Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL Daily, where we don't have any void years.
Speaker 2: We don't even have any void days.
Speaker 3: It's like Valentine's Day, middle of February pre combine, and
Speaker 3: we're cranking out these off season previews. I'm Greg Rosenthal
Speaker 3: here in the Chris Westleyan podcast studio for the first
Speaker 3: time in weeks with my friend Patrick Claybon weeks.
Speaker 2: Honestly, well two.
Speaker 4: I feel like because you guys are traveling the cranking
Speaker 4: out podcasts, confetti going down, shuffling through parking lots and
Speaker 4: parking decks to provide the people with content. And so
Speaker 4: I've just been waiting for a chance to get back
Speaker 4: and we're here to celebrate not just you know, one
Speaker 4: momentus occasion, but great it's the new glasses.
Speaker 1: Oh yes, as well, this is a big day. I
Speaker 1: decided to wear my glasses into the studio and yeah,
Speaker 1: I like them. Although they make me look like my brother.
Speaker 4: Well it's a bad thing. That's some news for you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know, but it's just it's yeah, that's my
Speaker 1: my wife's take on it.
Speaker 2: But I like them.
Speaker 1: So people can let it, let me know in the comments,
Speaker 1: but only if they're nice. Only if they're nice comments.
Speaker 1: Otherwise I don't want to hear about them. Although we
Speaker 1: would love you to subscribe on on YouTube, please do so,
Speaker 1: and like it's great. We're doing these off season previews
Speaker 1: this week. We're doing the NFC South today. I mentioned
Speaker 1: the void years, Patrick because there was some news about
Speaker 1: Chris Godwin in his void year, and we're gonna get
Speaker 1: to that. Actually in the middle of this show. Oh,
Speaker 1: we're gonna start this. Yeah, we're gonna start with with
Speaker 1: the off season previews. Unless you want to like give
Speaker 1: the listeners an update. It really only has been two weeks.
Speaker 1: By the way, we tape the Tuesday show during during
Speaker 1: Super Bowl week since I've seen you, hasn't been that long.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 1: You've had a lot of dental work done in the meantime,
Speaker 1: but otherwise you seem fresh and ready to go.
Speaker 4: I mean more ahead, more ahead than behind me, as
Speaker 4: is the case with don't work. There's actually dental people
Speaker 4: upstate trying to sell some wares today and I walked
Speaker 4: out last is this free? She was like, well, I'm like, no,
Speaker 4: you don't have to, don't have to keep talking. But
Speaker 4: you know, just asides from all that, just to be
Speaker 4: in a podcast video to celebrate Greg Rosethal's birthday. Oh wow,
Speaker 4: which is something new that we are all ready to
Speaker 4: do today?
Speaker 1: This is this is Yeah, I'm sure everyone was prepared
Speaker 1: for that, and as I was, I'm glad I had
Speaker 1: it ready to go.
Speaker 2: We did not plan that at all.
Speaker 1: And he mentioned the momentous occasion I heard through the
Speaker 1: grapevine that in my fever birthday, so I had.
Speaker 2: It ready to go.
Speaker 1: Well, nothing I would rather do on my birthday than
Speaker 1: break down the Tampa Bay Buccaneers salary cap situation.
Speaker 2: I'm telling you, it's looking good. All right, let's do it.
Speaker 1: We've been doing what ten minutes per team? Why not
Speaker 1: that we wouldn't need all the ten minutes. Some of
Speaker 1: these teams are pretty pretty straightforward, but we might and uh,
Speaker 1: let's let's start on the clock. I will start with
Speaker 1: with the Buccaneers. Let's do it, and I'm gonna ask
Speaker 1: a question. We'll each ask a questionquestion for two of
Speaker 1: these teams. I'll kick us off. Are the Buccaneers sneakily
Speaker 1: one of the best franchises in the NFL And does
Speaker 1: their positioning this offseason help to prove it? That is
Speaker 1: my question, which is a very leading question.
Speaker 4: I think a lot of people's feelings about the Buccaneers
Speaker 4: tend to hinge around the NFC South. I know there
Speaker 4: was the Tom Brady experience that Stafford and Cooper cup
Speaker 4: came down and stabbed a big hole into and caused
Speaker 4: the kind of disruption of what ultimately could have been
Speaker 4: in that postseason on their way to a Super Bowl.
Speaker 4: But I think the answer is yes, Greg, I think
Speaker 4: so it's hard to look past what you know, we'll
Speaker 4: get to what Jason light has been able to construct
Speaker 4: and to have this consistency with multiple quarterbacks, with multiple
Speaker 4: coaching staffs, and now having to replace yet another offensive
Speaker 4: coordinator who leaves to take a coaching That doesn't happen
Speaker 4: if you're not one of the better franchises in a
Speaker 4: position to put folks in that position.
Speaker 1: And I know they lost the Commanders and they very
Speaker 1: likely would have lost to the Eagles, but they always
Speaker 1: are a matchup problem for the Eagles, and they kind
Speaker 1: of looking back at their last season remind me a
Speaker 1: little bit of the Rams the last couple of years, Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: they weren't one of the best teams in the NFL,
Speaker 1: but if you had replayed those playoffs a handful of times.
Speaker 1: I don't know you could convince me that Baker Mayfield
Speaker 1: ends up with the Super Bowl MVP at the end
Speaker 1: of one out of ten of those seasons.
Speaker 2: And here's my case for why they're good.
Speaker 1: This exercise has been able to go through all the
Speaker 1: salary caps, all the situations that are going on this offseason,
Speaker 1: and I realized, like the Bucks are in one of
Speaker 1: the best positions. First of all, they're tenth in. Actually,
Speaker 1: they're not great in terms of cap space. They're only
Speaker 1: one under the cap right now. That's the tenth fewest,
Speaker 1: although they can make some moves to give them more space.
Speaker 2: But they do have all their picks.
Speaker 1: And then I look at the players that are most
Speaker 1: likely to leave this roster. There's almost no one hugely significant.
Speaker 1: Levante David and Chris Godwin are both free agents who
Speaker 1: I think are more likely to stay with the team
Speaker 1: than go. They've got all their their rosters intacted to
Speaker 1: a lot of young players. They sign their guys early.
Speaker 1: They remind me a little bit of the Eagles, which
Speaker 1: they're built very well on both lines, and they don't
Speaker 1: have a lot of like major holes. When I look
Speaker 1: through the rosters I could find some you know, certainly
Speaker 1: they could use some edge rushing, I would say would
Speaker 1: be up there. But when I look at this roster overall,
Speaker 1: I'm like, this is a roster that's in position to
Speaker 1: push a little bit this offseason.
Speaker 2: To improve the team.
Speaker 1: They usually don't get dramatic and they just don't have
Speaker 1: a ton of huge issues. So when I look at
Speaker 1: the rest of the NFC South like going into the offseason,
Speaker 1: to me, they are the team that's in the best
Speaker 1: position and they remain the favorites winning a year after year.
Speaker 4: Year after year in a different division with a different setup.
Speaker 4: Where I looked at twenty twenty four, which was leading
Speaker 4: into my twenty twenty five question with the Tampa Buccaneers,
Speaker 4: perhaps looking back on a season where Godwin and Evans
Speaker 4: missed that extended time, they had great moments and they
Speaker 4: had an opportunity, was that the best year in terms
Speaker 4: of opportunity wise for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that they're
Speaker 4: going to have here in the next two three years,
Speaker 4: because it's it's difficult to have this sustained success that
Speaker 4: they have had. But I'm looking at an older Mike
Speaker 4: Evans and you know, how they're gonna go through this
Speaker 4: period with Chris Godwin, I was Avante David, with Shaq Barrett.
Speaker 4: There's just there's only so long you can do this.
Speaker 4: And maybe we've been convinced by looking at this chief's corps.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, you just bring guys back. You played, you know,
Speaker 4: nineteen twenty games a year because you're going on deep
Speaker 4: playoff runs and then everybody comes back and you just
Speaker 4: you just run it back. But having that sustained success
Speaker 4: comes at a football cost, and the Bucks have really
Speaker 4: been paying it. And Okay, I just I feel like
Speaker 4: maybe last year was the magic opportunity and it's tough
Speaker 4: to see it going.
Speaker 1: I think if they have a great offseason, they got
Speaker 1: a chance here. Certainly Baker Mayfield. You lose your offensive
Speaker 1: coordinator in Liam Cohen. That could be a problem, but
Speaker 1: he obviously did great with it.
Speaker 2: Last year.
Speaker 1: They promoted from within, they found another wide receiver in
Speaker 1: Jalen McMillan, And part of the reason why I like
Speaker 1: is like this roster is mostly intact. We might as
Speaker 1: well talk Godwin. We don't need to save it for
Speaker 1: the news. There was a report that they have extended
Speaker 1: the negotiating period with which they can bring Chris Godwin
Speaker 1: back before the void in his contract happened. And it
Speaker 1: really sounds like there's mutual interest in making a deal happen.
Speaker 1: And this organization has done such a good job with
Speaker 1: this over the years, whether it's with Levante David or
Speaker 1: Mike Evans or even younger guys like Vita Vead, they
Speaker 1: usually keep the guys they want. Makes me think Chris
Speaker 1: Godwin is never even going to make it to the market.
Speaker 1: He's in my top twelve free agents. He's coming off
Speaker 1: a dislocated ankle, but he's still young enough that you
Speaker 1: want to bet on that town. But they have Jalen McMillan,
Speaker 1: and then I look at the rest of the roster.
Speaker 1: The whole offense is coming back, except for left guard
Speaker 1: Ben Bradison, who is their worst starting offensive lineman. They
Speaker 1: have a good offensive line, and then on the defensive side,
Speaker 1: it's all just you mentioned Shaq Beart.
Speaker 2: A lot of their depth is our free agents.
Speaker 1: Their backups are all free agents, so it's filling in depth.
Speaker 1: You need some defensive linemen. You'll probably re sign some
Speaker 1: of your young good players because that's what smart teams do.
Speaker 1: Luke getti Key k Dott and Zion McCollum. All those
Speaker 1: guys could be up for contracts, and I just think
Speaker 1: they just keep cranking along while no one's looking, because
Speaker 1: those two lines are so good offensive and defensive line, and.
Speaker 4: We've seen It's the conversation that we had about Howe
Speaker 4: before the Super Bowl, right in paying guys when you
Speaker 4: have an opportunity to so you could keep sustaining that success.
Speaker 4: And that's something that the Bucks have been able to do.
Speaker 4: I think a lot of the questions are going to
Speaker 4: be Baker centric, but few people fewer people are doubting
Speaker 4: the long term viability of Baker Mayfield. Now at this
Speaker 4: point two O C's in, right.
Speaker 2: I mean I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't love Baker still, like like he's not a
Speaker 1: top He's wait, did he make quarterback Island in the end?
Speaker 1: I think he might can't even remember. Uh, he had
Speaker 1: a great year. Losing Cohen is a little concerning, but
Speaker 1: it's if you have a great offense, Like what they've
Speaker 1: done is kind of what Philadelphia has done in a
Speaker 1: in a stronger way but still with with Hurts, which
Speaker 1: is they have Bucky Irving. They just keep hitting on
Speaker 1: these picks. I mentioned the guys who they could extend,
Speaker 1: Like people don't think of Gett a Key and and
Speaker 1: and Zion McCollum as stars, but those are guys they
Speaker 1: drafted in the second, third, fourth round and they're all
Speaker 1: like plus starters. And Jason Light's really been good at
Speaker 1: adding to this roster. And oh, by the way, you
Speaker 1: have a guy Tristan Worf's is putting together a Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame resume right now.
Speaker 4: That that's that's the key part. It's like, well, how
Speaker 4: can how can everybody duplicate that there's not a lot
Speaker 4: of Tristan Worf's on the planet. But you know, you
Speaker 4: if you can evaluate that players still something that they did, right,
Speaker 4: you know, other teams had a chance at Tristan Wurf's.
Speaker 4: I think it was you know, he was the first
Speaker 4: big acquisition after Tom Brady comes back, and so he's
Speaker 4: kind of an afterthought. But maybe history looks back on
Speaker 4: that and says, yeah, that was a big part of
Speaker 4: what allows them to be able to do the things
Speaker 4: that they have done.
Speaker 1: So I know they don't have a ton of cap
Speaker 1: space coming into it. And if I have a feeling
Speaker 1: this might be the year Levante David retires. He didn't
Speaker 1: play as well last year. You finally saw some decline.
Speaker 1: He has said publicly previously that he will only play
Speaker 1: for the Bucks, that he either is going to retire
Speaker 1: or they'll just figure out a way to keep.
Speaker 2: Bringing him back.
Speaker 1: So you do wonder, like, is this an off season
Speaker 1: where you push a little bit. You've been so close
Speaker 1: year after year. They've been patient, They've been good at drafting.
Speaker 1: They do have their picks, They're not going to give
Speaker 1: up any picks, but maybe you try to make a.
Speaker 2: Splash on defense.
Speaker 1: They do lack a little bit of juice in terms
Speaker 1: of top, top tier edge rushing talent. If Levante David
Speaker 1: is on, that's that's been a franchise cornerstone. You have
Speaker 1: some good players in the secondary. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you feel like you have premier players outside of Antoine Winfield,
Speaker 1: who's obviously good, but at cornerback, like maybe maybe they
Speaker 1: make a little bit of a push in free agency
Speaker 1: or or as in the trademarket it's been.
Speaker 4: I thought it was a decent year for Yayadiabi all right,
Speaker 4: especially especially late towards the end of the season. You
Speaker 4: wonder because Carlton Davis was that that big departure, and
Speaker 4: there was success in spots until the injury in Detroit,
Speaker 4: where you think about what we were talking about with Jason Lin,
Speaker 4: it's like, well, how did Carlton Davis wind up getting
Speaker 4: out of there? And so I feel like there's there's
Speaker 4: still kind of a need there that's tough to address
Speaker 4: in the draft, and maybe you know, we'll have an
Speaker 4: opportunity to see if the Packers don't necessarily want Gyr
Speaker 4: Alexander anymore. You know, there could be some good players
Speaker 4: at corner that could be available if the Bucks do
Speaker 4: want to make I.
Speaker 1: Could I keep mentioning there's pretty good cornerback class. Sante
Speaker 1: sam Junior as is a team is a guy I
Speaker 1: could just see on the Bucks for some reason. It's
Speaker 1: one of the better free agent positions out there, and
Speaker 1: I think they could be looking there. All right, let's
Speaker 1: go on to your Panthers, calling them your Panthers because
Speaker 1: of the presence of Bryce Young. Put ten minutes on
Speaker 1: the clock and yeah, give me, give me a question
Speaker 1: you have about this Panthers.
Speaker 4: Tea coming into twenty twenty four. The question was, how
Speaker 4: do you protect Bryce Young and they go and address
Speaker 4: that in the middle of the offensive line and looking
Speaker 4: at the year over your sack pressure numbers, pressures evaluated
Speaker 4: based on the offensive line allowing them. They did it.
Speaker 4: They solved that problem. Can the Carolina Panthers do for
Speaker 4: the offense for the defensive line what they were able
Speaker 4: to do for the offensive line in twenty twenty four
Speaker 4: in free agency? Is the talent there that allows them
Speaker 4: to do that at the price point that they need
Speaker 4: to pay?
Speaker 1: Greg It's it's very difficult to improve a position group
Speaker 1: that much in one offseason. But yeah, I'm totally with
Speaker 1: you that when I wrote down their needs, like, they
Speaker 1: certainly could use another receiver, they have a whole center.
Speaker 2: Their center, Austin Corbin's a free agent.
Speaker 1: But just you can just write defense like there is
Speaker 1: no position on defense where you don't need to get
Speaker 1: younger and more talented.
Speaker 2: You have j C.
Speaker 1: Horn at cornerback. He's someone you could look to extend
Speaker 1: this offseason. But other than that, you really don't have
Speaker 1: guys you're building around other than Derek Brown, who's coming
Speaker 1: off of a major injury. He's their great interior defensive linemen.
Speaker 1: And you had some veterans that worked out that are
Speaker 1: still under contract Ashawn Robinson, Jenevian Clowney. Actually that those
Speaker 1: are good pieces to have, but you need to start
Speaker 1: drafting and hitting on some guys that can play alongside
Speaker 1: them for one year and then take over for them
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty six, twenty seven, because they really don't
Speaker 1: have anyone on the defensive side the ball practically that
Speaker 1: they feel like they can build around, because they've spent
Speaker 1: the last year or two really focusing on offense.
Speaker 4: And that's what I like about retaining and maintaining the
Speaker 4: coaching staff and the continuity there with the zero ever,
Speaker 4: because clearly there was there was a talent deficiency on
Speaker 4: the defensive side of the ball. I don't think that
Speaker 4: you're able to do because this was a historically bad
Speaker 4: run defense, like almost all the way through the season.
Speaker 4: Dallas late ultimately got better, and so Carolina leap Frogdham back.
Speaker 4: They were one to two right in the n GS
Speaker 4: era in terms of allowing opponents to run the ball
Speaker 4: at a very successful rate, and so I liked that
Speaker 4: they keep that consistency there to try to evaluate the
Speaker 4: talent that they have. You got, I believed right one
Speaker 4: more year with JD. Clowney.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're actually paying those guys like a decent amount
Speaker 1: of money. Ashawn Robinson, Shy Tuttle, and Jeemian Clowney all
Speaker 1: have cap hits over five million dollars, like h Tuttle
Speaker 1: making that much.
Speaker 4: Shout out to Shy, he.
Speaker 1: Could be a cut potentially. Potentially not at least you
Speaker 1: have like some guys that are that are okay. But yeah,
Speaker 1: let's do a little bit of an overlook. I've been
Speaker 1: doing this with every team. So they have seventeen million
Speaker 1: dollars in cap space. So that's that's middle of the pack.
Speaker 1: You'll probably want to open up some more space. You
Speaker 1: could do that with some restructures. Maybe a tailor mote
Speaker 1: in their right tackle who's good could get restructured. You
Speaker 1: could sign J. C. Horn long term and get that
Speaker 1: number down there. There's not too much there. They have
Speaker 1: the number eight overall pick, and then I kind of
Speaker 1: forgot about this. They have an extra second round pick
Speaker 1: that they got for Braiden Fist. It's not an extra
Speaker 1: because their second is still going to Chicago. They're still
Speaker 1: paying that freight. This is the last of it, so
Speaker 1: they're missing their second round pick. But they did do
Speaker 1: a nice job picking up an extra second to move
Speaker 1: down in what was a trade for Braiden Fist with
Speaker 1: the Rams, and they actually have two fourths and two fists,
Speaker 1: so they they are a team that like if they're
Speaker 1: at number eight and they just happen to be in
Speaker 1: a spot where you could pick up an extra fourth
Speaker 1: by moving down a few spots. Like they they just
Speaker 1: seem like they need to shoot as many arrows as
Speaker 1: they possibly can in the draft and really replenish young
Speaker 1: talent because it's not like this is one of the
Speaker 1: most talented teams in the league, but they really don't
Speaker 1: have any young talent.
Speaker 2: Like they're like, they're good players. Are are Derek Brown.
Speaker 1: Who's getting up there, and then some veteran free agents
Speaker 1: that have been around. They have two key free agents
Speaker 1: and I'll shut up now in Mike Jackson, who played
Speaker 1: a lot for them, played pretty well at cornerback, and
Speaker 1: Xavier Woods. Those are their two highest snap totals actually
Speaker 1: on defense, and they're both free agents.
Speaker 2: But I guess it's a positive.
Speaker 1: They only have one player in my top one oh one,
Speaker 1: and that is Mike Jackson.
Speaker 4: After some Mark Jackson got on your top one on one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was one where I asked some people around
Speaker 1: the league and they were like, Mike Jackson had a
Speaker 1: good year, he was like a starting cornerback, and he's
Speaker 1: going to do okay in free agency. I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: he was not on my list, but he's snuck in
Speaker 1: to like the sixty to eighty, sixty.
Speaker 2: To ninety range.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: It was aby I'll be wrong and I'm wrong to
Speaker 1: trust these people, but they were like, like, he was
Speaker 1: like a legit average starting cornerback in the NFL, and
Speaker 1: he's going to get a decent contract in this in
Speaker 1: this cycle, we'll see good.
Speaker 4: I mean, just watching a lot of Carolina Panthers chasing
Speaker 4: guys all year probably skewed my perception of the talent.
Speaker 4: On the defense, we'll find out. I hope Mike Jackson
Speaker 4: is compensated him well, as as I do for everyone.
Speaker 4: But clearly, whether it was scheme plan or they just
Speaker 4: caught teams on bad weeks, it was rough over on
Speaker 4: the defensive side of the ball to the extent that
Speaker 4: I don't think. And also how wild is it that
Speaker 4: we don't we don't even talked Bryce, Like six minutes
Speaker 4: into this discussion. If you go take the time machine
Speaker 4: back to week three last year and then we tell people, yeah,
Speaker 4: they re signed Andy Dalton, people might be thinking, oh, okay,
Speaker 4: so that's over, like Bryce was not even it was
Speaker 4: it was over and done. And now we're worried about
Speaker 4: the defense because the offense showed so much promise towards
Speaker 4: the end of the year.
Speaker 2: Right, It's true.
Speaker 1: I mean they have to do everything they can to
Speaker 1: support him. Like Ikuanu what you know, improved as a
Speaker 1: left tackle very much. Still still questions about him long term,
Speaker 1: So it's going to be a big fourth year for him.
Speaker 1: Jalen Cocher was an undrafted free agent who outplayed their
Speaker 1: first round pick, probably Xavier Lagett, who who had moments
Speaker 1: but and certainly out played a couple of their high
Speaker 1: picks in recent years that aren't even on the team anymore,
Speaker 1: Jonathan Mingo, Terras Marshall, and so they feel like they
Speaker 1: have one in cocre. They still need more weapons. They
Speaker 1: might have a good fourth round tight end and Tavian Sanders,
Speaker 1: so they they are still in like bring bring more
Speaker 1: talent aboard here, and they don't have all the time
Speaker 1: in the world. They have to consider who their ultimate bosses.
Speaker 1: Ownership hasn't always been that patient in Carolina, So you
Speaker 1: want to keep that that thing moving forward. You can't
Speaker 1: you can't take a you can't back up here to
Speaker 1: four wins in twenty twenty five and expect to like
Speaker 1: keep this plan going.
Speaker 4: And that's what you have to hope that the staff
Speaker 4: is able to do. Because if you are trading down
Speaker 4: for me, if you do get more arrows in the quiver,
Speaker 4: you gotta hit right, like.
Speaker 1: That's right, that's what I mean. Though they have two fours,
Speaker 1: two fists, can you get an extra third? Like you
Speaker 1: just gotta keep You just hope that you hit on
Speaker 1: Like let's say, let's say you somehow have like six
Speaker 1: picks in the third, fourth, and fifth round. Okay, if
Speaker 1: you can get like two starters from those six picks,
Speaker 1: that's amazing.
Speaker 2: That's all I mean.
Speaker 1: Is you take a lot of shots they don't and
Speaker 1: one is like a really plus starter.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's all I mean.
Speaker 2: You gotta you gotta hit some of your Yeah, you
Speaker 2: fill the roster.
Speaker 4: With a guy and you get one guy that maybe
Speaker 4: get makes it to a second contract, and that's that's
Speaker 4: like the that's what you have to do though, of course.
Speaker 1: Now because that you see is you want to know
Speaker 1: why there's no good young players on this team. They
Speaker 1: haven't had any picks, like maybe you're Xavier, Xavier Lagette
Speaker 1: becomes uh a good pick. And they had some picks
Speaker 1: last year again, but like they missed a couple of
Speaker 1: years of picks because of Bryce. It's not Bryce Young's fault,
Speaker 1: but that's just that's just the reality of how this
Speaker 1: roster is built.
Speaker 4: Can I read you four and you tell me which
Speaker 4: one that I'm making up? Shamar Bartholomew, That one's made up.
Speaker 2: It's gotta be also made up.
Speaker 4: Thomas and Koum.
Speaker 1: I mean, these are end of the roster guys, but
Speaker 1: they all are people I'm familiar with.
Speaker 2: I have to admit those are.
Speaker 4: Will all three those are those are real? Those are
Speaker 4: all three are real?
Speaker 1: Not not a team who. Yeah, the backups are really
Speaker 1: impressing you. So that this team needs a lot of work,
Speaker 1: a couple easy moves. I think that they can make
Speaker 1: Miles Sanders it didn't work out for them. They can
Speaker 1: save five million against the cap by cutting mynd Sanders.
Speaker 1: I would expect that to happen. They are all set
Speaker 1: at running back, if if Jonathan Brooks can get healthy
Speaker 1: as kind of the the one bee behind Chuba Hubard,
Speaker 1: who's now really established himself. He got a nice contract
Speaker 1: actually during last season. So those are the types of
Speaker 1: moves I like, like, just take easy wins. You love
Speaker 1: Chuba Herbert for a couple more years, Like, Okay, now
Speaker 1: we don't have to worry about running back. It's not
Speaker 1: gonna cost that much. They did that, and I've seen
Speaker 1: it thrown out there is like, well, should they keep
Speaker 1: Adam Thielen or not.
Speaker 2: I'm like, are you kidding me?
Speaker 1: Yes, Adam Wheelings, He's he's sneaky on one of the
Speaker 1: best contracts in the year. I was like, he deserves
Speaker 1: a raise. How is he only making four million dollars
Speaker 1: next year? He's got like a one point five bonus.
Speaker 1: Is cap numbers eight million, eight million dollars. He's actually underpaid.
Speaker 1: Adam Thielen when he's been out there, has been freaking
Speaker 1: awesome and it's very trustworthy. So I like this offense.
Speaker 1: You add one more piece to it. But yeah, a
Speaker 1: lot of work to do on defense. Think they'll be
Speaker 1: aggressive there, all right, we will take a quick break.
Speaker 1: I want to hear that break music. Uh, and we
Speaker 1: are going to come back and we are gonna do
Speaker 1: a little news before diving into the Falcons and the Saints,
Speaker 1: who are a little messier.
Speaker 2: I feel like it's a little messy.
Speaker 4: They're in this together.
Speaker 2: Now, you're just making me feel awkward.
Speaker 4: Shout out to the artist who is what number is
Speaker 4: this in the library?
Speaker 1: Back on NFL Daily, your number one source for off
Speaker 1: season Jaden Comarti, Chremitie, and Thomas Incuin news. Shout out
Speaker 1: to them. Make it happen on the Carolina Panthers.
Speaker 4: Thomas Incombe the season finale had a couple of tackles.
Speaker 4: Nice job both of them, solo.
Speaker 1: Nice job. Cormette's gonna make it happen. Been a nose tackle,
Speaker 1: sixth round pick. We're gonna do a little bit of
Speaker 1: news un till we get back to the NFC South
Speaker 1: offseason previews. And yes we already mentioned Chris Godwin. I
Speaker 1: really think that deal is going to happen. But the
Speaker 1: NFL dropped some news this was actually Wednesday morning, that
Speaker 1: the Chargers are going to be the team that kicks
Speaker 1: off the season, at least in terms of the opening weekend.
Speaker 1: You have the kickoff game, which will include the Eagles,
Speaker 1: we don't know who they will be playing against. And
Speaker 1: then Friday night we're making this an annual thing now,
Speaker 1: the Brazil South Paolo Game. Last year it was Eagles Packers,
Speaker 1: a game that was replayed in the playoffs, and the
Speaker 1: Eagles started in Brazil ended with the Super Bowl. Can
Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Chargers do the same thing, because the
Speaker 1: Los Angeles Chargers are starting their season down in Brazil.
Speaker 4: Yes, that's why we play the games, correct. Yeah, they
Speaker 4: got an opportunity, they got a good quarterback. Hardball is
Speaker 4: there in second year. You know, sometimes the second year
Speaker 4: allows you to build on what was left and fully
Speaker 4: realize what you've brought as well? Why not the Chargers
Speaker 4: in the Super Bowl?
Speaker 1: And I'm guessing based on how they did it last year,
Speaker 1: they'll go big with this matchup. They'll give them a
Speaker 1: good opponent. It's it's not gonna be the Titans. No
Speaker 1: offense to the Titans, you know what I mean, Like
Speaker 1: they're gonna they're gonna. They did it with the Packers Eagles.
Speaker 1: They're putting the Chargers there. Chargers are giving up a
Speaker 1: home game here to go down to South Polo, so
Speaker 1: that I don't know if that's gonna be every single season.
Speaker 1: The NFL hasn't committed, but now that we've done it
Speaker 1: back to back season, the president, the precedence is there
Speaker 1: that we might be going international on that Friday night,
Speaker 1: and this news being announced kind of reminded me. We
Speaker 1: hadn't hit really all these international announcements as they've been happening,
Speaker 1: and I almost felt like my my friend Henry Hodson
Speaker 1: just tapping my shoulder and asking me, you know, let's
Speaker 1: give some pop. Having our first NFL game in Dublin
Speaker 1: and you guys didn't even mention it. So that was announced.
Speaker 1: That's happening. We don't know when, but we do know
Speaker 1: it's the Steelers that are playing in Dublin. The Colts
Speaker 1: are going back to Germany. I think they want to
Speaker 1: make up for that Colts Patriots game that would that Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're sorry, Yeah that was a little rough. And they're
Speaker 1: going to Berlin this time. That's a first, which is
Speaker 1: really cool. If Henry is listening, I mean, can I
Speaker 1: can I get to one of these games?
Speaker 2: Can I?
Speaker 1: I mean, I would love I would love Berlin. You know,
Speaker 1: my dad was My dad was born there. There's a
Speaker 1: connection there. But I would take Dublin or South Paula.
Speaker 1: Any of the above would be incredible, Hank.
Speaker 4: What we're saying is today is Greg's birthday. Yeah, there
Speaker 4: you go, send Greg to Berlin.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'll all say that Dublin would be cool to Actually,
Speaker 1: South Paolo would be cool. You go down there for
Speaker 1: the Friday night game and then you then you fly
Speaker 1: back on Saturday and you do you do week one.
Speaker 2: I'm into it. I'm into all of it.
Speaker 1: The Colts are in, the Dolphins are the first team
Speaker 1: announced in the Madrid game. They're the home you know,
Speaker 1: the quote unquote home team in the Madrid game. And
Speaker 1: then our London teams this year are the Jets, the
Speaker 1: Browns both playing at Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium, and the Jaguars
Speaker 1: in Wembley. So I'm counting it up here. That is
Speaker 1: seven international games. We are cranking this number up. And
Speaker 1: it also has already been announced that the Rams are
Speaker 1: going all the way to Australia in twenty twenty six,
Speaker 1: so we hadn't hit like these assignments the Australia news.
Speaker 1: The NFL is now allowed to go all the way
Speaker 1: up to eight under the current rules, and I think
Speaker 1: that number like that that's the minimum that it's going
Speaker 1: to be at a certain point, and I wouldn't be
Speaker 1: surprised if that, like we're doing seven, that's a record high.
Speaker 1: Whether this becomes like a television package that maybe.
Speaker 2: Is sold separately.
Speaker 1: Now right now, NFL Network thankfully gets a lot of
Speaker 1: these games. That Friday night game is Peacock, ESPN plus
Speaker 1: there's different networks involved in the different games in NFL
Speaker 1: Network has a lot of them. But you do wonder
Speaker 1: at some point they might take all these games kind
Speaker 1: of combine it together and make it like a separate package.
Speaker 1: Maybe that could be Netflix, it could be anyone people
Speaker 1: love the NFL.
Speaker 2: Patrick.
Speaker 4: Yeah, there's there's so many different ways that you can
Speaker 4: slice it. As we get to seven, maybe eight, you
Speaker 4: could have two sets of four. Maybe you know, you
Speaker 4: could have one game on one particular platform, one half
Speaker 4: of one game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, don't take away our games, no, Yeah, we like
Speaker 1: our games here.
Speaker 4: I like waking up, rise, shining and watching with all
Speaker 4: of you and then having you watched some highlights for
Speaker 4: three and a half hours afterwards.
Speaker 1: I do like that the Steelers are the Dublin team
Speaker 1: they like claimed, yes, their territory, the Rooney's. He was
Speaker 1: the ambassador for President Obama, mister Rooney back in the day.
Speaker 1: And that'll be an amazing atmosphere. Man, that would be
Speaker 1: a great one to be at. Which one if you
Speaker 1: had to choose?
Speaker 4: Oh, I would I would absolutely go to Ireland.
Speaker 2: I mean that that would be your first pick, that.
Speaker 4: That would be. That would be my number one pick
Speaker 4: it in terms of like, fine, I guess Madrid.
Speaker 1: I know, I think I think I'd have to go
Speaker 1: South Polo or Madrid just because of the actual locales.
Speaker 4: That would be quick. But yeah, if if I'm going
Speaker 4: anywhere in Europe, it's it's going to be to to
Speaker 4: see the folks in Ireland.
Speaker 1: Okay, good choice. That That was our international news portion.
Speaker 2: Of the program.
Speaker 1: We've got offensive coordinator news and uh, they're kind of related.
Speaker 1: We're going to get into the Saints in a second,
Speaker 1: but we've learned that the Saints have decided on Doug
Speaker 1: nuss Meyer as their offensive coordinator. I thought of him
Speaker 1: as Kellen Moore's buddy essentially that has traveled with him
Speaker 1: from Dallas to Los Angeles to Philadelphia. Wait, was he
Speaker 1: in Dallas. He definitely was in Los Angeles, definitely in Philadelphia,
Speaker 1: and now he is in New Orleans. But you know
Speaker 1: him as the coach of the Crimpton Tide in Alabama.
Speaker 4: Yeah, from twenty twelve to twenty thirteen he was the
Speaker 4: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach and then before making his
Speaker 4: way to the Cowboys, where there was that carryover with
Speaker 4: Kellen Moore during his transition from like, you know, quarterback
Speaker 4: who's probably coaching to just taking his health.
Speaker 2: He broke his ankle that year.
Speaker 1: He was supposed to be the backup to Tony Romo
Speaker 1: and it ended up being Dak Prescott's Rookie of the
Speaker 1: Year season.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so that solved those particular problems. But yeah, they
Speaker 4: were able to have a little success. Ultimately came to
Speaker 4: an and he went to Michigan after that, but Doug
Speaker 4: nuss Meyer back in the back in the OC game.
Speaker 4: Good to see.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is Kellen Moore's offense. Ultimately, I think if
Speaker 1: you're an Eagles fan, you're almost happy that he's taking
Speaker 1: a guy that's kind of his guy and isn't necessarily
Speaker 1: blowing up the rest of the staff. He had a
Speaker 1: big role I think in in installing that offense and
Speaker 1: the reporting from Philadelphia. I listened to you know, the
Speaker 1: podcast all Phoy and they said it really was a melding. Clearly,
Speaker 1: Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts and a lot of things
Speaker 1: that they did before.
Speaker 2: Were a big part of their office.
Speaker 1: You could almost see it in the week that Kellen
Speaker 1: Moore didn't have Jalen Hurts and maybe Nick Sirianni doing
Speaker 1: so much, which was week eighteen, and then suddenly it
Speaker 1: looked like a Kellen Moore offense. And so they go
Speaker 1: to New Orleans and they are running that offense. We
Speaker 1: still don't know who their DC is going to be,
Speaker 1: but the rumors since the beginning have been Brandon Staley,
Speaker 1: and he's back.
Speaker 2: He still appears to be the favorite.
Speaker 1: Jordan rod Rieg loves her some Christian Parker who is
Speaker 1: a DB's coach with the Eagles, and he apparently is
Speaker 1: a finalist for this the Saints JEP So they could
Speaker 1: be hurting the Eagles staff if they decided to go
Speaker 1: Christian Parker and not Brandon Staley. That would make me
Speaker 1: feel more like new blood in terms of that type
Speaker 1: of decision. Can you name the Eagle new offensive coordinator
Speaker 1: and were you familiar with him before.
Speaker 4: This week, before today, No, I was not.
Speaker 1: Kevin Patulo is his name, and he's kind of Nick
Speaker 1: Sirianni's guy. He is to Nick Sirianni what Doug nuss
Speaker 1: Meyer is to Kellen Moore. He came with Nick to
Speaker 1: UH from Indianapolis to Philadelphia, has always kind of been
Speaker 1: his right hand man, the guy kind of helping to
Speaker 1: implement what Nick wants to do. And probably if you're
Speaker 1: in the building a guy that you kind of know
Speaker 1: is Nick's guy for what?
Speaker 2: For what that's worth?
Speaker 1: Like if you're gonna be talking trash about the boss,
Speaker 1: maybe they don't do it in front of Kevin, because
Speaker 1: that's Nick's boy. Like that just wouldn't be smart to do.
Speaker 1: So maybe like that's a little bit of a take
Speaker 1: away from me. It's an inexperienced play caller, guy who's
Speaker 1: never really called plays. And it's a sign that, like,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe Nick has a little more juice than
Speaker 1: last offseason when he didn't get to pay his offensive coordinator.
Speaker 4: And that's what winning a super Bowl does. He goes
Speaker 4: from this perception of hey, what would you say you
Speaker 4: do here? To is like the most. I guess like
Speaker 4: newtered coach in the entire NFL to now you know
Speaker 4: we got his guy, paulin Plaze, he gets to be
Speaker 4: Jalen Hurts. Sixth offensive play call easy where I guess
Speaker 4: he has experience in the turnover there. I don't know
Speaker 4: that it's it is something you feel positive about, but
Speaker 4: if any quarterback can do it, I guess it will
Speaker 4: be jail Well.
Speaker 1: And it seems like Jalen Hurts has a big voice
Speaker 1: in this offense because it always kind of looks the same.
Speaker 1: That's okay, like you should be playing into the strength
Speaker 1: of your quarterback. But like I said, Patula has been
Speaker 1: there so all the way since twenty twenty one. He's
Speaker 1: not that young. I think he's in his young forties,
Speaker 1: which for you know, today's coaches like like if they're
Speaker 1: not like in their late twenties or thirties, they seem old.
Speaker 1: So he has been around and I did think it
Speaker 1: was interesting. Ian Rappaport says that Parks Fraser, who kind
Speaker 1: of is a rising offensive assistant with the Dolphins and
Speaker 1: is known pretty well, is actually going to replace Batulo
Speaker 1: as the pass game coordinator. There was some speculation that
Speaker 1: maybe frank Reich would come back in as like a
Speaker 1: quarterbacks coach or past game coordinator. I suppose that's still possible,
Speaker 1: but no, it's going to be this guy, Parks Fraser
Speaker 1: and so overall it's continuity, which is for the most part,
Speaker 1: what you would want if you're an Eagles fan.
Speaker 4: And I feel like maybe if things had gone wrong
Speaker 4: towards the end of the season, maybe that would be
Speaker 4: a frank Reich situation hmmm, and people would be you know,
Speaker 4: there would be all eyes on frank Reich if if
Speaker 4: there's a two or two start again and Nick's having
Speaker 4: fun with folks in the crowd. But but now you know,
Speaker 4: you win Super Bowls and those those issues don't exist.
Speaker 1: And to be fair, like they made a great decision
Speaker 1: to keep Nick Sirianni, Like they made a great decision
Speaker 1: to hire Vic Fangio more than anything, I think something
Speaker 1: they wanted to do for a couple of years. And
Speaker 1: I don't think that hadded anything to do really with Sirianni.
Speaker 1: But they made a great decision. So good luck to
Speaker 1: Doug mus nuss Meyer. Kevin Patulo had some news that
Speaker 1: the projected salary cap is coming in at two hundred
Speaker 1: and seventy seven point five to two hundred and eighty
Speaker 1: one point five million dollars. For some context, that is
Speaker 1: more than was expected, like even higher than the high
Speaker 1: end of what was expected. People thought it'd be two
Speaker 1: sixty five to two seventy five, so it could be
Speaker 1: well over that. At a minimum, it is a twenty
Speaker 1: two million dollar increase from last year. That is a lot.
Speaker 1: It has really gone up the last couple of years.
Speaker 1: For a few reasons, they were artificially kind of keeping
Speaker 1: it down waiting for this this TV deal to happen.
Speaker 1: It's now happening, and it's now exponentially increasing, and it
Speaker 1: just goes to the overall trend that I've been pointing out.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of cap space.
Speaker 1: Like twenty twenty fifteen, teams have more than enough where
Speaker 1: cap space is sort of not an issue in a
Speaker 1: way that is so different than the NBA, for instance.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's one hundred million dollars more than it was
Speaker 4: in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 2: That's crazy, Like that's good.
Speaker 4: Twenty eighteen not that long ago, I guess for those
Speaker 4: of us who remember it vividly. But yeah, it's it's
Speaker 4: a lot of money shout out to collective bargaining.
Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, it has nothing to do with them being generous,
Speaker 1: just going to as your workplace everybody. Yeah, it's just
Speaker 1: a percentage of the revenues that are coming in that
Speaker 1: has basically stayed the same. The players have gotten no
Speaker 1: advantages there, but the revenues come in are just going
Speaker 1: way up and it's going to make it easier. These
Speaker 1: teams that are spending all the way to the cap
Speaker 1: but doing it kind of in a responsible, forward looking way.
Speaker 1: I would put the Eagles in that category for instance,
Speaker 1: like they're always spending to the cup. Those are the
Speaker 1: teams that are doing better. Are these teams that are
Speaker 1: carrying over too much money? Doesn't make sense? Like the
Speaker 1: Patriots have volleyed between being having terrible cap situations, so
Speaker 1: now they have one hundred plus million, Like there's not
Speaker 1: enough good players out there to spend them all that
Speaker 1: and that that actually adds some context to a final
Speaker 1: news item. I just thought it was interesting Patrick Micah
Speaker 1: Parsons speaking about how he thinks he fits in the Cowboys'
Speaker 1: new scheme and Matt Eberflus talking very confidently about how
Speaker 1: he wants to play to Michael Parsons's strength. I've been
Speaker 1: banging this drama about maybe Micah Parsons gets traded. You know,
Speaker 1: our insiders have said they've thought about it. The way
Speaker 1: Parsons is talking, the way the Cowboys coaches are talking,
Speaker 1: maybe this is a little bit of a charade. It
Speaker 1: doesn't really make any sense for them to trade him.
Speaker 1: And so I'm just kind of putting it out there
Speaker 1: that like they're they're not acting like that this is
Speaker 1: something that's.
Speaker 2: Going to be ending in the next couple of weeks.
Speaker 2: Just throwing that out there.
Speaker 4: Of all of the because we think about this pantheon
Speaker 4: of Dallas Cowboys players that have been within the Cowboys
Speaker 4: ecosystem and played at a very high level and deserve
Speaker 4: large contracts. I can't think of a more Jerry Jones
Speaker 4: player than Michael Parsons. True, I can't like a player
Speaker 4: with his own podcast who is in the content creation
Speaker 4: game as Jerry Jones is, who is more than a
Speaker 4: depth at generating attention on and off the field. That
Speaker 4: this is going to be a thing that happens for
Speaker 4: years to come. But as long as long as those
Speaker 4: two are involved together, I think he's gonna be adellas.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he did say it will be challenging having a
Speaker 1: new coordinator. But overall, if you if you read all
Speaker 1: the comments that that Parsons said on his podcast, I
Speaker 1: really think this is a matter of time. Although Parsons
Speaker 1: did not when the salary cap went up, you know,
Speaker 1: I think he did like the eyes emoji, just like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is good news. So I don't think we're going
Speaker 1: to see Michael Parsons in a Cowboys uniform again until
Speaker 1: a contract to sign. That's not that's not much of
Speaker 1: a hot take. I don't think like he's not gonna
Speaker 1: be at OTA's or mini camp or training camp if
Speaker 1: the Cowboys waste you know, his time like they did
Speaker 1: with us last year in CD.
Speaker 4: I mean, he may wear his jersey on the podcast, right,
Speaker 4: and during that whole during training camp, we're gonna have
Speaker 4: clips on NFL Network of what Mike is saying on
Speaker 4: his podcast, and then we're going to go to Jerry
Speaker 4: in the tower right in Oxnar and and it's ultimately
Speaker 4: going to come down to the very fat final moment
Speaker 4: until Michael Parsons is the highest played non quarterback.
Speaker 1: And okay, I agree, so I'm taking him off the
Speaker 1: trade block, right, now until I've prove another work. Shout
Speaker 1: out to his brother Terrence, though in a series of tweets,
Speaker 1: he noted that the two sides are very part far
Speaker 1: apart in their contract negotiations, but helpfully suggested some ways
Speaker 1: that actually they could like free up some money like
Speaker 1: restructuring DAK and CD and stuff like that.
Speaker 2: Not that that's a big secret.
Speaker 4: But they don't. But while they need to do that.
Speaker 1: Well normally it would be what you would want to do,
Speaker 1: but they just signed those deals. It's tough to restructure,
Speaker 1: like right off the top, like well, no, no, they
Speaker 1: would do it because you just in their mind, they're
Speaker 1: not They're not giving up any money when players restructure.
Speaker 1: When Joe Burrow is like, hey, I'll restructure, it's like, yeah, bro,
Speaker 1: you're just getting like a huge signing bonus instead of
Speaker 1: it paid out slowly.
Speaker 2: You're not. You're not doing anyone any favor.
Speaker 4: But what I'm saying is, whatever the number is, whatever
Speaker 4: the number of the Dallas Cowboys are willing to pay
Speaker 4: Michael Parsons, like that's the discussion, Like this idea that like,
Speaker 4: oh well we can't do that because you know we
Speaker 4: got you know, the backloader overall behind the team unit.
Speaker 4: It's like, no, the money is there, what's the number?
Speaker 4: Like that? That's what the far apart is like, just
Speaker 4: find the number.
Speaker 1: Right, they are the opposite of the next team we're
Speaker 1: going to talk about. Let's put the New Orleans Saints
Speaker 1: on the cool boy because love him or hate them,
Speaker 1: the Saints do find a way to drop, you know,
Speaker 1: ring every last drop out of that salary cap. And
Speaker 1: they are fifty four million dollars over the cap as
Speaker 1: we enter February, and we know they're going to figure
Speaker 1: it all out. But Patrick, I'm wondering how that informs
Speaker 1: your big question about the New Orleans Saints.
Speaker 4: My big question that I'm so glad that I can
Speaker 4: ask it to Greg Rosenthal, who is a valued resource
Speaker 4: on today his birthday, because I have been I've had
Speaker 4: a lot of fun with the fact that Dennis Allen
Speaker 4: was coaching this football team over the past few years. Yeah,
Speaker 4: he is no longer the head coached the New Orleans Saints.
Speaker 4: Did the majority of the problems that the Saints had
Speaker 4: in twenty twenty four were they solved by having Dennis
Speaker 4: Allen no longer be a part of the football team. No, No,
Speaker 4: I don't think so. Okay, and as much as I
Speaker 4: got to check it back, as much as because it directly,
Speaker 4: it directly influenced the construction of the roster. The Philadelphia
Speaker 4: Eagles notably had two players celebrate with the Lombardi Trophy
Speaker 4: who were New Orleans Saints, and we're no longer on
Speaker 4: the Saints strictly because.
Speaker 1: Okay, you make a good point, Zach Bond, they didn't
Speaker 1: even know how to use him, turn one to one
Speaker 1: of the best players link and Chauncey Gardner Johnson just
Speaker 1: couldn't manage him because you weren't a grown up enough
Speaker 1: to do so.
Speaker 4: And that was prime Okay, GJ.
Speaker 2: That's fair. That's fair.
Speaker 4: And so there was there was a evacuation of talent.
Speaker 4: That's the hope. I guess that's the hope that's being there.
Speaker 4: And so I would say, I would suggest, and this
Speaker 4: is my very biased opinion, despite what the number is,
Speaker 4: I understand negative fifty one million dollars looks looks like
Speaker 4: a lot, right. The cap goes up, so that that
Speaker 4: that changes, uh, that changes and helps a little bit.
Speaker 4: And also you can move things around. You don't have
Speaker 4: to try to lose like the idea that you need
Speaker 4: to go into things to say, oh, yeah, we gotta
Speaker 4: we gotta rebuild, we have to we can't pay anybody,
Speaker 4: we can't do that. That that's not a necessary function.
Speaker 4: And I know you're skeptical of Mickey pilot this process. Yes,
Speaker 4: but there is a path to do it that makes sense,
Speaker 4: that still gives us something to watch. Because that's what
Speaker 4: I care about.
Speaker 1: I agree and they they certainly will agree with that.
Speaker 1: My thing is just looking at this team. It's just
Speaker 1: what is this team? It just it doesn't I don't
Speaker 1: know what it is. They've changed their plan, like in
Speaker 1: terms of what type of skill set they're looking for
Speaker 1: in the offensive line. A bunch of times they have
Speaker 1: a Lave in Shahed, two guys who could if you
Speaker 1: were a more forward thinking organization, and this is where
Speaker 1: they run into problems. They would be working out contract
Speaker 1: extensions for a Lave or Shahed this offseason. Is that
Speaker 1: going to be a priority for them? Hopefully it will be.
Speaker 2: Maybe they'll maybe they'll turn a new leaf.
Speaker 1: But it seems like they're always trying to figure out, Okay,
Speaker 1: how many of these old guys still make sense. Let's
Speaker 1: go through the list here's some players still on this roster.
Speaker 1: Cameron Jordan's big, big salary cap number, to Mario Davis,
Speaker 1: pretty big salary cap number, Taysom Hill, pretty big salary
Speaker 1: cap number. Ryan Ramcheck is, by the way, still on
Speaker 1: this roster, although he's going to retire or they've been
Speaker 1: keeping him. That is just a numbers thing. Tyron Matthew,
Speaker 1: does he make sense still on this roster? And then,
Speaker 1: most importantly Derek Carr, who if you cut him with
Speaker 1: a post June first cut, but then you don't get
Speaker 1: the savings still after June, it's a thirty million dollars savings.
Speaker 1: If you find someone willing to trade for Derek Carr,
Speaker 1: you save eleven million dollars. More importantly, you don't commit
Speaker 1: more guaranteed money to him in twenty twenty six, and
Speaker 1: you don't pay him like forty million dollars this year,
Speaker 1: which I just don't want. I don't want to pay
Speaker 1: Derek Carr forty million dollars in any scenario. So unless
Speaker 1: Derek Carr is willing to take a big pay cut,
Speaker 1: I don't even want to start that negotiation.
Speaker 2: I'm just trying to get rid of him.
Speaker 1: That's to me question number one, and all the reporting
Speaker 1: and the whispers from our friends like Adam and Ryan
Speaker 1: on the Saints Black Party pockets is that Mickey is
Speaker 1: a Derek Carr guy.
Speaker 2: He is the Derek Carr guy. And Mickey being there
Speaker 2: maybe complicates.
Speaker 4: This, but Mickey was also the he was also the
Speaker 4: Dennis Allen guy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and ownership came over the top on that. Well,
Speaker 1: they do it here.
Speaker 2: I thought they would get rid of Mickey, but they didn't.
Speaker 4: He was vocal about it after the fact. And so
Speaker 4: if they can shift that change in that capacity, because
Speaker 4: Derek Carr right now has eighteen point seventy of the
Speaker 4: of the cap right devoted to Derek Carr. And I
Speaker 4: know Cam Jordan and Taysom Hill are expensive, but that
Speaker 4: part is claring. I don't think that you can have
Speaker 4: Taysom Hill back right at that at that particular pay
Speaker 4: rate and things become a little easier. Alva Kamara is
Speaker 4: not not an issue. I think Alvi Kamara is mistress now.
Speaker 1: They just gave him a nice, big contra. They got
Speaker 1: a bunch of bad publicity for a couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you remember that. And then they
Speaker 1: gave Alvin Kamara a ton of new money. So that
Speaker 1: was actually a positive thing that Mickey Loomis did just
Speaker 1: to get everyone off his back.
Speaker 4: Worked. Yeah, it worked. Do more positive things like getting perhaps,
Speaker 4: you know, unpopular players in different spots in the league.
Speaker 1: It's not about like ripping the band aid off and
Speaker 1: looking to the future. It's just Kim Jordan is an
Speaker 1: all time great player. The Mario Davis is too with
Speaker 1: the Saints. Honey Badger has had a great, great career.
Speaker 1: But they're just declining players and where are the young
Speaker 1: good players on this team that you're building around. You
Speaker 1: need to start finding more of those. And they have
Speaker 1: the number nine overall pick. Highest have been nine.
Speaker 4: Excuse me, so there's ten before.
Speaker 1: That was Yeah, Mickey limis not remembering what pick he
Speaker 1: had back in the when he did his press conference.
Speaker 1: They do have an extra third and fourth round pick
Speaker 1: because of the Marshawn Lattimore trade, so that was a
Speaker 1: nice move. Those are the types They remind me of
Speaker 1: the Panthers in that way. It was like they need
Speaker 1: more thirds, they need more force. They just need to
Speaker 1: like fill out this roster with some young guys because
Speaker 1: you can say, like they always figure it out. It's fine,
Speaker 1: the cap isn't that real, But like they can't even
Speaker 1: cut most of these guys and get any savings because
Speaker 1: they've already gone to the bank and restructured him so
Speaker 1: many times that actually cutting them doesn't really save him
Speaker 1: unless you do a post June first cut, and then
Speaker 1: it doesn't save it till June. And it's just like,
Speaker 1: at some point, I do think you have to make
Speaker 1: tough decisions with these guys that are declining.
Speaker 2: There's a few of them on the roster.
Speaker 4: Obviously, a trade for car would be the valued option.
Speaker 1: Right, could you get like a six to seventh swap.
Speaker 1: He's not gonna get much for him, but yeah, I mean.
Speaker 4: There's somebody's gonna need a quarterback at this at this juncture,
Speaker 4: I think you've you can convince some of these teams,
Speaker 4: perhaps the team, one of the teams in New York,
Speaker 4: but roster.
Speaker 2: Would anyone trade for him?
Speaker 4: Though?
Speaker 1: With that contract, I think he defines to me the
Speaker 1: type of guy you're like, let's just wait till you
Speaker 1: get cut, you know, like I'm not giving up, because
Speaker 1: then you have to deal with that contract. Okay, then
Speaker 1: you have to negotiate him to take a pay cut.
Speaker 1: It's just complicated. I don't think anyone wants to pay
Speaker 1: Derek Carr thirty plus mine.
Speaker 4: Okay, So if you're playing that game of chicken, do
Speaker 4: you just start Derek Carr as your.
Speaker 2: Quarterback if you're the Saint.
Speaker 1: If you're the Saint, No, because I wouldn't because, like
Speaker 1: I said, it guarantees money into next year, and you're
Speaker 1: actually paying him that money this year, even if it's
Speaker 1: not a ton of cap cap savings. I just don't
Speaker 1: want to be paying him thirty million dollars. Let's start
Speaker 1: spending that money. Like, if you're going to be spending
Speaker 1: that cash, spend it on the Kris Olavey or Rashid
Speaker 1: Shaheed extensions. Do it on stuff like that. Let's move forward.
Speaker 1: You want to know some top free agents from this team. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Paulson Adebo, who was potentially gonna get a big cut
Speaker 1: like it, could have gotten a big contract from the
Speaker 1: Saints after his third season. Unfortunately, in his fourth season,
Speaker 1: started out very slowly, was having a rough first month
Speaker 1: of the season, and then he suffered a serious injury.
Speaker 1: I still have him relatively high because he's a young
Speaker 1: player who's shown a high level production. So I think
Speaker 1: some team will take a shot. Maybe Dennis Allen in
Speaker 1: Chicago wouldn't surprise me. And then Chase Young is a
Speaker 1: free agent who came in and kind of did what
Speaker 1: you expelled here. Yeah, it was solid. He's a top
Speaker 1: fifty free agent. I think we're stopping waiting for Chase
Speaker 1: Young to be any different than he is. But he
Speaker 1: can he be like late career Genevian Clowney. Maybe not quite, but.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that would be the absolute ceiling, right like twenty
Speaker 4: twenty four Jadevian Clowney.
Speaker 1: That's yeah, that's fine. He's gonna have a good career.
Speaker 1: He was the number two overall pick, but he had
Speaker 1: some serious injuries. What do you think this team's biggest
Speaker 1: need is if you look up and down the roster,
Speaker 1: what is something they just lack that screams depth?
Speaker 4: Right? Because he talked to he talked about the age
Speaker 4: of some of the guys that were on their way out,
Speaker 4: Ramchick occupying the space even right in retirement with.
Speaker 2: That Repetting revived Trevor Petting.
Speaker 4: Yeah, supposedly, but that that's really what they just need talent.
Speaker 4: I think back to that Trevor Penning draft where it's
Speaker 4: it's very very difficult to draft the player that you
Speaker 4: need at the position that you need, that is the
Speaker 4: best player for you to take at that point, Like
Speaker 4: to to kind.
Speaker 1: Of thread that needle is very difficult and give up
Speaker 1: extra picks to do so.
Speaker 4: So so just stop drafting for need find unique talents
Speaker 4: that you can get on your team. But because you're
Speaker 4: able to find them, like Rashi Shaheed, everybody miss on
Speaker 4: Mashie Shaheed and he found his way to New Orleans,
Speaker 4: and so you just try to locate that that unique talent.
Speaker 4: But the team fell apart.
Speaker 1: I just don't know. I don't know what this team is.
Speaker 1: I think they need everything except for running back. They're
Speaker 1: they're good at running back, linebacker. I guess they feel
Speaker 1: good enough about Pete Warner to Mario Davis left tackle.
Speaker 2: They found one, and then they definitely need some pass rushing.
Speaker 4: Juwan Johnson's gonna be a free agent.
Speaker 2: Good point forgot about.
Speaker 1: Joelesson's a tight end as well, top probably the top
Speaker 1: tight end available. It's either him or Gaseki or Tyler Conklin.
Speaker 1: Not a lot of good, yeah, a lot of good
Speaker 1: one yeah, not a lot of good Free agent tight ends.
Speaker 1: It's Juwan Johnson, Tyler Conklin, and Gaseki are both between
Speaker 1: like sixty and one hundred on my top one on one.
Speaker 1: All right, we're gonna wrap up the NFC South with
Speaker 1: the Falcons here. And my question with the Falcons basically,
Speaker 1: can they fix this defense in one offseason? Because I
Speaker 1: just don't think they're gonna be patient. Rahie Morris is
Speaker 1: a defensive coach and the defense needs a lot of work.
Speaker 1: They're just not gonna, I think, have the resources. They
Speaker 1: don't have a lot of picks to change the offense
Speaker 1: month much. The offense looks pretty good on paper overall.
Speaker 1: But can they fix this defense in one off season?
Speaker 1: And it's going to have to mostly be through free
Speaker 1: agency in trades because they don't have a ton of
Speaker 1: draft capital. I mean, they would be through the draft
Speaker 1: tube less than other teams.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's context dependent. They can they fix the defense?
Speaker 4: Can they compete with the defense as it's projected to
Speaker 4: be structured in twenty twenty five? Yes, I think they
Speaker 4: can be a competitive football team.
Speaker 1: I disagree they need to add a lot right now.
Speaker 1: So the extent that they were in twenty twenty four
Speaker 1: good well they're missing, then they're also losing a couple
Speaker 1: of players. Justin Simmons is a free agent.
Speaker 4: Yeah, they're brought in Simmons for a year.
Speaker 1: I think they're going to have to cut either On
Speaker 1: Yamada or Grady Jarrett just for cap reasons. That would
Speaker 1: be painful. Matthew Judon is a free agent. Mike Cues
Speaker 1: playing a lot for them. He's a free agent.
Speaker 2: So I don't know. It's just a rough looking defense
Speaker 2: on paper.
Speaker 4: Yes, it's it's rough, but I think projecting right this
Speaker 4: next year of Bijon with Michael PENNOCKX junior with an
Speaker 4: entire season going in as the starter, I think the
Speaker 4: offense is in a position where they don't necessarily need
Speaker 4: a top ten defense. It's be competitive. I think Raheem
Speaker 4: and his group can can get this defense in the
Speaker 4: seventeen eighteens nineteen okay, and that would be actional NFL TA.
Speaker 4: I don't think it's as bad like I don't think
Speaker 4: they're twenty twenty four Carolina Panthers bad, right.
Speaker 1: I think they're personally wise. They have Raheem Morris who's
Speaker 1: done a good job coaching up lesser talented teams but
Speaker 1: just talent wise, if you took the coaching out of it,
Speaker 1: they're pretty bottom of the barrel. And in the end,
Speaker 1: they finished twenty ninth in DVOA last year. You know, overall,
Speaker 1: they were a bad defense. Like if they if they
Speaker 1: had that seventeenth ranked defense that you were talking about, like,
Speaker 1: they would have probably won the NFC South.
Speaker 2: Something.
Speaker 1: I mean, they came close, right, they almost did it. Anyways,
Speaker 1: here's just a little big picture.
Speaker 4: Look.
Speaker 1: They are missing their third round pick because of what
Speaker 1: turned out to be a disastrous Matthew Juden trade.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: If Judaan get gets a job this year, he might
Speaker 1: be he might be out of the league. They lost
Speaker 1: a fifth round pick for tampering with Kirk Cousins. That
Speaker 1: was pretty disastrous all the way around. They lost a
Speaker 1: sixth round pick for Van Jefferson, which you know whatever,
Speaker 1: and I mean, I'm not going to kill him for it,
Speaker 1: but it wasn't a good move overall.
Speaker 2: He hasn't helped him.
Speaker 1: And then they have eleven point nine million dollars in
Speaker 1: cap space right now, middle lower of the pack. They
Speaker 1: are spending one hundred and seventy plus million dollars on
Speaker 1: their offense and barely over one hundred on their defense,
Speaker 1: and that is largely because of Kirk Cousins. And to me,
Speaker 1: that's that's a that's a big decision or a big
Speaker 1: thing they got to make happen, because I think they've
Speaker 1: already made their decision. Can they get someone to trade
Speaker 1: for kirk Cousins and and how much will that save
Speaker 1: them against the cap? On paper, it would save seven
Speaker 1: million dollars against cap, so that's something. But they would
Speaker 1: still have thirty seven million dollars in dead cap money
Speaker 1: for kirk Cousins, just a couple years after they had
Speaker 1: about fifty plus for Matt Ryan. Having thirty seven plus
Speaker 1: for kirk Cousins is bad management. It's it's like making
Speaker 1: the same sort of mistake twice in a short period.
Speaker 2: It just it just didn't work out.
Speaker 4: Now you have to take those swings though, right the
Speaker 4: the the Achilles. The Achilles tair of course is going
Speaker 4: to be pre eminent in all of this, but the
Speaker 4: Falcons weren't the only team to make offerings to kirk Cousins.
Speaker 4: And you know, we gotta we gotta get rid of
Speaker 4: this whole tampering idea, the whole the whole thing is
Speaker 4: so nebulous. I can't believe, Like we've seen teams too
Speaker 4: far worse things. Yeah and not and not.
Speaker 1: Say the only problem was that he talked about it
Speaker 1: on the podium and then Florio wrote an article about it. Honestly,
Speaker 1: if like Florio didn't write an article about it, I
Speaker 1: don't know if they even get that pick take it away.
Speaker 4: Now I hate it even more.
Speaker 2: Greg, I'm just guessing.
Speaker 1: I actually don't even know that that was how it
Speaker 1: all happened, but I'm I just feel like he talked
Speaker 1: about it on the podium and then Floria is like,
Speaker 1: isn't that tampering? And they're like, well, I guess we
Speaker 1: got to take away as we have.
Speaker 4: We have to have this rule in place to justify
Speaker 4: agents taking what they take, because they have to be
Speaker 4: the ones to have these conversations. And if players are
Speaker 4: trying to represent themselves, then they're in a fundamental disadvantage
Speaker 4: because they can't have these things. Because so why else
Speaker 4: does the rule exist anywhere?
Speaker 1: Tampering is is a big problem in this society. Who's
Speaker 1: going to tamper with Drew Dollman. So let's look at
Speaker 1: some big questions for this team. The big free agents
Speaker 1: I mentioned, you know, not a ton on defense. Justin Simmons,
Speaker 1: Mike Hues, two guys who helped them out. You know,
Speaker 1: I would think you would want to bring back Justin
Speaker 1: Simmons at the right price.
Speaker 2: He was he was good for them overall.
Speaker 1: Drew Dahlman is a guy that not a lot of
Speaker 1: our listeners might be familiar with. He was a fourth
Speaker 1: round pick in twenty one. Since he took over the
Speaker 1: starting job in his second season, he's played almost every game.
Speaker 1: Missed some time in twenty twenty four, but he started
Speaker 1: every game that he was available. Is thought of as
Speaker 1: one of the better run blocking guards in the league.
Speaker 1: He's kind of the prototypical smaller move guy that you
Speaker 1: want in a zone scheme. Maybe not as good, you know,
Speaker 1: stopping pass rushers, which usually is the thing that you want,
Speaker 1: but if you're surrounded by a couple big guards, I
Speaker 1: could see that being a very attractive package that multiple
Speaker 1: teams could be looking for this offsene. Maybe the Packers,
Speaker 1: I'll throw out one. The Seahawks might be another. They
Speaker 1: have Clint Kubiak. It's a similar system. Drew Dolman talking
Speaker 1: to people around the league, like he is going to
Speaker 1: get like a starting offensive lineman type of what who
Speaker 1: got twenty million dollars a year? But Drew Dallman will
Speaker 1: be that guy. He is absolutely getting that. I don't
Speaker 1: think the Falcons are going to be able to afford
Speaker 1: to keep him.
Speaker 4: And that's and that's another problem with making the not
Speaker 4: necessarily bad investments. I mean, Kirk Cousins being one of
Speaker 4: the worst right that you can make. But I see
Speaker 4: a case right for being in positions that they are
Speaker 4: with Amnyamada and Grady Jared's contracts where things didn't necessarily
Speaker 4: go the way that you would have wanted them to
Speaker 4: go in twenty twenty four. But you have to give
Speaker 4: up on like guys in that range, like between twenty
Speaker 4: five and in twenty eight, who are playing good football
Speaker 4: that other teams would like to have. Are if things
Speaker 4: are operated on a good level money wise, you shouldn't
Speaker 4: have to see those players go be successful elsewhere.
Speaker 1: Well, that that's true, And I saw Grady Jared pop
Speaker 1: up on our NFL dot Com cut candidate's list, and
Speaker 1: I was really surprised because when you think Falcons, you
Speaker 1: think Grady Jarrett and considering he was coming back from
Speaker 1: a big time injury. I thought he made some plays
Speaker 1: and maybe wasn't the old Grady Jarrett. But they would
Speaker 1: save sixteen million dollars in cap savings pre June first
Speaker 1: by cutting him, and so that will be a consideration
Speaker 1: on Yamada. I thought he's he's been a classic one
Speaker 1: good year, one disastrous year type of career and they
Speaker 1: could save about eight million dollars for cutting him, so
Speaker 1: they might, I mean, don't cut Grady Jarrett. No, people
Speaker 1: have Grady Jarrett jerseys, probably a lot of them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And that's why you know, the Cousins miss hurt so bad.
Speaker 4: Where you've you got somebody who's like associated with the
Speaker 4: team for like an off season and then a few
Speaker 4: weeks of the season and then it's it's just over
Speaker 4: and you're having to say goodbye to like a franchise cornerstone.
Speaker 1: And when I look at the needs around the team,
Speaker 1: we basically have pointed it out. There's not a position
Speaker 1: that they don't need on defense, maybe off ball, linebacker
Speaker 1: they're happy with. Katon Ellis was awesome, and then Troy
Speaker 1: Anderson was not awesome as their second guy.
Speaker 2: But he's a young player at least, But.
Speaker 1: Man for the million straight year ever since John Abraham
Speaker 1: was there. The Falcons need an edge player. So in
Speaker 1: this draft and in free agency, they need an edge player.
Speaker 1: And then I just looked at some contracts they could
Speaker 1: get done. Drake London, you know, is eligible for a
Speaker 1: contract extension. Get we've been talking about getting contracts done early.
Speaker 1: That needs to be a guy who's who's part of
Speaker 1: your future. And if Kyle Pitts is not part of
Speaker 1: your future, he's not a crazy guy to think about
Speaker 1: in terms of a trade. If you could get a
Speaker 1: decent pick, I don't think that's crazy. If you kind
Speaker 1: of are making the decision he's not for us in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty six, Could I get a defensive player for
Speaker 1: Kyle Pitts restart the clock or like a veteran defense player,
Speaker 1: I don't think that's crazy.
Speaker 4: Or you write a number down and slaughtered across the
Speaker 4: table and see if Kyle will sign it, right? Is
Speaker 4: that insane? No?
Speaker 1: At this point, no, it's got to be. It's not
Speaker 1: top five tight money though. I'm just not convinced in
Speaker 1: him as a player to up and down. And uh yeah,
Speaker 1: the Alfred's another guy who's been pretty good for them
Speaker 1: that they could probably get to sign long term. That
Speaker 1: is your Atlanta Falcons in New Orleans Saints messy recap
Speaker 1: these are they hate each other with Patrick and they're
Speaker 1: they're similarly messy. You thought I was kind of putting
Speaker 1: the NFC South in a spot that I shouldn't.
Speaker 4: No, Well, in hindsight and looking back at it, I
Speaker 4: know you love this division. I do know, and you
Speaker 4: want better, uh, specifically for the Falcons in the Saints
Speaker 4: something again.
Speaker 2: I do, but you know, as I don't remember if
Speaker 2: it was Big Boy who.
Speaker 1: Said it, the South got something to say like we
Speaker 1: we got we gotta get going this NFC South.
Speaker 2: But yes, I made a choice.
Speaker 1: It was strategic and and we're putting our NFC North
Speaker 1: let's go off season preview up on Friday.
Speaker 2: And you want to know why that is playing the
Speaker 2: music because the Friday one, it sits.
Speaker 1: There longer, you know, Saturday, Sunday sometimes with it Monday morning.
Speaker 1: This end, which has more like primetime players, good teams
Speaker 1: fighting for a season.
Speaker 2: I think it's the NFC, right, I think that's more
Speaker 2: of a.
Speaker 1: Friday Okay, hey, look when we're quoting big Boy here,
Speaker 1: it's regular season.
Speaker 4: We're all disgusting sickos football oohs and our poores. Old pizza.
Speaker 4: Just what can I eat? Just mowing on some ritz
Speaker 4: crackers with some cheese, just so we could have some
Speaker 4: more football