The Ringer NFL Show - Shedeur Sanders Prank Call Fallout, J.J. McCarthy’s Readiness, and Offseason Veteran Updates

Episode Date: May 1, 2025

Sheil, Steven, and Diante start the pod by discussing the latest buzz around the Shedeur Sanders prank call scandal, and sharing their takes on J.J. McCarthy's bid to be the Vikings' new starting QB. They then shine a light on some of veteran contracts around the NFL that are still in question and speculate on their eventual landing spots, including: Kirk CousinsDallas Goedert and Mark AndrewsGeorge Pickens and Tyreek HillJaire Alexander and Jalen RamseyAaron RodgersTrey Hendrickson The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit⁠⁠⁠ www.rg-help.com⁠⁠⁠ to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hosts: Sheil Kapadia, Steven Ruiz, and Diante LeeProducer: Chris SuttonSocial: Kiera GivensProduction Supervision: Conor Nevins and Arjuna Ramgopal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When you hear the word Seattle Supersonics, what comes to mind? Maybe it's Sean Kemp, The Rain Man, or Gary Payton, the glove, or maybe an image of a tall and skinny 19-year-old rookie, Kevin Duran. For fans in Seattle, it's something else. It's tragedy. It's theft. An iconic team with an incredible fan base that packed its bags and shipped off for Oklahoma City. From Spotify and The Ringer, I'm Jordan Ritter-Con.

And in my podcast, Sonic Boom, I talk to players, politicians, owners, and fans about how Seattle lost the Sonics. You can listen to it on the Book of Basketball feed on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. Welcome to the Ringer NFL show. Shield Capadia here with Stephen Ruiz and Deontay Lee. We got some news around the NFL, some headlines that interest us on this Wednesday afternoon. And then we've got some unanswered questions around the NFL. We had the draft, but we've still got some guys who,

Are they going to get traded? Are they going to get released? Are there going to be moves made between now and training camp? Because Deonti, we know the NFL's not going to have a quiet time. They'll space these out day by day, week by week that leaks to the insiders. And every day from now until week one, we will have some sort of headline in the NFL. So I guess we got to talk about all those as well. 1,000%.

I was talking to family. They're like, oh, it's got to feel good that the offseason is here. And I was like, A, doesn't exist. Not in my job. not my line of work at all. And B, at this time of year, like you said, every week we're going to find out, this player is getting a June 1st cut.

This player is being traded. This player is reworking their deal. We've got the schedule release, which they have now turned into this mid-spring event thing, and they're going to be able to milk content. And us as well at the ringer are going to milk some content out of that because that's just the nature of the calendar here

dealing with the NFL. I'm starting to get roped into weeknight plans with my wife. So I'm kind of bummed out about, Like, I used to be able to lie and be like, hey, I got it worked. I got to write something. It's football season. Now, maybe I should just make up stories and be like, what? Jim Wright just signed a $400 million deal.

I'm going to write about it. Yeah, it all depends on the family member. You know, my mom, I could still say, you know, I'm watching a Phillies game. Oh, is that for work? Yeah. No, yeah, that's for that's for work. Sorry, I can't make it to some stuff. But yeah, it all depends, you know.

And your wife, Ruiz, now this is many a year you cover in the NFL. So I think she will know, you know, when is that slow time? Or maybe we do some of that stuff that we weren't able to do during the season. Listen, this is a little insight into our lives. There you go. A little insight into Jeff Oldbrick's life. All right. Let's start with that.

We got to start with the story that has taken over the nation. The prank call heard around the world to Shador Sanders from Jacks Oldbrick, the son of Falcons defensive coordinator. Jeff Oldbrook, and we get some fallout here. Now, I think we were all on the same page in the last show where we're like, all right, he's a jerk. You shouldn't have done that. Sucks for Sodor Sanders. You don't want that on, you know, one of the biggest days of your life. But we were ready to move on after that, you know, 21-year-old making a mistake. The NFL was not ready to move on. Finding the Falcons, $250,000. But maybe, well, not maybe, definitely the more interesting part of this is they find Jeff. Ulbrick, the defensive coordinator of the Falcons for his son's actions, gets fined $100,000. The NFL says the fines were, quote, were for, quote, failing to prevent the disclosure of confidential information distributed to the club in advance of the NFL draft. Deante, $100,000, Jeff Oldbrick gets fined here.

I just read the story honestly about five minutes before we came on. I didn't realize the amount that was being levied there or that it was both to the Falcons and to the defensive coordinator. Are we, is this a good idea? This is a bad idea? Where are we with this punishment levied by the NFL? I think I closed the last conversation we had with this, expecting there to be fines internally, right?

And I think maybe if it's internal fines, the number doesn't hit six figures. I think the NFL definitely wants to hammer them over the head with this, you know, as the NFL does, we're not just finding you or sending a message to the other 32 teams and all the news organizations that have been covering this this week to let them know that we take this very seriously. I'm just, man, I'm really empathizing with Jeff Holbrook here in this moment, man. I'm really empathizing with them because if I got hit with that Manila envelope with the NFL insignia on it and it says that I owe them $100,000 or I go to my bank state, and I see that I'm $100,000 short on my latest paycheck.

I'm going to be pretty upset about that. Ruiz, I have so many questions here. I mean, we were doing some research right before we came on about what coordinators make. And I believe what, you found one that said, what, average around a million dollars a couple years ago? That was from three years ago. So best guess, let's say like 1.3, 1.5 million.

He's like an average defensive coordinator. That's like the hard part if you're Jeff Oldbrick. I got to go to Jackson. Like, have you seen my work? Did you see the Jets defense after Robert Sala got fired? I might not have this job for a long time. $100,000 is a lot of money. You might have to fight your kid.

That's all I'm saying. It's a lot of money. I have so many. I mean, you're getting fine for something. You're 21-year-olds. If we were all responsible for what our 21-year-old children did, you know? I mean, this is,

you think Logan Roy was responsible for Roman or Kennedy? I mean, he's fighting this. He's not going to accept this type of fine. I mean, it's the old nurture versus names. You know, Jeff Volbrook can only do so much, but your son's 21 years old. He's bored. Now, I am curious, how does he get into that iPad? You know, I know the iPad was left around the house or whatever.

Usually they got a little pin code. Would you expect Ruiz that your 21-year-old son would have the passcode, you know, without the facial recognition to get into that iPad? That's one question that has not been answered yet. Like, I knew my dad's passcode for everything. like everyone in the house knew it. He didn't switch it up enough. It was some variation of the same pass code.

So I'm sure you could break in. And Jeff Oldbrick, I mean, he seems like a one, two, three, four password kind of kind of move. That's all I'm saying. And maybe you left to know. He's a coordinator, Cody. He likes his passwords like he likes his coverage. He doesn't run, you know, he doesn't run the exotic stuff, which is the basics. Oh my gosh.

There you go. Yeah, I guess my kids do, you know, they would be able to. They do know my password. So I guess I can't talk there. All right, hopefully, this story's over. This is like Roger Goodell's perfect controversy, man. Just in the headlines, people can yell about it like us. People can yell about it on the debate shows.

Does it really matter? Probably not. Now, every prospect's being asked about, have you been prank called? Have you been prank called? It doesn't look like it's a one-person thing. So we'll see if there's more to it. But I hope that we don't have to talk too much about it here. Or should prank call him with a job offer.

Because those might be hard to come back. Jacks or Jacks, maybe, maybe in a couple of years. I was going to say, if you're Jeff, man, this is exactly why everybody hires their sons, because if this was his son that worked for the Falcons, that fine would get passed off to the child and not to you. So let this be a lesson in nepotism for you, sir. A lesson in epitism. Usually the NFL doesn't need those, but in this case, you still can go further.

That's what we've learned when the prank call fallout. All right, let's get to some actual football stuff. The Minnesota Vikings. Let's check it on the Minnesota Vikings because JJ McCarthy, according to ESPN, spoke to reporters for the first time in 235 days. Vikings reporters got to watch him throw an actual football on the field. He's healthy. He's practicing. And it feels like, at least to me, I want to hear if you guys maybe disagree here or not, but it feels like for the first time,

I can say pretty definitively that J.J. McCarthy is going. to be the Viking starter in week one and throughout the 2025 season, barring some kind of setback or injury or anything like that. So the flirtations initially with Aaron Rogers, then some reporting about Kirk Cousins, who we'll get to later in the podcast, it feels like those are over. And now I think it's fair to have the discussion. How do we think this is going to go? You know, 22 years old, meniscus injury in the preseason opener. Last year had a second surgery in November because of swelling. And I think now the question is, can he give you some version of what Sam

Darnold gave you last year, Ruiz? What are your expectations for J.J. McCarthy in this Vikings offense, you know, as we look ahead to the 2025 season? I think it's a complicated question because we can't really tell what McCarthy learned over his first year in the NFL. Like the last time we saw him was two years ago at Michigan. And in the preseason for a little bit, we saw a couple of performances. So like the mental part of it is the toughest part.

But like comparing the two, Donald and McCarthy throw for throw, like that's where you're probably going to see the biggest gap between the two. Because Sam Donald, for all his shortcomings, is one of the better throwers of the football in the NFL. And McCarthy, I think that was the big question mark with him coming out of Michigan.

It's not that he doesn't have the arm strength because you can see him when he zips a pass. Like he puts some zip on it. But the question with him is can he make all the throws? can he layer the ball when he has to? And you didn't really see that much on the Michigan tape. And you didn't really see that much in preseason last year. And when you compare the two making similar throws,

you can really see the difference in armed talent between the two. So I think that's the biggest question. But it's up to O'Connell to kind of create an offense that allows his strengths to shine. Like he did last year with Sam Donald. He kind of did it the year before with all those backup quarterbacks after Kirk Cousins went down. I have confidence in O'Connell bringing what he needs to bring, to the table. The question mark is J.J. McCarthy. And just based on what I've seen, I think you're going to see a limited, haired down version of what we saw in the passing game

last year in Minnesota. Deontay, what do you think? I think the Stephen kind of outlined a lot of the reasons why I struggled with McCarthy when he was coming into the draft and coming into the league, right? Like, I think it's less a question of capability. I think just in terms of evaluating pure tools in terms of arm strength, its ability to control arm angles, can he push the ball downfield accurately. All those things are there. The issue with me and the hang up with me is what kind of decision maker is he going to be? Right. Like as a college football fan, like for him, I heard, I had heard about him before he took over the starting job because they were split in time at Michigan before he became a full-time starter. And they gave all the, you know, they kind of blew up

what he was going to be as a quarterback and they end up winning a national title. But you actually watch him on a week-by-week basis. And he does a pretty good job of like sticking to this kind of rope marriage to, okay, I go from one to two to three. I go from here to the checkdown because that is what my quarterbacks coach, my head coach, and my offensive coordinator is telling me to do. And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. But Michigan's offense does not ask you to be, or Jim Harbaugh's offense in general, does not ask you to be an aggressive decision maker.

If anything, it's the opposite. You're usually being asked to make more conservative decisions to protect the football. And I think that all that is fine. I've just seen, I've seen that in this offense. And that offense had a ceiling when it was Kirk Cousins at the helm. And then the best year he had was a year where he was willing to take contact in the pocket to be able to push the ball downfield. The hot start for Minnesota with Sam Darnold, a lot of that was born out of his willingness to take more aggressive chances and being able to take impact in the pocket to push the ball downfield to Jordan Addison and Justin Jefferson. I have not seen that from J.J. McCarthy yet.

So I'm really fascinated about what the design of the offense is because there's a lot of ways that they can access things for Kevin O'Connell that didn't exist with Cousins and Arnold. McCarthy's a pretty good mover, assuming that his knee is 100% healthy. I do think that he adds a level of athleticism that can get you in the play action game, the bootlegs. You can maybe use him as a design runner if he's healthy. I do think that with the zip that he puts on passes, you can still push the wall outside the numbers at times if he's willing to make those decisions. It's just a really big question right now just based on his play style coming into the league. Like you said, Shield, we don't really have much of an answer about how he spent his time mentally being hurt,

dealing with the surgeries, recovering from the surgeries. I think that maybe if you're looking for the most optimistic lens, it's the fact that there was no need for him to be made available at this stage in the calendar. And the fact that the Vikings are comfortable with him doing so and him speaking to his process and getting healed, I'm willing to, I'm willing to entertain the idea that he might be ready to take over this job and at least be passable, even if he's not on the level of what Sam Donald looked like in September and October last year. Just to be clear, you met Kirk Cousins when he said he had his best year when he was like

willing to stand in there and take the hits and deliver the throws. Because, yeah, that's totally what I saw on film from Kirk Cousins two years ago. And Darnold, like, for all his shortcomings, like, as a processor, he held onto the ball for too long, he took some bad sacks. The guy was willing to make the big boy throws. And Kirk Cousins, the year before, like I just said, was willing to make the big boy throws? That's the question with JJ McCarthy, like Deonti said.

He never had to do it at Michigan. So it's going to be interesting to see. But I do think the supporting cast around him is better than it's been the past. two years, which offers a higher ceiling. But even the receiving court, short last year, it's the same guys, right? It's Jordan Addison. It's obviously Jefferson.

Now you have Jordan Addison going into his second year. Jefferson, you're just expecting Jefferson. He hasn't reached this prime yet, which is a scary thought. So he could take it up another level. T.J. Hawkinson, he could be healthy and played the full season. So it could, and the offensive line, I didn't mention the offense line. The offensive line is the biggest gross, right? And that's something that Cousins or Donald,

like neither of those guys really had was an offensive line that had been addressed the way that they did this offseason, bringing in Ryan Kelly, Will Fries, and then drafting Donovan Jackson. So this could be an entirely different complexion of the offense that we have not seen, especially if Christian Darosol can stay healthy.

And if Kelly, they bring in the veteran center so he can handle the protections and do all that stuff. So you take something off of JJ McCarthy's plate. He has one last thing to worry about before the staff. I can definitely see him being a worse quarterback than those two guys we mentioned. I think it's almost guaranteed. that he's not going to play as well as those guys.

It would be unfair to have expectations for him to play better than those two played the last two years, but the offense could still get better and improve in other ways. Yeah, to put it into perspective with some numbers, I remember looking up a year or two ago just, and I know he's not a rookie, but the average rookie quarterback generally performs around like the 25th best starter in the NFL.

So for every Jade and Daniels, Drake May, or whatever, there are a couple of guys who are, you know, among the worst quarterbacks in the NFL. And so that just always sets my expectation when I say this guy's playing for the first time, average performance would be around the 25th best starter. Does he have a better situation or a worse situation? Are my expectations for him higher or lower than an average starter? So I think there's that.

And then there's the Sam Darnold stuff that we've talked about a lot just statistically. You know, how did he perform? He was around the 15th to 16th best starter in the NFL. So that's the gap you're looking at between kind of an average. average guy playing football at quarterback for the first time and then what Sam Donald gave them last year. But I think your guy's point about the infrastructure is why I'm a little more bullish, I think, on this. Now, we'll see where I end up in August. The NFC North is kind of tough to figure out. You can really make a case for all these teams. But as we stand here

at the end of April, I feel like he's got a real shot here. You know, the infrastructure I trust with Kevin O'Connell, got the best out of Sam Darnold last year. You mentioned the wide receivers. You mentioned the offensive line. I mean, I didn't notice this until I think it was in that ESPN article. They said the Vikings now have the most expensive offensive line or the second most expensive offensive line in the NFL. So they, I mean, they went big, you know, Will Fries and Ryan Kelly, and they've got Derrissau and O'Neill and they spend their first round pick on a guard,

which we talked about it on draft night. Hey, this might have been a team that should have traded down and got more picks. They only had four or five picks in that draft. they decide to stay put and draft Donovan Jackson, the guard from Ohio State. But you can see it on paper now that you short up the interior of that offensive line, which it feels like has been an issue for them for what, five, eight, ten years. Yeah, like I really can't remember the last time. You're like, I feel good about it.

Yeah, I mean, going back there. So I feel like there's a good infrastructure in place. I feel like they're better on defense personnel-wise than they were last year. You know, they made some signings. Jonathan Allen, Javon Hargrave. they bring back Byron Murphy. So I think they've got enough people on that side of the ball where I just feel like there's different paths to this being a pretty good team,

a playoff team, maybe a team that can compete in the NFC North. I don't know. Again, the Packers and Lions are probably more established. But I think McCarthy's got a real shot here. Yeah, the only worries for me are things that I can't answer until we see them play on the field. One is how is McCarthy going to play? We don't know. And the other one is how much is the defense going to regress?

Because you are expecting some defensive progression just based on how they play. It's a havoc-based defense. We were relying on turnovers. And they got a lot of turnovers last year. They were one of the best defenses in the league, and we know year to year that doesn't tend to stick. Although I was expecting that last year, and it didn't, you know, coming away.

It just kind of has a neck, it seems like it seems like Barthores just beats the regression allegations. I'm definitely giving Flores the benefit of the doubt. The McCarthy question is the bigger one for me. Yeah. I guess, you know what she'll, the last thing I want to say, I think that you framed it properly, right, is where rookies

typically land, right? And if you're considering this his rookie year in terms of his play, if he lands at 25th in the league in terms of quality of play, I don't know if there's a roster that's better constructed to handle the 25th best quarterback in the NFL and still being able to win games than Minnesota. When you think about their staff, their style of play, what they've built on their depth chart on both sides of the ball, I think if you get Bo Nick's level play from him in 2025, that feels reasonable to me. That can contend in the NFC North, if not continue the NFC period, especially if the defense stay stable.

Yeah. It definitely feels reasonable. I like to better than Knicks coming into the draft. I don't think Knicks, like, changed my priors much last year. I mean, I know Broncos fans are excited. I know they made the playoffs, but like you look at the stats, it's like he's probably in line with that stat.

You just said 25th best quarterback based on numbers. Yeah. I mean, he gives you the athleticism. He can rip throws to the middle of the field. You know, you saw that. What you said, Rees, about how there wasn't a lot of different trajectories and different types of throws.

on his college film. I definitely felt that. I mean, I remember just watching him in college, and I'm like, okay, this Michigan team's really good, but he's not being asked to do a lot. And then the draft season started, and people are like, he's going to be a first-round pick. And I'm like, what? He wasn't asked to do it. You know, he looks like a classic good old school, you know, kind of that college football quarterback who leads the winning team, but I don't think it's going to be an NFL player. Then I watch the film and I'm like, okay, I understand there are, There are more traits here than I gave him credit for when I was just watching on Saturdays throughout the season. So it's been a weird journey for me with JJ McCarthy.

I would do the same thing, honestly. I liked him a lot more than I thought I would going into watching the film pre-draft. During the season, I was like, yeah, this guy's a game manager. Stetson Bennett Plus, maybe. But then you watch the film. He has a first round arm. It's just how is he going to use that arm? We'll see.

Right now, the NFC North, the Vikings are plus 430. per Fanduil to win the NFC North that's behind Detroit, behind Green Bay, only slightly ahead of Chicago. So those teams are kind of bunched there. They're plus 142 to make the playoffs, and they're over-under for wins is eight and a half. So they're kind of viewed as a fringe playoff team

that feels right to me. I feel a little bit more bullish. Maybe I'm just too bullish on too many teams in April and May. We'll get to August, and I'll just be ripping everybody. You know, yeah. I'll get back. All right. So we'll see what happens.

Good news for the Vikings is that McCarthy looks healthy. He's out there and he is going to be their quarterback barring something unforeseen. All right. We're going to take a break. We're going to come back and we're going to get into a bunch of veterans around the NFL. What's their status after the draft? Maybe guys who you thought could get traded on draft weekend didn't happen. Is it going to happen now? What are their teams saying? Or some of them could they be moved after June because of what Deonté mentioned, the post-June first stuff, which gives you a salary cap relief. We'll talk about all those when we get back. All right, we are back on the Ringer NFL show.

Let's get to some of these veterans, see what their status might be going forward. The first guy we got, man, we're Falcons heavy. Listen, Falcons fans, don't say the ringer NFL show. Now, it might not be for the reasons you always want, but the Falcons are getting a lot of love in recent episodes here. And Kirk Cousins is the guy we're going to lead off with, you know, Adam Schaefter had mentioned before the draft that the Vikings or Steelers could be options for Kurt Cousins and that the Falcons had made calls, taken calls about Kurt Cousins, but teams were not

willing to meet them at a place where the acquiring team would take on enough of his $37.5 million salary and give them the draft compensation or whatever compensation they were looking for to make a deal. And so the Falcons have kept him on their roster. They kept him on their roster. There was a deadline in March where they had to pay him a $10 million roster bonus. They kept him through that. And now we don't know.

Are they telling the truth? Had their public comments about, hey, we are willing to keep him as a backup. Are they telling the truth here? Or is there a team out there who it might still make sense to make a trade with the Falcons and acquire Kirk Cousins? Ruiz, what do you think? This was harder when I was just going through all the teams trying to find, hey, What team would it be? It's certainly harder now than it was before the draft.

Yeah, the only ones you can really pick out are if you're expecting them to want a starting quarterback, I should say. The only teams you can really pick out are the Steelers who seem destined to trade for, or sign Aaron Rogers. And then the Vikings, the team we just talked about. And I'm not willing to close that door yet. I don't know if Kevin O'Connell is willing to close that door yet. It seems like J-C-C-McCarthy is very much ready to close that door. He said he's ready to start. They did trade for Sam Hal for whatever that's whether you think that.

that's an impact or not, just mentioning it. I don't. You don't? Okay. Unfortunately. So, yeah, those are the only two teams in one of those spots has already taken, or both of those spots presumably are already taken. I don't know where he ends up.

I don't know how this works because the Falcons want, I think they want a team to pay $10 million of the $20 million they're going to owe him. They wanted $20 million of the $37.5 million. That's what it was. Yeah, teams were willing to, before this was before, willing to do $10 million. Yeah, and I just don't see how. you fork up that much money unless you get desperate.

And you only get desperate when there's an injury, and there's only going to be an injury around training camp, preseason. It tends to happen. It doesn't always happen. We've seen it before. So unless there is a significant injury to a starter, I don't know what happens with Kirk Couss. Maybe they will keep them on the roster. I mean, the dead cap is the dead cap.

The money's going to cost against the salary cap anyway. Maybe it doesn't make much of a difference. Deonté, what do you think? Do you see a team out there? How does this play out with Cousins? the Falcons. Like Stephen said, unless a quarterback, unless a starting quarterback gets injured, like during voluntary OTAs or something like that, and then just the need necessitates a move, I feel like Atlanta is kind of stuck. I think that they're going to be behind the eight ball in any

negotiation, even if they were able to press the receiving team into taking on more salary, I think that that means that Atlanta would have to attach a draft pick for that. And we know that they're going to be hurting for draft capital in the future after the way that they handled the first round this past year. And that's just not something that I would do if I were that organization. Unfortunately, I think that they're just looking at a $40 million problem sitting on their hands and they've got a hope for, you know, unfortunately, their ideal would be somebody getting hurt ahead of the season or early enough in the season where a team feels like we'll spend whatever we need to spend and take on some extra money in order to bring in what we believe to be

a starting caliber better and quarterback. If you're just, Jacks, Ulbricht, you call up the Falcons and pretend to be, get back at them, you know, pretend to be a GM, pretend to be Mickey Loomis again. I like, hey, Derek Carr's hurt. We need a guy. Yeah, we're willing to give up a, you know, multiple first round picks. They don't know. The Falcons don't really know the value of first round picks. So they might think that that's, you know, that that's actual, an actual offer there. So, yeah, I'm with you guys. I mean, I thought the Browns potentially. The Jets are another team that we didn't. mentioned the Jets. Yeah.

The Jets, yeah. They lose. Yeah. What a dirty business. You know, a quarterback's going to get injured in training camp, but the Falcons are going to be like walking around,

high-fiving in the building. That's what I'm saying. Yeah. The circumstances are kind of nasty behind this. I know. It is. It doesn't feel right. But I think once they made the decision that we're going to hang on to him,

uh, and paid this $10 million dollar roster bonus, now they, they just wait, you know, it doesn't feel like something that would happen. I could, maybe I'll be wrong.

It doesn't feel like something that would happen in the next week or month or whatever. It feels like training camp, even week one, week two, week three, week four. I mean, one of these quarterbacks goes down. And now all of a sudden you say, hey, we've got a quarterback here. Would you like to trade for Kurt Cousin? So I feel like that's probably how it's going to play out here. I just couldn't find the team. You know, I don't think it's going to be the Vikings.

Like I said, I don't think it's going to be the Browns. I mean, the Saints are they going to do that? I guess you can't rule anything out, but they take Tyler Shuggan the second round, so I don't think it's going to be the Saints. It feels like they probably would have been, you know, I feel like there would have been more of a market for Kirk Cousins very early in the offseason. If they had a number, if they were able to come to a compromise in terms of what the other team was going to take on in terms of salary, I feel like they could have got draft compensation for that.

They wouldn't have had to pay that $10 million. But I guess they felt like, hey, someone's going to give an event. and no one's given in. So now Kirk Cousins remains on the Atlanta Falcons, and he can't retire. You're not giving up that kind of money. Are you crazy? So he'll just go hang out behind Michael Pennix Jr.

Until there's an opening, maybe in Atlanta, maybe somewhere else, just depending on which quarterbacks go down. So I think we're all on the same page there. The crazy thing is that like if he's healthy, if he's like even the Kirk Cousins we saw over the first half of last year, like he's a top 15 quarterback in the NFL

and he's probably an upgrade for what, a third of the teams, maybe even more than a third of the teams and their current starting situation. It's just a matter of like the game of musical chairs. And he was the last one to get a seat at this point. Yeah. And the health factor is a little, you know, it's just hard to predict.

But I'm with you. You know, go look at the first whatever, six, eight weeks of last season. You know, they weren't doing the play action and he wasn't moving around. But he had games in there. Maybe it's just those two games against the bucks. But man, he tore the bucks up in those games.

There were still something. there. And I'm not saying, you know, he's going to be amazing, but you're looking at some of the other quarterback options that teams had this offseason. And, you know, you certainly could talk yourself into a level of competency with Kirk Cousins, especially if you believe in the supporting cast and the infrastructure where you're like, the ball's going to go where the ball's supposed to go. You know, he's going to be tough. He's going to be prepared. All those things. So we'll see what happens there with Kirk Cousins. All right. Can I throw out of like a wild car team that I don't think can afford to do this, but maybe you should think about it. Like the Bengals?

I don't know. Joe Burrow has a history of getting injured. If you have Kurt Cousins and he's healthy with that roster, I think your offense can stay afloat. We saw it stay afloat kind of two years ago when they had to play like a bunch of backups. Browning, it stayed afloat with Browning. Maybe they're saying we don't need cousins. Yeah. I don't know.

The off the beaten pass team I was thinking about, and I promise I'm not just trying to bag on the quarterback that's starting there now is like Indianapolis has a backup quarterback that's often dealing with Nixon bruises and whose play constantly falls behind because they're Nixon bruises and Daniel Jones and Anthony Richardson does take a good amount of punishment because of his running style and his playing style in the pocket even though he does shake off sacks. I could imagine a team like that. Maybe they're in the AFC South picture.

You know, there is kind of a jumble usually between the sixth and tenth best team in that conference. I could see maybe if you can talk. Atlanta down to that $10 million number that the next team would have to take on, maybe they'd bring them in, but it would have to be, I think, a team that is certainly in the playoff picture that would not have their starting quarterback or starting quarterback that is having a lot of struggles, and now you need to bring in a veteran to keep the ship afloat. What about Miami?

Miami's another team I could see. I would have thrown them out there, but they made the investment in Zach Wilson, and that shouldn't be prohibitive, but I really think that they're banking on it, being able to turn him. into something to be able to flip them for assets. That's unfortunate. That's sad. I agree. I totally agree.

Okay. All right. Next veteran we will get to here. We got a pair of tight ends here. Maybe we just, we do them together. You know, you got Dallas Goddard with the Eagles,

and you got Mark Andrews with the Raven. So what are the situations with these two guys? Dallas Goddard with the Eagles is due around $14 million this year. It's the last year of his contract. And the Eagles sound like they are not paying Dallas Goddard. 14 million this year. So it comes down to a matter of, is there an extension that lowers that number? Is there a trade? Could he potentially be released? What does Dallas Scottert think he's worth? You know, George Kittle just got a pretty big deal there with the 49ers. He's a better player than Dallas

Scottard and it's coming off a better year. But he's also what, 31, 32 years old there. So you got Dallas Scottard, no resolution there with the Eagles. They didn't draft a tight end in the draft. So they still That would leave a big hole on their roster if they were to lose Goddard. And then the other guy, Mark Andrews, of the Baltimore Ravens. There was a lot of, you know, trade buzz, rumor swirling around Mark Andrews. Earlier in the offseason, GM, Eric DeCosta said he expects Mark Andrews to remain with the team now, despite the trade speculation. But like Goddard, he is entering the final year of his deal. Now, in the Andrews situation, I think the difference is the Andrews situation feels like everybody,

could just sit tight, don't do anything. He's back on the team. That doesn't, at least as of now, feel like an option in Philadelphia where it feels like something has to be done contract-wise to make this work in Philadelphia or he's going to move on. Deonté, what do you think of these two tight ends? Are they both going to be on the rosters they're on in week one? Or could you see a potential move?

I think if I had to pick one where it's more likely we see a move, it would be Philadelphia. I think because of what you detailed, right? You look at the back end of this contract. There are a bunch of void years to start with, and the cap number for 25 and going into 26 is definitely higher than what you could pay a Dallas Goddard player, given his lack of availability,

season to season. And the fact that just like that, that offensive style, it's great when he's available. It's not necessarily a need of theirs, especially having Seekoine Barkley, right? If you're paying Seekoine Barkley, $18, 19, $20 million in a season,

you don't necessarily need your top tight end to be making similar money, right? Because a lot of the share of his touches, which were screens, YAC, you know, designed RPO's. A lot of that now is just turning into straight handoffs, right? So I would expect him to be moved. And it does not seem like, like you said, you know, you listen to Howard Rosen, talk about it. You think about the reporting coming out of Philadelphia. They seem very resigned to the fact that, like, we have told Dallas got, basically,

they have not said this outright, but it sounds very much like we have told Dallas Goddard, this is the number we're willing to. to pay. You can be happy with that and we can maybe extend you into the back end of your career at that number. Anything other than that, this is not going to work for us. This relationship is going to have to come to a close one way or the other. So I would expect him to be dealt faster than Mark Andrew. So I feel like can play out the last year of his deal. It will probably be fine. I think that they've been kind of phasing him out of the passing game anyways with the growth of Isaiah likely as a receiver. And I don't think that Baltimore necessarily feels the same kind of hurry.

I think they feel like whether Andrews is happy or not, this train is going to roll regardless. Whereas with Philadelphia, I think that just the hinting all off season is that something is impending, either a different contract structure for Dallas Goddard or he will ultimately be moved. Yeah, I think the most likely outcome for Mark Andrews is that he takes a pay cut. Like Deonti said, his role has been reduced. Isaiah likely almost caught up to him in targets last year. It was 58 to 69. Routes run.

It was 309 to 272. Andrews had the advantage in both stats. but the gap is narrowing. And I think likely at this point is the higher upside player, more explosive. I do think Andrews, one, Lamar Jackson

obviously has a comfort with them. I think you could just listen to Lamar Jackson talk about Mark Andrews. I don't think he would be happy if Mark Andrews got moved. And then two, he's still a threat in the red zone. We saw 11 touchdowns last year.

And across the board, his efficiency stats are still among the best compared to other tight ends, just a matter of availability, how he's able to stay healthy, He hasn't missed a bunch of games. He had the hip-drop tackle by Logan Thomas a couple years ago that took him out. But other than that, or Logan Wilson, sorry about that.

But other than that, he hasn't really missed too much time. So if I'm the Ravens, I want him on my team. I think he's a big part of their scheme, contrary to what Deontes said about Dallas Goddard and the Eagles scheme. I think you see a lot of two tight ends, a multi-tide-end sets with Baltimore. So that would kind of change how they operate. Whereas Goddard, he's a good player.

He breaks tackles after he catches the ball. He gets a lot of yards after the catch, like, over-expected if you look at his advanced metrics. But I don't think he's an offense changer. He's not going to change the math. I do think he might serve a better purpose with another offense that isn't so loaded at pass catcher and isn't so loaded at the school player positions. But I don't think the Eagles necessarily need them. So they have the leverage in the situation. Whereas I think Baltimore has the leverage, but in terms of like,

financial implications, which will, I think, lead to Andrews taking a pay cut. But in terms of how the offense works, it's kind of tough. Yeah, Andrews had, he was playing with the injury early in the season, right? Where it was like, man, he doesn't look like himself here. Still ends up, you know, top nine, top 10 in terms of receiving yards among tight ends, had 55 catches for 673 yards to your guy's point. You know, you have Isaiah likely. but if you're playing more two tight ends,

it doesn't mean you only have room for one of them. So I think he stays put one way or the other. Goddard, I actually hadn't looked this up previously. He was second among tight ends and yards per route run last year, which is surprising to me. I didn't realize he was that efficient, only behind George Kittle. The durability factor has been a big one, has missed 15 games over the past three seasons,

so only had 42 catches for 496 yards last year. is a very good blocker in the run game, which they're the most run-heavy team in the NFL. And when he's out of the lineup and the backups are in there, they're very often getting blown up, you know, on those split zone runs or even just at the point of attacking. Even blown up sounds like an understatement, honestly. Yeah. The rest of their tight ends have not been able to block. Harrison Bryant, they sign in the offseason. You think that may be getting him.

Yeah, I was going to say, I don't think that that's going to address it. Kyle Grantson the same. And that is where it's tricky for Philadelphia, right? We have a very specific idea of what this offenses look like since 2021 and beyond under Nick Siriani. And it is hard to, I think, envision where the target share goes. Maybe they really do believe that Jahan Dotson is the first round player he was when he was drafted, right? And he can be a legitimate number three receiver. We just did not see that throughout the course of the season.

And outside of that catching the Super Bowl, you know, in the first quarter, like there really just hasn't been very much to suggest that Jalen Hertz was very particular about where his targets go is looking for him as a lot. the third receiving option. I don't know if this means anything, but right now the Eagles have seven tight ends on the roster. At the same point last year, they only had six. So I don't know if that means they're going to trim it down to six by the time the training camp or the season rolls around,

but those are the numbers. Well, definitely throwing darts at, you know, and it's Harrison, Brian and Kylan Grants, and it's not, you know, all pro players, but they were throwing some darts and they didn't do a lot in free agency, and they were like, let's see if we can find some way to make this up at the tight end. position. I think that was an area where in the second round, if the board goes a little bit

differently, maybe they end up drafting a tight end and this is an easier position. Now I think, or an easier decision, I think it's a hard decision for them now. I mean, you're trying to defend a Super Bowl and to take away your third best, you know, your third most targeted guy and a guy who's really a factor in the run game and to have no real backup plan to replace him, you know, that's a tough spot certainly to be in. So maybe there's a middle ground where it's incentives where it's, hey, you know, just come back, play well on a pay cut and you enter free agency next offseason, something like that. Who knows? It feels like this could now be a situation where it's like, let's sit down at a table and figure this out because it's the best

for both sides. But who knows? Goddard might say, I'm not taking a pay cut. Like I played well for you. Yeah. I, well, that's a quite. If I'm in his position, I wouldn't. If I'm Mark Andrews, I think about it, I already got my big contract extension of couple years ago. And this is like, I don't know if Mark Andrews makes the same impact on another team that he makes for Baltimore. And just one more point on the, on the Eagles situation. I do think Granson may be able to replace like the blocking piece of Goddard. Like, I haven't, I haven't grinded the, the grandson blocking tape by any means. But I'm just assuming that he was on the field for some reason in Shane Seikin's offense, which is the same offense

the Eagles are running. And it wasn't the receiving chops. I will tell you that much. It had to be process of elimination. It had to be a process of elimination. It had to be something. Every blocking tight end is really just a bad receiving tight end. Yeah. Mercedes-Lewis, everyone says he's a great blocking titan, and he just really couldn't catch. Yeah.

I'm joking. I mostly agree with that take. I think, you know, and there are levels of blocking tight ends. There are the guys who are really good at blocking, and then it's survive. You know, don't kill the play. Yeah. And that's probably what they're looking at. Can we find a guy who can survive a little bit?

But it's always tricky to project guys who are released this time of year what they would get on the open market or even if he's traded, what would a team be willing to give up compensation and then pay him a lot of money when he's 30 years old? And again, his missed 15 games the past three seasons. So it is a tricky situation. It's tough to kind of project the market. But those two tight ends, we'll see what happens, I think. More likely than not, I'm with you guys. Andrew stays put one way or another. Goddert, we'll see. He could potentially get moved. All right. Let's take a break. Talk, I got a wide receiver here. I got a couple, no, I got two wide receivers here.

I got two corners here. I got an edge rusher. And then I got a guy, if you're a ring or NFL sicko, we're going to try to make it through that segment without saying his name. So some of you, hopefully many of you, know who I'm talking about. All right, we'll be back in a sec. All right, we're back on the ringer NFL show. You know what?

I say let's pair of these two as well. Why not? We paired the tight ends. Let's pair of the wide receivers. George Pickens and Tyreek Hill are the two wide receivers. we have on this list. We mentioned Pickens in a recent episode. It seems like he was very available all offseason during draft weekend, but he did not get traded. And Diana Rossini, I think, saying now it seems a little less likely that he could get traded, but who knows? Would there

be a team out there who would be interested in a productive 24-year-old receiver who is on the final year of his rookie deal? I think that's a big deal. Only do three. $3.7 million. So if you're talking about what's a gamble and is he a knucklehead and if Tomlin doesn't want him, then do we really want him? It's relative low risk in terms of the salary here. Now, the compensation we can talk about what that would look like. But that's George Pickens.

And then Tyree Kill, who I still remember, we did our last show, Week 18 that night. And Ruiz was reading me? Was it with Tyree Kel talking or was he tweeted? It was at a postgame availability too, right? I was both. I'm just a winning. Yeah. Started at the press conference and it ended it on Twitter.

Yeah. Some quotes about how, see ya. You know, I'm out of here. No, he's not out of there yet. He's entering his age 31 season.

Had another issue off the field this year. I mean, he's really the type of player. You could wake up any day and read about a truly troubling headline involving Tyreek Hill. Not like, you know,

oh, he's just being a knucklehead stuff, like heinous stuff. In terms of players of this generation. I mean, he has had several of those. So you got to take that on as well. Now, we know teams are always looking for wide receiver help. They're always looking for a vertical threat when it comes to Tyree Kill. They're always looking for an outside ball winner when it comes to George Pickens. Ruiz, what do you think? These two wide receivers, will there still be a market

for one of them? Both of them, neither of them are they playing on the Steelers and Dolphins respectively when we get to week one? I think there's definitely a market. I think there's definitely a market for both of them. Just because they're both at their best, wide receivers who could change the math and dictate coverages from the defense. And there are only so many receivers you can do that. That's not saying, like, George Pickens is a bona fide number one receiver that you could build a passing game around. That's not saying Tyree Kill is still the same guy he was. You can even just only go back two years ago. But that does make them a little more intriguing. And it makes you more willing to stomach some of the nonsense, whether it's off the field with Tyree Kill or in the locker

room with George Pickens or on the field with George Pickens. But there are a couple teams that I think could really use this. I don't think there's any chance that the Steelers would deal George Pickens to Baltimore. But if I'm Baltimore, that's the type of player that I'm looking for. That's the missing piece of this offense right now, which I think like the scheme is good with, I'm blanking on Todd Monkin. The scheme is good right now. The personnel is good.

the wide receiver core, you have some pieces there, but I still think you need that number one receiver who can, who will force defenses to do something if you throw it to him deep. And he could be a back shoulder target for Lamar Jackson, which he's never had on the perimeter, give him a margin for error on those deep balls that he's never enjoyed.

I just don't think Pittsburgh's willing to do that. I don't know if Tyree kill necessarily fills that void for Baltimore, and I don't think he's worth the headache, especially with, I mean, Baltimore's got enough fires to put out right now as it is with Justin Tucker and Mike Green. The other team is, and we brought this up on the draft show, is the Cowboys. And Jerry Jones alluded to a blockbuster trade with receivers. I think if I'm, if I remember incorrectly, he said multiple trades he was talking about.

Yeah, maybe it's both these guys. So it could be Tyreek and it could be George Pickens. And honestly, like we talked about it. We talked about the Cowboys coming away from the draft without a wide receiver. I think both of these guys would fill that void that we were talking about that. Second receiver behind CD Lamb, I don't know if Tyreek or George Pickens for that matter would like well. welcome a number two role. But you can just lie to him and be like,

yeah, you're our number one guys. See me, he's just a slot merchant. He's a slot guy. Don't worry about him. But I do think he filled that, both of them fill that void as that number two explosive threat, that vertical threat. Deontay, what do you think? Pickens and Hill are the,

are the Cowboys an option? I got to admit, yeah, I looked at both these receivers and the same two teams came to mind, and that was the Cowboys and the Chiefs. Cheese are another one for sure, yeah. Yeah, it's like, you know, because I just look at pickings. And again, there's definitely a strong possibility that he's going to go to his next team. And he might be off the roster by week four.

I understand that. So I'm not making him out doing something. He's not. But 24 years old was 20th in receiving yards over the last three seasons with not good quarterback. So he's. And then the big thing, like I mentioned earlier, is that he's inexpensive. Like this is a relatively low risk move. So I don't know what the compensation is.

Is it like a, would the Steelers do it for like a fourth round pick? If you're giving up a fourth round pick for George Pickens and you say, let's take a flyer. If it works, guess what? We got ourselves a productive starting wide receiver. If you're the Cowboys or the Chiefs, who is something like we don't have on the roster, he complements the other pieces here. And guess what?

If he comes in and we're like, no, we don't want this guy around, we get rid of him and we gave up a fourth round pick. Is that a Deonté, a reasonable risk to take? take. What do you think? I think that is what I'm offering if I'm the team that's receiving George Figgum. What's the pick number where you're willing to make the risk? That's the question. Because for a seventh round pick swap, of course. You're saying, yeah,

all right. Well, I mean, I shouldn't say, of course. There may be teams who are just like, he's not coming in our building. What did Dotson get? Dotson got a third, I think, from Philadelphia. I think there was an exchange of picks on both sides. I think the effective compensation is that Washington basically receive like the equivalent of a third rounder.

or like a early day three pick, something in that range. I think that's the starting point, right? Like a late day two pick. Yeah, to me, I think, yeah, I think that if you're between like pick 80 and 120, right, if that's the thought, like, so late day two, early day three, if I'm the team that's bringing in George Pickens, that's about what I'm willing to bring in, what I'm willing to depart with to bring him in as a receiver. Because like you said, it's inexpensive.

And I don't have to give them a four-year deal at the end of this. No. The franchise tag number is what around like $25, $26 million for wide receivers. if he plays the way that we know that he's capable of playing, I'll pay $25 million for that to be my lead receiver on the tag. And then we can figure this out. If you can replicate performance over a two-year basis, then we can come back to the table and talk long-term.

That's the way that I would look at it if I were a team. And then it's just thinking about which teams I think could use them most. I think you guys mentioned the Cowboys, the Chiefs, the obvious ones. I think about the Patriots still as a team that could maybe use a veteran receiver. I think if I'm New England, and I probably would rather have Pickens than Hill just because of timeline based on age and trajectory. And I try to think about like coach personalities versus player personalities. And if there are somebody who can, you know, maybe grab George Pickens by his t-shirt and let him know that there's only one person's program who's running and sing.

And it's the head coaches. I would think that Mike Brable might be able to work with him as a player. Toblin hasn't done it. There might be like a fist of cuff situation. I think that Mike Brable might be willing to take it to step. further that Mike Tomlin won't and maybe put a right cross into George Winkins' chest

to make sure that he gets this point across. And I think about the Raiders as well, right? Like I think about the Raiders as a team that could maybe use another big time, a premier type of receiver to add with Gino Smith and what they've been building along their offense. Those are two other teams I think about where if you're giving away a day three pick, why wouldn't you? Especially with

the fact that your roster needs immediate impact starting help. Both of those guys would make sense. I just know for me, I look at Tyree Kill, and it's not just the off-the-field stuff, it's the fact that you're in your 30s now. And even if you believe that a decline in speed wouldn't make him a non-viable wide receiver, I'm just thinking about health, given the way he plays and whether or not he's going to be available all year long on top of the issues that we're going, we know we're just going to have every one, once or twice every off-season with this dude and what he's

dealing with off the field. On one hand, I was thinking Pickens and Vegas. guess does not seem like it would be a great idea. But that I'm like, listen, Pete Carroll, what does he pride himself on? It's like, I'm going to get through to this player and get something out of this player than nobody else can. That's like his whole coaching persona. And then on the field, you can, you know, it's one of those. You can get excited about that, man.

Pickens, Brock Bowers, Ashton Genty. Oh, yeah, that would be, you know, that would be a big upgrade from a year ago with Gino Smith there. at quarterback. So I think that's a good one to throw in there as a maybe. Now, Tyree Kill is really a different story than Pickens because of what I mentioned with the salary and stuff. Age, he's entering his age 31 season. He averaged 56 yards per game last year, which was the lowest since his rookie season. We mentioned the off-field stuff. And he's due per pro football talk over 25 million guaranteed by the Dolphins. So there's got to be some type of compromise about, all right, Miami.

What are you taking on? What are we taking on? What's the draft pick compensation? So I don't know if something's going to get done there or not with Tyreekill. That seems like a trickier deal. Whereas Pickens, if you get to the point as an organization where you're like, we're willing to take a gamble on this, it's a pretty easy deal. It's what's the draft compensation and it's done. You don't have to worry about contract or anything else like that. And to your point, Deontay, I mean, you would be getting theoretically a motivated player who says, I'm on the last year my rookie deal. I'm in a new organization.

My old organization gave up on me. Look at what these wide receiver threes are getting on the open market. Man, if I ball out and just, you know, do everything right for whatever it is, how long's an NFL season? Five months, six months. I'm probably going to get life-changing money at the end of this. You know, if someone's going to see that and say, we're willing to pay you, whether it's franchise tag or something else.

So, yeah, I think I still got my eye, I think, on pick-ins more so than, then Hill either could get dealt. But to me, it feels like Pickens is a player that the Steelers feel good about moving on from, especially after they acquired D.K. Metcalf. And if I'm another team weighing the risk reward and I still need a wide receiver, I think that's the one I could probably talk myself into. So we shall say. To answer your original question, though,

I honestly feel like the best spot for both of these players is the teams that they're already on, especially for the Dolphins, who I've obviously built their offense around speed and to attack him by low, but I think you get the most out of two if Tyreek is there and playing his best ball. If he's not there, the receiving court looks a little different.

I don't think the offense operates like it has the last couple of years. And then with the quarterback that the Steelers are, that we assume the Steelers are going to bring in, I think having a guy like George Pickens is a guy you really need for that type of offense.

You're going to be running. All right. We shall see, I do wonder about the chiefs. They might just be out of the Tyreek Hill business, but in terms of a one-year flyer type thing, knows the offense, knows the quarterback, knows the fit, knows the coach. I wonder if they would consider that.

And based on how that team run the off-season, the off-the-field stuff might be a, they might attract them. They seem to attract those types of players. Yeah, they're not afraid of that. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, he will fit right in with some of that stuff. No doubt about it.

All right. Cornerbacks, the next group here, two more guys were pairing together. Jai, Alexander, Green Bay Packers Corner and Jalen Ramsey, Miami Dolphins Corner. So Jayaeer Alexander, 28 years old, has played in just a total of 32 games over the past four seasons. So when he's healthy, very fun player, very good player, has not been healthy, really, for

the last four seasons here. And then Jailen Ramsey, one of the under the radar, really bizarre situations where we're still kind of waiting for what exactly happened here? because the Miami Dolphins extended him months ago. I mean, right before last season, they extend Jalen Ramsey. They pay him a roster bonus this offseason. And then all of a sudden, it seems like both sides are pretty much resigned to the fact that he's not going to be on the team next year, unless something changes. Ramsey wants to be traded.

Chris Greer has been asked about it. And it sounds like, you know, he's very open or realizing that they are going to trade Jail and Ramsey. So those two corners are available. Jaira Alexander and Jalen Ramsey, Deonti, what do you think about these two and the potential for them being moved? And if you were another team, would you want to get in the business of acquiring either player?

Probably not to answer your latter question first. I think that you're probably good on both Jalen Ramsey on the wrong side of the H-30 cliff for corners, right? Still okay as a player, but you can clearly see he is not as dynamic a playmaker anymore. more, especially not what he was, his last couple of years at Los Angeles before he landed in Miami. So I'm probably good on both Jair's availability is just way too much of a prohibitive factor for me if I'm a GM. There's no way I'm trying to part with draft capital, even if it's

day three draft capital to bring him in. And then I'm looking at having him in 2025 and then going into 2026 and you know he's going to want to get paid one more time before he hits age 30. and unless you get two straight seasons of him playing 15 plus games, I don't know if you could justify that. I'm probably good on both. I would just expect, I guess, for Jair to be easier to move for Green Bay. I think the matter, the issue with them is really takers, right? With Miami, similar as we talked about with Tyree Kill,

the financials there are just a mess because of the age of the contract. It's so new. You're talking about a player who you just paid ostensibly, basically through his retirement age, right? if you just look at the length of the deal and win corners typically hit a cliff too hard for them to be able to produce on the field anymore.

I don't know if Ramsey gets moved and if he does, it's going to be at a major loss for Miami. And with Jair, I didn't see Green Bay do anything in the off-season to really prepare themselves to replace him. So I guess I would be shocked if he were moved. I just think that it would be easier for Green Bay to do so. It would definitely be easier for Green Bay

like in terms of financial and it would be tough for Miami. like what they would have to take on. But like the opposite is true for the teams that are trading for them. For Jalen Ramsey, you could trade for him and it's a rental. It's $5.9 million next year. I'm paying that for Jailen Ramsey. And I think part of the reason he's not making plays as much as he did in the last couple years is because of the schemes he's been in.

He was in a quarter-savy scheme under Vic Fangio, which is not his strength. He was in a man-heavy scheme, which I don't think is really his strength. Also last year in Miami, I think if you get him in like a cover three base defense, that's when you're going to see the best of Jalen Ramsey. And I think that's where his. play hasn't fallen off a cliff or hasn't fallen off at all. So, like, I look at a team like the Raiders who could definitely use them. I think you get him in Pete Carroll's defense and you're going to get the best out of him,

at least at this point in his career. And I think you also have that fallback option of moving him to safety because, like, that was the question with him coming into the league. Are you a safety? Are you a quarterback? He has the bill to do it. He has the temperament to do it. He has the willingness to tackle to do it.

So I think Ramsey is the easier person if you're trading for him. And then Jayaer, you're basically backed into a corner with him where you have to negotiate a long-term deal with them. Because if you trade with them, you're taking on a $17 million cap next year. It's not guaranteed so you can be creative with it. But that's why you have to negotiate with them and change up the contract a little bit. Maybe extend those years out a little bit. With Ramsey, it could be a one-year deal. And if you like them, you extend them.

Maybe you talk about moving him to safety. You talk about a transition period with him. I still think he's a year or two away from that, though. I think he still has a year or two of good cornerback play in him right now, depending on injuries, obviously, because he is on the wrong side of 30. But he's one of those guys. I mentioned it last pod. Some guys are just different.

And I think Jalen Ramsey definitely qualifies. Yeah, Alexander, I wonder if he just ends up getting released, you know, looking at it. Because, I mean, I don't know. Who's paying $16 million for a guy who's missed 10 plus games in three of the past four seasons? I mean, that just doesn't. Yeah, that doesn't happen in the NFL. So that, you know, I don't know. Now, again, maybe there's a situation where the Packers say we will pay X amount if you give us this draft pick.

Those are a lot of the negotiations going on with a lot of these guys. But, you know, he was suspended at that one point last year. Right. Well, it was a really funny story. Wasn't that when he went out for the coin toss? Yeah, it was supposed to. Yes. Just amazing.

He's got some George Pickens in him too here. Yeah. So I think maybe he's a guy who ends up getting. released. And then I think teams would be like, all right, you know, we're not giving up anything for him. Let's see a talented player. Is he healthy now? All right. Let's bring him in. He's still 28 years old. Let's see what it looks like. So I think that might be the most likely situation. Although Deonté, you're right. You know, they didn't take a corner until the seventh round. So it's not like they got reinforcements in. Now, they're kind of used to playing without

Alexander is the thing on defense. So it's not like they're missing a key piece from last year. But yeah, they didn't, you know, necessarily replace him this offseason. Ramsey, the financials are a little tricky. You know, I think the athletic said that acquiring team, if they don't, if no one does anything, would owe him actually 21 million. But I think there's an assumption that the Rams are going to take on, I'm sorry, the dolphins would take on a bunch of that salary because I don't think anyone's giving up draft compensation and paying him a bunch of money, you know, in a trade here when he's 31 years old. So the Rams, I said that, you know, not by accident. There is some smoke there. They were asked about it less.

need Sean McVeigh during the draft. And they certainly didn't rule it out. And their starting corners right now are Darius Williams and Akello Witherspoon. Now I think there's a post-June 1st thing where if you trade him after June 1st, now all of a sudden. Yeah, time-line matters a lot for his. Yeah. So some of these guys could get moved, you know, after June 1st. It feels like Ramsey's going to get traded.

I also reading those McVeigh and Sneed comments, it feels, I don't know if something's already done and they're waiting, but, you know, they are not shooting it down. You know, McVeigh's like, anytime you have a chance to get a stud player like that, you know, you got to look into it. I don't know that you're talking about that unless you feel like there's a good chance. He's going to be back on your football team. So I would keep an eye out on the Rams for Jail and Ram. Yeah, Spodrach has it at 5.9th, but that might be based on the June 1st number and not the pre-June 1st number. Okay, yeah. Listen, the trade stuff, the salary stuff is very confusing in the NFL.

There's no doubt. I mean, it depends on the date. depends on the void ears and it depends on the signing bonus and was the bonus. So there's a lot of balls in the air with that stuff. So we'll see what happens with Jalen Ramsey and Jair Alexander. All right. We got two more players to finish with. Let's get this guy out of the way. He, who shall not be named by this podcast, because again, if you are a frequent listener, you know we made a vow to not discuss him unless something actually happened. And guess what? Nothing has actually happened. What do I think is going to happen?

Well, Mike Tomlin talked about it during draft weekend. All signs point to his team signing this guy. The player. I would imagine. Didn't we agree on that? The player. Yeah. Yes, the player. I would imagine the player is looking for the best time in the news cycle.

Maybe let the draft stuff pass this week. Let the Belichick stuff pass. Yeah. Let the Belichick stuff pass. Yeah. Let the prank calls pass. Wait till there's a little slow period. and then announce it then. Capture a little news cycle, get the attention that you obviously crave, even though you say you do not crave it.

So that's all I got to say about the player. I think I would be a pretty big surprise at this point. If he doesn't end up in Pittsburgh, especially when the Steelers were not addressing aggressively quarterback during the draft. And so I think he will end up in Pittsburgh. And when he does, we can talk about the player more. Anything else on the player? No, but I do think the player is the one thing, like I mentioned earlier,

that might be keeping George Pickens in Pittsburgh. Because I do think the player enjoys this type of receiver, a guy he could just kind of throw it up to on the perimeter, back shoulder, and he's going to come down with the ball and win 50-50 ball situations. And if Pickens isn't on the roster, then guess who he's going to be throwing those balls to you? I don't even know. I don't know who they're going to.

DK Metcalf isn't that type of player, in my opinion. He's more of a, you throw it out there and let him run under type of receiver. So I think the. the fact that the player, I assume, has agreed to come to Pittsburgh. I think he's just biding this time, like you said, trying to figure out when he's going to get the most attention for doing it. I think it's contingent on them having those two guys on the outside. Otherwise, you kind of find yourself in the same situation you were in New York,

in the situation you were in Green Bay at the end, where you don't have a strong receiving corps that you can rely on. Deontay, the player. I like Stephen's theory about, pickings in the player and why they wouldn't make a move. And I think that maybe there are some assurances given by the player

that he'll be there. And the Steelers just don't have to worry about it. And you know that the player's old ass does not want to be at training camp, I don't think. You think he's going to stretch it up that far? In La Troe? I would not be surprised. He's going to announce it right before kickoff of like the opening Thursday game,

the week one. I think what I think is we will probably get some kind of announcement that principals have been agreed to and the player is going to be there, but don't expect to see him in the preseason. And he'll be hanging out in the city throughout training camp. And then you'll see him for NFL kickoff weekend. That's basically what I'm expecting here. I will say, I am rooting for retirement.

I am rooting so badly for the player to just enjoy the summer, get to July, see everybody start reporting the camp and say, what am I doing? why would I do this again? This wasn't fun the last two years. I'm going to go to another team where it's probably not going to be fun again. I can probably ride off into the sunset here. That is what I am rooting for,

a little bit of sensibility from the player about his NFL future. I think the player is going to come a little earlier than that because I do think the player fancies himself as this type of quarterback who needs to be on the same page as the receiver. He needs to make sure the receivers are in line. I don't think he's going to let training.

I think he thinks the receivers need to be on the same page, it's a player. I don't know. No, I agree with that. But I think he thinks that he's the one to get them in line and get them ready for catching passes from him. But I don't know. I'm kind of on the opposite end.

Maybe I'm just like a sicko, but I want to see the player come back so we can get some of those like, oh, it's week through week five, Russell Wilson, or I guess Justin Fields had these numbers and this was the Steelers record and look at them compared to the players and Pittsburgh's in 2025. because those were fun in it last year. That was the only fun thing about the Jets. Last year was tracking his stats compared to Zach Wilson stats. Yeah, I'm good.

I'm with Deante. I'm good. Had a great career. I'm ready to move on. So who do you want to see him start? I don't know. I really don't care. It doesn't matter anymore.

It doesn't matter to me. Post caring about the Steelers quarterback situation. I'll tell you what. Here, you know what I want? All right, how about, you know, they stink. And then we get a little coach trade next off season with Mike Tom. if you want to know what I actually believe. You think the players are going to change whether they stink or not?

They're going to be the same team no matter whether the player comes. Well, yeah, probably. History has shown that, I guess. On the point of stinking, this is not the easiest schedule that they're about to be dealing with in 2025. The NFC, North is their cross-is-conference schedule that they've added. You've got to play all the AFC North teams. You're going to see the Chargers who will probably be just as competitive this year as they were last year. They see the Jets, which will make for interesting theater if the player is there.

I don't know if you can just say we show up and we're going to be right back in the postseason again. At least they got the Steelers got the trip to FedEx Field out of the way last year because that FedEx Field, that turf would be looking at the players Achilles, like that LeBron like Focus locked in meme. There you go. Don't have to go to D.C. All right. Last one. We'll talk about. about here. Trey Hendrickson, he does have a name, Bengals defensive end entering his age 31 season, 35 sacks over the past two seasons. So the Bengals draft Shamar Stewart defensive end in the first round. Trey Hendrickson is still on the roster, obviously wants a new contract entering the final year of his deal here. Other guys have got new contracts. Daniel Hunter got one. Andrew Van

Ginkle got a one-year extension. So far, the Bengals have not done anything with Trey Hendrickson. Ruiz, where are we with Hendrickson? No trade during draft weekend. It felt like a possibility that he would get moved. He did not get moved. Does it just play out? And he's in Cincinnati on week one, or is there still a move to be made here?

I think they just let him play out the string at this point. I don't think picking Stewart, I don't think that's like a threat to his position in the defense. I think if the two could play alongside each other, they could play on the same line. So I don't think that really matters. And then I think Hendrickson, like the group of suitors is probably smaller than all of us expect just because the guy's average, what, 17 sacks over the last year. But as I've said a couple times during the offseason, he's not like the biggest asset against the run. And those are half the plays. And in order to be able to rush the passer, you've got to be able to stop the run. So I think there is a limited number of teams that

would be willing to shell out that type of money to bring in a guy who's more situational than other defensive and other like highly paid defense. events. So I'm like looking at like playoff teams that want him as a piece because I think like you add him to your playoff run and he's like with that game plan piece that like von Miller was for the Rams a couple years ago. Then I think he's really valuable to a team. So I could honestly see the Bengals holding on to him because they qualify. They certainly qualify as a playoff contender that could use him in January. But I wouldn't be surprised if like the Bengals have another year from hell like they did last year and they're kind of, you know, out of it by the training deadline. I wouldn't be surprised if

they get a premium pick, honestly, for Hendrickson around that time. Yeah, and I think the fact is entering age 31 season and then having to pay him at top of the market, and now you have to give up draft compensation too. So, yeah, there are a lot of factors there that maybe make it a little bit trickier. That's interesting. I hadn't thought about that. And that goes for a lot of these guys, you know, if their season goes sideways and now all of a sudden it's week six or week seven, maybe they get traded at that time.

But yeah, Shamar Stewart had one and a half sacks last year in college, and Trey Hendrickson had 17 and a half sacks each of the past two years in the NFL. So if you're Bengals fan, you're like, hey, maybe if Stewart's good, you know, we got two, we might have two good pass rushers here this season. And our defense can be better than it was last year. So I just think the Bengals, I can't imagine they're very motivated to move Trey Hendrickson right now, especially the draft is over. So now whatever compensation you get, that's in 2026.

Do you really, I mean, unless it's a really good pick, then that's not helping you now. You're trying to win a Super Bowl right now. You need him. So, Deonti, I just wonder, can you work something out? Because you could just say, all right, you're playing out the final year of his deal. Then it comes down to how willing to play ball is Hendrickson. He doesn't have a lot of leverage, you know, you're not going to miss game checks, but are you just, hey, we don't want this to be a story every day in training camp.

He says, I'm not participating in training camp. You get to week one. he's doing the Chris Jones, which is still, when I think back at that, that was hilarious. He just sat in the booth with his agents watching the Chiefs play in week one for his holdout. I don't know. Maybe Hendrickson would do something like that. Take a page out of an Emmett Smith's book. Yeah, yeah.

So maybe I feel like can there be some kind of compromise? Is there a one-year extension? Is there something with incentives? Is there a promise, hey, we're not going to tag you after this season. So just go, you know, had double-digit tax again. And then guess what? You get to go to the highest bidder after this season and really see what you're worth. I feel like something like that probably makes the most sense.

I'm with you on that. I think that you take the Andrew Van Ginkle route, right? And I expect them to get paid more than Van Ginkle did. I think that Hendrickson probably still, even if he is a DPR, which I think Stephen makes a really good point about that, right? Like, I think that the NFL has kind of told us how they look at Trey Hendrickson, because if they viewed him as a true lead Russia number one type, he probably would have been moved and for valuable draft capital.

Last week or going into draft weekend, if not at the time of the draft, I do think you probably pay them. You say, we give you a one-year deal. We're not going to tag you. We'll give you real money on a one-year deal. Maybe, you know, kind of max you out on the money we would pay for a guy on this side of 30. And then after that, hey, if we can't land on something else, if we can't come back to the table and get something long-term on the books, then we'll let you hit the market.

But I look at their off-season. And to me, you don't take Shamar Stewart. if the plan is to let go of past rush certainty that you know you're getting in Trey Hendrickson. That's not the kind of player that you get at that point. They would have drafted somebody, I think, with a little bit more productivity at 17 or would have made moves in the draft that would have suggested like, hey, even if they're taking Stewart early, maybe they double back at edge with another guy who's a little bit more of a proven commodity that might have hinted at what their future plans

were. Everything I'm looking at in the draft and free agency for them and how they've handled it is that they're either telling Trey Hendrickson, you're playing it out on the 2025 deal that we have, and then you're hitting the market at the conclusion of this contract, or that they're going to try to find a way to try to make good for 2026 and keep them for the next two seasons and then let them hit the market after. Yeah, so we shall see. I'm with you on Trey Hendrickson. Makes sense for them to hold on to him for this year.

Try to compete. You can't lose good players on that defense that stunk last year. And so maybe they say, all right, let's find some type of compromise here. We'll see what happens with Trey Hendricks. All right, those were all the veterans. Those are some unanswered questions. So these are guys who could come up in podcasts between now and week one. If they actually do end up getting moved,

if the teams that have them resolve the situations and everyone's happy, those kinds of things. So players to keep an eye on kind of in May, in June, in July, and as we look forward to training camp. All right. Thank you to Stephen Ruiz. Thank you to Deonti Lee. Thanks to Christopher Sutton for producing.

and Kiera Givens on social. We will be back next week. I'm Shil Kapalya. Thanks for listening to the Ringer NFL show. Must be 21 plus and present in select states. For Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in D.C., gambling problem. Call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Help.com.

Call 1-888-789-7777-7-7-7 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut or visit MD gambling help.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gambling helpline, ma.org or call 800-32750 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-8778 Hope NY or text Hope NY in New York.