40s and Free Agents: NY Giants Draft Plan, Strategy for the Seven Teams with New Head Coaches

NFL Network's Gregg Rosenthal and Daniel Jeremiah deliver the latest episode of their limited series, "40s and Free Agents." The duo hits the ground running with analysis of how the New York Giants signing QB Russell Wilson impacts the team's draft strategy. Then, Gregg and DJ debate the best course of action for each of the seven teams that enter next season with a new head coach; the Patriots, Jaguars, Raiders, Jets, Saints, Bears and Cowboys. To cap off the show, Gregg puts DJ under pressure with a critical view of Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders' draft value.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome to Forties and Free Agents, America's breakaway limited series
hit talking free agency and the draft. It's Jeremiah's favorite
time of year. I'm Greg Rossthal, That's Daniel Jeremiah, and yeah,
it's draft season and now it's Padre season.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
DJ, get excited.

Speaker 3 (00:24):
I'm excited. I wish you had an open up with
the Braves, to be honest, I don't know that I
love seeing them for four games to kick off the year.
Would have liked a little easier competition. But it's draft season.
It's almost April, and it's you know, look in the
rearview mirror, I mean free agency. Your time of year
is so far behind us, and we're so much in
the mix now of the proper way to build a roster,
which is through the draft.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
Okay, so I took your notes from last week.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
I'm gonna, you know, carry my weight on the show
today because we're going to go through all the teams
that have new head coaches and we're gonna talk about
how they've built the team through free agency, and then
we're going to look ahead to the draft and just
as a team building exercise. I know there are a
lot of teams that are out there, they listen to
this show and they want DJ running their team, and
so maybe this will be like a little bit of

(01:08):
a preview. How would you run these seven teams, DJ,
if you were in charge.

Speaker 3 (01:11):
Yeah, there's absolutely no truth any of that you just said.
But let's get started on the show. What do we got?

Speaker 1 (01:16):
Okay, we got Russell Wilson going to the Giants. I
thought we just have a little bit of news before
we get into the seven teams. And Russell Wilson signing
with the Giants since we last talked. Also Jamis Winston
signing with the Giants since we last talked. And Russell
Wilson talks a good game in his first press conference,
saying he expects to be the starting quarterback. But I
look at the contract, which is only ten point five

(01:37):
million dollars guaranteed. You add him and Jamis Winston up
together and it adds up to about what Daniel Jones,
the former Giant, is making with the Cults. So to me,
I don't think that changes what's going on at number three.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
What do you think in terms of how it affects
a draft.

Speaker 3 (01:54):
I think if they love Schduor they'd still take him there.
But I also look at it, Greg, and I'm always
looking at windows right and looking at you know, timelines
and the pressure and the urgency, and it feels like
the Giants, everyone involved there needs to win right now.
So you could make a case that you say, Okay,
well Russ or Jamis, you know, assume Russell ended up

(02:16):
winning that job. We take Travis Hunter uh with the
third pick, and then we come back and if we
want to, we can get Tyler Shuck. We could we
could take a Jackson Darter or whoever in that in
that second round. But feeling like that third pick, combined
with what we just did with the veteran, maybe that
helps us win more games this next season because I
think even if if Schudur were to go out there

(02:37):
and show some positive signs, but this team went from
three wins to five or six wins, Like, I think
there's major changers, major changes there. So I took this.
You know, if I'm just giving my opinion, I think, yeah, sure,
all options are still open with the draft, but I
personally believe this. I think they're leaning towards not taking
a quarterback.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (02:59):
Three, that's a surprising answer to me. I guess I
would look at it if I was Brian Dable and
Joe Shane, and of course you got to worry about
keeping your jobs and everything. I would think the best
path to keeping your job is to make a rookie
quarterback look great. Because based on what we've seen from
Russell Wilson over the last four seasons in the NFL,

(03:19):
I'm including his last season with the Seattle I'm including
the two seasons in Denver, and I'm including the whole
of his season with Pittsburgh. The odds on him upgrading
your team that much, to me.

Speaker 2 (03:31):
Isn't that high.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
I mean, I think there's an argument to be made
Jamis or him, they'll both probably end up starting. Whereas
if you do take a quarterback and you've got a
great quarterback coach in terms of Brian Dable and sure,
Russell Wilson starts the season, but Shadur Sanders comes in,
and going back to your scenario, let's say they only
win six or seven games, that might actually be better
than expectations. And if Shaudur Sanders looks good in the

(03:52):
second half of that season, I think you want to
keep that thing going and that gives you hope for
the future, because what hope is there for the future
with Russell Will and Jamis Winston. They're telling you what
they think of him with the contract. It's a one
year contract for backup money. So to me, I actually
think it'd be better for their job security to try
get to get shitter standers. But maybe they just don't
love them as a prospect, and that could be part.

Speaker 3 (04:14):
Of the I think they need to win games. This
team was won three games last year. They were thirty
first in offense. Like, I don't know if what they've
done in the offseason has prepared this great setup here
for a rookie quarterback to come in there and have
a ton of success. So that's why I'm kind of
leaning in that direction, not saying they don't end up
with a quarterback, but I could see it being their

(04:35):
second picking, not their first.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
Okay, now you're changing my mind on what's going to happen,
So we'll talk a little later.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
I'm introducing a new segment, might be a one time thing.
If we don't like it.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
I'm putting DJ on the clock with some of the
questions I have for him, and Cinder's got to come
up in that. But let's get to what we're going
to spend most of the show on, and we're going
to talk about the seven teams that have new head coaches,
and just going through the names, you got Brian Schottenheimer
with the Cowboys, you got Mike Rabel with the Patriots,
Liam Cohen with the Jaguars, Aaron Glenn and the Jets,

(05:07):
Kellen Moore and the Saints, and then Ben Johnson with
the Bears. Just kind of big picture before we start
diving in. Was there one of those that was like
a best fit for you that you were most excited about?

Speaker 3 (05:19):
I mean, I think Ben Johnson'd be the obvious answer there.
I mean, this is a team that all their eggs
are in Caleb Williams basket and they need him to
play well. And you go out and get one of
the brightest minds, offensive minds, and has a clear vision
of what he wants to what he wants to do
around Caleb. And the bonus is you just took him
from a divisional rival. So that to me, at least

(05:39):
on the surface, looked like the best match, the best fit.

Speaker 1 (05:42):
He has more hype, I think in terms of sustained
hype as an offensive coordinator. I was thinking about this
since maybe Josh McDaniels when he took the Broncos job,
because McDaniels was coming off the two thousand and seven season.

Speaker 2 (05:55):
There was one more season.

Speaker 1 (05:56):
After that with Castle, but he actually did a great
job with that and like he had been there for
a while, like there is a lot of hype. I agree,
that's the most exciting fit. And you're putting them with
a quarterback in Caleb Williams who had the most hype
and at least three or four years, who I think
showed enough at least as a rookie that you're excited
about that. How about the biggest project. I'm going to
go first on this one. I'm not going to go Patriots.

(06:17):
There are a lot of holes there, but the expectations
are lower.

Speaker 2 (06:20):
I actually think the Pete.

Speaker 1 (06:21):
Carroll and what John Spytech are trying to do with
Las Vegas is maybe a bigger project because unlike the Patriots,
they haven't been just losing for a few years. They've
been losing for a few decades. And we'll go through
them position by position. But they got a lot of
they got a lot of holes to fill, so they
did a great job getting Gino Smith in a couple
other pieces in free agency. But to me, I look

(06:42):
at their roster and we're counting on a lot of
vibes and a lot of good coaching and a lot
of organizational know how to just make a team that,
on paper, to me, is a pretty big project in
what you know is a tough division.

Speaker 3 (06:54):
Yeah, that's an interesting point, I would say, and we'll
get to all these teams and have deeper conversations, but
just brief, I would stay in New Orleans just because
I don't know exactly what they are or what they're
trying to do here. So you've got kind of holding
on to some of the aging veterans. You haven't paid
the piper yet in terms of what you're going to
have to do with the salary cap when all this
eventually is going to have to reset. So normally that

(07:17):
reset comes when you bring in a new head coach.
They didn't do it here with Kellum. They they kind
of just pushed everything out again. So that's a high
wire act I think there of trying to win in
the short term with some of these veterans while also
developing some younger players, knowing that there's going to be
a mass exodus, and you're not going to have a
whole lot of resources to spend once they finally pay

(07:38):
their ticket there.

Speaker 1 (07:39):
Yeah, not knowing what the Saints are doing is I
feel like going around the league just looking at But
we'll get to that. Let's start with the Patriots. So
let's review a little bit what they've done in free agency.
They've added three potential starters on offense. Morgan Moses at
right tackle. You got Stefan Diggs just came on board
this week at receiver. Garrett Bradberry is probably their starting
center or guard we'll see. And then four likely starters

(08:02):
I would say on the defensive side, Carlton Davis at cornerback,
Robert Splane as a linebacker, Milton Williams the big defensive tackle,
pick up my number one free agent, and then Harold
Landry as an edge player. So that's a lot. They
added some depth too. They got a backup quarterback Josh Dobbs.
Mac Collins is bringing his his stanky feet there. Dot
Diggs is a guy who just signed got more money

(08:23):
than I expected. Do you think coming off a tour
in ACL that informs at all what you were thinking
with Travis Hunter as a potential landing spot and playing
receiver there at four.

Speaker 3 (08:35):
Well, it is interesting because i'd heard, you know, just
talking to people in around the league, and they thought,
you know, the Patriots, I think they'd be willing to
move back. This is before the Stefan Diggs move, and
a lot of times you hear this stuff. This time
you're Greg, so I always caution, but look that is
you know that's out there. You know they're a team
that could consider moving back, and that would align with
them trying to find another offensive lineman, knowing there's not

(08:58):
necessarily the value there at pick number four. I still
think if Travis Hunter were to get to that pick,
I think you almost just have to take him, and
then you throw him in there on offense, and now
you're sprinkling him a little bit on defense, major him
on offense, sprinkle him on defense, and now with Stefon Diggs,
you know, once he gets back up to full speed,

(09:18):
you've got a functional offense. This is a team statistically
last year was thirtieth and points per game. They had
the highest QB pressure rate allowed in the league, So
there was a lot of work to do on offense,
and I feel like they did a lot of heavy
lifting on the defensive side of the ball. I definitely
think they lean offense, but I would kind of go
more towards, you know, as trade back for an offensive lineman,

(09:39):
or if Travis Hunter is there, you just take him.

Speaker 2 (09:41):
Right?

Speaker 1 (09:42):
Is Hunter going to the Patriots and play and receiver?
Kind of your thing?

Speaker 2 (09:45):
Now?

Speaker 1 (09:45):
I know how you guys work in the draft game.
You know, you got to have like things you stake
your name to. I feel like you were kind of
first on the Hunter he could actually play receiver, and
he should play for the Patriots at receiver. Like if
that happens on draft, they are you? Are you puffing
your chest out with rich on the set?

Speaker 2 (10:03):
No?

Speaker 3 (10:04):
Absolutely, Look, it's however you want to use him. I mean,
I don't know there's anything I don't think. I'm I
watched this guy played receiver and thought I was the
only person who thought he was pretty good at it.
So you know, it just depends on what team gets
him and where he goes how they use him for them.
I mean, you follow that team as close as any team,
Wouldn't that make a heck of a lot more sense
to major in offense and minor on defense. With for
personnel that they have on both sides.

Speaker 2 (10:25):
It does.

Speaker 1 (10:26):
And I see these comments when these free agent signings happen,
like Russell Wilson, like Stefan Diggs, and they're like, Wow,
does this change how they're going to view draft?

Speaker 4 (10:36):
Me?

Speaker 2 (10:36):
It really shouldn't.

Speaker 1 (10:37):
Like you're not doing your job if that change, because
those are one two year contracts. You're looking for guys
who are going to be a long term part of
your organization. So I don't think almost anything they did
on in free agencies should change what they're looking at,
other than the offensive line need is still drastic. To me,
Garret Bradbury is not a guy that you can just

(10:58):
count on. I see Patriots doing that. There's a reason
why Minnesota didn't want to bring him back. It didn't
really work out for him there. Maybe he upgrades where
they were at, But to me, their offensive positions are
wide open interior offensive line, left tackle, wide receiver, heck,
tight end. You might think you're good there, like Hunter
Henry is getting up there in Austin Hooper like you
can get better in a lot of places. Do you

(11:20):
think their free agency like what they've done changes at
all what you're looking at draft wise.

Speaker 3 (11:25):
No, I just think maybe leaning a little more towards
the offensive side of the ball. And that's why, you know,
I actually take some pride in this podcast and did
a little homework to give you players that they're going
to take in the first three rounds. Are you ready please?
All right, so we're gonna go. Let's go with the
Travis Hunter scenario. Travis Hunter I talked about maybe trading down.
Let's say Travis Hunter's there. You take Travis Hunter at four,

(11:46):
at pick thirty eight, they get Donovan Jackson, who would
be perfect for them because he played last year at
guard at Ohio State, and then when they had an
injury to Simmons, he kicked out and played left tackle.
So I think he'd give you an opportunity to get
your best five on the field with that fleck xability.
They're out of Ohio State at sixty nine. I gave
him another a pass catcher. I gave him Trey Harris,
the receiver at a old mess who's a big, physical,

(12:09):
you know, kind of compliments. What do you have with
the other two guys? You know, when you're looking at
Travis Hunter playing some on offense and digs. This gives
them some size and some physicality to compliment those. And
then I let him go to the defensive side of
the ball at pick seventy seven, their other third round pick,
and I went Kyle Kinard as an edge rusher out
of South Carolina, who's who plays real firm and physical

(12:29):
on the edge. And that's kind of the style of
choice for Mike Vrabel.

Speaker 1 (12:34):
Okay, Donovan Jackson, they'd be happy getting the guard.

Speaker 2 (12:38):
I like that.

Speaker 1 (12:38):
I like you saying I kind of hinting I didn't
do my homework. He also tried to move me along
in the in the first segment, like you're coaching me
from there. You're making it sound like I didn't do
any homework. I was ready here.

Speaker 3 (12:48):
No no, no, no, no, no. I take that back, Greg.
That would imply that you're not a professional. You are
a professional, now, is it is?

Speaker 1 (12:56):
It?

Speaker 3 (12:56):
Is it like quality stuff that you're doing. Man, that's
another story for another day. But you are doing something. Yes,
I can't.

Speaker 1 (13:04):
I have to admit I do not know what third
round guard would necessarily be a great fit for them,
But it's a good point you made with the two
third round picks. They got that second third round pick
and the Matthew jude On deal, And I know Patriots
fans aren't really happy with Elliott Wolf for some of
the draft picks last year. It's a little TVD on
some of those, especially Jalen Polk. They missed out on

(13:26):
your receiver there, McConkey.

Speaker 2 (13:28):
With the Chargers.

Speaker 1 (13:28):
They traded down and ended up taking Jalen Polk. But
that Matthew Juden trade is aging very well. I don't
even know if Matthew Juden is in the league this year.
All right, let's move on to the Jaguars. The Jaguars
have ten picks. I thought they would be more aggressive
in free agency than they have been. They did pick
up a couple interior offensive linemen, so those were important.

(13:49):
But I actually got a chance before all of that
in free agency to talk to James Gladstone. I was
with my co host for NFL Daily, my favorite co host,
Jordan rod Rieg. I ask Gladstone what the Jaguars needed
to do to bring the best out of Trevor Lawrence.

Speaker 4 (14:07):
I don't think we've seen the best of Trevor and
I really look forward to seeing him within the scheme
that Liam brings to life, and I think that the
multiplicity that he offers within the scheme, the variety of
really the run game and the screen game, it's gonna
give this team a notable edge and Trevor's gonna feel
the benefits of that. Now, beyond that, in terms of personnel,

(14:28):
I think interior offensive line is something that helps a
quarterback out significantly. Being able to step into your throws
is gonna just bring success and really bring confidence. And
so I think beyond that, obviously you're always gonna want
to give him some weapons and continue to keep that deep.
But yeah, we look forward here down the stretch to

(14:51):
address some of these things.

Speaker 1 (14:54):
See, I don't even need to ask you DJ how
to bring out the best of Trevor Lawrence. I just
go right to the source, the man with the that
was nice. What would you do here to help help
out Trevor.

Speaker 3 (15:05):
Yeah, so I'm looking at a couple of different things here.
One that I wanted to at least bring up for
a discussion because I had him taking Jalen Walker in
the mock draft out of out of Georgia, who's a
dynamic player who would give them really kind of three
edge rushers that you could move around, so you'd have
Trayvon Walker, you could kick him inside some and then
now you've got josh heinz Allen. Now you've got Jalen Walker,

(15:27):
and now you have three guys out there who are really,
really explosive and athletic and can get home. So that
was what I had him doing in the mock draft.
But I'll pose this to you because when you look
at their situation, I don't think the presence of ETN
should dissuade you at all if you feel like, if
you feel like Ashton Genty is by far the best

(15:48):
available player where you're picking there, you need a difference
maker when you're picking in the top five, and I
think in this type of a draft, I was talking
to a former GM like two days ago about this,
about different scenarios like this, and he said, this is
the year where you just can't have to throw positional
value out. Some of the best players are at positions
that we you know, tight ends, running backs, and don't

(16:10):
pass up a great player to take a good player
is kind of the conversation there. So I'll kick that
one over to you. What would you think about that
if they were to go running back.

Speaker 1 (16:19):
I like it, and I'd like it thinking about the
tight end too, because I think they're at such an
interesting spot at five where if the draft goes with
the two quarterbacks and Hunter and Carter off the board there,
even if Shoulder is there for them at five, they're
not obviously going to take them. It does feel like
a falloff in terms of elite talent. And no, Etn
shouldn't stop you, although you feel good at that position

(16:40):
with Bigsby. It's what I was saying before that Stefan
dig shouldn't stop the Patriots from taking a receiver. I
don't think Etn or Biggsby should stop you from taking
genty or potentially if you were that high on either
of the top tight ends, Like that's not a crazy
thought either. They like Breton Strange a little bit. They
do have a couple extra picks the Jaguars. They have
an extra heard from the Dallas Turner trade for you, Yeah,

(17:05):
that that's pretty good from the from a Dallas Trader trade.

Speaker 2 (17:08):
Actually, before we get off, Yeah, Trevor Lawrence.

Speaker 1 (17:12):
When when a guy is that great a prospect and
you weren't alone in just loving everything about Trevor like,
do you do you feel like he hasn't lived up
to it?

Speaker 2 (17:24):
Has he let you down a little bit?

Speaker 1 (17:26):
Let let the draft cognizante down to just being like, okay,
been pretty solid, or he's still a believer that that
he's that great of a prospect.

Speaker 3 (17:35):
Well, I'll say I've been in the building for him
winning a national championship against a team that was stacked
and loaded and everyone thought unbeatable. I've been in the
building when he was facing what was it, twenty seven
to seven uh deficit in the playoffs against the Chargers
and brought him back. So I've never wavered in my

(17:55):
boat belief and his talent and his ability. And he's
shown it in these uh you know, for the vast
majority of his college career and in spurts uh in
his NFL career. But no, he has not. He has
not continued to, you know, elevate and climb and get
better and reach that upper uh tier quarterback status. And
when he was coming out, I thought he would end

(18:15):
up being a top five quarterback in the NFL and
he has not approached that. So sure, I think there's disappointment.
And I can say that knowing that I still think
he can he can get there, and he needs to
be he needs to be healthy, he needs to you know,
have the right pairing with the you know, with the
coaching staff and the personnel. And that's why when I
look at them and this draft, Greg, if you're if

(18:39):
you're if you're a new general manager, new head coach,
and a new head coach also happens to be a
you know, offensive guy. At the end of the year,
Let's say that you're one game over under five hundred
and you don't make the playoffs, but Trevor Lawrence takes
a massive leap. Don't you think they will both feel
great about where they are at that point in time.

Speaker 2 (18:59):
It's it's almost all that matters. And I think it
was telling.

Speaker 1 (19:01):
They brought in Robert Hainsey, who Liam Cohen was familiar
with from Tampa can play center, kind of solidify that.
They brought in Patrick McCary who played for the Ravens.
So they're trying to help, you know, the interior pocket
that's going to help out a quarterback. Who are you
giving to them in terms of your pick, because I'm
with you on the gent at five is smart because
to me, this is a team full of singles. I

(19:21):
actually don't think they have a lot of screaming needs.
It's a decent roster where they're pretty solid at every position,
but they're just not They're not special at most outside
of a Josh Allen and Brian Thomas.

Speaker 2 (19:33):
So like, where are you looking the the rest of
these picks?

Speaker 3 (19:36):
Well, I'm not sold on Walker Little at left tackle,
so that's one place where I'm looking, and I know
there's differing opinions there. So I had them going, let's
go with the fun one, Let's go with gent at five,
and then let's come back. I went offense here for
the first three picks. I came back with Josh Connery
tackle from Oregon, who if you needed him to, could

(19:56):
kick in and play guard. But that's about the range
of where he he's you know, gonna go late first,
early second. I had Jack Besh, big physical receiver, you know,
and I think someone that can win on third down,
win in the red zone out of TCU. You know,
he's got a great story. If you haven't heard it,
you need to, you know, google that one. Read up
on his background. It's pretty it's pretty incredible. And then

(20:17):
I had them going on the defensive side of the
ball with the safety and Jalen Read at a Penn
State at pick eighty eight. But those four picks, I
tend to lean offense three of the four, just because
of what we discussed. I think this has to be
an off season and a draft dedicated to getting Trevor
Lawrence where he needs to be.

Speaker 1 (20:35):
And I think they filled some holes in free agency.
They weren't quite as aggressive as I thought, but ultimately
I look at it and like they brought into safety
Eric Murray, they think can start Jordan Lewis at nickel back.
If you look at their defense, they have a starting eleven.
So I'm with you, load up on the offense, help
out Trevor Lawrence.

Speaker 2 (20:53):
And they got a ton of picks.

Speaker 1 (20:54):
And you said, like some people you know disagree about
the Walker Little evaluation. You know who disagrees with you, BALKI,
this is this is and I'm not saying I'm not
saying the Jaguars are a bad organization, but they've had
a lot of losing lately, and this is what happens
when you keep changing out your GM. They gave Walker
Little that contract at the very end of last season,

(21:16):
like that, they just gave it to him and then
they fired the GM late in the process, so then
the new people come in and then they have that contract.
And he's not a bad player, but this is kind
of what happens when you're having too much turnover.

Speaker 2 (21:29):
And you do got to give trend.

Speaker 1 (21:31):
Balki a little bit of a shout out for that
third and extra fourth round pick that that trade he
made for Dallas Turner looks good and it's not helping
him out. Let's go to the Raiders Pete Carroll and
John spy Tech, who is coming from Tampa Bay their
new general manager.

Speaker 2 (21:47):
We're hitting all the hits here.

Speaker 1 (21:49):
Let's actually listen to John spy Tech from the scouting comment.

Speaker 5 (21:53):
When you started going through the roster when we first
got to to Vegas, like, oh, we've got some we
got some good young pieces here that we can really
build up and in a place where it's really critical
and my belief and my success is really in this
in this league to have that, and you know, we're
going to keep churning through that until we have the
right group together, because it's about having talented guys, but
it's about the cohesion in the groups. The best ones
I've been a part of that group in Tampa last year.

(22:16):
They just they kind of walk lockstep together. They're kind
of about the same things. They hang out together. I
mean that that is kind of one of those position
groups where it really matters, and so, you know, but
we got a great foundation there, and we got a
great foundation on the d line too with with Max
and Christian and you know, Malcolm Konz has done some
good things and so you know, it's a great place
to start.

Speaker 3 (22:33):
But we do have a big challenge in front of us.
So it's one that we're excited about.

Speaker 2 (22:39):
It is a big challenge.

Speaker 1 (22:41):
The more I looked at this roster, there's this whole
idea DJ that they're going to try to rebuild fast
because it's Pete Carroll and Gino certainly isn't, you know,
the youngest of quarterbacks.

Speaker 2 (22:51):
That sounds good.

Speaker 1 (22:52):
But their number one receivers Jacobe Myers, he's on the
last year of his contract. Their number two is Tray Tucker.
Their offensive line is in place, and yet I think
they could use some upgrades there. Raheem Moster is potentially
they're starting running back, and then they lost good players
in free agency. They lost Trevon morg They lost Nate
Hobbs as a nickelback. Like they need almost everything, especially linebackers,

(23:13):
and in the secondarily, who is their best cornerbacks is
Jack Jones? Maybe I don't know if those are Pete
Carroll guys goes. So I don't think this is a
team is a mess. They're just taking over. But I
don't even know where to start with them. I don't
know if that's a good thing or a bad thing
if you're running the team.

Speaker 3 (23:26):
Yeah, I think what spy Tech talked about. By the way,
I've known him for a long time. He's very well regarded,
very well respected. I'm excited for him getting that opportunity.
I think he'll do He'll do a really good job there.
To me, the defensive line is their strength right now.
And if Koons is healthy and they can you know,
they didn't have Christian Wilkins healthy last year. They didn't

(23:47):
have Max you know. So you get all those guys
healthy on the field together playing together, I think that
is that's going to be the strength of their football team.
So you start there and you kind of build from there.
I had this thought with them, I had them taking
Ashton genty in the mock draft at number six, which
would just you know, look, I think he's a great player,

(24:09):
so he's he's he's rated up there for me to
make that a worthy pick. But I also had this
conversation with Jack Andraid researcher extraordinaiy, and he's always coming
up with good ideas and looking at my old reports
and and different drafts, and we're in this constant dialogue,
and he gave me a great nugget. He knows how
much I like Jedi Baron from from Texas, and Baron,

(24:33):
who's you know, play inside, can play outside, takes the
ball away, real feisty, real tough, real aggressive. And he
was like, well, you know Pete coming out of Seattle
and Devin Witherspoon. Remember everybody said they'll never take Witherspoon
because he's not the prototypical, you know, tall, long, you
know press corner that he's used to, you know in
those Seattle defenses. Kind of broke the mold there, and

(24:54):
Witherspoon's been a great player. So maybe that's, uh, you know,
maybe that's a name to throw in the mix there
at number six.

Speaker 1 (25:01):
That would be interesting, and it's a great point because
you think of Carol and you think of those big cornerbacks,
but they had success with all sorts of different types
of cornerbacks in Seattle, and the guys that they have
there now, Jack Jones, Ja, Cory and Bennett. Like Jack
Jones is not known for his tackleing, does not seem.

Speaker 3 (25:16):
Like no, like he's a gambler. Carol guy the best
and the best, by the way, the best interception when
I've been in the building, the most impressive interception I've
ever seen in my entire life. College NFL bar Nunn
Jack Jones against the Chargers Thursday night massacre. That that
was unbelievable.

Speaker 1 (25:34):
That was amazing. It was a tough night for Brandon
Staley for the Chargers. But uh yeah, I interviewed Jack Jones,
and I spent the whole time just talking about that
interview though. That's what I mean thinking about an interception.
It's like one of my favorite plays of the last
few years.

Speaker 3 (25:48):
I would I want to give you a couple more
picks here I do.

Speaker 1 (25:50):
But and maybe your answer will help to answer this question,
which is sort of like what is Chip Kelly two
point zero one? Weirdly, chip Kelly coming back to the NFL.
I don't think it's gotten a lot of buzz. I
don't know what Chip Kelly, how he's evolved or if
he's evolved in college you can tell me maybe, like
what kind of players do you think he wants?

Speaker 3 (26:07):
Well, he went from you know, spread you know at
Oregon to at UCLA playing with you know, three tight
ends and they were heavy personnel and they ran the
ball really really well. At Ohio State he had the
luxury of just the talent at personnel that he had,
so he mixed it up a little bit, did a
lot of different things there. I think in his heart

(26:27):
he would rather run the ball a little bit more.
And and I think that's why with the Raiders, I
don't rule out you know, Ashton Genty there with that
with that first pick, you know, trying to build up
you know, offensive line tight ends. It's why, like gosh,
I mean you look at where they are and Bowers
is going to be the person that the offense runs through,

(26:50):
So who would compliment him? You know? And gosh, Ashton
Genty and Bowers like that's a lot of easy completions
you've just baked into your offense when you do throw the.

Speaker 1 (26:59):
Ball so who maybe then in the second round or
third do they take as maybe another receiver, although I
just feel like they have so many weapons you can't
I mean so many needs they you can't even out
taking other positions.

Speaker 3 (27:12):
Yeah, best player of ail. I kind of went with
two different scenarios, so I had the Ashin Dent the
Jedai Baron in one and the second round I had two,
which was if you don't take a corner Trey Amos
maybe is there from old miss I think he's climbing
up through the process as we go through it. Here
ran really well, he's got good tape, so there's a
corner option there. Or Abuka ended up running the high

(27:33):
mid to high four forwards the other day at Ohio State.
I thought he might even run a little bit faster
based off what i'd heard, but I think he's late first,
early second. So you know they're about in that range
at pick thirty seven, but they could they could have
some interesting receivers there, and then at pick sixty eight.
The fun one was here in the third round was
what was Chip Kelly reuniting with Will Howard to give

(27:56):
them kind of their long term guy at least to
have you know, he's familiar with him, he loves him.
That wouldn't shock me at all.

Speaker 2 (28:04):
That would be a luxury pick.

Speaker 1 (28:05):
And just as the president of Geno Nation, I don't
need that drama Immediately people are going to start start talking.

Speaker 3 (28:12):
About the third round's not I mean, come on.

Speaker 1 (28:16):
I mean they drafted Kirk Cousins in the fourth round
when they took RG three in the first and that
was immediately drama and conversations.

Speaker 3 (28:24):
Save their bacon, didn't it.

Speaker 2 (28:27):
It was absolutely a good move.

Speaker 1 (28:28):
I'm not saying drafton I always say, just just draft quarterbacks.
By the way, where's that Gino Smith contract? That's been
on my radar? They were like, oh yeah, big contracts
coming for Gino right when they signed him. That's one
of the reasons why he's leaving. It just it's been
on my radar. That's not out there yet. That's enough
about the Raiders. Let's take a quick break. We'll come
back with the other teams with first time head coaches

(28:48):
also going to put DJ on the clock talking a
little quarterbacks to finish out forties in free back on
forties and free agents, continue to look at the first

(29:09):
year head coaches and Aaron Glenn and the Jets. I
feel like they've had an incomplete this offseason. They got
a couple extra fifth round picks, by the way, to
play with in the draft, but I thought they'd be
a little more active in free agency and they signed
these kind of mid tier guys like short term solutions.
Justin Fields is typical at quarterback. Good contract for him,
but he's like a bridge quarterback. Brandon Stevens was a

(29:30):
surprising cornerback contract to me, got a little bit of
money from them. Andre Cisco at safety got a one
year deal. Derek Noddy kind of these guys who wasn't
the top of the market. They're not really showing their hand.
Josh Myers at safety was another. What do you make
of them? Like a new GM and Darren Muji a
new coach and Aaron Glenn kind of just dipping their

(29:51):
toe in when they do have a lot of needs
on the roster.

Speaker 3 (29:55):
Yeah, I still think there's you know, it's an interesting
roster because they do have some star power, like they
have some top tier guys, like top you know five
ish type players at their positions, but there's you know,
some other some other work to be done there. I
I was. I was intrigued by the offensive line because
I just feel like the offensive line has been the
topic there. You know, obviously the quarterback as well, but

(30:15):
the offensive line just trying to find the right five guys,
trying to get guys that can stay healthy and uh
and play together and play well. So I still look
at that as kind of being incomplete. I think they've
got a good nucleus there. Olofashanu will now get the
get the reins to to be the full time guy there.
Tip minute centers an interesting player Elijah Varia Tucker I

(30:36):
think is is uh. It'll be interesting to see if
he gets paid. He's come, you know, he's due for
a new deal. When he's been on the field, he's
played really, really well. So I still think another tackle
is a place that you could look there for the
Jets pretty early in this draft.

Speaker 1 (30:51):
Yeah, you have him projected to take armand Membu with
the seventh pick, which makes a lot of sense. He
played right tackle. It actually think that the interior offensive
line played well. Fashion New got it done. You know,
when he played it was really promising. So it took
Joe Douglass, their former GM, a while to get that
offensive line in a good place. I actually do think
it's in a good place now. If you if you
add one right tackle, they're looking good. That's really it.

(31:15):
And I actually don't know what this team's biggest need is.
And maybe your projected pixel helped tell me I might
go edge quietly, like is Will McDonald like a one edge?
I don't think they're happy with what they got out
of Michael Clemons when he played last year. Jeremaine Johnson
is a good player.

Speaker 3 (31:32):
But coming off injury, he's a really good player. He's
coming off injury, right.

Speaker 1 (31:36):
I just think you might you might want to start
building with your guys, knowing what you know about Aaron
Glenn kind of what what do you think he views
as the biggest needs there?

Speaker 3 (31:44):
Well, you know, the secondary. You know, lost some pieces
in the in the off season, and he's a secondary guy.
So I always think that's a you know, that's a
place that they could end up looking early on. They
got to get Sauce Gardner back playing the way he
did two years ago. The way his play kind of
fell off last year was alarming, so they got to
get that figured out. But I still, you know, defensive tackle,

(32:08):
another edge rusher corner. Those are kind of the places
I think you you could look for them.

Speaker 1 (32:14):
Also, you know they signed your guys Stone Smart. I
just wanted to give Stone Smart so I.

Speaker 3 (32:18):
Like Stone Smart man love on an NFL network. I
hated to see Stone Smart go. You'll see him. He'll
make like he'll make a couple of big plays in
in a few random games throughout the year. He's got talent.

Speaker 2 (32:28):
Man, who do you who do you have projected for
for them to take?

Speaker 3 (32:33):
Yeah, so Memboo was the option there. I also had
Tyler Warren as the other one who I've been kicking
around there because I do think Tyler Warren, the titand
out of Penn State, is the one who helps both
the run game and the past game. Like he's going
to you know, he's going to be an easy target.
He's going to give you easy completions in the passing game,
which with Justin Fields, I think that'll work out great.

(32:53):
And then also you know he's gonna be able to
move people in the run game and open things up.
They have three very outed backs on that roster, and
it's perplexing to me when you just discussed how this
offensive line is is kind of come along and they've
got some key pieces in place there. They were thirty
first in the league in rushing yards like that shocks
me that they did not run it better than they

(33:15):
did last year. So that can be a combination of
maybe it's some new scheme coming in, maybe it's you know,
getting that right tackle solidified, or even like a guy
like Tyler Warren I think could help that. But their
backs are way too talented for them to be that
bad of a run team.

Speaker 1 (33:30):
Okay, let's let's move on to the Saint So I
feel like I've had some some bumps along the road
here with Kellen Moore starting out kind of like DJ
did with with his voice cracked to just start that
that jet segment, you know.

Speaker 3 (33:42):
Did it really was like a little I don't know
what's going on.

Speaker 2 (33:46):
I'll take it.

Speaker 3 (33:47):
Can I get an endorsement deal here?

Speaker 1 (33:49):
No, we all develop at our own pace, just playing today,
playing hurt over here. Yes, cough drops or everyone that
checks us out on YouTube, he's got the cough drops.

Speaker 3 (34:00):
This was the pick.

Speaker 2 (34:01):
Yeah, I really don't feel like.

Speaker 3 (34:03):
You feel bad? Yeah, go ahead, I do.

Speaker 1 (34:06):
This Saints offseason. I just I just don't know what
you said off the top of like what exactly are
they doing? I think there are people around the league
that share share your opinion.

Speaker 2 (34:17):
They bring in Brandon Cook Brandon.

Speaker 1 (34:19):
Cooks this week that that's kind of a typical type
of huh move from them, Like who are they bidding against?

Speaker 2 (34:24):
Exactly? Justin Reid.

Speaker 1 (34:26):
I thought that was a nice signing at safety. But
they gave a lot of money to Chase Young to
to bring him back after they swung and missed on
a couple other free agents, and it was almost like
they just felt like they had to spend some money
and so they got a bunch of extra picks. Good
job by Mickey Loomis here with Marshall Lattimore when they
traded him. They have an extra third and a fourth

(34:47):
and a sixth I believe from from their trade for him.
And if I know Mickey Loomis, like I know he
doesn't like having those extra picks. So it really makes
me think they're going to try to trade up. I
don't know if they'll be successful, but you buy that.
I think there are going to try to trade up
and get a quarterback. Maybe they're the landing spot for Shoudur.
If you're if you're not buying the Giants and should

(35:07):
then this would be the team that I think he
goes to.

Speaker 3 (35:10):
Yeah. The only thing about that is I think you
know Shauduur and you know with Dion, I think there
is some thought there that maybe the more established coach
you know, would be a better fit there. In other words,
and this is take again, this is just a conversation
that takes place, Like I had somebody brought this up
to me. And I don't know that this that I
agree with this completely, but it is an interesting thought.

(35:32):
It's like you think about this. You have a rookie
quarterback whose dad is going to have a microphone in
front of his face three times a week at press conferences.
You know they're going to ask him, you know what
happened in this game and how you know what's going
on there? And I think if you're a more veteran coach,
I think if if a if something was said you
would it would roll off your back. You wouldn't care
and be I think Dion would be less likely to

(35:53):
you know, be critical. So and again that's that's just
conversation that's taking place around the league. And maybe maybe
Dion will take the approach of like, hey, I'm worried
about Colorado. I'm not going to talk about anything that's
going on with my son's team. But that is at
least some of the conversation here when you're talking to people, Well.

Speaker 1 (36:10):
If you're if you're afraid of get in the heat
from Dion, then come on.

Speaker 2 (36:13):
But then again, it's Kellen you.

Speaker 3 (36:15):
Never, you never, yeah, you never. You've never been a
first time head coach with all that pressure and attention
on you, and then all of a sudden, like that's
just another it's another layer, Greg, like, it is, it's
it is what it is, it's it. There's never been
a situation like that where a quarterback's you know, coming
from the great the greatest players of all time in
the history of the league, who still has a huge platform,

(36:35):
you know, multiple times a week. So it is, it is.
It's interesting. I think it's it's just part of the
part of the calculus.

Speaker 2 (36:42):
And they must have a relationship.

Speaker 1 (36:43):
I mean, I don't really know Kellen Moore who is
with the Cowboys and Dion and his Cowboys ties.

Speaker 2 (36:47):
Who knows if they have a relationship.

Speaker 1 (36:49):
Although I don't know what what is Kellen Moore about
it's not a criticism, but I do think you look
at what they did bringing back all the players with
the renegotiation, that's just more of the same we've seen that.
It doesn't feel like it's a huge transition from Mickey
Loomis and Dennis Allen to Mickey Loomis and Kellen Moore.
It just feels like a lot of Mickey Loomis. And

(37:10):
then if you actually kind of go through what Kellen
Moore has done the last handful of years, you know
him and McCarthy that was shared and there was some
back and forth and McCarthy's even talked about that whose
offense was a little bit of both.

Speaker 2 (37:21):
And then he's with.

Speaker 1 (37:22):
Sirianni and did a great job and they melded what
they both do together, but certainly a heavy influence of
Sirianni and what Hurts does well. And he had that
year with the Chargers where he really Kellen Moore wanted
to establish the run. So I kind of am looking
at this draft is like, show me, all right, show
me what a Kellen Moore offense kind of looks like,
because I don't know, I don't know if you know
you know him a little bit from that that time
with the Chargers.

Speaker 3 (37:43):
Yeah, no, I know Kellen. I like Kellen a lot.
I think he is good at trying to adjust to
what he has, but I think at his core he
does want to be a physical line of scrimmage team.
He's one of the best coaches in terms of mixing
up tempo. I don't know that people even pay attention
to it or notice it when you're watching their games,

(38:03):
But when you talk to defensive coaches that play against
his offenses, they say it's hard to get into a
rhythm against him because you play against some teams who
go fast. You play against some teams are methodical. They
are constantly switching up the tempo of you know when
even like when they you know, from the time they
break the huddle to when the snap is from when
they get under center, or you know, how quickly they

(38:25):
operate from that standpoint. Like, it's just he's really really
good at that, you know, that little intricacy of designing offense.
So anyways, I don't know how many people pay attention
to that, but it's it is kind of unique to
what he does. I think they're going to go more
on the defensive side of the ball though. I think
Brandon Staley there. I've been around Coach Staley. He is
an excellent salesman, like he will give you, you know, reasons,

(38:49):
he will tell you, you know, if we can get this
guy and that guy, and we can put him here
and do this and do that. I could see him
winning some battles in the draft room.

Speaker 1 (38:57):
They could use a cornerback. Certainly lost paulseon a debo.
They traded Marshawn Lattimore. You still have a Lante Taylor there,
but I don't know if he's a long term guy
for them.

Speaker 2 (39:06):
You have kool aid m chemistry. So I could see
that they have a lot of.

Speaker 1 (39:08):
Veterans though as well on that defense, not a lot
of open you know, starting jobs. It's a great point
about more because I felt like the tempo by the
way of the Eagles in the Super Bowl was one
of the underrated parts of what was happening early in
that game. Being there live, I really noticed that it
took a big advantage I think.

Speaker 2 (39:27):
With the way they played fast. All Right, you got
me a little excited.

Speaker 1 (39:29):
Who says no, though, before we move on from the Saints,
we're gonna pick Okay, okay to first and Derek Carr
for the number one overall pick, number nine in a
second this year and next year's first, or maybe would
it take three first.

Speaker 2 (39:44):
I'm easy. I want that pick.

Speaker 3 (39:45):
Now, Lee, I don't. I don't think it matters. I
don't think Tennessee. I know they've said they're open for business.
I'll be shocked if they do anything not now saying
that by the time this probably hits the airwaves, like,
oh my gosh, the Titans have traded the first overall pick.
Don't see that not gonna happen.

Speaker 1 (40:01):
Callahan and Derek Carr have a little bit of a
background together, so I thought that maybe made sense if
the Saints and three first, it's kind of like an
NBA trade. You're betting on them maybe being bad this
year and then you'll have a high pick last year
that worked out for the Bears.

Speaker 2 (40:14):
All right, give me your picks, y.

Speaker 3 (40:16):
Yeah. So I thought I talked about defense winning the day.
I had him taking Johad Campbell, who is an interesting one,
who is an off the ball linebacker who can also
rush off the edge. We talked about him on a
previous episode, so that's where I had him going I
also think, you know, I know a coach Staley is
a close relationship with Kirby Smart, so I'm always keeping
an eye on Georgia players. So Mikel Williams I put

(40:37):
him in there. I stayed with the connection with the
second pick because I had him go on offense at
forty had Luther Burden sliding a little bit out of Missouri,
who I think is a late one early two wide
receivers really good after the catch, real quick quiz, Greg
the head coach of the New Orleans Saints is who.

Speaker 2 (40:56):
Helen Moore?

Speaker 3 (40:58):
And the offensive coordinator at the Universe see in Missouri
is who Kirby Moore.

Speaker 2 (41:04):
I was going to guess someone related to Kellen Moore.

Speaker 3 (41:06):
Yeah, so there's a connection there. So that's why I
just had some fun with that one. And then seventy
one save on Jones, defensive lineman from LSU. So try
and get a couple more line of scrimmage type players there.
And then you mentioned they've got some extra picks on
day three, I could see them just throwing a bunch
of resources like they did. Was when Staley was with
the Chargers. They took them later around corners and took
some flyers.

Speaker 1 (41:26):
Yeah, their drafts have been a lot more missed than
than hit lately, so they could they could stand to
just use those picks and try to get younger because
because they really need it.

Speaker 2 (41:35):
All right, let's move on to the Bears.

Speaker 1 (41:37):
The Bears and the coach we both agreed is the
most you know, natural fit to me, the most exciting
Ben Johnson going to the Bears. There was some question
like do they just totally change the situation there? But no,
they kept Ryan Poles as a general manager, so they
have good continuity. He's done a good job breaking you know,
building up that war chesta of picks, partly from that

(42:00):
Bryce Young trade, and so they have an extra pick
again this year. They have two early second round picks.
I talked to Ryan Poles at the combine and just
kind of talked about how the process changes now that
they're adding a new head coach and a lot of
new coaches to the mix.

Speaker 6 (42:15):
Anytime you can add a different perspective and make those
tweaks and changes to make your process even better. It's
critical to growth and make sure that you you know,
you're keeping up with the times and you're also staying
open mind on how you do things. One thing that
we do what I'm proud of, is any new staff
member that comes in, we do a cohabitation report, so
that player goes through all of let's you say, all

(42:37):
the players in free agency that they've touched and that
could be over the last three, four or five years,
and they do a one or two liner to just
give us some more information about the players that we
could potentially bring in the building.

Speaker 1 (42:50):
It's a big guy there by the way, Yeah, I
mean I sitting next to him, I just felt like
a child.

Speaker 3 (42:59):
You know why. You can understand why they've invested in
the offensive line though that's kind of a yes.

Speaker 1 (43:04):
Yes, And you have them taking Will Campbell and they
could keep going offensive line because even though they improve
the interior, you can't think of Jonah Jackson as a
long term solution. Even dough Toney, you're gonna count on
a few years from him, but he's up there. And
then you sign Drew Dollman in free agency. Who do
you think are the best types of players to add
around Caleb Williams.

Speaker 3 (43:26):
So I wanted to go just again. I feel like
this has been a little bit of a theme here
as we're talking about some of these teams. A lot
of the reasons these teams have new coaches is because
either they don't have a quarterback they're going to be
bringing one in, or their quarterback is not playing up
to the level that they'd like him to play at.
So with that being said, I thought, let's just do
the offensive draft here. Let's let's do something that if

(43:48):
you're a Bears fan and you have a creative offensive coordinator,
what will be the most fun way to run this thing?
So just just allow yourself to dream for a second. Here, Greg,
pretend you're Adam rank In, a huge Bears fan. We
go Will Campbell to upgrade our left tackle situation at ten.
We come back and we take Quichhaun Judkins at thirty nine,

(44:11):
who is a better running back than, in my opinion,
than Swift and anybody else you have on your roster. There,
you come right back. Remember they pick forty one, they
pick thirty nine and forty one. You come back at
forty one and you take Mason Taylor and we can
live in twelve personnel with him and Cole Comet, Like,
let's how are we making life easier on our quarterback? Well,
we're doing it that way with those first three picks,

(44:31):
will Campbell, Quinshow, Judkins, Mason Taylor. Then at seventy two,
I gave the defense a little love there and took
David Walker, Central Arkansas edge rusher, So another edge rusher
they can pop in there. Now they've got three guys
with Odeangbo joining Montese Sweat. Now you got a little
bit of a change up rusher there in David Walker.
But can you imagine, like give Ben Johnson the creativity

(44:53):
and you have Cole Comet, Mason Taylor, Quinshaw, Judkins in
the backfield, Roma Dunza, I mean you are all often
running there with what you have there offensively, not to mention.

Speaker 2 (45:04):
I love obviously, I love it.

Speaker 1 (45:06):
It's similar to what the Panthers have tried to do
around Bryce Young and what that does taking multiple picks,
it gives you.

Speaker 2 (45:11):
Some margin for error.

Speaker 1 (45:12):
If one doesn't hit as a rookie, maybe the other
two are going to. And they are in a situation,
and I thought they were with the last coaching staff.
If Caleb Williams had played better, like all they needed
to do to me was have him have a good season,
and they might not have changed coaching staff if they
win eight or nine games, like you mentioned with the Jaguars,
but the offense is humming. It has been so long,

(45:34):
like you mentioned with Rank, since that offense was humming.

Speaker 2 (45:37):
I have a soft spot for the J. Cutler era.
I think he was a little better than people gave
credit for. Was good.

Speaker 1 (45:43):
It was the best quarterback in his draft class, by
the way, a highly touted Matt Lioner Vince Young draft class.

Speaker 2 (45:48):
Cutler had the best career.

Speaker 1 (45:50):
But let's give Caleb Williams some weapons and have some
fun and as much as Roma Dunza and DJ Moore
are a fun one too, Like the depth isn't really
there in terms of the ways.

Speaker 2 (46:00):
You're right. They can upgrade the running back.

Speaker 1 (46:02):
They need a third receiver, Comet could have a tag
team partner, and let's fly like that.

Speaker 3 (46:07):
I give you the last line, the last line of
my J. Cutler report, and I remember going to Vanderbilt
scouting him and then writing him up. The last line
of my report I'll always remember it was, if J.
Cutler doesn't lose you the game in the first three quarters,
he'll win it for you in the fourth.

Speaker 1 (46:23):
Yes, yes, were you? You were not on air though
you were you were working for a team league.

Speaker 3 (46:28):
Yeah yeah, oh yeah yeah.

Speaker 1 (46:30):
Because I was a cutler guy and he was with
the Ravens that with the Ravens.

Speaker 2 (46:38):
You would make that pick. Again. He had a great career.

Speaker 1 (46:39):
If he had stayed his whole career with Mike Shanahan
like it would have been a much much different career.
That is the Bears and Dennis Allen, by the way,
is there Dennis Allen, the former Saints coach, is now
the Bears defensive coordinator, and so it'll be interesting. They're
pretty set on defense, especially in the secondary where he
specializes the secondary.

Speaker 3 (46:58):
That's one thing. And in this process, like going through
and looking these teams, I think of all these teams,
their secondary might be the best position group of any
of these seven teams that we're talking about.

Speaker 2 (47:07):
It is awesome.

Speaker 1 (47:08):
And if Dennis Allen, look he's a good coordinator, and
if he does anything great in the NFL, it's coach
up the secondary. So that is a great coach in
terms of marrying talent with the coach. And he loves
those pocket pushers. He doesn't like the bend the edge guy.
So that's what I look forward in the pass rusher.
Let's wrap it up with Brian Schottenheimer and the Cowboys
before we put you on the hot seat.

Speaker 3 (47:28):
Here.

Speaker 1 (47:29):
They have ten picks. I actually thought about him as
the best fit. He makes sense to me as the
Dallas Cowboys head coach actually, of what they.

Speaker 2 (47:36):
Are looking for.

Speaker 1 (47:37):
I kind of buy the notion that he might be
a better head coach, especially in the ecosystem that they're in.

Speaker 2 (47:46):
That is not going to change, so why wish that
it's going to change. Then?

Speaker 1 (47:49):
He necessarily was as a dynamic play caller because he
was a solid play caller in the NFL. It's not
like he's been bad. So I think they might be
closer to contending again than people think. They need a
lot of help on offense. To me, that is where
the needs lie. Running back, a wide receiver too. They
could use like a big old like defensive tackle, like
another one of those, But overall it's a pretty nice

(48:11):
defensive roster.

Speaker 2 (48:11):
I think the offense is where they focused. Do you agree?

Speaker 3 (48:15):
Yeah? I think at least with that first pick, you know,
at pick number twelve, I've got threw it on a
couple of names there. I had Matthew Golden in there
at a Texas and people like freaked out of like
how could he have you know, all the way up there,
And I'm like, well, there's reasons. They've probably seen a
whole heck of a lot of them there over the
last year at Texas, not only just because of proximity,

(48:36):
but you know, he had a long season and Texas
went on the run that they went on there. So
I think he helped himself as much as any player
in this draft over the last year. And someone who
gives them some real speed and kind of over the
top ability to compliment what they have there in Ceedee Lamb.
So that was that was a direction I had them going.
I also have thought about if Genti's off the board,

(48:56):
if Amari and Hampton doesn't enter into the conversation. For them,
it was a big time explosive running back out of
North Carolina. So those are the two areas I was thinking,
two interesting players at twelve, and then I let him
go to the defensive side of the ball with forty
four and JTT so JT. Toy Malow from Ohio State,
who's kind of a power edge rusher really kind of

(49:18):
has some similarities to Tank Lawrence who just left. I
don't know if you heard anything about that, but yeah,
so he would plug in right there at pick forty four,
and then at seventy six, I doubled down. I came
back to wide receiver and Tory Horton out of Colorado State.
Who's I think if he had stayed healthy, had been
healthy through the whole year, they'd have no chance of
him being there at seventy six. But a nice value play.

(49:40):
They got to get more weapons, more dynamic, like, they
got to get some dudes. Man.

Speaker 1 (49:45):
They spent the late pick in a trade on Jonathan Mingo.
We'll see if that helps them. At this point, you're
not counting on him. Jalen Tolberts in the last year
of his contract. He's their second best receiver. He would
probably fit better as a third or fourth best receiver
and not necessari early guy that's getting a psych contract.

Speaker 2 (50:01):
So I'm with you. They they probably need to go
back to back.

Speaker 1 (50:04):
I feel like me me talking up Shottenheimer a little
bit was the only positive press that the Cowboys have
gotten all this offseason.

Speaker 3 (50:11):
Did you see my Did you see my tweet about that?
Did you see my tweet about that about Travis Hunter
with them, I just said, like, look like full disclosure.
Growing up in the like I love those Cowboys teams
in the nineties, Like that was like growing up watching
those teams, and I remember thinking it was so fun
team to follow because it was Charles Haley and it

(50:31):
was go out and get Dion Sanders. And even even
when that didn't pay off, like Joey Galloway like different,
they were always just kind of going for it and
being aggressive. And that's I kind of I think that's
what's great about sports is when your big brands and
your marquee brands. Like as much as I hate the Dodgers,
and I hate the Dodgers more than anybody, I think
it's that's that they should do that, like they should be,

(50:53):
you know, deferring six hundred million dollars, like they should
be doing everything possible, like it's make it happen. The
Yankees this the same way the Cowboys from brand standpoint,
that's who they are in the NFL, and Greg like that.
There's that old adage of you know, just don't be
bad and boring. You know, you can get away with
being one or the other, but don't be both. And

(51:15):
they have turned into just this boring team. I know
they had the three years in row, they won the
twelve games, they're boring, Like, go, it's time for the
Cowboys to do something. Be bold, go do something. And
that's why I was like, hey, Travis Hunter, just go
do it. If if he's there and the Patriots want
to trade down because they want offensive line help, then
then let's do it. Just gosh, be interesting for crying

(51:37):
out louts, right, and.

Speaker 1 (51:38):
Enough of these like poking around the corners. They signed
Devonte Williams and Miles Sanders. They're just trying for these
reclamation projects. Kayer Elam, Kenneth Murray. It's they're still working
off their old draft profiles. I like thinking of a
young DJ though in the nineties with this Cowboys starter
jacket on listening to I think I think I might.

Speaker 3 (51:58):
Have had one of those. I think I had one
of those. Yes, Brian McKnight might have been somewhere in there,
like to you know, I like to little Brian.

Speaker 1 (52:04):
Your nineties are bas session is the most is the
most surprising and delightful thing about you. More to come
on forties in free agents. Back in a minute. We're
back on forties and free agents. All right, let's wrap
up this show. I'm going to put you on the clock.

(52:26):
So this segment we're finishing out the show now.

Speaker 2 (52:31):
No, I know DJ didn't really agree to this, but
I'm doing it anyways.

Speaker 1 (52:34):
I thought about, like, I have this great access to
the draft guy. I mean, there are other draft guys
out there, but I let's let's be real. Jeremiah has
has evolved into the place he's the draft guy. And
so I admit I don't study all up on these
guys until somewhat late in the process. You've been doing
it for a long time. So I want to be
the voice of the average fan that's now doing my

(52:56):
last minute cramming and watching these guys and stuff, asking
you some of the questions maybe that.

Speaker 2 (53:02):
That they would ask you.

Speaker 1 (53:03):
So let's let's put DJ on the clock for five minutes,
and this this time is just gonna be focused.

Speaker 2 (53:08):
Oh yeah, wow, real sound.

Speaker 3 (53:11):
You're losing time. You better get started here, buddy.

Speaker 1 (53:13):
I know, Okay, how many more games do I have
to watch Ron Shedur Sanders until I get why he
would be a top ten pick. And this is no slight,
Like I have so much respect for these guys and
these players, and they're so tough. And what I mean
by that is when I watch him, he just looks
exactly like the type of prospect, that quarterback that goes

(53:36):
in the second round, Like he is that exact guy.
He reminds me a lot of Andy Dalton, like a
little Andy Dalton with swag.

Speaker 2 (53:43):
Are there more games out there that I'm missing? DJ?

Speaker 3 (53:46):
He's my eighteenth overall player. So okay, you had you
had all this time, uh to come up with these questions,
and you know, it's like you're gonna You're gonna start
me off by asking me why I would have him
in the time when in fact I don't have him
in the top ten. Well you still, that's a great
way to start this new segment that you've came up with.

Speaker 2 (54:06):
Here, then then what is it?

Speaker 1 (54:09):
Because to me, his comp I actually heard this from
another podcast. They're great Ali Connolly, John Ledyard. They thought
brock Purty was the comp and I actually think that
makes sense. But I'm like, Rock Purty doesn't get taken
early and he doesn't get ranked by you guys like
you early.

Speaker 3 (54:23):
Yeah, so here, I always say there's different families of players, right,
So and you look at it's just like if you
had a family of five brothers and one might go
play in the NBA and then maybe one goes to
Division two and then another one goes into high school.
You know, he's different, but they're the same style. So
you have Joe Burrows as the top of the ladder
of this style of quarterback. Brock Purty is a member

(54:44):
in that style of quarterback, you know, beneath Joe Burrow,
and then you kind of go down and like that's
the that's the style. But you know, you could also
go through, you know, in history and you can find
some backups that played this way. Chase Daniel plays, you know,
this way, you know, on that rung of quarterbacks, Like
there's just certain guys who are anticipation timing touch throwers,

(55:05):
and that's that's how he plays the game. So he's
on that scale. I have him as the eighteenth overall player.
I think he's you know, I think he's worth a
first round pick in this year's draft when you look
at how it all stacks up. But he is going
to be dependent Greg He's going to be it's going
to one be dependent on what's around him.

Speaker 1 (55:25):
There are great attributes, great in the quick game. He
throws over the middle, like the touch, the timing.

Speaker 3 (55:30):
He doesn't have a power arm, and he's not an
urgent athlete. So those are those are the nots, and.

Speaker 1 (55:34):
You're betty on intangibles. I'm always a little worried when
you're betty on intangiles. I think if his last name
was Wilson, he'd be going in the second round. But
it's like you're betting on a guy with leadership, and
that is more important at quarterback than everything else. I
just think, is there, like, was there a harder evaluation
than him? Because I'm watching that Colorado team and that
offense was kind of a it was a mess like that,

(55:55):
not just the pass protection, but like the receivers are
running into each other, and a lot of his good plays,
even though you kind of have to give him credit
for overcoming the offensive line, a lot of his good
plays are his wide receivers coming back to the ball
and making great plays on it. I just found him
very difficult in general to evaluate. That's why I'm not
a pro like you.

Speaker 4 (56:15):
No.

Speaker 3 (56:15):
You know what's interesting too, is the uh, you know
that that conference was not great this year, so you,
and I'll give you an example. Arizona State won that
conference this year. Arizona State had one combine player in
Camp Scataboo and they didn't even play Arizona State. So
it's yeah, there's there's challenges there in evaluating that. I

(56:35):
think it's gonna be a it's gonna have to be
a very specific fit. And that's why I've said with Shador,
I think he if he goes two or three, If
it's two or three or fall like that, I don't
think there's a okay, there's a spot after the two
or three, and then I think you're looking at a fall.
So we'll see.

Speaker 1 (56:50):
I've take I've taken so much time just talking he
would fit. He would, but I had a lot to
say he would fit. I think in the Kevin O'Connell
McVeigh tree. If he fell out there of the Rams move,
that would be that would be a fun fit for me.
My question on ward is is why is there not
more hype on him? Because if nothing else, he's box office.
He kind of reminds me of Ja Color. Jake Color
was box office as a college bro. And you say

(57:12):
you grade the flashes right, and I would say, if this,
if you grade the Flashes, he's a number one overall pick.

Speaker 2 (57:19):
Why not?

Speaker 3 (57:20):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (57:20):
I mean you had Zach Wilson in your top five.

Speaker 3 (57:23):
He's going to be the number one overall pick. And
I have him as a top ten player on my
list the things. And again let's stick with that theme. Right,
of the families, he's in the Patrick Mahomes Caleb Williams
family of ultra elastic, like explosive, arms, creative, they bring

(57:46):
energy to everyone around him, like he has those characteristics.
And then you know, as those guys had issues to
varying degrees coming out the reckless side of it that
you've got to kind of clean up some of that
stuff where he's you know, some of the cross body
stuff that's led to some white key turnover. So you
got to clean that up.

Speaker 1 (58:01):
But he seems like a smart player, and maybe it
was like the he's more athletic than you expect no
amount of time. No, but Farv is the cop He
kind of reminded me of me of Brett Farva. Where
would you put it?

Speaker 3 (58:14):
But but that's the family, right, Brett Farv is the
godfather of the Patrick Mahomes. Caleb Williams cam Ord family.
That's that's stile.

Speaker 1 (58:24):
Give me that guy at least because at least as
a fan, I think he's going to add a lot
of value to the NFL infrastructure. And I would put
him ahead of McCarthy, Penix, and Knicks from a year
ago if I'm evaluating them.

Speaker 3 (58:36):
I had, I had, I have already done this before,
but I'd have to pull it back up. But I
think I had the same grade on him as I
had on Knicks. But I have to go back. I
know I had a better than Pennix, and I had
the same grade that I had on disrespectful.

Speaker 2 (58:50):
I ran out of time. We're done for today.

Speaker 1 (58:53):
Maybe we'll talk Jackson Darter, Tyler Schuck some other time. DJ,
thank you for playing hurt.

Speaker 2 (58:58):
You've done it.

Speaker 3 (58:59):
No I shit your kindness. That was fun.

Speaker 1 (59:01):
Fun episode Forties and free Agents will be back next
week in all throughout the draft season,