The Ringer NFL Show - Big Day for the Bears, Sean Payton Won’t Let Russ Cook, Dolphins Winning Free Agency So Far, and More Legal Tampering | Extra Point Taken

Episode Date: March 14, 2023

Sean Payton and the Broncos made a bevy of moves in the official legal tampering window, agreeing to terms with T Mike McGlinchey, G Ben Powers, and DE Zach Allen; however, Sheil believes these acquisitions aren't a good sign for Russell Wilson. The Chicago Bears also had a big day, signing former Eagles LB T.J. Edwards and former Bills LB Tremaine Edmunds, but did they make a mistake by letting a player who was already in the building go? Plus, Ben thinks the Dolphins are winning the Super Bowl of the legal tampering period so far. Hosts: Ben Solak and Sheil Kapadia Producer: Cliff Augustin Additional Production Supervision: Arjuna Ramgopal and Conor Nevins Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, my name is Kevin Clark. I'm the host of a new football podcast called Slow Newsday. I want to tell you about it. On Mondays, Lindsay Jones and I will recap the weekend in football that was, as well as look ahead to what's next. On Wednesday, the normal Slow Newsday, the thing you've been watching for years, current players, current coaches, current analysts talking about the football world. And on Friday, it's a wildcard. Could be some college football. Could be more pro stuff.

It's a video podcast so you can watch it on Spotify or listen to it wherever you get your podcasts. Follow on Spotify. It's slow newsday. Welcome to Extra Point taken on the ringer NFL feed. Shield Capadia here with Ben Solac, the first day of the negotiating period for free agents. We've got moves left and right, the bears, the Broncos, the Niners, the Raiders. We got all these to get to. Benjamin Solek, how did your first, let's say, eight hours of the new, it's not even the new league here, just the negotiating period. Go for you.

It's my wife's favorite period of the year. She always loves this. She's like, what's going on in the NFL? What's going to work tonight? Like, oh, it's legal tampering and shit. Legal tampering. It's just the best oxymoron you've ever heard. Like, yep, everybody was illegally tampering before free agency,

so we decided to make this window for you to legally tamper. And then it turns out the moment the legally tampering window starts, all the deals are still figured out anyway, baby. It's my favorite time of the year. It really doesn't make a lot of sense, let's be honest. But that's okay, because it provides. the big word content for us on this feed. We're going to get to a bunch of these teams, a bunch of these moves.

And if something happens during the show, we will get to some breaking news like a certain Green Bay Packers quarterback deciding whether he's going to be traded to the Jets or not. He doesn't deserve any teasers anymore. No like, and the big domino. Because that just feeds into whatever he's got going on. The big domino this week, baby, was Duke Riley, return to the big. the Dolphins. Chris Mannerts to the Broncos, man. That's what the football heads care about. I'm going to start with the Chicago Bears because Ben, you and I did a podcast on Friday night

talking about the Bears trade with the Carolina Panthers moving back and we said, well, what do they have to do now? And we got a little sense of what they were going to do now. So they signed linebacker, Tremaine Edmins, four years, $72 million. They signed linebacker, T.J. Edwards, three years, 19.5 million. dollars. They signed guard, Nate Davis, three years, $30 million. The Bears, the most active team, probably the most active team. We'll get to another couple teams that were very active, but made a lot of the headlines today. What did you think about the moves they made following that trade back on Friday night? The Bears kind of get the perennial award we give out in free agency

for like, these guys won free agency, and it's just because like they had the most money. You know what I'm saying? Like in terms of quality of moves, I thought the Edwards deal was quite solid. That was the first year that was announced. You and I talked in the Philly Special about what the price tag for Edwards might look like. This came in below what I expected.

I'm surprised the Eagles didn't keep him at this number. I'm surprised he wasn't offered a bigger number elsewhere. Maybe he wanted to be back in the Midwest. He's obviously from Wisconsin. He's from that area. Excuse me. He went to school at Wisconsin. And so, who knows?

But like 319.5, I like that a lot. T.J. Edwards. plug and play quality linebacker good stuff Nate Davis guard out of Tennessee I like this player quite a bit Road greater physical run blocker holds up in pass protection got big size right he's a tone setting sort of a player okay I like that you get Nate Davis and you shore up when your guard spots tackle and center with a weaker spots in the team I don't know if we need to be

dropping money on guard but I like the player and then you see the money 10 million per and it's kind of like all right cool that's not bad it's not prohibitive it's not a problem, you know, kind of a lot of guards flown around on the market. Did we have to go day one big money, Nate Davis? I don't know. But you know what? It's good. It's fine. It's fine. It's great. And then

the Tremaine Edmonds news drops. Lineback from the bills. Four years 72 million. And it's like, okay, what what? Why did we trade Rochuan away to then sign T.D. Edwards to then sign Tremaine Edmins to now a total money between T.J. Edwards and and Tremaine Edmins, which those two

names are going to kill me. I have already, when I try to talk about these two linebacker moves. T.J. Edwards and Tremaine Edmins, come on. There's no way to keep this straight. So forgive me for any time I mistake the names. But the combined money they're giving Edwards and Edmonds now is more than Roquant's making on his extension with Baltimore. And now obviously they get a second round pickback from trading Roequin away

and they get two linebackers instead of one. But I don't think either of Edmonds or Edwards is in that tier of players that Roquan is in terms of like impact guy on all three downs. Playmaker, game changer, create turnovers, create stops out of nothing. Not like, oh, he like made the tackle when he was supposed to, but like with instincts and with explosiveness and with unique playmaking ability, creating a play out of nothingness. Like people oftentimes when they analyze the NFL, they want player acquisition and quality

of play to be graded on a cumulative scale. He's like, oh, Edmonds plus Edwards equals Roquan. He really doesn't. They really don't. because Roquan is a blue chip elite player and neither of those two guys are. So you can talk your way into it, but I just like, the Bears,

it's the same thing with wide receiver we talked about in last week's episode. Like, I love DJ Moore, but the whole Chase Clayball situation makes it hard for me to get all the way there. Well, I love, like, the Edward signing, but the whole Trimine Edmund situation is hard for me to get all the way there.

Like, it feels like they're throwing a lot at the wall right now and seeing what sticks. And that's okay. That's not bad. I don't think that's like, oh, no, the Bears messed up. I just am like a little bit more tepid

then the whole like Bears Day 1 winner It's like no Bears Day 1 had a lot of money and did a lot of things Now we have to see kind of how the dust settles Yeah I'm there with you on a couple different in a couple different areas I mean one is exactly what you said I mean when they traded Roquan Smith I assumed they did not want to make a big investment In the off ball linebacker position

Because if you have Roquan Smith in the building And he's a player you drafted and you believe in investing in linebackers That's the that's the that That's the guy to invest money in. I mean, like you said, he's on a different level than the players they signed today. So instead, they signed Tremaine Edmins. Like we said, now we'll see what the actual numbers are. And now I'll repeat that over and over again during this episode because you get funny numbers come out.

And then in two days we say, oh, okay, it wasn't actually that bad. But Tremaine Edmins was a little bit of an up and down player for the Buffalo Bills. I mean, he had his best year. Last year, he had 74 career starts. He's a very young player. Like no one comes into the league as young as Tremaine Edmonds did. He'll be 25 years old at the start of the 2023 season. So you can convince me there's some upside there.

But that just seemed a little head scratching to me, that if you're willing to invest that kind of money in an offball linebacker, then you could have just extended Roquan Smith rather than made both of these moves. And once you get T.J. Edwards in the building, like, okay, they're done. And obviously they're not responsible for the timing of it all. It just was a peculiar sequence. The other thing that's funny about it is because of T.J. Edwards's history playing Mike Linebacker, which he played with Philadelphia, and his not, you know, coverage is not where he's the strongest. Relative to Tremaine Edmonds, who spent time on the, at Mike, like on the strong, quote, unquote, for the bills early on. But like, once Matt Milano really started to emerge as a player he was, Edmonds played more of their weak side stuff, you're going to end up with a really weird linebacker situation where I'm imagining T. T.J. Edwards is going to play the Mike. for them at like 6-1-235 pounds.

I know he's listed 243 if you look online, but he's not 243 anymore. He cut weight in Philadelphia. And then Tremaine Edmond's gonna play weak side at like 6-5-245, which is not a problem. It's just very weird pairing. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me in terms of how those two guys are gonna be used next to each other.

Yeah, so we will... And the other thing is with Edmonds, with that deal, like a bunch of off-ball linebackers who are like competent solid starters got signed today for between $5 and $7 million. Like this is a real outlier to get signed for $17,

a reported $17 million a year. So I'm just not sure that they had to go there. And even Nate Davis, like you mentioned, you know, not a bad player, a fine starting right guard. But, you know, if you look at it, Brandon Thorne, who I trust with all my O-line evaluation, does the wonderful trench warfare substack,

called him a middle of the road right guard who is a little shaky in pass protection. If there's, if there's, I love Brandon. If there's one player I disagree with on Brandon, I'm more than any other player. It's Nate Davis, which is really funny for the purposes of this exact plot. That's fine. Yeah. Yeah, you're allowed to have your opinion on that. But $10 million a year for a guard who is not a great guard, but an okay guard.

Even that to me, like, I'm fine. If you're going to overspend, overspend it on the offensive side of the ball to help Justin Field. So I want to see what else they do. Right now they're an incomplete to me. If you tell me these are their big moves and I don't see anything else done on the offensive line, then I'm going to be crushing the Bears a few weeks from now because I'm going to go, why did you spend all that money on Tremaine Edmonds and not address some of the issues on the offensive line? So even if you have a DG more, you still can't protect Justin Fields,

you still don't have enough offensive line depth. You still have weak links on the offensive line. That to me is the worst case scenario if you're a Bears fan. Having said that, it's the first day of free agency. So let me be clear Bears fans. I'm not crushing them. Right now, let's see what else they do. Yeah, over the last three days,

the Bears have gotten four good football players in the building. It is arguable that last season, the Bears had at times four total good football players. So all together, good. It's when you start getting into the nitty-gritty of the details, right, so you start to wonder if there was more meat on this bone. I definitely think they had, I think their plan at tackle was Mike McGlinchie, the free agent from San Francisco.

And it appears they got priced out, because he took 87.5 million over five years. Again, like you said, we don't know details, to go be with the Broncos. I don't know how you feel about Mike McGlenshy. We've never talked Mike McGlenshy. Let's go right to it. Great segue.

Let's go to the Broncos. How do you feel about that signing? Not great. I don't know about that one. That's a lot for me. The Broncos, I understand why Sean Payton, over the course of his time with the Saints, continuing to have just like elite tackle play

like Toronto Armstead and Ryan Ramchick like that pairing defined his late era Saints run you know what I'm saying he had Armstead there for like a decade here here let me let me just recap the moves real quick and then continue your point so so you're Mike McGlenshey you mentioned it right tackle five years 87 and a half

million dollars 17 and a half million per year with 50 million guaranteed big time money is getting paid like a top five right tackle in the NFL then they sign Guard, Ben Powers from the Ravens, four years, $52 million, $13 million per year, with $28.5 million guaranteed. Then they signed Jared Stidham from the Raiders, two years, $10 million.

Then they signed blocking tight end, Chris Manhardt. Then they signed offball linebacker, Alex Singleton. Three years, $18 million. So they're right there with the Bears as maybe the most active team on day one of free agency. But continue, you're talking about McGlinchie and Sean Payton. and his need for tackles. Yeah, so you go, okay, I want to make sure I lock down these tackle spots. I love it.

I've gone out of left tackle Garrett Bowles, who had a nice, you know, took him a little bit to kind of get the plane off the ground, but Bowles, I think, has developed into your start, and it was starting left tackle. Okay, cool, it's handled right tackle. Mike McGlinchie, been a starter since he was a rookie. You know, it's got, like, good PFF grades and stuff. Like, let's do it.

Here we go. When I watch Mike McGlinchie film, I don't see a player that I love trusting one-on-one in past protection in, like, true past scenarios, right? this Niners offense, especially early in his career, a ton of play action, would protect him a lot from that over the course of the last couple years as the Niners have increasingly become more of just like a straight dropback team. You see McGlenshy just regularly get picked on and pass protection. The problem with McGlinchie is he's too tall. McGlenshy's like legit six, nine,

and he has leverage issues where like rushers who get underneath him can just displace him. He can't drop his weight very well, so he gets put into the back of the pocket a lot. I was not, I've never been a big Michael Lynchie fan going back to when he can, came out of Notre Dame, which Niners fans were always very upset with me about that. And then today, McGlenshy went to the Broncos, and all these Niners fans were like, nah, nah, no, no, we wouldn't have paid him that money. I'm like, yeah, man, like, this is, this is the issues with a player of this frame. You just have to deal with this.

To me, it's not dissimilar to the Orlando Brown conversation in Kansas City, where the chiefs, I know we're going to talk about them later, but they move on for Orlando Brown, just get a different tackle in there because, like, yeah, the player's, like, strengths to him, but with Brown and his heavy-footedness and with McGlinchie and his height, there's just, like, an Achilles heel that, like, once opposing defense is fine, like, It's really hard to hide this guy. I thought that was an overpay for the Broncos in a big way. The Ben Powers for Graham Glasgow and Dalton Reisner switch to me is very interesting.

Again, to me, this is Peyton saying, watching Glasgow was obviously old and he could get some cap relief. I kind of get that, but watching Reisner and saying, oh, he doesn't play the way I want him to play. I'm just going to get Ben Powers in here. Like, I like his film better. Like, it's just my style of guard. Okay, sure. But, like, I don't think that's a net gain from like letting your two starting guards walk and then bring in Ben Powers, who to me is just like run of the Mill Garden of a $52 million deal.

It's 13 million per. Like that's high tier starter money. And I don't rate Ben Powers that way. And so I think their offensive line shuffling, like to a lot of money get moved around. But it's difficult for me to go and there's the measurable improvement. Then beyond that, it's Jared Stidham, which is just like hilarious. And then Alex Singleton, who I refused to talk about Alex Singleton. Because I started talking about Alex Singleton on Twitter and everybody got really mad at me.

So I'm out. I'm out on Alex Singleton conversations. Let's zoom out on the Broncos, Benjamin. In the first eight hours here, they signed right tackle, whose strength, as you mentioned, would be more as a run blocker than a past blocker. And I'm with you. And that is a, I mean, I would not, if I were a team, I would not be comfortable paying that kind of money to Mike McGlinchie.

I mean, in addition to what you mentioned about some of the past protection issues, started 69 games in five seasons, you know, so there's been some durability issues. I would describe him as a solid but unspectacular right tackle, precisely the kind of guy you don't really want to overpay in free agency. They decided to do it. That's fine. Ben Powers, a run-blocking guard from the Baltimore Ravens.

Chris Manhartz, the man does not catch passes as a tight end. He is a run-blocking tight end. Sean Payton is telling us in his first eight hours of being able to make moves, Russ, you ain't cooking. Russ, the ball is not going to be in your hands. Yes, I know those owners, they're paying you $49 million a year, but this is going to be a whole different offense for us in 2023. Don't worry, we'll get some play action shots for you.

We'll let you, you know, do some screen game and that kind of thing. But if you think that we're going to put the ball in your hands and let you control this offense, no, no, no, no, no, that's not what we're doing. In fact, we're going in the complete opposite direction of that. and we're going to try to build this team into an efficient running offense. So that really stood out to me with all of those moves that the Broncos made.

By the way, Jared Stidham, two years, $10 million? I mean, $5 million a year. That's like nice, nice backup money. That's not like take a flyer on a young player. I kind of like. I mean, I don't know. If I tell you, Ben, in week nine,

you're going to wake up to a report on a Monday morning or on a Wednesday morning that Jared Stidham is getting first team reps with the Broncos because John Payton is, I mean, are you going to be shocked? I'm not going to be shocked by that. I would not be shocked. If that's how it goes. There is no indication that Sean Payton really has a strong belief in Russell Wilson and being able to turn around Russell Wilson's career this season. Now maybe it'll happen. Again, these are just early moves, but I don't know. I did not love these moves for the broad thought they spent quite a bit and had some head scratching moves here for a team that has kind of you know some limited draft capital with the moves they've made for

Russell Wilson and for Sean Payton. I thought this was a little bit of an aggressive first eight hours for me. Yeah. I'm trying to figure out who they're going to sign a free agency at center to replace Glasgow now given the the run blocking focus. I'm guessing it's either Ben Jones, 34 years old out of Tennessee, right? You know, big, gnarly dude culture setter there for the Titans. Or Jake Brandel, where they just bring in 2X San Francisco offensive linemen and they're like, we're doing it, baby. It's wide zone and go home.

Which, like, I'll put it to you this way. They spent a lot of money on this. I don't mind the philosophy shift. Like, if it's going to work with Russ, it's going to work with a run approach. I don't think you needed to spend this much money to change your philosophy, though. I think you could have just changed your philosophy. Yeah. So we'll see what else the Broncos do here.

But I was pretty surprised with how aggressive they were here on the first day. All right, let's get to another team you mentioned. Actually, no, we got to get to this one. The Raiders signed Jimmy Garapolo. See, I know. Listen, we might not both want to talk about Jimmy Garapolo, but we know the content forum. You got to get to Jimmy Garoppolo.

I want to talk about Jimmy. I'm very happy about Jimmy. Okay, the Raiders signed Jimmy Garapolo, three years, 67.5 million. That's 22.5 million. million per year with 34 million fully guaranteed. What did you think of this move? Raiders move on from Derek Carr, bring in Jimmy Garapolo. Yeah, so we actually have some SpotRack contract information for this one in terms of structure, which I think really helps understand the deal. Jimmy's going to be a $16.3 million cap hit in 2023, according to what we see from SpotRack right now.

That ain't, that ain't nothing. That's fine. That's no problem. The Raiders can then get out of the deal. At that point, Jimmy Gropolo would be 33 years old. He'd be an 18.7 dead cap hit, which sounds like a lot. But in the world of quarterback dead cap hits, 18.7, you got to swallow it and then you're fine. He'd be a total cap hit of 28 million for that year and for the year following. So this can be, structurally, a one-year deal that ends up costing the Raiders about 24.25 million total.

and then they have 18.7 in dead cap the next season. Yeah, I think I was looking at it on over the cap. I think it would be more like one year, since he has the 34 million fully guaranteed, I think it would be more like one year, 34 million, if I'm not mistaken. But again, we'll see what all the details are. So the discrepancy there is there's a 2024 roster bonus, right?

That's why his cap hit is low in 2023 and goes up for 24 and up for 25. there's a roster bonus worth like $11, $12 million that will activate on the third day of the 2024 year, which I'm assuming guarantees at that time, right? That's usually how that works. It's not like currently guaranteed now. Okay. I don't know. Yeah.

Okay. So you're right. Maybe it would be even less than that. Yeah, right. And so that's why basically the Raiders with Jimmy Garoppolo are going to have a very similar decision to make to the ones they had to make this. past year with Derek Carr, where they sign them to an extension, but the extension is functioning a one-year deal. And after that one-year deal, they can commit to the remaining years or not. What this tells me is that the Raiders are sitting there at seven overall and going,

all right, Panthers at one, Texans at two, Colts at four, and we got the lions around here, we got the Falcons around here, we got, you know, the saints sniffing around, not the Saints anymore, they signed Derek Carr, we got a lot of teams sniffing around. Seahawks at five, everybody can take a quarterback. We need two worlds. We need the world in which Jimmy's keeping the seat warm for Anthony Richardson for a year, and we need the world in which Jimmy's got to keep the seat warm

for a couple of years. And that's how this contract was structured. I think Jimmy's got a great opportunity to produce well in Las Vegas. I don't know what Darren Waller's future is with the team. I think that's up in the air. But Hunter Renfro, Devante Adams, those sort of receivers work well with Jimmy.

Josh McDaniels, I think, runs a great offense for how Jimmy plays. Jimmy at this stage in his career is a much better to drop-back. in the pocket and distribute passer than he was like five years ago. So you don't need to run the play action stuff to keep him on a crutch. He's matured past that point. I think there's a chance that Jimmy performs and produces quite well. And then there's a young player behind him and the Raiders have to make a decision next off season. Yeah, yeah. I think the key point you made there is this

is a one year commitment. However you want to look at it, they can get out of this deal after one year for minimal damage. If they want to keep Jimmy Garoppolo on for longer than that, if he stays healthy, if he plays well, they can do that at a very reasonable rate. I mean, you're talking about if you're paying in the 20s for a starting quarterback, you are below market value and you're kind of getting a deal there other than guys who have quarterbacks on rookie contracts. My issue with the Raiders is they seem directionless to me. I mean, what is their plan?

This time last year, we're going to get Chandler Jones. We're getting Devante Adams. We're competing in the AFC West. There's no rebuilding here with Josh McDaniels. And then what happens? It doesn't go as according to plan. Derek Carr is gone. You blame your problems on him.

You bring in Jimmy Garoppolo. And now what are you going to do? You're trying to compete with Jimmy Garoppel? Where are you really getting with a Jimmy Garoppel led Raiders team? I mean, you're going to be competent. You're going to be solid. You could maybe earn a wild card spot. You're not going to be a great team.

So I just don't know what the long-term vision is there. And I wonder what it's going to be. Maybe it'll crystallize a little bit during the draft. Like you mentioned, if they do draft someone in Garapolo's like the one-year guy and then you have a quarterback going forward, it will make more sense to me. But I'm not willing to give them the benefit of the doubt based on what I saw last year and what I saw this year. I think they just kind of make these moves and don't really have a great long-term vision. All right. Have you come to an answer? I would say the chance that Jimmy outperforms car

in terms of raw production. 61% completion percentage, 3500 yards, 24 for 14 touchdown interception ratios. That's like 7.0 yards per attempt. Adjusting net yards per attempt, it's just over six. Like, It's not, they're not great numbers. I put it up like 55%. I think, I would say, I would say it's a slight favorite, but I would, you know, put it around like coin flip area. I'm more okay with the Raiders direction than you are. Last season, in my opinion was, okay, we're assigned Derek Cardo's extension, and we're going to get the pieces around them where if we're good, we're ready to shoot, ready to compete. And we're going to give ourselves a one-year trap doors such that if we know this doesn't work, we're not in the situation where it's like, all right, we have.

have to, like, they're not in Vikings land where every contract the Vikings signed with Kirk cousins, they're like, shoot, we can't get out of Kirk this year. We got to do this for another year. And then it's going to be like, it's going to be like, well, they just signed him to another, you know, one year's sanction the Vikings, yeah. Kirk's not up this. Like, Kirk's not a free agent. He's a free agent after next season. And the Vikings didn't extend him recently. And that was such a big deal that rap got on NFL network talked about and then tweet out the clip of him being like, the Vikings are not in contract extension talks with Kirk Couss right now. They are not thinking about it.

They might let Kirk Couss play out of contract year. This is unbelievable. It's like that, the Raiders stayed out of Kirk Cousinsland. And to me, that is a win and a sense of direction. It's not really, we're going somewhere. It's we're not going to go that way. We're not going to do it this way. And I think that if they were in a better position draft-wise,

they wouldn't have needed to do Jimmy like this, but with this current state of quarterback interest in the top of the draft, I understand why they felt, let's get ourselves as strong with safety blanket as we can and Jimmy Groplo. And especially like once you fold into McDaniels knowledge and he was there when they drafted him and all that, like there's a little bit of it makes too much sense to it, that I don't mind it too much.

Well, the other thing is the reason with the draft, they could have more draft capital or they could have another player. They make that Devante Adams trade. Now, if we're assuming they're not going to be a great, team this year. So now you're talking about 2024. Devante Adams turns 32 during the 2024 season. So again, there was a short-sightedness to some of those moves. I didn't get that move at the time. And I just feel like I'll believe it when I see a plan that made the other thing is Jimmy Garapolo has started more than 10 games twice in his career. So like you have to

invest now in backup quarterback unless you're fine with your team just sucking. It lost Jared. Groplo gets injured, and Jimmy Gropolo does get injured. So I just feel like they're kind of stuck in mediocrity. Now, again, they have the seventh pick. Let's see what happens with the seventh pick. In terms of this contract for this year to keep you afloat, I think it's perfectly fine.

It's not a big deal. Speaking of, quarterback moves, I think this one got you feeling a little tingly. San Francisco 49ers, bring in. Samuel L. Darnold, I don't know if his middle initials is L. It just felt right. Samuel L. Darnold and J. Von Hargrave, the defensive tackle from the Eagles. We don't have terms on the Darnold. Richard.

Okay. You know what? I still like L. Richard Darnold. J. Von Hargrave, four years, $84 million, $21 million per year with $40 million guaranteed. Darnold, we don't have trade terms or contract terms yet. And they obviously lost McGlinchy in free agency to the Broncos, as we mentioned, and they Luis Garoppolo to the Raiders.

What did you think of Hargrave and specifically Sam Darnold joining the 49ers? I knew Sam Donald's middle name was Richard. Do you know how I knew that? No, something weird. Because when he was coming out in the draft, everybody was obsessed with his grandfather, who was an actor, he was a firefighter, he was an athlete, he competed in the 64 Olympics playing volleyball, and the reason why everybody cared so much about his grandfather's because his grandfather's name was Richard Hammer and went by the name Dick Hammer.

And so the second I saw Richard is Sam Donald, I was like, wait a minute, why do I know that? And then I did a quick Google, and now I remember why I did it. When you say everyone was obsessed with his grandfather, Ben, I can assure you everyone was not. Your little community might have been, but people in my life were not obsessed with Sam Donald's grandfather. 2018 draft Twitter, okay? I was a junior in college. That era, we were all about to camera. We were very impressed that Sam Donald's grandfather was Dickhammer.

camera. Anyway, you said that the Sam Darnold signing with the Niners might have got me a little tingly. It's in fact the exact opposite. Oh. My Sam Darnold Niners take is this. No. Every single Sam Darnold fan, every single Sam Donald believer going back to the draft days, then to the early days with the Jets, always has 10,000 explanations as to why Sam has not been good. The Jets are unstable, on the offensive line play, seeing ghosts and the difficult division and the jets in a build around him and then Carolina,

and then he has this nice stretch to end the season in Carolina, right? He had that run of games so he's very efficient and they're running the football and go and play action. He's throwing middle of the field because Donald's always had the flashes.

He's always had the peaks. The poster child for enough flashes to keep you interested is Sam Donald. Like, whatever the bar is for like, flashy but not actually good, Donald's just right in that space. He's right in that meridian. and now he's with Kyle Shanahan.

Now he's with just king of what quarterback play can I get out of this guy, which means that we are going to do for the next six months, Sam Donald look really good, OTAs, Sam Donald just like a noticeable difference in Sam Donald's arm during mandatory minicamp. I refuse to engage with it. I absolutely cannot. I do think it's a good signing like for the Niners. I do think that if Purdy's elbow doesn't recover super easily,

I think Donald gives them a nice high floor backup and a guy that can, hold the seat while they're trying to figure out what to do with Tray Lance and figure out what to do with with Brock Purdy. He does provide like a degree of like consistency like a known variable and what's like a very unknown variable soup right now at the quarterback position for the Niners. But I refuse to go any further than that.

If anybody puts the word Sam, Darnold and Renaissance in that order, no, no, no. That's not allowed on this show. Rank them one, two, three in terms of game started for the 49. I don't want to. Stop making do these. Brock Purdy,

Trey Lance, and Sam Darnold. One, Brock Purdy, two, Sam Donald, three Trey Lans. Wait,

what? The Trey Lans is the lowest on that? Oh my God, I'm shocked. That's why. Trey Lans won. Brock Purdy's gonna be six months and see any,

I think they signed Sam Darnold because they don't know Brock Pertie's gonna like be able to throw football. Vase next year. Mike Garofalo three days ago. Brock Purdy underwent successful surgery. The expectation is Purdy will begin throwing in three months.

So I think Purdy's going to start throwing in July. Then why do you sign in Sam Darnold if Purdy's going to be fine? Great question, Sheel. Listen, I don't know anything about how the Niners are handling this quarterback position. The second they signed Hargreave, which I'm assuming we'll talk about in a second, my Lamar Jackson to the 49ers dream died, okay? And that was the, I was grasping that dream. I was cleaving to it.

because without it, I cannot make heads or tails of this quarterback situation. I watched the Trey Lance film from the six quarters that he played to start the 2020,

what year is it? 23. Start the 2022 season, the game against the Bears. I watched that film and I went, they got to be over the moon for this guy.

They got to see these throws and see the way he can move and be like, we've got it. We have to sand out out some rough edges, but like this guy, has the tools that we wanted him to have.

We're going to be able to figure this out. We've got to develop this guy. We've got it. And then every discourse, every note, every nugget gets dropped out of San Francisco into the media makes it seem like they don't like him. So I cannot tell you where the Niners land on Trey Lans right now.

Like people walk around India at the Combine being like, yeah, obviously the Niners are going to trade Tray Lance. Of course you're going to trade Tray Lance. Of course you're going to trade Traylans. Like, what? Have they watched him play? I have no idea. So to me, I know they like Brock.

I'm putting Brock at one. And that's where I'm, I'm at right now. That's all the information I have. That could have been a really fun trade because you could have trade Lance could go back to Baltimore. The Niners trade for Lamar J.

I mean, that would have been a great thoughtbuster. Yes, I was, I was, I was willing it into existence. Bad job by you. Bad job by you. Next time. I'll get the GMs on the phone next time. Yeah, I think Tray Lance is going to make the most starts for the Niners next year.

I will put Darnold at two and Purdy at three. I just need to see. I mean, an elbow injury like that, I need to see you throwing footballs before I can believe that you're going to do it. All right. So that's their quarterback situation. That will be, I mean, you're right. Every week, OTAs.

I mean, there are going to be stories after stories. It's going to be Sam Garnold Mania, dude. Yes, out of San Francisco, depending on who's healthy. Jvon Hargrave, on the other hand, we both know. Excellent football player, elite interior pass rusher. According to Next Gen stats, 11 sacks from a defensive tackle alignment last year. That ranked third in the NFL. 53 pressures.

That ranked second in the NFL among defensive tackles. It wasn't a one-year wonder. He was very productive in 2021 as well. Seven and a half sacks, 18 quarterback hits, a scheme versatile guy. He doesn't have to worry about that in San Francisco. We know what their scheme's going to be.

We know he's going to be able to rush the passer, get upfield. Listen, it's a big price, $21 million per year, I think puts him third among defensive tackle. I thought he was looking at more of $17, $18 million per year. But if you're a Niners fan, you should be excited about this move. He's 30 years old.

He's going to help your team next year with Nick Boso, with Eric Arbsted. He's going to be someone. Offenses are going to have to account for. And so I don't play. If you're going to invest, that's a fine place to invest where demand outweighs supply. Yeah, the Hargrave signing to me is one of those moves that's so clearly a reaction to how the team got eliminated from the playoffs. Niners play the Eagles, NFC championship game,

and maybe Sam Donald and shoring up their quarterback three position is really the side of how they lost the Eagles game. But when you turn on that Eagles' offensive film, you saw a team circle the defensive tackle that wasn't Eric Armstead and go, we're running it at him. Wherever that guy is, we're shoving off the ball. In-law had a long day, yeah, that afternoon.

As you brought up, we all know what the Niners scheme is. The scheme versatility is not important. They put four down defense alignment on the field. Four guys in one gap, and they tell him to penetrate. and they were suffering for run defense from the non-Armsted players at defensive tackle all season. The Eagles found the Achilles heel and they hammered it. Hargrave is a perfect response to that. Because you put him in that gap, you lose nothing in terms of pass rush.

He's an unbelievable pass rusher from that one gap alignment, but he is so stout against the run. And this was something I made this remark in a lot of Eagles fans like, no, he was really bad against the run. Like he was, you know, his PFF grades are bad and the Eagles were bad with him against the run on the field. A lot of that was what structurally the Eagles were doing. For the way the Niners defend the run, Hargrave is a plus run defender. Absolutely. If you remember what he was doing with Pittsburgh and with the Steelers, right, before he was with the Eagles, his ability to remain statutes, ability to hold the line of attack, and then also penetrate and generate TFL's like it couldn't be more perfect of a fit. Now, four years, $84 million.

Shee! It's a pretty penny. Javon Hargrave's going to send Duran Payne a nice bouquet of flowers. Big, you know, whatever. Anytime you're around, Duran, I got you. I take you out. No problem, because Dron Payne with Washington signed a huge extension before legal tampering began four years 90 million.

That jacked Hargrave's price up, no way around it. Because Payne had a nice little contract year. It had a nice performance last season, but a lot of defensive tackles have been better than Duran Payne for quite some time. So that's a big jump in the market. I'll be really curious to see how this is structured. Because four years, 84 million for a guy who just turned 30, worrisome. We don't yet have a lot of the details on it. Only 40 million guaranteed.

I'll be curious to see if this looks more. more like it's like a two-year deal and then they're going to see if they keep at the price tag or not. Altogether, though, for the 49ers, Rich continue to get richer. The way they cycle through defensive personnel and then they're able to fill in their gaps

with like fourth and fifth round, six-round picks. I mean, no Demico, so we've got to see how Steve Wilkes does there, but they feel like a factory at this point in the defense line with Chris Kosherick. Great signing. Yeah, they should, I mean, they should be in, let's try to win the Super Bowl right now mode. I mean, that's where they have the core.

What a ridiculous thing to say that I wholly agree with about a team that at quarterback has Brock Purdy, Tray Lance and Sam Harald. Yeah, but yeah, I know. Other than that, it's just ludicrous. The Niners are literally like, they're such a unique team in terms of how we talk about, we talk around their quarterback situation.

Yeah, yeah, it's not Mahomes, it's not Burrough, but they still should be in that mode. All right, two other teams I want to get to, and then we'll get to our extra points where we'll just give any leftover thoughts that we have. This one was on my mind, Ben, the Atlanta Falcons, okay, uh, 10 minutes after the Lamar thing comes out,

they're not interested in Lamar. We know that. We don't know what they're going to do at quarterback. Chris Lindstrom, they sign at guard. Now, this is one where let's really, let's see what the real numbers are because if these are the real numbers, I'm going to be shocked. But who knows, five years and $105 million reportedly with $63 million guaranteed. Why would I be shocked?

Because that would make him the highest paid right guard by $4.5 million per year over Brandon Shurf that would nearly double the guarantee, the highest guarantee of a right guard, which is Zach Martin at $32 million per year. This is more than Quentin Nelson got at $20 million per year and $41 million guaranteed. So if he got that, I guess those are the numbers we have to go by right now,

but I think we have to do a big caveat right there. So that's Chris Lindstrom. Good player, good guard. David on Yamada, the defensive tackle from the Saints they signed, three years, $35 million, and then Jesse Bates, the free safety from the Cincinnati Bengals, four years, $64 million. So, I mean, three very big contracts.

One is rewarding their own guy. Two, on the outside. What did you think of what the Falcons did the last couple days here? How dare you overlook the seventh round pick traded for Jonu Smith? Yes. John Smith, only ever been good with Arthur Smith as his coordinator. back home where he belongs in the Tennessee Titans offense part two, Atlanta version. Chris Lynch.

I'm old enough to remember when Jono Smith and Hunter Henry were going to be the new Grank and Aaron Hernandez. I mean, let's get some old takes exposed on those takes back when they signed those two guys. All right, sorry, continue. I had to get that off my chest. Talk about a good free agency, you know, cautionary tale, though. Like, oh, look at all these contracts we signed.

Yeah, remember when the Niners, or excuse me, not the Niners? Remember when the Patriots rolled out with John. Anu, Hunter Henry, Nelson Agalore, Jacoby Myers, and then there was another one on defense. Kendrick Bourne. Yeah, Kendrick Bourne. Jalen Mills. Mills, that was the one, yeah, yeah, yeah. But then also, like, then got Matt Judin.

Matt Judon's just incredible because they're the Patriots and they always can't. Chris Lindstrom, great player. I can't recall if I had him first team all pro when I made my fake made-up ballot. As a reminder, I don't get a real ballot. Everybody gets upset about my ballot. I don't actually submit it. It's just an exercise. But he was in that conversation.

He was one of the best interior office of linemen in the league this year, dominant run player, especially for his size, then lights out and pass protection. He better be Zach Martin 2.0 in terms of continued improvement of play and availability if we're going to cash in on this level of a deal. I agree with you. I think we're going to see that this is never going to be a contract that gets realized for five total years.

I think it's going to be big base salaries late, and the number looks nice and it puts him on the top of the guard market, and that's great. But functionally, I can't imagine. signing him to this big of a deal, especially because they are cool with potentially letting the guy who's right next to him,

Caleb McGarry walk away. And if you're McGarry, and like they didn't franchise tag him, I would assume they're still willing to talk to McGarry about extension, but if you're McGarry and the guy right next to you just got made the top of the right guard market, you're looking at the right tackle market,

Mike McGlinchie and going, right, jack it up. So like, if they still want to negotiate with McGarry, they painted themselves into a weird corner, yeah, they painted themselves into a weird corner with how they did the Lindstrom deal and how they handled McGarry's timeline. So very interesting to see what happens at the right tackle spot.

McGarry played quite a lot of experience. Yeah, I mean, I would assume that McGarry would be gone. I mean, if you're going to pay, because like you mentioned, now you're saying, what, $17 million? I mean, now you're talking about paying those two guys a lot of money and they're not going to be the best, you know, tandem, guard tackle tandem in the NFL. But sorry, continue. What else?

So yeah, McGarry, talk about a good right tackle option for the Bears. No, not for the Bears for the Broncos because of the run blocking, but they already have Michael Lynchie. So we'll see where he lands. McGarry I'm very interested in because he's a, I like him quite a bit. And then Jesse Bates. There was always, like, I think the Bengals were never going to pay Jesse Bates, and there was always going to be a team of the ton of Capspace that was going to be willing to make

Jesse Bates happy. Is it probably an overpay? Yeah. Did Jesse Bates make it very clear that he's going to get paid at the top of the safety market? Yep. Did the Falcons have money to spare and desperately need improvement in safety? Yep. So this is one of those overpays where you look at and you go, okay, but everybody's happy.

So why do I care that? Arthur Blank is spending $16 million per year instead of like $13 million per year on Jesse Bates. We're all going to get over it. He plus Jalen Hawkins, who I think is a name that not a lot of people know, but Hawkins is a nice strong safety for the for the Falcons. Good safety do. Be a good safety deal for a bit. AJ Terrell like there, they're still ways away defensively.

David on Yamada helps a little bit, but still a ways away defensively. But that secondary is coming in a nice picture. Another team where I'm not sure what their plan is. Like you said, Lynch-Strum, if you have a very, good homegrown player. I believe in retaining that player. He's been good for them. He's been durable. It looks like a huge, a big overpay based on the numbers we have, but I think those numbers are going to come down. Jesse Bates, you know what? I like Jesse Bates a lot. Jesse Bates is a young player. Though if you have money to spend in a free agency, you spend them on players like Jesse Bates. He's

been productive. He's been durable. And he's young. You don't have to worry about him declining here in the next two to three years. And so you pay him $16 million per year. I don't think that's crazy. I think that's fine. Anyamata was a weird one to me. I mean, he'll play next year at 30 years old and you're paying him three years, $35 million per year. I just don't know where, like, I mean, a couple things. One, we can have a philosophical discussion. Does it make sense to pay, you know, if you have money, pay a guard and a safety at the top five at their respective positions on a roster? I mean, that that would be one. one topic of conversation.

But more importantly, it's just like, until I see what they do at quarterback, nothing else matters. Like if you tell me they have some great move up their sleeve to land a quarterback and then, okay, well, now we look at the roster and say, oh, don't forget, they got Bates, they re-signed Lindstrom, they have pits,

they have London, they have Terrell. Oh, all right, now things are looking out for the Falcons. But like, I'm not, until I see them make a move of a quarterback, I'm going to assume they're just kicking the can down the road, kicking the can down the road. And it's going to be 2007. And they're going to say, you know what, this might be the year.

we finally pounce. That could be totally wrong. Maybe they make a move in the draft or have another move up their sleeve. That's just my concern with the Falcons. Like if they're going next year and I know, you know, people like Desmond Redder and maybe he'll be fine. But if that's their plan, then I just can't get too excited about him. Yes, you're raising your hand. I'm going to say, I agree with you on Onumada is kind of weird.

I love that this, there's no, like, if Dean Pease are still the defense coordinator, undersized defensive tackle to put next to already undersized defensive tackle, Grady Jarrett, plus also safety who doesn't like to tackle, would never have happened. Never, never. And the second D.P.'s gone as Brian Nealson, I'm like, oh, cool, we can sign athletes again. Sick. So that's my last Falcons note. I do have an additional Broncos signing if we want to pivot back really quick.

Yeah, what do you got? They signed somebody else? Cardinals defensive end, Zach Allen, who famously played under Vance Joseph there with the Cardinals, now signed to Denver, initial report from Schefter, three years, 45.75. million, which includes 32.5 million guaranteed at signing. Now, I like Zach Allen. Zach Allen is a handy player to have a round. I did not think he was going to get 15 million per year on the open market. And I don't know how open his market was because I am now wondering if Vance Joseph was just like, here's all the money we have. And Zach Allen said, yep. And then that

was the whole thing because I don't think anybody else was lining up to play Zach Allen 15 million per year. So the Broncos baby just throwing cash around right now. I had him in my top 100 ringer free agents. The comp I had was BJ Hill's three year 30 million dollar contract from last year. So yes, this is considerably more if that's the number of $15 million per year. Zach Allen's a nice player, 26 years old, nine and a half sacks, 34 cuby hits over the past. two seasons can give you some of that interior pass rush. Bats a lot of passes down. So he does deserve credit for that.

I think it's seven batted passes last year, sort of a mini J.J. Y.J. Y. So, yeah, I like the player. But, man, they're really just opening up the checkbook and trying to spend and trying to be a winner. I guess Zach Collins is a younger player, but I did not expect them to be like this aggressive in free agency. But I guess they realize they don't have the draft capital.

And this is the way to improve their rights. So that's pretty interesting. This and the Broncos. So there's a thing happening that is annoying me. There's a thing happening. Okay. Well, it's just like, this is, this is classic, like, coaching and coordinator changes where it's like, okay, like we have a guy here who can fit a role, but he's not my guy, right?

Like, the Broncos are letting Draymond Jones walk. And Draymond Jones is a defensive tackle and not a defensive end. I understand that. But Draymond's a really thin and small defensive tackle. And Zach Allen's a really big defense. defensive end. Functionally, they're going to play in the same spot a lot, which is the inside shoulder of the tackle.

Dremont's going to make way more than Zach Allen, right? Like, you're expecting him to make, what, like 17, 18, right? And, okay, it was actually Zach Allen made $15 million first. Yeah, I don't know now that he's going to make way more. It's the sort of thing where, like, you see that, you see the way the Broncos changed at the guard positions, right? Where, okay, like, Donn Riser's out and we're going to put Ben Powers back in, right? You see that.

There was another one earlier that bounced off ahead. Who was the first team that we talked about? The Bears. Oh, right. Tremaine Edmonds and Tj Edwards in for Roquan Smith. GMs and coach, they love to do this. I got to get my guys in here. I got to get the, it's got to be this body type.

It's got to be these dudes. Yeah. I don't really know if you do, man. Draymond Jones might just be a little better than Zach Allen. And that's just the reality of things. And just because you know Zach doesn't mean you got to make the move. This is, it's, it's, it's, it's, I don't want to say it's knucklehead stuff because it's not fully knucklehead stuff.

There is logic to it. But it always bothers me. It's just like, oh, go, got to get my. guy. Okay, congratulations. You got your guy. This is not a great contract though. So where are we at? Yeah, it's a fine line between finding players who fit your scheme and taking the best players and making them fit. I mean, I understand both sides of it. I do think it goes back to the idea that I believe that Mike Tomlin has said in the past that NFL coaches don't always understand what their job is. And you have a good player right there, figure out a way to use him rather than

needing to shuffle those pieces around for maybe an inferior player who you feel like might have some traits that fits your scheme better. So I'm with you there. That frustrates me about coaches pretty much every offseason. I don't know if it'll be the case with these specific examples or not, but it's certainly the case with a lot of coaches and a lot of teams around the NFL. All right. Last team we'll talk about and then we will get to our extra points. The Kansas City Chiefs with, I thought, a very interesting move. Yeah. It looks like Orlando Brown will be gone. They'll let him walked. They signed Joanne Taylor, a right tackle for the Jaguars. They're going to move him to left tackle, and they sign him to a four-year, $80 million deal with $60 million guaranteed.

What did you think when you saw that contract and saw specifically that they're going to have him play a position he has not played in the NFL, I believe? This is a classic example of my favorite game. Theory and execution in the NFL. Chief theory, good. Orlando Brown is a guy who is liable on pass protection. Sometimes we leave on an island. He gets beat up by really explosive rushes because he's heavy-footed. He doesn't add as much to our running game as we thought he would. We really hit on some of these other interior guys and they've become the foundational part of our running game. Orlando Brown wants a huge payday, right? All the noise around Orlando Brown is that he's looking for a real big figure. We grabbed him off the right side.

on a previous team, and we push them over to left side, we should be able to plug somebody else in here on the left side. Theory, good. Execution. We're now paying Juan Taylor $20 million a year. How did you get from A to B? What happened? Something happened in the middle here.

Where, like, I think part of it is because they successfully moved Brown from the right side in Baltimore to the left side on the Chiefs line, they're like, oh, we can just do this again. It's not that easy. First thing, I don't know if you fully successfully got it. land around to be a good left tackle. And secondly, even if you did, it's difficult to make that side switch. Not everybody's able to do it. So first thing, let's not set our watch to just say, yeah, we take right tackles and play on the left side. We're chilling. Like that, that's a little much for

me. It's worth noting, like, they are also open on the right side, right? Like Andrew Wiley is a Isaac Frasian. They have Lucas Nyang, who they've been trying to develop to take that spot. So a subsequent move, right? Somebody falls to the chiefs on drafted. I didn't think was going to fall to them. And they're like, oh, we like this guy's starting left tackle. We're going to get him in the building and then we'll figure it out. Like, they might still end up with Joanne on the right. So it's worth making that caveat. But I think that's a part of it.

I also think the other part of it is that like, you're just playing so much with house money with Mahomes, where they like, you know, they like, dust it off the 2019 scouting report on Joanne Taylor. They're like, oh, we really liked him back then. Let's do it. And they maybe didn't watch any of the recent Jags film, which Taylor had some really nice stretches of play, but he's been injured. And coming off of injury, he just hasn't been nearly as effective. in my opinion.

I think, from what I understand, the Jaguars were talking with Juan Taylor with like a yearly number in the low tens, and he's making 20 million per. I think the chiefs were negotiating against nobody in this one. And again, I think investing in the line is a great idea. I think that making the switch off for Orlando Brown is an awesome idea.

I love the approach. There was like rumors they were going to trade for Laramie Tunsell. That really would have been sticking the landing. 20 million per for Juan Taylor, Not sure if that's sticking the landing. Yeah, it is different than the Orlando Brown thing, because Brown had played left tackle with the Ravens a little bit. Remember Ronnie Stanley?

Yeah, he had to bounce over for Ronnie, right. Yeah, and so that started the whole thing because he got to fill in for Ronnie Stanley at left tackle. He played well. Then they signed Stanley to an extension and say, Stanley's going to be our left tackle. You are a right tackle. And he says, no, wait a minute, I want to play left tackle.

I want to get paid like a left tackle. I want to be traded. Then they trade him to the chief. So there was some of that proof of concept there. at the same time. Yeah, Orlando Brown was always a, I mean, he played well enough for the cheese. Don't get me wrong. But it was always like, that wouldn't be the offense, you would say, would be best suited

for Orlando Brown, where you're dropping back in pass protection that many times a game when he's so good as a run blocker run blocker. Now, Joanne Taylor, you mentioned some injuries. Now, maybe he's had some that he's worked through, but he's been incredibly durable. He has not missed a game in the last, I think, four seasons, six. 68 consecutive starts playoffs included. And I do wonder with the Chiefs,

when I look at some of the players, the offensive linemen specifically, that they've signed, I feel like they value durability. Like they'll take a little less talented player for more durability and pay him a lot of money. Like Joe Tuny, remember, that was a big, they made him,

I think, the highest paid guard in the NFL. He was one of the most durable offensive linemen in the NFL. Orlando Brown, he has been a very durable left tackle and now Joanne Taylor. So I look at it and this is one of those where if this was another team and they said yeah, we're signing Joanne Taylor for 20 million a year and we're moving him from right tackle to left tackle. I would be like, what are you doing? This is not going to work out well. But you know what? I'm going to give the Chiefs the benefit of the doubt. I feel like it'll be

week seven. Week seven. Yeah, it'll be week seven next year and they're all the O line Twitter will be you know, showing Coloma. Look at Joanne Taylor. He's really looking good here at left tackle. And so I think Andy Heck is their O-line coach. Andy Reid, obviously, knows how to coach offensive linemen. And then you kind of mention the key part of this. I mean, Mahomes makes those O-Linman right so often, whether it's with his mind,

whether it's his elusiveness, whatever. Mahomes, it really helps those guys. And, like, I mean, we know that what happened in the Super Bowl against the Bucks a few years ago. But other than that, he, you know, he's going to be able to make it work. So I'm okay with it. Let's see how it works.

I don't know if it's going to work, but I'm just kind of kind of give them the benefit of the doubt. And you mentioned Andrew Wiley. I think he reportedly is heading to the commanders on a three-year, $24 million deal. So you're right. They still have to figure out right tackle. Or like you said,

if they have someone else who they like playing left tackle, they can move Taylor to right tackle. But I thought that that's a very interesting move for a first day of free agency, sign right tackle to 20, million dollars and move him to left tackle. All right. I am I could have sworn Taylor missed time with a major injury. I apologize. That's that's on me. I might be complaining of Cam Robinson, who I know had an ACL. Regardless, I do distinctly remember Taylor playing quite well early in his career and then his play going down later because sworn there was an injury there, but I'm

completely wrong on that, so that's my bad. All good. Let's get to the extra points. We're here. We could talk about whatever we want. I'm going to give you the four floor. I think you had a team-focused one you wanted to get to. What do you have for your extra point tonight? Dolphins are going to the Super Bowl. All right. Oh, my gosh. What?

Dolphins are winning my off-season Super Bowl, which I remember debating with you on Bill's show in the middle of the season last season about the Dolphins' legitimacy of a potential Super Bowl run, and then obviously we had subsequent injuries to Tua and the train got derailed. But there they were. three points out from the bills, Skyler Thompson.

The two moves that the dolphins have made so far this, this season, this off season have both been, in my opinion, integral. The trade for Jalen Ramsey was awesome. Sent a future third and tight-ed hunter long, which if you're like, who?

Yeah, exactly. For Jalen Ramsey, corner from the Rams. They extended Ramsey, guaranteeing some of the base salary over the next two years as part of his deal. I couldn't be more fine with it. I'm completely okay with it.

Ramsey is under 30, and for the majority of his career to this point, has been the best corner in the NFL. Was he the best corner of the NFL last season? No. But over the six, what years is it, 23? Seven years that Jaylon Ramsey's been a corner in the NFL, he has, for the majority of the time, been the best.

He's been in the top five the whole time, man. This is the ability to plug in and play a new top corner one, bump Xavier to corner two, which at this stage in his career is probably better for him, pair with a great safety duo, Brandon Jones and Javon Holland, Vig Fangio is dialed up. And then, like when you've seen these Vic Fangio defenses be successful, you've seen them be successful with a true, three-down, impactful,

past defending linebacker. As a general rule, we talk a lot about split safety coverages in the NFL. The NFL's moving to two deep safeties. When you move to two deep safeties, you put more stress on your middle linebacker and pass coverage. Now, he's going to have to run the pole. He's going to have to be vertical a lot more because there's no post safety.

There's no deep middle safety now. So split safeties, I put more past responsibilities of my middle linebacker. I think one of the three best coverage linebackers in the NFL is David Long from the Titans. And the Dolphins signed him on a two-year deal for $11 million total.

That's bananas. That's banana cream pie. Long, Jerome Baker, and they re-signed Duke Riley. I'm not going to lie to you. It's not the biggest linebacker room. We are going to have size problems at times. We will occasionally be big,

Boyd. I'm not going to, I'm not pulling the wool over your eyes. There's, there's some concern here with run defense. However, on passing downs, that's a really, really, really impactful duo in Baker and David Long. Long's film this past season for the Titans, it reminds you of if somebody made Fred Warner smaller. Like, that's just like he doesn't have the size and the range of Fred Warner, but he has that level of instincts. He has that level of comfort and zone coverage. So, this defense now with how well Christian Wilkins came along last year, and Jaylen Phillips came along last year with the additions of long Jailor Ramsey and then Bradley Chubb, who obviously was only around for the second half last season for the emergence of young

players, Javon Hall and Cater Kohu, who's their nickel player. It's a good defense. It's a good, this is for this personnel plus Vic Fangio. This to me is a good defense. I look at this and I say, oh, I see exactly how this is going to work in terms of being like a contending caliber defense. And then it's, can Mike McDaniel do it again in year two? And if you can do it again in year two, like I'm telling you, man, I'm, I'm all in the way that the dolphins are building it. I'm loving this. I don't even know where to begin with this. First of all, David Long, I mean, I feel like the NFL hipsters on Twitter,

you guys need to have a ceremony this offseason and give David Long your award. I don't know if all of you are, but like you, you know, I saw Mina Kimes loved it, Nate, like all the smart football minds I read. Do we care that he's mid, do we care that he started, what is it, 26 games in four seasons? No, we don't care about that. That's okay. You say it like that way, 26 games in four seasons. Yeah.

It makes it sound so much worse than it is. He misses a few games every season. He's missed 12 games the last two years because of injuries. And didn't Mike Rable make some crack about his hamstring or something? I feel like that didn't end well. I don't know. Maybe I'm missing that with someone else. But he has had some injury issues.

I like to play. Actually, I'm actually with you that I think this is a perfectly reasonable, this is a good way to. spend money in free agency because he's a high upside player he's young big you trust your coach to get the most out of him so i actually do like that signing quite a bit if it was like you know two years at a high number i'd go why are you signing a player for this number when he's had injury issues but it's not that it's a perfectly reasonable contract two years 11 million when alex singleton's three years 18 when bobby o'caricay is four years 40 yes what's his name

alex anzelone it's like three years 21.5 yeah that's David Long was getting all pro boats, man. Like, this is the dude. Yeah, it's objectively a nice deal now. And even the Ramsey trade. I'm fine with that as well. I thought he was going to go for more than a third round pick. Like, if I'm some other teams, I'm going shoot.

You know, maybe we should have given up a second round pick to get Jail and Ramsey, although maybe he wanted to go to Miami. You have the coach in Fangio with these pieces. I'm with you that the defense is going to be really good. Just going to have some concerns about that offense to a tongue of I coming off the two to three concussions from last year. And now they're going to pick up his fifth year option. I'm not sure why you're in a rush to do that.

If you're the Miami Dolphins, just speaking frankly, they sign Mike White, which Mike White is a fine backup. But I don't know that if Mike White has to play in a playoff game against Patrick Mahomes or Joe Burrow, that the dolphins are going to win that game. So I think if you're a Dolphins fan, it's fine to be excited. I don't want to rain on your parade. you know, you have a lot of star power there on that team, and I thought they were pretty much,

they were a well-coached team last year. I am not close to where Ben is in terms of putting them in the Super Bowl picture, though. I'm ready. The best thing was, I was like, I was saying, like, oh, this Ramsey deal is great, like, this long deal is great. And then a couple of the people who hate Meeks Foward talk about, too, is like, Ben's tone is totally changed on the dolphins.

Like, why? And, like, because they got good players. Like, this is how it works. They got better players in the building. Um, do you have an extra point or do you want an update on some signings that have gone on since we've recorded? I do. Let me get, let me give you my, and then you can hit me with those and we can react to them to make this podcast as non-outdated, uh, as it can be. Uh, I like the lions getting Cam Sutton for three years, $33 million. That was one of my favorite time. One of the most reasonable signings I thought, uh, of the day. Uh, again, a durable player, uh, has never missed or in the last four years has not missed more than. than one game in a season. Can play slot, can play the outside, plays with a toughness,

good ball production last year, and they paid him. I thought that was exactly what you should pay, $10, $11 million for KM. Sutton. So nice job by the Lions. You don't have to make five signings on day one. You can make one. It can be a reasonable move at a premium position. Fill a need.

Nice job by Detroit. Bengals, I thought you're going to mention, you probably meant to mention this one, because I think you like this guy, Jermaine Pratt back. $7 million per year. I like that. Good value. Fit in the defense.

Nice value. We just mentioned what a guy like Bobby O'Kareke is getting $10 million a year from the Giants and Pratt's getting $7 million per year from the Bengals. I'll take that Bengals signing any day of the week. I like that one. And then the Bucks getting Jamel Dean back for four years, $52 million, $13 million per year. I thought he was going to get paid. Hometown discount, man.

Come on now. Yeah. Well, it's interesting because the same thing happened last year was Carlton Davis, where I thought he's going to get more money, whether a market didn't materialize or whether he just wanted to stay in Tampa, whatever it was. I think he got 14 million. There was definitely a report there. I can't remember who had, I'm scrolling right now, but there was a report that was like,

Jamel Dean took less money because he wanted to stay with the bucks. Oh, okay. All right. So there you go. So they've got Dean and Davis. I mean, those are two good cornerbacks in their mid-20s. And so I don't know what direction the bucks are going in here, but I'll still. still say they've got like a lot of young talented players in their 20s still.

I don't know what the team's going to look like. I don't know whether they're going to be good. But this is not one of those teams that just has like they're not like a team that went all in and now has a bunch of 33 year olds who they have to trade and get rid of. Like they still have a lot of young talented players on that Bucks team. If Jason Lake could just rob a bank and then make that cap space, they'd be the perfect Lamar team. But unfortunately, that's not how robbing a bank and creating cap space works. Yeah, well, maybe in the new CBA there can be something that rewards GMs for robbing banks.

A move I did, I thought was a head scratcher. And listen, I might just have a bias where when teams overpay for blocking tight ends, I go, what are you doing? But the Vikings signed Josh Oliver, three years, $21 million? What? Josh Oliver. What do you think Josh Oliver's reaction was when his agent told him that? Was he like, about time, man? Come on.

And then the folks are finally noticing. I hope he celebrated again. I like what it's good for players to get paid. I am Team CTC. Yes, cash them checks. So there's nothing against Josh Oliver. But if you're the Vikings, I mean, you need cornerbacks. You need offensive linemen.

You have needs here. $7 million for a tight end too. You traded for T.J. Hawkinson last season. Like you have a starting tight end, Josh Oliver has 230 career receiving yards in 35 games. three seasons. I understand he could be the best blocking tight end the world has ever seen. I still don't know that. I want to pay $7 million per year for that when I have limited resources to use. Wouldn't you rather like sign a guard or sign a couple backup guards so that when you

inevitably have some injuries, you have more guys to play offensive line. So I wasn't, I didn't, I did not like that move by the Viking. So I thought that one, the McGlinchy one, and even Edmonds, I mean, listen, Edmonds could work out for him, but those for the things. three that stood out to me where I was kind of like, I don't know about these moves. All right, other signings. What did I miss while we were recording? So, since we started recording, we now know Patrick Peterson deal is two years, 14 million with 5.85 guaranteed for the Steelers. Whoa. Whoa. Oh, okay, 5.85. All right. So essentially it could be a one year, five point eight five. So he gets a raise at this stage of his career or something, because I think

he was one year, four million last year. Okay. So, all right. There you go. There you Eric Kendricks, ex-Mnesota Vikings linebacker, signing with the Chargers, which I like quite a bit. I like that one. Yeah, I'm with you on that one. I like an Eric Kendricks. Yeah, I'm fairly certain Drew Tranquil is a free agent. He is, he is, correct.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, man, it's so handy having you around. So you have to go through all these free agents. Whenever I'm like, I'm like, pretty sure the guy's a free agent, and you're like, yeah, yeah. I got my spreadsheets right here, yeah. We talked about Zach Allen live on the show. Here's the doozy.

Here's the one that I'm excited for your reaction. Jazeena Anderson, quarterback James Winston just texted me that he is finalizing a deal to return to the Saints. Return to the Saints. Ian Rappaport continues on. It's a one-year deal for James Winston

worth up to $8 million, with no starting opportunities. Winston sticks with what's familiar. So the Saints brought him back, baby. It's James and Derek Carr in the room. Could not be two more different quarterbacks. I mean, I'm just trying to think, is there not another place where James Winston could go? I mean, the Saints just all in these one-year deals.

The Saints have been all over the place, by the way, with what they've signed him for. Like last year they lose out on Deshawn Watson and they're like, shoot, we got to pay James Winston some real money here, 14 million. And he just has not had any suitor. So yes, James Winston and Derek Carr, there you go. Saints spending some responsible money. Yeah. Other notes, Texans bring Jimmy Ward back, or bring Jimmy Ward from the Niners,

D'emke Ryans, makes sense, safety from the Niners. Oh, that's interesting. Yeah, and then Field just tweeted, Field DeAts of ESPN. The bills have restructured the contracts of quarterback Josh Allen and outside linebacker Vaughn Miller, creating approximately $32 million in salary cap space per source. So the bills are doing something, and we are going to discover what that is at a later time.

Odell Beckham, Jr.? you need $32 million for O'Dell? I don't know. You don't need it, but listen. They've been interested. It's always good to have the space, you know? You don't know what moves you're going to one to make. All right.

That was fun. Hopefully, listen, there will be more moves to come on Tuesday. I think we hit all of the big ones, most of the big ones. Today, there will be other people on the ringer NFL feed throughout the week. We might even be back on the ringer NFL feed throughout the week. So thanks to everybody. for listening. Thanks to Benjamin Solek.

Thank you to Cliff Augustine for producing additional production supervision by Connor and Evans and Arjuna Ramgopal. We will talk to you soon on the Ringer NFL show.