The Ringer NFL Show - Mike Evans? Kenneth Walker? Likes and Dislikes From the First Day of Free Agency!

Episode Date: March 10, 2026

Sheil and The Ringer’s own Diante Lee get together after a wild first day of free agency to analyze all the big player moves and debate whether teams made the right choices.(00:00) Likes and dislikes from the first day of free agency!(01:59) Jaylen Watson(07:36) Alec Pierce(10:54) Minkah Fitzpatrick to the Jets(15:52) Kenneth Walker III(21:35) Maxx Crosby(30:29) Tyler Linderbaum(39:02) Mike Evans signs with the 49ers(45:16) John Franklin-Myers and Wan'Dale Robinson(51:30) Malik Willis(55:24) Tua Tagovailoa(59:02) Devin Lloyd and Jaelan PhillipsThe 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, a wild first day. Teams negotiating deals on the first day they're allowed to in NFL free agency. We got a simple exercise today. Likes and dislikes with all these moves. So many moves to get to, so many big moves to get to. We've got on my friend from the Ringer, Deontay Lee. So let's take a break.

We'll come back. We'll get to all of it. here on the Ringer NFL show with Deontale. Deontes, the head spinning a little bit with re-agency. Do you have a spreadsheet? Are you organized? How are you feeling about the first day so far? I'm not a spreadsheet guy.

I should maybe adopt the spreadsheet just for my own accounting, right? Like, my problem is, and maybe this is just like the eternal doom scrolling that I feel like millennials my age all kind of suffer from because I've got 10 tabs open from every major national publication and some of the specific beats, you know, that I'm really fascinated by. And I've just got the ticker up. You know, I've got the little timeline thing. So every bullet point that comes by, like, okay, let me scroll back to the top to see what the newest thing is.

And then I'll go back to the bottom to make sure that I'm following, you know, the entire stretch of the day. So probably not the most efficient. But I think that there's also a part of me who kind of just likes the wild nature of this. It's fun. Yeah. It's like you're through a set of signings and then all of a sudden on to the next one. So listen, we're not going to get to every single thing this episode, but we got a bunch of shows coming up this week. So we will hit on all the major stuff.

But we're just doing likes and dislikes here today. What did we like? What didn't we like? Will we disagree on some of these? Will we agree on some of these? Deonti, you get us started. What do you got? I think that this is something we could probably talk about

in conjunction with their other moves for the last week or so. But my first like was Jalen Watson going to the Rams, right? I like that for a lot of reasons. A, I think that ultimately they needed to continue to upgrade their DB room, right? And I think so much about the second half of the year where the effect of their pass rush and their front four really seemed to be muted by the weaknesses that they had at corner. I would say even for a guy like Cam Curl who started out of the year like gangbusters, right? He's forcing a bunch of turnovers. He's all over the field.

Eventually, offenses were just able to kind of avoid him by attacking more on the perimeter. Guys like Emmanuel Forbes who was really struggling in the second half of the year, like even Kobe Duran, who I think kind of had some rough patches. out at corner as well. I think that for them bringing in Jalen Watson and then really the conjunction of Jalen Watson plus Trent McDuffie with the trade last week for Los Angeles, I think it just teased them up perfectly,

I think, to go out and be able to chase a championship in 2026. All right, so my daughter sometimes now has adopted this phrase. You're doing too much. I don't know if you get that from the kids out there, Deontay, but she'll say that to me sometimes. And that was my only thought with the Jail. and Watson signed because I looked at it. I liked the Trent McDuffey trade for them. They're paying him now as the top paid corner in the NFL. And then I looked at it. And in isolation, I liked the Jalen Watson

signing. But then I took a step back and I go, well, now you're you're paying $48 million per year for Jalen Watson and Trent McDuffie, two guys that were on the same team with the Chiefs last year with a great defensive coordinator. And it's not like they had a lights out defense. That's reductive. I don't think it's that simple because the Rams have a much better pass rush. And so I was just wondering in my head, I'm like, would I have done both those deals or would like one have been enough and then address other needs with kind of those resources maybe you paid for Jalen Watson? But you like the combo of both of them, it sounds like. I do like the combo of both of them. And then I'm thinking to right, like I think you only are willing to spend this amount of draft capital plus real cash if there's a

clear understanding that 2026 is the end of the road for this iteration of this team. That's what I'm thinking. I think that the Rams make this kind of move knowing that, hey, whatever comes out of this season, Matthew Stafford is going to give that long wave goodbye at the end of the year and they're going to be resetting with the rookie contract quarterback. Or maybe it's a bridge guy, right, for $20 to $25 million a year. We saw that with Malik Willis, who has very limited tape. And if he's able to go out and net $20 to $25 million, you know, go out and able to net $25 million,

a year or somewhere in that neighborhood. I think that you should probably feel good, you know, as a team feeling like whenever Stafford is done, we can go get a guy on the cheap, we'll have an expensive defense, but that will be the strength of this deal. And Sean McBay, it's time for you to earn that highest paid NFL head coach, you know, salary that you get. So I think that that's kind of the thinking if you're trying to roll the ball a little bit further down the hill than 2026.

But specifically for this year, I think that this was clearly the Rams saying, if there was one thing that precluded us from getting to you. to a Super Bowl. What was it? I think it felt pretty clear that it was their coverage out on the perimeter. And I think that they just

took the biggest swings possible to go address it. So I like how inspired those moves were. Darno lit them up in the NFC championship game. We can't forget about that. Yes.

I mean, even Caleb. I mean, the weather was messy, you know, but Caleb was good. Outside of like those, in the game kind of turnovers, I think that he was able to rip the ball too.

Yeah. So it's, I was thinking about this, Deontae. I think the Rams are the Super Bowl. favorites right now if I had to pick one team. I don't know if you, because I was thinking about all the things you just said, talented roster, even though yes, they're all in this year, like, it's a good team. We're in 2027, Stafford hung it up next year in 2027, like Jalen Watson's what, 28 years old,

Trem McDuffie's 25 or 26 years old, all the defensive linemen are young. You still have Puka Nakua. You still have Kyron Williams. You have like a good enough offensive line where if McVeigh stays, it's kind of like you might be able to plug someone in there. and still have a really good team. So right now they have a combination of very talented roster, great coach, great quarterback.

And to your point, they just threw resources at the biggest weakness on the roster, right? Everything is on Stafford's health. And at his age, that's going to be a big question. But I think if I had to pick a team right now, I think they're the best team in the NFL right now going into next season. They're no worse than second to Super Bowl lives, I would say, and I would bet that the distance,

between them and whoever the best team in terms of Super Bowl odds out of the AFC is probably pretty sizable, I would guess. I don't know if there's a roster that's anywhere near Los Angeles's quality on paper in the other side of the league, right? I don't know if anybody in the AFC looks as strong as the Rams do or maybe only Seattle does right now

in the NFC. Seahawks fans settle down. You won the Super Bowl. You can't actually be the favorite because you're defending chance. And nobody's hanging a banner based off of Super Bowl odds as of March 9th, 2000. 26. I don't know. That would be a good banner. Shield Capotea's Super Bowl favorite March 9th. Listen, I would buy that. If you have that, send it to me. I'll hang it up here in the background. All right. So, Rams are in a great spot. And by the way, they got the 13th pick, right? It's the 13th pick overall in the first round. We're now all of a sudden, who knows who you add there? Do you add a wide receiver? Do you add an offensive line? I mean, they can go in a number of different directions. So the Rams are in a very good spot. All right. My winner or my like, sorry, I like Alec Pierce. returning to the Colts because we both know Deonti that if Alec Pierce signed elsewhere,

I would have come on here and just rip it. I mean, I would have crushed the Colts because I just felt like if they're going to use the tag on Daniel Jones and let Alec Pierce walk, that is an absolute disaster. Well, they didn't let him walk. 29 million per year, four years, $116 million. I had his projection around $27 million per year. So it's actually not that much higher than I thought he could potentially get if he were to hit the open market. He's a guy who's averaging nearly 22 yards per reception over the last two seasons.

He's only 26 years old. So I think this part ended up working out for the cult where this could have been really dicey and really tricky because the whole idea of the cult is that they're putting the quarterback in position to succeed with the supporting cast and the scheme. And so if all of a sudden you lose Alec Pierce while you do that, it's not going to be as great of a situation. So listen, listeners know that I'm not that bullish on this idea of Daniel Jones coming back off an Achilles injury, but at least you held on to a player you drafted, a player who's played well, a guy who's best football could still be ahead of him. And most importantly, has that unique skill set at wide receiver that every offense is

looking for someone who can take the top off. So I think that worked out really well for the Colts. It absolutely did. And I think that they did exactly what they were supposed to do, given the cards that they were dealt this offseason, right? I think that ultimately the transition tag for Daniel Jones was probably the right idea, right? No matter how I might feel about him as a quarterback, based on your options, you got to be okay with that. And then they went out and they traded Michael Pittman to Pittsburgh to open up the cap space really, essentially, to be able to pay Alec Pierce what they're paying Alec Pierce now.

And I think if you walk out of the offseason saying, hey, we haven't made any long-term determination on Daniel Jones, I'll say yet at the end of that, right? because there is some reporting out there that they're still going to be kind of working on, maybe getting him an extra couple of years on the end of this deal. I'm so nervous to see the terms of, if that happens, come across my timeline. I am terrified of what those contract, what that contract details are going to look like. But I think to ultimately, if you exit this offseason saying, we kept the most important pieces of our hot start to last year together. And we're just going to cross our fingers that the trade for Sauce Gardner means that this defense gets a lot better than what it was.

in the second half of last year as well. I think that you kind of just have to grit and bear it. I think if you're Indianapolis, the die was cast, right? The team was already pot committed as it was. You weren't going to tear it down. I don't think you were going to play hardball with Daniel Jones, right? That's something that we can talk about on podcast, but I don't know if you're a GM in the league,

that's a way that you want to be operating. You know, at least if you want to keep that guy around, right? I think if you start playing hardball, but the guy like Jones maybe is not back, but ultimately he's going to have his most important receiving threat. you still are going to have a great run game as long as your offensive line of Jonathan Taylor is healthy. I think if you're Indianapolis, you just kind of have to be content.

Maybe not happy, but content should probably be the word if you're this team. Keep good young players at premium positions. Even if Daniel Jones doesn't work out, 2027, Alec Pierce is a guy who can help whoever's playing quarterback for you. All right, what's your next one? What do you got? So we'll go with the dislike then.

We'll go with the dislike. This is, I think this will probably be a minor one in the grand scheme of things because I don't expect much of this team. But it's a trade for Mika Fitzpatrick by the Jets, right? And it's not just him. It's him. It's David Ointemado, who's 33 years old. It's, you know, DeMario Davis, who feels like he's, you know,

and a dinosaur by NFL age now with all the mileage that he's put on his body. And he's still an excellent middle linebacker at his best. But, God, I'm just looking around, and I'm like, you're kind of claim to fame. What you're celebrating in the office now are bringing in three defensive starters whose best football all are pretty roundly behind them at this stage. What exactly are we trying to accomplish in New York? What are they trying to accomplish?

That's the question with the Jets. I'm really not sure. I mean, DeMario Davidson's so funny, like he started his career there, then goes to the Saints, has this incredible career. He's like ageless, and now they're bringing him back at this stage of his career. Okay, fine. I'm Yamada, Joseph Asai, Kingsley, Enimbarre. You're using a franchise tag on Breece Hall.

You have no quarterback. I mean, I just don't, I know they had money to spend and they had to add players. Like, is this supposed to make me feel like the Jets are going to have a good defense next year? I don't. I just don't. I love to Mario Davis. You're 37 years old, man. Like, what are the realistic expectations for a guy at 37 playing this game?

What are the realistic expectations for Mika Fitzpatrick, who clearly seems to have lost enough of a stride to where his, I can see the future, I can jump every route. I can come out of the middle of the field and basically, break our defense because I know where the ball is going to go. That effect on the game is not there anymore, even though I do think he was a little bit better in Miami and maybe just didn't get the amount of credit that he would have because people weren't watching the dolphins. He's still a pretty flawed player.

You talked about Kings of Anagvare. Nice, but pretty one-dimensional as a player. David on Yamada is not nearly as much of a game record as he was in his mid-to-late 20s. Again, I guess maybe if you're Aaron Glenn, you're saying, I just want guys who can tackle and we'll do what we put on the piece of paper in a week of game plan perspective, right?

But still, I just feel like we're going to look up and feel like this team is old, not as fast as it could be, and not making impact plays. That is probably my fear, I think, when I'll look at this defense. Yeah, like all those players are fine. You know what?

They might lead the Jets to the 19th best defense in the NFL. I mean, maybe that's what you, maybe you're saying, all right, let's just get some good vibes because last year was so bad. You know, let's just win a few more games. DeMario Davis, I would imagine, would be good. Culture setter, leader, professional. This guy's been through it.

All right, you can talk me into that. Minka Fitzpatrick, like you said, I mean, he was, you know, Steelers were looking and get rid of him after the end of that season two years ago. It was like teammates were sort of calling him out, but not calling him out. They trade him. Now he's on, what, his third team in three seasons here. He's not the player he was earlier in his career. So, yeah, I just don't know exactly what the plan is with the Jets.

You have Breece Hall tweeting out. It seems like we got a lot of money. There's a lot of money there. Man, I'd be a little salty if I was Breece Hall. And you were telling me why you couldn't extend me around the trade deadline. And then I get tagged and you start throwing all this cash around for older guys. I think I get it if I'm Bruce Hall. Listen, I stand by what I've been thinking, which is that they're tanking.

Aaron Glenn might not know they're tanking. Frank Reich might not know that they're tanking. And maybe you can't make it so obvious where you're like, we're not going to sign anybody. So you're like, all right, knock yourself out with, you know, a few of these vets. Their contracts will probably be up or guaranteed money will be out in a year, two years, whatever the case may be, do what you want to do this year. But really, it just feels like the Jets eyes are towards 2027. They have, as of this recording, they haven't done anything at quarterback.

I know there was some reporting like Frank Reichs looking at, you know, Carson Wentz and Chino Smith. I gagged when I read that. I just don't know. Actually, I think I do know what the plan is. And maybe it's a fine plan that they can't say out loud, which is we are stocking up draft picks. We're going to build this thing the right way through the draft. And in the meantime, you have to get to a certain salary cap floor.

And we don't want to hang our coach completely out to dry. So we're going to add some bets that he likes that thing. I actually think that is the plan. But I don't know if it's going to work or not. They have to find a quarterback solution somewhere. They do have the draft capital where I know this is a big if. But if they can kind of, they have the resources where if they nail the next two drafts, they could have a nice new young core and turn the page.

I personally don't think Aaron Glenn's going to be the coach. By the time that happens, I think they're, I don't know that they think he's going to be the coach, but I think that's where the Jets were. So yeah, they were kind of all over there, all over the place, just adding vets here where you didn't really know what to make of their plan there. All right. I have a dislike, Deontay, which. Please hit me, was it?

I think it's going to be controversial. I don't know if it's going to be controversial with you or not. It might be. I dislike a move that I felt like, on my timeline at least, was being universally praised. And that's the chief signing Kenneth Walker, the third. So I don't know if you're with me or not with me on this. Make the case.

Okay, I'll make the case. I understand it. The chiefs need to be more explosive in the run game. I get the thinking. They ranked 29th an explosive rush rate last year. ranked 30th in explosive rush rate in 2024. So I get that they need to be more explosive in the run game. But I thought we had a lot of evidence to suggest that explosive run games are more about

the scheme and the blocking than specifically the running back. I mean, we just saw Saquan Barkley go from 17 runs of 20 plus yards in 2024 to four last year. And Saquan Barkley physically looked like the same guy. And then I'm looking at the chiefs. In 2023, Deontes, they ranked eighth an explosive rush rate. That was with Isaiah Pacheco and Clyde Edward Tiller. In 2020, they ranked 10th.

That was with Clyde Edward Tiller and Levion Bell. And so I agree that they needed to upgrade it running back. I mean, they had Kareem Hunt and Isaiah Pacheco last year. That's not good enough. That's a bad running back room. But I feel like there's this wide middle ground between Isaiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt. and paying Kenneth Walker the third $14 million per year when I'm sorry, I look at your roster and I see a lot of holes. I don't know who's playing wide receiver. Your whole three fifths

of your secondary just left in free agency. I don't love your pass rush. Like to me, this is a luxury move. And while the chiefs have been obviously a very successful franchise, I don't think the state of the roster right now is in a spot where they could make luxury moves. So I think they can could have addressed this need with fewer resources, whether it's signing someone like Tyler Algear for $6 million rather than $14 million and then drafting someone in the second or third round. A lot of people said to me, what, you haven't been paying attention to the chiefs? They've tried dart throws. And I'm like, no, they haven't. They've spent two seventh round picks in the last five years on running back. That's the only draft capital. Like there's the

third round, there's the second round, there's the fourth round. Like there are different ways to this. You can be patient in free agency and say, who, hey, who's still available a week from now and kind of cobble it together? So I thought there was a very aggressive move and I just didn't love the philosophy that, oh, we need more explosive runs. Kenneth Walker's going to come in and that's fixed. He's going to have a bunch of explosive runs because I think we have too much evidence that that's not how it works in the NFL. I'm right there with you, right?

Like, why couldn't this have just been the combination of Tyler Al Jio and Kenny Gainwell? Right? And you say, hey, we got our early down back, we got our pass down back. Both of these guys, even if they're not blowing people like Isaiah Pacheco and Karim Hunt out of the water in terms of player quality, they're dependable. It's a big upgrade, I think. I mean, it's a legit upgrade or just one of them in a draft. At least, right? At least, you know, you could go get a RICO doubtle and say like, hey, this is a guy that has some three-down capability.

Maybe he's not going to be a breakout player for us the same way he was when he was getting all the carries in Carolina. but we just saw last year that he can carry a load for an offense that wants to run the ball on early downs. The only way to me that this makes sense is if the Chiefs genuinely believe that Josh Simmons is going to be an all pro next year and that Jalen Moore is going to fix all of the problems they had with Jawan Taylor. And now this guy, Kenneth Walker, as your lead running back, is going to be the missing piece that gives us offensive dynamic that they've probably been looking for to help balance this thing out for the last three seasons, really since they've traded away, Tyree Kill. And I guess that that's within the realm of possibility.

But again, 14 million a year, man, that is just an expensive price tag to pay. That's an expensive bet to make that this running back is what's going to be what fixes problems for you when there's also money that you could have been spending on this defense. They just lost Brian Cook, Jalen Watson, Trip McDuffie, right? Like, they've let a lot of talent out of the building. And I get that this team does not flinch

at having to develop defensive backs that they draft, right? They've done a really good job of it. But still, I'm looking at this team, and I'm trying to figure out what the trajectory is going to be, even if Patrick Mahomes is 100% clear to play by week one of next season. I'm still unsure. Yeah, I mean, it looks like there, and I'm with you, Kenneth Walker, I'm not discounting the possibility that Kenneth Walker's awesome for them next year. Because I do think their O-line has a real chance to be good next year. So maybe that'll be the case. And I'll be saying, I was totally wrong about this. He has been a game changer for them. But I just look at the rest of the roster.

Mahomes coming off an injury. Wide receiver is a huge question. And then to your point, the lack of talent on defense, I don't know that you had the luxury to be spending, especially like you were just saying, there were other options. I'm not saying don't address running back. I'm saying address running back at a lower cost where you still have the flexibility to do other things. So yeah, I'm in the minority there. I feel like a lot of people love this because it is exciting. You watch, last game we watched Kenneth Walker was awesome in the Super Bowl. And now you say add that to a offense with Patrick Mahomes. And I

understand how you could get excited. But I have more questions about that move than I just think, oh, they nailed it with that move. All right, let's take a break. We'll come back with more likes and dislikes. All right, back on the ringer NFL. Are you swinging it back positive, Deontere? Are we going with a like

or a dislike? What do you got? I'll give you a like. And I feel like, you know, we can probably cover this now, you know, even know that this is not necessarily a free agent signing. I think It just has major ramifications for the league and the way that the marketplace played out. And that's Max Crosby being acquired by the Ravens for a pair of first round picks. And this was something I was really looking forward to talking to you about, right? Because I feel like this deal is exactly on the line of where you have to think hard about what you're getting right now versus what it's going to cost you down the line, right?

I don't know that I would say no if I were Eric DeCosta and that's what it took to get this deal. done, especially since there were competitors in the market based on some of the reporting that was out there. But man, I felt like this is one of those deals where you say yes and you hang up the phone and you just got to like class with your hands, you know, and you're asking every higher power that you have ever ever talked to in your life to say, please come through for me, please make this the best deal that I've made in my life. I think that that's kind of where I'm at with it. I'm with you on this one. Max Crosby goes from the Raiders to the Ravens and it's a good good chance to talk about both those teams because the trade goes down and I start picturing

Max Crosby in a Ravens uniform in a Jesse Minter defense playing in important games. And I'm like, they haven't had a player like that. And I think my big takeaway, Deontes, is that this was such an unravens-like move. I think Jameson Hensley of ESPN said they've never traded a first-round pick for a player before. And I was like, yeah, every August, we're looking around going, all right, which of these vets are the Raven's going to sign, a Justin, a Gidevian Clowny, a Kyle Van Nuoy. What fifth round pick are they going to trade away to get some starter? And this guy's going to come in and play well for a man.

They're so smart. And this signals to me that they had some, I don't know what the word is, an epiphany and awakening. But after the way last season went, whether it was Steve Bishadhi, the owner, whether it was Eric Dacosta, the GM, whether it was a feeling in the building, they, said whatever happens, we need to give ourselves the best shot possible to win a Super Bowl with Lamar Jackson in like the next three years. And if we need to make drastic moves and shake this thing up to its core, that's what we're going to do because this would be a disaster if we have a two-time MVP quarterback who's played very well for us for the most part and we don't win a Super Bowl. And we don't want to have regrets 10 years from now going, let's look back at the

that era, we should have done this. So they fire John Harbaugh. They bring in Jesse Minter, and then they make this on Ravens-like move, trading two first-round picks for a guy in Max Frosby entering his age 29 season, who there's some statistical evidence that has his production. Is it dipping a little bit? Was that just an injury? And I added all that up, and I think I would have been a yes. I think I would have been a yes. I would have said, listen, three years from now, this might look stupid. Because anytime the fact of the matter is anytime you trade two first round picks for like a non-elite quarterback, it's kind of a, the history is not in your favor, sort of.

It's like the team that's going to come out on top is the team getting the two first round picks. Even having said that, if I have a smart defensive coach and I'm adding an impactful player who has not had a chance to play in any big games and I can say, hey, Max, instead of playing 95% of the snaps, you're going to play 70% of the snaps. I know you don't like that, but this is going to make you even more productive and it's going to give you a better chance to stay healthy. And we need you in January.

That hasn't been a factor for you. We actually need you in January to chase down Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen and Joe Burrow and whoever else. So I actually think, you know, I'll turn in my nerd card on this where they would all say, no, you can't be giving up two first-round picks for a guy entering its age 29 season.

I actually think I'm with you, a very tough decision, but I would have been a yes on this. Let's go for it. I don't want to have any regrets. 100%. I do not want to look at Lamar Jackson when he's 34 years old, right? And saying, like, hey, man, like now we're kind of at that point where we're going to wonder how much long, how many more years you've got to play. And we're all sitting at the table saying, man, we had a chance to really push it in and go take a chance around the time that you turn 30. And we just didn't do it because we wanted to play the long game. Who the hell is going to care about the long game? What an opportunity to go win a championship could be on the line. There's a power vacuum that exists in

an AFC right now, right? And I think that every time I try to wriggle out of this yes that I would have given Baltimore, I thought like, would I rather have traded away the second round pick to go get a DJ more? No, I think I'd rather have Max Crosby. Would I rather trade it away a one and a two to go get an A.J. Brown? Okay, that's something really worth thinking about, but I still think I'd probably rather have Max Crosby where this team is at. And I think that I'm happy with that. ultimately, right? If I'm Eric Dacosta, you've got to just kind of make your piece and you've got to understand that, A, not only does this make Lamar Jackson and this offense's job easier in theory, because now when you get leads, I think that A, between your defensive play calling head coach,

your head coach is going to set the defense philosophy and now having a legitimate impact player on defense, it's going to solve so many of the problems that we have been talking about with this team being on these wild rides from looking like legitimate contenders on defense one week, to one of the worst in the league the next week. So that's one piece of it. It's going to help your offense. And then the other thing, and I think this is very specific to Max Prosby,

when he comes here, I'm going to walk him in the office. You know who the first person is that he's going to go shake hands with? It's going to be Kyle Hamilton. I'm going to say, hey, Max Rosby, have you ever played with a football player as good as Kyle Hamilton?

And he's going to say no, right? Not even close. We're going to pull up on the projector all of the depth charts that he's played on and been like, who was the third best defender that you have ever played within a given year. I can guarantee you you probably don't remember.

Your third best defender on this team could be Rochuan Smith. It could be Nubdi Madibike if he's healthy. It could be Marlon Humphrey if he's healthy and playing at max capacity, right? So I think that there's also a force multiplier potential here for Max Crosby with the rest of the guys that he's going to be around, especially in Jesse Mentor's defense,

that I think could open up a way of playing for Baltimore that we haven't seen since 2023 when Mike McDonald was there. Right? And this might even be a higher end of that because the best version of Max Crosby certainly can give you more than Jadavia and Clowny and Kyle Van Noid did in 2020. I am eyeing them in the AFC. And I think I've typically probably been a little bit lower than you on the Ray Rans or, you know, we go into, I can never kind of bring myself to picking them to get to the Super Bowl. But it does feel like there's a chance where just there's like sort of a refresh there. And it's like, oh, a new voice and that staleness that we were in. and now we have a new player in Max Crosby. And it's like everyone sort of feels a little bit differently going into the season than they have for the last three, four, five, whatever it is.

Lamar Jackson's entering his age 29 season two. So it's like, you know, now maybe he'll play into his late 30s and his 40, but you never know. He obviously has elite athleticism. It's not to say he can operate without that elite athleticism. He can, but that certainly has been a factor in his game. And while he still, while I think he still has that, I'm like, all right, let's align this.

And you know what? If we suck in 2029 and we're saying, man, we don't have young players because we threw away those two first round picks, I can kind of live with that. I basically at all sports, my philosophy is like, if you have a legit chance and you make a wild aggressive move like this, I'm okay with it. I don't like it when you talk yourself into actually having a chance and then you make move. Those are the ones I rip where it's like, come on, you're not actually a Super Bowl.

well, what are you doing? Like, that's crazy to give that up. But they actually do have a chance. They have a legit chance. They've had a chance. They haven't been able to capitalize. So, yeah, I think we both talked ourselves into it, even though totally understand the other side of the argument

where you would look at it analytically and say, I don't think this is a wise move. I'm sorry, sometimes you've got to align the vibes and the analytic side and say, where do you come out? And Deonti and I both say we would have made that move. Now, Deonti, these two teams continue to be linked in free agency. Raiders, great job. Now, I don't know if I should say great job, because you did alienate your best player,

and there's an Alex Guerrero story in the athletic, so I don't want to go overboard. But at the point where you thought we have to trade Max Crosby, you maximize compensation. And that's all you can do when you have a great player who wants to be moved. So they did a good job there. And then in maybe the most eye-popping contract on the first day of this negotiating period, Tyler Linderbom, the former Raven Center, signs with the Raiders at $27 million per year. I mean, the previous high for a center was $18 million per year. So you're talking about a 50% increase on that with Tyler Linderbom.

And they weren't done. They paid quidty pay $16 million per year. They pay Jalen Naylor nearly 12 million per year. They bring back Eric Stokes, the quarterback. They add Terran Johnson, the slot corner. They add Nacobobey Dean at linebacker. They add Quay Walker at linebacker. This is a lot.

I mean, DeAte, they were the big spenders here on day one of free agency. Let's start with Lindervant. Are you making the case that this is nuts or are you making the case that this makes sense? You have money to spend and you're bringing in a rookie quarterback. I want to borrow your word. Just a little bit of doing too much, but I'm not mad at it. I'm not mad at it, right? Like, I do say, I mean, man, I took a big goal when I did figure out like $27 million per year.

We're eclipsing Tyler Smith as a highest paid guard, right? We're eclipsing Trace Smith, who basically kind of got to this APY because he had to be franchise tag. Right? Like, it's a lot of money to pay to a center. That said, I can't sit here and pretend like we weren't on the same. podcast saying the Tyler Linderbom is going to end up resetting the market for all centers certainly and could be up there amongst the top interior offensive linemen. I think and if you're the Raiders, clearly this must have been a call that came with full

alignment from head coach Clint Kubiak, Tom Brady, everybody in the, everybody in the organization that makes decisions, most of all sat down and felt like we cannot run this offense the way that we need to run this offense unless we exit free agency with this guy. hey, you had the money to spend, so why not? You know, if you do got to hit the salary cap floor, why not spend, why not overspend, so to speak, on a player as good as Tyler Hilerbaum? I think that the biggest thing for me is looking at $20 million guaranteed per year,

I think is what over the cap has it at. That's hefty. That's very hefty for a center. And maybe if this team becomes a legitimate contender, we look up at the tail end of this contract and say, man, that is a lot of money to have anchored to not the highest impact guy, on your offensive line. But ultimately, I think I'm okay with that.

And on the whole, you look at some of the additions that they just need it to make defensively. I don't think that this makes me feel like, oh, this team is going to go out and go 10 and 7 next year, and they're going to go upset the Broncos once or maybe twice when they play each other next year. But I do think that maybe we were a little, we remember we were a year or too early on our Raiders optimism last season.

We're like, oh, man, you know, Pete Carroll and Chip Kelly and Gino Smith, maybe that's going to be the team that makes them frisky. I think that year one for them if you're looking at their defensive lineup and what they could get presumably from Fernando Mendoza as the number one overall pick in a month and a half, maybe we look up by the time the season gets here and says, this team at least looks like it's competent enough to be able to be competitive in games in a way that they just were not very early last year.

I mean, it's hard to overstate how few good players they have who are not on rookie contracts. It's almost nobody. It is just the depth chart. So now you go out and I'm with you. I probably, listen, if I were in the room, I would have said, no, we're not going to $27 million per year on Linderbaum. We can find a serviceable center who is a veteran who can still do the same job and who we still like pairing with Mendoza. But I also do understand it.

And they have money to spend and they don't have good players. And so at least you're spending it on a guy who's in his whatever mid-20s who has been a good player before. And you think is going to help your. quarterback because that's what everything's about for them starting whatever six weeks from now. How do we put this quarterback in position to succeed? So I don't know that I would have gone that high. I mean, to put it into context, I was thinking about this. The way they reset the center market, Deonti, this would be like if the next quarterback contract was at 90 million per year. Right. Because the highest right now is 60s or the 50% bump from the highest one. Think about

that would be 90 million per year. That's kind of what they did here at the center market. So they did that, I'll tell you what, I thought Nacobi Dean, and maybe this is just biased, because I've watched every one of his professional snaps over the years, I thought that was one of my favorite contracts in free agency. Three years,

$36 million per year. First of all, I think he's a, I think when he's healthy, he's a top 10 linebacker who for stretches can be a top five linebacker in the NFL. Like, I think that legitimately between the blitzing, the smarts, the run defense, and I think he's good in coverage

too. So I don't have the question marks maybe I had about him coming into the league. I feel like he's answered all of those. So you have that as a player. And then just what we're talking about here, you're trying to create a new culture in Vegas. You're trying to say that losing's behind us. We're starting a new

era. I feel like he's the perfect guy for that culture center, work ethic, smart, leader, grown up in the room. So I looked at some of these other teams who signed linebackers or who could sign linebackers. And I'm like, man, I would have maybe overpaid a little bit to get in the Kobe Dean. So I like that. They pair up with Quay Walker, who he's played with

before. I like that combination because Quay Walker is kind of like the freak athlete who, you know, see ball, get ball. And the Kobe Dean's like, I will line everybody up. Don't worry about it type thing. So I like what they did there. I didn't feel great about, you know, the quitty pay. And I didn't really feel strongly about Jill and Nailer. So I was kind of all over the place with my assessment of what they did. But I think if you're a Raiders fan, you're like, at least we have some professional football players in the building who have actually been good in the NFL before as we now go ahead with this draft capital and try to build this thing the right way

over the next couple of years. Absolutely. I mean, you do, you're never going to turn, you're never going to turn a bad team into a legitimate contender through free agency in one year, right? That's just not how the league is built. The best thing you can do is try to make marginal improvements at one spot at a time, right, on either side of the ball.

And you made a legitimate improvement to your offensive line, which could have cascading effects, given the fact that in this offense with Clint Kubiak, there is so much traffic being directed by the offensive line, typically, whether it's in the run game or in pass protection. And if Linderbombs is good as he's been advertised and based on what he's been at his peak in Baltimore, you're happy with that.

And then defensively, I mean, this front seven was just really hard to watch outside of Max Crosby, right? Like it was really tough to watch this team. Yeah. You know, and that's not to say the combination of Puddy Pais and Malcolm Coons is going to be world beating. and maybe they add to that, right, with their kind of mid-round draft pick,

you know, that they got from the Ravens, and then maybe we feel a little bit differently if they are able to get a high-level edge rusher out of the draft, or if they're able to flip this pick to go be able to bring in a high-impact player. But ultimately, you just want something that is dependable, and I think the combination of linebackers they have now between Clay Walker and Kobe Dean,

if nothing else, will be dependable and pretty consistent in their play on a week-to-week basis, and how it really does just come down to whether or not your trajectory is going to be accelerated by your rookie quarterback. That's what the league kind of comes down to if you don't have a superstar there. And I think if this team is at least positioned itself to be able to get a legitimate read on what Fernando Mendoza can do for their team in year one. This is not going to be a, oh my God, dumpster fire.

We have to throw all the tape out the way we did in like 2020 with Trevor Lawrence, right, when he was drafted. Oh my gosh, you can't even take any of this tape because it's all bad. Or 2021, I should say, you know, I think that you can get a legitimate read on what this offense and what this team is going to need to compete in the AFC West based off of the additions that they made this offseason. Yeah, the infrastructure of the brain trust is still makes me very nervous. As it should.

As it should. I don't know if I love Alex Guerrero. Yeah, I mean, how can you read that and feel good about the decision making? But there were some good moves in here. We can say that with the Raiders. And certainly they'll be more watchable and more relevant next year than they were this past year. All right, let's take a break. We come back. I got another like for you. All right, we are back here on the Ringer NFL show. I'm surprised it took us this long to get to this

name, Deont. I thought you might lead the show with this guy. For me, this falls in the category of the Crosby discussion. We just had where it's like, I don't know, but then I'm like, yes, I would have been a yes. And that's Mike Evans to the 49ers. I like it. You know, it's a three-year deal worth up to up to is always a key word to keep a key phrase to keep an eye on because it means that that's not actually what it is up to $60 million. So even if it was that, it would be $20 million per year. It probably comes down. I think there's some reporting that the guarantees are only, you know, between 16 and 20 million. So maybe it equates to like a one year deal. Let me be clear. They're betting on the exception because if you look at the last 10 years, wide receivers that

are this age, age 33 or older, who have had a thousand yards, Larry Fitzgerald, Julian Edelman, and Adam Thielin with that weird year in Carolina a couple of years ago where he somehow had a thousand yards because they couldn't have anybody else. It's funny bringing up those three names, right? Because you have Larry Fitzgerald who just defied time at the tail end of his career. And then you had two basically force-fed slot inside-out guys, right? Like neither guy is really fitting them.

None of those three guys really fit the mold of what we're talking about with Mike Even Fitzgerald, actually, now that I think about, was probably playing the slot. Remember, he was playing the slot at a high percentage at that stage of his career. So, yes, for an outside receiver like Mike Evans, it is even more rare. Yet I look at it and I say he's had a, you know, his career is kind of an exception when you look at it. He's certainly been in that tier of wide receiver. You have Kyle Shanahan. And I'm like, he doesn't have to do it all.

You still have kiddle. You got Pearsall. You got McCaffery. I probably like Purdy a little bit more than you like Purdy, but I'm like, I look at all that. And they had a good offense last year where I like the move. Now, the other side of it is this is a freaking old team. This is such an old football team.

Oh, my gosh. McCaffrey, Kittle, Evans, Trent Williams, if he stays, there's a, you know, of course that is in a contract disputing might get traded. Kyle Eusechek, DeMarcus Robertson, Colton McKivitz, Matt Barrow's of the Athletic, tweeted out, all those names. All those guys are in their 30s. And what do we talk about every year? Oh, the 49ers injury luck.

Well, guys in their 30s are more susceptible to injuries than guys who are 26 years old. So I'm not telling you this is going to definitely work out great, that it's the smartest move to make. Yet I look at it and say, if I'm really only signing up for one year of guaranteed money, I think I probably would have said, let's roll the dice and go with it on Mike Evans. what do you think? I don't know. I guess to me, it's like,

some of those things that in my head before we got to free agency, I would have thought it was a little bit more of a sexy idea than it is a reality. Yeah, you liked it. I think when I floated it when we were talking Mike Evans

a couple weeks ago. A few weeks ago, I think I was really interested in what that could be. And I think that maybe now, as I'm just looking at what the money is and then just looking at the rest of the lineup,

I'm like, man, I don't know. Those $20 million dollars could have been spent in a lot of different ways to help address some of the other needs that this team has. But maybe, you know, I also don't want to dismiss outright the fact that the 49ers had a machine of an offense, right?

Like, that can not be understated. I understand that by the time I saw the Seahawks, when I saw the Seahawks in the playoffs, they clearly were just not playing the same sport that Seattle was playing, right? And they pretty easily just got wiped off the field. I totally understand that. I can respect that, right?

The issue, though, is that I think that kind of undergirds the way that I feel about the 149, Niners in general, right? At their best, they absolutely can tear up and down the field. I just don't know if these guys at this age and around a quarterback that is only some timing and his ability to create in a way that really threatens elite defenses, I just don't know if I feel the greatest about it now that I'm actually thinking about where they stack up.

Maybe if the Rams hadn't made the Trip McDuffie trade and signed Jalen Watson, I might feel a little bit better about their kind of place in the hierarchy of the NFC West. but I'm like, this is pretty squarely the third best team in the NFC West. And I don't know if I trust them to beat the Rams, right? I don't know if I trust them at all to beat the Seahawks. We clearly seem that they've struggled with that defense since Michael McDonald has been hired there. I don't know, man. I don't love it.

I don't love it. I think it might be a like for me, but this is truly maybe the closest to being a net zero overall for when I'm kind of judging what I think of this team and this signing on an individual level. I got to admit, as I was reading out all those players in the 30s, I'm like, wait, do I really like, do I actually like this? I think it's like the signing, not like the situation for the 49 years overall. There you go. See, sometimes you know me better than I know myself. You're right. If they were surrounding Mike Evans, if it was like, oh, this guy's 26 and this is an up-and-comer who's 28, then I would have been like, great, add Mike Evans to that mix and a Kyle Shanahan offense. That was good last year, let's go.

But now asking this entire group to have a certain level of health and injury luck next year, when to your point, they're in a division with two of the leading Super Bowl contenders in the entire NFL, maybe it doesn't move the needle as much as I thought it did when I first started that conversation. Would be happy to be wrong. I would love to look up in November and say like, oh man, Mike Evans is on track for another 1,000-yard season.

He's the best red zone threat in the NFL. NFL, right? Brock Brady's just throwing a fade route after fade route and these comeback routes and he's always open and that's great. He's a supercharged, Juan Jennings in this offense. But man, I just look at it and I'm like, I don't think this is going to be sad, but I don't think that we're going to be, I don't think there's going to be appointment viewing the way that we might have

liked to have thought about it earlier in Mike Evans' career, especially after some of the lower body injuries that he's had to battle through for the last two seasons. Yeah, I think you're right about that. All right, what do you got, you got a like or a dislike for me next? Let's go. I honestly, and this is maybe an issue of mine, I always got to break the format for one reason or the other. I'm going to give you both, right? Because they're both from the same team. I really like the John Franklin Myers signing, and I really dislike the Wondell Robinson signing for Tennessee.

And I think this was the next team on my list. So good. I'm glad we're getting to him. I don't understand why Wondell Robinson commanded this much on the first day of the tampering period in free agency. I don't know what kind of cost certainty you think you're getting with Wondell Robinson as your slot receiver. And I think that if all you're looking for was a slot receiver, there's a lot of ways to address that, right? That does not call for you paying a guy

who was not all that impressive in New York the amount that they're paying him. And then on the flip side of that, John Franklin Myers is a defensive tackle and a Robert Salah defense next to Jeffrey Simmons. Bay fee. Yeah, yeah. That is what I like to see.

That's what I like to see. Trying to scheme up these one-on-one opportunities on the interior for those two guys and watching them be game wreckers on the interior, I'm all in on that. So this might be one of those situations for me where I'm watching the Titans on defense when they're playing against teams that I'm interested in.

And I just don't really know what to make of this offense, especially in conjunction with, you know, Brian Daible calling this O and all the other things that I kind of have questions about around Cam Ward as a quarterback. I ended up landing in the same place because first I looked at this and I go, Robert Sala, you know, failed as a head coach, Brian Dabal failed as a head coach. And now they're signing all the guys they coached at their previous stops.

This doesn't seem like a good idea. But then I thought, that's not being fair, that fair to Robert Sala because he had very good defenses with the Jets. And he's been in different stops where he's had very good defenses. So if he wants to bring in his guys who he's coached before, that actually is reasonable to me. You know, they trade for Jermaine Johnson. They signed John Franklin Myers. They even signed Alante Taylor. He hasn't coached before.

But I'm like I like Alante Taylor a lot as a cornerback. So I'm like, all right, I can actually talk myself into these moves that they're making on defense where now I look at it and go, maybe there's some upside with that defense with Robert Salah coaching him. So I like that. And then I looked at the offensive side of the ball. And one of my dislikes was the need to get Brian Dayball his guys. Why is this a priority? have guys. Why does he get to have guys? Why does he have any leverage? Why does he have? I mean, he can have a voice. He can say, I prefer, oh, I really like this guy. But if you're the GM,

Mike Borgon, say who might be coaching for your job, because that's what the Titans do. They fire a coach or a GM every year, depending on the way the wind blows. So you might be up now because they fired their coach last year. Why are you listening to that and going, I'm going to get him, Wondale Robinson for $19 million per year. He had Wondale Robinson with his offenses, with the Giants. And except for one year, those offenses pretty much sucked. Like they were literally among the worst in the entire NFL. I'm not saying that's all because of Wondale Robinson,

but you get the point. You don't know they need to go out of Russia. And it's Wondell Robinson. And then it's tied in Daniel Bellinger. And then so go get me Mitchell Trubisky because Brian Dave all coached him in Buffalo. why are we signing all these guys that Brian DeBall coached before it was a disaster

when he coached with these guys with the Giants. So yeah, I did not like that at all. And I sit back and I go from a Titans fan. We got all this money. I had a quarterback in his rookie season who some people love the film and the traits and the highlights

and other people look at the numbers and go, that's not good company he's in as a rookie. And all I wanted going into this offseason was let's, put some pieces around him where we can feel better about Kim Ward after next season. And those pieces are Wondale Robinson, Daniel Bellinger, and Mitchell Trebisky. I'm sorry.

That is not good enough. If I'm a Titans fan, I am like, this is what? This is who we added with our money. And now Brian Dayball, people are trying to convince me he could do more with less, even though that literally has not been the case. We've never seen that. I mean, he had Josh Allen. Did Josh Allen face?

The MVP level, Josh Allen? No, come on. Yeah. So you can't make your reputation off Josh Allen. So, yeah, I think we landed in the same place there where I can talk myself into this. This could be a pretty fun defense. Let's see where we're at after the draft. And Sala has earned the benefit of the doubt.

But the other side of the ball and the most important part about the franchise with KM. Ward, I'm like, this didn't work out how it should have worked out. And it's only one day, but one day in, it didn't work out the way it should have worked out. I mean, like, did Romeo Dobbs block all Tennessee-related area codes? Why couldn't this, why couldn't the $78 million been put in his lap? Why couldn't we have called to Joanne Jennings? These are two guys who are not flashy, but are dependable, will work the middle of the field,

will give you options to go win contested catches in a way that we clearly saw the Tennessee's offense could not access last year. I don't get why these had to be moves on day one. It just does not make sense to me, at least on the offensive side of the ball. defensively, I think I can squint and see a competent league average level defense around, you know, this interior core of John Franklin Myers and Jeffrey Simmons. Everything else, though, do I don't know what we're doing.

If I'm Robert Sala, at least if I'm a friend of Robert Sala, I'm really sitting back in the like, buddy, we've done this before. You've made this mistake before and put it all your trust in our offensive play caller, who says that he knows has all the answers for your quarterback, and it ended up torpedoing your tenure at the last spot. I don't know why, to your point, Brian Dewell gets to walk in and say, hey, I can't run my offense without this receiver.

Well, then you just don't get to have that receiver. I'm sorry, God. Either that or put together a different offense. It doesn't work like that. You're not the GM. Some of these coaches just have a spell over people. I don't get it sometimes. All right, we're on the same page with the Titans.

Let's finish with the quarterback moves, Deonté. And again, there's so many, other moves that happened that we will get to. We'll be back tomorrow. We'll talk about it throughout the week. But I did want to hit on the quarterbacks. Malik Willis goes to the Miami Dolphins for around $23 million per year, which is actually a little less than I think.

I had him at about $25 million per year. And then as the report started coming in at the combine, I'm like, is he going to get like $30 million per year? This is kind of crazy. So $23 million per year. There's not a lot of quarterbacks in that sort of middle class. starter, Justin Fields. This is kind of like his contract from last year with the Jets.

Darnold's is higher, but still that falls in the same class. What did you make of, I don't know if it's a dart throw, 23 million per year, but what did you make of the Dolphins decision and Malik Willis's decision on this partnership? I'm kind of fascinated by it, right? I think I want to suspend my disbelief for a moment and say that the combination of he of Devon A-Chane in the back field, you add in a Jalen water, right, there's still a lot of speed, and that's always been what's kind of set Miami apart

for the last half decade, right? So I do want to hold some space for the chance that this could work out. I still think, though, I mean, you look at the entirety of this depth chart on both sides of the ball. It's going to be some really ugly football, I would guess. Emily Wallace does not have a lot of tape to suggest that, hey, he can be a ceiling razor if things go wrong in the run game. This is a guy who can really help you convert on a lot of third

and obvious passing situations. we just don't have enough for me to feel confident about it. I think that for me, the best course of action of what I would advise for any Dolphins fan is, hey, let's just see if he can actually give you two years of legitimate quarterback play. Let's hope for a successful 2026. And if that's the case,

then let's roll it into 2027. If that's what you get out of them, awesome. You know, success beyond your wildest imagination given how bad the vibes were in 2025 with Tuotonga by Lua. So I want to set a low bar because I really don't know if you can project out with any certainty what you're going to get from this offense, given the weaknesses that they're going to have,

not just on that side of the wall, but across the entire roster. Yeah, what I like about it is that it's not, it's sort of like, it's low risk. Like you're not giving up draft capital. You're not paying him $45 million per year. And it's kind of like if he stinks, you're sort of back at square one where you are right now anyway.

So does it really matter? So yeah, I'm fine with the dice roll because let's say he's the 19th best starter in the NFL. Like, that actually is an asset. That is, like, it's kind of hard, you know, to get that for 23 million per year, to get competent quarterback play, that actually puts you ahead of a lot of teams that are kind of in that middle tier of the NFL who don't have a Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes or whoever.

So I was going to be fine with a team like the Dolphins or a team like the Cardinals who just, it's sort of like, you know, they're probably not going to be relevant. It's probably not going to work out. But at the same time, it's not like you're setting your franchise back because you're not giving up anything to get the guy. So yeah, I'm interested in it. I'm rooting for him. You know, it's kind of been a fun story. It's been a pretty unique story to have that run in Tennessee and then only have those six games. But man, some of those games, you're like, he looks incredible. And he is physically talented. It's not like you're betting on a guy who you're just saying, oh, he had a nice stretch of six games. But, you know, he doesn't. He does it.

in a certain way. Like his tools, his traits are absolutely there. So I'm fine with it for the dolphins while acknowledging, yeah, is it likely that it's going to work out? No, of course not. But you know what? It's not my money. It's $23 million per year.

They got to get a quarterback somewhere. So who cares? Maybe it'll be fun and they'll be more relevant here in the next couple of years. The other quarterback move associated with this, the day started with the dolphins releasing to Utung of Iloa and then giving out a heartfelt tribute video, even as they're saying, we're paying, I forget, what is it, $90 million to go away? Ninety-nine million for you to go away. Tua becomes available. And then the Atlanta Falcons say, we will take a flyer on Tua. Now, this is similar to the Kyler Murray situation where there's offset language. So you're signing him to a veteran minimum type deal. Did that surprise you that the Falcons were a team? to take a flyer on Tua? Do you think it's a worthwhile flyer? What did you make of that?

I was kind of hoping that it would have been Kyler Murray, right, personally. I just think that Kyler Murray, the ceiling that you can get with him athletically, his arm talent and all that, in combination with what you can get out of Atlanta's offense was really appealing to me. I do think, though, like, hey, you get a leftie

who probably plays at a very similar style and pace and cadence is the guy that you wanted to kind of base the future of this franchise around in Michael Phoenix. I think that's probably, fine, you know? And I was kind of laying out like, let's think about all of the outcomes, right? Tua is good and Atlanta is good. Awesome. It's your job for the rest of 2020s. Tua's bad. Does anybody want to trade for Tua for the second half of the year? Is your quarterback hurt?

Because we're not going to extend them no matter what. If they're both bad, hey, the guy that we wanted to start, TOR is ACL late in the year. And we were just kind of trying to bridge this thing over anyways, right? I think that it's not like Kevin Cepansky has to walk in the door in a immediately make good on what this situation is. Because we understand that this is a roster that was not built with balance in mind under the former regime. And I think that just trying to get something dependable in the building would definitely go a long way.

And I think that Tua, when he's healthy, can give you something dependable. The ceiling is not as high as what we would like. But you know he's going to make certain throws no matter what. You know he's going to have certain issues no matter what. And I think that if you're Kevin Spansky, you'll probably feel like this is the best quarterback I've worked with since Baker Mayfield. So, hey, man, I'll give this a shot and just see what we can get out of it. And I think if you're Atlanta, you probably feel pretty similar as well, right?

This is something that he can be the style of quarterback that you hoped you were going to get out of Desmond Ritter when you drafted him, that you hoped you were going to get out of Kirk Cousins when you signed him to all that money, and definitely what you thought you might get out of Michael Phoenix when you drafted them in the top 10. So for that reason alone, I'm willing to give it a shot, especially since there's not much financial commitment here. If it doesn't work, shoe shoe, too. You know, you're right back out in the market. So I think that there are a lot of ways in which this can work out, even if it does not necessarily mean that Atlanta now catapults to the top of the NFC South.

The money is the biggest thing to me where it's just like paying a quarterback $1.3 million who might be able to, you know, give you average starting quarterback play. I can just never be like, oh, you shouldn't do that. I mean, that's perfectly fine. Backups are making $7, $8, $9 million per year. So you're talking about a guy who might be able to give you starter level play. So that's why he's appealing, why Kyler Murray is appealing. I mean, like you said, Tua doesn't offer a high ceiling.

You're kind of hoping he keeps you afloat. Maybe he can, you know, get back to some form of the quarterback he was when that Dolphins offense was playing really well a few years ago. But I think it's a fine move for them to make, given their quarterback situation, like you said with Michael Pennix Jr. coming off the injury. So I think that one's fine as well. All right, we did have, you know,

I was hoping we had a big trade, Deontay or something, some big, you know, an AJ Brown move or something else while we were recording this. We didn't get that, but we did get a signing. So I got to hit you with one breaking new signing during the podcast. And it's a team we haven't talked about that was active today. So it's a good way to finish the show. Devin Lloyd. linebacker formerly of the Jaguars,

signs with the Carolina Panthers. This is according to NFL network. Three year, $45 million deal with $25 million guaranteed. So the Carolina Panthers today signed Devin Lloyd and Jalen Phillips who we didn't talk about yet, who got $30 million per year from the Carolina Panthers.

What do you think of those two moves? $45 million per year tied up in those two. players feels a little precarious to me, right? It doesn't mean that I dislike it, though. I think that this is really them trying to continue to build on positive momentum. When you think about Carolina, they played really well defensively, especially in coverage, right? I think the combination of Dante Jackson and J.C. Horn were probably one of the better one-two punches in the league, especially down the strike. The playoff game was incredible, Mike Jackson, and yeah, I felt unbelievable.

Excuse me, Mike Jackson. Yeah, you're right. Excuse me, Mike Jackson. but I think the combination of those two guys, especially when they really kind of honed in on playing man coverage, there were games where I was watching, you mentioned it in the playoffs, and I would just say down like the last month, month and a half,

I was watching, I was like, man, they've got to got something on the back end of this defense. Even Tron Miracle, I think, might have been a little bit of an aggressive contract that they offered the last year. I think that when he was available, he gave them something decent. It was definitely an upgrade from a poor safety room in years prior.

And now you bring in an edge rusher, which I think they need it. I think that they did the right thing last year and drafting a couple of edge rushers, but eventually you need some certain production. And while Jalen Phillips has not always been certain because of his injury issues, I think you saw his ceiling in Philadelphia,

both as a high motor run defender and a guy who can give you genuine pressure right off the edge. And Devon Lloyd to me, I think, is really probably the home run swing, right? That's you paying $45 million in the hopes that the turnover production, even if it wanes, is not going to come out of cost for his consistency. and it's a guy that you can blitz a bunch. She does have some flexibility between the first and second level. So I want to believe that this might really allow this team

to lock into what they were doing at their best, which is getting after quarterbacks and playing a lot of man coverage behind it. And if that's what we ultimately exit with, I think that that's a win for Carolina, right? It's just to have a truly identifiable strategy defensively that can go win them games in the way that they did in flashes last season.

With Phillips, it really felt like, Last year, remember, they were trying to go after Milton Williams and all the reporting was they're going to get Milton Williams and the Patriots get him. I could just picture David Tepper, you know, walking into Dan Moore. It ain't happening again. It ain't. Listen, whatever. Because the biggest mistake you make in free agency is whatever it takes. If you get to whatever it takes and I know you had money to spend that those contracts usually don't work out.

I mean, Jalen Phillips 30 million per year, you know, I thought like the high ending would be 25, 24. I like to, I don't want to, I'm not ripping Jalen Phillips. I think he's a very fun player. I love the energy he plays with, the enthusiasm, the versatility. And he's really good when he's healthy. Now, he has had major injury issues in previous years. I hope he stays healthy, good for him, getting that guaranteed money. So we'll see how that one works out.

I would not have gone to $30 million per year on Jalen Phillips, but I hope it works out great. For the Panthers, you're right, they've really signed a lot of guys the last. last two off seasons here combined with the guys they've drafted where you would really like to see, you know, all right, Derek Brown, Jalen Phillips, now you got Devin Lloyd, you got the corners, you got Marry, get safety, you have Everro who I feel like he, I like the idea of Everro, I feel like he kind of just gets screwed with the talent on his team teams, you know, like I'm not, I sometimes look at and I'm like, oh, this isn't the most impressive resume, but I'm like, I'm not, I'm not giving up on

him. I've seen him do good things. previously. So yeah, that's a team. It's going to be fun to keep an eye on after the draft. Is that one in August where we're like doing our top 10 defenses, a podcast or something? We're like, I got a surprise the Carolina Panthers. Do they get to that level of defense? So we'll see. The Lloyd contract, I actually thought he might get more. You know, I had him around 18 million per year projection and it ends up being 15 million per year. So I don't think that one was actually a bad overpay. It's more of a question of his skill set, what he did, last year. And I would say the last two years, I think he's been pretty good. Does it translate now to a new

spot in a new scheme? Or is this one of those other linebacker contracts for a year from now? They're like, all right, we're moving on from Devon Lloyd. That didn't work out, which we see in free agency. So we'll see what happens with the Carolina Panthers. All right. We didn't get to everything. Don't worry. Commanders, bears, giants, Bengals, Saints, Steelers. There's a lot of giants. I I don't know if I already said giants or not. We will get to all these teams and all these big moves throughout the course of the week as new moves are made throughout the NFL. This was only the first day of the negotiating period.

So a lot of fun to talk about this stuff again. We will be glued to all the news on Tuesday and we will come back with another pod then and then throughout the week. Thank you to Deonté Lee from the Ringer. Thank you to Christopher Sutton for producing Stefano Sanchez on video. additional production supervision by Connor and Arjuna Ram Gopal. I'm Sheila Capadio. We'll talk to you next time on the Ringer NFL show.

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