- 4 hours ago
NFL Network's Cynthia Frelund joins the program to discuss Washington's offseason so far.
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00:00Fired up to get on the Rude Guest Hotline, welcome in our friend Cynthia Freeland, NFL
00:05Network Analytics expert.
00:07Cynthia, how are you?
00:08What's going on?
00:09I'm doing great, thank you.
00:10I love that song.
00:11I was like, oh, is he going to swear?
00:13Keep a ball on our toes.
00:15It was good.
00:15I liked it.
00:16I was here for it.
00:17I think my guy Jeff would know to play the edited version of that tune, but you never
00:21know.
00:22Gotta keep everyone on their toes.
00:24It's the morning.
00:24Wake up.
00:25A good, you know.
00:28Are you on the West Coast?
00:29I appreciate you joining us early, if so.
00:31Oh, come on.
00:32It's not early here.
00:33We gotta get up and do our thing, and unfortunately, I'm going to brag here for a second, but the
00:40weather is insane here, so it's really nice.
00:43So I'm like, okay, I guess I'm going to deal with this beautiful day.
00:46It's crazy.
00:47It's not the same here.
00:49I think it's like 40 degrees outside.
00:50Yeah, it's cold.
00:51And yesterday, there were tornado warnings.
00:52It's 35 degrees here, and it feels like 20, according to my phone.
00:57I am so sorry.
00:58That is awful.
01:00Come to my house.
01:00We have extra rooms.
01:02There's two.
01:02As long as you can handle two Huskies, you are more than welcome to come here and enjoy
01:06this weather.
01:07I appreciate that.
01:08Huskies are active dogs, man.
01:09Oh, they're active.
01:10They're very.
01:11So, Cynthia, we just got to talk to you in Indianapolis at the Combine, and I think you were kind
01:16of
01:17expecting Washington to be active here in free agency.
01:21They certainly have been.
01:22And I'm curious what you make of the commander's moves so far.
01:26I really like the commander's moves.
01:28I think if I had to pick my favorite moves for all of the teams that were very active
01:34in this time period, because sometimes it's good not to do much, and sometimes you're
01:38in a cap-constrained situation.
01:40But for the teams that could make moves, I think these are excellent moves.
01:43I think the Caleb on, I got to get over this because I keep talking about this, but I think
01:48that Caleb on chase on move is like the DeMarcus Lawrence situation from last year, which
01:53of course was the Seattle Seahawks.
01:54But I think that's the analogy for this year.
01:58Wow.
01:58I like that.
01:59So you think he could make that big of an impact, huh?
02:01I do.
02:01I think he really proved it.
02:03You know the Patriots system, to get seven and a half sacks in that situation where they
02:09don't funnel production through one player, they clearly spread everything around.
02:13It's like him and one other guy had more than five sacks, right?
02:15So when you're looking at the opportunity to then be featured in a Dan Quinn situation,
02:22okay, let's go.
02:23I just think it's a really good fit.
02:27That's great.
02:27What do you think of Owe?
02:28Especially he's playing in Southern California.
02:30You probably watch a lot of them.
02:32Oh, yeah.
02:32I really like him, too.
02:33It's just that one was a more spendy one.
02:36You know, like, I just, I like the, I kind of, to be fair, I kind of like the guys
02:39who
02:39like, were like, well, is he worth it?
02:41Is he not?
02:42Like, those are my, my, I like, I have a soft spot for them.
02:46Owe is a big, was a big name, big acquisition, you know, top, top market guy.
02:50So like everyone was talking about him already, but I'm like, come on, where's Caleb on chase
02:54on in this one?
02:55And Leo Chanel, let's talk about him, too, because that was a steal.
03:00What?
03:00I'm sorry.
03:01What?
03:01Like, what are we doing?
03:02So I, I like, I really, I like both of those moves quite a bit.
03:05They went into this, this free agency with a lot of needs and they went defense heavy.
03:10And I think that's what they should have done, but they didn't go crazy with it.
03:13Right?
03:14No, I don't.
03:15I mean, I think they went really smart fits, right?
03:18Like you could have obviously tried to get in on some of the bigger trade, untrade, whichever.
03:24Well, however you want to talk about these situations that were happening all over the
03:27league, but like having depth and having a strategy for guys that felt specific needs,
03:32it's, it tends to work out a little bit better.
03:34So good job, Adam Peters, because, you know, I'm, I'm a big Adam Peters fan, obviously.
03:38Talking with Cynthia Freeland here on the rude guest hotline.
03:41You can follow Cynthia at C Freeland, F R E L U N D.
03:45Uh, check out all our work at NFL.com and watch her on NFL network.
03:50Um, going, um, kind of off the path here, offensively, Washington didn't do a ton for
03:58a few days.
03:59Then they, they spent real money to bring in Chigakonkwo.
04:02I know you look at the numbers with him, but that offense in Tennessee has just been so
04:07bad.
04:08Like what, what do you think his breakout potential is?
04:11Well, I, here's the thing.
04:13I mean, you're going to miss Zach Ertz, right?
04:16Like no matter what, part of what his, like the difference in the red area, when you have
04:23someone who's super reliable or not is like massive.
04:26So, you know, I also think you have to look at how Chig can block.
04:30So I, it's, we don't, we know a lot of fantasy football.
04:32We, we don't really, we talk about tight ends.
04:34We're like, we want them to score touchdowns.
04:35Well, that's great, but it's really, really nice to, you know, use play action, have a
04:42blocking tight end, good Lord, that will really help, you know, help your quarterback out.
04:48And, and obviously what you look at with Okonkwo is run after the catch, right?
04:52So not only is the big body guy great in the red area, and then you look to see what
04:57he
04:57can do when the ball is in his hands.
05:00And he's kind of, he checks all those boxes.
05:02So I think that, and it's an interesting market for tight ends right now, right?
05:06Like, if you just kind of look to see what happened, it's to me, like, there's a lot
05:10of value, like having good corners and having good tight ends right now that are multiple.
05:15It's, it's just hard to, you know, the tight end sort of get, some get paid like blockers
05:19who are pass catchers and some get paid like pass catchers who aren't like, it's a, it's
05:23kind of a weird, a kind of a weird world.
05:25So Chig's kind of checking all the boxes.
05:28So who, who cares, right?
05:29Like, it's like, get the right, get the right guy in the race for the right system.
05:32So they've signed people and put themselves in a position where I don't think they need
05:35to lean a certain direction once the draft comes up, but everybody seems to think, oh,
05:41they signed that person.
05:42They go on this way.
05:43Then they sign us about another position the next day.
05:45Oh, they go in that way.
05:46Can you tell?
05:48Nope.
05:49And I think that's, that's also by design, right?
05:52I think when you're looking at, at what, this is a weird draft because we're seeing the
05:58confluence of NIL plus transfer portal, making the, the playbooks in college much thinner.
06:08The guys move around.
06:09They don't get deep into like big names, move around quarterbacks, et cetera, move around.
06:14So now you've got like the playbooks thinning out, thinning out, which also on the defense,
06:18that means the defenses are also thinner in terms of how much they're learning in a specific
06:22year.
06:23So you're looking at their resume, like it doesn't mean they can't do something.
06:26They just don't have any reps doing it.
06:29So there's a lot more uncertainty.
06:31So that's where you're giving yourself a lot of, you're basically buying yourself the option
06:35to go with the player who, when they come into your building, I think these 30 visits
06:40will be massively, massively important when they come into your building, when you test
06:44them on how you believe they need to learn, adopt, be a part of the commander's organization.
06:50All of those things come together and you can now pick and have a lot more flexibility
06:55because I just don't think this is a draft where we're like, I don't, I feel like I don't
06:59know a lot about a lot of these players, especially let's say maybe five.
07:02I feel like you're like, okay, like I can see how that guy contributes from day one, but
07:07then it's like a big scribble after that.
07:10It is a big scribble.
07:12I'm curious when you look at the draft and, and I know how much you study these players
07:16and kind of from a different angle through the analytics lens, the thing, the position
07:22that makes the most sense to me for Washington would be drafting a stud receiver.
07:26I think there's not necessarily consensus that Carnell Tate is the one, one of this receiver
07:32class.
07:33You've got guys from the West coast, you know, you got lemon and, and, and Thomas, like,
07:38what do you see from this receiver group?
07:41Is there, is there one person that has separated themselves?
07:44The word separate is really a really good one there.
07:47Now I think Carnell Tate has separated himself in my, from, from the data.
07:51Why?
07:52Because when I'm watching how he runs routes and I'm watching the ability to generate separation,
07:58I don't care if he's a titch slower.
08:00I couldn't care less about that.
08:02Like he's not slow.
08:03It's not like he ran a five to something crazy.
08:07Right.
08:07So when you're watching his film from college and what he was asked to do now, we don't
08:12know what he was asked to do as outsiders, but at the wide receiver position, you can
08:16trace routes and route trees and to see how much separation is going on at different points
08:22in the route.
08:22So he is a guy who clearly creates separation and he's a very, very like, like accurate
08:29route runner is hard to say for college players sometimes.
08:34Cause we don't, you know, it's a little weird with, with the way college works and whatever,
08:38or at least in playbooks, but I can tell you he's, he creates the most separation of any
08:42of these guys.
08:43I also look, I'm from Michigan.
08:45I'm not supposed to like Ohio state players at all.
08:47In fact, I'm supposed to hate them.
08:49Right.
08:49Like, and, and, uh, and I think like I would, that's the one I would feel the most confident
08:54with from the day one, from, from, from the jump.
08:57We had you on early and you mentioned, uh, when they were talking about Ruben Bain and you
09:01said his, uh, arm was one eighth of an inch, which is minor.
09:04Uh, is there a percentage that they look at to where they go?
09:08Oh, we can't do nothing.
09:09Or as soon as you say someone like when they mentioned that it made a lot of people think
09:14his arm was super short, but you said one eighth of an inch, but is there a percentage
09:18they look at before saying something like that?
09:20Because what if a guy is two inches shorter and one eighth of an inch?
09:24Right.
09:25So the, that's the thing where people like, to me, you got to look at first, you have to
09:30look at your height.
09:31Second, you have to look at how far off of the height you are.
09:33So pluses or minuses, right?
09:35Like I, I measured myself.
09:37Um, my arms are like plus one inch or like almost two inches longer than my height, which
09:41is really random.
09:42Um, but, uh, but I'm also very flexible.
09:45So you have to remember some of these guys, they, you know, think about how muscles work,
09:49right?
09:49You spend a lot of time increasing the volume of your muscles.
09:53It's going to make it harder to be flexible.
09:55Sometimes those two things don't work together.
09:57Right.
09:57So I, I would argue that, you know, the, the best kind of people I know talk about ranges
10:02for height, but also for muscle mass.
10:04So, you know, you have to, you have to, everyone has like a little bit of a different format.
10:09It's not out of range.
10:10That's, that makes me crazy.
10:12That the hand thing and the, and the arm thing makes me crazy.
10:16Now, if it was very out of range, then we can talk.
10:19But, but if, but if it's an eighth of an inch, I, I don't know about you, but, and I
10:24understand
10:24this guy's much younger than me, but like sometimes in the morning, I feel like I'm two
10:27inches shorter because maybe I didn't sleep like on my back or whatever.
10:31So, you know, imagine if you're lifting all these heavy weights, one eighth of an inch
10:35is probably, um, some function of not maybe stretching out as much as you could have.
10:40So that said, because I also think we've reached this stage of like information overload coming
10:46out of the combine and there's like these arbitrary marks that get set kind of by like
10:51the media about what a player has to be or can't.
10:55So to that point about Bain, because I think Bain's going to go to a team and be really
10:59good.
10:59He's shown enough on the field.
11:01His film is very good.
11:02Right.
11:03Right.
11:03His film is, is, I am an analytics person and thus I would love to have access to the
11:10most amount of data possible, but you have to know what's useful and what's not.
11:14So I, I, and some of this stuff, like, sure, you can say his arms are great.
11:18Actually, maybe that's good.
11:20Right.
11:20You're, you're drafting what seven.
11:21So maybe you, you nudge the guy next to you and you're like, Hey, he's got short arms,
11:27right?
11:27Like tell that to guys drafting ahead of you.
11:30I don't know.
11:30It's, it could be good strategy.
11:31I'm not sure.
11:32Well, my question then.
11:34So the, the concern, if we can call it a concern with Carnell Tate is he ran a four or
11:40five
11:40two.
11:41Stop it.
11:42That's not concerned.
11:43Okay.
11:43Keep going.
11:44That's what I'm bringing up.
11:45Like, where does that matter to you?
11:49It doesn't.
11:51If it was a four, four, nine, that'd be, that's not very much off.
11:55I don't care.
11:57Like if you look to like that, that is within the range.
11:59If you look at the guys who have been all pros, you know, I mean, I mean, pro bowl is
12:03like a, a voting, a popularity contest.
12:06Right.
12:06So let's look at the guys who are all pros, hall of famers, the guys on winning teams,
12:10like, you know, and, and I don't mean to throw shade, but like,
12:13like Deandre Hopkins is a top end guy and he didn't run super fast.
12:17Like, you know, relax.
12:19Like, I think it's, as long as it's not out of range significantly, who cares?
12:23Like actually maybe, maybe tell people drafting any.
12:27Yep.
12:27He's super slow.
12:28You don't want him like totally fine.
12:30Right.
12:30Okay.
12:30I agree with you.
12:32And I was just curious if that's where you'd land.
12:34We also have, and I think you might do some work with the Broncos.
12:37So you might have to go here.
12:38Yeah.
12:40Um, Schefter just tweeted out is where I'm seeing this from Denver's trading for Jalen
12:45Waddle from the dolphins.
12:47Uh, Denver gets Waddle and a fourth rounder in this year's draft.
12:52Miami's gets a first rounder and a third and a fourth.
12:56That's a big move to get a real weapon for the Broncos.
13:01Okay.
13:02Wow.
13:03Just happened.
13:03I did not see that before.
13:04So I do.
13:05Listen, I'm a, I'm a, um, I'm an OG preseason person.
13:09I am like the only person in the world who asks, like, I beg to do preseason sideline.
13:14Let's, let's, let's talk about that.
13:16Um, maybe it says something weird about me, but, um, I think that shows you where the Broncos
13:21believe this year's roster sits.
13:24I think they're selling out to win.
13:26I mean that clearly there, there's no other explanation for that.
13:29That's, that's what I think.
13:31So, I mean, you know, Sean has a type, he's a Parcells disciple.
13:34So those big body receivers are going to be exactly what he wants.
13:38Um, wow.
13:39There, there you have it.
13:40Now the, this one was pretty unexpected.
13:43The AJ Brown stuff is where people have been leaning in the receiver market.
13:48Um, do you think AJ Brown ends up playing for the Eagles this fall?
13:52Well, I don't know where I think you, this is, I have no, um, basis for anything other
13:57than it feels like the well has been poisoned enough where they're, I think they're just
14:04holding back to get there.
14:06They probably, I mean, cause he's a valuable asset.
14:08I just think that I think he's, I, it'd be hard to come back to this, although it's not
14:13impossible, but I, I would say I'm leaning 60, 40.
14:16He's gone.
14:17Yeah.
14:17Yeah.
14:18I'm with you, man.
14:19I agree with that.
14:19To me, it seems like it's new England all day.
14:23The weird part is like, I don't know, because if there's one thing I've learned about Mike
14:28Vrabel over these years and, you know, watching his career progress, it's like he wants like
14:33meathead football guys who are like really, really dedicated to the craft.
14:39So I, I'm not saying AJ Brown isn't, I'm just saying, I don't know if their person, we'll
14:44have to see about their personalities meshing.
14:46I know he plays offense and blah, blah, blah.
14:48And, you know, Vrabel is more defense, but I still think, you know, that that's going to
14:53be where the question lies is like, how much of this is like, you know, conjecture, how
14:59much of it, like, cause like the book on the sideline, like, I don't know.
15:02I don't think he wants to deal with distractions.
15:03So that's my, that's my one like asterisk there.
15:06And then the other receiver kind of tangentially involved when we're talking to Patriots is
15:11Steph Diggs.
15:12What did you think of his season last year?
15:15What do you think of his market now?
15:16I mean, he's available.
15:17He's, he's out there.
15:19He ruined his own market.
15:21So that's on him.
15:22But, you know, whether or not it's fair, what I don't know, I'm not a lawyer and I don't,
15:27I don't do that, but like, you know, outside forces ruined the market for him.
15:31I think he was extremely valuable last year.
15:33And even though it wasn't great for fantasy football, I think that the opportunity for
15:38him to be now the wily veteran in the room to help kind of figure out spacing and all
15:44those other things is, is massive.
15:46So, I mean, as long as everything else gets sorted, I just don't think, you know, the teams
15:52have to figure out like for the price that they would have to pay for him, you know, will
15:55he be available?
15:56And what is, what is this other, like, that's why teams hire these private investigators.
16:01They know what they're doing.
16:02I don't, I'm an outsider, but it feels like the market is interesting because of his own
16:07other stuff.
16:09I mean, the fact that he's sitting there, the fact that New England releases him after
16:12a Superbowl run is, is pretty interesting, right?
16:17Right.
16:17I mean, I don't know anything.
16:19I'm just looking at clues and that clue that feels cluey.
16:25So I don't know.
16:26Right.
16:26For sure.
16:28So the last thing for me, I'm curious, we, we heard some Brian Thomas stuff down in Jacksonville.
16:34That's a player that I think is really good.
16:37Oh, I love Brian Thomas Jr.
16:38He's great.
16:39You think Jacksonville would actually move him as we get closer to the draft or even into
16:43the summertime?
16:44I would have said yes ahead of free agency, but then I look at some of the pieces they
16:49lost.
16:49I mean, Devin Lloyd alone, Travis ETN, like I, now I'm like, do they want to keep having
16:56to accommodate big losses now on both sides of the ball and changes?
17:00That's, I, I feel like they would deal him for the right price, but I think that price
17:05got higher after some of the losses they had in free agency.
17:09Yeah.
17:10Um, I think it'd be, to me, there's a little bit of smoke there.
17:15I don't know that it'll ever get to fire.
17:17And I think if everybody just has a price is right, if the price is right, that fire will
17:22get lit.
17:23I mean, if you're like, yeah, I mean, look at what the market just did said right now about
17:26Jalen Waddle one, three and a four.
17:28Right.
17:29So the market's saying that now, if someone comes up and like, I'll give you a one and
17:32a two, then that they're going to think about it.
17:34I just think they'd have to as business people.
17:36I'm not, I'm not suggesting they should.
17:38I'm just saying, you know, like they, they'd have to at least consider it for like a one
17:42and a two.
17:43I don't know.
17:44Um, Cynthia, today is St. Patrick's day.
17:47Are you wearing green?
17:48Will you have a Guinness?
17:50Um, I'm wearing green.
17:51I won't have a Guinness.
17:52Uh, I, I like Guinness, but I, I, I don't love it.
17:56So, I mean, I don't know.
17:57I've been going through the most random phase of my life.
18:00And now I have liked Corona lately, which is so strange.
18:03Cause I never liked them in college.
18:05And then all of a sudden they sound good.
18:06Especially in Southern California, warm, sunny weather.
18:09I like a Corona here and there.
18:10Yeah.
18:11I mean, it's a weird phase.
18:12I'm going, I think it's the lime.
18:13I'm not sure.
18:14There are much better options, but I, for whatever reason, I'm into it.
18:18I have a friend, Peter Stewart.
18:20This is his theory that on St. Patrick's day, you should go to a Mexican restaurant on Cinco
18:25de Mayo, go to an Irish pub, switch it up.
18:28I think that's a great idea.
18:28There's no crowd at the Mexican spot tonight.
18:31Every Irish pub is jamming.
18:32So maybe go get a Corona.
18:33But you want to be with the crowd?
18:35I mean, I don't want to be with the crowd.
18:36I'm good.
18:37Cynthia, when I go to, uh, I go to Scottsdale for Cinco de Mayo, I'm not going to an Irish
18:43pub.
18:44Not happening.
18:46No, I feel like the best, like, I do think there's something to like, if you were going
18:50to like eat though, like food wise, I feel like, I mean, obviously, you know, Irish food
18:55isn't known for being as great as Mexican food, but like, I feel like this could be the best
18:59night ever to get like the best Mexican food.
19:02Cause everyone else is doing other things.
19:03So like, if maybe there's like a Mexican restaurant that's hard to get into, this would be a good
19:07night to target it.
19:08Yeah.
19:09Tonight might be the night.
19:10Um, Cynthia, we appreciate your time.
19:12Thank you for, uh, for joining us.
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