Fantasy Football Daily - 2022 Take Talk Ep. 2

Episode Date: September 7, 2022

2022 Take Talk Ep. 2 --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's time to the Fantasy Points podcast brought to you by FantasyPoint.com. Top level fantasy football and NFL betting analysis from every perspective and angle, from numbers to the film room, with a single goal to help you score more fantasy points. Hello and welcome to episode two of the Take Talk podcast. I'm Steve Norfolk and I'm here with my co-host, Brett Whitefield. Today we're doing our season preview episode. We'll be diving briefly into the contenders in each NFL. division. And as always, we'll touch on the hot takes we saw this week. But Brett, you told me this

morning that you have a couple of rants that you want to go on. I don't know what these are about. He wouldn't tell me. But why don't you dive into what's got you up in arms this week? Yeah. So right off the top, I'm going to risk losing like thousands of listeners right now because we do have thousands of listeners. Not a big deal. You know, we're only on episode two, but I'm I'm convinced we have thousands of listeners. We got tons of great feedback from episode one. People DMing me telling me how great we are. There's natural chemistry between us, Steve.

They didn't say anything about how bad the audio was. No one said that. I know. I had people who I listed the first. I turned it on for 30 seconds and I was like, oh, no. Right. And then, yeah, I warned people at a time. And then when everybody came back, they were like,

oh, well, I didn't think the audio was that bad. Yeah, my dad's feedback to me about the pod was, well, on the bright side, son, the audio can't get any worse than it was. I was like, wow, dad, thanks. But no, so at risk of losing our thousands and thousands of listeners that we have, I want to talk about, it's totally nerdy, but there's a new show on TV. Do you watch a lot of TV? I don't really watch a lot of live TV. Okay. Well, I don't either. The streaming generation.

But so I'm a main with four kids in a wife who just gave birth, you know, two weeks ago, three weeks ago. So, you know, our pastime, once all the kids go to bed is we're going to watch 30 Minutes TV. So we started a new show, massively hyped show. They spent over a billion dollars on episode one. It's Lord of the Rings. Yeah, I haven't started this yet. I've debated, but it's one of those things where I, like, every, Three weeks, somehow there's a new show that I want to watch and I get, I totally panic every time and just completely fold.

And then I end up pre-watching something I've already seen. Well, so this show, I've been so I've been a huge Lord of the Rings fan, especially the original trilogy, incredible stuff, probably the best movies. Some of the best movies ever made, especially for that genre. But this show couldn't be more mid. It's actually borderline terrible. And I don't know how you spend a billion dollars on a TV show for, you know, season one and put out the product that they have. It's visually amazing, but there's nothing compelling about it through two episodes so far. It's actually terrible.

And when I compare to the new Game of Thrones show, it's kind of a similar vibe, you know, dragons and stuff and fantasy land. Game of Thrones is smoking it already. But wouldn't you argue that Lord of the Rings is always kind of a slow build? Like, if I think of, like, watching the Fellowship of the Ring the first time. Yeah. Like, if you, like, you're not really that hooked in the first 10 minutes. I don't know. If I remember correctly, it's been a minute since I'm watching.

Okay, well, I'm three hours deep into this series. Oh, well, that's fair. I didn't realize it. I didn't realize it in three hours already. Yeah, both, I think the first few episodes were both like an hour and 20 minutes each. Oh, well, that changes everything. And it's, and like, so we're in the TV era now, right? Where everyone just, there's no movies have kind of taken a backseat, too,

the incredible TV that's being produced. So there is like a natural expectation now that you're going to have to go through this character development phase and you might not be hooked right off the bat. I say that about a lot of shows I watch. But this isn't even remotely close to wanting me to watch episode three. And that's super sad to me. Even just the like the way the acting is being done, the delivery of the lines, the script writing, it's so bland, boring and stale.

Like there's nothing appealing about the show to me right now. And it's super sad to me. Does it have anything to do with the hype that you built up around it? Like, if you, if they release this on a whim and you had no expectations going into it, would it change your perception of how the show is at all? Yeah, I mean, that's a fair point, probably. I'm just curious. Like, I've been looking forward to this coming out since they announced it.

So that's probably definitely playing into it a little bit. But it also doesn't help that Game of Thrones came out roughly the same time, like maybe a week earlier. Right. And they have the same amount of episodes out right now, roughly. And head to head, it's just, it's a far superior product thus far. And that's one where, I mean, of this, similar vein. It's like we all have, everybody that watch Game of Thrones has bad blood and bad memories after how, you know, the original series ended. Yeah, that's true.

And so everybody had low expectations going in. Jesus, you're like, shoot me right between the eyes right now. So this would be like if the Buffalo Bills had the same exact exit this year as they did last year from the playoffs, last year we were excited. It's like, no, this team wasn't supposed to be here. Like we didn't have these expectations. But if they did that this year and lost in the same way, we'd look at it completely differently. Oh, man, you're right. Dang.

Segway. I'm down bad. No, but I get it. I get it. It is. It's like, how can you not hype it up? Like, you said it's a billion-dollar show, and you can't hook viewers. Like, you can't hook viewers in the first three hours of showtime.

Three hours is the long, it's like the length of a Lord of the Rings movie at this point. Like, give the people something. Exactly. All right. Well, moving on. There's something else that's been bugging me. Yeah, rant number two. From yesterday, rant number two.

And this show is called Take Talk. So we're going to get into takes quite often on the show. and I won't ever associate names usually, but this one I will. Former head coach in the NFL and now NFL analyst, Steve Marriucci, recently came out and said, his bold prediction for the season is Carson Wentz throws for over 4,800 yards. Yeah, 4,831 was the exact number. Four quarterbacks last year through more than that. Patrick Mowens over it, like beat that by 8.

yards. Yeah. This take, like, listen, Steve Marriucci, coach Marucci, mooch, I have no doubt the guy's forgotten more about football than I know. But my problem is I think a lot of these guys get to the point in their life where he's at, and they kind of just stop paying general attention to a lot of the fine details. Carson Wentz is not a good quarterback. He hasn't been for a while.

It's a fact, even going back to last year, a couple interesting data points. on Wence. He was bottom, there's 30 quarterbacks that had a higher on target rate than he did. He's not an accurate quarterback throw for throw. He was also top 10 in uncatchable pass rate. And sometimes that archetype of quarterback guys like Josh Allen's a great example. That's who Allen was getting compared to when he came out was Wins. He's not super accurate either.

Matt Stafford's another one. He usually ranks pretty high and underwent. catchable balls. They just miss. But those guys, the two I just mentioned, Stafford and Allen, they bring such a premium high-level capability. They make plays that change games. Wence isn't doing that anymore. He's not capable of those insane plays that Josh Allen is making or those crazy throws. He just doesn't do it at near the rate those guys do. On top of that, you know, Wence played for a really good Colts team last year. And he, averaged like six and a half yards per drop back.

So, and that kind of goes along with his last few years as a starter. So for him to hit 4,800 yards, one of two things is going to have to happen. He is going to have to drop back 150 more times this year than he did last year, which I got breaking news. Not happening. Or he's going to have to have a Joe Burrow ridiculously efficient season. where he's putting up something like eight and a half to nine yards per attempt and, you know, drop back 650 times this year.

Also, breaking news, not happening. I don't see a way he gets to this number. It doesn't seem, it doesn't even seem remotely possible. Yeah, I saw it and I started like we were, like I was about to start watching Hard Knocks last night, and that was what I threw on before. I was just kind of running. And, I mean, I started all. laughing out loud because I like you see like that's it's hilarious like where where in the world

would you come up with the idea that this could like you said that this could even happen like you'd have to you would have had to stick your head in the sand since whenever their Super Bowl run was right 19. Hey, and guess what? Nick Foles finished that. Yeah. So, I mean, granted, like, don't be wrong, Carson Wentz was having a great year that year. But even then, like, that season is probably, like, that was probably his peak. He wasn't really, like, if he had stayed at that level, that was probably his peak in the league. And even then, I think he was through 13 games, he was at. You know, he was sitting right around 3,000 yards.

Like, again, he's not throwing for 300 yards every week. Right. I would say just playing devil's advocate against myself, just for the record, I don't think it's remotely possible. But I do want to credit Washington a little bit because we talked about it on the last pod, the natural tendency of the NFL when you have one of these guys is the big arm legs, not super accurate is they give you the towers, right? We referenced Newton with Benjamin and Funches.

We talked about how Buffalo has done the opposite with Allen, and it's changed his life. Well, Washington's kind of in a similar situation where Wentz last year with the Colts had Michael Pittman, who's a very good player. Right. But he's not, I mean, he's not an elite separator. He's a big body, more of a possession contested catch type guy. He can separate on some routes for sure. I'm not saying he can't.

But now Wens comes into Washington, he does have Terry McLaren. He does have Jahan Dotson. He's even got Curtis Samuel and Dianney Brown. These guys are more in the separation archetype of receivers, especially Dotson and McLaren. These guys are phenomenal roundrunners. Right. So there is a chance where maybe we do see a more efficient Wentz because we're reducing that margin of error for him. He did a good job last year of protecting the ball compared to years past.

that was definitely one thing he improved on. Yeah, that's true. Outside of a game or two, I think he had one game with three or four turnovers and, you know, outside of that game, he really did a good job protecting the ball. But there's a chance with these receivers. You could see some of that efficiency creep up. Maybe he, you know, he gets in the top 25 of accuracy rating this year for on-target

throws. Even still, I don't see him coming. even close to 4,800 yards. And if that were the case, how bad would Washington have to be? Because that means they're having to drop back that many times. And that means that defense fell apart, which is pretty much what they're hanging their head on right now. Right.

So, anyways, that's it. I wanted to rant about Coach Mucci. Coach, I love you, but I think that was crazy talk. Hopefully we can get you back on the right track with a better take next week. We'll look for it. Yeah, I don't know. We should talk. So, I mean, we got eight divisions to talk about.

Last week, we went for an hour and 45 minutes. We're going to try to be diligent for you guys and kind of get through you as quickly. But we also want to go deep. We don't want to skim over stuff. So, Steve, I think a cool format we could do. We'll hit a division. We're not going to talk about every team in the division. No.

We'll talk about teams that we think are contending for that division. Right. And then we'll talk about, I think what we should. should do is go like hey if this team is going to win the division it's because you know they hit their ceiling because of this if they don't meet expectations it's because of this right so maybe we'll go through team by team and then if you have like a dark horse or if you want to know a different team or a different you know maybe there's a team in that division that uh is better than people think but probably not a contender yet you we can brush on them quickly but right for the most part

try and stay on that. Let's go, right. We're going to try to stay on task because we got a lot to talk about sale. We got some more takes, too, for the end of the pod. We got questions, guys. People sent us questions they wanted to answer it on the pod, which I think is super cool. Yeah, it's exciting. I didn't ask anyone to send me questions.

I promise. But yeah, we want to go AFC North? Well, it started off. Okay. So, AFC North. I mean, I think it starts with, the division starts and ends up. two teams. At least right now, the Browns, I don't know how to talk about them. If Watson was here for the full year, they'd be in the conversation and we talk about it,

but he's not, so I'm just writing them off. Sorry, Brown fans. And then, so you go there, you go Steelers, I don't, not, they're not there. They're not there. The defense would have to play out of their minds, and it's just in the quarterback situations all over the year. But I don't think, you know, Mike Tom. can do my time of things, but they're, you know, the best case scenario there, wild card and getting trounced again. I didn't even really want to talk about them, but bad, bad quarterback situation for now. Pickett might be the answer.

I'm not buying it, but he might be. But we're not going to find that out probably for a little while. And battle line. So bad QB situation, battle line. Defense probably set to regress a little. I don't know that Watt puts up the same season either last year. But even beyond. on that. I just, I don't see it happen. They do have weapons galore, though, on offense. I mean,

they could, if, like, if Pickett got the gig by, like, week three or four and was, you know, better than Turgisky, they might be a playoff team, like you said, Wildcar, but I don't think they're winning the division. No, not winning the division, not contending for a Super Bowl, but, I think we see this side of eye. It's one of those things where it's, it's Mike Tomlin, so you just have to appreciate it and credit what he does with that team every year. It's true. Regardless of the situation that they're in, I mean, he let a skeleton. of a human named Ben Raffles Gerger. And that honestly is one of the most remarkable coaching feats I've ever seen.

But moving on, I think the first team, because I kind of went, and I'm going in order of how I think they'll finish in the division. Okay. So I went Brown Steelers. And I think next, and this was a hard choice for me, but I think next I go to Cincinnati. I agree with that. Like I said, I think it was really close, but, you know, I, everybody knows, we all talk about it. Everybody knows that what they did last year was not, like, that was out of nowhere. Yeah, I mean, from the beginning of the year, I don't even remember what their Super Bowl odds were,

but people weren't even, like, people were not pegging them to even make the playoffs, let alone, make it to the Super Bowl. and what they did to get to the Super Bowl was, I mean, it was a combination of really well, really well-played offense of quarterback that kind of went above and beyond and made plays when he had to with weapons that can make plays that not a lot of other receivers can. And then just like their defense outperforming what they had been all year.

And that's kind of what you're looking at. add again this year. Now they did upgrade the offensive line. On paper. On paper. Yeah. Everything, yeah, everything's on paper at this point. But they did, in theory, they upgraded the offensive lines. The offensive line last year was bad. Like, it was. Yeah, let's talk about those upgrades. So they brought in Ted Carris from, you know, he's going to start at center for them. They brought in Alex Kappa from Tampa Bay, one of the pieces Tampa lost. He's going to start a right guard. I don't think Kappa is a, maybe he's a plus

starter. I don't know that he's moving the needle, though. He's probably better than what they put out there last year, for sure. And that's the thing is that like, that almost anything's an upgrade. Yeah. It's a good point. And I'm not asking them to go, I'm not looking or asking them to be even above average or good offensive line. I'm just looking for mediocrity. Because mediocrity to average is an improvement over what they were last year. Yeah, I mean, A lot of the data scientists in our space have been saying for years, it's not about necessarily having elite tan on the O-Lines, having five average, too slightly above average guys. Just don't have one person that can get you murdered.

Right. And I think Kappa definitely fits that bill. Same with Karras. Karras isn't a needle mover necessarily either, but they're big enough improvements because they're just average, which is fine. That's what they need. Right. The third guy they brought in was Lyle Collins from Dallas.

Yeah. And that's a guy. He hasn't played great the last couple years. He's been hurt, too, though. If he plays at his potential, that guy could be a needle mover. And he upgrades the run game, more so than anything. For sure. Easy, you know, he's a run for his blocker in Dallas.

The best years that Dallas had had in the running game were when he was when he was at full health. Yep. And pushing that team. But anyway, so here, I'll just pose a question as, like, you know, as we introduced, it. What does this team have to do to be a Super Bowl contender again, to make it back? What would they have to do to win the division? And what does it, what does their season look like if they do win the division? Yeah. So I think, and this is why I didn't pick the win the division, because I think there's a few things that actually have to happen.

Yeah. One, that offensive line has to come together and actually be an upgrade from what we saw last year. Right. To tag on to that, though, it's not, it wasn't just an O-line issue. Burrow was a little sketch in the pocket last year, especially in the playoffs. There were moments where

he's holding the ball too long, not doing his O-line any favors, dropping past, you know, his set point, not taking hitches back up into the pocket, bailing from clean pockets, all of it, basically. His pocket manipulation wasn't

great. His pocket awareness wasn't great. I know he trusts himself. He's got that moxie where it's just I got, I got an arm, I got some legs. I'm going to go make it happen. He needs to be a little bit more disciplined and he'll do the offensive line a lot of favors. And I'm not absolving the offensive line at all. They were terrible, but Burrow definitely didn't help the situation. Right. And he might have it programmed in his head now where, shoot, my old line is not good. I have to do these things because myel line's not good. Right. So if he can get back to just being disciplined and, you know, really

maybe building their pocket better, I think that'll be a huge step for the offense. I think the other thing that needs to happen is that defense has to hold. They played better than they should have last year. And they didn't, did they add any talent this year? No, they are bringing back the same group pretty much. Awuzzi, Chidobe Ayuzzi, from Dallas they brought in. he's going to play the other cornerback spot.

But still, then Dex Hill, first round pick. Well, yeah, I mean, obviously, yeah, they have Dex Hill. But other than, like, veterans-wise, they are bringing back the band. Yep. They, you know, and I don't, you know, there's, I think there's two ways you can go with that. You, I mean, what I think they're banking on is that this team improved toward the end of the year. They played well. They outperform in the playoffs of what they had been all a year.

And I think that they're kind of running with the thought of if we keep the continuity of this, they're one more year familiar with each other. They can do a lot of different things. They have the communication down. And they think that that level of uniformity and comfortability with each other can you know, have them be more, more of what they were in the playoffs, which is, you know, an opportunistic defense that didn't give up a lot of big plays and really kind of played, you know, played within themselves.

And, you know, when the opportunities came available, they took advantage of them. But there's also the thought of for most of the year, they were a middling defense. Yeah. They, I mean, they were sitting right around, you know, 17 to 20 all a year. which isn't, I mean, that's still technically bottom half of the league. Right. And so what, you know, like I said, the other thought is, what's the upside here? Because you don't have any real super star talent.

The closest, you know, Trey Hendrix is good. Hubbard's pretty good. Humperts pretty good. Jesse Bates is solid. And then that's. And then, I mean, that's, then Dax Hill, we'll see what he is. is I let you know he looks good in the preseason and I think he's a dynamic athlete that they can move around quite a bit yeah but what what's the upside and so what happens when an injury comes

along what happens when they're not getting the turnovers or they have a game where they're not generating a ton of pressure yeah I mean this team like another one thrown there yeah This team on offense was very inconsistent and radically efficient. It's not a good combo. Right. So they relied on insane plays for a lot of the season. Even in the playoffs did it, actually. Just like, hey, back's against the wall.

Let's just chuck it up to Jamar and see what happens. And it worked out way more than it should have. Right. They're a huge regression candidate when it comes to that. Burrow averaged like eight and a half yards of drop back, which is crazy. Yeah. I'm pretty sure he lived the league in yards per attempt. His numbers were wild.

Sorry, it wasn't yards per dropback. It was yards per attempt, eight and a half yards per attempt, which that's insane. I mean, I've been critical. Even last week, I was critical of Zach Taylor's play calling. He relies on early down running way too much. Yeah, they did a lot last year. So many three and outs because of just useless plays. They're just throwing away plays.

So if they don't get more consistent on offense, I think those big plays are going to naturally regress. You could even see an offensive regression from them, which is scary to think about because everyone thinks this offense is trending up to be more elite. There's so many things that this team has to kind of figure out. And I think they even realize that credit to them, a lot of teams, when they get in the situation the Bengals are in, where they go to the Super Bowl kind of unexpectedly,

they then take all their poker chips and they go, boom, push them right into the middle. and they start the timer on that window to win. They didn't do that yet. They didn't. They had a pretty quiet off season. And they know. Everybody expected them to have a, everybody was waiting for them to have a bigger offseason.

It was one of those things where I think, like you said, everybody expected them to do the push the chips all in. So I mean, I can remember for most of free agency, a lot of people were sitting there like, okay, if the Bengals go and get this guy, this guy, and this guy that shores up the holes in their defense, like their linebackers aren't that great. Like it plugs their holes in the defense,

and then they go along the offensive line. That was what everybody was waiting for. Yeah. And then they just, they didn't really, you know, they made a couple low level, level mild improvement sightings, but they did not do the, you know, they didn't go to the St. Louis Rams,

or Los Angeles Rams, a route of like trading away picks, getting these veteran elite guys in and, you know, forfeiting their future to, you know, make a play for now. Right. I love the slow and steady approach until it's time. The Rams were at the point where it was time. They had already committed to Stafford, too. So they even further, you know, bringing an OBJ and Vaughn Miller.

They just kept doing it. And it was time for them. They had already been to a Super Bowl and loss. Yeah. You could argue that the window was potentially closing. Donald's not getting any younger. But I like that the Bengals, they're reserving some cabs base. They're going to retain their good players, which is important when you're building a,

when you want to build a long-term contender. You have to retain your good players. They're keeping their draft capital in house. They're not making mistakes yet. I think the next off season will be the one where we'll really start to see what this team is made up. A lot of their young guys are still on rookie contracts, which is huge. But this is all, I mean, this also goes back to what Cincinnati Bengals have bet their entire existence of being competitive. is the ownership and general management groups,

they refuse to make the plays that kind of need to be made to make sure you stay a Super Bowl contender. Yeah. And that's where the, that's, you know, we saw it this year. They didn't do that. So we kind of, that's touching on what can happen to not make them, or not have them in a Super Bowl. What do they have to do to be in it?

I mean, it's just. Same. All those things just have to go the other way. I mean, he's, yeah, like Joe Burrow was 50% on go balls last year, 50% completion rate, on 60 targets. It's not like you threw a low amount of, like, go balls. And, I mean, I think it's a lot of it comes down to, they have the weapons all over offense. Having Tyler Boyd is your third receiving option is crazy. And I think that having a guy like Jamar Chase, having a guy like T. Higgins, where you can kind of move them around a little bit more.

gives them the ability to kind of mess with teams and get Jamar Jason or YAC opportunities. Because I think that the go-pals are not, a lot of teams are going to, I would imagine a lot of teams are going to have them play where they're saying, we're not going to let you be just deep, you know, kind of playing the same defense that teams started playing against Patrick Mahomes. The too high, we're not going to let you be as deep. We're going to make you nickel and dime-listened and kind of game plan and figure this out a little bit more. You don't work us underneath. Teams even did do that last year and they just said, I don't care.

Yeah, they did. And Chase, it wasn't just they were completing go balls at a crazy rate. It was like they were completing a contested go ball and then Chase balances off three defenders and runs 30 more yards to the end zone for a touchdown. Like, I don't see the volume of those types of plays happening this year. Anyways, we have to move on to Baltimore. Baltimore. Yeah. So what has happened for them to win the division and, you know, be a contender?

So they're, well, winning the division, I think, is they have, they need less to go right for them than Cincinnati. This team is pretty stacked. Yeah, I agree. Their defense is almost overwhelmingly good. Their secondary is healthy. That was a big, like, their secondary is always pretty much good. Last year, like when they're having really bad issues on defense, that second there was a mess. They have Marcus Peters back. Humphrey is healthy. They brought in Kyle Fuller to play in the slot.

Like, dude, when Kyle Fuller is your third corner and your slot guy, you're sitting pretty well. Right. They're running three, four deep at safety. Chuck Clark, Marcus Williams, they drafted Kyle Hinton High. They have Gino Stone, who he was a seventh round pick in 2020, but man, I like it. I thought he was a really good prospect. I was surprised he won't that late, and he's hanging around. Good special teams player, and he's really good in those, you know, cover two, cover four looks.

Not that the Ravens do a ton of that stuff, but he's an asset on the field if they're going to ever get into that. Those more three safety looks. Pass rush is pretty decent. Offensive line is back to being pretty good. I mean, they're solid. They've drafted well. They've got Tyler Lindbaum kind of filling their biggest need from use the first round pick this year. year. And I know they are excited about what Linderbaum can be for that offense. I mean, he's an athlete.

For sure. For how big he is, he moves really well. And, you know, he can get a true asset to that unit. Yep. So I think the only big question mark is to the pass catcher group. What's crazy is I love Mark Andrews. I already did my whole Andrews spill last week. Right. I love Rashad Bateman. He was. I mean, the year you came out with Chase and Waddle, I had those three guys in a cluster. Like, everyone had Chase as clear-cut one. I had Chase as my one, but the gap between him and Bateman to me was very slim. So I love Rashad Bateman. But after those two guys, who the frick is catching passes in Baltimore?

Yeah. Devin DuVernay, James Prochay, Isaiah Ligley. DeMarcus Robinson. Yeah, like, what are we doing here? And I get it. Lamar is not, they're not going to be a pass-verse offense ever. No. We already established last week.

That offense is going to go through Mark Andrews. Bateman will pick up Markey's Brown's chair of the workload. That's fine. But the only thing I worry about with this team, and it actually comes down to this. When they are in situations where they have to pass the ball, say they're not playing with the lead, playing from behind, I really, really worry about what they're capable of. Lamar throw for throw is not super accurate. That's well documented.

We don't need to get into that. amazing with this feet obviously but when backs are against the wall and they've got to throw the ball to come from behind or to get themselves in field goal range and they're not playing the Detroit lines

what you know where where do they go? I just that's the biggest thing to me so I do think they win the division I actually think they probably win it easily

I think Lamar maybe is an MVP candidate at the end of the year yeah he's one of those guys that's always going to be there just with his ability to be a real threat guy. Playoff football is different, though. And we've seen it. We've seen it with them.

We've seen it with them. Right. I mean, it's every year they get into the playoffs and they look like a team that could and should go on a run. But when offensive, when defensive coordinators, all they have to do, all they have to do is focus their entire game plan on this. And it's purely, it's not like looking, looking. ahead and installing to get things for the, you know, the weeks after, things like that, you know,

they've been unable to put up points. And they've been stopped in different ways each time. Yeah. It's not like it's this, it's not like there's this singular formula to stop them. There are a couple, I mean, there are different ways to stop them. And we saw with the charges where when Baltimore putting them in the playoffs, the chargers, I think they were just running like six, seven defensive backs. And it was just like, we're not going to let you run.

We're going to spy you. And we're going to make your past catchers beat us. And they did it. And they were just doing gap exchanges too. I'm with the front. Right. And they couldn't, like, they didn't have guys that could separate. They didn't have a true ball winner.

And, you know, you have, now you have the evolution of Mark Andrews. Rashad Bateman is a good receiver. He's a, he's a guy across the middle that they, outside of Markangers that they haven't really ever had in a while, a guy that can win in the middle and make difficult catches from the ex position. But I just, it just worries me that, like you said,

outside of the bait and Andrews, who do they have? And Ronnie Stanley came back to practice yesterday, which is good. It was his first day back. That, I mean, that's still a little bit concerning when a guy's coming back to his first practice three days before the first game. Like, what does he look like at the beginning of the season?

Because I think that he's an integral part to that, an integral part to that team. Yeah. But like you said, they are, I think they're the favorites. They should be the favorites to win that division. And they have a lot of, they have a lot of talent on D.E. I think that their ability to pressure the quarterback will be interesting because you have Clayas Campbell with Clayas Campbell is a year older. Their interior linemen aren't.

They've met in Michael Pierce. Like that's not. Pierce isn't a pass rusher. But I mean, it's not a group that inspires confidence. And then O.A on the other side. what, you know, does he improve? Right. Because, I mean, there were flashes last year.

He's long. He's fast. He's an athlete. And there were flashes last year of that ability. But there were also a lot of moments where he would disappear. Yeah. And for an edge rusher like that, that can't happen. He was relatively raw.

Just to be a freak athlete. Absolutely. He was playing purely off of the first. mathematicalic ability. He was playing a lot of of the athletic ability, and he would win off of that, but he would also get a beat

because of it as well. Yeah, a key for them is just going to be Justin's staying healthy. They did bring him over from the Colts, and he can still play. If they can get O.A., Houston, and Campbell on the field together,

it means it's got to be good on early down, stop the run, get yourself in favorable past situations. Then I think their password should be okay. But yeah, that's definitely an interesting. And, you know, with this team, it starts and stops with Lamar and what he can do. Yep.

All right, let's go, let's go NFC North. NFC, North. This is an easy one because I have this as a one-team race. You don't have. The Vikings are a team that are as interesting for a lot of things. people. I feel like they're a team with the most variance in what people think will happen. I just don't think they're good.

I think they're year one of a rebuild. They gutted that roster pretty thoroughly. They've got good weapons. They're going to have stable quarterback play, good run game. Their O lines just, it's decent. It's mad though. And then their defense, I think, could be really bad. Yeah, they're secondary. is their secondary is dicey.

Yeah. Harrison Smith's getting older. Patrick Peterson's getting older. I don't even know who's starting opposite Harrison Smith. Is they starting Cameron Bynum this year? Yeah. They do have Lew. They do have Seen. Louis Seen.

I bet you takes over that position at some point. You would hope so. He's a smart player who was kind of one of the leaders of that in Georgia's key. and I think that he can step in in the NFL and do a similar thing. They did bring into the Naderia Smith. Sidori Smith is not good. I know. I just,

yeah. Not good at all. He does not move the needle for me at all. No, he's, okay. He's just, we just talked about Baltimore.

Like, they're incredible at scheming pressure. Right. That's what they did. Right. They schemed in pressure. In Green Bay, that's what they did.

All of his pressure was basically skeined. Right. He's not a guy who's, going to beat blocks one-on-one. Definitely not a guy who's going to beat double teams. So, no, he doesn't move. In fact, as a Lions fan, I'm glad they brought him in. Sweet. But that's easy assignments for Penae. I just like, the upside of the offense. The offensive line is questionable. I don't think they have anyone crazy, but they have a great, they have a good past catching group. They have a

have a great running back and a deep run. And they're deep at running back too. They don't even have to pound Delvin Cook into the ground. They have some depth there with Ty Chandler. They like him, Wong Woo. They like him. I think everyone in that building is kind of out of Madison. They put him on.

They put him. They were trying to trade him. But I think that they see, you know, that was more so of what they had behind him or what they want to put in front of what he is. But, like, Kurt Cousins always surprises everyone with his statistics every year. I mean, he's, we always, we always talk about his prime time woes. When the, you know, when the lights get bright, what can he be? Yeah.

I mean, I think that's still there, but I just think that it's, um, it's, it's, It's a weaker division. And I think that if they caught Green Bay game and split that, if they split Green Bay Series 1-1, it's a team that could end up with 10 wins. I just think it's the defense that is the defense in the secondary that ultimately, you know, you can see them, you can see them getting thrown on easily.

Oh, for sure. they're going to get thrown on easily. They're probably going to get ran on easily, too. Let's be honest. Harrison Phillips, not doing it for me. Devil Tomlinson's a good interior player, but he's not doing it for me. Jonathan Bullard's undersized interior player. I don't really see how they're playing to stop the run.

I know a lot of people disagree with that, but I'm just not there. I don't think Kirk also is he chokes under pressure constantly. We see this in prime time every single year. I think he finally got the monkey office back last year with a decent primetime performance, but then the very next one, he flopped. Right, right. I don't, there's nothing about the Vikings that scare me whatsoever if I'm the Packers. That's fair.

I think this is the Packers Division. I don't, they only have really one hole to me, and they kind of playing it Moneyball style, and I don't mind. and that's Roger Siever. Yeah. They're going to trot out some combo of Lazard, Wachens, Cobb, you know, with

dubs, Watson, and Amari Rogers mixing in, although Rogers sounds like he's going to be playing a little running back this year, which is kind of cool. It's a true hodgepodge.

Yeah. What the hell? Yeah. It is. That's the only thing holding them back, but Rogers can elevate players. I mean, he's going to be able to. I think Jones is a realjohns.

really good weapon, too, that they can use in the past game a little more. We talked about it last week. I'm really high on Aaron Jones this year, and I think that the departure of Devante Adams ultimately will open him up in the offense even more.

You know, you're still, you still lost, if you're the Packers, you still lost one of the top three receivers in the NFL. Yeah. And not only one of the top three receivers, is one of the best, you know, past catching

quarterback chemistry duos that we've seen in a while. Yeah. And that, you know, I don't fully believe in Amel Mazar. I don't think I've seen. I don't either, but I believe in Aaron Rogers. Bottom line for the Packers, for me,

it's really simple. Probably elite offensive line. They got Bactari back. Jenkins is back at right tackle. Yeah. They're pretty deep. I know they drafted three guys this year, I believe. I believe, without checking all three made the roster and they're in depth positions.

Zach, Tom, Sean Ryan, Rashid Walker, is who I'm talking about. So deep offensive line, elite elite, elite, the two-time team. And then just freaking lights out defense. I'll trust Aaron Rogers to take that team to a division title easily. And that's the thing is Aaron Rogers doesn't have to lead that offense to 35 points. game. Right. Because that defense, I mean, that I would say their secondary is top, like at full health,

starters. It's the best in the league. Start, yeah, I was to say it's top three. Yeah. I mean, I. Elite safety duo, Savage and Amos. Yeah. Deer Alexander is amazing.

Jair is amazing. Rasul Douglas has been incredible since he's been in Green Bay. Yeah, completely evolved last year. Yeah, he's a ballhawk machine. And it was because they were able to move him into the nickel spot. Right. Because of the emergence of Eric Stokes. I know they list him as the nickel, but one thing that the Packers do, they're not afraid of, is they'll match up based on body types and skill sets.

Right. So if there's a big X, they'll put Rasul Douglas on him. Shut him down. They'll move Jaya to the slot for a game. It doesn't matter. And then Eric Stokes, Speed Demon, no one is beating that guy deep. No. And he's physical.

He's physical. He's physical, which is big. Yep. And I mean, Devandre Campbell's awesome. Yeah. Quay. I mean, they have two parodactals at lineback. Quay.

And David Jambler are absurdly long. Right. So those guys mix with the safeties? Yeah. The middle of the field is going to be on long. There's no where you can fit a ball in. Right. And then Preston Smith is, you know, Preston Smith is decent.

Their patch isn't. Gary's really developed nicely. Yeah. They've gotten more out of him than I thought they would so far. I was willing to say I'm wrong. I was wrong on Rashon Gary, for sure. I think after the first two years, first year and a half, I think everybody had kind of given up on this.

You know, past rushers, one of those positions where you're supposed to be able to just come in. Yeah. And, you know, you should see the flashes right away. You didn't see that with him right away. But he evolved. And he did develop in a way that a lot of people didn't. didn't think would happen. They also, so they have Kenny Clark,

freaking demon in the middle of that defense, but they drafted one of my favorite players in this year's draft in Devante Wyatt. Yeah. And he can flat out rush the passer from the interior. That guy is a monster. And so Nick Trone, who he's actually part of the data team here, he has two points.

He sent me a list of questions that he likes talking about. One of the things he asked me were like, who are some later round picks? that you think could really help a team and potentially, you know, exceed expectations in year one. Kingsley and Igbari. Yeah.

For the Packers, they drafted him in the fifth round. I had like a top 70 grade on him, I think. If I remember right? I think he can play. He doesn't have a ton of athletic upside, but he's very polished. There's a technical asset to them. And for, you know, a fourth or fifth pass rusher

coming off the bench, it gives them depth, man. They'll be able to keep those guys fresh. So I think that defense is absolutely insane. I'm excited to see what they do, even though I hate the Packers. Yeah, I mean, their defense, for them to win a Super Bowl, I think that defense has to be a top-by unit. Yeah.

For them to win the division, make a Super Bowl run, which they've been on the verge of almost every year. They should not have lost that San Francisco game last year. Correct. That was tailor-made to Green Bay winning it, and they didn't. And I think they would have matched up super well against. the Los Angeles Rams. But the defense has to

be top top 10 for sure, pushing top five. They have to be an elite unit. That secondary has to be elite. Their depth is, leaves a little bit to be wanting. Like if someone when goes down, they don't have a lot of people behind their top guys. that inspire confidence.

I know they've lost a couple. It's hard to keep everybody. It is. It is. Especially when you start getting guys off of rookie contracts. And you start to have to pay these guys. But starting five on the back end, they're one or two in talent and ability.

And so if that defense is top five, the green is probably looking at a, 12 to 13 win season Aaron Rogers figuring like melding together that receding group into whatever it's going to be

I don't know what it's going to be but whatever he turns that into because like you said at the end of the day you trust Aaron Rogers I think if that if that happens and he's in the MVP conversation again

then we're looking at the pack we're talking about the packers again as a potential team to go there for sure but again if they you know they're if the past catchers don't come to be come to fruition if they are losing the trust of Aaron Rogers if he doesn't feel confident in them and this and the defense starts underperforming then you're looking at a team that will still be able to be able to still make the playoffs. I think the floor for this team is playoffs no matter what. When Aaron Rogers is your quarterback, it's that way. But if you're looking at a team that Aaron Rogers doesn't trust it, they're starting to run the ball more, things like that,

then, you know, we're talking about this team as a potential one done in the playoffs or first round exits. You know, like we're looking at concerns. For sure. I think that covers that division. Yeah, I mean, we don't need it. There's no point even talking about the other team. Let's go out east. Let's go AFC East because we got to get moving.

I think we are, let's see here. We are 50 minutes deep and we've covered two divisions. Oh, boy. All right. So there are some divisions that we get in. Yeah. The East is one of them because I think Buffalo is the cream of the cross. No one's touching them.

In fact, I think the dolphins would be pretty good. We can hit those really quick. Dolphins would be pretty good. It's not their year yet. AFC's so competitive. It's just... That's what a company is. There's going to be wild card teams from other divisions.

I just don't see... They might compete for a wildcard spot. Not going to be a division winner. Not going to be a Super Bowl contender. Their defense... I know. Defense is way too much volatility. They blitz at, like, the highest rate last year.

They generated pressure. They did also generate pressure at the high head. one of the highest rates, but that did not translate necessarily to winning, you know, winning games and stopping teams. They feasted out of bad offenses. They got beat up by good offenses. It's just a way. I love John Holland.

He's a year hell. He's a year better. But, yeah, I mean, to us, I can't see Tua taking a leap to a way where he's leading a team. Like, he's not elevating a team to a victory. he's getting guided and taking what's available and he'll win games that are there for him. He's not going to elevate that team. There are two games where they can, or like they can't win and he pulls it out.

That's not going to happen. But yeah, I mean, they're developing teams. They're going to be a fun team. They're going to be fast. It's going to be fun to watch. But no, I don't. I wouldn't put any amount of money on that. I wouldn't put any amount of money on the division at all whatsoever.

Right. Then there's New England, too. who, you know, I honestly don't even want to spend any time on them because they're a frustrating team. But in short, very, very short summary, we've seen Kinks in Bill's armor the last few years. Brady covered more than we realized. Bill is not drafting well the last five years at all. You can go look for yourself, but I think a recent stat that somebody tweeted, I thought, was hilarious. Since 2018, he's had 15 or so, first, second and third round picks.

So day one and day two picks, and I think only three have made the final 53 this year, which is freaking insane, bro. That's next one. And then the other big kink in his armor is Matt Patricia. See, I'm already getting worked up. I didn't want to talk about Patriots. I'm already getting mad. But Patricia is not it, and he's already come in.

He's changing probably the league's best run attack last year to a zone-heavy scheme. when they didn't hardly utilize zone. They utilized zone fewer than, or I should say less, than any team in the NFL last year. Now they're going to come in. They're going to go heavy outside zone, heavy inside zone. They're abandoning their counter and power and pull lead type stuff that just getting those

pollers out in space really, really did that offense favors last year. I don't know what he's doing. I think it's just Bill Belichick trying to see how difficult he can make it for himself and still potentially win games. That's all I think this is. I think he's just five D chess play. He knows he can't win. I think he kind of knows what this team is.

But at this point, he's just like, I still want to see if I can make the playoffs by putting myself in the worst position possible. And that's by not drafting well to less however many years, putting a special teams coach and a former defensive coordinator in as your offensive coaches. And just letting it go and see, because then, you know, he has a cop out either way. he'll think he can throw those guys into the bus and fire him tomorrow and then

this is true you know maybe he also says oh I'm just kidding I wasn't actually trying to draft well I wanted to see what I can do but yeah it's they're I think they're they're in a very age but the variance doesn't go up to being a contender

they're going to get smashed because there's a Buffalo Bills they'll beat really bad teams yeah and then they'll get killed by a really good team yeah they'll be they'll be swimming mediocrity of 9, 8, 9, 7, 10, that range. All right, Buffalo, this is the crown jewel of the league. I think if you pulled 1,000 people and said,

you have $100 to put on any team to win, every team has the same odds. Who do you pick? I think, what, 900 of them would pick Buffalo? Yeah, and I mean, that same group, There were that group with Mary, Chief Michael Irvin, Rachel Benito, all those people, all those that NFL network show that was out last night. They all pick the bills to win the Super Bowl. Okay.

Everybody is hot. Yeah, literally everybody. For good reason, this team does not have a lot of weaknesses. I struggle to find one. Maybe they don't have like a true, like, a true, like, bell cow running back, but I don't care. Yeah, I don't care. They didn't have it last year. Right.

I mean, Alan is the Belko. Right, right. Like, they have their quarterback as the guy that can get them four yards and they need four yards because they can just run QB power. The battering ran. Yeah. I mean, the biggest, like, the biggest question is, I think one of the biggest questions is, what is Ken Dorsey as a play caller? You know, do, does. he just do and be similar to what Daigle was last year?

Or does he throw his own mix of things? Does he shake it up a little bit? Where does he go? We have like no evidence of what he can be as a play caller because I don't think he's ever called the days in the NFL. So we don't really have a, and he's coached a bunch of different places. So it's not like he was homegrown in Buffalo with with Daibol,

or you can point and say, well, you know, like a Mike McDaniel where you're like, well, he's going to just run a shanty in offense because that's who he is. Kennercy isn't necessarily that. I think you probably will try, though. I would probably, but I also could see them, but I also could see them playing an offense that has some similarities to the 2015 Carolina Panthers,

which is where he was a QB's coach with Cam Newton was there. I mean, to be fair, that's kind of what Dave Lable was similar to what Davele was doing last year. Yeah. And so I think that there's a question there of what is what is Ken Dorsey as a play caller. I do know this. Josh Allen has attributed Ken Dorsey a lot of his success with improving his mechanics, improving the mental aspect of the game, the footwork, the throw-for-throw accuracy, which he's still not great, but he's light years ahead of what he was.

I don't want this to come off as I don't think Ken Dorsey's a good. There's a question. I think Kennercy is a great coach. I think like what he did with Camino in 2015, like Camino in that unit, or they attributed a lot to what Camuson was to Kent Norsey. Ken Norsey gets the best out of his quarterbacks. But again, there's a difference between being a quarterback's coach and being the offensive coordinator, a play caller, the person that things brought on through.

That's just, again, I don't necessarily think it's going to be mad. I think this is going to be amazing because they have an incredible pass. They have an incredible unit of receivers. Yep. Their offensive line is questionable. It's not at least average. It's great, but yeah, it can be average.

And luckily, some of that is mitigated by having a tower. Yeah, yeah. A unicorn in the back. And so like, then that's the thing is Josh Allen masks a lot of the errors or a lot of deficiencies they may have. And their defense, I love their defense. They, you know, they're without Trudevius White until at least week four. Excuse me, at least week four. And that's really my only question for them in this roster is, what does the second year look like with it?

Traevious White. Yeah. And that's very minor. How does Kyrie Lelm step in for? I always forget his name. Levi Wallace. Yeah, Levi Wallace. I think that's, I mean, Wallace is a little underrated, but he is kept on what he brings

to the table. Yeah. Athletically, at least. And that's why they let him walk and they brought in a Kyrieh Elam because his Elam's ceiling is higher than Levi Wallace's ceiling. I think they kind of realized that they got what they came out of Levi Wallace, and they liked this cornerback class, and they liked Elam to be able to brace that ceiling.

Correct. But it's a great team. I mean, they were one of the best secondaries in the NFL last year. They were the best against 11 personnel passing. They were, I think, against 11 personnel, they allowed teams like it was like a negative 80. percent complete completion percentage over expected like they only gave up eight touchdowns out of eight passing touchdowns out of 11 personnel like they were good and they're I mean they have two of

the best safety in the NFL one of the best if not the best safety tandem in the NFL and it just comes down to you know winning the games like they have against Kansas City in the playoffs last year. Winning when it matters, definitely important. But even still, I mean, they were a contender last year, and they just didn't pull it together, but they're definitely a contender this year. It's just a matter of not getting in your own way. Don't create issues that aren't there, and, yeah,

just play within your own abilities and let Josh Hengen take you where you need to be. Right. All right. Let's go to the other East Coast conference. This is a tricky one, and we could literally spend all day just talking about this division. Did I say conference earlier? I did. The East Coast Division.

There we go. We could spend all day time on this because it is complicated. I think there's really only one team you can rule out, and that's the Giants. They're trash. Yeah. No, yeah. No, yeah. No, no, no.

Yeah. We're not going to say any more words with the Giants. But I do. The way I view this. this division, I have a favorite, and that's the Eagles, and then I got two teams that are Mabies, the Cowboys and Commanders. I don't think either those teams are contenders for the Super Bowl by any means, but I think they're contenders to win the division if something crazy happens at the Eagles. I think the Eagles are the clear-cut favorite to me. I want to

spend the most time talking about them. Yes. So let's do that. Let's talk about the Eagles. This team is insanely deep. They're another one, like top to bottom roster. I just feel really good about where this roster's at. They have, starting on the offensive side of the ball, their offensive line is good. It's been good for a long time. They develop talent really, really well.

And they draft really, really well, for the most part. Dillard being the lone blemish there of late. But, man, Jordan Milata, Landon Dickerson, Jason Kelsey, Isaac Simolo, Lane Johnson. They are loaded. That offensive line is awesome. And athletic. And on top of that,

they have, you know, second round pick, Camger, Jen's waiting in the wings for Kelsey. If something were to happen to Dickerson, Kelsey, or Somalo, he's a legit player. Josh Sills is a good depth on the interior offensive line. Jack Driscoll, fourth round pick from Auburn a few years ago. He's a legitimate

backup tackle. He could play in the pin. He could actually start games and you'd feel okay about it. So that offensive line is awesome. They made the trade for AJ Brown. He's awesome. To me, he's a top three talent receiver. Yes. So if I'm not even my top three yet. Like production wise, he's never been there, but talent wise, he's top three to me. I think he's incredible. He's, I mean, he's chisel. There's just nothing he doesn't. doesn't do like he's about the archetype of guy that it's like if you had to build a perfect wide receiver who is it if i was building a warrior to defend me if i was like a king i would pick a j brown yeah i mean just incredible just incredible man he's he's he's fun to watch

hashtag fun to watch um so yeah he he he gives them though that that alpha presence that true number one receiver that he hasn't had it haven't had actually once last time the eagles have had it like i mean shoot i don't even know i wouldn't even consider alshan i was going to say it was supposed to be it was supposed to work out the way jays was supposed to light years better than him and that makes devonthe smith even better in my opinion because he's the first round pick last year yeah dude has an ad game as well some things he can't do but that's okay because he's awesome with the things he does well well. And Brown just him, his presence alone makes him better because the attention defenses will have to pay to Brown. Right. And it also allows him to get Quez Watkins in the slot,

and that dude can fly. He's got to be one of the fastest slot receivers in the league. So they have weapons for Hertz. Oh, Goddard. We didn't even mention Goddard. Goddard's a stud. One of the better tight ends in the league. And they can move AJ Brown on in the slot. Yeah, for sure. All three of those guys, actually. They're very, they're very, they're changing. And they have Pascal, waiting in the wings, who's a great, you know, if you're looking at a team, Pascal's your fourth wide receiver, you're feeling really good about your receiver group. For sure. I mean, Goddard, we talked about how Brown production wise has never been, you know, where he probably should be because of his talent. Gattard's kind of the same way to me.

Absolutely. This guy is immensely talented, but he's never had that season yet. Usually it's because either injuries happen or because he played next to Zach Ertz for many years, which, I mean, to be as productive as Goddard's been, despite playing next to a guy of Ertz's caliber, is actually kind of remarkable. I know they were close to leaving the league in 12 percent of Pritz-ML for many seasons, but that aside, Goddard is, he's a phenomenal player. He's another great weapon for Hertz. And one thing I love about all these guys, man, they have true yak potential. Yes, yes. It's like, let's make it easy on the quarterback.

We're going to give you guys to separate, and then guys who can just tear it up after the catch. Like, their offense completely changes this year. They go from a team that didn't and couldn't, and this, didn't and couldn't really utilize the middle of the field. Yeah. Part of that was J.L. Hurts, but also part of it was just, like, who they had. Yep. And that completely flips this year. Now, they have a guy like AJ Brown, and that, like you said, opens up for Dallas Goddard to utilize the middle of the field more often.

and get guys an opportunity to produce after the catch, which is where these guys excel most. I mean, Dallas Gatter, it's been totally, it's been mostly utilization of, you know, of who he is. They have brought him into block quite a bit. Like, they did not send him out on a route at a similar level to guys that are elite tight ads, which is what Goddard can be. They didn't put Goddard into routes the amount that, like, San Francisco puts George Kittle or Baltimore puts Mark Andrews or the Raiders put Darren down Waller.

Like, they bring him into block. Because he's good at him, but he's better at, he's better at past catching. For sure. He's an athlete. He's a weapon. He's huge. He's decently fast. He's a big body.

All these guys, like this whole pass catching. group insane speed and athleticism like this is gonna this is as close to like giving hurts the offense he had at both alabama and oklahoma like they're like that's what they're doing yeah he should thrive i think hurts has a ton of arm talent too i people when they talk about him they always mention his legs they kind of like shrug him off as like this really bad passer no the dude can he can sling the rock man like he legitimately has a cannon he i mean shoot you have and I charting all the highlight throws last year. Yeah.

He racks him up. He makes ridiculous throw after ridiculous throw. For him, it's about consistency, relying on those mechanics he knows. And we know he's a hard worker. Everyone that knows hurts speaks. Yeah. It's like the character. Yeah, exactly.

So I have no doubt he's working on that. So it's just like throw for throw consistency we need to see from him. And then just the mental aspect of the game. We're seeing this for pretty much every quarterback, coming from the college game to the pros, the game moves at such a different speed. A lot of these guys, like Hertz and Burrow and Lawrence and Kyler was another good example. Baker, great example.

When they were coming out, these former, you know, first overall picks, and Hertz wasn't even that pedigree, but similar offenses he played in, their trigger is so slow because it can, it can be in college. Yeah. And Hurts us is a great example. His trigger at Oklahoma was terribly slow. He'd get the ball. He would hold it for three and a half seconds, four seconds,

and then throw to a receiver running wide open because nobody's covering for three and a four seconds. And that's the, yeah, that's the Lincoln Riley. Right. Offenses. Same way in Alabama, too. Especially playing against Big 12 defenses. Right. Exactly.

You just let it run out long enough. Right. So the disconnect for a lot of these guys and they get to the league is like, How do we slow, slow the game down in the head, but speed it up with our actions. Yeah. And Hurt just has to get more consistent with, obviously, I mentioned his accuracy, but just processing information quickly, getting that ball out on time. I think if he can just do marginally better there, his numbers skyrocket and he goes through the moon. Yeah.

And their defense is, yeah, moving off of their offense, their defense is good. Just super good. I'm like looking at their looking at the roster Let's see They have what Four edge rushers that are all legit Yeah

Brannan Graham Josh Sweat They're running Hassan Redick Who took a combo Sam linebacker slash You know He's mostly He's mostly off the edge

Situational edge rusher for sure If they do three Linebacker sets Which most teams don't do a lot of These days he'll be the third linebacker They're not going in a bigger edge to compliment. But man, even Barnett, a year ago, he played a lot of balance for them. He's going to be, what, their fourth pass rusher this year?

Right. I mean, like, listen, he probably wasn't, probably was overdrafted, maybe not a first-round pick. Right. But he's still a fourth ed rusher. That's insane depth. And then you have Fletcher Cox in the middle. Yep. With Jordan Davis there, too.

Yeah, Fletcher and Jordan. Milton Williams, they drafted. last year. I loved Milton. Hardgrave is not lived up to his potential, but perfectly finding it's around. Yeah, absolutely. And in in fact, I know a lot of that charts,

especially the unofficial that came out, they're listing Davis as Cox's backup. I see those two playing a lot together. And I see Davis probably as more as Hargraves backup would be the way I view that. Because you want Cox rushing the passer. Yeah, yeah. So I'm not taking him off the field. That's what scary is Jordan Davis can rush.

pass or two. Yeah, he can clap the pocket. You can put Cox and Davis on the field at the same time on, like, a, you know, third-down situations, third-in-long situations, and you need us up like, you know, have to, like, think about a Reddick, Sweat, Cox, for sure. Davis, and then just say, go get them. And then they leave the seven guys in the back field, or the seven guys on the back end, dropping in the coverage, who they have a good, a good secondary.

Darius Slay is one of the best of the team. continues to be one of the best of league. I don't really need to talk about him. They brought in CJ Gardner Johnson for. Yeah, they just turned around. Yeah, for pennies on the dollar. That news broke when we were recording the pod last week. Yeah, right.

They brought him in for pennies on the dollar. And he's, I've seen a lot of people reference it. He's a madman. He perfectly embodies what Philadelphia sports is. Yeah, he'll just. punch you in the face. Yeah. Oh,

yeah. And that's what Billy is. That's, I think that's the type of energy that secondary. Actually, he won't just punch you in the face, but he will talk an insane amount of shit

to the point where you punch him in the face. That happened. Do you remember this? Yes, yes. Was it the bear? Yes, it was. He got, dude.

It wasn't. It wasn't. It wasn't. It wasn't. It wasn't. It was it. I think that's interesting. Yeah.

He pushed the dude so far over the edge, Wimms just, first of all, they weren't even engaged on that play. So this happened several plays before. He got Wims so enraged that after a play was over, he just, on a win, no pun intended, comes up to the Chauncy Gardner Johnson and just slugs him. For what? And he got him took out of the game.

That's great. You need that guy in your secondary. Every team needs that dog. Aubrey Pleasant was talking about in Hard Knocks recently. Yeah. Every time you just have that guy where you're just, you're the aggressor with your mouth and then you back it up on the field. He's that guy.

I love that. And you know what's crazy is the most critical part when you're looking at this defense like a week ago is like they might be a little soft in the middle, especially if the Kobe Dean doesn't come on the field quickly. Yeah. But then they go and make a splash like that. It's like, well, shoot. They just shirt up the middle of the field quite a bit because I think Gardner

Jones is a hell of a player. He can do a lot of different. things. Yeah. You can put him in as a slot defender. You can legit slot defender. Yeah, he's a legit slot defender. You can move him into the box, having me a box safety. Well, that's where he's going to play, right? He's absolutely a deep guy, but yeah. But he's, he can wear a lot of different hats. Oh, we didn't even mention Bradbury though. Right. So Slay's almost his entire career, even when he was in Detroit,

he's never had, I would even say, like an above average corner across from him. he had never Lawson for a few years here and Lawson wasn't a bad corner per se but he's just average I still think he's waiting on his first pick

or no he got one in Las Vegas but Bradbury's by far the best guy Slay's played with by far that is very interesting to me because they basically have the outside just locked down

in an indivision like this having a guy like Slay with the guy Having a guy like Slay is so important because if you think about it, you have a team like Washington. Okay, you throw a sleigh on Terry and chlorine and then you figure the rest out. You have Dallas, you throw Slay on CD Lamb and you have him figure the rest out. Like having that guy where you can, you know, the Darius Slay, Jalen Ramsey, a guy that you can just say go shadow their number one and we're, you know, we're going to kind of leave you on an island. just like we're not going to worry about you.

That has, there's so much to that that helps a defense play because now you don't have to worry about shading. You don't have to worry about shaking a safety over there as much. You don't have to worry about helping underneath the linebacker. You can kind of just let them go. And with a defense that is this deep and a defense that's this athletic, they have that opens it enough to be a lot, be very versatile. Yeah.

And again, like I said, so now you go to Washington, you take away McLaurin, and now you're making Carson once think more. Okay, that's great. You take away C.E. Lamb and now you're, now you're kind of devoid of talent. Devoid of talent, Dallas. I've received a lot of question marks after C.LAM. Okay, now you've limited their offense. So that. Well, yeah, they can play manager football, which is helpful. And that's the pathway to the division. It's just. their division always passed like those games or n c n cedes games are always yeah you know they they bring their own level of weirdness we get we always get privileged enough to watch 17 prime time games with them ridiculous i don't know east coast i can figure out east coast bias i don't know america's team yeah philly and new york market But, yeah, I think, like, it's just a matter of, I think, like you said, I think that they're the definitive favorite to win the division.

I don't see Dallas competing much against them. I don't see Washington. I don't trust Carson Wentz. Carson Wentz went to a worst team, in my opinion, and he didn't get the team last year to the playoffs. So I have no faith whatsoever that he can do it this year. We started the pod by obliterated in the commanders. Right. Yeah, we don't need to touch on that.

But Philly getting into taking that next step is, you know, can their offense. It just hurts. It's because, you know, for everything that was good about hurts, you also have to think about that Tampa Bay game and how concerning that was, how easily that offense got shut down. And again, A.J. Brown, opens that up in a way that they didn't have last year. So we'll see.

Development. Year two, it's a starter. Yeah. So development is important. He can take a small step. But I think they're a legitimate super. I wouldn't say Super Bowl contender. I mean, maybe.

I mean, the NFC is so weak. That's the thing. That's why I like them as an opportunity to get there because the NFC is weak. Like they, there is. But listen, if Hertz becomes the player, thought he could when he's coming out because I love turts. I absolutely loved it. Then, yeah, Super Bowl contender.

I just don't, I'm not convinced he's there yet. We'll see, though. We'll see very quickly. Quick on the Cowboys. Very quick. We got a roll. Defense was super turnover lucky. Turnover dependent.

Yeah, they, and that does not usually hold year to year. That's a huge question mark. They didn't do anything to get better. Yeah. Their past catcher. are a question mark outside of CD Lamb, their offensive line doesn't quite really. Everybody thinks there's a Dallas Cowboy.

I think there's still a level of, like, they were so consistent for so long and we take it for granted, but I think that they're actually, the offensive lines are legitimate question mark this year. We're on like zero three of that not being true, which is crazy. Yeah, and they're a legitimate question mark. And, you know, can, They're in trouble.

How high can that Prescott take this team? Because he's going to be, he's, he's good. He's a good quarterback. He can elevate the team, but I don't think he can elevate this team. Yeah. I think they're a 9-9 team. They're in trouble. I'm not even sure on 9, to be honest.

Offensive lines are trouble. Pass catchers are trouble. Defense didn't do anything to get better. Also, just one little quick note on the Cowboys before we move on. every is going to turn into a rant I can feel it every snap

Micah Parsons takes at off the ball linebacker should earn the defensive coordinator a lashing of some sort I'm like old school let's go back to like Roman times

and just get a belt out and hit the dude with it every single snap Parsons takes it off the ball linebacker that guy deserves to be shot into the sun because he is

such a good pass rusher. Yeah. The impact he can have rushing the passer is not even remotely close to what he can do off the ball. In fact, I'll even say this. I don't care if Micah Parsons is the best off-the-ball linebacker in the NFL. It doesn't matter compared to what he can do rushing the passer. Yeah. And I would have way more faith in this defense.

If you promised me, I would get DeMarcus Lawrence and Micah Parsons rushing the passer on every snap. Yeah. But they can't promise me that. So I'm out completely out. Yeah. And I know they're saying he will more this year. But I don't know. More should just be all. Yeah, more should just be all.

All right. We are halfway through. Hour and 20 deep. Yeah. So we're going to blast through it. Let's do. Let's see. The AFC West is going to be a melee.

So should we talk about that now or save that for the end? That Oh, man. That division is wild. Yeah, it's murderous. Let's talk to the South teams real quick, because I think these are easy. We don't have to spend a lot of time here.

Both divisions. Yeah. Yeah, go, start with AFC South. I'm curious if we see this the same way, but I'm sure we do. It's the colds. I don't. The Titans are,

they are in, in the midst of a retooling that started. With the trade for AJ Brown, they just lost their best pass structure. They're still running on, or they're still running their offense through Derek Henry. Like, their offense at one wasn't that good last year. Derek Henry was just okay. He wasn't, he was not a world leader.

I just think the Titans a lot have to go right for them to be in the intention for this division. And I don't think like Brable is a very good coach. Brable is a very good coach. What he got on that team last year was remarkable. The fact that they were the fact that they had the best record in the AFC, that's like one of those things that if I asked you in five years you'll, you'd be like I, that doesn't sound real, especially when you talk about what they did. or who they have um but i just i just think that they're going to be a little retooling and that's okay you know what though man that's totally okay i think that they have to move on to the next step of what this team is going to be because i think that what this team was is no longer they took the

chance of julio jones they had had a dron henry it was fun it was bully wool Then they lit a first round pick on fire this year. Yeah. They're trying to one-for-one. Oh, you look at it that way? I thought they were trying to find Johnny's replacement. Steve can't speak. I thought.

You would be so serious when you said that. I mean, the offense hasn't been the same since they lost Johnny. So I thought, you look at the point. You look at the production profiles and how Berks was used. It mirrors the way Jonu was used in Tennessee so similarly, it's scary. And they're actually about the same size. And Jono might be fatter, actually. No, I mean, sorry, Traylon might be faster.

I said Johnny might be faster. Yeah, Johnny might be faster. No, on a serious note, yeah, wide receiver room is tricky because they're going to feel pressure to play Burks. He's clearly not ready to play. Kyle Phillips is a stud, though. I'm very convinced about that. But he's still your third receiver.

Third receiver. And probably slot only, maybe a little bit of outside, upside. But it's not even the offense for me that scares me, which is crazy because the offense is potentially scary. If Henry does take a step back, offensive line isn't good, receivers aren't good. That seems scary, right? But it's the defense. And they've been hanging their head on the defense, but they just lost Harold Landry for

the season. Yeah, which is he's exactly. And they already struggle with pass rush. Yeah. He's their best pass rusher. Bud Dupree is just the body. If you can't scheme him pressure, he does not want to go. He's a runner.

Yeah. Jeffrey Simmons is amazing. Jeffrey Simmons is amazing. That can't be stated enough. Danico Autry is perennally underrated. But in the scheme they run, they're now probably going to be asking him to play from a two-point stance and like a linebacker. Yeah. I'm very, very concerned with their pass rush overall.

the one thing I will say about the Titans, for them to hit their ceiling, that secondary has got to pop. And they've spent a lot of resources on it. And they have the chance to be very freaking good. Going down the line, they have second round pick from this year, Roger McCreary.

They have a first round pick from last year in Caleb Farley. A second round pick from 2020, Christian Fulton. A third round pick from 2021, Elijah Moulton, who's playing the slot, who I love the guy's tape coming out. I thought he was a top 50 player. They have all pro-safety, Kevin Bayard, who's a ball hawk. For all intents and purposes, this is the best secondary variable's ever had.

And they've worked really hard to build it, clearly with the capital they spent. If that unit can step up, it can probably cover some of the lows of the pass rush. And then the defense probably looks fine. And it's still a big if, though. They utilize the personnel well. I don't have no numbers on exactly, but just having to watch a lot of types. these games last year. They were in a lot of six safety

or 60 deep looks. With three safeties. Yeah. They did. They did a lot of that. That's why great people coaches he gets his best player on the field.

He doesn't have to. Yeah. He doesn't just lock himself in a box of what he wants his defense. He can mold it and do what he needs to do. Because I think like the beginning of the beginning of the year they were doing a lot of two, like a lot more of two, three linebacker. That's what the end of the end of the they started using the 560s. And just putting athletes on the field, putting speed on the field,

and letting them go. And that benefited them a lot. But yeah, losing hair and injury to like change that defensive line completely. It goes from you can see this working to now, oh my gosh, will they ever get to the work? Right. Exactly. It's the Colts.

Yeah. So we really touch on them. But it's really simple math for me. The last few years, they've been a very good football team. And they did it with subparred QB play in 40-year-old 15 kid, Philip Rivers. And then Matt, sorry, not Matt Ryan. Carson Wentz last year, who we've already obliterated. So we'll leave his name off our mouth for now.

But they're adding Matt Ryan, who I think Matt Ryan's best football is behind him, but he's still better than what they've had the last few years. and he's got a really, really solid roster to play with. He's got a great coach in Frank Wright. Yeah, great coach. Frank Reich knows how to get the best out of his quarterbacks. Yep. And that's going to, I think that bridges a little bit of the gap between what Matt Ryan's loss and what that offense can be.

I think that Reich elevates that to an agree. Because I think Reich both knows how to implement his own stuff. but also how to listen to what his quarterback wants to do and what his quarterback thinks he'll be successful. And I think that they'll work together really well and really closely. And yeah, I like I, I do. The Colts are one of my quote, I'm going dark horse teams, I would say to get to the Super Bowl. I can see a path for it. Yeah, I mean, they're going to win in the trenches, good O line.

Good D-line. Great. I mean, their interior defense line are great. Stuers seem to have taken a step forward. Buckner is really good. They're so deep on the edge, too. They added Yanik this year in Giac. Yeah.

Very good situational pass rusher. Not putting them in on a row down. Yeah. It doesn't matter to me. Just put him in on third down and let him rip. Quitty pay is probably taking a step forward. They still got Taekwan Lewis. Second round pick last year.

I don't know how to say his last name. Deo Odeienbo. Deo Odeenbo. Vandy Kid. They drafted him knowing he'd miss all last year. He's back this year. Ben Banagou is still on the roster. They've invested a lot of resources into the edge.

And I think it's going to pay off for them. They don't really even have any questions either. Safeties are pretty good. It crosses really good. Cross is good. Blackman's good. They brought him Gilmore. Yep.

Stefan Gilmore. Kenny Moore is a stud. He's like kind of their hybrid deback. He's listed as a nickel, but he plays some safety too. He can even play on the outside if they need him to.

He can literally do whatever they want. The only question is that corner opposite Gilmore phase out is. Yeah, and I think he's fine. Yeah, he serves. Yeah. When you've got Gilmore and Moore,

those are really their top two corners. If they, like if they get caught and, you know, against him. heavy personnel where they're only playing two corners. Phazon's not going to be in the field. It's McKinney more. Right.

So the third corner, Phazon's fine. Oh, when they drafted, actually, I don't know if they drafted him or if he was a UDFA, but JoJo DeMond. Yeah, he's there. One of the oldest prospects I've ever seen. I think he turns 26 this year. He's a 60 or senior, but he kind of converted from DB to linebacker.

He actually played slot corner for Nebraska at 230-something pounds. The dude has ridiculous movement skills, and he's going to be an all-the-ball linebacker there. Now, he's definitely not playing early down for them, but that's a sneaky guy that could get on the field in sub-packaged situations. Right. Be good in coverage. Him with Shaquille Leonard, Shaq Leonard, that would be a good combo. Another team that lost their defense.

They lost coordinator. They lost fever close to the ball. bears. So, and I think Iber Flues is a good coach to Elevent. Definitely worth noting. Elevate that's quite a bit with his playing. So that's, you know, a question of what they, you know, will it just be what they were? But it's just, I think it's just, it's to the point where it's like, do they have enough talent to compete when it comes time?

off the line is kind of a question mark or not. I don't think they have enough high-end playmates to beat the chiefs or the bills of the world. And that's what it is I think that comes down to the fact that they just, it's just somewhat of a talent deficiency. Sometimes it does just come down to that. And, you know, they, I don't think that this is necessarily what they were playing for this year. I think they're building to being something. better next year even. But they can scare teams.

Jonathan Taylor's really good. Michael Pittman's really good. Matt Ryan is, Matt Ryan's being cord, you know, they'll scare teams, but I just think when Coach comes on the show, it'll just be an unfortunate, a unfortunate step below, being a step below in talent. Yeah.

And that's what we'll compare them at the end. I would agree with you. all right let's go to the other south division I don't even know what to do with this division honestly like I still think it's a one team division it's the bucking ears yeah it's the bucks they have holes

but the other teams are arguably not really good their defense is fast their defense is solid they have Tom Brady I don't worry much about the defense no I don't worry about the only They're just like solid.

Their landmarks are good. Yeah. The only thing that really stands out to me is like potentially an issue is their pass rush. Yeah. And that's, again, potentially an issue, right? Like, I don't think this is an issue. They still have Shaq Barrett. They're looking for Joe Tryon, Chionko to take a big step.

They did bring in Nassib. Logan Hall with a second round pick I think he they like to use that big end a lot in base packages I think he's going to play some big end but he's also going to kick inside and rush

so they're probably fine they brought his team Hicks well yeah Hicks and they put him next to Bita Vena that's got to be the heaviest interior D-line we've ever seen ever ever it has to be

no plug holes that's all they'll do he makes he says he's 340 right? Yeah. Veda is what, 350? At least.

Like 700 pounds of meat and all that defense. That's insane. I mean, good luck, my man. Vaya's an absolute anchor. Right.

And Hicks is not terrible rushing the passer. No. Same with Vey. They's a legit pass rusher. So maybe they get more out of their interior,

especially if Hall is that, you know, pass situational three tech where he's, you know, lined up over the guard, getting a really good shade and just able to pin his ears

back and go. Yeah. I think, That could really help the defense. But I'm really not worried about it. They're strong at corner. Jamel Dean and Carlton Davis is a good duo. Sean Murphy Bunting is a fine nickel.

Winfield's really good. Right. Winfield and Mike Edwards are both solid. They brought in Keanu Neal from Dallas to play some of that box. They got Logan Ryan from the giant. They're just, they're honestly just sub up and they're deep. I'm really, I mean, shoot, they have KJ Britt on their bench. Right.

linebacker. We're really not worried about this team at all on defense. And Bulls is the head coach, right? Yeah, Tom Bolton. He's a defensive machine. He'll zero blitz them into giving up, he'll give up a bunch of 50-yard touchdowns this year. Yeah.

But for the most part, they'll keep teams in check. And again, it's continuity. Yeah. It's continuity. This is a team and a lot of money together, and there's a lot of value out of that, especially in the back end. Right.

On offense, there's nothing that we're worried about except for the biggest thing, which is the offensive line. Yeah. I'm not as, dude, people are freaking out about their offensive line. I'm not as worried as most people are. I'm really not.

Donovan Smith is still good, or average. Tristan Wirth is still amazing. Shaq Mason is a really good player. We talked about Kappa leaving. Mason is a huge upgrade, in my opinion, over Kappa. Yeah. Robert Hainsey, they drafted him to play center.

I know it's not ideal. You'd much rather have your all-pro center there. But Hainesi, I think he can probably play a little bit. I don't think the drop-off's going to be that crazy. And then their second-round pick from this year is going to be playing left guard for them. Yeah. Good Godkey. I think they might be okay.

And Brady, you know how he has pole, right? Yeah. They just cleared a bunch of catface too. I'm trying to figure out who it's for. Like, are they about to make a trade? Is Ali Marpet going to come out of retirement? People are, like, underestimating that as a possibility. What if, like, week 10, Marpet's like,

all right, I'm ready. Let's go. Left guard. And they get an all pro-caliber left guard back. Right. That's a legit possibility. I'm not sweating it too much. I know Brady, you know, the narrative is he crumbles with interior pressure. Yeah. But he's also incredible at getting the ball out fast when he needs to.

I think they're going to be fine. They've got more weapons than they know what to do with. Yeah. So many weapons. Yeah. Just their top four receivers. Evans, Godwin, Julio, Russell, Gage, are all legit players.

Then you have speed specialists in Darden, Scotty Miller, and Brasad Parraman. All those guys are like four, three, or faster speed dudes. Yeah. They're loaded at receiver. And then tight end, Brates, you know, whatever. He's a decent, he can win matchups against linebackers. That's really all they need to play. And then running back, they're fine.

Four Nett, Rashad White. It's a good duo. I mean, yeah, Tampa, they have a second. That's time to throw last year. And that was with a good interior offensive. That's just what Brady does. I think they were the only,

no, I mean, other than Pittsburgh, but Pittsburgh also threw it out and it's just ridiculous right. But like, their time to throw is better than their time to rush. Yeah. All right, well, the only other team I see

contending in this division is the New Orleans Saints. Yeah. It's a big caveat because they've got James Winston as their quarterback. And they have, O-line, potentially O-line issues themselves. They don't really have a left tackle at this point because Penning's going to miss some time.

And he's a rookie anyways from a very small school. Receiving-wise, this is the best group of receivers the Saints have had in a long time. They've got Thomas Olavay and Landry. Two guys that started most games, actually three guys that started game for them last year, Calloway, Hardy, and Trequant Smith are on the bench. They're the backups this year.

They literally one-for-one swapped just move the depth chart down a spot and then replaced all three of those starters with better players. Right. Now, I like Calloway and I like Hardy. Hardy has some freaky numbers. Insane numbers. It's up every single time. It's honestly kind of annoying.

Hyperproductive player and he's now your fifth receiver? Cool. If you limit it to like 150 year-year-old run. Hardy's number five in yards per run in the NFL. formerly Harris. Just so the listeners know, he changes his last name officially to Hardy. He had 2.75 yards per route run. When running a route, he had a 28.5% that's absurd.

Those aren't only wide receiver 1 numbers. Those are like top 10 in the league numbers. To give you an idea of who's ahead of him, it's Devante Adams. Shocked. Antonio Brown. Debo Samuel, Cooper Cup. You know who's behind them? Justin Jefferson, AJ Brown,

Jamar Chase. That's what I'm saying. Kind of free thing. Yeah, hyperproductive dude. Now I think he could do that if he was given the same one. No, absolutely not. But he clearly is a guy that makes plays. Right.

And now again, you can catch him. He's all like watching film, he, whatever he is on the field, he is, he just, he just is open. bit. Yeah. And I think they seem to him in that way. I think that's what they like him and like doing that with him. They run him on the meal routes. They run him on some different deep routes because he is fast. Yeah. Super fast. I mean, that's a falling in a wrinkle to have of a guy that can come off of that. For sure. And the guy that's not afraid to throw the ball ball. The bigger point is he's coming off the bench. You're no longer relying on this guy to play a lot of snaps necessarily. He's a really good insurance for the team, whether it's Olave or Landry, like one of those guys goes down.

You have competent players now. Overall, the past catching unit is just enormously improved from last year. I think Winston will, by default, have a better year because of that. And then defense, this team is always good on defense. Yeah. I mean, they really are, they haven't really changed their lineup a whole lot. I mean, they lost Marcus May. They lost Marcus Williams, but they replaced them with Marcus May.

And Tyrone. Who's a New Orleans kid. This is crazy. This defense is going to be good. For me, I pick the bucks to handle you in the division, simply because Brady is the best ever, and I'm not doubting him until he gives me a reason. Yeah, yeah, which is fair.

The same thing is on the very nice of my opinion. I think that their ceiling and floor is the separation of huge. There's a world where James Winston, we still haven't seen him with context I'll know than a couple of games last year. Like he's a gun slinger and he has receivers to sling it to and he has a good running back out of the back field.

He, you know, he's going to be kind of fun there. Like I think that there's the potential for him to bring down the turnover for previous years and get the ball to playmakers and all of a sudden they're winning 11 games and, you know, competing with the bucks if the bucks take a setback. But like you said, it all comes down to until Brady starts to fall off. We're not, you can't buy anything. I'm not going to be the one that's predicting it.

I'm not going to try it when Brady falls. I'm going to wait for that. And then still not buy it. and then wait another year and make sure it's true. I remember a very prominent football media member declared Brady was done back in, what was it, 2013, and then 2014 maybe, and then he won, he's won three Super Bowl. 2014, when they played in five. That game where they lost like 45 to 17, the Kansas City Chiefs.

All right, let's go out West, finish this thing up. We got two more. I've gone through almost two bottles of water. Yeah, I've gone through 32 ounces of coffee and almost a bottle of water. Is that a Dane Campbell coffee? I got to know. What's in that? No, it's just 32 ounces of black coffee.

I think it's a cold. So that's, so he takes 32 ounces of black coffee and then drops a double shot of espresso in it. Yeah. I should try that and drink. Do you think that boosts testosterone naturally? I'm just trying to figure out like, Or do you think that it's just a psychicist.

I love him. I love him. I love. He just runs off the diners and like that. I've never, in my lifetime, I don't think I've ever really liked a lion's head coach. I like,

so I liked Campbell, or we're talking about Campbell. So of course I like Campbell. I liked Caldwell, the person. Yes. Great man. I thought a high character guy. Did not think.

think he was a great football. I can't get into the Colville debate. It happens every year. It does. It's so revision to succeed, right? I need Campbell to succeed so we can just finally forget about Colville. We get it.

They did think Rod and Matt, Patricia was terrible. Caldwell had reached the ceiling. Just because Patricia was terrible doesn't mean firing Caldell was the wrong decision. For those you need a reference point, Steve and I live in the Metro Detroit area.

the talk radio here is an abomination to humanity and we have to hear daily people call in i mean i don't even listen to it anymore because it's garbage but daily people will call in and cry about how jim colville was done wrong and they shouldn't have fired him and he's the greatest coached the lines over had etc all right we got our we got our choice lines we're we skipped them during the n-s And then, you know, so we had to get it off our chest, especially with hard knocks wrapping up. But, all right. So we were going out West. Let's go with the AFC teams first because, as we stated, this is.

No, let's not do that. Let's save that for last because that is a conversation. Let's go with the NFC West. Almost equally as interesting in a different way. because it's maybe as wide open, but I would say there's not as many powerhouses. Yeah, yeah. Don't even talk about Seattle.

No, Seattle's done. It's a three-teamination. 100%. And it's more so every single team, it isn't, how do I put this? It's more so of which. Which team do I worry less about? What aspect of them do I worry least about that they can overcome more so than what they are as a strength, if that makes sense.

I agree with you for the Cardinals and the 49ers for sure. I think the Rams are still loaded. They're ready to win. It's just. Stafford's arm. Yeah. Then that's the question that I'm like, because like you said, they are. They won this people last year.

They were on Nail Robinson, Nail Robinson to step up from Robert Woods. Cooper Cup is still there. KMA teachers is a help here. The offense is flying. They lost West Worth. We'll see how they can. That's a big deal. It is a big loss.

But McVey is McVey. Stafford is. Hopefully Stafford. Hopefully Stafford. Doesn't, you know, doesn't bring too many concerns. And their defense is loaded. They brought in Bobby Wagner. They lost Bon Miller.

And they lost Sebastian Joseph. day, but... You know who they got back, though? Who? Troy Hill. Super underrated signing. He left for Cleveland. Took a huge contract.

Cleveland let him go. And they got him back. And that dude can flat out play. And he's obviously had career years in L.A. Right. Yeah, you covered them. I'm not even sure that we need to go deeper than that. Aaron Donald is the best defensive player of our generation.

Yep. He's still playing at that level. Can't wait for Alan Robinson to play with Matthew Stafford. It's the best quarterback that Alyn Robinson has ever had in his career. And we hit that hard on my last spot. I said it to our coworker, Graham Barfield.

I said, think of what, think of what Penny Gallaudet was with Matthew Stafford. And now think about how much better A.L. Robinson is than Kenny Gallaudet. Oh, that's a great way of putting it. So, and that's, I'm, really excited to see what Alan Robinson is.

Yeah, you had the hot take last year. I can remind you. I said that I could see I could see Alan Robinson leading that team in receiving guards over Cooper Cup. Woo! That's still gets to be close. It's a hot take, but I can see it happening.

Alan Robinson's fresh. He hasn't had to do a lot of work the last year. And just also. So it can't be stated enough that his skill set perfectly aligns with the way Stafford likes to play football. Exactly. And that's what makes it such an attractive fit. Stafford loves throwing into those tight windows.

And he's, Stafford has never been a bucket drop type of quarterback. He throws to a plane in the air and lets that receiver go good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's why Martin Jones was so good with him. That's why Kenne Gallagher was so good with him because he would put. put it on a rope right on top of the quarterbacks, having let his receiver make the win. He throws up 70-30 balls or not 50-50 balls.

And back shoulders work too, and Robinson's great at those. Exactly. Just all just, yeah. Okay, so that's the Rams. Let's go to the Cardinals next. What do the Cardinals need to be to win this division and compete? What needs to happen for that to happen? So they have just a terrible corner situation.

It's bad. I know Trayvon Mullen. I'm not buying it, though. Marco Wilson's not very good. Byron Murphy hasn't been as good as I had hoped. I was like, that was a guy pretty high on. I think he's good. Yeah.

I thought he could be the best slot corner in the league. This defense was surprisingly good last year. Overperformed. They were like top 10 in the NFL. Yeah. Overperformed. Yeah. They lost, you know.

Yes. Jamie Collins. No. Who lost? Jamie Collins. Chamber Jones. Same guy. They lost Matthew, too.

Yeah, it's they lost Tyron. Wait. Right? No, that's easy. That was a long time ago. Iron left like nine years ago. Whoopsie. Steve.

Yeah, that one. I'm going to just, just, we should edit that out. That looks bad. Patrick Peterson, I think, is who you're thinking of. They lost him last year to the Vikings. I don't even know what I was thinking of. But Buda Baker's good.

I think they're going to finally use Isaiah Simpson to the way that Isaiah Simmons should be used. Yeah. Which is put them in the slot. I have to play more of a safety than more of a safety slot defender than a linebacker. So hopefully they didn't learn that. But really?

They're coached well. And it's the cornerbacks. They are. On defense, they are. On defense, they are. It's like Cliff is a wet blanket. Their personality-wise, the team are a wet blanket. And that gets me to what their biggest question is,

and that's what does this offense do when you actually have to win games that matter. They've not handled adversity well at all. Congratulations, you can start out strong the first 10 games in the year. did wow did you know that they're on hard knocks

mid season this year I and also can we talk about how the previews for that look just gross like it's just like

you would think that this team is dead in water and I don't know if it's just it is a somber feeling gross it just like every time pops up it just like

like like they're only doing this team because they're waiting for them to collapse That's 100% my theory. They're not starting to shoot until November. The wheels could be mid falling off at that point. So let me preface by saying, I do think the Cardinals are pretty good. But we've seen this happen in the last two years.

They just completely fall apart at the end of the season. And I don't know what it is. I still don't think he can get to the bottom is it Cliff Kingsbury. Bro, the lions beat them last year. And they beat him handily. Yeah. Handily. They squashed them like a blow.

Like they, I think Craig Reynolds took for like 146 yards on them. They completely shut down the off of the Cardinals offense. And that was right when they're in the heat of their playoff run. And they got got by the Lions badly. Like they just looked ugly in the end of the year. And it's the second year old. Yeah, that's an indictment on Cliff. Probably Kyler a little bit too.

I mean, everybody, we all talked about it when the contract came up. Double X. again for Tyler Murray, how much it affects him, and how much does he stop paying attention to football and starts playing a whole duty. But that's okay, fine, you have a new true. To me, that's still on the head coach. Yeah. Our, like, they've seen the little squabbles between them.

They're already in the preseason, where. Kyle Murray's throwing jabs at Kingsbury. Play calling. And Kingsbury looks at him to go as you think it's so easy. Here you go. The hands of the headset. Then get the previous game. Now, Kyle is more points.

All right in the office. Like, King'sbury does. Like, this team just, they're talented. In all, for all intents and purposes, taking out what, all the outside stuff. like they should be right there with brands. Not, you know, like, and they have been. But I just don't believe in what's happening in the relationship with the coaches. There's definitely good stuff on that.

Kyler has like resting cry face. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know enough about him to know if that is he just actually always crying and upset about something. or is that just how he, like, is a general disposition. I think that he looked kind of the same way at Oklahoma. Okay.

I do think it's funny. Have you seen this new Heisman commercial that's come out? It's like they're interviewing all, like, former Heisman winners, like, random questions. But one of them is, would you rather be 10 minutes early or 10 minutes late? Or something to that effect. Yeah. The first, like, 20 guys answered the question are all, well, duh,

10 minutes early. Right. Yeah, I'd rather be 10 minutes early. They get to Tim Tebow, they ask him. Well, 10 minutes early. He's like, I'd like to know who in the world answered late. Right. And they paned to Kyler Murray.

And Kylie Murray says, well, 10 minutes late, duh. I just think it's funny, but it's like kind of what people have alluded to. Yeah. Yeah. So, I don't know. It's, they're a tough thing to figure out because they have, I think Tyler is so talented. I mean, pure talent-wise, you're not going to find

many guys with his abilities. No. Maybe, what, two in the league? Yeah. On par with him? Yeah. And that'd be Alan and Mahomes. I mean, Kyler has this Tyler has... Tyler's more of an accurate quarterback Philhar Jaxon. Oh, Kyler's

insanely accurate. Yeah, I think he was like top eight in the league. Yeah. And like truly an incredible pass. Touching balls. Right. Truly an incredible passer. And then he's got the rushing ability on power with Lamar. Probably not quite to that level, but it's still up there.

When he's healthy. Yeah. But another thing with Kyler too is when he's playing injured, he really starts to struggle. Some guys play their injuries really well. He's not one of them. No. Like Stafford's the same way. Stafford does not play through injury as well.

He kind of falls apart. Kyler's kind of the same way. It might be just he's smaller and he's kind of little. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know what it is, but maybe the nature of his play style when he gets hurt. He's like actually significantly hurt. Yeah. Yeah. They got decent weapons. Rondell Moore second year, A.J. Green played reasonably well for them. Markey's Brown come over for Baltimore. That's huge.

Hopkins can still ball. They get in back week seven. Seven. Tight end they're good. I mean, they have three, four deep at tight end. They got, Ertz, who's, you know, he's not a world beater, but he does a lot of things very well. Max Williams is a all, all intents of purposes. He's a good player. Then they drafted Trey McBride in the second round, who I loved, and he's a mismatch weapon, potentially. Bringing Ertz and changed their offense quite a bit.

It did. When they brought in Ertz, they played a lot less 10 personnel. Which was Cliff's calling towards. I think they averaged like 9.9 yards per play out of 10 personnel. To be honest with you?

Like 25% of the time. Yeah. And then like after they acquired Ertz, they started playing way more 11% I think that their 10 personnel usage went down to like 7, 8%, not even. And their yards per playout, the 10 personnel got worse too. So to be honest with you, when they made that switch, when they went and got hurts and then made the personnel change, it was the first time I actually thought that that was a sign of life from Cliff, that maybe he gets it.

It was the first time he made an adjustment to what he does. Yeah. And it worked for the most part. Yeah. So, and then they double down by bringing, they re-signed Max Williams, and then they went and drafted the time in the second round. Clearly what they're saying is, hey, we realized 10 personnel wasn't our thing, it wasn't working the way we wanted it to. So we're going a different direction. We're prioritizing tight-end position after we ignored it for the first two seasons.

Right. So, yeah, Connor, Conner's a good back. I'm not a big fan, but he's, he is what he is. Yeah. I mean, it doesn't even matter, right? because backs are dime a dozen for the other. Yeah. I hate to repeat the narrative of running backs don't matter, but it is mostly true.

You know, Benjamin is a fine bag. I mean, they're whatever. Daryl Williams, fine. I'm not, I don't really care. It's going to be a bad at the back end of their defense, especially in that division. It's frightening in what happens after week 10 because that's, they're probably going to go 7 and 3, 8 and 2. They do it every year.

It's what happens after week 10, week 11. What do they turn into? Once they hit some adversity, guys get hurt. I'm also just deeply concerned about pass rush from the outside. Yeah. They drafted a trio of rookies to play on the edge, none of which were high draft picks. So I'm not really sure what they're doing there.

It's going to be kind of crazy. Anyways, let's go. San Francisco. San Francisco 49ers. This is another team with a crazy talented roster and just massive questions at quarterback. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, I don't like defense is good. They're good at almost every level. Multiple pass rushers. Yeah. From the interior, from the exterior. One of the deepest defensive lines in the NFL. Can get after the passer without. having to be, without having to bring much blitzing.

Yeah. Corner is still suspect. They really, it's like their scheme, they just trust the scheme that work. They don't really mean. Yeah, that's something they don't care. Yeah. They know that they just have to have bodies that can hold up. Yeah.

And Chargare. Two safeties this year. I like Charverius Ward. Charvarius Ward is solid. Yeah. And I think that playing behind, playing behind a really, really good defensive. line is going to benefit him a ton because the defensive line in Kansas City wasn't that good and he still held up really well.

Yeah. That's true. Yeah, I think they'll be good again. They'll be solid. Definitely a top 10 defensive unit probably. Yeah. I would expect Nick Bosa to be in the defensive player of the year to talk at the end of the season. They need Warner to bounce back.

He had a rough year last year. Yeah. They need him to bounce back. Yeah, we kind of touched on that last time. Yeah. On offense, this team's actually really easy to figure out because they're loaded. I mean, Iuke, Debo, phenomenal receiving options. Dandy Gray coming out with the third round pick, insane speed, deep threat.

Joanne Jennings is actually a pretty good player in the slot. Yeah. Can force a ton of mistackles, which is what this offense lives on. I mean, probably. Iuke is out of the doghouse. It seems to be one of trailing. This is the favorite target. Yep.

I like their tackle situation, probably one of the top duos in the league. I mean, Williams is the best offensive lineman in the NFL. Yeah. Aaron Banks coming to his second year should be good. You know, their center situation is interesting, but overall, the offense line should be good. Then Kittle, obviously, is a stud. If he's healthy, he's got to stay healthy. I'm at the point with him where I'd pitch counterfeit.

probably until the end of the year. It'd be worth that. Yeah. They can utilize enough weapons in other places that, like, you know, Shanahan knows how to move people around. Right. That kind of leads into of. Shanahan gets the quarterback he's always wanted to have in his offense.

In Traylitz, I think. I don't actually believe that. You don't think so? I think they got, they got bullied into PR and taking him. But it's still. The archetype of quarterback that you want. I think that they should have, I think that. Why do you think that?

Because I think that it allows Shanahan to be like more, what's the word? Like, just more multiple in the run game. It gets him a quarterback, a big quarterback that can run the ball. And they can run that word. Which one? Multiple. Your boy ruined it for me. But I think that he opened.

He opens up the running game even more, which is what this team is kind of predicated on. I'm not going to dispute that. I'm just not sure we can comfortably say that Lance's archetype is the guy is what Chenehan wants for his office. Because he's never gone for that before. It was Kurt Cousins. It was Matt Ryan, Jimmy Garoppolo. He's never had the chance. I mean, they traded for Jimmy and gave him a big extension.

That was his chance. Yeah. I could have waited and drafted the guy. I feel like he gets bullied by the front zone front office a lot. Somebody's theirs can bully. Yeah. But here's the thing. I've always,

since the end of the season, when people talk about Jimmy, I've literally guaranteed. I've actually won money betting this. That Jimmy Garabolo would be a 49er for 2020. Right. People thought I was nuts. Yeah.

Yeah. And I'm just, my theory is, it's not that Lance is bad. It's just that he's not, necessarily a ready. Yeah. And they need to have a,

this team is too good to not have a backup plan. They couldn't roll into the next year with Brock Purdy or even Nate Sudfeld who they cut to keep Purdy slash Goropla. Yeah. They couldn't do it. Like they had to have a legitimate option

in case Lance falters. If Lance hits that ceiling, this team is absolutely a Super Bowl content. 100%. Yeah. With that defense, yeah, you said you can't waste a year. In those weapons.

You can't waste a year with this team. And at least they know Garoppolo will get them close. Yeah. And maybe if things go right, shoot, things should be right last year. They're one play. They're one played away from making the Super Bowl. They should have gone right two years ago. Yeah.

Three years ago. They were a couple plays away from winning the Super Bowl. Like, this team's right there. So to me, bringing back Garoplo doesn't hurt them at all because they're going to take the swing on Lance, see what he's got. Maybe he hits and you're just shredding everybody to pieces. Because that's what's going to happen. If he hits,

think about it this way. What level of QB play do they need from Lance for them to be a contender? I want to pick your brain on that because I have a guy I'd throw out, but I want to hear your thoughts first. What do you like? Comparative? Yeah, someone in the league.

They need this level of QB play and that will take him to the next level. pass where Jimmy took them. Like is Jalen Hurts enough? If they get Jalen Hertz from last year, is that enough to take them past where Jimmy took them? Yes. Woo!

That's huge. I don't, they're similarly talented. Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. I mean,

I went on like 19 podcasts in 2021 saying, I thought Hertz was a better prospect in 2020 than Lanz was in 2021. but tools-wise they're very similar. Yeah. Big arms. Big arms. Big legs. They're different.

I think Traylitz has more, like, they have more opportunity over the middle, middle. Jalen Hertz ever had that. Jalen Hertz had last year, which is huge. So. Okay. So you think if they get Jalen Hertz 2021 out of Tray Lance, they go to the next level. What if they get. slightly better than that.

Didn't their Super Bowl contenders? Yeah. So you think... Which they should be. So they're definitely in the next time to win that division. Yeah, absolutely. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, I don't think that.

I, if you had me agree with the division to go Seattle and Arizona, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and even then I could, like, Los Angeles or San Francisco are similarly talented that you could make a case for, like you said, a trade lands,

hits the ground. running and is what everybody wants him to be that I could see, you know, that those games with the Rams and say in the 49-year-old were a coin toss last year at the time. I think that San Francisco absolutely good win that division. And then sub-sequally, absolutely content for a Super Rule in a conference that's week. Like we said, it's a weak conference. It's a top. conference.

Right. Like four teams that you feel confident in to get to the Super Bowl. That you'd like, you know, rest your laurels on. List them. Tampa Bay, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Green Bay. Okay. It's five. Didn't you just say five teams?

Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay, Green Bay, L.A., San Francisco. That's it. Those are the four. That's it. Okay. That I would confidently upon the table floor to say. I think that they can take it.

Yeah. Interesting. All right. Let's do... Round it out. Let's do the melee. You know, what I want to do for this, I'm actually...

I think I'm going to set a timer on my phone. We're going to... We need to hit all these in five minutes or less. So this is going to be a rapid fire round. We're just going to go for it. Okay. With that said, Let's start with Old Faithful, Kansas City Chiefs.

Old Faithful because they're like the presumptive favorite, and they've been there. Patrick Allen was the best quarterback in the NFL. Okay. Andy was one of the best coaches in the NFL. Okay. They lost some talent at the receiving corps, but I think that they are kind of piece it together enough.

Yeah. I like, you know, losing Tyree kills big, but I think they're going to piece it together enough. And I think the Aeney's going to look to run the ball a little bit more. I think that, you know, I think they have a solid offensive line, and they're going to, like I said, they're going to look to run the ball a little more, take a little bit of the pressure off Patrick Holmes, and then just have Patrick Collins pick defenses apart. And their defense will be good enough. They're defensive finish, middle of the road.

They don't have any world beaters at any level of what they have. People who are good enough at every level. Yeah. And yeah, I mean, I think that the chiefs are pretty easy. Like, yeah, absolutely. I can see him winning in Super Bowl, absolutely make a greatest division because you have Patrick Halls. He's a physical record NFL.

Can't count them out. It doesn't matter. Like, yeah, can't count on any game. My take, I don't love their offseason. They didn't do enough for me to. really feel good that they're able to not only sustain, but take the next step. Which is fair. That said, I do, listen, if you're going to trade Tyree Kill and not paying the contract,

that's actually a good analytical decision probably because Tyree Kill got ridiculous money. And I like their approach. They went moneyball. They went, hey, let's bring in Valdez Scantling. He can't do everything Tyree can do, but he can do one of those things well, which is he's freaking fast and he can run down the field in a hurry. Right. We're going to, you know, keep Hardeman in the fold who is like a poor man's Tyree Kill.

We're going to bring in Juju who can do a lot of the slot stuff, the short area stuff, maybe some yak if he's healthy that Tyreek did. And then we're going to throw a second round pick at Sky Moore, who his college tape looked a lot like Tyree Kill, actually. So I like the idea of we're going to place one guy with four. It's the same thing. I love it. Except they're probably doing it at a higher level. Yeah, they're doing it better than getting better. Except I do like Christian Watson more than Skymore,

but other than that, I like Juju and Scantling, ironically Scantling coming from Green Bay, more than I like Watkins and Ozark. Yeah, yeah. So that said, I do like that. I also like this, underrated part of their offseason. What's the one thing they've really struggled with, especially when it comes playoff time? Generating pressure on the quarterback.

Chris, last year, they were so depleted on the edge that Chris Jones was actually playing edge defense. Yeah, that's right. He was probably the second best defensive player in the NFL next to Aaron. And he was playing out of a position for the first half of last year. They finally got some weapons here. Frank Clark is healthy. Mike Dana took a big step towards his end of last year and so far in the preseason. They spent a first round pick on George Koloft, this way, freaking loved.

Who looked good. Right. And they brought in a proven passenger who's a vet and might not have a ton left in the tank. But he's been good. and that's Carlos Dunlop. Yeah. He can flat out play, or he has shown he can flat out play. He has been in a rough situation in Seattle.

If they can get it a little bit out of him, they all of a sudden go from no edge defenders to start the last year to maybe four or five this year. Yeah. That's a huge win for that defense because if they can keep Chris Jones rushing from the interior and get pressure on the edge, it totally changes what their defense is capable of. Yeah.

Yeah. They brought in Justin Reed. Just three. Oh, yeah. Phenomenal. He plays Charvarius award with Tret McDuffie. Brian Cook, one of my, I loved him in this draft. They drafted him in the second round.

They still have a solid quarterback. He's a solid quarterback. They're not, they're not making anything insane or anything special or anything shut down. But again, I think that they're just looking to, like, they know that they can be the average and they know that league average will get them where they want to go. They're solid all around. There's not a guy on that defense you're like, oh, we can for sure pick on him. Right.

That's a massive hole. Yeah. They don't have that anymore. And they did. And also, they're a linebackers. Super athletic. Willie Gay,

freak athlete. Nick Bolton is a stick your face in a fan thumpback. Tackling machine. And then they drafted Leo Chanel in the third round who, I might try him at edge because he's so freaky athletic. Yeah. But he can play, you know,

he'll be a weapon for them at some point. I don't know if it'll be this year or early in the year at least, but yeah, he can really play. Yeah. All right, we did it. We had 18 seconds of spare.

All right, moving on. let's go the Radas. Yeah, let's go to Las Vegas. Let's do it. All right. So what this team is

I got to start the timer. Okay. What this team has done in light of the adversity that they had last year is kind of crazy. Yes. And then they're just adding to it. They're building on it.

New staff, but Carr really impressed me last. I've always been a car fan, but his ability to kind of keep that team above water, despite everything they're going through, is kind of remarkable. Yeah. Yeah. And he's got, I mean, it's cliche.

Everyone's been talking about all off season, but he's got weapons to just go berserk this year. They're going on there. They're going on their car. Yeah. This is, I wouldn't, not necessarily, did he just sign the contract? I think he did. Didn't he? Yeah.

Like, absolutely paid. Yeah. Yeah. And so, like, they said Derek, Derek, they're investing in you. that we are giving you every piece to succeed, except for the offensive line. Three-year extension, $121 million. They're definitely betting on their car. Which I think is fair.

You know, he's not, he's not a top five quarterback, but he's good enough that you have to make that investment. It's like it's like Kirkland where he's good. He's better than Kirk. He's better than he. He's better than I know. He said to assess that you're not. going to throw away what he is. He's like, he's like,

keeping him on because he can be good enough. He's kind of banking on, kind of banking on putting him in a position where you, like, you give him every chance to succeed and you're not, you're not banking on him making insane throws to win the game. Like, you're just putting him in a position to succeed. I, we talked about the last week.

We're worried about the offensive line. Right. Like, it's a whole new staff. What is Josh B. Daniels? You know, is he, does he try to run the ball too much? Right. Like, you know, what goes on there, but it's, they have the weapons. And they're going to, I think they can play enough of a different game to kind of, like,

mitigate the pass rush a little bit, that they can play quick game with Renfro and Adams and things like that. That can kind of mitigate, mitigate the pressure a little bit. But for sure. They for sure, Cam. The thing with Carr, that's interesting is like, we've all heard the term QB Purgatory. Yep.

To me, that's that line of like, people that are better than QB Purgatory are quarterbacks that can go out and you can win because of them. And then that, that purgatory line are guys that you can win with, but probably not because of them,

but you can win with them. Right. So like that line to me is like right around the staff. Car area. How many games are you going to win because of Derek Carr? Right. But last year I would have said probably not many, but they definitely won some games because of him last year, and he impressed me.

Right, right. But they're, him, those guys are close to that line. So they offered to pay him, despite this being the most competitive division in football, I feel like analytical Brett would have sat in that front office and said, you know what? I got to buy myself some time here because these other teams are really. really good. I'm probably going to try to trade car for some assets and just blow it up. Because they had the excuse, right, the whole new regime coming in. Yeah.

They could have done it. They could have. But I think Daniels is also sitting there saying this is my second chance and probably my final chance to do this unless I get it right. So I don't want to wait on a rebuild. I think we've got talent and we're just going to run with it. We only have a minute left. So we have to touch on the defense because that is definitely. Pass rush is insane. They blitzed at the lowest rate last year, but they still generated pressure that was up in the top seven of the league. They brought in Chandler Jones, who I think replacing Godwax.

Overall improvement. Yeah. To like player every down improvement, for sure. And Max Crudson is so good. Yeah. a great breakout. The team, the team was surprisingly good against 11 personnel. Like, they were, like, top up four, five,

and E against 11 personnel, the defense was surprisingly good. I was, when I went back and backed at it, I was pleasantly surprised with what they did. And that's the thing. Again, there are another team that, you know, with a chain, with a change and turn overlock, they could. Yeah. They can make something happen. Like they, yeah, they brought in a new corner too in Rocky Sun.

They traded for them. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. I think that's a decent move. I trade on more and coming into a second year. Can sure up that secondary a little bit.

Yep. There's a timer. That was the alarm. But yeah, defensive pass rush is good. Secondary is just the biggest question there. It's like if some of these younger guys can step up, they're going to be in good. shape. If not, it's going to be rough. All right, let's go.

Denver Broncos with Mr. Unlimited. Russell Wilson. Let's ride. The timer has started. This is, I don't even know what to do with this. I, like, who is Russell Wilson this year? He did not look like the normal Russell Wilson last year. he played hurt.

He did play her, but he didn't look as good last year. He has weapons that he has weapons around them. I don't think it's anything like crazy better than what he had in Seattle. At receiver. No. I mean, good weapons, but he hasn't had that weapon in Seattle. They have better depth, but their top end is about. Well, and their depths really got hurt.

Tim Patrick's out for the year. Right, right. That's true. Yeah, that would have changed quite a bit. Elberd is a good athlete. Yeah, good athlete. Yeah, good athlete. I think he only ran 185.

A lot of people are playing the upside on him. Cortland Sutton seems to be from all reports that he's the guy. Jerry Tudee needs to take a step forward. He does just for my personal brand. Yeah. I'm taking massive Ls right now. They have two good running back. I would say three good running backs, two exceptional running backs.

I think Boone can play. Their third running back. I think he's a good player. No, they don't need to go that deep. No, they don't need to. But Javante's got potential to be awesome. Yeah. Melvin, obviously, very pretty good.

Yeah, it's Russell Wilson, they bet on him. They bet on him, and they need him to be what he was. prior to last year. And that's what they're banking on. Their offensive line is serviceable. I think their offensive line is pretty decent. Yeah. And Garrett Bulls was really leveled out of his career.

He was a little up and down earlier, especially with the penalties. He's really leveled out and turned into a good player. Dalton, Risenner, I think, you know, they moved him from tackle to the left guard. That's a good spot for him. Cushenberry's fine. Quinn Minores, Minors, everybody say his name. He was the D2 darling of the draft cycle last year.

It came in, kind of like the new Allie Marpet. Don't think he played as well as he could have. But he's still young. He's still young. They're looking for a step from him. And then Billy Turner is a proven player. Again, not a guy who's going to get you killed, probably,

but also not a world beater. Yeah. So I think their O-line, honestly, it could be one of the better O-line. runs Russ has ever played with. Yeah, yeah. Because he's had garbage for the most part in Seattle. Oh, and all, if Russ is who we think Russ is, that often should be good, very, very good.

It's the defense, I think, where, you know, we got to spend some time talking because. Yeah, they've worked with the Rogers for a while. Yeah, I think they have, they have tank on the offense. It's just does Jerry Judy take that step forward? and is Russell Wilson still the guy that we think he is. But yeah, the defense. What are your thoughts on their defense? I mean, their secondary has potential to be great.

I love their second. Pat Sertan's awesome. Kylin Williams is a perfectly fine nickel. Then they play, I love signing Cheap proven vets to play corner. Ronald Darby seems like a guy who gets picked up every year. Chiefs have been doing this for years. Yeah. We just wait.

First, you know, wave of frequency ends, and they'll just grab a guy that can start 17 games for him for, like, $5 million. Yeah. They're that guy. They're not asking him to match up with a number one receiver on every single snap. They might even play sides. I'm not sure.

Darby is perfectly fine in that role. And Justin Simmons and Kreme Jackson is a great. Yeah, Justin Simmons is continually one of the most underrated players in the NFL. Yep. He can do it all. And he leads that defense. Is Chubb and Gregory enough pass rush to make noise? Oh, they also got Nick Bonito.

They drafted in the second round. I like Chubb. I like Gregory. I think that, and they moved Baron Browning into more of a rushing situation, which I think that they started to do that toward the end of the year last year, and they liked what he offered. but it's the, yeah. Can they generate pressure?

Can they stop the run? I think that those are the two bigger questions. Yep. All right, five minutes is up. Last but not least. And this is everyone's favorite team on paper, right? Yes. For this division?

Yes. I mean, I mean, people like Chase because of Mahomes. Yeah. This team. This is a team everyone's like the most excited for. Yeah. It's not just the players, the staff. Like everyone loves Brandon Stadley. He seems to say all the right things, especially if you're like analytically minded.

Yep. He seemed to say all the right things. Yeah. He's a McVeigh guy. He wants to be very aggressive on third and fourth down, you know, phenomenal defensive play caller. So it kind of starts with him. I think people are just generally excited about him.

Yeah. Yeah. They were very excited about him last year. And yeah, so with the offense, I do think, you know, they're set up to be awesome. Herbert's an ascending talent who's just phenomenal. They're loaded that receiver with, you know, as they like to tout, they have $220 million receivers on their team and Mike Williams and Keenan Allen. Josh Palmer, you know, can mix it well with those guys. What I love about those three dudes is they're all interchangeable in a lot of ways.

Yeah. They all play different positions. Yeah, you can't lock in to one guy being somewhere the whole time. Right. They literally can all come down and play in the slot. We saw them use Mike Williams, like Lombardi used Michael Thomas in New Orleans at times last year. Yeah. So it's, you know, it's going to be hard to plan for.

They brought in Gerald Everett, who I think is a guy that fits well into that offense. Athleticism for sure. They have all sneckler who is a great pass. catching back out of the backfield. They brought in Zion Johnson as their first round pick to, you know, short up that offensive line, Slater. Slater's good. Slater, like, came in and played really, really well.

Yeah, he's awesome. And the biggest win of the all season for them is Storm Norton is no longer a starter. Right. Right. I'm actually surprised he made the 53, but. Yeah, we watched. a little bit of him.

We watched a little bit of them playing against the Chiefs, and Storm Norton was just consistent. He's rough. Oh, you should, you really want to watch Storm Norton. Go watch what Max Crosby did do. Oh, man. I think he had 18 wins. I can see it in my head right now.

Crosby has the record for us for most pasturous wins in a game, and it was against Stormont. That's awesome. And then just obviously, Justin Herbert. everybody he showed that he's a top three to five quarterback in the NFL last year they just need to be better on first or second down because I think we touched on it we touched on it last week that the third down success while awesome and fun to watch is not sustainable they need those points are worth reiterating too they need to

stop running the ball. Like, they, um, they did that. I don't know why they ran the ball. Early down runs. And then, that was what Cincinnati did, too. Like, they kind of had this, like, similar vibes. It's similar in lives where great pass catchers, great quarterbacks that can make plays. And then they would pound the ball in a second down and then they'd just be like,

I don't know, go make a play. and a lot of times both cord racks would that's Joel and Barty it is it is I mean he did that he did that when he was with the Lions in 2011

was when he was there right or was he was more recent than that it was or was it 17 was it more towards 17 I can remember which end of the last playoff appearances he was on but he did the same thing there where it was like it was nausea

Like sometimes Do you do? All right, here comes a two-yard run. Here comes a two-yard run. Here comes Matthew Stafford or Justin Everett. Go make a play for us. But their own defense is where everybody, I think. Should be best in the league.

On paper. Yeah. Yeah. On paper they are stacked. How do you beat, like, how do you beat this defense? Their biggest, like last year, their biggest efficiencies were interior defensive line. They brought Sebastian Joseph Day from the Rams. So Staley has continuity there.

They've got Kenneth Murray Jr. coming into his, this is third year? But they brought him Troy Reeder. I don't think Kenneth Murray is going to start. Really? I think they're trying to get Kenneth Murray off. trying to get Kenneth Murray off the field as much as possible. I think they know what he is. He can't tackle.

He's just a liability. It was half the reason why they weren't, again, it was because they had a bad interior defensive line with too bad tackle line back. Yeah. That's going to kind of ruin you. Yeah. I mean, in guys like people that can trust, Staley, you know, coached Reader for, what, what, three years in L.A.?

Yeah. He started for them for a couple years. They brought in Kyle Van Nuoy. He's better than Kenneth Murray. Yeah, they're going to play him on the edge, though, right? Why would they? I don't know. I mean, legitimately, like, he's...

Why would you play Van Nuoy at all? Again, because... Him and Murray are actually sort of similar in the way they play the game. Yeah, just... Murray's just more athletic, and Van Nuys probably... Van Nuys probably... Van Nuys sports. I think that's why they went and got him is because he is smart.

He's a guy that you can throw a green dot on. We hit five minutes, but we still got a little, we can talk a little bit more. So there are two big acquisitions where Khalil Mack and J.C. Jackson and Bosa is terrifying together. Yes. But J.C. Jackson and Asante Samuel Jr. is equally terrifying. With Adderby and Derwin James behind that. Yes. They're loaded.

Absolutely loaded in the secondary, loaded at edge rusher. I mean, it's scary what this defense can be. I mean, it can be the number of the offense and someone defense. It's legitimately a possibility. It's not often that you can do that. That, like, has that upside. Again, I think there's a ton of, and it's mostly just help, question marks. Joey Bosa has not been fully healthy for a year and a long time.

Cleo Mac has not been healthy for a full year a long time. Irwin James has his injury issues. And there's still, like, you know, Sebastian yesterday is better, you know, they still do have Jerry Tillery was kind of a liability last year. The linebackers are a question mark. But talent-wise what they can do, you know, you can bring Durwin James into the box and have them to help out on that one's and things like that.

But on paper, talent-wise, like we said, the upside for them is far as beating the best team in the NFL. Better roster. Bills or chargers? Top the bottom. I think I know bills, barely. Bills barely because I think that their weaknesses are not as, glaring.

And that's, again, the interior of the defense. I think that the bills, the bills are a little bit more well-rounded there than the charges are. I dig it. Oh, dude, that was a marathon. We just spent two and a half hours talking about. Oh, my God, two hours. Holy cow, we got to do this in two. No.

No? No. I don't know. Maybe we will. Let's, we really don't have time for anything else. No, we don't. But I do want to, we got some questions. So I don't want to leave the fans out to dry.

So there's one I want to hit that really quick. Really, really quick. Yeah, do it. Someone wrote and said, and this is a phenomenal question. That's why I want to talk about. Yeah. Best and worst.

Actually, can there's two. I want to talk about two. Sorry. Best and worst impact by a player with a new team. Best and worst impact? Yeah. I didn't think of a worst, but I thought of the best right off the bat. Oh. Baker-Mayfield.

Love it. Love it. We didn't even talk about Carolina. We didn't. We didn't because they're not. They're not. They're not. They're young.

Yeah. But, man, I think, so the next, and it pairs with the next question, the other question on again, too, below 500 teams from a year ago that you expect to make the playoffs or go, go positive above 500. So if Baker is what we think Baker can be, I don't see a reason the Panthers can't go 9 and 8 and contend for a wild card. Yeah, yeah, NFC is weak.

That's what I'm going to be scheduled. They've got a lot of, like, really winnable games. Baker-Macon. Baker made feelings hurt all last year. Everyone doesn't, because of how, you know, below-up this, that whole team was at the end. Yeah. He was hurt all last year.

He brought that team that was an individual. iteration last than what they were last year this year. And arguably, they were one missed, one potential missed call at the two yard line

away from beating the Kansas City Chiefs. Like, he was obviously bolstered by a good run game, which he has Christian McCaffrey, and he was bolstered by a good defense. and but if Baker Beakerfield just plays with it themselves and doesn't try to be what he tries to be sometimes

which is this overly athletic guy with a cannon arm who lets the play breakdown if he realizes that he just isn't that guy that's not carrying over from college it's over I appreciate the effort but that's not who you are But if Matt Rill can get out of his own way,

yeah, that team could be fun. They can be a fun team because they have weapons and offense. Yeah. All I knew was this, is if Carolina goes out and they beat the Browns week one, I want Baker to grab a Carolina Panthers flag and go playing it in the middle of the field. Yeah, that's going to be a fun game to watch. It's a revenge game that you don't get often.

in the NFL. Yeah. All right, man. We probably got to bounce. This has been fun, though. Yeah, it was fun. We'll have to... There's a lot of work that needs to go into figuring this out.

Two and a half hours is a long time. Yeah, well, they won't ever be this long again, probably. No, this is, I mean, this is it. From here on. Unfortunately, like I said before we started recording, we started the pod a week too late. Right. We should have done preview last week and then week one preview this week. Right. We didn't get there.

Yeah. But next week, we'll start. talk week one recap in week two preview maybe we can maybe we can convince them into an emergency episode this week yeah yeah maybe we'll do that maybe we'll get you an emergency episode breaking down week one just because i think yeah yeah there's a lot to talk about well we should check out all the other content at fancy points too because we've definitely covered week one well content is going to become it's going to be fast and yeah and a lot it's going to be a lot and it's all good that's the It's all good content.

This isn't just like SEO throw away and like just try to. Oh, yeah, there's no like. Just trying to hit a number type content. This is kind of well thought out content by people who know what they're talking about. I'd even say that like we don't even care about SEO more as much as we should, you know. Right. Right. Right.

We don't have like you have to hit an SEO metric article once a week or whatever. Like it's just like put the people who are good at what they do and let them write about what they're good at. Yeah. On that, Yep. Week one. We're here. We made it.

We made it. Meaning football is like 36 hours away. We shouldn't even promise them to the pot next week because we're going to, you and I are going to be so tired after the melee of the weekend that like maybe I abeyan ship. I'm just kidding. I was like, no way. That'd be such a tease to go for this long for two episodes and then just bury it. Yeah.

All right, guys. We are out. I'm Brad Whitefield. It was a pleasure having you here. Thank you for listening. This is my co-host, Stephen O'Rourke. Farewell. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Fantasy Points Podcast.

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