March 15, 2025 • 40 mins
This week on the podcast John discussed a bunch of free agency and how the 49ers have lost a ton of players, how despite the Eagles losing players they still have one of the best GM's in the league and fans shouldn't lose faith, and if the NFL free agency is overrated. All that and more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume What is going on everybody? John Middlecough that'd
be me. Three and Out pod, a little weekend edition
(00:23):
of the best of where we throw together a couple
of topics. Obviously, it was a very very busy week
with a little thing called NFL Free Agency, and uh yeah,
so we'll just kick it off talking about free agency
as a whole, the start of some of the big
free agency moves. You know, the Eagles obviously let a
lot of guys go as the defending champs, and what
(00:45):
the outlook looks like for them and really why they
made some of their decisions, and then just a big
picture question because when the week ends and you kind
of look back and you think about the years, like
is this week a little overrated? Obviously individual have big
moments for teams, but as a whole I think I
kind of wanted to dive in as free agency overrated.
(01:07):
So make sure you subscribe to the podcast if you
listen on Collins Feed. We got a YouTube channel all
of our content up there as well, so go check
that out. Let's talk about some football. I do think
just in general, the free agency period, which is really fun.
We love transactions in sports and I'm all for it.
(01:28):
I do think there's a little JANKI right to have
trades and stuff be able to happen before it becomes official.
You could argue, like five days, maybe not even a
couple days after the combine, just let it rip, just
start free agency on a given day. You don't need
the tampering, right because free agency has been going on
(01:48):
now for several weeks. It unofficially really gets going at
the combine.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
So if the.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Combine ends on a Monday, you could start And I
get it, it's based on the work week. Wouldn't want
to start all these deals later in the week because
you want to own the news cycle. And I totally
understand that, but maybe even put more emphasis on the combine.
Start free agency on the Monday right after and just
let people start signing and trading and let it go
(02:16):
because that's where the trades and a lot of these
moves happen. I just think this tampering period is just
a complete joke. It really is. You know, free agency
starts Wednesday. I think it like noon Eastern or for
Eastern or whenever it does. Well, all these deals are
already done, so Wednesday's kind of a useless day, it's
essentially Monday, but they keep saying, well, Monday, it's actually
(02:38):
legal tampering. Guys can't actually sign. I think we could
just cut out the middleman here and just rip the
band aid off and just let people do what they're
actually doing, making transactions, doing deals, right, I mean, how
often it's very rare. I can think of one Emmanuel Sanders,
but how often a guy renigs on a deal? Right?
(03:02):
So once these guys like Milton Williams all of a
sudden come Wednesday afternoon, isn't just gonna be on the
I don't know Carolina Panthers or the Arizona Cardinals, like
he's gonna be a Patriot. So I just I don't
know something. It feels starting to feel these last couple
of years like kind of a waste of the setup,
of the build up, because there is no build up.
(03:22):
Stuff just happens. So just let it happen and let
it be official. Something that was official today and he
was on the unemployment line for I don't know an
hour was the forty nine ers, And I think it's
pretty easy. And yesterday I did a little rant at
the end of the day after they had officially cut
(03:44):
Kyle yustcheck and just about the way the forty nine
ers have gone about this and the ramifications of a
disastrous negotiation last year with Brandon Ayuk when he took
them to the cleaners. I mean he bent them over
and took them for more money then I thought that
they should give him, and they clearly immediately regretted it.
(04:04):
And that was before he had a major knee injury.
Things got weird and help they've put him on the
trade block for the last couple of weeks. They don't
like him anymore. I've never seen a team sign a
guy to seventy five million dollars guaranteed after seventy five
catches and then immediately can't stand the guy. So it's
just a disastrous contract. And the forty nine ers have
(04:25):
let every guy go on their team. And I think
on an individual basis, it's really easy to justify each individually,
you know, not connected to anyone else. Drake Greenlaw injured
a lot torn achilles two years ago, got injured a
bunch last year when he tried to came back. Tyler
Nola Hufunga injured a lot. Like it's easy to go
through the list Jalen Moore, he's been a backup, can't start.
(04:47):
I go, well, I got Trent Williams, but you can't
pay a backup of pream Like I get it. But
today Leonard Floyd, who started every single game for them,
is a pros pro, super high character guy. A I
made a pretty high end pass rusher, not a superstar
by any means, but a guy that you could go
to the playoffs with as one of your rotational defensive
(05:09):
ends slash starters. They just cut It was like, well,
would totally understand it, Like I got why the Rams
cut Cooper Cup. He was gonna cost them twenty million dollars.
It's like, you're not paying Cooper Cup in twenty twenty
five twenty million dollars. No one is right, but Leonard
Floyd seven and a half million dollars kind of the
(05:31):
going rate for a guy that is gonna give you
nine or ten sacks and never misses any time, Like
that's what they cost. I just do not understand it.
It makes no sense. And I have to be fair
because we're often critical of these teams that are cheap,
and I've been on the Bears for years, the Bengals
that the Crafts and the forty nine Ers spent more
(05:54):
money than any team in the league last year in
actual cash. Obviously, you have to be under the salary
recap or with the salary cap on any given year
because it's a hard cap in the NFL. That doesn't
mean you can't spend way more cash than the two
hundred the two hundred and forty the two hundred and
fifty million dollars salary cap right in signing bonuses, and
(06:15):
then you can manipulate the cap well. Last year, the
forty nine Ers in twenty twenty five spent more cash
than any team in the NFL at three hundred and
thirty four million dollars. What was the cap last year,
like two hundred and fifty million dollars, So almost eighty
million dollars more of actual cap space they spent in cash.
I mean it's a lot of money. No one's arguing
(06:37):
that spending on a workforce of you end up having
way more than fifty three guys, let's say, seventy eighty
over the course of the season, three hundred and thirty
million dollars in compensation. It's a lot. I mean, that's
that's the business. These people are in and the Yorks
have the team because once upon a time, one of
the greatest owners in the history of sports, Eddie de
(06:57):
barbelhow got caught giving a brown bag to a politician
trying to get a casino on the water down. I
think it was when Louisiana and the Feds came up
and he got in big trouble and had to give
it to his sister, who the family is notoriously cheap. Now,
Jed York is the figurehead. They named him the president,
(07:18):
and he on the day to day operation. He's there
a lot and he deals with Kyle and John, but
ultimately it is the parents team. Jed York could not
do anything without his parents' approval when it came to
selling the team a huge contract to brock Purty obviously
when they're signing a practice squad guy, and it depends
on the operation. For example, the Eagles spend a shitload
(07:42):
of cash on a yearly basis, not always one, but
always in the top five top ten in the way
they do signing bonusespecially the last couple of years have
a highly paid team. Jeffrey Leury doesn't have to ask
his parents for any fucking approval. He's the boss. He's
in charge. Just like if you go around the league,
even the cheaf team, Clark Hunt doesn't have to deal
with anyone else. If he wants to have a cheap
(08:03):
facility and a bad weight room and get d's, that's
his prerogative. He answers to no one but himself. No
different than Robert Craft. Jonathan Craft isn't in charge. Robert is.
And I think when you look at the forty nine ers,
your team, as Tim Kawakami tweeted today, they are making
a one hundred and forty million dollars in profit. Honestly,
(08:27):
my guests would be it's higher. But I was talking
to my brother at the wedding, and you know, he
deals with a lot of different business. He's in farming,
but they deal in construction. They deal with so much
different stuff. And we were talking about some of these
venture capitalists that come in and purchase companies, and typically
they like to get like a five to eight percent
(08:47):
profit range. Right, So your profit based on your total revenue,
If it's like five to eight percent, you're doing pretty well.
If the forty nine ers are making seven to eight
hundred million dollars, which I think is a very fair guess,
especially when you look at their valuation of nine billion dollars.
I mean they're making fifteen to twenty percent net profit.
(09:08):
That is money taken home. So when I look at
the forty nine ers pulling back, I'm all four not
being reckless and not giving out stupid deals. Have no
issue with trading Deebo Samuel, but to all of a
sudden have one season where you go six and eleven
and start pitching pennies like I'm sorry, when you're the
forty nine Ers, when you're the Lakers, when you're the Cowboys.
(09:29):
Jerry's been crushed over the years for not spending that
much cash when you're the Laker or the Yankees, the
Red Sox craft over the years. That's fucking embarrassing. It
really is, like no one wants to hear you cry poor,
And we talked about this yesterday. You cannot give Purdy
an ungodly amount of money and cut corners like the
(09:52):
Rams just did and expect to win. Matt Stafford is
a better player. He can carry your team if you're
going through a rough patch. He's proven that Brock Perdy
if you're going to have a team that is not
gonna have dramatically less talent, you're gonna be in major trouble.
Now if you're cool with going back to back five six,
(10:14):
seven wins, okay, but no one wants to hear that bullshit.
So when you cut Leonard Floyd, like, I just don't
see how you justify that. I really don't. Who again
gets a job in twenty five minutes? It makes no sense.
And I think the Yorks are kind of going back
(10:34):
to their roots of this cost cutting bullshit and being
cheap and listen the other thing, like Mike Silver and
some of these guys writing these articles, I do think
it's pretty embarrassing to go basically four or five years
in the NFC Championship and a couple Super Bowls to
have one awful season. And don't get me wrong, it
(10:55):
was bad. It was a joke. Highest paid team in
the league six and eleven. I'm all for not tolerating that.
But then to just completely change your business plan and
try to go cheap is something like it's hard for
me to get behind. And you go through a little
rough season, some rough waters, and we start getting a
bunch of leaks about Kyle and John and the owners
(11:17):
like that's low level bullshit. I mean it really is,
because again, this is a business that is their future
revenue is set in fucking stone. A lot of people,
including myself, like recession hits advertising chains like you would
go it would change your business dynamics really, really quickly.
(11:41):
Most people listening are in fickle industries. Right can be
huge swings, good times are great, bad times can be rough.
I just married a woman who works in real estate.
Like seeing the ups and the downs. That ain't the NFL.
They just signed one hundred billion dollar contract a couple
(12:02):
of years ago, which they can easily opt out. We
just saw the NBA, whose viewership has been more than
cut in half, triple their revenue. The NFL is into
different stratosphere, and those networks that paid for the NBA
would go under without the NFL. So the NFL, I
think it's fair to say, at least for the next
fifteen plus years, is borderline recession proof, as much as
(12:27):
that is humanly possible in any business. So whenever you
come out like cutting costs like that just a bad look.
It's really kind of embarrassing. No one wants to hear
Genie Buss the Steinbrenners, like those type people talking about it,
and just within the last month it comes out, well,
the forty nine ers are valued at nine billion dollars
(12:50):
and they're gonna sell maybe ten percent for a nice
little nine hundred million dollar cash infusion. And now you're
just cutting Leonard Floyd to save a couple million dollars.
I just think that's impossible to justify. But I do
think if you follow this team for a long time,
this is the Yorks operation, you know, at their core,
(13:12):
when things get weird. When things are going good, everything's great,
everyone's you know, giving Jim Harbaugh his flowers, everyone's but
all of a sudden, you lose a game, something happens weird.
It's like everyone starts pointing the fingers. I saw this
happen ten years ago, and now they're kind of doing
it again with their roster all of a sudden, because
one six and eleven season, it's the NFL. It's hard,
(13:33):
It sucked. It was hard to watch. I watched every snap.
But I think you've got to be very careful. People
will turn on you fast. And the consumer is you know.
I just that they cannot comprehend this, and they will
not comprehend this because I'd argue, based on the math
and the numbers, it's kind of difficult to comprehend. It
(13:55):
really is like, well, we got to pay Perty a
lot of money, and then you're coming out saying you're
going to negotiate hard with all for it, not against it.
I'd be like, hey, three years, one hundred and twenty
million dollars, I'll guaranteed take it or leave it. Fuck you,
I'm not playing for that. Okay, see you in camp
this one. What are you gonna do? Hold out where
you gonna go. I'm all for that type business. I
am pro negotiating like that. I'm not anti. This isn't
(14:18):
some pro player. You gotta give him all the money
all the time. Bull Shit. We saw that last year
with Brandon at Yuk and it was awful. It was stupid,
you know. So I'm all for a very very difficult
negotiation with brock Perty. But when you start cutting Leonard
Floyd for basically no reason, that one's a head scratcher. Okay,
(14:38):
some big name trades. I gotta be honest, this one
made me scratch my head. The Pittsburgh Steelers traded a
second round pick for DK Metcalf and then reportedly plan
on giving him a ton of money. I like DK Metcalf,
and I defended, like, hey, Seattle, you better be very
careful you trade this guy. I get it can be
(15:00):
a little different, and he's fallen off a little these
last couple of years. Some injuries, get some penalties used
to drive Pete nuts, but his talent's elite. To me,
He's like the little lesser version of like Terrell Owens
in his prime, complete freak show, and just him being
on the field like Tyreek, changes your offense. It makes
everyone on the other side a little scared. But when
(15:23):
I think the Pittsburgh Steelers, it's like, you have no quarterback,
so yeah, you need some more offensive weaponry. But like
the last thing I would have done until I can,
just like you did not have a court adjustment Fields
was not signed. Even if you signed Aaron Rodgers. He's
forty one years old. To trade for DK Metcalf, I
like crap sheet. But he's like the Pittsburgh Steelers finally
(15:45):
land their star wide receiver. It's like, yeah, that's usually cool,
Like when the Eagles landed AJ Brown after they had
other shit figured out, Like I watched your defense last year.
It sucked down the stretch. And again I'm I'm pro
Dk Metcalf, but trading a second round pick for him
pretty high one. You can just where was DK drafted
(16:06):
in the second round? Like, what does Pittsburgh Steelers do
better than most develop sweet wide receivers. I just don't
quite understand that one. If you would have told me
the Bills did this, the Chiefs did this, the Ravens
don't take a really need him, but like a team
like that, the Chargers, who I saw people tweeting like
and maybe I talked about this last week, people like
(16:28):
Jim Harbaugh gonna trade for Dk Metcalf. You think if
you've watched Jim Harbaugh's coaching career for the last fifteen
plus years Stanford, Niners, Michigan and now the Chargers, you
think he would trade a second round pick, which is
extremely valuable in the NFL, especially in this draft where
(16:48):
people are saying there's not much difference from the fifteenth
overall player to the fiftieth overall player, so the talent
discrepancy is not wide, and give that guy a lot
of money, even though that wouldn't even be that crazy
a move. I think he'd be sweet on the Chargers,
but philosophically, Jim Harbad just doesn't believe into that. If
Jim Harbaugh done it, I'd have been like, damn, Jim
(17:10):
kind of got out of his comfort zone. Maybe they
think he's a player away. What did Jim do? Gave
eighteen million dollars to khlil Mack and I just I
don't know, man, I just my first reaction was I
don't like it. I just don't think it makes that
much sense. I really don't. And you're just like adding
more just weirdness to that room. Even though DK's proven
(17:33):
to be like a winning player, you can't say the
other thing for Pickens. I don't know. I just I
didn't see that one coming. We saw DK getting traded coming,
but just not to the Steelers. Okay, Laramie Tunzel traded today.
There's another example of the Sam Darnold thing. It's like,
what the hugure just traded Laramy Tunzel. He's in the
last year of his contract, and right before we took off,
(17:57):
I just saw the plane or the trade happened on
my phone right before we leave it. I'm like, what's
his contract status? Well, he can be caught next year
for no dead money. So I would imagine his current
contract has no guaranteed money. So what do you think
Laramie Tunzel wants right now? An enormous contract he's gonna want.
What do top tackles get? One hundred and twenty guaranteed
(18:19):
on a two hundred million dollar contract. So the Texans
clearly we're not comfortable giving him that contract. So if
you're not comfortable giving him that contract, what do you do?
You shop the guy because he's got value. And this
is what the Washington commanders did when they attacked free agency.
It was like, well you can just pay a bunch
of guys. It's like free agencies kind of hit or miss.
(18:40):
I like Adam Peters don't quite understand the Kinlock contract.
I don't. I get you need a defensive tackle, and
I get you've been around him that that one was.
We're gonna we're gonna disagree on that one. But the
Laramie Tunzel one, like the Deba one, makes a lot
of sense. You get too former. I mean Touns was
a better player than Debo the last couple ye, But
(19:00):
you get high level, winning players that are in contract
situations and you trade draft picks to acquire their salary
instead of paying twenty fifteen. It's actually incredible for the owner.
And it's also why when we talk about cap space,
it's like, well, who are you gonna go buy? Well,
you can also use picks to acquire players and fit
(19:22):
in that cap space. So they get Laramie Tunzell and
Deebo and maybe within the next couple of days, maybe
by the time you listen to this, Laramie Tunwell sign
an extension or maybe they just go listen, if you
ball out this year, if I'm Adam, like, I've been
around Trent Williams and we broke him off when he
was older than you, Laramie, So if you dominate this year,
we had no problem giving you a big contract and
(19:44):
they acquired him. Like, guys like Laramie Tunzell don't hit
free agency. Look at who was supposed to be the
best tackle in free agency this year, Ronnie Stanley doesn't
hit free agency, So you kind of got to understand,
like the only way to acquire that player is to retreat.
And I think Adam p the Debo move and the
Laramie tunzelll move are just good moves with your cap
space if you're not comfortable paying the whoever their equivalent
(20:08):
is in free agency where you have to give way
you know, crazier contracts to and you're stuck for several years.
So to me, that was the I don't have all
the details I wrote down. They're giving their third round
pick this year and their second round pick next year,
So there is they are incentivized for Laramie Tunzel to
play well, and if he does, they extend him and
(20:29):
they'll go, well, we make the playoffs again, we give
you a late third round pick this year. Next year,
if we're in the second round, that's the twenty fourth
pick of the second round. So I think if you're
Adam Peters like I like that move a lot. Now,
if you're the Texans, I think whatever's going on there,
you just weren't comfortable with the player giving him big money.
(20:49):
And I was read online a lot of fallse starts
last year. Definitely just talented player blue chipper.
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Speaker 1 (22:35):
Start with the Eagles and Howie Roseman, because you win
the Super Bowl and everyone is sky high, rightfully, so
second super Bowl and what seven years, second super Bowl
in franchise history. Squad is absolutely loaded. Then all of
a sudden they re signed Zach Bond. Everyone's like, hell yeah,
give Sequon a little extension as a thank you. And
(22:58):
then free agency tamp period hits and Sweat gets a
ton of money. In Arizona, Milton Williams gets broken off
by verbel CJ. Gardner Johnson, who I think I brought
a physicality back to that defense that they were clearly
missing last season, and everyone's like, what the hell is
going on? And I think the modern day version of
(23:22):
football moneyball right now for the Eagles. And I would
just say in general in the NFL is utilizing elite
coaching because when you have an elite coach on a
side of the ball, sometimes you can overcome stuff. We
have seen Andy Reid do that since they got rid
of Tyreek Hill. We have seen Sean McVeigh do that
(23:42):
the last couple of years, leading back to back playoff teams,
and hell, they went toe to toe with the Philadelphia
Eagles this year, the only team that gave him a game,
and I think clearly the forty nine Ers WI Kyle
Shanahan plan on doing that this fall. And I think
when you're the Eagles, you go. We have so much
invested into our offense financially, and that's just a fact.
(24:03):
I mean, Saquan is the seventh highest paid player on
the offense. We have one of, if not the best
defensive coordinator in the NFL, and he is being paid
an absolute premium. And we're lucky we have hit on
some sweet draft picks, but we're gonna utilize him. We're
gonna be able to let the defensive lineman go. We're
gonna be able to trade CJ. Gardner Johnson because our
(24:25):
ability to make guys, develop guys and find underappreciated assets
is under vix tutelage and watch. We just did it
last year with Zach Bond. We plan on doing it again,
and they did it. They also do it on the
offensive line with Stoutland. They've done it with Jordan Milatta,
(24:45):
they did it last year with Becton. They are attempting
to do that in the trade for CJ. Gardner Johnson
with the former top pick from the Houston Texans fifteenth
overall pick, guard Green. Now, you're not going to hit
on all these but this is Howie and this is
why I push so heavily when it comes to the draft,
free agency, this stuff is all an economic exercise. It
(25:09):
really is how much do I have to pay for
the player? What type assets do I have to pay
a premium for? And what type guys can I get
on the chief? Like, one thing's pretty clear right now
in free agency, if you want a competent guard or tackle,
you got to pay a lot of money. But I
will say this, when you are paying a ton of
(25:30):
money for a starting guard or a starting tackle that
has proven he can start at those positions, it's like,
at least you know I can plug this guy in
and he can start for me and he can function.
Do I feel comfortable giving Aaron Banks that much money
if I'm the agreement packers, of course not. Do I
feel great if I'm the Chiefs about signing Jalen Moore,
(25:50):
who was Trent Williams backup to thirty million dollars. Of
course not, but those guys have proven they can start
in enormous games. Banks has been a multiple year strong
or on one of the best teams in the NFL. So, yeah,
do I have to pay one hundred and fifty cents
on the dollar? Probably, But I witnessed what happened last
year in the playoff game to the Green Bay Packers
(26:11):
that left guard. It was a joke, like, it was
a complete embarrassment, and I'm not going to allow that
to happen again. Plus, unlike free agency, like a guy
might get hurt that you sign, but you know what
you're getting in free agency. Why because a guy's been
playing in the NFL and if you run the same scheme,
it literally is plug and play. It's the only time
(26:32):
in football where stuff is plug and play when another
team runs your offense, because there's not often you go
because in college football that's not the case. When you
are drafting a college prospect, there is a huge projection
not just his ability to play in the NFL, but
how he will work in your scheme. Even if there
(26:53):
are similarities to what he did in college. But like
you pay premiums in the NFL for these offensive that
much is clear when you watched how much they got.
Same thing with defensive linemen, because if you watch them
do something exactly what you're gonna ask them to do,
you feel pretty good about it because they've been doing
it for several years, typically for whatever team they've been
(27:13):
playing on. And like Howie Roseman understands how talented Milton
Williams is, but he goes, I've watched Fangio for twenty
years in the NFL find guys like that and develop them.
I've watched him take guys like Nolan Smith and develop
him into a good player and then turn them into
a Pro Bowl level guy. And then take really good
(27:33):
players like Jalen Carter and Quinnon Mitchell and Cooper dejen
and turn them into like all pro level guys. So
part of the Eagles economic outlook on their squad is
we're gonna have to trim a little bit on defense,
invest in the draft, and let Fangio coach and develops.
Why we're paying him so much money, We've been doing
(27:55):
it on the offensive line for years with Jeff Staltlin
for years before he showed up. Howard Mudd was that
version for the Eagles. It's why he believed in Jason Kelce,
an undersized athletic center. And that's how you have to
do it in football, because you can't just find a
bunch of AJ Browns and pay them all. We saw
the forty nine ers. They got to get rid of
(28:15):
a lot of guys because eventually you get to a
point where the cap space just limits you. And that
is why coaching is so important. It really is. And
I think the Eagles are in an excellent spot because
of the guy running their defense. So yeah, some of
the household names might be gone. Clearly, those guys got
(28:36):
a ton of money and rightfully so on the open market.
But I wouldn't lose one second of sleep if I
was a Philadelphia Eagle fan. I guess I'm just gonna
ask a question. Is free agency overrated in the NFL?
Obviously it's not in baseball and it's not in basketball,
But is it overrated in football? And don't get me wrong,
(28:59):
I like you get excited. It is fun to watch
these transactions. It is been something I've looked forward to
as a sports fan my entire life. It is cool.
I enjoy this week. I enjoy watching guys star, big
names get traded, guys get signed, teams get really aggressive
(29:21):
with cap space. I'm not acting like I am not
into this, But after you give it a couple of days,
you take a deep breath and you look back and
you go, isn't this always the most overrated time of
the league year? Because first of all, the best dynasty
of my life was Belichick. He never really dabbled in this.
(29:45):
He always waited for the second tier guys that he
got it for no money, or older players who were
high level Pro Bowl guys willing to give him a discount.
He rarely, if ever broke the bank on guys that
weren't his guys. The current dynasty, the Kansasity Chiefs, their
core guys have been three people. They drafted, Patrick Mahomes,
(30:08):
Travis Kelcey, and Chris Jones. And they won their first
Super Bowl with Tyreek Hill, who they also drafted, and
then they flipped. And how they continued this dynasty was
basically through that draft was a huge part of it
with mc duffie and Karloskas. But when you think about
like the Chiefs, who has been their huge signing over
the last five six years, an offensive lineman here or there,
(30:32):
Like they are not signing sex justin Reid. You know
that they are not out there fishing in the deep
end of the pond. And I thought about last year,
and again, I'm not trying to hate on any team
that signed players. Totally understand if I'm the Minnesota Vikings
or if I'm the Chicago Bears. Basically, if you take
those two teams, they had five starting offensive linemen, right
(30:54):
the Vikings did two and the Chicago Bears did three.
Totally understand why they would do that. If I was
in their shoes, I probably would do the same. But
like when I see Aaron Banks get eighty eight million
dollars from the Packers, like, yeah, they need a guard.
Is that a good contract? Like, I mean, I understand
people around the league go, that's kind of rich. But
(31:16):
look at last year. You could argue the best signing
of the year when you factor in the money was
Zach Bond. How he gave him like one year four
million dollars, his first team All Pro. He was honestly
one of the better players non quarterback in the NFL. Obviously,
Saquon had the best running back season, but Derek Henry
(31:38):
had the second best running back season. The Baltimore Ravens
gave him eight million dollars eight million dollars guaranteed, So
some of these contracts that are getting thrown around, Milton
Williams gets a huge amount of money. All my buddies
with the Eagles love the guy. I mean, he's a stud.
He had an incredible season. I don't even think he
(31:59):
played over fifty percent of the snaps and he also
got to play the majority of the time next to
what many consider the best and most talented young defensive
lineman in the league in Jalen Carter. So you have
a guy you're given. I mean, I hate, you know,
talking about it this way. It's just easier sometimes like
twenty five twenty six million dollars a year. He's never
(32:20):
even become close to a full time player and really
benefited from playing next to a superstar. And I'm not
anti the Patriots signing him, but these contracts that get
thrown out for these players set enormous expectations because you're
no longer talked about, like, let's face it, the core
of the of the Chiefs over the last however, many
(32:43):
years have been guys they've drafted had developed. Same thing
with the Patriots for a long time, Same thing with
a lot of the good teams you know in the NFL.
When you look at the Eagles, the forty nine Ers,
the Detroit Lions, it doesn't mean you can't supplement players.
But we talk so aggressively about this time, like this
(33:04):
is gonna change this team. This team, It's like, I
don't know, we'll see the cohesion, the chemistry that's built
over time. Like I love what the Bears did, it
was a no brainer doing all that, but like offensive
line chemistry isn't just built overnight. It takes time. And
same thing with the with the Minnesota Vikings adding two
new starting offensive linemen. Now, I would say adding guards
(33:28):
and centers in theory should be the easiest plug and
play in all of the sport. But I just think
this time of year, it's kind of a tried and
true way we react and we're all, including myself, guilty
of this is the way we talk about these moves
usually isn't the way they actually play out. So is
(33:50):
free agency overrated? I think it's fair to say in
the National Football League, it is a little bit. You know.
I was watching Sam Darnold give his press conference today
and it's pretty clear that that game that he had
against McDonald and Seattle that essentially knocked them out of
the playoffs, and I would say was his defining moment
(34:10):
as a from a positive standpoint for Sam this year.
That game winning touchdown on the road was a huge,
huge reason that Mike felt very confident about supporting the signing,
and even he talked about it obviously having a front
row seat in that game, but it was the way
that we had game planned against him throughout the week
of essentially watching all of his snaps, and I think
(34:32):
sometimes you got to be careful with that, but like
that held it was held in high regard when it
came to their head coach, that performance and his performance previously,
because that was before the last couple of games. But
watching Sam donald talk and right before that, they tweeted
out like the I don't think it's called periscope anymore
but YouTube wherever it's streamed at on Twitter is Seattle
(34:55):
had put something out on Gino Smith, who clearly resurrected
his in Seattle and became a really solid player, and
you start thinking about some of the players in the NFL,
like it's it's a no brainer when you talk about
the star players, like Patrick Mahomes is good immediately, right,
Josh Allen after year one was sweet. Lamar Jackson was
pretty incredible from early on, right. Joe Burrow's been pretty
(35:18):
fucking good as long as he's been healthy. Justin Herbert
had like one of the great rookie seasons we've ever seen,
and he was thrown in because Tyrod Taylor got a
needle to his kidney. Most guys see a lot of crap, honestly, Historically,
a lot of like great players, you know. I mean Drew
Brees was basically told you're out of here for Philip Rivers.
You know, Steve Young was a backup for a long
(35:40):
period of time to Joe Montana, but before that was
not viewed as a good player in Tampa Bay. And
I think sometimes with quarterbacks, you know so many other
players because you get to rotate in kind of battle
through stuff, and when you're bad early on your career,
like most guys aren't incredible day one. Most aren't just
like Aaron Donald or Justin Jefferson. Even great players, they
(36:03):
go through adversity and that's usually and I think most
people would agree in any line of work, that's how
you learn. Like you usually don't learn that much when
everything's going well. Why is that because you don't like
look that much inward. You don't have that much perspective
on things because things are good and you don't have
(36:24):
to overthink anything. And when things are bad, you kind
of gotta like lay it on the table and look
yourself in the mirror. And I think Sam Darnold, I
think Gino Smith, and I think Baker Mayfield are good
examples of like Pete Carroll just traded a third round
pick for a thirty five year old quarterback. Why because
he kind of swears by the guy, and I think
he thinks that, Like Gino's a really impressive person, obviously
(36:47):
on top of a solid player. And when you look
at what Baker Mayfield has done down in Tampa, how
much now I'm not even talking about how well he's played,
but how much the guys on that team like him.
I don't know if they would be where they're at
without kind of going through the Andy Duframe sewer and
coming out on the other end and listen, I'm done
(37:08):
psychoanalyzing what Aaron Rodgers, you know, or why it's taking
him so long when he's gonna make a decision. At
this point in time, I'm assuming he's going to continue
to play like that. That is my assumption. He's either
going to play on the Giants or more than likely
the Pittsburgh Steelers. And I think a lot of people
think that he's waiting to announce it at McAfee's deal,
(37:29):
which I was like, Oh, that makes some sense. McAfee's
doing this live show in Pittsburgh, But then I google
it the McAfee shows not till like April ninth, Like
that would be insanity if that is true, And he
announces on April ninth, like that, that's that we've jumped
the shark on that. And I don't think he's gonna
wait that long, Like I understand like doing some you know,
(37:50):
thinking long and hard. Though from a football perspective, I
think the Pittsburgh Steelers is an easy decision, assuming that
they want him. But you know, for the first time
in a long time, Aaron's really kind of hit the skids,
like they were really, really terrible, and people are talking about, like,
is your career over? Like it's not. The box score
(38:12):
doesn't look that terrible, but when you watch you play,
you're a shell of yourself and you're kind of done.
And that might be true, but like that humbled all
these other guys. Everyone talks shit about Sam Donald, Everyone
talks shit about Baker Mayfield. People thought Geno Smith was
like a joke, and look at them now. They're all
(38:33):
making thirty forty million dollars and Baker Mayfield second in
the league in touchdowns. Sam Donald just had a team
in the playoffs, you know, Gino Smith. I think three
straight years nine to nine to ten wins in Seattle.
Once they kicked Russell Wilson to the curb. Like we've
seen Russell Wilson. No matter what happens, Negative is the
same guy, same cheesy, optimistic bs like Russell's time to pivot, bro,
(38:57):
this ain't working. And I think Rogers, in a weird way,
is a little more real. But also like he's been
so used to held to such high esteem by every
human being, one of the greatest ever. You're so good.
You're gonna carry the team, hell, even the Jets. You're
gonna You're gonna save our franchise, and it's like, not
(39:18):
only are you not gonna save our franchise, you're gonna
be an embarrassment. And if he does come back to play,
I do wonder if there's a little like self reflection
and a little humility to like make you a better player,
a better teammate, because it clearly works for these other guys. Now,
it's usually harder on the other end, when you've been
a superstar to change. You know, the old sayings like
(39:41):
you don't teach an old dog new tricks. And at
this point in time, Aaron Rodgers made I don't know,
four hundred million dollars MVPs. Maybe he just is what
he is, and I listen, I'm not saying that he's
gonna change, but like smart guy like that, there's no
chance that maybe it's like little humility moving ard uh.
Time will tell.
Speaker 2 (40:05):
The volume.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
M hmm,
The volume What is going on everybody? John Middlecough that'd
be me. Three and Out pod, a little weekend edition
(00:23):
of the best of where we throw together a couple
of topics. Obviously, it was a very very busy week
with a little thing called NFL Free Agency, and uh yeah,
so we'll just kick it off talking about free agency
as a whole, the start of some of the big
free agency moves. You know, the Eagles obviously let a
lot of guys go as the defending champs, and what
(00:45):
the outlook looks like for them and really why they
made some of their decisions, and then just a big
picture question because when the week ends and you kind
of look back and you think about the years, like
is this week a little overrated? Obviously individual have big
moments for teams, but as a whole I think I
kind of wanted to dive in as free agency overrated.
(01:07):
So make sure you subscribe to the podcast if you
listen on Collins Feed. We got a YouTube channel all
of our content up there as well, so go check
that out. Let's talk about some football. I do think
just in general, the free agency period, which is really fun.
We love transactions in sports and I'm all for it.
(01:28):
I do think there's a little JANKI right to have
trades and stuff be able to happen before it becomes official.
You could argue, like five days, maybe not even a
couple days after the combine, just let it rip, just
start free agency on a given day. You don't need
the tampering, right because free agency has been going on
(01:48):
now for several weeks. It unofficially really gets going at
the combine.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
So if the.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Combine ends on a Monday, you could start And I
get it, it's based on the work week. Wouldn't want
to start all these deals later in the week because
you want to own the news cycle. And I totally
understand that, but maybe even put more emphasis on the combine.
Start free agency on the Monday right after and just
let people start signing and trading and let it go
(02:16):
because that's where the trades and a lot of these
moves happen. I just think this tampering period is just
a complete joke. It really is. You know, free agency
starts Wednesday. I think it like noon Eastern or for
Eastern or whenever it does. Well, all these deals are
already done, so Wednesday's kind of a useless day, it's
essentially Monday, but they keep saying, well, Monday, it's actually
(02:38):
legal tampering. Guys can't actually sign. I think we could
just cut out the middleman here and just rip the
band aid off and just let people do what they're
actually doing, making transactions, doing deals, right, I mean, how
often it's very rare. I can think of one Emmanuel Sanders,
but how often a guy renigs on a deal? Right?
(03:02):
So once these guys like Milton Williams all of a
sudden come Wednesday afternoon, isn't just gonna be on the
I don't know Carolina Panthers or the Arizona Cardinals, like
he's gonna be a Patriot. So I just I don't
know something. It feels starting to feel these last couple
of years like kind of a waste of the setup,
of the build up, because there is no build up.
(03:22):
Stuff just happens. So just let it happen and let
it be official. Something that was official today and he
was on the unemployment line for I don't know an
hour was the forty nine ers, And I think it's
pretty easy. And yesterday I did a little rant at
the end of the day after they had officially cut
(03:44):
Kyle yustcheck and just about the way the forty nine
ers have gone about this and the ramifications of a
disastrous negotiation last year with Brandon Ayuk when he took
them to the cleaners. I mean he bent them over
and took them for more money then I thought that
they should give him, and they clearly immediately regretted it.
(04:04):
And that was before he had a major knee injury.
Things got weird and help they've put him on the
trade block for the last couple of weeks. They don't
like him anymore. I've never seen a team sign a
guy to seventy five million dollars guaranteed after seventy five
catches and then immediately can't stand the guy. So it's
just a disastrous contract. And the forty nine ers have
(04:25):
let every guy go on their team. And I think
on an individual basis, it's really easy to justify each individually,
you know, not connected to anyone else. Drake Greenlaw injured
a lot torn achilles two years ago, got injured a
bunch last year when he tried to came back. Tyler
Nola Hufunga injured a lot. Like it's easy to go
through the list Jalen Moore, he's been a backup, can't start.
(04:47):
I go, well, I got Trent Williams, but you can't
pay a backup of pream Like I get it. But
today Leonard Floyd, who started every single game for them,
is a pros pro, super high character guy. A I
made a pretty high end pass rusher, not a superstar
by any means, but a guy that you could go
to the playoffs with as one of your rotational defensive
(05:09):
ends slash starters. They just cut It was like, well,
would totally understand it, Like I got why the Rams
cut Cooper Cup. He was gonna cost them twenty million dollars.
It's like, you're not paying Cooper Cup in twenty twenty
five twenty million dollars. No one is right, but Leonard
Floyd seven and a half million dollars kind of the
(05:31):
going rate for a guy that is gonna give you
nine or ten sacks and never misses any time, Like
that's what they cost. I just do not understand it.
It makes no sense. And I have to be fair
because we're often critical of these teams that are cheap,
and I've been on the Bears for years, the Bengals
that the Crafts and the forty nine Ers spent more
(05:54):
money than any team in the league last year in
actual cash. Obviously, you have to be under the salary
recap or with the salary cap on any given year
because it's a hard cap in the NFL. That doesn't
mean you can't spend way more cash than the two
hundred the two hundred and forty the two hundred and
fifty million dollars salary cap right in signing bonuses, and
(06:15):
then you can manipulate the cap well. Last year, the
forty nine Ers in twenty twenty five spent more cash
than any team in the NFL at three hundred and
thirty four million dollars. What was the cap last year,
like two hundred and fifty million dollars, So almost eighty
million dollars more of actual cap space they spent in cash.
I mean it's a lot of money. No one's arguing
(06:37):
that spending on a workforce of you end up having
way more than fifty three guys, let's say, seventy eighty
over the course of the season, three hundred and thirty
million dollars in compensation. It's a lot. I mean, that's
that's the business. These people are in and the Yorks
have the team because once upon a time, one of
the greatest owners in the history of sports, Eddie de
(06:57):
barbelhow got caught giving a brown bag to a politician
trying to get a casino on the water down. I
think it was when Louisiana and the Feds came up
and he got in big trouble and had to give
it to his sister, who the family is notoriously cheap. Now,
Jed York is the figurehead. They named him the president,
(07:18):
and he on the day to day operation. He's there
a lot and he deals with Kyle and John, but
ultimately it is the parents team. Jed York could not
do anything without his parents' approval when it came to
selling the team a huge contract to brock Purty obviously
when they're signing a practice squad guy, and it depends
on the operation. For example, the Eagles spend a shitload
(07:42):
of cash on a yearly basis, not always one, but
always in the top five top ten in the way
they do signing bonusespecially the last couple of years have
a highly paid team. Jeffrey Leury doesn't have to ask
his parents for any fucking approval. He's the boss. He's
in charge. Just like if you go around the league,
even the cheaf team, Clark Hunt doesn't have to deal
with anyone else. If he wants to have a cheap
(08:03):
facility and a bad weight room and get d's, that's
his prerogative. He answers to no one but himself. No
different than Robert Craft. Jonathan Craft isn't in charge. Robert is.
And I think when you look at the forty nine ers,
your team, as Tim Kawakami tweeted today, they are making
a one hundred and forty million dollars in profit. Honestly,
(08:27):
my guests would be it's higher. But I was talking
to my brother at the wedding, and you know, he
deals with a lot of different business. He's in farming,
but they deal in construction. They deal with so much
different stuff. And we were talking about some of these
venture capitalists that come in and purchase companies, and typically
they like to get like a five to eight percent
(08:47):
profit range. Right, So your profit based on your total revenue,
If it's like five to eight percent, you're doing pretty well.
If the forty nine ers are making seven to eight
hundred million dollars, which I think is a very fair guess,
especially when you look at their valuation of nine billion dollars.
I mean they're making fifteen to twenty percent net profit.
(09:08):
That is money taken home. So when I look at
the forty nine ers pulling back, I'm all four not
being reckless and not giving out stupid deals. Have no
issue with trading Deebo Samuel, but to all of a
sudden have one season where you go six and eleven
and start pitching pennies like I'm sorry, when you're the
forty nine Ers, when you're the Lakers, when you're the Cowboys.
(09:29):
Jerry's been crushed over the years for not spending that
much cash when you're the Laker or the Yankees, the
Red Sox craft over the years. That's fucking embarrassing. It
really is, like no one wants to hear you cry poor,
And we talked about this yesterday. You cannot give Purdy
an ungodly amount of money and cut corners like the
(09:52):
Rams just did and expect to win. Matt Stafford is
a better player. He can carry your team if you're
going through a rough patch. He's proven that Brock Perdy
if you're going to have a team that is not
gonna have dramatically less talent, you're gonna be in major trouble.
Now if you're cool with going back to back five six,
(10:14):
seven wins, okay, but no one wants to hear that bullshit.
So when you cut Leonard Floyd, like, I just don't
see how you justify that. I really don't. Who again
gets a job in twenty five minutes? It makes no sense.
And I think the Yorks are kind of going back
(10:34):
to their roots of this cost cutting bullshit and being
cheap and listen the other thing, like Mike Silver and
some of these guys writing these articles, I do think
it's pretty embarrassing to go basically four or five years
in the NFC Championship and a couple Super Bowls to
have one awful season. And don't get me wrong, it
(10:55):
was bad. It was a joke. Highest paid team in
the league six and eleven. I'm all for not tolerating that.
But then to just completely change your business plan and
try to go cheap is something like it's hard for
me to get behind. And you go through a little
rough season, some rough waters, and we start getting a
bunch of leaks about Kyle and John and the owners
(11:17):
like that's low level bullshit. I mean it really is,
because again, this is a business that is their future
revenue is set in fucking stone. A lot of people,
including myself, like recession hits advertising chains like you would
go it would change your business dynamics really, really quickly.
(11:41):
Most people listening are in fickle industries. Right can be
huge swings, good times are great, bad times can be rough.
I just married a woman who works in real estate.
Like seeing the ups and the downs. That ain't the NFL.
They just signed one hundred billion dollar contract a couple
(12:02):
of years ago, which they can easily opt out. We
just saw the NBA, whose viewership has been more than
cut in half, triple their revenue. The NFL is into
different stratosphere, and those networks that paid for the NBA
would go under without the NFL. So the NFL, I
think it's fair to say, at least for the next
fifteen plus years, is borderline recession proof, as much as
(12:27):
that is humanly possible in any business. So whenever you
come out like cutting costs like that just a bad look.
It's really kind of embarrassing. No one wants to hear
Genie Buss the Steinbrenners, like those type people talking about it,
and just within the last month it comes out, well,
the forty nine ers are valued at nine billion dollars
(12:50):
and they're gonna sell maybe ten percent for a nice
little nine hundred million dollar cash infusion. And now you're
just cutting Leonard Floyd to save a couple million dollars.
I just think that's impossible to justify. But I do
think if you follow this team for a long time,
this is the Yorks operation, you know, at their core,
(13:12):
when things get weird. When things are going good, everything's great,
everyone's you know, giving Jim Harbaugh his flowers, everyone's but
all of a sudden, you lose a game, something happens weird.
It's like everyone starts pointing the fingers. I saw this
happen ten years ago, and now they're kind of doing
it again with their roster all of a sudden, because
one six and eleven season, it's the NFL. It's hard,
(13:33):
It sucked. It was hard to watch. I watched every snap.
But I think you've got to be very careful. People
will turn on you fast. And the consumer is you know.
I just that they cannot comprehend this, and they will
not comprehend this because I'd argue, based on the math
and the numbers, it's kind of difficult to comprehend. It
(13:55):
really is like, well, we got to pay Perty a
lot of money, and then you're coming out saying you're
going to negotiate hard with all for it, not against it.
I'd be like, hey, three years, one hundred and twenty
million dollars, I'll guaranteed take it or leave it. Fuck you,
I'm not playing for that. Okay, see you in camp
this one. What are you gonna do? Hold out where
you gonna go. I'm all for that type business. I
am pro negotiating like that. I'm not anti. This isn't
(14:18):
some pro player. You gotta give him all the money
all the time. Bull Shit. We saw that last year
with Brandon at Yuk and it was awful. It was stupid,
you know. So I'm all for a very very difficult
negotiation with brock Perty. But when you start cutting Leonard
Floyd for basically no reason, that one's a head scratcher. Okay,
(14:38):
some big name trades. I gotta be honest, this one
made me scratch my head. The Pittsburgh Steelers traded a
second round pick for DK Metcalf and then reportedly plan
on giving him a ton of money. I like DK Metcalf,
and I defended, like, hey, Seattle, you better be very
careful you trade this guy. I get it can be
(15:00):
a little different, and he's fallen off a little these
last couple of years. Some injuries, get some penalties used
to drive Pete nuts, but his talent's elite. To me,
He's like the little lesser version of like Terrell Owens
in his prime, complete freak show, and just him being
on the field like Tyreek, changes your offense. It makes
everyone on the other side a little scared. But when
(15:23):
I think the Pittsburgh Steelers, it's like, you have no quarterback,
so yeah, you need some more offensive weaponry. But like
the last thing I would have done until I can,
just like you did not have a court adjustment Fields
was not signed. Even if you signed Aaron Rodgers. He's
forty one years old. To trade for DK Metcalf, I
like crap sheet. But he's like the Pittsburgh Steelers finally
(15:45):
land their star wide receiver. It's like, yeah, that's usually cool,
Like when the Eagles landed AJ Brown after they had
other shit figured out, Like I watched your defense last year.
It sucked down the stretch. And again I'm I'm pro
Dk Metcalf, but trading a second round pick for him
pretty high one. You can just where was DK drafted
(16:06):
in the second round? Like, what does Pittsburgh Steelers do
better than most develop sweet wide receivers. I just don't
quite understand that one. If you would have told me
the Bills did this, the Chiefs did this, the Ravens
don't take a really need him, but like a team
like that, the Chargers, who I saw people tweeting like
and maybe I talked about this last week, people like
(16:28):
Jim Harbaugh gonna trade for Dk Metcalf. You think if
you've watched Jim Harbaugh's coaching career for the last fifteen
plus years Stanford, Niners, Michigan and now the Chargers, you
think he would trade a second round pick, which is
extremely valuable in the NFL, especially in this draft where
(16:48):
people are saying there's not much difference from the fifteenth
overall player to the fiftieth overall player, so the talent
discrepancy is not wide, and give that guy a lot
of money, even though that wouldn't even be that crazy
a move. I think he'd be sweet on the Chargers,
but philosophically, Jim Harbad just doesn't believe into that. If
Jim Harbaugh done it, I'd have been like, damn, Jim
(17:10):
kind of got out of his comfort zone. Maybe they
think he's a player away. What did Jim do? Gave
eighteen million dollars to khlil Mack and I just I
don't know, man, I just my first reaction was I
don't like it. I just don't think it makes that
much sense. I really don't. And you're just like adding
more just weirdness to that room. Even though DK's proven
(17:33):
to be like a winning player, you can't say the
other thing for Pickens. I don't know. I just I
didn't see that one coming. We saw DK getting traded coming,
but just not to the Steelers. Okay, Laramie Tunzel traded today.
There's another example of the Sam Darnold thing. It's like,
what the hugure just traded Laramy Tunzel. He's in the
last year of his contract, and right before we took off,
(17:57):
I just saw the plane or the trade happened on
my phone right before we leave it. I'm like, what's
his contract status? Well, he can be caught next year
for no dead money. So I would imagine his current
contract has no guaranteed money. So what do you think
Laramie Tunzel wants right now? An enormous contract he's gonna want.
What do top tackles get? One hundred and twenty guaranteed
(18:19):
on a two hundred million dollar contract. So the Texans
clearly we're not comfortable giving him that contract. So if
you're not comfortable giving him that contract, what do you do?
You shop the guy because he's got value. And this
is what the Washington commanders did when they attacked free agency.
It was like, well you can just pay a bunch
of guys. It's like free agencies kind of hit or miss.
(18:40):
I like Adam Peters don't quite understand the Kinlock contract.
I don't. I get you need a defensive tackle, and
I get you've been around him that that one was.
We're gonna we're gonna disagree on that one. But the
Laramie Tunzel one, like the Deba one, makes a lot
of sense. You get too former. I mean Touns was
a better player than Debo the last couple ye, But
(19:00):
you get high level, winning players that are in contract
situations and you trade draft picks to acquire their salary
instead of paying twenty fifteen. It's actually incredible for the owner.
And it's also why when we talk about cap space,
it's like, well, who are you gonna go buy? Well,
you can also use picks to acquire players and fit
(19:22):
in that cap space. So they get Laramie Tunzell and
Deebo and maybe within the next couple of days, maybe
by the time you listen to this, Laramie Tunwell sign
an extension or maybe they just go listen, if you
ball out this year, if I'm Adam, like, I've been
around Trent Williams and we broke him off when he
was older than you, Laramie, So if you dominate this year,
we had no problem giving you a big contract and
(19:44):
they acquired him. Like, guys like Laramie Tunzell don't hit
free agency. Look at who was supposed to be the
best tackle in free agency this year, Ronnie Stanley doesn't
hit free agency, So you kind of got to understand,
like the only way to acquire that player is to retreat.
And I think Adam p the Debo move and the
Laramie tunzelll move are just good moves with your cap
space if you're not comfortable paying the whoever their equivalent
(20:08):
is in free agency where you have to give way
you know, crazier contracts to and you're stuck for several years.
So to me, that was the I don't have all
the details I wrote down. They're giving their third round
pick this year and their second round pick next year,
So there is they are incentivized for Laramie Tunzel to
play well, and if he does, they extend him and
(20:29):
they'll go, well, we make the playoffs again, we give
you a late third round pick this year. Next year,
if we're in the second round, that's the twenty fourth
pick of the second round. So I think if you're
Adam Peters like I like that move a lot. Now,
if you're the Texans, I think whatever's going on there,
you just weren't comfortable with the player giving him big money.
(20:49):
And I was read online a lot of fallse starts
last year. Definitely just talented player blue chipper.
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Speaker 1 (22:35):
Start with the Eagles and Howie Roseman, because you win
the Super Bowl and everyone is sky high, rightfully, so
second super Bowl and what seven years, second super Bowl
in franchise history. Squad is absolutely loaded. Then all of
a sudden they re signed Zach Bond. Everyone's like, hell yeah,
give Sequon a little extension as a thank you. And
(22:58):
then free agency tamp period hits and Sweat gets a
ton of money. In Arizona, Milton Williams gets broken off
by verbel CJ. Gardner Johnson, who I think I brought
a physicality back to that defense that they were clearly
missing last season, and everyone's like, what the hell is
going on? And I think the modern day version of
(23:22):
football moneyball right now for the Eagles. And I would
just say in general in the NFL is utilizing elite
coaching because when you have an elite coach on a
side of the ball, sometimes you can overcome stuff. We
have seen Andy Reid do that since they got rid
of Tyreek Hill. We have seen Sean McVeigh do that
(23:42):
the last couple of years, leading back to back playoff teams,
and hell, they went toe to toe with the Philadelphia
Eagles this year, the only team that gave him a game,
and I think clearly the forty nine Ers WI Kyle
Shanahan plan on doing that this fall. And I think
when you're the Eagles, you go. We have so much
invested into our offense financially, and that's just a fact.
(24:03):
I mean, Saquan is the seventh highest paid player on
the offense. We have one of, if not the best
defensive coordinator in the NFL, and he is being paid
an absolute premium. And we're lucky we have hit on
some sweet draft picks, but we're gonna utilize him. We're
gonna be able to let the defensive lineman go. We're
gonna be able to trade CJ. Gardner Johnson because our
(24:25):
ability to make guys, develop guys and find underappreciated assets
is under vix tutelage and watch. We just did it
last year with Zach Bond. We plan on doing it again,
and they did it. They also do it on the
offensive line with Stoutland. They've done it with Jordan Milatta,
(24:45):
they did it last year with Becton. They are attempting
to do that in the trade for CJ. Gardner Johnson
with the former top pick from the Houston Texans fifteenth
overall pick, guard Green. Now, you're not going to hit
on all these but this is Howie and this is
why I push so heavily when it comes to the draft,
free agency, this stuff is all an economic exercise. It
(25:09):
really is how much do I have to pay for
the player? What type assets do I have to pay
a premium for? And what type guys can I get
on the chief? Like, one thing's pretty clear right now
in free agency, if you want a competent guard or tackle,
you got to pay a lot of money. But I
will say this, when you are paying a ton of
(25:30):
money for a starting guard or a starting tackle that
has proven he can start at those positions, it's like,
at least you know I can plug this guy in
and he can start for me and he can function.
Do I feel comfortable giving Aaron Banks that much money
if I'm the agreement packers, of course not. Do I
feel great if I'm the Chiefs about signing Jalen Moore,
(25:50):
who was Trent Williams backup to thirty million dollars. Of
course not, but those guys have proven they can start
in enormous games. Banks has been a multiple year strong
or on one of the best teams in the NFL. So, yeah,
do I have to pay one hundred and fifty cents
on the dollar? Probably, But I witnessed what happened last
year in the playoff game to the Green Bay Packers
(26:11):
that left guard. It was a joke, like, it was
a complete embarrassment, and I'm not going to allow that
to happen again. Plus, unlike free agency, like a guy
might get hurt that you sign, but you know what
you're getting in free agency. Why because a guy's been
playing in the NFL and if you run the same scheme,
it literally is plug and play. It's the only time
(26:32):
in football where stuff is plug and play when another
team runs your offense, because there's not often you go
because in college football that's not the case. When you
are drafting a college prospect, there is a huge projection
not just his ability to play in the NFL, but
how he will work in your scheme. Even if there
(26:53):
are similarities to what he did in college. But like
you pay premiums in the NFL for these offensive that
much is clear when you watched how much they got.
Same thing with defensive linemen, because if you watch them
do something exactly what you're gonna ask them to do,
you feel pretty good about it because they've been doing
it for several years, typically for whatever team they've been
(27:13):
playing on. And like Howie Roseman understands how talented Milton
Williams is, but he goes, I've watched Fangio for twenty
years in the NFL find guys like that and develop them.
I've watched him take guys like Nolan Smith and develop
him into a good player and then turn them into
a Pro Bowl level guy. And then take really good
(27:33):
players like Jalen Carter and Quinnon Mitchell and Cooper dejen
and turn them into like all pro level guys. So
part of the Eagles economic outlook on their squad is
we're gonna have to trim a little bit on defense,
invest in the draft, and let Fangio coach and develops.
Why we're paying him so much money, We've been doing
(27:55):
it on the offensive line for years with Jeff Staltlin
for years before he showed up. Howard Mudd was that
version for the Eagles. It's why he believed in Jason Kelce,
an undersized athletic center. And that's how you have to
do it in football, because you can't just find a
bunch of AJ Browns and pay them all. We saw
the forty nine ers. They got to get rid of
(28:15):
a lot of guys because eventually you get to a
point where the cap space just limits you. And that
is why coaching is so important. It really is. And
I think the Eagles are in an excellent spot because
of the guy running their defense. So yeah, some of
the household names might be gone. Clearly, those guys got
(28:36):
a ton of money and rightfully so on the open market.
But I wouldn't lose one second of sleep if I
was a Philadelphia Eagle fan. I guess I'm just gonna
ask a question. Is free agency overrated in the NFL?
Obviously it's not in baseball and it's not in basketball,
But is it overrated in football? And don't get me wrong,
(28:59):
I like you get excited. It is fun to watch
these transactions. It is been something I've looked forward to
as a sports fan my entire life. It is cool.
I enjoy this week. I enjoy watching guys star, big
names get traded, guys get signed, teams get really aggressive
(29:21):
with cap space. I'm not acting like I am not
into this, But after you give it a couple of days,
you take a deep breath and you look back and
you go, isn't this always the most overrated time of
the league year? Because first of all, the best dynasty
of my life was Belichick. He never really dabbled in this.
(29:45):
He always waited for the second tier guys that he
got it for no money, or older players who were
high level Pro Bowl guys willing to give him a discount.
He rarely, if ever broke the bank on guys that
weren't his guys. The current dynasty, the Kansasity Chiefs, their
core guys have been three people. They drafted, Patrick Mahomes,
(30:08):
Travis Kelcey, and Chris Jones. And they won their first
Super Bowl with Tyreek Hill, who they also drafted, and
then they flipped. And how they continued this dynasty was
basically through that draft was a huge part of it
with mc duffie and Karloskas. But when you think about
like the Chiefs, who has been their huge signing over
the last five six years, an offensive lineman here or there,
(30:32):
Like they are not signing sex justin Reid. You know
that they are not out there fishing in the deep
end of the pond. And I thought about last year,
and again, I'm not trying to hate on any team
that signed players. Totally understand if I'm the Minnesota Vikings
or if I'm the Chicago Bears. Basically, if you take
those two teams, they had five starting offensive linemen, right
(30:54):
the Vikings did two and the Chicago Bears did three.
Totally understand why they would do that. If I was
in their shoes, I probably would do the same. But
like when I see Aaron Banks get eighty eight million
dollars from the Packers, like, yeah, they need a guard.
Is that a good contract? Like, I mean, I understand
people around the league go, that's kind of rich. But
(31:16):
look at last year. You could argue the best signing
of the year when you factor in the money was
Zach Bond. How he gave him like one year four
million dollars, his first team All Pro. He was honestly
one of the better players non quarterback in the NFL. Obviously,
Saquon had the best running back season, but Derek Henry
(31:38):
had the second best running back season. The Baltimore Ravens
gave him eight million dollars eight million dollars guaranteed, So
some of these contracts that are getting thrown around, Milton
Williams gets a huge amount of money. All my buddies
with the Eagles love the guy. I mean, he's a stud.
He had an incredible season. I don't even think he
(31:59):
played over fifty percent of the snaps and he also
got to play the majority of the time next to
what many consider the best and most talented young defensive
lineman in the league in Jalen Carter. So you have
a guy you're given. I mean, I hate, you know,
talking about it this way. It's just easier sometimes like
twenty five twenty six million dollars a year. He's never
(32:20):
even become close to a full time player and really
benefited from playing next to a superstar. And I'm not
anti the Patriots signing him, but these contracts that get
thrown out for these players set enormous expectations because you're
no longer talked about, like, let's face it, the core
of the of the Chiefs over the last however, many
(32:43):
years have been guys they've drafted had developed. Same thing
with the Patriots for a long time, Same thing with
a lot of the good teams you know in the NFL.
When you look at the Eagles, the forty nine Ers,
the Detroit Lions, it doesn't mean you can't supplement players.
But we talk so aggressively about this time, like this
(33:04):
is gonna change this team. This team, It's like, I
don't know, we'll see the cohesion, the chemistry that's built
over time. Like I love what the Bears did, it
was a no brainer doing all that, but like offensive
line chemistry isn't just built overnight. It takes time. And
same thing with the with the Minnesota Vikings adding two
new starting offensive linemen. Now, I would say adding guards
(33:28):
and centers in theory should be the easiest plug and
play in all of the sport. But I just think
this time of year, it's kind of a tried and
true way we react and we're all, including myself, guilty
of this is the way we talk about these moves
usually isn't the way they actually play out. So is
(33:50):
free agency overrated? I think it's fair to say in
the National Football League, it is a little bit. You know.
I was watching Sam Darnold give his press conference today
and it's pretty clear that that game that he had
against McDonald and Seattle that essentially knocked them out of
the playoffs, and I would say was his defining moment
(34:10):
as a from a positive standpoint for Sam this year.
That game winning touchdown on the road was a huge,
huge reason that Mike felt very confident about supporting the signing,
and even he talked about it obviously having a front
row seat in that game, but it was the way
that we had game planned against him throughout the week
of essentially watching all of his snaps, and I think
(34:32):
sometimes you got to be careful with that, but like
that held it was held in high regard when it
came to their head coach, that performance and his performance previously,
because that was before the last couple of games. But
watching Sam donald talk and right before that, they tweeted
out like the I don't think it's called periscope anymore
but YouTube wherever it's streamed at on Twitter is Seattle
(34:55):
had put something out on Gino Smith, who clearly resurrected
his in Seattle and became a really solid player, and
you start thinking about some of the players in the NFL,
like it's it's a no brainer when you talk about
the star players, like Patrick Mahomes is good immediately, right,
Josh Allen after year one was sweet. Lamar Jackson was
pretty incredible from early on, right. Joe Burrow's been pretty
(35:18):
fucking good as long as he's been healthy. Justin Herbert
had like one of the great rookie seasons we've ever seen,
and he was thrown in because Tyrod Taylor got a
needle to his kidney. Most guys see a lot of crap, honestly, Historically,
a lot of like great players, you know. I mean Drew
Brees was basically told you're out of here for Philip Rivers.
You know, Steve Young was a backup for a long
(35:40):
period of time to Joe Montana, but before that was
not viewed as a good player in Tampa Bay. And
I think sometimes with quarterbacks, you know so many other
players because you get to rotate in kind of battle
through stuff, and when you're bad early on your career,
like most guys aren't incredible day one. Most aren't just
like Aaron Donald or Justin Jefferson. Even great players, they
(36:03):
go through adversity and that's usually and I think most
people would agree in any line of work, that's how
you learn. Like you usually don't learn that much when
everything's going well. Why is that because you don't like
look that much inward. You don't have that much perspective
on things because things are good and you don't have
(36:24):
to overthink anything. And when things are bad, you kind
of gotta like lay it on the table and look
yourself in the mirror. And I think Sam Darnold, I
think Gino Smith, and I think Baker Mayfield are good
examples of like Pete Carroll just traded a third round
pick for a thirty five year old quarterback. Why because
he kind of swears by the guy, and I think
he thinks that, Like Gino's a really impressive person, obviously
(36:47):
on top of a solid player. And when you look
at what Baker Mayfield has done down in Tampa, how
much now I'm not even talking about how well he's played,
but how much the guys on that team like him.
I don't know if they would be where they're at
without kind of going through the Andy Duframe sewer and
coming out on the other end and listen, I'm done
(37:08):
psychoanalyzing what Aaron Rodgers, you know, or why it's taking
him so long when he's gonna make a decision. At
this point in time, I'm assuming he's going to continue
to play like that. That is my assumption. He's either
going to play on the Giants or more than likely
the Pittsburgh Steelers. And I think a lot of people
think that he's waiting to announce it at McAfee's deal,
(37:29):
which I was like, Oh, that makes some sense. McAfee's
doing this live show in Pittsburgh, But then I google
it the McAfee shows not till like April ninth, Like
that would be insanity if that is true, And he
announces on April ninth, like that, that's that we've jumped
the shark on that. And I don't think he's gonna
wait that long, Like I understand like doing some you know,
(37:50):
thinking long and hard. Though from a football perspective, I
think the Pittsburgh Steelers is an easy decision, assuming that
they want him. But you know, for the first time
in a long time, Aaron's really kind of hit the skids,
like they were really, really terrible, and people are talking about, like,
is your career over? Like it's not. The box score
(38:12):
doesn't look that terrible, but when you watch you play,
you're a shell of yourself and you're kind of done.
And that might be true, but like that humbled all
these other guys. Everyone talks shit about Sam Donald, Everyone
talks shit about Baker Mayfield. People thought Geno Smith was
like a joke, and look at them now. They're all
(38:33):
making thirty forty million dollars and Baker Mayfield second in
the league in touchdowns. Sam Donald just had a team
in the playoffs, you know, Gino Smith. I think three
straight years nine to nine to ten wins in Seattle.
Once they kicked Russell Wilson to the curb. Like we've
seen Russell Wilson. No matter what happens, Negative is the
same guy, same cheesy, optimistic bs like Russell's time to pivot, bro,
(38:57):
this ain't working. And I think Rogers, in a weird way,
is a little more real. But also like he's been
so used to held to such high esteem by every
human being, one of the greatest ever. You're so good.
You're gonna carry the team, hell, even the Jets. You're
gonna You're gonna save our franchise, and it's like, not
(39:18):
only are you not gonna save our franchise, you're gonna
be an embarrassment. And if he does come back to play,
I do wonder if there's a little like self reflection
and a little humility to like make you a better player,
a better teammate, because it clearly works for these other guys. Now,
it's usually harder on the other end, when you've been
a superstar to change. You know, the old sayings like
(39:41):
you don't teach an old dog new tricks. And at
this point in time, Aaron Rodgers made I don't know,
four hundred million dollars MVPs. Maybe he just is what
he is, and I listen, I'm not saying that he's
gonna change, but like smart guy like that, there's no
chance that maybe it's like little humility moving ard uh.
Time will tell.
Speaker 2 (40:05):
The volume.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
M hmm,
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Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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