Welcome to NFL Daily, where we're just trying to be intangibly rich. I'm Greg Rosenthal here in the Chris Wesleyan podcast studio with my friend Patrick Clayback.
I love I love Draft season specifically because all of this talk about the intangibles.
Yes, it's like, he's got great intangibles.
If he has them, then how are they intangible?
Oh that's always my question.
I'm not trying to be pedantic, but it's like, yeah, this guy's got he's got all the intangibles.
Like what does that mean? Right?
If it is literally a box that you check on the prospect profile, it's.
No longer intend like it that becomes a thing.
And that quote intangibly rich are the types of players that former NFL Daily guest James Gladstone used to describe the players that he wants his philosophy. He just he said, what do you what are you going to do? And he said, We're going to prioritize people and players that are intangibly rich that elevate our ecosystem.
I love elevating the ecosystem because then it resembles a natural habitat and like gravity can do more of the work you know to provide proper drainage.
Hey, James Skladstone is in there, he's thinking different. I think this Jaguars team is in a nice spot, and we leave the show with them, because yes, this is going to be a show where we finish off our off season previews.
The off season is off and running.
But actually I like that we're doing some of these divisions late in the mix, like with a few moves already happening, because we can give perspective to where they are at right now. So I'm going to do the AFC South with Patrick, and I'm excited to welcome into Sean Reid, who covers the Raiders for the Athletic, Who's going to do the AFC West with me later in the show.
You know how we do it.
Let's put the time on the clock, Eric And yeah, I started with the Jack. I started talking Jaguars, so I might as well stick there. They have forty seven million dollars in cap space. They were four and thirteen last year. The good news is they pick fifth in the NFL Draft. They kind of stuck up on me as having a very high draft pick. They have an extra third, a fourth, and a sixth, so a lot
of draft capital. And when I mentioned to mister Gladstone that you have all these picks, he says, right now, Oh, and so I think he's going to be from the less snead school of trading a lot, trading up, trading down. I think maybe picking up some more picks. And yes, my biggest question for them is really like, how do they want to paint this? Kim this, because I actually don't see a crazy amount.
Of needs here for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Isn't that crazy? Yeah, maybe I'm wrong, Tell me I'm wrong.
Well, I mean, considering you have to look up front, and I know that there has been some concerns with that group, but they were and the season was over at the point where they traded Cam Robinson in the middle of the I don't know if he was going to be a long term operation. Again, that was not this group that made that decision. Things have changed. Trimbalk's gone,
Doug Peterson's gone. It's an entire new group. James Gladstone wants to find the intangibly rich, right, and they are I guess tangibly rich in terms of cap space.
We talked about earlier this week they're one of those.
Teams that have right around fifty million dollars in space. But I like to look back at some JAG's history. Right in twenty eighteen, there were two players on that roster that would go on to win a Super Bowl for somebody else and be big, big parts of those runs, and Leonard Fournette and Jalen Ramsey. Then you go to twenty nineteen and you could throw Juwan Taylor into that mix. And now that we're in yet another Jags rebuild, I'm just wondering, like, what pieces of this team are viable
trade options for other teams? And if they are viable, then why would the Jags not just keep them around and try to win with them.
Yeah, it's a great way to put it. And I apologize. You were supposed to lead off the Jaguars tell people there.
I know.
I didn't like nobody going to know we were just pros and it didn't happen. Evan Ingram was the one name that stood out to me when I looked through the roster, and yet in general, I want to keep Evan Ingram on my team.
Right.
He's a good player and he is do fourteen point seventy five million in terms of a base salary as the highest cap numbered the team. They don't even have options now that they got rid of Christian Kirk that I see that are big ticket options to get rid of. And then when I look for their needs, okay, you
could certainly use a guard. All right, I want to interrupt myself for once and just let you know, since we've taped this, the Jaguars released a number of players, including the highest cap number on their entire team, Evan Ingram, a starting cornerback in Ronald Darby, and then wide receiver Josh Reynolds and Devin DuVernay, who also made a Pro Bowl. Like Evan Ingram, he made it as a special teamer. The Ingram move is interesting, opens up a lot of space.
But a guy you know, just a year ago was setting records for the amount of receptions he got as a tight end, so an interesting free agent to make it to the market. All these moves just say to me, the Jaguars are going to be even more aggressive than Patrick and I are talking about. I know I'm driving our producer Eric crazy by even wanting to add this to the show. So everyone appreciate Eric and I just
want you to have the latest information. Let's get back to my conversation with Patrick Brandon Sheriff is a free agent and they have Ezra Cleveland at the other spot. Guard is a pretty big need, I would say. And other than that, it's kind of the same issue as I think the Jaguars have had the last couple of years where I look up and down the positions and I see a lot of pretty good players and maybe
not a lot of great players. And that's actually a good spot to be because I don't don't think they are have screaming needs. Maybe a defensive tackle, but they're pretty good at edge, they're pretty good at linebacker, They're fairly deep in the secondary. You know, they could certainly add a safety or a cornerback, but it's almost like everywhere they could stand to get better. But they don't have huge holes on the roster, which I guess is a credit to Trent Balki, their former general manager.
I don't know.
All credit due to Trent Balki, but ultimately right there was a reason that that Trent and maybe some of his those personal relationships have something to do with him no longer being there. But James Gladstone now has this opportunity to get his guys in right, intangibly rich, tangibly rich. However, we want to view them, and I think that's where it starts, and that gives you a chance, really to give Trevor Lawrence an opportunity to show like, this is.
What it needs to be.
But before where it was kind of this mismatch of ingredients that could contribute elsewhere and maybe weren't necessarily fits. It was a we needed the sum of the parts to equal the parts, and they were never really able to.
Do that right.
Like, don't get me wrong, Brian Thomas Junior is a clear one. Gave Davis is a good guy to have. Parker Washington actually was okay last year as like a fourth you could use another receiver. You're pretty good at running back. You obviously love where Trevor Lawrence. They've been
very strong behind him. You love Evan Ingram. You have two young tackles that you kind of like that the tackles are kind of indicative of the rest of the roster, Walker, little Anton Harrison like okay, but I want them to be even better. But what I think that really allows and it's going to be interesting because there's a lot
of cooks in this kitchen. Is this team to push a little harder and be a little more front and center this offseason that I think is getting talked about nationally because it's a new group, new coach, new GM. Sorry I talked to took up all the rest of the time, but they have a great spot to actually make a big splash right off the bat.
The thing that I do not like is this conversation about taking Will Campbell and then moving him to guard because you have these tackles, like if you're drafting a tackle, like, let him play a tackle.
That's my take.
That that is very fair. I'm going to go with the Titans next. They have fifty million dollars in cap space, they have the first overall pick of the draft, they have an extra fourth and a fifth, so that's pretty good on Day three. You always like that. And my question is one I want to answer, which is will Tennessee draft cam.
Ward number one overall? And I think the answer is yes. What do you think I think the answer should be yes. I'm not certain.
I'm not necessarily overconfident in the fact that it will happen. I think it should be a yes. And that's the should will difference that everybody should ask for every mock draft, and if somebody is doing it the right way, they'll tell you if it's a should mock draft or a will mock draft. I think they should draft cam Ward. I don't know if I'm in the will category yet.
Well, they don't have a quarterback. They've made that clear that I don't see Will loves as the future. And yes, they need everything, and so the common thought is they're going to trade down if they can and get some picks and just like load up on everything.
And I'm just thinking, but yeah, but don't you need a quarterback?
And isn't there just kind of one quarterback in this class that's way above the rest. And one of my biggest takeaways leaving Indianapolis was I think cam Ward is going to go number one overall. Now, will it go to the Titans or will it go to the Giants? Would probably be the next most likely in Vegas by the way, they have the Giants as even odds to have that pick, which is crazy. Could it be the Raiders, could be the Jets, could it be the Browns? One of those teams loves cam Ward. Kim Ward is a
really good quarterback prospect. The Titans really need a quarterback, so I just think that's the most likely outcome. But I really came away from the combine thinking, like, all this app Carter, all this other stuff. I think one of those teams is going to trade up to Tennessee
if Tennessee is not interested in taking War. Because if you're the Titans too and you're thinking about trading down, hell, you could move down to three, get a second or whatever it's going to be, and still take Travis Hunter like that, that's good business if you're not into Ward.
But I think they should be into Ward.
Yeah, they should absolutely be into Ward. And maybe it's one of those butterfly effect type things where perhaps the foot injury to Abdul Carter is leading to the Tennessee Titans ultimately saying, well, we're gonna need to get a
quarterback at some point. Here's a chance to get a cost controlled quarterback in for a number of years where it's not Yeah, it's not six first round quarterbacks in this draft, but that doesn't mean that some sort of quality is different from cam Ward, where you're like, oh, this is a bad quarterback draft.
Now you got to evaluate the player.
Right and cam Ward is he hasn't done anything to say he doesn't deserve to be taken.
There, and maybe not every team's going to agree, and maybe the Titans aren't one of those teams. Now, the argument against it is they have needs everywhere, right tackle, guard, receiver, Nick Westbrook. Akina is a free agent right now. Obviously d Hop is long gone. You basically have Calvin Ridley, and you know Traylon Burkes if he ever comes back. Tyler Boyd is a free agent. Sebastian Joseph Day is a free agent. They don't really have a ton of
free agents. You need quarterback, you need throughout the defense, you need players, You almost need everything. You have these older cornerbacks who signed last year that didn't work at all.
You could certainly tend to get younger. You need everything.
And yet I look at Brian Callahan, It's like he's in his second year, the GMS in their first year, Like how long are they going to be patient with Callihan? He doesn't have any ex players that he used to work with that make a lot of logical sense for me, Like would they be a Donold team. Maybe he didn't have him. He did have Derek Carr, but it seems like Carr is staying in New Orleans. He was with Carr in Las Vegas back in the day, but I
don't know. Like the one great thing the Patriots did last year was we have a lot of needs, but let's just solve the most important need with our third pick, and even if we're not the ones that are going to be there next year, like that was the great That was a good decision, not trading down to the Giants.
So I would say consider that, Tennessee.
Yeah, and there's a way, right that you can take that quarterback and not actually throw him into a blender and have a miserable season and you know, have something to enjoy where it's not just hey.
At least, right, they don't have to be the Patriots, and I don't think they would be that bad. A couple other little decisions to go over with this team. Harold Landry was reportedly on the trade box, so that's something to keep in mind. Usually when that happens, the guy is gonna get cut if they can't find a
trade for him. And then I mentioned the cornerbacks. I just thought it was in you know, they signed Lagerious Need and Shadoubi a woozy last year to big money deals, and now it's like a different GMS in place that those didn't really work out.
It's just something a monitor.
They probably can't cut those guys right now, but that could be one where you hear they're on the trade block and camp, you know what I mean, or just see what's going on. I'm not saying they're sunk costs. Maybe they'll rebound and be the players that the Titans are hoping they would be.
Yeah, there's a lot on this roster that still needs to be evaluated. Like the circumstances were bad enough where we don't have a full ledger on some of these guys.
One of the good things is they're not losing much when you look at the free agents and all that.
All right, Titans fans be a little happier, all right. I don't know why the jib was necessary. Texans, you're up, all right.
So the twenty twenty five Houston Texans have made some changes and generally we see that they're right around four million dollars in cap space, an incredibly talented defense and head coach that had that position. The defense at a position to bother a lot of teams. The vast majority of their snaps played by their current free agents were essentially just Stefan Diggs Jeff Okuda played like eighty snaps. Not a lot of decisions other than that. But there's a
real need at wide receiver. They do make the coordinator change and an offensive line coach change, So Bobby Slowich and Chris Strasser are gone. Nick Kayley comes in and Cole Popovich is the offensive line coach. We just saw the Philadelphia Eagles have a bad offense, get run out of the playoffs in one season. Make a coordinator change,
come back and win the Super Bowl next year. Is a coordinator change enough, Greg for the twenty twenty five Houston Texans to be what we thought they could have been last year?
No, they need to supplement the offensive line and wide receiver and then that would be enough. You know, I think the scheme change will make the offensive line look better. And yet, ultimately you've drafted a lot of players early the last couple of years. Here's some second and first round picks by them. Kenyan Green, Juice drugs, Blake Fisher, who I think they kind of like a right tackle you know you need. I don't know if those players are going to work out, whether it's free agency or not,
you still want to be improving the offensive line. And then at receiver, you mentioned Diggs as a free agent. Tank Dell is coming off of injury that I don't know if you can count on him for twenty twenty five. Like whatever he gives you is a bonus if he does give you something. Robert Woods is a free agent, so you really you have Nego Collins MATCHI Xavier Hutchinson, who are kind of back of the receiver room guys, and so I think you need a little more juice
here with the offense to help Nick Kaylee out. But generally scheme can help out offensive line more than any other position.
I was trying to go through restructure opportunities to take that space to get that wide receiver. They just restructured Shaq Mason a year ago. PFF had him graded in the forties. It was it was not good and then he got hurt. Yes going into it, So like this, the roster as good as it looks in some spots and other spots like you can see where things fell apart.
They're up to fourteen million.
I think with some of the cuts that they made, they also could cut Denico Autry would save about ten million dollars. You know, he was suspended last year. He did help them, he got hot towards the end, he did, And so ultimately, I don't think it's great to cut guys who you think can be productive players.
I tracked that.
You know, their head coach Dimiko Ryan said he thought they needed to get better at defensive tackle specifically. He thought that was a need for them. So that's something that you could see them address in free agency or the draft. And also wouldn't make sense to cut Denico Autry necessarily. So that those are kind of my three biggest needs for them. But you mentioned it. It is a good spot that you don't have a ton of
free agents or like crazy big decisions to make. It might be that time, though, to start looking at re signing Stingley. Though you have Derek Stingley, like you could wait another year, but they showed with Nico Collins the intelligence in signing a guy maybe a year early. Think how much Nico Collins would cost you this year, not that he doesn't deserve all that money still, but he's
already signed up long term. I think Derek Stingley looks like one of the best young defensive players in the entire NFL, so it might be an offseason to do that move as well.
Yeah, perhaps in a similar fashion to the way we saw the Certain deal go down, where you're all the way into camp and it's just say, hey, you know, how concerned are you about this?
Not at all? And then you know, the season starts in a couple of weeks and hey, it's done.
I'm not surprised that they are as full throated, you know, in terms of their support of c J. Stroud as I've heard Jamiko Ryans and Nick Asserio be this offseason. But I do like hearing that Nick Asserio called c J. Stroud one of the best quarterbacks in the league. He didn't say one of the best young quarterbacks. He just said we have one.
Of the best.
He said, we have one of the best quarterbacks in the league. It is on us to make sure we're doing right by him. I loved hearing that because that's how I've been here at c J. Stroud as well. And that to me from Casario, who doesn't say much, made me think they are still thinking offense this offseason because maybe it's okay to lean on the fact that you got Tomiko Ryans who can really coach up that defense, and you've put some resources into that as well.
But ultimately, fourteen, because we've talked i mean all week, right, like the number to be competitive cap space was fourteen doesn't necessarily get you there. So what's going to be left in terms of free agency? And and how much are they going to rely on rookie wide receivers if they go out there and hit a home run?
Yeah, but really anybody can do.
Could they restructure Tunsil? Like Tunsil's an interesting guy because he's the two years forty million, you know, he's highest, the highest paid guy on the team. Yeah, so you could short you could if you're really confident he finishes that contract.
You could restructure bat little bit.
You can maybe a restructed Daniel Hunter like you can find some right tunsl would almost be a cut candidate in another system.
He had a tough year.
Spicy Greg today, how many I mean, how many false starts you're going to take from one guy. The Colts are up next, finishing out the AFC South, and they have thirty four million dollars in cap space. They have the number fourteen overall pick. They have all their picks, the rare team. That's just they have all their picks, no extra picks.
They just they just stay where they are.
They He said that Anthony Richardson is going to face competition at quarterback, and I just wonder what does that competition look like. I read an article by James Boyd to The Athletic, which I think was pretty well reported, that said the ideal competition might be Justin Fields, and then the secondary idea of the competition might be Daniel Jones, and so just something to watch.
They should try to get the best quarterback they can.
Well, I think they think it's I think Justin Fields is that guy to them. But there is a lot of Justin Field's Jets talk right now.
We'll see if that happens. But yeah, yeah, I mean, considering they might.
Not be able to get him that Justin Fields Steelers or Jets, that staying with Pittsburgh is probably the most likely. Jets might be the next most likely in Indianapolis might not be willing to pay like as much he's going to cost, So then they would settle for maybe dimes.
And that's the thing, right, if you're settling for dimes in this quarterback competition, like I'll do success, I'll do respected to Danny Dimes? Right, How is that helping us evaluate the player that we are. One thing that you said about the culture we're talking about their draft situation
is they stay where there are. Yeah, it's kind of just like that may as well be the franchise slogan at this point, like Colts, we stay where we are because like I'm having difficulty understanding the process, right right, Like, Okay, we got to build a team, Like what's going on, but we're discussing like which re thread backup quarterback comes in to provide this boost to make Anthony Richardson try harder.
That's not like a cell to me. That like you're trying to facilitate the best team that you can when there were problems on the team that weren't Anthony Richardson related.
Also, I think what's lost in the Danny Dimes talk is Danny Dimes had a major shoulder in surgery and did not look like he was not the biggest arm in the league before that and just did not look the same afterwards. And oh, by the way, he had career threatening neck injuries before that, and so Dimes doesn't make a lot of sense to me. There are a lot of good enough backup quarterbacks, whether it's Jacoby Burssett, whether it's your old pal bringing back Gardner.
Minto like he can keep getting.
They're good enough as backups, and I think they're probably better options as backups, and that to me, maybe it's it's a sign. And James Boyd pointed this out that this was supposed to be the plan that they're sticking with Ballard, stike In and Richardson. These three guys are going to be the three that you move forward with, and there's now a little bit of cracks in the armor of like, are all three of those guys on the same page? Is Ballard and stike and especially like
on the same page Ballard. No, they know they're on the hot seat this year, especially Chris Ballard, but really both of them.
Are, which is why it's a great opportunity to put the target right on the quarterbacks back and say that the off season conversation is around you know who's coming in to be a competitor with a quarterback, and then everybody can focus on that and not necessarily the whole thing that makes you perpetual.
At eight, nine and nine and eight, let's get to that.
I'm almost impressed by stich in that they won eight games last year because this team has so many problems. Their offensive line is a mess. Ryan Kelly, their center, Will Fries their guard. Heading to free agency, both are going to get paid pretty well. They're both expected to leave. Their right tackle, Brayden Smith left with a personal matter.
There hasn't been a lot of reporting about that. There has been some talk that they could cut him and save a ton of cap space, but that's just a mystery a guy they gave a lot of money to. So that could be three fifths of your offensive line right there that you're looking to replace.
E J. Speed's a free agent.
Julian back Blackman's a free agent at safety. Dale Adengbo is a free agent who is a you know, a pretty productive edge rusher them And then I look at needs. You got a lot of them corner but they always need cornerbacks. I think they need defensive linemen. Still, you need a safety still like this roster is in worse shape than I think it's been at almost any point in the ballad era.
And who better, right, because I think about the circumstance when lou Anarumo was hired as the Bengals defensive coordinator, where it felt like nobody wanted that job. He was almost the last coordinator to get hired in that cycle, and he comes in in a scramble and ultimately has them a play within a world championship. Lou Anromo is the perfect like calming force for the chaos that is this Colt steam.
Right now, they have some pieces on defense. I mean Quidy pay and Layautu. Latu is a good young group, and your defensive line is good. You're starting one. It's not as deep as it used to be. They could open up some room by cutting Sampson Ebucom wouldn't be surprised if that happens. But man, they got a lot of needs. That's just the nature of the AFC South. Unfortunately, over the years they have had a lot of needs. Patrick Clayban, though you're checking those boxes, you're intangibly rich.
It's tangible.
I want to transcend the entire tangibility matrix. I want to be all.
Things I think you have.
You are big week for Patrick across all of the shows, and he'll be a big part of next week with free agency kicking off. Before we get there, we're going to take a quick break and we're going to hear on the other side from Tashawan Reid of the Athletic go over the a.
FC West.
Back on NFL Daily.
You know him as one of the best beat writers in the game to Sean Reid of the Athletic. You also should know him as an early guest on NFL Daily back at Raiders training camp in July.
And if you happen to.
Be watching this on YouTube, check check us out there like subscribe. You'll see him in a clean mina times uh featuring Lenny Podcast hat which he got at the at the live show that we did together. I recognize that hat to Sean because my son literally wore to school today for the first time.
Big coincidence, Yeah, great.
Most think so, think of light. It was my first time wearing it, but yeah, I thought it was only right. I saw you and Jordan Roderic obviously coming on her show back then in La so reuniting, so I might as well throw it on her.
I appre I appreciate it. It looks, it looks I like the color that that, you know, baby blue. We'll be talking about the Chargers a little bit later today where we're going to be previewing the AFC West, wrapping up our off season previews. You you've got a lot to talk about when it comes to the Rams, maybe the Raiders rather, maybe I'll even extend that time. But first I have to take you to task for a bad
take you had. I saw, I happen to see it right on Twitter right when you posted it, which was you were you were very down on the ending to to the movie Past Lives. This is really talking to a small fraction of our audience, so we probably shouldn't go too long. But I will defend Past Lives to the end a beautiful mature I'll say it like a grown up romantic movie. I loved it, and I will defend it.
Yeah, I agree, it was. It was a great film, well riding, really good acting. But the ending, I just I'm not fine with that. I don't want to spoil it for anybody who hasn't seen it, but it was very clear who she's in love with.
And I was like, she should go.
How old are you to Shan Listen.
I'm not saying it would work out.
No, I'm just saying, how old are you?
I'm curious you're a young man in three weeks. I think that's the perspective of a young man, you know, in life sometimes that That's what I liked about the movie is you know, you have you have these different people come through your life that you're that you're so passionate about. But sometimes that's not that's not real life, that's not your life, and and all these feelings can can exist at the same time. I really recommend people check out Past Lives. Eric is looking at me like,
what are you talking about here? But that was one of my favorite movies the last few years, and it's wild to me. I don't know if you did you ever see Challengers? By the way, Oh yeah, that is written by Selene Song, who wrote Past Live's husband. I don't know what's going on in that marriage, so there's something going at The two of them wrote about something in very different ways, and it's very interesting to think that those two movies came from the exact same marriage.
That just a little shout out to the movie folks out there. Let's get going. Let's talk about the AFC West, and I want to start with the Chiefs. You know, it's been a while since we talked about the Chiefs. I think they have a fascinating off season. Let's put the time on the clock, Eric to Shan get us going.
Yeah.
So, obviously, the last time we saw the Chiefs they were getting the doors blown off in the Super Bowl. I think that's rained a lot of pessimism over the franchise. Nothing you have to remember, like this was a team that went fifteen to two and made his third Super Bowl in a row. It could be a lot worse than the in the Chiefs right now. They with that being said, they do have some major needs. Obviously, they just traded Joe Toney, who somehow became their start and
left tackle for the end of last season. They already had a pretty massive need at left tackle going into his as. But now you could argue that they also have one at guard defensive tackle because outside of Chris Jones, they don't really have a lot of bodies there. And then receiver. You know, I know that they made a
moving season last season to get DeAndre Hopkins. You know, obviously the rocket that they drafted had a pretty good season, but it was it was tough for them after losing Rashid Rice and clearly Travis Kelsey just isn't the same player anymore, and so I think that to also be a position that makes sense for them to Add to the issue is they currently don't have any cap space. I believe they're still over the cap even with the
inflated number that they have now. And of course they can play around with it, maybe restructure Patrick Mahomes deal for the thousand times since he's under contract until the end of the NFL and so we'll see what what wasardreed they cook up to create some space. But they do have some some key needs. That's some pretty important positions that they do need to address this Offsson.
Yeah, it's funny you mentioned Mahomes.
I wonder if he's do an actual new contract now it would be a restructure, but it's about time to me that he gets a raise, another fix, which they're going to keep doing. And look at that's what's team friendly about it. And yet he's seen these other quarterbacks jump above him and they could open up cap space one way or another. Yeah, I think they'll use that Mahomes contract to open up cap space. It's crazy you mentioned the lack of cap space. They also don't have
a second round pick. You know, they have that trade for DeAndre Hopkins. They do have an extra third, but they don't have one between the fifth and the seventh, and so you kind of add that up like not a ton of draft capital, not a ton of cap space, And then I hear you that you could be in
a lot worse shape than the Chiefs. But I do think last year was a push it all the way in here, and this is gonna be a very tricky offseason for Brett Veach because you listed some of the free agents DeAndre Hopkins, Hollywood Brown, who I've heard they want to bring back, Juju Smith, Schuster, Kareem Hunt, Carson Wentz, whatever on the offensive side. But Trevelle Wharton was a good player for them at defensive tackle. I got him ranked pretty high, Nick Bolton, I have him ranked pretty
I justin Reid, a good safety, ranked pretty high. Charles Amena who was starting for them. So they just have a lot to do this offseason and they're one of the best at doing it. But man, they're kind of in uncharted territory of you know, year six of this dynasty without really taking a step back. So I'm curious how they approach it. What do you think they'll do, What do you think they'll prioritize? Maybe first, yeah, I agree.
With you that it doesn't feel like some sort of pivot point needs to come. And we saw this before this most recent iteration of the dynasty started when they traded Tyreek Hill.
That was a big shift where they.
Saved a lot of money through that in the move and invested it in the defense, which was a weakness for them even though they had success to that point, and they became really a defensive team, you know, especially this year. We still have Patchion Mahome of course, and he could, you know, come up clutch and help them
win a bunch of close games. But this offense really hasn't been you know, I would say it's still been good, but it hasn't been that dynamic offense that you're used to seeing with Mahomes and read in tow and so it's seeing how do they try to navigate adding to that offense because they clearly need help. Like I think I'm not saying Travis Kelce has washed you look pretty bad at the Super Bowl, but they need a clear
cut number one receiver. Maybe that's just for Shee Rice when he comes back and he's fully healthy, because he was playing really well before that injury last season, So maybe he's the guy. They don't need to make a big move ad receiver, but offensive line, like they have to do something right, And I think, like, what is the answer there?
Like what does it look like?
You don't really have any cap space, like you mentioned, they don't have a ton of draft capital.
What do they do you know?
Because I think it's pretty clear that the answers aren't in house. And I know the rookie that they took last year, Kingsley, maybe he's he had a really rough rookie year. Maybe he bounces back, and we've seen guys improve in the past. So yeah, I don't want to like say his career is over because he had a bad rookie season. But I think the offensive line are both running the ball and.
Pass for section.
Yeah, I think the plan is to play Sue Mattea at left guard or to try them there. We launched this new show on Thursday with Daniel Jeremiah, and he was banging that Ronnie Stanley to the Chiefs drum pretty hard. And this is a man who always knows more than he is. Letting On is very connected, especially with the Ravens where Ronnie Stanley was, and so that's interesting. I don't know where they find the money for that. Maybe
that's the Mahomes thing. I think they do want to bring back Marquise Brown, who would kind of be like a relatively cheap number two. But man, they could use an edge they could use. They're gonna need a backup quarterback, by the way. I don't know if they want to draft one too. They could they could do that thing. They need to restock their quarterbacks. They always find these guys that you never heard of and then they do well,
So they need another one of those soon. I think you're you're biased on the Chiefs though, because you think their offense is trash, because they're always trash against the Raiders.
You know that's what you should.
Yeah, I mean, I don't know.
I always gonna, you know, have faith and Patrick Mahomes, but this feels so stagnant, like everything's so difficult. And I think when they won those first two Super Bowls, what they really got back to is I guess for the first time what they did since they got Mahomes was they were really running the ball well, you know, and I think that really caught the Eagles off guard in a Super Bowl that they won, and they really
couldn't run the ball this year. Maybe part of that was for Czecko getting hurt, but they really had like Freema Hunt, right, you know, significant carries. So I don't know how much of that it was just the running back with this not being great in the offensive line not being great.
But if you're going to have those question marks at receiver Travis Kelsey.
Turning back, you know, swing down a little bit, they have to find a way to run the ball successfully again for this offense to take another step forward.
Maybe maybe I'm just wishful thinking, but it feels like I had to come back to the pack season for the Chiefs, which I didn't think, you know, going into last year, and it didn't happen. We'll see, Although it was funny listening to I heard Peter Schrager comment it was on the Simmons podcast that like Mahomes is hearing everything people are saying and he's ready to you know, light the league on fire and come back with a vengeance. Like okay, like I do want to see that that
Mahomes again. I set you up very poorly as a host. I need to learn, you know, I'm only what eight months into this. I threw the ball to you, like right before the clock went off. That was like a grenade like in the NBA when someone just had to chuck it up at the buzzer. I'm going Broncos next, put five minutes on the clock. Really interesting offseason ahead forty million dollars in cap space. That's plenty twentieth pick
of the draft. They have their first four picks of the draft, no fifth, but whatever they're they're good in terms of their important picks. My question for them is is this the off season where they load up for bow knicks, Because if you look at their needs, you could argue their three biggest needs are wide receiver, running back, tight end, like they just need skill position guys and
otherwise this rosters has a lot of potential. They got to feel good to Sean, like getting out of cap jail where they've been paying all this dead money for Russell Wilson the last couple of years, or just Russell Wilson, which felt like dead money when he was on the roster. What do you think that they prioritize in free agency?
You got to get bow Nicked some more help. Obviously.
Last season was probably a surprisingly good season, you know, for most people. For the Broncos, their defense, you know, we kind of didn't know what it was going to be because the twenty twenty three season was so weirdly rough for them.
But they were a lead again, you know in twenty twenty four.
Patter Passerstain obviously had a defensive player to year caliber season. They're good on that side of the ball. Offensively, like, even though bow Knicks had a pretty good rookie season, was a legitimate candidate for the offensive Rookie of the Year award, I don't feel like he has enough help, you know, And I think we saw that in that
playoff loss to the Bills. I know, they they scored them like the first play of the game or whatever it was, but they pretty much couldn't do anything after that. Like you mentioned, they don't really have an answer a running back. While Courtland Sudden. I think he's a solid I would call him a number two receiver, you know, I think they could still use a true number one wide out or at least, you know, upgrading that room in general.
Even if you don't get a guy that's better than Sudden and then tight end, you know, they really don't have.
I mean, they took the shot on the tight end of their drafts a couple of years ago Dutches, but that didn't work out. You know, I just think they need to give him some more help. You know, you probably even argue that maybe they could improve the offensive line as well, just because you know, I mean, he's on that Ricky.
Skick scale deal.
Like you mentioned, they have some cap space for the first time in a long time, you know, the defense, You don't really need to make a major addition on defense. Why not just pour those resources into the offensive side of the ball. And you know, Sean Payton being an offensive mind the head coach, of course, you would think he'd be on page with that. And so I think that's yeah, they're going to, you know, focus on this off season.
I think so too.
I've heard Mike Asiki could be a target that Gasiki might end up deciding between Denver and staying there with the Bengals, who will want to keep them. But they have a lot to do on that. More on that in a little bit. They're free agents, though they're in a good spot. They only put one free agent in my top one hundred, and that was DJ Jones, who's an tackle who I put at like ninety five or
something like that, So they're not losing great players. Zach Allen, who who had a terrific season last year All Pro, wants more money. He's in the last year of his contract. Courtland Sutton wants more money. That one's a tricky one. They said they'll address it when it's time. Because I'm with you, I think they maybe view him as a two. They are a sneaky team to me, for a DeVante Adams type of move, or even a DK Metcalf trade if they really wanted to get crazy. I think they're
feeling themselves a little bit. This is a Sean Payton team. They're always They're always feeling themselves, and I think they feel like they got their quarterback.
They love themselves, some bow knicks, and they're ready.
They're ready to push like how do you view them in the hierarchy of this division and and you know, you know you're covering the Raiders on a daily basis, that that's a team now that feels like, look, we've put the Raiders in the rear view, we're way ahead of them.
Yeah, that was like a one constant for the Raiders.
Like as bad as things have been for them for you could argue, like the last twenty years, they were always you know, beating up on the Broncos pretty much as a blate. They could count of that every year, we're gonna we're gonna beat the Broncos. And this year that that change. And you know, I think, you know, the regular clearly lasts in the division and we'll get to them later. But the Broncos, I still have questions
about their ability to you know, as they contend. You know, like I don't think they're really going to be pushing the Chiefs unless they do significantly improve where they stand on the offense side of it. I think they're the defense is legit. You you could argue it's the best in the league, or at least top three in the league. But unless they really add some more firepower on offense.
It's kind of hard to see them taking that next step because I think both Knicks, even as good of a rookie season as he had, is he.
Really like going to be like a superstar quarterback. I feel like he's more so that guy is going to be.
Like good, Like I think agree Lessen to Broncos Twitter, he's a superstar, Like, don't you don't say anything bad about him?
Yeah, just you know, I don't think he's Drew Brees, you know what I mean.
Like, I think he's like a solid, good, competent NFL quarterback and you can win with that.
You know.
Obviously the Eagles had like the Avengers, but Hurst was largely just like Okay, this year, we heard a lot of criticism look past.
The game pretty much the entire year, and they want a super Bowl.
Not only do they want a super Bowl, but they like blew out you know, the back to back defending champion. So I went on a Twitter ran about this the other day, like I don't think you need necessarily a superstar quarterback to win, And I think it's fine if Knicks doesn't become that, but that just makes it any even more imperative that you build up everything else around it, and they have the resources to do it, so they just have to you know, use that money rising.
Yeah, I think look, I think they could use another edge, even though they're good on defense. It's Jonathan Cooper and Nick Bonito. Just add one more to the mix. You always want to be adding to the line, and that's something they could look at. But the kind of the world is their horse or Sean Payne has done a great job fixing that thing quickly.
Under the gun. That's a pro move right there. All right, let's get to your Raiders. Let's just do it now. I'll let you kick it off, go for it.
Yeah, So annual tradition of the Raiders looking for a
new head coach and GM continued this year. You know, there was some questions about whether they would clean clean house completely, but with the revamped ownership group including minority owner Tom Brady, you know, huddled together Mark Davis and they decided to just hit the heart reset and they landed on a familiar face to many or pretty much anybody who falls NFL and Pete Carroll at head coach, the oldest head coach in NFL history as of the
start of next season. In GM John spi Tech, who was a long time executive with the Tampa Bay Bucks, and they're pretty much working with a clean slate.
They have the second most cast space in the league.
The exact number is kind of up in the air because they just decided yesterday to make Max Prisby the highest played, you know, the highest paid nine quarterback ever with his three year extension, and so they should be over one hundred million dollars in the cast space.
Which is obviously, you know, a ton of money.
And they also have the number six overall pick in the draft in addition to an extra third round pick as a result of the Devonte Adams trade last year. So they have a ton of resources and a new regime that can pretty much remake the roster in their image, because outside of Max Prisby, the only guys really of no on the roster are Brock Bowers, who's going to be on a Ricky deal for the foreseeable future, and then Christian Wilkins, who they signed to a significant contract
last year. I think the question is, you know, is you know, are there really enough free agents worth spending that type of money on this offseason. I think this is a weaker free agency class and a lot of the free agency of note for the Raiders are guys that were already on the roster last year because basically their entire defense in a free agency.
The biggest name is safety Trayvon Merrick, but you go.
Down the list, I mean, Robert Flaine, Malcolm Kombs, Nate Hobbes, Adam Butler, John Jenkins, Divan Diablo. Like I said, pretty much the whole defense is hitting free agency. So see, it's being interesting to see which one of those guys, those guys that they bring back and then you can pretty much just throw a dark you know, at the board and they need to add help at their entire on the entire offensive side of the ball. So they need a lot of help there. You know, do they
take a big swing of quarterback and free agency? Do they draft a guy early on? So you know, it's it's pretty much wide open, like they could essentially do anything. It's just you know how they go about doing it.
Yeah, It's it's interesting because you know, we just talked about a team and the Broncos I said, don't have a lot of key free agents. I mean those are good players. I have a lot of those guys pretty high on my list the Raiders defenders that are becoming available, but when there's a regime change, there's not as much loyalty, but that those are just more positions that they have
to fill. Like I like, Nahops can play more, can play splaining, can play Kunts when he when he was healthy, was playing well at the end of that a couple even Reclamation Project Kalvon chase On played kind of well for them, Divine Diablo, Like they have a lot and yet their biggest needs to me are still the skill positions. Uh, Jacoby Meyers, Michael Mayer, do you think either one of
those guys will get traded? And yeah, clearly this team kind of needs receivers, needs a quarterback, needs a running back.
I would say, well, not on defense side of the ball.
He did bring back defensive play to Patrick Graham who's been for the last few years, so that I could probably increase the chances of them resigning.
Some of those guys.
Good point.
But to your question, me and my colleague vict Tafor who also covers the Raiders at the Athletic we reported last week that the Raiders have had trade negotiations with the negotiations with conversations with teams about tight end Michael Mayer, who you know, people don't remember last year he had a significant stretch that he missed due to personal reasons, and he also just took a size of lead lesser role with the emergency Rock Bowers, who was the first
team All Pro. And as you mentioned, it's a new regime. They do have the same tight ends coach as they did last year. But you know, with Michael Mayer not really having a path to having a significant role, it's still being on a rookie deal. You have to imagine there's some teams that thought pretty highly of him coming out of Notre Dame. I mean a lot of people considered him to be the number one overall tight end
in that class. I know Saan Laporta, you know, went before him, but there was plenty of teams that would have drafted him in the top thirty five picks where the Raiders ended up drafting them. And so maybe you don't get a second round pick for him, you know, but if you can get a solid you know, third round or fourth rounder or something.
Like that, maybe it makes sense.
Jakoby Myers, I think he's going to be a guy that they want to hold on to. I do think that he's kind of in that court to Courtland and Sun space of like being more of a number two than he is at number one. And do think the Raiders would like to make upgrade at receivers. So maybe they are a team that you know gets into the DK Metcalf sweitchtakes. They do have an coach dk Metcalf for a couple of years.
Okay, so maybe that's the lat spot that makes sense for them.
I want to ask you, then, we only got a minute left. Are you hearing any of the Gino Raiders buzz because Jeremiah threw it out there on the podcast that he hears that you know could potentially be moved and the Raiders are such an obvious pick for me as a Gino fan mixed he would look great in the uniform. I want him to be winning playoff games. I don't know if the Raiders can help him with that, but we'll see. Have you heard anything about that?
I think it's kind of a similar thing with the Matthew Stafford deal, right, Like the Raiders would love to have Gino Smith, right, But like, are the Seahawks actually going to trade him, think so, because why would they? You know, they're not really in a position to replace him in the draft. There's not a it's not an attractive free agent market for quarterbacks. I don't really know if any other quarterbacks is going to be available via trade that would be an upgrade over Gino Smith.
And so it's like for who for what?
You know?
The seahows is Tron the win, and I think keepan Geno Smith gives them the best chance to do that.
Zero We did it. Man, they just have a lot. It's a lot of these new gms.
I mean, it's not surprising, and just feel like they have so much work to do on both sides of the ball with the Raiders. But if anyone can do it, it's Pete Carroll. He had one of the best I think rebuilding projects in the history of football. I really think people should like study what happened when he took over that Seattle team in the first three years there. So maybe he can do it again with his boy
John Spytech. We wrap up the AFC West and really all thirty two teams, we've made it to the end. Talking about the Los Angeles Chargers, put the time on the clock. They have the what the twentieth pick in the draft, they have their picks, and then they have seven picks after round five. They're one of those teams just as a million late round picks. For what it's worth, they have more cap space like the Raiders. Then they really know what to do with after letting go of Bosa.
I think the number is around eighty million dollars. So again like you can't find enough good players, and to me, their needs are more on defense, even though their defense played pretty well last year. Khalil Mackett is a free agent, they cut Bosa, Puna Ford is a free agent. Tier Tart is a free agent. So you really don't have anyone up front or on the edge. You need a little more juice. And then at cornerback Christian Fulton. A
lot of key free agents on this team. To Sean, like they they showed up and they harbowed in the first year. It was pretty impressive for him to put that stamp on the team. Where do you think like they should focus in the really first offseason now that they got a sense of their roster.
Actually I disagree. I think I think the bigger he's on the offensive side.
You know, I think when it comes to the type of team that they're trying to be on that side of the ball, run run first team. We heard it all last off season what they want to do. I think they realized once they got into the season or we don't actually have like the guards and centers to like this, you know, And so I think investing in at an interior offensive line is a pretty big need for them. Receiver, you know, even with lab McConkie having the season that he had, I still think they need
another receivers. So maybe they're a DK Metcalf team or another and another receiver of that ilk tight end, you know, that's been a position that's been a void for them for a few years now. You know, when the last time the Chargers had a good tight end, like, it's been a minute. And then even running back, you know JK. Dobbins, you know who had a solid season. He's hitting free agency because he was signed on a one year deal. So do they try to make upgrade running back? And
you know Justin Herbert is a great quarterback. We've seen what he can do. But I do think they need to be more balanced on that side. Of the ball, and until they become that, they're probably gonna hit that wall in the playoffs, like we've seen at the two times that they made it there just being incapable of getting over the hump. But on the defensi side of the ball, I do think, what is the plant that edge rusher, you know, with kill Lil mackitting free agency, Like,
are you trying to bring him back? Obviously they just released.
Yeah, I think they are. I think they are, but we'll see if they can get it done. He actually figures to be a pretty hot name in free agency.
He had a good year last year.
Yeah, Yeah, And then you know, clearly they're moving on for Joey Bosa, so they need at least one, you know, starting caliber defensive man. Maybe they think he's already in hot house. You know, they have a young player to Lee who's you know, kind of has some flashes here and there, and.
Maybe they just think he's ready to step into that role.
So I would expect it for them to invest more on the offensive side of the ball, you know, just even from that receiver standpoint. I mean, there's a few guys out there, Stefan Diggs, Cooper Cup could be available. There's some others available on the free agent market. DeVante Adams. I don't know if he has interest in playing for the Chargers, but he is from California, a La is
not that far from the Bay area. Maybe that make sense to go play with Justin Herbert, you know, like that would probably be the best quarterback he's played with since Aaron Rodgers was you know, actually still Aaron Rodgers you know, with the Packers. So maybe that's just fine the spot that makes sense.
I don't see Cup there, we'll see Cup. It's interesting still hasn't been released. Maybe they're they're trying to get something done in the trade. They reportedly talk to the Steelers during the season. But yeah, just to go over the free agents, Josh Palmer, DJ Shark is a free agent.
Dobbins.
You mentioned they're going to need a backup quarterback, and there's a lot out there, and then you know, I went through some of the names before, but a couple others on defense, Morgan Fox played a lot of snaps for them, Sante Samuel Junior played a ton of snaps for them. Christian Fulton, like those are two starting cornerbacks for them, So it's similar to me to Washington in that they over performed I think in the first year
of the regime. Obviously they didn't have the playoff run that Washington did, but if you look at what they did a year ago, it was a lot of one year deals and guys that they actually rehabb their value. And now these guys are going back to free agency looking better than they did a year ago, and that's a credit to the coaching staff, and maybe they can do it again. But all it does is open up
a ton of spots. If you look on our lads, they you know, they put the starters in red if they're a free agent, and there's like eight nine starters in red that that are free agents. So it's a ton of work to do. I would keep an eye a couple names, Amari Cooper. I think actually they could be a potential on a MARII Cooper and then Kevin Zeitler just as kind of a fix. You you mentioned it.
They definitely need interior line help. Supposedly they might try to move their center or their guard Zion Johnson to center, who hasn't really worked out, But I don't know if you can you can count on that it's it's a good division, these old guys coaching. To Sean, it's gonna it's gonna be like, it's gonna be a fun division this year. I'm curious where do you kind of put the Chargers in the mix of the AFC West.
Even the second best team in the division. I would say, I'll put them behind the Chiefs, but I think they're better than the Broncos. Part of that is I think they have the second best quarterback in the division.
He probably.
I would also say I think they had the second best coach in a division at this point.
And then in the loaded division with with coaches and you.
Got Andy Reid, Jim Harbaugh, Sean Payton, and I'll pee Carroll like, it's probably the best division from a coaching standpoint in the NFL. And so it's going to be a tough fight, But I do think the Chargers are probably the second best team.
Yeah.
No, A lot's going to change over the next couple of weeks as we go through the frenzy. Sean Payton would definitely take exception to that. I don't know if I would Jim Harbar or Sean Payton, like, I don't know I think sometimes.
Skeptical of like the Sean Payton thing.
A great coach, but like I do think we go a little bit too far, Like he only won one super Bowl, you know what I mean, like it job, it's good. We talked about him like as if he's like Andy Reid. I just don't think he's like that caliber, like all time hit coach.
Now I'm playing both sides of the fence here. On the positive side, I think he's one of the best offensive coaches.
Of the last twenty years.
You know, he's he just is like the consistency that that offense just did it and now he had Drew Brees. But that's a symbiotic relationship for sure, the consistency that the detail oriented offense that he ran. Man, he he comes with an offense. On the other hand, Man, Sean Payton loves being friends with everyone in the media, so I think that does influence things a little bit.
You know, that's true.
So I think he gets a little bit of that Jeff Fisher bump. Jeff Fisher got the bump from the middle.
Oh my god, man, Jeff, I'm from saying Louis, so please do.
Not mention, you know, then he played the media game very well, where he just he avoided a lot of criticism because he was buddies with everyone. Sean Payton doesn't need to avoid as much criticism, but man, he plays the game well. As we were taping this to Sean and if you're listening to this, we're putting it up a little bit later. We did the AFC South part of the off season previews earlier in this episode, and we have an update to that. We have a trade
which I want to get in the show here. Christian Kirk has been traded from the Jaguars in the division to the Texans. It had been reported that Kirk was going to be cut, but this is one of those deals where sometimes you put the cut report out there for a day and seeing if you get any bites.
They're going to get a six round pick for him and he'll stay on his contract, which we don't need a ton of analysis for it, but I think he fits in nicely in a market there's not a lot of wide receivers available and you're not counting on him to be a number one. You're counting on him to be like a number two, three, four, whatever it ends up being. You're paying him ten twelve million dollars, and I think that's a nice bit of business actually for the Houston Texans.
Yeah, I like that move.
Obviously they have their number one in Nico Collins, but you know Stefan Diggs, he tore his ACL last year. He's also a free agent kind of don't I don't know if he's going to be ready for the start next season.
And also like what his price tag could be.
And also Tangdale suffered a pretty gruesome injury obviously, and I have no idea.
When he's playing football again, and so they need.
Help at receiver, and I think he's a he's a solid wide out, you know, he's more of a slot, you know, kind of Z type of guy move around the formation. But I think that makes sense with you know, the new offensive coordinator and Nick Cally and his background using those types of guys, you know, whether it was with the Rams or how to use those guys with the Patriots, And so it seems like a pretty pretty smooth feel like that move.
Yeah. I do too.
By the way, make it a little more money than I expected, fifteen million dollars, but again it's a one deal. This is what cap space is for I keep saying there's too much cap space. Actually, those these one year deals, when you have too much, it's perfect. There's not much of a risk. You just need him to stay healthy. And look, Kirk is versatile. You are too, like you. You came with some good Kirk information out of nowhere without me telling you.
Appreciate you. Sean to that world.
Who got ten million dollars? So I mean like two million for Christian Kirk.
Is Yeah, it's totally fun.
I remember when he signed that contract and everyone was like, you're giving how much for Christian Kirk? And he was perfectly fine when he stayed healthy. Also meant to mention I thought Trey Hendrickson would be a nice fit, by the way, with the Chargers, just to kind of follow up on something we talked about earlier in the week. The Bengals are indeed letting him seek a trade. We'll see if it actually happens, but that's a position I could see them spending some money on to Sean.
Love the work that you do.
Check him out at the Athletic, check him out on Twitter. You on Blue we got you on Blue Sky yet?
Yeah?
All right, Deshaun on Blue Sky as well. And yeah, he'll be cranking because I think that the Raiders are going to be front and center over this next next week, we will be back on Sunday Night with Nick Shook, all the cuts, all the recaps. Yeah, a couple of days away from legal tampering. You know, football is back.