40s and Free Agents: Free Agency Fallout - How Moves Will Impact The 2026 NFL Draft

13:18Gregg Rosenthal:Like, he's three years, he's right back.

13:20Daniel Jeremiah:He's going to crush it for three years and be right back in the market.

13:23Gregg Rosenthal:It's a great move because if this Raiders dalliance doesn't work, he can do what Raiders coaches do, except he'll be doing it voluntarily, just leave and try to get to a better situation right afterwards.

13:34Daniel Jeremiah:No question. But hats off to, I don't know who his agent is, but that was the, by far the best player contract of this cycle.

13:41Gregg Rosenthal:Well, that's because, you know, teams get mad about that because now they're going to have to pay their centers more. That's why, you know, of course. Yeah.

13:49Daniel Jeremiah:Yeah.

13:49Gregg Rosenthal:Miami with Aaron Brewer and at some point it was Neil Cornridge, by the way.

13:54Daniel Jeremiah:And there's Neil Cornridge has had a lot of Iowa guys over the years. So there's a couple agents that have the like certain schools they're attached to, and he's been an Iowa guy. So congrats to Neil Cornridge. Nice job.

14:04Gregg Rosenthal:good job by him and uh he was one of many linder bomb that is interior guys who got paid elijah vera tucker who it i'm really glad i put high on my list because i think he's a great player i knew he'd be a risk i thought he might have to take a one-year prove-it deal but he gets 21 million dollars guaranteed three years 42 million dollars zion johnson you called that three years 49 and a half million dollars and by you called that you just thought he would get good money yeah and uh i put him a little higher on my list partly because of that and the rest of the nfl was very surprised but on 40s and free agents we were not surprised conor mcgovern uh the center gets 18 million dollars a year to stay uh with the buffalo bills so it was a position i think teams saw there's only so many real deal starters maybe plus starters available

14:51Daniel Jeremiah:and they got paid really good money can i can i uh i want to do an exercise so please i think this is proven that if you have the stomach for it it's always best to get to the market so greg Greg Rosenthal's a football player in another lifetime here. And you're getting, you're going to have somebody put a good chunk of money in front of your face. You're on the team. You've got a year left on your deal. Is Greg Rosenthal more likely to take that, you know, got it right now, not worried about injury or is, are you, are you a bet on yourself? Let's get to the free agent market and cash in.

15:21Gregg Rosenthal:I don't, I don't like the way that you're setting it up, but I am not waiting to get to free agency. I know myself. I'm taking it. I might take it too early. I might be like Rob Gronkowski. they gave him the earliest contract pot and it's just like this seems like enough i'm just gonna take it and not take any risk because it's it'll change my life either way time value of money

15:42Daniel Jeremiah:you're playing that game we're just gonna take the money now get it and get it invested right now

15:46Gregg Rosenthal:try and offset the money i'm giving up it to me it's a very human thing i think the fact that these guys get to free agencies it's a lot of times not betting on themselves it's just the teams weren't betting on them and they get there almost by mistake like if the colts thought alec Pierce was going to cost this much money they would have just signed him a year ago but they didn't really you know value him and I don't think the Chargers for instance valued Zion Johnson speaking of the Chargers their fans are freaking out really I don't know if you know this about the lack of activity I think they've signed a lot of guys which is crazy to me they signed Tyler Biotis at center yeah which is an upgrade got a lot of money you asked me before the show are you who are you surprised about in terms of what they got money Cole Strange getting a lot of money from the charges was a little a little surprising but i think they wanted more activity of these interior offensive linemen that they're not doing enough but i think they're kind of counting on the scheme to to take care of a lot of that and they got two great tackles they just paid a center

16:41Daniel Jeremiah:yeah they got two great tackles and i thought it was important that they invest in a swing tackle just as insurance they bring trey pipkins back um who again trey pipkins if you think out from a scouting standpoint was a small school player so he's 29 years old now he's been in the league for a while. It's all been with the Chargers under some different regimes, but I don't necessarily think that it's like a 29-year-old who came out of Alabama and he kind of always is who he's going to be. I think that if you look at what he was as a younger player, he's continued to get better and is definitely a serviceable, functional third tackle, which is necessary for them to have that kind of depth.

17:19Daniel Jeremiah:And then I was looking at what else did they have here? So with Cole Strange, Biotis is a starter. You get penning. They bring penning back on an affordable deal. I think in a perfect world, and I know they gave Strange some money, but I think in a perfect world, you probably get one more free agent and draft one. And then you just have a ton of depth and you have some healthy competition there amongst those two guard spots. So I do think that Strange, you know, it is interesting. He has not lived up to where he was selected, as you know, from following the Pats closely as you do. but he still has first round pedigree, even though it was a shock, especially to the Rams, uh, that he was a player.

18:00Gregg Rosenthal:And, and clearly Mike McDaniel agrees. He had him in Miami last year. And I always thought it was just staying healthy with the Patriots. Like he, he looked like an NFL player. He just,

18:08Daniel Jeremiah:so if you look at like penning, I think penning is 26 years old was a first round pick Cole strange. I think is maybe 27 was a first round pick. Like they have some pedigree and in a perfect world, neither one of them start. And you've got two first round, like there's a lot, two first round tackles. There's a lot of guys who came into this league with pedigree, although – and they're young. It's not like these guys are 33, 34 years old.

18:31Gregg Rosenthal:And they also gave Charlie Kolar, who's a blocking tight end,$17 million guaranteed on a three-year,$24 million contract. A guy I was glad to end up boosting, and he got into my top 70 in the end. he got almost as much money per year as chigo conco and k dot and who i really liked and isaiah likely who are more kind of do everything type tight ends yeah but it's harder to find what he does it's harder to find the blocker it's it shows to me that he had a really good market because that that that number does not get that high unless probably baltimore and some other teams

19:08Daniel Jeremiah:out there maybe it was the giants uh we're going for i wonder if i wonder um you know i don't know I'm just looking at their roster, but the fact that they go out and they sign a really good fullback and you pay a fullback in Alec Engle. You've got Scott Matlock, who's more, obviously, 300 pounds. It's more the Ravens way, the Ravens offense, which is not going to look anything like Mike McDaniel's offense. I wonder if there are people who would call on him. If you want to be a heavy team and you want to run gap runs, you would value someone like Matlock, who also can play D-tackle. He is a roster saver.

19:43Gregg Rosenthal:Yeah. I now look at other teams like taking players near the top of the draft. So the Titans went crazy in free agency, signing so many different defensive players, former giants, you know, they traded for Jermaine Johnson and they give Wondell Robinson a bunch of money. They bring in Cordell Flott and Elante Taylor, Elante Taylor got more guaranteed money or more total money than I think any free agent cornerback in history, which is insane. Franklin Myers gets a good contract there Does that inform what you think they are doing at number four overall?

20:20Daniel Jeremiah:I think they have to do something to help their quarterback I see all the activity, I'm looking at all their guys Just from a new starter standpoint on defense With Jermaine Johnson, John Franklin, Myers, Gouriel Flott, Elante Taylor That's a lot of pieces they've added there On offense, Wandale you mentioned, Schlottman at center But right now they don't even have a right guard and you're looking at the receiver position. Okay, I like Wandale. I don't know what's going to go on with Ridley. You've got a couple intriguing guys from last year's class with DK and Io Manor. But to me, you've got to do something for Cam Ward.

20:56Gregg Rosenthal:Couldn't that be Jeremiah Love, though? Couldn't that be Jeremiah Love?

21:00Daniel Jeremiah:100%. It puts him in that mix. I think that's what I'm saying. You're looking at Jeremiah Love. You're looking at Carnell Tate. Somebody help him out. I think they added a lot of good players. I prefer, and we've talked about this, but I prefer when you've got a young quarterback in free agency, let's just load up the offense. Let's get veteran guys that are going to help our young quarterback out. And then I'd rather add some pieces to the draft on the defensive side of the ball if you need to.

21:27Gregg Rosenthal:So Kansas City's picking at seven. They get Kenneth Walker. You would think that that kind of crosses them out for Jeremiah Love should he fall to that far. They basically lose their entire secondary, like Jalen Watson and Brian Cook, and they trade away McDuffie. But they're a team that's always drafted in the middle rounds of the secondary, and it's worked for them. So does that kind of change what you think about where they might be looking at number seven?

21:54Daniel Jeremiah:Yeah, to me, they're a trade-down candidate. I mean, that's where I've been kind of throwing this theory that I have out on that one, which is if you are – and it might be – it's far to travel for Minnesota. but man, Jeremiah Love with Minnesota would be a lot of fun, especially with Kyler Murray. As we're recording this, I don't think that's done yet, but it sounds like that's where we're headed. That would be fun. But then also, if you were the Rams and you think about the Rams, last year's team and how close they came, drop, punt, we all know the story. If you take that Rams team and I told you that same team, all of a sudden you get Trent McDuffie and Jeremiah Love on that team, do you think they win that game in Seattle?

22:34I mean, that would be fun.

22:37Gregg Rosenthal:I like Kyron Williams, but that's – I get a little respect.

22:40Daniel Jeremiah:Kyron Williams is a good player, but that's – I mean, I think two years ago, I remember looking at it. It was yards over expected. I think he was zero. It was literally zero. And this is a dynamic player. As much movement as they get with their offensive line, like that would be home run city, which Jeremiah love. And it would be a call back to Todd Gurley when they first got going there with McVay.

23:00Gregg Rosenthal:The Chiefs are part of an AFC trend, which the superpowers with the best quarterbacks, Ravens, Bills, Chiefs over the last few years, they've got a lot of roster holes. They've got a lot to fill, I feel like, in free agency. That's why, to me, doesn't trade back make sense with them? Yeah, I agree. The Jets are a team that went crazy on day one of free agency. After 48 hours of getting used to it, I maybe don't hate it as much as before. I know they needed players, But to get older and slower with Onyemada and Demario Davis, even Anikbari, who's not old, is not a dynamic, fast player. Minka Fitzpatrick, it seems like what are we doing here, really, if you're the Jets?

23:42Gregg Rosenthal:But especially, at least they filled in their defense. They needed players. They need offense, don't you think, at the top of this draft? They have four picks in the top 44 overall. They got Geno Smith. So quarterback's good for the next five years or so. You get a top 10 quarterback. But after that, I think you need some help around you.

24:00Daniel Jeremiah:You want a dated analogy? Just make myself look old, sound old. This is free agency is like you could go to Barnes and Noble and buy a book and have it for a lifetime. And the Jets drove right by Barnes and Noble and went and got their library card. And we're like, you know, we'll just check this book out. We'll return it in a couple of weeks, but we want to we'll read it and then we'll just bring it right back. That was free agency for them. It was it was a library card. Why is that dated?

24:23Gregg Rosenthal:Why is that date? I don't know if anybody goes to the library anymore, Greg. come to the Rosenthal family we got LA County library cards we got Santa Monica library cards we got LA public library cards this is how you help your children develop a love for reading which their parents show be the example for them and we're hitting up Barnes and Noble plenty too reading is a good time it makes you a better lister too

24:48Daniel Jeremiah:you know what they also have this thing called Amazon and you can actually order the book and it shows up on your doorstep sure but it's fun if you actually

24:56Gregg Rosenthal:like books to kind of look at all the different books. It's a good, it's a good experience. I know you weren't listening to me closely because you just let it slide by that. I said at quarterback, they got a top 10 guy for the next five years now. Oh, Gino.

25:07Daniel Jeremiah:I assumed you were talking about the quarterback they were going to take in the draft in 2027. So that's what I was assuming because they're already positioned for that.

25:13Gregg Rosenthal:They really do need a lot of help around them. Although I kind of forgot AD Mitchell was there. I don't hate AD Mitchell as a three behind Garrett at Wilson and a two to be named later. And then you got Mason Taylor and Brees Hall. Not a terrible group. It's not a terrible group.

25:28Daniel Jeremiah:The interesting thing with them is like, if you look at it for being a bad team, most times you look at a bad team and you'll see a horrible offensive line. Yeah. I actually kind of like their offensive line. Yeah. What they have.

25:40Gregg Rosenthal:They were in on Tucker though. And I think that one hurt for them. I have a feeling they expected to get him back. And it's the reason his price went up so much. I think there were multiple teams from what I heard that kind of looked at vera tucker and thought well we know it's an injury risk he's missed three of the last four years basically but he's possibly the best player so he quickly got out of that i have to sign a prove it deal and ended up having three or four teams really bidding him up i know the jets were

26:06Daniel Jeremiah:one of them and i know the giants and i know the giants and the browns were also in on wow see so and it sounded like he was he just thought it's been bad juju with the jets i'm gonna get out of

26:17Gregg Rosenthal:here all right let's take a break and we'll talk on the other side about some of the best players still available and then what teams help themselves the most in free agency.

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30:15Gregg Rosenthal:Back on the 40s and free agents where half the podcast is literate, you know, supports. The library's great. It's amazing that libraries even exist. All this free stuff they're giving you.

30:28Daniel Jeremiah:Let me just tell you something that'll put this whole thing to rest about me in the library. So as a kid, we used to go with my mom. And I remember it was a thing where she would reward us. My mom was very much into incentive clauses in our contract. So it was like if you could read X number of books over the summer, you could maybe go whatever, get ice cream or whatever you could do as a little kid. I distinctly remember being about, I don't know, 11, 12 years old. and the book that I checked out, I went in the sports section as I always did. I wanted to read a sports book. I read a book by Jerry Markbright, NFL official.

31:05Daniel Jeremiah:The life of an NFL official. It was like a 12-year-old. I literally, I don't know if that thing has ever been checked out before or after, but I did check out a Jerry Markbright NFL official book and I read it from cover to cover, Greg. It was like a 12-year-old.

31:18Gregg Rosenthal:I will look for it. Walker, my son, is very into the football books, has checked out a lot of them. I bet he would dig a little Mark Bright. So maybe we can be the second person. Let's make it time for All In, presented by Toyota. Talk about some of the teams that went All In during free agency. We already talked about the Titans. They spent$293 million in total contracts during the first three days. The Raiders are next at 281, and that does not count the Max Grosby money. I mean, someone had a great line of just like, you know, I know it feels weird for a rebuilding team, but trading two firsts for Max Crosby by the Raiders.

31:57Gregg Rosenthal:I actually like this roster next year. What do you think that this defense is going to look like? Yeah. I like what the Raiders did.

32:07Daniel Jeremiah:Which moves did you like out of the ones that they did? I liked a lot of the moves that they did. I'll tell you, I like the two linebackers that they brought in, former teammates.

32:14Gregg Rosenthal:How about both of them? When that came back to back, I was a little confused. I was like, do we really need both those guys?

32:19Daniel Jeremiah:Yeah, but I think they've played next to each other. They know each other well. So you start with that relationship. N 'Kobe Dean can be the nerve center. He's going to be an awesome blitzer. That's kind of his calling card there. Quay Walker's, I thought, was a little bit more of a developmental player coming into the league. So I think there's still time for him to continue to grow and improve. But you throw those guys in the mix, they got their college teammate, Eric Stokes. So they got three guys from that Georgia defense that are all there together. Quiddy Paye will be an interesting one.

32:49Daniel Jeremiah:I have to look this up, but I think he played on the same side as Max Crosby. Max Crosby never comes off the field, so it'll be obviously Quiddy will have to kick over to the other side. I know the metrics aren't friendly to him in terms of win rate, pass rush, win rate, as well as pressure rate. But again, he's got first-round pedigree, and he's explosive. And I think that defense overall, it's a lot of pieces that they added. And if you keep Max Crosby there as well, that helps. And then I can see the vision for what they're doing offensively. And I think they're going to go get a veteran quarterback.

33:27Daniel Jeremiah:That's been out there. So they're not going to have to start Mendoza at the beginning of the year, at least take some of those hits off of him. But now you look up and you get a healthy Colton Miller. You've got Linderbaum at center. Even though that trade doesn't go through, they still have some draft capital to address if they need to, another interior lineman. And, you know, they can add another receiver in a loaded draft. I think it's got a chance to be a much improved team off of what we saw last year. I mean, shoot, they won three games last year, Greg. I mean, that's going to be much improved.

33:59Gregg Rosenthal:The reporting is that Kirk Cousins could be going to Vegas. I like that. I don't really buy that. Kirk Cousins is starting week one over Fernando Mendoza.

34:07Daniel Jeremiah:Did you see the chat, by the way, that Drew put in there?

34:10Gregg Rosenthal:I do. I was waiting for, like, the natural kind of segue. I was just taking you back. Many of the listeners just want to get there first. Yeah. The book Born to Referee, My Life on the Gridiron is available at the San Diego Public Library right now by Jerry Markbright.

34:25Daniel Jeremiah:Look at what it costs on Amazon.

34:28Gregg Rosenthal:Amazon, you can get it for$2.17. That's$2 you don't need to spend.

34:34Daniel Jeremiah:What about the gas? Look at gas prices, Greg. Gas prices to and from the library is going to cost you more than$2.17.

34:42Gregg Rosenthal:That's fair, but it's about the experience. It's about the love of the game.

34:46Daniel Jeremiah:Is there anybody in there when you go in there? Yes. Outside of Jason Bourne on a computer trying to solve crime?

34:54Gregg Rosenthal:It's crowded. People are using it. There's all sorts of different fun. I mean, the LA Public Library, we're going way to it, is one of the most beautiful buildings in the entire West Coast. It's an amazing building. We're down there all the time. They got the big manga room for my daughter. She likes it. Let's talk about the Commanders. I really like what the commanders did, especially on Wednesday. They kind of went for the second level free agents. There was actually like three straight guys that were in my thirties in my top one-on-one. They were like three of the top five players available and they picked them off one by one.

35:28Gregg Rosenthal:I started wondering, are they just reading off the list? It was Caleb on chase on Leo Chanel, Leo Chanel, kind of the edge rush. I mean the edge rather linebacker off ball linebacker that can also rush

35:40Daniel Jeremiah:Who lives in the A-gap, like just mug up the center.

35:44Gregg Rosenthal:And then Nick Cross, who's a great run-stopping safety and just kind of flies around. And so some guys who can win one-on-one matchups, and then you add Adafi Owe in there, as you call them, the fastball, added a lot of young athleticism, Chigo Konko, on the offensive side. And an interesting transition here to Durante Jones, who is kind of a Brian Flores disciple, helping to run the defense. I'm just much more intrigued to watch what the commanders are going to look like this year compared to where I was at the end of last year.

36:15Daniel Jeremiah:Yeah, I'm curious to see. You know, they've still got Chris Paul left guard. He's a free agent. So there's a hole there that they need to plug. What do they do at that spot? And, you know, look, Debo's going to he's he's out there. He's probably not back. You're looking at Luke McCaffrey, McLaurin, Traylon Burks they brought back. Right. so maybe just a little more a little more firepower offensively they're another team

36:41Gregg Rosenthal:that's the word the word is it's brandon iuke will be at least part of that jayden daniels

36:45Daniel Jeremiah:buddy um so yeah that would be nice just hopefully his heads his head's in a good space and come in there with his with his friend and and he plays well but they're they're another team when you just kind of look at him and we're looking at where are the uh jeremiah love spots you know where the fun places that you can see him go. That's an interesting one.

37:05Gregg Rosenthal:That would make a lot of sense to me, and I could absolutely see them doing that. GM and Adam Peters, who saw the value in having Christian McCaffrey back there in San Francisco helped to trade for him, and there's a big hole there. Oh, I like that. The team I'll mention, and you can throw out anyone if you have one, that I thought under the radar was good. I like what the Saints did. You know, David Edwards was a good pickup from Buffalo. There's a really solid guard. The Cesar Ruiz spot is still a problem to me, but otherwise they got a pretty promising looking offensive line with those two young tackles.

37:42Gregg Rosenthal:If you can keep Eric McCoy healthy and David Edwards, like that's a nice foundation. Then Travis Etienne, I thought the money was solid for him. I have a feeling Alvin Kamara is not going to be on this team anymore. And then Caden Ellis coming back to new Orleans, kind of filling out that linebacker position. Just three rock solid, I think, guys that are going to be B +, A-s, safe pickups, I think, in free agency. And they traded for one of the best punters in the league, which is under the radar, but they're punting stunk. And it's just kind of an easy way to upgrade your special team. So I like what the Saints have done.

38:17Daniel Jeremiah:Yeah, and they're out of cap jail. How about that for those guys?

38:21Gregg Rosenthal:Right, they're not even putting the weird void years and doing all the cap gymnastics, so that has to feel good. All right, let's go to my best available player. You can even give me a chance. I mean, you just. Oh, I thought that was it. I thought that was it. I thought that was your sign that you weren't saying anything.

38:33Daniel Jeremiah:Let's talk about who we, I'm looking at the different depth charts to see what other moves that I liked. You know, let's talk about our favorite moves and let me just tell you my favorite moves and then let's get to the next segment. That's fun.

38:43Gregg Rosenthal:Well, when you have kind of a non-answer answer, I thought it's just like, hey, we're over 30 minutes. I'm on the clock. I'm DJ. You know, ESPN is coming aboard. My time is valuable. I got to move the sticks right after this.

38:53Daniel Jeremiah:I got to move the sticks coming up right after this. I can't already be. I'll tell you what, I was just looking at individual moves. So I always try and look at the young quarterbacks and what are they doing to help them. We talked about Tennessee, and I thought I'd like to see a little bit more offensively there to help them. I think Wandale does give them some easy completions. So the Giants have a young quarterback. They lose Wandale. Go out and get Isaiah Likely. I think that provides some easy completions for Dart. So I like that move. and you start looking at them, they're another weapon you could see.

39:26Daniel Jeremiah:Next year, if you looked at how Dart played last year, and then you say, okay, if we have neighbors back, and he's hopefully back to 100 % health, you had Isaiah likely, and then you add another weapon piece. It could be with where they're picking high in the first round. Is that Carnell Tate on the outside? Are they a Jeremiah Love team? A lot of Jeremiah Love teams. And there's – man, that would be exciting to watch what Dart can do, new offense with all those new pieces to play with.

39:54Gregg Rosenthal:I agree, but I also think they've had a weird offseason. I think they've just missed on a lot of guys. Some of their ex-Giants I think they wanted to keep go to Tennessee because of the day ball. Flot. They were just in the mix for a lot of the bigger name offensive players, and you just heard them as like they were in the mix for a lot of guys and kind of did the Cowboys thing where they were just coming up a little short. So I feel like they have a big move or two to make still. They just seemed like they were ready.

40:28Daniel Jeremiah:There's still guys out there. There's still some stuff out there.

40:31Gregg Rosenthal:Yes, there are. Do you have any other favorites? I don't want to move on too fast for you.

40:34Daniel Jeremiah:No, no, that's pretty much it. There's other teams that did some good things. I liked Carolina getting those two pieces on defense. You know, that was definitely a need for them. Looking at some of these other teams here, anybody else? You know, look, not an easy task for Cleveland to rebuild an entire offensive line. But I like some of the pieces that they brought in there. And they are one, if you think about, you know, teams that have done things in free agency that inform what they're going to do in the draft, the Titus Howard trade and the announcement that he's going to be the right tackle, they need a left tackle.

41:08Daniel Jeremiah:And in this draft, the way that it goes in terms of how I stack the players, you got a couple right tackles and a guard as the top three lineman for me. Now, it's not that there are all these top five, six guys are clumped relatively close together. So they're in the market for a left tackle. So Monroe Freeling, while I might have him as the fourth or fifth best lineman, he's the true left tackle of the bunch. And he hasn't played a lot, but he's got it all in his body. He's super, super talented. If you think about the Andrew Thomas arc where it was not a good start and then he continued to get better, it was some development that needed to take place.

41:48Daniel Jeremiah:I think you could see the exact same thing with this one with Cleveland. Taking Monroe Freeling on draft day, it's like, whoa, I did not have him rated as the sixth best player in the draft. But he's the left tackle, and they're in a position now where they desperately need one, and I don't think they can wait until their second first-round pick. I don't think they'd have one there they'd like.

42:07Gregg Rosenthal:They brought in Elton Jenkins, too, the former Packers lineman. That was one of my favorite moves in free agency. I know he's coming off some injuries, but in terms of the level of player, you could argue he was right there with Vera Tucker as one of the best, if not the best, offensive lineman available, if he's healthy, versatility for the money that they got him. But between him and the injury risk and Zion Johnson, you're taking on a lot of risks. You brought back Tevin Jenkins. But, yeah, it's hard to fill an entire offensive line. Yeah, that's a tough task, but I like Titus Howard.

42:37Daniel Jeremiah:I like Titus Howard. Zion's going to be a solid functional starter. Elton Jenkins gives you the flexibility where you can see how the draft shakes out in terms of center guard. He can play the other spot. So I think they did a good job.

42:50Gregg Rosenthal:So that kind of leads us to who's still available. As I mentioned, only two of the top 40 on my list are out there. It's Kyler and it's Rasheed Walker of the Packers who had a 19. after that some interesting names in terms of wide receivers juan jennings stefan diggs is out there debo samuel like some big names that sort of second level older receiver market hasn't really uh shook out there are some offensive linemen out there wyatt teller uh is still out there some of the guns for hire in the defensive line like a joey bosa Calais Campbell are still still out there. Yep. Like he's like a solid three.

43:34Gregg Rosenthal:He's like a solid third guy. There are a decent amount of like guys who can come and still help your team out there, but just doing the numbers, there's only about 25 of the original one-on-one are still there. And a lot of them are, are the players like 85 to one-on-one. So in general, you're just looking for guys to help you is there anyone that kind of surprised you that's that's still out there

43:57Daniel Jeremiah:no i mean i think you i mean just waiting on kyler i mean that's the big one but goddard

44:03Gregg Rosenthal:for the eagles had uh avoid in his contract extended through the end of the week which indicates to me they're probably working on something with him that maybe he went out saw his market he's still a free agent it probably wasn't you know massive money and now he might be returning to Philadelphia. So that surprises me because I thought that was going to change. I thought Rashad White was going to get snapped up. It was really interesting. My top five running backs were gone within like three hours of free agency starting. Like it was actually the position, and they all didn't get massive money, but everyone's like, I need one.

44:39Gregg Rosenthal:I'm going to get one. And then it ended up being seven of my top eight. I think that's where the draft changed.

44:44Daniel Jeremiah:The running back group is not great. It's a very limited running back class. So I think teams saw that supply. We've seen that every year there's a position like that, and they go, we better go get that taken care of.

44:54Gregg Rosenthal:And it's nice to see it happening at running back, which is rare. But I think Rashad White's a really good player, and he's kind of gotten left out in the cold. I don't know if he just wanted too much money, but he could be someone that someone goes for in the next couple of days. So we'll see. Rasheed Walker, I think, probably just had unrealistic expectations. He probably saw that Dan Moore contract from a year ago, and that was the starting point. And ultimately, no one saw him as like a$20 million a year player. Here are the teams that have spent the least amount in free agency, by the way.

45:26Gregg Rosenthal:The Vikings have only spent$15 million. We knew that they didn't have much. The Eagles, they brought in Reek Willen, but that's basically it. The Lions and the Falcons have been relatively quiet. And then the Broncos, Seahawks, and Jaguars are teams that have essentially just re-signed a couple of their own players. The Jaguars, Monteric Brown was the player they re-signed. the Seahawks brought back Josh Jobe, which obviously they're happy with. Rashid Shahid was a nice keep for them. The Broncos almost haven't done anything. Broncos fans are getting a little messed up. I'm surprised by that. Yes.

46:00Gregg Rosenthal:But I think they could be coming. It wouldn't surprise me if they are the team that spends in a trade for one of these receivers out there, A.J. Brown, Brian Thomas Jr. I was going to ask you that.

46:13Daniel Jeremiah:To me, if you think about his style of receiver, Sean Payton talks about it all the time. He likes bigger. He likes more physical guys. And that's who he's always had and always played with. And I'm like, A.J. Brown? Nobody's really talked about Denver with A.J. Brown. At least I haven't seen that out there. But that one would make a lot of sense. And I do think there is something to Philly needing to get the Goddard thing done in order. I don't know all the specifics of it, but there's some money component there that if they were going to move A.J. Brown, they have to get the Goddard thing done first.

46:45Daniel Jeremiah:so I know there's some connection there talking to smarter people than I am on the salary cap front so maybe that's maybe that's what leads to something like that happening we'll be transitioning

46:55Gregg Rosenthal:on 40s and free agents you know more of a focus on the draft and certainly this was like how it impacts the draft but I'll tell you a lot of games will be won by the veteran moves that happen from now on after this first wave because i just mentioned the bills and the chiefs and the ravens i'll throw the lions in there there's a lot of like falcon but it i'm trying to even mention like teams that you expect to be in the mix to try to compete for a super bowl with a few more holes at this point in the off season than they usually do so i don't like what the Bills have done, by the way. We'll probably get into some winners and losers on NFL Daily so far, but they're going to have to find starters.

47:41Gregg Rosenthal:And then there's teams like the Dolphins out there where I look at their all 22 and I'm like, they need six starters still. They might need nine starters still.

47:49Daniel Jeremiah:So that's what surprised me the most. If you just said the move that surprised you the most where the price made sense and the familiarity made sense, but I thought it was, I'm not going to use the T word, but I thought they were all eyes on 27 in Miami, and they were going to run out a bunch of young, inexperienced players and see what's stuck, and then be positioned for the draft in 27. They still are. They didn't do that.

48:14Gregg Rosenthal:They did.

48:15Daniel Jeremiah:Well, you went out and got a quarterback, though. I thought they were going to roll, hey, we'll try Quinn Ewers, see what that looks like, and then we'll be ready for one next year.

48:23Gregg Rosenthal:I hear you, and I'm glad we brought that up, and we'll wrap with that. I think they're having their cake and eating it, too. They're not spending anywhere else on free agency. it does look like a rebuilding slap. You don't want to use the T word, like you said, but they still look like one of the worst rosters in the league. But for the money that they're paying Malik Willis, like it's less than Adafi Owe's making. You know what I mean? Like way less. You're paying him$23 million a year. That's probably like 20th to 25th at quarterback. Like even the Daniel Jones contract only slots him about 15th, 16th.

48:58Gregg Rosenthal:So you're not really paying him real money. And I think you get to evaluate him. And it's just exactly what I say teams should do. I think it's a great process. You're buying a lottery ticket. And it seems like it's an expensive lottery ticket. But there's no long-term damage. If it doesn't work out with Malik Willis, they'll just move on quickly. And if he plays really well, I don't think he's playing so well that they're going to suddenly win 10 games no matter how well. And if that happens, that's a great problem to have. So I think it's a good process.

49:27Daniel Jeremiah:Yeah, I was getting texts. I was getting texts on Pro Day numbers. So I didn't listen to anything that you just said, Greg, but I'm sure it was really, really smart.

49:37Gregg Rosenthal:Well, I saw you looking at your phone, so I just kept going.

49:41Daniel Jeremiah:I'm trying to double check this real quick. Is it USC Pro Day today?

49:48Gregg Rosenthal:It is USC, yes. Bridget Cotton's out there for NFL Network.

49:52Daniel Jeremiah:I just got texts. Mekhi Lemon ran from Scout that's there. uh, four, five, seven, four, five, three, no jumps.

50:02Gregg Rosenthal:Okay.

50:03Daniel Jeremiah:I mean, that's kind of four, five, three is about, I mean, I think Amon Ra with maybe low four fives, a lot of good receivers are running that four or five range. So not, not, uh, I'm sure he would love to rip the four mid four, four, but he's more quicker than fast. So I'm still, I mean, I'm dating free agency. I'm still married to the draft, Greg. You know what I mean? Like I just, I get draft information.

50:25Gregg Rosenthal:Clearly you found the hand times that could have, waited one minute longer way more fascinating than my big malik willis was a good process signing

50:33Daniel Jeremiah:take yeah i mean i feel like i heard the first 40 seconds of your take and then i thought it wasn't really going to get any better from that point on so i didn't know i needed to tune in for the remaining two minutes of the thought so that's when i ejected and got some pro some pro day times

50:45Gregg Rosenthal:uh that was it 40s and free agents we will be back on our normally scheduled tuesday show next week. In the meantime, I do want everyone to go to their local libraries, support them. Don't be late returning those books, though. They're pretty lenient these days. They let you renew. Especially for old books like Born to Referee, My Life on the Gridiron by Jerry Markbright. If any listener out there shows us that they can get a copy, we'll buy you a free ice cream. We'll take you out. Especially if you can get it from the library. We'll see you next week.

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