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00:00The NFL offseason, but news and notes as always, the RS as we were discussing yesterday, franchise
00:07tag window now is opened up.
00:10We have had a lot of free agency conversations looking at the offseason outlook for basically
00:15all 32 NFL teams and organizations as well.
00:19And one thing we always remind people, the NFL salary cap just continues to go up, up
00:26and up projected estimates for the 2025 league year, set the salary cap somewhere between
00:32two 77 and a half million to two 81 and a half million dollars, a large gap.
00:40But DRS just two years ago, the 2023 NFL season, the salary cap was just shy of 225 million.
00:49We are going to be up by over $50 million in a two year window.
00:56It is why we see record setting historic NFL contracts offseason after offseason after
01:03offseason, because that salary cap continues to increase.
01:07It's really good for teams that are really good.
01:10The reason I say that is if you have a couple of free agents, let's just take a look at
01:12the Philadelphia Eagles, for instance, a couple of guys, they would like to resign, just got
01:16even more money under the cap to bring them back.
01:19Do you know what hurts when they go, oh, look at the Patriots, a hundred million dollars
01:22in cap to spend.
01:23Yeah, you do have to spend it, but that doesn't mean you're going out and signing mid-level
01:27wideouts to big time money because you have to spend it on those guys.
01:31So I know what it looks like.
01:32Say, hey, I love the cap going up here.
01:34That really hurts the bad football teams.
01:35I'm sorry, because an already limited pool of free agents.
01:39Now you're spending all of that money on guys that I, I guess he can help us out.
01:43And that number two wideout, you're not paying number one money.
01:46And Sam Darnold, we needed a quarterback.
01:48Now we're paying him like he's Jalen Hurts and or Patrick Holmes.
01:51You see where I'm going with this thing here?
01:53The salary cap going up is fantastic for the players, but not necessarily for the teams
01:56that are actually looking to improve.
01:58You actually, if you're a team with salary cap money out there, like let's just say the
02:02Chicago Bears or the England Patriots, you'd love the cap to go down 40 million bucks.
02:06Like, oh, we're the only ones with money to spend.
02:08We can pay whoever we want now at this point.
02:10So buyer beware.
02:11It sounds great, but get ready for this.
02:13Just like the NBA a couple of years ago when they started to hit that new money, bums,
02:17we're getting a hundred million dollar contracts in the NBA.
02:20This is a new life.
02:21We're going to see marginal guys sign for monster money, which also is going to upset
02:25the Apple car from some of those guys that signed just two years ago who are superstars.
02:29So lock in, baby.
02:30The money's here.
02:31People are going to be upset and overpaid at the same time.
02:34Who are going to be looking for those renewed paydays, which is funny when you look back
02:40on contracts like Patrick Mahomes, who signed a 10 year 450 million dollar extension extension.
02:47Now, three, four, five years ago at the time, it was like nearly half a billion dollars.
02:52What are we doing?
02:53Patrick Mahomes plays on a discount compared to many other quarterbacks that have nowhere
02:58near the resume nor pedigree of Mahomes.
03:01But it's why if you are shrewd with your finances and you have a forward thinking front office,
03:08you can make some dividends to Donnie's point.
03:11It's not an overly robust free agent class to eat up some of this increased and inflated
03:17salary cap.
03:18But we have seen that DRS in the past few off seasons as well.
03:21This guy who maybe was a pro bowler once in his first three years in his organization
03:26now signing a record setting deal based on positional value still have to be sharp about
03:31what that market value exactly is.
03:35But even more so, Donnie, than just big paydays.
03:37I think the increased salary cap allows teams financial flexibility because you can structure
03:43your deals, as we have said numerous times, to include signing bonuses and upfront guaranteed
03:49money so that you have better players all across your roster for large deals.
03:55But because the salary cap has spiked, the cap hits based on the structure of said contracts
04:01are not nearly as punishable for your team.
04:07That's where I think the salary cap for those good teams actually provides the best benefit.
04:12Yes, and also understand this, because here's what I love, too, because the market changes.
04:17You get prepared as an organization for what you think the salary cap is going to be.
04:21It comes in way over, which again, now we focus on the Cincinnati Bengals.
04:25They might have been saying, Jamar, Chase, and T. Hagans, you know what?
04:28Here's what I think we're going to be able to afford it.
04:30And then once that agent sees the new salary cap coming up, awesome, thought we had a deal
04:34worked out for Chase for $30 million a year.
04:36Now just $37 million.
04:37Oh, no, we can't do that now.
04:40Also, welcome to the new millennium in the NFL, where you better sign those guys sooner
04:44than later, because again, Ben, the longer you wait, the more money it's going to cost
04:49your franchise.
04:50And if you're looking to pay multiple franchise guys at the same time, it doesn't work out.
04:56You want to enter into a season, Ben, like, hey, you know what?
04:58Next year, Jamar Chase is coming up.
04:59Let's see if we can get them done.
05:00But no, the Bengals go, hey, Jamar Chase is up, T. Hagans is up, and also Trey Henderson
05:05is up in the same exact season.
05:07You can't do that.
05:08You can't reset the market with three positional players in one offseason, and that's what
05:13the Bengals are trying to juggle right now.
05:15Donnie, with the hammer, hit the nail on the head right there.
05:19Let's go to Philadelphia.
05:20The Eagles promoting Kevin Petullo as their new offensive coordinator, has been in Philadelphia
05:25since 2021, the passing game coordinator, also the associate head coach since 2023.
05:31Long history with Nick Sirianni, dating back to their days together in Indianapolis since
05:36the 2018 NFL campaign.
05:38DRS, as a Byrds fan, do you like the move for Philadelphia to find their new OC internally?
05:44Yeah, I don't mind.
05:46And I guess Nick Sirianni, and obviously, Howard Roseman, you put a lot of faith in
05:49what they see out of the players and also coaches inside their building.
05:53So I do think it was a good move here to keep the continuity.
05:55But having said that, next time they tried to keep the continuity after losing an offensive
05:59coordinator and keeping it in-house, it didn't go very well.
06:02Hopefully it goes better this time around.
06:03I always like outside the building thoughts, which they did sign a passing game coordinator
06:07coming from Miami, who usually has a pretty good offense there under McDaniel.
06:11So from my money, I don't mind it.
06:13We'll see it play out.
06:14And I'm going to give the university, excuse me, the university, I'm going to give the
06:17team the benefit of the doubt here coming off a Super Bowl.
06:20I think Philly fans have a natural right to be skeptical, seeing as the last time they
06:24reached a Super Bowl with very talented coordinators, both of them left.
06:28The offensive coordinator, Shane Steichen, became the head coach of the Colts.
06:32They promoted from within Brian Johnson because he had that good rapport with Jalen Hurts.
06:37Of course, it did not work out.
06:39The defense, though, really the bigger issue, DRS, in 2023 than that of the offensive scheme.
06:45But you hope that Kevin Petullo takes the reins and that consistency from within house,
06:51but some new ideas only expands the Eagles' offense.
06:55Jamison Williams will not be punished by the NFL relating to an October gun charge.
07:00The Jacksonville Jaguars continue their in-person GM interviews today, interviewing a couple
07:06of guys yesterday, five candidates in person.
07:10Just hire the guy and let us know, Jacksonville.
07:12Thank you very much.
07:13I bet you, Liam Cohen sitting in, though, on those GM interviews.
07:17More around the NFL, speaking of the Super Bowl champs.
07:22Live right here on the early line on SportsGrid, ending out this opening hour.
07:26Anytime the reigning Super Bowl champs get ready for a new season, one of the first things
07:31we ask, who are they going to play week number one?
07:35And more than likely, is that game going to be the opening night of the NFL season?
07:39That season debut on Thursday to get everything started in early September.
07:44DRS, thanks to our, I don't want to, on a day like today, I don't want to say our good
07:49friends in Canada.
07:50I don't.
07:51I'm not going to.
07:52But thanks to the Canadian markets on the FanDuel Sportsbook.
07:55Boo, Canada.
07:56Boo, Canada.
07:57USA.
07:58USA.
07:59We're in the four nations.
08:00USA.
08:01But thanks to the Canadian markets, or because of the Canadian markets, not even thanking
08:06them, because of the Canadian markets on the FanDuel Sportsbook, we do have some odds for
08:12the projected opening week opponent of the Philadelphia Eagles to begin their Super Bowl
08:18defense.
08:19The Lions, the shortest price at plus 250.
08:22The divisional foes and a rematch of the NFC title game, the Commanders, not all that far
08:27behind at plus 280.
08:29The Rams, a three to one number as well, and the Bears, not all that far behind at plus
08:35340.
08:36Donnie, it's really hard to project, but you see those four teams based on the odds, separated
08:41by just 90 cents.
08:43The oddsmakers believe that Philly's first opponent week number one to start their season
08:48and their Super Bowl title defense, either the Lions, Commanders, Rams, or Bears.
08:53Yeah, you know what?
08:54I wish we had this market because I would put one unit down on the Lions and one unit
08:58down on the Chicago Bears.
08:59Plus 250, plus 340, get one up in there, you come away with plus money.
09:02The reason I say this is the NFL is very shrewd.
09:05I think the NFL wanted to see the matchup last year, and there's a lot of little trash
09:08talk here coming from the Lions, oh, yeah, if you were healthy, congratulations.
09:13Same thing that the Niners did when the Eagles absolutely pasted them in the NFC title game.
09:17We could have won, and I remember times like even back in 2017, where the Saints were like,
09:21if we didn't let the miracle in Minnesota happen, we would have beat the issue.
09:25But people like to see those things play out.
09:27I do think it's going to be the Lions.
09:28It's not going to be the Commanders.
09:29We're not running back the NFC championship game on opening night.
09:33The NFL is not going to do that.
09:34You also saw the Rams and Eagles twice last year, once in the regular season and also
09:38once in the playoffs.
09:39I don't think that's going to happen.
09:41The Cowboys is always a marquee game with the Eagles.
09:43You don't need that to put the Cowboys on opening night.
09:45It'll be a big ratings game later down, and nobody wants to see the terrible Giants on
09:49opening night when the Eagles would fillet them 31 to nothing.
09:51So the Lions and the Bears make the most sense here.
09:54I do think it's the Lions, but again, if you're just looking to get plus money here, take
09:58them both there.
09:59Lions and the Bears, it's going to be one of those two teams.
10:02The Commanders would make logical sense, NFC championship game, rematch divisional foe.
10:07But you don't really want to start the year, and oftentimes they will not with a divisional
10:11matchup in that season debut.
10:14The Eagles are going to play on that opening Thursday night, right?
10:17I'm not crazy in saying that.
10:18Is it always the Super Bowl champ?
10:21Always.
10:22Yes.
10:23Always the Super Bowl champ.
10:24So they will play on that opening Thursday.
10:26The Bears, a big market team, of course, in Chicago.
10:29You might be thinking to yourself, why would the Bears, who won five games a season ago,
10:33even be in consideration for this spot?
10:37Big market team in Chicago, third largest television market in the country, and of course
10:42a lot of notoriety this offseason, expected to be much better this year, of course, than
10:47they were in 2024.
10:49The Lions makes a ton of sense to me, the top two seeds in the NFC playoff bracket.
10:55Detroit has been in prime time so often in the last few years.
11:00If I had to bet on it and we could, Canada, if I had to bet on it and we could, I would
11:05probably go Detroit DRS at plus 250, although it is the shortest number.
11:11Yeah, it is the best matchup, by the way, on that entire card here, that if you open
11:15up the season with those two teams, it would be electric.
11:17Also remind yourself, a couple of years ago, I believe it was what, Kansas City and Detroit
11:21played opening night, where Detroit was that come up team here.
11:24That's why I take a look at the Chicago Bears at plus 340.
11:26A lot of intrigue in that game.
11:27New head offensive coordinator, they're probably going to add on a free agency in the draft
11:31and be one of those intriguing teams, which would be a fun matchup on Thursday night.
11:34But if you did want to just say, you know what, toe to toe, the game we didn't get to
11:38see last year that we all wanted to see and replay it on opening night, it's got to be
11:42the Lions from that perspective.
11:44Yeah, I think it will be what a celebration it will be in Philadelphia.
11:49The opening Thursday night of the year, the home of the reigning Super Bowl champion Eagles
11:54inside a Lincoln financial field by Donnie right side.
11:58Try to be in attendance.
12:00Nope, won't be in attendance because I'll be at PFT in Homedale cheering on the start
12:06of a brand new football season.
12:08How about that?