Camp Buzz: Bijan Signs, QB Tiers and the All-Underpaid Team

0:00Nick Shook:This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human. Lowe's knows Sundays are for football. So tackle your home improvement projects by Saturday and earn your Sunday with great deals on LG and Bosch appliances, select Ego, DeWalt, Filtree products, and more. Then once your to-do list is done, get ready to kick back, relax, and enjoy the game. Shop in-store or online now and earn your Sunday with help from Lowe's, official partner of the NFL. This is Troy Millings from Earn Your Leisure. When you think about discovering small brands, what store pops in your mind? Well, it should be Walmart. Seriously, Walmart has thousands of small brands and they're all in one place.

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2:11Welcome to NFL Daily, where we love a dislocated thumb. I'm Greg Rosenthal here in the Chris Wesseling Podcast Studio. it's a camp buzz Tuesday with my friend Nick Shook the offensive lineman did you mangle your fingers up like a lot of the linemen like baldy style

2:28Nick Shook:mine aren't too bad I got a little bit of bend here but nothing terrible I'm double jointed with the thumb so it looks a little funny I can also bend my fingers all the way back so that's completely disgusting I can touch the back it's not good for you that's concerning It's a big thumb day around the NFL because, yeah, A.J. Brown dislocated his thumb, and Mike Vrabel made fun of it a little bit at the podium. Dislocated a thumb, just, you know, how is he doing? I think he's going to be okay. I think he's going to be okay. Now, I tell him the linemen do that every other snap, and, you know, it's not a national story when a lineman pops his finger back in place, but we had a little bit of fun.

3:09I love seeing Vrabel there at the podium. It's kind of been under the radar, by the way. Just Mike Vrabel being a normal coach again. Got a lot of grief for using the dog as a shield on his first training camp press conference. I don't know if you remember that, Shook, but when you consider the offseason that Mike Vrabel has had, the noise has quieted down. And yes, A.J. Brown didn't miss any practice time. And he's out there going one-on-one with Christian Gonzalez day after day, which Vrabel says has been a highlight of camp, just seeing kind of these two greats going at each other. In the last few days, he's been beating Gonzalez down the field.

3:45I don't know if I have a question or a bigger thought on this. I just thought I would start with thumbs because I saw our friend Gerald McCoy was on Get Up. Now our NFL Network brethren are now regularly on ESPN, and he showed some pretty disgusting digits that were bangled.

4:01Nick Shook:Look, that's part of the wear and tear that comes with playing in the trenches in the NFL. But I'm all about digits. I'm all about keeping people healthy. I'm all about minor injuries at best because we're in training camp when worse things happen. And you know what else I'm all about, Greg? Yes. I don't know if you're into the aesthetic of the game as much as I am, but yesterday the new sideline gear was released. New caps, which means one thing for me. It's time for me to get a new Rob Lowe hat this year. Oh, wow. That's not part of the new sideline gear. No, this is last year's sideline gear, the old NFL hat.

4:35Okay. So, yeah, this is a real advertisement to join us on YouTube. We're there every day. Obviously, we love you listening to the podcast, But you can see Nick Shook there. I will check out that sideline gear. We're way off track to start the show. It's a camp buzz episode, which means we're hitting the news as quickly as we can. We're getting you out of here before our division preview, which will go up on Wednesday. We got some big contracts signed. Bajon Robinson is now locked up long term. I decided because I don't think he's making enough money to make a very impromptu, all underpaid team that would just fly through.

5:12and then some other bits and bobs in terms of injuries around the NFL. And also the QB tiers that Mike Sando puts out every year. We'll have some takes on that at the end of the show. But let's start with Bajon Robinson,$51 million guaranteed on a three-year deal. It's an extension up to$75 million. When I heard that Bajon Robinson and Jameer Gibbs might be resetting the market, I was then disappointed by the amount of this contract. That's why I'm doing an all underpaid team. I know he's making more than every other running back in the league. It's by like a million or two over Saquon per year, but man running backs are still underpaid.

5:53If Bajon Robinson can't get more guaranteed money than, than the guard that they signed earlier this week. I mean, what are we talking about Nick Shook? Well,

6:04Nick Shook:I mean, it's, it's indicative of the fact that despite the reemergence of the importance of the running back position, running backs are still not paid as well as we would like them to be, even when you're a player of John Robinson's caliber. And it's because of the shelf life, as we all know. And I totally agree. In fact, if anybody's going to be upset about it, it's probably the other running back that's a dude was doing the hold in this week, which is Jameer Gibbs, because these were always going to be tandem deals. He's yet to sign with the lions. He's probably not going to get as much money as he thought he would either.

6:33Nick Shook:If you do the 50, 51 million guaranteed over three years, right? That's what 17 a year average guarantee per year. That's still a million behind Saquon's average guarantee per year. And I have to blame Saquon a little bit because after he got paid, he wasn't as good as he was the year before, which of course it's going to be very hard to have a 2000 yard season. It's just not fair, man. Come on, pay the running backs. I was referring to Matthew Bergeron. Look, it's a one-to-one comparison because it's the same team. Matthew Bergeron, a upper middle class guard, shall we say? It's been like okay in his NFL career.

7:07Got$60 million guaranteed from this same Falcons team on a four-year$96 million extension. I understand the guard market is different than the offensive line market. But I just remember Raheem Morris and a lot of other people pointing out last year, this is the best player in the NFL. This is not Saquon Barkley at the age that Saquon Barkley was at. Kyle freaking Pitts got like three years, 54 million. It's not that much different. It's less, but it's not that much different than Bajon Robinson. It doesn't make any sense to me. And you're absolutely right. I'm glad you made that point about Gibbs because usually you want to be the second guy to sign the deal.

7:44But in this case, I wonder if him and his agent saw this and thought, really, bro? Because everyone thinks you're a little bit better than me. Let's listen to Dan Campbell, who might have been happy about this Bajon Robinson deal coming down. This is him speaking on Tuesday.

7:59Nick Shook:I think it's certainly not going to hurt. I mean, it's not going to hurt. But we'll see. You know, we'll see. Look, I'm anxious to get Gibbs back out there. Every day that goes by, you know, that's another day that you feel like you mess with him and getting him out there with the guys and him doing his part. But there again, man, it'll get done when it gets done. Jameer Gibbs talked to the media briefly after practice on Monday. He was out watching practice for the first time that they had seen him. And he said he wasn't holding out because of contract related. And then they asked him, well, what are you holding out?

8:36He's like, I don't, you know, I don't know.

8:38Nick Shook:He said, he said what I'm aiming toward. I don't know. This is the same running back who, when I went to the pro bowl and I tried to ask him about like a new offense, you know, moving on from last year's offensive coordinator, Detroit, I was like, how's it going to look? And he goes, I don't know. We haven't been there yet. I was like, oh, okay, simple. Yeah, you're not going to get much out of him. I'm disappointed, and yet it's tough because fans would get on Bajan. If ever someone was going to reset a market, it was going to be him really holding the Falcons' feet to the fire. You just will never convince me that he is worth$8 million less per year than Chris Olave.

9:19What are we doing here? Everyone recognizes he's a better player. This is the power.

9:25Nick Shook:This is why Arthur Blank made Matt Ryan president of football. It's the ability to schmooze his players into taking contracts that are team friendly. They just took advantage of a guy who did have more years left on his contract with a fifth year option and all that. So he is getting the deal early that's worth pointing out. But this contract is going to age well. We'll get to other contracts that have aged well in a minute. The Zay Flowers contract that came down on Tuesday morning, four years, up to$140 million. They're not even saying the up to in the original announcements from these insiders.

9:57I'm watching you insiders. You got to at least say the up to. It's just straight up lying at some point. They say$108 million. I'm not sure if that's guaranteed or in guarantees. A player that I've struggled with because he's so different than most wide receivers. And yet he's always freaking open. And this team would stink if they didn't have Z flower. So very important to them. And as you look at the list of long-term wide receivers, he deserves to be on it. And so if you're the next one up, you're going to get paid pretty well. I think he's somewhere in that top 25 receivers in the league. Not sure how high you would have him, Nick.

10:37Nick Shook:I would put him in there as well, both because of production and importance to this offense. This is a guy who's had a thousand yards receiving 1200 last year. In each of his last two years, he's got nine total touchdowns between the last two years. He's a key part of this passing game. He was a key part of the passing game under Todd Munkin. I'm curious to see how his role might evolve with a new offensive coordinator now in town and Todd Munkin being the coach of the Browns. But I think he's proven that he's worth this type of money to this team where they don't have, you know, they haven't spent a lot of money on a receiver, which is unlike most of the other teams in the NFL.

11:08Nick Shook:But it is interesting with these contracts because we have the up to 140 on the extension and we have the 108 million guaranteed. So if you start sorting guys by average guarantee per year, he lands in the top three. he's actually had a Justin Jefferson in terms of average guarantee per year because mental math tells me that's what 27 a year 54 27 times four is 108 I believe uh something like that yeah yeah and so that would put him you know just behind George Pickens on the the franchise tag so that's that's good money uh we'll see if it ends up being the four-year 140 up to 140 that we see right now but it's something that he deserves and and it's a key part of the Ravens as they take this next step into their new era with Jesse Minter as their coach Yeah, when we put him on our all 32, you know, rankings, he ended up in the 20s with me and Nate Tice when we did our wide receiver rankings.

11:58He and Lamar Jackson have a pretty special connection. And now I think just the way that they understand each other and where they're going to be, it looks unpredictable. Zay Flowers has a little bit of Antonio Brown to him where it's like, I'll run the route that just gets me open and you figure it out. And Lamar and him are great at putting that together. So Lamar is on my all underpaid team. I just decided, let's go through the veteran contracts. Obviously, the best rookies, the guys who are on rookie contracts still, like Apuka Nakua, are the most underpaid players in the NFL because they just haven't gotten that veteran contract.

12:33I wanted this to be limited to veterans who are the most underpaid. Lamar is my quarterback. $52 million a year, which sounds pretty great, but it's still, you know, over 10 under the top guys. And less than Brock Purdy, Jared Goff, Trevor Lawrence. Does act as his own agent, but it's more about that he's like the next up and he's going into a contract year. Lamar Jackson, my pretty clear all underpaid quarterback. At running back, it's a guy who signed pretty recently, James Cook, only at$11 million per year. Like, that's kind of shocking that James Cook is making half as much as the top running backs in this market.

13:13and he's probably not going to get his next deal. This is these numbers are from the over the cap website. So thank you to them. What do you what do you think like Lamar is going to get with the Ravens? Do you think he will be the highest paid quarterback in the league? Do you think it'll happen before this year? Like, how do you think this all plays out? It's pretty crazy to have a player this good going into his contract year.

13:34Nick Shook:Yeah, I think that he'll probably get past Dak Prescott. I don't know if he'll get past 64 million per year with Patrick Mahomes because of the way that they've structured that. and that allows him to kind of get in that range. But I mean, it's the perfect time. It's going to happen because it has to happen before next year. His cap number next year is$84.3 million. You have to stretch that out over the future. So he's going to get a raise. It's going to climb the charts and it should. But because of where the quarterback rankings, you know, let's get deep into the numbers. The nerd category, the financial nerd category of this podcast, beneath Patrick Mahomes and Dak Prescott, You have four quarterbacks, five quarterbacks.

14:13Nick Shook:Yeah. Counting. It's hard to count a spreadsheet for me, but$55 million per year for Matthew Stafford, Jordan Love, Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence, and Josh Allen. I think Lamar will pass all of them. Get in that Dak and Patrick Mahomes range because it has to happen. But, and I agree. I think that he is relatively underpaid. James Cook, I think is the better point of the two as crazy as it sounds because it's a guy who led the NFL in rushing last year, 16, 21 yards and 1 ,621 yards, 12 touchdowns. He's been the engine that we give all the credit in the world to Josh Allen as we should, but he has been the real counterbalance to Josh Allen, the real engine of the offense.

14:47Nick Shook:His success has allowed Josh Allen to be that much better as a quarterback. And yet the way that they handled this contract, there was a period there where it felt like the bills just weren't interested in paying him. And then they, and he ended up, you know, kind of forcing their hand, but they kind of won out by with this deal. I mean, there's a number of running backs that are well ahead of him in APY. Some guys who signed recently, some guys who didn't sign recently, you've got immediately in front of him are Josh Jacobs, Travis Etienne, Alvin Kamara, Jeremiah Love on a rookie contract, Jonathan Taylor.

15:16Nick Shook:He should be making more money than some of these guys. Kenneth Walker, who just signed this year, and yet he's under contract through 2029 now. That's the last big deal. Yeah, I guess so. And I don't want to root for management in these cases. And someone pointed out, well, but John Robinson has the highest guaranteed of the running backs. I'm like, no, he doesn't because a rookie, Jeremiah Love, actually had more guaranteed money than him, which is just, if nothing else, Bajan should have just held their feet to the fire, extended this thing a few more weeks. But he wanted to get back with his team.

15:47The rest of my all underpaid team, Mike Evans, but that was partly by choice. He took less money to go to San Francisco, but he is making less money per year than Josh Palmer, which is crazy. Nico Collins somehow just signed a raise, a deal, and yet because they got him at such a discount early rate, he still is underpaid to me. at tight end. I couldn't really find a great tight end. Chico Conco, I thought, actually will wind up being underpaid. So the rookie, the guys on the rookie contract, Brock Bowers and Colson Loveland were my choice there. The offensive line, Andrew Thomas got a ton of guaranteed money, but he is an elite left tackle that is only making $23 million per year, and they hold his rights for another like four or five years.

16:30That is going to age extremely well for the Giants, so he's never going to leave there. At defensive tackle, it's Vita Vea, who's looking for a trade. Cam Hayward is still at a good price. I know he's old, but he's still playing at a very high level. And then his teammate is my choice at edge, Alex Highsmith, only making$17 million a year, only got$27 million guaranteed. He is due a new contract. At linebacker, I liked Fred Warner. Yeah, I know that contract's fairly recent, but he's just so good that it's kind of similar to Bajon Robinson. Wow, he's only making$21 million a year. like that's like David Edwards money like the card for the Saints like it's just it's impressive and then Jalen Petrie is my defensive back at 13 million dollars a year he's kind of transitioned into a nickelback he was a safety but man that is that is a bargain so those are that's my all underpaid team I don't know if anyone stands out or anyone else you wanted to

17:29Nick Shook:put on there I have an issue with classification when it comes to some of these guys who are listed as linebackers but they're living more in an edge role nick herbig is one of those guys because when you're trying to compare alex highsmith's contract you have to factor in herbig and then you have to consider the steelers overall cap situation they obviously have a ton of money dedicated to jj or tj watt excuse me at 41 million dollars per year and then you go down the list and it's like if you combine edge and linebacker salaries you got to go pretty far down to find highsmith at 17 per year you get herbig at 25 per year they're kind of operating i mean it's within the same financial pool but it's also the same positional pool for the most part but then again you look at the Steelers cap space,$3 million as of right now, 4.9 projected next year, according to over the cap, it balloons in 2028, but it explains why Highsmith is, you know, far down on that list.

18:17And he might get traded. I think this is going to be his last year on the team. So that's our quick, all underpaid team. And yeah, but John Robinson might immediately go on it because he's that good. Some notes in terms of injuries around the NFL on this Tuesday, The Jets rookie tight end Kenyon Sadiq is out. Sounds like it's going to be a little while. Aaron Glenn sounded optimistic that his rookie tight end could be back for week one, but he's already been out for three days. And what I hate to hear is that it's a recurrence of this groin hernia issue that he struggled with a little bit coming into the draft out of Oregon.

18:57So there's been a lot of positivity about the Jets offense at training camp so far. some Jets fans wondering is that a bad sign about their defense either way Kenyon Sadiq who is going to be a real weapon next to Mason Taylor that is one to watch I'd be really disappointed if we don't get like full Sadiq to start the season because I'm in on that Jets Titans week one game it's it looks ugly but I want to see what it looks like I just want to see what these teams look like

19:22Nick Shook:and you got Bob Sala revenge opportunity there Titans too that makes it even juicier I always worry about core muscle injuries now the groin hernia is a little bit different than your traditional core muscle injury. But like, I think about when I think it was Odell's first year in Cleveland, where nobody really knew that he was dealing with a core muscle injury for most of the year, but talking to him, talking to Jarvis Landry, who was dealing with a hip injury that entire season, um, you understood by the end of it, why they were limited in the way that they were. And I would hate for a guy like Sadiq, who is an athletic freak.

19:51Nick Shook:That is his greatest strength is his athleticism. He still kind of needs to work on hands consistency. I would hate for him to have to deal with that in his first year in the NFL. When the level is raised, your athleticism is more important than ever. if you're limited by something like that lowers your ceiling i would hate that because i'm excited that's one of the 12 personnel groups that i'm most excited to watch this year yeah there are so many times where i can remember a second year player and the offseason storyline is well i missed that time in training camp and he never really caught up i was hurt yeah i was banged up rookie i mean it makes sense that just like you you never really catch up you need that time in camp so i'll keep you keep you an eye on that some other injuries devante smith and makai lemon are out of practice for the Eagles on Tuesday.

20:30We'll see if those are serious. Lane Johnson has also been away for the team for three days for personal reasons. I check out the Zach Jackson and Friends podcast covering the Browns. He thought day five, first day in pads was another day where Shador Sanders won and that Shador Sanders is clearly winning this quarterback competition so far and that the rookie wide receivers are looking good there. We'll see if the Browns agree and if that continues one guy who doesn't have to battle for his job anymore is Matthew Stafford and our producer Eric Roberts on the ones and twos running back and forth playing the sound drops I thought this was an interesting soundbite here from Stafford that just kind of speaks to

21:13Nick Shook:where the Rams are at right now you know there was a a lot of high quality plays out there plays that you know in the books will go down as good for the offense and in the books it'll go down as good for the defense that sometimes you just tip your cap you know I mean they covered a couple things really nicely and and were plays where maybe in a game they they shake out a little bit different we go to the ground or whatever it is but like man that's that's as high quality of practice football as I've been around I'm not surprised it I I'm looking forward to being there on Wednesday we will you know talk to the team and everything that'll go up on on Thursday but for a veteran like that who's looking kind of swole Matthew Stafford right now um definitely ready to go for the season.