5 Players at the Crossroads, Chubb to Houston, and Jaire Alexander Landing Spots

00:00:04
Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL Daily, where we just learned there's another playoff P. I'm Greg Rosenthal here with my friend Nick Shook from across the country who wrote a fantastic article last weekend about players at the Crossroads, and we're going to talk about that later in the show, but before that, we're going to do some news, including yes, playoff P Jermaine Pratt being released. That's where we're leading the show here on this June ninth.

00:00:31
Speaker 2: I mean, I do have a problem with it.

00:00:32
Speaker 3: It is news, it did just happen, which is great for us, but I don't think I can get behind the whole nickname idea. I mean, I'm sure you got to come up with a nickname in key moments, and that's fine during a special run, but that one didn't stick in this brain.

00:00:45
Speaker 2: I'll tell you that I did not know that was a thing.

00:00:48
Speaker 1: You know, podcast P playoff P. Paul George was more more known for. It hasn't really worn well on him. We're not really going to start with Jermaine prep but that literally happened just as we were going to start taping, and I'm distracted by it. But we will do a big release. JayR. Alexander, we'll talk a little bit about assigning Nick Chubb and some other stuff. With mini camps starting. Yes, most of the league is starting their mandatory mini camps on Tuesday this week. I believe the Patriots are starting on Monday. There are only five teams that will still be practicing next week, so most of the league will wrap up their off season program this week. The Lions are already out of there, so salute to them. But yeah, let's start with JayR Alexander, since that happened Monday morning. A surprising end to that mini drama because he was supposed to get cut in February. He was supposed to get cut or traded in March. It never happened. He was supposed to get traded around the draft, it never happened. Then afterwards we heard, oh, actually, well, I guess they realized they could use a JayR Alexander. They they're not really very healthy. And we heard that there was a restructured contract offered just a week ago. JayR Alexander, of course, one of the core pieces of this I am Kuda kun' era literally his first ever draft pick and has been there a long time. And then we get the news on Monday morning. He is cut. He will be a free agent. They couldn't work out a deal. Like, what were your thoughts initially? I think it's a matter of availability. It's not that he's not still a good player. It's just that he's been so hit or missed in terms of being able to be on the field over the last few years. Like since the beginning of the twenty twenty one season, he's missed thirty four of sixty eight games. That mental math, that's half of the games. One of your best availability, one of your best abilities is availability. And for a guy that had signed a four year, eighty four million dollar extension in twenty twenty two, his last season in which he played a lot of games, he played sixteen games and made the Pro Bowl, you can't be dedicating that amount of money to a guy who just hasn't been able to demonstrate that he can be on the field consistently for you. And I think that's the root of what's going on here and how we got to this point was that, look, we have value in him, but is the value really worth trading him?

00:02:54
Speaker 3: And it's also timing. Can you trade him before the draft? Can you trade him during the draft, can you get something for him in return? They waited it out, they tried to restructure it. Sounds like he wasn't on board with that. Sounds like they couldn't come to terms to it with an U agreement with that, and so ultimately that's why they end up going their separate ways.

00:03:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, he was due to make sixteen million in base salary this year. My guess is he has a feeling his agent certainly does, that he can make more money in a different place than whatever the restructure offer was. You would assume that they've kind of canvassed the market. So just thinking about where JayR Alexander could go. He had a famous moment which he was suspended for, still the most hilarious suspension in NFL history, him doing the coin toss against the Carolina Panthers because he's from Carolina without permission from the team, and then they suspended him for it afterwards. I mean, I love the Jayre Alexander era in Green Bay. I love the experience in general. Actually, before we get to the possible teams, and I would say the Panthers would be one of them, let's actually go back to a fateful day late in twenty twenty three. Let's listen to jaire at at midfield.

00:04:07
Speaker 3: So were you supposed to be a captain because the team announces the three game captains and you were the fourth and you called a toss?

00:04:13
Speaker 4: What happened there?

00:04:14
Speaker 5: Oh?

00:04:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you know there's only suitan. You know, I don't think coach knew.

00:04:20
Speaker 3: I was from Charlotte, you know, So so you just did that on your own.

00:04:24
Speaker 4: I mean, I mean, you know, I mean it was like a you know, the guys backed me up, you know, so they knew.

00:04:31
Speaker 1: They do he was here. I think we have a second part of this. Of course, that was not him at midfield. That's him in the locker room afterwards, explaining maybe our producer Eric Roberts' favorite clip ever, and so that's why he just had to get it into this show.

00:04:45
Speaker 2: Let's listen.

00:04:45
Speaker 5: Do you realize you almost made a big mistake on it?

00:04:48
Speaker 4: Called on what I do?

00:04:50
Speaker 5: You said we want to go on defense? Yeah, which in theory could if they could have said, then you're electing to kick to kick off what you would I've lost the opportunity to receive.

00:05:01
Speaker 2: In the second half.

00:05:02
Speaker 4: Yeah, No, I told him that I said, I want I want our defense to be on there, and they all looked at him like I was crazy. I'm like, I mean, it's pretty simple what I said. I want the defense to be out. They like, you mean defer. I'm like yeah, I guess, okay, yeah, oh really No, he was just like defer. I was like yeah. Everybody's like yeah, everybody was la. I'm like, well, all lab then it's pretty obvious what I'm asking for.

00:05:30
Speaker 2: So did anyone say anything to you when you got back to this whole one.

00:05:35
Speaker 5: Would?

00:05:36
Speaker 3: Uh?

00:05:37
Speaker 1: That just gives you a little a little taste of cornerbacks that they're They're just a little different one of my favorite characters. Uh. Looking at some teams that could possibly go after meat Carolina, they could certainly use a cornerback. Why not? I saw there's been a lot of connection there Locally. The Dolphins are probably gonna trade Jalen Ramsey sooner than later. He is not showing up to mandatory mini camp at the in Miami this week. They could certainly use some cornerbacks. So they came to mind for me, the Rams who have been involved talking about Jalen Ramsey, maybe that's not a crazy move. I could see him fitting there the Cowboys, same thing with Jalen Ramsey the Ravens. He just seems like a Raven. And then I was trying to think if he had any connections around the league. Mike Petten, his former defensive coordinator in Green Bay. Do you know where Mike Petton is working these days, Nick Chuck? I admit I did not, even though he's been there for three years. So I apologize to mister Petten.

00:06:31
Speaker 2: Uh, you know what, It's on the tip of my tongue.

00:06:33
Speaker 3: It's not coming to me because when I think about Mike Petton in the employment market, I just think about the year he took off to build a cabin after he got f by the Bread.

00:06:39
Speaker 1: Yes, he is with the Vikings. He is an assistant under Brian Flores, and so who knows. Actually, that wouldn't be that crazy of assigning either. They know how good Jay r Alexander could be, and I think they could use an outside cornerback. He could be an interesting boom er bust type of pickup for a team out there.

00:06:55
Speaker 2: Yeah. I like all those candidates.

00:06:56
Speaker 3: I think Miami probably jumps out as the most just because they need a corner so bad because it seems like their days with Ramsey are numbered.

00:07:03
Speaker 2: It feels like they're going to part part ways.

00:07:05
Speaker 3: And the only other cornerback they have on the roster that's of notice, Storm Duck, who needed an entire preseason campaign last year to kind of push his name into the consciousness of the football world. So they could definitely use and help there, especially in a pivotal season for them.

00:07:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, I am spending more time on Jaya Alexander than I expected today, But he is one of those guys cornerbacks have these careers, like really great cornerbacks there, they're so inconsistent, and especially you know, he's had injuries and so that's been a problem. But suddenly sometimes like a Jalen Ramsey, they will just pop up at age twenty nine, where Alexander is like a Stefan Gilmour for instance, signed like a one year deal and end up getting a second team opera and being very vital to the team that they join. So I am interested to see where he's at. But Mark Murphy one of the last things he'll do as the team president of the Packers, because I believe he is kicked out in a couple of weeks here because of the age requirement. He said, the reality is the last four years for Jai Era, but it's been about half the games that he's been able to play, so we have been used to it. I mentioned Jalen Ramsey not showing up to many camp. The Dolphins are one of the teams that get to work on Tuesday, so we'll just monitor that. But they obviously haven't found a home for him. Nick Chubb, though, your boy found a home. He is joining the Houston Texans. Nick thoughts on one of the best Browns of the last twenty years. Although the Browns are over indexing and like great players that they've had over the last twenty years when you really think about it, but Nick Chubb certainly certainly one of them, and I'm sure you'll miss him in Cleveland. What do you think about the fit in Houston.

00:08:36
Speaker 3: Let's go fit first, because this is a classic veteran looking for an opportunity to pursue a ring and not need to carry the load type of situation. Where you got Joe Mixon there, He's not the only running back on the depth chart.

00:08:48
Speaker 2: You've also got Damian Pierce.

00:08:50
Speaker 3: They have rookie Woody marks out of USC But Chubbs fit makes sense in that he can be somebody that you hand it to, I don't know, seven to twelve times a game if you want to really be run dependent and see what you get out of him. You know, don't need him to come back and be the star that the Browns hoped he was going to be when he came back from that knee injury last season in an abbreviated that ended with a foot injury. Now on the Cleveland side, people here are mourning the loss of him, but this was inevitable. They threw a bunch of you know, spaghetti at the wall and at running back and are hoping something sticks with you know, drafting Quinn, Shawn Judkins and Dylan Sampson. They have a million running backs. They've been cycling through a million running backs for the last few years, basically since Chubb got hurt. It's the end of an era, but it was an end that could be seen coming from a thousand miles away. And you hope that he is healthier this time around and is able to make a difference for a team that we expect to contend.

00:09:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think he is. Joe Mixon insurance. You're betting on the person, not the film from a year ago, because he just did not look like he had even close to the amount of juice that he had before his injuries. But you're further away from him, you're thinking, if anyone can overcome it, it's Chubb. And more importantly, yeah, maybe he's not even a seven to twelve touch guy initially. He's just a guy that you have the hopper and you get him as healthy as you can. And if Joe Mixon misses three or four games like he did last year, like he did a couple of years ago with the Bengals, or if he can't finish a game, Chubb comes in there and you see what can happen as a high volume replacement, but one of the best guys and one of the best just pure runners that we've seen. So I hope that he can bounce back with a fun team. We will see. Chauncey Gardner Johnson, by the way, is showing up to mandatory mini camp this week. He has not been at OTA's and shot some you know fire at the Eagles by the way to the media, just saying that he felt disrespected by that trade and he's ready to go. I love I love me some offseason story. I guess we'll talk Jermaine Pratt, by the way, just quickly, a linebacker who's played a ton of snaps for the Bengals, stuck around on this team longer than I expected. I don't I guess they were trying to get some sort of trade compensation out of him and just didn't want to bother. They will save five point six million dollars in cap space by cutting him.

00:10:59
Speaker 5: Shook.

00:11:00
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:11:01
Speaker 3: I think that friend of the show contributed to the show. Kevin Patris said it best today when when we saw the news, which is, oh, we're in the part of the offseason right now where teams are cutting guys before you get to mandatory mini camp, and this felt like that when he had requested a trade earlier this offseason. You know, it's it's a it's a career with the Bengals, where he started a lot of games and he piled up a team best total in tackles last season, and yet it felt like there was also a.

00:11:27
Speaker 2: Little bit more to be achieved there.

00:11:28
Speaker 3: I think that that defense as a whole struggled so much last year that his mistackles were magnified. According to PFF, he had twenty missed tackles last season, which is a lot for a linebacker. But it felt like Anna Rumo's out, He's over in Indianapolis. Now you got to move on, And it felt like Pratt maybe wasn't interested in the contract year, in finding a fit in a new coordinator scheme, and he wanted a change of scenery.

00:11:51
Speaker 2: So now he's gonna get one.

00:11:52
Speaker 3: Don't be surprised if the you know, the Colts last pick up the phone and check him out, because Lou and Rumo's there. And if they don't, I think I'll garner some interest because you know, you don't just pile up one hundred and forty three tackles out of nowhere. I think that that's that production itself will garner some interest. We'll see what happens, though.

00:12:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, he was not great the last couple of years. He was drafted. In twenty nineteen, Friend of the Show Ali Connelly will you know to go to his deathbed swearing that Jermaine Pratt's like doing the dirty work role really opened up that defense in a meaningful way and is probably like a Lou Anroumo favorite, so I'm with you that he'll probably end up in Indianapolis. He made the interception on Derek Carr. That was Derek Carr's only playoff start, right, you know, and they're driving. It'll be a memorable moment in Carr's career. He Pratt picks him off in that playoff game and help secure the victory for the Bengals. But they drafted Demetrius Knight, second round pick, was a surprise pick, and he's going to basically replace Pratt there. The cap space gives them more than thirty million dollars in cap space. You figure that is more than enough to get Trey Hendrickson signed, So it's more about the cash. And with them going over thirty million now and the packer is going way over thirty million dollars in cap space now, you know, both those teams are in the top ten or so in cap space. But I'm doing the math as I'm looking at it, and I think there's like twelve thirteen teams with thirty million dollars in cap space. And goes back to what I say a lout in the offseason, like cap space is overrated. It's almost it's too easy. It's the opposite of where the NBA is at right now. Like the cap is just not that huge of an issue for a lot of the league. If you've got thirty million dollars in cap space. Maybe I'm a dummy by saying this, but like, I don't think it's that big of an issue if everyone's got thirty million dollars in room, Like in the NBA, everyone's spending over the you know, get in to it.

00:13:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean you can.

00:13:46
Speaker 3: There's too many ways to finesse the cap right now in the NFL that that we get to this point, Like the brown should have no caspace, they have cap space, like there's there's there's a number of teams that should be in the red and yet some they could be. The Saints were notorious being close to one hundred million over and cap projected going into an off season and always find a way to get under the cap.

00:14:05
Speaker 2: So I agree it is overrated.

00:14:07
Speaker 3: But it is interesting because this has been a very expensive offseason for the Bengals in the extensions that they handed out, and that was a big sticky point with the whole Hendricks things. Now, even five point eight million dollars gets over that thirty million mark and suddenly, oh, you know what, we have some leeway where if we want to keep hendrickson, we could frontload a contract and get him paid right now and make him happy and find a way to make this work.

00:14:26
Speaker 1: And there you are saving not just cap space here, they are saving five point six in cash. It's one of those deals where it's just like they're just getting him off the books. And yeah, I mentioned that almost half the league is over thirty million. Only three teams are even under ten million, and so they got to figure some stuff out, you know, when they sign. They've signed some of the rookies, the Falcons, the Giants, and Bills are all five million are under but other than that, like everyone has plenty of room. By the way the Bills were mentioned, the Bills were mentioned as a potential jyr Alexander spot that, Yeah, there was some conversations there, but that might have been before the draft. I wouldn't be surprised. We're hearing these reports this time of year of like what almost happened, and that was one of them.

00:15:07
Speaker 3: Well, we're also getting that part of the season where like the veterans, you know, you're getting some late additions to the free agent market. You're also got the veterans who are continuing to wait out the market, so I will see some activity. I think once you get past mandatory MINDI camp, but you kind of understand where you are as a roster and where you need to improve and who maybe might not make the cut even now, then you start to explore those options. But I do have to say this, Greg, when you mentioned Derek Car's loan playoffs start, I thought, didn't the Raiders make the playoffs in twenty sixteen?

00:15:29
Speaker 2: Who was their quarterback? So I looked it up.

00:15:31
Speaker 3: Take a guess who their quarterback was in their playoff loss in the twenty sixteen season.

00:15:35
Speaker 1: Well, it's embarrassing if I can't remember Matt McGloin because I was at the game. Did he come in or was he the starter?

00:15:44
Speaker 2: The starter in that game, yes, was Michigan State's Connor Cook.

00:15:49
Speaker 1: I can't believe I forgot that. I was literally there. Jadavian Clowney, his crowning moment as a Houston Texan, dominated that game nicely home on the playoff win for the Texans. Let's take a quick break, and by the way, what before we do I just did want to mention were mentioned these possible trades. I mentioned the Rashad Bateman contract in the last show. There was a report from Jeremy Fowler that he actually, you know, asked for a raise. They didn't want to give it to him. They said, go check your value across the league, almost almost testing him, like yeah, you think you can get a contract, go go look around. And there were multiple teams that were like, yeah, we'd love to trade for Rashad Bateman, and then the Ravens were like, oh, actually, we don't want to do that. But apparently the Packers and the Patriots were both in on a Rashad Bateman trade. I believe that would have been before the draft, and so that is a sliding doors moment. But that was one of those situations where him and his agent called their bluff. He actually did have some value and they were like, no, man, we actually love you Rashad Bateman, We're going to find a way to keep you.

00:16:50
Speaker 2: And they worked it out. I mean, they better.

00:16:52
Speaker 3: They spent two years popping him up before he finally produced last year, so you better stick with him.

00:16:56
Speaker 1: Why not stick with him? And then of course the Packers take Matthew Golden in the draft and the Patriots get my boy, Kyle Williams. Let's take a quick break and we're going to talk a little bit about your article. Nick. I'm gonna throw in some players here. We'll do five Players at the Crossroads right after this.

00:17:17
Speaker 2: What I do.

00:17:21
Speaker 1: Back on NFL Daily, looking forward to the little drips and drabs of news this week before it gets real quiet. We have a big newsmaker on on Tuesday, by the way, Shook and Rappaport.

00:17:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, well you think, Greg.

00:17:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're going to talk about this make or Breaks article that I wrote last week. Yeah, it's getting the most run if I think any article I've written in a long time. I did a segment with Ian on The Insiders about it on Friday.

00:17:47
Speaker 1: Look at you, big shook pop in the off season before you take a well deserved break, I believe in the middle of this week or into next week. So I'm looking forward for you for that and yeah, let's talk about it. You said it's kind of a make or break season for a number of players around the NFL. You said players at the Crossroads. We'll do five and I'll let you get going. We'll go back and forth. Who do you find most intriguing about these players at the Crossroads.

00:18:16
Speaker 3: You know, I think when you look at this article and you scroll down you see a name like Sam Darnold, you get confused, which, by the way, Crossroads shout out to bone Thugs and Harmony. But look, because Sam had a great year last year and everybody expect him to get paid.

00:18:30
Speaker 2: He gets paid by the Seahawks.

00:18:31
Speaker 3: We all know, you know what dominoes needed to fall in order to make that happen, including your boy get Gino Smith getting traded to the Raiders, which win win, right, But it is a risk because if Sam doesn't produce in year one, they can get out of it. The way they've structured this contract. We just talked about how cap space doesn't matter what contracts often on face.

00:18:49
Speaker 2: Value don't matter either.

00:18:50
Speaker 3: Because of the way they're structured the Seahawks, if they cut him after June first next year, they could save twenty seven and a half million of his thirty three point nine million cap number in twenty twenty six. That's basically saying, all right, this didn't work out, We're moving on. They also drafted Jalen Milroe. Obviously, he's more of a runner than a pastor still needs time to develop. He's going to be on the field and packages at some point just because he's that dangerous of a runner. But the pressure is on, and it's on just as much for Sam as it was a year ago when he went to Minnesota and basically got the starting job because JJ McCarthy got injured and so there was no competition and then he took advantage of it. He's going to have to capitalize again. It's crazy for a guy who has seen so many peaks and valleys in his career already and experienced such a significant peak last year that he's going to have to do it again under such pressure. But this is the NFL, so he is a guy who is going to have to deliver in order to retain his job beyond one year, no matter how big the contract was.

00:19:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, you think about where he's at, and the comparisons to Gino Smith make a lot of sense in many ways in terms of career arc But this is like that season that Gino had trying to follow up his breakout, where you can either cement yourself as a guy who is going to be starting in the NFL for the next handful of years, or you could kind of go back to being where you were before, which is this bridge guy and you only have so many of those chances. And if it doesn't work for Darnald in what I think is a good setup, but certainly not as good a setup as Minnesota, then he's going to be typecast as a guy. It's like it's got to be perfect, it's got to be that situation. He's going to be more of a one be I think what he did last year was guarantee that he's going to have a long career if he wants it, and he's going to get to start more games in his career than we probably expected going into last year. But he could go right back to Jamis Winston, Marcus Mariota kind of late career Teddy Bridgewater mode where he's not really viewed as a potential starter, where like if he plays like he did last year, like he's just going to be He's just going to be a guy that we're talking about as a starting quarterback the next like five, six, seven years. He can really submit himself. All you really need to do is do that a couple times as a starter and I'm I'm gonna throw out a guy in a similar situation in terms of it could be his last year with his team. I'm gonna say Kyler.

00:21:09
Speaker 2: Murray, like, oh, I love this.

00:21:12
Speaker 1: How many more years can we do this? Actually? How many players have been at the crossroads more than Kyler Murray. I feel like he has a crossroads year every three or four. And I like that they have been patient with him, this new staff. But he's twenty eight years old. He has been in Arizona a long time, and he's been with this coaching staff took for a long time. And how I would put it is that if he plays exactly the same as he did a year ago for Arizona, I think they will trade him in the offseason. Now he's gonna keep He's too talented not to be starting games out there, But they can save thirty five million dollars. If they trade him next year, they would have only seventeen million dollars in dead cap. That's it's actually not that crazy to move off of a quarterback like it happens all the time. You can survive that you're saving money ultimately, and so to me, I do think he needs to take a step forward for this Arizona team to remain the guy there long term.

00:22:15
Speaker 3: Yeah, And you know, it's crazy because his arc has kind of it coincides with the Jonathan Gannon era there, in which their first season was essentially a mulligan because he wasn't going to be able to come back healthy until late in the season, and he played well enough and they took steps forward that you're like, oh, Okay, he's not he's been out of the game for a while, and yet look how much better we are with him. And then they went into last season and they had a strong start and they kind of you know, petered out at the end, and now we're at this point where you place him as one of those crossroads players because of that exact reason the question. I have two questions here, because I can't imagine that you have an upgrade available right now that would actually convince you unless the financial savings are just so attractive that it would sell you on moving him and just figuring it out elsewhere. But also because of the amount of money that they're going to save in a move and everything else, it sounds like it could be an attractive trade option for another team. So like what kind of return do they get on him in this scenario, because I think if you're only eating.

00:23:15
Speaker 2: A I mean, it's not a terrible amount of dead cap, but.

00:23:18
Speaker 3: It's a movable contract at that point, or at least relatively given that, there's a number of teams that are desperate for quarterback every year. So like, what does he fetch if he has a season like last season? Because I could count a handful of teams right now that would take him in a trade.

00:23:31
Speaker 1: Right he is a much better option than Justin Fields or Aaron Rodgers, who will both be starting Week one. By the way Aaron Rodgers contract details came out, I didn't mean to hit that he's making ten point five guaranteed thirteen million dollars in general, assuming he makes a team and the incentives can go up to nineteen million. I know it's a little bit of a sidebar, but what do you think about the fact that Aaron Rodgers is making less money than Daniel Jones this year?

00:23:57
Speaker 3: I got really excited when I saw that on the ticker on the at the gym the other day. I was just like, Oh, we're at that point now where Rogers is playing for less than twenty million.

00:24:05
Speaker 1: This is great, way less it's really a thirteen million dollar contract. But in every everyone trying to make the case that this is like a great deal. First of all, Daniel Jones, that bad contract should not be the barometer of what makes sense or not. It actually makes sense to me. I mean, the fact that Justin Field is making a lot more money is surprising. And yet I think this is where Rogers' play said he was worth, and it says a lot that the market didn't value him any better than that, and so I don't think he's like taking some discount. I just think this is the best that he can get. And there's just such a huge drop off from if you're actually a starter like a Kyler Murray, who who it's crazy is where you don't want to be And I'll get back to him now, where you don't want to be is have the huge franchise quarterback contract. And they're all close enough to each other that there's actually not that big of a different. But ultimately Kyler Murray is close to the very end of the line in terms of quality play. Now I'm always a defender. There was a good video that went out this weekend on YouTube's by Alex Rollins. I watched it and it was kind of about how much Kyler Murray struggles with pressure, and you can change the numbers around, like his EPA per play against pressure last year wasn't great, but the eye test and some other numbers aren't great. And so he is a guy who, if it's all working well, can be absolutely fantastic. If he's protected, he can be fantastic. But he just doesn't want to get hit. And that's not that huge of an issue if you're Peyton Manning and you're winning from the neck up and you can just get rid of the ball quickly, but that's not how Kyler Murray wins. So that combination is a problem. And I do think he's going to have to run more. He's talked about that, and I do think he's either got to develop knowing where everyone else is on the field more, or he's got to be a little more willing to take a hit. And that's tough to do at his size and his age.

00:26:00
Speaker 3: Talked about it at length last season, where Kyler Murray doesn't know who he wants to be. Sometimes he wants to run more, sometimes he wants to do the opposite, So I totally agree that he's probably going to need to run more. They were also numbers aside, Like not going to use any stats to back this, but just from the eye test alone, knowing what happened in their games last year, they were one of the worst third down teams that I can remember in a while, Like it was just drop back, blitz is coming, chuck a prayer, hope it works out. Oftentimes it just throw the ball toward Marvin Harrison Junior or somebody else and it didn't work out. So that needs to be fixed because you have to sustain drives. So I totally agree with that, and I don't know if we'll ever see him get there.

00:26:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, I still have hope because the great games are so great. It's funny you look at his numbers, they're incredibly consistent, Like he's averaging seven yards per attempt like his whole career and like every year is right around there. But he gets to it in such an inconsistent way throughout a course of a season, throughout a course of a game. Like a lot of this video referred to this second matchup against the Rams, which I remember really well. It was you know, was on in primetime and they only scored nine points. And I think about that dichotomy between that in the first Rams game a year ago, where he looked like the best quarterback in the league, they put up a forty burger. That's kind of the Kyler Murray experience. He fades at the end of the year. All right, let's go to your next player at a crossroads.

00:27:12
Speaker 3: Yeah, it kind of makes me feel bad for holding Cliff Kingsbury accountable for them blowing a tire down the stretch so many times.

00:27:17
Speaker 1: Fair it seems like a Kyler Murray thing to struggle.

00:27:20
Speaker 2: I may have some regrets, all right.

00:27:21
Speaker 3: Another player that showed up on my list Marshawn Lattimore, cornerback for the Washington Commanders. We know that he was acquired last you know, mid season last year as an upgrade for a Commander's team that surprised everybody, But it took him a while to get on the field and be available, and once they hit.

00:27:36
Speaker 2: The playoffs, he was bad.

00:27:37
Speaker 3: Like like, look at his PFF grades, they're in the red.

00:27:40
Speaker 2: They're bad.

00:27:41
Speaker 3: And so it's not that he's at a crossroads that he is necessarily playing for a contract because he does have another year in that contract. It's about earning that next year because at twenty nine years old, you hope that he's got the off season to kind of, you know, understand where he fits in dan Quinn's defense more and gets more familiar with his surroundings with Wash. But he's gonna have to be better than that because even as somebody that was traded for in the middle of the season, they expect more out of him than what they've gotten out of him so far, especially in clutch games like that. So if he's gonna get to twenty twenty six in his contract, he's going to have to play much better. And even if he's not going to get to twenty twenty six in that contract, hes still got to play better to earn money elsewhere because he's at that age right now where he's only got one more opportunity to cash in on a significant deal outside of the one year deals that you mentioned that guys like Stefan Gilmore or Jalen Ramsey end up getting at that point in their career.

00:28:29
Speaker 2: So it's a pivotal season for him in a number of different areas.

00:28:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think of him and JayR Alexander very similarly, like they came into the league at twenty one years old. A lot of early success. Jayer has made two second team All pros. Lattimore has made four Pro Bowls. But man, you see how these cornerback careers go. I just said it with Alexander too, like you can have a pop up season late in your career. And I think Latimore started twenty twenty three looking like he's looked, but he's missed at least seven games per year over the last three years. Like this is a guy who is his tea. You know, his colleagues were rating top one hundred player in the NFL five times. He was one of those guys. And yet man, he could be a negative for this team. So I love that one because he was a guy I thought was going to have just a fantastic career. They drafted Trey Amos, Like, who knows what they're going to get. They might get something great out of him, they might get something terrible. He was one of the guys I was thinking about talking about too so good pick I guess, but you stole it. I'm going to go DeAndre Swift, who was on your list. So another player out a crossroads who probably wouldn't be the starter for Chicago if they had gotten their wish and drafted Treveon Henderson. I think they wanted him in the draft, it didn't happen. Instead, they wind up with Luther Burden because the Patriots get Henderson and Burden, by the way, has not been practicing at all with a soft tissue injury, so that's not a good start to the offseason for him. But I checked Shookie only nine running backs. This is kind of a weird way to do it, but nine running backs have at least nine hundred yards from scrimmage over the last three straight years, and DeAndre Swift is one of them. And there were moments in that Philadelphia season certainly, and even with this season in Ben Johnson where he runs really tough and I think he's a little better at his best than people give him credit for. But he's really been scheme dependent. He's now in this great situation and he could definitely pop off and have a big time year, or he could be someone that kind of drags this Bears offense down.

00:30:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree that I think that he's unfairly criticized and undervalue often and I think about that Eagles season where I was like, look at him.

00:30:36
Speaker 2: He's back on the horse. Now, he's proving his worth, and.

00:30:39
Speaker 3: I thought he was gonna be a great fit in Chicago, but I caution about the heightened expectations under Ben Johnson. You look at Detroit's offense, you see David Montgomery and Jimior Gibbs, and they're doing so well in this offense and everything else. They're there because the Lions didn't want DeAndre Swift anymore. They let him go to Philadelphia and rebuilt their backfield in a move that I think shocked a lot of people at the time but made a lot of sense in hindsight, and there's a reason for it.

00:31:02
Speaker 2: In his last season, he ran for five hundred and forty two.

00:31:05
Speaker 3: Yards and five touchdowns under Ben Johnson before leaving for the Eagles. I'm a little concerned that this doesn't actually work out, which is a big reason why I put him at the crossroads. He's going to have to prove that he's not scheme dependent, that he can work well in Ben Johnson's offense in order to keep himself, you know, basically prove his worth to the Bears.

00:31:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, he caught a ton of passes that year, did not get a ton of carries, and so you might see that play out with Chicago that he is a little bit more of a receiving back for the Bears. Last thing on I know I'm jumping all around, but I did want to mention the Packers are a team that is like looking to make the Super Bowl right now, and their best cornerbacks are Keishawn Nixon and Carrington Valentine. So I do think there could they be a Jalen Ramsey team. I don't know, like that could be a big time weakness for this team is their cornerback position, if that's their top two quarterbacks. Just wanted to make that going before No.

00:32:00
Speaker 3: I think that's a great point to make because when all this stuff started months ago, which this feels like it's been an ongoing saga since like January, if you looked at their death chart, that's the first takeaway I had.

00:32:11
Speaker 2: Too was well who do you have behind him?

00:32:12
Speaker 3: Because Valentine was a guy that essentially was fourth in your depth chart ended up working his way more into the rotation. But to have those as your top two, I feel like that's a bit of a weakness on paper. That you wouldn't want to expose yourself to going into this season, and especially if you could work something out with him. So yeah, I think that's a great point to make and could be a problem for them this season.

00:32:33
Speaker 1: I don't know about great. I'm gonna go solid because I can hear Brian Gudakunz and Packers fans saying we just signed Nate Hobbs to huge money. But in my mind, I'm thinking about Nate Hobbs as a guy that's a slot cornerback. They say, maybe he's going to play a little more on the outside. I'm thinking about outside cornerbacks. You need three of them. But yes, Nate Hobbs is a promising pickup for them, not a guy who stayed on the field all the time either for the Raiders. By the way, all right, your final player at the Crossroads.

00:33:00
Speaker 2: Shook my final player at the Crossroads.

00:33:02
Speaker 3: You know, I could cherry pick and I could say Anthony Richardson because especially with the news that he was going to miss the rest of offseason activities and be back at some point in camp that well, you know, I could go there, but I'm not. I'm gonna go with Chris o'lave. Not because of his contract, this is not the last year of his deal. Not because of the talent. We know he's a talented player. It's because he can't stay on the field. We know that he's had multiple instances of concussions in his career. He's just constantly on the injury report and isn't available. And the thing is is like he had two thousand yard seasons to start his career and then he just played only eight games last year. This is a Saints team that has been ravaged by injury at the receiver position over the last couple of years. They now lost their quarterback in Derek Carr that Tyler Schuck looks like the leading candidate to take that job and doesn't inspire the world's you know, all the world's confidence in me right now. But he'd do a lot better if he had a guy like Olave on the field. And Olave would too, because I think this is more about reclaiming a promising career and proven that you can do it and really just staying healthy. And oftentimes luck is so you know, unfortunate with guys who are talented like a Lave, and just that you can't predict when you're gonna get hurt and and that sort of thing. But I would love to see him put together a full season again and prove that he's still the player that we remembered him coming out of Ohio State, because when he's at his best, he's he's a very good young receiver and I would hate to see, you know, that flame extinguished just because of health issues.

00:34:28
Speaker 1: Oh we got we got some pushback on socials that we had a Lave too high in our top thirty wide receiver rankings that even made the list, But I think he was somewhere right.

00:34:36
Speaker 2: That's because he hasn't been available.

00:34:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, if he's right, I think he's going to earn that spot and maybe even a little more, but clearly riskier than a lot of the players, and you just hope he can stay healthy so that he can get that big second contract. They did pick up the fifth year option for a Lave, so he is guaranteed around fifteen million dollars next year. But he is someone you just you just hope the best for, especially with the head injuries. That's a good call of a guy who they really need to come through, and I think he will be desperate to do so, and to me, yeah, it's more about the injuries and certainly the quarterback. There five players at the crossroads shook. We're not saying goodbye to you for the rest of the off season yet. I'll let the listeners know we have some plans coming up in future weeks. But I know you're taking off for a little bit. You'll be back with us in a couple of weeks. You need a break, deserve it, and you know, don't work too hard playing Madden and doing consulting or whatever you're doing.

00:35:34
Speaker 3: For Matt. I will be using this next week week and a half to get so much needed r and R before we start to gear up for what is going to be another thrilling and exciting season, Year two of NFL Daily.

00:35:47
Speaker 2: Well, baby, here we go.

00:35:48
Speaker 1: I know we have the date where we're going back to daily. Clearly we have not been daily lately, but we're doing it a handful of times this week. We will have Ian Rappaport on the show next I'm really looking forward to that and breaking down all the news stories around the league.

00:36:05
Speaker 5: Yeah.

00:36:05
Speaker 1: Man, when we're when we're like leading with Jermaine Pratt, like football is not that bad.

00:36:11
Speaker 4: I don't know

00:36:15
Speaker 3: M hm.