40s and Free Agents: The AFC East's 5 Impact Additions and Rookies

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0:11We are back on 40s and free agents. I'm Gregg Rosenthal alongside Daniel Jeremiah from his mansion in the San Diego area. But that's not it's not public knowledge. We can't let anyone know where you live because, you know, you rank these guys. People would get upset. They come after you. I can't tell if that's a Tommy Bahamas shirt or like a janitor shirt. Like what are we wearing here? You know, this is an audio medium. Hopefully we can get it. Where's the patch? I feel like you should have your name and a patch on that thing. You know, this is the second negative comment I've gotten today. The other one being from my wife on it.

0:46I got it. Really? I believe in. And are there two opinions you care more about than those two? That's the top two ranked right there. Today we are wrapping up our division. look at the 2025 season by taking a little look back of the biggest additions in terms of veterans and rookies. It is the AFC East. And now we get to do it, DJ, with the knowledge of everything that happened in training camp and the preseason and spin it forward. We are so close to this season actually starting. You do the rookies. I do the veterans. Why don't you get us going? Sure, I will. And I don't know if there is video that lives on this.

1:23I know this obviously in audio form, but if you could just move your mop and bucket, it's in the screen a little bit. If you just move it a little bit to the left, thanks. I mean, it's at least cleanly pressed and stuff. It looks like at least I'm putting in a little bit of effort unlike you. I agree to disagree. I'm going to go, I teased this on the last one, so let's jump right into it. Let's go to the Miami Dolphins. Let's go to the sixth round in Ollie Gordon out of Oklahoma State, who is a big physical back. As I do, again, we should have got this sponsored, Greg. I think you came up with that idea.

1:54going back through some of these draft notes. But Ollie Gordon, to me, someone that I had, he was 141 on my list. I don't know what the overall pick was where he ended up getting picked. He was 179, so that was still a little bit higher on him than where he went there. But 6013, so 6 '1.5", 226 pounds. Ran 461 in Indy, one of the slower running back times there. But didn't bother me at all when you look at the way that he runs. He's got a huge lower half. He's a nifty big back. So if you think about comparisons, I wrote down LeGarrette Blount, is who he reminded me of. Someone who can absorb contact.

2:31He can actually catch the ball really well. You'll see some one-handed catches when you study his film. He's aggressive and pass pro. I just wrote he's fast enough. For what he does, his style, he's fast enough. Senior Bowl was excellent. Had a big-time game in the Senior Bowl. So I think they got a great value there, and I think what I've seen in the preseason, this guy runs really, really hard. These backups that have been trying to tackle him can't bring him down. You know, they just bounce off him. Now we'll see it against better competition in the regular season because I think he's going to have a chance.

3:01Jalen Wright was supposed to be the backup there. He's out right now with an injury. We'll see if he's back for week one. But Gordon maybe won that job anyways over Jalen Wright. We'll see. And Devon Achan is banged up right now with a soft tissue injury. So it could be week one, Ollie Gordon getting some really... big time snaps. And I, I too was impressed. Maybe the big back is coming back. DJ. I love it. Cause you know, cause you know, the extra tight end formations, more power. You're seeing too high, too high safeties, the boxes, you know, it's lighter boxes. So you get somebody that can just kind of be a little bit of a hammer in there.

3:38It's kind of fun. So the dolphins will be using Minka Fitzpatrick quite a bit in, in those too high safety formations that, that Anthony Weaver does like to run. And that's my pick for the dolphins there. A really important year in his career, an important player for the Miami Dolphins. I think they gave up a lot to get him in terms of Jalen Ramsey, who wasn't happy there, and Jonu Smith, who wanted a new home as well. And Minkah Fitzpatrick has had an interesting career. Sometimes those deep safeties, DJ, you just don't hear from him as much in some years than others. But if you listen to the reporters and some of the coaches in Pittsburgh, I do think they were a little disappointed with Minka Fitzpatrick over the last year or two.

4:24Sometimes maybe he was. He had one pick. Right. Sometimes he was freelancing a little bit and not being part of the structure of the defense and not making as many big plays after an incredible start to his career, almost like a Hall of Fame type of start to his career. Still relatively young. I think he's 28 years old. And so they need him to be a playmaker in a secondary that doesn't really have any other options to be playmakers. I think of safeties and interceptions from a scouting standpoint. There's two types of interceptions. There's ones where the ball finds you, and there's ones where you go take the ball away.

4:55And Minka had that production early, and that wasn't just the ball falling in his lap, tips and overthrows. This was him seeing things, driving on routes, making plays on the ball. This was him as a playmaker. And we just haven't seen that the last couple years. So I'm hoping it's in there. I'm hoping this kind of revitalizes him going back to Miami, and we see that old school version of him, but I don't think he's been the same player the last couple years. He got paid. He wanted to get paid, by the way, by the Dolphins when he got there, and they essentially decided, no, you've got to prove it this time.

5:30I think they gave him, they moved his money around a little bit, but he's basically in a contract year. Can he get one more big contract? So he'll be motivated to get it done. And I think Anthony Weaver in that second year in Miami, with that defensive front, one of the best defensive fronts if everything clicks in the entire league. Stay healthy. Maybe there'll be opportunities to make some plays because of that quick pass rush. Go ahead with your second rookie. They just need to stay healthy too, man. Those edge rushers are very talented. They just haven't been able to get them on the field.

5:58So I'm going to go to my next one here. And again, I do not have a first-round pick in this division in terms of my guys I'm keeping an eye on that I'm excited about, which is interesting. I'm going to go to Buffalo, and I'm going to go to Landon Jackson, edge rusher out of Arkansas, third-round pick. This was a transfer there at Arkansas who spent a lot of time in the SEC. He's played against great competition. And I loved the way that he played with the edge that he played with, the physicality that he played with. He's 6 '6", 264 pounds. He ran 4.68. Excellent straight line speed. Had an awesome senior bowl game, so that's kind of a nice thing to see when you're going through the process.

6:38He wins with a long arm rush. He crushes tight ends. As an edge rusher, you cannot get blocked by tight ends. He dominated those matchups. Some angle blocks, you know, some guys when they could, you know, block down on him or crack on him, he needs to work on some of his awareness there. But thought there was a violence to the way that he played, and I thought he played with outstanding effort. And if you think about the Buffalo Bills and how they play, effort, physicality, it's a big part of it. This is a big guy who can run, who plays really, really hard. So I'm excited to see him in Sean McDermott's defense.

7:08Yeah, I think they could really use some core pieces that pop for them that are younger. And he has the opportunity to do so. Like my wild card, I just got thrown out now, is Joey Bosa. Because to me, he's the ultimate wild card. And he's part of this conversation. I have been tracking. He had a healthy training camp. So that's a good sign. Healthy preseason. I don't know if the snaps are there for Landon Jackson right off the bat because they have Epinesa. They have Rousseau. They have Bosa. Do you think he's a guy that could play a little inside? And also among that trio, like they've missed some time with injuries.

7:47And so that could open up an opportunity for Jackson. And to me, look, the Bosa and I've been around, you know, Joey for every game that he's played, you know, going through his career here. Or I guess I think maybe not even maybe miss his first year or so. But to me, you sign Joey Bosa for the playoffs. You sign him to get him, manage him through the season, you load management, whatever term you want to use, but you want him healthy and ready to rock when you get into those meaningful late-season games and healthy into the postseason, the playoffs. So I would say it behooves them to roll guys through, and I really think he'll earn a role.

8:20He can rush inside if you want him to. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I think he had like eight or nine pressures in the preseason when I was going through some of the rookie numbers the other day. So he's shown some signs he's going to be able to get out there and help him. I hold it against Landon Jackson, though, that during the initial run of 40s in free agents, I called him Donovan Jackson or vice versa so many times. It was just hard. There's also Landon Donovan. It's just someone's got to choose. Someone's got to change it. Maybe that's a me problem. I think it is a me problem, but it's too confusing.

8:55Well, I can see how you would be easily confused. Who's next? Well, I threw out Bosa as my wild card. Oh, okay, yeah, we're counting Bosa, so then I get to go with my next one there. I'm going to go to a team that I said at the time, and Jack Andrade, who does all the research, backed it up in terms of just the raw numbers. The New England Patriots, based off just how I saw players going through the draft process, had the best draft in the NFL in terms of the quality of player and the value with where they got the players in this draft class. So I've got two of them there. I'm going to go with two skill guys on offense.

9:28Obviously, Will Campbell is going to be a big part as their left tackle. But Travion Henderson at running back, you saw it early in the preseason when he took a kick to the house. He is a dynamic weapon, and you're going to see him big time in the pass game. I mentioned it. If I go back through my notes, he's the best pass-protecting running back I've ever evaluated coming out of the game. That's the number one thing that keeps rookie running backs from getting playtime or getting on the field is the trust of the coordinator and the quarterback in pass protection. This guy is elite, elite, elite in pass pro.

10:01Big time speed, versatility. He can run every route out of the backfield. It's not just, you know, he's running an option route. You can split him out, let him run receiver routes. He's got home run speed. He ran 4-4-3. He plays much faster than that. So he just got to keep his feet alive a little bit on inside runs. There's times where his feet can go dead. He's not going to be a wear-you-down runner, but he is a find a crease and create a bunch of explosives. He's going to be fun for Patriot fans to watch. Man, he could not have gotten Patriots fans more excited with this preseason that he had, not just on the field in the games where he showed a variety of different types of plays, like inside runs where he did do a good job fighting through and scoring in the red zone.

10:46Also running, I forget what cornerback it was on the Vikings over, but just like steamrolling him with a rugged run but then also these wheel routes and and busting open the kickoff like you said and he's he's gonna be a much different player than than a Shane Vereen and Danny Woodhead and these guys but Josh McDaniels has brought up those he knows how to use those like he in and if you can add you know his speed to some of the skill set that those guys had like watch out there's gonna be a lot of Patriots in this in this show I hate to bring it to you because they They were so active. And they need to have a good draft, by the way.

11:24Drake May literally might be the only 2024 draft class member to make this team. I saw that. That's not a good look. I will go with Milton Williams. Look, he was at the top of my free agency list, and he got taken by the Patriots. They went over the top to get him. He wasn't the top of my original list, but all the re-signings happened and the franchise tags. And it's the type of guy I think that you should overpay in free agency. And I think ultimately they did overpay him. If they get a version of him, DJ, between the Milton Williams we saw for the first 12 weeks of last season and then the Milton Williams we saw down the stretch and in the playoffs, if it's somewhere in between, I think they should be happy.

12:08And I think that is the type of player that they should bet on. But I can imagine the Boston Sports Radio Yahoo is being like, well, what's this guy? You know, he's got some pressures. He's got like four sacks because I don't think he's going to be an all-pro player. I just think he's going to be a good plus starter. And if you have the money, spend it because it's hard to find those guys in free agency. Dynamic, explosive. I remember when he was coming out into the process, he was like one of my favorite players that I watched in that cycle. And I remember talking to the guys in Philadelphia, you know, before, during, and after they got him in there.

12:44And, I mean, he's such a good kid, and he just got better and better and better. The explosiveness was always there. Then you just started seeing the playmaking come along with it. I think you were right to have him as highly rated as you did through the free agency process. This is the way my mind works. It's kind of weird, Greg, but I was just sitting there thinking he was going to sign with the Panthers, right? That was everything's going that way. He ends up signing with the Patriots. So James Taylor wrote the song, In My Mind I'm Going to Carolina. But where's James Taylor from and who's he a fan of?

13:19he's a patriots guy so literally in his mind he was going to carolina then he's on that mass from stockbridge to boston yes exactly so again that's uh if we had the music rights i'm sure we don't maybe with all that espn money coming in there we can get the rights to that song we could just drop it right in the episode but i don't think that's finalized yet i wouldn't have thought that my parents you know playing james taylor non-stop and in the car dragging me to inform your free agency thoughts to some concerts at tanglewood back at back in the day when i was like oh do we have to do this like oh it'll be okay and does he stand up at a concert because i've i've never been to a james taylor concert but it feels i went to a vince gill concert and it was very much just kind of sit down enjoyable like like enjoyable really talented musician but not really a stand-up situation?

14:08I don't remember. I was a kid. My guess is he's sitting. Yeah, those are soft tunes. The crowd's definitely sitting. The crowd's definitely chilling. They're drinking wine. You know, Milton Williams was maybe the second best defensive player in that stretch in the playoffs for the Eagles next to Jalen Carter. He just was so good. So you do wonder how much of that was the Eagles and the attention to Carter. Well, he's got Christian Barmore next to him here. Pretty good defensive line there with Harold Landry who was also a pickup. And, you know, I just hope that the expectations aren't so high that people are disappointed.

14:43Because I think if he's just like a really good player, that's what they needed. They had more than enough cap space. And they spent so much money in free agency. I'll just throw out another one too, because to me it was all combined. Carlton Davis was another one on their defense. And so you spent it on Williams, Harold Landry, and Davis. Davis was the one I'm choosing as one of my five. kind of a boomer bus player that they're going to really need to stay healthy and hold up is good in man coverage but how how important is like man coverage in in 2025 being that kind of cornerback dj well it depends there's there's very few teams that are just going to let you go nose to nose and play man coverage the whole time so um they're not not not uh not as useful for the majority of teams it's it's nice it's a great luxury i think given their druthers most teams would love to have corners where you can line up and do that, but not many teams have it.

15:36So that's just kind of the way the game's played right now. I'm going to go Patriots last one here. Kyle Williams, who I know is a favorite of yours as well, receiver. He was my 57th overall player. He was the 69th pick. So again, just kind of another example of, I thought they kind of knocked it out of the park in terms of the value where they found these guys a little bit under 5 '11", 190 pounds, ran 4 '4", flat, played inside and outside. He was excellent in his releases, getting away from press. He's got vertical speed. He can separate. I love his ability to win early on routes. You want to run a slant, you want to get on top of guys, he can do it right away.

16:14He's got burst with the ball in his hands for run after catch. He was excellent again at the senior bowl, which you kind of see a theme here. A lot of these guys that do really well in that setting it does uh bode well for their future um and his ability this is kind of a kind of a it's i try to think of the right ways to describe this but you know it when you see it so i i like guys who can go from a static position to a burst you know like think about just if you're if you're running a curl route you face up you catch the ball you catch the ball you're static your feet are in the ground how quick can then you get out and go and this guy has exceptional ability to do that.

16:51So I'm a big fan of his game. I'll be honest. I have not seen him in the, uh, in the preseason. I have not watched the, their, their stuff with him. So I don't know how he's done. I haven't seen the reports in camp. This is basically solely off my evaluation of him as a college player. Well, he had a concussion in practice after the Vikings game, which was the second week, but he is now back at practice. So that, that cost him a week, but I think it's been really positive. Actually that preseason game against the Vikings was part of a trend that we've heard at camp where he is winning in terms of those releases.

17:21He is stacking the cornerbacks. And a couple times in that game, he was wide open going down the field. And Josh Dobbs couldn't hit him either time. One time that the cornerback had like the worst pass interference that you ever seen. They didn't call it. But I feel like in a big game, they would have called it. I guess it was a preseason. They should have called it. But either way, you saw what you wanted to see. I think they like what they've seen out of him so far. Him and Keyshawn Booty are both going to get reps on the outside. Matt Collins is as well. But I think it's a matter of time before Williams gets more and more of those reps.

17:54So I think all systems are go in terms of Kyle Williams. And you're right. I planted my flag at him. We had a show I mentioned on our last show with Mina Kynes where we each picked our favorite player. Hers was Ja 'Gad Campbell. I went Kyle Williams. I don't even remember who your pick was. Do you? You did so many shows. It's kind of tough to put you on the spot. I think it was Jaday Barron. I do listen to you. Okay, I do like today, Baron. It could have been this next guy who I'm going to skip ahead to my wild card because I just felt weird having three Patriots in the five. So I just have one as a wild card who was, again, one of my favorite players was Craig Woodson, the safety from Cal.

18:33So I'll let producer Drew pull up when he was picked, what number overall he was. I like giving Drew homework while we're live. Another segment that should be sponsored, although I could easily Google. I don't think you need to have a researching background to do this, but we'll let him do the work. He was 106, according to Drew. He was my 90th player. Again, kind of stay with that theme of I thought the Patriots, you know, found value all throughout the draft. 6001, 200. So 6 '8", 200 pounds, ran 445 in Indianapolis. As a safety, let's start here. Leader, smart. The first two things, and that's from talking to everybody at Cal.

19:09He's a little bit older, so he's been, you know, You see this a little bit with the last couple years with COVID and all that. You get some guys who are a little bit older, a little more mature. I thought this guy could play in the deep half. He's open and smooth. He's got speed and physicality when he's working downhill into the alleys, takes great angles. He has a lot of underneath PBUs. He's a real firm tackler, and I thought the intelligence wasn't just, you know, off-the-field stuff. This is someone who plays with excellent instincts on the field, which is huge for a safety. To me, I just looked at this.

19:40Cal sneakily had a lot of safeties that have ended up being starters in the last five, six years. It's been a nice little factory there. I thought this guy was ready made, ready to go step on the field and play. And it sounds like from what I have heard on him is that he's earning some time there. Oh, I think he's starting week one. He's certainly playing in their dime packages is probably their nickel. But like it sounds like he is going to be a week one starter there with Jabril Peppers also at safety. but he beat out some veterans and I, everything that you said, that's what you hear from, from the coaches.

20:15And it was kind of an immediate guy that like, whoa, this is a dude. And yes, after a rough draft class a year ago, they're going to have a lot of rookie starters this year, maybe two on the offensive line with Jared Wilson alongside Will Campbell. And then you mentioned Craig Woodson. Let's take a break. We'll be back on the other side with our remaining veteran and rookie additions.

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21:16Back on 40s and free agents. DJ, you felt bad about doing a bunch of Patriots in a row. I don't feel bad. They're the team that made all the moves this offseason. So I've got one more veteran addition to talk about here. It's Stephon Diggs. It's a contract when you look under the hood is more of a one year deal. I think he was a very good third receiver type, really a slot receiver in Houston. So coming off a torn ACL, getting back on the field rather early in that recovery, earlier than people expected to start training camp. What you saw, I think, as camp went on was what you see a lot of times.

21:55Yeah, you can get back on the field, but maybe the confidence wasn't there. the ability to play at game speed day after day after day. And so we'll see what he is going to give this team early in the season, how he fits in to their receiver rotation. He's not the high ceiling guy that he was early in his career, but they could really use a guy that Drake may trust and knows where he's going to be on the field. And that's what they're counting on Stefan Diggs to do, because even if he's not a true wide receiver one, like who's getting the most targets there? It's him. It's DeMario Douglas. It would probably be my pick right now.

22:31I mean, which is crazy. Pop Douglas as their one receiver. So the opportunity is there for Diggs to have a really big role. And maybe it'll increase as the season gets on. And he's a little further away from that surgery. Well, all those points just go back to my previous point that I think if you just look at raw talent and where they are right now and their ability levels, I think Kyle Williams is their most talented receiver. Look at that. I loved I loved hearing that. And that doesn't mean it's a bad signing. This is just how free agency works. If they get 800 yards out of Stefan Diggs and 55 catches, and he's also, and you can see it, him talking to the, like a very smart route runner and talking to the younger guys in that room and helping them out too.

23:11Like you have to overpay to find guys. And their roster was so diminished from the drafts that they've had recently. And really, Vrabel wanting to get rid of every guy that Bill Belichick brought in, essentially, that that's what you do in free agency. So I think if he's a solid enough player, that's a win. They'd obviously like a little more, and then he would be with the Patriots for more than one year. Can I do something that could be dated and they can easily clip out of this by the time this thing hits the waves? You saw what Elliott Wolfe said the other day when he said, hey, we'd be willing to part with a high pick for a star player if that player would become available.