The Play Action Podcast: First Episode!

The Play Action Podcast is a new football podcast that will cover various topics, including Aaron Rodgers and Lamar Jackson drama, free agency winners and losers, and predictions for the Panthers' number one pick. In the first episode, the host discusses how Rodgers publicly announced his plan to play for the New York Jets in 2023, giving the Packers leverage in trade negotiations. However, the trade may be held up and it's unlikely the Jets will give up more than a first-round pick. As for Lamar Jackson, the Ravens used the non-exclusive franchise tag on him, allowing him to talk to other teams. The Ravens are trying to prove that Jackson's desired fully guaranteed contract doesn't exist, but they risk losing him if another team offers a contract they can't match. The Indianapolis Colts are a potential suitor for Jackson. In terms of free agency winners and losers, the Dallas Cowboys are winners for acquiring Stephon Gilmore and re-signing key defenders, while the New York Jets are lo Hello everyone, and welcome to the first episode of the Play Action Podcast. This podcast will talk about all things football throughout the year, even in the offseason. We'll be having our very own segments, as well as news updates and reactions to all things football. On today's show, we'll be talking about things such as Aaron Rodgers and Lamar Jackson drama, the winners and losers of free agency, Panthers' number one pick predictions, and our very own specialized segments, so stay tuned. Hello everybody, and welcome to the very first episode of the Play Action Podcast. This podcast will talk about all things football and everything going on throughout the NFL. I'm very excited to do this podcast. Today will be a solo episode. Usually, I'll have a guest host, but I thought because it's the first episode, it's going to just be me today. Let's get right into it with our first segment talking about Lamar Jackson and Aaron Rodgers and the drama surrounding them. Aaron Rodgers on the Pat McAfee show said that he plans to play for the New York Jets in 2023. Now, this is huge news because Aaron Rodgers publicly announcing that, A, it lets the fans know he's not holding everything up. We know he has a bit of a thing for publicity. He kind of needs publicity. It's a bit of a big deal that he came out and publicly said this, not only for us fans, but for the New York Jets and Green Bay Packers as well. This gives the Packers a lot more leverage and actually puts the Jets at a disadvantage, and here's why. The New York Jets, if this had been kept under wraps and Rodgers had not said anything, the Packers might feel some pressure to get rid of him. But now that they've come out and said something, the Packers have all the leverage because if Rodgers isn't in the New York Jets, he just won't play. So they can keep him as long as they want. They don't need to rush this. They can wait until the draft. There's been reports that they think they're going to wait until the draft. There's been reports that the Packers' asking price is a first and more. I don't think they get that for Aaron Rodgers because Rodgers could retire next year. And if that's the case, A, the Jets have to win the Super Bowl this year, otherwise the trade isn't worth it and they might have screwed their future. But a first plus for one year of possibly elite quarterback play doesn't seem like a good idea to me. Although Rodgers is an elite player, obviously much better than Zach Wilson, who's the alternative, I just don't see them giving up more than a first round pick. Could they give up a first round pick? Maybe. But more than a first round pick? That's a bit too much of an ask. I don't think it happens. While it is now reported that the trade will eventually go down, as I said, this could get held up quite a bit. This could take quite a while and we honestly really have no idea when this could get done. So we'll keep you posted there. Well, obviously the first episode after news about that comes out, we will break it down at the top of the episode as we plan to do news segments. So that is what is going on with him. Now let's go to the other quarterback that is having a lot of drama this offseason, and that is Lamar Jackson. Now, Lamar Jackson, he has a bit of an issue in front of him because the Ravens used the non-exclusive franchise tag on Lamar Jackson. Meaning, Lamar Jackson, starting Wednesday, which is when the new league year started and free agency officially began, Lamar could talk to other teams. Now, Lamar Jackson does not have an agent, which some people are saying that's why this is getting held up a little bit, but Jackson does not have an agent. And him talking to other teams, the Ravens are trying to prove by giving this non-exclusive franchise tag and letting him talk to other teams, that fully guaranteed contract that he is asking for just does not exist out there. It's not out there. No one is going to give it to him. That's what the Ravens are trying to prove. Now, they're taking a gamble. Because it was already being stated that the Ravens could get three first round picks plus for Jackson already. So, if a suitor, like a QB, needy team that's desperate, like maybe the Colts or the Commanders, come along and offer him a contract they just can't match, then they'd have to give him up for only two first round picks. That is how the non-exclusive tag works. Now, one more thing on the non-exclusive tag, just to explain that so you guys understand what I'm saying here. The non-exclusive tag works, that it's a franchise tag with franchise tag money. But Jackson can talk to other teams, and other teams can make him a contract offer. After that, the Ravens can either match the contract or give him away for two first round picks. Now, the Ravens would have six days to match the offer. Which is why teams are being a little hesitant, because over those six days, they wouldn't be able to do anything in free agency because all their money would be used on Jackson. And if the Ravens end up matching the contract after five or six days, leading right up to that deadline, that team has just wasted their free agency for nothing. Now, obviously, if they get Jackson, it's worth it. Because two first round picks for an MVP quarterback in his prime, it just doesn't happen that often. So the Ravens are taking a gamble. If a team that offers, offers, they're taking a gamble. Jackson's taking a bit of a gamble, even though this isn't really in his control that much. But let's talk about some possible suitors for him. Really, based on free agent moves, the Raiders signing Jimmy G, the Jets apparently trading for Aaron Rodgers, the Commanders signed Jacoby Brissett as their backup, the Bucs signed Baker Mayfield. All these moves are pointing to Jackson not going to those teams. So there's really only one team left outside of just like a shocker trade that goes down, maybe with like the Patriots or the 49ers. The only team that's really left as a legit Lamar suitor is the Indianapolis Colts, who are currently desperate for a quarterback and have a pretty solid team around the quarterback. Now, the Colts are in the top four, and there are supposedly four elite quarterbacks in this class. The first two picks are on lockdown. They're guaranteed to be quarterbacks with the Panthers and the Texans. They're going to be quarterbacks. Number three, the Cardinals, not going to be a quarterback. So that's a trade down spot. What if the Colts are not comfortable with one of the four quarterbacks because the Colts are at four? They have to either move up one spot with Arizona, sit pat and hope that the one quarterback that comes to them is not the one they don't like, or make a move for Lamar Jackson. So the Colts could be a potential Lamar suitor. We'll have to see. That'll be something to keep track of. We're going to take a quick break, and we'll be right back with our next segment. And we are back with our next segment. On this next segment, we're going to talk about the winners and losers of free agency, at least so far. We're through the first week, plus a couple days of free agency. So we're already trying to kind of see who the winners are, who the losers are. So let's get into it with our first big winner, and that first big winner is the Dallas Cowboys. Now, the Dallas Cowboys didn't do much in terms of acquiring new players. All they did was acquire former Defensive Player of the Year veteran corner, Stephon Gilmore, from the Colts in a trade. Blockbuster deal, fantastic addition to go alongside Trayvon Diggs in that secondary. Already makes them better, already a successful offseason. The only major player they've really lost in free agency is running back Ezekiel Elliott, who they cut, who still is a free agent, so he could come back to the team. We don't know. But they also were able to re-sign two key defenders on very cheap deals, safety Donovan Wilson and linebacker Leighton Vanderesch. Leighton Vanderesch was able to come back on a two-year $8 million contract with additional incentives, and Donovan Wilson was able to come back on a three-year $21 million contract. Both very cheap deals for players of their caliber. They're both cornerstones of this defense. They were able to come back on a hometown discount. So already a very successful offseason for the Dallas Cowboys. My first big loser is the New York football Jets. Now, you might be asking, wait, the Jets were able to retain all their players, and they signed a good wide receiver in Alan Lazard. How are they a loser? Because Aaron Rodgers has kind of been holding them hostage and preventing them from making any big moves with their cap space. Because they're bracing for an Aaron Rodgers contract, they haven't been able to sign anybody, and it's no guarantee they get Rodgers at this point. So it'll be interesting to see if they are able to get Rodgers. Obviously, if they do, it's all worth it, but it's a risk. Rodgers says he's going to New York. I don't need to break this down much more because I did in the last segment, but the Jets are in a risky spot because they've sacrificed their free agency for Aaron Rodgers. So he better live up to that hype. My next big winner of free agency is the Chicago Bears, who came in with the number one pick and a ton of cap space to try to rebuild their young roster. And so far they have. They traded the number one pick for a haul, including the number nine pick this year, a second rounder this year, a first rounder next year, a third rounder in 2025, and number one wide receiver D.J. Moore. This gives Justin Fields a true number one weapon that he can utilize. In addition to that, they went out and signed linebackers T.J. Edwards and Tremaine Edmonds to big deals to fill arguably the biggest need on their team. So good on them for doing that. They also signed guard Nate Davis and defensive end Demarcus Walker, who can both help their team very much. Davis helping block for Justin Fields on what was a terrible offensive line last year and Walker giving them a bit of pass rush. Now, they also signed tight end Robert Tunyon, who can provide another weapon for Justin Fields. They signed Don Performan to help replace David Montgomery, who they lost in free agency. Overall, I think this free agency has gone very, very well for the Chicago Bears. And Ryan Poles, already an early candidate for executive of the year. Now, our next big loser, in addition to the Aaron Rodgers trade, the Green Bay Packers, also kind of being held hostage by Aaron Rodgers in this big blockbuster deal that's supposed to be happening. The Packers haven't been able to sign anybody either or even re-sign many players. They've only re-signed their kick returner. So the Packers, kind of same reason as the Jets, also don't really need to get into this that much because we talked about it in the last segment, but the Packers are a big loser of free agency. They haven't really been able to do much so far. And maybe they turn it around in week two, but so far, not a good start for Green Bay, trying to build around their young quarterback, Jordan Love. Now, the third and final big winner of free agency is the Denver Broncos. Now, the Denver Broncos were able to completely revamp their offensive line. And that was huge because Russell Wilson was the most sacked quarterback in all of football last year. Yes, the most sacked. So Sean Payton coming into Denver trying to rebuild that offensive line to make this team a much better unit. Now, this team was a team that disappointed a lot last year, so getting tackle Mike McGlinchey and guard Ben Powers, who may not be elite but are very good, to help protect Russell Wilson is a must. Now, obviously, they're no longer a winner if they trade Courtland Sutton or Jerry Judy, like the rumors are saying. But for now, they're still a big winner of this free agency so far. They also signed scatback slash powerback Samajay P. Ryan, who reminds me a lot of Mark Ingram, who the Saints got back in New Orleans under Sean Payton. So this guy is a Sean Payton favorite. I can already tell. All right. So our last big loser of free agency so far, our third and final one, is the Kansas City Chiefs. Now, the Chiefs made a bet and lost. That's what comes down to this free agency. They made a bet and they lost. A, they lost Judry Smith-Schuster, but that's not even what I'm talking about. They lost Orlando Brown Jr., who signed a four-year, $64 million contract with the Cincinnati Bengals, and instead got a worse tackle in JaJuan Taylor for more money. He also signed a four-year deal, but this one was worth $80 million. Taylor was actually a pretty good pass protector last year. Not elite, but very good. But he was penalized a ton last year and was terrible at run blocking. Absolutely atrocious. So bringing in JaJuan Taylor, a right tackle, and moving him to left tackle to replace Orlando Brown Jr. just wasn't a smart move. The Chiefs can end up paying for it. And while there's trade rumors around Laramie Tunsil, that move would obviously probably take him out of the loser's column. So far, again, they made a bet, they lost, but they still have Patrick Mahomes. They're still probably the favorites to win the Super Bowl next year. They're a great organization defending Super Bowl champs. And this one little gamble that they lost is not going to hurt their Super Bowl odds tremendously. It may hurt them a little bit, but not a ton. We're going to take a quick break, and then we're going to come back with the next segment. And we're back here with a quick little segment on the Panthers' number one pick prediction. So the Panthers traded for the number one overall pick with the Bears. The Panthers just got pick number one. The Bears got pick number nine a second this year, a first next year, a third in 2025, and wide receiver D.J. Moore in the deal. So a haul for the Bears and a good quarterback, most likely, for the Panthers. So I've seen three players mocked to the Panthers at one. Quarterbacks C.J. Stroud out of Ohio State, quarterback Anthony Richardson out of Florida, and quarterback Bryce Young out of Alabama. I don't think they take Bryce Young. I just don't think that's the guy. There's reports that Frank Reich, the new head coach, really likes Anthony Richardson and wants to take them, while the owner really wants them to take C.J. Stroud. Ultimately, I think they take Stroud. I think he fits this game perfectly. He's a very athletic quarterback, but is also possibly the most accurate in this class with Tim or Bryce Young. So I think Stroud's the pick. He's a great quarterback. And while I only think one of these quarterbacks of the four, Will Levis, will indeed bust based on my scouting report, I think the Panthers' number one overall pick will be C.J. Stroud, quarterback out of Ohio State. The new signal caller for the Panthers for years to come. Now I will be doing some draft content over the next month or so. I'll be having a mock draft podcast and some other cool NFL draft stuff, so stay tuned for that. Now we're going to get into the next segment, which is an all-new segment I will introduce to you that I created myself. So how this segment works is we're going to pit an offensive lineman against a defensive lineman and see who wins. If you guys like this segment, I will do this more often. I enjoy this segment, these offensive line, defensive line, in the trenches battles, hence the name, in the trenches, which is the name of the segment. We're going to be doing a free agency edition today, so at least one of the players will be somebody that was signed by a team in free agency, either the offensive line or the defensive line. And we're going to start with a guy we talked about earlier in the winners and losers section, Jawan Taylor, the new Kansas City Chief, pitting off against his division rival, Chandler Jones, who he may see a couple times off the edge there. I don't think Max Crosby will play on the other side, so I think Chandler Jones and Jawan Taylor will see each other twice this year against each other because they're division rivals. And again, Taylor had a very good year past protecting this past year, but I've got to go Chandler Jones. He's most known for his lateral fumble return touchdown to win the game against New England in a game that New England had to win to increase their playoff chances. He won the Raiders that game, but he had a fantastic career in Arizona before coming over for a lot of money to Las Vegas, and he showed off his pass rushing moves at times last year, even though it was a down year. I think he comes back to form this year, and I think he, while Taylor is good, he's just better than the youngster. The veteran does take down the kid here, in my opinion, and Chandler Jones would beat Jawan Taylor off the line. So our next one is going to have a new defensive lineman, specifically inside defensive lineman, Javon Hargrave, who was signed by the 49ers, going against the second-year center for the Baltimore Ravens, Tyler Linderbaum. Now, I don't know if these guys are going to face off against each other this year. The schedule release has not come out. The Niners and the Ravens will always have a small rivalry based on that Super Bowl and the Harballs and all of that, so I think it would be fun if these two went against each other, and while Hargrave is a magnificent veteran player that should help the Niners, I've got to go Linderbaum here. He was in the draft projected as the best center prospect ever, just a generational center prospect. We never see centers go that high, and Linderbaum went in the first round. So I just think Linderbaum would win here. He's a very, very talented player, just a freak of nature athlete, and Tyler Linderbaum would take down the veteran Javon Hargrave. Hargrave got a four-year, $80 million deal with the Niners, although last year was his best season with 11 sacks with the Eagles, but how much of that was Hargrave and how much of that was on the Eagles with a great defensive coordinator, Jonathan Gannon, and a bunch of other pass rushers around you like Fletcher Cox and Hassan Reddick and Jordan Davis, all those guys that the other team has to worry about already. So I just don't know how much was Hargrave and how much was this team and the players around him. So I'm going to take Tyler Linderbaum. Don't get me wrong, Hargrave, an incredible player, but I'm going to go with Tyler Linderbaum here in this scenario. The last one is a free agent offensive lineman that was signed by the Cincinnati Bengals left tackle Orlando Brown Jr., pitting off against his rival in the Pittsburgh Steelers in their premier edge rusher, former defensive player of the year and always a candidate for the position, TJ Watt. When you hear the name Watt, it strikes fear into the other players, and I do think while both of these players are elite players at their position, I'm going to go TJ Watt. He has the size, the speed, the athleticism, the power, everything that an edge rusher wants. As a Ravens fan, I have to watch Watt go against this two times each year, and it is not fun. While having Orlando Brown against this won't be fun either, as former Ravens, I think that TJ Watt is just a slightly better edge rusher than Brown is tackle. So, both top three players at their position, but Watt is probably the best defensive player in the NFL and maybe just the best overall player in the NFL. I mean, he's just a sensational player. Two elite players, but one of them's got to win, and I go with TJ Watt. He would get by Orlando Brown. Now don't get me wrong, Orlando Brown would stop him many times, but I think Watt would get by him many times as well, which would win Watt the battle. So, I hope you guys enjoyed this segment. It's a short little one that I enjoy quite a bit, and I hope you guys did. And make sure to leave a review for the podcast and say if you like this one, if you don't. And if you do, I'll include it in more episodes. We're going to take one more quick break, and we'll be back with our final segment, and then we'll close it out. And we are back here with the final segment for the first episode of the PlayAction podcast. And this is the time that I would normally pull out a question from you, the listener, to answer for me, and normally myself and my guest host would talk about it. Obviously, I don't have a guest host here today because it is the first episode, but this is the first episode, so we don't have any listeners to ask us a question. So I asked one of my good buddies to give me a question, and he did, and his question was, What do I think is the best division in all of football? So for me, this comes down to two divisions, and it is the AFC East and the NFC East, assuming Aaron Rodgers goes there. So for me, there are three juggernaut teams, or not even juggernaut teams, but very good teams, in both divisions, and the three teams in the AFC East are the Dolphins, Jets, and Bills, all very good teams, assuming Aaron Rodgers is a Jet. And then in the NFC East, there is the Cowboys, Giants, and Eagles, all three very good teams. This was a close one, but just based on, I had to use record from last year as a tiebreaker almost, and I mean, the NFC East is just, in my opinion, the better division. Let's start with the Eagles, who, they were in the Super Bowl last year, and all they lost was Javon Hargrave and Miles Sanders. And they have a top ten draft pick, so they might even get better this year. So, the Eagles, obviously a great team. Then you have the Dallas Cowboys, made it to the divisional round, and were in my for-agency winners column. So they got a little better, and retained some of their key players. So, they're going to be a contender for the Super Bowl next year. The Giants also made it to the divisional round, and just traded for Darren Waller, signed Paris Campbell, got some big weapons for Daniel Jones, and didn't really lose anybody in free agency, except safety Julian Love, so far. They were also able to give Daniel Jones his new contract, and franchise tag Saquon Barkley. So, they've had a good for-agency, and they already made it to the divisional round last year. The last team is kind of like the wild card team. We don't really know what's going to happen with them. The Washington Commanders. Sam Howell played fantastic in that Week 18 game against the Cowboys, who were fighting for the number one seed. So, don't tell me they weren't trying. But, I honestly think what it just comes down to for me with the Commanders is, is Sam Howell going to be legit? Because if he is, they're a playoff contender, easily. And I think Sam Howell's legit, and I think he'll be good this year. So, that puts them in maybe the, that could put them in a division winner candidate, but in this type of a division, that's more of a 6-7-T seed fighting team for me. And they could get better this year in the draft, if they go for a lineman, or maybe even a corner or something like that. So, all four of these teams are good. Three are obviously better than one. But, the NFC East wins it for me over the AFC East. Because I think those top three teams in the NFC East, the Eagles, Cowboys, and Giants, are a little better than the top three teams in the AFC East, which are the Bills, Dolphins, and Jets. So, and the Canadiens and Patriots are kind of even for a mediocre team. So, that's the quick question for the day. To finish us off, the listener question, and I hope you guys enjoyed this podcast. Leave a review, wherever you're listening, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever. Leave a review for the show. If you want to submit a listener question, just go down to the reviews on whatever site you are using, leave a review, and put your question down there in addition to your review. I hope you guys enjoyed. We'll be back with a new episode very soon, and we will have a guest host for that one. So, stay safe everybody out there, and goodbye.