Our BIGGEST post-free agency questions: Vikings, Giants, 49ers & more!
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This episode of Football 301, super fun show. Charles McDonald joins me for some of the biggest questions that we have for some of the NFL teams. We look at a handful of them. Some we've talked about recently, like the Vikings, but also teams like the Dolphins. What are you? We're going to try and answer that question. A bunch of other good stuff. Also, paying for some prospects at the end of the show. Super fun show. See you guys in a sec.

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Available for a limited time at participating restaurants. Tax not included. Price may vary. Not valid with any other offer, discount, or combo. Hello and welcome to Football 301. I'm your host, Nate Tice. Very fun show for you today as we're in the middle of draft and free agency season. Been talking a lot about players, free agency fits with some of these teams that they signed with, but it's left us with

Some teams with some questions still. Could be good questions. Could be questions that, what are you exactly doing here? What are you, maybe, for a team? So what we're going to do today is go over nine teams that we still have a question remaining after free agency has kind of slowed down a little bit as the eye of Sauron moves to the draft. To help me do that, to help me go over these team questions, my guy, who I feel like I haven't talked to in a couple days, at least in person, plenty of texts.

going on between us as we put together a mock draft that's now up on Yahoo. My guy, Charles McDonald, Mr. Forverts. How you doing today, Chuck? I'm doing good. I'm doing good. I'm going to try to respect the art of the podcast, even though we have March Madness going on today. You know, we're still going to sit here.

bunker down, give you guys a good show. There's a lot to talk about. But no, that's in the back of our minds. And one of us may or may not have scheduled a podcast when their alma mater is playing in the... I went to D3 school. No. Cheers. Cheers.

If they haven't made the D3 tournament, I will be absolutely stunned out of my mind. But yeah, we're here for March Madness. Just know that's how brave we are and that's how much you guys matter to us. For some reason, I assumed Wisconsin was playing at night. I don't know why, but yeah, Wisconsin will be starting off, tipping off in about 20 minutes after we started this recording. But yeah, we'll figure it out. We'll see the second half. Kind of know what I'm getting into with the Wisconsin game, so we'll see if they can keep it together with the three seed. But

we are in the middle of March Madness, even football wise, because, you know, that free agency kind of,

greets us the wheels a little bit, not only for us right here in context and be able to talk about some of these teams, gives us some content and narratives to talk about, but also, you know, for fans going, you know, there's a lot of fun where, oh, we signed this guy. That's awesome. But also going like, all right, who is that guy? Who's I see a lot of Lions fans are really excited when I tweeted about Roy Lopez and they're like, oh, OK, cool. That's great. This guy seems OK. But no, but it leaves us maybe some teams that we haven't talked about.

And sometimes we some teams that we have but I just really think it's cool to kind of go like okay You short up this area of the team. What else is remaining? What narrative what hole on the team? What question still needs to be answered? So that's what we're gonna try to do today and really we're gonna start with a team that Was active in free agency and really was just in the news because of some of the one of the guys they lost and Sam Darnold and that's the Vikings the Minnesota Vikings who I actually really like their free agency moves but

If anyone's been keeping up with the news lately, they've had some interest in some other quarterbacks. First, Daniel Jones, who ended up signing with the Colts. And then now I've been kind of playing footsie with Aaron Rodgers. And this has turned into a little bit of a he said, she said. Oh, man, I almost want to do a little limp biscuit there. He said, she said. Yeah.

But it's turned into that kind of situation right now with their quarterbacks. Limp Bizkit. Good God. No, I'm sorry, man. We want to talk about two Americas? That's a strong one to start off with right there. No, no. I know Limp Bizkit. It's more laugh at you dating yourself a little bit. Oh.

White guy from the Midwest. I'm 35. That's like right in my wheelhouse right there. I was smack dabbed in the new metal era. Like Lincoln Park, I own the highest team. But anyways, is that with the quarterback situation with the Vikings is they drafted a guy in the first round last year named J.J. McCarthy.

What's up with JJ McCarthy? That is my question I want to ask to you, Charles. What do you think is going on in Minnesota? Are there concerns that we should be having with the kind of footsie that they're playing that might be just a narrative getting spun, but still just leaves me with some questions what's going on in Minnesota?

Just threw a hot one in my lap. I did. Pin pulled on the grenade. Okay, because I did not warm you up at all. We're going. Well, look, I'm battle tested now because...

I did not say anything inflammatory. On Blue Sky a few days ago, I quoted a post where Diana Rossini was reporting that the Vikings were considering bringing Aaron Rodgers onto the team. And all I said was, that kind of puts an interesting spotlight on JJ McCarthy. I didn't offer any analysis. That's literally all I said. You would have thought I said that JJ McCarthy was the worst quarterback that's ever played football, autobus, you know, with the amount of

people that swore my mentions to basically call this all fake news and say that it was much ado about nothing. But I understand if you're a fan, why you would feel that way. You know, you just came up pretty, you just had a pretty fun season. You know, the infrastructure is in place for J.J. McCarthy. You have a good season. You know, you have the coach. You got the weapons. If the offensive line can stay healthy, you got the offensive line. And,

The only time we saw J.J. McCarthy play in the preseason, he looked pretty solid. So I understand why you might be a little defensive about this. But come on, man. We have...

suffered through the past two, three years of Aaron Rodgers making his entrance into more media and talking more about himself and what he thinks is important for a football team and a whole lot of things. So you know that Aaron Rodgers is not coming to Minnesota to be JJ McCarthy's backup.

It's just not happening because that would just be too toxic of a situation. Aaron's not interested in it. I'm sure the Vikings wouldn't be interested in what that would do to the team. And the idea that Aaron Rodgers would sit there and compete with JJ McCarthy, who didn't play last year, is coming off a meniscus injury. It's a little dubious, right? Which has to make you wonder.

Where are they on JJ McCarthy? Because, you know, I had someone tweeting or posting on Blue Sky me like, of course they're considering this. Of course? What do you mean of course? You know, I don't think it's... This is the move you're trying to make if you're kind of looking for a starter, I would say. And I don't know where JJ McCarthy is in his rehab. By all accounts from the team, it seems like he's okay. But...

I think they obviously toyed around with the idea of signing Aaron Rodgers. I think their timeline on how long it took them to say or move forward JJ McCarthy speaks a little bit to how they were looking into this Aaron Rodgers thing. Ultimately, they decided not to do it. I think that's probably a smart move just for the health of everyone involved. But now I do think it puts a little bit more pressure on JJ McCarthy because you have to have some questions on where he's at just because they were in the Aaron Rodgers game.

That's it. You're reading the context clues of it all. And usually a guy going into year two and I mean, sitting at quarterback, I know McCarthy had the injury with the meniscus. He tore his meniscus in August and had a second surgery a few months later to clear up some swelling, which is,

You know, it's not ideal. Meniscus isn't the craziest injury. You know, it's still a knee injury. You have to say it. I've had a meniscus. It took me about a couple months to come back to. I'm not an NFL athlete as athletic as McCarthy or had the rehab of McCarthy. You know, there's probably some concerns, too, about how he's coming back from that. You know, he's a hard gainer.

He's not the biggest guy in the world. He weighed fine at the combine, but he was always listed like 205 in college. So I'm sure weight has something to do with it and strength. It's not just him running and getting back into cardio shape. You have to rebuild strength and leg strength as well. Even quarterbacks have to do that thing as well. Worry about the strength. It's just to me, the Rodgers thing is not like a Matt Hasselbeck for Andrew Luck.

You know, where it was a former starter, then now is the backup that's going to help guide the guy because he has a bunch of starts on his resume. And he was a good quality player that you can kind of pick his brain. Rodgers, to me, is like you said, he's signing somewhere to start. That's why he's also talking and playing footsie with the Steelers and the Giants, who we'll talk about in a second as well. But that just to me is just like, you know, I felt like the Vikings could just nipped a lot in the bud and just kind of like, yep, JJ's our guy.

and it's just kind of i know they're not going to always do that and you know they kind of just say hey they've said positive things they said the rehab's fine and everything but i don't know it just felt like they could have just nipped it all in the bud and just stopped the rumor mill that was you know just spinning and spinning and spinning and that's why it just it's curious to me it's just curious i like i liked what mccarthy did in the preseason i had him as a first round prospect i thought that

It made sense that he went in the top half of the first round. It's just some interesting kind of timeline things happening right now. And why were they so keen on bringing Daniel Jones back? You know, I get it. You maybe want a high-end backup or a backup that you could work with and trust. But I was just curious that way. They had so much interest in that and so much interest in Rodgers reported.

interest, but again, when there's smoke, there's fire. So just kind of have to kind of keep an eye on this. But I do, I am optimistic about how McCarthy will look, but I just want to kind of address that there is some smoke here. But I think that easy, it's Occam's razor, is that

They're going to go with the guy that they drafted 10th overall as their starter for the short term and the long term. That is where my brain goes. That's the Occam's razor to all of this. But I just want to address the smoke that's there. Because I do like the... We've talked about it. I do like the free agency moves that they've made on both lines. It is pretty cool, a pretty nice ecosystem that they're building there. So hopefully they drop in the young quarterback and see him go. But...

Just interesting with the Vikings. Is everything okay over there in Minnesota? I can tell you the fans are a little on their feels right now. They're a little on edge right now. Yeah, it's... Hi, guys. I know some of you guys, but you guys are a little testy right now. I had some moments on Blue Sky 2 where I was like, hey, this is interesting, and everyone's like...

I was like, they're going on McCarthy. I was like, whoa, chill. Just relax. I just wanted to address what's going on here. Right. And the whole time, I never really thought they were going to sign Aaron Rodgers. Me either. But they're poking around with it. And the fact that they're poking around is interesting. Racine wasn't the only reporter to say it. Mike Silver hopped on too. Albert Breer was reporting the same thing. So, hey, don't shoot the messengers. All right? Everything's going to be fine. Can't be this tilted in March. Yeah.

Right. Kevin O'Connell is still there. Brian Flores is still there. You guys got Justin Jefferson, some cool players. You'll be okay. But actually another team we just mentioned there, that's kind of in this quarterback. I don't know. Vikings are not in a quarterback wasteland, but the Giants are definitely in a quarterback wasteland. And I, there's been now rumors, not rumors, but reporting that they have now met with Rogers, Russell Wilson,

Jameis Winston, Joe Flacco. They have interest, of course, in rookie quarterbacks like Shadur Sanders or Cam Ward. But I think Cam Ward would be going number one overall to the Titans. That'd be my bet. So, you know, QB two of this class. My question for you, Charles, and maybe this is just the question overall, and I want to just have some fun with this. Of the QBs they've met with, Rodgers, Wilson, Winston, Flacco, would say Shadur Sanders. Who would give him the best shot of winning in 2025?

what would be the most entertaining and who do you think they actually should sign or draft? Oh,

who would give the best shot i'm coming i'm coming i'm coming at you man i mean i i you you have to like factor in how bad they're off the line is still shaping up to be absolutely yes you know we we talked about the titans last week and uh hey you know you got a bunch of b minus starters at worst uh that's probably that could give you an a line comparatively to everyone else you know uh

The Giants have one healthy. They have one A-plus starter, Andrew Thomas, and the rest is really shaky. So I think if you're looking at

Aaron Rodgers, that seems like a really tough play for me because he's just not as mobile as he used to be. And we've seen last year with the Jets, you know, sometimes he's at a point where with the mistakes and there's bad play in front from compile, he will check out a little bit and start making some really bad plays. Maybe you go Russell Wilson just because you can still move a little bit.

But even then, you know, I don't really find that all too enticing either. But I think maybe Russell Wilson might give you the best shot with your offensive line set up. Certainly something that he's used to over the course of his career, even if he's not as surprised as he used to be.

But, you know, I think even with Russ, like if you do go that way, you're still taking away some of the really nice things that Malik Mabers did last year in terms of like intermediate and over the middle of field because, you know, Russ is probably just going to turn them into a deep ball merchant. So maybe you go Russ and you try and trade down and draft Shador Sanders. But I do feel like

The one thing that would be kind of a reach would just be just sitting there taking Shador at three. I don't, I think that that's just a little bit rich. Your quarterback room right now is still only Tommy DeVito. So you still need to sign another guy. Even if you, you know, you do decide to draft the quarterbacks, maybe you sign Russ, trade down, see if you can get Shador and then just,

see who sticks uh but man what a horrible situation they they this seems to the clean shop for sure they should have been shop so we just keep coming back to is like every time i talk about them i come back to the same kind of like man they should just reset this like because it's just yeah because say you draft a guy and this is i just wrote up shader on yahoo

And this is kind of the conclusion I came to is that I think he needs more development than people maybe are making them out to be. And that's why I'm more comfortable taking them on day two than top 10. And okay. So if he needs development and needs an offensive line to get to that development,

you're going to go to New York. You're going to go to the giants for a GM and a head coach that are on the hottest seat you can have with an offensive line that you just laid out as one good starter. That's always hurt. And then the rest is just a bunch of shrugs of the shoulders. They signed Stone Forsyth, who had probably the worst pressure rate allowed as tackles last year. So yeah, that was a great signing as well. But that's why I'm scared that they talk themselves into drafting somebody. And then

And then they're saying, okay, maybe we go a vet. And there's the, there was an argument. Oh yeah. They signed Rogers and then draft Shadur. I love to see that quarterback room. I love to see those meetings. But, and also every day, I bet you will. When the jets are the calm team in New York, that would be, that would be the day. But you know, is there a mystery box QB, you know, the Jackson dart hype isn't coming out of nowhere. So I always have to kind of keep that in the back of my mind that like, I shouldn't be surprised if his name goes,

several rounds higher than I think it should, but I just don't think this is the ecosystem for a young quarterback with the offensive line and the patience needed. Not even just Shadur, just any young quarterback, especially if you take them in the first round, especially this group of class, this class that they have. I think it's Cam Ward and then a bunch of day two guys, if I'm being honest. So, man, it's just a tough spot that they're in. That's why I wanted to ask. I think I'm with you that

It's either Russ to me or James Winston. You know, Winston, at least I'll give you some grenades chucked and he'll make it fun at least. He'll take a bunch of sacks behind this offensive line too, but at least he'll unpin the grenade and try some stuff. And, you know, it seems like teammates always love James. So at least he gives us some good vibes there as well. So that to me was maybe the best shot or maybe the best vibes. Most entertaining to me would be Rodgers because I just think

That would just be entertaining. I know. I know. I kind of want it, actually, to be honest. Me too. Yeah, just a rough situation in New York. They know that. Their fan base definitely knows that. And they could have had Drake May if they just didn't win the last couple games last year or two years ago. It could be in a lot different situation now. Anything else? I don't know.

I just don't get why they feel like they need to draft. Well, I understand why I feel like they need to draft a quarterback, but you're obviously... Dude, look at this offensive roster. The defense could be okay, but would a 6-11 season save Brian Dable?

And then you're just rolling over a Shador to a coaching staff or the GM that didn't take him. And it's like, it's so obvious that they're not in a position to what? What are they going to do? Storm through and beat the Eagles all of a sudden for the NFC East? Or, you know, even Dallas would be a struggle for them, right? Even Washington might be. Washington. Washington. This team's really bad, man.

Yeah. They're not one QB away. Right. They're not one QB away. I understand why it's kind of frustrating because they have some fun skill talent. Tyrone Tracy had a nice year. Obviously, Neighbors is good. Darius Slayton. Phil Johnson. Yeah. It's not a bad group, but when you can't block, it's going to be tough.

Cam Block and all the quarterbacks that are outside of Cam Ward, I think, struggle with pressure. So that's, again, if you're arguing for somebody else to maybe go in the first round, it's like, oh, that's just not – these aren't the guys that I think can –

even early success i think just the bad habits will get even worse and that's why it's just a tough proposition if it's last year and i'm like oh yeah take any of these guys jane daniels caleb obviously and drake may it's like take any of those three even mccarthy um i was like oh yeah i can understand that in new york but this is just the situation they kind of just get keep getting caught in these spots like or they miss out on the top guys and they have to take daniel jones the next year not have to they did they did that openly but uh yeah just a this

This New York situation is always just interesting. But let's move on to another. Actually, this one's been in the news. The Cincinnati Bengals, because they made some signings. I don't know if you heard this. They re-signed Jamar Chase and Tee Higgins.

you know, the two players that they've had on their roster the last couple of years. And we've seen, we've seen these offenses. So kind of know what that, but my question for you, Charles, and the question I have, I would say, what are their next steps? Do you think they should be addressing the offensive line, defensive line, rest of the defense? Kind of just want to lay it out to you. What do you think the next steps for the Bengals to be, to get back to contendership? You know, they did miss the playoffs last year. So to get back into that, where they want to be, especially with this offense for roster.

They got to start spending on defense, man. Like part of the reason why this was doable for them and people who have looked at their cap space for the past couple of years have said that this was doable for them, for them to sign Jamar and T Higgins, two contracts while also having Joe Burrow on his deal as well. If you just look over, like even just looking to 2026,

uh, on, you know, over the cap or spot track, they don't have all that many cap responsibilities or, you know, obligations for next year. It's kind of just like they're big three and they're kind of hoping for some other guys, uh, to come through and live up to those contracts. So, uh,

They just got to start spending on defense. I don't know how different their defense looks like if you have Jesse Bates still with some of the attrition they've suffered elsewhere. But I do think at this point, come on, man. You got Joe Burrow. You got Jamal Chase. You got T. Higgins. We know what that looks like. You're probably looking at a defense in the fall that doesn't have Trey Hendrickson. They were still a terrible defense even with having one of the best pass rushers in the league on that side of the ball. So I...

I don't really know how much this changes immediately, but if it wasn't open up the pocketbook, I think there's there's room for them to improve pretty quickly over the next few years. But, you know.

It's the Bengals. They did spend a year, but not guaranteed to keep open up the checkbook. And they've kind of missed on some defensive draft picks over the last few years that have left them in this spot. I think most of the defensive line picks they've made have been whiffs. Some of the secondary picks haven't quite panned out. And now you're in a spot where you're playing prime Big 12 ball from the mid-2010s where you can score 40, but you're liable to give up 40 as well.

I'll say it again. As a neutral fan, I love it because there are going to be some entertaining games in Cincinnati Bengals. This is where I keep reverting back to with the Bengals was that you don't want to

deviate from the one that the one that brought you to the dance i'm busting on that metaphor right now dance with the one who brought you you know to me that is the this big three these two receivers and joe burrow and they've had kind of a offensive line that's been moving parts through injuries through lack of talent through just stuff um the running back now they have chase brown in there now so and then now they've replaced tower boyd with kasicki

as kind of the third option in this offense. It's a tight end, but he's essentially a slot receiver. He has never blocked anyone in his entire life. But to me, it's like, okay, let's keep the strength the strength. So I understand that argument, but I'd feel so much better if they just had a path to where I can see the defense really improving. I think they just don't have a lot of needle movers. They have fine players like BJ Hill. Fine player. They have fine players on their defense. It's just that

It's not a lot of real dudes. And now you've got a defensive coordinator that they're bringing on from college. That's like, okay, how is he going to adapt to the NFL level when he was at Notre Dame, Al Golden, with fantastic players? Now he's going to be more of an even setting against other teams. How is he going to do with that? So there's just a lot of questions with them.

they have to nail this draft obviously like this is what happens when you start paying players you have to nail the draft i'm glad you brought up where the contracts are at are at because they have three players after in 2026 under contract they're going to make more or sorry five including higgins and chase they'll make more than 10 million dollars which is burrow orlando brown uh who will be in the last year his contract bj hill who i just talked about who's also going to be over 30 i think it's 30 this year and um and then

And then Gasicki's making seven and change. Logan Wilson, the linebacker, is making just under 10. Then they got the receivers. This is a roster that they can do a lot with next year. But again, it's the Bengals. So you always have to kind of keep

that in mind because it's like they're not going to be the most active team in that they've done some things because burrows kind of making them do things but it's just pulling teeth so that's why it's just so hard to kind of go like oh yeah they can just do this that'll be a fix but they just need to nail these draft prospects like that that's really what it comes down to and they especially nailed on defense but they're just a interesting team because it's just like we know what their strength is we've seen this offense operate at such a high level we know what this looks like

it's just the rest of the team's got to fill out which to me is o-line and then stopping the run really more than anything so i think they should draft a defensive player in the draft in the first round like a defensive lineman uh like i think i just keep going back to that but

Who knows? Maybe they're just like, let's just keep this A offense and A plus offense and just juice up the offensive line. Let's just keep the good times going. Let's try and score 50 a game and lose 52 to 50. I am here for all the Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow duels that we can get. So let's keep it coming. Yeah. Or Lamar Jackson and Aaron Rodgers and Pittsburgh and Black and Yellow. All right. We're going to move on to an AFC team.

that kind of getting lost in the shuffle. I feel like I haven't talked about this team in a while. So they were actually, when we started this kind of show topic, they were the first one that came to mind. I was like, you know, we got to address this team because they just haven't made some big splashes, kind of re brought, re brought back, brought back a lot of their own guys. That's the Miami dolphins. So Miami dolphins, all I have to ask, and this is a Charlie, Charlie Kelly line, Charlie dayline from always sunny in Philadelphia. What are you?

and that's why i want to ask you charles what are the dolphins what should they be doing what what are the dolphins what do you think of the dolphins right now all right to quote the late dennis green they are who we thought they were right we let them off my first boss no it's uh it's it's i i don't let me i guess they're just treading water i don't know um

I don't know if they really had the capability to just be a little bit more active in free agency than they were. I'm going to guess probably not due to some of the cap situations that they have going on. But I don't really know what they have to do here besides just running back for another year and try to add some pieces in the drafts.

I think when you look at the offensive line, could stand some room to improve, which is always a concern when you're talking about Tua coming back as your quarterback. But even with him last year, they still figured out – if you look at the split between –

The games Tua didn't play and the games Tua did play, they were close to being back to a top-five offense while he was under center. So maybe you're just hoping you can get that for a full season and the defense steadies out if you can add some upgrades in the secondary. But man, like I said before, they're just kind of doing the same old thing. And I would imagine that their season looks pretty similar unless Tyreek Hill actually takes a step back and then you're looking at something that might be...

a little terrified. Yeah. Then hold onto your hat. Yeah. I, this is when even previewing them last year, going into the year. And I think we kind of just kept coming to this conclusion. It's like, this could work if they stay healthy, you know, and that's what I feel the same way about them. It's not, it's every position.

Quarterback, receiver, waddle and hill. Offensive line. I mean, Armstead will never play a healthy season. Left tackle, but the rest of their line as well. Defense injuries. I mean, the whole defensive front. Bradley Chubb, injury after injury. Jalen Phillips has faced some injuries. I think they have a lot of talent. Even some of the free agency signings they made last year,

are kind of ones that went under the radar as really good signings. Jordan Brooks at linebacker and then Aaron Brewer at center. Both players that were good players, good starters that they didn't break the bank for. So their pro scouting is actually pretty dang good. Having said that, they did sign Alexander Madison, who is not a good player. He's their third running back, so I'm not too worried about that. Even a guy like they signed Pharoah Brown to be a tight end for them. Pharoah Brown is just a...

blocking only tight end, but he's actually pretty good at it. You know, just they make some nice moves as far as in the margins, but because they've committed so much to so many injured players, that's all going to they're going to sink or swim based on their injury luck. And I

I don't know. It's a hard bet. This is why a lot of teams, if they have injury concerns with a player, they drop in the draft or they might not pay him in free agency. You know, they have, that's always in the back of the mind and yes, guys can get and be healthy and have a 16, 17 game season and you bet on, and you get that one healthy year, but it's just these bets that these teams and valuers evaluators try to make the dolphins bets continuously are, yeah, this guy has an injury history, but he's fast. And if he's healthy,

Holy crap, we're good. But when the whole team is made out of that, that's just hard to align. There is a

2% chance that they all are healthy in the home stretch. And this team goes gangbusters and is awesome in the back half of next year. But there's just as likely, I mean, more likely of a chance that most of these guys end up hurt again, and they can't just align those stars. It just kind of actually kind of worked, aligned those stars figuratively, literally, you know, all these types of players. But it's just hard. It's a bet that they keep making. And then, like you said, it's kind of like they're running it back because that's kind of their best option. They need to draft a lineman.

I will say that. Or Malachi Starks. I think we had him mocked in our last draft going there. That one is too because I think they have to address safety. But that's the situation that they've been in now. They let Wilkins hit the market. He earned the right to hit the market. That's one of my favorite lines I've ever heard a GM say. To test free agency, I think it was. And also this year, letting Holland go because I like that signing for the Giants was because they just

just are tied up with all these other guys that they've already paid. So there wasn't some other talent, some other guys that are actually kind of needle movers go and hit free agency. So just a weird team, weird team. And I'm not down on them completely. Like, actually, I keep looking back on like, you just mentioned it when two is healthy. It's like a top five offense when the defense is healthy. That's a top eight defense. I really think it's so it's

Like, yeah. And if you just tell me that they're healthy, you got top 10 offense, top 10 defense. Yeah, that's playoff team. We're good. But betting on I've now seen it so too many times that the injuries just make them fall apart. So just kind of where we're at with the Dolphins. What do you what do you think they should go in the draft? Do you think offense align?

Now that I'm looking at it, yeah, they probably should. Bigger need. The safety is a need, but now that I'm looking at it, like depth chart, yeah, I think you got to go up at the vine. I know they're picking maybe a little too late for him, but man, Will Campbell would be tremendous for them because it's just like, oh, I don't know where to play him. Hey, it doesn't matter. He can start for you at one of these five spots and be a nice leader for you. So like, yeah, that's like a, I think the ideal pick for them would be a Will Campbell. But yeah, we are going to take

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All right. We are back. We're moving out west and going to the NFC with this one. Back to back, actually. We're going to go with the Seattle Seahawks, who have been active.

Active in free agency and in the trade market as well. Trading away Gino for a third rounder, signing Sam Darnold, signing DeMarcus Lawrence, signing Cooper Cup. A couple of 30 plus year old free agents there that, you know.

I have to see how it works out there, but also signing MVS who has experienced in this offense last year, Clint Kubiak. He is going to basically be the X vertical sacrificial X role as Matt Harmon likes to call him, where he's going to just create the vertical element in this offense. Charles, do you think this is enough for the Seahawks? And I have some follow-up questions, but

What do you think of the Cooper Cup signing, the MVS signing? And we already talked a little bit about Darnold. But what do you think of do you think this is enough going with Cup MVS? Do you think this could be a top half offense with this kind of setting that they have? No, not not there just yet. I just honestly, the Cooper Cup signing, I don't really get why, why they thought they need to do this.

Because, obviously, at this point in his career, and I mean, he had a great run, but you don't even need to watch too much. You can just look at some of the numbers over the past couple of years, like success rates falling off a cliff, yards for targets down, just not the same athlete that he was in his peak. His max speed and average speed are down, too, and treading down, too.

Yeah, so, you know, I don't really get the fit because he's not a guy that I would expect would be winning on the outside at this point in his career, consistently at least. So, you know, his best spot is probably slot, which is also Jackson and Jiggs' best spot. So I guess they're just going to have to flip-flop those guys and try to figure out something that works. I think you probably need to sign someone like MVS just because...

Like, if you didn't, that might be the most congested passing game in the league, if you were just talking about, right, we're going to roll it there with JSN and Cooper Cup. Okay, no, no, you need someone that can go down and at least scare people. Where it's just the paint is just clocked because no one could shoot and space it out. So, yeah, to your point. I am curious to see what this looks like, though, because I –

I don't think Clint Kubiak's a godsend or anything, but I do feel very confident that he's a better fit than what Ryan Grubb was doing last year. So I think even just having someone like that in the room will shore up some of the issues that they had last year. But man, for them to get into the top half, I think you would just need...

uh, maybe a little bit better performance out of the offensive line than I'm expecting. And I, I guess Cooper couple kind of turned it back a little bit. Uh, you know, in, in a vacuum, I, I don't mind the Sam Donald signing. Like if we were just walking into the off season without a quarterback, I wouldn't mind it. I don't really like the process that they took to get here. Uh,

I just thought he could have kept rolling with Geno for another year, maybe draft someone. But they made the decision. Sam, his contract kind of looks like a one-year tryout just to see how it is, how it goes. I don't know if they've given him the best shot to succeed with that. We'll see what happens in the draft. But I think this is probably close to a top 20 offense. Luckily, you got a really good running back duo. Sam can make some plays when...

When he's on his game, he can really be a playmaker from the pocket and outside the pocket. And we know that JSN is a good receiver in his own right. So it's not like totally talentless. It's just kind of incomplete, I think, in a critical way now.

Yeah, they need one more thing. And to me, it's a lineman. Even though if I like Oluwolewabutimi at center, and I want to see what they do with Christian Haynes. He might be a better fit for this offense as well at guard. They did draft him out of UConn last year. And also, they just played games with him as far as like...

playing time and like all that stuff it was kind of weird so just want to see what the new staff does with him but the mvs signing i like more than the cooper cup signing in the weirdest way same because in the weirdest way but yeah i i know cooper cup and when he's been healthy he's a way better football player mvs's role fits this offense and what they need so much better um which is why they probably signed him but even just looking up i had the stats ready but

You look at it like Cooper Cup and JSN are both good from the slot. People have made this point ad nauseum, including us. They were, you look at JSN had number one, had the most routes in the NFL from the slot last year.

Cooper Cup was 18th. You know, also didn't play full games. JSN, 22nd in yards per route from the slot. Cooper Cup, 15th. Receptions, first eighth. Receiving first downs, first 13th. First downs per route, 17th, 20th. So two top 20 receivers any way you shake it from the slot. Two of the better guys from the slot. And I was like, you know,

me trying to stay a little bullish on the Seahawks more than other people. I was like, you know what? JSN's pretty good from the outside, though. So this is going to work out. This is going to work out. Okay, never mind. He is solid from the outside, but to unlock JSN is to play him from the slot, which is fine if Cooper Cup could play admirably from the outside. He doesn't have to be great. He just has to be okay. The problem is he's not even okay from the outside. He was 61st in the

In the NFL, out of 80 qualifying receivers, so I did 300 routes or more, 61st in first downs per route from the outside, 37th in yards per route, 59th in explosive receptions per route run, 2.5%. So he had seven receiving first downs on 118 routes from the outside last year. 73rd, he ranked out 80 receivers on outside first downs.

He's just not good from the outside. He can't win against press. He does not have the twitch anymore. He is a smooth route runner that wins in space against zone on the inside. So guess who else is good at that? JSN. So JSN on the outside is solid. He's like middle of the pack. He's like, you know, he's 34th in success rate per route, 29th and first down per route. But I'd much rather have one of the best guys in the slot stay in the slot.

But the problem is Cooper Cup is going to limit that. And you pay Cooper Cup and you're not paying him to be on the bench. So they just created a whole new problem. And this is what happened with the Bears last year. Okay, we have DJ Moore, who's a great player. Okay, we're going to draft Roman Dunzay. Okay, I really like that.

You're good. You're good. You don't have to do anything else. Or you're going to trade for Keenan Allen. And then that just – now we've committed to him. We hired his old coach. And now it just convolutes everybody else's development, everybody else's role. So that's just what – there's other things the Seahawks are doing. I actually don't like – I'm fine with the Sam Darnold thing. Of course, I'm more of the bullish guys on Sam Darnold, but I'm realistic of what he is. But I think this offense will be good for him. I think the run game will be better. But that Cooper Cup signing kind of just –

I deflated some of the wind in my sails, took the wind out a little bit because I was liking some of the other things they were doing. Even the DeMarcus Lawrence thing. I like more than other people. It's a little rich, but I did like it. But that man, I don't know. That one, it just was weird to me, the cup thing. So they might be on the Tevin Jenkins signing from Chicago. You have any Jenkins thoughts?

A fellow bad back-haver. I don't know. I feel like at once he was – I kind of feel bad for Tevin sometimes because at once he was – he looked kind of promising maybe a couple years ago, but, you know, just kind of deteriorated over time. I don't – honestly, I don't even know if he's that much better than what they already have right now, but I guess it's worth just throwing as many bodies as you can and some more sticks. Yeah.

Yeah, I would just be giving him a one-year deal if I were signing him. I would not want any long-term money on him, but

see how it's kind of play their own game. It seems like, but I, I'll say this again, say this again, this will wrap it up is they are one of the most interesting teams in the NFL. Like they have gotten that check Mark for me and I'm going to keep eyes on them for the rest of the rest of the season. Cause I want to see what they do in the draft and on moving a little bit further South, but still in the NFC West, we're going to the San Francisco 49ers who I want to remind people going into last year were the favorites in the NFC.

And I think the second favorite or the favorites tied for the favorites to win the Super Bowl before last season. Miss the playoffs, have a season from hell, on field, off field, injuries, guys quitting and not going back in the game at linebacker. I mean, just you could not have a worse kind of season how this unfolded for San Francisco last year, especially with the expectations that they have. So I want to ask you, Charles, what do they need to keep doing

or continue to do or add on to get on top, back on top of the NFC? What more can they add to the trenches and where kind of where your eyes are going at some of the next things that can do to kind of launch back to the top of the NFC? I mean, they have, they have needs and trenches, both sides of the ball, but yeah,

I think they need to, I kind of think they need to hit offensive line with this pick, just because like, if you're going to be in the game of paying Brock Purdy and actually having him, you know, be your potential long-term starter, long-term quarterback, like,

The setup they have right now at offensive line, I don't think it's going to cut it. Trent Williams, I don't know. He's still a good player. We'll see how much longer he can still play at a high level. The interior, I think, could definitely use some work, especially a left guard and maybe center. And then we've talked about before, but Colton McKibbitz, I don't really understand him.

how he's still starting at right tackle. I mean, it's been a long time since they've moved on from Mike McGlinchey. For some reason, Colton McKibbitz has been able to hold on to that spot at right tackle, but I don't think if they're going to get back to being maybe the team that they wanted to be a few years ago or the team they wanted to be last year, I don't think they're going to be able to do that. Basically, the offensive line isn't... Offensive line's not good enough

I think they need to kind of spend a pick on offensive line to start the draft. But if they're not going to do that, defensive line makes sense, both spots. But I just don't think you can have another year where like Colton McKibbitz is starting a rice hackle for you. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense. The interior needs work. And if you're actually going to do this Brock Purdy thing and sign him long term, go get some big boys to block up front because I think they need some help there. Yeah. They need to, to me, just make their lives easier.

You know, like make your life easier. Don't put everything on your own scheme, Kyle Shanahan. Don't put everything on Chris Kucerec, your defensive line coach, getting the most out of these guys and another reclamation project for him to work with. You know, those are –

Those are the things that they have, you know, again, talking about dancing with the one who brought you, you know, those are the ones that make sense. Like they have had success doing that, but I think they could lift their floor up a little bit. And that's where trench play and adding to trenches, offensive line or defensive line kind of does that because they can impact the game and impact plays even outside of the design.

um but i that's why i just keep looking at their offensive line it's like all right tron lambs is what 36 35 my age uh then we got yeah then jake brandel is a average at best starting center that's good in this system but is not a needle mover at all um and then yeah left guard as a whole dominic pooney is a keeper then colton mckibbitz has been a negative since he's been starting out there and they mitigate that and it's a lot easier when he's the only hole you can mitigate one spot but

man, it's like just draft alignment, just make it. And like you said, especially if they want to pay Bert Purdy and go down that path and whatever contract he ends up getting. Well, now you just want to make his life easier, even outside the designs, you know? So at least get that pocket always feeling like,

Like, fine. So he doesn't have to get maybe into his creation mode where he can get a little skittish. So, yeah, I think they just add to the trenches, almost eat their medicine or take their medicine, eat some vegetables. You know, maybe they've gone away with heavy skill position drafts, or at least that's what they've been adding on and paying. So now maybe this is a time. Okay, now let's get some more beef and go through there. And let's not take a running back in the third round. Let's wait till at least, you know, later to maybe get a guy. But they lost a lot.

and free agency. Some guys, justifiably, that they let them go. You know, it's hard to, when you're trying to figure out how to pay all these guys, hey, Ifanga just got hurt. Dre Greenlaw just got hurt. Okay, we can let those guys go. Needle-moving players, though. And so you have to figure out a way to make up for that.

Fred Warner plays out of his mind all the time. Nick Bosa plays out of his mind all the time. Demondador Lenore is a good player, but they just need some other guys to just be solid. Malcolm Stoffel looks like a solid starter for them at the very least at safety, but they just need more of that. They got some stars still. They just need more guys to kind of fill in the gaps. Big guys would definitely help with that, I think, anyways. Wow, what's going to...

Oh, boy. A team, you know, some of the Giants conversation applies to this team.

That's Cleveland Browns who are picking one spot above the Giants in the NFL draft. I'm just going to lay it out like this to you, Charles. Is drafting a rookie quarterback a good idea for them? That's my question. If it's Cam Ward, I think it's defensible. Anyone else? No, no, no. Because the thing is, you're not just –

You're not just thinking about this year, right? We've talked about it before. Deshaun Watson has an $81 million dead cap or cap hit for next year. Obviously, that's not going to be what they walk into the season with. So once you take care of that and restructure it and push it more into the future, like you're still talking about three or four years where Deshaun Watson's on the payroll. Man, just trade down.

Hit a single, I think. Maybe you just sit there at two, it takes Travis Hunter. But the idea that you need to take a quarterback number two this year, man, you're not ready for that. You haven't even gotten to the hard parts of roster construction with the Deshaun Watson stuff yet. So I would try to trade down. If not, maybe just take Travis Hunter and just try to stack as much talent as you can.

Yeah, just get more blue chip players on a roster that can always be adding blue chip players. That's not the hardest thing. And that's why needing a quarterback, obviously I'm saying it obvious here, is going to be one of the worst positions you could be in because then you get desperate and then you overdraft guys. And then now you put expectations on guys and now they have to play before they're ready or even that they can have a high floor. And that's why I'm scared if Sugar Sanders ends up being that guy because there are some rumors about him going to Cleveland.

But that just scares the crap out of me because not only just the offensive line this year, which has some fine pieces, they're all gone next year, at least some of them.

but also just other aspects of this team. Like, I mean, just like he's what the, that quarterback would have to be doing a lot for this offense, as far as pointing and shooting and operating. I think Sanders needs time to even reach that kind of floor that you'd even have to operate to be in a kind of point shoot pocket thrower or pocket passer. So,

Honestly, this draft class reminds me a lot, and I have to say this, of the 2019 class, the Kyler Murray draft class, where it's Kyler Murray was QB1, but not a perfect QB1, but kind of the best of a bad bunch. And I think that's kind of what Cam Ward's kind of optimistic timeline is to be kind of that Kyler Murray tier, you know, kind of middle of the quarterback tier that he can win you games, but does need help.

But then the rest of that class was really good defensive class, some cool linemen in that class as well. But then also the other quarterbacks got overdrafted like crazy. That was the Daniel Jones class. That was the Dwayne Haskins class. And that's what I'm scared of with these teams going like, well, we got to take a quarterback. And then they overdraft these guys that should be going on day two. And I just think the Browns need so much. And again, another team that because of the Deshaun Watson thing, which was their own doing, they are just in such a rough spot.

And they just kind of... That Band-Aid. That's not even a Band-Aid to rip off. That is a... I don't know what to call it. A cast? A gauze? You're suffering for sure. You're suffering for sure. Like I said, dude. $81 million cap it for next year. So obviously, you have to restructure that again. And he's already got a $53 million void year for the first year he's not a Brown. Plus three more after that. I mean...

This is why we were saying, like, don't restructure, man. Just eat it. Eat it now and be done with it after five years. And now you're going to be in a spot where, like, the ghost of his contract is going to be haunting you guys as you're trying to build around the next guy. I think you just need to get as many picks as you can and just...

slap players on this roster because like I said you're still haven't even gotten to the tough part of the rebuild yet like the Miles Garrett contract hasn't even really kicked in I mean still dealing with Deshaun Watson to me it's bad it's bad it's just really bad it is I know and then you got freaking yeah Miles Garrett signing all the money and just like hey I'm going to help out with free agency

it's just no recruiting going on at all and that's the other thing I'll kind of leave it at is if they do draft a rookie quarterback you got to look at how expensive the quarterback room is you know it's not just oh yeah obviously and this is just so many people say it's like having a rookie quarterback contract is the most biggest advantage you can have cap going up other positions if you get a

pro bowl player on a rookie quarterback contract or a rookie contract that works too. But if you're paying the room a lot of money, you, you negate that advantage, which actually leads us to the

The team that did that recently, signing a quarterback, then it being a flop, and then, I should say a flop, a lemon a little bit, and then drafting a guy in the top 10, and now you're paying your room a lot of money, even though you have a rookie quarterback. That's the Atlanta Falcons, who I believe, Charles, is your favorite team. So, I haven't talked to some Falcons in a minute, and I'm very excited to do so.

How many points are the Atlanta Falcons going to be allowing in a game next year? That's the question I want to ask you. All of them? All of the points. All of the points. It was funny. I was actually texting Mina about this this morning because there was some report about Kirk Cousins maybe going for a third-round pick, which is like, come on now. Come on now. Third? Yeah, right. Third-round pick. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, that's obviously that's what I said. I was like, I would trade a six for him maybe. But when you start looking at the defensive roster, this might be the worst front seven that they've had in quite some time because there's no grading here. It's it's insanely bad. It's so bad. Yeah, yeah.

We let Grady Jarrett go. We kept David Onyemata. You could even give us the fan service of keeping Grady Jarrett. You could have figured out some way to just keep him around, but they're rolling with it. Right now, the defensive tackle room is what? David Onyemata, Rook O'Rourke, Taequann Graham, who they just re-signed. It was a fifth-round pick a few years ago. I mean, it's terrible. As far as I'm concerned, you know,

They look worse on paper than they did last year. I guess it just depends if Panics can actually have a breakout season year two. But I mean...

Dude, he's only played three games. I don't know. I hope he works or else this is not going to be a watchable football team. And I will say, I've got that thing bookmarked where they said they weren't going to be drafting high enough to pick a quarterback because that defense will certainly give him a chance. Oh, it's going to give him a high chance, I think, for a couple of years. I mean, even when they played well for a few weeks last year, it all just kind of fell apart. They weren't creating any pressure. Yeah.

it's just like, okay, they need pressure. They need to create pressure. Okay. So we need, we need a guy to get after passer. Well, they also need to help out the run. Okay. So they need a linebacker, a defensive tackle. They also need a second corner and a nickel. But no, it's just, you look at this team. It's like, they need so much. And that's why what they did last year was like, do you guys know what you are? Like, cause even then the defense was needed a lot and they are still in that position with their offensive line.

that, you know, they lost their center, but I actually like as a, as a newsle, Ryan newsle, I actually like news. So yeah, I actually like him. Yeah. He's fine. I don't think that'd be a drop off at the center spot, but then, you know, Jake Matthews is getting older, you know, Caleb McGarry,

might you know they might have to move on from him they've had they had really good offensive line health last year so you bet on that dropping off even if it's just average you know or kind of mill the pack with games lost or anything like that it's just they had luck last year on offense and they that's this is that was the result of it and i think the defense dropped off and i'm going to assume that the offense might drop off as well because of that because it's just injury health uh so it's just

Do you think Raheem survives the year? Yeah, I think he'll survive the year. April 20th. I know that's mean to even ask that, but you think he survives this season? March 20th, even. He said April 20th. That's a good day, too. Yeah.

I think he survives the year, but I could definitely see a scenario where him and Terry are both gone after this offseason. I mean, you've got to draft a defensive player. Terry hasn't drafted one in the first round yet. We'll see who they decide to go after. I would guess it's probably a pass rusher in the first round, but...

please, there's anyone with a pulse who can rush a passer just to get things started. I mean, one guy is not fixing their problems, but at least it's a start, something they haven't had in a very long time. Do you have a guy that you like? Maybe not.

Call your shot. Not really, honestly. Like, if they were a little bit higher, maybe. Like, I would love – I wish they had maybe lost a couple more games with Kirk. So, maybe you could be in the Mason-Graham territory. But, you know, I feel like at this class, like at 15, you're taking shots on, like, you know, maybe a Shamar Stewart if he's there, Mike Green, Jalen Walker, Michael Williams, who are, like, all, like, I think good pieces. But as far as being an ace, no, no, no, no.

It's like, yeah, you like them for other teams, but not where the Falcons are at. I actually had, not to bring it back to the Seahawks, but I actually did have a question for you, just for the Seahawks, because I had to ask you because I wrote it down. How many games do you think the Seahawks are winning next year, if you just had to put it right now? Um...

I think anywhere from six to eight seems fair. Because I think the NFC West is going to be tough as hell next year. The Rams should be good. I really would be surprised if the 49ers are as bad as they were last year. Because even with some of the bad play they had, that was still a pretty good passing game for most of the season, if you just look at the numbers. So you're talking about, to me, what looks like one of the toughest to beat. And the Cardinals, too. Could take a step forward. Yeah.

So I think like six to eight wins would be okay. To me, Sam should be like, oh, I've done this before. We had Greg Williams back in 2019. The defense was really good, like top 10, sometimes top five some weeks. And we were just trying to chuck it on offense and see what happens. I'm putting them at nine. So we'll put it over under eight and a half, and then we'll go from there. We'll keep every month or two. We'll go Seahawks check, see where they're at. All right, last team here.

New Orleans Saints, what is the plan in New Orleans? What do they even prioritize in the draft, Charles, that you would make him? I know it's not your team, but make you feel a little bit better of the direction that New Orleans is going.

Dude, I don't know. I think this is just classic whoever is best player available on your board, just take them. You know, luckily for them, this looks like this is going to be the last year that they were in serious cap trouble. I think they kind of come out of it next year as long as they can just be patient and not do anything drastic over the next six months. Big if. Big if. Right. Yeah.

But we've seen Will Johnson kind of fall down the board a little bit. I think that would be a good fit, especially after they traded away Lattimore to the Commanders. If he can get his head on straight for whatever concerns people have about him, I still think he's one of the best corner—or one of the straight-up best talents in the draft. Even if you're starting to look at—

just like trying to plan for long-term. I, one idea that I thought was kind of interesting was maybe drafting Ted McMillan there from Arizona because, you know, because you, you know, Crystal Lobby is a great player, but I, I don't know how, like how long you can, or really not,

Not how long, but just how hopeful you can be that he plays a long and healthy career with his concussion issues. And if he doesn't, you're going to need some help at wide receivers. So I think that even drafting a receiver could be your surprise fit. But whoever they have at the front of their board, you should just take them. Because I think I saw somewhere earlier this morning that there were some Saints fans complaining. This is basically...

I think the lowest pick that a 5-12 team has had in the 17-game season era at 9. I don't believe that. They're not good. I thought the same thing with the Bears picking 10.

10 uh is that i'm like you're only at 10 didn't the bottom fall out but you know i'm kind of like weren't you guys terrible at the end of the year like you guys are at 10 but we kept you always kept bringing it up like how funny like how bad the bottom was last year in the end yeah like the bottom was really really bad uh yeah there wasn't a middle class last year

I think prior to this year, the lowest pick that a 5-12 team had was 6th overall. And this year, the Bears are 10th overall by 5-12 records. So, you know, the bottom of the league. Come on, guys. Come on. Come on. Start trying. And what's even funnier is they're not even trying to tank. They were actually trying. That's just how bad they ended up being. Yeah. And the thing was, the Saints did, like, you know, bring back Chase Young. Yeah.

Yeah, like that move. Signing Justin Reed. Like that move a lot. Why are you guys doing it? You know, like I'm just... And that's where it's like I like those moves for other teams, but them I'm just like, I don't know. They have to take a step back and move forward. And they're not doing that yet. So like this year feels weird, like a big question mark for them. And it's like I want to talk about them more seriously because I do like aspects of the team. I love Chris Alave. Other, you know, he always just keeps getting hurt. Great player. They have a lot of cool players. It's just...

all coming together in the long-term plan just makes me just always stay so bearish on them. And even if I want to come around, so I feel like just always have to keep a pin in them until I want to talk about them later. So I I'm with you. I prioritizing the draft. I, we, we want Will Johnson, which I liked there. So Boston Debo, uh, trade away Lattimore, all that stuff. But, uh, they could go with a lot of spots and I'll be like, yep, that makes sense. Yep. That makes sense. But the McMillan one's a lot of fun too. Uh, we're going to take our last break. I mentioned our mock draft. We're going to come back. We're going to come back.

with some of our favorite fits from our last mock as a way to pan for prospects. Last year, Americans ate 32 billion chicken wings. Who knows just how many helpless sides of celery were heartlessly thrown away. But this year, celery neglect can stop with you and irresistible Jif peanut butter because you can make a snack to make a difference. You can buy a jar of Jif to save the celery.

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All right. We are back and we're panning for prospects. And how we're doing it today?

Tying in with our latest mock draft that we pumped out there on Yahoo. Was that 18.0? Version 18.0 of our mock draft? Yeah, I think so at this point in time. But Charles, what was one of your favorite team-to-player pairings in our latest mock as a way to pan for some of these prospects of this draft class? We had the Texans taking Gray Zabel at the end of the first round. I think his round, they picked 25, which I think is an appropriate range for him to go.

The Texans, their early entrance into the offseason has been kind of funny because I understand people who

When you look at Laramie Tunsell, you look at a lot of the metrics, you're like, oh man, this still looks to be one of the best offensive tackles in the league. I struggled to get past 19 penalties last year, which is insane for any offensive lineman, let alone a veteran. And I do think there was, you know, start to see some decline in this game. So I honestly didn't mind the trade away for them to get rid of Tunsell for that haul of picks that they got from the commanders. But...

What they've done since then. I'm like, dude, well, maybe you should have just kept the Tunsil. If you're going to have Cam Robinson as your left tackle, you might as well have just kept Laramie Tunsil. They're trying to figure out what they're going to do on the interior. Maybe it'll be Titus Howard, some combination of Titus Howard, Juiced Ruggs.

Ed Ingram, Laken Tomlinson, which is like, ah, I don't know. And then Blake Fisher. Yeah. Blake Fisher at right tackle, which is also a big question mark. I, I, I just think Zabel makes a lot of sense here because I played, he can play a lot of positions. I, you know, he played basically all over the line that North Dakota state. He's got a,

a lot of athleticism to play, you know, keep that going in the future. I think he moves well. I think it's like, it's functional athleticism. Like he looks pretty good in the field and for a team that even though they've made moves, I'd still say has a fair amount of holes in their offensive line. Just drafting someone who you feel like you can play anywhere feels like a good bet to me.

Yeah, and Zabel would be a little off kilter for Casario because he hasn't drafted a non-Power 4 or Power 5 player yet. Power 2. Power 2. He hasn't drafted one yet. And it's like, well, maybe you should just start looking. Maybe look at some of these other guys. No, I like Gray as a player a lot. I just think he has that...

four of a solid starter like i i watched his tape against colorado i thought he held up really well as a tackle um but obviously just seeing how he moves his size his weight everything you know core strength is kind of one of those things or anchor you know some things makes me a little iffy him on the tackle side but at guard oh yeah or at center i think it could be a needle moving center which i i would love for them to take because it's just

calm everyone down. I know they drafted you Scruggs to be this, but they've moved him around a guard center just to fill spots. But I always thought you Scruggs have been a center only, but I think Zabel always gives them a shot, get our best five out there and he can fill out the interior in some way, shape or form. They, the stop gaps that they signed and trade for, uh,

I was a little concerning to me because, you know, signing Cam Robinson to the one year deal. Yeah, he's a stopgap. And yeah, he has started. But I brought the stat up a lot. He allowed the highest one on one pressure rate among all office tackles last year in the NFL once he joined the Vikings. And even if you looked at the whole season, he was still below average when he was with the Jags. He's always been average at best at tackle.

And, you know, the Patriots, who have gigantic gaps on their offensive line, said no thanks. That's because, you know, Doug Marone, the offensive line coach, who I also have some issues with, some of the stuff he's done recently. But he was like, yeah, I don't want Cam Robson. I coached him before. I don't want him again. That should be a big red alert. Like, a team that desperately needs offensive linemen and coaches love coaching players they used to coach because they're lazy. And he was like, no thanks. That is scary to me. And the argument the Texans are trying to make is,

Oh, we had such a toxic offensive line room. We want to revamp some of the personalities. And I wonder if Seahawks are kind of the same thinking too, like copying all that stuff. But that's a side subject. But I think that's their argument. But the guys that they replace them with are bad. You know, I'm fine with having good personalities if the guys are at least average. But Cam Robinson was outright bad last year. Outright bad.

This is just eye tests. I always go off into line stuff off eye tests. I look at the stats, Joe, just so it encapsulates a little more, sticks a little more when we're talking about it on a podcast. Ed Ingram, who they signed, and Texas fans are going, he's not starting, he's depth. He sucks at depth. He allowed the highest pressure rate of guards, and that completely matches the eye test because he is terrible. He has yet to show any semblance of being a good player or even a tolerable player at guard in the NFL. He should be off rosters. Then go on Laken Tomlinson.

Supposed to be a great guy, leader, all that stuff. Really is tailed off. Just especially some of the places he's been recently. But the Seahawks last year, he allowed the fourth

highest one-on-one pressure rate among all guards. He was part of the issue in Seattle last year amongst all the other players. So it was like, yeah, okay, we're getting rid of Kenyon Green. We're getting rid of Laramie Tunsell. We're getting rid of Shaq Mason. Okay, we're going to revamp this room. And then they just signed a bunch of guys. One has character concerns from his old coach, Ed Ingram, had character concerns coming out of college. Both bad players.

This is the plan? All right, so, okay, let's draft a guy. Gray's able. Let's solidify all this and just kind of, you know, shore up some of these things on the offense. So even if he's against type for what the Texans have done in the past, at least he, I think, makes sense to stabilize him. Dude, I didn't even realize the whole only power five thing.

Okay, because he drafted a guy from Oregon State in 2022, but they were still in the Pac-12 at that point. Correct. So, dude, I'm just looking at the draft they had this year. They didn't even have a first-round pick. Georgia, Notre Dame, USC, Ohio State, Oregon, USC, Auburn, Michigan, then the year before, Ohio State, Alabama, Penn State, Houston, TCU, Alabama, Notre Dame. He wants the pedigree, man. That's what he wants. He wants the pedigree.

Oh, and then I'm sure Cam Robinson going to Alabama, he's like, oh, yeah, this is great. You know, Saban. That Ingram LSU. Ingram LSU. Lincoln Thompson went to Duke. Still counts, though. Yeah. Still counts. And also a former first rounder. That also might be a part of this, too. You know, that high draft pedigree as opposed to just watching what these guys are and how they play in these systems. All right. Well, that was nice fun. Good to talk about the Texans.

They should have been one of the questions that we had, but we got them in here anyways. But yeah, Zabel though, good player. I'm glad you threw his name out here. I will throw out my prospect match team match. That was Tyler Warren tight end for Penn state with the Seattle Seahawks. This is more, not so much Warren going to the Seahawks, but a tight end in the first round going to the Seahawks. I actually, this has been a pairing we, you and I have kind of,

massage this one and on our mock drafts a little bit we've had loveland going there colson loveland we've had now tyler warren going there i just think a tight end makes a lot of sense for where the seahawks are at and what they want to do now we just mentioned all the slot stuff and that

you know, all right, that's the receivers, but they do need another pass catcher. I think MBS is a role player. His role is to take the top off the top off the defense, catch a couple of deep balls. Maybe they need some more guys that can create after the cash that can create one-on-one advantages and,

I think Loveland could be that. I think Warren could be that. And some of the versatility and the upside that he can block in line. The short arms are a little worrisome. I'm not going to lie. Talked about that with Trevor earlier this week. But he still has some blocking to him. What helps is being in this Kubiak-Shanahan offense, I think, is a better fit for him. It's not power blocking. It's zone shield blocking.

So whether it's Warren or Loveland, I think that matches perfectly for what they want to do in that type of offense. Even if it's not always as much zone as it used to be, it's still pretty heavy zone. On top of it, just team fit with that room, Noah Fant.

kind of tapered off as a player. He's a fine starter. I'm bullish on A.J. Barner. I think that's a pretty cool room to make out, especially for an offense that wants to use tight ends like Kubiak and Shanahan offenses do. That is their preferred method is being in 12 personnel like every snap because

because they can move guys around and dictate them. I think Warren could be perfect for that role. Barnard long-term could be your inline guy full-time. Warren can do a little bit of it, but he also can be that move chess piece for the Seahawks. So I really like this fit. I'm coming around, not coming around, I'm kind of fan fictioning and trying to manifest maybe they take a tight end the first round because I just kind of like the fit of where they're at.

Any thoughts on this one? Yeah, I did it. I like this fit too. You know, I, I, I think that this is maybe for more so than other offenses. It can be a crucial point to add talent to. And like, you know, no offense has had his chances. I think you probably need an upgrade there. And also, even if you're just talking about a,

Getting back to being maybe a more heavy run team than they were last year, you're going to need an upgrade blocking that tight end anyways. And I think that Warren would probably be a big boost over where Noah Phan and some of the other guys were. So I actually think if you take Warren and for the next few years, you're looking at Warren and A.J. Barner as your tight end duo for this offense, that's actually kind of sweet. Yeah.

But, you know, still some other pieces to, you know, to upgrades, which is why I understand why Seahawks fans might be looking at this as a tight end in the first round. Yeah, I understand the apprehension, but this isn't going to be a one year fix anyways. And I think, you know, we have them falling to pick 18. There are people who have them going higher than that. So it could even be good value. I think he's a pretty special player.

especially once he has the ball in his hands. Like, you're just not going to see that many guys that size who can, like, credibly take a wildcat snap and be a productive runner. Like, I want to say he averaged something like seven or eight yards per carry for his career plus a handful of touchdowns. Like, that's a pretty special athlete. I think it would be pretty fun to just add another player

you know, another mouth to feed in this offense. Now, I do think that it would kind of be an interesting fit with Cooper Cup and Jason, but that's the true fit within itself. So, you know, just keep stacking talent. Eventually Cooper Cup is off the roster. That's all I will get to.

Seriously though, you know, some of the, and they got the extra second round or two. So like, yeah, I'm sure Seahawks fans are going off. It's a line off. It's a line off. It's a line off. It's a line. It's like, no, I get that. But like Tyler Booker who might go here isn't real great fit for this type of offense. I think he's best power scheme and everything. So there's other guys that, but I think they're all like a little bit of a reaches, maybe not perfect fit offensive line wise again.

it's eye of the beholder with this. But they have a pick 50, they pick 52 because they traded DK Metcalf. They got picked 92 because of the Gino trade. So, or they got the one through the lines, but it's,

They have assets, and I think this draft is loaded with guys between picks 20 and 50. That's how I have a lot of guys graded, so it's a little more comfortable maybe taking those guys there. This is trying to maybe get the best of both worlds and trying to fit what they're trying to do there, which we'll figure it out. Most interesting team in the NFL, the Seattle Seahawks. But we're closing it out today. We'll be back on Monday with, I believe, a positional preview.

It'll be fun. We got some fun positional previews coming up. Charles and I will be doing some defenders for the draft. We'll have a receiver preview with Matt Harmon because that is his 110 mile an hour fastball. I can't wait for that one. We'll have an offensive line preview with a guy named Mike Tice. He apparently used to coach line or something in the NFL. I might know him, but yeah, we're going to do an offensive line preview show, which I'm very excited about. But we got all that. We got a quarterback preview show too with a special guest on that one as well.

That's going to be a lot of fun upcoming in the next month. Plenty of good stuff. I am Nate Tice. You can find me at Nate underscore Tice on Twitter and Nate Tice on blue sky, Charles, where can they find you? What are you working on? I believe you've got a nice little, maybe a little, some prospect profiles brewing right now. Yeah. Working on a finishing up a Shamar Stewart profile. Hopefully March Madness doesn't delay me too much, but everyone gets a mulligan on the first two days. So we'll, we'll see how long it takes to finish that. Um,

I'll be doing the fantasy forecasts for the next month with Matt Harmon doing our third year in a row now. We've done our fantasy forecast draft breakdown shows leading into the draft. Pulling me out of my comfort zone, getting me to talk about a bunch of skilled players. But next week, we're talking about running backs. Today, we talk about quarterbacks. A lot of Kim Ward, a lot of Shador Sanders.

We got the mock draft up. I feel like a broken record, but anything that me, Nate, Matt Harmon, Charles Robinson, Joey Epstein, Frank Schwab, that gang, just check us out because we're going to have you covered over the next few weeks for the draft. A lot of good stuff.

Working on our draft show. We'll probably be announcing that soon, which we're very excited about doing that live. But yeah, like Charles said, a lot of good stuff. I got my Shadera Sanders article out there. So check that out on Yahoo as well. Make sure to send those mailbag questions as well. Football 301 mailbag at YahooSports.com. Subscribe to us. Follow us. Rate us. Five stars. Five stars. You leave a question in there. We'll answer that question. I pinky pinky promise that we will. We have some.

Just a lot of stuff to talk about with the draft and free agency. I'm sorry, but watch us on YouTube as well. Yahoo sports, YouTube channel. Thank you to everyone behind the scenes. Thank you all for listening. See you guys next time. Last year, Americans ate 32 billion chicken wings. Who knows just how many helpless sides of celery were heartlessly thrown away.

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