August 12, 2025 • 29 mins
On the latest episode of 40s and Free Agents with Gregg Rosenthal and Daniel Jeremiah, the duo shares their five respective impact additions for the NFC North. In a highly contested division consisting of the Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears, incoming rookies like Matthew Golden, Colston Loveland, Tate Ratledge and Tai Felton could make all the difference down the stretch. Those players and more on this edition of 40s!
NOTE: Time codes are approximate and do not account for advertisement runtime.
(1:28) - Tate Ratledge
(4:15) - Joe Thuney
(6:05) - Matthew Golden
(8:43) - Aaron Banks
(10:50) - Tai Felton
(12:40) - Will Fries & Ryan Kelly
(17:24) - Colston Loveland & Luther Burden III
(20:58) - Grady Jarrett
(23:14) - D.J. Reed
(25:20) - Wildcards
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to Forties and Free Agents, your favorite podcast leading
up to the start of the season, talking about the
biggest additions all over the league. My name is Greg Rosenthal.
I am with Daniel Jeremiah Mister moved the sticks, stunting
on us, wearing his shirt that he bought at a
very fancy resort in Hawaii.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Well that would mean something if you didn't just tell
me you were just literally over in Hawaii. So that's
that doesn't really fly. But I feel like with this show, Greg,
it's like the uh, You're gonna get a visit from
people during the holidays and then looking forward to seeing
them again, you know, next holiday season, and all of sudden,
it's like, why are they here in the summer? The
thought they weren't coming until next year, that's not true.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
We had our first week of shows back last week
and it was great to hear from everyone, and the
numbers say it. Everyone's listening, everyone's enjoying, and yes, we're
gonna be going twice a week leading into the regular season,
and then we'll get a little quieter and we'll be
back during draft season in full force. But yeah, let's
go over what happened this offseason kind of push it
(01:08):
forward about the guys who join these rosters that are
going to make the biggest impact. You do the rookies,
I do the veterans. We'll start with a rookie.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Yeah, let's we're gonna rip through the NFC North here,
So five guys and we get the what do we
call the sixth one? Your little bonus baby here, it's
like a wildcard, wildcard, that's it. Wildcard. So I'll start
with the first one and let's keep it. Let's keep
it sexy. And I'm talking about the hair of Tate
Ratlic With the Detroit Lions, who's going to h who's
gonna plug in? Start at right guard? They were toying
(01:36):
with the idea of having in place center with glass
with what's rag now who are retired, So like, okay,
we'll play there and then they end up, Man, we're
not gonna We're not gonna do that. Let's put him
at right guard. And you say, why would you have
an offensive lineman is one of these you know, key
rookies to watch. Well, that's the identity of a Dan
Campbell team is their physicality and the way this offensive
line can move people. So I think it's gonna be
(01:58):
big for him. He was not really healthy his last
year at Georgia. If he was, I think he probably
goes a little bit higher. But he is massive. You
think about how some of the size that they have
up there. I'll give you the numbers on him. He
is six six and a half three hundred and eight pounds.
He ended up running a four nine seven as he
got healthy at the combine, but big athletic physical felt like,
(02:19):
this is kind of a Detroit Lion player.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Did he go a little earlier than people expect? He
was fifty seventh overall.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
He was my sixty second player.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Okay, so right around where you thought, and they seem
to truly love him that he was going to start
I think, barring a huge surprise right off the bat.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Is this a bit of.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
A trend the Ravens, I mean they're throwing out some massive,
tall guards. The Eagles obviously some of the best teams
of the league, Like, why is this happening that we're
having these behemoth guards.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Well, the idea is to get five tackles on the field.
In baseball, you talk about we can have all shortstops
would be ideal. Well, if you think about the offensive line.
A lot of these offensive line coaches, Hey, I need
the feet of a tackle. It's a passing league to
be able to work in some of these matchups with
these defensive tackles. So there's been more of an emphasis
on that. And the other thing is when you're a
tall interior player, the danger is Okay, you can get leveraged.
(03:09):
Guys can get underneath you and they can rock you back. Well,
the ball's coming out so fast now too, that's not
as much of an issue or to turn.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
And that hair is just amazing.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
If you have if you're listening and not watching, just
google it.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Like one of the best team picture player photos out there.
Has Jeremiah ever experimented with his hair in his I've
never seen you with even remotely a different haircut. I'm
you seem like one of the guys that gets a
haircut every three days just to make it sure it's
exactly always the same.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
I'll be honest with you, Greg, not a lot of
options these days, so I couldn't. It's like a get
if I tried to grow out the hair, then it
becomes like stringy, creepy. It's not that full flowing tit Ratley.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Probably would be the same for me.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
I did do a part down the middle and dyed
it black in early high school. Like this was you know,
the days of Kirk Cobain when people with there's a.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Picture out there floating around me with frosted tips.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
There we got.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
You said, like, why are they talking offensive line? I
hate to break it to you, We're going to talk
a lot of offensive line. That's just where the NFC
North invested this year. I'm gonna talk about the Bears
and Joe Toney. What a crazy career. I mean, he
had a chance to be part of two of the
greatest dynasties in NFL history and two All Pro first teams,
(04:29):
two second team All pros, including last year where he
played very well at guard and then had to fill
in at tackle at the end of the year. I mean,
some of his Patriots teammates actually voted him for Offensive
Player of the Year.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
They put him on the ballot. Did you know this?
Speaker 1 (04:42):
They give Tom Brady and Teddy Bruce give vote because
they're in the media. That shouldn't be a lot, and
they won't give me one because I work for NFL media.
It's like, I know you don't want to trash talk
Tom Brady and Teddy Bruski, but here here's the facts.
I follow each team more. I deserve it more than them.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
I bet let's talk more about you.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Joe Toney transformed the Chiefs when he joined that team,
and I do think it's a position. And you can
tell me if you disagree that you can age well,
he's still playing at a very high level. So they
brought him in Chicago in a trade that ultimately didn't
cost too much, but the contract extension did cost a lot.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
They also added Drew Dollman.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
I didn't pick him at center, but they tried to
improve the interior line for that team, and to me,
he is just like an immediate difference maker for that
offensive line.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Yeah no, it's steady Eddy. And again not his fault.
He had to kick out and play tackle. That's not
what he is. Who he is, especially at this point
time in his career, but more than a functioning interior
offensive lineman. And that's the whole emphasis. This year, it's
the evaluate Caleb Williams year, and so everything was done
with that in mind. Let's protect him in the interior,
Let's get him some weapons which we'll get to here
in a little bit.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Let's hear it.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Well, no, I'm going to jump around. I want to
jump around today. I don't want to get too locked
in on one team. I want to bounce.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Is it awkward we're here in the studio. You're used
to just looking at me, you know, in a TV screen.
It's a lot of eye contact right now.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Actually, I have normal people skills, so it doesn't really
impact me as much. I don't know what you're dealing
with over there, but fine by me. I'm gonna go
Matthew Golden for the for the green Bay Packers to
get one low hanging fruit here, first round pick out
of Texas. That the draft went nuts there in Green
Bay when they finally selected a receiver in the first round,
that that was a fun moment. But I go back
(06:23):
to Golden, and we talked about him in the run
up to the draft. The speed you know, he ran
in the four twos, and I think people kind of
look at that and go, Okay, this is just a vertical,
you know, take the top off guy. But I watched
him before he'd run the forty and I did not
think he would run, you know, quite that fast. But
someone with toughness instincts. He has some routes savvy to him.
We always talk about, you know, staying grounded through the catch.
(06:44):
Guys that run through the ball means they trust their
hands and that gives you a lot of yak opportunities
there as well. So I thought he was a really,
really good player. He was my top receiver if you
put Travis Hunter in his own little box in this
last draft. So I feel like this Green Bay Packers
team has been team of robins, like a bunch of
number twos, really good number twos. I think that Matthew
Golden has a chance to be a batman for him.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
It sounds like that is what they hope, especially coming
out of training camp when you just hear about the
target distribution at practice, the snap distribution at practice.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
He is getting the.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Volume of looks from Jordan Love and certainly snaps with
the first team. They didn't waste time being like you
got to earn your spot. Now he's just like out
there right away and reportedly looking like the best receiver
on the team. And I've been interested to hear that.
You know, they're using him in creative ways too, like
some of the end rounds and stuff that you see
Jayden Reid doing like he is athletic enough to do
a little bit of everything. So I'm really I'm really excited,
(07:39):
because how do you cause to me he matches up
well with Jordan Love? How do you think they fit?
Speaker 2 (07:44):
You know? The funny thing is, I'm looking at the
first word of my notes and then the last word
of my notes, so and again, think about this guy
ran four two nine. The first word is polish. That
he played with polish, which sometimes it takes guys years
to get to that point. I thought he was there
at the college level. And the last word I have
was rely. So if you're trying to get the trust
of your quarterback, you got to be able to do
(08:04):
two things. You got to be able to separate which
route polish is what allows you to do that, and
then you've got to be where you're supposed to be
and be on the same page. He's intelligent, he's smart.
I think that's how you get a quarterback's attention in favor,
and I think he's already done that.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
I thought he made a lot of tough grabs too
at Texas, and Jordan Love is not afraid to throw
it into those tight windows. You said, you're jumping all around.
I like a theme. I like staying with the same team.
I'm going with another arch like your bye jacket.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
You like structure, Let's go keep it going. This This
is a total I don't know, drum like hung back there.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Structure, thirty five dollars Unicode jacket. It's a totally fine,
thirty five dollar Unicola jacket. Aaron Banks is an offensive
guard that sign with the Packers for massive money, like
more than anyone expected.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Five years, seventy seven million dollars.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
And I think that just told you what the Packers
believe they needed more than anything, which to me was
a surprise because I think of their offensive line as
one of the strengths of their team, and it brings
up an idea of this theory I'm gonna throw at you, Okay, okay,
Jalen Carter specifically, but the Eagles pass rush in general,
like changed so many teams as offseason plans and got
(09:17):
people paid, so I think they helped get.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Aaron Banks played.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Like the interior of that offensive line was so bad
in that game, they were like, we just got to
throw more money at it.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
We're putting us.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
When Elton Jenkins got folded up in the.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
That didn't help, and they and now they're moving Jenkins,
who who was in the interior, but now he's going
to play center. The next week, I thought bo Limmer
was was this young player who played pretty well for
the Rams, and suddenly at the end of the game,
Jalen Carter wins a game for him, He's getting benched.
Now they had to bring in their old friend Coleman Shelton.
Next week, Commanders, they did a little better, but they
invested in the offensive line more at the tackle position
(09:50):
and moving some guys inside, and then we you know,
the Chiefs. They went into the offseason just like knowing
they had to invest there too. It was like Carter
and the Eagles single handedly changed how this entire offseason
went because of what they did.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Yeah, and I would say probably stress even more so
just the Eagles. I mean, Carter had the finisher against
the Rams, but a lot those games wasn't just him.
I mean they were getting whooped across the offensive line.
And we've talked about the Chiefs in the previous episode
that the tackle play cost him maybe potentially two Super Bowls.
So Jalen Carter, Yes, but I just think the whole
dynamic of the defensive line saying, you know, a quarterback
(10:23):
can can be a you know, for breeze and make
a lot of things go away, I'll find, but not
when you're going up against the defensive line like that.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
And Banks is an interesting guy that I think even
the forty nine ers who wanted to keep them, which
is a good sign, Like we're maybe surprised how far
the Packers went, but I wanted to bring them up
here just because I think it's a really good offensive
line on paper. Zach Tom who is there, Elton Jenkins,
and you add Banks to that group like they're always
greater than the sum of their parts, and to meet
that that's the key for them this year.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
That's a good one. I like that one. Let's jump
to one that This is the one that I struggled
with was Minnesota trying to find one. I didn't want
to just again go all first round picks. So this one,
I know the receiver group that they have, okay, but
type Felton to me when I go back through and
look at my notes and see what he can do,
I think he's going to factor in for this team
(11:10):
this year. And look, with Addison being suspended to start
the season, we'll see if that gives him more opportunities.
But to go in in the scouting report here coming
out of Maryland, he's six one, he's one hundred and
eighty three pounds, he ran four three seven. I go
through my notes. He's productive, he can play inside and outside.
He's tough, he wins in traffic. You'll see him build
speed down the field. He plays fearless, He works in
(11:32):
the middle of the field. He has some goal line
fade wins. There's a lot of things if you think
about you know, Koc and what he values in receivers,
like the fearlessness, the working in the middle of the field.
And then you add on to that, this guy's a legit.
You know, sub four four high four to three guy.
As a third round pick, the one hundred and second pick,
he was my eighty second ranked player. I thought it
was value there and I just got a feeling ty
(11:54):
Felton's going to factor in.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
The opportunities wide open for him. How are his hands?
Remember anything in particular?
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Care about him plucking in traffic and winning in traffic.
That's prepared.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
There have been some reports early like you know, he's
he's a rookie at training camp and he's fighting the
ball a little bit as as he's you know, figuring
out that offense without Addison there and Justin Jefferson has
been out of practice.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Like they it is wide open.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Jalen Naylor might be a guy who's been solid as
a number three, but stretched if they're asking him to
do more, and then other than that, it's wide open
for Felton to take that spot.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
They have Rondell Moore on the roster.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
They have Lucky Jackson is taking starter STAPs and not
overly familiar with with Lucky's work, but he's been in
a couple of camps with them.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
I like him. I have him as my favorite to
win the World Series of Poker.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
I'm gonna stick with the Vikings then because I know
I'm just sticking with the theme here and this will
be the last offensive lineman I talk about. Okay, two,
I'm count I'm counting them as a pair. So when
they brought in Will Fries the Guard to a big contract,
they outbid a couple teams. Giants and Seahawks were both
in on Will Fryes, and they outbit them and they
brought in his teammate, Ryan Kelly. I thought, oh, that's
(13:06):
that's cool. What a coincidence that that happened. But it
wasn't a coincidence. Dj They wanted to get signed together,
and they talked about that with prospective teams. They were
hoping to find a fit, which you would think would
be almost impossible. Two teammates, Ryan Kelly, longtime really good
center for the Colts, and then fries who's a little younger.
But they found that fit with the Vikings. And I
(13:27):
love that because these two guys already worked together. So
I'm cheating and including them as my five impact players
as one person because they kind of cheated and came
over for the Vikings together. And to me, that really
improves what was probably the weakest spot of their team
last year, the interior offense.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Yeah, bring a buddy. Why not bring a buddy? And
that was again an emphasis for a lot of these
teams that are knocking on the door to get where
they want to go, of saying the offensive line's got
to be better, It's.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Like, if you're going to a new place, you got it.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
You got to bring friends that's why you know with
the whole new ESPN thing, you got to keep forties
and free agents together.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Me and Jeremiah, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
There's the linear in the digits. It's just complicated. It's confusing.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
The last thing I do want to say about this,
I have a formula for surprise teams every year. You
can tell me what you think it's not. It's not
too analytically sound.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Okay, give it. I've got my pen ready. What's your formula.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
I write down my list of the top offensive lines
and defensive lines in the league. I do it one
to thirty two, and I add those two numbers together.
And the teams that have the lowest numbers that maybe
maybe aren't viewed as as true contenders, those are the
teams I kind of pick for like a surprise team.
(14:38):
And to me, the Vikings would qualify potentially for that team.
I think they've improved on their offensive line, They've already
were good on the defensive line. I could I could
mention their defensive line pickups two and so they might
be a little bit of a surprise.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
So it's interesting that your theory. No, this is a
compliment because I usually at the quarter mark like four
games in, which now doesn't work with a seventeen game schedule,
but games in. One of the things I'll look at
for teams that I want to project forward is I'll
just go to seck differential. Yeah, it's pretty basic.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
I thought you were going to say, like, so your
big brain theory is that the teams that are good
in the trenches are good at football.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Like no, but we're saying the same thing. But like
you can look at, Okay, who's added personnel here, and
then to me you get four Maybe we go six
games into the season, you say, who's getting to the quarterback?
Who's protecting the quarterback? That usually ages pretty well.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
It's why I've almost always picked the Eagles to make
the conference championship games, even in the seasons where it
didn't work out well, because at the beginning of the year,
I'm like.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
Well that that looks pretty good.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
And the Broncos, for instance, where a team last year
I remember going into the season like that offensive line
and defensive line is it's pretty good.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
And then there was one of the teams they do
this with this way.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
So when I was with the Ravens, young guy, we
would go through in the summer and we would take
every team and go position by a position and we
you know, grade everybody out, and then we would look
at it and we would kind of look and you'd
see we did this with the Chargers, like right before
the Chargers with that run that they went on when
they got you know, with the offensive line and you
had Gates and lt and.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
The Schottenheimer and then it was like dealman, it was McNeil.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Like in h they had Castillo on the defensive line
of Marrion. But anyways, this was that young group and
we looked at it before that season where they really
kind of took off and popped in our personality, like
they got a lot of talent up front on both sides.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
I could be in one of those rooms you'll hear
more just brilliant insights like that. Right after this break,
we'll wrap up the rest of the NFC North. All right,
(16:36):
we are back on forties and free agents. I'm getting
some quality FaceTime with the man, Daniel Jeremiah, the Chargers broadcaster,
one of the busiest man and show business in the
regular season, because you got you got to watch the
NFL games and you got to start working on your
college tape that's really now all directed towards the forties
(16:56):
and free agencies, and that's the main part of your Yeah, just.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Trying to make sure that this show and this little
thing we've built here continues to grow. Everything else in
my life is just put off to the side as
we try and get this thing actually keep it going.
I think it's off the ground, right, It's good we're
doing off the ground, are we.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
I think we're entering our second year after a very
promising rookie year. I think we got offensive Rookie of
the Year votes. We didn't win it, slump, Yeah, but worried.
We're hoping. No, we're hoping to make the leap. All right,
give me another one of your rookies in the inn,
all right.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
So I've got two more to go and then i'll
get to my wildcard. But the two that I have left,
I'm gonna put them together because it's the same team,
but it's one of the most intriguing offenses coming up
in this season. That's the Bears, and that's Colston Lovlin,
who I think has got a chance to really be
a Laporta type piece chess piece here and playmaker and
Ben Johnson's system. It's just such an easy connection to
(17:47):
make with how they use Laporta and how they can
use Loveland similar type players. And then Luther Burden, who's
someone who had first round ability didn't go in the
first round out of Missouri. But you know, Keenan Allen's
not there anymore. So how is this all going to
get divvied up? I think to me, not only I
think these guys are gonna have impact, but I'm fascinated
with Roman Dunza and DJ Moore. How does this whole
(18:07):
thing get shared? Like if you're going to say, who
are going to be the statistical leaders amongst that group,
and how's the share the target share going to go,
I'm maybe more fascinating with this team than any other.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
I have no idea how that is going to go, obviously,
I don't. I don't know if they do.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Right.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
I think Colston Lovelin is gonna be a piece, And
you just can hear in the way that Ben Johnson
talks about him, and he's.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Perfect, He's already had him. It's proof of concept.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
It like in August two after actually getting him on
the field because he was overcoming an injury, in the
early part of the offseason program. Just the way he
talks about lovel and like that's his guy. I think
that's gonna be to use a Rams term, a weight
bearing wall for this offense for a while. Luther Burton
is more of a confusing guy to me. So maybe
you can explain Luther Burden more, because when I watched
(18:57):
him on tape, you can see that he can he
has great movement skills, But I just he seems like
a guy who's like, I don't know, I don't know.
Is this going to work at the NFL level? Is
he different enough? Or could there be like a Cadarius
Tony type of vibe there, which isn't all bad.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
Yeah, he helped out a Super.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Bowl champions Well, I mean, look, there was some talk
about him going through the draft process, the maturity thing,
so that was a factor for some teams. But when
you watch him, the quarterback play was not great there
his last year in Missouri. The year before it was
more productive. Had a better looking year on tape. But
he's someone in the slot who's athletic. He's quick, a
lot of quick hitters, a lot of run after catch,
(19:35):
He's got strong, reliable hands and where he was working
out in the pre draft process. There's a lot of
guys throwing and working out there, and the reports I
got back were his hands were the best of all
these guys that were working out there, just real strong,
reliable hands. He can make miss after the catch. I
think that's where he's going to factor in. It's going
to be a lot of run after catch stuff. But
I'm the last note I had him. Man, there's a
lot of bad balls when you're watching him at Missouri
(19:57):
last year.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Yeah, you would assume that Caleb Williams it will be
throwing to him a not much nicer past this year.
And Dj Moore is there. I do wonder how that
all fits, do you think? I look at them and
bet there too. I mean right, I see them as
a little duplicative. The reports out of camp so far
are that Roma Dunze is making a nice year two leap,
(20:18):
and I think they're here that they're really county on him.
And you would think, just because these guys are more experienced,
and then you have the two tight ends come out
and Loveland, I would guess those four guys would be
in line ahead of Burden and that's not a bad thing.
I wonder long term, there wasn't good vibes there in
the wide receiver room necessarily by all accounts last year.
So you just hope everyone can stay happy and get
(20:39):
enough target.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
I wonder if it's kind of the Jamison Williams plan
for him trajectory wise, you see Ben Jons kind of
gave Hi a little bit more, a little bit more
as you kind of went along, and then he has
a role where you can flip him or reverse or
you can take some shots and do that with him.
So again, this is why he factored in for me
is curious. I don't know what that's going to look like.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Yeah, I want to see it too. I'm going to
go with another Bears player. Let's just go heavy on
the Bears. I'm making an audible because Grady Jarrett was
one of my favorite defensive tackles to watch at his
very best, and it wasn't that long ago with the Falcons,
and so I do think at thirty years old, he
is a really big X factor for the Chicago Bears.
(21:18):
So I mentioned about, you know, investing in lines, and
that was a theme across this entire division. They did
it on the offensive line, and they did it on
the defensive line.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
They also added a.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Dio from the Colts who could be a good kind
of supplementary edge rusher. But to me, Jarrett turning the
clock back, and he got a big contract. There was
interest in him. They had to pay him quickly. It
was one of those weird cuts DJ. I don't know
if you were ever involved in one of these where
he got cut and the very next day the guy
(21:47):
signed a monster contract, which is like.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Oh, how that works out?
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Well, It's like, should we have maybe kept him or
gotten some sort of trade compensation for him?
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Can I give you I'll give you a minute to
find it. But what pick was Grady Jarrett when he
came out? Because I'm going back through this is the
twenty fifteen draft, and I'm looking at my notes on
a young Grady Jarrett who was just under six foot one,
three hundred and four pounds, ran five oh six one
Tech three tech ultra quick first step, he can slip blocks,
(22:16):
He penetrates plays on the other side of the line
of scrimmage. What what pick was he?
Speaker 3 (22:20):
One thirty seven?
Speaker 2 (22:22):
How many years is inn?
Speaker 3 (22:23):
This is eleven now? And I misspoke?
Speaker 1 (22:25):
I think I was thinking of Hargrave as thirty, who
was another free agent in this position, in this division.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
He is thirty two years old.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Though Grady Jarrett was my forty fourth player in that draft.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
That's that's now on the back.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Every now and then you get one every now and then.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
That is that is awesome, and it's.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
You know why, you know why, I'm not going to
overly brag about it. Why because the two guys ahead
of him were Cam Irving and Jay Jaie. That's the draft.
There you go, There you go.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Jaji, super Bowl champion Philadelphia.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
A nice run, had a nice run, had some moments.
Give me another one. I'll give you another one. Yeah, well,
you know what I wanted too.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
I was gonna talk I talk about more about Grady Jarrett.
I just think that sort of player late in his career,
it can give you such a shot of adrenaline if
he can kind of turn the clock back. And when
he's been healthy, he has looked good. All right, I
will give you a Detroit Lion hadn't thrown out one
of them yet. DJ Reid is a guy that every
spot that he's been he's a cornerback that was first
with the Seahawks. And then with the Jets, everyone that
(23:25):
covers the team closest, every coach with the team, every
player on the team, they always go out of their
way to tell you, you know who's better than everyone thinks.
You know, who's a really great cornerback, DJ Reid. A
lot of people covering the Jets last year and the
analytics at least would support it, would say like DJ
Reid might have been their best cornerback at least in
terms of consistency. I would certainly not go that far.
And the Jets gave Sauce Gardener his money for a reason.
(23:47):
But I think you look at the Lions and they
wanted to keep Carlton Davis and it didn't happen.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
He got big money in New England.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
I think they did very well to sign DJ Reid
at that cornerback spot and really give them some stability.
Not a guy i've heard anyone talking about this offseason
or even in trading camp, and I think could really
figure into some big time playoff games for the line.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Three years, forty eight million. So it wasn't chump change
that they gave him there. And this is someone who
can go nose to nose play man, that's what they
like to do. It's one of the intriguing things to
me with Terry on Arnold to see what this looks
like for him in his second year, because the penalties
with him a lot of times is because he was
back to the quarterback, you know, playing press man down
the field and there was a little panic sometimes when
(24:25):
the ball was up in the air. And at Alabama
he could play a little bit more top down see things.
So I'm curious to see how they utilize him this year.
But if you want to just go nose to nose,
play man to man and let him go cover, I
mean DJ Reidy can do that.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
And they've already lost a little bit of depth. Nsrakestraw,
who was a relatively high pick a couple of years ago,
was going to be a depth piece for them, but
he is out for.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
The season, torched in the first preseason injured reserve.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
His career hadn't gotten off to a good start to
begin with, and they're going to be okay as long
as they can stay healthy there. But DJ Reid is
someone who watched I like, how Dj I could you
know I was going to go back to the Jarrett
point and you're like, move it along a little bit.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
You still got that quarterback in you.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Let's good, let's go, let's get to the line of scrimmage.
I get the play called.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Here man still running the show, so that means we
have one last little segment in this show, and it's
what I like to call a wild card pick, so
you can go anywhere.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
The image, by the way, if you're listening of Greg,
that I would give you in this discussion is if
you go to like a high school game, and sometimes
you get the call from the sidelines, right, so the
ten guys are lined up to call the play, the
ball snapped, and then the eleventh guy's still looking over
at the sideline because know that you didn't get the
signal yet and we've already run the play. That's Greg.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
I mean, you can make that analogy, or you can
look at the experience that I have, the amount of
podcasts I have put out into the ether in the
last decade plus, Wen.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
And you can watch think Eclipse a thousand.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
I know, I know the medium, and it's a medium
that breathes a little bit. It can be long, it
doesn't have to be you know, thirty minutes and let's
go get our lunch. You know, you can have fun,
go go a little back and forth. So I'm trying
to bring that to you, and I appreciate you bringing the.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Some of us have to some of us have to
cover a preseason game. I do my wildcard, please my wildcard.
I won't spend long time on it. Tyler Williams defensive tackle. Yes, so,
Tyler Williams is a little bit of a surprise. He
went in the first round. I thought he probably is
a Day two guy. Second round. All the ability in
the world when he wants to turn it on, it's
(26:21):
all in there. Very physical and strong and powerful out
of Ohio State. There were just moments where I didn't
think his motor always ran super hot. And the interesting
thing is, you know, if you go back and look,
there wasn't a lot to criticize when Piney Seuel was
coming out of Oregon, but there were some moments where
you could watch him and say, Okay, he maybe picked
a spot here there, And that is absolutely not a question.
(26:43):
I mean, he plays as hard as physical, maybe the
most physical offensive line in the NFL right now. So
they've they've done this in the past, so we'll see
what Tyler Williams looks like on the d line.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
The reports out of camp have been awesome. He is
playing with the first team. Now that's partly because of injuries,
but I think that points out early in the season.
You know, when the rest of the guys, like Ali
McNeil's still coming back from an injury.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
Who did they lose?
Speaker 1 (27:07):
They lost on Muza Rique for the season, So you're
going to be watching some big time games early. It's
Green Bay, Chicago, Baltimore, and Tyler Gwayams might already be
out there.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
I'm glad.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
I'm glad he threw him out there.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Wal Card I do a daily show and he's one
of those guys that I think we've mentioned one time,
and I'm like, we should mention Tyler Williams. That's why,
that's why you're good. I mentioned I'm mentioning Jordan Mason
to wrap it up. Oh nice, the former forty nine
ers running back who the Vikings acquired for a Day
three pick. Was just a quiet acquisition. Gave him a
(27:39):
nice but very manageable just a couple of years for
I think it was like eight million dollars total contract
extension and he's going to share the workload with Aaron Jones.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
Aaron Jones is on board by all accounts.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
It's going to be a fifty to fifty slip split
and try to keep Aaron Jones as fresh as possible
for the end of the season. And I just thought, man,
this is a guy that runs hard and you don't
have to spend a lot of money, and you know
you're getting a really good player.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
So I thought that was a nice pick up with
the Vikings. Oh, I like that one. I would never
even have thought of that one. This is one of
those ones where you kind of you hear the name,
You're like, oh, I kind of forgot about them. But
by the way you're looked, that's what I'm going for.
I want to know what your look is. I just
figured it out. Yeah, remember Evil Michael Knight on night.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Right now, No, this is I was gonna say, this
is where our age difference shows up. But I think
we're the same age. You just have older references in JA.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
I know that's older. I know, and I know Night
Rider is. Look it up, Drew, just look it up,
just the Evil Michael Knight. Just look up the picture
of it and just mean to get him that little
go tee to go with this little skinny go tea
on the chair.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
You know, not all of us can be you know,
project like the wholesome Daniel Jeremiah. His kids are all
like going to college now image and I don't know,
you know, we all.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Different things are good. Look, it's a good look.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
You will hear us next later this week, and yeah,
we'll keep the theme going. We're going to talk about
the AFC North and who knows, maybe I'll even have
a change of clothes and not go with the evil
night Rider.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
Look, next time.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
The six people didn't know what night Writer is, but Doug,
I'm here for you. Six people.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
We'll see you next time. That's how you go, free agents.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
We have a blossom reference next time.
Welcome to Forties and Free Agents, your favorite podcast leading
up to the start of the season, talking about the
biggest additions all over the league. My name is Greg Rosenthal.
I am with Daniel Jeremiah Mister moved the sticks, stunting
on us, wearing his shirt that he bought at a
very fancy resort in Hawaii.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Well that would mean something if you didn't just tell
me you were just literally over in Hawaii. So that's
that doesn't really fly. But I feel like with this show, Greg,
it's like the uh, You're gonna get a visit from
people during the holidays and then looking forward to seeing
them again, you know, next holiday season, and all of sudden,
it's like, why are they here in the summer? The
thought they weren't coming until next year, that's not true.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
We had our first week of shows back last week
and it was great to hear from everyone, and the
numbers say it. Everyone's listening, everyone's enjoying, and yes, we're
gonna be going twice a week leading into the regular season,
and then we'll get a little quieter and we'll be
back during draft season in full force. But yeah, let's
go over what happened this offseason kind of push it
(01:08):
forward about the guys who join these rosters that are
going to make the biggest impact. You do the rookies,
I do the veterans. We'll start with a rookie.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Yeah, let's we're gonna rip through the NFC North here,
So five guys and we get the what do we
call the sixth one? Your little bonus baby here, it's
like a wildcard, wildcard, that's it. Wildcard. So I'll start
with the first one and let's keep it. Let's keep
it sexy. And I'm talking about the hair of Tate
Ratlic With the Detroit Lions, who's going to h who's
gonna plug in? Start at right guard? They were toying
(01:36):
with the idea of having in place center with glass
with what's rag now who are retired, So like, okay,
we'll play there and then they end up, Man, we're
not gonna We're not gonna do that. Let's put him
at right guard. And you say, why would you have
an offensive lineman is one of these you know, key
rookies to watch. Well, that's the identity of a Dan
Campbell team is their physicality and the way this offensive
line can move people. So I think it's gonna be
(01:58):
big for him. He was not really healthy his last
year at Georgia. If he was, I think he probably
goes a little bit higher. But he is massive. You
think about how some of the size that they have
up there. I'll give you the numbers on him. He
is six six and a half three hundred and eight pounds.
He ended up running a four nine seven as he
got healthy at the combine, but big athletic physical felt like,
(02:19):
this is kind of a Detroit Lion player.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Did he go a little earlier than people expect? He
was fifty seventh overall.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
He was my sixty second player.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Okay, so right around where you thought, and they seem
to truly love him that he was going to start
I think, barring a huge surprise right off the bat.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Is this a bit of.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
A trend the Ravens, I mean they're throwing out some massive,
tall guards. The Eagles obviously some of the best teams
of the league, Like, why is this happening that we're
having these behemoth guards.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Well, the idea is to get five tackles on the field.
In baseball, you talk about we can have all shortstops
would be ideal. Well, if you think about the offensive line.
A lot of these offensive line coaches, Hey, I need
the feet of a tackle. It's a passing league to
be able to work in some of these matchups with
these defensive tackles. So there's been more of an emphasis
on that. And the other thing is when you're a
tall interior player, the danger is Okay, you can get leveraged.
(03:09):
Guys can get underneath you and they can rock you back. Well,
the ball's coming out so fast now too, that's not
as much of an issue or to turn.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
And that hair is just amazing.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
If you have if you're listening and not watching, just
google it.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Like one of the best team picture player photos out there.
Has Jeremiah ever experimented with his hair in his I've
never seen you with even remotely a different haircut. I'm
you seem like one of the guys that gets a
haircut every three days just to make it sure it's
exactly always the same.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
I'll be honest with you, Greg, not a lot of
options these days, so I couldn't. It's like a get
if I tried to grow out the hair, then it
becomes like stringy, creepy. It's not that full flowing tit Ratley.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Probably would be the same for me.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
I did do a part down the middle and dyed
it black in early high school. Like this was you know,
the days of Kirk Cobain when people with there's a.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Picture out there floating around me with frosted tips.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
There we got.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
You said, like, why are they talking offensive line? I
hate to break it to you, We're going to talk
a lot of offensive line. That's just where the NFC
North invested this year. I'm gonna talk about the Bears
and Joe Toney. What a crazy career. I mean, he
had a chance to be part of two of the
greatest dynasties in NFL history and two All Pro first teams,
(04:29):
two second team All pros, including last year where he
played very well at guard and then had to fill
in at tackle at the end of the year. I mean,
some of his Patriots teammates actually voted him for Offensive
Player of the Year.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
They put him on the ballot. Did you know this?
Speaker 1 (04:42):
They give Tom Brady and Teddy Bruce give vote because
they're in the media. That shouldn't be a lot, and
they won't give me one because I work for NFL media.
It's like, I know you don't want to trash talk
Tom Brady and Teddy Bruski, but here here's the facts.
I follow each team more. I deserve it more than them.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
I bet let's talk more about you.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Joe Toney transformed the Chiefs when he joined that team,
and I do think it's a position. And you can
tell me if you disagree that you can age well,
he's still playing at a very high level. So they
brought him in Chicago in a trade that ultimately didn't
cost too much, but the contract extension did cost a lot.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
They also added Drew Dollman.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
I didn't pick him at center, but they tried to
improve the interior line for that team, and to me,
he is just like an immediate difference maker for that
offensive line.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Yeah no, it's steady Eddy. And again not his fault.
He had to kick out and play tackle. That's not
what he is. Who he is, especially at this point
time in his career, but more than a functioning interior
offensive lineman. And that's the whole emphasis. This year, it's
the evaluate Caleb Williams year, and so everything was done
with that in mind. Let's protect him in the interior,
Let's get him some weapons which we'll get to here
in a little bit.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Let's hear it.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Well, no, I'm going to jump around. I want to
jump around today. I don't want to get too locked
in on one team. I want to bounce.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Is it awkward we're here in the studio. You're used
to just looking at me, you know, in a TV screen.
It's a lot of eye contact right now.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Actually, I have normal people skills, so it doesn't really
impact me as much. I don't know what you're dealing
with over there, but fine by me. I'm gonna go
Matthew Golden for the for the green Bay Packers to
get one low hanging fruit here, first round pick out
of Texas. That the draft went nuts there in Green
Bay when they finally selected a receiver in the first round,
that that was a fun moment. But I go back
(06:23):
to Golden, and we talked about him in the run
up to the draft. The speed you know, he ran
in the four twos, and I think people kind of
look at that and go, Okay, this is just a vertical,
you know, take the top off guy. But I watched
him before he'd run the forty and I did not
think he would run, you know, quite that fast. But
someone with toughness instincts. He has some routes savvy to him.
We always talk about, you know, staying grounded through the catch.
(06:44):
Guys that run through the ball means they trust their
hands and that gives you a lot of yak opportunities
there as well. So I thought he was a really,
really good player. He was my top receiver if you
put Travis Hunter in his own little box in this
last draft. So I feel like this Green Bay Packers
team has been team of robins, like a bunch of
number twos, really good number twos. I think that Matthew
Golden has a chance to be a batman for him.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
It sounds like that is what they hope, especially coming
out of training camp when you just hear about the
target distribution at practice, the snap distribution at practice.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
He is getting the.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Volume of looks from Jordan Love and certainly snaps with
the first team. They didn't waste time being like you
got to earn your spot. Now he's just like out
there right away and reportedly looking like the best receiver
on the team. And I've been interested to hear that.
You know, they're using him in creative ways too, like
some of the end rounds and stuff that you see
Jayden Reid doing like he is athletic enough to do
a little bit of everything. So I'm really I'm really excited,
(07:39):
because how do you cause to me he matches up
well with Jordan Love? How do you think they fit?
Speaker 2 (07:44):
You know? The funny thing is, I'm looking at the
first word of my notes and then the last word
of my notes, so and again, think about this guy
ran four two nine. The first word is polish. That
he played with polish, which sometimes it takes guys years
to get to that point. I thought he was there
at the college level. And the last word I have
was rely. So if you're trying to get the trust
of your quarterback, you got to be able to do
(08:04):
two things. You got to be able to separate which
route polish is what allows you to do that, and
then you've got to be where you're supposed to be
and be on the same page. He's intelligent, he's smart.
I think that's how you get a quarterback's attention in favor,
and I think he's already done that.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
I thought he made a lot of tough grabs too
at Texas, and Jordan Love is not afraid to throw
it into those tight windows. You said, you're jumping all around.
I like a theme. I like staying with the same team.
I'm going with another arch like your bye jacket.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
You like structure, Let's go keep it going. This This
is a total I don't know, drum like hung back there.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Structure, thirty five dollars Unicode jacket. It's a totally fine,
thirty five dollar Unicola jacket. Aaron Banks is an offensive
guard that sign with the Packers for massive money, like
more than anyone expected.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Five years, seventy seven million dollars.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
And I think that just told you what the Packers
believe they needed more than anything, which to me was
a surprise because I think of their offensive line as
one of the strengths of their team, and it brings
up an idea of this theory I'm gonna throw at you, Okay, okay,
Jalen Carter specifically, but the Eagles pass rush in general,
like changed so many teams as offseason plans and got
(09:17):
people paid, so I think they helped get.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Aaron Banks played.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Like the interior of that offensive line was so bad
in that game, they were like, we just got to
throw more money at it.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
We're putting us.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
When Elton Jenkins got folded up in the.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
That didn't help, and they and now they're moving Jenkins,
who who was in the interior, but now he's going
to play center. The next week, I thought bo Limmer
was was this young player who played pretty well for
the Rams, and suddenly at the end of the game,
Jalen Carter wins a game for him, He's getting benched.
Now they had to bring in their old friend Coleman Shelton.
Next week, Commanders, they did a little better, but they
invested in the offensive line more at the tackle position
(09:50):
and moving some guys inside, and then we you know,
the Chiefs. They went into the offseason just like knowing
they had to invest there too. It was like Carter
and the Eagles single handedly changed how this entire offseason
went because of what they did.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Yeah, and I would say probably stress even more so
just the Eagles. I mean, Carter had the finisher against
the Rams, but a lot those games wasn't just him.
I mean they were getting whooped across the offensive line.
And we've talked about the Chiefs in the previous episode
that the tackle play cost him maybe potentially two Super Bowls.
So Jalen Carter, Yes, but I just think the whole
dynamic of the defensive line saying, you know, a quarterback
(10:23):
can can be a you know, for breeze and make
a lot of things go away, I'll find, but not
when you're going up against the defensive line like that.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
And Banks is an interesting guy that I think even
the forty nine ers who wanted to keep them, which
is a good sign, Like we're maybe surprised how far
the Packers went, but I wanted to bring them up
here just because I think it's a really good offensive
line on paper. Zach Tom who is there, Elton Jenkins,
and you add Banks to that group like they're always
greater than the sum of their parts, and to meet
that that's the key for them this year.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
That's a good one. I like that one. Let's jump
to one that This is the one that I struggled
with was Minnesota trying to find one. I didn't want
to just again go all first round picks. So this one,
I know the receiver group that they have, okay, but
type Felton to me when I go back through and
look at my notes and see what he can do,
I think he's going to factor in for this team
(11:10):
this year. And look, with Addison being suspended to start
the season, we'll see if that gives him more opportunities.
But to go in in the scouting report here coming
out of Maryland, he's six one, he's one hundred and
eighty three pounds, he ran four three seven. I go
through my notes. He's productive, he can play inside and outside.
He's tough, he wins in traffic. You'll see him build
speed down the field. He plays fearless, He works in
(11:32):
the middle of the field. He has some goal line
fade wins. There's a lot of things if you think
about you know, Koc and what he values in receivers,
like the fearlessness, the working in the middle of the field.
And then you add on to that, this guy's a legit.
You know, sub four four high four to three guy.
As a third round pick, the one hundred and second pick,
he was my eighty second ranked player. I thought it
was value there and I just got a feeling ty
(11:54):
Felton's going to factor in.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
The opportunities wide open for him. How are his hands?
Remember anything in particular?
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Care about him plucking in traffic and winning in traffic.
That's prepared.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
There have been some reports early like you know, he's
he's a rookie at training camp and he's fighting the
ball a little bit as as he's you know, figuring
out that offense without Addison there and Justin Jefferson has
been out of practice.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Like they it is wide open.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Jalen Naylor might be a guy who's been solid as
a number three, but stretched if they're asking him to
do more, and then other than that, it's wide open
for Felton to take that spot.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
They have Rondell Moore on the roster.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
They have Lucky Jackson is taking starter STAPs and not
overly familiar with with Lucky's work, but he's been in
a couple of camps with them.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
I like him. I have him as my favorite to
win the World Series of Poker.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
I'm gonna stick with the Vikings then because I know
I'm just sticking with the theme here and this will
be the last offensive lineman I talk about. Okay, two,
I'm count I'm counting them as a pair. So when
they brought in Will Fries the Guard to a big contract,
they outbid a couple teams. Giants and Seahawks were both
in on Will Fryes, and they outbit them and they
brought in his teammate, Ryan Kelly. I thought, oh, that's
(13:06):
that's cool. What a coincidence that that happened. But it
wasn't a coincidence. Dj They wanted to get signed together,
and they talked about that with prospective teams. They were
hoping to find a fit, which you would think would
be almost impossible. Two teammates, Ryan Kelly, longtime really good
center for the Colts, and then fries who's a little younger.
But they found that fit with the Vikings. And I
(13:27):
love that because these two guys already worked together. So
I'm cheating and including them as my five impact players
as one person because they kind of cheated and came
over for the Vikings together. And to me, that really
improves what was probably the weakest spot of their team
last year, the interior offense.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Yeah, bring a buddy. Why not bring a buddy? And
that was again an emphasis for a lot of these
teams that are knocking on the door to get where
they want to go, of saying the offensive line's got
to be better, It's.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Like, if you're going to a new place, you got it.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
You got to bring friends that's why you know with
the whole new ESPN thing, you got to keep forties
and free agents together.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Me and Jeremiah, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
There's the linear in the digits. It's just complicated. It's confusing.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
The last thing I do want to say about this,
I have a formula for surprise teams every year. You
can tell me what you think it's not. It's not
too analytically sound.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Okay, give it. I've got my pen ready. What's your formula.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
I write down my list of the top offensive lines
and defensive lines in the league. I do it one
to thirty two, and I add those two numbers together.
And the teams that have the lowest numbers that maybe
maybe aren't viewed as as true contenders, those are the
teams I kind of pick for like a surprise team.
(14:38):
And to me, the Vikings would qualify potentially for that team.
I think they've improved on their offensive line, They've already
were good on the defensive line. I could I could
mention their defensive line pickups two and so they might
be a little bit of a surprise.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
So it's interesting that your theory. No, this is a
compliment because I usually at the quarter mark like four
games in, which now doesn't work with a seventeen game schedule,
but games in. One of the things I'll look at
for teams that I want to project forward is I'll
just go to seck differential. Yeah, it's pretty basic.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
I thought you were going to say, like, so your
big brain theory is that the teams that are good
in the trenches are good at football.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Like no, but we're saying the same thing. But like
you can look at, Okay, who's added personnel here, and
then to me you get four Maybe we go six
games into the season, you say, who's getting to the quarterback?
Who's protecting the quarterback? That usually ages pretty well.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
It's why I've almost always picked the Eagles to make
the conference championship games, even in the seasons where it
didn't work out well, because at the beginning of the year,
I'm like.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
Well that that looks pretty good.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
And the Broncos, for instance, where a team last year
I remember going into the season like that offensive line
and defensive line is it's pretty good.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
And then there was one of the teams they do
this with this way.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
So when I was with the Ravens, young guy, we
would go through in the summer and we would take
every team and go position by a position and we
you know, grade everybody out, and then we would look
at it and we would kind of look and you'd
see we did this with the Chargers, like right before
the Chargers with that run that they went on when
they got you know, with the offensive line and you
had Gates and lt and.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
The Schottenheimer and then it was like dealman, it was McNeil.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Like in h they had Castillo on the defensive line
of Marrion. But anyways, this was that young group and
we looked at it before that season where they really
kind of took off and popped in our personality, like
they got a lot of talent up front on both sides.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
I could be in one of those rooms you'll hear
more just brilliant insights like that. Right after this break,
we'll wrap up the rest of the NFC North. All right,
(16:36):
we are back on forties and free agents. I'm getting
some quality FaceTime with the man, Daniel Jeremiah, the Chargers broadcaster,
one of the busiest man and show business in the
regular season, because you got you got to watch the
NFL games and you got to start working on your
college tape that's really now all directed towards the forties
(16:56):
and free agencies, and that's the main part of your Yeah, just.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Trying to make sure that this show and this little
thing we've built here continues to grow. Everything else in
my life is just put off to the side as
we try and get this thing actually keep it going.
I think it's off the ground, right, It's good we're
doing off the ground, are we.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
I think we're entering our second year after a very
promising rookie year. I think we got offensive Rookie of
the Year votes. We didn't win it, slump, Yeah, but worried.
We're hoping. No, we're hoping to make the leap. All right,
give me another one of your rookies in the inn,
all right.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
So I've got two more to go and then i'll
get to my wildcard. But the two that I have left,
I'm gonna put them together because it's the same team,
but it's one of the most intriguing offenses coming up
in this season. That's the Bears, and that's Colston Lovlin,
who I think has got a chance to really be
a Laporta type piece chess piece here and playmaker and
Ben Johnson's system. It's just such an easy connection to
(17:47):
make with how they use Laporta and how they can
use Loveland similar type players. And then Luther Burden, who's
someone who had first round ability didn't go in the
first round out of Missouri. But you know, Keenan Allen's
not there anymore. So how is this all going to
get divvied up? I think to me, not only I
think these guys are gonna have impact, but I'm fascinated
with Roman Dunza and DJ Moore. How does this whole
(18:07):
thing get shared? Like if you're going to say, who
are going to be the statistical leaders amongst that group,
and how's the share the target share going to go,
I'm maybe more fascinating with this team than any other.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
I have no idea how that is going to go, obviously,
I don't. I don't know if they do.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Right.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
I think Colston Lovelin is gonna be a piece, And
you just can hear in the way that Ben Johnson
talks about him, and he's.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Perfect, He's already had him. It's proof of concept.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
It like in August two after actually getting him on
the field because he was overcoming an injury, in the
early part of the offseason program. Just the way he
talks about lovel and like that's his guy. I think
that's gonna be to use a Rams term, a weight
bearing wall for this offense for a while. Luther Burton
is more of a confusing guy to me. So maybe
you can explain Luther Burden more, because when I watched
(18:57):
him on tape, you can see that he can he
has great movement skills, But I just he seems like
a guy who's like, I don't know, I don't know.
Is this going to work at the NFL level? Is
he different enough? Or could there be like a Cadarius
Tony type of vibe there, which isn't all bad.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
Yeah, he helped out a Super.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Bowl champions Well, I mean, look, there was some talk
about him going through the draft process, the maturity thing,
so that was a factor for some teams. But when
you watch him, the quarterback play was not great there
his last year in Missouri. The year before it was
more productive. Had a better looking year on tape. But
he's someone in the slot who's athletic. He's quick, a
lot of quick hitters, a lot of run after catch,
(19:35):
He's got strong, reliable hands and where he was working
out in the pre draft process. There's a lot of
guys throwing and working out there, and the reports I
got back were his hands were the best of all
these guys that were working out there, just real strong,
reliable hands. He can make miss after the catch. I
think that's where he's going to factor in. It's going
to be a lot of run after catch stuff. But
I'm the last note I had him. Man, there's a
lot of bad balls when you're watching him at Missouri
(19:57):
last year.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Yeah, you would assume that Caleb Williams it will be
throwing to him a not much nicer past this year.
And Dj Moore is there. I do wonder how that
all fits, do you think? I look at them and
bet there too. I mean right, I see them as
a little duplicative. The reports out of camp so far
are that Roma Dunze is making a nice year two leap,
(20:18):
and I think they're here that they're really county on him.
And you would think, just because these guys are more experienced,
and then you have the two tight ends come out
and Loveland, I would guess those four guys would be
in line ahead of Burden and that's not a bad thing.
I wonder long term, there wasn't good vibes there in
the wide receiver room necessarily by all accounts last year.
So you just hope everyone can stay happy and get
(20:39):
enough target.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
I wonder if it's kind of the Jamison Williams plan
for him trajectory wise, you see Ben Jons kind of
gave Hi a little bit more, a little bit more
as you kind of went along, and then he has
a role where you can flip him or reverse or
you can take some shots and do that with him.
So again, this is why he factored in for me
is curious. I don't know what that's going to look like.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Yeah, I want to see it too. I'm going to
go with another Bears player. Let's just go heavy on
the Bears. I'm making an audible because Grady Jarrett was
one of my favorite defensive tackles to watch at his
very best, and it wasn't that long ago with the Falcons,
and so I do think at thirty years old, he
is a really big X factor for the Chicago Bears.
(21:18):
So I mentioned about, you know, investing in lines, and
that was a theme across this entire division. They did
it on the offensive line, and they did it on
the defensive line.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
They also added a.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Dio from the Colts who could be a good kind
of supplementary edge rusher. But to me, Jarrett turning the
clock back, and he got a big contract. There was
interest in him. They had to pay him quickly. It
was one of those weird cuts DJ. I don't know
if you were ever involved in one of these where
he got cut and the very next day the guy
(21:47):
signed a monster contract, which is like.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Oh, how that works out?
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Well, It's like, should we have maybe kept him or
gotten some sort of trade compensation for him?
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Can I give you I'll give you a minute to
find it. But what pick was Grady Jarrett when he
came out? Because I'm going back through this is the
twenty fifteen draft, and I'm looking at my notes on
a young Grady Jarrett who was just under six foot one,
three hundred and four pounds, ran five oh six one
Tech three tech ultra quick first step, he can slip blocks,
(22:16):
He penetrates plays on the other side of the line
of scrimmage. What what pick was he?
Speaker 3 (22:20):
One thirty seven?
Speaker 2 (22:22):
How many years is inn?
Speaker 3 (22:23):
This is eleven now? And I misspoke?
Speaker 1 (22:25):
I think I was thinking of Hargrave as thirty, who
was another free agent in this position, in this division.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
He is thirty two years old.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Though Grady Jarrett was my forty fourth player in that draft.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
That's that's now on the back.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Every now and then you get one every now and then.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
That is that is awesome, and it's.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
You know why, you know why, I'm not going to
overly brag about it. Why because the two guys ahead
of him were Cam Irving and Jay Jaie. That's the draft.
There you go, There you go.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Jaji, super Bowl champion Philadelphia.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
A nice run, had a nice run, had some moments.
Give me another one. I'll give you another one. Yeah, well,
you know what I wanted too.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
I was gonna talk I talk about more about Grady Jarrett.
I just think that sort of player late in his career,
it can give you such a shot of adrenaline if
he can kind of turn the clock back. And when
he's been healthy, he has looked good. All right, I
will give you a Detroit Lion hadn't thrown out one
of them yet. DJ Reid is a guy that every
spot that he's been he's a cornerback that was first
with the Seahawks. And then with the Jets, everyone that
(23:25):
covers the team closest, every coach with the team, every
player on the team, they always go out of their
way to tell you, you know who's better than everyone thinks.
You know, who's a really great cornerback, DJ Reid. A
lot of people covering the Jets last year and the
analytics at least would support it, would say like DJ
Reid might have been their best cornerback at least in
terms of consistency. I would certainly not go that far.
And the Jets gave Sauce Gardener his money for a reason.
(23:47):
But I think you look at the Lions and they
wanted to keep Carlton Davis and it didn't happen.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
He got big money in New England.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
I think they did very well to sign DJ Reid
at that cornerback spot and really give them some stability.
Not a guy i've heard anyone talking about this offseason
or even in trading camp, and I think could really
figure into some big time playoff games for the line.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Three years, forty eight million. So it wasn't chump change
that they gave him there. And this is someone who
can go nose to nose play man, that's what they
like to do. It's one of the intriguing things to
me with Terry on Arnold to see what this looks
like for him in his second year, because the penalties
with him a lot of times is because he was
back to the quarterback, you know, playing press man down
the field and there was a little panic sometimes when
(24:25):
the ball was up in the air. And at Alabama
he could play a little bit more top down see things.
So I'm curious to see how they utilize him this year.
But if you want to just go nose to nose,
play man to man and let him go cover, I
mean DJ Reidy can do that.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
And they've already lost a little bit of depth. Nsrakestraw,
who was a relatively high pick a couple of years ago,
was going to be a depth piece for them, but
he is out for.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
The season, torched in the first preseason injured reserve.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
His career hadn't gotten off to a good start to
begin with, and they're going to be okay as long
as they can stay healthy there. But DJ Reid is
someone who watched I like, how Dj I could you
know I was going to go back to the Jarrett
point and you're like, move it along a little bit.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
You still got that quarterback in you.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Let's good, let's go, let's get to the line of scrimmage.
I get the play called.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Here man still running the show, so that means we
have one last little segment in this show, and it's
what I like to call a wild card pick, so
you can go anywhere.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
The image, by the way, if you're listening of Greg,
that I would give you in this discussion is if
you go to like a high school game, and sometimes
you get the call from the sidelines, right, so the
ten guys are lined up to call the play, the
ball snapped, and then the eleventh guy's still looking over
at the sideline because know that you didn't get the
signal yet and we've already run the play. That's Greg.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
I mean, you can make that analogy, or you can
look at the experience that I have, the amount of
podcasts I have put out into the ether in the
last decade plus, Wen.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
And you can watch think Eclipse a thousand.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
I know, I know the medium, and it's a medium
that breathes a little bit. It can be long, it
doesn't have to be you know, thirty minutes and let's
go get our lunch. You know, you can have fun,
go go a little back and forth. So I'm trying
to bring that to you, and I appreciate you bringing the.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Some of us have to some of us have to
cover a preseason game. I do my wildcard, please my wildcard.
I won't spend long time on it. Tyler Williams defensive tackle. Yes, so,
Tyler Williams is a little bit of a surprise. He
went in the first round. I thought he probably is
a Day two guy. Second round. All the ability in
the world when he wants to turn it on, it's
(26:21):
all in there. Very physical and strong and powerful out
of Ohio State. There were just moments where I didn't
think his motor always ran super hot. And the interesting
thing is, you know, if you go back and look,
there wasn't a lot to criticize when Piney Seuel was
coming out of Oregon, but there were some moments where
you could watch him and say, Okay, he maybe picked
a spot here there, And that is absolutely not a question.
(26:43):
I mean, he plays as hard as physical, maybe the
most physical offensive line in the NFL right now. So
they've they've done this in the past, so we'll see
what Tyler Williams looks like on the d line.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
The reports out of camp have been awesome. He is
playing with the first team. Now that's partly because of injuries,
but I think that points out early in the season.
You know, when the rest of the guys, like Ali
McNeil's still coming back from an injury.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
Who did they lose?
Speaker 1 (27:07):
They lost on Muza Rique for the season, So you're
going to be watching some big time games early. It's
Green Bay, Chicago, Baltimore, and Tyler Gwayams might already be
out there.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
I'm glad.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
I'm glad he threw him out there.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Wal Card I do a daily show and he's one
of those guys that I think we've mentioned one time,
and I'm like, we should mention Tyler Williams. That's why,
that's why you're good. I mentioned I'm mentioning Jordan Mason
to wrap it up. Oh nice, the former forty nine
ers running back who the Vikings acquired for a Day
three pick. Was just a quiet acquisition. Gave him a
(27:39):
nice but very manageable just a couple of years for
I think it was like eight million dollars total contract
extension and he's going to share the workload with Aaron Jones.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
Aaron Jones is on board by all accounts.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
It's going to be a fifty to fifty slip split
and try to keep Aaron Jones as fresh as possible
for the end of the season. And I just thought, man,
this is a guy that runs hard and you don't
have to spend a lot of money, and you know
you're getting a really good player.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
So I thought that was a nice pick up with
the Vikings. Oh, I like that one. I would never
even have thought of that one. This is one of
those ones where you kind of you hear the name,
You're like, oh, I kind of forgot about them. But
by the way you're looked, that's what I'm going for.
I want to know what your look is. I just
figured it out. Yeah, remember Evil Michael Knight on night.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Right now, No, this is I was gonna say, this
is where our age difference shows up. But I think
we're the same age. You just have older references in JA.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
I know that's older. I know, and I know Night
Rider is. Look it up, Drew, just look it up,
just the Evil Michael Knight. Just look up the picture
of it and just mean to get him that little
go tee to go with this little skinny go tea
on the chair.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
You know, not all of us can be you know,
project like the wholesome Daniel Jeremiah. His kids are all
like going to college now image and I don't know,
you know, we all.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Different things are good. Look, it's a good look.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
You will hear us next later this week, and yeah,
we'll keep the theme going. We're going to talk about
the AFC North and who knows, maybe I'll even have
a change of clothes and not go with the evil
night Rider.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
Look, next time.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
The six people didn't know what night Writer is, but Doug,
I'm here for you. Six people.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
We'll see you next time. That's how you go, free agents.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
We have a blossom reference next time.
Host
Gregg Rosenthal
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