40s and Free Agents: Free Agency Fallout - How Moves Will Impact The 2026 NFL Draft

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Welcome to 40s and free agents presented by Toyota.

It's my time of the year.

It's free agency week and I'm here with my friend Daniel

Jeremiah.

We got a sponsor, DJ, and we got a lot of signings

to talk about, free agency already almost feels over.

Yeah, this is a wild week, man, fun.

And I think in a year where we thought, okay,

and you had talked about it as well,

like it's a solid group,

but maybe not quite as much sizzle as we've had in some other

years.

And then next thing, you know, it got a little funky

and a little wild later on in the week.

I think they're, yeah, with the Max Crosby and Trey Hendrickson

and I also think there could be traits to come.

So I say free agency feels over.

And I just mean more of the top of my list.

I mean, if we're doing winners and losers for the week,

I think the winners is the top 101 list

by yours truly on NFL.com.

40 of the top 42 players are off the board.

And that was true literally before the technical league

year started, the only two out of the top 42

that are even still available.

Kyler Murray, who is visiting the Vikings on Thursday,

we're taping Thursday morning and Rashid Walker,

the tackle, the Packers, who frankly,

I wish I had ranked a little bit lower

because I think the league maybe agreed with me.

I thought he was gonna get too much money

and he's still sitting out there.

So he's a little bit of a surprise at a position

where there weren't many players available.

Basically, all the top players got taken off

the board almost right away.

All right, well done, well done, buddy.

I'm glad to see that.

Have you had a year, how many years have you been doing this?

Since 2015, 14, so whatever.

Who was it?

Who was it, like Brandon Cooks?

Who was it?

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, don't tell me,

don't tell me, don't tell me, don't tell me.

It was Cooper, right?

Last year.

Yeah.

It just sat out there.

Which is one guy off season one, and they were still

putting my top on a one during the preseason football games

that Cooper is a city out there, the number 10 player.

That killed me, we avoided that.

Let's start thinking about, you know,

this to show about free agency and the draft.

So we'll talk about both.

But maybe how free agency decisions will impact,

like what teams are looking for in the draft.

So I'll just go through a few different trends

that happen early in free agency.

I'm gonna start with the Ed Drusher,

just because that's where the most money went.

You know, the Tray Hendrix in, Saga was fascinating.

He ends up getting close to $30 million from the Ravens.

But Jalen Phillips gets $120 million

from the Panthers, four years for him,

almost half of that's guaranteed.

Adafee, oh, he gets $68 million guaranteed

on a $100 million contract from the Commanders.

Boy, Mathy gets $20 million a year,

Quiddy Pay gets $16 million a year.

They kind of went in order of how good they are.

And you tell me where you think maybe this could impact

some of the teams in the draft.

Well, I think, you know, the goal in free agency,

most teams always do the same thing,

which is we don't wanna have a gun door ahead of the draft

where we have a absolute 100% need

at a premier position and boxes us in

where we feel like we've got to reach for guys

or we've got to be too aggressive and trade.

So you wanna take care of that.

But I also think that the recent trend,

which we've been talking about,

which is having waves of guys.

And it's like, okay, we have the space, we have the money.

Where's the best place we can spend it?

Who will get an edge-rutch?

That doesn't necessarily take us out of the edge-rutch

or market in the draft.

You know, we want, there's more.

We wanna continue to add and fill out those rooms.

So, you know, there's a lot of things that happen

in free agency that I think can form what goes on in the draft.

I don't know that edge-rusher is one of them.

I don't think that the teams that did that can come out of here.

Yeah.

How about the commanders at seven?

You know, that's an interesting spot for an edge-rusher

are the top guys off the board there.

The fact that they played away, chase on,

they actually brought back teach-acquys.

They still have door and surround strength.

Maybe that doesn't prevent them from getting an edge-rusher,

but man, they just spent a lot of money at that position.

Chase on is kind of a short-term guy there,

but at least they feel like they don't need to

if the right guy doesn't fall to them.

Yeah, so they got a menuhu, too, right?

So it was.

That's right.

He was so bad last year for the menuhu, you see now.

No offense to a menuhu if he's listening.

I know he's a big fan of mine.

They brought back Tim Settleley.

So they signed four D-Limon to go a lot.

They brought back teach-acquys, too.

Chase on got $12 million.

I was actually pleasantly surprised

that he got a nice one-year deal.

So I thought maybe that changes.

And then you have the Ravens now have the 14th overall pick

back again.

Oh, already know how that's going down.

I already know how that's going down.

Let me just give you Ravens 101.

Yeah.

Ravens 101 is miraculously what you need

and the player that has no business being there.

I've already just read it in.

Just Rubin Bain is gonna,

everybody's gonna kill Rubin Bain on the arms.

And the Ravens, if you think about it,

like if we can get into a longer discussion

on the Ravens, if you'd like.

But that defense, having seen Jesse Menor's defense

up close and personal, they require firm edge setters.

So you had Mack and Tully last year.

And then Oway was the fastball you could throw in there

when he came over.

And that worked beautifully.

But you've got to earn the opportunity

to rush the pass for a second.

One doesn't help anybody.

And Hendrick sent his flimsy against the run.

He's not a firm edge setter at all.

So that is a major need.

Think back to all the great Ravens defense

you can go way back.

And then you can find the McFees and the Judons

and all the way through the Bud Duprees.

These guys are all strong square point of attack players.

And who is that guy in this draft?

Who would be the one guy who would fill that void

that they have desperately?

It would be Rubin Bain.

But they were willing to give up that 14 pick.

I thought in part, well obviously,

because Max Crosby is a unique talent.

And then they get the look at the knee

and they aren't feeling great about it.

But I also thought it was,

because maybe they looked at this draft

and thought after Rubin Bain,

we're not really excited about the edges

that we could potentially get.

And he's probably going to go before us.

But you're just saying the magic Ravens, you know.

The pixie dust.

It just fall.

It just happens.

They just falls in or laugh.

And you go, how the heck did this happen?

They looked, the Eagles are the same.

The Eagles have had similar fortune

where it's just kind of married up.

And those guys kind of are there.

Now, do you ever think that the Ravens

Magic Pixie Dust sprinkled on you?

Now, on one hand, you could say,

you know, you went to Cleveland after that.

Not as much pixie dust there.

But after that, here you are getting

to host the podcast with me.

You're a big time star on NFL Network.

Maybe that pixie dust just took a little while

for them to kick in, you know.

I would just say this.

I left the Ravens and then it was a few years after that.

A handful of years can remember the exact number.

They won the Super Bowl, okay?

Then when I'm in Philly, they're for a couple of years.

A few years after that, they win the Super Bowl.

So what I'm telling you is,

in a couple of years after I bail on this podcast

and think that this thing's going nowhere,

you might win whatever a podcast award is.

I don't know what they call those things,

but you might be in line to win one of those things.

We did go to an I Heart Awards

that we were nominated for around the NFL ones.

And then when we went to the awards ceremony,

they had a special block-dough part for different posts.

And we just figured since we were nominated,

we could go to that.

We tried to get into that and they actually stopped us.

They were like, no, that's Shannon Sharps.

That's his booth, he won the award.

Whoa.

Well, now this is a Golden Globe, right?

You can get podcasts for a Golden Globe.

Sure, that would be fun.

40s and free agents with Greg Rosenthal and Lanzerline

wins the Golden Globe in 2028.

That's what I'm saying.

I like the Maffe move for Cincinnati, they need more.

All these teams, it's funny

because they got something and they probably still feel

like they need more.

I was talking to Baldi about Jaylen Phillips-Move.

He was a little surprised that Phillips got that much money,

but that's what happens in free agency.

If you're right age.

That was a result of last year.

You remember, I mean, that was Milton Williams

and it was close and it was Caroline in New England

and Caroline lost a former Philly defensive Lyman

that they were in love with.

And they watched the proof of concept of him go to New England

and make a massive difference and it was like, okay,

that's the kind of defense we want to be in play

and this kids come out of the same place,

they love him there, we're bidding against the Eagles,

we're not going to lose if we have to overpay, we'll overpay.

And they did.

So on the interior offensive line,

you could argue the Raiders overpaid for Tyler Lindbergh.

Are you?

Okay.

There's no argument.

I mean, that's been the number one thing I've gotten.

That's hilarious to me.

I've been warding off.

I've been defending the Raiders on this,

but I've got how in the world do you reset the market

by nine million or whatever it was?

Like insane jump above everything.

Like, why did they pay that much?

And then one person brought up the comment and said,

that's going to be a nightmare in their locker room

to have overpaid that much.

And I said, no, that's the luxury not having any good players.

Who's going to complain about it?

Colt Miller's the only one.

Like that's the only one who could be like,

hey, I want to redo my deal.

Like, this is, you know, this is not right.

This is a center of blah, blah, blah.

But like, they have all this money.

There's rules in place we have to spend, you know,

up to the percentage of the cap.

So they needed to spend it.

And they're like, who helps us the most?

This guy, okay, we'll just,

whatever we got to do to get him.

Let's get him.

I get it.

I also think centers were just crazily underpaid.

It's one of the big picture things I've liked out

of this free agency crap.

The off-ball linebacker,

safety's running backs and interior offensive linemen

who are kind of the lesser positions.

Because of that, they're the ones

that actually got the free agency.

And for once, the safety's actually got paid.

And in this case, the center got paid.

Is it really that crazy?

Let's say Linderbaum is a top five center.

Let's just accept as part of this.

Is it really that crazy that he would get

the same amount of money as the top cards in the league?

And like, oh, and, you know, maybe the same

as like the seventh best tackle.

That seems normal.

That seems, we say how important centers are.

Just because the NFL had successfully

like cost-controlled the position,

doesn't mean it's not valuable.

Aren't centers valuable?

I don't get it.

Yeah, I think, and especially so with a young quarterback.

And I think that's what was baked into it.

I think that's baked into the overpay

is that we're gonna take a little bit off

of the plate of the quarterback

in terms of the communication, the identification,

all that could be stored up in your brain.

We're gonna take some of that load off of Mendoza

and we can put it on Linderbaum.

So, I mean, I get it, I 100% get it.

But trust me, there were people around the league

that were flabbergasted that they went to that number.

Yeah, and it sounded like the Ravens were in,

but they wanted to go four years.

And it was pretty significantly less money per year.

That's the other part of it, Greg.

Like, he's three years, he's right back.

He's gonna crush it for three years

and be right back in the market.

It's a great move because if this raiders,

dalliance doesn't work, he can do what raiders coaches do

except he'll be doing it voluntarily.

Just leave and try to get to a better situation right now.

No question, but I don't know who his agent is,

but that was by far the best player contract of this cycle.

Well, that's because teams get mad about that

because now they're gonna have to pay their centers more.

That's the way.

Of course, yeah.

Miami with Aaron Brewer at some point in the city.

It was Neil Cornridge, by the way,

and there's Neil Cornridge has had a lot of Iowa guys

over the years.

So there's a couple of agents that have the,

like, certain schools they're attached to

and he's been an Iowa guy.

So congrats to Neil Cornridge.

Nice job.

Good job by him.

And he was one of many Linderbaum

that is interior guys who got paid.

Elijah Vera Tucker, who I'm really glad I put high on my list

because I think he's a great player.

I knew he'd be a risk.

I thought he might have to take a one year proof of deal,

but he gets $21 million guaranteed three years,

$42 million.

Zion Johnson, you called that three years,

$49.5 million, and by you called that,

you just thought he would get good money.

And I put him a little higher on my list,

partly because of that.

And the rest of the NFL was very surprised,

but on forties and free agents,

we were not surprised.

Conor McGovern, the center gets $18 million

a year to stay with the Buffalo Bill.

So it was a position I think team saw,

there's only so many real deal starters,

maybe plus starters available.

And they got paid really good money.

Can I, can I, I want to do an exercise.

So I think this is proven that if you have the stomach for it,

it's always best to get to the market.

So Greg Rosenthal's a football player

in another lifetime here.

And you're getting, you're going to have somebody

put a good chunk of money in front of your face,

you're on the team, you've got it,

you're left on your deal is Greg Rosenthal more likely

to take that, you know, got it right now,

not worried about injury or is,

are you, are you a bet on yourself?

Let's get to the free agent market cash in.

I don't, I don't like the way that you're setting it up,

but I am not waiting to get to free agency.

I know myself, I'm taking it.

I might take it too early.

I might be like Rob Gronkowski,

they gave him the earliest contract pot.

And it's just like, this seems like enough.

I'm just going to take it and not take any risk.

Cause it's, it'll change my life either way.

Time value of money, you're playing that game.

We're just going to take the money now,

get it and get it invested right now,

trying to offset the money I'm giving up.

To me, it's a very human thing.

I think the fact that these guys get to free agencies,

it's a lot of times not betting on themselves.

It's just the teams weren't betting on them.

They get there almost by mistake.

Like if the Colts thought Alec Pierce

was going to cost this much money,

they would have just signed them a year ago,

but they didn't really, you know, value them.

And I don't think the chargers, for instance,

valued Zion Johnson, speaking to the chargers,

their fans are freaking out.

Really?

I don't know if you know this about the lack of activity.

I think they've signed a lot of guys,

which is crazy to me.

They signed Tyler Biotis at center.

Yeah, which is an up-stream.

Coach Green's got a lot of money.

You asked me before the show,

are you surprised about interpreting what they got money?

Coach Green's getting a lot of money

from the chargers was a little, a little surprising,

but I think they wanted more activity

of these interior, your offensive linemen

that they're not doing enough,

but I think they're kind of counting on the scheme

to take care of a lot of that.

And they got two great tackles, they just paid a center.

Yeah, they got two great tackles

and I thought it was important

that they invest in a swing tackle just as insurance.

They bring Tray Pipkins back, who again,

Tray Pipkins, if you think of it from a scouting standpoint,

was a small school player.

So he's 29 years old now.

He's been in the league for a while.

It's all been with the chargers

under some different regimes,

but I don't necessarily think that, you know,

it's like a 29 year old who came out Alabama

and he kind of as always is who he's gonna be.

I think that there's, you know,

if you look at what he was the younger player,

he's continued to get better

and is definitely a serviceable functional third tackle,

which is necessary for them to have that kind of depth.

And then I was looking at what else did they have here?

So with Cole Strange, Beaudish is a starter.

You get pinning, they bring pinning back

on an affordable deal.

I think in a perfect world,

and I know they gave Strange some money,

but I think in a perfect world,

you probably get one more free agent and draft one,

and then you just have a ton of depth

and you have some healthy competition there amongst those,

you know, amongst those two guard spots.

So I do think that Strange, you know,

it is interesting.

He has not lived up to where he was selected,

as you know, from falling the pads closely as you do.

But he still has first round pedigree,

even though it was a shock,

especially to the Rams, that he was in.

I think he's an NFL player,

and clearly Mike McDaniel agrees,

he had him in Miami last year.

And I always thought,

it was just staying healthy with the Patriots.

He looked like an NFL player, he just stands.

So if you look at like pinning,

I think pinning is 26 years old,

was a first round pick.

Cole Strange, I think is maybe 27 was a first round pick.

Like they have some pedigree,

and in a perfect world,

neither one of them start.

And you've got two first round,

like there's a lot, two first round tackles.

There's a lot of, you know,

guys who came into this league with pedigree, although,

and they're young.

It's not like these guys are 33, 34 years old.

And they also gave Charlie Kohler,

who's a blocking tight end.

But he can catch $2 million guaranteed,

on a three year, $24 million contract.

A guy I was glad to end up boosting,

and he got into my top 70.

In the end, he got almost as much money per year

as Chico Conco, and Kada,

and who I really liked,

and Isaiah Lightly,

who are more kind of do everything type tight ends.

Yeah, but it's part of the final he does.

It's hard to define the blocker.

Right, it shows to me that he had a really good market,

because that number does not get that high,

unless probably Baltimore,

and some other teams out there,

maybe it was the giants we're going for.

I wonder if, I don't know,

I'm just looking at their roster,

but the fact that they go out,

and they sign a really good fullback,

and you pay a fullback and alloc angle.

You've got Scott Matlock,

who's more obviously 300 pounds.

It's more the Ravens way,

the Ravens offense,

which is not going to look anything like Mike McDaniel's offense.

I wonder if there are people would call on him.

If you want to be a heavy team,

and you want to run gap runs,

you would value someone like Matlock,

who also can play D-Tackle,

like he is a roster saver.

Yeah.

I now look at other teams

like taking players near the top of the draft.

So the Titans went crazy in free agency,

signing so many different defensive players,

former giants.

They traded for Jermaine Johnson,

and they give Wondell Robinson a bunch of money.

They bring in Cordell Flot and Elante Taylor.

Elante Taylor got more guaranteed money,

or more total money

than I think any free agent cornerback in history,

which is insane.

Franklin Myers gets a good contract there.

Does that inform what you think they are doing at number four?

I think they have to do something to help their quarterback.

I see all the activity I'm looking at all their guys,

like just from a new starter standpoint on defense,

with Jermaine Johnson,

John Franklin Myers, Cordell Flot,

Elante Taylor,

that's a lot of pieces they've added there

that on offense,

Wondell, you mentioned Slotman at center,

but right now they don't even have a right guard.

And you're looking at the receiver position.

Okay, I like Wondell.

I don't know what's gonna go on with Ridley.

You got a couple intriguing guys from last year's class

with DK and IOManner,

but to me,

you gotta do something for Cam Ward, you know.

Can that be Jermaine, I love the,

can that be Jermaine, I love?

100% puts him in that mix.

I think that's what I'm saying.

You're looking at Jermaine, I love.

You're looking at Cornell Tate, you know, somebody,

like help him out.

Like I, I think they added a lot of good players.

I prefer, and we've talked about this,

but I prefer when you've got a young quarterback

in free agency.

Let's just load up the offense.

Let's get veteran guys are gonna help our young quarterback out.

And then I'd rather, you know,

add some pieces to the draft

on the defensive side of the ball if you need to.

So Kansas City's picking at seven.

They get Kenneth Walker.

You would think that that kind of crosses them out

for Jermaine.

I love, should he fall to that far?

They basically lose their entire secondary

like in Jalen Watson and Brian Cook

and they trade away McDuffie,

but there are team that's,

you know, always drafted in the middle rounds

of the secondary and it's worked for them.

So does that kind of change what you think

about where they might be looking at number seven?

Yeah, I, to me, they're a trade down candidate.

I mean, that's why I've been kind of throwing this,

this theory that I have out on that one,

which is if you are, it might be,

it's far to travel for Minnesota,

but man, Jermaine, I love with Minnesota would be a lot of fun,

especially with Kyler Murray, you know,

as we're recording this,

I don't think that's done yet,

but it sounds like that's where we're headed.

That would be fun.

But then also, if you were the Rams

and you, you think about the Rams last year's team

and how close they came, drop punt, we all know the story.

If you take that Rams team

and I told you that same team,

all of a sudden, you get Trent McDuffy

and Jermaine, I love on that team.

You think they win that game in Seattle?

I mean, that would be fun.

I like Kyler Murray, I like Kyler Murray.

But that's, Kyler Murray is a good player,

but that's, I mean, I think two years ago,

I remember looking at it,

it was yards over expect that I think he was zero.

It was literally zero.

And this is a dynamic player as much movement

as they get with their offensive line.

Like that would be home run city, which Jermaine, I love.

And it would, it would be a call back to Todd Gurley

and when they first got going there with McVeigh.

The chiefs are part of an AFC trend,

which the superpowers with the best quarterbacks

in Ravens, Bill's chiefs over the last few years.

They got a lot of roster holes.

They get a lot to fill, I feel like in free agency.

That's why teams, trade back, make sense with them?

Yeah, I agree.

The jets are a team that went crazy

on day one of free agency.

After 48 hours of getting used to it,

I maybe don't hate it as much as before.

I know they needed players,

but to get older and slower with Onyamada and Domario Davis,

even Anik Barri who's not old

is not a dynamic fast player.

Mink of its Patrick just, it seems like

what are we doing here really if you're the jets,

but especially at least they filled in their defense.

They needed players.

They need offense.

Don't you think at the top of this draft,

they have four picks in the top 44 overall.

They got you, no Smith.

So quarterbacks good for the next five years or so,

you get a top 10 quarterback.

But after that, I think you need some help around you.

You want a dated analogy?

To just make myself look old, sound old.

This is free agency is like you could go to Barnes and Noble

and buy a book and have it for a lifetime.

And the jets drove right by Barnes and Noble

and went and got their library card.

And we're like, you know, we'll just check this book out.

We'll return it in a couple of weeks,

but we want to we'll read it

and then we'll just bring it right back.

That was free agency for them.

It was a library card.

Why is that dated?

Why is that dated?

I don't know if anybody goes to the library anymore, Greg.

No, come to the Rosenthal family.

We got LA County library cards.

We got Santa Monica library cards.

We got LA public library cards.

This is how you help your children develop a love for reading,

which their parents show be the example for them.

And we're hitting up Barnes and Noble plenty too.

Reading's a good time.

Yeah, it makes you a better listener too.

You know what they also have this thing called Amazon

and you can actually order the book

and it shows up on your doorstep.

Sure, but it's fun if you actually like books

to kind of look at all the different books.

It's a good it's a good experience.

I know you weren't listening to me closely

because you just let it slide by that I said

at quarterback they got a top 10 guy

for the next five years now.

Oh, Gina.

I assume you were talking about the quarterback

they were going to take in the draft in 2027.

So that's what I was assuming

because they're already positioned for that.

They really do need a lot of help around them.

Although I kind of forgot, 80 Mitchell was there.

I don't hate 80 Mitchell as a three

behind Garrett Wilson and a two to be named later.

And then you got Mason Taylor and Breeze Hall.

It's not a terrible group.

It's not a terrible group.

The interesting thing with them is like,

if you look at it for being a bad team.

Yeah, most times you look at a bad team

and you'll see a horrible offensive line.

Yeah, I actually kind of like their offensive line.

Yeah, what they have.

They were in on Tucker though

and I think that one hurt for them.

I have a feeling they expected to get him back

and it's the reason his price went up so much.

I think there were multiple teams

from what I heard that kind of looked at Vera Tucker

and thought, well, we know it's an injury risk.

He's missed three of the last four years basically,

but he's possibly the best player.

So he quickly got out of that.

I have to sign a prove it deal

and ended up having three or four teams really bidding him up.

I know the Jets are one of them.

I know the Jets and the Browns roll.

So in on that.

Wow, see, and it sounded like he was,

he just thought, it's been bad juju with the Jets.

I'm gonna get out of here.

All right, let's take a break

and we'll talk on the other side about

some of the best players still available

and then what teams help themselves the most in free agency.

So

Back on the 40s and free agents

where half the podcast is literate, you know, supports.

The library's great.

It's amazing that libraries even exist.

All this free stuff they're giving you.

Let me just tell you,

let me just tell you something that'll put you

this whole thing to rest about me and the library.

So as a kid, we used to go with my mom

and I remember it was a thing where she would reward us.

Like my mom was very much into incentive clauses

in our contract.

So it was like if you could read X number of books

over the summer, you could maybe go whatever,

get ice cream or whatever you could do as a little kid.

I distinctly remember being about, I don't know,

11, 12 years old and the book that I checked out,

I went in the sports section as I always did

I wonder his sports book.

I read a book by Jerry Markbright NFL official,

the life of an NFL, it's like a 12 year old.

I literally, I don't know if that thing has ever been checked out

before or after, but I did check out a Jerry Markbright

NFL official book and I read it from cover to cover, Greg.

It's like a 12 year old.

I will look for it.

Walker, my son is very into the football books,

has checked out a lot of them.

I bet you would dig a little Markbright.

So maybe we can be the second person.

Let's make it time for all in, presented by Toyota.

Talk about some of the teams that went all in

during free agency.

We already talked about the Titans.

They spent $293 million in total contracts

during the first three days.

The Raiders are next at 281.

And that does not count the Max Grozby money.

I mean, they, someone had a great line of just like,

you know, I know it feels weird for a rebuilding team,

but trading too first for Max Grozby by the Raiders,

I actually like this roster next year.

What do you think that this defense is going to look like?

Yeah.

I like what the Raiders did.

Which groups did you like out of the ones that they did?

I liked a lot of the moves that they did.

I'll tell you, I like the two linebackers

that they brought in.

Former teams.

How about both of them?

When that came back to back, I was a little confused.

I was like, do we really need both those guys?

Yeah, but I think they've played next to each other.

They know each other well.

So you start with that relationship.

Nicobie Dean can be the nerve center.

He's going to be an awesome blitzers.

You know, that's kind of his, his calling card there.

Quay Walker's, I thought was a little bit more

of a developmental player coming into the league.

So I think they're still, you know,

I think they're still time for him to continue to grow

and improve, but you throw those guys in the mix.

They got their college teammate, Eric Stokes.

So they got three, three guys from that Georgia defense

that are all there together.

Could he pay or be an interesting one?

I have to look this up, but I think he played

on the same side as Max Crosby.

Max Crosby never comes off the field.

So it'll be obviously, Quiddy will have to kick over

to the other side.

I know the metrics and the, you know,

they don't friendly to him in terms of win rate,

pass rush, you know, win rate as well as pressure rate,

but he's again, he's got first round pedigree

and he's explosive and I think that defense overall,

it's a lot of pieces that they added in.

If you keep Max Crosby there as well, that helps.

And then I can see the vision for what they're doing

offensively and I don't, you know,

it's, I think they're going to go get a veteran quarterback

that's been out there.

So they're not going to have to start Mendoza

at the beginning of the year.

At least take some of those hits off of him.

But now you look up and you get a healthy Colton Miller.

You've got Linderbomb at center.

They, even though that trade doesn't go through,

they still have some draft capital to address

if they need to, another interior alignment.

You know, they can add another receiver

in a loaded draft.

I think it's got a chance to be a,

a much improved team off of what we saw last year.

I mean, should they win three games last year, right?

I mean, that's gonna be much improved.

The reporting is that Kirk Cousins could be going to Vegas.

I don't really buy that.

Kirk Cousins is starting week one

over for Nana Mendoza.

Did you see the chat by the way that Drew put in there?

I do.

I was waiting for like the natural kind of segue,

but if any of the listeners just want to get there first,

the book, Born to Referee, My Life on the Gridiron,

is available at the San Diego Public Library right now

by Jerry Martin.

Look at what it costs on Amazon.

Amazon, you can get it for $2.17.

That's $2.00, you don't need to spend it.

Let's try it down.

What about the gas?

The gas, look at gas prices.

Greg, the gas price is two and from the library.

He's gonna cost you more in $2.17.

That's fair, but it's about the experience.

It's about the love of the game.

Is there anybody in there when you go in there?

Yes, outside of Jason Born on a computer,

trying to like surf crime.

It's crowded.

People are pre-billed usually.

There's all sorts of different fun.

I mean, the LA public, we're going way to it.

It's one of the most beautiful buildings in the entire

West Coast, it's an amazing building.

We're down there all the time.

They got the big manga room for my daughter, she likes it.

Let's talk about the commanders.

I really like what the commanders did,

especially on Wednesday.

They kind of went for the second level free agents.

There was actually like three straight guys

that were in my thirties in my top 101.

They were like three of the top five players available

and they picked them off one by one.

I started wondering, are they just reading off the list?

It was Caleb on Chase on Leo Chanel.

Leo Chanel, kind of the edge rush.

I mean, the edge, rather linebacker,

off-ball linebacker that can also rush faster.

Who lives in the A-Gap?

Like just mug up the center.

And then Nick Cross, who's a great run-stopping safety

and just kind of flies around.

And so some guys who can win one-on-one matchups,

and then you add a Daffet OA in there, as you call them,

the fastball, added a lot of young athleticism,

Chico Conco on the offensive side.

And an interesting transition here to Durante Jones,

who is kind of a Brian Flores disciple,

helping to run the defense.

I'm just much more intrigued to watch what the commanders

are gonna look like this year,

compared to where I was at the end of last year.

Yeah, I'm curious to see.

They've still got Chris Paul left guard.

He's a free agent.

So there's a hole there that they need to plug.

What do they do at that spot?

And look, Debo's gonna, he's out there.

He's probably not back.

You're looking at Luke McCaffrey and McClaurren.

Trailing Berks, they brought back, right?

So maybe just a little more firepower offensively.

They're another team.

That's the word is it's Brandon Ayuk,

we'll be at least part of that.

Yeah, it's Jane Daniels, buddy.

So yeah, that would be nice.

Just hopefully his head's in a good space

and come in there with his friend and he plays well.

But there are another team when you just kind of look at him

and we're looking at where are the Jeremiah Loves spots?

Where are the fun places that you can see him go?

That's an interesting one.

That would make a lot of sense to me.

And I could absolutely see them doing that.

GM and Adam Peters who saw the value

and having a Christian McCaffrey back there

in San Francisco helped to trade for him

and there's a big hole there.

Oh, I like that.

The last, the team I'll mention,

and you can throw out anyone if you have one

that I thought under the radar was good.

I like what the Saints did.

David Edwards was a good pickup from Buffalo.

There's a really solid guard.

The Caesar Ruiz spot is still a problem to me,

but otherwise they got a pretty promising

looking offensive line with those two young tackles.

If you can keep Eric McCoy healthy and David Edwards,

like that's a nice foundation.

Then Travis CtN, I thought the money was solid for him.

I have a feeling Alvin Cameras,

not gonna be on this team anymore.

And then Kate and Ellis coming back to New Orleans

kind of filling out that linebacker position.

Just three rock solid.

I think guys that are gonna be B plus A minuses,

safe pickups I think in free agency.

And they traded for one of the best punters

in the league, which is under the radar,

but they're punting stunk.

And it's just kind of an easy way

to upgrade your special team.

So I like what the Saints have done.

Yeah, and they're out of a capsule.

How about that for those guys?

Right, they're not even putting the weird void years

and like doing all the captain nasty

so that has to feel good.

All right, let's go to my best available.

You didn't even give me a chance.

I mean, you just, I thought that was it.

I thought that was it.

I thought that was your sign that you weren't.

Let's talk about who we are.

I'm looking at the different depth charts

to see what other moves that I liked.

Let's talk about our favorite moves

and let me just tell you my favorite moves

and then let's get to the next segment.

That's fun.

Well, when you have a wonder on answer answer,

I thought it's just like, hey, we're over 30 minutes.

I'm on the clock.

I'm DJ, you know, ESPN is coming up right after this.

I got moved the sticks coming up right after this.

I got an order of B.

I'll tell you what, like I was just looking at individual moves.

So I always try and look at the on quarterbacks

and who, you know, what are they doing to help them?

We talked about Tennessee.

And I thought I'd like to see a little bit more offense

with there to help them.

I think Wondale does give them some easy completion.

So the Giants have a young quarterback.

They lose Wondale, go out and get Isaiah likely.

I think that provides some easy completions for Dart.

So I like that move and you start looking at them.

You know, there are another weapon you could see next year.

If you looked at how Dart played last year

and then you say, okay, we've got neighbors back

and he's hopefully back to 100% health.

You had Isaiah likely and then you had another weapon piece.

You know, it could be with where they're picking high

in the first round.

Is that Cornell tape on the outside?

Are they a Jeremiah love team?

A lot of Jeremiah love teams.

There's there's a man that would be exciting to watch

what Dart can do new offense with all those new pieces

to play with.

I agree, but I also think they've had a weird offseason.

I think they've just missed on a lot of guys.

Some of their X Giants, I think they wanted to keep

going to Tennessee because of the Dable and they were just

in the mix for a lot of the bigger name offensive players

and you just heard them as like they were in the mix

for a lot of guys and kind of did the Cowboys thing

where they were just coming up a little short.

So I feel like they have a big mover to make still.

They just seem like they were ready.

There's still guys out there.

There's still some stuff out there.

Yes, there are.

You have any other favorites.

Do you want to move on too fast?

No, no, that's pretty much it.

There's other teams that did some good things.

I liked Carolina getting those two pieces on defense.

That was definitely a need for them.

Looking at some of these other teams here, anybody else.

Look, not an easy task for Cleveland

to rebuild an entire offensive line.

But I like some of the pieces that they brought in there.

And they are one.

If you think about teams that have done things in

the trade and see that inform what they're going to do

in the draft, the tightest Howard trade

and the announcement that he's going to be the right tackle.

They need a left tackle.

And in this draft, the way that it goes

in terms of how I stack the players,

you got a couple of right tackles and a guard

as the top three liners for me.

Now it's not that they're all these top five, six guys

are relatively close together.

So they're in the market for a left tackle.

So Monroe Freeling, while I might have him

as the fourth or fifth best lineman,

he's the true left tackle of the bunch.

And he hasn't played a lot, but he's got it all in his body.

He's super, super talented.

If you think about the Andrew Thomas arc

where it was not a good start,

and then he continued to get better,

it was some development that needed to take place.

I think you could see the exact same thing

with this one with Cleveland.

Taking Monroe Freeling on draft day, it's like,

whoa, I did not have him rated as the sixth best player

in the draft.

But he's the left tackle.

And they're in a position now where they desperately need one

and I don't think they can wait till their second first round

pick.

I don't think they'd have one they'd like.

They brought an Elton Jenkins to the former Packers lineman.

That was one of my favorite moves in free agency.

I know he's coming off some injuries,

but in terms of the level of player,

you could argue he was right there with Vera Tucker

as one of the best, if not the best offensive lineman available,

if he's healthy versatility for the money that they got him.

But between him and the injury risk

and Zion Johnson, you're taking on a lot of risks.

You brought back Kevin Jenkins.

But yeah, it's hard to fill an entire offensive.

Did it be?

That's a tough task, but I like Titus Howard.

I like Titus Howard.

Zion's going to be a solid functional starter.

Elton Jenkins, Jenkins gives you the flexibility

where you can see how the draft shakes out in terms of center guard.

You can play the other spot.

So I think they did a good job.

So that kind of leads us to who's still available.

As I mentioned, only two of the top 40 on my list

are out there.

It's Kyler and it's Rashid Walker of the Packers who had at 19.

After that, some interesting names in terms of wide receivers.

Juan Jennings, Stefan Diggs is out there, Debo Samuel,

like some big names, that sort of second level older receiver

market hasn't really shook out.

There are some offensive lineman out there.

Wyatt Teller is still out there.

Some of the guns for hire in the defensive line,

like a Joey Bosa, Kaleas Campbell are still out there.

Up and that's still out there.

Yep.

Like he's like a solid three.

He's like a solid third guy.

There are a decent amount of like guys who can come

and still help your team out there.

But just doing the numbers, there's only about 25

at the original 101 are still there.

And a lot of them are the players like 85 to 101.

So in general, you're just looking for guys to help you.

Is there anyone that kind of surprised you?

That's still out there?

No, I mean, I think you, I mean,

just waiting on Kyler, I mean, that's the big one.

But Goddard for the Eagles had avoid in his contract

extended through the end of the week,

which indicates to me they're probably working on something

with him that maybe he went out, saw his market.

He's still a free agent.

It probably wasn't massive money.

And now he might be returning to Philadelphia.

So that surprises me because I thought that was gonna change.

I thought Rashad White was gonna get snapped up.

It was really interesting.

My top five running backs were gone

within like three hours of free agency started.

Like it was actually the position

and they all didn't get massive money.

But everyone's like, I need one.

I'm gonna get one.

And then it ends up being seven of my top eight.

I think that's one of the draft changes.

It's not great.

It's a very limited running back class.

So I think teams saw that supply.

We've seen that every year there's a position like that.

We better go get that taken care of.

And it's nice to see it happening at running back,

which is rare.

But I think Rashad White's a really good player.

And he's kind of gotten left out in the cold.

I don't know if he just wanted too much money,

but he could be someone that someone goes for

in the next couple of days.

So we'll see.

Rashid Walker I think probably just had unrealistic expectations.

He's probably saw that Dan Moore contract from a year ago.

And that was the starting point.

And ultimately no one saw him as like a $20 million

a year player.

Here are the teams that have spent the least amount

in free agency, by the way.

The Vikings have only spent $15 million.

We knew that they didn't have much.

The Eagles, they brought in Rick Willen,

but that's basically it.

The Lions and the Falcons have been relatively quiet.

And then the Broncos, Seahawks and Jaguars

are teams that have essentially just resigned

a couple of their own players.

The Jaguars, Monteric Brown was the player they resigned.

The Seahawks brought back Josh Job, which obviously

they're happy with Rashid Jahid was a nice keep for them.

The Broncos almost haven't done anything.

Broncos, I'm getting a little pissed by that.

Yes, but I think they could be coming.

It wouldn't surprise me if they are the team

that spends in a trade for one of these receivers

out there, AJ Brown, Brian Time.

That's all he's going to hear.

I was going to ask you that.

To me, if you think about his style of receiver,

Sean Payton talks about it all the time.

He likes bigger.

He likes more physical guys.

And that's who he's always had and always played with.

And I'm like, AJ Brown, nobody's really

talked about Denver with AJ Brown.

At least I haven't seen that out there.

But that one would make a lot of sense.

And I do think there is something

to filly needing to get the Goddard thing done

in order.

I don't know all the specifics of it,

but there's some money component there

that if they were going to move AJ Brown,

they have to get the Goddard thing done first.

So I know there's some connection there

and talking to smarter people that I am on the salary cap front.

So maybe that's what leads to something like that happen.

We'll be transitioning on forties and free agents

to more of a focus on the draft.

And certainly this was like how it impacts the draft.

But I'll tell you, a lot of games will be won

by the veteran moves that happen from now on

after this first wave.

Because I just mentioned the bills and the chiefs

and the ravens.

I'll throw the lions in there.

There's a lot of like falcon, but I'm trying to even mention

like teams that you expect to be in the mix

to try to compete for a Super Bowl

with a few more holes at this point in the offices

and then they usually do.

So I don't like what the bills have done, by the way.

We'll probably get into some winters and losers

that NFL daily so far.

But they're going to have to find starters.

And then there's teams like the dolphins out there

where I look at their all 22.

And I'm like, they need six starters still.

They might need nine starters still.

That's what surprised me the most.

If you just said the move that surprised you the most

where the price made sense and the familiarity made sense.

But I thought it was, I'm not going to use a T word,

but I thought they were all eyes on 27 in Miami.

And they were going to run out a bunch of young inexperienced

players and see what's, you know, what's stuck.

And then be positioned for the draft in 27.

They still are.

They didn't do that.

They did.

Well, they went on, you paid the, you went on,

got a quarterback though.

I thought they were going to roll table.

Try Quinn yours, see what that looks like.

And then okay, I'm glad we brought that up.

And we'll wrap with that.

I think they're having their cake and eating it too.

They're not spending anywhere else on free agency.

It does look like a rebuilding slat, you know,

you don't want to use the T word, like you said.

But they still look like one of the worst rosters in the league.

But for the money that they're paying Malik Willis,

like it's, it's less than a Daffa always making.

You know what I mean?

Like way less.

You're paying him $23 million a year.

That's probably like 20th to 25th at quarterback.

Like even the Daniel Jones contract only slats him

about 15th, 16th.

So you're not really paying him real money.

And I think you get to evaluate him.

And it's just exactly what I say teams should do.

I think it's great process.

You're, you're buying a lottery ticket.

And it seems like it's an expensive lottery ticket.

But there's no long-term damage though.

If it doesn't work out with Malik Willis,

they'll just move on quickly.

And if he plays really well,

I don't think he's playing so well

that they're going to suddenly like win 10 games

no matter how well.

And if that happens, like that's a great problem to have.

So I think it's good process.

Yeah, I was getting text.

I was getting texts on a pro day numbers.

So I didn't listen to anything that you just said Greg,

but I'm sure it was really, really smart.

Well, it was, I saw you looking at your phone

so I just kept, kept going because that's it.

I just, I'm trying to double check this real quick.

So USC pro day today.

It is USC.

Yes.

Bridget happens out there for anyone else.

Yeah, I just got texts.

McKay Lemon ran four from the scout that's there.

Four, five, seven, four, five, three.

No jumps.

Okay.

I mean, that's kind of four, five, three's about.

I mean, I think Ommeral with maybe low four, five's.

A lot of good receivers are running that four, five range.

So not, not, I'm sure he would love to have ripped the four,

mid four, four, but he's more quicker than fast.

So I'm still, I mean, I'm dating free agency.

I'm still married to the draft.

Greg, you know what I mean?

Like I just, I get draft information.

Clearly you found the hand times that could have waited

a one minute longer way more fascinating than my big Malik

Willis was a good process signing tape.

Yeah, I mean, I feel like I heard the first 40 seconds

of your take and then I thought it wasn't really going to get

any better from that point on.

So I didn't know I needed to tune in for the remaining two

minutes of the thought.

So that's when I ejected and got some pro, some pro day times.

That was it.

Forties and free agents.

We will be back on our normally scheduled Tuesday show

next week.

And in the meantime, I do want everyone to go to their local

libraries to pay them.

Don't be late.

Returning those books, though, tell you that much.

They're pretty lenient these days.

They let you renew, especially for old books, like Born

to Referee, my life on the Gridiron by Jerry Markbright.

If any listener out there shows that they can get a copy,

we'll buy you a free ice cream.

We'll take you out.

But especially if you can get it from the library.

We'll see you next week.

This is an I Heart Podcast.

Guaranteed Human.