The Ringer NFL Show - Splitting Up Seattle, Landing Kirk Cousins, and the Biggest Fish in the Free-Agency Pool | The Ringer NFL Show (Ep. 243)

Episode Date: March 9, 2018

The Ringer's Robert Mays and Kevin Clark discuss the demise of the Legion of Boom (03:30), the L.A. Rams unloading Alec Ogletree (07:00), the speculation that Kirk Cousins will sign with the Minnesota Vikings (09:45), and the rest of the quarterback free-agent market (13:30). Then Danny Kelly joins the show to talk about his beloved Seahawks (22:30), the top free agents (24:30), and their predictions for landing spots for their favorite available players (47:30). Read our NFL free-agency coverage here: https://www.theringer.com/nfl Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey guys, Robert Mays here. On today's Ringer NFL show, we are breaking down all things free agency, including the robust quarterback market, some of the big fish to be had, and our favorite players on the market. As always, we are brought to you by the Ringer podcast network, where there are a ton of great shows for you. Bachelor fans, if you have not relive the best or worst, I guess, season in the show's history with Juliet Lippman and her friends at Bachelor Party,

I'm really not sure what you've been doing. So please go check that out. Also, please go to the Ringer.com to check out all. all of our free agency preview work, including a piece I wrote on Friday, detailing how the 49ers could be the sleeping giants in this year's market and beyond. All right. With that, let's get to the show. To the Ringer NFL show, part of the Ringer podcast network.

I'm Robert Mays, joined as always by Kevin Clark. Kevin, free agency is upon us, but before we get there, I want to talk about something. You and I were texting yesterday, and you told me that you hadn't been by your phone because you just got in a haircut. And that was terrifying to me because, I was getting a haircut at the exact same time as you were. We've been doing this for long enough now. We're on the same haircut schedule, and I'm not okay with that.

I think that it makes more sense than you think. I mean, it's March. We're not going to, you know, you're not going to get a haircut on Monday. You're kind of groggy. You know, it's too early in the week. You're not going to get it too close to the weekend. It's midweek in March. You're going to get a haircut.

I think you're rationalizing this. It was literally the exact same stretch of time. I'm like, as soon as I got out, I texted you and it was two minutes later. You're like, sorry, I wasn't by my phone. I was getting a haircut. It was terrifying to me. I'm not sure I'm okay with it. How was your haircut?

Good haircut? I actually had to go back. It's the first time I've ever done that. I'm sorry? Excuse me? I went back. There was like a piece, like three pieces that she missed and I knew they were going to drive me crazy. How did she react?

It was a different person. I waited long enough on purpose to not have to face the person that cut my hair. Where were the, where were the hairs? At the part. So it's hard to. to see them afterward. That was the issue.

Okay. Do you really want to get into this? How long did you wait? I feel like such a provodata. I waited like four and a half hours and then called and said I have to come back. I wouldn't. I would just wear a hat for three months instead of going back. It's not an option for me.

I wish that were, I cannot do that right now. I'm going on a couple trips and that there's no way. This is amazing. It's the first time I've ever done it. I felt like such an asshole. I would never do something like that normally, but I knew I wouldn't be able to live with it.

Hmm. I went to the Magic Lakers game last night I saw that how was it It was okay Two bad basketball teams And also I don't know if I mean You know this but maybe you're not used to it every year When you're rooting for a team that's actively tanking

There's just a lot of weird thoughts to go through your head the entire time Yeah that's how it was last night When I lived in New York they would always come in March and April And I would go The Magic And it was like every time Basically what I do at this point Just root for young players development

And then the loss So like I love watching Jonathan Isaac or Hizonia or Gordon a little bit and then they lose. So it wasn't a bad game as far as that goes. That's how I was about with Loria Marketing last night, but then they won. So it was just not exactly the outcome I was hoping for. But sometimes it doesn't work. When they're playing the Grizzlies, it happens. I was on Tankathon this morning and there are some real, real talented tanking teams.

Talented at tanking this year. It's a tough group to break. All right, buddy, we're going to dive into our massive free agency preview, which includes a look at some of the top players in the market, some other guys we think could be great values and a lot more. But first, Kevin, I wanted to chat about some news from a pretty jam-packed week. You know, we're going to be joined by Danny a little bit later in the show. And that's probably good that he isn't here right now because I think in a way, Wednesday kind of marked the demise of the Legion of Boom Air in Seattle. I don't really know what's going on. John Schneider and Pete Carroll are infinitely smarter about football.

than I am. Okay. Let's preface it. I'll admit that. Let's preface it with that. Having said that, it seemed like their path to relevance was to fix the offensive line and instead, they're just going to blow up the entire team. That seems like a really complicated solution to a fairly simple problem. Russell Wilson is still there. Russell Wilson is under contract. He's not going anywhere. I think Russell Wilson on talent and everything else, all of them is considered as a top five NFL quarterback. The job of an NFL team when you have the golden goose, when you have a quarterback who's on at least a decent contract,

is to maximize that window. And I'm not totally clear on what's going on. Now, there are obviously, you know, a guy like Richard Sherman, he blows out his Achilles, you know, I'm sure they think maybe he's in decline if they're getting rid of him. But a guy like Michael Bennett, the numbers still hold up for him. He's still a really good player.

And, I mean, if they trade Earl Thomas, just to go rid of him and then it's pretty much over so yeah I mean it's just the cliff averal I mean the injury there is just a giant question

camp chancellor I mean there's a lot of stuff going on there what's going on with that defense right now if this is it the eulogy for the the aught Legion of Boom Seahawks is they were the team

of that maybe five year stretch I mean I would argue that even more so than the Patriots they might be the team of the 2010s I mean what they did over that period is incredible I mean, they should be celebrated. It's just odd that it might be over. Yeah, I mean, again, Michael Bennett going to the Eagles is a very intriguing thing. There's a couple stats out here.

Samuel Gold tweeted out. He had 70 pressures last year and a 7.3 run-stop percentage, which is above average. And the versatility, he was on the interior almost 40% of the time. I mean, the ability to generate a pass rush from the inside and the outside. I mean, Michael Bennett, okay, he lost a slight step from 2016, but he's still a really valuable player. And so I don't necessarily get the move there. The Eagles defensive line is going to be fought as hell.

I mean, it's just a very versatile flexible. I have a Chris Ryan take. What do you say? I just saw Chris Ryan before I walked over here. He said, slight worry about being Dream Team 2. Understandable. Hey, I mean, that's probably in the rear view for them. Leave it to CRF.

Eagles fans, though, to be really worried and scared about a month after winning the Super Bowl. Well, there's just so many moving parts on that team. There's so many guys who might not come back. We'll get to those in a second. But it did, it's the rare Super Bowl victory in this era in which you're saying, oh, we might not be able to do it again next year. I think a lot of teams have been set up for longer term success than the Eagles were last year.

Just because of a lot of the guys, we just don't know. So they're going to make wholesale changes. Howie Rosen's going to be aggressive. He's going to make trades. We already know that. So it's going to be a very different team in September than it was in February for better or worse. One more piece of news I wanted to hit just because it's relevant to this show. It seems like we were the ones to predict, or the first ones to kind of understand that the Rams might have had a misstep with the Alkoagletree contract.

Remember earlier in the fall? Yeah, let's tell that story. Go ahead. Earlier in the fall, we did a segment where I was talking about how the Rams are going to be better when they got rid of Algoal Tree because I assumed his contract was almost up. because of the year he'd been drafted and then we had to go back and re-record it because I had forgotten that they signed him to an extension. I knew

I knew he'd sign an extension but I kind of liked where you were going with it so I let you go. So four months after he signs that extension, they trade him away to get the contract off the books which is incredible because I didn't understand it when they did it. So the Giants defense gets faster and more athletic and not much else.

The Rams, all you have to know about how badly they wanted to get rid of him is they're willing to eat $6.4 million in signing bonus dead money to save 3.6 this year. Right. It's incredible. I mean, it's such a bad deal. The Rams, the choices that they've made, there are so many bad ones to go along with them building this really good team. I mean, the Tavon-Austin contract and the Alec Ogletree contract, Austin, they ate it for a couple of years because they weren't paying anyone else. and then Ogletree it lasted four months. None of this is news.

The fact that you wanted to keep Lamarcus Joyner, Sammy Watkins, maybe sticking around for a little bit, these are all things you should plan for in advance. So signing Ogletree to that extension, even with the possibility that you might want to maintain some of the players on your roster, doesn't make sense. We do this all the time.

Nobody made you give him that money. You could have waited until right now. And then you don't have the dead money on your hands. Okay, so I have a thought on this. And it's that the emergence of teams with tons of cap space. And obviously the ramps not had a ton of cap space in a couple of years. But it promotes a little bit of haphazard strategy with the cap because, I mean, you look at the Niners issue. You look at the Browns this year.

Teams with, you know, tens upon tens of millions of dollars of cap space. And you think you can do whatever you want. but the bills become due at some point and eventually you just end up signing bad contracts and you end up, I mean like you said, with Tavon Austin, you're carrying him on the roster for a couple of years because you have paid no one else.

But guess what? At some point you start paying the other guys, especially when you had the talent like the Rams do. And so I think it's really interesting. The Rams will be fine. They're going to get out of it cap-wise. The cap just keeps rising to a point where it barely matters. But I do think it's really interesting.

We are in the golden age of sort of thoughtless, salary maneuvers. Yeah, I agree. All right. Speaking of those, let's dive into this free agent pool here. And I think the only real place to start this year is with the quarterbacks. Typically, in any given free agent class, the quarterbacks aren't interesting. Think about where we were a year ago.

My team was giving Mike Glenn an $18.5 million guaranteed. He was the best quarterback on the market. This class is unprecedented in the era of the modern CBA. We've never seen a group of quarterbacks this deep, this many guys where, the music stops, a team will be happy if they're sitting in that team's chair. I mean, it hasn't happened like this over the last seven years. And that obviously starts with Kirk Cousins, who is the biggest domino to fall in free agency period. I mean, what happens with him, where he gets paid, where he ends up, will put so many other things in motion.

Obviously, the rumor this week was that the Vikings were willing to shell out a three-year, $90 million contract fully guaranteed for his services, which is staggering. I mean, you know, an amount of money and just the fact we've never seen that before, it would be such a game changer. And apparently that's what's on the table as things currently stand. Yeah, who knows if that's accurate? Exactly. Who knows? So the guarantee part is what makes Cousins so fascinating because we've heard for a number of years that Kirk Cousins might be the highest paid NFL player, maybe depending on the market in history.

And I don't think that's going to happen because of the options that popped up around him. I think there was a scenario. If he had done it last year the summer of Mike Glennon, then we're talking about a different thing. If he can command the rumored number, and again, we have no idea if he can, which is three years 91, correct? Something like that, yeah. It's right around 90. All of it guaranteed. Then he not only becomes the most intriguing prospect in free agency, he becomes one of the most important players in NFL history.

If he changes the paradigm in that way, because then what happens when Aaron Rogers and Matt Ryan start their contract negotiations in the late spring? They're saying, well, sorry, if Kurt Cousin's got $91 million guaranteed, I'm getting $120 million guaranteed. Rogers can essentially ask for whatever he wants at that point. He can ask for the team. He can ask for the stock, all of the stock, just mail it to me. Mail it all to me. And there's nothing they can do about it. So I am slightly skeptical it's going to happen because I don't think any team.

A couple of years ago, I asked an agent, I asked some other people, some front office people, about why this hasn't happened. Why hasn't anyone kind of cut through and explored the inefficiency that there isn't a lot of guaranteed money to go around? And essentially what I heard from both the agent side and the team side was that nobody wanted to be the team

that changed the game for everybody else. But I just think that in 2018, it's gotten so cutthroat, it's gotten so much more forward-thinking. I mean, Hally Roseman doesn't have that sort of space, but Howie Roseman is forward-thinking to say, okay, I'm the kind of guy who's going to take a leap. Is Rick Spielman that kind of guy? I don't know. I haven't seen any evidence that he's going to, he's ready to change the face of football, but that kind of contract would change the face of football.

And that's what I think is really fascinating to me. So here are the things to take into account when it comes to cousins and the Vikings specifically. And I think that this example does speak to the larger issue at hand. So if they do give him that, if it's $30 million a year fully guaranteed. And let's just in this hypothetical scenario say that Case Keenum is worth 18. You know, let's say he gets somewhere around the Blake Bortle's three years 60 contract. What you're saying then as the Vikings is that we're going to spend $12 million more dollars on our quarterback.

And is that worth it when you consider what they may have to address at other spots on their team? So the Vikings right now have about $75 million in cap space, give or take for 2019. the players going into the last year of their contract for the Vikings right now include Anthony Barr, Daniel Hunter, and Stefan Dix. So those are three guys you probably like back. I believe Andrewsendahoe is in that group as well, but he probably is a step down from those players.

So you have three people who were instrumental to your success as a franchise. So the issue now and the question is, is the gap between Kirk Cousins and the quarterbacks you can have, have elsewhere, case can be the guy you had before, is that $12 million enough money to make it worth being able to lose one or two of these players? That's the age old team building question. And I don't know the answer to that. I mean, I think that you have Mike Zimmer, who is ready to build a defensive infrastructure

that works. And I think that having him there is an incredible, valuable thing as far as Minnesota goes. If you're Denver, I mean, first of all, we have to remember that John Ellis. way has made an entire career out of being a ruthless negotiator. And I don't know how much money he's going to want to shell out for a guy like Case Keenum. I don't know. I think it makes sense. Gary Kubiak's in the front office. Keenum started with Gary Kubiak. Um, Case Keenum is obviously a great presence in the locker room and I think people in Denver are going to love them. Um, but I think that the dominoes can fall in so

many different ways that it's almost impossible to predict what the value of a quarterback's going to be. A.J. McCarran is floating out there. Teddy Brits. Bridgewater is floating out there. Sam Bradford is floating out there. There are just so many ways this could go. Does McCarran, as rumored, immediately go to the Browns? I don't know. You have a possibility of four first round quarterbacks. I mean, there are so many different crazies. It's almost like, you know what we need? We need like, you know, the playoff scenario generators? Yeah. We need like a quarterback scenario generator where, okay, Case Keenham signs in Arizona, now what? How do the dominoes fall? I mean, it's just, it's just. Just as many possibilities. I can't remember a more intriguing. People, I've seen some people sort of pan this class of free agents. And maybe that's true in some positions. But I think as far as intrigue, this is an intriguing class as we've had since the CBA was signed.

I mean, I agree. I mean, I think that's undeniable. And with the Broncos, I think that that's another interesting case, right? So Denver has $24 million in gap space. You can move money around and everything else. course. So, but let's just say hypothetically that you give Keenum 18 of that. Sure. So you don't have much room to work with money wise in this free agency period. If you're the Broncos, is it a blessing in disguise to miss on Keenum, get one of these rookies for one 18th the price? I mean,

how much is a top five pick in his rookie year in terms of cap hit? Four million, five million? Something like that, yeah. So I mean, okay, so maybe you're saying a quarter of the price and to be able to go out and sign whoever on offense to be able to go get another alignment that you probably need. I just feel like that might be the case with some of these teams. I don't know if it's worth it to give one of these mid-tier quarterbacks that much because it's the argument that Mike Zimmer made about Case Keenman, why he's not that valuable. You need an infrastructure in order to lift him up. I think that's the case with all of these quarterbacks. It's just a matter of degree. And then the

problem, now the issue for Minnesota becomes, is that difference in degree worth $12 million? Is the chance Kurt Cousins give you, that slim margin that he's better than Case Keenum, is that worth $12 million because your window to win a championship is so small and

those margins are what may define it? I don't know the answer to that, but I think that's the questions that you have to ask. Okay, let me ask you this. Let's do a thought experiment. Kurt Cousins is the quarterback of the Vikings in 2017. Sure. Okay. Do they beat the Philadelphia Eagles? That's a weird game.

I mean, that's such a strange question to ask. I think that they were close enough to a championship that you could argue the difference between Kirk Cousins and Case Keenham would matter. I feel like there are very few rosters that you could say that about. I think Minnesota is in a unique position. You didn't answer the question. Would they beat the Eagles? In a vacuum, maybe not coming off the Minnesota miracle, all of that stuff, perhaps.

I think they had the roster to beat the Eagles. with Kirk Cousins and quarterback, yes. Okay. Yeah, no, I mean, I just, it appears to me, if I'm looking at the Vikings, they don't get any farther than where they got with Case Keenum. And so it does, the $12,000, the $13 million difference, I'd rather have two. So let's back up for a second.

One of the ways the Patriots got really freaking good at roster building was identifying the one inefficiency in the NFL. and that is mid-level veterans who didn't have a ton of interest. You're not in Domic and Sue type second contracts, but six, seven million kind of, you know, had three bidders and felt like New England was the best place for them and just stacking those guys. Two years ago, I think they had double the amount of guys

made between five and eight million than any other team in the NFL. Okay. So I know we talked about, talk about how the salary cap, especially for superstars, matters less and less every year. If you're really up against it, $12 or $13 million a year is a lot of money. Because that's two really quality players, two starters, that you can get off the scrap heap in free agency. Here's my issue with that line of thinking, though, is that the Patriots are a team whose quarterback can transcend the players around them.

We're talking about a different thing in terms of an overall team building strategy. You have to have a complete team that's almost spotless when you have quarterbacks that aren't Tom Brady, Aaron Rogers, and whoever else. The Eagles just proved that. So I think the Patriots can do that. They can chase three or four extra mid-tier guys because Tom Brady is their quarterback. I don't know if you're the Vikings. The Eagles did the same thing. And they won the Super Bowl with Nick Foles.

The Eagles have a complete roster. That's what I'm saying, though. But the way you have a complete roster is to have a critical mass of guys who are mid-tier. free agents making five, six, seven million dollars. That's the sweet spot. That's one way. Look, the easiest way to win in the NFL is, this is a quarterback and contract league.

I've said it a million times. If you get all of those guys like the freaking Seahawks five years ago and everybody's on a rookie contract and you can do whatever you want and you have 10 all pro candidates who are all making $800,000 a year, that's the ideal. The second best thing is, to have enough guys fitting under the salary cap who make five, six million dollars and just having a complete roster.

But the Vikings have one right now. I know. If they sign cousins, they would have one in this exact moment. And I think that's kind of the question you have to answer. Is it worth chasing him for two years when you can probably have close to that complete roster for two years? That we're in agreement here. That is the decision they have to make.

Are you going to get rid of other pieces in order to have Kirk Cousins? And so it comes down to what difference does Kirk Cousins make? And does he make the difference that taking two players away from the defense, does he make that an insignificant decision? Maybe it's one player. I mean, I don't know the answer there. I mean, if they have $72 million, he takes $30 of it. They're at 42.

They can probably sign a couple of those guys. But I mean, things change so much from year to year. I just don't know if it's worth the gap. And I can't answer that. I don't, I'm not going to fall on either side of that line right now. Nor am I. Hi, budding. Coming up, Danny will join us to talk about the biggest fish on the free agency market, as well as our favorite four free agents.

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to activate the offer. Visit mybooky.agy today, play, win, and get paid. We're welcome now by our good friend Danny Kelly, who's going to help us break down some of the biggest fish on the free agent market. But first, Danny, you're holding up okay, buddy? Danny, what is your end of the Seahawks dynasty playlist like right now?

It's a lot of sound garden. Graduation, that graduation song, I don't even know what the name of it is, but... The vitamin C song? Yeah, exactly. Danny, there's so much melancholy music from the city that you live in. I know.

Why wouldn't you just dive head first into all the sadness? Black by Pearl Jam? Yeah, exactly. I mean, I'm trying to keep a positive outlook about this. I think. Why? I'm actually kind of excited about the next sort of era in the Seahawks. I mean, obviously, I mean, well, it's obviously you're going to miss guys like Cam

Chancellor and Richard Sherman and Michael Bennett, but. You just listed three guys. You want to keep going? Well, I'm assuming they're not going to trade Earl Thomas They still have Bobby Wagner I don't know I'm just kind of excited to see How they kind of fix everything obviously

But I mean You can rationalize anything What's the first step in the five stages of grief? You can rationalize anything man I have a question Danny Yeah It seemed to me like all they had to do was fix their offensive line

And instead they just blew up the whole team Doesn't it seem like easier to just You know sign an offensive lineman I think they have to have cap space to do that. And they don't have a lot. They had like $13 million. And so cutting Richard Sherman, I think, is going to free up like $11 million. So they could go out and get a pretty good veteran, I think, at that cost.

And then, I mean, they have a lot of things that they have to do on both sides of the ball still. I think, you know, they were pretty, they went for it last year and it didn't work out. And now they've kind of got some holes. They don't have a second or third round pick. They're going to have to do some stuff in free agency. So let's dig into some of the bigger names available in free agency here. We're going to get to a Seahawk a little bit later, a former Seahawk, most likely. But let's start with the guy who outside of the quarterbacks is a lot of people's consensus, best player, just, you know, per position.

And that's Andrew Norwell, who spent the last few years in Carolina, former undrafted free agent from Ohio State, just another example of why it pays to find offensive linemen that come out of offensive linemen factories. Yeah. He's a guy that a lot of people think could break the guard market. I mean, that he could set the new standard for how much guards get paid. I mean, so you had a guy, Kevin Seiler, get paid $12 million a year about from Cleveland last year. People believe that Norwell can top that. So, I mean, are you, Danny, do you feel like he is that good?

Do you think he's in line with the rest of the best players at that position to the point where he's worthy of getting paid that much? Yeah, I mean, I think so. I was actually, so I wrote about free agents a bunch this week. I was just trying to do as much research as possible. I don't know if you guys mentioned this stat yet, but last season, he did not give up a quarterback hit or sack all year. He was the only,

he was the only offensive linemen to not allow a sack or a hit, which is, I mean, that's just insane to me. It was a 564 snaps. So, um, and what's amazing is that all five Seahawks allowed a hit on every single snap. Yeah.

Unbelievable. You guys should go get Andrew Norwell, Dan. And you have a guest to do that. I don't know. I mean, I'm guessing they probably. probably don't have the cap space or want to use all their caps space on that, but that would be amazing, obviously.

Put him next to Dwayne Brown and Justin Brits, not like a great center, but he's solid. Yeah, he's solid. So that would give them an really amazing left side. I got another guy in mind that we're going to talk about after this. But, yeah, I mean, if the Seahawks can get a good left guard, I think they could, that offense is lying could take a big jump forward. But, yeah, I don't think normal is going to be the guy.

He's probably going to go to the Giants right now. Yeah, that's kind of a bad. Is it everyone thinks he's going to the Giants, which would be a nice get for them. I think that that's the type of move they want to make me as a familiar with Gettleman, obviously. The other team, and I wrote this week just kind of the, I broke down the ideal halls of some of the more cash-rich teams in free agency,

so the Colts, the Browns, all those. And I said that, you know, if you're the Colts, you might as well make a run at him. You're going to lose Jack's a lot. You have a huge spot right there. You have $65 million in space. I mean, they have polls at the positions where there are a few players available in this class. He's one of them.

I mean, he's going to get a monster deal because there are teams with money who desperately need a player at that spot. Yeah, I think in, I mean, if you look at some of the teams that the Colts have to go up against, especially the Jaguars where they've got so many dudes on the inside that can just wreck your run game, wreck your passing attack, just get right through the line. I think he could be a really, really valuable piece to that way. You know, there's still sort of the discussion is a guard worth, you know, eight digit, like contracts or whatever. but I think they are at this point. I mean, there's so many

so many really athletic interior linemen that can just ruin your game plan. I think, you know, he's a guy that can change the complexion on an offensive line. I totally agree. And I think that there are a lot of guys that have shown what that type of talent and when you infuse a guy like that into your line,

how instantly the results can come. Guards became more important. Exactly what you said, Danny. The interior defensive lines have become so much more athletic because this is a quick release, league now. No one sits around back there, just running back and forth and

taking seven step drops or whatever. And so the edge rushers have become a little less important and even sacks in a weird way have become less important. In 2016 there was an all-time low for sacks across the NFL

and I don't think sacks are as viable as they once were because you're just not going to generate consistent pressure with the way offenses to get rid of the ball. So what do you do instead? You just get a big body in the middle of the defense. line and you put your hand up and you wreck the game. I mean, that's think about the Eagles.

The Eagles didn't have that many sacks last year, but no team in the NFL caused offenses to throw shorter of the sticks than the Eagles did because they have guys like Fletcher Cox. I mean, those are the type of stats that have become more important. I mean, not more important than sacks, but maybe more telling than sack totals. Right.

Like pressures collapsing in the pocket. I mean, Dan Quinn used to say it with the Seahawks. I'm sure he still says it with the Falcons all the time. It's all about affecting the quarterback. It's not necessarily knocking him down with the ball still on his hands. I mean, it's like getting him off his spot, getting him off balance, making him, you know, rush a pass or whatever,

force something into bad, you know, into coverage or whatever. So, I mean, that's the name of the game now. And yeah, exactly, because quarterbacks are getting the ball out so much faster. The other guy, if teams miss out on Norwell, that will probably be a, you know, well-paid guard is Justin Pugh, who it was heard last year, has had some injury issues in New York. But he can moonlight a tackle a little bit. So I feel like some of these teams that miss out,

on him, he's a guy worth chasing. I mean, the Bears need a left guard. I mean, so they're in play for one of those guys that they miss out on Norwell. I think the Colts also will be. So Pew's another name to watch there. Yeah, and he's the guy that I had in mind for the Seahawks because they have a new offensive line coach, Mike Salari. Solari just came from the Giants.

He's coached him. He knows there's familiar at this point. I know. It's true. There's a lot of connections there. But, I mean, he has familiarity with him. And then I heard, you know, at the combine. Pete Carroll was talking about how the Seahawks are planning to change up their offensive line like schemes a little bit.

So having a guy that can come in and know exactly how Solari coaches, I think it could be big. So I think, you know, Pew is he's probably better. I mean, he's definitely better as a guard. But like you said, he can play tackle in a pinch. And that's really, really valuable to teams that kind of like having guys that can play every position or at least, you know, multiple positions on the line. 100%. And, you know, in this class, the fact that Pugh can play tackle is interesting just because there aren't many high-level tackles available out there.

No. It's probably even worse than last season. I remember when we were recording the three of us this show, when Matt Khalil got his contract, and my reaction, it will go down in from me here. But in this class, it seems like there could be some weird deals just because there aren't many players available. Nate Solder is the guy at the top of that group, and I wanted to talk about him here again because position scarcity matters in free. aging classes. Kevin, are you of any mind that New England will let him get away or that he has any interest in leaving New England? I have to tell you guys something. I'm distracted by the fact that James Dolan played in a tonight show last night with his band. Understandable. I can't

blame you. It'd be hard to focus. Get it together. Come on. Okay. Solder, I mean, I don't know where that goes. I mean, no one can really predict where Belichick and Casario were going to to go when it comes to the open market. I mean, I just, he's so talented. The Patriots are going to have to fight off a lot of suitors in the open market. And how many times have we seen the, I mean, the entire Patriot system is built on this guy's too rich for our blood. So if he goes out and gets a godfather off for somewhere, no, he's not coming back.

He's one of those guys that just feels like the High Tower scenario from last year, where there's all this talk about him leaving and the Patriots didn't do enough to keep him. and then he just ends up back there. He doesn't want to leave. What's interesting is that there aren't that many teams at the top of the market who need a left tackle. Some of them that I'm looking at, they actually kind of are intriguing.

Houston is one of them. Think about Bill O'Brien. He's used to me. He knows Nate Solder. They have experience together. I feel like that's a call that will be made because, I mean, the Texans certainly don't feel good about who their left tackle is.

And we have to protect Deshaun. Yes. And their left, their offensive line was a absolute disaster last season. So I feel like there's a team that should make that call. But otherwise, you know, the Jets are not committed to Beach him long term, but he's there. So in Tampa Bay, you have Donovan Smith, who hasn't been good, but he's a young player still. They might not want to give him up on him quite yet.

Joe Staly in San Francisco. Charles Lano Jr. got that extension in Chicago. Left tackle for the Redskins is Trent Williams. Titans are next. You have Fluon there. the Vikings just signed Reef, the Jaguars just drafted a left tackle. So that many teams flushed with cap space that need a player at that spot. So I'm not sure if the market will be that robust for him.

And there may be a chance he just ends up back into England. Spot track does their market value thing, which can be hit and miss. I mean, Kurt Cousins is at 25 million. I think he might end up with a little more. But they do no salaries there. They've gotten eight sold her at 13.2 per year. that's not crazy. Think about what Khalil made.

No, it's not crazy at all. I'm not saying it's crazy. I'm saying if it gets to that, do the Patriots bail? Maybe. They don't have that much cap space. They're losing like three tackles, though. I mean, three tackles are free agents right now for them. Yeah.

I mean, I think he ends up back there. If I had to bet on it, I would say that. But say you're the bucks, right? I mean, just, again, as a hypothetical. So say you're Tampa Bay. And your offensive line needs some work. I'd say they're in line for a cheaper guard. Donovan Smith has not been good for them.

He's set to make $1.9 million this year as a former second round pick. Do you just eat that and spend some of that money to take a big swing in a guy like Nate's Soulder? Why wouldn't you at least try? And I think that those are the type of teams with him on the market could just say, screw it. Even if we had a plan that we weren't thrilled about, maybe we go make a run. Maybe the Jets do that.

So it just seems like there might be a couple of dark horse teams in here because there aren't that many left tackles of his caliber that hit the market. I did an article for the ringer that's going to go up on Friday that, and I matched him up with the Texans. I was on the same kind of mind track with you guys. It's just in terms of you got to protect Watson. They've got tons of cap space. There's familiarity there. Yeah, it just makes a lot of sense. I could see them definitely getting in on the bidding. Let's move on to a topic that might send me into a tizzy here. I don't know if I'll be able to handle it. The best news of my week was the Jaguars not franchising Alan Robinson.

My affinity for Alan Robinson is well known. I've never been shy about it. I still feel like we have no evidence that he's not the greatest wide receiver of all time, considering what he's been able to do with Blake Portles. His market is going to be fascinating because I think if you go back to last year and you look at what some of the top wide receivers got, obviously, Deshaun Jackson got that nice contract, but Prior got that one-year deal, Alshan ended up settling for that one-year deal.

there's a chance that both Alan Robinson and Watkins do the same, just because if you consider their 2017 seasons, they might want a chance to kind of rehab their value before cashing in. Robinson obviously misses pretty much the entire year with the Tony ACL. Watkins is good for a good Brams offense, but his production is not quite where you'd think a guy with his talent would be. I still think if you're a team like Chicago, which is why I'm excited about this, obviously,

you would try to give Robinson a long-term deal even coming off the ACL. We have so much evidence of guys coming back completely fine from that injury. By all accounts, he's 100%. Why risk losing him to a team that's willing to pay a little bit more because you don't want to give him a long-term deal? If Robinson's willing to take one and you can find a sweet spot where it's enough for him but you're still not breaking the bank because he was hurt, I would do it. I do it in a heartbeat.

I would do it too. I think, I mean, especially with sort of the uncertainty around draft receivers these days. I mean, especially, obviously, there's probably not going to be too many first rounders this year just based on kind of the way the class is set up. But over the last couple of years, first rounders have been really hit or miss in the first, in like their first couple years. You know, it kind of, it takes a couple years to get them sort of the pro game in a lot of cases. So we've talked about this in the past. It's kind of like paying a premium for what you know. Yes.

And I think you know Robinson's going to be really good. I mean, he's an elite athlete. He's produced in the past. You know, he's versatile. He can kind of play all over the field. He's a deep threat. I mean, he's really what teams are looking for. I mean, obviously, I think the injury is the big thing.

That's the big question market and how much teams are going to sort of trust that he's on track to kind of turn into what he was before. But, I mean, he's a proven, he's a proven commodity. and I think he's going to be valuable on the open market. Would you rather have Robinson or Watkins, Kevin? So they both have question marks. I think the most interesting thing to me was a lot of the tape guru said as the season went on that Watkins was getting open.

He was beating his guy and he was playing on the backside of the play and Gaufton Reed, get his reads in. It's because there was guys open on the front side of the play. Yeah, of course. Robinson, it's just health. It's just health. So it depends where the money comes down, and that's sort of a simplistic answer. If the money is even,

I guess I would go Robinson. I think I would too. And because here's the other wrench in this, Watkins has never been healthy. Nope. Watkins' their foot problems his entire career. Alan Robinson has one fluke injury. I'd argue that Sammy Watkins is a bigger health concern

than Alan Robinson is. So if we're taking that new account, I think the Robinson checks way more boxes for me. All right, let's move on to the corners here very quickly. A couple of guys that seem like they're in line for double-digit contracts per season. Bucking Butler and Trumane Johnson. Butler is another guy that his value will be so hard to track just based on the way people

view his 2017. He was up and down. You have the Super Bowl benching that I don't feel like it will be as big a deal to most teams. But I think it's more the way he played last season. If he's the guy he was in 2016, he's a $15 million a year corner. Now I think it's closer to 10. So is that going to be a situation where you'd rather give him a little bit less than

Page Romaine Johnson, top of the market? value that he's almost sure to get coming off to franchise tags because his agent isn't coming to the market with anything less than you're paying me $15 million a year. I want Stefan Gilmore money. Right. So I just feel like at this point, Malcolm Butler might be a little bit more of a bargain. Kevin, I'm not sure how you feel about what Butler might get and where. I have, this is one of those things where there's going to be a massive separation between public perception and how teams view him because you and I and Danny Kelly do not know the full story of what happens Super Bowl Week.

I don't know if we're ever going to know. I think that teams will and I think how they view that and what happened and other sort of character references. These guys do so much homework on the players and they're going to understand whether not Malcolm Butler is worth $14, $15 million or if you, He's, if he's just in the bracket where you're going to take an $11 million flyer on him and maybe even a two-year deal. Okay. Spot track has him at 12, 13 million flat, which is about a million dollars less than Tremaine Johnson.

I think that's about right now, depending on what teams find out. I mean, the rumors about Malcolm Butler Super Bowl week all seem to have been disproven at this point, but at the same time, there's no way it was competitive reasons. So, and schematic reasons. Because the scheme

for the Patriots involves Malcolm Butler stopping people. So I just, I know that there's a lot of room for more analysis here, but the answer is it depends on what NFL teams

know about this guy. I think the other thing that is very intriguing about this free agent class specifically is there's a lot of, lot of starter quality corners hitting the free agent market. I think it's probably

the deepest position. That's why I'm not doing this. Yep. My team needs corners desperately. I'm obviously bringing Kyle Fuller back, which I assume they're going to. They gave him the transition tag. Whoever offers him a deal, I would almost guarantee they match it.

But outside of that, they still need two more. And there's no way I'm paying Tremaine Johnson $15 million a year when I can give E.J. Gaines 8. Exactly. I'm just not doing it. it or think about what Breshaad Breen's going to get. I guarantee you guys like that come in at a price that's much more palatable to me

than what you'd have to pay to get Tremaine Johnson. If I'm a team like San Francisco or a team like the Colts who needs corners desperately, but you need a ton of other positions too. Let somebody else do it. Let me let the Browns go get Tremaine Johnson and let me come in and get a guy for half price and then spend that money elsewhere. There's like Rishon Melvin. He had a really good year.

He worries me just because I know what the other tape is. looked like. I think Breeland and Gaines had been more consistently good in Gaines' case when he's been on the field. What do you think is the deal with Amukamara? Because he played decently also. Did he earn a bigger contract this year? I think so. I mean, I think he played solid.

I mean, I would have no problem with giving him a reasonable deal. I think he has less upside than a guy like Gaines does just because he's older and he's been around. I think that Gaines is somebody that his ceiling has been high enough when you've seen him that you feel more comfortable giving him three years.

there's a chance that Mookamore doesn't get another deal that's more than one single season. But I think he played well enough that a cornerback needy team, even a stopgap, would love to have them. So the big question here, before even getting to Butler, before even getting to Johnson, any of those, you know, Breeland-Fuller-type options, a keep-to-leave and Richard Sherman can both shake free. Yes. Oh, yeah. Well, that's a pretty big deal. Yeah, it's huge.

I mean, that's, again, just one of the wrinkles that's coming here. If you are your team that needs a corner I don't understand why you wouldn't consider trading for Richard Sherman right now Even giving them a small amount of trap capital for that one year It says it's is Achilles I think it's probably the fact that they don't know How fun is understandable Hey guys I have a question

Every time I see an Achilles injury Everyone's like, oh, Achilles death sentence And then the guy just comes back fine Like that's not always the case Cameron Wake, Cameron Wake was like, oh, speed rusher at the end of his career. And then he just came back and he was just the same guy. I feel like if we start comparing other athletes to Cameron Wake, we're going to get in trouble real fast.

Right. He's one of like the most ridiculous physical specimens to ever play. What I'm just saying is it just seems like one of those thoughts, it just gets passed around. And then it's just been disproven over and over again. I don't think it's a career killer anymore. I mean, it's certainly much more dangerous than something like an ACL is. Oh, sure, sure. But I'm just saying every time.

I read about an Achilles, it's like, toss him and the trash pot, then the guy like a year later is making the Roble. Sherman and Talib can absolutely just screw this whole thing up in a way that's fun. I mean, if both of those guys are in the market, the way it all comes down, I'm excited to watch it. What number... Guys,

what number will Talib and Sherman wear with the Patriots? What numbers? Cod. When they're both on the two. Don't even say that to me. What? That doesn't work. Those two guys are to show them where to go more. They wouldn't have all three of those guys. Maybe just Sherman.

Eric Barry tore his Achilles too, and he's going to be dunking on people in December. That's, yeah. Eric Barry has gotten over stuff that's a little bit worse than an Achilles injury, so I have faith. All right. Let's go. One more guy here, but we'll knock out before we get to our favorite four guys very quickly, as we'll breeze through those. Jimmy Graham, resurgent season, you know, he's a guy that,

if you need a pass catching tight end, an extremely valuable commodity. Danny, are you, after watching him all year, do you feel like it's worth a team kind of splurging on him at top of the tight end market money? I think so still because of what he can do in the red zone. I mean, speaking of another guy that kind of overcame a quote career killing injury, I mean, he tore his Pateller and was back the next season, which is kind of insane. If I'm not mistaken, he led the league in Red Zone catch rate for tight ends this year. That sounds right.

I know he led all tight ends and touchdowns with 10, and, you know, he kind of turned into that unstoppable. I always used to talk about how the fade is trash, but he's really, really good. If you're like, there's a few guys who are just unstoppable with the fade route or the back shoulder kind of red zone catch thing that he really showed this year again that he still got that.

I think in the right situation, you know, with the right quarterback, obviously a reunion in New Orleans, I think would be awesome. But I mean, like with a quarterback can throw with anticipation, I think Graham still has a ton of value as a red zone target. He's not going to be the guy used to be where he's running all over the field and running up the seam and getting past guys because he's just not quite as fast. I don't think as he used to be.

But I mean, he's still really athletic. He's still huge. And he's, you know, he's a good red zone target. So I would say, yeah, he's still a little bit risky. And he did drop a few passes this year that kind of make you wonder. But I mean, I think in the right scheme, he's still like a 10 touchdown guy. Here's my problem is that I agree with all that things. as you just said, I also know that Tyler Eifford is a very good red zone target.

And this is the pit into which I am going to fall once more. My biggest blind spot in regards to NFL players and projecting them is Tyler. I'm the biggest, if healthy guy of all times. Well, if he's healthy, like my tombstone is going to read, here lies the last man who believed in Jason Verrett. That is going to be me. And Eifred is just right there. He's 27.

Graham's 31. He's a monster in the red zone. my biggest fear of this entire free agency period is that he ends up in Green Bay. Oh my God. Jimmy Graham? Tyler Rifert. Excuse me, Tyler Eifert.

It is the thing that haunts my dreams. I just thought of it two days ago and I've tried to block it out of my mind ever since. You woke up in a cold sweat. Oh, my God. I'm telling you, it's the most terrifying thought to me because I really do think the guy is special when he's on the field. Oh, yeah.

And again, this is such a huge caveat, but if he can stay on the field, I think a team could get a deal because he's going to be cheaper than Graham. It would be so seamless for him to take Marty Bennett's spot in the trainer's room at tight end. Ah, come on. There's a little spot in the

trainer's room that says tight end. He can just sit there. Oh, man. All right, let's move on here from the bigger names to kind of one or two steps down. We're going to run through these very quickly. We each picked our favorite four free agents. Guys, we think are going to be available at the right

price that could help a team instantly. Kevin, why don't you start with your first one? Sure. So PFF did a nice thing where they have a handy guide to all the guys who are available and then their grade last year. Number one free agent by grade is who, Robert? I don't know. It's Marcus Lawrence and he's been tagged. That's right.

Let's set him aside. Let's set him aside. Number two is available. It's Patrick Robinson. He was great last year. Now, you don't have to tell me. Patrick Robinson made 775. $5,000 last year.

Yep. Dang. He was, I would say, without question, the best value in football last year? Yeah, he was complete afterthought. Yeah. For a guy on a second contract, obviously there's always going to be late round rookies who are the best value in football. But as far as a guy who wasn't on his rookie contract, he's entering his year 30 season.

Assuming, because he had such a big jump from 2016, I think he doubled his PFF grade from 2016 to 2017, assuming no one's going to go out and give him a Tremaine Johnson contract, He's a lot corner He's not going to get that Yeah no of course So if you can go out and get him for I don't know what does he command Four million

That was my When I did it this year Earlier this week My contract was somewhere around Three years 12 million I think that's pretty good I mean I said the

You have to structure it To where maybe the third year You can get out of it Because That's what all contracts are Yeah but corners At age 32 33 Start to worry me

But I think he's I mean He played really really well Obviously, the nasty defensive line plays a part in it, but I like Patrick Robinson. Yeah, he's in the conversation for me. Absolutely. I would love if the Bears went out and got him. They need a slot corner.

He's the person I've had in my sights since I realized he was a free agent after watching him play it last year. Danny, who's your first guy? So this guy, to me, not necessarily my favorite, but he's really intriguing to me. And that's Austin Sferian Jenkins, former Jet. I mean, number one, he came into the NFL when he was really young. I think he's still only 25 years old. So the arrow to me is still pointing up.

I think he's got a lot of potential. He's huge, you know, big catch radius. He's athletic guy. And I think he really, you know, based on some of the stories and reports we've read about him, finally kind of got his life together this last year. He got sober, lost a bunch of weight. I just think, and he kind of rededicated himself to football and everything. And, you know, I kind of have been following his career because he went to UW and, you know,

came up and he was a multi-sport athlete at UW. And I don't know. I just, I think he's in. I think he's that type of, you know, big-bodied, move-tight end that in the, again, it's in the right scheme. I mean, you have to have a quarterback who's willing to throw with anticipation because he's not going to separate a lot. But I just think he could be an intriguing piece for a team that, you know, likes to work the seam and, you know, potential red zone target for some people. So he's an interesting guy to me. I'm going to be watching where he ends up.

And I don't think he's going to get paid a ton. Last year, you know, that Jets team really like to push the ball downfield outside the numbers. I think he would be better in an offense that's not necessarily built like that. So the guy we saw last year, even, I don't feel like is the person he could be. And he had a decent season last year. I mean, he wasn't great by any stretch, but he was fine. He's somebody that you watch him, like, okay, this guy can play a little bit. So I agree.

I mean, if he's in an offense more conducive to his skill set, I think he could do some fun stuff. Another team that kind of needs a tight end, and I don't know how they feel about Jake Butt, whatever. Denver might be interesting for him. if they go get a guy with Case Keenham. So I think that there are teams out there that he fits for. I had the Seahawks, Cowboys, Bengals, and 49ers written down, just kind of jotted down. But yeah, I mean, I think 49ers need a tight end. I mean, I like kiddle, but they could use another one.

Well, they could use another one. They use a lot of two tight ends. I mean, Seleck played a decent amount for them last year. So, yeah. My first guy, shockingly, is an offensive lineman. I'm going with Ryan Jensen, who was the center for the Ravens last year. and you watched that Ravens team, he popped out a little bit to me.

I watched that interior of the offensive line when Collins was running as well as he did because I was curious what changed there. And they had so much shuffling before the season. Jensen had never played center full time. And he goes there and does a pretty damn good job in a pinch. And we've looked at what free agent centers have done for teams lately. And the guy that jumps out to me,

I think Jensen could be in line for a deal in this range, maybe a little less, is Ben Jones in Tennessee. nobody cared when he signed the contract, nobody celebrated it, but he came in and was a stabilizing factor on that offensive line. They desperately needed a real player there. And I think that Jensen could be that. In my Hydeal Hall's piece that I wrote earlier this week, I gave him to the Jets.

They need a center. I just feel like he would be a really nice piece to add to whatever quarterback you have there and kind of really put together and have some reliability in the middle of your offense. You guys good? You have nothing to say? I do you know who Ryan Jensen is.

I know who he is. I love to move on as quickly as possible. Kevin, my dog is drinking water really, really loudly right behind me. That does matter more than the center that's going to make mid-tier market money. Kevin, let's get to your second person. Really quickly, it's Dionne Lewis. Another one of these guys are the high PFF grade.

You know, I think he's versatile. Apparently, he's been upset with some of his usage numbers in New England, which, I mean, that's only 400 snaps or something last year. I don't blame him. That's what you sign up for when you put. playing New England. His weird game-to-game changes. What intrigues me, first of all, he's going to be 28 this year. He had 1896 yards, 5 yards per carry last year, but 35 targets. I think he's really versatile. He's had 50 targets in his career. You know, three years ago, he had 10.8 yards per

reception. He can break some. His catch rate was 91% last year. And obviously, if a running back, that's, you know, it's graded on a curve, but it's still impressive. I think in this, league we're going way way way more towards past catching running backs we're going back to sort of the Ladani and Tomlinson model from the mid-2000s and I think Dionne Lewis is a guy who probably has two years left in his prime

get him for a few million dollars run him into the ground let him catch some passes and get those usage rates up because that's what he wants Kevin I got some land if you have any teams in mind that intrigue you oh that's a great

question I keep coming back to Detroit. Yeah. That's the one I keep coming back to. I just feel like he would make sense there. They need a running back and we actually run between the tackles. He's good.

I know he's smaller and that they might have nightmares after guys like Abdul, but I think he fits there. The Colts are another team that's been thrown out. I just don't see Ballard spending fantasy football money in free agency this year. I just don't see it happen. Yeah, the Giants maybe. I mean, we'll see. I think his market will be interesting just because it's hard for me to

spend that kind of free agency money on 28. Earled running back, even when he doesn't have that much tread. It's going to be great when he signs with the Lions and he gets Matt Patricia. And Patricia just uses him the same way Belichick. He did. Three carries a game. All right, Danny, who's your second guy? I got Sheldon Richardson on the list.

I mean, obviously, he's not a small. He's not a small name. He's probably the best defensive linemen actually on the open market. So a little bit cheating. But I'm just really, I'm getting me fascinated to see not only where he ends up, but how much he gets because, like we were talking about early. you know, with the influx of athletic, interior defensive linemen, it's going to be, I mean, he could fit anywhere. And he's versatile enough to play on the edge, too, and kind of like, you know, as a sub-package edge rusher in certain situations.

So I don't think he's probably not going to stick with the C-Ox. I think he could make a defense. He could be a big boost to a defense that's already kind of like just needs one more guy to, like, add to their, you know, pass-rush package. and he's also, you know, he's good enough to play three downs. Like he can defend the run pretty well too. So I actually also had the lions written down as a potential target for them just because he's versatile. Kind of play all over the line, the Falcons.

And then actually the other idea that I thought would be really intriguing, I don't think they'll probably do this, but imagine him on the Chargers line. Oh my God. Wouldn't that be fun? I just did. I just, that made me smile. Oh, my God, that sounds so great. I'm into that idea. Okay, let's make it happen.

Kevin, who's your third guy? Just two intriguing safeties, both with question marks, Eric Reed and Kenny Vicaro. Eric Reed is not tremendous in coverage, but I think he's, I like him. I like him. And I would, at the right price, have him on my team. Kenny Vicaro, it's just health. It's just health. The Saints didn't even try to bring him back.

They've just moved on from him. He's played 16 games once in his five-year career. And so I think if you believe Robert Mays, you are a if healthy guy. if you believe that Kenny McArle can get healthy he's a nice, he's a nice intriguing option. Both of those safeties I think one of them will make an impact next year. It just comes down to who and what teams believe in.

Well, I'll do my third guy next because it kind of plays off that. I would rather pay Trey Boston what he's going to get than either one of those guys. I like Trey Boston. I think he was excellent in San Diego last year or wherever the Chargers play. I'm going to do it every time.

He was really good. And I just feel like he's going to be available. It's San Diego. I don't, I think they're going to move back at some point, right? So I like Tray Boston a lot. I think a safety needy team, he could be really good for them.

If I'm the Browns, I'm seeing what he wants to play back there in the back end. If they're moving Peppers closer to the line of scrimmage, I think he's the type of guy that won't break the bank, but could seriously help them. I don't know if anybody can seriously help you when Greg Williams is the coordinator,

but he's the guy I would like to try. I had it matched up with the Eagles in my article. That way, know he can play deep that allows Malcolm Jenkins to move all around and kind of do what do you do what are you going to do with McLeod then well I mean it's you have three you have three quality

safeties I mean they played they play Jenkins up in the box like a linebacker at times I mean it's just moving guys around can play big nickel in this league it's a lot of money to spend safety though man this team is exactly flush with cash that's true I mean who's your third guy Danny yeah my third guy another kind of bigger name but um

I think he's kind of underrated still as Adrian Claiborne. He was a guy last year who he got six sacks in one game. So that kind of like skewed the numbers a little bit. His pressure numbers were good though. He was much more consistently disruptive last year than he had been in years past as a past rusher. Yeah. And so he, I don't see here.

I got the numbers. He was 10th among four three rushers in pressures. And in terms of his past rush productivity per PFF, that was a mouthful. So I mean, yeah, 54 pressures on the year. year he's good i mean it was the same number that jason pierre paul generated last year and i think my ideal situation for him would maybe be the saints i think matching or putting him opposite uh cam jordan would be a lot of fun that would be a big that's really fun that one's really fun and just because they're going to lose okifor who was a solid second rusher for them last year they

didn't have it really anybody else behind him that's a fun one the one i threw out which i think is even more fun is he goes back to tampa bay just kind of like a victory tour reclamation project to go back and just as a better version of the player he was the first time. They need pass rush too. They need pass rush desperately. Him, McCoy, Ayers,

I mean, Ayers and Claiborne can both play inside outside. So you'd be able to move those guys around a little bit. But I like the Saints. That one's a good one. Wait, can I say something very quickly? Sure. I was in Indianapolis and I saw a dirt cutter.

Sure. And I could not believe that he hadn't been fired. Like in my mind, he had just been fired. And I was just like... He was at the podium the first day. I saw him in the hallway. And I saw him in the hallway and I'm like, well, what's he doing here?

And then I remember that he just still coaches the bucks. Kurt Cutter is the Alcoldry contract of coaches. I just had... In my mind, I didn't have anybody who replaced him. I just was just like, eh. All right, Kevin, who's your fourth guy? This is a situational pick. Because one thing I could see happening is a lot of teams talking themselves

to him and all of a sudden he becomes overpaid. It's Trey Burton for me. Burnton, buried on the depth chart in Philadelphia the last couple of years. A tremendous athlete. Obviously, has an arm as we saw in the playoffs. And, you know, 75% catch

rate when he got the chance, but playing behind Zach Ertz, you're just not going to get a lot of chances. I think he's a decent weapon for a team that's not looking to spend a lot. I feel like more teams are going to use more 12 personnel. That's something I thought was going to happen last year. I really do think it's going to be a trend.

Teams getting bigger personnel packages to play with tendency, everything else. He's the perfect guy for that. I mean, you can really use him in a variety of situations. He's versatile. He's flexible. I think that he's going to be a fun player. Danny, who's a rookie. They rushed him five times.

Yeah. He plays a really good athlete. And he's also a really good guy. And he's only 26. Good blocker. You can use him on WAM blocks. The Eagles love to do that. I think he's,

he'll be a fun guy to watch no matter where he lands. Danny, who's your fourth guy. So my final guy is Carlos Hyde You know he's been really really up and down in his career But there are times when you're watching him run And you're like this guy is insanely good He's he's big elusive

I mean he can even catch the ball pretty well I think he's a he's a really really interesting free agent I'll be interested to see if he gets like he if he finds a team That will want him to be sort of their featured back Because I don't know I just for whatever reason I've always really liked him I just like the way he runs He'll get the Latavis

Murray contract from last year. Matt Harmon from the NFL network tweeted out that Carlos Hyde saw the third most loaded boxes in the NFL last year. Really? Nearly 50%. Only Marchion and JJ were higher. Wow. So that's something to consider.

Yeah, that's interesting. I think that's my prediction and some team will pay him to be their guy. Obviously Latavis Murray wasn't, but they didn't know they'd get to Calvin Cook at that point. My fourth guy is another bigger name, but I think that in this market, he's not considered one. That's Josh Sitton.

Yeah. We're going to have these conversations about Norwell and Pugh and everything else. And some team that's on the brink is going to sign Josh Sitton to a two-year contract. And he's just going to be like one of the best six or eight guards in the league. Seahawks. It's so ho-hum. Tampa Bay is another team I threw off for him. They desperately need a player there.

I mean, they have a, they've, they're started there who wasn't very good. I mean, he's fine. He's Kevin Penfield. And now they have a spot. Sitting's the perfect guy. He's from Florida and went to school in Orlando. just come home, man. Just spot right in next to

Elamarp and make that stuff happen. All right, Danny, thanks for joining us, buddy. We're here for you in this very trying time in your life. If you ever need us, let us know. I appreciate you guys. Thanks a lot. Thanks, bud. All right, Kevin, before we get out of here,

I just wanted to throw out one team for each of us that we're excited to watch in this next week or so, just their plan, the haul they come up with, who's yours? Okay, so if you take the word excited out and just team, I'm going to, watch the most is the Seahawks. Okay. Because I have no idea what they're doing. Sure. Having said that, the most intriguing team to me is the San Francisco

49ers. Yes. I mean, they could go in a number of ways. Are they going to try to compete now? You know, we just mentioned Trey Burton. I saw a report the other day that they're the front runners for Trey Burton. Are they going to try to go all in and not all in as in, you know, maximize their 2018 season, but are they going to get enough guys to where we're talking about them for a wildcard spot this year. I wrote about that for the ringer.com today. Please go check it out. I just feel like they are the team that you should be watching right now for a ton of

different reasons. I think that Carapolo is a beacon in all of this. I mean, he is something that players are going to be drawn to, just the excitement around that. And then the other thing is just the distribution of their needs. They need a guard. They need a running back. They need a corner.

They need a wide receiver. And they probably need an edge rusher. So if you think about that, consider the running backs that have succeeded under Shanahan in the past. You have Alfred Morris is a sixth round rookie. You have two years before that, the guys in Cleveland that were averaging about 160 yards rushing a game for the first five weeks before Alex Mack broke his leg were Terrence West and Isaiah Crowell.

And then he goes and just destroys the league with Devante Freeman and Kevin Coleman, neither of whom was drafted before the third round. So I feel like his MO for the most part has not been to splurge on running backs. He's never chosen the players to this degree. Maybe that changes, but he's been successful with guys in later rounds. They wait on running back and get one either cheaper in free agency and do the same thing with guards, which is another position that historically Shanahan offenses have never splurged on.

Then you have a ton of money, about $55 million in space, to go get the big ticket items at those other spots. And the other thing you have to take into account, Grasbo is a $37 million cap hit this year because of how much cap space they started with. That goes to 20 next season. So if it's 55 or 60 that they have now, that's still even misleading because of how they could structure some of these deals

and the amount of room they have next season. There is so many things to consider here, and the last wrinkle to all of this is the Seahawks are punting. So now you have a division with a team that pretty much conceding that the rain is over. You have the Rams who are selling off pieces in order to make changes.

I think it's safe to say that the 49ers might have the only roster in that division that gets considerably better this year. It's not out of the question that they can make the playoffs. Whether or not they make the playoffs depends on the regression of the other teams. Possibly. I think they can win 10 games. I agree. I agree.

This could be a big part of it. So they're the team I'm watching. I think they are the quiet player in all of this. All right, buddy. That's all we got. I will not be back next week. I'll be in Las Vegas for a bachelor party is the only show I plan on missing from here on out. But I will not be with you guys.

So please let Kevin kind of shepherd you through these storms of free agency. Come with me. Follow me to freedom. All right, guys. As always, thanks for listening to the Ringer NFL show on the Ringer podcast network. Hey guys, I'm Mark Titus. And I'm Dave Frazier. We are the host of One Shining Podcast.

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