The McShay Show - NFL Free Agency First Impressions! Breaking Down the Latest Quarterback Moves, Trades, and More.

Episode Date: March 10, 2025

Welcome back to ‘The McShay Show’! Todd opens by reacting to the Geno Smith trade and what the move means for the Raiders and the Seahawks. Then, the guys sift through the latest news around the league, including DK Metcalf’s fit in Pittsburgh, Sam Darnold landing in Seattle, and Justin Fields joining the Jets. (0:00) Welcome to The McShay Show! (1:31) NFL Free Agency Reactions (6:15) Seahawks Signing Sam Darnold, 3 Years $100 Million (21:11) Draft Expectations & Targets for the Seahawks (23:18) Jets Sign Justin Fields, 2 Years $40 Million (25:32) Draft Expectations & Targets for the Seahawks (29:35) Raiders Trade for Geno Smith + Draft Targets (46:52) DK Metcalf Traded to the Steelers (52:09) What's Next for the Steelers? (56:58) How Does Justin Fields Impact the Jets Draft Strategy? (1:05:36) Cleveland Browns Extends Contract with Myles Garrett (1:19:30) Patriots Free Agency Moves + Draft Implications (1:25:23) Free Agency's Impact on the Top 5 Draft Picks (1:28:05) Thanks for Watching! Sign up for ‘The McShay Report’ today to receive premium access to every mock draft, exclusive scouting reports, inside information from league sources, and deep-dive analysis from now until the draft. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Host: Todd McShay Guest: Steve Muench Producers: Tucker Tashjian, Mark Panik, Conor Nevins, and Daniel Comer Social: Eduardo Ocampo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's the McShea Show presented by Fandul. The NFL draft is right around the corner, and Fandul is the best place to get in on all the action. The app is safe, secure, and easy to use. Fandual always has exclusive offers. When you win, you'll get paid instantly. And Fandual has a lot of ways to bet the draft, with loads more coming between now and the first pick.

So download the Fandual Sportsbook app today and make every moment more during the NFL draft. must be 21 and older and present in select states. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-hap.com. Gino Smith to the Raiders, D.K. Metcalf to the Steelers, Miles Garrett's back in Cleveland, and the Patriots are making a lot of moves too. As our guy, Conor and Evans says, let's dig into the organizational IQ as it pertains to all these moves and the effects it will have on the NFL draft. Plus, I've got some interesting nuggets I want to go through.

with this year's linebackers class. And Mench, I'm sure you get some hot takes on something else, too. Always. Just 45 days until the NFL draft. Metsch, you good? I'm good, man. Roll it. We're just coming on air right now.

Full transparency, it is 2.19 p.m. Eastern time on Monday. And it was getting ready to talk about, hmm, maybe the Patriots could go, Mason Graham defensive tackle with that number four overall pick. and it just pops up on the screen. Milton Williams, the most coveted defensive tackle, interior defensive linemen and free agency, signed by the New England Patriots. We got a lot to get to. I mean, I'm sitting here watching tape.

I'm figuring out our board. We got a top 100 coming out on Thursday, okay? Fall with me here. Top 100 on Thursday. Today we're going to go through a lot of the free agent moves. We've got to get into what the mindset is, as Connor says, the organizational IQ really contextualize some of this stuff as it pertains to all this roster building and specifically what we, you know, spend a vast majority of our year doing on the NFL

draft. Thursday, as I said, top 100. I'm going to release that top 100 board. I've already kind of leaked the top 32. Some tweaks already being made there. So that's going to be a big one for it. It kind of sets the board for the next few weeks and it allows us to dig into free agency and also continue our draft evaluations. Then next week, we're going to have a lot to get to. Free agency starts on Wednesday at 4 p.m. folks, the NFL new year. On next Monday, as our shows always, I'll remind everyone, Monday afternoon, Thursday morning, okay? So next Monday, we'll get into all the free agency stuff and everything that Mention and I are going through on our evaluations and keep you up to date on our processes. We promise, when we started the show, October 22nd,

24, we're going to, for the first time in our careers, be able to, you know, talk to you, the audience and be able to explain our process. And we're going to keep walking you through where we are at every step. So next Monday, it's going to be where we are in the evaluations, what positions we're still working on, grinding away to try to get this, this draft book, if you will, done by the first week in April. And then on Thursday, mock 2.0. That's a big one, Mitch. We had to wait. I wanted to do it this week, but like, that's because I'm stupid. I've always had good producers and people around me telling me like what fires to walk into and what fires to walk around. And right, why, like, I could have literally done a mock draft last

night and now all of a sudden, Gino Smith. You would be pulling your hair out right now. Yeah, Gino's in Vegas. D.K. Metcalf's in Pittsburgh. Holden Williams is in New England. I would have had Mason, Mason Graham going there. Right. So wisely, Connor and Dan and Tucker and the crew told me, hey, slow down, big fella, slow down. Let's release it next Thursday. That'll give us some time. That'll give us a full week of free agency.

And at that point, yeah, that second tier and second wave of free agents comes through. But at that point, we'll have a really good feel where the biggest names have gone or are set to go. Thanks for joining us. We appreciate it. we appreciate the support i always begged met ms why don't you beg this time i listen whatever it takes uh if you like us please uh hit the submit button the the like button and the subscribe button and if you don't but you want to take pity on us please do the same so that's well said that was not the smoothest ever no it wasn't smooth but it was well said when you finally got it

out it was genuine i appreciate it we're in that sales pitch um where do you want to start Let's start with, let's start with, yeah, keep an eye on it. I know, I'm trying to, I don't have the TV on. I'm trying to, you know, captain this ship a little bit. Let's start with Gino. Because I think there's, to me, Gino Smith leaving Seattle, going to, to Las Vegas, Pete Carroll, and obviously Tom Brady with minority ownership, but a huge hand in all of this. Let's start with Gino there.

And we can work our way back to Seattle. We can talk about GK Metcalf. We can talk about Miles Garrett. We'll talk about the Jets, what they're looking at a quarterback. We're going to talk about Pittsburgh. Their new wide receiver room, what their quarterback situation and interests are. New England, flurry of moves, Harold Landry, Morgan Moses, Milton Williams, Carlton Davis. That team's getting pretty good.

And Tucker just told me right now. Oh, Tucker, you son of a gun. We're just getting bombs. Yeah, two Tucker bombs. That's a new thing. Tucker bombs. Tucker bombs, yes. Two Tucker bombs right now.

Darnold to Seattle is confirmed. And I wrote an entire article today about how I knew that that was the plan. If you, by the way, the McShay report. Appreciate your support. Google it, please. Just the McShay report. And you'll see, we're doing, some of them are free. Some of them are paid.

I get it. Yell at me all you want. Yell at mens. Here's the deal. A lot of people are signing up. A lot of people that I appreciate are chipping in four bucks to get through this draft. A whole lot of people are chipping in 36 bucks, doubling down to get through this year's draft. All of next season are complete off season as we start preparing the top 150 for next year's draft.

And the entire 2026 draft. Choose as you may. You can subscribe and just get the free stuff. And today you got some gold. because we talked about the we talked about gino the why we talked about john schneider the why and i i i told you if you got it this morning at nine a m i told you the sam that sam donald's the why behind letting gino go so let's get into all this stuff now but again appreciate your your support please just subscribe check it out for free see if you like it if you do chip in four bucks of

thirty six for next year's draft google the mitchie report all right now i feel But we got a lot. And also the other tuck bomb, three years, one years 110 million for Milton Williams to New England. They've got money, like, they've got money just flowing out of Gillette Stadium right now. I wasn't sure they were going to spend it, though. And they are, they're getting out of the gate, man. I didn't want to spend it.

I was starting to worry for, if you're a Patriots fan, are they going to be able to spend it on the right assets? Because it seems like some of the big, big names want warmer weather. better contender and we'll get to decay taxes if your thing was warm weather and contender you're now going to a place arguably similar weather Pittsburgh versus Foxborough Massachusetts and you're also going to a place yeah they're more of a contender in Pittsburgh there's no question about it they don't have a quarterback yeah we'll get to all that oh three talk bomb we need some music maybe we'll put it in post. If you hear music, it means we didn't have it when we tape this thing and it's

going to go live in just a couple hours. Three years, 110 million for Sam Darm. Let's go there. Okay. We'll get back to. Let's go there. It's going to be like this today, right? It's just going to be like that. And I love it. I love the energy. I love the feel. It reminds me of being on with like Mike and Mike years ago. And like I'd be on with Greenie and Golick. And Greenie was all, like, everything was so urgent because because the news and the trickle-down effects and I loved it. I loved the feel and that's how it feels today. All right. Gino Smith.

John Schneider, I've known John Schneider for about 20 years now, okay? Worked with Jim Nagy, our good friend who we worked with early in our careers. They started out in Green Bay. Okay. That's where they became friends. I met John through Jim Nagy and have known them ever since. Have a great deal of respect. I can separate.

I mean, we're not best of friends. I'm not like, it's not like Joe Douglas. I didn't go to college. I know John. I've studied John, just like I study a lot of these other guys, the general managers in the NFL. And I have a great deal of respect for him because of his emphasis coming from that Green Bay organization on building an organization, building a roster through the draft,

plucking free agents where you need them. I think he's taking the Green Bay model and advanced it. Okay. I go back to to what made Seattle, that Super Bowl run, the Super Bowl back in 2013. If you go back and look at it, I go back to when he came on in 2010, what he was able to build.

If you go back and study it, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013. He had nine draft picks in 20, 2010, nine draft picks in 2011. 11, I think it was in 2012 and 10 in 2013. It was something like that. Wow. In his entire career there. And it's been now, you know, 15 years or so, decade and a half.

He has only had one year where fewer than eight draft picks. Like most GMs, a believer in the current. see more picks is is is usually better than the higher picks you know and so he he built that organization and he built the super bowl championship with the NFL draft okay and so what what this the moves he's made have signaled to me and it should be it should be stated gino smith they offered him a contract i don't know the exact details there's reports out there could have been a couple years, three years. My understanding is it was not even countered.

Okay. I think Gino loves Seattle, did a lot of great things for in Seattle. But Gino saw an opportunity to go work again with Pete Carroll. Tom Brady, I'm sure, had a saying all of that. And we'll get to the Gino Smith Raiders aspect of it. But John Schneider did this after making an attempt to bring back Gino. who's vastly underrated as a quarterback. Right.

After making that attempt, it was, okay, let's save $31 million on the cap. Let's free it up, cap space and looking forward to the position. Gino's, I think, kind of criminally undervalued. That is one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL. If you go by some like analytics or ranks, it's like around 30, I think just eyeball test and more. watching and studying, it's in the bottom five in the NFL. And so to put up 4,000 yards, or 8,000 yards, I should say, the last two years combined

and 41, 42 touchdowns. And to have a better than two to one touchdown interception ratio with that offensive line is pretty damn good. Yeah. But Gino exits, and we'll get back to Gino. Now you've freed up 31 million. Now D.K. Metcalf. exits goes to Pittsburgh and we'll get to that situation with the Steelers.

I looked at this and said, all right, what's John up to? And I haven't talked to him about this, but what's John up to, right? There's a lot of math involved right now. Yeah, I know, but freeing up, let's just put this, freeing up a lot of money and in return, you know, losing, losing, and they let, I will lock it go too. Yeah. So now you've lost two key pieces, two of your three receivers. and your starting quarterback.

So it's like, if you're a Seahawks fan, you're like, holy shit, like the sky is falling. Are we totally rebuilding? And the answer is no. The answer is this is, this is smart roster management. And I think John's going back. And I'll be interested when I talk to when I talk to him and just, I'll be interested to see what he's saying.

I think John's going back and looking at this and saying, you know what, we built this thing from scratch back in 2010 to 2013. And I'm not looking at a three-year rebuild, but it may take one year of winning, but maybe it's eight, nine, ten wins this year for the following year. Maybe that's what it requires. But I'm going to load up on draft picks. And I'm going to do so in the middle rounds where this year's class because of COVID, NIL, transfer portal, all three of those things like the perfect storm.

You lived up in Gloucester for a while, Gloucester, Massachusetts, the perfect storm. Remember that storm growing up? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was a monster. There were three different factors that created the perfect storm. Well, those three factors create the perfect storm for this year's draft class, right? And while it's not great at the top, talk to any decision maker, anyone in the NFL, my goodness, it's deep. Remember talking to a couple of our guys in Mobile?

What do they say about Ole Miss? Loaded. But also that normally it's like. 12, 13, 14 guys in this summer, right? 45, 50 guys, yeah, that they were going to and looking at it. And 30 that they expected to be in this year's draft. Yeah. And so you're almost doubling the quantity.

And so that's going to lead to a very deep class. It may not be the talent level at the top. But this year's class is loaded, rounds two, three, four, and I would say even into five. Well, so what has he done? He's added, he's got five picks now in the top 100. right yeah five picks pick 18 overall in the first two picks in the second 50 and 52 two picks in the third 82 and 92 so five picks in the top 92 yes and i i believe it's nine picks overall we can update that but i believe it's nine picks overall it's the same guy john schneider

who drafted eight pro bowlers over his first three drafts remember those numbers like nine and 10 or 11 the next year. Loading up on draft fix. That's what he's doing again. I get it. Okay, go ahead. You just spent, you spent all this money on Darnold,

and you already hit on it, no lock it, no MECAF. You got JSN, and then I don't know. I don't really know. And so you're hoping that you're going to bring in these receivers and they're going to hit the ground running, which they could. You're going to get some good receivers in that range,

if you want to take a receiver in the second round. I think they can get a pretty good receiver there. Then you got two. I mean, Sam Donald had some weapons in Minnesota, right? I'm pretty sure he had some guys to throw to. And I know he had that great year. And then the wheels kind of came off on the end. JJ, Addison, yeah.

If I'm, listen, I'm, you know, pessimistic Steve or whatever you call me. I'm a little, I'm a little nervous. Yeah, cynical Steve. I'm a little nervous if I'm a Seahawks fan. I think they have every right to be a little bit nervous. I mean, Minnesota, you know, I think it would have brought back Donald for the right number and all. that. But I, you know, the way that ended wasn't great. Now he's going somewhere where I don't know

what the weapons are. We'll see. You're just going to get some. And in in Schneider, we trust. I get all of that. But today, I'm wondering what that fan base, how excited they are about Donald. Now, I will say this, the same thing about what Schneider did with the draft. He also brought in a guy in, you know, Smith, who, you know, is a former first round pick that a lot of people had kind of given up on. and Donald's kind of had a similar path and a guy that, you know, had a rough start where he started and has kind of resurrected his career

and you're getting younger there. So they've shown that they can do this. That's the whole thing, though. Yeah. Yeah, I get it. I get it. I'm still a little anxious. Yes. And again, like,

I believe in Gino Smith. I'm in that, in the camp of Gino Smith. I truly, I think he is one of the more underrated quarterbacks in the league. I'm not saying he's top five, top seven in the league, but I'm saying he's in the top 10 somewhere in that range. And I think most people would look at him, but yeah, he's middle of the pack.

I think he's better than that. Right. Sam Darnold played like one of the top five, six quarterbacks in the league last year until the last couple weeks. And is that a factor? Yeah. And that's probably why he didn't get $45 million a year. In this deal, he gets 36, just shy of $37 million per year.

Okay. Good for him. But here's here's the deal, bud. If you're if you're reloading, not not rebuilding, not, you know, scrap metal and all that stuff. But if you're reloading with an eye probably for 2026, you went from 34 years old to 27 years old. I love that part of it. Sam Donald's been in the league forever. He's been with 95 different teams. He's only 27.

I know. It's a good point. because I'm not sure people realize that when they look at how he's bounced around. He's a young cat, man, for a quarterback. But that was experience. And despite the last two games, he's coming off a year with a lot of confidence. He now knows he's one of the guys. So he comes in here with a fresh start and he doesn't have the same wide receivers.

Agree. But now he's got his home. This is it for the long term. That was always, yeah, I'm here. I've got one year to prove it. and then they just drafted J.J. McCarthy. Right? So now he's got his home.

I think the critical thing, too, is there was a plan A, and that was Sam Darnold. When they let Gino go, plan A was Sam Darnel. I know that. Yeah. And they just executed it. And I wrote it this morning. It came out at 9 a.m. I actually wrote it last night with Dan.

Dan was up real late last night, and I appreciate you, Dan. I know you're sitting right behind the wall right now. But like, and I'm sitting in my bedroom on a chair. coming back from going down to the cape and a bunch of stuff and getting back late at night. And I'm like, we got to go through the Schneider stuff. We got like, this is what's happening. And so that was out there this more. We put that out in the McShay report this morning.

And so plan A was executed. That's a relief. Because plan B was maybe Aaron Rogers or like a stopgap one year guy, which means you were back in the quarterback market. And I wrote about that too in the McShay report. Because it isn't going to be Cam Ward. It's probably not going to be Shador Sanders. So now we're talking about some of the second tier guys.

Is Jackson Dart available? Is he a guy that you want? So plan B had multiple facets. It had two facets. Sam Darnold tears up any quarterback need you have. Yes. Remember, they brought in Sam Howell, right? So they got a, they have a very competent backup.

And now they've got their starter for the next minimum three years in Sam Darnel. So now it's a starter for the next minimum three years in Sam Darnel. So now it's. like all systems go. So what it, so let's advance it. Okay. What do the Seahawks need? Wide receiver, obviously. Right. They pick at 18. Matthew Golden would would be a great addition. Would love to see that. And now you get, you get JSN, Jackson Smith, and Jigba, and Matthew Golden. Mm-hmm. And who knows? Maybe it's Ted McMillan. Maybe they like him, maybe John likes him more than I do. And a big body guy who kind of compliment Jason a little bit more.

Yeah. Now you get an X to compliment JSN. Yeah. But it doesn't have to be there because we just told you they've got one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL. Right. So it could be Tyler Booker, the guard from Alabama. It could be Kelvin Banks, the tackle from Texas.

Yep. Right? Yeah. Because because, because Abram Lucas and Charles. and Charles Cross or free agents next year. So maybe it's draft a tackle, kick him into guard for a year, bump him out to tackle.

Yeah, you know what I mean? So I think in 18 is kind of the sweet spot for this offensive line. Remember, people I talked to in the league kept telling me, Tyler Booker, two things are Tyler Brooker, the Alabama guard. Highest character player in this draft, and he's going a lot higher than you think.

I thought he was going to go, you know, mid-first, kind of like that 15 to 23 range. So maybe he's not there at 18. Tucker Baum. Tucker Baum. Oh, no. What? Tucker bomb.

What did I tell you? What did I tell you? Right before we came on. You have called all of these correctly so far. I told you and Connor and Dan and Eduardo and everyone else who's on our call and Tucker, who's just dropping bombs today. Shepter better watch out. We get a new sheriff in town.

Meanwhile, he's just reporting everything he reads from Shepard. Big, good Shepter you report it, yeah. But 30 million guaranteed Justin Fields two-year deal, $40 million deal, but $30 guaranteed. Okay. I said before we came on, I have a source that I felt strongly that I said, what I said to the group before we came on was, I, I don't know if they're going to get a deal done, but I know Justin Fields apparently is in Dubai. And I also know that there actually is real interest.

So whether a deal gets done or not, Pittsburgh's still in play, but I can confirm that the Jets, that there's interest, okay? Mm-hmm. Fascinating. It's moving fast. Fascinating. It's moving fast. also kind of suggest that these teams don't love the top of the quarterback market outside of maybe they may all love cam ward but they might feel like we're not getting

cam ward so you know and they might and clearly after shadore because shador might be gone by those time those guys picked anyways too so they're going out and being aggressive about getting getting maybe the and maybe the love isn't there for suredor maybe Listen, his tape in this, his tape in 2023 is better than this 2024 tape. And I keep going back to that. I really like the player I saw in 20203 a lot more than the player I saw in 2024. Just going to be upfront about that. So we'll see.

It only takes one team. We say that all the time. But, you know. I don't know if I completely agree with that. I will say this. I thought, let's take, I, I think we're going to have a quarterback. back discussion. I believe it starts next, maybe next Monday.

We're going to do a series where we actually dive deep into all the positions and kind of go through what we've watched for 15 months now. But I will say this, the highs were really high this year. The lows, the lows were frustratingly low because there are some things where it's like, I thought we were past this. Okay. I agree. Regardless, I totally agree with that assessment, man.

This quarterback class is, we've known this for months. We've known this since the day the last year's draft wrapped up. And we started looking ahead to this year's class. And then we knew even more so when Carson Beck didn't have the year that we expected him to have. And when Garrett Nussmeyer played great in moments, but it didn't sustain it and made the smart decision to go back to school. and now we're looking at Carson Beck and Nussmeier, Nussmeier potentially is QB1 next year. So we've known this and we've seen the writing on the wall,

but it is fascinating because remember, the Jets pick it seven, the Raiders pick at six. The Raiders are still in the QB rookie business. I agree. But without the urgency. And again, we'll get to all this in a second. Let's finish up on Seattle.

It's coming in fast. I love this. So I just mentioned some names. Tyler Booker, Guard, Kelvin Banks, Texas tackle. Matthew Golden, Texas wide receiver, Tetero McMillan, Arizona wide receiver. Pick 18 for Seattle. Those are some spots, some players that I think that they could address with that pick.

Day two, though. Remember, I mentioned they've got four picks on day two. What was it, 50, 52, 82, and 92. I'll throw out some names for you. Okay. Offensive tackle. Urshry. Ariante.

Yep. Arionte. From Minnesota. William and Mary. William and Mary, developmental prospect, a lot of athleticism. When you got two tackles that are up for free agency a year from now and have not played to the level that you expected with the draft picks you used on them, I think a developmental guy like Charles Grant from William and Mary on day two.

Yeah. Third round more than the second round for me, I totally agree. Okay. I can't pronounce his name. Arizona Guard, Jonah. Savanea. Savanea.

Sacramento State Guard, Jackson Slater. I mean, if you're casual fan, like, you're not going to know these names, but all these guys are date, if you're a day two offensive line, and there's obviously talent there, I think the best center in this year's class, Jared Wilson. They can legitimately, legitimately spend three of those five picks in the top 100 on the offensive line. They need, they need upgraded guard, upgrade at center, and they need a contingency plan slash competition looking towards the future at offensive tackle. So that to

me, go ahead. I don't see them doing. They're going to need another, they're going to need a tight end. I think they're going to need another pass catcher. I think they need to go out and get Oh, you got, Trey Harris in round two. Jalen Royals from Utah State. So do you take two receivers in the in, yeah, you're probably, they're probably going to take two receivers. or receiver in the draft. I can see them taking two receivers. I could see them taking two to three offensive blindmen. If you got-

Leaves them with four or five other picks. If you got golden at 18 and you got Harris in the second, I am fired up, man. I am fired up about that receiving group. All right. Well, let's switch over to Gino then. That's the plan, though, for Schneider. And the biggest key was to not have to be in the quarterback market

for a second-tier quarterback. while you sat for a year with an Aaron Rogers, you know, coming in and all the stuff that comes with Aaron and all the media hype and knowing, like, you're gambling on you, one year's, one year with the Achilles, first year back at 42 or whatever the age will be next year, that he's going to be able to rekindle some of the, the magic. You're not ready to bring Russ back? Dangerous. So Gino Smith, Raiders, I already told you.

Vastly underrated. Why, why, though? Why is the question? My answer is it totally fits. Pete Carroll's not a spring chicken. Pete Carroll's not interested in some like three-year rebuild. Pete Carroll is going to look at this year and this organization as we're going to build a culture. We're going to get our schemes in place.

And we need a quarterback who's going to be there and, and can win games for us. We're going to protect him better. And we'll get to how they do that. We're going to protect him better than he was protected in Seattle. We don't have the weapons he had in Seattle, but we're going to try to upgrade that. And we're going to be a damn good defensive football team.

They were pretty good last year on defense. A little bit better than the middle of the pack. Okay. And so let's do some winning. Let's finally start winning again in Las Vegas, the Raiders. And then in 2026, let's actually make a run. I think that's kind of the mindset. I mean, they're Super Bowl or Bus in 2025.

I get it. That's always it's everyone's mantra. But behind closed doors, when they have these meetings for the Raiders, it's like we need to start winning. We need to build a culture. We need to know this is a destination. This is a place you come to win football. Yeah.

It's a Seattle model, right? You have a steady hand at quarterback. who can, you know, executes the offense at a high level, but is maybe not the best quarterback in the league, and then you have that great defense. It's the same, it's a Seattle model in my mind.

Yeah. With a defensive line with, with, uh, they just paid why am I, Max Crosby. Yeah, they just paid Crosby. Yeah.

He should have been paid. He's unbelievable. What he deserved. They brought Christian Wilkins last year. I mean, that defensive line is legit, man. I mean, they're going to build that defensive line.

Uh, you know, they'll play that scheme. They'll get the right guys on the back end that, play that scheme and then you have that steady hand at quarterback. But unlike the Seattle situation where I just told you Schneider was able to when Carol was in Seattle situation.

Right. I'm saying unlike the current Seattle situation where we just walk through how Sam Darnold at 27 years old puts an end to any talk and thought process on needing to draft a quarterback in the first two days of this year's draft, right? Right. That's not the deal for the Raiders. I don't see them at pick number six. And let's get into pick number six in a minute.

I don't see them at pick number six having interest in the quarterback, even if Shador is there. Okay. It makes sense to me. I think when you make, when you make this move, you basically said you're declaring you're making a different pick at sixth than quarterback. Yes and no. I don't know that you definitively are. If the guy that they're in love with is there, I think you would take them. Because Geno is 34.

And this is the factor in it. I truly believe Tom Brady is unlike one of his many things that he's doing post retirement. Broadcasting, minority ownership with a heavy hand in it. Noble. By the way, Noble, he's a sponsor for Noble. Okay. They sent me some gear. They've sponsored a couple of our episodes.

Nice. That's that hoodie. the other day. They sent me some sneaker. We need to get mensch from gear. Let's get the big fella some noble gear. It is no bowl. I love it.

I never worn it before. I absolutely love it. But he's in, he's got the TB 12 nutrition. He's part of that group. So he's doing a lot of different things, obviously. But he's definitely one of his,

I don't know, striking on the word. One of his missions with the, yeah, passion projects is the quarterback development. It drives him crazy. And I think that comes from the broadcasting, from watching tape, seeing other places in the league, seeing some young quarterbacks get thrown in the fire who are not being developed properly. We can have a whole show on it, and I'm sure we will in the offseason. Now's not the time.

He's committed to that. And so if you're going to go on all these different shows and wearing the no bowl t-shirt and and reping and sponsoring, but also with a utilizing the platform to drive that home, he's going to, you got to walk the walk too. Yeah. And so walking the walk is, we just brought in a 34 year old quarterback. This is a perfect opportunity. It's not going to be Shador.

It's not. Cam Ward's not going to be there. I mean, is there a guy? Cam Ward's not going to be there at six. And so is there a guy that you think they could be in love with that six that they would maybe take that? No, no, no. Okay. I just want to get it out there. I believe through information I've gotten, I don't think that it's going to be the marriage between. And I thought for a while it might be because he was a mentor and he is a mentor, however that works. And maybe I'm dead wrong,

but I'm just reading some of the tea leaves. I don't know that Shador at 6 is going to be the answer. I don't think there's going to be a marriage there. We'll see what happens. But it's still going to get one. But it's kind of like when I told you, I think Justin Fields is real to the Jets. And plan A is Sam Darnell. So I'm pausing on this to let it soak in. I don't think Shador is going to six to the Raiders. So advance that. Round two, right?

They pick at what? 42, I've got to read it. 40, the Raiders are 40, no, sorry, 37. So the 37th overall pick. Do they move back into the first to get a Jackson Dart? Probably not because they got, they want to start. through some winning is it Tyler Shuck there or the name that I was told when I was at the combine and it doesn't take a super sleuth to figure this out well but like it was kind of driven home like

keep an eye on Will Howard Raiders keep an eye on that and it just makes sense and these conversations I was having they're not like earth shattering but to hear it from people who are talking to people who you know what I mean yeah that that thing's real and it's And the way it was explained to me was, again, I could have figured it out on my own and had my own theories on it, but the way it was driven home was go check out 2022 tape, 2023 tape at Kansas State for Will Howard. Then watch 2024.

Then really watched the last like three, four games after Michigan. Yeah, an unbelievable run in the playoff, man. So if I'm Chip Kelly, I'm like, hey, guys, in round three, or let's identify where it is that hotspot is because they might be higher on, on Will, than some other teams. So if it's trademark in a late two, if it's staying home in the third round, wherever that is, if he's available, my understanding from talking to people in the league is look at what we were able to do with him in less than a year. And look at where he got anticipating throws. Yeah, he had, yes, best wide receivers in the country.

Yes, best supporting cast and football team in the country. No question about it. But he came a long way. he's mature, he's been through wars, and most of this was repeated to me over and over again. They trust him. Chip absolutely trusts this young man. And there's a relationship there. The verbiage is the same.

So you pick up like running, you know. Right. Yeah, you hit the ground running. Hit the ground running. Makes it time of sense. So that's fascinating to me. So now we're not looking at that six pick. We've got at the quarterback who's got at least two years left in them, maybe three or four.

and we can develop a quarterback on the back end. And if Will comes in or Tyler Shuck or whoever it is, if you bring him in as a day two pick and you're not paying them any money and you don't feel like they've advanced far enough, then you go draft one next year. Yeah, you know? But Brady's going to, I promise you this.

Tom Brady is going to make sure this organization brings in a quarterback that it believes in and develops them behind Gino Smith. That's what this whole whole. thing is all about. Let's do some winning now. Let's build for 2026. But in the meantime, we're bringing in a quarterback to develop properly the way that Tom believes college quarterback should be developed to the NFL. So who they're getting at six? Why don't you take us there? I've been talking too much. I think you had it in the newsletter,

Jalen Walker, right? Do you have Jalen Walker? Man, that makes talk about two guys. Two guys I put in this and I want to get your reactions to it. Ashton Genty, if they don't go the veteran route with Anaji, and I've heard some rumblings about that, or with the J.K. Dobbins, Jinty makes a ton of sense. We keep saying he's going the top 10, but where are we going to fit him in? That makes sense. I love Ash and Genty, man. And Jalen Walker's the other one.

So go where you want. I love Ash and Genty. I just, man, that's early for any running back, any running back that's early for me. Whereas Jalen Walker is tailor made for Pete Carroll. scheme. He is tailor-made to play that Leo that can play on the line, play off the line. Bruce serving. Perfect fit. You put him opposite of Max Crosby and all of sudden, I mean, watch out. And then Christian Wilkins on the inside. It's just what we talked about. Cliff A. A.Role. Cliff Abrel type. You have a steady guy, steady hand of quarterback, that

offense moves the ball, scores of points. And then you have that defense and you have guys that are closers. And you have Crosby as a closer. And then you could potentially have, Jaylon Walker and that same kind of, man, I just keep thinking about it. You're going to, all the attention, you're going to have to give Max Crosby, and then you're going to go one-on-one with Jalen Walker on the other side. Just so people understand. Keep going. It's all there.

It's all there. Well, the defensive coordinator, they retain Patrick Graham, the Raiders did, okay? Yeah. So he started, he got his feet wet with the Patriots, did a lot of winning there. Okay. So hybrid defensive front, 3, 4, 4, 3.4, 3. So people understand it's not it's not the same scheme. The Legion of Boom, there's not the same scheme by any stretch with Pete's.

But Pete's and it, and it evolved over time where it was more kind of 3, 4, 4, 4, 3 hybrid. But ultimately it was always a hybrid. It was a 4-3 front, but with that Leo who could play a hybrid role. Yeah. And they had different body types and different players and like Clemens. And so like, but hybrid is important so you can be multiple and versatile and counter at different fronts and different personnel groupings, right? And Jalen Walker is the epitome of that. They might want to do in different ways, but they're getting the end of results going to be the same about what they want to do in terms of fronts.

Genty is more of a luxury pick. And I don't know that they're in the luxury business right now. But I say this. Ginti set the all-time record of PFF for for missed forced tackles He got a billion carries I love Genty

His his percent His Okay his mist tackles force percentage was the highest Of everyone in the country too So if you want to play that game I'll You know that tick

That tick-tack shit I'll play I'll play it back with you He's 5, 8 and a half 211 pounds tightly packed his contact balance is sensational. Yeah. His vision, his acceleration. It's a Kamara,

good reason, man. Like, they are, they are not these big bats. God, they're tough to tackle. Catches the ball well. He's not McCaffrey catching the ball. But he catches the ball really well. Exactly.

Good and past pro. He can do it all. Yeah. Love the player. Love the, love the player. Don't know this is the time and the place for it. But I do think it will be in consideration, depending on what they're looking for and who's on the board. I think to me, Palin Walker makes a lot of sense,

but this is the first spot that Ginty could come off the board reasonably if it's not a trade, I believe. Right? Yeah. I mean, that's crazy. We're saying that about a running back, but he's that good of a prospect. And they have that much of a need. So it does make some sense. Again, I wouldn't do it.

Okay. Let's look at some other things real quick. They need offensive line help. They need an upgrade. Armand Membou, you're very high on. I'm high on them too. If I was willing to go in four, then I'm willing to go at six. Right, right.

This would be, I think, the second most reasonable spot. But Membo could theoretically go New England. And we'll get to New England. A lot of moves today. And Tucker, Tucker's feeling himself now. Now he's starting to subscribe. Beast mode. 2.0 with Gentie and Pete Carroll.

Okay. I like it. But the Raiders, like, if they bring in Membu, if they draft Membo at number six, now you get an immediate upgrade over a player they need to upgrade in DJ Glaze. Right tackle. So that would make sense. So Jalen Walker would make sense.

And then you get a pretty good edge and a pretty good running back. Gentie would make sense. Membo would make sense. And as you've said on this show before, a couple times. you don't you think there's you're not saying it's not going to happen you think there's a more it's much more likely than just about everybody out there the Travis hunter's not going in the top five stand by that I do because we go through the scenarios it's not that I don't think he's a top five

player in this draft I think it's the position I think it's the way I mean look corners I know go top five we've seen this before we've seen two corners going to top five in classes but I just think when you're trying to build build a roster you start inside out and you're looking at these teams and what they need and it's offensive linemen, it's quarterback, it's edge. I think it's going to push some of these offensive tackles higher than people think. And I think that you look at that situation, he falls out, he could fall out of the top five. It's nothing about the player.

It's about the reality. It's not about my top 32 because he's definitely, he's a top three player in this draft. So what about Hunter? What about Hunter if he's still available at six is where I'm going with this? I would. They need a quarterback. corner, they need a wide receiver. You're taking the best available player too.

So now I'm upgrading both positions and hopefully, you know, probably corner a little bit more than wide receiver. Wide receiver may be whatever it is, 20 to 40 snaps per game, maybe four to five, whatever the touches and snap amount is. But you are upgrading wide receiver with this quarterback you just brought it. And you're, you're upgrading corner, both positions of need.

Don't hate it. They got options at six, man. If Hunter's there, that's legit. Ginty feels like a luxury, but it certainly could help. This could be a run first team, Gino play action, right? Yeah. Lean on the defense. And Jalen Walker, Fitzpitz would be a really unique chess piece for Graham,

the defensive coordinator, and Carol, as they kind of merge all their hybrid, you know, 4-3, Leo, 3-4, because, he was with the Giants too, Graham was. He's a defensive line. Chip Kelly had some pretty good backs in Ohio State. I mean, he might be interested in getting a guy like that. He loves running the football.

So. He loves running the football. We saw it. It's a good, it's a good spot. They had Trayvion. Trayvion Henderson. They went out and spent a million or two million or whatever the number was in college version of free agency, the transfer portal to go get Quinn John Judkins. That's how important that position is to Chip and his

offense. So there's a lot to think about there that six pick. That could kind of be the swing pick in this draft. We know quarterback's going one or two. Shador is going to be fascinating. Does he go three to the Giants or does he start to slide? We'll get to New England in a minute. Jacksonville, we feel good like they could really use Mason Graham. Yeah. If he's there at five. Yeah. And then all of a sudden it gets real interesting because now we've got we got really damn good football players and Jinty, Walker, Membu, and potentially Travis Hunter. Still available, Mitch. I'm telling you.

I love this. All right. So that's that. So then we get the news that D.K. Metcalf has gone. And we already kind of talked about that from the, we talked a lot about that from the Seattle angle, but not the Pittsburgh angle. Right. Here's what's, let's talk about it from the DK angle. Because I've told that this is, this is heavily agent.

He's going through his mind right now. Agent driven. But also, I just think it's hysterical, right? And maybe the information was incorrect, but a lot of information coming out in the league was it's really important to him. It's not deal breaker, but it's really important to him, warm weather and contender. And so you started in Houston, I heard that that was real. but Houston went inside Christian Kirk but they couldn't

couldn't go in that direction financially or however however that played out. Then you heard the charge. I was probably thinking I already got Nico. I'm not going to invest this much money in, you know. So it's Nico and Christian Kirk and obviously now Tank Dell may be out of the season. We'll see.

But but then so D.K. So there's a lot of talk here in New England that DK is the guy. Vrable has been very clear that it's critical for him to have a big physical X wide receiver for a multitude of reasons. Yeah. And D.K seemed to be the target. And then all of a sudden, news breaks. So New England was rumored to be, I'm telling you, a lot of people in the lead thought it was decay.

Yeah, DK to New England. But then all this information started coming out about warm weather and contender. Yeah. And then you choose it Pittsburgh. I'll give you a contender. Yeah. But you chose, I would argue, I mean, Pittsburgh's weather is no better, probably worse than New England. Yeah.

And number two, yeah, they're not a contender. They weren't a contender 24 hours ago, and they're still not a defined contender. But they may be a playoff contender this year if they keep making moves the way they are, and if they draft well. And you're going to Pittsburgh. don't have a quarterback. Right. They don't have a quarter. What are you thinking? Yeah, Drake May, you can, you know. Anytime Mike Tomlin, as long as Mike Tomlin's the head coach there, I think they're a contender. I just, oh, they absolutely are. I think he's that good of a head coach.

You know how I feel about Mike Tomlin. You need, but you need a quarterback, man. Like, that's, I mean, that's obvious, right? Like, Mike Tallman could be. So let's get into this. Ever grace the planet. And if he doesn't have a quarterback, I don't know what you're doing. You don't let Justin Fields go. unless you got a plan and unless you've decided we like Justin, but we're not ready to commit our organization to the Justin Field Show. Am I wrong? You gave him an opportunity.

Go ahead. Did they want to have him back and it didn't, they weren't unable to get that deal done? I thought that was, that was the situation. Maybe I'm wrong. You're not wrong, but I think that they wanted them back at a certain number because maybe they weren't.

If they were totally sold that that Fields was a guy, they would have stuck with him at quarterback last year. Yeah, if your fields, you're like, hey, man, you guys, you know, I was great about it, but you guys went in another direction. Why, why would I stay here? I honestly, it's like, yeah, I'll have you back, but I want to date other people too. Yeah.

And Justin's like, no, I'm monogamy, bud. I'm into monogamy. And so now he, so now he goes to the Jets. But for Pittsburgh, and all these dominoes are falling, but they're all, they all correlate. Pittsburgh now has a very interesting live receiver. what do you mean but a damn talented wide receiver room yeah george jorge pickins and d k metcalf now i've heard talks that pickens may may not ultimately wind up being in pittsburg i i don't know if any of that's it's not substantiated we'll see but if you got those two guys on the

outside we got to get bring in someone who can throw the football i think it's going to be Aaron Rogers. Fascinating. I think Aaron Rogers is going to Pittsburgh. What's the word mercurial? That whole team, man. It's good thing Tomlin is there. If anyone's going to steady, you know, like.

They will never need Mike Tomlin and his and his ability to, I don't want to say manage people, but manage situations and deal with stuff. And the way he connects with players and the messaging and everything else. If that's the, if you got D.K. Pickens and Aaron Rogers, you better have a Mike Tomlin, right? So that that's going to be fast. There's no hard knocks here, right? I think the hard knocks thing all got scrapped. Did it?

And that would have been, I thought so because they tried to get Belichick in North Carolina. And that fell through. And then now I think they're having a hard time finding a team after the Giants' debacle, a lot going on there. But, uh, the off season hard knocks. Tucker's on top of everything, man. No offseason hard knocks. I would love, I mean, the best hard knocks ever. I mean, best hard knocks ever.

So Pittsburgh now is fascinating because if it all would boil down to Aaron Rogers, like because you let Justin Fields go. And by let go, I mean, if he absolutely was your guy, you would have played him all last season. And if you decided after the fact that he was still your guy, you would have paid him. Yep. And while I'm sure they were negotiating,

and I don't know the level to which that they wanted him. It makes sense. I like Justin Fields. Like, I'd give him a shot, but I'm not banking the whole thing on him. He's had a lot of opportunities, and he's never, like, I don't know.

I always, I think Fields got kind of a raw deal after he showed some, not a raw deal. It was a situation that it was. I thought he played well for periods down the stretch before the bears went and got Caleb. Williams. And that was the, that was the move they had to make. That was the right move. They, I think, taking Kayla Williams over Justin Fields, but he wasn't like, you know, they had surrounded him with a great offensive line and a great run game in Chicago. And then he gets

to Pittsburgh and he plays pretty well and they pull the rug out from under him there too. I don't know. I, I would love to see what happens with Justin Fields. I think he needs more of a shot, to be honest. So I'm intrigued to see what happens with the Jets. You know, I hope they, the deal is that this is your year, man. You can hell or high water. It's yours to figure it out or for you to drown. But that's, you know, I just want to see someone just put their complete faith in them. Because I feel like the, he didn't not have a great supporting cast in Chicago.

That organizationally, we've talked about it. It was a mess. I agree. And then he goes to Pittsburgh and, you know, basically, I know I just talked up Tomlin. I still believe in Tomlin, but everything's falling apart and they don't go back to him. I just, I don't know. I look at the Steelers now. If they land Aaron Rogers, it's only one.

year, man. And you can't even, you can't even count on it being one year. Yeah, it has to be one year. Right? You can't count on him. It has to be. So, cornerback is a need. And I think we'll be addressed pretty early. But quarterbacks. And I think they can get a good one where they're picking. 22, I think. Yeah, I mean, Travis Hunter's going to be off the board. Will Johnson will likely be off the board. Or 21, sorry. Yeah, 21. They picked 21 and 52 in the first two rounds, okay? So running backs, they need a running back, but you can get one in round three.

Yeah, that's not. Two if you have to, but round three. Not a priority with what they have going on. Their offensive line they need to address, you know? Are you targeting a quarterback at 52? Potentially, right? I don't know what they're going to do. That's going to be interesting.

No, honestly, I just, I think they should draft. one because you're trying to win now right i know but you could still try to win now with i i think it's one of those if if tyler shuck were to fall maybe you pull the trigger i don't know how aggressive they're going to be tucker with another bomb josh what cardinals four years 76 million interesting how he's got work how he's got work to do in the draft now i'm sure he doesn't mind yeah just lost sweat and williams today he he warned us he said it's not going to to be pretty is but but he's prepared for this that's what the last couple drafts have been to because this is good that's and guess what he's going to draft another defensive lineman early

you know yeah i'm no i wouldn't be word i mean yeah you want them back but that i think the writing was we kind of knew that was going to happen you know yeah can you know um to keep in mind for the for pittsburgh yeah jeline milro you watch i like that i like that Jackson tear your your team up i mean he's had some i like that a lot actually you watch lamar jackson do his thing right and you brought in a guy in justin fields who could move and you kind of i like that i like that i like that i like that where jeline milroll ends up that's it i would keep it's going to be round two just because of his traits i believe i think so too 52 seems pretty reasonable so you go get a corner or an offensive lineman with that first pick just keep it in mind yeah the secondaries where they

need help but yeah okay so now the jets now the jets yep what do you got how do we feel about justin fields because you like them they coveted them they're picking it seven so i'm gonna i'm gonna kind of talk out of both sides of my mouth a little bit here for a second because i'm just gonna reference the seattle situation and why i was concerned uh about them getting garned I can be concerned about them getting Donald and still think that's the right move, right? So I can acknowledge that there should be some anxieties and some worries about fields as your quarterback.

I also think it's the best move they could have made if they weren't going to get Donald. Now you're looking at a trickle down, right? Yeah, ideally you would to get Donald or you trade for a Gino, right? This is better than sitting there and hoping to get a quarterback at 7, or in my mind, to be honest, you're giving up extra first round picks,

which I think it would have taken or could have potentially have taken to move up and get one of the top two quarterbacks that maybe you're not in love with. I think going after Fields is a good move. I just do. It's two years. Yeah.

You can draft a guy. You're not locked in long term to this. And again, I think Fields in flashes has been really good. So you got great running backs. Great running back. You're Garrett Wilson. You're Garrett Wilson. Offensive line.

Offensive line they've drafted. They need for Shano to step up. They do. I think he will. But they still could go offensive tackle. I think I got to see them up close. For as great as the draft picks were,

as great as they are on the edge and corner and wide receiver. for the the the in and coin you get quinin williams but their interior they need another defensive tackle and they need i yeah and i think linebacker and safety could be upgraded as well so they're picking it seven they're picking it seven there so what's happened now is we've talked for a long time budd about maybe six teams in the in the top 10 it started off at six teams in the top 10 now new orleans isn't going quarterback at nine is my understanding. Okay.

Okay. Now the Raiders are going to probably draft a quarterback, but it's, it probably is not going to be at six. Now the Jets, one of those teams, right? A lot of talking about them trading up. When we're at the Combine, there was discussion about them trying to trade up to get ahead of Cleveland. And I don't know if it was real or not, but I'm just saying that it was Cam, it could,

if it was going to be a quarterback in the top 10, it was going to be Cam Ward. Could they get up there? Were they willing to give away what they needed to get up there to get Cam Ward? Now they're out of the market. So we said this, man. If Cam Ward's going one or two. Right. And it doesn't sound like it's like, well, if Cam's gone at one, Cleveland's going Shador.

I don't, maybe they are. Pretty tight-lipped outside of the Schefter bomb. Cleveland's pretty tight-lipped. But if it ain't the giant. at three for Chador. And it very well could be. But if it's not there, as we said before, we're in for a very fascinating first night of the draft for Shador Sanders.

Unfortunately. I hope he goes earlier. Well, you go three. Yeah. It's going to be tough to watch if that happens, to be honest with you. And honestly, we talked about two teams in the top 10 that I had reports and talked to, not reports, I talked to. The interviews didn't go as anticipated.

Interviews with Shador were different than all the other interviews. The prevailing thought was, didn't get the sense that Shador cared all that much about what we thought of him. Perfectly respectful. Nothing, you know, malicious said, no poor actions, no disrespect. But didn't get the sense. when you're stacking interview after interview after interview, and you're seeing how important this is to everybody else, didn't get that same vibe.

And so now we've got three of those six that we've talked about for a long time, not in the quarterback market. We talk about six teams in the top 10 need a quarterback. Three are, by all intensive purposes, out as far as drafting a quarterback in the top 10. Then there were three. Tennessee at one, Cleveland at two. Giants at three. Right.

That's interesting. And do we get a Pennix to Atlantic situation like I mentioned before where one of these teams comes out of nowhere and it's like Shador is, we are great on Shador. You know, like Atlanta's great on Pennix was so good that they said to themselves organizationally. But we know for a fact it's not New England. And we know. No, no, you're right. And we almost know for a fact it's not Jackson, though. Okay.

We know those two teams aren't going to. to be the Atlanta penics. I agree. So. So is it, it's not Carolina. They just, they started to get the juice out of the, the squeeze for Bryce Young. They believe he's the guy. They're all, they're all fired up.

It may not be in the top 10. It might be out of top of top. It could still be nine. And it's certainly not, it could still be nine with New Orleans, kind of quiet and, you know, their car will give him a year. Yeah. But it's not the Giants at 10. So it's going to be interesting.

But the Jets, they address the need. And they're going to make a little, they're going to try to move forward with Justin Fields. That's obvious. And they're not committed long term. It's not the, you know, the biggest deal in the world. But it's a good deal, two years, 30 million guaranteed for Justin Fields for the Jets. So now, now the attention is, is where? The attention for them is that we mentioned.

They sit at seven. Mm-hmm. Mason Graham, is he still there? Probably not, but certainly would be. Nice. Yeah. Team him up with Quinnin and those edges, right? So that's a possibility.

Offensive tackle, Membo, plug him up in opposite for Shanu. If he's there. Yeah, if he's there, but also. And if, in the off chance, Travis Hunter is still there at seven? one of those tight ends could be, this could be the place for one of those tight ends to go, I think. Great point. That's a great point. That's where I think they wind up.

Yeah. Could be one of those. I think it's, I think it's Tyler Warren. Talk about Bowers. All the Bowers talked to the Jets last year. That was real. I promised you that.

That was real. Yeah. It came down. It came down to, to, you know, Bowers and Foshanu. So obviously there's a lot of change and there's been a lot of change, but still,

I mean, those guys are super talented. that wouldn't surprise me if one of those tight ends went there. I totally agree. That would make a lot of sense. So good to talk through it. And then so that covers, I mean, we didn't even get to Cleveland. We still have time.

Hour and five minutes in. Let's go. I'll tell you one thing we're not getting new is my linebacker tape evaluation. My hot take is right out the window. Table it. Table it. I do think we could get into your hot take in a second. but we'll see.

And I don't like, I despise hot take, something you're hot on. I like the whole culture of hot takes makes me throw up. I'm just trying to get likes. We don't have hot takes. We have stuff that we're hot on because of work that we've done. Not because we sit down and decide we're going to have some take

because it's going to get clicks and stuff. It's just not what we're in the business for. So I apologize for getting trapped in that. Cleveland. I think it's a good place to kind of tie this all up before we get to New England. Cleveland extends Miles Garrett. If you want to read the McShay report, I go into a lot of detail about the why. We don't need to get into that now.

Obviously, 14 sacks, the last four, at least 14 sacks in four years. Is that right? I think so. First player in the NFL to ever do that, four years span? Could his agent have played that any better? I mean, it was a master stroke to get him that contract. I'll never be in a Browns uniform again, yada, yada. 40 million per season, 123.5.

As I said, and I go into more detail. So check up the McShay report. Just Google it. And you'll get this is a free piece that we did on a lot of these moves. Not all of them were done by the time we posted, but a lot of these moves. And what it means for Seattle, for the Raiders, for the for the Browns and so on and so forth. you got to view edge as quarterback on the defense. And while it's never going to raise to that level,

it's the second most important position on the field. Right. Because Edge can affect the other 10, not as much as quarterback can affect the other 10 on the offensive side of the ball, but there's no other position on the defensive side that can affect the other 10 the way that Edge does. Cornerback would be number two. And kind of reverse reasonings why.

right take away a guy well don't need to take away a guy is as desperately if we got running back staying in the chip a tight end staying in the chip double teams uh shifting protections like always accounting for number 95 14 sacks a year it's almost guaranteed right yep and the pressures and and the attention and all that stuff so run like a maniac too everything yeah everything so now you get the number two overall pit and it was like for first Andrew Barry, the general manager, it was always, we got to get this done so that we, and then shift. The focus was always on quarterback and what's next. But now it's like, the tricky part is for Barry in this organization is you now have to find a way to land the quarterback of your future and do it on the cheap.

Because you are so hamstrung by what has happened at your quarterback position in the decision that was made to pay Deshaun Watson a gross amount of money. Okay. Yep. If Deshaat, this is a good football team, man. You got a damn good defense led by the guy you just paid all that money. You've got a pretty decent offensive line. You've got some talent. Okay.

You've got some talent when you look across the board. Zadarius Smith to go with Miles Garrett. Okoronkwo, Dalvin Tomlinston, Shelby Harris. Huh? Oh, did they? I think Cutsidari Smith. Yeah. J. O'K. Jeremiah Ousu, Coromoa, Denzel Ward. Is he coming back? Greg Newsome. Like, this team is talented.

Now, running back, what's going to happen with the future there with Ford and Chubb? I kind of like the receivers, though, man. Senator Tillman had a decent year last year as the third round guy. I like Cedric Tillman. Two years ago, yeah. And you got obviously, Amari Cooper. Jerry Judy. That's what I'm saying. This team, if you had gotten 50 to 70% of what you signed up for and you paid for Deshawn Watson, this team is like, is fighting with Kansas City and with Buffalo. I'm telling you. I believe that. Okay. So now what do you do? Because you're not going to have all this talent for very long.

are you can you catch lightning in the bottle with cam war okay and you do whatever you take go ahead sorry i'm going to say you do whatever you it takes to get to the first overall pick and make sure you get cam war because right now i'm not sleeping thinking about what the giants are offering and i you you really i you don't want to give a lot up to move up one pick and i get but it's now turning it's turning the evaluation process is ongoing knowing, but there's no more tape to evaluate. And yes, you're going to have private workouts. Yes, you're going to have, watch him throw live.

Yes, you're going to bring him into your facility as all these teams that need a quarterback are going to do with Cammore. I'm talking Tennessee, Cleveland, and the Giants because he ain't going past three. And he's probably not going past two. Could go one. Yeah, I don't think he's going. So my point is, if you've decided as an organization, he's your guy, that's exactly where I was taking this.

I'm not letting the Giants move up to. one. And just so you understand, Tennessee's not going to swap picks with you if they think he's the guy. So it starts to Tennessee. And I think it's very obvious. They're, they're evaluating Cam versus Chador. I think that the short list that we talked about Albert Breers, Albert Breers article was fascinating, like the process where these, for the Tennessee Titans, where these people have been before, the decision makers, what their processes have been. in the past. Joe Burrow, obviously.

So, like, in all those ties. It's a great read. Yep. What wasn't surprising in there is the four that were mentioned is the possibility is to go number one overall. I think of the four, Shadur, you can cross off. I think it's Cam Ward, if they're going quarterback, and then it's Travis Hunter or Abdul Carter.

Well, now you've locked in your edge if you're Cleveland. And so if Miles, if you have, had to deal miles garrett there was an argument to be made well we're staring at not the next miles garret but something that is a really good young cheap replacement and abdal carter that's no longer a factor it's all quarterback or bust and and you can't do it in free agency you can bring in kirk cousins and i and i've told you this for a month now i've told you this for a month yep kirk cousins is the guy i think that they're going to going to bring in to bridge a gap. And so Cam Ward would have a year and maybe it's just six games, whatever it would be.

And if you can get a Russell Wilson type deal for Kirk Cousins, then where you're paying him nothing and the Falcons are footing the bill, then you make that move because you need a veteran there. You need someone who can help develop. Kurt Cousins, he wouldn't be thrilled about it, but he's a really good human being. And he'll pass on the knowledge and try to maintain that starting job for a year as he winds down his career. And I know Kirk doesn't want to hear that, but like, that's where he is. And so the combination of Cam Ward and Kirk Cousins would cost you almost nothing, comparatively speaking.

We're talking about Justin Fields, two years, 40 million, 30 guaranteed. We're talking Sam Darnold, three years, 110 million, 37 million a year coming off those two games that weren't awesome at the end of the year. Could have been in it. So to get five million. a year or seven million a year whatever it comes it averages out to in a five year guaranteed contract of 30 close to 40 million for a for a top two pick no for top two pick got you and then and then pennies on the dollar because Atlanta's foot in the bill that's a cheap alternative as you move past as you

try desperately to move past the quarterback spot but your quarterback away so you've got to go you've got to figure this out. Do we and to your point, you started this and take it. If Tennessee's not taking Cam Ward and you're Andrew Barry, you better go, you better go get up, to number one. Yeah, I think you start with here's our offer. And I don't even know what that market looks like. And I don't want to put you on the spot either. Like, what's that going to look like? What exactly are they going to want? Because they know they're holding all the cards, right? So what does that look like? But I think what you do, you start the conversation with here is our offer, but you end that phone call with a very, you know, very clear statement of whatever the Giants are going to give you, call us back.

We'll top it. We will find a way to make it a better deal for you. And there's no, you know, Tennessee doesn't have to do that, but that's what I would say to them. Like, let us know what their final offer is and we'll make it better for you. And people do this with free agents too, right? Go test the market. The Patriots have done this with players. go test the market, tell us what they're willing to offer you, come back, and if we can top it, we will.

Let us know so we have the final offer. We have the final go at it, whatever way you want to word it. I mean, that's how I would end that conversation. Like, look, man, let's find a way to get this done. Here's where we're starting. If you don't like that, we understand the Giants are willing to give more than let us know, and we're going to come over the top of it. I think you would probably cost them a one next year.

I think so, too, and I think that's a four. What do you mean? You're talking about giving it to move up one spot. And by the way, I think. Yeah, but to go get the quarter. And I believe. Yeah, I would do it. All right.

Yeah. No, I agree with you. I just think it's, this is what we're talking about. We're talking about giving up a first round pick to move up one spot in the draft. And I agree with you. And by the way, the more I watch Cam Moore, the more he grows in me. Do I still think he would have been the fourth quarterback at best taken last year? I do.

They can be both. He's, yeah, he's talented, man. I take a shot. on them. Yeah. Some of the tape, I'm like, dude, this is insane. Some of the throws he's making. Like, I, listen, I would do it. And you bring in cousins, you bring in cousins with Stefanski. Same plan. What's, if we got to win a few games early in the year, while we're still developing cam before we think he's ready. Go go. That would get cam, yeah. The only, the only fly in this ointment should be, Tennessee is just staying at one and taking cam work. Yeah.

If it's not the case and your cleat, because think about it, it doesn't matter the amount of picks. You don't have money. So your only currency in this game to get a quarterback. If you're Andrew Barry, your only currency to get a quarterback is through the draft. You can't afford a veteran. You couldn't get in the Sam Darnold's sweepstakes. You couldn't afford Justin Fields. Right.

Because of Deshawn Watson and what he has done to that organization, they're crippled financially. But what they have is that. number two overall pick. And they have picks beyond that that are early in each round. And they have picks next year. It's the only way they can solve their quarterback problem. All right. Let's flip the script.

Do you take the deal with your Tennessee? If I'm not taking Cam Ward, absolutely. I move down one spot. I get the same exact player. I get a one next year. So it all matters. If you're in love with Cam Ward, your Tennessee, you're taking them.

Yes. And if I'm in love with, if I'm Tennessee, see yes yes that doesn't sorry i didn't hear your question the answer the answer is yes if cam wards the guy when this is done even if i have equal grades or maybe like a slight notch below but like if cam wards the guy and we believe in him you say one take him piece of cake yeah i don't care how much you like mcle carter i don't care how much if you believe in him and believe that he's going to be the guy. Throw out all those other grades and names. But if he's not,

then I'll move down to two because I'm getting the exact same player or two as I was getting a one. I'm getting a first round pick next year and maybe a third or fourth this year. Yeah, I'm tempted by that. And if the Giants want to give me more, I'll move down to three if I'm equally obsessed or have an somewhat equal grade on Travis Hunter, Abdul Carter, or maybe another player that we're not speculating. But if those are the four, and Shador's out and Cam's out. I'm getting one of those two. So that's simple to me.

Yeah, and then you're the Giants and you're one pickaway. You're outside looking in. It's just a brutal situation. It's been a rough, rough go for Giants fans. And it may not be getting better anytime soon. Yeah. But what if they're in love with Shador? It'd be great.

they go for it yeah rock and roll yeah well okay that's the case i could see jackson dart or tyler shuck with brian dable that early no i'm not saying that early so you're talking about the top of the second or moving back yeah exactly or moving back in i don't know i talked to brian occasionally and a great deal of respect for brian we have obviously not had that conversation by any And he, you know, and that's Joe Shane and everything else. But I, studying what, what Brian has done, what he's looking for, I could see both of those guys are mobile enough, have the arm. I can just see it. I can see those guys with him and develop them.

I agree. All right. Last thing. Patriots fans. Miserable over D.K. Metcalf coming, not coming. I don't know if that's the worst situation in the world. I don't like, quite honestly, that the amount of money it would cost where they are in they're developed, I just, we're starting to see them spend good money.

I woke up this morning and we saw that Devin Godshaw was out at defensive tackle. And yes, they've got Christian Barmore. Yes, they've got Keon White who they play outside and in. Former Georgia Tech draft pick. I always liked Keon White. I just, I was hopeful he was going to get to this point. Oh, man. Yeah.

Good player. So I was thinking Mason Graham. We started the show off by talking about that. And that was breaking news. Breaking news. Milton Williams signs a three year one. Oh, no, sorry. Three year.

I got $26 million a year for four years. That's what I got. Four year. Sorry. I was looking. Tucker's dropped so many bombs on the right side of my private chat here. I don't know which sides up. So four years for Milton Williams.

The, the coveted. interior defensive line. And to get that kind of money with this interior defensive line class coming out in this year's draft, tells you how coveted he was. And the Patriots had the money to do it. They capitalized on it. And that's their first, like, major addition. But in addition, even though they got rid of Godshaw, now with Williams, Barmore, Keon White, versatile role, they get some dudes on the interior. It's, I don't want to say it's an absolute, but it's pretty close to an absolute.

that Mason Graham is not going to be the picket number four, which I had in my last mock draft. And I thought when got cut, got clipped today, I was like, yeah, and bar more with the blood clots last year, expecting and hoping, obviously, but like I can see that need starting to rise. Not the case.

So now with New England, they brought in Carlton Davis, cornerback to go opposite Christian Gonzalez. That's a damn good quarterback band, man. And Carlton Davis will tackle your ass unlike the other guy. So now they've gotten more physical. They've got more physical along the interior.

Now I said this. I said this on my mock draft. And that's why I thought Mason Graham was a strong possibility, had they not made this move for Milton Williams. Like, Mike Vrable, he played with a damn good defensive tackle and saw the effect that Vince Wilfork had. Yeah. Jeffrey Simmons in Tennessee.

Pretty heavy player, yeah. You know, like those are those guys in the middle, they affect the quarterback. They free things up for linebackers and edge. So I knew that there was going to be a big move to get a difference maker. That's been made. So now Carlton Davis. Also, just before we came on here, Morgan Moses, a right tackle.

Yeah. 34 years old? Yeah, he's getting up there in that range. So that's not long term. So now you're the Patriots. You're a Patriots fan listening right now. So what does this mean? We have the number four pick.

in the second round we pick at 38. Wide receiver is absolutely still a position of need, right? Mm-hmm. I don't think interior defensive line is anymore. We just talked about that. Offensive tackle is still a position of need, even with Morgan Moses. Absolutely.

And I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and Harold Landry, we didn't mention that. Yeah. I love the defense signings. They got, I love the front, defensive front signings because one, Landry played for Grable in Tennessee, knows the scheme. Again, a guy is going to hit the ground running knows exactly what's expected of them. They know how to use them. And then Williams

versus Gotcha. Gottshot was like a big run stuffer. Good player. Big run stuffer. That's not what New England's going to be. They're going to be a one gap, aggressive defense. That was a scheme cut as much as it was. You get more talented, you get a better fit, you feel a need, and you get rid of some money. Like it was, yeah. I mean, they've done, I mean, for Patriots fans,

have been frustrated for a little while now. Today is a good day. These are smart moves for, for exactly, reasonable money. Resigning Austin Hooper on a one year deal. Smart. Bring back a depth tight end. They might still go get one, but now they have a guy in place where we don't need to address this right now

if the right players there and we feel like we can get a playmaker. They'll go do it. Again, smart moves. We always say the good organizations, at least, bring in players in free agency and typically second tier for the most part, that second wave that will free them up when it comes to draft weekend to actually take the best player available. And yet, skewed by certain positions and positions of priority.

And if you have a slightly bigger need and two guys are the same grade, you're going to go to that position. I get it. But ultimately, you don't want to go into a draft and be like, damn, man, we got to take this. Or else what are we, how are we going to line up? Yeah. How are we going to protect our quarterback if we don't. take a tackle. Well, they just got Morgan Mosque. I think they kind of did that last year, to be honest with you.

I think they didn't really have a plan on offensive tackle last year, and it got messy fast. So now I'm asking you, Pat the Patriot, I see wide receiver. I see offensive tackle, lesser need than it was yesterday, but still a need. I see edge, lesser need than it was yesterday, but still a need. They're picking it four. Let's assume it's, For this exercise, let's assume I'm going to give you option A, and then you tell me who you would take it for. Then I'm going to give you option B in terms of the first three players.

Let's go, let's go Abdul Carter 1. Okay. This isn't a flash mock, but it's pretty damn close. We're going to get through the top four. Let's go Abdul Carter 1. Let's go Cam Ward 2 to Cleveland. And at three, the Giants take Shador Sanders in this scenario. I'll explain why, but I'm going to go Jaylon Walker.

I think you still need that edge. I think you still, you get another guy there. I like, I want to say Membu. I really, I've said Membu before, but I want to be comfortable. If I know Membu can play left tackle or Morgan Moses can play left tackle, because I believe Morgan Moses plays on the right too. If I know Membu could play left tackle, I'm going to take Membu.

Because I just think that that's how value that position is. but having those concerns, I'm going to go a little safer and go Jalen Walker and get another guy that can get after the quarterback. No, Travis Hunter and just play him a lot at wide receiver? No. I'm just doing devil's advocate. No. Nickel cornerback, which would free him up to play 50 or not 50 in the end of 30. Not over the.

Not over those two. Not over those two. Okay. All right. So you're taking Jalen Walker, the edge out of Jalen Walker, the edge out of. Georgia, versatile guy for Brable over Membo the offensive tackle. Yeah. I don't know how I can change this.

It doesn't change. Well, here's what it does. It doesn't change if it goes Abdul, Cam Ward, and Travis Hunter. Well, how about in this situation, the Giants trade to one? Yep. And they get Ward, the Browns take Sanders, and Tennessee decides to take Hunter. And all of a sudden, the New England Patriots land Abdul Carter at 4. I can't.

I hear you. But I feel, I can't imagine a world in which Abdul Carter is still on the board at number four. I can't, but again, start going through scenarios. We're looking at talent and ability. It's scenarios, man. Like, what are the scenarios here? What, you know, a lot of people I talk to are I have a hard time understanding how Travis Hunter is going to get, you know, past picks.

too. And maybe that happens. Maybe he doesn't get past picked too. That's fine. But if two quarterbacks end up going in the, if two quarterbacks go in the top three picks, it's someone's going to fall. Yeah. If you either, if two go in the top four or in the top three, the Patriots get Hunter or or Carter. And that's unthinkable to some people. This has been a fun show, man. I could do this. not all day. I like to eat, move around a little bit, but I can spend a couple more hours doing this. Yeah, okay, reminder.

Thursday, top 100. I'm back to the tape sitting right next to me right here. The remote going, you know, trust the old, used to be exos. Now it's Catapult. I'm going to lock down the top 100. It's going to be pretty close to what the top 100 will be in a month or so, but there's medical, there's some workout stuff. There's a lot of conversations about the character and all that.

But top 100 is on Thursday. Next Monday, we're going to do more of this because we'll have, we'll have had. And by the way, on Thursday, we're going to do more of this too because free agency will have started at 4 o'clock the night before. So there will be updated pieces falling and, you know, and trying to put it all together. next Monday will be a lot of the fallout of it. And I think we get into either quarterbacks or running backs. We're going to start doing our series of positional deep dives. I'll have a better name for it when we get there.

And then next Thursday's Mach 2.0. My goodness, are there changes? And we just kind of previewed what it could be in the top four or five picks. Got all the way down to the kind of seven. But let's see what other dominoes fall. Let's see what information I'm getting. got a bunch of calls to make over the weekend just to kind of catch up with some people and see what they're hearing.

And then we'll have the mock draft coming out next Thursday. So we are like loaded with content. And oh, by the way, we're trying to get like 400 plus evaluations done so we can print the book and be ready for our draft plans. And pretty soon we're going to be breaking news on where we're going to be, what we're going to be doing for the actual NFL draft. And I'm really excited about it. But we'll get to that in a little bit.

you for downloading, subscribing, liking. Mention is going to be my hype, our hype guy and beggar. We work on it. Moving forward. But thank you. We'll be back on Thursday. So much more to get to with free agency and the top 100. So until then, have a great week.

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