Favorite landing spots for the top 2024 NFL free agents | Inside Coverage

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Jason Fitz is joined by Yahoo Sports Senior NFL Reporter Jori Epstein to discuss the latest news around the league as the NFL world prepares for the NFL Combine before diving into their favorite landing spots for the top 2024 free agents. Fitz and Jori start off with Justin Fields’ comments on a podcast about why he unfollowed the Chicago Bears on social media, and the duo discuss whether his explanation is valid or if he was intentionally sending a message. Next, the two hosts prep for the NFL Combine next week by going back and forth on the news that Athletes First will have its clients abstain from cognitive testing and how NFL evaluators might be putting too much stock in what happens in Indianapolis instead of the years of football experience the prospects have put on tape.

Later, Fitz and Jori run down the list of the top available free agents in 2024 and give their ideal landing spots for Kirk Cousins, Chris Jones, L’Jarius Sneed, Baker Mayfield, Josh Allen, Tee Higgins, Brian Burns, Christian Wilkins, Antoine Winfield Jr, Tyron Smith and soon-to-be free agent Russell Wilson.

00:00 – Intro
4:55 – Justin Fields unfollows the Bears on social media
14:05 – NFL Combine & the value of cognitive testing
25:10 – Favorite landing spots for the top 2024 free agents

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Tests are for nerds not quarterbacks we’ll go full Dumb and Dumber so you’re telling me there’s a chance with some huge names and calculated combined comments coming quickly we’ve got all that more I’m Jason Fitz and it’s time for inside coverage welcome to inside coverage part

Of the zero Blitz family where we dive into the how and why on all things NFL she’s Jory Epstein Yahoo sports senior NFL reporter I can learn how to talk tonight I’m Jason Fitz and we are hanging out it’s first time we’ve gotten a hangout since we were in Vegas like

Just getting it’s just raging for anyone that doesn’t like we were just raging it was just absolute uh wild parties or it was all work the whole time which is more along the lines like I started this whole Intro by saying tesser for nerds not quarterbacks that line was just for

You Jory because I am 100% sure that you got a on all the tests like I see I knew this I knew this coming fan big fan test are fun I like challenges like mental challenge physical challenge like you give me a challenge I am in and a test

Is a challeng challenge like I want something that’s going to force me to be my best okay see this is where we are so look we’ll get everybody calm down we’re going to get into some great stuff on the combine we’re going to get to some

Great stuff on free agency but first I’m going to tell you a story Jor a story you didn’t ask for okay but I’m going to take you all the way back to my senior year in high school I took Latin my senior year in high school right and we

Had this scrapbook that you had to spend all year getting all of this information out like from all the different clippings and everything and then you had to translate all these things it was a year-long project it was a huge part of grade I started it the night before

It was due and you know several of my friends that were like you and love Tess told me that I was an idiot and I was going to be terrible this how I did everything I always waited till the absolute last second I’m not saying prepare in advance just because I love

It but continue so I I turn in my scrapbook and the valid dictorian of our class kindly reminds me as I turn it in that it’s going to suck so you fast forward about a week later and the Latin teacher comes in and she’s like hey I

Just want to point out some of the grades and she did all of this very publicly and at the end she holds up my scrapbook and she says there was one scrapbook that was so good I’m taking it to the National Convention this year to show everybody how scrapbook should be

Done see I’m not into tests I’m not into preparing but if you ask me to cram a ton of information in a short amount of time that’s where I thrive so you know like I’m more the pop quiz guy like give me like midnight tell me that I got to

Know something the next day I’m great but by noon I’ve forgotten it all that’s why you’re a great student and I’m just a schmuck I’m definitely with you on just having a little bit of time because I work way better on deadlines it’s not that I just procrastinate it’s that my

Brain constantly wants to do 10 things at once and so I need the deadline to like force the sense of urgency to make that one thing the priority but one of the things I did the last week while we were not talking about football or I was not talking about football is actually

Like read a book I haven’t finished reading it but reading it and it’s all about memory and it’s talked a lot about like how does that allow like the cramming and the different ways we do and don’t remember things so I have like 10 gazillion thoughts about that but I

Don’t know that that’s really what our listeners came to hear no I I had a friend for years that told me that they were going to ride on my Tombstone why do it today if I can do it tomorrow but I think also at the same time like to be

Fair I have a tireless work ethic as you know like I can grind all day long it’s just that like I don’t want to deal with that till I have to deal with it and then when I have to deal with it I want to deal with all of it that that’s just

We’re grinding we’re just grinding on something else yeah 100% all right so let’s get to the news around the leak by the way did you go anywhere fun for your vacation while some of us were still working tirelessly Around the Clock did you did you put your feet in the sand

Did you watch Like a Star Wars from beginning to end did we do anything fun I honestly hiked a lot and I am like very Pro hiking so Outdoors hiking read a book like that’s what I need did not listen to anything football during that stretch and was very happy about it can

We just reveal to the World by the way you’re like two fo three you’re tiny all right you were a tiny individual okay sorry two fo4 and we walked from Mandalay Bay uh to where we had to go to for a meeting that we were walking to

Together and you were like let’s just walk I I’m in pretty good shape at this point in my life like I run every day and I still found myself winded as I was trying to walk like I have much longer legs than you do and you were just like

Like going the whole way so like the really fast one of your friends at the time is like hey everybody’s going on a hike feel free to join I was like the hell I will the chance I’m going to try and hike with somebody that I just

Couldn’t walk on on like level ground with is zero it’s below zero I’m not going to like I cannot imagine hiking with these and I’m just sitting here like dying the whole way and that day we were running that hike too which was like a little bit of a bold move but we

Did it yeah that’s a it’s a bold strategy cotton all right let’s get into the news around the league and it starts as always right now with Justin Fields I feel like Stone producer extraordinaire can just clip off Justin Fields because every week everybody’s going to be

Talking about it but we’re talking about it for valid reason here he uh went on the St Brown Brothers podcast uh and they asked him a very difficult question obviously that they get to ask him because their teammates about unfollowing the Bears on social media

We’ve got it here Stone will play it for you this is rather than paraphrase it will let you hear exactly how it went down with Justin fields on the podcast since wait since we’re here hold on I mean no no no no since we’re here all right come on what’s with the unfollow

With the Bears what’s up with that man bro I’m glad we talking about it cuz people why do people take social media so serious like but like why you why you on following the Bears like I still mess with the Bears and that I’m just trying

To take a little break I I’m follow the Bears and the NFL bro I’m not just trying to have football on my timeline like I know y’all mess with a girl EQ especially you just because you don’t follow the girl on IG don’t mean you’re not messing with her that’s true that’s

True that’s facts that’s facts oh so you’re saying you mess with the Bears there more now the young phone man it’s not even like that it’s something that I don’t want to see my timeline I’m about to go on vacation I don’t want to see no football and guess what just get away

Get a little way for a little bit see the keep fields we want Fields see the drive Caleb so it’s like bro man I’m tired of hearing the talk I just wanted to be over all right Jory I have a lot of thoughts I want to get your thoughts on

This but I got to start here because I think everybody’s missed one important thing people love his analogy of oh you’re messing with the girl just because you don’t follow her on Instagram doesn’t mean you’re messing with her what he’s wrong about is if you are already in a relationship with a

Girl and then you un follow her on social media you think that’s going to go like you think that you’re in a relationship everything’s good and suddenly you press the unfollow button and you ain’t going to get a question from somebody like that’s a part of his analogy that’s absolutely lost because

He’s in a relationship with the Bears and they’re going through a little tough patch and he just unfollowed her so like I don’t see how we can let that skate if I didn’t have this like expensive mic that our boss has got it I would drop it

Right now but I feel like I feel like that would not go over well so just imagine my imaginary mic trap because I think you’re totally right I think that what’s interesting about this is he’s basically being like just because you make one public move doesn’t mean it’s

The same in private but the whole point is we are interpreting this in public he is a public figure he knows that any move is going to be interpreted in the public and if he’s still messing with them well then why bother making this public move also has the man never heard

Of the mute button I totally understand that he doesn’t want to be seeing this news all the time first of all you can stay off social media that he’s going on vacation he should probably stay off it anyway I just think that there are so many other ways to go about this was

This was clearly an intentional move and it was clearly an intentional move that he knew would be publicly interpreted and perhaps even wanted to be publicly interpreted whether that was to give a slight to the Bears or or whether he’s trying to drum up a trade market for

Himself and I think all of those are fair but like to play like oh me like you think just because I’m doing this one thing that reflects all of my actions no we’re not saying this refs all of your actions Justin were saying that you made a very clear decision you

Knew would be interpreted I uh I’ll go back to a long time ago I was in a band that at the time was opening for Kenny roggers and Kenny Rogers was one of the most iconic people I’ve ever been on tour with I learned more in the year

That we did shows with him than I think I did from any other act but we’ve all heard the phrase perception is reality I understand that but I was talking to Kenny one night and I’ll never forget this he said hey perception is the only reality that matters because you helped

Create it and now you have to live in it and there’s an ownership difference in the way that he said that that really hit me and to me well you know we can agree or disagree with the statement Justin Fields has to accept the fact that the perception that he’s now living

In his reality was created by his own actions the fact that he did this he’s been in the league long enough to know that who he follows matters he’s been in the league long enough to know that what he does matters he’s been in the league

Long enough to know that this was going to create conversations so to your point could have muted could have just gotten and could have deleted social media off his phone if he chooses not to do those things he could have found other ways to not acknowledge the bears but he had to

Know that the minute he unfollowed the Bears even if he unfollowed the NFL 2 it was going to create a conversation and now he can’t come around and be like oh why do you guys care so much well I mean we care so much for the exact reasons

You knew we would care I also love that like well if I unfollow this girl but I also unfollow that girl then I think that it’s okay no then delete your social media if you want have that perception I I think all of this speaks to right now the the the toughest thing

To say sometimes is nothing at all and it’s the best thing there’s no like this is unfortunate for Justin like I genuinely feel for Justin Fields because I’m sure he has a lot he wants to get off his chest and there’s very little win in doing any of that because he’s

Right he doesn’t know his future and he doesn’t control his future so if he comes out and goes scorched Earth with the Bears that’s not going to make anything better and if he comes out and says all the right things things it’s not going to change what happens so he’s

Left sort of flopping in the wind and I get why that sucks but you have to understand that even when that sucks any action is going to be overanalyzed so you know short of the Bears coming out and making a very public statement that I don’t think they would make before the

Draft anyway that Justin Fields is our quarterback short of that happening nothing in his life is going to change between now and April because he’s not going to get clear answers from anybody there’s no way they’re going to trust him with even the real information because don’t want it to get out for

Their own trade value right so like I just think he’s going to be left sort of standing at this point and there’s nothing he can do about it right I think you make two great points one is that he didn’t unfollow them in a month or right

Before the draft he unfollowed them now and there’s a lot of time left before we might see a move we could see a move sooner but not necessarily and then the other thing is that like yes the best thing to do is say nothing at all like

Let’s get Justin a journal let’s take him axe throwing let’s give him all of these different ways like letbe punch a pillow there are a lot of ways we can get our feelings out that said if he was going to make a move and he was like

Look like this sucks this is not fun they didn’t give me the right pieces around me and now I’m the one who’s having to leave because of it then I do think there’s a case to be made that like maybe this is a good thing like if he needed to do something publicly

Because he felt like my Pride’s at stake and especially as a quarterback like your reputation matters you’re a leader all of that I think that a team would hold it against him if he came out of went scor Shir A team’s not holding against him who he follows and unfollows

On social media and I don’t even really think they’re going to see it as a sign of IMM maturity I don’t think they care and so in that regard like maybe he did this well maybe he was just enough that it’ll plate him he can talk about it in

A funny way and a humorous way on this podcast and then go along and now let’s take him Max throwing to make sure that the next thing doesn’t happen as a reporter though and that’s what you’re like let’s be real I’m I’m just a guy in

Front of a Mike you’re a reporter as a reporter would it not have been smarter for him if we’re going to play out the right way to do this to put out a statement the day that all this is happening and saying hey my love for

Chicago and the Bears runs deep but the energy being put towards my future is toxic and difficult for my mental health as a result I’m going to unfollow the NFL and Chicago Bears to unCloud my timeline if you go proactive oh like that that’s just the world we live in

Like if you if you’re one step ahead and you walk out and you’re like yeah sorry this is going to happen and here’s exactly why does it not end the questions does that not feel like over kill like he didn’t go like egg someone’s house he unfollowed them on

Social media but if he really doesn’t want people to freak out about it I mean I don’t think he cares that I I think he knows people are freaking out about it but I don’t think he’s like oh I really regret this I mean yes could I mean look

I think the bigger question is who is he trying to win over here is he trying to win over the fans is he trying to win over his next fan base is he trying to win over NFL teams I think if you want to buy yourself favor like Lamar Jackson

Probably did the thing that like seemed to win him the most empathy from the fans when he’s like Baltimore I love you but I asked for a trade because they’re not giving me what I want like the way he just tweeted it out I will say that

When Lamar spoke directly to the fans then that seemed to really resonate I also will say as a reporter who is constantly threatened by athletes talking directly to fans and not going to us I think that they should go through Yahoo sports and if they give a

Statement to Yahoo sports we could do a video interview we could do a written article I think that is the best way to be proactive here now there’s no self-interest in that statement At All by the way that is absolutely true um by the way while we’re me help you help me

It’s amazing like it’s amazing how that works and just check out Yahoo sports for all of the athletes talking directly to us that will come from this this is this is uh perfectly done by you yeah if you’re listening out there and you have a message j.in Yahoo in.com Yahoo Ian

See okay continue okay that now You’ thrown that out there you’re going to get so many uh all right uh speaking of quarterbacks uh I think this one is interesting to me because the combine is coming up next week you and CR will be there so we’ll have plenty of reporting

From it on next week’s episode I do think it’s interesting because athletes first which represents CJ strout has advised all clients to skip the the combine’s cognitive testing I want to remind people that last year going into the draft there was a lot of conversation about the fact that CJ st’s

Scored poorly on the test and then came in and absolutely whooped at the NFL level it was an interesting conversation because last year everybody was trying to figure out I think we forget you know that people tried to have their questions about CJ’s trout for whatever

He did at the college level there were people that weren’t 100% sure and this cognitive test became part of this negative conversation about CJ whether it was the way he processes information all these stupid things that turned out to not have anything to do with it so I

Don’t really blame athletes first for saying hey number one we’ve proven that this test is useless to actual success on the field number two I’m not going to put any of my guys through it yeah I think what’s interesting is that I believe athletes first has enough power

To take down this test if they want to they’ll have to decide if they want to take the test down and I mean like topple it like fight it versus not actually just like remove it um or if they want to say like we’re not doing it

You guys do what you want but like that matters they have a lot of top clients they have a lot of quarterbacks in particular and you could say that the way that the quarterback reads the field is most important of every position I think that’s probably accurate but I

Think is interesting is that Daniel Jeremiah from NFL Network did a call today and there were a lot of interesting takeaways but one of them that stood out is when he was talking about CJ strout he said he had not seen anybody process the field as clearly and

As confidently as CJ stad did in their first year in the league like ever like and again I know a bunch of us know that but to me when I hear someone like Jeremiah say it who I just really trust the way he evaluates I think that’s

Fascinating and I think it’s not just that this test was like a little bit off or that it was unhelpful or that it was neutral it was misdirection if you were to follow it assuming that the report was accurate about CJ strad score and so I think we struggle with this idea like

I was asking Jeremiah today like how have you seen uh quarterback evaluation evolve over the last 10 years like what’s different now versus then and he was saying well like think because because you look at the Super Bowl and you have Brock pie on one side and Patrick Mahomes on the other

And they came from the first round a top a premier first round pick and then you have the obvious last pick of the draft Mr Irrelevant and both of them end up in the Super Bowl I’m not saying they’re the same level of quarterback but they

Did both take their teams to the Super Bowl and so I think then you start to ask yourself like what are we valuing where are the common threads generally and DJ said he’s just hearing a lot of teams who say like experience in college and Readiness and being the more that is

Thrown at them the better like that is increasingly becoming a premium and the evaluation process it’s not just about like the upside like how taly it is the traits like yeah for sure that matters but that’s always mattered and I think the experience is starting to catch up

To it and so I think that what what we struggle with a test like this is that a test like this is such a specific piece of information and it’s also like no guarantee it’s not here’s what they play like at some point just look at the film

But we have this this process where we have analytics now we have digital media there’s more accessibility to film than ever before different ways to watch film and so teams are constantly trying to keep up but sometimes more information is not better information and they need

To still use all of this as ancillary supporting evidence rather than the main thing and the last thing I’ll say about this is I I think that what will be interesting is if athletes first makes this decision one do other big agencies like a clutch or like a like a clutch or

A CA are they going to advise their clients similarly and how much of a girl does that does an NFL team having it because you might not have your guy just take it preemptively but what if an NFL team says like hey I want you to take it

Are you really going to tell your client do not take this when a team tells you to take it because what if that team has two guys and one of them’s willing to take it and they view that I mean again do I think that’s going to like really

Make her break a draft position no but do I think that you’re risking something when there’s already such a competitive field I do think it’s a risk I love your your very middle statement there that I think is an important one of watching the film and you know one thing that

Always stood out to me when I first started covering the draft was if you go in and you just talk to guys that don’t they don’t cover the NFL they they cover college football and you go in and you ask questions of the guys that cover

College football you get a real sense of who these players are up and down and then you can apply that from the film that they’ve watched to whether or not you think it works in the NFL I think one of the the I don’t want to say

Problems but one of the things that makes draft evaluation tougher and tougher you have a million people out there that are cramming so much film in so little time and then putting out snap judgments as opposed to somebody that’s been covering college football for 15 years and has seen every snap of this

Guy’s career I just think it hits different and it’s one of the reasons why I always consider myself sort of an aggregator of information when you talk about guys instead of sitting here you know when will Levis last year was being rumored to climb all the way up to the

First overall pick by some people all you had to do is talk to the 10 or 15 people that was around constantly will Levis and you got a real sense of okay he’s probably an early second round pick and these are the things he’s good at these are the things

He’s not good at like the the college guys have a better sense of all of that I think what’s interesting is that we just we get into over analysis in so much of what we’re seeing and this cognitive test is a perfect example of

It watch the film on CJ St go back like I was there for the Ohio state Georgia game where he just absolutely crushed him and I think it was the sixth game I’d been at of his that year and you start to to look at these things in

Person and you say my God like there are no questions I was standing on the sideline when Joe burrow won a national championship I looked at one of my buddies we’d seen several games that year and I kept saying this guy why are we not talking about him the way we talk

About Andrew Luck like I think sometimes what happens in the draft process and at the combine is we fall in love with attributes more than just what a player has actually done and that’s that’s the hardest thing to avoid in Indie and it’s going to be interesting because the

Other thing that I think is really important and different right now to what you said earlier these guys are old and they’ve played more football than most classes because of Co that gives you more tape on anybody like you can have you go on one date with somebody

You might fall four dates with somebody you think it’s great by the time you get the 20th date maybe it’s not as good I think film sometimes is the same way like when you have more and more and more you really get to see who B knck is

As a quarterback right like teams are going to get over obsessed with the interview but I would just challenge that there’s more film than ever on these guys just go watch the film and figure out like does this guy fit in my system right and I think it’s hard

Because Daniel Jeremiah was actually talking today about how the hardest thing to evaluate is how the guy is seeing the field and so then you’re saying like how is he being coached to see it what is his read like what’s the system telling him it’s not just about

How he’s thinking it’s about how he’s thinking within the confines of the system does he have his protection does he have the right pass catchers does he have a play caller who’s calling the plays in a right order in the best way I mean is his play caller setting him up

For success and so I actually think a bigger obstacle to the draft I don’t know about a bigger obstacle but I would say one of the things that I think is actually interrupting the draft process is that guys are getting set up with agencies who are so massively over

Coaching them and maybe you say well hey if you’re going to have to study for a test in the real league and you’re going to have to like get the Playbook then you’re studying for the test for the combine and it works like great like Fitz we already talked about what it

Means to cram but to me and I I I talked about this at the Senior Bowl when I interviewed Michael penx Jr and he actually answered my question when I asked him like what was he breaking down for a team on film and what kind of questions were they asking him in their

Senior Bowl interviews and he’s like well was a six uh I think it was like a drop Six whatever he got into the entire coverage what his route was on one side for the receiver what it was on the other how it changed based on his protections how it changed based on what

The defender did here’s what he had to read from the linebacker I mean he had this whole level of detail and the clip kind of went viral I didn’t realize at the time that apparently he doesn’t usually give detail answers cuz like I don’t watch college football so I I just

Think it was interesting because it kind of reminded me of like we’ve gotten into this like super sanitized super staged super scripted um cycle of of the draft evaluation process and if I were teams I would want to know is there any way to make this more authentic like stop One

Stop expecting guys to have the perfect answers to the test and more try and get them to like get in the moment and I know in some of these interviews they are having conversations where it’s like hey you don’t know what what’s going to be be asked and so you can’t be prepped

For it but I feel like there are probably ways in which the combine prep not only does it disservice to the team’s ability to evaluate but also a disservice to the players I’m probably going to have agents who are not so happy about this but I think it’s true

No I mean that makes a lot of sense and the process is in some ways broken because one thing that is just undeniable is that the draft is a crapshoot right and I I would like to believe that there are 32 head coaches I’d like to believe that most of them

Are incredibly qualified and know more football than most of us will ever know in our lives I would like to believe that 32 GMS are the same way the people that have come up through the scouting World they know more than you know Twitter X is ever going to know about

These things they live it they eat it they breathe it they feed their families doing it how do they get it wrong so often and and anytime your accuracy rate is that low when it comes to something like look I’m not going to say that I’m

An expert on a lot of things but I’ll go back to music like if you had me stand on the side of a stage and watch a festival all day and ask me at the end of the day to figure out if guitar players were good or bad doesn’t matter

The kind of music they’re playing been doing that my whole life I can look around and say yeah he’s pretty good he stinks he’s being covered up by tracks he knows what he’s doing like you should be able to do that and if you put 20 of

Us on the side of the stage we’d all be able to do that I cannot for the life of me figure out how so many gms’s coaches and Scouts get it so wrong when it comes across the board with first rounders second rounders third round all across

The draft it just it’s so impossible for teams to get it right it it alarms me that they’ve never sat back and said how do we make this process cleaner so that more teams can be more successful in the draft so uh with that being said we’re

Going to make some matches we’re going to be free agent millionaire matchmakers we are about to make teams and dreams come true we’re going to do that when we come back it is time to play Celebrity Millionaire Matchmaker uh that’s the working title it is the working title

Jory and I are about to be matchmakers let me be clear we are matching top free agents or top potential free agents people that may be on the Move we are going to match them with where we want them to go not necessarily reporting it

Like I know this is a show based on reporting C Rob’s out when you know when C Rob’s out we can just get weird when when when he’s gone we can do whatever we want uh so we’re going to get weird and we’re going to decide where each of

These prospective movements should end up and I should never say movements like that it just feels weird the whole way so uh we’re going to be celebrity millionaire matchmakers here I’ll give you a player we’ll figure out where we want them to end up are you ready Jory I

Am ready and I think that these players should get ready because they’re about to have the best match they’ve ever received okay oh oh I’m I’m I’m color me intrigued all right let’s start with KK cousins because every conversation has to starts with quarterback so that people listen and they click uh Kirk

Cousins uh coming off of an Achilles injury so for the sake of this conversation Jordan we’re going to pretend that Kirk has magically healed he got you just got kissed by the the Achilles Gods uh aod uh went out there Aon went out there and and made sure he

Was healthy he’s healthy while you figure it out I’ll give you a dream scenario for Kirk Cousins and we’re not factoring salary cap in here I think if kurk cousins wanted to go somewhere where he could immediately have impact he goes to Denver hear me out he gets to

Play with Shan he gets to play for Shawn pton and Shawn Payton gets a veteran quarterback that can sort of run all of this offense through him and it buys them time to figure out what they’re doing like the Broncos don’t have a viable answer so In This Moment kurk

Cousins has made so much money he decides he just wants to play for vet minimum doesn’t matter they bring in Kirk Cousins they get themselves out of salary cap hell he gets to play for Shawn Payton for a year has a glorious time in Denver enjoys the the the cold

Weather there and goes into the AFC West that’s a that’s sort of a dream scenario for him I think okay I like that especially because it’s so important to pton that he has someone who can process quickly at the line that I feel like Kirk definitely meets that criteria I’m

Going to send him to Pittsburgh I know that like ma Rudolph did well at the end of the year but I feel like you got I think Kirk is an overachiever relative to what people think he is and I also think Mike Tomlin is clearly that and I

Just would love to see like their stars collide and like what can we do now and like how can he kind of like teach everyone else on the offense it doesn’t necessarily have to be for 10 years he doesn’t have to be your long-term answer

I don’t know how many more years he even wants to play but I think that you put in there you let him sort of be an adult in the room in the offense that I think really needs an adult in the room and I think that the Steelers are now more

Competitive in the AFC and they were AFC North than they were before I I love that and I don’t really know what the right answer is for the Steelers as I say Kurt Cousins somewhere else because you know I I mean look Justin Fields isn’t part of this conversation we

Started the show talking about Justin Fields if I had a dream location for Justin Fields is probably Atlanta uh so I’m not sure who the dream person is but man the Steelers got to find somebody cuz like Kenny picket is not the answer you gotta find you got to find somebody

So I like I like that a lot all right next on the list the biggest name in free agency that’s not a quarterback for most people Chris Jones uh obviously coming off of a Super Bowl that you could argue he helped win so dream destination for Chris Jones I’ll I’ll

Say here Jory that in my mind the dream destination for him is that he stays where he is I I I just think what happens in that defense with spags is incredible uh for if you’re Kansas City you know you can lose a lot but you

Don’t want to lose that piece like it just feels like this is one of those moments where they’d like to see other people for a minute and then they end up back together like Chris Jones with the Chiefs makes too much sense to me right I think it’s funny because I know we

Consider doing a version of this game where it was percentage likelihood that each player was going to stay and to me Chris Jones was uh like I 67% chance he was going to stay and that’s because like it’s kind of like last year like like you said they like to test the

Waters they like to get close neither side wants to budge he sat out the first game and they lost to the Detroit Lions who by the way turned out to be pretty good but in the end they figured out and both of them know like Chris Jones wants

To win a Super Bowl your best chance at winning a Super Bowl is with the Kansas City Chiefs the Kansas City Chiefs want to win a Super Bowl your best chance of doing so is with Chris Jones when you think about like what you said there are

Players that they can lose but I do not view this as a Tyreek Hill situation where you can afford to let him go I think you can’t afford to let Patrick Mahomes go you keep Travis Kelce as long as you can and you keep Chris Jones and

After that like yeah there are players you’re probably going to have to lose you see what you can finesse by the way Mahomes is giving them a better deal than most quarterbacks are giving their teams and a deal with a lot of flexibility that they can maneuver the

Cap Chris Jones do go anywhere that said if we’re going like dream sent him to the Cowboys they just need someone up the middle who can blow things up that’s been a weakness for them for years it’s kind of gone up and down they dra they drafted Mazy Smith last year hoping to

Fix that but if you’re telling me you have Micah Parsons off the edge you have Demarcus Lawrence on the other end and you have Chris Jones blowing up the middle I don’t know how it doesn’t even matter who your defensive coordinator own by the way you have Mike Zimmer

Scheming him up like get a guy like that and I think that that can put the Cowboys over the top it’s not going to happen but I think Cowboys Eagles like those NFC east teams definitely could really use him and I think he I think he would have a lot of personal success

There yeah that’s a great call by you I I yeah you say cowboys and I say yeah that that’s the sort of thing that like super Dream Team we’d all have our eyes on uh lerus sne corner for Kansas City obviously belongs in Vegas he just won a

Super Bowl there now he goes back to Vegas where he starts for my beloved Raiders this seems simple the Raiders need help at corner uh lerus need by signing him over there it makes one of their Arch Rivals weaker at a key position and he goes from having Chris

Jones blow everything up in front of him which helps to having Max Crosby do at lerus se not only do I think he should go I think the Raiders will be aggressive in trying to figure out a way to bring lerus need over if he’s not franchised and isn’t at all attainable

So there we go like lerus need to the Raiders make it happen um I’ll send him to Seattle I think they’ve already got some really good young corns and like why don’t we just like pack it there like to have them just be it’s not exactly legion of boom based on the

Positions but why don’t we just have them have like the best secondary in the league see what they can do you have that then when you’re going against your conference you’re going against Kyle Shanahan like you have all these Corners who are going to mess it up you’re going

Against Shawn McVey same thing like I’m sending him to Seattle to give them a chance in the NFC West yeah I like and Seattle is going to I mean this is sort of a massive rebuild for Seattle Seattle on the defensive side of the ball so I

Like that a lot Baker Mayfield I look I talked to him at the Super Bowl and I asked him what was different this year and what I thought was interesting was he was pretty transparent about the pressure that he felt in Cleveland what it meant to have to be everything to

Everybody in that organization the outside noise that you couldn’t help but feel because of the expectations and the difference in Tampa where he just came in and was sort of allowed to be himself in a system that already existed I it resonated so much with me that I just

Think not only do I think he will stay in Tampa I want him to stay in Tampa like the version of Baker Mayfield I talked to in Vegas was one that was very comfortable and happy and you could see that and like I don’t think there’s any

Amount of money that he the difference in whatever he would get paid somewhere else that would be worth adding that extra stress so I keep Baker Mayfield in Tampa Bay yeah I think my thing with Baker in Tampa is that if you’re Tampa you should want him again because he

Played really well you thought you were looking for a quarterback you thought he was a bridge he totally surpassed your expectations and having that answer to quarterback it’s not about having a top five you have like a top 15 quarterback that’s a pretty big deal in any Division

And especially in a division that has a lot of room for opportunity and then if you’re another team in the league well Baker stayed healthy but the issue in the other years is he wasn’t so can he stay healthy again oh by the way Dave Canalis isn’t there anymore so with the

New OC can he still do it and I think almost like I wonder if they would franchise tag him because if you franchise tag Baker you as the Buccaneers and everybody else like for Baker he can go bet on himself which he’s already done and he’s done very

Well last year if you’re the bucaneers you’re not yet committing to him long term but you’re paying him High I mean I don’t know what the franchise tag will be but it’ll be a lot more than he made this year and so I think that that’s

Kind of like a win-win of Baker showing whether he can stay healthy and like produce with a different offensive coordinator at that level back toback years all right now we go to the other Josh I feel bad what are the chances that you’d be named Josh Allen you’d be

Picked high in the NFL draft you’d be a super start at your position and your whole career you’d be the other Josh Allen I’m just saying uh Josh Allen sackmaster from Jacksonville to me you mentioned a team earlier that I think needs him that’s the Eagles the Eagles

Got to find a way to get after the quarterback they did not do it last year I think they’re sack number off the top of my head dropped from 72 years ago to 43 if I remember it correctly last year so you’re talking about a massive drop off they couldn’t get pressure across

The defensive line new coordinator comes in maybe that fixes some of it but I think all of these defensive lineman Josh Allen Brian Burns they’re all in play for the Eagles I think the Eagles are going to be aggressive but I also like the idea of them being like we all

Know they got huge Mammoth like giant men in the middle but they need some help getting after the quarterback so I like Josh Allen for the Eagles I’m sending him to the Atlanta Falcons I think you have Rahe Moore scheming up this defense now they were last in the

League in pass rush win rate last year they they need some help and they also have a lot of strong pieces on offense like get yourself a couple strong defenses and I also trust that if Atlanta gets him like look at the guys that they got last year on that defense

Look at the moves they made I mean Jesse Bates was such a great move I think that we can trust them to get it right again all right so next up T Higgins wide receiver this one’s easy if I’m just putting him wherever I want I’m I’m sending T to Jacksonville where he

Reunites with college teammate Trevor Lawrence because I just like college quarterbacks and college wide receivers hanging out together I feel like there’s a nice little bond to it I tried to sucker Trevor Lawrence into uh you know Breaking All the Rules and openly recruiting T he wouldn’t he wouldn’t

Take the bait but yeah I like T Higgins only because that would be etn and Trevor Lawrence and T Higgins all together so you basically have like Clems in the NFL right there I like that so a fun story for T Higgins okay I know that this is a

Little unrealistic but can we send te to Kansas City can we give him to Patrick Mahomes like Patrick Mahomes deserves him after this year I know deserves him while he just weighs his hand down with more Super Bowl rings and he deserves a better wide good Lord go okay how about

This if Travis Kelsey retires which I don’t think he’s going to but when I we asked him after the Super Bowl he was not willing to confirm that he would be back in the way that Andy Reid was like yeah sure I am coming back um what if

Travis Kel’s out then would you give Patrick Mahomes t no I I don’t I think Patrick Mahomes has had I can’t say how do you really feel like Patrick Mahomes has all the hardware he needs at this point he doesn’t need any more like if he goes

The rest of his career and doesn’t win another Super Bowl he’s still one of the alltime greats he’s still one of the greatest to ever do it he still has a whole mantle full of trophies it’s time to share okay I get that you’re the K

The NFL to be fun you to you fun as parody it’s not chasing greatness and it’s not allowing great quarterbacks to be able to just have like insane highlights every week no look I’m all in for that if he plays in the NFC just get

Him out of fine if you you know what T Higgins can go to the Chiefs if the Chiefs trade Patrick Mahomes to anybody in the NFC so I don’t have to watch it twice a year like this is this is purely my own life no like yes there’s there is never

Going to be a per I why that didn’t catch on initially I was like why are you so against watching greatness yeah I’m against watching because because you have to play it twice a year and if I remember correctly your your team is going to have a Patrick Mahomes

Plan yeah yeah yeah the plan the plan on Patrick Mahomes T is just to hang on for dear life and hope to God it’s like a rodeo you’re hoping you can get to eight seconds but there’s no promises that’s that’s the real momes plan all right now

That you’ve given me more reason to drink on Sundays uh Brian Burns defensive lineman extraordinaire it looked like he was going to try and get his way out of Carolina a couple of times if I’m making a dream scenario for him honestly like the the team we

Haven’t mentioned yet that I think would have been a good fit also for T Higgins as I look back Brian Burns to the Patriots like the Patriots need a complete influx of talent at this point like the Patriots are not good and I like this is no longer about bich and

Brady like now we can close that whole chapter of discussion and ask ourselves moving forward what makes the Patriots very good I think the Patriots have need at almost every position on the field and I think the Patriots are going to have to be very aggressive at how to

Figure out how to be more talented quickly because right now they’re Left Behind compared to the bills compared to the Dolphins compared even to the Jets I think clearly right now the Patriots are a bottom feeder in the AFC for the foreseeable future go out and get you

Somebody that can help I I definitely think you make a compelling argument and I think gerro Mayo would also be very happy if your argument comes true I’m saying like what if we get him to Chicago just load up the Chicago defense that had a lot of promise and just

Continue the Carolina Chicago situation you might be a little afraid cuz the last time you made a trade with Chicago it did not go well for you but like hey I they might have a little bit of capital they might have something they can give you back maybe something that

You gave them it’s sort of like a little gift exchange situation like sent to Chicago uh look I don’t mind that like Chicago’s got yet again it feels like Chicago has money to do some things so let’s see what they can do with it all right Christian Wilkins comes up next on

Our list and I’m surprised he’s so low on the list celebrity Matchmaker here again uh I’m going to to just take because look I my my beloved Raiders have some needs I know that they don’t have a ton of money to be able to do all of this but I’m putting Wilkins right

There next to Max Crosby now all of a sudden we got lerus Sneed Max Crosby Christian Wilkins bam that’s how you get yourself into the playoffs right doesn’t matter who’s play like you and I might be splitting snaps at quarterback but still at least you give yourself a a

Fighting Chance there I like Christian Wilkins uh by the way I don’t I wish that the the Dolphins were in a financial situation to keep him it’ll be interesting to see if they can because I think he’s a great fit where he is and it’s very good but if he’s going

Somewhere else I’ll I’ll put him with my beloved Raiders I’m curious if you’re the Dolphins do you worry that like he played great already and it wasn’t enough on defense it wasn’t enough to keep your coordinator there wasn’t enough to stop teams like how much do

You worry about that I think you worry a lot about that like but this is where like this is what becomes always difficult in this conversation like where’s the line between having great players and getting great results right so I think that across the board becomes so difficult because there are several

Teams like if you’re the Vikings what are you doing right now if you can’t figure out your quarterback situation with the fact that you have one of the two or three best wide receivers in the league like that’s not going to be enough to win you games but you also

Can’t just let him walk right like so I think it that’s the really hard thing about every position other than quarterback is greatness doesn’t necessarily equate wins from Individual positions yeah I think that I am sending Christian Wilkins to Washington I think that the commanders got of some

Defensive linemen they now have a defensive minded coach who’s going to need some guys and who also has like a defensive line first background obviously he’s been a coordinator obviously Dan Quinn’s been a head coach but he needs guys who can just go blow things up and he also really values

Character he really values team leadership and I think Christian Wilkins has always been that type of guy and I think you bring Christian Wilkins into that room and he’s the type of guy who could just sort of like Dan gives them the message and Christian gets everyone

To do it like you need it to be a players up mentality and I think that the commanders have room to desire in terms of having that that that roster presence I love that that’s a really good fit by you uh Antoine Winfield Jr safety comes up next on the list I would

Put him with the Rams because the Rams defensive secondary was just not good I was just working on some stuff for Yahoo that’s going to be out there about different teams in their one big thing that they’re looking at this offseason and the one big thing the Rams need to

Address is their defense right they they’ve got some issues so I put Winfield in l and I continue to shore up like well here’s what we know Shawn McVey is going to be able to turn anybody into a superstar on the offensive side of the ball and they do a great job drafting

Over there too so they can they can put that energy and money into Winfield Jr who’s an immediate impact player for the Rams I’m sending antoan Winfield to the Giants I want to pair him with Xavier McKenna pair him with a couple of other really strong players you’ve got your

Guys up front now you’ll have them in the back and I think that like if you want to stop the Cowboys offense if you want to stop the Eagles offense you need a little bit more Firepower helps sort of Muddy that that back field so that Jaylen Herz makes mistakes Dak Prescott

Makes mistakes and I think he could really help the Giants all right so Tyron Smith is next on our list uh and and this is kind of funny to me because frankly I’ve been saying this all year with you but like there aren’t 32 Caliber starting caliber offensive

Tackles in the NFL right now right like there just aren’t so like it is so rare that somebody that can play comes out I mean look I’d love to put him almost anywhere but we do know the Kansas City’s offensive line had some needs so even though I don’t want to help the

Chiefs bring in an offensive line w wow hypocrit do we have like a hypocrite alarm we could sound over here I’m trying to be professional D Higgins no no no give them Tyron Smith I’m trying to be professional I’m trying to you know I I’m trying to be somewhat

Professional as I you know okay I got no excuse for it if he could go anywhere else that’s I like I just think Kansas City that feels real because that’s such a need for the Chiefs right now so I can’t let my my desire for the Chiefs to

Implode outweigh the just the fact that this makes all the sense of the world like stacking the Lego bricks on this one it builds a castle when he’s with the Chiefs okay I think that Tyron Smith is gonna have a decision to make and it’s

Does he want to max out his earnings or does he want to stay with the Cowboys I think that he’s been very happy there he’s been there for a while they’ve stuck with him through injuries he also gave them a massive discount cuz he signed such a long deal when he signed

It that it quickly became below market rate and he played really well last year but you also have also have to remember that even though he played well last year he played 13 games and I’ll give him that that at 33 years old he turned 33 during the season he was playing 13

Games but in 2022 he was healthy for four in 2021 he was healthy for 11 in 2020 he was healthy for two before he had season ending surgery and I think the Cowboys cannot afford to break the bank room or even really give him like Market average salary I think that they

Would have to need some sort of like slightly below Market maybe average at best salary to justify keeping him around I think that the Cowboys probably need to look to the draft of the offensive line I think they should make it a premium last year when they took

Mazy Smith in the first round they were looking at Syracuse and Matthew Matthew berson and they did not pass or they did not take him and I think that that was something that there were times when dax’s protection was really breaking down but I think that um the Cowboys for

A while were differentiating themselves by being an outstanding offensive line that was what they had different in a league of parody and I think that they do need to invest more than they have but I don’t think that they can rely on Tyron Smith given where they’re at all

Right let’s do one more even though he’s not actually a free agent Russell Wilson is likely to be on the move so Russell Wilson I personally would put on the New England Patriots everybody keeps saying the Steelers and I get why but here’s the thing even if the Patriots stay at

Three and draft a quarterback I think the Patriots are a viable candidate to try and trade down the more I keep hearing that the more I wonder if if somebody’s going to give up a king’s Ransom and like I said earlier they need talent all over the place so if you’re

Russ like look if you if they draft a quarterback you might want to give that person a little bit of time to develop while the roster gets better if you don’t draft a quarterback Russ is better than ma Jones M Jones is not good so give yourself the opportunity to at

Least bring Russ in and he can be so he can be Russ in that New England locker room and it works I don’t think his personality Works in every locker room but I think if you’re going into New England that’s probably one where it’s like hey they can all roll their eyes

And get behind Russ so I think I think Russ to the Patriots makes sense okay I really like that your point about the Patriot Way and R like both of those could work I do think that it’s a little bit hinging upon Bill Bell’s Patriot Way

And I think Geron Mayo does not want to have that same sort of Patriot Way and so I think that that’ll be interesting to see if does it still work as well in the ger Mayo era and it’s really too soon to tell I’m wondering when I look

At the Minnesota Vikings like yeah they need a quarterback they’re not going to keep C cousins at scenes and they’re not drafting until 11 could they move up sure they could and I had conversations with their general manager quam Mena a couple years ago about sort of the T the

Championship Talent threshold that you need and what you need to do to get the Patrick Mahomes or Tom Brady who could win you repeated Super Bowls um but I think when I look at what Kevin oconnell did with Josh jobs when I look at what he did with all of these different

Quarterbacks last year I think that Kevin oconnell one is extremely easy to get along with and so like you take the Shawn Payton problems like yeah Shawn Payton is notoriously not easy to get along with very good at his job but also very hard to get along with and you put

Russ in a situation where he has a lot left in the tank you’re put in with Justin Jefferson T.J hackinson you got a defense that can help support you you’re going against a division that is a little bit different than the one as you well know that he was going against in

Denver and I think that there could be a lot of potential I know you have to Troy in that division but I think that you put them in Minnesota and they should definitely be a playoff team the question is just how far they go I actually like that a lot especially

Because it does take a minute to pick up that oconnell offense right so bringing in somebody that has a lot of experience makes sense I think we just made matches for the ages like I I I want to say maybe some of our best matchmaking work

I you know I feel like we figured it all out and now when free agency starts in a couple of weeks there’s no need to even pay attention just come back and reference this and be like did we did we predict you know the the the proper perfect match because whatever is out

There won’t be good as good as what we just did especially all the Raiders moves just FYI just especially the Raiders moves no I mean the way I look at matchmaking is that I like to tell my friends if there are two good people who I think might have something in common

This is what one My Friends Ask me like hey do you think I should get set up with so and so I’m like I think you’re great I think you guys have to decide if you’re compatible so I think what we’re doing here is we’re saying like hey you

Guys should really think about this go out on a date meet up at the combine find your spot have these conversations then you can decide but like we we see something in you we see the potential we see the common threads the common values that shared Foundation that you could

Build now you go take it and make something beautiful out of it are you are you ready for the chaos known as Indie next week can you ever be ready for the chaos known as Indie next week no you don’t strike me as the type like like are we

Eating the spicy shrimp cocktail sauce like why does everybody always have to eat the spicy shrimp cocktail sauce on TV and tweet about it right the funny thing is I’m like obsessed with ginger so like spicy like that type of strong stuff I’m all for but I don’t eat shrimp

So I will not be having the shrimp cocktails but I do tend to stay pretty late at Prime um I actually like shout out to Lisa is the general manager of prime Stakehouse which is where everybody stays super late and she’s figured out the system of like look

You’re not supposed to keep a place open after 2:00 in the morning in Indianapolis but she’ll close the curtains sort of like have this opportunity for people to be there like just don’t do anything stupid and if she were to get a ticket it would be less expensive

Than the amount of money she’s able to make after 2:00 in the morning at Prime and her other brilliant move um this is a pro Lisa from Prime podcast um her other brilliant move is she knows that people get hungry at the end of the night but she’s not going to reopen her

Kitchen from the steakhouse like six hours after she closed it so they put out a big old box of Uncrustables multiple flavors and that way they have something ready to go it’s like actual sustenance to help people so her up who are drinking and um yeah it’s it’s just

Really good new so shout out to Leisa from Prime are we grape or strawberry with our Uncrustables again I can’t have Uncrustables I can’t have gluten so I’m like so the wrong person to ask do they make they don’t make a gluten-free version of the uncrustable not yet that

Might be our next business opportunity but I I do think like I just I just think that it’s like brilliant you know like you don’t need to get some people something crazy you don’t need to make them mistak in the morning that’s not what they want like they want pizza they

Want Uncrustables like she’s got it down uh by way she even had a plan if they were going to move the combine out of Indie to do a popup Prime wherever it happens my God uh I don’t know if this is like really boring to evone who

Listens or if this is like great behind the scenes but I just think it’s fantastic this is spectacular and you know Stone will probably just cut all this out anyway uh gluten-free reminds me have you ever had the gluten-free mini Nothing Bunt Cakes no okay so it’s

A chain called Nothing Bunt Cake and they’re like mini bun yeah and they make little chocolate chip uh Bunt Cakes that are gluten-free and it has the cream cheese icing on it CH I mean it is I’m telling you if you did not know that it was gluten-free you wouldn’t know it was

Gluten-free and they are delightful like they they are absolutely I’m just telling you is somebody that hasou just just haven’t and then text me just thank you that’s all you have to do is just text me thank you yeah we’ll do a bun cake review on the next pod one bite you

Know the rules all right I’m back Monday with zero Blitz obviously hanging out follow us on social media Jason Fitz atj abstein SJ Rell Stone behind the glass doing God’s work uh trying to to listen to all of our conversation about shrimp cocktail sauce so give him some love and

Don’t forget to help us support terz paylor’s Legacy all you got to do is visit breaking tea.com ttes that’s breaking te the letter t.com Tes for the all juice tea or hoodie you can also support the TZ Paylor scholarships at Howard youu and missou directly we’ll be back next

Thursday from Indie I won’t be in Indie but they’ll be in Indie doing God’s work at the combine be sure to hang out with us then thanks so much for listening to us that