NFL Daily 32: Ranking General Managers

26:31And you gave great insight to that was a big part of that. I mean, his first draft is Patrick Sertan and Quinn Miners.

26:37Gregg Rosenthal:That team, that team, that team would have been sunk for forever if they didn't pivot off of that entire staff and that trade as quickly as they did absorb the dead money of it and then also draft incredibly well behind all of that chaos and mess to your point. So yeah, Nick Benito was a second round pick. The offensive line, George Payton built it for context. He's been there since 2021. And so I totally agree. He was in my top seven. I think I had him sixth or seventh. But I'm glad you left me Jason Light here, our guy. I was going to pick him too. Who I had fifth. He just doesn't really miss on first round picks.

27:17You have to go back to Joe Tryon, Choyanka. But for the most part, look, when he had an elite quarterback, they win a Super Bowl and they're a Super Bowl contender every year. When you have Baker, you're a very good team. You're not great. And so, but you're close to great.

27:36Gregg Rosenthal:I get Patrick's voice in my head. Greg never misses a chance. Well, okay. My bad. But I think he just does a great job of supporting the roster and the coaches. You know, Reuben Bain in this last year, which I really like. I try not to give too much credit for this last draft because who knows how it'll work. But Abuka, Graham Barton was a great pick. Tristan Wirfs. And then I just think that the offensive line, they've been really deliberate and they have a way of doing things and been very good at that. The defensive line, they've put a lot into Klaja Kansi and Vita Vea. Look, he gets credit for those guys.

28:07He's been there forever. Not as good, but I think they do build kind of Seahawks style a group. Doesn't use maybe trades and free agency quite as well or as much as these top guys. And maybe that's a little bit of a separation why they haven't been able to get over the top. but overall I feel I feel really good with him running my team I mean they did in a big way when

28:29Gregg Rosenthal:Tom Brady won a Super Bowl that's still there that everybody still sort of like forgets about because it happened in the COVID season but yeah I think that Jason Light is awesome I mean I agree with you in terms of being like a top six top seven pick here people might be surprised to know that he's doing all of this and they are doing all of this actually without having a very advanced internal system and without having a lot of the sort of technologically minded approaches to this process itself that a lot of teams are shifting toward just consistent consistent would be the word that I use and he finds they find the guys that they like and they keep them and that's part of the reason why they're not as active in free agency or in the trade market is because they draft the guys that they want.

29:16Gregg Rosenthal:They develop them, they extend them and they keep them for, for a long period of time. Yeah. And look, he's done that with his coach too. Have they underperformed like slightly? I do think they're a little better on paper than they've been on the field, but you can see his work. Uh, all right. Who do you have for number seven? Number seven. This was tough for me. I think I'm really, I think I'm going to go with Nick Casario here. Um, because Because it's just a really well-built team. It's a really well-built team. The defense really is, it's one of the most special groups we've seen in this league in a really long time.

29:56Gregg Rosenthal:And every player complements each other. Every position group has a clear identity, not only with the players' traits themselves, but also then how those traits can come to life within the scheme. Every position group fits in within a larger picture that's incredibly difficult to do. I've often knocked someone who will be low on my list, Joe Shane, in being able to draft and identify like blue chip talent, but has no understanding or doesn't seem to have a clear vision of like how to put them all together in a cohesive space. Nick Asirio does have that vision. We can knock him, I think, a lot for the offensive line and how that's been just a real problem for them over the last couple of years.

30:35Gregg Rosenthal:but it's also something that they've worked. They've clearly put in some thought and time to try to, to try to fix and to try to address. And then they got the quarterback. They did not sway through all the noise that year when it was Bryce Young and CJ Stroud and Anthony Richardson, CJ Stroud was their guy and they stuck with it. And I like how they, they also pay their guys or they're starting to pay their guys early, which I appreciate. I just think overall it's an incredibly solid, well-built team. He's got GM candidates right underneath him in Chris Blanco and James Lipford, who was up for the Minnesota job this year.

31:12Gregg Rosenthal:DJ Debek as well. This is just a really well-built staff. It's a really well-built scouting operation, and the roster is as good as it gets in this league. Yeah, if you look at the team that he took over, I mean, they didn't have a first or a second with the first team he took because Bill O 'Brien had burned those picks. He doesn't get a ton of credit, but he should for the Deshaun Watson trade. It's not just that the Browns gave up a good contract, but man, they extracted a lot of value for Deshaun Watson. And then even though he didn't have a first or a second, you know, he got in that draft Nico freaking Collins and, you know, America's best backup quarterback trademark Davis Mills, you know, as a third round pick, which is a nice pick.

31:54And then, you know, you had Stingley and Petrie in the next draft. You just keep adding guys, Toho Toho and CJ and obviously the Will Anderson trade has worked out. Lasseter and Bullock. Like really every year they've pushed it forward with more talent. I'm glad you mentioned getting the deals done early. The Daniel Hunter trade, I think, has worked really well. And it's just been a, it was a franchise that was always careening in different directions. And you feel, even though they came from two different kind of trees, a really good partnership between Casario and D 'Amico Ryan. So that was my next pick.

32:28I think I'm, you know, doing the first time I'm going to go off my own board was just It's like, well, this is from here on. Well, no, I'm not quite at the end of my, the top of my tier. Yeah, I'm still in tier one. It gets sort of vibes-y. I'm past my tier one at this point. But I'm going to take Joe Hortiz just because I like what's going on with the Chargers. This is one where it's less about the resume and more about, do I feel good with him running my organization? I like everything that they've done for the most part with Harbaugh. I think they have an identity of who they want to be. I mean, you look at the draft with Joe Allt and Ladd McConkie, you know, both those picks.

33:08Well, the McConkie pick was popular, but Joe Allt, not necessarily. And then you're getting guys that can be developed a little later with Tarheeb still and Cam Hart. You bring in Puna Ford, who gives you a lot of value. And then, you know, he leaves, unfortunately, but you still have T.R. Tartt there. Like, I do feel like they have an identity. They have an idea of what they want to do. The interior offensive line hasn't been great this year. But I think for what they've done in a two plus year period, it's obviously in combination with Jim Harbaugh. I think he's kind of taken the Ravens model, who was, you know, obviously the guy or one of the guys I was thinking of right here.

33:43That was the guy. Eric DaCosta was a guy higher on my board. I'll just give it away. I think they've taken it and maybe it's just I haven't seen the bat, the lull. But I just like everything they've done and I feel good about the Chargers.

33:55Gregg Rosenthal:they remind me of and it's to your point joe ortiz is of this tree like they remind me of the ravens before eric da costa took over i guess and not not in a knock necessarily to eric da costa you could see a little bit of the process shift or the the vibe the truly the vibe shift honestly between um you know in in his time there so far but they remind me of those like vintage Ravens teams of how well built they were and how they do have a very clear identity and understanding of what they want to do. One thing I loved that the Chargers did this year that I think more teams should do, just selfishly speaking, is they gave us a lot closer of a look in terms of their content at how they draft.

34:43Gregg Rosenthal:They gave us a much closer look at the types of things that they do, how they build their boards, how they talk to each other in the draft room. I just thought that it was refreshing to see everybody speaking from the same alphabet. You can really tell how much editing a team has to do with their in-house content during the draft before and after and sort of relative to how functional that group actually is together. And it just seems like everybody knows exactly what they're about internally. And I like that they've rebuilt this offensive line. You know, obviously the injuries are a luck thing that GMs can't really factor in or help.

35:24Gregg Rosenthal:I like what they've done to build this really multiple. He understands like the old school, new school blend of personnel, of trying to be as multiple as possible with old school prototypical types of players. And I just, I really like how they're built. Hey, they look good getting off a bus. Yeah, look good getting off a bus. Filled the doorway. That's the type of team I want. I'm starting to hear the grumbling from some of the teams that we haven't picked in my head. I just thought, you know, one specifically, will you take Brett Veach and Andy Reid off the board? Brett Veach, that's my next pick.

36:04Gregg Rosenthal:Yeah, Brett Veach. We talked about this. We did a really fun - I probably should have taken a M.A. I probably should have taken a M.A. That's okay. Well, you'll get to hear it, not me. You know, so we did a really fun episode a couple of months ago before the draft about which teams we would trust to draft for us. And Brett Veach and Andy Reid, but specifically Brett Veach was in like, I think our top five. He absolutely this this team is just trustworthy. That's the best way I can put it. They're trustworthy in their process. They're trustworthy in how they build their roster. Yes, it helps to have Patrick Mahomes.

36:42Gregg Rosenthal:But yes, they also drafted Patrick Mahomes when other teams passed on him and they've been able to walk this line of keeping these more antiquated or more and more antiquated stars happy and contributing while also trying to almost build out from underneath them a roster that is functional you can criticize the receiver the receiver rooms over time I think a lot of what we talk about internal things that we can't possibly see I'd be curious how much of the conversation year to year does does rely on the ability of Patrick Mahomes and what he can make happen and whether they can capitalize on him being a market inefficiency in a good way leading to them maybe being less resource heavy at certain positions I don't know that that always sustains into a player's like late 20s and 30s so they might have to readjust how they think about that and I think they he works really well with with the head coach it's just a really solid group.

37:44Gregg Rosenthal:I love that they trust Steve Spagnuolo too on the other side. Steve Spagnuolo says these are traits I need and I want in a player. Brett Veach goes out and gets them. And that's exactly what a GM coach partnership is supposed to do. It just works to me. Probably underrated them a little bit here. Look, if you look at the record, we're saying that we think it's more about the coaching and And the quarterback. Which Veach gets credit for. But, you know, we're talking about moving forward. I think the recent drafts, the recent free agency moves, some of the offensive line decisions, which they did a great job of fixing after that Bucs Super Bowl.

38:25I mean, incredible job fixing. He gets credit for that. But it's gotten a little stale. The Karloftis contract and thing has bugged me. But maybe too much. Maybe this is a little bit of me and my feelings about have they done enough for Patrick Mahomes and giving a lot of credit to the coaches. All right, let's go to DaCosta is going to be next on my list. I was thinking about him last time. What number are we at? We are at number nine here.

38:50Gregg Rosenthal:Okay. Or number 10. Okay. So we'll take a break here after DaCosta. The last three drafts haven't been great. The 22 draft, you know, which, you know, they don't have, was incredible. You know, you get Linderbaum, you get Kyle Hamilton back in those drafts. The Derrick Henry move was really inspired. I think the Roquan Smith trade at the time, they definitely have a style. They're very good adding around the margins, I think, for like late veterans. A guy like Chidobe Owuzia, who just like helped them out last year for very little money. Those type of signings, they're fantastic at. The drafts have been less so similar to the Brett Veach.

39:29You know, have they totally maximized Lamar Jackson? Technically, that's an Ozzie Newsom draft pick. That was like his last draft. Then again, you know, they've gone 76 and 41 in the quote unquote DaCosta era. They have won a lot of games. And I think it's an overall like sound process how they do most things like their drafts make sense to me, which is why I'm OK. And I actually I give him credit for how he handled the Max Crosby thing. I'm fine with that. I don't care how it happened. And then he addressed it afterwards. words do what you think is right not what you think is going to be popular uh or makes you

40:07Gregg Rosenthal:popular so i i'm good with the costa yeah my only thing on all that was i if they saw something that concerned them enough like absolutely you should not move forward if you are that concerned and when i was talking to a couple of sources around the league after in the aftermath math of that it was like oh yeah that's just they're so so conservative with their medicals I mean, they always have been. There were stories of them doing this with maybe non-premiere players in the past. What I will say is you don't get to that agreement and then you don't have it leaked throughout the entire stratosphere of the media.

40:46Gregg Rosenthal:If there's anything in your intel gathering that says, hey, we should maybe be worried about this. And there should have been something in their intel gathering because he was actually actively injured when they made this move. Not his proudest moment. That's why I need to give him a good PR pat on the back here. I think it's fine. Yeah. We'll evaluate the rest of it. Life goes on. These things happen. Stuff like this will happen around the league all the time. He just drew the straw on it being his moment to sort of be like the main character in this case. Yeah. I don't mind this pick here. I could have debated him maybe being in my tier two just because of those draft classes.

41:25Gregg Rosenthal:Over the last couple of years, I haven't necessarily loved how they've built their receivers room either, but it's the same thing we just talked about with the chiefs is getting a huge bump from Lamar Jackson being, you know, the quarterback of the team and making things happen. I really appreciate that. They did not care about Derek Henry's age. They thought this is still going to be an enormous addition for us. And it was, and I, I like, I, I could see more. I could use more draft and development on the defensive side as well. So I think when we've seen holes in their roster and their team building process, they've been gaping, glaring holes that have been real problems for the team.

42:06Gregg Rosenthal:What I would like in a GM is to raise the floor a little bit to have enough depth in certain positions to where it's not quite so rock bottom when it's bad. But, you know, I think they're doing, as always, it's the Ravens. They do a really solid job. Yeah. And look, they win when they, I think their floor is reasonably high because they do have a tendency to win even when Lamar Jackson is not out there. And it's just, it's more solid than great. He's definitely not at Ozzie Newsom's level. We're getting into the vibes part of the draft. Let's take a quick break. We're through the top 10. We will be back in a minute.

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46:10Back on NFL Daily, the episode that Jordan is going to get the most feedback from people around the league. Not being happy where they got drafted. that I don't want to hear it.

46:24Gregg Rosenthal:I hide it from you. I shield all of it from you, Greg. All you guys are doing is evaluating these incredible professional young men all day and draftees and ranking them and sorting them. And that's what you guys in the front offices have to deal with for one offseason afternoon. We are through the top 10. You are up with the 11th pick, Jordan. Yes, I... I'm going John Lynch, Kyle Shanahan. combination. Same. That's who I had next. Listen, I know that this last draft was controversial. I understand that. I also would present the argument that it is really, really hard to draft completely when you are as top heavy as the 49ers still are somehow after all of these years.

47:11Gregg Rosenthal:You are drafting clearly with one foot in understanding you need depth, which means you're not going to get complete players, which means you're looking for maybe two traits in one player that compliment like the starting guy on the roster who's 100 years old. And you're you're also trying to figure out long term projections in a much more risky way for players who will eventually take over on a quite uncertain timeline because you do not know when these players will actually finally be done. We've seen this year over year, over year, over year. So all that being said, I think they win games. They Kyle Shanahan is a huge X factor here, and he's one of our combination dynamics that we've decided upon previous to the show.

47:55Gregg Rosenthal:And I think rightfully so they, they work well together. They're good partners to each other. They win a hell of a lot of games. They're always competitive. They have an identity. A lot of that does come from Kyle Shanahan, but a lot of that infrastructure that's behind the scenes, a really, really advanced research and development program. Also their scouting department, incredibly well respected across the league. And yes, this draft, we all were raising our eyebrows at it. But to my first point, it just the way that they're built right now and for better or for worse, the way that they are built right now, it makes it incredibly difficult to project long term with your draft picks that are already difficult to project long term.

48:39Gregg Rosenthal:So I kind of respect that they're at least trying to go against the grain in some ways. Yeah, they they just gave a promotion to Cuesia Dofamensa, who's also part of that front office. Look, they've always drafted pretty against the grain. They're pretty far off the consensus board. The drafts have been almost uniformly bad since one of the worst draft trades of the last decade, which was the Trey Lance trade. And so we're getting into the portion of the draft where it's hard to separate front office from GM. Is Kyle just making it look better? Kyle Shanahan, the coach, making Kyle Shanahan, the GM, look better like his dad once did.

49:14actually the 24 draft with Pearsall and then the cornerback Renardo Green, Dominic Pune at guard and Mustafa at safety. That's a good draft. So it hasn't all been bad. I don't give you much credit for Purdy because you pat, you know, he was the last pick of the draft. Yeah. That's more coaching and Purdy, not drafting, but they have done great work in trades. I like the Odigizua trade. I like the Trent Williams. I mean, I love, love the Trent Williams trade is one of the best trades of the, of the century. Uh, you got Mike Evans over there. And so I think they're in a very similar bucket and I had him right next to Brian Gutekunst as guys who I think are elevated certainly by the coaching and it's kind of tough to separate them too so that's my pick who's coming up next but I I think ultimately yeah like record does matter and there's still those stats that like Matt LaFleur has the best winning percentage over the first eight years of any you know it's like 650 still and like that's all with Brian Gutekunst so they have been a pair he the problem with Gutekunst is he's been better in the middle rounds than he has in the front which you don't love like some of the early picks Jordan Morgan Lucas Van Ness even Matthew Gold and Quay Walker like we'll see with Matthew Gold like we'll see with some of those but then again you did get Tucker Craft and Jaden Reed and Romeo Dobbs and Zach Toms like an all pro in the middle rounds the defense in general I think they've had a less consistent idea of how to build and less successful and they've put a lot of resources there um but they've won they've won a lot and i just think the process like i know what it like makes sense to me i think it's very traditional he likes the big height weight speed guys i kind of know what i'm getting there uh with brian guticuns maybe they're not um and maybe you'll get to this given as many resources from their organization and so they're playing a little bit with the hand you know tied behind their back

51:04Gregg Rosenthal:Yes, it's less of a place where you think, OK, all of my assistant coaches, because I've been able to like, you know, hand select and because I can pay them a lot of money, are going to be hugely influential on the types of picks. It's actually a building where you hear that, unlike some of these other pairings, the head coach maybe does not have as much say in that entire process. Still a collaboration, but less so a dynamic where you're thinking about, okay, McVay picks Tutu Atwell. You know what I mean? It's just not that way, right? And so I think that it's really interesting because I trust the Packers.

51:45Gregg Rosenthal:I trust the Packers and Brian Gutekinds to always have really, really a really solid roster. I trust them to be able to identify specific positions. Tight end is one of them. And this year I appreciated or excuse me, this past year, I really appreciated that they did go out of type a little bit, not just with the receiver pick, but also with the Parsons trade. Like I appreciated that they were a little bit bolder than we've seen them be in past years. Even the bank signing Aaron Banks at guard and the Nate Hobbs signings, which both turned into L's right now. Hobbs isn't even on the team anymore.

52:19But you're right. I think they started to kind of get out of their Ted Thompson just draft and develop. It's just you can't just do that now. But I still give them credit for a pick I liked back at the time, Jordan Love, which has really set up this entire era. All right. You are next with 13.

52:37Gregg Rosenthal:Don't yell at me. I'm going Will McClay and the Dallas Cowboys. and the Joneses here. I wouldn't yell at you for that. We are calling it though, Will McClay slash Jones family because I do feel like they have a part in all this. But I hear you. I had them very close. They're only two spots away. So I had them like 14th, you have them 13th. They were the top of my second tier. So closer to like 11, 12 for me. You love a big tier. And specifically Will McClay because you said it right in your open here. to do that job with the Jones family, also in the mix, is like one of the most, has got to be one of the most complicated things to do in the NFL.

53:22Gregg Rosenthal:And he's done it really, really well. I trust his eye for talent. I trust the way that they have their analytics and technology infrastructure behind all of it. I trust the prototypes and the traits that they're looking for. I trust the vision of the overall team belt. I would argue that often coaching has been what has held this roster back. And I would also argue that, yes, we saw the defense be a total disaster at the start of last season for Matt Eber, under Matt Eberfluss, but changing the coach and also moving into a much more aggressive approach with how they were going to build following the trade with of Micah Parsons, which you could argue was ownership driven, not general manager driven.

54:06Gregg Rosenthal:So separating Will McClay from that specifically, Will McClay has to figure out a way to build the pieces back together and put everything back together. And I think not just with the Quinn and Williams move, but also with just some of the little tweaks and adjustments they made through the entirety of that defense. It's just, to me, really shows problem solving in real time in an awesome way. Their scouts are extremely well-respected. I know I've said that about a few of these top teams around the league. They keep their scouts, which is also really telling to me. Their scouts aren't trying to jump ship every couple of years.

54:40Gregg Rosenthal:And also, they know how to draft offensive linemen. That is so huge to me. They just know what they're looking for in offensive linemen. And it's usually a guy named Tyler. But they know what they're doing. They have an identity. I appreciate that. I just want to see if that keeps up. I mean, they are the best of the 21st century at that, you know, until the last few years. Like, we'll see how the Tyler Booker and Guyton picks turn out long term. I don't think they feel totally comfortable there. I hated the Parsons trade. I hated the Osa Odigizua trade, the Gary trade. I didn't. It was like, OK, I it's very tough to separate these two, which is why I think they're in the middle, because I hear you that McClay is making up for kind of sometimes the mess that the contract negotiators make.

55:29The George Pickens trade was great. Ultimately, I feel like they're often ping-ponging back and forth. You're not exactly sure what the overall plan is. And ultimately, if you're the Jones family specifically, you had Tony Romo and Dak Prescott served into your lap. Two of the best quarterbacks literally of all time that were not taken in the first three rounds. And I don't think you've really maximized how incredible it was that you fell into those guys because you wanted Paxton Lynch, not Dak. And Tony Romo is just like an undrafted guy that Parcells brings in. And you didn't really maximize either of those windows.

56:08And I think they've helped prop them up. And yet I had them right around here. I have Vrabel and Ellie Wolfe next here at 14. Elliot Wolfe said this may not be a sustainable model this week, like how they've gone about their first years, which is a hilarious thing for a GM to say. That said, they've already delivered like a Super Bowl here. The only Belichick starters, Super Bowl appearance, sorry. The only Belichick starters left are Mike Owenu, who just took a huge pay cut. Hunter Henry, Christian Barmore, Christian Gonzalez and Marcus Jones. Free agency crop last year was great. This year looks fun.

56:46The first draft was a fiasco after Drake May. The second one, eh. Like Vrabel doesn't have a long history of collaborating well. Like he's gotten into fights, but they are going to be a team that attacks problems. I think if we're here in the middle of this draft, here's a team that's going for it and using the resources they were given. And it's worked really well so far. So to me, I feel like they shouldn't fall any further.

57:14Gregg Rosenthal:Yeah, go back in for the listeners so I don't ramble egregiously during a shorter segment. I don't want to go back over all the points we made in our in our recent episode about the A.J. Brown trade. But it goes to be said that when you can't we are making up for a lack of something in one phase of your team build. In this case, their draft classes, especially those Belichick ones they had to make up for. And then some so-so draft classes over the last couple of years, too. when you're making up for a dearth there, you have to overspend elsewhere. And I think strategically, they've done a good job of understanding where they need to make up for things.

57:55Gregg Rosenthal:And then that will have to flip eventually. They'll have to start really drafting well. Yeah, to Wolf's point, they will have to get a more sustainable model, but you're also living here in the present where you have a young elite quarterback on a rookie contract trying to take advantage of it. You have number 15. I'm going Dan Morgan here. Okay. And here's the thing. You forgot about him in your initial email. I did. I sent an email with all the candidates, and I think I wrote 31 different GMs and forgot Dan Morgan. That's on me. NFL Daily Guest. Yes. A couple of these guys have been NFL Daily Guests.

58:32Gregg Rosenthal:That's pretty cool. The thing that I have come to understand about Dan Morgan, I did not know much about him when he was the assistant GM under Scott Fitterer. Those were some some bad rosters. And then the Matt Rule era prior to that, just a just a disaster in terms of talent relative to the competitiveness of the rest of the league. Just really bad. Right. So you're kind of similar to the Wolf-Rabel combination. you're talking about making up for gap years essentially in your entire, uh, depth chart and in your entire roster build, and also making up for the lack of continuity in that building over time, where when, uh, Ron Rivera and Marty Herney left, you're not only behind in terms of now you're changing out your entire coaching and scouting staff and scouting staffs take a while to build out into continuity, you're also making up for the fact that they were so behind in terms of the technology they were using, in terms of the internal scouting databases and systems that they were using, in terms of understanding shifts and markets in the league itself and trying to, they had to start so much further from square one than I think a lot of people realize.

59:48Gregg Rosenthal:And that's what Dan Morgan ultimately said about doing when he finally took over. And what I liked about what he did was he did it without an ego, meaning he brought in Brant Tillis. They have Dave, you know, they hired Dave Canales and then they brought in Eric Eager, who was formerly at pro football focus back in its glory days. And it's all these people that are filling gaps that Dan Morgan is saying, I don't know how to do this. It's not my forte. I need to build a team where people who do understand how to build out this analytical infrastructure, how to build out like the depth chart of the front office is going to be super important.

1:00:27Gregg Rosenthal:Since then, I've come to appreciate his just his flat out talent identification. I think he's got an eye for it. I think he's growing up, quote unquote, I don't mean to sound patronizing there because he's he's he's an adult, but I think he's growing up in the job in a really cool way where he is a total collaborator, but you can still see his identity points on the team they're building. And I think the Panthers year over year have gotten so much more of a into turned so much more into a complete team and pivoted into capitalizing where they've needed to capitalize financially, but then drafting well, relatively well behind it could still see this receivers room come together a little bit better, but I've really appreciated what they've done.

1:01:08Yeah, I had them a little lower, a handful of spots lower. They were still outscored by 70 points this last year and they're entering year three they're just more like i gotta see it like their first draft was not good it was legat and donathan brooks which was a a gamble at the time that didn't make a lot of sense and hasn't worked out because of injury but that was the reason why people were surprised that they took them but mike mike jackson great move uh mcmillan great move to me and and i love the free agent signings that they made this offseason to me it's just like let's let's see how this year goes and i'll evaluate them yeah i bet i'm betting on upside for that for sure and i think that's where it's like it's not just on the record it's it's who we'd be comfortable and that's why process for you i think makes a lot of sense you'd have him here i like omar khan another nfl daily guest he was someone who landed higher on this list he's the steelers gm than i expected i actually had him i think 11th on my my board and uh pretty good first two drafts with joey porter and fa tanu and zach frazier the center darna washington nick Herbig, Mason McCormick.

1:02:10Those are a lot of hits for a couple of drafts up front. The DK and Pittman trades, he inherited this great defensive line. The secondary is all his and we'll kind of see on that. But, you know, it's Ramsey and Brisker and Jamel Dean. I bumped him maybe a few spots just because the Nick Herbig and Darnell Washington extensions over the last couple of days are two of the most team friendly, forward thinking best deals I've seen. He might be even higher if it wasn't for the quarterback uh situation which you know they bear some responsibility with i know the coaching is part of that but overall i actually think he's done an underrated job um since he

1:02:44Gregg Rosenthal:took over in pittsburgh he's this is actually the reason first of all i would have put him higher and i said i would have also picked him over my pick of dan morgan had they not been just sort of with. They're like dragged around in kind of an embarrassing way by their quarterback situation over the last couple of years. It's a black eye. It's a black mark on everything, which is why I think he falls to 16, if not for a pretty good resume otherwise. Yeah, because it's like I think that the Steelers, I think they're super well built in most areas, but it's so obvious to everybody, including themselves, that they're a quarterback away, but not just but not the one that they keep chasing after.

1:03:27Gregg Rosenthal:You know, not not Rogers, not the one that they keep letting just like string them along. And frankly, it's a it is an organization with such history and truly depth in its front office. He's got Andy Whedle on his staff, who's awesome. Like they they are so respected and yet they just let this sort of happen to them. And it just to me, it is not it doesn't match up. The vibes do not match up in what I feel like they could the potential they could reach versus the one they're willing to. settle for. So that's where I'm, that's where I'm like, you know, I'm, I'm on the phone talking to, talking to one of my good girlfriends about her ex and how not to go back to him.

1:04:06Gregg Rosenthal:You know what I mean? Like you have so much more potential girl, you got this, you know? Um, they could be a win now team. They're pretty well built up front. I think on both sides of the line of the ball, which is a great place to start. And yet, uh, I have a feeling you're going to go, this is just my guess with another NFL daily guest here at number 17. I could be wrong. This one was tough for me because I think you would have thought that I was going to go James Gladstone here. No. Oh, really? Because I'm going to go Brandon Bean. Okay. That is an NFL daily guest, but also not the one I was thinking of.

1:04:44Gregg Rosenthal:Who did you think I was going to go for? Well, we'll have to see if I take him next. No, I probably will. I'll take Ryan Poles and Ben Johnson next. Damn it. No, that was actually my next on my list. I scrolled down. No, I scrolled down too far. I got him. I got him. Damn it. No, no, it's fine. We can do them as a combination. Brandon Bean and Ryan Poles, Ben Johnson, 17 and 18, in whatever order you want. Yeah. Well, OK. So, yeah, I think that's not true because I don't want Brandon Bean. Well, I think Ryan Poles should be. Well, it's still my pick. And I think Brandon, I think Ryan Poles should be here at what, 17?

1:05:19I mean, Eric wrote Brandon Bean down after you drafted him. You know what? You know what? This is a good lesson for.

1:05:25Gregg Rosenthal:I think it's a really good lesson for you not interrupting me before the point has has finished, because if not for your interjection, I never would have realized that I totally forgot Ryan Poles. My point was not finished. So now I still have I'm on the clock still. So now I'm going to draft Ryan Poles and Ben Johnson. So I think to me, Ben Johnson gets a lot of the pop here as well. And this is one of those where I was emailing back and forth with you last night about making sure that those two were kind of ruled as a combination. I think that Ryan Poles handled the entrance of Ben Johnson into their atmosphere incredibly well.

1:06:04Gregg Rosenthal:Like, I think that he is George Payton level handling this well in terms of the ability and in some cases, probably the ego and then also the the vision of the head coach in being an overhang GM who is understanding, truly understanding, not doing the politicking, not doing the Game of Thrones stuff, truly understanding the coach's vision and then setting about applying for it. I like the aggressiveness that they went about resetting their offensive line. I like the moves that they made at receiver, especially in the draft. They're really going to continue to replenish the tight end position year over year.

1:06:45Gregg Rosenthal:And I trust that they can identify guys in the secondary to the big hole for this team has been pass rush. But we sort of talked about this even when, you know, Dennis Allen first got there, even in the late stages of Eberflus over there, it just has been a team that's really seemed more comfortable built to cover first and to cover the rush. So I'm interested to see how they handle it. They are clearly waiting to see whether a couple of their guys take another step forward or that's been the company line out of that building. But I like what they've built. I like that they're buying in, believing in the quarterback, that they're trusting what they have.

1:07:23Gregg Rosenthal:They're building around him. They're raising their floor in every single way. And I like the collaboration between coach and GM. Yeah, he gets a big bump for Ben Johnson because it's looked better in terms of the decision making and in terms of maximizing your offensive talent. Poles deserves some credit. Also had a lot of fortune for getting Caleb Williams in the first place with that trade. It was a great trade, the DJ Moore trade. But, you know, lucky that you got the number one overall pick. But look, that pick got you Ben Johnson. So you get a little bit of credit for that. But ultimately, 26 and 42, if we're looking at records since Pouls took over.

1:07:56But some good trades. Jonah Jackson, sweat, Montez sweat. The Joe Tooney trade was fantastic. There were a lot of good moves. Bradbury and Devin Bush this offseason. He's gotten very heavy in the secondary Ryan Pouls over the years. I won't take Brandon Bean. I guess I might as well stick to my board. Plus, I can tell from behind the glass, Eric doesn't want Brandon Bean to get drafted this high anyways. I'll go Adam Peters here. This is where, I mean, we are deep into the vibes.

1:08:25Gregg Rosenthal:We're in vibes. Like luck and vibes because I don't think the record is great. He's coming from San Francisco. He presents well. He had three second-round picks. And, you know, he had five picks between the second and third rounds in his first draft. And those picks, Jerry Newton, Mike Sanristill, Ben Sinnott, Brandon Coleman, Luke McCaffrey, that does not look like what you want to start out your process. Obviously, you made a lot of good moves to have that great first season. You were really aggressive trading picks away, which is 49ers style, to get Laramie Tunsil. Free agency was younger and looks more promising this year.

1:09:06I just want to see it out, and I have sort of a vague belief in him, kind of like you do in Dan Morgan, that like, okay, I feel like this will work out better long term.

1:09:18Gregg Rosenthal:yeah I like the pick I mean I'm maybe a little high based on relative to that first draft class was just that set I mean truly that set them back but but this offseason was really strong for them I think that they they didn't panic on certain players you know that there were guys who were available that maybe would not have been the right fit whether it was by age especially you know like at receiver um you know you just got the sense that they were being a little bit more aggressive in certain spots, but being taking a little bit more of a patient approach in others. It's a huge season for them.

1:09:52Gregg Rosenthal:It's a huge sort of prove it year for a lot of people over in that building. And I think that Adam Peters, for his part, has done enough to sort of have have the type of offseason that maybe sets the table a little bit cleaner for the rest of them. Yeah, they went for it. It was an older roster. They kind of did what they could best to win. We'll see if it works out long term. He's probably well, this is unfair, but everyone is in a is in like a potential contract year and has job security questions when you're running a front office. But I do feel like he might be the first one we've even taken where it's like, man, if this season went super sideways, you never know.

1:10:31It is new ownership there. But that was our pick at number 18. Polls was at 17. It was your Adam Peters. Yes. At 18. And you've got 19.

1:10:43Gregg Rosenthal:Yeah, that was a little. Peter's is a little high to me um I'm gonna go I'm gonna go James Gladstone here at what is it 19 oh so Bean who almost got taken by you before now he's well I was not in a tear I was like not in a you have to see my notes my notes are kind of a mess right now but um yeah I'm gonna go James Gladstone um this is I admit 100 bias coming through because I know how he works and I understand his process because of the year that I spent with the Rams scouting department when he was their director of pro scouting or director of scouting and scouting strategy. And I, so I just, I understand the way that he's trying to go about doing this.

1:11:28Gregg Rosenthal:I, I could do maybe without some of the, uh, the commentary from that building. I, you know, I say this respectfully knowing that, you know we have a lot of listeners over there but I also say that like they they won a lot of games in their first year all together as a staff they started rebuilding in totality a ton of the processes that were there in place before and I don't think that that was any small feat to do that they're resetting and rebuilding out part of the scouting staff as well they kept on some of the ones that were there last year that was not going to be sort of a long-term thing for them to do, didn't really have a full draft offseason draft class when he first came on.

1:12:18Gregg Rosenthal:So I think relative to the timeline of everything, that whole group did very, very well. I think they think about things in an extremely modern way. And perhaps the messaging and the way they explain it could could. It's also hard being clipped out, I think, in the social media era. I think if people were going to go listen to them speak in a meeting, it would make a lot more sense than maybe what we're seeing externally. I like the way they think about football. I appreciate the way that they think about football and that he thinks about football and about building rosters and about building complete rosters and working with the coach specifically.

1:12:55Gregg Rosenthal:I think that is a duo that works as well together as any in the league and himself and Liam Cohen. And I'm drafting off of potential here because I believe in that guy and I believe in what they're doing over there. and I will continue to pound that drum until they prove me otherwise. Yeah, basically the same area I had them. I had them like one more pick further. They get a little wild. You got to be willing to get a little wild with them, but I like the Jacoby Meyer trade. I like the Cole Van Lannan extension. Letting go of Devin Lloyd hurt my feelings. Dan Morgan got him, and you still forgot Dan Morgan.

1:13:31They spent a lot on Patrick McCurry and Robert Hainsey on the offensive line, and it was like, eh. And then Gladstone, unlike most of the GMs, gets no credit for Liam Cohen because Liam Cohen was hired before him. And I do think kind of similar to what we were talking about with the 49ers and Packers. Like how much is coaching? How much is front office? It's so early, we don't really know. One guy who's had the longest resume possible to just show his work, and you probably thought would go even further. I just had to think about the talent that Chris Ballard's had over the years.

1:14:01Gregg Rosenthal:And not let him go any further. Because the record isn't great. And record is a GM stat. It's 70 and 78, one and two in the playoffs on a long timeline. And yet, like the offensive line drafting and the offensive line succession plan, like chef's kiss. The defense has often been pretty bad and they've invested a lot into the defensive line without enough return. Although the Buckner trade and who am I forgetting, Grover Stewart, like moves were really good. They've been better about getting veterans in there versus drafting. The sauce trade was wild. It's a little crazy on defense, but for the most part, I think they've had a good infrastructure, which that's why they were able to succeed so much with even a Daniel Jones level quarterback last year.

1:14:46And I think if you look at their rosters over a long enough timeline, they've been solid. They haven't been great. And that's why he's getting drafted 20th, but I don't think he's quite as bad as like angry Colts fans think either.

1:14:57Gregg Rosenthal:I know. And I, I gotta be honest. if you just took away the quarterback stuff, which is big, you have to factor that in. That's no excuse. But if you took away the quarterback stuff over the years, you could look at most position groups on his rosters and be like, hmm, yeah, okay. At one point, he was getting ranked so high in my old GM rankings and stuff because of that. I think it's a return maybe a little bit more back to that, now that. And rest in peace to Jim Ursae, but a lot of those decisions were Jim or say directly meddling with the process as well, inclusive to, you know, hiring Jeff Saturday, for example, and then the Anthony Richardson selection and all of these types of things.

1:15:43I think that in terms of their,

1:15:46Gregg Rosenthal:the depth of their scouting and assistant GM staff and their personnel staff, it's one of the best in the league. They're almost too top heavy, similar to the Eagles where, um, There's just so many titles now because you can't promote people any higher. Like they just they're so top heavy. And because they've had this continuity, people like working for Chris Ballard. They don't lose a lot of people year over year. And they're they're really good balance of old school scouting and new technology. And they kind of just let people be who they are in that process. The example I could give some of the reporting I did this last year is like, yeah, they do have one of the best internal scouting system programs in the NFL.

1:16:26Gregg Rosenthal:Um, also just because they like it, they're also one of the teams that still has the 20 foot tall room, 20 foot wall room covered in magnets and player profiles that they move around with a giant library ladder. So like, just because they like it. And it's like, it's so to me, they just blend a lot of that new school, old school. And I think they're, they're walking an interesting line. They're got to get the quarterback, right? Right. They, he needs to win this year. He is very much on the hot seat after a decade there in Indianapolis. Let's take one more break and we will wrap up with the GMs that will be the maddest after this proceedings.

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1:19:43two to 92 calories per serving data accurate as of two 2026 back on nfl daily it's a little freaky jordan uh these first 20 names taken we're my we're my first 20 then that you know we've been of like mine most of these picks have been similar at least in terms of where you put them who do you have at 21 we're wrapping up with the the bottom 12 front office gms you know it doesn't mean you're not doing a great job you just you know there's other great people in the world

1:20:12Gregg Rosenthal:here you're doing fine yeah okay i have basically one singular statement to make about this next pick um i'm going with andrew barry here i'm going wow i'm going with andrew barry as someone who has sunk down pretty much to the lower tier in my mind of what this exercise normally would be in and especially two years ago and previously because of the decision that he helped facilitate at the very least at quarterback the contract uh for deshaun watson um in the midst of sexual assaults very credible sexual assault allegations that led to a league investigation and of suspension after the league investigated.

1:21:01Gregg Rosenthal:I, the, the turnover continually on the coaching staff, the talk about how this is a really advanced analytical group, but we never quite saw what that would apply to. And it certainly didn't apply to wins over the years. I put them here now because over the last two seasons, I think we are starting to see a little bit more of who Andrew Barry, A, wants to be and B, is going to be as a general manager. The draft classes, the last two, and I'm counting this recent one. I liked this recent one a lot. The last two draft classes in my mind have been outstanding. He also has finally done the thing that he has talked about as an analytically minded practice for years, which is shed a high asset player who is maybe getting a little bit older, leaning into more of the rebuild that the rest of their roster is and turning that player into more pick capital as they continue, continue to dig themselves out of the absolute deadweight hole of their own creation that was bringing in Deshaun Watson.

1:22:12Gregg Rosenthal:So he is the architect of that mistake and all of the ripple effect of it. He also, I think, in especially the last two years, has done a very nice job of maybe finally starting to see daylight on the other side. And I appreciate that type of process-driven action. And I'm drafting on potential here as well. Look, they won 11 games twice in the Andrew Barry era. My issue is more, even if you take out Watson, which I don't, I have him as a bottom two or three GM. him uh the the biggest problems that were of their own creation like the offensive line last year having like some of the worst contracts in the league uh because their offensive line watson plays into that because how they had to move around money and everything um and then i'm not giving him too much credit until the the draft classes which i agree look great on paper and i like the process and which is why he could get you know taken this high is because of process um they still have to just do it the point is is to win games so i had him much lower like i just I just don't think he's a bottom of the league GM.

1:23:15Fair. Brandon Bean is next on my list. It is hard to separate his vision from McDermott. He's done a great job building the offensive line, which I think he deserves credit when you talk about the lack of weapons, you know, for Josh Allen on the outside. I mean, he has had weapons in terms of James Cook and that offensive line. So the drafts have been uneven out at best, I would say, overall. Flat out poor the last few years. The best player from their last three drafts is probably Dalton Kincaid. It's not great. Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde are probably the defining moves of this entire run, and that was like in their first offseason, and that was a lot of McDermott.

1:23:51So it's tough to separate things out. The DJ Moore trade was gross to me, but I will give him some credit for doing all the winning, and he likes a solid player. I just think he likes solidly. like he I feel like he aims for b-minuses a lot and that's what he gets also got the quarterback

1:24:13Gregg Rosenthal:you know also also but you know then probably I think in my opinion was a little too stubborn about developing out that receiving core around the quarterback or not doing so over the years and people we we love to see everything now and obviously he's one of the best players we've ever seen in the NFL, but Josh Allen was, was a risk at that pick. And he was, he was a drafting for potential kind of player and, and they got it right. And you can't, that's not enough to just get that right at this point in the NFL with so many good quarterbacks and so many good teams and coaches who give you an advantage schematically.

1:24:55Gregg Rosenthal:That's not enough. You have to do more and constantly do more. So very interested to see how this year goes in Buffalo. Um, um yeah i definitely i definitely took away points from him uh just for the palace intrigue and the grossness of it of it all yeah we're on vibes ultimately we're on vibes yeah yeah the rosters uh ultimately have have been pretty solid over the years so we're we're punishing him appropriately i think uh but uh would have felt bad if he went any further you have 23 now i am punishing and also rewarding, I think appropriately, the first season and a half of this guy, John Spitek, who I'm going to put next, in part because what a disaster of a first year.

1:25:40Gregg Rosenthal:You know, you talk about palace intrigue, but there's a lot of push and pull that can happen when you come into a job as a first year GM and the head coach that you're paired with is an absolute legend and navigating that coach's vision while also trying to understand what your own is while also trying to put together a roster that had really just been very talent poor for the last couple of of seasons um really really complicated needle to thread and it didn't work which is why we're seeing kind of the, the after why we saw the after effects of, of what we did, Pete Carroll getting fired. And a lot of the people that he brought in are now no longer in the building.

1:26:28Gregg Rosenthal:Um, I believe in John spy techs background, uh, first of all in Denver, but then also with Jason light for ever and working with that draft and develop type of internal mentality. I would say John spy tech wants to take a little bit more of a modern approach to what their internal procedure looks like and their internal scouting system and data and all those types of things. And I think he had a hell of an offseason. I think the Raiders had a hell of an offseason. I think that for the first time, really, since he got there a couple of years ago, you can actually see what this team is trying to accomplish and what they're going for.

1:27:07Gregg Rosenthal:It really helps to have the number one overall pick. Getting a step forward out of last year's draft class, which we're not really sure whether they will take a step forward or not, but they could. If they do, then I think we're looking at the first two years of this specifically John Spitek tenure in a different lens than maybe we were at the end of last season. Yeah, I have a weird amount of confidence in him. Steven, the trainer, is going to be mad that Spitek even went this low. The Raiders and their fans are so confident in this offseason. But one thing I've also learned is my evaluations of which off seasons are good or not are meaningless.

1:27:44It is very hard to predict. And so if they end up actually having a bad off season, which is very possible, then it's 0 for 2 here for Spytek. But I like that pick there. All right, it's time for the off season ride along presented by Toyota. I'm feeling bad for just the situation that Duke Tobin inherited. So I'm just going to go Duke Tobin. The drafts have been pretty bad since Jamar Chase, but I am going to give him credit for the mid of last decade when he was doing so much better in terms of drafting, and I just think he's playing with a lot against him. The offensive overhaul in terms of the offensive line, did they get it to average?

1:28:28Is that enough? Obviously, the defensive problems over the last few years have been pretty rough. They wait a little too long to address something that's a big problem in Cincinnati.

1:28:38Gregg Rosenthal:uh yeah fair all of that's fair and then they also still and that's this is more of an ownership problem but still they they have not really relative to the rest of the league staffed out their different talent id departments scouting personnel those types of things yeah that's not happening that's almost weirdly why i give tovin like credit credit trying to make it work despite all that but i hear you that's i also think maybe to be a little bit fair too it gets really complicated when you're trying to serve the franchise quarterback in totality. Like it's pretty clear all the things that they've done pretty, pretty clear about, you know, wanting to make sure that Joe Burrow is happy.

1:29:17Gregg Rosenthal:Now, on the other hand, you know, some of the things that come out of that building about players being unhappy, Trey Hendrickson and the way that his process went down, the things that he was unhappy with just from a interpersonal perspective, you know those kinds of things tend to knock someone down a little bit more too but I think that's a tough spot to be in you're not going to get resources to do the things you want to do and also you're trying to keep one of the best quarterbacks in football happy enough to continue to like lead your team that's also pretty a difficult line line to walk and that was the off-season ride-along presented by Toyota because when people are the destination your ride is important.

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1:30:01Gregg Rosenthal:I'm, I'm, I'm feeling kind of bad for the combination of, uh, John Harbaugh and Joe Shane. Uh, they are pretty low on this list. I, I actually, um, I might put Harbaugh's name first here, honestly, because that's how I wrote it. Yeah. Because Joe Shane, um, who just got extended by the Giants and Harbaugh has sort of taken on what seems to be a little bit more of a facilitator role with John Harbaugh coming in. And listen, when you hire a coach like that, and we talked about it at length, so I don't have to get too much into it now. When you hire a coach like that, yes, the expectation is that that is what is going to happen.

1:30:44Gregg Rosenthal:He is going to come in and no matter how much posturing you put out through the media, that guy is going to be in charge. And so what I think the Giants did really well this offseason was executing that vision and going through and trying to build with whatever they could, as much as they could, with the resources they had, build this into more of a John Harbaugh look like team. Right. And so if that was the plan in the process, I think they would so far achieve that process. And so I would put them here. Yeah, my question for Harbaugh is more just like, how much better will it be? Because it's new.

1:31:20We've seen him kind of in that Ravens model where it is very front office focused. For the most part, I like their draft and what they did this offseason. I mean, it didn't blow me away or anything. It's not like JoShane hasn't had some good draft picks, but he had a lot of them. And I think the self-scouting was poor. So I'm with you. I put Harbaugh first there, which probably bumps him up a couple spots. I had him lower, but whatever. John Eric Sullivan is next on my list. Hey, they have a plan. Not about this year. That's the easy part. I love what they've done. I like the Malik Willis move.

1:31:57The picks, we'll see, but who knows. It's hard to give them too much credit when they're just inheriting stuff from the previous regime, but everything they've done process-wise so far has made sense to me.

1:32:10Gregg Rosenthal:And a year from now, I cannot wait. I just a lot can happen. I might get unlucky here in terms of my take and standing 10 toes down on my take of what they're doing, which is following again, the sprint rebuild blueprint that I've talked way too much about at this point. They've done everything the way that they need to, to correctly adhere to a plan like that. A lot of things could happen. People can get injured things, you know, whatever is going to happen. But in terms of identifying their plan, sticking to their plan, I really, really like it. And I think also that there's some really underrated players over on that roster that more people will be talking about this year.

1:32:50Gregg Rosenthal:If they are at all going to watch dolphins games, which who knows, but like, I will. I know I will. I volunteered for a lot of them last year because I really thought they were fun to watch last year in a lot of ways. So, yeah, I like what they're doing. I don't mind it at all. I actually put him lower because he's the first a first year guy, you know, like I put the first year guys lower. So because I relative to like actually following through on a plan, like I love it. Yeah, I had a handful of spots over the Harbaugh. I actually kind of trust this front office who's been doing it this way more than Harbaugh necessarily, just because Harbaugh, he's been in the league a long time.

1:33:30He's a coach. But again, we're at the final sort of speed round here of the last six. So we're off vibes, as we said. All right, you're at 27.

1:33:39Gregg Rosenthal:Yeah, I'm going Darren Moogie here. A lot of vibes-based things. I like his background. I think that he comes from a solid background, obviously, in Denver. And I think that this is a long-term vision that they're so far following the steps pretty well, trading off of, you know, high-profile players to recoup draft capital, lifting the floor in a lot of ways, not only to walk the line of compromising with your head coach who you are, you know, maybe not sure about, but certainly not trying to just move out of the building. like anyone wants something to work, right? That's the best case scenarios if something really does end up working with the coach that they've invested in and hired.

1:34:24Gregg Rosenthal:So raising the floor in some ways with some of the cash spending that they went out and did in free agency, but really stockpiling a lot of these picks to specifically build, rebuild this roster in a much more slower and methodical build, but one that I think the Jets really, really need. And to really recreate some of that infrastructure is super important after all of the turnover that they've had over the last couple of years. Yeah, and on paper, his moves have been pretty solid. The drafts, you know, this one looks promising. We'll see. But, you know, Armand Membu and Mason Taylor as their first two, they had a lot of good trades around the margins.

1:35:00Aidy Mitchell, Harrison Phillips, Juwan Briggs, Jarvis Brownlee. I like those moves where he's just like slightly upgrading the roster. He would have probably been higher for me if not for just one withering thing that always stuck in my head from someone in the league about him where they said, oh, he's not a guy.

1:35:22Gregg Rosenthal:I was like, oh, he's not a guy. That's the worst thing I've ever heard. Holy cow. But so far on paper, I think it's been pretty good. I'm going to text you offline and figure out who said that one. That's crazy. Wow. It's crazy. Yeah. It's stuck in my head so much I had to put it in my notes. Look, we're getting into it. I know.

1:35:49Saints fans are going to be mad. And yet, if I go by my board, it's Austin Fort next.

1:36:00This is so, this is rough. You know what? My heart wants what it wants here. I will take Mickey off the board. Mickey Loomis and Jeff Ireland, if we were doing a slash, I think is as active an assistant GM as there is in the league, maybe is more of the GM. I mean, look, since Sean Payton's gone, they've won seven games, nine games, five games, and six games. That's pretty rough. They're always looking at the offensive line. Look, the Banks pick last year, the Banks and Fuaga combination, could be really spicy. You kind of know what you're getting. They like the big, strong, like, end players.

1:36:35Chase Young was a find recently. They had that 17 draft class, but the drafts, you know, it's been a while. Just process-wise, all the trading up for players and never trading back kills me. But that's why he's at 28, and I did find some positives. I think the ceiling of this team, it's very New Orleans. The ceiling of this team is actually quite high, especially on offense. It is a boom or bust roster. But if you look at the line and the talent and just what they've put together the last couple of years, you can't see a vision.

1:37:10Gregg Rosenthal:I like how in your response to yourself about you picking Mickey Lumens, you also gave yourself a little bit of a compliment. You're like, I did find some positive in there, too, also, by the way. Well, I'm saying every now we're on like the bottom five. And so it's like you can find positives for sure. Yeah, I'm going to go Ian Cunningham and Matt Ryan. really the majority reason why I picked this is I really trust Ian Cunningham's background. He was the number two to Ryan Poles for their tenure together in Chicago. But before that, he worked for the Eagles. And before that, he worked for the Ravens.

1:37:48Gregg Rosenthal:And I think that the combination of himself and Matt Ryan is really promising. Matt Ryan, you know, I heard some chatter right when he was taking that job, which seemed to be custom built for him. about how he was one of the rare people who could go in and tell the owner that he was wrong about making a certain decision or could speak up and and the owner would was maybe empowered to speak to his boss essentially in ways that maybe other people in that building in previous years had not felt and it's not it's Arthur Blank has a great reputation as like a genuinely you know we think billionaires are bad obviously but has a genuine reputation of being a pretty solid guy right and but but still the power dynamics at play are crazy when it comes to uh some disagreeing with an owner who does have a strong opinion about one thing or another um in that building and so i i like i like the potential here and like i said i trust ian cunningham's background i trust the potential and so i'm fine drafting on potential here yeah i had them 31 i had andrew Barry 32 just partly because there's no track record with these two to base it on and I'm just a little confused about what's going on there the moves that they made this offseason are confusing to me like this was a good this was a pretty good team last year and yeah they're adding a lot of a lot of people we'll see how it plays out some of the the trades like a row row even that trade seemed weird to me the two we'll see it's fine they're taking a step back is it too much Matt Ryan.

1:39:24I don't know if I love that. I hope it's more Ian Cunningham, but Matt Ryan's at the top of the list. We're splitting hairs here. I have, I guess I'll go Austin Fort here. The drafts have been solid enough. They haven't been great, but they haven't been bad. Paris Johnson, you know, you could pick nits about that Will Anderson trade if you look back now, but they moved around the board. You know, Paris Johnson, Garrett Wilson, Michael Wilson, rather, and Garrett Williams. The next year, they had that extra first, and they didn't really make good use of it with Darius Robinson and Max Melton. You inherited Kyler Murray's contract like six months before you got hired, which was tricky.

1:40:04But you also hired Jonathan Gannon and already threw him overboard. Another front office that's playing in a difficult situation. Just look at the franchise's record. The same name has been owning that team throughout. And so that needs to be considered, but that's also why he fell this far.

1:40:25Gregg Rosenthal:All of it makes sense. My pick at 31, I'm making in part because I really do want to make this pick, but also because I'd like to make a point, so I'm using him almost as a vessel to make a point that I'd like to make. Nolan Teasley, I'm putting at 31. I know he's been on the job for two days. This is the thing. I trust his background. I really do. I trust how long he's worked with John Schneider, our number two on this list. I trust the vision there. I really I think that he is a lot more analytically minded than the team is like selling right now because they're trying to overcorrect from the perception that Kweisi Adolfo-Mentz was too analytically minded.

1:41:06Gregg Rosenthal:Nolan Teasley is as well. He helped build the scouting system that Seattle uses. The other point that I wanted to make is I loved you and Patrick's Borgon or Brzezinski episode, like be a Brzezinski. It was so fun to listen to you guys like roll with that bit. I will also say the Vikings in totality are built in a way where the same people have been making the same decisions for a long number of years, including when Cuesito Fomenta was the GM there and was not able to bring in an entire staff of people around him to build through whatever that vision may have been. Yes, criticize the draft picks, all of that stuff.

1:41:42Gregg Rosenthal:Fine. That's fair. but Nolan Teasley, I am very curious to see who is actually going to come with him, if anybody, because you're basically saying you're changing the narrative around a GM candidate optically, and you're saying, but actually the entire infrastructure that got us into this mess in the first place is still the same. So I'm just very curious about how this goes. And I buy Nolan Teasley as a GM, I also think that he'll work really well with Kevin O 'Connell. We'll have to see, obviously. But I am fascinated by that dynamic because, again, there was a different narrative attached to this candidate and this hire.

1:42:25Gregg Rosenthal:But the infrastructure of the team and the organization and the people in the front office has stayed the same. So very, very curious about all of that. Yeah, it could be a good situation for a GM to walk into with an established head coach there and established front office. He just got to fit in, you know, both him and Mike Borgonzio, who's 30. Yeah, who's yeah. Who's been there the whole time. Chad Brinker's Bia Brzezinski. And so, yes, the man who succeeded Chad Brinker running the Titans is Mike Borgonzio. You know, these guys at the end, for the most part, just got punished because we don't know their track record yet.

1:42:59Even the moves that they made this offseason, we want to see if they look as good on the field as on paper. I think their offseason for the most part with the Titans has made sense. Like it's been a solid offseason. Borgonzi comes from the Chiefs tree. And yeah, he is the latest winner of Titans power struggle. And it's not his fault that that's how the organization has gone for a while. And I think it really points out looking at Loomis and Austin Ford at the end here and Mugi and some of the other guys, this exercise more than any of the others. I don't really believe there's that big of a difference between most of the front offices.

1:43:37They do things in a different way, but I'm saying in the results of what they get in terms of acquiring talent, I think comparing it to even coaches, which is the most passive thing we're going to rank. The rest of them is all just players, which is, they're the ones on the field. They're active. I think the difference of great coaches is less than people make it out to be. I really think that's the case with, with front offices that it's, it's very situational and like, there's not as big a difference to me, at least I'm just speaking for myself, not for you between spot 12 and spot 30 on this list than there, there would be on the other lists.

1:44:14Gregg Rosenthal:I'd say similar to a lot of people, a lot of these guys who do build out their first round draft boards every year. Once you hit 15 to 17, there is pretty much a big pool of, of people who still have to be determined, right. Or that are sort of similar in a lot of ways where I do very much disagree with you as the coach is the edge and advantage with the coach, because more so than a GM, the coach's language and the coach's process is ingrained throughout every piece of the building far more. So other than perhaps a Howie Roseman that, that coach is really the entire like a roadmap basically for, for the building.

1:44:57Gregg Rosenthal:And certainly if he, if he's a talented, a talented coach, I do think the influence and the advantage can be greater. And, and, and similarly the failure can be greater too. So I do think that's, that's a difference maker. Yeah. I was trying to, and I spoke poorly, do it on a sliding scale where the coach would be somewhere in between the GM and the players. And it's crazy. I just think people don't, they're uncomfortable with the idea that luck determines so much of everything in life. Certainly of a game where the ball isn't round. Like, just so much of it is luck. And to me, the players, so much of their career is based on luck too.

1:45:38But the sliding scale to me is the GMs, I think you can make the argument, the majority of their careers. Like, if I'm weighing all the factors, I think luck is the most important one. And unfortunately, you can it's it's kind of like, you know, professional gamblers. You they try to control like the 30 percent that they can control. And that's the best that you can control. And most of the rest, it's like just put the chips out and hope hope they go well. And hopefully people enjoyed our NFL Daily 32. You know what?

1:46:11Gregg Rosenthal:Some probably did and some probably didn't. And we will hear about it. Hopefully that means people. We had fun doing it. I like doing these. I do too, because it just gets you thinking about... How are you going to rage bait people on social media this time, Greg? I won't. I will try not to. We will see you on Monday. It'll be a shook show. We're always doing the news. And like I mentioned, a couple of contracts. Hit that music. Thank you, Jordan. Great to have you back this week for two really strong episodes. The GM one. Everyone go check out our Garrett A.J. Brown. The Inside the Garrett trade episode.

1:46:49I was really proud of all the episodes this week. So hopefully you guys liked them too. And we'll be back with another big week, four shows next week on NFL Daily. We'll see you then.

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