Welcome to NFL Daily, where we can only hope we look as good as Jimmy Johnson at eighty one years old. Hell, I hope I'm alive at eighty one years old.
Absolutely.
I'm in the Chris Westling podcast studio and I'm joined by my friend Patrick Claybonn. Good to be back in person with you, buddy, We're back.
The travels went well, you guys were killing it at the Combine. This was it was an illustrious week of content and I just know our fearless leader had us repped well.
It was great.
It was really fun out there. And yes, I taped a show back in Los Angeles with Nick Shook, who you know, was just straight off of Saint Elmo's on Sunday nights. I still feel like the Chemtrails of the Combine is not quite over yet. In fact, we're going to have on Colleen Woolf on our next show and she might have some just tails from the combine.
Just like lathered and cocktail.
Well just she things happen with her and Jordan Rodrigue also like, so we'll see, like it's not over yet. And yet I bring that up to say, like, okay, that's just ending and we're six days away from free agency starting like it's here. It it never really does. This is kind of a calm before the storm week, and yet there's gonna be a lot of cuts. We have a few of those to talk about today. There's gonna be some trades. So before the off season starts,
we're gonna go through the AFC East. We went through the NFC a couple weeks back. We're gonna go through the AFC this week and preview their off season. Throughout the week, we're gonna be talking about free agents. Guys we want to sign, just moves, we want to see stuff like that, and updating you every day on the news. It is in the name. This is a week where I'm happy and believe that the daily format will bear fruit for the listeners.
It always has scratched. Sure, don't tell yourself short.
I know, but like May, it's gonna be just like a little bit different. We're gonna have fun. But there's gonna be a lot of news this week. Let's start with it. Darius Slay is no longer a Philadelphia Eagle, in a move that didn't seem to surprise Darius Slay but still for some reason surprises me. They cut the man. Yeah, thirty four year old coming off a pretty good season.
I went and checked around. I was like, Darius Slay was pretty good last year, right, And I went and checked people around the team and everything.
I was like, yeah, he was good last year, And I have to imagine because there's a path back, but just at this juncture to try to figure it out before the draft, before free agency, before everything is set, to give Darius a chance because he said he only wants to play one more year.
Yes, so it would seem it would seem like once we've navigated that, there'll be an opportunity for him to come back for his final hurrah for the Philadelphia Eagles.
I'll say that as.
We yeah, as we're talking about him, Like, am I jumping the gun on even putting this out there? I mean, it's one of the top stories on NFL dot Com, So I don't think so. But then I look at his base salary. They're not even really saving any money. I mean they are if they make him a post June first cut, you say, like four million dollars, but you gotta wait till June. They're a team that kind
of needs cap space. Now it doesn't totally make sense to me, and then I suddenly am like having flashbacks to other Eagles negotiations where they have said they're going to cut a guy, but then like Brandon Graham, and then it ends up working out in the end. So stay tuned. But either way, I think Darius Slay has some good football left in him. I do think they are fans of the young man Keeley Ringo, who did not get a lot to run this year, but apparently
had a good training camp. Isaiah Rodgers played quite well for them. He is a Yeah, he's a free agent, so he's not necessarily back, but maybe he's someone they look at. We could bring him back for a couple of years, and they like Ringo. So just the cornerback position in flux a lot in flux. In Philadelphia, the Bengals officially tagged t Higgins. We expected that to happen. T Higgins doesn't seem like thrilled about all.
No, like, yeah, it's a league wide cost control metric that nobody really enjoys. I guess there's in some circumstances it can work out for the player, but this is you would like long term security. And yeah, I saw an article that said, like T Higgins post cryptic message on social media and the message was I'll let when I know, I'll let y'all know. I'm like, what's the cryptic part. It's like, Oh, he's gonna be in a bad mood. Well, yeah, like he would like to have
this thing done. And how many times does he really need to say that? It just it feels like sometimes these things take unnecessarily long.
That's absolutely true. And you got to be careful with what articles you find out there. This is the first full NFL offseason with like mass AI articles in the wilderness because these last couple of weeks when I'm doing my research, you know on Google is part of that tool, and you got you gotta be careful out there. I don't know what's going on. It's sports, keita or what. I don't know what that is. It seems like it's AI. There's a lot there's a lot of AI articles out
there that you click on. It's got a decent headline. I mean, they get you and then you're like, oh wait, this is just slop regurgitated.
It's bad, and then so that slop gets ingested into the AI right right, and it gets regurgitated as Google's very first thing, which is how we wound up with that rule that didn't exist last year about on side kicks and timing, and everybody's like, oh, the rule book says you can't do this.
It never said that, It never said that anywhere.
And like, how can I explain this and teach this to my children? How are they supposed to be so conversant in like figuring out what's It's just very annoying. Let's move on from that. Oh, I did want to bring up to you though you your name came up at the dinner table. Oh, over the weekend's never good.
The combine was on and like no one was working out, and my wife thought like, oh, that they should force them to do the combine, Like this is this is this is trash, like not knowing you know, great is working out at the comment anymore. It's just ruining the event. They should force them. And I was like, well, you know, my friend I'm hearing my friend Patrick would tell you that this the entire kind of draft system. You know, what other industry is there where they're you know, they
could make a lot more money. But that's capped and they can't choose where they go, and so this is just one small bit of not fighting back. But like, hey, you're going to draft me anyways if it's good enough, So why do I have to do this?
And to those folks like I share your concerns, pay them, pay them to do the combine. You get more people working out, you get a better show if you would like more people working out.
It's it's unfortunately for the NFL network and for everyone who covers it. But if the NFL Scouting Combine becomes mostly an event for like picks twenty five through the seventh round, those people that they're they're going to be working, They're going to continue to work out. It's not the end of the world. It's still very useful. It's useful for other reasons. Obviously that the medical and the interviews. I think that's what teams get out of it anyways.
But if the on field stuff ends up just being kind of rounds two through seven, well that's still most of the NFL draft, and that might be what it turns out to be, because those guys are gonna want to prove themselves. They're Unfortunately they don't have the luxury to skip it.
I think one thing that might help because we've seen multiple incidents where the medicals are an ordeal, like that's a lot of time. I think it's invested in a truncated week where you're having a lot of conversations. Maybe if the medicals were off site and we prioritize the workouts and the interviews, maybe that's a path forward. But it's a great event and we get to meet guys and understand a little bit more about them and see them all in the same place. So I think it's great for evaluation.
Yeah, I think the interview part is great for the teams to just get that much. I mean, how many people do I make a decision about within the first fifteen minutes, like most. I think it's funny. Sean McVay excited that Matthew Stafford is back. He said he was sleeping better and Stafford decided to rejoin the Rams. Let's listen to a little Sean mcvacebook with the media on Monday.
You know, we've taken it a year at a time and he's earned the right, I believe, to be able to say, hey, I think he could play for a few more years if that's what he wanted. But we've always had great dialogue and I think it's really kind of been a year to year thing. He's obviously under contract for two more years with us, but as long as he wants to play, I know we're feeling really good about that.
Interesting to me. Still a year to year contract, didn't rip it up, didn't start a new contract. Still don't have all the details. I really think the Rams got Matthew Stafford to basically return, and maybe they sweetened it a little bit, but it was clear based on the reporting, the Giants and the Raiders were willing to essentially guarantee two years. The Rams aren't doing that. Based on what McVeigh just said, it's a year to year thing and
we could be revisiting this again. And it's great for most parties, I think, if you know, maybe not Matthew Stafford's like financial advice, he has slightly less money to work with, but everyone else it's great for Yeah.
No, and this was a Philadelphia Eagles team that was dominant right throughout the playoffs, and the only moment of fear was Matthew Stafford in the snow in Philadelphia right in the playoffs, and this team is so much better with Stafford, and the idea that you would have this very good base of a team now scrounging for the Darnolds of the world after living this lap of luxury.
It seems like ridiculous in hindsight, but I think there was an opportunity for Matt to maybe do some skiing as right as that was with controversy, and I'm glad you were in India for that, but also to see what these other teams could say so that he could come back and he could know and the Rams could know that that this matchup was the best for both of them.
Yeah. I thought it was also interesting that McVeigh confirmed Rob Havenstein and Tyler Higbee are both back. Maybe not huge names to the general public, but the two guys who have been on that roster the longest, and so if they were trying to turn over their roster and really look to the future, they would maybe be getting rid of these guys instead. He's back, Stafford's back. They're both probably going to be starting this year, and they
are definitely looking to contend while getting younger. I really think they're going to draft a quarterback this year with a second or third round pick, maybe even a first round pick. I think they're going to look to the future at quarterback. It's a weird draft to do that, but there are some There are some guys and you only have to fall in love with one in the second or third round. People connecting Jackson Dart to them,
We'll see. I just think that this is time for them to start working on a new guy.
He did say that it was a very long process last time. This time it was significantly shorter. Yes, maybe it'll be a couple of days. Yeah, next year, you just get Matthew Stafford back. Regardless of what they do future quarterback plans, I think Stafford is probably still going to be pretty good.
Now. Okay, so some titans of our industry in the football world have retired over the last week. We're going to get to our friend Ron wolf Lee at the very end of the show. The Arizona Cardinal is great. But first we're going to talk a little bit about Jimmy Johns.
Let's do it.
He's been on the air for Fox for thirty one years. He is eighty one years old. When I looked up his age like a year ago. For some reason. I was stunned that Jimmy Johnson was eighty, not just because his hair, but he's sharp, a lot of energy, you know when you see Jimmy Johnson. That's not true for everyone that stays on TV forever, but it was true with Jimmy Johnson. Just just happy trails, always a pleasant figure in the landscape.
Yeah, it spans multiple generations that have no connection with Jimmy Johnson as a football coach, especially right at Miami right and or with the Dallas Cowboys. They know him as that you mentioned it, energetic, friendly voice on Sunday mornings, and congratulations to at the end of a great career navigating triph relationships with Jerry Jones and he finally was able to to heal that thing up like that.
That's a very difficult thing to do, and he did it in his own term. How about them? Coach?
He also, you know, worked out alongside Terry Bradshaw and Howie Long that entire time. My first job in sports media, I think this is true, was for Fox on the Weekends writing shot sheets, as they call him, like a floor above Jimmy Johnson and Terry Bradshaw. But for James Brown and mostly Terry Bradshaw to read while they did their highlights around two thousand and one, two thousand and
two summers or football seasons, I believe. Yeah, the two thousand and one season was the first one, and that was that was a lot of fun. And it was the same guys back then. They were they were beloved. Everyone just loved them.
Yeah, It's it's rare to keep keep a squad together for that long. So congratulations, And now what are we doing? What's Fox going to do? Are they putting in that?
I mean, they can live without. They have like seventeen guys on that right now. It seems like it'd be time for Terry bratch Out to step away, but I think that's gonna be up to him. They're loyal to him. He's so he's still there, Howie long still there, gronks there unless he is back in the NFL. Like, they got a lot of dudes. A couple just quick items. The Packers signed Isaiah mcduffee two years, eight million dollars.
There's a lot of three down linebackers available. I was thinking about that one because there's not really many guys in the draft that are highly thought of like that might be the number one position to not draft unfortunately, because it's so hard, it's so hard to get good at it quickly that players really are better by the time they get to their end of the contract and
for some reason, they're all on they're all available. There's like seven or eight really good three down linebackers available. The Packers decided not to go that route, but they like Isaiah mcduffee and they got them for cheap.
Yeah.
It feels like a lot of teams are trying to up on value on linebackers and they want like edge rush potential. So you get a lot of guys that are like, like, coming in this year, jahe hot Campbell is going to get a lot of attention.
He's probably a first round pick after that.
Yeah, not many, Yeah, and so like it's not necessarily that level of player an athlete, but you get a lot of guys, Well, we can get edge rush value in this guy, but this guy is just a just a linebaker. But like that idea of just a linebacker, I feel like it is going to be falling out of vogue after a few teams in situations where it's like we really need people to be able to execute at this position.
So hopefully the cycle is coming.
Back, and there's just less of them. To be fair, it used to be there was three of them on the field. Now there's two. Sometimes there's one. But just a recap, you guys can check out the top one to one free agents Zach Bond, Nick Bolton, two big time players Ernest Jones who turned the Seahawks season around.
Those are all Super Bowl champions.
Dray green Law, who's one of the better linebackers the last five or six years. Jamie and Sherwood, who was the Jets team MVP last year as voted by the players on the team, over Sauce Gardner, over Aaron Rodgers, over anyone else that would have been in contention for that good player. Robert Splane who who had a great career revival with the Raiders, Bobby Wagner, Levonte, David Kaizer White, who I had someone tell me what's a top eight linebacker in the league. I was like, I love Kaizer White.
That's pretty bold. Tyrol Dodson is a good player. E J Speed, like Cody Barton. There's just Willie Gay. There's lots of guys out there at that position. So I just thought I would highlight that as one comes off the board, and then yeah, a couple other cuts out there. Alex Kappa, for instance, with the Bengals is no longer and people immediately saying like, oh, let's sign Alex Kapa. If the Bengals are cutting you as an offensive lineman like they need offensive lineman, that's not a great sign.
So he is not going into my one oh one because to me, that is a red flag that in his PFF score.
But you could make the case though, in support of Alex Kappa, the Bengals financial situation maybe devoted elsewhere here for a little bit, and maybe to Tea maybe that's yeah.
But if he was, if he was like an above average starter, you're just not going to cut him. His number is not too great, not too crazy. All right, we're going to take a quick break. We're going to preview the AFC East off season, and yes we're going to honor mister Wolfe before the show is over. Back on NFL Daily and back in the mix with my friend Patrick, previewing the off season before it really gets
going in less than a week. Crazy, So we got to get these divisions in and we are going to a division that's near and dear to my heart, to Eric, our producer's heart, a division the Bills have absolutely dominated for the last five years. Pretty good, pretty good. They want to take the next step, but you know, enjoy the good times while they're here. Eric, We're going to put seven minutes on the clock and we're going to go through all four of these teams breaking down what
they need to do this offseason. Let's hit it. Patrick, O'll kick us off with a question.
Yeah, so we get a team that is in the red one of six teams that are in the red salary cap wise as of right now. You get one shot at a restructure for an under thirty year old Josh Allen still twenty eight years old. You get one shot at a restructure. What do you prioritize here with this money, with this again just winning an MVP peak in the problem of his career. You've got some spots on the team, corner, defensive line, wide receiver. Where do
you start with? The limited opportunity of restructure provides you on a team that could have won the Super Bowl last year. Right, But because it's football, randomness happens that you know that you don't need to do a lot, so what do you do with it?
I think you prioritize defensive difference makers, primarily in the front, and that that kind of brings up, you know, another way they can make some room, which is cutting von Miller. I think that's going to happen. I don't know. If they restructure Josh Allen's contract this year, they actually might wait another year until, like the money goes up. There are a couple guys who have some long term deals that they can, you know, squeeze some money, you know,
some coins from the couch or whatever. At Oliver is one, I believe Dion Dawkins is another one. They actually make pretty similar base salaries to where Josh Allen is right now. So yes, the bills are ten million over the cap as we talk. But between those restructures in von Miller, they'll they'll be able to do it. And yet they are a team where I think it affects them because I feel like they have a lot of work to do.
We'll get to it. Overall, to me, it's it's a little more juice in the front, because maybe it's unfair to count on Josh to just make everyone better around him. But I think that's working pretty well. The offensive line is in good shape too. Yeah, the offensive.
Line is it's a rarity right when you look around the league to see the teams that are in contention, have these you know, solid guys up front that aren't necessarily agent like you got.
They're going to be in year three of this exact same offensive line. So it's crazy.
So it ain't broke, But my question is right because they are so close, it just feels like you can't afford not to try right right, and so like along with making the changes, whatever changes you want to make to Vaughan's deal, that's one thing, But Josh is the franchise. This one, Like, a restructure is not a bad thing. It just depends on when you want to.
Do it right. It's just when you feel like you can create the most room. So they could restructure more than one. Certainly they need to create open space part of the reason. And now transition to some of the stuff they can do thinking ahead, They've already resigned Khalils Shakir and I was like, wow, that was early, and then I looked how many of their players are up
for free agency next year. It's crazy Christian Benford who has evolved into a number one cornerback, a really good player, Greg Russou.
Got to keep them.
I mean they keep everyone, James Cook, Trull Bernard, maybe they don't do an early deal with him. That's a lot of their best players are up next season. So they are in a really tricky spot. All I'm saying is you got to add to this roster. Those guys are already there, and you're thinking about next year, and you're thinking about filling the holes in free agency from the guys that are leaving this year.
Yeah, it's just that there's not much to add, Like I don't think that there's this like oh, because I understand the feeling that they got to take a next step.
Like they're there, They're a good.
Tention, right, So so how do you facilitate this roster in the best way to be to do what they need because they're not far. I think some talent in the secondary, some talent, some extra talent in depth at Russia or the in the interior next to Ed Oliver takes them where they need to be.
I just don't feel like they can afford to wait.
Right, And so Matt Collins, who contributed quite a bit to them last year, and a Mari Cooper are both free agents. I don't think they're necessarily keeping Amari Cooper, but they have Khalil Shakir, Curtis Samuel, and Kean Coleman under contract next year. You probably want to add at least one receiver. They have two guys in my top actually, Tamar Hamlin just missed my top one oh one. In my top one oh five. Razuel Douglas, who I think might be Leaving's kind of just been up and down there,
so you need another cornerback. And Damar Hamlin. We'll see if they bring him back or not. They have drafted at that position with Cole Bishop and have some guys who have played for them, so it would be a shame to see him play elsewhere. But yeah, sometimes I think there's this feelings like we got to make a
big push, but it's like you are there. They've done a good job balancing that throughout the last handful of years, will staying right at the top, and yet like there's it's not an easy offseason for this team without a lot of cap space, and you would like a little more juice from that wide receiver room other than Kean Coleman just getting better.
Right, And I think it helps to to go ahead and lock up Shakira, get that figured out. You can maybe save some money and relying on Mike White and not necessarily have Mitchell Trubisky. I mean that's a smaller und three million dollars, but ultimately, like you look, you can get good contributing players in that three to five
million dollar range. And so like if the whole plane's built out of Josh anyway, I think it would be tough to rely and project kyer Elm because I know he can grow, right to project that growth for him, you could not like a not saying like somebody like a Sante Samuel Jr. Is like a bargain basement guy. But you can draft the corner and bring in not top tier free agents but on down the list because I know, like like somebody like Byron Murphy right would be be a dream. But I don't I don't think
they're in that. I don't think Murphy DJ Reid range right.
I don't think they're gonna be spending huge maybe one like I think they would spend more on the edge if they were gonna spend some money and then maybe at receiver. We'll see. By the way, they have an extra second round pick from the Vikings did a good bit as business part of that Dallas Turner trade where the Vikings, like you know, basically gave up like a Miles Garrett package to draft Dallas Turner. We'll see how
that works out. But they do have an extra second round pick, so that that is nice for the Bills. They do not have their third round pick. They are missing that. They gave it last year to the Eagles. One of those that always a year later, you're like, oh, I gave a twenty four to fourth for a twenty you know, once you get to the next year, it's very annoying. But they they did one of those where they got an extra pick last year. All right, let's
go to the New York Jets. Twenty three million dollars in cap space. There we go, so about average in terms of how it goes this year. They have no third round pick because of the DeVante Adams trade. That's not aging particularly well. But I didn't have a problem with it at the time, so I'm not going to say I had a problem with it now, but they do have Detroit's third round pick that they got in
one of those similar swaps. I was just talking about last year where the Detroit wanted to move up and they got an extra third, So they basically have a normal array of picks. Look, my question for this team is where do they go at quarterback? Weirdly, the Jets have not been talked about much in terms of the quarterback position, like they were not in on Stafford like the Giants were. When you're hearing about Darnold for obvious reasons,
They're not really talked about there. So I mean, I am curious what their approach is going to be at.
Court Tock Dimes returns to.
Now you got to get him out of the city for his own sake. Yeah, I know you're always saying, well, New York's just another place to play, but I just feel like he needs a new start. Maybe like can he go back to Duke, you know, something like that. You know, the Panthers just hang out with he Brices back up or something, or the Colts, you know like that. That makes sense to me. Just something quiet, something where you can just go play foosball at night.
I don't know, there's it feels there is talent right on the same I mean twenty percent of the cap over twenty percent of the cap as of right now is devoted to DeVante and Aaron Rodgers. Yeah right, and so like there's there's some level of hope, like but they're like nobody's gonna put them on fraud Watch next year because like it's it's argument.
The rosters looks terrible to me. So I mentioned there's twenty three million in cap space. We talked about the DeVante Adams potential cut and or trade on our last show. They can save thirty million dollars just by cutting DeVante Adams. That's old school, that's kind of fun. Like that means there weren't all these crazy restructures. You know, if they trade them, they save plenty as well, and you get something back. It'd be over twenty But like they say,
they save thirty just by cutting them. So right there, now you have fifty three million in cap space. Rogers, you could actually make the decision to eat all of his dead money this year because you opened up so much with DeVante, or you could spread it out if
you chose to. So they have options. They will have more than enough money to spend, and to me, it's easier to say what they have versus what they need because much like the next two teams we're going to talk about the Dolphins in the especially the Patriots, they have needs almost everywhere. Here's what the Jets do. Have a really great young running back room, don't need to add to that. Like them, a sneaky gray interior offensive line.
John Simpson was free agent pickup who played fine for them, Joe Tipman, who they like was a young center, and Elijah Arrah Tucker. So that you've got your interior line, that's about it. You also have premier talent, but that doesn't, you know, fix your whole position. So you have three guys who I would say are absolutely premier players, Quinn Williams, Sauce Gardner, and Garrett Wilson, two of whom are up for new contract extensions potentially this offseason. And other than that,
like you really don't have a lot. You have to replace almost your entire secondary. You have a ton of backups. Both your tackles are free agents, your tight ends free agent Hassan Raddick who they brought in as a free agent, Jamien Sherwood's a free agent, like DJ Reid is one of my top free agents at cornerback. Like you have a lot of big time needs, and you have more
guys from the old regime you might cut. So this is a team that I think is a little closer to starting over than maybe people realize.
So when you say starting over, would would that mean that like a Garrett Wilson or a Sauce Gardner would be like trade candidate.
No, because I think that what's the point of trying to find good play you want to build around them. But what I mean is there are other guys I didn't mention that you could say are likely gone. Alan Lazard. I don't think he's going to be around Tyron Smith. I don't think he's going to be around DJ Reid. Are they going to pay to keep Maybe? Actually, like they have the money to do if they liked it. Aaron Rodgers, like all these positions, all these got. Morgan
Moses was their starting rate tackle. He's a free agent. You only have like five, six, seven starters when I look up and down the list, that's kind of crazy. It's actually one of the lower numbers in the entire league. So the Jets, they're really going to test their new general manager, Darren Muji.
You do get Jermaine Johnson hopefully back after the injury, so you get some talent back there.
Like there's Olufashionu looks like a left tackle starter for the future.
There's places to make this team viable. But whether it's you know, trying to make a case for Kirk, you know, over over Cleveland, maybe that that that what's your whistle a little bit more than dimes.
Perhaps, Yeah, they if people forgot the Jets, you know. Of course, with Aaron Glenn as the new head coach, hired a man named Tanner Engstron as his offensive coordinator, a young, up and coming, innovative mind. By all accounts that was a passing game coordinator for the Lions, and so Aaron Glenn knew him there. And if Aaron Glenn is like his old boss Dan Campbell, he's he's good
at finding the right people to hire. But man, they are really kind of starting over from scratch, and it's there's just a little bit there's a little bit of bad buzz about Darren Moujie. I'm gonna say it, like not much of a presence at the Comonium combine buzz. Yeah, a little bit. Oh no, just like was maybe a surprising hire that some people might interpret that a guy that's hired so that other people can kind of be more powerful. I don't know who that would be exactly.
I mean Aaron Glenn would be number one. That's maybe more of the Aaron Glenn Show. They also hired Rick Spielman from the thirty third team as a special advisor. He's a long time and quite successful general manager. By the way, with the Vikings and Mujie, there was a little bit of buzz of like was he a guy that was even on the outs in Denver? I don't know, just a little bit of a strange situation. There's always something strange with the Jets. Just throwing that out there.
I believe in Darren Muji. Okay, the combound buzz is not convincing me.
Okay. My main point though, is this is a team that has a lot to address wide receiver. After Garrett Wilson both tackle spots, your quarterback spot, you still need a little more at edge. We're kind of back to the old Jets phrase. You know, they haven't had a pass Ressueran a while. Well, they have had some recently, but they don't have one right now on the edge. And yeah, most of their secondary, including their entire safety group. So a lot of needs for the Jets. Let's go
to the Miami Dolphins. I'm on the clock, Patrick, kick us off.
The Dolphins do not have the burden that the Bills do. They are not in the Red.
They are four hundred and twenty two thousand dollars away from being in the red, dead last in the NFL among teams that have some simbilance of cap space right now. The team plagued by injuries. Bradley Chubb injured in his time there. There was a reduced capability by both Tyreek Hill and Jalen Waddell to his bouts with brain injuries of course a pre eminent issue in the minds of Dolphins fans. At what point are the McDaniel era Dolphins a question of whether or not they're viable?
Yeah? Right now? Now is the point. Now they're in the off season, and they managed to be good enough last year that yeah, they were competitive, But going through this exercise and thinking about all that they need, I started to think, Man, this is under the radar team to be picking in the top five next year if they don't have a really good offseason now. Chris career, he's had some bad off seasons, he's had some great offseasons. Like it's been up and down. The drafts mostly have
not been amazing. He needs to have his best off season now because I think their offensive line, their entire safety group, like they're a team that where if you look at their backup position, for instance, on our lads, like it's all in the red. They just need a lot all at once, and don't They don't look especially viable right now to me, which is why this is
an important off season and exercise. Doesn't mean you can't you fill in a lot of holes, but they're gonna have to find some money to do so.
And it's weird because normally you look at a team in a cap situation like this and it's like, oh, well, like for the with the Bills, you look at von Miller and it's just kind of jumping out at you. But like the Tyreek Dill not like you right.
Yeah, would you really want to restructure Tyrek o? The trade talk has kind of quieted down, but you never know Jalen.
Ramsey has played well and been a good part of this defense, and they got huge contributions because like this time last year, like Chop Robinson was the workout warrior and you're just hoping to get a little bit of production.
In terms of that, that.
Was a huge success, great pick. He looks like a future star.
But even considering those those bonuses, the team is still still where it is, and you've got so many spots, whether it's at cornerback, whether especially on the offensive line where you know Toront Armstead is you know, delaying this kind of retirement stay go decision.
There is an update on that. He did restructure his contract and so that hasn't shown up on over the cap and yet that should free up twelve thirteen fourteen million dollars in cap space a little and clear how much it'll be he according to Ian Rappaport, he is now going down to the minimum salary to, in Ian's words, delay his decision, keep the door open if he wants to return. But often that's actually an accounting maneuver that
teams that don't mind spending a little extra cash. This is what an owner that likes to spend can do for you ultimately an accounting maneuver to open up cap space when Toront Armstead has probably gone to retire and Steven Ross, who has had his mistakes as Dolphins owner,
for sure, is not afraid to spend. It's the reason why the Dolphins finished tied for first in the NFLPA players certainly because their facilities are so nice and all the players are treated well and so credit to him, and so he's gonna They're gonna find a way to spend the money. And yet it's just hard to find enough good players to put onto this team.
Yeah, that's the issue at the spots where they need them. I think they got good contributions from Patrick Paul. I don't know how much you can rely on town on like how much.
He is probably their left tackle. So Patrick Quall was, Yeah, their second round pick from a year ago.
And so you get good contributions from from a rookie there. But there's there's more work to be done than there is than there's work that that can be done on this roster.
And you're gonna have to have everybody come back. You're gonna have to.
Have relationships mended with Tyreek, You're gonna have to have guys get healthy like Bradley Chubb and you know, Jalen Waddle and keep two on the field all season, and then you may just be in this situation again next.
You know.
Offense, I don't think they're far away. I should. I should be careful when I say offensive line. You need Patrick Paul to play well, but you drafted him in the second round to be your left tackle. That's probably what he's gonna be. You need to fix the entire guard position, and they've been trying to do that for years and haven't been able to do it. So they need multiple guards. But they got a free agent pick
up last year. They liken Aaron Brewer. They've signed Austin Jackson, who's been up and down, but you know he's signed long term. And your skill position guys for the most part, are all back. They cut Raheem Moster, but you need a healthy to it. But you have Wattle and Tyreek. You don't have any depth there in general, but that's been the case. It's defense where we receiveing more key players.
Javon Holland's one of my top safeties that's available. Jordan Poyer didn't quite work out with him, So you need a couple of safeties. You could use a cornerback. Kalais Campbell as a free agent was very valuable that you need some defensive lineman right now. In terms of upfront guys on the defensive line, Zack Steeler is literally the only guy in the entire roster, which is a little problematic. I mean, if I'm not counting Chop Robinson, who's more
of an edge. But when they are in like a base three four, it's like Zach Seeler and a couple guys that are that are free agents, so they just have a lot of work to do. And it's a tricky situation where Chris ge Greer is definitely trying to keep his job and Mike McDaniel needs a big year back last decade, every once in a while, the Dolphins would pop up as that team that just went crazy in the offseason. Maybe they're that team this offseason. Do
you think so they'll just find a way to do it. Yeah. I don't know how or what, but they seem desperate, don't you. I think this roster is in desperate need of so good players.
I think in terms of our positionally that they they've gone in the Jhona Smith is a great pickup. I think I've a spectacular I think they need another tight end. They need a blocking tight end, or just invest in the interior of the offensive line. But with what with what money? You know, maybe you draft.
Three guys restructure some of these deals. Bradley Chubb I think will be cut. That is my prediction. I'm not not rooting for it, but I wouldn't be surprised if Bradley Chubb got cut to open up some space. If only you could trade cap space, because yeah, let's wrap up with the Patriots. You can, can you could they just like.
You, trade it to the player and compensate.
Well, there you go. Could they trade like fifteen million dollars of their cap space to a team that needs it for a fourth round pick or something? That would be cool because the Patriots have too much cap space. They have one hundred and twenty seven million dollars in cap space. That's ridiculous. They have the number four pick in the draft because they beat the Bills backups in
Week eighteen. It was their backups mostly too, but still annoying. Man, they could just be at one and just draft Travis Hunter or trade. If someone wanted to trade for camp Warden, maybe they could get Travis Hunter. That's who I want. They have an extra third round pick from the Matthew Judan trade. So everyone in New England who's picking on Elliot Wolf, they hate Elliott Wolf for whatever reason. I guess he had a bad year. That's something good he
did for you. What do the Patriots prioritize first? Because it's almost overwhelming everything they need, But what like, what is the over arching vision of this new Rabel Elliot Wolf? But we don't really necessarily think that Elliot Wolf is the one with the juice. I think it's Rabel who's kind of running this organization.
I think it's the interior of the offensive defensive lines. Okay, they go straight to NFL dot com slash Rosenthal, they get on the top one on one and they and they call guys like Cam Robinson right that they make these these calls out to tackles and guards who aren't necessarily like the top of the market guys, but who have played on contending teams in the past and played so at a decent level to where you can just get and again not value shopping but getting players who
are good on this football team.
Ronnie Stanley buzz Yeah.
Ronnie Stanley would be one hundred and twenty seven million dollars.
I think, like I think back to last week right where you asked Ryan Poles kind of team have too much cap space? And then he scared both of us because he's like, well no, and it's like, wait, no, no, you want to spend the money. You and I understand
you can roll it over to next year. Yeah, but there's only so many years that are available to do something like this, and so you have all that money, why not as much as I would love Ronnie Stanley to be playing for the Baltimore Ravens next year, Yeah, you make him an offer, and you you know, you change your team because, like Drake May is all that matters. Like I've learned this in weeks of discussing this with you. So yeah, you make Drake May as protected as possible.
Now you want a positive Yeah, not a lot of impact free agents on this team.
That's the good news to the bad news.
Yeah, Jacobe Brissette, they need a backup quarterback, although they probably find and rolling with Joe Milton. You kind of like to have a veteran in there, maybe I would. The New England media actually tried to pedal this whole Joe Milton is available. That didn't really catch, Like would someone give up like a third for Joe Milton and they would do that because Joe Milton looked pretty sweet.
I feel like some Centtans would give up with a three or four.
Okay, I think they would do that for maybe not. I think the Patriots would do that. They would just feel like they're selling high. I don't know why. I have a good young quarterback Jonathan Jones who's been there forever I feel like will probably wind up leaving Dititch wise, not a lot of big names in terms of guys that could be leaving. Devon Gottscha was also reported as available for a trade, so it looks like he will probably be released if they do not find a trade
for him or Joe Milton. And yeah, people have this idea that I think, you know, Mike Rabel, you got to take a tackle early or it's all about like protecting Drake May and improving everything around. I hope that's the case, because when I think Mike Rabel, I think he's just gonna want big, nasty like defensive players, and he's just going to want to make his defense as big and as athletic as possible.
I don't know if the Patriots roster is good enough to try to like pick at a position of you know, personal desire, like like the way Kyle Shanahan drafts, like the late rounds. I think they really can just and it's cliche, sit there and take the best player on the board, which I think right Travis Hunter would would be nice.
I would love that. Give me some Travis Hunter. Kean White should be back. He kind of had problems with the old regime. Christian Barmore. They don't know because of his blood clout situation. So there really aren't many positions where you feel like you're a set maybe guard if they believe Cole Strange and Mike when you like there's a couple of guards. You've definitely got enough number three receivers, You've got like four of them, but you need some
number two and number one receivers. It's a little anxiety inducing as a Patriots fan though, to see all that cap space and just think they're going to be the team that feels like because they could spend sixty million dollars in that cap space and they'd still have sixty left over. And there's not like sixty good million out there to spend. Really, I don't know, is there you can.
You can make the offers sixty more than sixty million dollars is going to be spent in free agency here in the next couple of weeks, right correctly?
So, I mean, and like you know, but even if you signed like a Ronnie Stanley, how much is he costing on this year's cap? You could also front load things to just since you have all that kind of space, use it that way. But either way, like there's not enough good players out there to spend all that money. I really, I really am curious how this is going to go. For Elliot Wolf and Mike Rabel in New England.
You probably don't know about this, but there's like all this controversy of like why does Elliott Wolf say he has final say? Why is he speaking at the GM Elliot Wolf people are very angry about and they just want Mike Rabele to be in charge, and like why does Elliot Wolf have the final say? And first of all, is like Mike Rabel probably ultimately does like he has the second of all, is it that great that a guy who's your coach is I don't know, just making
all the decisions. I am. I'm a little worried about the whole setup.
Well, yeah, Eliot Wolf exists right to draw their iron criticism as a shield for Mike Rabel, who's ultimately and again, there's a whole there's a whole coalition of folks in Foxboro who are going to make the decisions. But yeah, it would make sense for Mike ver Able to have significant input.
Right because when I, of course, and uh like, I look at the free agent class and I want them to add like they could use one of those off ball linebackers I talked to about. I think, spend the money where the players are actually good, which is there's a decent amount of players in the secondary. Could you get a Charvarius Ward or someone like that, or a Sante Samuel bring him to New England after all the issues with his dad. There's good safeties out there. But
don't just spend just to spend. Don't add a third another third receiver, like we don't. They don't need to add Elijah more to this group, you know what I mean? Like, there's not top tier receivers. They don't need to add Darius Layton. Even though Darius Layton will help a team out there, it's not the Jets. You don't need to add Naje Harris or JK. Dobbins to this group good players, but like you have Ramandra and two, don't be adding one of Eric smiling because the one team we got
to seven minutes on was the Patriots. Of course, the only one.
Shut up.
Let's wrap the show talking about our friend. We heard the news in Indianapolis and it was so much the process that we wanted to give it. It's full yeah, let it breathe full impact today. Over the years, Patrick, we have enjoyed listening to the vocal stylings of Ron Wolfley on the Arizona Cardinals broadcast.
That is absolutely huge right.
There, Like what what what about him?
Sticks out to you? The fact that he sticks out at all. You know, as we get into these later stages of capitalism, there is an extent of sameness everywhere, similar stylings, speech patterns, and this this non regional dialect that US broadcasters have. It's nice, it's standard, and it works, and it's worked for upwards of sixty years, kind of mimicking a Midwestern like an Ohio type deal.
But it's cool.
Is that what you're doing.
No, it's what we all do. And it's like it's not like shit, it's time to talk about.
The news, Like we got rid of that and then we went to what we have now. And to have somebody still be unique in doing it and have people love it, it's worth celebrating. And that's what I love about Ron and I hope he's able to enjoy retirement.
I wanted to know where he got these phrases from because they always seem like they were off the dome. But did he just have like seventy different phrases that he could just always pull upon in the biggest of moments or do was he just coming up with it? Maybe we should have him on sometimes.
Yeah, like a rolodex of terms and idioms that just seem to apply.
And I don't know even what accent he had. Maybe it's Pittsburgh, I think that is maybe where he's from.
But he's from But regardless of the accents, like the vocal stylingce or so inherently and I'm glad that we get another one.
Uh, you know that that we can enjoy. But but Ron's there.
There was something unique and special about Ron, even different from his brother right that we were able to experience in Arizona.
I loved it, and I love when you talk about the stages of capitalism. It really gets a big reaction from Chris back there. I think I think they like whenever you bring up the where we're at, the circumstances, the capitalism there. It's just funny that that that's that's what gets the reach.
Hey, it's an upgrade from feudalism.
Hey, maybe my voice might be annoying, but it's not just a flattened out Midwestern accent. How about that. It's different. We will be back. Like I mentioned on Wednesday, we're trying to stay in a regular cadence this week where the shows are posting overnight, so you'll have it in your feed on Wednesday morning. Yes, we're getting back the CEA next Tuesday, crew calling Wolf and Jordan Rodrigg. So
looking forward to that. Talking a little AFC than some other assorted fun We will take you out by listening, and I'm doing it for the first time to a collection of the greatest uh one minute and forty five seconds of sound. You're ever gonna hear from our friend Ron Woefully, we'll see you Wednesday.
You can't cover Duke. You're not gonna be able to cover him. Throw the ball up. That's what Kyler Murray did. He extended the play with his legs. It just shut down.
Thing up into the air, into the desert, sky Baby. The hop brought it down, touch down.
Spin the pig, Kyler, spin it, drop it sun diving, drops into the buckets right over the shoulder Marvin Harrison Junior, Ohlickey, Jago, Patrick Peterson, it over time, takes it to the house and Big Red wins.
Unbelievable.
Larry Fitzgerald went up and stabbed it with his stealing knyes. The wind knocked the pig out of the air. DJ Dallas had the opportunity to return that ball. Oh my goodness, what a great play by DJ Dallas. Forget about the five round, David, forget about the hell Mary, how about the hell Lamari ste Ricado. The bears never saw it come in.
What is it again?
Pick up my docket?
Fucking running near side of the fifteenth, fucking inside to ten.
That's it.
The coiners half shot the world trait but true.
The coins of the going to Super Bowl forty.
Hey, how about that, David, the Arizona Cardinals, Saby go to the show.