and with that the 2025 season comes to a close
Now, I know this is a somber moment for a lot
of fans, but I'm just going to be honest with
you. Everything's going to be all right. We're
going to get through this, guys. We are going
to get through this because you know why? Over
here at the Football Junkies Podcast, we are
going to continue to give you the fix that you
all need and love because we still have a plethora
of different things we need to talk about. There's
a plethora of different things that we need to
prepare ourselves, okay? We got to get ready
for the combine. That's around the corner. We
got to get ready for free agency and everything
that comes with free agency, okay? But before
we get to... that point, we have to talk about
the Super Bowl, we have to talk about the Dolphins
cleaning house, we have to talk about the Cowboys
planning to franchise tag George Pickens, we
have to talk about the NFLPA's report cards that
are being discontinued because the league owners
are upset about it, and we have to talk about
the plan for the offseason, okay? All of this
and more. On the 104th episode of the Football
Junkies Podcast, okay, I am your host with the
most, all right? I am your chief bag roll dominance.
That's right, chief head of the table. Anything
and everything related to the bag, rumors to
the bag, and more. I am your hopium, hopium,
hopium, hopium, hopium deal. That's right. All
the hopium that you need to make it through these
next six months, I am your guy, okay? I am your
GM who currently is not on a team right now.
But don't you worry about it, okay? Don't you
worry about it because guess what? I am all these
things and more. importantly, the most important
thing that you must remember is I am your host,
Kale. Buckle up. It's going to get crazy. So
guess what? On three, one, two, three, let's
lock in. All right, folks, let's just get into
the meat and potatoes of everything that is going
on in the league right now. So let's talk about
the Super Bowl. So Sam Darnold, 38 attempts for
19 completions, 202 passing yards, one touchdown,
5 .3 yards per attempt, and a 50 % completion
percentage. Kenneth Walker III, 27 attempts for
135 rushing yards, five rushing yards per carry.
Cooper Cup. 12 targets for six receptions, 61
receiving yards, and 10 .2 receiving yards per
reception. Drake May, 43 attempts for 27 completions,
295 passing yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions,
6 .9 yards per attempt, a 62 .8 completion percentage.
Drake May again, five attempts for 37 rushing
yards, 7 .4 rushing yards per carry. Mack Hollins,
eight targets for four receptions, 78 receiving
yards, one touchdown, and 19 .5 receiving yards
per reception. So my two take... takeaways from
this game is New England exceeded expectations
but needs to continue to improve their offense
while Seattle dominated every facet of this game.
Offensively, the two reasons why they made it
this far was because they minimized their mistakes
and they converted on key downs. Now that can
win you a couple of games, but at some point
you're going to hit that wall. And that wall
was the Seattle defense. Even if the Patriots
ran heavier formations, it still would have changed
the outcome because at the end of the day, the
Seahawks were going to make those adjustments.
And once they found a weakness on this offense,
they were going to attack it. The Seahawks' defense
was attacking that left side of the offensive
line, and the Patriots' offense didn't have an
answer for it. You don't believe me? I got some
junkie nuggets to prove it. According to NextGenStats,
Will Campbell allowed 14 pressures, which is
a 26 .9 pressure rate, which is tied for the
most by any offensive lineman in a playoff game
since 2018. Now, in the entire postseason, Will
Campbell allowed 29 pressures, the most pressures
allowed in a postseason in the next -gen stats
era. Think about that for a second. I even took
notes on every single time Drake May was sacked.
The first quarter, 1st and 10, 851 left, Derek
Hall power rushes and chases down Drake May.
3rd and 15, 415 left, Devin Witherspoon blinches
Drake May for the sack. The second quarter, 10
-43 left. Second and seven, Riley Mills walks
down, and I literally mean what I say, walks
down the left guard for a sack. The third quarter,
first and 10, 5 -10 left, Byron Murphy sacks
Drake May. And then in the fourth quarter, first
and 10, 5 -29 left, Byron Murphy sacks Drake
May again. It doesn't matter if the Patriots
brought in two tight ends, if they used their
biggest tight end as a fullback, it wouldn't
have changed the outcome because the Seahawks'
defense was fundamentally sound and they had
a plan to go after Drake May. They were going
after Drake May so much that Drake May became
startled in the pocket. There were a lot of times
he was just looking at his left side because
he realized that Will Campbell was essentially
a rotating door. All four quarters. And since
we're talking about Will Campbell, why is it
that all of a sudden a report comes out that
says, oh, Will Campbell played with a torn ligament
in his knee? Is that supposed to be an excuse
on why he didn't play well in the Super Bowl?
Because I want to ask you this, my fellow Patriots
fans. If you guys would have won the Super Bowl,
do you think this report would have come out?
I'm going to ask it again. If the Patriots would
have won the Super Bowl, Do you believe that
the report would have come out that says that
Will Campbell played the entire season with a
torn ligament in his knee? Me personally, I don't
think so. Now I'll give the Patriots defense
credit because they held their own. They were
the sole reason why they were still in that game.
But as the game continued on, they started to
lose their grip. In eight targets, Christian
Gonzalez only allowed three completions for 36
yards. Craig Woodson was doing his thing. Robert
Spillane was doing his thing. Everybody on that
defense tried their hardest to keep the game
close. But unfortunately, the Seahawks made more
plays than what the Patriots did. And if we want
to be honest here, the unsung hero in this game
is the Seahawks' special teams. Because their
kicker and their punter was green all night.
But let's talk about the Seahawks' defense. Because
this, by far, is one of the most dominating performances
that we have seen a defense show in a Super Bowl
in a very long time. The only two other times
that I can remember a defense playing this well
in the Super Bowl was when the Buccaneers crushed
Patrick Mahomes and then the Legion of Boom facing
the Broncos. So when you compare the Legion of
Boom defense to the dark side defense, there
is some similarities than differences. So with
the Legion of Boom, they had two interceptions,
two forced fumbles. They allowed eight points,
306 total yards, 27 rush yards, 279 passing yards,
and one sack. Now, the dark side defense, however,
they have two interceptions, one forced fumble.
They allow 331 total yards, 13 points, and six
sacks. If you was to do a little bit of math
between both of these defenses, specifically
the total yards that they allow, it's only a
25 total yard difference. That's not bad. that
actually shows you how similar both defenses
are. Now, the approach that they have is a little
bit different because with this defense, they
were more productive when it comes to sacks,
whereas with the Legion of Boom, they were just
menaces. God, I miss that defense, but we're
not gonna talk about them, okay? We're gonna
talk about this defense because this defense
was effective in creating pressure while not
overly blitzing. According to NextGenStats, they
generated a 52 .8 % pressure rate. which is the
second highest for the team this season the highest
of any defense this postseason the fourth highest
in a postseason since 2019 despite only blitzing
on just 13 .2 percent of plays which is the third
lowest for any defense this postseason the seahawks
front seven didn't allow zero explosive design
runs for the seventh time this season They hit
the ball carrier behind the line of scrimmage
on 53 .8 % of design rushes, which is the second
highest for this team this season. Now that junkie
nugget just highlighted how effective this defensive
line was, but also sheds light on how bad the
Patriots offensive line was. Now offensively,
the Seahawks did just enough to win this game.
However, Sam Darnold almost threw two interceptions.
Now as the game continued on, the Seahawks started
to rely less on the passing game and started
to rely more on the run game. Another takeaway
from this game is the rise of the nickel hybrid
safety role. And the reason why I say that is
because in previous years, that was a position
that was not valued a lot, right? It was usually
somebody who couldn't play corner or safety full
time, but was athletic enough to do both. But
now what you're starting to see is players make
a name for themselves in that position. You're
starting to see people like a Jalen Petrie, a
Nicky Manwari, a Cooper DeGene, a Devin Weatherspoon
be considered elite players playing that role.
And the trickle -down effect that comes with
that is now defensive coordinators are going
to start emphasizing that role now, and GMs are
going to start emphasizing that role in both
free agency and the draft. So somebody who's
now considered a tweener may now become a first
-rounder just because defensive coordinators
may think, oh, we can use him like how the Texans
use Jalen Petrie, or we can use him like how
the Seahawks use Nick and Matt Warren. My final
takeaway from this game is that the Seahawks
made the right moves to position this franchise
in the right direction. And the reason why I
say that is because when we look at the moves
that they made to get to this point, they had
to move off of Pete Carroll. They had to move
off of Russell Wilson, Geno Smith, and DK Metcalf
in order to be where they are right now. And
specifically when we talk about the Russell Wilson
trade, look at what they received from it. Of
course, we all know they got Drew Locke, Noah
Fant, and Shelby Harris, right? But look at the
draft picks, okay? That 2022 first round pick
later became Charles Cross. That 2022 second
round pick became Boye Mafe. That 2022 fifth
round pick became Tyreek Smith. That 2023 first
round pick became Devin Weatherspoon. That 2023
second round pick became Derek Hall. And in that
same draft class, they also drafted JSN and Zach
Charbonnet. In 24, they drafted Byron Murphy,
Tyrese Knight, Christian Haynes, A .J. Barner,
D .J. James. This past draft, they drafted Gray
Zabel, Nicky Manwari, Elijah Royal, Jalen Milrow,
Ricky White, just to name a few. This is how
you build championship teams, by consistently
hitting on your draft picks. Everything that
I've been saying since starting this podcast
is shown right here, right in front of our eyes.
The Seahawks have literally shown that if you
consistently hit on your draft picks, if you
have the proper infrastructure for success, you
are going to be successful. And that's exactly
what happened. Now, I'll be transparent just
for a moment. I was against the Cooper Cup signing.
I was against the DeMarcus Lawrence signing because
I thought those two were washed. I thought those
two didn't have no more juice left. But clearly,
I was wrong. And so here we are in an offseason
where, of course, we all know the Seahawks had
the last pick in the draft, but you have a lot
of cap space. So technically speaking, you could
run this thing back one more time because the
roster is still fairly young. So if you wanted
to, you could re -sign Tyreek Woodland. You can
re -sign Kenneth Walker. You can re -sign JSN
and a few other people. Now let's talk about
the Dolphins for just a moment. So for those
of you who don't know, they decided to move off
of Tyreek Hill. James Daniels, Nick Westbrook
-Akene, and Bradley Chubb. Now making these moves,
they open up about $34 .4 million in cap space,
which is good. However, the question we all need
to ask ourselves is, how are they going to designate
Tyreek Hill's release? And the reason why I say
that is because there is a difference in cap
savings if they designate it as a post or pre
-June 1st designation. Also, if I'm not mistaken,
some of his guaranteed money, I think that's
tied in with injury bonuses or something, something
crazy. I will have to look at the contract again
is either avoided or he's still going to get
it. I don't know. That entire situation is a
little bit complicated. I'll be honest with you.
When they gave him that quote unquote extension,
I was totally against it because he was already
under contract with the Dolphins and there was
no need for them to give him another extension.
They only did it because he made some noise about
it and he wasn't happy because he wasn't, you
know, top five highest paid wide receivers and
whatnot. But when we look at this move, this
was sort of expected. And the reason why I say
that is because we knew that Tyreek Hill was
going to be released, right? We knew that James
Daniels was going to be released. We knew that
Nick Westbrook -Akene was going to be released.
Now, Bradley Chubb's situation is a little bit
complicated because... I would have thought they
would have tried to at least keep him. But maybe
there was a conversation between Bradley Chubbs'
camp and the Dolphins. And they probably realized,
hey, it's just best that we just let you go right
now. So that way you can get a head start with,
you know, talking to other teams and figure out
what you want to do with free agency and whatnot.
But I think a player that we need to talk about
a little bit more than these guys is Tua. And
the reason why I say that is because... his contract
is a little bit more complicated. Now, according
to Spoltrak, if a team was to trade for him,
they would be inheriting a three -year $141 .4
million contract that still has $54 million fully
guaranteed. I said it before when they gave him
the contract, and I'm going to say it now. This
was a bad contract from the beginning. I understand
that at that point, Tua was playing well. He
wasn't having a lot of concussions. The Dolphins
were in a really good place. But at the same
time, I would have gave him a shorter term deal
so that if anything crazy happens, guess what?
You can get off of the contract and you have
nothing to worry about. Because now you're in
a situation where, for starters, if you was to
trade him, you have no leverage. Teams are going
to lowball you because they realize that, one,
I'm inheriting a bad contract. I'm inheriting
a player who is... declining and I don't know
what state he's in right now. And I have to figure
out how I'm going to make that contract work
for my books. So the Dolphins can't say, oh,
we want a second round pick or first round pick
for Tua. They just have to receive whatever a
team gives them. But according to Jordan Schultz,
the Dolphins are beginning to field trade calls
for Mika Fitzpatrick. Now, if you're a team that's
looking for safety, Would you rather take the
cheap route and just draft one? Or would you
trade for a proven commodity, knowing that you
may have to pay that proven commodity a little
bit more money? Now, me personally, I would go
with the proven commodity, especially someone
like Amiga Fitzpatrick. But the question is this,
what's going to be the compensation to acquire
him? And what's going to be the selling point
to keep him playing on his current deal? Now,
if you're a team like the Chiefs, there's nothing
for you to really sell. Come on over. Let's win
a championship, right? But if you're a team that's
sort of in limbo, someone like the Bills or the
Buccaneers or the 49ers or, I don't know, the
Cowboys, for instance, you may have to sell this
trade a little bit harder to Minka Fitzpatrick
because, again, you're in limbo. You're not necessarily
a Super Bowl contender, but... you might be able
to be a more competitive team if you acquire
someone like Amika Fitzpatrick. So let's talk
about George Pickens getting franchise tagged
by the Cowboys. So for those of you who don't
know, there's different variations of the franchise
tag, right? There's the non -exclusive franchise
tag, there's the exclusive franchise tag, and
the transition tag, okay? I'm gonna briefly go
over each and every one of them. Then we're also
gonna talk about the history of the Cowboys using
the franchise tag on their star players, okay?
So according to - The window to make the tag
offer begins 22 days before the start of the
new league year and lasts for a full two weeks.
A team can rescind an offer as long as the tag
remains unsigned, but once an offer is accepted
and a tag is signed, the tender becomes fully
guaranteed for skill, cap, and injury for the
upcoming season. Tag players can be traded, but
only if they sign their tender. Players who are
tagged can still negotiate a multi -year extension
until July 15th. However, if no extension is
in place, then the player can only agree to a
one -year deal for that season, which is essentially
the tag, right? Now, players who are offered
a tag must sign it before week 10 in order to
be eligible for the season. Now, with the non
-exclusive franchise tag, Players are free to
negotiate with other teams. However, if a player
agrees to the offer sheet from another team,
then the tag team has five days to match the
offer. If agreed, then the player rejoins the
previous team on the new contract. But if they
refuse to match the offer sheet, then the player
joins the new team on the deal and the previous
team is given two first round picks. Now, for
those of you who don't know, that was the tag
that the Ravens put on Lamar a couple years ago
when they were trying to negotiate his contract.
Now with the exclusive franchise tag, the value
is calculated based on the average of the five
largest current year salaries at that position
at the end of the restricted tender window. Now
unfortunately with this tag, players can't negotiate
with other teams, but players can be traded,
but they must sign the tag first. Now with the
transition tag, it's the least expensive tag
out of all three of them, but this one is calculated
by the greater of the average of the top 10 prior
year salaries at the position or 120 % of the
player's prior year salary. now players can negotiate
with other teams however if the tag is signed
then the previous team has five days to match
the offer if the team refuses to match then they
will receive no draft pick compensation for losing
the player the deadline to sign this tag is july
21st Now, if we was to calculate the franchise
tag by every single position, here's the difference
between all of them, okay? So with the non -exclusive
franchise tag for quarterbacks, it would be 47
.2 million, 28 million for wide receivers, 27
.7 million for offensive linemen, 27 .5 million
for linebackers, 27 .4 million for defensive
tackles, 26 .7 for defensive ends, 20 .7 million
for corners, 20 .7 for safeties, 16 million for
tight ends. 14 .1 million for running backs,
and 6 .8 million for kickers and punters. Now
with the transition tag, the value is 28 .8 million
for quarterbacks, 22 .9 million for wide receivers,
17 .4 million for offensive linemen, 16 .3 million
for linebackers, 13 .5 million for defensive
tackles, 24 .3 million for defensive ends, 25
.1 million for quarterbacks, 11 .4 million for
safeties, 6 .1 million for tight ends, 40 .7
million for running backs, and 22 .3 million
for kickers and punters. I think these numbers
are probably wrong, but this is Spotrack, so
do not fight me, okay? Now, the franchise tag
has pros and cons. For starters, if a team decides
to tag a player, their cap hit is going to be
significantly affected by it. However, you can
use the tag as a placeholder for contract negotiations
between the organization and the player. But
here's the kicker. you don't have a lot of time
to negotiate a contract extension. Because as
I just said, you only have a couple of days before
the new league year. So right now, if you're
the Cowboys, you need to figure out what you're
going to do with George Pickens. Now, unfortunately,
the Cowboys have a history of doing this. Now,
according to an article from Todd Archer of ESPN,
the Cowboys franchise tag history is a little
bit crazy. So in 2002, they franchise -tagged
Flozell Adams. In 2008, they franchise -tagged
Ken Hamlin. They franchise -tagged Anthony Spencer
twice in both 2012 and 2013. They franchise -tagged
Des Bryant in 2015. They franchise -tagged Demarcus
Lawrence in both 2018 and 2019. They franchise
-tagged Dak Prescott in both 2020 and 2021. They
franchise -tagged Dalton Schultz in 2022. And
then they franchise -tagged Tony Pollard in 2023.
Now, according to Spoltrak, George Pickens' market
value is four years, $122 .4 million, which is
$30 .6 million a year. Now, when we look at his
stats from this year, he had 137 targets for
93 receptions, 1 ,429 receiving yards, nine receiving
touchdowns, and 15 .4 receiving yards per reception,
which isn't bad. Technically speaking, he should
have been a first -team All -Pro this year, but
we're not going to get into that, right? Now,
with that being said, if you're George Pickens,
What do you do at this point? Because remember,
George Pickens and Micah Parsons have the same
agent. And we all know how that Micah Parsons
situation went last year. I don't think George
Pickens wants to go through that. But at the
same time, if you're the Cowboys, you realize
that if you franchise tag George Pickens, that's
going to hurt your salary cap right now. Unless
you're not trying to pay George Pickens, you're
actually trying to trade George Pickens. Let's
think about this for a moment. Right now, if
the Cowboys were to entertain calls for George
Pickens, I guarantee you they could get maybe
a second or first round pick for him. But why
would you trade away George Pickens knowing that
he was super productive with CeeDee Lamb? See,
these are the things that make me wonder, what
is Jerry really doing? I understand a lot of
people are opposed to paying two really good
receivers 30 plus million a year, but times have
changed. That offense is really productive. As
long as the Cowboys can hit on their defensive
draft picks, this team could go somewhere. But
it could only go somewhere when you have adequate
weapons. The times when Dak Prescott is elite
is when he has multiple receiving options to
throw to. That year when he had Amari Cooper,
Michael Gallup, and CeeDee Lamb, that was when
Dak was putting up crazy numbers. The proof is
in the pudding, folks. That's the recipe for
success. That's what you have to do. Now let's
talk about this NFLPA report card dilemma. But
before we do that, we got to pay some bills.
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Now back to the good stuff. And we're back folks.
So let's talk about this NFLPA report card conundrum
because there's a lot to unpack with this and
it's a little bit confusing. So here's the memo
that was sent to all 32 teams talking about this
grievance against the NFLPA and the NFL and I
quote. We are pleased to report that the NFL
prevailed in the grievance filed against the
NFL Players Association, challenging its practice
of creating and publicizing annual team report
cards. The arbitrator held that the publication
of report cards disparaging NFL clubs and individuals
violates the collective bargaining agreement
and issued an order prohibiting the NFLPA from
publishing or publicly disclosing the results
of future player report cards. Throughout the
course of these proceedings, despite numerous
requests, the NFLPA steadfastly refused to produce
any information or data related to prior year
surveys. However, at the hearing, the NFLPA's
witness and counsel characterized the report
cards as Union speech and admitted that 1. The
Union reviewed player responses and cherry -picked
which topics and responses to include or not
in the team report cards. 2. Players had no role
in drafting the commentary included in the report
cards, which was written entirely by Union staffers.
Three, the union selected which anonymous individual
player's quotations to include or exclude entirely
to support its chosen narrative. And four, the
union determined the weight to give each topic
and the resulting impact on the alphabetical
grades it's assigned. In essence, the record
established that the report cards were designed
by the union to advance its interests under the
guise of a scientific exercise. These facts highlight
the numerous and significant limitations in the
methodology and accuracy of the team report card's
results that have been reported over the past
three years. Clubs should continue to solicit
feedback directly from their own players to assess
the club's strengths and opportunities for improvement
and when considering continued ownership investment
into facilities, staff, and services. The arbitrator
did not find that the union's independent survey
necessarily conflicts with its obligation to
conduct a joint scientific survey of players'
opinions regarding the adequacy of the medical
care under the CBA. Therefore, the management
council will continue to work with the NFLPA
to design and conduct such a survey in the coming
season, end quote. Now here's the statement from
the Players Association on the ruling of the
team report card grievance, end quote. The ruling
upholds our right to survey players and share
the results with players and clubs. While we
strongly disagree with the restriction on making
those results public, that limitation does not
stop the program or its impact. Players will
continue to receive the results, and teams will
continue to hear directly from their locker rooms.
Importantly, the arbitrator rejected the NFL's
characterization of the process, finding the
team report cards to be fair, balanced, and increasingly
positive over time. While I understand the Players
Association's views, the ruling is correct. And
the reason why I say this is because anytime
you have a program such as this, you know there's
going to be some level of biasness. Now, anytime
an arbitrator can find that the union reviewed
player responses and cherry picked which topics
and responses to include or not include in team
report cards, you don't have a leg to stand on.
You can't just choose the negative responses
over the positive responses. You have to play
it fair. And if you don't play it fair, they're
going to pick it apart. And that's exactly what
happened in this situation. Now, my only question
is this. What is the end goal with these team
report cards? Because I'm letting you know right
now, not every owner is going to do right by
the players. We have certain owners who are only
in it for the money. And then there's other owners
who are truly in it to win it. Jerry Jones is
not serious about winning a Super Bowl. He's
only serious about stuffing his pockets. I don't
care what he says publicly. I don't care what
moves he make. Jerry is about the money. He is
not serious about holding a Lombardi. He had
his time in the 90s. If Jerry Jones was truly
serious about winning a championship, I guarantee
you right now he would have invested as much
money as he needs to invest into his team to
make sure that they maximize their opportunity
to win a championship. But they didn't do it.
Really think about that for a second. There's
only so many owners who were born into the game
of football, right? For instance, The Rooney
family with the Steelers, right? The McCaskey
family with the Bears. The Ford family with the
Lions, for instance. Those are the prestigious
family -run organizations whose legacy is intertwined
with their team compared to a Jerry Jones who
made his money from oil or Shad Khan who made
his money from different industries. Make no
mistake, I'm not against the team report card
program. All I'm saying is that the NFLPA needs
to do their job and make sure that there's no...
holes in this program that the owners can poke
through. Because again, these are the same people
that colluded together to prevent quarterbacks
from getting fully guaranteed contracts. Now,
JJ Watt tweeted this out after the news broke
of the ruling of the NFLPA's team report card
grievance. The NFL won't let actual players grade
the workplace they attend every single day, but
they'll allow a third -party grading service
to display their rankings of players on national
television every Sunday night, which is very
true. That is a very true statement. And that
is something that needs to be brought up a little
bit more because it's unfair to the players that
I have to go into a workplace that I know doesn't
have the resources that I need in order for me
to play my best ball, even though they can get
it. Now, I'm not expecting every single team
to have an A -plus in every single major category.
However, the teams need to do right by the players.
You wonder why certain players are having to
go out their way to get certain treatments and
services because you guys aren't providing them
even though you can provide it for them. What's
a couple extra dollars to hire somebody that
can give massages? What's a couple extra dollars
to get some massage guns, to get a sauna, to
get a hot tub, to get the necessary things for
these players? Because it's going to pay for
itself. For all intents and purposes, if you
get all those necessary resources and it leads
you to winning one or two championships, who's
really complaining? No one. But on to our final
topic, and that's to talk about the offseason.
So here are some important dates that you guys
need to remember. So from February 23rd to March
2nd is the NFL Combine. Now what comes from the
Combine is rumors. This is when all those crazy
trade rumors start to heat up. This is when you
start to hear about players potentially getting
paid, maybe getting traded, maybe getting cut,
maybe not happy with their organization or their
situation right now. This is when all that stuff
happens, okay? So on March 3rd at 4 p .m., the
franchise tag window closes. However, we have
seen in recent years that teams are able to come
to terms to a long -term extension once this
window closes. We saw with Daniel Jones and the
Giants. if I'm not mistaken. Now, on March 9th,
the legal tampering window begins. Let me explain
this for just a moment. In this window, you're
going to see a bunch of things, okay? You're
going to hear Adam Sheff reporting, well, this
player intends to sign with this team. Key word,
intends. So in the legal temporary window, all
trades and signings cannot be finalized until
March 11th at 4 p .m. Meaning, you can tell a
team that I intend to sign with you, but then
sign somewhere else. Or you can intend to be
traded to another team, but in actuality, you
get traded to a team that nobody expected. We
see it all the time. Remember that. Please remember
that. Because I know you're going to see a lot
of things. Oh, this person intends to sign this
deal with the Buccaneers. Oh, this player decides
to re -sign with the Cowboys. None of that can
be finalized until the start of the new league
year, okay? Now, from March 29th to April 1st
is the NFL League meetings. That's when all the
owners come together. They talk about the rules,
what rules need to be changed, what rules need
to be getting rid of, all of that and more, okay?
You probably really don't care about that, but
I sort of do. April 6th, off -season workouts
begin for teams with new head coaches. So for
every single team that has a new head coach,
that's when your off -season workouts begin.
And in some ways, that gives you a little bit
of extra time so you can get comfortable with
the playbook, the coaches, all of that and more,
okay? Now, April 17th is the deadline for the
restricted free agent offer sheet. And on April
20th is when the off -season workouts begin for
teams with returning head coaches. From April
23rd to April 25th, of course, is the draft.
Yes, we will be live streaming it. We will be
talking about it in real time. Stay tuned for
that, okay? May 1st is the deadline for fifth
-year options to be picked up for 2023 first
-round picks. And from May 1st to May 4th or
May 8th to May 11th is when Rookie Mini Camp
starts, okay? So remember all of those dates.
Now, if you want to access those dates, just
go on Google, type in important NFL dates, and
they'll be able to show up, okay? But I'm going
to end this episode here. If you guys like what
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-A -I -O -E. As always, I hope I gave you guys
a fix as you guys need. I love you guys. I appreciate
you guys so much. Thank you guys so much for
listening to the best podcast that you can listen
to on a week -to -week, day -to -day basis. And
stay tuned. The Stack and Shed series will continue
on, especially now that the regular season is
over with and all we have to really talk about
is just like smaller little things. So just stay
tuned. for that. All right. As always, I hope
I gave you guys a fix that you guys need. I love
you guys. I appreciate you guys so much. This
is your GM Kale signing out. Peace and love.
Later guys.