The Ringer NFL Show - Maxx Crosby Fake Trades, A.J. Brown's Future, and Storylines That Will Define the Offseason!

Episode Date: February 17, 2026

Sheil and The Ringer’s own Diante Lee officially kick off the NFL offseason by talking about and debating the futures for some of the biggest players who are poised to factor heavily into the league's narrative as teams prepare for the combine, the draft, and beyond. (1:31) Maxx Crosby(12:02) A.J. Brown(33:58) Kyler Murray(43:10) George Pickens The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Host: Sheil KapadiaGuest: Diante LeeProducer: Chris SuttonVideo Editor: Stefano SanchezProduction Supervision: Conor Nevins and Arjuna Ramgopowell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Ringer NFL show. I'm your host, Shield Capadia. We are setting the table for the 2026 offseason. Today, we've got big trade targets. Max Crosby, Kyler Murray, A.J. Brown, what would a trade for one of those players look like? Will there be a market? What teams could possibly be interested?

And then George Pickens, maybe the number one potential free agent on the market. Cowboys expected to use the franchise tag. But how will that situation play out? So those are some of the big stories around the NFL that will get resolved. We think we'll get resolved in the weeks and months ahead. How will they get resolved? That's what we're going to talk about today. So we've got my friend from the ringer, Deontay Lee.

Let's take a break. We come back with Deonti. All right, we are back here on the ringer NFL show. This is our official kickoff to the off season. We got storylines that we think are going to dominate the next few months. Deonti, you wrote about this on The Ringer. Everyone can check out Deontes column. I picked some. I said, you know what? I like that. I think it's the biggest one. And so we're going to go kind of with some of the bigger ones that we think we're going to be discussing in the weeks ahead. And I think this might be the biggest story in the offseason, Deontay. And that's, will the Raiders,

finally trade Max Crosby? I've gotten, you know, a lot of great podcast content making up big Max Crosby trades. And Raiders fans say, shut up. He says he doesn't want to go anywhere. Well, now the tune has finally changed, it feels like, where Jay Glazers. He thinks Crosby's played his last game as a Raider. There's other reports as well. Before we get to compensation and other teams involved, and I've got some fake trades for you. Do you think we're at that point where this is actually going to happen this off-season? I think that this is as close as we've been, right?

I think, I'm like you, right? I actually thought that if there was a time to deal and it would have been right after they fired Antonio Pierce. I thought that that was like a really good kind of inflection point. to have said, hey, we know you're a franchise level player. We think you could potentially be on the fringes of being a Hall of Famer, and obviously we would love for you to do so as a raider. But the truth of the matter is that we are probably several years, right?

By the time we are ready to compete at the level that meets what you play at, you are not going to be at this level anymore, right? So I thought that there was maybe a misopportunity there, even if he had expressed, and he had at that time that he wanted to be a raider, He was coming off of our surgery, I think, when he got his extension. So that kind of showed that make good, you know, we believe in you type of move. But I think ultimately you're talking about a guy who's turning 30. This is a team that's not going anywhere right now.

His singular presence is not going to fix what's wrong with the Raiders defensively or overall as a team. And I don't think that you can wait any later if the goal is to try to maximize your return in terms of draft capital. Right. And I think that I said this in the piece that it's basically him and T.J. Watt, who are at the ages that they're at with the amount of usage and snaps that they have played over this court over the last few years. And I think that an honest Steelers fan would tell you that T.J. Watt is not the same player on rundowns that he used to be. That's not a knock on him as a player. This is just the reality that if you want to be on the field all the time as an edge rusher, when you hit the age 30 mark,

chances are you are not going to be the exact same football player that you usually are. And I do think if you're the Raiders, you would rather be out early than out late. it just feels like the time yeah like you said the timeline so match up i mean they're going to draft mendoza we think uh they're starting over with clint cobiac he's like you know really their only great defensive player where if you're like hey we got to build this thing with younger guys reshape the call not that he wouldn't fit the culture it's just he's going to be playing well the next couple years and they're probably not going to be very good until maybe three years from now so it just doesn't match up there so i was looking at these recent trades with defensive players you've got

the Micah Parsons one. And you know why I think, Deonti, that the Raiders are going to trade Crosby is because every insider report that I read, they all have the one line expecting something like the Micah Parsons Hall. And I'm like, hmm, that's interesting, that everyone kind of agrees on that. What the price is, yeah. Yeah, is that coming from the Raiders side that, well, we don't want to trade him, but if we were going to trade him type thing. So Michael Parsons got two first round picks in Kenny Clark. You have that. You have the Quinn and Williams trade before the deadline. He got a first and a second round pick.

He went from the Jets to the Cowboys. And then you had the sauce gardener trade. I know it's a cornerback, but just looking at, you know, big time defensive player trades. He got two firsts and 80 Mitchell went from the Jets to the Colt. So I was looking at this.

Parsons got traded before his age 26 season. And Crosby, like you said, is approaching 30. He's entering his age 29 season. So he's got one more year before he gets to 30. So about three years older than Micah Parsons when he got traded. Now, the contract stuff is tricky here because Crosby is signed through 2029 on a contract that pays him like a top 10 edge rusher, but not like a top three edge rusher where the Packers traded

for Parsons and then you, all right, we pretty much are resetting the market with Michael Parsons. So if Crosby's willing to accept a trade without doing, hey, I want to redo my contract and be paid like Michael Parsons, then it's actually even more appealing for the team that's trading for Max Crosby and maybe the Raiders can get even more. So here's where I landed with it, Deontay. I think the Raiders will ask

for a Parsons-like compensation package, meaning two first-round picks, and I think eventually they will get a Quinn and Williams trade package, which means a first and a second. Do you agree? Disagree? Is that even too high? Where do you think this ends up

if he does get moved? I like the Quinn and Williams trade comp, right, as a baseline. I do think that if you're the Raiders, a smartest thing to do is to say, hey, whatever Michael Parsons just went for, that's what we want back, right? I do think that that is wise from a negotiation, from a positioning type of standpoint.

I do think that what's most realistic is that you look at what Quinn and Williams was able to bring back. You get a first round pick, probably from a contending or near contending team. So you're going to expect that to be 20 or later, right? At least the team that's dealing it away is doing so, with the expectation that, hey, we're bringing in Max Crosby,

we're going to be in the conference championship game, is our hope at the very minimum in the divisional round. And I think if you're Max Crosby, and this is where it gets interesting because of his deal, because the guaranteed money basically runs out after the 2026 season. If you're him, it's not necessarily that you have a no trade clause, but I'm letting teams know.

My agent is going to let teams know, depending on who was interested, who was calling the Raiders, what kind of deal I'm looking for. If I'm not interested in playing for your team after 2026, I'm letting you know, this is a rental. So, hey, negotiate what you want to go bring me in. But I'm going to ask to hit the open market after the fact, right? And I will cause a stink.

I'll sit out of training camp. I'm 30 years old at that point. I've made over $100 million in my career. I can afford to sit back. You know, I'll do the Hassan Redic thing if I have to to be able to get to where I want to get to. But I think that what's most realistic is his agent does put those feelers out and says, hey, we don't have to reset the non-quarterback market the way that my

Parker Parsons did, right? I'm not going to ask for something exorbitant, but we don't have guaranteed money and you're not going to trade Hendricks in us, right? So whoever, whoever trades for us, I need you to convert whatever the 2027 salary is going to be into a signing bonus, kick a couple years onto the back of that contract if you need to make the math work, right? But we need to have some guaranteed cash coming in our direction. So I think that that is probably how this is going to play out. And I think that for a player like Max Crosby, this is not something that's outside of the realm of possibility, right? Like, he might have been sent home towards the end of the year.

This is not a guy who looked like he was slipping or that he couldn't play anymore at the end of 2025. And I still think you can get about to age 32 and probably feel pretty good, at least about the level of run defender, the early down player that he has been, that that will probably be maintained. And then it's just going to be whether or not

he maintains that explosiveness as he gets a little bit older, given how much time he has spent on the football field. And that adjustment that you talk talked about, that can help the team too, because now you can structure it the way where it fits your cap, it fits your timeline. And then, like you said, he gets a chunk of change right away. He gets more guaranteed money. That's something. So if you're, I'm about to give Deontes some fake trades. So don't come at me with a cap this. Every settle down. And you want to get a player like Max Crosby. And if Max Crosby wants out, there are almost, there's almost always a way to make it work

from a financial perspective. And just the snap count thing is worth like harping on for a second. I mean, he's really the only defensive end in the NFL that plays the number of snaps he does, where it's almost interesting where if he goes to a team and they're like, we're going to adjust this a little bit. I mean, who knows? He might be a more impactful player who doesn't wear down. Maybe he's more concerned about, hey, I could get more banged up now as I get older. Like, there are ways around that. So all right, Deonti. I just went through and I'm like, there's a lot of teams that should be interested in Max Crosby. I wrote down Patriots, Bills, Ravens, Bengals, Chargers, Eagles,

commanders, bears, lions, Panthers, Seahawks. But I thought I'm not going to give you a fake trade for all of that. We got a lot of content season to get through here in the weeks ahead. So I narrowed it down to three. Oh, what a beautiful mark of the offseason. Our first, who says no, Deontay. Let's do it. For the 2026 offseason, I've got three trades for you for Max Crosby.

Let's start with the first one. The New England Patriots coming off that Super Bowl. loss, they say, we've got to be able to just have a dominant pass rush. We're going to give you our first this year, 31st overall, and a 2027 second for Max Crosby. We got now Max Crosby, Milton Williams, Christian Barmore. We've got a great pass rush, a great defensive front. We've got Christian Gonzalez in the back end. We are ready to go. What do you think, Deont? Who says no to that deal. I think that that's, it's funny that you're kicking it off at this

because not only do I think this is the most realistic, I think this is the exact kind of trade compensation that gets it done for both teams, honestly. Now, I think if I'm the Raiders, I say, can I get a conditional fourths that could turn into a third if you guys extend them and you're in the divisional rounder further in 2027, right? Like, can I get a little extra kickback on the end of this? And I mean, those are all like, that's the minutia of this trade stuff,

that people like us are really interested in. And if you're a Patriots fan, you're like, look, dude, just do whatever you've got to do to get me a high-level edge rusher, right? But I do think that that's the right framework. I think that's the right team. I think that's the right situation for a team to be seeking out a player like Max Crosby

and a place for Crosby where he can go maximize his impact. Because I do think that if the Patriots want to stay in that top of the AFC conversation, a player like Crosby, I think, is the most aspirational move that they can make. and I think if you're the Patriots, you can say that one and two is all we're going to offer. Otherwise, we'll just go on the market and see if we can go price out the charges on Adafio way. Or we'll go take a shot at a Bradley Chubb who just got released earlier today.

We might try for Jalen Phillips if he's available in Philadelphia doesn't re-sign him. So I think that that is probably the right kind of negotiation, the right terms, the right scenario in terms of a negotiation that actually might land a player like Crosby on a different team. All right, we got a good deal with the first one. Here's the second one. Deontay, we're sending a player to the Raiders. Eagles are sending A.J. Brown, and don't dive too deep into A.J. Brown, because we may have an A.J. Brown segment coming up.

But the Eagles send A.J. Brown and their second round pick, number 54 overall, to the Raiders for Max Crosby. So now the Raiders have an offensive core around Mendoza of A.J. Brown, Brock Bowers, and Ashton Genty. I kind of like that a little bit. They can build offensive line through the draft. They're getting a second round pick here in the deal. And Eagles, you know, they tried to get Micah Parsons last off.

See, they knew that the Cowboys aren't trading them, Michael Parsons, but they said, let's make them a Godfather offer and see. They know that there are only a handful of elite players at this position in the NFL, like Max Crosby, guys who are not in their mid-30s. And they say, you know what? our window is now. Let's be aggressive. We know we're trading AJ Brown anyway. Let's go for it. AJ Brown in a second round pick for Max Crosby. Who says no, Deonte? I think that Philadelphia says no to that, ultimately. I think that the timelines just don't add up in terms of who's getting paid what,

who is set to get paid more. And this might be something I'm thinking more actively about, right, because I do spend a lot of time analyzing where the Eagles are at specifically, right? Hey, both personally and professionally, right? Like that, that is a source of great interest in my life. But knowing what we've heard from Philadelphia, from GM, Howard Roseman, on defensive players that are coming up to get paid. You've got Jalen Carter, who you've got to consider. You've got Quignon Mitchell and Cooper DeGine,

who are probably going to be at the top of their respective positions by the time they sign new deals. You've got an offensive line that you've got to turn around. There's just so much in flux. I don't know if a near-30 edge rusher is exactly the kind of play. they're looking to bring. What will be more interesting, and I'll throw this one back at you,

is what if it's Max Crosby plus maybe a late pick for a Jalen Carter, somebody who is a little bit earlier in his trajectory that might fit the Raiders and their build a little bit more if you're trying to make a move like that for a player like Crosby? That's very interesting because Eagles have to decide, are they going to give Jalen Carter a big-time contract this off-season? Have they seen enough? Do they trust him enough to do that? Or does that make them a little bit nervous?

I would think they would want to hold on to the younger player in Carter, draft and develop. It's a good message to the locker room. You know, you play well. We're going to reward you. That's kind of how they've been under Howie Rosebin for decades. But if there are things happening behind the scenes that they are concerned about, whether it's injuries, whether it's anything else, then maybe that's something you consider. And if you're the Raiders, certainly that's something that would interest you. hey, get younger, a guy who has an all-pro type ceiling. Now, I don't know, Jalen Carter in Vegas, they would have to do their homework there.

Is this the best idea or not? He's been fine since he's got to the NFL, but obviously teams have questions about him coming out of Georgia. But yeah, that is an interesting one, a younger player for Max Crosby. That's another thing the Raiders could consider. All right, the last one I have for you. This team, I feel like, is going to do something because their GMs feeling the heat. Their GMs kind of gotten trashed this off-season. with the way Sean McDermott got fired with the way everyone looked up at their roster and went,

man, how'd they get here? This doesn't seem like a great roster around Josh Allen. So I've got the Buffalo Bills offering their first round pick, number 26, and a 2027 second for Crosby. So it's pretty much the same deal as the Patriots. But you have a better pick this year. Remember, Brandon Bean took that big swing on Von Miller a few years ago, a complete disaster in free agency. He's drafted pass rushers high in the draft, and they've all been like solid

players, but not great players. He took a flyer on Joey Bosa. Like, he's trying to find a pass rusher. He can count on every single offseason. Maybe this is the time he says, let's stop messing around. You can kind of picture Max Crosby in that Bill's uniform, making an impact on a freezing cold, you know, AFC divisional round game. What do you think, Deontay? I think this is another situation where might have to be a player for player type of deal. Like, again, if I'm the Raiders and I'm Clint Kubiak, I'm going to say if we're going to send out Max Crosby to a team like the Bills, who, by sending them this player within the conference,

there's a chance that the Bills might be playing in Super Bowl 61, right? So if we're going to do that, can I get Spencer Brown back to be our right tackle, which was a very sore spot on this offensive line, right? I don't think that any, I don't think there has ever been a time where somebody would say, oh, man, we're really missing Germain and Illuminaur, right, before the Raiders, let them walk. to New York, right? I do think that they probably wish they had something functional

on the right side of that line back, and I think that they need to just retool the interior, even if it's not Spencer Brown, so that might be an Osiris Torrance and a first round pick, right? And maybe we have to just kind of, we configure the trade package there. But again, if I'm the Raiders, I want to try to address some of

this stuff as early in the draft as possible and if I'm not getting an early pick, then I want a guy that is a dependable starter coming back if I'm handing away, Crosby. Yeah, you know, I even looked out I was looking at like a Keon Coleman, but then I'm like, I don't think that's moving. I don't think he can move the needle. I don't think he's got much draft value, but yeah, maybe he's a throw-in or something like that.

All right, that's our first storyline that could define the 20-26 off-season. I do think it's going to happen. Deonté sounds like he thinks it's going to happen. This could be something that really materializes in the next few weeks here, certainly before the start of the draft and the Raiders are smart to ask for a lot. I think there's going to be a lot of bidders. see where you end up and see where Max Crosby ends up landing. Very interesting piece there for the 2026 season.

All right. Let's take a break. We come back. We've got the second storyline that we think will define the offseason. All right. We're back here on the Ringer NFL show. Teased it in the previous segment there, Deontay. Second storyline.

Who's going to trade for A.J. Brown? I believe he's getting traded. I think he's going to seize a smart guy. he's going to say the right things that I'm part of the Eagles leadership and I want to be here because he knows Howie Roseman's not going to give him away if he doesn't get a good offer. So he says, let me just be smart. My representation has talked to Howie Roseman and I'm just going to sit back and wait for it because we're not in August. We're only in February here.

So I think he's going to get traded. He's entering his age 29 season over the last five years, players with more receiving yards than A.J. Brown. Justin Jefferson, Jamar Chase, C.D. Lamb, and Amon Rae, St. Brown. That's it. He's fifth in receiving yards. I don't know if that's...

I can't remember. That might be over the last four seasons, actually. Not the last five seasons. So the compensation I looked for here, Deontay, I was looking at D.K. Metcalfe last off season, entering his age 28 season. So one year younger than A.J. Brown is he got the 52nd overall pick from the Steelers.

So that, to me, is the floor. Because I think AJ Brown's a better player. He's been a more productive player. And maybe most importantly, he doesn't need a new deal. D.K. Matt Kaff needed a new deal. So that brought a little uncertainty, a little mystery to trading for him. AJ Brown signed through 2029. So in my mind, I think the Eagles are going to ask for a first.

I think they would love it first. We'll see if they get one. But I kind of think a pick between like 25 and 50 is what we're looking at. What do you think about the likelihood that AJ Brown gets traded and what type of compensation the Eagles would be looking for? I would say it's more likely than not, but I don't think it's like an 80% likely. Okay.

I'm at like 75%. Yeah, I would say it's probably, I'm aware of like the 6040. I think it's more likely than not. I think that there are still some conditions that need to be met on this, right? I think that we might hear about this over the coming week that, hey, AJ Brown is let the Eagles know

that there is a small cluster of teams that he'd be really interested in playing for. you're going to hear one of those teams say, oh man, Philadelphia is asking for too much, right? I do think that this is one of those things that will ultimately be played out publicly for as quiet as it's been now. I think that we're going to hear a lot about how this is going to play out.

We just haven't reached that stage yet. So maybe my thoughts on the likelihood of this will increase as we hear more about this from Combine to Free Agency time. I do think, though, that there is a very narrow set of teams where this makes sense to acquire a player like AJ Brown. That is not speaking to his quality as a receiver, right? Just as like a raw one player entity,

I think that you could absolutely look at AJ Brown and say, hey, last two seasons, you're still pretty productive for a guy that didn't see the ball a bunch in the best possible situations and a guy that was kind of him and and honing about not seeing the ball a bunch over the last two seasons.

But on the other side of that, you're talking again about a guy who's approaching 30. He has had multiple issues with hamstring, and lower body injuries. That's a guy who plays at a heavier weight than your typical wide receiver because he is a very built kind of stocky guy. I do think there should be some questions

for the receiving team on exactly how long you're going to be getting the version of AJ Brown that could be a all pro or on the fringes of an all pro talent. I think ultimately though, a pick between 25 and 50 is about where I land if for no other reason then the fact that he is signed through 2029 and his base salary. is artificially low because of the way

that Philadelphia has set up his contract. So you're not inheriting, whatever team is inheriting him is not going to be taking on $35 million per year. Yeah, it's a pretty good contract to take off. Justin Jefferson level contract where, oh my gosh, for catching this contract on the upswing, we're going to be paying some of the highest non-quarterback money to this one guy.

It's not necessarily going to be that. So I think if Philadelphia wants to hold kind of staunch on, it's got to be within, you know, that 25 to 50 range as the baseline, I think that that's right. I just think that that means that there's going to be a small, a small group of teams that are going to be really interested in getting that deal done quickly. All right. Here are the teams I wrote down. Deonti. I've got Patriots, Bills, I know, we just talked about it. Listen, I think those teams very well could be active no matter what, yeah. Yeah. Listen, I wanted to come up with other teams and I do have a

sleeper in here, but I just think those are two teams I look at. And I just think those are two teams I look at, I feel like they could make big moves this offseason. I wrote down Ravens, Jaguars, Broncos, Chargers, Chiefs, Raiders, and 49ers. So those are the teams I wrote down. And I pretty much have the same trade for the Patriots and the Bills. And you tell me if either of those makes sense, which is just they're giving up their late first round pick this year for A.J. Brown. And if you're the Patriots, you say it's number 31.

He's played for Mike Rable before. we have a motivated player. He's going to be with a very good quarterback. He's going to just get so many targets in our offense. He's going to be happy. We're going to be happy because you know what? Sometimes you need a wide receiver who can just get you a bucket in the playoffs and he's that kind of player.

So that's the sell for the Patriots. And for the bills, man, I would really be tempted here. I'm curious to hear what you think. But now I feel like he's a real force multiplier for that offense, which is already very good. But now Khalil Shakir, now those tight. ends, that offensive line, Josh Allen, and I'm adding A.J. Brown to that mix. If I'm Brandon Bean, I'm going to get very tempted to say, this might not be the old school, hey, built

through the draft thing, but you know what? We are trying to win right now. We cannot get over the hump. And I am very intrigued by adding this player. It's almost like T.O. to the Eagles with Donovan McNabb back in the day. I can even think he can have that kind of impact. So do you like either of those deals, Deontay, for the Patriots or the Bills? I like them both for different reasons, right? I think that the Patriots as a landing spot is the one that serves AJ Brown the best because that's a guy who's walking in who is undoubtedly going to lead the team in terms of target share, right? There's going to be no question about the hierarchy, about usage, about whether or not he's going to be the focal point in the dropback game, right? I think that

AJ will probably be really happy. He also will be playing for an old head coach who seemed to be very passionate about wanting to keep him around at the time that John Robinson traded him when he was with the Titans, right? So I think that there are a lot of ways in which that makes AJ Brown really happy, and I think a Patriots will be really excited to try to maximize what his body is capable of over the next two to three seasons. With the bills, I think that that's one that serves the team the best. Not that AJ Brown will be upset, but when you think about their setup,

when you think about Joe Brady in the way that he likes to design that offense, it kind of is built for everybody to eat, right? It is built for a Dawson Knox game here and there, right? it is built for a Khalil Shakir game. It is built for James Cook to be a big contributor on the ground. They kind of rotate who the main contributors are on a week-by-week basis based on what they think is necessary to win the football game. Now having AJ Brown to do a supercharged version of what they hope Keon Coleman would be,

maybe that changes the dynamic a little bit because now you would have a ball winner that they haven't had since prime younger Stefan Diggs in Buffalo. Right. But I do think ultimately that that is something that, If you're the bills, you say, hey, if we've got to restructure all these deals anyways with the current contracts that we have on our books to try to manufacture some cap space, there's no shot we're ever going to get a player that could be as impactful tomorrow as trading for an AJ Brown would be, even after all the financial games,

we're going to have to play to manufacture cap space. So I like what Buffalo would offer us in terms of getting back on this podcast after a deal like that happens and we're resetting the hierarchy and the ASC. That one gets me pretty excited, just thinking about it. I think that the Patriots deal is more of people in AJ Brown's camp are going to be texting them saying, hey, this is how you get the raw production to get yourself into the Hall of Faith, right? That's what that conversation would be more of.

But I think that for me, I think the Bill's deal probably tickles my fancy just a little bit more because it would add a really dramatic upgrade to one of the best teams in the AFC and the NFL overall. All right, I've got two more with A.J. Brown for you because I can hear the listener out there say, Patriots and Bill's again, give us something. Come on, talk about some other teams. It's the offseason. I hear you. See? We're podcaster of the people here. So here's one I got for you, Deontay. The Jacksonville Jaguars trade Brian Thomas Jr. for A.J. Brown. Straight up. I don't know. I looked at this and you told me if I'm wrong. I was like,

does either side have to throw in picks there or not? I couldn't really decide because here's the deal. Brian Thomas Jr. is coming off a down year, but I think he would be a nice compliment to Devante Smith. You would get him on a rookie deal for two more seasons, which is really, really valuable for a team like the Eagles that you just talked about. They're trying to decide who are we paying. We got all these defensive players to pay, all that kind of thing. So even if you say, hey, we're downgrading, A.J. Brown to Brian Thomas Jr., you're saying we're getting a younger player, a potentially ascending player, and most importantly, he's on a rookie contract. So you've got that and then the Jaguars, I was just like, man,

AJ Brown, Jacoby Myers, Parker Washington. I mean, Ryan Thomas didn't look like he fit that offense. Last offseason, I think AJ Brown would fit that offense well. I would think Liam Cohen would be pretty excited there. So what do you think about that swap? And if you're one of those teams, would you be like, all right, we are kind of in, but we need a pick? Or are you like, this kind of makes sense?

The funny thing about this trade is like, I think that there are a lot of ways in which these teams make this deal, and they're both generally unhappy at the end of it. Both fan bases are like, what? Yes, I think that a lot of times in pro sports, that is how these trades wind up, both fans bases are like, eh, we could have done without this deal

and probably would have been just fine. But I'm intrigued by it, again, when you start stacking up what those receiving rooms, what those playmaker situations would be like for both teams. I think that a guy like AJ Brown can slot very comfortably into a particular kind of role where you're always just playing outside the numbers because they have a Jacoby Myers in there

to kind of work between the numbers on third downs. You have Britain Strange to work underneath that you can do all of the kind of flexible on and off the ball, tight end stuff with. You have a Parker Washington, who is not the tallest, biggest guy, but it's a pretty good ball winner because as a situation, somebody who's willing to go do

some dirty work for your offense as well and can be dependable, but not somebody you necessarily want to be second or third in Target share on a weekly basis. You slide in a guy like AJ Brown and that makes it really interesting. And then I think if you're Philadelphia, while Brian Thomas Jr. is not a perfect archetype of player, and certainly I would say the inconsistencies we've seen from him in 2025,

definitely give me some pause on exactly what he would look like with Jalen Hertz and the offense has got a bunch of upheaval coming anyhow. But from a timeline and from an upshot perspective, you could 100% sell me on. Brian Thomas Jr. wants to just run deep outside of the, the numbers and catch those lofted balls in the air over the top over the shoulder that is jalen hurts his music 100% in the way yes you know it doesn't infringe upon what you want to do with devonte smith if he is more of a move around piece in this new iteration of philadelphia's offense and i think a guy

like that vertically if you're able to access him vertically it means you're probably hurting less for a guy like dallas goddard who at his best was doing a lot of work um after the catch it means that things might be loosened up a little bit for Sequin Barkley and the rest of this running game. So I do think that you can sell me on what the best version of this can be. I do think ultimately, what I envision of A.J. Brown and a Jags uniform, and maybe this is unfair because the Jax have not been very competitive over my lifetime, is that he's there and he's just been in his 30s kind of catching 70 passes for 980 yards and six touchdowns and kind of pro bowler.

And Brian Thomas Jr. gets those two or three. weeks where he absolutely blows up the cowboys and blows up the commanders and then doesn't do anything in the divisional round when you absolutely need him to. And I think that that will probably be ultimately what the story of a trade like this would be which is why I think maybe it could happen.

Maybe it could happen. Listen to both sides are like, we're kind of unhappy, we're kind of happy. Sometimes that means... Your headache, my headache, you know? Yeah, you got a good trade. Here's the last one I got for you for A.J. Brown. The Chargers, Stiante. Okay. You're talking about English. This one I was like wait, is this the best trade I came up with?

You're talking about language. Man, why would it this one happen? Chargers send a 2027 second that turns into a first if A.J. Brown has 1,100 yards next season. So, Howard Roseman's shopping A.J. Brown. He said, we want a first. Teams are saying, we're not giving you a first.

And then finally he says, all right, listen, a second in 2027. But if he balls out next year, you're giving me a first. And the charges say, hmm, A.J. Brown? Ladd McConkey? We got two good tackles coming back.

Wait, we just got Mike McDaniel? This is kind of exciting. We can address the interior offensive line in the draft and free agency. Should we do this? We got to at least have a meeting about this. What do you think, Deontay, A.J. Brown with Justin Herbert, Ladd McConkey.

That to me would be pretty interesting. I don't think that I would have believed it before I started looking at it, before we came on the show. But as I was staring at the charges, I was like, man, this is a team that could absolutely use a guy like A.J. Brown, while it also not necessarily being a do-or-die situation for them.

They don't need A.J. Brown to be the 2022 first-team all-pro, most unguaratable outside receiver in the league for it to be functional because you have Mike McDaniel and Justin Herbert, right? And in theory, you're going to have two healthy tackles if they are able to remain healthy for the stretch of the 2026 season. I think that for me, though, if I'm the Chargers, I want to talk that deal down from a conditional second that turns into a first

to a second and maybe a fourth that can turn into a third. Maybe I'll hand you two day two picks, right? One in 2027, maybe one in 2028 to kind of just smooth this over. Because ultimately the Chargers roster does need some help in a lot of places. You mentioned the interior of the offensive line.

I do think they're going to continue to have to throw darts with their DBs, right? Because they've been doing a great job at masking some weaknesses. out there, but outside of Tarheed still, there really hasn't been many guys who have flashed high, high level upside at the corner position, and I think that you're

going to want to get a little bit more help up front as well on the defensive end. So if you can maintain control of all your first round picks as the Chargers and still walk away from a deal like that with the receiver as good as AJ Brown, I think that I'd be pretty happy with it. There's also another receiver that we might get to

a little bit later that I would be really, really interested in. It might even kick up a little bit more draft capital to try to pry them away from a team that might want to keep them that we might be talking about a little bit later on today. All right. There you go. Crosby and A.J. Brown, I think two of the biggest stories of the entire offseason. I think they're both going to get traded. We'll see if that's the case or not. You think so, too. All right. Third storyline here, Deontay, who will be the second chance team for Kyler Murray? This might be the most confusing. in question of the offseason as I was going through this.

So Adam Schaefter has reported that the Cardinals would like to trade Murray. It seems like that's been the case going back to how last season unfolded. But it's a tricky deal to make because he is due 37 million guaranteed in 2026. Where depending on what level quarterback you think Murray is, you either say, all right, we can do that or you say, are you crazy? We're not doing that. And his contract is one of those that set up where more guarantees kick in when he's on your roster in March 15th. So the team trading for him, presumably, before March 15th, they're going to have to guarantee more money for future years.

So here's how I see Kyler Murray, Deontay. He's been in the NFL for seven seasons. There are stretches where he looks like a very good quarterback. Yet his teams have gone 10 games under 500 and have made the playoffs one. in seven seasons. He turns 29 in August, and I was just looking at EPA per pass play. He's basically been between the 10th

and the 21st ranked quarterback every season of his career. So he guarantees you a high floor. You're not going to be a disaster. He's not going to be the reason you stink or you're not going to have a terrible offense because of Kyler Murray, but he's probably...

Listen, I'm using probably now. After the Sam Donald experience, I'm using a lot of probably, I'm using a lot of caveats. I'm going to be a little bit gun-shy this off-season. He's probably not going to be the guy who lifts your offense to like a top-five offense. However, if you're a team that says we like our coaching, we like our supporting cast, the Cardinals are kind of a train wreck franchise.

Let's learn from what the Seahawks did with Sam Darnold. Let's bring Kyler Murray in. He's still very talented. And we can have a winning team. We can win big with him. and he can see the best years of his career with us. I don't know where that lands us with trade compensation. You could tell me, I would be surprised if anyone gave up a first,

and I think teams will definitely give up more than a sixth or seven. So it's me, I'm between like a second, third, fourth, or fifth. I know. It's a wide range, but I just think it's a real tricky one. What do you think about the market before we get into specific teams at specific trades, Deontay? I wrote about this, I think, right ahead of this. the trade deadline. And I think that my expectation at that time was that a late day two pick

might be what gets it done. That's the right. Like Tyler Murray, I think a third round pick, again, if you want to negotiate it to make it a conditional third that turns into a second, if he's on the field for 85% of the snaps and your team makes the playoffs, right, then okay, fine, right? I think that you can live with that. I don't think that you're going to get that. I don't think you're going to get that Sam Bradford type of deal where you're able to trade him away for another high pick, right? Even though he's failed at his prior stop

and has some injury concerns for whoever the team is that's going to be receiving him. That said, I am really fascinated with what it means for the team that would receive him. And this is me saying this as someone who has been very skeptical of what Kyler Murray

gives a team in the pros because I do think, you know, and I'm sure we'll get to landing spots. But let's say you're a team like the Falcons. I'll throw just a wild one out there, like Atlanta. You're probably going to designate Kirk Cousins as opposed June 1st if you're not able to strike a trade with the Vikings, right? Which seems to be the one team where there seems to be some alignment on where Kirk would like to be and a team that might want to bring in a guy like

Kirk Cousins, right? Let's say you post June 1st, Kirk Cousins, so it's not going to be very prohibited for you cap-wise. Kyle Murray is probably not going to be dealt with any kind of urgency. I don't think either. I think that Arizona, probably understands that you're not about to get a lot of 2026 draft capital for this guy. So it might make sense to just hang back and really try to work out a deal for a 2027 pick or a player in terms of compensation on the way back as well. And so that's kind of been my thing. It's like you land them in a place like that where they've got an offensive line.

They're going to have a system that I think would fit decently given some of his supporting cast. Maybe you're able to get him right back to where he was early in his stint in Arizona, where it looks like, hey, you can at least get you to the wild card round and be competitive. And in the NFC South, there have been a lot of reclamation projects that have come by there, right? Most recently being Baker Mayfield, I would say even Bryce Young, while he wasn't dealt to Carolina, I think that what we've seen over the last year will kind of tell you that they have a level of offensive coaching in that division where a guy like Murray can go get,

can go down there and maybe turn a team into a 10 and 7, interesting enough, 11 and 6 for at least a year. and that would be something that would be really intriguing for me. What I'm least interested in is a rebuilder, hoping that he can be some kind of like plus bridge guy. I just don't know if that's the right way to be looking at it with a player like Murray. Yeah, I think the Falcons are an interesting name, no doubt about it with Michael Pennix coming off,

the injury there. The other teams I wrote down, just teams that we think could need a quarterback or do need a quarterback, dolphins, jets, Steelers, Browns, Colts, Vikings. That's in addition to the Falcons and in addition to the Cardinals

who would be trading him. The two teams that kind of seem like the most interesting to me, what are the Colts going to do here? Deonti, are they just definitely just bring... I was looking at them too. Okay, yeah, I was looking at them going, you know, are you just bringing Daniel Jones back off in Achilles

and like, that's your plan, him and Riley Leonard? Or do you look at it and go, we kind of had a really good offense when Daniel Jones was healthy last year? Kyler Murray is as talented, if not more talented than Daniel Jones. That's a scheme where it feels like Kyler Murray could come in and fit right away with that scheme.

So that one was interesting to me. Is there a scenario where you could trade for Kyler Murray and bring back Daniel Jones? Or you say, hey, you know, it's hard to find a quarterback. And Daniel Jones is going to be a one-year deal because he's coming off in Achilles. That was one that interested me. And then the Vikings, you mentioned cousins?

Do they take a bigger swing? Does Kevin O'Connell go, man, I'm sick to my stomach about what happened last year. Watching Sam Darnold on that podium, Kyler Murray's talented enough. I've got Justin Jefferson. I've got good players on offense. We have a really good defense.

We don't need a top five offense. We need a good enough offense. I can help him let, you know, I've got all the power now. I got rid of the GM. I can fix him. Let's go. Vikings and Colts, Deont.

What do you think for Kyler Murray? Colts are really fascinated. by. Right. And I think that I guess what your reaction to that is is going to be based on whether or not you think that Daniel Jones does enough leverage to ask for something north of the projected franchise

tag number, which should be kind of in the neighborhood of like $46 to $48 million. Right, which I think that he might. I think he could genuinely look at the Colts and say what else are going to do? Give me a $4. You know, I want $46 million. Oh, man. That would be for at least in 2020. Just be careful,

Colts. That's all I'm saying. Be careful. I told you I warned you before. This is where it's tricky. That's where it's tricky, right? Because I'm right there with you. This is one of those dangerous own type of situations. But this team is also dealt away future draft capital to try to maximize what would have been a run towards a playoffs

at the end of last season before Dana Jones towards Achilles. And what they were hoping was going to be an even stronger run in a playoffs in 2027. And now you're going to have a lot in flux. So let's say you are going to pay that amount of money. And maybe you're going to bring in Kyle Merrim. and say, hey, we're going to rework this deal. You're going to have to take a little bit less, but you're going to have a shot to start for us early.

And if you start and you stay healthy, who's to say the job can't be yours? We're going to have another open conversation. And Anthony Richardson, I guess we'll ship you off to Arizona and best of luck to you at your new landing spot, right? I think that that might be one of those wonky scenarios that could play out just because of Daniel Jones' injury situation right now, dealing with this recovery from his Achilles injury.

And I think that if you're the coach, you probably want to walk into a situation, even if you are bringing back Daniel Jones with better backup options than Anthony Richardson and Riley Winner because it should not have taken, making a call to Philip Rivers to be able to get yourself across the finish line in a season that started off as well as it did in 2025.

All right, Kyler, Murray. It's going to be very interesting. You can tell me anything. Anything that happened with Kyler Murray this all season and it wouldn't surprise me. I really have no idea how interested teams are going to be and what the market's going to be, but those are some teams in need of a quarterback.

All right, let's take one more break. We come back with another storyline to keep an eye out for. All right, we're back here on The Ringer NFL show. We'll finish with this one, Deante. George Pickens, the Cowboys' Wide Receiver, the number one free agent. Austin Gale has our top 40 free agents up on The Ringer.com. He had George Pickens, number one.

It sounds like the Cowboys are going to use the franchise tag on George Pickens. One of the trickier decisions, I feel like, in recent memory, normally I'm pretty much on one side or the other of extend him, pay him at the market price or let him go, don't do it. And this one, I'm kind of like, huh, I'm actually not sure. I could be convinced either way because we know what some of the factors are here. It was awesome last year. looked like a great scheme fit, was wildly productive.

It's only going to be 25 years old. Going into next season, very young for a rookie, you know, going into free agency. A lot of these guys are going to be 26, 27, yeah, 28 years old. So you're talking about a guy who was productive in your scheme, but you're also talking about a guy who had some red flags coming out of the draft, wasn't on every team's board. The Steelers said, we're cool with trading him last offseason.

Mike Tomlin said, I'm good with getting rid of him here. And so he's one of those guys you wonder is the next contract. Is he going to perform at the same level he performed at this last season? So Deonti, the Cowboys options are use the franchise tag on it. Hope he signs it. Hope he's not a headache while he's on the franchise tag. And it's a classic Jerry versus the player type situation that just dominates all the headlines in the summer. That's one option.

Option number two, sign him to a little. long-term contract, that would be north of $30 million. That would pay him as a top 10 wide receiver and who knows how high he wants to be on that, in that grouping. That would just, again, get him in the top 10. He might say, give me 35, give me 40. I mean, who knows what he actually wants here at this stage. And then option number three would be a tag and trade where you use the franchise tag on

you. You say, all right, you want to talk to other teams and see if anyone's going to pay you this big number, you find a team and that team says we want George Pickens so badly that we're going to give the Cowboys a draft pick and we're going to pay him at the level he wants. What do you think is going to happen with George Pickens in the months ahead? So it's funny. I think that ultimately you have to tag him because you cannot pay top of market money for a guy like Pickens. For as optimistic as I may be about like how transformative a season he had and he 100% did I mean, frankly, was the best receiver in Dallas last year, in my opinion,

one of the better receivers in the league last year. I'm not going to be the one that's going to be holding the wrong end of this bill later on down the line. If anything, we're going to go sideways with George Friggin. I'm not going to risk the dead cap charges that might have to come. We've got to deal this guy off of our roster mid-season as early as next year because things are just not working out. So I think that if you're going to tag him, you have to entertain the idea of trading him.

and God, I just cannot imagine a scarier proposition than a GM having to go sit with this coaching staff and say, hey, you guys keep talking to me about one the number one receiver. We might be able to go get one for you, but it's going to be George Shikins, and it's probably going to cost us some pretty high draft capital to go consummate that deal. I guess the question I'll throw back to you is,

what is the floor for draft compensation if you're Dallas that you're willing to hear out, if you do tag him and then allow, him to go kind of scan the market. It's one of those where I don't, it just seems so unrealistic to me, to your point, that a team would have a meeting and say,

we're going to give up draft compensation and we're going to pay him at this level over $30 million. That's our best option. For like a four or five year deal because of how young he is. That is, I just can't grasp that. I would not advocate for any team to do that. I mean, if you're the Cowboys and you're getting,

I don't know, like the second round pick, that would be interesting to me. At least it's not the ideal situation, but at least you can talk yourself into, all right, we get to take another flyer on a wide receiver who's going to be on a rookie contract. They're not going to be as good as George Pickens, but you know what?

We weren't willing to take on that risk. I could totally understand that. And just in terms of roster building, hey, we're paying CD Lamb already. We can't pay George Pickens, that same amount of money. We need players on defense. So I think a tag and trade would almost shock me. with George Pickens. To me, if I'm the Cowboys, if I could get to a point where I felt like

he was going to play on that franchise tag, you know, I'm having a conversation with him. George, we love what you did last year. You're getting paid this year on the franchise tag. You're still getting $28 million this year. It's guaranteed. We just want to see it for one more year. Can you prove to us one more year? If you can do it one more year, we love having you here. You proved everyone wrong, prove everyone wrong one more year, and then we will reward you after the 2026 season. And if you call our bluff, guess what? You're a free agent because we're not going to tag you again. Maybe you can get that in writing. You can't tag him again. So it's this year, and you say, George, if you play well, we're going to reward you. If you don't, you get to go test

the market. Everybody wins. I think that to me, if I'm the Cowboys, that would be my ideal scenario. I just don't know if Pickens and his representation are going to play ball with that. Maybe they would. Like you said, he is still young enough for that. It's not the worst outcome. Dak Prescott did it. It's not like they don't do that with other players. So you could do that.

I think that's what I would kind of want to happen if I were the Cowboys. Well, that's where it's like the timing of this is going to be so fascinating, right? Because I'm with you. Actually, I think if I'm advising Pickens, I'm telling him that the franchise tag is actually a great thing. It could actually be a great long-term thing for us. Because how do we hit the open market before the 2025 season? We were never going to see this kind of money in terms of a single year compensation. Just given what your reputation was coming out of Pittsburgh.

Let's not overplay our hand. Let's take the $28 million that we're going to get and go prove that we're a $28 plus million player again. And then we can go get ourselves a three-year deal with heavy guarantees, right? No team is going to assume a long-term obligation from us. but that actually probably works on our favor as well. Let's try to hit the market as many times as we can to see if we can maximize your earning potential.

That's going to be the best thing, I think, for the arc of George Piggins' career. And I think it will be a great move for him to show that he's okay with playing ball this way. I'm with you. If I'm his team, I come in and say, hey, I want it in writing, just like you deal with Dag Prescott. You're not going to tag us again after this year.

We're going to hit the open market. And if you do that, we'll give you the first ride of refurb. refusal basically on any contract. Even if I go out and scour the market, whatever deal I go get from whatever team might be interested, we're going to bring it back to you and ask if you can match it, right? Or can you beat it by a dollar? Can you beat it with another year? Whatever the case may be. But I think that just playing this out, take 2026 as what it is, and then go hit the open market and see what's out there is probably a wiser decision for Pickens because what's most likely for a guy like him is that you're going to be traded for pennies in terms of draft compensation, for a team that's

going to bring him in and say, we are not married to you, we're not tied to you, and if you do anything we don't like, we're going to go ahead and let you hit the open market. And then best of luck to you trying to rehab your reputation, having burned it both in Pittsburgh with Mike Tomlin, and then wherever he will be landing next. I think that being in Dallas and trying to go be as productive as possible, in a situation that I think is very friendly to George Pickens is probably the best move, I think, for the long term of his career. Yeah, I went into this conversation being like, oh, man, he's going to be a big, if he has to play on the tag. But as we talked it out, I'm kind of like, not the worst situation.

You know, I think you could easily convince him. And I do think that's the best situation for the team. So maybe he gets tagged. He plays on the tag. And they say, let's kick the kid down the road a year and figure out where we're at with this relationship next year. If you're the Cowboys, you're really, I mean, I would really not want to lose him because this offense looked fantastic last year with Pickens and C.D. Lamb and Zach Prescott and the offensive line in the run game, it's like if you can just use your resources in the draft to build up that defense a little bit, maybe you do something on the offensive line or whatever, you could be a really good team next year. And so I think that could be a situation that works out for everyone. So George Pickens will see where it lands with the Dallas Cowboys.

Sorry, listen, there's so many more. But you know what? That's why we do a bunch of podcasts. We've got a lot of time here in the weeks ahead. We'll talk about Malik Willis. We'll talk about some of the other big things happening around the NFL. But I think those are the big, big things that are going to happen or that are going to be discussed around the NFL, really starting next week at the NFL combined. They're going to get a lot of headlines.

So, Tiette and I will see, where we right, where we wrong with some of these are our compensation packages way off? Was the interest way off? did we forget the team. We'll have more time to talk about all of that. That is Deonti Lee. Again, check out his article, his column on the ringer.com. All right, thanks to everyone for listening.

Thank you to Christopher Sutton for producing Stefano Sanchez on video and additional production supervision by Connor Nevins and Arjuna Ramgopal. I'm Shield Capadia. We'll talk to you later this week on the ringer NFL show. 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas and affiliation with Kansas Star Casino

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