of wide receivers here. This next one is DK Metcalf. In some ways, the Seattle Seahawks have some leverage over Metcalf. In other ways, they don't have so much. In ways they don't have leverage is that Metcalf is playing with just one year left on his deal. Bad for leverage. Ways that Seattle has leverage.

They have a wide receiver one now with Jackson Smith and Jigba. They can afford to hang on to him and just play out his deal. They can afford to trade him away and get something for him. They have Jackson Smith and Jigba, who is now their number one. Doesn't make DK Metcalf any less of a one on any other team, but they have a better guy in Smith and Jigba. He's younger, he's faster. Overall, I believe a better wide receiver. And he had a breakout year after they moved on from their old offensive coordinator, Shane Waldron, suddenly he's flourished. And now that Shane Waldron is away from the cancer that is Shane Waldron,

is away from the Bears, now Roma Dunze can break out. But I like DK Metcalf, and I think he's a good bet that he'll be playing for a different team this year. And I don't think it'll be for a first, but potentially a third, maybe a second if they're extra good. And if I'm a Patriots concerns me about dk metcalf is he's not as crazy as some of the other receivers like debo and george pickens but he does have quite an attitude problem you know you know we've seen him throwing his helmet i remember like one time i was either last season or two seasons ago, he flat out got ejected from the game and then tried to come back.

And, you know, he's always, like I said, he's just basically a big, moody child. And so that is going to cause, like it's just personality issues in and of themselves are going to cause some concern, shall we say. And on top of that, like you said, they don't really have too much leverage, you know, because he's only on the last year of his deal. And that's going to hamper what they get back for him. Because like I keep saying, if you trade for somebody on the last year of their then in reality you got to pay twice you know because you got to pay them again and you have to pay to get them so you have to pay for the privilege to pay them which that's nuts so will he get traded i'm actually leaning towards no personally but it wouldn't shock me. I guess it depends on how agreeable he is.

Let me give you the next one. AJ Brown. This is, now this guy is coming off a world championship. And that one post that he put out where he was talking about how he should be satisfied, but he's not, and he wants to keep on proving that he can do it, he can win a championship, he loves the... He was essentially talking about how he loves the process. I'll read it out to you.

I have it right in front of you. After a few days, I've had time to reflect on always on being a champion. I tried to feel how everyone made it seem to be a champion, and unfortunately, it was short-lived. Two days to be exact, LOL. I've never been a champion at the highest level before, but I thought my hard work would be justified by winning it all. It wasn't. My thrill for this game comes when I dominate. It's the hunt that does it for me. It's when the DB drops his head in surrender.

He must have said in surrender. Because he can't F with me. The intense battles. Early mornings. Late nights. Sacrifices. I love putting smiles on people's faces. Don't get me wrong.

But it just wasn't what I thought it would be. It's the journey that I love the most. Back to work. That can be interpreted a couple different ways. A lot of people are saying this means he wants to be traded to a new team. That he's not happy with his production. That he's unhappy with not getting the ball enough. Another way that it could be interpreted as is he's just excited to get back to work to win another championship.

He wants to keep winning. Either way could work. And I think time will tell as to what he really meant. As much as this was really a paragraph, this was a lot of typing. This was reasonably cryptic for how much is typed in this one practically essay here um and pretty and quite honestly this is some of the worst grammar that i've seen um this is pretty poorly typed out some of it's didn't even use the right words. Yeah. However,

it could mean a couple things. It could. It could mean that he's unhappy with the amount that he was able to put in, the role that he played. Could mean that he's just, I'm ready to get back to work. I want to win another championship. Could mean a couple things.

I feel like it's more so the second one i look i know we're patriots fans we'd love to have aj brown i know a lot of teams have been saying oh my god it's happening he's gonna leave but i just i don't see it they just won a super bowl you know and i feel like it's more that he wants to get out there and he wants to win another one. And honestly, we remember about how he and Jalen Hurts supposedly didn't get along. That was obviously a lie. Like, look at what just happened. They're champions now.

They definitely planted it, too. They wanted their own bulletin material they're like things are going too well let's create something so the media can just fester in it and give ourselves our own bulletin material honestly yeah that's what I think it was and that's what I kind of think

this is too and on the flip side I'm with this if this is real like if this is If this is real, if this is actually a real thing, why would you want this on your team? Wide receivers get very, very cryptic and kind of diva-like.

They love the spotlight to be on them. It's in the nature of the position. They want the ball. The guys who are psychotic, they just want the football and they want to put up the stats. They want it to be about them. That's the nature of the position. If they aren't like that when they enter the league, they eventually will be. It's usually the way it goes, unfortunately. If you look at all the star players, the vast, vast majority of them in our league's history, we're all like that.

They need the ball. So I do believe that maybe it's partially, they want it to be about them. It could also be at the same time that, you know, he wants to win another championship. And we're hearing a lot of the same stuff from all of the players. They're all like, I'm not satisfied.

I want to go out and win another one now that I've tasted it. Jalen Hurts, I believe, said it too, didn't he? Yeah. So they're all very hungry. We're going to be talking about that plenty over the offseason, about the Eagles, probably during the regular season too coming up because they'll probably be in the middle of the playoff race again. But I don't know how sustainable what their winning formula was.

If they want to sustain it, they may need to add another back to take some wear and tear off of Saquon Barkley. Because if that's the way you want to win, if you want to reach dynasty status, like what Mike Whartonby said from the Squawking Nugles podcast, can't believe he said it because I don't believe it's going to happen. If they want it to happen, you need to make sure that that running game will last longer. Because that one season, you can't expect Saquon to repeat that every single year. In fact, I'd go as far as to say if they go into this season with just Saquon Barkley, he's going to get hurt.

He's going to get hurt. It almost always happens when they have a massive season like that. But I'm getting too off topic. Let's move on. We're going to get into NFL free agency. So what we're going to do with this one and the draft when we cover it is we're going to go over the top five in each category. So with NFL free agency, it's going to be the top five in total cap space,

what they should do with it. The NFL draft, top five draft picks, what should they use them for? That's next. This is the Fumble Rooski Podcast. It may not have always showed it in the stat sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws. Back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's got to get that six or seven spot. He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. Truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. Welcome back to the Fumble Rooski podcast by Power 88 and Secret Weapon Consulting. I'm Adam Wright with CJ Medeiros. We have reached NFL free agency as far as previewing the segment goes.

Free agency starts, the legal tampering period starts on March 10th at 12 p.m., goes until 4 p.m. on March 12th, and that's when the real actual free agency starts. But the legal tampering period is basically when it starts, and when most stuff actually happens, it takes a little bit of the thunder from real free agency, but who cares? Free agency is free agency. Just call it the legal tampering period. Call it free agency when it really starts. Who cares?

We get football action. And we have a few teams with an abundance of cap space we're going to go over. We're going to start. We'll go from five and we'll work our way up. We're going to start with the L.A. Chargers. They have 65 million in cap space, and the Chargers were the number one scoring defense in the league this year. To everyone's surprise, after they were a really bad defense last year,

their coaching has improved drastically. Obviously, they have the quarterback. Wide receiver one is covered. The running back position is set. The issue is maybe they need a little bit more patchwork on the defense. And maybe they also need, I'm looking at the wide receiver position, they need another receiver to combine with Ladd-McConkie. Maybe McConkie is a one. Maybe he's a two. Maybe it's going to be one A, one B. But at the top of the list, it has to be wide receiver, right? Yeah, beyond a shadow of a doubt.

I mean, Ladd-McConkie's good. I believe Palmer is about to be a free agent. And worse yet, Quentin Johnston couldn't catch a cold. Yeah. Quentin Johnston did have a reasonably good season this year but overall what i would say is that they could use some patchwork on that defense because they do have a lot of players who are aging um bud dupree is still on the team I'm looking at, what's his name? Jeez. Blanking on.

Khalil Mack. That's who it is. Khalil Mack is getting older. Overall, their defense, their core has a bit of age to it. And they were able to get younger on the offensive side of the ball. I don't see how they can't do that on the defensive side as well. Because if you're a team that's kind of more of like the team of tomorrow, right? You're a little bit on the younger side.

You have a bunch of new players on offense. Then you need to do that throughout the entire team, not just the offensive side of the ball. Because it won't last forever. So either re-sign Khalil Mack for one more year, or go get a new edge rusher, in which case there are some players out there. If they went out and got Josh Sweat, that'd be something. Wide receiver, they could go and get T. Higgins. Or if the Buccaneers decide they're not franchise tagging, Chris Godwin, go get him. Or just get one of the veterans.

There's a couple of them out there. Keenan Allen. Yeah, I mean, it's very possible. Imagine a Keenan Allen reunion with the Chargers. I just, I feel like wide receiver is the issue that you absolutely have to hammer down. And also your defense is going to need some work. Obviously, they had a solid draft recently,

so I feel like you could plug a lot of that up. But like you said, like they're swimming in a lot of cap space. And after you saw how Kansas City, you know, division rival got, you know, just like belt to ass in the Super Bowl. Maybe that boogeyman might not scare off greatness away because apparently that's not what was happening. Like no one wants to go into the same division as Kansas City and be runner-up again and again. But now they've shown that they're mortal. So maybe that could be a lure. But once again, it's got to be a receiver.

You already listed, you know, who they need to get. So honestly, yeah, I definitely think that that's the way they should go, at least. Here's another one. Our number four, with $71 million in pot, is the Arizona Cardinals. The Cardinals are a tough one because I guess they need some help on their offensive line. But they have been investing in that position. They just went out and got a couple of tackles in the last couple of years. help on their offensive line, but they have been investing in that position.

They just went out and got a couple of tackles in the last couple of years. This past offseason, they went and got, they signed Jonah Williams. Maybe they could replace him since he's not all that good, move him on the interior. They also brought in Paris Johnson. But that's really the only spot where I'm like, wow, they really, really suck. And I guess Ed Rush or two. What about defensive back? Just wondering. DB, they could use some help. Yeah. db they could use some help yeah uh i definitely think defensive back is beyond a shadow of a doubt an area where they absolutely have to focus um but yeah the cardinals are just they're very

bleh i guess as a team i mean they don't really have the head coach or even the quarterback that would make you want to play there. I feel like they'd probably need another receiver because Marvin Harrison Jr. has a lot of potential, but outside of him, the cupboard's pretty bare. I know Kyler Murray loves Greg Dortch, but Greg Dortch is hardly a wide receiver one or two. You got McBride. McBride's good.

The O-line's solid, But mostly it's just defense. They couldn't pressure the quarterback, and their coverage has been spotty since they let Byron Murphy walk. And truth be told, their only good DB is Buda Baker. But they do have the cap space to remedy it. But luring them in is going to be tough. Yeah. There's really nothing exciting about Arizona right now.

There really isn't. You could, I guess, so apparently the top, speaking of defensive back, the Dolphins just officially released Kendall Fuller. I'm on it. Oh, and by the way, they're probably freeing up some cap space there, aren't they? Because we were talking about them earlier. We were talking about them because they need Javon Holland, don't they? Mm-hmm.

That's what I imagine what they're working towards. It probably is. If they're... I mean, like we said, the salary cap is real but easily manipulated. When you have 53 players on one roster, there's a lot of money you can work around. And I think that they can at least make the room just to bring in Javon Holland to keep them around. To improve the team in free agency, definitely not.

But they have the money to at least keep that one player. Either way, the Cardinals don't – I guess DB and Edge are probably the spots where they really need the most help. And I guess they can use some help on the offensive line. But that's really it. And if you guys have any reservations, let us know in the YouTube comments or wherever. Here's where things get juicy. And we are at number three. We're at number three. The Washington Commanders with 79 million in cap space.

And this is a team that was literally just the number two overall pick five minutes ago and is now removed, just a few weeks removed from the NFC Championship. That's how quickly things can change in the NFL. And they can change it even more by adding to an already young and exciting roster. You have a number one receiver. Your offensive line completely 180'd from the year prior where they were one of the worst in football. Jaden Daniels is the reigning offensive rookie of the year.

He looks like he can only get better from there. Why would you not go after another wide receiver? And yes, I know, I know, their defense needs a lot of work. But with $79 million in cap space, you can find another wide receiver. You don't even need a one, you just need a two. Just somebody else besides McLaurin to throw to. Why would you not go out and get one of those guys and improve on the defense as well oh yeah 110 it's uh it's definitely doable

so another thing that you got to look at for the commanders right is and teams in general it's who's actually a free agent. Because getting new pieces in the building obviously is extremely important, right? But keeping the pieces you already have can a lot of times become an afterthought in the big free agency craze. So Bobby Wagner is going to be a free agent. Jeremy Chin is going to be a free agent Jeremy Chin is going to be a free agent Dante Fowler Zach Ertz also free agent Cornelius Lucas Michael Dieter your starting center they're gonna Noah Igbenogamy they're Diami Brown Noah Brown so they're not stars but they're definitely going to be missing a lot of depth and you're going to have

to replenish that which of course is going to eat into your cap space but overall they have enough to the point where does it really matter you know honestly i definitely think they're going to go out and try to grab a new uh wide receiver two to pair along with terry mclaurin and i've grab a new wide receiver, too, to pair along with Terry McLaurin. And I've heard a lot of Dolphins fans talk about T. Higgins, and I definitely think you can't take that off the table. The only thing that concerns me... Dolphins fans talking about him?

Sorry, I meant Commanders fans because, you know, I have to make... I was going to say, like hell they are. Yeah, no, I'm sorry know, I have to make, you know, I'm sorry. I got to make the, I was going to say, like, hell they are. Yeah.

Well, maybe after Tyree kills pouting and demanding a trade, but Hey, another topic for another day, but sorry. Like I said, I'm working on this, but yeah.

So I know commanders fans are clamoring for Higgins, but I don't know if Higgins would still want to be a sidekick. But we'll see. It's very possible they have the money to. But, yeah, overall, the Commanders definitely need to patch up the defense a bit, especially that backfield after watching Benjamin St. Juice get burned again and again and again. And you don't want someone to pair alongside Lattimore.

So, hey. But it's doable they have the money too i guess is my point yeah they do have one of the worst running defenses in the league so they may want to go and patch it up with some fat guys bring in a couple dts pre-agency market. Looking at... He loves slow Wi-Fi. Yeah, it happens. Defense, defense,

defensive tackle. I'm just going... B.J. Hill is out there. Oh, yeah, that's a good pick. D.J. Jones. Sebastian yeah, that's a good pick. DJ Jones. Sebastian Joseph. Javon Kinlaw. Joseph Day Kinlaw. I mean, Kinlaw is a bit weird, but Joseph Day is going to be a sneaky good pickup for

whoever gets him. So there are some good guys you can bring in to kind of patch up the middle, if that's an issue that you kind of have but i don't think run defense is as is as big as you need it to be because if you have the edge rusher to to get to the quarterback and if you have a good off good enough offense that gets ahead in games then you really don't need to defend the run as well especially if you have the secondary too if you have you can get to the quarterback

and you can defend in the past you don't really need the run defense as much the the 2020 uh the the 2023 um kansas city chiefs proved that not the best run defense, but their overall defense was so good. And it overshadowed their deficiencies on the interior. So it can be done. But looking at this next one, the Vegas Raiders, which have arguably the most needs, they definitely need a quarterback. They need a wide receiver, but they do have Brock Bowers to be their number one target. They have a lot of needs, but they have the money to do it.

The Vegas Raiders have $95 million in cap space. Yeah. yeah vegas is gonna be tough because look i'll be the first to tell you they're not entirely unattractive for starters uh tom brady is basically running the show and uh you know a lot of people like him and they would probably like to play for him however the raiders are just not attractive at all because i don't know how much pole p carroll still has uh chip kelly is largely unproven as an offensive coordinator and we all remember what happened last time he tried to be in the NFL. It was not great. We'll ask Mike Wharton about it.

Just kidding, Mike. You're a good friend of the podcast. But they just have so many needs, and I can't speak to how attractive they are. A lot of it's also because they don't have a quarterback, and that's going gonna hurt a lot but overall they should be able to throw money at pretty much anything that moves how else you know they got christian wilkins last season so it can be done if you're not raiders fans it can be done well i'm telling you the rot of aaron rogers and sam donald are two names to watch for the raiders

um and i think the more likely i don I think the Slender is more likely. I don't think Rodgers would want to play under Brady. That's just me. Maybe. But if it's slim pickings, I'm just saying. They may have to. I'm talking about Aaron Rodgers. If that's all that's available, then he's going to take that offer.

And also, maybe Rodgers has an ego, but Brady and Rodgers also love each other. They have a very good relationship. In fact, for one of their matchups during COVID, Brady, when it was during the regular season, Brady offered for Rodgers to stay at his house during the time that they were there. I don't remember. They're close. Maybe he ends up, maybe he says, you know what, I'm going to bite the bullet. He's only a part owner, technically. He's going to have significant pull, Brady will have,

but he's technically not the owner. No, he's not the owner, basically he's in he calls the shots essentially uh davis their owner their real the majority owner basically controls the purse strings right all right last but not least number one in cap space for what i believe they're at least top three for the second year in a row. The New England Patriots, $123 million. That's the most this franchise will have during its entire history and coming at a very pivotal offseason.

You know, at least last offseason, they didn't have the quarterback quite yet. They needed to draft somebody. They went and drafted them, and they figured out that quarterback quite yet. They needed to draft somebody. They went and drafted him, and they figured out that they have a kid who has some good talent and has potential to be a star quarterback. And apparently a lot of the league believes that as well. In fact, what did Ian Rappaport say about him? A mystical... Yeah, I got you right there. I am pulling the report up as we speak. It's actually kind of funny to hear, but Ian Rappaport says that Patriots quarterback Drake May

has, quote, a bit of a mythical reputation around the NFL. Mythical, okay. He said, full quote, Drake May of the NFL has a little bit of like a mythical reputation. He was the guy everybody wanted in the draft. You know, it was Caleb Williams, Jaden Daniels, and Drake May can be lumped in there too. Everybody tried to trade up for him. I thought, and I thought, and wait, I thought, and I don't know. It's his quote. I thought and we being told that the Patriots were considering trade option.

I don't know. Whatever. So long story short. Yes. Yeah. So they found what they believe is the quarterback, and I believe so too. And take it from somebody who is also – even during Matt Jones' Offensive Rookie of the Year runner-up year where where they had a good season, they finished 10-7, I will say, when I saw Mac Jones, I actually became

more skeptical of him after that season, because he didn't pass the eye test. He looked like a quarterback who's very reliant on scheming and game managing and decision making. I didn't see it. With May, from what I've seen from Drake May, and statistically what is not as good a year as Mac Jones had, he just looks the part. When I saw Mac Jones in 2021, in comparison to Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, Josh Allen, he didn't look the same as far as play style. He wasn't the guy who was explosive. He doesn't have as much arm talent. He didn't look like he had quite the ceiling of the rest of the good young quarterbacks in the league. This guy, Drake May, looks like he has it. He has all of the tools to be one of the better quarterbacks in the league. This guy, Drake May, looks like he has it. He has all of the tools to be one of the better quarterbacks in the league.

How good he'll be, I have no idea. But I believe they found their guy. With that being said, they were working with the worst offensive line in the league last year. It was not close. And the worst receiving core. In the words of the great Colin Coward, in a game of inches, the Patriots are several yards ahead,

whatever it was. But either way, that was a bad offensive line. This was a bad pass-catching core for May as well. The coaching scheme was about as bad as it gets. So they have a lot of needs to sort of carry. And I think they can cover most of it in one offseason. That being said, I hinted at it during the, I keep saying trade deadline, That being said, I hinted at it during the franchise tag window portion of our show.

I think they should bring in Aleric Jackson. That should be their number one priority. Aleric Jackson if he hits the market. Throw as much money as you can at him. Go and get Aleric Jackson. And then find another tackle. And I know they have Mike Onwenu who can play tackle as well. He can be fine.

The thing is, I think they can do better. And also, Onwenu is a much better guard. So if they bring in, let's say robinson ronnie stanley jedrick wills or let's say dj humphries even morgan moses um i want jedrick wills because he's 26 years old the kid is young him and alaric jackson would make not only one of the younger tackle duos in the league but it would also make one of the better tackle duos in the league and also that right tackle would be a two for one on when who moves to right guard suddenly you have three of your five all figured out and then you just need that center and you need the left guard,

which you have a million left guards you can work with. Mostly Cole Strange. Cole Strange. You have Leighton Robinson, who made some decent progress at the end of the season. You technically do still have City South. We can't forget his rookie year. He was all right. So they have some players on the interior. I'm not as worried about the interior,

more so the tackle position. But offensive line is their number one need. Number two, they need a wide receiver. I don't think they just need a wide receiver one. They also need a two. And I think there's a way to do it that is economically sound so that they're not spending all of their money on the wide receiver position because they need to do all that I want them to do on the offensive line. What they need to do is first find their stud, whether that's T. Higgins, Chris Godwin, trade for A.J. Brown, trade for D.K. Metcalf, draft maybe Travis Hunter. They need that guy. Then they need a two, which could be Cooper Cup they trade for.

They could trade for Debo Samuel. They could sign Keenan Allen. There's a bunch of wide receivers out there who are older and can still do it, but maybe they aren't the number one anymore. Stephon Diggs is out there. Amari Cooper is out there. You can go get Brandon Cooks. As far as wide receiver twos, that is.

Obviously, I don't want any of these players as our one. If that's all they do, if Cooper Cup is all they do, then it's a massive disappointment to soft season. But if they get, if they spend on one or just trade draft capital for one, and then they do a half measure to just go and get a veteran who's past his prime but can still do it. That'd be good, too. I think that's what they should do.

And the defense should honestly be second, because the defense, I don't think, contrary to popular belief, I don't think it needs as much help as we believe. They need an elite edge rusher. That's really all they need. And a corner opposite gonzalez because both marcus and jonathan jones are better slot guys sure but if they don't get it it's not the end of the world i think if they i said so when i say they have the resources to

cover most of their needs i mean i mean most So if there's any need that they're going to miss out on, I'd rather the number two corner. Also, if you really want that corner, let's go to the free agency market right now. All right, we go over. Let's see. Cornerback, here we go. I'll find you one right now. Carlton Davis, he's 28. He shouldn't be expensive. DJ Reed, he's a good CB2. He might be a little expensive, but you can do it. I don't know. He had a really awful year. Yes.

He got burned and draws a lot of penalties. Maybe he'll be cheap then. But he is a guy with the reputation of a corner that um he'll still get a lot of money out of him and say trevarious ward you can go and get you can go and get a one-year deal out of stefan gilmore kind of do the thing what we did with the wide receiver position we go and get the young stud we already have christian gonzalez then we need the older guy who used to be the young stud, but now he's older and we're just looking to milk the last amount of football

that we can get out of him. Stephon Gilmore is that guy. He can still do it. And if you need him just to be the number two corner with maybe some safety help, Stephon Gilmore is your guy. You can also go and get Dante Jackson. He's all right. A bit old, but anyway.

That's my point. Find that type of player who maybe is past his prime or he's in his prime and he's kind of reached his ceiling because you you don't need a number one corner anymore you already have that you're just looking for a supplement so that the other side of the field isn't getting violated yeah yeah no so the thing with new england right is that they've got a head coach, Mike Vrabel, who has the ability to learn free agents. They're a very historic franchise, which you got that in your favor. And you've got Drake May, who a lot of people like and a lot of people want to work with. But there is one thing that's

going to scare a lot of people away from New England. It's something beyond their control. Taxes. Hey, look, Adam, you're in massachusetts right now you know we're both in the new england region it's known for being expensive and that's gonna scare a lot of people and however i think it could be a lot worse because you know teams like the chargers and the commanders that are situated in california Maryland, D.C. area, those are also expensive too. So it's not like I've been hearing about, oh, the commander is just going to snatch up everyone New England wants because New England taxes.

It's like D.C. is like the second most expensive place to live in the United States outside of Hawaii. So overall, that's the thing with New England. And a lot of fans, admittedly like myself, are scared because remember what happened last season? They had like the second or third most in the league. We were told the team was going to burn some money and then they proceeded to sit on their hands because that's the thing with New England, right?

They're known for very modest off seasons. They're very quiet. They don't really believe in splash players. And all of that gets attributed to Bill Belichick and rightfully so. But that was a thing before Bill. That was a thing even before Kraft. New England was not a team that went out and got the splash guys. It's just not what they valued. Am I saying it's going to be different? I don't know. But I am actually cautiously optimistic that they will spend because last season, right? And I've said this many times, I'm going to say it again. And if you, the viewer are tired of

hearing it too bad, new England, like everybody on their team who was worth even a fraction of a damn was a free agent or needed an extension guys like Ramondre Stevenson, Christian Barmore, Kyle Duggar, Mike Alwenu, Hunter Henry, like everybody on the team who's even remotely good need a deal. But the thing with New England now is that everybody on their team who's a free agent, sure, there's some guys I'd like to have back, but there's nobody where it's going to be franchise altering to let them walk. They can comfortably let every free agent they have walk and, you know,

they'd still improve. So there is that. That's part of it too. I understand. But if you remember the 2021 offseason, right after that abhorrent 2020 year, when it was their first season finishing below.500 in nearly 20 years. If you remember that, the feeling was kind of the same as it is today.

Very much like ownership and the organization as a whole is just sick of playing poorly, very upset with how they played, and is ready for big changes. We've already seen that in the coaching staff. So we have some evidence that they're going to do the same as far as the personnel goes on the field. The problem is, will they do the things that we need them to do the same as far as the personnel goes on the field the problem is will they do the things

that we need them to do i think this is going to be a very busy offseason i think i think ownership knows that they need to fit that they need to fix things and i think this is going to be one of those rare off seasons where they go all out and they go and get the players that they need to get yeah and i don't think it's going to be like that 2021 off season for the sole reason that uh bill's not in charge anymore because here's the thing bill even when he had cap space he was still kind of a bargain hunter i don't think vrabel and at least elliot wolf's going to be the same because now if you're the patriots, you know, you're Kraft, you're Elliot Wolfe, like the Wolves are at your door, right? People are unhappy, attendance is dropping,

and, you know, you're going to have to at least try. So, yeah. Also, once again, Mike Vrabel and Drake May are going to be excellent to learn free agents. So there is that. is essentially that he's like Bill Belichick, and that could be a negative as well. And I get it. But I think we're going to get a version of Bill Belichick that is the one that had a chip on his shoulder, not the complacent one we got at the end of his tenure where even when Brady was there, Brady was like, dude, go and get somebody in the offseason. I'm sick and tired of throwing to old Julian Edelman or Maurice Harris, who you get over one offseason to remember him. Right?

Like, it's going to get to that point. It might get to that point later on. But this is the version of Belichick, if Vrabel is Belichick, that has a chip on his shoulder, that's sick of losing, that has something to prove after being wrongfully fired after the Titans pulled apart their own roster and they started getting bad because of it. He lost 18 of his last 24 matchups. Is that correct? Yeah. And it ironically wasn't his fault because GM John Robinson and Rand Carthon, who took over, just consistently overruled him. A.J. Vrabel did not want to trade guys like A.J. Brown, and they did anyway. He did not want Will Levis, and he was told too bad. So, I don't know.

So, just the way I'm thinking is that all signs point to them doing a lot this off season. The question is what moves are they going to make? And hopefully they spend it on, they spend it well. They don't have any free agents to retain unlike last off season. So they have some stuff that they can do here. They have a lot of, they have a lot of work to do on that offensive line. They have a lot of work to do in the pass line. They have a lot of work to do in the pass-catching core.

They could use an edge rusher, though. I think if they could go out and get, whether it's drafting Abdul Carter, signing Josh Sweat, trading for Miles Garrett, they could use one of those things. And, yeah, they have a lot of different things they can do this offseason, and I think they have the resources to do it. So let's move on. We're going to get to the NFL draft, going through the top five picks

and who they should take. This is an interesting draft. We have no clue. It is very, very difficult to tell who is going top five so with that in mind we're going to go over what position is that we believe that they're going to tackle that's next this is the fubarowski podcast it may not have always showed it in the stat sheet but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns someone's got to get that six or seven spot he's an elite wide receiver as a

rookie. Truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. Welcome back to the Fubarowski podcast by Power 88 and Seeker Weapon Consulting. I'm Adam Wright with CJ Medeiros and we are on to the NFL draft. So the draft goes from April 24th through April 27th. And this is going to be an interesting one, as we mentioned. Actually, rather rather it's April 26th um this is going to be an interesting one because usually you can have a general idea of what the top five is going to be this draft is so murky that it is extremely hard to tell and we're just going to go through the top five again we're going to start at five. And starting with the Jacksonville Jaguars, this one should be the easiest to tell. It also depends on how far Travis Hunter falls.

I want to say Will Johnson. I think they're going defense. It depends which way. I think it's going defense. It depends which way I can see. I think it's going to be either once again, if Travis Hunter falls, which between you and me, I don't think he will. I think it's going to be Will Johnson or Mason Carter leaning towards Will Johnson.

Cause that secondary is abysmal. Yeah. So I'm thinking you say Mason Carter carter or mason yeah mason graham mason graham that's i'm thinking of yeah they do it's already in the league that's uh mason graham from michigan that's it yeah sorry mason graham or will johnson yeah so i think will johnson um and i think you and i are going to end up agreeing on that just because i don't think Travis Hunter is going to fall to them. But if he does, that could be interesting because I think Travis Hunter top five. And with that, we're moving to the New England Patriots. They're at number four. They could have had the number one pick, but you know what?

Our guy, our backup quarterback decided to outdo himself. Also, Buffalo threw the game. Come on. This is like a well-established back by now. But also, like, think about their side. Like, what are they going to do? You put in a lot of backups. It's not like you started Drake May.

You put in a bunch of backups who are trying. You started Drake May. Come on. But you know what I mean. They started him for, like, one drive. I mean, look. Players don't tank. Only organizations tank organizations tank like that's the thing it's and once again buffalo dialing up soft zone abandoning the run and like repeatedly punting in new england territory like they you know come on

sure but like if you're in their position you have a meaningless game what are you going to do are you going to let your division rival get the number one overall pick when you already have Drake May? No. I don't know if I'm doing that right. No, obviously that's the thing because Buffalo, I don't want to say they're scared of New England, but they know they have Drake May. They know they have a bunch of cap space. Why would you help them get that much better knowing they're about to make all these changes. And knowing that Buffalo is over the cap and is probably going to be stagnant at best. They cut their legs from under them,

which, okay, I understand. It's frustrating. It sucks. But, I mean, Joe Milton played very well. And obviously, Joe Milton is not going to tank. He wants to have a future in this league. If he tanks this game, then his future in the NFL is over.

But he made a great first impression, and now there's a good chance in the coming years, maybe even this offseason, the Patriots can get a decent return for him. If they do it now, it'll probably only get a third-round pick. But if they wait a little bit, if they let him play some preseason games, maybe a second, possibly a first. Now, because that's the thing. You would really have to sell the QB controversy thing because, as you know,

one of our co-hosts, Justin Tucker, believes New England has a QB controversy. No, no, he doesn't. And, frankly, you at home, if you think New England has a QB controversy, stop watching football and donate your – actually, don't even donate your brain to science because it's proven defunct but overall like if you can play up that milton's better than what he is then you could probably get a second for him if you play your cards right but overall new england what are they going to do draft wise do you think because i just i have an inkling of which way they're going to go and i really don't like it yes i know which way they're going to go, and I really don't like it.

Yes. I know which way they're going to go, and I think Travis Hunter is going to fall for them. And I really like Travis Hunter as a wide receiver, but I'm at the point where I do believe they're just going to use him as a corner who's just going to have some packages on offense. He's like a Marcus Jones, except if Marcus Jones was good at playing corner in wide receivers. But not even to say, I like Marcus Jones.

I do. He's a nice gadget player, but he's not a blue chip player. Travis Hunter is a blue chip player who if he commits to whichever position he plays, he could be a superstar in either spot and the problem is the patriots don't need a cb2 as we already well we need it but as we've already discussed they're not working at all too they don't need another one who can play as the two that would be awesome if you have that. It's a luxury, but that's the thing.

It's a luxury. They have a lot of needs. If they have him play wide receiver, I think that's what they have him do. But I'll give you another possibility here. If the Cleveland Browns decide not to go the spot that I believe that they will, Abdul Carter is the easy choice. Especially because you need edge rusher if you're New England.

I mean, then again, Mayo wasn't really a great coach to bring out the edge, and Demarcus Covington was not that great of a defensive coordinator, but Vrabel will help bring that out, so I won't say it's super-duper pressing, but if

Carter falls to you, you take him. And it's super duper pressing but if he falls if carter falls to you you take him and it's upsetting and this is why i tell you this is why i said during our trade candidate segment that miles garrett requesting a trade reshapes the entire offseason because now suddenly cleveland at in the top five may go where we believe he's going to go. All right, going to number three. Yeah, no, I was just going to say, though, as much as I hate saying this, I can't shake this awful feeling just as a fan that they're going to reach on Will Campbell. Who?

The Patriots. Before we go. I know we moved on, but I just want to mention that. Almost every mock draft I see has them reaching on Campbell. And if you want Campbell, trade back. Like, don't take him at four. That's a reach. Yeah, so if that happens,

if they reach on him, then they reach on. But let's talk about what they should do. We'll save it for the mock draft on April 23rd when we drop the episode. What we believe they will do is different. What they should do is what we're talking about here.

And if they're taking Will Campbell, yes, I agree. Dre back. But... Travis Hunter is what you're probably going to end up with. And I hope they just take him as a wide receiver. Probably not. Probably not. Abdul Carter,

if Abdul Carter isn't taken already. Maybe Mason Graham. It's just, look, I'm sorry. Maybe I'm not thinking straight, but you really want a sexy pick to be your top four. Just DT is just not going to do it, especially since you already have Barmore. Unless it's a Chris Jones type of player. Or Aaron Donald. Aaron Donald, geez. bar more unless it's a chris jones type of player but or aaron donald uh aaron donald's geez uh

all right number three overall the new york giants where we've originally believed after they lost in we uh rather they won they might as well have lost In week 17, rather week 18. No, week 17, yes. After they won in week 17, they robbed themselves of their number one overall pick. And subsequently, Shador Sanders. I believe now he's going to fall to them. If not, Cam Ward. They're going to end up taking one of those two. They need another quarterback.

The writing is on the wall for that kid, at least one of the two, and I think they're going to take whatever's there. And let's give a quick scenario here. Let's say one and two quarterbacks are taken. What do they do? Are they trading back? Are they taking best player available? I feel like we're going to go Travis Hunter if Sanders and Ward go off the board first.

Not Abdul Carter because if you look at their front seven, that's one of the few spots on the field for them that's actually set. Not Abdul Carter. But Travis Hunter, they may go best player available. They do need a corner, so maybe if he does come as a corner, that actually makes some sense for them. They do need a corner bad. But that's just the scenario.

I believe they're going to take Shador Sanders. I believe so, yeah. Frankly, I think Sanders is better than Ward, but I just feel like the Titans are going to grab Ward as it sits now. Yeah. All right. Number two, we kind of hinted it and practically gave it away when we were talking about the number four pick. The Cleveland Browns, I did believe they were going quarterback,

but then Miles Garrett decided to ruin it all and request a trade. Even if the Browns don't trade him, they need leverage. They're desperate for it. I think the Cleveland Browns are going to go Abdul-Kart. Yeah. At this point, yeah, I mean, you're going to need another, you know, good player on the edge. And, you know, obviously if it's not going to be Myles Garrett,

it would need to be Abdul-Kart. And basically that's just if he's – if My be miles garrett it would need to be abdul carter and basically that's just if these if miles garrett is still there which honestly he probably will be because of how stubborn the browns are there's a very real chance that what they do at pick two is going to be extremely telling and right now i think it's carter yeah. All right, number one, the Tennessee Titans. At first they said best player available, which I do believe, but what if they just end up saying the best player available is Cam Ward? And they may go – maybe they go Travis Hunter,

but I was never convinced in the first place that they were going to go Travis Hunter or just best player available. I didn't think they were going Abdul Carter or Travis Hunter. I'm not saying they will, that they will go those guys. Rather, I'm not saying they won't. But I'm not convinced that it's like a done deal yet. I think they're not sure and they're trying to keep their options open. You're not supposed to give away who your pick is going to be.

And part of that is saying we're just going to take the best player available. We're going to see. We're going to weigh out our options. We're going to discuss. That doesn't usually mean anything. That just means we're not giving away our pick. We're not telling you who we're picking. It's just kind of NFL draft 101.

Is it not? No, it really is. The thing with the Titans is that as much as I hear that they could go Carter or Hunter, they have a new GM and GMs, you know, especially if you're a GM, you're obviously going, right? You're going to want a QB, you know, you're going to want a guy who can, you know, elevate your status around the league, right? So you can say, oh, you're good. You know, I think they're going to get blinded by that prospect, even though I don't really like Ward, and I think he's going to go number one. It's just, I could just see it happening,

because he's going to want to make an impact right away. And there are some people around the league who believe that Will Levis has earned another chance, which, are we talking about the same Will Levis? Because plain and simple, I don't think he has. Yeah. But yeah, again, what they should do, I do think they're going to go with, what's his name there? They're going to go with Cam Ward.

Yeah. All right. That is all the scheduled content for today I don't know if we went enough time today we went a little short but do we have anything else before we conclude the show nope I got nothing well two hours is just

going to have to do it For our off-season preview Well, it's a big preview, so Yeah, but we could have We always go long nowadays This is going to be a fun off-season It's always When there's a lot of notable free agents A lot of notable trade candidates

Franchise tag candidates, a draft that is as murky as recent memory would indicate, this is going to be a fun offseason. And we will take you through every step of the way as usual. And before you will know it, it's going to be the summertime. And you may be saying, wow, there's not much coming out for the offseason. However, you're going to be doing that from the comfort of a beach because summer is probably the best. Summer is probably the best season as far as just overall quality of life goes.

Football is something where it's just like it's cold out, but we got our football. In the summertime, you don't need football. So I'm glad football's dead spot is during that span of time and not during the cold and brisk hours. At least you have something to look at. But all right. Anyways, that'll do it for us tonight.

Thank you for listening to us. We have new episodes out on Tuesdays at 7.30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time and Fridays at 5. Also, be sure to follow us on Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker, and so much more. Be sure to follow our Instagram at Fomorowski underscore podcast to keep up with our podcasts and latest coverage on the NFL. Also, subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Otherwise, we'll see you next week. Over and out.