Burning Offseason Questions and Pitts Tagged with Ian Rapoport

This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human. I'm Daniel Jeremiah. And I am Greg Rosenthal. I know that, Greg. We're teaming up on 40s and free agents, the podcast that owns the NFL offseason. This is where teams are built. Free agency, combine, pro days, trades. Every move matters. From my draft boards and mock drafts. To my vaunted top 101 free agents and how rosters come together. Quarterback movement. Surprise signings. We'll tell you what it means and who really wins. Open your free iHeartRadio app, search 40s and free agents, and listen now. Welcome to NFL Daily, where we're trying to break some news while on the Peloton. I'm Craig Rosenthal, here in Indianapolis, the convention center, with my friend, not even a friend, just a friend, Ian Rapoport. I'm not the one breaking news while on the Peloton. You are my friend. That is true. That is true. Yeah, I'm always a little bit nervous when news comes in the Peloton. I want to type it out beforehand because sometimes if there's like droplets of water, then it gets tough to hit send. You don't want to have a typo. So I had to towel it off, hit send. Kyle Pitts getting franchise tagged as the news. Yeah, which is like not a total surprise, but it was interesting to me because if you had asked me last year, like what is the career trajectory of Kyle Pitts? I don't know that it would be like $15 million free agent, but here we are. I want to get into that. We're going to start with it. But I mentioned the breaking the news on the trail time because we're texting about, did Ian get to Indianapolis in time? And he's texting us. But you literally texted, oh, yeah, I'll be there. I'll see you in an hour. We're taping this Monday afternoon. But you literally texted us within seconds of hitting this other tweet. And I've seen you do other podcasts and stuff where you're talking about that you sent hundreds of texts. Like, you could just wait to send us something. Doesn't that make you a little anxious that you're texting us seconds before breaking news? It makes me anxious to not text back. Like I have like group chats with friends from home and family and like high school buddies and whatever. And sometimes I have to stop myself from responding so quickly because like in work world, I respond quickly. Because like let's say you're let's say you're talking to a head coach or coordinator, right? Like they get to their desk, they pick up their phone, they text you back. And if you don't text back immediately, like they might put their phone over there and like that's it. so if you need something else you send the text back immediately same thing with agents, if they're doing a deal they might pick up the phone and be like deal just got done and if you have any questions you better ask now because it might be like alright now we're doing language, I'll see you in two and a half hours and I respect you do that with us as well, if I send you just a random text is DJ Reader too high in my top 101, you'll send it back right away what we're going to do on this show and yes, the top 101 free agents is out Check it out on NFL.com. The final version is almost embarrassingly different from the one that I talked about on the podcast on Thursday. You talked about your pre-version, your rough draft? Yeah, it was a rough draft, and we were kind of working it out. Ollie Connelly helped me out. He said my most Trumpian quality is that I listen a lot to the last person that I spoke with. So in this case, he was my Stephen Miller. and you'll see some players like Charlie Kohler and Jalen Naylor, who ended up being much higher on the list. So we're going to go through some players, but what I'm going to do, Ian doesn't know what the topics are. I'm going to go through a bunch of news. I just want the Ian take of a lot of the biggest stories in the NFL and some of the free agents. But why not just start with Pitt since we got there? You broke the news. Do you actually think he could get a long-term deal with them? Yeah, I don't see why not. I mean, to me, I'm always surprised when a team doesn't do a long-term deal. Because, like, all right, so, like, he's a franchise tagged for, I think it's going to be about 15.5. It's almost 5% of the salary cap, which would be, like, $305 million or something like that. So it's somewhere between 15.5 and $16 million. So, okay, that's what he gets this year. Next year, it's a little higher. So let's say you have a, basically, right now, assuming he's healthy, You have a two-year deal for Kyle Pitts worth $16 plus $18 million, right? So if you get him on a four-year deal for $17 million average, why would you not do that? He gets happy. He avoids the whole drama. You avoid the drama. You lock in a good player. To me, the value doesn't always fit the franchise tag. Right. Like, let's say, I don't know, Justin Jefferson, Jamar Chase, some like top of the position person got franchise tagged. You can't work a deal off that because it's way too low. Micah Parsons, if he had gotten tagged. Tyler Linderbaum, it's maybe too high at the tackle. That's a whole different story. That's into it. I mean, that's yeah. He is in an interesting place as well. But like you should be able to do a long term deal off the tag. So, yeah, I think there's a chance they do. the counter would be Kyle Pitts pretty up and down in his career. If I'm the Falcons, I'm using the franchise tag as a test drive with a new scheme, a new coach, a new GM, and a player who hasn't looked great every single season of his career. I would say he had a couple of seasons where he was playing through injuries, did not look that explosive. He doesn't fit every offense. So it's unfair to the players. I think they should get rid of the franchise tag. But since they have it available to them, a one-year deal, no long-term money for Kyle Pitts sounds perfect. He might not be a great long-term signing. I had him below Kate Otten in my top 101, which that got a lot of response. Those ones, and I have one more thing on Pitts in a second, but those ones interest me. Like nobody cares about Kate Otten unless you're like a Bucs fan. You might do extremely well in free agency. Like there's always those guys. I hope you're right. Like I think this time last year, nobody knew Milton Williams was unless you were a hardcore Eagles fan. He's a rotational defensive lineman. No, one of the best defensive linemen in the NFL this year. My number one player on the board last year. And how many casual fans heard of him? And then he made $23 million a year, whatever it was. Kyle Pitts, I think it was his second year. When did he have his knee injury? Second year, right? Yeah. I mean, he played through a lot of it, but yes. So he had, I believe this is correct, where he had a MCL and I think he had a meniscus. I'm not 100% sure of the injuries a long time ago. but it got kind of underreported that he'd be okay and people thought he had minor knee surgery he did not he had major knee surgery and sometimes it takes a couple years to come back he has come back good call that was his second year when yeah he didn't produce much missed a bunch of games to me he's always been so durable that people kind of forget that he's played through some stuff because he has not he has not missed a single game in four of his five seasons okay so that that's Kyle Pitts he gets the tag let's go to the top of my list Malik Willis number one overall on the list. I went with the draft reasoning that once you're in the top seven or eight, you should just be number one because that's more important. And I do believe that Malik Willis can be a plus starter. I want to ask you, though, where you think he could go. I feel like the conventional wisdom is Miami or Arizona. What do you think? So Miami, obviously, it's like, okay, well, he has his GM, who didn't draft him, by the way, but did trade for him, a seventh rounder, or helped trade for him. You had someone who was a defensive coordinator, so saw him up close, now is the head coach in Jeff Halfley in Miami. I don't know that Miami has the money. They are going to pay, assuming Tua gets released, it's going to be a $99 million cap hit, the worst in NFL history, and it's also like they pay him in cash too, so it's $54 million in cash. Can they afford another $35 million quarterback? I mean, if Justin Fields gets 20 a year, what does Malik Willis get? 30, 35? Like, that's my guess as to what it is. I think Malik Willis will get a Daniel Jones, Geno Smith type of contract that he got a year ago. It could be anywhere between 35 and 42 or something. I think that's probably right. But then it's like, can Arizona afford that? Right. So Arizona, and Cardinals fans pushed, some of them liked it, some of them hated it because I've been driving the Arizona bandwagon just with all the connections, Nathaniel Hackett, and obviously Matt LaFleur can give him a nice recommendation. They do have the GM that drafted him, which is interesting. I don't know if that's a positive or a negative. That was Monty Austin Ford's Titans team that drafted him in Tennessee. So it's an interesting connection. And people are like, well, you're drafting a guy and it's a mystery box and it's the family guy meme that like, oh, forget Kyler Murray. Like we could have a whole other mystery box. It could even be Kyler Murray, like Kyler Murray 2.0. And to me, Malik Willis would be a better fit, I think. And they're kind of moving on from Kyler Murray. But, yeah, they're going to be eating dead money to get rid of Kyler Murray. But you have to have a quarterback. You have to keep taking swings. And they're not going to be taking a swing with Kyler Murray. Yeah, I would say I'm pretty clear on what I believe is happening with Tua. It seems like he's going to be out in Miami. I'm not 100% sure on Arizona. Like, yes, it's the same GM. It's a new coach. It's a new offense. He got benched last year. but like clearly wasn't right. And like clearly his injury was worse than they thought. So he didn't, you know, did he get benched or did they say like, your injury is not improving quick enough. We're just going to move on. And like, I don't know what Kyler Murray is, but there have been moments when I'm like, this is a guy who can take you to the playoffs. Right. Fair. So I, I'm not sure on that one. The Malik Willis thing is really interesting to me. Matt LaFleur did such an unbelievable coaching job, not just, like, helping him be successful in games, but took a guy that nobody wanted, discarded. Trading quarterback for a seventh rounder is, you know, basically a giveaway. And he resurrected his career. And, like, there is a possibility that Malik Willis ends up being what everyone thought he was going to be in the draft before he just went to the third round. Which would be, like, a plus starter. Which would be, like, I know Matt LaFleur set up a great offense, and that's all true. you can see it with your eyes. He's the best running quarterback in the NFL right now. I would say, like, if you're just asking me, he's one of the most talented, specifically running quarterbacks I've ever seen. I don't even care about that. I care about... That's huge. That opens up the passing game. It is good. Here's what I care about. He came on with no warning in the absolute biggest moments and was great. That is so hard. I mean, we see it all the time. Guys who you think are good, they come into big moments, and it is different. And high-level throws, too. Like a variety of throws over the middle of the field, anticipation. I mean, for those couple games, the offense looked just as good. So, well, we're at the Dolphins. Let's just stay Dolphins because they're fascinating to me. Your colleague, Cameron Wolfe, mentioned Minkah Fitzpatrick as a potential trade partner or candidate. He does not think that Jalen Waddell would be a guy that they would look to trade, although that's kind of been thrown out elsewhere as like a guy teams would be interested in. I'm sure teams would be interested in people like really good receivers. What do you think the appetite for trading will be with them? I mean, trading Minka, I don't know if he would want to be traded. Not that it totally matters, but, I mean, that's the kind of thing that makes sense. He would be on his third contract. He's a little older. He's good, but is he like the big splashy player that you have to hold on to? I'm not sure. That makes sense. I mean, they're going to need to find money somewhere. They are in a, Chris Greer left them in a really, really challenging cap spot. And so like, you know, would they like to trade Minka? Probably not. But now the knives are out for Chris Greer. You just waited till he left, you know? I mean I was pretty I was pretty clear about what it was beforehand which I sure Chris Greer did not really like that very much But like one of the things I kept saying on air which again I sure he was not a huge fan of was like when you make your team you revamp your team in May and June, you're getting the dregs of what's available. And, like, you know, trading for Darren Waller and having him be your number one tight end, like, it's brutal. You can't have a roster set up like that. Like, you know, it just, it was a lot of bad there. I mean, and the Tua contract is bad. I don't even mind that one because, like, you sort of had to do it at the time. You had to. Maybe. But they were all in. If you look back on that Tyreek Hill trade, I think that's where it all started. Like, in theory, yeah, they supercharged their offense, and he had great years for them. But you traded a first. I think it was, what, two seconds, a couple, like, fourths or something. Like, that was a lot and a lot of money for Tyreek Hill. The opposite. Look at what Kansas City did with all that, all the resources. They built a defense. So that's the Dolphins. I wanted to mention Kyle Pitts is getting tagged. The Cowboys and George Pickens is the other guy that's almost certainly going to get tagged. Stephen Jones did speak to the media here on Monday and kind of mentioned how they're going to need the money from the Kenny Clark and Quinn and Williams contracts. I don't know how exactly he's talking about opening up that money. Restructure. Restructure. Or you could cut or trade Kenny Clark. Could. Now, it would be interesting if they did that after making a big deal that he was a key piece to the trade. They also made a big deal that they were excited to get Logan Wilson for a minute, and they cut him last week for what it's worth. But I know not the same level. Yeah, not the same level. Yeah, I mean, George Pickens is getting tagged. We knew that. I mean, I talked about that in November. I'm interested in what happens next. because more so than ever, the Cowboys are cognizant of being really top-heavy and have a lot of money and a great receiver, and George Pickens for a year was awesome. Might they, and they got him for a three, might they trade him, might they tag him and trade him and then use the money to build their defense? That would make the most sense to me. Stephen Jones did say, hey, we know George Pickens is going to be here. We love George Pickens. now that could be him publicly posturing. He said the same thing about Micah. Okay. That would be a fun team build. And it actually would make a lot of sense to me if they did that. But either way, they kind of indicated that he's going to get tagged, which I'm not saying that's why I put Malik Willis number one and George Pickens number two. But in the end, I was like, George Pickens is going to get tagged. And when that final list comes out, because we update it, we're on top of things. As players get cut, as players get tagged, we're going to do it up until the minute free agency, until the negotiating period starts. for me. He's going to get taken off anyways. And he would have been number one while we're here with the Cowboys. Javante Williams got a three year, $24 million contract, $16 million guaranteed. Did that tell you anything about like the running back market? Yeah. Uh, it's, so it's always, you know, I talk to agents a lot and like people like you are always like, you know, Oh, like, you know, you're talking about this deal is great because you broke it or agent, your friend, Right. Here's what I would say about that deal. It takes a bold agent to step out and do the first deal in a market. Yes. Two weeks before free agency, before the combine. I thought that was a great deal. I thought the deal done by Nicole Lynn, by the way, of Clutch Sports. Joel Siegel did it. You don't have to whisper it. Joel Siegel did it several years ago. You know agents, it's fine. Joel Siegel did it a couple of years ago with Matt Milano in a deal I will never forget. It was like four years, $44 million. He did it before free agency. Everyone's like, what is Joel doing? And it was the best linebacker deal of the whole market that year. He knew the market, wasn't shy, did it early, and like, I'm going to set up everyone else and do the right deal for my player. And that's what I thought this was. If you're a good starting running back now, it starts at 8. For the Rico Dowdles of the world, this is a great deal. For J.K. Dobbins, who else is available running back? I think Brees Hall might get, we'll see, he might get transitioned. I think Brees Hall, ETN, Ken Walker get paid solid money. Ken Walker's probably above that. But, like, Rico Donald should get eight now. This helps him. I don't think he will, though. So, look, I don't know the agent at all. I didn't know who the agent was. But this was what I wrote, that he was my RB5 in free agency. It was a great career turnaround. But with more expected cuts about to flood the market, they're wise to take the money now. I don't know if Javante Williams was getting that elsewhere. So I agree. And it keeps Dallas from moving on, too, was the other thing. They could be like, we're good. You know, like, that's your best market is the team that you proved it for. Anyway, go ahead. I mean, you're checking the news while you're doing this. I'm seeing your Instagram pop up. It says you've had like 100 followers since the last time you checked in. What's going on? People love me. Why, though? I don't know. It's a great question. Actually, Ian's a good guy. He tweeted out today the top 101 list. He's sneaky, a good teammate. I'm not sneaky, a good teammate. He is just a good teammate. I'm just a good teammate. He's not everyone's flavor, but once you get used to it, it's like this blackjack. Have you ever heard of Blackjack Gum? No, I'm not a weirdo. For some reason, I heard someone mention Blackjack Gum in a podcast recently, and it's like an old, I think Jewish type of like old like Jews like my grandfather would have had a lot of blackjack and then I saw I went to like a diner that night and I saw it for sale and I had a little blackjack gum and it's licorice flavored and at first I thought it was disgusting and by like day two of it I was like oh I get it like it's so distinctive that I want more of it and that's what Ian Rappaport is like I don't even know what to say to that. I think just dead silence is perfect. The Colts and And Daniel Jones, they're one of the most fascinating teams. I ended up putting him lower in my top 10. Yeah, give me the 20 seconds on that first. Well, he's coming off a torn Achilles that he's had major arm surgery previously. And his career has been pretty up and down. So I don't know what he's going to be like this season. And he fit with Shane Steigen. Does he fit with everyone? He's still in my top 10 free agents. He's a quarterback. But I'd rather have Malik Willis. I think his ceiling might be higher. So I do wonder what – I have no idea what they're going to do. To me, them – between him and Alec Pierce both being available. Pierce being, like, a top receiver is – not that it, like, threw a wrench in things because, like, these are good problems to have, but that's pretty interesting. He's my number five overall player. Michael Pittman is on the last year of his contract. Could he be a potential trade candidate? If they have to prioritize, like, how do you think they figure this out between those two especially? So I'm going to be really interested to see Daniel Jones. Does he get a long-term deal before? Like, this is basically, I mean, it's hilarious, but it's the same exact thing again. Instead of Saquon, it's Alec Pierce. Remember, we was like, you know, is Saquon going to get tagged? Is Daniel Jones going to get tagged? In the end, you know, Saquon ends up getting tagged. and Daniel Jones does a deal, but is he going to do a deal this time? I mean, the deal could end up similar to last time in the 40s, you know, in the low 40s. Multi-years? Like, what do you think? You're holding out on me. I mean, I think multi-year deal would make sense. He's a quarterback. Like, he's young. He's a good guy. He works hard. And when he's been healthy, which, I mean, dude played through a broken leg. Like, I reported that, and even still, I'm like, are we serious? Like, is this really what it is? I had that double check because he really played in a broken leg. That's the guy you want. It's just can you do a long-term deal? And if they do a long-term deal, then I wonder if Alec Pierce gets tagged, taking another top free agent receiver off the market, which always seems to happen. I think that is how it should happen. Tagging Daniel Jones doesn't really make a lot of sense to me. I have a sneaky hot take. I've never gotten out about the Daniel Jones situation. I'm ready for it. I'm excited. Remember how everyone was giving his friends that he's got these super smart friends from, where was it, Stanford? I should know this. You know, from Duke, rather. That helped, like, create this, you know, special brace that was going to let him play through a broken leg. And then he tore his Achilles like a game and a half later. And no one was like, maybe these are connected. Maybe you shouldn't have been playing on the broken leg. We're all giving your buddies a ton of credit for their great brace, and your career was kind of altered forever. Two games later, no one's seen that there's a connection here. I mean, the baseball. You start using one leg a little more, and it's like, whoa, it was a different leg. Yeah, because you're making up for the other leg that's freaking broken. I mean, same thing happened to Lindsey Vonn. You know, it's like skiing on a torn ACL, and her body's different. She's not as stable and she shatters her leg in a way that she'll maybe never recover. Like it's called cascading injuries. And like it really like one thing affects the other thing. And like, yeah, I mean, playing with a broken leg, I'm sure affected. This is why, you know, Ian makes the big money. This is why Ian went out of his way to get here before the winter storm. That's how much he wants to be on NFL daily, that he flew to Florida to fly to Indianapolis from New York. because he was afraid of getting stuck in the winter storm and missing NFL Daily. And so that's the type of person. Yeah, that was the head of the Olympic test. I will say, interestingly enough, flying for 14 hours doesn't make you feel the greatest, interestingly. You're being very generous. I have a lot to get through. We're going to take a quick break. We're going to come back. You have commercials? We're going to fly through. In real life, we don't have to take a real break. I'm a huge fan of this show. Obviously, I watch a lot, so I know that. I mean, it's more of an audio thing, but you can check us out on YouTube back in a second. I'm Daniel Jeremiah. And I'm Greg Rosenthal. And this is 40s and Free Agents. The games may be over, but the NFL never stops. This is my favorite part of the calendar. Yeah, mine too, Greg. Free agency, the combine, the NFL draft, pro days, trades. This is where teams reshape their future. This is where Daniel Jeremiah makes his money. On 40s and free agents, we break down every move that actually matters. From my draft evaluations, mock drafts, and team fits. To my top 101 free agents and how real rosters are built, cap space, contracts, and all the tough decisions included. You got quarterbacks on the move. We got teams rebuilding. It's hope season. Absolutely, it's hope season. We'll tell you what's real, what's noise, and what it means for your favorite team. Smart analysis, real conversations every week. I don't know about the smart, but definitely analysis. Listen to 40s and Free Agents on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Back on NFL Daily, back in Super Bowl week, we talked to Kyle Hamilton and he was there with Visa, who teamed up with Kyle Hamilton to spotlight the communities that power game week, especially the small businesses in neighborhoods where culture happens. Through the launch of the Visa and main platform, Visa is helping local businesses get the visibility, tools, and support they need to capitalize on major moments like the Super Bowl and stay long after the crowds head home. Ian is barely paying attention to me. He's looking at his phone, but he's still giving good takes. I was trying to lead to before about get a man that can do both that you had a good Olympics analogy Did you have a favorite Olympics moment I don think we mentioned the Olympics one time I mean the really not I think it just hasn't come up. It was—I love the Olympics, but I was in Deer Valley skiing and, like— Rich guy problems. Poor athlete problem is really the problem. Not poor athlete, mediocre athlete. I couldn't watch as much as I wanted to. I mean, the Olympic gold medal win for the hockey team was an all-time classic moment. And I'm like, I will nerd out like all of us do. Like, the call was amazing. Call was great. You know, like, these are things I get weirdly nervous about is, like, great moment. You only get one shot at it. I know you have a spotter, but, like, hockey's fast. And, like, you don't quite know, like, is it a goal, is it not? guys streaking down the ice who score like it was amazing incredible i mean to be fair both both olympic uh golden goals uh were great i wasn't as big of a fan of the call on the woman's one but the woman's one was better i mean i i was making that's an all-time they're both all-time all-time goals but to pull a one-on-one move off like that to win the gold medal that that's an that's an even better moment they're both incredible i wish it was when i was sitting in front of a TV, paying more attention. Okay, I'm fascinated by the Eagles. Okay. I don't know if you have anything on the Eagles specifically. First of all, since we last taped, Lane Johnson is returning to the Eagles this year. We don't know about Landon Dickerson. There's been reports that he's considering retirement. Pretty beat up. Multiple trade options here. Tanner McKee, A.J. Brown, a ton of free agents. Dallas Goddard, Jalen Phillips, N'Kobe Dean. I would throw in, and I haven't asked you this off, Mike, so it's going to be tough for you to answer it on. I would throw in Jalen Carter as a really crazy trade candidate if someone wanted to come. Are they willing to go the extra mile and pay Jalen Carter a ton of money? Now would be the time. I just feel like the breadcrumbs are telling us the Eagles are going to go nuts this offseason. What does nuts mean? Are you talking get rid of guys or bring in guys? Both. Both. They can do it. be extremely active in free agency, getting rid of guys, getting guys, trades, that they're going to be trying to win, of course, but that the team you see in 2026 is going to look a lot different than the team you saw in 25. I think that's probably right. Now, trading AJ, anything's possible, but it doesn't really help them. It really doesn't. It costs a lot. It's hard on the cap, and he's a great receiver. And so, like, I understand. And him and Jalen, from what I'm told, are in a much better place now than they were almost at any point last year until week like 14, 15, 16. So I don't know that they have to do it. Now, if you'd asked me in week eight, I would say you have to do it. I don't know that they have to do it now. And just like money, like you would have to give them away and pay for it. I don't know because of all the extensions they give them. I don't know that that really makes sense. It can happen. Now the Jalen Carter one Is an interesting one Because he is a great player But to have great players You have to pay them the money So what does he make? $32 million a year? If you pay him, who do you not pay? They do have the fifth year option with him So that can kick the game They go for it every year And so when you do that You pay for everything And so like Dallas Goddard I don't know what's going to happen But generally when a player takes a pay cut one year, the next year they go somewhere else. That's just so I do think they'll be active. I just don't know. I don't know that it'll be as crazy as we all were anticipating, but we'll see. I have some more teams. But now that you mentioned some of the players there and Jalen Phillips specifically, I might just rip through some free agents. Jalen Phillips, very interesting. Two sacks. Yeah, that was the one response. I do send my list out to various dignitaries, including yourself. You were the last person to respond, but that you sent a response at all. I appreciate it. And the only response was like, Jalen Phillips, really? Two sacks? I mean. Was it only two sacks? I feel like it was like three or something. I mean, he had two sacks. I think he had two sacks for the Eagles. He is a really disruptive player who made a splash and then didn't do much after. But, like, those guys get paid. Five sacks total Three before right He's going to get paid It's going to be really interesting Because they don't need to justify anything But you could justify that trade By giving him big money But like And you've seen him in your system You've seen him with Fangio a couple times Fangio's coming back Which I definitely wasn't sure about for a while So paying him makes a lot of sense I just The production how do you calculate the value is going to be really interesting. He'll get paid, though. To me, he has a lot of similarities to guys that they used to pay back in the day. Now he might cost more because now he's getting into free agency, which is like the first Josh Sweat contract or Brandon Graham's contracts all throughout the years where guys who didn't rack up a ton of sacks but were really complete, versatile players. And seems like a good guy. They liked him a lot. Keeping him makes sense. He had a monster year in Miami. It was just a few years ago before those injuries happened. So he's not just like a one-hit wonder. You thought Linderbaum is an interesting situation. And if you have any possible teams for any of these players, just throw them out there. I do not like to do that. I don't like to play that game because then teams are like, hey, why would you say this? And then agents are like, why would you say this instead of this guy? And I'm just like, I don't. When you say things, it makes news. It changes like the prediction markets. Yes, I care greatly about the prediction markets. Maybe I should. I don't know. But I just – there's plenty of people who will say, like, this team should sign this player, and then it becomes a whole article. Anyway, Linderbaum's interesting. I mean, that's – I do that all the time. Oh, really? I just did one with Bill Barnwell. Whoa. I had no idea. It was a good podcast. The Linderbaum's interesting because he almost – not almost. He cannot get tagged. It's a tackle tag, right? And so what is the tackle tag? It's like 28 or something. Yeah, I mean, not going to be that. It's offensive lineman tag. Right. But it's really a tag. Guards get tagged only when they're Trey Smith, and that made the guard market go crazy. And everyone else was like, seriously? But you had to do it, right? Linderbaum is the top center. He's a really good player who the Ravens should want to keep and feel like they have to keep, but every year they've let a couple offensive linemen go and figure it out. They haven't seemed that interested in keeping him. They didn't fit your option. They didn't fit your option, but they have tried to negotiate with him. His agent is very difficult to negotiate with. Neil Kornwich is the agent, and his method is basically just not responding. We all have someone like that in our life. It's a pretty good negotiation, to be honest. Yeah, I mean, right. It's like trying to get Ian on this podcast. I would think, so they've done deals. Eric Takas, the way he does things, is kind of like Howie Roseman. He's very aggressive, and he will keep at it. So they locked Ronnie Stanley up. I think it was like the Saturday before free agency last year. Is that right? Something like that. It might have even been into the negotiating window, unless it was all tampering, because the reporting afterwards was kind of like the Patriots drove up the price. But maybe that was behind. you're right that it might have happened on Saturday yeah I mean now it's sort of like I do like that's one thing that's changed over the years maybe you can give us some context you know Florio used to always you know my old boss Mike Florio used to always be banging on about this oh they're tampering in Indianapolis oh can you believe it agents are talking to players and teams are talking to agents and now it's like no one cares it's just the NFL was like eh we don't care Florio we're just gonna allow this what's the what's the problem i mean i some rules are meant to be officially have no stance like driving 75 and a 65 right i officially have no stance given where i work um but i'm sort of not really sure i see where the problem is no i don't think there is a problem the only yeah the only you have to have a start date at some point so it's always going to be bored before people like well they should just open up free agency of the temperament i'm like okay well then And they would just start talking. And they kind of have. They kind of have done that. I'm going to throw out just some different names. Okay. See if any strike your fancy. Mike Evans, Rashid Shahid, Tariq Woolen, Aaron Rodgers. Like, any of those stand out as, like, going to have particularly good markets, bad markets stand out to you? Like, could Evans actually leave for one? I mean, anything could happen. He should finish his career in Tampa. Okay. I mean, he should. And I don't mean like he should. It just would be right in the world. Now, he might get enough dollars where he could go, and it'd be one of those like, you know, Emmitt Smith in a Cardinals uniform type deal. But the Bucs take care of their guys. I mean, they've had Levante. I could only see him with the Eagles if they traded AJ Brown. You could see him with any team. With the Chiefs. Literally any good team. That would be good. Any good team. Chiefs receiving core will be interesting to watch in general. Sorry, I asked a question in the middle of that It was Evans, Shahid, it was Reek, it was Rodgers Shahid should be a Seattle re-sign I mean, that makes too much sense Rodgers should be a Steelers only For sure What else did you say? They should be a Malik Willis team But I don't think they want to be I said Tariq Willis The cornerback market is going to be interesting Have you heard of who is potentially at the top of that. So some options. Jalen Watson from the Chiefs has had a good career. Alante Taylor of the Saints is an interesting player. Jamel Dean is out there. Nashawn Wright made some all-pro teams this year. And then Tariq Willen. So Tariq Willen is sort of interesting to me because I thought last year midway through that Seattle was going to trade him. I felt like he maybe fell out of favor a little bit and maybe the scheme wasn't great. But he He kind of kept at it and kind of started playing better. And then they were like, we cannot lose him. And that was interesting to me. And I don't know that he's staying, but like a lot of good tape at the end of the year on him. That should, I think he should have a good market. I think Jalen Watson has the potential for, to get a nice deal and people be like, who the heck is this guy? Jamel Dean took a huge pay cut with the Bucs last year, which they wanted to start two young guys and came back with a excellent, excellent season. I could see him, maybe he goes back to the Bucs, anything's possible, but could be one of those final pieces to a good veteran playoff-ready team. He's been through it. He's played great last year. He's a veteran, but not too, too old. I'm making you work here. Familiarizes me with free agency. Well, do you have some surprises? You're mentioning guys who people don't know that might get a ton of money. Does anyone pop up? I don't work like that. I don't. They don't all like swim around in my brain. If you mention, I can respond. Yeah, I am like that too, where I struggle. I'm showing you the list. Boy, a mafia I think is going to get a lot here. Devin Lloyd, I think will be good. Devin Lloyd will be good. I'll tell you what. I mean, Isaiah likely is interesting too because he doesn't have the production, but that obvious why he doesn have the production So I think he going to do well I won put you on the spot here I have more specific stuff I want to get you before you go Max Crosby Do you think in the end he gets traded I don't know. I really don't. It's going to be a while because rarely do guys get traded when they are coming back from many-month injuries. And so that's why I thought, I mean, who knows, maybe all my reports are dumb, but I thought it was an important thing to report during the Super Bowl because, like, I don't think people knew how serious his injury was. No, he's doing great. But, like, you know, if you trade for him and then let's say you pay him, you know, somewhere around where Micah's getting, like, you want him to be healthy. Older player, too. Yeah, guaranteed his money this year, and then you'd probably have to tack on some new stuff. Right, but, like, you want him to be healthy. So that might be, like, around the draft or maybe even before the start of the season. it's going to be so like the timing no look he could get traded tomorrow who knows but the timing could be interesting because let's say it's before the draft okay you got fernando mendoza coming in you've seen what this coaching staff and gm can do in free agency they i'm sure are going to target a actually good offensive line they're going to make it quarterback friendly defense they got some pieces anyway but let's say they improve their team i wonder and you know they're going to try to keep him. So at that point, does Max go, I want out? Or does he go, all right, fine, I'm in one more year. I don't know the answer to what he's going to say after all that. I thought it was interesting. There was like a list of teams, this was from the NFLPA, who have to spend a certain amount of cash this year to hit that three-year average. It's too complicated a rule that I don't totally understand to even get into here. But basically you have to hit an average of money that you've spent over a rolling three-year period. And the Jets, Saints, Seahawks, Raiders, both L.A. teams and Titans were the teams that have to spend like over a certain amount of cash, like $50 million more than the rest of the teams. I mean, the Rams are asleep because they have some of their own free agents who are going to get huge deals coming up. You know, like the Kobe Turners of the world. They could spend it on their own guys. Could spend it on their own guys. Eventually, Jared Verse, yeah. Verse would be another one. Puka. puka interesting offseason for puka i mean it's just been yeah an interest why do you say that no it's just he's been in the news a lot uh the internet loves him i don't i don't know if love is the word that i would use do you think dj moore gets traded have you heard any and have you heard anything about the bears in particular who have a lot of cap issues not a lot of uh defensive backs coming back to their team like a kind of a lot going on i think them and the patriots are very interesting in like okay how do you pivot off this surprisingly good year one with with these new coaches yeah i mean i thought i think last year they did an underratedly awesome job uh didn't like what was out there in the offensive line market and said you know we're just going to trade for two guys and i was i thought you know ryan poles does not get universally loved i thought he crushed it last offseason and set themselves up for big success they'll have to make some decisions dj more i mean that one would make sense um but like could also make it work money wise you know like i don't know if you say to me like well the bears need to do this like what do they need to do i think draft have another good draft year and like what do they need uh pass rushers and defensive backs because half of them are one agents one of the top defensive back is their own free agent yeah kevin kevin byard is also actually two of them think about it chauncey Gardner Johnson, who's lower on the list, but I don't know. Kevin Byard, man. Was like a minimum guy a couple years ago. And he's like the best dude, too. Jaquan Brisker is a free agent. They have a lot of work. And they're way over the cap right now. See, I'm giving you good information. Are you, though? You could go to overthecap.com and find out about that. How about the Bills and the Chiefs? Do you have any overarching thoughts of the two most consistent teams in the AFC over the last handful of years and how they are going to attack this offseason. You mentioned earlier the Chiefs and the receiver group. Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, they, I was not surprised that they shuffled their offensive coaching staff. I was not surprised they brought Eric Biennemi back. You know, there was certainly some frustration last year with the receivers. They fired the receivers coach. That generally shows that. Rasheed Rice, who's also been in the news some, on the football field is a very, very good player. But, like, inconsistency around. Like, Hollywood Brown, sometimes yes, sometimes no. Free agent. Tyquan Thornton, I think he's going to have a nice market. But, like, they have a chance to kind of rebuild that with some really good mid-level guys. Kelsey, you know, what happens there? Do you think Kelsey and Rice are on the team? my guess is probably but I don't know why Rice wouldn't be I mean if you say like are they going to trade him I don't know that that would happen and Kelsey you know he's been seemingly pretty positive about the hire of Eric Biennemi making me think he's coming back but we like to work out a deal too and they got some problems you said you weren't surprised that they made changes should that worry Giants fans that they now have the offensive coordinator? No, no, no. The running back and receiver position coaches. I think Matt Nagy intentionally put himself where he is. I think he was with Andy Reid. I think they were really good until last year when they were not as good. And there was a lot of reasons they could be not as good offensive line. That's a mischief. There's a lot of injuries, a lot of things. I think Matt Nagy wanted to be a play caller and was like, I'm going to take a risk, put myself out there and be a play caller and see if I can be a head coach, and that's what happened. All right, it worked out. Yeah. A couple more for you. Is Christian Wilkins a name you've heard at all? He kind of was brought up on our show, and I was like, oh, yeah, Christian Wilkins, who was like top five on this list a couple years ago. I didn't know whether to put him in the top 101 or not. Is any team going to sign Christian Wilkins? I don't know. I would need to look back at his contract situation and see. He's free and clear at this point. Are they not? The Raiders got out of the guaranteed money business. They're paying dead money to him. Sometimes I send you texts. I don't know if the Raiders got out of the guaranteed money business. You usually are the one giving me information, but sometimes I'll send you and be like, hey, you should check on the Christian Wilkins thing. Now I'm blowing it because it's going to go on the podcast. But, you know, I was like, just do that. No, I'll check. Just check on Christian Wilkins. If you send a tweet out about Christian Wilkins, I actually think it'll be a medium hit tweet. You know, I think you're probably if he signs media. Now, I mean, I don't even mean signs, but just be like, hey, he's healthy. He's ready to go. There's some interest. If he is, I mean, at the time, remember, it was a fight over surgery because he didn't want to have surgery and they wanted him to. And then also they there was also a lot of stuff. There was a report that, yeah, there was teammates uncomfortable with him. I don't know if any of that was true. Was that this year? That was last season. That was last season. Seems like a thousand years ago. It does. You know what else does? The Starbucks incident that you had back at the Combine a year. I'm going there right after this. Are you worried? I wasn't worried then. Why would I be worried now? I thought it was like a little much. The NFL Network with so much going on at the company and everything decided to provide like a four-man security detail everywhere you go. Could you imagine? Afraid of big Jordan Schultz coming around the corner. He is taller than me. He is tall in general. That was still the weirdest thing to... It wasn't the weirdest thing to ever happen to me, but it was the weirdest thing to happen to me lately. That was still like... People laugh at my reaction because I literally just stood there like this, like what on earth is happening? Because that's what I felt like. You know, as someone who has annoyed plenty of people... No, I'm talking about myself. No, I'm talking about you too. Yeah. And not the biggest guy. I have been in this situation, including even at work, with an old, I'll say rival of yours, happened once. And it is a tough situation because you're not going to, what are you going to do? You're just going to try to talk it out. In this case, you were very surprised by it. But I know right away it's not going to help me out to try to be the man here. I mean, I haven't fought in a very long time. It's certainly not going to be my world. I was just mostly confused. I kept being like Uber stock. Right. Is that something that's in the realm of possibility that someone offers players Uber stock for scoops? In hindsight, it's a bizarre story. Yeah. For some background, Jordan Schultz, who who also breaks news, does NFL news, confronted you with an accusation that you were telling people that he was trading Uber stocks for for information, which is which is a wild claim to just to just come out of nowhere. But I was trying to make the point, though, that you're going to be a free agent coming up soon. And just hear me out. You did a podcast with Andrew Machand, and he brought up how your contract's coming up soon. And you were saying you're excited that, you know, with this new ESPN world, maybe you and Schefter can be like, you know, the Avengers coming together. Well, we have me, Mike, Tom. Right. Everyone. But, I mean, I'm just putting it out there. We have our iHeart executive here, Jason English. They've been great partners for NFL Daily. As you hit free agency, what about NFL Daily insider Ian Rappaport? You know, we could get in this mix. I don't know financially. Really? What are we offering here? What are we talking about? That's an off-camera conversation. But they've been great. I used to have a podcast back in the day. Right. We can give you – yeah, maybe you could have your own podcast. Could I take your place? Maybe I could take Greg's place. No, but you could have a regular part of it. You could be a regular part of it. Just a thought. I have no idea what's coming. I am very excited about it, though. If the ESPN thing works out, I think the possibilities are really, really good. From what it sounds like, everyone should be pretty optimistic. That's a good way to look at things and a good way, I think, for people. Also reality, I think. To look forward. Like sometimes you kill yourself worrying about things that you're not going to change the outcome of until they happen. So just be optimistic. I was optimistic about how long we would get Ian. And look, it happened. We didn't stop asking questions. Strong minutes. You had great answers. We will be here all week. There were some other minor news out there. And we'll hit all that on when Tuesday show with Jordan Rodriguez. We also are planning to have a couple of guests. Some GMs are going to sit down with us. And so we'll go over all the news that is coming out of Indianapolis. For Ian Rapport, I'm Greg Rosenthal. And we will be back from Indianapolis on Tuesday. I'm Daniel Jeremiah. And I am Greg Rosenthal. I know that, Greg. We're teaming up on 40s and Free Agents, the podcast that owns the NFL offseason. This is where teams are built. Free agency, combine, pro days, trades. Every move matters. From my draft boards and mock drafts. To my vaunted top 101 free agents and how rosters come together. Quarterback movement. Surprise signings. We'll tell you what it means and who really wins. Open your free iHeartRadio app, search 40s and free agents, and listen now. This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.