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

00:00:03
Speaker 1: Welcome to Forties 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. Freegency already almost feels over.

00:00:19
Speaker 2: 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.

00:00:37
Speaker 1: I think there could 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 one to one list by yours truly. On NFL dot Com, forty of the top forty two players are off the board, and that was true literally before the Technical League year started. The only two out of the top forty two that are even still available, Kyler Murray, who is visiting the Vikings on Thursday. We're taping Thursday morning. And Rashid Walker, the tackle of 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 going to 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.

00:01:29
Speaker 2: All right, well, well done, well done, buddy. I'm I'm glad to see that. Have you had a year? How many years have you been doing this?

00:01:35
Speaker 1: Since twenty fifteen fourteen?

00:01:37
Speaker 2: So what who was it? Who was it? Like Brandon Cooks? Who was it? Or no, no, no, no, no no, non't tell me, don't tell me, don't tell me, don't tell me, don't tell me. It was Cooper right last year?

00:01:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, just sat out there all was one guy off season and they were still putting my top one on one during the preseason football games. That Cooper is the city out there, the number ten player that killed me. We avoided that. Let's start thinking about you know, this is the 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 happened early in free agency. I'm gonna start with the edge rushers, just because that's where the most money went. You know, the Trey Hendrickson saga was fascinating. He ends up getting, you know, close to thirty million dollars from the Ravens. But Jalen Phillips gets one hundred and twenty million dollars from the Panthers four years for him, almost half of that's guaranteed. A Dafeoa gets sixty eight million dollars guaranteed on one hundred million dollar contract from the Commanders. Boy Mafi gets twenty million dollars a year. Quity Pay gets sixteen million dollars a year. They kind of went in order of how good they are. And you you tell me where you think maybe this could impact some of the teams in the draft.

00:02:53
Speaker 2: Well, I think you know the goal and freegency, most teams always say the same thing, which is, we don't want to have a gun to our head. At the draft where we have an absolutely one hundred percent need at a premier position and boxes us in where we feel like we've got to reach for guys, we've got to be too aggressive in trade. So you want to 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. We'll get an ed rusher that doesn't necessarily take us out of the edge rusher market. In the draft. You know, we want there's more. We want to continue to add and fill out those rooms. So you know, there was a lot of things that happen in free agency that I think in form what goes on in the draft. I don't know that ed rusher is one of them. I don't think that the teams that did that can't come out of here.

00:03:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, how about the Commanders at seven? Uh, you know that that's an interesting spot for an eddresher. Are the top guys off the board? There the fact that they paid oh Way Chase on they actually brought back Dee Chick. Wise, they still have Dorans or Armstrong. Maybe that doesn't prevent them from getting an edge rusher, but man, they just spent a lot of money at that position. Chason 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.

00:04:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, so they got a mena Who too, right, So it was that's right always.

00:04:11
Speaker 1: It was so sad last year for this. You know, no offense to Mena Who. If he's listening, I know he's a big fan of mine.

00:04:17
Speaker 2: They brought back Tim settle it so they signed four D Lineman to gop.

00:04:23
Speaker 1: Back trick Wise to Chase On got twelve million dollars. 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 fourteenth overall pick.

00:04:35
Speaker 2: Already that's going down. I already know how that's going down. Let me just give you the want to give you Ravens one. Yeah, Ravens one oh one is miraculously what you need. And the player that has no business being there, I've already just wrote it in. Just Ruben Bain is gonna everybody's gonna kill Ruby Bain on the Arms and the Ravens if you think about it like and we can get into a longer discussion on the Ravens if you like. But the you know that defense, having seen Jesse Menners defense up up close and personal. They require firm edge setter. So you had Mac and Tooley 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 or second one doesn't help anybody. And Hendrick Sen is 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 defenses. You can go way back, and then you can find the mcfees and the Judons and you know, all the way through the bud Duprees. These guys are all strong square point of attack players. And who's that guy in this draft who would be the one guy who would fill that void that they have desperately. It would be Reuben Bain.

00:05:45
Speaker 1: But they were willing to give up that fourteenth 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 ruben Bain, we're not really excited about the edges that we could potentially get, and he's probably gonna go before us. But you're just saying the magic Ravens pixie.

00:06:08
Speaker 2: Dust just it just fall. It just happens. They just falls in their lap, and you go, how the heck did this happen? It looked 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.

00:06:20
Speaker 1: 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.

00:06:41
Speaker 2: 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't remember the exact number, they won the super Bowl. Okay, Okay, Then when I'm in Philly there 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 you might win whatever a podcast award is. I don't know what they call those things, but you you might be in line to win one of those things.

00:07:08
Speaker 1: We did. We did go to an iHeart Awards that we were nominated for around the NFL ones uh. And then when we went to the awards ceremony, they had a special blocked off parts 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're like, no, that's that's Shannon Sharp's that's his booth. He he won the award.

00:07:37
Speaker 2: WHOA. Well, now it's just a Golden Globe, right, you can get podcasts for a gold Globe. Sure, it would be forties and free Agents with with Greg Rosenthal lanzerline. When's the Golden Globe in twenty twenty eight? That's what I'm saying.

00:07:50
Speaker 1: I like the I like the Mafe 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 you know, Baldy about the Jalen Phillips. He was a little surprised that Phillips got that much money. But that's what happens in free agency. If you're well that that was.

00:08:07
Speaker 2: A result of last year. You remember, I mean that was Milton Williams and it was close, and it was Carolina and New England, and Carolina lost a former Philly defensive linement that they were in love with, and they watched the proof of concept of him go to New England make a massive difference, and it was like, Okay, that's the kind of that's the kind of defense we want to be and play. And this kid's come out of the same place they love him. There, we're bidden against the Eagles, We're not going to lose. If we have to overpay, we'll overpay.

00:08:34
Speaker 1: And they did so. On the interior offensive line. You could argue the Raiders overpaid for Tyler lind argue, Okay, there's no argument.

00:08:44
Speaker 2: I mean that that's been the number one thing I've gotten. It's hilarious to me. I've and 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? Colton 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 and blah blah blah. But like they have all this money, there's rules in place. We have to spend you know, up to the up to the percentage of the cap. So they needed to spend it, and they were like, who helps us the most? This guy? Okay, well, just whatever we got to do to get them, let's get him. I get it.

00:09:35
Speaker 1: 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, safeties, 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 safeties actually got paid, and in this case, the center got paid. Is it really that crazy? Let's say Underbomb 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 guards in the league, and like 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.

00:10:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think, and especially so with young quarterback. And I think that's what was baked into it. I think that's baked into the overpay is that we're going to take a little bit off of the plate of the quarterback in terms of the communication, the identification, all that could be you know, stored up in your brain. We're going to take some of that load off of Mendoza and we can put it on lender palm. So I mean I get it. I one hundred percent get it. But trust me, there were people around the league that were flabbergasseid that they went to that number.

00:10:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it sounded like the Ravens were in but they wanted to go four years and it was pretty significantly less money.

00:10:58
Speaker 2: Put that's the other part of it. Greg like, he's three years, he's right back. He's going to crush it for three years and be right back in the market.

00:11:05
Speaker 1: It's a great move because if this Raiders dalliance doesn't work, he can do what like Raiders coaches do, except he'll be doing it voluntarily. Just leave and try to get to a better situation.

00:11:16
Speaker 2: Right, no question, but that's often I don't know who his agent is. But that was the by far the best player contract of this cycle.

00:11:23
Speaker 1: Well that's because you know, teams get mad about that because now they're going to have to pay their centers more. That's why, you know, of course, Yeah, Miami with Aaron Brewer, and at some point it.

00:11:35
Speaker 2: Was Neil Cornridge by the way, and there's Neil Cornish 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 Cornich.

00:11:45
Speaker 1: Nice job, good job by him, and he was one of many Linderbaum, that is, interior guys who got paid. Elijah Verra 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 proven deal, but he gets twenty one million dollars guaranteed three years forty two million dollars. Zion Johnson, you called that three years forty nine and a half million dollars, and by you called that you just thought he would get good money. Yeah, 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. Connor McGovern the Center gets eighteen million dollars a year to stay with the Buffalo Bills, So it was a position. I think teams saw there's only so many real deal starters maybe plus starters available, and they got paid really good money.

00:12:35
Speaker 2: Can I can I I want to do an exercise so please. 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 football player in another lifetime here and you're getting You're gonna have somebody put a good chunk of money in front of your face. You're on the team, You've got a year left on your deal. Is Greg Rosenthal more likely to take that? You know, got it right now? Not worried about injury or are you? Are you a bet on yourself. Let's get to the free agent market. Cash in.

00:13:04
Speaker 1: 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.

00:13:09
Speaker 2: I know, take yourself.

00:13:10
Speaker 1: I'm taking it. I might take it too early. I might be like Rob Gronkowski. They gave him the earliest contract pop and it's just like this seems like enough. I'm just gonna take it and not take any risk because it's it'll change my life either way.

00:13:23
Speaker 2: Time value of money. You're playing that game. We're just gonna take the money now, get it and get it invested right now, try and offset the money on you giving up to me.

00:13:31
Speaker 1: It's a very human thing. I think the fact that these guys get to free agency. It's a lot of times not betty on themselves. It's just the teams weren't betty on them. They get there almost by mistake. Like if the Colts thought Alex Pierce was gonna cost this much money, they would have just signed him a year ago. But they didn't really, you know, value him. And I don't think the Chargers, for instance, valued Zion Johnson. Speaking of the Chargers, their fans are freaking out. Really, I don't know if you know this about the lack of activity.

00:13:57
Speaker 2: I think they've signed a lot of guys.

00:13:59
Speaker 1: Which is crazy. They signed Tyler Biattish at Center, yeah, which is a lot. Strange got a lot of money. You asked me before the show, are you who are you surprised about in terms of what they got money? Cole Strange getting a lot of money from the Charges was a little a little surprising. But I think they wanted more activity of these interior 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 and they paid a center.

00:14:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, they got two great tackles, and I thought it was important that they invest in a swing tackle, just his insurance. They bring Trey Pipkins back, who, again, Tray Pipkins, if you think from a scouting standpoint, was a small school player. So he's twenty nine 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 twenty nine year old who came out Alabama and he kind of always is who he's going to be, you know. 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, beaddish is a starter. You get Penning. They bring Penning 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's strange. You know, it is interesting. He has not lived up to where he was selected, as you know from from following the Pats closely as you do. But he still has first round pedigree, even though it was a shock, especially to the Rams that he.

00:15:40
Speaker 1: Was he's an NFL player, and clearly Mike McDaniel agrees. He Adam in Miami last year. And I always thought it was just staying healthy with the Patriots, like he looked like an NFL player.

00:15:50
Speaker 2: He just so if you look at it, like Penning, I think Penning is twenty six years old was a first round pick. Cole Strange, I think is maybe twenty seven was a first round pick. Like they have some pedigree. In a perfect world, neither one of them start, and you've got two first rounds, 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 thirty three, thirty four years old.

00:16:13
Speaker 1: And they also gave Charlie Kohlar, who's a blocking tight end, but he can catch million dollars guaranteed on a three year, twenty four million dollar contract, a guy I was glad to end up boosting, and he got into my top seventy. In the end, he got almost as much money per year as Chigo Konko and Kadat and who I really liked, and Isaiah Likely, who are more kind of do everything type tight end.

00:16:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, but it's hard to find what he does. It's hard to find the blocker.

00:16:42
Speaker 1: It shows to me that he had a really good market because that 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.

00:16:53
Speaker 2: I wonder if I wonder, you know, 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 alec Ingold, you've got Scott Mattlocke, who's more obviously three hundred pounds. It's more the Ravens way, you know, the Ravens offense, which is not gonna look anything like Mike McDaniel's offense. I wonder if there people would call on him, you know, if you want to be a heavy, heavy team and you want to run gap runs, and you know you would value someone like Mattock who also can't play d tackle like he is a roster saver.

00:17:25
Speaker 1: Yep, 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. You know, they traded for Jermaine Johnson, and they give Wandel Robinson a bunch of money. They bring in Cordell Flat and Alonte Taylor. Alante 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 at number four overro?

00:18:02
Speaker 2: 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, Cordial Flott, Alante Taylor, that's a lot of pieces they've added there that On offense, Wandale, you mentioned Slot min at center, but right now they don't even have a right guard and you're looking at the receiver position. Okay, I like Wandale. I don't know what's going to go on with Ridley. You've got a couple intriguing guys from last year's class with DK and Io Manor. But to me, you gotta do something for cam Ward. You know.

00:18:38
Speaker 1: Can that be Jeremiah Love? Though? Can that be Jeremiah Love?

00:18:41
Speaker 2: One percent? Puts him in that mix? I think. I think that's what I'm saying. You're looking at Jeremiah Love, You're looking at Carneal Tate, you know, somebody like you 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 going to 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.

00:19:09
Speaker 1: So Kansas City's picking at seven, they get Kenneth Walker. You would think that that kind of crossed them out for Jeremiah Love. Should he fall to that far, they basically lose their entire secondary like Jalen Watson and Brian Cook, and they trade away McDuffie. But they're a 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?

00:19:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, to me, they're a trade down candidate. I mean that's where I've been kind of throwing this this theory that I have out on that one, which is if you are and it might be it's far to travel for Minnesota, but man, Jeremiah 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 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 McDuffie and Jeremiah Love on that team. You think they win that game in Seattle. I mean, that would be.

00:20:18
Speaker 1: Fun, William, But that's get a little respect Caro Williams a good player, but that's I mean, I think two years ago, I remember looking at it it was yards over expected.

00:20:28
Speaker 2: 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 with Jeremiah Love and would it would be a callback to Todd Gurley and when they first got going there with McVeigh.

00:20:42
Speaker 1: The Chiefs are part of an AFC trend which the superpowers with the best quarterbacks and 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.

00:20:53
Speaker 2: That's why, to me, doesn't trade back make sense with them?

00:20:56
Speaker 1: Yeah? I agree. The Jets are a team that went crazy on day one a free agency. After forty eight 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 Onyamata and to Mario Davis. Even Annigbari, who's not old, is not a dynamic fast player. Minka Fitzpatrick just it seems like, what are we doing here?

00:21:22
Speaker 2: Really?

00:21:23
Speaker 1: 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 forty four overall. They got Geno Smith. So quarterback's good for the next five years or so. You get a top ten quarterback. But after that, I think you need some help around GENA.

00:21:42
Speaker 2: You want a dated analogy, just make myself look old, sound old? Yeah, 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 weeks, but we want to will read it and then we'll just bring it right back. That was free agency for them. It was it was a library.

00:22:04
Speaker 1: Card, right. Why is that? Why is that data?

00:22:06
Speaker 2: I don't know. If Ama goes to the library more, Greg.

00:22:09
Speaker 1: Come 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 your children develop a love for reading, which which their parents show be the example for them. And we're hitting up Barnes and Noble plenty too. Reading. It's a good time. Yeah, it makes you a better lister too.

00:22:31
Speaker 2: You know what. They also have this thing called Amazon and you can actually order the book and it shows up on your doorstep.

00:22:35
Speaker 1: 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 ten guy for the next five years.

00:22:48
Speaker 2: Now, Oh g Now, I assumed you were talking about the quarterback they were going to take in the draft in twenty twenty seven. So that's what I was assuming. Because they're already positioned for that.

00:22:55
Speaker 1: They really do need a lot of help around them. Although I kind of forgot eighty Mitch was there. I don't hate aighty Mitchell as a three behind Garrett Wilson and a two to be named later. And then you got Mason, Taylor and breestlt. Not a terrible group. It's not a terrible group.

00:23:11
Speaker 2: Interesting with them is like if you look at it for being a bad team.

00:23:15
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:23:15
Speaker 2: Most times you look at a bad team and you'll see a horrible offensive line.

00:23:19
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:23:19
Speaker 2: I actually kind of like their offensive line. Yeah.

00:23:22
Speaker 1: They 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 bit him up. I know the Jets are one of.

00:23:49
Speaker 2: Them, and I know the Giants and the Browns were also in on the Wow.

00:23:52
Speaker 1: See so 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 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. Back on the forties and free agents where half the podcast is literate, you know supports. The library is great. It's amazing that libraries even exist. All this free stuff they're giving you.

00:24:31
Speaker 2: Let me just tell you, let me just tell you that something that'll that'll, it'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 she would reward us, Like my mom was very much into incentive clauses in our contracts, 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, eleven, twelve years old and the book that I checked out, I want the sports section, as I always did. I wonder it is a sports book. I read a book by Jerry Mark Bright, NFL official. The Life of an NFL Official is like a twelve 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 Mark Bright NFL official book and I read it from cover to cover greg as like a twelve year old.

00:25:21
Speaker 1: I will look for it Walker. My son is very into the football books, has checked out a lot of them. I bet he would dig a little Mark Bright. So maybe we can be the second second person. Let's let's make it time for all in, presented by Toyota. Talk about some of the teams that went all in during freegency. We already talked about the Titans. They spent two hundred and ninety three million dollars in total contracts during the first three days. The Raiders are next at two hundred and eighty one, and that does not count the Max Crosby 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 two first for Max Crosby by the Raiders, I actually like this roster next year, what you know, what do you think that this defense is gonna look like?

00:26:07
Speaker 2: Like?

00:26:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, I like the ones that they did.

00:26:11
Speaker 2: 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.

00:26:16
Speaker 1: I brought both of them. When that came back to back, I was a little confused. I was like, do we really need both those guys?

00:26:22
Speaker 2: Yeah? But I think they've played next to each other, they know each other well, so you start with that relationship. NA Kobe 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. Kway Walker's I thought was a little bit more of a developmental player coming into the league. So I think there's still you know, I think there's 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. Quitd he pay will be an interesting one. I have to look this up, but I think he played on the same side as Max Crosby, and Max Crosby never comes off the field, so it'll be obviously Quitdi will have to kick over to the other side. I know the you know, I know the metrics in the you know, they aren't friendly to him in terms of win rate, pass rush, uh, you know, win rate as well as pressure rate. But he's again, he's got first round pedigree and he's he's explosive, and I think that that defense overall it's a lot of pieces that they added in. If you keep Max Crosby uh 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 gonna go get a veteran quarterback that's been out there, so they're not going to have the start Mendos 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 Linderbaum at center. They even though you that trade doesn't go through, they still have some 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 much improved team off of what we saw last year. I mean, they won three games last year, Greg, I mean, that's gonna be much improved.

00:28:00
Speaker 1: The reporting is that Kirk Cousins could be going to Vegas. I like, I don't really buy that Kirk Cousins is starting week one over for Nana Mendoz.

00:28:10
Speaker 2: Did you see the chat by the way that Drew put in there?

00:28:13
Speaker 1: I do. I was waiting for like the natural kind of segue.

00:28:16
Speaker 2: But if any of the.

00:28:17
Speaker 1: Listeners just want to get there first. The book Born to Referee My Life on the grid Iron is available at the San Diego Public Library right now by Jerry Martin Bright.

00:28:28
Speaker 2: Look at what Look at what it costs on Amazon.

00:28:31
Speaker 1: Amazon. You can get it for two dollars and seventeen cents. That's two dollars you don't need to spend trive down.

00:28:38
Speaker 2: What about the gas? Look at gas prices, Greg gas prices to and from the library. He's going to cost you more two dollars than seventeen cents.

00:28:45
Speaker 1: That's fair. But it's about the experience. It's about the it's about the level of them.

00:28:49
Speaker 2: Is there anybody in there when you go in there, Yes, outside of Jason Bourne on a computer trying to like sear crime.

00:28:56
Speaker 1: It's crowded. People are people all using it. There's all sorts a different fund. I mean the La Public Lie we're going way to it is one of the most beautiful buildings you know in the entire West Coast. It's an amazing it's an amazing building. We're down there all the time. They got the big manga room for my 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 one oh one. 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 calebon Chase on Leo'shanell Leoshanelle kind of the edge rush I mean the edge rather linebacker, off ball linebacker that can also.

00:29:43
Speaker 2: Rush, who lives in the a gap like the mug up the center.

00:29:47
Speaker 1: 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 dafe O way in there, as you call them the fastball. I added a lot of young athleticism chigocon Quo on the offensive side, and an interesting transition here to Derante Jones, who is kind of a Brian Flores disciple helping to run the defense. I'm I'm just much more intrigued to watch what the commanders are going to look like this year compared to where I was at the end of last year.

00:30:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm curious to see. You know, they've still got Chris Paul left guard who's a free agent. So there's a hole there that they need to plug. What do they do at that spot? And you know, look, Deebo's gonna he's he's out there, he's probably not back. You're looking at Luke McCaffrey, McLaurin, Traylon Burks they brought back, right, so maybe just a little more, a little more firepower offensively. They're another team, that's the word.

00:30:45
Speaker 1: The word is it's Brandon Ayuk will be at least.

00:30:46
Speaker 2: Part of Jade Daniels buddy, So yeah, that would be nice. Just hopefully his heads his head's in a good space and coming there with his with his friend and and he plays well. But they're they're another team. When you just kind of look at him and we're looking looking at where are the Jeremiah Love spots, you know, where the fun places that you can see him go. You know, that's that's an interesting one.

00:31:08
Speaker 1: That would make a lot of sense to me. And I could absolutely see them doing that. You know, GM and Adam Peters who saw the value and having a Christian McCaffrey back there in San Francisco helped helped the trade for him. And there's a big hole there. Oh. I like that the last the team I'll mention and you could throw out anyone if you have one that I thought under the radar was good. I like, what the Saints did you know? 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 Etn I thought the money was was solid for him. I have a feeling Alvin Kamara is not going to be on this team anymore. And then Kayden 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 as 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.

00:32:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, and they're out of cap jail. How about that for those guys.

00:32:24
Speaker 1: Right, they're not even putting the weird void years and like doing all the cap gymnastics, so that that has to feel good. All right, let's go to my best available.

00:32:31
Speaker 2: You can't even give me a chance. I mean, I thought that was it.

00:32:33
Speaker 1: I thought that was I thought that was your sign that you were let's.

00:32:36
Speaker 2: Talk about I'm looking at the different depth charts to see what other moves that I liked. You know, let's 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.

00:32:46
Speaker 1: Well, when you have one answer answer, I thought, it's just like, hey, we're over thirty minutes. I'm on the clock. I'm DJ you know ESPN.

00:32:54
Speaker 2: That's the one time is right after this, I got move the sticks coming up right after this. I can't order to be the Yeah, I'll tell you what. Like, I was just looking at individual moves. So I always try and look at the young 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 offensively there to help them. I think one Dale does give them some easy completion. So the Giants have a young quarterback, they lose one Dale, 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, they're another weapon you could see next year. If you looked at how Dark played last year, and then you say, okay, if we have Neighbors back and he's hopefully back to one hundred percent health, you had Isaiah Likely, and then you add another weapon piece you know what could be with where they're picking high in the first round, it's that Carneal Tait on the outside. Are they a Jeremiah Love team? A lot of Jeremiah Love teams. There's man that would be exciting to watch what Dart can do new offense with all those new pieces to play with.

00:33:57
Speaker 1: 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 some of their ex giants. I think they wanted to keep go to Tennessee, because of the table, and they were just in the mix for a lot of the bigger name, you know, offensive players, and you just heard them as like they were in the mix for a lot of guys and kind of kind of did the Cowboys thing where they were just coming up a little short. So I feel like they have a big move or two to make. Still, Yeah, they just seemed like they were ready.

00:34:31
Speaker 2: There's still guys out there. There's still some stuff out there.

00:34:34
Speaker 1: Yes, there are. You have any other favorites. I don't want to move on too fast for you.

00:34:37
Speaker 2: No, No, that's that's pretty much it. There's other teams that did some good things. I liked, you know, Carolina getting those two pieces on defense. You know, that was definitely a need for them looking at some of these other teams here, anybody else. You know, look, not an easy task for Cleveland to rebuild an entire offensive line, but I like, I liked some of the pieces that they brought in there, and they are they are one if you think about, you know, teams that have done things in freegency that inform what they're going to do in the draft. With 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 lineman for me. Now, it's not that they're all these top five six guys are clumped 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's 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 it was, you know, some development that needed to take place. I think you could see the exact same thing with this one. With Cleveland taking Monroe Freeling. You know, on draft day it's like whoa that I did not, you know, 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.

00:36:10
Speaker 1: 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 Tevin Jenkins, but yeah, it's sorry to fill an entire offense.

00:36:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, 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, you know, 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.

00:36:53
Speaker 1: So that kind of leads us to who's still available. As I mentioned, only two of the top forty on my list are out there. It's Kyler and it's Rashid Walker of the Packers, who had at nineteen after that, some interesting names in terms of wide receivers, Juan Jennings, Stefan Diggs is out there, Deebo Samuel like some big names. That sort of second level older receiver market hasn't really shook out. There are some offensive linemen out there. Wyatt Teller is still out there. Some of the guns for hire in the defensive line, like Joey Bosa, Kalaeis Campbell are still us.

00:37:32
Speaker 2: They're still out there.

00:37:34
Speaker 1: Yep.

00:37:35
Speaker 2: Like he's like a solid three, He's like a solid third guy.

00:37:39
Speaker 1: 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 twenty five of the original one oh one are still there, and a lot of them are are the players, like eighty five to one oh one. So in general, you're just looking for guys to help you. Is there anyone that kind of surprise you that's that's still out there?

00:38:00
Speaker 2: No, I mean I think you. I mean just waiting on Kyler, I mean that's the big one.

00:38:04
Speaker 1: But Gottar 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, you know, massive money, and now he might be returning to Philadelphia, So that that surprises me because I thought that was going to change. I thought Rashad White was going to 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. It was actually the position, and they all didn't get massive money, but everyone's like, I need one. I'm going to get one, and then up seven of my top eight the draft.

00:38:46
Speaker 2: I think that running back draft is not is not is not great. It's a 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 and they go, we better go get that taken care of.

00:38:57
Speaker 1: And it's nice to see it happening at run 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 if he just wanted too much money, but he could be someone that someone goes for in the next couple of days. And 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 twenty million dollar a year player. Here are the teams that have spent the least amount in free agency. By the way, the Vikings have only spent fifteen million dollars. We knew that they didn't have much. The Eagles they brought in Rieq 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 Shaheed was a nice keep for them. The Broncos almost haven't done anything. Broncos, I'm getting little 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. A j Brown Brian Times.

00:40:14
Speaker 2: I was actually I was going to ask you that to me. If you think about his style of receiver, Sean Payton talks about all the time he likes bigger, he likes more physical guys, and that's who he's always hadn't always played with, And I'm like A J. Brown. Nobody's really talked about Denver with AJ Brown, at least I have. I haven't seen that out there, but that one would make a lot of sense. And I do think there is something too Philly needing to get the Goddard thing done and order. I don't know all the specifics of it, but there's some money component there that if if they were going to move A J. Brown, I have to get the Goddard thing done first. So I know there's some connection there and talking to smarter people than I am on the salary cap front, so maybe that's maybe that's what leads to something like that happening.

00:40:57
Speaker 1: We'll be transitioning on forties and free agents, you know, 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 offseason than they usually do. So I don't like what the Bills have done. By the way, we'll probably get into some winners and losers on NFL Daily so far, but they're gonna have to find starters. And then there's teams like the Dolphins out there where I look at their twenty two and I'm like, they need six starters still. They might need nine starters still.

00:41:52
Speaker 2: So there, that's what surprised me the most. If you have said the move that surprised you the most were 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 twenty seven in Miami and they were going to run out a bunch of young and experienced players and see what's you know, what's stuck and then be positioned for the draft. In twenty seven, they still didn't do that. They did well, they went on and got it. You paid that, you went on and got a quarterback. Though I thought they were gonna roll. Hey, we'll try Quinn. You weers see what that looks like. And then okay, I hear it.

00:42:26
Speaker 1: I'm glad we brought that up and we'll wrap with that. I think they're having their cake and idiot 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 dafe Oways making, you know what I mean, Like way less. Uh, you're paying him twenty three million dollars a year. That's probably like twentieth to twenty fifth that quarterback. Like even the Daniel Jones contract only slash him about fifteen to sixteen, 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 team 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. They'll if it doesn't work out with maliqu Wills, 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 ten games no matter how well. And if that happens, like that's a it's a great problem to have. So I think it's good process.

00:43:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was getting the texts. I was getting texts on pro day numbers, so I didn't listen to anything that you just said, Greg, But I'm sure it was really really smart.

00:43:40
Speaker 1: Well it was. I saw you looking at your phone, so I just kept kept going because that's it.

00:43:44
Speaker 2: I just got him trying to double check this real quick. So USC pro Day today.

00:43:51
Speaker 1: It is USC. Yes, I bridgings out there for yet.

00:43:55
Speaker 2: I just got text makay lemon Ran from a scout that's there. Uh four five seven four five three no jumps, okay, I mean that's kind of four five threes about. I mean, I think amen raw with maybe low four fives a lot of good receivers are running that four or 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 clearly.

00:44:28
Speaker 1: Clearly you found the hand times that could have waited one minute longer, way more fascinating than my big Malik Willis was a good process I need to take.

00:44:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I feel like I heard the first forty seconds of your take and then I thought there 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 some pro day times.

00:44:49
Speaker 1: 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.

00:45:03
Speaker 2: Don't be late return of those books though, tell you that much.

00:45:06
Speaker 1: They're pretty lenient these days. They let you, they let you renew, especially for old books like Born to Referee, My Life on the Gridiron by Jerry Mark Bright. If any listener out there show us that they can get a copy, will 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.