NFC Free Agency Grades

20:16Ollie Connolly:I love it. I love it if Durante Jones is allowed to kind of implement his style and Dan Quinn doesn't come kind of like sneaking into the room in week six, week seven. start trying to pivot it back to Quinn's style. They were just so old and slow and rudimentary in what they were doing last season when he got back into the room and kind of tweak things to the old Dan Quinn style to add as much juice as they have, add as much versatility and dynamism that they can basically, with Nick Cross and Leo Chanel, like they can line up in any way you want. They've got straight gas off the ball now up front.

20:47Ollie Connolly:I don't think they got themselves a whole bunch of one-on-one winners. I think even someone like a Duffet Owe, it's all spring off the ball. and if he wins, he wins, and if he doesn't win off the first step, it's effectively over beyond an effort rep. But they brought in a coach who wants to do all kind of the mug and attack and creativity with the front, and they signed players to that vision, which gets me fired up because I really did think that they would bring Jones in, they would start signing guys who looked a little bit more like the Dan Quinn vision, and then in Week 9, Week 10, we get the reports that Quinn's heavily involved, he's taking back defensive play-calling duties, and the players they signed, the versatility they offer, screams to me it's going to look a little bit more like those Baltimore defenses, a little bit more like the Brian Flores type defense.

21:26Yeah. First of all, I mean, you got to hope that Durante Jones has the goods and that he can deliver a Brian Flores type defense. But if they do, it's almost like you're looking for a different type of player and you can find better value. I just think of all the good free agent signings that Flores helped the Vikings get when you think about Van Ginkle and Cashman and Josh Metellus, who they developed. And just guys, they had a kind of a vision for how they were going to do that didn't cost them that much money to bring on. and then become real deal players. And I think that's how some of these signings could end up looking in a few years.

21:57I also like the Okonkwo move. I think Allegretti is going to be their center for Tyler Biotis. Was he the one who started a couple games late? And they extend Tunsil. I like the Rashad White move. I'm kind of in on the commander's offseason. It's not 100 for 100, but I think I'm going to give him an A. 93. Why not? We got to give someone an A.

22:19Ollie Connolly:I went B plus because there's a little bit of overpaying for the lack of their internal development having so many misfires now you got to go pay for it in frenzy and i just really hated the loss of biadish that made zero sense to me they're changing the whole foundation of their offense to trying to be this under center move based team so they say he is the one of the number one picks you would have if you were building out a move based under center kind of kick and go center type offense and they just kind of jettisoned him from the building for Nick Allegretti, a guy I like, but fit more of the Cliff Kingsbury style than he fits this one.

22:53Ollie Connolly:So that one was just so puzzling to me from what they've messaged. They want the offense to look like and that they were just throwing cash all over the place, that that was the guy they decided to be the casualty. I agree. And I just assume there was some injury stuff I didn't know about because he did have injuries late in the year, but then he got quickly signed. They do have the most cap space in the league. So we taped on Monday, the AFC, and I said the Titans did since then. You know, This is a moving target. Some of the Titans deals have gotten entered. The commanders now have the most cap space in the entire league and a ton of guys who are still free agents, all those old guys from last year, like Von Miller and Devo Samuel and Bobby Wagner, for instance.

23:29They also had all these low-cost deals from Mariota, Traylon Burks, Deami Brown. They've just been active. I think they needed to be. And so I'm going to lower my score to a 91. You talked me down off of it a little bit. That's the NFC East. Let's take a quick break and we'll come back. this is going to turn into one of my favorite annual exercises, the grades after free agency.

23:53Ollie Connolly:Hey, it's Carissa Thompson. Everything these days is fighting for your attention, work, family, social media, and it makes it tough to figure out what should really come first. But here's something that absolutely deserves to be at the top of your list, your breast health. Breast cancer is the second most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States, and the rates are still rising. More women under 50 are being diagnosed too. But here's a stat that really hits home. One in two women who qualify for annual breast screenings aren't getting them. That's half.

24:27Ollie Connolly:And yet, when breast cancer is caught early, the survival rate is over 99%, nearly 100 % for stage one before it spreads. If you're 40 or older, you should be getting screened every year. And if you're under 40, it is never too early to understand your risk. So come on now. Pay the girls some attention. Head to yourattentionplease.com to learn your breast cancer risk and what screenings you might need. Trust me, your future self will thank you. Brought to you by Novartis. This message is brought to you by Apple Card. Apple Card members can earn unlimited daily cash back on everyday purchases wherever they shop.

25:05This means you could be earning daily cash on just about anything like a slice of pizza from your local pizza place or a latte from the corner coffee shop. Apply for AppleCard in the wallet app to see your credit limit offer in minutes. Subject to credit approval, AppleCard issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City Branch. Terms and more at AppleCard.com. You know how it's never really about where you're going. It's about who you're going with. Like the destination could be totally average, but if the right people are there, it becomes a great memory. Toyota really gets that. Toyota designs vehicles around real life and real people.

25:44The ones who bring everyone together and somehow make the drive part of the fun. There's room for all the stuff that comes with togetherness. Luggage, golf clubs, camping gear, plus comfortable seating, smart layouts, and space that lets everyone relax. And Toyota's lineup makes it easy to find your match. The RAV4 is perfect for everyday adventures. The Grand Highlander brings serious space for up to eight with generous legroom and expansive cargo space. The Highlander also has space for up to eight. It's ready for big moments and spontaneous ones, balancing style and flexibility. And the Sienna is built for everyday life.

26:20Carpools, road trips, snacks, spills. And it even has a built-in vacuum for when things get a little too messy. Because when people are the destination, your ride is important. Learn more at toyota.com and find the vehicle that fits your people.

26:36Ollie Connolly:For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters. Tremphaya offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start. Tremphaya is administered as injections under the skin or infusions through a vein every four weeks, followed by injections under the skin every four or eight weeks. If your doctor decides that you can self-inject Tremphaya, proper training is required. Tremphaya is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with moderately to severely active Crohn's disease and adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis. Serious allergic reactions and increased risk of infections and liver problems may occur.

27:15Before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, or if you need a vaccine. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Tremphaya today.

27:29Ollie Connolly:Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit TremphayaRadio.com.

27:39Back on NFL Daily, we are rolling through the NFC pre-agency grades with the Chicago Bears and the NFC North up next. Really, the highlights, the big news is how their secondary looks so different. They signed Kobe Bryant, the Seahawks safety, for three years,$40 million. Fun deal to imagine him with Dennis Allen. But they let Kevin Byard, Jaquan Brisker, Nashawn Wright, Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, and Jonathan Owens all leave from the secondary, which I found interesting. I don't think they were really in on keeping those players. They re-signed Braxton Jones at left tackle, and they signed Jedrick Wills.

28:19This is a move we hadn't mentioned on the show. The former Browns first-round pick that was out of football last year trying to get healthy. So that's a flyer where they need a left tackle early this season or maybe the whole season. They traded for Garrett Bradbury after Drew Dahlman surprisingly retired at center. And other than that, it's been quiet. Devin Bush was the biggest other signing at linebacker. Three years,$30 million. He replaces Tremaine Edmonds. Neville Gallimore and Kalief Raymond. Gallimore is a defensive tackle. Kalief Raymond, kind of a fourth receiver return guy. They both get around$5 million.

28:53They had a ton of players sign with other teams. For what it's worth, 13 different players from their team have signed with other teams, which I found interesting. One of the highest, maybe the highest number in the league. And they're out of cap space. And they're in the middle of the pack of cash spent. So I know we've been feeling better about Ryan Poles, but I do think that kind of points to maybe some of the misdeeds of previous years hurt them in this offseason.

29:22Ollie Connolly:Yeah, I've thought Ryan Poles is a clown for a while. I do have to say I hadn't considered that about the cash in the cap. That kind of points to the fact that maybe he was clownish throughout the early parts of the tenure. I love this. I thought he did a great job. I understand there were some cap restrictions, but it wasn't too high on their own supply of last season kind of lying to themselves about who they could be going to the next year. I just thought it was smart move, smart move, smart move all across the board. I thought the Garrett Bradbury deal, when Drew Dolman retires on you so suddenly and you don't want to make it so you've got to go into the draft and there's only really Jake Slaughter who's worthy of maybe a first or second round pick.

29:57Ollie Connolly:And you're kind of bucketed where you kind of have to get that guy earlier. just going at Garrett Bradbury is a serviceable player who played much better last season than he has for much of his career just locking that down on a really cheap deal doing it immediately I thought was really sensible work getting a second round pick for DJ Moore's absolute robbery unbelievable deal once again from Ryan Pauls in the trade market and I really do like that for as much as I love the names they had in the secondary and I like a lot of those players that it was a pretty clear signal that what they did last year with Dennis Allen where he cut apart from the structure he had with the saints and said we are an all-out attack let's get after it based blitzing defense all the signings align with that's who we want to be now that was not a kind of figure it out on the fly break glass emergency our pass rush things i think they tapped into something in where the game is at right now alan has kind of embraced it and so the signing of someone like kobe bryant the signing of devin bush indicate that that's the style they want to go to but there's a little bit more versatility than they have with the previous group wherever they want to kind of back off and return to how Allen used to play those guys have played in that style too you really need Kyler Gordon to stay healthy but yeah the group now still looks good Jalen Johnson Tyreek Stevenson Kobe Bryant Kyler Gordon and then I forgot they brought in Cam Lewis who's a solid player from from the Bills who will be an option at safety you you figure they'll add more there you make me want to give them a higher grade the thing is they they had no pass rush last year and I know they have cap space restrictions.

31:23They still have no pass rush this year. And I get what you mean on Bradbury. That was just bad luck for Drew Dahlman, so I can't punish them in the grades. So they did well considering. But you have questions, I think, at left tackle and a little bit at center just because of injuries and retirement there. I agree.

31:42Ollie Connolly:The roster's nowhere near perfect, and they're paying for the previous polls misfires. But I think it would have been so much worse to take whatever cap room they did have and tried to get in the sweepstakes with just a B to B plus shade pass rusher and just say, well, that's where we're putting all the cash. I think that would have been fooling themselves that the only issue was we didn't have enough sizzle in the pass rush. And I just don't think that's true. I think the team still has pretty poor roster construction at multiple spots. And so they kind of put the cash around and tried to just build a more stable team for multiple seasons.

32:14Ollie Connolly:And now they've got those second round picks, which is right in the meat of the rushing market in the draft class. And they could maybe dangle one of those if they want to to try and get a veteran down the line. So I think the move by move, they've played it really well. And the DJ Moore trade, as you mentioned, is not to be overlooked when making this grade. And you're right. We would have hammered them if they made the Bradley Chubb contract or even the Adafi Owe contract. I don't think made sense for this team, even if I'm not going to kill it for the commanders. Didn't love it. I'll give them an 86.

32:46How about that?

32:47Ollie Connolly:Is that in the B-plus realm? i mean do you not have the do we not have the same scoring um process in london maybe we don't all all i had was the the letter grade so i would i would say a b plus i i could talk myself into an a for getting out of dj more alone and then getting out of dj more for a really valuable asset okay it sounds like you want like an 89 as close to a minus as possible so how we did it so the listeners. You know, it was like 83 to 87 would have been a B. 80 to 82 would be minus. 88 to, I guess, I don't know if B plus is 87 or not. 88, 89 is B plus, something like that. And then you do that with each grade.

33:27Let's keep going. The Lions, this one's a quick one. Nice deal for Cade Bays, the center from the Panthers. Not too much money filled the big need. After that, other than trading David Montgomery, it's just about a bunch of cheapy moves. And I'll just list off some of these players. They all are making very little money. Teddy Bridgewater, Isaiah Pacheco, Larry Borum is an option to be like a fourth tackle, third tackle. Roger McCreary, who's bounced around now at cornerback. Christian Isian, who's okay at defensive back for the Bucs. Tyler Conklin at safety. They traded for Juice Scruggs. I don't even know if he'll make the Lions, but those are the types of moves.

34:08They've been very quiet. They have$30 million in cap space. They lost Khalif Raymond to the Bears. I actually think that might hurt them a little bit. It was a good role player. Dan Skipper retired. They don't have a left tackle. They have no edge after Aiden Hutchinson. It's really crazy. They're pretty thin right now at linebacker, cornerback, interior offensive line. They have some interesting free agents from their own team that are still out there that I'm starting to think are going to come back. But But as we stand right now, what do you think of what the Lions are doing?

34:42Ollie Connolly:I love the two additions of Cave Mays and Roger McCreary. I really like Roger McCreary. I don't think the league agrees with me. I thought he had really good flashes in Tennessee, particularly as a blitzer. So I like buying low on him. The Mays one we talked about going into it, that is the ideal scheme fit for Mays and for what the Lions are looking for. It's a big, lumbering, powerful presence in the middle of the line of scrimmage. They will hide him and protect him and pass pro. And I think he's going to play his best ball the next couple of seasons. I am still just puzzled by the lack of juice they have all over the field for a team that's trying to compete at the top end defensively.

35:13Ollie Connolly:Not bringing AQM back for the money he got from the books is really puzzling to me. I accept letting Anzalone and some of the older guys go. That one to me after the breakout was just a little bit jarring, given that they didn't really do anything else. We were calling Al-Kahid Muhammad AQM. Yeah, I like that. You're expecting the audience to get on just as no. Oh, yeah, AQM. Al-Kahid Muhammad. There we go. To not shop in that market, at least so far, when all those guys are flown off the board, is just pretty puzzling to me. And I'm waiting to see the money on Muhammad. I don't think it's going to be much.

35:49Actually, it's coming up in a bit. I did look it up. Yeah, it's very little money. That one was curious because they do have cap space. So I hinted at the free agents that are on the team that are still out there. They don't have a left tackle, really. So isn't Taylor Decker just going to come back? I think there was some hurt feelings that he couldn't agree on negotiation. In the end, I'm guessing they're offering more than any other team, or he'd probably have signed with another team by now. So I think they'll look different if Taylor Decker comes back for one more season as expected, and it's with them.

36:21Also, Graham Glasgow hasn't been signed. DJ Reader hasn't been signed. Some of these guys could come back, and I think they kind of need it because this is the thinnest Lions roster since the first year they've been there. It really is. It's great at the top, but it's the thinnest in terms of depth.

36:36Ollie Connolly:It is, and the depth is slow. So I would get worried if they just bring all the boys back because they understand the system and they like Dan Campbell. I think they've got to get so much more explosive and take some flyers on young guys who flamed out elsewhere and buy into your own culture and we can coach them and all that stuff, which I think is what they did with McCreary. I think that's the angle they have to look at. I think if we get a couple months down the line and they just keep bringing everyone back, that would worry me. It's a fair point. There's definitely not offensive linemen or tackles that are just going to be sitting out there, but you can find some defensive backs.

37:06You can find some defensive backups, but you really need to find some edge talent somewhere and figure out a way to develop them. It has really been a problem. They've put a ton of resources into their defensive line with pretty mixed results other than taking a pick everyone could have made with Aiden Hutchinson. All right, I will give them, I think they were working with limited space here, and I just have a bias when it comes to the Lions. So I'll give them an 81. That's a B-money.

37:35Ollie Connolly:81? That's too high, too low? What? Too high. What? Have they made any degree of needle moving move? I love Cade Mays, but... Cade Mays? They're still exposed at left tackle and at edge rusher. I don't think having a solid pivot is going to change the fortunes of a team who believes they're a contender. All right, give me a number. I think it's a C. I think it's on the low end going towards C -. Okay, that's a 73, and you've convinced me. I like it when Bill Simmons gets easily convinced if his guest has a good argument, because I'll listen to that. Let's go 79. I just am kind of considering that it's incomplete right now, but it's not great right now for the Lions.

38:19We've actually been nicer graders. We had more Ds on our AFC. Let's see what we have for the Packers. The Packers, just when you think you know what they're going to do, they trade for two players who are, or they get two players that are aging. Zyre Franklin from the Colts, the linebacker they traded for, and Javon Hargrave, they signed to pretty good money. Otherwise, it's been quiet. They re-signed their own lineman, Sean Ryan, for three years, $33 million,$11 million guaranteed, kind of that Mick contract that's been going around. Benjamin St. Juice, who played pretty well for the Chargers last year, gets$10 million over two years, kind of replaces Nate Hobbs.

39:00Some teams have a ton of free agents just sitting out there. I've mentioned those. The Packers are not one of those teams. All of their guys have landed elsewhere. Malik Willis, Emmanuel Wilson, Romeo Dobbs, Rasheed Walker, Elton Jenkins, who they cut, and Egbari, Nate Hobbs, who I mentioned they tried to cut. They traded away Colby Wooden and Rashawn Gary. So a lot of people out the door, they have$28 million pretty average in terms of cap space. What do you think? I thought it was pretty putrid given the timeline that they're on.

39:33Ollie Connolly:And I understand some of their rationale. I think if I had to guess is we were really young and explosive, but we're a little bit frenetic and haywire. And so we're going to try and get more savvy vets in the room. But I just look at it in the round once they complete everything. And it's just so uninspiring to stick with the offensive line and better internal development. to not try and bring someone into the mix to try and shake things up and maybe displace one of the tackles or the guards I thought was pretty concerning. I thought the Zaire Franklin deal was just kind of bizarre. I don't know how he fits the system at all.

40:03Ollie Connolly:I don't know why getting that guy at this phase of his career fits them in any way having let a really explosive linebacker go for all the faults of Quay Walker. I just don't know why one-to-one you would not just pay that contract over bringing Zaire Franklin in. So just across the board, I just found it very strange. he's making Zaire Franklin 7 or 8 million dollars so I guess they could have thought that's a good deal for him but it's really not it's probably about what he would get in free agency if that I saw an interesting comment from one of the Packers beat writers I wish I could credit him right now that maybe some of the guys that they let go were a little bit more about behind the scenes culture fit-ish injury-ish but maybe more culture fit because the the writer made sure to say well that's not talking about in a bari malik willis or romeo dobbs so it's basically the rest of them you can just fill in the gaps who the rest of them was so i was like okay um interesting if that's part of the calculus but it's it's hard to put that into my grade there's not a lot to talk about here i'm gonna go i i just they're getting punished because it's like i'm sure this happens with english teachers if you're just going if you just have a bunch of great students in a row and you're given solid grades and then you get a clunker, you're like, all right, finally, I can give someone a D.

41:24So I'm going to give them a D. Let's give them a 68. I don't get it.

41:27Ollie Connolly:I'm giving them a D to a team that's on the cusp of that. And I know they've had the youngest roster in the league for two years, but them getting older and slower at specific positions, I just find completely puzzling. And the Packers fans will be like, well, this is what we do. We don't do it in free agency. And for the most part, I think they wish they did do more things in free agency. It went poorly when they tried last year with Aaron Banks and Nate Hobbs, and maybe they were afraid. But is that working, like not doing it in free agency? Like, is it really working? I kind of don't think it is.

41:58I think they want more considering the quarterback and the coach that they have. They could be better. Let's go to the Vikings. They signed Kyler Murray, and they only have to pay him$1.3 million. What a nifty trick by this Vikings team to make me look at their season coming up so differently when they went into this offseason in the biggest cap hell of any team in the league. They got Aaron Jones to take a pay cut down to$5.5 million, so he stayed. They re-signed Eric Wilson. This was easily the biggest contract they signed this offseason, which is crazy. The rush linebacker, he gets$12.5 million guaranteed.

42:35It's not that big of a contract. It's three years,$22 million, but they just haven't made any other moves. A move around the edge that I like, You know Brian Flores pointed at James Pierre from the Steelers and said, I want that guy. And he got him for only$3.7 million guaranteed on a two-year deal. They had some players retire. CJ Hamm, Ryan Kelly, their center, retired. They cut Javon Hargrave and Jonathan Allen, who were making big money and got deals elsewhere. Harrison Smith may or may not retire. We don't really know that right now. It's definitely been a step back offseason for the Vikings.

43:09and yet making Kyler happen and the couple little moves that they have to me have all been like doubles to better. And so I really like their off season so far.

43:19Ollie Connolly:I agree with you. It's disappointing, I think, to lose the solid competent players. I think Jalen Naylor can be a really good player down the lines of losing him. I think it's disappointing. The Hargrave and Allen ones, they just didn't work in Kelly. There's not much you can do with the injury history there. But when you go from incompetent quarterback to competent quarterback, I know Kyler Murray has his faults and I pointed out many of them before, but it's a massive bar raise, I believe, over J.J. McCarthy. So if you do that at that price, how is that not a great offseason? That's what it comes down to mean.

43:49Ollie Connolly:You can talk about all the stuff on the margins. I think the James Pierre deal is an unbelievable pickup for them. It's just way cheaper than I thought flyer on a guy who'll probably just be better being in the orbit of Brian Flores. So to go from bad quarterback to, I think, above average starting quarterback at that cost is as good as anyone can do it in offseason. Yeah, you don't have a ton of juice on offense outside of Jefferson and Addison, which is quite a big like except for, but it's thin at wide receiver. Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason will get you by at running back, but you would like a little more juice there.

44:26Hawkinson also came back, I should have mentioned, on a reduced deal. They hadn't got all the details there, but it sounds like he's taking less money in exchange for hitting free agency. sooner. So you really look through their roster. I don't see crazy holes. Even the competent veterans you mentioned, like Cutting Hargrave and Jonathan Allen, those were cat moves. But they have some young guys that are pretty solid on the defensive line. And I see a contender. I think Kyler saved this entire idea of this Vikings build that they can just stay right there in contention.

45:01Ollie Connolly:I agree that I do worry about another year of Flores going to well with that system. It's just the sustainability of defense year to year doesn't work that way. Does he have another trick up his sleeve? I'm not so sure. He's kind of pushed his chips all the way in for a very unique style. And at some point, I think it could crack or get found out. And I wouldn't want to be on the wrong end of that season, which could be coming up. But the defensive line point you mentioned is a good one because Jalen Redmond is the most viable piece they have in the middle of that defense. And so keeping him a really cheap deal to let the expensive big names go makes a ton of sense to me.

45:33Ollie Connolly:it would just be nice to have a few more guys in the rotation but i think you can just find those guys all the way up through training camp that's just always a an older interior defensive lineman out there who can give you serviceable rotation snaps right they had these other young late picks tyron uh ingram dawkins and levi drake rodriguez who played like serviceable snaps and they'll they'll be in the mix uh jonathan grunard is on this roster still there were reports the eagles were interested in trading him that he was available for a day two pick so watch this space but they've gotten through the cap issues in a way because you had to be cap compliant when the new league year starts.

46:08They have$6 million in cap space, which is basically nothing. You have to sign a rookie class. They don't really have it now. Maybe they'll trade Grenard, which would hurt. We'll see. But right now I'm going to give them, considering the limitations, I consider the limitations, so I am grading on a curve. They were second, by the way, last year in cash spending. So sometimes when you spend a ton of cash one year, it comes back to the pack the next year and that is where they're at they're they're towards the bottom of the league this year they fired quessi i don't know if that counts in yeah that's a couple of great bump i don't know i think i'll just go 80 that's kind of a it's fine yeah i get

46:49Ollie Connolly:i gave a b i think 80 is fair i was worried you're gonna try and talk me into something higher so no 80 81 82 if a b would be an 84 85 from you but we're just throwing in we're throwing out numbers there nfc south uh tua tango bailo is on the falcons there's there's some moves that just i haven't like taken enough time to process i will go through like i will go through the whole you know spiel but do you sometimes read books or movies that like while you were reading or watching them they were like okay to good but they stick with you oh yeah it's like takes a while to really understand almost to like i feel like to a tongue of i load of the falcons i haven't fully grasp what that's going to mean for all of our lives, Ali.

47:31Ollie Connolly:No, I don't buy that it's the good scheme fit that people are talking about. I think that I accept people view Tua as kind of like point guard type player and he gets the ball out quickly and that could work with Kevin Stefanski. But Stefanski's offense is way more about quarterback movement, about true stretch when it's rolling the way he wants it to roll. And the only season it's not really run like that was when Joe Flacco got off the couch, went absolutely maniacal. I was just dicing people up down the field, which is not to a skill set in any way. That was not designed up by Kevin Stefanski.

48:01Ollie Connolly:He had a guy just go in fuego off the couch. But it mostly requires a true stretch element with real like backside conflict on defenders where the quarterback has a real ability to roll out and throw on the move and be a real running threat themselves. And that's just not to his game. So it's going to be from the gun trying to pick people apart. And I can see that vision with the pieces they have with Pitts, with Drake London, with Bijan that I can kind of get myself there but I just don't think it's a it's a one-to-one skill set thing and I don't think it's at all if you're building any kind of infrastructure which they may not be for Michael Penix the skill sets are in no way similar and just because they both throw left which does help in terms of like designing the playbook and building things out there's just no overlap there in the skills of the two guys and I just don't think Tua is a natural fit for what Stefanski has done at his best he may evolve and that would be I think a benefit for Kevin Stefanski, but it felt like a tired offseason to me.

48:54Ollie Connolly:And that's been my complaint about Stefanski throughout the offseasons that I worry he's going to come in tired out of ideas. And this whole thing felt tired and out of ideas to me. Fair. I don't think he's going to have that much juice, but in terms of personnel, say, you have Matt Ryan, you have Ian Cunningham. But in terms of choosing a quarterback, obviously he's going to have a big voice. And they had a choice. If you really think about there was three quarterbacks. It was very unique this year that essentially could start for you that were coming for free because their old teams were paying them.

49:27Actually four if you include Kirk Cousins in that mix, but obviously they weren't going to be that team. And it was Geno, it was Kyler Murray, and it was Tua. And they went really early on just jumping on the Tua train before Kyler was even really available. I don't know. Here's one thing I know before I get into all the moves, Ali, that you threw out there. I can promise you they are not building an infrastructure for Michael Penix. I mean, which is reasonable.

49:54Ollie Connolly:And I would prefer to watch week one with tour at quarterback than I would Michael Penix at this point. I know he's got the injury, but if you just asked me to, who do you want to watch run the offense in week one? I do like the idea of two are just accuracy, spread it around to the weapons. I'm into that, but anything beyond that, I just really don't think he fits what Kevin Stefanski's offense has looked when it's at its best. Kyler is a tricky one anyway because Kyler hates going under center and rolling out. That's just not how he wants to play, even though the skills are there to be really effective at it.

50:23Ollie Connolly:So I can understand why they say we're just not interested in that style of player, but Tua isn't that guy either. Right, and there was a moment in Tua's career where we might have been looking a little too hard, but it was like, oh, he is making a few improvive plays. There are a few off-schedule plays there. If he can just sprinkle those in, you got something, but those have gone away. I think he's less mobile, whether it's the concussion issues or just his athleticism as he remains in the league and the hits that he's taking. He just hasn't looked like that guy. I think a fun idea for a show, I just thought about it when we were talking about Pennix, would be the disrespect rankings.

51:01Because I might rank how the Falcons have publicly spoken about Michael Pennix as more disrespectful than the Vikings in terms of their talking about J.J. McCarthy. It's like could not be more clear that they don't really count on Michael Penix at all. Just like, wow. OK.

51:17Ollie Connolly:I think the McCarthy one is an all time. I don't know if I've ever seen an organization so publicly say, we think this guy stinks. Some of you guys keep reporting. We actually think he might be OK. And we're telling you week after week, he's terrible. It's fair. It's close, though. The Penix stuff is not cool. Here's what else they did. It's been a quiet offseason. We'll keep this one quick. They signed a handful of pass catchers for cheap money. Jahan Dotson, who actually got kind of like a mid-tier, low number three receiver type of contract, which is a worthy bet. I don't hate that. Olamide Asakias is back for cheap money.

51:50Austin Hooper, the former Patriots tight end, is back as like a backup to Kyle Pitts, who they tagged. They signed some volume in terms of defensive players. Aziz Ojolari is going to be there. Ebukam is there. Deshaun Hand from the Chargers is here. Christian Harris, the linebacker from the Texans this year. Nick Folk is on this team. Overall, they kind of took a step back, though, if you kind of look at the players that they lost. Tyler Algier, Darnell Mooney, Arnold Ebuchetti, David Onyemata, Caden Ellis, Dee Alford. Not amazing players, but I think more has left the building than has really come into the building.

52:30They have$22 million, not a ton in cap space, but some. And one thing I've noticed should be on the Falcons fans' radar, like not spending a lot of money the last two years, two years in a row. Just want your team to be spending money. That's what I want. They're pretty low in cash in both of those years, so that maybe speaks to the poor cap management. Overall, I'm going to give this offseason a C, like a low C, 73.

52:55Ollie Connolly:I'm going to give it a D. Didn't love the hires anyway going into it, and the players you just listed out, they signed very similar archetype of players who are worse than the players they let leave the building. I think Cade Nellis is really good. They let him go. I really like Donald Mooney. Algier fits a pretty valuable role. Anyamada, similar, where it's like, I know you can get those guys pretty cheap, but he's good at what he does. And the guys they brought in to replace them just aren't at the same level to me. Not, yeah, not a lot to believe in right now. That's not true of our next team.

53:27And it's why it is time for charging into the offseason presented by Apple Card for all your game day purchases. Download the Apple Card in the wallet app today and start earning daily cash back on all your game day purchases from tickets to tailgate munchies to merch subject to credit approval. We had to give the Panthers the honor of charging into the offseason because they spent that money. $60 million in real guaranteed money to Jalen Phillips on a four year,$120 million contract. They got Devin Lloyd in the building for only$15 million a year. $25 million guaranteed. that's very similar to these other linebacker contracts that were out there this offseason, especially N 'Kobe Dean and Kway Walker, but not even that much more than the other ones, like Trey Tremaine Edmonds, for instance.

54:15They signed Rasheed Walker to a deal. We're still waiting to see the terms. I heard some whispers that his lack of a market might have been because of his health and because of some physical concerns with Rasheed Walker. They also made a lot of small moves. John Mechie they added for depth. Luke Fortner, who was okay for the Saints at center last year, might be the starting center here. They brought back sometime host of the show, J.J. Jansen, to be their long snapper. Once again, one of the longest tenured players in the history of the Panthers. And at this point, the NFL, who knows? And then this show is primarily a show, Ollie, for me to catch all the things that fell through the cracks.

54:58And it is partly to remember that Kenny Pickett is got$4 million from the Panthers. Way more than I would have expected. And it's on this roster. So is Andy Dalton for now, but they keep saying they're going to cut him, but they haven't actually cut him yet. Let's start at the top. What do you think of the Phillips-Lloyd moves?

55:16Ollie Connolly:I love getting the blue chip players. I love giving Eero Evero some actual human players who can play in the NFL on defense, giving him a chance to actually do something with good players. I thought the Lloyd contract was wild. You mentioned that it's how comparative it is to other players. I just think he is in a tier above all the other guys who are available in free agency. So I thought he'd go for significantly more and I'm surprised he didn't just go back to Jacksonville given that that was the market. The Phillips one, I do think is a pretty heavy overpay given the health concerns, the injury history, how he just wins as a one-on-one Russia compared to paying elite money for the guys who can just beat up on any kind of tackle in the NFL.

55:53Ollie Connolly:I think he's a little bit more slippery than it is like true street, juice and power, which is how usually the best guys in the league win year after year. But if you wanted to go and get pass rushing juice, you were either shopping in the FAOA market and hoping for the best, or you can get a guy who truly does have kind of top five in the league type production within him, I think, if he plays every snap in a season. So I understand why they went for Phillips. They went for the best thing they could on the market. I think a little bit of them getting burned by Milton Williams last season and just deciding we are going to pay whatever it takes to get this one over the line.

56:27Ollie Connolly:And so I don't love that from a team building perspective, maybe adding an extra couple of dollars on there just to make sure you get it done, having been burned in the past. But all of it made sense to me. That part of it made sense that, and I think Milton Williams was absolutely a factor. I also think they had to go way over the top of what the Eagles were offering in the end. I have a feeling Phillips would have taken less money to play with the Eagles. The Eagles were offering definitely in the 20s, whether that was 22, 24, 25, who knows? I don't really know. I think the Panthers had to pay a little bit of a, okay, we're the Panthers, tax on that and really give them the guarantees.

57:05And they got it. And it's just the right time in their team build to do it. I do hate the risk because of his injuries in the past where like in a best case scenario, he lives up or gets close to this value and stays healthy. There are plenty of other scenarios, whether it's performance or injury where he doesn't. But I think if they were going to make a risky move like that, this was the time to do it. I don't hate it.

57:31Ollie Connolly:I agree with that. And I think if you just package the contracts together of Phillips and Lloyd, and you said they got these two players for this combined value, I'd be like, okay, that's great. That's solid value for two, I think, potential game-changing players. They just haven't had anything like that on defense for years now. Well, they could also say, we got Jalen Phillips for, I believe about the same guaranteed money as the Bills got DJ Moore. So you feel good about that. I don't care about that. It's probably nothing, but I noticed it. Both Rico Dowdle and A'shaun Robinson left the Panthers, and they were both kind of salty about it and made negative comments about the Panthers.

58:12Just something I noticed. Maybe Rico Dowdle was simply that they didn't value me, but A'shaun Robinson in his press conference with the Bucs kind of called into question how things were running. Just something I noticed from these two guys.

58:26Ollie Connolly:Something to note. I love Rico Dowdell because he does seem to believe he's Eric Dickerson and being held back by the organization. I admire that level of confidence. Yeah. I don't know if it was anything more than that. I don't really think this is a thing, but it was interesting. And Aishan is in the division. We're going to get to him in just a second. Also, Yosh Nyman retired. I hadn't mentioned that. Offensive lineman who had a pretty good career as a late rounder, undrafted guy. And yeah, they lost Cade Mays, who they got outspent for. Not a ton of cap space here for the Panthers. Did we give them a grade?

58:56No, we didn't. It wasn't everything I wanted, but the Devin Lloyd really makes me enjoy it more. So I'm going to give them a B, 85.

59:07Ollie Connolly:I'll go A -. What is that, I guess, numbers-wise? In the 90s? I think A -. I said it would have been an A if not for just the, I know they had to overpay for Phillips, but it's, to me, a pretty dramatic overpay with the injury concerns. They did take two of my top 10 players, and then Walker ended up in my top 30 somewhere. They got him for cheap. There might be an injury situation there, but that really means I love that move considering where they were at. Just they needed something respectable. All right. I'm bumping it up to an 88, 89. All right. That was charging into the offseason presented by Apple Card.

59:42Apply for Apple Card in the wallet app today and start earning daily cash back on all your game day purchases from tickets to tailgate munchies to merch subject to credit approval. All right. Let's get to the Bucks. The most money they spent per year, it was a tie between Kate Otten, our guy, and A'shawn Robinson. I was really surprised A'shawn Robinson, who's been just a workmanlike, rotational defensive lineman, got$10 million. It's really just a one-year contract, so nothing in the future. But Kate Otten also got$10 million a year on a three-year deal. It's fully guaranteed$20 million for the first two years, essentially guaranteed.

1:00:21They signed two ex-Lions, the Bucs, in Al-Kahid Muhammad, we mentioned. That's a contract that's up to six. So a lot of times that's like a$4 million contract. Alex Anzalone got$12 million, the linebacker from the Lions. Two years,$17 million. Similar deal for Kenneth Gainwell, who got two years,$14 million. The Steelers MVP adds to the backfield with Bucky Irving. I liked bringing back. And you couldn't bring back everyone, but they lost Mike Evans. I think they wanted to keep Mike Evans, didn't they? Maybe not that much. You would think so, but his contract is so low. It makes me wonder. Rashad White is gone.

1:01:01Jamel Dean is gone. Hassan Redick and Labonte David are both out there. I think Labonte David is retiring. And Jake Browning is on the Buccaneers. Do you know that?

1:01:11Ollie Connolly:I did know that. Yeah, because he did all that. That's not overly exciting. That's a downgrade, I think, from Teddy. middle of the pack in terms of cap space and cash. Not really a lot to talk about there. Little curious. I think the Evans move through them for a loop to start their off season because or they just didn't want him because he only got he basically got a one year,$14 million contract. Mike freaking Evans. I think they knew he was gone and they tried to a face saving offer. I thought this was almost an apocalypse of an off season. Frankly, I really respect Jason light. he sees football the way I see football.

1:01:49Ollie Connolly:I like guys who see football the way I see football as an artist. This is, I think, as bad as it can go when everything you've built towards was we are going to at some point put the chips in. We're going to try and have a second run at this thing. We're going to try and win at the back end of this Baker Mayfield contract. We are searching the market for edge defenders. Can we get Max Crosby? We don't have the guts to quite do the deal before the Ravens do it and it falls through. Can we go and get Trey Hendrickson? We get beat by the Ravens shenanigans for Trey Hendrickson. Where else can we go?

1:02:18Ollie Connolly:In the meantime, as we are kind of signaling to the veteran on our roster, our future Hall of Famer, I promise you this is the year we're going in. We're going for it. You can't get the deals done. And then he decides, I'm out of it. The culture doesn't fit for me anymore. It's not a winning culture. You're bringing top balls back again when I was expecting him to move on. I'm out. I think all around what their goals were, which was to go and get a premier A1 pass rusher that they've been chasing for so long, had the ammunition to do it, had the will to do it. They lose out on that and it costs them the most important player in their franchise.

1:02:52It's a convincing argument. I could even think like you're absolutely right in terms of where they are in the team build. Like this is the time to go. But that was also their year last year and they didn't even make the playoffs in one of the worst divisions in football. It really didn't get enough national attention, A, because they're the Bucs and then B, because the Bengals and the Bills and the Ravens were happening to various degrees. I shouldn't kill the Bills too much. They were very close to making the Super Bowl. But the Bucks, it was kind of a catastrophic season and they decided not to get off everything.

1:03:28And yeah, this offseason feels like treading water. And some of the comments from Mike Evans, and he's tried to play both sides of the fence and be appreciative of the fans, did indicate to me a little bit that he felt like the culture was stale when he when he talked about what he was looking for for san francisco maybe what he wasn't getting and yeah it's disappointing because this team should be more fun than it is but really a nothing you can hang your hat on in terms of this offseason other than kenny g uh it's fine kenny g costs a lot of money it's a very good

1:04:02Ollie Connolly:pickup i love them resigning k dot and i thought the anzalone contract and signing was a big giveaway they've been crying out for a really explosive kind of one step pop and drop mugged up linebacker for three seasons. They should have gone and got Devin Lloyd. He was available to them in a trade. They said, no, thank you. Missed out on that one dramatically. Levante, I think, is retiring every season. They decide not to replace that. They go and get Alex Anzalone, which is a carbon copy of what Levante David gives them and is not a player who plays as an explosive pop and drop mugged up linebacker.

1:04:31Ollie Connolly:He's a running chase, running rally, high five everyone type player. So they just go one to one across the board on players that weren't good enough to get them over the top anyway they're telling everyone who will listen this is the year we're making the big moves we tried last offseason we got a little bit of cold feet at the asking prices it's going to be this year we're running it back with todd the only way we can improve the team is to take the assets we have and try and go and get a premier pass rusher and i don't quite agree with that i don't think that they're quite where they believe they are in terms of like competitiveness to win the whole thing but they think they are and then i i just thought they got cold feet on every major move also haven't really heard about a baker contract extension that that's kind of looming over is he going to be their guy long term they need a better season out of him overall all right give me your your bucks grade it's a d i would have it as an f but because the crosby deal fell through and that's still hanging out there i'm not ruling out that they could maybe get back involved in that okay so a d a 65 for ollie i'm i'm definitely factoring in the fact that Jason Light confronted Conor Orr for his takedown of the Bucs right before they had a great season.

1:05:43We've had Jason Light on the show. He always calls back to things that people say about him. So, you know, that's a factor here. And yet, I feel like I got to give him a 69. He's still in the D range here. If they want to clip this and bring it back to me after all these moves work out well, Al-Kaheen Muhammad actually ups his sack total, then I'll be happy to take it because I want the Bucks to do well. All right, let's take a break and we will wrap up our NFC grades with the NFC West right after this.

1:06:20This message is brought to you by Apple Card. It's a great time to apply for an Apple Card. You'll love earning unlimited daily cash on every purchase. That includes 3 % daily cash when you buy the latest iPhone, AirPods and Apple Watch at Apple. Through this special referral offer, when you get a new Apple card, you can earn bonus daily cash. To qualify, you must apply at apple.co slash get daily cash. Apple card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City branch offer may not be available elsewhere. Terms and limitations apply.

1:06:54Ollie Connolly:Hey, it's Carissa Thompson. Everything these days is fighting for your attention, work, family, social media, and it makes it tough to figure out what should really come first. But here's something that absolutely deserves to be at the top of your list, your breast health. Breast cancer is the second most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States. And the rates are still rising. More women under 50 are being diagnosed too. But here's a stat that really hits home. One in two women who qualify for annual breast screenings aren't getting them. That's half.

1:07:27Ollie Connolly:And yet when breast cancer is caught early, the survival rate is over 99%, nearly 100 % for stage one before it spreads. If you're 40 or older, you should be getting screened every year. And if you're under 40, it is never too early to understand your risk. So come on now, pay the girls some attention, head to yourattentionplease.com to learn your breast cancer risk and what screenings you might need. Trust me, your future self will thank you. Brought to you by Novartis. You know how it's never really about where you're going? It's about who you're going with. Like, the destination could be totally average, but if the right people are there, it becomes a great memory.

1:08:06Toyota really gets that. Toyota designs vehicles around real life and real people, the ones who bring everyone together and somehow make the drive part of the fun. There's room for all the stuff that comes with togetherness, luggage, golf clubs, camping gear, plus comfortable seating, smart layouts, and space that lets everyone relax. And Toyota's lineup makes it easy to find your match. The RAV4 is perfect for everyday adventures. The Grand Highlander brings serious space for up to eight with generous legroom and expansive cargo space. The Highlander also has space for up to eight. It's ready for big moments and spontaneous ones, balancing style and flexibility.

1:08:45And the Sienna is built for everyday life, carpools, road trips, snacks, spills. And it even has a built-in vacuum for when things get a little too messy. Because when people are the destination, your ride is important. Learn more at toyota.com and find the vehicle that fits your people.

1:09:04Ollie Connolly: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 Bounty and Swiffer cleaning 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. Back on NFL Daily. I always feel like, Ali, that we're the kids that are letting down our parent, Eric Roberts, when we go like a little too long on the show. He just likes a nice, tight off-season show.

1:09:44But these are going to be unique shows in terms of really recapping it all. We're going to sprint home here. Or not. The Cardinals had a quiet offseason, I would say. They signed Isaac Sayabalu to a three-year,$31 million contract. Now they're one of those. Fifteen of that is guaranteed. So really like a year and a half is guaranteed. Kendrick Bourne and Tyler Algier are both on this team for two-year contracts. Around$5 to$6 million each. That's about what Gardner Minshew is making, 5.75, which sounds like a backup, but it's actually more than Jacoby Brissett is making. So that's interesting.

1:10:20They got James Connor to take a big pay cut to come back. He is only making$2 million this year, which is real backup money. That's interesting. And then just a ton of micro moves. Roy Lopez, who they've had before, comes back. Andrew Billings, defensive lineman, a couple offensive linemen, Matt Pryor, Elijah Wilkinson, really small stuff. They are fourth in the league in terms of cap space and 27th in terms of cash spending. They also did not spend a lot of cash last year. This is the team that was asking their players to pay for their lunches. Someone was saying Kyler Murray was getting extra meals on that visit to Minnesota.

1:11:03That's why he signed there. He's just like, wow, the salad bar is incredible. So it'd be nice to see the Cardinals spend a little more money, even if their fans would, I think, push back to me, Ali and say, no, this year is about the reset and we're thinking about 2027. What do you think?

1:11:18Ollie Connolly:It's about the reset with a GM who's been here this long and promises us the roster is more talented than it was allowed to be shown last season. I just I don't see any kind of vision. They're in a division with three freight trains and there's not even a let's just tear the thing completely down. Let's go and trade Buddha, the most viable thing we have. Let's go and trade Marvin Harrison Jr. See if there's a market there. there's not taking one of the tracks of either semi-competitive rebuild or just saying we're ripping it down to the studs this is just so meh and bland and in the middle and cheap bets on players i'm not sure are that great or are going to do anything for you by the time you may even consider being competitive again i just find it completely puzzling even down to you tell me if i'm wrong on this but wasn't there option to try and get jimmy garoppolo in the building they're gonna let kyla murray go and then call jimmy garoppolo and see if they can get him in the building.

1:12:06Ollie Connolly:It's like, I just don't understand what the moves are for a GM who is supposedly at the very, very end of this thing, because he's got the second crack now with another head coach. They retain the defensive coordinator. They're signaling that they think the roster was better than it was proven under the last coaching staff. It was not as good as they believe it was. And they make moves all on the margins. Yeah. You can't sell a rebuild, a restart with the team, with a GM that's been there this long. You just can't do it. And you can't sell it when you're saying we like his draft picks. And yes, if you look at Monty Austin Ford's drafts, he's hit plenty of singles.

1:12:43And he hasn't had a lot of strikeout. They've been solid singles, some doubles, some misses. But overall, it's been okay. They have a lot of NFL players. But it's just not enough. And Jimmy Garoppolo, I believe, turned them down, according to the report. Jordan kind of mentioned Michael Fleur has this connection. but you get knocked in the greats for that too. You weren't even good enough for Jimmy G who might be retiring and maybe just his, his heart isn't in it anymore or just likes being Matthew Stafford's backup. And it's good. Like kind of into that. And if like, no, if like they don't, if the Rams don't want, it might be just like, yeah, well, I've made a lot of money.

1:13:20I'm, I really like LA. It's, it's been a good, it's been a good run. I don't know what to say about this team. I don't know. I'm just going to throw my grade on right, right away. Cause I'm not going to break down the Roy Lopez move for that long. D minus 62.

1:13:35Ollie Connolly:I'll go with an F factoring in everything they've done over the whole off season. I just, you got to pick a lane at some point. And I just feel like they are straddling through the middle to, to who knows what, maybe they, they crush it in the draft, but even then it still feels like they are so far away. When you look at what's left in the division, even a Tyler Algier for that money is fine. He's getting like$6 million a year, but even him and born for five, six million dollars a year it's like it even those signings are kind of like pick a lane Gardner Minshew is a pick a lane signing what why not do the Malik Willis move that the Dolphins did it they did it despite totally resetting and having very little cap space and having to figure it out the the Cardinals are swimming in cap space they have no use for it what are they doing I don't know I when you when you see like Devin Lloyd out there for that kind of contract and you have oodles of cap space, it just makes no sense to not just try and make a deal.

1:14:32Ollie Connolly:You need to have good young players. Yeah, they're also maybe two or three wins better than it was last year. If you just look particularly on the defensive side with all the injuries they had, these moves do what? Maybe an extra game if you're lucky. So it's still leading to nowhere for me. Right. I agree with the idea that they were better than their record showed last year, that they were maybe more of a 6-7 win team. But they're in the hardest division in football, and they're getting worse. They're not getting better because everyone else is getting better, including the Rams. Fascinating offseason.

1:15:00They trade a first, the 27th pick, a third, a fifth, and a sixth for Trent McDuffie, and they pay him$50 million fully guaranteed, although the second year of the contract, they'd have to cut him after one year. Basically, they're guaranteeing about, I think it was$78 million practically. So it's not really$100 million like they said, But it's pretty close, 78. It's really more of a two-year deal that they could get out of if it went really poorly. And so he's a little closer because it's an extension to$28 million a year, not 31. But that's not crazy inflation. That's still the tippity top of the market for Trent McDuffie.

1:15:39All those picks. They also give his teammate, Jalen Watson, the cornerback,$26.5 million guaranteed on a three-year,$51 million deal. They re-signed Cam Curl to a deal that I think was quietly influential. because Cam Curl, I think, set the market for all these safeties. The safeties finally got paid, and I really think it's because, well, Cam Curl got like 12 a year, and we're all about the same range as Cam Curl, and I think they're right, and finally, safeties got paid. So they re-signed Curl and Quinton Lake. They really haven't lost much at all, which is the feather in their cap of this offseason.

1:16:14Kobe Durant is the best player that they've lost, the cornerback. Rob Havenstein retired. Jimmy G is a question mark if he's going to play or not again. and they have about$22 million in cap space. If I'm going to bang on some of the other teams for not spending cash, they are in the bottom five, six teams in cash spending in back-to-back years. You couple that with the awful food selections at SoFi Stadium, let's break out the checkbook here, Stan Kroenke. How are we still eating 1980s food? The Rams hate this whenever I bring this up. Yeah, I like it, though. I like that they aggressively went after their biggest weakness.

1:16:51What do you think?

1:16:52Ollie Connolly:Yeah, I apologize to the audience for continuing the Rams glazing of NFL Daily through everything they do except for the food. But this was this was everything a contender should do. I think they just are operating on a different timeline to effectively everyone else, given the staffer could retire in the next season, maybe the year after. And so just deciding we're going to over all the secondary. We're not going to lie to ourselves and talk about player development. And hey, those guys held up steadier for portions of the season than we thought they should do based on that collective talent.

1:17:21Ollie Connolly:it just was not good enough and I also think it made them way more versatile that on third down now if they just go straight man coverage with McDuffie and Watson they're set there in a way they just weren't last season I think they can do a bit more in the the blitz and pressure game because of the corner group they've got now so they made themselves more talented overall they made themselves more dynamic and versatile as a defense and they just went all in on fixing the core problem of the roster and if you look at it now heading into the draft they effectively have no holes and they have the 13th overall pick to go and have fun with they can even just go and chase offensive firepower they could move up in the draft they've tried every year for like three years to try and move up in the draft they could look at doing that so that isn't i think a more complete roster in the league right now i don't disagree i think they need to be careful they they traded the pick and i i think they will be careful i think they will try to keep nailing these picks because they they are going to need the nucleus after everyone leaves And that's the thing is it feels like it's this window because of Devante and Stafford specifically.

1:18:22And yet if they can just replace the quarterback, which is a big, difficult challenge that will be in front of them. I don't think they're going to be in bad position long term at all in terms of the assets that they have. Obviously, Puka and the coach and the management and you're investing in players on defense. Jalen Watson and Trent McDuffie specifically, but also Quentin Lake, like young players that should be productive, good players for you for the rest of this decade. So, you know, they've been on a heater in terms of just slowly getting better every year. They definitely feel like this was a Super Bowl that got away from them.

1:19:00What did you think about the news after the fact that Devontae Adams could have been available in a trade if they got A.J. Brown, which now they're getting out there that they're no longer in the A.J. Brown market. So maybe trying to calm the waters there with Devontae Adams.

1:19:18Ollie Connolly:I thought Devontae was exceptional last season. There was some strange chemistry stuff with him and Stafford throughout the season, just not always being on the same page. I still thought he looked phenomenal and was like an absolute killer on third downs. He's obviously crushed people in the red zone all season long. So I would still be heavily in the Devontae Adams market. But A.J. Brown, just with the body type, The physicality is, I think, just a level above it where Devontae Adams is at this stage of his career. So if you could do a deal to go and get one of the six, seven best receivers in the NFL, if the medical checks out, you put anything on the table that isn't the quarterback.

1:19:50Right. It would have been a little tricky, but they do have$22 million in cap space to make that all work. It smelled to me like another team just trying to throw a little stink bomb into the Rams building. I'm not even kidding. Just like, oh, you know, yeah, it's like, well, we talked about a lot of like different scenarios. Was there a scenario with one team out there that Devante could have been like me, maybe, but I don't think that ended up being too serious. All right. I'll give a, I'll give an a minus here for the Rams, a high a minus 92, whatever that is.

1:20:21Ollie Connolly:I'm going to go a plus. I only, I don't care about, Hey, the timeline can push beyond this. It's about parades. You want to have a parade. I think they put themselves in the best position possible to have a parade next off season. In three years down the line, Hey, the timeline you can extend it whatever Sean McVay will be on NBC or on a beach probably in five seasons just go and try and get as many parades as possible while Stafford is healthy it's it's tough because it's just such a high bar but that is that is the whole point like last year they had that team even the year before I feel like they the Eagles were a better team but they felt like they have been in the mix you know four or five times now under McVay where you could say at the end of the year and it's probably one of the best five teams and they've gotten one title a lot of it.

1:21:04That is sort of how things work, but it's just a brutal business. They absolutely should be right at the top of the mix. I'm curious if you think the 49ers are there as well after they signed Mike Evans. Basically a one for 14. I mean, the actual contract terms were shocking to me. They control his rights for two more seasons after that with basically team options, no risk to the team. Either his agent didn't do well or he had no leverage. I would have just taken the one for 14 if I was Evans. Like he gave away his rights for the two years after that too. They also added Christian Kirk. I want to stop there before I get into all the other moves and just let's just talk Evans and what you think about his fit with the 49ers and the fact that he had to settle for a deal that was that low.

1:21:49Ollie Connolly:Yeah, I think settling for the deal when he kind of said publicly he was doing his own research and he was down to basically betting on Kyle Shannon and Purdy or just Josh Allen. Just no one else in the Buffalo building, but Josh Allen limits the market. I agree with you that it's interesting if he could have just done a one year by one year deal, just kind of going around contender to contender, would have loved to have seen him with the Chiefs. But this is a pretty good fallback plan. It brings them a different dimension on offense. I think just they needed so desperately reliability, a big third down target who is just consistently open and is open when he's not open.

1:22:23Ollie Connolly:And that's just not something that they've had throughout Kyle Shanahan's time there. I know they have fun with moving players around and maximizing stuff out of kind of C plus B type receivers. But I still think Mike Evans is an absolute stud. I think he's still a one player at the position in the league. And so to drop him on top of that receiving core, I think is outstanding work. People got scared, understandably, from the production. 368 yards, eight games last year. But the tape looked good. The problem is the 33 years old, but that's why he's basically year to year. and you mentioned getting a lot out of lesser receivers.

1:22:58I could absolutely see a situation where Christian Kirk is playing on Thursday night football, has a relatively quiet season, but lights up the Rams for 170 yards and you're just like, wow, Christian Kirk. They also traded a third round pick for Osa Odigizua, a fascinating trade we hit from the Cowboys side earlier. They brought back Jay Greenlaw. I don't want to kill them on the contract until I see the actual numbers. It was reported as 7.5, but maybe that was up to, we'll see. I thought it was a great buy low on Nate Hobbs, who was a very highly sought after free agent last year for the Packers.

1:23:31That's an up to 4.5. So that might be a two, $3 million contract for a guy who was getting$10 million a year and still relatively young a year ago. I think they could work him out. They gave$10 million guaranteed. It's hilarious that Eddie Pinheiro got more guaranteed than Dre Greenlaw or Nate Hobbs. Shout out to Verdary and Lowe. Lanny has a backup left tackle. I always said with the Patriots, like he's a little better than people think. People just killing him. They lost Kendrick Bourne. They lost Bryce Huff, who retired. Juwan Jennings is still out there. The kind of takeaway there in general, they still have plenty of cap space.

1:24:04$39 million. They have spent the most in cash on their roster in 2026, which is crazy because you look at this free agency hall. So that's older contracts that they're spending a lot of money on still. My takeaway just big picture is like the Seahawks lost some key players. The Rams and 49ers especially, like this offseason just feels very additive. They weren't, assuming Trent Williams is back, they're just adding, and they already had pretty good rosters to begin with. Great when you're talking about the Rams. What do you think about the 49ers?

1:24:35Ollie Connolly:Yeah, I agree with you completely. They just added on to the roster. I still think there's major question marks about them defensively. I thought the Adizua pickup was unbelievable value. I could not believe they snagged him for a third round pick. It's everything they need. He's going to be at his best in their system. so I think that's a great signing for them they do need that rookie class of last year to look like competent professional players um of miles it's just gonna fall apart on them again so they still have a lot of work to do I think just the spine the defense needs to be thicker and stronger they have kind of all the fun players and the juice they just don't have reliability down to down along the interior outside of Fred Warner it's like that's it he covers all the holes and he's coming back from a serious injury and you just got to hope and pray that he's going to be the player he was before and so still a little bit worried about that when you compare him to like the Rams in terms of the completion of the roster but in terms of just the offseason and what they did I don't know how they could do any better to get Mike Evans on that contract to use only a third round pick to get Odezi up they would never got a player that talented for this year in the third round of the draft and the Nate Hobbs one you mentioned loved that as a buy low flair and it sounded like they were in on some of the other free agents out there like Romeo Dobbs initially and like they were i think just ready but also flexible and i agree i'm going to give them like i'll give them an a minus and a 91 for whatever they did if they didn't get their top picks they pivoted very well and to guys that give them really good value and i i suspect they're not done yet it's it's more of a different conversation that you're right they're really counting on nick bosa coming off of an injury fred warner coming off of an injury and they don't even know what they're going to get for George Kittle and Trent Williams is up there.

1:26:18But that's just part of their team build. I think they need to keep getting younger. They need to do better in the draft in general. That's not part of the free agency grades. So yeah, even as I'm talking about it, I might give them a little higher. I'll go 93 for the 49ers.

1:26:30Ollie Connolly:I would have gone A, the green low one. We'll see what the money is. I just think he's effectively cooked at this phase of his career. Maybe he can rediscover some of the magic with the Niners if he can stay on the field. But It felt like just a team bringing one of that guys back at a price that didn't make much sense to me. Yeah. They said 7.5, and it didn't say up to, but we've seen some of these reports have been pretty shaky in the past. All right, let's wrap up with the Seahawks. Very strange offseason in a way. And I had to recheck, like check my research, like Mike Evans, who might have limited his market.

1:27:08That's a good point. He was just like, I'm picking this team. which is badass. He's made so much money, had such a great career, he might have picked his team, and Kyle Shanahan helped convince him to go. Let's go to the CX, though, who only had four free agents that left. They re-signed two of them, Josh Jobe and Rashid Shahid, and then they lost Kenneth Walker, Kobe Bryant, Boye Mafé, Reek Wollin, who three of which were near the top of the market, and Reek Wollin had to settle for another deal. And that was all their free agents. There was no, usually there's like a list of like 17, 20 people and like, nope, that was basically it with just these really good players.

1:27:46And so I give them a little boost because they did a good job resigning a lot of the players that would have been up for free agency previously. And Josh Jobe only gets nine and a half guaranteed. That was not as big a contract as it initially sounded,$8 million overall per year. And then Rashid Shahid, I was surprised he did not get more money. He actually got less guaranteed money than Dobbs and Wondell Robinson around the same per year on a three-year deal. Those moves make sense. It hurts to lose those good players, but kind of just kicking the can to this year and counting on development and saving some money, I think, for Jackson Smith and Jigba and Devin Weatherspoon, who are both up for big contracts.

1:28:26Ollie Connolly:Yeah, I agree with you. You can't retain everyone. It's just that simple. The bad teams are going to overpay the champion to try and get the champion plays in the building. And I liked what felt like prioritizing Shahid over Kenneth Walker. I thought that was significantly the better short term and medium term play. And it could have been pretty easy to be somewhat sentimental and just bet on one over the other and let Shahid go to the market and maybe make even more money just out there in the open as a free agent. He did. That was what surprised me. He got out there and then they ended up having the best best offer for him, I assume, unless he gave them a discount.

1:28:58Ollie Connolly:But would you agree that they bet on Shahid over Walker? or do you think they were just comfortable? I think that's just the better path. And so to get Joe back at a cost-effective deal, that's usually the kind of player who does get overpaid to go away because he was on the championship team and he's like better than the league average and therefore he gets a significant pay boost. So I just thought all around, it was as good as they could do with the constraints they're working in, which is trying to keep this core together. And they won the thing early. They were early in the timeline of winning it, which is why they're not having to suffer with 15, 16 guys leaving.

1:29:29And they are gonna load up. I haven't checked on the comp picks. I mean, they're going to have a deluge of comp picks because it's about performance, but it's mostly about playing time and the amount of the contract that you signed elsewhere. So especially Boye Mafé, Kobe Bryant, and even Kenneth Walker signed top of the market towards their position. And so they'll get some comp picks. And they did sign Emmanuel Wilson, who won't affect their comp pick formula because he was non-tendered by the Packers. So that is the one outside guy. If I was Emmanuel Wilson, who had a nice playoff moment there, I would feel special as the only player that the Super Bowl champions have brought into the building.

1:30:10They believe in him.

1:30:11Ollie Connolly:And I do feel like, I know we're grading weather right now, but they are in line to be a place where they can hoover up the ring-chasing guys later in the cycle, right? It's like the one-year deals. People will take the Demarcus Lawrence path. Some of these kind of aging pass rushers who are like, I'm going to go sign a one-year deal with someone. I do think they're in line to go and pick those players up. All right, give me your grade. last one of the day uh b plus i guess i really love that they kept shaheed in the building um and just that that's about as well as they could have done they had players they did not probably want to say goodbye to but you can't keep everyone in house i'd love to find out how far they went on kobe bryant who i think they just decided that's going to be too expensive for what we do and we have some possible replacements even though he was he was great for us i i believe and i think there was some reporting that they were in on mafe like they would have happily i think accepted him back uh if the price didn't get quite as high uh like they did with shaheed but you had to say goodbye to some guys i'm gonna yeah give a little bit of great inflation because of the overall picture of what they've done has been really smart because they're defending champs i'll give them an 89 as well if it wasn't if it was another team the jets well you can't even compare like some other team had this exact offseason they wouldn't they wouldn't be the seahawks because they wouldn't have the roster that just won the freaking Super Bowl.

1:31:29Great job today, Ollie. You know, you double header this week. A lot of Ollie in the feed. I love it with the Jalen Waddle breaking news and now the NFC grades. And I think next time we'll talk NFL draft with you and I'm working on, I haven't told you this. I might as well just tell you on air a forties and free agents episode. If you're down with you and Daniel Jeremiah, and I'm just going to like throw red meat into the,

1:31:56Ollie Connolly:into the dream, into the middle of the ring and you fight. Will you do that for me? Fight DJ. I'm not sure if I would fight DJ and intellectual sparring. I'm interested in, but a fight. Let's see. Let's see. He has some, I'll just, I just want to listen to that conversation. So it's just selfish. There are some takes that I, I'm ready to pick up with Mr. Jeremiah that he has. Okay. I like that. Let's hit that music and let's say goodbye. this is going to be an annual event, these free agency grades. So Eric, and we apologize, Dad, for going so long. Not our last show of the week, though. We will be back in the studio.

1:32:36Myself, Jordan Rodrigue, and Patrick Claibon. Can't wait for that one. Until then, yes, the regular season, I think, with this show is over.

1:32:49This message is brought to you by Apple Card. It's a great time to apply for an Apple Card. You'll love earning unlimited daily cash on every purchase. That includes 3 % daily cash when you buy the latest iPhone, AirPods, and Apple Watch at Apple. Through this special referral offer, when you get a new Apple Card, you can earn bonus daily cash. To qualify, you must apply at apple.co slash getdailycash. Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City Branch. offer may not be available elsewhere. Terms and limitations apply. March is here and Uber Eats is delivering deals all month long.

1:33:26Score big savings on all the delicious food you need to fuel your sports fandom. Whether you're ordering in or hosting the whole crew, Uber Eats is serving up deals on wings, burgers, pizza, all from your favorite restaurants, plus snacks from top stores. Perennial powerhouse, underdog, however the madness unfolds, these deals keep it going all month long. Visit the Uber Eats app for all the latest deals and start saving today. You know how it's never really about where you're going. It's about who you're going with. The right people can turn any drive into a great memory. That's something Toyota really believes.

1:34:01They design vehicles around real life and real people. The ones who make plans happen and bring everyone together. Inside, everything's built with passengers in mind. Comfortable seating, smart layouts, and space that actually works so everyone can relax and enjoy the ride. There's room for the people, room for the stuff, and room for the moments that happen along the way. Because when people are the destination, your ride is important. Learn more at Toyota.com and find the vehicle that fits your people.

1:34:32Ollie Connolly:You know that feeling when a story just grabs you and won't let go? That's the kind of drama that's waiting for you on Disney Plus Hulu. mysterious post-apocalyptic thrillers like the acclaimed Hulu original Paradise, action-adventure dramas like Daredevil Born Again, and iconic medical dramas like Grey's Anatomy. Or maybe you want your drama with a side of comic relief with shows like High Potential. Find the drama you want on Disney Plus and Hulu with a bundle subscription. Terms apply. This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.