Football Function
Off-Season Outlook: AFC North
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Change the game on identity theft. Save up to 25% your first year at lifelock.com/aware. What's going on everybody? Guys and girls, welcome back to another edition of the football function podcast. Available on all your podcasting platforms, including on Patreon if you prefer an ad free listening experience. As always, I am one of the hosts of this show, Michael Ritter. You can find me on X and Michael Fiverritter on Instagram at Michael Ritter 5 and also the host of the SmackDown review. Over on the WWE podcast, which 24 hours from now, I will be inside of the American Airlines Center watching Friday Night SmackDown. So I'm definitely looking forward to that a little bit of a twist curveball to my normal routine, but I'm definitely excited and ready to get back into a WWE event. I know that one of our guests here today is going to be he's going to be going to a WrestleMania. And that is the granddaddy of a ball. If you're not a wrestling fan, just imagine going to the Super Bowl except it's two days. That's pretty much what WrestleMania is these days and especially with the direction that wrestling is going right now. It's safe to say like it's a it's a great time to be a wrestling fan. The product is red hot. The roster is extremely deep. So I am, you know, the rock said it himself last Friday, you know, pro wrestling is cool again. But nonetheless, I'm looking forward to talking about this specific episode with our guests. This is going to be the AFC North off season outlook. We're going to continue our series here on a very special day on the football function podcast because not only do we have two guests that I'm going to introduce Terry Minnefield going to be joining me for the very next episode, I'm going double duty today. That's how special the date is. But because it's March 7th, this is the third birthday of the football function podcast. March 7 2021, the AFC East breakdown is what it was called is pretty much introducing all of the listeners to the AFC East. And, you know, what the what the show is pretty much going to be about from that point on, it pretty much set the stage is pretty much what the show still is 488 episodes later because that's what this episode is right here. So very thankful for, you know, the time that we've gotten to this point, the fact that it has been three full calendar years, we've gotten through a leap year now. And that's that's something to hang your hat on for sure. And it wouldn't be possible without people like my guests here on this show, starting with the host of the college football function. You guys all know his name. You all know his voice. He's one of the fan favorites here of the football function podcast, CM cousin Mike, CM Funk, you know, one of the most die hard Texas Tech Red Raider fans that you will find in the land. He took time out of his very busy schedule to join us. So, CM, thank you so much for coming back on the old stomping ground of the football function podcast. Hello, hello, hello. Yeah, it's a pleasure, man. It's always good. Getting back on the old stomping grounds, you know, the foundation that is the football function and talking football, because, you know, as I know, as you said, you know, I am the college football function host. I am, you know, the NCAA guide, the guy that just knows the most about college football and that's just, you know, my true love. Like you said, but it's always good to touch roots and touch base with my boy, Mike Ritter, Terry Minnifield, of course. And just talking about this AFC North, a huge, just deep, you know, division, you know, great quarterback play, playmakers all over. And of course, you can't talk about the AFC North without bringing in Mr. Howard Poole, you know, the patron of the year, Mr. Pittsburgh Stealer, also a Penn State Nittany Lion fan, my boy Howard Poole. How you doing, my dude? I am doing good. I am happy to be here with you guys, happy to be here, you know, helping celebrate the anniversary. And yeah, man, it's, it's AFC North football, you know, it's punching the mouth, knockdown, drag out. It's what we love up here, gets a little cold, you know, we got them open air stadiums with snow falling on the ground. Ah, love it. Love talking AFC North football. I'm excited to be here with you guys and excited to break this down. You just mentioned it, AFC North football, and this is damn near some of the best AFC North football that I've ever seen played in my lifetime, because obviously, like we all know, it's easy to bark, you know, as a division, it's easy to, you know, pound your chest and say, Oh, well, look at the moves we made. Look at our roster compared to like all of our division or all of our division rival rosters, you know, we're all stacked. Look at the AFC West, the last division that we talked about in the AFC just a couple short years ago, Russell Wilson was coming in, Justin Herbert was supposed to take a next step. Obviously, the Raiders are the Raiders, so we can't really put a whole lot of stock into them. But still, everyone was looking at the AFC West with the addition of like Colil Mack and all the players that were coming in thinking, this is the division to watch. Like this is the division that is going to probably be the most relevant out of all the divisions for so many years to come. But the AFC North, they're one of those divisions where the by matches the bark, like it's not just, you know, bangles fans and ravens fans and, you know, even Browns and Steelers fans, like everybody kind of clammers at each other, like all off season. It's kind of like the Falcons and Saints, like, there is no off season with that rivalry in the NFC South. But the AFC North is kind of similar, but there's also like a sense of respect now, maybe not with like the bangles and the Steelers. But the Steelers and the Ravens, I've always felt like there's a little bit of respect there. Obviously, the Browns and the Steelers hate each other as well. The Browns and the bangles do not like each other. Like we just heard from Grim Reaper who just covered that specific rivalry. So it is fitting that we're kind of getting in to AFC North, the wall is truly one of my favorite divisions in the entire league right now. It is objectively the best division in football. Every single team had an above 500 record. Three teams went to the playoffs. One of them got the number one seed. One of them had the MVP. Like this division, the numbers speak for itself. Obviously, if you look at the rosters from top to bottom, you got one team that quarterback or the quarterback went out. They pretty much were just riding a backup. They end up finishing 9 and 8, which that would win the division in some divisions like the NFC South. But in the AFC North, that's not even good enough for third place, let alone second or sniffing first. The 9 and 8 bangles finished last place without a starting quarterback. And then you look at the Cleveland Browns who lost so many of their players, whether it's Deshawn Watson, who I had to miss so much time. Nick Chubbs is having that devastating injury against the Pittsburgh Steelers, one of the first few weeks of the season. And just constant roster shuffling, lineup shuffling throughout the entire season, trying to put forth a winning football team. And for the most part, I remember reading so many flash drives where the Browns were actually coming through and getting wins like on a week to week basis. And obviously, just looking at what the Pittsburgh Steelers do, like we kind of joked about it. It's almost like Mike Tomlin has this sick joke, this sick like game that he plays with himself where he wants to make it harder every single year to go above 500 to make the playoffs. It's like, well, how can I do it this year? Last year, it really wasn't as impressive. How about we just rotate in with guys like Kenny Pickett, Mitchell Trabisky, see if we can get it done here, not really have a consistent number one wide receiver. Obviously, Najee Harris is being talked about as a pretty, you know, disappointing running back. We'll see what happens now that he has Arthur Smith, you know, coming over from Atlanta because that's obviously someone who's very prominent in the running game. Like, that's one thing you can't really knock Arthur Smith for in Atlanta. There's a lot of things that, you know, you can crap on him for decisions that he made, but running game and getting that offensive line developed and things like that. That's one thing that Arthur Smith is absolutely as good as anybody in the entire league. So every single one of these divisions have a lot of things going for him. Every single one of them has an interesting storyline going into the off season, and I am very excited to talk about it. But before we dive fully into the AFC North, let's go ahead and talk about some of the things that happened because obviously, as you guys know, we are just days away from free agency starting that legal tampering period, the new league year, a lot of things have to be done. All these players that are x amount over the cap have to make critical moves to get under the cap. And obviously, decisions have to be made, players are going to hit the open market. And guys who, you know, maybe had full intention on staying with a team for another year, two more years, however long, might get an offer from another team that just, it might, you know, bring that grasses greener on the other side feel. And you never know, I've seen it happen multiple times where, you know, people think that it's a lock that this player is going to stay with their team. And you know, all the quotes leading up to the off season is, yes, I have all interest, I want to be a whatever, you know, a stealer, a commander, whatever, I want to be on this team for the rest of my career. And we're going to make it happen. The representation says that your organization as well says that. And just for whatever reason, another team can swoop in and pretty much just unload a branch truck. And that's very convincing, you know, money talks whenever you're talking about millions and millions of dollars that these players are signing for. So let's go ahead and get into it. There was no more franchise tags. I'm not sure if that deadline has come and gone. But I do know that in terms of the fifth year options that were picked up, Michael Parsons is the only one since we've last talked. We last talked on March 5th. So here we are two days later. And there are some things to add some more transactions obviously happened. But in terms of fifth year options, I think that more of those are going to be picked up kind of later on down the line. The Cowboys have always kind of done things differently whenever you talk about the fifth year option. In fact, the fifth year option was introduced in 2011, which was the first year of the new CBA. I'm sure you guys remember that summer of 2011, the lockout that was going on. It was a pretty hectic time. But after that, we got that that fifth year option introduced. And typically what teams do, because you have to pick it up or decline it before their fourth season. So they know going into their fourth year is this a contract year or did they pick up my option for next year and next year is going to be the last year. So they have to do it before the fourth year. The Dallas Cowboys are still to this day, the only team that has picked up a player's fifth year option on draft night. The first time they ever got one, Tyrone Smith in 2011, they picked up his fifth year option. Literally the night he drafted him when he was only 20 years old and obviously had a long historic career there. And it's crazy to say, but he's probably not going to play another down for them. And now they're kind of saying goodbye. And here they are exercising another fifth year option for another freak player and doing it well before any other team seemed to be picking up their options. So we'll kind of see which other teams end up picking up fifth year options. I know Kyle Pitts has his coming up, J.C. Horn for the Carolina Panthers. It's that 2021 draft class. The first round picks all have that option. So let's go ahead and get through the cuts before we get to the signings that happened. So a few of these cuts were designated as post June 1. So technically they're not going to be a free agent immediately. Their contract isn't going to come off the books right away. And that's Russell Wilson from the Broncos, Shaq Barrett from the Bucks, Nick Gates from the commanders and Tardavius White from the Bills. Now the Bills, that's not where it stopped. They might have designated Trey White as a post June 1, but they just straight up cut a few other players starting with Jordan Poir, Jordan Poir, I should say, starting free safety, who's a phenomenal just veteran leader in the back end. Somebody's going to get a phenomenal player. And I see what Jesse Bates did to our team whenever he came over and immediately changed the game on the defensive side of the ball. Somebody's going to get that in Jordan Poir. Maybe not to the same extent, but there is another safety that just might provide that Jesse Bates effect. And we'll talk about him to him in just a little bit. But Mitch Morse, Deontay Hardy, Nahim Hinds, these were all players that were cut by Buffalo. So they clearly, they're one of the teams, like we mentioned, they have only a few amount of days before they can create all of this cap space. And I'm not sure the exact number of that it created, but I do believe specifically the Tardavius White. That was a pretty big one that probably saved them a lot of money, as well as some of the restructures that they did, specifically Russell Douglas von Miller. I know von Miller's restructure created like 14 million, so that's a hell of a lot right there just with one move. But some other teams that made cuts, avanté Maddox from the Philadelphia Eagles, Keanu Nill from the Pittsburgh Steelers, and then obviously Justin Simmons, the free safety from the Denver Broncos, who, in my personal opinion, shoots all the way to the top of the safety free agents that are going to be on the board. What did you guys think about Justin Simmons becoming available? We'll start with you, you know, were you shocked by that move or was it something that maybe just because of, you know, what we've talked about, I just covered the Broncos in the AFC West episode. We talked about how their roster is going to look a lot different once Sean Payton actually gets his feet set in the ground, his heels really dug in there. We've seen rumors about Jerry Judy and Corland Sutton being moved, but the Justin Simmons one kind of caught me off guard. Did you feel the same there? Oh, yeah, absolutely. Like it was definitely a shock just because you don't see a top tier, you know, person at their, you know, position just kind of get left by the wayside. And I kind of saw that as maybe like a turning stone for what the Denver Broncos are trying to do going into this 2024-2025 season saying, hey, you know, let's, let's try to change this team. There was a lot of bad Juju in the locker room and so on and so forth, not saying that he was definitely a part of something that was definitely going on in that locker room. But at the same time, I hate to say it, but safeties and, you know, running backs nowadays, you don't really have cornerstones at those positions nowadays. It's always, you know, quarterback, you know, you're strong, you know, side tackles, your passrushers, your cornerbacks that you kind of want to build your team around. And safeties have kind of gone by the wayside us along lately because you can get a guy in the draft, you can get a guy in the free agency period and kind of underpay that position knowing that someone from his caliber is probably going to want a bag next year. And let's go ahead and cut that tie now and save a little bit of money, not necessarily saying Denver was in a, you know, cap salary hell, so to speak. But hey, let's try to see what we can do in the free agency period and just kind of replace it because sometimes holding on to a top tier type person at a certain position is not necessarily a need to fill, a need to save position that you can go somewhere else, like I said, in free agency and draft and kind of build on that, you know, secondary, so to speak. Yeah, I mean, I was, well, yeah, when Justin Simmons, when it popped up on my new speed, I was, I was shocked. I mean, when you look at like the Broncos, he at this point, I considered him a pillar of the team, especially of that defense. And yeah, it, this is really, this feels like Sean Payton turning the page and saying, hey, like, and again, I know, obviously it goes with the GM too, but it's very much them putting their foot down and being like, this is Sean Payton's team. We are turning, we are going into a new era. We're getting rid of Russell Wilson. And some team is going to pick up Justin Simmons. And it's, yeah, I mean, it's going to be a match made in heaven. And what scares me is, I get, we'll talk about him here in a little bit, the Bengals have some money to spend. And the secondary is definitely a place they need to improve. I'm sure they have, they immediately saw that and they're like, all right, this might be a call we need to make. So, that is definitely something I'd be looking at. And that would, that would destroy me if he ends up going to someone else in the AFC North. Tax day is coming. Oh, no. But if you sign up for Robinhood Gold's IRA with a 3% match, you can get up to $195 for the 2023 tax year. Oh, yeah. Sign up at robinhood.com/boost by tax day to get the biggest contribution match on the market. Subscription fees apply. Investing involves risk. A 3% match requires gold for one year from first match. Must keep IRA for five years. Robinhood financial LLC member SIPC. If you only have a 401k, you're not getting the most for retirement. Wait, what? Add a Robinhood IRA on top, then they'll boost it by 3%. You can do that. And if you transfer in any retirement account, you get 3% on top of that. Is there a limit to the match? No limit. Robinhood Gold gets you the biggest contribution match of any IRA on the market. Sign up for robinhood gold at robinhood.com/boost by April 30th. Subscription fees apply. Investing involves risk. 3% match requires gold for one year from first match. Must keep IRA for five years. Match on transfer subject to additional terms and conditions. Robinhood financial LLC member SIPC. Tax day is coming. Oh, no. But if you sign up for Robinhood Gold's IRA with a 3% match, you can get up to $195 for the 2023 tax year. Oh, yeah. Sign up at robinhood.com/boost by tax day to get the biggest contribution match on the market. Subscription fees apply. Investing involves risk. 3% match requires gold for one year from first match. Must keep IRA for five years. Robinhood financial LLC member SIPC. Yeah, it really would. And just a list of safety or veteran safety that are available, I find it hard to believe that any team specifically like Washington, maybe you even mentioned Cincinnati, like there's so many teams that could find a veteran cheap. And you know, even the Saints who just re-signed one of their players, and we're going to get into some of the players that got signed over the past couple of days. But Tyrone Matthew, he signed a two year $13 million contract with the New Orleans Saints to stay at home. You would imagine this. I don't know how long he's going to try to play. He seems like the kind of guy that could go on forever. But at the same time, he also seems like he might want to end his career in New Orleans. You know, as an LSU guy, he's literally from New Orleans. So it does make sense if that's where he'd want to hang it up. Zach Hertz, the tight end formerly of the Eagles and the Cardinals. I think he actually signed with the Lions late in the postseason last year to try to ring chase. He signed a one year deer, deal with the commanders, safety tailor wrap, signed a three year extension with the Buffalo Bills. Mitchell Trabisky signed a two year extension with or contract with the Buffalo Bills after leaving Pittsburgh. Guard Ezra Cleveland signed a deal with Jacksonville, tied in John New Smith signed, I'm not sure how long maybe two or three years. I do know that he's agreed to terms with the Miami Dolphins and I think that's a phenomenal addition for their offense. Franchise tagged cornerback Jalen Johnson from the Chicago Bears. This sometimes happens. It shows good faith with the organization and the front office that they're not just going to tag a player and just let him play on the tag. They're going to tag him, but they're also going to, you know, keep that door open to negotiate. So they rescinded the tag and they agreed on a four year, $76 million contract with one of the best quarterbacks, the best up and coming quarterbacks in the entire league. And I was selfishly hoping that he would hit the open market, but that's pretty much it. So far, that's happened just in the past couple of days. Obviously, things are going to continue to heat up, especially on Monday. So that's why, you know, we're trying to get as many of these off-season outlook episodes out as quickly as we possibly can. So we can turn the page and get to obviously draft talk and then, you know, moving on to talking about signings that are coming in left and right, just having news dump episodes, talking strictly free agency. And then, you know, like we just mentioned, there's going to be a good chance that we're going to have a plum crazy, crazy takes just kind of previewing what could possibly happen once free agency actually gets going. But let's go ahead and turn the page. Literally, as you can hear me turn my page to the AFC North, which is why we're all here to talk about the most talented division in the entire NFL. And we're going to start with the cream of the crop, the Baltimore Ravens who finished 2023 with the 13 and four record. Good for first place in the AFC North, they had the fourth ranked offense, first ranked defense. They are, let's see, $7 million over the cap. So not hard at all. That's one simple restructure away from, you know, getting yourself at a position where you can start making moves once free agency actually kicks off. Because they made it to the AFC championship game, lost to the Kansas City Chiefs, they have the 30th pick in the draft. And I've already seen them as a team that is being highlighted and targeted and mentioned for any teams that think that are thinking about possibly making a move up, you know, going into the first round, trying to get a quarterback or, you know, maybe just jump a team for any type of player, but usually teams have that fifth year option in mind, like, no, we want to get this player for five years. Let's trade into the back of the first round, especially for picking up there near the top of the second round. Like one, one team that I've kind of mentioned was the Washington commanders, like, no matter which route they go, if they take a quarterback at number two, I could see them moving up from number two all the way to maybe 30 with Baltimore or even higher to go get a wide receiver that could be falling. You know, one of the guys that they might be falling in love with, because it's a deep wide receiver class, but everyone's hoping that they fall to the second round so they can make those moves. Or if they do the unthinkable in draft Marvin Harrison, maybe they can trade up and get five years of Michael Pinnick's or somebody like that, one of those quarterbacks Bo Nick, somebody who starts to drop in the first round and they can bring some competition in to say the least or at the very least for Sam Howell. But I think there's there's so many different directions you can go, but the Baltimore River, they're at a good spot. Just when you look at their draft stop or slot, I apologize, because they don't really have a whole lot of holes. Now they did just lose a very important piece, the defensive coordinator, they franchise tag to defensive tackle. Obviously they have free agents, they have 21 to be exact and I can just list off some of their free agents just to make sure you guys are up to speed as well with, you know, kind of what they're up against whenever they're looking at people they're going to lose in the off season and, you know, so on and so forth. Odell Beckham Jr., Kevin Zuyler, that's their starting guard, he's about to turn 34 years old. Gus Edwards, Rocky Asin, Patrick Queen, Tyler Huntley, Jadevian Clowney, Geno Stone, Ronald Darby, JK Dobbins, Josh Johnson, and you know, obviously Laquan Treadwell, so many other players as well. But for the most part, it's those guys at the top, you know, Odell Kevin Zuyler, Gus Edwards, Patrick Queen, especially, he's still only 24 years old, he's going to be 24 years old whenever the season starts. So there's a lot of youth that they could look at bringing back, but at the same time, now that they're having a new defensive coordinator kind of step in here, although it was a promotion from within. So it's not like they're going out and getting a new scheme or anything like that. It's pretty much still going to be the Baltimore Raven style, but you would think that because they are $7 million over the cap that they are going to have to make some type of tough decision. I don't expect Odell to return. I think they're going to just continue to go younger, continue to draft players like we've seen them do with Rashad Bateman. Obviously, they flowers. They can continue to build wide receiver or their wide receiver room through the draft because for the most part, wide receivers never signed with Baltimore. They're never able to find their own wide receiver. Like, do the Ravens have a single homegrown wide receiver that you look at and think, okay, that's like a Hall of Fame player. Now, obviously, Anquan Bolden stopped in Baltimore. He was drafted by Arizona. They've had several other wide receivers like Odell Beckham kind of come in and, you know, Tori Smith as well was drafted by the Ravens, but he's not a Hall of Fame. We could all agree there. So I don't think the Ravens have hit on that position yet. Like, they haven't gotten a guy through the draft. And the more times that you take that swing, the more times that you actually you step up to the plate, there's a good chance you're going to finally connect with that ball, and you're going to hit it out of the park. So I think that the Ravens are going to continue to build through the draft, get those young, cheap wide receivers, and you could say $15 million just by letting Odell Beckham go. So that's a no-brainer right there. Kevin Zeitler, that's a veteran guard. He's a very big part of your offense, especially the Ravens offense. When you look at how run heavy they are, you want to have those veterans in there. They got Tyler Lindenbaum as their center, obviously, Ronnie Stanley as a left tackle. So they do value the offensive line. And if he does feel like continuing on and playing, I think once free agency actually begins, that could be one of the first names that we see resign with the Ravens. But what are you guys's thoughts on? And Howard, we'll start with you since you're more familiar with this team. What are your thoughts on the Ravens given their pre-successful season in 2023? I just mentioned their resources that they have, obviously, picking 30 in the draft. What direction do you see them going to improve this roster? I probably would agree with you. I think they, I know, I think they trade out of the first round just to try and maybe stock up on some draft picks. Man, I tell you too, like, I know at one time, cornerback was really a strength of that Ravens team, but I think they're going to be eyeing up maybe a cornerback, look in that direction. And then, yeah, I mean, wide receiver. They need to get another wide receiver. Dave Flowers is doing great things there. I can respect it enough to say that, you know, he might be the future of that team, but Rashad Bateman, it's still out on him. And I think they, you know, so I think they want to get at least a solid number two or a guy that can compete even to be their number one. The other group to keep an eye out for, their free agent list, Gus Edwards and J.K. Dobbins, both are free agents this year. So, oh, and oh, they brought in Dalvin Cook as well, and Dalvin Cook now also a free agent. So their running back room is pretty much gutted at this point and not that it was super effective the past season or two anyways. So, I would, they're going to have to find a running back somewhere. And I'm thinking they're going to try and go for someone that is not an injury concern because injuries have just ravaged their running back room the past couple of years. Yeah, it really has. CM, what are your thoughts on the Ravens? How are they going to get better when you're at the top? Most people say you can only go down, especially in this division where they might be at the mountain top, but all these other teams, they're halfway at the mountain as well, maybe in three quarters of the way up the mountain. So they slip it all, they're losing a lot of ground more so than any of these other division winners. So, how do you see the Ravens getting even better than what they were last year? It's very interesting. It's one of those catch 22 tight deals for the Baltimore Ravens. You know, they were actually probably one of the teams that actually could have beat the Kansas City Chiefs in that playoffs game. You know, if it wasn't for a couple of personal fouls, you know, safe flowers being a rookie, yada yada, say what you want. But my first, if, you know, me being a defensive guy, you know, playing a lot of defense in my playing days, just being a defensive minded guy, I want to keep Patrick Queen in a Baltimore Ravens uniform. He is the heart and soul of that defense is a type of linebacker that you need on your defense. And Baltimore's defense is very strong. Yeah, I know they need some help on the outsides, but it's the whole running back. It's the wide receiver, but at the same time, they're in a good position. They can move up, they can sit back. They roll out the same team next year. Who's to say that they can't win another, you know, 12, 13, maybe even more games next year with everything that they already had, but I got too strengthened my defense. I got to get Patrick Queen resigned because if he hits the free agency wire, there will be teams beating down the door for a stud outside will. Sam, whichever he plays the linebacker position, probably better than a lot of linebackers out there in the day right now. And he has to be resigned. That is number one on a Baltimore resume right now, things that they have to do going into the draft period. And it just kind of let everything settle. And like Mr. Pull said, they need running back help. They have to get that running back room a lot bigger, a lot depth. And it's kind of scary. Like I said, one of my shows, the running back, you know, position is not really, besides, you know, of course, this past year with John Robinson, of course, going to your team, the running back position is not really coveted in the draft as of the past couple of years. 30 is a pretty good spot to get a good running back, but do you want to risk that position? And like I said, they're drafting a 30. They can let that position fall to them. And like y'all were saying, they can draft out of that, get an extra third or something, get a, you know, a player that they need, like you said, at the interior lineman, and just kind of strengthen their team. Because this is a team that does not have a lot of holes. And like I said, turn around next year and still be a very, very good team and compete for an accuracy title. Yeah, see, the main thing with the running back position for sure, like in this draft class, absolutely not in the first round, I wouldn't even touch him in the second. You could find somebody very late day to maybe early day three that could really give you good touches if that's the way you wanted to go. But you also mentioned Patrick Queen, see the thing is, yes, you're right, he plays phenomenal off ball linebacker. He is one of the best in the business. But there are a couple who may be a little bit better. And it just so happens that one of them is playing on his team in Rokwan Smith. And I just feel like because it's that now I could be wrong, you know, teams philosophy or philosophy could be completely undisclosed at this point with how their new defensive coordinator is going to run things. But it would just be tough given their cap situation to allocate that much money to two positions. Because they wouldn't trade it for Rokwan, you know, just given a draft capital that they're going to extend him. Now the question you have to ask yourself is, are we willing to allocate that much money to the answer or the off ball linebacker position, given the state of our franchise and roster right now, just with Lamar Jackson and you know, the way that the division is, I'm totally with you. It's kind of why I'm so happy to see the free agent market at safety so deep, because I know we have so much money, you know, dedicated to the safety room with Jesse Bates. But we need him a running mate, like we can't just try out Richie Grant again. We can't just try out, you know, these six seventh round draft picks that replace Richie Grant. We need to find a veteran, a good veteran. If we can get one for cheap because of how deep this class is and not everybody's going to get a fat deal, a lot of people are going to go, you know, they're going to want to go to a place where maybe it's close to home. Maybe it's just, you know, a better fit. Like if I was a corner or a safety, I would love to go to Atlanta just because of, you know, obviously AJ Terrell and Jesse Bates, like two people in the back end that I feel like would make your job so much easier and you'd be able to have success. So I'm hoping that, you know, one way or the other, we can get another one of these guys. But I think the Ravens are kind of in that same spot where they might just have to choose Rokwan or Patrick Queen and they're probably going to choose Rokwan, which means the money that they could spend, that, you know, giving Patrick Queen, they could, you know, maybe go get somebody on the offensive line, maybe pay Kevin Zuyler, maybe get another cornerback or an Ed Druscher since you're losing Jadevian Clowney. There's different ways you could maybe improve your defense if you just spin that another way. But they're definitely going to want to make some some pretty big tweaks, I feel like, because whenever you're that close, whenever you get to the AFC Championship game and you know your window isn't going to get any further open, it just makes sense to make, you know, a drastic move. Yeah, and to add on to that, Mike, I would say, like looking at that free agent list, I would think they would re-sign Jadevian Clowney. I think they can get him cheap. I think fans really fell in love with them. You know, when I was watching games, the fans really fell in love with them. I think he really became a Baltimore guy. I would really think that of all those free agents, he's going to be one of the top guys. I really think they try and bring him back. And it makes all the sense in the world, honestly. Clowney had one of his better seasons last year as a runstopper. And he's just, for whatever reason, I know he's not the guy that he was advertised to be coming out of South Carolina. He was supposed to be the next Mario Williams. You know, he's supposed to be that next freak of nature. Julius Pepper's coming into the league and really hasn't panned out. But for the most part, you know, guys have flaked out way worse than him. Look at guys like, you know, Cleland Furl and other, you know, early draft picks that play the same position as him. So I will give a shout out to him and who knows maybe, you know, because I was, it was nobody. I want like, Clowney taught me such a valuable lesson in the draft. Do not put all your chips for one guy. Because I desperately wanted in. It'd been so long since the Falcons had a very high draft pick. And we ended up getting all the way to six overall in the 2014 draft. We took Jake Matthews, which I will say the five players picked before Jake Matthews are not with their current team. They left. In fact, the only other player picked in the top 10 of that draft that are still with their, you know, current team. Aaron Donald was picked number 10. He's still with the Rams and St. Louis Rams over who drafted him. And also his fellow Texas A&M teammate, Mike Evans, who just signed an extension with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. So Mike Evans and Jake Matthews, they've been playing against each other for two games a year for literally their entire careers. And they've both built pretty solid resumes. But let's go ahead and turn the page to another division since the Natty Bangles. We went from first place the Ravens to last place here with the bangles. But this isn't your typical last place team. I promise you, you can look at this team and think, well, last in the division. Probably have what a number six overall pick. It's very rare that the last place team in the division picks number 18 in the draft. And they have $50.2 million with a franchise quarterback already on the roster. Now he's not extended yet. He hasn't gotten that crazy contract that's going to just absolutely make him the guy in, you know, I mean, he is the guy. Let's go ahead and, you know, call it what it is. And did he actually get that extension? Am I, am I completely miss speaking there? I'm pretty sure he got the, I'm pretty sure he got paid already. It was. No, uh, Joe Burrow. Oh, Joe Burrow. Yes. Yes. He, I think I'm pretty sure he got the bag. Okay. Well, as far as, you know, their roster, that's even more impressive, right? If they have him already, a big quarterback contract on their books and they still have $50.2 million to spend, yeah, this team was in a decent spot. I know they're going to lose some players, not T Higgins, though they franchise tagged him. So he's going to be back for one year. But they are going to lose some other players, 17 free agents to be exact. DJ reader Tyler Boyd, Chidobia Wuze, Joanna Williams, Irv Smith, Josh Tupoe, Max Sharpen, Drew Sample, Trayvon Williams, Ajay McCarron, Joe Botchy, Cody Ford, a few others, but none that are really noteworthy. So they're going to be able to go make the improvements that they need, right? They're going to be able to finally go get a reliable tie-in for Joe Burrow, which I think they desperately need. My dream scenario was brought hours. And it's not just because the fit is amazing, but it's because I predicted that like well over a year, maybe even two years ago, once Hayden Hurst signed with the Cincinnati Bengals, I knew that Brock Bowers was going to be a bangle and it's close. It might not happen. You know, somebody could take Brock Bowers in the top 10, although I don't think it'll happen. I think he will actually slide just a little bit and the Bengals might be in striking distance to get this guy. And I really hope that's the case because I think that whenever you do get a security blanket in there, whenever you get him his Dallas Clark, you can make it the Burrow, we'll say Bowers. We'll just pretend that it's going to happen. The Burrow Bowers and Chase Show, you rotate in guys like T Higgins and Tyler Boy, you know, it's a rotating door. You know, you pretty much have to replace those guys every three, four years or whatever. Same thing at the running back position. Now I've heard they might cut Joe Mixon. I don't know if that, you know, if there's any credibility to that, who knows, but clearly the Bengals are trying to make some changes. They don't want to just run it back next year. And, you know, obviously there's some changes on the back end, possibly on the defensive side. They do need to improve the safety position. They've got some young guys back there, but I don't know if they're getting the bang for the bucket they spent. Obviously a guy like DJ reader like, man, you've got to bring him back. He's still 29 years old, making plays. I know he's got a hefty price tag, but that's just one of the players. Like, I feel like you would fill his absence, but they're already strong at the edge rusher position, Sam Hubbard, Trey Hendrickson, but they do need to continue to allow those guys to get the single coverage that they get. And that's because usually a guard and a sinner is paying attention to guys like DJ readers. So it's a pretty important piece there on the defense that I think they do need to make sure to bring back specifically because they have the 21st ranked defense with him. And if they lose him, you could imagine that it might drop a little bit unless, you know, they make some pretty drastic moves with that money and maybe have a very solid draft class. 16th ranked offense though. So even without Joe Burrow, this isn't offense. I mean, obviously, they got a offensive coordinator ahead coaching job, but they were absolutely better than expected. And I think that's a big part of why, you know, I don't think this team is going to miss a beat next year either. You get a guy like Joe Burrow back in there. It doesn't really matter who the offensive coordinator is. Remember, like Zach Taylor is the head coach. I think he's the play caller actually too. So I don't think that the the Bengals are in a bad spot next year. They actually might be better just given the fact that Joe Burrow is finally going to be back, have that health on his side, and hopefully he gets more weapons this offseason. Yeah, absolutely. It's it's it's the Cincinnati, I call it the 15 to 25 area when you're drafting at those positions. You could, you know, move up, you can fall back. You know, I see they're they need a tackle. You know, you know, you got to protect the guy that's making the most money, the guy who's going to get you to a Super Bowl. We have seen it the past couple of years. Joe Burrow doesn't play. You know, they're not very good. You know, when he plays and he plays at that all-star level, one of the top quarterbacks, not just in the AFC, just in the league in general, you have to protect them. And that's just been that woeful position, whether it be, you know, center guard, but it's the tackle position. I think that they can really get this year, especially with this really, really deep tackle draft. They could move up and get the tackle that they really like, or they can just let one fall to them that fits their position. And I completely agree with you, Mike, about the Brock Bowers, he completely fits. There's two like teams. Actually, I mean, you know, I've said it in my show before, Brock Bowers could play for 31 of the 32 teams, you know, besides Kansas City, you know, and he would be an upgrade at your tight end position. You know, but the two positions, the two teams that I think he completely fits is, of course, Cincinnati, and then Indy and Apple is at 15. And if he at 15 at Indy and he's not falling past 15, there's no way Brock Bowers falls that far, but I completely agree. He fits that. He fits that scheme. He's great at it. But let's solidify the offensive tackles. But at the same time, if there's no one there that they necessarily want at that position, let's move back. Or, like I said, this kid, you know, DJ Reader, what they're going to do with them, this is a very good defensive tackle, draft coming up as well, very deep, very good players that aren't necessarily going to get, you know, drafted very early, especially in the top 17. So they're in a really good position. And this is just a sleeping giant that is the Cincinnati Bengals that, you know, just a couple of pieces here and there. Joey Burrell's healthy. They have the players around him. He got you more chase, one of the best receivers in the game, sure up the defense, sure up the offensive line. And they can be back in the playoffs next year at the blink of it. Ah. Yeah, I completely agree with CM here. I think that offensive line has been, I mean, sketchy, I think is a nice way to put it here in the past couple of seasons. And again, it's resulting in Joe Burrell getting injured. Like, he needs an offensive line to work behind to stay healthy and to be able to be his true self. And, you know, I have famously taken a rant on here about the Cincinnati Bengals, but I think with the money they have and the position they have in the draft, they could very much, they could get the difference makers they need to make an elite team. I mean, really what we're talking about here is offensive line. If they could try and get themselves, you know, a lockdown person in the secondary, whether that's at safety or cornerback, and then probably, you know, maybe address the linebacker position a little bit, you know, they've solid linebackers, but no one that's really a huge difference maker in my mind. So, you know, if they can address those couple of things, then yeah, they're probably going to come out and be an elite team out of the get-go. So, you know, I think they're on the cusp of doing something really big. They just need, they need to not make dumb decisions this off season, and then it'll be in the back for them. Yes, I completely agree. The Bengals, they're starting point, they're floor. I feel like they're floor so much higher because they've drafted well, and they're just built the right way. Like, like they really are, and they're not as, I guess, rugged, as you would expect, like the Browns, the Ravens, and the Steelers. Like, the Bengals don't get that respect that those teams get when you're talking about hard-nosed football because they're such like a finesse team. Like, they have a really past happy offense. It's kind of how the Falcons were built, but at the same time, the Bengals aren't your typical, just past happy offense. Like, I really do think that they're more physical than what a lot of people realize, like, especially like an NFC team who doesn't really get a chance to play the AFC North, but once every four years, so whenever you do play the Bengals, like, you're used to seeing teams like the Browns, and the Ravens, like, beat up on them, you know, and kind of force their will on the line of scrimmage. And then whenever a team like us, like, a dome team, kind of goes and plays in Cincinnati, it's not as easy. We can't move that line of scrimmage the same way, and definitely, like, when we play teams like the Browns, it's a very noticeable difference. You just see how differently these teams are built, and, you know, I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what the Bengals do in the draft. I'm really pulling for Brock Bowers landing there in Cincinnati. If you only have a 401k, you're not getting the most for retirement. Wait, what? Add a Robinhood IRA on top, then they'll boost it by 3%. You can do that. And if you transfer in any retirement account, you get 3% on top of that. Is there a limit to the match? No limit. Robinhood Gold gets you the biggest contribution match of any IRA on the market. Sign up for Robinhood Gold at Robinhood.com/boost by April 30th. Subscription fees apply. Investing in Bell's risk, 3% match requires gold for one year from first match, must keep IRA for five years, match on transfer, subject to additional terms and conditions. Robinhood Financial LLC, member SIPC. Moving on to another team, Cleveland Brown. Oh, by the way, see him. Show some respect to Sam Laporta. All right. He is. Oh, sorry. I totally forgot about Sam Laporta. I did say that too. Just when Mr. Paul was talking, I was like, shit, I was like, I forgot about Sam Laporta. Like, I really did. That was the one, the one exception that I was like, damn, I probably shouldn't have said that. But, you know, like I said, you know, hell, even you, you can run an ace formation and have two tight ends. You know, you could have bowers on one side and, you know, your boy Kyle Pitts on the other. You could run, you know, some old-school Maryland, you know, type offense. You say that like I haven't already been fantasized about it. Trust me, I know you, man. I know you. But anyway, let's go and move on to another team here. The 11 and six second in the AFC North Cleveland Brown, they have the tide for 10th ranked offense, 13th ranked defense, $2.4 million to spend. So they're just, you know, they're going to go in there. I do feel like they might be aggressive. The Browns are always a team that tries to be aggressive going into the offseason. They just, whenever you don't have a lot of holes on your roster, there's really only so much you can do. But with their aging players and obviously to Sean Watson coming back from an injury, you would expect this to be a big offseason for the Browns where they really try to make a run for it. Like they saw what happened last year whenever their roster was depleted, and they were relying on reserve players and backups and players who were journeymen literally on the couch like Joe Slacko. Next thing you know, they're making a playoff run. I think this is the year seeing other players thrive at the quarterback position for the Browns, that if the Sean Watson doesn't show something this year, man, I know I'm out. Like, I know I'm going to be completely out on this. I want to see him succeed for the sake of the Browns, obviously for Caleb, like I don't want him to have to go get another quarterback. Now, obviously if the Sean Watson doesn't work out, it's going to be okay. The Browns have a great organization. We've already seen another quarterback do better in that system. So it wouldn't be the end of the world if they actually decided to move on. But because they gave up so much for them, like they don't even have a first round pick this year. Like they're one of the few teams that we're going to talk about that don't have a first round pick. Obviously see him. We're not even going to get in there. But the Browns are a team like they're still paying for the Sean Watson right now. So if you rule out him being the quarterback, like if it doesn't work, like if we're already having that conversation before they even got through paying it off, that's like wrecking your truck when you still got two years left to payments. You know, it's like one of those things like you it's pointless pretty much. So you have to make this investment last a long time. So I think the Browns are going to do everything in their power to build this offense and this this team around the Sean Watson this off season and they're going to go all in put all their chips in. And if it doesn't work out this year, I know salary wise, they might still be on the hook because that contract they gave him literally is unprecedented. We're probably not going to see another one like it. But at the same time, I could see the Sean Watson maybe restructuring something and you know, just simply from him accidentally almost pushing an official, which could have led to a suspension. That voids so many guarantees. Just simply a player getting suspended could really change the language in a certain contract. So just be mindful of that. But you know, like I said, I am rooting for these Cleveland Browns just like I was rooting for them in the wild card round. You know, we love the Texans. I was trying to be as unbiased as I possibly could. But I wanted to see the Browns win. I really didn't. I'm proud of the Texans that they got to the next round. I just wanted to see the Browns get a chance to go out the Ravens and have that division around matchup and see what would have happened there because of how good that division is. Like we say, you know, the Browns are one of the few teams. I mean, not only did they beat the Ravens in 2023, but you know, they they've always given them fits like they've always been a really good matchup for them. Now, the Browns do have the most free agents in this division sitting at 24. Zadariya Smith, Shelby Harris, Shaqim Grant, Joe Flacco, Sienna Taki, Taki, Marquis Goodwin, Cody Bajores, Michael Ford, Kareem Hunt, Maurice Hurst, Anthony Walker, Jordan Elliott, Harrison Bryant. Like there's a lot. I mean, 24 is quite a bit, but some of them are on the wrong side of 30. A couple of these guys can be easily replaceable. Like, thank you for your services. You got a phenomenal four years here on your rookie contract, but it's time to go elsewhere. The Browns are slowly starting to get their draft picks back. Like I mentioned, this is the last year without a first round pick, but now they have a second rounder this year. And now like they actually are able to maybe make some moves in the graph if they want a first round or go up, you know, go up and get somebody. If you want to save your worthy to be on this offense, because you just want a field stretcher, you want to know their weapon, somebody that strikes fear into the eyes of all these talented defenses that are in your division, getting a speech of the fastest 40 of all time. I know there's some questions like, go look at the film. There's sometimes an Xavier worthy, there's bad blockers and there's straight up, I am not blocking. And that's what I've seen him do on tape where, yeah, the safety's coming up. He has an opportunity to just shoot right there and make that block. And for whatever reason, he doesn't do it. And obviously that's something I would like to see him get better at as he gets older, but he's still kind of light. He was playing light all season though. So you know what, what you see is what you get with Xavier worthy. You have to take his pros, build around his cons, but that's all hypothetical. I think the Browns are without a doubt going to dip in this wide receiver pool this off season, specifically in the draft. Like I think they're going to get somebody. They're going to try to develop one of these younger guys because they've slowly and quietly tried to do this for a while now. Like the Browns have slowly, I mean, one year they drafted like four wide receivers in the same class. They drafted Corey Coleman and then like three in the fifth round. And Coleman wasn't even the one that stuck around the longest. I think it was Hollywood Higgins were shot Higgins for the Browns, but he ended up going to the Carolina Panthers, by the way, Sam, I think eventually in his career. But either way, the Browns are going to add some talent on offense. David and Joku had a phenomenal year, one of his best years of his entire career. I think he went to the Pro Bowl, which is phenomenal. Their offensive line is already built. They have one of the best value picks. DeWann Jones, who you could argue was the best pick in the draft last year because the Browns lost Jack Conklin and they were able to just plug and play a massive body there. And now they're able to go forward with DeWann Jones being their right tackle. So there's there's positives with his Browns offense and it does give you hope that they were in draft pick hell for the past couple of years and they were still able to find some gems. So you give them some early picks and let them bring another draft class in. I think that this team's going to be going in the right direction as well. It's just making those right moves. Like I said, it's all centered around to Sean Watson. We've seen this team go far the first round, damn near the second round in the playoffs. Now, what can we see with this team being the best version of itself? Nick Joey might not be 100% to start the season. Who knows? He may be on a snap count. That's going to be, you know, to be determined how this off season goes. I know he's already walking around and all that stuff. I wouldn't put it past Nick Chubb to come back and be even better. Like I know that's pretty crazy to think about given that he's already had a crazy knee injury to the same knee or was it the other knee? Man, I don't know for sure. But I know that it was pretty much the exact same thing that happened compound, not compound fracture, but absolutely blew the knee up going in a completely different direction. You wouldn't wish it on anybody, especially a guy like Nick Chubb. I'm definitely rooting for him to come back and be even better than he was. At least be the same Nick Chubb that we all know and love for the next few years to kind of usher in a new era of Cleveland Browns football once they obviously get out of this contract and they just, this roster starts to age out and they bring in all this new talent. I think Nick Chubb can be the guy that gets them as close to the promised land as literally anybody else has. But what do you guys think about the Browns? Where do you see them just amongst this division right now? I mean, listen, I've been nice about the other teams in the ICU North, so I'm going to show them the Browns a little bit. The fact that they let Baker Mayfield walk and you signed Deshawn Watson to that to an awful contract. I mean, everyone's been talking about how awful the Russell Wilson trade was and how bad this contract is. We are not talking enough about how awful this Deshawn Watson contract is. Because yeah, I really don't. The fact that 30 I think was a 38 year old Joe Flacco can come in and take over the job and I mean reinvigorate the team to the point of leading them to the playoffs. That shouldn't have happened. I mean, this team has so much talent outside of quarterback that it just boggles my mind that Deshawn Watson to me is weighing them down. But you know, I think they can add some playmakers around Nick Chubb that injury was to the opposite leg. So that was the first time I was his right leg or whatever. But so both legs have had the injury now. But I think Nick Chubb comes back. I still think he ends up being the bell cow. I think maybe he's got a little bit of a pitch count to start. But I think Nick Chubb is still going to run through Nick Chubb on this team. And I mean, obviously he's deserved it. He's earned it and they've got a great offensive line. But you know, they're stuck with Deshawn Watson. I was just looking to like they like the most feasible time of cutting him would be 2026. So you've got him for at least the next two years. I would if it were me, I'd be building a great team. Maybe Deshawn Watson's enough to play manager to get you over the hump. If not, build yourself a phenomenal team so that you can bring in a young guy maybe in 2025 that can take over the reins and really kind of lead them to the promised land. Yeah, like I totally see that perspective, honestly, just you know, the Deshawn Watson contract has been a big question for a lot of people. And now that you know that we've seen Joe Flacco, who was 39 by the way, that's going to just thrive in this offense. I think that the spotlight's going to be on him this year. And yeah, it all depends on how they surround him on that offense kind of to see where it goes from here. But yeah, I'm seeing what you have on this. Yeah, just real quick, just Harry Paul Nell pretty much everything I was going to say. The biggest of hot seats is got to be under Deshawn Watson. You got to look at, like you said, the contract that he's getting, the money he's getting to be, you know, the Cleveland Browns quarterback. He's not a game manager. You know, he is a stud quarterback, you know, and you got to look at also where he left. The Houston Texans are in a better position. They are a better team than the Cleveland Browns are right now. Like maybe, you know, not right now, but at the end of, you know, this past year, they were one of the hottest teams in the league, rookie quarterbacks and rookie playmakers all around them. And they overperformed the Cleveland Browns underperformed, had one of the best statistical defenses in the NFL. I think that's what they were going to kind of lean into, at least with, you know, the free agency period. Lean into that defense, let's get that defense stronger. You know, AFC North football, you think of ground in pound, play good defense. They were one of the best teams in the league last year doing both of those things. Chub comes back with a little chip on his shoulders going to try to, of course, you know, carry that team on his back. He's got to stay healthy, of course, but Deshawn Watson has to take them to the promise line because everybody knows you cannot put a ring on your finger with, you know, a game manager. Yes, it has happened before in the past, but Deshawn Watson is not a game manager. He is a stud. He is what he's getting paid for is to be a superstar. He needs to do it. And with a guy like a Marty Cooper, a guy that doesn't really get talked about as much, you know, the past couple of years going to Cleveland, he's a stud. He's the number one. And let's, you know, I'm not real sure where they're picking in the round two. But, you know, let's address the defense. Let's make our defense a little bit stronger. Let's get some weapons, but it all comes down to Chub wants. Yes, sir. I think we're going to get a lot of that same sentiment from, you know, pretty much anybody you talk to about the Browns. Now I did do a little bit of research while you guys were talking because I did want to just leave the listeners not knowing what Joe Burrough's contract situation is. And he has agreed to a massive deal with the Bengals already. He is signed through 2029. So pretty much, I mean, 2024 or 56789. So it's got about like six years left on this contract, maybe five. There is a potential out for 2028, but there'd be a $15 million cap hit. But looking or dead cap hit, but looking at his cap hit, just going forward as we sit right now in 2024, 29.7 million dollars 2025, it jumps up to 46, 2026, it jumps up to 48, 2027, it jumps up to 52. So he is not going to be cheap by any means for the Cincinnati Bengals team. Luckily, the salary cap continues to skyrocket. And hopefully that just continues to be the trend because it would definitely help out a team like the Bengals. But anyways, let's go ahead and move on to the fur. Yeah, let's go and move on to the final team for us to talk about here. Howard Poole, Pittsburgh Steelers, who finished 10 and seven, third in the AFC North 28 ranked offense, sixth ranked defense. They currently have $11 million to spend 20th pick in the draft. And they also have 20 free agents that they're going to have to worry about here. Now this team did lose two debuffalo bills in the wildcard round. So let's just go ahead and take a look here. Where we are, I'm going to look at the Pittsburgh Steelers got to type in, I'm not typing in, I just got to click on their name. Bear with me just for a second because I was looking at Joe Burrough's contract. So I have to go all the way back to the Steelers. And some of the guys they have up are Mason Cole, Levi Wallace, Montrevious Adams, Keanu Nill, Miles Kilbrew, Marcus Golden, Kwann Alexander, James Pierre, Armin Watts, Chanden Sullivan, Blake Martinez, Miles Boykin, Mason Rudolph, Michael Walker, who's to be a former Falcon, Chappelle Russell, Presley Harvin, who's the former punter, Rennell Rinn, and Elijah Riley. They did have two of their unrestricted free agents already signed with other teams with Mitchell Trabisky, signed with the Buffalo Bills, and Chiguma, or a Corifor attack, who's only 26 years old, signed with the New England Patriots today. So in terms of the players who were leaving, I don't think any of those guys really scare you, right? See, or how are poor? I don't think any of these guys really, you know, you're wanting the Steelers to break the bank to bring them back. Now, and nonetheless, guys are real break the bank guys, you know, like Levi Wallace kind of stood out to me for free agent, and not necessarily that he's an insanely talented player, but he saw it, he saw it most of the time, and I was looking at what his kind of valuation was, and they were saying somewhere around like five million a season, something like that. So, you know, very affordable to bring back. A lot of the guys, if you look through, it was over the past two or three seasons when the Steelers had quite a bit of money to spend. We were signing these guys to two, three year contracts, and, you know, a couple of the guys kind of did well, but for the most part, they were just kind of, they were fillers, and they were just deaf guys. So, quite a few can be replaced. On that list, like I said, Levi Wallace is one that I'd like to bring back. Miles Kilborough, just for the fact that he is, he's written very good in special teams, and very undervalued. I think, and generally in the league, when you talk about guys, their special team's value, he's very good in special teams. So, those two guys probably stood out the most for me, and of course Mason Rudolph, he's going to test free agency, but with all the quarterbacks that are on the market, I don't know how great of a deal he's going to get somewhere else. So, I could see Mason Rudolph coming back to the Steelers as well. Yeah, the Steelers are a team that I kind of have offensive line just kind of written down as possibly going tackle in round one, and now it all depends on how the board falls. You know, you've got to kind of let things play out. But just looking at your offense, I have your depth chart pulled up here. You obviously are perfectly fine with Pat Fryer-Muth. Roger Jones is going to find a home on that offensive line, whether it's a right tackle or left tackle. George Pickens, the jury's kind of still out if he's going to stick around in Pittsburgh. Dionne Titch-Johnson kind of had a disappointing season. Alan Robinson, pretty much, he's there just to be that veteran third option that's better than a lot of other teams third option. But I'm looking at Darnell Washington as someone that could be in for a pretty big season just because of Arthur Smith. Like because Arthur Smith is very heavy on the two tight end sets, he loves some 12 personnel. John Newsmith outperformed Kyle Pitts last year just because of the matchup. Like he tries, it's not that he tries to get cute, but he does have like creative ways to use multiple tight ends. And I think that Darnell Washington is going to really benefit from having Arthur Smith there. So that's just a little bit of a fantasy nugget there for any of you guys. If Darnell Washington is on the board late in these upcoming fantasy football drafts, you might just want to take a swing on him because you never really know what he can end up doing. Now looking at their defense, obviously the Steelers run that base three, four defense with Larry Ogden-Jobe, Keanu Benton, and Cam Hayward as their interior defense of Lyman. TJ Watt, Alex Heismith as the Edge Ruchers, Cole Holcomb, and he landed Roberts as the inside backers. You got Joey Porter Jr, Patrick Peterson as the two outside cornerbacks, DeMante Casey and Minka Fits Patrick as the two safeties, obviously Minka being one of the best safeties in the entire league. So that's why the Steelers had the six overalls, or yeah, the six ranked defense in the entire league this past season because you look at their talent that's pretty much spread out everywhere. Like they have very good interior defensive Lyman, very good Edge Ruchers, obviously talent in the back end when you look at the potential of what Joey Porter could be. And Minka Fits Patrick makes everybody in the defense better just because he can fly around. He's a matchup nightmare. And he just pretty much can erase a player from the equation. Cole Holcomb and Eland and Roberts, you know, it pretty much is what it is. Cole Holcomb is somebody that you guys brought in last year. So I think that or maybe the year before I don't. It was last year. It was last year and he performed well enough. He got injured though. I mean, and that's really, we didn't really get to see him fully flesh out I think in our system just because injury injury hit him pretty early in the season. So if you could have it your way, what would you do with the quarterback position? Now I'm kind of thinking that Tomlin's probably kind of over the young guy route like he's had it for a few seasons, probably making him age a little bit and as much as we like to joke like he likes to he likes a challenge to get over 500. I'm sure he wouldn't turn down the opportunity to get an experienced quarterback. Is there someone who's maybe at the top of your wish list for the quarterback position? Man, I got to tell you I and maybe he is tired of the young guy kind of thing. To me, you I think you have to build quarterback through the draft. I just don't see us bringing in a veteran and all of a sudden things are clicking and things are working. Obviously Russell Wilson is just appealing just from the fact of he's going to be I would assume very cheap. And you know I think he's more talented at this point than Kenny Pickett. But with all I mean you hit it on the head with offensive line. Behind that offensive line with the holes that we have, I just don't see any quarterback really coming in and being successful right away. What the sealers need to do is to continue to build around the quarterback position. And you know if Kenny Pickett can show that he's progressing great let's roll with them. But if not the next year we need to be looking at the quarterback position in the draft. But you know Russell Wilson probably is the one that sticks out to me the most. Kirk Cousins way too expensive. Justin Fields, I believe I told you guys last year before we started doing hot takes that I didn't think Justin Fields within the next few seasons would even be a starting quarterback. So I hope the sealers, I know the latest report is that the sealers aren't interested in them which is great. I think fantastic. Keep on that path. But really offensive line is where we should be headed. I'd love to sign a solid tackle and then draft in the first round. I can't think of this last name but Jackson potentially for center. If not there it's Zach Frazier. Somehow we can maybe get him in the second somehow by trading up to get him at the top of the second or something like that. That would I would be okay with that too. There's a lot of directions you guys could go but um see what do you think? You've had your nose on this draft class. You've pretty much been monitoring the draft cycle longer than I have for sure this offseason. So when you think about the Steelers where's the direction you could possibly see them going with that 20th overall pick. If you only have a 401k you're not getting the most for retirement. Wait what? Add a Robinhood IRA on top then they'll boost it by 3 percent. You can do that. And if you transfer in any retirement account you get 3 percent on top of that. Is there a limit to the match? No limit. Robinhood Gold gets you the biggest contribution match of any IRA on the market. Sign up for Robinhood Gold at robinhood.com/boost by April 30th. Subscription fees apply. Investing involves risk 3 percent match requires gold for one year from first match must keep IRA for five years match on transfer subject to additional terms and conditions Robinhood financial LLC. Remember S.I.P.C. Man they can go all kinds of ways. Like I said it's that 15 to 25 area where you take BPA you can move up you can move back but I completely agree with Mr. Paul what he said. You got to strengthen your offensive line but you know number one on your list is you have to have a quarterback. They've had the revolving door of the young quarterbacks is a veteran quarterback the ideal thing that they need to do. I think it would work. I did uh did the one of my last mock drafts is Jackson Powers you know one of the best centers to come out you know replace you know that stone you know when you think of Pittsburgh Steelers you think of a tough offensive line you think of the Pouncy you know I don't know if it was Marquis or I can't remember the other his brother can't really remember I'm sorry but you need a you know a stone wall okay yeah you need a stone at that center position he fits but like I said you've got to get the quarterback situation situation figured out via of course draft or free agency let's get the tackle vice versa do whichever one you want to do but there is a player that just screams Pittsburgh Steelers and he's a cornerback and his name is Terry on Arnold and he would play that good you know slot nickel corner for that Pittsburgh D their defense is already strong you know you're taught to entight defense they need a slot nickel type corner this guy just screams Pittsburgh Steelers he has that mink of Fitzpatrick Alabama you know Crimson Tide vibes to him he's just that hard you know it's type kind of guy I see him I think Pittsburgh Steelers I'm not saying that that's what they're going to do but there's just certain players in this draft process that I've been going through that just completely fit what certain teams like to run and just ideal fit like you know like you said it's Brock Bowers fits you know the Cincinnati Bengals Terry on Arnold fits the Pittsburgh Steelers so on and so forth this guy would just straight up make the Pittsburgh Steelers back end so good and their defensive line is already good with the guys like TJ Watt and Cam Hayward that is great and they'll have a great defense but like I said let's go draft free agency first and let's secure that offensive line let's make that offensive line good and let's get a quarterback that can perform because it's it's hate to say it but they're the team in that division right now with that uncertainty a quarterback and like I said you have to have a good quarterback to win your division like I said go forward in the playoffs get a ring on your figure you have to have a quarterback and it's got to be a competent one yeah I completely agree quarterback's the most important position obviously the Steelers aren't in a position to draft that but clearly you know you kind of hit it on the head that if Terry on Arnold falls to them holy smokes they're absolutely going to be jumping all over that as I'm sure a lot of other teams would because he is easily a top 20 player but just depending on how the board kind of falls you know talented players seem to fall down year after year so we'll just let it kind of play out and go from there but I do want to thank you guys this does wrap up our AFC North conversation here obviously means the world to meet you guys coming on you know I've been doing like probably the last thing I don't even know how many shows by myself which you know I'm not complaining by any means because obviously seeing you do every single one of your shows by yourself and you know I do every SmackDown review by myself so I know that's just how it goes sometimes with podcasting but whenever you do get an opportunity to have two guests on your show after you know kind of talking to thin air for the past few episodes it does feel good so obviously I am very thankful that you guys took the time out of your evening to come celebrate the football functions third birthday with me and yeah hopefully you guys will come back very very soon you know however like we just mentioned it would be nice to have a plum crazy crazy takes episode four free agency I got to redeem myself the playoff crazy takes that I put out I know they're supposed to be crazy but I at least want to maybe hit the backboard you know so we'll kind of see what happens from that perspective but yeah if you're a schedule allows it I would love for you to come on very very soon to knock that bad boy out oh yeah we're gonna knock it out and hey listen I mean that's part of crazy take sometimes they're a little extra crazy you know uh I got screwed out of mind because uh you know uh they uh cowboys should have fired McCarthy but uh you know it's fine uh you know they made me wrong but they're gonna regret it so you know it's uh it's all on them now oh yeah absolutely see him you don't be a stranger now we would love for you to come back on now what's amazing is my iCloud drive like whenever I'm editing these episodes I'm putting in the theme songs I'm you know making these episodes kind of come together as one audio form usually the college wall function intro and the football function intro are right there the only two that are just I can click on them I don't have to download them they're just available to go right there I think that my computer might have been catching on that it's been a while because it officially put the college football function intro into that I have to download it now little fire shit so we'll see what happens when my computer's kind of wondering where the hell CM Funk is uh huh yeah absolutely like I said uh the last episode you know just kind of just you know yeah I know I had been kind of MIA for a while but I had just been so deep in the draft and you know saving some of these episodes for you know those dog days you know after the draft and what what am I going to talk about you know once a week to kind of give you know the funky something to listen to something to look forward to of course you know from April something until August you know when the college football season starts of course but like I said I'm working on an episode I should get it recorded in the next couple days I'm going to talk Heisman because I'm going to talk about some of my favorite Heisman winners of the past maybe predict someone that could possibly win it this year and then give my little input on uh the whole Johnny Manziel Reggie Bush thing so uh the Funkeys might want to listen to that in the next couple of days because like I said I was gone for a little while but like I said I had been so balled deep in the draft you know 20 prospects at least per position so I'm looking at over 120 140 you know prospects and I really want to nail this draft process down fitting into stuff like that and like I said I shall be back soon and like I said I apologize to the Funkeys for you know not dropping an episode for a little while but like I said after college football season's over it's a it's a long you know process from you know early you know actually it's actually really mid January till you know April when the you know the draft's going there's not a whole lot going on so I will be back though more you know more often so you don't have to do stuff like that but like I said thank you guys thank you appreciate you Mike for letting me get on big shout out of course to all the Funkeys like I said the college football function will be back soon and a more often you know thing and like I said I got a lot of good stuff coming so please turn into the college football function this dude Harry Paul contributes a lot we talk a lot and I cannot wait to collab with him you know at some point in time and give his insight and ask him questions on you know why he loves college football what makes him a Penn State fan and hopefully start to do that with a lot of other college football fans out there because there's a lot of college football fans out there and there's a lot of college football teams and there's a lot of good stuff going on in college football coming up in this next season you know we got some super conferences we're gonna have a 12 team playoff it is going to be very very fun and I cannot wait to get into it so thank you to everybody out there listening the family members you know all the guys out there they contribute and listen you know DJ Khuzmo it's you know there's so many names that I could ramble off at the top of my head all the countries that listen I cannot thank you enough so thank you CM's gonna bow out now I'll stop jah jacket and I will let you guys sign off god bless take care how do you go out on bigger bang than that you know obviously CM and I talk a lot and looking forward to episode dropping and man I mean you know I'm gonna give CM as props like no one I think studies the game especially when it comes to college football more than CM I mean he like I mean you look at last season the deep dive he did on some of the teams you know like I even especially remember James Madison University JMU they're down they're from our way they're about like an hour and a half for me and so I mean he was he was wrapping them and they they're a small school they are not anywhere near being considered a big school so you know props do you see them for for cranking it out and really doing the research brother yeah CM does he puts in that work I'll give him credit every day of the week CM is a big part of the football function that's why his absences felt whenever he's not here you notice whenever he's not here and obviously you know let's just reach out what's up with CM where's the call-up football function I think that once he drops his episode they kind of realize oh he's just recharging you know he's human just like the rest of us sometimes everybody needs to take a little bit of a breather take a step back maybe just you know smell the fresh air a little bit and then you could step back in and you know you'll be pick up right when you left off that's the one thing with CM is the work is always put in like I've always appreciated the I guess the attention to detail that he puts into his episodes it always does go a long way with the listeners for sure like I know that for a fact and yeah he's just he's a big part of the big part of the family here like I consider seeing him a brother this uh fifth hundred episode 500 I should say it's coming up here this is like I said 488 we're gonna be creeping up on it very soon I imagine it'll hit sometime here in March so I'm very excited for that you know getting into all the good stuff but this is the show's birthday in three years oh it seems like more like I'll just be honest it seems like a hell of a lot more than just three years but hey I mean this is where we are and I'm looking forward to what is to come but I do want to thank you guys again you know you guys are the best for filling in here I know Terry's bum that he wasn't able to be here but you know he's still working right now as we are you know recording this so I kind of want to ease him back anyways I don't want him to feel like damn I have to go after a long ass day of work and that'd be my first episode back in like three weeks so I'm going to try to give him a little bit of time to you know recalibrate and maybe for the plum crazy crazy takes episode that we have that'll be Terry's first episode back so I am looking forward to getting him back but thank you guys so much thank you to the Funkeys go subscribe on Patreon if you haven't already like what the hell are you doing our families are starving over here so definitely go do something like that we'll just you know like the page on Facebook on Instagram tell a friend gorilla marketing that is the best way to spread the spread the word you know just getting more ears here on the show that's the best way to do it and obviously we appreciate any type of you know contributions whether it's these guys coming on the show just a simple like even a download and a word isn't even you know spoken just simply listening to the show that's as far as it needs to go and we you know certainly appreciate that but thank you guys so much have a damn good weekend enjoy whatever it is that you're doing walk passionately in the direction of your dreams and I'll talk to you soon [BLANK_AUDIO]