The Fumblerooski Podcast
Feeding Frenzy -Ep 253 The Fumblerooski Podcast
running backs, find new homes, Kirk Cousins robs yet another team and the New England Patriots remain stagnant for another season. Yes, it is free agency. This is the Fumble Ruski podcast. It may not have always showed it in the stats sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws back to back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's got to get that six or seven spots. He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. Truly a loose, loose scenario for both sides. Welcome to the Fumble Ruski podcast by Power Radiate and seek a weapon consulting. I'm Adam Wright with Chris Kostich and CJ Medeiros. We have yet another free agency, which is I would say the most wonderful time of the offseason. Plenty of action going on. I would argue it's a top five, one of the most enjoyable points in the league year. Like even some parts of the regular season, I get it. We love watching football for an entire day straight, but this goes on for an entire week straight. You get to see all these new players signed with new teams, and it also has some entanglements, I'll say, for a lack of a better term with the NFL draft, so that is always something to consider. Without further ado, we're going to get going. Running backs have all of these star running backs who have hit free agency and found new homes. So most recently, the Baltimore Ravens signed Derek Henry. The Washington commanders signed Austin Echler. The Green Bay Packers signed Josh Jacobs, and I'm sure there is one missing that I'm just, Saquon Barkley goes to the Philadelphia Eagles. Did you mention Tony Pollard or? Tony Pollard becomes a Tennessee Titan, and I'll mention Joe Mixon. Joe Mixon is now a Houston Texan. That's an interesting question. An Antonio Gibson is on the patch. Yes, the most important name of the Mario Gibson in there. Oh, wait, Austin Echler, did you mention Emmer? Yeah, he did. I'm sorry. There is no more reason for that. I asked, sorry. Yeah, so what I would say is three of these teams are legitimate contenders and have gotten significantly better because they signed these players. The Eagles with Saquon Barkley and the Ravens. The Ravens with Derek Henry most notably, but guys, what are your thoughts? CJ, I'll let you go first on this, Mr. Free Agency. No, thank you. Very generous. So this whole free agency just shows how devalued the running back position is these days. I mean, oh, my God. If I said to you, probably like around 2019, 2020, that all these guys, these big name guys, I said, we're just going to be reshuffled. And in some cases, cast off for literally peanuts and getting contracts that are just, I mean, Derek Henry, like two years, 20 million, Saquon Barkley, three years, 33 million, you probably would have said, I would like whatever you're smoking. However, I mean, this is just like this, this is just the sound of the times, I suppose. But beside that, what Adam mentioned was how a lot of these guys are going to contenders, like the Baltimore Ravens. I mean, we already know Lamar Jackson loves the RPL offense, but imagine that with Derek Henry, you know, like the one running back that seems to be aging gracefully and is bucking though, you know, once you turn 30, you're basically dead as far as skill positions go. And Joe Nixon, who's always been like an underrated back, you know, my fancy team can attest though that he's pretty good. And I got to say, this man going to the CJ Stroud Texans, a good young team with a bright future, that's a, I'm not gonna lie, that's a little concerning. And the Eagles, a team that needs to run the Baltimore gets Saquon Barkley. I mean, this is why we love free agency. It's crazy. But some of these running backs dig it under pay is kind of like a bittersweet thing. Because on one hand, you know, some of these guys, it's like, you know, some of like the best backs in the league, you're just like, wow, you're not even going to get like a $50 million contract. But on the other hand, the fact that they're changing these teams, that's, that's insane. Yeah, no, I'd have second that the running back position has been devalued. And she don't see many franchise guys anymore. Or guys that are going to be on one team for the entirety of their careers. Like, I mean, as Pat's fans, we're pretty fortunate with like James White and whatnot, that he stuck around his entire career here. But yeah, there's teams aren't really looking to keep running backs around for a whole lot of time anymore. And there, there was a couple that were pretty surprising. I'm surprised that they didn't bring back Josh or the Raiders didn't bring back Josh Jacobs. I'm surprised that the Bengals even got rid of Joe Nixon. But that's just such a huge pickup for the Texans at that rate. And it kind of just goes, goes back to the running backs of the past that ended up fizzling out so quick. And it's guys like Levy on Bell, guys like Todd Gurley. There's a couple other names that what? Zeke Elliott, Zeke Elliott, they fizzled out so quickly. And I mean, even you can even look at DeMarco Murray. I mean, what he had two really good years with Dallas gets sent over to Philly and he just isn't the same anymore after that. So the running back lifespan is a lot shorter now. And that's reflected with the with these paychecks that they're getting. And it's it's guys like Levy on and Todd Gurley that like not nothing that gets Todd Gurley Todd Gurley still since 2017 leads so many stack categories in the running game, even to this day. But he just had a bunch of injury issues. He hasn't even reached 30 yet. And he's not even in the league anymore. And then you also have a guy like Levy on Bell that wanted to get paid. And then he got paid and couldn't live up to his paycheck after that. So yeah, all in all, running back market is very much diminished in more ways than one. Yeah. And one thing I will add is that out of all of these contracts for every running back we just mentioned, and we forgot Aaron Jones being becoming a Viking one year seven mill, only one of these deals has gone for four years. Josh Jacobs went to the Packers for four years, 48 million. And the average annual value for both of these deals, for all of these deals, only only two of them went for double digit in the millions. So there so yes, they're getting signed. Finally, this was an issue for the past couple of years, running backs were becoming very much devalued for obvious reasons. I mean, they don't last very long. So they said these teams cracked and they said, okay, we'll give you deals, but they're going to be short term. And it's not going to be for that much money. So they're they're still giving these multi year deals. So most of them about three years, some of them to. So that's kind of the way they're going. They're kind of low incentives, still not short term deals, but not long either. They're about two to three years. And they're on smaller money. So it looks like the running back market is going is leveling out to a point where it should be, whereas before Todd Gurley and Ezekiel Elliott were absolutely dominating the financial world of the NFL. Yeah. Now it, I completely agree with that. To be honest, I don't really have many more thoughts on this. Let me let me go out with one with one question. Which of these teams do you think has the that with this with these new running backs? So Josh Jacobs with the Packers, Derek Henry with the with the Ravens, Saquon Barkley with the with the Eagles, which team do you think has gotten the gotten the best? Like how which team do you believe is going to be the most threatening around the league? It's a good question there, Adam. I mean, I think my top two would probably be the Eagles and the Texans. I'm going to lean more towards the Texans with mix in because that was already such a really good unit over there. And they had guys like like Damian Pearson, Devin Singletary kind of step up in the running game as well. But they didn't really have the greatest running game in the world. And they were kind of riding on the back of CJ Stroud. Now you actually give them a running game. Now I actually have have them at give them a running game. Let them go run the AFC South now. And I mean, the only reason why I wouldn't say Philly is because you know, you have all that talent, but kind of comes down to if Siriani can get a shit together and whatnot. Yeah, so for me, I am leaning actually more towards the Baltimore Ravens and Derek Henry. So the thing is, I mean, I already mentioned why this has been good for them. But I mean, they've never really had like a true bell cow with Lamar. And they've always had a running back by committee. A lot of it wasn't by choice. It was because they kept getting hurt. Like, you know, JK Dobbins was great for like the three games a year he's healthy. You know, you didn't, it was clear that they did not think Gus Edwards was a number one back. I mean, just by how they used him, especially in the AFC Championship game. But Derek Henry, a guy who even passed the age of 30 can put a team on his back and so get you a buck 50 and two touchdowns with Lamar bringing that electricity and and actually like some semblance of a passing game with guys like Zaflowers and Mark Andrews. Let me tell you something. I think Josh Jacobs to the Packers was it was a, it was a signing that I came completely out of left field because I did not see the Packers making this kind of a splash. But he's younger than Aaron Jones. And on top of that, he is also, he is a three down back. I feel like this makes the Packers so much more formidable. You have a good young quarterback. You have a decent young wide receiving core. Let's see if one of them becomes a wide receiver one. I'm not quite sure about it. I like Jaden Reed. We'll see how he becomes. But I think that's the, that's the team that's the closest. I think that's the team. I don't know if I wouldn't say that they're better than the Eagles just yet. I wouldn't, I definitely wouldn't say that they're better than the Ravens. But I think they improve the most out of that group. I definitely think they're the team that, that can jump from, you know, they barely, they barely squeaked in the playoffs at nine and eight. I'm willing to say they go 11 and six, 10 and seven, maybe 12 wins. I think 10 and seven at the least. I don't think, I'd be shocked if they would go nine and eight next year. It's now, there's a lot of things that still need to happen. They need another tackle to replace David Bakhtiari. But things are looking, looking up in Wisconsin right now. So I think that's a team that, that everyone's overlooking right now. And I believe should get a lot better. All right, we're going to get to Kirk Cousins' contract. So unless you're, unless you're living under a rock, if you're an NFL fan, you know about this contract. Kirk Cousins signs with, signs a mega deal with the Atlanta Falcons. We're going to talk about all the ins and outs of that contract. Next, this is the Fumbleruski podcast. It may not have always showed it in the stat sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's got to get that six or seven spot. He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. Truly a loose, loose scenario for both sides. Welcome back to the Fumbleruski podcast by Power Radiate and Secret Weapon Consulting. I am Adam Wright with Chris Kossage and C. J. Madeeros. So this is Kirk Cousins' second big deal that he has signed. And I guess you could kind of include the extension he signed a couple of years back for the Minnesota Vikings. But so the deal, the current contract for Kirk Cousins is 480 million with the Atlanta Falcons. So just aside from the fit here, I just want to talk about the deals that he has scored over the years because it's actually been insane. So a couple of years ago, he signed a three-year $84 million contract with the Minnesota Vikings. And now here we are. And this guy has now signed another big contract, four years 180 million. So I'm not going to say that Kirk Cousins sucks. He's a very good quarterback. Probably I would say the upper echelon of all quarterbacks around the league. He's not taught top 10. But is this the type of guy who deserves this kind of money? I want to be friends with this guy's agent so he could score me big deals like this. I mean, Kirk Cousins is a good quarterback, but is he four years 180 million? Good? He scored a pretty good deal. What do you guys think? I would say Kirk Cousins is top 10, but he's 10. He's 10. So like that can be 10. So for is my reasoning. And yeah, he's 36. Maybe he doesn't need to be on a four-year deal like he is right now. But that's kind of a result of the quarterback position that we're seeing today, where we're seeing more guys that are getting themselves into their late 30s. Brady and far were kind of the first really to get that going, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers right now, and now Kirk Cousins. He's 30. He's what 35 36. So they're kind of relying on Kirk Cousins to play at a high level going into his 40s. And let's not forget that prior to the injury that he suffered last year, prior to that, he was the entire Vikings offense. They didn't have a running game. And like so much so that they didn't have a rushing touchdown until after Kirk Cousins got hurt. So we can we can make this debate about if he really deserves it or not, but at the end of the day, he is a guy that will win you games and get the job done. He can get you to the playoffs. Well, you win a playoff game. That's a story for another day, but or a story for now, but whatever. But regardless, Kirk, Kirk Cousins is a guy that will get a job done for you no matter what. He's a guy that you can rely on to get a lot of offense going. And now he's going to be in an offense that does like has all the weapons they need. Obviously in Minnesota, yeah, Jeddah is Jordan Addison. And now he's he goes to Atlanta. It's more of a well or all around weapon type of thing. You got Drake London. Now you got Kyle Pitts. Now you got Beijon. So in a sense, it's a pretty good look for Atlanta and definitely be a huge hassle for the NFC South. Yeah, look, he is, I don't know, like he is he's going to win you regular season games. But I mean, he's has he even ever won a playoff game before? I'm just trying to think he's won one playoff game. He beat the Saints right that 2019 year beat the Saints in OT. And then the next week they got mucked around by the Niners. Okay, so they've waited who would later who would later go on to to this go to the Super Bowl. So he's not the type of guy to like he's I'm not going to say that he's a bad quarterback. He's still pretty good. He'll win you some games. But I wouldn't say that he's like he's he's a regular he's kind of like Aaron Rodgers in the sense that he's a regular season quarterback. He'll win you some games. He'll put up the statistics. He's a competent passer. But CJ, what are your thoughts? I feel like both are true because on one hand, he was probably your safest bet out there. I mean, let's not say he's bad. All right. I mean, I think we call him that he's good. I mean, Chris, you're not alone. Tuck, I believe also things Kirk Cousins is top 10. Me personally, I feel like fringe as high as maybe number 10, maybe number nine. That's why that's why I say top 10. He's 12 for me. Look, I don't have my list on me or even have a list. So I'm not going to get involved. So the thing with Kirk Cousins is that it's like Adam mentioned, he's got like one playoff win to his name. And we all know about his record in prime time. Was he whoever only one, maybe two games in prime time ever? Like I think you're thinking of Daniel Jones, but I know what you mean. And that I think that Kirk Cousins has a bad record on a certain prime time night. Yeah, it'll get. Well, I get what your point is though. Yeah, he's just I don't know. It's like he's above average. He's not going to win you a Super Bowl. Then again, the Falcons aren't built when the Super Bowl. But overall, I actually, I hate the money, but I don't hate the fact that he's going there because now you have a head coach that is not offensively challenged. I have the exact numbers. It's Monday night football. It's that specific one and these two and 10 in his career. And he beat the Niners last year on Monday night football. So that was like his second one ever. And I think the other one was the Patriots at some point. No, that was that was Thanksgiving day, I'm pretty sure. Yeah, he beat the Patriots. So that was another prime time game that. Yeah, well, I mean, obviously that that was a touchdown and we all know, but that doesn't matter. So my but the thing is with Cousins is that he's going to a team that does have weapons. Like you mentioned, you know, Drake London, Kyle Pitts, Bijia Robinson, and you just signed Darnell Mooney. Not to mention the defense has some good young pieces. You got Raheem Morris, who I really think can be a really good head coach, especially like defensive minded guy who can like bring that defense up because let's face it. In Minnesota, he wasn't exactly aided by an elite defense. I mean, they had some good pieces like Deneel Hunter and Zidarius Smith at some points, but overall that defense was awful. But now you're going to the Falcons, they have a little bit of a better defense. You have defensive minded a younger head coach that can really click with these young guys. Honestly, the contract probably not deserved, but the Falcons, let's be honest. I mean, I know Tampa just won the division, but with, but now that you have Kirk Cousins and not Desmond just chuck the ball anywhere Ritter, you, you would have to think of their NFC South favorites, right? 100%. Yeah, exactly, that's the thing. I mean, just the fact that he can almost guarantee you the NFC South as awful as it is might be worth the money might. Well, like here, here's another thing, I guess. Here's another thing with Kirk Cousins as to why I'm hesitant to have him as a top 10 quarterback or even hesitant to say he's deserving of this money. For most of his career, he's been surrounded by pretty good weapons and has still looked kind of iffy considering the situation around him year and year out on offense. Like you had Justin Jefferson the past four years. You've had Adam feeling. You've had a very good running back in Dalvin Cook. Now you're about to have fun. Diggs are now. I feel like he had, he had Stefan Diggs for a couple of years too. So he's always had some really good weapons to work around. Like actually, I would board a lot. I would say great weapons. Justin Jefferson and Adam feeling as you're one and two. That's actually amazing. And then don't forget KJ Osborne, who's a decent play, decent third option as in himself, TJ Hockinson, who's developed into a into a fringe top five tight end. Top two, top five to wherever you want to put him. Well, and Adam, he's what's up? I was gonna say respectfully, I also think you're forgetting that when he was starting out in the Washington, well, back then they were called the Redskins. You know, we had, right? Pierre Garçon, Deshawn Jackson, and Jordan Reed. So that just lends further credence to your point that, well, you know, he's had a lot of weapons like since he set foot on the field. And those aren't as good as what he had in Minnesota. Like what he's had in Minnesota is in so much better. But those are still really good players. And this isn't Deshawn Jackson, like towards the end of his career. This is Deshawn Jackson while he was still putting up pretty good numbers. He just freshly left the Eagles. And he was still putting up numbers with with the Redskins. And then you also had, like you said, Pierre Garçon, who were the tight ends? I'm there was very good, but really got a concussion. Extremely injury prone. Like I've never seen a tight end so good yet so injury prone. He makes, he makes Rob Gronkowski look healthy, look like a workhorse. Jordan Reed, Vernon Davis, as well, I believe. So here's, here's what I'll give you stats wise from the playoffs to kind of throw in here for the argument's sake. If we look at the three Minnesota, Minnesota playoff games that Kirk Cousins has played in, we're talking the Saints game where they won an OT when 19 for 31, 242 yards and one touchdown. First of all, first of all, before I go any further, touchdown to interception ratio through four starts of his career, five to one. It's only thrown one interception. And that was against the 49ers where they got manhandled and his completion percentage in that game was actually pretty good. 72.4%. Last year's NFC wildcard game against the Giants, his defense gave up 31 points to Dangie frickin dimes. And Kirk Cousins also went almost 80% completion percentage, 273 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions. But his defense gave up 31 points. The 49ers game. 72% 21 for 29 touchdown interception. And he got sacked six times. If you even go back to 2016, the wildcard game against Green Bay, sacked six times, one touchdown, no interceptions, but he threw the ball 46 times for 329 yards, 63% there. I mean, it's not that he doesn't even have bad numbers in the playoffs. I think it's just at this point, he, I feel like it's more he gets a tough look at the draw. And more times than not, his defense gives up 30 points. But yeah, he also, his offense only puts up like what? 10 points at that rate as well. But you look at the defense that he had to go up against in 2020, he had to go up against the 49ers defense. So I'm not like, yeah, I don't blame you for only putting up 10 points, but it's playoff game. You do have to show up in that aspect and put up put points on the board, but it's hard to really do anything when you get sacked six times. Sure. But that's, that's just going to be the quality of teams that you're going to run into. Yeah. Right. So you're just, you're, that's something that you'll have to end up, you'll, you're going to end up dealing with. And I'm just looking at the defensive rankings right now. And depending on what these rankings are, I would argue that the, like the Vikings defense more or less was the reason for their lack of success and playoffs, or at least even getting to the playoffs. So in 2020, they, they ranked towards the bottom his third year in, in the, his third year there. As for they were, as for the 2019 season, they were kind of middle of the pack. And I believe it was 2018 where they were still in elite defense. So they eventually figured out the defense a couple of years later when they just last season in 2022, they went, they went, what was it? They went 13 and four and they were a solid defense. But yeah, so 2018, that was the last year where they were top five. They were fourth in total points per game allowed, which is fantastic. Yeah. So like a solid point can be made for the defense, but a truly elite quarterback would need to overcome, would need to overcome that. I know it sounds like an unfair, an unfair assessment. I feel like that just goes to having to compare everybody to Patrick Mahomes at that point. That, that, I guess that's where I draw my problem around all this at this rate is that we're expecting everybody to be Patrick Mahomes, because he's the standard at this point, and he can deal with a bunch of horse crap and be able to work with it and win three out of five. We're at, but like, that's just not what we're going to get at this point. You're not, you can't expect Kirk Cousins to just do the same things that Patrick Mahomes does. You can't expect, what's another quarterback, you can't, you can't expect Mac Jones to do the same things Patrick Mahomes does. I know that's just like a shot in the dark, but like, I guess that's the point that you can't expect Dak Prescott to do the same things that Patrick Mahomes does. Well, let me give you some other teams. Or Dylan Hertz. Let me give you some other players. Joe Burrell is a player who routinely does more with last with the Bengals. Year in, year out, one of the worst offensive lines in football gets his teeth kicked in every other play was still when he is healthy, able to make the playoffs. Josh Allen, not the best coaching, not the best offensive line work, and the defense has been dwindling in recent years. And yet, with all of these imperfections in mind, and also a terrible running game, they're still able to make the playoffs and be division winners year in year out. Jalen Hertz, really bad coaching this past year, pretty bad. They still made the playoffs. Because they already had 11, 12 wins by the last quarter of the season. They were already in the playoffs at that point. So that's still the, that's kind of the point. Down years for them, they may be down years, but those are career years for many other quarterbacks. I saw it. Yeah, I knew it was going. It's like every time man says that we take a shot, but you're not wrong. You're not wrong. These elite quarterbacks are going to have down years. Patrick Mahomes is, is two of a kind. Only Tom Brady is, is similar to this guy, but they're still able to make the, make the playoffs on down years. They may be one and done, but they, they still make the playoffs. Kurt Cousins on one of those years, he's 13 and four and these bounce in the first round and that's considered one of his best years. So that's kind of where I look at it. Like on his best years, he's still done in the first or second round. And yeah, he put up some statistics, but that's the end all be all for everyone who defends Kurt Cousins is well, the statistics were good. He won some, he won some games. They made the playoffs. They won 13 games. Well, that's all fine and good, but actually cash in when you do that, if you win championships in the years where you win all these games, or even when you squeak into the playoffs, or at least are in contention, make a deep run, then okay, we're talking. We're talking here, but he's only won one playoff game in the 10 years that he's been in the league. So that's, that's a problem that I have. Yeah, no, it is. And like I said, I'll, I'll still stand with it and that Patrick Mahomes has ruined how we look at quarterbacks, especially with, especially with our argument being that Patrick Mahomes is the standard and he is inevitable and nobody's going to touch him. And yeah. And all the quarterbacks who I've mentioned who we can also compare to Kurt Cousins and say he's not him, they're also having trouble with Patrick Mahomes. So it's, I mean, it's just a Patrick Mahomes problem. Exactly. And the same way that back in the day, it was a Tom Brady problem. Peyton Manning didn't suck. He just kept on running into Tom Brady. Same thing with Ben Rothlessburg. He didn't suck, but he's just not Tom Brady. And that's kind of the problem is, you know, the, because the guy to beat is so great that that's the standard that we see. I'm just saying that Kurt Cousins isn't even on the level of Josh Allen. He's not even on the level of Joe Burrell or Jalen Hertz or name the elite quarterback up there Lamar Jackson. I feel like Jalen Hertz is a bad one to throw in there. Do you think? Yeah. I don't like sample size with Jalen Hertz. Every full season he has started in the league, he has been in the playoffs. And I expect him to be back this year. Doesn't matter if he's back. If he puts up another season like he did this year, that I'm calling his Super Bowl like the NFL's version of a Lincanity run. Do you think he's like on the level of a Kurt Cousins? If that happens? It may be like, I don't know, maybe slightly better than Kurt Cousins. I don't know. No, I just think Lincanity run can be a Super Bowl run. Like those are. Okay. What has he done? Random players can have good, have good long strings of regular season wins, but they're just not any Lincanity run. You can just burst through, burst through the playoffs. Dance with Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl, barely lose the game by one score and then be done after that. I mean, you went back, you, you went 11 and one to start the next season. Now, I understand what happened after that, but I just don't think this is a small sample size for Jalen Hertz. I think what he is, what he is, what he is, he's not good as good as Patrick Mahomes. He's probably not as good as Joe Burrow. Probably not as good as Josh Allen either. But he's still a really good quarterback. I don't see Jalen Hertz being top 10. That's my problem. So, so you have, so you have Kurt Cousins higher than Jalen Hertz. Yeah, but not by much, not by much. So, so, J is 11 for you. 11, 12, he's in that top 15. My problem is the way that he performed in that last six-week stretch, whatever it was. And I mean, there's a lot of factors that can go into the whole Jalen Hertz thing too, because the coaching for Philly wasn't great. That, that last stretch and you could tell something you could tell it was all about a blow up in their face. And Mike from squawking Eagles will say it best. They never adjusted to anything, never fixed anything up and teams figured him out. So, right. So, I think I'm sorry. No, you could finish. That was basically all I had. Okay. So, on that part, I do blame the coaching. I know when in the wake of that playoff loss, I did blame Jalen Hertz. But the reason I blame Jalen Hertz is because he doesn't have the ability to throw the football in a, in a game where you're playing from behind. I do agree that they need to throw. And Kirk Cousins does. Thank you for approving my points. I do agree that they needed to, you need to use Jalen Hertz in the way that he needs to be used. I do agree that they should have run the ball more because that's the way the offense is run. That's the way Jalen Hertz plays. If you use a dual threat quarterback like a pocket passer, then it's not going to work out well. But that being said, he's still probably the best dual threat, dual threat player there is as far as winning games in the playoffs. So, I think he's that, I think he is that type of player where you just need to use him correctly. Is he a Super Bowl winner? I don't know. But we know he's a playoff winner. We know he can win some playoff games. Yeah. We know we can, he can year in, year out, make the playoffs. So, down years for him, he goes nine and eight his first year starting in the league. He barely makes the playoffs, gets bounced, but in, I believe it was by barely two scores to the box. And one and done after a really bad second half of the year. Those are bad years for Jalen Hertz. Bad years for Kirk Cousins, he's missing the playoffs. So, that's something I'm a little worried about. I mean, Jalen Hertz is also on a stacked ass Philly team too. Yeah, across to the point. Yeah, but the Vikings are stacked. The Vikings did not. They are not, though. On offense, they are. On defense, no. But this year, this year, the Eagles, I saw that. CJ has breaking news. Yeah. Janille Hunter is signing with the Texans. Two-year deal, 49 million. I'm going to post speaking over the Vikings. Well, well, well. Yeah. He and that is, that is pretty comical, isn't it? Yeah. I will say, they're defensive, they don't think we know how to go to the Vikings. This is basically a trade. What was that? It didn't, Houston's Ed Rush or the breakout guy, John Pink Bernard, actually go to the Vikings, though. Pretty soon. So, yes, it's basically a trade. Yeah. Yeah. And Houston's defense was already looking pretty good to begin with. And now they just got even better. It brought in Jeff Acuda to pair up with Derek Stingley Jr. I mean, that defense is looking, that defense is looking much better. So, they're bringing the old crew back in their past catching core. Noah Brown is back. They still obviously have Tank Dell and Nico Collins. Dalton Schultz is back and they brought in Joe Mixon to go with Damian Pierce. That's a pretty good team. It looks pretty good, which is going to segue into our next segment, which is we have a couple early free agency winners. I wouldn't say winners yet because it's early on front runners. Teams who are kicking ass right now, we're going to go over that next. This is the Fumble Ruski podcast. It may not have always showed it in the stat sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws. Back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's got to get that six or seven spot. He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. Truly a loose, loose scenario for both sides. Welcome back to the Fumble Ruski podcast by Power Radiate and Seeker Weapon Consulting. Adam Wright with Chris Costich and CJ Medeiros. So, the Texans, commanders, and Jaguars have all made some a pretty good amount of moves. The Texans most notably, they've made some good moves on defense. As we mentioned before, teasing the next segment, Daniel Hunter to the Texans. They also got Jeff Okuda and they also got in a trade Joe Mixin. So, they got some pretty good players in this deal. The commanders made some moves on their interior offensive line, adding a couple of guards, and they also added to their defense, the Jaguars. They added, they just added Gabe Davis and they also got, they are also supposed to get Calvin Ridley back. According to reports, he wants to return. However, they're waiting until tomorrow when the Falcons can only get Houston's, rather, the Jaguars third pick, then their second round pick. What does that tell you? It tells you that Calvin Ridley's already made his mind and he's just trying to help the, he's trying to help his team, the Jaguars, with getting better draft compensation. So, yeah, what are you guys thoughts? I don't know, I like the moves that the Jags are doing. My only concern is the Gabe Davis pickup, just because he is probably the most inconsistent receiver in the league, in terms of being a wide receiver, two fringe, wide receiver one. You could put a missing poster for Gabe Davis for almost every single week, besides two or three weeks out of a season. Yeah, guys, we got more news. I'm sorry. Breaking news. Jordan Poier is signing a one year deal with the Miami Dolphins. He's staying in the division. Oh, how about that? And the Chiefs just got linebacker. Excuse me. The Saints just got linebacker Willie Gay. Yeah, both one year deals. One year deals, I'm kind of ruleless for agency, but continue Chris, I'm sorry. Please forgive me. But I would, if we were to choose any of the three, I mean, the Texans have been my favorite in the whole, in this whole free agency process with the moves they're making. I mean, this is already a good team and they are just getting better at this rate. And there's no reason to really believe that coaching is getting in the way. So it's really just a matter of if the players can even get it done. And with the talent level that they brought in, granted, it's still a young team. So, and this is a team that is ahead of schedule already. But seeing the way they play last year, seeing what they're doing already in the first two days of free agency, or the first two days of the accepted tampering period or the legal tampering period or whatever. But regardless, the first two days of this period that we're in, they've already made great moves in making this young team better. And that's the thing, they're young. And they're only going to get better. Adam, you've got a post. Of course. I think the Texans, I wanted to think that they would get a wide receiver one. I thought they would be in on Mike Evans, turns out they did not have interest. And all the other wide receivers got tagged or extended, or just signed back to their old teams. I do. It appears that they believe Tank Dell is their wide receiver one. So whether or not he is is one thing, but what they believe they think he is. So we'll see. Only time will tell with that. But if he is, that's Tank Dell is your number one. Nico Collins as your two. You also have now you brought Noah Brown to also go out wide. And you also you brought back Dalton Schultz and Joe mixing. I mean, CJ Stroud, he couldn't have inherited a better situation. And this kid is continuing to grow before very eyes. It's very risky to start a quarterback his rookie year. But I don't think he could have played better. He missed a bunch of games and he's still through for over 20 touchdown passes. And he took very good care of the football. I believe what did he only throw like three three only like three interceptions. Even that playoff game, he didn't have any turn over, some pretty sure, right? Not to my knowledge. Yes, he did. Two pick sixes, I believe. Oh, that's right. That's right. But I mean, it's it's his first playoff game. Yeah. Patrick Mahomes didn't even go to the playoff game. That was the Ravens game. Yeah, but regardless, even Patrick Mahomes didn't even the brand. Patrick Mahomes didn't start his rookie year. Yeah, even even the Browns playoff game that they played in, he was spectacular. Going up against one of the better, excuse me, one of the best, one of the best pass defenses in the league. And he just tore him shreds. Yeah. I mean, yeah, so he threw for 23 touchdowns to five interceptions. So he took care of the football. He threw a good through a good amount of touchdown passes. And he did it while while starting while missing two games. So those stats could have been better. It took him what like 10 weeks to even throw an interception to begin with. Yeah, he had a really good year. Yeah. So this is, I mean, this team, this is a team that's on the up and up and you've got to have them as I mean, the Jaguars are still right there. They're still young and they brought back most of their most of their core. You got to have this team as as the favorites for the AFC South right now, right? Oh, yeah, 100%. I'll absolutely. Um, the Jaguars on the other hand are still right there. And the Jaguars are still there, but so it's not a lot of data. Yeah, the coaching is still weary to me and there's still questions around Trevor Lawrence. I mean, let's face it, Trevor Lawrence and Mac Jones's stats are almost are almost simultaneous when you look at their career stats. I mean, the only thing that's different is the career win loss record. And that's because Mac ended up having a better rookie year than Trevor Lawrence did, but there's still a lot of questions around Trevor Lawrence. So, you know, the Jags, the Jags are up there, but I don't think that they're really as up there with the Texans as we may think. Yeah, I mean, I hear you, but I just I feel like what y'all mentioned with the offensive coordinator press tailor. I think he's probably going to have an Arthur Smith effect, whereas he's more of a hindrance than a help. He's basically like a ball and chain to this offense. Press tailor. I don't think he's any business being OC and every Jaguars fan wants him tard and feathers. So, I feel like if they add a better OC, I might be more inclined to be nicer to the Jags, but that's just not happening, I fear. All right. Also, I guess, just the commanders quick. A team that doesn't look like they're mean, they could depending on what they do at quarterback, but doesn't look like they're going to be a playoff team right now, but they're definitely building the foundation for a potential quarterback to come in. And when some in further his development, help him move along in potentially one day, they'll be in the same conversation as the Texans and Jaguars. Obviously, they're in a completely different conference, but same level of play. That might be Jaden Daniels. We'll see what they do at number two, but they did cut their left tackle and they haven't replaced him yet, which is something to think about. Yeah, I think, yeah, there's still a lot of questions regarding the commanders. I mean, great signs, Zacherts sign, Andre, I don't know, I feel like that there's still a lot left to be said for the commanders, especially for them having a being top five in cap space right now. I feel like that you should be seeing their name a little bit more right now, but they're not. No, I mean, I get you, Chris. I mean, you have a point. However, as someone that's been doing a lot of pregnancy posts, I can tell you, I've seen them quite a bit. And look, it's not just that, but these are they're trying to lay a foundation. I think there's nothing wrong with that. You know, you got Dante Fowler, Jr. from the Cowboys, you got Marcus Marriota's like a good journeyman kind of fellow there, you know what I mean? He's a good veteran quarterback. Who is an upgrade over Antonio Pierce, Panthers very underrated linebacker, Frankie Lubu. I mean, you can't argue with that. It's a pretty good signing. Storm strong from Dallas. Like, I'm just even the Austin Echler signing is there's still a lot of questions around him. Like you all saw the way how he was running at the end of the year or just in general for all last year, he's he just doesn't run the ball as well anymore. There's a lot of there's a lot of questions surrounding Austin Echler, which I feel like that the commanders could have been possibly better off just keeping Antonio Gibson. See, the interior of their line looks good. And they did bring in Austin Echler. They just need a what I think they believe what I believe they need is a tackle right now. I think they need a tackle and CJ and I kind of nailed it right on the head when we were talking about what in our office full off season preview what the commanders need to do because we both one of us said one of us said offensive line. The other said defense. What have they been nailing the past 48 hours? Defense and interior offensive line, which they still need a little help at tackle. Let's see what they what they get there. There's a couple tackles still left. But I mean, they're they're hitting on their every need that they that they have right now. Their defensive backfield still needs, I guess, a little bit of work, but right now they they know what they need and they're they're addressing it. So they're laying out that foundation. Yeah, I you were probably right. All right. We're going to move on to we'll stay right here for this. Patriots and Cowboys are being way too conservative. The only move the Cowboys have made is for is to keep their long snapper. And as for the Patriots, they've done a little bit more. I'll grant them. But that is keep the group that they've had the group that went foreign 13. So I wouldn't say that that is that is an accomplishment. Sure, they brought in some good players. Mike on whenu is a player that they needed to retain. They brought in Okora for who is who's been a starter for most of his career. But at this point, I think he's more of a swing tackle, more of a backup, a depth piece. They still need another tackle, I believe, just my personal opinion. As for the running back, sure, they got Antonio Gibson, a nice compliment to Rondre Stevenson. He's been overworked over the past couple of years. However, out of all of their needs, they still don't have that left tackle that they need. I don't we're not bringing Trent Brown back. Good. And well, I would hope so. I mean, I have enough. I have no say in that front office. And on top of that, they still need a what CJ said this best. Wide receiver one has been their biggest need for a long time. Yeah, pretty much half a decade. It has been in need. And they have refused to address it. So I got through with some posts. Can I just talk real quick after I'm so I don't want to cut you off. But like I'm kind of sat in the back like doing a post. So yeah. So I just want to mention like the Cowboys real quick. You know, everybody, you know, we who make jokes about while the Cowboys aren't going to do anything because Cowboys, this is why this is why you actually had a good team, right? I mean, granted, you lost first round like you always do. But it was something to build on, right? Nope, just kidding. You actually didn't sign anyone aside from resigning your long snapper. And you've lost pieces on your defense. Trent, you've lost your starting running back. Your left tackle there. Tyran Smith, he's good as gone. Stefan Gilmore, also good as gone. I don't think you're gonna get your corner Jordan Lewis back. But you already lost Doran's arm straw. You already lost Anthony Fowler. I says already, but you lost Tony Pollard. Like I just you are hemorrhaging pieces. And when you look at in the division, Philly, who's beefing up, right? They're they're getting some names that can't that cannot bode well for you. And then there's New England. Despite the fact that at one point they had over 100 million in cap space, we are veering towards another quiet free agency for them. Why? But here's the thing everyone's I've said before, it's very a bell of check in, you know, like very low key, not bringing a lot of outside guys, not throwing around money. It's like you over 100 million dollars. Why aren't you? And remember when Gerard Mayo said in his introductory press conference, we're gonna burn some cash? Yeah, yeah, you got all the fans hopes up. And then, and then of course a week four free agency. I don't know if you saw he backpedaled and said, well, obviously, you don't have to spend it all. You know what? We as Pat's fans probably should have taken that as more diet. I thought I was like, okay, that's fair. You gotta say that. But but no, no, and I mean, look, I'm happy that they signed on one who they got Kendrick more. They got all the guys back. But you're spending money, right? You got all the guys back that you needed, right? These are like good guys. Everyone's like, oh, see Bill Belichick would have let them walk. And I'm like, okay, counterpoint. We're staying the same. You have spent money and they still have over 60 million to play with. Don't get it twisted so they can still go out there and make moves. But they won't. The only people from outside the team that they have bought in are Jacobi Bursett and Tony O' Gibson and Sione Taki and Chuck Wuma, a core for. Why? Look, Bursett, look, I'll give them credit with Bursett. You know, you're going to draft rookie quarterbacks. You need a guy from to learn under. I like Bursett. Bursett's a good guy. But really, these other guys, and it's like, oh, with the Patreon way, and you know, and you and I hate, you go on Instagram and everybody's trying to cope here. You know, that's what they're doing. They're coping. And you're like, oh, you don't have to go out and get all the big name guys. It's never how it's been and we've won. It's like, yeah, we had Tom Brady back then. So shut up. And then what aggravates me the most are these old fans, like 70 some odd year olds. And ironically, Instagram comment sections that are like, oh, wait, you guys should be grateful. You even got out, you know, we even got our guys back. It's like, good God. If I had to listen to one more old Patriots fan, so you new generation spoiled, it's like, come on, your time's passed. Hurry up and die already. Like Jesus Christ. Oh my God. Like I have actually limited this. Elliot Wolf. You know what? Forget Wolf and sheep's clothing. This is a bell check in Wolf's clothing. Like, why are we not doing this? At this point, you know what? I'm just going to throw all common sense to the wind. This has got to be intentional. We just got canceled there to prove a point. But this has to be like, intentional. Because like, I don't know why you're losing a bidding war in Calvin Ridley, but even still, like go trade for T Higgins or brain and IU, like, there is no reason you're not, you should have been in the mix for like guys like Kenny Moore, you haven't gotten a good left tackle yet. Like Adam said, it's just how have you, and especially with wide receiver, how have you let it get this bad? This, we're approaching half a decade of it being a truly pressing need. And you're still just letting it fester. And, and on top of that, it's just the fans, usually the older ones that are just coping over this, like, well, um, actually, it's like, please shut up. So per chad graph of the athletic, um, he said, if the Patriots miss out on Calvin Ridley, I expect them to turn to the trade market, checking in on players like T Higgins, Keenan Allen and Brynn Niyuk. So it does look like they're losing the bidding war for Calvin Ridley. And while I would love him to be a Patriot, he's not my first choice, who I would want. Calvin. I don't want to hear. Yeah. Yeah, I know. I don't want to hear this. Well, beggars can't be choosers. If you have all this money, you're not a beggar. And also T Higgins, he should not take any more than a day to pick to pry from Cincinnati right now. He's on the franchise tag and Brian Burns, who's worth more than T Higgins just went for a second and I believe a fifth. Yeah, some sort of late round pick that was a throw in. There was just no first round pick anyways. So yeah, there was no first round pick involved in it. If you can get T Higgins for us for a day to pick, you do that yesterday. He's a wide receiver one. And on top of that, he's 25. So you pay him four years. What is it? What name the price? 80 million? Let's get made. Yeah, let's throw. Yeah, let's throw here's 80 million. Yeah, let's throw a hundred Adam. Even if you go 100, we'll be corrupt. Yeah, sure. You overpaid, but we'll be crying over the thousand plus yard season he's putting in year in year out during his prime years where Drake May is throwing to him. Give him that. And you can do the same thing with Brandon Niyuk. Keenan Allen's 31. I don't want anything to do with him. I don't want anything to do with him. Again, beggars can't be choosers, but we're not beggars. We're not beggars. We have our pieces. We have our assets. We have the money. You should not have to be, well, let's just settle on Calvin Ridley. We don't need to settle for him. He's not my first choice. I don't believe he's a real wide receiver one. I think we're all blinded by that one season in 2020 where he lit it up. It was a great season, but it looks like it was just a fluke. It was very, it was transcendent of Juju Smith Schuster posting a 1400 yard season back in 2018. Nice season. Good story. Didn't happen again. He didn't come close to it. Same thing with Calvin Ridley here. Good receiver. He's a two, high end two, but that's all. And I don't think the Patriots should splurge on this guy. I really don't think so. I think it might actually be a blessing in disguise that the Patriots are actually losing the bidding war against Jacksonville for this. And it's good for Jacksonville because I think he is a good two to Christian Kirk. Now, Adam, it's not even that you're losing a bidding war for Calvin Ridley. It's just that they're not, they're just not going, I mean, they're a lot of good guys are in for agency and they're just not trying. And I know New England is not a sexy destination, but you can't lose any bidding wars with these guys. But you have good elite players are signing one year deals and you never stop the thought, huh, it's not like we can offer a little bit more, which is why I'm going to reiterate that this has got to be intentional. And I mean, the cheapness is just still there. I mean, once again, and I don't want, and look, well, it's nice, we're getting some of our decent guys back, like we're re signing them, everyone's like, we should just be happy with that, to which I say, no, I'm not going to be happy with literally going with being the same team. We went into this, this off season with over 100 million for agency, you know, just for cap space. And we could very well come out worse. See, are you with imaginary Instagram comments or Instagram trolls with your lives? I've seen them. Okay, you've seen that they have nothing better to do than to comment on Instagram, just stay out of the comments section. Well, comment, I don't, I'm just saying, it's like, I'm just seeing all these patrons fans like, um, actually, it's like, once again, you have these ones that are like, well, you should just be thankful. It's like, no, no, no, please hurry up, go, go, go collect your ARP checks as tux said. Come on now. I also don't think it was a, it's a money thing with crit with, uh, Calvin Ridley. If he wants to be in Jacksonville, it sounds like it's just because that's a place that he wants to be, because the Patriots are throw are they are the, it's not the Patriots who are being who are being conservative in this, in this bidding war. The Patriots are being aggressive. They're trying to pressure, uh, Calvin Ridley into making a decision right now, before Wednesday, when they get a second, when they have only have to give up a third to the Falcons instead of a second, that's what they're looking to do. And they're just not budging because Calvin Ridley is waiting to sign with the Jaguars Wednesday morning, uh, excuse me, uh, Wednesday, Wednesday evening to late afternoon. That's what they're trying to do. So it's really, there, this is, this situation in particular is not in the control of the Patriots. I mean, Calvin really just wants to be a Jaguar. He wants to stay there, which is respectable. Fine. He likes it there. He likes Trevor Lawrence. He's the best quarterback so far that he's, that is thrown to him. I would say if you're the Patriots, go to the trade market and try and pry T Higgins away from the Bengals. Go and get T Higgins. Yeah, that was going to be my point was that, I mean, the, the bigger picture here, and you could say this about Dallas too, is that neither of these spots are good locations anymore. I mean, you go to Dallas, you're going to have Jerry Jones breathing down your neck the entire time. It's all toxic and whatnot over in Dallas in New England, you're going to have to deal with the high state tax. You're going to have to deal with, uh, you're going to have to deal with a F graded owner and Robert Kraft and also on top of the F graded owner, you're also going to have to deal with one of the worst graded teams in the league as well in terms of the report card that came out last month. So I don't know if I would want to go to a team that is the 27th worst team to go work for. That doesn't sound very nice to me or my family or people that I care about. I will take my business and go elsewhere if I were these free agents and that's why I'm going to agree with Adam that your best bet at this rate will probably be in the trade market. Yeah, but can we trust them to swing a good trade? Because we've seen in the past, third overall. We can do or the fuck we want part of my language, but we got a little forgive you. I mean, that's great, but it's like after the bell and check era, I mean, receiver or not, we know that he loved one year rentals and I swear to God, if we trade for T Higgins and he's a one year rental, I don't know what I'm going to do, but it will not be pleasant. I don't think that they'll do that. You know, I would think so. I mean, I thought you're also going to spend too, but once again, this is literally just this literally bell check in Wolf's clothing because this has been horrible to watch. I agree. It's not we're not. It hasn't looked good yet so far. They've retained the players that they needed to retain. We can at least have that as a positive. I'm not trying to say be grateful. I'm not being that old Instagram commenter. I'm saying that's that's still a positive. That's still something that we can look at so far. We're the same. We're far as looking forward in free agency. They still, Tyrant Smith is still on the board. Jonah Williams is still out there. Donovan Smith is still out there. All free agents who they could sign who would make their offensive line better. In fact, probably complete it because everywhere else they're pretty much set. If they bring in one of those three players, they're good. If they trade for T Higgins, they're good. If they do those two things, which there's still time and there's still players left, if they do those things, then I'd say this off season is a success. Yeah. Fair. You know what? I'll rate you that. Thank you for not being an angry old commenter. I can't wait to clip all this later. This could be so funny. This is and if it doesn't happen, then I'm not sure if you should clip the part where CJ just told people to go die. Oh, I probably will. That's the thing. You're like, oh, you young people. It's like, man, if you have one for already in the grave, I'm not going to listen to you. I'm sorry. I don't make the rules. I just think them up and write them down. Yeah. All right. Well, that's all the scheduled content we have for today. And if things come out, be sure to look at our Instagram. CJ has been on top of it. Things come out within a couple of seconds. So, be sure to keep up with our Instagram page for all of the free agency news. Stuff is breaking. I mean, we just had three. And Kenzie just signed with the Giants. Yeah, exactly. We've had three or four things just break during this hour-long episode. So, things are happening left and right. You guys know how free agency is. Be sure to be caught up. Follow the Fumble Ruski podcast on Instagram on TikTok. Subscribe on our Instagram. Chris, what's up? I also want to throw in one last piece before we end just to think about the Patriots and Chargers have been in talks about Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, Khalil Mack, and Joey Bosa. I like Keenan Allen, but he's ancient. We don't have to discuss it right now. Just something to think about for next time. They can all go pound sand. I don't care. I don't care for Keenan Allen. I want nothing to do with them. You'll get a couple good years out of them, but it's basically a DeAndre Hopkins situation. You're not getting them to win a championship. You're getting them to further the development of the quarterback that you have, or are going to get now because the last guy who you are going to do this for, you just boot him out of town. So, yeah, give me T Higgins. You can actually win a Super Bowl with T Higgins. All right, wrap it up. All right. That'll do it for us tonight. Thank you for listening to us. We have all our episodes out on Tuesdays at 7.30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time and Fridays at 5 p.m. Eastern Time. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. We also have all our episodes available on Spotify, Spreaker, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRato, Google Podcasts, and so much more. Be sure to follow our Instagram @FumbleRusi_podcast to keep up with our latest coverage on the NFL and our podcast. And be sure to tune into our TikTok as well, posting reels and TikToks at FumbleRuski Pod. Otherwise, we'll see you next week over and out.