00:00Here we are with a chance to turn around an awful season.
00:03And by we, I mean they.
00:05It's up to Peters and Quinn and the Brain Trust.
00:09How much money do they have to spend relative to other teams, Ben,
00:14and where do you think their focus will be?
00:16So as it stands right now, if you look at the salary cap side,
00:20like over the cap, they have not adjusted yet for, say,
00:22the Marshawn Lattimore release, which will tack on another $18 million.
00:26So as it stands, they have like the fifth most around $72 million.
00:28But again, it doesn't include Lattimore's roughly $18 million.
00:32It doesn't include the oddest.
00:33It also doesn't include some of the moves they have now made
00:35where they've added a couple guys on some short deals.
00:38But relative to the rest of the league, they've got a bunch of money to play with.
00:41And I think they're going to do something with it.
00:45The question is, is it a couple guys at the top and then figure out the rest,
00:48or is it spread the wealth and build it up from that direction?
00:52But they can go kind of almost any way they want.
00:55And other than quarterback and offensive tackle, they need everything.
00:59How is this year's free agent class, according to those who cover the league?
01:05Is it strong?
01:05Is it weak?
01:06Is it somewhere in between?
01:08Well, at the top, it's not as exciting.
01:10But I think that's kind of being the case most years now.
01:13I think teams are, you know, they largely get a deal done with their star players.
01:18Certainly, you know, quarterbacks rarely hit the market.
01:20But even, you know, top guys.
01:22Well, Malik Willis is about to get overpaid by somebody.
01:26$30 million a year.
01:27That's the rumor of that.
01:28You think that's too much for six starts?
01:31Yes, I think that's insane.
01:32I think the league has learned nothing from the likes of Scott Mitchell.
01:38Or who was the Brock Osweiler.
01:41Remember when he went to the Texans?
01:43Yeah.
01:43I mean, it's just a tiny sample size.
01:46What's so interesting is, like, in terms of that aspect of it,
01:48like, I've been saying this for a while,
01:50and maybe the league is starting to go here.
01:53You only have to have a quarterback to throw the ball 40 times a game
01:56if your plan is to have a quarterback throw the ball 40 times a game.
01:59You can run.
02:00You can lean in that direction.
02:02We've seen that now more in the last few years.
02:04I don't get sometimes why you don't just take sort of the mid-quarterback
02:10and just say, we're going to build up with everything else
02:13and use that money on all other stuff.
02:15Sure, big moment.
02:16You need that guy.
02:17I totally get it.
02:18But you can't get to the big moment if you're not there
02:20and you're having guys who are not very good throw the ball a ton
02:24or you're overpaying for mediocre talent anyway.
02:26So I don't get why some teams are doing this.
02:29You ever watch Fixer Upper with Chip and Joanna Gaines?
02:32No.
02:32No, you know the show, though, right?
02:34I've heard of it, yeah.
02:34They take a very inexpensive house.
02:37It's in Waco, though.
02:38So you have to live in Waco, Texas.
02:40No offense.
02:41And they turn it into something fabulous.
02:44And that's the whole genius of the show.
02:46And they say, oh, we'll only invest $150,000 in renovations.
02:50And it's a ton of stuff.
02:51And you're like, I want to see those contractor bills.
02:54How are you getting all that work done for that little money?
02:57But that's the key to the show.
02:59People go, oh, my God.
03:00Imagine getting a house that nice for that cheap.
03:05And I think there's a dynamic like that in play with what happened with Seattle
03:09and with Sam Darnold.
03:10Now, Sam Darnold was not cheap.
03:12But he is a rehab project because everyone thought he had reverted
03:17to what he was at the end of last two years ago with Minnesota,
03:21which was a guy not built for the big game or the big pressure.
03:24And they won it all with Sam Darnold.
03:27So now there's four, by my count, rehab projects
03:33that are going to be very tantalizing to somebody at quarterback.
03:37And they are, I would put them in, I don't know if I can put them in order.
03:42I would say Tua is probably the most rehabbable.
03:47I'd say Kyler Murray has the highest ceiling of talent.
03:52But there's real questions about how much does he love football.
03:57And then there is Kirk, who's just going to give you what he's going to give you,
04:01which is a good, solid, professional quarterback job, but nothing spectacular.
04:07And then there is Geno Smith, whose own sort of resurgence, I think,
04:12has probably run its course from when he was a washout with the Jets.
04:16Of those four rehab projects, is there going to be another Sam Darnold-like story, do you think?
04:25I'm with you on the Tua part.
04:27Now, look, the concussions, obviously, we can't ignore that.
04:30I always think the lefty thing is kind of weird.
04:33I mean, it's just a little bit off, you know?
04:34Okay.
04:35Steve Young, though, great lefty.
04:37Of course.
04:37And Tua's had his moments.
04:39But, you know, with him, it feels like the mental part of it.
04:42Like, where is he at there?
04:43Because it feels like that is where his game has been hampered with all the hits
04:48and the criticism and the losses.
04:50So, I'm intrigued by him.
04:51I think the issue with Kyler Murray, the talent is obvious.
04:55I think he's a lot to deal with.
04:57I mean, the fact that the Cardinals put in the contract that he had to do homework.
05:02Yes.
05:02I mean, that was pretty rough indictment of him.
05:07So, I think that's the issue there.
05:08But, look, guys mature.
05:10Guys get older.
05:11Maybe you get humbled.
05:12You know, like, Baker Mayfield was another reclamation project.
05:16That's another one right there.
05:17So, could Kyler – I think a lot of teams might squint real hard
05:20and look at Kyler Murray and see Baker Mayfield.
05:23You know, if you made me pick right now, where does Kyler Murray land?
05:26I wouldn't have thought this originally, but a lot of people seem to think Minnesota
05:30because Minnesota wants, air quotes, competition for J.J. McCarthy.
05:34I don't know that Kyler Murray feels like it's more than that.
05:36How's that going to make McCarthy better?
05:38Right.
05:38I totally agree.
05:39But I guess the theory is, like, for Minnesota, you're coming off a terrible year for them,
05:43you know, underachieving year.
05:45They, you know, like kind of maybe the vibe here.
05:48If you don't have a turnaround year, things could be over, and you're really going to trust McCarthy.
05:52And with Murray, Kevin O'Connell has been known as a bit of a QB whisperer.
05:56He helped Sam Darnold reclaim his status and do what he did.
05:59So, I think that's why Kyler Murray maybe makes some sense there.
06:04But, yeah, he's definitely a bit of a project in the sense that he's a lot, like, has a lot
06:09to deal with.
06:09I think Minnesota's vibe is like, okay, let's do it again on the rehab thing, but let's keep our rehab.
06:14Let's not flip the house like we did last time.
06:17Good luck to them on that.
06:19Thankfully, the commanders do not have to worry about that.
06:21They've got their quarterback.
06:22But they probably need, well, not probably, they need another weapon, right, another receiver.
06:29At a minimum.
06:29And they need defense in buckets, in bushels.
06:35The so-called PFF, or not so-called, but the PFF.com free agent checking, pecking order, I guess,
06:43or their top free agents, according to them, I'm looking at them right now,
06:47Trey Hendrickson, who the Bengals bungled, that whole situation is the number one free agent out there.
06:53Coming off an injury-plagued year, he only played seven games.
06:56Number two is Pickens down in Dallas.
06:59Now, let's pause on the Pickens thing, and you tell me, what do you think Jerry's going to do with
07:04old George Pickens?
07:06I think he's going to back up the Brinks truck and say, let's go.
07:12I mean, look, obviously, the talent is undeniable.
07:16So are the headaches.
07:18But, you know, they've, I think they're willing to take that hit.
07:22I mean, you know, they already obviously made the move on Micah Parsons,
07:25and I do think that was part of also was like a bit of a headache situation beyond what they
07:29thought the value was.
07:30He was too expensive for them.
07:32They had too much money tied up in other guys.
07:33Yeah.
07:34So, I mean, me personally, I don't like spending crazy money on two receivers.
07:38I think that's, I just don't think that's how you build a team to win.
07:42But he's already there.
07:43He already had a good year with them last year, so it's sort of like he's keeping it.
07:46So I think they ultimately get a long-term deal done.
07:49That would be my guess.
07:50All right, let's go yes, no, maybe on the other side of this.
07:52Got to take a quick break.
07:53I'll run through the top 10 or 15 guys here, and then Ben can say yes, no, maybe, and you
08:00can also chime in as well.
08:01800-636-1067.
08:03The Commanders are about to launch into free agency like the rest of the NFL.
08:07These are not the bad old days of Dan Snyder buying used bubblegum card players that are well past their
08:14prime.
08:14Deion Sanders, Jeff George, Bruce Smith.
08:17But free agency, if done smartly, can really fill some holes quick.
08:23And we know the Commanders need to fill a lot of holes on defense.
08:26We'll take some calls after this.
08:27Next, you're listening to J.B. Mitch and Finley filling in for them, Steve Zabin and Ben Standen.
Comments