The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Sharp or Square - NFL Free Agency Reactions with Bill Barnwell

Episode Date: March 10, 2026

NFL free agency is underway, and the movement has been fast and furious! Today NFL expert Chad Millman and professional sports bettor Simon Hunter are joined by veteran ESPN writer and personality Bill Barnwell to react to all the offseason action. Tua Tagovailoa was cut by the Miami Dolphins, and will suit up for the Atlanta Falcons this season. Maxx Crosby was the centerpiece of a blockbuster trade from the Las Vegas Raiders to the Baltimore Ravens, joining former MVP Lamar Jackson on a squad with Super Bowl aspirations. Malik Willis will go from backup for the Green Bay Packers to presumptive Miami starting quarterback, and Super Bowl MVP with the Seattle Seahawks Kenneth Walker is headed to the Kansas City Chiefs! These are just SOME of the moves we've seen in the opening days of free agency, with loads more transactions to dissect as bettors and fans alike look to forecast the 2026 NFL season. #Volume -- All lines provided by Hard Rock Bet  Subscribe to Sharp or Square for gambling advice, best bets, and predictions from sports betting experts Chad Millman and Simon Hunter.  Follow on all platforms: https://www.instagram.com/sharporsquare/ https://x.com/SharporSquare_See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you.

you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the ice. Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Turn someday into right now with Body by Jake Radio, nonstop workout music and expert tips 24-7. Hey, head over to iHeart.com. Search Body by Jake Radio and stream it for free right now. Awesome health and wellness tips 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Remember, stick to the fight. When your hardest hit, it's when things seem worse that you must not quit. Don't quit.

Body by Jake Radio, where hope meets momentum. Search Body by Jake Radio and stream it for free. Have a great day. I heart radio. Why are we all so obsessed with romance? On the Radio 831 podcast, join us, Sanjana Basker and Tyler McCall, as we unpack all the trending tropes,

fuzzy adaptations, book talk drama, and celebrity love stories with hot takes and sharp guests. Each episode digs into what these stories reveal about desire, fantasy, identity, and how we love now. Listen to the Radio 831 podcast on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to Sharper Square, presented by Hard Rock Bet. We are part of the Volume Podcast Network. This is the betting show that makes the square sharper, makes the wise guys pay attention all season and off season long.

I am Shadmielman. I am joined by my co-host, my BFF, my companion, my confadre, professional better, Simon. Hunter. Hello, Simon. I felt like we had, what, two, three week lull there, and now we're right back in the thick of it. It goes like with the NFL brother. Dude, there is no rest for the wicked in the NFL season. You got a nice little new spot there.

You're loaded with like a whole new situation. Yep. I got a new studio and I got all my collectibles behind me on my One Piece, my Pokemon. And yeah, finally set up. And hopefully I'll have this spot until this season. So we'll see. But definitely look much better than I did last week on the handheld.

Yeah. People always forget about your deep, deep investment in the essentially anime space with all those cards. And how committed you are to the risk and leveraging across all fronts, not just football, Simon, not just football. Yeah, and I would say I'm someone that's always looking for another option than cash. Chad knows this. I'm a crazy person. If I can get gold rather than cash, my whole life I've done it. And yeah, being very skeptical of our government has paid out very well for your boy.

And Pokemon as well, you could have bought the worst box ever printed. It's only doubled in value. So it's one of those things where in my whole life, I've been investing in buying it. And like I said, the worst stuff, if you held on it for 10 years, it goes up 100%. So it's something like, you know, I just like having assets. And yeah, it's fun to show it off in the background.

Well, listen, if you're talking about fiat currencies like the, you know, U.S. dollar, I just spent the past weekend at the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. I did. And I actually, look, a lot of it was AI, but almost all of it was prediction markets. And obviously, you know, crypto is a huge part of the conversation. That's why I brought up the Fiat currencies. is a huge part of the conversation for prediction markets. And by the way, we have a guest coming on, a massive guest to talk NFL free agency.

But I do think this is interesting for people because I ultimately moderated a panel with Shane Copeland, who's the CEO of Polymarket, as well as Nate Silver, obviously famous, now doing the substack Silver Bulletin, created 538, and another guy named Rick Best, who runs the prediction market desk for Susquehanna, the mass. massive trading firm and that are getting deep, deep, deep into prediction markets and they're opening their own prediction market at JV with Robin Hood. Obviously, I'm writing quite a bit about prediction markets for my book that's coming out early next year.

And it was fascinating because, you know, two days before I was interviewing Shane on this panel, two different senators had proposed a bill called the End Prediction. Market Corruption Act because as America started a war with Iran, there were all these trades about when that would actually start happening. And about a thousand people made trades on polymarket that this would happen within 24 hours. And it was about $855,000 worth of bets. And people were many, many people, I think close to 20 people, one. or earn more than $100,000 on these bets. Several others, I think another 100 people

earn more than $19,000 on the bets. Early in the year, there was the bet where someone had won $400,000 on when Maduro was going to be captured. So there's been a lot of conversation about insider, the idea of insiders profiting from inside information on political and geopolitical markets on these prediction exchanges.

So I asked Shane about this, and he answered the question, which I thought was great. He answered a lot of questions that were challenging about how to manage this. I just thought it was fascinating, and we're talking a lot about these things.

Look, these things and these guys who are creating them, whether it's Kalshi Polly Market, they are libertarian in the parlance of prediction exchanges, Hayekian, meaning like, they fully believe in the, freedom to trade whatever they want to trade without government interference and their visions

and bombast is running up against public backlash and regulatory frameworks that are being proposed that are challenging these real ideas fascinating time to be in this space and obviously they're getting bigger into sports which which we'll get into but if anyone wants to watch it go check out 42 analytics.com that's the Sloan sports. website and it's on there. You know, it's got all the streams for the days. And this was the first one on Saturday.

So it's the very first one that's live on Saturday. Great conversation that, that was had. So just to put a moment, my favorite line chat from the whole thing you just said was the senator. I am not joking people. This man actually says this was no one should profit off war. Man,

that works for the U.S. government. Well, look, you know, it's funny. And he was being dead serious when he said, It doesn't understand the irony at all. Here's the problem. And then we're going to get to our guest who's actually a mainstay at Sloan and is one of the guys who like people idolize, who are moving up in the space because of what he's been able to do with analytics and football. What I will say about this, and I'm working on the book right now.

And I wrote this line in relation to the proposal that was put forth in advance of when I was doing this panel. I'm like, it just reeked of political grandstanding proposing the bill. But prediction exchanges brought it upon themselves because of the backlash. And they're allowing politicians to stand their ground on this kind of notion that they can get away with this. So it's going to be fascinating to see what happens. But that's a good transition to bring in in our guest. NFL free agency officially has kicked off. The player movement has been fast and furious across the NFL.

Our guest posted the definitive column of how to judge winners and losers in this market today, which is why we're lucky to be having them on. A very special guest returning to the show, longtime writer for ESPN, veteran sports media personality, an originator in every sense, a guy who has taken analytics, used it for football intelligence, for a mass audience. He's universally beloved. The article I'm talking about, NFL Free Agency,

winners and losers, is on ESPN.com, the front page, top of the page right now, host of the Bill Barnwell Show. Welcome back, Bill Barnwell, BB from Queens. How you doing, brother? Chad, how are you? Simon, I have not delved in the Pokemon universe, but I did grab a couple of like giant Lego sets and hold them for a few years. And that was a surprising source of value. So the only problem was I had to lug them around the East Coast and like three different moves, these like enormous

like thousand piece Lego sets. That wasn't fun. But it turns out they are a profitable place of value as well. Story of my life. You just something in my life right there. When I was moving, I go, why did I buy all this? It is the worst moving, especially for a collector. But yeah, like you said, Pokemon, it's got a crazy, crazy market. These fans, it's worldwide. Fellas, I don't want anyone to forget, since we have a very popular guest on it. Anyone can get the show at Sharper Square on YouTube.

They can subscribe. They can like the video. They can subscribe to Sharper Square. Apple Pod, Spotify, wherever you get your pods. Bill, let's not dilly-dally. I want to talk about Tua signing with the Falcons because he gets outsized attention because of the contract, because going back to like the draft and who should take him and where he should be taken and the up and down success and the concussions and everything else. He's getting paid $54 million by the dolphins no matter what. Now he's signing with the Falcons.

Give us your take on this because I thought what you were saying in the column was spot on. How are you feeling about this? I have to say from Tua's perspective, I mean, it feels pretty good as far as potential landing spots. I, when I looked at Tua's market, obviously he wasn't going to cost anything because, like you said, the dolphins are paying him $54 million. He gets that whether he makes $20 million with the other team, whether he makes a million dollars with another team. So no one's going to pay him more than the league minimum because it would just offset what the dolphins pay. So he's getting $54 million. dollars really his team is paying him one and a half million dollars or so but there were a lot of

teams who either have a quarterback or i think would say i don't know if he's really for us or it might not be a great fit for two i mean it's in like the browns for example yes they have an opening at quarterback to compete with the various guys they have in the building but that's a cold weather city too has not played well in cold weather it is an offense that has five new starting offensive linemen coming in 2026 potentially to a obviously needs a healthy offensive line to play his best football and a good offensive line to play his best football. I don't think you want to put too much on his shoulders. I think you want to have a really heavy play action game. And look at the teams who could have signed to her,

who don't play outdoors, who have a decent offensive line, who have a decent run game, and who have an opening a quarterback. Falcons and Cardinals felt like the two best fits to be. And the Falcons, I think, make a lot of sense. They have Michael Penix coming off Vittorne ACL, don't know what status is going to be in 2026. The people who inexplicably signed Kirk Cousins and then drafted Michael Pennings in the top 10 are gone. So there's not the organizational sort of like commitment to Michael Panics. Maybe there would have been if those people were still in the building. Kevin Stefanski, you know, has not exactly had the, how can I say this nicely, the greatest crop of quarterbacks to work with over the course of his career. But I think he's typically done a

good job with the guys he had, Sean Watson, maybe a notable exception, although I don't know. if anybody can fix how bad DeShon Watson has been since joining the Cleveland Browns. But you have an offense that I think is going to be heavy play action-based, a lot of booting to the left. Kevin's team that stylistically was already playing to the left last year because Michael Penix was the quarterback for most of the season. So I think Tua fits in. And it is a, to me, the best opportunity to win a job. I think even if he had gone elsewhere, you know, I floated him even going to the Chiefs. It's like the sort of like September Patrick Mahomes replacement.

That would have been fine, but obviously no chance of him being the starter there in the long term. He has a shot at winning a starting job in Atlanta for an entire season, if not into the future, after the Dolphins stopped paying his contract. You know, what's interesting, Simon, we rip on the NFC South all the time. Just a quartet of nondescript regional fan bases that have no real national prominence. don't really make an impact. They're always, they perennial are the team that, the division with teams that are eight and nine,

nine and eight, you know, 10 and seven, they'll win the division. They'll get a good seed, but only because of a lack of competition in their division. So between the Falcons and Stefansky, who I think we can agree as a good coach and kind of got job with a lack of talent at quarterback by the Browns.

The Panthers signed Jalen Phillips. Bill, I know you love that signing. Simon, before we came on the air, you were skeptical. The Saints signed Travis E.T.N. They've made some moves. You know, we'll see how we feel about Shuck going into year two. Let's assess from each of your points of view how each team has moved in this division because it all of a sudden it could be a fascinating division.

Simon, you're up first. And I'll say from the top, Chad is the one that has those feelings for NFC South. I love the NFC South. It's my moneymaker. And my favorite Dallas clown on Dallas Cowboys, the NFC South has gone to, every team has gone to the Super Bowl. The Cowboys have not in the last 30 years. And that's all you need to know about the Cowboys organization. And for the record, don't forget, Chad's choice last week in our season win totals,

part one was Carolina over six and a half. and you said I was, I was, what, you said it was a trap. Yeah, it's a Joe Public Trap. It's a big, big trap line. But yeah, I'll just start for the quarterback move for Tua. I agree with Bill. Like to me, that was a great move because they have, they're going to have two lost seasons here, right? If maybe they hit on Tua and that'll be great, but you draft a quarterback in the top 10, that's a miss.

That's looking like a miss. And you pay Kirk all that money. That's going to set your organization back three, four years. they're still a window though. There's still a window because they have so much talent. So it can't come in there, playing the offense be fixed. Great. If Peng's come back early and he is more comfortable now in this offense

and it's year three for him, great. So to me, I love the move organizationally from Atlanta for the Carolina Panthers getting Phillips. I love the move chat because it's not my money. So to me, they overpaid for a player, but they filled a void. They had a weakness. They went out overpaid for a guy that has not proven to be worth

that type of money in any way. But you see the ups. As someone that is an Eagles fan that watched him this year, he was always a step late on getting the sack. So his stats might not look amazing to the outside, but he did put a ton of pressure on QBs. And he played very well for coming to a new system midway through the year. So to me, Carolina, that's a move they needed to make. They have an owner with a ton of money who's had some big misses. I like the move for them.

So I agree with Bill that it's a good move for Carolina. I just don't know. I don't know if I'd want my TV paying that type of money for a guy like that. Phil? Yeah. I mean, it's a good player, but to Simon's point, like, he's never been a $30 million a year player. He might have that potential.

Simon's right in that he has great pressure numbers, just not great sack numbers. And the pressures matter, you know, creating pressures, what you want your past rushers to do. But we're talking about a guy who retired in college because he had concussion concerns, who suffered a concussion last year with the Eagles. Thankfully, did not miss time because of it. has a torn ACL, a torn Achilles in his first five NFL seasons. If you could promise me, we were getting 17 games of Jalen Phillips, I would be thrilled.

I'd say, okay, great, I'm in for $30 million a year. But that's a really big risk. And it's something for the Panthers where I think it makes evaluating them tougher because, like, yes, there's a scenario where the guys they have who are really good, stay healthy, and that could be a really fun team. But I just have my concerns that even though they have some really significant investments up front on the defensive line, obviously they've invested a ton on their offensive line, I just don't know that I really have a lot of faith in those guys being consistent. And, yes, they made the postseason. I think they're sort of like they get a little bonus bump in people's heads.

But you have to remember, the Falcons finished with the exact same record as the Carolina Panthers. The Panthers won the division. And so they seen it's like, oh, we're taking a step in the right direction. We, you know, we're going to, we have the right people around. We're going to spend more money. The Falcons fired everyone with the same exact record. So I just sort of feel like maybe we're, the difference between those two teams is being overstated by the fact that one made it to the postseason and another turned over pretty much their entire organization. Well, look, the season win total for the Falcons is seven and a half. The season win total for the Saints is seven and a half. The season win total for

for the Panthers is six and a half. What do we think Simon the market is telling us right now when the Saints have vaulted over the Panthers in their season win totals? What are we supposed to take from that? Very easy. It's basically when your division, you play a first place schedule.

So that's exactly what the Panthers are looking at. And it's a team that, I mean, Bill just nailed it. They overachieved. They went above expectations last year. Not me, in you, Chad. we believed in him last year, but we'd be the first to admit, Bryce Young, some of the games he put together, you were never going to see coming.

I mean, the games against the Rams as well. Those are some of his best games of his career. It was impressive how well he played against a really good Rams defense. So, you know, when I look at that team, like you just said, that in that division, it's so fluky. I'm more inclined to take the under, especially the books. The books are tying on themselves here. They are getting 99% of the over money to the Carolina Panthers, right?

It's people very earlier taking that over because of what you just said. It just feels naturally they should improve on last year, especially the fact they've added for agency. But on the other way where it's like, I know they overachieved. I know they stole two games last year. Mathematically, Atlanta should a little better. If the Saints are a little better, if the Bucks don't lose eight straight games and they're a little better,

that's going to be really tough for them to get the seven wins chat. It's just a tough division, especially when you need Bryce Young to take another step. And I would say the other thing for the Saints perspective here is timing matters, right? I mean, this Saints team was two in ten heading into December, and then they win four straight games right at the end of the year. Easy for people, I think, to say, hey, they've got momentum moving forward. They have a quarterback who we believe in and Tyler Shook. And man, I'll tell you what, I thought Tyler Shook looked good last year. I thought Spencer Rantley looked good last year, which tells me I think Kellan Moore is a pretty darn good NFL head coach and offense.

defensive play designer because he had two quarterbacks. I did not have high hopes or playing well last year. But go to that four-game winning streak. I know a lot of people we're not sitting around in the middle of December and saying, you know what I'm going to watch today? I'm watching Saints bucks. I'm watching Saints Panthers. I'm watching Saints Jets. And I can tell you a lot of people we're not watching Saints Titans in Week 17. Nor should they have been. There's better things to do with your life than watching those games. I watch them because I am a sicko. But we're not watching. talking about four defenses that range from me to really bad. Jets' defense was actively revolting against Aaron Glenn late in the season. Tennessee's defense was bad all year in secondary. Tampa Bay did not have a good defense against the pass all year. Carolina's defense was okay. A couple good cornerbacks, but they, to the point of citing Jaylon Phillips, not have a great pass rush from the edge a year ago. And so there are reasons to be optimistic about what the Saints have, but they are going to be losing a bunch of talent this year. They finally have a little bit of money to spend. Their cap situation is better than it's been before, which is great, but they have not

had great drafts in recent years. They lost Alate Taylor, who was their best quarterback to free agency. So I do think there's reasons to be optimistic, but at the same time, this was a five-win team that played one of the easiest schedules in football. I think people are doing a lot of projecting about Tyler Shuck and that late-game stretch being more meaningful than perhaps the earlier stretch where they were like I said, two in ten and not playing very good football. So at the end of the day, it might be the same as it always is. Bucks, Falcons, Panthers, Saints. We've given the NFCC South so much time that at the end of the day,

it's going to be the same as it ever was. Bill, I can tell you right now, we watched every second of every Saints game because of the 200-1 Tyler Shook bet that Simon gave out right when he was about to go into his run that ended up with him barely losing out an offensive rookie of the year. You just said something, though, that's interesting to me about you're kind of a sicko. And you had a great line in the column today about Jalen Phillips and his next-gen stats chip rate. And that what the Panthers are really paying for, and by the way,

We're spending so much time in this because the two biggest winners in Bill's column were Tua and Jalen Phillips. So you talked about his next-gen stats rate, the chip rate for next-gen stats. And that's really what they're paying for. What I'm always curious about in your columns, are you going through 8 million stats across multiple deep analytics platforms? Like, how are you figuring out which to go to so quickly because you're also turning these things around so quickly? It's an inside baseball store question, but I got to know. It's my job. That's what I have to be good at.

Listen, I know it's your job. It's also why I tried to hire you eight million times at Action Network. You're very, very good at it. But I need to know, like, how are you getting it done so quickly? How do you figure out where are you going to go, like what the best thing is to look at so fast? Well, I mean, I'm watching the games. And so I have like, it's not like I'm sitting here saying, oh, is Jellon Phillips good at anything? Like, what?

Is he good at the stuff? Like, I know from watching the games each week, watching All-22 each week, Jalen Phillips created a ton of pressures. Like, I have that in my head already. And so I know, okay, who has the pressure numbers I trust the most? That's next-gen stats, just because they are tracking not just all pressures, but specifically the pressures I really think are valuable are quick pressures. Those are usually two, two-and-a-half seconds?

Are you beating a guy quickly and getting right out the quarterback? That's a really valuable stat to me. So I know, okay, I know Jeline Phillips' sack numbers aren't great, because he didn't have double-digit sax this year or anywhere close, but if my instinct from watching all those games says he has a lot of pressures, let me go to the pressure source I trust most, let me see where he ranks. Oh, he ranks pretty well. Great, we are good.

I don't need to look for anything else. If I look for, if it doesn't count the way I figure, I go back and it's okay, well, maybe is the stat not accurately capturing what I saw, did I not see enough of a sample? You know, I have not watched every single play, but I've watched every third down. I've watched every pressure. I've watched every, you know, pass a test.

over the course of the season. So I've seen a lot of stuff. So sometimes the numbers don't agree with me, and I say, okay, well, maybe my opinion is wrong or maybe my evidence is wrong or maybe there's something in the data that I need to account for more accurately. I'll give you a good example.

The Packers traded for Rashon Gary yesterday. And I was like, well, you know, okay player, like, you know, the price tag, a little higher than I would have hoped for. But like solid numbers against the past rush. I've seen to make some plays this year. When I look back at his pressure numbers, they weren't very good.

Like it's sort of like it may be leaned down a bit versus where my expectations were when I looked at that trade to begin with. So, you know, I think I'm trying to use numbers to have evidence. And I'm not using the numbers to like distort what I'm trying to say. I'm not trying to just blow people's minds

with crazy numbers. I think you have to put everything in context. But like the reality is I'm not a former player. I am not a former coach. If I'm going to say something, I have to have evidence. for what I say. And so some of that evidence is anecdotal.

It's big picture watching games. And some of it is using data that I trust to reinforce that, okay, this thing I saw actually is real and accurate. How often do you get calls from scouts, GMs, personnel people to either yell at you because they disagree or tell you like, yeah, you're totally nailing it? I got one during our taping. So just now. Yeah, just about once every, once every half hour.

So during the, during the first few days of free agency, people have a little bit of free time and they read stuff. They want to yell at me or this one actually was more complimentary. I was going to say, give me the context. Did this person, tell me what this person said. You don't have to tell me who it was. I, I, I'm not going to reveal what the, I'll tell you off the air what the person said. But I'll just say it was very rarely once in a while I get something wrong.

And so I look at people saying, hey, like you didn't consider this or maybe you didn't realize this was the case. And that's that's meaningful and valuable. But usually it's more like if it's something they don't like, it's usually a thoughtful, hey, this is what we were thinking. This is why it made sense to us. Sometimes with some teams, there's just straight up anger. Like how could you even consider this? But usually it's complimentary. Usually it's like, yeah, glad you saw that.

Yeah, that makes sense. Or someone saying, oh, we didn't know why this team did this. And it actually made sense when you put it in context for me. So it really is more, it's not as like dramatic. I say once every year I get like a really angry executive calling me. And that's usually a fun hour where I sit there and just sort of like talk them down from whatever they want to vent at me. But usually it's pretty positive. I'll say people generally, like, people who seek me out, who have my number, who are trying to get in touch with me, usually are more like-minded than you might think.

Well, I got to know, are these teams reaching out to? My two favorite moves so far this year, I've been done by the Rams. I love what the Rams have done in this free agency. I would love, are you getting text from people asking you or compting about what are the chiefs doing? This is not the chiefs we're used to. Going out and paying our running back that is not worthy of that money, in my opinion. know they have the same numbers as I do. And it is the most desperate, bizarre move by a chiefs organization that seems so smart, calculating all their moves. Are teams around the league texting

you being like laughing about? Are they all saying, oh, this is a good move? What are teams saying about the chiefs? Because I, in my circles, a lot of guys raising eyebrows, it's like something's different about the chief's organization they've been in the past. Yeah, it's a good question. I do find that certain teams get the benefit of the doubt. You know, like when the Patriots were rolling with Belichick. I remember even publicly you'd hear about, you know, when the Patriots would suggest a rule change, people wouldn't want to vote for it because they were like, oh, Belichick knows something we don't. He's going to break something that we don't realize. I'm not voting for that. I'm not giving Belichick anything, even if it was like a totally innocuous

rule change. The chiefs don't have that sort of like hold over people, but there is an element of like people talk themselves into it when it comes to a lot of what the chiefs do. Like I'll give you an example, trading Tyree Kill a couple years ago. There were definitely people who would have, you know, I think if it had been different teams said, hey, what are they thinking? These are the Chiefs. Patrick Mahomes, his top receiver is gone. He's in the prime of his career. We're in win now mode. You're trading him for draft picks. Like, you don't even know who's going to be catching the ball for you next year. And that worked out okay. I mean, there wasn't like Tyree Kill was bad in Miami. He was a superstar for two years, but all things being equal,

Chiefs won two Super Bowls after that trade. I think it worked. You know, they're not perfect. They don't hit 100. I understand why they made this move for Kenneth Walker. To me, it's about explosive plays. They were just not generating anything explosive in their run game. And Kenneth Walker is someone who passes limitations, not a great receiver, not a great pass blocker, but does create a lot of explosive plays, chunk plays in the run game. I was going to see a lot of light boxes based on what Kansas City sees on defense. Could they have gotten that for less money by signing Kenny Gainwell or signing Rico Dattle. I do think so.

But I guess the thing that I would base it on, my concern was that they were going to draft Jeremiah Love at 9. And Jeremiah is going to be a good player, but the opportunity cost of taking a running back at 9 when you have other positions that are much harder to fill, that you're going to finally get a chance to address in the top 10 of the draft, whether that be edge rusher, whether that be tackle,

whether that be wide receiver, whether it be cornerback, which they have a huge need for now with the Rams, like you mentioned, getting Kansas City's two best corners away via trade and via free agency. You have to take that shot on those guys then. You just cannot afford to take a running back in the first round. We saw them to do with Clyde Edwards-Alaire, and everyone loved it, I loved it. Scouts loved it.

It was a great move, and then Jonathan Taylor was off the board in the second round, and T. Higgins was the next player taken, and that would have been a much more valuable player for them over the ensuing five years, even though it didn't look like they needed a wide receiver at the time. And so all of this goes to say people are generally respectful. There's a certain level of reverence for Andy Reid that I feel like would lead to. If this were a different team, I think there'd be more criticism. But I think in the NFL, the Chiefs generally get the benefit of the doubt.

Let's do a quick break from our friends at Hard Rock. On the other side, I want to get Bill's take on desperate signings and teams that have improved themselves the most and the biggest losers. We'll be right back. Today's show is brought to you by our presenting sponsor, Hard Rock Bet, Florida's Sportsbook. Mark is here, and that means college hoops take center stage. The stakes are rising. The shots are falling. And now is the time to hit the hardwood with hard rock bet.

Sign up today and double your winnings on your first 10 bets, max $50. That's right. Your winnings are doubled on your first 10 bets. So if you would have won 100 bucks on your bet, make the money. that 200. That's how you start March hot. And the welcome offer is just the tip off all tournament long hard rock bet is rolling out daily dance and boosts featuring a live profit boost and a parley profit boost every single day. More ways to shoot your shot, more ways to cash in with boosted odds. So don't sit on the bet. Download the hard rock bet app today. Let's get the party

started offered by Seminole Tribal Florida in Florida offered by Seminole Hard Rock Digital LLC in all other states must be 21 or over and physically present in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, or Virginia to play. Terms and conditions apply, concerned about gambling in Florida. Call 1-833 playwise. In Indiana, if you or some of you know as a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-9 with it in Ohio. call 1-800 my reset.

Gambling problem. Call 1-800 gambler in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Virginia. Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, name? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast?

Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's actually. Extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember.

I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas.

And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, Jonas, and offered it up. was a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite.

Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs, Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis. And I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs. And on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on clay. Genschen went. I mean, she went down in three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me.

And she likes Clay. Listen, Lena Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of I Heart Women's Sports. Last night, a blown call changed a game.

This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear.

The laughs, the drama, the triumphs. the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action

with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slices Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. All right, Bill. Did the person who text you, were they like,

this was a great take on a complimentary move, or was this a great take on a bad move by a team? It was neither of those. It was arguing that a thing I did not like was actually good. Interesting. Interesting. Okay. Why can't you tell us that?

Oh, you don't want to name the team that you wrote about that's involved. Yes. Got it. I can respect that. But I hope you can respect my follow-up as a capital J journalist to try to get to the bottom of this truth. Give me your most improved teams. Because look, a lot of these season win totals haven't moved off a free agency in the first 24 hours. So Simon just mentioned the Rams.

Who are your most improved teams right now, including the Chicago Bears? I would throw the Rams out there. I love what they did. I mean, it was attacking their biggest need. Outside of kicker. Kicker is their biggest need. By the way, would you guys not be impressed if the Rams offered Harrison, or not Harrison Butker,

Brendan Aubrey, excuse me, very similar names in terms of like, if they offered Brandon Aubrey $10 million a year and dare the Cowboys to match, they'd give up a second round pick. I would love it. By the way, you talk about benefit of the doubt. You talk about benefit of the doubt.

Less need would get the best. in front of the doubt that that is a brilliant move right if if if the browns did it they'd be like god the fucking brown idiots no question um but their their two biggest weaknesses were in the kicking game on special teams and at quarterback when they lost games last year they lost to the eagles they lost to the carolina panthers who we mentioned earlier they lost to the sea hawks in the nfc championship game they could not stop bigger receivers they were they have a great defensive line young, cheap, super talented. They have good safeties.

They brought back Cam Curr, which I like. They were just getting by all year in cornerback. It was one of those cases where people like me looked at the roster in September and said, if they fail, it's going to be because of this. And not always right, but this was a case where it was because that was what cost them in the biggest games. And so I love what they did. They addressed cornerback.

They trade the late first-round pick. We know that state hates late first-jarm picks. He loves other picks. But there is the famous, how can I say this in a Disney-friendly way, to heck with those picks, attitude towards, from Lesney. But that's towards the bottom part of the first round. We're not Disney. I am. We were there.

But you're on a Colin Coward platform. He's a wild card. I am very reserved. Yes, of course. But you're talking about a Rams team that needed to. get cornerback better immediately because unlike other teams where you hear about the ravens being in win now mode, when they trade from max crosbie. The Rams actually are in win now mode. There is no solution to quarterback beyond Matthew Stafford. Who knows, Ashah McVeigh is going to be there when Stafford retires?

He's been rumored to go to the media for, I'm sure he has like a, you know, a 30 million dollar your job lined up the moment he decides to retire and he's going to be very good at that. But they need to fix cornerback. And so getting Trent McDuffie, who's going to be the perfect fit for what they need, playing inside and outside, blitzing, playing to the line of scrimmage is a great fit. And then Jalen Watson, given one touchdown over the last two years of cornerback. And again, a very achieved scheme that plays a lot of man, forces you to cover against exotic blitzes that forces you to play in a lot of sub-packages. That's what the Rams want to do. They played dime four times the league average rate last year.

They played dime more than anybody else in football. And they would have played it more if they had defensive backs and cornerbacks specifically they felt good about. Now they can live in that world. They can play five, six defensive backs all the time, the way the Seahawks did on their way to the Super Bowl. They can play coverage behind those great front four. They can run all the exotic blitzes and sim pressures they want. That feels like just the perfect fit for what the Rams needed. And then I'll give you another one.

I will not go far from Los Angeles. I will go to Las Vegas where the Las Vegas Raiders did spend a lot of money. And like the economist in me, I'm not a trained economist, but the economist in me knows paying Tyler Linderbaum 50% more per year than any center in NFL history is too much money. But that's not my problem. I'm not paying the money.

They don't have a significant opportunity cost because they have a ton of money to spend. They're going to have a quarterback, the first overall pick presumably in Fernando Mendoza, who needs help, their offensive line on the interior was a mess last year. And you're bringing in a guy who is going to help you in all facets of the game. He's going to help your quarterback in protection.

He's pretty good. I think an underrated one-on-one pass blocker at center. Next-gen stats of him is like one of the best one-to-one blockers at center in all football last year. And he's a great piece in the run game. Clint Kubiak plays, as we saw at Seattle, a very zone heavy moving the interior lineman, a lot of screens. You need mobile interior alignment for that offense, that scheme to work.

And Linderbombe is a great fit. there on defense they brought back eric stokes who i think was really good last year behind a very bad pass rush um quay walker the kobey dean much improves out a linebacker some guys who can blitz who can play in coverage um there's still work to be done i didn't love signing jill and nailer for more than ten million dollars a year um they still need another wide receiver i thought they might make a run at mike evans who ended up going of course to the niners they still need pieces up front they just lost max crosby who's pretty darn good but there's a a much more real real realistic sense to what can we do to get better quickly, logically.

And they have those two first-starved picks, which is going to go a long way. Simon, the Rams right now are plus 775 to win the Super Bowl. They have the shortest odds other than the Seahawks. The Raiders are 150 to 1 to win the Super Bowl. Well, I'm not saying the Raiders are going to win the Super Bowl, but I do love what the Raiders have done. not just in, and also they get Colton Miller back, who was an excellent offensive lineman. And when he went down, that really changed the trajectory of their team.

I think they're putting together a team that will support Fernando Mendoza, but also Clint Kubiak. Like how often do we see these teams hire a coach and then not give them any pieces that are helpful to what they like to do? never give their coaches help, right? You got to admire a little bit of what the Raiders are doing here. Love it. Organizationally, it just shows that, you know, they've missed last year, right? Pete, Gino, huge swing, huge miss. They'll always have that week one against the Patriots. That was, that was their Super Bowl. But to me, I love all these rooms. I already knew me and you were probably

going to be on there over five and a half at Hard Rock. But I look at all these lines and I just think to myself, okay, you have a quarterback we love, that's a winner. We have an offensive mind that seems like he's pretty smart, like caters to his guy's strengths, avoids the weaknesses, and then you see what they've done in the offseason attacking that offensive line, attacking the defense, which was, to me, a lost cause. It's like this, this defense is going to take three years to fix, not an offseason. So that's still going to be a major weakness, but Renana Mendoza, a winner with that team, I can talk myself into them getting a couple wins here in this division that everyone's so on the Chargers, so on the Chiefs, so on,

you know, what could possibly be another great year from Denver. No one's going to be thinking about this Vegas team. So I do think I like what Bill's take is. Like it's a, they're a sneaky team where, yes, they've overpaid for guys. But like Phil said, it's like the guys you want to overpay with a center with a young quarterback, that's my dream scenario. Pay that man that money. I know Phil agrees with that.

But I just, the Jason Kelsey, what he did for Hertz, and you've heard it all. all these other quarterbacks talk about how important the center is that can call what the what they're going to do all in the offensive line it's just massive so i love that take from bill yeah i um i will say that when when you see teams make a significant leap the two things that almost always change are upgrade a quarterback upgrade a head coach the raiders could make that case the only problem is i was sitting here a year ago and saying yeah i think the raiders are going to be better because they upgraded the quarterback and upgraded the head coach. And it turned out, they did not upgrade a quarterback or upgraded the head coach. Who are, and by the way, Bill,

your breakdown in the column today about the salaries for centers and the decision matrix that the Ravens went through for Linderbaum when his option came up and how the market has just exploded was great. But I'm I'm surprised they didn't I'm surprised they didn't do it last year when it's become so clear how important the center is. Like as a Bears fan, I'm freaking out that Drew Dalman retired. Right. And like I know that's not on anyone's radar and it was a one day blip of a story. But I can tell you right now, the text chain that is going on between me in my kid about Drew Dalman is intense because the centers, because of Jason Kelsey, have been elevated in importance. Yeah, I mean, it is a legitimately important position.

And it's just making your young quarterback's life easier. I just think about Mahomes who had, as a good center's his entire career, most recently, Creed Humphrey, who's the highest paid center in football. Like you said, not anymore. Kelsey, not anymore, but he was for a long, pick up was for a couple of years. It's just like, and you think about some guys who have struggled who have not had great centers, to Jay Stroud has not ever really developed beyond what he was as a rookie, even though I think he's an awesome player because they have had different centers and not very good centers each season for him in Houston.

It really is a, I think it's something that has been underrated when it comes to evaluating players. I think it's not true for every team. Like I think it's nice for Tom Brady to have a good center, but like Tom Brady, was able to set his own protections reset them get the ball out quick re defenses like not that young quarterbacks can't do that it's just tougher and so I do believe this is a position that was probably underpaid for a while and we'll see other teams might say hey this is a contract that we're not going to match but I think a lot of guys are going to get paid based off of what linderbaum

just got from the raiders yeah I totally agree this I mean it's you don't overpay for a center if you have Matthew Stafford right you overpay him if you got a young quarterback that's that's that to me is nail in the head. And, you know, I don't want to be the negative guy, but we do need to get the teams that didn't make any moves who was least improved. And, you know, me and Chad, jokes about going back five years, I wanted what my Eagles team just did. They didn't make a single move. That's the dream. That means you've drafted really well. You're paying in-house. That's where you want to be in life. But we saw last year, New England, biggest spender out of every team in the offseason, they made two Super Bowl. So now people are a little torn because it's like, okay, the

cap has moved so much nowadays. you do want to spend the off season, but there's a balance, right? If you're not paying your own homegrown guys, you are missing out. So am I over thinking of the Eagles missing out right now? Because they've made zero moves and they do need pieces, right? They need a tight end. They need to do something, but how he's being very patient. I would give them an incomplete.

I mean, when I used to do grades for ESPN when it came to free agency and the first day grades, I'm not going to lie, always a little more negative than people thought because those moves typically do not work out. I mean, they're just a really low hit rate. for moves on the first day, the first sort of 36 hours of free agency. So it's incomplete because if we're sitting here a month from now and they have not done anything, that to me is a problem. They have pieces they need to add.

They could add another outside cornerback. They're going to actually add Campbell take over for Nicobi Dean, but that defensive line was not as deep last year as it wasn't years past. Now they've lost Dylan Phillips. They've lost Brandon Graham to retirement. They're going to have to rebuild a little bit of their depth along the defensive line. Maybe they'll sign Troy Hendrickson. We'll be sitting here saying, well, Eagles made a big splash and just waited the day to do it.

But I do think they're in a good spot. I mean, like you said, Jordan Davis, they signed to an extension. They're going to have Jill and Carter coming due for an extension. We don't know what's going to happen with AJ Brown. Obviously, that could stretch all the way until the summer. I still think he's going to stay in the big picture. So that to me is an incomplete grade. I would say a team that I think has negatively harmed themselves is the Baltimore Ravens,

where I know they traded for Max Crosby. Max Crosby is an awesome football player, but they trade two first-round picks to get Max Crosby as he approaches his age 29th season. He's still going to be a good player, but you're not like the Rams trading for guys as they're entering their peak or for a quarterback. We just haven't seen teams give up that much for guys

at this point of their careers in a very long time. That's just not a trade we have seen. The Ravens needed edge rusher help. They struck out on some of their guys. They traded the Daffa Oway, who signed El. elsewhere in free agency after he got traded to the Chargers. But that team now is missing two first round picks.

They lost a bunch of valuable pieces yesterday. They lost Isaiah Likely, Dramon Jones, who was starting on the edge for them, Aloha Gilman, who really helped them after he came over at safety. And you just don't have as many pieces to resolve those missing holes in the roster. And I think I look at that team when I think, okay, they draft really well usually, but now you're missing your two top picks. You can't trade down out of the first round. You're not getting those Kyle Hamilton caliber pieces in the first round who are going to be your incredible surplus value options.

They're going to have to hit on all of those second, third, fourth, fifth round picks or a lot of them. You can do that. But when you have a quarterback making as much as Lamar Jackson's going to make on his new deal, as much as Max Crosby's making, as Kyle Hamilton, Roquant Smith, Ronnie Stanley's making, they have a really expensive top four, top five, top six on that roster. And a lot of guys who unfortunately have significant injury histories, over the last few years. And so it feels very tenuous to me.

It feels like they're going to be very top-heavy. And that's just not a good place to be. You really have to get everything right to win with that formula. And I don't know if that's going to happen for the Baltimore ratings. You, Simon before, actually you mentioned C.J. Stroud. And you also noted in the column in terms of teams that did not do themselves any favors, the Houston Texans are one of them. Explain yourself.

Yeah, I don't know if you guys watch the postseason game where CJ Stroud got the heck beat out of him by the Patriots and the snow. The Texans saw that and we're like, yeah, we're good. Yeah. Pretty much with these dudes. I felt like we were in the good spot. I mean, they trade away Titus Howard,

who had found strong, played some right tackle, played left guard, was expensive. I think he wants to play right tackle, and I don't think Houston wants to play him at right tackle. But you're down one-linman. You trade you Scruggs, who has not worked out as a second round pick. Okay, you're down another offensive lineman. You bring back Ed Ingram, who was a okay run blocker last year, not a good pass blocker.

One thing to bring him back and pay him a couple million dollars the way they did last year in the final year of his deal, they give him $13 million a year or so on a contract. They signed Trent Brown, who was a good player when he's healthy, but he's missed significant time pretty much every single year since he won the Super Bowl at the Patriots. And he's getting up to $7 million. dollars. The money's not a big conservative. They're putting him in and say, okay, you're going to be our right tackle. We're going to count on you. I know they have the draft still to come, but they trade a fourth round pick for David Montgomery, who's going from one of the best situations for a running back in football to one of the worst situations in football. It just feels like they're shopping in the wrong order. They're getting running back first when you should be getting the running back last and fixing the line first. And so it just feels like there's last year they decided to fix it. the offensive line by shaking everything up, trade away Laramie Tunsell, moving everybody around,

drafting a bunch of guys, acquiring a bunch of guys. Nothing wrong with that. I could see the logic in doing most of that. Now it feels like that didn't work. So our new solution is just to keep everything pretty much back in place and just kind of get your continuity. It just feels like they're like mid-maxing these strategies. It doesn't feel like there's any real long-term vision

to how to build the infrastructure around C.J. Stroud. And now C.J. Stroud is going to get expensive. C.J. Stroud is eligible for a new deal. and I would bet his agent's going to be asking, even though he played poorly last year, for a contract that starts with a six for $60 million plus a season. Will Anderson, who is awesome. One of the best players in football is going to get a new deal.

He's going to be the highest paid edge rusher, highest paid defender in football when he signs his new contract. That's going to be $45 million a year or more. So now, if you can't win or can't build a great team when CJ Strider and Will Anderson are making $15 million a year, How are you going to do that when they're making $105 million a year, which is where they're going to be as early as 2026? Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news?

Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast. Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. We were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band.

Before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey, Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast.

But thanks for remembering that guy. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL, late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an acapella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform?

We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis, and I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast,

I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on clay. Jen Chinchin win. I mean, she went down at three, two, Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay.

Listen, Lena Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Last night, a blown call changed a game.

This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear.

The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial, calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicelife-12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Along these lines, not that we like to be negative, because I'm irrationally optimistic. but what signing to you has been the most desperate signing?

I'll go Tennessee where I like Tennessee this year. I think Cam Ward was sort of like year one Drake Mayish in a lot of ways where you watch the tape and you're like, man, this dude is getting no help, but there's so much fun stuff. He's hidden throws. He's making plays. I think he's really good. But they needed to add help. for cam war this off season and brian dable was like guys i know exactly the place to go

the new york giants we're gonna run it back we're gonna go to tennessee a lot of people move from new york to the south as they get older they want to be in warmer weather i understand nothing wrong with that but wandell robinson is like kind of a gadget player jimary dk was a gadget player for tennessee last year it's kind of marginalizing one of your more exciting young players from last year's roster, which they did not have very many of, unfortunately. They signed Daniel Bellinger. Okay, you need a blocking tight end. He's okay.

He's trying to one of the worst run games in football when he was there. They pay him $8 million a year. I mean, you really needed to get a day one blocking tight end just because he knew Brian dayball scene. He couldn't have waited for one of the 84 other blocking tight ends who were going to make a million or $2 million dollars a couple weeks from now to get that deal done. It just felt very, it felt like they knew we needed to add. add something, but they added pieces that good teams develop where they find a gadget guy

on day three of the draft, the way that decay might have been. They find blocking tight ends in the draft or in fritzing for a couple million dollars. Tennessee paid a premium to add those guys, and I don't think they've really solved anything. They still need a receiving tight end. They still need a running back who they trust in pass protection. They still need a number one wide receiver. And maybe they get Jeremiah Luff. Maybe that solves one of their problems.

I hope it does. But they just, it feels like they didn't really solve anything and spent $25 million a year in the process. I'll go with, oh yeah, go ahead, son. I go with Pittsburgh. I don't really get. I just, I don't know who they are anymore, Chad. It's, it's like you've been in love for 10 years with a woman.

And then you wake up one day, you just don't know who she is anymore. And that's how I feel about Pittsburgh. They are not who they used to be. They used to pay guys in-house. Now they're going out and signing a second receiver. the whole thing is so bizarre. Maybe they know they're getting Rogers back, but I didn't understand that.

It's signing. Like they're paying a linebacker. They didn't really need. You know, it's, I had a lot of questions about Pittsburgh and the Colts. I'm totally lost with them. And they put themselves in a quarter hour Daniel Jones is asking for real money,

even though he's not a real quarterback yet. He had eight good games, and he's looking for $50 million a year, where if I am them, if they had a real owner, they would step in and they would say, we're going to have Kyler, 1.5 million and roll the dice. I would much rather that than committing three years, $50 million per year, to Daniel Jones.

I could not believe Daniel Jones's agency is asking for that type of money. I feel bad for the Colts, they're totally stuck. And I'll give you one sleeper team. I actually loved that no one's given any love out there. I need to give a little love to them because Chad knows. I basically went scorch earth on this organization, Arizona Cardinals. I basically said they should fold up and they shouldn't finish out last year

after that embarrassing loss of Tennessee. The owner listened to me and all the fans. He is burning it all down. That's what they need to do. They need to burn it all down. I know people are like, well, they sign Minchew, I think, and they're going to roll Berset at the quarterback again.

Yes, that is exactly what you want in that division. You are five years behind every team of your division. You are in the hardest division in football. You need to do what Arizona did. So I am so happy Arizona is going this, route because, you know, if Manning is that guy, Manning has a great year and he's going to be the number one pick, Arizona has set themselves right up for that. Them and the Jets are trying to set themselves up for that, Manning, whoever's going to be that number one pick. And I think Arizona right

now is the lead start because I think the Jets are just a very still, I'm skeptical of jets and organization. I know what they're really doing. Arizona, I know exactly what they're doing right now. They are all in. I'll get that number one pick and restarting this. So yeah, I'll give a little bit of love, Arizona. I'm not taking the over four and a half. That's definitely an underlook. But yeah, that to me is a team that no one's talking about them because they didn't do much, but I love the full on tank by them. Yeah, I like what the Cardinals did. I think they're in a good spot, like you said, for many of the reasons that you suggested. Steelers, it just feels like they have a very deluded idea of where they stand and what they need to be.

The way I described them a couple weeks ago was incurious about baking it past. the opening round of the playoffs. No, everyone else is trying to win a Super Bowl, or I guess the Cardinals are trying to get Arch Manning. The Steelers are trying to make it to the postseason and don't care about anything else once they get there. And so when you look at their moves from that lens, it makes sense. You trade for Michael Pittman,

who's basically a salary dump for the Colts when they signed Alec Pierce. Well, Michael Pittman's averaged like 10 yards of reception over the last few years. That is perfect for the Steelers. That is exactly what Aaron Rogers wants to do. Get the ball out quick, throw screens, throw slants. Don't get hit. Move on. Have a nice day. They signed Jim L. Dean, good player. Not a question about adding a good player, but they have signed veteran

quarterback after veteran cornerback, Patrick Peterson, Jalen Ramsey in years past. And those moves typically have not been great for the Pittsburgh. So they're having to move those guys to safety by the end. Like Bill, do you think Joy Porter Jr. is a number one corner in this league? He's really good. But I just, to your point, like, I think about, I actually wrote about this when Tomlin left. I went back and looked at all of those great Steelers teams

who made it in the Super Bowl under Tomlin, under Cower. 21, 22 of their most used players were guys who were drafted by the Steelers or are drafted free agents who the Steelers brought in and developed. They were not trading for D.K. Medcaf. They were not trading for Michael Pittman. They were not importing half of their roster

from outside the building. And that feels like they just have lost what makes the Steelers the Steelers. They have really talented young players. Joey Porter is good. Keanu Benton is good. Mason McCormick is good. Troy Fulton is good.

Zach Fraser's good. If they just leaned into that, I think they would be fine. But leaning into that means you're going to have a two or three a window where you stink. And the Steelers would rather go nine and eight year after year after year and have no hope of winning a Super Bowl than take that step backwards in the hopes of actually taking a bigger step forward

if they can find a young quarterback and build around him. Bill Barnwell. You get the last word on sharp or square. This month, as a reminder, we'll still have new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday. This Thursday, one of my favorite episodes of the year, we're talking Academy Awards with our good friend, Hollywood insider, Michael Lasker, who knows everything about the Oscars. Then next week we got March Madness, part two of our NFL win totals episode, which is rapidly changing given the free agency dynamics. This has been Sharper Square, part of the volume podcast network. I want to thank Bill Barnwell.

Go listen to the Bill Barnwell show from our friends at ESPN. Watch or listen on YouTube at Sharper Square. Like this video, subscribe to the channel, download from Spotify, Apple Pods, wherever you get your pods, rate, review, subscribe, leave us five stars. Say whatever you want. Feedback is a gift. Until next time, love you. Hey, guys, it's us.

The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it.

We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite, unhumored me with Robert Smy, and friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you

funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Turn someday into right now with Buddy by Jake Radio, nonstop workout music. and expert tips 24-7. Hey, head over to iHeart.com. Search Body by Jake Radio and stream it for free right now. Awesome health and wellness tips, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Remember, stick to the fight.

When your heart is hit, it's when things seem worst that you must not quit. Don't quit. Body by Jake Radio, where hope meets momentum. Search Body by Jake Radio and stream it for free.

Have a great day. I heart radio. The story I've told myself can then shape my behavior and that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection. This Mental Health Awareness Month, tune into the podcast Deeply Well with Debbie Brown if you've been searching for a soft place to land

while doing the work to become whole. This podcast is for you to hear more. Listen to Deeply Well with Debbie Brown from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.