Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL Daily, where we're just trying to be
Speaker 1: intangibly rich. I'm Greg Rosenthal here in the Chris Wesleyan
Speaker 1: podcast studio with my friend Patrick Clayback.
Speaker 2: I love I love Draft season specifically because all of
Speaker 2: this talk about the intangibles.
Speaker 3: Yes, it's like, he's got great intangibles.
Speaker 2: If he has them, then how are they intangible?
Speaker 3: Oh that's always my question.
Speaker 2: I'm not trying to be pedantic, but it's like, yeah,
Speaker 2: this guy's got he's got all the intangibles.
Speaker 3: Like what does that mean? Right?
Speaker 1: If it is literally a box that you check on
Speaker 1: the prospect profile, it's.
Speaker 3: No longer intend like it that becomes a thing.
Speaker 1: And that quote intangibly rich are the types of players
Speaker 1: that former NFL Daily guest James Gladstone used to describe
Speaker 1: the players that he wants his philosophy. He just he said,
Speaker 1: what do you what are you going to do? And
Speaker 1: he said, We're going to prioritize people and players that
Speaker 1: are intangibly rich that elevate our ecosystem.
Speaker 2: I love elevating the ecosystem because then it resembles a
Speaker 2: natural habitat and like gravity can do more of the
Speaker 2: work you know to provide proper drainage.
Speaker 1: Hey, James Skladstone is in there, he's thinking different. I
Speaker 1: think this Jaguars team is in a nice spot, and
Speaker 1: we leave the show with them, because yes, this is
Speaker 1: going to be a show where we finish off our
Speaker 1: off season previews.
Speaker 3: The off season is off and running.
Speaker 1: But actually I like that we're doing some of these
Speaker 1: divisions late in the mix, like with a few moves
Speaker 1: already happening, because we can give perspective to where they
Speaker 1: are at right now. So I'm going to do the
Speaker 1: AFC South with Patrick, and I'm excited to welcome into
Speaker 1: Sean Reid, who covers the Raiders for the Athletic, Who's
Speaker 1: going to do the AFC West with me later in
Speaker 1: the show.
Speaker 3: You know how we do it.
Speaker 1: Let's put the time on the clock, Eric And yeah,
Speaker 1: I started with the Jack. I started talking Jaguars, so
Speaker 1: I might as well stick there. They have forty seven
Speaker 1: million dollars in cap space. They were four and thirteen
Speaker 1: last year. The good news is they pick fifth in
Speaker 1: the NFL Draft. They kind of stuck up on me
Speaker 1: as having a very high draft pick. They have an
Speaker 1: extra third, a fourth, and a sixth, so a lot
Speaker 1: of draft capital. And when I mentioned to mister Gladstone
Speaker 1: that you have all these picks, he says, right now, Oh,
Speaker 1: and so I think he's going to be from the
Speaker 1: less snead school of trading a lot, trading up, trading down.
Speaker 1: I think maybe picking up some more picks. And yes,
Speaker 1: my biggest question for them is really like, how do
Speaker 1: they want to paint this? Kim this, because I actually
Speaker 1: don't see a crazy amount.
Speaker 3: Of needs here for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Isn't that crazy? Yeah,
Speaker 3: maybe I'm wrong, Tell me I'm wrong.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, considering you have to look up front,
Speaker 2: and I know that there has been some concerns with
Speaker 2: that group, but they were and the season was over
Speaker 2: at the point where they traded Cam Robinson in the
Speaker 2: middle of the I don't know if he was going
Speaker 2: to be a long term operation. Again, that was not
Speaker 2: this group that made that decision. Things have changed. Trimbalk's gone,
Speaker 2: Doug Peterson's gone. It's an entire new group. James Gladstone
Speaker 2: wants to find the intangibly rich, right, and they are
Speaker 2: I guess tangibly rich in terms of cap space.
Speaker 3: We talked about earlier this week they're one of those.
Speaker 2: Teams that have right around fifty million dollars in space.
Speaker 2: But I like to look back at some JAG's history.
Speaker 2: Right in twenty eighteen, there were two players on that
Speaker 2: roster that would go on to win a Super Bowl
Speaker 2: for somebody else and be big, big parts of those runs,
Speaker 2: and Leonard Fournette and Jalen Ramsey. Then you go to
Speaker 2: twenty nineteen and you could throw Juwan Taylor into that mix.
Speaker 2: And now that we're in yet another Jags rebuild, I'm
Speaker 2: just wondering, like, what pieces of this team are viable
Speaker 2: trade options for other teams? And if they are viable,
Speaker 2: then why would the Jags not just keep them around
Speaker 2: and try to win with them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a great way to put it. And I apologize.
Speaker 1: You were supposed to lead off the Jaguars tell people there.
Speaker 3: I know.
Speaker 1: I didn't like nobody going to know we were just
Speaker 1: pros and it didn't happen. Evan Ingram was the one
Speaker 1: name that stood out to me when I looked through
Speaker 1: the roster, and yet in general, I want to keep
Speaker 1: Evan Ingram on my team.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: He's a good player and he is do fourteen point
Speaker 1: seventy five million in terms of a base salary as
Speaker 1: the highest cap numbered the team. They don't even have
Speaker 1: options now that they got rid of Christian Kirk that
Speaker 1: I see that are big ticket options to get rid of.
Speaker 1: And then when I look for their needs, okay, you
Speaker 1: could certainly use a guard. All right, I want to
Speaker 1: interrupt myself for once and just let you know, since
Speaker 1: we've taped this, the Jaguars released a number of players,
Speaker 1: including the highest cap number on their entire team, Evan Ingram,
Speaker 1: a starting cornerback in Ronald Darby, and then wide receiver
Speaker 1: Josh Reynolds and Devin DuVernay, who also made a Pro Bowl.
Speaker 1: Like Evan Ingram, he made it as a special teamer.
Speaker 1: The Ingram move is interesting, opens up a lot of space.
Speaker 1: But a guy you know, just a year ago was
Speaker 1: setting records for the amount of receptions he got as
Speaker 1: a tight end, so an interesting free agent to make
Speaker 1: it to the market. All these moves just say to me,
Speaker 1: the Jaguars are going to be even more aggressive than
Speaker 1: Patrick and I are talking about. I know I'm driving
Speaker 1: our producer Eric crazy by even wanting to add this
Speaker 1: to the show. So everyone appreciate Eric and I just
Speaker 1: want you to have the latest information. Let's get back
Speaker 1: to my conversation with Patrick Brandon Sheriff is a free
Speaker 1: agent and they have Ezra Cleveland at the other spot.
Speaker 1: Guard is a pretty big need, I would say. And
Speaker 1: other than that, it's kind of the same issue as
Speaker 1: I think the Jaguars have had the last couple of
Speaker 1: years where I look up and down the positions and
Speaker 1: I see a lot of pretty good players and maybe
Speaker 1: not a lot of great players. And that's actually a
Speaker 1: good spot to be because I don't don't think they
Speaker 1: are have screaming needs. Maybe a defensive tackle, but they're
Speaker 1: pretty good at edge, they're pretty good at linebacker, They're
Speaker 1: fairly deep in the secondary. You know, they could certainly
Speaker 1: add a safety or a cornerback, but it's almost like
Speaker 1: everywhere they could stand to get better. But they don't
Speaker 1: have huge holes on the roster, which I guess is
Speaker 1: a credit to Trent Balki, their former general manager.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 2: All credit due to Trent Balki, but ultimately right there
Speaker 2: was a reason that that Trent and maybe some of
Speaker 2: his those personal relationships have something to do with him
Speaker 2: no longer being there. But James Gladstone now has this
Speaker 2: opportunity to get his guys in right, intangibly rich, tangibly rich. However,
Speaker 2: we want to view them, and I think that's where
Speaker 2: it starts, and that gives you a chance, really to
Speaker 2: give Trevor Lawrence an opportunity to show like, this is.
Speaker 3: What it needs to be.
Speaker 2: But before where it was kind of this mismatch of
Speaker 2: ingredients that could contribute elsewhere and maybe weren't necessarily fits.
Speaker 2: It was a we needed the sum of the parts
Speaker 2: to equal the parts, and they were never really able to.
Speaker 3: Do that right.
Speaker 1: Like, don't get me wrong, Brian Thomas Junior is a
Speaker 1: clear one. Gave Davis is a good guy to have.
Speaker 1: Parker Washington actually was okay last year as like a
Speaker 1: fourth you could use another receiver. You're pretty good at
Speaker 1: running back. You obviously love where Trevor Lawrence. They've been
Speaker 1: very strong behind him. You love Evan Ingram. You have
Speaker 1: two young tackles that you kind of like that the
Speaker 1: tackles are kind of indicative of the rest of the roster, Walker,
Speaker 1: little Anton Harrison like okay, but I want them to
Speaker 1: be even better. But what I think that really allows
Speaker 1: and it's going to be interesting because there's a lot
Speaker 1: of cooks in this kitchen. Is this team to push
Speaker 1: a little harder and be a little more front and
Speaker 1: center this offseason that I think is getting talked about
Speaker 1: nationally because it's a new group, new coach, new GM.
Speaker 1: Sorry I talked to took up all the rest of
Speaker 1: the time, but they have a great spot to actually
Speaker 1: make a big splash right off the bat.
Speaker 2: The thing that I do not like is this conversation
Speaker 2: about taking Will Campbell and then moving him to guard
Speaker 2: because you have these tackles, like if you're drafting a tackle, like,
Speaker 2: let him play a tackle.
Speaker 3: That's my take.
Speaker 1: That that is very fair. I'm going to go with
Speaker 1: the Titans next. They have fifty million dollars in cap space,
Speaker 1: they have the first overall pick of the draft, they
Speaker 1: have an extra fourth and a fifth, so that's pretty
Speaker 1: good on Day three. You always like that. And my
Speaker 1: question is one I want to answer, which is will
Speaker 1: Tennessee draft cam.
Speaker 3: Ward number one overall? And I think the answer is yes.
Speaker 3: What do you think I think the answer should be yes.
Speaker 3: I'm not certain.
Speaker 2: I'm not necessarily overconfident in the fact that it will happen.
Speaker 2: I think it should be a yes. And that's the
Speaker 2: should will difference that everybody should ask for every mock draft,
Speaker 2: and if somebody is doing it the right way, they'll
Speaker 2: tell you if it's a should mock draft or a
Speaker 2: will mock draft. I think they should draft cam Ward.
Speaker 2: I don't know if I'm in the will category yet.
Speaker 1: Well, they don't have a quarterback. They've made that clear
Speaker 1: that I don't see Will loves as the future. And yes,
Speaker 1: they need everything, and so the common thought is they're
Speaker 1: going to trade down if they can and get some
Speaker 1: picks and just like load up on everything.
Speaker 3: And I'm just thinking, but yeah, but don't you need
Speaker 3: a quarterback?
Speaker 1: And isn't there just kind of one quarterback in this
Speaker 1: class that's way above the rest. And one of my
Speaker 1: biggest takeaways leaving Indianapolis was I think cam Ward is
Speaker 1: going to go number one overall. Now, will it go
Speaker 1: to the Titans or will it go to the Giants?
Speaker 1: Would probably be the next most likely in Vegas by
Speaker 1: the way, they have the Giants as even odds to
Speaker 1: have that pick, which is crazy. Could it be the Raiders,
Speaker 1: could be the Jets, could it be the Browns? One
Speaker 1: of those teams loves cam Ward. Kim Ward is a
Speaker 1: really good quarterback prospect. The Titans really need a quarterback,
Speaker 1: so I just think that's the most likely outcome. But
Speaker 1: I really came away from the combine thinking, like, all
Speaker 1: this app Carter, all this other stuff. I think one
Speaker 1: of those teams is going to trade up to Tennessee
Speaker 1: if Tennessee is not interested in taking War. Because if
Speaker 1: you're the Titans too and you're thinking about trading down, hell,
Speaker 1: you could move down to three, get a second or
Speaker 1: whatever it's going to be, and still take Travis Hunter
Speaker 1: like that, that's good business if you're not into Ward.
Speaker 3: But I think they should be into Ward.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they should absolutely be into Ward. And maybe it's
Speaker 2: one of those butterfly effect type things where perhaps the
Speaker 2: foot injury to Abdul Carter is leading to the Tennessee
Speaker 2: Titans ultimately saying, well, we're gonna need to get a
Speaker 2: quarterback at some point. Here's a chance to get a
Speaker 2: cost controlled quarterback in for a number of years where
Speaker 2: it's not Yeah, it's not six first round quarterbacks in
Speaker 2: this draft, but that doesn't mean that some sort of
Speaker 2: quality is different from cam Ward, where you're like, oh,
Speaker 2: this is a bad quarterback draft.
Speaker 3: Now you got to evaluate the player.
Speaker 2: Right and cam Ward is he hasn't done anything to
Speaker 2: say he doesn't deserve to be taken.
Speaker 1: There, and maybe not every team's going to agree, and
Speaker 1: maybe the Titans aren't one of those teams. Now, the
Speaker 1: argument against it is they have needs everywhere, right tackle, guard, receiver,
Speaker 1: Nick Westbrook. Akina is a free agent right now. Obviously
Speaker 1: d Hop is long gone. You basically have Calvin Ridley,
Speaker 1: and you know Traylon Burkes if he ever comes back.
Speaker 1: Tyler Boyd is a free agent. Sebastian Joseph Day is
Speaker 1: a free agent. They don't really have a ton of
Speaker 1: free agents. You need quarterback, you need throughout the defense,
Speaker 1: you need players, You almost need everything. You have these
Speaker 1: older cornerbacks who signed last year that didn't work at all.
Speaker 3: You could certainly tend to get younger. You need everything.
Speaker 1: And yet I look at Brian Callahan, It's like he's
Speaker 1: in his second year, the GMS in their first year,
Speaker 1: Like how long are they going to be patient with Callihan?
Speaker 1: He doesn't have any ex players that he used to
Speaker 1: work with that make a lot of logical sense for me,
Speaker 1: Like would they be a Donold team. Maybe he didn't
Speaker 1: have him. He did have Derek Carr, but it seems
Speaker 1: like Carr is staying in New Orleans. He was with
Speaker 1: Carr in Las Vegas back in the day, but I
Speaker 1: don't know. Like the one great thing the Patriots did
Speaker 1: last year was we have a lot of needs, but
Speaker 1: let's just solve the most important need with our third pick,
Speaker 1: and even if we're not the ones that are going
Speaker 1: to be there next year, like that was the great
Speaker 1: That was a good decision, not trading down to the Giants.
Speaker 3: So I would say consider that, Tennessee.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and there's a way, right that you can take
Speaker 2: that quarterback and not actually throw him into a blender
Speaker 2: and have a miserable season and you know, have something
Speaker 2: to enjoy where it's not just hey.
Speaker 1: At least, right, they don't have to be the Patriots,
Speaker 1: and I don't think they would be that bad. A
Speaker 1: couple other little decisions to go over with this team.
Speaker 1: Harold Landry was reportedly on the trade box, so that's
Speaker 1: something to keep in mind. Usually when that happens, the
Speaker 1: guy is gonna get cut if they can't find a
Speaker 1: trade for him. And then I mentioned the cornerbacks. I
Speaker 1: just thought it was in you know, they signed Lagerious
Speaker 1: Need and Shadoubi a woozy last year to big money deals,
Speaker 1: and now it's like a different GMS in place that
Speaker 1: those didn't really work out.
Speaker 3: It's just something a monitor.
Speaker 1: They probably can't cut those guys right now, but that
Speaker 1: could be one where you hear they're on the trade
Speaker 1: block and camp, you know what I mean, or just
Speaker 1: see what's going on. I'm not saying they're sunk costs.
Speaker 1: Maybe they'll rebound and be the players that the Titans
Speaker 1: are hoping they would be.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a lot on this roster that still needs
Speaker 2: to be evaluated. Like the circumstances were bad enough where
Speaker 2: we don't have a full ledger on some of these guys.
Speaker 1: One of the good things is they're not losing much
Speaker 1: when you look at the free agents and all that.
Speaker 3: All right, Titans fans be a little happier, all right.
Speaker 3: I don't know why the jib was necessary. Texans, you're up,
Speaker 3: all right.
Speaker 2: So the twenty twenty five Houston Texans have made some
Speaker 2: changes and generally we see that they're right around four
Speaker 2: million dollars in cap space, an incredibly talented defense and
Speaker 2: head coach that had that position. The defense at a position
Speaker 2: to bother a lot of teams. The vast majority of
Speaker 2: their snaps played by their current free agents were essentially
Speaker 2: just Stefan Diggs Jeff Okuda played like eighty snaps. Not
Speaker 2: a lot of decisions other than that. But there's a
Speaker 2: real need at wide receiver. They do make the coordinator
Speaker 2: change and an offensive line coach change, So Bobby Slowich
Speaker 2: and Chris Strasser are gone. Nick Kayley comes in and
Speaker 2: Cole Popovich is the offensive line coach. We just saw
Speaker 2: the Philadelphia Eagles have a bad offense, get run out
Speaker 2: of the playoffs in one season. Make a coordinator change,
Speaker 2: come back and win the Super Bowl next year. Is
Speaker 2: a coordinator change enough, Greg for the twenty twenty five
Speaker 2: Houston Texans to be what we thought they could have
Speaker 2: been last year?
Speaker 1: No, they need to supplement the offensive line and wide
Speaker 1: receiver and then that would be enough. You know, I
Speaker 1: think the scheme change will make the offensive line look better.
Speaker 1: And yet, ultimately you've drafted a lot of players early
Speaker 1: the last couple of years. Here's some second and first
Speaker 1: round picks by them. Kenyan Green, Juice drugs, Blake Fisher,
Speaker 1: who I think they kind of like a right tackle
Speaker 1: you know you need. I don't know if those players
Speaker 1: are going to work out, whether it's free agency or not,
Speaker 1: you still want to be improving the offensive line. And
Speaker 1: then at receiver, you mentioned Diggs as a free agent.
Speaker 1: Tank Dell is coming off of injury that I don't
Speaker 1: know if you can count on him for twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1: Like whatever he gives you is a bonus if he
Speaker 1: does give you something. Robert Woods is a free agent,
Speaker 1: so you really you have Nego Collins MATCHI Xavier Hutchinson,
Speaker 1: who are kind of back of the receiver room guys,
Speaker 1: and so I think you need a little more juice
Speaker 1: here with the offense to help Nick Kaylee out. But
Speaker 1: generally scheme can help out offensive line more than any
Speaker 1: other position.
Speaker 2: I was trying to go through restructure opportunities to take
Speaker 2: that space to get that wide receiver. They just restructured
Speaker 2: Shaq Mason a year ago. PFF had him graded in
Speaker 2: the forties. It was it was not good and then
Speaker 2: he got hurt. Yes going into it, So like this,
Speaker 2: the roster as good as it looks in some spots
Speaker 2: and other spots like you can see where things fell apart.
Speaker 3: They're up to fourteen million.
Speaker 1: I think with some of the cuts that they made,
Speaker 1: they also could cut Denico Autry would save about ten
Speaker 1: million dollars. You know, he was suspended last year. He
Speaker 1: did help them, he got hot towards the end, he did,
Speaker 1: And so ultimately, I don't think it's great to cut
Speaker 1: guys who you think can be productive players.
Speaker 3: I tracked that.
Speaker 1: You know, their head coach Dimiko Ryan said he thought
Speaker 1: they needed to get better at defensive tackle specifically. He
Speaker 1: thought that was a need for them. So that's something
Speaker 1: that you could see them address in free agency or
Speaker 1: the draft. And also wouldn't make sense to cut Denico
Speaker 1: Autry necessarily. So that those are kind of my three
Speaker 1: biggest needs for them. But you mentioned it. It is
Speaker 1: a good spot that you don't have a ton of
Speaker 1: free agents or like crazy big decisions to make. It
Speaker 1: might be that time, though, to start looking at re
Speaker 1: signing Stingley. Though you have Derek Stingley, like you could
Speaker 1: wait another year, but they showed with Nico Collins the
Speaker 1: intelligence in signing a guy maybe a year early. Think
Speaker 1: how much Nico Collins would cost you this year, not
Speaker 1: that he doesn't deserve all that money still, but he's
Speaker 1: already signed up long term. I think Derek Stingley looks
Speaker 1: like one of the best young defensive players in the
Speaker 1: entire NFL, so it might be an offseason to do
Speaker 1: that move as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, perhaps in a similar fashion to the way we
Speaker 2: saw the Certain deal go down, where you're all the
Speaker 2: way into camp and it's just say, hey, you know,
Speaker 2: how concerned are you about this?
Speaker 3: Not at all? And then you know, the season starts
Speaker 3: in a couple of weeks and hey, it's done.
Speaker 1: I'm not surprised that they are as full throated, you know,
Speaker 1: in terms of their support of c J. Stroud as
Speaker 1: I've heard Jamiko Ryans and Nick Asserio be this offseason.
Speaker 1: But I do like hearing that Nick Asserio called c J.
Speaker 1: Stroud one of the best quarterbacks in the league. He
Speaker 1: didn't say one of the best young quarterbacks. He just
Speaker 1: said we have one.
Speaker 3: Of the best.
Speaker 1: He said, we have one of the best quarterbacks in
Speaker 1: the league. It is on us to make sure we're
Speaker 1: doing right by him. I loved hearing that because that's
Speaker 1: how I've been here at c J. Stroud as well.
Speaker 1: And that to me from Casario, who doesn't say much,
Speaker 1: made me think they are still thinking offense this offseason
Speaker 1: because maybe it's okay to lean on the fact that
Speaker 1: you got Tomiko Ryans who can really coach up that defense,
Speaker 1: and you've put some resources into that as well.
Speaker 2: But ultimately, fourteen, because we've talked i mean all week, right,
Speaker 2: like the number to be competitive cap space was fourteen
Speaker 2: doesn't necessarily get you there. So what's going to be
Speaker 2: left in terms of free agency? And and how much
Speaker 2: are they going to rely on rookie wide receivers if
Speaker 2: they go out there and hit a home run?
Speaker 3: Yeah, but really anybody can do.
Speaker 1: Could they restructure Tunsil? Like Tunsil's an interesting guy because
Speaker 1: he's the two years forty million, you know, he's highest,
Speaker 1: the highest paid guy on the team. Yeah, so you
Speaker 1: could short you could if you're really confident he finishes
Speaker 1: that contract.
Speaker 3: You could restructure bat little bit.
Speaker 1: You can maybe a restructed Daniel Hunter like you can
Speaker 1: find some right tunsl would almost be a cut candidate
Speaker 1: in another system.
Speaker 3: He had a tough year.
Speaker 1: Spicy Greg today, how many I mean, how many false
Speaker 1: starts you're going to take from one guy. The Colts
Speaker 1: are up next, finishing out the AFC South, and they
Speaker 1: have thirty four million dollars in cap space. They have
Speaker 1: the number fourteen overall pick. They have all their picks,
Speaker 1: the rare team. That's just they have all their picks,
Speaker 1: no extra picks.
Speaker 3: They just they just stay where they are.
Speaker 1: They He said that Anthony Richardson is going to face
Speaker 1: competition at quarterback, and I just wonder what does that
Speaker 1: competition look like. I read an article by James Boyd
Speaker 1: to The Athletic, which I think was pretty well reported,
Speaker 1: that said the ideal competition might be Justin Fields, and
Speaker 1: then the secondary idea of the competition might be Daniel Jones,
Speaker 1: and so just something to watch.
Speaker 3: They should try to get the best quarterback they can.
Speaker 1: Well, I think they think it's I think Justin Fields
Speaker 1: is that guy to them. But there is a lot
Speaker 1: of Justin Field's Jets talk right now.
Speaker 3: We'll see if that happens. But yeah, yeah, I mean,
Speaker 3: considering they might.
Speaker 1: Not be able to get him that Justin Fields Steelers
Speaker 1: or Jets, that staying with Pittsburgh is probably the most likely.
Speaker 1: Jets might be the next most likely in Indianapolis might
Speaker 1: not be willing to pay like as much he's going
Speaker 1: to cost, So then they would settle for maybe dimes.
Speaker 2: And that's the thing, right, if you're settling for dimes
Speaker 2: in this quarterback competition, like I'll do success, I'll do
Speaker 2: respected to Danny Dimes? Right, How is that helping us
Speaker 2: evaluate the player that we are. One thing that you
Speaker 2: said about the culture we're talking about their draft situation
Speaker 2: is they stay where there are. Yeah, it's kind of
Speaker 2: just like that may as well be the franchise slogan
Speaker 2: at this point, like Colts, we stay where we are
Speaker 2: because like I'm having difficulty understanding the process, right right, Like, Okay,
Speaker 2: we got to build a team, Like what's going on,
Speaker 2: but we're discussing like which re thread backup quarterback comes
Speaker 2: in to provide this boost to make Anthony Richardson try harder.
Speaker 2: That's not like a cell to me. That like you're
Speaker 2: trying to facilitate the best team that you can when
Speaker 2: there were problems on the team that weren't Anthony Richardson related.
Speaker 1: Also, I think what's lost in the Danny Dimes talk
Speaker 1: is Danny Dimes had a major shoulder in surgery and
Speaker 1: did not look like he was not the biggest arm
Speaker 1: in the league before that and just did not look
Speaker 1: the same afterwards. And oh, by the way, he had
Speaker 1: career threatening neck injuries before that, and so Dimes doesn't
Speaker 1: make a lot of sense to me. There are a
Speaker 1: lot of good enough backup quarterbacks, whether it's Jacoby Burssett,
Speaker 1: whether it's your old pal bringing back Gardner.
Speaker 3: Minto like he can keep getting.
Speaker 1: They're good enough as backups, and I think they're probably
Speaker 1: better options as backups, and that to me, maybe it's
Speaker 1: it's a sign. And James Boyd pointed this out that
Speaker 1: this was supposed to be the plan that they're sticking
Speaker 1: with Ballard, stike In and Richardson. These three guys are
Speaker 1: going to be the three that you move forward with,
Speaker 1: and there's now a little bit of cracks in the
Speaker 1: armor of like, are all three of those guys on
Speaker 1: the same page? Is Ballard and stike and especially like
Speaker 1: on the same page Ballard. No, they know they're on
Speaker 1: the hot seat this year, especially Chris Ballard, but really
Speaker 1: both of them.
Speaker 2: Are, which is why it's a great opportunity to put
Speaker 2: the target right on the quarterbacks back and say that
Speaker 2: the off season conversation is around you know who's coming
Speaker 2: in to be a competitor with a quarterback, and then
Speaker 2: everybody can focus on that and not necessarily the whole
Speaker 2: thing that makes you perpetual.
Speaker 3: At eight, nine and nine and eight, let's get to that.
Speaker 1: I'm almost impressed by stich in that they won eight
Speaker 1: games last year because this team has so many problems.
Speaker 1: Their offensive line is a mess. Ryan Kelly, their center,
Speaker 1: Will Fries their guard. Heading to free agency, both are
Speaker 1: going to get paid pretty well. They're both expected to leave.
Speaker 1: Their right tackle, Brayden Smith left with a personal matter.
Speaker 1: There hasn't been a lot of reporting about that. There
Speaker 1: has been some talk that they could cut him and
Speaker 1: save a ton of cap space, but that's just a
Speaker 1: mystery a guy they gave a lot of money to.
Speaker 1: So that could be three fifths of your offensive line
Speaker 1: right there that you're looking to replace.
Speaker 3: E J. Speed's a free agent.
Speaker 1: Julian back Blackman's a free agent at safety. Dale Adengbo
Speaker 1: is a free agent who is a you know, a
Speaker 1: pretty productive edge rusher them And then I look at needs.
Speaker 1: You got a lot of them corner but they always
Speaker 1: need cornerbacks. I think they need defensive linemen. Still, you
Speaker 1: need a safety still like this roster is in worse
Speaker 1: shape than I think it's been at almost any point
Speaker 1: in the ballad era.
Speaker 2: And who better, right, because I think about the circumstance
Speaker 2: when lou Anarumo was hired as the Bengals defensive coordinator,
Speaker 2: where it felt like nobody wanted that job. He was
Speaker 2: almost the last coordinator to get hired in that cycle,
Speaker 2: and he comes in in a scramble and ultimately has
Speaker 2: them a play within a world championship. Lou Anromo is
Speaker 2: the perfect like calming force for the chaos that is
Speaker 2: this Colt steam.
Speaker 1: Right now, they have some pieces on defense. I mean
Speaker 1: Quidy pay and Layautu. Latu is a good young group,
Speaker 1: and your defensive line is good. You're starting one. It's
Speaker 1: not as deep as it used to be. They could
Speaker 1: open up some room by cutting Sampson Ebucom wouldn't be
Speaker 1: surprised if that happens. But man, they got a lot
Speaker 1: of needs. That's just the nature of the AFC South. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: over the years they have had a lot of needs.
Speaker 1: Patrick Clayban, though you're checking those boxes, you're intangibly rich.
Speaker 3: It's tangible.
Speaker 2: I want to transcend the entire tangibility matrix. I want
Speaker 2: to be all.
Speaker 3: Things I think you have.
Speaker 1: You are big week for Patrick across all of the shows,
Speaker 1: and he'll be a big part of next week with
Speaker 1: free agency kicking off. Before we get there, we're going
Speaker 1: to take a quick break and we're going to hear
Speaker 1: on the other side from Tashawan Reid of the Athletic
Speaker 1: go over the a.
Speaker 4: FC West.
Speaker 3: Back on NFL Daily.
Speaker 1: You know him as one of the best beat writers
Speaker 1: in the game to Sean Reid of the Athletic. You
Speaker 1: also should know him as an early guest on NFL
Speaker 1: Daily back at Raiders training camp in July.
Speaker 3: And if you happen to.
Speaker 1: Be watching this on YouTube, check check us out there
Speaker 1: like subscribe. You'll see him in a clean mina times
Speaker 1: uh featuring Lenny Podcast hat which he got at the
Speaker 1: at the live show that we did together. I recognize
Speaker 1: that hat to Sean because my son literally wore to
Speaker 1: school today for the first time.
Speaker 3: Big coincidence, Yeah, great.
Speaker 5: Most think so, think of light. It was my first
Speaker 5: time wearing it, but yeah, I thought it was only right.
Speaker 5: I saw you and Jordan Roderic obviously coming on her
Speaker 5: show back then in La so reuniting, so I might
Speaker 5: as well throw it on her.
Speaker 1: I appre I appreciate it. It looks, it looks I like
Speaker 1: the color that that, you know, baby blue. We'll be
Speaker 1: talking about the Chargers a little bit later today where
Speaker 1: we're going to be previewing the AFC West, wrapping up
Speaker 1: our off season previews. You you've got a lot to
Speaker 1: talk about when it comes to the Rams, maybe the
Speaker 1: Raiders rather, maybe I'll even extend that time. But first
Speaker 1: I have to take you to task for a bad
Speaker 1: take you had. I saw, I happen to see it
Speaker 1: right on Twitter right when you posted it, which was
Speaker 1: you were you were very down on the ending to
Speaker 1: to the movie Past Lives. This is really talking to
Speaker 1: a small fraction of our audience, so we probably shouldn't
Speaker 1: go too long. But I will defend Past Lives to
Speaker 1: the end a beautiful mature I'll say it like a
Speaker 1: grown up romantic movie. I loved it, and I will
Speaker 1: defend it.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I agree, it was. It was a great film,
Speaker 5: well riding, really good acting. But the ending, I just
Speaker 5: I'm not fine with that. I don't want to spoil
Speaker 5: it for anybody who hasn't seen it, but it was
Speaker 5: very clear who she's in love with.
Speaker 4: And I was like, she should go.
Speaker 3: How old are you to Shan Listen.
Speaker 4: I'm not saying it would work out.
Speaker 3: No, I'm just saying, how old are you?
Speaker 1: I'm curious you're a young man in three weeks. I
Speaker 1: think that's the perspective of a young man, you know,
Speaker 1: in life sometimes that That's what I liked about the
Speaker 1: movie is you know, you have you have these different
Speaker 1: people come through your life that you're that you're so
Speaker 1: passionate about. But sometimes that's not that's not real life,
Speaker 1: that's not your life, and and all these feelings can
Speaker 1: can exist at the same time. I really recommend people
Speaker 1: check out Past Lives. Eric is looking at me like,
Speaker 1: what are you talking about here? But that was one
Speaker 1: of my favorite movies the last few years, and it's
Speaker 1: wild to me. I don't know if you did you
Speaker 1: ever see Challengers? By the way, Oh yeah, that is
Speaker 1: written by Selene Song, who wrote Past Live's husband. I
Speaker 1: don't know what's going on in that marriage, so there's
Speaker 1: something going at The two of them wrote about something
Speaker 1: in very different ways, and it's very interesting to think
Speaker 1: that those two movies came from the exact same marriage.
Speaker 1: That just a little shout out to the movie folks
Speaker 1: out there. Let's get going. Let's talk about the AFC West,
Speaker 1: and I want to start with the Chiefs. You know,
Speaker 1: it's been a while since we talked about the Chiefs.
Speaker 1: I think they have a fascinating off season. Let's put
Speaker 1: the time on the clock, Eric to Shan get us going.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 5: So, obviously, the last time we saw the Chiefs they
Speaker 5: were getting the doors blown off in the Super Bowl.
Speaker 5: I think that's rained a lot of pessimism over the franchise.
Speaker 5: Nothing you have to remember, like this was a team
Speaker 5: that went fifteen to two and made his third Super
Speaker 5: Bowl in a row. It could be a lot worse
Speaker 5: than the in the Chiefs right now. They with that
Speaker 5: being said, they do have some major needs. Obviously, they
Speaker 5: just traded Joe Toney, who somehow became their start and
Speaker 5: left tackle for the end of last season. They already
Speaker 5: had a pretty massive need at left tackle going into
Speaker 5: his as. But now you could argue that they also
Speaker 5: have one at guard defensive tackle because outside of Chris Jones,
Speaker 5: they don't really have a lot of bodies there. And
Speaker 5: then receiver. You know, I know that they made a
Speaker 5: moving season last season to get DeAndre Hopkins. You know,
Speaker 5: obviously the rocket that they drafted had a pretty good season,
Speaker 5: but it was it was tough for them after losing
Speaker 5: Rashid Rice and clearly Travis Kelsey just isn't the same
Speaker 5: player anymore, and so I think that to also be
Speaker 5: a position that makes sense for them to Add to
Speaker 5: the issue is they currently don't have any cap space.
Speaker 5: I believe they're still over the cap even with the
Speaker 5: inflated number that they have now. And of course they
Speaker 5: can play around with it, maybe restructure Patrick Mahomes deal
Speaker 5: for the thousand times since he's under contract until the
Speaker 5: end of the NFL and so we'll see what what
Speaker 5: wasardreed they cook up to create some space. But they
Speaker 5: do have some some key needs. That's some pretty important
Speaker 5: positions that they do need to address this Offsson.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's funny you mentioned Mahomes.
Speaker 1: I wonder if he's do an actual new contract now
Speaker 1: it would be a restructure, but it's about time to
Speaker 1: me that he gets a raise, another fix, which they're
Speaker 1: going to keep doing. And look at that's what's team
Speaker 1: friendly about it. And yet he's seen these other quarterbacks
Speaker 1: jump above him and they could open up cap space
Speaker 1: one way or another. Yeah, I think they'll use that
Speaker 1: Mahomes contract to open up cap space. It's crazy you
Speaker 1: mentioned the lack of cap space. They also don't have
Speaker 1: a second round pick. You know, they have that trade
Speaker 1: for DeAndre Hopkins. They do have an extra third, but
Speaker 1: they don't have one between the fifth and the seventh,
Speaker 1: and so you kind of add that up like not
Speaker 1: a ton of draft capital, not a ton of cap space,
Speaker 1: And then I hear you that you could be in
Speaker 1: a lot worse shape than the Chiefs. But I do
Speaker 1: think last year was a push it all the way
Speaker 1: in here, and this is gonna be a very tricky
Speaker 1: offseason for Brett Veach because you listed some of the
Speaker 1: free agents DeAndre Hopkins, Hollywood Brown, who I've heard they
Speaker 1: want to bring back, Juju Smith, Schuster, Kareem Hunt, Carson Wentz,
Speaker 1: whatever on the offensive side. But Trevelle Wharton was a
Speaker 1: good player for them at defensive tackle. I got him
Speaker 1: ranked pretty high, Nick Bolton, I have him ranked pretty
Speaker 1: I justin Reid, a good safety, ranked pretty high. Charles
Speaker 1: Amena who was starting for them. So they just have
Speaker 1: a lot to do this offseason and they're one of
Speaker 1: the best at doing it. But man, they're kind of
Speaker 1: in uncharted territory of you know, year six of this
Speaker 1: dynasty without really taking a step back. So I'm curious
Speaker 1: how they approach it. What do you think they'll do,
Speaker 1: What do you think they'll prioritize? Maybe first, yeah, I agree.
Speaker 5: With you that it doesn't feel like some sort of
Speaker 5: pivot point needs to come. And we saw this before
Speaker 5: this most recent iteration of the dynasty started when they
Speaker 5: traded Tyreek Hill.
Speaker 4: That was a big shift where they.
Speaker 5: Saved a lot of money through that in the move
Speaker 5: and invested it in the defense, which was a weakness
Speaker 5: for them even though they had success to that point,
Speaker 5: and they became really a defensive team, you know, especially
Speaker 5: this year. We still have Patchion Mahome of course, and
Speaker 5: he could, you know, come up clutch and help them
Speaker 5: win a bunch of close games. But this offense really
Speaker 5: hasn't been you know, I would say it's still been good,
Speaker 5: but it hasn't been that dynamic offense that you're used
Speaker 5: to seeing with Mahomes and read in tow and so
Speaker 5: it's seeing how do they try to navigate adding to
Speaker 5: that offense because they clearly need help. Like I think
Speaker 5: I'm not saying Travis Kelce has washed you look pretty
Speaker 5: bad at the Super Bowl, but they need a clear
Speaker 5: cut number one receiver. Maybe that's just for Shee Rice
Speaker 5: when he comes back and he's fully healthy, because he
Speaker 5: was playing really well before that injury last season, So
Speaker 5: maybe he's the guy. They don't need to make a
Speaker 5: big move ad receiver, but offensive line, like they have
Speaker 5: to do something right, And I think, like, what is
Speaker 5: the answer there?
Speaker 4: Like what does it look like?
Speaker 5: You don't really have any cap space, like you mentioned,
Speaker 5: they don't have a ton of draft capital.
Speaker 4: What do they do you know?
Speaker 5: Because I think it's pretty clear that the answers aren't
Speaker 5: in house. And I know the rookie that they took
Speaker 5: last year, Kingsley, maybe he's he had a really rough
Speaker 5: rookie year. Maybe he bounces back, and we've seen guys
Speaker 5: improve in the past. So yeah, I don't want to
Speaker 5: like say his career is over because he had a
Speaker 5: bad rookie season. But I think the offensive line are
Speaker 5: both running the ball and.
Speaker 4: Pass for section.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think the plan is to play Sue Mattea
Speaker 1: at left guard or to try them there. We launched
Speaker 1: this new show on Thursday with Daniel Jeremiah, and he
Speaker 1: was banging that Ronnie Stanley to the Chiefs drum pretty hard.
Speaker 1: And this is a man who always knows more than
Speaker 1: he is. Letting On is very connected, especially with the
Speaker 1: Ravens where Ronnie Stanley was, and so that's interesting. I
Speaker 1: don't know where they find the money for that. Maybe
Speaker 1: that's the Mahomes thing. I think they do want to
Speaker 1: bring back Marquise Brown, who would kind of be like
Speaker 1: a relatively cheap number two. But man, they could use
Speaker 1: an edge they could use. They're gonna need a backup quarterback,
Speaker 1: by the way. I don't know if they want to
Speaker 1: draft one too. They could they could do that thing.
Speaker 1: They need to restock their quarterbacks. They always find these
Speaker 1: guys that you never heard of and then they do well,
Speaker 1: So they need another one of those soon. I think
Speaker 1: you're you're biased on the Chiefs though, because you think
Speaker 1: their offense is trash, because they're always trash against the Raiders.
Speaker 3: You know that's what you should.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 5: I always gonna, you know, have faith and Patrick Mahomes,
Speaker 5: but this feels so stagnant, like everything's so difficult. And
Speaker 5: I think when they won those first two Super Bowls,
Speaker 5: what they really got back to is I guess for
Speaker 5: the first time what they did since they got Mahomes
Speaker 5: was they were really running the ball well, you know,
Speaker 5: and I think that really caught the Eagles off guard
Speaker 5: in a Super Bowl that they won, and they really
Speaker 5: couldn't run the ball this year. Maybe part of that
Speaker 5: was for Czecko getting hurt, but they really had like
Speaker 5: Freema Hunt, right, you know, significant carries. So I don't
Speaker 5: know how much of that it was just the running
Speaker 5: back with this not being great in the offensive line
Speaker 5: not being great.
Speaker 4: But if you're going to have those question marks at
Speaker 4: receiver Travis Kelsey.
Speaker 5: Turning back, you know, swing down a little bit, they
Speaker 5: have to find a way to run the ball successfully
Speaker 5: again for this offense to take another step forward.
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe I'm just wishful thinking, but it feels like
Speaker 1: I had to come back to the pack season for
Speaker 1: the Chiefs, which I didn't think, you know, going into
Speaker 1: last year, and it didn't happen. We'll see, Although it
Speaker 1: was funny listening to I heard Peter Schrager comment it
Speaker 1: was on the Simmons podcast that like Mahomes is hearing
Speaker 1: everything people are saying and he's ready to you know,
Speaker 1: light the league on fire and come back with a vengeance.
Speaker 1: Like okay, like I do want to see that that
Speaker 1: Mahomes again. I set you up very poorly as a host.
Speaker 1: I need to learn, you know, I'm only what eight
Speaker 1: months into this. I threw the ball to you, like
Speaker 1: right before the clock went off. That was like a
Speaker 1: grenade like in the NBA when someone just had to
Speaker 1: chuck it up at the buzzer. I'm going Broncos next,
Speaker 1: put five minutes on the clock. Really interesting offseason ahead
Speaker 1: forty million dollars in cap space. That's plenty twentieth pick
Speaker 1: of the draft. They have their first four picks of
Speaker 1: the draft, no fifth, but whatever they're they're good in
Speaker 1: terms of their important picks. My question for them is
Speaker 1: is this the off season where they load up for
Speaker 1: bow knicks, Because if you look at their needs, you
Speaker 1: could argue their three biggest needs are wide receiver, running back,
Speaker 1: tight end, like they just need skill position guys and
Speaker 1: otherwise this rosters has a lot of potential. They got
Speaker 1: to feel good to Sean, like getting out of cap
Speaker 1: jail where they've been paying all this dead money for
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson the last couple of years, or just Russell Wilson,
Speaker 1: which felt like dead money when he was on the roster.
Speaker 1: What do you think that they prioritize in free agency?
Speaker 4: You got to get bow Nicked some more help. Obviously.
Speaker 5: Last season was probably a surprisingly good season, you know,
Speaker 5: for most people. For the Broncos, their defense, you know,
Speaker 5: we kind of didn't know what it was going to
Speaker 5: be because the twenty twenty three season was so weirdly
Speaker 5: rough for them.
Speaker 4: But they were a lead again, you know in twenty
Speaker 4: twenty four.
Speaker 5: Patter Passerstain obviously had a defensive player to year caliber season.
Speaker 5: They're good on that side of the ball. Offensively, like,
Speaker 5: even though bow Knicks had a pretty good rookie season,
Speaker 5: was a legitimate candidate for the offensive Rookie of the
Speaker 5: Year award, I don't feel like he has enough help,
Speaker 5: you know, And I think we saw that in that
Speaker 5: playoff loss to the Bills. I know, they they scored
Speaker 5: them like the first play of the game or whatever
Speaker 5: it was, but they pretty much couldn't do anything after that.
Speaker 5: Like you mentioned, they don't really have an answer a
Speaker 5: running back. While Courtland Sudden. I think he's a solid
Speaker 5: I would call him a number two receiver, you know,
Speaker 5: I think they could still use a true number one
Speaker 5: wide out or at least, you know, upgrading that room
Speaker 5: in general.
Speaker 4: Even if you don't get a guy that's better than
Speaker 4: Sudden and then tight end, you know, they really don't have.
Speaker 5: I mean, they took the shot on the tight end
Speaker 5: of their drafts a couple of years ago Dutches, but
Speaker 5: that didn't work out. You know, I just think they
Speaker 5: need to give him some more help. You know, you
Speaker 5: probably even argue that maybe they could improve the offensive
Speaker 5: line as well, just because you know, I mean, he's
Speaker 5: on that Ricky.
Speaker 4: Skick scale deal.
Speaker 5: Like you mentioned, they have some cap space for the
Speaker 5: first time in a long time, you know, the defense,
Speaker 5: You don't really need to make a major addition on defense.
Speaker 5: Why not just pour those resources into the offensive side
Speaker 5: of the ball. And you know, Sean Payton being an
Speaker 5: offensive mind the head coach, of course, you would think
Speaker 5: he'd be on page with that. And so I think
Speaker 5: that's yeah, they're going to, you know, focus on this
Speaker 5: off season.
Speaker 3: I think so too.
Speaker 1: I've heard Mike Asiki could be a target that Gasiki
Speaker 1: might end up deciding between Denver and staying there with
Speaker 1: the Bengals, who will want to keep them. But they
Speaker 1: have a lot to do on that. More on that
Speaker 1: in a little bit. They're free agents, though they're in
Speaker 1: a good spot. They only put one free agent in
Speaker 1: my top one hundred, and that was DJ Jones, who's
Speaker 1: an tackle who I put at like ninety five or
Speaker 1: something like that, So they're not losing great players. Zach Allen,
Speaker 1: who who had a terrific season last year All Pro,
Speaker 1: wants more money. He's in the last year of his contract.
Speaker 1: Courtland Sutton wants more money. That one's a tricky one.
Speaker 1: They said they'll address it when it's time. Because I'm
Speaker 1: with you, I think they maybe view him as a two.
Speaker 1: They are a sneaky team to me, for a DeVante
Speaker 1: Adams type of move, or even a DK Metcalf trade
Speaker 1: if they really wanted to get crazy. I think they're
Speaker 1: feeling themselves a little bit. This is a Sean Payton team.
Speaker 1: They're always They're always feeling themselves, and I think they
Speaker 1: feel like they got their quarterback.
Speaker 3: They love themselves, some bow knicks, and they're ready.
Speaker 1: They're ready to push like how do you view them
Speaker 1: in the hierarchy of this division and and you know,
Speaker 1: you know you're covering the Raiders on a daily basis,
Speaker 1: that that's a team now that feels like, look, we've
Speaker 1: put the Raiders in the rear view, we're way ahead
Speaker 1: of them.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that was like a one constant for the Raiders.
Speaker 5: Like as bad as things have been for them for
Speaker 5: you could argue, like the last twenty years, they were
Speaker 5: always you know, beating up on the Broncos pretty much
Speaker 5: as a blate. They could count of that every year,
Speaker 5: we're gonna we're gonna beat the Broncos. And this year
Speaker 5: that that change. And you know, I think, you know,
Speaker 5: the regular clearly lasts in the division and we'll get
Speaker 5: to them later. But the Broncos, I still have questions
Speaker 5: about their ability to you know, as they contend. You know,
Speaker 5: like I don't think they're really going to be pushing
Speaker 5: the Chiefs unless they do significantly improve where they stand
Speaker 5: on the offense side of it. I think they're the
Speaker 5: defense is legit. You you could argue it's the best
Speaker 5: in the league, or at least top three in the league.
Speaker 5: But unless they really add some more firepower on offense.
Speaker 5: It's kind of hard to see them taking that next
Speaker 5: step because I think both Knicks, even as good of
Speaker 5: a rookie season as he had, is he.
Speaker 4: Really like going to be like a superstar quarterback. I
Speaker 4: feel like he's more so that guy is going to be.
Speaker 1: Like good, Like I think agree Lessen to Broncos Twitter,
Speaker 1: he's a superstar, Like, don't you don't say anything bad
Speaker 1: about him?
Speaker 4: Yeah, just you know, I don't think he's Drew Brees,
Speaker 4: you know what I mean.
Speaker 5: Like, I think he's like a solid, good, competent NFL
Speaker 5: quarterback and you can win with that.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 5: Obviously the Eagles had like the Avengers, but Hurst was
Speaker 5: largely just like Okay, this year, we heard a lot
Speaker 5: of criticism look past.
Speaker 4: The game pretty much the entire year, and they want
Speaker 4: a super Bowl.
Speaker 5: Not only do they want a super Bowl, but they
Speaker 5: like blew out you know, the back to back defending champion.
Speaker 5: So I went on a Twitter ran about this the
Speaker 5: other day, like I don't think you need necessarily a
Speaker 5: superstar quarterback to win, And I think it's fine if
Speaker 5: Knicks doesn't become that, but that just makes it any
Speaker 5: even more imperative that you build up everything else around it,
Speaker 5: and they have the resources to do it, so they
Speaker 5: just have to you know, use that money rising.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think look, I think they could use another edge,
Speaker 1: even though they're good on defense. It's Jonathan Cooper and
Speaker 1: Nick Bonito. Just add one more to the mix. You
Speaker 1: always want to be adding to the line, and that's
Speaker 1: something they could look at. But the kind of the
Speaker 1: world is their horse or Sean Payne has done a
Speaker 1: great job fixing that thing quickly.
Speaker 3: Under the gun. That's a pro move right there. All right,
Speaker 3: let's get to your Raiders. Let's just do it now.
Speaker 3: I'll let you kick it off, go for it.
Speaker 5: Yeah, So annual tradition of the Raiders looking for a
Speaker 5: new head coach and GM continued this year. You know,
Speaker 5: there was some questions about whether they would clean clean
Speaker 5: house completely, but with the revamped ownership group including minority
Speaker 5: owner Tom Brady, you know, huddled together Mark Davis and
Speaker 5: they decided to just hit the heart reset and they
Speaker 5: landed on a familiar face to many or pretty much
Speaker 5: anybody who falls NFL and Pete Carroll at head coach,
Speaker 5: the oldest head coach in NFL history as of the
Speaker 5: start of next season. In GM John spi Tech, who
Speaker 5: was a long time executive with the Tampa Bay Bucks,
Speaker 5: and they're pretty much working with a clean slate.
Speaker 4: They have the second most cast space in the league.
Speaker 5: The exact number is kind of up in the air
Speaker 5: because they just decided yesterday to make Max Prisby the
Speaker 5: highest played, you know, the highest paid nine quarterback ever
Speaker 5: with his three year extension, and so they should be
Speaker 5: over one hundred million dollars in the cast space.
Speaker 4: Which is obviously, you know, a ton of money.
Speaker 5: And they also have the number six overall pick in
Speaker 5: the draft in addition to an extra third round pick
Speaker 5: as a result of the Devonte Adams trade last year.
Speaker 5: So they have a ton of resources and a new
Speaker 5: regime that can pretty much remake the roster in their image,
Speaker 5: because outside of Max Prisby, the only guys really of
Speaker 5: no on the roster are Brock Bowers, who's going to
Speaker 5: be on a Ricky deal for the foreseeable future, and
Speaker 5: then Christian Wilkins, who they signed to a significant contract
Speaker 5: last year. I think the question is, you know, is
Speaker 5: you know, are there really enough free agents worth spending
Speaker 5: that type of money on this offseason. I think this
Speaker 5: is a weaker free agency class and a lot of
Speaker 5: the free agency of note for the Raiders are guys
Speaker 5: that were already on the roster last year because basically
Speaker 5: their entire defense in a free agency.
Speaker 4: The biggest name is safety Trayvon Merrick, but you go.
Speaker 5: Down the list, I mean, Robert Flaine, Malcolm Kombs, Nate Hobbes,
Speaker 5: Adam Butler, John Jenkins, Divan Diablo. Like I said, pretty
Speaker 5: much the whole defense is hitting free agency. So see,
Speaker 5: it's being interesting to see which one of those guys,
Speaker 5: those guys that they bring back and then you can
Speaker 5: pretty much just throw a dark you know, at the
Speaker 5: board and they need to add help at their entire
Speaker 5: on the entire offensive side of the ball. So they
Speaker 5: need a lot of help there. You know, do they
Speaker 5: take a big swing of quarterback and free agency? Do
Speaker 5: they draft a guy early on? So you know, it's
Speaker 5: it's pretty much wide open, like they could essentially do anything.
Speaker 5: It's just you know how they go about doing it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, It's it's interesting because you know, we just talked
Speaker 1: about a team and the Broncos I said, don't have
Speaker 1: a lot of key free agents. I mean those are
Speaker 1: good players. I have a lot of those guys pretty
Speaker 1: high on my list the Raiders defenders that are becoming available,
Speaker 1: but when there's a regime change, there's not as much loyalty,
Speaker 1: but that those are just more positions that they have
Speaker 1: to fill. Like I like, Nahops can play more, can
Speaker 1: play splaining, can play Kunts when he when he was healthy,
Speaker 1: was playing well at the end of that a couple
Speaker 1: even Reclamation Project Kalvon chase On played kind of well
Speaker 1: for them, Divine Diablo, Like they have a lot and
Speaker 1: yet their biggest needs to me are still the skill positions. Uh,
Speaker 1: Jacoby Meyers, Michael Mayer, do you think either one of
Speaker 1: those guys will get traded? And yeah, clearly this team
Speaker 1: kind of needs receivers, needs a quarterback, needs a running back.
Speaker 4: I would say, well, not on defense side of the ball.
Speaker 5: He did bring back defensive play to Patrick Graham who's
Speaker 5: been for the last few years, so that I could
Speaker 5: probably increase the chances of them resigning.
Speaker 4: Some of those guys.
Speaker 3: Good point.
Speaker 5: But to your question, me and my colleague vict Tafor
Speaker 5: who also covers the Raiders at the Athletic we reported
Speaker 5: last week that the Raiders have had trade negotiations with
Speaker 5: the negotiations with conversations with teams about tight end Michael Mayer,
Speaker 5: who you know, people don't remember last year he had
Speaker 5: a significant stretch that he missed due to personal reasons,
Speaker 5: and he also just took a size of lead lesser
Speaker 5: role with the emergency Rock Bowers, who was the first
Speaker 5: team All Pro. And as you mentioned, it's a new regime.
Speaker 5: They do have the same tight ends coach as they
Speaker 5: did last year. But you know, with Michael Mayer not
Speaker 5: really having a path to having a significant role, it's
Speaker 5: still being on a rookie deal. You have to imagine
Speaker 5: there's some teams that thought pretty highly of him coming
Speaker 5: out of Notre Dame. I mean a lot of people
Speaker 5: considered him to be the number one overall tight end
Speaker 5: in that class. I know Saan Laporta, you know, went
Speaker 5: before him, but there was plenty of teams that would
Speaker 5: have drafted him in the top thirty five picks where
Speaker 5: the Raiders ended up drafting them. And so maybe you
Speaker 5: don't get a second round pick for him, you know,
Speaker 5: but if you can get a solid you know, third
Speaker 5: round or fourth rounder or something.
Speaker 4: Like that, maybe it makes sense.
Speaker 5: Jakoby Myers, I think he's going to be a guy
Speaker 5: that they want to hold on to. I do think
Speaker 5: that he's kind of in that court to Courtland and
Speaker 5: Sun space of like being more of a number two
Speaker 5: than he is at number one. And do think the
Speaker 5: Raiders would like to make upgrade at receivers. So maybe
Speaker 5: they are a team that you know gets into the
Speaker 5: DK Metcalf sweitchtakes. They do have an coach dk Metcalf
Speaker 5: for a couple of years.
Speaker 4: Okay, so maybe that's the lat spot that makes sense
Speaker 4: for them.
Speaker 1: I want to ask you, then, we only got a
Speaker 1: minute left. Are you hearing any of the Gino Raiders
Speaker 1: buzz because Jeremiah threw it out there on the podcast
Speaker 1: that he hears that you know could potentially be moved
Speaker 1: and the Raiders are such an obvious pick for me
Speaker 1: as a Gino fan mixed he would look great in
Speaker 1: the uniform. I want him to be winning playoff games.
Speaker 1: I don't know if the Raiders can help him with that,
Speaker 1: but we'll see. Have you heard anything about that?
Speaker 5: I think it's kind of a similar thing with the
Speaker 5: Matthew Stafford deal, right, Like the Raiders would love to
Speaker 5: have Gino Smith, right, But like, are the Seahawks actually
Speaker 5: going to trade him, think so, because why would they?
Speaker 5: You know, they're not really in a position to replace
Speaker 5: him in the draft. There's not a it's not an
Speaker 5: attractive free agent market for quarterbacks. I don't really know
Speaker 5: if any other quarterbacks is going to be available via
Speaker 5: trade that would be an upgrade over Gino Smith.
Speaker 4: And so it's like for who for what?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 5: The seahows is Tron the win, and I think keepan
Speaker 5: Geno Smith gives them the best chance to do that.
Speaker 3: Zero We did it. Man, they just have a lot.
Speaker 3: It's a lot of these new gms.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's not surprising, and just feel like they
Speaker 1: have so much work to do on both sides of
Speaker 1: the ball with the Raiders. But if anyone can do it,
Speaker 1: it's Pete Carroll. He had one of the best I
Speaker 1: think rebuilding projects in the history of football. I really
Speaker 1: think people should like study what happened when he took
Speaker 1: over that Seattle team in the first three years there.
Speaker 1: So maybe he can do it again with his boy
Speaker 1: John Spytech. We wrap up the AFC West and really
Speaker 1: all thirty two teams, we've made it to the end.
Speaker 1: Talking about the Los Angeles Chargers, put the time on
Speaker 1: the clock. They have the what the twentieth pick in
Speaker 1: the draft, they have their picks, and then they have
Speaker 1: seven picks after round five. They're one of those teams
Speaker 1: just as a million late round picks. For what it's worth,
Speaker 1: they have more cap space like the Raiders. Then they
Speaker 1: really know what to do with after letting go of Bosa.
Speaker 1: I think the number is around eighty million dollars. So
Speaker 1: again like you can't find enough good players, and to me,
Speaker 1: their needs are more on defense, even though their defense
Speaker 1: played pretty well last year. Khalil Mackett is a free agent,
Speaker 1: they cut Bosa, Puna Ford is a free agent. Tier
Speaker 1: Tart is a free agent. So you really don't have
Speaker 1: anyone up front or on the edge. You need a
Speaker 1: little more juice. And then at cornerback Christian Fulton. A
Speaker 1: lot of key free agents on this team. To Sean,
Speaker 1: like they they showed up and they harbowed in the
Speaker 1: first year. It was pretty impressive for him to put
Speaker 1: that stamp on the team. Where do you think like
Speaker 1: they should focus in the really first offseason now that
Speaker 1: they got a sense of their roster.
Speaker 4: Actually I disagree. I think I think the bigger he's
Speaker 4: on the offensive side.
Speaker 5: You know, I think when it comes to the type
Speaker 5: of team that they're trying to be on that side
Speaker 5: of the ball, run run first team. We heard it
Speaker 5: all last off season what they want to do. I
Speaker 5: think they realized once they got into the season or
Speaker 5: we don't actually have like the guards and centers to
Speaker 5: like this, you know, And so I think investing in
Speaker 5: at an interior offensive line is a pretty big need
Speaker 5: for them. Receiver, you know, even with lab McConkie having
Speaker 5: the season that he had, I still think they need
Speaker 5: another receivers. So maybe they're a DK Metcalf team or
Speaker 5: another and another receiver of that ilk tight end, you know,
Speaker 5: that's been a position that's been a void for them
Speaker 5: for a few years now. You know, when the last
Speaker 5: time the Chargers had a good tight end, like, it's
Speaker 5: been a minute. And then even running back, you know JK. Dobbins,
Speaker 5: you know who had a solid season. He's hitting free
Speaker 5: agency because he was signed on a one year deal.
Speaker 5: So do they try to make upgrade running back? And
Speaker 5: you know Justin Herbert is a great quarterback. We've seen
Speaker 5: what he can do. But I do think they need
Speaker 5: to be more balanced on that side. Of the ball,
Speaker 5: and until they become that, they're probably gonna hit that
Speaker 5: wall in the playoffs, like we've seen at the two
Speaker 5: times that they made it there just being incapable of
Speaker 5: getting over the hump. But on the defensi side of
Speaker 5: the ball, I do think, what is the plant that
Speaker 5: edge rusher, you know, with kill Lil mackitting free agency, Like,
Speaker 5: are you trying to bring him back? Obviously they just released.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think they are. I think they are, but
Speaker 1: we'll see if they can get it done. He actually
Speaker 1: figures to be a pretty hot name in free agency.
Speaker 3: He had a good year last year.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Yeah, And then you know, clearly they're moving on
Speaker 5: for Joey Bosa, so they need at least one, you know,
Speaker 5: starting caliber defensive man. Maybe they think he's already in
Speaker 5: hot house. You know, they have a young player to
Speaker 5: Lee who's you know, kind of has some flashes here
Speaker 5: and there, and.
Speaker 4: Maybe they just think he's ready to step into that role.
Speaker 5: So I would expect it for them to invest more
Speaker 5: on the offensive side of the ball, you know, just
Speaker 5: even from that receiver standpoint. I mean, there's a few
Speaker 5: guys out there, Stefan Diggs, Cooper Cup could be available.
Speaker 5: There's some others available on the free agent market. DeVante Adams.
Speaker 5: I don't know if he has interest in playing for
Speaker 5: the Chargers, but he is from California, a La is
Speaker 5: not that far from the Bay area. Maybe that make
Speaker 5: sense to go play with Justin Herbert, you know, like
Speaker 5: that would probably be the best quarterback he's played with
Speaker 5: since Aaron Rodgers was you know, actually still Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 5: you know, with the Packers. So maybe that's just fine
Speaker 5: the spot that makes sense.
Speaker 1: I don't see Cup there, we'll see Cup. It's interesting
Speaker 1: still hasn't been released. Maybe they're they're trying to get
Speaker 1: something done in the trade. They reportedly talk to the
Speaker 1: Steelers during the season. But yeah, just to go over
Speaker 1: the free agents, Josh Palmer, DJ Shark is a free agent.
Speaker 3: Dobbins.
Speaker 1: You mentioned they're going to need a backup quarterback, and
Speaker 1: there's a lot out there, and then you know, I
Speaker 1: went through some of the names before, but a couple
Speaker 1: others on defense, Morgan Fox played a lot of snaps
Speaker 1: for them, Sante Samuel Junior played a ton of snaps
Speaker 1: for them. Christian Fulton, like those are two starting cornerbacks
Speaker 1: for them, So it's similar to me to Washington in
Speaker 1: that they over performed I think in the first year
Speaker 1: of the regime. Obviously they didn't have the playoff run
Speaker 1: that Washington did, but if you look at what they
Speaker 1: did a year ago, it was a lot of one
Speaker 1: year deals and guys that they actually rehabb their value.
Speaker 1: And now these guys are going back to free agency
Speaker 1: looking better than they did a year ago, and that's
Speaker 1: a credit to the coaching staff, and maybe they can
Speaker 1: do it again. But all it does is open up
Speaker 1: a ton of spots. If you look on our lads,
Speaker 1: they you know, they put the starters in red if
Speaker 1: they're a free agent, and there's like eight nine starters
Speaker 1: in red that that are free agents. So it's a
Speaker 1: ton of work to do. I would keep an eye
Speaker 1: a couple names, Amari Cooper. I think actually they could
Speaker 1: be a potential on a MARII Cooper and then Kevin Zeitler
Speaker 1: just as kind of a fix. You you mentioned it.
Speaker 1: They definitely need interior line help. Supposedly they might try
Speaker 1: to move their center or their guard Zion Johnson to center,
Speaker 1: who hasn't really worked out, But I don't know if
Speaker 1: you can you can count on that it's it's a
Speaker 1: good division, these old guys coaching. To Sean, it's gonna
Speaker 1: it's gonna be like, it's gonna be a fun division
Speaker 1: this year. I'm curious where do you kind of put
Speaker 1: the Chargers in the mix of the AFC West.
Speaker 5: Even the second best team in the division. I would say,
Speaker 5: I'll put them behind the Chiefs, but I think they're
Speaker 5: better than the Broncos. Part of that is I think
Speaker 5: they have the second best quarterback in the division.
Speaker 4: He probably.
Speaker 5: I would also say I think they had the second
Speaker 5: best coach in a division at this point.
Speaker 4: And then in the loaded division with with coaches and you.
Speaker 5: Got Andy Reid, Jim Harbaugh, Sean Payton, and I'll pee
Speaker 5: Carroll like, it's probably the best division from a coaching
Speaker 5: standpoint in the NFL. And so it's going to be
Speaker 5: a tough fight, But I do think the Chargers are
Speaker 5: probably the second best team.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: No, A lot's going to change over the next couple
Speaker 1: of weeks as we go through the frenzy. Sean Payton
Speaker 1: would definitely take exception to that. I don't know if
Speaker 1: I would Jim Harbar or Sean Payton, like, I don't
Speaker 1: know I think sometimes.
Speaker 4: Skeptical of like the Sean Payton thing.
Speaker 5: A great coach, but like I do think we go
Speaker 5: a little bit too far, Like he only won one
Speaker 5: super Bowl, you know what I mean, like it job,
Speaker 5: it's good. We talked about him like as if he's
Speaker 5: like Andy Reid. I just don't think he's like that caliber,
Speaker 5: like all time hit coach.
Speaker 1: Now I'm playing both sides of the fence here. On
Speaker 1: the positive side, I think he's one of the best
Speaker 1: offensive coaches.
Speaker 3: Of the last twenty years.
Speaker 1: You know, he's he just is like the consistency that
Speaker 1: that offense just did it and now he had Drew Brees.
Speaker 1: But that's a symbiotic relationship for sure, the consistency that
Speaker 1: the detail oriented offense that he ran. Man, he he
Speaker 1: comes with an offense. On the other hand, Man, Sean
Speaker 1: Payton loves being friends with everyone in the media, so
Speaker 1: I think that does influence things a little bit.
Speaker 3: You know, that's true.
Speaker 1: So I think he gets a little bit of that
Speaker 1: Jeff Fisher bump. Jeff Fisher got the bump from the middle.
Speaker 4: Oh my god, man, Jeff, I'm from saying Louis, so
Speaker 4: please do.
Speaker 1: Not mention, you know, then he played the media game
Speaker 1: very well, where he just he avoided a lot of
Speaker 1: criticism because he was buddies with everyone. Sean Payton doesn't
Speaker 1: need to avoid as much criticism, but man, he plays
Speaker 1: the game well. As we were taping this to Sean
Speaker 1: and if you're listening to this, we're putting it up
Speaker 1: a little bit later. We did the AFC South part
Speaker 1: of the off season previews earlier in this episode, and
Speaker 1: we have an update to that. We have a trade
Speaker 1: which I want to get in the show here. Christian
Speaker 1: Kirk has been traded from the Jaguars in the division
Speaker 1: to the Texans. It had been reported that Kirk was
Speaker 1: going to be cut, but this is one of those
Speaker 1: deals where sometimes you put the cut report out there
Speaker 1: for a day and seeing if you get any bites.
Speaker 1: They're going to get a six round pick for him
Speaker 1: and he'll stay on his contract, which we don't need
Speaker 1: a ton of analysis for it, but I think he
Speaker 1: fits in nicely in a market there's not a lot
Speaker 1: of wide receivers available and you're not counting on him
Speaker 1: to be a number one. You're counting on him to
Speaker 1: be like a number two, three, four, whatever it ends
Speaker 1: up being. You're paying him ten twelve million dollars, and
Speaker 1: I think that's a nice bit of business actually for
Speaker 1: the Houston Texans.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I like that move.
Speaker 5: Obviously they have their number one in Nico Collins, but
Speaker 5: you know Stefan Diggs, he tore his ACL last year.
Speaker 5: He's also a free agent kind of don't I don't
Speaker 5: know if he's going to be ready for the start
Speaker 5: next season.
Speaker 4: And also like what his price tag could be.
Speaker 5: And also Tangdale suffered a pretty gruesome injury obviously, and
Speaker 5: I have no idea.
Speaker 4: When he's playing football again, and so they need.
Speaker 5: Help at receiver, and I think he's a he's a
Speaker 5: solid wide out, you know, he's more of a slot,
Speaker 5: you know, kind of Z type of guy move around
Speaker 5: the formation. But I think that makes sense with you know,
Speaker 5: the new offensive coordinator and Nick Cally and his background
Speaker 5: using those types of guys, you know, whether it was
Speaker 5: with the Rams or how to use those guys with
Speaker 5: the Patriots, And so it seems like a pretty pretty
Speaker 5: smooth feel like that move.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I do too.
Speaker 1: By the way, make it a little more money than
Speaker 1: I expected, fifteen million dollars, but again it's a one deal.
Speaker 1: This is what cap space is for I keep saying
Speaker 1: there's too much cap space. Actually, those these one year deals,
Speaker 1: when you have too much, it's perfect. There's not much
Speaker 1: of a risk. You just need him to stay healthy.
Speaker 1: And look, Kirk is versatile. You are too, like you.
Speaker 1: You came with some good Kirk information out of nowhere
Speaker 1: without me telling you.
Speaker 3: Appreciate you. Sean to that world.
Speaker 4: Who got ten million dollars? So I mean like two
Speaker 4: million for Christian Kirk.
Speaker 3: Is Yeah, it's totally fun.
Speaker 1: I remember when he signed that contract and everyone was like,
Speaker 1: you're giving how much for Christian Kirk? And he was
Speaker 1: perfectly fine when he stayed healthy. Also meant to mention
Speaker 1: I thought Trey Hendrickson would be a nice fit, by
Speaker 1: the way, with the Chargers, just to kind of follow
Speaker 1: up on something we talked about earlier in the week.
Speaker 1: The Bengals are indeed letting him seek a trade. We'll
Speaker 1: see if it actually happens, but that's a position I
Speaker 1: could see them spending some money on to Sean.
Speaker 3: Love the work that you do.
Speaker 1: Check him out at the Athletic, check him out on Twitter.
Speaker 1: You on Blue we got you on Blue Sky yet?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 1: All right, Deshaun on Blue Sky as well. And yeah,
Speaker 1: he'll be cranking because I think that the Raiders are
Speaker 1: going to be front and center over this next next week,
Speaker 1: we will be back on Sunday Night with Nick Shook,
Speaker 1: all the cuts, all the recaps. Yeah, a couple of
Speaker 1: days away from legal tampering. You know, football is back.