Screaming Needs For Every AFC Team

Gregg Rosenthal is joined by Nick Shook to get you caught up on news from around the NFL including Aaron Rodgers meeting with the Steelers (01:10), Jameis Winston signing with the Giants (04:10), impressions from Cam Ward's pro day (07:00) and more! Then, the guys give you the screaming needs for every AFC team starting with the AFC East (12:58) followed by the AFC North (21:40), AFC South (33:00), and AFC West (42:40).

Note: time codes approximate. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to NFL Daily, where we never sold all our
jamis Winston Stock. I'm Greg Rosenthal in my garage talking
to my friend Nick Shook from Ohio. We're talking some
screaming needs for every AFC team today. Nick, welcome back.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
I'm glad to be here. I'm in an apartment. I
do have some sound proofing foam on the wall, but
I don't trust it much, so I'm not going to
actually scream for screaming needs IDs.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
Okay, you can scream. I speak very loudly. We're right
behind like a restaurant employee parking lot. They can definitely
hear me when I'm doing a show because, yeah, my
wife Emica, she says often she can hear me on
the total other side of the house and it's loud.
I guess I don't know what it is. You hit

(00:51):
record and you just start yelling. But yes, these are
It's screaming Needs Day. So two of the shows this week,
I'm going to do one with you. I'm going to
do one with Patrick Claybond. Later in the week we'll
do the NF See. We're gonna kind of go through
all the teams a little bit of a reset after
everything that happened in free agency and look ahead to
the draft what all the needs will be. And first

(01:11):
we're going to do just a little bit of news. Now.
We have not addressed the Aaron Rodgers visit to the
Steelers on the show. Patrick and I talk draft on
the show that we put up on Monday, And it
was interesting, this report comes out Rogers is visiting. No
one really had it except for a local guy, Jerry Dulach,

(01:31):
who probably just heard it that day from someone literally
in the building that's like, hey, Aaron Rodgers is here,
because no one knew about it ahead of time, none
of the insiders, nothing, And that to me is interesting
on its own that they were trying to keep it
so quiet. It's come out since that Rogers stayed for
six hours pft. At least thought that this thing might

(01:53):
be headed to a conclusion, but then you know, it
didn't happen. They made an offer and he's just sitting
on that offer and we wait. But I do think
the fact that he was there and that Jamis Winston
is now a member of the Giants, which we'll talk
about in a second, certainly leads you to believe that
the Steelers are very likely to have Aaron Rodgers as

(02:14):
their quarterback.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
Yeah, I would imagine that they're back and forth, you know,
producing a meeting of such length, and there's really no
interest with other teams that this feels like this is
his destination. Frankly, I'm tired of it already. Just because
Rogers does this, he makes us all a wait. But
it does make me think, Greg, what was the longest
job interview you ever had in your professional life?

Speaker 1 (02:35):
Oh? Wow, the longest job in terms?

Speaker 2 (02:38):
I have one.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
Okay, give me a yours. Well, well, I think on it,
but I'll listen to your story because I know it's
going to be dynamite.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
In college, I interned at the Acron Beacon Journal as
a copy editor for two and a half years. I
went back there in between NFL stints to get a
full time copy editing job. My interview there was seven
and a half hours with people, wow, for nearly three years.
But I got the job, So we take that, Rogers.
I was there even longer.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
Yeah, that's that's insane, now that I think of it.
I'd never had long interview processes. Processes. I did that thing.
Remember when you were in high school and they had.
It was like a scam that you would sell knives
or whatever, like for kids that are high school college
you would like go door to door for cutco selling knives.

(03:24):
I remember I went to one of those and that
was a solid hour long interview and they were like, yeah,
then we'd love to have you come back for interview too,
and I was just like, no, this is bad, bad vibes.
That is too much the NFL interview process. I definitely
had to meet a handful of people, including at the
scouting combine, But I don't know. I guess I've gotten
off pretty clean in terms of my job interviews. Yeah,

(03:45):
but it's a long time. It just almost seems like,
come on, Aaron Rodgers. I know you will disrespect some
parts of the establishment. Would you really meet with Mike
freaking Tomlin for six hours and not go to the
Pittsburgh Steels. I have a hard time believing that would happen.
So there is an idea of maybe it's just leverage
to get everything he wants in the contract. Maybe he's

(04:06):
waiting till after the draft to make sure they don't
take a first run back. Whatever it is, we don't
need to go on about it. Too long, because at
some point he will sign and then we can analyze it.
Then the fact that Jamis Winston signed with the Giants
on the very same day this happened to me, it
was not a coincidence though. Two years, eight million dollars
and to me, that's the Giants saying, we know that

(04:26):
Rogers prefers the Steelers. Let's stop waiting for Rogers. Let's
get one quarterback in place because we don't have any,
and let's get who we see as the ideal quarterback
to just still have all our options open. Two years,
eight million dollars, they have put it out there that
they're still looking at Russell Wilson. They could still sign

(04:48):
another veteran in theory, they could still sign Aaron Rodgers,
but it's more likely Jameis Winston and Russ or Jamis
Winston and who I believe is more likely Shader Sanders
or even cam Ward if they traded up to number one.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
Yeah, and we now close the circle on our good
buddy Matt Harmon of Yahoo, who tweeted way back in
week seventeen when Malik Neighbors was torching the Colts with
Drew Locke that they were winning just enough to fall
out of draft position and convince the Giants to sign
Jameis Winston so that he'd hummel him with two hundred
targets and he'd go toward a huge season in a

(05:22):
second year. And now it's a possible reality. Congrats Matt
on having the fur side of that.

Speaker 1 (05:28):
It's true this draft could easily be Giants one Patriots two,
which I obviously would prefer. It could be Patriots one
in Giants four, which they'd be even in a tougher spot.
But those two late season wins won by the Giants
and one by the Patriots really changed the equation of
everything that's happening. And you know, I say half the top.

(05:49):
I never gave up on my Winston stock. He has
fallen into his right zone. He's not making a lot
of money, I think for what he can do, which
is win a handful of games for you, solid backup
and an agreeable presence. To me, that's worth a lot.
Like that's only worth a one third as much as
d bj Hill, I don't know. I think it's worth
more than that. Bj Hill, if you don't know, is

(06:11):
a rotational defensive tackle for the Cincinnati Bengals who plays
like five hundred snaps. Like to me, some backup quarterbacks
are are underrated, and it'll be interesting. If he was
the Week one starter, he would be the first black
quarterback to ever start Week one for the Giants. They've
only had I believe three starts ever. Gino Smith made
one and then he was banished and they had to

(06:31):
promise Eli Manning another year and a half, and they
fired McAdoo because that happened. And then Tyrod got a
couple starts and got to win.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
So we'll see you pay the interceptions and the pick
six's tax. I think Jamis is in this deal and
hopefully the Lord will deliver him from pick sixes in
New York.

Speaker 1 (06:49):
There you go. What a weird but ridiculous and kind
of fun combination Russ and Jamis Winston would be. But
I don't think it would be very good. I think
they got to go cam Ward. Let's talk about the
fact that cam Ward is having his pro day at
Miami as we're taping this. We don't have like big
reviews on it, and cam you know, Protey's always go
pretty well. The noteworthy part of it to me is

(07:11):
that the Titans had dinner with him the night before,
and that's kind of the pole position of like, Okay,
who has the highest pick, Who's getting dinner with the
presumptive number one overall pick the night before, it's the
team with the number one overall pick. It's the Titans.
And Yeah, the longer this goes on, I just think
he's going number one overall and we'll have to see
if the Titans want to do it. I think they

(07:32):
are going to want to do it in the end. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (07:34):
And is he going to order a Tomahawks steak and
really just you know, establish his dominance as the franchise
quarterback of the future for them or not, you know?
Or is he going to go something lighter? You know,
I show he's more measured, experienced, veteran guy. Yeah, they're
they're in the catbird seat for their pick of quarterbacks,
and it feels sure like they're going to take him.

Speaker 1 (07:51):
Yeah. And he's someone that all the meetings at the combine,
everyone loves cam Ward. He is a veteran. I mean,
he's played a lot of football at the collegiate level,
knows how to run a team, do the whole process.
I think it's going to be him in the end.
By the way, Xavier Ristreppo, who is a mid round receiver,
had a ton of production with him at Miami, reportedly

(08:12):
ran between four to seven mid four sevens and four
to eight, which is a really unfortunate time for a
smaller receiver. So maybe he'll try to run again at
some point. It's too bad because he was productive. He'll
still get a job in the league, but he might
not got drafted as early as he was hoping. Just
before we roll through a couple of nuggets and get
to all the needs where you want to talk about,

(08:33):
I just want to mention one contract thing that came up.
Like the reports are one thing with these contracts when
they first come out, but then when you get to
peak under the hood, they often are one thing that's
a little bit different. And I noticed T Higgins's contract
Pro Football Talk is the one that had this was
very surprising, very year to year. He's going to get
thirty five million dollars in the first year, plus a

(08:57):
roster bonus into next year. But in theory, if it
went really poorly, they could really get out after one year.
It would be two for two years for fifty nine
and a half million dollars and that's a lot of money.
So I'm not gonna say T Higgins like did the
Bengals a great favor, but it's very much a year
to year deal one, two, three, and four, and T

(09:17):
Higgins could have done a lot better on the open market.
I actually do think Tea, Joe Burrow, and Jamar Chase
decided they really wanted to play together, and I think
the other two guys helped bring in Tea. He kind
of gave them a little bit of a hometown discount,
and I don't fault him for not getting every last dollar,
but it's interesting. It is kind of a team friendly
deal for the Bengals.

Speaker 2 (09:38):
Yeah, it is, and I think it sets up for
to protect the franchise, which a lot of clubs don't
necessarily do this with these big times of types of deals.
Which is that hey, like, if we're awful defensively and
we clearly need to dedicate some resources to the defense
and we have to make a sacrifice, we can make
a sacrifice and get out of this deal after year one.
Obviously that's not what you hope happens, but they're planning

(09:58):
for the worst case scenario in the event that they
realize this is too much money dedicated to three offensive guys.
So good on them. But yeah, you're right, and what
do we do? In January? Every team in the NFL
pretty much was like, we have a shot at T Higgins. No,
you don't, because he's going to take this type of deal.

Speaker 1 (10:15):
It's true, man, I would have been really curious to
see what he got, but he would have gotten more
ultimately and guaranteed money. The DK Metcalf deal, by the way,
is a two year deal. It's very simple. It's two
What is it for thirty five? I believe now and
now I'm forgetting, But it's essentially a locked in two

(10:35):
year contract, and then after that it's year to year,
which makes a lot of sense. I think it's basically
two for sixty for DK Metcalf and they're not going
to have any pain if they want to get out
of it after two years. There's a couple of little nuggets.
You can comment if any of these strike your fancy,
and then we'll move on to the segment. Brandon Cooks
is back with the Saints. I think he's more of

(10:56):
a third or fourth receiver at this point of his career.
But where he started it all back with the Saints
in twenty fourteen. I ironically the same year Derek Carr
was drafted, so those guys were draft in the same
draft class. Dylan Raidin's, by the way, an offensive lineman,
signs there too from the Titans. He was disappointment a
high draft pick for the Titans. Trent Brown is with
the Texans as they continue to just collect random offensive lineman.

(11:19):
Avonte Maddox, who's coming off that Super Bowl win, is
going to the Lions. They've had some nice cheap signings.
I think Charles Amena, who who is pretty high up
in the sixties I believe in my top one O one,
is back with the Chiefs on a deal that can
max out at seven million dollars. So that was good
for them to get a key guy for them back.
Tyler Conklin, who had a lot of production at tight
end for the Jets the last few years, is going

(11:39):
to the Charters, and the Titans signed Joey sli What
catches your fancy there.

Speaker 2 (11:44):
I love the addition to Conkland to that tight end
room with the Chargers. That was you know, as we
were going through these needs and I was prepping for this,
So I was thinking tight end and I saw, you
know that he was on that depth chart, and I was like, oh, okay,
that's good. That's a nice little balance for that offense,
especially an offense that has needed guys to catch the
ball outside of Ladd mcconky. But think Cook's complete the
career circle there, you know, I'll go back to the
place where it all started. He was only there for

(12:04):
a couple of years before they moved on fromhim. He's
the guy who gets traded throughout his entire career. This
is the first time he signed a free agent deal
in his career and he's already been in the league
for more than ten years, which is crazy to consider,
but he's always had value on the trade market. Now
he gets to go back to where he began, to
a team that has learned the value of receiver depth
by dealing with injuries over the last few years. So
it's a nice little pickup for them. Don't expect a

(12:25):
lot of production from him. He's a guy who with
the Cowboys last couple of years, he'd catch a touchdown
pass random and be like, oh, yeah, he is still
this receiving yeam, So I just probably know more looks there.

Speaker 1 (12:34):
But yeah, yeah, I don't think he has the juice anymore.
I'd love to be proven wrong because he's been a
fun player to watch over the years, although he pops
up sometimes. I always remember his Super Bowl performance for
the Patriots, where man, he just got to make a
man miss in the red zone in the low red
zone and might have a touchdown there, and who knows.

(12:56):
Let's move on to our segment. So how I presented
it to you, Shook our screaming needs for AFC teams
after the free agency period, entering true draft prep. We're
now only a month away from the draft. What are
the biggest needs for these teams? Because anything that's happening
in free agency now is just kind of picking at

(13:18):
the back of the roster. So we're gonna go back
and forth. We'll start in the AFC East. We're going
to put a clock on this to just make sure
we get it nice and tidy, and we'll go two
minutes max. If we don't need two minutes, won't, we
won't use it all. But let's put Shook on the clock.
He can start out with the New York Jets.

Speaker 2 (13:39):
All right, So you look at this group. I actually
love this roster and what they've done in the off season.
A lot of low level signs where you're like, Okay,
I like that. I like that.

Speaker 1 (13:46):
I like that.

Speaker 2 (13:46):
Even the current quarterback situation with Justin Fields and Tyron
on that team, I like it. But where they need
some depth is it linebacker. They went and got Jamie
Davis in an acquisition, and I'm like, Okay, low risk,
potentially high production. Didn't pan out, you know with Washington,
and I've always loved him coming out of college. But
they need depth. If you look at their depth chart
as that stands right now, Zira Barnes is listed there.

(14:08):
He played thirty two special team snaps last season. That's
not enough for a guy who maybe in your starting lineup.
Go add a linebacker, maybe add to fill out the roster.
I know it's not a position a priority like it
used to be because all these teams run sub packages, but
I need at least one more quality back.

Speaker 1 (14:22):
Okay. Yeah, And they are a team I think with
Aaron Glenn that are gonna lean if you look at
what they did in Detroit on the linebacker position more
than most because look, they spent a lot of money
to bring back Jamie and Sherwood, and you have Quincy
Williams still there, so you have two guys. It is interesting,
like now, the third linebacker is a luxury. But I
think for a team like the Lions, you're absolutely right that.

(14:43):
I mean, like the Jets, they'll want more. I think
they still need an edge. You know, they have some
talent there. They have what Will McDonald and they never
really got you know, Jermaine Johnson is a solid player,
but so they have like a real pass rusher there.
I'm not sure Will donald is a number one passwretcher.
So to me that that's where I would look.

Speaker 2 (15:04):
Yeah, I agree. I agree there too. They could use
some help in that front seven in general, and but
I do like what they look like, you know, starting
eleven on both sides of the ball for the most part.

Speaker 1 (15:11):
It's not bad. I think if they drafted Membu at
number seven overall, you could slide them right into right tackle.
That's that's certainly an open spot. I don't know if
you put Max Mitchell there receiver could use some help.
But overall, I agree they're a team that, like their
lineup looks better than most. Let's go to another one
kind of like that, let's let's put me on the
clock for the Bills. No huge needs, Eric, no huge

(15:37):
needs for this team. Like, to me, this is one
of the best rosters in the NFL now. I think
what they need is guys with higher ceilings. It is
a roster full of pretty good players other than Josh Allen, Like,
it's just a roster full of like b pluses one

(15:58):
to one to twenty two. If you're looking at the
starting lineup, probably the number one thing I would look
at is probably in the secondary. Dan Jackson, who who
you brought back like he's a cornerback, probably your third cornerback,
your safety. You drafted Cole Bishop there last year, you
brought back Damar Hamlin. But I think they're in the
perfect spot shook where they really should be best player available,

(16:22):
and to me they should be. Specifically, can we take
some swings, Can we stop trying to just get like
singles and doubles and I don't know, go for a
home run because there's almost no position they couldn't use
a little talent infusion. But then again, they almost have
no needs that are big except for maybe the secondary.

Speaker 2 (16:41):
Yeah, and that's kind of why I tried to pair
them with the best free agent fits remaining available. With
a cornerback, I said, send Rasoulo Douglas back there. But
then I looked at his performance last year and I
think it was below what they expected. But they traded
away Kyer Elams, so they have some needs in the secondary.
I don't know if that big swing is theirs. It's
not a cornerback class that's very strong in the draft.
There's really not that much talent out there available, and
I don't know if even like a Stefan Gilmour or

(17:02):
somebody like that would really be all that interested in
going there, you know, somebody of that caliber. So again,
I'm gonna sound like a day with the Jets. I
need some more depth of linebacker again, because if you
lose Terrell Bernard, you're looking pretty thin right there without him,
and we know what that looks like in the past.
So I'm all about depth at this point in the cycle,
and I think they could use it there, but I
think it's secondary as well.

Speaker 1 (17:20):
Yeah, never tempt Sean McDermott for taking another linebacker or
taking another guy in the secondary. It's kind of what
he does under the radar. Matt Milano took a huge
pay cut to come back, which is kind of shocking
to me. They were ready to cut Matt Malan. When
a guy takes a pay cut like that, the team
is ready to cut him. Which, Oh, I like that horn.
That's aggressive. All right, you're up next. Who do you got?

(17:42):
The Miami Dolphins.

Speaker 2 (17:44):
Miami Dolphins. Again, we're gonna like I said, at this
point in the in the process, I'm looking at depth,
and with them it's on the defensive front. I'm not
worried about edge rusher as much as some other people
might be, even though you know you dealt with an
injury to Jalen Phillips in each of the last two years,
because you got Chop Robinson last year. If you look
at the depth of their depth chart, though, they lack
bodies there. So you're gonna need some guys in the
front four. But again, I am really gonna dig down

(18:07):
along that and say, look, Zach Steelers, good Philips, you
should be back healthy hopefully, and you had Robinson, Like
I said, you also have Brad the Chubb who's dealt
with his own injuries. But you lack name brand power
up front. I need somebody else up there. Most importantly,
they just need to stay healthy, which is true for
every team. But I think about this, the way this
team is constructed. That defense did not live up to

(18:29):
what we thought they would be last year. So add
some quality bodies there. You can find some in the draft,
especially on the defensive interior, but you need more.

Speaker 1 (18:36):
You're absolutely right. I wrote that down too, that they
have Seiler and we're not talking the edge positions, but
they're a team that likes to play two three big
guys up front. And it's like it's Benito Jones and
they don't really have one and then the other one
I would throw in there. And this is gonna be
a theme. Every team needs cornerbacks. It's just every team
needs offensive linemen, and certainly the Dolphins could could use more,

(19:01):
although they are kind of prepared at least to start
the group that they have right now, but they could
use some interior guys. But every team needs a cornerback,
Like every team has two cornerbacks, but not three. And
I guess the Dolphins feel good about Jalen Ramsey, they
feel good about cater Ko, who has a nickelback, but
they don't really have a third. So you know every
team they were.

Speaker 2 (19:19):
They were very high on Storm Duck in the preseason
last year.

Speaker 1 (19:21):
That, yeah, ap storm Knuck is there.

Speaker 2 (19:23):
They're really good at pulling guys that you don't know
about and turning them into productive players. But it's about
the total picture, and I totally agree with you. I
think they lack another guy over there.

Speaker 1 (19:32):
All right, let's go to the Patriots. Put two minutes
on the clock. They're the opposite of the Bills. So
I say the Bills can go anywhere because they don't
really need like anything, and the Patriots can go anywhere
because they really need everything, even cornerback, where there's a

(19:52):
good idea from our friend Daniel Jeremiah that if Travis
Hunter went there, he'd play receiver because receiver might be
their app So the biggest need, and you have these
two great cornerbacks. Now that's true, but if you look
at their depth chart, you know how many cornerbacks? They
have two great ones, and then Marcus Jones's number three,
who's like barely bigger than me, and they don't have

(20:13):
anyone else that can probably play at the NFL level,
So it's like, yeah, you still need more cornerbacks. Than that.
You need more. They need a left tackle, they need
a center. They signed Garrett Bradbury. That is not a solution,
a guy that Minnesota was excited to get rid of.
Maybe he starts this year, maybe he doesn't. He could
play guard too. They need a tight end. Like they
could take anything, and you'll say, okay, they have Hunter

(20:35):
Henry and Austin Hooper, like that's not a long term plan.
So what don't the Patriots need. They kind of need everything.
But left tackle is the one that screams out. Because
Morgan moses to sign in free agency. You figure he's
on the right side, but who knows. You could even
ask him to play left tackle and switch it around
if you took Membu. Who knows if you need him to.

Speaker 2 (20:55):
But he also hasn't been able to stay very healthy
over the last few years. He's a veteran guy. Collect
off lineman, please do because you need to protect Drake may.
I very much agree with that. And you know, when
I did the fits last week, Cam Robinson was still
out there, I'm like, go to the Patriots please. He
signs with the Texans, so that options off the board.
I think that they could definitely use you know they've
done a good job because they were starting with the
bottom of the barrel. They've done a good job of

(21:16):
filling out that eleven on both sides of the ball.
But another team that really lacks depth, that could become
a really big problem very quickly for them if they
don't get through the early portion of the season largely healthy.

Speaker 1 (21:25):
Yeah, interior offensive line because you look at who's there
and yeah, you have Michael and when you like in theory,
one of your best players has a huge contract. He
was bad last year. He got dragged down with everyone else.
Cole strange like he was coming off a massive injury.
He's a mystery. Let's go too the AFC North. You
can kick us off with your Cleveland Brownies.

Speaker 2 (21:46):
Well, the obvious one is quarterback. I just did an
appearance on their show earlier today and we talked about
quarterback at length, and who knows how they're going to
solve that. I think multiple pieces are necessary. I think
you should still explore cousin Kyler suck.

Speaker 1 (21:57):
Bro right away quarterback.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
I'm not gonna ride a wave that everybody likes to
ride because those waves end up being Jake Locker. Okay,
But in the meantime, I also think you need running back.
This is a running back room that has zero identity
right now. Nick Chubb is not who he used to be.
He's a free agent right now. They want to bring
him back. The Browns fans want him back. I don't
know if the Browns do. And he's not an answer.
You got Jerome Ford. You were throwing in Pierre Strong

(22:20):
in the last two years, who was just a vertical
runner at best. You need somebody like that, and this
is the class to do it in. So go draft
a running back, draft a quarterback. You can draft in
a number of areas, but those two have to be
part of your offense, especially if you're gonna go back
to the Kevin Stefanski identity of building out of the run.

Speaker 1 (22:36):
Do you think Andrew Berry is overrated? Properly rated? Not
get enough heat? Because when I looked at this roster,
man minute, they've been there for five years now, Like
I know, the Watson excuses is you know, you can
blame that on ownership, but the rest of the rosters

(22:57):
it's not great.

Speaker 2 (22:58):
I mean especially it's like a just a boat out there,
just kind of floating, like they've never they found a
direction briefly, and then they decided to change course and
then that went to just hell in a handbasket. Now
you're just like, I don't know what to do. This
is just a team that's just existing out there. Yeah.
I think it depends on what he's rated. What is
he rated, because I would say that he's probably rated.

(23:19):
He's probably should below what he's raided right now. It
depends on who you ask.

Speaker 1 (23:22):
I feel like he's under the radar and maybe he
doesn't get a lot of heat. I don't know, because
if it's the analytics, what is it. But he should
be rated as poorly as as any GM just about
out there.

Speaker 2 (23:33):
What it is is it's a fan base that has
seen so much turnover over the years that they just
like the stability. They know that they can count on
Defan and Ferry at least now. But if they win
three games again next year, though, neither of those guys
are going to be there anyway.

Speaker 1 (23:45):
They're left tackle is Dwan Jones right now, they're number
one receivers Jerry Judy, and they don't really have a two.
They need some interior lineup. It's a lot, all right,
I'm gonna.

Speaker 2 (23:52):
Do that drafting receivers. I'll say that he's very bad
in drafting receivers.

Speaker 1 (23:55):
Yeah, they've taken a ton. Elijah Moore is still a
free agent. Ravens put them on the clock. I just
think I kept this one simple. They just need interior
offensive line play. They've been okay at developing these random guys,
but right now it's Filele the huge guard that played
all of last year that I don't know if you

(24:17):
can keep doing that. Ben Cleveland, they brought back Andrew Wore.
He's like, they need offensive line help. I think this
could become a problem for them. Lamar Jackson and Derrick
Henry make them look better than I think they really are.

Speaker 2 (24:31):
And so it's Tyler Linderbaum the center. He's kind of
yet propping up the rest of the interior offensive line
right now. I'll give them credit. They have figured out
tackle after kind of you know, wandering out there for
a little bit, getting that Ronnie Stanley to come back
on the deal that he did, and Rosengarten the draft pick.
He was also very solid for them. But you know,
it's been the same story for them every off season
from my perspective, and it's just you need cornerback depth.

(24:51):
Like two years ago, they got absolutely ravaged by injury
and they just threw a bunch of guys at it.
Then they let a bunch of guys walk or they
cut them in the off season. When I look at
them on paper again and I'm like, yeah, Okay, Marlon Umfrey, cool,
Jalen Armor Davis, all right, Nate Wiggins was a good
pick up. Who else?

Speaker 1 (25:07):
Maybe?

Speaker 2 (25:08):
Who like?

Speaker 1 (25:08):
Maybe Nate Wiggins is a great example. There is something
about me that just like likes watching NFL tape better
than college tape. It's just it's just a fact. So
when I'm starting to watch these cornerbacks and stuff, part
of me thinks, like, wouldn't my time be better spent
watching Nate Wiggins's rookie year and just like seeing how
that went, because I'm not really sure is that a
good pick? Like he was up and down. I would

(25:30):
like to see how it went on a deeper level.
Smaller guy was feisty, but I agree that would be
their number two need would be cornerback.

Speaker 2 (25:37):
He was a splash play guy, and I agree. I
was a little concerned about his lack of size coming
out of college because he put down that great forty time.
He got hurt early, came back. Yeah, I think the
jury's out on him. But that's at least a guy
that you can be excited about, as opposed to some
of the other guys in that secondary.

Speaker 1 (25:52):
If you don't embarrass yourself as a rookie cornerback, that's
a plus. It's kind of like being an NBA rookie.
Just don't be terrible, and that's usually a great sign.
And by the way, we hadn't mentioned on this show,
Michael Pierce, they're great nose tackle for a long time.
Retired this offseason, so that a lot.

Speaker 2 (26:06):
He got a pick in a game and he's like,
I'm taking a knee and I'm leaving. I'm done.

Speaker 1 (26:11):
You're up next with the Bengals.

Speaker 2 (26:12):
All right, Cincinnati Bengals. We know you just spent a
lot of money on your receivers. You've got a lot
of money in your quarterback. You got Trey Henderson still
out there searching for a deal, maybe coming back. But
here's the thing. If you look at him and he's
on the team, that's great. You got one. You need another.
Miles Murphy, former first round pick, has not produced, has
not lived up to the expectation at all. Frankly, it

(26:34):
didn't really get a lot of opportunities stuck behind Sam Hubbards.
So this is a proven year for him. And if
you'll lose Trey Hendrickson in a trade, then you got
two questions at the position. It's a defense that was
much beligned early in the season that couldn't stop a nosebleed.
They deserve the criticism. And now with all that money
dedicated to the offensive side, you're going to be under
a microscope from day one. So go add to your
pass rush, take a little bit of pressure off of

(26:55):
the secondary. It's the best way you can go about
trying to make this into a more well rend team.
And I think it starts on the defensive line and
at edge rusher for them, So that's where they need
to look.

Speaker 1 (27:06):
It's a great call. Miles Murphy, first round pick from
a couple of years ago, has not shown much. I
think they would have hoped because Hubbard was playing so
poorly last year. I think if Murphy couldn't get on
the field, that wasn't a great sign. But you never know.
Sometimes defensive linemen developed a little slower. They brought back
Joseph Asai. The fact that they gave him a decent
amount of money shows me they're gonna play him. But

(27:26):
you're you're right many they need they need dudes up front,
And that actually points out what I thought when I
looked at the Bengals defense, I was like, wait, this defense,
which everyone dogged, has all eleven starters coming back.

Speaker 2 (27:41):
That's not entirely encouraging.

Speaker 1 (27:44):
I mean, not Sam Hubbard. I guess it's not all
eleven starters, but their entire starting lineup this year was
on the team last year. Almost all of them were starting.
There's a couple that are maybe getting elevated, like Jermaine
Pratt still on this team. Logan Wilson, Like, it's all
the same group. The secondary is the same too. Usually
we're just to back with the Bengals team.

Speaker 2 (28:01):
Yeah, like you swung on DJ Turner a couple of
years ago and that never panned out. Like, just because
you have continuity doesn't mean necessarily that it's going to
work out at all. Because you just changed defensive coordinators.

Speaker 1 (28:10):
They really are blaming it all on sweet lou and
or not nice. Let's go Pittsburgh Steelers. What's obviously quarterback,
but it's also wide receiver if they trade George Pickens.
DJ threw this out on forties in free Agents a

(28:31):
couple of weeks ago. I believe I'm losing check of
time that he doesn't think Pickens is going to be
on this roster in the end, that he might get
traded during the draft. And that's really stuck in my
head because he's in the final year of his contract
and if they trade Pickens, they need more help at receiver.
But I also get why they would trade Pickens get

(28:52):
another draft pick. He's not a long term and he's
deplicative of DK Metcalf and so I would get if
that happens. But it's really the skill positions to me,
like every team they needed a cornerback, like an like
a third cornerback, they could use another one, but they
brought in variously. But it's the skill position. It's quarterback.
It could be a total embarrassment if they don't get
Aaron Rodgers. It might be an embarrassment if they do,

(29:14):
and then it's wide receiver and running back Like I
like Jalen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell, fine, but you would
like one more guy there.

Speaker 2 (29:20):
Yeah, the idea of trading Piggins now actually makes a
lot of sense because you're capitalizing on maximum value as
it stands right now, because you could get to the
end of the next season and he doesn't have nearly
as much value any walks, right, But I am also
looking at them from a right now standpoint, and right
now like Roman Wilson, who I loved as a pick,
did nothing last year, got hurt in camp and never
really found his way onto the field. That would be

(29:40):
a big boon for them if he could play. He's
not the same type of guy, but it would be
a big help for them that passing game. For me, though,
if you don't know what your quarterback situation is, running
back Najee Harris is gone. Jalen Warren's your number one.
They signed Kenneth Gainwell, that's great, but like the days
of Corderoo Patterson lining up in the backfield and taking
handoffs have to be over. He's I hate to say it,
but he's old. Let's get another option. This is the

(30:01):
draft class to do it. So I'm looking again at
the skill position, but I'm looking a little bit different.
Running go running back.

Speaker 1 (30:06):
Pretty good roster. As I went through these teams, there
were certain teams I thought a little higher of certain teams,
I thought a little lower of I looked at the
Steelers again, and I was like, man, if they did
just have a quarterback, it's a pretty good roster. Actually,
think their offensive line has some potential. All right, that's
two divisions down. We have two divisions to go. These
are screaming needs for the entire AFC. We will back

(30:30):
in just a second. Back on NFL Daily. Every show,
Nick adds exactly one more thing on the wall behind them,
but you can't really tell what they are. But he's

(30:54):
working on it. He's moving into a new place and
he's working on it.

Speaker 2 (30:57):
For those of you watching on YouTube, here's what it
looks like.

Speaker 1 (31:01):
Look at that he can he can make the camera
move without even touching it. That's fancy. Yeah, little NFL
dot com love.

Speaker 2 (31:10):
My little sister painted that when she was like twelve.
She's twenty one now.

Speaker 1 (31:14):
That is incredible. Yeah, Shook joined us at NFL dot com.
I was probably two or three years deep at that point.
I hired Shook. What was it twenty fourteen, twenty fifty fourteen.

Speaker 2 (31:24):
Yeah, And the question that always sticks with me is
when can you start, Greg asked, and I said, as
fast as I can drive across the country, and here
we are doing it remotely from across the country.

Speaker 1 (31:35):
Yeah, yeah, you did. You did come though I missed
the the La Shook era because Shook it was a
younger Shook. He was mixing it up a little bit.
How long was the interview? And what do you remember
from our interview?

Speaker 2 (31:50):
It was Mike Coppinger asking me what do you know
about the job? And I said, which job that I
are we talking about? Because I applied for like seven
And then it was a call with you. And then
I think it was in the bag and I was
packed up and driving.

Speaker 1 (31:59):
Well, what was it's a call? I'm asking do you
remember that? What was the call? Like, I have a
feeling I remember how it probably went?

Speaker 2 (32:05):
God, I don't. I honestly don't remember because I was
just ecstatic about getting the job and ready to go.
It's something all along long you were just like kind
of covering the remaining bases. I don't know. It was
pretty easy. It was pretty simple.

Speaker 1 (32:15):
Way my job interview style was always a vibe check.
Keisha and I have talked about this before. I've talked
to some other people I interviewed. I would very rarely
ask meaningful questions. I would just kind of just be like,
is this person like normal? Is this person calling? They
are going to be able to hang out, Just ask
like a few questions and try to get a little
bit of a vibe check. But I would not take

(32:36):
long because I felt awkward doing interviews. So generally I
feel like they were probably max. Fifteen minutes on the phone.
It was I didn't link. It was a rare time
where I didn't talk too much. I only talked too
much when we're talking talking ball. All right, let's get
back to the sixteen teams we have left in the AFC.
We're doing big needs for every team. And let's go
to the AFC South, the forgotten division, and it should

(32:57):
not be forgotten because the Houston Hexans put two minutes
on the clock there. Eric Houston Texans are a sleeping giant,
the team that everyone expected to make the leap last year,
which still ended up having a good enough season in
the scheme of things. Man, you look at the bones
of this team and it's pretty it's pretty good. Like

(33:19):
I think they could end up being the team everyone
expected a year later. Now The offensive line is obviously
where everyone is going to point to for screaming needs.
Interior offensive line is their number one need. I keep
saying that for teams right now. They have a couple
picks that they've taken, Titus Howard, they have Juice Struggs,
who was a second round pick a couple of years ago,

(33:40):
and then it's hilarious who they've added on their offensive line.
Just a bunch of guys, Cam Robinson, Lake and Tomlinson
who is with the Seahawks last but has started like
for six straight years, Cam Robinson who's always playing, Ed
Ingram who is a disappointment at Garden Minnesota, and Trent
Brown who's bounced around, was with the Bengals last is
now they're at So it's just like a ton of

(34:01):
guys that haven't played well recently and they're just hoping
the coaching can fix it. And I guess that's their
big need. And yet somehow I believe, because I really
think the rest of the roster is quite good. Do
you agree?

Speaker 2 (34:15):
I think, yeah. The cynic in me says, this is
what we said last year. This is the team that
was going to make the leaf and be so good
and yet their offensive line undercut the entire operation. It
just at the knees down, and they still want a
playoff game. But they finished exactly where they did the
year before, and it felt like a bit of a
wasted season. But you change offensive coordinator, you change the

(34:37):
way you approach the offense, and you get a little
bit better on the offensive line, and suddenly they could
get much closer to reaching their potential. So I agree,
and I agree with the need as well. It's interior
offensive line. You talk about collecting lineman, keep collecting. This
is the draft to do it. And there's a ton
of talent on the interior offensive line. Go get two.
Why not give yourself a just a massive group of
linemen and see who's best battle royale for every position.

(34:59):
The the last man standing is the one who gets
the starting job.

Speaker 1 (35:02):
The argument against why not, and it's not a great one,
is that Cassario has been terrible drafting offensive lineman. Juice
Strugs second round pick, Blake Fisher second round pick did
not look good. They just traded a first round pick
Kenyan Green. But I really think, and I know we're
going over on the Texans. I don't care. Seth Payne.
I keep mentioning both Jordan Rodrigue and I are seth heads,

(35:25):
and you know he thought what happened last year with
that offensive line was a fireable offense for everyone. So
that them getting rid of Tunsil getting rid of the offense.
Every one was that associated. That was so bad that
I actually do believe with the right coaching and just

(35:45):
some journeyman players, you could maybe improve to twentieth. That's
how bad it was. I'm not worried about losing Laramie Tunzel.
I think it's somehow made sense with the picks that
they got back shook. You're up next, Go Colts.

Speaker 2 (35:57):
Let's go Colts, Indianapolis Colts. We obviously know the questions
that exist at quarterback, but well, they had a defense
last year that got its defensive coordinator fired. And yes,
they were inconsistent on offense because of what they dealt
with it quarterback. But if you can round out this
team and keep games close, you can figure out whoever
it is under center, and then you can go win
games because you don't have to put up a ton

(36:18):
of points. So we're going to go on the defensive
side of the ball, and we're going to go for
again sounded like a broken record at this point. Linebacker
depth because if you look at this depth chart, they
could use more at the position, and most importantly, beyond
the fact that, yes, you have Zaia Franklin, but the
just the names that are there do not excite me.
Beyond them, I need better options there as well. But

(36:38):
it really comes down to lou Anaarumo is the coordinator
that I need him to pull out that magic wand
that had everybody with a twinkle in their eye a
couple of years ago about how he could get a
head coaching job. I need him to go reclaim and
save his reputation and turn this defense back into what
it was a few years ago and make it a
competitive unit.

Speaker 1 (36:56):
Shout out to our lads, who the best site for
depth charts for officially going to just two linebackers for
most of these teams. I'm not going to say I
influenced that, but we have gone in that direction with
the projected starter series over the last few years. So
they're listing the five in the DB's room, and you're right,
they have one linebacker right now. It's Zire Franklin. Unless

(37:17):
they know something about last year's fifth round pick Jalen
Carlos that I don't know Carlisles who knows they need
a lot though I agree I wrote down linebacker. They
could use another cornerback even though they brought in charvarious word.
But a lot of people are projecting tight end to
them in the first round. That would be an interesting
way to get a weapon, and they are a team

(37:37):
that likes tight ends, and I could see that. I
could see them going tight end. I could see them
going tackle, like right tackle. They're not really sure what
they're getting with Braden Smith at this point. They could
use a guard like they could use a lot. It's
not a great roster.

Speaker 2 (37:51):
Yeah, I agree. I think the offensive line is taking
a few steps back over the last few years. Then
they let a few guys leave in freegency as well,
so that's definitely an area of concern where I think
they could address it.

Speaker 1 (38:00):
So the Jaguars are up next, and I got into
a very mild disagreement with one of my favorite local
voices in the game, Mike Dempsey from Jacksonville. Believe he's
with ten ten xcel and even before free and say,
I was like, the Jaguars are so weird. Because I
actually don't think they have many needs. Like I don't
know if they're a great team, but they just don't

(38:22):
have like huge roster holes. They just they're kind of
like the very poor Man's Bills, where the Bills are
very good at a lot of positions but not great,
and the Jaguars are very average at like every position,
but they're not terrible at almost any So I almost

(38:43):
thought like a third edge was the thing they needed
the most because Trayvon Walker maybe isn't going to be
there forever and they just don't have anyone there. They
could use another outside cornerback. I really believe if you
go through all these rosters except maybe Houston, like every team,
I could say cornerback. But I the hot take is
that the Jaguars are so vanilla. They don't have screaming needs.

(39:04):
They're just they're just very They're just like very ordinary.
They're better than their record was a year ago. They're
much more eight and nine to me, and they're just
very ordinary.

Speaker 2 (39:14):
Yeah, I actually agree with that because I had the
same struggles trying to figure it out other than doing
the numbers at linebacker again, because they have four total
linebackers on the roster, and even if you went with
two positions, there's just not a lot of guys. I
will say, I do like their top three with Follo Aluken,
Devin Lloyd and Chad Muma. That's a better group than
some other teams. But yeah, I agree, And even if
you look at the receiving corps, you love Brian Thomas, Junior,

(39:36):
Parker Washington randomly steps up in key spots. Sometimes they
got they still have Gabe Davis, and they get Diami
Brown the offseason they could use I wouldn't even necessarily
say they need a receiver, but you're right, they're so
vanilla they could take additions anywhere without having any screaming needs.
You know what they need. They need their quarterback to
play a full season and show a step forward in Trevor. Okay,
that's what they need now.

Speaker 1 (39:54):
Yeah. The thing I was mentioning with the Bills that was, like, man,
you need some real difference makers. The Jaguars need above
average players, so I keep saying their average so they
don't have needs, but that also means you have needs
almost everywhere except your starting edges like defensive tackle could
still be upgraded significantly. Wide receiver could too. Like running back,
you're set there I think this season at least, but

(40:15):
your tackles, like, there's almost nothing that you couldn't try
to improve, So the board is open for you. James Gladstone,
all right, let's finish up the AFC South with Titans.

Speaker 2 (40:26):
All right? They need a planet quarterback? Is it cam Moard?
Is it Will Levis getting some sort of camp competition
or at least being on the roster and intriguing enough
people for them to remember that he exists. Like, you
need a plan. I just need a plan under center.
And if you're gonna draft cam Ward, don't throw them
into a disaster scenario that you know, derails his career,

(40:46):
because that would be the worst possible outcome for a
club that needs stability at the position otherwise. You know,
like we had some mocks early in the offseason where
folks were like Abdul Carter could go there. I like
their defensive front, I really do. I mean, Jeffy's Sims
as a monster to Andandre Sweat's a stud. You could
take some improvements and interior linebacker. They've had a lot

(41:06):
of guys come in and out of there in recent years,
but I'm not worried about the departure of Harold Landry.
That's not a big deal for me. I just think
that offense, they should have been a better team they
were last year. They just self sabotaged so much offensively
that they lost a lot of close games. If you
improve that, then you're in a much better spot.

Speaker 1 (41:20):
And yet they're They're another team that, like I didn't
feel better about them after going through this exercise. Any
any team's gonna feel look better with cam Ward on
the team. And he was doing his pro day as
we're taping this, and there's some great videos of him
throwing on the move and you could actually see Mike
Bergonzi the Titans GM kind of reacting to some of them.
I mean, he's too good to pass on, but they've

(41:44):
fixed in their minds the offensive line in front of him.
I think that's the way they would try to support him.
But you also need some weapons, and they don't really
have enough, so they need wide receivers to in their defenses.
It's fine, you're hoping for a turnaround at cornerback with
legit need, but they need off ball linebackers. That's another one.
They need edges like they need a lot. It's not
a great team, and.

Speaker 2 (42:05):
They're not a team that has made smart decisions at
receiver to begin with. Like they went and got Ridley
and he was like a non factor half for half
the season. They trailing. Burke's is still on the roster
and he's never gonna be what they thought he was.
And then your third is Van Jefferson, Like it's not exciting.
Nick Musburg Kakine, who I thought was my favorite receiver
on that team last year is now somewhere else. So yeah,
the weapons they need to improve that, I.

Speaker 1 (42:26):
Mean, it's like, yeah, I think they were with the
Patriots as the two least talented teams in the NFL
last year. But the difference is the Patriots have Drake May.
So the Titans answer by getting near Drake May in
cam Warden and hope for the best. We'll see. Let's
start the AFC West. I will go with the Broncos.
I would say other than the Raiders, all the AFC

(42:50):
West looked better on paper to me than I expected,
So the Broncos are included in that. I think they
just need to juice up the offense wide receiver. After
Courtland Sutton They have a a handful of guys that
would make sense as role players on a playoff team,
with Marvin Mims and vle who played last year and
was pretty good as a rookie. But they don't have

(43:10):
difference makers. So whether it's a tight end to go
over the top of Evid Ingram that seems a little
weird to me, or it's a wide receiver, or it's
a running back, like they need weapons with bo Nicks,
that's where I think they start.

Speaker 2 (43:23):
I thought I was going to get some Devon Vley
slander in here, and I was going to be very upset.

Speaker 1 (43:26):
No, he'e good, But like, is he you're two moving forward?
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (43:30):
He's a three. He's a concrete three at a pretty good three.
The answer is running back, greg They had no running game.
They had no running game last year. Javonte Williams was
a non factor for them. Jalil McLaughlin ends up getting
more of the looks than him anyway. Audre Estime is
a classic throwback power back and he's somebody that you
play on the goal line in short yard situations. But
that's not the answer. This is the draft buss again,
to go get running backs, and it kind of reminded

(43:52):
me of the Buccaneers. Last year, they were like thirty
second in the league in rushing yards per game. I
think it was eighty nine point eight or something like that.
Going to last year, they get Bucky Irving, a guy
who flew under a lot of radars, not mine, but
a lot of radars. He ends up having a great
rookie season. I could see something similar happening with this team.
And if you balance that out, Bonix becomes that much
more effective on the rollout, and we already know he's
really good out in space. So I think this could

(44:13):
be the key that unlocks that offense and suddenly we're
paying a lot more attention to them, even though we
were last year.

Speaker 1 (44:18):
Yeah, right tackle is a sneaky, other potential need. McGlinchey
was better for them last year, but that's not a
long term solution. Sean Payton loves to invest in offensive lines,
and for the most part, they already have there and
they're already good. But right tackle long term, but yeah, I.

Speaker 2 (44:35):
Think that's a streaming need, that's a whispering need.

Speaker 1 (44:37):
It's true, I kind of forgot the point of the segment.
Just go with the screaming needs. I don't even think
they love love Courtland Sun as a one, but that's
just my own vibe. All Right, you're up next. Go
let's go with the AFC champions, the Chiefs.

Speaker 2 (44:51):
All Right, they obvious. This one's probably the most obvious
that we have out there. Well maybe not the most obvious,
but one of them. They need better offensive line play,
and they've had a lot of change in the offensive line,
and frankly, I don't feel very good about all of them,
or really any of them. Joe Toney's gone, Kingsleysuamataya is
there and was not a good left tackle. They went
and swung on Jalen Moore, who doesn't even have a
large enough sample size as a starter to really be

(45:12):
worth the money that he got, which you didn't get
a ton, he got fifteen a year. I'm just very
concerned about the left side of this line. There is
only a certain amount of coaching that can be you know,
an impact or you know, impressed upon an offensive line
that breeds significant change, and I'm just not seeing it
in this personnel right now. So that is their number

(45:33):
one need. They need to shore up left tackle and
the rest of that group and let them compete because
we learned that lesson the hard way in the Super Bowl,
and if they want to continue to be that team,
they got to protect Patrick Mahomes better than they did.

Speaker 1 (45:44):
I think they tried. They just this is their plan enough.

Speaker 2 (45:47):
They had a guard playing tackle in the freaking Super.

Speaker 1 (45:50):
Bowl, I hear you. And now they're going to have
last year's pick a tackle, Sue Mattea, probably playing left guard.
So yeah, they'll dip into this interior line class without
a question. I don't think they will just.

Speaker 2 (46:03):
Move so that. I agree they're going to do interior
let half.

Speaker 1 (46:05):
They were a team that going through this again, I
was like, you know what, this is actually a pretty
good roster. Of course it is, like, but it's not
just Patrick Mahomes. I don't think they have a ton
of screaming needs. Like I think they might want to
look ahead at running back. Pacheco's getting to the end
of his contract and wasn't great last year. I think
they could use someone next to Chris Jones, you know,
on the other side of Carl loftis so but these

(46:27):
aren't screaming. They're just like kind of whispering, like they
lost the safety and justin Reeds. It's a pretty good team.
It's a lot of players who have played and won
a lot of big time games. They actually have pretty
good continuity. I think they're in fine shape. I'm not
going to be panicking about the Chiefs.

Speaker 2 (46:42):
I'm just worried about their offensive line. But you know me.

Speaker 1 (46:45):
Left tack last week, I was panicking about them, But
now I'm no longer panicking. All right. The Raiders were
one of the teams in this exercise put two minutes
on the clock. Oh, we got in right under the gun.
They were one of the teams in this exercise that
I feel worse about because you could make the argument
that Gino plus Carol plus vibes equals a much improved team.

(47:09):
And I would buy that argument in terms of they
just they win seven or eight games just off the vibes.
But they've actually gotten worse on defense this year. At linebacker,
it's a land In Roberts and not much else. They
lost some good players in the secondary. But I actually
go to number my My screaming need is wide receiver.
Your number one is Jacoby Myers on the last year

(47:30):
of his contract, and your number two is Trey Tucker,
and I know, I know brock Bauers is your number one.
I don't care you still have no long term wide
receivers on the roster. Myers was being mentioned in potential
trade talks like that could that wouldn't even shock me
if that happened during the draft. So wide receiver is
my screaming need.

Speaker 2 (47:50):
Yeah, I agree that going back to free agency fits
that I ran last week. I got lit up online
for this a little bit, and I understand why. But
what's the one thing you want to give Gino in
a new place. You want to give him a veteran
receiver he can trust to get open and run the
routes and establish a quick rapport with and Keenan Allen's
out there and May last year, in the second half
of the season had some of the smallest pass catchers
outside of brock Bauers that I've seen in a long time.

(48:11):
Jacoby Myers and Keenan Allen would now be giving you
two guys six two or taller. So let's go with that.
I know Vegas isn't the place he wants to end
his career, spend the twilight of his career, but at
least he can go there knowing I'm going to go
play for Pete Carroll and I'm going to go catch
passes for Gino Smith, So it could be worse than
what I'm faced with right now. I like that idea.
It doesn't have to be Keenan Allen, but it's got

(48:32):
to be talent receiver. And oh, by the way, have
you looked at their running back room, because I'm sorry,
but I'm pretty sure Raheem Moster turned into a bit
of a goal line merchant last year and that is
not a bell cow back in that backfield.

Speaker 1 (48:41):
I hate that they need a running back going into
the draft. It's a great draft for it, but they
have to get a starter that's going to take up
one of their picks. I wonder when you get grief
online from people, do you ever just think to yourself, like,
how big are these people?

Speaker 2 (49:00):
More they actually what I love about this show is
win and I'm not a comment reader, but every once
in a while I've caught one and then somebody immediately
jumps to my defense is like, do you know how
big this guy is? I'm like, all right, cool, I
didn't have to say it.

Speaker 1 (49:17):
Let's wrap it up with our final team my hometown.
This is my hometown now, I feel like it should
be your hometown once you've lived there for like thirteen
straight years.

Speaker 2 (49:28):
It's my second home two years.

Speaker 1 (49:30):
That could be another way to do it, Los Angeles Chargers,
let's go.

Speaker 2 (49:34):
All right, Well, I hate to say it and sound
it again, but defensive line depth is a need. Morgan
Fox is no longer there, Poona Ford is no longer there.
We got some needs on that defensive front, folks. And
if you're going to continue to be the gritty, tough,
physical Chargers of the Jim Harbaugh era, you're going to
need a little bit more upfront. Like Scott Mattlock, who

(49:56):
is one of my favorite guys who like moonlights as
a fullback is also this is a defensive end of
their start lineup right now. I need more bodies up there.
I'm fine with the rest of their defense, there are
some needs back there. You know, the way that their
secondary is shaken out over the last few years is
not super inspiring. Obviously, we know they like Dyon Henley
at linebacker. It starts at the front, though for me, defensively,
they got to get better there and then kind of

(50:17):
let the offense figure itself out.

Speaker 1 (50:18):
Yeah, I agree. They've made so many players look better
than they had been previously last year, but you can't
count on that. They've had a quieter offseason than I expected.
Ton of salary cap space, like way too much. But
they are kind of resembling what the Ravens do. Joejortiz
comes from the Ravens, their general manager. They look like

(50:40):
they're playing the compensatory pick game, like they want to
get some compensatory picks. So that you look at who
they've signed, it's it's not a lot of hugely productive players.
Makai Becton last year, Tyler Kanklin, Najia Harris, like these
kind of B level They've been looking for values and
they need some young defensive players that they can build
around that are their guys. They found a couple of

(51:02):
cornerbacks in the mid to eight rounds last year, that's
about it, that are really like Harbaugh guys.

Speaker 2 (51:08):
Yeah, I agree, I agree. I think if you're going
to continue to be this defense inner, Jesse Mintter, you're
just gonna need more NFL talent. I'm not necessarily saying
we're aiming for blue chip guys because there's only so
many of those in a draft. But their identity last
year was playing solid defense of being a tough team,
and you got to be better on paper in order
to continue being that team. So hopefully they end up

(51:29):
doing exactly what you just said and they make their
money in the draft and go from there.

Speaker 1 (51:33):
But right now, incomplete picture, incomplete picture. But they've earned
the benefit of the doubt. So have you Shook. Look
when you got drafted to NFL dot Com way back
in twenty fourteen, one of the best value pickups this
company has ever had.

Speaker 2 (51:50):
Appreciate you, man, Oh god, I don't know if kind
of words ever been said about me. I think you
as always for the opportunity ten eleven years ago and
right now, okay, we.

Speaker 1 (51:59):
Got to get you back out hu here, Well let's talk.
Let's talk off the show about that h bringing Shook
back to la We will be back our next show
with Jordan Rodrigue and Colleen Wolf. Very excited about this one.
And yes, when when Shook and I are going down
memory lane remembering twenty fifteen, it was ten years ago
and football is back