The Ringer NFL Show - Buy, Sold, Hold | Dual Threat

Episode Date: March 20, 2024

The Dream Team recaps the NFL free agency period by buying, selling, and holding stock in relation to which teams made the best moves over the past week. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please check out theringer.com/RG to find out more, or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Hosts: Nora Princiotti, Austin Gayle, Steven Ruiz, and Lindsay Jones Producer: Stefan Anderson Additional Production Supervision: Arjuna Ramgopal and Conor Nevins Musical Elements: Devon Renaldo Social: Kiera Givens and Eduardo Ocampo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There are a lot of quarterbacks in the NFL draft this year. My name is Ben Solac and I host the Ringer NFL Draft Show with Danny Kelly, Danny Hypatts, and Craig Horlebeck. We cover trades, free agency, and the draft, which is, yeah, obviously. We'll tell you about everything, which includes which quarterbacks are good, which quarterbacks are bad, and which quarterbacks are just Kirk Cousins. That is the Ringer NFL Draft show. Search the Ringer NFL Draft show on Spotify. Hello and welcome to Dool Threat on the Ringer NFL show feed. I'm Nora Prentiotti and I am joined by the entire dream team. We've got Stephen Ruiz, got Austin Gale, and we've got Lindsay Jones.

Hello to all three of you. I'm not going to go one by one because we'd just be here all day. But it's great to see all of your smiling faces. I was on vacation last week, so I appreciate you guys holding down the fort. And it's great to be back. Sick, bragged. How's everything going? I miss a lot.

I hope this dream team does better than the Eagles dream team from like 10 years ago. I'm sure it will. I'm sure it will. I do not want to be the Vince Young of this podcast. Someone's got to do it. All right. It is a little over a week into free agency. There's been a lot that's happened.

Still some player landing spots led to be left to be figured out, but most of the big moves are done. So we figured that we would take a step back this week and do a little buy, sell, hold on teams coming out of free agency, coming out of the busy period of free agency. let's just say. So we've each come with a team that we're buying in. We're buying their stock

based on the moves that they've made through the first week plus. We like what it seems like they're shaping up to do next season. Obviously, what teams do in the draft is going to shape that to some extent. But a team that we're excited about where we feel like the arrow is pointing up, team that we're selling on opposite direction, not liking the direction that they're headed in. and a team where we're just sort of holding. And maybe that's to hear some reasoning for decisions that have been made. Maybe that's to see what a team does in the draft, just some club where we're sort of interested maybe in what they've done so far through free agency,

but there's something that's preventing us from knowing what direction we feel like they're. they're going in. So why don't we start on a positive note? Let's start with the buy teams. And Lindsay, maybe I'll kick it to you first. Do you want to give us your your buy team? Did you see because I smirked? Because I will say, I tend to be like the negative Nancy when it comes to this time of year where, you know, we were looking back through, you know, when we were doing production for this call, looking back through our power rankings that we all submitted about a month ago after the Super Bowl. Where did teams stand coming out of the coaching cycle coming out of, you know, kind of coming out of the playoffs, all that stuff.

And I wanted to see, like, who has moved up, right? And I had a really hard time finding any team that I thought, like, wow, this team has really, like, improved their stature. So how I like to think about this time of the off season is less about how much money has a team spent. We talked about that a lot last week, right? And throughout the first wave of a free agency where, you know, we can get into the, did they spend too much? You know, what was. the market value for teams. And now I just really want to see what teams have a plan. And I think the team that I look at that raised their floor the most at this point in free agency is the Atlanta Falcons. And they're a team. So, you know, look, they spent a lot to do it, right? They gave Kirk Cousins a lot of

money, a lot of guaranteed money over the next couple of years. But when I look at teams that didn't make the postseason last year. I think the Falcons are a team that I would put in the postseason field right now has the best chance of being on the inside of that pool now and winning their division. That was not in that, was not in that pool last year. So that's where I think that they've just, they've raised their floor. And that's what I think free agency largely is about. The teams that are spending a lot that are making a ton of moves, the teams that, like, win free agency, a lot of times they're bad. You know, those are the bad teams. They have to be spending a lot. They have to kind of make desperate moves. And I'm not 100% convinced that like the Kirk Cousins move is going to make a huge difference for them, right? I don't think that makes them a Super Bowl contender right now. But it significantly raises their floor. It makes them significantly more interesting. And I think it raises the floor significantly for so many of their other players. And now they're a team that I'm really excited to watch. So I like the plan. I'm I like the vision. I don't know if I love how much they spent, but we're past that. And I'm going to, I'm going to say that I'm buying the Falcons as a team for 2020.

Yeah, I'm into that. I thought about them too. And I would even take it maybe a step forward, which is to say, you know, when you say maybe this doesn't move the needle a ton based on where they've been, I hear what you're saying and agree in the sense of does this necessarily make the Falcons a Super Bowl contender? when they've already been mostly because of the nature of the division, but they've been a contender in the NFC South. Does this make them a Super Bowl contender? Probably not. But is moving on from the sort of like the Desmond Ritter, Marcus Marriota, Taylor Heineckee like vortex of how do we maximize all of this offensive weaponry that's already on the team environment,

just moving from those type of quarterbacks to Kirk Cousins like just change the whole vibe of the falcons and how excited we should be to watch them and just feeling like they can sort of finally live up to a little bit of that offensive potential that corresponds to what they've spent to get their skill position players. I feel like it moves the needle in that way,

however you quantify that. Kirk is such an interesting player right now, right? because he's coming off the injury. He's not so young anymore. He's been this sort of like reliable floor razor middle of the pack guy. I mean, Stephen, you're a few months out before you have to go ahead

and rank these guys heading into the season. But what's your early feeling on Falcons Kirk and how much he changes what they can accomplish? I mean, he's like the hardest. quarterback to write. I know. That's why I asked you to do it. Because somebody's going to get mad, no matter what you say. If you say he's top 10, someone's going to be like, what do you, he hasn't won anything. What are you an idiot? And if you put him like outside the top 15, they're going to do the same

thing because he has the numbers. But I think that's the point that it allows you to actually watch this offense as it's supposed to be. And I, and that's nothing, that's not just against the quarterbacks. It's also against Arthur Smith, who ran this like weird version of like I don't think it was totally separate from the Shanahan McVeigh style of offense but I don't think it like it was kind of the same thing there's a little bit of overlap there it's based right with fullbacks on the field a lot of tight ends it's like the Greg Roman interpretation of the Shanahan offense which like

it's hard to watch and you're not going to get the most out of Drake May like that you're not going to get the most out of Bejohn Robinson like that you're not going to get the most out of Kyle Pitts especially like that so I think at the very least we're going to see the best of those players. And I agree that it's not going to raise their floor to like our Super Bowl contendership. But this makes them the clear favorite in that division. And like that's, that's worth paying $180 million worth. Yeah, they're the clear favorite right now on Fandle minus 115 to win the NFC South. This time last year, they were plus 200 second behind these Saints. So they haven't like improved to the point where they are the clear favorite to win the division. I think that's

nice and fine. And winning the NFC South, I think shouldn't get you anything more than what will probably be a first round exit in the playoffs and maybe a golden sticker. But I think the bigger thing for me and I know so...

The bucks won a game last year. And then they don't go around and not in stickers. Some of us, were it not for sticker-based motivation, I like, I would have never learned how to do anything as a child.

So if it can work for me, I'm with you, though. I'm with you, Austin. I'm anti- The good thing for the bucks, too, is that playoff win got them Baker Mayfield got $100 million contract, which is obviously super exciting. Put that in your sticker. And I know Soak has mentioned this on Extra Point Taken.

I think this is my favorite part of the Kirk Cousins edition. And even the Darnel Mooney edition, though, the 2025 cap hit for Darnell Mooney makes him a top 20 paid receiver in the NFL, which I think is pretty vile. But the Kirk Cousins edition, in addition to adding Rondale Moore, Darnall Mooney, you still have Drake London, Kyle Pitts, B. John Robinson. It gives you an opportunity to legitimately evaluate new head coach Rahim Morris and probably more importantly, first year offensive coordinator, Zach Robinson, former PFF guy, shout out.

I've caught a touchdown pass from him in flag football. But Zach coming in is if you give him any Taylor Heineckee version or whatever sticker comes with that guy, you're not going to be able to properly evaluate him as a play caller. And I think that's always, you know, I remind myself of, It's a 3% or sticker on the back of his truck. There's, you know, first year offensive play callers when not given the tools to, I think, like a Kirk Cous, even just like a stable quarterback, fringe, top 12, fringe top 10, whoever it is, you're just going to have that much more opportunity to, one, evaluate the younger players on the roster, not even like raise their floor, right?

Like, who cares about their floor? They're going to win the NFC South, maybe win a playoff game. That's what's going to happen. That's the range of outcomes. But, like, you get to know what Drake London looks like in a, what should be functional offense with a, functional quarterback. You get to know what Kyle Pitts looks like, even though I know there was the controversy over Kyle Pitts giving him the number eight jersey for targets and Kirk Cousins with 18. So who knows if Kyle Pitts is getting targets in this offense? But I don't know. I think that if the

metric to move or the goal this offseason was to try and win a Super Bowl, they didn't move that metric. They didn't get there. If the goal was, we have two new coaches that we need to evaluate and a lot of young talent that we still don't know if it's good or not, that's why we're adding Kirk Cousins, that makes a ton of sense to me. And I'm largely fine with that because I think the teams that have bombed in free agency in recent years

have been the teams that are like make kind of that desperate we're a quarterback away. We're going to go all in to make this one huge move so we can win a Super Bowl. You know, I eat the Broncos two years ago.

You know, I think the Raiders kind of were in that vein a couple years ago. And it hasn't worked. This is not screamed to me of desperation. This has screamed to me of progress and like maturity.

I mean, it's effectively a two-year deal, right? So it doesn't prevent them from elevating a quarterback if an option is available to them in the relatively near future. Second of all, they're not doing that in the AFC West, right? Which was one of the biggest issues. You know, the choice of quarterbacks for the Raiders and the Broncos was a number one, why those things didn't work out. number two, I think was just like, you're, there's too much dip on this chip.

Like, the belief that taking a big swing like this is going to be enough to get past the chiefs and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Just the bar for contention is so high that those moves were not necessarily set up for success. So I think this is in a different, different category. I mean, the other thing is just like, what else? was available, right? Because this wasn't a team that barring a trade-up, a significant trade-up, and it doesn't even necessarily seem like the teams at the top who are going to get the top

quarterbacks are in the trading mood. Wasn't really going to have an opportunity through the draft to get a top prospect. And then you get into a situation where, again, like, the cupboard has just been pretty bare at quarterback for the Falcons for a good bit. And we're talking about this team, you know, probably with a little bit of media member privilege, right? Where we go like, oh, the teams that are interesting are the ones who can win the Super Bowl. If you're a Falcons fan, like an exciting offense that doesn't make you tear your hair out on a down-to-down basis, playoff contention, maybe you win a game in January, go on like a little tiny mini run,

maybe even you don't. And if it's still a fun season, like, cool. pay Kirk Cousins $45 million a year for two years. Like, I'm into it. Let me ask Austin. Austin's a Raiders man. What would you pay to watch a Raiders playoff win? Something you haven't seen,

you've never seen it in high definition in your life. You've only seen it on like a 2, 360P TV. Living in Cincinnati, I paid a lot in volume of tickets for a playoff loss a couple of years ago. So what I'd pay for a win would be quite different. But with Atlanta, I think when you bring up the question of like, what could they do, right? What was their options? I do think that they're first in line for a QB4, right, in this draft class, ahead of the

Broncos, ahead of the Vikings, ahead of the Raiders, other teams that as we go into the draft are probably going to look at either trading up for a quarterback or thinking about top of day two for Michael Pennix or Bo Nix. Would you rather do that and double down on the maybe QB3 if you could trade up for Jane Daniels or Drake May or the QB4 in this draft class with a, you don't know if you, you're still trying to evaluate Rahim Morris as a head coach. You're still going to be trying to evaluate on the fly your office of play caller and Zach Robinson.

Would you rather do that and put all your chips into that and evaluate the coaches that way, evaluate the young players that way with a quarterback that, even if it's Jane Daniels, even if it's Drake May or JJ McCarthy, anyone except maybe Caleb Williams that you're not maybe wholesale confident is going to be someone you're building around. Even Caleb Williams has margin for error

or there's a range of outcomes where it doesn't pan out. I think this is, you know, the more I'm talking about it, the more I'm buying it as well, Lindsay, and that like this is how you evaluate young players and this is also more importantly, how you evaluate coaches, right? Because you brought up the Raiders and you brought up the Broncos and their quarterback decisions. Let's also bring up their coaching decisions, right? Bringing in, you know, Josh McDaniels obviously didn't pan out there as well.

So previously, I'm forgetting his name, he's even fallen off the map for me, the coach who was like there for 10 weeks in Denver. Nathaniel Hackett? Nathaniel Hackett, sorry. How did you forget him? I think that, like, what the Falcons are giving themselves the opportunity to do is not say, are we committing to Kirk Cousins beyond this, you know, like what essentially is a two-year deal with like a team option after that?

Not saying that, they're saying, are we committing to Rahim Morris? Are we committing to Zach Robinson? Are we resigning Drake London? Are we resigning Kyle Pitts? That is what I think this deal does. So I definitely am buying it in that sense. And just to add to that, like, think of Justin Jefferson.

And it's a no-brainer decision for the Vikings right now to give him all the money he wants in the world. And if he had a, if he had Desmond Ritter and Marcus Marriota and his numbers were like, oh, I'm catching 70 balls a year for 1100 yards. and six touchdowns. That's not happening. He's still the same player.

He just is getting different service from his quarterback. So I think that's what Kirk allows you to do to Austin's play. All right. I think we should move on, but I just want to make sure that we don't let this pass by.

Austin. I mean, come on. What's the Zach Robinson scouting report? Like, what's that arm strength like? Is it a nice? Is it a catchable ball? It's a catchable ball. He's got some zip to it.

He's a very humble, humble person. I feel like he's easily the hottest guy in the room, any room he walks into, but he doesn't act like it, which I think is a nice quality in a person. That's my take. That's my take. You seen the guy?

Shake his hand. Shake his hand. Okay, fair, fair, fair, fair. Shot's at Mike Renner. Wow. Gotcha Red contestant. Hottest guy in the PFF offices in most rooms I've seen him in.

I think that the fact that he doesn't carry himself that way is a nice touch. Whereas Mike Renner, maybe a good-looking guy does not carry himself in the way that is as as humble as that problem. is becoming hurtful. So I think maybe we'll move on. But I will say if there's anybody who worked in the PFF offices who has a clip of Austin catching a pass from Zach Robinson, please share it with us because we would also like to critique Austin's form as a receiver.

All right. Well, you know what, Austin, on that note, do you want to just, you want to give us your buy team? This might be dumb. And I know they're expensive. If I'm buying this team, I know it's expensive. Okay, I'm buying at the top of the market here. But it's Kansas City freaking cheese. Okay, and like, I know.

I know I'm not getting a discount. But I say that while I look at Fandall's odds right now, the Chiefs are not the favorite to win the Super Bowl. It's the San Francisco 49ers. For whatever reason it may be. This time last year, they were plus 600 to win the Super Bowl, and they won the Super Bowl. This time, now they're plus 650,

second behind the 49ers to win the Super Bowl. So there is a slight dip there, But, like, honestly, for anyone publishing power rankings going into 2024, he's going to have the Chiefs to top their list, that's what it should be, have the best quarterback in the league. And I think it's awesome to see when you compare them to the Buffalo Bills, which I think is a team we'll talk about later. But, like, how much of their talent they're retaining and how much they're benefiting

from continuing to develop specifically the defense under Steve Spagnolo, I think it's super impressive. And they still have moves to make, right? Legerius Need is still on the tag. There's rumors that he could be traded if they pick up additional capital with the Legerius Neet trade. I know there's some conversation. They have $8 million in cap space right now that that they can make some more moves to potentially even retain Ligerius Need and keep him on that tag. So there's that option as well. If there's any concern with the Chiefs and why maybe you're

steering away from them, Donovan Smith, their left tackle last year, is still a free agent. Whether or not they retina him is, I think TBD, depending on the Legerius Sneed move and maybe some other things. It would be second year, third round year, Juania Morris at left tackle for the Chiefs this upcoming season. I don't think he's had a snap plate in the NFL. That is, is worrisome. But beyond that, there's still a team, in my opinion, that when you factor in the Marquis Brown edition, has gotten better without getting significantly

worse and losing a ton of talent that I think the bills have, I think the Bengals have even lost some talent this offseason. That is exciting. So the fact that I can buy the Chiefs is not even the favorite to win the Super Bowl. I'm going to do that all day long. So how much does the uncertainty around

Sneed worry you, I suppose? if you're going big, if you're buying, you're buying Apple stock at the top of the market, we're already on our, our 10th generation iPhones or whatever, there's this,

this element where you don't know where it's going to turn out. I know that I really like Sneed as a part of that Chief's defense would not be worried about them if they lost him. It's just one player, you know, believe in Spags being able to get the most. out of the talent that they have. That said, you're still talking about someone who is a big part of the run

and is a homegrown player who, it seems like there's at least, I don't know if you put it out a 50% chance or there's a meaningful chance that he could end up playing somewhere else next season. Does that, if we're talking about splitting hairs here, because this is a team that's already at the very top of the market and you're just, you're saying that they can still get better, does losing that core piece potentially factor into this or potentially change this at all? I think that's worrisome, right?

Losing Steve, I think he's one of the best cornerbacks in the league. It's definitely worrisome and what they do and how they replace him, not just with Spagnola, but legitimately who comes in and plays outside cornerback for that team in the speed spot, I think will be interesting in the same way that I'm worried about, you know, the left tackle position, but my opinion is that they're not in a Chargers cap situation,

where they have to shell off, like Mike Williams, Keenan Allen, like legitimately strip down the roster to even be cap positive, they could theoretically turn down any offer for Sneed they want and keep him on the tap. That is well within what they currently have in terms of their cap and stuff. So I don't know.

My opinion is there's a good chance Sneed leaves, but I also think there's a good chance that Sneed stays. And they're in a good position from a leverage perspective to get maximum return on Sneed. And if that ends up being on draft day, a late round one or top of, you know, top of round two type of pick. And I'm not saying they go, you know, corner for corner there. I don't know.

I have confidence in how they're going to handle this need situation, given how they've handled the Chris Jones situation and the Patrick Mahomes restructured. Like I think they're obviously a very smart front office and they'll still make like the plus TV play. The concerns are, again, like you're buying them at the top of the market and like, can they keep doing this? Can they keep getting away with this? And Mahomes is still entering his peak.

I think he's going to benefit from Markey's Brown. I really like that contract for them. Marquis Brown is making $50,000 more than Darius Slate next year. And that's insane to me when you look at teams overpaying for Jerry Judy. I think overpaying for Darnell Moody or Mooney. There's a lot of other receivers that got paid this offseason that I think are clear, clear overpays. And a lot of the Marquis Brown contract is he's been hurt a lot. Can he stay healthy?

And that's why it's incentive laden. But to get him on a one-year commitment who can do what Marquez Valid's Scalding did for this team, but catch the football. the foot is healthy and if he can stay healthy. So I don't know. I think they, their team that found a way to not get worse. They kept Chris Jones. If they do lose the Jerry S.E., it'll be for a pretty significant return.

And they found ways to also get better, adding Markey's Brown for what could have been, if Markey's Brown signed a Jerry Judy contract, people would be like, oh, okay, I see the vision. And like, maybe it's not an overpay. Instead, Judy signed it. And Markey's Brown is on a one-year commitment, essentially a flyer deal, which I think is exactly where the chiefs want to be. Thank you for bringing at the Jerry Judy Joe

really quick because what? Yes, speak for yourself on those. If Markey Brown signed the Jerry Judy deal, we'd all be like, I see the vision.

I don't see a lot of vision in the Jerry Judy deal. I think people would be talking themselves into it. I see like a hallucination in the Jerry Judy deal if that's what we're talking about. With the Jerry Judy deal,

it's like he's playing, he's under contract, you've already traded for him. You're not even like negotiating on the open market. Like you've already traded for him, you have the rights to this upcoming year, and you still pay him. And I know it's like up to $58 million. We don't know what the final numbers are going to be. We haven't seen the

details of this contract yet. And I think it comes with a restructure of his current cap hit that splits it across the next four years. But man, $41 million guaranteed at signing. Say that's just split out over the first two years of this extension. That puts him at $20.5 million A.A.V., which is the 17th or tied for 13th highest paid receiver in the league. And Judy still hasn't had a thousand-yard season still has not lived up to the hype. And you can say you watched all the Amari Cooper highlight film you want. It does not mean you're going to immediately become Jerry Judy.

I'll leave you with this. Steve Smith was right. That whole NFL network thing was right. Steve Smith was on the right side of history. I agree. I think that he's that's where he's at. Money ball, baby. Yeah. Like Jerry Judy's Jerry Judy's a great receiver if you want to run a slant that takes like 10 seconds

to get open. He gets open every time, but it takes 10 seconds to get open. And like I feel like he's part of this new generation of receivers where like the release is everything when you could do like a 15 step release and get a TikTok off of it. Like that's what he is. He's a TikTok rock runner. Stop, stop. He's also a body catcher who can't catch

with his hand. So a good deal, Browns. Good job. Moneyball. But like the cheats, I'm buying the Chiefs too. You can't just say. I'm clearly buying the Chiefs too. The Kansas City Chiefs. Patrick Wilms is for the quarterback. Andy Ray to stay. What are we going to do? Be like, no, that's bad.

Hey. Oh, okay. Football analysis is really hard. You've got to take the easy don't. Go invest in Bitcoin and GameStop and whatever you guys like. I'll just be continuing to build my retirement, buying the stock that I know is going to continue. I apologize for making good investments.

I apologize ahead of it. I'm ahead of it. I'm less concerned about the Sneat thing, how it turns out, whether he's on the team or not. Because we know this offense is not going to be ranked 11th in EPA next year. We know that. And we saw, like what I saw throughout, the playoffs, and I don't mean them winning the Super Bowl.

I mean the resurgence of Kelsey, the emergence of Rashid Rice, and now you add Brown to that, I think we're going to see Pat Mahomes from 2021 with maybe a fringe top 10 defense. They're not going to be sixth again. They might be like 12. And that's enough to run away with this division. And frankly, run away with the conference and get home fielded.

And you feel confident in that, even given that, okay, you know, we're talking about Hollywood Brown, a player with a pretty lengthy injury history. say that pops up. You're talking about a pretty similar situation to the past catching core that they went through the playoffs with. Obviously, that was fine. Kelsey turning it on at the right moment

was a huge part of that. I'm a little wary of that being something you can count on week one all the way through the Super Bowl, though maybe that doesn't matter. Maybe all that has to happen is he has to turn it on at the right time. And if that happens again, then you're fine.

it's certainly within the range of outcomes. I have some degree of skepticism about, you know, the Super Bowl ends, you start looking towards the offseason. It was a pretty common take to go, oh, easy does it for the Chiefs. I mean, all they've got to worry about is upgrading what they've got at receiver. I think they've done that. but the injury question is a big one.

And I don't want to go down this path again. They won the Super Bowl. It was fine. But Kelsey's not getting any younger. Don't do it. And I just am not ruling out the possibility that at some point, we're not saying they're bad. We're not saying that they can't do it.

We're not saying that they can't get it done. But there's just an opening of like, man, they had an opportunity to do a little bit more than this. and it didn't happen. Y'all are frying me. You're frying me for picking the cheese. And here comes your casting down. We got to put it from content here, Austin.

I don't know how the stock market works. I don't know how the stock market works. It's okay. Nobody does. If anyone's taking your opinion, I'm buying the dip off of your opinion. Because here's my thing. I agree that they needed to upgrade the receiving room.

And maybe they have this offseason. I don't know. Sorry, I don't mean to... The number one thing people like about the Markey's Brown deal is the contract. It's that it's cheap. Yeah, yeah, not the player. It's not the player fit. It's not the longevity.

It's like, oh, $7 million with incentives. I'm doing a lot of voices today. I don't really know why. I'll say this. Jobs not finished. We still have a first round pick. Now I'm having to back and defend the Kansas City Chiefs. We still have a first round pick.

We could look at receiver there. If we do move on from Sneed, is that a pick we get in the second round? Is that a opportunity to add receiver? And people forgetting, no one was talking. Everyone's like Pooka-pooka-pooka-pukua, Pooka-uah. No one was talking about Rishie Rice last year until late in the season where that second-round pick out of SMU became the focal point of that offense. Him with another year development in the offense.

We're cooking here. The Chief's I'm going to buy all day long. Okay. And if you guys want to fade him because Travis Kelsey is getting a year older, but the podcast is doubling in revenue, you guys can do that. But I'm not going to. I will do it. Nor did you, since you've been kind of off the grid for a week,

Did you hear the Travis Kelsey news that came out on the last week? Well, no, that he's going to host, are you smarter than a fifth grader? I'm going to keep my takes about that to myself. Okay, moving on. Better than Aaron Rogers off-season activities. I would also much rather Travis Kelsey host that show than Aaron Rogers. All right, Stephen, why don't you give them to buy?

I mean, if you wanted teams with injury concerns, I got a team for you. I'm buying what the New York Jets are selling. And I know that's going to come back to bite me too. Yes. At least I didn't sell on the Chiefs like Nora did. I'm buying the Jets, but I didn't sell the Chiefs. I did not. Do that.

But all right. It's on record. That's canon. But yeah, I don't think I would have picked them before the Mike Williams signing. I really, I really like the Mike Williams signing just because of how he fits with that receiving cord. Now you have. protection for Garrett Wilson. You have a back-shoulder merchant for Aaron Rogers,

if any quarterback outside of Joe Burrow is going to take advantage of that. It's Aaron Rogers. So I think just having those two pillars on the outside brings everything together with that offense. I know there are concerns about the offensive line, but I think they slightly upgrade it in free agency. Even if they spent a little more money than I would have spent on John Simpson, it was like they were trying to build the worst parts of the Ravens offensive line.

I don't know if they watched any of the playoff games with Baltimore, but that's not a, that wasn't the smartest investment. But I think Aaron Rogers, if healthy, Tyrant Smith, if healthy, Mike Williams, if healthy, if they're all there, like this is a Super Bowl team. We talked about the Falcons. If everything works out for the Falcons, and Kirk Cousins is coming back from the same injury. He's around the same age. If everything works out for them, what, they go to the NFC title game and lose to the 49ers.

If everything works out for the Jets, this team could beat anybody in the AFC right now. And we can't forget about how good. that defense is when it's cooking. I'm with Ruiz here. I think there is a little bit of a dip here with the Jets. This time last year, I keep bringing up previous Super Bowl odds, but I do think it's helpful. Last year, there were plus 1,800 to win the Super Bowl going into last year. Obviously, pre-Aren Rogers injury, but I think with a worst receiving core, Alan Lazzard was not Mike Williams. Definitely wasn't Mike Williams going into last year.

And now they're plus 3,000, right? Like a pretty drastic difference in terms of the odds you can buy them as Super Bowl contenders. In terms of their division change, last year, there were plus 200. behind the Buffalo Bills to win the AFC East. Now they're third behind the dolphins and bills a plus 260. So there is a little opportunity there. I think whatever the rich people were buying

to short game stop, that's what I'd be buying on the turf in New York because I do think that's what ultimately could fry this entire team's chances. I'm very concerned about the turf. Yeah. They're signing all these injury pro players.

Yeah, I'm worried a little bit about the turf 100%. And I think that's a big factor in why it's scary to buy them. But I think there's enough built in now that people are fading them. And then you throw in a little distraction from Rogers in the media and people are fading it even more. I'm all over it. I'm all over it.

This is what I'm worried about. There is a chance that all those jets do like a mass ACL tearing at the same time on the MetLife turf in week one. Like a heaven's gate situation. I am concerned about that. But if they stay healthy on paper, this is the best team in the division. The bill's got a little bit worse,

and that's by design just because of their salary cap situation. The dolphins were starting to see, and Tua hasn't even signed his deal yet, and we're starting to see them kind of lose talent. Christian Wilkins obviously leaves. Zavian Howard, although I don't know if he's as good as he once was. He's obviously leaving. They can win this division.

Three new starters along the offensive line, Tyrant Smith, John Simpson, Morgan Moses, all added in free agency. I like the Michael Williams edition. Still have a letter to Tucker there. I also like Tyron. I like Tyron Taylor, too. That's true.

But I'm not banking on Kirk Cousins at least. That's my only qualm here. It's just like relationships, who exactly is driving this train? I don't know if that makes me super excited about it. But from a purely football perspective, I think all of this is very reasonable. I can envision this being a Tampa Bay situation, 20-20-Tamp-Ban. Bay Buccaneers. Like, why not? I think Aaron Rogers is better than Tom Brady, if healthy, if healthy, than Rodgers was at that point in his career coming off those last couple of New

England years. He was looking rough. So I don't know. I'm buying it. I don't hate it. I find it harder and harder to feel like Aaron Rogers is like super bot in on football in general, but. Why do you say that? I haven't been reading the news at all. Why do you say that? What are your sources there. Reason, logic, observation. That's what Rogers is doing. No, look, the last time he was healthy on a football field,

the takeaway from that very first game to when he went down to the end of the season, when I thought that defense in particular showed a lot of fight when they had very little to play for and were in, I think, what would have been a demoralizing situation for a lot of teams. There is a lot to like there. I just, I'm not touching the New York Jets with a 10-foot pole.

I'll be happy for you guys when this works out, but I'm not going there. Lindsay, do you have Jets thoughts? Well, last week on the pod where you were bliss on vacation. I said I was done talking about Aaron Rodgers and I'm going to stick with it. I will table Aaron Rogers talk for the end.

Talking about Aaron Rogers. I don't think that Aaron Rogers is going to make that much possible. Well, the hard, just the hard part is like, I think I can like a lot of, you like a lot of those moves in a vacuum. But he is going to dominate so much about the conversation about that team and also the success of that team. So I would like to table my Aaron Rogers thoughts until like mid-July. Love it. All right. Let's get to the cells.

Oh, no, sorry. I need to go. Would you like to buy anybody? Yeah. So, are you sure? I'll leave the Kansas City Chiefs to the Austin Gales of the world. My buy team is the Washington Commanders.

Oh, my God. And I'll give you two reasons. Spicy. The first thing that I liked about their free agency period thus far is that, you know, you're going to get a young quarterback in there. One of the major things to do is think about what offensive line he's going to be playing behind.

And so they get Tyler Biatish on a pretty reasonable deal, 10 million a year, basically. That's an upgrade from Nick Gates at center. Having a smart, experienced center in particular, when you've got a young guy who's learning protections, just learning to deal with the pace of the NFL game and that speed, I think is a really big deal at a smart move. They also signed Nick Allegretti.

So in general, they're improving the interior of that offensive line. I liked bringing Austin Ackleran. I think he's a good compliment to Brian Robinson. And then on defense, they grabbed a lot of guys who Dan Quinn knows and likes. So Armstrong in particular, you know, that's a partnership that's been really strong. And then they took some flyers, right? So, you know, the Frankie Louvre deal is a little bit more significant. But Bobby Wagner, Jeremy Chin.

Cleland Farrell, like, there's just a lot of, there's some talent here. Let's see what we can get out of this guy. So I liked what they did to improve that defense. And then I liked what they did on the offensive line to set up the situation around the draft pick, presumably at quarterback that they're going to make at the end of April. I feel like I have them as a whole team.

I want to see what they do at quarterback, because there are a lot of reports out there. about who they could be taking, who they're targeting. If it's not Drake May, then I'm selling this team. Yeah, I think it's hard to buy Washington right now without knowing the decision they're going to make a quarterback. Obviously, odds have shifted that Jaden Daniels is now the favorite. The LSU quarterback, now the favorite to go to Washington,

which I think it would be a mistake drafting Daniels over Drake May, but that's scouting opinion over quarterbacks. Who knows where that could go in five years? I think a lot of people had high takes on all that stuff. So that one is a whole piece for me. but the other part, too, is just like, it's hard to buy anything Cliff Kingsbury touches in the NFL. And I think that Dan Quinn is an upgrade over Jack Dalrio,

at least in the conspiracy theories department and who's pushing those. But I think for Cliff Kingsbury, you're going to give him another quarterback, another try at this, right? Where going back to his college days has not had a top 10 or no, top 25th percentile offense. So I'm using percentile because he was in college. college, the only years he's been in the top 25th percentile, in the league he's coached offense, where when he had Patrick Mahomes at quarterback, every other year he's been average

or below average in terms of EPA per play and explosive play rate. And that, to me, is not getting better regardless of who they take at quarterback and even the improvements that they made. So they're a stay away for me. I'm not necessarily selling them. It's hard to sell the commanders. They've already been sold. But I don't know if you could sell them again and get a good price on them. They're not something like worth anything at this point. So they're a hold. I don't know if I'm ready to buy yet because I agree like did they get better they paid a lot right they signed a lot of guys I like Frankie Louvue I like Jeremy Chan I like you know getting getting better on the interior offensive line with the two guys they signed in Allegradian Biotis but like to me

to me still a huge question mark at quarterback and then maybe not a question mark but like a sad emoji face next to the offensive play caller who's going to have to have to like move this quarterback forward so all that stuff is kind of concerning me with Washington and that doesn't even get into the fact that I still hate their rebrand I still hate their jerseys I think commanders is a bad for the name doesn't even even get it's a bad name. So we won't even get into that. I will say, I mean, this is a team that was four and 13 last year. So, you know, Austin, again, like the buy low, sell high dynamic. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe a little bit different. We can't necessarily

be expecting. Austin, Austin's playing to win. He's buying the chiefs. You're buying the commanders. I know what side I'm taking on that. I'm making low risk investments. Okay. I buy the Washington commanders. That could live. literally be a disaster for me. I see disaster. Who's going to improve their, their win-loss record by more next season? I think the Chiefs.

I might take the Chiefs, honestly. I think the Chiefs win more games next year, honestly. Okay. That's the right. Yeah, go ahead. My concern is Cliff Kingsbury with Jaden Daniels. I think Cliff with Drake May could work.

I think he could work because I think Drake May could be good enough. Look, hoping for in this universe. Because Cliff certainly did not protect Kyler Murray. In fact, he was like, guess what Kyler running a lot of read option? And if he does that with Jada Daniels, with the way Jada Daniels approaches the game, which is like noble and like that's what you wanted a quarterback to be tough nose. But now when you weigh 180 pounds and the rest of the guys weigh 300 and run a 4-3 also.

Yeah. No, that's that's the scenario I would certainly be worried about here. I would say the one thing that I would say about Washington is like they were a team that when you kind of headed into free agency, you totally could have seen them just going wild. They had a lot of money to spend and they've been a bad team with a completely new regime. And a lot of times those times that's the team that is handing out like wild deals. That's the team that's paying Calvinently. Like what Tennessee, yeah, what Tennessee, a team that was bad with money to spend new head coach. And they haven't done that.

They haven't gone, like, nuts to try to make these, like, huge, splashy moves to make, you know, this big leap in one year. It does seem like, okay, there's not to say that, like, Ron Rivera wasn't an adult in the room, but it does feel like they're looking at this with kind of a lot longer of a runway and not feeling like we have to completely fix our team in one off season here. they understand that it's going to be about progressively adding to their roster and smartly filling these holes and not being like, cool, we have $100 million to spend. Let's go and spend it all on two or three players in one off season. So I like that about it, although there weren't any individual moves that I was like, oh, yeah, that's great.

I do think Austin Ackler is going to, like, get a bunch of touchdowns there. Probably makes fantasy football stressful for people who own those players. But that's what I'll say about Washington. I agree. It's a long runway. I think they're looking at it as like me looking at getting a six-pack. And they have not gone an ozempic route. They are definitely saying, hey, we're going to a six-pack of what?

A six-pack of ads. They're not going to do any PEDs like Jimmy Garapolo to get there, which is nice. But I also feel like they're like 300 pounds. Yeah, they're looking at a long road to get a six-pack because there's no other way to look at this road. So I don't know. I guess credit were credits, too. didn't like double down on anything, but still, I think they're a bad team and they're going to be bad next year. A lot of room to improve. That's what we like. All right. Let's move on. Let's do, let's let's get to some sellers. Austin.

How about you tell us where you're selling? I think Ruiz is going to be upset with me on this. I'm selling the Jags. I don't like the off season. I don't like the off season. I think they're a team you can sell because it's always going to be priced in that they have a good quarterback. I still think there are people who don't think Trevor Lawrence is good. which is a whole different category. But I think Trevor Lawrence is one of the top-level quarterbacks. I think he's top-10. I think consensus probably not top-10, but I think of ball-knowers he's top-10, which is just kind of dumb for me to even say.

But I do think he's a good quarterback. I'll leave it at that. But what they've done, I mean, this is a team that has had a six-pack within reach for a while. It's just about putting some of these little pieces together and staying committed. How did we get on this six-pack? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. I'm mixing analogies. But I'm selling a stock. We're like 10 minutes away from Austin taking his shirt off. Did Zach Robinson have a six-pack? I can't say on the pod. I can't say on the pod. But no, I think the reason I'm selling them more than anything is, you know,

the decisions they've made it receiver. Like, I'm not there. I do not think this is a deep playoff competitive receiver room. And if we've seen anything over this offseason or even like the last few off seasons, It's the value of not having one good receiver, but two good to great receivers in your room to actually be deep playoff competitive. It's why I think 17 receivers right now, 16 to 17 receivers right now make more than $20 million per year. That's five more than any other position, more than edge, more than defensive tackle. Obviously not more than the quarterback.

It's more than any non-quarterback position. Teams want good ones. It's why Jerry Judy is signing the contract, not to keep throwing mud on that guy. But like, Christian Kirk, Zay Jones, Gabe Davis, Devin, Devin, Doverne, does not do it for me. it does not move the needle. I like Evan Ingram, and I know he's funneled a lot of targets, but not a yak player last year. He was there on a lot of clutch downs,

but still not like this big playmaker that they need. They need explosives. And you can get them out of ETN. Maybe you can get them out of Dave Davis once every six months. But like I don't see the vision in this receiving room competing with teams that are going to be playing in late January early Fab. It's just not there, even as good as Trevor Lawrence is. Do you know who else doesn't see this vision in the receiver room?

The GM of the Jacksonville Jaguars who thought they were, we're going to get Calvin Ridley. And that's what this receiver room was built to be. It was built to be built around Calvin Ridley and it didn't work out. And that's what happens when you plan like that when you're walking like a tight wire, a tightrope. This is the type of stuff that happens. This was like so telegraphed and easy to see even last year when or two years ago when he when Balke started when he brought in Christian Kirk and he was building up this offense for Lawrence. It was like, yes, you guys are taking the right steps, but it's in the wrong direction.

you don't pay Christian Kirk $20 million a year. Like he's one of the receivers you just mentioned that makes all that money. I don't know why you thought I would be mad about this. I'm very mad about this offseason. I just know you're a big Trevor Lawrence guy, and I think we see Trevor Lawrence very similarly, and it's hard to sell a team when that is the kind of quarterback you have. But I have, like, over the last three, four years,

I think the chiefs are an exception with Patrick Holmes, that, like, without a legitimate two-receiver, tandem, even like to three threats, it's very hard to have answers for good defenses, specifically good defensive coordinators that you're going to be going up against in late January. Like, it's very difficult. And I think are the Jacksonville, could the Jacksonville Jaguars compete with Houston to win the division? Absolutely. Could they win a playoff game? Sure. Are they a team that I'm picking over the bills or the chiefs or I mean, there's other AFC teams that are ahead of them in Super Bowl odds that I like? I like the dolphins a little bit more. I like the Jets a little bit more. So,

they've had a window to be Super Bowl competitive, really ever since that upset went over the chargers in the playoffs a couple years ago. And they have like completely and utterly failed to take advantage of that window. And now Trevor Lawrence is going to get this contract and they're going to be in a similar situation to the bills and that, yes, we have a good quarterback,

maybe not even in Josh Allen's tier, and now we have to find a way to build a better receiving room that we have with less money. So it is concerning. Even the bills are like a little bit too charitable of a con. I feel like they're the Chargers. Lawrence and Herbert were the top 10

quarterbacks who got to year four of their rookie contract, which is when you're supposed to be able to really cash in on the savings you've had for the first three years, where you're going into the season thinking they have no chance of winning the Super Bowl. And like, that's an indictment of how this team has been run. How the Chargers have handled the roster building since they found out Justin Herbert was that guy, which guess what? They found out their first year and they only

found out because a needle accidentally went to Tyro Taylor's lung. Since that happened, they have completely mismanaged it to the point where their general manager got fired and I don't think he's in the league. Oh no, just kidding. He's the general manager of the Las Vegas Raiders. You good? You got that all out there, buddy? I'm good. I'm good. Yeah, the Jags, I mean, they just have this real apathy towards like top level talent. It seems like they learned the wrong lesson from getting Trevor and have him be the player that he is, which is just like some teams get an elite quarterback and go, Super Bowl windows open,

let's surround this guy with as much talent and as much top-level talent as we possibly can. The Jags feel like they did that and went, cool, like, mid-level veterans, baby, that's all we need. And it's just, it's, it's tough to watch. It's even, I think it's applicable to what they're doing defensively, right? Like Josh Allen is one of the best draft picks they've had in there in recent memory. and, you know, maybe he plays on the tag. Maybe they do get a deal done,

but it just seems like there's not a lot of, there's not a lot of juice there applied to players who are elite or close to it. It's who are the sort of middlingly productive, you know, guys you've heard of, but the players who become available in free agency for a reason. Right. The players who maybe have produced a lot, you know, the Christian Kirk's, I think the Gabe Davis's of the world sort of fit into this as well, right? Like been a part of good teams, had good production, but also someone whose team is saying, you know, we can live without him. Like, that's okay. We can replace this guy.

For some reason, the Jags just absolutely love those players. And they seem to have more enthusiasm for overpaying for those guys than even in some cases, being proactive and getting their own top players re-signed and extended and part of the long-term future. So I'm totally with you guys on this one. That's a, that's a, that's a disappointing season so far to me. Also, why is Doug Peterson so invested in Press Taylor's career?

This man has already lost one job. Guys, this is like on the way to be a two-hour podcast. I'm going to urge restraint here. All right, okay. We'll leave it at that. I'm just saying, Doug Peterson, the decision to give Press Taylor Offensive Play Calling Duties last year

was an unmitigated disaster And then can we talk a little bit about Going from Urban Meyer, Doug Peterson has given Peterson a little bit too big of wings here I mean, I think you're going from dumpster fire To like you're still a dumpster is not like it's such an improvement I know Doug Peterson One one thing

Making fun of people One last one last press Taylor thing before we move on This is not my joke. Someone else said it, but they didn't say it in public, and I don't think they want to, so I'm going to use it and steal it. Think about how bad you have to be where Zach Taylor is the smart one in your family. Wait, I didn't know they're related. God, this makes me hate them even more. Wait, you didn't know they were related. Taylor's a common last name, and sometimes I like to assume non-nepotism in the NFL, give them a change of pace, you know, give them a... Why? Why would you ever do that? You always assume nepotism in the NFL. Kind of looking to the sky and thinking you could be on that plane.

You know what I mean? Like maybe there's a chance. But no, just kidding. Everyone's related in the NFL. Damn. Brutal. Anyway. Now I'm just like pissed.

Can we move on? Yeah. I'll give you one since it came up. It came up in your Jags take. I'm selling the bills. And look, when they've got Josh Allen, I'm a real Josh Allen believer. I think the bills are going to be okay. They're going to be the contention.

and window is open. I find the narrative around them that like the window is closing. Very perplexing just because I think Josh Allen is one of those players where if he's healthy and if he's performing at anything like a normal level for him relative to most

of the rest of the league, you're in good shape. That said, we're talking about which direction the arrow is pointing in. And I look at this Bill's team right now and I see a team that had a core and that core is old and departing. And they're not showing a lot that they're doing to replace it.

So in releasing Jordan Poyer, Mitch Morse, and Tradavius White, plus having Gabe Davis go to the Jags, Leonard Floyd go to the 49ers, and Micahide, who's a free agent, but seems like he won't be back. That's 5,000 veteran snaps from last season that you got to replace. And then I look at what the bills have gone and done in free agency. far. And it's just, I mean, you know, I like Curtis Samuel as much as the next gal, but like Matt Collins, Nick Morrow, Mitch Trubisky. It's not even that I look at any of those individual moves and go, oh, what a mistake, what an over pet, you know, they're barely spending any money. They don't have a lot. But the big picture of it is just, you lost a lot. And a lot of those guys

are getting a little getting up there and hadn't been producing the way that they'd been producing in the past. So again, it's not that I look at those decisions on an individual basis and say, you know, now wasn't the time to maybe move on from someone like Jordan Poir who's been a huge part of that organization.

But again, best year is probably in the rear view. It's just that collectively, the cover there is starting to seem a little bit bare around Josh Allen and I don't get the sense that they have a super clear plan for what they want to do

to fill in those gaps. So overall, it just makes me feel like they're going from a season in which a lot of the conversation was around how much is Josh Allen being asked to play hero ball

or asking himself to play hero ball and doing too much and then he's going to be going into another season where the roster is not, you know, has taken another step back. And does that play into those concerns even further? So they're myself, even though I do believe that because of the quarterback, they will be relatively okay.

I would say the one. Yeah, I think their window is still open. Go ahead, Sue. Oh, no, I would agree. I think their window is still open, but I do think they're getting further away from the Chiefs. Like the one advantage they had over Kansas City, because it certainly wasn't quarterback because the Chiefs had the best quarterback

back in the world. They had a better roster than the Chiefs going into last year, and that's clearly not the case any longer. So it feels like they've taken massive steps back, even if the steps back are needed steps, like purging the roster of all these old vets, even though they were still contributing, was a necessary step just to keep their salary cap in order. Yeah, well, right. And that's, it's not that they're bad moves, and some of them are necessary moves, it's just that the collective is you're in a little bit of a dip. And that's life

in the NFL for most teams and they're lucky to have a quarterback who can keep them at least relatively afloat. But when you're talking about a team where the name of the game is can you compete with the chiefs, just as you said, it's only getting harder before they find what that next wave

of players is going to be. And if they remain competitive in the way that they have been, it's going to be because they found a new class. They had a great draft class or some other acquisition luck or they decide to just go the Rams route and go all in and go crazy

even though that hasn't been their team philosophy. Some version of that is going to have to happen for them to really be neck and neck at the top of the AFC. Right now I don't see, which one of those it is. But obviously they could change with, you have one amazing draft class

and it fixes a lot, but they're putting themselves in a position where you need that. Yeah. And the frustrating thing, I think if you're the Bills and you're a Bills fan and you've been kind of going

through this era of Buffalo football is kind of all the missed opportunities to win while you had kind of that core of a roster together because of the way that they structure Josh Allen's extension when they did it a couple of years, ago, he wasn't, he didn't really get expensive until right now. And they didn't win anything big. They

never even made a Super Bowl during kind of that period where he wasn't really expensive. All of a sudden, now, though, they're kind of having to to pay that. And it's really hard when you look at a team like the Chiefs where they've been able to kind of evolve in real time and keep building their roster and, you know, be cheap at some places, you know, while adjusting to what they're paying Patrick Holmes and some of their other players. But now of a sudden with the bill, You look at it. Josh Allen. Kurt Cousins money. Exactly. Yeah, they're tied for seven. Although, I'll just look at the structure, but yeah, that Kurt Cousins and Patrick Mahomes are making the same. This year is pretty wild.

But Josh now is making, he's got a $30 million cap hit this year, $60 million cap hit in 2025, $56 million dollar cap hit in 20206. So they're kind of going through these really rough growing pains. without really anything tangible to show for it. And, you know, that's just going to be hard because, you know, Stephen, you wrote about this multiple times last year, you know, really smartly about they were already testing the limits of how much you can ask a quarterback to do. And now he's going to be asked probably to do even more. And they've doubled down on a lot of the coaching situations that we talked about at length last season,

you know, hiring Joe Brady full time, you know, taking the interim tag off of him to be the offensive coordinator, where I don't know if that was the best decision in the first place, right? You know, Sean McDermott, who took over, you know, formally calling the defense again last year, made some other changes to his staff. He's going to have even more ownership of that defense with now more questions about what the personnel looks like. So, you know, there are a really, really interesting time in history. I still had them really high in my, like, first 20, 24 power rankings.

But I'm with you, Nora, that they're a team whose arrow now is pointing down more than it was, I think, when the season ended. They just, they're in with there. It's a classic, you got to hit on a draft class. Yeah. Whether it's later. The 2017 Saints situation where they, yeah. Right, exactly.

It looked like the Saints are going downhill. The 2010 Patriots, like there's all these examples. Yeah. Saying that you're going to draft at an above average, in an above average way over an extended period of time is, is a fallacy. That's not something that historically teams have just really been able to do. That said, there are plenty of examples of teams in similar positions

where if you get lucky and you really nail one, all of a sudden things are okay again and things change. But if that doesn't happen, it's a really scary way to live. And I just think that that's the situation they've put themselves in. All right.

Who else is selling? Steven, you want to go? Yeah, I'm going to sell the Eagles. We talked about this last week, and now I can elaborate on it. I really think that they chase these big names and it makes their off-seasons look better than they are. But when you look at the composition of this roster, like, what is this offense going

to be? They bring in Kellyn Moore, who runs, I would say the antithesis of the offense they've been running, which has been like a spread RPO, almost college-style offense in the past. And now you're bringing Kellynne Moore who's going to run a pro-style offense, multiple tight ends, under center, duo, power, play action, all that stuff. I don't think that fits their quarterback still set, which is always the thing we talk about when we talk about like offensive coordinator and quarterback fit. But I also don't think it fits their offensive line necessarily now

because they were mostly like an inside zone running team where they could do cool stuff with Jason Kelsey because he could pull and you can get outside the tackles and block people on the run. They no longer have that guy. So I wonder what this offensive line is going to be. I wonder if it's going to still be a top offensive line that we could say, oh, the Eagles have this and that's their offensive identity. I'm not sure we saw signs of that slipping last year,

even over the second half, they've gotten worse, obviously, by losing the best player on the offensive line in Kelsey. So I'm concerned about that. And the people that they brought in are Devante Parker, who hasn't been good since 2019, I think.

And then Sequan Barclay, who's a running back with a lot of injury concerns. And we haven't seen, like, we haven't seen Seekwon Barclay the player that we thought we were getting when he entered the draft. We haven't seen him take over like we've seen Christian McCaffrey do.

So in theory, that could work out, but I still need to see it. And then on defense, like adding Devin White, I don't think that's going to solve your linebacker problems. And I don't think bringing in Bryce Huff is going to

necessarily fix your defensive line, whichever. We saw a lot of regression from their defensive line last year. And I get bringing in a guy that gets sacks and racks up sacks. Makes sense. But we've never seen Bryce Huff play on first and second down.

We don't know how he defends the run. He's never had a chance to do it. So they brought in a lot of big names this offseason, which is always risky. but there's like a universe where this doesn't work out and they're even worse than they were last year over the second half. Well, and that's in particular,

that's even awaiting whatever happens with Hassan Redick, who it seems like they're going to lose. All of that makes sense to me. Austin, I know you as a big, howie wheeling and dealing guy, how are you feeling about the Eagles right now? I think you bring up a good point in the defense, just focusing on that side. I do like Bryce Huff.

But where I am concerned is, I think it is underrated a little bit, how much they weren't good last year of the defense. I think they finished 30th and points allowed per drive. Only two worst teams in that were Washington and Arizona, two teams that are picking in the top four this year. They're carried a lot by an offense and we know how much that fell off. where I have hope is the offense still has talent at a lot of the key positions, toward my lot at left tackle. If Lane Johnson is getting a year older, which he is 34 years old, and he's taking a step back, I know he was hurt some of last year.

That is concerning. But I still really like what they have. They're two top receivers in A.J. Brown and Devonte Smith. Sequin Barkley is not as big of an ad as his name is. I agree with that. I don't know if they're a team I'm necessarily selling, just because I still think they're going to go toe-to-to-to-to with the Dallas Cowboys to win the division. I think they can be deep playoff competitive.

I think the real question is, and why I'm holding, is the Kellynne Moore piece of this. Because I was someone who was admittedly lower on the Kellynne Moore signing, or Kellynne Moore going to the Chargers. I didn't think he was going to have the success that a lot of people had. I was low on him when he was in Dallas, and I haven't changed my opinion on him. But, like, if there is any hope,

I do think that the offense at its best is funneling targets to AJ Brown and at the same clip that CD Lamb was getting in Dallas. And I know that Kellan Moore wasn't there for that renaissance. Sonsa Sucidi Lamb last year, but I like to think that more can get the offense with this much talent. A.J. Brown, Tvante Smith, Sequin Barking, Jalen Hertz, even as worse is not a below-average quarterback in this league. I think that the Eagles can still be deep playoff competitive. The other reason maybe to buy, other reason maybe to buy or to sell and why I can maybe

Camp Juergens stepping in for Jason Kelsey is the touch push the same? Is it over? Is the touch push the same? Is Kelsey the real piece? Not the 600-pound squad? can't, can they still do the tush push without Kelsey? We have yet to see it. So you're not selling the Eagles, but you're selling the tush push. I'm selling the tush push. I think I'm selling the tush push. Didn't Jason Kelsey, when they ran the tush push, didn't he scream something like I'm going

to die every time they ran the play? I mean. Is Juergens ready for that? Does he have that? Right. If we're talking about who they need to run this play, I'm going with the guy who's like yelling about his mortality every time it happens. I just have a feeling that.

that guy is sort of integral to the process? It's snap speed. It's pad level. And it's also grit. And it's something that he's going to have to sign up for, obviously. It's cheating with the snap. Yes, yes. Every time.

It's true. Scootching the ball forward. I will push back against one thing, Austin said. At Jalen hurts at his worst. He might be a below average quarterback. I don't know. Watch the film in the last two months. Watch the Bills and 49ers film.

That's Zach Wilson film. Wow. And I'm not exaggerating. All right. Austin, you're at least a you're a hold, hold plus, it sounds like on the Eagles. But who are you selling? I already sold the Jags.

Oh, you sold the Jags. Excuse me. I'm so sorry. Lindsay. Lindsay, I'm denying you a sell opportunity. I'm ready to sell my hometown team, the Denver Broncos, who are, it's been rough. It's, they've, they've hit bottom or seem like they've hit bottom a multiple times here. over the last six or seven years.

But this is as low as I can remember it. And Nora, I know you love nothing more than when I bring in my strongman argument or my strongman polls about what I see at my daughter's school. But I'm going to talk about how low it's gotten here right now because today is Jersey Day and my daughter's school for it's a spirit week. So it's like wear what you want to wear. I did not see a single Broncos jersey at an number. elementary school, five miles away from the Broncos practice. It's rough. It's not to say that

there weren't kids wearing it. And when I go to pick up later, maybe I will see a couple here and there. But, awesome, this is something you brought up on the pod last week about like, whose jersey would you buy? There is not a single player on the Broncos right now who I would invest a hundred maybe $50 to buy my child a jersey. Patrick Sutan, awesome player. But given the way that this franchise has handled star players for a number of years, why would you invest in, you know, is this a guy who's going to be here long term? Probably not.

And, you know, I think, you know, when you look at free agency, where teams are at now relative to where they were at the end of the season, we knew that Russell Wilson was going to be gone, right? We knew that that was going to happen. That was clear since right around Christmas when they benched him. I had them 28th in the power rankings, my power rankings ballot back in February coming out of the Super Bowl. I would probably put them like 31 or 32 right now. I would have them kind of in the mix with the teams that are going to be at the very bottom of the league next year,

potentially picking number one overall, just in terms of roster, overall talent and certainly quarterback. They're in a very bad situation right now when it comes to quarterback. when you look at who is on their roster right now. There have been 19 quarterbacks who have signed a free agent deal since free agency began. And that includes some guys who re-signed with their old teams. That includes a lot of backups on one-year deals, you know, like the John Wolfords and like that type of guy. The Broncos have not signed anybody.

They're looking right now going into free, or they're going into the season with Jared Stedham and quarterback from the draft to be named later. but they're not in a good spot in the draft either. They're behind a lot of teams who also need a quarterback. The Vikings moving up, that trade that they pulled off last week is putting them in a much better situation to draft J.J. McCarthy, who has kind of been perceived to be the Broncos choice, the Sean Payton's preferred quarterback throughout this process. There's been a lot of smoke there.

They're now not in position to draft him. So are they a team that now is going to draft Bo Nix? 12, you know, really high, you know, is that where they're going to wind up? Is this going to be, it's just they're in a really bad, like, this is as low as it can get in terms of like quality of roster, excitement around the team, the buzz about the team, you know, sorry, I lost which matter, I lost 18 browsers up here if somebody wanted stuff. Can you cut me here later?

But Mike Clay from ESPN did his positional rankings, his first positional rankings of the year, his unit grades. And the Broncos are very close to the bottom in just about every group. I think the only unit that's even slightly above average is their offensive line. But there it's just this is a really, really bad team. And look, they were not in position that they could go out and spend a lot of money. Last year they spent, I think they were the highest spending team in free agency last year. They handed out a lot of money to guys like Mike McClintchy and Ben Powers, guys who have already had to be restructured now to kind of make up for some of the losses taking on that massive hit for Russell Wilson. But if I'm looking at teams that are like stock down trending in the wrong direction without really a clear path forward, the Broncos are number one on that list of a team that doesn't even have a path out towards respectability again.

Got to get Lena that's under the horse jersey. Feels like the right move. That's about it. I mean, he's probably, he's probably by number one on my Broncos roster right now. I mean, Thunder the horse. A barren browning jersey. Nobody want, no kids are interested in that.

Watch the film. Watch the film kids. It's particularly like, Sean Payton doesn't exactly give off like a kid-friendly vibe. You don't say. I mean, no, no, no, no, no argument there for me. Anyone buying Bronco stock?

No, I'm not. It feels like 2016, like an extension of 2016 after the pay, after Payton Manney retired, they haven't found a quarterback since. And I don't think Bo Nix is the answer to the problems, unfortunately. Yeah, we're in agreement there. All right. Let's go to the holds because these are interesting. And maybe I'll kick us off just because it's maybe a little bit of an extension of what

we were just talking about. I went with the Vikings. And it has to do with that draft positioning and what's going to happen with the quarterbacks outside of the top. Top guys are who once upon a time felt like the top guys because I think now we're getting into the part of draft lead up season when it's like,

are 10 quarterbacks going to go in the first round? And with Minnesota, my feeling is, in general, I like what they've done. You know, whether they take a step back at quarterback initially without Kurt Cousins, I think they got, they were able to get value for him. And in general, in their other free agency moves, I think they brought in, in particular pieces for Brian Flores' defense, John Granard, I love as an up-and-coming player for them.

You know, you're replacing Daniel Hunter, who's a little bit more proven, but you're doing it by getting younger. 12 and a half sacks, 22 quarterback hits last year. So I think the potential for that move to work out is pretty high. I love Van Ginkle and Flores' scheme. I think he fit really well when they were together in Miami and fits really well in that sort of blitz-heavy boom or bust style.

And then poaching Aaron Jones for a year and 6 million is nice. I think that's nice. after you move on from Madison. The only catch here and why, you know, this would be a buy for me, were it not for the fact that I just like, this team is definitely going to overdraft J.J. McCarthy. They've got picks 11 and 23. There is so much buzz, not only that they seem to, you know,

he seems to be the type of quarterback that they would be interested in. They seem to really like him. In addition, it seems like they'd probably have to trade up to do it. And having that extra capital from the Cousin's deal, you do have the ammo to make a move like that. And I just, it's nothing in particular against J.J. McCarthy. It's just what they're, what they'd have to give up. It's going to be too much. And it's just going to make me feel like, like all of the positive moves became sort of a bummer. And maybe, maybe something like that ends up working out okay.

You know, I like that offense. I like what O'Connell can do in terms of getting the most out of a quarterback. And he seems to really like a sort of a McCarthy style quarterback. But I just, I really like a lot of the free agency decisions. But I just can't, I can't say it with conviction when I feel like they're going to do something that's going to really upset me in the draft. I think it's a smart hole, right? They made the trade with the Houston, Texans.

to get an extra first rounder in this class. They have number 11 and number 23. I think you're not going to see them move that number 23 overall pick if they move it until draft day because they want to see is it Jane Daniels going to and then Drake May going three or the Patriots opening the training down and giving up an opportunity at May if that happens or say Jane Daniels goes to three is that opportunity. I think they're going to wait to see how the quarterback board falls. Part of me wants to believe, and this is a reason to hold and believe in hope, is that if it

If it does go how betting projections currently see it as Bears, Caleb Williams, Washington commanders, Jaden Daniels, and the New England Patriots go Drake May out of UNC, they don't. They are already ahead of these other teams. The Denver Broncos, Las Vegas Raiders, in terms of sitting there and staying at 11 and taking J.J. McCarthy, which obviously if you stay there, you can see the Raiders move up. You can see Denver look to move up. But to me, trading future draft capital and mortgaging two. plus first round picks on JJ McCarthy is not worth the bet in a vacuum. And I honestly say this, which I might be selling myself after this, I'd rather see the bet on Sam Darnold this year than J.J. McCarthy, if you're telling me the cost is two first round picks. Like they brought in Sam Darnold.

I'm not saying he's the future of the league, like everyone's been saying maybe for the last five years. But if you're telling me I had a choice between J.J. McCarthy, which is going to cost me the number 11 overall pick, number 23 overall pick, and some change, maybe an additional second, a future third, whatever. going from 11 to wherever they have to go to, four or five, depending on who they trade up with, it's going to cost a decent deal.

If you're telling me those are my choices, I'd rather see Sam Darnold this year and let someone else do the experiment on J.J. McCarthy. I mean, that's kind of where I stand with them. Yeah, I'm in the same boat. If this ends up being a McCarthy thing, like this is a very good young roster, especially on offense.

And if they, I just think giving up that draft capital is a mistake because they can continue to add to this roster and then just let the quarterback fall into place. I don't think you have to go out and force a quarterback move when it's not one of these generational prospects. Exactly with who your play caller is and who your offensive designer is and what you're looking for at quarterback. Like when you hear the things that they say about, you know,

an accurate quarterback, somebody who gets the ball out on time, the things that they're looking for that make you think, oh, God, this team loves J.J. McCarthy. It's not the stuff that it's not the, the rare qualities. It's it's traits that you can find. And you don't have to find at the cost of two first round picks. Exactly.

So they stay put and take him at 11. Yeah, that's fine. I find myself talking myself into it. I think that morging future capital and then essentially putting more chips in that pocket, I think is where it's concerning. And like you talk about the traits with McCarthy. I think the, I think the arm talent is a little bit overrated in the same way that Zach Wilson's

talent was overrated. And I also think his weight at the combine is a little juice. I wouldn't be surprised if he had some weights in his pockets or something. Like, I don't think he's a very, like, a big frame type of player. I wouldn't be surprised if he was cheating. I wouldn't be surprised. What's his six-pack situation? Show me with a shirt off and then I'll have some conversation.

All right. Then we can actually figure it out. Yeah, if 11 in my heart of hearts, even 11 to me is, is you're over-drafting JJ McCarthy with the 11th overall pick. But I can live with it. Like, sometimes that's just, that's just how it goes. I just don't think you're going to be able to do it. Like, right now.

I mean, and maybe, look, I guess this time last year, maybe we were having similar conversations about like Will Levis and things change and people get things wrong. And sometimes the markets and the speculation aren't quite right. So we'll see what happens. That's why it's a hold for me, ultimately. And there's a situation. where they trade up and they get Drake

May to fall to them and it's not J.J. McCarthy. Like, that's on the table right now, which if that happens, I would buy all the stock in the world in this team. Yeah, I'm there too. Let me just go on record. I like J.J. and you're actually not going to be able to do that because you've got most of your money tied up in chief stock.

Oh, wait, I'm broke. Damn it. I'll have to sell some chiefs and buy some Vikings. Anyway, go ahead. Who wants to give us another hold? I'll give you guys a hold just because on the quarterback thing already. I'm holding on the Steelers.

I'm not down on the Steelers. I'm not up on the Steelers. But I like the approach at quarterback. I like just bringing in a bunch of quarterbacks. And Russell Wilson, what he was last year, is better than anything the Steelers have had for four years. Two years of Kenny Pickett and the last two years of Ben Roethersberger, which is one of the worst quarterbacks I've ever seen in my life.

Russell Wilson is better than that. There's a chance that Justin Fields is even better than Russell Wilson next year. And if that's the case, I feel like we, kind of underrate the Steelers roster just because of the quarterback situation? Like every year we're like, oh my God, how did Mike Tomlin get them to nine wins this year? Well, the roster is full of, like, players

that are good. Like, they've had good receiving cores. They've had a defensive player of the year candidate for the last five years in Watt. Cameron Haywood is going to make the Hall of Fame as soon as he retires. This is a good, good roster. Mika Fitzpatrick is on this team. Joey Porter Jr. was

really good during his rookie year. If they get anything out of their quarterback position, which they haven't for four years. They could win 10, 11 games. So I'm going to, I'm going to hold on them right now. I want to see how the quarterback situation shakes out. I want to see if this is a true competition. And then like, draft a quarterback, bring a third quarterback,

bring a fourth quarterback. I would just keep bringing in quarterbacks until you find the one that can get you to 11 wins. All quarterback roster. Just keep collecting them. You can't argue that signing Russell Wilson at $1.2 million is the value. I think that was, I like the signing as well. I think just from like a value perspective.

And then getting Justin Fields for a six-round pick that becomes a fourth if he plays 51% of the snaps is another like smart bet. I think that there's still a hold for me because I wouldn't be surprised if, you know, I don't know how the stock market works. But if you held them right now, they're going to be around the same price next year. Like I don't know much is changing with the Pittsburgh Steelers over the course of this year. They're going to win nine games in perpetuity. It's going to be 2057 and Mike Tomlin is still. winning nine games.

We say that because they've had bad quarterbacks though, which hasn't changed, I will admit. It hasn't changed, but there's a chance it changes. They're going to win nine games. It's just going to be more interesting the way that they get there. That's a good way to put it. Can I take a quick poll? So I am of the belief that based on how they looked when they were playing last year,

Justin Fields is currently a more compelling starting quarterback than Russell Wilson. am I who is with me? I'm with you. I'm with you. I agree. Yeah. Okay. I think a lot of quarterback are more compelling than Russell Wilson. Yeah. I think a lot. Like a lot. Same, buddy. I think the ceiling is higher and the floor is lower. And Mike Tomlin is a guy who wants to keep his floor high, which makes why I think he's going to stick with Russ for as long as he can.

In an offense that makes sense, are we positive his floor is lower based on what Russell Wilson looked like the last time that he was playing football? And particularly given that, like, his mobility is only getting worse, the way that that impacts how he, how he sees the game versus what he can execute, the gap, the chasm only widens. I'm just, I'm, I'm, I really like this. Take, Stephen, I think this makes a lot of sense. And I'm totally with you that this in theory should be more than they've had at quarterback in years.

The thing that also holds me back, I guess I would be a hold on, on the Steelers too, is that everything that we're hearing is Russell Wilson has the inside track to be the starter. And it just, it throws me a little out of whack because I go, cool, you brought in two quarterbacks who made sense to bring in, given the cost and the value and them being upgrades on what they've been putting out their quarterback for the last few years. But I think Justin Fields gives them a meaningfully better chance to win games than Russell Wilson. they seem to want Russell Wilson to play.

They seem more interested in life with Russell Wilson's starting quarterback than Justin Field's starting quarterback. And that, I just don't, I don't quite know what to do with that. Yeah. Because coming to that conclusion in itself to me is a red flag. Yeah. My other big question here is about like, where does Arthur Smith and what sort of offense is he going to run for these two quarterbacks

who don't fit exactly what he likes to do? the play action, using the middle of the field, getting the ball out quickly. Like, these are not things that Russell Wilson and Justin Fields do well. So how willing is Arthur Smith going to be to design his scheme to the strengths of his quarterback? Is this going to be an offense or a team that is going to run the ball and play defense? If so, then, you know, that's kind of boring, but that's kind of where Russell Wilson is going to fit in this. Or is Arthur Smith going to kind of open his brain up a little bit? maybe, you know, tap into some more of the Marcus Mariotta

good years in Tennessee and do something, you know, do something maybe a little bit more interesting. I don't know exactly, but I think that's kind of the wild card in all of this is what even is this offense going to look like for these quarterbacks. That's why I would be way more interested in seeing Justin Fields in this offense. Like if it has an option element to it, of course, Russ can do that stuff a little bit, but you're not going to build your running game

around it. With Justin Fields, you should build your running game around it. And I want to see an Arthur Smith run game. with a quarterback like that at the helm. Like, that's why I'm buying, that's why I would consider buying this. And that's why I'm, that's why I'm not, that's why I'm holding me, because I do think that Tomlin is going to prefer, prefer the veteran. He's going to go with the steady hand.

And I think we need to talk about Mike Tomlin being a job security guy. Uh-oh. Can we start that? No, he's not. No, he's not. He's not a job security guy. He kicks field goals when they're down by 30 points just to avoid shutouts. He's not a job security guy.

He's not a job security guy. is building a consistent culture and hasn't had good quarterback playing a long time. I think that... Whose fault is that? These moves... Whose fault is that at quarterback drafting Kenny Pickett? If he was involved in that decision, it's his fault, right? He watched 2020 Ben Rothensberg and decided, let's bring him back for 2021.

Well, you know, that's kind of like, you got to have a farewell tour. You know, I think that's part of it. No, I don't know. I think that with... For Ben? Staying away from saying Mike Tomlin's a job security guy and going into the Russell piece of it, I can't imagine. Russell Wilson had reportedly a six-hour meeting with Arthur Smith and the Steelers

that he came out of that and they're like, yeah, it's going to be a competition with someone he brings in when every team could sign theoretically for a $1.2 million deal. I think he was looking for a place he could start. And that's why I do feel like they lean that way. Whether that's the right decision, I think we're all in agreement that we'd rather see Justin Fields play. I think there's a higher ceiling there. And that if there is a floor difference, it is negligible. It's not like, you know, Russell Wilson's on the fifth floor.

You know, Justin Fields is on the first. first or second or something along those lines. I'm losing analogies here. But if Russell Wilson plays poorly and Mike Tomlin commits to him through week four, through week six, through week eight, Ruiz, let's get back on the mic and we can have that conversation because that would be when it gets wholesale concern. My galaxy brain take on Tomlin is that he's too calm in the face of adversity and therefore never tries to change it when it's self-inflicted. Like he's just like, we do not care. Nothing if it's just the same thing every day. And then it's like, hey man, you could actually get rid of the offensive coordinator

and then you don't have to like overcome this and tell your players to not react. But he's just too steady. Hey, your leg is on fire. Your leg is on fire, Tomlin. You could, you need to do something. He's like, we're fine. We continue.

We rally. He just doesn't put out the fire. And it's like you can actually, you can stop drop and roll. I'm here for that. I know it's not exactly the most unflappable looking motion. but you could do it right now. If fans are complaining about the OC,

they're not complaining about the head coach. That's all I'll say. Wow. Wow. Although my sense is that, at least according to Pittsburgh talk radio, they've been complaining about the head coach, a decent amount.

Yeah, but talk radio is complaining about everything all the time. I mean, the theaters have had three coaches in 100 years. They're probably complaining about Amy Reid right now in Kansas City on talk radio. Ruiz is one negative Tomlin photo. away from being on Pittsburgh Talk Radio, okay? He's going to be fueling the fires. All right, who's up next on the hold? All right, I'll go with my hold.

And that's the Los Angeles Chargers, who I'm just very curious about where this whole thing is going to go. And if they're a team that's in the middle of a tear down, if they're going to find a way to be more competitive this year. And I just really want to know more about what kind of the Jim Harbaugh, Joe Hortiz plan and vision is going to be here because they walked into a really bad situation that Tom Telesco left them in terms of both the roster and their salary cap. And they've had to make some pretty difficult decisions, you know, in terms of guys that they had to let go. They traded

Keenan Allen after he rejected their request to take a pay cut. So he, Keenan Allen is now a bear. They've done some restructures. Austin Echler is gone. Mike Williams is gone. He's a jet now. And, you know, this wasn't a team that had a great, you know, they didn't have a great roster, particularly in defense last year. There were a lot of misses there. They were getting pretty old along their, you know, in their defense with their surpassed, just especially. And I'm just really curious. Like, I debated selling on them, but I think I would rather just wait and see a little bit about exactly what this team is going to look like. And I'm not going to sell a team that has a good quarterback. I just really hope that there is a plan

to not continue to waste years of Justin Herbert's prime. So that's kind of where I'm at. I want to hear our charges enthusiasts. The teachers are sort of a hold in the sense that I want like Justin Herbert needs a hug. Yeah. Someone needs to hold him. Stephen? It's like a hold me kind of. I can't hold them. Everyone already thinks I love them too much. If I hold them, I would never live that down. I'm going to push back against Justin Herbert this offseason. The Chargers were my whole team as well. I think that if you had to lean buy or sell, I'd lean sell just because they're selling themselves.

And obviously moving on from Mike Williams, moving on from Keenan Allen, I think that the offensive and defensive roster just simply isn't good enough to be deep playoff competitive. When every, we talked about this already, every reason they should. should be this year. Like they should have been last year. It should have been the year before that to be like a deep playoff competitive team with a very good quarterback, but the GM previously completely botched it. And I think a lot of what Harbaugh is doing coming in, what Hortiz is coming in, is like, fixing the mess, but also like resetting leadership and resetting culture. You know Harbao's in there making plays on that side of it, on that side of it too. So I do think that this is not a rebuild because they have Justin Herbert, but it's, it's something close to

It's a relaunch. Yeah, yeah, kind of close to what Minnesota was doing when, you know, Kevin O'Connell took over. And like, yeah, they had Kirk. They were trying to figure that out. But like, they need to add pieces. They need to head on some draft picks. That's how they're going to actually move the needle here. The thing that O'Connell didn't have to compete with, however, is, you know, Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.

Like, winning this division is going to be very difficult. I think it's a hold for me as well. I want to see how they look at number five overall. Right. Number five overall, I think it's going to be a prime spot for a team to get a lot of calls about to trade up. And being in the five, being in the top five, not needing a quarterback, they could be that team that convinces the Minnesota Vikings, the Denver Broncos, the Las Vegas Raiders, whoever's looking to come up to, you know, sell the farm to go get J.J. McCarthy. And while

they're able to move down and maybe add along the offensive line, add multiple pieces to what is a very barren roster of good, cheap talent. I think it has some talent, but it's all really freaking expensive. Joey Bose is expensive. Caliol Max is expensive. Deroon James is expensive. Rishon Slater, he hasn't signed his big monster. yet, but that's going to be another expensive player. I think they need a lot of cheap, young, good talent, and trading back would be a reason to buy them. I think if they stay at five and they add neighbors or if Marvin Harrison Jr.

is the second receiver off the board, who knows, I think that's fine, but still a team that I don't know if it's going to get there in this year one of the Jim Harbaugh experience. And another reason in the whole, too, you know, I talked about Kellan Moore, not really liking him. I talked about Cliff Kingsbury, not really liking him. I don't know about Greg Roman. I'm interested to see what Greg Roman is going to do with Justin Herbert as well. That's another part of an unknown with the Chargers, too. You have strong takes on Kellyn Moore,

but you don't have a strong take on Greg Roman. I know about Greg. We know what Greg Roman is. What do you mean? We know exactly what he is. I think Greg Roman with Jim Harbaugh is different, though. He gets different stuff out of people. I feel like it's the best years.

Why Greg Roman's still in the league is because of Jim Harman. Yeah, because they had like a loaded roster and they had Navar Bowman and whatever. But I think there's a smart hold. And I agree with Austin. Like, I want to see what they do in the draft. They come away from this draft with a billion draft picks and they kind of, you know,

work towards next offseason, being the off season where they take the next step. Like, this is year zero for them. And I would actually lean closer to buy just because they did the opposite of what the Saints did when they transitioned from Payton to Dennis Allen. They could have done the same thing. Like you referenced with Minnesota,

they could have done a slow churn of the roster. Instead, the Saints doubled down and they're still doing that thing that they've always done with restructuring contracts. But they got off the ship. And I think that was the first step was getting off the ship because it's very easy. You look at one bleacher report, who's going to stop this lineup with the Chargers with their roster last year? And you're like, oh, this is a good roster.

But no, there was a lot of rot underneath there. And there was a lot of rot with those players. Like Keenan Allen was the best of those players. Mike Williams hasn't been on the field. Joey Bosa hasn't been on the field. Cleo Mac was a good player. Got a lot of sacks last year, but isn't the player he once was. Derwin James quietly took a major step back last year.

So I think purging this roster of all those players, even though it's going to make them worse, and it makes you feel worse for Justin Herbert, I do feel like that was a necessary first step. So I'm kind of buying them almost. But I do think you want to hold and see what they do in the draft. All right. You want to hold anybody, Nora? Did I not give my hold? No, I did, the Vikings.

Oh, the Vikings, sorry. I just want to see if you want to be a big spoon. I'm staying out on that. but we know who Austin is holding. That has been clear. And I was lying early. I would very much like to hold Justin Herbert. I'd be his big spin too.

All right. Some good market predicting going on team. I'll run through everything that we settled on before we end the pod. So Austin, you were buying, famously buying the Kansas City Chiefs. You are selling. move. You're selling the jeez. Absolutely.

Selling the Jags and holding the chargers. Stephen, you are buying the New York Jets. That's right. Selling Eagle's stock and holding the Steelers waiting to see what that quarterback hierarchy and offensive fit looks like. Lindsay, you're buying the Falcons and Kirk Cousins. Selling the Denver Broncos, betting that they have not. actually hit rock bottom yet.

And also holding the chargers. I am buying the Washington commanders, selling the bills, holding the Vikings based on some worries about them potentially moving up

in the draft and seeing what they do there. Good stuff, guys. It's fun to talk about which teams have helped themselves and hurt themselves and the stuff that we're still waiting to see on. I feel like I've learned less about stocks. I know less now.

I think that's how it's supposed to work. I think that's what happens when you actually play the stock market. Learned a lot about Zach Robinson. So that was good. Austin, you learned something about Press Taylor. True, true. A damning fact. And we learned a lot about Austin's abs.

Yeah. So it's been a good pod. This is Ben Dual Threat on the Ringer NFL show feed. I'm Nora Princeati. The dream team is Stephen Ruiz, Austin, Gail, Lindsay Jones. We will be back next week. In the meantime, Ben and Sheel will have you covered on extra point taken. That'll be up on Friday.

Thank you, as always, to Stefan Anderson for producing this episode. Thank you to Kiara Givens and Eduardo Ocampo for their work on socials. And thank you to Connor Nevins and Arjuna RanguPaul for their additional production supervision. Must be 21 plus and present in select states. Fandle is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with Kansas Star Casino LLC. Gambling problem. Call 1-800 gambler or visit fandle.com slash RG in Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and Vermont. Call 100 Next Step or text next step to 533442 in Arizona, 1-888-78-9-77-7-7-7 or visit ccpg.

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