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Episode 1:MADNESS · Football Junkies podcast

• 0:00
  Week one of free agency is in the book folks. We're going to react to Kurt Cousins going to the Falcons Russell Wilson going to the Pittsburgh Steelers Justin Fields also joined to the Pittsburgh Steelers and more on the first episode of the football junkies podcast.
• 0:15
  I'm your host, Michael Stanley. Now let's let's just take a deep dive into it. Let's go because there's a lot of things that we need to go over now. The biggest of them all is the bears.
• 0:28
  Once again, continuing to set everything up for Kayla Williams. Now, if you don't know, Justin Fields was traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 0:40
  What was that Saturday? Saturday Sunday? Maybe Saturday Sunday. He was traded last week basically for a conditional six round pick that can turn to a fourth round pick if he plays 51% of snaps.
• 0:54
  Now that's not going to happen because he's going to be the backup. This is what I will say and I'm going to try to be as non biased as I possibly can.
• 1:05
  And this will probably be something for a longer episode, probably from the next episode. I personally feel like the bears didn't do the best that they could do for Justin Fields.
• 1:18
  And I say that to say this. You cannot expect for a quarterback like a Justin Fields to be successful when you don't build around him, when you don't give him adequate pieces to be successful.
• 1:36
  When you look at history and you look at some of the great quarterbacks that we all love and debate about and argue about, they all have had one thing in common, the team built around them.
• 1:50
  And when the team does not build around you, you will not be successful. We have seen it. Look at the countless quarterbacks that the Jets have drafted within the last five years.
• 2:03
  A lot of them, they're not starters anymore. A lot of them are just, you know, they're journeymen at this point or they're just out of the league.
• 2:13
  And granted, I understand that drafting a quarterback is very hard. I'm not trying to make it seem like, you know, I'm a GM for 20 years and, you know, my first three drafts, you know, are full of first battle hallfamers and, you know, my trades are emaculating one night.
• 2:31
  I'm not trying to say that. But what I am saying is when you do make a move for a quarterback, you have to make sure that things are in place for them to be successful from coaching all the way down to player personnel.
• 2:46
  So if you knew that you guys were getting someone like it, Justin Fields, who was still a little bit raw, then you guys should have built a coaching staff to where they could mold him and really hone in on his skillset so that he can be a better quarterback.
• 3:04
  Instead of just saying, okay, for the first two years, we're not going to give you anything. Nope. Receiver. Nope. Tied in. Nope. Offensive line. Nope. Running back. Nope. Nothing.
• 3:15
  And so what you see is a quarterback who now, and a lot of people's eyes has regressed and is on the verge of being a bust, even though last year when the later the latter part of last season, they went on a run and they were winning games because why Justin Fields was starting to understand things.
• 3:39
  He was starting to use more than just his athleticism to get down the field, to put points on the board. Now, granted, we also have to identify that the only reason why the Bears got a player and someone like a DJ more was because the Panthers owner was so obsessed with Bryce Young that he said, okay, fine.
• 4:01
  If it means that we have to move some players and, you know, move some draft picks where the case may be just to get Bryce Young, then hey, we'll do it. And now what you see is Bryce Young who is in a situation where he doesn't have a whole lot to around him to build.
• 4:18
  And now he's trying to figure out how in the world can I be successful if one I don't have an offensive line. I don't have a tight end. All I have I just got the ante Johnson but he probably is not he's probably not going to want to be here he's probably want to get traded or released or whatever the case may be.
• 4:34
  I have a running back only have a running back. I don't even have a running back how in the world can anybody be successful. Nobody can. And so now the bears decided to you know, wipe their hands clean from the situation, and you know continue to move forward that they are going to draft Caleb Williams with the first overall pick and the
• 4:55
  2024 draft. They recently made a trade for Keenan Allen for a four round pick. Now, and I'll just I'll just go over this real real quickly because I'm sort of irritated with the bears.
• 5:09
  They are setting everything up for Caleb Williams. Everything. receiving core offensive line. They paid for DeAndre Swift they got him in free agency. He has adequate pieces to be successful.
• 5:23
  Now, I'm just going to ask this question and then we're going to move forward to the to the next topic.
• 5:31
  How will will will analysts and will the media and will you know former players and whatnot. Will they still look at Caleb Williams if he goes on the same if he goes on a similar path that what Justin Fields went on.
• 5:46
  Will people feel the same way about Caleb Williams if and I mean if he goes on a similar path to what Justin Fields went on, because granted, I understand that you know if there is a better prospect quote unquote prospect that is, you know, that seems like a better upgrade in the current quarterback
• 6:10
  than what you have now, then of course you're going to go for that. But at the same time, it's basically putting a beautiful painting over a giant hole in the wall. That's all you're doing. You're just covering up, you know, the lack of the lack of the ability the lack of availability to try to bring in people for Justin
• 6:33
  Fields so he can be successful. But you know that's another story that's a deeper, deeper topic that has to be discussed, you know, at another episode but the main the big news that that has a lot of people talking about is Russell Wilson signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 6:52
  When, when the news first broke, you know, there were a lot of Steelers fans, you know, that were happy about it, there were a lot of Steelers fans that were like, I don't know if that's going to be a good idea.
• 7:05
  But I will say this, I think it is a good move for now. And the only reason why I say for now is because you don't know what version of Russell Wilson you're getting.
• 7:17
  I don't care how many videos he put out of him, you know, throwing balls or working out. I don't care how many videos he puts out. It's not going to do anything when it's time for you to get on that field.
• 7:30
  Because once you get on that field, that's going to let everybody know hey, he still got it or he doesn't have it all or, you know, maybe this was the wrong choice. That's what it is.
• 7:41
  We got him for, you know, a steel. We only got him for the veteran minimum and the Broncos are paying the rest, which is over, I think, which is between maybe 38, maybe $39 million.
• 7:54
  So he's chilling. He's just using this as a year to, you know, build himself up, get himself into a good space and hey, if he feels like, you know, I got a little bit of traction, maybe he might test free agency again,
• 8:08
  maybe try to get maybe one more bigger contract, you know, before he walks away from football altogether. Who knows? But at the same time, this was expected only because the team from Mike Tomlin to Omar Carr and Art Rooney all said that they were going to bring in competition for the first round pick and Kenny pick it.
• 8:32
  And in doing so, it resulted in Kenny pick it, asking for a trade and ultimately being traded to the Philadelphia Eagles. Now I'm going to again try to be as unbiased as I can.
• 8:49
  I understand the move, but at the same time, I feel like this was probably the wrong move to make right now. Simply because in people's eyes, it looks like you are striving away from competition.
• 9:05
  Now, to be transparent at the same time, it also didn't help that during the press conference Russell Wilson revealed that both Cameron Hayward, TJ Y and Minkafiz Patrick basically, you know, were giving their stamp of approval on making this type of move.
• 9:26
  Now granted, I understand that, you know, these three are, you know, major, are major people within the team. But at the same time, I feel like putting putting putting out that is going to damage Kenny pick it more because it's going to feel like wow, my own teammates really don't really don't rock with me like that.
• 9:48
  It's already bad enough that you had the ante Johnson and George Pickens and George and Jane Warren all say that they were, you know, openly supporting Mason Rudolph to be the starting quarterback for this upcoming season.
• 10:02
  So you're already in a pit, you already feel bad on yourself already. So they're basically just continuing to kick you down and to pile this on. We also have to point the finger at the Steelers and Mike Tomlin and Omar Khan as well for allowing them to keep Matt Canada for so long.
• 10:23
  Once that first season was over with, they should have immediately moved off of Matt Canada. I'm sorry. His resume does not speak NFL, NFL caliber offensive coordinator. I can make a story. I can make a strong case right now.
• 10:40
  And probably say that he's probably not even a good high school offensive coordinator, let alone coach simply because his play calling is redundant. Everywhere he goes, that often struggles.
• 10:55
  They can put points on the board and ultimately a lot of those players, their, their progression is stalled. You look at it from when he was at LSU to when to when he was with the Steelers currently, the only time that he actually had a really good season was when he was with Pitt when he was the offensive coordinator for them.
• 11:16
  When Kenny Pickett was the quarterback. That was the only time. And even then, that doesn't mean that you bring him on to your team. You needed to bring in a veteran offensive coordinator who can tell you, okay, hey, listen, Kenny can do this, this and this.
• 11:34
  He can't do this, but we're going to try to see if we can work on that a little bit more so we can, you know, try to make him a better player because when we, when they went through that whole process of drafting him, they were beating on the table and making it seem like, oh, we did our work.
• 11:50
  We obviously, you know, took a look at every single quarterback prospect and we felt like he was the best prospect out of the entire draft class this and the other blah, blah, blah.
• 12:01
  Okay, then. So if that's the case, then you have to build around him. And even then, we can go deeper than that. We can go deeper into this iceberg.
• 12:12
  You, you have the Steelers did not prepare for this moment. They did not pair. They did not prepare for this moment. They were under the impression that Ben was going to still be playing.
• 12:25
  And they did not prepare for the future. And it clearly shows because while the defense is still, you know, stable, the core, the offense is gone. That core is gone.
• 12:39
  Once you started to see David Castro retire, Marquis Pouncy retire, you know, Marcus Gilbert goes and you know, this person goes and that person goes, you have to start filling those pieces in.
• 12:53
  Because now you get him, but in the league of great quarterback prospects that you didn't even have to get in the first round that if you would have gotten them and they would have, you know, been mentored by Ben when he was still, you know, playing at the at the elite level,
• 13:11
  we wouldn't be in the situation that we're in right now. We're now basically, we don't know who the quarterback is going to be for next year.
• 13:20
  I'm not even talking about this year. This year, they've already said that Russell Wilson is going to be the starter. I'm talking about in 2025, because Russ is on a one year deal. And most likely they are not going to, they're not going to exercise Justin Fields fifth year option.
• 13:37
  So there's a lot of question marks, but again, we'll probably get into a little bit deeper, maybe probably bring in a special guest so they can probably give a deeper dive into this whole situation. But let's talk about Kirk Cousins going to the Falcons folks.
• 13:53
  Kirk Cousins, former, former Viking and Washington commander quarterback signed with the Atlanta Falcons a four, four year 180 million dollar deal with a 50 million dollar bonus, which averages around $45 million a year.
• 14:09
  Now, I understand the move. However, I feel like you could I feel like they shouldn't have given him this big of a deal. And I only say that because for one, you don't know how long he wants to play for.
• 14:26
  Now granted, any player can say, you know, I want to play till I'm 40 or want to play till I'm 45 or, you know, I still got, you know, six to 10 more years, you know, six to 10 great years left. That doesn't mean that that's going to happen.
• 14:39
  It doesn't. That that puts you that puts you in a in a hole that you just finished getting out of with both Matt Ryan and Julio Jones.
• 14:50
  Now, granted, is Kirk Cousins, you know, consistent, isn't is he productive? Yes. Yes. All of those things. He's checks all of those boxes.
• 14:59
  But let's be real here, folks. What what is the backup plan if Kirk Cousins goes down again?
• 15:06
  Because he is still recovering from a major injury. He tore his Achilles. And so now you have to you have to be cautious about this, because you don't know exactly what condition that Achilles is going to be once he starts playing.
• 15:23
  Nobody will know. And so in doing so, that that also puts a strain on what you can do for both free agency and possibly extending some of your players like Kyle Pitt, Drake London, and maybe even some of the offensive linemen or, you know, other players on the team that will be entering contract years.
• 15:45
  So you have to factor in all of those type of things when you are signing veteran quarterbacks, because when you sign a veteran quarterback that is sort of, you know, a little bit older than what, you know, most people will want to sign, you run into these situations where you're
• 16:05
  playing a risky game. You really are because the high is okay, he exceeds the contract he plays, you know, all four years, you know, we're winning games, you know, we're always in the playoffs, we're winning the we're winning the division and whatever the
• 16:19
  case may be. But the low is he plays maybe two seasons, two seasons are great. When he gets to that third season, he's either talking about money, or he suffers in another major injury.
• 16:33
  And now, you know, there's reports and leaks rumors coming out that he might retire. And now you don't have a quarterback, you know, that can, that can, you know, help try to hold things together.
• 16:46
  May I remind you folks, once again, that this is the same Atlanta Falcons team, who was down to the wire to get the Sean Watson. Yes, that the Sean Watson.
• 17:01
  They were also reportedly in the mix to get Lamar Jackson when he was going through his contract process with the Ravens. So the rate so so the Falcons have been desperate for a quarterback, since the, you know, the whole situation ended with Matt Ryan.
• 17:18
  And on the other hand, I understand, you know, they do have a high draft pick where they could draft a rookie quarterback and they can mold them, and you know, and into the person that they want him to be, or you know, you could, you could take the more expensive route and just get a veteran quarterback,
• 17:33
  and which ultimately they did. And so now they are in the situation where they're in. However, their division is so weak that they could win they could easily win that division no problem. The Saints, the Saints are still recovering from drew breeze.
• 17:52
  Even then, they didn't prepare for that. They did it. Let's be honest here. They didn't have a they didn't have a succession plan with that they did not. They did not. I will say it.
• 18:05
  The Buccaneers, they really didn't have one either that that sort of crumbled after after they won the Super Bowl and whatnot.
• 18:17
  The vision, I think the Panthers Panthers are the Panthers. There's I could I could I could do a whole episode on the Panthers alone.
• 18:27
  Now, let's get to the Kansas City Chief Super Bowl win Kansas City Chief.
• 18:33
  So they re signed defensive end Chris Jones to a five year 158.7 million dollar deal with a $30 million signing bonus, which averages around $31.7 million a year.
• 18:48
  Now, this is a great signing. However, this is going to come at a cost, because now you won't be able to retain the Jerry you see now granted, the Chiefs did give him permission to talk to other teams.
• 19:02
  But it seems like it seems like contract talks between him and the Chiefs are stalled.
• 19:08
  And I wouldn't be surprised if teams are just playing the waiting game to see if the Chiefs are going to release him.
• 19:14
  Or, you know, maybe maybe the asking price might get lowered.
• 19:18
  The Chiefs, the Chiefs are the Chiefs are in a very weird situation because.
• 19:25
  Aside from maybe the 49ers and you know, in the 80s, we haven't seen a an offensive dynasty.
• 19:34
  The last dynasty that we saw it was led by a defensive coach who always kept the defense up and the offense.
• 19:41
  He really didn't invest into it.
• 19:43
  And so now what you see is this this offensive powerhouse and the Chiefs who they do have the best quarterback in, you know, in the
• 19:54
  league right now in Patrick Mahomes.
• 19:56
  But at the same time, there's only three players that, you know, three core players that they're always going to keep.
• 20:03
  Chris Jones, Travis Kelsey, Patrick Mahomes, everyone else, you are expendable and we have seen that they literally had the most dangerous receiver in the league right now in Tyree kill.
• 20:17
  And they just they let him walk.
• 20:20
  They traded him.
• 20:21
  They traded him, they traded him to the Dolphin simply because they couldn't pay him.
• 20:25
  They couldn't pay him, Travis Kelsey and and Patrick Mahomes and have them all on big deals because then that limits the team of doing anything.
• 20:35
  And so now what you see is a team that is basically going to be full of players that are on one year deals and rookies instead of, you know, sort of a balanced team.
• 20:50
  But at the same time, when you have a head coach like Andy Reed, and you have a defensive coordinator like Spags, and you have, you know, a beast of a quarterback in Patrick Mahomes.
• 21:01
  This is what happens.
• 21:03
  So congratulations to the Chiefs.
• 21:05
  Congratulations to Chris Jones, you know, getting the bag once once again.
• 21:11
  And so let's go to the Cowboys.
• 21:14
  How about them Cowboys?
• 21:16
  How about them Cowboys?
• 21:18
  Cowboys, Cowboys, Cowboys doing it again.
• 21:22
  Cowboys are messing up again, folks.
• 21:27
  Guess what?
• 21:28
  Guess how much cash space the Cowboys have.
• 21:30
  Take a wild guess.
• 21:32
  7.7 million dollars.
• 21:34
  They are in a hole.
• 21:36
  Better yet, they're not in a hole.
• 21:38
  They're in a pit.
• 21:39
  They are in the deepest pit you can possibly think of.
• 21:43
  And this is all because Jerry Jones decides to overpay for his players.
• 21:49
  Now, granted, I understand the the idea, but doing it for some players that you probably shouldn't overpay for is a little bit ridiculous.
• 21:59
  It really is.
• 22:00
  And I say that because that press card, the DAG press card is making over 50 million dollars a year.
• 22:11
  And he has yet to go to an NFC championship.
• 22:16
  I'm going to say that again.
• 22:18
  DAG press card quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys has not gone to an NFC championship, but he is making 50 million dollars, 50 plus million dollars a year.
• 22:31
  I'm sorry.
• 22:32
  If my quarterback is making 50 plus million a year, you have had to have gone to an NFC championship or a NFC championship, whatever conference you're in, or better yet, you had to have made it to the Super Bowl at least twice.
• 22:49
  At least once.
• 22:51
  Okay, I'll give you a hall pass for it.
• 22:55
  But twice.
• 22:56
  Okay, cool.
• 22:57
  That's perfectly fine.
• 22:58
  The Cowboys are in a situation where most likely they are going to have to let a lot of their, a lot of their players just hit free agency.
• 23:09
  I'll probably check again.
• 23:11
  Players that are entering in their contract years for the Cowboys includes that press card CD lamb, Zach Martin, Michael Parsons.
• 23:22
  I think the markets law is, I mean, the markets Lawrence is also in that in that group as well.
• 23:30
  Now, granted, I understand that they probably want to try to keep, you know, that core, but they can't.
• 23:37
  You just can't.
• 23:38
  I'm sorry.
• 23:39
  CD lamb is going to want big money.
• 23:41
  He's probably going to want to reset the market.
• 23:43
  That is probably going to want to reset the market.
• 23:46
  Michael Parsons, you already know is going to want to reset the market.
• 23:52
  I don't care what, what website, you know, makes makes a prediction or do an estimate, whatever the case may be.
• 23:58
  A team is going to have to pay Michael Parsons top dollar money.
• 24:03
  He could, he could easily probably get close to reset the market.
• 24:08
  He may not do it, but there is a strong possibility he can get close to it simply because of what he brings on the field.
• 24:15
  You have, you know, a top five, you know, top five, maybe top three guard in the league right now in Zach Martin as well, who, you know, you're going to have to pay as well.
• 24:28
  That's a lot of people.
• 24:30
  And it's different.
• 24:31
  It's not like baseball where they virtually don't have, you know, a cap and, you know, they can sign a player to a 10 year $300 million deal and, you know, not lose a inch of sleep off of them.
• 24:44
  There is a cap space.
• 24:46
  So you have to manage, you know, all of these players contracts under this, under this amount of money.
• 24:53
  So now what you're seeing is the Cowboys are probably going to have to hit hit across roads.
• 24:58
  And they're probably going to tell a lot of these players agents, listen, we won't be able to have any conversations about contracts until after this season.
• 25:09
  We can't.
• 25:10
  We can't do it right now because we don't have any cap space.
• 25:14
  And I think that's probably the best, the best option possible for all of those players simply because you don't want to sign a contract now and then you ball out and you have a crazier season than what you had the season before.
• 25:28
  And now you're looking at players who are less than you who are not even on your level, get paid, you know, crazy money. And now here you are, you're getting the end of the total poll.
• 25:41
  That's not what you want.
• 25:42
  You want to try to maximize as much money as you can get because again, the shelf life for for football players, it's not that long.
• 25:51
  So when you have an opportunity to get the bag, get the bag, get the bag.
• 25:57
  If you could get the brings truck and the bags in the brings truck, get it, do it, whatever you have to do.
• 26:03
  Now, so far, the Cowboys have been quiet and free agency.
• 26:08
  The only thing that they have done is sign a former chargers and Vikings linebacker Eric Hendricks.
• 26:16
  And the only reason why they did that is because of their new defensive coordinator, a former head coach for the Vikings, Mike Zimbord.
• 26:24
  That's the only reason why.
• 26:26
  Listen, folks, and I'm just going to be completely honest here.
• 26:31
  When you when a team when a team recess the market for multiple players, it's very hard for them to to make to make some moves to try to address certain holes within that team.
• 26:46
  The Cowboys right now need middle linebackers.
• 26:51
  They need corners, they need safeties, they need players on that defensive line.
• 26:57
  They need a running back.
• 26:59
  They need a left tackle.
• 27:01
  They probably going to need another quarterback.
• 27:03
  They're going to need another receiver.
• 27:06
  I can continue just to go down the list of how many things that they need.
• 27:09
  They need a lot of things and granting.
• 27:13
  They don't have a whole lot of draft picks and they don't have a whole lot of cap space.
• 27:18
  So someone's going to have to go.
• 27:20
  So I'm probably going to have to get traded and someone's probably not going to get a deal.
• 27:24
  Now, as I put on my GM app right now, if it was me personally, I would probably see what the market would look like if you made CDLAM and Michael Parsons available for a trade.
• 27:39
  Because who knows if you made them available for maybe about two or three months, I guarantee you there would be a team right now.
• 27:49
  They'll say we'll give you two first round picks.
• 27:51
  We'll give you three first round picks.
• 27:53
  We'll give you a player.
• 27:54
  We'll give you this.
• 27:55
  We'll give you that just to get that off of your books because paying those type of players.
• 28:01
  It's going to be hard.
• 28:03
  It's going to be hard because Michael Parsons right now has been balling out since he's gotten into the lead.
• 28:11
  He has been on a tear.
• 28:13
  He is one of the best young pass rushers right now.
• 28:17
  And you're going to have to figure out how you're going to do that.
• 28:20
  And listen, he's not going to be talking about a little bit of money.
• 28:23
  He's going to be talking about some big boy money because he's been making some big boy plays.
• 28:28
  Now, of course, Jerry Jones will figure it out because why?
• 28:33
  He's Jerry.
• 28:34
  Jerry is Jerry.
• 28:35
  Jerry always figures out these type of things.
• 28:37
  So there's that.
• 28:38
  Now, let's talk about the draft.
• 28:41
  Let's talk about the upcoming draft.
• 28:44
  So where where has gone out and reports have have also backed this up as well that the giants are have been doing their homework on North Carolina quarterback Drake may as well as Michigan quarterback JJ McCarthy.
• 29:01
  Now, granted, you're probably wondering why are they doing so much extensive work on both of those quarterback prospects because they're trying to move off of Daniel Jones.
• 29:12
  Yes, they're trying to move off of Daniel Jones because they realize that they reached in paying for Daniel Jones, all of that money in letting say, come on, Barkley walk.
• 29:23
  I'm going to say this once.
• 29:25
  I'm never going to say this again.
• 29:27
  Always pay the player who has the most impact on the field.
• 29:33
  Always pay the player who always has the most impact on the field.
• 29:39
  If your quarterback is playing at a high level because of what the running back is doing, then you have to pay the running back.
• 29:48
  Simple as that.
• 29:49
  Now, granted, if reports are coming out that you didn't even give say, one Barkley an offer that says a lot about you.
• 29:58
  It does.
• 29:59
  And granted, you don't have to give him, you know, the traditional style of contract.
• 30:05
  You could have gave him a three year, $52 million deal with, you know, a $20 something million signing bonus so that the cap hit will be low.
• 30:16
  So then guess what?
• 30:17
  If by year two, you guys are sort of, you know, are sort of at odds and you guys just want a fresh start.
• 30:25
  And guess what?
• 30:26
  You can move off of it quick and won't think twice about it compared to if you have a four year.
• 30:31
  Granted, you can add board years, you can restructure, you can push it back, you can do whatever the case may be.
• 30:37
  But players now don't want the four year deal because guess what?
• 30:42
  They're not even going to see the full four years.
• 30:44
  They're not.
• 30:45
  By the third year, they're probably going to get traded or cut.
• 30:48
  We've seen it.
• 30:49
  You look at history, look at any of these players.
• 30:52
  I'm talking about players that are Hall of Famer.
• 30:55
  I'm talking about players, you know, who were just average, who were mid, who got overpay where the case may be.
• 31:01
  They don't see the full term of their contract.
• 31:06
  And so now what you see is the Cowboys are now trying to rewrite their wrongs and they're going to try to, you know, reset again.
• 31:16
  And I mean, again, this is the up team time that they're doing it since, you know, Eli Manning has retired and try to see if they can get one.
• 31:24
  Now, this is just me as I put on my fake Mel Kuiper wig and coat and glasses and whatnot.
• 31:37
  I personally feel like teams that are in the top five close to top 10, they are going to trade down, especially teams like the Cardinals.
• 31:47
  And I say that because the Cardinals have a lot of needs.
• 31:54
  They have a lot of needs and they know that these needs won't be able to get patched up in just this one draft.
• 32:02
  They know that.
• 32:03
  So what is the best thing for them to do?
• 32:06
  They're going to have to probably trade down a few times simply because it's going to take them at least two to three years for them.
• 32:16
  To, you know, actually really build this team up.
• 32:20
  So if they trade down, they get more picks for next year and they just keep on stacking up those picks, stacking up those picks, stacking up those picks.
• 32:27
  Even the Chargers, they have a lot of needs.
• 32:30
  So they're probably going to trade down as well.
• 32:32
  And so those teams that are in the middle to later part of the draft, they're probably going to trade up because they probably saw a prospect at a protein.
• 32:43
  They're like, hmm, he might look good on the offense.
• 32:47
  Hmm, he might look good in the defense.
• 32:49
  Hmm, that's a that's a playmaker right there.
• 32:52
  That's a game changer right there.
• 32:53
  We have to get him.
• 32:55
  We see it all the time.
• 32:57
  And so what what you're going to see is a lot of those teams, they're going to trade down or probably just trade out of the first round altogether, stack up their picks, probably draft a few things and then just, you know, continue to go from there.
• 33:09
  Now I have a hot take and I'll probably make this a segment here.
• 33:14
  I feel like the Detroit Lions are going to draft Nate Wiggins.
• 33:21
  And I say that because they have a pressing need for corner right now with the whole situation with Camp Sun.
• 33:28
  I'm not going to get into that.
• 33:30
  I'm just, I'm just not going to get into that.
• 33:34
  I feel like if they were to draft someone like a Nate Wiggins, that would definitely address that need because here you have a lengthy corner who has blazing speed.
• 33:47
  He ran a 4-2.
• 33:49
  4-2.
• 33:50
  What's it a 4-2?
• 33:51
  It was either 4-2 or 4-3.
• 33:52
  He ran so hard that he pulled his, I think he pulled his either his hamstring or his growing.
• 34:00
  He is a blazer.
• 34:02
  He has great coverage, great player can do it all.
• 34:06
  And I think he would, he would do better with a team like the Lions who it's a mixture of young and old so he can learn but at the same time create chemistry with his teammates.
• 34:20
  That's just, that's one hot take right there.
• 34:23
  Also, my other hot take is I feel like I truly do.
• 34:28
  I'm going to stand on this, I'm going to panel on the table for this.
• 34:32
  I feel like a lot of the receivers that people are talking about are going to fall.
• 34:38
  And I only say that because there are a lot of teams that need offensive linemen.
• 34:44
  A lot of teams.
• 34:46
  There's a lot of teams that need right tackles more than left tackles.
• 34:50
  And even then the left tackle draft class isn't as strong as the right tackle draft class.
• 34:57
  You can still get a high quality right tackle in the, you know, second, third, maybe even in the fourth round.
• 35:06
  Left tackles after that second round, you won't be it just the skill set and just skill, you know, altogether just drops.
• 35:16
  And so that's what that's what you're going to see here.
• 35:20
  Even with even with quarterbacks, honestly, I think there's going to be more teams are going to want to take a swing on that second to third tier of quarterbacks.
• 35:29
  The Michael Pratt, the Spencer Rattlers, the Joe Milton, Joe Milton is a beast, by the way.
• 35:35
  Um, who else?
• 35:38
  I'm just having a brain fart right now.
• 35:40
  But you get the point.
• 35:43
  So I say all that to say this, I'm going to close because I don't want this episode to be too long for you guys.
• 35:50
  Um, this draft is going to be a very memorable draft class.
• 35:55
  And I only say that because teams right now that have a lot of needs, they're they're now in limbo on.
• 36:02
  Okay, do we draft somebody with a high pick that we have just for now?
• 36:07
  Or do we try to figure out?
• 36:09
  Okay, what are we going to do?
• 36:11
  Maybe we just trade out and, you know, see, see if maybe somebody that we like, you know, falls out the first and maybe, you know, falls right into our laps, whatever the case may be.
• 36:21
  We'll see what happens. I can't wait.
• 36:23
  I'm going to try to see if I can live stream the draft.
• 36:27
  I'm going to try to want to try to see if I can live stream the draft with some friends, give our reactions on some of the picks and so on and so forth.
• 36:35
  But before I end this first episode, huge shout out.
• 36:40
  Huge congratulations to one of the greatest defensive linemen of all time and Arid Donald.
• 36:46
  Huge shout out to Jason Kelsey and Fletcher Cox for retiring.
• 36:52
  Um, let's be honest here, folks, Jason, Kelsey and Arid Donald, they are Hall of Fame locks.
• 36:59
  First ballot Hall of Fame locks.
• 37:01
  They are getting into the Hall of Fame Fletcher Cox.
• 37:04
  I don't know. I'm not really an Eagles fan.
• 37:06
  So all the Eagles fans that may be listening to this, they might be mad at me, but I don't know.
• 37:11
  I want to flex your constant to the to the Steelers, but different story for a different day.
• 37:16
  Thank you guys for listening to the first episode of the football junkies podcast.
• 37:20
  I love you guys. Thank you guys for listening to this.
• 37:23
  If you like what you were hearing, leave a five star leave a comment.
• 37:28
  Ask me some questions. I'll answer the questions for you.
• 37:32
  Um, this podcast will be on Apple podcast and it will probably be on Spotify soon.
• 37:39
  Still trying to figure all that stuff out.
• 37:42
  But until then, I'm going to continue to feed you guys, you know, the fix that we all love and football.
• 37:50
  Until then, you have a great day. Peace out.