Transcript of 25 Draft vs. Free Agent Pool, Darnold Landing Spots & Wish Lists for Young QBs | 40s & Free Agents

Sanders buying time, looking downfield.

Wide open and all too easy. Ram again on the stop. Abdel Carter was there to introduce himself.

Look at him bounce off tackler.

He's got another breakdown. There are a lot of guys that are ready to plug in and play, and a lot of guys are versatility.

He is a really good young starter. Down quick, Cribs. Higgins, breakdown.

He takes another something again. Last one. Throws back in the end zone. Caught. Td. He breaks another tackle. Godway down the side. I would be shocked if he didn't get big money from someone.

Welcome to 40s and Free Agents. I am Greg Rosenthal. This is Daniel Jeremiah, and this is a limited series going through draft season. And we arm-wrestled to decide who was going to speak first. And people don't know this about DJ, I have a very short arm length, and I got to go.

Wow, that's an interesting tale there. We've seen in the history of this country, enemies come together and join hands and find common ground. None more challenging than this relationship coming together. But that's what happens with the NFL off season, Greg. When you've got free agency in the draft, it's coming together.

Yeah. It's like, I'm the pro personnel side with no experience whatsoever, and you know the college game. And so we thought it'd be fun to come together during this season. I call it the regular season, the build up to free Agency, and then your season draft. And we compare the two worlds and decide how these teams are going to be built. I'm excited about this.

No, I'm excited about this in a big way. I'm also excited about Greg's watch. Wow. I don't know what they are paying over NFL Daily, but that is impressive.

This was a gift. Thank you. Yeah, very nice. You can check us out on YouTube on NFL Network if you're listening to this. Let's go to my top 10 free agents list. And I got to admit, the list looked a lot better before Tee Higgins and Trey Smith got the franchise tech because now Milton Williams is number one, and it feels like that year where Eric Fisher went number one in the draft.

From a free agency equivalent?

Or when Malik Jackson was actually my number one free agent about seven, eight years ago. We got Roni Stanley with the Ravens. Zack Bond has now resigned, so Sam Darnold moves up the list. Josh Sweat with the Eagles, Chris Godwin, Carlton Davis. A lot of good cornerbacks, I think, at the top of this group. Charvarius Ward, DJ Reid, Devante Adams, and Amari Cooper, both coming off like shaky years there. I'm curious when you look at that list, what do you want to criticize first?

I don't want to criticize. I want to point something out, which is sometimes when you're stacking free agents and you're looking at who the best available players are, I think people get caught up in past production versus future value. And that's what free agency is all about. I think age is incredibly important. Now, Milton Williams, I believe, is 25 years old. So when you factor that in, plus he can rush the passer from the interior, which is extremely hard to find. I think there's probably some shock value to people, like casual NFL to see his name up there at the top, but he is going to get a lot of money.

Yeah. The only regrets I have with this list is not pushing some more of those young guys up the list, which we'll talk about during the show. I did think it was taking a big picture view of this, there's a lot of defensive players. There's a lot of three down linebackers, defensive tackles. What do you think about the theory that those positions, specifically, off-ball linebacker, defensive tackle, that That's a great free agent position because it takes so long for them to develop. I think Milton Williams is a good example. Zack Bond was that these are guys that maybe weren't really ready to be difference makers early in their career, but those are positions where they get a lot better and they're peaking at 25.

It takes patience. And I think that's why there's that sweet spot of guys who have experience but are still young, not many of them, but guys that do have experience. I go back to Patrick Queen was last year's free agency, right? So you look at the number that he got and the impact that he had with the Pittsburgh Steelers because he was still ascending. He was still young, but he played a lot of football. I see it doing the charger games. I've seen linebackers come through there. Drew Trinquel is a great example of someone who got better as he went along. Deion Henley last year, year Two, you saw the spike take place. So I think if you're a team that has a hole at off the ball linebacker and you are trying to win and be competitive right now, I think there's reason to go on the bet.

That's the position I mentioned because that's where there's a lot of younger starters nick Bolton, Ernest Jones, Trey Greenlaw is not as young as-Can Ernest Jones stay somewhere?

He's been a good player in three different places at a young age. It's time for him to settle in.

He's out there negotiating on Twitter with the Seahawks, responding to negative tweets about him. That's always a good thing to do. They had an injury, which is not a great time. Let's talk about who has the most cap space in this entire market. And do you believe there is such a thing as too much cap space? The Patriots have $127 million, which to me is a failure.

That's why they spend all that money. You don't have enough of your own players that command money, which means you're not very good, which is why they're picking where they're picking in the draft.

The Raiders have 95, the Chargers have 90, the Cardinals have 78, Commander 64. And my issue is there's too much cap space, though.

But different reasons. So if you go through those teams, let's take the Chargers and the Commanders. The Chargers took their medicine last year. So think about all the dead money that they had. Keenan is gone. Eckler's gone, Mike Williams is gone. So they ate that last year. So now they're freed up with some money and obviously a good bit of free agents of their own. Khalil Mack, I would imagine, they'll try and get back in the fold. Punta Ford, who played well. So some of those internal players, I think, eat up some of that money. And then Washington, that is the picture of what it looks like when you hit on a top quarterback where you can have your cake and eat it, too. They have all that space, and they have the most important position secured, and they're paying them next to nothing.

And yet they signed so How many one-year veteran free agents last year that when you look at their roster, they've got about 10 starting jobs to fill. So Adam Peters is going to earn his money this offseason. But when you look, more than half the league now is more than $40 million. The money that's come in with this TV money, and it's much harder to find great players than it is to spend your cash base. Unless you're the Saints. They actually are great. And they just push it out.

They just push it out into the future. The interesting thing is, I've talked to a bunch of GMs over the last through the combine over the last couple of weeks, and all of them, when I go, are you going to be aggressive in free agency? You guys got a lot of money. We're going to wait for that second wave. And they all say this, and then free agency starts and we're all going to be like, oh, my gosh, look at how much money this guy just got. But they all have the intention of being patient.

We mentioned the chargers, so let's mention it here. Joey Bosa released late Wednesday night. Not a shock. They open up $25 million in cap space, which you rarely see anymore. Helping you that much, but they set this up a year ago knowing it might be a possibility. Not a shock. I put him at number 56 in my top 101. I really struggled with what to do because, sure, he has a higher ceiling than almost any pass rusher out there. If you got peak Joey Bosa, that's better than Josh Sweat, obviously. But he hasn't been healthy for three years. If you add up the snap total over the last three years, it adds up to about a thousand snaps. And most of that's last year, which I don't need to tell you, he was out there not 100%, almost trying to prove he He would play hurt, but he wasn't the same Joey Bosa for most of the year. There were just little flashes early in the year.

Yeah, I think he's an example, and we'll see some others in this list, in your list here, of you're going to see incentive-laden contracts. So you're going to get asked, because you put a list together, what's this player going to get? And the answer should be, well, it's going to be dependent on how he plays, because there's going to be a base number for someone like Joey Bosa, and it's going to be heavily incentivized. If he does stay healthy, he can get what his worth is.

And I wouldn't be surprised if he combines with his brother up in San Francisco. They're looking for some edge. That would be fun. Let's talk about the strength of the draft. I mean, you take it over. Your top 50 prospects is out as of Thursday.

Yeah, it's fresh off a little update here from the combine. It always some changes here once you get official measurements on these guys, too. But it's a unique draft in that we don't have a quarterback until you get to... Cam Ward, there's my 10th overall player. You have a running back and two tight ends in the top six players. Don't know that there's ever been a year quite like that. But if we were to go beyond what you see on the screen right here with these top 10 players and you look at the entire top 50, man, Greg, it is defensive line heavy. It is loaded with both DTs and edge rushers. You want a running back? There's premier running backs in this draft. There's depth in this class. Tite end. You see there's top two guys up there. There's tons of depth there. It's a weird draft in that regard because we've had Receivers, there's depth, but not the high-end stars that we've had in the past few years. Quarterbacks, last year, we had those six guys go. It's nothing like that. So it's going to be fascinating to see how this marries up with your list and my list, looking at free agency, looking at the draft, and seeing how the draft is going to inform what happens in free agency.

Let's do it. Let's look at... I had the top 50 list. You have your top 50. I had top 101. I'm working more than double as hard as-I have a top 150 It's the three that comes out before my event.

But I mean, hey, that's only 49 more than you're doing.

We're going to be doing this show every week, so I'm looking forward to picking your list apart a little bit. Mason Graham is a top five guy. Can even stay on the field on rundowns? Stay tuned for more of that. But when we look at the differentOn rundowns? Is that what you said? Yeah. You think he's a good three down guy?

He's an unbelievable boxer who's never on the ground, plays with leverage and power. Are we going to have this conversation already? Are we doing this now? No.

That was my first draft. Looking at the different positions. You have five runningbacks in your top 50.

Did you watch the Alabama game in the playoff last year?

I thought there were some games where good teams actually made their plan around attacking Mason Graham a little bit.

Yeah, like Ohio State, the best team in the country that tried to attack him. How did that go?

I mean, I am feeling the heat from having a Michigan grad.

We did well. How long did we get along? Was that 10 minutes? Too long. Drew said 10 minutes. That's probably the over. I would have taken the under on that, but that's okay.

So we talked strengths of this class. You say, obviously, the defensive line. I would agree that that's also a strength of the age of class. Look at those numbers. Defensive line, you have 14 in your top 50. I have 12 in my top 50.

Yeah, that's crazy.

And what does that do?

So that's where I go back to, I think Milton Williams may be the exception because of the age, and he's healthy, and he can rush from inside. So maybe he's thinking he's going to get 20. Maybe that number is more like 15, 16, somewhere in there. But he's going to do well. But some of these other guys, I think you're going to see teams I'll put the number and say, Here's the number. If you want to do a deal, we'll do a deal, but we're not going to negotiate. We're not going to move off that number because of the sheer number of guys we got.

There are guys in this class, free agents. Aziz O'Gillari, I think, would be an interesting-Solid player. Trishon Wharton, I feel like I rank too low. Do you question your list? They don't let me do a 2. 0. I would move him up 20 spots or so. I had him too low. But guys like that maybe get left behind, whereas other positions, offensive line, have such a premium. Are we at the point that offensive linemen in the draft is almost like quarterbacks in the draft? And I do it on my free agency list where I artificially put them higher just because there aren't any, and there aren't any in either space. It feels like this year at least.

When I was in Baltimore, we had a legendary scout, Ron Marsenack, who scouted for 40, 50 years. He since passed away. But we called him Coach Ron. And Coach Ron, one of the first things he told me in one of my first years in the league was when you're grading players, when you're grading offensive linemen in corners, whatever you watch the tape and whatever you think he is, you need to bump him up a level. Because if you don't, you're never going to get him. If you're waiting for the value at tackle or corner to match your grade and where they are, you're never going to get them. They get pushed up. So you have to do the same thing in terms of what you're paying these guys. And in this year, in particular, the tackle group, there's not a lot of starting NFL tackles, and they all go really early. So a team like the Kansas City Chiefs, people are wondering, why the heck did they move off of Joe Tooney? Well, they, as you saw in the Super Bowl, have a glaring need at left tackle. And you have the center right guard, right tackle taken care of.

We need a left guard and a left tackle now. Maybe Roni Stanley, you could I argue makes a ton of sense for them. Go get a former Raven like they did with Orlando Brown that worked out when they had a tackle need. You go sign Roni Stanley. Now, that's the Joe Tooney money that's going to Stanley. And now that left guard is a lot easier to find a left guard at the bottom of the first round or the second round or the third round. You're not finding a starting tackle at that point in time. Yeah.

I have actually a bunch of interior offensive linemen in my top 50, just because, again, there's not many people out there. Tevin Jenkins played a lot. Mekai Bectin has moved up there after some cuts. Kevin Zeller.

You got Banks.

Kim play a year for you. Aaron Banks, you mentioned. Will Fries is another. Not a lot of sexy names here. I don't have a single tight end. This is a fun class of runningbacks and tight ends. You have five runningbacks in your top 50. You have four tight ends. I have a total of two runningbacks and no tight ends in my top 50.

Let me give you two guys. Let's see where you had them on your list here. I do not have in front of me. Maybe you can pull it up. But I'd be curious on like J. K. Dobbin, That's what I saw last year. Yeah, he does. And like Najee Harris, right? Those guys are productive players, good players, not on the high end, but because of the depth of the runningbacks in the draft, I wonder if one of those guys, like a player of that ilk, you could get a real value on one of those guys.

But would you rather have Najee Harris for... They're throwing out that he might get $8, $10 million a year. I'll maybe believe that.

I would guess. Without you saying anything, I would have said he was going to get 6 to $8 million a year.

Okay. I think Jake Dobbins would get less, probably. Aaron Jones is also out there.

But again, if you want to bake that in, what if you baked in with those two guys, five million with the incentives, you go rush for 1,400, 1,500 yards, we'll It pulls you up to the 8, 9 million that you're hunting.

Would you rather have those guys or a second-round running back? Wouldn't you rather have the second-round running back?

Well, yeah, but it also just frees you up. I think the second-round running back in terms of the youth, the little bit more explosive It's a massive option, and you can really cook there. But the other thing is, man, if we have some of these other needs, we want to go get a receiver, we have a corner need, well, let's go. We can plug and play with this back at a reasonable price, and then we free ourselves up to go with another position there in the second round. These are the conversations that are taking place, by the way, inside the room.

Right. Because if you're in Kansas City, for instance, and where they're drafting, you can't expect to have a good left tackle.

You're not getting one. That's why, to me, they have to overpay. And that's why I don't know, because we're talking about free agency in the draft. We're not talking trades, but they've gone that route before. I just don't know you're going to find many people willing to part with a starting caliber left tackle. So all roads lead to Johnny Stanley is what I'm getting at.

Yeah. Next on the list at left tackle is Kam Robinson. A little bit.

Throughout his whole career, he's been up and down.

A little up and down. Dan Moore, guys, maybe Tyron Smith comes back? No, we're not doing that. Probably not. Not something you want to go into the season with. Defensive linemen, I'm curious, who are some of your favorites? I'm going to talk about when you look at the free agency class, usually guys don't get to free agency unless teams are okay losing them, which is a little bit of a red flag. O'gillari, I mentioned, more of a situational guy, never was consistent, like a three-down type of guy. Tershawn Wharton, maybe just they couldn't pay him. He's next to Chris Jones. He was with the Chiefs. Onweza Rique for the... Lions is a good It was a young player, but it took a while for him.

Aline McNeill has been paid. They have to pay Hutchinson. Right.

Then you have guys coming off of injury. I would be really into Malcolm Coons, who missed all of 2024 but played really well in 2023. Javan Hargrave is a guy who is once a top my free agent list now coming off of an injury. Demarcus Lawrence, how in rooms are you managing taking one of those guys versus the draft and the strength of it all?

So defensive tackles. I've had this conversation with multiple people similar to what I've said earlier, which is we like you, you'll help us. Here's the number. And it's like, there's no negotiation. We'll take you at this number, but there's no reason for us to negotiate with you and go beyond where we're comfortable because I've got in my top 50, number 4, 25, 27, 32, 43, 49, 6 defensive tackles in my top 50. And beyond those guys, I have another 10 plus that I feel I can come in and at least be rotational starters for me.

But what if I threw the theory out there that this is not a great draft class, and you guys who are all in the draft industrial complex staring at these guys. Someone's got to go number 30, number 40, number 50. You You've almost convinced yourself into that this is a good defensive line class, whereas the whole class is a little lackluster, and maybe last year, they'd all be around later.

Yeah, I would say defensive tackle-wise, I'm looking at the guys right now, and it is not. There's no 280 pound guys that I'm dreaming and wishing and hoping are going to add 20 pounds. There's no 300. And I'm talking about 340 pound guys who need to lose weight. I'm not talking about guys who can't move. I'm talking about guys who are all 6'3, 6'4, 305 to 315 that ran sub five flat or just over five flat forties. These guys are athletic, big athletic dudes. And we saw it at the Senior Bowl. It was representative there. We saw it with how they worked out. I don't think there's anything fluky or made up about this defensive tackle class.

I'm going to just keep taking shots at this draft.

No, but that's what's good. This is a healthy discourse. You does have a nice watch. It's hard to get mad at somebody who has a watch like that.

I didn't even know that was showing, but that is new.

I couldn't for a couple of seconds when the galer comment.

It was a gift. It was a gift. It was a gift.

It was a gift. It was a gift. You thought you were running drugs. I cannot afford that. I don't know what's going on around here.

Sorry. Let's take a break. We're going to come back and we're going to talk quarterbacks afterwards Try to figure out because look, this is the last show before free agency really gets going. By the time we tape, again, a lot of these quarterback situations will be taken care of, will be placed. We'll try to figure out how that all works after the break.

Find out what's next for the top free agents on the market. Will they resign with their current teams or find a new home for 2025? We'll be all over it on Free Agency Frenzy with 8 hours of live coverage starting Monday, March 10th, at 10: 00 AM Eastern on NFL Network and streaming on NFL Plus.

All right, we are back on 40s and free agents, and we are going to talk quarterbacks. This is my time of year. In a week or two, we're going to be past free agency. It'll be draft, and DJ is just going to try to dominate this show. The quarterbacks this year, it's an interesting free agency class. It's deep. Sam Darnold, I have at fourth overall. Justin Field, 19th. Jameis Winston, Russell Wilson, Jacobi Brisset in the '50s and '60s, Jimmy Garoppolo, Daniel Jones, rounding it out in terms of the top 100. And there's decent backups available after that. I just didn't want to make every backup quarterback make it. My guy, Mac Jones. I mean, everyone forgot What about him. He's a free agent. Joe Flacko is a free agent. Garner Minchu is a free agent. It's figuring out at this time of year, DJ, how do you compare these guys to the draft prospects compared to the potential Trade candidates, if there's any out there, Aaron Rodgers will eventually be on this list because I don't think they're going to be able to trade it. I'm going to start there, actually. Where would you put Aaron Rodgers among this entire group?

It is such a short term move. I would In terms of Aaron Rodgers on this list, I would put him probably a third. I would put him behind fields. I'm looking at your list right now. To me, if I look at it from a draft standpoint, who signs as a free agent that would preclude you from taking a quarterback high in the draft, and I only see two. I think whoever signs Sam Darnold, if he were to leave Minnesota, he goes and sign somewhere, I think that team is out on taking a quarterback in the first round. I think whoever signs Justin Fields, I think it's likely that they wait on on, let's evaluate him for a year and maybe our quarterback, if it's not him, is coming in the future. But outside of those top two guys, Winston, Russell Wilson, Jacobi Brisset, Garoppolo, Daniel Jones, those guys are not going to stop you if the quarterback you like is there to take I go further.

I would say none of these quarterbacks would. You're changing your draft plan for Sam Darnold?

I am interested. I don't think you're going to spend the money that it's going to cost on Sam Darnold if you're a team picking up there in the top of the draft and you plan on taking But what if he doesn't cost that much money?

I think as we get closer to free agency, there is a greater chance that he ends up staying with Minnesota because ultimately, the market isn't that into him. The Raiders, we've heard They're maybe not that into him.

I don't think he's going to the Raiders.

I actually could see the Titans being interested in him. But if you're the Titans, for instance, and you're going after Sam Darnold, have you already made the decision that you're not drafting Kam In general, have they made the decision, do you think of what they're going to do at quarterback? And I have Sean Payton's voice in my head from the scouting combine where I believe him. He said, at this point in the process last year, they didn't know they were going to take Nixie.

They also weren't holding the first overall pick. Your homework starts a little earlier when you're holding the first overall pick than it does when you're sitting there and seeing who's going to fall to you and who do you like at that point in time. I would say, I don't think he goes to Tennessee. I think Sam Donner, if I was going to guess, I would say if it's a one-term deal, a one-year deal, I would say, why would you leave Minnesota? You're not going to go outside of Minnesota to chase a one-year deal because you already know what you have there in Minnesota. It's basically a prove-it situation. If he gets beyond one year, I could make a case at a place like Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh seems to me like it is Sam Darnold, Justin Fields, Justin Field, Sam Darnold, one of those guys would be their quarterback. And that's why a team like that, they're in no man's land in the draft to get one of these guys anyways.

Yeah, and that's why I don't think it would I think Fields ends up with the Jets. I agree with that. Or with the Steelers. I think the Steelers want to keep him, so that would make a lot of sense to me. I think Darnold ends up staying, and you asked before, I'll answer it now, how much it would cost. I think you maybe can get Sam Darnold for $45 million on two years. On two years.

2 years, $45.

On two years.

You're saying 22. 5?

But most of it's guaranteed, 10 of it's guaranteed into the second year where you have an option to cut him. Maybe it's fit. I just don't think with everything that GMs are looking at for this quarterback class, and then there's decent backups out there, those last two games, I think, lost him a lot of money because you saw him play in the biggest of spots, and he froze and it reminded everyone why he was available two straight off seasons for almost no money. And so now you're giving him a raise, but you're not giving him that big a raise.

Here's my pushback on that. I'm outed and known as a Sam Darnold fan. I was when he came out. Leader of the high. He bounced around and it hasn't worked. This is why I would push back on that. I think the Detroit game, Sam did not play well. I'm not going to run from that or hide from that. He did not play well on the road in that game.

Wouldn't let go of the ball.

The playoff game, their offensive line got destroyed in that game. And I would argue that if you're going to make that case, then how do you explain what happened in the Super Bowl? And how do you not acknowledge the impact of getting destroyed up front and what that has on the play of the quarterback? And I also have 14-game sample size. That's not a small sample of him playing it at a very high level when he was protected. He didn't get protected. He got his butt kicked. I don't run from that. One terrible game, I don't put the playoff game on sample. Okay. So if we're going to talk numbers.

I would more than you would.

So my take is, I think if it's a one-year deal against State in Minnesota, if you can go get a two-year deal, whether that's Pittsburgh, whether that's wherever else is out there at that point in time, if he wants to go running back to the New York market, I don't know that I'd be in a hurry to do that with the Giants instead of the Jets, but that would be at least a conversation. My guess is he gets two years. I'll say it's like 30 million in the first year, and I'll say there's Five. A little something for the second year guaranteed. Whether that's five million, maybe as much as 10. But I would say just a little something guaranteed.

We're parking our car in the same garage. That's basically the same. You just raised it a little bit. What about the guy's not on this list? So Kirk Cousins, I saw a report that he wants to wait until after the draft because he doesn't-He wants to see what seats get filled.

Look what happened in the draft last year. Right, but-He doesn't have the cards. Right. Yeah.

Can Kirk Cousins dictate? Maybe there isn't a market for him until day three of the draft anyways, which would make more sense to me. I guess they would want to do right by Kirk Cousins, and Cleveland could make some sense. Who gets left out between the draft and free agency? There's too many spots that are wide open.

But he's a free look.

Yes. If he gets released-You won't cost much money.

It's going to be Russell Wilson from last year. You're going to pay him a million bucks because the Falcons are cutting the check, which makes him way more desirable for a place like Cleveland, who has not a lot of money to spend because of how much they have sunk in Watson, and he has familiarity there.

I actually could convince myself more into Kirk Cousins than some of these other guys because I thought it was remarkable how productive and how well he played in games where he literally couldn't He's removed. They figured it out for about half the season there, and now you make the case. He's a year more removed from Achilles surgery, and maybe he's a little bit healthy.

Let me ask you this question. Nobody's talked about this, but I think it's a fascinating conversation. Let's say Sam Sam Darnald leaves. Sam Darnold goes to the Steelers, so he's gone. If you're Minnesota, here's the options. You have JJ. You're hoping he's going to be the guy, but you need a veteran there. You have Daniel Jones, who's been on your team last year. You have Kirk Cousins, is available to come back as buying you a little more time with JJ. Would you rather have Daniel Jones with what he's going to cost, which I would have to believe is a lot more than what Kirk Cousins because of the Falcons and the way that contract was situated? You You could get Kirk Cousins back in Minnesota for next to nothing.

Who would you rather have? That's so spicy that I can't believe no one else has thought of it.

I've never heard anybody bring this up.

Nate actually said very nice things about each other in the press. Do you remember? Go back. They handled that pretty well.

Can Can I challenge our group here?

This will be post-prediction. We can't stump the tape. This isn't stump the truck.

I know, but maybe in post. Maybe by the time this airs.

We're a podcast, primarily.

But by the time this airs, we could drop this little thing in here. Because when they played after the game was over, Justin Jefferson and Kirk Cousins had a moment was caught on camera, and there is a lot of love between those guys. Okay. So I'm just... I don't know. If I'm looking at Daniel Jones and what that market is, I don't know if that's the Minshuh market. What is that? 15 million bucks of Minshu got. Or it's Kirk Cousins saying, I'll come back, and you literally pay me the minimum because I'm making all this money from the Falcons.

I think Daniel Jones could be the guy who, in theory, is competing with Anthony Richardson. I think Justin Fields could be that guy, but they're not going to let him. You said something very interesting in public, which got on my radar this week, which is you thought you wouldn't be totally surprised if Gino Smith got traded.

Yeah, to me, DK is gone, right?

We think.

Well, Yeah, he's requested a trade. It could be done by the time you're listening to this. I would imagine that's going to happen in short order. Okay. So Dike is gone. It just feels like at Geno's, what, 34 maybe? Mid-30s? There's moments in an organization where you have a coach in the second year where it just feels like this could be a reset for Seattle. This is an opportunity to reset. Now, the challenge is who's your quarterback at that point in time? Right.

They actually would be the team that I think It would extend for Sam Darnold, maybe, and would convince themselves.

They could get into that. That's why this would have to happen pretty quick. But they could get in on that.

That hurts my feelings. What would you do, though, if as the President of the Gino fan club and the President of the Sam Darnold Haters Club, if somehow Gino was out and Sam was in?

How would you deal with that?

How would you deal with that? I would just root against Sam Darnold next year, root for his demise. It is very annoying that the Sam Darnoldhive can He gained some of my favorite analysts in the country, Nate Tice, Mina. Mina Kimes. Unfortunately, you're part of it, too. So I don't get what they're seeing that you don't wear... Because Gino Smith would be atop this list for me. To me, he has played ball. More consistently at a higher level, higher level playing. I think he's more of a complete quarterback than any of these guys.

And this goes to Cousins, too. And again, this is why I love this conversation because we need to see where it takes us and then go there. But I think there is a little bit of a market correction in terms of older quarterbacks, whereas you had Tom... Well, you had Aaron Rodgers, first of all, playing MVP level, going up to the age of 40, getting towards 40. You had Tom braided winning a Super Bowl after 40. And there was this belief of these quarterbacks, they're all going to be great into their late 30s. And then all of a sudden, we saw Russell Wilson fall off a cliff. Matt Ryan. We saw Matt Ryan fall off a cliff. We saw Ben, when his thing happened, he had fallen. He'd go back a little ways The normal thing is most of these guys, when you get in the mid-30s, it starts to really tail off. Those guys, Aaron Rodgers, Tom braided, those were the exceptions.

Right. And even Aaron Rodgers, people are still betting on that now. If Aaron Rodgers plays for a team this year and plays well, he will be the most productive 41-year-old quarterback of all time behind Tom braided, which is why I think he fits in New York with the Giants. I don't know where else to put him. That's a desperation move.

I don't know who the Giants are going to have a quarterback. And I've had this conversation with a bunch of different and everybody says the same thing. It feels like Aaron Rodgers or Bust.

But if they have Aaron Rodgers, do they move up or potentially take Kam Ward at three?

I think if Kam Ward were there, they would take Kam Ward.

The longer we go in the process, and this is a good the transition. Let's look at the quarterbacks in your top 50. Tell me if I'm wrong. The longer this goes on, you have Kam Ward as your 10th overall prospect, Shador Sanders at 18. So actually not that huge of a gap from our guy, Jeremiah, 40 for Jackson dart. The longer it goes on, the more I just think Kam Ward is going to be the number one overall draft pick, not because he's necessary.

Whether it's Tennessee and the Giants.

Because people are making it out to be, okay, if you put him in last year's draft, where is he? Wouldn't he be right there with Pennex and McCarthy at the least? And those guys went in the top 10. And so if you're telling me he's a top 10 talented quarterback, and everyone needs quarterbacks in this class.

He's going to go. There's It's a question. He's going to be one of the first three picks in the draft. Okay. I would take that to the bank. What about one? No, I think there's a good chance of that, whether or not that's Tennessee deciding to do it or whether that's somebody wanting to pay the price to go up.

All it takes is one. So if the Giants wanted If they don't get Rodgers, or even if they did get Rodgers, do you think Rodgers and Cam... Would you trust... That's why I don't want to sign Rodgers at all. It's just too much of a headache. Him and the guy that you're trusting the future of your franchise, that he boxes you out.

Well, maybe we get some spice And maybe as we're recording this, we're a few days away from free agency. There's enough of a window there. If I'm the Giants, I don't want to get caught with nothing. It literally is a game of musical chairs. If you think you can make the move to go to number one to secure that you get Pam Ward, then, okay, we do that. We don't worry about Aaron Rodgers. Let's just roll with who we're going to get with the first overall pick.

Make the move in March. You don't have to wait until April.

What I'm saying is if you get the free agency and you're still sitting at pick number three, and you're just saying, We'll just wait till the draft. Well, then you better like more than one quarterback, if that's the case.

So Shitter Sanders might slip in this draft. He might not. I just said all the teams that need quarterbacks. And that's why I think-Can I cut you off there, by the way?

Because This is a popular TV segment. It's a popular conversation. How far will he slide? And the whole league doesn't like Shadr Sanders. I'm like, Do you realize, it only takes one team?

Sure.

You might have all sources in the world. I don't care who you are, the most connected people in this business do not have rock solid, going to tell you the truth sources in all 32 buildings. So these people that are saying, well, he's going to do this or he's going to do that. I'm like, there's no way for anybody to know this. And I think this is a fit draft more than any other that I can ever remember. I think Shadr Sanders is a really good fit for a team like the Raiders. I think he makes sense as a fit for a team like the Saints. So all it takes is one of those teams. So don't buy in. And it's not just a Shadr Sanders conversation. As a player in general, when you hear everybody's punning on this guy and everybody's out on him, like, no, it takes one team.

Well, this class, I think, is going to have more disagreement up and down the board than any because it feels like there's only two or three players that everyone agrees on. But to the quarterback point, just logically, Tennessee, Cleveland, Giants, Raiders, Jets. I'll throw the Saints in there. That's just in the top nine picks. They all need quarterbacks and I tend to agree with you. I tend to think that the Saints would maybe be the floor. I don't know if they're crazy enough, although Mickey Loomis has been known to make some crazy trades to trade up for Shadr Sanders. But if he fell to nine...

Can I give you the sneaky quarterback team, though? Please. Because we were just talking about him with Seattle.

Okay.

I don't know who their guy would be. I don't know if that's... Maybe that's more they want to take a flyer on somebody on the second day. Maybe that's Jackson Dart, maybe that's Tyler Shuck, one of those type of the guys that you could get. Maybe you trade back a little bit, take one bottom of the first, maybe you take one in the second round. But I was just going through all these teams, and just because the conversation we had about Gino getting a little bit older and not knowing if they could pivot, then all of a sudden, you get another team that's in the in the quarterback mix a little bit.

So Seattle picking at 18. They would theoretically have more draft capital because they've traded away Dike Metcalf. You could use that to make a move. I mean, I didn't mention it before, though. There is one screaming logical team for Gino Smith, and it's his old buddy, Pete Carroll. Those two guys are-100%, that solves their problem. And now you're guys are boys. I like that. I would accept that move for Gino Smith. I I think that could work out. Reunited, man. I think they spend a lot of money in free agency. We mentioned all the money that is out there we're going to see over the next week, but it will be interesting to see how teams spend at quarterback. I think the markets changed a little bit. I think the Daniel Jones contract was part of And then the Baker Mayfield contract, the first one he took with Tampa being so effective was part of it. You don't have to pay Daniel Jones-level quarterbacks, and I would consider Darnold or Fields around that or a little lower. You don't have to pay them 85 of Joe Burrow. It doesn't make any sense.

It's really half what it is. I think 30 million is that. That's going to be that veteran market.

Our salary cap is just costing these top-tier quarterbacks so much money because you can't tell me that Patrick Mahomes is the same, essentially, as the eighth quarterback in the league who gets that.

There's fun games to play, though, when you cross different positions in value and look at the numbers and then try and wrap your mind around it. Last year, my favorite was, I got a lot of text. They were saying that the Eagles just get Saquon Barkley for Gabe Davis prices. Right. And I was like, yeah.

Doris Armstrong got more money than Saquon Barkley last year, which is why it was good they gave more money. They took care of him. Speaking of weird dollars, 2-2 at well sign. I just want to throw this out because I like you. 10 million? We're a news show, too. Tutu Atwell got 10 million. I have a feeling there were people around the league that were like, What are you doing to us?

Yeah, I had a decision maker that shot me. Actually, I was ahead of it. I sent him that contract, and then he was not. He was like, Yeah, that didn't help. I think they had somebody else in mind for a price somewhat in that neighborhood, and I just said, Yeah, if this is where the market is, you're not getting said player for that price.

He has about a thousand yards through four years. I feel like Sean McVay has been justifying that draft, but I like Tutu out. It was a nice development story that he improved to a solid fourth receiver, which he can be for them. I guess he's more of a third receiver for them if they're paying 10. 9. But he's getting double the money of DeMarcus Robinson a year ago, DeMarcus Robinson was a better player. That tells me Sean McVay's got all the juice in the building. Hold on now.

This is real time here. What year was he to Atwell? '22?

Yeah, four years ago.

For '22. So I'm just going to see where I had him because I was I'm curious on this because I like going through. 2-2 at well.

You think it was a late second round pick in the end, the shocking one?

Yes, very little.

It weighs about 10 more pounds.

You sure it was 22?

He's played four years in the league, so it would be 21.

Yeah, 21. So it's a long I'm looking in the wrong file.

Can I give you a theory while you're looking? Yeah, go for it. It reminds me a lot of the Tavon Austin scene with Jeff Fisher in Hard Knocks, or I think it was offseason Hard Knocks, which probably only I watched all or nothing, where it was a great moment. Tavon Austin, this guy everyone called the Bust, a developmental story, improved to a pretty decent player, and they just loved him as a person. And so they gave him that contract. Everyone felt so good in the organization in the moment. It was almost worth it just for that moment. Ended up not being a very good contract at all. It reminds me of a light version of that. Everyone probably loves 2-2 Atwell. It's a great moment, but it doesn't make any sense.

Okay, 2-2 Atwell was my 79th player. So you said he went in the '50s.

In the '50s.

So he was just under 5'9, 155 pounds, ran a 4. 3. 5 at his pro day. I talked about jet sweeps. He's dynamic. He can separate. He's got a second-year ball on the air. He's got some route polish. He was a high school quarterback, throw the ball 70 yards on his knees. Just threw that in there for fun. They haven't used that. But I said he was a miniature T. Y. Hilton. If you're hoping that he was what he was going to be, he hasn't been.

He's turned into a pretty good role player. Ram's fans in the front office will defend him as he stretches the field and that opens it up and he's improved. He's basically a good number 4, getting good number 3 money, I guess.

Can I give you a fun podcast topic?

Sure.

What if you just did a tournament? It was a fighting tournament, but the lightweight division. You have Calvin Austin versus Tutu Atwell, and in round one, squaring off who would you rather have? I'm just saying that's just...

That would be fun to watch. I thought you were going to throw me in the mix because I'm a little below that weight class. They got a little more muscle.

It's not an idea worthy of the watch that you're wearing, but it is definitely That's something I'm aspiring to.

Okay, so we are going to wrap up this show with an exercise that I'm excited about. We're going to talk about building around some of these young quarterbacks in the league, and all three of them are in the top 10 of the draft in terms of their team is picking in the top 10 of the draft. The Patriots are at number 4. They're there with Drake May. Trevor Lawrence, who, frankly, we're being a little generous, calling him a young quarterback at this point. He's two years into his second contract, and this is what I was talking about. Everyone gets Patrick Mahomes money. Trevor Lawrence is making the same money as Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes. It doesn't really help your team building. And Caleb Williams is the 10th pick of the draft in terms of the bears. And we're going to go through, and I'm going to suggest some team building I want to see in free agency. I'm the free agency. You can grade my free agent general manager jobs. And then when we get to the draft portion, we'll see how I did, and you'll choose what you want to do building around these guys in the draft.

So, Drake May, let's start there. The number four overall pick. The number one thing I'm going to do is I'm going to trade for DK Metcath.

And I'm going to tell you what you're going to trade. You're going to trade the 38th pick.

Okay. I think that could get it done.

I think that would get it done.

Supposedly, he wants to play for a contender, and he...

I don't know if DK is going to love that, but that's... If I'm the Patriots, yeah, 38th pick, make that move.

They've got Mike Rable. They've got a lot of targets available because they've got three or four You've got guys who probably profile well as a number three receiver, but not even a number two at this point. You've got a quarterback who loves to throw it deep, throw it to the outside. It's a nice fit. Okay, that's number one. Number two, I'm going to sign and maybe overpay Cam Robinson or Morgan Moses if Cam Robinson just gets too crazy. And these guys aren't going to change my life, but it's what they didn't do a year ago. They had a terrible plan where they had no backup plan. They had no even starting plan. And to me, this is more of a backup plan. You If you want to develop, it would not stop you from drafting.

Still taking an alignment, I'll get there. Right.

It would not stop you from drafting a tackle, but at least it just... Okay, there's one tackle spot. They need two tackle spots filled.

Man, I saw them with the chargers last year, up close and personal. That is a rough supporting group that he's got there, especially at the tackle position. So I like that. Anybody else you want to love in there?

I mean, Roni Stanley, they would have liked to get, but I feel like that's going to go too much. Then I'm looking on the defensive side of the as well, too. It's not just building around Drake May. I think nick Bolton would make sense for them as a three-down linebacker. You want to be building with younger players, and they need edge players. I'm going Mountain Hoons as well. It's not build up the defense as part of, as That's part of helping Drake May out. When you look at the wide receiver position in free agency, I don't know. I guess you could sign one, but they all just profile as other guy. They've gone this route before taking the lower tier, like Josh Palmer type. They don't need another one of those guys.

I I don't think Devante Adams is in a hurry to go to New England. The one name that I think would be interesting for them from a receiver standpoint, I know wasn't great last year in terms of the production, but Keenan Allen, just as a veteran who can still get open on some third downs, I think. It had a relative cost. That wouldn't make some sense to me.

Paris fans got on him early in the year. I tell you, if you watch the end of that season, Caleb trusted Keenan Allen. That's where the ball went. He played himself into either shape or figuring out that And by the end of the year, it was like, Okay, I agree with you. He could make some sense. Let's go to Trevor Lawrence.

Well, hold on. I get to do my draft with these guys. Okay. Yeah, we're going to take... The second round pick is gone. We've already acquired DK Metcalf, so that's taken care of. And now you've got between now and the draft to decide if you want Arman Mimbo, if you want Will Campbell. So we're committed to taking an offensive lineman with that.

Now, you could trade back a little bit. Are they a difference maker enough?

There's such an upgrade, and you're not going to have to worry about them. So you've got a starter plug in place for 8-10 years. They can't trot out there what they had last year. We just talked about it at the top of the show. If you want an offensive tackle, you got to pay the premium. It might be a little bit earlier than you want to. If you want one in free agency, you're going to cost more than you want to. But they can't run out there, or Drake may behind this group.

I can't. Membo seems a little more exciting to me. He seems a little more like...

He is very talented.

You could put him at right tackle. You could put Kim Robinson at left tackle. There you go.

We just solved the Patriots there.

What else you want to do here? Let's do Trevor They have the fifth overall pick in the draft. They actually have a lot of guard need on this team, and I think they should take a lesson from the team we're going to talk about next and take care of some of it before the draft. A couple of guards that I think would be out there. James Daniels actually played really well for the Steelers before he had a major injury, and maybe they can afford to wait for him to get healthy. So that's one guard name that stuck out to me. Another possible option there would be a short term fix, like a Kevin Zeitler, just to come in for a year while you draft and develop guys. I actually don't love that I've heard Aaron Banks is going for $18 million. That seems like not a great That's a good idea. But at least one guard in free agency.

Yeah, Zytler is interesting to me because I thought the bears would be a Zytler team because of the Ben Johnson connection. Obviously, they've gone another direction with the two trades that they've made. The chargers have a need inside at guard, and Zeitler I was with Ortiz back in Baltimore, so there's an understanding there. I could see that one making some sense. So he's going to have a market. I was almost even wondering with them, what happens with McKai back then? Is that a flyer you'd be willing to take? But as someone who can help you run the ball? Because last year, the Jags, we can talk about Trevor and his issues. They couldn't run the ball. They were 26th in rushing yards per game.

And yet running back is one of the positions that they're pretty set.

They've got their gaps. They're good. So they should be more productive in the run game than they are, which means they're not getting any push up front.

I think they could be a team also that looks for a center. So center's in this market. Drew Dolman is probably costing too much money, but you played Ryan Kelly twice a year. Maybe that's a veteran you bring in. Mitch Morse, this was surprising news, that came out on Thursday, decided to retire. Struggled with injuries last year, maybe didn't play as well as his contract that they were hoping for coming out of Buffalo. So they basically have to fix their whole interior line in one offseason. Josh Myers is a guy that's also out there from Green Bay. Would not surprise me if spend there as well. And then I think they have their one in Brian Thomas. I think they could use a little bit of depth. I don't want them to go crazy at the top of the market. I actually thought your guy, Josh Palmer in LA, always could have been a little better.

Yeah, he always wanted just a little bit more.

He could be a rotation guy for a decent team, don't you think?

I think there's a lot of similar players there. So where do you put that price tag?

2-2 at well money? I don't think I would go there. You would not for Josh Josh Palmer. Then on the defensive side of the ball, because I decided, I'm taking this beyond just helping the quarterbacks, they need some interior pass rushers. They actually, I think, are in a beautiful position with this new regime, Liam Cohen, where I actually don't think this team has a ton of screaming needs. They just have pretty good players across the board, and they need to upgrade their overall talent. So Levi Unwuzirike, I think, could be a fit there. You're Puna Ford, I would throw out there. They could use interior rusher. Like Javan Hargrave, they're not obviously going to sign all these guys, but maybe one from that bucket and then one from the safety bucket. Do you go a little top of the market with Trevon Mourig, who's a good young player trying to establish? Maybe he would be a plus starter in free agency.

Yeah, I think Marek is going to get a lot more money than people think.

And I think Jacksonville might be spending a lot in free agency.

I like that. I like that move. And where they're picking, they got the fifth pick, right? With Jacksonville. So we've talked about him. I'm higher on him than Greg is because Greg doesn't go watch the playoff games from the previous year. But Mason Graham, to me, makes some sense for them along the defensive tackle position. I also think with where their needs lie, they could be a tradeback team. Now, the challenge in this draft is who's coming up for who. To me, you could hope that there's some heat on the two tackles because it's a limited tackle pool. Maybe somebody moves up for one of those guys. Maybe you could just slide back a little bit.

Okay. This will be a running.

I also like Jalen Walker because I wouldn't mind seeing him reunited there with Trayvon Walker, and we have the Walker boys just getting the Georgia Bulldogss out there for him.

It's funny because Trayvon Walker is, in theory, up for an extension this year, although they have him on the on the fifth year deal. He's turned into a good player. He's turned into a good player. I wonder if they'll extend it. The fact that it's a new regime there, it's, a lot of. A lot of Tread Balglish guys are still there in the personnel department. Maybe it doesn't help them, but that would be interesting. Let's wrap with Caleb Williams.

They've already been going to work before we could even get the segment.

Yeah, so they add two guards, Jona Jackson and Joe Tooney. And yet I think they could in the draft, that's up to you because these guys are maybe short term solutions. They're another team I think could look at a center. They still look very thin at center. Go with Ryan Kelly there. I actually don't think they have huge needs in free agency. So I would say save your money on offense because they have two receivers that they really like. If you're adding a receiver, it's maybe like a Mac Collins type. I just think good vibe.

Yeah, put no shoes. The thing with the bears, and I'll put this to our resident bears fan who we work with, not to be mentioned, but we were talking about the needs to have on the defensive side of the ball. And my argument was, this is year one of Ben Johnson, year two of Caleb Williams. If next year at this time, Caleb Williams is coming off of 4,500 yards, and everybody in your organization and in your city knows that he's the guy, and you guys win six or seven games, that is a successful season. Fans aren't going to want to hear that, but that's just plain fact. So when you look at resources versus free agency, the draft, I am doing everything in my power. You've already hired the coach to help him. You've already made two trades to help him. If I have to be a little bit lopsided offensively versus defensively with resources, I've got to get this guy playing well. So that's where in free agency in the draft, I'm tilting to the offense.

Yeah. Actually, they have needs at safety, which is a position where maybe you could get a decent player without spending a lot of money. We talked about the top of the safety market, but there are guys towards the back, like a Jeremy Chin or a Xavier Woods, guys who can play that I think they could use. I don't see crazy needs. They have Dennis Allen now running their defense, so maybe you go cheap for his old friend Marcus Davenport just as a second edge rusher in one year.

Marcus Davenport always has a market.

This time, I think-Because if he could just stay healthy, he always has a market. I'm talking about bargain basement shopping because ultimately, I think they're showing us their priority is that offensive line. He has already made those huge moves, and I think they've done a nice job quickly.

Can I give you three names for him in the draft, real quick? Please. So these would be, talk about helping your quarterback. And the first one would be gray Zable out of North Dakota State. You trade back a little bit. I think he's going to be the best center in the draft. He's really good. He was excellent at the Senior Bowl.

Why not just at 10 then?

I would not have a problem with that. He's inching his way up my list.

How about the center is doing so well in last year's class? Do you think that could have some impact? It doesn't hurt.

Pampa got that.

Supposedly, that's supposed to be a position that takes forever to work out. But Zack Frazier was awesome right away in Graham Barton, as you're mentioning.

Because these guys played a crap ton of football. And that's one of the things we've seen. It's the impact of COVID, NIL, all the other stuff going with it, that these guys have all played a zillion games. Grace Abel has played a ton of games, and they do a lot of pro-style stuff. You can play up and down the line at every position at North Dakota State. So that one, I think you get him even if you traded back a little bit. I mentioned Ashton Genti there. I know you've got solid runningbacks, but he takes you to another level with what you have with him coming out of Boise State. And then Tyler Warren, knowing you have Cole Komet, but let's be a 12 personnel team. We've got a creative offensive coordinator. You line up and you've got Tyler Warren and Cole Komet who can both block as well as be weapons in the passing game. Then you've got DJ Moore and Roma Dunze. That's fun all of a sudden.

I love all those pics. I love that they're going to be in a good position to take offense. Yes, I agree, DeAndre Swift and Cole Komet, I would put in the bucket of guys that would not prevent you from No, if you're an elite player, go get him. Go get him. Jeremiah, he's elite at what he does. Although I expected you to come at me a little harder on this show. No, it's fine. Honestly, I like that. That's what gets me going.

I'd be honest with you, I was so blinded by the watch, I couldn't even formulate thoughts at some point.

That's not even a takedown. We're going to be doing 40s in free agents every single week throughout the draft process. Unless Jeremiah gets sick of me, we will talk to you after the free agency frenzy.