The Ringer NFL Show - What to Expect During Free Agency

Episode Date: March 8, 2023

Sheil and Lindsay open by recapping the Ravens’ placement of Lamar Jackson on a nonexclusive franchise tag, why teams are reluctant to sign him, and the best landing spot for the former NFL MVP. They continue by discussing the most interesting teams during free agency, top free agents, and how some teams can get better during the offseason Hosts: Sheil Kapadia and Lindsay Jones Associate Producer: Stefan Anderson Additional Production Supervision: Arjuna Ramgopal and Conor Nevins Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Shield Kapadia here joined by Lindsay Jones. The offseason, my favorite time, is heating up. The Lamar Jackson News, you heard, awesome. and Stephen talk about it yesterday. We're going to get into that. We're going to set the table a little bit for what to expect here in the next week. Free agency, the negotiating period, all that starts next week. So we're going to do a little bit of a look ahead to Lindsay.

Are you ready? Are you monitoring? This is the time of year news could break as we're potting. Are we excited about that, nervous about that? How are we feeling? I mean, I'm ready for it. As we were just talking about this before we started recording, exactly a year ago today. was the day that Aaron Rogers announced

to was going back to Green Bay and Russell Wilson was traded to the Broncos. So we are right in that zone where major stuff could go down. So I'm going to rely on our producer, Stefan, to let us know that thing happens while we're recording. But yeah, I mean, it's going to be a fun week.

I know like this is, I saw you a couple weeks ago at the Super Bowl, but this is really your Super Bowl. Like free agency time. I hope everybody has gotten a chance to check out your free agent list. that is on the ring or now is being updated constantly because you know more about this. Like you are in this. So I'm excited to have this conversation with you.

Yeah, this is going to be fine listening. We'll start with the Lamar Jackson thing. We're going to go through about five topics, five questions. And we have to start with Lamar because as you mentioned, Lindsay, I do that list every year. And usually, you know, like the top five guys, the top eight guys, whatever, you're like, these guys are never even going to make free agency. We're just putting them on the list here. And Lamar Jackson, and didn't exactly make free agency, but Lamar Jackson is available, which I frankly was not expecting this

to be the case with the non-exclusive franchise tag. He can sign an offer sheet with another team, and the Ravens would have five days to match that offer sheet, and if they let him walk, then they get two first-round picks from the team that signs him. So there is this possibility that Lamar Jackson is playing for another team in week one of 2023. So in a second, the question is,

where do we want to see Lamar Jackson go. But first I want to get your perspective on just kind of the last 24 hours because we haven't had a chance to talk about this yet. So they announced that they're using the non-exclusive franchise tag. Then reporters do what reporters are supposed to do. And they start checking them with teams, hey, is your team interested? Is your team not interested? And what we generally don't see in a situation like this, and it is a unique situation,

is teams kind of just right away telling reporters or communicating with the media. that, no, like, you know, you can put it out there that we're not a part of this. We're not going to be a part of this. So I think Field Yates had the had the tweet. You know, he aggregated all of them. The Falcons, the dolphins, the Panthers, the commanders, and the raiders were either reported to be out or unlikely to pursue Lamar Jackson. I think all those reports came out within what, an hour, two hours of when they used the tag.

So a lot of theories circulating in the last 24 hours today takes five. left and right, you are a sensible, reasonable voice who has covered the league for a long time and talk to owners and teams and decision makers at a league-wide level. What was your reaction to kind of how everything played out and what is actually happening here? All right. So this is going to be a not like reasonable take, right? They're colluding. This is collusion. And that is the only rational explanation for why so many teams, especially quarterback needy teams that we have seen been actually. in the veteran quarterback market in recent years,

it's the only logical explanation for why all of a sudden they're not interested, not interested in looking at a once-in-a-generation type of player who is actually available to sign. That doesn't happen. And so for a team like the Falcons who tried like hell to sign Deshaun Watson last year, for a team like the Panthers who also tried really hard to sign Deshaun Watson last year, to all of a sudden say that they're not interested, when the quarterbacks that they currently have on their rosters are Desmond Ritter and Sam Darnold's still technically on.

No, he's going to be a free agent. He's on your free agent list. Matt Corral. Maybe if they had to play a game this weekend. Yeah. Or Washington, who are seem set to head into the season with Sam Howell is their quarterback or the Raiders. If you can name off the top of your head who the Raiders quarterback is, anybody who's listening right there, who is on their roster currently, not set to be. be a free agent. It's not Jared Stedham. Jared Stenom is, but he's going to be a free agent.

Right. So all of these teams that very clearly have a quarterback need to all of a sudden just say, yeah, we're not even going to give him a call. It reeks, right? I mean, this is, to me, owners banding together formally or informally because, you know, you have to be really careful with that, you know, evidence, digital or written evidence about collusion. But it seems very clear that this is a concerted effort to not fully guarantee the next quarterback contract. It seems just very obvious to me. Yeah, I mean, that was like the, when you saw what was happening, it was hard not to jump to that conclusion. And so, you know, the old school reporter part of me is like, let's see how it

plays out. It only takes one or two teams. You know, that was only one day. There haven't been every team that says they're not interested. Now, if we get, you know, a, you know, a, you know, a week in or even if we get to just Monday or Wednesday, honestly, and no team is interested, then the theory you just put out is going to have, I think, even more credibility. Because listen, there's all kinds of reasons that, you know,

you'll see put out there and, you know, various people who are comfortable being the mouthpiece for the NFL or taking what owners tell them and just spitting it out there. You're going to see that in the days ahead. I think the relevant ones are, like if you're a team and you say, we're near the top of the draft, and we would rather, we'd like these quarterbacks, we'd rather draft a quarterback, get them on a rookie contract, not have to give up additional

draft capital. Like, if you're a team like the Texans or the Colts and you think about it, and that's the conclusion you come to, that to me is perfectly reasonable. Like, I don't think that's nuts. Lamar Jackson has missed 10 games over the past two seasons. And again, just when you're weighing the financials of what you would have to give up to land him, that makes sense to me. Even if you're just looking at kind of scheme fit and saying, you know what? I know some teams are using the quarterbacks in the run game. We don't totally believe that that's a sustainable way to play offensive football for a long time because the guy is going to get injured. And so now if we have to play that way and build our team that way, and also guarantee a contract and give up picks,

we don't want to do that. I guess that also is quasi-reasonable to me, but it's impossible to have this conversation without bringing up Deshaun Watson, which you mentioned. I mean, a year ago, given two dozen allegations, credible allegations of mistreatment of women, look how that thing played out. I mean, everyone's saying there were four teams involved. There were more than four teams involved or at least doing homework on Deshawn Watson. It got down to those four teams because he had to say in where he wanted to go. But if you just hooked up a lie detector to every franchise and say, hey, did you at least call or do homework and express some interest in Deshaun Watson? In my opinion, that number is probably in the double digits last year.

And so now a year later to look at it, and again, look at it from Lamar Jackson's perspective. He's going, wait, Deshaun Watson got that. I have won an MVP. I have won more games. I have done nothing off the field. I am like a fan favorite in the city I play in. I deserve that. Like, it's not hard to me to get to Lambeck.

Mar Jackson's perspective in this whole thing. And so that's what makes the whole thing fishy because we see every time when I'm doing a free agency list or I'm trying to come up with, hey, what's this quarterback going to get in a trade? I'm always like reminding myself, it's always more than you think. We saw it with Carson Wentz was the worst starter in the NFL and look at what the Colts gave up for him. Then he was bad again the next year and look at what the commanders gave up to him, gave up

for him. Even someone like, you know, Sam Darnold with the Jets. there's always that desire where demand outweigh supply at quarterback. And so you kind of look at all those factors and you say, how could some of these teams not be interested? So I'm with you. It's fishy. Let's see, you know, maybe it'll just be, hey, those were three or four teams.

But, you know, in the next 24, 48 hours, we're going to learn that, no, there are teams interested. And they are going to make a play here. So I don't know. That did, do you think we're going to see a change? Like just kind of how do you see this playing out? Do you think we're going to get into next week and we're going to be having the same conversation that no one's really expressed real interest in Lamar Jackson?

Yeah, well, if teams are going to not express real interest at the risk of their own best interest, if they are putting the desires of all 32 owners to not set a precedent to have another fully guaranteed contract ahead of their own desire to win a Super Bowl or at least compete to win a Super Bowl, I mean, that's really foolish, right? And I hope fans see through that.

that. I hope if you're a fan of the Atlanta Falcons and indeed by Monday or Tuesday or whatever it is of next week that they're still not pursuing him or at least looking into what it might cost, having that meeting him, flying him down to Atlanta or up to Atlanta from Miami to talk about this, I'm going to think real hard about like the team that I support in the direction that they're going. If you're, you know, the Raiders or the Jets if by next week they haven't traded for Aaron Rogers. You know, they very much. to me appear to be putting this, they're drying this hard line of like, we are not going to guarantee contracts. You and I were both at the owner's meetings last March down in Palm Beach.

It was about two weeks, maybe, maybe even only a week or so after Deshawn Watson was traded to Cleveland. We had yet to hear from the Haslums at that point because they only met with some reporters over Zoom after the contract was signed or after the trade and the contract was signed. And people were pissed. Like I remember talking to so many people from different teams. And when you're at the owners meetings, this isn't like the like just like scouts and buzzy, you know, lots of reporters that you hear at the combine.

Like these are decision makers who are talking about this. These are like high level team executives. And they were as a whole pretty pissed at the Haslons. And they were not upset with the Haslums because of they signed, they signed this guy who had been accused of all these things that we have talked about. we've discussed at length, they were pissed because of the contract that they gave him and what that meant for the league. And players forever have wanted guaranteed contracts. It has been at the top of their wish list. Back in 2019, before they started negotiating, or while they were in the early

stage it's negotiating, what would ultimately become the 2020 CBA, I talked to dozens of players. Every single stop of my training camp tour, every interview I did with a player, whether it was about football or whatever, at the end of the conversation, they said, there's a new CBA coming up. What do you want to see? What are your top priorities? And the most common answer was, we want guaranteed contracts. That was something that the league and that the owners would never actually negotiate. That wasn't something that would be on the table for them. So players ultimately like negotiated other things. They raised minimum salaries. That was something that could impact more players, but it is something that they have talked about forever. And ultimately, it's up to,

like, individual players and individual agents to get that done. And, you know, one guy did it. Well, Kirk Cousins did it a couple years ago. It was a much shorter deal. Kurt Cousins' contract was three years. It was not five years. It wasn't quite the, you know, the staggering numbers that Deshaun Watson got last year. But we've all been watching really closely since the Deshawn Watson deal. What deals are coming next? What are those going to look like? Two big quarter. quarterback contracts came fairly shortly after within the next few months, Kyler Murray and Russell Wilson. Neither of them got anywhere close to the full amount of guarantees that Deshaun Watson did,

which is why this Lamar Jackson situation is so intriguing because he is the first of this next wave of quarterbacks that's coming up for a new contract. And these guys, more so than Kyler Murray or Russell Wilson, appear deserving of that sort of contract, right? It's Lamar Jackson, it's Justin Herbert, it's Joe Burrow. Guys with very strong cases. Jalen Hertz, yeah, is coming up next. I mean, so there is a lot at stake for players, for future generations of players that's the next wave of quarterbacks and what's going to happen here.

And owners just very clearly are showing us through their actions right now that none of them want to be Jimmy Haslam. None of them want to be the guy who's going to go out and pay a guy who clearly deserve. I mean, I hope Lamar Jackson gets every freaking dollar that he deserves. I've hated this narrative that's gone on. And I know you guys have talked about it. Stephen and Austin talked about it on the show yesterday. That like, oh, he's coming. Lamar Jackson, like, he's not that good of a passer.

Or he's coming, he can't stay healthy. Go back and watch his tape. Like, if you're bored this week, like there's no football on, go to YouTube. Like, watch Lamar Jackson. He is the most electric player. I mean, I still think Patrick Mahomes is the best player in the NFL, but there is something like truly. life-changing about watching Lamar Jackson play football.

I mean, do you remember the first time you saw him live? And there's something even about like when you go to a stadium and you see him that just pops on like it even does on film. He is like, it's like a transcendent experience. And I just like urge all of these owners who are sitting there being like, I don't want to give him $230 million. Like pop on the tape this weekend, dude. Look at the way he plays.

Look at the way his teammates respond to him. And think about if you want to have that on your team. in your city and maybe rethink your stance. Yeah, those arguments are so silly. Like if you say, hey, you know, it's not like, all right, they haven't had a consistent traditional passing attack. Like, I think that's fair. And then you look at the numbers and you look at the pieces around him and I put out

the stat, I think a million times because it's my favorite one with Lamar Jackson. In the last three years, with him on the field, they've operated like the sixth best offense in the NFL in terms of EPA per play. And without him, they've operated like the 31st, ranked offense in the NFL. You want to see a guy's value. Everything else is the same there. The coaching is the same.

O line is the same. Weapons are the same. And look at what it means when he's on the field versus when he's not on the field. Also, like the peer thing matters here, I think. Look at how teammates and opponents and other guys say, you know, Marlon Humphrey, right, said at the Pro Bowl, like, when he's recruiting guys, they're like, well, is Lamar Jackson going to be there? Are they going to pay Lamar Jackson?

And so I think that's something that needs to be taken into account as well here. And the hassle thing is, again, you can't talk about the Lamar Jackson situation without talking about Watson and what happened with the Browns last year. Remember, there were, the Browns were reportedly out of that thing. They were, they were ruled out. Nope, okay, it's down to these other teams. And then what happened? They guaranteed concessions that they guaranteed. Oh, and all of a sudden, well, yeah, he thought about it. It'd be a cool offense. You know, Ohio's underrated. All this stuff comes up. And he goes to, he goes to Cleveland and plays. for Cleveland. Like, you did not have to read between the lines to see, uh, exactly what happened there. So, um, we'll see what happens with, you know, I thought Joe Banner. I just saw a clip of him on Twitter. I thought he made a good point that like Lamar Jackson, like, if he signs a kind, most

quarterbacks were his age, the guarantee actually doesn't matter as much because they end up seeing all of that money. You know what I mean? Like quarterbacks of his ilk don't just get released like three years, um, into a contract. So what you said is true. It's not really, it is about Lamar Jackson because obviously you want the guarantees and the financial security, but also there's so much bigger picture stuff at play here. Like when you were just reeling off those names, I thought, you know, like what happens if Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert and Jail and Hertz say we're doing the same thing? You know, like y'all,

if you have some like, there is strength in numbers where now all of a sudden, all right, you know, you're telling me you're going to, you're not going to give non-exclusive franchise tags to those guys. going to be harder for owners to band together and say, we're not doing this now. So it almost takes like, I don't know if it's a couple owners to crumble or to give in or what the word is, but like to get it going a little bit here for these players to kind of make some leeway, make some way with those guaranteed contracts. So we'll see what happens there. But yeah, even the last thing I want to say is like, teams make excuses for quarterbacks all the time and sign them. You can point to the injuries or some of the deficiencies in Lamar Jackson's game.

Give me a break. Look at what teams give up for quarterbacks every single year and look past their flaws. All right. Let's talk about what team should call and say, you know what? Forget it. We talk to our owner. They're in. Like you said, we want to win.

We're prioritizing winning. What a concept. We're prioritizing winning. What is kind of your favorite team fit for the team you say, man, if I were their fan base and they didn't look into this, I would just be irate right now. Yeah, I mean, it's a team that I just keep mentioning as my example here. It's the Falcons. And I don't think I'm alone.

I don't think I'm alone in that. I think they have a very clear quarterback need. You have an owner who can spend money. I think the one thing that we didn't necessarily mention is that the archaic NFL contract rule or the rules where if you guarantee money, you have to put it in escrow because owners used to not have, you know, they didn't used to be billionaires. And so it was a way to like make sure that the money that you were guaranteeing would actually get paid. Arthur Blank, Arthur Blank can write that check, right? He can put that money into escrow. So it's the Falcons

to me. I mean, they're a franchise that very clearly needs a jolt. That division is extremely winnable. Like extremely winnable. Like who's winning that? division right now. Like nobody, nobody's winning that division. They were the worst division of football last year and they're going to be worse this year because Tom Brady has been removed from it. So, you know, I think it's the Falcons. I mean, I would love to see him in Arthur Smith's offense. I think that fan base would be over the moon to support Lamar Jackson. They already have some very nice offensive pieces in place that are better with than anybody that Lamar Jackson has been playing with recently with, you know, Kyle Pitts. And,

And, you know, why am I forgetting? Jay Clinton, I'm like the rookie receiver from USC from last year. You know, some really nice pieces in ascending offensive line. You know, I just, I just think it's inconceivable to me that the Falcons would just write it off so quickly. They are the fan base that, listen, maybe, I always should remind myself, we're at a bit of an information deficit. You know, if they have a deal in place to move up to a top three pick, and they have a quarterback they like and that's the move they make, then I could say, okay, I understand what you were doing.

If they go into week one of next season without inquiring about this move and they just start Desmond Ritter or whatever veteran, you know, if they signed Jacoby, I don't even know who it would be, their fan base should be absolutely iry. If they just kick the can down the road for another year without a long-term answer at quarterback, when they have the opportunity to add, I mean, last year, they had the 12th ranked offense in the NFL with Marcus Mariano.

Think about, I mean, they have the run game schemer in Arthur Smith. You mentioned it. They have some weapons to work with. The cupboard is not bare. That's just the one where you just picture it in your head. And maybe it's because we can all picture Michael Vick, you know, we're running around for the Falcons back in the day. And we say, man, that would be fun for Lamar Jackson.

But I think you're right on with that one for sure. And the other point with just kind of the offer sheet, I think I saw some smart people who know the cap and Jason Fitzgerald from over the cap and Joel Corey from CBS Sports say, one thing teams don't want to do, another team's negotiating for them. And so if you're convinced that the Ravens

are just going to match whatever offer is out there, and now all of a sudden you sign Jackson, the Ravens say we're matching the offer, and now you've wasted time, you've had a hold on your cap space and your fan base is bombed. That's something to consider. At the same time,

think of the upside there. If that doesn't happen, you get your quarterback. So to me, I understand that line of thinking, but that still doesn't pass the test for me. Can I do one more like myth-busting thing here with us? Another thing that I've seen out there is like, why would you risk pissing off your quarterback

by exploring Lamar Jackson? These teams that we're talking about, I'm sorry, we're protecting Desmond Ritters. feelings right now when you're Jared Gough I'm trying to think of some of these others the literally no quarterback with the Raiders Zach Wilson like I'm sorry

that that one does not pass semester me this isn't the chief's calling you know right like this isn't the bills calling you know we're not we're not trying to replace Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen here we're actually talking about legitimate quarterback needy teams

and I don't think they should risk hurting a young guy or a journeyman veterans feelings right now. Because of what about the rest of your roster? What about the 52 other guys who are going to say, what about me? I want to win. Give me a freaking Lamar Jackson.

Yeah. These guys are grownups too. Like I always kind of laugh at that. Like these guys have literally competed at like cut throw levels their entire lives. And then yeah, something like this comes up and you don't want to. You don't want to. It sucks for Matt Ryan last year.

Like I get that. That really sucked for Matt Ryan last year. but like he's fine. He somehow made it out the other end. I don't know how he did it. He wasn't good of football, but like he's fine. Yeah, he's fine. He's living a fine, fine life there.

All right. I'm going to go with, I like your Balkans pick. Again, that's one to me that you're just saying, how could they not at least look into this? The Detroit Lions, I think, are my favorite fit. I mean,

I just look at them and they've got two first round picks this year. So you can give your original pick, which would be 18. and you give a pick next year and you still have the number six pick in the draft. And you get Lamar Jackson. I mean, you could trade back for additional draft capital. By the way,

you already have a pretty good team. Your old line is very good. You have Amon Rae St. Brown. You have James at wide receiver. It's a winnable division. It's a winnable conference. Like some of these, I understand being patient and not just jumping out there,

but you're kind of being patient for this exact moment. When something happens that was unexpected and a guy's available, and you can make a move. Man, if I were the Detroit Lions and Jared Gough played well last year, if you think Jared Gough is the long-term answer, that's fine. I would not be in that camp. I think he had great circumstances around him and he played well. But for Ben Johnson and that group, Jan Campbell, to plug Lamar Jackson in there,

that to me would be a lot of fun. It would kind of alleviate a headache that they've got about what do we do at quarterback, when do we make a move. You have your guy, figure everything else out. now from there. So the Lions, to me, I'm happy that I have not seen a tweet yet that has said the Lions are not interested in Lamar Jackson because I kind of have liked what I've seen from their decision makers with Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell in recent years where I'm saying, hey, yeah, I hope there's at least talking to ownership and being like, let's look into this.

So that would be my pick. And then the Jets are kind of the wild card, right? We'll see what happens with Aaron Rogers, they're going to do something. If for some reason the Rogers thing doesn't happen and I can make a strong case that Lamar would be a better option for them than 39 year old Aaron Rogers. But if the Rogers thing doesn't happen, then they don't have a great plan B. So that was another team that I wrote down. Well, I will say about the Lions, Brad Holmes or GM comes from the LA Rams tree. So I doubt he's afraid to make a big bold move to go all in around a around the quarterback or another player. I would love that one.

Let's make that one. Just make the Ravens match it. If they match it, they match it. Yeah. Listen, Jared Goff, after the way the Rams thing played out, he can handle it. He'll be okay. He'll understand.

He's living a nice life. All right. Topic number two, we're going to move past the Lamar Jackson talk and look ahead to free agency. Lindsay, who is the most interesting team when we're talking about what we're going to see starting on Monday

when that negotiating, period begins until, you know, the end of next week. Who's kind of the team where you say, I can't wait to see what they're going to do? Yeah, I will say when I'm, when I was going through this list and every year the way that I look at free agency, the most interesting team does not necessarily mean the team that has the most money. I look at the teams who have really important needs, i.e. quarterback, and teams that might be in a desperate situation. And then teams that we know that they're in a position to like make a big move, that they have either showed us already,

they have told us, they were talking about at the combine. So I've got two teams. It's the Jets and the Raiders are, I think, I'm cheating here a little bit. I'm picking two teams. But for the Jets, um,

there's still the top team to watch in the quarterback market, as we kind of just laid out for all the Aaron Rogers reasons. They're just really interesting to me because of what the rest of that roster looks like, how young the court. is. You know, they're not in like that top group of teams that have a lot of money to spend, but they do have flexibility because a lot of their young players are still on rookie contracts. And we just have seen for now a couple off-season in a row that they're willing to be really aggressive. I mean, they were very, very active in the Tyree Kill trade market last year. And, you know,

Nora Princiotti, she was in New York doing reporting last summer. And Robert Salah, like, flat, you know, straight up told her in a story that she wrote last, I think it was late last summer, about like, you know, we're going to be aggressive when we're, when we want to, when it's the right move. So I'm watching them pretty closely. That doesn't necessarily mean, okay, this is a team that's going to go out and like set the market for tight ends or whatever position. But when we're talking trades, when we're talking premium positions, I think they're a really, really interesting team to watch. And then I have the Raiders because one, They need a quarterback, which is going to make them interesting, no matter.

That could be obviously in the draft, but they need a quarterback. I think they have a coach who's in like Save My Ass mode where that might make him, him and Dave Ziegler, Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler, like more willing to do some sort of move that will be interesting and splashy. And you've got a completely wildcard volatile owner and Mark Davis who isn't going to quite do like the really expensive slashy deals that his father would do. but he's going to be interesting. So those are my top two.

Those are good ones. I had the Jets as my team. I think they're number one. I mean, you said it for all the right read. Anytime you have a coach and a GM who might feel like a little bit like, all right, we got to do something.

If we want to keep working here a year from now, and by the way, you have an owner who's going to be involved in the decision making, which it certainly seems to me, as I see, you know, Jess reporters are kind of tracking his private jet as he visits with Aaron Rogers. Anytime the beat reporters are tracking the owner's private jet, like that's going to be an interesting team in free agency. I think that's a good test we can pass that really bears out every year.

So we'll see if it happens with Rogers. And if it does happen with Rogers, what are the terms? What are they giving up? Do they restructure his contract? It's just going to be a circus, you know, in New York, in New Jersey next season. If that happens, and if that doesn't happen, they're not just going to sit on their hands and be patience. And now all of a sudden,

you have sort of a wildcard team looking to do something at quarterback. So I think that's a good one. The Raiders are a good one. As you mentioned, I also just wrote the Eagles down because I didn't notice this until someone tweeted at me that I had 12 Eagles players in my top 100. You noticed. Okay, 12 Eagles in my top 100 free agents.

I mean, and they don't have a lot of flexibility. Like, if you look at teams that can restructure, contracts and create cap space, they're pretty much near the bottom of that list. So now you're talking about coming off a crushing Super Bowl loss. You're probably going to pay Jalen Hertz around $47 to $50 million. Yet, who knows what the guarantees look like in that type of deal. And by the way, you have to totally restructure your entire defense here. So I think they're going to be an interesting team as well to see what they do.

All right. Question number three. who is the most interesting free agent. I've got to say, by the way, I don't know if you felt this way when I send you the questions. It's really not a great group of free agents. Like, I was scrolling going,

all right, who can I find here? If your team is spending a lot of money in free agency this year, I don't think it's going to end up well because I've done this list for probably five years now. And most of the time, I'm like, all right, I could see someone overspending for this guy or, all right, there's a diamond in the rough here at 47.

This year's list, I'm just kind of like, there's a lot of players on here that I would not want unless I'm getting them at sort of below market value. So I'm curious to hear who you chose for this one. Well, don't undersell your list. Everybody should still go reach you. That's right. Still read it, of course. But yeah, it is like an interesting list. And this tends to happen every year, right? Where the initial list that you published had Lamar Jackson and Daniel Jones and Sequin Barkley and Derek Carr on it, which honestly, even at that point, it maybe wasn't that super sexy of a list

but I've got two guys and I'm not doing this just because I think he's the top ranked guy who's left on your list outside of Lamar Jackson and that's Orlando Brown the offensive lineman left tackle from Kansas City who they decided not to tag

and I have him up there because he is still very young and he is a very good competent I don't know if he's in like that very elite tier of left tackles but guys of his age at that position, who don't have a serious, like, health concern or an off-field or something like that, they don't tend to hit the market. So that's kind of why I think he is,

he is really interesting here. I mean, I think the last, correct me if I'm wrong here, the last, like, really good left tackle who was, was Trent Williams was a free agent, right? Yeah, but even him, he was, well, he was older, he was coming up. And then he was a free agent. Yeah, yeah. And he was in his early third. and had some injury stuff, even though when he played, he was awesome. So you're absolutely right about that. I mean, 27-year-old left tackles are not available. Don't come available that often. So I think he's just kind of now in a really interesting position where just because of his age

and his position, he could collect a premium. That is one of the positions that teams will pay, the top dollar for. And then I'm equally interested then what do the chiefs do? So it's kind of like a two-parter. Like, I'm interested in him and where he goes, but also how do the chiefs respond there and what are they going to do? They've been really good at adjusting over the last couple years and filling in holes the way that they've been able to remake their offensive line in two years to take it from the biggest liability and the reason they lost the Super Bowl to arguably the reason that they won the Super Bowl this year. You know, and left tackle very important positions. So I'm just very curious, like, is this going to be a draft?

Do you sign Taylor the One who's been done? tweet and eyeball emojis at the chiefs. You know, do you fill it with kind of a veteran stopgap, a cheaper thing? Or, you know, or did they just buy them some time and maybe they find a way to bring Orlando Brown back? Because I know he's very well liked on that team. He's very close with Patrick Mahomes. So that one I'm watching pretty closely.

Yeah, that's a great one. And it's funny how all this is connected because I think our friend Nate Taylor at the athletic, I remember I can't remember it was this month or last kind of had out there what the chiefs had offered Orlando Brown. It was a very competitive offer, but it sounded like the hang-up was the guaranteed money. Also, another player, you know, and Orlando Brown is a player who he's with the Ravens. He's playing right tackle. He gets a chance to play left tackle.

He plays well. And then he's like, no, I want to keep playing left tackle. They trade him to the Chiefs. He plays left tackle for the Chiefs and plays pretty well, but certainly a better run blocker. Had some issues in pass protection, but certainly a solid. left tackle if nothing else gets the tag last year and now I think is going to be the highest paid left tackle in the NFL. We're talking like $24 million per year. I would expect him to make just when he hits the open market. So that will be interesting to see to keep an eye on what kind

of guaranteed money he gets in a free agency because he's a player who's pretty honest about what he wants. And like you mentioned, that's a good situation to be in. Right. Your left tackle, Patrick Bahomes, the team wins a lot. lot, but at the same time, players have to weigh all kinds of things, whether it's short-term security, maximizing their career earnings, situation, living situation, all that stuff. So it all matters. And so I'm curious to see where Orlando Brown ends up. I went with the easy one, Lindsay. Odell Beckham Jr. is a free agent. I know people are probably like, give me a break. I'm tired about hearing about Odell Beckham Jr. But so what I just said, the wide receiver,

class stinks. I shouldn't say stinks. There are some useful players, but it certainly lacks a star power if you're looking for like a star number one wide receiver. And so I think O'Dell Beckham is probably going to benefit from that. He played well for the Rams down the stretch in 2021. Obviously had the ACL injury in the Super Bowl. He's 30 years old.

What kind of deal does he get? Who's interested? Is it going to be a splashy? Are the Cowboys going to be interested? or the bills going to be. What about the Chiefs? We just talked about the Chiefs. I know they just won a Super Bowl

without sort of having that star wide receiver. And he's probably not that at this point in his career. But what if he says, you know what? I'll go play for the Chiefs for a year. I'll probably easily have over 1,000 yards if I stay healthy. I'll have some big catches in some big games. And then I'll reenter the market next off season. So I think there are some teams that could be interested,

like some relevant teams that are going to be playing in the playoffs next year, that could be interested. in OBJ. Did you want to share, I think you said you had two, right? Was there another one you wanted to mention or no? Yeah, my other guy out there,

it's not nearly as like, well, maybe it is a sexy depending on your, how you listen to this, it's Jimmy G. It's Jimmy Garofalo. Yes, I had him too, yep. So he's very interesting.

I just think, you know, he was supposed to be like the first domino to fall in the quarterback carousel last off season. And that didn't happen because of the shoulder, now he's coming off an injury again. You know, outside of some of these,

outside of the Aaron Rogers, right? I mean, he's kind of the next guy and there's going to be this game of musical chairs where there are more quarterback needy teams than there are competent quarterbacks. And Jimmy G. is for all of his faults, for what he is what he is, right, but he is a competent quarterback.

And I think there's a lot of teams that could use a guy. Like, Kit, we just talked about, we were talking about Sam Howell and Desmond Ritter and the Raiders and the Raiders' lack of any quarterbacks. So is it the Raiders? Is that ultimately, like, going to be where he ends up? Do the Jets miss out on Rogers somehow? Then they've already missed out on Derek Carr. Could that be a spot where he goes, you know, just as the quarterback dominoes start to fall?

I think he's really the next guy, the next move out there. Yeah, you could make a case. I think I said this on extra point taken earlier this week, but that the Jets would be best served to just kind of chill this year and be patient and just get like a Jimmy G and get their ducks in a row for next offseason. I don't think that's going to happen. They save the feel quite a sense of urgency.

But yeah, I'm interested to see where he lands. Does he land on one of those NFC South teams? I think the Raiders are probably the favorite for Jimmy Garoppolo. And then also, what does that contract look like? because you don't really have a middle class of quarterbacks. It's like either guys are making $30 million or they're making under $10 million. You know, is he going to get that James Winston contract where it's like, all right, $14 million a year? We kind of like you, but really, listen, you didn't have a lot of options.

We didn't have a lot of options. We're going to hang out for a year or two here. Or is he going to exceed that number somewhere? So I had Garapolo written down too. That is a good one. All right. Number four, is there a free agent and team pairing that you like from the top 100? Okay. So I'll do two. One, I had Odell Beckham to Dallas. Let's just finally make this happen. It was just, it was like the rumor all of last season. I don't think Odell was ready to play. I think that was like fairly obvious through the workouts and stuff that he just was not at a point in his recovery, that it was worth signing him anywhere. So let's just make this happen. It has just been teased and teased and teased and teased.

The Cowboys very much could use a player like him. They don't need a number one receiver, but they very much could use a really competent number two. He's exactly a Jerry Jones type of slash signing. Just do it, make it happen. And then this is cheating a little bit because I'm not going to put necessarily names here. But I would like to see literally any competent offensive linemen

sign with the Los Angeles Rams. maybe two or three of them, but let's just give them bodies who could play. And, you know, there's, is it, I don't know, Isaac Sayamalu, like Guard, who's like a sturdy guy

can start a lot of games. Did Caleb McGarry, did he make it to free agency? Yeah, he did, right? Like, I mean, I just think there's, you know, I think there's a lot of guys out there. And this is not the year for the Rams to be making the splashy signing.

the like handing, you know, big trades to acquire players. Let's just go out and fix the biggest problem that you had last year. And that was that you had literally no healthy offensive linemen through last year. So just get them any of these. Anybody who can play. Yeah, they are. I don't know what they're going to do. They are.

And it's almost like they're trying to clean up some of the masks, which, hey, they won a Super Bowl. So, you know, you can't really fault them that much. They went all in. They won a Super Bowl. but like now what's their plan? Because you have Stafford and you have Aaron Donald and you have like, are you really just going to waste a year? Are you going to try to make some moves?

Like, you know, you said, maybe they feel like, hey, if we just get Stafford back and cut back and improve the offensive line a little bit, McVeigh has had a lot of years of coaching good offensive football. So maybe he finds his fastball again and they're a more competitive team next year. So they're kind of an under the radar interesting team. I went with a kind of boring one,

but I wanted to, It's sort of like what you said with the Rams. I wanted to get some speed to the Chargers with their wide receiver group. I think Tom Telesco said Keenan Allen's not going anywhere. They're sticking with him. They have Mike Williams. I still feel like they, you know, you have a new offensive coordinator and Kellynne Moore. Let's stretch the field a little bit more.

How about a Darius Slayton? I think Danny Kelly actually on this when we did the trade deadline pod months, which feels like years ago, months ago on this feed, we're taught we both were like, we kind of like Darius Slate. Daria Slayton hive, a hive of two people, me and Danny Kelly. And I think he initially had the thought then to send Darius Slayton to the Chargers. And now Slayton's a free agent. He has had over 700 yards receiving in three seasons.

He's averaged 15 yards per reception in his career. I don't understand why no one seems to think he's a good player. I think he's a good player. Maybe it won't cost you a lot of money in free agency. Maybe it's a one-year deal. So him or maybe even someone like DJ Shark to the Chargers. Nicole Hardman? Sure.

Some speed? Yeah. He's fast. Yeah. Any of those guys. Yeah, anyone like that who could just run fast in the straight line so that we can see Justin Herbert through a football a long distance. That's what I want to see from the Chargers.

All right. Let's finish it out. One trade we want to see. This is fun because these could happen kind of any time. Teams could agree to terms. We don't really have to wait till Monday, but we do think we're going to see some players get moved, whether it's quarterbacks,

whether it's Jalen Ramsey, D'Andre Hopkins, whoever, who do you have as a trade you want to see? Yeah, I'm going to not do quarterbacks here. We've talked a lot about quarterbacks already. And Duke Tobin threw some cold water on this last week, I think. But T. Higgins, I think teams should be calling about T. Higgins. I know the Bengals do not want to let him go,

that they are not interested in. trading him at all. That one two punch with Jemar Chase and T. Higgins is Electric, one of the best duos in the NFL. But if there's anything that we know, kind of that I think that we can say definitively now after the last couple off seasons, is that you can drastically improve your team by making a big trade for a wide receiver. And given what the free agent market looks like, what that class is, as we just talked about, if you want to really improve your wide receiver group this year, you're going to have to make a big trade. You're probably going to have to pay a lot for it. That's just what happens now. But look at how the Dolphins offense was transformed.

Look at the Eagles, what AJ Brown did for the Eagles when you went out and make that kind of move. So I think there's a couple wide receiver needy teams out there. I have the New York Giants at the top of my list there. Yes, they've already started spending. They've just paid Daniel Jones. They're going to franchise tag to Saquan Berkeley. But they had the worst receiver in group in football last year. I mean, if you could name three, can you name three Giants wide receivers who were playing at the end of last season? Probably not if you don't have like, you know, Spochak in front of you right now. They seem to be a team that's ascending, willing to build around their quarterback and their offensive group. Buffalo is the model for what we're looking at how the giants are going to build this.

What did the, or what did Buffalo do? They made a big trade for a wide receiver to help your quarterback. continue to develop and ascend. So T. Higgins is my favorite receiver who's like, could maybe be available, even though I know Duke Tobin and the Bengals, really do not want to let him go. You know, I know DeAndre Hopkins is like the most likely guy, just given where the Cardinals are and his age and his contract and everything, but I'm aiming a little higher with a guy who's kind of,

probably hasn't even yet reached his peak. Yeah, I mean, I'm sure the Bengals have thought about, Can they pay T. Higgins? But, man, if I'm a Bengals fan, I'm like, do not, you know, just... Do not do it. Do not let him go. Tobin was telling the truth. Yeah, let's just try to win the Super Bowl next year with him.

Because, man, when Chase went out and Higgins had to carry the load, he was capable of doing that. It's funny, you said the Giants, yeah, because I remember when Higgins came out, I was like, he kind of reminds me to Plachco Beres a little bit. It's like, at least see him in that, in that uniform. It's funny. I actually have the Bengals, too. I had them acquiring a player and I don't think this is going to happen. I think it's the longest of long shots, but I would like to see, I would love to see Jaylon Ramsey on the Bengals next year.

I was trying to find a team for Jalen Ramsey and I was looking at the Bengals. They've got Cam Taylor Britt as one corner. They've got Chidobie Oousier coming off the injury and he's a free agent after the year. So it's absolutely going to be a need position and you just look at who you're going to have to compete with. with Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes. Jalen Ramsey can help you win, win those games or at least compete in those games. And with Loua and Rumo,

as his defensive coordinator, you can find different ways to use him. That could be really useful. I think the challenge with whichever team, you know, trades for Ramsey, assuming he gets moved, is that if he wants a new contract

and it sounds like he probably does, those are always tough. When you trade for the guy and then you reward him and you have your own guys, especially a team like the Bengals, where they've been winning games. Like there are players on that roster who are like, no, we helped you get to the Super Bowl

and the AFC championship game. And now you're bringing him in and paying him. And I'm just kind of sitting here, even a player like T. Higgins, you know, if they make that move, he Higgins is probably like, wait a minute here. Why are we doing that?

So I understand the challenges and why a team like the Bengals would not do that, but just from a football perspective, when I'm looking at the contenders, where can Ramsey make a difference? That would be one team that I would take a look at. So that would be fun. I think Ramsey will get traded.

I think Hopkins will get traded. I don't know exactly where, but I think, you know, those two guys will be in the discussion over the next week when we look at moves being made around the NFL. Yeah. And I think, you know, it's a good way to wrap this up with this discussion up

with the trade conversation because what we've seen over the last few years is teams are way more willing to trade players now than they are trade four players, give up picks four players. than I think they were five years ago. And it makes free agency that much more exciting because the best moves that have happened in recent years have not been the free. It wasn't Christian Kirk. It was like the DeAndre Hopkins trade. Like those are the moves that really, really move the needle

in the NFL and actually are more impactful for teams. So I'm really excited for the trade market, obviously starting with Aaron Rogers. That's the big domino that we're all kind of waiting for. but it all kicks off Monday, right? Monday is when the negotiating period opens. Team players are going to be able to agree. And then Wednesday is officially the start of the new league year. Yeah. So a lot of times it's, I think it's not the same every year,

but I think last year it was like that first 48 hours, everything was done. And like Wednesday started. It's always a little anticlimactic. Yeah. So Monday and Tuesday is going to be fun. It's a wild off season. Lamar, Aaron, Ron.

Hunter's pre-agency, Ramsey, Hopkins. By the way, will we hear a trade for the number one pick agreed to in the next week? That's like the other wild card in this. So it's going to be a lot of fun. We will have it all covered on the ringer.com

and on this feed, the ringer NFL feed. Thank you to Lindsay Jones for joining me. Thank you to Stefan Anderson for producing. Like I said, when and if news breaks, we will be back. Thank you for listening to the ringer NFL show. We will Talk to you sick.