NFL Network Insiders Tom Pelissero, Ian Rapoport, Judy Battista and Mike Garafolo discuss the biggest stories from around the NFL including Russell Wilson meeting with Browns and his scheduled visit with the Giants on Friday. Plus, the latest on Aaron Rodgers' future after the Steelers signed Mason Rudolph to a 2-year contract. New Seahawks QB Sam Darnold joins the Insiders after being introduced in Seattle. Jane Slater reports on the departure of DeMarcus Lawrence from Dallas to Seattle, Michael F. Florio reveals the fantasy winners and losers following the beginning of the new league year and Lance Zierlein provides analysis on some of the top prospects heading into the 2025 NFL Draft. Plus, Cam Wolfe stops by to break down various free agency moves by the Patriots and Colts!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
It's Aaron Rodgers first full day as a free agent officially,
and the world remains in the darkness on the four
time NFL MVP's plans for twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
We will tell you to lay this on the enigma that.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Is Roger's future and whether some of the teams waiting
might not wait much longer. Rogers buddy Devonte Adams already
has a new team, but we'll teaming up with Matthew
Stafford make Adams a fantasy winner this fall.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Michael Lefforio is here to break.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Down the impact of big signings on your upcoming fantasy drafts.
Sam Darnold definitely a winner, or at least has one
hundred million reasons to.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Feel like one.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
He made his debut at Seahawks headquarters today, almost as
exciting as making his debut as a guest on our
show tonight, Welcome Inside with the Insiders alongside Ian Rappaport,
Judy Bautista, and Mike Garifolo, I am Pelvicero. The free
agency frenzy, at least the show, the trademarked NFL Network
(01:04):
thing that's over, but guess what, there is still so
much action to come in the days and weeks ahead.
We are six weeks out from the draft. We've got
guys who just got boatloads of money showing up for
the first times. We've got photo ops, and that's really
the most important thing. Once you get the Thursday of
free agency week. Sam Darnold got his earlier today, smartly
(01:27):
dressed like the fourth member of Nirvana for his introductory
press conference, opposing right there with his new head coach,
Mike McDonald, the guy who used to occupy that seat,
if not that specific, Jersey Russell Wilson still figuring out
where he is going to have a home in.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
For now, he's writing Shotgun for some reason while leaving
the Browns facility in Berea. We'll talk a lot about
Russ and his plans. Ian though, I want you to
start with when you get into a car, whether it
be a car service from an airport or an uber,
if you climb right in the front there's no one
else in the vehicle, do you take shotgun in that situation?
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Go?
Speaker 4 (02:06):
So, I personally do not take shotgun. That's not the
way I roll. I feel like I know my prescribed seat,
so I sit there, not behind the driver, but on
the other side in the back seat. But some people
do like to be just personable, good dudes. I like
to be more like on my phone, but some people
like to have conversations with the driver. I commend Russell
Wilson on his decision to ride shotgun, having nothing to
(02:29):
do with the fact that maybe people would see this departure.
I mean, that's a great camera shop right there. Obviously
paparazzi right outside to capture him a great shot at
Russell Wilson, I thought that I worked out well. By
the way, sounds like his meeting with the Browns.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Went well today.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
Headed right to New Jersey to go meet with the Giants.
Coulda spend some time with them tonight. I'm sure we
will hear of them having some very nice dinner somewhere
near the facility. Then gonna go spend all day at
the Giants facility tomorrow. After that, for Russell Wilson, it
will be decision time. You will sit down with people
close to him and you make a call, whether that's
Friday night or whether that's Saturday, or whenever he ends
(03:04):
up making decision. I don't know if you guys know this,
but sometimes quarterbacks take a while to make decisions when
their future rides on it. So we'll see when we
actually learn where Russ is going to go. But really
what this is for Russell Wilson is kind of taking
control of his own process. We've talked about how he's
been waiting for Aaron Rodgers, right like we're all waiting
for Aaron Rodgers. But by him visiting the Browns and
(03:24):
him visiting the Giants, it's his way of saying like,
I'm here too, I'm going to make a decision too,
and I am in control of this process. And it
is very possible that Russell Wilson makes a decision before
we find out Aaron Rodgers. And obviously if that's the case,
that would be the Browns. But it sounds like today
based on everything I've heard, went pretty well.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (03:46):
I mean, Russell Wilson is in control of this to
the extent that he can control the Browns decision. He
can't control the other decisions because we know that the
Steelers from the Giants seem to still be waiting on
Aaron Rodgers. Having said that, I mean, everybody's got to
start doing their contingency planning here, and clearly Russell Wilson
(04:07):
is next in line. And I don't mean that as
a slight to Russell Wilson at all, but I mean
Aaron Rodgers is over here on one side, and he's
going to take whatever timeline he wants to take. But
Russell Wilson is going to have job opportunities and he
has to make a decision about his future too. Certainly,
as we were saying yesterday, the entry of the Cleveland
(04:29):
Browns into the mix for Russell Wilson is interesting and
throws off what looked like really neat math, the Aaron
Rodgers Russell Wilson math. Two teams, two quarterbacks, somebody gets one,
one gets the other. But the Browns getting Russell Wilson
would not be a bad situation, certainly for Russell Wilson,
and it would be a pretty good situation for the
(04:50):
Cleveland Browns, especially if they are not intent on taking
a quarterback at the top of the draft.
Speaker 6 (04:56):
Judy, you talked about contingency plans. The Giants brought in
and Joe Flacco for a visit today, the Autubah, New
Jersey native, who, if he joins the Giants, would then
have played for like Baltimore, Philly and both Jersey teams
all surrounding where.
Speaker 7 (05:13):
He grew up in South Jersey. So yeah, I.
Speaker 6 (05:15):
Mean, and Russell Wilson is a contingency plan for the
Giants here as well.
Speaker 7 (05:20):
They've got to go through all this.
Speaker 6 (05:21):
Mason Rudolph, by the way, who agreed to terms with
the Steelers, are gonna talk about him in a second.
Speaker 7 (05:25):
He was on the Giants' list of contingency plans as well,
so they're going through them.
Speaker 6 (05:29):
They're trying to be patient with Aaron Rodgers and giving
them his space and giving them his time, but at
some point they have to start deciding if they're going
to lose some of the they did Mason Rudolf, they
lost one of the contingency plans. So they got to
figure out if we got to jump to Russell Wilson
here and the Cleveland's gonna jump, like, do we have
to make a decision before we hear from Aaron Rodgers
and does any of this scare Rodgers? Potentially we're talking
(05:49):
about that coming up here. But I'm looking forward to
seeing how this visit goes for Russell Wilson because last
year he initiated the visit with the Giants and this year,
the Giants more in need of bringing him in.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Like you mentioned, Mason Rudolph officially, as you reported earlier
today back with these Steelers, it is a two year
deal for Mason Rudolph where eight million dollars four point
five million in guarantees. Of course, Miles Garrett decided to
stay in Cleveland, which means of Mason's playing we get
two of those matchups this year.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Which is a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Mason Rudolph those played some good football in the league,
got his opportunity last year in Tennessee where they were
going back and forth between Mason Rudolph and Will Levis
at various times. Here a place he knows a quarterback
that Mike Commlin trust to the point that you remember
back in the twenty twenty three season, it was Mason
Rudolph after all the quarterbacks, which is there who ended
up starting in a playoff game for Pittsburgh. This although
(06:41):
brings us to once again Aaron Rodgers watch here, Judy,
which continues. No beach photos today, no outward longing, though
probably plenty inward.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
What do we know?
Speaker 5 (06:53):
Yeah, I don't know what the weather was wherefo. Aaron
Rodgers is right, now sorry, he didn't make it to
the beach. Neither did I, by the way, because we're
just waiting for Aaron Rodgers. Look, Mike just said, like,
does any of this other movement prompt Aaron Rodgers to
hurry up? I can't imagine it would. He is entirely
in the driver's seat here, right, He's got multiple suitors
(07:15):
and he can decide what he wants to do, and
he clearly wants to survey the landscape and think about this.
He is a deliberate decision maker. I don't know how
many other ways we can say this. He is a
deliberate person. He wants to think through everything. This is
almost certainly going to be the last stop of his career.
You assume the way things went sideways at the Jets,
(07:38):
he certainly does not want to repeat of that. He
wants to get this right. He's got a lot to consider.
He's clearly going to take his time. I can't imagine
Russell Wilson and Mason Rudolph and Joe Flacco impact his
decision making, if it's even on his radar at all.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Yeah, I think that's a good call.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
I mean, right, I would doubt Rogers check Twitter, being like, wait,
they brought Flacco in. I highly doubt and I mean
maybe you never know. People can be threatened by all
sorts of thing. No offense to Joe Flacco, who really
has had some great moments late in his career, but
I just I doubt Aaron Rodgers cares very much.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
No to me.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
The next sort of inflection point for this one is
the draft, right, I mean, the Giants pick number three.
As of now, there's been no movement toward them going
to number one. It is very possible, especially if the
Browns end up signing let's say, Russell Wilson, that the
Giants would have the chance at the number two quarterback
in the draft, which really is it's not leverage because
just reality, but that's sort of their leverage here is
(08:35):
like they could just go, you know what, We're just
gonna take one, and if we take one, maybe it's
Joe Flacco as the backup slash bridge starter or Ricky
quarterback and just rolled from there. So if the Giants
don't get Rogers, they're gonna be okay. But I'm just
saying like, even though we all would sort of I
assume like this to be done just because we're talking
about the same thing that after night. But there's really
(08:57):
no other reason for this to be done at all,
because there's no deadline, right I mean, the only deadline
is when we would really like to stop talking about it.
And again, much like Joe Flacco, I don't think Aaron
Rodgers cares very much.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
This is also a rare draft to which the team's
drafting one, two, three not only have a long term
quarterback need none of them have a clear starter right now.
We don't know who would be starting if these teams
don't end up getting a quarterback. Obviously, the Browns and
the Giants involved on multiple veterans right now. The Titans
are not, which may or may not tip their hand
about what direction they're leading at number one. Overall, we
(09:30):
do know this Cooper cup is looking for a new home.
Officially released on Wednesday by the Rams. Thirty one years old,
he's missed timing each of the past three seasons because
of injuries. But Mike, it does sound like there's strong
interest in Cooper Cupp and the decision could end up
coming soon to the later.
Speaker 6 (09:46):
Here there is look, I did this last night. I'm
reluctant to double down but I'm gonna do it again.
I think we could have something tonight from Cooper Cup.
I thought we'd have one by now, but I believe
tonight we'll have a decision from Cooper Up.
Speaker 7 (10:00):
We'll see. There's a lot of teams.
Speaker 6 (10:01):
There's a lot of interest from what I gather, and look,
tell me if I miss somebody here. But you got
t Higgins, Davante Adams, and Chris Godwin. They're in the
twenties as far as millions per year on their deal.
And then this thing drops off to Hollywood. Brown had
an eleven million dollar max.
Speaker 7 (10:17):
Diami.
Speaker 6 (10:18):
Brown had a twelve million dollar max. He's gonna be
above that on a base value of the deal. Cooper
Cup is going to do really well, especially for a
guy time that you mentioned is thirty one years old.
Speaker 7 (10:28):
There is significant interest.
Speaker 6 (10:29):
There are a number of teams that are willing to
pay here that see Cooper Cup still having plenty of
good football left and a guy that's a good fit
for their system could find out very shortly where he goes.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
And for how much is someone singing opera in Mike's house?
Speaker 6 (10:43):
I tried to yell over her like she just all day,
just noise out.
Speaker 7 (10:46):
Of just noise noise.
Speaker 8 (10:48):
Seven o'clock is TV time.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
For who nice to me?
Speaker 3 (10:52):
That is nice.
Speaker 6 (10:54):
DeMarcus Lawrence, after starting his career and spending the bulk
of it with the Dallas Cowboys, now headed to the
Seahawks a three year contract in Seattle worth up to
forty two million dollars according to his agents, Ness Mugrabi
and David Canner of Rasports, who just.
Speaker 7 (11:11):
Gave Jane a Cowboys scoop.
Speaker 6 (11:14):
By the way, here is the thank you, thank you
from the Cowboys to DeMarcus Lawrence for his years of
service in Dallas. I'm bringing Jane Slater in in just
a second because I want to talk to her about
what the Cowboys might do.
Speaker 7 (11:28):
So hegel Cowboys. Here's the menu.
Speaker 6 (11:31):
Here are the best available free agents right now to
improve your team.
Speaker 7 (11:36):
A lot of guys with a lot.
Speaker 6 (11:37):
Of production there now, some of them later on in
their career and some of them got some injury concerns
and whatnot. Some of them even played for the Cowboys.
He looked down there, Stefan Gilmour. So Jane having said that,
and don't forget to visit NFL dot com. Top one
hundred four or one on one. Excuse me for Greg
Rosenthal's past remaining free agents. Jane, what do the Cowboys
do with that list? Where do they order off of
(11:57):
that menu?
Speaker 9 (11:58):
There?
Speaker 8 (12:00):
You know what?
Speaker 10 (12:01):
Selfishly and this is a lot of bias here. I
love Charles Omenet who he's from my hometown of Rawlett.
Speaker 8 (12:07):
I know he's wanted to come to Dallas before.
Speaker 10 (12:10):
Edge guy, you know, obviously play with Kansas City Chiefs.
He was injured, but I have no news that they
have been calling him. There are some interesting guys on there,
a Marii Cooper. I know a lot of people would
love to see him come back to Dallas. I don't
see that happening. So we'll see what Cowboys are doing. No,
they said that they're going to be selectively aggressive, and
they have tried to take care of their own. I
(12:30):
just tweeted out thank you David Kanter.
Speaker 8 (12:33):
Safety is Israel.
Speaker 10 (12:34):
Mukuamu is coming back on a one year deal. The
terms of that's still undisclosed, but that's one guy that
they are returning to service here in Dallas.
Speaker 8 (12:45):
So they've been shoring up some of these corners, some.
Speaker 7 (12:47):
Of the back half.
Speaker 10 (12:48):
You know, it seems like Maddie Burvlus is having a
lot of say here, you know, he's going and making
sure that they're bulking up that defensive line.
Speaker 8 (12:54):
As we've talked about this week, you.
Speaker 10 (12:56):
Really have to when you consider what the Commanders have
done and the Eagles have done on offense. This is
just a way of really kind of making sure they're
molding and shaping this group to be a roster that
Maddie Pervlus wants to mold really in the spirit of
what his defense is going to look like.
Speaker 7 (13:12):
Yep, and listen, everything's coming up.
Speaker 6 (13:15):
Canor and mcgravii the agents we're talking about, because they
had Rico Dowdell who signed with the Carolina Panthers after
being with the Cowboys the last couple of years. Harry
one year deal worth up to six point two five
million dollars. The Cowboys did sign Javonte Williams, but what's
the plan in the backfield overall to replace Dabble and
move forward game.
Speaker 8 (13:35):
I still can't make sense of this one. I'll be honest.
Speaker 10 (13:38):
This is a guy that was an undrafted free age,
undrafted rookie for you've been here for four years. He
had less than fifteen one hundred rushing guards in his career,
so not a lot on the tires twenty.
Speaker 8 (13:49):
Six years old. Once.
Speaker 10 (13:51):
They really got him going last year and said this
running back by committee thing. He ended up with over
one thousand yards and four point six yards per Carrie.
I've asked around and it sounds like the Cowboys didn't
even make him an offer. Again, curious to me, they
went out and got Javonte Williams too. I don't think
he's gonna be your running back one. This is really
a third down, physical play type of guy. I still
(14:14):
think that this tells us that they are going to
address the running back position. There's a lot of good
ones this year in the draft, probably in that second
or third round. So let's see what the Cowboys do.
I know that Genti would love to come here. He
is a loan note kid right up there in the
Frisco area. I've had his people reach out to me.
I don't know where Cowboys are going to go there.
Speaker 8 (14:34):
I do know.
Speaker 10 (14:35):
And as much as this is upset, it upset a
lot of the Cowboys fans. Why aren't you making a
big splash, Why aren't we in on Cooper Cup, Why
aren't we doing this. Look, what they're doing is they're
essentially filling out some of the position issues, some of
the depth issues. They're doing them on contracts that don't
break the bank, and then they're going to use the draft,
I think, to address a lot of these needs. And
then the biggest argument that I'm hearing on local sports
(14:57):
talk is well, why clear all the money? In other word,
it's why are you restructuring deals? Kicking money down down
the lane. It's something that the Cowboys have done for years.
Maybe it's a slush fun for them. You know, maybe
if next year they actually find themselves in a position
to do something, they can go out and be aggressive
with a free agent.
Speaker 8 (15:16):
Maybe they're trying to change things up.
Speaker 10 (15:18):
I do know what they've done at least a little
bit differently this year by going ahead and making some
of these trades, moving on from some of these guys,
and then actually addressing some of the contracts they needed
to before the free agency deadline.
Speaker 8 (15:30):
So kudos to the Cowboys. They're doing some things differently.
Speaker 6 (15:35):
Exactly, Jane, you got the upset fans there. I got
them here in Jersey. They're Cowboy fans everywhere, and they're
asking me every day.
Speaker 7 (15:41):
What are we doing? We're not doing enough. So I'll
just tell them go to Jane Slater. She's got all
the answers right here. Jane's Slayer.
Speaker 8 (15:47):
Oh, I'm good.
Speaker 7 (15:48):
Thank you very much, thank you very much.
Speaker 6 (15:52):
For the third thick from the twenty eighteen NFL Draft,
the New York Kids select Damn Donald.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
I'm gonna be here for a long time.
Speaker 11 (15:58):
Donald's thirst pass is pick six, so goes.
Speaker 12 (16:04):
It is an embarrassment.
Speaker 7 (16:06):
They did not have the infrastructure.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
It has nothing else to say.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Hopefully this is a new beginning for him in Carolina.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Donald bumped crab, take him down.
Speaker 13 (16:14):
Sam Donald a forty nine ers back up quarterback.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Sam Darnald at the helm.
Speaker 7 (16:20):
He's our new quarterback, Sam Darnald, the journeyman.
Speaker 14 (16:23):
Damn Donald putting on a show.
Speaker 11 (16:26):
How bout that organizations fail young quarterbacks?
Speaker 9 (16:29):
Before young quarterbacks fail organization.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
When everybody decides you cannot play.
Speaker 9 (16:34):
We always believed in him.
Speaker 14 (16:35):
That's there.
Speaker 5 (16:36):
We got.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Have me Donald day.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
That's the message from the Seattle Seahawks, who got their
quarterback officially signed today Sam Donald on a three year,
one hundred point five million dollar deal, coming off a
Pro Bowl season, in Minnesota. But the highlight of Sam's
day by far joining us right here on the insiders,
Tom Hillicero and Judy Batista. Sam, congrats man, extremely happy
(17:06):
for you. You walk in the building today. You've got
this contract. You've you've been waiting though. This isn't the
old free agency where you went and took visits and stuff.
It's your first time getting with these people. What's you like,
Just take me through this moment for you.
Speaker 7 (17:19):
Yeah, it's been great.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
It's been great to be able to spend time here
in this you know, this facility, you know, get to
spend time with the coaches, some of the players, ran,
some of the players obviously, some of the guys that
we signed, and and uh, you know d Law and Josh.
Just to be able to spend time with them has
been amazing. And yeah, it's just it's good to meet everyone,
you know, everyone that I'm going to be you know,
(17:42):
spending some time with day to day. It's been great.
And uh, yeah, it's it's funny. I've I've been so
eager to to just ask climent obviously, Kubiak a ton
of questions about offense, and people are trying to drag
me out of his office, and it's just once you
get going on the football side of things, you don't
want to stop.
Speaker 7 (18:00):
But it's fun.
Speaker 14 (18:01):
Man.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
I love talking to you guys and doing all this media,
but you know, I'm excited to get going on the
football side of things as well.
Speaker 5 (18:10):
Sam, you obviously had a bit of a winding path
to get to this moment, right starting with the Jets
when you were a first round pick. You've had a
few steps along the way. I know you told the
reporters in Seattle that you felt it got unlocked when
you watched Brock party be like a point guard. How
do you think that has changed you and your game?
That experience, Yeah, you.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
Know, I learned a ton obviously, everywhere I've been, you know,
you learn a ton from the good experiences. You learned
a ton, and some would say, you know, I would
say even more from the bad experiences. And you know,
whether it was in New York and Carolina, obviously in
San Francisco and last year in Minnesota. But yeah, just
going back to the Brock thing, like just being able
to learn so much from from that year and just
(18:53):
seeing the way that Brock studied, getting to spend time
with with you know, guys like Brandon Allen as well
in that quarterback room. You know, Brandon obviously spending a
ton of time with Joe Burrow and Cincinnati before that.
So there was just you know a lot of football
dollars to go around in that room. And I soaked
everything up that I could, And yeah, I just felt
like I learned a ton from Brock in that regard.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Say on one of the enduring images from all of
the NFL season in twenty twenty four is you being
hoisted by your teammates in the locker room after the
Week seventeen game against the Packers, showering you with water
bottles and all that. The team rallied around you so much,
and Kevin O'Connell was, you know, like a proud parrot
in the corner, smiling in that moment. I know they
made you an offer. It was a one year deal.
It wasn't the same money, the same commitment as other places.
(19:39):
When it came right down to it, you decided where
your football future is taking you. How hard was it
to say goodbye to Minnesota?
Speaker 3 (19:46):
Yeah, I mean it was incredibly tough. You know, I
wanted to, you know, make it work. And you know,
do everything I could to stay there. But at the
end of the day, you know, this is a business,
and you know, they got to do what's best for them.
I gotta do it's best for me. And you know,
I'm so thankful, so grateful for the people that I
(20:08):
met in Minnesota. Obviously, the coaching staff, my teammates. You know,
I can't thank them enough for the time that you know,
I spent with them. I mean, you you look at
you know that video. It's just you know, it wasn't
it wasn't just me, or it wasn't just you know,
justin out there. It was you know, a collective group
coming together for for one common goal. And that's what
(20:30):
we set out to do every single day and every
single Sunday when we went out there, and we're able
to get that done. You know, obviously the last couple
of games didn't go our way, but you know, I'm
just excited that, you know, you talk about that kind
of windy trail to get here. I'm so excited to
to be able to start this journey in this chapter
in Seattle and uh yeah, just ready to hit the
(20:53):
ground running.
Speaker 5 (20:56):
Well, you mentioned the last two games of the season,
So let's talk about it. I'm sure you thought about it.
I don't know if you've rewatched them, But what can
you take from that? What what happened and what do
you think you need to address that maybe you can
change to make sure it doesn't happen again.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Yeah, I think the biggest thing was just getting the
ball out. You know, I felt like I took too
many sacks in those games, and I think I could
just you know, you know, first of all, it was
really good covered down the field, really good pass rush,
and for me, it was just about being able to
even if the checkdown's covered, like just being able to
throw it at his feet in some of these instances.
And you know, I learned a ton from those last
(21:36):
couple of games, and you know, just going to continue
to learn from experiences like that and grow from it.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
So tell me about this new team, Sam.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
I don't know if you follow the news, but there
have been some changes to the wide receiver group there.
Tyler Lockett's been released, DK mes Cass being traded, you
got JS and you got Marc wis Voldez Scanty coming in.
There's still some questions, but how much do you know
about these do to. You know, basically the whole teams
we relying on you formed that same type of connection
with them.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
I think that's the biggest thing is is once everyone
gets in the building, you know, JSN being one of them, mvs.
I mean, there's you know, you go down the list
right now of guys that you know can make plays.
Obviously we got two really good running backs as well,
so we have really good playmakers. It's at the end
of the day, it's just my job to get them
the ball. That's as simple as I can put it.
(22:29):
You know, move the offense, move the guys down the field,
you know, convert third downs one we have to, and
score touchdowns in the red zone. And that's really it.
Speaker 5 (22:40):
How do you carry over when you're going to an
entirely new environment, new coach, new teammates, the whole thing.
How do you carry over when you had such a
high level of performance, so much poise last season, how
do you carry that over into an entirely new spot.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Yeah, you just start over. You know, you put in
the work for me. I'm gonna get with Clint on
the playbook and start to understand the formations and all
the motions that we have. I know there's some terminology
that's very similar to what we did in San Francisco
together and some things that have changed, and I'm really
looking forward to learning that and you know, when I
get here in April, just getting to know my teammates.
(23:18):
I think that's one of the bigger things that that
people don't talk about, is, you know, the chemistry that
you have with your teammates off the field directly correlates
to the chemistry that you have on the field. And
I'm super super pumped to just, you know, start that
journey here and get to know these guys and just
get to playing football.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Sam.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Last thing for you, I was able to be at
a lot of those Vikings games last year in Minnesota.
One thing that I found out about you is a
season went on, you always show up every game with
a cup of coffee before the game. I've not seen
that with a quarterback before. Here's me interviewing you before
one game. It is always omnipresent. You're always with a
cup of coffee. You are in now the coffee mecca
of the country. You might have heard here. Are we
(24:01):
able to turn this into a sponsorship? Can the tradition continue?
Just take me through what it's like now being in
coffee central there.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
Yeah, that's on my agent to figure that part out,
but uh no, it's it's great, man. It's it's great
to be in Seattle obviously, you know, like you said,
the coffee mecca, so it is exciting. And you know,
I'm looking forward to trying some of the the kind
of the the mom pop kind of coffee shops around here.
I know that's something that you know, we're looking forward to.
(24:32):
And yeah, I'm just again, guys, like I'm I'm just
really looking forward to getting to know this area really
well and uh spending some quality time here with you know,
a ton of my teammates and my coaches.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Sam, congrats again, man, happy for you. You're one of
the good dudes in this league. So great to see
it paying off. We will be talking to you a
getting down the line here.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
All right.
Speaker 7 (24:56):
Appreciate you, guys.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
Se E Haawks quarterback Sam Darnold officially in Seattle coming up.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Glil Shaker is not leaving the Bills. He's got a
new deal. So what does that mean for his.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Fantasy outlook in twenty twenty five?
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Our Michael F.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Floya will be here to break down all things fantasy
for some free agent moves.
Speaker 14 (25:17):
Next on the Insiders, DeVante Adams and Puka Nkoua together
holding the number seventeen, the one that Nicoya used to wear,
and now Adams will wear, Nicoua switching to twelve as
college number.
Speaker 6 (25:36):
In case you haven't heard that, two years forty six
million dollars for Davante Adams, a guy that Michael excuse me,
Sean McVay recruited extremely hard.
Speaker 7 (25:48):
We recruit Michael at Floria.
Speaker 6 (25:50):
That's why I was saying, Michael, we recruit him to
be on the show as much as possible. And today
he said sure, because he wants to do a fantasy fallout.
Appreciate free agency, so we're gonna do this away that's
never been done before.
Speaker 7 (26:04):
Winners and losers. Who are the winners of free agency?
Speaker 13 (26:08):
Michael ef I was Sean McVay was trying to recruit me,
but he has no interest in that. I think Evan
Ingram is a winner from this free agent period because
he has long been a very successful tight end in fantasy,
but he does so with volume. He isn't the big
play threat or a high touchdown scorer. He Marshall does
it by racking up catches and yards, and he went
(26:30):
to a spot where he could do so again.
Speaker 7 (26:32):
He has the.
Speaker 13 (26:33):
Opportunity to be the number two target behind Courtland Sutton,
and I expect him to get drafted as like a
low end tighten one, high end tight end two, and
that feels appropriate for Evan Ingram at this stage in
his career. I'm also really excited for Jalen Warren Honey
per touch basis, Warren was top eight in miss tackles
forced and yards after contact. Last season. He outperformed Najie
(26:55):
Harris in a bunch of metrics, but he didn't get
all the volume there because of nause. So the draft
could change things up, but the Steelers opted to keep
Nase there. They let Harris walk. There is a potentially
lead opportunity role there for Jalen Warren, so that would
be really exciting for fantasy. And then my guy Khalil
Shakir has he led the Bills in targets, catch, his
(27:18):
yards and yak last season. He was a very reliable
wide receiver three in fantasy football. But then we heard
a lot of chatter that the Bills could be involved
in the wide receiver market. They didn't bring in a
target hog though. They brought in Josh Palmer, who is
a good deep threat, better than any deep that the
Bills had last season. He will help open things up
underneath for Shakir without taking a ton of volume away.
(27:41):
So Khalil Shakir is still the top target for the MVP.
Feel good about him heading into twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4 (27:48):
Well, that was lovely, that was very positive. Let's go
the other way. Let's be a little more negative.
Speaker 7 (27:52):
Who are the losers?
Speaker 13 (27:55):
I think DK Metcalf without even knowing who his quarterback is,
he's a fantasy loser right now, partly because of who
he is sharing the field with. Like him and George
Pickens are a phenomenal real life one two punch, but
for fantasy it could be very inconsistent week to week
because both have a very similar skill set.
Speaker 7 (28:16):
They both play primarily out wide. They are both downfield targets.
Speaker 13 (28:20):
Last year, each head over twenty five percent of their
targets be twenty or more air yards, so that is
very very volatile.
Speaker 7 (28:27):
For fantasy football. I think CJ. Stroud also was a
loser this week.
Speaker 13 (28:32):
He was top four in sacks and QB pressure taken
last season, and he struggled under pressure. It's what prevented
him from looking like he did in his rookie year.
So what do the Texans do. They go out and
they trade their one elite offensive lineman in Laramy Tunsel away.
They bring in Christian Kirk, which I like, but losing
(28:52):
step Diggs potentially Tank Dell is hurt. Not sure if
the receiving court took an upgrade, but that O line
definitely took a hit. So the arrow is pointing down
for Stroud and then JK.
Speaker 7 (29:02):
Dobbins.
Speaker 13 (29:03):
He was awesome last year, posted career highs and basically
every stat but the Chargers brought in Nause Harris to
what I believe be their new lead back, and I
have racked my brain for days, like where could a
landing spot for JK. Dobbins be that was as great
as the Chargers were last year where he knew the
OC they had a good offense, but they were a
run first offense and he had very little touch competition
(29:26):
for touches in that backfield. And I can't think of
a landing spot that is as great as the Chargers.
So I am rooting for him to find a new
home and be great in real life. But for fantasy
I think he might struggle to duplicate last season's success.
Speaker 7 (29:41):
Poor JK.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
Dobbins hadn't even sign yet in Aradio loser free agency.
It's only like the second day of the league. Years
open anyway, four you great stuff. As always, we appreciate you.
Speaker 7 (29:50):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 4 (29:52):
I won more fantasy knowledge whenever I can get it,
so you're the back Tom take it away.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
Pre draft C He's in underway six weeks out from
Draft A and University of Georgia held their pro day
on Wednesday. Take a look at three of the top
prospects that are all on Daniel Jeremiah's list of the
top fifty prospects entering the twenty twenty five NFL Draft.
(30:19):
Our guy Lance Zerlines got mock drafts out NFL dot Com.
Here to talk now about some of those top prospects here.
Let's start out with Jalen Walker. Lance, you saw how
high he's listed obviously by DJ.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
What do you make of him in his pro prospects here?
Speaker 11 (30:33):
Well, I think Jalen Walker is a player who you
know right now is sitting there somewhere in the top twelve,
probably higher than that because one of the things that
he does well is he's at Swiss Army knife. He
talks about that right. He's got the ability to rush
off the edge and a play linebacker. The problem that
he has right now with NFL teams that I've spoken
(30:54):
with is they're not sure if he's a linebacker or
an edge player because he hasn't played linebacker as long.
Speaker 7 (30:59):
He's as big as an edge player usually is. So
what they want to do is they want to see
that workout.
Speaker 11 (31:04):
On April seventeenth, he's got his own private workout along
with Michael Williams, and they want to see him test.
They want to see him out in the field. They
just want to be able to check that box. Which
the box is going to be checked. But at the
end of the day, the thing that sets him apart
is he has tremendous leadership. He has tremendous football character.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
And this is a game now where.
Speaker 11 (31:25):
You need to be multiple, you need to have multiple skills,
and that's something Jaalen Walker has. He has the ability
to attack the pocket, and I think he has the
ability to get much better from an instinctive standpoint as
a linebacker as well.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
You mentioned Michael Williams in there. When you're watching him
on tape, what do you seeing? What do you think
the questions are the NFL teams have about him?
Speaker 11 (31:48):
You know, I think the question right now is simply
how quickly when does everything come together for him? And
that's a that's not a negative. But when Trayvon Walker
came out, you know, there's some similarities between the two,
but tray was a little more physical, he was.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
A little more polished.
Speaker 11 (32:03):
He was a very good run defender who was just
still learning to rush the passer. With Michael Williams, you
see a lot of the same traits, you see the
same link to a similar body type. But right now
he is a player who I think is a little
bit behind where Trayvon Walker is. So it's a matter
of developing the polish right, It's a matter of learning
to rush the passer. What are your go to moves,
(32:25):
what are your counters? How quickly does that come along?
When do you start to really recognize what you need
to do as a run defender. But it's gonna come,
It's gonna come. And I think he's one of these
guys who can play standing over the hand in the ground. Now,
Malachi Starks is another Georgia player defensively, and this could
be Tom the third Georgia player in the first round.
The other two are going in the first round. Starks
(32:46):
had a great combine from a testing standpoint. Some of
the short area stuff was not great, but I don't
think scouts are going to hold that against him. I
thought he was pretty good in the field as well.
But he ran really well, he jumped well, and the
thing you have to do on Malachi Starks has watched
the twenty twenty three tape because they used him on
the slot a lot as their star. You know, the
(33:07):
guy who's an overhang who kind of plays the nickel
and he's okay in coverage, but he's better when he's
able to kind of step downhill and come support the
run and play from on top. So he has the
ability to play in a slot. But I think that
twenty three tape really shows you a better idea of
how NFL teams are going to view him, which is
coming from you know, a split safety look and coming
(33:27):
downhill to play sheriff.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
I'll thump it over to the offensive side of the
ball here Lance.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
Who are some of those guys do you think might
be Jim's here even if they're not some of those
really top eleague prospects.
Speaker 11 (33:38):
Well, let's start with with with Trevor at Tien, Travis
Atien's brother. Trevor is a really interesting player because he
came over to Georgia, he had some injury, so he
wasn't you know, you didn't get to see the full
scope of what he could do.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
Then he ran really well.
Speaker 11 (33:51):
Combine him four to four two, which is much faster
than I thought he was going to run after watching
him on tape. Now, he did have some injuries this year.
As I talked about, he is a small players. You
can see here in a lot of these drills. The
feed are smooth, the decision making and processing is good.
He was explosive on his leaps. But what stands out
to me Tom is his ability to run routes, to
catch the ball with very soft hands. Anything in his
(34:14):
direction he's gonna catch, very sticky, He's got wiggle after
the catch. And we know after James Cook, and he
reminds me a little bit of James Cook. James has
become a better runner in the NFL. But The thing
that set him apart when he came out of Georgia
is he could get out of the backfield and make
some noise and and and I think that's something that
Atten is going to be able to do as well.
And I think teams are gonna love him, probably in
(34:35):
the third round. Now, speaking of the third round, Tate Ratleice,
big dirt dog guard out of Georgia. I mean, this
guy is just tough.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
He's look at him, just look at him here.
Speaker 7 (34:44):
That's how he plays.
Speaker 11 (34:45):
He plays exactly how he looks tom And that's one
of the things I like about him is that mentality.
Now it's gonna be a little sloppy when he gets
in the phone booth's He's a.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
Brawler and a maler.
Speaker 11 (34:56):
He's not a great tech technician.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
He's not bad, but I think he could.
Speaker 11 (34:59):
Get a little bit better. He plays a little high
in terms of his knees are straight, and he's not
a great bender. But when you want a tough guy
in the middle who is going to give you good
effort game in and game out, and nothing NFL offensive
line coaches like better than a tough guard, this is
a guy for you. I think he goes somewhere in
the third round, maybe in the second, depending on you
(35:20):
know where the runs on position are. But those are
the two guys from the offensive side that I think
we're going to see potentially in the top one hundred.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
There's a lot of fun scouting terms you only hear
this time of year. Tate Ratledge, dirt dog. I am
never going to hear his name without thinking that ever. Again,
Land's fantastic. It's a positive to pause you between now
and drafted. Here are dirt Dog. That's how'm we introduce
you from now on. Thank you very much.
Speaker 5 (35:47):
The New England Patriots have been very active in free
agency so far. Here's Milton Williams. Welcome to Milton Williams.
That's a big one defensive tackle. Next up Carlton Davis
the welcome to him, the cornerback. And we're not done yet.
This is like introducing a law firm. Robert Splaine the linebacker,
(36:08):
and we're not even going to show you. I don't
think Harold Landry he's in that group two. They have
been very busy in Foxborough the last few days. Let's
welcome in our camp. We'll to talk more about this.
Our superb producer Jeff Collett sent me an amazing stat
and now I'm not gonna be able to pull it up.
Each of the previous six teams that spent the most
(36:28):
money in free agency in total contract value increase their
wins by at least three from the previous season. So
they've got their work cutout for them camp, but they've
certainly done a lot. What are they going to do
now that we're going into the next phase of free agency?
What's their focus?
Speaker 9 (36:44):
Yeah, this has been a new era of Patriots football,
aggressive style and free agency under Mike Vrabel. They are
not pinching pennies. They certainly gave out the biggest agent
contract in franchise history to Milton Williams, the guy they
targeted in aggressively bid and outbid the Cardinals and the
Vikings and other teams in the mix for Milton Williams
(37:05):
as well as the Panthers. They got their guy. And
it was interesting hearing Mike Rabel talk about building this
defense because everybody talked about the offense and Drake May
but Rabel's defensive guy. He wanted to get his type
of guys, guys they were comfortable with, guys they've been
in with the pass. He mentioned Robert Splane and he said,
we had him as an undrafted free agent at Tennessee.
We kept putting them through drills to see if anybody
(37:26):
could force him to miss a tackle, and nobody could,
and that's why we felt like he was going to
make our team. And now they bring them back as
a big money linebacker and you get a guy like
that coming in and really establishing the way Vrabel wants
to play. Now you mentioned what's next, right, you have
to get Drake May his weapons and his protection. Mike
Rabel said they are not hiding from it. That offensive
(37:46):
line is the priority for them and they will attack
that coming into whether it's the trade market or whether
it's the draft market. And he also mentioned they're still
doing their homework at wide receiver. They of course want
to get a number one wide receiver there. I'm told
they have done some homework on Cooper Cup. Obviously he's
gonna want a nice, pretty penny there. So I'm not
sure if New England's at the position to spend and
(38:08):
give him the winning that he wants. But they have
been in the mix there, they were going to be
in mixed. Chris Godwin if he hit the market, and
they're also keeping an eye on t Higgins as well,
And so this is a team that wants to get
those protection points, those weapons for Drake May. But right
now they're happy with what they're building the program wise
on defense.
Speaker 5 (38:27):
Just to give some context to how much they have
spent two hundred and seventy nine point three million dollars
combined value in the contract so far in free agency.
They haven't had a spending spree and free agency like
that in quite a few years in New England. Certainly
dawn of a new era. All right, let's turn to Indianapolis, where,
of course they signed former Giants quarterback Daniel Jones, brought
(38:49):
in to compete for the starting job with Anthony Richardson, how.
Speaker 3 (38:53):
Is that going to go?
Speaker 9 (38:54):
Yeah, this might be the only true quarterback competition we
have throughout the off season and there's no rookie involved.
Two guys trying to fight for their shot as a
starting quarterback. Daniel Jones was signed officially today and he
was asked what will you promise coming in and he
said nothing except a chance to compete for the starting job,
and that echoes what their general manager Chris Baalor has
(39:16):
said throughout the process it's going to be an open
competition between Richardson, their twenty twenty three top five pick,
and Daniel Jones, who was the Giants first round pick
a while ago. And both of these quarterbacks have struggled
with the accuracy. But from what I understand, they want
to give Anthony Richardson every chance to prove he can
win this job. Even Daniel Jones getting a big money deal.
Anthony Richardson is the guy they invested in. They want
(39:37):
to see him stay healthy, they want to see him improve,
and he's got the message as well. They had meetings
at the end of the season and told him this
was going to be a reality. He is not asking
from a trade. I checked into his team. He said
he wants to battle. He is not running from this,
and I'm told he's already been working out in Jacksonville
for a little over a month with his trainers Will Hewlett,
Tom Gormley and Chris has who worked with Josh Alan
(40:01):
and his mechanics. He's also expecting josh Allen to come
down there and train with him for a few days
as well. So Richardson is ready for battle. And we'll
spend all summer giving you Daniel Jones versus Anthony Richardson
and India.
Speaker 5 (40:12):
I was going to say, we're going to be making
a lot of trips to training camp in Indianapolis this summer,
Caim Wolfe. Thank you very much, and when we return,
we're going to bring you more from our interview with
Sam Darnold, the brand new Seattle Seahawks quarterback.
Speaker 12 (40:26):
When we returned, Sam, thank you, Thanks buddy, Yeah, of course,
appreciate you man, have fun.
Speaker 2 (40:39):
Good luck.
Speaker 3 (40:40):
Coffee Coffee Ginger.
Speaker 2 (40:43):
You said, what.
Speaker 5 (40:45):
Wild Ginger, great restaurant down there?
Speaker 7 (40:48):
Go there, wy, I thought you were calling me names.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
I was like, geez.
Speaker 5 (40:56):
Whatever, I like it, by New York.
Speaker 7 (41:00):
Come on, I don't like it.
Speaker 1 (41:03):
It's my favorite post interview moment, maybe of all time.
He's talking to me about like the coffee things. He's
a big drigger, and then Judy's just yelling Wild Ginger
at him.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
Defend yourself.
Speaker 1 (41:16):
Two things.
Speaker 5 (41:17):
Wild Ginger is an awesome restaurant in Seattle. It's it's
so good that on one trip there ages Ago, I
ate lunch and dinner there in the same day.
Speaker 8 (41:26):
Very good.
Speaker 5 (41:27):
I hope he gets there and I feel terrible that
his first instinct is to think that we would be
calling him names. I feel like there's like some psychological
scarring from having been in New York.
Speaker 7 (41:37):
He's now you got to understand something. He's now wild Ginger.
Speaker 5 (41:40):
Like that's it, wild Ginger, right, it kind of goes
I like it, Yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (41:46):
Mean I kind of lead him here though.
Speaker 4 (41:49):
It's like if someone becomes a free agent and goes
to like the only thing I want to say is like,
are here?
Speaker 2 (41:54):
Are the two restaurants? Are here? The two bars?
Speaker 4 (41:56):
Like of course, like you want to share your expertise,
this is we care about food.
Speaker 2 (42:01):
Basically, go to wild Chair.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
Turn yourself a nickname, Ian you ever come up with
one on your own? Anything you want to be called
besides rap sheet.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
Wrap sheet worked out pretty good.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
It works, That's it. So I was just trying to
get Sam Darnold a coffee endorsement. Instead, Judy's got him
one with a local restaurant here. Always buy local, not
that corporate crap.
Speaker 9 (42:26):
See you
It's Aaron Rodgers first full day as a free agent officially,
and the world remains in the darkness on the four
time NFL MVP's plans for twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
We will tell you to lay this on the enigma that.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Is Roger's future and whether some of the teams waiting
might not wait much longer. Rogers buddy Devonte Adams already
has a new team, but we'll teaming up with Matthew
Stafford make Adams a fantasy winner this fall.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Michael Lefforio is here to break.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Down the impact of big signings on your upcoming fantasy drafts.
Sam Darnold definitely a winner, or at least has one
hundred million reasons to.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Feel like one.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
He made his debut at Seahawks headquarters today, almost as
exciting as making his debut as a guest on our
show tonight, Welcome Inside with the Insiders alongside Ian Rappaport,
Judy Bautista, and Mike Garifolo, I am Pelvicero. The free
agency frenzy, at least the show, the trademarked NFL Network
(01:04):
thing that's over, but guess what, there is still so
much action to come in the days and weeks ahead.
We are six weeks out from the draft. We've got
guys who just got boatloads of money showing up for
the first times. We've got photo ops, and that's really
the most important thing. Once you get the Thursday of
free agency week. Sam Darnold got his earlier today, smartly
(01:27):
dressed like the fourth member of Nirvana for his introductory
press conference, opposing right there with his new head coach,
Mike McDonald, the guy who used to occupy that seat,
if not that specific, Jersey Russell Wilson still figuring out
where he is going to have a home in.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
For now, he's writing Shotgun for some reason while leaving
the Browns facility in Berea. We'll talk a lot about
Russ and his plans. Ian though, I want you to
start with when you get into a car, whether it
be a car service from an airport or an uber,
if you climb right in the front there's no one
else in the vehicle, do you take shotgun in that situation?
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Go?
Speaker 4 (02:06):
So, I personally do not take shotgun. That's not the
way I roll. I feel like I know my prescribed seat,
so I sit there, not behind the driver, but on
the other side in the back seat. But some people
do like to be just personable, good dudes. I like
to be more like on my phone, but some people
like to have conversations with the driver. I commend Russell
Wilson on his decision to ride shotgun, having nothing to
(02:29):
do with the fact that maybe people would see this departure.
I mean, that's a great camera shop right there. Obviously
paparazzi right outside to capture him a great shot at
Russell Wilson, I thought that I worked out well. By
the way, sounds like his meeting with the Browns.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Went well today.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
Headed right to New Jersey to go meet with the Giants.
Coulda spend some time with them tonight. I'm sure we
will hear of them having some very nice dinner somewhere
near the facility. Then gonna go spend all day at
the Giants facility tomorrow. After that, for Russell Wilson, it
will be decision time. You will sit down with people
close to him and you make a call, whether that's
Friday night or whether that's Saturday, or whenever he ends
(03:04):
up making decision. I don't know if you guys know this,
but sometimes quarterbacks take a while to make decisions when
their future rides on it. So we'll see when we
actually learn where Russ is going to go. But really
what this is for Russell Wilson is kind of taking
control of his own process. We've talked about how he's
been waiting for Aaron Rodgers, right like we're all waiting
for Aaron Rodgers. But by him visiting the Browns and
(03:24):
him visiting the Giants, it's his way of saying like,
I'm here too, I'm going to make a decision too,
and I am in control of this process. And it
is very possible that Russell Wilson makes a decision before
we find out Aaron Rodgers. And obviously if that's the case,
that would be the Browns. But it sounds like today
based on everything I've heard, went pretty well.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (03:46):
I mean, Russell Wilson is in control of this to
the extent that he can control the Browns decision. He
can't control the other decisions because we know that the
Steelers from the Giants seem to still be waiting on
Aaron Rodgers. Having said that, I mean, everybody's got to
start doing their contingency planning here, and clearly Russell Wilson
(04:07):
is next in line. And I don't mean that as
a slight to Russell Wilson at all, but I mean
Aaron Rodgers is over here on one side, and he's
going to take whatever timeline he wants to take. But
Russell Wilson is going to have job opportunities and he
has to make a decision about his future too. Certainly,
as we were saying yesterday, the entry of the Cleveland
(04:29):
Browns into the mix for Russell Wilson is interesting and
throws off what looked like really neat math, the Aaron
Rodgers Russell Wilson math. Two teams, two quarterbacks, somebody gets one,
one gets the other. But the Browns getting Russell Wilson
would not be a bad situation, certainly for Russell Wilson,
and it would be a pretty good situation for the
(04:50):
Cleveland Browns, especially if they are not intent on taking
a quarterback at the top of the draft.
Speaker 6 (04:56):
Judy, you talked about contingency plans. The Giants brought in
and Joe Flacco for a visit today, the Autubah, New
Jersey native, who, if he joins the Giants, would then
have played for like Baltimore, Philly and both Jersey teams
all surrounding where.
Speaker 7 (05:13):
He grew up in South Jersey. So yeah, I.
Speaker 6 (05:15):
Mean, and Russell Wilson is a contingency plan for the
Giants here as well.
Speaker 7 (05:20):
They've got to go through all this.
Speaker 6 (05:21):
Mason Rudolph, by the way, who agreed to terms with
the Steelers, are gonna talk about him in a second.
Speaker 7 (05:25):
He was on the Giants' list of contingency plans as well,
so they're going through them.
Speaker 6 (05:29):
They're trying to be patient with Aaron Rodgers and giving
them his space and giving them his time, but at
some point they have to start deciding if they're going
to lose some of the they did Mason Rudolf, they
lost one of the contingency plans. So they got to
figure out if we got to jump to Russell Wilson
here and the Cleveland's gonna jump, like, do we have
to make a decision before we hear from Aaron Rodgers
and does any of this scare Rodgers? Potentially we're talking
(05:49):
about that coming up here. But I'm looking forward to
seeing how this visit goes for Russell Wilson because last
year he initiated the visit with the Giants and this year,
the Giants more in need of bringing him in.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Like you mentioned, Mason Rudolph officially, as you reported earlier
today back with these Steelers, it is a two year
deal for Mason Rudolph where eight million dollars four point
five million in guarantees. Of course, Miles Garrett decided to
stay in Cleveland, which means of Mason's playing we get
two of those matchups this year.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Which is a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Mason Rudolph those played some good football in the league,
got his opportunity last year in Tennessee where they were
going back and forth between Mason Rudolph and Will Levis
at various times. Here a place he knows a quarterback
that Mike Commlin trust to the point that you remember
back in the twenty twenty three season, it was Mason
Rudolph after all the quarterbacks, which is there who ended
up starting in a playoff game for Pittsburgh. This although
(06:41):
brings us to once again Aaron Rodgers watch here, Judy,
which continues. No beach photos today, no outward longing, though
probably plenty inward.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
What do we know?
Speaker 5 (06:53):
Yeah, I don't know what the weather was wherefo. Aaron
Rodgers is right, now sorry, he didn't make it to
the beach. Neither did I, by the way, because we're
just waiting for Aaron Rodgers. Look, Mike just said, like,
does any of this other movement prompt Aaron Rodgers to
hurry up? I can't imagine it would. He is entirely
in the driver's seat here, right, He's got multiple suitors
(07:15):
and he can decide what he wants to do, and
he clearly wants to survey the landscape and think about this.
He is a deliberate decision maker. I don't know how
many other ways we can say this. He is a
deliberate person. He wants to think through everything. This is
almost certainly going to be the last stop of his career.
You assume the way things went sideways at the Jets,
(07:38):
he certainly does not want to repeat of that. He
wants to get this right. He's got a lot to consider.
He's clearly going to take his time. I can't imagine
Russell Wilson and Mason Rudolph and Joe Flacco impact his
decision making, if it's even on his radar at all.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Yeah, I think that's a good call.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
I mean, right, I would doubt Rogers check Twitter, being like, wait,
they brought Flacco in. I highly doubt and I mean
maybe you never know. People can be threatened by all
sorts of thing. No offense to Joe Flacco, who really
has had some great moments late in his career, but
I just I doubt Aaron Rodgers cares very much.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
No to me.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
The next sort of inflection point for this one is
the draft, right, I mean, the Giants pick number three.
As of now, there's been no movement toward them going
to number one. It is very possible, especially if the
Browns end up signing let's say, Russell Wilson, that the
Giants would have the chance at the number two quarterback
in the draft, which really is it's not leverage because
just reality, but that's sort of their leverage here is
(08:35):
like they could just go, you know what, We're just
gonna take one, and if we take one, maybe it's
Joe Flacco as the backup slash bridge starter or Ricky
quarterback and just rolled from there. So if the Giants
don't get Rogers, they're gonna be okay. But I'm just
saying like, even though we all would sort of I
assume like this to be done just because we're talking
about the same thing that after night. But there's really
(08:57):
no other reason for this to be done at all,
because there's no deadline, right I mean, the only deadline
is when we would really like to stop talking about it.
And again, much like Joe Flacco, I don't think Aaron
Rodgers cares very much.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
This is also a rare draft to which the team's
drafting one, two, three not only have a long term
quarterback need none of them have a clear starter right now.
We don't know who would be starting if these teams
don't end up getting a quarterback. Obviously, the Browns and
the Giants involved on multiple veterans right now. The Titans
are not, which may or may not tip their hand
about what direction they're leading at number one. Overall, we
(09:30):
do know this Cooper cup is looking for a new home.
Officially released on Wednesday by the Rams. Thirty one years old,
he's missed timing each of the past three seasons because
of injuries. But Mike, it does sound like there's strong
interest in Cooper Cupp and the decision could end up
coming soon to the later.
Speaker 6 (09:46):
Here there is look, I did this last night. I'm
reluctant to double down but I'm gonna do it again.
I think we could have something tonight from Cooper Cup.
I thought we'd have one by now, but I believe
tonight we'll have a decision from Cooper Up.
Speaker 7 (10:00):
We'll see. There's a lot of teams.
Speaker 6 (10:01):
There's a lot of interest from what I gather, and look,
tell me if I miss somebody here. But you got
t Higgins, Davante Adams, and Chris Godwin. They're in the
twenties as far as millions per year on their deal.
And then this thing drops off to Hollywood. Brown had
an eleven million dollar max.
Speaker 7 (10:17):
Diami.
Speaker 6 (10:18):
Brown had a twelve million dollar max. He's gonna be
above that on a base value of the deal. Cooper
Cup is going to do really well, especially for a
guy time that you mentioned is thirty one years old.
Speaker 7 (10:28):
There is significant interest.
Speaker 6 (10:29):
There are a number of teams that are willing to
pay here that see Cooper Cup still having plenty of
good football left and a guy that's a good fit
for their system could find out very shortly where he goes.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
And for how much is someone singing opera in Mike's house?
Speaker 6 (10:43):
I tried to yell over her like she just all day,
just noise out.
Speaker 7 (10:46):
Of just noise noise.
Speaker 8 (10:48):
Seven o'clock is TV time.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
For who nice to me?
Speaker 3 (10:52):
That is nice.
Speaker 6 (10:54):
DeMarcus Lawrence, after starting his career and spending the bulk
of it with the Dallas Cowboys, now headed to the
Seahawks a three year contract in Seattle worth up to
forty two million dollars according to his agents, Ness Mugrabi
and David Canner of Rasports, who just.
Speaker 7 (11:11):
Gave Jane a Cowboys scoop.
Speaker 6 (11:14):
By the way, here is the thank you, thank you
from the Cowboys to DeMarcus Lawrence for his years of
service in Dallas. I'm bringing Jane Slater in in just
a second because I want to talk to her about
what the Cowboys might do.
Speaker 7 (11:28):
So hegel Cowboys. Here's the menu.
Speaker 6 (11:31):
Here are the best available free agents right now to
improve your team.
Speaker 7 (11:36):
A lot of guys with a lot.
Speaker 6 (11:37):
Of production there now, some of them later on in
their career and some of them got some injury concerns
and whatnot. Some of them even played for the Cowboys.
He looked down there, Stefan Gilmour. So Jane having said that,
and don't forget to visit NFL dot com. Top one
hundred four or one on one. Excuse me for Greg
Rosenthal's past remaining free agents. Jane, what do the Cowboys
do with that list? Where do they order off of
(11:57):
that menu?
Speaker 9 (11:58):
There?
Speaker 8 (12:00):
You know what?
Speaker 10 (12:01):
Selfishly and this is a lot of bias here. I
love Charles Omenet who he's from my hometown of Rawlett.
Speaker 8 (12:07):
I know he's wanted to come to Dallas before.
Speaker 10 (12:10):
Edge guy, you know, obviously play with Kansas City Chiefs.
He was injured, but I have no news that they
have been calling him. There are some interesting guys on there,
a Marii Cooper. I know a lot of people would
love to see him come back to Dallas. I don't
see that happening. So we'll see what Cowboys are doing. No,
they said that they're going to be selectively aggressive, and
they have tried to take care of their own. I
(12:30):
just tweeted out thank you David Kanter.
Speaker 8 (12:33):
Safety is Israel.
Speaker 10 (12:34):
Mukuamu is coming back on a one year deal. The
terms of that's still undisclosed, but that's one guy that
they are returning to service here in Dallas.
Speaker 8 (12:45):
So they've been shoring up some of these corners, some.
Speaker 7 (12:47):
Of the back half.
Speaker 10 (12:48):
You know, it seems like Maddie Burvlus is having a
lot of say here, you know, he's going and making
sure that they're bulking up that defensive line.
Speaker 8 (12:54):
As we've talked about this week, you.
Speaker 10 (12:56):
Really have to when you consider what the Commanders have
done and the Eagles have done on offense. This is
just a way of really kind of making sure they're
molding and shaping this group to be a roster that
Maddie Pervlus wants to mold really in the spirit of
what his defense is going to look like.
Speaker 7 (13:12):
Yep, and listen, everything's coming up.
Speaker 6 (13:15):
Canor and mcgravii the agents we're talking about, because they
had Rico Dowdell who signed with the Carolina Panthers after
being with the Cowboys the last couple of years. Harry
one year deal worth up to six point two five
million dollars. The Cowboys did sign Javonte Williams, but what's
the plan in the backfield overall to replace Dabble and
move forward game.
Speaker 8 (13:35):
I still can't make sense of this one. I'll be honest.
Speaker 10 (13:38):
This is a guy that was an undrafted free age,
undrafted rookie for you've been here for four years. He
had less than fifteen one hundred rushing guards in his career,
so not a lot on the tires twenty.
Speaker 8 (13:49):
Six years old. Once.
Speaker 10 (13:51):
They really got him going last year and said this
running back by committee thing. He ended up with over
one thousand yards and four point six yards per Carrie.
I've asked around and it sounds like the Cowboys didn't
even make him an offer. Again, curious to me, they
went out and got Javonte Williams too. I don't think
he's gonna be your running back one. This is really
a third down, physical play type of guy. I still
(14:14):
think that this tells us that they are going to
address the running back position. There's a lot of good
ones this year in the draft, probably in that second
or third round. So let's see what the Cowboys do.
I know that Genti would love to come here. He
is a loan note kid right up there in the
Frisco area. I've had his people reach out to me.
I don't know where Cowboys are going to go there.
Speaker 8 (14:34):
I do know.
Speaker 10 (14:35):
And as much as this is upset, it upset a
lot of the Cowboys fans. Why aren't you making a
big splash, Why aren't we in on Cooper Cup, Why
aren't we doing this. Look, what they're doing is they're
essentially filling out some of the position issues, some of
the depth issues. They're doing them on contracts that don't
break the bank, and then they're going to use the draft,
I think, to address a lot of these needs. And
then the biggest argument that I'm hearing on local sports
(14:57):
talk is well, why clear all the money? In other word,
it's why are you restructuring deals? Kicking money down down
the lane. It's something that the Cowboys have done for years.
Maybe it's a slush fun for them. You know, maybe
if next year they actually find themselves in a position
to do something, they can go out and be aggressive
with a free agent.
Speaker 8 (15:16):
Maybe they're trying to change things up.
Speaker 10 (15:18):
I do know what they've done at least a little
bit differently this year by going ahead and making some
of these trades, moving on from some of these guys,
and then actually addressing some of the contracts they needed
to before the free agency deadline.
Speaker 8 (15:30):
So kudos to the Cowboys. They're doing some things differently.
Speaker 6 (15:35):
Exactly, Jane, you got the upset fans there. I got
them here in Jersey. They're Cowboy fans everywhere, and they're
asking me every day.
Speaker 7 (15:41):
What are we doing? We're not doing enough. So I'll
just tell them go to Jane Slater. She's got all
the answers right here. Jane's Slayer.
Speaker 8 (15:47):
Oh, I'm good.
Speaker 7 (15:48):
Thank you very much, thank you very much.
Speaker 6 (15:52):
For the third thick from the twenty eighteen NFL Draft,
the New York Kids select Damn Donald.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
I'm gonna be here for a long time.
Speaker 11 (15:58):
Donald's thirst pass is pick six, so goes.
Speaker 12 (16:04):
It is an embarrassment.
Speaker 7 (16:06):
They did not have the infrastructure.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
It has nothing else to say.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Hopefully this is a new beginning for him in Carolina.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Donald bumped crab, take him down.
Speaker 13 (16:14):
Sam Donald a forty nine ers back up quarterback.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Sam Darnald at the helm.
Speaker 7 (16:20):
He's our new quarterback, Sam Darnald, the journeyman.
Speaker 14 (16:23):
Damn Donald putting on a show.
Speaker 11 (16:26):
How bout that organizations fail young quarterbacks?
Speaker 9 (16:29):
Before young quarterbacks fail organization.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
When everybody decides you cannot play.
Speaker 9 (16:34):
We always believed in him.
Speaker 14 (16:35):
That's there.
Speaker 5 (16:36):
We got.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Have me Donald day.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
That's the message from the Seattle Seahawks, who got their
quarterback officially signed today Sam Donald on a three year,
one hundred point five million dollar deal, coming off a
Pro Bowl season, in Minnesota. But the highlight of Sam's
day by far joining us right here on the insiders,
Tom Hillicero and Judy Batista. Sam, congrats man, extremely happy
(17:06):
for you. You walk in the building today. You've got
this contract. You've you've been waiting though. This isn't the
old free agency where you went and took visits and stuff.
It's your first time getting with these people. What's you like,
Just take me through this moment for you.
Speaker 7 (17:19):
Yeah, it's been great.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
It's been great to be able to spend time here
in this you know, this facility, you know, get to
spend time with the coaches, some of the players, ran,
some of the players obviously, some of the guys that
we signed, and and uh, you know d Law and Josh.
Just to be able to spend time with them has
been amazing. And yeah, it's just it's good to meet everyone,
you know, everyone that I'm going to be you know,
(17:42):
spending some time with day to day. It's been great.
And uh, yeah, it's it's funny. I've I've been so
eager to to just ask climent obviously, Kubiak a ton
of questions about offense, and people are trying to drag
me out of his office, and it's just once you
get going on the football side of things, you don't
want to stop.
Speaker 7 (18:00):
But it's fun.
Speaker 14 (18:01):
Man.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
I love talking to you guys and doing all this media,
but you know, I'm excited to get going on the
football side of things as well.
Speaker 5 (18:10):
Sam, you obviously had a bit of a winding path
to get to this moment, right starting with the Jets
when you were a first round pick. You've had a
few steps along the way. I know you told the
reporters in Seattle that you felt it got unlocked when
you watched Brock party be like a point guard. How
do you think that has changed you and your game?
That experience, Yeah, you.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
Know, I learned a ton obviously, everywhere I've been, you know,
you learn a ton from the good experiences. You learned
a ton, and some would say, you know, I would
say even more from the bad experiences. And you know,
whether it was in New York and Carolina, obviously in
San Francisco and last year in Minnesota. But yeah, just
going back to the Brock thing, like just being able
to learn so much from from that year and just
(18:53):
seeing the way that Brock studied, getting to spend time
with with you know, guys like Brandon Allen as well
in that quarterback room. You know, Brandon obviously spending a
ton of time with Joe Burrow and Cincinnati before that.
So there was just you know a lot of football
dollars to go around in that room. And I soaked
everything up that I could, And yeah, I just felt
like I learned a ton from Brock in that regard.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Say on one of the enduring images from all of
the NFL season in twenty twenty four is you being
hoisted by your teammates in the locker room after the
Week seventeen game against the Packers, showering you with water
bottles and all that. The team rallied around you so much,
and Kevin O'Connell was, you know, like a proud parrot
in the corner, smiling in that moment. I know they
made you an offer. It was a one year deal.
It wasn't the same money, the same commitment as other places.
(19:39):
When it came right down to it, you decided where
your football future is taking you. How hard was it
to say goodbye to Minnesota?
Speaker 3 (19:46):
Yeah, I mean it was incredibly tough. You know, I
wanted to, you know, make it work. And you know,
do everything I could to stay there. But at the
end of the day, you know, this is a business,
and you know, they got to do what's best for them.
I gotta do it's best for me. And you know,
I'm so thankful, so grateful for the people that I
(20:08):
met in Minnesota. Obviously, the coaching staff, my teammates. You know,
I can't thank them enough for the time that you know,
I spent with them. I mean, you you look at
you know that video. It's just you know, it wasn't
it wasn't just me, or it wasn't just you know,
justin out there. It was you know, a collective group
coming together for for one common goal. And that's what
(20:30):
we set out to do every single day and every
single Sunday when we went out there, and we're able
to get that done. You know, obviously the last couple
of games didn't go our way, but you know, I'm
just excited that, you know, you talk about that kind
of windy trail to get here. I'm so excited to
to be able to start this journey in this chapter
in Seattle and uh yeah, just ready to hit the
(20:53):
ground running.
Speaker 5 (20:56):
Well, you mentioned the last two games of the season,
So let's talk about it. I'm sure you thought about it.
I don't know if you've rewatched them, But what can
you take from that? What what happened and what do
you think you need to address that maybe you can
change to make sure it doesn't happen again.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Yeah, I think the biggest thing was just getting the
ball out. You know, I felt like I took too
many sacks in those games, and I think I could
just you know, you know, first of all, it was
really good covered down the field, really good pass rush,
and for me, it was just about being able to
even if the checkdown's covered, like just being able to
throw it at his feet in some of these instances.
And you know, I learned a ton from those last
(21:36):
couple of games, and you know, just going to continue
to learn from experiences like that and grow from it.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
So tell me about this new team, Sam.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
I don't know if you follow the news, but there
have been some changes to the wide receiver group there.
Tyler Lockett's been released, DK mes Cass being traded, you
got JS and you got Marc wis Voldez Scanty coming in.
There's still some questions, but how much do you know
about these do to. You know, basically the whole teams
we relying on you formed that same type of connection
with them.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
I think that's the biggest thing is is once everyone
gets in the building, you know, JSN being one of them, mvs.
I mean, there's you know, you go down the list
right now of guys that you know can make plays.
Obviously we got two really good running backs as well,
so we have really good playmakers. It's at the end
of the day, it's just my job to get them
the ball. That's as simple as I can put it.
(22:29):
You know, move the offense, move the guys down the field,
you know, convert third downs one we have to, and
score touchdowns in the red zone. And that's really it.
Speaker 5 (22:40):
How do you carry over when you're going to an
entirely new environment, new coach, new teammates, the whole thing.
How do you carry over when you had such a
high level of performance, so much poise last season, how
do you carry that over into an entirely new spot.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Yeah, you just start over. You know, you put in
the work for me. I'm gonna get with Clint on
the playbook and start to understand the formations and all
the motions that we have. I know there's some terminology
that's very similar to what we did in San Francisco
together and some things that have changed, and I'm really
looking forward to learning that and you know, when I
get here in April, just getting to know my teammates.
(23:18):
I think that's one of the bigger things that that
people don't talk about, is, you know, the chemistry that
you have with your teammates off the field directly correlates
to the chemistry that you have on the field. And
I'm super super pumped to just, you know, start that
journey here and get to know these guys and just
get to playing football.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Sam.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Last thing for you, I was able to be at
a lot of those Vikings games last year in Minnesota.
One thing that I found out about you is a
season went on, you always show up every game with
a cup of coffee before the game. I've not seen
that with a quarterback before. Here's me interviewing you before
one game. It is always omnipresent. You're always with a
cup of coffee. You are in now the coffee mecca
of the country. You might have heard here. Are we
(24:01):
able to turn this into a sponsorship? Can the tradition continue?
Just take me through what it's like now being in
coffee central there.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
Yeah, that's on my agent to figure that part out,
but uh no, it's it's great, man. It's it's great
to be in Seattle obviously, you know, like you said,
the coffee mecca, so it is exciting. And you know,
I'm looking forward to trying some of the the kind
of the the mom pop kind of coffee shops around here.
I know that's something that you know, we're looking forward to.
(24:32):
And yeah, I'm just again, guys, like I'm I'm just
really looking forward to getting to know this area really
well and uh spending some quality time here with you know,
a ton of my teammates and my coaches.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Sam, congrats again, man, happy for you. You're one of
the good dudes in this league. So great to see
it paying off. We will be talking to you a
getting down the line here.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
All right.
Speaker 7 (24:56):
Appreciate you, guys.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
Se E Haawks quarterback Sam Darnold officially in Seattle coming up.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Glil Shaker is not leaving the Bills. He's got a
new deal. So what does that mean for his.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Fantasy outlook in twenty twenty five?
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Our Michael F.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Floya will be here to break down all things fantasy
for some free agent moves.
Speaker 14 (25:17):
Next on the Insiders, DeVante Adams and Puka Nkoua together
holding the number seventeen, the one that Nicoya used to wear,
and now Adams will wear, Nicoua switching to twelve as
college number.
Speaker 6 (25:36):
In case you haven't heard that, two years forty six
million dollars for Davante Adams, a guy that Michael excuse me,
Sean McVay recruited extremely hard.
Speaker 7 (25:48):
We recruit Michael at Floria.
Speaker 6 (25:50):
That's why I was saying, Michael, we recruit him to
be on the show as much as possible. And today
he said sure, because he wants to do a fantasy fallout.
Appreciate free agency, so we're gonna do this away that's
never been done before.
Speaker 7 (26:04):
Winners and losers. Who are the winners of free agency?
Speaker 13 (26:08):
Michael ef I was Sean McVay was trying to recruit me,
but he has no interest in that. I think Evan
Ingram is a winner from this free agent period because
he has long been a very successful tight end in fantasy,
but he does so with volume. He isn't the big
play threat or a high touchdown scorer. He Marshall does
it by racking up catches and yards, and he went
(26:30):
to a spot where he could do so again.
Speaker 7 (26:32):
He has the.
Speaker 13 (26:33):
Opportunity to be the number two target behind Courtland Sutton,
and I expect him to get drafted as like a
low end tighten one, high end tight end two, and
that feels appropriate for Evan Ingram at this stage in
his career. I'm also really excited for Jalen Warren Honey
per touch basis, Warren was top eight in miss tackles
forced and yards after contact. Last season. He outperformed Najie
(26:55):
Harris in a bunch of metrics, but he didn't get
all the volume there because of nause. So the draft
could change things up, but the Steelers opted to keep
Nase there. They let Harris walk. There is a potentially
lead opportunity role there for Jalen Warren, so that would
be really exciting for fantasy. And then my guy Khalil
Shakir has he led the Bills in targets, catch, his
(27:18):
yards and yak last season. He was a very reliable
wide receiver three in fantasy football. But then we heard
a lot of chatter that the Bills could be involved
in the wide receiver market. They didn't bring in a
target hog though. They brought in Josh Palmer, who is
a good deep threat, better than any deep that the
Bills had last season. He will help open things up
underneath for Shakir without taking a ton of volume away.
(27:41):
So Khalil Shakir is still the top target for the MVP.
Feel good about him heading into twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4 (27:48):
Well, that was lovely, that was very positive. Let's go
the other way. Let's be a little more negative.
Speaker 7 (27:52):
Who are the losers?
Speaker 13 (27:55):
I think DK Metcalf without even knowing who his quarterback is,
he's a fantasy loser right now, partly because of who
he is sharing the field with. Like him and George
Pickens are a phenomenal real life one two punch, but
for fantasy it could be very inconsistent week to week
because both have a very similar skill set.
Speaker 7 (28:16):
They both play primarily out wide. They are both downfield targets.
Speaker 13 (28:20):
Last year, each head over twenty five percent of their
targets be twenty or more air yards, so that is
very very volatile.
Speaker 7 (28:27):
For fantasy football. I think CJ. Stroud also was a
loser this week.
Speaker 13 (28:32):
He was top four in sacks and QB pressure taken
last season, and he struggled under pressure. It's what prevented
him from looking like he did in his rookie year.
So what do the Texans do. They go out and
they trade their one elite offensive lineman in Laramy Tunsel away.
They bring in Christian Kirk, which I like, but losing
(28:52):
step Diggs potentially Tank Dell is hurt. Not sure if
the receiving court took an upgrade, but that O line
definitely took a hit. So the arrow is pointing down
for Stroud and then JK.
Speaker 7 (29:02):
Dobbins.
Speaker 13 (29:03):
He was awesome last year, posted career highs and basically
every stat but the Chargers brought in Nause Harris to
what I believe be their new lead back, and I
have racked my brain for days, like where could a
landing spot for JK. Dobbins be that was as great
as the Chargers were last year where he knew the
OC they had a good offense, but they were a
run first offense and he had very little touch competition
(29:26):
for touches in that backfield. And I can't think of
a landing spot that is as great as the Chargers.
So I am rooting for him to find a new
home and be great in real life. But for fantasy
I think he might struggle to duplicate last season's success.
Speaker 7 (29:41):
Poor JK.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
Dobbins hadn't even sign yet in Aradio loser free agency.
It's only like the second day of the league. Years
open anyway, four you great stuff. As always, we appreciate you.
Speaker 7 (29:50):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 4 (29:52):
I won more fantasy knowledge whenever I can get it,
so you're the back Tom take it away.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
Pre draft C He's in underway six weeks out from
Draft A and University of Georgia held their pro day
on Wednesday. Take a look at three of the top
prospects that are all on Daniel Jeremiah's list of the
top fifty prospects entering the twenty twenty five NFL Draft.
(30:19):
Our guy Lance Zerlines got mock drafts out NFL dot Com.
Here to talk now about some of those top prospects here.
Let's start out with Jalen Walker. Lance, you saw how
high he's listed obviously by DJ.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
What do you make of him in his pro prospects here?
Speaker 11 (30:33):
Well, I think Jalen Walker is a player who you
know right now is sitting there somewhere in the top twelve,
probably higher than that because one of the things that
he does well is he's at Swiss Army knife. He
talks about that right. He's got the ability to rush
off the edge and a play linebacker. The problem that
he has right now with NFL teams that I've spoken
(30:54):
with is they're not sure if he's a linebacker or
an edge player because he hasn't played linebacker as long.
Speaker 7 (30:59):
He's as big as an edge player usually is. So
what they want to do is they want to see
that workout.
Speaker 11 (31:04):
On April seventeenth, he's got his own private workout along
with Michael Williams, and they want to see him test.
They want to see him out in the field. They
just want to be able to check that box. Which
the box is going to be checked. But at the
end of the day, the thing that sets him apart
is he has tremendous leadership. He has tremendous football character.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
And this is a game now where.
Speaker 11 (31:25):
You need to be multiple, you need to have multiple skills,
and that's something Jaalen Walker has. He has the ability
to attack the pocket, and I think he has the
ability to get much better from an instinctive standpoint as
a linebacker as well.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
You mentioned Michael Williams in there. When you're watching him
on tape, what do you seeing? What do you think
the questions are the NFL teams have about him?
Speaker 11 (31:48):
You know, I think the question right now is simply
how quickly when does everything come together for him? And
that's a that's not a negative. But when Trayvon Walker
came out, you know, there's some similarities between the two,
but tray was a little more physical, he was.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
A little more polished.
Speaker 11 (32:03):
He was a very good run defender who was just
still learning to rush the passer. With Michael Williams, you
see a lot of the same traits, you see the
same link to a similar body type. But right now
he is a player who I think is a little
bit behind where Trayvon Walker is. So it's a matter
of developing the polish right, It's a matter of learning
to rush the passer. What are your go to moves,
(32:25):
what are your counters? How quickly does that come along?
When do you start to really recognize what you need
to do as a run defender. But it's gonna come,
It's gonna come. And I think he's one of these
guys who can play standing over the hand in the ground. Now,
Malachi Starks is another Georgia player defensively, and this could
be Tom the third Georgia player in the first round.
The other two are going in the first round. Starks
(32:46):
had a great combine from a testing standpoint. Some of
the short area stuff was not great, but I don't
think scouts are going to hold that against him. I
thought he was pretty good in the field as well.
But he ran really well, he jumped well, and the
thing you have to do on Malachi Starks has watched
the twenty twenty three tape because they used him on
the slot a lot as their star. You know, the
(33:07):
guy who's an overhang who kind of plays the nickel
and he's okay in coverage, but he's better when he's
able to kind of step downhill and come support the
run and play from on top. So he has the
ability to play in a slot. But I think that
twenty three tape really shows you a better idea of
how NFL teams are going to view him, which is
coming from you know, a split safety look and coming
(33:27):
downhill to play sheriff.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
I'll thump it over to the offensive side of the
ball here Lance.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
Who are some of those guys do you think might
be Jim's here even if they're not some of those
really top eleague prospects.
Speaker 11 (33:38):
Well, let's start with with with Trevor at Tien, Travis
Atien's brother. Trevor is a really interesting player because he
came over to Georgia, he had some injury, so he
wasn't you know, you didn't get to see the full
scope of what he could do.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
Then he ran really well.
Speaker 11 (33:51):
Combine him four to four two, which is much faster
than I thought he was going to run after watching
him on tape. Now, he did have some injuries this year.
As I talked about, he is a small players. You
can see here in a lot of these drills. The
feed are smooth, the decision making and processing is good.
He was explosive on his leaps. But what stands out
to me Tom is his ability to run routes, to
catch the ball with very soft hands. Anything in his
(34:14):
direction he's gonna catch, very sticky, He's got wiggle after
the catch. And we know after James Cook, and he
reminds me a little bit of James Cook. James has
become a better runner in the NFL. But The thing
that set him apart when he came out of Georgia
is he could get out of the backfield and make
some noise and and and I think that's something that
Atten is going to be able to do as well.
And I think teams are gonna love him, probably in
(34:35):
the third round. Now, speaking of the third round, Tate Ratleice,
big dirt dog guard out of Georgia. I mean, this
guy is just tough.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
He's look at him, just look at him here.
Speaker 7 (34:44):
That's how he plays.
Speaker 11 (34:45):
He plays exactly how he looks tom And that's one
of the things I like about him is that mentality.
Now it's gonna be a little sloppy when he gets
in the phone booth's He's a.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
Brawler and a maler.
Speaker 11 (34:56):
He's not a great tech technician.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
He's not bad, but I think he could.
Speaker 11 (34:59):
Get a little bit better. He plays a little high
in terms of his knees are straight, and he's not
a great bender. But when you want a tough guy
in the middle who is going to give you good
effort game in and game out, and nothing NFL offensive
line coaches like better than a tough guard, this is
a guy for you. I think he goes somewhere in
the third round, maybe in the second, depending on you
(35:20):
know where the runs on position are. But those are
the two guys from the offensive side that I think
we're going to see potentially in the top one hundred.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
There's a lot of fun scouting terms you only hear
this time of year. Tate Ratledge, dirt dog. I am
never going to hear his name without thinking that ever. Again,
Land's fantastic. It's a positive to pause you between now
and drafted. Here are dirt Dog. That's how'm we introduce
you from now on. Thank you very much.
Speaker 5 (35:47):
The New England Patriots have been very active in free
agency so far. Here's Milton Williams. Welcome to Milton Williams.
That's a big one defensive tackle. Next up Carlton Davis
the welcome to him, the cornerback. And we're not done yet.
This is like introducing a law firm. Robert Splaine the linebacker,
(36:08):
and we're not even going to show you. I don't
think Harold Landry he's in that group two. They have
been very busy in Foxborough the last few days. Let's
welcome in our camp. We'll to talk more about this.
Our superb producer Jeff Collett sent me an amazing stat
and now I'm not gonna be able to pull it up.
Each of the previous six teams that spent the most
(36:28):
money in free agency in total contract value increase their
wins by at least three from the previous season. So
they've got their work cutout for them camp, but they've
certainly done a lot. What are they going to do
now that we're going into the next phase of free agency?
What's their focus?
Speaker 9 (36:44):
Yeah, this has been a new era of Patriots football,
aggressive style and free agency under Mike Vrabel. They are
not pinching pennies. They certainly gave out the biggest agent
contract in franchise history to Milton Williams, the guy they
targeted in aggressively bid and outbid the Cardinals and the
Vikings and other teams in the mix for Milton Williams
(37:05):
as well as the Panthers. They got their guy. And
it was interesting hearing Mike Rabel talk about building this
defense because everybody talked about the offense and Drake May
but Rabel's defensive guy. He wanted to get his type
of guys, guys they were comfortable with, guys they've been
in with the pass. He mentioned Robert Splane and he said,
we had him as an undrafted free agent at Tennessee.
We kept putting them through drills to see if anybody
(37:26):
could force him to miss a tackle, and nobody could,
and that's why we felt like he was going to
make our team. And now they bring them back as
a big money linebacker and you get a guy like
that coming in and really establishing the way Vrabel wants
to play. Now you mentioned what's next, right, you have
to get Drake May his weapons and his protection. Mike
Rabel said they are not hiding from it. That offensive
(37:46):
line is the priority for them and they will attack
that coming into whether it's the trade market or whether
it's the draft market. And he also mentioned they're still
doing their homework at wide receiver. They of course want
to get a number one wide receiver there. I'm told
they have done some homework on Cooper Cup. Obviously he's
gonna want a nice, pretty penny there. So I'm not
sure if New England's at the position to spend and
(38:08):
give him the winning that he wants. But they have
been in the mix there, they were going to be
in mixed. Chris Godwin if he hit the market, and
they're also keeping an eye on t Higgins as well,
And so this is a team that wants to get
those protection points, those weapons for Drake May. But right
now they're happy with what they're building the program wise
on defense.
Speaker 5 (38:27):
Just to give some context to how much they have
spent two hundred and seventy nine point three million dollars
combined value in the contract so far in free agency.
They haven't had a spending spree and free agency like
that in quite a few years in New England. Certainly
dawn of a new era. All right, let's turn to Indianapolis, where,
of course they signed former Giants quarterback Daniel Jones, brought
(38:49):
in to compete for the starting job with Anthony Richardson, how.
Speaker 3 (38:53):
Is that going to go?
Speaker 9 (38:54):
Yeah, this might be the only true quarterback competition we
have throughout the off season and there's no rookie involved.
Two guys trying to fight for their shot as a
starting quarterback. Daniel Jones was signed officially today and he
was asked what will you promise coming in and he
said nothing except a chance to compete for the starting job,
and that echoes what their general manager Chris Baalor has
(39:16):
said throughout the process it's going to be an open
competition between Richardson, their twenty twenty three top five pick,
and Daniel Jones, who was the Giants first round pick
a while ago. And both of these quarterbacks have struggled
with the accuracy. But from what I understand, they want
to give Anthony Richardson every chance to prove he can
win this job. Even Daniel Jones getting a big money deal.
Anthony Richardson is the guy they invested in. They want
(39:37):
to see him stay healthy, they want to see him improve,
and he's got the message as well. They had meetings
at the end of the season and told him this
was going to be a reality. He is not asking
from a trade. I checked into his team. He said
he wants to battle. He is not running from this,
and I'm told he's already been working out in Jacksonville
for a little over a month with his trainers Will Hewlett,
Tom Gormley and Chris has who worked with Josh Alan
(40:01):
and his mechanics. He's also expecting josh Allen to come
down there and train with him for a few days
as well. So Richardson is ready for battle. And we'll
spend all summer giving you Daniel Jones versus Anthony Richardson
and India.
Speaker 5 (40:12):
I was going to say, we're going to be making
a lot of trips to training camp in Indianapolis this summer,
Caim Wolfe. Thank you very much, and when we return,
we're going to bring you more from our interview with
Sam Darnold, the brand new Seattle Seahawks quarterback.
Speaker 12 (40:26):
When we returned, Sam, thank you, Thanks buddy, Yeah, of course,
appreciate you man, have fun.
Speaker 2 (40:39):
Good luck.
Speaker 3 (40:40):
Coffee Coffee Ginger.
Speaker 2 (40:43):
You said, what.
Speaker 5 (40:45):
Wild Ginger, great restaurant down there?
Speaker 7 (40:48):
Go there, wy, I thought you were calling me names.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
I was like, geez.
Speaker 5 (40:56):
Whatever, I like it, by New York.
Speaker 7 (41:00):
Come on, I don't like it.
Speaker 1 (41:03):
It's my favorite post interview moment, maybe of all time.
He's talking to me about like the coffee things. He's
a big drigger, and then Judy's just yelling Wild Ginger
at him.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
Defend yourself.
Speaker 1 (41:16):
Two things.
Speaker 5 (41:17):
Wild Ginger is an awesome restaurant in Seattle. It's it's
so good that on one trip there ages Ago, I
ate lunch and dinner there in the same day.
Speaker 8 (41:26):
Very good.
Speaker 5 (41:27):
I hope he gets there and I feel terrible that
his first instinct is to think that we would be
calling him names. I feel like there's like some psychological
scarring from having been in New York.
Speaker 7 (41:37):
He's now you got to understand something. He's now wild Ginger.
Speaker 5 (41:40):
Like that's it, wild Ginger, right, it kind of goes
I like it, Yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (41:46):
Mean I kind of lead him here though.
Speaker 4 (41:49):
It's like if someone becomes a free agent and goes
to like the only thing I want to say is like,
are here?
Speaker 2 (41:54):
Are the two restaurants? Are here? The two bars?
Speaker 4 (41:56):
Like of course, like you want to share your expertise,
this is we care about food.
Speaker 2 (42:01):
Basically, go to wild Chair.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
Turn yourself a nickname, Ian you ever come up with
one on your own? Anything you want to be called
besides rap sheet.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
Wrap sheet worked out pretty good.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
It works, That's it. So I was just trying to
get Sam Darnold a coffee endorsement. Instead, Judy's got him
one with a local restaurant here. Always buy local, not
that corporate crap.
Speaker 9 (42:26):
See you
Hosts And Creators
Judy Battista
Tom Pelissero
Ian Rapaport
Mike Garafolo
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