Post-Draft Outlook For Every AFC Team

00:00:05
Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL Daily, where we're just opening for Beyonce all week. I'm Greg Rosenthal here in the Chris Westling podcast studio with Patrick Clayband and Jordan rod Reeg. We're talking every single AFC team today and uh maybe later we'll we'll walk across the street and go to Sofi Stadium for one of Beyonce's like six straight sold out shows. No, you're getting out of here.

00:00:28
Speaker 2: If if you're buying, Greg, I'm in.

00:00:32
Speaker 1: You got a plus one or I can't afford that. And also like it seems like there's a lot of pressure to the dress in country where it just seems kinda you don't know what about.

00:00:46
Speaker 3: I I do not even ironically.

00:00:48
Speaker 1: I do like I do like Cowboy Carter. I do like I love.

00:00:51
Speaker 3: Cowboy Carter, you know, I like, I mean to be fair.

00:00:55
Speaker 4: I don't think I dislike anything she's ever made, so.

00:01:00
Speaker 1: Versill take there. I always think when I see Blue Ivy, her daughter up there, and she was up you know, there's a clip of her dancing on this that she was born just two months after my daughter, on the same floor of the same hospital in New York. And then I always imagine whatever Blue Ivy is doing, which is always something like dancing in front of eighty thousand people and be like, man, it'd be crazy if Ellis was doing that. I don't think she could do that. She could do she can do anything great things. We're gonna talk all thirty two teams over a course of two days. We already hit the NFC and now we're gonna do the AFC. Are you ready for this, Jordan?

00:01:38
Speaker 4: I'm so ready. Don't I look ready? I'm I'm clearly visually prepared.

00:01:42
Speaker 1: Two and a half minutes on the clock for each and every team. And we're gonna start in the South again because the South has something to say. The AFC South had a great weekend when it came to the NFL Draft, And we'll go with the number one overall pick, Tennessee Titans. All get us going hadn't mentioned on the show yet, but by the way that Tyler Lockett is a Tennessee Titan and is projected to be a starter because they don't really have many options there. I like some of their later draft picks, like Eric a Humanoor and then Shamari d k both fourth round picks, but guys, in terms of a human or might have like a little bit of an injury thing. They are a team, and I saw Paul Kaharsky, who covers their team, kind of make this point, and I thought it was a good one. With the guys they took Kevin Winston coming off of an injury. Cam Ward a guy who's going to have to develop without like the best weapons around them. Their second round pick even alive DJO like guys who are going to need to develop. This is a roster and a coaching staff that is going to need some patients and is going to need some time. And you do wonder with their ownership group they have not showed a lot of patients recently. Will they actually give Brian Callahan a chance to grow into this job, because man, just looking at the roster on on paper, it might still be the worst team in the NFL. I know it doesn't usually work out like that, but I feel like Brian Callahan's got a tough job. Will this organization be patient with him? Yeah?

00:03:11
Speaker 3: I mean I hope so.

00:03:12
Speaker 4: He seems certainly like he does actually have ownership's ear. You kind of see this in some of the strategy of deciding to move on from a quarterback of the previous regime and Will Levice. Obviously, Kim Ward was the obvious number one overall pick for many reasons, especially the fact that the Tennessee Titans needed a quarterback. What you said about patients, I really liked Greg because I thought they approached this draft itself with that ethos in mind.

00:03:38
Speaker 3: To me, they didn't reach a lot.

00:03:40
Speaker 4: They didn't try to push the board further than their own board was going.

00:03:45
Speaker 3: It sort of fell to them.

00:03:47
Speaker 4: And part of that is when you have so many needs, you just have to be honest about who you are and what you are in that phase of your team build and just let the picks fall to you because you need help everywhere.

00:03:58
Speaker 5: I did when there was the idea from some folks that they reached up for Fameo the Dejo out of UCLA, who is like you have to project with him, because it was three games into the season and they were like, hey, we need you to be an edge rusher for the rest of the season. And so he actually had production there and had a good week and mobile where I don't necessarily think that that was a reach and he could contribute early. But set your expectations right like, I feel like there's been two consecutive quarterbacks, and I know the Levis experiment went horribly wrong, but between Malie Willis and Will Levis, neither of them really got a full opportunity to be successful as an NFL quarterback.

00:04:40
Speaker 2: And hopefully cam Ward gets that.

00:04:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I mentioned Kevin Winston. A lot of people thought he might be the top safety in this group, but coming off at torn acl didn't really get a chance to play as in his last year at college. Patrick. You have the Jacksonville Jaguars next, and.

00:04:55
Speaker 5: I think we will look back on James Gladstone and intangible the way that we look back at Dan Campbell and biting kneecaps where it's happening initially, and it's like, oh, one of the Jags talking about intangibly rich And I think it is intangible with Travis Hunter because he didn't do a lot of the combine the pre draft testing, so we don't know. But Caleb Bransaw shout out to the wave. Greg nine point seventy five Relative Athletics's next pick, Wyatt mullum nine point one relative Athletics score be Shall Tooton out of Virginia Tech nine point five relative athletics score. The Jaggs said that they wanted to be fast and get faster. They got a bunch of explosive guys that I think are going to change the way that this team looks and operates. But it all starts with making the commitment to literally be bold and trade up for a player that we have never seen before. And if you're gonna, if you're gonna make a trade up for a non quarterback, why not do it for somebody that we have literally never seen and might not ever see ever again.

00:05:58
Speaker 4: So I'm I'm I'm on board, and then come out and talk about it with your goddamn chest. And that is what And you know what, Like I don't want somebody running my team that does not believe in their draft picks.

00:06:09
Speaker 3: I just don't.

00:06:10
Speaker 4: It is a process that in order to fully exercise mediocrity out of that building where it has been languished for years, you have to over communicate what the process and what the vision is. And so that can be laughed at whatever, but like that is something that that's who, that's who they are.

00:06:28
Speaker 3: Now.

00:06:29
Speaker 4: This is they're telling you and they're showing you exactly who they are on their picks. I like how they drafted because they went up and got players, but they also recouped different picks in different ways. And they also they also worked there with Jake Temmy now as the VP of analytics over there, they reworked some of the bespoke personality assessments that Jake helped create while in Los Angeles over the last two years as their draft strategy was overhauled and they ran those players that they drafted through that process in order to make sure that not just the athletic qualities were there, but the personality qualities to literally rebuilding a very young core underneath what was already there was something that everyone could get on board with.

00:07:08
Speaker 1: I do worry a little bit. Can this coaching staff all handle it? Everyone in new positions offense when in her head coach defensive coordinator new GM Like, there's a lot going on here, But I'm excited by the way Gabe Davis still on this team. Just wanted to point that out. It's like they never mentioned Gave Davis. Is he going to still be on the CV makes a lot of money? I don't know, Like whenever they talk about the receivers, like They literally don't say his name, which is weird.

00:07:31
Speaker 2: It was like Milton with the Stapler.

00:07:33
Speaker 1: The Houston Texans. I also would say, everyone check out that Mike Silver Jaguars piece, because they let it be known basically the players that they really wanted, including R. J. Harvey. I was interested that the Denver Broncos pick Ashton Jillette, the pass rusher. All right, you were up next with the Houston Texans, Jordan. Yeah.

00:07:51
Speaker 4: So I think everybody really expected Houston to hit their offensive line pretty hard with their earlier picks of this draft, but actually I think they showed they were more concerned about maybe the health or the long term viability, or even the way they wanted to distribute the ball with their receivers group then they were initially willing to let on this offseason the two Iowa State receivers, they doubled up in a big way. They again kind of went after this sort of like team chemistry thing that these two very complimentary.

00:08:17
Speaker 3: Players showcased while at Iowa State.

00:08:19
Speaker 4: Two very dynamic players in Jaden Higgins and Jalen Nole, and they were also top character and talent cross sections. Again, I got to see some of the scouting reports on those guys across the league, and so that.

00:08:30
Speaker 3: Tracks with what Demico Ryans is trying to do.

00:08:32
Speaker 4: Greg you brought it up a few weeks ago with the swarm method, and they also have a type like Higgins and Noll reminded external draft analysts of Nico Collins and Christian Kirk who are already on the roster. One of my favorite picks that they made was arionte Urseri, who's a project player, but if he does get on the right development track, he has tons of upside. And he also drew athletic and physical comps to Laramie Tunsel from external draft analysts, and so I think that that's super interesting to me. And they obviously added Cam Robinson as well after making that Tunsl trade more notable.

00:09:09
Speaker 3: Maybe perhaps in their.

00:09:10
Speaker 4: Mind is building out some of these layers and distribution avenues in the passing game and then bringing in Nick Kyley, who I think is going to bring some Patriots way to getting the ball out fast and distributing it around.

00:09:21
Speaker 1: I don't know if it was a not. They have a lot of players on their offensive line, it's still a mystery who's going to play where. I think they wanted to add more players. I think I was surprised they went this direction. I think the lineman just went so fast that the value wasn't there. I think they absolutely would have taken Donovan Jackson if he got one more pick.

00:09:41
Speaker 3: Later, but in Minnesota knew that and that's why they.

00:09:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think he was kind of the last offensive line before a bit of a drop there. They have so many wide receivers like, yeah, Braxon Barrios and Justin Watson are watching this draft being like, oh, come on, guys, but when they.

00:09:56
Speaker 3: Short term rental apartments.

00:09:58
Speaker 5: When they took Higgins, my initial thought was that late season burst a couple of years ago before Nora Brown left to go to DC. That's like, that's the player that the Texans needed. They need a stretch guy deep. They wound up going with Stefan Diggs, and you know he was contributing, you know, within that eight to ten yard range early on, but they needed both of these guys out.

00:10:24
Speaker 2: Of Iowa State.

00:10:25
Speaker 1: Shout out to Damico Ryans just allowing a world where they only had one defensive pick, which was Jalen Smith, a nickelback in the third round, but otherwise they went all offense, which I think made sense after the free agency period that they have. I will wrap up the AFC South with the Indianapolis Colts, And I just asked the question, what is this team? I'd like it. I'm I'm very intrigued to watch this entire division. But I also don't like Anthony Richardson, Jonathan Taylor, Tyler Warren, Joshua Downs, Alec Pierce, who is one of the best deep threats in the league. Pittman like, at them all up, maybe they'll get something out of eighty Mitchell, Like that's weird. And then it's this quarterback thing where all the quarterbacks are kind of the same but different.

00:11:13
Speaker 4: Right, they have Russian dolls at quarterback. Daniel the most elite version of the same quarterback. They have the medium version of the same quarterback. They have the poor version of the same quarterback. And they have the rookie of the same quarterback. They have like the every range of the same person is haunts.

00:11:32
Speaker 1: They also have a man and I bet he is just a clone of Daniel Jones and Riley Leonard. A man named Jason Bean as their fourth quarterback. It's not a real person, not familiar Jason Bean is a real guy and he is like he is a quarterback slash wide receiver. He really is that guy who comes from Kansas and wears the number eight. Anyways, I just what is this to you? I don't know. You know, what's kind of got lost in the shuffle that their offensive line used to be awesome and they watched their offensive line kind of go to Minnesota this year and they've got pretty big questions from center over to right tackle. So that worries me a little bit, But it's it's Chris Ballard time. All he has after eight years is one playoff win and sixty two and sixty nine record and the title of best GM in the league by me one off season, which I.

00:12:22
Speaker 4: Regret, and Colleen Wolfe's most hopeful team every off season.

00:12:26
Speaker 2: Yes, I think there's there's reason to be hopeful.

00:12:29
Speaker 5: I think Warren just fundamentally, the investment in Tyler Warren seems to say to me that maybe that depth of target that we saw from Anthony Richardson will come back closer to the line of scrimmage, maybe they'll move the chains a little bit more, and then health being a factor as well the defense. You would think would improve off of last year as well. So there's there's a reason to be hopeful, I think, But no plan should include Daniel Jones playing football and twenty twenty five, if the Colts want to win.

00:12:57
Speaker 1: To me, let's go to the East and let's talk about the Buffalo Bills.

00:13:05
Speaker 5: Peltrick Buffalo Bills, who also got some of that speed, the literally fastest player in the combine. Where I had wondered about the Bills speed in the secondary, that go and dressed up with Maxwell Harriston. Fun fact about the Bills. So Jeremy Wright of WGR was gonna have the Bills gim to join him on the radio, was doing it taping a segment before mentioned little help a wide receiver. Bean gets on the phone and he is incensed. Guys, we actually have this.

00:13:36
Speaker 1: Let's go.

00:13:37
Speaker 6: Well, you guys were bitching in twenty eighteen about Josh Allen. You guys wanted Josh Rosen, and now you guys are bitching that we don't have a receiver. I don't get it, like we just go hold on, let me talk. We just scored thirty points in a row for eight straight games a year ago. I get you guys asking why we didn't have receivers. But I don't understand it.

00:13:58
Speaker 1: Now.

00:13:58
Speaker 6: You just saw us lead the league in points. When you add all the postseason, no one scored more points than the Buffalo Bills, including the Super Bowl champions. So you just saw us do it without Stefan Diggs saying group, how is this group not better than last year's group? Like, I don't like. Our job is to score points and win games. Where do we need to get better defense? We did that, So I get it. You got to have a show, and you got to you got to have something to bitch about. But bitching about wide receiver is one of the dumbest arguments that. Okay, I mean, if you I wish you'd listened to the two hours and twenty five minutes before then.

00:14:38
Speaker 1: Oh man, that is WGR five five fifty sports radio audacity.

00:14:44
Speaker 2: I love it.

00:14:45
Speaker 1: I want everyone to bring Brandon Bean energy. You know where I knew their hosts were in trouble where they just laughed at something he said nervously and we're continuing to let him talk and he was like, hold on, hold on, let me talk. He's like, oh they are bro, they are I love that, man. Points were made though I agree with that he could.

00:15:04
Speaker 5: You know, he could dial back the gendered insults a touch, But I think right when Jeremy did get a chance to clarify, right, just wondering if the Bills see wide receiver as a position that they need to invest in in the draft, like considering the Amari Cooper trade and some other things where yeah, there's.

00:15:22
Speaker 2: Really no like overall issues with the team.

00:15:26
Speaker 1: No, we got to take a time out. I didn't. We can't count the sound jack so we'll take a time out with them.

00:15:31
Speaker 4: No.

00:15:31
Speaker 5: Eric was like, that's enough Bills talk, But yeah, go get Moosa in the off season.

00:15:37
Speaker 2: Landon Jackson is a lengthy.

00:15:40
Speaker 5: With some solid traits edge out of Arkansas who did get some production last year. Where let's be honest, the Bills are going to be Super Bowl contenders. It's going to come down to three or four plays and there's really no glaring issue on the roster for them to repair, which is probably why Brandon Dean reacts so vigorously to the insinuation that there is.

00:16:02
Speaker 4: Yeah, aside from like the tone and how mad he was, I do think he's right about one element, which is they just needed to improve their team speed on the back end of their defense. As much as I like the safeties DeMar Hamlin and Taylor rep they needed to.

00:16:19
Speaker 3: Get faster anywhere in that secondary.

00:16:23
Speaker 4: And I think that when you go with Maxwell Hairston, who had has his own background that Brandon beat also had to address that.

00:16:32
Speaker 3: He says that they did thorough research on.

00:16:35
Speaker 4: But you know, the traits itself, specifically with Maxwell Harston, He's got the speed, and so that's where they needed to actually improve. I think similar to some of the moves that they made up front, they're constantly going to be rotating in new defensive linemen on that team. It's just the way that they're built front to back. But this time they did actually address the back hand.

00:16:57
Speaker 1: It is a good test of the continuity versus, you know, wanting to inject new talent sort of argument, because they should be better. They're the same exact offense, but adding Joshua Palmer sometimes do you do you want to mix it up a little bit. Like they've had incredible health on their offensive line, that's great in that hope. I hope they continue, but it is an offense that's trying to build and defense was their problem. And it's a defense led culture there, at least it has been for a long time. And they were well, I think, not even in the top ten in DVOA in terms of defense by the end of last year. They bring back Tredavius White. We hadn't mentioned, so they'll give him a shot. They bring back Dane Jackson. I also think it might have been in terms of taking all defense early in this draft or throughout the draft, that you know, you pick up two guys in the offseason in free agency that are immediately suspended. They weren't expecting Larry Ogunjobi and Michael Hoyt, so you might need some extra guys to actually take snap snaps early. So landon Jackson dayon Walker in the third and fourth round, t J. Sanders in the second round, on maybe an eventual at Oliver replacement, a lot of defensive pickups. All right, let's move on. It seems about right in terms of time. Jordan, you are up next. Who do you got?

00:18:11
Speaker 4: You gifted me the New England Patriots. That's right, Thank you very much for your charity on that. If you're Drake, may you feel really good about what the Patriots did in this draft? Will Campbell is a stud, even if he doesn't quite yet have the Greg Rosenthal stamp of approval. Kyle Williams was quietly one of the best receivers in this draft. He just gets open and he'll push Steffan Diggs to regain a little bit of that juice we know he still has. I think having a competitor in that room with Steffon Diggs is a good thing for specifically Stefan Diggs. Travon Henderson gives him a runner, but what I like about this pick is he also gives them answers and outlets in the passing game for a quarterback. Pretty much all of these moves that you can see early on are to help Drake may either with pressure, combat pressure, or to get the ball down the field. Jared Wilson I really like this pick. Third round center. He can also play guard, but I think quietly over time he'll become one of their most important picks because they signed Garrett Bradbury. They're heavy in the center market in free agency and signed they ended up signing Garrett Bradbury, who did not have a was not coming off some great production, and I think that Jared Wilson can ultimately come in and be that guy for them, although he can help it guard first, So all of this in a vacuum, but also in combination says this is a Mike Rabel draft first and foremost had it was Mike Rabel all over this entire draft class and all over this free agency period prior. But also everything they're doing is with one eye on maximizing Drake May in a variety of layers and a variety of levels, not just with the offensive line but also with everything that's around him.

00:19:43
Speaker 1: In the short term, they're gonna have one of the most important training camps in the league because they need to sort out the nine receivers or so that they have, like Kendrick Bourne could be anywhere from the leading receiver on this team to not on the team. Jalen Polk could be not on the team to who knows, maybe he improves a lot under a new staff, like toa Mario Douglas. I think is going to have a role, but you just don't know. And then it's a very similar case in terms of the interior line positions, left guard in center, because everyone in New England's like, well, we got center settled. It's Garrett Bradbury is talk to some bikes.

00:20:15
Speaker 4: No, no, no, That's why I love this Jared Wilson pick.

00:20:18
Speaker 1: The team does look much better, but they're thin at cornerback too. They're going to need to figure out who's behind their top two at cornerback. It's kind of just wide open right there. They drafted a rookie kicker from Miami. They drafted a long snapper that was a little wild, like feeling themselves, and they cut my guy, Joe Cordona, the last remaining Patriot with a Super Bowl ring, which makes it sound like it was so long ago. It was twenty nineteen when that game was and he's gone.

00:20:44
Speaker 5: Yeah, they managed to go the whole draft and told the very last pick in Kobe Minor to take a cornerback out of Memphis as mister irrelevant.

00:20:53
Speaker 2: I hope he has.

00:20:54
Speaker 5: A great time down here going through all the events. But you would you would wonder how much the Vrabel influence had for some of these, you know, especially.

00:21:06
Speaker 1: All of it. All of it.

00:21:07
Speaker 4: Yeah, to me, I mean, it's cool because we have we do have a body of data where it was not Mike Rabel in the draft room, and now we have a body of data where it was Mike Rabel in the draft room, and I think we know at this point how influential he was, his intel was, and his staff intel too. John Striker, I think plays a significant role in that building, not just on the football side, but in the analytics and talent identification process. And I do think that this is where you're starting to see the power structure shake out after a few years of questions about what although power structure would look like.

00:21:44
Speaker 1: To be fair like, they're still having Elliott Wolf do the interviews and stuff. There's still a lot of Belichickian weirdness that they're sort of pretending that he's the guy when all the reporters locally, including like Greg bnard dom currents of like say, no, it's it's Mike Rabel, it's Ryan Cowden is his number one guy that they brought in, were honking too long. Let's go to the New York Jets. This is gonna be mine And you know, as Lil Wayne One said, real G's move in silence like like lasagna. And that's how the Jets I think have been operating this offseason. And I just love what they're doing. I feel like I'm repeating myself and that that's a that's a little wayanism as well. You know, repetition is the father of learning. Nothing like he's the only person that says that, but it's true. I just think everything they have done has made a lot of sense. I think Mason Taylor is going to have a big role right away. I think armand Membu was a perfect like marriage of fit and need. They just needed that right tackle and there he was, this high ceiling guy, Azaria Thomas. Their their third round pick is going to be able to compete like right away. Their pass rush is a little thin overall. You can't fix everything in one offseason. But I believe that this is a team that like has a vision of who they are going to be. And we talked about Rabel and all the juice he has with New England. Aaron Glenn Sneaky has a ton of juice. For a first time head coach, he is one of the more powerful I think first time head coaches. Because I could be wrong, Patrick, but my view of it is he's the most important person in their front office too, which you don't always see with the first time head coach, but he's he's been around the league a long time, and I think he's the right guy to handle it.

00:23:25
Speaker 5: Yeah, And you can see the influence where it in the forefront and pick one hundred and thirty, right, he gets a player that play that was recruited by Nick Saban and played the star position at Alabama in Malachi More and again harkening back to that Brian Branch success that they had in Detroit.

00:23:43
Speaker 2: I do wonder about Arion Smith.

00:23:45
Speaker 5: I know he can flat out fly, but the reactions from everybody affiliated with Georgia was that Arion Smith.

00:23:52
Speaker 2: Cannot catch Ohenough at all.

00:23:56
Speaker 5: And so it's an interesting spot there. But you know, if he gets open, I guess people got to cover him.

00:24:00
Speaker 2: So why not.

00:24:01
Speaker 4: Yeah, And I think so much of this offensive identity is going to be run through in mf R's face. Like, I think that's just what this team offense wants to be. When you get Membo and you get Mason Taylor and you've got him either blocking or detaching from the stack, I mean, this is going to be a group on both sides that has some attitude and I think Aaron Glenn does bring a lot of that juice. But also, like I think that's going to permeate through the entire cohesive team and not just stick on one side of the ball.

00:24:31
Speaker 1: And I do think it's a team built around justin Field. It's not like Justin Field's going to be their quarterback forever necessarily, but for this year they are built.

00:24:39
Speaker 4: Can you just imagine justin Field's running like some sort of detached triple option concept behind Armond Membu and Mason Taylor's out blocking downfield?

00:24:48
Speaker 3: Oh my effing got.

00:24:49
Speaker 2: So you can.

00:24:49
Speaker 5: You can build a team around somebody without having them literally pick the rest of the players.

00:24:53
Speaker 3: Am I excited about the Jets?

00:24:55
Speaker 5: Yeah?

00:24:55
Speaker 1: I know too. How are you feeling about the Miami Dolphins? Patrick?

00:25:00
Speaker 5: We feel good about the Miami Dolphins because Beyonce is going to be across the street. I'm pointing the wrong direction. Beyonce is going to be across the street. And the Dolphins said, let me put this on you, right, And they get Kenneth Grant out of Michigan. Who I know, You're looking at the height and weight and you're and you're thinking, oh, this is this guy's a nose tackle. Kenneth Grant was playing in the begap a lot like.

00:25:23
Speaker 1: Hey, now getting and quick the gap the b e y gat.

00:25:26
Speaker 5: Yeah, all right, all right, well we'll make a whole bunch of Beyonce parallels. But but yeah, the idea, the general idea that they need to get tougher, which is to me like one of those football things where it's like is this really true? Like they just need to be better and execute at the things that that they were trying to do. Uh, But they get uh, I'm gonna blank on Jonah's last name pronunciation out of Arizona. But he was a huge trades guy savanaa nine point one nine on the relative athletics score, and they get Jordan Phillips out of Maryland. It kind of makes me wonder about the Christian Wilkins situation and if they felt like maybe they should have been more of a player in keeping Christian Wilkins in Miami because it really for both sides that departure didn't work out. They get Quinn you weers late.

00:26:17
Speaker 1: Should he have stayed at school? He could have stayed another year.

00:26:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, stay play somewhere else. I know Arch is going to play at Texas.

00:26:24
Speaker 1: Right, he would have had to play somewhere else. But try to develop I am.

00:26:29
Speaker 2: I'll say this on the show.

00:26:31
Speaker 5: The reported nil numbers that you see for college football players, somebody proved to me that any one of them is real. I need somebody to prove to me that those reported numbers are real. I don't believe them. I'd like the people who give you those numbers were the same people that were lying about how much the payers would getting paid in the pat I think there's incentive for everybody to lie.

00:26:49
Speaker 1: I think there is an element of truth to that, but maybe just in terms of developing. But yeah, playing with Mike McDaniel, that's a good place to develop as a quarterback. This team stayed together a little more than I expected this offseason, although Chris Greer after the draft did mention maybe timing for Jalen Ramsey's trade wasn't right, And then I looked financially, they can save a lot more cap space trade him after.

00:27:09
Speaker 4: June first, Yeah, saving the money that they didn't have to give him in the first place, but still did.

00:27:15
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:27:16
Speaker 4: So I think that the Miami Dolphins fan base overall would like completely revolt if they did not go trenches with their early picks, and they did. They went defense, offense, defense, upfront, and I think that's smart.

00:27:30
Speaker 3: They had to.

00:27:31
Speaker 4: They look like a soft team in the winter, and they have to not be soft in the winter.

00:27:36
Speaker 1: They also need to get some cornerbacks because they don't have many if Jalen Ramsey is not on that team. They have talked to Rozill Douglas reportedly, all right, we have gone through half of the AFC, and what we're going to do here is we're going to make some money off advertisements. That's what floats this whole boat. We've been on a journey this week. Sure have gone through all the teams. By the time we're up, we've gone through six divisions so far, two more to go. The Steelers, what a fascinating organization, Jordan, take it away.

00:28:19
Speaker 3: What a setup. Thank you, Greg.

00:28:22
Speaker 4: Okay, one thing was clear throughout this draft weekend. The Steelers still clearly expect that Aaron Rodgers will join the team or Kirk cauz No. My colleague Mike de Favo, who does a great job covering the Steelers for the Athletic, says the fact that the trade hasn't happened yet still, even as the rounds pass, still drop spread crumbs toward Rogers. Really, this is the biggest topic around the Steelers right now.

00:28:46
Speaker 3: We talked about TJ.

00:28:47
Speaker 4: Watt's possible contract a couple of weeks ago on the show. A move they made recently that I really liked is adding Robert Woods. It actually showed me that they may keep George Pickens after all. And I know that sounds crazy considering he was dangled on the trade market. But it's a big personality room between DK Metcalf and George Pickens. But Robert Woods is like the best dude, and he brings people together and he's sort of a glue guy in the multi layered elements of an offense in general. Still, even though he's in the twilight of his career, and I can see him being a great like middle child in there. And also, by the way, you know who I think would love to throw to a security blanket such as Robert Woods. Aaron Rodgers, who may or may not soon be joining this team.

00:29:28
Speaker 1: I'm higher. I mean, the owner thinks he's joining that, that seems the matter.

00:29:32
Speaker 4: Derek Harmon, who seems like the eventual air to Cam Hayward, was one of my favorite players in the entire draft. He's super versatile and he's always around the quarterback. And actually I think I'm higher on Will Howard, who they did take it quarterback later on in the draft, probably going to be a backup spot maybe even a spot starter eventually. I'm actually a little bit higher on him than I think the zeitgeist is, but specifically for that role, the backup spot starter role.

00:29:55
Speaker 1: Good moment on the season finallely of Hey rookie, a good NF underrated NFL Films production, when Will Howard got drafted. I always I love those moments.

00:30:05
Speaker 5: Caleb Johnson kind of gets to be the the thunder to the to the backfield question where we talked to him on path to the draft on the on the way up, he doesn't like the perception of being a big back that is slow because he feels like people associate being big with slow. But he does say that you know, he can't be explosive, and he was a lot of times for Iowa where I think, I don't know, if I don't have the confidence right in the offense that they're going to have a whole bunch of running lanes.

00:30:37
Speaker 1: To great, why are they going to be better? I mean, they have DK metcalf. That would be the number one reason. But I'm not sure why this this team is better. But to your Caleb Johnson point, the coaching staff immediately afterwards, including Arthur Smith, said high volume, high volume. We liked how high volume, and we like that we can take pass pro off his plate because Jalen Warren is so good at that, so very clearly, kind of like running down old school passing down back type of setup. And yeah, they better. I'm happy with either Aaron Rodgers result because either it's good content. I mean, it is interesting, I will be interested to watch the Steelers, or it's like the biggest team building malpractice in a long time, which is good content too because he.

00:31:17
Speaker 5: At least requests such a specific set of things to be a certain way. And you combine that with Arthur Smith, where hey.

00:31:26
Speaker 1: It's gonna be weird.

00:31:27
Speaker 3: It's anyway we win, all right, Yes, let's.

00:31:30
Speaker 1: Go to the Ravens. Did your Baltimore Ravens win?

00:31:34
Speaker 2: Patrick?

00:31:35
Speaker 5: I think they got a very good again the safety position in Malachi Starks, where you have a guy who's athletic testing didn't turn out, but on the field, player wise, what more could you ask for? I could ask for more at this point in you know, we're going to be in May very very soon with answers on what happened, specifically for Mike Green regarding his sexual assault accusation as well as Justin Tucker. Just for the benefit of people being aware of these circumstances and it's specifically what happened and how it happened. That conversation, whether to the benefit of Mike Green or just to say what actually happened, I think would go a long way to facilitate better conversations around these things. But just a good football player would again like to know more. Emory Jones played a lot of football at LSU. This is I feel similar to this draft, which had eleven picks in it. Don't know, you know, you get down to Dellinger out of LSU, like, some of these guys are going to be on the back end of the roster. I don't know how much they're going to contribute, but it screams another team that's going to be a contender.

00:32:46
Speaker 2: It's going to be three or four plays away.

00:32:47
Speaker 5: From having a chance to make it to you know, a championship game or the Super Bowl where they were able to wait late and take a really good player who contributed on multiple national championship.

00:33:00
Speaker 1: Worries me a little that they're just rolling it back. It's one of the things I noticed when we do this exercise, we check the depth charts of just like how many new guys are starting for them, and for them it's probably Malachi Starks has a good chance and maybe New Hopkins, which I wouldn't be you know, I thought they'd upgrade that spot a little better. It's always just a little worriesome when it's just like rolling it mostly back. I just like I want some you want it to be mixed up, because I think historically that doesn't necessarily work.

00:33:30
Speaker 4: So I think, and obviously it's a complicated topic because I do think that they added above average and explosive juice where they really badly needed it, and that's in their pass rush.

00:33:45
Speaker 3: But because of.

00:33:46
Speaker 4: Everything going on around this organization with Justin Tucker right now, and because of the allegations against Mike Green in the situation that they're allegedly researching as well or had researched before the draft, it's complicated because I do actually think this team got better. But you know, if you're a fan of this franchise. There are other questions off the field that you're asking about what is normal for this franchise.

00:34:09
Speaker 1: Well, Justin Tucker is not going to be on this team. Most likely. They drafted a kicker, Tyler Loop in the sixth round. It does seem like they're just waiting for this process to play out and then they're going to say goodbye to Justin Tucker. As for Green, yeah, they they pretty strongly defended and said it was investigated as much as they could. I just look at him as like a version of a Dafe Oway, but different, like he's a raw player that you're not sure is going to pan out either if you're just looking at him as a football player too.

00:34:40
Speaker 5: But they're at least the difference between him and Oway was that you're projecting, right, the production for Ohra, whereas Mike Green.

00:34:48
Speaker 1: Yeah it was productive, but you're kind of projecting, Yeah, the level of play he was at, that's fair, but he was at Marshall.

00:34:54
Speaker 5: But again, like with all these investigations, there was the famous Jerry Richardson and investigation a few years ago. I'm a little tired in the NFL world of hearing about an investigation that happens and then not finding out anything. I would like to know what actually happened, because I feel like it's important for people to know.

00:35:13
Speaker 1: So let's go to the Cincinnati Bengals. I talked about it with DJ on our last forties and free agens, but I do want to mention it here that Demetrius Knight, their second round linebacker, is going to be one of the most important rookies in this entire class because he's going to be starting an incredibly difficult position for a rookie inside linebacker, like right off the bat, they have no other option. They are going to get rid of Jermaine Pratt by all accounts, and that's kind of true of their whole rookie class. Like Shamar Stewart I think is going to have an important role on this team. Dalan Fairchild, who said it was the honor of his life to protect for Joe Burrow love that in the third round, has a good chance to start too. So it's I'm not really making any evaluation on them. It's just I think this is a really this is one of the most important rookie classes in the NFL because it's the Bengals and because they were somewhat surprising picks at least the other two, and that I think they're all going to have to play right away, whereas a lot of true contending teams are not asking their guys to do that right away.

00:36:13
Speaker 4: Yeah, and we mentioned this a couple of Was it last week? I think time has no meeting anymore, but I think it was last week during our incredibly disastrous mock draft that it wasn't disastrous.

00:36:23
Speaker 1: It was entertainment and no one got their mock draft right.

00:36:27
Speaker 3: We had a blast.

00:36:28
Speaker 4: I just love the immediate wrenches we threw into the entire system in the top ten and with three different players that you and I thought would get that we liked it.

00:36:36
Speaker 1: We were wrong on all this.

00:36:37
Speaker 4: Yeah, fine, specifically, like we know I was wrong with Jahad Campbell. I'm including me on this, Greg. I would never put you on an island like that.

00:36:44
Speaker 1: I mean, I had Sdar Sanders going in the top ten.

00:36:46
Speaker 3: You did, Yeah you did.

00:36:50
Speaker 4: But you know what, I like that if you say, hey, we're gonna like fall guy our defensive coordinator and then hire a new defensive coordinator and that's supposed to fix everything, Like you have to get that guy, some players, some young players, some energetic players that you know this this is what.

00:37:07
Speaker 3: They actually went about doing.

00:37:09
Speaker 4: And it's kind of one of those things where I do think that they did quote unquote enough or they think they did enough in their passing game and in sort of the schematic elements of their offense. Yes, they could always stand to add offensive lineman and they did. And this is where on the defensive side you really needed to add guys who are going to have a trial by fire situation.

00:37:28
Speaker 1: Just a little news update. They did pick up the fifth year option for Dax Hill, which I thought was an interesting call but has shown more than enough. Really, those fifth year options are good deals for the teams.

00:37:37
Speaker 5: Yeah, if we're if we're scapegoating lou then this is it for Al Golden like that, Like Shamar Stewart who seemed visibly upset at.

00:37:45
Speaker 4: The time he was drapped, Jamie handled That's so well Jamie carried the draft at that point because that interview could have gone horribly wrong.

00:37:53
Speaker 5: But Jamie is able to, you know, to bring him back to South Florida.

00:37:57
Speaker 2: Guy who like, hey, you're gonna don't.

00:37:58
Speaker 1: Think you said about the Bengals. I think he was upset that he felt to seventeen for whatever reason, which seemed like a totally normal spot for him to go. But you know, you get expectations. Expectations are a bit. Let's talk about the Cleveland Browns. The expectations the rail this one. Yeah, I'm I'm loopy. Oh the Browns. You're up? Okay, guys, Expectations are going to be low. Is that I'm going to land that plane?

00:38:22
Speaker 3: Are you guys ready?

00:38:23
Speaker 2: Yes? Yeah.

00:38:24
Speaker 4: He is a non comprehensive list of people who could also be added to the Cleveland Browns quarterbacks room before training camp begins. Daniel Jeremiah, Matt Sarason, whichever one of Philip Rivers' kids is the oldest, Derek Carr and Lord Farquad. Oh okay, the Browns actually had a very good draft once you get past doubling up on the quarterback, which if you're looking at value per pick, which at least one person in the room was, because this felt like a Frankenstein draft where everybody in the room each had their own favorite pick and then that's what they went with, including the owner. If you're looking at value analytically speaking, getting the most highly valued player on the board at that point in Shador later in that round in the in the draft does make sense. I'm also actually way higher on Dylan Gabriel than I think the general consensuses. No, I'm not saying, oh, he's going to go out are the Browns. No, I'm not saying he's going to go out and become like a starter. But I think this kid can play. And I think the only bias really that we have against him is his size, which is a fair bias to have. But when I was talking with people last year about a story on left handed quarterbacks that I did for The Athletic, he was getting rave reviews from NFL people for the way that he can excel in a timing offense, the way he can move and distribute the ball, and specifically conceptually that Oregon offense is very similar in a lot of ways to a spread out version of what a lot of systems do in the NFL right now. And so that's what I think Kevin Stefanski specifically identified in him. And I think that Kevin Stefanski and shad Or Sanders together also raised Shador Sanders floor. I do think that overall they had a really, really solid draft. I loved the Carson Swassinger pick up. A lot of teams had their eye specifically on where he would go, and a couple of teams were ready to try to come up and get him. Harold Fannon Junior is an absolutely phenomenal, like unicorn type of player who could really succeed there. So whoever picked those guys should be in charge of the whole operation. Don't know who it was, whoever it was, but picked specifically those.

00:40:23
Speaker 1: Two picks it.

00:40:27
Speaker 2: But well we'll never know.

00:40:28
Speaker 5: We may find out in five years and and you know, Jimmy has Will will be like, yeah, that that was actually on me, and I'll take the blame for it. Where you just don't know how Literally the first thing we saw on the draft was Jimmy Haslm looking directly over as Kevin Sefanski's shoulder on the draft room shot.

00:40:46
Speaker 3: It was like a CBS interview.

00:40:48
Speaker 2: He's like, he's.

00:40:50
Speaker 5: Over very in that capacity. But yeah, Harold Fandom was my tight end too, and they get him at the sixty seventh pick in the draft, and well we'll see what the you know, as we get all people in a quarterback room.

00:41:02
Speaker 2: But I know it's.

00:41:03
Speaker 1: Fun to add.

00:41:04
Speaker 3: I hope DJ.

00:41:05
Speaker 1: You know who's fun to just add to this whole offensive mix. Deontay Johnson.

00:41:09
Speaker 3: Dick him.

00:41:10
Speaker 1: He is now a Cleveland Brown and no fifth year option. By the way for Kenny Pickett, not a surprise. I personally don't think Kenny Pickett will be on this roster come week one. Maybe Joe Flacca won't be on this roster. One of those two won't be on this roster, would be would be my guess. I guess the Kirk Cousins thing is never going to happen.

00:41:28
Speaker 2: You say one of the quarterbacks, one of the rookies will be starting.

00:41:31
Speaker 1: No, I would guess Picket or Flacco starts, and Gabriel and Shoulder are both two and three. But they could go the other way and just go four across, which teams have done.

00:41:41
Speaker 4: They have another round pick next year. They're also doing the thing where they're maybe not necessarily trying to win right now. They're not intentionally tanking. They're building like a young core of really exciting traits forward guys. I guess I should call it time out here, but we don't have to go around but time out.

00:41:58
Speaker 3: They they that was quick on the glass.

00:42:00
Speaker 1: There.

00:42:01
Speaker 4: Good job on the keys there, So I feel like that this is like, Okay, we're building out the new era of what our offensive roster and some of what our defensive roster is going to look like, and we're not really fixated on quarterback right now, a position that absolutely has to win you games. If you're just going to sort of manage that position and develop players in the short term, twenty twenty six is when I think they'll actually try to go about solving their quarterback.

00:42:27
Speaker 1: I hear you, but they just gave a quarterback contract to Miles Garrett, Denzel Ward, not a young player. Joel Buttonio very much at the end of his career. Jack Conklin's still on this roster. Like Wyatt Teller, like, nothing about this team build is cohesive or makes a lot of sense, And I think it could all add up to a team that's better than expected, just because Kevin Stefanski's a pretty good coach and who knows, there are decent players on this team. But it's just crazy to me that I saw Tony gros See and he's covered this team forever, and the way they're covering shoulder they're and this is locally the team that the guys that actually know the team is like, what are the odds of Shoulder starting week one? And they think it's like a decent amount, And I'm thinking, like, why didn't you take him in the third round? Like, I don't think it's that much of a chance of him starting week one, but I guess he has a chance. I would think it'd be less actually than Dylan Gabriel and certainly less than Joe Flacco, But who the hell knows. I don't know. It's kind of a sneaky old team in parts, Like the offensive line is incredibly old.

00:43:33
Speaker 4: Yeah, I agree with you, but I think you you're gonna have to develop your skill guys, and then you figure out what assets you can still recoup if you need to go younger on the other side of the ball too, And like Miles gar people were willing to go and trade for Miles Garrett this year, right what says that, like, Oh, you don't have the same conversation next year, even with the big the big contract, if you decide you are really going to rebuild the entire thing because you're going out and getting a quarterback.

00:43:58
Speaker 1: I just want them to have a like a two wide receivers, two tight end formation where the two receivers are Deontay Johnson and Jerry Judy, and then you have in Djoku and Harold Fannin. That just seems bonkers to me, but I'm down with it.

00:44:15
Speaker 3: That's like at and t bar, like slowly going down.

00:44:19
Speaker 1: I don't know what that is, but I like it.

00:44:21
Speaker 2: If Deontay Johnson wants to play football, we'll see.

00:44:23
Speaker 3: I can fix him.

00:44:25
Speaker 1: Let's go to our final division. It's the a FC West and Patrick. You've got two teams here, so I'm going to start with you. Let's go with the Los Angeles Absolutely.

00:44:38
Speaker 2: I just drove past the Bolt.

00:44:40
Speaker 5: It's a spectacular facility right there, adjacent to my neighborhood where we saw them at explosive players in the first two rounds. Amarion Hampton comes into the backfield along with Najie Harris now, and I know that the fantasy community is going to be a little bit frustrated by that and trying to pick one Trey Harris out of miss. We talked about this during our Jackson Dart discussion a few weeks ago, where you didn't really see a lot of what Trey Harris could do. Because he was limited by the offense that made it developing right, Like finding an opinion on Jackson Dart was difficult because you saw Trey Harris catch hitches and like deep posts and that was it. But he's got the speed and explosion that was really lacking from this Chargers offense over the past year, where everything was lad. It was all Lad. In the playoff game he goes off. But the big concern, while they did add speed in that aspect up front, they wait until the sixth round. They get Branson Taylor out of Pittsburgh. And I know every team is not the Houston Texans in the playoffs and they're going to tee off on Justin Herbert, but there has to be some plan to protect the franchise.

00:45:52
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:45:53
Speaker 1: I thought their interior line, even though they added Andre James and McKay Beckton, I thought they'd do more this offseason. That's probably the one part of the roster. And I saw that Daniel Popper, who writes about them for The Athletic, I thought this was the most complete Chargers roster at this point of the offseason that he's seen, and he thought the one spot is interior offensive line. That probably feels a little unfinished and maybe they'll add some people.

00:46:14
Speaker 4: And I would say that is a really shaky place to have as one of your more unfinished parts of your roster, especially if you want to run the ball and protect the quarterback the way that the Chargers need to And with McKai Beckton, I think we all want to see Mccaie Beckton be successful for the long run.

00:46:30
Speaker 1: And to be fair, they have the guys they had last year and more on. You know, they added a couple of people. Yeah.

00:46:35
Speaker 4: To me though, it sort of seems like they took the strategy of like, Okay, this running back is incredible and huge, which, by the way, have you guys seen the pictures of Omari and Hampton arriving at the bolt. I mean there's some force perspective I think happening there. But like that dude is massive.

00:46:50
Speaker 1: And I love how you know, they went heavy at receiver to help Herbert. They took Jeremiah's guy, KeAndre Lambert Smith, who had never heard of but was really high on jeremih They took him in the fifth round. Rondi Godson, who's like fast, Like it's a lot of fast.

00:47:04
Speaker 4: Yeah, a lot of fast, and some size, especially at their skill position too. But they built that first before addressing some of the needs. Legitimately, I mean, we have to see how some of these ads and free agency work out for them.

00:47:16
Speaker 1: And zero Michigan players, that's true. Everyone just assumed that they would take off. Didn't happen. I will talk about the former world champion Kent City Chiefs, but they're still, you know, recent champions, reigning AFC champion. I thought it was an amazing draft for them. Now it might because I'm Ali connolly Piled and he just he just loved Omar Norman lot more than like any random player in this draft. The second round pick that they took that didn't have a ton of snaps at Tennessee, but just seemed like he could be a difference maker in terms of helping your team stop the run. They take him in the second round, and then I know Josh Simmons has some medical red flags, but if you took the guy with the highest ceiling as potential future left tackle man, it's exactly what they needed. I think they've had a really nice offseason. Quietly, they're running back room like lacks a little juice. But when I look at this roster. I think their number one issue is just how hard it is to be the Kansas City Chiefs the year after year, Like if they're tired of just being this good and the expectations because otherwise, Like, I actually think the roster on balance is in a better spot than when when they won the Super Bowl, for instance, three years ago.

00:48:38
Speaker 4: I think we're going to be looking I really like Noel Campbell. I liked that the Chiefs and Spags picked him up. I feel like we're going to be looking at this secondary even this year, maybe a little bit down the line, and say, how the hell when did that guy get there? You know, because he's just one of those those people I think, Okay, Brishard Smith is so Chiefs coded of a pick. He's a former receiver, He's a one year starter at SMU. He's a former receiver. And then he had one nine seventy seven all purpose yards in twenty twenty four, which only ranked behind Ashton, Janty Camp Scataboo and Omari and Hampton seventh round running back and they sold him seventh round running back. Yeah, that's a good point to bring up that I should have started with the coordinator there rhet lashly he sold him on coming to SMU because he wanted to turn him into Isaiah Pacheco. So this is like such a Chiefs coded pickup and again similar I like no Williams a lot.

00:49:35
Speaker 3: That was my second favorite pick.

00:49:36
Speaker 4: This Brishard Smith pick was I'm really intrigued and interested to see what the Chiefs ultimately get out of him. And to have the potential that he has and not a lot of wear as a running back would on his body, I think is important.

00:49:50
Speaker 5: And hopefully he's able to contribute. But the fact that it took to the seventh round where they take Ceh Early a long time ago, relatively, and it seems like the idea is, oh, we can find a guy, and you had to scramble to get Kareem Hunt off the couch because you just need to invest in the position.

00:50:08
Speaker 2: I feel like they still need to.

00:50:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, but they do have a history. You like Noah Williams, who is a third round cornerback, and they've been really good nailing those mid round picks. And then Ashton Gillette, the edge that they took seemed like he was a player that was pursued by a couple teams I think the Jaguars liked him, I believe. In that article it kind of mentioned how the Rams were possibly high on him as well, and they got him, so we'll see they need some edge help. You got the Broncos, Jordan, Yeah.

00:50:34
Speaker 4: I mean, I think it's really amazing how much more logical and settled a team strategy looks once they have the quarterback position figured out. So the Broncos went from like a laughing stock of a team build in the Wilson Hackett rendezvous and the Rogers like the Rogers attempt, and then the Hacket like brief era to this like well oiled and ascending team that added strong pieces to an already badass group and still kept building for the quarter And it strikes me that, oh wow, it is the same general manager there in George Payton, and I don't know where the hell opposing quarterbacks are going to throw with Pat certain Riley Moss on the outsides and now Jday Baron likely in the slot, and they have an ascending pass rush and a great offensive line. I really think this is a team to firmly watch and in contention alert in twenty twenty, I.

00:51:23
Speaker 1: Wanted more weapons. He can't get everything though, you know, I know they took Pat Bryant in the third round, which for a lot of people was surprising Illinois I saw Field Yates had that as his most surprising pick of the entire draft. But it sounds like a player that the league was higher on.

00:51:38
Speaker 4: I love their I love their running back pick. Another player that the league was higher on than the draftnicks r J.

00:51:43
Speaker 3: Harvey.

00:51:44
Speaker 4: He's quick, he's explosive playability, he's so shifty he makes guys miss that. The knock on him was that he's not the best in pass protection. But you do have a quarterback who can move in Riley Moss.

00:51:55
Speaker 3: And actually r J.

00:51:56
Speaker 4: Harvey is a former quarterback, so I think everything says about that that this guy will get better at pass pro because he's thinking about that infrastructure like a quarterback would.

00:52:06
Speaker 5: Jaday Baron was It might have been, like, looking back at the draft, just too good of a player to pass on, despite like any hope of improving on offense. Why not build on the strength on the back end in a very very talented secondary where a lot of the things people were wondering why they didn't draft. I feel like they addressed a lot of those needs in free agency as well, where this team is I guess going to be a contender.

00:52:31
Speaker 1: They like their wide receivers better than I think the outside does. So it's Courtland Sutton, it's Marvin Mims. Maybe if the board had fallen differently to them, they would have moved up or done something, but they did have Matthew Golden on the board, but I applaud that Ultimately they just looked at Jday Barony. I think it was less of a need. They have Jakwon McMillan there and they're just basically upgrading at that spot. They have like six good defensive backs, so you're gonna need it with injuries, and they're just set up for it. But you got to applaud them to kind of doing what the teams say that they're going to do and usually don't, which is I think they just stuck with, like this player is more special than the other players.

00:53:07
Speaker 4: Tiny bit of news, the Drag Green Laws suffered a quad strain. Reports out of Denver via multiple outlets say that he's going to be ready for the twenty twenty five NFL season, will not need surgery, but the injury was initially reported by Jen Chan at NBC Sports Bay Area.

00:53:25
Speaker 3: She does a great job, so just wanted to shout her out.

00:53:28
Speaker 1: You do worry that was a high risk hy reward pick up in free agency. All right, let's wrap it up with the Raiders. Yeah, oh who you.

00:53:36
Speaker 5: Get Pete now free from Schneider, who wins the power battle in Seattle ultimately, but they get again for the second year in a row, one of the best three players in college football and Ashton genty a year after getting Rock Bauers. They come back with Jack Besh who notably, of course went to the tragedy with his brother being killed in New Orleans on that horrible day, but also went down to Mobile and had a spectacular performance at the Senior Bowl. He's a bigger wide receiver where I do wonder if there's gonna be some route redundancy with Brock Bowers, and it kind of puts Trey Tucker, I'll notice, because Jacoby Myers is gonna get a lot probably of attention from Gino Smith as well as brought.

00:54:19
Speaker 1: It's also kind of a it has been like a big slot, which is essentially what Jack Besch is too. Yeah, but this is their new guys. They need to replace the old guys.

00:54:29
Speaker 5: And you know, some concerns up front, but they do have veterans Jackson Powers, Johnson's played a lot of football, Alex Kapa has as well. Where you just it may be the Gino effect and maybe I'm biased there, but I believe I believe in this roster the way it's currently constructed.

00:54:44
Speaker 1: I believe in the offense man the defense, like Pete Carroll and Patrick Graham have an uphill battle. In theory. Your defensive line is awesome, but Christian Wilkins and Malcolm Koons are coming off major injuries, so you're just hoping they're the players they were before. And in the back seven, I would argue is as question mark filled as any team in the league in terms of the linebackers.

00:55:09
Speaker 4: In the second world, I really am intrigued and excited to see what the combination is though, of Patrick Graham and Pete Carroll because schematically they don't run the same things historically have not run the same types of things. But together, knowing that you are going to have to scheme up some of the pressure, you are going to really have to scheme up some of the coverage shells that you present on the back end, Like I just think we're going to see some really interesting creative stuff out of this defense because you're going to have to because the talent deficit still appears to be there. And on the offensive side, I think the same thing rings true as well. I think they go out and get Ashton genty and specifically hone in on a receiver like Jack Beck who is kind of that power slot, as Nate Tye would say, or that sort of bigger bodied or smaller tight end but bigger bodied receive, and I think they we might see this team do a version of what we always would joke about when some of the Shanahan people would go heavier personnel, which is running eleven and a half personnel instead of either eleven or twelve, using a couple hybrid players to be heavier personnel in terms of the physical makeup, but then also have players who can do a couple of different things and block and pave the path for Ashton Janty, who they're going to defenses they're going to have to accountsel.

00:56:25
Speaker 1: Still have Michael Meyer on that team too, who was most people's te one two years ago and certainly can block, and I hope they keep them because I think he still he showed something as a rookie. They took a couple of late round like third round tackles rather or offensive lineman Charles Grant and Kayleb Rodgers. Good job by our guy, John Spyteky. He gives up the three for Gino Smith, but then after all those trades, he still ends up with three third round picks so and two fourth round picks because he just kept moving down and getting a bunch of mid rounds in a good deep draft.

00:56:55
Speaker 4: I love it, and if you guys will indulge me, I do want to take a second to shout out my absolutely fantastic coworker, Vic Tafer at the Athletic and he's been covering the Raiders for a long time fifteen years, covered their transition from the Bay Area into Las Vegas. He is moving off the Raiders beat as of this week and he's moving over to forty nine Ers coverage, still with the Athletic. He lives in the Bay Area, his family's in the Bay Area, so he never he's basically covering the team, traveling a lot.

00:57:26
Speaker 1: Vic.

00:57:27
Speaker 4: I know you're drinking a whiskey right now and I really appreciate your mentorship and your coverage. That's a tough team to cover a lot of stuff's happened, but he's one of the best to do it.

00:57:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, and one of our favorites and multiple time guests to Sean Reid will be still covering them for the raid they are covered. Well, that's it. We covered the entire league. We did it, AFC and NFC, we did it. Congratulations guys, thanks for having That's it for this week. I mean you wouldn't next, but more we will be back next week. I don't know what we're doing. My mind is totally fright, but we will be doing things. We will be making shows because the football it's on the field. It's back.

00:58:16
Speaker 2: Let me sit this ad on you.