00:00Welcome back to Newswire. The party goes on as we bring in another Adam. One is just not enough. Adam Kaplan joins us here. He is a regular on the program at Across Sports Grid. Goes on often with our buddy Scott Farrell, who comes on later on today. So make sure you check out his program. But Adam, of course, of Sirius XM and elsewhere. Adam, how are you?
00:19Good to talk to you. It's been a while, man. We're relatively close to training camps opening in about four weeks. And we're in that time where the offseason programs have just about completed. A lot of teams just finished their offseason last week. So we're in that in-between time. But man, signings are still going on. Contracts are going on. And we actually have had a couple of trades in the last six to eight weeks.
00:42Well, one thing of note, you know, you bring up signings and moves, obviously. Jair Alexander helping to beef up the defense there on the Baltimore Ravens. This is a team that, as we know, it's just we enter every year. And it's like, is this the Ravens time? Is this Lamar Jackson's turn? Can they get past the Chiefs? And all of these other, you know, stalwarts of the AFC. But it's always really about Kansas City when we're talking Baltimore.
01:07So what does this do here in terms of, again, beefing up that Ravens defense and just adding to an already pretty good core in that secondary?
01:17Yeah. So, Adam, here was the issue, though, when you talk about their secondary. The word around the league was going into March and free agency was that they knew they didn't have quality depth at corner.
01:26They needed help with safety. And they were going to be fairly aggressive, whether it's at a draft or free agency.
01:30So in the draft, Malachi starts a safety out of Georgia, first round pick. They addressed their pass rush depth and explosiveness with Mike Green out of Marshall. They needed depth at corner. They signed Chidobe Awuzee, who was a longtime starter for Dallas, if you might remember, early in his career. But he's been hurt a lot. He's seen now at 30 years old as a backup corner. So they needed depth there.
01:51But they were still looking for a starting corner with upside. OK, you've got Marlon Humphrey, who's terrific.
01:58But, Adam, when they go to their nickel package, right, Humphrey will go inside and they needed another corner on the outside because they've got Nate Wiggins, who had a good rookie season out of Clemson last year, a first rounder.
02:10So they signed Jair Alexander to a one-year deal. Now, if you recall, he refused to pay cut with the Packers. The Packers wanted to significantly lower his $17.5 million in total that was due. That was not guaranteed.
02:25So they cut him after not being able to reach an agreement. And Alexander, I give him credit. Look, he could have gone elsewhere. He took a low-end deal to a one-year deal.
02:33Well, he's only 28 years old, folks. He turns 29 early next year. But he's not as old as you think. But, Adam, over the last four seasons, he's missed 34 games.
02:42So instead of waiting until the start of training camps, he took a deal now. He gets reunited with Lamar Jackson. They both played it at Louisville.
02:49But this potentially, Adam, as I send it back to you, potentially is a game-changer in that you get a very talented quarter at a discount price.
03:00And if this guy stays healthy, this is a huge signing.
03:03Well, it's one of those low-risk, high-reward type situations that I feel like we, you know, with any team that's really good,
03:11and obviously Baltimore's a really good team, and any time, like, this is not the perfect example,
03:15but it's just one that immediately comes to mind. You know, like Le'Veon Bell joining Kansas City when he did, right?
03:21It's like, well, let's see what this is if it works out.
03:24So many times that the Patriots under Bill Belichick, you know, added, like, well, all right, they're going out.
03:28They're bringing in Darrell Revis. Let's see if this works out.
03:31You know, Randy Moss, they're going to take a flyer. Let's see.
03:34And so, you know, teams can do this type of thing when guys are willing to take less
03:38to go to a situation where they have the ability to win.
03:41That's kind of the crux of it.
03:42And this Baltimore team, as you well know, you know, we look at the fan-duel odds,
03:47and this stuff, it ebbs and flows, especially as we sit here in late June,
03:51and, you know, the inevitable training camp and preseason injuries that are still going to happen
03:55that throw some of these things off.
03:57Hopefully nothing significant, but there always is.
04:00You know, Baltimore and Buffalo are co-favorites to win the Super Bowl at 7-1.
04:04Then you have Kansas City and Philadelphia, the two teams that just matched up, of course,
04:09at plus 750 apiece.
04:10Do you think highly enough of Baltimore to have them at the top of the list like that?
04:15They're going to be right up there.
04:18Now, to win the division, they're minus 145, the AFC North.
04:21I love that one.
04:22I know Cincinnati, look, their defense, Adam, couldn't be any worse than last season,
04:26and they've got Al Golden who will now run their defense,
04:29but they're going to win that division, the AFC North.
04:31I don't see that being a problem.
04:32No.
04:33Getting to the Super Bowl, look, they've shored up their defense.
04:36They got Rashad Bateman's contract taken care of.
04:39They're loaded, but something happens with Lamar Jackson,
04:41who's one of the best regular season quarterbacks in NFL history,
04:44just not as good in the playoffs.
04:45They've got to be more dynamic on offense.
04:47They've got to be a little bit more aggressive, and they kept Mark Andrews.
04:51They love Isaiah Likely.
04:52They may address his contract before training camp starts,
04:55but they're absolutely loaded.
04:57Listen, here's the deal, Adam.
04:58They're going to make a run.
04:59The question is, can Lamar put it together all the way for the playoffs?
05:03That, to me, is the only question with his football team.
05:06Somewhere out there, Aaron Rodgers is going,
05:08come on, guys, what about me?
05:09I just got to Pittsburgh, 5-1 to win that division, by the way,
05:13the Pittsburgh Steelers.
05:14Adam Kaplan, again, SiriusXM Radio,
05:17and, of course, a regular here on Sports Grid.
