40s and Free Agents: The NFC East's 5 Impact Additions and Rookies + Commanders Extend WR Terry McLaurin

00:00:07
Speaker 1: Welcome to forties and free Agents. I'm Greg Rosenthal. I am joined by my friend Daniel Jeremiah. We are getting to the end of our previews of the season where we go through each division and pick the biggest additions in terms of veterans and rookies throughout the league. And look, we got lucky here DJ. We're doing the NFC East today and we're taping on the very same morning morning that Terry McLaurin got a big contract extension with the Washington Commanders, So I feel like we might as well just start there. This is one of those holdouts like you expected to get done eventually, but also I feel much better about the Commanders knowing he will be fully ready for a week one.

00:00:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was interesting.

00:00:49
Speaker 3: I saw that news come down and I wanted to kind of refresh myself on Terry. Obviously there's been a great player. He's been fun to watch. And we hit this on Move the six with Buck. I kind of went through and just watch all his explosive plays. I was curious like his usage, like how they were doing it, Where were those big plays coming from? And it was you know, seven of those were vertical balls, like just straight go balls. You had four on scrambles, which you could understand having an athletic quarterback. You had three on overs, So the vast majority of them were on takeoffs, verticals down the field. You know, not a lot of quick kiters. He had two on slants. Then you get mixed in and in, you mix in you know, a corner, You mix in a couple comebacks. But it wasn't there was no like wide receiver screen run after catch. You know, you had those two slants, but there wasn't a lot of just you know, him just taking a short ball and then making something explosive or dynamic happen, which took me down a rabbit trail of just okay, who is run who is a run after catch guy in this offense? So you go back through and pull the numbers from last year. Eckler led the team of four hundred and twenty something yards. Zakias, who now has been doing a great job with the Bears, he's exited. He was second, and then McLaurin was after that. So I'm like, okay, well, this doesn't seem like a lot of yards after catch.

00:01:59
Speaker 2: Where were they in the league.

00:02:00
Speaker 3: They're sixteenth in yards after catch. I know preseasons a liar. I talk about it all the time, Greg, but they're twenty sixth then yards after catching the preseason. So it informed the decision to me of why they went and got Deebo Samuel, because they're trying to find somebody to compliment what they have in Terry. My whole point of all of this is it's pretty incredible. This team was in the NFC Championship Game last year with an offensive line.

00:02:22
Speaker 2: I think we'd all agree that was so so.

00:02:24
Speaker 3: Terry's is a great player, but he was not surrounded by a complete receiver group Like this isn't even a well formed team and they were in the NFC Championship Game last year.

00:02:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, it makes it very difficult. And we're going to get to a lot of commanders here, Debo. You know that's my first veteran, so we will just like combine the discussion here. The contract was, you know, three years on the extension with a thirty million dollars signing bonus. It's up to ninety six million, but that's that's tacking on the year either way. He's going to be nicely in that region somewhere between a justin Jefferson and maybe a DK Metcalf, and I think he deserves it. And you think about his year last year and fantasy like it was great because he suddenly scores thirteen touchdowns, but in terms of volume, I think people would be surprised. He actually got fewer targets than he used to get when Jaden Daniels wasn't there, and he just had more efficiency, like more yards per target. And he's just one of those receivers if you know, you know, I did not see any decline out of him, even though you know he's getting older. He's hitting his age thirty season later this year, and you do worry about that a little. But his contested catch rate DJ that is one of those, you know, skill sets that you look for, I'm sure, but it's really hard to repeat at the NFL level year after year. If you look at the numbers, you could make the argument that Terry McLaurin is the best contested catch guy, or certainly one of them, of his entire generation, year after year playing with not so great quarterbacks. If you look at the numbers in his contested get he's just he's just a great plucker of the football. And I don't see why that can't come continue, and you're right that Deebo ends up being a very nice compliment to him. With that.

00:04:05
Speaker 3: The last point on that, and again we mentioned this a little bit. I'm with the sticks, but this is it's ironic that you had mentioned that is his greatest strength. He goes to Ohio State on a camp and he wants to get an offer from Ohio State. That's kind of his dream school. He goes there, doesn't catch the ball that great, and he's a little bit of a body catcher, so they told him, look, you got to improve your hands if you want to get an offer. He catches two hundred balls a day, a lot of those from his mom just throwing in balls in the family room, but he catches two hundred balls a day, every single day until he goes back to the camp. The next time catches the ball flawlessly, they offer him a scholarship and off he goes. But that was just a little glimpse into kind of the work ethic and all that he put into that. And now you look at him as one of the best catchers of the football in the NFL.

00:04:45
Speaker 1: And it's a great sign for the Commanders who you know, obviously have not been a great organization before the ownership change of rewarding mister Washington over the last six years, So feel great about that. Deebo, to me, is just such an X factor. He's so up and down DJ in terms of his explosiveness, his health. I don't know if it's motivation, but maybe I would say the coaching staff in San Francisco being happy with him, like it just it was up and down. When he's great, he's great, he's a unique skill set, but they really need him to work. It's ultimately a one year deal that they brought him in on if you look at how the contract is structured. They traded for him, of course, but only had to give up a late round pick. And to me, he is the ultimate X factor for this team because yet you don't have Diami Brown, you don't have Zakiyas. They're going to miss those guys, and they have Noah Brown as their next guy who hasn't been healthy. So these two really have to carry this passing game as a whole. I think from what we've heard he could do it, But I also I'm not feeling like amazing about it just because he's been up and down. He really hasn't been that guy that we saw back in twenty twenty one.

00:05:50
Speaker 3: Too often, with a quarterback like they have in Jaydon Daniels, there should be massive yards after the catch, just because he's going to draw so many eyes and so much tension that you should have opportunities to have fewer numbers in the back end because you have to dedicate bodies to deal with what.

00:06:07
Speaker 2: He can do with his legs.

00:06:08
Speaker 3: So I'm hoping that he emerges is that guy, or that he can still be that guy, because at one point in time, there is nobody better in the NFL with the ball in their hands than Deebo Samuel.

00:06:16
Speaker 2: So excited to see what that looks like.

00:06:18
Speaker 3: I'll get to one of my rookies here, Bill, the man affectionately known as Bill Krossky Merritt, who I took in I did my I only do one NFL Fantasy League targeted him early, took him early, however, I think I took him in the six fifth or sixth round. Got some I know, but I like I always take young guys a little earlyer than I have to. I load up on young guys because it's kind of fun for me to just keep an eye on the guys. I just spend all this time talking about it in the run up to the draft. So but I'm a believer in him. I know I'm talking to people in that organization. They're very excited about him and what he can bring to the table. To go back through and pull up my notes on him, let's go here.

00:06:58
Speaker 1: I get this segment. Spot. This is everyone's face. Yeah, the notes, the notes going up, the notes.

00:07:05
Speaker 2: Where are they?

00:07:06
Speaker 1: He? Oh?

00:07:06
Speaker 2: Here, he is right here.

00:07:08
Speaker 1: So he was.

00:07:09
Speaker 3: He was five ten and a quarter two hundred and six pounds. He ran four four five. As a runner, someone who really can press the hole. He lowers pads, he'll spin off tackles. He runs really hard, there's a little bit of tightness there, but catches the ball well. He's really good in the screen game. Needs to work on pass pro now. He was hurt, missed most of the season there at Arizona. He was a transfer, but he popped on the scene when you go watch him at the East West Shrine Bowl.

00:07:35
Speaker 2: So the practice is there.

00:07:36
Speaker 3: He had an outstanding week and that's kind of what what got him back on the map. It tested really, really well, so I think they've got someone who's I think to me personally, already the most talented runner on their roster. So we'll see how long it takes before he takes over the lion's share of the carries.

00:07:51
Speaker 1: And now DJ won't like me doing this, but you know, when you have commander's takes, I always just listen a little closer because I know I know who you talk to. You've talked about it, you know Adam Peter as well, who runs it. So if you're saying, if you're getting confident enough that you're taking to Corey Kross early fifth or sixth round, I feel good about that because it feels feels like a little bit of a reach. I think Austin Eckler is going to have a role, Jeremy McNichols will have a role, and so you're comparing, you know, the guys you could take at that round in fantasy drafts. But in reality, he's one of the best stories I think of all of training camp. It's what paying attention to training camp to me is all about, is guys like him elevating. And now they didn't even need Brian Robinson on this team.

00:08:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, Brian Robinson exits, So that's my first one, and I know we do five in a wildcard.

00:08:38
Speaker 2: Yes, this in the NFC East.

00:08:39
Speaker 3: I'm I'm gonna fudge a little bit because I just have six guys and I felt like all six of them belong in there. I don't think one of them belongs in the wildcard. So you can designate whoever the heck you want is a wildcard. But I've got six names here.

00:08:51
Speaker 1: What do you is another commander here or no? You're just giving it? Oh?

00:08:55
Speaker 2: What noy? You want me?

00:08:56
Speaker 1: You want?

00:08:56
Speaker 2: I thought you were up trying to.

00:08:58
Speaker 1: Be fair commander, but you just threw out the wildcard thing. Yeah, so let's be real. The Commander's made the biggest moves this offseason in the division. Laramie Tunzel is such a fascinating player, been traded twice for massive hauls like there are very few players in the last twenty years that that can be said about. Khalil Mack is the only other one that really comes to mind. And Tunsil still got a lot in this iteration coming from Houston, where it was interesting to me that they were ready to give up on him. I don't know if they thought he was as consistent in the running game, but he's one of the best pass protectors of his generation and he is going to help out this offensive line. So Washington really pushed their chips in the middle of the table with Laramie Tunzell to make sure that they didn't slide this year. And then they have a good rookie last year, Brandon Coleman who played left tackle for them, who's been hurt in camp, but is going to slide inside to guard. So you're hoping that you're improving two positions there for the command. And Tunsil is just so talented. You can tell me how you looked at him way back in the day.

00:10:07
Speaker 2: Of course, was my number one player in that draft.

00:10:10
Speaker 1: Wow, that's crazy. It is there is There has been something about Tunsil over the years. It felt unfair that he fell that far in that draft considering what was going on and.

00:10:20
Speaker 3: Try being live on the air when that's going down and trying to trying to choose your words carefully.

00:10:25
Speaker 1: Yeah. Crazy for our younger listeners. There was a video that came out with him using a like a gas mask, like a gas mask, water bomb and like a.

00:10:37
Speaker 2: Gas mask filled with smoke.

00:10:38
Speaker 1: Hey, look, it's illegal now, so I think it's okay to time now.

00:10:42
Speaker 2: It wouldn't have been anything, but that someone that.

00:10:44
Speaker 1: Is feel like I'm relatively familiar with the game, Like I was like, what is that? You know?

00:10:51
Speaker 3: As someone who is zero familiarity with the game, I had no idea what was going on, and I'm tasked with being on national television and figuring out who's going to take this guy and how far does he fall? How serious is this who leaked this information? How did it get out there the day like while the draft is going. It was wild, but I am a huge believer in his ability. But he did just get two false starts while you were talking. So that's the only thing that I'm worried about. We kind of clean up the penalties.

00:11:18
Speaker 1: Yet in Houston, it just speaks to my larger commander's point, and I'm going to throw out my third commander because to me, they did have three of the biggest signings. The Eagles basically sat out free agency, so they're not getting.

00:11:28
Speaker 3: Weeah, We'll go ahead jump into it, because that's the only commander that I have was Merrit.

00:11:32
Speaker 1: It's von Miller and von Miller and Tunzel to me, almost occupy a similar space. I would even throw in Javon Kinlaw, who they gave a lot of money to. I just look at this team in terms of their veteran just a little boom or bust, very high ceilings and a lot of uncertainty. I feel good about Larrymy Tunzel in the first year of his deal there. It's not like he's ever been a bad NFL player. He's always been a plus player. It's like, how plus plus is he going to be Von Miller at this stage of his career. He was a situational pass pressure for the Bills. Was okay. Last year wasn't great. Kin Law has been a little up and down. I know there's some belief in them. I'm throwing a lot of guys together and I just I look at that edge position, I look at their offensive line in general. They're hoping to get Sam Cosmi back eventually from a torn ACL. It's just a boomer bust team to me. You could tell me they end up being better this year in terms of more stable. Maybe they don't get back to the NFC Championship game, but they're better as a week to week team, or that it goes wrong and they take a little bit of a step back because I think you're betting on a lot of different guys, and I would throw Debo in there, Vaughan in there, and Tunzel in there. That to me, high variance guys.

00:12:39
Speaker 2: Yeah. To me, I think they're you know, as a team.

00:12:42
Speaker 3: I think their secondaries vastly improved from where it was a couple of years ago. I like what they've done there, and they've gotten more physical. They've got tougher there in the back end. So I'm excited about that now. The thing is going to be It's really only one question with them is how they match up with the Philadelphia Eagles, and then can they keep the Eagles from jam and the ball down their throats when it matters. So they've added kin Law, They've added some pieces there to help try and keep that from happening. I don't know that they're there yet. They still feel like to me, last year was a year ahead of schedule. This year, wouldn't be surprised if they took a little step back, and I'm almost looking towards It's just I hate doing this before a season even starts, But like, I'm more excited about another offseason. I think they need another offseason to kind of round out this roster and complete this roster.

00:13:24
Speaker 2: You know. That's that's my take on them.

00:13:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think the strategy this year for their front office was partly to prevent that backslide by again filling holes in free agency with guys who can play. They brought back Bobby Wagner. But I'm with you in terms of setting up the foundation. It reminds me a little bit of the Buffalo Bills under McDermott and Brandon Bean, who I think did as good a team building job as anyone in the last decade. And if you remember when they came aboard, they took a little bit of a step back in year two before really establishing themselves as year to year contenders in year three.

00:14:00
Speaker 3: So to give you a look behind the scenes of how this works on the personnel side, this is what happened. When you take over a team that is drafted terribly. You swap out a ton of the roster for guys on one year deals. Now, the good news is you might hit on some of those guys. The bad news is once you hit on them, you still don't have any control. So you can lose guys. You're trying to resign guys. It's just not there's no foundation. It's what I'm getting at. So they need three draft classes to almost backfill because if you look at it, the players, look at the just the first round picks before this regime got there, the previous five years, it's gross. So there there, it's it's a challenge there, and they're way ahead of schedule last year. All right, I'll give you. I'll give you two names here. I'm going to go to the Dallas Cowboys for for my two guys next up here. First one, because I'm not going to just take the low hanging fruit. I'm going to go to the fifth round. I'm going to go Jaden Blue, running back out of Texas for the Dallas Cowboys, who was.

00:14:55
Speaker 2: A favorite of mine. Greg.

00:14:56
Speaker 3: While I read the report, maybe you can look it up or Drew can get in your ear to figure out what number pick he was in the draft. But he was five to nine, one hundred and ninety six pounds, ran a four to three eight. I thought he would run even faster than that after the way he played. But someone who is a little bit narrow but super fast explosive in the past game you see him on option routes, nobody could cover him, change a direction, make miss out in space outstanding. Now he's not a physical, violent runner pass protection. You're gonna much rather get him out in the route than ask him to sit in there and anchor down. There's just not a lot of anchor there. But this is someone who is a total mismatch player in the pass game. And when you have Seeding Lamba on one side George Pickens on the other side, if you can stretch the field out a little bit and isolate him in the pass game or even in this like the draw game, screen game, draw game, you know, option route, angle route, like Jayden Blue is gonna you're gonna see him on Sunday's making plays for the Dallas Cowboys as a fifth round pick.

00:15:53
Speaker 1: Sometimes it's all about opportunity. I don't know if they were looking at running back earlier in the draft and just the guys they wanted kept going a little before they were able to take him. But getting Blue in the fifth round that was one. It set off alarms and for fantasy football leaguers because the opportunity is there. I think the starter is going to be Javonte Williams. We'll see on cutdown day how they decide to construct this room. Certainly Jayden Blue is going to be part of it. I think had a really positive camp. He did have an ankle injury they say lower ankle injury in the last preseason game. Don't know if that's going to prevent him from being ready for Week one. I'm going to throw a curveball to you. I think film Offa was an undrafted rookie in this class. Okay, can you watch any tape on him, by the way, because you know when I was out at Cowboys camp, he popped a fifty yarder against the starters, had some bursts, and then when I would watching in the preseason, I don't even know if he's going to make the team or not. I think he will, but I kind of liked a little North South juice.

00:16:53
Speaker 3: Phil MafA was a six foot and a half two hundred and thirty four pounds six five big big big back. He's big, He's more carry defenders than power through him. He's a little bit rigid. He did have a nice eighty three yard run against app State, which hurt a little bit, but not big time change the direction, and no real value as a pass catcher. So he's just kind of a big a little bit of a plotter. But someone who is a big, physical back, like an old school four minute Steeler back, is how I would kind of look at him.

00:17:23
Speaker 1: Maybe, you know, the league maybe is getting back to a point where he can use a few more of those backs. Ali Gordon Miami's had a nice.

00:17:30
Speaker 2: Hey, hey, hey, don't spoil the AFC that's.

00:17:34
Speaker 1: Coming up later in the week. I'm glad you mentioned.

00:17:36
Speaker 2: That, So you got Can I give you my next week the divisions?

00:17:39
Speaker 1: You can, but I was just going to set it up for the listener. We got two more divisions this week and then early next week you can look forward to us drafting who we think is going to win the Super Bowl, back and forth, and that'll be kind of the end of this preseason forties in Free agent's mini run that we've been on.

00:17:58
Speaker 3: This has been fun, by the way. The feedback has been positive, surprisingly positive, and considered who I'm working with. So that's been fun. Let's go to my next Dallas cowboy here. I'm gonna go Donoviniza Raku edge rusher, who when I went out there to training camp. I was just out there for a day early on. I know you're out there as well, Greg, but there seemed to be a lot of enthusiasm about him. I liked him as a player. I thought they got tremendous value with where they ended up getting him. I'll pull up where I had him. Yeah, he was a forty fourth pick and he was my thirtieth overall player, so I thought they got a first round pick where they were long arms. He's got legit burst, tons of production and polish. You'll see him win a lot of different ways, like he'll do use a nice little club move, swim move inside counter. You'll see him get guys on their heels and counter across their face. Talking to the coaches at the Senior Bowl who coached him there, absolutely loved him.

00:18:53
Speaker 2: Thought he was a pros pro. That's always a.

00:18:56
Speaker 3: Good sign if you want guys to have an immediate impact. That's a phrase when you hear that this guy's professional, he gets it like, Okay, he knows he's going to learn everything. He's going to be diligent in studying and working. He can get on the field and make an impact.

00:19:08
Speaker 1: I love that By the way. I never informed you Jade Blue is one hundred and forty ninth pick of the draft.

00:19:14
Speaker 3: Oh he Jayden Blue was one hundred and forty nine, and I believe let me go back, I think he was one to nine for the Jayden Blue was seven the football.

00:19:25
Speaker 1: In the preseason.

00:19:25
Speaker 2: Seven I don't but one seven. I just to me, it's like, yeah, good.

00:19:30
Speaker 1: Signs and uh yeah, he's a DJ type of guy. So is Azaku. I really liked him going into the draft. I've heard the same things about him in camp now the preseason he's been quieter and in the games tiny sample size, we'll see, but the Dallas beat writers have been saying, man, he is tearing up the practices and it hadn't translated quite to the preseason where he did get a lot of run. And I expect him to be very good and he doesn't have to be the man as long as they get Micah Parsons signed, and if they do get Michael Parsons, ultimately I do think will happen. In the end, they have potentially the deepest edge group in the entire NFL. Dante Fowler has been a productive sign him for one year and he's going to get you eight to ten sacks type of guy. He is there. Marshawn Neeland was a second round pick a year ago. Maybe not not as pure a edge rush, right, a good player. And then Sam Williams again to talk about the day I was bowl. I mean, he's got a lot of juice off the edge. And he actually picked off Dak Prescott on a play he dropped in the coverage. I would not expect what happened to off him and took him for a pick six on the day I was there. So that is an athletic, exciting edge group, and I'm excited about this Cowboys defense. I actually think it could be better than people think once they get used to the eber flus of it all. Once Trayvon Diggs is back on the field they activated him recently. Because of the edge group, I actually think I think they have a little more juice than people think.

00:21:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, excited about a lot of those individual players. It's hard for me to get it out of my head. The day I was there, I watched Jimmy Garoppolo carve them up like a Thanksgiving turkey in the back end. That was tough, and the Rams DeVante Adams still. Oh my gosh, they had no answer on that one.

00:21:13
Speaker 1: And you talked about being in the division, like the Commanders are needing to stop the run against the Eagles. I have major questions about the Commanders. They're even bigger questions about the Cowboys. I don't know if they're going to be able to stop the run with the personnel that they have. Let's take a quick break and we'll actually wrap up our Cowboys talk on the other side, back on forties and free agents. Daniel Jeremiah is off the road, no more getting back from the preseason game. I mean, I guess you're going to get back on the road for the regular season, but you have a nice couple weeks here before you go to a.

00:21:55
Speaker 3: Twelve hour flight coming up to Brazil. Bud like that's at forty sevens old. That's a there's a lot of hydration in preparation. I need to know Labor.

00:22:04
Speaker 1: Day weekend, you get the Labor Day weekend. Maybe catch a Padres game. You know something I need to get. I'm thinking about getting that money. Who does the play by play has one of those fancy things where you can kind of stick your arms in him and then it has the little donut hole you can put your head down to sleep like basically on the little trade table, like you can sleep face.

00:22:24
Speaker 2: Down like that. Thinking about making that investment, I don't know if that's worth it or not.

00:22:27
Speaker 1: Well you're not DJ's not business class. Well you're going with the team, so that's interesting.

00:22:33
Speaker 3: Yeaheah, No, players get the players obviously taking care of there.

00:22:37
Speaker 1: It's a bit of a catch twenty two there, going with the team. But ultimately yeah, nice, yeah, skipping security, it's amazing. Let's get back to the list. So we're doing the biggest additions, and I thought George Pickens has to be on this list because to me, he is the missing piece of what this Cowboys offense was looking for, just a little more skill position depth. They expect Jake Ferguson to have a better year this year. They gave him a nice contract at tight end, but Pickens brings them some real juice and I think he occupies that spot that Michael Gallup used to have. You can move Cedee Lamb all around the formation, but you have Pickens there as a ball winner on the outside. Not a lot of guys like those guys are hard to find and he's heading into a free agent year and he is one of the most intriguing freedoms out there. I think they're going to get the best effort. I don't know if you heard anything about, you know, from the coaches, just how they have enjoyed having Pickens with them during training camp.

00:23:37
Speaker 3: Everything I was told when I was out there talking to guys was he's been good. You know, he's been bought in, he's fit in. There hasn't been really any issues. Now we'll see once we get into the regular season and maybe if the targets aren't there. If that, you know, he gets frustrated as has been the case in the past. But to me, this is a best behavior situation, Like he's smart enough to know that he wants to get a big paid and that comes with him being on his best behavior, being bought in, body language, all that stuff that he's been criticized for in the past. I think you see the best of him this year. And I think this is the first time he's had a dude the caliber of Seeding Lamb on the opposite side where he's going to not get any attention whatsoever from coverage.

00:24:17
Speaker 2: I think he has a really good year. I'm excited about him.

00:24:20
Speaker 1: He's so talented. I remember going back and forth with you when he was coming out. I had him second and my receivers that year, and talent wise and really competitiveness wise. It's not like he's lacking for effort. The effort is there. So reminds me a lot of a couple other Cowboys pickups over the years. At wide receiver. They got the very best year possible out of Roy Williams right from the Lions that first year and then got the big contract. Same thing with terrell O and George Pickens. Maybe not at the talent level, certainly of too. Maybe Roy Williams is closer, closer to that. I think they're going to get the best out of George Pickens and maybe he gets a big contract.

00:24:56
Speaker 3: Now people getting a peak behind our relationship, by the way, which is great finding a really uber talented player that might not be rated as high. And even though we've been having these conversations for over a decade, he will still not see the forests of the trees. He will always call me and go, I mean, I am a super scout. I'm the only one that sees that this guy's really talented, how come he's so low? And I go, Greg, you realize there's other parts of the evaluation other than just what we see on the field, and it was I won't say who the player was, but there's one this last year who's getting a lot of left to the preseason, who's been outstanding. But yeah, everybody knows the talent was there. If we're just grad enough, just that it would have been easy. But there's other information you take in and that can move guys down a little bit. And sometimes those issues never materialize and the guy ends up being a great player. Other times, two years, three years down the road, you go, oh, I get I guess I see now why he felt.

00:25:51
Speaker 1: Okay, So if you're listening to forties and free agents, guess who that player is in our mentions and.

00:25:59
Speaker 2: Don't know you don't see it. You'll tell me off there.

00:26:00
Speaker 1: I'll tell you. I'll tell the listener if they were right. I know I'm not. I'm not really sure sure, but I think what you haven't considered DJ is just that, like I've got a special eye, you know.

00:26:12
Speaker 2: That's right?

00:26:12
Speaker 1: Right?

00:26:13
Speaker 2: This guy from Georgia is pretty good. I mean, he's pretty big in athletics.

00:26:17
Speaker 1: You want today better than others. People don't like to talk about that. Oh everyone's even some are better. You know, I'm not. You know, you got to where you are for a reason. So maybe I've just got that special eye. This guy, No, I like this super tall, fast guy from Georgia, talented.

00:26:32
Speaker 2: Looks pretty good. He's pretty good, Reckie.

00:26:35
Speaker 3: All right, I'm going to go to the Philadelphia Eagles only one I'm saving. By the way, if you're a Giants fan, your one, and where are we? I think the Giants have the two biggest guys in this whole process, and I'm saving the best for last, so to speak. So Philadelphia Eagles, I'm gonna go to the first round. You had Campbell and this is a classic case. Everybody. I shouldn't say everybody, but some folks in the league get mad at me every year at the draft because they feel like I unfairly love up Howie Roseman it. I say that they get the best value every year in the draft, and I'm like, guys, I don't know what you want me to do. I watched the players, I ranked the players. I don't know who's going to pick them or where they're going to go. But it just so happens that every year the Eagles happened to be picking towards the back of the first round and they get one of my top twelve players. Like, it didn't matter which team it was, I would have loved them up. It's just a based off my opinion of what I saw on the guys and Johan Campbell when it came to my final list. He was my twelfth overall player, my number one off the ball linebacker, and they got him with what the thirty first pick? I think maybe somewhere around there. Yeah, oh, thirty second. Well, they'd had the thirty second pick. They went to the Super Bowl, right, did they trade up one spot?

00:27:43
Speaker 2: Yeah?

00:27:44
Speaker 3: So six h two seven so almost six three, two hundred and thirty five pounds. He ran four to five to two, rangey, versatile, He was recruited as an edge rusher. But then to get him on the field because they had the two first rounders, you had Dallas Turner and Will Anderson, Like, we got to get this guy on the field, so let's put him off the ball. So he hasn't even spent that much time in that position, but showed big time lateral range and burst. He can playoff tackles. When he's an outstanding blitzer, he can bend and finish. Just think of just a fast, fluid, loose athlete who's you know, also has extremely high character and all that stuff's great off the field. The funny story was early in training camp talking to some folks in Philly, like, okay, it wasn't he didn't pick it up just right away. He wasn't, you know, excelling in off the ball linebacker position. So they started cross training him a little bit because he had been an edge rusher. So let's give him some work after practice. Let's let him work on some pass rush stuff if nothing else, like we could use him in that capacity. And then all of a sudden, the preseason games come around and he's just lighting it up off the ball. He's making splash plays, he's seeing everything. He's playing fast. And then they're like, yet, you don't need to work after practice at edge rusher anymore. You just go ahead and stay in there. And I got and I was told he's actually kind of bums, Like no, I want to I like rushing. I'm learning a lot, Like yeah, sorry, you should have played worse. If you wanted to play on the edge, you should have played worse. Now you're locked in here as an off the ball guy.

00:29:04
Speaker 1: That is great insight. Did not know any of that, and you can kind of see it on the field in the preseason. One of the stories of the preseason we did the show with Mina Kymes where we talked about our favorite players. That was her favorite player in the draft. If we could have told you or Mina you had them twelfth overall before the process, that he would be ready to go day one of training camp, I think, yeah, maybe you even bump them up a little higher. It's amazing what a quick recovery he had and that it really sounds like he is going to be a day one starter. And what a fun.

00:29:37
Speaker 2: Copy about him and Zach Bond right.

00:29:40
Speaker 1: Like that's exactly what you want kind of out of these modern linebackers. Two guys who can rush. Maybe they're not having them work extra because they're like, you're good enough, we will blitz you sometimes, Like it's not like he's not gonna rush the passer here and there, but that's not his main job.

00:29:54
Speaker 3: The interesting thing about the Eagles to me, like for a team that just won a Super Bowl. You look on this defense. Can you remember a team that won a Super Bowl that's defense was this young? Like, look at these guys like it's Jalen Carter's class of twenty three, Nolan Smith class of twenty three, Nakobe Dean twenty two, Jalx Hunt twenty four, you got Ringo and Sydney Brown or twenty three guys. You've got Quinnyon and Cooper Dish twenty the class of twenty four, Like their whole defense is like first three year guys.

00:30:27
Speaker 1: All right, I'll throw out my wildcard because it was the Eagles. Like the wildcard to me is do they get anything out of these edge rush kind of bargain basement guys? They signed Azizo Jalari and Josh Uce being two of the examples. You can't push forward in terms of free agency spending big bucks. Every single year. They've done as good, maybe better job than literally any team in the NFL. Re signing guys early, not get into the problems that the Cowboys or the Bengals get into, for instance, with their players. If anything, they get great value signing them early. Guys like you know, Landon Dickerson who would be worth who knows how much if you got closer to free agency. But what that means is you can't push in free agency every single year, and so they kind of just, you know, nibbled around the edges. They watched some really good players go and I'm just curious if they can get anything out of Azizo, Zulari, josh Uja. You could throw a Dori Jackson in there at cornerback. Just these guys who are gone cheap veteran contracts and you're hoping gives you some good production. Jackson of those three is the guy who looks like he's gonna play the most, might be their starter at cornerback.

00:31:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, when they rolled guys through a lot on the edge last year because they had so many of them. Remember, Huff couldn't even get on the field. So I think they want to play guys I like in that group of guys you just mentioned that Cluster to me, Uce gives them another fastball that they can play with who actually plays bigger than his size. I think he's a good player, So I'm excited to see how they kind of kind of meld him into this rotation because it's going to look different with those guys who were kind of into three four roles. Now in the won two roles.

00:32:01
Speaker 1: So you said you saved the best for last. It's the New York Giants. We've done that too. Like we're ending this series big with NFC East AFC East this week. Which Giant do you want to talk about first?

00:32:12
Speaker 3: So I'm gonna start their first over their first round pick in Abdul Carter, who I think there's a chance and I love cam Ward. I'm excited about cam Ward and I think they've got their quarterback of the future. But I will not be surprised if a month into the season there's articles in Tennessee papers, if people still do papers Tennessee and shout out the uh did we take? We've taken Abdul Carter with the first overall pick. Like this guy's wrecking shop right out the gate.

00:32:39
Speaker 2: He's ready to go.

00:32:39
Speaker 3: There's sometimes when you have preseasons a liar, I know, but there's sometimes when you see a guy in an NFL field, I don't care who you're playing against, and you're like that guy moves different than everybody else on the entire field.

00:32:49
Speaker 2: Abdull Carter is an absolute freak show.

00:32:52
Speaker 3: And he's on a he's joining a really talented front, So I don't know how much attention they're going to be able to dictate to him from the offensive side of the ball. And oh, by the way, they're letting him run on rush on guards in some of these third down passing situations.

00:33:06
Speaker 2: Good luck.

00:33:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, could not be more excited to watch him, Like his first preseason action was just outrageous. Everyone watching the practices there at Giants camp say it's just been unfair. He just pops off the field. So I liked your concept DJ with the articles possibly being written. First of all, yes, newspapers still exists, so support local journalism. Yes online, yeah, online as well. But I think it would have made more sense if you went with Cleveland as the option. Should we have just stayed there and taken Abdul Carter because you got to take the quarterback, cameboards, you know, you got to take the quarterback at one, But should have Cleveland stayed there, you know, and made and.

00:33:44
Speaker 3: Then dreaming on that dreaming on that front with him and Miles Garrett opposite of each other.

00:33:48
Speaker 2: Which which we a lot of us said throughout the whole.

00:33:50
Speaker 3: Process, like that makes the most sense, like you're just going to take him and then you're going to terrorize quarterbacks.

00:33:55
Speaker 1: Or even Jacksonville. But uh, how dare anyone even suggests that Travis Hunters not gonna I don't like this like Travis Hunter. I wouldn't say fatigue, but I almost feel like the expectations are too low mine or high. That's totally neither here nor there. I'll give you a giant pickup. Yep, that to me was important. I'm keep matching guys together. Paulsa Dedebo is their cornerback one by far, and everyone's like, oh, yeah, of course we added one of the best cornerbacks in Freedancy. First of all, he lasted in Freezy like a little longer than the top guys for a reason. He's coming off of a serious injury, and anyone that tracked his career in New Orleans knows like it was really up and down. And actually last year he came out the gate. I watched too many Saints games, not playing well at all, not playing with much confidence before the injury. And he was someone who a couple of years before was really struggling and then had an incredible year A very physical player, interesting player. But I don't know why this is DJ. But like, cornerback to me is the most up and down position in the league, and he's a good example of that. So they need him to be really good because it's not a good cornerback position, so they at least need to count on him. And I'm not sure because to me, he's been very up and down in his career.

00:35:09
Speaker 3: Well, I think, you know, a lot depends on their usage and you go from one team to the next in terms of what they ask you, the scheme they're in, how they want to play you. I mean you could, yeah, just the simple the simple fact of a press corner versus an off the ball corner, you know, a man corner' zone corner. How do you play top down or are you going to have to play with your back to the quarterback down the field? Like, that's two totally different skill sets required there, And some teams want you to do a little bit of everything. Some teams major in one or the other. So I think that's where you see some of the volatility. I go back to, you know, my personal example of the Eagles, Nom Diassomoah, you know, is a press corner, big long, but a little bit tight. And then he comes over to the Eagles and we go out there for the first training camp practice and he lines up against Deshan Jackson and he's ten yards off the ball and I go, if I mean, all of us kind of looks to you like, if we're asking this guy to do this, we should not have paid him that much money. And he got absolutely torched. And so again, to me, usage is a lot of the reason why you see some of that bollatioer.

00:36:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, though in a Debo's case, you know he was with Dennis Allen there and you know it was it was consistent. But that's my last guy. And I could throw Javon Holland in there too, who I think is another good example. He's more of a he's obviously a safety, but more of a coverage guy and had a million different defensive schemes there in Miami and sometimes look great. Sometimes they were kind of out on him. And so they really need those two guys because I think that secondary could prevent their defense from being really you're not.

00:36:32
Speaker 2: Going to have to cover very long. That's the good news.

00:36:34
Speaker 1: That would help. That would help, all right, Well.

00:36:36
Speaker 3: Last one and this is could end up being the most impactful even after I just said that about Abdill Carter. Is if the Giants got their quarterback in Jackson Dart, he was awesome. He was awesome in the preseason. I'd again I try and try and be reasonable about quarterbacks in the preseason. I'm just looking for some basic benchmarks here. I'm not going to get caught too caught up in the box score good or bad, But i want to see do you look does everything look comfortable? Does the game look slow to you? Does it look like you're seeing the field? Are you comfortable working in the middle of the field or is everything just underneath or outside the numbers? Because you don't trust what you're seeing and what picture the defense has given you. Everything's been positive with Jackson Dart. He looks very poised, he looks very comfortable. I already know he's a great athlete. I don't, you know, need to see him run around and make plays. I know he's going to be able to do that stuff. But this is a guy who looked like he was seeing the picture very clearly, which is a great sign for him. And the way I've phrased it when asked about you know, when does he get into the lineup. You know, their schedule is brutal. There's no easy entry point there for him when you look at it. But I just said, I do believe we will see more of Jackson Dart than Russell Wilson this year.

00:37:44
Speaker 1: No question. Completely agree with everything that you said. You say, don't celebrate your wins in the preseason scouting wise, you know too early, So don't take the l's too early too. But I had my doubts about Jackson Dart and I'm not feeling like that's gonna be born out so far because I totally agree. Like the offense was completely different. They're building, They're going to build a different offense around him. But man, he looked comfortable. And people who like to point out, well it's the preseason, like look at what Kenny Pickett did that year. First of all, Kenny Pickett, that was his second year. But the number of dropbacks that Dart had compared to how most quarterbacks get in the preseason, he had like two and a half times, for instance, that Picket preseason like he was out there a lot. And I think everything you said was absolutely true. And I thought that was the part of his game that would take the longest in terms of the mental side and the difference between the NFL and comfort and it'll get harder in the regular season. But he was really impressive and I am just going to be more interested to watch them once he is their quarterback. So I think I think Brian Dable agrees with me.

00:38:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, there you go.

00:38:49
Speaker 3: That's Brian Dable agrees with you. Put that on your tombstone.

00:38:54
Speaker 1: I mean, that would be a weird It would be a weird pick. You know, do you realize everyone, you know, my kids are sobbing and they're like, why, you know, why did he only make it to one hundred and three, daddy? And like why does it say Brian? Who is Brian Dable? You know, my son would probably remember, but that it seems like an odd thing to put there.

00:39:13
Speaker 3: So here's how they open up at Washington at Dallas home against the Chiefs home against the Chargers at New Orleans. Okay, you could look at that one. But then after that Philly at Denver, Philly again, San Francisco, Chicago, I mean, goodness, gracious, Green Bay, Detroit, Okay, New England, Washington, Minnesota, Vegas, Dallas like man Alive, Like that is just they caught it on the wrong year in terms of breaking in a new quarterback.

00:39:43
Speaker 1: I'm glad you brought that up. I agree. But first of all, the easiest stretch might be the start. Is it would it be that crazy to start in week one? They're not going to do it, they at least unless Dable goes back as I don't think that'd be that crazy because that's the in terms of the defense as you're facing. And then a lot of people said this to DJ about like Drake May, Oh, you can't put him in his first start against the Texas. Oh, Like, what a horrible situation to set. It's like if the.

00:40:07
Speaker 2: Guy is he's going to swim or he's going to sink.

00:40:10
Speaker 1: He played pretty well in that game, and you know he got good experience, and I just think you got to put him out there at some point. But it is a very difficult schedule. Our schedule this week is u AFC East on Friday. I'm looking forward to that coming out and then we wrap up this forties and free agents run with a couple of seasons.

00:40:30
Speaker 2: Are going to want to tune in.

00:40:31
Speaker 1: Okay, that that is man we see we'll see you then