The Fumblerooski Podcast - Tagging Along -Ep 248 The Fumblerooski Podcast

Episode Date: February 23, 2024

Is Tee Higgins a lock to stay in Cincy? Is OLB Josh Allen really worth a big payday? Do RB's like Saquon and Jacobs deserve big money? Why can't the Colts afford to lose Michael Pitman Jr.? Adam Wright and CJ Medeiros discuss all these franchise tag candidates and more!

the franchise tag timeline is well underway up until march 5th and we are going to review all of the most popular franchise tag candidates this is the fumble ruski 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 catch! It's a catch! Sideline! Touchdown! Unbelievable!

Swings it way down the field to Watkins! Sammy Watkins for the touchdown! Welcome to the Fumble Rooski Podcast by Power Power88 and Secret Weapon Consulting. I'm Adam Wright with CJ Medeiros. And for today, we have a special theme for today's episode, which is the franchise tag. So we are going to go over quite literally every popular franchise tag candidate and discuss whether it's worth doing. And so CJ, I know you have some strong feelings about the franchise tag. I'll let you start off before we get going on moving through

all of these candidates. You just tell me, tell me, tell it like it is about the franchise tag in general. Oh, I'm allowed to rant about the franchise tag oh it's like christmas thank you adam try to make it somewhat quick though because we haven't had to get all right fair enough fair enough so the thing with the franchise tag for those who don't know it's a tag where let's just say you have a player that you drafted at the end of their rookie year on an expiring deal you don't want to lose them for nothing so you can tag them right you can actually do it twice in consecutive years you've got something you know that teams have the ability to do but here's the thing i probably shouldn't explain that because most

people that are listening to a football show i would hope know what the franchise tag is however here are some of the issues i have with One, whether you support it or whether you don't, one thing we can all agree on is that the franchise tag itself is much too powerful. It's a verbal thing, you know. Pen doesn't have to hit paper. A team can call you up and say, hey, we're probably going to tag you. And then, boom, you're stuck because that's the trick of the franchise tag. You as the player do not have a choice. They just say, hey, we're going to tag you.

They don't even have to procure the document yet. And you are stuck. Well, to be fair, you can decline it, but then you don't play. And at the end of the day, people have said, oh, but it's good for, you know, you know, for the players. And I'm like, no, it's not, but it's good for, you know, you know, for the players. And I'm like, no, it's not in fact good for the players. It greatly restricts what they're able to do. And another issue that I have is that it's truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. Because let me ask you something, dear viewers, when was the last time the league saw a tag and

trade? Not since like 2020 or 2021. There was like a brief window from like 2017 to 2020 where it happened a bit, but it usually doesn't happen because the franchise tag is only for one year and no team in their right mind is going to give up a first round pick for a guy on a one-year deal. And if you do, do well you should probably fire your gm and it gets to the point where if you are going to tag and trade someone you will be low-balled every team's going to low-ball you and you're going to hamper yourself and the players hate it how many times have when the players have the tag forced upon them they'll just you know the media plays a big will they won't they oh will he sit out?

They always end up signing it, but they're not happy about it. And it all, and I would say at least half the time, these guys don't come back because they're angry with the team for doing it. And which is why I'd say we need to abolish the tag and in the effort, you know, keeping it quick, I'm not gonna say all my issues with it. I've just covered the main ones. However, the one argument that I hear, you know, about why we need to keep the tag is because it gives small market teams a chance to compete. My counterpoint is this. This is not the NBA. This is not the MLB. This is not the NHL. The NFL has a hard cap where there will be actual consequences for going over it. You know what I mean? There is no simple luxury tax you can just pay away. There are real consequences. You know, that's how

it is. You have a hard salary cap, which actually does give smaller market teams a chance. And for those people who say, we need to keep the tag for the smaller teams, I would say you should probably push up your next CAT scan appointment because you might be watching a different sport. That is all. All right. So to your point about the tag and trade being low balled out of all of these and I'm looking yeah. Out of all of the trades uh only one of the trades went for a first round pick and it was the it was the frank clark trade with the between the seahawks and the chiefs three four five so five trades since 2017 one of them went for a first round pick and adam you said there have been five tag and trade since 2017 when did the last one occur 2020 yeah exactly so we haven't had one in years which just shows like when people mention, oh, but my tagging trade. It's like,

yeah, well, it doesn't really happen. That's 2017 through the present. That's not even one a year. Yeah, 2017. That's not even one a year if you spread them out. That's six years. That's six league years.

Consider any arguments for keeping it debunked yeah um so pass rusher uh yannick ngakwe went for a second round pick in 2021 in a conditional fifth uh jadevion clowny went for uh a couple of players jacob martin martin andkevious Mingo, in a third round pick. Then after that, it was Frank Clark who went for a third round pick. So it was Clark and a 2019 third round pick for a first round pick, and a third round pick and a second round pick so pretty good draft compensation there and also i i'm pretty sure the seahawks got the best out of

it uh because frank clark wasn't that good for the for the chiefs once he got traded there he's in the season at that it was he was okay but not worth what they traded uh d ford um so this guy he was traded i believe right after that whole issue that happened in the 20 during the 20 uh right after that issue that happened during the uh 2018 playoff run where uh he was lined up off sides after what would have been a game ceiling interception by tom brady lined up off sides and the guy so this is the worst time for him to get uh to be miked up the guy he's saying like they just said i was off sides he goes was i it's like dude shut up if you made that mistake just shut up about it we get it mistakes have a stupid one at that but when you're asked it was i knowing that you're mic'd up that was oof that's that's

what you that's what got you traded and uh yeah and the chiefs did win this trade because he only ended up playing just 12 games for the 49ers. Yeah. And the Chiefs got a second round pick out of it, which they used on Willie Gay, who actually has been an impact player in that linebacking core for the Chiefs ever since. So, safe to say Kansas City won that trade. Jarvis Landry with the Dolphins. The Dolphins sent him to Cleveland, and he went for a fourth-round pick and a seventh-rounder. So, that's about as bad as it gets

for uh for jarvis landry who at the time still was considered one of the better not one of the better wide receivers but he was a good one he was a solid one um yeah and i don't think it's worth a fifth and seventh all right um let's get into these trade candidates um we're gonna start at offense there's a couple running backs a couple wide receivers we have a lot of defensive players it's this free agency class is loaded with not only wide receivers but also defense just about every every position. It's loaded. All right. This is an obvious one, T. Higgins.

And it looks like one of two things are going to happen with him, according to reports. He's either going to be tagged, or he is going to get an extension before the deadline, and they don't use the tag at all. And again, cj you and i were talking about this off air if the bengals come to an agreement with t higgins on a deal before the tag deadline don't use it on anyone else i think you and i can agree on that yeah because don't like t higgins is an incredible wide receiver who we both agree they should keep.

But there's another guy on that roster by the name of Jamar Chase, who happens to be Joe Burrow, your favorite, your your franchise messiah. His favorite toy. If you lose him, that's going to be be a problem so you need as much money as you possibly can in order to keep both of these guys in town because uh in order to stay in contention joe burrow jamar chase t higgins not negotiable all right we'll go on to the next one because this is that one was pretty obvious here's one uh wide receiver michael pitman jr so uh this is a this is kind of a tough one because michael pitman jr he is a wide receiver one but a low end at that a mid a mid-tier wide receiver one at best

and this would be replaceable but do we really want to dink around with replacing a wide receiver one when you're trying to develop a quarterback right now a young kid who missed most of his rookie season because of an injury so like you already have some you already have some issues with the offensive line you're trying to figure out do you really want to take away his favorite weapon yeah no you really don't and as you mentioned And as you mentioned, they are developing your youngster there in Anthony Richardson, who, despite the fact he has rookie year cut short, he did show flashes that he could be special. The greatest way you can throw a wrench into his development is by letting Pittman walk. Because receivers, hey, this is a pass-first, offensive-driven league nowadays. Defense no longer wins you championships. Offense does.

And the thing is, Indy, if you don't tag him and he walks out that door, he's not coming back. There will be another team that will snatch him up yes and i believe just looking at uh so they are top five in cap space um their fifth with 79 mil so they should be able to if they really wanted to they should be able to re-sign him. That being said, they still have other needs. They need better protection on that offensive line, and you do need to make sure that this pass-catching core stays intact. They have a good young one. It's okay. There's a couple kids who I know are on that team.

Yeah, Downs and Pierce specifically are pretty good. Yes. Their names slipped my mind, but that you got it. Also, you might need to shore up the defense a little bit, especially that linebacker core, because Darius Leonard is gone. The other guy, Bobby Okereke, is playing in San Diego. Shaq Leonard. Shaq Leonard.

Oh, Shaq Leonard. Sometimes I forget because, you know, he changed it for no reason, but that's okay because we love Shaq Leonard. And even still, your defensive backfield is okay. I mean, outside of Blackman and Moore, it's just kind of eh. Yeah. You could use some pieces everywhere, but either way pittman's got to be your biggest uh you know your biggest issue there you got to keep them hold yeah hold on to that kid

all right next one this is an interesting one he's already been tagged josh this guy's already been tagged and i haven't seen i actually haven't kept up with how he has how he did last year uh josh jacobs by the way adam you can keep going i'll look it up i have it already um yeah so he aver this this was kind of a down year for him. So the year before, he was really good. I mean, he was their lead rusher. And 1,653 yards, 12 touchdowns, and he averaged just under five yards per attempt. I mean, he was electric. He's still more of,

he's still much more of a, uh, a North South back, a downhill runner. And he's not much of a, I mean, he, he did have a career year through the air last year too, with 400 receiving yards. So he has gotten better during his time in the league at being a more complete back with catching it as well but uh he definitely had a down year this year very down uh just 805 yards and uh 3.5 yards per attempt. Yeah. So, like, you can blame the offensive line, but what do you think? I just, running back, especially like Josh Jacobs,

they're weird because we've seen what he can do. We know his ceiling, but he fell back down to earth with an uninspiring thud. And it's getting to the point where we all know this, you don't shell out the big bucks for running backs. And the tag, you know, the tag isn't exactly cheap. You know, it's maybe it's only one year, but it's a lot of money and i don't know the thing is running backs as you know are replaceable and i think they also have zamir white who they also drafted can we confirm or deny that let me go and i'm looking checking checking right now. He's got a rookie. I think they drafted Zemir White. He's on the Raiders, yeah. Yeah, 455 rushing yards.

So he did play a pretty sizable role on the team. Yeah, and the only reason I bring him up is because, well, we all know this, that running backs are replaceable. Running back can get you like 800 yards and five touchdowns. They're kind of a dime a dozen. is because, well, we all know this, that running backs are replaceable. Running back can get you like 800 yards and five touchdowns. They're kind of a dime a dozen. And I don't know how financially prudent it would be to retain Josh Jacobs considering the fact your offensive line is still terrible and your defense is, you guessed it, kids, still terrible.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They have a lot of things to fix over there, and I don't think they can fix it all in one offseason. This is going to be a developmental year for the entire team, and they may just have to take a couple steps back before they take any steps forward because Devontae Adams is still on that team.

Josh Jacobs is still there. Two players who you would think would be on the roster for winning now, not winning in a couple of years. And Devontae Adams doesn't want to go. And Josh Jacobs is upset about not getting paid. And quite frankly, after this season, I don't know if he deserves it anymore. Yeah, if he was going to be that upset about not getting paid and then completely regress, then maybe you should not be paid.

But that's the thing. So he had a great year on a contract year last year of rushing for on for just under 1700 yards and then they tagged him so and like they tagged then they tagged him so that's kind of you know this is what frustrates players about the franchise tag is that they could they could play their asses off for a career year on a contract season and then they get put by the team under not under their consent in the same position the following year so they have to go back out and do the exact same thing and yeah they're like they're supposed to do that every year but like you could understand where the pressure is on for them because they're they're quite literally playing for their jobs.

And that can be frustrating. I understand the other side of it, where you should always be doing your job, but the fact that you're constantly thinking that you could get fired at any point or any injury. And it's over for you. And they're doing it without your consent.

That is. That's a frustrating situation. And I'm going to use that to segue into. Saquon Barkley. Who also has not been tagged yet. Who was tagged last year. And still has not been paid and uh yeah so this this one is this one is interesting especially because they chose to pay the quarterback daniel jones instead of saquon barkley and cj remind me how daniel uh how daniel j Jones did this year. Well, it would appear that his decent season last year,

much like Josh Jacobs, might have been, in fact, a flash in the pan. This season, Daniel Jones, I will grant you, though, that he was hurt. Look, that's not lost on me. But are you ready? This man played in six games. So, you know, he was hurt a lot of the time. We know that. But still, six games. We can kind of average it out in our heads. 909 yards. Two touchdown passes. Not one, not two, not three, but six interceptions. And ladies and gentlemen, let's crunch the numbers. 909 passing yards divided by six in over six games, 151.5 passing yards a game.

You threw your money at this kid after one good year, and it was a fluke. And you could have paid Saquon. I mean, I know you don't pay running backs, but that seemed like a much smarter investing compared to this kid and Daniel Jones. I think the other issue here is that their offensive line is actually horrible. So, yes, Daniel Jones got hurt, and he had statistically a really bad season, but there was a game where daniel jones quite literally got sacked 11 times in one game if you get sacked that's like a quarter of what players get sacked

in an entire season and that happened in one game that is actually really really bad for a quarterback who you threw a lot of money in and invested a lot into and this and i'm going to use that to segue into into saquon barkley who is the topic of discussion here because he had statistically a bad year too uh he he rushed for for under a thousand yards 962 yards average under four yards a carry the fact that he if he's even averaging four yards a carry for a for a player like that you want better production from your star running back the fact that you couldn't even get over four that is a problem that's a problem that i'm not blaming saquon for i'm blaming their offensive line and i I'm looking at you, Evan Neal, Mr.

All of these critics are flipping burgers for a living. Well, you better not flip my burger because you're going to burn mine because you can't even play right tackle well enough. Yeah, and that's the thing, though, about the Giants. You know, you can't really blame Saquon for this. It's the O-line. That's the thing. They have invested heavily into their offensive line but it just seems like every time they just get a bad roll of the dice and to revisit evan neal's like oh i'm in the nfl and

you're flipping burgers well buddy you're a lineman, and you're, I don't know. I don't even have that. So, yeah, big talk from an offensive lineman. You were drafted in the first round, and you're terrible. I mean, have you seen him play? He should be working at IHOP the way he gets pushed down for a pancake almost every other play. And Andrew Thomas, I thought after one year he'd be

good but he's become a turnstile as well and as much as i like saquon barkley maybe it's because i like him i don't know how much of this is actually his fault and we've seen before guys like levion bell have proven to be just products of their offensive line and yes just i feel for saquon and as far as what the giants do do you really tag him when you're gonna get him you know put behind like one of the league's worst run blocking lines i don't know yeah so my point my point that i'm kind of working around is that why should Saquon even want to stay on that team in a long-term deal, let alone just the tag? If you're Saquon, you want to get as far away from this team as possible. Maybe head over to, I don't know, Houston. They need some help at running back.

I know they have some. I'm completely blanking on the name of the guy who they have there. I know they have Singletary, but who's the number one who they have who had a pretty good rookie year? Can you repeat that again? It's Houston. The guy for Houston. I'm completely blanking on him.

Damian Pierce was pretty good. He wasn't that good this year. But let's say you add Saquon to that mix. Bring Saquon in. How two-dimensional would that team be? That would be awesome. You mean three-dimensional? Yeah. Three-dimensional. Yeah, you know what I mean. Yeah, I know. Yeah. How incredible would that be? Now now i still think they need a little bit of

help on that in that wide receiving core but i also don't i don't know because taint dell is really good maybe he is a one i mean it was night and day seeing how cj stroud play i wouldn't say it was night and day because he was still good but it was really good to see how C.J. Stroud was able to develop these two rookies working together to figure out the league. Bring them in for year two. Let's see how all this goes. Do we really need to bring in somebody new? But if you bring in Mike Evans, I don't know.

I'm just thinking out loud here. But Houston has the quarterback. They have the offensive line. Those are the most basic building blocks that you need for a future championship contending team. So if you bring in Saquon, he'll be safe there because you have an offensive line to protect him. If you bring in Mike Evans, C.J. Stroud will have enough time to give him the ball and he's a competent enough quarterback so he could put it into Mike Evans' hands. And you'll also have Tank Dell. You'll have Nico Collins. You'll still have Noah Brown.

They're working on bringing back their Dalton Schultz, who was a pretty good tight end in his own right. Teams like that are just very good, attractive organizations for players like Saquon to be in, because I just don't trust that the Giants can keep Saquon healthy anymore. All right. We're going to step aside and move on, and we're going to get to some front seven players who are potential tag candidates and whether or not this is worth it for them and the organization. That's next. This is the Fumble Rooski podcast. Oh, they're saying it's a catch. It seems close. It's a catch. Side-line. Touchdown. Unbelievable. Swings it way down the field to Watkins.

Sammy Watkins for the touchdown. welcome back to the fumble ruski podcast by power 88 and secret weapon consulting adam right with cj medeiros we're going over all of the franchise tag candidates um and yeah so this is an episode that yes it's yes the tag deadline uh or like the timeline for placing tags started this past Tuesday, but it gets so dragged out that we figured we'd push it to today. Also, we wanted to do our full offseason preview on our last episode. Go check that out if you want to see just an outlook on how this offseason will go from the top five picks in the draft to the top five teams in total cap space in free agency. And we also talked about some trade candidates. We didn't get over to the franchise tag candidates because that's right now.

It's happening right now. And we're going over everything that could happen. Something could happen right now because the timeline is right now. So here we are. We are on to the front seven portion. Defensive tackle, Justin Matabike. So this guy had a career year for the ravens and he is now a free agent um he was a big part of a ravens defense that really really helped the ravens to their best season since 2019 and uh if they want to stay two-dimensional, they – Jesus, I keep saying. If they want to stay a complete football team, they may want to consider keeping this guy.

All right. Let me explain something to you kids about old Justin Madden BK here. Now, we have a Ravens fan friend on the show named Justin Tucker. Justin, if you're listening to this, eventually cover your ears. I don't know how great of an investment it would be to resign him. Because we are told by all of our forefathers of the game that when a player has a career year in a contract year, red flags are flying. And that's another thing. He had a career high 56 tackles and a career high 13 sacks. By the way, his entire career, he has 21 and a half. I'm saying that that's simple math you know uh 13 out of 21 and a half it's over

half of his backs can come in one year over a third of his tackles 56 combined came in last year so he i just find suspicious that he breaks out in a contract year you know i mean like this is one of those guys where maybe you might just have to bite the bullet and not resign considering the fact you know your offense still could use running backs that don't get hurt and wide receivers you know not names a flowers just just yeah well like i think this is a real season just because like yes this is a career year but this is like electric this is like the stats that he put up if his name wasn't hard to pronounce he might be a defensive player of the year candidate. Oh, yeah, you make the point. And to put up these numbers, 13 sacks is an interior defensive lineman.

I don't know if it's just becoming more and more common or if this guy is just straight up a beast. But with Chris Jones, we gave him his flowers whenever he was able to do this. With Aaron Donald, when he was doing it yearly. Good from the get-go is my point. A lot of these guys were good from the get-go, and this is like his best season by far, and he just did it in a contract year.

Furthermore, when we look at the franchise tag, right, do you know what it costs for a defensive tackle by any chance? I have it right here. It's $22.1 million. Do you know that? It's true. You know, it's all guaranteed. The Ravens themselves in cap space right now.

Huh? 20.9. 20.9. I'm looking at over the cap right now so it's whatever it says 2024 franchise tag for defensive tackle is 22.1 whatever but whatever you know we'll just say it's somewhere in the middle all right the ravens themselves in cap space per spot track.com have just over 12 million so that's over what you can do in one player and i know they're gonna do some cap gymnastics but do you really put all your eggs in one basket

just a thought and meanwhile justin would bite my head off but that's okay we love justin yeah okay moving on to this next one defensive end brian burns um i this feels like one of those franchise cornerstone players that you just cannot uh let out the door uh but at the same time you don't want to piss him off by giving him the tag. Because again, that does not help you. That doesn't help anybody. So this guy, since he's entered the league, he hasn't gotten less than 7.5 sacks.

He hasn't had less than 8 sacks since 2020. He had 12. a half last year and his tackles, his tackles for loss numbers have climbed ever since he's joined the league. So he is the type of player you, you don't want to let go. And, uh, the Carolina,

the Panthers defense has been there. It's generally their generally their bright spot, at least personnel-wise. So this is a guy you want to keep around. Yeah. Yeah, that's good. And Burns is another one, Carolina. If you don't tag him or at least extend him he will leave i truly believe if he escapes the tag window

without the tag he's going to leave and you can't do that if you're carolina because then you really have egg on your face because one adam mentioned franchise cornerstone but two wasn't there a team i'm blanking on who that would have literally given up like two first-rounders for Brian Burns? I'm completely forgetting who, but I remember it was something like that. I feel like it might have been the Rams. I don't know. But all I know is there was, I think, a team that was offering something stupidly weird like that for Brian Burns.

Nothing wrong with Burns, though. And the Panthers said no so can you imagine if you don't it was the rams yeah yeah okay so yeah can you imagine if you don't tag him and he leaves because that's the thing i think if you don't tag him he's gone however adam mentioned that if you tag him you run the risk of majorly pissing them off yeah so you're darn if you do yeah damn if you don't that's true so it's either you find a way to get a contract extension going before the deadline or you get in you you get in contact with them and you say look we can get something going with you we're just going to

need time to buy that time. We're going to need the tag, the franchise tag. We're not going to have you play under it, but we need time to work out a deal because we don't, we can't have you leave. We you're too important to this organization, something like that. Um, because they are there. They, they cannot let this guy go, especially with all the crap that they're dealing with on the offensive side of the ball, with trying to figure out if Bryce Young is the guy, with trying to find some targets for the guy,

and also trying to figure out that offensive line that they've worked so hard on. Why did it play so poorly this year? And we thought this offensive line was going to be really good. So why is it underperforming? Do they need more personnel? Is it a coaching thing? That's something they need to figure out.

And you're not going to figure that out if you're having issues with keeping your best player on the defensive side of the ball in Brian Burns. Outside linebacker, Josh Allen. This is a guy who's, I mean, you brought up having a career year, could be in a contract year, could be a red flag. Josh Allen's always been a good pass rusher. But the year that he had, racking up 17 and a half sacks,

every other play, he was in the quarterback's face. Him and Trayvon Walker were a big part of why the Jaguars were pretty good in the first half of last year of this past season. Um, we're not going to talk about how the season ended, uh, because that's a big part of that is on the, is on the, um, on the offense rather than the defense. But, uh, I want to say, bring him back, but I wonder if, if he reverts back to his old self where he's, yes, he's a solid pass rusher, but he's not exactly the type who's worth high end money. If he continues his career like this, then sure. But I'm just not sure if I buy him doing what he just did every single year,

if you know what I mean. Yeah. I do think that the emergence of Trayvon Walker playing opposite him helped. I do. I really do think that. But he had 10.5 sacks his rookie year then two and a half seven and a half seven and then 17 and a half which as you know is far and away his career best so once again it's another thing where i just don't know if i trust it i mean really don't

i mean i would say run the risk and tag him again. If he can get over and double digits again, then I'd say pay him. But I don't know. These, like, contract season years are always a little worrying for a lot of us. Yeah. And don't forget, so this guy, so because he was a first-round pick, that was his fifth year. So he's going to be 27 next year. Meaning it's not like he's a – obviously he's still young.

If you're in your 20s, you're still a young player. But he's been in the league since 2019. He's been in the league for a few years. And now he's – so we know it's not a physical thing it's not a developmental thing because this is going to be his sixth year in in the league it's not like we're it's not like what we have seen isn't uh it's not like his best days are exactly ahead of him if that that makes any sense. There's no, here's a better, here's a better way to put it.

There's really not much room for him to develop anymore because he's, he's already been in the league for six years. What you see is what you get from him. So to have this year, a career season and a contract year, that's great. Only problem is it happened in year five. Yeah. So it's not like, Oh, he's developing that's great. Only problem is it happened in year five. Yeah. So it's not like, oh, he's developing into something great.

No, he's been in the league for five years. It's about damn time that he did this. And the fact that it happened during a contract year. I like Josh Allen. I think he's one of their best defensive players on this side of the ball. But, uh, they got, they, they have to weigh how much that, how much money is actually worth. Don't just look at this season. Look at the entire, uh, the entire season as a whole. Um, yeah. Or just his, excuse me, look at his entire, his entire career.

All right. Um, let's just finish this out. Um, going onto the secondary cornerback, Jalen Johnson. Now corners 18.8 million. And the bears are fourth in cap space with 82 mil but in this isn't like another guy this is why the cap the this is why the the franchise tag just doesn't make sense why do you want these guys back on for one year jalen john Johnson played his ass off this year. And it's not like he just, this is just, yes, this is a career year, but it's not far off from what he's capable of year in, year out.

When he first entered the league, when he was here with Kyle Fuller, he was actually pretty good so if i'm if i'm the bears you're locking this guy down long term before his before his his value goes up even higher because something tells me he's going to get even better yeah he's another one where once again statistically his best season i mean at least in terms of interceptions but he's always been like a reliable guy and he's definitely one where even if he doesn't get tagged i think he'll be back in chicago simply because they can't afford to pay him and i am in agreement with adam where anywhere he goes he's going to be fine so it does behohoove Chicago to get a deal done sooner rather than later. Because if you wait for free agency,

teams will be breaking down his door like Jack Torrance going, here's Johnny and here's money. Yeah. It's like, yes, this is a career year for him, but it's not like it's out like completely. No, no, no. But coverage-wise, he was always consistent. That's my point.

Yes. He's always been good, like a very good corner. So I think this is, I don't know, I think this isn't far off from what he's done. All right. Here's safety Antoine Winfield Jr. Here's my problem with Tampa. They look like they're trying to keep the entire band together

from the 2020 Super Bowl run. Problem is they're missing the most important piece, which is Tom Brady. And that's what made this team a consistent Super Bowl contender. Yes, they made the playoffs the year after Brady retired. And during his age 45 season, he just simply wasn't the same, but they weren't in contention for two years in 2020 and 21 because of the team around them. Like, yes, that's a big part of it because they couldn't win Super Bowls when, and during Tom Brady's last year in 2019.

But the key piece, the key to everything, is the quarterback. So if you bring back Baker Mayfield, that's great and all. You're going to make the playoffs. It's not out of the realm of possibility. You win a playoff game. You did it this year. But are you winning a Super Bowl with Baker Mayfield? The answer is no.

You get to, because like, look at the way the AFC looks. Even if you make the Super Bowl, you still have to get past, like even if you get past the Lions in the NFC, who you couldn't beat, the Eagles might fix themselves. The Packers are on the up and up as well. Packers are on the up and up. The Niners are still there. I mean.

Even if you get past them, look at the AFC. It's even worse. By the way, Adam. Yes. Also, even in their division, you could make a case that the Panthers, I mean, not the Panthers, the Falconscons are a competent coach away from being really, really scary. They have a lot of high-end guys on their team. And even if they get a veteran bridge quarterback, it's going to elevate them that much further. And if Bryce Young figures it out in Carolina, it's a wrap.

Sure. I'm saying look at the AFC. Even if you make it there you're not winning you're not beating Mahomes you're not beat I think that I think the the Chiefs are going to stay where they are I'm beating Burrow you're not beating you're not you're not being Burrow and company I don't I mean if laura figures it out it plays how he plays in the postseason how he does in the regular season sure and even if you could be alan he's going to be a handful and if the chargers get better can you keep pace with guys like herbert i don't know i don't i the point is the key to everything is the quarterback the quarterback if there's

anything that super bowl 58 taught us, it's that it's not just about the team around you, the 49ers who had everything at an elite level, except the quarterback. It's not that it's the quarterback who has everything. It's okay around you. You can win with it. The quarterback who can make do with everything else. I think that's, especially since Patrick Mahomes is in the league and he is the guy to beat, that's going to be the standard at the quarterback position. And it sucks that that's the case because that's what we were saying about Tom Brady.

He was the standard, so your quarterback just had to be that good in big moments. Can Baker Mayfield do that? I don't think he's capable of out-dueling Patrick Mahomes in the postseason. Excuse me. But that being said, the reason I bring that up is because why are we using all of this money to bring back veterans like Antoine Winfield Jr., who is really good, don't get me wrong, but why are we using money on this

and not trying to improve the quarterback position i understand you're trying to keep the core around everyone around you you're trying to keep them there but you need to find your next quarterback and whether that takes keeping, uh, you know, whether that takes, um, storing away some money, trading up for a high draft pick, something like that, but you need that next guy. You can't just cheap out at the quarterback position, whether that be baker mayfield or kirk cousins or whoever else is available out there you can't cheap out there so you're not just going to find you're not going to reap you're you're not overnight just going to be able to repeat the production that tom brady brought you're not going to be able to do it um Yeah. But do you think, like, I'll ask the question because, like, do you think Antoine Winfield Jr. is worth the franchise tag or just

a long-term contract? Because they have a long list of needs. On an ability level, yeah. Because the franchise tag for safeties is, again to over the cap is 17.1 million which is pretty good for one year but when we look at long term i i cannot stress enough solely on abilities alone i would argue yes but when you take a step back and you look at the entire picture, well, I don't know. Because, you know, Mike Evans might bolt out the door. You need a quarterback. Your offensive line outside of Werfs is not that great.

You know, because there was one time, you know, where you got ravaged. Remember when Donovan Smith and Alex Capo left and Allie Marpet retired? You're still not recovering from that. You know, you still have to worry about Devin White, your linebacker. So it's a toss-up for me. My verdict is probably not, but I think they will. Yeah, they might keep him. They just like him too much, and he did have a really good year.

It's just out of all the positions that they need to retain, it feels like safety is closer to the bottom of the list. Again, like you said, they need to keep Devin White on the team. They need to keep Mike Evans. They still need to figure out that offensive line to keep whoever they have at quarterback. Again, the quarterback, like that's, that's the top priority for me. You are a team with all of these, all of these great pieces around you. The only part that you really don't have is the quarterback. And don't give me Baker Mayfield. I don't want to hear it about Baker Mayfield.

Yes. You want to play off game. Great. He's still a low B high C level quarterback. He's not the type who's going to win you a Superbowl. And he's probably not even going to be going to get you in contention for one. So sorry, but he's not getting you there that's my that would be my top priority is to find a quarterback but that's just what i'm thinking all right uh that's all the scheduled content we have for today any other thoughts before we end the episode? Nope. Just abolish

the tag, kids. Yes. Alright. Well, that'll do it for us tonight. Thank you for listening to us. We have new episodes out on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7.30pm EST and Fridays at 5pm.

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