NFL Roster Cut Day Drama: Malik Willis Traded, Toney Released & More | GSMC Sports Podcast

welcome back into the gsmc sports podcast as today is the deadline for the NFL cut day where every NFL roster needs to reduce their number of active players to 53 now this is different in ju's position to years past where there were gradual cut days throughout the preseason now it's just one big deadline where everything's got to go by then so this can be a little bit hectic and it's led to us getting a little bit of you know extra interesting content push over these past 24 hours and I want to dive into some of the more notable deals and the first one I'll start with where doesn't seem like it's going to have all that much impact on the upcoming season per se but thought it was very interesting where we saw Malik Willis former former quarterback of Liberty and of the Tennessee Titans traded to the Green Bay Packers getting just a seventh rounder in return and this was a little bit of a surprise to me where it felt like Malik Willis had a chance to succeed Ryan tanah Hill when the Titans took him in the third round of two the 2022 draft they knew that tanah Hill's time was likely coming to an end which turned out to be true and Willis in his rookie season got three starts that across the board just were not good so the Titans weren't really satisfied there they decided they would take maybe another day two flyer on another option and they ended up getting will Levis of course with the I think he ended up going 32nd overall but in that second round pick based off of a forfeited pick from the first round but Willis ends up going in the second round to the Titans and it felt like they knew they were going to need another option they weren't sold on Willis and again just day two flyer see how it works out for them and clearly will Levis ended up winning that battle I mean there were talks about Levis potentially being a first round pick in that year in the 2023 draft didn't end up being the case and he slipped to the but I mean there was a lot to like about Levis coming out of coming out of school at Kentucky where he was able to sort of overcome a bad offensive line his numbers took a dip because of the fact that with that bad offensive line he was uh dealing with some injuries but the athleticism with him the ability to get it done on the ground that alone sort of is it at least what caught the attention of me headed into the draft and clearly there that with a combination of of other things caught the attention of the Titans Now Titans they were were at least before this deal went through going to move on to the season with with Will Levis Mason Rudolph and Malik Willis as your three quarterbacks now they send uh they send Willis out the door as things currently stand I can double check right now but as I am fairly certain Titans are left with just two quarterbacks in the room right now which in 2024 that feels like a risky move to me now I would think that there's probably some other move that is going to take place additionally as well but feels like the Titans are short on quarterback talent and I don't even know how great their current option is again I like will Levis I liked what he was able to show when he played down the stretch of last season but there's still very much in unknown with Will Levis as to whether or not he's going to work out and I it's not like they're going to bring in another quarterback that is the answer for them at this point but now will Levis like I mentioned stealing with some injuries his final season it's not like Mason Rudolph has a very extensive history of starting either I think ultimately when you look at sort of this sit the quarterback situation in Tennessee just feels very very short um to me but very briefly here on the Packers side they don't have great depth of the position either necessarily it was Shan Clifford and Michael Pratt as their backups they drafted Pratt in the seventh round out of two lane they just announced this morning though they are releasing sha Clifford so now the room is Jordan love Malik Willis and Michael Pratt it's a pretty solid room if you ask me um to have some depth to that as well so wanted to hit on that very quickly as well another quarterback note meant to bring this up earlier when we talked about the Patriots quarterback battle it is official that they are waving quarterback bayy zappy zappy Mania was definitely a thing for a few weeks in New England during the 2022 season but that's no longer the case zappy was not the answer ended up the Patriots ended up drafting two quarterbacks in this year's draft they signed a free agent veteran and jacobe brassette zappy never had a spot here so he's somebody who could you know probably find his way onto a roster somewhere as a third quarterback but the Broncos with uh decision to shop a little bit some veteran Talent where samj perine and Tim Patrick the running back and wide receiver both veteran guys in the league are expected to be released if the Broncos can't find a tra partner neither one of them obviously game Breakers but both players I think that you know could be could be a part of a playoff caliber team like obviously not his feature running back or receiver but you know could be a help veteran upgrade for a number of different teams that could be interesting and then I want to dive into as well the trade that was just announced during the course of this show this broke I can uh double check the exact timing for you here uh about 17 minutes ago 43 minutes ago maybe at this point reported by Tom peliso initially is what I'm looking at that the Los Angeles Rams are trading linebacker Ernest Jones ivth to the Tennessee Titans Jones isn't necessarily a household name by any means but he was the leading tackler for the Rams last season in with 145 I don't have the exact numbers ahead of me but I have to imagine that that is you know amongst the top ranks in the NFL as a whole so that's a pretty significant move there I would argue is the loss of Ernest Jones from that Rams defense and ends up with the Titans I kind of really like the signing there by the Titans to be a able to pick him up in exchange I think they just had to give up a 2026 fifth rounder the Titans actually also got a sixth rounder in return so Jones I mean clearly the Rams didn't really have any intentions of making him continue to be a real go-to guy with the the future of this defense so they end up sending him out the door um couple other quick notes here that again breaking down this news as it's sort of coming out couple other notable ones the Kansas City Chiefs releasing wide receiver cadarius Tony Tony is a little bit Infamous at this point after the flame out with the Giants after being a first round selection a few years ago he ends up going to the Chiefs was you know had his moments for whatever it's worth uh especially on special teams and I think he even cut might have caught a touchdown in the Super Bowl in 2022 um you can fact check me on that but I think he might have but you know either way Tony was a fine addition at the deadline for the Chiefs in 2022 but the drops with him were a story from the Chief season opener last year and it just never got better for him so the they ended up releasing him I feel like Tony's going to get another chance somewhere I would wouldn't put all that much faith in it I mean he's a very good athlete that I don't know if he necessarily fully gets credit for obviously very much overshadowed by the amount of drops for him so I can understand why people aren't necessarily jumping to give them all that much credit but uh the last one I will give is that the Arizona Cardinals decided to release Desmond Ritter which that one kind of came I guess I suppose is a little bit of a surprise we were just talking about the Cardinals yesterday in the season preview and he was listed as the number two quarterback behind Kyler Murray for whatever it's worth with Kyler he has an injury history you feel like you might want some backup options there but Clayton ton seems to have beat him out for that number two job as I just cannot believe and this is probably one of the last times we'll ever talk about unless you know no no disrespect but probably one of the last times we'll ever talk about Desmond rder at least here on this show and I just cannot get over the fact that the Falcons passed on Lamar Jackson Arthur Blank talking about how he's confident in what they have with Taylor hinei and Desmond Ritter when Lamar Jackson was very much on the table um last off season just crazy to me that that was their plan was Desmond r and now he's getting cut from the Arizona Cardinals for Clayton ton just really tough situation there but you know let me know what your thoughts are in the comments section again some some of these are maybe a little bit more minor but interesting to keep up with but I mentioned the Ernest Jones trade from the Los Angeles Rams and I want to dive into that because Ernest Jones is Not the Only big Lo loss from a significant contributor in 2023 the retirement of Aaron Donald Raheem Morris leaving their defensive coordinator leaving to take the head coach job in Atlanta that this is going to be a different Rams team in this upcoming season will they be able to continue to succeed even with the losses of some bigname guys so we will dive into that debate but first a quick break do not go anywhere we will be right back