
Loading summary
Ad Read Announcer
When life feels loud, your home can feel lighter. For a limited time, get a free Pura plus diffuser with your first scent subscription. 2 cents for 12 months, risk free for 30 days. Feel good at home again? Visit pura.com if your skincare isn't working, you're probably skipping one essential gentle daily exfoliation Bare faced Toning Pads Remove dry, dead skin cells so the rest of your routine can actually work. They help reduce clogged pores, improve tone and text, and leave skin looking smoother and clearer without irritation. One of These sells every three minutes. They have over 653,000 five star reviews and the results speak for themselves. If you want real results and a routine you'll actually stick to, start here. Visit barefaced.com and use code SKIN15 for 15% off plus free shipping. Barefaced less steps, Better Skin A password.
Derek Klassen
Manager should be the first security purchase you make for your team. Why? Because compromised passwords are the number one way bad actors attack companies and small businesses are their favorite targets. But unlike a lot of security challenges, passwords actually have a pretty simple solution. 1Password lets you manage all your business's credentials so you can feel confident that your data stays secure and as your company grows. Find out more at 1Password.com specialoffer and start securing every login. Welcome to the Athletic Football Show. I'm Derek Klassen. Robert is in South America right now. Dave is over in Europe right now. So we've got me hosting the show and today we're going to talk about some of the open seats on the quarterback carousel. I think we both on this show, in other shows later this offseason even, we talk about a lot of the quarterbacks that are on the market. Maybe don't spend enough time talking about what is actually the quality of these places that these quarterbacks are potentially going to get moved to. Where would they want to go? What kinds of quarterbacks are going to end up in these spots? So we're going to talk about all of that. We've got Dan Paizuta as our guest, so let's get right into it. So every year we get into the offseason, we talk about the quarterback carousel. I think that that is a huge topic that everybody's going to want to talk about, especially with having a veteran free agent quarterback having just won the super bow. And I think we spend a lot of time talking about how good these quarterbacks are. Who is the, who is going to be the bell of the ball, who's the best second option should teams just go look at guys in the draft and we maybe sometimes don't spend enough time talking about how good are these seats on the quarterback carousel, actually. And so that's what we're going to do today. We're going to talk about a half dozen teams that in my mind clearly need to be going after a quarterback. And then at the end we'll sprinkle in a few teams that are in the maybe category. And here to do that with me today is Dan Paizuta. Dan, how you doing?
Dan Paizuta
I'm doing well. How are you?
Derek Klassen
I'm pretty excited, I think. Did you have like a particular process that you went through when you were starting to try to rank these teams for this and like looking at. Okay, like who is actually the good teams, who are the good situations I like here, like where did you start with some of these and where did you end up?
Dan Paizuta
Yeah, I like loosely like when I went through the teams that we were looking at, kind of ranked them by coach and scheme, the receiving talent around them, the offensive line kind of future outlook of room for improvement and then kind of had a base ranking with all of those things combined. So that's how I kind of came up with how to rank these teams and it came out interesting.
Derek Klassen
Did you end up tiering them? Because I put them into kind of bucket. Like obviously I ranked them 1 to 6 as well, but I also kind of tiered them to try to break it up for people a little bit.
Dan Paizuta
Yeah, I have them in a loose tier, especially considering when I kind of came out with the rankings and adding them up, there was a pretty kind of clear tiers that came up in some of these.
Derek Klassen
That's kind of how I feel as well. So let's start with the first one. So to set the board here a little bit, these are the six teams that I'm talking about when I say these are the ones that in my mind when I went into this show, these are the ones that clearly need a quarterback. These are not in ranked yet, the Raiders and obviously they're kind of set on who the quarterback is going to be. But I think it's worth exploring like how good is this situation actually for Fernando Mendoza? The New York jets, the Miami Dolphins, the Arizona Cardinals, in my mind like that I think the Kyler Murray thing is going to blow up and he's probably going to get moved. The Minnesota Vikings was even some of the more reporting that has just come out about JJ McCarthy and what they had to do the offense for him over on The Athletic, actually, and then the Cleveland Browns, they are the last team. And then there will be a couple like the Steelers and the Colts that we'll talk about the end who are in the kind of maybe category. But those are the six teams that we're talking about. And so Dan, when you looked at those six teams, the Vikings are pretty clearly number one in this group. Right? Like that. That to me, like it almost the ranking started at two for me.
Dan Paizuta
Yeah, yeah, that's absolutely the case. And it's, it's interesting because like when we go into what their quarterback situation was like, I wasn't a huge JJ McCarthy guy coming out of the draft, but my entire belief that JJ McCarthy could work is because he was going to the VI Vikings and because there was such a system around him between the coach and the offensive skill players that whoever was going to be quarterback there, I just kind of figured would work. The fact that it hasn't is what makes me even more a little pessimistic about whether J.J. mcCarthy can be fixed. But yeah, when you still look at so much of what's still in place with the Vikings, it's all still there. Even if we haven't been able to see, you know, what it was even like during the Darnold year last year.
Derek Klassen
Right. Like last year with J.J. mcCarthy, a lot of the offense didn't necessarily turn out well, but all the reasons that we had for optimism going in are all still there and they're not necessarily set to lose a ton. Jalen Naylor is going to be an independent free agent, so they'll have to do some shuffling around potentially to replace him. But I don't think, you know, when you have guys like Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, T.J. hawk, like, it's, they'll probably be fine in that department. Maybe like Ty Chandler and backup tackle Justin School are some of your other impending free agents, but they're really not losing a lot. And then kind of in terms of like setting the table for how can they maybe improve this team cap space wise, they're in a little bit of a tricky predicament. They are $40 million over the cap, so that's going to be difficult for them. But they do have two extra third round picks. They've got some extra sevens to work around so like they can take swings on these guys to replace the Jalen Naylor and all that stuff. And so with the offensive line mostly intact, even if it's a group that's banged up regularly, you know, you still have maybe the best receiver in the league. You still got one of the best offensive play callers in the league. Every reason that we thought this team could be in this offense could be like a top 10 unit quarterback agnostic, I think a lot of that does still hold.
Dan Paizuta
Yeah. And I think there might be some more questions about what this receiving core actually looks like. Like, could Jordan Addison be a trade candidate just because he's heading into the last year on his rookie deal? I'm not sure if TJ Hawkinson because of how much his cap hit is, and he hasn't really been the same guy since the ACL tear like he be a trade or release candidate. So I think maybe there are still a few more question marks, but I think Justin Jefferson alone is still like the best thing we're going to talk about for a supporting piece in any of these quarterback situations. So. And when you go through the cap space, like if you restructure Jefferson and there's a couple other moves that the Vikings can do that could easily free up some, some cap space to bring in some guys. And I think there's a lot of, like, when you look at the last four games of what they did with J.J. mcCarthy, who over those four games, he had the highest EPA per in the league and the highest success rate. That was very fake and very schemed up. But that's also kind of the point of Minnesota, of what they were able to do and they were against bad defenses. That was Washington, that was Dallas. He had a bad game against the Giants and then like Green Bay's backups in the season finale. But when you look at kind of what they were able to reach, like rework in that offense, it was a lot more empty, which McCarthy actually played really well in. And then it was getting the ball out quickly and kind of saving him from himself. So the fact that there were those good last four games, I think that's more of a case of Kevin o' Connell still got it and still knows the levers to pull, rather than thinking this might be somehow saving McCarthy. But when I look at what they did over those, like the last part of the season when the offense did play a little better, I think that is showing that, you know, this, this structure in place, I think is still going to be good for whoever the.
Derek Klassen
Quarterback is, I think that's a really good point. Like Kevin o' Connell still showed the ability to like, even with some of the constraints that JJ McCarthy was putting on the offense down the stretch, like, still found ways to even maneuver around that and find some Stuff that he was good at. And, like, it's funny too. Like, obviously some of the reporting that has come out by Alec Lewis on the Athletic, like, talking about how they were kind of pulling some of the middle of the field concepts off the field for J.J. mcCarthy, like, that actually tracks really well with a lot of the empty stuff, because empty is like, okay, we're giving you the full picture here. Pre snap, you've got to make. You've got to see one thing pre snap and just go through it. And so I think Kevin o' Connell happening to his quarterback there made a lot of sense. But I'm with you. Like, that, to me, didn't say enough about JJ McCarthy being a guy that the Vikings should necessarily move forward with. This should be like this to me, like, says more of like, again, okay, Kevin o' Connell is good. The offense around them is good. Then the question with the Vikings becomes like, which caliber of veteran do they want to go after? Do they want to go, like, really aggressive and be the Kyler Murray team? Which Kyler is probably the only true veteran type answer on the board, whereas a lot of the other guys are young. Dice roll. Can we get by with Mac Jones? Can we? Is Malik Willis good? I don't know. I mean, they're familiar with him in the division, so maybe they think he is. I don't know. But I guess that would be my final question on the Vikings. Like, is there any of those vets that you think makes the most sense for them?
Dan Paizuta
Yeah, that's, that's the tough thing with Minnesota because it seems like even with, you know, the Darnold year, like, just being okay at quarterback can be enough. And I think we kind of saw that as they got into the playoffs with him last year. We could saw that with Darnold this past year in Seattle. Like, I don't. I don't know if they have to take a huge, like, Malik Willis type swing. And it is, I think it's weird and kind of sets the table for what we're talking about with these quarterback situations that Malik Willis would be like the big high upside swing in this quarterback class, which, which is interesting. But, like, if I don't think Mac Jones gets traded, like, he would be someone who I think kind of makes sense as the caliber of quarterback who is probably okay. I think San Francisco probably just wants to hold on to him. Just based on what Purdy has done, all the injuries they've had over the past couple of years, just knowing how important that backup quarterback can be. It's it's tough. Like, I, I think I like Kyler there. Like some of the middle of the field stuff not necessarily opens up. And Kyler is a weird quarterback that I think we'll, we'll talk about once we get to the Cardinals. But it is weird where I do still think whoever the Vikings pick is going to be okay. And that's just because I just think this environment is so much better than everything else we're going to talk about.
Derek Klassen
And I think my cope with Kyler is that again, I know the JJ McCarthy stuff did not turn out as well last year, but JJ McCarthy is like a 21, 22 year old, very young quarterback trying to learn the ropes of the NFL. Every time Kevin o' Connell has had a veteran, he's gotten the best out of them, going all the way down to like the Josh Dobbs and stuff like that, and all the way up to obviously what he got out of Sam Darnold. But even honestly, it was like a miracle he got anything out of like Carson Wentz at certain point. Like, you know what I mean? Like, he's always been able to, to find whatever he needs to out of these veterans. And so I know Kyler Murray feels like damaged goods a little bit at this point, but I do think that they could probably get like three quality years out of him. And I think another part of it is that I know we've seen the Vikings and Kevin o' Connell kind of get away with lesser quarterback play when it was Sam Darnold initially and he kind of made him better. But at least part of that calculus is like, Sam Darnold is exceptionally talented. Like, he's a really good athlete. His arm is awesome, he's big. And so that's why like when I have tried to frame some of like the. Do they want to trade for Mac Jones or do they want to reunite with Kirk Cousins? It's just like it could work, but I just don't feel like you would get the same ceiling you got when you had Sam Darnold.
Dan Paizuta
Yeah, but I think the thing is there's not a lot of guys who are even going to.
Derek Klassen
It is just Kyler.
Dan Paizuta
Yeah, it really is Kyler. It's. I mean, I don't want to go down the Anthony Richardson path.
Derek Klassen
I'm trying not to. We'll talk about him in a little bit.
Dan Paizuta
We could. And that is like the talent. And maybe you were able to structure some more things in there with the arm and everything. But yeah, it's just when you're looking at who these quarterbacks are and like, maybe Malik Willis is like that guy with this strong arm and you can have some of the, like the quarterback run game that I think would be new for. But I think, you know, Kevin o' Connell was around when the Rams got Matthew Stafford and how much of that the offense changed from having a guy you can scheme up in Jared Goff to Matthew Stafford who made the offense. And I think the Vikings would love that. I'm sure they would, but there's just that caliber a guy just isn't available right now.
Derek Klassen
And that's a good point with Matthew Stafford because, like, part of the calculus there was like, we want a guy who can make us right when we're wrong sometimes. I think those coaches have started to learn that. And Kyler Murray, for some of his flaws will make you right sometimes when you are wrong. And that could be a really nice thing for them. So I think we're both in agreement here that are they the only team that you had in this tier? Like, the Vikings are alone for you. Okay, that's what I thought. So let's move into our tier two here. Who did. Who did you kind of have in this tier? And if you have them ranked specifically in order, that's fine, too. Mine are more like tiered, and they're not necessarily ranked within the tiers. But who do you got in this next one?
Dan Paizuta
Yeah. So, surprisingly, I wasn't really expecting this when I was going into this. I have the Cardinals second.
Derek Klassen
I do, too. Well, I have them in this tier. I'm not necessarily second or third, but they're in this tier to me.
Dan Paizuta
So I have the Cardinals and Raiders kind of in the same tier.
Derek Klassen
Me too. Okay.
Dan Paizuta
And I had the Cardinals just kind of in the rankings come up a little bit, which. This is the exact opposite way. I thought about their head coaching vacancy, which I wouldn't have wanted to go near. But. But to put a quarterback in this situation right now, where you have. If you can figure out Marvin Harrison Jr. Right. Michael Wilson, who I'm not sure was enough over the second half of the season. From week 11 on, he was second in receiving yards behind Puka Nakua. And a lot of that was. He had an A dot of over 10 in every game from week 11 on with the same number of routes as he did from weeks one to ten. He went from 0.76 yards per route to 2.24. Uh, it was because he played a lot more outside. Part of that was because Marvin Harrison Jr. Only ran 62 routes over that span. So it was a lot of they figured out how to use Michael Wilson without him. So if you can figure those guys out, obviously Trey McBride maybe the best tight end in the league. And I like Mike LaFleur, you know, going back to what he did with the jets even, there was a lot of the, you know, Shanahan McVay scheme that was there, that was working. But the quarterback was atrocious. If you kind of look like his. His first year, Elijah Moore was getting open. His second year with Garrett Wilson, he was getting open. The quarterback just couldn't get the ball. And now he's been with Sean McVay for the past couple of years, kind of learning some more. I think there's going to be a more diverse run game having, you know, depending on who the quarterback is, just going to have some more open passing concepts to be with. What we have with the personnel in Arizona too, where you could go heavier into 12 and 13 personnel, that was something they wanted to lean into and didn't quite work because I think there were a couple, you know, tight end injuries there. But I think this is a place where you can get decent quarterback production from what they have in place.
Derek Klassen
I think you can too. Like, I'm the more I sat with the Mike LaFleur thing, I'm actually kind of okay with it because again, like with the jets, he was not the problem there. The problem was some of the talent, the quarterback thing. And again, maybe he's not perfect, maybe he's not as good as Liam Cohen or Ben Johnson or all this stuff. But like, I do think that he probably clears that bar. And to the point that you made. Like he starts mostly as this Shanahan guy, right? And then he, over the past couple years takes his transition and sits with McVay. And I do think, even though we often bucket those two guys together, like you said, the run game with McVay is a lot more diverse now than, you know, a lot of the time, especially when he was with Shanahan before Shanahan himself started to diversify a little bit. And then to me, like the drop back passing game between those two is so different. And that's partly a product of the quarterbacks that they've had. Right. Like because Sean McVay went out and got Matthew Stafford, they can do a little bit more from empty. They're just like pure drop back shotgun stuff is a little bit different than what the Niners like to do where it's still a little bit more quick game based and stuff like that. And so I actually do think him having that kind of like sitting in both offenses, two of the best offensive minds. I think that that is going to help him a lot. And it kind of opens up who they can go at for quarterback. Right? Like, it doesn't feel like they are maybe locked into like, you know, if he had just been coming off of straight up off of all of the Shanahan stuff, we might be like, oh, well, he's got to. They got to be the team that goes after Kirk Cousins. And it's like I just don't feel like they are necessarily locked into that type of thing. And so I do think that that helps them a lot. And then I think the part is that really shocked me and especially with how bad last year when obviously they only won four games. I think they've lost like eight straight or something down the stretch. Like they were terrible, but. But I look at the roster and it's not that bad. And they're really not losing that many guys. Like, I think they'll need to fix the offensive line a little bit. Obviously you Hope Marvin Harrison Jr. Plays well, but they're only really losing a couple of like depth pieces. You know, Zay Jones and Greg Dortch are free agents. And then it's just some like offensive linemen that they probably would want to replace anyway, like Jonah Williams, who they might do with the third overall pick in the draft. And then they have $34 million in cap space. Like they can go out and attack some of this stuff. And then I think even to the last thing I would say about the rost on the other side, and we're mostly here talking about like the quality of the offensive line and stuff that is actually around the quarterback. I think the defense is better than they showed last year because they were just so banged up. Like they didn't have a lot of their best players, especially in the secondary. Walter Nolan missed a lot of the year. Like, if they're just healthier on that side, you make two or three additions on the offense. Like, I think whatever is around the quarterback can actually look pretty solid.
Dan Paizuta
Yeah, I'm there too. And keeping Nick Rollis as the defensive coordinator, I think is something that continuity is huge. More optimistic about what the defense could be once healthy. You're not completely shifting. Like, these were guys that were kind of specifically brought in for some of the weird stuff that obviously has been talked about very often on this show. You know, all the weird defensive structure that they've been doing. So the fact that that's staying in place, I think is going to help the defense. And then, yeah, like you said this the. I think the quarterback has the possibility to be productive, which makes me wonder, like, are we sure Kyler is getting moved?
Derek Klassen
So that's. I'm. I think this is a really good discussion because on one hand it feels like this is just a marriage, that it's kind of run its course. Like this would be on the third head coach with Kyler, all that stuff. But I, I do Wonder if Mike LeFleur looks at the quarterback market and is like, well, what else am I going to do? There's nobody to draft.
Dan Paizuta
That's where I came from. It. Of the teams that we're going to talk about, Arizona would have the highest bar to clear to improve at quarterback. And you know, now that you have a different offensive system in place. I think he wore out his welcome with the, the old coaching staff where with Petsing there was never like a clear fit of what they wanted to do and what Kyler is good at. And I think that instead of meshing more as they spent more time together, they got like further apart in what those two were. So I, I don't know. And like it's going to be hard because you kind of have to trade Kyler, right. And you have to then get someone who's going to take on his salary. I'm not opposed to them just kind of playing this year out, especially since you don't know where your next quarterback is coming from. I don't know if that's bad. And so the thing I wanted to talk about, about Kyler is he had one of the strangest years I can really remember last year. So I put together and I shared this on Blue Sky, I think at the end of the season, I put together the range of quarterback play from their worst game to their best game by EPA per play. And Kyler ended up 21st in overall EPA per play average. He ended up having, weirdly, the same average as Lamar Herbert and Jalen Hurts, but he had the smallest gap between his worst game and his best game. He had the second best worst game, but the worst best game. There was zero range of what he did. So the like, the upside that we see from Kyler just wasn't there. But he also wasn't awful. And I just had no idea what to make of that.
Derek Klassen
Well, that's really funny too because isn't that. That's so opposite of how we've talked about Kyler for A majority of his career where it's like eight games a year he's going to win you the game and five of those other games he might lose you the game. And that like, you know, again, he wasn't perfect last year and there were, there were some, you know, games where he maybe had lost you the game. But it just didn't feel like the vacillations were quite as wide. And maybe that is partly Kyler Murray becoming a little bit more mature and playing in a different way. Like he, I think was moving around the pocket a little bit less. I think he was less willing to just hang in the pocket and like make some really tough throws. Like, I think the ball was just coming out quicker and so maybe that was leading to less of the volatility that he was, he was getting. And then again, just the structure of the offense is different, especially than some of the cliff stuff. But I do wonder if there's like, okay, if that floor is now raised a little bit from what it had been previously and then this new coaching staff and maybe again improvements from Marvin Harrison Jr. Which maybe that's going to be a thing that we do for like five offseasons. But you get the point. Like maybe he does finally get better and it's like, okay, I can start to sell myself on this. So I, maybe I've been too quick to dismiss the idea that they would keep him. It just like I think maybe I've already predisposed to convincing myself like he's. They're going to move him.
Dan Paizuta
Right. And I think we started having that conversation as like just a league wide thing when we all thought Jonathan Gannon was coming back. And I feel like we've just kind of kept our thoughts about them moving on from Kyler because we thought the coaching staff was going to be in place still and those two just hadn't meshed anymore. So I do wonder if there is a higher possibility of Kyler staying. Just because you're going out into, into the wilderness without a very one a clear upgrade or a clear place to get another quarterback in general. I mean, you have Jacoby Brissette, but we, we saw what, you know, a longer term Jacoby Brissette thing does. It helps for a little bit, but you don't want to be doing that for a full season.
Derek Klassen
Yeah, Jacoby Brissette is great for the particular situation they found themselves in last year, but you don't want him to be the week one starter. I guess too. The last thing I do want to touch on More here before we move on to the Raiders. You mentioned a little bit like they found a way to use Michael Wilson. And I think an interesting part of that is like he came into the league as one of those, like power slots and then like you said, started to play a lot more outside in part because Marvin Harrison Jr. Had some injuries, got moved around. All that stuff between him And Marvin Harrison Jr. Is there anything that you want to see Mike LaFleur do a little bit more of? Do you want to, like, make sure that he keeps Michael Wilson outside so maybe they go and seek out a different slot receiver this year? Like, is there anything. Any thoughts there?
Dan Paizuta
Yeah, I think that's the path, what you said to keep Michael Wilson outside, have him be that field stretching guy that they had Marvin Harrison Jr. Kind of play. And we've always talked about him being this static ex down the field guy that didn't really work for the past two seasons. So I think that can potentially open up Marvin Harrison Jr. A little bit more. If you have Michael Wilson as the outside field stretcher, you can maybe move Harrison around and then it's much easier, I think especially even in this, in the draft, in free agency, to find a guy who can fit in in the slot than having to try to find someone who's going to play so much on the outside. It's also going to be probably much cheaper to do that also. So I think that would be the path I would go to fill out this receiver room.
Derek Klassen
And cheaper is a good option too. It would just be easier for them to probably either in the draft or especially with the way that this draft class looks in terms of the slot receivers or just to go find a guy in free agency. I think I'm pretty much in lockstep with you there. All right. Before we move on to the Raiders, we're going to take a really quick break here and then we'll come back and talk about them.
Boost Mobile Representative
A well built wardrobe is about pieces that work together and hold up over time. That's what Quince does best. Premium materials, thoughtful design, and everyday staples that feel easy to wear, easy to rely on even as the weather shifts. Quince has the everyday essentials I love with quality that lasts. I've talked about this a few times. If you've been listening to our show all season long, you've heard me talk about it. The shacket, the jeans, they're both great in cold weather. In warm weather too, it's coming for us. But in cold weather, they are both great. They've also got organic cotton sweaters, polos for every occasion, and lighter jackets that will keep you warm in changing seasons. Quince works directly with top factories and cuts out the middlemen so you're not paying for brand markup, just quality clothing. Everything is built to hold up to daily wear and still look good season after season. Plus, they only partner with factories that meet rigorous standards for craftsmanship and ethical production. Refresh your wardrobe with quince. Go to quince.com athleticfootball for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Q U-I-N-E.com athleticfootball free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com athleticfootball dinner time, huh? It's an eternal struggle. On the one hand, you don't want to sacrifice flavor and health. On the other hand, you don't want to necessarily give up all your time preparing a perfect meal for you and your family. As for Butcherbox can really help you. ButcherBox delivers over 100 premium protein options straight to your door, including 100% grass fed beef, free range, organic chicken, crate free pork and wild caught seafood. For more than a decade, Butcherbox has led the industry with meat and seafood that's antibiotic free, hormone free and independently verified. It's the clean, trustworthy protein you want to be eating, especially at the start of a new year. Every product meets the same rigorous standards, whether you're cooking a filet mignon or popping chicken nuggets into the air fryer. It's all quality across the board. Look for me, I've got two kids so it's pretty easy to pick the chicken nuggets. It makes things easy. It makes dinner time very simple to prepare for. Simple to get on the table. If we maybe forget that we need to get dinner on the table until it's a little bit later than we would like it to be. Until. And you know what? Pretty good for me and my wife too. Not gonna lie about that. Those chicken nuggets really satisfied the entire family. As a certified B Corp, Butcherbox is committed to doing things right. From how the animals are raised to how their team supports workers and reduces environmental impact. Plus, every box ships free always and members get access to recipe, inspo tips and exclusive deals that make every meal easier, healthier and more enjoyable. As an exclusive offer, new listeners can get their choice between organic ground beef, chicken breast or ground turkey in every box for a year plus $20 off when you go to butcherbox.com that's right. Your choice of organic ground beef, chicken breast or ground turkey in every box for an entire year plus $20 off your first box and free shipping always. That's butcherbox.com athletic football don't forget to use our link so they know we sent you.
Ad Read Announcer
If you're still sleeping on cotton or satin, that could be the reason for frizzy hair, sleep, creases, overheating and even breakouts. Dermatologists actually recommend switching to silk because it's naturally cooling and much gentler on your skin and hair. That's exactly why over 3 million people have made the switch to Blissey. Blissey pillowcases are made from 100% pure mulberry silk, the highest quality silk you can get. It's breathable, hypoallergenic and surprisingly machine washable so it's easy to care for. People love waking up with smoother hair, calmer skin and no sleep lines. Plus Blissey makes the perfect gift and you can even complete the set with matching sleep masks, silk bonnets and crease preventing scrunchies. Blissy's offering 60 nights risk free plus 30% off when you shop@blissy.com Rest easy. Your skin and hair will thank you.
Derek Klassen
All right, finishing off I think finishing off our Tier two here, at least I only have these two teams but we're going to talk about the Las Vegas Raiders and so to set the table a little bit for them, they're also not losing a ton in terms of the skill players. Like really Tyler Lockett's the only guy potentially leaving. They've got some offensive linemen they need to potentially rework. Like Dylan Parham is a free agent this off season. Center Jordan Meredith is a restricted free agent and then also half of the defense is gone. But again, I think we're mostly trying to keep this due to what is going around in the offense. Lucky for them, they have almost $90 million in cap space to work with. They've got a couple of extra fourth round picks so that's kind of setting the table there. And then obviously the other thing with the Raiders, the other five teams we're talking about here, it's a question of like who is the quarterback going to be and what will it look like for them. Not the case with the Raiders. It's going to be Fernando Mendoza. So I think I just want to spend a little bit of time here with you talking about like, like how good is this situation really? Because I think a lot of us, at least I'll speak for myself here, kind of bought in on what this could be last year. And I'm like trying to, you know, battle with my feelings about doing that again this year.
Dan Paizuta
Yeah, I mean, I was with you. I think the last time I was on this show was with Robert after week one. And we spent time like fawning over what the Raiders did to the Patriots, which is something that.
Derek Klassen
How funny is that, by the way?
Ad Read Announcer
Super.
Dan Paizuta
Well, yeah, but I think like that's still kind of the idea because we never saw like a fully healthy Raiders team again, especially with Brock Bowers. Like, and I think like, that's going to be the key here. If you get a healthy Bowers over the full season, like, that just kind of opens up everything else for this offense and we just didn't get that at an extended degree last year. So he was, you know, playing in line a lot, just kind of not as dynamic as a receiver as he was as a rookie. So I think once you have that in place, it's much easier to just kind of build around the rest of the roster, which I think can be helpful. And you know, you talk about the, the offensive line, I mean outside of Colton Miller, they can probably upgrade anywhere if they wanted to. And I think this, this Kubiak scheme now is going to be more helpful to protect the offensive line too in both pass protection and the run game with some of the play action concepts that are going to do and we. What he did with Seattle last year. So I think. And that is just something that didn't happen with this offense last year. There was no protection for that offensive line. So when something broke down, nothing worked.
Derek Klassen
I think that was something I certainly missed with that offensive line. Last year is like I going into it, I think a lot of us knew talent wise it was not great. But you were just hoping that like, okay, can they play just at the level of the 25th best offensive line. It will be good enough and they can get by. But I think a part of that that I miss is that that again, Chip Kelly's offense just did not tie things together well. It did not help the offensive line in really any way. And I think we have proof of concept that Clint Kubiak replacing a college coordinator can give that to your offensive line. He literally did it last year with Seattle and it won them a Super Bowl. And again, you know, it's not like the Seattle offensive line all of a sudden turned into the 90s Cowboys, but it went from a unit that was hamstringing the offense. They bring in Kubiak they draft a guard in the first round and it takes them to like, I don't know, Seattle was What, like the 18th, 19th best offensive line, which isn't great, but when you've got a star receiver, your quarterback is playing on time and accurately, that is kind of enough to really allow things to open up. And so I actually, I kind of buy that the floor is going to be raised. I don't, I don't think they're going to be the 30th offensive line in the league that they were last year. I think they can get to if they keep the relative. If they replace some of the guys they're losing with like equal talent, they could be the 25th best offensive line. Kind of like I was trying to sell last year. To me, the question is the ceiling. And that's going to come down to like what types of players do they end up going after? I think with some of these other teams, you know, like the Cardinals, they can spend their top pick on a tackle and that's like a huge way to instantly boost your offensive line. The Raiders are in a trickier spot there where the first overall pick is pre spent on the quarterback that is going to play behind this offensive line. And so then it's like, okay, do we start to try to do it with draft picks? Even that gets a little sticky because they spent multiple third round picks or mid round picks on guys last year that they wanted to develop who didn't play. So do you really want to over invest there? So then I think it's probably going to come down to, okay, they need to microwave this thing a little bit by probably going and spending on some interior players. There's a couple of centers actually in the free agent market that I think would make a lot of sense for them if they wanted to go get them. And then maybe you spend on a guard and that's enough to get you to the 20th best offensive line and now you're kind of cooking with something.
Dan Paizuta
Yeah, and I think like it's, it's so much easier to go from atrocious to okay. Which I think is just kind of what they, they could shoot for, especially when you do have the cap space that they have. If we end up with a Max Crosby trade where you're getting probably a pretty high pick, maybe that's something where in either the, you know, the back part of the, the first round or high second depending on whatever the return is for cr. A place where you can go offensive line too. And it's just like Going back to just kind of what you said last year, not only was the line bad, just like, the lack of detail in what they were doing, it was just so discombobulated. And the one thing we know that is going to come with Kubiak is the attention to detail for the offensive line. So when we looked at Seattle, like, again, they weren't the greatest offensive line, but everybody was in the right spot more or less.
Derek Klassen
It wasn't mental errors and like, missed pass pro stuff. It was just like, sometimes your rookie guard, who is good, loses. Sometimes your backup center just loses. Like, it was just stuff like that, which, like, that's. That's totally fine.
Dan Paizuta
You can live with that. And I think, like, that the Raiders didn't have that possibility last year because everything just blew up in the worst possible ways. Like, if you just kind of look at the run game, they were 31st and yards allowed before contact, and Genti was hit within a yard of the line of scrimmage on 54.1% of his attempts, which was the third highest rate among running backs with at least 100 carries. So that derailed anything you could do there. And I think with the Kubiak run game, you'll at least get a little more, like, margin for error there, too. So that'll help open some things up. I think, you know, wide receiver, I still have a lot of questions about because you kind of threw some draft picks at. So Trey Tucker was on the field for 98% of their drop backs, which was the highest rate for any wide receiver in the league.
Derek Klassen
Is that true?
Dan Paizuta
Yes.
Derek Klassen
That's insane.
Dan Paizuta
Yeah. So, you know, Trey Tucker can be a useful piece. You don't want him to be the useful piece.
Derek Klassen
That's the thing.
Dan Paizuta
That's kind of where it was last year.
Derek Klassen
Like, Tucker's like, a nice player, but when I see a guy like Trey Tucker, I'm like, that's what, like, Taylor Gabriel was supposed to be in some of those old Shannon, which is, like, a totally useful player and, like, a good guy to really accelerate things. Cannot be your number one receiver in that way. And so I actually think that's an interesting point, though. One from the sense of, like, you just look at this roster and if it was any coaching staff, you would need to improve the receiving room a little bit. But I think what's interesting with Kubiak specifically is when he was with the Saints, they had really good receiver talent before they all got injured, obviously with Chris Olave and Rashid Shahid. And then obviously last year with The Seahawks a little bit more of just a top heavy unit, kind of just really having JSN as that guy. But he's always had like a one superstar receiver that he can kind of lean on, a guy who is a vertical threat. And I think it's just, I'm kind of interested to look at where he shifts the offense now that his clearly his best pass catching option is a tight end who is kind of a wide receiver. Like I'm just curious what that looks like.
Dan Paizuta
Yeah. And that that's one of the fascinating things where it does shape how you then build out the rest of the receiver room because you know, Trey Tucker's a useful player. I, I like Dante Thornton as a potential guy who can just 64 and insanely fast. I think that could be a type of Rashid Shahid kind of field stretcher there. But again not someone who's going to be your high volume wide receiver.1 But I think so much of building this around Brock Bowers and then how you build that out because you're going to probably want to put him in the slot probably as much as you can know. Do you get production out of Michael Mayer enough for this to be an actual like productive 12 personnel offense, which they ran a whole bunch like on 33% of their snaps last year. But it just, it wasn't very good because when Bowers wasn't completely healthy and you weren't getting enough from Mayer for that to be something that you can completely lean on. So I'm very interested to see how all these pieces, you know, fit into place.
Derek Klassen
And I do, I've been a big Michael Mayer guy since like he came out of the draft and so maybe this is just that. But I do think there is some element of. It felt like the Raiders a little bit played that way last year because they had to, especially once they traded Jacoby Myers, like that was just to get your best five on the field. That was the best way to do it. There's a chance that that's still true after this offseason. But I do think now again looking at the Kubiak offense, we have a lot more proof that a 12, even sometimes 13 personnel type of offense, like he's geared to make that type of stuff work and so I am, I do think a lot of that is going to be good. Last thing with the Raiders, again, we know who the quarterback is going to be. Have you seen Fernando Mendoza at all? Have you like started draft stuff? Have you watched him a little bit?
Dan Paizuta
Yeah, yeah, a little bit And I think that is something that makes the offensive line, I think, a little less of a worry, too, because he's someone who's so good at playing on time like that. Like, if that was a thing that I highlighted for Fernando Mendoza, it's the way he plays on time and then can be accurate with that. And I think that's going to be a huge piece in and making the offensive line better, potentially making some of these wide receivers better, because you don't have to necessarily hope they win on their own. I think schematically those guys might be open and Mendoza is going to be able to hit them. So I think that is a place where everything is going to kind of work together, which is fun.
Derek Klassen
I agree. If he can. Because so much of why Sam Darnold worked last year and even in Minnesota, is that within the first two and a half seconds of the play, if he knew what he was getting, the arm, talent, the timing, like, it just. It all really, really worked. If Mendoza can just be that, which I think he can be like, the more I've watched him, the more I've appreciated his arm. He's obviously really big. He does, like, his footwork and timing really is pretty sensational. Like, he's just a guy who clearly is a professional. And so I like him a lot for that reasons. And so if he can do a lot of what Sam Darnold did there and just do 15% less of putting the ball in traffic at times, that's a pretty good way to jumpstart this offense. Like, I can get excited about this again.
Dan Paizuta
Yeah, this isn't going to be a team that I project to, you know, somehow be, you know, the top 16 in DVOA. But I think it's going to be passable enough where it's not going to be one of this disaster rookie seasons that we've seen from a lot of, you know, former number one overall quarterbacks who just get put into something where there's nothing there. I think there's going to be enough, schematic wise and personnel wise, where I think this is, you know, okay, at least. And that's more than we can say for a lot of guys who went first overall.
Derek Klassen
Yeah, that is a lot more than we can usually say for those guys. Turns out when you're picking first overall, a team usually sucks. All right, that is the end of Tier two for us. Let's move into Tier three, which I do think this is where it starts to become a little bit interesting. I personally only have one team in tier three, where are you at with this kind of grouping?
Dan Paizuta
Okay. Yeah, I do, too, and I feel like it's the same one. I have Miami here.
Derek Klassen
The Miami Dolphins.
Dan Paizuta
Yeah, I have Miami here. All by themselves.
Derek Klassen
Yeah. I also have them. And I think. I think what we'll end up talking about, at least between these two teams, this tier and the next year, obviously, with the Browns and the jets, that's who's left. I think, purely from a roster standpoint, you could actually get me there on some of these teams being a little bit closer. I just think the Tier 4 stuff is a lot of, like, organizationally, I don't trust them at all, so I push them down. Because this. This Dolphins roster still does have some of its questions, right?
Dan Paizuta
Yeah. I mean, that. That's my biggest question was, like, what are the Dolphins trying to be? Because, like, once you get rid of Tua or however you do that, whether it's probably not going to be a trade, because I don't see anyone taking.
Derek Klassen
On the contract really quickly. I do want to talk about that. Like, with. Every time I've thought about Tua this offseason, it's been like. I think there's been a lot of, like, oh, somebody will go after Tua. And then I'm like, well, if thinking about the money that it would take to get to having to give up capital and stuff like that, in almost every other case, like, I would rather just do, like, anything else. Like, if I'm trading for a quarterback, I'd rather try to go see if I can talk to the 49ers and get Mac Jones. If I'm just, like, really thinking about the money, I'd rather take the gamble on a Malik Willis or something like that. Like, it just. It. It just feels like, to me, like, he's in this weird middle ground of kind of expensive and going to cost you a lot, but not. That doesn't feel like as much of an answer as a guy like Kyler Murray would.
Dan Paizuta
Yeah. On his $39 million, is the base salary for 2026 already guaranteed? On March 13, $3 million next year becomes guaranteed. So if you're trading him, which I think the Dolphins would probably like to do, because that's the easiest path because even if they post June 1st him, they're still losing cap space this year, which, like, that's. That's a tough pill to swallow for a team that is, you know, already kind of cash strapped. You know, they're not cutting Bradley Chubb right now because now they're still trying to figure out if a trade or a post June 1 cut to open up some more cap space this year makes more sense. So my, my hesitation there with Miami is like what, what do they want to be? Because when we get to like the next two teams, like neither one of them has a Jalen Waddle or Devon H in which is something that already is going to put some sort of production in place for what this offense can be. And I don't know how many like wide receiver, running back combinations are going to be much better than that. Probably it's better than what we've, the teams we've already talked about, but then that's really it. And then there's not a lot of room for improvement elsewhere. So that, that's where Miami just kind of comes in like its own little tier here.
Derek Klassen
That's exactly why I actually started with them a little bit higher because I was like, man, if you just look at who's going to be there, I can really get myself excited about Devon Hn and Jalen Waddle. Like those are two still really explosive players. They're unique, like field tilting guys. And then I did, as I look at it a little bit more, it's like, man, they do just have a lot that they have to replace. Like their, their entire offensive line room is kind of moving. The two tackles will stay. Patrick Paul on the left side, Austin Jackson on the right side. Aaron Brewer is obviously going to be there at center, Jonah 7A on the left side. But like all of their depth is gone. They probably need a new starting guard. On the other side, Cole Strange is going to be gone. And so they've just got a lot of depth that they need to replace. Which again, if the starting five is all healthy, that's good and great. But this is the NFL. Chances are a lot of those guys are going to miss time. And if they're going to end up relying on third and fourth round rookies or like super low end free agency guys to replace those guys, I think that that's going to be a little bit of an issue. Especially because the offensive line is not. It's not like you're going from great to okay depth. Like this would be like the offensive line is already kind of shaky. Even if you like the upside, if they lose any of those guys for any amount of playing time, that's really going to hurt them. And then again you mentioned them being cap strapped, then it's hard to find like where are these offensive line guys going to come from? Like they probably can't afford to go sign one of the better backup guards or one of the better backup swing tackles or something like that because whatever money they do have, they probably need to spend it on the secondary, truthfully. And then they probably would then end up having to use some of those picks on the offensive line. So it is just like a kind of, to your point, of like what they want to be. It feels like this is a year where they've got to accept that they're not going to be that good and just need to make sure that the environment is like workable and doesn't nuke whoever is going to step in at quarterback for them.
Dan Paizuta
Yeah, and that also raises some of my concern of Bobby Slowik being the offensive coordinator. And so how good or bad do.
Derek Klassen
You think that really is? Because I feel like he's not like terrible. I just don't know if he's that exciting.
Dan Paizuta
So my biggest issue with Slowik when he was in Houston was kind of his lack of problem solving and troubleshooting. Like he clearly has the Shanahan stuff down. Like he has the plays when they work, they were good. And we saw that in his first year when everyone was real excited about him. Then you kind of like dug into it a little more and it definitely showed in his second season where if there are some issues along the offensive line, there's not really that change up that helps counter or just overcome whatever those issues are. But I do wonder. It makes me feel a little better that he was already on this Miami staff last year and you're with Mike McDaniel who the only thing he did during his Miami tenure was troubleshoot and problem solve because there was always something going down the way they had to either fix the run game, overcome the offensive line, have some of the Achan out in the flat where for that half a season that was their run game where it was just swing passes to Achan because they didn't have anything else. Now that he had that year where I guess he was around a little more, troubleshooting and figuring out how to scheme up around some issues that might make me feel a little better. But again, like we're not going to be working with a ton. What this Miami offense was over the past couple years was so much top tier talent that kind of bailed you out of things. If things gone wrong, that's not really going to be the case anymore.
Derek Klassen
I'm kind of with you. Like that's a little bit how I see the Slowik thing. Like this I think some of these other, like Clint Kubiak going to the Raiders, like that, to me I'm viewing as a positive. It should make things better. With Slowik, I think it's very easy because I have this stuff with the Texans and to view him as like an outright negative and like this is not going to be good for the Miami offense. I'm almost viewing him more as like an unknown. Like, I think that again, there were some things that he did well in Houston and then like you said, he just struggled to problem solve, which I think if he was like a 45 year old offensive coordinator and like had, you know, been around a little bit, then I would start to have that as like a big concern. That was his first time really doing it. It was a really bad offensive line. I can understand how he maybe just felt a little bit overwhelmed and struggled to find ways to adapt in the moment. And so I think again, him getting a little bit of time, stepping away from actually calling the plays, getting to be around Mike McDaniel, who to your point, I think we think the hallmark of the Mike McDaniel offense is like, oh, it's speed, speed, speed and it's all these little guys. But like the hallmark really of what he did is that he just like fixed shit constantly. Like it just there was always something, you know, in one of the cars and he was able to pull it out and just fix something. And so I do think being around a mine like that could potentially help slow it. And I think again to that point, like Mike McDaniels, I know the run game hadn't always worked because of the offensive line talent, especially like in 2024, it was really, really bad. But I do think McDaniel always came up with really creative solutions for the run game and like just like how to move guys and all this stuff. And so I think if slow, it can bring a little bit of that to his run game, like that of kind could help. So I'm. I don't know if it'll work out, but I'm at least willing to view the slow thing as like an unknown rather than like, oh my God, the, the Miami play calling is going to be 10 times worse or whatever.
Dan Paizuta
Yeah, yeah, that's where I am too. And then it just kind of comes down to I have no idea who the, the quarterback. Like what, like what is their avenue?
Derek Klassen
Right?
Ad Read Announcer
Yeah.
Dan Paizuta
Like obviously the Malik Willis connection has been there because of all the Green Bay stuff. But. But I don't know, is that something Willis wants to Maybe that's his one place to start and he does go there. But again, he might be the best quarterback available. And is Miami going to be a place that's going to be able to pay that price and then if you don't get Malik Willis, I don't know.
Derek Klassen
Well, honestly though, it might be his best spot because if we're thinking about it this way, like just talking about these teams that, you know, to us for sure need quarterbacks. Vikings is like maybe they would be the Willis team, but they feel more like they need to be like super serious and maybe potentially be the Kyler Murray team. Raiders, that's obviously already accounted for. Cardinals get interesting because I think you've sold me a little bit on the idea that maybe they just keep Kyler Murray, which I guess then opens up the Vikings. But it really does feel like of those top three teams, you know, maybe only one of those slots is open. There's a chance they get filled and the Dolphins are Willis's best chance to do something like that. And I actually do think there is an argument that looks like the combination of Jalen Waddle, Devon Achan and Malik Willis just from like a pure blazing speed perspective is like a pretty unique challenges for defenses to have to deal with that. Like if you know as the Miami, you're going to be in a weird spot where we're not going to get the best quarterback on the market. We're still going to have some of these flaws with our team building and we're probably going to have to find some bullshit way to score 30 points a game because our defense is. Is a little bit old. And having some guys leave, maybe Malik Willis does actually make a lot of sense being like the weird, just like kind of a curveball type of signing.
Dan Paizuta
Yeah. And then I think you kind of just study, you know, maybe like the 20, 24 starts from Malik Willis when he came in for Jordan Love, when Green Bay was doing all that weird stuff in the. In the run game where maybe you have like a Malik Washington playing the Jaden Reed role where did super. The jet guy who's also playing in the backfield. And you just never knew who was getting the ball in the backfield. And I think we saw that a little bit at times with Miami just kind of with the H hand. But. And you know, when Tyreek Hill was going on, you know, some of the jet sweeps and things, I think you do that and like maybe that's your way to again just kind of make up for what the offensive line deficiency Might be I just have all that misdirection in the backfield and having a quarterback like Willis who can run, that might be the way to do it 100%.
Derek Klassen
So maybe that's not like the sexiest five, six year outlook where everything works but like for two or three years, can that work in the way that like some of the Kaepernick Niners teams worked or like to Rod Taylor when he was with Greg Roman and the Buffalo Bills, like, can you get something akin to that? Like, I kind of think they could with what they have. And so the Dolphins are in this weird spot where they've got some high end talent. There's some reason for optimism, but there's enough flaws in this that they just don't feel like they're quite as stable as a couple of the other teams. And so. So that to me, that is the tier break and then you have tier four. We have the Browns and the jets left. Dan, did you actually end up ranking these teams at all or did you kind of just leave them in their own tier and just like it doesn't really matter there at the bottom?
Dan Paizuta
Yeah. So the way I kind of had it, where I ranked all of these teams by a couple of different categories, the Browns and the jets ended up coming out exactly the same in like their own.
Derek Klassen
So you did this like systematically and the numbers spit out the same thing. That's really fun.
Ad Read Announcer
Yeah.
Derek Klassen
Yeah, that's really good. So I. But did you, when you're looking at them, even though they come out the same. So here's why I asked this. I do think if I'm looking at these two teams, and I said this a little bit earlier, the reason I had both of these two down there is like organizationally I just don't trust them for different reasons. But I will say if I look at the jets roster right now, the roster's not that bad. Like offensively, like, they do need some help with receiver. They obviously need to add a couple of pieces. But like, but like if Garrett Wilson can be healthy, I kind of like Mason Taylor at tight end. The offensive line, even though they're losing some of their guards, I think the tackle center tackle situation is pretty damn good. And so I kind of like some of the players. For them, it just comes down to so much of like, I don't love the coaching staff. The Frank Reich hire feels like it's like five years too late. The whole coaching staff in general feels a little bit pre fired. And then if we're talking about in terms of like, oh, well, it's a young quarterback and they'll, you know, you'll have a little bit of a Runway here. I just don't know if I trust the jets to hire the right people the next time anyway. So I kind of struggled with them in that sense.
Dan Paizuta
Yeah, that's pretty much exactly what I had in my notes here. What's the plan? Everyone feels pre fired. So Frank Reich lasted 11 games with the Panthers. I don't think. I certainly didn't remember that it was only 11 games. I like it. I didn't think that he got fired midway through his first season with the Panthers. After he got fired, he told the Charlotte observer that he wasn't done with coaching. But quote, this is probably the final chapter in my NFL journey. And now here he is the coordinator of the jets. And I think like it is concerning. The Panthers scored more than 20 points three times in his 11 games. Games after their buy where you think you make some adjustments and get a little better. They scored 15 the first game and didn't reach that again until he was fired. So like, I don't know what exactly is going to help a quarterback here. So Garrett Wilson last year led the team in receiving yards.
Derek Klassen
Wasn't it only like 380 yards or something like that?
Dan Paizuta
Because Garrett Wilson is a very good receiver receiver. He did not have a yard after week six.
Derek Klassen
That I don't know how you would like check that like on some sort of like of the statistical databases where it's like has it. Has a guy ever led his team in receiving after having not played after week six? But it feels like that can't have happened.
Dan Paizuta
He was injured. He came back to play in week 10, had three targets but no receptions. So he did not put up a receiving yard after week six and led the team with 395 receiving yards. So there is a lot of questions here for just kind of what structurally this is going to be. You know, having Garrett Wilson healthy is going to be great. I've never been a big A.D. mitchell guy.
Derek Klassen
Yeah, you.
Dan Paizuta
I don't love fast receivers who don't know how to play receiver. And I think like that's the thing about Mitchell where the, the nuance of route running and things just aren't there. And if you have a guy like Justin Fields or Tyra Taylor who's just going to, you know, throw 20 yards because there's nothing else in the offense that works occasionally. And that's kind of what we saw sometimes with Mitchell last year after he got Acquired by the jets, but that's not something I'm going to be trusting in my offense for most of, like, you know, Mason Taylor, I did like him coming out. Didn't really click in the first year, but outside of, you know, know the superhuman tight ends that we've seen, like, tight end is usually a position where it takes, you know, a year or two to get caught up. But then, like, I just don't know what else the jets are doing, which is why I have them so much lower than all these other teams in the rankings.
Derek Klassen
And it just feels like even if I like some of what's going on here, where again, I think the young tackle duo is good, I think what they've got going on at center, like, can be useful. I think just when I look at the way like it just. And they actually have like, they have a decent amount of cap space. They have the $78 million in cap space. They have obviously a ton of extra picks both this year and next year. They've got an extra first this year, an extra second. They don't have a third, but obviously you'd rather have all that stuff and then they'll have extra picks next year. It's just like it feels like even with all of that being the case, like, it just does not feel like whoever plays quarterback for them this year is going to be set up for success. It feels like, like this will be a conversation that will be fun to have next year when maybe they've spent some of those picks on young guys that we can get excited about and you know, maybe we can talk about what they would be in ex offensive coordinator who just got hired to be the head coach, you know, their offense and stuff like that. But it just feels like for this year it's hard to get Jazz for it. And I think another reason that is true is like they're they one, they have to replace again some of the offensive linemen. Both of their guards are potentially going to be up. John Metchie, who's a backup receiver for them, this is already a team that really cannot deal with losing wide receiver depth and he might be gone. Breece hall obviously at running back, is going to be up for free agency and then they've got a couple of guys on defense. Quincy Williams is leaving. Andre Cisco is potentially leaving. Like, they do have a lot of stuff to replace. So it just feels like they've got too much work for this to be a situation that year one. Right now this could be a good spot for either a veteran Or a draft pick. Pick.
Dan Paizuta
Yeah. And then the thing is like I, I wouldn't even try to throw in a draft pick there because then you're kind of probably talking yourself into, oh well, he had nothing around him and.
Derek Klassen
Let'S give him another bad feedback loop.
Dan Paizuta
So I mean it's probably going to be a new staff next year who isn't going to be tied. But as we go into obviously like the personality will be different than the quarterback we're going to talk about on the next team. You know, that's still kind of a new coaching staff and we're still going to have that conversation somehow as bad as, you know, that looked at quarterback. So I think even going into a round two or three quarterback, if you are even talking yourself into one, that's a tough place to potentially put yourself for next year when you could be in position to get someone who could actually manage.
Derek Klassen
So let's talk about that other team, the last team that we have here, the Cleveland Browns. I, this is the one I most feel like you really have to set the table for what this looks like. They, the offensive line was not good last year. I get that. All five of them, all five of the starters, their deals are up, including even backup guard Tevin Jenkins, his deal is up. So they again, maybe it was not a great offensive line, but when you are having to replace five guys, that's a tough spot to be in when you're going to be potentially a fresh quarterback in this league spot. They're also, you know, David and Joku, the tight end is going to be up for free agency this year and then you would think with all of that, all of those guys potentially coming off the books that they would have some money to deal with. And they, there's obviously always ways to move money around, but because the Watson deal is still on the board and they spent so many of these deals pushing money into void years, they are $20 million over the cap right now. And again they can toy with that a little bit. But that's not enough to like, man, you've got to replace the entire offensive line and you're already $20 million in the hole. That's really, really tough. They do obviously have some extra draft capital. They have the Jags first round pick this year. But just from a pure roster building perspective and what they've got to do, all the work they've got to do in terms of the floor, this feels like by far the worst of all the situations that we've talked about so far.
Dan Paizuta
Yeah, it just I. This feels like the pre Shroud Texans with Lovey Smith and David Culley on one year deals before Shroud and d' Amico Ryan's happens. This kind of feels like that because there's just. I don't really know where they go. I mean you can restructure Denzel Ward to get like another $13 million in cap space. I would not touch Watson's contract because you're only going to be pushing more money into future years where you've got to hoping, kind of hoping next year is the one where you can actually finally cut Bai. You could just kind of when you look at that contract that's the way it can happen. Next year is finally that year you can get that off the books and I don't want to be adding even more money into that. So it's tough. I mean you have Harold Fannin who's really fun again. Jerry Judy is one of those guys I've just never been super high on. So maybe he can be okay in this offense just because there's not a lot else. But then you're looking at Cedric Tillman, Isaiah Bond and that's it.
Derek Klassen
Yeah. And again I actually really do like Harold Fanning. I think he's a really impressive player. Quinshot Judkins when he was healthy I thought was really, really good. But even that is like. And I know that we've talked about some of these other teams that only have two really good young players like the Raiders or I mean mostly the Raiders, obviously them having Brock Bowers and Ashton Genty but they just. Even if I like Harold Fannon and Quinshot Judkins, Genti and Bowers are kind of like it's a different tier of like Those are top 10 pick like caliber players. Those guys are superstars. And so I, I like Fanon and Judkins as like starters, potentially even like high quality starters. It's just not quite the same. And then when you add that on top of like I literally do not know who is going to be in front of the quarterback. Like it's just. It puts you in a really difficult position.
Dan Paizuta
Yeah. And I mean so I like in coaching and scheme is like one of the things I rank these teams and I had Monkin fairly high in this because I do think he has done things very well. What we saw in Baltimore, the different places that he's been like we've seen him do multiple different offenses. So I think there is going to be like a structure in place where it's okay But I also thought that about Kevin Stefanski last year and we just kind of saw if the quarterback isn't working. And maybe that's the conversation we have now where Shore Sanders was just not good. And not only not good, one of the worst quarterbacks in the league just one by watching him two by efficiency. So for them to potentially be just kind of going in just because he's there. I think like weird portions of the the Browns fan base is still acting like Sanders was like a first round pick that's worth trying to develop and that just wasn't the case on any level of what he put up last year.
Derek Klassen
I mean if anything kind of what you were talking about just then with the pre Stroud Texans is like if there's any reason to play out the string a little bit with Sugar Sanders, it's that you believe that he can be just like the Davis Mills. It'll be fine for another year. We can get by. I think even that a little bit I struggle with because Davis Mills was not good but there were at least some flashes of like that looks like a really high quality backup low end starter type. And I think even this year when he had to step in he had a couple of moments like I just think the arm talent is a little bit better. He's a decent athlete every now and then like he can make some of those really high leverage tight window throws on occasion. Obviously not good enough to be like a serious starter in the NFL. But there were at least like enough where it was like okay this is not sinking the offense every time we have to go out there. I just didn't get enough of that sense last year with the Browns because like like even a lot of some of what buoyed or Sanders production is like Stefanski screen game was phenomenal which which like maybe Monk and can do some sort of you know, BSing the offense a little bit to get some of that production. But I just with Sanders specifically like as a quarterback I think it would take two or three years more of development to like really get him in a spot where you could feel like this was going to be fine for a year. So I think that actually brings you to the question then of like if it's not Sander and assuming it's not Watson, Todd Monken has talked a little bit like maybe he is willing to entertain that idea which I think is obviously ridiculous at this stage. Who do you think they might like? What kind of bin would you want to be going after if you were the Browns in Terms of quarterback.
Dan Paizuta
Like that's. Yeah, that ends up being the tough question maybe why Sanders ends up being more of an option than you would think. Just because one the cap space too. Like I've heard of, I've heard Malik Willis, but like again, why. If you're Malik Willis, why would you want to go to Cleveland land? Yeah.
Derek Klassen
Why are you signing where there's no offensive lineman? Yeah, that's great.
Dan Paizuta
Yeah. And that's the thing. So like it's not sexy but like Tyler Huntley is a free agent and like he's been a Brown, he worked under Monkin. Like he's not awful and at least like that can give you some veteran, you know, competition that maybe, you know, with Sanders is something you can entertain in, you know, training camp in the preseason. But like I think it's going to be like that tier of quarterback and you got two Pro bowl quarterbacks on your roster, so you got that.
Derek Klassen
Yeah, maybe they don't need one.
Dan Paizuta
Like yeah, if you have Hunley, but I feel like it's just going to kind of be that low level veteran who is just going to kind of get by and if Sanders beats him out, then great, I guess.
Derek Klassen
But it's like found money if that happens.
Dan Paizuta
Yeah.
Derek Klassen
And like that I think too is like where they, they almost do have to pick from that bin of like the low end, you know, previous NFL guy who like maybe you just have him and Sanders and Gabriel like battle it out. You kind of see what happens. Because I think the issue of like, you know, I guess in theory you could be like, well maybe they'll draft Ty Simpson with the Jaguars pick in the 20 somethings or maybe they'll take some other guy in the second. But it's like do you really want a quarterback room that is all 23 years old? Like I just, it does not, does not feel like the right way to build a quarterback room either. And that then again even throwing in like at that point then you would have what, three top 100 picks at quarterback And I guess you don't really give a shit if you've thrown that many resources at it if one of them turns out good. But it just feels like you're really overspending to try to make that work. So I'm kind of with you. Like they probably are in a spot where whoever the fourth highest paid free agent quarterback of this cycle ends up being like they're probably a Cleveland Brown.
Dan Paizuta
Yeah, like that, I don't know is the best case scenario. Like Carson Wentz.
Derek Klassen
Oh, My God, that's. That's not anybody's best case scenario. Don't even say that. I mean, like, truthfully, like, if Kirk would want to do it, like, I actually think that's a decent spot for him. But again, I think if you're Kirk Cousins at this stage in your career, you probably don't want to go to a spot that is, again, has no offensive lineman, even if this might be the best chance for him to start. If you're Kirk Cousins at this point, like, I would rather just like, where can I go? Be a good backup and start. So that's probably it. So we're gonna take our final quick break here and then we'll talk about a handful of teams that maybe don't necessarily need a quarterback right now, but they're gonna be in the market and they're gonna be thinking about it. Knock knock. Ooh, who's there?
Dan Paizuta
A boost mobile expert here to deliver and set up your all new iPhone 17 Pro designed to be the most powerful iPhone ever.
Derek Klassen
You called that a knock knock joke.
Dan Paizuta
This isn't a joke. Boost mobile really sends experts to deliver and set up your phone at home or work.
Derek Klassen
Okay. It's just that when people say knock knock, there's usually a joke to go with it.
Dan Paizuta
Like I said, this isn't a joke.
Derek Klassen
So the knock knock was just you knocking?
Dan Paizuta
Yeah, that's how doors work. Get the new iPhone 17 Pro delivered.
Derek Klassen
And set up by an expert wherever you are. Delivery available for select devices purchased@boostmobile.com terms apply.
Dan Paizuta
Shipping, billing, admin, payroll, marketing. You're managing all the things, so why waste time sending important documents the old fashioned mail and ship when you want, how you want. With stamps.com print postage on demand 247 and schedule pickups from your office or home. Save up to 90% with automated rate shopping. That's why over 1 million small businesses trust stamps.com go to stamps.com and use.
Ad Read Announcer
Code podcast to try stamps.com risk free for 60 days. When life feels overstimulating, small comforts matter pure as well. Being collected Collection uses scent to bring calm clarity and emotional balance into your space. Effortlessly explore your mood@pura.com moods.
Derek Klassen
Okay, so we have this final grouping of teams here that we don't know yet if they need a quarterback for a variety of reasons. And so that's going to be the Pittsburgh Steelers. We don't know if Aaron Rodgers is is going to stick around. Like there's just no. And we can already make the argument like they should be looking for a quarterback anyway. But it seems to what we've got right now that if he comes back, if he wants to play again, he would play again for the Steelers. And so that's where they are. We have the Indianapolis Colts who obviously a lot of the moves they made this past season, you know, with trading away first round picks and stuff, it suggests that they want to go all in with Daniel Jones, but he might not be fully healthy to start next season. And if they are potentially trading Anthony Richardson, that starts to complicate things a little bit about like what does the quarterback room look like especially for week one. And then another potential week one issue, we have the Atlanta Falcons, who kind of in a similar boat where we don't know if Michael Penix is really going to be ready for week one, but their backup quarterback, Kirk Cousins probably not going to be around and will probably be playing for somebody else. So those are kind of the three teams that we got here. Let's start with the Steelers. How, how do you view this situation? If we are again removing Aaron Rodgers and we're just saying, saying pluck x quarterback into there. How do you feel about this offense right now?
Dan Paizuta
I, I mean it just, it still feels kind of empty where it's, I don't know like what the receiving core is going to be, where it's DK Metcalf and not much else, which I think we kind of saw in the games where Metcalfe either, you know, wasn't playing or wasn't fully 100% and then like, like the Mike McCarthy of it all doesn't really do a lot for me. And I know like McCarthy is fine and again but like it's not anything that's going to be like modernizing this offense where I think if it's not Rogers, where it's going to be helping another quarterback. And I think we've seen now in McCarthy's last two stops, as soon as he leaves, the offense gets more modern and gets that's significantly better. And I know last year with Dallas there was the George Pickens of it all that ended and made everything better, but it just looked better and more structured. There was more motion. It was like those things that Brian Schottenheimer actually talked about during his press conference that are usually just coach speak actually happened and it just looked so much better. And obviously the run game was better with the Clayton Adams, but I just don't know what McCarthy adds to this. If it's not Rogers and reuniting McCarthy and Rogers doesn't make me very excited.
Derek Klassen
Either, which that has made me feel crazy, by the way, the fact that there's been a lot of, like, positive talk around, like, the reuniting.
Dan Paizuta
They loved each other. Yeah.
Derek Klassen
Like, what are we talking about? Like, it just.
Boost Mobile Representative
That.
Derek Klassen
That clearly does not make a whole lot of sense to me. That just feels like. And maybe this is mean, but, like, potentially both of them at this point in their careers, it's like, this is the best we're gonna get with each other. Emma is, like, reuniting and, like, that's. If they want to play out that string and, like, kind of do that for the last time, I think that that's totally fine. And even from the Steelers perspective, like, unless they want to be the Malik Willis team, they might not have that many other good options other than just keeping it going with. With Rodgers for one more year. And so I think that that would totally be fine. But I'm kind of with you on the McCarthy thing. Like, I think he can be not embarrassing for them, but also, like, I thought Arthur Smith did a fine job last year, given some of the restraints that a guy like Aaron Rodgers puts on you and not really having all that many receivers. Receiver. Receiver talent to work with. So this, to me, unless they make some major additions, again, feels like a spot where you're really hoping the young offensive line can take another step and maybe that can supercharge you. But just from like, a skill, talent perspective, it just doesn't really feel like you have enough. But I will say this is a good enough spot that if you're like Kirk Cousins, this is a place that does interest me. Like, if Aaron Rodgers were to retire, like, that brand of quarterback I do actually think makes some sense.
Dan Paizuta
And, like, that feels like it's what the Steelers want to be. Right. Like, they could have used, like, after Mike Tomlins steps down, this could have been, I think, what a lot of us said this could be. This gives you the path to finally just kind of reset. You've been this okay to good team over. Tom wins like, entire tenure, especially the back part where you make the playoffs, but you lose in the first round. Having Tomlin gone allowed you to potentially just kind of do that reset, get younger, not have to worry about trying to make the playoffs every year. But by hiring McCarthy, it kind of shows that's exactly what they want to be. So a Cousins does make a lot of sense. And, like, that would probably be the caliber of player, the veteran who's going to be able to take advantage of what McCarthy wants to do and kind of be in that place. And I think that does make a lot of sense for what I think the path for the Steelers looks like right now. It wouldn't be how I would have gone about it with a blank slate this offseason. But based on where they are right now, I think that does make sense.
Derek Klassen
The last thing I'll ask them about them to you, if they were the Ty Simpson team or whatever other top 100 quarterback, Garrett Nussmeier, whoever it's going to be, how do you feel about the viability of like a young quarterback playing in that offense?
Dan Paizuta
I mean, I guess I at least.
Derek Klassen
Think the offensive line is good enough that he's not going to die out there. Like, I do think that matters.
Dan Paizuta
Yeah. And I think it's not a terrible situation, and I think that is different than someone who would have been taken, you know, in the at the top of the draft. You're not going to be reaching for one of these guys, even if you don't fully believe these guys are, you know, round one caliber players. So if you do take one in the back part of the first round or on day two, you know, you are putting him in a, in a spot where, again, you have McCarthy, who's not going to bottom out this offense, it's going to be fine. It's going to be a professional offense that works. You do have enough along the offensive line. You're going to have a good enough run game. I think that's going to help. And you have Metcalf, who is still a good enough receiver that he's going to help out a young quarterback if he's put in place too.
Derek Klassen
Yeah, he's good enough that if you're Ty Simpson and you kind of just need an answer on a given play, you can just throw it at DK Metcalf and maybe he'll give me one. So, yeah, I think again, I would probably be trying to dig in like the Kirk Cousins type of market, but if they were to draft a guy, I don't think that they would be like, set up for failure. They would at least have a chance.
Dan Paizuta
So.
Derek Klassen
So let's move on to what feels like a much more complicated quarterback situation in the Indianapolis Colts. And it's complicated for a number of reasons. Now, right where they kind of last year you hit on Daniel Jones and it's kind of like, oh, we kind of think that we have a quarterback. And so they make these moves, obviously trading for Sauce Gardner that kind of suggests like, okay, they want to kind of move forward with this. They're probably going to end up paying Daniel Jones and I think some sort of deal on that front will get done. It's just complicated now now by a guy who's already had a little bit of a checkered injury history now obviously coming off of, broke his leg a little bit, obviously had the Achilles. He's going to be coming off of that. Probably not going to be ready when it comes to week one and then even whenever he comes back. I think what we even saw last year when he was a little bit banged up, the offense was just not the same when he was not 100%. And so I just like you wonder what that's going to start to look like. And then the other complicating factor of it is is they obviously brought in Daniel Jones to beat competition and beat out Anthony Richardson. And Anthony Richardson was supposed to be their backup last year. He like pops his eye, which becomes like a crazy thing. And then now they are obviously kind of. There's been a lot of rumors and a lot of talk that he is probably going to be a trade piece for maybe some of these other teams like the Cardinals and Vikings that are looking to take a chance. And so they are potentially in a spot where the quarterback one and two that was on their roster last year, Daniel Jones and Anthony Richardson, neither of them will be either on the team or ready for week one this year. What does that look like and how do they solve that? Do you have like a decent answer?
Dan Paizuta
So I have the least exciting answer possible. And it's Gardner, Minshew.
Derek Klassen
It's, it's. I, I kind of get it. Like, especially if you only think you have to get by for like six.
Dan Paizuta
Weeks, eight weeks, which we already saw Shane Steichen do with Minshew. And so they were a play away.
Derek Klassen
From making the playoffs that year.
Dan Paizuta
Right. And I, I don't necessarily think Minshew was good, but they. There was enough of the Steichen scheming things up that it was passable enough. And so I think because I think a Jones deal is going to get done in some way, you're not going to want to shoot. This isn't going to be a Malik Willis team because you're not going to bring that in with Daniel Jones unless you're just fully moving on from Jones, which I don't think they're going to do. It just doesn't sound like everything coming out of Indianapolis that they're going to move on from Jones. So it does sound like he'll be back probably on some type of extension. So I think you're probably now looking at the type of backup that's just going to get you through until when Jones comes back. And I feel like you bring in Minshew already has, already has experience inside that system. He was okay to fine when he had to take over. And then maybe you have a training camp battle between Minshew and Riley Leonard, who when he came in like, wasn't terrible.
Derek Klassen
And I think it's not bad. Actually.
Dan Paizuta
The last thing about the Philip Rivers thing is that Riley Leonard was also hurt. So I think if Leonard didn't get hurt in his when he came in, he would have been the starter throughout the rest of the season. But because they weren't sure if he was going to be able to play that next game, that's when they brought in Philip Rivers. So I do think there was enough there for Leonard that maybe you can have that training camp battle between Minshew and Leonard and then they just kind of set the table, hold the place until Daniel Jones is heading.
Derek Klassen
I think that's a great shout because I think the Leonard thing works for a number of reasons. One, he wasn't that bad. Like, again, he wasn't great. But if you only need to get by for six to eight weeks, like, he showed enough there, he's a good enough athlete, the arm is good enough that you can get by and he had some of those flashes. The other thing is that if you are as the Colts again only trying to get by for potentially half the season, you want the offense to be as ready for Daniel Jones as it can possibly be. Riley Leonard is kind of like budget Daniel Jones. Like, they are very similar just in terms of their build, the athletic profile, some of how they throw the football and like, what are the types of throws that they like over the middle down the field. Like, I actually think there is a lot of overlap there. So it really might be that the answer is we're sitting here being like, man, they're going to trade Anthony Richardson and Daniel Jones isn't going to be ready. What are they going to do? The answer might be nothing. It's like just sit there and just let Riley Leonard play and say, and so then to me the question becomes like, what do they do to keep the offense intact around whatever the quarterback is going to be? Because obviously Alec Pierce is a free agent, maybe the best free agent on the market at any position this offseason if they don't bring him back. And then right Tackle Braden Smith, his deal is also up and they've got to potentially think about what that's going to look like. So those to me are really, now that you've brought up the London thing, I think that's a great point. The question then is just how much of what made this offense special last year can they keep around the quarterback? Quarterback?
Dan Paizuta
I think, I think there's a decent amount. Right. I think obviously having Smith back is going to be big along the offensive line, but if you can keep that intact, I think like the, the interesting thing for, I think at least the start of the season was this. The Daniel Jones offense was like a mix of the Gardner Minshew Colt offense and like The Daniel Jones 2019 offense with the Giants when they had their, their good playoff run. And I think you can fit someone like Riley Leon and not have him need to do too much. You have a guy like Tyler Warren who's going to be able to just be a safety net there. You have a run game in Jonathan Taylor that I think if you look at what they were able to do in the first half of the season before, Jones just was kind of a net negative because he couldn't really move. I think you, you bring that, that's probably back on the table. I, I, I wouldn't be surprised if Alec Pierce is back, but they move on from Michael Pittman to make that.
Derek Klassen
Happen, which, that's a great, I think they should do that. And I think Pittman is a totally useful player. But Alec Pierce, I think sometimes when you get these like hot button, you know, free agent guys who are going into free agency, it's like, okay, well did they just get lucky one year or was it, you know, maybe their production was just like spiked because they had a bunch of touchdowns in the red zone or whatever it was that is. Alec Pierce feels like a clearly ascending player. Like he's just a better, much better player than he was two years ago. His route tree is fuller. He's a more nuanced guy. Like, this just feels like that's the type of player that you want to keep around. And I also think the small thing I would say to that too is like, I think part of the magic with the Colts offense was they had a clear identity in terms of size. Tyler Warren is like a very burly guy. Alec Pierce is a big guy. Jonathan Taylor is well sized for running back. Their offensive line, especially guard to guard, is pretty big. Like they had an identity there. I would want to keep Pierce around so that you can Kind of keep that going.
Dan Paizuta
Yeah. And financially it makes sense too whether you cut or trade. Michael Pittman opens up $24 million in cap space which would help one to bring Pierce back, have the extension for whatever Daniel Jones might be. So I think that just financially makes sense too. It's in also making the receiving core make a little sense. Then it also opens up some, you know, you talked about big guys, but it does open up more for Josh Downs who I think is really good, but just kind of got lost in that offense because of all the other guys that were playing last year. So I think there are definitely ways to make up for the Pittman not being there, especially if you can bring Pierce back. So I think there's just skill position wise like this is. There's still a lot to work with. I still like a lot of what Shane Steichen is going to do. I it makes sense that they kept him as head coach. I think Steichen would have been a very popular head coach candidate if he had been let go, which was rumored at the end of last year. So I think there is still a lot to like here and I think they just need some guy who's going to be able to just kind of hold the fort down until they figure out what's going on with Daniel Jones.
Derek Klassen
And the more we sit here, Riley Leonard does make sense. Like we, the Colts feel so interesting, but I do think actually now that we've sat and talked about it, the answer probably is just Riley Leonard. So last team that we've got here, we can probably breeze through this one because it feels like their answer is a little bit simpler. The Atlanta Falcons, they're in a similar position where the quarterback 1 and 2 on the roster last year, Kirk Cousins and Michael Penix, neither of them will probably be on the team or ready for this year. Like Kirk Cousins will probably be gone. Michael Penix potentially not ready. But it also feels like there's really not going to be any amount of like moving on from Michael Penix. And this just feels like a team that will be comfortable getting by with whatever $2 million free agent quarterback that they can sign for a little bit.
Dan Paizuta
Yeah, it does. But I'm interested to know what like Kevin Stefanski feels about Michael Penix because I don't know what Michael Penix has shown even when he's healthy that has really made you think, yeah, this is the guy we should probably be building around and building an entire offense around. And then on the part where he not only hasn't been Healthy has the extensive injury coming into the league. I, I wouldn't be necessarily surprised if this is the Malik Willis in which we've put him on every team so far that we've talked about. But if you do bring him in like that is I think giving up on, on Penix.
Derek Klassen
But again I think that completely complicating.
Dan Paizuta
This is a completely new regime that has no ties to Penix or Cousins. And I think that potentially could be. And this is the closest team to bringing in a completely new quarterback to competing, you know, I guess Minnesota too. But I think they're, they're similar where there's so many pieces in place. This is a good offensive line that I think is going to get better in this offense. You have Bishon Robinson, you have potentially Kyle Pitts. If he comes back, like the franchise tag is not going to be expensive because he's a tight end that already artificially lowers what his price would be. I know you're a big Drake London fan. I've been a big Drake London fan for a while. Like that is a good passing game that you can build off of finding a second receiver probably not going to be quite as hard. So this could potentially be something where they try to boost the quarterback and don't really wait on Penix because I think you kind of want this to be in place especially when you don't really have, you don't have the first round pick either. So you kind of want to be as good as possible right now.
Derek Klassen
The Willis thing is interesting because it's, it's like what is their appetite for wanting to give up on Michael Penix where it's like I, if they wanted to play it out for a year and like still give him another chance, I totally get it. At the same time I'm kind of with you. I don't know what he's shown me yet that suggests like we've got to give this guy another chance. He has to be the quarterback moving forward. I do think they are probably in a spot where they should probably bring in more legitimate competition. But the tier of a guy like Willis does feel like, like not competition so much as like you're done, Willis is the quarterback, we're moving on. Which I wouldn't hate. I just do wonder what their appetite for making an aggressive move like that is going to be.
Dan Paizuta
Yeah, and I think that's why they're a really fascinating team in this position because we, we just don't know. This is a completely new coaching staff, completely new front office. After a while. So we don't know what direction they're going to want to go and it's probably something we'll hear some rumors of about in Indianapolis next week. We'll probably like if we were doing this show either during the week, next week or afterward, we probably have a little better idea of how they feel about Michael Penix. Although you know, it'll be, you know, the rumors that we hear later because Stefanski is probably not going to say anything on his in his press conference. So they're a fascinating team in that way.
Derek Klassen
Really quickly, the only thing in terms of of these two, obviously I'm not the three teams we've talked about are the Steelers, the Colts and the Atlanta Falcons. Steelers I don't think rise to this level, but I do think the Colts and the Falcons are both really, really good roster still, which we've kind of talked about. If you were ex quarterback, if you were Malik Willis, Kirk Cousins, whoever it is, which of these two teams would you want to play for right now? I know the Colts were awesome last year, but I kind of think I'd rather be the quarterback of the Atlantic Falcons.
Dan Paizuta
Yeah, I think I'm going to be there too now that I'm looking at it. Where you have John Robinson, you potentially Kyle Pitts, Drake London is just like it's so easy to throw to that guy like just wherever he is, like he's just going to come down with it. And this Stefanski offense, which I think has historically made things easier for quarterbacks, where there's going to be a lot of under center play action we're going to boot out and it's going to protect kind of everything still. So I do think the Falcons are interesting, especially in an NFC south that should again be wide open because there's really no good team in that division.
Derek Klassen
That's the other small part of it too. Yeah, it's a little bit more wide open division. So if you're a veteran like oh I can go make my money here. So that's that. I think I'm with you. I'd probably kind of push it just barely. Barely. Barely to the Falcons.
Ad Read Announcer
All right.
Derek Klassen
I think, I think that's where we're at. Did you have any like one or two last teams you wanted to hit or like? That to me was kind of the bucket of teams that are super interesting to me.
Dan Paizuta
Yeah, yeah, I thought so too. I don't really think there is any other. I think there are more interesting quarterbacks who might be coming out some of these like other teams. Like we didn't talk about Spencer Rattler trade who might be, you know, someone.
Derek Klassen
Who, that's, that's a failing on my part. I love it.
Dan Paizuta
Like who could be an option for one of these teams? Like I think there are guys like that who could potentially be the answer for the teams we've already talked about. But I'd be surprised if there was some kind of surprise team that we're looking at who's trying to get another quarterback option.
Derek Klassen
Yeah. Barring the Joe Burrow trades and stuff that some people are non Bengals fans are trying to get out there. That's that probably is it.
Ad Read Announcer
All right.
Derek Klassen
Well, that's it. Dan, thank you so much for joining the show. Is there anything you want to, you know, pump before we get out of here? Anything you want to talk about to the people?
Dan Paizuta
Yeah, you just follow me on Blues Guy Tampazuda. Anything I put out is going to be there. Had off season previews for every team at Yahoo. Sports. You can watch that. And yeah, anything else I put out, it's going to be over on Bluesky.
Derek Klassen
Awesome. Well Dan, thank you for joining the show and everybody thank you for listening and until next time, we'll see you then.
Dan Paizuta
Boost Mobile is now sending experts nationwide to deliver and set up customers new phones.
Boost Mobile Representative
Wait, we're going on tour?
Dan Paizuta
We're delivering and setting up customers phones.
Derek Klassen
It's not a tour, not with that attitude.
Dan Paizuta
Introducing store to door switch and get a new device with expert setup and delivery.
Derek Klassen
Delivery available for select devices purchased@boostmobile.com Security.
Ad Read Announcer
And compliance done wrong is a giant headache. Security and compliance done right? That's vain. Vanta helps you earn trust and speed up growth. No spreadsheets required. For startups low on time and resources, Vanta becomes your first security hire. Using AI and automation to get you compliant fast and unblock big deals for enterprises. Vanta is your AI powered hub for compliance and risk. Bringing together data from across your businesses and automating workflows so you can prove trust at any moment. Vanta scales with you at every stage. That's why top companies from startups like Cursor to enterprises like Snowflake choose Vanta. Do security and compliance right. Get started today@vanta.com tedaudio after the rush of the holidays, what you really want is your space back. Pura is a smart home fragrance system designed to help you feel calm, grounded and at ease without adding one more thing to your routine. Control scent, intensity, schedules and timing right from your phone. And right now get a free Pura Home Diffuser when you subscribe to 2 cents for 12 months, risk free for 30 days. It's restoration made simple. Visit pura.com to get started now.
Date: February 19, 2026
Hosts: Derek Klassen (guest host), Dan Paizuta (guest)
Episode Focus: In-depth analysis of the NFL’s most intriguing open and unsettled quarterback (QB) situations for the 2026 offseason—from team quality and roster support to realistic veteran and rookie options.
This episode breaks from the usual obsession with evaluating quarterback talent and instead takes a hard look at the situations quarterbacks may find themselves in. Host Derek Klassen, joined by guest analyst Dan Paizuta, ranks the half-dozen NFL teams with the biggest QB question marks (plus a few maybes), assessing offensive supporting casts, coaching staffs, roster building opportunities, and the likelihood that various teams can offer successful landing spots for QBs—whether through free agency, trade, or the draft.
[01:01 - 03:49] Derek Klassen & Dan Paizuta
[04:00 - 13:32]
A. Arizona Cardinals [14:06 - 23:46]
B. Las Vegas Raiders [29:28 - 40:50]
[41:12 - 52:11]
[52:52 - 67:39]
A. New York Jets
B. Cleveland Browns
[69:40 - 89:16]
On Kevin O’Connell and maximizing offensive talent:
“Every time Kevin O’Connell has had a veteran, he's gotten the best out of them... all the way down to like the Josh Dobbs and stuff like that…”
— Derek Klassen [11:23]
On Kyler Murray’s strange 2025:
“He had the smallest gap between his worst game and his best game… there was zero range of what he did.”
— Dan Paizuta [20:01]
Miami’s Wild-Card Offensive Identity:
“What are the Dolphins trying to be?”
— Dan Paizuta [41:45]
Jets’ futility stat:
“He did not put up a receiving yard after week six and led the team with 395 receiving yards.”
— Dan Paizuta [55:49]
On the Browns’ cap situation:
“That is a tough spot to be in when you're going to be potentially a fresh quarterback in this league... all five of the starters, their deals are up.”
— Derek Klassen [59:39]
For anyone interested in NFL roster building and the true art of “quarterback development,” this episode is rich in context, skepticism, and practical takeaways—ideal for both football nerds and casual fans wanting a sense of the NFL’s shifting landscape.