40s and Free Agents: The AFC East's 5 Impact Additions and Rookies

00:00:07
Speaker 1: We are back on forties and free agents.

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Speaker 2: I'm Greg Rosenthal alongside Daniel Jeremiah from his mansion in the San Diego area.

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Speaker 1: But that's not it's not public knowledge.

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Speaker 2: We can't let anyone know where you live because you know you rank these guys. People would get upset, they'd come after you.

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Speaker 3: I can't tell if that's a Tommy Bahamas shirt or like a Janitor shirt, Like, what are we wearing here?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, this is an audio medium. Hopefully we canet.

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Speaker 3: Where's the patch? I feel patch on that thing?

00:00:36
Speaker 2: You know. This is the second negative comment I've gotten today, the other one being from my wife on it.

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Speaker 3: I got it, really, I believe in And are there two opinions you care more about than those two?

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Speaker 2: No, that's the top two ranked right there. Today, we are wrapping up our division look at the twenty twenty five season by taking a little look back of the biggest editions in terms of veterans and rookie It is the AFC East and now we get to do it DJ with the knowledge of everything that happened in training camp and the preseason and spin it forward. We are so close to this season actually starting. You do the rookies, I do the veterans. Why don't you get us going?

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Speaker 3: Sure? I will, And I don't know if there is video that lives on this. I know this obviously an audio form, but if you could just move your mop and bucket, it's in the screen a little bit, if you just move it a little bit to the left. Thanks.

00:01:26
Speaker 2: I mean it's at least cleanly pressed and stuff. It looks like at least I'm putting in a little bit of effort, unlike you.

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Speaker 3: You know, Yeah, greed to a screet I'm gonna go. I tease this on the last one. So let's jump right into it. Let's go to the Miami Dolphins. Let's go to the sixth round and Ali Gordon out of Oklahoma State, who is a big physical back as I do again, we should have got this sponsored. Greg. I think you came up with that idea going back through some of these draft notes. But Oli Gordon to me someone that I had it, who's one hundred and forty one on my list. I don't know what the overall pick was where he ended up getting picked. He's one seventy nine, so that was still a little bit higher on him than where he went there, but six zho one to three. So six one and a half two hundred and twenty six pounds ran four to six to one in Indy, one of the slower running back times there, but didn't bother me at all. When you look at the way that he runs, He's got a huge lower half. He's a nifty big back. So if you think about comparisons, I wrote down le Garrett Blunt is who he reminded me of someone who can absorb contact. He can actually catch the ball really well. You'll see some one handed catches when you study his film. He's aggressive and pass pro. I just wrote he's fast enough, like he's for what he does his style, he's fast enough. Senior Bowl was excellent, had a big time game in the Senior Bowl. So I think they got a great, great value there and I think would have seen in the preseason this guy runs really really hard.

00:02:47
Speaker 2: These backups that have been trying to tackle him can't bring him down, you know, they just they just bounce off him. Now we'll see it against better competition in the regular season, because I think he's going to have a chance. Jalen Wright was supposed to be the backup there he's out right now with an injury. We'll see if he's back for week one, but Gordon maybe won that job anyways over Jalen Right, well, we'll see and Devon h Chan is banged up right now with a soft tissue injury, so it could be week one. Olie Gordon getting some really big time snaps and I too was impressed. Maybe the big back is coming back to love it because you know, because of the extra tight end formations, more power.

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Speaker 3: Oh you're seeing too high safeties, the boxes. You know, it's lighter boxes. So you get somebody who can just kind of be a little bit of a hammer in there. It's kind of fun.

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Speaker 2: So the Dolphins will be using Minka Fitzpatrick quite a bit in those two high safety formations that the Anthony Weaver does like to run.

00:03:44
Speaker 1: And that's my pick for the Dolphins.

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Speaker 2: There a really important year in his career and important player for the Miami Dolphins. I think they gave up a lot to get him in terms of Jalen Ramsey who wasn't happy there and John hus Smith who wanted a new home as well. And Minko Fitzpatrick has had an interesting career. Sometimes those deep safeties.

00:04:06
Speaker 1: DJ.

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Speaker 2: You know, you just don't hear from as much in some years than others. But if you, you know, listen to the reporters and some of the coaches in Pittsburgh, I do think they were a little disappointed with Minka Fitzpatrick over the last year or two.

00:04:19
Speaker 1: Sometimes maybe he was had one pick right.

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Speaker 2: He sometimes he was freelancing a little bit and not being part of the structure of the defense and not making as many big plays after an incredible start to his career, almost like a Hall of Fame type of start to his career. Still relatively young, I think he's twenty eight years old, and so they need him to be a playmaker in a secondary that doesn't really have any other options to be playmakers.

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Speaker 3: I think if safety's interceptions from a scouting standpoint, there's two types of interceptions. There's ones where the ball finds you and there's ones where you go take the ball away. And Mika had that production early. And that wasn't just the ball falling in his lap, tips and overthrows like this was him seeing things, driving on routes, making plays on the ball like this was him as a playmaker, and that we just haven't seen that the last couple of years, so I'm hoping. I'm hoping it's in there. I'm hoping this kind of revitalizes him, you know, going back to Miami and we see that that old school version of him. But I don't think he's been the same player the last couple of years.

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Speaker 1: You know, he got paid.

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Speaker 2: He wanted to get paid by the way by the Dolphins when he got there, and they essentially decided to no, like you got to prove it this time. I think they gave him, like they moved his money around a little bit. But he's basically in a contract year. Can he get one more big contract? So he'll be motivated to get it done. And I think Anthony Weaver in that second year in Miami, with that defensive front, one of the best defensive fronts of everything clicks in the entire league. Maybe healthy, maybe they'll be opportunities to make some plays because of that quick pass rush.

00:05:48
Speaker 1: Go ahead with your second record.

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Speaker 3: They just need to stay healthy too.

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Speaker 2: Man.

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Speaker 3: Those edge rushers are very talented. They just haven't been able to get him on the field. So I'm gonna go to my next one here, and again I do not have a first round pick in this division. In terms of my guys, I'm keeping an eye on that I'm excited about, which is interesting. I'm gonna go to Buffalo and I'm gonna go to land In Jackson edge rusher out of Arkansas, a third round pick. This was a transfer there at Arkansas who spent a lot of time in the SEC's, played against great competition, and I love the way that he played with the the the edge that he played with, the physicality that he played with. He's six foot six, two hundred and sixty four pounds, he ran four six eight excellent straight line speed, had an awesome Senior Bowl game, So that's kind of a nice thing to see when you're going through the process. He wins with a long arm rush. He crushes tight ends. As an edge rusher, you cannot get blocked by tight ends, and he dominated those matchups. Some angle blocks, you know, some guys when they could, you know, block down on him or crack on him. And he's to work on some of his awareness there. But thought there was a violence to the way that he played, and I thought he played with outstanding effort. And if you think about the Buffalo Bills, and how they play effort, physicality, it's a big part of it. This is a big guy who can run, who plays really really hard. So I'm excited to see him in Sean McDermott's defense.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think they could really use some core pieces that pop for them that are younger, and he has the opportunity to do so. Like my wildcard I just got through him now is Joey Bosa, because like to me, he's the ultimate wildcard and he's part of this conversation.

00:07:22
Speaker 1: I have been tracking.

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Speaker 2: He had a healthy training camp, so that's a good sign healthy preseason. I don't know if the snaps are there for lot Lannon Jackson right off the bat, because they have Epanessa, they have Rousseau, they have Bosa. Do you think he's a guy that could play a little inside and also among that trio, like they've missed some time with injuries and so that that could open up an opportunity for Jackson.

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Speaker 3: And to me, look the Bosa and I've been around you know, Joey for every game that he's played, you know, going through his career here or I guess I think maybe not even maybe missed his first year or so but he uh. He to me, you signed Joey Bosa for the playoffs. You sign him to get him, manage him through the season, you load management, whatever term you want to use, but you want him healthy and ready to rock when you get into those meaningful late season games, and healthy into the postseason the playoffs. So I would say it behooves them to roll guys through. And I think I really think he'll earn a role. He can rush inside if you want him to. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I think he had like eight or nine pressures in the preseason when I was going through some of the rookie numbers the other day. So he's he's shown some signs he's going to be able to get out there and help them.

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Speaker 2: I hold it against Landon Jackson though, that during the initial run of forties in free agents, you know, I called him Donovan Jackson or vice versa.

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Speaker 1: So many times. It was just heart. There's also like Landon Donovan, it's just.

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Speaker 2: Someone's got to choose, someone's got to change it. Maybe that's a me problem. I think it is a me problem, but I just it's too confusing.

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Speaker 3: Well, I can see how you would be easily confused. What's who's next?

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Speaker 1: Well, I threw out Bosa as my wife.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, we're counting bosas. So then I get to go with my next one. There, I'm gonna go to a team that I said at the time, and Jack Andraid, who does all the research, backed it up in terms of just the raw numbers. The New England Patriots, based off just how I saw players going through the draft process, had the best draft in the NFL in terms of the quality of player and the value with where they got the players in this draft class. So I've got two of them there. I'm gonna go two skill guys on offense. Obviously Will Campbell is going to be a big part as their left tackle, but Travon Henderson at running back. You saw it early in the preseason when he took a kick to the house, like he is a dynamic weapon and you're gonna see him big time in the pass game. You know, I mentioned it. I go back through my notes. He's the best pass protecting running back I've ever evaluated coming out.

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Speaker 1: Wow.

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Speaker 3: So and that's what the number one thing that keeps rookie running backs from getting playtime or getting on the field is the trust of the coordinator in the quarterback and pass protection. This guy is elite, elite, elite in pass pro, big time speed, versatility. He can run every route out of the backfield. It's not just you know he's running an option route. You can split him out, let him run receiver routes. He's got home run speed. He ran four four three. He plays much faster than that. So he just got to keep his feet alive a little bit on inside runs. There's times where his feet can go dead. He's not gonna be a ware you down runner, but he is a fine decrease and and create a bunch of explosives. He's gonna be fun for Patriot fans to watch man.

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Speaker 2: He could not have gotten Patriots fans more excited with this preseason that he had not just on the field in the games where he showed a variety of different types of plays, like inside runs where he did do a good job fighting through and scoring in the red zone. Also running I forget what cornerback it was on the vikings over but just like steam rolling in with a rugged run. But then also these wheel routes and busting open the kickoff like you said, and he's he's gonna be a much different player than a Shane Veren and Danny Woodhead and these guys. But Josh McDaniels has brought up those and if you can add, you know, his speed to some of the skill set that those guys had, Like watch out, there's gonna be a lot of Patriots in this in this show. I hate to bring it to you because they were they were so active and they need to have a good draft.

00:11:19
Speaker 1: By the way, Drake may.

00:11:21
Speaker 2: Literally might be the only twenty twenty four draft class member to make this team.

00:11:27
Speaker 1: Saw that that's not a good look bananas. I will go with Milton Williams.

00:11:32
Speaker 2: Look, he was at the top of my free agency list and he got taken by the Patriots.

00:11:37
Speaker 1: They went over the top to get him.

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Speaker 2: He wasn't the top of my original list, but all the re signings happened and the franchise tags, and it's the type of guy I think that you should overpay in free agency, and I think ultimately they did overpay him.

00:11:49
Speaker 1: If they get a version of him.

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Speaker 2: DJ Between the Milton Williams we saw for the first twelve weeks of last season and then the Milton Williams.

00:11:58
Speaker 1: We saw down the stretch and the playoffs.

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Speaker 2: If it's somewhere in between, I think they should be happy. And I think those that is the type of player that they should bet on. But I can imagine the Boston Sports radio, Yeaho's being like, well, what's this guy. He's you know, he's got some pressures. He's he's got like four sacks. Because I don't think he's going to be an All Pro player. I just think he's going to be a good plus starter and if you have the money, spend it, because it's hard to find those guys in free agency.

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Speaker 3: Dynamic, explosive. I remember when he was coming out into the process being he was like one of my favorite players that I watched in that cycle, and I remember talking to the guys in Philadelphia, you know, before, during, and after they got him in there, and I mean, he's such a good kid, and he just got better and better and better. The explosiveness was always there, and then you just started seeing the playmaking come along with it. I think you were right to have him as highly rated as you did through the free agency process. This is the way my mind works. It's kind of weird, Greg, but I was just sitting there thinking he was going to sign with the Panthers, right, that was everything's going that way. He ends up signing with the Patriots. So James Taylor wrote the song in my mind, I'm going to Carolina. But where's James Taylor from and who's a fan of He's a Patriots guy. So literally, in his mind he was going to Carolina.

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Speaker 2: He's on that mask playing from Stockbridge to Boston.

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Speaker 3: Yes, exactly. So again that's uh, if we had the music rights, I'm sure we don't. Maybe with all that ESPN money coming in there, we can get the rights to that song. We could just drop it right in the episode. But I don't think that's finalized yet.

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Speaker 2: I wouldn't have thought that my parents, you know, playing James Taylor NonStop in the car, dragging me.

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Speaker 3: In former free agency thoughts.

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Speaker 2: To some concerts at Tanglewood back back in the day, when I was like, ah, do we have to do?

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Speaker 1: That'll be okay, and.

00:13:51
Speaker 3: You'll stand up at a concert because I've I've never been to a James Taylor concert, but it feels I went to a Vince Gill concert and it was very much just kind of sit down enjoyable, like in like enjoyable, really talented musician, but not really a stand up situation.

00:14:04
Speaker 1: I don't remember I was a kid.

00:14:06
Speaker 2: My guess is he's sitting, Yeah, those are those are soft tunes. The crowd that's definitely showing that they're they're drinking wine. You know. Milton Williams was maybe the second best like defensive player in that stretch in the playoffs for the Eagles, next to Jalen Carter. Like he just was so good, and so you do wonder like how much of that was the Eagles and the attention to Carter.

00:14:26
Speaker 1: Well, he's got Christian Barmore next to him here.

00:14:28
Speaker 2: He's a pretty good defensive line there with with Harold Landry who was also a pickup. And you know, I just hope that the expectations aren't so high that people are disappointing, because I think if he's just like a really good player, that that's that's what they needed. They had more than enough cap space, and they they spent so much money in free agency. I'll just throw out another one too, because to me, it was all combined. Carlton Davis was another one on their defense, and so you spent it on Williams, Harold Landry, and Davis. Davis was the one I'm choosing as as one of my five kind of a boomer bus player that they're gonna really need to stay healthy and hold up. Is good in man coverage, but how how important is like man coverage in twenty twenty five being that kind of cornerback DJ, Well.

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Speaker 3: It depends. There's there's very few teams that are just gonna let you go nose to nose and play me in coverage the whole time, so not as useful for the majority of teams. It's it's nice, it's a great luxury. I think, given their druthers, most teams would love to have corners where you can line up and do that, but not many teams have it. So that's just kind of the way the game's played right now. I'm gonna go Patriots. Last one here. Kyle Williams, who I know is a favorite of yours as well, receiver. He was my fifty seventh overall player. He was the sixty ninth pick, so again just kind of another example of I thought they kind of knocked it out of the park in terms of the value where they found these guys a little bit under five eleven hundred and ninety pounds, ran four to four flat, played inside and outside. He was excellent in his release is getting away from press. He's got vertical speed, he can separate. I love his ability to win early on routes. You want to run a slant, you want to get on top of guys, he can do it right away. He's got burst with a ball in his hands, you know, for run after catch. He was excellent again at the Senior Bowl, which you kind of see a theme here. A lot of these guys that do really well in that setting. It does bode well for their future and his ability. This is kind of a kind of a I try to think of the right ways to describe this, but you know it when you see it. So I like guys who can go from a static position to a burst. You know, Like think about just if you're if you're running a curl route, you face up, you catch the ball, You catch the ball, your static your feet are in the ground. How quick can then you get out and go? And this guy has exceptional ability to do that. So I'm a big fan of his game. I'll be honest, I have not seen him in the in the preseason. I have not watched their stuff with him, so I don't know how he's done. I haven't seen the reports in camp. This is basically solely off my evaluation of him as a college play.

00:17:00
Speaker 1: Well.

00:17:00
Speaker 2: He had a concussion in practice after the Vikings game, which was the second week, but he is now back at practice, so that that cost him a week. But I think it's been really positive. Actually, that preseason game against the Vikings was part of a trend that we've heard at camp where he is winning in terms of those releases. He is stacking the cornerbacks and a couple times in that game he was wide open going down the field and Josh Thobbs couldn't hit him either time. One time that the cornerback had like the worst pass interference that you've ever seen. They didn't call it, but I feel like in a big game they would have called it. I guess it was a preseason they should have called it. But either way, you saw what you wanted to see. I think they like what they've seen out of him so far. Him and Kashan Boody are both going to get reps on the outside. MATC Collins is as well but I think it's a matter of time before Williams gets more and more of those reps. So I think all systems are going in terms of Kyle Williams, and you're.

00:17:53
Speaker 1: Right, I planted my flag at him.

00:17:55
Speaker 2: We had a show, yeah, I mentioned on our last show with Me to Kimes, where we each picked our favorite player. HER's with Jagod Campbell. I went Kyle Williams. I don't remember who your pick was.

00:18:03
Speaker 1: Do you? You did so many shows.

00:18:05
Speaker 3: It's kind of tough to I remember a lot of those, but put.

00:18:08
Speaker 2: You on the spot. I think it was Jday Baron. I do listen to you.

00:18:12
Speaker 3: Okay, do you like Jday Baron? It could have been this next guy who was my wow who? I'm gonna skip ahead to my wildcard because I just felt weird having three Patriots in the in the in the five, so I just have one as a wildcard. Who was Again, one of my favorite players was Craig Woodson, safety from cal So. I'll let producer Drew pull up when he was picked what number overall he was? I like giving Drew homework while we're.

00:18:35
Speaker 2: Live and another you know segment that should be sponsored, although like I could easily Google. I don't think you need to have a researching background to do this, but we'll let him do the do the work.

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Speaker 3: He was one oh six according to Drew, he was my ninetieth player. Again, kind of stay with that theme. If I thought the Patriots, you know, found value all throughout the draft six ohoh one, two hundred uh so, six foot eight, two hundred Punds ran four four five in Indianapolis as a safety. Let's start here. Leader smart the first two things, and that's from talking to everybody at CAL. He's a little bit older, so he's been you know, you see this a little bit with the last couple of years with COVID and all that, you get some guys who are a little bit older, a little more mature. I thought this guy could play in the deep half. He's open and smooth. He's he's got speed and physicality when he's working downhill until the alleys, takes great angles. He has a lot of underneath PBUs. He's a real firm tackler. And I thought the intelligence wasn't just you know, off the field stuff. This is someone who plays with excellent instincts on the field, which is huge for a safety. To me, I just looked at this cal sneakily had a lot of safeties that have ended up being starters in the last five six years. It's been a nice little factory there. I thought this guy was ready made, ready to go step on the field and play. And it sounds like from what I have heard on him is that he's earning some time there.

00:19:50
Speaker 1: Oh, I think he's starting week one.

00:19:53
Speaker 2: He's certainly playing in their you know, din packages is probably their nickel, but like it sounds like he is going to be a week one starter there with Jabrill Peppers also at safety. But he beat out some veterans and everything that you said, that's what you hear from the coaches, and it was kind of an immediate guy that like, whoa, this is a dude. And yes, after a rough draft class a year ago, they're gonna have a lot of rookie starters this year, maybe two on the offensive line with Jared Wilson alongside Will Campbell and then you mentioned Craig Woodson. Let's take a break, we'll be back on the other side with our remaining veteran and rookie additions back on forties and free agents. DJ, you felt bad about doing a bunch of Patriots and round. I don't feel bad. They're the team that made all the moves this offseason. So I've got one more veteran addition to talk about here.

00:20:56
Speaker 1: It's Stefon Diggs.

00:20:57
Speaker 2: It's a contract, when you look under the hood, is more of a one year deal. I think he was a very good third receiver type, really a slot receiver in Houston. So coming off of torn ACL getting back on the field rather early in that recovery, earlier than people expected to start training camp, what you saw, I think as camp went on was what you see a lot of times. Yeah, that you can get back on the field, but maybe the confidence wasn't there, the ability to play at game speed day after day after day. And so we'll see what he is going to give this team early in the season, how he fits in to their receiver rotation. He's not the high ceiling guy that he was early in his career, but they could really use a guy that Drake May trusts and knows where he's gonna be on the field. And that's what they're counting on Stefan Diggs to do. Because even if he's not a true wide receiver one like, who's getting the most targets there, it's him, It's de Mario Douglas. It would probably be my pick right now, I mean, which is crazy pop Douglas as their one receiver. So the op opportunity is there for Digs to have a really big role and maybe it'll increase as the season gets on and he's a little further away from that surgery.

00:22:07
Speaker 3: Well, all those points just go back to my previous point that I think if you just look at raw talent and where they are right now in their ability levels, I think Kyle Williams is their real talented receiver.

00:22:15
Speaker 2: Look at that. I loved I loved hearing that. And that doesn't mean it's a bad signing. This is just how free agency works. No, if they get eight hundred yards out of Stefan Diggs in fifty five catches, and he's also and you can see it him talking to the like a very smart route runner and talking to the younger guys in that room and get helping them out too, Like you have to overpay to find guys. And their roster was so diminished from the drafts that they've had recently, and really verble wanting to get rid of every guy that Bill Belichick brought in essentially that that's what you do in free agency. So I think if he's a solid enough player, that's a win. They'd obviously like a little more. And then he would you would be with the Patriots for more than one year, and.

00:22:58
Speaker 3: I do something that could be dated and they can easily clip out of this. Sure by the time this thing hits the waves. You saw what Elliot Wolf said the other day when he said, Hey, we'd be willing to, you know, part with a high pick for a for a star player if that player would become available. A. What did you think of that? And then B do you think where this roster is right now that would make sense.

00:23:22
Speaker 2: It depends who it was. I think it was in the context of Terry McLaurin, who we as we know, have since since signed with Washington Commanders. It's a really case by case situation, but there aren't many where I think it would make sense for this roster. It'd have to be for a younger player that you're ready to give a huge contract, like I mean, Michael Parsons would come.

00:23:43
Speaker 3: That's what I said, That's what I tweeted, That's what I tweeted because when I saw that, when I saw that comment, and everybody freaked out, but I was like, well, I'm just taking it at face value. So if you're going to say that, I'm like, well, Okay, Trey Hendrickson, Terry McLaurin, I'm like, well, if you really want to make an aggressive move looking at window and talent, like I would at least call the Cowboys first. I mean, they might not take my call, but that would be my first call if that was something they were considering.

00:24:07
Speaker 2: Yes, I mean I think if you have a chance, and because they have so much cap space this year, Michael Parsons is an all time player that you would have to think about that. Brandon Ayuk was another one that they were rumored to be talking about before he signed that long term deal at some point coming off that injury, Like could could that make sense for them? If the forty nine ers. I don't think it's crazy. I think I think sometimes you guys in the draft industrial complex and these NFL teams, they get a little too precious about the draft picks and sometimes a bird in the hand, is it's worth something here?

00:24:39
Speaker 1: Oh?

00:24:39
Speaker 3: I no, trust me. I'm I use this phrase with baseball all the time, which is, prospects are fun, parades are more fun. Like, yeah, that's less.

00:24:50
Speaker 1: Snead agrees. You know the Eagles, they're always used to And.

00:24:53
Speaker 3: Then he flipped the script on it and then started getting a bunch of.

00:24:56
Speaker 1: Case by case basis, like I said, give me another rookie, though you're.

00:24:59
Speaker 3: Excited, this is my wild this is my last one. So I know Jets fans are going did you forget about us at this point in time? I haven't. I'm gonna go to their second round. Pick someone who I loved watching. I feel a lot of these guys I said the same things in terms of that. But Mason Taylor cool story, you know, with his dad and going to the Jets. To me, I think again, pros pro someone who's ready and developed and good to go right now, go to my notes. He was my third tight end in the draft, behind Tyler Warren and Colson Lovelin. He was my twenty ninth overall player. Good size at a little over sixty five two hundred and fifty one pounds, he ran for six to eight just a big, athletic tight end. The first time I kind of stepped on my radar was as a freshman guy catches the game when he touchdown against Bama night game at LSU. Doesn't get bigger than that, So that tells you the moments don't get to this dude at all. Just real, smooth, reliable. He's got a nice catch radius. He can catch the ball low, which is hard for bigger tight ends, which is good to see. He can make you miss out in open spaces. He's functional as a blocker. He's not gonna in that sense. Very few of these titands coming to the NFL do. But again I thought somebody that was polished and just a pro ready to go.

00:26:08
Speaker 2: So you call him a pro, does that mean you think he can handle all the responsibilities as a blocker. But also just like knowing all the assignments, you hear this a lot with young tight ends that it's it's a lot that they throw out him early, so it's tough sometimes for them to make an impact early.

00:26:23
Speaker 3: I think he'll learn very quickly, and I think he's a you know, he's a mirror blocker. He's not gonna, he's not collapsing the line. He's not you know when he's two hundred and seventy pounds. He's not Will Disley. That's not his style. You're gonna flex him out, You're gonna let him run routes, You're gonna let him win. But I think of you know, the offense they can run, it would make sense to be lean into the RPOs a little bit. And uh, and this is someone in RPOs. You leak him into the flat, you catch him on a little you know, a little slant route in the middle of the field. Like just to me, that's where he's going to make his living.

00:26:57
Speaker 2: And he's got open targets there. Really sounds like he is going to start or close to it at tight end play plenty. And they don't really have even a second wide receiver.

00:27:06
Speaker 3: That's lots of Wilson. That's why I think he could slide into that second option.

00:27:10
Speaker 2: He could be that guy. So I'll pick his quarterback as my final choice. If you, if you, if you sign a starting quarterback in free agency, you make it into the five you know, biggest impact list. I thought Justin Fields' free agency was fascinating. Number One, that a team believed in him enough to give him about a twenty million dollar contract, which is right in between real starter and high condo.

00:27:34
Speaker 3: It's our condo contract. We're trying to make this stick. We haven't done it.

00:27:38
Speaker 2: It's the condo contract, but it's it's below like the Geno first contract that he had even or you know Sam Darnold last year with Minnesota. It's even below that, but it's above where the Daniel Jones is at and they had to make it a little higher. It'll be fascinating to look back at the end of the season because the Pittsburgh Steelers, what did you think about this? That the report was that they gave Justin Fields a pretty good contract offer. They didn't want Russell Wilson back, even though they had bench Russell Wilson, I mean bench Justin Fields for Russell Wilson, but actually that they gave him a pretty good offer back and that the Jets came over the top of it. What did what did you think about all that? Because I found that fascinating from the Steelers and the Jets perspective.

00:28:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the Jets are sorry. The Steelers kind of had a three man race here in terms of the quarterbacks, and it sounded like they prioritize fields in Sam Darnold, you know, in whichever one of those you know was was top of their list, I don't know, but those seemed to be the that was plan A was one of those two guys. They both decided to go to separate coasts and then that's when they kind of pivoted to Aaron Rodgers at that point in time. But I think they, you know, they they took a look back at it, and they saw so much of Russell Wilson. They felt like, this is that's who he is, and that's probably if it's trending anywhere, it's going to trend south. Whereas with with Justin saw some good things. They probably in hindsight should have stuck with him, but I think they also saw, Okay, there's still more growth here, Like there's a chance there's more in the tank, and we can put better pieces around him.

00:29:10
Speaker 2: The thing I like about the Jets going over the top giving him a real contract is at least for this year, they're building the offense in part around his strengths. Look, they want to be a running team. It matches up with what I think is a really good offensive line and a really good backfield with Brest Hall and Brailen Allen and that might be one A, one B with Allen in the one A spot.

00:29:33
Speaker 1: And that's a fun group. And you know, Aaron Glenn wants.

00:29:36
Speaker 2: To run the ball and defense, and Justin Field is one of the most dynamic running quarterbacks ever. And I think they're really going to give him a chance to make this year work. Now, if it doesn't work, then they'll move on. But I do like that they're not just trying to run their quote unquote offense. It's Tanner Kstron from the Lions. They're gonna run an offense. I think around Justin Field's strengths give him a chance to succeed in this group.

00:30:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm I'm excited to see how it all comes together and see what it looks like Justin Fields. I feel like there's there's still a large fan club out there that feels like just hasn't been the right fit, hasn't been the right offense, hasn't been the right players around him, or the offensive line, or you know, just letting him play.

00:30:18
Speaker 1: He is one of those guys kind of like Donald is.

00:30:20
Speaker 3: There is a very good comparison and.

00:30:23
Speaker 2: Donald and You're I included you in the Donald Hive. I don't know if you're in the field type. I feel like you had him pretty highly rated though when he.

00:30:29
Speaker 3: Was I liked fields, he wont to. He was my he was my eighth, he was my eighth, eighth overall player. It's very good, the five star kid. Explosive arm and legs, excellent on the move. He can drive the ball, holds the ball a little bit too long. He's late uh late movement issues. Defensively changing the scene gave him some trouble. Played a little bit of hero ball, but he was extremely tough. So it's interesting looking back on that one man. I had Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson, Trey Lance justin fields, and Trevor's the only one still on the existing on his existing team, obviously the only one who got paid big, and then there's questions about him that are that are still out there.

00:31:12
Speaker 2: Sometimes it's just a bad year for you to draft a quarterback because everyone thought that class was amazing, and the entire NFL agreed with you. And if you were looking for a quarterback and you had an NFL team, they would have taken Zach Wilson. They would have taken Trey Lance, they would have taken Mac Jons.

00:31:27
Speaker 3: Some of these guys are on their third, third teams, right.

00:31:30
Speaker 1: That's absolutely true.

00:31:33
Speaker 3: All of lake hold On, Justin Fields is on his third team. Zach Wilson is Jets, Broncos, Dolphins. He's on his third team. Trey Lance is Niners, Cowboys, Chargers, He's on his third team. That's crazy.

00:31:46
Speaker 2: Well, don't forget the guy who came in second place, mac offensive Rookie of the Year that.

00:31:49
Speaker 1: Year, Mac Jones.

00:31:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, is he on his third one.

00:31:51
Speaker 2: I'll never forget the article in I forget where it was in Boston where it was like Mac Jones deserves the Rookie of the Year over Jamar Chase. It was like Week fifteen kind of fell apart after that, but that didn't make So.

00:32:03
Speaker 3: Four of the top five quarterbacks are all on their third team, and the guy who's stuck is probably one of the more more criticized scrutinized quarterbacks in the NFL.

00:32:13
Speaker 1: Right now, it was the wrong year to need a quarterback.

00:32:16
Speaker 2: It is never the wrong year to listen to Daniel Jeremiah's draft takes.

00:32:20
Speaker 1: He nailed them all this year.

00:32:21
Speaker 2: They're all going to be correct on both forties and free Agents and move the sticks check out of course, DJ. As the season builds up, he's going to be with Bucky there. I'm going to be on NFL daily. But we're not done here. Forties in free Agents two more episodes before the season in your feed On Monday and Tuesday, we are going to be doing a draft of the teams that we think are most likely to win the Super Bowl in the AFC and the NFC.

00:32:50
Speaker 1: Should be a lot of fun.

00:32:52
Speaker 3: We will see then, well, hold on, hold on before we go.

00:32:55
Speaker 1: Okay, I thought that was a good ending.

00:32:56
Speaker 3: I thought that good ending.

00:32:58
Speaker 1: They were playing the music.

00:32:59
Speaker 3: I want, I want people to know this is the only podcast that you can come to that is led and run by a man with the watch of a CEO and the shirt of a custodian. There's no one else that can offer that. We offer it right here on Forties and free Agents and we'll see you next time.