The Ringer NFL Show - The Latest on the Commanders Sale and How to Improve the NFC’s Playoff Teams

Episode Date: April 14, 2023

Nora and Steven return to discuss Josh Harris’s bid to buy the Commanders and break down how the playoff teams of the NFC can improve through the draft and free agency. Hosts: Nora Princiotti and Steven Ruiz Associate Producer: Stefan Anderson Additional Production Supervision: Arjuna Ramgopal and Conor Nevins Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I'm Ben Solac and I host the Ringer NFL Draft show with Danny Kelly, Danny Hyfitz, and Craig Horbeck. Join us twice a week as we talk everything NFL draft and break down all the players who will make your team better, except the Rams because they don't really have any picks. Check us out on the Ringer NFL show on Spotify. Hello and welcome to the Ringer NFL show. I'm Nora Puntiotti. I am here on a Friday with Stephen Ruiz. Stephen, you just told me you found a cat sitter. How else is it going on this happy Friday?

That's the only thing that matters in my life right now was, finding someone to watch my cat. But now that I have, I feel good. I'm off next week. So I'm leaving you losers behind. I'm going on vacation. I hope you guys enjoy the the second to last week of draft season, which I always feel like is the worst. I feel like that's when the hot takes really start coming out and the bad takes really start coming out. Because people run out of material and then you just, yeah, the take machines go into overdrive and it's just like, oh, well, set everything smart that I can think of. So yeah, I think Hendon Hooker is, I think Kenan

hookers, a combination of Patrick Mahomes and LeBron James. Like, those are the type of takes you start getting it. You are on the warpath against basketball comes. No more. I guess I was two in our last episode. They don't make sense. Bryce Young is really going to improve the three-point shooting of the Carolina Panthers, and that will make the difference.

You know what? Anything's possible. Okay, we are finishing up our team needs series today with the NFC play. off teams. But before we do that, there was a bit of news yesterday, which is that the commander's sale, there is a, there is a bid that has been reportedly accepted the Josh Harris Group's bid to buy the commanders for around $6 billion. Now, I should say that there's some reporting from ESPN, that that is not quite, not quite at the finish line, that there is still an opportunity for the other group to get a final bid.

in there. So we'll see if that actually goes through. But it seems like the commander's sale is nearing, nearing completion to the Josh Harris group. Stephen, you are in the district. What's the report from on the scene? People party in the streets. I don't think I've left my apartment since the news broke. So I can't really give you the, I'm looking at my window right now and no one's celebrating it. So I don't know. But it's always a wait and see thing with these owners. Like, I know not being Dan Snyder is a very good pro. It's a very good thing to have in your pro list. But like bad owners come from all walks of life.

And we don't know what Josh Harris is going to be as an owner. So I think DC is in a holding pattern with the owner. I think they're very excited. Like you listen to the radio and they're very excited that about the prospect of Dan Snyder selling the team. This is like going back months now. And I think it's going to rejuvenate the fan base. this team just has a lot of goodwill to build up with this fan base

because they haven't won in a while. They haven't really given them anything to cheer about. They've given them a lot of reasons to boo. And I think even just bringing in a new owner isn't going to be enough. There are a lot of loose ends that need to be tied up. I agree with you that it's a little bit of a wait-and-see thing, but I feel like it's for a different reason. Josh Harris owns the 76ers ownership in the New Jersey Devils,

well. So in some ways, we do have a sense of how he'll run a professional sports team. I also just think that anyone who is not Daniel Snyder is such a massive improvement almost automatically. And I feel like I can say that without a sense of naivete about, you know, a lot of major league sports ownership groups have their own issues. But just, you know, Dan Snyder, he sued his own fans. All of the issues. of that place being an absolute dumpster fire to work in, go back so long. It feels like almost nobody from coaches to executives,

like everybody who goes in there comes out worse for the experience. So if that, you know, if and when this happens, I really feel like even though the bar is so low, it's a great day for that franchise. That said, Daniel Snyder still owns this team. Yes. that guy has a history of some pretty shady business practices until this thing is over the finish line. And again, ESPN has reported that Steve Apostolopoulos's group can still submit a final offer or is still in the mix to try to make a deal to buy the team.

So just when you're doing business with Dan Snyder, it is over when it is completely 100% over. and I think a lot of people have found that out the hard way. So I'm sure a lot of places are reporting this as like a complete done deal. And it seems like that is the direction that this is headed in. But whether that's true or not, part of this guy's legacy is that you just can't be sure until you are absolutely sure. So we'll keep you all posted on that. But I do think in the long-ish term, you know, sort of the medium to long term, kind of no matter what happens,

it'll just be great for that franchise that Dan Snyder is out of there. In the short term, it'll be really, really fascinating to see if with whatever they're still able to do from a team building perspective, which is obviously heavily influenced by whether or not a sale

finally does go through before or after the draft and how much time a new group has to get in there and try to implement some stuff really quickly. It'll just be fascinating to see if they shake things up at all in terms of what the 2023 roster there looks like.

Lamar is obviously the big wild card. But even just the direction of the franchise in the near term what they want to do in the draft, I think a new ownership group could kind of influence because we saw them throughout the course of free agency really kind of slow roll

things and clearly not want to make any big or in Snyder's case costly decisions when he could just wait it out and have somebody else pay for it. So on that note, we will keep you posted on that and we'll see. But if people start having a parade outside your window, Stephen, you'll have to keep us posted on that.

I'll let you know. A couple of weeks ago, it was a carjacking. Maybe it's a parade this time. Well, the commanders fans will probably hope that we are talking about their team in this section, in this episode next year. but we are not because they did not make the playoffs. A team that did make the playoffs, the Seattle Seahawks, which we will start there.

What do you have for their team needs? I have defensive line across the board. They signed Draymond Jones this offseason, which I think was a good signing for them. But that's one guy. And we know defensive line is a position that you have to constantly maintain. And I think that's something that Seattle,

if they want to get back to having a top-de- defense like they did over the first decade at be Carroll's tenure there, you have to build up the defensive line. That was kind of the secret sauce to that Legion of Boom success. I know the secondary got a lot of attention, but having a deep rotation of pass rushers is key to running that style of defense. And then I would keep it on the same side of the ball, finding a second cornerback to play alongside Woolen. Yeah. I think he's a must. And then wide receiver. I know, like, you look at it on paper. You're not a big Michael Jackson guy?

No. And I know you look at it on paper. You see D.K. Metcalf. You see Tyler Lockett. But, like, we've heard trade talks about those guys for, like, the last three years. You have to, you have to keep adding to that position. It's another position that you have to maintain. So there are a lot of positions they can attack.

Thankfully, they have a lot of picks. They have four in the top 52. So this could be an interesting draft. And after they nailed last year, if they do it back to back, like, that's how you set up a, I don't want to say dynasty, but that's how you set up a long Super Bowl window. And I think they're on the verge of doing so. If they can nail this and figure out how to solidify the quarterback position. And maybe the answer is Gino Smith, but if he's not the answer, they have the picks to find another one.

I mean, that was just nailing some draft classes. This is how they set it up in the Legion of Boom era. It would be funny if they're able to do that again. The funniest piece of this is that we're going to have over the next couple of weeks, probably six or seven different conversations about what they're going to do at number five and whether it makes sense to go quarterback or to try to get an impact player at another position there. And then John Schneider's obviously just going to trade down

because that's all he wants to do. But they have seemed particularly thrilled about having that number five pick. I mean, people from that organization have been taking selfies with all the quarterbacks. Pete Carroll at owner's meetings was like, this is the coolest thing ever and was just so jacked up about having a high pick,

but having the quarterback position. If not settled, then settled if they wanted to be settled, given that they got the contract with Gino done relatively early in the free agent process. I'm with you. I think defensive line is probably the biggest need. I would say both lines of scrimmage.

I think the offensive line is in great shape at the tackle spots with Charles Cross and Abe Lucas, but the interior they could focus on. And then, yeah, the corner, the corner thing is interesting because the priority is definitely someone to play opposite Tariq Wullen. They also,

slot corner, I think, is kind of a need. They've talked a lot about wanting to play three safeties quite a bit this offseason, so I don't know quite how much a priority the nickel corner spot is, but if they see that as a lot, role that they need to fill. I think they're working with Kobe Bryant.

And you could kind of go either way there, but I think the priority is probably who handles the other outside corner spot other than Tariq Wollen. That's sort of what I had there. Again, they have five picks, including that number five in the top 83. The quarterback thing is the wild card if they end up wanting to get a rookie in there to work, to either compete with Gino or work behind Gino.

I don't know. The more I think about that, the more I think they're not going to end up doing that. Do you have a thought on that? I don't think they're going to take a quarterback. I think they have enough draft capital to scrounge up some picks next year. If they want to make a move,

like let's say Gino has a year where that wasn't anything close to what he did last year, then that conversation starts. Right now you have a guy signed, this isn't like the best quarterback class ever. So I wouldn't be like chomping at the bit to draft one of these guys. And then they have some obvious positions of need like we've covered at, I would say premium positions,

the kind of positions that you need to draft in the top five. So I think there's a need. I think it makes sense for them to stay at five and just make a pick there and just take best player available. Because if there is a run on quarterbacks early, you might end up with a talent that usually goes first overall in another draft that isn't so quarterback crazy. Right. Right, right.

They did enough, particularly to add to the defense, Draymond Jones, Julian Love, Jaron Reed, Bobby Wagner, Devin Bush. That was the focus of their free agency period, and that was obviously the weakness of the team last year. It seems like they really care about next year. Like, they have sort of this luxury to think short-term and long-term at the same time because of where the roster has ended up,

and because Gino played so well and they were able to get that deal done. But I kind of think the short term is going to take a little bit of precedence over, okay, let's really prioritize what this team is going to look like in 2024, 2025, 2026. So I'm with you. And why shouldn't it? Why shouldn't it? Like, you look at the 49ers, they have, it's a, obviously the 49ers are a more talented

team, but they have an unsettled quarterback situation. Like we're talking about the Seahawks quarterback situation. The 49ers would die for Seattle's. quarterback situation right now because you don't know what Brock Purdy is going to be next year. Even if he is healthy and he comes back from the elbow injury, which sounds dicey, you don't know what he's going to be.

Trey Lance has played like four football games since he was like 18 years old. We don't know what he's going to be. And then Sam Darnold, like, I don't think you're like, oh, we should wait and try to build for the future because Sam Darnal might be quarterbacking the 49ers. Like, I think, I wouldn't be

surprised if this draft is about competing with them specifically, like the 49ers. of that is true about San Francisco and the Niners feel like what? Like the a top, certainly a top five team in the NFC,

probably a top three, four. Definitely. So, yeah, the moment is the moment is ripe. So I think they will end up with a lot of nice mementos of selfies with the various

first round projected quarterbacks, but not one of them on the roster. I would certainly, I could certainly, I could certainly see them picking a quarterback later on in the draft, but not one of the top guys. All right, the New York Giants. The New York Football Giants. I have a wide receiver, not a slot receiver.

It's just a little bit of a tricky proposition just because the issue with their receiver group is that they're all little guys, and the issue with the receiver group in this draft is that they're all little guys. So take that with the grandkids. of salt. I guess they could go tight end instead, but after the Darren Waller move was sort of the biggest thing they did, I feel like that would be a little bit strange. But it's not out of the

question because I do think when you look at their past catching group, they need more size, just because, you know, Paris Campbell, they have all these James and Crowder, they have all these little shifty guys. And then cornerback. Defensively, that line has turned into a pretty good strength, but if you're going to have Wayne Martindale, you need kind of better cover corners so that those guys can really go to work. So they've got, it's still like the Cordale

Flot, Darnay Holmes situation opposite Adroy Jackson. So I could definitely see them trying to find an impact corner in the draft. And then interior offensive line. Andrew Thomas is obviously the strength of that line. And I think they're probably

going to continue to hope that Evan Neal has the same kind of career trajectory that Thomas has had after his rookie year. But either guard, spot, center, definitely right for upgrading. Those were the three position groups that I had for them. Did you have anything else? I had running back just because the Saquan situation isn't totally fixed. Like, they franchise tag them. There's reports that Saquan's not going to sign the tag initially. And then you get into conversations about running back value and the contract and what that should.

should look like if they get a deal done. I think it's easier just to, you know, ride out Sequin for this year. If you can't get them on a team-friendly deal that's cheap, then I think you should have someone, you know, waiting to replace him. And you have a bunch of picks this year. You have a bunch of picks on the second day in that mid-round range.

I think that's the perfect time to find your running back of the future, if that's even a thing that teams consider. But they're going to need one because I don't think you give Barclay. What is Barclay going to be looking for? Especially if he has a monster year, he's going to be looking for like a Todd Gurley deal and it seems like the giant,

I don't know, maybe the Giants would be willing to give it to him, but they shouldn't be. And I think that will test this front office, but that's the conversation that they're going to have down the road. But in the meantime, if they draft running back, I think that would make sense. It's all could have been avoided if they had just franchise tagged Daniel Jones and done a deal with Sequin,

but whatever, I'm over. We are going to stick in the NFC East and talk about the Cowboys after this. The Dallas Cowboys. What do you have? This is a pretty well-rounded roster. Yeah, like all of my positions of need are like positions you wouldn't consider premium positions.

Like, I have tight end running back and linebacker. And in today's NFL, you can kind of skimp around those positions and still be good. But when you're the Cowboys, like, when you're Jerry Jones, I don't think you ever think like that and you're always trying to win a Super Bowl. So I have tight end at the top of my list. I do think a good tight end. They lose Dalton Schultz.

I think replacing him with a difference maker, and I think you can find one at 26 in this draft. Yeah. I think that changes the offense. Because when we saw them, I think last year the offense was a little inconsistent. And then we obviously had the Cooper Rush weeks. But you go back to 2021 when they,

I believe they led the league in scoring. Dolan Shultz played a huge role in that offense. And having two tight ends out on the field was like their base personnel grouping. So I think they have to get back to that And if they want to get back to that, I think you have to draft a tight end early. The one question is, is Mike McCarthy going to want to go back

to that style of offense? Because it was more like a Kellyn Moore offense, whereas when McCarthy was in Green Bay, at least, it was all 11 personnel, three receivers on the field, one tight end on the field. I don't know if he values the position as much as the past play caller did. But I think he should.

I think it would be smart to bring him in. And then obviously, finding like a running back, I think makes sense. Zeke is gone. Tony Pollard suffered a major injury last year. You don't know what that's going to do to his explosiveness. I think you need to find another guy. And this is a league where you need

multiple running backs anyway to play different roles. I think they need to find like a guy that can carry the load near the goal line. Is a position of need for them. And then linebackers another one. That's been a position of need kind of for like the last couple of years. They've taken some swings in the draft. They haven't necessarily worked out.

I think they need to find a couple of guys. For Dan Quinn's system to really work, you need some good lineback to play. I like the tight end call a lot, whether or not they see themselves playing a fair amount of two tight end sets. I don't, just because even if there's, even if only one of those guys is playing a major role, in this draft where they are,

they have a decent shot at getting a pretty high-end, talent and probably someone who, you know, Jake Ferguson is going to be off the field fairly quickly. And so even if it's just like you're looking for someone to fill in that Dalton Schultz role. And again, like, I think they probably will stick with a lot of three receiver stuff just because especially like after making the trade for Brandon Cooks, it seems like, I guess they did lose Noah Brown, so you're replacing some snaps there, but still, I have a feeling, or at least my guess would be that they're not planning to incorporate a lot of that stuff, although DAC loves throwing the tight end.

So I think it would be a good idea. I just think that your point about it not necessarily being in the McCarthy DNA is probably a sound one. But still, I don't think that that should prevent them at all from considering that a pretty high priority, along with running back. But I think you'd rather, tight end's not really a premium position either, but you'd still probably rather invest top draft capital there than at running back,

although it is the Cowboys, so we will see. Defensively, they've done so well in the draft in the last few years, for the most part at least, that they could kind of add wherever they see fit. But depth of the defensive tackle, I think, would be.

be something to pay attention to. Offensive line is not a need right now, but some of those guys are getting old. This is just all I'll say there. Yeah, I think that's another position that they could use maintenance at. I would also throw a corner in there. Like, Stefan Gilmore is,

I don't see him staying beyond this year. I think he's a short-term solution at most. So I think you do need, you need to add to that position also. this is a well-built roster, and you look at the depth chart, and they're better than you think. Before I looked at the depth chart,

I thought there would be a lot more holes and a lot more obvious holes at a big position. No, this is a good roster. Yeah. They're in a good spot. If they nail this draft, they're another team. If they nail this draft,

I think that's enough to push them into that tier of contenders. Yes, except it's sort of tough because they're free agency period. I think when you factor in the trades as well, was really, really, really good and really, really, really strong. And then you remember that the first big move this team made this offseason was

more Mike McCarthy. And I just, I don't know how that's going to work out. I don't love how this offense is run. And I just don't think that moving on from Kellyn Moore really should give anyone a lot of confidence that those issues are going to resolve them. themselves or that things are going to change there. But from a roster building perspective, I think they've had one of the best off seasons

in the league. So we'll have to see how that all works out. A roster that is not in quite so good of shape, but it's just a little bit weird. The Bucks. This was one of those, you know, these are the playoff teams. So you're much more likely to be going through going like, oh, they can go best player available in pretty good shape. this roster has some holes

and it's pretty weird the secondary is in pretty good shape I would say but the offensive line is probably priority number one to me they need a ton of help there but there are a lot of spots I mean wide receiver is one of the areas that probably looks the best right now

but Gage Evans Godwin are they're not going to be around forever that's an older group so they could do some work There, tight end, certainly. I would love to say quarterback because I don't know what the Baker Mayfield

plan really ends up looking like particularly behind this offensive line. But... I do. I know what that looks like. I know exactly what that looks like. I guess I was being polite. Because if Tom Brady couldn't make it work. Baker Mayfield is not making it work.

If Tom Brady can't make your offensive line look good, it's a bad offensive line. And I think if quarterback isn't going to be the pick, I think it has to be offensive line. But Jason Lick has said, the GM of the Bucks, has said that he would consider taking a quarterback. Yeah, buddy, you should. You should consider trading up too.

I don't know if the Baker... Definitely consider it. Kyle Trask quarterback room is a good one. And I don't know if that... Handed Hooker addition to that quarterback room makes it much better either. Oh my God. This is a team that should be trading up

and trying to get one of these quarterbacks or I think they should just be trying to tank and just hoping for next year to get Caleb Williams or May. That would make the most sense. They don't seem to really be interested in doing that either though because they put a fair amount,

like most of their money and free agency went into keeping guys on the defense. They re-signed Jamel Dean, Anthony Nelson, Levante David, Like, it's weird. It's a weird roster. It's just a very, very strange. And then the factor that you factor in that the division is so weak that it feels like,

look, I mean, this team made the playoffs last year and they weren't exactly good. So they're in one of the strangest spots. And I think in one of the most like, oh, are you a little delusional, delusional about the state of the roster places to be? But offensive line is the most pressing need if they are not going to go after a quarterback, but I think they should go after a quarterback. Especially with the style of offense that they're going to play, like the play action-wide zone style of offense,

I think you need an offensive line. And if you're going to get the best out of Baker Mayfield, you better have a good offensive line. That's where we saw them have the most success in Cleveland. They have the past catchers to make it work. But if the offensive line doesn't work, as we saw last year, the offense just kind of tanks. and Baker Mayfield isn't going to say that.

If anything, it's going to make it worse. All right. Next up, we will go to the Minnesota Vikings after this short break. All right. The Vikings. I have wide receiver too. Someone to play opposite Jefferson. Currently, they've got K.J. Osborne and J.Naylor,

who had a couple of good moments last year, but barely played. I think that's the biggest priority. Obviously, they've lost Adam Thielen. So replacing him is, I think, the number one thing that I would think that they might look to in the draft. The other thing is that Brian Flores is their defensive coordinator now. I think implementing that defense, you probably want to be in a situation, in a better situation at cornerback. you want some better man cover corners there.

They are currently using Andrew Booth Jr. and Akaleb Evans, who are two guys they drafted last year and then Byron Murphy in the slot. But I think you could pretty easily see them upgrade there, especially through the draft. They don't have a ton to work with. They have the 23rd pick, and then their next pick after that is at 87.

but I think wide receiver two and cornerback are the top two that I had. Yeah, those are obvious ones. I would throw center on there also and I would put edge. I think Daniel Hunter, he's still on the team, and I don't know if he's like stripped all mention of the Vikings off of his Instagram, but spiritually it feels like he has like over the last two years. Like he does not want to be there. And I think eventually he's going to get his wish.

and leave. But we've seen this style of defense, like the Patriot style, covet a certain type of defensive linemen. And I think that's one of the outside of cornerback, which I think is an obvious area where they need to rebuild that to get it to a point where it could play

and cope in a Flores defense. But I also think defensive line is something else that needs to be reshaped in order for the Flores defense to work. So those are the two positions that I think they should really attack wide receiver is a need, but I don't know if like where they're drafting,

if it makes sense for them to go after one in the draft necessarily. I think maybe that's one where you just wait for maybe a better class of receivers. But I would focus on the defense this time around. I think if Kirk can play like he played last year, I think the offense is going to be fine. And then you just need a defense that wasn't as bad as the defense they had last year, which is very easy to do it. It's a low bar.

You can clear that bar very easily, but I think that should be the priority. And this is a very winnable division. I know we talked about it a lot. Totally. The Vikings weren't as good as their record. They won 13 games, which sounds ridiculous in hindsight. This is not a 13-win team. Too many games.

Too many games. But it can be a 10-win team. It can't be a 9-win team. And maybe that's enough. Like, everyone's banking on Detroit being like some powerhouse next year. I don't know if that's going to be the case. You could win this division if you just shore up that defense a little bit. You mentioned Kirk.

Given where they're picking and that they don't have a ton of ammo to complete a trade-up unless it's loaded with future comp, unlikely. But is there any chance this is a sneaky quarterback team? I won't rule it out. Like Hendon Hooker has been mocked to them, and I could see them going for that. Like, I can see them falling for that style of quarterback. I don't get the Hendon Hooker hype. He's like 25.

He's coming off an ACL tear, played in a fake offense. He barely moved in the pocket. He wasn't very accurate. Like, I don't, like, I don't understand the hype. I just started watching him a couple days ago, and I don't know. If you're drafting Heading Hooker here, what is the plan? Like, does he play this year? Does he play next year?

I really don't understand. He's a guy that needs reps. he's 25 years old already too. You need to get him the reps right away. And I don't think it makes sense for him, like a quarterback like that. I don't think it makes sense for them to draft a development guy. We saw them try to do that with Kellen Munn.

It did not work out at all. It was a disaster. Yeah. But it's hard to do when you have a starter that you know is going to play. Like, as much as I like kind of crap on Kirk Cousins, he's good enough where you know he's not going to lose his job to a quarterback that you take that late in the first round. when they get their quarterback

You know what? He's gotten better. Yeah, he is better. He's a better player. Kirk Cousins is better than Hennon Hooker. And he's better than Hennon Hooker, I think, like, logically speaking, than Hennon Hooker will ever be.

So I don't get it. I wouldn't get it in that spot. I think next year is where you do it. I think you just rip the Band-Aid off, draft like a top-five quarterback and let him start from day one. I don't think you do the developmental thing, sitting behind Kirk Cousins.

Do you want a quarterback learning from Kirk Cousins? probably I think maybe you want a quarterback learning from Kevin O'Connell and that infrastructure and blah blah blah blah blah blah I was excited about this

when you brought me back to reality and reminded me that they could get in the mix for a quarterback and have it turn out to be Hendon Hooker I've changed my mind I don't want them to do this

this is a bad idea maybe later on to you know take a flyer on someone draft Kellyn Munda again drafted with the pick 2-11 Has that ever trying to

There was like a Wasn't there like years and years and years ago an issue with Washington where they drafted They like tried to draft players With picks that they didn't have or something I don't think

it would probably be hard for the same That sounds like something they do I know the CFL had like a problem where they kept drafting guys who were dead Like it happened multiple times. Yeah, look it up. Like, this is a true story. It's happened like at least three times. I think it happened twice in one draft

where like dead people are getting drafted in the CFL. Did they get to redo the picks? I don't know. You shouldn't be able to. Were they haunted? You just have to pay for the guy's funeral. You should have to live with his ghost. All right.

Speaking of the most haunted team in the NFL, the 49ers, who pick they don't pick until the 99th pick in the draft and then they also have the 101st and 1002nd. So they just have their own little section. They pick three out of four picks.

99, 101, and 102, that's insane. Yes, it's just like a run, very weird situation. Very weird team. Good team, weird team. What do you have for them? Offensive line. I think interior offensive line.

And then Trent Williams isn't going to be around forever. He's on the wrong side of 30s. He's getting up there. He's a guy that had injury, has an injury history back in Washington. So I think that's, you always need an offensive line. Every team offensive line is needed. And then I would say slot defender. You lose Jimmy Ward.

Miles Hartfield is penciled in as the starter at Nickelback. I don't think that's going to work. I think they need to get better. That's such an important position in today's game and today's NFL that you can't just overlook. And I don't think the 49ers are going to do that. And the good news is I think in that range where they have all those picks, that's where you can kind of find those guys. Like I'm thinking of like a Chaunty Gardner Johnson, for instance, was very undervalued in his draft. I think he ended up going like round three or something to the Saints.

And he had been mocked to like at the end of the first round. I think that's a position where you can solve that need right away. And then another edge, depending on how you feel about Drake Jackson, who was sort of billed as a project-type rush end coming out of USC, I think you have to find someone to play next to Bosa. Otherwise, blocking Bosa is just a little bit easier for teams. And you can kind of see teams working around them if you don't have that second guy to offer protection.

So there's no like real glaring. And they lost, they lost Samson-EBCOM and Aziz all the year in free agency. So there's some depth there that needs to be replaced. And then you have to account for the fact that Damico Ryan's is no longer there. And like losing a good defensive coordinator necessitates changes in personnel. Like you're not going to have the same scheme. I think there's going to be a lot of overlap, but things are going to change. So it's kind of hard to say and look ahead at their defensive needs.

But I think some are going to pop up that maybe we didn't know we're going to pop up before the season starts. Yeah, I mean, I think you can say the same thing at tackle, too, on the offensive side, just because you mentioned Trent Williams is getting up there in years, and then they lost Mike McClintchy. The interior, I think, feels more pressing. Those guys were better, I think, than people expected them to be last year, but still, you don't have a lot of, like, blue chippers on the inside of the line. and obviously given the uncertainty of quarterback,

but the fact that it seems like they want to go with Purdy if he's if and when he's healthy enough and you want him to be well protected, especially given that he's coming off an injury, but should probably be a priority. And it tracks, you know, they're not getting a top edge rusher in the draft at 99. But if you're looking for a decent guard,

who you can develop and hopefully, turns into a starter, can probably get that done or at least take someone who projects him that way. Last but not least, the Super Bowl participant Philadelphia Eagles.

The first thing I have in my notes for their needs is this defense is very old. Yes. And you could even like my top positions of need are safety center and defensive fat.

now they obviously have maybe the best center in the NFL and Kelsey also very old also very old and it was talking about retirement during the off season you have to that's like that's something I think you have to you have to get that done early

because it's such an important part of their offense that line and specifically how Kelsey plays into it I think that's a position of need for them more so than it would be for other teams and then defensive tackle like Fletcher Cox was another guy that could have retired this season or could have went for more money somewhere else and he came back. And

then Brandon Graham is another guy who falls in that same category. There are a lot of guys that fall in that category. It looks like a deep roster on paper. But like you said, I feel like it's kind of a house of cards. And once these guys start either retiring or just moving on or maybe they lose a step, I think the roster could be in a bad spot in a hurry. Now they have a very good front office. And I think they're going to be able to fix those holes really quickly as they did. The last time they won a Super Bowl or the last time they were in a Super Bowl. So I'm not concerned about it, but there are some spots where you're like, oh, that could be short that could be shorted. Yeah, as far as preparing for the future nailing this draft would be so, so critical to them.

They have two first rounders and knowing Howie Roseman, decent odds, he'll turn that into even more picks by trading down. I would be all in favor of that just because they don't have a lot of immediate huge needs, but they have so many. Like you can just see a year or two in the future some big needs opening up. So I think preparing for that is the highest priority.

Even look, corner is not quite as pressing. They're not quite as old. But Darius Slay is 32. James Bradbury will be third. 30 in August. There are a lot of positions there where you go, okay, you got your guys now. But if they decide they want to hang them up or lose a step,

it's a different situation really fast. I would also say like the methods, the kind of aggressive methods that Harry Roseman used to acquire, a lot of these, the players that were added on, the players that weren't already a part of the core, I feel like those are being adopted around the league and being able to take advantage of those market inefficiencies, if that's what you want to call it,

it might be tougher to do. Like, it might be, you might have more competition to trade for a Darius sleigh, for instance, or maybe you won't be able to get an AJ Brown like you were able to get last off-season. I think it's going to be harder to build the roster in the way that they built it the last time. So we're going to have to see some evolution

by the front office. regard. So I do think it's a situation where trading back and just bringing in a lot of young, cheap talent makes a lot of sense for them because it's going to be hard to fill in those, those holes and those gaps on the roster like they did the last two years. All right. That is all 32 teams. How does it? It feels pretty good. It feels like we've we fixed all of them. We've gotten to know these rosters a little bit. We fixed all of them. We did it. Everyone's perfect. All right. Well, Stephen, you are off next week. You are on vacation. Enjoy it. We will be back, or I will be back, with the illustrious shield Capadia. We're going to do a little bit of a home and home and I think go through some last sort of cleanup before the draft rumors. I'll keep you posted on what the plans are for that, but that'll be fun. We'll try to not fall into the final week before the draft stupidity cycle.

Do you think we can do it, Stephen? If I come back and you're like a Hendon Hooker stand, I'm going to quit. Yeah, that's what's going to happen. That's what's going to happen. I'm going to come up with, like, what's the best weird NBA comp for Hendon Hooker? He's, uh, he's LeBron James. You just go with the superlative. Bryce Young is Steph Curry, Hendon Hooker is LeBron James.

who's the job I shouldn't bring that out All right this has been the ringer at O'Bel show I'm Nora Prentiotti, he's Stephen Ruiz we will be back or I will be back on Monday with Sheal. Thank you as always to Stefan Anderson

for production on this episode and to Connor Nevins and Arjuna Ramgapal for additional production supervision.