40s and Free Agents: Offseason QBs Preview and DJ's Top 10 Prospects

00:00:02
Speaker 1: Welcome to forties and Free Agents. I'm Greg Rosenthal, joined by my friend Daniel Jeremiah in a hotel in Mobile, Alabama. We have our two teams for Super Bowl sixty set and DJ is in Mobile. That's how you know we are getting deep into this football calendar and draft season is really getting going.

00:00:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, some people have referred to it now as forties and free Agenciason, you know, like it really is where the name well well chosen at that comes into play. We're getting ready to We're getting closer to free agency, getting closer to forties. Got some players out here, so it's gonna be fun. I will tell you I did get some feedback in the league on the show. Great wow, love to pass this along. It felt almost like a Calm Brady backhanded compliment to Sam Darnold throughout that entire game, which was, Hey, I really liked the new pod. Yeah, like surprisingly, yeah, it's good, And it was like kind of snuck that little surprisingly h in there. I don't know, I mean, I guess we'll take it, right.

00:01:06
Speaker 1: I will take that. I don't know what that says about your other podcasts. You have another podcast, right, I think it was.

00:01:12
Speaker 2: More about the new personnel was working with. I's like the expectations there, and then they're.

00:01:17
Speaker 3: Like, you know what he's not.

00:01:18
Speaker 2: He's not bad, he's good for you for who.

00:01:21
Speaker 3: Is who is that guy? Look?

00:01:23
Speaker 1: Why don't we start with the Super Bowl quickly because we've been doing the you know, kind of autopsy of the teams that went out, and so we'll talk Broncos Rams in a second. We're also going to talk about your big Top fifty list which came out, and then we're going to do kind of an overview.

00:01:41
Speaker 3: We're doing a little bit of everything.

00:01:42
Speaker 1: It is free agency season, of the free agent quarterbacks that will be available, maybe some guys that could get cut in some trade options, but just on those games. I did kind of want to mention whether wonder if you find this interesting between these two teams, the Seahawks and the Patriots. Guess where they ranked in free agency spending from a year ago.

00:02:08
Speaker 2: Oh well, I know the Patriots might be number one. Right, they threw out massive amount of money and they.

00:02:14
Speaker 3: Were first by quite a bit, that's correct.

00:02:16
Speaker 2: And then Seattle obviously the Donald money they had. I want to say they did the linebacker right, but I don't think a lot after Sam, I would say middle of the road.

00:02:28
Speaker 1: They finished fourth in free agency spending. I think the Donald contract goes a long way. Weren't a lot one hundred million dollar contracts, and technically, even though it felt like a good deal, it is. And so if you just look at total money in all the contracts, given the number one team in terms of spending, the number four team in terms of spending. They also spend big money on DeMarcus Lawrence. You mentioned Ernest Jones. Some of it was re signing their own players like Ernest Jones, but that's what.

00:02:55
Speaker 2: I was thinking of.

00:02:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, maybe it's I'm.

00:02:58
Speaker 1: Not going to Cooper Cup was another guy who got a lot of money. If you think about like, obviously you want to build through the draft, but this Patriots team especially, they hit on almost everyone. And I do wonder if all the spending that they did, Milton Williams, Stefan.

00:03:13
Speaker 3: Diggs, Carlton Davis.

00:03:14
Speaker 1: Roberts Plane, some of the lower guys like Garrett Bradbury, Morgan, Moses calebon Chase and they're all making impacts. You can really turn things around in free agency if you get the right guys.

00:03:24
Speaker 2: Well, the other thing That's interesting is you know, if you were looking at it from the free agency standpoint, I can then also look at it from the draft standpoint and say, look at the rookie impact that these teams have had. Give you two just right off the jump from Seattle, Look what Gray is Abel did to solidify that offensive line. And Nick namn Warri. I don't know if you can say he's been a better defensive player than him on that team, which is what you know right there with Houston argue the best defense in the NFL, and he's argue with their best player that's on the rookie side. Then you know your Patriots. They've got rookies all over the place, the offensive line, in the backfield, at wide receiver, they've got rookies playing prominent roles as well. So it's it's interesting to see hey, forties free agents marrying together. They aced it, they both aced it in the off season.

00:04:05
Speaker 3: It is all happening.

00:04:06
Speaker 2: Man.

00:04:06
Speaker 1: There is a lot of salary cap space out there. Let's start talking about these teams that got knocked out. I was pleasantly surprised I should have been on this of what a good situation the Rams are in because you know, they spent a couple of years digging out of some expensive contracts. They have forty five million dollars in cap space. You know that they have the two first round picks, the thirteenth overall pick and the twenty ninth pick, and they have some real needs. I'm curious what you think maybe they would be before I throw mine out, But it might be where the free agents are. Cam curl is a free agent at safety, solid player for them. Kobe Durant was pretty good for them at cornerback. Roger McCreery who they traded for as a free agent, but very few free agents. Draft picks up at the top of the draft, and a ton of cap space, they are in position to keep pushing and try to get over the hump this year.

00:04:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll tell you what I had them doing, which, by the way, you turn this thing in this mock draft like a week before, and then you know, the day before, their secondary gets torched, you know, and it becomes even a more pronounced issue. So the Rams fans did not like not giving them a corner there at thirteen, but I had him taking Makay Leonard from USC You say, okay, gosh, why would you go back to the receiver. Well, I'm like, well, first of all, I don't know there's a human being put on this earth that's a better fit than what they already have there with Puka. But makay Lemon is in that of that same ilk and it would just be so fun to watch how creatively they could deploy those guys. You can line them up in the backfield, slot out wide. Just a real big time playmaker. I think he's the best wide receiver in the draft. So I had him with their first pick, and then with their next pick, I had him taking a tackle and Blake Miller out of Clemson, who I think is a really really underrated player, a good player. So I don't know that they They have free agency where they can address some issues in the secondary that showed up, and obviously they have some free agents there on the roster they need to figure out. But I don't I don't feel like it's a draft situation where you know you're going to be picking towards the bottom of the first round, as good as that organization is a run on most years, So just take best player available to get impact impact player there with your first one, especially.

00:06:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, DeVante Adams has one year left on his contract, but after cornerback, linebacker, those are two positions that they haven't really invested in.

00:06:24
Speaker 2: High they find their raft, they find them later.

00:06:26
Speaker 3: Or free agency.

00:06:27
Speaker 1: So I would be a little surprised if they did it high in the draft, but you could see them getting some veterans. But after that, Actually I did right receiver, because you know, DeVante Adams one year left on what's been a good contract. I'm sure he'll be back, but it's a pretty steep drop off after those top two, so you got to start thinking about the future. Offensive line depth would be up there too, But I think they're in a good spot. I also think they they're going to need to maybe take care of Stafford's contract, which wasn't the easiest thing to do last year, and I thought he took a very team friendly deal which kind of kicked the can of like, we'll deal with this again in a year.

00:07:02
Speaker 3: Now. He has leverage and I'm sure they will do right.

00:07:05
Speaker 1: By him, and there's no reason to think that he's not going to want to be back and play for them, So they will figure that out, I'm sure.

00:07:12
Speaker 2: By the way, our friend, I'm not going to say it's just your friend, our friend. Jordan Roderic did such a phenomenal job on the piece that she wrote. I mean, she's incredible. Literally when she does these types of articles, I get pumped when I see it come across my feed. And so went through and read that whole thing, and it's just if you haven't read it, I would encourage people to go read it because it's a great look of how they've reinvented this whole thing with the rams and the incredible job that they've done, and now they've got assets now to do that going forward. So I'm fascinated to see how they do it. You know, they're a twelve thirteen personnel team and now I think everybody thinks, okay, well that's where they're going to stay and that's we're going to live. And I'm like, I don't know. Every time you think you've got them figured out, they pivot. So what's the next pivot going to be?

00:07:55
Speaker 1: I would call Jordan a friend. Everyone should check that piece out. And she noted in her post game piece too, which was different, just coming off the game, kind of how special teams has let them down over and over again. Maybe maybe that they will invest more there. But yeah, if people like podcasts, like your friends in the league, they're just they're just hearing about this one. She's on a great podcast called NFL Daily multiple time times a week.

00:08:15
Speaker 3: You should check that one out. So it's got a great host.

00:08:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, one day, one day.

00:08:19
Speaker 1: The Broncos twenty seven million dollars in cav space and again another team in a really good situation. Not a lot, you know, with both these teams, I didn't see a lot of logical cuts where you like needed to take someone off the books because they had a bad contract. Like Darius Williams was one for the Rams. Evan Ingram maybe would be one for the Broncos, but I thought he was okay for them. But he's sort of part of the biggest issue I see on their team, which is just more explosion from any skill possession. I mean, you could take it at running back. They could use another one.

00:08:49
Speaker 2: JK.

00:08:49
Speaker 1: Dobbins is a free agent wide receiver. I think they have guys they like. Do they have guys teams are afraid of? I'm not so sure tight end, So any one of them, I think you could take best possible weapon be near the top of the draft or in free agency.

00:09:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, I still think he doesn't have the tight end that he wants. I think that can take that to the next level. And I mean, I know the expectation for Evan Ingram coming into last year was so high. Trust me, I picked him way too high in a fantasy football league with all my high school friends, so that did not work out great. But I still think that's an area where they get a big time guy. He always just likes the bigger receivers. So there are some guys in this draft. Denzel Boston is one of them from University of Washington, big physical, explosive, going to be there at that point later on in the draft, so later in the first round. So maybe that's an that's an option form at that point in time. But man, traditionally he's he's not really enamored with the speed on the outside as much as he wants just big body, you know, ball winners.

00:09:45
Speaker 1: But maybe they can, yeah, get a higher, higher quality player.

00:09:50
Speaker 3: They know, no offense to little Jordan Humphrey.

00:09:51
Speaker 1: But I'm just still surprised agree there in big moments, you know that they're they're going to him who he brought from the New Orleans. But yeah, both these teams, and this was not true when we went through this entire exercise, I thought, we're in really good positions in terms of Yeah, I think they want to get younger eventually.

00:10:09
Speaker 3: On both lines.

00:10:10
Speaker 1: It's a really stable, talented offensive line and defensive line, but not a lot of really young players. So they're in the perfect position in terms of team building where I think they can think a year or two ahead and get some of those premium positions. But there's no reason to think that they won't be back in the mix next year.

00:10:27
Speaker 3: And I mean it, maybe this is Patriots privilege.

00:10:30
Speaker 1: I wish bo Nicks was out there for that game because I think it just it gives an asterisk to it, along with the weather, where I just would have liked to see and what bo Nicks and that team could have done. And if they beat the Patriots, so be it, But it would have been better to see it on an even playing field.

00:10:46
Speaker 2: Anything can happen on any even Sunday. Arrail knows that, but Greg, even as someone who's a fan of the Patriots, Yeah, and I know the weather was an issue, but that was a Sunday of all Sundays that it felt like watching the JB game which led into the varsity.

00:11:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, but you could have said the same in some other years, including when the Cardinals went to the Super Bowl. I know they didn't end up winning, but they came about a play away from doing it. Maybe even in one people thought it was the JV Patriots when they were gone. So it's not necessarily predictive of what's going to happen next. But I completely agree.

00:11:21
Speaker 2: Caliber football played in that other game, just on a whole other level.

00:11:25
Speaker 3: Man, I completely agree.

00:11:27
Speaker 1: I think the defenses in the AFC were strong and the weather was not helping. But all season I believed that the Seahawks and the Rams were the two best teams in the entire NFL, and it played out that way. I mean, I think we'll look back at that trilogy that they have. I can't think of many other examples like that in my time covering the league where two great teams in the same division played each other three times in one season. They're all kind of classics. I think history is going to look back on those games. Finally, Rams fans don't want to hear it, but it was kind of a for the average football fan. It was great. And you know what else was great was the Patriots coming through. Not just because I'm a fan, but do you remember DJ Back at the beginning of the season, we did a whole episode drafting our potential Super Bowl winners. And now that we have made the Super Bowl, we each have one team remaining.

00:12:15
Speaker 2: That's incredible.

00:12:16
Speaker 3: Man.

00:12:17
Speaker 1: I have the Patriots, all of you have the Seahawks. And guess where they were taken in each conference? Actually you should know this because our producer told this.

00:12:24
Speaker 3: Right before the show. And see if you were listening.

00:12:26
Speaker 2: Ninth.

00:12:27
Speaker 3: Okay, it was ninth.

00:12:28
Speaker 1: They were each ninth in the conference, which another great friend of ours, Chris Wurtz, was saying, what a league like. Before the start of the season, barely anyone was putting either of these teams in the playoffs.

00:12:39
Speaker 3: Even even the two of us who drafted them.

00:12:41
Speaker 1: We had them ninth in the conference each and now here they are in the Super Bowl.

00:12:45
Speaker 2: You're like the show dealer, no deal, and you're looking up on the stage and there's like six briefcases up there and I've got like five of them, and I'm like, I'm going to be fine, and they just watching one of mine just get plucked off one after and you're your low little suitcase up there, just hanging out, and now there's only two suitcases left. How about that?

00:13:05
Speaker 1: Yes, I conveniently forgot to update this draft when the playoffs started, and we learned that DJ had something like ten or eleven of the fourteen teams left, and then six of the final eight in the division round. But in the end, three of my patriots got through and in three out of four last week, and Drake May is going to get it done for me in the super Bowl. Before we take a break, let's let's talk a little bit about your top fifty list, which is coming out. This is a big day. Well, how does it feel to be a newsmaker. We're just the little you know. I like making lists and make little free agency different lists since I was a kid. But when you make a list like it makes news. It can make people money. You got agents calling. You're thinking they're going to get more on their three percent or whatever it is, just because you're putting them higher on the list.

00:13:54
Speaker 3: It's a lot of responsibility. DJ.

00:13:55
Speaker 2: How now those calls go, those calls go, How the heck.

00:13:58
Speaker 3: Do you not have my guys X y Z.

00:14:01
Speaker 2: You know, you got to talk to more people in the league. I'm like, that's fine, but this will give you. This is my This is the first and I'm not even exaggerating, Greg. This is the first comment that I saw, because I usually I've evolved from the state of I used to look at it and get mad, and then I was like, Okay, just don't look at comments. And then you get to the point where you're like, Okay, I can look at him and not get mad. And now I'm to the place where I just look at him and laugh, like I can't get enough of him. It's like a guilty pleasure to watch these. So this was my let me pull it up here, my first, the first. This is the first reply that I saw. If we draft a white safety from Oregon, I will lose my bleeping mind. That was the first one.

00:14:48
Speaker 3: At least that's funny.

00:14:51
Speaker 2: At least this guy, I guarantee he has never seen him play, He's never seen the anim in play, and he's just like awake safety from Oregon, Like no oh, shout out.

00:15:01
Speaker 1: To Cooper Dejene, who I think is starting to open the eyes and maybe the hearts and the minds of the scouts like yourself out there to just be judging what's happening on the field. Read blank and Chip doing it too. Riley Moss, I think had an underrated season. It's happening.

00:15:18
Speaker 2: Yeah. Cooper Egene was in my top twenty players. I remember talking to Howie Roseman on the phone after Night one saying, I can't leave this. Get didn't go and then Howie rosen made sure that that didn't last very long.

00:15:29
Speaker 1: One of the best at his position, maybe the best right now. And I'll pro back to back years. Okay, your list. Two quarterback in the top fifty, yes, yes, but we'll start in the top ten here. Frandom Mendez, a quarterback from Indiana Heisman Trophy International champ. He's number one, and this again is how I see him. The mock draft is with my ears, top fifty with my eyes. So Frandom Mende's a quarterback for me Dia number one. Jeremiah Love from Notre Dame running back. That's based off just a grade that I gave him. He's a phenomenal player.

00:15:59
Speaker 2: Rville. Is this continuation of what we've seen over the last handful of years, which is off the ball linebackers who you know twilight some on the ball and project at the NFL level as being you know, outside edge rushers. So he's a freaky athlete. Out of Ohio State. David Bailey was highly sought after transfer out of Stanford. Texas Tech paid him a ton of money and he helped lead that defense get them into the College Football Playoff. Really dynamic, explosive, tons of production. He's a fourth on the list. Sunny Styles to yourself a favor your first homework assignment, Greg for this draft season, Sonny Styles. Just type in Sonny Styles Basketball and watch Sunny Styles Basketball highlights in high school. It's going to be the best thing that you see through the whole draft season. He is a freak show. Rubin Bain. If you've watched in the college football you know who he is. A real violent, just a fun, fun physical edge rusher at Miami is six, but Kayle Lemons my top receiver. He's number seven out of USC right in the same school as Amaras Saint Brown. Similar play style and temperament, all that good stuff. Man Steward Delaine a corner from LSU. Corner from LSU. You feel pretty safe about that, really, really good, just consistent player every game that you watch this year. Carnell Tape from Ohio State, he is number nine. I'll be honest, as I was doing more people after I did this list and I watched some more crossover tape of Ohio State, I thought nine might be too low. Carnell Tate is not going to go south. He's probably only going to go north from here. Starting it's a ninth spot. And then his teammate Caleb Downs is number ten. So if you're counting at home, that is four of the top ten players from the Ohio State university.

00:17:38
Speaker 3: Does that mean they underachieved a little bit in the playst.

00:17:40
Speaker 2: I think what. I think it's a great because we do team building and our show. I think it's a great reminder. They had pass rushers, they had, you know, stud linebacker, stud receivers. You know, the best player is not even in this list, is going to be a next year's draft of Jeremiah Smith. You know what. They didn't have an offensive line that could block Indiana and they could blow Miami and they're done. Lose a Big Ten championship, lose a playoff game because they weren't good enough upfront, offensively.

00:18:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, so we have three edge players in the top six. It's pretty even between offense and defense. I like the quarterback running back to start, you mentioned maybe Lemon as a rams possible Joyce. You have two quarterbacks in the top fifty, Mendoza number one and then ty Simpson number forty, so you have him as like an early.

00:18:31
Speaker 3: Day to type of prospect.

00:18:33
Speaker 1: I'm curious before we do take that break Mendoza versus some of the quarterbacks that have come out near the top in recent years, maybe not necessarily playing style comps, but like where they're at as a level of prospect in terms of where you're at, you know in your evaluation, Sure.

00:18:53
Speaker 2: We start from to me. Let's start on the high end, which was a couple of years ago, represented by Drake May, who was my second core back in that class, you know, it's Caleb, Drake May, Jayden Daniels. All three of those guys would carry a higher grade in the pre draft process than you would see with Fernando Mendoza. But in that same class, Bo Nicks, you know, who's we've seen have tremendous success and the unfortunate injury in the playoffs, had a higher grade on Mendoza than Nis coming through the process, had a higher grade on Mendoza than last year's top quarterback for me and cam Ward who ended up being the first overall pick. And in terms of comparisons, same grade to another player going in the way back machine who was the number one overall pick and in the NFL MVP. Can you figure that one out? Who that is? Same grade your comparisons, And this was my comparison, and it was my comparison for this reason.

00:19:46
Speaker 3: Oh, I got it, I got it. Go ahead, Matt Ryan.

00:19:48
Speaker 2: Yes, that's it. That was my comment because.

00:19:51
Speaker 3: I was like Teddy Bridgewater didn't win an MVP.

00:19:53
Speaker 2: But you'll forget Matt Ryan in college could move around a little bit. And then that's where the Maddy Ice thing, you know, that's this guy was culture competitive late in games like fiery just found a way to win. Now it's a little different personality, but when random Mendoza got hit, when he got beat up and then big moments, he could step his game up and guys kind of rallied around him, similar to Matt Ryan.

00:20:14
Speaker 1: There and we'll just like deliver a big time throw when you're least expecting.

00:20:20
Speaker 3: It and Matt Ryan.

00:20:21
Speaker 1: Matt Ryan had more just talent, I think than people give him credit. So that's a fun comp I feel like I'm on my back foot here. I got to start doing my homework on this draft. But I'm I'm ranking all the free agents. We're getting that top one o one list ready. We're going to take a break and come back and we're going to talk about some of the quarterbacks that will be on that list and available this offseason.

00:20:53
Speaker 3: We are back on forties and free agents.

00:20:56
Speaker 1: About half of the NFL head co jobs are settled around the NFL. In this little segment, DJ, we're going to talk about the teams that are desperately in need of a quarterback, that need one, that faced some questions, and talk about the players that will be available. It will not surprise you that many of many of the teams need a quarterback also found a new coach or a new play caller. There's like not a lot of carryover for teams like let's say Miami, that it's basically starting at scratch at quarterback.

00:21:29
Speaker 2: I love it. By the way, when you're in a hotel, this is a sign you know that you just don't you don't really care about, you know, what's going on with pop culture and new shows and things. I can't even tell you how many times I've done this where it's just the TV just stays on the little screen when you check in. I just realized it's been on this whole time, and it's just I mean, I don't know if this is going to get into some Mario Lopez movie previews here pretty soon, but it's it's trending in that direction.

00:21:56
Speaker 1: Does it say your name? Is it that nice of a hotel or it's like, Hello, Daniel.

00:22:02
Speaker 2: Welcome Daniel, thank you for staying at the Battlehouse? Thank you? Huh? How about that?

00:22:07
Speaker 1: That's how you know your big time that you're making that coin you're not making as much as Malik Willis is about to make, though, So the best the.

00:22:13
Speaker 3: Best free agency options.

00:22:16
Speaker 1: It's going to be Malik Willis, it's going to be Daniel Jones, it's going to be Aaron Rodgers. I had a longer list than there's all these backups. I think our producer just deleted them all because he just doesn't want to be talking about the riff raff out there that's just going to kind of be filling these backup spots. But it's interesting that Rogers might have a path back to Pittsburgh now because of Mike McCarthy. Ultimately, I don't think that should be option number one for them. Do you think a team like Pittsburgh or Miami or whoever's out there and just has nothing should be looking at Malik Willis.

00:22:49
Speaker 2: I think everybody that's not settling at the quarterback position should be interested in Malik Willis, especially when you you're not going to be in the mix for the number one overall picking this draft, as we've discussed, I think there's a big drop off after that, and I stack Malik Willis up quite favorably. And he's not he's not old like, he's still just getting going.

00:23:09
Speaker 1: That one game it is, it's risky, but now you can look at a bunch of games. It's not like it's not just that one start, but the one against you know, the Bears. When when he came in, there was such a variety of the high quality.

00:23:21
Speaker 2: So fast, he looked like the fastest guy on the field.

00:23:25
Speaker 1: So if you get the right coach with him, and so we'll see, you know, Jeff Hafley hired Bobby Slowik as his offensive corney. You're not like an amazing run in Houston, but they're a team that's going to be looking for one. I want to mix up kind of the teams and the quarterbacks. Then you can give me some of your thoughts that my category of teams that were desperate were the Dolphins, the Jets, the Browns, sorry fans, the Steelers. By the way, that is a pro bowler feels a lot like pro bowler Tyler Huntley from a few years ago where he only played four games, I believe, but got a lot of joke votes from Ravens fans.

00:24:07
Speaker 3: No one remembers that, but you don't remember that. And then the.

00:24:10
Speaker 1: Raiders, who you figure are just going to take by the way, like, are you just assuming that while I got you here?

00:24:15
Speaker 2: Like, I mean, look, it's've been surprised before, but I would be stunned unless there's I can't think of a scenario where that would not be the case. I mean, I was going to say, is there do they hire somebody who's connected to one of these other quarterbacks that could potentially get you know, is it Mac Jones or you know, obviously Malik he you're talking about. But I can't envision that right.

00:24:39
Speaker 1: And I was wondering, because Happley was with Malik Willison Green Bay, whether he would have an offensive coach that had familiarity and we don't know about the assistant who are coming in there. It's still early in the process, because that would have been a logical spot for him.

00:24:53
Speaker 3: To me, Pittsburgh would be intriguing.

00:24:56
Speaker 1: It seems a little crazy to me to be rolling out Rogers and McCarthy in twenty six, But that's that's me.

00:25:05
Speaker 3: I don't think that's a good pan.

00:25:07
Speaker 2: I mean, I thought it was over. I thought there's no chance that I thought the Aaron Rogers Pittsburgh thing that was, we saw it. It's over that that chapter's close. And then McCarthy got hired, and I'm like, well, maybe maybe they try and squeeze one more year out. To me, like we're talking about what could happen in different potential scenarios if we flip the conversation to what I think is best for Pittsburgh. To me, I would roll with what you have right now on the roster, and I would actually want to see will Howard if it's anywhere close in a competition, I'd want to see Will Howard win it, because I don't know that there's a bad scenario there. He plays well and you're like, oh my gosh, we've got this six round quarterback and won a national championship. Turns out he was better than people thought. And what you know, it costs us nothing or it goes terrible. And in a draft that, at least from this far out, looks like it's going to be pretty good at that position and you're going to be picking up there for once instead of being in the Pittsburgh Steelers No Man slam where they've been well.

00:26:05
Speaker 1: Our colleague Tom pelisera who seems to have a strong ind with McCarthy he's often front and center on McCarthy news, said that McCarthy was a big fan of Will Howard in the draft process and kind of wants to see how he looks. And it's tricky because I think McCarthy, based on all the reportings, sold himself as a guy. They're not looking to rebuild, and we talked about their roster.

00:26:29
Speaker 3: They actually don't.

00:26:30
Speaker 1: They have plenty of cap room, they have a lot of talented players, they actually don't have many contracts. I think that they need to get rid of. There's this idea that they need to, you know, change the whole roster. That's not how the Steelers do business.

00:26:42
Speaker 3: They're not going to do that.

00:26:43
Speaker 1: They're going to want to compete and develop and find a quarterback and getting Will Howard a chance might be part of that. I got to assume Daniel Jones is going back to the Colt, So then you know the free agency crop is not great. You start looking at the trade options and a top my list here would be Kyler Murray Tanner McKee. Her cousins played pretty well at the end of last season. I gotta say, and there's no guarantee that they're gonna cut a merchrade him, but he's an option and to a tongue of Iloa who has a contract that's going to be difficult to move. But movie shall one way or another, whether he's Mac is below those Yeah.

00:27:22
Speaker 3: Mac Jones is in there too.

00:27:24
Speaker 1: Kyle Shanahan immediately said, I can't see a situation.

00:27:27
Speaker 2: That seemed like it was that was a leverage play is what it felt like to me.

00:27:32
Speaker 3: And he's done those over the years. Cynthia Frielan on Our show.

00:27:37
Speaker 1: Game Debut, always calls Kyle Shannahan, who she knows well, the lion liar who lies talking about his press conferences and like with affection that he's always like doing some sort of leverage thing.

00:27:49
Speaker 3: But I don't know.

00:27:50
Speaker 1: You have a great backup in mac Jones for very little money, and you have a quarterback has missed a lot of games, and you're trying to win a Super Bowl. I actually I tend to trust him that mac Jones is unlikely to get the draft pick that they would require to actually move on from.

00:28:05
Speaker 3: But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe someone would give up a two or something.

00:28:07
Speaker 2: For mac Jones. Yeah, well let's see, let's see who, you know, how the game of musical chairs goes down, and who's left looking at the other options? Gott maybe, I uh, maybe I will pay a little exture there on mac Jones.

00:28:19
Speaker 1: How about like Kyler Murray in a place like Pittsburgh or in a place that's more of a rebuilding type of place like the Jets or the Browns.

00:28:29
Speaker 2: I'm just thinking when Kyler was coming out, and you know, I said, like I thought, man, you know, kind of just with his size and then the speed. Ideally a West Coast place indoors where Oh wait, that's where he.

00:28:42
Speaker 3: Was, so yeah, I mean it wasn't here. It wasn't that bad though, I know it was.

00:28:49
Speaker 2: A lot of good in there before it got sideways there. But like I like him in the NFC salth I think the NFC South, the a FC South, the West. Like to me, like, I don't know if I want to throw Kyler Murray. I just when I worked in those with those teams in that division, and I worked in Baltimore, and I worked in Cleveland, and then you know even in Philadelphia, Like you wanted guys in that weather and in that environment and the physicality and those divisions, Like just wanted a bigger guy. And I'm not saying, you know, smaller quarterbacks can't be successful. I'm just saying, you gott to find the right fit. And I don't know if Pittsburgh, if that one necessarily feels right. When there's like no footing on the field and it's snowing, he's gonna look so small and not be able to utilize his athleticism. I think that kind of strips away as superpower.

00:29:36
Speaker 3: He doesn't sound like a Steeler.

00:29:38
Speaker 1: I definitely buy that Miami could could possibly be an option. Kansas City is an interesting one out there. I had a category of just needs a quarterback, like needs one, but they're not desperate in Kansas City would be in that category because I don't think you want to rush Patrick Mahomes back. But Gardner Minshew is also coming off of a season ending injury that happened even later. He's not going to be back anytime soon. I would imagine you're trying to win a Super Bowl next year. You have Patrick Mahomes coming back on the field at some point, would you know one of these guys, maybe even a Tanner McKee or a short term pick up for Tua And it's almost like a rejuvenation project where you have Tua starting for like a month before Mahomes gets ready. I think they're an interesting player in this entire quarterback kind of eCos.

00:30:26
Speaker 3: Welcome this offseason. I will give you.

00:30:28
Speaker 2: A little background on that, and not haven't talked to anybody, but just having worked with Andy Reid for two years, I remember being at the combine and where we were picking and the quarterbacks we were talking to, and I finally I just had to ask and my coach, like, why are we going to get Robert Griffin the third like he he's like I like talking to all the top quarterbacks every year because you never know what's going to happen and everyone's going to have free agency, and he just he's really really good at developing relationships and making an impression on those guys. So like, I wouldn't be shocked at all if he'd met with Kyler, even though he knew he would have no chance of ever, you know, drafting him at that point in time.

00:31:04
Speaker 1: Hugh, that would be an interesting one. Do you have any hot takes on Tanna McKey. I don't know if you've been grinding the preseason Eagle State, but he's looked pretty good in the preseason, very good in some regular season performance.

00:31:16
Speaker 3: Is not as good as Week eighteen this year, but not not bad.

00:31:18
Speaker 1: But I do think there there could be a market for Tanner McKey out there.

00:31:23
Speaker 2: I was living in Myrietta at the time and there was a high school playoff game and it was a big time high school program was coming into play. Myriad a valley was Centennial High School, which, like where I remember him form when font has perfect had gone there but have since gone on to be like a national powerhouse. So I'm like, you know, I'm gonna take my two boys were young at the time. I'm going to take him to this high school game. So I go there. I don't know anything about any of these kids, but it's right across the street from my house. I'm gonna go watch it. This quarterbacks out there, he's like six foot six and he's just running. He's running around, making plays with his legs and slinging it. And I I'm in the stadium and I called David Shaw, who I'd worked with, and I coach. He's at Stanford, the head coach. I go, coach, I said, do you know anything about this quarterback at centennialis yeah, I think we're getting them. And I'm like, well, you're getting a good one. This guy is talented, manly. You'd see it as a high school kid that there's a lot of ability there. So he was much talked about much valleyhood player, going all the way back to them.

00:32:19
Speaker 1: And I think he's like developed, he's been in the quarterback factory. Maybe he goes won't want to let him go, but he has been a topic a conversation in Philadelphia. Someone that could be possible, possible cuts. I would throw Kirk Cousins in there as well. They might just flat cut him because they changed his contract. And for people that didn't watch late season Falcons.

00:32:37
Speaker 3: Like don't, I don't blame you.

00:32:38
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people probably saw that Monday night game against the Rams that was typical. Like Kirk Cousins looked much better in twenty twenty five, a year further away from the surgery. He just looked like, worst case, like a solid backup to bridge quarterback, which is what you would expect. Now he's turning thirty eight years old. So some team, if it's not the Falcons, will want him. Justin Fields could be out there, Gino Smith could.

00:32:59
Speaker 3: Be out there.

00:32:59
Speaker 1: I don't think a lot of teams are going to get too excited about that. Anthony Richardson might be available.

00:33:04
Speaker 2: Let me ask you that question here if I want to go back, if you are Kevin O'Connell, m with where JJ McCarthy is right now and how this team is ready to win right now, would you consider trying to bring Kirk back? And if at the absolute low end he's insurance, at the high end, it's hey, you can you compete? I think you can beat this guy out and reclaim this starting job here in Minnesota.

00:33:31
Speaker 1: Yes, I would consider that the problem is that almost to me says actually we do believe in JJ, because that to me just feels like a fallback plan if like it goes poorly with JJ, there's another I think Kirk.

00:33:46
Speaker 2: Would look at it that way now, to beat this kid out.

00:33:50
Speaker 1: He's going to go there and he's going to compete, and and maybe he could. I don't think that's a bad option because you kind of know what you're getting. I think there's a whole other world where they're in the Malik Willis business. I mean, I don't think there's another guy that would be a fit out of the potentially available quarterbacks. But I mean they could aim even higher than Kirk Cousins.

00:34:12
Speaker 3: Potentially interesting, interesting change. Things changed fast.

00:34:16
Speaker 1: I do remember there was like an NFL Films clip of Kevin o'conna hugging Anthony Richardson after one game or whatever. He's like, you're you're still gonna make it. Believe in yourself, bro, and they're like, this is what real coaches do. This what quarterback you know? And so who knows, maybe he would maybe give Anthony richardson the test drive.

00:34:31
Speaker 2: At some point, I think it'll be one that people will want. I don't think that anybody's gonna be scared of J. J. McCarthy's presence, and I think they'd be excited to play with the guys that they have there on the perimeter.

00:34:42
Speaker 1: And I threw the Texans in just as like a question mark that I would answer myself. I don't think they're kind of considered doing anything at quarterback.

00:34:49
Speaker 3: I think they fully believe in c J. Stroud.

00:34:51
Speaker 1: He has two years left on his contract. Davis Mills is a good backup who's also wonder contract. Whoa whoa whoa whoa Yes.

00:34:58
Speaker 2: I think you can make the statement that they believe in CJ. Stroud. If you make the statement they fully believe in c J. Stroud, that means you're going to get this deal done sooner than later. And I didn't. I would be surprised if they did that huge deal with him after the way that went down at the end of the year. It's one thing to say we're not looking to replace you. It's another thing saying we're going to sign up to be the next, you know, bazillion dollar quarterback. You know where that number lies at this point in time. I didn't. I don't. That would surprise me.

00:35:32
Speaker 3: That's a fair way to split the difference.

00:35:34
Speaker 1: I think they're going to want to stand pat where they're at with him and Davis Mills. They're gonna have to pick up the fifth year of his rookie deal. They will do that. It wouldn't totally shock me if they. If he comes and he's having a good camp and everything, and then quietly he actually takes a little bit of a below market deal and does sign like a three or four year contract. Maybe it's shorter term, but you're right, they probably are going to stay away from that because they don't want to insult them with an offer that's too low. But there's always an opportunity maybe save a little money long term. That's our veterans situation. We'll be tracking it on forties in free agents throughout February Draft.

00:36:14
Speaker 3: It's all happening. It's not the best quarterback draft in the world or free agency.

00:36:18
Speaker 2: But sometimes sometimes we get it wrong. So I can go back to eg on my face on Patrick Mahomes, I mean, I didn't know. He just end up being our the best players ever put cleats on. I didn't see that one coming, so you never know.

00:36:33
Speaker 1: I mean, well, here's the thing, there's got to be a lot of movement between the rookies and the veterans, Like, yeah, you might not be excited for some of these names that are out there, like plenty of them are going to be playing, because think of the teams that are going to be needing someone to play Miami, New York, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Las Vegas. There's questions in Atlanta. There's certainly questions in Minnesota. The Cardinals have Jacoby Brissette, but they'll probably look to get one the Chiefs like, that's a lot of teams and not a lot of names, so we will be tracking that over the next I threw Gino in there, but I just didn't want to take the inevitable shot that you.

00:37:08
Speaker 3: Were like, oh, yeah, Juna's washed, Gino's done. He'll get somewhere.

00:37:13
Speaker 2: Whatever happened his old team.

00:37:17
Speaker 1: I think maybe Minnesota for Gina. How about how about him as JJ's backup?

00:37:22
Speaker 3: It could work. Put him in that system.

00:37:24
Speaker 1: Jjb okay with that, you know what you Your Sam Darnold takes are aging well, So I applaud you for not.

00:37:31
Speaker 2: Just I don't even think I brought up his name during this episode, did I?

00:37:35
Speaker 1: I don't think, I mean you pretty much just did you all? You also nailed the Cooper Cup contract with Seattle last year, saying like the level.

00:37:43
Speaker 3: Of money, it seems like a million years ago.

00:37:45
Speaker 1: That he was going to get not a ton of production, but some massive plays in the playoffs. Pla man, I'm gonna say in the playoffs, if if he was producing these type of game changing plays throughout the regular season, they would love it.

00:37:58
Speaker 3: And this is what it's all about, is winning a super Bowl.

00:38:00
Speaker 1: They got a chance to do it, and they got a chance to do it for you, your guys, Darnold and Cut playing for your honor. Did we ever say what's at stake here for who's going to win this draft?

00:38:11
Speaker 2: I don't think we did.

00:38:12
Speaker 1: But maybe you have to host the show. Maybe you have to host a show, or you could put your name for saying.

00:38:19
Speaker 2: Like, if the audience wins. Is that what we're saying. I thought we were saying, like if one of us won.

00:38:24
Speaker 3: Everyone wins. We will be back next week.

00:38:27
Speaker 1: You can recap the Senior Bowl, everything going down in mobile. We are getting closer and closer, obviously to the super Bowl and to free agency.

00:38:36
Speaker 3: We will see you next time.