Turning the Page

The offseason is officially here, and the guys are ready to move on from a forgettable Super Bowl and focus on what could be a massive few months for the Washington Commanders.

Lee and James dive into free agency expectations, cap space, and whether Adam Peters needs to deliver some real “fireworks.” They debate key roster decisions, potential splash signings at running back, tight end, and wide receiver, and what it all means for Jayden Daniels heading into Year 2.

Plus, an early look at the No. 7 overall pick — defense or offense? Caleb Downs? Edge rusher? Something unexpected?

With plenty of cap space and plenty of holes to fill, this offseason could define the direction of the franchise.

@HailOnThreePod

Transcript

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 0:00

You look great as well.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 0:01

Thanks, mate. Got a haircut, didn't I? Finally got a haircut. I don't think I'd had one for like two

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 0:07

Needs to keep you warm.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 0:09

Yeah, exactly, exactly. It snowed again overnight, by the way.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 0:13

Fuck's sake save. Save the good stuff. Lee. Saved the good.

0:17

How would you describe the culture surrounding this football team? You know, the culture is actually damn good. Daniel looking, moving to his left under pressure, stays on his feet. Uh, now he falls the end zone. It is caught for a touchdown by.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 0:52

Welcome to another episode of the Hail on Free podcast. As we turn the page finally to the 2026 off season, we have a new Super Bowl champion to quickly discuss, but we are strongly looking forward to the free agency and draft chat that accompanies this time of year. I'm joined today by James over the other side of the pond as usual. How's it going in London Town, my friend?

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 1:22

All good. Thanks Lee. I've actually just, uh, come off a little afternoon nap actually, so I'm feeling refreshed. Good to speak, speaking to you after a couple of weeks break. Obviously, we, um, haven't caught up since the Super Bowl. Um, I think you're touching on how your evening went. Was it successful, boozy.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 1:42

God, that feels a lifetime ago now, doesn't it? It was probably only a few weeks, right? Yeah, it was, it was a good night Game was pretty forgettable, wasn't it?

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 1:50

Yeah.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 1:51

didn't really have much business being there, did they? In the end. So yeah, it wasn't the most memorable game, but I remember it being there a decent night. I thought there was gonna be a shoutout at one point, but at least we avoided, avoided that. Seattle, they're a worthy champion in my opinion, after all was said and done. But I think we had our real Super Bowl, maybe in the NFC uh, championship game there. So

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 2:13

Hmm.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 2:13

it was decent night. How was it, uh, for you guys?

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 2:16

Yeah, it's good. Apart from the game, like when it's that late and the game is like that kind of boring, um, people are struggling a bit, but, um, a few of us made it to the end. Um, but yeah, the, um. Previously mentioned Essex House that was booked was a success. There was some Harry Potter themes throughout, um, a solid hot tub and some good food served up by one of the participants. So, um, all in all pretty good. And yeah, I was ready to kind of forget about that season and I'm now getting excited again.'cause free agency isn't that far off. Uh, that's when things start to heat up. And obviously with the cap space we've got, it should be an interesting one. And as you mentioned off, uh, before we started wrap sheet suggested there could be some, a fair bit of movement from us.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 3:09

Yeah, well first in your Super Bowl shindig, the, the videos look good mate. So I am glad you guys had fun. Um, yeah, we'll quickly mention that Josh is gonna be on editing duties this week, but he'll be back soon. So we'll look forward to getting together for that. In terms of free agencies and getting towards draft season, though, I've gotta say I'm looking forward to that. This time of year is a grind at work and through this season. So are we at in terms of Washington? Well, I did hear that quote from, from Ian Rapor, so that was exciting to hear. And does that just come from a hunch, or do you think that comes from a little bit of inside information? What, what's your take on that?

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 3:52

Yeah,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 3:52

kind of speaking off kilter

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 3:54

never, you never know these guys do you, because I heard Kevin Shean talk about this as well, and I had kind the same thoughts. Like my initial reaction was, oh, he doesn't just say this. Even if it is kind of an opinion, he's kind of. He, he likes to be right about things, right? So he wouldn't just put something out there. So I think he's got, had a little bit of something come his way there, uh, for him to say that and openly sort of say that unprompted. Um, so while it is his opinion, he does like to have his opinions based on something generally with these guys, but yeah, can't say for sure, but it's, it's, it's a fair guess from him. E either way, isn't it? Gi given, I mean, look at our roster, top to bottom. There's so many holes as it is, and so many that are gonna be free agents from our end, and there's gonna be so many coming in. Um, yeah, I mean, I, I'd be surprised, maybe annoyed if there wasn't fireworks because you can't have a season like that and just kind of state its quo again.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 4:55

I completely agree. In one sense, I guess what only caught my attention about the quote a little bit was we're gonna have to do so much anyway, so we know there's gonna be so much movements, but fireworks often. Indicates some like really big splashy meads as well. So if we get, if we get a combination of both, which in a way I am hoping for, as long

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 5:17

Hmm.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 5:18

you know, targeted on a well thought out approach, then, then that does excite me. Um,

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 5:24

Depends what it is. It's, it's hard to create huge fireworks for like a free agency signing, right? Because, I mean, this isn't top heavy. I think it is a good free agency class. There's some good talent in there. It's not like top heavy, but I'd say it's probably more depth than previous year. Um, but obviously there's a few of those aren't gonna make it efficiency and they'll get tagged. Right. So, yeah. What, what does fireworks look like, I guess? I guess we won't know for a little while yet.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 5:49

Yeah, I was thinking that as well. There isn't like. An abundance of huge stars available any year these days, and free agency is there. I would say this year over last year, there's a few more names that are a little bit more in intriguing potentially. Um, so let's, let's start off then firstly with Adam Peters himself. He's come under the gun as everyone has a little bit for some more scrutiny. That just is natural when your team win wins five games last summer. I remember an episode when we, when we were assessing the 2024 draft and to our credit, when everyone was super high on Adam Peters being a top executive at the time, we did say, you know, let's hold the brakes a little bit. Let's see how some of these guys outside of Jaden Daniels begin to develop. And it'd be safe to say it's been a, a disappointing season for some of them, even with everything else that went wrong with last year on the field, say. would say the mood on Peters has has shifted. I don't necessarily, it's shifted really significantly apart from the loudest people on the internet, but there is some level of scrutiny over strategy and talent evaluation, I would say. So where are you with Peters? For me, I would just kick off by saying I've been a little bit more impressed with of the moves he's made outside of Lamore you discount the draft. So in terms of free agency, I like the tons of trade. I think Deebo Orphan's considered done pretty well, but it was a draft where I was struggling a bit more on him. Where are you with Peters overall and kind of how he's attacked some of the early success?

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 7:26

Yeah. The way I see, it's almost like just back to square one, like, like year one. Obviously the first year all the moves he went all just turned to gold. Right? And then obviously last year. A lot of it hasn't really worked out. Um, I've got no problem with the tons trade. Got no problem with the Debo trade either. Um, what's the Lamore biggest miss? And not too many people complain about that one at the time, but because I think people thought, you know, season's going well, the moves made so far, we trust, you know, something that maybe we don't know, a lamore is still capable of playing at high level, hasn't worked out that way. Um, so yeah, I feel like he's kind of, he's lost some of that original credit and I'm, I'm ready to give him another go at it this year. It's almost as if, starting again, really, um, yeah, we, we, the draft picks, there's a lot, you know, are we gonna, sure it's last chance for some of these draft picks this year from the Jane Daniels draft. Um, yeah, it's difficult. People are obviously lower on him now. Um, my confidence obviously isn't as high as it was a year ago, but. I'd say he kind of back to square one and he's kind of gotta build up that kind of trust again, because last year was a disaster.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 8:42

Yeah, I agree. It's been a tough spot for him in, in many ways because for, for Adam and Peters, he's come into the situation where we had to create an entire new roster with the issues from the past regime

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 8:57

Cheers, Ron.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 8:58

yeah, the Rivera era. And he'd done a pretty good job to make this team instantly competitive. Um, then it came back to bite us in the sense that these guys are already old in 20, 24 and a year or two more,

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 9:12

Yeah, sorry. Sorry to interrupt. Sorry to interrupt. He, he, he'd done what you had to do that first year and it worked out. That should have been a one year kind of solution to like all the holes. He, the problem is he tried to kind of run that strategy back, it seemed like, um, last year. And the Terry McCluen saga was, you know. Who knows how that really looked on the inside, but from the outside, to me that looks like it may have really shifted the way our whole season went, how that whole off season went, you know?

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 9:41

Yeah, it was, it was definitely the story of the off season, wasn't it? And we were all a bit panicked about it and how long it was dragging on, and we were disappointed that it just felt like the meeting camp shifted after such a great year. But yeah, in terms of that, I agree, Peter is. Basically tried to make this roster and competitive and done what he had to do. And there is the argument we had too much success'cause he had to really attack that and he'd done so with some trades that didn't work out potentially, and ran it back a little bit. And maybe we should have been in more semi rebuild mode at the time. But who knows? I, I do agree. I think we are a bit back to square one with lesser draft picks. And when you then look at that, you're like, okay, well how did we get here? So the problem for me again was that draft on the Friday night when we had all those picks, it was six picks in the top a hundred after the trade with the Eagles. We already had five picks in the top a hundred and outside of Jaden Daniels. There's definitely question marks on plenty of them. So, but let's talk about what we do in the here and now. We've gotta give him the chance. I think Peter's. As I said, walked into a tough situation, had a great year, had a really bad year. We have less resources than we want, but we still have Jade and Daniels, and we still have a good chance to, to turn this thing around, in my opinion, pretty, pretty quickly. So what do you do? What's your first order of business? If you're Adam Peters now are into the 2026 off

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 11:11

Uh,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 11:12

are you, what are you evaluating what you're

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 11:13

exte, extend tonsil, get that done. We don't want another situation with that dragging on, um, but accounts that as a successful trade now lock him up. Um, that if that's, that's gonna start to worry me if that's not kind of done in the next couple of weeks just because of what happened last year.'cause this seems just like something that's

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 11:33

I

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 11:34

a no brainer. Yeah.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 11:35

very quickly.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 11:36

Yeah. Well that's what we thought about Terry, about this time a year ago.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 11:39

I know, I know what you mean. But Terry had been here for a long time and was like, had been the franchise in he since 2018, or sorry, 2019. 2020. So I do think Tonsil came in with the notion that he knew if he had a good year, he was gonna get

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 11:51

Hmm.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 11:52

I, I do expect that to get, to

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 11:53

Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah, I guess first order business is, you know, some restructuring, um, and some decisions on some cuts. I think we know latter more is, is a no brainer cut. There's no dead cap. We'll save 18 million so that free out more cap space. I think there's a big decision limit on drum Payne, if I'm not mistaken. What, he's got one year left and he's 28 million against the cap this year. Do they cut, try and trade restructure? What do you think on that one?

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 12:23

Yeah, pain is, you've gotta re restructure it

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 12:26

like a conversation every year.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 12:29

I know, I know. We extended him in 2022, which was the big off season splash after him and Alan had that great year that as our best defense in, in living memory almost. It feels like that little run we went on in 2022, which wasn't the playoff team. But he's do a lot of money this year. He is come to the end of that extension, so they have to make a decision on him. I don't believe he really brings. A ton of to this team of big money personally. He's getting, getting on a bit now in, in years and he's had a really, really good year and some strong years and he is also gone missing. Um, I'm never gonna question a player's ethics, I dunno the interestes of the game, but some people that break down film seem to here and there to be honest as well, which is a bit weird. He kind of be, is a player that shows up big time or not at all. Sometimes it feels

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 13:23

Hmm.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 13:24

So we either have to restructure, get us out, we can't be on, we can't be paying him that much

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 13:28

No,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 13:29

season is where I'm at

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 13:30

Yeah. Yeah.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 13:30

I

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 13:31

Fat.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 13:31

I be like very anti him being on the team? No, but we can't be given it. He can't be taken up that much of the calf

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 13:37

Yeah, agree. Um, as long as he is not that against the cap, I'm not really too fast on the decision maybe to keep him or, or restructured to be fair because maybe it's time to turn the page. But yeah, we can't be paying him that this year. But yeah, I think we've got about 33 agents. Um, God knows who they all are. Um, but off the top of my head, I'd like to keep Chris Rodriguez in there, um, along with Jako, Crosky, Merritt, and maybe even just keep Mc Nichols as well. Then I think we'll need to sign another back in, in free agency as well. Um,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 14:10

Oh, sorry. I was, I was here. I was like, God, Croskey married. He's, he's getting on in years if he's already a free agent. I see what you're doing now

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 14:17

yeah,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 14:18

green. Yeah, we have to,

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 14:19

you know, I'm gonna talk about running backs early, Lee.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 14:21

you gotta talk about money. We have to sign seat. Right. In my opinion. Um,

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 14:24

Yeah.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 14:24

have the option to do that. Yeah, I would. So let's talk about running backs then. You went there. So do you look at us potentially looking for another free agent running back because. My one issue in the backfield with no ecla moving forward is, unless they weren't used in that way, I just don't see a natural pass catching, running back.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 14:47

Yeah, I'm, I'm really interested to see what they do. There's a couple of positions I'm really interested in. This is one of them just to see, I'm not being biased'cause I'm always interested in this position, but just how they view their, how they view this will show how they view Crosky Merit and how they view how important the run game's gonna gonna be this year. I mean, for me, I, I would love to get Brie Hall on this team. Um, if he makes it, the Jets may well decide to tag him and which would be quite mean on Brie Hall. I think he's almost like Saquon Barclay stuck at an awful team and I think eventually when he does leave, if he can, he might have a similar effect on a team to have a legit three down back, do it all back. Would really open things up, I think, um, for Jayden and, and the whole offense. So I'd be well on board or something like that. I saw Cowboys resigned Javante Williams yesterday. Um, so that's kind of, he's probably sin, there's gonna be a fair bit of competition in the market, so he's probably taken the wise choice of take the money there. Um, so yeah, it'd be interesting to see, there's obviously this Kenneth Walker out there, super Bowl, MVP, um, it sounds like the Seahawks might be willing to let him test the market. Um, Seahawks traditionally are pretty good at kind of know when to let players go and not necessarily pay them if I'm, but if we're not getting those two then I'd want, there's a guy, you know, there's guys like Kenneth Game out there, had a really good season of Steelers, really strong pass catching back. Um, so if we're not able to,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 16:11

well in game well

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 16:12

Hmm.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 16:13

me. I always quite rated him in Philadelphia, so

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 16:15

Yeah,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 16:16

like that

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 16:16

I think,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 16:17

me.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 16:17

I think we'll be getting someone, I think we'll have to obviously resign Sea rod. Um. Yeah, I'd love a guy like Bri Hall, um, how, how po how possible that is. I just, I just think I'm not usually a fat, I know I like Ram running back, so I'm usually a fat, I'm not usually a fan of going out and splashing on a free agent, but I think he's, he's legit. Um, could have a Barkley effect.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 16:40

I think it's more important this year because, and I'll, we'll talk about this. As the show goes on, but we're gonna be changing the style of offense, right? And we're gonna be under cent more. So that's gonna open up play action. So I do think that position's gonna hold more importance this year. Not that it didn't under Cliff, but it's gonna be a different style of offense. So I wanna see Jade Daniels in a true play action game. More, more cycling has ever been.'cause

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 17:06

Yeah.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 17:07

low down in the league for that. So I do want a real threat in the backfield.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 17:11

I'm, I'm with you. And with Crosky Merit, I don't think the pass protection is there. So I think they know if he's on the field, they're probably not passing it. And obviously see Rod, if he's on the field, would probably run it. There's, you know, it'd be good to have someone on there who's like, do it all and just have to keep the defense on their toes. Um, yeah, there's quite a few in intriguing options there. Um, I'm gonna jump to my next most intriguing position of need in terms of, well, they may not see it as a need, but tight end I think is a big debate I can see going on X at the moment. And it's something I've been kind of looking towards as we head towards the off season. This is where we find out how they feel about Benson at, um, wa was Kingsbury just not a fan? He wasn't getting on the field, is he? Is he good, is he not? We, we don't really know. We've not recent enough of him. But the thing is, there are legit free agency options at tight end. You got carpets. Uh, probably the top target, but he could, well I could see him probably getting tagged after that. I'm very interested in Isaiah, likely who's being kind of stuck behind Mark Andrews steel, young, explosive, vertical threat. Give us something we haven't got and there's a few other pretty strong vets out out there as well. Um, so this will kind of tell me what they think of Ben Sinner as well. I dunno what your thoughts on that.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 18:30

Yeah, really, really important position for Jade and Daniels, right? Zach Erz in

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 18:36

Definitely.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 18:37

an incredible year, become an even more important position this season. So I feel like, I feel like with Washington's tight ends, this might not translate to very many people listening, is almost how I feel about with like if Switch and our right wingers, we've kind of put some quite high value into the position, but had the misses like syn was a really high pick and I'm sorry, but he would've been doing more by now if he, if they believed that he cared. So my serious doubts on him. That's where I'm like, yeah, Kyle Pitts. I guess it all depends how Kevin Stefanski feels about him and how he'd be a fit for, for his team moving forward. Right now he's coming to Atlanta, so we'll have to see. I That would be the splashiest of splashes, right? If there was,

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 19:25

Yeah, definitely.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 19:26

that would be

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 19:27

I.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 19:27

That would, that would come with fireworks.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 19:29

would, I would be well up that I think him or Jane dams, I think that would Oh, I think that would work. I think they'd have a really good connection. I, I could really see that if, if, if he makes it a free agency, I'd be disappointed if we won't going all out for him. Um, but if they go for like more of a steady veteran guy like Tyler Higby, I seen he's been mentioned then that makes me think they still believe in s sin it a bit more. But even if they do, I still think they have to. If, if you've got these guys out there, I think you have to go for it and you can't just wait around forever.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 19:58

syn. It's also been used as a block of a home Bates as well, isn't it? So. Yeah. I, not, I just, I, I think they're out on him a little bit, to be honest. They're not gonna say it,

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 20:09

Hmm.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 20:09

that's the way I read it. Tell me a little bit about Isaiah, likely, because I've seen that name mentioned by a few people for Washington as potential landing spot. Is, is he someone you could see to come in and do a good job?

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 20:20

Yeah, a hundred percent. Um, he's a vertical threat and he's a, a threat in the slot as well. Um, he is, the problem is his playtime's been limited. You know, Lamar Jackson doesn't throw a ton every game he's been behind. What an all pro tight end in, in Mark Andrews. They, it's surprising. In the season actually, they decided to extend Andrews, which kind of signaled the end, uh, for likely, I think he's still 24, 25, you know, I think he was a second round pick. Um, yeah, he's explosive, right? Um, that's just something we don't have. So if, regardless of the position, to be honest, if there's explosive talent on offense available in free agency, which we think. It can be a fit for Jane Daniels and help him, then I'm all in on it. Um, so yeah, let's see. I'll see. I think car pits would obviously be an exciting option, but I've got a feeling they might tag him. To be honest. There's Dave and Joe who out there, but again, he's, you know, he's been around a bit, but, so yeah, I would be excited about Isaiah. Like, I think there's some untapped potential there. He's shown, he's shown exciting flashes for the Ravens.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 21:27

That would be a pretty aggressive move, wouldn't it? I, I would like that. And also obviously coming into the NFC from the, from the A FC would be, be of new territory for him and I, yeah, that would, that would be a move that after listening to you and after seeing some of the reading, some of the snippets I've seen that could be a good fit. But I completely agree. Tight end is really an intriguing position. It's an, it's a position of need with Zach at just not coming back into the team, you would imagine. I don't even know if that's official yet, but the, uh, the injury he, he suffered in Minnesota and if anyone at that age that suffers that kind of injury, that's usually pretty much it for them, isn't it, in terms of their career. So that was an amazing stock gap that he, and he filled that position really well for Washington. But

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 22:14

Yeah,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 22:14

yeah,

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 22:15

I, yeah,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 22:16

ends, so

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 22:17

I'll be disappointed if they don't address it because we, we sin how important it's to Daniels, um, that rapport. Rapport he is had with, uh, so over the past couple of years, so. I think it's massively important they, they address that and don't just kind of hope that sin becomes a thing because, you know, can't, can't waste any more time with Daniels on, on his rookie deal. So let's give him everything he needs while we have the cap crew. Um, but I dunno if there's any other positions you kind of on your radar in terms of what you're intrigued about. I know, I know there's a lot of, I know there's holes everywhere, but,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 22:47

yeah, there is holes everywhere. Well, when you sent that this morning, you obviously asked to bring something to the table and you were gonna do tight ends. Say for me. The good thing about this free agency, it's gonna tell us like the direction we're looking at in the draft, right? So I was just curious if you thought we would do anything, um, in the market with the edge rush situation.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 23:08

mm-hmm.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 23:09

wanna sign Martin, I think he'd done enough, um, last year on the team to, to warrant that. But name that did of crop up on my radar was, um, Chubb from Miami.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 23:23

Hmm.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 23:24

so any thoughts on, any thoughts on that potentially?

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 23:28

Yeah, I mean there, there's Chubb, um, there's Boy ma, uh, Seahawks, there's a few, there's a few out there. Chubb's obviously the big name. He's had three serious injuries over the past sort of five years or so at age 30. Obviously that's not a death sentence age by any means for an edge Russia. But yeah, it will be interesting because there are a couple of, uh, to be honest, I'd wanna see them sign someone like that and draft someone. Right. I mean, I wouldn't be against them signing Bradley Chubb and still using a seven overall pick on a David Bailey or who whoever's there at, at,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 24:00

That's a good point.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 24:01

on the draft.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 24:01

That's a good point.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 24:02

I wouldn't, I wouldn't be mad at that. So you're right, there's a couple of options there, but if they miss out, it sounds like the draft is plenty stacked for edge rush options. So, um, surely, surely we get that fixed one way or another as a, as a priority.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 24:16

yeah, exactly. I did remember in Madrid, SEL had a really good game against Char and he, he barely really appeared on the, on the stat sheet. So maybe he, he is on a, bit of a downside of, his career, but as you say, he is not, he's not that old. So

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 24:31

Hmm.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 24:31

that that was a name that did kind of come

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 24:33

Yeah,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 24:34

really. So.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 24:35

there's a few, there's a few, there's a few, um, decent edge rushes that you could sign and then, you know, still go, still go edge rusher in the draft and kind of stack the position a bit because obviously we know bit of a problem. Um,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 24:52

I did see, um, I did see the potential of qua, uh, Walker linebacker from Green Bay. Um, I believe his, on his, on the market. So

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 25:05

yeah.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 25:06

that name came up

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 25:07

Yeah. There's a couple of linebackers. Yeah.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 25:10

situation as well. That's another position.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 25:12

Yeah, that is, um, some speed. Ideally, uh, yeah, talk a linebackers. Yeah. A lot of people have said, uh, probably a lot smarter than me said, uh, Walker would be a really good fit for us. So it sounds like, uh, Packers, arga let him test the market from what I, from what I read. So yeah, again, we got the cap space and it seems like that is another position we can address with decent quality, uh, in this free agency period. It does seem like the, I know, I know we can need everything, every position it seems, but it does seem like the positions that are particularly a problem for us, there are decent options in free agency, which would help if we can kind of stack up on that in the in free agency and kind of not have the pressure on it in the draft and kind of take the best players. Uh, Devin Lloyd was on my radar for the Jags. Um, I was quite excited when I saw he was a free agent. Um, I didn't realize until a few weeks ago,'cause whenever I've watched him, he's always making plays and, um, creating turnovers. So, um, we know we haven't got many players currently doing that. Um, what he would cost no idea, um, but he'd be at the top of my list, uh, for linebacker for sure. Um, white receiver is another one. Lee,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 26:27

Yeah, that was where I was going next.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 26:29

you can, you can kick off with that one.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 26:31

Uh, I saw a few of the older names mentioned. Obviously there's a few big ones that have come up that hasn't added. mean, I even heard Mike Evan's name mentioned

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 26:41

Oh, yes. Yeah, yeah. Well, yeah. Oh, I shared that with you, didn't I? Yeah. Con or our man Sports Illustrated, um, we take the Mcow'cause he doesn't seem to be much a Washington fan, but he does good stuff. Um, he'd done a bold, free agency prediction, uh, for every team. And his was that Mike Heavens Comes to the Commanders. Um, one of his quotes was interesting. He said The, the urgency to get Jane Daniels to a Super Bowl in Washington is real. Um, so maybe he's here in possible fireworks as well. So, yeah, I mean, Mike Kevin's, I know we want to get a bit younger, but that would be quite exciting. He's, he's legit.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 27:19

yeah. Yeah. That's one that you just think he's gonna come in and potentially have a thousand yards for you, like, like him and Terry, both side of 30, obviously Evan's even more so. But I, I mean, he still does it.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 27:35

Yeah. Yeah,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 27:35

just, he

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 27:36

a hundred percent.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 27:37

so

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 27:38

Yeah. He has, he has the odd hamstring strain, but he's usually good for at least 12, 13 games, you know? Um,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 27:43

get him and Terry together on the field for

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 27:46

oh yeah,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 27:47

games plus. And address the tight end situation. Then all of a sudden, if things look

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 27:52

yeah.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 27:53

don't they say,

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 27:53

huge red zone threat as well. Right. Um, we'll be missing it, uh, in that respect. And we kinda stumbled a bit. Sort of got down to the red zone last year. So someone like that you can rely on to bring the ball in would be good. Looking further down the field, there's a lot of debate about this Alec Pierce guy at the Cols. He's, people seem quite excited about him. He is, like, he had, like, his first good year was last year and he seems like a classic overpay in a kind of fairly weak free agency class. At Receiver. People reckon he's gonna get 25 to 30 million a year. I'm not sure about that one. Um, but he's a speedster for sure and we obviously do lack that. Um, looking further down from him, the two that interested me were Romeo Dobbs. He's always impressed me at Green Bay. Um, and we've seen plenty of Dale Robinson, um, at the Giants. He's a free agent now.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 28:44

didn't know. I didn't know that.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 28:45

Yeah, I'd be very interested in that one. He'll, he'll have an interesting market. I think he had a, he had a pretty good year last year. Um, you know, he gets open, he. He's going to give you a lot of catches. Um, someone that Jane Daniels you could rely on and he's, and he can get downfield as well. So that'd be an interesting one. Not sure what sort of, um, contract he would, uh, command, but there's a couple of, you know, not like big splashy ones there, but um, obviously it's expect cowboys just tag picking soon enough. But as a couple, there's a couple there.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 29:21

as you're on the topic, do you try and sign Trade on Burkes? Did

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 29:27

Good shout. Forgot about him. Yeah. Why not? I, I don't,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 29:30

think,

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 29:31

I don't see why not.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 29:31

enough to, yeah. won't cost anything really, you'd assume?

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 29:35

No, no. And I guess we'd need to have the Brandon I discussion because that is a, a big topic. Um, have you got any thoughts on that, if any at all?

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 29:46

Yeah, maybe people are making a little bit too, too much of it because of his relationship with our callback. But yeah, it could be a, I, it wouldn't surprise me wholeheartedly, but it would still surprise me a little bit just with the issues we'd had around contracts and

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 30:07

Yeah.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 30:07

healthy.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 30:08

Yeah. Uh, yeah,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 30:10

time he played, you know,

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 30:12

yeah,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 30:13

decent level?

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 30:14

yeah. It's been a while. I would, the thing is with this, I'm good with whatever decision they make because outside of San Francisco, we have probably the people that would know best. You got Jane down, who's got Adam, Peter, Adam Peters was part of the group that drafted him. So if they don't decide to go with him, then that's good with me. If they do decide to go with him, I would trust that they know what they're doing on that one. Um, but yeah, it'd be interested to see how that plays out.'cause he's,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 30:38

point. It's not like a shot in the dark as much. You assume there'd be plenty of dialogue and

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 30:43

hmm.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 30:43

plenty of homework being done.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 30:45

I'm not a hundred percent sure on what his contract, I think it's, is he, I think they could void his guarantees and stuff. I think he's technically selling the contract, but I bet they'll just release him at some point, but,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 30:54

I'd have to check. But the Niners were desperately getting out of everything last year,

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 30:58

yeah. Yeah.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 31:00

But they signed him for huge money just before. Right? He had the in significant

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 31:04

yeah.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 31:05

of 24,

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 31:06

Yeah, I think so. Yeah. That's just after he'd held out and got paid actually. Um,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 31:11

him, didn't they? That probably. Gave us a few concerns about

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 31:15

yeah.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 31:16

I remember that coming up. So

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 31:18

Yeah. I, yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm done with like, seeing Chris more on the field, so, um, any, any bodies we can bring in. I saw he had like the second most targets or catches for us last year or something like that out the receivers, and that's just not acceptable.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 31:33

yeah, Terry's never had a number two anyway. And then when there

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 31:36

Hmm.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 31:36

Terry on the field, I mean that there was some games, wasn't there? Well, a lot of games, but the one that sticks out in my mind was when we went into Ger Weld and it was like almost a coin toss game, or maybe we were a few point favorites at the time.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 31:50

Hmm.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 31:50

you looked at the talent they had

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 31:52

Oh

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 31:52

at Ride receiver, and then you looked at. What we were trotting out there. And to

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 31:57

hmm.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 31:57

was like, we're gonna, we're gonna lose this game. Surely. I mean, you, you want them to win and you do the heart overhead thing. But some of the receiver play was just so shockingly,

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 32:08

Yeah.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 32:08

um, well, it wasn't even bad, it was just they were players that would practice squad players, you know, it's just, just, it was, the talent deficiency was unbelievable. So they need to address it. They need to make sure that they, uh, understand that McClure is getting older. Hopefully with that full off season, we won't run into this, what we had this, this year, but there's every chance it could be nagging injuries. Now we've seen

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 32:29

Hmm.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 32:30

last year, so let's, the, the idea that getting younger solves everything. I dunno if I always agree

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 32:38

Hmm.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 32:38

we do need to get younger, but we, we can't discount people that have become

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 32:43

Of course.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 32:44

job as well. So there's, there is a balance to it. I'm, I just. a narrative takes hold of a team, and that seems to be the narrative around Washington right now,

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 32:52

Mm-hmm.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 32:53

we're just ridiculously old and we've got no, like, no up and coming good

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 32:57

Yeah.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 32:57

which I understand it, but we can't to say, oh, we're not gonna, we, think there's a player that can come in, have you for two years under Jade and Daniels rookie contract, you, you go get him. As

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 33:07

Yeah,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 33:08

concern.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 33:08

I'd hate to think that we have a chance to sign Mike Evans at a price we're happy with, and Peter's goes away from it because the narrative around on the team, I'm sure that's not the case. But, um, I guess before we move on from Rider De Sea, obviously Deebo Samuel, um, he is obviously a free agent. Where, where are you at on that? I mean, I, I'm, I'm good with letting him walk. Nothing against him, but probably.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 33:33

Yeah, I thought he was a good fit this time last year because of how Cliff likes to his offense and a lot of those gadget style plays. And he became an important player for us, especially during that start of the season and when we couldn't get Terry on the field. But for me, I did see, you know, a fair bit of rust with him as well at times say, I, I don't want, don't wanna pay him. I don't, I just

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 33:57

Yeah, no. Yeah,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 33:58

you have to allocate your resources sensibly. And I know that I'm talking out both sides of my mouth a little bit after say, well, just my last comments. But I think there are better players out there that

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 34:08

yeah,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 34:08

spend the money on probably. So I think DBA done a pretty good job overall, but

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 34:12

yeah,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 34:13

not sure. I want some outside threats, so for a more traditional style offense as well. So

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 34:18

yeah, yeah. I'm, I'm with you on that. And yeah, I guess the thing,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 34:21

market will be. He'll get on a team, obviously,

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 34:24

yeah, there's been really.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 34:25

players that kind of fizzles out a bit now.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 34:26

Yeah, tricky one. Um, I think there's rumors that you might go back to the Niners, but I'd be surprised at that. I think they both kind of had enough of each other at this point, LA last year. Right. Um, yeah, I guess the thing to be excited about is it can only be better, it can only get better in terms of Daniel's weapons from, from here on out versus what he was, what he had last year or what Mariota had even for most of the year, to be honest. Um, yeah, I think that's a wrap up of free agency. Um, we've listed a few targets there. We like, um, I'll see when is it? About three weeks, mid-March usually, isn't it? Or something like that. Um, do you know?

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 35:08

I thought you had the calendar mate.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 35:11

No. Um, but, uh, if anyone's listening, they can, they can, they can check the can themselves.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 35:15

usually mid-March.'cause we started the pod just after we signed, um, deve last year. That was, that was one of

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 35:21

Ah, so we're gonna, so we're coming up to a one year anniversary.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 35:24

that was one of the first moves of the NFL calendar that was significant. It was us giving up that fifth or whatever it

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 35:31

okay. The official start is 11th of March, so yeah, we're looking about three weeks, so not long now. Um, yeah, do, do, Lee, you're probably, you are bit more in tune on this in terms of draft prospects and probably I am. Um, we don't wanna talk about the whole draft. It's still early, but do you wanna talk a bit about what your, kind of, what you expect them to do or what you'd like them to do with Number seven overall.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 36:01

I think I mentioned on the last show that I was excited Caleb Downs. Just in terms of what I've heard from one people I know that watch college every week and two, when you listen to, to others around the league. To me it sounds like he's the most sure thing and the best pound for pound player in the draft. It's just does his position really, does his position of safety, does that warrant the draft capital of the seventh? It's probably the bigger question than is he gonna be a top player in the league? And for me, I've just seen this whiff so much on secondary for

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 36:40

Yeah.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 36:40

and this position I like so. I, that's where I'd love to go if we can sign Res resign, who I wanna sign. He's on the current team and make good move in the edge, Russia free agency market. But understand really from a defensive how bad we were last year. You know, we've got, we've got someone who's coming from Minnesota who just saw the most blitz heavy defense of the season cause havoc. So I'm assuming we might be looking to go edge because there are, there are top prospects in the Edge, Russia market there. Um, and we'll be doing shows on them. But yeah, it's gonna be, it's gonna be an interesting one. I would love Downs just because that's just my position that I always enjoy safeties and quarterbacks. If you can get one of the best in the league, I think that's a massive asset for your team. But maybe it's not right for this team at the moment.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 37:33

Mm, I, I, I'd be concerned about getting cute with that and if, if he know he's gonna be a good player, like there's no guarantees for any. Players. But if you are like, this guy's legit, I, I think you have to take him through falls. I think the, what would be annoying is like the Giants could easily take him like a couple of picks before, like,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 37:52

yeah. They easily could. I feel like he, is gonna be the, the deciding factor that is some of these top edge guys going to that, they'll probably be one of'em sitting on the board. It just depends. Do we really like them? So there's a guy called, um, Avril Reese that has mentioned, um, to be as high as number two, like in this, in this draft, his, his, um, Ohio State Edge Russia, but he can be a bit versatile as well now. Daniel, Jeremiah, a name that I'm sure everyone's familiar with in the draft world. Actually, just on his latest Mark had him to us seven because he just sees how the, the pieces are gonna fall with teams grabbing linemen. Um, that he, he could be there, but there's some other ones like, uh, Miami Edge, Russia, Ruben, Bain, Jr. cetera. Say, it just depends. I would say it's K with downs or one of the top edge rushers. And it depends the edge rush we like the most or we think is gonna be the most damage is still on the board. I wanna safety like downs say on a rookie deal that just changes everything in your, in your secondary. But we'll see. We need edge though. We need pressure on the callback, don't we? That's some of those games last year. Were just painful to watch in, kind of departments for the defense really. So.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 39:14

Yeah. And it might depend on what they do in free agency. If they can get a couple of guys they like, maybe they freeze'em up to go for downs. Yeah. You say it'd be nice to have like a tone setter, um, legit, uh, in that secondary for us, which we haven't had for so long. Um, would, would you, let's, let's play it. Go on.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 39:36

My question first is if you guaranteed a season of good health and resigned them and Armstrong came back from his

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 39:45

Hmm,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 39:46

and Jacob Martin was there as well we got like a younger linebacker that could blitz in free agency.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 39:53

hmm.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 39:53

all that happened, I would probably be all in on downs,

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 39:57

That's fair. Yeah. Yeah. And they could go and get like a trouble or whatever as well, right. As well to, you know. Yeah, yeah. No, that's, that's, uh, that's a good shout.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 40:06

Martin. Last year, to be

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 40:07

Yeah.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 40:07

he was done really well.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 40:09

Yeah,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 40:09

that was one of the bright spots

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 40:10

yeah.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 40:11

emerged from nowhere.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 40:12

Yeah.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 40:12

yeah.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 40:13

Just to, just play devil's advocate a bit, Lee, um, one the receivers I've, I've seen a receiver mock to us a few times. I dunno a lot about him just yet. Carne Tate. Um, would you, if we ended up going offense, and I can fully tell by your reaction, would you be pissed at that?

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 40:35

No, not necessarily. It's just this is the worst defense I've seen

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 40:40

Yeah.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 40:41

in my time supporting which is the best part of, uh, three decades. So I. The, the answer is no, because I think you, you win games on offense with when you, if you have a star quarterback. So if Jaden Daniels is what we think he is, and if we can get him in a system that, and he can learn to protect himself a little bit better, I want an offense to be elite. And I'm so happy with the defense just being 15 to 20. So if we can somehow get them 15 to 20 getting a coordinator that knows what he's doing, signing good free agents and schematically moving some pieces around. And it's fine. Even 20, right? Like,

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 41:20

Yeah. Yeah, yeah,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 41:21

we were, we were like 29 to 32 in everything.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 41:23

yeah, yeah.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 41:24

it's all about, it's all about, it's not about suddenly becoming a top 10 defense. Uh, I, I know that's unrealistic. It's becoming, it's becoming a, the 20th, the, the 12th worst defense in the league. You know? So I, I wanna win games on offense. I mean, actually, I, I wanna win games. But when you've got, when you've got your callback there, there's, there's an argument to make situation as perfect as possible. Make everything run through him, and just the weaknesses good enough. Just improve them enough

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 41:59

Yeah.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 42:00

to where you become a really competitive team. So if they went in that direction, I'd be surprised. But

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 42:05

Hmm.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 42:06

seven is also quite high.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 42:07

Yeah, I,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 42:09

supposed to be an absolute star? This, this guy, I am looking

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 42:11

I,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 42:11

draft

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 42:12

I believe so. I believe so. I need to do a little bit, a bit more into him, but I, I'm gonna play devil's advocate again, Lee, just to see if I can really get you rolled up. All right. And you know, we might have listeners that are locked in on Commander's ex debates at the moment. If on draft night we hand in the card and it says Running back Jeremiah love, what do you do in that moment? Gimme your, gimme your live reaction.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 42:38

I'm out, I'm out on that running back in the top 10. I have my limits receiving. You could convince me on receiver after a couple of beers or so, or a glass of wine. But in terms of running back, no. It'd have to be, I'd have to be in a dive bar at 4:00 AM You'd really have to be selling that to me, you know, so, so, so,

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 42:57

It's not usually too hard. It's not usually too hard to get you out on a die bar till 4:00 AM So let's see.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 43:01

uh, the last time, the last time I was out, past midnight was, was many moons ago. Um, but yeah, I may, I, I, yes, we can't do that. Surely a running back in top 10 to me, with me would make very little sense in our current situation. it would be an interesting left field one. I actually thought you were gonna say, if

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 43:24

Kicker.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 43:26

No, I thought you were gonna say if the Philadelphia Eagles came in with like Smith, this and that, to give them the seventh favor all for them to take Kayla Dows.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 43:36

Oh man.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 43:37

that, that would've been one where I'd have just, you know,

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 43:39

No, no more. No more. Eagles Trades please, Mr. Peters.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 43:43

trades. No. Um, but yeah, no Kate of Downs is my, is my preference. And it again, it's just a gut hunch and it's a preference in terms of

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 43:52

Hmm.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 43:53

terms of players I like to see. And that goes back for me, watching this defense struggle with really good offenses over the years. We just heard a great interview with, uh, Kirk Cousins, didn't we?

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 44:04

Hmm.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 44:04

local,

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 44:05

Really good.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 44:06

yeah, on one of the local podcasts in the market. And just thinking back again,'cause a lot of the games he mentioned, I was at, you know, 10, 10

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 44:15

Mm-hmm.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 44:16

God, if we had any kind of defense,

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 44:18

Yeah.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 44:18

would we been a playoff team, we could have been like a bit of a frat in some of those years.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 44:23

Yeah. There's so many fun teams that year. So many good offenses. Yeah.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 44:27

yeah. When you look at some of those years, when you look at, you know, Pierre, Jordan Reed, Chris Thompson, like, I mean, you look at what we were trotting out for Jaden Daniels last

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 44:37

Hmm.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 44:38

that's just so bad, isn't it? So we, we do have to fix the offense as well, and that's where our lack of draft capital does, does affect things. So for an off season, this is as big as it gets for the team, which

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 44:52

Yeah.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 44:52

the podcast exciting. If nothing else.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 44:54

Yeah, it certainly does. Uh, yeah, I mean it's, you know, a hundred, we expect to be about a hundred million cap space after they've done some restructures and some cuts. So, um, yeah, there's no reason we can't go out and address as many of those issues as possible before we go into draft.'cause as you say, we've, I dunno how, how many picks we got in the top 102

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 45:16

Yeah, it's just

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 45:16

again? Yeah.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 45:17

yeah. So I can't wait to, to do what we done last March and early April where we pick a, kind of group of players each positionally and,

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 45:27

Yeah.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 45:27

them. It'll be a bit more targeted this year'cause we have that, that higher pick. So that was some of my favorite, um, content'cause it actually got me, uh, more educated about the

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 45:38

Yeah, I'll, I'll have to,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 45:39

sit

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 45:39

I'll have to do something that is, I'll have to do something that isn't just running back work this time.'cause last year we were a late round, late round pick.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 45:45

yeah, well, exactly. And you know, I had my, my, uh, picks, didn't I, in the later mid rounds. So it'll be good to do that for, for, for later in the draft as well. So yeah, that's exciting. Not too far away, late April, so

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 46:00

Yeah.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 46:00

start getting our feelers out for that.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 46:02

Yeah. I think from now we'll try and do one weekly and I'll see if anything, there shouldn't be anything breaking that we can envisage over the next few weeks that forces an emergency pod. But you never know. Um,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 46:13

know.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 46:13

you never know.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 46:14

one last ad here before we go

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 46:17

Oh.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 46:17

potentially bring it back. What I'm excited for

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 46:20

Oh. Hello?

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 46:20

the off season, but um, they did speak our new coordinators, I dunno if you

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 46:26

Hmm.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 46:26

them. I kind of got the recaps. I didn't watch the whole press conference. Um, they say crazy at work, but it does seem, and this, this was my preference that. The defense is being handed over in full like

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 46:40

Mm,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 46:41

Quinn is going full CEO style head coach.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 46:46

mm

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 46:46

Do you have any initial reaction to that? I guess it's what we all thought, because we've got

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 46:50

mm

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 46:50

the outside bringing his own ideas. I have my limitations with CEO style defensive head coach because

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 46:59

Yeah.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 47:00

young OC becomes good, then I'd rather be left with him as the head coach than a CEO style defensive guy that's failed

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 47:08

Yeah.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 47:08

side of the ball. But is my preference for this

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 47:11

In the here and now.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 47:12

need to see him above.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 47:13

Yeah. In the here and now. Yeah. I mean, I think it would've been pretty wild to bring that guy in and not give him the keys. Right. Um, and just run something back that's similar to last year. So, yeah. I'm, I'm all for, all for that. Um. David Blouse was a bit more quietly spoken, but he might be one of those silent assassins. Um,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 47:33

hope so.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 47:33

I've, I've got, I've got some, got some high hopes, high hopes for him and what this offense might look like. Uh, actually, but yeah, full steam ahead.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 47:44

Yeah, and there was a lot of people talking that had across David Blau in various,

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 47:49

Hmm.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 47:50

uh, parts of his young career that spoke very highly of him. He usually hear that when people are elevated fast, but definitely,

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 47:56

Kurt Cousins was one of them, right? Didn't, yeah,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 47:59

yeah, he was. I'm not sure. Was it, would it have been

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 48:02

think,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 48:03

with administrator

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 48:04

it was when Lau was actually still active quarterback.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 48:08

quarterback.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 48:09

Cousins had high praise for him on his, uh, on his recent appearance on Kevin Sheehan. So,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 48:14

Okay.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 48:15

or nothing but positives for hearing on him. Um, so let's see. Let's see. Lots to look forward to. Again, we can finally put last year in the past, Lee,'cause that that was dragging on

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 48:28

Absolutely. long time listeners to this show. When I say long time, 11 plus months may remember outside of the NFL season. We had a little segment at the end called Hot Takes, which just went off on a crazy tangent about from restaurants to attire to and all sorts of stuff. I vote we bring it back. I might

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 48:55

Mm

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 48:56

have one.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 48:57

oh

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 48:57

what are you

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 48:58

oh go on treatment. I, I, I've got a few I can probably reel off. A few things have annoyed me recently. Um, I, I will, I will try and make an effort this year to make them more hot takes rather than just things that annoy me. But we should definitely bring it back and I'd be keen to know what you've got for me. If you have got something right now.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 49:13

Yeah, well, yeah, on the, on the theme of annoying, and this is again, it'll be something that I would assume most people would be on the same page. I don't know how hot take it is. Maybe my hot take is they should find people that do this. So, um, I had, I had one of the, the worst commutes to the office recently, considering it should be a very quick 10 minute or so underground trip to my office where on the train, uh, there was unfortunately some kind of, um. issue or something was going on, a few stops up. Anyway, I was stuck on there for about 40 odd minutes. that 40 minutes I was treated to seven FaceTime conversations and all kinds of loud variations of, of, uh, different kinds of, of music, um, from fellow CERs. obviously there's just the common courtesy of not doing that. Maybe it's a thing in America more than England. I don't know. You have to enlighten me. But should these people, should these people be fined or something? seven in the morning and you have to listen to blown, loud conversations very much in your face when you're on a packed out train that isn't moving. That's very annoying. What do we do about it?

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 50:27

Yeah, I'm with, there should be fines, lifetime bans. Lee

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 50:33

Yeah.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 50:33

Lee with you on that. And I, I'm sorry you had to go through that because, um,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 50:37

Terrible.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 50:38

but I, I, I think we have to start, you know, speaking up as a community against these, when, when we see these things happening.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 50:45

up actually helps maybe, isn't it? Yeah, can,

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 50:48

So I've, I've seen, I've done it a couple of times and people do actually stop. Um, but I think, I think they kind of just test their luck and just perhaps think no one's gonna say anything, whether they do, maybe they'd be a bit quiet, but Yeah. Sorry, I have to go through that Lee.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 51:02

Oh, that's terrible. Yeah. 7, 7 20 in the morning. Yeah. Speaking up is probably a bit a thing we should do in society a little bit more, more often, but also don't wanna get into, you also don't necessarily need to get into

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 51:14

A fight.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 51:14

confrontation. No. Yeah. The train was not moving, so I guess you can't say take your conversation outside, but

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 51:21

Yeah. I guess early morning you, you, you kind of wanna keep to yourself in the morning, don't you? But,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 51:25

Yeah.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 51:26

I've got few I could pick from. I've had some transport things that have wound me up, but there I'm gonna go. Something that, there was a debate in one of my chats. Lee, do you like a jacket potato?

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 51:40

I don't know if I've had one since I moved here, which is quite some time ago, but it was, it was very much an English comfort feed, isn't it?

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 51:51

yeah, someone brought it up in a chat and there's a ridiculous stat about how many people actually eat Ja Tea Jack ate at least once a week, and then we got onto fillings and I raised the point of one of my favorites is, um, prawns with like the cocktail sauce, also known as Prawn Mary Rose. I got a lot of backlash. Um, I can see you win wincing at this.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 52:14

that

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 52:14

Um, my hot take is it's good. So

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 52:19

yeah. I, be America, there'll be Americans listening to this thinking. The British still still eat like the wars on and stuff. But I mean, a jack and potato in the winter is pretty cheap. Decent

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 52:29

if you're in a pinch, if you're in a pinch, there's mult. There's mul multiple ways you can go with it, but, um,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 52:34

potassium.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 52:35

I, I threw that out as one of my options. You tend to have five different rotations of fillers, perhaps for a jack of potato. Threw that out as one. And I, I got pels, but, um, there you go. Um,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 52:49

do you still have them? eat them?

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 52:51

uh, in a pinch, I, I don't, you know, I'm not a huge fan, but, you know,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 52:56

Have you had one in the last six weeks?

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 52:58

I would've done probably, it's probably been a few weeks.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 53:01

it's still a thing. Yeah. Okay.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 53:02

yeah.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 53:03

Yeah, I literally haven't had one in probably 12,

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 53:05

Maybe I'll, maybe I'll send over a bag of spuds.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 53:08

You can buy them in America. Potatoes. Yeah, you can still buy them.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 53:14

Um,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 53:15

good one though. That that gets, that gets some debate

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 53:17

that, that, that would be mostly negative in my way, I assume. Um, I've got a few more, but I, I don't wanna get, I can save some of these. Yeah. Because the, the, there's this one that I might get more wound up about, and I'm not ready to do that tonight. So.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 53:31

not today. Not today. It's a long off season, but hot takes are back, right? Hot takes are back for the off season. I like that. You gotta keep this show, get the bandit going. You know, it's not all football now we're in the off season. Maybe we needed more in the season

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 53:44

Yeah, that probably might, that might have cheered us up a bit actually. Yeah.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 53:48

we're gonna have to have some executive meetings about structure for next season, because I think trying to fit in two or two or three a week is a bit tough. So

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 53:55

Yeah,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 53:55

we have, maybe have one, um, during the week, um, which will be a quick recap and preview. We'll have to see

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 54:01

yeah,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 54:01

uh, feedback. We're always, we're always open to ideas.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 54:04

for sure. Um, but yeah, we'll be coming to you hopefully once a week now, and we have got, hopefully a couple of special guests lined up. Um, that might get some people excited, so keep an eye out for that. Um, but yeah.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 54:20

come into London. James,

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 54:21

Ah, great question, Lee. Um, not being confirmed,

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 54:26

on the, so on the socials.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 54:27

seems like the dominoes are falling that way, but not announced, but I'd be very surprised at this point if we're not playing at Tottenham Hearts best stadium this October.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 54:37

That would be, uh, preferable for, for a UK fans that probably spent a fair bit on flights and stuff going to Madrid. So especially for any about, based in the, in the London area. So, yeah, we'll see. I, it does feel like it doesn't it by, process of elimination at the moment that we will have a

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 54:56

Yeah. Hopeful. Yeah. Hopefully we should know in the next couple of weeks it seems like the way they're announcing the rest of them, so we might be able to talk about that on our next, next catch up.

ledders_1_02-22-2026_124221: 55:04

Perfect. Well, that should do us for today then, and we will look forward to speaking to you guys in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully we'll have Josh back with us as well. Uh, we'll break down a little bit more of any off-season developments, any trends coming to Washington, and maybe even a little more draft talk as we get closer to draft season. But for now, have a great, uh, rest of your week and we'll speak to you soon. Hail.

_1_02-22-2026_184217: 55:31

Hail.