40s and Free Agents: The NFC East's 5 Impact Additions and Rookies + Commanders Extend WR Terry McLaurin

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2:26Welcome to 40s and Free Agents. I'm Greg Rosenthal. I am joined by my friend Daniel Jeremiah. We are getting to the end of our previews of the season where we go through each division and pick the biggest additions in terms of veterans and rookies throughout the league. And look, we got lucky here, DJ. We're doing the NFC East today and we're taping on the very same morning that Terry McLaurin got a big contract extension with the Washington commander. So I feel like we might as well just start there. This is one of those holdouts like you expected to get done eventually. But also, I feel much better about the commanders knowing he will be fully ready for week one.

3:07Yeah, it was interesting. I saw that news come down and I wanted to kind of refresh myself on Terry. Obviously, he's been a great player. He's been fun to watch. And we hit this on Move the Sticks with Buck. I kind of went through and just watched all his explosive plays. I was curious, like his usage, like how they were doing it, where were those big plays coming from? And it was, you know, seven of those were vertical balls, like just straight go balls. You had four on scrambles, which you could understand having an athletic quarterback. You had three on overs. So the vast majority of them were on takeoffs, verticals down the field, you know, not a lot of quick hitters.

3:41He had two on slants. Then you get mixed in and in, you mix in, you know, a corner, you mix in a couple of comebacks, but it wasn't there was no like wide receiver screen run after catch you know you had those two slants but there wasn't a lot of just you know him just taking a short ball and then making something explosive or dynamic happen which took me down a rabbit trail of just okay who is running who is a run after catch guy in this offense so you go back through and pull the numbers from last year Eckler led the team of 420 something yards Zaccheaus who now has been doing a great job with the Bears he's exited he was second and then McLaurin was after that so I'm like okay well this doesn't seem like a lot of yards after catch.

4:18Where were they in the league? They're 16th in yards after catch. I know preseason's a liar. I talk about it all the time, Greg, but they're 26th in yards after catch in the preseason. So it informed the decision to me of why they went and got Debo Samuel because they're trying to find somebody to compliment what they have in Terry. My whole point of all of this is it's pretty incredible. This team was in the NFC championship game last year with an offensive line. I think we'd all agree that it was so-so. Terry is a great player, but he was not surrounded by a complete receiver group. Like this isn't even a well-formed team.

4:50And they were in the NFC Championship game last year. Yeah, it makes it very difficult. And we're going to get to a lot of commanders here. Debo, you know, that's my first veteran. So we will just like combine the discussion here. The contract was, you know, three years on the extension with a$30 million signing bonus. It's up to$96 million, but that's tacking on the year. Either way, he's going to be nicely in that region somewhere between a Justin Jefferson and maybe a DK Metcalf. And I think he deserves it. And you think about his year last year and for fantasy, like it was great because he suddenly scores 13 touchdowns.

5:23But in terms of volume, I think people would be surprised. He actually got fewer targets than he used to get when Jaden Daniels wasn't there. And he just had more efficiency, like more yards per target. and he's just one of those receivers. If you know, you know. I did not see any decline out of him, even though, you know, he's getting older. He's hitting his age 30 season later this year. And you do worry about that a little, but his contested catch rate, DJ, that is one of those, you know, skill sets that you look for, I'm sure. But it's really hard to repeat at the NFL level year after year.

6:00If you look at the numbers, you can make the argument that Terry McLaurin is the best contested catch guy, or certainly one of them, of his entire generation. Year after year, playing with not-so-great quarterbacks. If you look at the numbers in his contested catch, he's just a great plucker of the football, and I don't see why that can't continue. And you're right that Debo ends up being a very nice compliment to him with that. The last point on that, and again, we mentioned this a little bit on Move the Sticks, but it's ironic that you had mentioned that as his greatest strength. He goes to Ohio State on a camp, and he wants to get an offer from Ohio State.

6:34That's kind of his dream school. He goes there, doesn't catch the ball that great, and he's a little bit of a body catcher. So they told him, look, you've got to improve your hands if you want to get an offer. He catches 200 balls a day, a lot of those from his mom, just throwing him balls in the family room. But he catches 200 balls a day every single day until he goes back to the camp the next time, catches the ball flawlessly. They offer him a scholarship, and off he goes. But that was just a little glimpse into kind of the work ethic and all that he put into that. And now you look at him as one of the best catchers of the football in the NFL.

7:04And it's a great sign for the commanders who obviously have not been a great organization before the ownership change of rewarding Mr. Washington over the last six years. So feel great about that. Debo to me is just such an X factor. He's so up and down, DJ, in terms of his explosiveness, his health. I don't know if it's motivation, but maybe I would say the coaching staff in San Francisco being happy with him. It was up and down. When he's great, he's great. He's a unique skill set, but they really need him to work. It's ultimately a one-year deal that they brought him in on. If you look at how the contract is structured, they traded for him, of course, but only had to give up a late-round pick.

7:45And to me, he is the ultimate X factor for this team because, yeah, you don't have Deami Brown. You don't have Zaccheaus. They're going to miss those guys, and they have Noah Brown as their next guy who hasn't been healthy. So these two really have to carry this passing game as a whole. I think from what we've heard, he could do it. But I also I'm not feeling like amazing about it just because he's been up and down. He really hasn't been that guy that we saw back in 2021 too often. With a quarterback like they have in Jaden Daniels, there should be massive yards after the catch, just because he's going to draw so many eyes and so much attention that you should have opportunities to have fewer numbers in the back end because you have to dedicate bodies to deal with what he can do with his legs.

8:27So I'm hoping that he emerges as that guy or that he can still be that guy because at one point in time, there was nobody better in the NFL with a ball in their hands than Debo Samuel. So excited to see what that looks like. I'll get to one of my rookies here, Bill, the man affectionately known as Bill, Krosky Merritt, who I took in – I only did one NFL Fantasy League, targeted him early, took him early. How early? I think I took him in the fifth or sixth round. I know, but I always take young guys a little earlier than I have to. I load up on young guys because it's kind of fun for me to just keep an eye on the guys.

9:02I just spent all this time talking about it in the run-up to the draft. But I'm a believer in him. I know in talking to people in that organization, they're very excited about him and what he can bring to the table to go back through and pull up my notes on him. Let's go here. we gotta get this segment sponsored this is everyone's favorite yeah the notes the notes pulling up the notes um where the heck oh here he is right here uh so he was uh he was 5 10 and a quarter 206 pounds he ran 4 4 5 um as a runner uh someone who really can press the hole he lower his pads um he'll spin off tackles he runs really hard there's a little bit of tightness there but catches the ball well he's really good in the screen game needs to work on on pass pro now he was hurt missed most of the season uh there at arizona he was a transfer but he popped on the scene when you go watch him at the east west shrine bowl so the practice is there he had an outstanding week and that's kind of what what got him back on the map and tested really really well so um i think they've got someone who's i think to me personally already the most talented runner on their roster um so we'll see how long it takes before he takes over the lion's share of the carries and now dj won't like me doing this but you know when you have commanders takes i always just listen a little closer because I know who you talk to.

10:20You've talked about it. You know Adam Peters as well who runs it. So if you're saying, if you're getting confident enough that you're taking Ja 'Cory Cross from Maryland in the fifth or sixth round, I feel good about that because it feels like a little bit of a reach. I think Austin Eckler is going to have a role. Jeremy McNichols will have a role. And so you're comparing, you know, the guys you could take at that round in fantasy drafts. But in reality, he's one of the best stories, I think, of all of training camp. It's what paying attention to training camp to me is all about is guys like him elevating.

10:49And now they didn't even need Brian Robinson on this team. Yeah, Brian Robinson exits. So that's my first one. And I know we do five in a wild card. Yes. In the NFC East, I'm going to fudge a little bit because I just have six guys. And I felt like all six of them belong in there. I don't think one of them belongs in the wild card. So you can designate whoever the heck you want as a wild card. But I've got six names here. Is another commander here or no? You're just giving. Oh, no. You want me. I thought you were up. I do. I do. I'm trying to be fair commanders, but you just threw out the wildcard thing.

11:21Yeah. So let's be real. The commanders made the biggest moves this offseason in the division. Laramie Tunsil is such a fascinating player. Been traded twice for massive halls. Like there are very few players in the last 20 years that that can be said about Khalil Mack is the only other one that really comes to mind. and Tunsil still got a lot in this iteration coming from Houston where it was interesting to me that they were ready to give up on him. I don't know if they thought he was as consistent in the running game, but he's one of the best pass protectors of his generation and he is going to help out this offensive line.

12:00So Washington really pushed their chips in the middle of the table with Laramie Tunsil to make sure that they didn't slide this year. and then they have a good rookie last year, Brandon Coleman, who played left tackle for them, who's been hurt in camp, but is going to slide inside to guard. So you're hoping that you're improving two positions there for the commanders. And Tunsil is just so talented. You can tell me how you looked at him way back in the day. Of course, he was my number one player in that draft. Wow, that's crazy. It is. There is there has been something about Tunsil over the years.

12:35It felt unfair that he fell that far in that draft, considering what was going on. Try being live on the air when that's going down and trying to choose your words carefully. It's not easy. For our younger listeners, there was a video that came out with him using a water bong. It was a gas mask. It was like a gas mask water bong. It was a gas mask filled with smoke. Hey, look, it's all legal now, so I think it's okay to talk about it. Now it wouldn't have been anything. Even someone that feels like I'm relatively familiar with the game. I was like, what is that? As someone who has zero familiarity with the game, I had no idea what was going on.

13:15And I'm tasked with being on national television and figuring out who's going to take this guy and how far does he fall, how serious is this, who leaked this information, how did it get out there. While the draft is going, it was wild. But I am a huge believer in his ability, but he did just get two false starts while you were talking. So that's the only thing that I'm worried about. We've got to clean up the penalties he had in Houston. It just speaks to my larger commander's point, and I'm going to throw out my third commander, because to me, they did have three of the biggest signings. The Eagles basically sat out free agency, so they're not getting one.

13:47Well, go ahead, jump into it, because that's the only commander that I have was Merritt. It's Von Miller, and Von Miller and Tunsil, to me, almost occupy a similar space. I would even throw in Javon Kinlaw, who they gave a lot of money to. I just look at this team in terms of their veterans, just a little boom or bust. Very high ceilings and a lot of uncertainty. I feel good about Laramie Tunsil in the first year of his deal there. It's not like he's ever been a bad NFL player. He's always been a plus player. It's like, how plus plus is he going to be? Von Miller at this stage of his career, like he was a situational pass rusher for the Bills, was okay last year.

14:22Wasn't great. Kinlaw's been a little up and down. I know there's some belief in them. I'm throwing a lot of guys together. And I just, I look at that edge position. I look at their offensive line in general. They're hoping to get Sam Cosby back eventually from a torn ACL. It's just a boomer bust team to me. You could tell me they end up being better this year in terms of more stable. Maybe they don't get back to the NFC Championship game, but they're better as a week-to-week team. Or that it goes wrong and they take a little bit of a step back because I think you're betting on a lot of different guys.

14:51And I would throw Debo in there, Vaughn in there, and Tunsil in there. that to me, high variance guys. Yeah, to me, I think they're, you know, as a team, I think their secondary is vastly improved from where it was a couple of years ago. I like what they've done there and they've gotten more physical. They've got tougher there in the back end. So I'm excited about that. Now, the thing is going to be, it's really only one question with them is how they match up with the Philadelphia Eagles and then can they keep the Eagles from jamming the ball down their throats when it matters. So they've added Kinlaw.

15:21They've added some pieces there to help try and keep that from happening. And I don't know that they're there yet. They still feel like to me last year was a year ahead of schedule. This year, it wouldn't be surprised if they took a little step back. And I'm almost looking towards, I hate doing this before a season starts, but I'm more excited about another offseason. I think they need another offseason to kind of round out this roster and complete this roster. That's my take on them. Yeah, I think the strategy this year for their front office was partly to prevent that backslide by, again, filling holes in free agency with guys who can play.

15:55They brought back Bobby Wagner, but I'm with you in terms of setting up the foundation. It reminds me a little bit of the Buffalo Bills under McDermott and Brandon Bean, who I think did as good a team building job as anyone in the last decade. And if you remember when they came aboard, they took a little bit of a step back in year two before really establishing themselves as year to year contenders in year three. So to give you a look behind the scenes of how this works on the personnel side. This is what happens when you take over a team that is drafted terribly. You swap out a ton of the roster for guys on one-year deals.

16:31Now, the good news is you might hit on some of those guys. The bad news is once you hit on them, you still don't have any control. So you can lose guys. You're trying to resign guys. It's just not, there's no foundation is what I'm getting at. So they need three draft classes to almost backfill because if you look at it, the players, look at just the first round picks before this regime got there, the previous five years. It's gross. So it's a challenge there, and they were way ahead of schedule last year. All right, I'll give you two names here. I'm going to go to the Dallas Cowboys for my two guys next up here.

17:04First one, because I'm not going to just take the low-hanging fruit. I'm going to go to the fifth round. I'm going to go Jaden Ballou, running back out of Texas for the Dallas Cowboys, who was a favorite of mine, Greg. While I read the report, maybe you can look it up or Drew can get in your ear to figure out what number pick he was in the draft, but he was 5 '9", 196 pounds, ran a 4.38. I thought he would run even faster than that after the way he played. But someone who is a little bit narrow, but super fast, explosive in the pass game. You see him on option routes. Nobody could cover him, change of direction, make miss out in space.

17:40Outstanding. Now, he's not a physical, violent runner, pass protection. You're going to much rather get him out in the route than ask him to sit in there and anchor down. There's just not a lot of anchor there. But this is someone who is a total mismatch player in the pass game. And when you have CeeDee Lamb on one side, George Pickens on the other side, if you can stretch the field out a little bit and isolate him in the pass game, or even in the draw game, screen game, draw game, option route, angle route, Jaden Blue's going to, you're going to see him on Sundays making plays for the Dallas Cowboys as a fifth round pick.

18:12Sometimes it's all about opportunity. I don't know if they were looking at running back earlier in the draft and just the guys they wanted kept going a little before they were able to take him, but getting Blue in the fifth round, that was one, it set off alarms for fantasy football leaguers because the opportunity is there. I think the starter is going to be Javante Williams. We'll see on cut down day how they decide to construct this room. Certainly, Jaden Blue is going to be part of it. I think he had a really positive camp. He did have an ankle injury. They say lower ankle injury in the last preseason game.

18:46Don't know if that's going to prevent him from being ready for week one. I'm going to throw a curveball to you. I think Phil Moffa was a undrafted rookie in this class. Clemson. Yeah. OK. Did you watch any tape on him, by the way? Yeah. You know, when I was out at Cowboys camp, he popped a 50 yarder against the starters, had some bursts. And then when I wouldn't watch it in the preseason, I don't even know if he's going to make the team or not. I think he will but uh i kind of liked a little north south juice bill moffa was uh six foot and a half 234 pounds 605 big boy uh big big back he's big he's more carry defenders than power through him he's a little bit rigid he did have a nice 83 yard run against app state which hurt a little bit but not big time change of direction and no real value as a pass catcher so he's just kind of a big a little bit of a plotter, but someone who is a big physical back, like an old-school four-minute stealer back is how I would kind of look at him.

19:42Maybe, you know, the league maybe is getting back to a point where he can use a few more of those backs. Ollie Gordon in Miami has had a nice – Hey, hey, hey, don't spoil the AFC East coming up. That's coming up later in the week. I'm glad you mentioned that. So we got – Can I give you my next one here? You can, but I was just going to set it up for the listener. We got two more divisions this week. And then early next week, you can look forward to us drafting who we think is going to win the Super Bowl back and forth. And that'll be kind of the end of this preseason 40s and free agents mini run that we've been on.

20:16This has been fun, by the way. The feedback has been positive, surprisingly positive when considering who I'm working with. So that's been fun. Let's go to my next Dallas Cowboy here. I'm going to go Donovan Izuraku. edge rusher who when i went out there to training camp i was just out there for a day early on i know you're out there as well greg but there seemed to be a lot of enthusiasm about him i liked him as a player i thought uh they got tremendous value with where they ended up getting him i'll pull up where i had him yeah he was the 44th pick and he was my 30th overall player so i thought they got a first round pick where they were um long arms uh he's got legit burst tons of production and polish.

20:59You'll see him win a lot of different ways. He'll do these nice little club moves, swim moves. Inside counter, you'll see him get guys on their heels and counter across their face. Talking to the coaches at the Senior Bowl who coached him there, absolutely loved him, thought he was a pro's pro. That's always a good sign. If you want guys to have an immediate impact, that's a phrase when you hear that, oh, this guy's professional. He gets it. Okay, he knows he's going to learn everything. He's going to be diligent in studying and working. He can get on the field and make an impact. I love that.

21:28By the way, I never informed you. Jaden Blue was the 149th pick of the draft. Oh, Jaden Blue was 149. And I believe, let me go back. I think he was 109 for me. Jaden Blue was 107. We always say, don't spike the football in the preseason. 107. I don't. I don't. But 107. To me, it's like, yeah, good signs. And yeah, he's a DJ type of guy. So is Azaraku. I really liked him going into the draft. I've heard the same things about him in camp. Now, the preseason, he's been quieter in the games. Tiny sample size, we'll see. But the Dallas beat writers have been saying, man, he is tearing up the practices and it hadn't translated quite to the preseason where he did get a lot of run.

22:16And I expect him to be very good. And he doesn't have to be the man as long as they get Micah Parsons signed. And if they do get Micah Parsons signed, which ultimately I do think will happen in the end. They have potentially the deepest edge group in the entire NFL. Dante Fowler has been a productive, sign him for one year, and he's going to get you eight to 10 sacks type of guy. He is there. Marshawn Nealon was a second round pick a year ago. Maybe not as pure an edge rusher. Rugged, rugged. Right, a good player. And then Sam Williams, again, to talk about the day I was there. Fastball. I mean, he's got a lot of juice off the edge, and he actually picked off Dak Prescott on a play he dropped in the coverage.

22:56I would not expect what happened to him off him and took him for a pick six on the day I was there. So that is an athletic, exciting edge group. And I'm excited about this Cowboys defense. I actually think it could be better than people think once they get used to the Eberflus of it all. Once Trayvon Diggs is back on the field, they activated him recently. Because of the edge group, I actually think, I think they have a little more juice than people think. Yeah, excited about a lot of those individual players. It's hard for me to get it out of my head the day I was there. I watched Jimmy Garoppolo carve him up like a Thanksgiving turkey in the back end.

23:28That was tough. The Rams, Devontae Adams, oh my gosh, they had no answer on that one. And you talked about being in the division like the commanders are, needing to stop the run against the Eagles. I have major questions about the commanders. They're even bigger questions about the Cowboys. I don't know if they're going to be able to stop the run with the personnel that they have. Let's take a quick break, and we'll actually wrap up our Cowboys talk on the other side.

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