Rams Go Big, Diggs Cut Loose and Colts’ Big Bet on Dimes

13:16Jourdan Rodrigue:Now there's speculation of like, well, does this make them more or less likely to take Jeremiah? Love the running back here at number nine, which is just like one of the favorite, everyone's favorite team fits. We'll even get there. Would they, would they dare trade up for a generational running back? Cause that's what it costs. I think they would. I actually think they would, too. I don't think they care about things that everyone else cares about. The window. The window, Grant.

13:42Gregg Rosenthal:So they might not care about everyone, quote-unquote everyone, saying it's a gap year.

13:46Patrick Claybon:Well, the Chiefs do care about everyone. And, you know, you can doubt and disrespect them,

13:51Jourdan Rodrigue:but ultimately you're going to have to deal with them. You absolutely will. And that third round pick in next year's draft is what really put this over the top for me. I was like, okay, I'm good with it. I'm good with it from both sides. And yeah, they like playing their defensive linemen, not their defensive backs. Everyone likes to pay quarterbacks. And so that's what the Colts are going to do with Daniel Jones. They give him the transition tag. And for anyone unfamiliar, the transition tag is a little lower than the franchise tag. It allows teams around the NFL to potentially sign Daniel Jones to an offer sheet.

14:29Jourdan Rodrigue:if Daniel Jones accepted that offer sheet and the Colts decided not to match the offer sheet, he would leave with no compensation going back to the Colts. This is a$6 million difference between this and the franchise tag. So for this year, it's around$37 million. They're basically, for now, just trying to kick the can, maybe daring another team to do that. Who knows? Maybe they'll even have a deal done with Daniel Jones before free agency even starts. as someone who loves, and Jordan nailed this, that they would use the tag for Daniel Jones. But Colleen, as someone who weirdly has built a little corner in the Chris Wesseling podcast studio that you live in, how are you feeling like this?

15:15Jourdan Rodrigue:Just a lot of emotions, a lot of ups and downs with the Colts that they choose to do this. And for now, Alec Pierce is just floating in the wind.

15:23Colleen Wolfe:And like Alec Pierce is my guy. He's always been my guy. But my love for the Colts has been renewed as well after being in Indianapolis and spending so much time at Lucas Oil Stadium, specifically with Reggie Wayne, who I was working with. So I did get to pick his brain a little bit, too. I was surprised that they didn't get Daniel Jones deal done before this and tag Alec Pierce. But I think that it makes sense that they tag Daniel Jones because this is someone coming off of an Achilles injury. and you have a ton of teams that don't know where he is in that rehab process. And so if you're another team that's going to make an offer, you're going to play it safe as that other team.

16:06Colleen Wolfe:So I think that they will end up getting a deal done with Daniel Jones, especially after the success that they experienced last year. But I also think that they're going to get a deal done with Alec Pierce too. I think both of them will remain in Indianapolis.

16:22Jourdan Rodrigue:I hate this whole thing. Why? Yes. Well, first of all, I hate tags in general because they're just annoying. I just hate his injury for everyone. In the same way that the Chiefs' Rams trade felt like a win-win, I feel like the Daniel Jones tag and Pierce's involved a little too is like a lose-lose. Like he's getting more money, but he's earned a lot of money, and I have faith he's going to earn a lot more money in his NFL career. So I'm kind of putting that to the side. But I just think they have such a tough needle to thread for a guy coming off a torn Achilles tendon. The expectations are going to be high.

17:00Jourdan Rodrigue:His contract is going to be high. It's going to limit what they do elsewhere, potentially. And I just worry about a world where you're counting on Daniel Jones in a win-now year for this whole regime. Ownership made that very clear. They have to win now that Daniel Jones is going to have to play really good football coming off a torn Achilles this year for the Colts. Nothing's really changed, like putting the tag on him or whatever contract he got. Nothing changes there. I just think it's going to be very difficult to do that. He just had surgery in December. I just feel like I'm taking crazy pills a little bit where everyone is a slot in like, oh, of course, we're going to have weeks one to seven.

17:36Jourdan Rodrigue:Daniel Jones back, even though that's totally inconsistent with how he's played for most of his career.

17:40Gregg Rosenthal:I might push back on you a little bit here, Greg, because I don't think that's what this is saying at all. I don't think the Colts think that they're going to have one through seven weeks Daniel Jones back. I think that sort of subtly and maybe the subtext of this is they're committed to specifically Shane Steichen no matter what. So they're keeping, they would keep Shane Steichen the long term, knowing that Shane Steichen and Daniel Jones are a partnership. And if that requires patience, keeping Shane Steichen does not necessarily mean keeping Chris Ballard. And even if he's the one that ends up getting an extension done with him, to me, this transition tag is an investment, not necessarily into the player, but in time as a construct.

18:21Gregg Rosenthal:Right. And it is basically them buying time to check in on all of his, first of all, to negotiate a deal, to dare another team, to tell Daniel Jones, what the market thinks his value is, which they clearly assume is going to be lower than what Daniel Jones wants. Otherwise they wouldn't have transitioned tagged him. And to also, as Colleen mentioned, keep all of his medical checkpoints in-house, basically keep his medical information under their roof and under contract where they can actually know what his measurables are in returning from such a significant injury. Part of the issue when these quarterbacks come off of an Achilles injury like this is it is an unknown what their measurables and their touch points are through the course of what now has become an expedited process.

19:01Gregg Rosenthal:You have things like explosive explosiveness, how much tension the ligament can handle. These are things that you as a player, the second you leave the building, you have ownership for. And the other team doesn't have to know that. And you can say whatever you want. They don't they don't know. And they can't test it out of their building. If they keep it in house, this is them saying, OK, we're basically giving you a longer runway to recover, giving us time to get the contract negotiated, giving you time to understand that your market won't be anywhere near as high as what you think you think it is, which helps us in the long run get to a lower number and also a subtle nod toward Shane Steichen and a, hey, get back whenever you're ready.

19:39Gregg Rosenthal:We're keeping the head coach.

19:40Jourdan Rodrigue:That all makes sense. I think that's really well said. And it's kind of in a tough spot where I don't think there was a good way to solve this. My main thing is I don't expect Daniel Jones to be a good quarterback in 2026 and like in terms of a plus at the position, partly because he's coming off a torn Achilles.

19:58Colleen Wolfe:Okay, but he could pull a Dan Marino and obviously Dan Marino is Dan Marino, but Dan Marino did it and came back the following year and won comeback player of the year.

20:06Patrick Claybon:An Achilles that was torn while he was playing with a broken bone in his leg, by the way. There were multiple things going on that were a part of the injury, and so now we've added all that onto this process of surgery and rehabilitation while the Colts are using this cost-control metric that's often used in league with other cost-control metrics to control quarterbacks, whether it's the transition tag or the non-exclusive franchise tag where everybody pretends like, oh, you know, Here's a quarterback that's won a couple MVPs. We don't want to necessarily make him an offer because that would be weird.

20:35Patrick Claybon:And so it's not necessarily everybody in a room saying, let's not pay these quarterbacks. But here in this circumstance where you've got the injury, there's plenty of excuses to make for teams to not send any kind of offer sheet to Daniel Jones, which, as Jordan pointed out,

20:49Jourdan Rodrigue:behooves the Colts. And it's a timing thing.

20:51Gregg Rosenthal:Bad luck for Daniel Jones, too.

20:52Jourdan Rodrigue:I mean, it's bad luck for everyone because I just think it would be great for them to have seen the rest of the season with Daniel Jones. I guess that's like I'm thinking about him versus Kyler Murray, let's say, who we're going to talk about just got cut. And I got to put him on the top one on one. I put Kyler ahead of Daniel. I don't think that's a hard decision of him coming off a torn Achilles and one's healthy. But I also think of like literally at any point in the last six years, if you had asked basically anyone inside the NFL, outside the NFL, who would you rather have? Who's a better like football player, Kyler Murray or Daniel Jones?

21:26Jourdan Rodrigue:It's obviously Kyler Murray. And now you have Dana Jones, who's had a very up and down kind of system dependent injury plagued career who I think even more than Kyler Murray relies on his athleticism. And now he's going to have to come back from a torn ACL. And I hear you on betting on Steichen. And to me, it's going to be maybe a bet on Steichen in that he's going to make it work with Riley Leonard and whoever else is going to be there, because that's nice to bet on Shane Steichen. But if they're six and 11, they're getting fired. I don't care about the betting on like it. They have to win games.

21:59Jourdan Rodrigue:I just don't think.

22:00Gregg Rosenthal:I think Steichen's safe. I do. Right. I don't think the front office is, but I think Steichen's safe. And I think Daniel Jones is going to be better than you think he is, Greg.

22:08Jourdan Rodrigue:I hope so. Holt's corner with Holly Moltz. I just hope he can play. I just hope he can play, too. And that part of it is those couple games where he freaked out a little bit. And at the time, I was defending it.

22:20Colleen Wolfe:Was this during the broken leg era?

22:22Jourdan Rodrigue:No, it wasn't. That was the thing. is I think people have kind of conflated these things. He broke his leg. He actually played okay after he broke his leg for a couple of days. Acknowledging again, it was insane that he was playing with a broken leg.

22:32Colleen Wolfe:He was playing with a broken leg.

22:33Jourdan Rodrigue:Okay, the two games, the two starts before his broken legs were by far his two worst games of the season. He had two touchdowns in those games. He had 10 combined interceptions and fumbles. He took 12 sacks. You know, he was the lowest graded quarterback in the NFL, according to PFF.

22:49Gregg Rosenthal:Broke his leg in one of those.

22:51Jourdan Rodrigue:No, no. The Chiefs game, I'm not counting here. He actually played pretty well. I'm not counting the broken leg game. The two completed starts before he broke his leg were the two.

23:00Colleen Wolfe:I will find a reason why this happened. Right.

23:04Jourdan Rodrigue:All I mean is, like, I kind of wanted to see how the league reacted to Daniel Jones and Steichen and all that, and you didn't get to see that.

23:10Gregg Rosenthal:What I wish, I know we loved it for content and for a show, but I actually wish that they had not signed Phillip Rivers because I think there's some regret internally right now about not being able to see Riley Leonard for more games.

23:24Patrick Claybon:That's not hindsight. That was foresight.

23:27Gregg Rosenthal:Just throwing it out there, Captain Obvious over here.

23:30Jourdan Rodrigue:To point it out, we did say that at the time, too.

23:33Gregg Rosenthal:This is great. This sucks, but it's tremendous content. Riley Leonard could be great.

23:37Jourdan Rodrigue:I kind of am excited about that. You know who else could be great? Who's that? Colleen's guy and Patrick's guy. A rare co-guy. I mean, Alec Pierce. You have been singing the praises of Alec Pierce, who now could hit free agency. Okay, if you were making a top 101 rankings, first of all, would you have put Kyler Murray number one over Malik Willis? I already have regrets that I did not. And then more to the point, would you have put Kyler Murray or Alec Pierce ahead of each other? Alec Pierce is number five on my list.

24:09Patrick Claybon:I would have had them one, too. Obviously, I'm exceedingly biased.

24:14Jourdan Rodrigue:In that order, Kyler Murray one, Pierce two. Yeah, it's Kyler at one. That could make sense. Right now, Jalen Phillips is two. Malik Willis, one. Tyler Lindenbaum, three.

24:23Colleen Wolfe:How much sleep do you lose over this?

24:25Jourdan Rodrigue:A considerable amount. I lost sleep last night, but it wasn't related to this.

24:30Colleen Wolfe:Me too.

24:31Jourdan Rodrigue:It wasn't related to this. It was related, at least in part. General impending doom.

24:37Colleen Wolfe:Pretty much. There's a lot of doom.

24:39Jourdan Rodrigue:The world is burning. I read a book. Anyway, Daniel Jones. I'm going to get to the Alec Pierce. We have some sound. I want to hear Patrick talk about. But here's what partly made me lose sleep. I read a book that I received through the mail from a publisher. Sometimes they just send me books. Greg just got it like that. They think all life.

25:01Gregg Rosenthal:Hashtag read a book, Greg.

25:03Jourdan Rodrigue:Because I used to recommend them on the Jessalyn Nick and Rosenthal Vanity Project. JRVP. And, you know, I have a Goodreads account. Follow me there. Got like a thousand followers there. You know, you could sell some books. Rosie, big book book. Look at the brains on Greg. I want to be a book influencer, but I haven't really done any work to get there. So I got this book like a year and a half ago, and it's just been sitting there. It's a big one, and I'm just like, I don't really want to read it. I should just get rid of it. It's annoying me. And then finally, I'm like, finally, I'm going to take it out and read a book.

25:31Jourdan Rodrigue:Read this book. And it was horrible. It was one of the worst books I've ever read. I got to the end.

25:36Gregg Rosenthal:Shame and shame. Life is too short to read bad books.

25:39Colleen Wolfe:That's what we're getting at.

25:41Gregg Rosenthal:I love this. I love this.

25:42Jourdan Rodrigue:It's a book called, I mean, I feel bad about this now. No, get them out there, Greg. Well, I loved her first book. It's by an author named Julia Phillips who wrote a book called Disappearing Earth, which I loved, like set in like Kamchuka, Russia. It's great. The second book, not so much. But it's a book called Bear. And the book ends, I'm going to spoil it here. Oh, boy. With the bear eating one of the protagonists with like 20 pages left.

26:08Gregg Rosenthal:No.

26:09Jourdan Rodrigue:And then for much of the 20 pages left, going back occasionally from the sister's point of view and describing how like the teeth were crunching on the skull, but that maybe the sister was happy because she loved the bear. The bear was happy. Was the bear a metaphor?

26:25Gregg Rosenthal:I kind of relate to this. Yes, I think-ish. I kind of relate to this because I, too, always choose the bear.

26:34Jourdan Rodrigue:It is a little bit about that, but it was a little ham-fisted, and I did think about that.

26:40Colleen Wolfe:I think about it all the time. Let's say if I'm reading like, you know, it's my addiction right now.

26:44Jourdan Rodrigue:So it's like 50 to 60 books a year. But let's give me, my pace is going to slow down eventually. Let's give me another 30 years over under. Like how many books is that? That's like a thousand maybe. I just wasted it on this. Is the bear a metaphor for colonialism?

27:02Gregg Rosenthal:Ooh. Did you just look it up?

27:05Jourdan Rodrigue:I think the bear was a little bit of a metaphor for like their mom was dying and just like.

27:10Colleen Wolfe:Wow. It sounds like a great read.

27:12Jourdan Rodrigue:It could have been good.

27:14Colleen Wolfe:Let's listen.

27:15Gregg Rosenthal:Nobody's going to read it now, Greg. Not quite the metaphor that Colleen and I were referring to, but okay, go off.

27:21Jourdan Rodrigue:This is like the opposite effect of what...

27:24Gregg Rosenthal:A publisher.

27:25Jourdan Rodrigue:Publisher, and I'm friends with... Not anymore. There's no way she listens to this podcast. It's not going to happen. Let's listen to Alec Pierce. Hey, your book was on the... We've got to get out of here. Let's listen to Alec Pierce on the Kate Adams Up in Adams show.

27:39Colleen Wolfe:You're amazing, Greg. You know, at this point now, it's like... I love indie.

27:44Patrick Claybon:I've loved playing there. Great organization, great people in the city. You know, just a ton of support.

27:50Colleen Wolfe:I know we haven't been as good as we could be, and I know we can be. But, yeah, now at this point, kind of earned the right to explore free agency, see what's out there, and just, you know, make a decision that's best for my career and for my family.

28:09Patrick Claybon:I'm not a big electronica guy. you know dubstep all these things but there's a moment where you wait for the beat drop and then it happens and yeah when he finally got to that yeah i was like yeah because alec is sitting there that webcam is looking like mine he's backlit in front of that window run this man his money like alec needs his money and he acknowledged that there and through this chicanery with dimes

28:31Jourdan Rodrigue:we're gonna get alec his money that's a great result of the the dimes tag unfortunately that looked like a terrorist, like a hostage video.

28:40Gregg Rosenthal:I was going to say, you know, I have a good friend. She's recently reentered the dating pool, and he kind of looks like a man who would ruin her life from Silver Lake.

28:47Jourdan Rodrigue:Oh, wow. Does she play corner? Because that's what he does. He also... Great line. He also sounded like he had to get that line out, like his personal PR told him to say it in that exact way beforehand. That was my reading of the situation. But who knows?

29:04Colleen Wolfe:That's exactly what I was thinking, that this was coming straight from his agent, that like, I feel like Alec Pierce wants to be back in Indianapolis, but he is saying that so then he can get the offer up a little bit more.

29:16Jourdan Rodrigue:Who would want to lose and leave Reggie Wayne?

29:19Colleen Wolfe:You know, exactly.

29:22Patrick Claybon:I think Reggie would be the first person to say, hey, go get your money.

29:25Gregg Rosenthal:I think it all goes back true, but he does love Alec. Colleen called her shot at the beginning of this, and I agree. I think they keep both of them long term. I think they get extensions done with both Alec Pierce and Daniel Jones.

29:36Jourdan Rodrigue:I agree. I sent that out there. I know there's a lot of Alec Pierce curious teams. Just teams out there, especially fan bases. He is that guy this offseason that 12 different fan bases, like the second this happened yesterday, they're like, oh, we're getting Alec Pierce.

29:54Gregg Rosenthal:It is the year.

29:56Jourdan Rodrigue:I don't know if he's going to go out there on the market. I think he's going to say.

30:03Gregg Rosenthal:I won't say what it is, but I just had an all-time comment from a Bona in my headset. I mean, this is literally an audio medium.

30:12Jourdan Rodrigue:If you're not going to say it, then you can't say that. Now you have to say it. And we'll potentially beep it out. I wouldn't blow up Chris Bona's spot like that. We'll potentially beep it out.

30:22Gregg Rosenthal:Good for Alec Pierce. Here, he has earned all the money that he's about to make.

30:27Jourdan Rodrigue:Buddha, you're not saying. Word keeps our sources nice and safe. Nice and tight there, Patrick.

30:33Gregg Rosenthal:Nice and tight.

30:34Jourdan Rodrigue:They might not want him to set the bar, by the way, with a tag, too, because like his average per year is probably going to be a little less than the franchise tag, even if he does get out to market. But maybe not that less. I think it would have been, what, 27, 28 million. He's probably getting somewhere in the mid 20s. Bully to him. Let's take a break. And then we're going to come back, talk Kyler Murray and get out of here and consider the meaning of it.

30:56Colleen Wolfe:Oh, no. Sorry.

31:01Jourdan Rodrigue:It's just like. Oh, Greg.

31:04Colleen Wolfe:No.

31:05Jourdan Rodrigue:So many good books that I could be reading.

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35:06Jourdan Rodrigue:Back on NFL Daily. The bear can, you know, discussion continued.

35:10Colleen Wolfe:It sure did.

35:12Gregg Rosenthal:Actually, it sure did.

35:13Jourdan Rodrigue:Through the break.

35:15Gregg Rosenthal:Always has been.

35:17Jourdan Rodrigue:maybe a little more about like the bear like is it better to die feeling alive doing the thing that you love the bear really made her feel alive for the first time in a long time than it is to live just being

35:30Colleen Wolfe:are you talking about death because I'm here on the show

35:32Jourdan Rodrigue:a little bit but I think it's always there it's the human condition it's what separates

35:37Patrick Claybon:us I think having the bear on the island is like a Chekhov's gun situation and you want that to pay off perhaps not you know 80 pages to go in the book, but my theory that I've just come up with, when you needlessly kill a protagonist late in the book, maybe signals some internal thoughts from the author about themselves. Whoa. That's heavy. For no reason. I don't mean a protagonist being a martyr in certain situations, but when it's just like,

36:05Jourdan Rodrigue:oh, yeah, they're gone now. We're going to get to Kyler Murray and Aaron Rodgers in a second, but look at him just throwing out Chekhov's gun there, and that reminds me... Of Gutenberg's Bible? Yes!

36:19Colleen Wolfe:Oh my god. Yes!

36:20Jourdan Rodrigue:Do you know Gutenberg's Bible? It's not one of his best ones.

36:24Gregg Rosenthal:The Gutenberg Bible.

36:26Jourdan Rodrigue:The Gutenberg's Bible.

36:27Colleen Wolfe:You don't? I don't.

36:29Jourdan Rodrigue:Let's go!

36:30Colleen Wolfe:Singular. Yes!

36:31Patrick Claybon:The Gutenberg Bible. The Gutenberg Bible.

36:33Colleen Wolfe:Okay.

36:34Patrick Claybon:It's more about the press than it is the Bible. It had heavy circulation in the deck.

36:38Jourdan Rodrigue:A lot of people didn't like the ending to that one either. Oh my god. I thought his best work was Police Academy 4, but that's just me. So Chekhov, there's a book. There's a book that is by George Saunders, if you've ever heard of George Saunders. And I'm only bringing this up. Is this your neighbor? This is my neighbor, and I saw him this morning. And so there's a book by George Saunders who essentially goes through why different short stories are great. It's almost like you're taking his college class. He's a college professor. It's called A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, which I really highly recommend if you're into that sort of thing.

37:14Jourdan Rodrigue:Russian short stories, all this stuff.

37:16Colleen Wolfe:Oh, cool.

37:17Jourdan Rodrigue:But I saw him this morning walking home from dropping off my daughter at school, and he's walking his dog. And every time I see him, he's in the neighborhood. I get too nervous to just, like, say what's up. Hey, I'm a big fan. And he was kind of looking at his phone and walking his dog. It's like 830 in the morning. And again, I froze up, even though we're the only two people on the street. That's like too big of a celebrity. Believe in yourself, Greg. I'm going to do it. It's a lot of honking. The problem is when you told us to break up the shows, I was like, oh, we just got a big canvas to play on.

37:52Jourdan Rodrigue:Aaron Rodgers, though, isn't going to extend the show at all. We said he was talking on McAfee as we started the show. I thought we'd be updating that he is coming back to the NFL this season. We're the only one to believe that. and he quote said, if you're expecting me to announce some big decision here, just leave now, shut it off. So thank you. How long into the interview did he say that? Well, we lasted five minutes. I had never.

38:16Gregg Rosenthal:What do you mean we?

38:17Jourdan Rodrigue:I did. I watched it. First five minutes I've ever watched. We were just a captive audience. Of McAfee. That's not true. I've watched Aaron. That's why Aaron works out to keep the stamina.

38:28Colleen Wolfe:The tweet was posted at 1136. His segment, assuming, started around 1105, 1110. It was about 11.13.

38:34Jourdan Rodrigue:It was eight minutes late for the season.

38:35Gregg Rosenthal:Do you know what's pretty great, though? Myself, Patrick, and Colleen were all telling Greg, Greg, let's start the show. He's not going to say anything. Greg says, we might. He's right on the verge. He might say it. But it did take a show note from our producer, Eric Roberts, saying specifically he has said now he's not going to say anything for us to move on.

38:54Jourdan Rodrigue:Well, Eric's the boss here. You guys are just co-hosts.

38:57Patrick Claybon:I don't think Greg actually believed that Aaron was going to say anything. He's about the action. Greg's about the game. I'm trying to get as much news into the show. He did discover the Pat McAfee live chat, though.

39:08Jourdan Rodrigue:He discovered the chat. They were bagging on A.J. A.J. Hawk. Kyler Murray is no longer a member of the Arizona Cardinals. We expected this move in one shape or another. I think it's hilarious, Patrick, that the Kyler Murray era in Arizona essentially ended with a one-two punch of Monty Ossenfort going up at the combine and saying, oh yeah, we talk about Kyler Murray every day. I spoke with Kyler Murray this offseason. And literally 12 hours later, a source quote close to Kyler Murray tells ESPN, he never talked to us. And that's how it ends. Like a total lack of communication, a total bumbling from the Cardinals organization and like messaging and just not all being on the same page, ruining any little bit of leverage that they would have had.

40:01Jourdan Rodrigue:And now Kyler is free. Good job by Kyler's source, by the way.

40:04Patrick Claybon:I don't think they had any leverage. It's been Kyler's fault for years. And that's been the overall statement for the vast majority of his time in Arizona. And so if they were going to convince somebody like, hey, because Monty Osenfort stepped into a podium in Indy on a random Tuesday and being like, I talked to Kyler. Someone's like, oh, they really like Kyler Murray now. No, this has been the overall message. we don't like you anymore and it's your fault things are bad.

40:27Jourdan Rodrigue:They were trying to get it out there though I saw what they were doing through the insiders that like hey maybe we actually will see Kyler so it just seemed typical for a run where unfortunately it felt like it took a while for him to ever be on the same page him and Cliff was tricky I think him and Gannon were on the same page and I do not think they apparently were on the same page as Austin Fort and ownership

40:50Gregg Rosenthal:I always wonder what the point is of a GM or coach with a quarterback situation in flux to get up to the podium and say, yes, we are in communication, knowing full well that once you make the move that you are always planning on making, the other party can very, very freely just say, no, we actually weren't in communication at all. Like why? Like this has nothing to do with the transaction itself. I just, I will never understand why the messaging this happens over and over and over again.

41:20Colleen Wolfe:every year at the combine that it is the combine press conferences are honestly hilarious to track because greg and i used to do like 10 years ago we used to do live coverage of right the press conferences and then i would go back and look at my notes and there are just like amazing things in there that that the gms and the head coaches would say like they would just speak so so lovingly about this person and then the next week they would be cut or whatever. So it's like, if anyone can find that NFL now coverage from the other building in Culver

41:56Jourdan Rodrigue:city and send it to us, like we were just young, it lives somewhere young people.

42:01Gregg Rosenthal:I remember the example where Matt rule went so far as to coordinate an in-house video package of him sitting on a couch, talking to a personnel person about how valuable and how valued he thought Cam Newton was only to a not be communicating with them and then cut him or however that I don't remember how that like cut him or like like a week later and I'm like wow you produced a whole video

42:27Colleen Wolfe:so cow Kyler's out there Kyler is a source another source close to Kyler said he had

42:33Jourdan Rodrigue:two I think this was CBS Sports that said this had two specific landing spots in mind personally now the cardinals owe him 36 million dollars guaranteed the way these nfl contracts work with offset language unless someone paid him more than that in 2026 which we can reasonably assume is not going to happen uh the cardinals essentially have to pay uh all that money and so he'll probably wind up signing according to the insiders to a minimum contract this year because he's getting that 36 from the Cardinals, and then it's a minimum contract. When you hear two possible destinations, what do you think, Patrick?

43:13Patrick Claybon:Well, I think the one is the Kansas City Chiefs. I think that makes the most, in terms of Kyler and his evaluation and the conversations, be they leaking that we've got certain language in his contract about video games and all this other stuff. Oh, my God. Kyler wants to extend a big middle finger to a lot of the NFL, and what better way to do that? than to start the first six or seven games for the Kansas City Chiefs while 15 comes back, and then you get a chance to pick your team once again and try to get some more money.

43:43Jourdan Rodrigue:I don't think it's the Jets where he's been attached to. I have to assume one of the two is the Vikings. The Vikings. The buzz, the chatter has just gone off the charts in the last couple days that maybe this is happening, Kyler Murray to the Vikings.

43:59Colleen Wolfe:Right, to compete with J.J. McCarthy, Or he could also potentially land in Atlanta, maybe, while Michael Penix Jr. is rehabbing as well.

44:08Jourdan Rodrigue:Minnesota gives you the possibility that, A, it's a whole season or that it's multiple. It gives you the chance that maybe it's a forever home and obviously a coach that has a great reputation. And I think even more importantly to someone like Kyler Murray, arguably the best wide receiver in the entire NFL on that team. and a chance to, if you want to put a middle finger up right away, Jordan, to win some games, Minnesota works.

44:35Gregg Rosenthal:I have a galaxy brain take on this with multiple steps, but I know that we have another show coming up where we're matchmaking. We're doing some matchmaking. And there's stakes involved. Oh, you don't want to give it away. And I'm a very competitive person. We don't want to spoil things on this episode. So, you know, I just.

44:53Jourdan Rodrigue:I'm definitely not going Kyler Murray to anyone else that we haven't mentioned. So if we all promised that, then you could do it right here. You know, that we wouldn't.

45:01Gregg Rosenthal:Oh, you want to know bad.

45:02Jourdan Rodrigue:No, well, we'll find out. That's a good tease. Later this week, we're going to do a matchmakers game. And yeah, I think Kyler Murray is an incomplete court. Like he has some limitations to his game. But man, he has played a lot of football and it's been streaky at times. But the baseline is pretty good. and the high level play has been excellent. He's been a really productive guy. And I do think the narrative that like, his team doesn't like him, he's not as hard to work, all this sort of stuff. I think quietly, it hasn't changed enough nationally to what the last couple of years have been like.

45:38Jourdan Rodrigue:I think if you listen to the people around that building and his teammates and everything, I think since Cliff left, that it's improved on that front a lot a bit, a lot. I think he's thought of as a tough player as well. And look, I don't think that's going to get in the way of him getting a good job. He's kind of at the top of the top of the food chain when it comes to the quarterbacks. While we were taping, we thought Rodgers might add to the news with, you know, he's coming back. No, but we did get some news. Stefan Diggs no longer with the New England Patriots released going into his age 32 season.

46:15Jourdan Rodrigue:Patrick, he essentially was on a year to year contract. It's around$22 million a year, made it very easy to cut him. I thought he performed better than could have been reasonably expected coming off the torn ACL. So what do you make of this?

46:30Patrick Claybon:Yeah, it was a huge bounce back season again, also an injury where this is now the Stefan Diggs thing. You have a talented young quarterback. Stefan Diggs comes in. Things are great. And then you say goodbye.

46:42Jourdan Rodrigue:So I think it's absolutely the combination of the salary and the arrest and the charges that he's facing. He's currently facing felony strangulation and suffocation charges. Really serious accusations. Who knows if the NFL could potentially suspend him or what is going to happen on a legal front. I think they appreciated everything that he added to the team from a football and leadership perspective in terms of how he was in that building. but I think when you combine those two things and freeing up that much financial space, maybe you feel like, all right, we're getting, we had a good experience, but we're getting out a year ahead.

47:21Colleen Wolfe:Greg, it makes sense, especially with all of the rumors swirling about AJ Brown potentially going to New England, that maybe that is the next shoe to drop.

47:30Gregg Rosenthal:That would be a good move. That would be, I would like to see that. I think this is one of those things where if you, unfortunately, a team will not show a ton of urgency in the middle of a playoff run and investigating said accusations and charges. And this is one of those things that has to be cleared up by the Patriots post haste. The second, their sort of magical run is over. I have to think that that is a big part of this, like you said, Greg. And then also they need to basically not take what happened for them in sort of a magical outweighed expectation season last year and hold that as, oh, we can just run it back with the same people.

48:11Gregg Rosenthal:They have to continue to improve their roster in a lot of areas, and that includes at receiver getting a little younger, a couple more guys who will be able to help them for the next few years.

48:22Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah, I'm not buying the idea that they're suddenly going to be quiet this offseason, which they've kind of thrown out there. We're like, we're not going to spend as much. They have a lot of needs that they've got to shore up, and that starts at wide receiver. Really surprising news that Drew Dahlman retired on Tuesday. He was the center for the Bears, who was at the top of the free agent center market last year, got a nice contract,$14 million a year, was part of like a big overhaul for the Bears' offensive line. And look, I think they have a really tough offseason in general, Patrick, and this is just a move I really doubt.

49:01Jourdan Rodrigue:Maybe they had some inkling from him personally, but certainly the outside didn't. He's 27 years old and has only played five years in the NFL, and he's doing something very few NFL players have done, but some really have, which is just pass on a lot of guaranteed money in what would have been a lucrative career for the rest of his life.

49:21Patrick Claybon:Yeah, it speaks to a couple things. They inherit violence with regards to the game, and I think Drew Dahlman can look across in the division out of some other guys who have gone through like trying to extend careers and constant pain um and so you know electing to retire makes it you know financially it's tough for us to put it in perspective but it makes sense from a human level and for the bears this puts you in a sudden change situation a season after an off season where you feel like you fixed everything on the interior and right there where it starts you you got to start over because like you you look at the the spreadsheet which you know is the dichotomy there a spot on a spreadsheet versus an actual human being, 27 years old, just signed$42 million.

50:03Patrick Claybon:You feel like, we're good here. But now you're not.

50:05Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah, he's forfeiting$9.5 million guaranteed. He's made about 24 in his career. They could potentially go after his signing bonus. I kind of doubt they would do that. They do save$10 million in cap room. So while it creates a big open hole, they needed to create cap space in some way. And that is just one thing financially that's a factor.

50:24Colleen Wolfe:They also have their left tackle, who's going to miss most of 2026. So that now creates a lot of instability on the offensive line in general.

50:34Gregg Rosenthal:Yeah, it was a position they had. I mean, we talked to Ryan Poles about it at the combine. He called his shot. He said he was going to fix the offensive line. Then he went and fixed the offensive line. And, you know, it was incredible to watch. There are some adjustments they can make in a pinch. I don't think they want to pursue this type of thing. I think you want to replace in the draft and or trade or free agency. unfortunately they do have to clear cap space at this point a couple of triggers they can pull we'll do that but they're probably gonna have to say goodbye to a couple of their dbs who are our free agents if they were planning on in the resigning him in the first place which it didn't sound like they were I know they don't want to get to this point because it went so terribly when he was with the Rams but Jonah Jackson could play center in a pinch he has before if he's not thrown into a sudden change situation if he gets an entire offseason to ramp up into the position.

51:24Gregg Rosenthal:It went so catastrophically bad when he did it for the Rams because in part it was all of a sudden a pivot out of what he had been training to do the entire offseason. But he has played the position. I talked to him at that time. He's confident in his ability there. It was a disaster when it happened. But the Bears could potentially say, okay, we're going to at least see if this works ahead of the draft. We're going to explore this option ahead of the draft. Otherwise, you really have to draft high there.

51:52Jourdan Rodrigue:I just think that they have a Ryan Poles and Ben Johnson just have a lot to do this offseason to back up what they did last year. And I think losing their offensive coordinator, offensive line coach and Eric Biennemi is right at the top of the list of why it's going to be difficult. So this just kind of adds to that. Joe Tooney played a little center for the Patriots back in the day. but I don't think that's...

52:15Colleen Wolfe:I said it before the draft. Like Frank Ragnell. Exactly. He retired in June last year. So that put the Lions in a bad spot.

52:23Jourdan Rodrigue:And the Bears reportedly were asking around at some centers. So I think I have a feeling... Their reporters thought maybe they were just looking for depth when they heard maybe some chatter at the Combine. But I have a feeling they knew about this before we did. But either way, a big loss for them. So happy trails to Drew Dahlman. I always really respect anyone who makes a decision that it's just not going to make me. I don't know if popular is the right word, but no matter what, you have to imagine his dad as a football coach, like how difficult a decision this would be. I'm sure how much he loves playing the game and being around his teammates and to pass, obviously, on the financial part of it.

53:02Colleen Wolfe:Hopefully everything's okay with him.

53:04Jourdan Rodrigue:Right. All respect to Drew Dahlman. And they did have Tyler Biotish into the building for a free agent visit. And it sounds like Tyler Biotish, who was cut by the commanders, is healthy. So maybe he's just a quick one for one replacement before we leave. The Vikings are looking to trade Jonathan Grenard. Kind of the last thing we'll hit quickly, but just a reminder here to me, why Kyler Murray or any cheap free agents is going to be great for Minnesota. Cause this really indicates to me, they're trying to save some money because Jonathan Grenard is a good player. And the report from Jeremy Fowler of ESPN was that they're looking for a day two, which would mean round two or round three pick for Jonathan Grenard.

53:41Patrick Claybon:And an edge that obviously when you're playing with Flores, the ability to rush the passer and drop back plays heavily into that. And Dallas Turner was playing more. And so you get more Dallas Turner on the field and Grenard taking advantage of having this piece that you could use to get some more talent to, you know, facilitate the not JJ of it all.

54:03Gregg Rosenthal:Nine. I feel like always when by the time you hear these reports, it's probably going to be a cut. But if it's getting to the point where it's actually out in the media atmosphere, it's like there's a potential for it to be a cut instead.

54:17Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah, I think once it gets out there, I agree that they're ready to cut him if they need to. I think Jonathan Grenard is good, young, productive enough, and the contract to me is good enough. $18.3 million this year I think is totally reasonable for a 29-year-old Jonathan Grenard. But I bet they can get a pick. So if they're looking for a day—

54:35Gregg Rosenthal:Carolina Panthers.

54:36Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah, the Panthers. Right. Hello. We fixed it there. The Titans would make some sense to me. I know they just added Jermaine Johnson, the Chargers potentially, who are going to be looking for edges depending on what happens with Khalil Mack.

54:51Colleen Wolfe:It's just tough because he wants a restructure or a raise and he's coming off a season where he had a shoulder injury. So the year before that was great and all, but it's kind of a tough spot to be in when you're demanding more money.

55:03Jourdan Rodrigue:That makes a trade more difficult. And so if that is the case, it obviously could be a cut. But I think someone will give up something for him. Speaking of cuts, the Chargers have released Mekhi Becton, their guard who they gave a lot of money to last year. We expected that. And Bobby Okereke, the linebacker for the Giants, also released.

55:23Colleen Wolfe:That's it for us on this new show. Oh, my gosh.

55:26Jourdan Rodrigue:It was a little meaty. What's the problem? Make that into a drop, I dare you. Let's get out of here Play the music

55:34Colleen Wolfe:I gotta go take a shower

55:35Jourdan Rodrigue:Hold on, hold on Good to have you back, Colleen Hey, great to be back What are we holding on for? I'm gonna filibuster here for a second Because I got something Oh, what? I have never heard Robert's filibuster You have to talk to filibuster It's not gonna work well

55:49Colleen Wolfe:Because I'm trying to like Drop things in the folders At the same time Okay, you can cut Which brings us back to the fair No, but Colleen mentioned A throwback of Greg and No, you did not find something NFL Combine stuff back in 2015, I think. Chris can take this full screen. I'll fix this in post. He's an artist, Greg. But I found a photo. What? Look at that. I think this is from 2015. What? Yes, I think the segment was On the Beat. On the Beat. Does that sound familiar? No. What was it?

56:23Jourdan Rodrigue:It was something like that.

56:24Colleen Wolfe:This came from, I think you guys are talking Seahawks here.

56:26Jourdan Rodrigue:That does say 2015 Scouting Combine NFL winners. And losers. And losers. I want to know who lost I'm in my ill-fitting suit Can we listen to some of it? Look at the babies

56:38Gregg Rosenthal:We got a clear copyright first Infants

56:43Colleen Wolfe:Oh my god Here for On The Beat to go through the winners and losers From the pro side of things So we'll start with the good and then we'll get to the bad Because we want to end on the bad It's always the best to talk about So the first one here Jay Gruden I hate that. RG3 being Redskins starter.

57:01Jourdan Rodrigue:What a winner. RG3, he didn't win much on the field last year, but who would have thought he would have been the unquestioned starter in Washington this offseason? Cut it right there. We're not going to top that. Oh, my God.

57:12Gregg Rosenthal:Greg, congrats on your voice dropping recently. Oh, my God.

57:18Jourdan Rodrigue:Started off with a Gruden and a slur. Wow. Maturity. I know. Jay Gruden, I kind of forgot he ever was an NFL head coach. Yeah. The R word, which we've studiously avoided, but snuck in there. And then a big dig on RG3, not playing very well. So I'm.

57:36Gregg Rosenthal:And the octave. Mostly. I mean, let's talk about the octave for a minute.

57:41Jourdan Rodrigue:Octave.

57:41Gregg Rosenthal:I mean, what happened?

57:42Jourdan Rodrigue:The octave.

57:45Colleen Wolfe:Octavia.

57:46Jourdan Rodrigue:Octavia. Yeah. Let's get out of here. Creditable. On the beat. I can't believe that this came back. Jay Gruden is now a reply guy on Twitter, I think.

57:57Colleen Wolfe:Thumbs for us all. Cool.

57:59Jourdan Rodrigue:Well, what a show. Love having you guys back. Why don't you come back for another show this week? Let's do it. Do some matchmaking. We'll see you then.

58:09Gregg Rosenthal:I can't believe you found that. Oh, my God. That was great. This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.