Roster Roulette | NFL Offseason Madness, Blockbuster Moves & Big Debates

This week on Ari SQRD, we went full chaos mode in the best way possible. The NFL offseason has officially lost its mind, and we’re here for every second of it. We’re talking about the most trades we’ve ever seen in a single offseason and what that means for how teams are building and rebuilding in real time. Blink and your roster is outdated. We had to dive into the record breaking deal for JSN and what it signals not just for him but for the entire wide receiver market. Reset the clock reset the price tags reset everything. Then came the big question after their Super Bowl win did the Seattle Seahawks lose too many key pieces It’s one of those situations where a championship roster can quickly start to look very different and we break down whether this is just the cost of winning or a move that could come back to haunt them. Speaking of chaos the San Francisco 49ers made major moves at wide receiver with Ricky Pearsall as the only returning piece from last year’s group but then went out and signed Mike Evans adding a proven elite weapon to the mix and we break down what this means for their offense and whether this is bold strategy or risky business. We also zoomed out and asked the bigger questions who’s had the most interesting offseason so far which team has actually improved the most not just won headlines and how free agency has completely flipped the way we should be thinking about the draft. And of course we wrapped things up by looking at the NFC North and asking who the real favorite is and whether it might be the best division in football right now. This episode is packed with takes debates and a whole lot of wait what just happened energy and if you’re trying to make sense of this wild offseason or just want to stay ahead of it this is one you don’t want to miss. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome back for another edition of Ari Squared. We are your hosts, Ari Lev and Ari Berkowitz, coming to you live on Thursday. Excited to be recording. You know, it's crazy, Ari. Every single time, every single day, as much as we are in quote unquote week three of the NFL free agency, there still seems to be deals happening. Players are still moving from team to team. There's still lots of you know trade speculation out there, still some big names out there. And so it's wild that you know, even if we recorded this pod on the daily, there would be what to talk about. So, Ari, why'd you kick us off? Well, I think you'd like to talk about today.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

Absolutely, and and just in that vein, it reminded me of this tweet that Adam Schefter sent out that there are the most ever trades in uh in an off season, like ever. And we're not even like I don't know, 10% through the off-season. So that that was just like crazy because there are gonna be more trades before training camp, um, at least you know, one to three, and we've already broken the record. So that was pretty cool. I mean, you know, speaking about the most current of current events is definitely the uh JSN mega deal and Mike McDonald's comments on it. Um, I I think we could both agree that you know it's it's a very fair uh deal, even though it's it's tremendous in its value. What do you perceive about the Seahawks you know cap allocation keeping JSN happy and uh anything else of note in their offseason?

SPEAKER_00 1:44

So the Seahawks are a very interesting team. Um, and you know, this seems to happen, I'm not gonna say all the time, but it seems to happen fairly often with Super Bowl teams, where depending on where you are in your players' contracts, you can kind of see this mass exodus after their win because of salary. Because think about it, who doesn't want to sign a player that just won the Super Bowl? And obviously, you know, in it with as creative as you are in capped gymnastics, it is impossible to keep everyone, and so you do your best to keep those that you can, those that you feel that are the least replaceable, and you do that. Um, in regards specifically to JSN, I think it's well deserved. I mean, the guy has progressively gotten better every season. Uh, I do believe, and you know, we had discussed this off air, that the Clint Kubiak effect um of what he was able to get out of JSN certainly, certainly um, you know, was very helpful towards him securing this deal to begin with. Uh, not to mention getting a competent QB as opposed to the Geno Smiths and the aging Russell Wilson of the of the world. Um, so certainly all those things contributed. Um, and hey, shout out to him, proud for him, and you know, dude, go get grab the bag. I do believe that you send a good message to your locker room, which is if you are a guy we drafted and you play well, even play beyond your potential, we're gonna keep you happy. I do though have a question for you on that, Ari, which is is this a good or bad message for Sam Darnold? Because, yeah, there's no question that Jason had an amazing season, but what about the dude who's throwing him the ball, who is getting way below market value, especially for a now super back uh super bowl, sorry, quarter winning quarterback. Should they have maybe redone Darnold? Are they waiting to redo him? What are your thoughts on that? And and and you know, I would say is have the Seahawks lost too much?

SPEAKER_01 4:00

Yeah, so with regards to I I'm not I'm not sure if based off of their current cap, I'd have to look if they'd even be capable of redoing Darnold and doing the JSN deal in the same offseason.

SPEAKER_00 4:15

Why they did cross, they did Charles Cross their their linemen and JSN in the same offseason. With those two, you're probably right, there's no more for for Darnold, but they signed two large contracts almost back to back.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

Yes, but the cap, you know, you're talking about the Charles Cross cap it, even in its highest of years, is lower than Darnold's car and capit. Like that's fair, that's significant. You know, we're talking about where you know, Darnold, it's not like he's a pauper right now, like his he has a 38 million dollar cap it for 2026. Um, and he is, you know, scheduled. Uh I'm not sure how much of that is is money that he's actually taking home, but you know, three years and what was it, 100, 105 million dollars, nothing to scoff at. What makes a lot more sense is in next year when his cap it is the largest, right? It's gonna be about 42 million dollars. Um, that's when you rework it, lower the cap it for 2027, and add in more years at a higher salary. Because, you know, fine, 32 uh what is it? What does it work out to 33 uh million dollars annually is low for a star quarterback, but it wasn't low for what Darnold was going into last year. So I think you know, you give it one more offseason, and then next off season they rip up the last year of the deal, and they rework it um into the 40 to 45 million range that uh quarterback of Darnold's you know, caliber um would be capable of commanding, you know, in in the free agent market. Um, it'll also be curious to see, you know, how he works with this new offensive coordinator. So he's had success under um uh Kevin O'Connell, obviously, um, and now with uh Clint Kubiak. And so it's curious, you know, like they hire Brian Fleury, who comes who comes from the same general vicinity, you know, like uh Kubiak isn't a direct Kyle Shanahan guy, um, and Kevin O'Connell had nothing to ever do with Kyle Shanahan, but they're all from the same, you know, Mike Shanahan uh tree and and discipline, and they all have a similar way of viewing their offensive, you know, style and how they how they call games. So I'm curious. I mean, I don't know much about Brian Fleury. Um, I know that he was you know uh interviewed a couple other times for offensive coordinator roles in the past, but basically um he's kind of blank canvas, and and we'll see if this is just a continuation of of of uh you know Kyle Shannon's coaching tree. If if he is good, he could also be on the radar to be hired as a head coach next year. And I think that the Seahawks defensive coordinator, I think it's pronounced Aiden Dirty, um, is uh who's done a phenomenal job. I believe that's how it's pronounced. You can correct me if uh if I'm wrong about that. He's done a phenomenal job. What I said, I believe that's how it's pronounced, and uh, I think that he will also get uh head coaching interviews or even a job next year. So looking at you know what the Seahawks, I mean, the the the most uh notable you know change basically is they kind of replaced uh Kenneth O'Walker with Emmanuel Wilson. Like that's that's wild to me. I'd have to imagine they're going to take running backs plural in this year's draft. And and defensively, I forget they still have Charbonnet.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

Let's not discount Charbonnet, who was a really nice one-two punch with Walker. And let's not forget that there was a good chunk of the season until Charbonnet had gotten injured, that they were sharing, Walker and Charbonnet were sharing the the they were the ones sharing the workload. It was only when Charbonnet had actually got it injured later on in the season that that's when Kenneth Walker ultimately really started shouldering the the heavy load of the you know of of the game. And you can definitely make the argument that you know Charbonnet was just as good as Walker until he kind of got injured, and then Walker, you know, goes on that run and ultimately becomes a Super Bowl MVP and well deserved. Um, let's not forget they sell Charbonnet. I agree with you, they're gonna draft another running back that goes without saying. So, you know, Ari, you know what's interesting. Speaking of the Seahawks, so they uh just announced that the Seahawks are going to actually be opening the season on a Wednesday. Now, this is not uncharted territory. Um, the last time, you know, we discussed this, uh discussed this off air. The last time that the NFL, this is you know, now for the benefit of our listeners, obviously. The last time that the NFL started a season on a Wednesday was in 2012 by my New York football giants. Um, when they opened the season against the Cowboys, and the reason why it had been moved to Wednesday was Obama had the DNC that Thursday night. Um, and therefore they decided to, even though respectfully to Obama, or I'm gonna say actually disrespectfully to Obama, I really don't think he was gonna command that kind of attention away from an NFL game, but either way, um, you know, in any case it's not done, it's not done. You don't do that. Agreed, and you don't want to compete with that. No, fair. Um, the reason for this year's opening is because of the Niners Rams game in Australia, which, due to the time difference, especially on the West Coast, um, they are going to be playing early Friday morning, I believe at like 10:35 local time on Friday in Australia, which will give a nighttime 8:35 p.m. Um kickoff in the east coast and 5.35 p.m. in the west coast, and that's why they moved the game. So very interesting to see, and it just shows you the powerhouse that the NFL is, which is it don't matter what day of the week we play a game on, we are going to get crazy, crazy, crazy um viewership. So, one last thing on the on the Seahawks, and for that matter, the scheduling Ari, of their possible opponents, who would you like to see them open up the season against on that Wednesday? And we know that it's not going to be a divisional game because the Niners and the Rams are playing each other in Australia, and the Cardinals are just not gonna get that game. So, who would you like to see? Actually, I'll make this a two-part question. Who would you like to see them square off against in that game? And who do you think they're actually going to square off against?

SPEAKER_01 11:26

That's a very good question. I I kind of would like to see it against the Chiefs. That's who I'd like to see with it being like a game where Kenneth Walker just off of a Super Bowl win with the Seahawks has to go play the Seahawks. Um, that could be kind of cool. Um, or I mean it's not gonna be against the Patriots, right? It's not gonna be a rematch of the no, no.

SPEAKER_00 11:49

They they I believe, if memory serves me correctly, I do believe they play each other, so there is potential for a rematch of the Super Bowl for that game as well. Um, I don't see them doing that, and historically, I don't even know if that's ever been done. There have certainly been Super Bowl rematches later on in the season, a season or two later, but I don't offhand remember, and again, you're the almanac here, although we established that now when it comes to scheduling. No, no, uh definitely not. But um, I don't know. So I don't think it's gonna be the patch, but I like the Chiefs. I like the Chiefs. I feel like the Chiefs have kind of uh rebooted, um, and they've done some really nice moves. And I did want to, and I guess we'll let's move right on to that in a moment. Then I wanted to discuss the Travis Kelsey re-signing with you because that to me was a very, very interesting, not that he's coming back that we both saw coming. We knew it was happening, but rather the length of the contract that was given. Um, so I in short, and in summary, I agree with you. Let's make it the Chiefs. I think that would be a great opener. On to the Chiefs and Travis Kelsey.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

Just one one last thing about Charbonnet. Um is just that he tore his ECL in the playoffs. We do not know when he's going to be ready to come back. That was that was the thing, and and and just as an aside, I personally have always thought that Charbonnet was better than Kenneth Walker. Yes, yes. I have no problem with Charbonnet. I it's just his injury. So, so yeah, we could let's discuss the Chiefs. I just wanted to throw that one in there.

SPEAKER_00 13:34

So, with the Chiefs, so I saw yesterday, and you know, of course, you know, these videos are obviously leaked, quote unquote, on purpose. Um, Patrick Mahomes, 100 days post ACL, back in the lab, looking like he has not missed a step, no pun intended. Speaking of ACLs, so you know, so um AC look, you know what's cool is, and then you know, congratulations to the doctors, the players, um, and modern medicine, but you know, where ACLs in the past were career ending, you know, now like we're seeing the recovery time from ACLs is is you know quicker than ever. It's it's insane. Like Cam Scadaboo literally dislocated his ankle, okay. It was flopping in the entire, you don't have to remind me. That was disgusting, and he's already back at it. It's it's wild what they've been able to do, but yes, let's focus, let's not get all over the place here, and let's focus in on the Chiefs. So, Travis Kelsey coming back. That does not surprise me. The fact that he was given a 54 million three-year contract, that was surprising to me. And I'm sure if we look, and I'd be curious if you want to look this up, I'd be very curious to see um how much of that is actually guaranteed. My guess is probably not much beyond this year's. Um, but it's very I when I saw that, I was like, three years, 54 million. Like, there's got to be votable years in there, maybe that's the idea behind it. Um, there's probably not much guaranteed in there beyond this season, but that to me was very, very surprising. I get rewarding him and and everything he means to that franchise, and he is a first ballot hall of famer in theory, not to knock on his play, but just because after the really vomit-invoking voting of this year, um that we saw out of the hall of fame. Um, so I I no longer I can't even say the term first ballot hall of famer anymore. Um, but very curious contracts. Very, very curious in my mind. All right, you know offhand what the breakdown, like what is actually it's not public.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

This was just publicized two two days ago, um uh with the with the new contract. Previously, everyone just thought it was a one-year 12 million dollar deal. Um, apparently, it's just 12 million guaranteed in year one, um, which made everyone think that there was going to be two other void years until the details came out on the contract. We have no idea what the breakdown is, um, and and nothing like that. So, so it's very interesting, it's very curious, and we'll have to wait for the details to come out on this one to really understand what the deal is here. I don't know what to say past that.

SPEAKER_00 16:36

Yeah, it's definitely, I mean, look, there's no way that it's not, and you know, we can we'll move on from this topic um after this, but in my opinion, there's no way that that's not just a fancy way of spreading a cap hit. I I cannot imagine it's anything more than that. Like, to me, it makes sense that that it's got to be when all said and done. This is a way to a make them feel good, and b, it's to help them with you know cap space, because there's no way, really, there's no way um that they there's no way that they um you know are really gonna actually give them 54 million dollars. Um, there is a topic, I know this is completely off schedule, but but you know, we we had mentioned, and I'm gonna throw it out there at you. Um we had mentioned, you know, the off season being the off season, and when is the you know, when are the players gonna get in their own way? And I I have to highlight because again, it included some bizarre behavior and something anti-Semitic. But did you see the latest on Puka Nakua?

SPEAKER_01 17:51

Yeah, I did, and I'm I'm really hoping that it it's it's genuine genuinely a he said uh she said thing because if this if this is accurate and and I don't know how you can even prove um that kind of thing, uh Puka Nakua may have played his last game in the NFL, which would be terrible. Uh, if he actually uh said F all the Jews and then bit her on the cheek or the neck or whatever he did, I mean that this is that's a bike mark is real, then that is undisputable. Yeah, but uh I'm I'm saying, you know, some sometimes those uh acts are like I said, it's it's really a he said she said kind of thing. Um until we have more information, you know. I'm hoping for his sake that he didn't do this. Um, and hopefully he was just referring to maybe you know a bunch of you know Asians that he had met named J-O-O-J and he was just saying that or whatever it may be. But um, I'm really hoping for his sake that this wasn't uh accurate because if it was just one thing or just the other, you know, you could say, okay, you know, maybe you know, we could do like uh what um who was it? I I can't think of the guy's name. The Devante Smith, that's his name. Devante Smith, uh, who had the insensitive comments uh about a decade ago, and and Julian Edelman took him to the uh uh Holocaust uh museum in order to uh kind of uh give some uh you know uh I don't even know, like make it make the whole situation kind of go away. If if this is you know the the whole cascade of events here, I I have to believe that this would end very poorly for Puka Naku and possibly indicate that he may have played his last game in the NFL, which would be wild.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

I mean, uh two things on that. Number one, uh, I don't think we need to make excuses for him because let's not forget he this is not his first anti-Semitic thing. Let's not forget. Remember his whole celebration and spinning, the dreidel and all of that, he was told not to, he did it anyway. Not to mention the guy has made like he he's done all kinds of really unspeakable things um in his not that long of an NFL career, and uh quite frankly, I'm done with people making excuses for him, respectfully to you two, Ari. Um, and quite frankly, it's it's you know, it's about time that players realize that they are on a major platform. Many people, many, many, many, many eyes are on them. And if you cannot handle the scrutiny and not know to act like a decent human being, and I'm not even making this about being anti-Semitic or not, but just if you cannot conduct yourself in in the proper fashion, you do not deserve to be playing in the NFL, you do not deserve to be making all of the millions of dollars that you are making. And quite frankly, like it is time where you know when people behave in this manner, and specifically, you know, we're talking about NFL players, it's time to see harsher punishment coming down from the league. And enough is enough. And and I feel like way too much is being swept under the rug. Like, if you remember back to Ray Rice, right? Reports come out about him beating up his girlfriend, he gets a two-game suspension. All of a sudden, the video appears. Oh, now we're gonna suspend them for a whole season or indefinitely, and whatever. And it's you want to tell me that when it came out, you think the NFL with all of their investigative abilities, you want to tell me you they didn't know about that video? Of course, they knew about the video. Um, and and enough is enough, really. Like I to me, it it it sickens me, and you can see the difference between there are so many NFL players out there.

SPEAKER_01 21:49

All right, by the way, it was the same thing with Gruden and the emails, you know. And until the emails actually leaked, then nothing happened to Gruden. Yeah, and then once the emails leaked, they You're telling me that the NFL doesn't know about it. I think Daniel Snyder said afterward that he sent all of his emails to the NFL. So I mean, I I couldn't agree more with you.

SPEAKER_00 22:11

And so uh enough is enough, and and really like the players need to be held accountable. And we see, like, think about it. There are, you know, when all is said and done, there are a total of about 70 players, you know, between um NFL 53 roster and the practice squad, there's approximately 70 players on each of the 32 teams, and the vast majority know how to behave themselves, know how to actually be very functioning, contributing members of society.

SPEAKER_01 22:39

And you see so many of them, you know, with charity work and foundations and shout out to the NFL for the Walter Payton of award.

SPEAKER_00 22:47

Yes, absolutely. And we and we see also now that um, you know, the NFL are making strides from the fact that there are weekly awards to the player who does the most within the community on any given week. So the NFL is definitely making steps towards you know, um, you know, rewarding positive behavior. I just think at the same time, they have to take a harsher stance on the negative behavior because enough is enough. People need to stop acting like animals.

SPEAKER_01 23:17

So so my call, and I'm very curious to see what ends up happening with all of this, but say Puka Nakua is not going to be in the NFL next year. My call is Tyree Kill to the Rams. That's my call.

SPEAKER_00 23:32

Ooh, interesting.

SPEAKER_01 23:34

Yeah, the Rams love themselves some like former pets of certain quarterbacks, top receivers, like uh Devonta Adams and Odell Beckham, and now and now it just fits so nicely with uh with Tyreek Hill. Um yeah, and and plus I I I I really have the Rams drafting uh Kenyon Sadiq uh 13th overall.

SPEAKER_00 24:03

If he lasts that long, yeah, I could I could see that he he is gonna be a quarterback's best friend. Although I gotta tell you, the more kind of I I watch tape on, um Eli Stowers may actually be better than Kenya and Sadiq.

SPEAKER_01 24:23

So it you know it's it's very interesting to you know think of you know better or worse in terms of of exactly what they produce. The the thing that's so intriguing about Kenyan Sadiq, it's it's kind of very similar to Rob Gronkowski, where um in college, you know, the reason why he was he was drafted where he was is because his college production was on the lower end. Um, but as we see, what when you know how to use a specific player with a specific skill set, you know that that can go through the roof. So so I I think that what's intriguing about Sadiq is not necessarily what he's done and how much he's done, but what he's capable of doing in a certain situation. And and when you're talking about uh Stours, yeah, I I do think that in a in a regular year he would be like the the Trey McBride or or the uh Mark Andrews or that kind of guy, which is like steady, and who even knows? Like maybe he could have a hundred catches and a thousand yards, but like for Kenyan Sadiq, I think they could view him as you know this weapon where like again, like one of the craziest things that I saw that came out on Kenyan Sadiq, his numbers at the combine were the same as Jameer Gibbs, he's three inches taller and 60 pounds heavier. I know it's it's wild. I mean, he is an athletic freak. So put that in into um Sean McVeigh's offense where he could literally play the F, the Y. Like he can play any spot there, and you can do whatever the X for that matter, too. Absolutely, and you can have him, you know. I I can see him playing uh uh what's it called? Wildcat in certain packages, short yardage, goal line. You know, it could it could be uh a a real sick, it could be like you know, Tessa Mihill combined with Aaron Hernandez, combined with Kyle Pitts, you know, and that that's like that's crazy. That would be a killer of a player, yes, yes, literally, you know. Uh he could really uh put a chokehold on some defenses, if you may. So um, yeah. But yeah, but but the uh you know, all in all seriousness, um, you know, the the situation I totally agree with you and the situation with Pukanakua. Like I said, I'm hoping that for his sake, uh, there's something that we don't know about it. But if if this is all the information that there is, and with the NFL uh investigative, you know, what they do, they probably know even better. Uh, there is definitely a nice amount of footage, you know, and there's nowhere you can go anymore. I think it happened in New York, in New York City, Famistay. There's nowhere you can go in cities that isn't recorded anymore. So I I you know, whether through you know, personal cameras or or the institutions cameras, the businesses cameras, there there's going to be a way that we can see if this happened, and the NFL probably knows and they they need to they need to you know get more serious about their punishments. So, with that being said, we've now covered the Seahawks last week. Um and uh we covered the uh Rams and now we discuss the Rams again. I think it's time to discuss the Niners and specifically what they've done to their receiving core. I think what they've done is phenomenal, and I'm very curious to hear what you think.

SPEAKER_00 27:53

Listen, the Niners are one of those perennial teams where, you know, especially with Kyle Shannon at the helm, you they're always in it, they're always in it. And we we saw, especially, you know, you think of this past season, um, that was arguably one of the most impressive seasons I've ever seen out of the team because normally when you get hit with the injury bug the way they did, you're like, okay, here we go. This is like a four-win season, and we're picking in the top five. They not only made it to the playoffs, but they they gave quite a run. And then until ultimately, you know, losing to the ramp, who'd they lose to the Rams, right?

SPEAKER_01 28:36

They lost to the Seahawks. Oh, sorry.

SPEAKER_00 28:38

Okay, so sorry, I wasn't sure which of the two it was until ultimately losing to the Super Bowl champion Seahawks, like that was so impressive. And Kyle Shannon's ability to, you know, Brock Purdy goes down with the turf toe, and you know, Matt Jones steps in, and then like they don't miss a beat. That was super impressive. So with Kyle Shannon at the helm, there's no question that his creativity and ability to get the most out of his players um was highly, highly impressive. Now, with that being said, you then go ahead and now you now something that did plague them was their wide receiver quarter, where you had the Brandon Ayukes. What an idiot. Literally, what an idiot. Um, and talking about players who may have played their last NFL down, um, that he he is definitely a candidate for that. Um, but now to go ahead and sign someone like Mike Evans, who not only is going in, yes, of course, he's more on the back nine of his career and he is coming off of injury, but nobody has been more consistent than that guy. And he is going to bring such a maturity and leadership to that wide receiver room that is going to, you know, speak volumes well beyond his production on the field. And I think that you know he's going to be you know Purdy's best friend. And I could very, very, very much see him having another, you know, thousand plus yard season, anywhere between, let's say, like eight to twelve touchdowns, and the thought of you know Evans and McCaffrey together, like that's a hell of a that's a hell of a combo right there. So I'm excited for Mike Evans. I think this will give him a better chance of um getting another Super Bowl ring um than it would if he had stayed with the Bucks and Baker. Um, and I'm excited for what the what they have, and they load it up. Um, they do need to solve their Trent Williams issue, which is not going away, they need to figure out how to get that done. Um, but I think it's a great move, and I think that the Niners are going to do very well again this season. I do, though, have a question for you on the topic of what do you think the effect of losing Robert Sala as DC is going to have on their defense?

SPEAKER_01 30:59

So just before I discuss Sala, I I wanted to just mention that they brought in Christian Kirk as well. And yes, having a receiving core of Mike Evans, Christian Kirk, and Ricky Pearsall with the possibility of Kittle and obviously Christian McCaffrey, like that's nuts to me. Like that's that's a loaded offense. Um, because I remember seeing in the I think it was the second half of the playoff game against the Eagles when Kittle was out and they were playing uh Tungus at tight end. Um, and they it literally looked like um no, it didn't matter who was at receiver or at tight end, it was just like Purdy and McCaffrey, and then like you mix in like a Demarcus Robinson here and there, and like the offense still was good enough to beat the the Eagles. Like that that's crazy. Like that's a playoff game. We're not talking about you know playing the Jets or the Giants last year. This is a first-round playoff game, and it was it was like they needed they only needed 10 players on offense, and they could beat an 11, uh, you know, 11 guy defense. So that was nuts to me. And now you're talking about Evans, who's gonna be replacing Jennings, and Christian Kirk, who's gonna be replacing Ayuk, who didn't play at all, and Juwan Jennings' situation is so bizarre. He is still a free agent, he had a phenomenal year last year, and I I do not know what the story is, but I feel like there is a story there.

SPEAKER_00 32:23

So, with regards to the you do you want to say something about uh no, I was just gonna say is that is that just briefly on Jennings, there anytime you see someone of that caliber go on sign like this, there's that one of two things is happening is either it's a money issue where um you know Jennings' agents have told him, Oh, yeah, your market is a gazillion dollars a year, hold out for that, somebody's gonna pay that to you. And then, of course, that's not the reality or the market that they're gonna get, or there's something, you know, again, one of these off-field issues that have not come to light, but the Niners and for that matter other teams know about, and that's why they're staying away. Otherwise, there's no reason, like, why would he not? Even again, if his number is is high, why not kind of why is somebody not signed him? Even to just like a one-year deal. How is he still a free agent? That that's bizarre.

SPEAKER_01 33:22

Yeah, it's it's a it's a tricky situation. Just with regard to the one-year deal thing, though, most teams that are good that would you know benefit from having a Juwan Jennings, they can't fit in like a 30-something million dollar one-year cap hit because that's what it would be. It would be one year's one year, maybe you add some void years, but anyways, um, going back to their defense, I I don't personally think they're going to lose much, if anything, going from Sala to Raheem Morris. They were the biggest benefit uh beneficiaries of Chris Shula staying in in LA with the Rams. Uh, clearly, the Raheem Morris was waiting for Chris Shula to that make sure that Chris Shula was not getting a job. Remember, he was the he was the runner up for the the Raiders job. And right after the Kubiak news broke um that he's going to go, then this was before the Super Bowl. Literally, within two hours or three hours, Raheem Morris was the Niners' new DC. Um, so clearly he was just waiting to see if uh Shula, you know, and he would have gone back to the Rams. But yeah, I I don't think they lose a beat. Uh they brought back Dre Greenlaw, um, their longtime linebacker, and they made a sick trade for Osa Odegazua, who I don't really understand the Cowboys trading. I thought he was a fantastic player. And uh I I think uh I think their defense uh was not great last year. They also had they just had so many injuries up and down, and I I think that they're you know you look at their roster now, top to bottom, and it's one of those things where you're just like they could literally draft anyone, and this year's draft is is deep, and they can literally draft anyone the first round, second round, then further. There are no holes on this team. There are no holes on this team, and I want to bring that up because you mentioned Trent Williams. I genuinely think they're they're ticketed. There's a group of like insanely um raw, but like tremendous either athletes or just gigantic humans, um, who are all tackles that are go that are scheduled to go between you know as early as let's say 15, but as late as like the late second round, there's like five of these guys, and they will definitely looks like they will draft one um to be Trent Williams' replacement, either for this season or for next season. You know, that's what it looks like to me in a in an ideal world, they can you know figure it out with Williams, keep him for another year or two, keep this guy, you know, just similarly to what the Eagles have done for a very long time, sometimes it working out and sometimes not. But like you're looking at their team and and you're just thinking, you know, where do they need to get better at? And and like I don't know, I don't know the answer to that. I don't know. Upton Stout, who they drafted last year in the third round, is now one of the best nickels in football, you know. So it's just crazy. It's just crazy how deep and how well put together this team is.

SPEAKER_00 36:28

Oh, 100%. And uh look, uh, you know, if teams that are kind of due, uh the Niners certainly are, you know, they they they're they're they're in it every year, and uh they're definitely due. Now, given the fact that they're in the NFC, um, selfishly speaking, as a Giants fan, um, I hope they're not due, and the Giants are, but there's no question that that they're deserving, they've definitely improved. You know, I think something that's important to look at, um, as you know, the teams, you know, now that we're in week three of free agency and we look ahead towards the draft, you know, if you really want to see if your team is trending in the right direction, you've got to kind of look at what did break down the roster, go room by room, and look and say, okay, in each given room compared to last year's roster, have we gotten better? Have we gotten worse? And then the more rooms that you go through and are able to say we have improved, that's going to give you a better team. It's certainly at least on paper than what you had going in. So I think that the rule of thumb is go room by room, take a look and see where you have improved. And if we're just honing in specifically on the on the Niners' wide receiver room for a second, yeah, they have vastly, vastly, vastly improved from their wide receiver room last year. So just on merit of that alone, they've they're already doing better than they were last year. So, you know, it's interesting, Ari, that we did such a deep dive on the NFC West of all of all divisions in football. Um, and we didn't even kind of plan that, but uh, you know, that's just kind of how it played out. So very interesting to see what comes out of the NFC West. I do anticipate again, um, you know, everyone, you know, not the Cardinals, but certainly the other three NFC West teams um certainly um are most likely going to be playoff teams again. And I don't see any reason why they wouldn't be.

SPEAKER_01 38:29

Yeah, yeah. And and and to that note on the improvement of uh each room uh over a season ago, which team do you think has had the most interesting offseason so far?

SPEAKER_00 38:44

Um, that is an excellent question. Um there's definitely been a lot of interesting moves, not necessarily in a uh in a good way, like you know, you'd reference the Cowboys trading before, and they always have an interesting off-season. It's generally not in a positive way, but they they certainly have had an interesting offseason, uh, nonetheless. I would say is what's interesting is is it's less the teams that do like a million moves, like for example, let's say like the Raiders, right? So the Raiders, in terms of being busy in the offseason, I'm not even you know referencing the Max Crosby, oops, just kidding, trade to the or not trade to the Ravens, but rather all of the signings and everything that they did, that to me is kind of a given. You know, you're you're picking first overall, you got, you know, you just replaced your coaching staff. Yeah, obviously there's going to be a fire sale on your you know, players that you had, and you're gonna be signing a million people. To me, what's interesting is that more interesting rather is the teams that are not making moves or very few moves. And the one that comes to mind the most from that perspective are the Broncos. The Broncos literally do nothing in free agency aside from you know re-signing some of their own players, and then boom, out of nowhere, after being dormant and quiet, they go ahead and trade for Waddle. And so when you see moves like that, it really to me that speaks volumes because it's a team saying, We're looking up and down our roster. We really, you know, here we are. We are a team that, if not for Bonix's ankle, it was most likely us representing the AFC in the Super Bowl, not the Pats, because the Broncos in that game were certainly coming into it. The better team of the two. Yes, I know ultimately the Pats won, and they were the ones who went and got the absolute shit kicked out of them in the in the Super Bowl, but the Broncos were certainly the more deserving of the teams to go to that. So now they make no moves, and then the move that they do make is to go out and trade and get waddle. So to me, what was what makes a more interesting offseason is a move like that, because to me that signals and says, Hey, we are very contempt and very at peace with our team. Obviously, we're gonna go and add more pieces, not in the first round, but we're gonna go add more pieces in the draft. And so, to me, an off-season like that, less is certainly more. So, Ari, who's your most interesting off-season team?

SPEAKER_01 41:28

So, I I love your take on the Broncos, by the way. It's really thought out, and and something that's very interesting about it is they didn't bring in any free agents, but they also I think out of all teams, they had like the fewest UFAs, like they're literally returning the entirety of their team. They cut Greenlaw and they and they let JFM John Franklin Myers go, but that's literally it. Like that that was all that they lost, and and they're like you said, a very good team. Um, who I think had the most interesting offseason? That's a good question. I I wish I had more time to prepare and to give you something good. I I got it. I you know, I I'd probably land on one of the teams in the NFC North. Um and so I I'd I'd go with Minnesota. Oh um, yeah, I don't know. Was it Kyler Murray that that that tipped the scales for that? I mean, it's it's practically they made like two moves, and I'm not talking about them bringing in James Pierre at cornerback, you know. So that's uh that's the yeah, where are you gonna say?

SPEAKER_00 42:35

I'll prove the Minnesota Vikings, they have one of the most interesting um quarterback rooms in the league. Talk about a room full of first round QBs. Like you have JJ McCarthy picked what was it, uh, sixth overall in the first round?

SPEAKER_01 42:55

Uh 10th overall. Sorry, 10th overall. You've got I don't remember. No, I think it was sixth. No, it wasn't sixth, but it was it was early. Um, I think that he I can't remember one of the Broncos or the Vikings traded up from 11 to 10 to draft either Bonix or JJ McCarthy, and the Jets went back one spot and drafted Olu Fashione. I can't remember who it was, but they both went in that range.

SPEAKER_00 43:21

So Knicks was taken, I believe, 12th overall.

SPEAKER_01 43:25

So I'm so then McCarthy was 10th overall to the Vikings. That's what it was.

SPEAKER_00 43:29

Okay, so you've got McCarthy 10th overall, Carson Wentz, second overall, Kyler Murray, first overall, and then uh What's his face who can't throw a football more than 10 feet, um, who had to step in in relief. What's his name? Um Brosmer, right? Something like that. Yeah, yeah, that was the guy. So, okay, so uh obviously he's the weakest link, but you have three former first and in first and second for that matter, you have three. Top 10 pick QBs in the same um quarterback room, it is wild. And what's crazy is if you look at what that room is costing them, it's ridiculous. Their entire QB room, because remember, the the the um Cardinals are carrying the 90 something percent of Mari's contract, their QB room is costing them less than 10 million dollars, which is wild. Yeah, wild to have that kind of um, you know, that that number of you know first round picks at QB in the same room. It also does put in question, you know, the quality of first round QBs, which we had, you know, spoken about pretty at length, um, on other episodes of the pod, because wow, like that is just it's such an interesting room, and I I do believe that we're gonna see probably Kyler Murray um, you know, as the QB1 in that room. And then the question is, do you give JJ McCarthy the second string or do you drop it down to um or do you give Wentz that spot and drop McCarthy down to third string? And if you're doing that, I think you've spelled the end of McCarthy at that point. Um, if he if he falls all the way down to three. Um, and on the topic of QBs, jumping around a little bit. Um, I thought it was cool and I'm happy for my boy, um, Tommy DeVito. So he is now officially QB2 in New England. Um, they got rid of Dobbs, and he's now QB2, unless they draft someone else who outplays him. But you know, I'm happy for my boy. You know, he was definitely like kind of like a Cinderella story, and he's got that really authentic looking, you know, Pizon agent who really looks the part. Um, and so I'm happy for him. And you know, hey, the guy went to a Super Bowl now, so it's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 46:03

So, all right, so you're saying that was your most um you'd have to interesting off season because and I'll just explain a little bit why, you know, it's it's clear that they viewed one issue, you know, they they they basically said we have one issue with this roster, and we're attacking this issue. But then when you look again, you look up and down at this roster, and I'd like to start with their offensive line. Their offensive line is top six in football. They have Justin Jefferson, you know, their defense was phenomenal last year, and they're returning almost all of their starters again. The draft is it's a great draft to add depth and you know, a first-round pick in there that they have, and just overall, I I mean they fix quarterback. Are they not contending for at least or even the favorites for that division? With every even with everything that's been going on, and and you're talking about a division in which one of these teams, okay, which they're all competing for number one, which I which I love. You know, the Vikings are trying to win that division, the Bears, Lions, Packers, one of them is going to end up in fourth place, which is mind-blowing. And I look at the roster in the this offseason of the Vikings, and I'm I'm saying to myself the same thing about like who are they gonna spend a first round pick on? You know, they can really just get whoever falls to them, pick that guy up. Um, you know, right now what's screaming is like their their their slot receiver spot with um Jalen Naylor having left. Um, but like you ask yourself, it's like, oh, the Vikings are in a great spot if like Kenyon Sadiq falls to 18, like they would just grab him. I don't know. I'm just saying, but like something like that happens every year in the draft, whether it's you know, Kyle Hamilton to the Ravens or or even whatever it seems like every year you're talking about like one and you look at the draft, and and there is going to be one like very good player that shouldn't be there when they're drafting, and and they're gonna land him. And then you're looking at it saying, like, wow, they landed this guy, and and their and their roster is just a really good roster. So that that's that's what I'm saying about the the Vikings as interesting. I took I took uh uh from your playbook and a team not doing that much and understanding why they wouldn't do that much. So I like that part, and then we we can we we I'll I'll ask you now which team do you think is the most improved this offseason?

SPEAKER_00 48:42

Ooh, that's a really good question. Um, I know that you're you know, I know I'm gonna sound biased when I say this. Um, I do think that the Giants um have really improved their team. Um, and they didn't have the most cap space um to begin with. There are definitely still holes we need to address. For example, who's gonna be playing right guard? Um, just for example, who's gonna be next to Dexter Lawrence in the three technique. But aside from that, we have definitely done some really, really savvy sightings and you know, going through, like I said before, you go through the rooms and you see, you know, have we made a step forward or not? And you can go pretty much through most of the the giants' rooms and you can see you know improvement there. Not only that, I I like the approach that we took because you know, for example, we had Wanda Robinson, right? And he goes and has a career year, you know, Malik Neighbors goes down and he goes ahead and steps up, has his first thousand yard, you know, year, and he was definitely he he he played well and he did great for himself. Now he goes off and gets signed by the Titans, and he goes and gets, I think it was like 18 million a year or something, and everything like that. And then on one, you can go, oh, how'd we miss out on one day? But then you go and say, Hey, with less than that contract, we went and signed Isaiah Likely, Kelvin Austin, and um Daryl, why am I not Mooney? Right?

SPEAKER_01 50:22

Darnell Mooney, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:23

Darnell Mooney, thank you. And we go ahead and sign those three players for less money, and I look at that and go, Whoa, okay, here we go. That's smart signing, that's smart thinking. You know, instead of re-signing and as good of a season he has, he's still only 5'9, and he's a small dude. He tore his ACL in the past, and he again, he's one person, and I am extremely confident in the fact that between likely who is gonna outperform Wandale regardless, just by himself, and he is going to do excellent um in Matt Nagy's offense, and he is going to be like he's gonna play like that Travis Kelsey type role, and he's gonna have a phenomenal year. Watch out, and now that he steps into the forefront after playing second fiddle to Mark Andrews, watch out. I'm telling you, watch out for likely he's gonna have a great season, and I'm gonna be very and we know anyway that we're gonna be playing more 12 personnel regardless, so I'm excited for for that, and you know, that's a room that we certainly improved on. No knock on Theo Johnson, but he had way too many drop C's last year, and so now to go from Theo Johnson all the way up to Isaiah likely, that's a vast improvement in the in the room. But my point is that the Giants have done a much better job in terms of who we signed, how we signed them, amounts of money, and length of contract. I think we did great. And the fact that we also vastly improved our special teams. We went from Gran Gano, who, you know, literally, like, you know, I think your dad, who's in his 70s, stays healthier than Graham Gano does, probably be more available at the kick than Graham Gano has been for the past few seasons. So we go and get Jason Sanders, who, yes, is coming off of injury, but was an extremely consistent kicker prior to that. We go ahead and, you know, sign probably the top punter in the league in stout, and we even got ourselves a new long snapper. So I'm very excited for what the Giants did. I have no doubt that we're going to go ahead and complement that in the draft as well. I think we're gonna have a great draft this year. Um, and I'm excited for what's coming. So I know it's a little bit biased because I am a Giants fan, but it is hard to argue that the Giants didn't have, I would certainly say, in the top five of best offseason so far, it's hard to argue against saying that the Giants are in that conversation.

SPEAKER_01 52:54

Yeah, I I I hear you, and and and the Jets and the Giants both made uh a large volume of moves to really shake up their roster. Um, but I'm actually going in a direction of more of impact over volume, and I I feel like this is also a team that's kind of like not been highlighted for whatever reason, and that's the Pittsburgh Steelers. So, you know, looking at the Pittsburgh Steelers, and you look at their roster, and we all know that they they I I don't I don't know what I don't know what your opinion is, um, but I think that again, at least I'd say number one, but at least top five uh pass rushing duos in the NFL with TJ Watt and Alex Ismith. They also drafted Nick Herbig a few years ago, who's been probably starter level in any other team, but he's under contract, so he's their backup uh uh edge rusher. They they have Patrick Queen. Uh they have they they're up and down their defense has you know, first and second round picks has been very good. One of their weaker spots has been the secondary. They have Joey Porter Jr., they brought in Jamel Dean, Jaquan Brisker, Darnell Savage. They brought in Sebastian Joseph Day for further backup on defense. I mean, with TJ Watt and Alex Highsmith, and now you're talking about Joey Porter pairing him with Jamel Dean, already having Jalen Ramsey, Deshaun Elliott, bringing in Jaquan Brisker and Darnell Savage. I mean, you're talking about a defense that it wouldn't surprise me if it was number one last next year. Like, that's that's how good they they can be with what they've now uh kind of figured out. Obviously, offensively, there are more question marks mainly focused on who's going to be their quarterback. Um, but like they brought in Michael Pittman, they have DK Metcalf, they have Roman uh Wilson, you know, they brought in Rico Dowdle. So, all things considered, you know, and I I think that this would be a wild scenario, but all things considered, if they figured out whether it'd be Ty Simpson or whether it's Aaron Rodgers, whatever ends up happening at quarterback, with the Ravens doing some weird shit and the Bengals, you know, always having injury issues, I would now not be shocked if the Steelers uh win that division next year, which before this offseason, I would I I I you know I thought that they were closer to the Browns than they were to the high end in their division, and and that's why to me they're they're the most improved team this offseason.

SPEAKER_00 55:32

So I appreciate your take, and I certainly, you know, you're not the only one who values the the Steelers offseason as one of the better ones. My question is though, is that the most important position on the team, and nobody's gonna argue that the most important position on any team is the quarterback, who's playing QB for them? And and I don't think Ty Simpson, respectfully, is is not the answer. The dude is gonna probably go in the first round, even though he is not a first round QB. We've seen, although it was with Tomlin and now it's with Mike McCarthy, big whoop, but we've seen them go the Kenny Pickett route in the past. And if there's something that they just haven't been able to get right in Pittsburgh, essentially since Ben Rothelsberger left, was the QB. Yeah, and so I as great as those offseason moves look, and I have no doubt that they're gonna have a great defense, they usually do as it is, and they've only gone and stacked it and made it better. But without a clear answer at QB, which again I don't see, I don't believe that it's going to be Rogers, even if he does come back. Um, and Ty Simpson's not the answer, certainly not in year one. Like, you cannot draft Ty Simpson and be like, okay, here, here, here are the keys, go ahead and uh and and and and start right away. He's not that QB. I'm not saying he can't, in theory, possibly maybe develop into uh decent QB in the NFL down the line, but to throw him in year one and have him have to step in right away, that's just gonna set him and the Steelers up for failure and really be another Kenny Pickett 2.0. So I agree with you, but without a clear answer of QB, I I I just can't give them the oh, you guys had the best offseason. I I can't do it.

SPEAKER_01 57:29

That yeah, I I hear. Um, I just I just think that there's you know not just Aaron Rodgers, but there's also Kirk Cousins who are both still uh available. Plus, um you know, our our biggest concern always, uh at least for for me, but we've talked about this, you know, again off the pod. When you do draft a quarterback very high, um, making sure that they have the proper uh situation that they're being put in. And and like I just said, with their defense, which I think that there are very few questions about how elite that it could be. Um, and offensively, you know, I I'd say that their biggest issue was who's playing across from DK Metcalf, and Metcalf just got there. So, you know, like the receiver room is completely redone now with with Metcalf and with uh uh Michael Pittman, and they've been uh putting a lot of draft resources into their offensive line every year. And you know, maybe it is maybe Ty Simpson isn't, you know, maybe he isn't even Jackson Dart, um, even though a lot of people are are comparing him to. But if you can just limit the mistakes and let that kind of guy grow under Mike McCarthy, who is not Mike Tomlin, and he's had success with quarterbacks in the past, you know, maybe we are looking at a situation again where this team won the division last year, again in a weekend division where two of the the two to the the two elite teams had their elite quarterbacks out, which obviously no one's expecting to happen again. But I'm I'm just I'm just putting it out there. I I don't think you're wrong for your assessment, but I also think that um there is some kind of uh potential there for you know, maybe again, like maybe it's Ty Simpson, maybe it's Aaron Rodgers or Kirk Cousins, and I could see them definitely going over 500 and therefore competing for a playoff spot, if not the division.

SPEAKER_00 59:24

All right, look, I guess time will tell. We're also gonna see what happens for them in the draft. Um, and the draft is in Pittsburgh this year, so you know they do have quote unquote home field advantage. Uh, speaking of the draft being in Pittsburgh, what I thought was interesting is the fact that Pittsburgh actually canceled school um and are going to be doing uh homeschool for the duration of the draft due to traffic and uh all the fans and the fanfare and everything that's going on. I'm sure the parents are not pleased given the proximity of the spring break in there as you know, as well. But uh, and we all know how you know, being here in Israel, how wonderful Zoom school is. Uh Ari, you know, given the fact that you know your daughter is still too young to have to deal with that ridiculousness, um, I gotta tell you, it is the stupidest thing I've ever seen. And the teachers are not equipped for it, the students are not interested in it, and it's a joke. But maybe Pittsburgh has it figured out better um during the duration of the NFL draft.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:27

So I I just think I just think Pittsburgh knows where their priorities are at, and like the Steelers are more are more important than school um most days of the year. So, you know, that that's okay, that's fine. Uh I'm happy that they're doing it, and also like just for the sake of traffic, I think that it would just create an unnecessary gridlock, and it's just for one day, and everyone knows about it in advance. And they probably thought, like, should we just make it a day off? And they're like, Hey, we have Zoom, we may as well just do that. So, you know, I I I look at it as kind of like a day off. Let's go celebrate the Steelers having the draft, all of that kind of stuff. And yeah, if if you're really asking me, I do think they're drafting Ty Simpson. I think 21. I do think that that that's really your Jets are not taking him before that. Oh no, the Jets are not drafting a quarterback in the first round. Really? No, no, they're they're not even drafting a quarterback in the second round. Um, they listen, we can get into a whole conversation all in on Geno Smith, eh? No, I wouldn't say all in on Gino Smith. I think what's happening is that they're going the this year's quarterback group. This is a very interesting uh topic. I you know I'm not that high on Fernando Mendoza. Um, I again, like there's no question to me that he is one of the seven best players in this draft. I'm not I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that people are are are painting him as this quarterback that has a high floor, and I have not seen him perform with under pressure when he's and this is the crazy thing about Indiana, where where their offensive line, not under pressure in a game situation, under pressure and pass rushing, when he has guys in his face making the right decisions, and you'll see one of the biggest knocks on him, and people have talked about this, and you'll find it on the internet. As soon as some guy breaks the pocket, he's out of the pocket, he doesn't even get to feel the pressure yet. One of the things that I love to see in young quarterbacks out of college, especially is their ability in their heads to have a clock and then to escape, not having to do with pressure. So if you're facing pressure, you're basically still gonna make that throw and stand in there. And guys that come into the NFL with as good of an offensive line as when Mendoza had, and then go to a situation where I think Linderbaum is going to make a tremendous difference in this regard, but where their offensive line is not going to be as good as Indiana's was last year, they're in for a rude awakening. And it's the kind of situation where with the Raiders, even with all of the great moves that they've done, they're probably not going to be a good team in the next two years. I'm not sure what that's going to do for Fernando Mendoza. But like, it wouldn't surprise me if he was uh Bo Nicks, but it also wouldn't surprise me if he was JJ McCarthy two years into it. And again, that doesn't mean we give up on these guys. You look at Darnold, you look at Geno Smith, you look at Baker Mayfield, it just means that they need a little bit more time. But yeah, I I am more concerned than most are with uh Fernando Mendoza. I do think that he'll need some time, and I think that the quarterbacks in this year's draft get very deep, and they all have specific areas that they need fixing, and it's just about which area of fixing you find that you're most capable of fixing. And and going into this past year, by the way, like Nussmeyer and Klubnick were supposed to be the two top five quarterbacks picked, they're probably not gonna go until round four. So, you know, we're talking about those two guys, and we're talking about Drew Aller, and we're talking about Carson Beck, and there are a lot of interesting guys that really have you know one or two things to fix, and they can be, you know, not elite. No, I'm not talking about no one, no one has the the ceiling that Mendoza has in the NFL in this year's draft, which also I don't think that is ceiling is you know, let's say, um what Sam Darnold became this year, but that's the hope. And uh one of these other guys could be a top 20 quarterback, and like for these teams like the Jets, you know, who have a year of Gino Smith uh and they can develop this guy behind. I think the smartest thing is to draft some guy, have him sit behind Gino for a year, and then see if he can do anything toward the end of the year into the offseason, and then you draft your quarterback next year. That that's that's my take.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:00

Okay, well, I think well, you know, we'll wait and see. I'm definitely higher on Fernando Mendoza than you are, there's no question. Um, you know, I saw his improvement over the year, I saw his improvement during the playoffs. Yes, he was playing behind a tremendous line, but uh look at what they did to Florida. And Florida was a hell of a team, and you're gonna see some of the defensive players from Florida get drafted in the very high in the first round and in the first round as a general thing. And so it's not that he wasn't going up against top-tier competition. Was it NFL level type of competition? No, it wasn't. But I do believe that Fernando Mendoza is gonna do well, and he has all the intangibles that you want for a successful QB. And I do think that he's gonna do very well. And I believe that his floor is higher than the floor that you think he has. But look, let's see what happens in September when he actually takes the field for real, and he's starting in a real NFL game against a real NFL opponent. And yeah, he's not in an easy division. I mean, you know, between the Chiefs, the Chargers, and the Broncos, and their, you know, the defenses, their QBs, and the teams overall that he's up against. Yeah, it's a tall task. And yeah, do I think that the Raiders are going to be a playoff team next year? Probably not. Um, but stranger things have happened. So let's see.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:26

So, so, so just just backing into this uh for one more second, you know, and I I wanna I we've mentioned this before. Mendoza's offense with Signetti was very much focused on things that they do not focus with in the NFL um today. And and one of the things that Clint Kubiak and specifically the Shannon coaching tree have had a lot of success, success with is basically creating some kind of situation where the quarterback feels comfortable in it and is more like his college style to begin with, and then slowly easing him out of that in a transition. So if there was anyone to shepherd him through this process, it would be a Clint Kubiak, and specifically you know how I ranked him as my number one head coach in above Harba, as as you probably remember. So I'm I'm not saying you know, doom and gloom, Fernando Mendoza. I just want to you know tamp down expectations. I think people, especially in years that there is clearly no rival, uh uh to be that number one guy, I think that um you know everyone's kind of like bought too much into Mendoza, and uh because there's no one gonna be you know rivaling him as number one overall and number one quarterback.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:46

All right, so I guess I'll I have one final question before we bring this to a close. Uh, given your thoughts on Fernando Mendoza. So if you had put Fernando Mendoza in last year's QB room, uh you know, up against the QBs of last year, or even let's say the past two, three years, where is he ranking in terms of the QBs that we've seen go in you know in the first round? Like just you know, for example, would you put him below or behind Jackson Dart, who went 25th to the Giants?

SPEAKER_01 1:08:21

Yeah, so so that's a great question, and I'll answer it very simply, which is um, if they were both on the same draft class, I would have had you know, um imagine in a world where where their last years coincided, not like that he was going in a year earlier. Yeah, yeah, correct. Um, yeah, so I would have Mendoza ahead of Dart just purely based off of draft grade. But if you consider what Dart's done this past year in the NFL and now they were both coming out again this year, then I would have Dart ahead of Mendoza. Like that's why it's a perfect question to ask. Because again, if it's purely based off of their last year in college, then Mendoza goes ahead of Dart. If it's based off of what they both did in their last year playing football, then Dart is ahead of Mendoza for me.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:08

That's a great, by the way, great answer. Um, and so I do think also that in a way, I think even with the way you answer that question, I think that slightly raises um Mendoza's floor, even in your opinion. Just saying explained. I'm curious. What do you mean? Well, because if if right now what you're saying is that if we were talking about um last year of college play, not last year of Jackson Dart in the NFL versus um Mendoza and Indiana, but if we're talking about if we now had um Dart and Mendoza coming out of college at the same time, you would rank Fernando Mendoza ahead of Jackson Dart. To me, that speaks to the fact that Mendoza is going to have a higher floor than you have given him credit for in the NFL, just based off of the merit of you putting him ahead of Jackson Dart coming out of college.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:12

That's that's what I'm not sure about because going into last year, I had uh Tyler Shug rated above Jackson Dart, and I had both of them as second-round picks. That's the thing. That's the thing, but like, for example, Cam Ward versus Mendoza, like it's not even a question to me. You take any of the first over. No, actually, Bryce Young, I think, had no business going first overall. Okay, and like where I would draw the line, like fine. So that would have been CJ Stratd. I also thought Anthony Richardson was better than Bryce Young. Um, going into the draft. Hey, listen, you know, I it's it's it's my I love the proje projectable guys.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:53

It's my opinion, and I'll cry if I want to.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:56

No, sadly, because of injuries, you can't really, you know, again, if you look at guys that are are most capable of becoming that next group of you know who's going to be the next quarterback that we've seen, like we've talked about with Darnold, the Geno Smith, and Baker Mayfield, and so on. You know, Kenny Pickett and Anthony Richardson are those guys, you know. That that's who they neither of them are those guys, they're not that's whatever, but that's what everyone said about you know, darn old and all of these guys before that happened.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:24

So I'm just you know no way Anthony Richardson had a terrible completion rate coming out of college to begin with, and that was against college defenses, not even against NFL defenses. He was he is a freak of an athlete, and that's all he is. He's a terrible QB, and he is not going to become the next Darnold, Baker Mayfield, or any of them, he's just not, he is a backup at best.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:52

So, so by the way, you know who also had a terrible completion rate coming out of college? Josh Allen, and that's why he went seventh overall, and and and just speaking, you know, about like comparison sake, like Anthony Richardson, when you watched him play, it there was a lot of Josh Allen in there, and Anthony Richardson was going up against the SEC, and Josh Allen was going up against, you know, I don't know, I don't even know what to call it, like Yellowstone Conference, you know. That's a Taylor Sheridan Conference. That's that's what I'd call it. But yeah, no, that this this is great, and we can have this, you know, I I'd love to really get into all of uh first round quarterbacks last three years, what we think about it, talking about all this stuff. This this is awesome. Let let's let's let's start off our next podcast and we could go full into this. We could talk about you know how how much you know me hating on Mendoza some more, because I know you love that, and uh and and also Ty Simpson and some other of the quarterbacks in this year's draft. We can go into quarterbacks overall and how they affect this year's draft. I think that would be a hell of a conversation to start with because I think that we've exhausted enough of this for for this week's pod. All right, I agree, Ari.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:04

So, with that, I'm going to bring us to a close. So, this was another edition of the RE Squared podcast. Thank you for tuning in, everyone. Keep up those five-star reviews on Spotify, they only help spread the word. And guys, if you're liking what you're hearing, please hit that share button. Share this to as many of your friends as you'd like. We obviously want to continue growing the Ari Squared community. As always, we are open to any feedback that you want to pass on to us. And at the end of the day, we want to just make this pod better. So, Ari, on behalf of both of us here, thank you for listening. We enjoy doing this. We hope you guys enjoy listening as much as we enjoy recording. And with that, peace. We out.