The Ringer NFL Show - Instant Reaction to the Davante Adams Trade

Episode Date: March 18, 2022

Kevin and Kaelen give their instant reactions to news that the Packers have traded Davante Adams to the Raiders. They start by discussing what it means for the Packers offense and their standing in the NFC (6:19). Then they get into how the trade affects the Raiders in the wild AFC West (16:30). Hosts: Kevin Clark and Kaelen Jones Production: Carlos Chiriboga Additional Production Supervision: Arjuna Ramgopal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For as long as I've known the NBA, it's been a Stars League. But even among the Stars, there's an exclusive club. Russell and Dr. Jay, Jordan, Kobe. They're all part of a select group that paved the way for the NBA superstar of today. And some even shared secrets with each other along the way. From Spotify and the Ringer Podcast Network, I'm Jackie McMullen. And this is the Icons Club. It is the RINER NFL show, part of the Ringers.

podcast network, yet another emergency pod. But this time, Kaelin Jones joins me. Hello, Kailen. What's up, Kevin? How are you doing? I'm looking at NFL news and I'm buried under it because what's going on. Does the NFL now have a better offseason than the NBA? Because that was always the thing was the NBA off season is better than the regular season of the

NBA. That's objectively true. The NFL has a good regular season, but now they have a good off season. Yeah. No, that's the thing, like the wheeling and dealing aspect. And I feel like it's always been harder for NFL teams to do it because, one, there's 20 million players on your roster. So not as much movement. But you know, you also have the myth of the salary cap, how draft picks are prize, one position being a premium spot. I mean, like, there's a lot of factors into that. But I feel like these new, I don't know whether it's new age GMs or what, but we're getting a lot more movement. It's new age GMs plus the rising salary. salary cap plus players who want to move in some cases. There's a million reasons. It's almost a separate podcast. I will say after this offseason,

my new thing is the salary cap should be ignored. If you're not in cap hell, you're a weak GM. If you're not spending so recklessly that every time you make a move, your fan base and the media is not like, how are they affording this, then you're not worthy of a GM job. Yeah, the Saints were like what?

Was it 50 million over to cap? and now they're like 30 under or something, something insane. They came up with like, I saw a tweet. You can just restructure. You can just restructure. $100 million in the span of like two or three days,

which doesn't make any sense at all. The PFF graphic, where it was like every team can get $60 million more by just restructuring like five guys. Like, I don't want to hear about planning for the salary cap ever again. Right. I don't want to hear about cap flexibility ever again.

Just restructure everyone. We had, we had a guy. I was talking to someone five, six years ago. They're talking about Cleveland in the early, early days, the Joe Banner, Michael Lombardi days. And they were saying like, the mistake that they made was that they were like, oh, we're going to corner the market on cap space. And they got the cap space. And they're like, oh, crap. Everybody has cap space under the new CBA because it rises 10 million per year.

Anyway, separate thing. We are getting to one of the biggest moves of this incredible free agency trade period, whatever we want to call it. Blockbuster season, we'll call it that. The Packers have traded. Devante Adams, one of the best players in football, no exaggeration, for a 22 first round pick and a second round pick. The ripple effects of this are monumental. When this first came across your Twitter, Kaylin Jones, you thought what? I thought the Raiders are for real.

You know, like they are very serious about competing in this AFC West. And I know all the jokes over the past few days have been, you know, the Raiders are as talented as they are, they're going to finish four. But my thing is, like, when you look at the roster makeup right now, I mean, they've always signaled that they were going to be all in. I think when Ziegler came in and McDaniel came in, they committed to Derek Carr. He's only got one more year left on this contract. He's 31 years old. Whether you believe in the quarterback cliff, you know, approaching for it or not, I don't think it's coming from anytime soon. He's been playing very efficient football.

He's also been more aggressive than he's ever been in his career. So I think, you know, getting him a familiar player who is, I think the best receiver in football, playing alongside Hunter Renfro and Darren Waller. You know, Brantzscheel was talking about this with a few of us the other day when they signed Cleo Mag. And he pulls aside and was talking about how backside receivers, like one-on-one football is so important.

And now all you have to do is play Devante Adams on one side of the field, draw two or three defenders. Now you have to deal with Hunter Renfro, Darren on the other side. How are you going to match up with that? The Raiders are going to be fun to watch offensively, and they're definitely going to compete in the AFC West. Listen, Derek Carr, you can do better, but you can do a hell of a lot worse.

You can do a hell of a lot worse. And you can win that. You can win the 2022 AFC West with Derek Carr in that roster. That's not, I mean, I'm viewing it now. I was on a show earlier today and I was talking about this. And I'm viewing it now like the SEC West where that division, the talent is so ridiculous. The barrier for entry is so high that I'm just putting all these guys. in a bag, right?

And I'm just, I'm pulling it out and said, and I'll pull out a slip and guess who's going to win. Obviously, I would put the, the chiefs as kind of a weighted favorite, but it's going to come down to injury luck. It's going to come down to literal luck. I'm talking about a couple of bounces and fumbles in December, and how well your quarterback plays that year.

If Patrick Mahomes has another run like he did last year, where it's four or five games in a row where he looks nothing like Patrick from Holmes, that might cost the chiefs next year. It didn't cost them last year. It might cost the chiefs this year because of how much the talent has been increased over the past couple of weeks. Chandler Jones, we talked about it with the Raiders. I think the Raiders are probably being overaggressive and overpaying for some guys

who at the end of their deal they might regret having. But again, I can't square that with the fact that I no longer think the salary cap exists. I'm a salary cap truther. I've never seen it. Like with the exception of the Cowboys who seem to be the only team right now adhering to the NFL salary cap. Every team can sort of figure this out right now. It's unbelievable.

That's the thing. I feel bad for the Cowboys believing in that because they literally armed the Broncos with Randy Gregory. Nobody in the NFC West believes in salary cap. I want to get in the weeds on the AFC West a little bit later in this podcast. Let's flip it and talk about what it means for the Packers. Devante Adams.

Devante Adams, if you were to guess what percentage of his, of Packers' targets last year, went to Devante Adams. What would you guess? Oh, 32. 32. Oh, you already saw this.

Okay. A full third. A full third of Devante Adams' routes ended in a target last year. That goes without saying that's the highest rate at the NFL. I mean, it's like, it's like a shack. It's like you're playing with Shaq.

And it's just like, all right, let's get the ball in there. Let's let them work. It's unbelievable. And this changes everything. Now, I want to address one thing. which was there was this weird Twitter thing going around like, oh,

Aaron Rogers is not going to like this. You're a moron if you think Aaron Rogers wasn't completely in the loop on this stuff. And by the way, that was reported just a few minutes ago. The Aaron Rogers knew about this. The Devante Adams, the Packers would have paid Devante Adams equal to what the Raiders are giving him, which is about $28 million a year.

I think $141 total is the number I saw. They would have paid him, but he didn't want to be there. So he's going back and he's going back. and he's going back to his old buddy Derek Carr. And when I say, I, the Rogers going to be the loop. After last season, the whole thing was communication. The whole thing was, hey, Brian Goodenkins, let me in on this.

I'm not saying Aaron Rogers likes this. Aaron Rogers did not want Devont Adams to get traded. He probably hates it. But it's Devonty Adams going to his preferred destination. It wasn't a huge compensation package. I think I, it wasn't a huge package. You could have held it up for more, I guess you could say. Absolutely.

I don't know. I mean, I just think that Rogers, this is Rogers. I was joking a couple weeks ago, Dominic Foxworth, and we were joking about how Rogers holding this up was a, it was a one-man stimulus package because he was making sure, okay, this guy's going to get taken care of. He did that last year with Randall Cobb, all that stuff. And Devante Adams is not getting a long-term deal with the Packers,

but he's getting a long-term deal near the West Coast, where he played in college with one of his best friends in Derrick Carr. This is Devante Adams being taken care of. Having said that, this changes everything about the Packers' offense because so much was predicated on Devante Adams being able to win. Bobby Peters, who does some great breakdowns of the Shanahan McVeigh-Lefler offense, had some clips on there on Twitter tonight, who was basically saying, like, they're going to have to go back to pure progressions because so much and kind of spreading it out because of the way Adams opened up so much with just winning one-on-one. That was it. That was so much of their offense.

This is a Matt Lefleur season. Matt LeFleur needs to figure out how to replicate Adam's production without a guy who can win like that. Yeah, and that's the thing you're not going to be able to. I mean, you got Juan Winfrey, Lazard, Randall Cobb.

I don't even know if they have MVS coming back. So, I mean, it's impossible to get that. Like you said, 30% of the Packers' target share was going to Devonthe Adam based on his ability to win at the line of scrimmage. I mean, if you're the Packers, maybe for the first time in Roger's career, they go and draft the receiver in the first round. I mean, that's probably the only right side that I can come up with here. They have to sign.

I'm not saying it's going to be anywhere close. They've got to go and do a full court press for OBJ or even Julio Jones, who I don't, you know, Julio was what he was last year. But if you can get him on a cheap deal, just try and take a flyer on. I wouldn't overpay for Julio Jones. I wouldn't over pay for O'Dell Beckham. But I would feel more comfortable with a guy like that on the roster. And then obviously, as you said, I would take a first round receiver.

Yeah, that's the thing. They don't have anyone that can win really consistently on the outside right now. And even going back to that trade compensation, man, like a first and a second in this year, when you consider that Jamal Adams just a few years ago, went for two first, third, and the starting safety, even washed Julio Jones, sorry, went from the, you know, from the Falcons and Titans, he got a second and the fourth. So I feel like the Packers could have gotten more. I get why they made the move at the same time.

Just considering how important he was to that offense, man. It's brutal because now you're really going to, especially now, you know, Al and Robbins is at the board. Like a bunch of these great receivers from free agency are already gone. And even the middle tier ones like Christian Kirk is already off the board. You know, like I just don't know how they supplement that and replace the Adam's production within that offense. The plan will have to be hitting on a first round receiver like we've seen over the past

couple of years, a Justin Jefferson type. These guys are more available deeper in the draft than they've ever been, quite frankly, even for reasons that we've outlined. But then if you can get a cheap, cheap, cheap, like bottom of the salary cap, Julio Jones, yes, a little bit higher than that for O'Dell Beckham. I'm feeling good about that. All right. So it's Alan Lazard season right now.

Like that's what we're looking at. Does this change your, um, there's, by the way, like there's an Alnazar fact that I've always loved. I heard it on a preseason game years ago. I was sitting in Wisconsin watching the game during a preseason game. It was a local broadcast. And he had like six pick sixes in one game or was maybe three in one quarter. He just kept, he just, it was in, I got to look it up.

I was in high school. Yeah. It certainly wasn't in college of the NFL. I think he went to Iowa State. But he had this game where he did. kept pick-sixing it until his team was like, sit on the bench from now on. Like, this is getting ridiculous.

Anyway, I don't want to get on Al-Nazar tangent. This changes how you view about the NFC and the Packers place in and how. That's a good question. And it changes everything because, again, I was assuming the offense was going to maintain its efficiency because they were going to be able to bring everybody back, you know? Right.

And they haven't been able to do that. Obviously, like the hole that they already had at right tackle. I mean, Robert Tunyon is he coming back? Now that you're missing, the guy who was catching or at least getting, you know, the ball thrown at him 30% of the time, I mean, how does that change everything about your offense for as great as Aaron Rogers has been, obviously back-to-back MVP seasons, deserving of it and played out a high level, you know, consistently over the past the years.

Without your number one receiver, without the best receiver in football, I don't know if that production is going to stay the same. And that being said, like, when you look at the NFC, I know that Debo Samuel was tweeting about it earlier. Like, it's looking like it's getting a hell of a lot easier for everyone else who's trying to compete there, even in the NOC North. If I'm the Vikings, I'm a lot happier, I'm a lot more confident. And Kirk Cudson suddenly than I was, you know, two days ago.

So I think it makes it a little bit more iffy for the Packers to win to NFC North. I'm not saying, you know, they shouldn't be the favorite. But I think Minnesota is not too far away at this point. It really comes down to how well that Packers defense plays, you know, going in the next season, which they lost his area, Smith. I think he's back on the market because he flipped out of, you know, his deal with Baltimore. But, you know, I don't know, man. It's looking a lot shakier than it was about an hour ago. Okay.

This changes how I feel about the Packers and the Peck and Order dramatically because I thought maybe, and listen, they'd lost some guys, they'd release some guys. There were some. I know we joked about it. There were some guys they couldn't afford to bring back. But they looked to me like at worst, the second most complete team in a conference with not a lot of complete teams. And I thought their path of the Super Bowl was going to be quite not easy, but I was penciling them in for the final four, you know, for conference championship week. And then figure it out from there. We've seen them fall short in the past.

And even though they didn't get there last year. Like, they always feel like a top energy team. I thought that would be the case this year. The bucks are in that mix. The Rams, I think, are still in that mix. And now without Adams, there's so many questions I have what their offense is going to look like. Who's going to step up in the aisle? And it doesn't change how I feel about the Packers' ability to get to the Super Bowl.

I still think it's in play. I wouldn't be surprised if they're there in February. I just think that the gap, as you said, between them and the Vikings, between them and the 49ers between them and the Dallas freaking Cowboys. That gap has shrunk significantly tonight. Yeah, and my thing is, I wasn't too high on the Packers last season like consistently throughout the year.

I thought, you know, again, like I figured one player away like Devonthe Adams, he's, again, best receiver in football, him not being there makes a hell of a lot of a difference. And then the fact that they've lost players, again, like I said, Dary Smith being gone, you know, the the buccaneers are right there the cowboys are right there the rams are right there like i don't think you know they should be even considered the top team in the nfc at this point if that wasn't already clear and i mean what happens at the saints get the sean watson like this is this completely

changes the landscape in the pecking order the nfc and i you know the packers for sure i'm not number one anymore in my opinion at all who's number one for you um i'd say to rams i mean they're running everything back. They're running everything back. And we've seen a proven way for them to get to the Super Bowl. And on top of that, even though they don't have Von Miller and lost them in free agency, we've seen less need, you know, whether it's due to draft or drew free agency, be able to acquire impact players. And I trust Sean McVeigh. He's proven that he's able to do it and consistently do it. Even though the MC West, you know, while the Cardinals falling off, Seahawks aren't the team that they used to be, the Rams should be able to make the playoffs. And if they get there, they look like

the most talented team to me. All right. So guess who does have good pass catchers? The Las Vegas Raiders. So Hunter Renfro is going to eat, is going to eat with Devante Adams opening things up for him. I think that this can be a really good team. I think that Josh Pannels is obviously a very good offensive coach. The jury to me was still out on, I mean, his tenure in Denver was a complete disaster. But they're stacking the deck for them. And I don't think that this is going to, I don't think that they're a nailed on guaranteed playoff team, but I know that it's not going to be a complete and total clown show. Like this roster is so good that they're going to, they're going to win a bunch of games this year. Yeah, no. And that's the thing like last year, you consider all the

chaos and the clown show that was going along, like, around. the Raiders, and they still manage to win games and squeak into the playoffs. And the fact that they were able to add talent, specifically on the opposite side of the football, you know, for Josh McDaniels, while that first tenure in Denver didn't go too well, I think that, you know, even when you consider the type of quarterback that Derek Carr is, I think he's a perfect fit within his system. I think that they're going to be able to be really multiple just based off the offensive skill players that they have. When you look at the two tight endsets that they're going to be able to run with Darren Wall or Foster Moreau, they can be able to be able to run with Darren Wall or Foster Moreau.

they can be able to run the football, you know, potentially, you know, building their opposite line withstanding. That's still the biggest question mark here. But they'll be able to run the football with Josh Jacobs, mixing, Kenyon, Drake, James White, I believe, too. And so that's the thing. Like, when you look at that receiving court, like you said, Hunter Renfro, Darren Waller, Devante Adams.

That's nasty. And I think it's going to be really tough for, you know, the Chargers secondary, for the Bronco secondary. You know, it's not going to be so simple, as it was, you know, maybe two seasons ago when, you know, Derek Carr was throwing the guys outside of Hunter Renfro who I couldn't even name. This feeds on itself in the AFC West because it's funny, Eric Burckhard, who's the agent for Kylo Murray, quote tweeted, rap sheet.

And Rapsheet was talking about how Devante Adams was going to sign there for the long term. And Burkhart, clear shot at the Cardinals say, wait, you're telling me, if you've already paid your quarterback, you can also have highly paid wide receiver, highly paid defensive ends, offensive tackle, tight end, all that stuff. Well paid running backs. He is making fun of the fact that the Cardinals have not committed to Kyler, nor do they have a super team exactly, right? They let guys walk. And so I think if you're in the AFC West now, and oddly enough, I also think that if you're in the NFC West, you should feel the same way.

But guess who doesn't, the team that Eric Burkhard is talking about here. But if you're in the AFC West, this just feeds on itself. And if you're the chiefs right now, you're thinking, what's our next move? If you're the Chargers, you think, what's our next move? And I know that sounds simplistic, but like, if you're in the AFC East right now, you're thinking, like, I don't know, man, I'm good. Like, like, the bills are in the division. Maybe we'll win 10 games. Like, I'm all set.

And I know, you know, this is sort of tongue in cheek, but not really. Like, I just think that there becomes, I'm going to be joke about a Pete Carroll phrase. It becomes a culture of competition where it's like, all right, we got to. to keep going in and in and in. Once one team is all in, you understand the barrier for entry. And that's why this is almost SEC West-esque. Everybody now has a quarterback. Everybody has a line, great athletes, a nasty pass rusher, weapons all over the place.

This is, I don't remember a deeper, more compelling division. Yeah, it's the Wild West. And, you know, what's crazy is I think the NFC West was similarly compelling. but the aggressiveness of the trades and the aggressiveness of, you know, the free agency signings, everything that's happened, you know, like when you think about the Rams, for example, you know, we talk about all their crazy moves, but they came about organic, like some of those star players came about organically, like Jared Goff when he went to Super Bowl, Aaron Donald, all that, like pretty organic.

You know, Seattle Seahawks, very organic team. The 49ers very organically came about. And the Cardinals have always been, you know, kind of spinning their tires, signing old people to contracts that they probably shouldn't be. But that being said, yeah, like the AFC West, like you said, it's going to create a culture of competition. But I think in the Raiders, specifically, like I mentioned earlier, like when you look at Derek Carr and where he's at in his career,

I know that again, like the jokes are that the Raiders, you know, they're just trying, they're being over-aggressive just to finish fourth. But at this stage, like, I think this kind of gives, he's got one year left on this contract, right? And so I'm sure that the Raiders are probably going to find a way to either extend them or this is a year for evaluation and they're able to move on going in the next year. And suddenly you have a strong roster foundationally to supplement with a starting quarterback of whatever caliber you want to add. So I think this is a good move long term, even if it is all for not.

It's not the, you know, when you look at the other teams within the conference, I think that there's a really good chance that there's a, you know, we get three playoff teams out of the AFC West and potentially fourth, considering there's that extra playoff spot now. I just don't understand, like, the jokes, oh, they're gonna be overaggressive just to finish fourth and all that stuff. What are the Raiders supposed to do?

They're just supposed to look at Patrick Mahomes and be like, well, it's quitting time. Time to slide down the dinosaur. We're good for 10 more years. Like, no, I mean, you have to be overaggressive because that's the only way to climb that mountain. It's really, really easy. And I was easy calculus.

It's not easy to do. It's an easy thought process. What do we do? We just sell out and get really, really good players and just hope for the best, hire a good head coach, hope there's a culture that gets built there. I mean, Bradstville are going to make this point tonight, but this is the complete opposite of what McDaniels did the first time when he was a head coach. He traded Jay Cutler.

He tried to get Matt Castle, kind of a forgotten chapter, traded Jay Cutler for a bunch of picks. eventually had the Tebow era there. They're not going to try that. They're going to get proven commodities. They're going to roll with their car. They know what that is. They're going to get to Vante Adams,

surround him with weapons, get guys at Chandler Jones, who McDaniels knows well, obviously from New England. We know what he is as a production guy. This is some known commodities. And I think that there's probably something comforting with McDaniels in that.

Oh, absolutely. There's something comforting even with Derek Carr and Devante Adams, man. Like, it's crazy because, like, Kevin, you know, I'm still, like, still relatively green to being around football teams. But I feel like, especially being around the Rams and the Chargers, they talk so much about not just, you know,

what you're able to do as far as being a football player on the field. Because the baseline for being in the NFL, you're already an elite athlete. It becomes about what you can do as far as, like, the mental aspect, and the emotional aspect. And familiarity, comfort level, that stuff makes me. matters to a lot of smart people who are building football teams. And so it's a small move in my

opinion, like in the sense of, you know, one out of 53. You got Devante Adams with Derek Carr. But that is going to make a significant difference. I think for that offense and for what the Raiders going to be able to do moving forward. If you're a Raider fan, you should be so excited about this because for so long, you know, the calculus was let's draft, you know, try to be overaggressive in the draft, take swings on players that probably won't fit your system, but they're super athletic. And they didn't have a quarterback for the longest time. So my biggest thing with all the Derek car chatter, like, they'll figure it out when they figure it out. But the fact that they are investing in building around him right now is what matters. And it gives them a shot to compete in

the AFC West and compete in the AFC and potentially make the playoffs just like they did a season ago. How is Aaron Rogers feeling right now? I mean, can he call up James Jones? I mean, his buddy from NFL Network, can you get him suit up? They did. They did. Well, he works for, he does a pod for us. So we'd have to sign off on it.

That's right. That's right. Does he do a pod for us. We'd have to sign off on it. Arjuna and I, or I see Arjuna in the Zoom. We're just waiting to get that text. I just looked at a couple of mock drafts. Chris Olave is currently in the pro football focus mocked to Green Bay at 22.

There's a couple of people who've already made the change with the trade. That wouldn't be too bad. You can go out and get a guy who is ready you're ready to play now. I'm trying to look for another wide receiver. George Pickens is at 43 going to the Falcons right now. So he would be he would be in presumably available with that pick. And then you know, obviously Green Bay could always move up. I'm trying to think of look at other wideouts.

Dotson from Penn State is also in the 40s there. So there's going to be some guys who are available. Yeah, there's going to be some guys who are available. comes down to Rogers preference. It comes down to whether or not they want a Devante Adams clone or they want to do something else with the offense. I mean, this is, we haven't really seen Matt Lafleur build an offense without Devante Adams. So who knows what the actual preference is. We've seen Aaron Rogers play without Devante Adams and we know what kind of guys he likes. And mostly, it comes down to trust. It's not necessarily, he'll play with anybody.

When James Jones came on this podcast, he just talked about help. He just wants smart guys who understand what to do and how to improvise and all that stuff. You know, he wants to, he wants to, earning his trust is really, really hard. But I think any type of receiver can do it. And once they can do it and improvise and keep up with them intellectually on the field, as James Jones has talked about in the past, that that's all the matter.

So I'm intrigued to see where they go. But it has to be, has to be a first round wide receiver. They cannot. I am so into the idea of best player available. I defended Brian Gooden coach when they took to her in love. And I said, hey guys, you all say you love best player available

and then someone takes the best player available and they're on their board and you get mad. Right? That's how this works. I'm all for that 99% of the time. Okay. I'm not saying that they're going to drop a quarterback. But what I am saying is if there's a wide receiver

and he's a ninth on your board and you like some tackles, I'm telling you to throw the best player available construct into the ocean and take the wide receiver. do not play games. Yeah. There's got to be a time in place for everything. The lake.

What's the closest lake? There's a bay. Throw it into the bay. I have never been out there. I have no idea what the geography of Green Bay, Wisconsin, any of that. I don't say. Honestly, dude, I mean, there's some water there, but I don't really see it. Right.

You got to look that one up. I don't really, you got to go up. I go up, what is it, 40? 43 maybe, some like that. And I just, I don't really see the water. I'm not sure I've ever seen the water in Green Bay. I've probably been there 15 times. That's 15 times more than me.

But yeah, like that big said, seriously like it. We'll get you the day this year. We'll do a field trip. That would be fun. Seriously, let's go during the office. When it's not cold. Yeah, it's going to, July. Oh, I don't know if I want to be in Wisconsin.

No, I know. It's the only time it's warm. It's the Andrew Brantline. It's only two seasons in Green Bay, winter and fourth of July. Oh, I've never heard that. Okay, that's good to know. Maybe I don't want to go during football season. Don't go July 5th.

Bring your jacket. It's an interesting spot, though, at 22 for Green Bay. Because like you said, Alave makes a lot of sense. At that point in the draft, he makes a lot of sense, too, in terms of the idea that Rogers wants to play with someone who's smart and savvy, because that's his game. He is a really, really savvy receiver.

I think they really need someone that's going going to be able to win one-on-one backside. That's what I'm saying. They don't have anyone that can do that right now. Maybe Amari Rogers can develop into that. But I mean, I like his upside, but he's not there yet. And, you know, the Packers are built to win right now, especially since you have, how old is Aaron Rogers 37, 38 years old?

Like, they've got to go all in. So like you're saying, they got to be a best player. He'll be 38 years old. Oh, wow. Damn, I was selling him short. He's older than I thought he was. They need to go best, not best player. They need to get a receiver first round and not playoff.

That's wide receiver. Best wide receiver. Don't even wheel in. Don't even wheel in the big board until the second round. Just have a receiver board. I mean, they're all going to be good, Kevin. Like, that's the thing. Like these receivers, as coaches and GMs keep saying, they are nuts.

They somehow keep getting better every single year. anything else today, peak your interest. We're going to do a full pod outside of these moves, some of the Fletcher Cox stuff, all that. We'll get there. Alan Robinson to L.A. is a big deal. Anything, pique your interest? No, I mean, like we just talked about it, man.

Did you know that Tom Brady is back in football? That feels like a year ago. He did? He came back? It feels like a year ago. Maybe 20 years ago. It does feel. I mean, the Russell Wilson trade feels like it happened.

1997. Yeah, yeah, that's right. That's right. After I was born. Is someone waiting to get like a week of the limelight and they're just going to release their news like right at the end of this, hoping that they can get? Because Aaron Rogers got like half a day of shine. Devante Adams will get shine until the DeShon Watson News knocks it out of the headlines.

Jamis. Give me Jameson. James Winston. The Jamis to Indy. I guess the Matt Ryan destination, if the Falcons were the ones, Watson pick. You're right, right. That could be indie. And then it's Baker. Baker has nowhere to go. Oh, wow. Yeah. We didn't even talk about that today. That's the most petty shit ever is Baker Mayfield saying, thanks Cleveland. And then Cleveland deciding you're not allowed to go. That is nuts.

I don't, it's funny, but it's also like they still might trade him in like two weeks. They still might. Right, right. Right. It'd be really funny for them to be like, we're not to trade you and then like, oh, I'm sorry, we got some guy 2% better. You're actually gone. Like, it's, it's really, it's really something else. It's really something else. Um, situation. He will be in Carolina this year or something. That's my prediction. David Tepper says, I need a franchise guy. Someone talks him into it being Baker Mayfield somehow. I don't know. I mean, he courted Deshaun and just got told no after a year. Oh, so not just, not just that. They put a, please come to our franchise Deshaun sign on the lawn for a year.

That would have been fine. Lots of teams have failed in their recruitment of players, okay? Right. But he's going to go to a division rival. That hurts. It's going to go to either New Orleans or Atlanta, and you already have Tom Brady in your division. So you failed in your big recruitment. You're not good at all.

You have no answers. you don't have very many good players. People are saying you're going to throw Christian McCaffrey into a deal for a good player. Is that supposed to help? Is that supposed to entice people? Like, I like Christian McCaffrey as a player, but he's hurt and he's expensive. The two worst things in football. And so now you get the worst possible news here, David Tepper,

which is the franchise quarterback that you've wanted for a year, is not coming. He's going to a team. You're going to play twice a year, and it's going to compete for a playoff spot with. And oh, by the way, Tom Brady's back in. This is a complete. disaster zone in Carolina right now. The NFC has shrunk quite a bit today as far as the distance between the mediocre teams and the Packers.

The Packers are still second best team in the NFC. I think the box are actually my NEC favorite now after this week. Okay. That's my take. I've been sneakily picking the Niners. My gut says the Niners, but I'm still waiting for free agency to close. I think that's my super little big. And like five more huge trades.

that's what I'm saying like there's going to be something get ready because in about two hours somebody else is going to get traded cap well you're on west coast time so you'll be hosting you'll be hosting with someone in Hawaii we're just going to keep moving the time zones all right

Kalen we'll all be back with another pod quite soon don't know when that is women's the Watson decision there will be a pod on this feed if not maybe we'll just do a random pod just to wrap up all the moves worst case scenarios we'll see you next week This has been the Ringer NFL show on the Ringer Podcast Network.

Thank you to Carlos Sherba for his production assistance with additional production supervision by Arjuna Ramqabal.