March 13, 2025 • 34 mins
On the latest episode of Move the Sticks, Bucky Brooks and Lance Zierlein break down all the action from NFL free agency. The guys discuss the top remaining free agents and share their thoughts on where Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson could land. Plus, they dive into four teams that have been making big moves—the Texans, Patriots, 49ers, and Broncos—analyzing how each has handled the offseason so far.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
And now move the sticks with Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
What's up, everybody, Welcome to move the sticks. I am
Bucky Brooks. And on the other end is my guy
Lance Z stepping in for DJ and Lance. I mean,
free agency has come fast and furious. They call it
the frenzy. It certainly has been that. Now that you've
had an opportunity to kind of sit back, reflect digest
all the moves that you've kind of witnessed, what are
(00:31):
your thoughts.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Well, you know, I think it's I mean, right off
the bat, I thought the teams that had money that
needed to make moves, like the Chicago Bears, they did that,
and you know, for me, that was like that. That's
what first wave is for. First wave is for is
for making the big moves with your own guys that
you read, you know, the really good players that you're redoing,
(00:56):
or you know, with with obviously with players off of
other teams, I mean the top free agents. I thought
the Bears did a really good job with that. But
you know, I'm always interested and we can get into
some of the bigger ones. And I know we talked
a little bit about I can't remember I think we talked, Yeah,
we talked a little bit about it on the first movie,
The Sticks that we did, and we're following up now.
(01:18):
I'm always interested by two things. The way teams are
able to manipulate the cap with these with these contract redesigns.
Really paying guys money up front is what they're doing
just to just to borrow from future cap space. And
they're basically saying we're going to give you the money
(01:39):
up front. What player would say no? And then it
ends up creating more cap space while you got you know,
you've got room to do some things. But I always
find it intriguing about where some of these guys like
the big difference between I think Cooper Cup is going
to get like I don't know if anything's gone down yet,
(01:59):
but my guess is is I saw Mike Williams got
six million. Mike Williams didn't even hit like forty catches
last year. He got a year at six million. I'm
guessing Cooper Cup gets something like a one at seven
point five. But it's always such a stark contrast between
the three and four year deals, and if you don't
get on way one, it's a rap. You're getting one year,
(02:23):
you don't have any leverage, and you're basically saying, I'll
just hit reset on free agency next year. And it's
just such an interesting contrast to me between day first
wave and then second wave and then finally I consider
a third wave to be like once you're a veteran,
like Steph Diggs, I'm saying, well, I'm not doing anything.
(02:43):
I'm waiting until after this camp and that camp. I'm
not getting out of the heat in July. I'm a veteran.
I'll figure it out, you know, before we break for
the real camp. So that's kind of my thought on this.
I mean, we can go into the individual stuff, but
from a conceptual standpoint, I always marvel it if you're
if you're not first, you are last in a free
(03:05):
agency money Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
No, It's funny how quickly it goes right, Like if
you don't get in, if you overplay your hand, yeah,
you're stuck on a one year deal. Like there's nothing
else that's that's going to happen for you. It's just
one of those things where you have to fully assess
who you are and where you are in the landscape,
and you better make a decision quickly before the money
(03:29):
gets gone because yeah, when we look now, Lance, everything
is a one year deal. The money's fine. You know,
you're still seeing guys get like one year ten million
dollar deals or whatever. But you're definitely not getting a
multi year contract. If you don't, if it doesn't hit
the first two or three days, you're clinging to a
life preserver, just hoping that you can find a spot.
(03:50):
And I'm just kind of surprised by that because you
thought people would be a little more pragmatic in terms
of their approach. But it's really all or nothing with
some teams, and people are trying to basically, you're not
building a program. You're building a team year to year
as opposed to trying to establish something where you have
a bunch of guys that's gonna be around.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
I like Joey Bosa to the Bills. I think that's
worth it. You just locked in Rousseau to an extension.
You got Bosa that you can play on the other side.
But you know, you got to keep them healthy. That's
always a big question. But I do like I do
like that signing. I thought it was interesting. I feel
like the Patriots are having to pay a little bit
more of a premium on some of the players, the
(04:31):
targets that they're signing, just because you know, they've got
a Mike Vrabel, Elliott Wolf and those guys. They got
to make it a spot where guys want to go again.
Right now, I'm not sure that that's one of those
spots that you know, you kind of have to you
have to pay a premium right now to get guys
over there. I think that's what it feels like. I'm
looking at some of these guarantees. I thought that was
(04:52):
that was pretty interesting. I was a little surprised to
see Ronnie Stanley go three years at sixty million. Ronnie
Stanley's had so many injuries over there with the Ravens
right now, twenty million, you know, I thought Ronnie Stanley
could be so I talked about this on Houston Radio
before Larrmy tunseelll got traded. I was kind of I
(05:13):
kind of thought he could get traded, right because I
think they want to change the culture in that locker room,
and so one of the things that I thought they
might do is look at a one or two year
Ronnie Stanley deal, because once you got that in place,
then you can move Jaremy Tunzell out where they moved
him out with no Ronnie Stanley. I mean, Ronnie Stanley
did a three year deal at twenty million a year,
but this guy has been hurt a lot. So I
(05:35):
thought that was I thought that's telling with what the
tackle market's going to look like in not just free
agency where there's not a lot of guys. You know,
Dan Moore got paid, and I think Dan Moore's pretty average.
Now you look at the draft and it's not great
at left tackle. It is not great at left tackle.
So it's almost like it's almost like Ronnie Stanley made
(05:56):
out because even though he's got these injuries, you know,
you still have to you still have to wait his
ability went healthy versus what you've got in terms of
the draft and the rest of the free agency market.
And I think the Ravens just said basically, look, man,
we can't let you walk. We're too close, We're too
close to this thing, and we can't just start over
(06:16):
at left tackle right now. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
You know what's funny is Ronnie Stanley getting paid not
necessarily surprised even though the injuries. You just understand the
pet And when I saw Morgan Moses get paid I
kind of felt like Ronnie Stanley was going to hit
the bank. The guy who I'm kind of surprised was
Cam Robinson, right, like just getting a situation. He was
traded from the Jackson to Minnesota viakings by all accounts,
(06:40):
held that job down fairly well, replace him for Christian Dariel.
But what I thought was going to be a big
bag for him didn't masilize. And it's just one of
those things that you're like, WHOA, Okay, what did we
miss or what's going on? Or did he overplay his
hand early ev agency and then found out maybe it
(07:03):
wasn't what I thought it was going to be when
he hit the open market.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
It's some of it's random, like you would we just
got done talking about how valuable that you know, tackles
on the free agency market are, and what Dan Moore
got paid, but then Cam doesn't get paid and so
yeah that is and what Ronnie Stanley got despite the injuries.
And sometimes it's just you know, if you don't get
that first money, and he wasn't prioritized. If you don't
(07:30):
get that first money, they're like, I think there are
teams saying, look, we don't we just don't value this,
value you at the number maybe that your agent values
you at. And then you know, that's that battle between
the agent having the the the intelligence not to follow ego,
but to follow you know, his his head, not the heart,
(07:50):
and say let's do this. Let's let's get you in
a good situation. Let's get a one year deal and
we got to reset next year. That's what we got
to do. But we gotta we gotta make sure and
gets you to take care of it. And then it
becomes a battle of finding the right spot, you know,
is what you have to do. You know, I what
did you think of Charvarius Ward? I thought that was
(08:11):
I think the Colts answered a big question they had
at cornerback by adding him. That was one that you
almost had to you know, they had they got money,
they always have money. They had to spend it. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Look what I liked about the move is and we
know Ballet fairly well. We know that he's going to
get guys with trades and those things. But I like
the fact that you pair up a cornerback who has
the skills to really fit the scheme of the coordinator.
Lou Anarumo wants to use a diverse scheme. He wants
to mix in man and zone, UH, play bump and
(08:43):
off and some of the other techniques that you use. Uh.
Chivarius Ward can do those things. He played really well
in San Francisco. He had a little situation, Uh daughter
passes away that really uh playing heartbroken. He just wanted
to get away from, you know, the city, and he
finds a way to the Midwest. And to me, it's
the perfect fit. Not only will we have a motivated
(09:05):
player playing in a situation that I would say, it's
pretty desperate right when you think about the Indianapolis coast
and what is going on this year, they got to
win for everyone to stay around, Like that's kind of
the mandate. That's kind of what everyone understands, from Chris
Ballad to Shane stike In to some of your prominent players.
They need to win this year, so everyone has to
carry their urgency into it. Ward is a really good player.
(09:29):
He played really well. Really excited to see what happens
as he develops as the CB one for the Colts.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Yeah, and the Texans traded a six round draft pick
for for at Ingram today. It's it's interesting. I go
back and I think about I start seeing the names
of guys that I wrote up a few years back,
and I didn't love Ingram, like like the Vikings diad,
I just I was not I was not a fan,
(09:57):
and I think I ended up maybe being right on
that b. But now he's got a chance to hit
reset with the Texans, and they're a desperate team on
the inside. They traded for ed Ingram a sixth rounder,
They added Lake and Tomlinson. They're basically trying to get
depth and competition in there, and I'm not sure they're done.
I think they're done a free agency, but I think
(10:18):
they still have to spend a draft pick either at
tackle or guard in there.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
So you know, it's.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Interesting watching some of these teams say, look, we're going
to use our late draft picks as free agency basically,
and we're going to get some guys who are not
going to go through the same rookie. You know, some
guys who are already pros. They know how it's done.
They may be a little limited athletically, or maybe their
talent levels just average, but we'd rather get a guy.
I think that's what the Texans are saying right now.
(10:46):
Let's go get some veterans like Laken, Tomlinson and and
Ingram and another guy that's on the market now, and
you know, I'm interested to see what happened. He just
got released and that's thirteen minutes ago, and that's Garrett Bradbury.
You know, he's more of a zone scheme center. He
is not a real big guy. He's not real strong
for a center. He's kind of short armed, so he's
(11:08):
kind of he's a he's a little bit limited. You
could see him over there with the Patriots, I suppose
because they just got rid of David Andrews. But he's
another one who's a first round pick who now finds
himself on the market.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Yeah. Now, Gary Bradbery is someone coming out of n
ZI State when who's in the draft who's super athletic,
And you're right, And the lesson to learn from Bradbury
is the importance of fit in scheme. How does the
player fit, how does the player's talents fit within a
designated scheme? And it just seemed like an ill It
wasn't the proper match for him. Hopefully he goes somewhere
(11:44):
we can make it happen and kind of utilize the
talents that he has. But you know, it's one of
those things that we always talk about when you and
I are grading, we're grading for the entire league and
not necessarily for a specific team. And so we can
love a player and the tools that he has, but
man doesn't go to a team that allows him to
really utilize everything on his tool belt, he ends up
(12:05):
being not a wasted draft pick, but a draft pick
that doesn't live up to the status that he had.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Yeah, I'm curious. Here's some of the top guys who
are still available right now, and there's some names on here.
Now I'm gonna pick and choose some Well, okay, we'll
start at the top. Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson. Do you
feel confident that Aaron Rodgers was playing again this year?
Speaker 2 (12:30):
I mean, I feel like this is all the attention
he has to play just because of that stuff. And
now I'm not confident that he's gonna play. Well, it's
just's gona play at a high level. But I'm fairly
confident that he's going to play. Otherwise, why take us
through all of this lands, Like, why take us through
him on the beach running around like David Hasselhoff on Baywatch?
You know what I'm saying, Why make us endure all
(12:51):
of that. If he wants to play, he's gonna do it,
and of course he's gonna milk it. He is James
Harden on the dribble, like waiting for the shot clock
to go down before he lets us know where he's
gonna play. It's not necessarily fair to Russell Wilson or
some of the other people that are waiting because they
have to kind of wait for Aaron Rodgers in the
pecking order. But look, that's what he does. Does he
(13:13):
have something to offer? I think it depends when I
look at the situation. If he goes to Pittsburgh, I
think he could probably be at his best in Pittsburgh
because Mike Tomlin is going to hold his feet to
the fire when it comes to some accountability issues and
those things. If he goes elsewhere, I don't know if
the head coach has enough cachet to make Aaron Rodgers
(13:34):
kind of fall in line with the team. And I'm
not saying that Aaron Rodgers is a bad teammate, but look,
he has a strong personality and he has an ego
based on the fact that he's a four time MVP
and quarterbacks operate like that. When you're a four time MVP,
you want to have a large voice and a big
voice in how we're gonna play, what kind of scheme
we're gonna utilize. Whereas if you don't have that pedigree
(13:59):
in those acts, you kind of are more complicit with
what the head coach wants. So we'll see what it
would look like if he goes to Pittsburgh. I know
this still has have some weapons on the outside they
need to be tapped into. When we think about DK
Metcalf and George Pickens, it's just a matter of can
Aaron Rodgers give them enough to allow this offense to
(14:20):
fully realize its potential.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Yeah, I'm with you. I think that's the only fit
for him. I think it's good to get back to
a blue collar town, kind of like Green Bay was
you go to get out of New York. I don't
think I think the Giants are bad fit for him.
You got a quarter head coach who may be a
lame duck head coach, like it's it's just a bad situation.
I think that the Pittsburgh is the situation. You got
(14:43):
two guys on the outside that can play can Rogers
pushed the ball still, you know, we'll see. But I
love what you said about Mike Tomlin because I totally agree.
You've got some dudes on the defensive side of the ball,
but you gotta really the culture is Mike Tomlin, and
Mike Tomlin has been steady Eddie all the way through
for as long as he's been there, and he will
(15:06):
hold you accountable. Mike is not for the BS, and
I think that's what Aaron Rodgers needs right now. And
I think you can't let him. You can't let him
have the same uh, you know, latitude that you once
did in Green Bay and then with the Jets, it's
gotta it's got to be tightened up. So uh, that's
the best spot for him to be his best if
he's going to be. And with Russ, I just think,
(15:27):
you know, Russ is just gonna kind of get the leftovers,
I think, and it's gonnap. It feels like that's how
it's been with Russe, although he does have a nice
paycheck still coming from Denver, so good for Uss on
that one. But I just feel like he's just gonna Okay, well,
I guess we'll take run. I guess Russell Wilson is
the last pick at the playground. But so that's probably
(15:49):
not gonna be great for him in terms of where
he has to go, But you can still be I
think he's a guy that could still be you know,
it'd be great if you had him as a really
good backup for a young quarterback. But I don't know
that that's going to be the case.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Man. I think it'd be so hard for him to
be the celebrity quarterback as a backup quarterback, you know.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Yeah, not everyone can do it.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Yeah, he comes with a lot, and I think he's
actually a really good team dude. And I am surprised
because I thought he did a solid job in Pittsburgh
in terms of like just fitting in to the team
and trying to fit into the fabric of the team
and the organization and the city and all of that.
It just didn't work out to the degree. But I
can't completely blame him. They fell apart at the end.
(16:36):
Some of that is the defense didn't hold up and
do its part. But regardless, if you're the Steelers one,
they can't keep languishing, I want to say, in mediocrity,
but based on stealers fans and how they're used to winning,
given the six Super Bowls and all that that they have. Yeah,
at some point they got to, man, they got to
(16:56):
kind of get over the hump, or they can have
to kind of change the way that they go about
doing business. But speaking of business, it's time for a
hot or Not brought to you by Whatsavi hot Cloud
Storage Lance. We are going to break down four teams
that have kind of been very very active in free
agency or on the trade market. They just kind of
revamped their squad and I want to start right where
(17:18):
you are h Town putting it down. Look, man, it's
at the bottom of the sheet. But what what about
the Houston Texans? Because you look your ears on the street.
What are you hearing? What do you think about the
moves that the Texas have made to this point.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
I mean the moves are basic moves. It's just it's
moves to you're basically just solidifying the roster. They didn't
have a lot of money to work with. Once they
traded Laramie Tunsel, they picked up some more money. Initially,
they needed to restructure Nico Collins' deal to get some money.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
To work with.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
And now this is about Sheldon Rankins has been there before.
They're bringing them back. Mario Edwards, they're bringing them back.
Derek Barnett, they're bringing them back, you know, Justin Watson.
It's a nice veteran. They're kind of shuffling the deck
at wide receiver. They've got a bunch of guys I
think that are fours and fives on most good teams,
and so what they're basically doing is just shuffling with
new wide receivers and seeing if there's going to be
(18:11):
you know, more they can get out of out of
those guys. Tank Dell is going to be out for
at least this year, which is going to be tough.
But I thought the CJ. Gardner, you know, most of
these are just, hey, let's fill in our roster. Let's
fill in our roster with as good at players as
we can possibly find. And that's what they've done. Laken
Tomlinson to me is just you know, he's competition. But CJ. Gardner, Johnson,
(18:32):
there's a reason he's going from team to team to team.
I think he's tough to deal with. He's got big
personality and he's not going to be for everyone, and
he may never be a longtime guy in any one spot.
That's the reality. However, he can play. And they traded
Kenyon Green, who they were absolutely done with as a
first round busted guard. They traded him in exchange for
(18:55):
Chauncey Gardner And for me, I mean Gardner, Yeah, Gardner,
Chauncey Gardner Johnson. And for me, that that really takes
care of a big need for them, which is a
guy on the back end who's a little bit versatile
and they can handle, you know, some coverage responsibilities where
Jalen Petrie is a little more static and Jimmy Ward's
(19:17):
not staying healthy. W Now you got Chauncey Gardner Johnson
who can play up top if you need him too.
He can play on the slot, so and he's got
some he's got a little bit more cover skills, so
you've got a little bit more versatile as a defense
with him. I like it. And you know, you got
a dog. You got a couple of dogs, Aziz al
Shayer and Will Anderson, who are the leaders in the
(19:38):
defensive side. So you got guys who can handle his personality,
I think, and that's that's important too.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Yeah. In fact, I look at it differently I look
at it as more of a positive his personality because
when you look at the last two teams that he
was involved with, the Detroit Lions and in the Philadelphia Eagles, respectively, Like,
he changes the tenor of how you get down in
the back end. And the Eagles had him, let him
go and they missed him. That's why they brought him back,
(20:05):
and that dog really reappeared. He is a great communicator
in terms of how he operates in the middle of
the field. He got some nastiness and some swag to
him that I think his teammates feed off of. Yeah, Like,
I think it's a strong personality that you must manage.
But look, Damiko Ryans doesn't appear to have any issue
(20:25):
barking back when he's surrounded by dogs. I think he's
okay with it, and I think his team benefits from kind
of being a little edgy in asham Oh.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And when you have a Will Anderson
setting a tone on that side of the ball, I mean,
that guy is all ball and he's gonna let you know,
he's gonna talk. He's gonna like they have guys in
there who it's their locker room on the defensive side
of the ball, so I think he'll fit in. And
most importantly, they're trying to get over the hump. Houston
(20:55):
is trying to get over the hump, and they need
another playmaker on the back end. But for the most part, though, Buck,
when I look at their free agency, I think it's
you know, it's a you're mostly Gardner Johnson was a trade.
He was not a free agent. Christian Kirk was a trade,
you know what I mean. The rest of these guys are, Hey,
we got spots to fill on the roster. A lot
of them are are returning or returning champions, you know,
(21:19):
like Jeopardy are returning champion. Is Tremon Smith. He's been
here before. They brought him back. You know, Sheldon Rankins
been here before, Let's bring him back. So Jim Stewart,
he's been there and not been there, been there. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
It is something funny because you're talking about a team
that understands their personnel. They have been able to kind
of get it done in the locker room in terms
of like the people that have been there, they know them,
they bring them back and they've had a lot of success.
But speaking of the locker room, and one of the
more intriguing storylines that we have is Mike Rabel returning,
(21:54):
Hern returning home to New England, the prodigal son returns
to kind of help this team move past a disastrous
twenty twenty four campaign. And what I love that the
Patriots have done is they appeared to have gone all
in on bringing glue guys back to New England, meaning
guys that may not be high end players, but guys
(22:18):
that certainly have the temperament and the talent to feel
key roles. When you look at what the Patriots have done,
what are your thoughts?
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Well, the first thing that stood out to me was
Josh Dobbs and he did a two year, eight million
dollar deal. Basically one year is guaranteed three point eight million.
But I thought it was curious because you know, they're
big on Joe Milton over there. Joe Milton had a
big preseason game and it came out that they're willing
to entertain trading them. I think Milton would love to
get to a team where he's got a shot, because
(22:47):
he really didn't have a shot playing behind Drake may List.
Things are gone horribly wrong for New England and everyone
will be out then, but I thought that was I
think it's interesting because I wonder if the Patriots already
have some initial interest in in Milton Joe Milton, So
that was a little bit curious. You mentioned MATC Collins,
(23:09):
glue guy, great personality, fun guy, good for a locker room.
Did much more as a receiver than I expected in Buffalo,
but he's kind of limited. Morgan Moses. You talked about
that a little earlier. They got to have tackle. You know,
you grab Morgan Moses. I don't think it changes, so
you still need another tackle. It probably with the fourth
pick of the draft, and then you know, you just
(23:32):
tighten up the defensive line with Milton Williams and Harold Landry.
I like it. I mean, you you want to be
more competitive in there. And Milton Williams signed a four
year deal with fifty four fifty one million fully guaranteed,
so basically that's a three to four that's going to
be a three year deal at least, and maybe a
four year deal. So they're hoping he is there as
(23:52):
one of the lynch pins of that defense by the
time they hopefully turned the corner and get back to being,
you know, a competitive AFC East team. So Carlton Davis.
I like Carlton Davis. He's physical along the outside, can
press and run with big corner, big wide receivers. So
I kind of like what they did. I mean, they
had money to spend, and you mentioned the glue guys,
(24:15):
but there's some dudes that you know, Landry can still
rush it a little bit, Morgan Moses can hang in there,
Milton Williams a good player. Carlton Davis is a good corner.
So yeah, I mean I kind of like what they did.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Yeah. No, I mean they've been very effective. They've done
a really good job, and I would say they free
themselves up to take the best play available at all
of those respective draft spots when they come to it.
We talked about left tackle, offensive tackle. They need to
address it. We'll see if they're able to get it done.
When we come back from this break, I want to
go to the other side and kind of talk about
(24:47):
a couple of the teams, like the Niners and the
Broncos and what they were doing free agency. All right, Lance,
So we're back and we're talking about these teams to
really attack free agency. Just trying to get some of
your thoughts on maybe some of the most active teams
in free agency, and a team that is active but
(25:08):
active in a different way has been to San Francisco
forty nine ers. We've almost seen one of these liquidation
sales where you go to the furniture store and everything
is got to slap on, fifty percent off, seventy percent off.
We just got to get it out of here. Stores
closing in a month, you got to go. And so
they got rid of some really good players. Deebo, Samuel
(25:30):
Kalaju check is gone, Javon Hardgrade, Green Law. We talked
about Javaris Ward. I mean telling Nooga Halfunka is gone.
I mean a lot of players that look, man, they
earned their stripes with the Niners. What are your thoughts
when you look at the Niners and what they're trying
to do as a reset is on the horizon.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
I mean, it looks like they're just leaning into the
fact that it's time for the It's time for the reset.
Like you said, there's no other way around it. Ebo's gone.
You got another expensive wide receiver there right now in
Brandon Ayuk. We'll see how long Kittle still has in
terms of you know, being in an NFL tight end
and he's still playing at a high level. But you're
(26:12):
getting ready to play. Pay brock Purty and you're gonna
pay him a lot. But boy, brock Purty feels like
a guy that he's been a good he's been a
good player over there, but he needs guys around him.
So you got an expensive running back with Christian McCaffrey,
and it's it's one of those luxuries. It's hard. You
can have that luxury when you've got a great team
and you think Christian McCaffrey is gonna put you over
(26:33):
the top and win a super Bowl. But once you
don't win the Super Bowl and you got to start liquidating,
everything must go. As you said, uh, everything must go gone.
Javon Hargrave gone, Drake Greenlaw, that's a heartbeat guy. He's gone.
Shavarius Ward as we mentioned, gone Hufango, who can really play?
(26:54):
But is you know the injuries were concerned in college,
they're a concern now in the pros. Aaron Banks starting,
I mean you look at who they sign and it's like, Hugh,
I know, a bunch of one year just band aid guys.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Yeah, just trying to figure out a way to get
it done. And some of this is due to the
fact that they're going to have to pay brock Purity.
They're gonna have to pay him. They're gonna have to
pay him a bunch of money. If I'm brock Purity,
brock Preity is like I am getting fifty million plus
because for three seasons you've had me on these peanuts deals.
It's time for me to get paid. I want to
get paid. I'm curious to see what that looks like
(27:30):
in terms of paying the quarterback. But I'm also curious
to see. When the Niners kind of had the liquidation seal,
we can talk about some of it being salary cap driven,
but to me, it also felt like it was culture driven.
In terms of Deebo Samuel. We saw the sideline incidents
where he goes at the kicker, you know. We saw
(27:52):
Brandon Aiyuk have some issues where they had to send
them in because he didn't wear the right shorts. When
everyone was wearing one color, he just to wear another color.
And it just felt like this team, coming on the
heels of losing a Super Bowl, they just never clicked
and got back together. From a chemistry and a continuity standpoint, Lance,
(28:14):
You've been around this a long time and your dad
coach for a long time, talk about the importance of
signing free agents that fit the fabric of the team.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
I mean, it's everything. It's everything, and sometimes it's like
the transfer point. I remember there were college coaches who
told me when transfer portal really got popping. They said, hey, portals,
we may lose some he said, we may pick up guys,
but don't forget we can and we may lose some
guys in portal, we can also portal some guys out
of here. And that's something that a lot of college
(28:46):
teams are now getting rid of the guys that they
really don't want well right now. And with teams you're
starting to see Houston Texans has they've made moves with
Dimico Ryans because they wanted to get their culture a
certain way. They're still working on it. And Sam Francisco,
you know, you go only so far, and then you
got to make some changes. If it's not good enough,
and if the culture is not right and you start
(29:06):
having too many big personalities and you don't feel like
you're all headed in the same direction, that's a problem.
Pittsburgh Steelers, you know, for years my dad was with
the Steeler team and I asked him, I said, you know,
what's it like in the locker room. He goes, got
a lot of leaders, and he said, it's a self
patrolling locker room. But once some of those guys are gone,
once some of the glue guys are gone from from
(29:29):
the defense for them, you didn't have as much patrolling
in the and some things got sideways. We know Antony,
we know they've had a bunch of issues with wide receivers.
So but he made the point to me that when
you're in that locker room, you got to have the
right guy in the in the room for every position
group It helps, and then whoever the alphas are on
each side of the ball, and then a coach that
(29:51):
you know, coaches that are respected. It takes a lot.
And if you don't have that, now with the money
that's in there, egos start tripping and it's you know,
it can go ways quick. I mean, the Niners look
like they had dynasty stuff potentially now it shakes out
and they're done. I mean it looks like a rap
for the Niners. They got to at least a version
(30:11):
that that we knew. It's a rap form. And so
now they've got some good players still, but they they've
got some rebuilding to do. And once you know it's
not good, Bucky, once you know it's toxic, if you
don't if you don't cut that out, if you don't
get rid of that that toxic stuff, you can roll
with it if you want, but all it does is
(30:31):
eventually it's not just because a guy can play, it
doesn't mean it's beneficial to you. So I think it's
hard sometimes to get rid of guys that you know
can play, but that don't fit the culture that you want,
or causing problems in the locker room. And it's just
the fans don't get it all the time. They're upset
because it's like a Madden game to the end. You
just got rid of a guy who's a ninety two rating,
(30:55):
you know what I'm saying. But that's not real life,
and you know that, Bucky, it's this isn't a Madden rating.
You got personality scores and things like that that you
have to account for that we don't see that in Madden.
I don't know, it's pretty lifelike.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Maybe maybe they do have that in Madden.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Now, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
Yeah, it's funny because we talked about this culture and
how they're trying to repair a culture. But I got
to tell you, man, when I look at the Denver Broncos,
Sean Payton is certainly building up a culture. How impressed
are you with the moves that they made in free agency?
Speaker 1 (31:24):
I think I think, well, you know, I like re
signing DJ Jones. I think he's good in the middle.
Love Dre Greenlaw, you know the same reason that Demiico
Ryans went and targeted as he's al shaier for a
certain level of toughness. I think Denver is saying, we
gotta get dra Greenlaw here because he'll help unlock some
of the young guys with our defense. Hufanga can ball
(31:46):
if he's healthy, there's no question. But the one that
I really like is Evan Ingram because and once again
there's a guy that's risk reward because of injuries in
the past. But when Evan Ingram is right, you know,
we've all been. I don't know about you, but I've been.
Let's see Holston Loveland, Colston Loveland, could Warren make it here?
It's been tight end, tight end, tight end. We're not
(32:06):
going tight end anymore. I don't see them drafting a
tight end in the first round after giving Evan Ingram
this deal. So I really like the fact that they've
made them now. They could they could still go a
lot of twelve personnel. They could go another tight end,
but they don't have to, Like they don't. I like
teams that make moves that make them less predictable on
(32:27):
draft day.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
Yeah, I'm with you. I'm with you on all of that. Like,
I think it makes a lot of sense for them.
Evan Ingram coming on board. I can tell you he's
one of the best workers that I've seen.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Chance to watch him in Jacksonville, and don't be fooled
by the yards per catch things. Some of that was
designed to the offense. He still can get down the scene.
He still is a reliable and dependable chain mover, and
he has some juice still to him. He can be
a bit of a matchup problem on the perimeter. Sean
Payne had talked about wanting a joker type, someone that
he could move him around and create and exploit Miss Missmas.
(33:01):
Evan Ingram can feel the building now. It frees him
in the first round and running back all day. Get
a running back, get a playmaker, get somebody else that
can put points on the board. Because to close the
gap on the competition, it's still is gonna be a
bit of an arms race offensively. Defensively, they've shown that
they can play vanas Joseph did a great job last season. Offensively,
(33:22):
they got to figure out how to close the gap.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Yep, I'm with you. I'm with you, and there's still
a little bit more to go. There's still some big
names out there to go. I'm sure you and DJ
will be hitting on those. But once once at Aaron
Rodgers domino falls, then a few more pieces may fall
in place for sure.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
That was this week's Hot or Not segment, brought to
you by with Sabi Hot Cloud storage, store more and
do more with your data try for free at with
Sabi dot com. Lz Man, I know you're busy. I
know you're about to have to jump on the tube
and give some insight to the Insider, So I'm gonna
let you cut right now. But I know real soon
(34:01):
we'll be able to get back on here and talk
about some draft stuff because I really want to know,
and you can save this will Campbell or his arms
too short? Is he too short to be a premier tackle?
We have to talk about that on the next time.
Until then, I'm Bucket Brooks. That's land C. This was
moved to six. Will chat with
And now move the sticks with Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
What's up, everybody, Welcome to move the sticks. I am
Bucky Brooks. And on the other end is my guy
Lance Z stepping in for DJ and Lance. I mean,
free agency has come fast and furious. They call it
the frenzy. It certainly has been that. Now that you've
had an opportunity to kind of sit back, reflect digest
all the moves that you've kind of witnessed, what are
(00:31):
your thoughts.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Well, you know, I think it's I mean, right off
the bat, I thought the teams that had money that
needed to make moves, like the Chicago Bears, they did that,
and you know, for me, that was like that. That's
what first wave is for. First wave is for is
for making the big moves with your own guys that
you read, you know, the really good players that you're redoing,
(00:56):
or you know, with with obviously with players off of
other teams, I mean the top free agents. I thought
the Bears did a really good job with that. But
you know, I'm always interested and we can get into
some of the bigger ones. And I know we talked
a little bit about I can't remember I think we talked, Yeah,
we talked a little bit about it on the first movie,
The Sticks that we did, and we're following up now.
(01:18):
I'm always interested by two things. The way teams are
able to manipulate the cap with these with these contract redesigns.
Really paying guys money up front is what they're doing
just to just to borrow from future cap space. And
they're basically saying we're going to give you the money
(01:39):
up front. What player would say no? And then it
ends up creating more cap space while you got you know,
you've got room to do some things. But I always
find it intriguing about where some of these guys like
the big difference between I think Cooper Cup is going
to get like I don't know if anything's gone down yet,
(01:59):
but my guess is is I saw Mike Williams got
six million. Mike Williams didn't even hit like forty catches
last year. He got a year at six million. I'm
guessing Cooper Cup gets something like a one at seven
point five. But it's always such a stark contrast between
the three and four year deals, and if you don't
get on way one, it's a rap. You're getting one year,
(02:23):
you don't have any leverage, and you're basically saying, I'll
just hit reset on free agency next year. And it's
just such an interesting contrast to me between day first
wave and then second wave and then finally I consider
a third wave to be like once you're a veteran,
like Steph Diggs, I'm saying, well, I'm not doing anything.
(02:43):
I'm waiting until after this camp and that camp. I'm
not getting out of the heat in July. I'm a veteran.
I'll figure it out, you know, before we break for
the real camp. So that's kind of my thought on this.
I mean, we can go into the individual stuff, but
from a conceptual standpoint, I always marvel it if you're
if you're not first, you are last in a free
(03:05):
agency money Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
No, It's funny how quickly it goes right, Like if
you don't get in, if you overplay your hand, yeah,
you're stuck on a one year deal. Like there's nothing
else that's that's going to happen for you. It's just
one of those things where you have to fully assess
who you are and where you are in the landscape,
and you better make a decision quickly before the money
(03:29):
gets gone because yeah, when we look now, Lance, everything
is a one year deal. The money's fine. You know,
you're still seeing guys get like one year ten million
dollar deals or whatever. But you're definitely not getting a
multi year contract. If you don't, if it doesn't hit
the first two or three days, you're clinging to a
life preserver, just hoping that you can find a spot.
(03:50):
And I'm just kind of surprised by that because you
thought people would be a little more pragmatic in terms
of their approach. But it's really all or nothing with
some teams, and people are trying to basically, you're not
building a program. You're building a team year to year
as opposed to trying to establish something where you have
a bunch of guys that's gonna be around.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
I like Joey Bosa to the Bills. I think that's
worth it. You just locked in Rousseau to an extension.
You got Bosa that you can play on the other side.
But you know, you got to keep them healthy. That's
always a big question. But I do like I do
like that signing. I thought it was interesting. I feel
like the Patriots are having to pay a little bit
more of a premium on some of the players, the
(04:31):
targets that they're signing, just because you know, they've got
a Mike Vrabel, Elliott Wolf and those guys. They got
to make it a spot where guys want to go again.
Right now, I'm not sure that that's one of those
spots that you know, you kind of have to you
have to pay a premium right now to get guys
over there. I think that's what it feels like. I'm
looking at some of these guarantees. I thought that was
(04:52):
that was pretty interesting. I was a little surprised to
see Ronnie Stanley go three years at sixty million. Ronnie
Stanley's had so many injuries over there with the Ravens
right now, twenty million, you know, I thought Ronnie Stanley
could be so I talked about this on Houston Radio
before Larrmy tunseelll got traded. I was kind of I
(05:13):
kind of thought he could get traded, right because I
think they want to change the culture in that locker room,
and so one of the things that I thought they
might do is look at a one or two year
Ronnie Stanley deal, because once you got that in place,
then you can move Jaremy Tunzell out where they moved
him out with no Ronnie Stanley. I mean, Ronnie Stanley
did a three year deal at twenty million a year,
but this guy has been hurt a lot. So I
(05:35):
thought that was I thought that's telling with what the
tackle market's going to look like in not just free
agency where there's not a lot of guys. You know,
Dan Moore got paid, and I think Dan Moore's pretty average.
Now you look at the draft and it's not great
at left tackle. It is not great at left tackle.
So it's almost like it's almost like Ronnie Stanley made
(05:56):
out because even though he's got these injuries, you know,
you still have to you still have to wait his
ability went healthy versus what you've got in terms of
the draft and the rest of the free agency market.
And I think the Ravens just said basically, look, man,
we can't let you walk. We're too close, We're too
close to this thing, and we can't just start over
(06:16):
at left tackle right now. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
You know what's funny is Ronnie Stanley getting paid not
necessarily surprised even though the injuries. You just understand the
pet And when I saw Morgan Moses get paid I
kind of felt like Ronnie Stanley was going to hit
the bank. The guy who I'm kind of surprised was
Cam Robinson, right, like just getting a situation. He was
traded from the Jackson to Minnesota viakings by all accounts,
(06:40):
held that job down fairly well, replace him for Christian Dariel.
But what I thought was going to be a big
bag for him didn't masilize. And it's just one of
those things that you're like, WHOA, Okay, what did we
miss or what's going on? Or did he overplay his
hand early ev agency and then found out maybe it
(07:03):
wasn't what I thought it was going to be when
he hit the open market.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
It's some of it's random, like you would we just
got done talking about how valuable that you know, tackles
on the free agency market are, and what Dan Moore
got paid, but then Cam doesn't get paid and so
yeah that is and what Ronnie Stanley got despite the injuries.
And sometimes it's just you know, if you don't get
that first money, and he wasn't prioritized. If you don't
(07:30):
get that first money, they're like, I think there are
teams saying, look, we don't we just don't value this,
value you at the number maybe that your agent values
you at. And then you know, that's that battle between
the agent having the the the intelligence not to follow ego,
but to follow you know, his his head, not the heart,
(07:50):
and say let's do this. Let's let's get you in
a good situation. Let's get a one year deal and
we got to reset next year. That's what we got
to do. But we gotta we gotta make sure and
gets you to take care of it. And then it
becomes a battle of finding the right spot, you know,
is what you have to do. You know, I what
did you think of Charvarius Ward? I thought that was
(08:11):
I think the Colts answered a big question they had
at cornerback by adding him. That was one that you
almost had to you know, they had they got money,
they always have money. They had to spend it. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Look what I liked about the move is and we
know Ballet fairly well. We know that he's going to
get guys with trades and those things. But I like
the fact that you pair up a cornerback who has
the skills to really fit the scheme of the coordinator.
Lou Anarumo wants to use a diverse scheme. He wants
to mix in man and zone, UH, play bump and
(08:43):
off and some of the other techniques that you use. Uh.
Chivarius Ward can do those things. He played really well
in San Francisco. He had a little situation, Uh daughter
passes away that really uh playing heartbroken. He just wanted
to get away from, you know, the city, and he
finds a way to the Midwest. And to me, it's
the perfect fit. Not only will we have a motivated
(09:05):
player playing in a situation that I would say, it's
pretty desperate right when you think about the Indianapolis coast
and what is going on this year, they got to
win for everyone to stay around, Like that's kind of
the mandate. That's kind of what everyone understands, from Chris
Ballad to Shane stike In to some of your prominent players.
They need to win this year, so everyone has to
carry their urgency into it. Ward is a really good player.
(09:29):
He played really well. Really excited to see what happens
as he develops as the CB one for the Colts.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Yeah, and the Texans traded a six round draft pick
for for at Ingram today. It's it's interesting. I go
back and I think about I start seeing the names
of guys that I wrote up a few years back,
and I didn't love Ingram, like like the Vikings diad,
I just I was not I was not a fan,
(09:57):
and I think I ended up maybe being right on
that b. But now he's got a chance to hit
reset with the Texans, and they're a desperate team on
the inside. They traded for ed Ingram a sixth rounder,
They added Lake and Tomlinson. They're basically trying to get
depth and competition in there, and I'm not sure they're done.
I think they're done a free agency, but I think
(10:18):
they still have to spend a draft pick either at
tackle or guard in there.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
So you know, it's.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Interesting watching some of these teams say, look, we're going
to use our late draft picks as free agency basically,
and we're going to get some guys who are not
going to go through the same rookie. You know, some
guys who are already pros. They know how it's done.
They may be a little limited athletically, or maybe their
talent levels just average, but we'd rather get a guy.
I think that's what the Texans are saying right now.
(10:46):
Let's go get some veterans like Laken, Tomlinson and and
Ingram and another guy that's on the market now, and
you know, I'm interested to see what happened. He just
got released and that's thirteen minutes ago, and that's Garrett Bradbury.
You know, he's more of a zone scheme center. He
is not a real big guy. He's not real strong
for a center. He's kind of short armed, so he's
(11:08):
kind of he's a he's a little bit limited. You
could see him over there with the Patriots, I suppose
because they just got rid of David Andrews. But he's
another one who's a first round pick who now finds
himself on the market.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Yeah. Now, Gary Bradbery is someone coming out of n
ZI State when who's in the draft who's super athletic,
And you're right, And the lesson to learn from Bradbury
is the importance of fit in scheme. How does the
player fit, how does the player's talents fit within a
designated scheme? And it just seemed like an ill It
wasn't the proper match for him. Hopefully he goes somewhere
(11:44):
we can make it happen and kind of utilize the
talents that he has. But you know, it's one of
those things that we always talk about when you and
I are grading, we're grading for the entire league and
not necessarily for a specific team. And so we can
love a player and the tools that he has, but
man doesn't go to a team that allows him to
really utilize everything on his tool belt, he ends up
(12:05):
being not a wasted draft pick, but a draft pick
that doesn't live up to the status that he had.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Yeah, I'm curious. Here's some of the top guys who
are still available right now, and there's some names on here.
Now I'm gonna pick and choose some Well, okay, we'll
start at the top. Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson. Do you
feel confident that Aaron Rodgers was playing again this year?
Speaker 2 (12:30):
I mean, I feel like this is all the attention
he has to play just because of that stuff. And
now I'm not confident that he's gonna play. Well, it's
just's gona play at a high level. But I'm fairly
confident that he's going to play. Otherwise, why take us
through all of this lands, Like, why take us through
him on the beach running around like David Hasselhoff on Baywatch?
You know what I'm saying, Why make us endure all
(12:51):
of that. If he wants to play, he's gonna do it,
and of course he's gonna milk it. He is James
Harden on the dribble, like waiting for the shot clock
to go down before he lets us know where he's
gonna play. It's not necessarily fair to Russell Wilson or
some of the other people that are waiting because they
have to kind of wait for Aaron Rodgers in the
pecking order. But look, that's what he does. Does he
(13:13):
have something to offer? I think it depends when I
look at the situation. If he goes to Pittsburgh, I
think he could probably be at his best in Pittsburgh
because Mike Tomlin is going to hold his feet to
the fire when it comes to some accountability issues and
those things. If he goes elsewhere, I don't know if
the head coach has enough cachet to make Aaron Rodgers
(13:34):
kind of fall in line with the team. And I'm
not saying that Aaron Rodgers is a bad teammate, but look,
he has a strong personality and he has an ego
based on the fact that he's a four time MVP
and quarterbacks operate like that. When you're a four time MVP,
you want to have a large voice and a big
voice in how we're gonna play, what kind of scheme
we're gonna utilize. Whereas if you don't have that pedigree
(13:59):
in those acts, you kind of are more complicit with
what the head coach wants. So we'll see what it
would look like if he goes to Pittsburgh. I know
this still has have some weapons on the outside they
need to be tapped into. When we think about DK
Metcalf and George Pickens, it's just a matter of can
Aaron Rodgers give them enough to allow this offense to
(14:20):
fully realize its potential.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Yeah, I'm with you. I think that's the only fit
for him. I think it's good to get back to
a blue collar town, kind of like Green Bay was
you go to get out of New York. I don't
think I think the Giants are bad fit for him.
You got a quarter head coach who may be a
lame duck head coach, like it's it's just a bad situation.
I think that the Pittsburgh is the situation. You got
(14:43):
two guys on the outside that can play can Rogers
pushed the ball still, you know, we'll see. But I
love what you said about Mike Tomlin because I totally agree.
You've got some dudes on the defensive side of the ball,
but you gotta really the culture is Mike Tomlin, and
Mike Tomlin has been steady Eddie all the way through
for as long as he's been there, and he will
(15:06):
hold you accountable. Mike is not for the BS, and
I think that's what Aaron Rodgers needs right now. And
I think you can't let him. You can't let him
have the same uh, you know, latitude that you once
did in Green Bay and then with the Jets, it's
gotta it's got to be tightened up. So uh, that's
the best spot for him to be his best if
he's going to be. And with Russ, I just think,
(15:27):
you know, Russ is just gonna kind of get the leftovers,
I think, and it's gonnap. It feels like that's how
it's been with Russe, although he does have a nice
paycheck still coming from Denver, so good for Uss on
that one. But I just feel like he's just gonna Okay, well,
I guess we'll take run. I guess Russell Wilson is
the last pick at the playground. But so that's probably
(15:49):
not gonna be great for him in terms of where
he has to go, But you can still be I
think he's a guy that could still be you know,
it'd be great if you had him as a really
good backup for a young quarterback. But I don't know
that that's going to be the case.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Man. I think it'd be so hard for him to
be the celebrity quarterback as a backup quarterback, you know.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Yeah, not everyone can do it.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Yeah, he comes with a lot, and I think he's
actually a really good team dude. And I am surprised
because I thought he did a solid job in Pittsburgh
in terms of like just fitting in to the team
and trying to fit into the fabric of the team
and the organization and the city and all of that.
It just didn't work out to the degree. But I
can't completely blame him. They fell apart at the end.
(16:36):
Some of that is the defense didn't hold up and
do its part. But regardless, if you're the Steelers one,
they can't keep languishing, I want to say, in mediocrity,
but based on stealers fans and how they're used to winning,
given the six Super Bowls and all that that they have. Yeah,
at some point they got to, man, they got to
(16:56):
kind of get over the hump, or they can have
to kind of change the way that they go about
doing business. But speaking of business, it's time for a
hot or Not brought to you by Whatsavi hot Cloud
Storage Lance. We are going to break down four teams
that have kind of been very very active in free
agency or on the trade market. They just kind of
revamped their squad and I want to start right where
(17:18):
you are h Town putting it down. Look, man, it's
at the bottom of the sheet. But what what about
the Houston Texans? Because you look your ears on the street.
What are you hearing? What do you think about the
moves that the Texas have made to this point.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
I mean the moves are basic moves. It's just it's
moves to you're basically just solidifying the roster. They didn't
have a lot of money to work with. Once they
traded Laramie Tunsel, they picked up some more money. Initially,
they needed to restructure Nico Collins' deal to get some money.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
To work with.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
And now this is about Sheldon Rankins has been there before.
They're bringing them back. Mario Edwards, they're bringing them back.
Derek Barnett, they're bringing them back, you know, Justin Watson.
It's a nice veteran. They're kind of shuffling the deck
at wide receiver. They've got a bunch of guys I
think that are fours and fives on most good teams,
and so what they're basically doing is just shuffling with
new wide receivers and seeing if there's going to be
(18:11):
you know, more they can get out of out of
those guys. Tank Dell is going to be out for
at least this year, which is going to be tough.
But I thought the CJ. Gardner, you know, most of
these are just, hey, let's fill in our roster. Let's
fill in our roster with as good at players as
we can possibly find. And that's what they've done. Laken
Tomlinson to me is just you know, he's competition. But CJ. Gardner, Johnson,
(18:32):
there's a reason he's going from team to team to team.
I think he's tough to deal with. He's got big
personality and he's not going to be for everyone, and
he may never be a longtime guy in any one spot.
That's the reality. However, he can play. And they traded
Kenyon Green, who they were absolutely done with as a
first round busted guard. They traded him in exchange for
(18:55):
Chauncey Gardner And for me, I mean Gardner, Yeah, Gardner,
Chauncey Gardner Johnson. And for me, that that really takes
care of a big need for them, which is a
guy on the back end who's a little bit versatile
and they can handle, you know, some coverage responsibilities where
Jalen Petrie is a little more static and Jimmy Ward's
(19:17):
not staying healthy. W Now you got Chauncey Gardner Johnson
who can play up top if you need him too.
He can play on the slot, so and he's got
some he's got a little bit more cover skills, so
you've got a little bit more versatile as a defense
with him. I like it. And you know, you got
a dog. You got a couple of dogs, Aziz al
Shayer and Will Anderson, who are the leaders in the
(19:38):
defensive side. So you got guys who can handle his personality,
I think, and that's that's important too.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Yeah. In fact, I look at it differently I look
at it as more of a positive his personality because
when you look at the last two teams that he
was involved with, the Detroit Lions and in the Philadelphia Eagles, respectively, Like,
he changes the tenor of how you get down in
the back end. And the Eagles had him, let him
go and they missed him. That's why they brought him back,
(20:05):
and that dog really reappeared. He is a great communicator
in terms of how he operates in the middle of
the field. He got some nastiness and some swag to
him that I think his teammates feed off of. Yeah, Like,
I think it's a strong personality that you must manage.
But look, Damiko Ryans doesn't appear to have any issue
(20:25):
barking back when he's surrounded by dogs. I think he's
okay with it, and I think his team benefits from kind
of being a little edgy in asham Oh.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And when you have a Will Anderson
setting a tone on that side of the ball, I mean,
that guy is all ball and he's gonna let you know,
he's gonna talk. He's gonna like they have guys in
there who it's their locker room on the defensive side
of the ball, so I think he'll fit in. And
most importantly, they're trying to get over the hump. Houston
(20:55):
is trying to get over the hump, and they need
another playmaker on the back end. But for the most part, though, Buck,
when I look at their free agency, I think it's
you know, it's a you're mostly Gardner Johnson was a trade.
He was not a free agent. Christian Kirk was a trade,
you know what I mean. The rest of these guys are, Hey,
we got spots to fill on the roster. A lot
of them are are returning or returning champions, you know,
(21:19):
like Jeopardy are returning champion. Is Tremon Smith. He's been
here before. They brought him back. You know, Sheldon Rankins
been here before, Let's bring him back. So Jim Stewart,
he's been there and not been there, been there. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
It is something funny because you're talking about a team
that understands their personnel. They have been able to kind
of get it done in the locker room in terms
of like the people that have been there, they know them,
they bring them back and they've had a lot of success.
But speaking of the locker room, and one of the
more intriguing storylines that we have is Mike Rabel returning,
(21:54):
Hern returning home to New England, the prodigal son returns
to kind of help this team move past a disastrous
twenty twenty four campaign. And what I love that the
Patriots have done is they appeared to have gone all
in on bringing glue guys back to New England, meaning
guys that may not be high end players, but guys
(22:18):
that certainly have the temperament and the talent to feel
key roles. When you look at what the Patriots have done,
what are your thoughts?
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Well, the first thing that stood out to me was
Josh Dobbs and he did a two year, eight million
dollar deal. Basically one year is guaranteed three point eight million.
But I thought it was curious because you know, they're
big on Joe Milton over there. Joe Milton had a
big preseason game and it came out that they're willing
to entertain trading them. I think Milton would love to
get to a team where he's got a shot, because
(22:47):
he really didn't have a shot playing behind Drake may List.
Things are gone horribly wrong for New England and everyone
will be out then, but I thought that was I
think it's interesting because I wonder if the Patriots already
have some initial interest in in Milton Joe Milton, So
that was a little bit curious. You mentioned MATC Collins,
(23:09):
glue guy, great personality, fun guy, good for a locker room.
Did much more as a receiver than I expected in Buffalo,
but he's kind of limited. Morgan Moses. You talked about
that a little earlier. They got to have tackle. You know,
you grab Morgan Moses. I don't think it changes, so
you still need another tackle. It probably with the fourth
pick of the draft, and then you know, you just
(23:32):
tighten up the defensive line with Milton Williams and Harold Landry.
I like it. I mean, you you want to be
more competitive in there. And Milton Williams signed a four
year deal with fifty four fifty one million fully guaranteed,
so basically that's a three to four that's going to
be a three year deal at least, and maybe a
four year deal. So they're hoping he is there as
(23:52):
one of the lynch pins of that defense by the
time they hopefully turned the corner and get back to being,
you know, a competitive AFC East team. So Carlton Davis.
I like Carlton Davis. He's physical along the outside, can
press and run with big corner, big wide receivers. So
I kind of like what they did. I mean, they
had money to spend, and you mentioned the glue guys,
(24:15):
but there's some dudes that you know, Landry can still
rush it a little bit, Morgan Moses can hang in there,
Milton Williams a good player. Carlton Davis is a good corner.
So yeah, I mean I kind of like what they did.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Yeah. No, I mean they've been very effective. They've done
a really good job, and I would say they free
themselves up to take the best play available at all
of those respective draft spots when they come to it.
We talked about left tackle, offensive tackle. They need to
address it. We'll see if they're able to get it done.
When we come back from this break, I want to
go to the other side and kind of talk about
(24:47):
a couple of the teams, like the Niners and the
Broncos and what they were doing free agency. All right, Lance,
So we're back and we're talking about these teams to
really attack free agency. Just trying to get some of
your thoughts on maybe some of the most active teams
in free agency, and a team that is active but
(25:08):
active in a different way has been to San Francisco
forty nine ers. We've almost seen one of these liquidation
sales where you go to the furniture store and everything
is got to slap on, fifty percent off, seventy percent off.
We just got to get it out of here. Stores
closing in a month, you got to go. And so
they got rid of some really good players. Deebo, Samuel
(25:30):
Kalaju check is gone, Javon Hardgrade, Green Law. We talked
about Javaris Ward. I mean telling Nooga Halfunka is gone.
I mean a lot of players that look, man, they
earned their stripes with the Niners. What are your thoughts
when you look at the Niners and what they're trying
to do as a reset is on the horizon.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
I mean, it looks like they're just leaning into the
fact that it's time for the It's time for the reset.
Like you said, there's no other way around it. Ebo's gone.
You got another expensive wide receiver there right now in
Brandon Ayuk. We'll see how long Kittle still has in
terms of you know, being in an NFL tight end
and he's still playing at a high level. But you're
(26:12):
getting ready to play. Pay brock Purty and you're gonna
pay him a lot. But boy, brock Purty feels like
a guy that he's been a good he's been a
good player over there, but he needs guys around him.
So you got an expensive running back with Christian McCaffrey,
and it's it's one of those luxuries. It's hard. You
can have that luxury when you've got a great team
and you think Christian McCaffrey is gonna put you over
(26:33):
the top and win a super Bowl. But once you
don't win the Super Bowl and you got to start liquidating,
everything must go. As you said, uh, everything must go gone.
Javon Hargrave gone, Drake Greenlaw, that's a heartbeat guy. He's gone.
Shavarius Ward as we mentioned, gone Hufango, who can really play?
(26:54):
But is you know the injuries were concerned in college,
they're a concern now in the pros. Aaron Banks starting,
I mean you look at who they sign and it's like, Hugh,
I know, a bunch of one year just band aid guys.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Yeah, just trying to figure out a way to get
it done. And some of this is due to the
fact that they're going to have to pay brock Purity.
They're gonna have to pay him. They're gonna have to
pay him a bunch of money. If I'm brock Purity,
brock Preity is like I am getting fifty million plus
because for three seasons you've had me on these peanuts deals.
It's time for me to get paid. I want to
get paid. I'm curious to see what that looks like
(27:30):
in terms of paying the quarterback. But I'm also curious
to see. When the Niners kind of had the liquidation seal,
we can talk about some of it being salary cap driven,
but to me, it also felt like it was culture driven.
In terms of Deebo Samuel. We saw the sideline incidents
where he goes at the kicker, you know. We saw
(27:52):
Brandon Aiyuk have some issues where they had to send
them in because he didn't wear the right shorts. When
everyone was wearing one color, he just to wear another color.
And it just felt like this team, coming on the
heels of losing a Super Bowl, they just never clicked
and got back together. From a chemistry and a continuity standpoint, Lance,
(28:14):
You've been around this a long time and your dad
coach for a long time, talk about the importance of
signing free agents that fit the fabric of the team.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
I mean, it's everything. It's everything, and sometimes it's like
the transfer point. I remember there were college coaches who
told me when transfer portal really got popping. They said, hey, portals,
we may lose some he said, we may pick up guys,
but don't forget we can and we may lose some
guys in portal, we can also portal some guys out
of here. And that's something that a lot of college
(28:46):
teams are now getting rid of the guys that they
really don't want well right now. And with teams you're
starting to see Houston Texans has they've made moves with
Dimico Ryans because they wanted to get their culture a
certain way. They're still working on it. And Sam Francisco,
you know, you go only so far, and then you
got to make some changes. If it's not good enough,
and if the culture is not right and you start
(29:06):
having too many big personalities and you don't feel like
you're all headed in the same direction, that's a problem.
Pittsburgh Steelers, you know, for years my dad was with
the Steeler team and I asked him, I said, you know,
what's it like in the locker room. He goes, got
a lot of leaders, and he said, it's a self
patrolling locker room. But once some of those guys are gone,
once some of the glue guys are gone from from
(29:29):
the defense for them, you didn't have as much patrolling
in the and some things got sideways. We know Antony,
we know they've had a bunch of issues with wide receivers.
So but he made the point to me that when
you're in that locker room, you got to have the
right guy in the in the room for every position
group It helps, and then whoever the alphas are on
each side of the ball, and then a coach that
(29:51):
you know, coaches that are respected. It takes a lot.
And if you don't have that, now with the money
that's in there, egos start tripping and it's you know,
it can go ways quick. I mean, the Niners look
like they had dynasty stuff potentially now it shakes out
and they're done. I mean it looks like a rap
for the Niners. They got to at least a version
(30:11):
that that we knew. It's a rap form. And so
now they've got some good players still, but they they've
got some rebuilding to do. And once you know it's
not good, Bucky, once you know it's toxic, if you
don't if you don't cut that out, if you don't
get rid of that that toxic stuff, you can roll
with it if you want, but all it does is
(30:31):
eventually it's not just because a guy can play, it
doesn't mean it's beneficial to you. So I think it's
hard sometimes to get rid of guys that you know
can play, but that don't fit the culture that you want,
or causing problems in the locker room. And it's just
the fans don't get it all the time. They're upset
because it's like a Madden game to the end. You
just got rid of a guy who's a ninety two rating,
(30:55):
you know what I'm saying. But that's not real life,
and you know that, Bucky, it's this isn't a Madden rating.
You got personality scores and things like that that you
have to account for that we don't see that in Madden.
I don't know, it's pretty lifelike.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Maybe maybe they do have that in Madden.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Now, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
Yeah, it's funny because we talked about this culture and
how they're trying to repair a culture. But I got
to tell you, man, when I look at the Denver Broncos,
Sean Payton is certainly building up a culture. How impressed
are you with the moves that they made in free agency?
Speaker 1 (31:24):
I think I think, well, you know, I like re
signing DJ Jones. I think he's good in the middle.
Love Dre Greenlaw, you know the same reason that Demiico
Ryans went and targeted as he's al shaier for a
certain level of toughness. I think Denver is saying, we
gotta get dra Greenlaw here because he'll help unlock some
of the young guys with our defense. Hufanga can ball
(31:46):
if he's healthy, there's no question. But the one that
I really like is Evan Ingram because and once again
there's a guy that's risk reward because of injuries in
the past. But when Evan Ingram is right, you know,
we've all been. I don't know about you, but I've been.
Let's see Holston Loveland, Colston Loveland, could Warren make it here?
It's been tight end, tight end, tight end. We're not
(32:06):
going tight end anymore. I don't see them drafting a
tight end in the first round after giving Evan Ingram
this deal. So I really like the fact that they've
made them now. They could they could still go a
lot of twelve personnel. They could go another tight end,
but they don't have to, Like they don't. I like
teams that make moves that make them less predictable on
(32:27):
draft day.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
Yeah, I'm with you. I'm with you on all of that. Like,
I think it makes a lot of sense for them.
Evan Ingram coming on board. I can tell you he's
one of the best workers that I've seen.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Chance to watch him in Jacksonville, and don't be fooled
by the yards per catch things. Some of that was
designed to the offense. He still can get down the scene.
He still is a reliable and dependable chain mover, and
he has some juice still to him. He can be
a bit of a matchup problem on the perimeter. Sean
Payne had talked about wanting a joker type, someone that
he could move him around and create and exploit Miss Missmas.
(33:01):
Evan Ingram can feel the building now. It frees him
in the first round and running back all day. Get
a running back, get a playmaker, get somebody else that
can put points on the board. Because to close the
gap on the competition, it's still is gonna be a
bit of an arms race offensively. Defensively, they've shown that
they can play vanas Joseph did a great job last season. Offensively,
(33:22):
they got to figure out how to close the gap.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Yep, I'm with you. I'm with you, and there's still
a little bit more to go. There's still some big
names out there to go. I'm sure you and DJ
will be hitting on those. But once once at Aaron
Rodgers domino falls, then a few more pieces may fall
in place for sure.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
That was this week's Hot or Not segment, brought to
you by with Sabi Hot Cloud storage, store more and
do more with your data try for free at with
Sabi dot com. Lz Man, I know you're busy. I
know you're about to have to jump on the tube
and give some insight to the Insider, So I'm gonna
let you cut right now. But I know real soon
(34:01):
we'll be able to get back on here and talk
about some draft stuff because I really want to know,
and you can save this will Campbell or his arms
too short? Is he too short to be a premier tackle?
We have to talk about that on the next time.
Until then, I'm Bucket Brooks. That's land C. This was
moved to six. Will chat with
Hosts And Creators
Daniel Jeremiah
Bucky Brooks
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