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

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1:55We are back on 40s and Free Agents. I'm Greg Rosenthal with my friend Daniel Jeremiah in the Chris Wesseling Podcast Studio talking a little AFC North today. The black and blue division. The division that one day, two decades ago, employed you with the Baltimore Ravens. Do you pay attention to them more now because you once worked for them? I also work for the Cleveland Browns, who happen to be in the same division. Good point. But, I mean, at least my co-host really does homework. I focus on the positive, you know. Hey, we had a 10-6 year. One year, 10-6. The next year, 4-12. Average it out. That actually is a feather in your cap that you...

2:35There aren't many 10-win seasons in the Cleveland Browns over the last 30 years. You literally were there and authored the best season of the Browns in the last two decades. And I started after the draft, which is the draft they took to Joe Thomas. and after free agency. So I literally had nothing to do with that 10 and 6 win team. Nobody would remember that. Yes, we're talking AFC North. And on my side of things, and if you're just joining us each episode, we go through the five biggest impacts in free agency, veteran additions, and the five biggest impacts in terms of rookies. And I got to say, there wasn't as many free agents outside of the Steelers.

3:12So I'm going to let you start in this division because I know there are a lot of good rookies. Okay, we'll get to some Steelers stuff here. but let's start with some of these other teams and let's start with Malachi Starks first round pick for the Ravens out of Georgia. There are guys that just feel like Ravens and having worked there, that's, you know, I was there when the whole play like a Raven thing started and that's a real deal. They know what their players look like and Malachi Starks. Now I'm not talking about it as a player. Now I'm going to talk about the, the person, the makeup, the character is very similar to the Ed Reed makeup and character.

3:41He is incredibly smart. He's the leader of the defense. He, he galvanizes guys, gets guys to go with him to watch tape all that stuff elite off the charts then you add into that the versatility is someone who can play the nickel who can play high i know in the run-up to the draft there was a you know there's a desire on the ravens uh side of things to be able to allow kyle hamilton to be closer to the ball so in order to do that you've got to get someone who can play in the middle of the field and that's exactly what malachi starks can do um so i think it's a great fit from a personality type uh for what they love as a player you know intelligence wise all those things.

4:16And then I think scheme wise, it's also a great fit. Is he similar personality wise to Ed Reed? Because I don't know Ed Reed well or at all. I have interviewed him once, but I've seen him in a lot of interviews. And I don't know if I've ever met another or seen another human I would say is similar to Ed Reed's personality type. He seems like a one-on-one. Well, I would say, yeah, from like a cigar hat beard combination that there's that version of Ed Reed. The way his mind goes too, but maybe football-wise. I'm talking football. Incredible football intelligence and awareness and smarts. And then it's more like the kind of magnetism that he has that can kind of control things.

4:57So that's what Ed did. Ed probably, and I don't know if Stark's like that, but Ed more verbal, like a little more demonstrative. And obviously with the success Ed had came the confidence and kind of the swagger that came along with it. I think you'll see Stark's. I know you like to keep things moving but you were there at the time I always thought did Ed Reed like did he get to be who he was because Ray Lewis like to me they were such a perfect marriage of like leadership types like those two guys together what was that like well first of all keep in mind we had Jamal Lewis as a 2000 yard rusher that year you had unbelievable offensive line you had Todd Heap you had some players on offense like real legit Pro Bowl players.

5:43And it was, if the offense was on the field, you almost would go to the bathroom because it was, the defense was so fun to watch and not just like fun to watch defense. Like we might have a better chance of scoring with Ed than maybe we would on offense because he was so prolific at taking the ball away. I wanted to look this up because while you're talking about him, this is getting off track here. But Ed Reed, you talked about, did the Ravens make him or he make the Ravens? Go back in college. I mean, his 2000, so his junior year, he had eight interceptions. His senior year, he had nine. He's always been that guy.

6:19Right. I guess I was thinking even less, yeah, just how incredible. When was the last time you saw a college kid with 17 picks in two years? They were just like a relationship that just seems like a perfect, like if they were like a couple that they balance each other out, like a podcast duo. They just balanced each other out. Well, they had the thing about them is they were both probably the two smartest football players I've ever been around. Okay, I don't know if Jair Alexander would be in that category, but if we're talking Ravens secondary, he is one of the non-stealers on my list, so I'm going to talk about it there.

6:49If you look at the Ravens offseason, they're really running it back. Had a good draft, did not add almost anything in free agency. They picked up DeAndre Hopkins on a flyer. He's going to be like a fourth. You know, I like that. Jair Alexander is the guy that they bring in every year, whether it was Ozzie Newsom back in your day or Eric DaCosta, where at the end of the season, you're like, wait, when did they get him? They got him in June, July. And how much are they paying him? Oh, they're only paying him$4 million. Meanwhile, it's the divisional round, and he's out there covering T. Higgins at a high level.

7:25And you're thinking, how did they get away with this again? That's obviously hoping that he can stay healthy. But for them, to me, he was the key addition for a secondary that has a chance to be really good around Kyle Hamilton. And they've done such a good job, as you mentioned, with these veteran type players. Think about Calais Campbell. I think about going back to the receiver position where it was Derek Mason one year, A 'Kwon Bolden another year. Like they've always kind of just found these veterans. And then I think, look, we'll see what they get. Justin Houston was one that played very well for them.

7:53They will go down that road. I mean, shoot, Deion Sanders at one point in time was one. So, I mean, they've always been able to get something out of veteran guys. And, you know, we'll see. Hopkins will be interesting too. I mean, they've got a bunch of receivers. We'll see what that looks like. When Jair Alexander plays, he matters. It's just about staying on the field. He's really never been on the field and not had a high-level play. And to me, it's just an intriguing pair there with Nate Wiggins going into his second year and Marlon Humphrey, a guy who's made a lot of Pro Bowls. So a fun secondary there.

8:20All right, give me another. All right, I'm going to go to Cincinnati. I'm going to go to the Bengals, and I'm going to go to their second-round pick, not their first-round pick. I'm going to go to Demetrius Knight, linebacker out of South Carolina. Again, middle of the field. We've talked about Ray Lewis a minute ago. You want somebody in there that's intelligent, that's smart, that can kind of be the control person for a defense. He can do that. He's not necessarily going to have to do all that right away in terms of all the responsibilities, but he is going to imagine he's going to start. He's going to play a lot and a chance to be an impactful player for a defense that was atrocious last year.

8:53So you bring a new defensive coordinator. We'll see what they can do with Al Golden, how different that looks than what they've been previously. But when you look linebacker wise, putting him and Logan Wilson together, two really, really smart guys. Fun tandem. And I think Demetrius Knight would be high on the list of rookies that their team needs to work. Yeah. Because he is starting. So I follow Paul Daner. He works for the athletics. I don't want to pretend I'm getting this information myself. And he says Knight has stepped in there. It's like a joke almost how mature he is. and he is an older rookie, but that everyone around him already is starting to look to him as a leader.

9:35And some of his veteran teammates jokingly like call him future captain and that he's really looked good on and off the field. They were happy with how he's been in training camp. And so he's someone, it's just got to work, I think, because I think he's going to be out there almost every snap. Let me give you one random scout thing on him. So one of the things in scouting I've always loved and I had an older scout that gave me this advice when I was young. He said, you want to talk about the competitiveness of a player. There's a couple of things you can look at. Number one, watch how they compete on a point after.

10:03Like that's a play where it's basically give up play. You can see the kick and you watch guys who rush hard on that. Usually shows you a little something. The other thing he said was watch teammates on interceptions, whether that's an offensive teammate trying to effort to make a tackle or whether that's a defensive teammate efforting to make a block. There's a game. There's a pick six in a South Carolina. I don't remember who it was against, but he has two knockdown, two pancakes blocks after a teammate picks off a ball. and I was like, okay, this guy's ultra, ultra competitive and that matches with the leadership that you're hearing about there in Cincinnati.

10:35It's a tough position though. That just worries me because everything... He's got the nerve center next to him. I think Logan Wilson can kind of be the nerve center initially and he can just play ball. The one thing, he's not great in coverage. That's the only concern I have. Yeah, I mean, who is? We did a show last week on NFL Daily with my friend Ollie Connelly. He's like, how many linebackers are excelling? and like everyone is targeting these guys. I mean, there are some, but it is the exception. I see one day on Henley can cover. That's one that it's the exception, not the rule. There's like six to eight guys.

11:06And that's why the conventional wisdom has been those linebackers take, you know, two, three years. So they're really at their best, but he's going to have to play right away. I don't have a Bengal in my top five. And in the words of Dave Damaschek, don't, don't blame me. I didn't do this to you. You did this to you. You just, you just don't have a lot of options. So let's go, Let's go to one of my Steelers. I mean, it's Aaron Rodgers. This is the bet. This is the big bet. That a guy for the second time in NFL history is going to have a highly productive season at the quarterback position at the age of 42.

11:42It's only happened with one player. And that man was Tom Brady. Now he did it another three years. So it's possible. It's another all-time great. And the reality is you had no other options because you didn't want to pay Justin Fields as much as the Jets. They tried on Sam Darnold and came up short. Yeah, that's what I mean. Very weird, too, because it's like they're treating quarterback like another position. They tried on Stafford. I have information on that. It just wasn't going to happen. They tried on Justin Fields. I think they gave him an offer that would have been a raise for him, but it wasn't as big as the one that the Jets gave.

12:15And, yeah, they tried a little on Darnold, too. And I don't think the tape was great last year. I don't know if you, like, broke it down, but to me the arm's still there and the mind is obviously there but the willingness to maybe stay in there and hold the ball and that just wasn't there for me at least so so let me just show on the other side of that because i agree there's not there's some things that are missing but if we just went numbers wise if with this stealer's defense that they have which i'm going to get into some pieces here in a second they've added and what they already possess if ryan rogers throws for almost 4 ,000 yards, completes 63 % of his passes, goes 28 and 11.

12:53I think they're going to win a lot of games just with that, what he was last year, which nowhere near what Aaron Rodgers has been. But even just last year's version that he was with the Jets with this Steelers defense, they're going to win double digit games. Probably. They made the playoffs with Russell Wilson and Justin Fields last year. That's what I'm saying. That's better than what they got last year. I don't think he was better than the combination of Russell Wilson and Justin Fields last year. And if he was, it was marginal because those numbers speak well for him. If you look at the success rate and the EPA per play, it's a lot of seven-yard gains on third and 11 and him just being very safe.

13:31And ultimately, a lot of those advanced metrics, he was more around 23rd, 24th among starters, which is about how he felt he played. Maybe that's a little bit of an upgrade, but this is the bet. He's got a chance. They have the pieces certainly on defense to get it done. So that's, again, that leads to my point, which is this defense is going to be better. I am DeMetrius Knight running down the field. There you go. There you go. Helping you out. Good teammate. This defense is going to be really good. And I'm going to go to the defensive side of the ball, and I'm going to go to the third round pick in Jack Sawyer.

14:01I talked about Malachi Starks as guys I thought were kind of built to be Baltimore Ravens. Jack Sawyer is out of the old school Pittsburgh Steelers playbook. He is a 265 pound edge setter, physical presence, kind of a no nonsense guy. He played big in the big moments. You think about that, that playoff game where he has the huge sack of Texas, right? He has the, the sack, forced fumble, scoop and score. Like he's, he's been big in big moments. He was kind of their leader. He's the one who lost his mind when he's getting planted the flag at Ohio State. Like he just, that's a stealer type. That's a pride, you know, like there's, there's guys that just kind of fit with what they do.

14:39And I think that was a theme. I don't think I know that was a theme of theirs, that they wanted to get back, have an edge. And Aaron's a little bit of that, right? Aaron Rodgers. Is he? He has an edge. He has an edge to him. He's not the nice. Like you would say, if we're going to go nice meter, I would put Justin Fields and Russell Wilson on another stratosphere in terms of how they would be viewed as like nice guy versus an edgy guy. You do hear reports of him absolutely staring down Roman Wilson when he's not running the right routes in training camp. That's your point. And then we add to that, okay, defensive line-wise, Derek Harmon in the first round, who's a big dude, physical presence.

15:16YA Black, who's, gosh, what, 330, 340 out of Iowa. They get him in the fifth round. You add Sawyer in there. Jalen Ramsey, who is a junkyard dog. I'm sure you're going to get to him in a second. But overall, you can see even DK Metcalf looks like a bully. You're just thinking of my picks. They have gone with a theme in the offseason, which was we're going to be the rugged, edgy Pittsburgh Steelers. And I think Jack Sawyer, getting back to where I started on this whole rant, is part of that process. It's been a great rant. And I love being able to talk to you about these draft picks because Jack Sawyer is a guy, and I wonder how much you pay attention to this, that I feel like the NFL draftniks out there, the internet dudes, for lack of a better word, without maybe the exact same platform, but very knowledgeable in their own right, doing a lot of work on the draft.

16:08I feel like they were out on Jack Sawyer. I feel like he was not a draft-nick guy. And ultimately, I guess the NFL kind of agreed. What pick? Agreed, because he ended up going in the fourth round. So maybe he's just a victim of, you know... He was the 123rd pick. Yeah, he's a well-known guy who fell a little bit in the draft. He was my 70th player. So you did like him. He is at a position. How would you answer? Because this is supposed to be most of the biggest impact. He is at a position. I would argue is as good as literally any position group at any position in the entire NFL. You have TJ Watt, Alex Highsmith, and Nick Herbig, who's been really good for them too.

16:45Yeah, it's a great foursome. I think they roll those guys through. And I think to me, it's going to be fascinating to see how him and Highsmith could pair up there. Because I think on some of those early downs, if you want Jack Sawyer to get out there on first, second down, let him get out there and make an impact against the run for sure. So that leads to my Jalen Ramsey pick, because I hope you're right. I hope they do rotate a little bit more. T.J. Watt never left the field last year. He never even left his side of the field. He just lining up the same side like a thousand snaps. And I'd like to see the guys moving around a little more, maybe use some of your depth a little more.

17:19And that is one thing I think Jalen Ramsey is going to allow you to do just an instinctive. athletic, versatile guy who in camp, you know, he's going to be their nickel. Everyone wants their own Cooper de Jeanne type of player. Well, how about the guy who was, you know, winning a Super Bowl, doing it for the Rams a few years ago? But it has interested me, I think for the first time in his career, they say when they're out there, just four defensive backs on the field, he's playing safety for them, which is new. And I do think Jalen Ramsey has one great year left in him. It just, he's one of those players.

17:54He reminds me a little bit of T.O. Every time T.O. showed up at a new spot, he would be a first ballot Hall of Famer for that first year there. Jalen Ramsey, I don't think his teammates love him. Everyone views him as a leader. So that's a difference. But his first season in new places has gone amazingly. And then for whatever reason, after a few years, it's like that team is ready to move on. I think Jalen Ramsey is ready to have that type of season. That was a rant. I think that is a good rant. Jalen Ramsey likes a challenge, and I think they have challenged him. They've challenged him by using him in all these different spots.

18:25And it's going to be matchup based. There's going to be games where he is going to live in the slot. And that's going to be where he's going to be a presence, not only in coverage, but someone who can force the run. You can blitz him. And there's going to be other games where he's literally going to be playing as the high safety and just kind of playing on top of that Christmas tree, as my buddy Bucky Brooks likes to say, where he can just kind of, you know, roam over the top and free him up, let his instincts play. But everything that I've got out of there has been off the charts in terms of the competitiveness that he's brought to practice.

18:52he's engaged and he's enjoying the challenge of, of the roles they're giving him. What a cool room there with Darius Slay, who I know he's not going to be the hall of fame or anything, but it's like one of my just favorite players and personalities over the last decade. And then you have Joey Porter, like Chuck Clark too. I mean, like they've got Elliot who played, I mean, if you look at it to Sean Elliot, there's some people in the league that would say, if you looked at him and make a Fitzpatrick last year and say who, who played better, they would lean towards Elliot. I think if you looked at the people in the Steelers organization, they would say Deshaun Elliott.

19:22People love them some Deshaun Elliott. That's a really interesting point about Bucky and the Christmas tree because if he's going to do that, Minka was extra. I think that could be an upgrade for them. Let's try to upgrade on our first few picks after this break. Do even better.

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