40s and Free Agents: 2025's Rookie Report Card

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2:10Welcome to 40s and Free Agents. It's your regular podcast about the free agent market and NFL draft. I am Greg Rosenthal, and I am with Daniel Jeremiah for the first time during this regular season. DJ, we're going to be hitting the listeners each and every week, leading into free agency, leading into the draft starting in January. But the fans demanded that we stop by. We're going to do it quarterly during the regular season. Kind of look back at how last year's draft, how the free agency crop is doing right now. How are you enjoying your season without me? I miss you. I'll be honest with you.

2:52I do miss you. But this is like, you're like the dermatologist. I just need to check in every now and then to make sure everything's okay. You know, that's where I am. But I'm glad we're not having to wait until the offseason because it's fun. You know, you don't just, you know, go back and look at it as a whole. It's more fun when you kind of check in at the quarter marks and kind of see. and we can monitor the progress for some of these guys. Who's kind of building up from a free agency standpoint and in a rookie standpoint, and who's cooling off as we go through the year. It'll be fun to follow it.

3:19Yeah, I'm looking forward to doing this. And it's important too. I'm sure your evaluations are a little more meaningful than mine. People will remember them, and you got to work on your process. I don't know if anyone's really tracking my free agency 101 to see what I did well and what I didn't, but this is going to be a fun exercise. So we thought we'd just go through each position, go position by position, pick out some of the highlights, maybe who's been a good bargain in terms of a draft pick or a good signing in terms of a free agent. Why don't you get us going? Yeah, I mean, I'm just kind of looking at guys who've played and who've been kind of the top guys, and maybe through some of these positions, I don't have it for all of them because there just haven't been some guys that have played.

4:01Some of them I'll give you a guy who's been a little underwhelming. But let's start with the quarterback position, Greg, and if we're looking at the draft, there's only really two guys to talk about. Cam Ward, it's been a slog. We talked about it after the draft and in the run-up to the season. It was going to be hard for him with what they had around him. They're not good really in any department at this point in time. So because of that, you're seeing a ton of sacks. He's taking 17 sacks. The frustration is starting to bubble up. You've seen that in some of his comments after last week's game.

4:31I still believe in his ability. It's going to require patience, and they're going to need to fill a lot of holes on this roster. I don't know if I've learned anything about Cam Ward is what I'm getting at here as a number one overall pick. And maybe in the world's defense, there's a reason why he was the least talked about number one overall pick because the world realized what a cruddy group and situation he was going into. That press conference, which you're alluding to when he said, if we're keeping it a buck, we ask, which is a classic all-time quarterback quote. I watched the whole thing.

5:09And the one thing I feel differently about, just because I didn't know enough about, I'm actually impressed about how he's addressing their difficulties. And when I watch him on a week-to-week basis, he does things that wow you every single week. And I think he's doing as well as you could possibly expect in a really bad situation. Their offensive line has not played well. He just doesn't have the weapons around him. The guys they brought in, for instance, as a free agent, Tyler Lockett, no production whatsoever so i kind of like where he is as a leader the problem is i don't know if that coaching staff is going to be there it doesn't feel like it it does not feel like it um one of the one i'll hit quickly i was there for jackson dart's first start um and looked one of those things where if you box score scout and look at it like i didn't throw for that many yards he got sacked a bunch of times but i'm telling you the first thing you notice is when he jogged onto the field it lit up the whole stadium he brought a ton of energy and a ton of juice and inspired not only the stadium him, but his teammates, he ran, he ran the ball extremely well, even after he got nicked up.

6:07So the toughness and the athleticism was there, some huge third downs, you know, with his arm and with his legs, um, being able to go get some of those. So they're not protecting him with kid gloves as you would think in your first overall start. And, you know, chargers gave him a couple of gifts. They ended up, uh, with a couple of possessions starting inside the chargers 10, but they cashed it, they cashed the chips and he did a really nice job. And I think it's exciting. And I always go back to what we say, what we've said. I've tried to put you on this line of thinking, which is the, the Cardinal sin is to be bad and boring.

6:39Don't be both. And now the giants are exciting. They're not a boring team. And unfortunately neighbors went down. But Jackson dart's going to bring some fun to that, to that franchise. That's a good thing. Yeah. It was a, a Tim Tote T Bowie and kind of game for him, at least in terms of the box score and like the way that they won it. But obviously I think he's going to have more skills throwing the ball than man you were you were kind of the bad luck charm this weekend not to not to pick on you you're at the Ryder Cup on Saturday and then tough day for the Rangers Sunday so I will explain that so I'm as you know a man of faith and I was on the plane heading over uh to New York and I said Lord I would love for um the U.S.

7:19Ryder Cup team to win and I would love for the Padres to beat the Cubs and he said I can only give you one and so I apologize to uh all the American golf fans out there. I didn't know you had that sort of direct line. Another quarterback who also is a man of faith, Russell Wilson, just since you're talking to Jackson Dart, transitioning to the free agents. If you think about how this free agent quarterback market went and you think, well, the Steelers kind of chose Fields over Aaron Rodgers initially, like they supposedly wanted him. But then Aaron Aaron Rodgers ends up obviously with Pittsburgh because Fields gets paid more by the Jets.

7:59And then Russell Wilson was kind of the last in that little group. He ends up going to New York. I never bought the argument, and we talked about this on the show, that he was going to be some sort of upgrade, even on what they had a year ago. That proved to be true. And then Dart gets in there initially. I think the Steelers are ultimately happy with Aaron Rodgers, even if he's not a top-level quarterback. And Justin Fields has kind of been what you expected. some ups and some downs. I will point out, though, DJ, and I will eat some humble pie. Let's go to the Pacific Northwest, ladies and gentlemen.

8:31So I'm taping this in London. That's the dedication I have for 40s and free agents. I'm at TalkSport 2, where I'll be calling the game, by the way, like Daniel Jeremiah on Sunday, game over in London. So I woke up Friday morning to watch that Seahawks game, and it was just another great Sam Darnold performance. He's given them everything that they want. They're not putting too much on his plate, but I also won't pretend that he's not making at least four to five high-level plays each week. So he's really cut down on the mistakes, and he's made some wow plays without needing to throw 25 to 30 times a game because they have such a good defense.

9:09That has really worked out for them. He's been excellent. To me, I was watching Bears tape the other day, and I brought this up with somebody. I said, this sounds interesting, I guess, would be the word I would use, but I would have Caleb watch Sam because some of the Sam's issues that he had when he was really young in the NFL was he was too frenetic. It was too fast. And then now you look at there's a poison, a calm, and a quietness to him, like especially from his lower body. He kind of just gets relaxed, gets his cleats in the ground. He's comfortable, and it's made him more accurate with that.

9:41I think Caleb could learn a lot from Sam, which is pretty incredible that Sam, from where he was a couple years ago, with somebody I would recommend as teaching tape for a young quarterback who's been on a little bit of a roller coaster ride. The other thing I was going to give you, just because you mentioned you're going to be calling the game, I'm thinking you can take advantage of this because this will be on in Europe, right? This will be on. It's not an American broadcast, correct? Am I right? Yeah. I mean, it's radio. You can get it on YouTube if you're a big fan. You can recycle all of the great American calls.

10:14And this guy is the greatest broadcast of all. How about like, do you believe in miracles? Yes. And then you could come back with, I can't believe what I just saw. And then finish it off with, there are no flags on the field. It's a miracle. You could just recycle all of them and just claim them all as your own. Nobody over there is going to know. DJs got bits. I love it. I do wonder, you know, if you're an American football fan over here, I find them to be better fans than the casual ones back home. And they have been listening to American broadcast, so they might catch on to that. But I'll give it a shot and see if I get any response.

10:51One last thing on the quarterback cycle, and then we'll move. You mentioned getting quieter feet, getting a little better under pressure. I'm not saying Daniel Jones is all the way there yet, but he is a much calmer quarterback for the Colts. And thinking back to him, he was a backup with the Vikings. They didn't want to pay him that top-level backup money. It was sort of in between$14 million. Obviously, that's been a transformative decision by the Indianapolis Colts to get him on a$14 million deal. And he's playing the way that he is. I think he has looked a little calmer when he's been under pressure this year.

11:26Yeah, and it's been a theme if you're looking for the recycled quarterback escape from New York, man. It's Gino was able to do it. You've seen Sam do it. And now you're seeing Daniel Jones do it. So there's a lot of pressure that comes with that market. And we've seen some guys leave there and have success outside of it. let's jump to the receivers and I'll pick up the pace for us here, Greg. The three guys I'm going to hit on real quick. Ted Rowe and McMillan has been clearly the number one. The team stinks. Carolina Panthers aren't any good, but he's had a couple of drops. But overall, he looks the part of, you know, someone who has picked where he was picked.

11:58I feel very good about that one. If you were the Panthers, Abuka has been awesome. I mean, he's been, to me, the most impressive overall. He's, I think, what, about eight yards behind McMillan. but with all the different guys they have there in Tampa, I think what he's done has been more impressive. Some big time, big time, impressive catches. And then Travis Hunter was the third one. Just, you know, the production hasn't jumped off the screen yet. 13 for a buck 18. But he, to me, everybody's like, he needs to decide one or the other. I hear that argument. Just to me, he just needs time. He needs time.

12:31He's not, you know, just, just let it settle in. Brian Thomas Jr. can't catch the ball. He's been, you know, gosh, I thought he was going to have a monster year. That has not happened. but just be patient with Travis Hunter on that side of the ball. He's been good on defense from what I've seen. And then the one, I put one that I'm just personally a little disappointed in, and maybe there's more to come here. But like Jaden Higgins has five for 89, and I know they have guys there, but he's had one target. He's only throwing the ball once in each of the last three games. I thought he would be more a piece of their offense and a focal point.

13:00Now, he did get in the end zone, but he has not been really any type of feature guy there. Yeah, they don't have a lot going on offense in terms of their passing game. But you're right. Even in the first couple of games where Christian Kirk was not out there, his snaps were like in half. You know, they were somewhat limited, not getting a ton of targets. Agbuka might be he's got a chance to be rookie of the year. He has been that good. So I need to do some self-scouting, DJ, because all offseason, you know, who is atop my free agency wide receiver list. If you didn't count T Higgins, who ended up resigning, he was not signed by any team in the NFL.

13:35It was Amari Cooper. In the preseason, they kept putting it across the bottom line of NFL. Best available. Best available. I had him like number. But that's where, you know, I didn't know that the game just maybe wasn't in him anymore. And he got back to the Raiders and ended up retiring quickly. So I will point out, Stefan Diggs in this last week for the Patriots got a big deal. It's kind of a year by year deal where he got about 18, 20 million dollars a year. he's still less than a year away from his ACL surgery and he's not a burner by any means but he is the best receiver on that roster and he's smart enough to know where the openings and zone coverage are and I think ultimately they're going to be happy with Stefan Diggs I think that signing like a lot of their signings is working out right now yeah I don't know how long-term wise if he's going to be in their plans as they kind of get these young guys to uh to develop and continue to add to that core as they go forward but um they needed dudes they just needed some help at this point in time and the quarterback has played really well i do want to point out the best bargain at this position plays for your los angeles chargers keenan allen man i mean the production that they are getting from keenan allen i say i say it every year the best values in free agency are always the year by year guys in their early to mid 30s you think okay that's the end of their career i mean he's going to produce better than a lot of these 20 million dollar guys uh he has been excellent for them.

14:56Yeah. And there's proof of concept, you know, I always say, Oh, you want somebody that's been in the system, or maybe he's has a relationship with the quarterback or, uh, in this case you get a guy who's, you know, the greatest, you know, arguably the greatest receiver in the history of the franchise comes right back and picks up right where he left off. So, uh, he's been awesome and well-received inside the locker room as well. Um, you want to talk any running backs? Uh, your old guy, JK Dobbins is doing a good job in Denver. He's really the one that stands out to me as a guy who I think they got a good value.

15:25It's that year two after the surgery, and I think he fits that system really nicely. Yeah, I just hope he can stay healthy. If he stays healthy, he's always been productive. It's just a matter of being able to get him out there each and every week. To me, I like the idea of lightening his load as you go through, kind of manage him so that you have him as you get to the more meaningful section of the season. The running backs from the draft, it's a really good group. Gentty, both him and Hampton had big games last week. They're both playing well. Judkin, since he's got signed, he's been excellent.

15:54Escadabu, the numbers aren't wowing, but just, again, seeing it in person, he brings a lot of juice and energy and toughness. Watch him as a lead blocker now with Jackson Dart running the ball a little bit. To me, he's like a Mike Allstott you left in the dryer too long, just like a little shrunken down version of that. But he's fun. He is a fun watch with what he's done. The one that I wrote down that's been just a little bit of a bummer, and it's not that he's been terrible, but I really thought Travion Henderson was going to pop more than he has so far. He's got 105 yards on the ground. It's coming.

16:26A little more each week. He had a couple really bad pass blocking reps, which I was thinking about. He was the best pass blocking back that I've seen. I remember that, and I remember Vrabel getting on him in a post-game presser, so I decided to go back and watch it. It was only three reps, DJ, and he had catastrophic mistakes on all three, And then they just didn't play him for a couple of weeks on passing downs because of it. He had a penalty. He had missed assignment where he like gave up a sack and another pressure. And then back, they played him again more this week. He looks explosive to me.

16:58So I'm not too worried. One other great value that I just did not expect was Javante Williams is running really hard for the Dallas Cowboys. So some of these, these mid-career cheap backs that you always say, like you can find a back and you really can. Javante Williams has been good for the Cowboys. And to be honest, before he popped his Achilles, Najee Harris was running the ball well for the Chargers as well. So another one of those kind of mid-career guys. Do we have – let's go tight ends real quick. Tyler Warren has been everything as advertised. Harold Fannin has been awesome with Cleveland.

17:30Both those guys are key parts of their offense, focal points. And then the disappointment would be Colson Loveland, three catches through four weeks. Like that, you take a guy in the first round that high, even with all the other pieces they have, It's just he hasn't really been a factor at all. Not in an exciting position at free agency at tight end. So I'll just throw the Warren thing back at you. You were so high on Warren. And he's one of those guys that even watch him in the preseason, I think you could realize, oh, this is going to work. And I kind of think he's the most important player on their offense, I guess, other than quarterback.

18:03But it seems like so much of their offense is around him. He is a special player. Another possibility to win Offensive Rookie of the Year. And I think he's one of those weird guys that like, you got to watch a ton of them to appreciate him, you know, because if you're just looking at like, who's the silky smooth, like a dynamic, like he doesn't fit any of those narratives. He's just a really, really good player who understands how to play in space. He understands how to keep guys on his back when he's going to get the football. He's tough to get on the ground after the catch. He's a really, really, really good football player.

18:35So that was a perfect fit. That's one of those things. We said it in one of the first episodes we did right after the draft, which was this was the ideal need and value marrying up for them with where they were in the draft, and Chris Ballard nailed that one. You want to do some offensive linemen, Greg? I only have bad news for offensive linemen, but they were some of my strongest takes. Basically, you do not want to find offensive linemen in free agency. Now, this isn't every single year, but you do tend to overpay, and if you think about the teams that went in the most, it was the Vikings and it was the Bears, And I don't think either one of them are feeling too good about their investments.

19:10Will fries has been okay. Maybe I'm sticking in my head because I was at the game. It's a beautiful view. When you're calling the game, you can really see it. I know what DJ experiences every week, man. They were getting caved in even before Ryan Kelly left the game. And he's had a couple of concussions now early. Will fries has struggled. And then the bears, you remember we thought, well, did they fix their offensive line? They got to knee and drew Dahlman and Jodan Jackson. And I would say all three to varying degrees have struggled. Tooney's been okay. And the other two, in general, their offensive line, not really playing well on the interior.

19:44So it is tough to buy an offensive line is kind of my takeaway, especially on the interior. How old were you when you got married, Greg? Pretty young for this generation, although I'm not in this generation anymore. I think 27, 27. Okay, yeah, I was 22. But I remember I used to always hear people say like, oh you better you better find your person you don't want to be looking shopping when you're 40 there's not a lot out there's a reason why people are single in their 40s you don't want to marry them and i'm sitting here going like that's offensive line like if you're a decent offensive lineman you don't get nobody lets you out of the building so if you're out there and available for the most part there's a pretty good reason for it um and there's a little bit of a buyer beware there um yeah so dan more is another one which we criticized at the time wondering why he got so much money and he struggled for the Titans.

20:28Not good enough. Um, for the rookies, uh, look, Will Campbell, uh, Membu and Josh Simmons. I saw Josh Simmons live in person. He's going to be, we've said it, he's going to be really, really good. Um, provided he can be out there and be healthy. He is very talented. It's the, I think he's the best left tackle the chiefs have had. I don't even know how long it goes way back, uh, with, with how well he's played. And then, you know, one that I wasn't in love with at the time and who struggled as Ursary, You know, I was not an Ursary guy coming out. You know, even some of the statistical stuff, it shows that his pressure rate's over 10.

20:59He's given up four sacks. He's played on the left and the right side, which isn't really fair to a young player to have to bounce around a little bit. So sometimes it takes long. Big guys, DTs and OTs, there can be a little bit longer development process there. So you never want to give up on somebody early. And we've only been four games in. So let's track him as he goes through the year. Hopefully he gets better. Yeah, there's a lot of offensive line stories. Andrew Thomas really sticks out to me as a guy who, after his rookie year, Giants fans thought he was a bust. He turned into one of the best players in the entire league at his position.

21:33I've seen that quite a bit. All right, let's go to defense. You want to, let's do edges. You go first with your draft pick edges. Yeah, we're going to jump into edges. But before we do that, let's hear this amazing advertisement.

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