Mike Evans? Kenneth Walker? Likes and Dislikes From the First Day of Free Agency!

15:49Diante Lee:I know there was some reporting like Frank Reich's looking at, you know, Carson Wentz and Chino Smith. I gagged when I read that. I just don't know. I actually, I think I do know what the plan is and maybe it's a fine plan that they can't say out loud, which is we are stocking up draft picks. We're going to build this thing the right way through the draft. And in the meantime, you have to get to a certain salary cap floor and we don't want to hang our coach completely out to dry. So we're going to add some bets that he likes type thing. I actually think that is the plan, but I don't know if it's going to work or not.

16:19Diante Lee:They have to find a quarterback solution somewhere. They do have the draft capital where I know this is a big if, but if they can kind of, they have the resources where if they nail the next two drafts, they could have a nice new young core and turn the page. I personally don't think Aaron Glenn's going to be the coach by the time that happens. I don't know that they think he's going to be the coach, but I think that's where the Jets were. So yeah, they were kind of all over the place, just adding vets here where you didn't really know what to make of their plan there. All right. I have a dislike, Deontay, which - Please hit me with it.

16:56Diante Lee:I think it's going to be controversial. I don't know if it's going to be controversial with you or not. It might be. I dislike a move that I felt like, on my timeline at least, was being universally praised. And that's the Chiefs signing Kenneth Walker III. So I don't know if you're with me or not with me on this. Make the case. Okay, I'll make the case. I understand it. The Chiefs need to be more explosive in the run game. I get the thinking. They ranked 29th in explosive rush rate last year. They ranked 30th in explosive rush rate in 2024. So I get that they need to be more explosive in the run game.

17:35Diante Lee:But I thought we had a lot of evidence to suggest that explosive run games are more about the scheme and the blocking than specifically the running back. I mean, we just saw Saquon Barkley go from 17 runs of 20 plus yards in 2024 to four last year. And Saquon Barkley physically looked like the same guy. And then I'm looking at the Chiefs. In 2023, Deontay, they ranked eighth in explosive rush rate. That was with Isaiah Pacheco and Clyde Edward Tiller. In 2020, they ranked 10th. That was with Clyde Edward Tiller and Le 'Veon Bell. And so I agree that they needed to upgrade at running back. I mean, they had Kareem Hunt and Isaiah Pacheco last year.

18:17Diante Lee:That's not good enough. That's a bad running back room. But I feel like there's this wide middle ground between Isaiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt and paying Kenneth Walker III$14 million per year when I'm sorry, I look at your roster and I see a lot of holes. I don't know who's playing wide receiver. Your whole three-fifths of your secondary just left in free agency. I don't love your pass rush. Like to me, this is a luxury move. And while the Chiefs have been obviously a very successful franchise, I don't think the state of the roster right now is in a spot where they could make luxury moves. So I think they could have addressed this need with fewer resources, is whether it's signing someone like Tyler Algier, you know, for 6 million rather than 14 million and then drafting someone in the second or third round.

19:07Diante Lee:You know, a lot of people said to me, well, you haven't been paying attention to the Chiefs. They've tried dart throws. And I'm like, no, they haven't. They've spent, you know, two seventh round picks in the last five years on running back. That's the only draft capital. Like there's the third round, there's the second round, there's the fourth round. Like there are different ways to do this. You can be patient in free agency. and say, hey, who's still available a week from now and kind of cobble it together. So I thought there was a very aggressive move and I just didn't love the philosophy that, oh, we need more explosive runs.

19:39Diante Lee:Kenneth Walker's going to come in and that's fixed. He's going to have a bunch of explosive runs because I think we have too much evidence that that's not how it works in the NFL.

19:46Sheil Kapadia:I'm right there with you, right? Why couldn't this have just been the combination of Tyler Algeo and Kenny Gainwell, right? And you say, hey, we got our early down back. We got our pass down back. both of these guys, even if they're not blowing people like Isaiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt out of the water in terms of player quality, they're dependable. It's a big upgrade, I think. I mean, it's a legit upgrade. Or just one of them in a draft. At least, right? At least. You know, you could go get a Rico Dowdle and say like, hey, this is a guy that has some three-down capability. Maybe he's not going to be a breakout player for us the same way he was when he was getting all the carries in Carolina, but we just saw last year that he can carry a load for an offense that wants to run the ball on early downs.

20:27Sheil Kapadia:The only way to me that this makes sense is if the Chiefs genuinely believe that Josh Simmons is going to be an all-pro next year and that Jalen Moore is going to fix all of the problems they had with Jawan Taylor. And now this guy, Kenneth Walker, as your lead running back is going to be the missing piece that gives this offense the dynamic that they've probably been looking for to help balance this thing out for the last three seasons, really since they've traded away Tyreek Hill. And I guess that that's within the realm of possibility. But again,$14 million a year, man, that is just an expensive price tag to pay.

21:00Sheil Kapadia:That's an expensive bet to make that this running back is what's going to be what fixes problems for you when there's also money that you could have been spending on this defense. They just lost Brian Cook, Jalen Watson, Tripp McDuffie, right? Like they've let a lot of talent out of the building. And I get that this team does not flinch at having to develop defensive backs that they draft, right? and they've done a really good job of it. But still, I'm looking at this team and I'm trying to figure out what the trajectory is going to be, even if Patrick Mahomes is 100 % cleared to play by week one of next season.

21:32Sheil Kapadia:I'm still unsure.

21:33Diante Lee:Yeah, I mean, it looks like they're... And I'm with you. Kenneth Walker... I'm not discounting the possibility that Kenneth Walker's awesome for them next year because I do think their O-line has a real chance to be good next year. So maybe that'll be the case. And I'll be saying, I was totally wrong about this. He has been a game changer for them. But I just look at the rest of the roster. Mahomes coming off an injury. Wide receiver is a huge question. And then to your point, the lack of talent on defense. I don't know that you had the luxury to be spending, especially like you were just saying, there were other options.

22:05Diante Lee:I'm not saying don't address running back. I'm saying address running back at a lower cost where you still have the flexibility to do other things. So yeah, I'm in the minority there. I feel like a lot of people love this because it is exciting. You watched the last game we watched. Kenneth Walker was awesome in the Super Bowl. And now you say add that to a offense with Patrick Mahomes. And I understand how you could get excited. But I have more questions about that move than I just think, oh, they nailed it with that move. All right, let's take a break. We'll come back with more likes. When you want your spring break to feel like.

22:39Sheil Kapadia:And your kids pool day to feel like. And your hotel bed to feel like. Ooh, and room service to feel like. Because at Hilton, hospitality feels like. Your cabana's ready. Would you like fresh towels?

22:56Diante Lee:It matters where you stay. Book now at Hilton.com. Hilton, for this day. And dislikes. All right, back on the Ringer NFL show. Are you swinging it back positive, Deontay? Are we going with a like or a dislike? What do you got?

23:12Sheil Kapadia:I'll give you a like. And I feel like, you know, we can probably cover this now. even though that this is not necessarily a free agent signing. I think it just has major ramifications for the league and the way that the marketplace played out. And that's Max Crosby being acquired by the Ravens for a pair of first-round picks. And this was something I was really looking forward to talking to you about, right? Because I feel like this deal is exactly on the line of where you have to think hard about what you're getting right now versus what it's going to cost you down the line, right? I don't know that I would say no if I were Eric DaCosta.

23:47Sheil Kapadia:And that's what it took to get this deal done, especially since there were competitors in the market based on some of the reporting that was out there. But man, I feel like this is one of those deals where you say yes and you hang up the phone and you just got to like clasp your hands, you know, and you're asking every higher power that you have ever talked to in your life to say, please come through for me. Please make this the best deal that I've made in my life. I think that that's kind of where I'm at with it.

24:14Diante Lee:I'm with you on this one. Max Crosby goes from the Raiders to the Ravens, and it's a good chance to talk about both those teams because the trade goes down, and I start picturing Max Crosby in a Ravens uniform in a Jesse Minter defense playing in important games, and I'm like, they haven't had a player like that. And I think my big takeaway, Deontay, is that this was such an un-Ravens-like move. I think Jameson Hensley of ESPN said they've never traded a first-round pick for a player before, And I was like, yeah, every August we're looking around going, all right, which of these vets are the Ravens going to sign adjusted Houston, a Jedevion Clowney, a Kyle Bennoi.

24:53Sheil Kapadia:Are they going to trade away to get some starter?

24:55Diante Lee:And this guy's going to come in and play well for a man. They're so smart. And this signals to me that they had some, I don't know what the word is, an epiphany, an awakening. But after the way last season went, whether it was Steve Bishotti, the owner, whether it was Eric DaCosta, the GM, whether it was a feeling in the building, they said whatever happens we need to give ourselves the best shot possible to win a super bowl with lamar jackson in like the next three years and if we need to make drastic moves and shake this thing up to its core that's what we're going to do because this would be a disaster if we have a two-time mbp quarterback who's played very well for us for the most part and we don't win a Super Bowl.

25:45Diante Lee:And we don't want to have regrets 10 years from now going, let's look back at that era. We should have done this. So they fire John Harbaugh. They bring in Jesse Minter and then they make this un-Ravens-like move, trading two first round picks for a guy, Max Crosby, entering his age 29 season, who there's some statistical evidence that has his production. Is it dipping a little bit? Was that just an injury? And I added all that up and I think I would have been a yes.

26:11Sheil Kapadia:I think I would have been a yes.

26:13Diante Lee:I think I would have been a yes. I would have said, listen, three years from now, this might look stupid because anytime there's back to the matter is anytime you trade two first round picks for like a non elite quarterback, it's kind of a, the, the history is not in your favor. So it's like the team that's going to come out on top is the team getting the two first round picks. Even having said that, if I have a smart defensive coach and I'm adding an impactful player who has not had a chance to play in any big games and I can say, hey, Max, instead of playing 95 % of the snaps, you're going to play 70 % of the snaps.

26:47Diante Lee:I know you don't like that, but this is going to make you even more productive and it's going to give you a better chance to stay healthy. And we need you in January. That hasn't been a factor for you. We actually need you in January to chase down Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen and Joe Burrow and whoever else. So I actually think, you know, I'll turn in my nerd card on this where they would all say, no, you can't be giving up two first round picks for a guy entering its age 29 season. I actually think I'm with you, a very tough decision, but I would have been a yes on this. Let's go for it. I don't want to have any regrets.

27:20Sheil Kapadia:100%. I do not want to look at Lamar Jackson when he's 34 years old, right? And saying like, hey man, like now we're kind of at that point where we're going to wonder how much long, how many more years you've got to play. And we're all sitting at the table saying, man, we had a chance to really push it in and go take a chance around the time that you turned 30. And we just didn't do it because we wanted to play the long game. Who the hell is going to care about the long game when an opportunity to go win a championship could be on the line? There's a power vacuum that exists in the AFC right now.

27:50Sheil Kapadia:And I think that every time I tried to wriggle out of this yes that I would have given Baltimore, I thought, would I rather have traded away the second round pick to go get a DJ Moore? No, I think I'd rather have Max Crosby. Would I rather trade it away a one and a two to go get an A.J. Brown? Okay, that's something really worth thinking about, but I still think I'd probably rather have Max Crosby for where this team is at. And I think that I'm happy with that ultimately, right? If I'm Eric DaCosta, you've got to just kind of make your piece and you've got to understand that A, not only does this make Lamar Jackson and this offense's job easier in theory, because now when you get leads, I think that A, between your defensive play calling head coach or your head coach is going to set the defense philosophy and not having a legitimate impact player on defense, it's going to solve so many of the problems that we have been talking about with this team being on these wild rides from looking like legitimate contenders on defense one week to one of the worst in the league the next week, right?

28:46Sheil Kapadia:So that's one piece of it that's going to help your offense. And then the other thing, and I think this is very specific to Max Prosby, when he comes here, I'm going to walk him in the office. You know who the first person is that he's going to go shake hands with. It's going to be Kyle Hamilton. I'm going to say, hey, Max Crosby, have you ever played with a football player as good as Kyle Hamilton? And he's going to say no, right? Not even close, yeah. We're going to pull up on the projector all of the depth charts that he's played on and been like, who was the third best defender that you have ever played with in a given year?

29:14Sheil Kapadia:I can guarantee you, you probably don't remember. Your third best defender on this team could be Roquan Smith. It could be Nnamdi Matabike if he's healthy. It could be Marlon Humphrey if he's healthy and playing at max capacity, right? So I think that there's also a force multiplier potential here for Max Crosby with the rest of the guys that he's going to be around, especially in Jesse Minter's defense, that I think could open up a way of playing for Baltimore that we haven't seen since 2023 when Mike McDonald was there. And this might even be a higher end of that because the best version of Max Crosby certainly can give you more than Jadavian Clowney and Kyle Vannoy did in 2023.

29:50Diante Lee:I am eyeing them in the AFC and I think I've typically probably been a little bit lower than you on the Ravens or you know we go into I can never kind of bring myself to picking them to get to the Super Bowl but it does feel like there's a chance where just there's like sort of a refresh there and it's like oh a new voice and that staleness that we were in and now we have a new player in Max Crosby and it's like everyone sort of feels a little a little bit differently going into the season than they have for the last three, four, five whatever it is. Lamar Jackson's entering his age 29 season too.

30:23Diante Lee:So it's like, you know, now maybe he'll play into his late thirties and his fort, but you never know. He obviously has elite athleticism. It's not to say he can't operate without that elite athleticism. He can, but that certainly has been a factor in his game. And while he's still, while I think he still has that I'm like, all right, let's align this. And you know what, if we suck in 2029 and we're saying, man, we don't have young players because we threw away those two first round picks. I can kind of live with that. I basically, at all sports, my philosophy is like, if you have a legit chance and you make a wild, aggressive move like this, I'm okay with it.

31:02Diante Lee:I don't like it when you talk yourself into actually having a chance and then you make move. Those are the ones I rip where it's like, come on, you're not actually a Super Bowl. What are you doing? Like, that's crazy to give that up. But they actually do have a chance. They have a legit chance. They've had a chance. they haven't been able to capitalize. So yeah, I think we both talked ourselves into it, even though totally understand the other side of the argument where you would look at it analytically and say, I don't think this is a wise move. I'm sorry. Sometimes you got to align the vibes and the analytics side and say, where do you come out?

31:33Diante Lee:And Deontay and I both say we would have made that move. Now, Deontay, these two teams continue to be linked in free agency. Raiders, great job. Now, I don't know if I should say great job because you did alienate your best player and there's that Alex Guerrero story in the athletics. So I don't want to go overboard, but at the point where you thought we have to trade Max Crosby, you maximize compensation. And that's all you can do when you have a great player who wants to be moved. So they did a good job there. And then in maybe the most eye-popping contract on the first day of this negotiating period, Tyler Linderbaum, the former Raven Center, signs with the Raiders at$27 million per year.

32:18Diante Lee:I mean, the previous high for a center was$18 million per year. So you're talking about a 50 % increase on that with Tyler Linderbaum. And they weren't done. They paid Quiddy Pay$16 million per year. They paid Jalen Naylor nearly$12 million per year. They bring back Eric Stokes, the quarterback. back. They add Taron Johnson, the slot corner. They add N 'Kobe Dean at linebacker. They add Quay Walker at linebacker. This is a lot. I mean, Deontay, they were the big spenders here on day one of free agency. Let's start with Linderbond. Are you making the case that this is nuts or are you making the case that this makes sense?

32:59Diante Lee:You have money to spend and you're bringing in a rookie quarterback.

33:02Sheil Kapadia:I'm going to borrow your words. Just a little bit of doing too much, but I'm not mad at it. I'm not mad at it. Right? Like, I do think, I mean, man, I took a big gulp when I did that. I figured out like 27 million per year. We're eclipsing Tyler Smith as a highest paid guard. We're eclipsing Trey Smith, who basically kind of got to this APY because he had to be franchise tagged. It's a lot of money to pay to a center. That said, I can't sit here and pretend like we weren't on the same podcast. say that Tyler Linderbaum is going to end up resetting the market for all centers, certainly, and could be up there amongst the top interior offensive linemen.

33:42I think, and if you're the Raiders, clearly this must have been a call that came with

33:47Sheil Kapadia:full alignment from head coach Clint Kubiak, Tom Brady, everybody in the organization that makes decisions, most of all sat down and felt like, we cannot run this offense the way that we need to run this offense unless we exit free agency with this guy. and hey, you had the money to spend, so why not? If you do got to hit the salary cap floor, why not overspend, so to speak, on a player as good as Tyler Hilderbaum? I think that the biggest thing for me is looking at 20 million guaranteed per year, I think is what over the cap has it at. That's hefty. That's very hefty for a center. And maybe if this team becomes a legitimate contender, we look up at the tail end of this contract and say, man, that is a lot of money to have anchored to not the highest impact guy on your offensive line.

34:34Sheil Kapadia:But ultimately, I think I'm okay with that. And on the whole, you look at some of the additions that they just needed to make defensively. I don't think that this makes me feel like, oh, this team is going to go out and go 10-7 next year, and they're going to go upset the Broncos once or maybe twice when they play each other next year. But I do think that maybe we were a year too early on our Raiders optimism last season. We're like, oh, man, Pete Carroll and Chip Kelly and Geno Smith, maybe that's going to be the team that makes them frisky. I think that year one for them, if you're looking at their defensive lineup and what they could get, presumably, from Fernando Mendoza as the number one overall pick in a month and a half, maybe we look up by the time the season gets here and says, this team at least looks like it's competent enough to be able to be competitive in games in a way that they just were not very early last year.

35:24Diante Lee:I mean, it's hard to overstate how few good players they have who are not on rookie contracts. Like it's almost nobody. It's either, it is just the depth chart. So now you go out and I'm with you. I probably, listen, if I were in the room, I would have said, no, we're not going to$27 million per year on Linderbaum. We can find a serviceable center. Who's a veteran who can still do the same job and who we still like pairing with Mendoza. But I, but I also do understand it. And they have money to spend and they don't have good players. And so at least you're spending it on a guy who's in his whatever mid twenties, who has been a good player before and you think is going to help your quarterback because that's what everything's about for them starting whatever, six weeks from now.

36:06Diante Lee:How do we put this quarterback in position to succeed? So I don't know that I would have gone that high. I mean, to put it into context, I was thinking about this. The way they reset the center market, Deontay, this would be like if the next quarterback contract was at 90 million per year. Right. Because the highest right now is 60. So the 50 % bump from the highest one, think about that, would be 90 million per year. That's kind of what they did here at the center market. So they did that. I'll tell you what, I thought N 'Kobe Dean, and maybe this is just bias because I've watched every one of his professional snaps over the years.

36:40Diante Lee:I thought that was one of my favorite contracts in free agency. Three years,$36 million per year. First of all, I think he's a, I think when he's healthy, he's a top 10 linebacker who for stretches can be a top five linebacker in the NFL. Like I think that legitimately between the blitzing, the smarts, the run defense, and I think he's good in coverage too. So I don't, I don't have the question marks. Maybe I had about him coming into the league. I feel like he's answered all of those. So you have that as a player. And then just what we're talking about here, you're trying to create a new culture in Vegas.

37:14Diante Lee:You're trying to say that losing's behind us. We're starting a new era. I feel like he's the perfect guy for that culture center, work ethic, smart leader, grown up in the room. So I looked at some of these other teams who signed linebackers or who could sign linebackers. And I'm like, man, I would have maybe overpaid a little bit to get N 'Kobe Dean. So I like that. They pair up with Quay Walker, who he's played with before. I like that combination because Quay Walker is kind of like the freak athlete who, you know, see ball, get ball. And N 'Kobe Dean's like, I will line everybody up. Don't worry about it type thing.

37:46Diante Lee:So I like what they did there. I didn't feel great about, you know, the quiddy pay. And I didn't really feel strongly about Jalen Naylor. So I was kind of all over the place with my assessment of what they did. But I think if you're a Raiders fan, you're like, at least we have some professional football players in the building who have actually been good in the NFL before. As we now go ahead with this draft capital and try to build this thing the right way over the next couple of years.

38:10Sheil Kapadia:Absolutely. I mean, you do. You're never going to turn. You're never going to turn a bad team into a legitimate contender through free agency in one year. right like that's just not how the league is built the best thing you can do is try to make marginal improvements at one spot at a time right on either side of the ball and you made a legitimate improvement to your offensive line which could have cascading effects given the fact that you know in this offense with Clint Kubiak there is so much traffic being directed by the offensive line typically whether it's in the run game or in pass protection and if Linderbombs is good as he's been advertised and based on what he's been at his peak in Baltimore you're happy with that and then And defensively, I mean, this front seven was just really hard to watch outside of Max Crosby.

38:50Sheil Kapadia:It was really tough to watch this team. And that's not to say the combination of Quidipe and Malcolm Kuntz is going to be world-beating. And maybe they add to that with their mid-round draft pick that they got from the Ravens. And then maybe we feel a little bit differently if they are able to get a high-level edge rusher out of the draft or if they're able to flip this pick to be able to bring in a high-impact player. but ultimately you just want something that is dependable and I think the combination of linebackers they have now between Clay Walker and Nekobe Dean if nothing else will be dependable and pretty consistent in their play on a week-to-week basis and how it really does just come down to whether or not your trajectory is going to be accelerated by your rookie quarterback that's what the league kind of comes down to if you don't have a superstar there and I think if this team has at least positioned itself to be able to get a legitimate read on what Fernando Mendoza can do for their team in year one.

39:43Sheil Kapadia:This is not going to be a, oh my God, dumpster fire. We have to throw all the tape out the way we did in like 2020 with Trevor Lawrence, right? When he was drafted, right? Oh my gosh, we can't even take any of this tape because it's all bad. Or 2021, I should say. You know, I think that you can get a legitimate read on what this offense and what this team is going to need to compete in the AFC West based off of the additions that they made this offseason.

40:05Diante Lee:Yeah, the infrastructure, the brain trust is still makes me very nervous. As it should. As it should. I don't know if I love Alex Guerrero. Yeah, I mean, how can you read that and feel good about the decision making? But there were some good moves in here. We can say that with the Raiders. And certainly, they'll be more watchable and more relevant next year than they were this past year. All right, let's take a break. We come back. I got another like for you. All right, we are back here on the Ringer NFL Show. I'm surprised it took us this long to get to this name, Deontay. I thought you might lead the show with this guy.

40:42Diante Lee:For me, this falls in the category of the Crosby discussion we just had where it's like, I don't know. But then I'm like, yes, I would have been a yes. And that's Mike Evans to the 49ers. I like it. You know, it's a three-year deal worth up to, up to is always a key word to keep a key phrase to keep an eye on because it means that that's not actually what it is up to $60 million. So even if it was that, it would be$20 million per year. It probably comes down. I think there's some reporting that the guarantees are only, you know, between 16 and 20 million. So maybe it equates to like a one-year deal.

41:18Diante Lee:Let me be clear. They're betting on the exception because if you look at the last 10 years, wide receivers that are this age, age 33 or older, who have had a thousand yards, Larry Fitzgerald, Julian Edelman, and Adam Thielen with that weird year in Carolina a couple of years ago where he somehow had a thousand yards because they couldn't throw to anybody else.

41:38Sheil Kapadia:It's funny bringing up those three names, right? Because you have Larry Fitzgerald who just defied time at the tail end of his career. And then you had two basically force-fed slot inside out type guys, right? Like neither guy is really fitting them. None of those three guys really fit the mold of what we're talking about with Mike Evans.

41:54Diante Lee:Even Fitzgerald, actually, now that I think about it, was probably playing the slot. Remember, he was playing the slot at a high percentage at that stage of his career. So yes, for an outside receiver like Mike Evans, it is even more rare. Yet I look at it and I say, he's had a, you know, his career is kind of an exception when you look at it. He's certainly been in that tier of wide receiver. You have Kyle Shanahan and I'm like, he doesn't have to do it all. You still have Kittle, you got Pearsall, you got McCaffrey. I probably like Purdy a little bit more than you like Purdy, but I'm like, I look at all that.

42:28Diante Lee:And they had a good offense last year where I like the move. Now, the other side of it is this is a freaking old team.

42:38Sheil Kapadia:This is such an old football team.

42:40Diante Lee:Oh, my gosh. McCaffrey, Kittle, Evans, Trent Williams. If he stays, there's an other force that is in a contract dispute. He might get traded. Kyle Juszczyk, Demarcus Robinson, Colton McKivitz, Matt Barrows of The Athletic tweeted out all those names. All those guys are in their 30s. And what do we talk about every year? Oh, the 49ers injury luck. Well, guys in their 30s are more susceptible to injuries than guys who are 26 years old. So I'm not telling you this is going to definitely work out great, that it's the smartest move to make. Yet I look at it and say, if I'm really only signing up for one year of guaranteed money, I think I probably would have said, let's roll the dice and go with it on Mike Evans.

43:23Diante Lee:What do you think?

43:25Sheil Kapadia:I don't know. I guess to me, it's like some of those things that in my head before we got to free agency, I would have thought it was a little bit more of a sexy idea than it is a reality.

43:33Diante Lee:Yeah, you liked it, I think, when I floated it when we were talking, Mike.

43:36Sheil Kapadia:Yeah, a few weeks ago, I think I was really interested in what that could be. And I think that maybe now, as I'm just looking at what the money is, and then just looking at the rest of the lineup, I'm like, man, I don't know. Those$20 million could have been spent in a lot of different ways to help address some of the other needs that this team has. But maybe, you know, I also don't want to dismiss outright the fact that the 49ers had a machine of an offense, right? Like, that cannot be understated. I understand that by the time I saw the Seahawks in the playoffs, they clearly were just not playing the same sport that Seattle was playing, right?

44:14Sheil Kapadia:And they pretty easily just got wiped off the field. I totally understand that. I can respect that, right? The issue, though, is that I think that kind of undergirds the way that I feel about the 49ers in general, right? at their best, they absolutely can tear up and down the field. I just don't know if these guys at this age and around a quarterback that is only sometime in his ability to create in a way that really threatens elite defenses. I just don't know if I feel the greatest about it now that I'm actually thinking about where they stack up. Maybe if the Rams hadn't made the Trent McDuffie trade and signed Jalen Watson, I might feel a little bit better about their kind of place in the hierarchy of the NFC West.

44:52Sheil Kapadia:But I'm like, this is pretty squarely the third best team in the NFC West, and I don't know if I trust them to beat the Rams. I don't know if I trust them at all to beat the Seahawks. It clearly seems that they've struggled with that defense since Michael McDonald has been hired there. I don't know, man. I don't love it. I don't love it. I think it might be a like for me, but this is truly maybe the closest to being a net zero overall for when I'm kind of judging what I think of this team and this signing on an individual level.

45:21Diante Lee:I got to admit, as I was reading out all those players in the 30s, I'm like, wait, do I really like, do I actually like this?

45:28Sheil Kapadia:I think it's like the signing, not like the situation for the 49ers overall.

45:33Diante Lee:There you go. See, sometimes you know me better than I know myself. You're right. If they were surrounding Mike Evans, if it was like, oh, this guy's 26 and this is an up-and-comer who's 28, then I would have been like, great. Add Mike Evans to that mix and a Kyle Shanahan offense. That was good last year. Let's go. But now asking this entire group to have a certain level of health and injury luck next year, when to your point, they're in a division with two of the leading Super Bowl contenders in the entire NFL, maybe it doesn't move the needle as much as I thought it did when I first started.

46:09Diante Lee:Would be happy to be wrong.

46:10Sheil Kapadia:I would love to look up in November and say like, oh man, Mike Evans is on track for another thousand yard season. He's the best red zone threat in the NFL. right? Brock Brady's just throwing up fade route after fade route and these comeback routes and he's always open and that's great. He's a supercharged Juwan Jennings in this offense but man, I just look at it and I'm like I don't think this is going to be sad but I don't think that we're going to be I don't think this is going to be appointment viewing the way that we might have liked to have thought about it earlier in Mike Evans' career especially after some of the lower body injuries that he's had to battle through for the last two seasons.

46:43Diante Lee:Yeah, I think you're right about that. Alright, what do you got? You got a like or a dislike for me next?

46:48Sheil Kapadia:let's go i honestly and this is maybe an issue of mine i always got to break the format for one reason or the other i'm gonna give you both right because they're both from the same team yeah i really like the john franklin meyer signing and i really dislike the wandel robinson signing for tennessee and i think this was the next team on my list so good i'm glad we're getting to i don't understand why wandel robinson commanded this much on the first day of the tampering period in free agency. I don't know what kind of cost certainty you think you're getting with Wondell Robinson as your slot receiver.

47:22Sheil Kapadia:And I think that if all you're looking for was a slot receiver, there's a lot of ways to address that, right? That does not call for you paying a guy who was not all that impressive in New York, the amount that they're paying him. And then on the flip side of that, John Franklin Myers is a defensive tackle and a Robert Sala defense next to Jeffrey Simmons. So that's what I like to see. That's what I like to see. Trying to scheme up these one-on-one opportunities on the interior for those two guys and watching them be game wreckers on the interior, I'm all in on that. So this might be one of those situations for me where I'm watching the Titans on defense when they're playing against teams that I'm interested in, and I just don't really know what to make of this offense, especially in conjunction with Brian Dable calling this O and all the other things that I kind of have questions about around Cam Ward as a quarterback.

48:11Diante Lee:I ended up landing in the same place because first I looked at this and I go, Robert Sala, you know, failed as a head coach. Brian Dayball failed as a head coach. And now they're signing all the guys they coached at their previous stops. This doesn't seem like a good idea. But then I thought, that's not being fair, that fair to Robert Sala because he had very good defenses with the Jets and he's been in different stops where he's had very good defenses. So if he wants to bring in his guys who he's coached before, that actually is reasonable to me. You know, they trade for Jermaine Johnson. They signed John Franklin Myers.

48:46Diante Lee:You know, they even signed Alante Taylor. Alante Taylor and Cordell Flott. I like Alante Taylor a lot as a cornerback. So I'm like, all right, I can actually talk myself into these moves that they're making on defense where now I look at it and go, maybe there's some upside with that defense with Robert Sala coaching them. So I like that. And then I looked at the offensive side of the ball. and one of my dislikes was the need to get Brian Dayball his guys. Why is this a priority? He doesn't get to have guys. Why does he get to have guys? Why does he have any leverage? Why does he have, I mean, he can have a voice.

49:22Diante Lee:He can say, I prefer, oh, I really like this guy. But if you're the GM, Mike Borgansi, who might be coaching for your job, because that's what the Titans do. They fire a coach or a GM every year, depending on the way the wind blows. So you might be up now, because they fired their coach last year. why are you listening to that and going, I'm going to get him Wandale Robinson for$19 million per year? He had Wandale Robinson with his offenses with the Giants. And except for one year, those offenses pretty much sucked. Like they were literally among the worst in the entire NFL. I'm not saying that's all because of Wandale Robinson, but you get the point.

49:59Diante Lee:You don't need to go out and rush. And it's Wandale Robinson. And then it's tight end Daniel Bellinger. And then it's, oh, go get me Mitchell Trubisky because Brian Dayball coached him in Buffalo. Why are we signing all these guys that Brian Dayball coached before? It was a disaster when he coached with these guys with the Giants. So yeah, I did not like that at all. Then I sit back and I go, I'm a Titans fan. We got all this money. I had a quarterback in his rookie season who some people love the film and the traits and the highlights and other people look at the numbers and go, oh, that's not good company he's in as a rookie.

50:35Diante Lee:And all I wanted going into this off season was let's put some pieces around him where we can feel better about Kim Ward after next season. And those pieces are Wandale Robinson, Daniel Bellinger, and Mitchell Trubisky. I'm sorry, that is not good enough. If I'm a Titans fan, I am like, this is what? This is who we added with our money. And now Brian Dable, people are trying to convince me he could do more with less, even though that literally has not been the case. His most successful seasons. I mean, he had Josh Allen. Did Josh Allen fade? The MVP level Josh Allen? No, yeah. So you can't make your reputation off Josh Allen.

51:15Diante Lee:So yeah, I think we landed in the same place there where I can talk myself into, this could be a pretty fun defense. Let's see where we're at after the draft. And Salah has earned the benefit of the doubt. But the other side of the ball and the most important part about the franchise with Cam Ward, I'm like, this didn't work out how it should have worked out. And it's only one day but one day in it didn't work out the way it should have worked out.

51:37Sheil Kapadia:I mean like did Romeo Dobbs block all Tennessee related area codes? Why couldn't the$78 million been put in his lap? Why couldn't we have called a Jawan Jennings? These are two guys who are not flashy but are dependable will work the middle of the field will give you options to go win contested catches in a way that we clearly saw that Tennessee's offense could not access last year I don't get why these had to be moves on day one. It just does not make sense to me, at least on the offensive side of the ball. Defensively, I think I can squint and see a competent league average level defense around this interior core of John Franklin Myers and Jeffrey Simmons.

52:19Sheil Kapadia:Everything else, though, dude, I don't know what we're doing. If I'm Robert Sala, at least if I'm a friend of Robert Sala, I'm really sitting back and like, buddy, we've done this before. You've made this mistake before. and putting all your trust in an offensive play caller who says that he has all the answers for your quarterback and it ended up torpedoing your tenure at the last spot. I don't know why, to your point, Brian Daywell gets to walk in and say, hey, I can't run my offense without this receiver. Well, then you just don't get to have that receiver. I'm sorry, guys. Either that or put together a different offense.

52:51Sheil Kapadia:It doesn't work like that.

52:52Diante Lee:You're not the GM. Some of these coaches just have a spell over people. I don't get it sometimes. times. All right. We're, we're on the same page with the Titans. Let's finish with the quarterback moves, Deontay. And again, there's so many other moves that happened that we will get to. We'll be back tomorrow. We'll talk about it throughout the week, but I did want to hit on the quarterbacks. Malik Willis goes to the Miami dolphins for around 23 million per year, which is actually a little less than I think. No, I had him at about 25 million per year. And then as the reports started coming in at the combine.

53:26Diante Lee:I'm like, is he going to get like 30 million per year? This is kind of crazy. So 23 million per year. There's not a lot of quarterbacks in that sort of middle class of starter. Justin Fields, this is kind of like his contract from last year with the Jets. Darnold's is higher, but still that falls in the same class. What did you make of, I don't know if it's a dart throw, 23 million per year, but what did you make of the Dolphins decision and Malik Willis's decision on this partnership?

53:55Sheil Kapadia:I'm kind of fascinated by it, right? Like, I think I want to suspend my disbelief for a moment and say that the combination of he or Devon Achan in the backfield, you add in a Jalen Waddell, right? There's still a lot of speed, and that's always been what's kind of set Miami apart for the last half decade, right? So I do want to hold some space for the chance that this could work out. I still think that, I mean, you look at the entirety of this depth chart on both sides of the ball, it's going to be some really ugly football, I would guess. and Malik Willis does not have a lot of tape to suggest that, hey, he can be a ceiling raiser if things go wrong in the run game.

54:30Sheil Kapadia:This is a guy who can really help you convert on a lot of third and obvious passing situations. We just don't have enough for me to feel confident about it. I think that for me, the best course of action and what I would advise for any Dolphins fan is, hey, let's just see if he can actually give you two years of legitimate quarterback play. Let's hope for a successful 2026. And if that's the case, then let's roll it into 2027. If that's what you get out of them, awesome. You know, success beyond your wildest imagination, given how bad the vibes were in 2025 with Tua Tungabailoa. So I want to set a low bar because I really don't know if you can project out with any certainty what you're going to get from this offense, given the weaknesses that they're going to have, not just on that side of the ball, but across the entire roster.

55:13Diante Lee:Yeah, what I like about it is that it's not, it's sort of like, it's low risk. Like you're not giving up draft capital. You're not paying him$45 million per year. And it's kind of like if he stinks, you're sort of back at square one where you are right now anyway. So does it really matter? So yeah, I'm fine with the dice roll because let's say he's the 19th best starter in the NFL. That actually is an asset. It's kind of hard to get that for$23 million per year to get competent quarterback play. that actually puts you ahead of a lot of teams that are kind of in that middle tier of the NFL who don't have a Josh Allen or a Patrick Mahomes or whoever.

55:55Diante Lee:So I was going to be fine with a team like the Dolphins or a team like the Cardinals who just, it's sort of like, you know, they're probably not going to be relevant. It's probably not going to work out. But at the same time, it's not like you're setting your franchise back because you're not giving up anything to get the guy. So yeah, I'm interested in it. I'm rooting for him. You know, it's kind of been a fun story. It's been a pretty unique story to have that run in Tennessee and then only have those six games. But man, some of those games are like, he looks incredible. And he is physically talented.

56:27Diante Lee:It's not like you're betting on a guy who you're just saying, oh, he had a nice stretch of six games, but, you know, he does it in a certain way. Like his tools, his traits are absolutely there. So I'm fine with it for the Dolphins while acknowledging, yeah, is it likely that it's going to work out? No, of course not. But you know what? it's not my money. It's 23 million per year. They got to get a quarterback somewhere. So who cares? Maybe it'll be fun and they'll be more relevant here in the next couple of years. The other quarterback move associated with this, the day started with the Dolphins releasing Tua Tunga-Vailoa and then giving out a heartfelt tribute video, even as they're saying we're paying, I forget, what is it?

57:10Diante Lee:90 million. 99 million dollars to go away. 99 million for you to go away. Tua becomes available. And then the Atlanta Falcons say, we will take a flyer on Tua. Now this is similar to the Kyler Murray situation where there's offset language. So you're signing him to a veteran minimum type deal. Did that surprise you that the Falcons were a team to take a flyer on Tua? Do you think it's a worthwhile flyer? What did you make of that?

57:37Sheil Kapadia:I was kind of hoping that it would have been Kyler Murray, right, personally. I just think that Kyler Murray, the ceiling that you can get with him athletically his arm talent and all of that in combination with what you can get out of Atlanta's offense was really appealing to me. I do think though, like, Hey, you get a lefty who probably plays at a very similar style and pace and cadence is the guy that you wanted to kind of base the future of this franchise around a Michael Phoenix. I think that's probably fine. You know, and I was kind of laying out like, let's think about all of the, all the outcomes, right?

58:07Sheil Kapadia:Two is good. And Atlanta is good. Awesome. It's your job for the rest of 2026. Two is good. And Atlanta is bad. Does anybody want to trade for Tua for the second half of the year? Is your quarterback hurt? Because we're not going to extend them no matter what. If they're both bad, hey, the guy that we wanted to start tore his ACL late in the year. And we were just kind of trying to bridge this thing over anyways, right? I think that it's not like Kevin Stefanski has to walk in the door and immediately make good on what this situation is. Because we understand that this is a roster that was not built with balance in mind under the former regime.

58:40Sheil Kapadia:And I think that just trying to get something dependable in the building would definitely go a long way. And I think that Tua, when he's healthy, can give you something dependable. The ceiling is not as high as what we would like. But you know he's going to make certain throws no matter what. You know he's going to have certain issues no matter what. And I think that if you're Kevin Stavansky, you probably feel like this is the best quarterback I've worked with since Baker Mayfield. So, hey, man, I'll give this a shot and just see what we can get out of it. And I think if you're Atlanta, you probably feel pretty similar as well, right?

59:09Sheil Kapadia:This is something that he can be the style of quarterback that you hoped you were going to get out of Desmond Ritter when you drafted him, that you hoped you were going to get out of Kirk Cousins when you signed him to all that money, and definitely what you thought you might get out of Michael Fenix when you drafted him in the top 10. So for that reason alone, I'm willing to give it a shot, especially since there's not much financial commitment here. If it doesn't work, shoo-shoo too. You're right back out on the market. So I think that there are a lot of ways in which this can work out, even if it does not necessarily mean that Atlanta now catapults to the top of the NFC South.

59:43Diante Lee:The money's the biggest thing to me, where it's just like paying a quarterback$1.3 million who might be able to give you average starting quarterback play. I can just never be like, oh, you shouldn't do that. I mean, that's perfectly fine. Backups are making$7,$8,$9 million per year. So you're talking about a guy who might be able to give you starter level play. So that's why he's appealing, why Kyler Murray's appealing. I mean, like you said, Tua doesn't offer a high ceiling. You're kind of hoping he keeps you afloat, maybe can get back to some form of the quarterback he was when that Dolphins offense was playing really well a few years ago.

1:00:23Diante Lee:But I think it's a fine move for them to make, given their quarterback situation, like you said, with Michael Penix Jr. coming off the injury. So I think that one's fine as well. All right, we did have, you know, I was hoping we had a big trade, Deontay, or something, some big, you know, an A.J. Brown move or something else while we were recording this. We didn't get that, but we did get a signing. So, I got to hit you with one breaking new signing during the podcast. And it's a team we haven't talked about that was active today. So, it's a good way to finish the show. Devin Lloyd, linebacker formerly of the Jaguars, signs with the Carolina Panthers.

1:01:03Diante Lee:This is according to NFL Network. Three-year,$45 million deal with$25 million guaranteed. So the Carolina Panthers today signed Devin Lloyd and Jalen Phillips, who we didn't talk about yet, who got$30 million per year from the Carolina Panthers. What do you think of those two moves?

1:01:26Sheil Kapadia:$45 million per year tied up in those two players feels a little precarious to me, right? It doesn't mean that I dislike it, though. I think that this is really them trying to continue to build on positive momentum. When you think about Carolina, they played really well defensively, especially in coverage. I think the combination of Dante Jackson and J.C. Horn were probably one of the better one-two punches in the league, especially down the stretch.

1:01:51Diante Lee:That playoff game was incredible, Mike Jackson.

1:01:53Sheil Kapadia:Yeah, unbelievable. Excuse me, Mike Jackson. Yeah, you're right. Excuse me, Mike Jackson. But I think the combination of those two guys, especially when they really kind of honed in on playing man coverage, There were games where I was watching, you mentioned it in the playoffs, and I would just say down like the last month, month and a half, I was watching, I was like, man, they've kind of got something on the back end of this defense. Even Trevon Merrick, who I think might have been a little bit of an aggressive contract that they offered the last year. I think that when he was available, he gave them something decent and was definitely an upgrade from a poor safety room in years prior.

1:02:21Sheil Kapadia:And now you bring in an edge rusher, which I think they need it. I think that they did the right thing last year in drafting a couple of edge rushers, but eventually you need some certain production. And while Jalen Phillips has not always been certain because of his injury issues, I think you saw his ceiling in Philadelphia, both as a high motor run defender and a guy who can give you genuine pressure right off the edge. And Devin Lloyd, to me, I think is really probably the home run swing, right? That's you paying$45 million in the hopes that the turnover production, even if it wanes, is not going to come at a cost for his consistency.

1:02:54Sheil Kapadia:And it's a guy that you can blitz a bunch. He does have some flexibility between the first and second level. So I want to believe that this might really allow this team to lock into what they were doing at their best, which is getting after quarterbacks and playing a lot of man coverage behind it. And if that's what we ultimately exit with, I think that that's a win for Carolina, right? It's just to have a truly identifiable strategy defensively that can go win them games the way that they did in flashes last season.

1:03:22Diante Lee:with Phillips, it really felt like last year, remember they were trying to go after Milton Williams and all the reporting was they're going to get Milton Williams and the Patriots get him. I could just picture David Tepper, you know, walking into Dan Morgan. It ain't happening again. It ain't. Listen, whatever. Because the biggest mistake you make in free agency is whatever it takes. If you get to whatever it takes, and I know you had money to spend that those, those contracts usually don't work out. I mean, Jalen Phillips, 30 million per year. you know I thought like the high end would be 25 24 I like to I don't want to I'm not ripping Jalen Phelps I think he's a very fun player I love the energy he plays with the enthusiasm the versatility um and he's really good when he's healthy now he has had major injury issues in previous years I hope he stays healthy good for him getting that guaranteed money so we'll see how that one works out I would not have gone to 30 million dollars per year on Jalen Phillips but I hope it works out great.

1:04:19Diante Lee:For the Panthers, and you're right, they've really signed a lot of guys the last two off-seasons here. Two years, yeah. Combined with the guys they've drafted where you would really like to see, you know, all right, Derek Brown, Jalen Phillips, now you got Devin Lloyd, you got the corners, you got Mary, get safety. You have Evero, who I feel like he just, I like the idea of Evero. I feel like he kind of just gets screwed with the talent on his team. Teams, you know, like I'm not, I sometimes look at him like, oh, this isn't the most impressive resume. But I'm like, I'm not giving up on him. I've seen him do good things previously.

1:04:54Diante Lee:So, yeah, that's a team it's going to be fun to keep an eye on after the draft. Is that one in August where we're like doing our top 10 defenses podcast or something? And we're like, I got a surprise. The Carolina Panthers, do they get to that level of defense? So we'll see. The Lloyd contract, I actually thought he might get more. I had him around$18 million per year projection, and it ends up being$15 million per year. So I don't think that one was actually a bad overpay. It's more of a question of his skill set, what he did last year. And I would say the last two years, I think he's been pretty good.

1:05:26Diante Lee:Does it translate now to a new spot in a new scheme? Or is this one of those other linebacker contracts where a year from now, they're like, all right, we're moving on from Devin Lloyd. That didn't work out, which we see in free agency. So we'll see what happens with the Carolina Panthers. All right. We didn't get to everything. Don't worry. Commanders, Bears, Giants, Bengals, Saints, Steelers. There's a lot of Giants. I don't know if I already said Giants or not. We will get to all these teams and all these big moves throughout the course of the week as new moves are made throughout the NFL. This was only the first day of the negotiating period.

1:06:05Diante Lee:So a lot of fun to talk about this stuff again. We will be glued to all the news on Tuesday, and we will come back with another pod then and then throughout the week. Thank you to Deontay Lee from The Ringer. Thank you to Christopher Sutton for producing. Stefano Sanchez on video and additional production supervision by Conor Nevins and Arjuna Ramgopal. I'm Shil Kapadia. We'll talk to you next time on The Ringer NFL Show.

1:06:41Diante Lee:21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in DC, Kentucky or Wyoming gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER or 1-800-MY-RESET. Call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8HOPENY or text HOPENY in New York. For Louisiana, call 1-877-770-7867. Shot clocks, big shots, upsets, aces, TGL playoffs are here. First, Atlanta Drive starts their repeat run against Los Angeles Golf Club.

1:07:26Diante Lee:Then, Rory's Boston Common Golf and Tiger's Jupiter Lynx face off in their playoff debuts. Who will advance? Keep up. It's playoffs. Tune in Tuesday, March 17th at 6.30 p.m. and 9 p.m. only on ESPN and the ESPN app.