The Ringer NFL Show - The Vikings Land Kirk Cousins, the Bears Add Firepower, and the Saints Keep Their Quarterback | The Ringer NFL Show (Ep. 244)

Episode Date: March 13, 2018

The Ringer's Robert Mays and Kevin Clark break down the news of Kirk Cousins going to Minnesota (03:00), Case Keenum signing with the Broncos (13:15), Chicago adding Allen Robinson (20:00), Drew Brees staying in New Orleans (35:00), and more from around the league. 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 chatting all things NFL free agency after the flurry of moves that have gone down today. As always, we're brought to you by the Ringer podcast network where there are a ton of great shows for you. It's March Madness Week and one shining podcast has you covered. Before you fill out your bracket, here, Tate Fraser and Mark Titus chat all things NCAA tournament. And please go to the ringer.com to check out all of our college basketball coverage. It's one of the best sports weeks of the year, and the Ringer has you from every single angle. 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, happy Alan Robinson Day, buddy. I don't know if that's how we're going to remember it going forward. It's how I'm going to remember it. Tell me how you're processing this. It was just a fun way thing to wake up to. It came down at about 1.45 a.m. I was asleep. And it's something I thought about, you know, as free agency was getting going.

He's a guy I've loved forever. I think that I've long been of the opinion that he's one of the best receivers in the league in the top seven or eight just in terms of talent. And we never really saw exactly how good he could be in Jacksonville, even with the production. He's 24 years old. ACLs are not some sort of debilitating long-term injury. The fact that they gave him a long-term contract is awesome to me. I love the fact that he's the guy they landed. I think he's a fantastic player.

and I've bought that for years before he was on my team. This is really fun and exciting. I mean, he's my favorite at Bears for Asian signing since Pepper's easily. And maybe one of the top two or three of the last couple decades. I think he's a real player. Let me stop you right there because it's a double whammy for you because not only does Alan Robinson go to your Chicago Bears,

but the Jaguars then use that money to sign your favorite position. They use it on a guard. I know. I know. Wow. talk about that. What a major. It's been great. Kind of a shocker.

You know, we hear all this stuff. You know, Norwell was a guarantee. He was going to the Giants. It was preordained. And then the guy ends up in Jacksonville. We'll chat about that.

I think that contract is interesting in terms of the market. The fit is worth discussing. But we're going to get into all of that stuff. You know, free agency kicked off with a bang today. I mean, there are tons of signings to talk about, including the biggest ones.

Kirk Cousins goes to Minnesota. the Bears not only spent on Alan Robinson, but Trey Burton, too. The Jets had done nothing most of the day. Now apparently Teddy Bridgewater is going to go there. We'll chat about that. You know, Sam Brad for going to Arizona. There's a ton of stuff that we have to deal with. And we might as well start with that QB carousel category.

I mean, I think we all kind of understood that Cousins would be the first major domino in some ways. And it felt like the Broncos kind of knew they were out of the Cousins race. So that's why they went out and got case to run at him. I mean, it would be kind of financially imprudent for them to do that. I wrote about this today. I kind of wrote about how unique this quarterback carousel is. And the fact that, you know, this is something we've discussed on this show, especially in the modern CBA era.

We've never had anything like this. You know, we're a year removed from Mike Lennon getting $15 million from the bears. There are a lot of decent quarterbacks available. And it just feels like the Broncos, and again, I wrote this today, giving her cousins $28 million in your Denver and you don't have that much cap space doesn't seem like a smart choice. The market for him had fewer teams than you'd think just based on how much it was going to cost to sign him. I'm not totally sure why the Vikings made this contractually. Let's talk about this.

So, okay, it makes sense to me. And again, this is something that I wrote about. I mean, fully guaranteed three years over $30 million. I just, that's, it just seemed. unless it comes out that the Jets or the Browns we're going to be a similar move. We're making a similar move or more because if you're the Vikings, how much is,

okay, so Kirk Cousins come out and said, shame on me if I let money dictate my life, okay? And obviously everyone says that you and I say that, but if someone offered us a couple million dollars, we'd be out the door, right? And I think that if you're the Vikings,

you have to look at the other options. The Broncos are already out of it. How much would the Browns and jets have to go over? the Vikings for cousins to choose them. A lot. A lot. So not only is it you're not, you would have to offer, I just, I don't know, I just don't know the leverage play from the Vikings here. It's just, it's very odd to me that they had to give them that contract. Yeah, I can understand that. I mean, even though we, I think some of the discourse about this has been with NFL contracts for the most part, the first two, three years are usually guaranteed. Maybe this isn't as landmark as we see it.

That's still $90 million guaranteed. Jimmy Garpo didn't get that. People are saying that to me. So there's a couple of things I want to talk about with this contract. Number one, it's not necessarily repeatable for the vast, vast majority of the NFL. Correct. It was a very specific case. The Redskins didn't want to offer him sort of market rate for a good starting quarterback.

They franchise tag him twice. He reaches the true free market. And this is what happens. Okay. The only guys who are going to be able to say, okay, I want a guaranteed contract are the ones with obvious and apparent leverage. Aaron Rogers can ask for that now. Matt Ryan, I think, can probably ask for at least more guarantees,

if not fully guaranteed on a long-term contract. But the rank and file NFL player can't do that because they still don't have the leverage that cousins had. And cousins sort of planned this out. So here's what I want to ask you. Why can't Aaron Donald do it? I think there may be an answer, but I think that is the example. So explain to me why when Aaron Donald comes free, he cannot do this.

Okay, so the main reason is that the Rams can keep franchise tagging him. Sure. And Donald will be playing on a series of one-year contracts at a position where the injuries are not only more prevalent, but generally his value could be slightly diminished if he has a poor year in a way that a quarterback for some reason cannot. Look at Sam Bradford. Sam Bradford just got a $20 million deal. and Sam Bradford hasn't been good or healthy in quite a long time. It's also when you're in, when you're hurt as a quarterback,

it tends to matter a tiny bit less just because explosion, that's what I'm saying, that's what I'm saying, and all that stuff. Yeah. Your value can be, is not nearly as diminished when you get hurt as it is at other positions. It's exactly what I'm saying.

And I'm, I've compared, quarterbacks, just quarterbacks to Manhattan real estate, which is that it just doesn't, nothing seems to matter. The price is just always going to go up. It doesn't make sense.

It's viciously unfair. I hate the way NFL contracts are given out. I hate, you know, just from a human perspective, I hate seeing guys who starred for one year, didn't get their payout, we're on $600,000 a year, and never got a second contract. I hate it. I hate it so much. And it's one of the things, one of the top, you know, one of the top 100 things that bums me out about the sport of football. Sure. But it is something I think about a lot.

But that's just the reality. Now, again, I don't think this will be a game changer. I think the one thing I do want to say is that the Teddy Bridgewater knee injury now becomes one of the greatest Wodefs in the history of football. In what sense? It just started a massive chain reaction throughout the entire NFL. Let's just take it from the Vikings perspective. Oh, you mean that way? Yeah, just like the domino effect that came from it.

Yeah, I totally agree. Kevin Sefer tweeted this out earlier. $109 million to Sam Bradford and. Kirk Cousins is paid out. First and Fourth Realm picks traded to acquire Bradford.

Teddy Bridgewater is now, was now obviously not retained by the Vikings now going to the Jets. The Broncos get Case Keenum.

I mean, so many things shook free because of that knee injury. Yeah. I mean, it is a real crazy ripple effect

what happened after in the last two years. I mean, you could argue that the Eagles wouldn't win the Super Bowl if that had happened. I mean, it's amazing just all the things that have kind of come from it.

So I think let's go back to the guaranteed part of this just for a second before we move on. And then let's also talk about some of the implications for the Vikings. But you and I were chatting about this a little bit in our Slack earlier today. I think that for most positions, one of the reasons that the quarterbacks, the ones that have the leverage here is that if you were cousin, if you were a player in another position in cousins' situation. And you said, well, I'm not going to take the long term deal. Franchise me again. I dare you, teams aren't just going to, they're just going to let you walk away. Teams don't worry.

There's no sense of, oh, God, we can't lose this guy at really any other position, no matter how good that player is. Think about Indama can sue with the Lions. When the price tag got too high, they just let him walk away. And that's just going to happen at most other spots. I don't believe Levian Bell's going to play on the franchise tag again this year. I think that the Steelers are going to try to negotiate that down a little bit. just because there's no need to do it.

I think the Trimane Johnson situation in LA is an outwire and all of this. With quarterbacks, there's just such a fear of the unknown and losing them that that's how the lever starts to play into it. And I just don't think that arises at any other spot. And that's why I agree with you. I think the quarterback is where this is specifically going to happen. And we joke the other day about Rogers. It's like, what can Rogers ask for?

You ask for whatever the fuck he wants. But anything. Seriously, like I joke today. like ask for the deed to Lambo Field and a private plane. Not like the use of a private plane. Like this is your plane, sir. Here are the keys. That's not out of the question.

He can literally ask for anything because of that position. And that position is unique. Quarterback is treated so differently than every other position. You and I and the people who follow this league closely, probably most people listening to this pod, see quarterback sort of in the same picture as the other positions. Okay. you know who doesn't see it that way?

The owners of the teams. In a lot of cases, the casual fans, the markets, the people that the teams are selling towards, okay? And ownership, I have heard a million times. A couple of years ago, I asked owners. I said, what do you involve yourself with? Do you micromanage, whatever? And to a man, even the ones that said,

you know, I let my GM and coach do their job, they all said, okay, well, when it comes to quarterback, contracts or quarterback drafting or quarterback meetings, I sit in that. I mean, it's almost, the quarterbacks in some markets are like the mayors of the town. They are such important figures. They have the ability to just change the fortunes of entire regions. And so I just think that, you know, when it comes to contracts with the quarterback, specifically in no other position, you cannot ask a team to think rationally because they're not.

They're not. What, you know, I mean, there's so many times you hear a story about, oh, well, they had to sign this guy or they couldn't let this guy go quarterback-wise because all of the team's luxury suites are coming up for renewal next year and they have to sign this guy or they have to have something to sell. Happens all the time. It does not happen with the wide receiver. It does not happen with a defensive tackle. And that's why it's so different. And I think that's why the cousin situation in Minnesota is fun to consider and talk. about because this is a football decision this is a we have this sort of title

window how can we maximize it the Minnesota Vikings are going to be the best version of themselves in 2018 because Kirk Cousins is their quarterback there is no other outcome from this off season that could make them a better football team for their 16 games next fall next fall than this choice but it does have ramifications beyond that by paying Kirk Cousins 28 million dollars next year you put yourself in a precarious position. I think they're going to have about 35 or so million in Calfspace without any other moves now that Cousins' contract is on the books.

We've talked about this before. Barr, Diggs, Kendrick's, Hunter, all free agents. You're not going to be able to bring all those guys back, most likely, considering the cap space. You are immediately and without question going to hurt other areas of your roster by giving out this contract. But is that worth the one? single year when you can be the best possible football team that you can be.

And that is, I think, the gamble that the Vikings are making. Okay. I don't know what the right answer is there. I don't know if Kirk Cousins is $10 million a year better than Case Keenum. I don't. My gut is that maybe he's not just in a vacuum. But I think when you're trying to just milk everything you can out of your chance to win a championship, maybe that small gap is that important.

maybe it's worth $10 million. I don't know. I honestly don't. Yeah, we went over this. It's sort of an unknowable question. I would not have done it. I would have franchised. I probably would have franchised Keenham and just kicked it down another year.

I mean, listen, let me tell you something. Even if Case Keenom won the freaking Super Bowl, he's not getting around $30 million three years fully guaranteed. Even if he won the Super Bowl, he's not getting that contract. I think it's a completely reasonable response. I'm there with you. I get it. I also get why they got. They did it. I see both sides of it. Yeah. I see their motivation. How do we feel about Denver and Keenum? It just feels silly to me.

Okay. Go ahead. I mean, it's one of those things where I don't think the Broncos are that close. No. And to pay a quarterback $18 million when you were, he's not going to make you a contender. I like pieces on that offense. The receivers are great. Who the hell is playing running back? You know, some combination of Booker and Henderson, which, okay. neither of them have shown me much. Their offensive line still has problems.

The defense is trading away a keep to leave for scraps now. Yep. We're in a situation with some of these teams. We're giving a quarterback that much money when you're not a contender. And probably or maybe drafting a quarterback anyway, the opportunity cost there just doesn't track in my mind. Hey, general manager, John Elway. Are we sure he's good?

No. The one quarterback he evaluated properly was Brock Osweller. No, I was going to say Peyton Manning. He tried to all. He offered Osweiler a huge deal. That's a good point. He just didn't take it. Yeah,

you're right. The one quarterback is on the Mount Rushmore of quarterbacks that he hit on. It was not how to evaluate. Well established. He nailed it. Congratulations, John. He nailed the Peyton Manning eval. So,

San Bradford is probably in the same conversation, right? 20 million for the one year, $15 million dollars guaranteed. Why did the Cardinals need a year of San Bradford? Also, who's paying Sam Bradford 14 million? Somebody would. The Jets, I guess. I don't know.

Somebody would. Someone told me, you know, he doesn't talk about it. He doesn't enter the tournaments. Someone told me that Sam Bradford is quietly the best golfer in the NFL. We've talked about this. He's going to just be playing golf all day every day. Arizona. Arizona.

Huge distraction. Trust me, my mom was half the year. We talk about distraction culture all the time. You know, just like, oh, you don't want to. there all the distractions. Sam Bradford and golf courses. And with Larry Fitz. I know.

Whoa. There's going to be playing all day every day. Whoa. My mother lives in Arizona. Just open reservation. Open table. My mother lives in Arizona for half the year now. I seriously, I can't remember the last time I've called her when she was there and she

was not on the golf course. Oh my God. I can't even remember. Does she answer? Sometimes. Very quietly. Very quietly. Not in the green, but if she's in the cart, you know, she'll,

she'll do a little whisper. This isn't high-stakes stuff. She's not playing skins. If you call me and I'm on the golf course, that's going, that's not even, I'm not even going to do the thing where you,

you know, rings a couple times. I'm just straight rejecting. Right, DeVoise. Hey, so that's fair because we take our golf seriously, me and you.

I really liked your Tiger thing, man. Hey, thank you. It was a fun weekend. I cannot, it was such a great way to spend a Sunday. I just missed it so much. It's,

it's all I care. Bill Simmons, recently said that it's Tiger being back is his favorite non-Boston sports thing that could possibly happen. Yeah, I trust me.

I 100% agree. I mean, it's just one of those things where it gives you, like, it just changed my entire day. It changed my entire weekend. And I can't think

of a non-Chicago sports thing that would do that. I mean, like, I'll be watching the tournament all week, but that's, we have,

that's on the calendar. Robert Maze, you're going to Vegas. I'm going to Vegas, man. I know. I'm going to lose a lot of money because I know

nothing. about college basketball. All right, let's get back to these. Alan Robinson, obviously my excitement is through the roof, but just in terms of the pragmatism of it, I don't mind it.

It's not out of control. And I mean, look at the freaking Marquis Lee deal. The Jaguars gave Marquis Lee about $9 million a year, nine and a half million a year with $18 million guaranteed. Was it 20? Something like that, yeah.

I'm not looking at it now. I'm trying to find it. So, I mean, it's one of those things where I'm taking Alan Robinson at that price tag. When healthy, Alan Robinson is one of the most talented receivers in the NFL, like easily in the top 10. So, yes, I'm going to roll that dice. The other bear signing, we chat about this a little bit off the show. You're down on it. I understand it, even if it's a little bit of an overpay.

Trey Burton for his price day. He was one of my favorite four guys last week on the pod. Eight million a year is just on the upper end of a bargain. a bargain free agent signing. I think it's fine. It's just not a bargain free agent signing. It's one of those things where I understand why you did it. I assume they'll cut Dion Sims now. So he was on the books for $6 million.

They'll save about $5.000. I think he's in his $6006,000 left in guarantee. So they'll save $5.3. You're paying burden eight. It's really not digging into your cap room at all. And he is such a perfect fit for that offense. I forgot how Dehan Sims is on the Bears until until you told me that they were going to cut Sims. I had no, I just, it slipped my mind.

So money-wise, you're essentially paying the same thing. And that's market value for tight ends at this point. You know, Fleener got about seven, Fedorowitz got about seven. All those guys are right in the $7 million, around $18 to $20 million guaranteed. So, you know, I assume that if, if Burton gets half that guaranteed, it makes sense. He's going to be an h-back on offense, a lot of wham blocking, a lot of moving around, positional flexibility. The chief threw the ball on 26% of their 12 personnel throws or plays last year, is the second highest rate in the league after Baltimore.

Baltimore only did that because they didn't have any receivers. The Eagles were third. I have talked about this a lot. I love throwing out of heavy formations. And that's what the Bears are going to be able to do now. A lot of just movement, you know, motions, whatever, and throwing the ball with him and Shaheen on the field. And I think it's, it made this move makes sense.

You pay the sticker price in free agency pretty often. They did. He probably will never be an $8 million a year player. But with the Bears, there's no one to sign. It's not as if you're tying up your cap for all these young guys you're going to have to extend.

The only player is currently on their roster that they're really going to take a hard look at, most likely, within the next two years about whether they want them back or Eddie Goldman and Adrian Amos. Howard's up in two years, a couple other guys are over two years, but not before the guarantees

of that Burton contract are probably gone. So it just makes sense. The bears have no players. He's a guy that fits in every single way. I don't mind. it whatsoever. Matt Nagy going without the hat in public appearances. I like it. Do it, buddy.

Let's go. Sammy Watkins, speaking of chiefs in their situation. A lot of money for Sammy Watkins. A lot of money for Samuel Watkins. Good example of a guy whose draft position has shaded the league's viewpoint.

100%. I tweeted this today. I firmly believe it. I kind of have to put on two different hats during free agency. there's a football fan hat where I think about Sammy Watkins, Tyreek Hill, Jason Kelsey, Patrick Mahomes, and Kareem Hunt in the same offense, and I start hyperventilating. And then there's the NFL writer hat where it's like, well, you know, money is real.

The chiefs don't have much cap space. So to get $30 million guaranteed into $16 million your annual deal if you're Sammy Watkins, that's a decent chunk of change. You know, AJ Green got 32.8. with a $15 million average. No, Alshan's making 13. Keenan Allen is a different story, obviously because the injuries,

but 11.3 with 21 million guaranteed. They really paid for Sammy Watkins. I mean, that is a top of the market wide receiver contract. He's super talented, but, I don't know, man. You're taking a risk there. Maybe it's a risk we're taking.

And again, if this all works out, that is going to be must-see television. But that's a lot of money. One of the things on Sammy Watkins official store is a get certificate to the Sammy Watkins official store. That's incredible. With Sammy Watkins' face on it. We should just do a running bit of players' personal websites and stores and see what the best stuff is. We're already kind of deep into it with Nathan Peterman.

He's also, his displayed him on Twitter is King Me, but I don't know if he means like King Me is in like in Checkers or Chequers, yeah. Or if that's his title, King Me. Yeah, I've got to do him on the pod. Danny Amandola. What the hell? What were the numbers? Two years, 12 million with incentives, 8.2 guaranteed. Whatever.

So that's like fine. I probably wouldn't give Danny Amandola that, considering he's been made of glass for the last 10 years and you don't have any money. The Albert Wilson contract is more puzzling to me. Wait. Why could we not, if I'm the dolphins, shouldn't we have just kept Indamacan Su?

Everything about this is so hilarious. Like, I think Albert Wilson's a fine player. I was intrigued by him as a bear's destination. For cheap. Not only just for cheap, but these decisions aren't made in a vacuum. These decisions are made considering your roster construction, the money you have available, and every other factor that should go into this, the dolphins don't have any money and they're bad.

And they just keep getting rid of their good players and then signing worse players for like 68% of that money. I don't understand any of this. You know, Jason, from over the cap, Jason Fitzgerald, he made the point. I tweeted this earlier and I agree with it. If Amandola is making $6 million and Albert Wilson's making $8 million, every team should just draft three wide receivers instead of spending that much money. Yes, and they paid Kenny Stills already.

And I think the Kenny Stills contract is fine. You know, Barnwall crushed me for it. I like, I like Kenny Stills. But there was only so much money to go. go around. Also, now they're paying Robert Quinn. Like, everything the dolphins do does not make sense to me. And now apparently they're in the Baker-Mayfields like discussion. They may draft a quarterback, which sets your timeline back even further, but you're going in on these receivers. Everything the dolphins do, I just sit

back and I'm like, why? Like, what is this? There is no way this is a football team that is run by sane humans. I just, nothing about it, travolve it. to me. Mike Tannenbaum was like an early cap guru. Those days are gone. I don't know what happened to him. It's like he hasn't looked into the cap in like five years. Oh, God. I mean, it may have happened. I mean, it happens all the time that guys, you know, we're so impressed by Andy Reid when talked about it at the time because he innovates. And he innovates, he takes what he had and he changes it every year. The same can be said for front office people. They have to change every year. I mean, look at how. Howie Roesman. And I don't know. I mean,

Mike Tannenbaum was a cap genius 15 years ago. He's no longer a cap genius. Yeah, that team is baffling to me. Andrew Norwell, surprise. You know, not a team that people mentioned

in regard to him before free agency started, but it makes sense. You know, I think people try to build the Jaguars that try to bill the Jaguars as this power running, you know,

team with this really nice offensive line and Four Nett and everything else. that is more perception than reality. You know, Cam Robinson's promising, but he had an up and down year. Linder is a really good center. I think that he's a guy they've already paid and should.

Yeah, I like him as a lot as a player. But you're two guys on their side with AJ Kahn and Patrick O'Made, who I did that without looking at the depth chart, which is why I screwed it up. Those two guys, I mean, Omami is a good story.

He's a draft free agent is really outplayed, you know, anything people could have suspected from him. Can is a guy. why coming to the draft has not been that great. They could use an upgrade on the interior, especially to help their running game, and Norwell's a monster. I mean, we've talked about this all the time.

Interior pressure has become so paramount, and negating it has become so paramount that there's a reason guards are making $13 million a year. And that dude is an animal. I mean, I love him. His game is so good. He fits that power scheme in Jacksonville. I mean, it is a perfect mirror.

It is just one that people did not see coming. And, you know, the Blake Portals contract has downsides. It has downsides because you have to commit to him financially next year. But by redoing his deal, it allows you to get in on sweepstakes like this. Should you have resigned Marquis Lee instead of Alan Robinson? Probably not. But it does allow you to get in on players of this caliber. Again, and maximize a window, like we talked about.

Cost certainty. And that's important, I think. You know, bringing his cap number down. would you rather have Blake Bortles or would you rather have paid slightly more guaranteed money to Mr. Case Keenham?

Keenum. Yeah, exactly. So that's why my thought in all of this is that if the Jaguars just went out into the... I understand why they did it and I understand the payoff now

but if they had just gone out into the open market and found a guy, I mean, how much is Teddy Bridgewater going to get? I would say around probably 12, maybe. Yeah, my guess, maybe a little bit more, maybe 15. Here's the thing, though. I mean, he's not known.

Here's the wrinkle in all this. He wasn't going to pass his physical. That's the whole, that's the bridgewater. No. Bortles. That's the complication in all this. If you thought you had to give him the $19 million anyway, sure.

This was a way to kind of mitigate your cost and your one. I think that's kind of the wrench and all this. In a vacuum, I would 100% agree with you. I've talked about this for months. And in the sense that I wanted them to go. out and explore and the idea of extending him was crazy to me. But if you're going to have to give him the $19 million anyway, then I understand just, all right, let's get the cap number down and figure this out later.

The other interior alignment is sign Weston Richburg. Yeah. So he goes to San Francisco, which I thought they'd be in the market for, I didn't know if they'd be in the market for a center because Kilgore just signed there, but apparently he's going to be a guard or depth for them. I assume a guard because he gives him something like $4 million. The 4. Shanahan does not pay guards.

This is how it goes. You know what he does pay? Centers. That is what that team, his philosophy, he wants a really good center. And that's what Richburg is going to be for them. So now you have a line in San Francisco, which is going to be, I assume,

Staley, Kilgore, Richburg. We'll see what they do at Wright Guard. Fusco is a free agent. Trent Brown's coming back. Marquis sleep, Pierre Garsohn, George Kittle, whatever they do at running back, Jimmy Garapolo.

It's getting fun. It's getting real fun. And Richard Sherman. Okay, can I go back to the Jaguars for one second? Yes, we can. According to Spot Track, this will change. According to Spot Track, they have $27 million in cap space. Tied for around 17th in the league with the Seahawks,

a little less than the Raiders. Is there a reason they can't go out and sign a backup who could also compete for the starting job? Why are they not looking into AJ McCarrant? something someone like that i don't think i don't think jim karen's in that uh i don't think he's in that price range i think he's in that price range double digits who's paying him i don't know somebody left i guess it's a good point now this pot having said that this pod will come out and he will have signed just like a 14 million dollar deal somewhere just because i'm an idiot i guess there is i guess there is there's no the bills are derby they they i saw one of the bills i wouldn't rule out

the bills paying them one of the bills are dumb one of the Bill's writers, I like Brandon Bean, one of the Bill's writers just tweeted a couple minutes ago that Matt Moore might make more sense than anybody, because he knows Brian Daible and all that stuff. Listen, man, I want these teams that are going to draft

the quarterback to pay their starter like $5 million. I want teams to do the 49ers thing, not the Bears thing. Josh McCown? That's perfect. Josh McCown, but if he comes cheap, AJ McCarran, if you say to

AJ McCarran, let's say you can let's say the price ends up being seven or eight for a j mccarran okay would you do that if you're the bills if you're the bills would you pay a seven or eight million dollars to jac mccarrant to be your stock guy quarterback yes seven to eight eight is palatable to yes i'm talking to brian hoyer this year i'm talking to the jaguars i'm talking to jaguars would you you pay j mccarine eight million dollars to compete when you're already giving your quarterback 10 million this year i wouldn't do that you use that you had the Money, what are you going to do with that?

Go draft a quarterback in the third round. Okay, but what I'm saying is that it gives you, if you have another person who can compete for the job, who might, by the way, be better than Bortles? I'm not doing that. That's a waste of money. Is A.J. McCarran better than Blake Bortles? I don't know the answer to that.

I don't know the answer either. But do you have $27 million in cap space? I'm not going to have $27 million. They have $27 million after signing Norwell? No way. I have no idea. No, that's not in there. I said it will change, but I mean, they only, they can still afford.

Nah, I'm not doing that. Go out and get a real NFL player. Draft the quarterback. But how much is Josh McCown going to be for a million? That I would do. Okay, you would do. But not eight. Josh McCown isn't half as good as Blake Bortles when you know you're only doing it for a year.

I don't know, man. I'm just saying the Jaguars have a realistic chance to get to the Super Bowl if they have above average quarterback play. I'm not doing. You maximize the opportunities to make the Super Bowl. You can't pay your quarterback room a combined $20 million when those guys are Blake Bortles and AJ McHenar. I mean, what did we just see in Philadelphia? What have we seen for Minnesota?

They paid their quarterback room a combined $10 million. Because they had Carson Wentz on a rookie contract. But Nick Foles, wasn't Nick Foles one of the highest paid quarterback? Sure, but it was like $4 million. He's making $7 this year. Okay. But what I'm saying is he's making, Nick Foll is counting $7 million against a cap. year?

This year. Okay. So what I'm saying, look at the Vikings. Plan C for them, got to the NFC championship game. I'm just saying backup quarterback is very important when it's Blake Bordels and you can maximize your opportunity and you say, okay, we're going to roll with the hot hand here. I think you're okay spending four more million dollars than bringing in Josh McCown. That's all.

It also goes what I'm trying. This also. McCown is fine for half that is what I'm saying. Okay. But it's only $4 million. salary caps what 177 million dollars sure but it's not 177 million when you've already

spent 160 of it I understand I'm just saying you could first of all you can make anything work I mean the freaking well yeah they could cut her there's a bunch of stuff that you do somehow somehow science restructure Lane Johnson

have freed up seven million dollars out of nowhere I'd rather have Josh McCown than AJ McCarran if I were the football perspective yes that's all I'm asking this all comes down to your evaluation of the players by the way because it's possible

it's possible it's possible that the Jaguar's front office looks at AJ McCarran and says this guy sucks it's possible I don't know enough about quarterback play to be able to decipher from those handful of starts AJ McCarran has where they can play I'm just saying I don't know either but I've watched football he wasn't good McCarran in 2016

yes okay that was the best team in the league the the 2016 brow the 2015 15 Bengals. 2015, excuse me, yeah. Were the best offense in the league with Dalton. They were a disaster when McCarran. All I'm saying, this isn't about AJ McCarran.

This isn't even about Josh McCown. This is about bringing in a guy who's going to compete and can start for the Jaguars and maximize the possibilities that they could make the Super Bowl. That's fair. If Blake Bortles, if Blake Bortles comes out like he has a couple of times in the playoffs and can't hit a screen pass, I would like a non-chad-Henney person. to be able to come off the bench. The non-Ced-Hedney person. I think that's what I would like most roles of any human to be. The non-Ced-Hedney person.

All right. Coming up, we're going to chat about some of the happenings from this weekend, including the Browns making moves, man. But first, we're going to take a quick break. This is JJ Reddick here to talk to you about the JJ Reddick podcast, part of the Ringer Podcast Network. Currently, I play in the NBA for the Philadelphia 76ers, but you may know me from my previous teams,

the LA Clippers, Milwaukee Bucks, and the Orlando Magic, or from my college days at Duke University. Being a professional basketball player, I have a great opportunity to talk to a lot of interesting people, and the podcast is a place where I can share those conversations with you, the listener. On my show, I sit down with athletes, celebrities, and a variety of other special guests. If you haven't already, please subscribe to the JJ Redick podcast on Apple Podcast,

Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts. All right, buddy, let's get into some of the other news. Very quickly, because I forgot to talk about this during the quarterbacks. Breeze was always going back to New Orleans. So there was a story Did you see the Adam Schaeffer story? No. He said that there was a team that offered him

Two years 60 guaranteed And that Breeze stayed. That's not surprising. It's not surprising at all. Why would you go chase it if you're Breeze? That seemed to win the Super Bowl next year. I agree with you. And you have Alvin Kamara,

you have basically a team and a franchise that's built around you. And who's, by the way, paid you a lot of money. Yeah. I think that it was always going to happen. It's a perfect bar. What if the Vikings said Godfather offered him?

I still think you stay. Yeah. I think if it's even close, you stay. The idea that the Saints even fiddled with this is frightening. I mean, I can't believe you give to other teams a chance to pitch him. I mean, even like, that's just playing with fire in my mind. It's true priests. Like, come on, let's get this done and let's go take one more run at this with a really good football team.

So, and that's what they're going to do. I mean, that team is fun as hell. I'm glad he's back there and I always assumed he would be. So the Saints have had their quarterback situation squared away for a decade or so. The Browns are the exact opposite of that. They've been searching for a quarterback for at least the last decade. They swing the trade for Tyrod Taylor a few hours after trading for Jarvis Landry. And it was one hell of a day.

I mean, I wrote about it on Friday night because I didn't think I could let it go without. I mean, it was such a weird, not necessarily weird, but surprising string of events, you know, from that team. And it was kind of stepping outside of what we've seen from the last couple years. I think that under Sashi Brown was all about, let's, you know, gather, gather, gather, get as many resources as you can. And then he may have started using them this year. But Dorsey kind of sat there with the arsenal and the war chest that he was in possession of and said, all right, let's go. I'm going to use this to get the guys I want to get. They go trade for Jarvis Landry, not a ton of capital to get Jarvis Landry.

You know, they gave up something small. I didn't think it would take much more than that. That trade feels like happened. three years ago. I know, isn't that strange? And then they gave up the 65 pick to get to hire a Taylor. So, let's talk about this.

I guess just your first impressions, when you heard that stuff went down, what is, what's in your mind? What are you like, all right, this is what the Browns are thinking? I'm slightly worried that the Browns are going to spend all of their assets, both picks and cap space,

in this off season. I feel like, you know, you're not, Despite the fact that we've seen some incredible jumps and that free agency is for the first time sort of a viable way to build a team, I saw a report from the NFL network that basically the Browns want to spend their cap space like this offseason. And that slightly concerns me just from going from Uber patient to Uber aggressive in one off season, mistakes can be made very easily. And I'm not saying that anything, I'm not saying Dorsey's had any giant missteps. I'm just saying I wish Dorsey would take it easy. So here's my counter to that. They didn't spend much to get Landry.

I think it's a 2019 fourth round pick, right? Yeah. And not much else. I mean, it's a late round pick, but who cares? The 65 picks get Taylor. They still have one, four, 33, 3560. So that's a lot. I mean, that is a huge amount of draft capital to work with near the top.

And then they haven't spent, I think that whatever the contract for Landry is going to be, they're going to give him a new one is going to be an overpay. I've been on record saying I don't think he's worth what he's going to garner in the open market. But he does fit with what they do in the sense that you have Coleman, you have Gordon, now Landry's in the slot, Joku. I think they should trade Duke Johnson or even if they don't trade him. I think somebody should call because it just seems like he's a redundancy with Landry if you're going to go out and get a bigger back. he only had like 75 carries last year. And his, I think he had more than 70 receptions.

Decent amount of that came working in the slot. Landry's going to take that away. I would call if I were another team. I know they're apparently working on an extension, but it just feels like he does not fit in that offense. Anyway, that's it. Peter Schrager just tweeted that the Browns just signed Chris Smith. Who the hell is that?

The defensive end. I don't know who that is, legitimately. I legitimately don't know who that is. It's a weird day one of free agency move. Yeah, I have no idea who Chris. I'm on record as loving John Dorsey. I think that he's going to build a winner there. This idea that the Browns can make over their team

in one offseason is slightly misguided. I don't think they can't either. He knows what he's doing. I think that the Taylor thing, if they were going to go out and get a veteran quarterback anyway, which apparently they were going to, that they were going to get a veteran quarterback, even if they wanted to take one at first overall.

So if you're going to go do that, I like paying Taylor for a year as opposed to having to go out and give Case Keenum three years or whatever. That's fine to me. I think that this is the team that has so much capital. Again, if you're going to do it, which I don't think you have to considering they're likely going to take a quarterback first, but if you're going to do it,

I like this version of it better than going, giving a guy three-year contract or two-year contract. So I will say this. Let's assume that Taylor is the bridge and you get it most two years out of Taylor, one year. What do you think? My guess would be one. Okay. His contract is only for a year.

The 65th pick. I'd rather just have John Dorsey use his powers and draft some Uber athlete. Yeah. I can understand that. Sixteenth pick is no sure thing, though. Oh, I understand that. But I'm saying just from a value perspective, I'd rather just keep the. pick, let Dorsey do his magic, and then sign a guy and just use the cap space you have a lot of.

I understand they have a lot of picks, but you also have a lot of cap space. Cap space can be created. Draft picks can now. Fair. But they have a ton of picks. The other thing, I know that's not a reason, but I guarantee you that's part of their thinking. And I think that Tyraulte was a second bus quarterback semi-available. I think that he's.

I think he's right there with Kirk Cousins. I honestly do. So I think that going out and getting him, they're going to be a much better football team next year. I don't know if it's the answer, but they're going to be a much better football team next year. How many wins? I think they can win eight games.

I mean, that's the high end. But I think the ceiling is eight games. It is hard to overstate how bad the quarterback play in Cleveland once last year. It's the bottom of the barrel. I mean, they had up, I think their turnover rate was 0.21. three turnovers per drive, which was just astronomically higher than any other team in the league. Even putting a reasonable quarterback in there, and I think Tyro Taylor is a more than reasonable

quarterback, changes your fortunes. I like Taylor a lot. I mean, it's, that offense can be really fun. We'll see how they use him. You know, I don't know how much faith I have in Todd Haley and getting the most thought of Tyrod Taylor, but if they get Barclay at four, which I think is becoming more and more realistic, because I assume the Browns will still take a quarterback first overall. sure because they should

I mean you should take the guy you like there and then let it go I think that the Giants may take a quarterback if they don't if the Giants don't take a quarterback I think the Giants trade out because I think someone will come up together I can tell you I just don't see them taking

Barkley that's just not Dorsey's I mean Dorsey takes has found so much value he found Cream Hunt in the third round in 2017 I'm just saying let's play it out though if they take Barclay at four after taking a quarterback at one. From left to right, your offensive line is Joe Thomas, Joel Betonio,

is Zitler. I can't remember anymore. My brain is fried. In some order, it's Thomas, Betonio, J.C. Treter, Kevin Zitler, Sean Coleman's not that good. Deacon, Deacon, upgrade it, right tackle. Corey Coleman, Josh Gordon, Jarvis Landry, David Jogu, and Sakelon Barkley. That works for me.

I mean, that is a reasonable NFL team. Who knows what they can get out of it? because there's no reason we should have faith in that team anymore. But that's a nice collection of players. And Tyra Taylor is the rug that brings it all together. I just listened to the rewatchables about Bikloboski. So, I mean, they really brings them together. Yeah.

I mean, Tyra Taylor ties the room together. And I think that that offense is intriguing to me at the very least. And they have some pieces on the other side of the ball. Obviously, the Danny Shelton trade, you know, they lose some run defense, but it's hard to pay $12 million to a run-stuffing defensive tackle, which they would have had to do next to. year on his fifth year option as the 12th overall pick. That was so strange.

What was strange to you? So Danny Shelton goes to New England. They've bolstered that. That was so strange was a reference to the rumor that's going around now that the Patriots might be interested in Indominican Sue. Which is a, it's a highly unsourced, like, blog rumor. But where do you, let's get to Sue. All right.

So the suit thing, I feel like, is kind of been misconstrued as it's going on over the last two years. The endomicant suit contract is kind of a disaster in the sense that you can't pay a non-quarterback that much money. I felt like when he hit them, I'm glad all the ground NFL podcasts have been destroyed because I do not want on record what I probably said about the contract at the time. Because I just feel like players like that don't hit free agency. He still is really good. Yeah. And if you can get him at a reasonable price, I think he could be one of the most important players

that come off the market this year. I just don't know how a guy who never speaks to the media is going to fit into New England. It's a fish out of water, man. I just don't know. It's going to struggle. Just don't know. Where outside of New England, where do you think he makes sense?

Oh, I don't know. I mean, any 4-3 team that has the cap space. I got one that I've been thinking about since the day I heard he was going to get ruined. released and every time I think about it it just hold on hold on this is a lot of dead air I'm sorry I'm thinking about this too much is it Jacksonville no oh put him with bosa and ingram with the chargers yeah right that's fun that's they need they need run defense help desperately and they have a glaring hole at that spot how much money do they

have I think let me look I was I was considering this the other day They have enough. They could sign him. They could get him under without any sort of gymnastics. I mean, they could obviously figure some other stuff out. They could play with it. But they have $19 million in space. So they could sign him.

What about New Orleans? They don't have the money, right? I mean, they're probably up against it. I mean, it's obviously, I mean, the Saints, Sanjarra's bird when they had like $16 million, like $16 in cap space. The cap is not real. It's not real. Yeah.

I'm just saying in terms of overall resource distribution, it might not be the smartest thing. They're also still paying fairly, right? Or is he a free agent? I mean, isn't that a medic? Does he, they're not get a medical exemption for that? He's a free agent. Okay. Yeah.

I wasn't sure if they had more money given to him. But he's $6 million against the cap this year. Fairly is because they did that weird saints thing where they pushed that stuff into the next year. Because they have no money. So they got to keep kicking the can down the road. The saints are great. The saints are amazing. Yeah, the level of financial

Just irresponsibility never ceases to amiss So yeah, it says they have 31 million But that's not The Saints do? That's not real Well, it's... Oh, because Breeze. Yeah.

Yeah. So now they have six million Or whatever it's going to be. It's just great. The Saints do ever have any money. But I mean, again, again, I mean, I can't have says enough. The Eagles just magically made $7 million Appear out of nowhere.

You always can't. And the Saints seem to do it all the time. And the one thing I want to say about the Eagles, you know, I said last week, I said, you know, that there were going to be changes in the Eagles and a couple of Eagles say, 20 of, I think they said 20 of 22 starters are coming back.

Here's the reality in the NFL. The way that the cap is constructed, every team can get dramatically better. Look at the Rams, okay? Teams can get dramatically better and they can go from an A-minus team to an A-plus team in one-off season. I'm not saying the Rams went to an A-plus team this year, but you can. And I think Howie knows more than anybody that if you actually brought back 20 of 22 starters, that's not good enough because of the, of the, First of all, the way the cap works, you can just add talent all the time. And that's why he went out and got Michael Bennett because he knows that you have to improve

and stockpile your talent every single year. And so I wouldn't be surprised with that cap space if they went out and got another good mid-level free agent. Because they need to keep pace. Yes. I mean, you look at what the Eagles and the Rams are doing. There's an arms race happening. I mean, that's exactly what's going on.

So you have to do something. And again, what we talked about this last week, the 49ers getting in on this team. man, they're stocking up. I mean, they were the team we wanted to watch. And the Sherman contract, I think, is so indicative of what I wrote last Friday, just that this is the team that can really throw their weight around because it's an attractive destination. Richard Sherman, who was going to have several suitors, I would assume. First visit, first phone call, science with San Francisco.

Doesn't even look anywhere else. Oh, the Packers are signing Jimmy Graham. Son of a bitch. Why is everything terrible? he's going to catch 14 touchdown passes next year 16 20 god damn it I'm just going to drink this coffee

and let's let you deal with this out loud ooh Taylor Gabriel signing with the Bears this makes me a little bit happier he's very fast okay that helps a little bit but this is still very disheartening what just happened

what do you mean I informed you the bear's biggest rival of signing Jimmy Graham and you seem to be legitimately soothed by the Taylor Gabriel sign. Oh, it was just a nice little thing. I just saw it like a couple tweets lower

than Will Brinson talking about Jimmy Graham. So I was like, okay, you know, that helps soothe me a little bit. It helps less than the blow. Yeah, this isn't great. The idea of Rogers having a monster red zone target that you can just jump over everybody is not fun. I don't like it.

I don't like it. I don't like it. The Packer is going to win the NFC North, even with Kirk Cousins. Sure. I mean, I will most likely pick them every year for the rest of time. I agree. I don't think this necessarily changes the Vikings out. I don't think the Kirk Cousin sign necessarily changes the Vikings Outlook.

I think they're going to win between 10 and 12 games, no matter what. I think it increases their ceiling. I think it definitely gives them more juice when it comes down to it to win a Super Bowl. This is big. Yeah, it's great. that that's a fun football signing. It's just not a fun football signing for me. That's what I'll say.

I like Alan Robinson's Hillogabial stretch in the field, though, man. That's fun. Whatever helps you sleep at night, man. I don't sleep really well. Trust me. You don't? Aaron Rogers is always there. Is that the root of your insomnia?

Yeah. I've said this before. He's what I check under my bed before I go to sleep at night. I'm looking for Aaron Rogers. This has always been the case. Okay. All right. Do we want to just go over very quickly,

that are still left and the guys you're most intrigued by over the next 24 to 48 hours here. Sure. Just so people know we're recording this at, it is currently 316 central time on Tuesday. So, and whatever happens after this, we cannot control. That is not up to us. So any signings that come down between when this is taped and when this airs, not our fault. Okay. Do you have a list in front of you?

I'm looking at a free agent tracker right now, yes. So, Tremaine Johnson, Nate Soder, who was rumored to Houston. We talked about that. Last week we're talking to Danny. It just made a lot of sense. Malcolm Butler still needs to be signed. Apparently started with Tulare is going to Buffalo. Yeah, I saw that.

That's one of those things that I think is, I don't think it's necessarily earth-shattering, but it's just something that everyone moved on from very quickly. He's not that good? I think is maybe the reason for that. He's not somebody that moves a needle for me. Richardson. Richardson to Washington It's an $8 million year contract

Sheldon Oh yes Paul Richardson Paul Richardson went to Washington 8 million dollars a year That's a lot of money for a guy That has not been able to stay healthy And really has won to find skill

I can understand the appeal to him Wait what's the skill He's a good vertical threat Who goes and gets the ball He won is a high school High jumping That sounds right Based on what I've seen

Because I knew that because I couldn't find I couldn't find any spark numbers for him, so I was freaking out. And then it turns out that he, I think it was Danny Kelly informed me the fact that he, he was a, like a all-world high jumper. So Paul Richardson has easily the highest ratio of amazing catches to total catches. How many career receptions do you think Paul Richardson has? 74. 95. He had 44 catches this year for 703 yards and 6. touchdown. That's more than I honestly thought.

8 million in this market probably makes sense for him. Would you rather have Paul Richardson or Marquisley? Markisley? It's tough for me. I just think Richardson gives you more in terms of big playability and all that stuff, but I think Markisley is probably a better player. I don't know. Probably. I get seduced by the ridiculous catches

and Paul Richardson makes a lot of them. Neither of them are like Iron Man, exactly. No, exactly. I'd rather have Alan Robinson who tore one ACL one time. It has been fine every other time aside from that. other guys still available now that Jimmy Graham is gone. Justin Pugh, who will have a market for sure. Austin Saffarian Jenkins, we chat a little bit about this in the Slack. I feel like he's a much different player than Burton.

So even if he gets a similar number, I think Burton was still a better fit for the Bears. Rishon Melvin, Mo Wilkerson. Every Williamson is somebody I'm intrigued by. He's 26. He's a nice player. We'll see what kind of a market develops for Eifert. But in reality, we still got a lot of names to come off the board here. I mean, it seems like it's been this nutty day where so many guys have signed.

But, I mean, this is just the beginning. Well, the good news is Chris Smith is off the board. That's what every single one of us is waiting for. Him and cousins were the Domino's. He's a situational pass rusher. There we go. All right. Spend that money, Dorsey.

Kevin, I think that's all we got for today, man. As always, we really appreciate you guys joining us. Danny and Kevin will be back on Thursday. I will be watching games in Las Vegas. So, unfortunately, I will not be able to join you guys. But we will be back. I will be back next week as all of this stuff is probably shaking out for the most part. Until then, please go listen to our show on Thursday with Daniel and Kevin.

And we thank you so much for listening to The Ringer NFL show on the Ringer Podcast Network.