The Fumblerooski Podcast - Swooping In -Ep 176 The Fumblerooski Podcast

Episode Date: April 12, 2023

Can we consider the Falcons a lock to draft a WR at the no.8 overall pick after trading for Okudah? How well will OBJ fit with the Ravens? Who are the most underrated defensive prospects in the 2023 NFL Draft? Adam Wright, CJ Medeiros, and Justin Tucker debate these topics and more!

Here's Edelman broken up and the pass is no sign yet. Edelman comes down with a football and they're saying it's a catch. Sligs it way down the field to Watkins Sammy Watkins for the touchdown a touchdown! Odell Beckham Jr. has made his decision out of left field while the Falcons continue to fly under the radar with their moves, particularly

on the defensive side. I'm Adam Wright with Justin Tucker and CJ Medeiros. You're listening to the Fumble Rooski podcast. And guys, we have yet another great episode for you. So we're going to talk a little bit about the Falcons and an incredible off season that they have had that has really flown under the radar so far and we're also going to hit on odell beckham jr who's made his decision and as much as it seemed like it was going to be the jets another team swoops in being the baltimore ravens oh yeah we'll get to that all right we will to that, but I wanted to start with

the Falcons. So they just traded for corner Jeff Okuda. And this is noteworthy because they got him for a fifth round pick. And they also have AJ Terrell on the other side of the field and they got Jesse Bates. Just with the amount of signings that this team has made on the offensive side of the ball, it really just has been incredible how this team has done this offseason. And they had among the most cap space in the league. And I would say they've used it up pretty well. And oh, by the way, they still have the eighth overall pick in the draft. So call me crazy, but if I am the Falcons, I am taking a wide receiver at eight.

So you, you short up the defense that you, they worked on that front seven. That's good. They worked on the secondary. It looks great. The offensive side of the ball still looks pretty good. Their offensive line is solid.

Their offensive line is solid. They have Drake London at wide receiver. They've got Kyle Pitts at tight end. Quarterback still needs some work, of course. But it comes down to the decision. Do you fortify the wide receiver position, which doesn't really have much past Drake London, or do you go quarterback and draft draft anthony richardson if he's available

there or levis or levis if he's available there as well but do we even do we love those prospects we don't like them we don't like those guys but like i understand that i i understand the argument at the same time to draft a quarterback because this is a team that's going to get better as the as these years go on and they're not going to be drafting up here very much for very much long they might have a mid first round pick at best next year which isn't going to get you much by way of the quarterback. So I still say you go wide receiver. Jackson Smith and Jigba might be there. Jordan Addison might be there. I say you take one of those guys and you shore up that offense. Then you have Smith and Jigba or Addison, and then you have Drake London, and then you have Kyle Pitts, and you have a solid backfield with Tyler Algier.

I think that's the way you go. I don't know what you guys think though. Now, let me tell you something. Tuck, I'll throw it to you. Oh, whoa. We don't do that anymore. I don't want to hear you talk. All right. Yeah, fine. CJ. Come on, CJ. Don't let him interrupt you.

Oh, thank you, Justin. You're very generous. So here's the deal, Adam. If the Falcons go wide receiver, I believe that they will undoubtedly have the pick of the litter because I do not see a wide receiver going before them. I really don't. Because you know, three of those picks are going to be quarterbacks. Then, you know, probably, you know, Tyree Wilson, Will Anderson, probably a corner, I would think, or two. But I don't really see any of these teams before them going receiver,

which means you get Quentin Johnson, you get Jackson Smith and Jigba, which are the only two that I think are worthy of being in the top 15. Maybe Zay Flowers, maybe. But I like that because usually I'm not a big advocate of drafting the same position in the first round two years in a row. But they, how do I put this? I mean, they did everything else they needed to. They got Jeff Okuda to pair with, you know, to pair with A.J. Terrell. They got David Onyemata and Calais Campbell on that D-line.

They got Jesse Bates in the backfield. They re-signed Caleb McGarry. They extended Chris Lindstrom. So I feel like wide receiver would be the natural pick. And while I wouldn't rule out a quarterback, I don't think it's in the cards for this year, especially since they probably want to see what Desmond Ritter can do. So I would think receiver would probably be a good call, either that or edge rusher, because the Falcons pass rush hasn't really been that good in a long time.

And if somebody say, I don't know, like, you know, like, I don't know, maybe like a Miles Murphy is on the board or Lucas Van Ness. You grab that. But overall, I'd say receiver and maybe edge rusher. I do agree, though. Also, the Lions really got a fifth for Okuda. I mean, Okuda's not bad. I mean, he had like his best career since last year,

giving up a career low in completion percentage as well and will being targeted 77 times so that's all yeah and really going in depth about this just their signings so far this year on the defensive side just to further underscore that they don't need anything on the defensive side anymore they signed signed Jesse Bates. They got Jeff Okuda. They brought in Calais Campbell to work on that defensive line. You're activating Eddie Goldman. You have David Onyemata.

Onyemata, yeah. I mean, just that right there. I mean, stop the list, but it still goes on. Also, linebacker Caden Ellis. I mean, that defense is stacked, not just in the secondary where it's loaded, but also in the front seven. So what are you doing here? You obviously have to go wide receiver. And like, it wouldn't like, there's a chance Anthony Richardson pans out

if he is given a year or so to develop. But do you want to risk it? Do you really want to risk it when you can just go wide receiver and further fortify that that wide receiver core uh but yeah talk i'll throw it to you talk you're muted sorry as far as the trade goes as far as the atlanta falcons go i think it's a good thing that they picked up jeff okuda I still think he has all-pro potential in him now that he's actually healthy and on the field.

Hopefully he can realize that with A.J. Terrell on the opposite side of the field with him and Jesse Bates in the secondary with him. I think Atlanta just shored up their secondary with this pickup. Also, I think when I look at Detroit, I think they actually might draft a cornerback with this now. I do believe they'll take Devin Witherspoon with one of their two picks. And I believe this trade indicates that for me, because I think that just builds a hole that they need to fill one way or another. I think

they can do that through the draft. But as far as the Atlanta Falcons go, I think this is a good pickup. I still think they need to get a few more bits and pieces throughout here in the draft. I don't think they need to go quarterback yet because they still believe in Desmond Ritter. I personally don't know. I haven't seen enough Atlanta Falcons games to determine what he is yet, but the ceiling is still bright for him, and they still believe in him as the franchise guy, so we'll wait and see what he does. And as far as the Detroit Lions go, they have pieces in place for them to be a viable contender, not just in their division, but NFC championship game. So I think this works out for both teams.

Yeah, I mean, yes, they could have, you know, the Lions definitely could have gotten more for Jeff Okuda. I mean, he's a player with lots of potential and he was just drafted in 2020 with the third overall pick. But I still think this Lions team, the sky is the limit for them. And they already, even if they don't go corner by some wild chance, they still have Emmanuel Mosley and Cam Sutton to fill those needs. And you also have C.J. Gardner Gardner Johnson in that secondary as well on the safety side. And if you need him to play corner, he's done it before. So you're kind of, you're kind of already set and yeah, Jeff Okuda,

they could have kept him, but I mean, clearly they don't believe in him anymore. That's fine. That's okay. Whether they're right or wrong, they can do that. They literally can afford to do that because they're so stacked in the secondary already. But they could use a corner. If they go Christian Gonzalez at number six, it just feels like that's the right spot to do that. And then at that point, you still have another mid first round pick that you can, you can use to work a little bit more on that defensive front at defensive end or interior D

line. There's a lot of things you can do with that. And this Lions team has a lot of flexibility going into going into this draft and going into this season. I mean, they're going to contend. I really do believe that now, especially with the way this conference has shaped out in the past couple years. A lot of players leaving to the AFC, which is good for the Lions. All right, but I wanted to change gears, and we are going to move on to discuss in depth Odell Beckham Jr.'s signing with the Ravens and whether or not he kind of screwed over the Jets.

We're going to get to that next. This is the Fumble Rooski podcast. Here's Edelman broken up and the pass is no sign yet. Edelman comes down with a football and they're saying it's a catch. It's a pass to Gates! Startline! Touch Gates! Side-by-side! Touchdown! Unbelievable! Slings it way down the field to Watkins!

Sammy Watkins for the touchdown! Welcome back to the Fumble Rooski podcast by Power 88 and Seeker Weapon Consulting, Adam Wright, Justin Tucker, CJ Medeiros. So, Odell Beckham Jr., after a long offseason, we are now in mid-April, has finally made a decision. And he has decided, after two meetings with the jets to sign with the ravens and it's unbelievable the way that worked i thought i thought he was going to be a jet he was this close and so he had already he had already met with the team in california there is there's a there's a picture that is out there somewhere in the ether. I know because I've seen it several times of what it looks like is Odell Beckham Jr. Hugging. He's hugging Robert Sala.

And it's like, OK, it's just a matter of time before this deal gets done. Kind of like Aaron Rodgers. And then he was scheduled to meet with them again and get a physical as well. And he was going to fly in on Sunday night, which was Easter Sunday, and meet with them more on Monday as well. And then that Sunday, that afternoon, we got the notification that he actually agreed to sign with the Ravens. It was one year, up to $18 million, and $15 guaranteed. So a loaded contract just for one year. And the one year makes sense because he's coming off a couple ACL injuries, plus he's 30. So that does matter.

But there's a couple different angles to look at this, and I wanted to start with the Jets. And he was supposed to – man. They went on a first date. They scheduled the second date, and it seemed like they were interested in the relationship, and then he went with the

douchebag athlete in the Ravens. Excuse me? Oh, boy. Excuse me? All right. Enough about the Jets. Forget them. F them. We know what time it is.

We know what time it is. We got us a quality wide receiver. Not Nelson Aguilar. We got OBJ on the team. Let's go. Oh, my God. This has been an amazing weekend. First off, I had a nice dinner over at Adam's house for Easter Sunday.

Thank you, Adam, for inviting me. And then. Kid took a lot of ham. Of course I did. Three different servings of ham. Very good. I'm proud of you, Tucker. As I'm going through Easter, I get the notification.

It's Schefter. He gives me the news. OBJ is a raven on a one-year deal. I said, let's go. Adam sent me the news. CJ sent me the news. I was happy. I was amazed. We actually have a receiver that can

actually stretch the field, has quality hands, unlike Nelson Aguilar. He's got to prove himself. But this actually means that the Ravens are actually putting weapons around him with star power and potential to be true quality number ones.

I still believe in Rashad Bateman, but at least this sure is up thought offense around Lamar Jackson in case he does return for the next year and for years to come. Because I don't believe the Raiders make this decision without at least trying to appease Lamar Jackson with the contract talks. So hopefully this leads us to a reasonable solution sooner rather than later. We get Lamar back sooner rather than later. And you already know who's hosting the Lombardi. You already know how that's going to go. The Ravens are – I already perceive the Ravens to be a playoff team.

How far we go is depending on Lamar Jackson. It's been a good weekend. Man, dude, listen. You go back in time like three years, and this Odell Beckham Jr. signing is a huge one for the Ravens. But he's 30 now and coming off two ACL surgeries. And he, I mean, he's just the fact that he's 30, just that. And listen, I really do believe that this shows that the, uh, that Odell Beckham, that Beckham was just looking for the money. Just the fact, I guarantee

this is the way it worked. What happened was he was going to meet with the Jets. They were going to negotiate a deal. They were probably close. Then the Ravens upped it to this much, guaranteed to the point where

he couldn't turn it down. Mm-hmm. And listen, like I also think that this is probably the most encouraging sign for the Ravens and Lamar Jackson that we have seen, especially Lamar posted about him. So clearly him and Odell were in on it, and the Ravens all working together to get this deal done. That's an encouraging sign. And it's also encouraging that the Ravens are finally making an effort

to put some sort of weaponry around around Jackson which helps in their relationship as well so I think these are all good things that are working out and we'll see if they get a deal done this may take a while it may take a while but we'll see how it goes. But, I mean, yeah. Go ahead. So I was thinking, I think this is a really smart move by the Ravens. This does go a long way to appease Odell. We know he and Lamar are friends, and they're in on it.

I mean, appease Lamar, sorry. And this Odell signing, I think, will go a long way in convincing Lamar to stay. Maybe not on a reduced deal, but it could definitely thaw some of the, let's face it, ice-cold tensions between the two teams. Now, when I look at this overall, you have Ferraro and Lamar coming back from injury. But if you're the Ravens, you have to look at right now. The Steelers are rebuilding. They have Kenny Pickett. The Browns, who knows how Watson's going to be.

The Bengals have lost some pieces in free agency. But if you're the Ravens, God help me for saying this, now's the time to strike. The iron is hot. You at least have one more year, Lamar. You got him a wide receiver one. You already have a good running back room. You've got a top three tight end.

Decent O-line. Decent defense. Well, ball's in your court now. Let's see what they can do with it. Yeah. They might need some more on the offensive side of the ball. You need something better than Odell Beckham Jr. being your number one. I just – like, again, if you turn back the clock a few years,

this would be great for them. This would be the perfect signing for them. But he's just not the same player. I didn't even think he was the same – Like he was a productive player as a Ram that one year in 2021, but he wasn't, he wasn't the Odell that we grew to know and love, uh, from the, from the early to mid 2010s, he wasn't the same guy. And I just think he, if he, I mean, he could prove me wrong, but I just don't think he's going to be the same. He wasn't even the same on the Rams.

Now we need him to be better than he was on the Rams coming off an ACL surgery in a year without playing? I need him to be something. I don't need him to be as good as he was in New York or with Cleveland or maybe not even with the Rams. As long as he's giving me quality yardage in the occasional red zone target and the occasional long ball, that's all I need. I don't need anything else because I believe we have quality receivers

that can do the rest. Like Nelson Aguilar. And Rashad Bateman. You know, listen, it's bad enough when he drops the ball. The worst case scenario is if he catches it because he ain't hanging on to that thing. I'll tell you that much. Seen it all too many times.

Like, oh, look at that. Big, chunky yardage by Nelson Aguilar. Fumbles the ball. Defense recovers. Turnover. And that's how I knew he was going to be a future Raven. He was playing for us the entire time i i remember that yeah it was that was that particular play that's in my

head i'm thinking about was against the ravens either of that i say either that you hit myers right in the numbers he runs while juggling the ball, gets popped, and it's an interception. There's that, too. And Myers is gone, too. So both Myers and Aguilar. But you still got Juju. You brought him in. You got Devontae Parker. Devontae Parker.

Kendrick Bourne should be good. Devontae Parker, Kendrick Bourne, both players who are in Dingleberry's doghouse. We're getting off topic. All right. So next we have the Fumble Rooski fan box where we asked you guys the most underrated defensive prospects in this NFL draft. That's next. This is the Fumble Rooski Podcast. We'll be right back. Hot takes for the touchdown!

This is the Fumble Rooski Podcast by Power88 and Secret Weapon Consulting. Adam Wright, Justin Tucker, CJ Medeiros. All right, so we have reached the Fumble Rooski Fan Box portion of our show where we post a question filter on our Instagram every Monday and you can respond with hot taste questions and more and we will give you a shout out on our podcast. Respond to next week's fan box question to be featured on our show. So question of the week was who are the most underrated defensive prospects in the 2023 NFL draft. Our first response was Lucas Van Ness from Iowa. CJ, your thoughts?

At one point, I would say like a month ago, I would have said yes. But Lucas Van Ness is shooting up draft boards. And, well, I don't hold him in the same regard that i hold people like will anderson miles murphy tyree wilson i do think he's respectable but i wouldn't say underrated maybe like like i said a month ago but now like he's projected to go in the top 15 i'm not saying he's underrated yeah i mean the guy has has clearly been in um i mean so he's a defense so he's a defensive lineman but he's racking up seven sacks six sacks in the past two years and 10 tackles for loss. It's pretty good. It's pretty good.

Yeah, I would say I would call that underrated if he wasn't shooting up draft boards. Yeah, but he is, though. Yeah. Connor Fallon said Witherspoon from Illinois. I'm sorry. I love Devin Witherspoon. He is not underrated.

He's not underrated. He's arguably the best quarter in this draft here, Gonzalez. Eileen Gonzalez, but Witherspoon is easily the best man corner in this draft. Yeah. He's rated just where he needs to be. Amen. Probably going to go in the top ten. Yeah.

And, yeah. And he's going to go in the top half of this draft easily, slam dunk. And he's a player who I hope the Patriots would draft. I wouldn't lie. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So Logan Franzen said, my gut says Joey Porter Jr. And he said in parentheses, not ultra slept on,

but think he'll be a stud and should be round one. Yeah, I think he's going in the first round. I think like mid first because his ball skills, like he's just not a ball hawk, but I wouldn't exactly call him underrated. He's my corner number three. He's like the third best corner in this draft, and I would argue a lock for the first round. Oh, he's 100% a lock.

I mean, I think he's going to go – he's probably going to go the top half of the first, let alone first. Probably. I think mid-first. Mid-first. Yeah, if teams are – barring any trade-ups and if teams are drafting on needs of course you know the draft is a crapshoe and you can't truly predict anything but i would argue

mid first is where i think he'd go roughly number 14 where he would go to the patriots and that would be nice cb1 that's where he's gonna go i don't kid ourselves um all right um and then uh jack breel said and i think he misunderstood the question derrick's uh he said stingley and the only stingley i can think of was the kid the Texans took at, what was it, number three overall in last year's draft. And I guess you could say underrated. If we're interpreting it the way Jack interpreted it, as an underrated prospect coming out of last year's draft, I would say yeah, because as far as potential goes, he could be better than Sauce Gardner. But the problem is he's still been recovering from an ACL tear

that he suffered. And that's tough to come back from. Just ask Jamison Williams, who's only made one catch so far in his NFL career. Pretty notable catch, though, since it was, what, 50 yards and a touchdown? Like 43 yards, touchdown, thereabouts, yeah. Yeah, so Kidd's clearly a stud. But, I mean, there's only so much you could do coming back from an ACL tear.

So we'll see how he turns out. But I believe that's all we have left for responses but um we are just about at the end of our show but do you guys have any other thoughts no i'm good ravens fans unite we got odell we're good this offseason we don't need to care about anybody any other free agency right now. No, I have nothing else. Alright, well Devin White

has apparently requested a trade. I'm going to touch on this real quick, but I mean, we kind of spoke this into existence on our last show, didn't we? Because we had one of our listeners, Jack Hartman, on the show. He's a diehard Lions fan.

And he suggested they trade back from the Lions' number six spot for the Bucs' first-round pick at 19, I believe. That's where it was? At 19. And he suggested they get blanking on his name. Recy? No. The other guy.

No. The player they trade. The player they trade. He wanted Vitavea. His name is escaping. Yeah. Vitavea. Who, for the fit, it works. Like, as a fit. But he is escaping. Yeah, Vita Vea. For the fit, it works, like as a fit.

But he is 28 or 29, around that age. And he's on a one-year – he only has one year left on his deal. So what you could do, what I suggested, why don't you ask for Devin White? The guy's still a stud, and he has a couple years left on his deal. He wants to get paid, though. Yeah. He doesn't want to play on the fifth year. He wants to get paid before then.

Well, cross that bridge when you get to it but i mean for to play on a lions team that it has whose defense is looking better and better by the day i mean that would boost your value wouldn't it you be a part of a unit like that everyone's going to want to get a piece of that next offseason. Then he's really going to get paid. But being stuck on this washed-up Buccaneers team whose best days are behind them, which is aging by the day, by the way, I would say if you're Devin White, you join this young defense, you rejuvenate your career, and you're going to get paid. If you get – If you get you know straighted and now yeah that's the second part of it which is that they apparently the buccaneers do

not want to trade them but things could change things could change the seattle seahawks said they were not going to trade russell wilson two weeks before they wound up actually trading him so we'll see what happens they The Titans said they wouldn't trade AJ Brown. That is correct. Things change. Things change. Things happen. So we'll see. We'll see. I could name plenty of fits for Devin White, including the New England Patriots, but we'll see what happens there. I just wanted to touch on that briefly because it wasn't really worthy of a segment because he only requested it. And the Buccaneers don't plan on trading him. But fun thing to toy with, right?

Yeah, I suppose. All right. Well, that'll do it for us tonight. Thank you for listening to us. We have new episodes out on Tuesdays and Fridays at 7.30 p.m. Eastern time. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. We also have all our episodes available on Spotify, Spreaker, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Google Podcasts, and so much more. Also, be sure to follow our

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