Hello, and welcome to the mm QB Monday Morning NFL Podcast. I'm your host, Gary grahanamling. I'll be joined by a special guests in just a moment. Here we are. We're gonna talk a whole lot about safeties on this show. Safeties has been a fascinating position, uh really since the beginning of the time, but especially especially the last couple of years with the market just fluctuating so much year to year as far as who's gonna get paid, who's not gonna get paid. Uh. And obviously right now, Jamal Adams is very much in the in the headlines. And I don't necessarily think Jamal Adams is going anywhere anytime soon, even though he wants to. But um, it does bring up an interesting conversation about his value to the Jets and his value to uh, you know, any of these any hypothetical teams that he might want to play for here. But with that, I bring in our special guest. It is Andy Benoit. Andy, how are you? I'm fine, You're trying to think of something clever to and it just didn't go well. Now Now I thought I thought how are you? Was pretty clever because I know you're always fine. Yeah, that's every everybody says. I mean, and if you don't answer that, then you've disappointed the person asking the question. You've annoyed them more than disappointed. See, you thought that was a bad set up, but turns out it was an average setup. So let's uh, let's start the conversation with Jamal Adams. And like I said, realistically, I don't think Jamal Adams is getting dealt anytime soon. And maybe this thing comes to a head right before the season and they do something. But you know, he's either gonna have to sit out and and give up paychecks or something like that in order to in order to get what he wants. But uh, he wants reportedly, and and you know, look, people leak stuff for a reason. But it does not surprise me that if Jamal Adams does indeed want a very large payday, he is a he is a very good player, he is entering his prime. Uh, he should be asking for that. Uh. Let's say, hypothetically, the reports are true, he wants something in the neighborhood of twenty million annually. Uh. Let's start specifically with the Jets and the current Jets regime. Does that make sense? To invest that kind of money in a safety well, as it stands, the highest paid safety right now in terms of annual value is Eddie Jackson of the Bears at fourteen point six million, and Kevin Byard's right behind him fourteen point one. Tyrone Matthew and Landing Collins are both at fourteen a year. The Earl Thomas is around that mark as well, and then it drops off after that. So what Jamal Adams is asking for is is almost a hundred and fifty percent of top market value right now. And if we're just going off the numbers, my answers, no, that does not make sense because I name one other position where you would pay a guy that much more than the highest paid guy right now. I don't. I'm not arguing that Adams shouldn't be the highest paid safety in the league. I think that would be reasonable and certainly worth a conversation, But to pay him more than the highest paid guy right now, I don't see how you could. I don't think that's a fair starting place for that conversation. He wants kind of positionless money again, reportedly, yes, he hasn't. He hasn't said anything publicly. People might be be leaking this for a reason. But I mean that is sort of like I am a you know, twenty million is annually? Is like you know, I'm a I'm a game changer in a number of different ways. Well, okay, so the thing next to safety that he's most liked then would be linebacker. You'd go to that position. He's not a pass rusher obviously, So we're not going to look at those guys stacked linebacker values and looking right here, who's the who? Who would you guess is the highest paid? Is it? C? J? Mosley? It's close, that's our good guess. It's Bobby Wagner's got one million a year on him. That Wagner's at eighteen million, Moslies at seventeen. So Adams is still topping the top of the market. And that's for a guy who plays linebacker a few snaps a game. If you want to give him corner back money, who would you guess is the highest paid corner in the NFL? Uh? Is it Stephan Gomore? Right now? It is not? In fact, he is. He's down about number eight. Oh wow, that was a terrible guest. Then I'll give you I'll give you a hint. Actually, here's the hint. By the top five paid cornerbacks, three of them have changed teams this year. Who uh, so it therefore has to be uh, let's see, Ramsey hasn't gotten his deal yet, and that means we are at the only answer it could possibly be is I'm running out of freezes to stall with. Um, gosh, you're gonna kick yourself on one of these because one of them? Yeah? Yeah, And actually, according to over the Cap he's number two by just a slim margin, about a hundred and eighty thousand. So who's getting more than Byron owns? That would have to be? By the way, why you're thinking of it? Xavian Howard is number three, right behind Byron Jones tells you how the Dolphins build their team, what they prioritize. Um, let me just give it to you. Yeah, I think the listeners do. Yes. Darius Slay, Oh, he already got his deal. I was thinking there is Slay, and I didn't say it because I just wanted to create drama. I guess. Yeah. Now he's got thirty million guaranteed is and you'll value those the highest. Byron Jones is at fifty four million guaranteed UM and then the other guy who was in the top five paid is James Bradberry with the Giants now. And then now that's Patrick Peterson, whose name has been floated around, and you know, Peterson, I think it's coming off kind of a down year, but it's possible, and Peterson gets dealt. All the top cornerbacks are guys on new teams. Marcus Peters is seven as well, Trey Waynes is eight, A j Blue as nine. So basically eight of the top ten paid corners are on new teams this season. Eight at the top eleven. I guess, all right, so where where does that? Well, yeah, what I got to do with how does that? How does that relate back to sort of finding a fair valuation? Virgainal Adams? Well, the highest so the highest paid corner is sixteen point seven million, essentially is Darius Slay. That's an annual value, which that's lower than I would have guessed. I would not have guessed at the highest paid linebacker makes more than the highest paid cornerback, and that that really surprises me. But twenty million a year, there is no back seven player making that kind of money. And if you're not a pass rusher, it's just what what what leg would you have to stand on in that conversation? You'd want to be setting a precedent on every single level. Now, look, maybe Adams has a point though. Maybe he's saying I the value of being able to He's not saying I'm the best corner. He's not saying I'm the best linebacker. He's saying and I am the best safety, and the value of being able to do those other positions that adds on to the top of being the best safety. That's not part of being the best safety. That's stacked on top of that value. That's essentially the argument if you're wanting to make twenty million a year annually. And then it's almost a philosophical discussion of how do you value a safety's versatility? What kind of number do you put on it? If he's doing more than what a typical safety does, does that make him a more valuable safety in and of itself, or does that add on to the value of the safety to make him just more of a pure football player. And the versatilities good point, because there are some guys who have sort of been uh you know, sort of classified as versatile player who uh Yeah, they do a couple of different things, but they don't do anything terribly well type of thing. Where whereas Adams, I mean, look, he he he really got the better of Rob Gronkowski and a couple of matchups over the years. Uh, He's a guy you can match up with tight ends and and play man defense. He's not just a box safety, obviously, he's a He's a very good guy to have in the box. Uh. So he does a lot of things at a very high level. Uh And my first question for you, Andy is is you know, do the Jets I mean everyone likes to have that. There's no one, no one saying I wish guys did fewer things well, But do the Jets have to emphasize that sort of versatility In Greg William's defense, Yes and no. The yes part is that they disguise a lot and they do a lot of different things in terms of how they get to their coverage is their foundation. The no part is that their foundation is covered too, which is very straightforward once you get into the cover two. What makes the Jets unique is the way they get into the cover two where they rotate players from how they disguise it, what they do there, and yeah, Adams is a big part of that. But you know, Gary, if we're just if we want to stay focused and say, well, what's the number, what's the value? Tyrann Matthew does the same stuff. In Kansas City scheme, they get to cover two in a lot of different ways, and that was actually, I thought the biggest defining trait of their second half of the season defensively was and some huge plays out of disguise covered too. They got Philip Rivers several times with it, among other guys, and Matthew is used more versatilely in their cover two concepts that Adams is used in New York's. Matthew plays corner, he plays safety, both safety spots. He can blitz, which is part of their cover two packages more with the Jets and the Chiefs, but Matthew is a great blitzer. And Matthew plays what essentially is the middle linebacker position. It's kind of a free safety middle linebacker hybrid. In that scheme, Adams can probably do all of that, he doesn't do it as often and probably what's quite the same degree of effectiveness and coverage as Matthew does. And Matthew recently got paid didn't. Wasn't he just signed last year? So Matthew fourteen million million a year ago, signed last year. That that's the comp if. If Adams wants to argue that he's a big time versatile free safety, the guy who sets that standard right now is Tyrann matt You who just last year got paid fourteen million. So then your baptists somehow Adams has to explain why he's worth almost fifty more than Tyrone Matthew, who just want a Super Bowl? Is the best player on the on the defensive side. By the way, well, who is a good fit here for Adams? Like, if you're going to maximize what he is and what he brings, where's sort of the best place for him to land. Who who would he have the most value too? Well, the things Adam does well, Adams does well. Obviously, all the fundamental stuff is a safety he had He checks those boxes. He doesn't play single, high back, deep a whole lot. I think he'd be very good at that if he did that. But he's more of a box guy of course, So as a strong safety goes and the job descriptions there goes, he more than checks the boxes. He's probably borderline off the charts in some categories. He's a tremendous blitzer as well. So besides being a good tackler, guy can cover a man demand, which every strong safety has asked to do that, So that's it's not like that's above and beyond. Somebody has to cover the tight end. But he can do it very well as a strong safety. And then he's outstanding in a variety of different blitzes and that's really where he's probably most uniquely valuable to the Jets. That's where the value would be if you're wanting to add on to whatever you'd pay a good safety. He is a phenomenal blitzer. What would be interesting the Jets being such a zone based team and they'll play a man amount of times, but their foundations that cover two. That's not the most versatile way to to employ a safety. There's only so much you can do. Even if you are blitzing out a cover two or rotating to it in a lot of different ways, there's still only so much you can do. They're a team like Green Bay for example, does a lot more with their safeties, or it asks more of their safeties because of the interchangeability and the matchup elements to how they play. Those guys have to match up two different guys. And if you want to talk coverage and how you value that, then you have to be more than just a guy who covers tight ends. If we're gonna throw extra millions of dollars annually at you, Tyrone, Matthew covers slot receivers. He can cover tight ends. It covers probably some wide receivers at times, depending on the offensive formation. The Jets scheme does not ask Adams to do that as much. And that's not any fault of Adams. That's just what the scheme asks him to do. But when the Jets are making the decision, that's what they're taking into consideration. What are we asking him to do? How valuable is he to us when you look at the you know, Adam Schefter reported Adams had put out a list of seven teams that he'd be interested in in going to. When you hear these seventeens, I'll read them off. Is there anyone who jumps out to you as like, yes, this is a team that would maximize his usage and and would you know, would make a lot of sense giving a even if we're not talking twenty million just giving a monster paid a two. Even if that number ends up, you know at like seventeen or eight teams on that. But the seven teams are the Ravens, the Cowboys, Texans, His Chiefs, Eagles, forty Niners, Seahawks. Okay, Um, the Ravens makes a lot of sense stylistically because that's the team that is more like the chief than the Jets, and that the Chiefs are not a good example. Let's say the Packers, and they're more like the Packers than they are the Jets. They match up a lot, they ask guys, they play man to man, they blitz a lot. Jamal Adams and Baltimore scheme would be a that would be a perfect fit. He would be a phenomenal player for them. They already have Earl Thomas, who's costing them a lot. Now, his contracts not the longest I think he is up. Well is that there until three. I think they can get out of it after this year. Next year, Um, they've got you know, they just signed Chuck Clark as well. He's kind of their number three type. Safety. Brandon car At Corner has played safety for him his Carstal under contractors. He Guys at his age tend to be free agents every year because they're signing these one year deals all the time. I do feel like he's been on a series is a one year contracts. I think you're right. I'll look it up, okay, And he's still a viable player and he could and he's the guy that covers tight ends in Baltimore. He started doing that really full time by the middle of the season Brandon Carr when Jimmy Smith was healthy and came back and they had Marcus Peters on board. Now, Brandon Carr became essentially a safety for him, a coverage safety, and I thought he did very well with that. So, um, it looks like I don't see him on I think he's a free agent at this point. So conceptually that Baltimore is not gonna go get it, I would be well, I don't want to say never, because I wouldn't have guessed that Baltimore would have traded for Marcus Peters last year. But let's assume the Ravens aren't going after Adams right now. What's Baltimore's cap space because the more they don't have a ton of cap space, not that that would you know, you could find ways around that, but I don't think Baltimore is gonna go get a safety right now, not a guy as expensive as Adams. The Dallas conversation has been had a lot because Adams has ties to that area. In that team, Dallas plays a lot of straightforward zone kind of coverage though gey at least they did before Mike Nolan got there. Now maybe that changes with Nolan, but we've talked about Nolan before. He does not value the safety position quite the same way as other guys. But that does tend to be more with the free safety position rather than the strong safety. So maybe that's in the cards. But you know, Dallas has a lot of superstars that they're paying already. I don't know if they can afford another one. Yeah, it's uh. The other the other thing to bring up with Adams is obviously at this point he's not a free agent and will have to trade for him. And uh, I think one thing that Look, I think Deandrey Hopkins was kind of the the canary in the coal mine here as far as these uh, you know, big time veteran trades here. And I'm not gonna sit here and say that the Texans are actually right to trade DeAndre Hopkins from what they got for him. But I think it was sort of an eye opener for the market, especially after the Jalen Ramsey trade when people kind of realize, or the Laramie Tuntil trade when people kind of realize, like, wow, you have to give up multiple first round picks and now you have to invest this amount of cap space in them. And it's kind of reminder to teams that, like, you know, you ideally want to do one or the other. And I think that's why you saw DeAndre Hopkins. Uh. Market probably not quite what it was or what we thought it would be as as a you know, top three or so receiver in the league. And uh, you know, if you want to come get Jamal Adams right now and he's still under team control, you have to give up probably a first round pick plus something. So you want to give up a first round pick plus something plus twenty million dollars annually, uh to a safety. And I think that's why that the market is just not going to be there for him. Houston could use a safety that was a team on his list. I don't disagree with anything you just said, um, other than maybe you could argue Tounsil's the most gifted left tackle on the league and Ramsey's the most gifted cornerback. But the conversation is Adams is probably the most gifted safety, at least he certainly would believe he is when he's negotiating, and I think he's got a point there. Houston needs a strong safety, though Gary and their scheme is a little bit I mean, he would fit what they do as well. They're pretty versatile. Justin Reid I think is a borderline superstar in the making. So maybe they feel like that's who we're gonna ultimately pay, and it's not gonna be this season, but they I'm looking at Houston's cap situation now. They have twenty point seven million available right now, and they were a team that won a playoff game last year and probably feels that they are Super Bowl contenders this year. And so conceptually, I think going all in on a guy like Adams I wouldn't bat an eye if the Texas wanted to do that. Now do they have the draft capital to do that? Though? That's the problem. Do you have the draft capital? On top of that, they gotta pay to Shaun Watson? Uh, they you know, like you said, if they're gonna pay uh Justin Reid, I mean he's he was what a second round pick? So he is up? Yeah? After after next season? Yeah he was, He's a third rounder and so he would be up. Uh. I've got it right in front of me here, Justin Reid is up. I had it right in front of me. I think you're right, Yes, after this season. It's a four year deal. We could have We could have done that without looking it up. Why didn't we try? Um? Eight plus four is tough? Yeah, And I think if I were Houston right now, can they give Read a new contract now if he wants it? Or does he have to Why don't know that that part of the rule. Does he have to wait? I think he has to wait three years, doesn't he? Yeah, you can't negotiate until after the third year. He has last year. I believe it is. I would pay him sooner than later because I think he's only going to get better. The value of the safety position. Although we've been saying this since we started podcasting together, Gary, that we think next year value of the safety position is going to go through the roof here at some point, because I think safeties are so dynamic and how they fit into so many schemes, and they're off often the difference makers, especially now that teams play with three safeties on the field so much. Those third safeties, not that you'd ever make one of those guys the highest pay of the position, but even the bottom of the market for safeties, the backup guys are becoming, in my opinion, a lot more valuable. And if I were a general manager right now, that's one thing I'd be looking to do, is find a third safety because they're extremely underpriced, even though their value is rising because more and more teams right now are using third safeties and those guys really almost they're almost the swing players for what your sub packages will be. Taylor Rap with the Rams is a good example a safety who plays linebacker. Taylor Rap and their schemes extremely valuable just because he's a he tilts the deck one way or the other because he's so versatile. Yeah, it's uh. I mean, look, the position has been so interesting because we had that one offseason where nobody got paid at safety, and then you had the Landing colin off season where a lot of these safeties got paid. And now we're this this off seams. It was kind of in the middle. And let's talk about two guys here who are kind of I mean, look, they were there. They're relatively late bloomers here, Justin Simmons in Denver and Anthony Harris in Minnesota. Uh, they both got franchise tagged. And on one hand, you know, it always speaks a little bit to the valuation of the position in general, but also with these two particular guys, you know, I don't know, you don't want to say, you know, are they are they flukes? You know, but they're not. They weren't high draft picks. They're not guys who anyone probably two or three years ago thought would be in line for huge pay days. And uh, it might just sort of be kicking the can down the road on these guys to just make extra sure that they are what they showed on the field last year. And I think that the two Simmons is the safer bed if you're gonna make a long term investment. Harris had a tremendous season last year. Um, some of it is just it looked so good on paper because he was involved in a lot of turnovers, but he was creating some of those turnovers. He wasn't just catching tip passes and being the lucky guy. So he's become very good in Minnesota's system. Simmons was, I don't think there was a player more valuable at safety last season to their team than Simmons was to Denver. He did a lot for them, and there's such subtlety in the way that they play in Denver Vic Fangio in terms of how they have their safeties line up and the the nuaunced element of disguise, and then how versatile those guys have to be in very subtle ways. Um Simmons is, and I was, it's nice that the Broncos recognized the value of that and see that, because that might be one that not every front office would fully appreciate, because I think coaches value a guy like Simmons more than on outside guys looking in and and or more and more than front office guys who I kind of and this conversation, they're kind of outside guys looking in. Um, So it's that's yeah, that's a curious one on both of those scenarios. Gary Simmons, I think you do pay long term. What's he worth? Harris I totally see why they franchise tagged him, and if he does it again this year, they probably do pay him long term. Um. I think both of them, though, are more free safety than strong safety type of players, and so I don't know if they're great comps. If we're putting this back on Jamal Adams, I don't know how how how perfectly those guys compare to other Jamal well. I guess uh ideally and and obviously different teams are running different schemes, but um, what what do we want? What do we want in the modern safety at this point? I mean, what what are we ideally looking for? Especially if we're you know, looking uh towards what's coming out of the college game. Uh do you want you know, is there more value in the sort of range e single high type guys or do you want those sort of more uh you know, sort of more versatile strong safety type guys. You can you can you know, cover tight ends and and and and play the run and and that sort of thing. Again. I mean, hate to be evasive, but it depends on your scheme. And the teams that have play single high and have a rangey free safety, they do look different on film. Those those safeties they might only be involved in seven or eight snaps a game, truly involved, but they're often big plays. They're the deep shots. Are those safeties breaking up those deep balls? Are they intercepting them? Uh? Their red zone scenarios where everybody becomes a strong safety essentially because there is no deep middle of the field. When when you have a good free safety, they show up more when you really need them most. And so then the conversation is, how how do you value that If a guy's meaningfully contributing seven to ten snaps a game, even though he's out there all game, if he only has a chance to be a playmaker seven to ten times, but they're the biggest seven to ten plays, what does that make him in terms of value? And that also goes from one team to the next. I remember years ago the Ravens, and we've had this conversation before, and I want to say, I don't know if this was before or after Ed Reid. I can't imagine that it was during the Ed read time unless they was talking about strong safety. But Assie Newsom, their general managers, said on the record, they said, we value the slot corner more than we value the safety position. That's a bigger priority to us. Um. I remember was coming away thinking, well, if the Ravens can say that, given who they had, because they had Rod Woodson before they had ed read them, that was that's a team that has had great safeties over the years, and it's certainly in this century. If they can even say that, then that's I think there are a lot of that must be true with a lot of teams in those slot corners might be more valuable than safeties, but the really good ones. Back to Tyrone Matthew for a little bit here, or Malcolm Jenkins, another safety who just got paid this offseason, not top of the market, but good money, especially for a guy of his age in New Orleans. Now, those safeties they also do cover the slot, and that's one thing that's probably different about the NFL now than whenever Ed Reid was playing, is that the safeties have more man responsibilities against slot receivers at times, for a variety of reasons, mainly because zone coverages are now taking on more man demand principles, because quarterbacks and offenses have gotten so good you can't just line up and play landmark zone and hope that they don't throw it into your voids. You need to relate your zones to what the offense is doing and have a matchup zone element. I just say, how does Malcolm Jenkins fit for the Saints here? I mean they have C. J. Gardner Johnson. They have sort of a super versatile uh piece back there, maybe maybe a poor man's Tyrande Matthew type of piece in Gardner Johnson. So, uh is Jenkins I mean redundant to an extent perhaps? But is there any such thing as having too many of those guys? There? No, but there is if you're paying a lot of them, if if it's costing you a ton of money, there is such thing. Let's let's understand this. When I was saying that, you see these free safeties that really add value to a team and those seven to ten plays, how important it is. The guy I had in my mind when I was talking about that was mainly Marcus Williams, their free safety there in New Orleans. He is a really range He's a classic center field free safety, and I think he's a really good player for them and a very valuable player for them. So that's one he's gonna be. What's his what's his contract situation? You want to look that up while I talk through these other guys here. And he's got to be coming up, yeah, because he was drafted uh in the second round and twenties seventeen, so he could uh he got a new deal this offseason. Yeah, and he is at uh looks like he's in his contract year here right now. He is. He'll be a free agent after this season. That's that's a big deal that factors into the conversation. Uh. And he's uh boit you know it has This is a guy that should be holding out. He's D one point three million this year and he's he's into his fourth season right now. I'm alot surprised Marcus Williams isn't rattling the cages for a long term deal here. But he's a great free safety or he has great traits. Um Gardner Johnson, I think can be You said Tyron Matthew poor Man to Tyron Matthew, and that's that's probably fair right now. I think Gardner Johnson can accumulate some Tyrone Matthew wealth very quickly this year and become a regular man's Tyrone Matthew. Not necessarily the poor Man's. He is a tremendous raw talent and he's not robbed by though. He's a tremendous natural talent. He got better as last season went along, and they're gonna do a lot of different things with him, which tells you that they view Malcolm Jenkins in terms of values as the third safety. And my guess is Jenkins will probably be a starter and play more than Gardner Johnson. But the point is when they hire Jenkins, they're hiring the idea of having three really good safeties on the field altogether. They had that with Von Bell last year. They played with three safetys uh um, and Jenkins to them is just a better version of von Bell. And what's interesting is the guy. Do you know who their fourth safety is? Gary the Saints fourth safety? I I don't know. I shouldn't. Uh No, I don't know. It's Dj Sweeringer was a borderline and not be on borderline. He was a Pro Bowl player not long ago, two years ago. Uh He can be a little bit divisive in the locker room. You've heard, and that doesn't necessarily mean he's a bad guy. I think he's just he's a leader and not every team wants guys to be leaders because they want the coaches to have all that power, which I would imagine and I do not know this at all, but just knowing the people involved, and I would imagine that's the case of Jamal Adams as well. As he probably has a lot of locker rooms sway, and the Jets have to take that into consideration when thinking of his number. What does that mean? Does that mean we should take care of this guy because we're you know, we have to show his his friends and the people that look up to his leadership what we're about as an organization. Or do we do what Bill Belichick did with Lawyer Malloy in the early two thousand's and say get him out of here because I don't want him taking his part of the team elsewhere and working against us as coaches. That's it's more often than not it probably goes the way Belichick did it. But that's part of the conversation as well. As Adams is such a leader, and he's the type of personality he's going to be the leader wherever he goes. He's not he's not going to be a beta ever, so that factors in as well. But how we got onto Adams here the Saints. I'm a little surprised they paid for Jenkins given that they were already three deep at the safety position, but clearly that's something that they value they I mean, they've made that very very obvious. All right, Andy, what what do you think ultimately happened here with Adams? Like I said, I don't think he gets moved this season. I think he you know whatever, Maybe maybe he misses some games with the Jets, but I think he's ultimately with the Jets this season. And uh, maybe we see this thing start to move a little bit next off season or something like that. But um, I mean, ultimately, what where does it make sense for him to end up where he can one get paid and to where it makes sense to get paid? Well, the one from his list of teams, which I kind of like the list. They picked nice teams, but you know, that's that's I don't know if that means a lot to the Jets necessarily and how they shop him. It might mean something to the teams that trade for him, though, you want a guy who wants to be here and will sign long term. But the teams we didn't talk about out of off his list are the Niners in the Seahawks, and they're interesting because they play the in Seattle has not been this quite as much. San Francisco's more like this now, but uh, that's it's still clearly both teams identities. They play that straightforward cover three that that Dan Quinn runs in Atlanta, that Gus Bradley runs in the charge with the Chargers, and that's a straight forward scheme. You're not disguising very much. You're playing fast, You're you're being predictable defensively because you want the offense to be predictable, and how they attack you, you know that, you know that they know you're gonna line up a certain way, which means you're gonna see the same type of plays that attack your coverage because you're playing the same coverage week in a week out. That's the idea. And if if we know what's coming, we're gonna be faster than you. We're gonna play faster. Adams is a top flight, top speed player. That's the case having him for that kind of scheme. The case against is if are you are you getting enough bang for your buck because his value is probably in his versatility, like he's saying, and our scheme as a Seahawks or Niners, while we're more diverse int than people probably present, we're not We're not uber versatile, we're not gonna We're not asking the safety to do everything under the sun. So that's the debate. What's interesting is the only guy who might be more talented than Jamal Adams is Derwin James, who was All Pro with Adams two years ago. And obviously he's with the Jers. They drafted him. And we hear all the time about how valuable James is on he lines up here, he lines up there. That's just on paper, that's he lines up in all these spots because that's there they line up according to the offensive formation. James is a strong safety and a Cover three scheme. The Chargers played more straightforward Cover three in terms of percentage of snaps. They were far and away the leader in the NFL last year, which you could say, and I don't mean this at all pejoratively. Coaches hate this when I say it, but you could say they're the most vanilla defense in the NFL schematically, and yet they have probably the most dynamic, versatile safety in the NFL. As one of their guys, So make that of it what you will do? You want to pay for reversatile safety who's happened to be great at everything else if your scheme is not versatile, and maybe maybe it's fine Camp. I mean, I asked ask Seattle how valuable Camp Chancellor was for them when they were in their prime. There's a defense. I don't know what would you do with Adams? Uh? I mean, look, if I'm the Jets, I I would move him after this season because I just I mean, look, I don't know where this is gonna end up as far as you know, whether he's happy being there or not. But this has sort of gone on for a couple of years now, and it just sort of reached the point where it's like, you know, let's, uh, before we invest a huge chunk of salary cap in you, let's just let's move on here and let's you know, see we can get for you and everyone will sort of be happier in the end that way. Um, look, I'm intrigued by that fit in Houston that you mentioned. I don't know, like I said, I don't know if the Texans can necessarily do that along with Watson and to a lesser extent read they also they're going to have to address the receiver's position after this season when Brandon cooks his up and and figure out what they're gonna do there. So, um, yeah, I don't know. I don't think Adam's long term future is in New York. But I also wonder about, you know, what's what's gonna happen with that coaching staff. They have a tough schedule this year. Uh, if things go south again, you know, and are the Johnson is gonna make another move there? Well, I'm gonna take one issue. The tough schedule thing. I think that has to go out the window. By the way, you said tough schedule for the Giants a couple of shows ago. Did I don't think that Giants have a tough schedule. They do, know they don't. I mean not, no more than anyone else. Giants scheduled good. I was hoping this would come up. I thought about it for weeks. Pittsburgh, Okay, that's that tough, tough fish game. Chicago seven and nine team type last year, Niners obviously very good rams quality team, Cowboys Tenants six type of quality team every year, Redskins rebuilding team, Eagles, Tenant six Bucks, Will we'll find out, Redskins, Eagles. It's a tough schedule. It's it's a tough it's a it's a professional schedule. It's a professional scale. They've got the Cardinals, Browns, Bengals. I don't know why I said those teams out of order, but they play those three teams in the last six games of the season. I mean, it's not like they've got a murderers row here of opponents. Nobody has a murderer's role of opponents in the NFL outside of Washington. I don't know if they are betting favorites in any of these games. Well, that's just because on paper, the Giants are at bottom five NFL team right now. So what you just said, you could say about three or four other teams as well. But that doesn't have anything to do with with going out and decide whether they can match up with their opponent that week. It doesn't work that way. He's starting to go out and play the teams. I'm coming about fift pent of the way to you and saying that, yes, strength of schedule gets overrated in that we don't know exactly what these teams will be this upcoming season. But I think you are You are too absolutists in that you know, these are all sort of you know, the same schedule that everyone's playing it different. I mean, look at NFC West is a really good division here. The rest of the East is playing the West as well, So all the teams the Giants are vying for positioning against the Eagles, Redskins, Cowboys. Those teams are playing almost the exact same schedule as a Giants, with the exception of two games. Yeah, but the other divisions are not. The North is not, the South is not. I mean, I get what you're saying. How about this. Can we agree on this because I I I'm sure I probably am too harsh on the I have a coach's mindset with the schedule, like, oh, I gotta play the team, and it's you know, everyone can beat everyone, which is true. But I know what you're saying, some teams are certainly much better than others and that impacts the games. That's also true. I don't think any team should ever their season on the strength of their upcoming schedule and make decisions accordingly. I am okay with with us. Looking at the end of the year, at the end of the season and saying, well, you know, such and such team has been pretty fortunate this year. They they played a division that wasn't the strongest. They've had some games. But I don't think you can say that going into a season, we don't know who the good teams will be. Right now, we think we do, but it never goes that way. Half the half the playoff teams will be gut teams that were not in the playoffs last year. So I would say you can only argue strength the schedule and hindsight, never in foresight. Okay, uh, I I agree to like a thirty eight percent extent with that. That's not really to agree that you more disagree. Yeah, well no, it's more like it's not really agree vers it's like, how strongly do you agree? I agree, we're on that side of it, and you know whatever, it's it's how how are you shading it in? How you know? How fully are you shading in that circle of agreement? I don't know what this metaphor you just described a paragraph that shows more disagreement than agreements. Still, uh pictures picture it like a fuel gauge, like you know, we are. We are closer to empty than full, but there's still some there's still something in there. It's full. I'm looking at this jet schedule now, um, I mean, we don't know who's gonna be good or bad, but Denver, Arizona and the Los Angeles Chargers is how they begin October. You know what they have in mid November? Uh oh, home and home with the Dolphins with it there well and up by in between yees. So they're at Miami, then a bye week, and then against Miami at home in the Jets Stadium. That is as user friendly as a schedule could possibly be. That the coaches are going to have more free time or it's gonna feel No one has free time in the season, but the guys that are spending twelve hours a day at the office on a light day, they're gonna feel so much freer and unencumbered that week because they're gonna have essentially one game plan to do over the course of two to three weeks. Yeah, yeah, that has nothing to do with the value Jamal Adams, but we got onto the schedule stuff he did. I just want to be one more. I mean the Jets last year, the way their scheduled. I mean, they didn't have a particularly difficult schedule, but it was so frontloaded with tough games and backloaded with much easier games, and that's sort of that's you know, the narrative was kind of set. The storylines of the Jets collapse was kind of set by week eight or so, and they were sitting at one one in seven or whatever. They were one in seven, So yeah, it's I think at all or one in eight they were. They were one and one and seven. Then they played the Giants uh in week ten and they beat him by a touchdown. They got the two and seven and they kind of took off from there. Yeah, their their losses last year. They lost to the Dolphins, the Jaguars, the Bengals, the Browns, and they went seven and nine. I guarantee those guys are thinking if we I mean, if we hadn't blown games that that we feel we should win, which I'm arguing four year strength of schedule. By the way, if we hadn't blown those four games, we just want half of those games that we should have all won. We would have made the playoffs. Most likely we would have had a good shot at it. Yeah, and and you know, remember the Browns. One was a game where Trevor Semion got hurt in the first quarter. Donald was already out center, so they would point to Luke Falk and you know, throw that one out. Then it's the it's the Jaguars, Dolphins. Actually the Giants are and there they did beat the Giant Cell, Jaguars, Dolphins, Bengals. They lost to those three teams. Yeah, the Jaguars and Dolphins. Those back to back games in Florida were the ones that I think would stick on the collected craws of that coaching staff. But I believe you're right. Yeah. Um, but again, right now we're arguing and we're discussing strength of schedule in hindsight, which that is truly appropriate. But but we suspected it going into last season. I neither I I recuse myself from that part of the conversation. I neither agreed or this agree. I suspected it. I should have done a whole show on it. I'll remember to do that this uh this year. Uh, all right, Andy, I think that's gonna do it for for this week. We have a couple more shows to go, probably two more to go, and then we're gonna start doing some division previews for twenty I think is how this whole thing is going to play out. But uh, once again, we thank you for joining us and hope you come back and we'll call this just goodbye for now, all right, Thanks Gary. The mm QB Monday Morning NFL podcast is me Gary Grantling Special thanks once again to Andy Benoit for joining me for this one. We are produced by Shelby Royston Sizes. Executive producer of podcast is Scott Brodie Ben Eagles, Director of editorial Projects and product Mark Ravick is emeritus editor of the MMQB, and Ivenoi is the founder of the MMQB NFL podcast. Keep up with our entire lineup the podcast five this week by subscribing to the MMQB NFL Podcast for free on Apple Podcasts, and while you're there, please do us a favor and leave a rating and review. It really does help other people find the show, which is also available on Spotify Radio dot com, Stitcher, Si dot com, and wherever else you listen to podcasts.