Hello friends, it's your buddy Lou Pickney with you here with the DKDB update.
March 10th, 2026.
Busy time right now as far as NFL teams go with the start of the quote unquote legal tampering period.
Technically, Wednesday the 11th is going to be when these deals will be able to be signed into place.
There's any sort of wiggle room, there is the potential for a complication or two.
And there was a major complication that happened right before I was about to start recording this show that you're watching right now.
Had to delay the start with good reason.
There's a major trade that went down over the weekend was rescended.
Let's explain.
The Baltimore Ravens have backed out from trading for pass rusher Max Crosby.
might recall gone through here in the DKDB where I put the best of the best.
Not a lot of updates today cuz a lot has been in flux for people like me that got it in right before the start of the quote unquote tampering period.
And this what they call it the legal tampering period.
But a lot of people's projections have to be traded or they change.
I see the word trade.
Maybe say traded.
Max Crosby trade.
Let's get to it.
It's not going to happen.
Las Vegas is not happy with this.
They had traded star edge rusher Max Crosby to Baltimore for two first round picks.
That would be Baltimore's number 14 selection this year and Baltimore selection next year.
what is expected to be a very strong drafted quarterback where if nothing else that 2027 pick could have potentially been nice for Vegas if Baltimore were to struggle this upcoming season.
Now that doesn't matter.
Now the question is why did Baltimore agree to this trade and back out of it?
Well, you remember when the Raiders shut down Crosby near the end of the last season?
It was citing injury and Crosby had, let me scroll down here on NFL.com, this NFL.com article citing NFL Network insider Mike Ruffalo, saying it was due to a medical reason.
And as I understand it, there was some sort of surgical procedure that Crosby had on a meniscus knee surgery.
There it is right there ahead of schedule recovering from knee surgery.
But something happened in the physical that Baltimore gave Crosby to lead them to pull back on the trade.
So Baltimore keeps those two first round picks and things got a lot more complicated.
because now Las Vegas doesn't have a lot of other great options.
Dallas was the other expected major trade partner.
But word out of Dallas tonight is that the Cowboys have moved on.
Now maybe that's a ploy to negotiate, but I don't know.
Makes it very interesting because now you got Las Vegas with Crosby still a great player, but they tried to trade him.
So, if it ends up not being traded, that makes a a very unusual situation to say the least.
It's hard to know exactly what to make of that other than when you're going through looking at mock drafts.
Got to undo the change that was made at number 14 with Baltimore sending that pick to Vegas.
Well, it never made it.
Return to sender.
So, a very interesting development here with Max Crosby, at least for now, staying with Las Vegas.
They could trade Crosby elsewhere.
There are other teams with needs at Edge Rusher, but who's given up two first round picks?
Dallas wasn't willing to do that.
That was part of why Baltimore was the trade partner.
That makes for an interesting situation to watch play out here.
Once the official start of the new league year hits, these trades book or these deals become official or trades for that matter.
Now, go back here.
DKDB is my personally curated 2026 NFL Balk draft database.
I put the best of the best in the DKDB.
No AI, no tandem efforts, no staff report.
Not something you chat had typed into chat GPT or perplexity or something.
I want the best of the best and I get the best of the best in here.
I link to them directly.
People with proven track records, major outlets and top independents.
That includes Charlie Campbell.
And something that was interesting to me with Charlie Campbell was his report maybe a week ago, maybe a little more.
And it seemed fairly obvious, but it was helpful to know that, okay, the word out of Washington DC is that the commanders were wanting to go with an edge rusher, at least strongly considering it at number seven.
So I heard that.
Okay, that makes sense.
Then this happened.
commanders signed Odowaya to a 4-year $100 million contract.
That is a major deal.
Oh, way had that really strong finish to the 2025 season.
top edge Rogers.
We saw with the now scuttled trade that was to happen for Max Crosby with two first round picks.
But the first round picks involved with the Micah Parsons trade last year.
You're an elite edge rusher.
You are in demand.
But now you have to weigh that.
Okay, so the commanders give $68 million guaranteed.
It's part of the deal.
And it's interesting with OA cuz he was with, funny enough, with Baltimore.
He gets sent to LA Chargers via trade and now he's heading back to the East Coast, Washington DC.
So, a pretty major deal there, I would say, for the commanders, but now it's the now what?
Because my latest mock draft.
I've gone back to the old format.
I tried using a newer web template and it just never worked the way I wanted it to on mobile and a lot of people use mobile.
Okay, I can't have this looking slapshot here.
So, I know the older design, but I go for legibility over everything else.
Anyway, so that's why it looks different.
Now, my point was not to show off the what's old is new again design with mockdraftnfl.com, the official site for my 2026 NFL mockdraft, but I had the commanders taking David Bailey, edge rusher from Texas Tech.
thought being well if Bailey's not there perhaps Arll Reese could somehow slide and if that doesn't happen then strong probability that Ruben Bane Jr.
would be there.
But now that you've dropped 68 million guaranteed on the position in free agency, that makes me wonder if the commanders might be more inclined to think, look, at seven, we're probably going to be able to get either Sunny Styles, linebacker from Ohio State, or Caleb DS, safety from Ohio State.
Something to consider there if nothing else.
That was what crossed my mind with that posted on X about this yesterday.
Really enjoy the work that Walter Cherrapinsky does with the free agent grades cuz he is ruthless as far as being brutally honest, which is what I want.
I don't want somebody who's beholden to agents or beholden to team insiders or is giving them scoops.
I want people that are giving me the honest truth that understand the big picture.
So, I enjoy what Walt does with that work quite a bit.
And so, it leads me to wonder, what is Washington going to do at seven?
If they had the choice between styles and downs, which one would they pick?
Or do they say, look, you can never have too many great edge rushers?
And we'll go with Bailey at seven.
I mean, that could happen.
These are all things to consider, but it just to me that that kind of a major move makes me Okay.
And who knows, Washington might love a certain wide receiver and take somebody there.
It's a long way between now and April 23rd.
Now, let's take a look at some of these top free agent signings.
Go over and see what CBS Sports has.
Thought it was interesting they noted here eight players either became the highest paid at their respective position or the highest paid free agent at their position in terms of average annual salary.
So, Trent McDuffy, remember the Chiefs traded McDuffy to the LA Rams at that number 29 overall pick in this year's draft where there should be a lot of worthy considerations at corner if that's the move for the Chiefs who also have the number nine overall pick and maybe they'll go Mansour Delane there.
Regardless of that, the LA Rams get McDuffy and then sign him to a 4-year $124 million deal.
The Commanders signing veteran offensive tackle Laramie Tonsel.
Two years, $60.2 million for Tonsel.
I mean, the commanders been spending some money in free agency.
Carolina Panthers edge Jaylen Phillips four years 120 million.
[laughter] [gasps] That's some big money right there.
You see edge rushers in huge demand.
The Colts resigned wide receiver Alec Pierce.
Four years, $114 million.
And here's where it's interesting with the Las Vegas Raiders.
Remember, they're expecting to have that number 14 overall pick.
So, they drop $81 million to get one of the top free agent offensive interior linemen, center Tyler Lindenbomb.
They spent all that money.
They got the money with Crosby because that trade didn't go through with Baltimore.
Thanks for Las Vegas is going to be in an interesting spot here.
Kansas City Chiefs signing running back Kenneth Walker III MVP of the Super Bowl.
So he wins the Super Bowl with the Seahawks.
And the timehonored tradition in the NFL since 1993, the modern era of free agency.
Your team wins a Super Bowl, other teams will pay big.
In most cases to sign your free agents.
That's just how it goes.
With a salary cap, you can only do so much.
Also noteworthy, the Giants signing tight end Isaiah likely.
Three years 40 million.
Some people kind of scratched their head at that one, but certain coaches will go someplace and they'll start bringing in their players.
So, one of the first moves for Harbaugh with the Giants getting likely the Giants signing punter Jordan Stout 3 years 13 or 12.3 million.
People goof on punters sometimes, but that can be a crucial role, a field position game.
So, those are some big money signings.
Let's take a look the as well.
I'll have the link to the cbsports.com of this free agency tracker.
I find this helpful, the 2026 NFL free agent tracker.
Be sure to go through and read this.
There'll be updates inevitably by the time you watch this video.
And the big one that hasn't signed anywhere yet that there's said to be considerable money difference between the ask and the avail is Trey Hendrickson edge rusher Cincinnati.
See that problem right there?
The 3-1 31 years old.
Get to the wrong side of 30.
It can be a little bit trickier.
George Pickens franchise tagged by the Dallas Cowboys.
And this shows you old team, new team.
And there's an irony that Linder Bomb goes from Baltimore to Vegas and then Baltimore ends up mixing that trade.
I don't think the two were related, but it is interesting.
Talking about old team, new team.
Got another Chiefs to the Rams with the corner Jaylen Watson getting three years 501 $1 million and it was tough for the Chiefs because they were up against it with the salary cap.
One of the difficult things in the NFL that's how they have they want the parody that invisible magnet that pulls all these teams toward a 500 record.
88 and1 club.
The NFL doesn't sell football.
The NFL sells hope.
And you see here that OA signing by the Commanders, four years, 100 million.
And this I should note here that list you can make whatever list you want to.
article from Carter Bonds of CBS Sports and it's citing the annual free agent rankings from Pete Prrisco.
CBS Sports, I've read Pete's work for a long time.
He does a good job.
I like what CBS Sports does here.
So, I wanted to showcase this.
I love this old team.
Sometimes you'll see these updates and they don't tell the old team like I've got to go now and pull up because maybe I don't remember a player off the top of my head which team they were with.
There are hundreds of players [laughter] like where were you from even for me and I watch it closely.
So I like that they have old team new team cuz sometimes you keep somebody you maybe they want to test the mark and maybe like okay we're not going to let that happen.
Kyle Pit of course is getting franchise tagged by the Falcons.
Somebody gave the Falcons a low mark for getting two attack of Violoa.
Like you're getting him for the veteran minimum.
Mommy's paying him all those millions and millions from that absolutely terrible contract they signed.
Ruling guarantees.
I mean, there's a cautionary tale for general managers.
Not that it's easy to sign a quarterback to a long-term deal considering how valuable quarterbacks really are.
I mean, they're really underpaid, but it's just the way it goes with the salary cap and most quarterbacks that are worth their assault never hitting free agency.
They would make a ton.
Some of the people still out there.
Of course, the Jets, they had to overhaul the defense.
zero interceptions as a team the entire season last year, 17 games and zero interceptions.
I just to me that's even now I'm this is not new information.
It's just staggering.
There's a reason that has never happened before in the NFL.
Highly unusual is a sign that things were very much out of whack there.
But here's the Jets now with two first round picks in this year's draft, three in next year's.
So the Jets get also the Jets made a trade to get Gino Smith if they should quiet some talk about Tai Simpson.
The Jets know what kind of talent's going to be in that draft at the quarterback position next year.
Anyway, three-year deals seem to be more in vogue opposed to maybe four years.
There are some that are four, but think about someone like Isaiah likely in free agency versus someone like a Keem meador, Miami Hurricanes edge rusher.
25 years old is my point.
Well, some people get into the league young, they get that second contract and likely case able to cash in big time with the Giants.
So, you notice, okay, there's couple of top safeties still out there.
Couple of moves including Kenneth Walker signing with Kansas City.
Travis Etien going from the Jaguars to the Saints.
When you see moves like that, that tells me that the Saints and the Chiefs don't expect Jeremiah Love to make it to pick number eight or pick number nine.
At least that's my interpretation of it.
And Malik Willis to the Dolphins.
I think if someone like Willis came along today, they'd probably spend an extra year in college.
someone like Willis would end up playing maybe get a little bit better developed and come in stronger because some of these guys you got to give them time to develop and the NFL is not about that.
You got to win now or you're out of a job much as far as patience goes.
But here's Willis at age 26 and he's getting some big money and the problem is the Titans just didn't have patience with him.
who's able to su to find success to succeed as a backup to Jordan Love in Green Bay.
Joey Bose is still sitting out there.
Guys on the wrong side of 30 still out there.
A lot of three-year deals.
the Titans signing Wandel Robinson this whole tampering period.
There was a whole lot of talk about Robinson to the Titans well before Monday.
Okay, I mean don't don't kid yourselves.
The whole reason for having agents is to avoid some of these pesky rules.
Although I think it's nonsense that there's the arbitrary thing for Kyler Murray where he can't talk to other teams.
He's been told that Arizona is going to release him, but because Arizona's not said it publicly, other teams aren't allowed to go ahead and talk to him.
And that's a little bit more serious because that involves potential tampering charges.
But the arbitrary whims of a team announcing it or not, or something, they've already notified the player is going to happen.
I think that's I have a problem with that.
I think that really needs to change.
They didn't ask me though.
But for any back from the NFL listening next comes from the CBAs.
Maybe give that one up.
Interesting that Cade Otton stayed with Tampa Bay.
Some of the talk about Kenyan Sadique going to the Bucks at 15 was predicated on the thought that Autton might leave.
With him staying there, it starts to narrow down some potential options as far as need positions go for some of these teams.
So, you see a lot of three-year deals in here.
A lot of players still sitting out there.
116 million for Alec Pierce.
Dude's getting paid.
Of course, the devil's in the details when it comes to the guaranteed money.
These are quite loaded with that as well.
That's my reaction to some of these free agent signings.
And of course, the big news about Maxx Crosby at trade.
That last video, grand opening, grand closing.
So, Crosby, at least for now, remains with the Las Vegas Raiders.
