Fantasy Football Daily - NFL First Read | Preseason Week 1 QB Review + Standout Performances

Episode Date: August 15, 2024

Welcome to First Read, your go-to podcast for the latest in NFL analysis and insights. Join hosts Brett Whitefield and Joe Marino as they review the Week 1 QB review in from preseason action. Whether you're a fantasy football enthusiast, a die-hard fan, or just looking to stay informed on all things NFL, "First Read" has you covered. Tune in for expert opinions, detailed breakdowns, and engaging discussions every week. Don't miss out on the ultimate NFL podcast experience! Where to find us: http://twitter.com/BGWhitefield http://twitter.com/TheJoeMarino FantasyPoints Website - https://www.fantasypoints.com NEW! Data Suite - https://data.fantasypoints.com Twitter - https://twitter.com/FantasyPts Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/FantasyPts Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/FantasyPts TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@fantasypts #fantasypoints #nfl #fantasyfootball #dynastyfantasyfootball #FantasyFootballAdvice #dynastypoints #dynasty Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First Read. We are your first read, the film and analytics podcast featuring Joe Marino of Lockdown and myself, Brett Whitefield, the CEO of Fantasy Points. This podcast is powered by the Fantasy Points Data Suite. Let's get after it. Joe, how are you, sir? Brett Whitefield, boy, oh, boy, is it good to be able to talk about football that we haven't watched before? You know what I mean? But recently. Right, right. That's new. That hasn't happened, you know, last year. So it's, it's fun to kind of start getting into these conversations the way that we envisioned them when we came up with the idea for the show. So a lot of great conversation coming today on rookie quarterback performances, rookie performances in preseason, some young quarterbacks that stood out for, well, good and bad reasons. So we're talking real football today. And I'm very excited for it. Heck yeah, before we do that, Joe, how are you? Anything new in your life? What's going on? I think the most interesting thing that happened to me recently was my wife and I went to the movies.

and this is this is a rare occurrence brought whitefield she and i have only been to the movies twice this is the second time in eight years together that we've went to the movies we're not big movie people but we wanted to see the uh the movie twisters and part of that was because of the soundtrack we both like country music and there's a lot of artists that we liked and so we started listening to the soundtrack and started to hear about the hype for the movie and so we wanted to go see it and we enjoyed the movie and and all that but there's a couple of couple of things that I didn't realize about movie theater experiences given, I mean, this is honestly the first time I've been in a long time. First of all, they say the show time is for, we went at

410 on Sunday. There's 25 minutes of previews. Yes, sir. 25 minutes per Whitefield. And that's fine. I just wish I didn't like panic to be there at 410 and be seated. I had no idea. in most theaters now have a signed seating too, right? Well, that's the other part, right? Yeah, I didn't realize this. So we pull in, my wife and I are walking into the theater. I'm like, it looks like a couple of seats right there we could take. She's like, we have a sign seats.

I'm like, what are you talking about? Assigned. Yeah, and now these seats recline. And this is like a standard feature of going to the movies. So it's good to be now versed on what to expect in case we go again in the next five years. does the theater you go to so a lot of them now too with like the whole recline experience it's more of like a premium experience do they have ordering food from your seat too because that's something i got at my theater if that's available to us we didn't use it okay we got uh the popcorn and can or popcorn and candy and in soda beforehand which further like i was sitting there nervous like we got in line right at about 410 we cutting pretty close you know what i mean yeah yeah and we get in there and i'm like i think the previews are still going We get in there like 420. And then they continued for another 20 minutes.

It was like, okay. Yeah, that's the way it is. So, yeah, my theater, my local theater, reclining experience is great. They do have the normal concession line. So if you're weird and don't want to use modern technology, you can go stand in that line. Or you can just go sit down and then just scan the QR code on your seat. They just bring it to you. They just bring it to you.

And it's not, it's like, it's a free service. So you literally can roll in 25 minutes after your show time, order food while the movie. starting and then 20 minutes later they're bringing you your drinks your popcorn your candy your corn dog whatever you ordered your nachos chicken tenders it doesn't matter they do alcoholic beverages too at my theater wow that's unbelievable i bought myself a little old fashion did you what's uh what's your normal sit down at a movie what do you want what's your go-to stuff what do you like to have well so here's full disclosure you mentioned the second time for for you and your wife in eight years I don't think I've been to the movies with my, just my wife, like on a date since before we were married, which was 10 years.

You got too many kids for that. You know what I mean? Right. So when I go to the movies, it's usually with four kids. So, and we're trying to be budget conscious. So I'll do giant popcorn and then two drinks. And then I get extra cups and we all split the drinks up. Oh, you got so you got the, you're a dad mode, full dad mode.

And then we get, they'll give me little paper bags as well. So I can, or sometimes bowls. so I can separate the popcorn out. That's really all we're doing. Popcorn and popcorn and some drinks, some water. We're going to take, my oldest is four. We're going to take her to the movies for the first time when Moana 2 comes out, I think is around Thanksgiving time.

So that'll be our first experience there. But I'll get to get the notes about the extra cups and all that. I appreciate it. Heck, yeah. All right, Joe, let's talk some quarterbacks. I think, you know, we should probably go in draft order, the 101. Mr. Caleb Williams had a. his first preseason start.

I thought he looked pretty good, but what do you think here? How did you feel like Caleb Williams played? Yeah, I enjoyed Caleb Williams for a number of reasons. I think a lot of what made him appealing as a player, as a prospect, with some of the creativity as a playmaker, some of the armed talent. It all showed up, and I think that's what you're looking for. And I think it's important for us to acknowledge. We're going to talk about a bunch of rookie players,

and none of this defines their career. It's the first exposure. but, you know, I think you're, everyone's curious how guys performed and, you know, that's what we're going to talk about today. But Caleb Williams, I think my favorite play that he made was the third and 12 completion to DJ Moore. And I thought this was a good example of him staying in the pocket. He took an extra hitch, kept his eyes down the field, and eventually DJ Moore was able to uncover as the bills didn't have any effective pass rush on that rep. and for him to be able to hang in there, keep his eyes down the field and hit that throw was probably my favorite moment. Now, he certainly had other great plays, including the sale route to Colomet was a heck of a play.

There was a play action rollout where they had three level reads and he's holding it and he gets the third one and it's a great decision. Like there was a lot of good things, but I think him being able to show that ability to both win from the pocket and be patient, but then also extend plays. I thought he thread the needle pretty well in the limited sample size in week one for him. Yeah, I agree with most of what you said there. I think the thing that stood out to me, you definitely were getting there. I'm going to put it really clearly for the audience, at least listen to me during draft coverage. My biggest concern with Caleb coming out was his ability to play with instructor and play on schedule and go through plays and progressions the way they're designed, the way he's being coached to. He did not really do that at USC.

You mentioned the third and 12 play. This is a perfect example of him doing that now. So he showed off the arm talent, the ability to create, but he also did something we didn't see him doing college. And this progression, I even pulled the play up right now, just because I was curious, you know, wanted to remind myself of this greatness. But he hits the back foot.

He says no to one. One's not there. It's late. Two's covered. So he moves from one to two, gets to three, DJ Moore, and he rips it. I mean, this is kind of tight in zone coverage a little bit.

It's in rhythm, takes that hitch, rips it. First down, chain mover. I mean, we didn't see plays like that from him at USC. Every big play from him was of that creative variety. So I can't overstate how impressive this was for me four weeks into an NFL program. He's already shown progress. I felt like Chicago did it.

Shane Waldron specifically did a good job giving him. I don't want to say it was a basic package to work with, but it definitely probably wasn't the full playbook, right? They were intentionally giving him some progressive, some progressive type reads where he had to go one to two to three some of those rollouts you know kind of making it simple on them they gave him a couple layups right like i think he had a screen in there 41 yard screened to swift yeah for like throw it like across it was kind of showing that unique arm angle and the the the commit throw was obviously impressive um that's we know we can do that though that that that didn't shock me at all i was like cool yeah but yeah the the creative stuff translating to the NFL field was

all was good to see he did have the one throw joe where it was like it was right before the commit throw actually where he he throws it late and it basically almost gets picked off he gets bailed out on the um it was a legal contact penalty right kind of tick attack penalty but that probably wasn't a good decision but my favorite part about that and the reason i bring it up is not to say not to temper expectation or anything but i actually thought it was positive because he makes that play which wasn't great for him you could see waldron kind of like okay come on bro very next play he rips that dime to commit on the sale route on the sideline there on the rollout shows that short-term memory something i felt like was an issue for usc was comp at him at usc was compounding mistakes

and he didn't you know got over it right away next play ripped ripped a beautiful ball so very positive performance for me and like you said it's one game it's two drives really i think he played two or three drives three possessions so not a not a ton there but ultimately i felt really good about what I saw from Caleb Williams. And you wonder if that throw that was questionable, he made the decision because maybe he knew the flag was in his favor and it was a ripe opportunity to take a risk. The only thing that didn't come up yet in this conversation that I thought was noteworthy was the third and nine scramble and he was able to pick up a chunk gain.

And I thought it was a good job of, okay, we get man coverage and then the rush gets way too up, far up the field, especially the interior rush. he knows that they're on the same level as him. Man coverage, and he do just takes off. I think the pills had a delayed blitzer as well, like a great opportunity to, okay, we're going here. And threading that needle is going to be important. And I thought Caleb Williams showed some good maturity in his NFL preseason debut.

Not to beat a dead horse, but my favorite part about the step up or the third and nine run was it was a step up. He didn't break, like he didn't put his tackles at risk. Yeah. Move forward. Like, oh, cool. Red C's parting. I can do this. And he even kind of looked up like maybe I can reset my feet and throw.

Nope, I'm going. But like for that split second, he was like he was observing what was going on around him. Really felt like that showed good process, better process than we have seen for him for sure. Well, and on the darnel right holding penalty, that was an example of him drifting and going to his right. And it was probably appropriate to step up forward there. And so I think good, good in game growth as well there. For sure. We got a bunch more quarterbacks to get to, which we're going to do here in just a moment.

Be sure to stick with us. All right, Brett Whitefield. The number two pick in the draft was Jaden Daniels. Two for three. He threw it, bombed down the field and let his own read touchdown run. But we didn't get that much of an opportunity to see him. Any comments here on Jane Daniels? Yeah, unfortunately, we didn't get a lot.

I think the one thing he can kind of hang your head on, even though it was a very, very small sample sizes. The things he was good at in college showed up. here the bomb outside the numbers down the field i forget who caught it was it dammy brown yeah finally they're using them that way too they draft them to be a deep ball guy never never catches deep balls but you know um it was contested too like the ball location was great because it wasn't good separation so he put it i mean we're only really diamy could get it outside of a freakish play um but just you just see the confidence back foot hits rips it really nice throw and then the zone run obviously it's great like you you love

to see them finish it off there with the rushing touchdown from Jaden. So in like a very small sample, we got to see the things he was good at in college. That's really all I got. There wasn't, there wasn't enough work for him to have like a bad play in there, you know. Yeah, well, he air meld the checkdown throw, I think was first throw, right over his head. So, I mean, but. A little jittery, maybe.

You forget about that real quick when he puts perfect air under the ball for Diami Brown to go make a play on it and then, you know, has a touchdown wrong, which is great. I mean, he was on touch, but hey, zone read, the defensive end crashes down, keep the ball, score, touchdown. Good execution, right? You love to see it. Number three picking the draft was Drake May. And there's not a whole lot to glean from him.

He only played, I think it was six or seven snaps, which is the fewest amount of snaps of any first-round quarterback in their pre-season debut since 2021 or something like that. And Coach Mayo came out and said afterwards that, you know, they didn't feel comfortable with the offensive lines. Basically what he said. He's like, we don't want to put him behind, put him in harm's way, and he'll get more reps,

going forward, which didn't give us a lot to look at from Drake May, but the, the Joe Milton hype certainly is a consequence of this. And, you know, Joe Milton winds up having a few dynamic plays. It's a big throw down the field to a wide open guy. And now all of a sudden, the whole world's kind of leaning into that. And I know that Drake Mays had some, at least some reported struggles and practices with interceptions and sacks. So I, I'm anxious to see Drake May in this next exposure, kind of given some of the narrative, coming out and the opportunity that he didn't get in his first, you know, his first preseason game.

Yeah, for sure. You would love to see the coaching staff decide to give him an opportunity to go win the locker room, you know? Right. We can't have our six-round picks stealing the thunder. And NFL players are not as fickle as Twitter personalities, obviously. But you still wonder when a guy like Joe Milton goes and does what he does, like teams going to rally around that, right?

So we got to get Drake out there, hopefully winning some hearts and minds over. So one thing, I'll say one, one positive. So two of his three throws were of like the checkdown screen variety, right? Real short area. But he did have the hitch he ripped over the middle of the field. And it wasn't a great throw. It was a little high. But there's a big but he threw that. He read the progression correctly and threw that with anticipation. And the amount of anticipatory throws on Drake May's college tape was probably less than both of my hands over three years of starting. So the fact that game one, he's feeling that confident where he's going to hit that back foot and rip it

I mean, the receiver wasn't even out of his break yet. And the throw looks bad because of that, but sometimes that's the nature of playing with anticipation, right? If you're not synced up completely on your timing and your route depth, that's going to happen. So I thought that was a good sign, actually. The one throw, the miss throw, he threw it with anticipation. And that's kind of, if you're going to attack the middle of the field,

that's what you got to do. Coverage gets tight. So three throws, two or three, 19 yards. You have the screen, the Patriots, been running that flow screen. I know it's a different coordinator, but they, for some reason, that's always there for them. The check down and then the incomplete play action throw that I think you're referring to there was the other one. Okay, so something that you forget, but really happen is that Michael Pennix, Jr. was the next quarterback drafted for the Atlanta Falcons, 9 of 16, 104 yards. What are some of your high level thoughts when watching Pennix against the dolphins?

This was a mixed bag for me. felt like there were moments where you see why he was drafted as high as he was. Like when he's playing in rhythm and just relying on his talent, like it felt good. He had a really nice go ball throw, had a couple nice anticipatory throws. But you can see the developmental runway he's going to need coming from the offense he came from, that super spread, shotgun heavy. When they put pennies under center, especially working against the grain, where it's play action to the right.

He's a left-handed quarterback. It was rough. The footwork was rough. Really, really interesting stuff. And you could see it really affected his base. The ball was not coming out as accurate as you're used to seeing him throw it. I mean, even some completions where, yeah, the ball got completed, but the ball location was poor. Like, that was a thing all over the undercenter dropbacks.

And so, and I know, obviously, they're running a Sean McVeigh style offense. They're going to be under center a lot, right? it's not going to be a super gun heavy offense. So that was my only concern. Again, there were some high level stuff, some really high level throws. I mentioned that go ball. That was beautiful. I could really see the arm talent.

But man, when he's working against the grain with the footwork, they got to clean it up. They also have him in the staggered stance, Joe. I hate when people do this. They tried it with Eli Manning in New York way back. Do you remember this? This really weird staggered stance, it totally disrupts the timing. And I think they're doing it because he's a lefty, but he's so athletic. It doesn't seem like you would need to.

Just teach him the actual. full work and he'll be fine that was my number one note um because they ran a ton of play action with with pennix and it was the first and 10 sort of sort of deep in their own territory sideline throw to washington and i thought everything about the tempo there was slow slow especially when it was like like i i even talked myself into like selling the fake like they wanted to really show the run but when he was time to like snap and turn boy it took forever and then he's got a bit of a oh oh like elongated motion and i thought all of that was just it culminated on that rep and then the ball gets there late and the guy's open but because everything is late the

throw takes him to the sideline and he can't catch the ball in bounds 100 and so yeah I want to see that cleaned up for sure. Really coachable stuff, right? Like easy tape to look at and say, hey, this was the result. Here's why fix that, right? I think that's super fixable. You mentioned, I think that it was at the deep bomb to Chris Blair, was able to get right past Ethan Bonner,

which I thought was a good adjustment from the first time that he saw that look. He missed it. Yeah, he got up under the throw a little bit more, put a little bit more air on it and was able to hit that in stride. it was a really good adjustment in terms of that deep throw. I thought it was a good read. I mean, middle field closed, one high safety. He saw the quick win.

I mean, it was obvious the release that he was going to be able to have that vertical separation, gets a right weight on the ball and has a good completion of the guy in stride. So those were definitely things that stood out to me. But also I think in watching all of these performances, the most highest volume or highest, even highest percentage of missed throws, just inaccurate balls or from Michael Penix, which was my biggest concern with him coming out. I mean, you could talk about age, injuries, whatever.

It's the misses and then utilization of the middle of the field. And so I don't necessarily have those questions answered, but I think he did make some plays, which leaves you encouraged. To back up what you just said about the accuracy. So I do unofficial charting in the preseason when I'm watching quarterbacks especially. It doesn't go up on the website or anything,

so I'm sorry you can't view it yourself. but I did chart 10 different, no, 11 different quarterbacks this weekend. And of the 11 I charted, I had Michael Pennix as the least accurate quarterback throw for throw. And a lot of, I really do think it was footwork related, stuff he wasn't used to doing in college. It's funny because obviously they need to see that he can do that, right? They got to get him, because it's going to be an under center offense.

On the same time, though, whenever he did make a throw, I did notice they'd come right back with a gun look where like they ran shock a couple times which is that slot fade paired with like an outside fade on the other side. So they tried to get him some some looks he was comfortable with just to build that confidence back and you know, it worked. Like he usually would bounce back from a bad rep to a good rep and then the more they mixed in the under center stuff is when he had the bad reps. But ultimately I, you know, some good and bad to take away there.

All right, Brett Whitefield. The two quarterbacks that played the most in the pre-year-old. season. Bo Nix, J.J. McCarthy. Got plenty to break down regarding those two here on the other side of it. Be sure to stick with us. At Capital One, we're more than just a credit card company. We're people just like you who believe in the power of yes. Yes to new opportunities. Yes to second chances. Yes to a fresh start. That's why we've helped over four million Canadians get access to a credit card because at Capital One, we say yes. So you don't have to. have to hear another no. What will you do with your yes? Get the yes you've been waiting for at

Capital One.ca.ca slash yes. Terms and conditions apply. Snap up ancestry DNA's lowest price ever in our incredible cyber sale with 50% off ancestry DNA kits. It's the perfect time to help a loved one unwrap the past. And with their latest update, they'll discover their family origins like never before with even more precise regions and new and exclusive features. Their best gift, lowest price 50% off ancestry DNA only until December 2nd visit ancestry.ca for more details terms apply all right j j. j mccarthy is up next and obviously there's a wet blanket over this entire conversation i know we probably both have a lot to say about j j mccarthy but meniscus injury and the severity is unknown right that depending on the type of surgery that's necessary it could be

Was it like as few as three months, is potentially a season ending type situation. So obviously not what you want to hear for J.J. McCarthy. Dude, what's up with the Vikings in this crap happening, man? Teddy Bridgewater, Sam Darnold, or not Sam Darnold. Sam Bradford. Yeah, Sam Bradford.

Like, their guys go down in catastrophic ways before the season and unlike any other team in the history of the league. Yeah, I don't, I don't know. I'll say this about JJ. I'm not a doctor, but I do have a little bit, experience with meniscus tears because I'm a jihitsu competitor and that's a very common injury in jihitsu from what it sounds like he i still think the plan will be the same i don't think they're going to miss anything here i think jj probably starts coming out of the biweek week week seven now it

definitely nerves expectations that maybe he takes the job from darnald sooner but i maybe you thought like that was a possibility if he could play through the preseason right exactly exactly so that that is the one bummer it's like yeah he's probably not a week three guy now it's probably for sure a week seven That's best case scenario, obviously. There's a worst case scenario where maybe he's out longer. But even the tone of JJ's tweet or whatever, like I'll be back really soon. Don't worry. implied that maybe it's not so bad.

So hopefully we're good there and we're still getting a lot of JJ McCarthy this season. But despite that, there's a lot to take away from the tape from this weekend. Go ahead. Okay. Well, you guys know how I feel about JJ, right? That's why I want to hear it. I felt like it was ready to come out of you. Like say it, Brett Whitefield.

Yeah. So I felt like he his quarterback performance this weekend was the best of all the quarterbacks. And I'm not talking to just rookies. I mean, in general, I felt like he played the best. Obviously, Jordan Love had three throws and they were great. So whatever. But J.J. McCarthy, for the volume he got, he looked awesome.

The thing that really stuck out to me was processing at a high level, running that offense exactly the way it's supposed to be run. Accuracy, big time throws. Obviously, he had the bomb that everyone was talking about. I think he made the throw of the week and no one's talking about it. Is it the corner route? Yeah, it was the sale slash corner.

It was like a bench concept, mirrored bench concept. Tristan Jackson. Tristan Jackson, they're showing this staggered too high look so they could have rolled into a single high but they end up sticking with like a cover two look. The reason that throw blew my mind and I can't believe I haven't heard anyone talk about this is the way JJ deceived the linebacker in safety there.

the deception to hold them in their place to make sure that sale came open free now the sale was probably going to come open anyways because just the way the the the way the corner ended up playing it there was there was room jd doesn't know that's going to happen though and so go i'm serious guys go watch this throw um it was 407 in the second quarter watch j j jay's base watch the throwing mechanics to deceive the linebacker and the safety the hook curl linebacker and that deep safety to freeze them so they can't make a play. The linebacker couldn't get under this throw. The safety was late coming down.

But what he does is he steps into the throw right down the hash, like he's throwing a post right at the safety, which inevitably freezes the safety. And then basically his hips are wide open, and he throws an absolute missile to the sideline. And I saw some people even call the throw late. And I'm like, the throw was like maybe a touch late, but that's because of the way, you know, the ball comes out.

The throw was unbelievable, freaky type stuff where if Caleb Williams or Patrick Mahomes makes that throw, that's all anybody's talking about. Oh, it's already starting. Here it is. It's starting. I'm already starting this. It's, it's,

yeah, it's just, you said Caleb Williams. Oh, for sure. Because you know how this goes, man. Like, for the rest of time, these six quarterbacks are going to be discussed against themselves. Especially when it comes to me, because I had JJ ahead of Caleb, you know,

my prospect rankings. So for sure, for sure. So, yeah, but this throw was the throw of the week to me. I thought it was the best throw of the week. The way he used body mechanics to absolutely deceive a linebacker and a safety, just phenomenal stuff. So really impressed. He did have the interception.

We got to talk about it, right? Can so obviously bad result. There's things that I liked about that interception. His pocket movement on that play was really strong. His pocket movement's always good. It was great all day. Yeah. Really like, and this is the thing I love about, about JJ.

He knows how to reset his offensive line. He can step up. He can slide, reset those guys, micro movements. And then when he's really under pressure, he has the athleticism to get out of there. Obviously, you saw the spin move and run, which was great to evade pressure there. But the interception itself, the throw was a little late. However, so I think in a vacuum, JJ would want that ball back, right? Like, yeah, I probably shouldn't have thrown that.

However, the receiver drifted way off course. Like you're in scramble drill, bro. You got to be running towards your quarterback, not away. Yeah, yeah. I agree. He allowed the DB to undercut it. Sorry, go ahead. No. And so the pocket movement was great there, but also I like that it happened early in his game. And I mean, could he have bounced back any better? Big time throws down the field. They didn't, didn't affect him at all. You know, young quarterback that's, you know, I think there's enough questions about him and, you know, how responsible he was for everything at Michigan.

You're stepping in. And I thought, I thought J.J. McCarthy very clearly was the best. vertical thrower of any of these guys. I mean, multiple throws down the field with good placement. And we didn't get into the Tristan Jackson bomb for a touchdown that was like perfectly in stride. He had three other throws on corner routes that you're like, I mean, he's hitting this over and over again. Yep.

So I had him as my QB2. I wasn't, I wasn't ready to put him over Caleb, but they were pretty close for me. And I feel very encouraged with how he looked. And like you said, I think there is a long. play here. I use extremely young. And I do think that for whatever reason, they want to see what Sam Donald can be and he'll have that opportunity. But I'm excited for him.

I thought everything that you liked about the traits, physical skill, but also coming out of that pro-style offense and how it translated right away, comfortable. Comfortable is the right word, but also being dynamic, right? Not just doing boring stuff. He made dynamic plays and did advanced level stuff that's what i was going to say the the fun part about the j jv versus kaleb discussion is they couldn't be on opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of what they're good at or like what their calling card is i should say j j j pro style offense going to do it exactly the way

it's drawn up on the whiteboard every time calab's all creative the thing i love though is in their first action Caleb did the instructor stuff and then j j j j had the creative going like pocket evasion even move the chains a couple times of those legs, the off platform throw. So like they're dip into into each other's worlds here. It just kind of shows they're both good quarterbacks. How about that? Let's just let's just call it what it is. So how fun is the NFC North going to be with quarterback play? Dude. I mean, and I one thing that I've learned this off season in, and I mean, I've been covering the entire NFL for a long time. I don't think I've ever appreciated it. And maybe it's because it's the most competitive it's ever been. You want to talk about passive

aggressive people. It's a FC North, NFC North fans, bro. These, this is, this is cutthrow. I used to think that it was NFC East was like the division of just like tension. It's because Eagles fans are there. Yeah. But boy, oh boy, now that like the bears have a pulse, the lions are good. The Packers have you know, whatever I'll be careful with my words there, but they definitely have like an elitist mentality about themselves for sure.

Sure. And now that there's people knocking on the door, boy, they don't like it. They don't like it at all. Lions fans are ready to fight every day. Oh, I know. And then. you have these these Vikings fans who are just like a entire history of disappointment ready for their next moment of promise as well it's like the the fan dynamics in the NFC north are incredible and the infusion of young quarterbacks yeah makes it exciting to watch from the outside looking in but i'm glad i'm not part of that on a daily basis 29 year old jared golf is the grizzled veteran of the division you know it's kind of funny this is the first time in my life joe that i can remember at least i think yeah I think this is true. I'm going to stand by it where I think all four NFC North teams are appear to be heading in the right direction. You got a juggernaut in the lines, a juggernaut in the Packers, but the Vikings and the Bears are like, no, we're going to be right there with y'all. We're not letting you have all the spotlight. It's the first time. Usually it's like the

Packers are good. Everyone else sucks. Vikings have a run with cousins a couple years ago, but everyone else sucked, you know, but that's not like that. All these teams are heading the right direction, all going to be contending for winning records this year. This is bloodbath, bloodbath division. And the fans are chirping about it for sure. When you say ever, it's literally ever. Literally ever, yeah. Yeah. Cool. Well, good, good luck living up there in Michigan, brother. It's going to be weird. It's tense. Every day, like I listen to local radio sometimes. It's so tense. Everyone's like just, they just need football back. Like we just got to. Yeah, yeah. We need the results to happen. And boy, I mean, it could take it to another level.

Bo Nix quarterback Denver Broncos. Yeah, man, there's some stuff to get into it with him. I think there was some certainly some good moments. And I can appreciate that. I thought he settled in in some ways that I liked. But with Bo, I think you saw a guy that was a little more jittery than these other guys. With some of his process, I thought his feet were weird.

I thought some of his pocket management was weird. But he also had some good results baked in along the way. And we'll get very specific with stuff. But like when I think about, I try to think, what's the big takeaway? What's your big prevailing thought? I'm left thinking so much about that throw to Josh Reynolds. That should have been the throw of the week. It should have been a touchdown.

Josh Reynolds, like, he just jumped. He didn't jump correctly. But the ball was right there. And that was a bomb. And it was to the, it was to the field. Like he was on the opposite hash and he ripped it down the field. And Josh Reynolds needs to make a better play on that ball. So he had some dynamic.

moments. He did some second reaction stuff, but I think I think he was the most jittery of all these quarterbacks. Jittery is a good way to describe it. I didn't necessarily write that down, but when you think about what he struggled with, that makes sense. Processing was really muddy. I'm not sure what Nix was looking at on every play.

Didn't seem like he had a good feel for his progression. But the footwork, bro, was so bad. It was really, really messy. So what's interesting, Joe, is in the, if you go to fancy points. com, go to the prospect profiles or the prospect guide. Check out what wrote about Bo Nix. One of the statements I had in there is that I felt like he's a more accurate

passer when he's on the move than he is with his feet set. I think he thinks that about himself because he tried to throw everything on the move, even when it didn't need to be done that way. Yeah. Yeah, just wanted to like run forward and throw the ball. Yeah, so strange. And so wasn't thrown from a good base ever had multiple times where he did step up on the pocket where he could have easily reset his feet and deliver a nice strike downfield. But no, he's he's whipping that boy on the move. Cost himself some big moments I felt like. So this is the bad. We're talking about the bad. There is a good, a good to it too. So that really stuck out to me for a guy who, you know, broke records for his completion percentage last year. You wouldn't expect him to be so inaccurate,

right? And then again, like Pennix, even some completed balls. The ball location was just suspect at best. Yeah. So that was concerning. I feel like, oh man, Broncos fans. are going to come for me for this. It reminded me of watching Russ last year. Just the constant feet problems, the inviting chaos when you don't need to. Like you got a good offensive line for any brother. Like just step up and deliver a strike. It was a little chaotic for me, man. Not going to lie. I have a level of comfort and confidence that this will get better because of, I mean, he's with Sean Payton, right? Like probably one of the best like West Coast run the play type of guys. And I think that situation is a little bit unique with Zach Wilson there and Jared

Stidham there. And what you've heard Sean Payton say about Bo Nix, but then kind of what the reality is of where he's sitting in the pecking order and how they're kind of like wanting him to claim that job. I think it's good coachable tape for him and Sean Payton to go back and look at and see where he can find some comfort in being calm and trusting the scheme to work. And to play his part within that. Because I do think that the second reaction stuff has the potential to be very strong. It's like, let that be the bonus, though.

Let that be the bonus to what you do. Run this offense and you're going to be successful. And there's obviously proof of concept with that. I enjoyed that he had an opportunity to run a two-minute situation, which I don't think we saw from the other quarterbacks. And I thought he deserved a better fate with whatever that receiver 81, they're running like that slot fade and the buddy took them 45 minutes to get to a spot and you know, Bo Nix was kind of just throw it up there.

But I wish you had another shot at the end zone. He had eight seconds left. They had 11 seconds and no timeouts. They ran a play to get it down to eight. It's like, do it again. It's freaking preseason. Give your quarterback another shot at the end zone here. That was kind of pissed me off.

But I like that he was in that position, got his team down there. And I like that like for as much as you talk about. some of searching for second reaction stuff in that moment where the ball had to come out and it had to go to the end zone he did it right like it was obviously we passed but to only take three seconds off you could see a guy getting greedy in that moment and all of a sudden you're not going to get a kickoff and he he didn't put his team in that spot yeah for sure to say nice things about nix too just a couple things the second reaction stuff absolutely there was a third down play where he was dead in the water pressure immediately

rolls out to his left and then delivers a beautiful ball on the move to move the chains against the grain too like away from coverage you know away from the DB's lever it was a really nice throw that's the type of stuff he can do with his feet and then they literally ran zone read

they ran zone read lead once and Mitch and like level you see the athleticism like more than people realize it is too like that he's a legit threat to do that kind of stuff which is nice and then just when he did throw in rhythm when it was catch back foot go dude the ball was pretty i mean how many deep how many like deep outs did he throw in the game we're just all in rhythm just on the money just just dropping dimes out there doing that so

we'll say that that stuff is impressive um i do have faith that nicks can turn it around i think he's a weird study for me i feel like the more i watch him the more i end up liking him it's super strained that was true for his college tape too it was like 100% got into him i was like okay this is okay weird but then you just kind of feel like this, this like alpha quarterback in him where it's just like nothing can stop this guy. Like he's just going to keep going, keep going. And I don't know. I like Bo Nix. I think this is going to work out. Yeah, it's toughness, man. He's he's competitively tough in like three rushes for 17 yards. And I thought all three of those were good plays. And like there's, I think there's more to him than you think is going to be to him. And I think it's only a matter of time before he develops

that comfort in what he's being asked to do. And I think they're the results. will follow and I think he'll become more comfortable. And I have a level of optimism there. And I'm glad that we're having these conversations because it's going to set a really good foundation for watching these guys week over week. Yeah. And seeing where, you know, these were issues and this was improved upon. And I think Bo Nix is a player that I'm excited to see in the second game and kind of measure it against the first one. I think there could be a good story to tell there. For sure. Another disclaimer too that we probably should have thrown earlier, but guys like Knicks and McCarthy and Pennix to an extent,

they're not playing with their starters. So some of the receiving talent they have out there, you mentioned the slot fade from 81. Bro. What was that? Right. And the DB's leverage, like he didn't even try to address that.

He just ran the route like, I'm not getting targeted. It's no big deal. But he did get targeted. So it's like, you would think that was the number one on the play. Like that's what they wanted to do. Yeah.

I'm just saying he ran the route like that. Like it was so strange. I don't, I'm not sure. might be different if that's Cortland Sutton is the point you're making, right? Yeah, exactly. Exactly my point. Cortland Sutton, even Marvin Mims running that slot fade.

That's a little different, a little different. Hey, Marvin Mims, a little touchdown from him, right? It was a slant flat little concept there, motion. Nice little throw touchdown. And Nix did get in with the starters a little bit, of course, but he also played with some other guys. So, yeah, who we got left? No one.

Well, yeah, we got some non-rooky quarterbacks to discuss. some good and bad regarding them. Folks, be sure to stick with us. All right. So it's funny, we started off the quarterback conversation by talking about Caleb Williams. Let's start off the next phase of our quarterback conversation by talking about Justin Fields, who is now in Pittsburgh. And it seems like all indications are that Russ Wilson's going to be their starter, but he's

hurt right now. And so Justin Fields got a chance to start the other night. And Brett and I want to give you some thoughts on how that was. went yeah it's a it was a mixed bag for justin more bad than good i felt like the thing that's always frustrating about justin when i watch him is you see talent dude has an arm dude has legs so why can't why isn't it working that's the part that's so frustrating so when i look at his his day in in aggregate like as a whole they gave him a pretty limited package right like they tried to make it really easy on him i think he started the day with like like a spacing concept hit like a three

yard hitch against a giant cushion then it was a screwing There was a couple other screens worked in there too. Like a third and 13 checkdown, I think is how the first drive ended, right? It's tough. It just, they weren't giving them a lot to work with. And then he does finally take like a true dropback set. It was a stick concept. George Pickens runs the wrong route.

And so Fields dirt's it or did he sail that one or dirt it? I don't know. It was an inaccurate throw, but it wasn't really his fault. Pickens ran the wrong route. Weird, weird timing issue there. So I don't know. Then again, you see the talent. He had a PA, you know, rollout to the right.

concept similar very similar to the Caleb Williams story actually where he drops an absolute dime on a deep out I think I can't remember who caught it maybe Fryermuth first in 10 moves of chains other than that though like it's it was just tough like you just didn't get a lot it was basically the same guy

we saw in Chicago two fumbled snap exchange that that was a killer right like you're not going to have successful drives when you're throwing away a play on each one I think so much of like defense in the NFL right now is designed so that at some point you're behind the sticks and then we're going to

now we're going to jump on you right because it's hard to play defense man and so I think you kind of have to live in this world where you're hoping to get negative plays and turnovers and I mean come on a fumble of exchange is that's not even forced right like that's you did that so I don't know if that's a her big thing or a fields thing it's always a funny conversation to have whenever it comes to that and I'm sure it's probably their first live reps together. And so all of that matters. So it's, I don't want to put too much into it. But I do think that the execution and the results of Justin Fields running the offense was heavily impacted by each of his drives having that. You mentioned the sale route to Van Jefferson.

Who's Jefferson? Okay. Yeah. That was a, that was a frigging good throw. That was to the, that was to the field as well. Like, what, 18, 19 yards down the field from the line of scrimmage. That's, that's the physical upside that's tantalizing with, with Justin Fields. And plus, obviously, know he can do as a runner. And what's interesting is I remember in Ohio State. I thought he was very accurate. And they run a lot of choice routes at Ohio State. And I thought he made good decisions. And it feels like I almost feel like these, the NFL got their hands on him and tried to make him too much of like a two-dimensional playmaker. Like I think he's, I think he's capable of just playing quarterback. And I don't know that he's really had that opportunity. I think in the

right off, it seemed like when he was with the Bears, they went out of their way to not give him plays that suited him well. Like, we can make this simpler on him. Like, he doesn't have to be a guy who's reading out like a four route concept on every dropback, right? Like, I don't know. And I don't, do you have confidence that Arthur Smith's going to be the coach that positions him well to be successful? Not necessarily. One thing Arthur will do those, he'll give him some half field reads where it's like, we're PA, you know, you've, you've got a slide route underneath and then you're hitting a crossing route on the deep. So it's like he's reading two routes out. if he doesn't like it he can kill it or run it whatever like he'll give him a lot of that type of stuff

desmond ritter did a lot of that and desmond ritter's not even close to the same level player juston fields is so if you know ridder can have moderate success doing that then i think fields should be a lot better so i mean the volume pass volume is not going to be high either which is probably a good thing right i'm just not sure to can smith design quarterback runs that's what i want to see with fields too like you know let's let's get them some more rpoes some more you know read option ub power bears would never run like QB power with him, which should. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So Justin Fields, we see him next against the bills on Saturday. So we'll, it's on NFL network. Everybody can watch that. Okay, we have another young quarterback to get into. Let's get back to the NFC North.

Mr. Hendon Hooker. You feel some type of way about this one. I watched it and I thought it was fine. Yeah. But I think, I think you're like, I think you're a little bit fired up about this one. I'm fired. It's on the, we're probably the only podcast. podcast talking Hennon Hooker this week and it's obviously because of me. 100% yeah. Call it what it is. Thank you. Yeah, yeah.

It's for me, it's because I am paranoid. The lines are going to burn a potential Super Bowl run, a bad backup quarterback situation. And so, and I know fans are in panic mode. They're in panic mode before the game. And now that Hennon got hurt,

it's even worse. But Sudfeld, he's not been able to beat out Sudfeld yet. It's still early in camp technically. They still have two more preseason games to go. He had beat out. Sudfeld yet for that backup job. It's obviously a rough situation. They've brought in Jake Fromm now, which, excuse me.

I heard he was an extra breeze. Right. So you should be fine there. Yeah. So I really wanted to dive into Henan Hooker because I feel like it is important. Now, obviously, if you're ever relying on your backup quarterback to start more than three games, you're probably screwed anyways. Well, can we acknowledge this?

The last two years, the NFL has used a record breaking amount of starting quarterback. in each of the last two seasons. So quarterback depth in the NFL is being stressed more than it ever has. And on average, it's more than two starters per team. So I know everyone says, well, you're screwed if your quarterback goes down. Not every single quarterback injury is a season-ending injury. Sometimes like you mentioned, it's three or four weeks, and you just need to keep the ship afloat, give your team a chance to go 500 and then get your starter back into the mix.

And so I am in on quarterback depth. I know that a lot of people say, well, if it doesn't matter, what was the Tom Moore quote with Peyton Manning? I know I'm not going to use expletives, but he says, you know, if Peyton goes down, we're bleep, and we don't practice bleep, and everybody loves that quote. All right. Well, what if he just misses two or three games? You need somebody to keep that, keep you in contention. Yeah, Peyton Manning also started like 300 games in a row at one point.

So, yeah, so congratulations, I'm never having to prove your theory. Right. I bet you that's nice. Yeah. That's a, that's reality, not the reality of the NFL. fell anymore though and jared goff has been healthy the last two years so it's worked out but so anyways hennon hooker performance i when i wrote this i kind of wrote some notes in the sheet it was i was juxtaposing that to the way sudfeld looked so if we just start from a blank canvas and just take that out of the

equation i felt like hendon looked relatively comfortable um again it was a preseason package right they weren't having him do a lot of crazy stuff they gave them like some mash some rail some shallow cross some real easy concepts to read out for him. But the throwing capability looked really crisp. I know he moved the change. I was like a third and 12 play. He had a really nice overrout to move the chains there to Isaiah Williams. And the thing that suck out is he moved the chains of his legs multiple times, including what a 30-yard run that he got concussed on, unfortunately. But yeah, I think the, so he played two drives, had a three and out, then came back out. He had three third down conversions on that second drive, got him all the way down to the goal line.

They went forward on fourth down, didn't work out. But I felt like from a functionality standpoint, Hendon Hooker appeared to run the offense very well. So I was, I was impressed with what I saw. He looks light years ahead of where Nate Sudfeld is in year. What is Sudfeld in year seven, year eight? I mean, he stinks, man. He stinks.

He's an unsurious backup quarterback. I know that's the case for a lot of teams, but Hendon Hooker is the ceiling play at QB2. I thought there was some encouraging things. And one of my favorite things about Hendon Hooker, dating back to his college time was I think he's just got very quiet and smooth mechanics, his feet, or just very, very smooth and rhythmic, which is easy to enjoy. And he's got, of course, physical upside with arm talent and athleticism, which makes him very, very appealing to me.

The question for me with Hendon Hooker is always going to be coming out of what he was asked to do in college to the NFL level. And then you kind of mention really basic package for him in his debut, which you would expect regardless of who it is. So I guess the point, point being, I don't know that I have that question answered for me. And if there is something that gave me some concern, and hopefully this stands out to you so we can get into it, was the sack on second and seven, where his eyes are locked. And they're locked to a bunch set where the Giants have three over two. And I thought that it was like definitely a situation where that wasn't where the route leverage was going to be when it was middle of field open. And I thought he had options

to kind of work that progression a little bit more. He winds up holding the ball and taking a sack. So again, one play in the grand scheme of things, but like in terms of how his game's going to translate, that was the one rep that kind of gave me some pause. Yeah. He held the ball. That wasn't the only time he held the ball a little long,

to be honest with you. That is definitely a concern. Did he have a receiver fall down on that play? I feel like you did. I don't remember that. I just remember that he had middle of the field and he couldn't see he was he was so fixated on this what was going on to one side where the Giants had it leverage Yeah he never got to two basically never got there he never got there it's like well this should be an easy okay that's off the menu let's get my eyes here

Yeah yeah exactly especially when he did held the ball for like three some three point five seconds on that player or something like that so that is concerning to be locked on one that long and then end up taking a sack not good and then you're dealing with what third and well he ended up he may have converted he may have converted but I think that was the third down he ended up converting actually but because he when he started going down he did scramble i think and it was only like a three-yard loss or something like that right yeah it wasn't a huge loss but again we're we're taking all the crumbs we can get out of small sample sizes and trying to you know have conversations about yeah no that that's going to be the concern that you mentioned the tennessee offense dude it was you know there wasn't really a two everything was predetermined pre-snap you know you oh here's your one you're throwing up to him there was no You know, we're not working progressions here at Tennessee.

So, but yeah, it is what it is. The lines are in an interesting situation where there's a guy like Ryan Tannahill in the free agent market. If you feel like Hendon's not where you want him to be, do you go get a guy like that? I feel like Ryan Tannenhill's coming up more and more as people are seeing their backup quarterbacks and how bad they are. Don't you feel like Ryan Tannahill's waiting for that situation where the starter goes down and he gets a chance to go in and be that guy? I think it's going to be similar to Teddy Bridgewater last year. Teddy kind of did that was like, all right, I'm a wait until a guy goes down. And then if one's not down by like last week of camp, they're going to go sign.

That's basically what Bridgewater did. I think for, I think that Detroit's a great place for Ryan Tannehill based on when he was at his best play action heavy offense where I think. Yeah. He's going to have those chances to not have to just, okay, we're going to read it and rip it. And there's going to be plenty of play action. They're going to run the football. He'll be able to throw the ball to backs, use the slot, use the tight end.

Yeah. I think that's when he's at his best. So I like that environment, but we'll see if he picks it, right? Right. Well, and it's, I think only one person has even mentioned Tannahill in Detroit right now. So it's, it's, it's purely speculation at this point. If we get adapted, he said that they're, they're talking to Tanna Hill, but. For a lion's sidebar, this, this, this, this, uh, Hassan Redick situation's been going on with the Jets.

That's the, the lions are the team. Like, if they're going to trade Hassan Redick, the lion's got to get that done. all the cap space they have right now. You got some injuries on the edge with Kaminsky. Like Davenport doesn't stop me from signing Reddick. Well, no, especially because Davenport and Reddick, you can both use a variety of ways. Right.

You're not, you can put Reddick at Sam in your base package. Davenport can still play your clothes. And they still, they do that. The lions are a defense that actually does that. Yeah, they play linebackers in ways that I don't see most defenses do. Right. The guy they've been tied to is Matthew Judon, but you know yeah if i'm the lines i go get one of those guys for sure million percent and you can tell

they're scared about davenport they bro they didn't play their first or second unit on the d line this week they sat them all they sat all eight of them which is crazy they're just like yeah we can't we can't have any injuries on the deep line so we're just we're letting these young guys play and see what happens you know right well i mean that's not a bad idea you need aiden you need arm and ross st brown to be healthy those are such like critical pieces and i think having some hedges might not be a bad idea for Detroit. And plus you think the Jets are going to, if they're going to trade Reddick,

they probably want to send them to the NFC for sure. So there you go. Trey Lance, brother, were you ever in on Trey Lance? No. Yeah, so I never was either. I remember that being controversial. Yes, same. I had Mac Jones ahead of Lance and Justin Fields

actually. And that was better players. Very controversial. But bro, Trey Lance now, what is he, year four? officially yeah hasn't played a ton but it hasn't played a ton but i think he's regressed somehow he's more raw and ste like i can't credit this thought to myself steve palo zolo tweeted it my guy formerly pf steve he said i think tra lance is more raw than he was four years ago he's not wrong though and like i organically had the thought i didn't tweet it obviously but yeah dude so much like oh my gosh 41, what, 47 dropbacks and it amounted to 188 passing yards, Joe.

Still two years away from being two years away, you know. It's the way it goes with Traylance. It's, it's tough to see. But like, I think that was a creative prospect if there ever was one. You know, oh, this guy's big and has rushing ability and can throw the ball hard and didn't throw a lot of interceptions, even though he should have. Let's make this guy the number two pick. It's crazy to me.

And I think he'll always have to live with that, too. like it's unfortunate but the diners gave up the whole world to get him and obviously that worked out because they find purdy and the rest of their team's really good but i think there's a cautionary tale to be learned from tray lance about college reps and translatibility of what he's asked to do for sure it makes me feel like like i was high in anthony richardson i'm like concerned about that right just because it's tray lance it's not richardson's i'm like man that's they're in a similar situation obviously richardson though his reps were at the highest level of of highs in college football. But it just makes me wonder what has Tray Lance been doing the last few

years. Maybe he's just not very good. You know what I mean? Like maybe that's what it is. Yeah. Something that's interesting about him too is I've always thought the arm was oversold. I thought people routinely go look at like his North Dakota state tape. There's a lot of go balls where his receivers are waiting on the ball. But because it's the level it is. Right. They can. Like he separated 10 yards. So he's waiting on the ball, but he's wide open. So I don't. I don't think people really paid enough attention to that. A lot of downfield completions, but they were wide open. And why, why was he Shanahan's guy?

Like, that offense, everyone says that it came back to Shanahan seeing what Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen did against his defenses and thinking, wow, if I can get a guy that can play, do all the scheme on schedule stuff that I'd run, but then also give me that, it's going to take it to another level. But in reality, think about the guy. guys, excuse me, think about the quarterbacks that have been good in the Shanahan offense. It's not tools, guys, it's Dua, it's purdy, it's cousins, it's rhythmic, rhythmic players. Right. Right. Like it's a great idea to think about the and romanticize about the second reaction stuff in physical upside and extended plays.

But that's just not what works in that offense. And maybe it's a little bit of thinking about Robert Griffin the third as well. And that success that happened in Washington. But more times than not, this isn't the type of quarterback that works. And I think that maybe that scheme learned something here through that. Yeah, man. So charting, by the way, I told you I chart these guys. Lance had the biggest sample size by a lot, 47 dropbacks. And I charted.

He was the second most inaccurate quarterback to me this week of the 11 that I charted. So not great. Oh, the crazy thing about that is his A dot was less than five. Every throw was underneath a checkdown, a screen. and he still wasn't putting the ball where it needed to be. The progressions weren't there either. And that's really the big thing that's killing him right now. It's he doesn't have a feel for the game at all.

You know, it's, it's, uh, yeah, it's kind of crazy. Now we're never for him and I feel like it's probably never. Yeah, savvy trade. I still think it was a savvy trade for the Cowboys to be like, let's throw a dart at a backup, maybe a potential DAC replacement if negotiations go south there. But it's not obviously not working out, but you live, you learn. Do it again. So, all right.

All right. Yeah. Let's not talk quarterbacks anymore. Yeah, let's be done. We both, one thing that was interesting when we chatted pre-show, or I should say yesterday, is that we both had a handful of players we liked that weren't quarterbacks. We wanted to give a little shout-out to.

So we're going to do some pre-season shoutouts that we got both offensive and defensive guys. These are non-QBs. Yeah, so let's just go through our little list here, Joe. Why don't you start us off? I'd love to start with Jordan Whittington of the Rams. Boy, did I enjoy watching him. and you feel like McVeigh just kind of has a knack for uncovering some of these gems at wide receiver.

Sometimes you watch a player and it's not necessarily like the most explosive guy or the biggest guy, but there's just something about the way that they compete and the way that they go about their business, their mannerisms that pop. And I think for Jordan Whittington, that was very obvious to me, just like a super physical, competitive dude. And his feel for space in that game, I thought was outstanding, which is important in that type of role. Like, they're kind of having them do some of the Ben Scaronic stuff with motions and attacking

space and catching the ball. And I thought he did a really good job. My favorite play was obviously the slant route where he catches it, breaks a tackle, quickly accelerates, gets a big chunk gain after the catch. But it was like the competitive side, the physicality, feel for space, confidence catching the ball, confidence with the ball in his hands. And McVeigh said that, hey, he's going to be a factor for us. And maybe that's not a player that people were expecting to be a factor for the Rams,

but heck of a debut to position himself to earn opportunity. And definitely a player that had my eye on and enjoyed him a ton in his debut. You know who reminded me of on that slant? Robert Woods. Pooka Nakua. The, the, he, when he caught that ball, he knew exactly what he wanted to do with it. and he the competitiveness like that hair on fire mentality just oozed through the screen bro yep like he it was like he was william wallis fighting for freedom out there just throwing guys off of him running through

contact that's exactly how puka plays and i'm like did john mcvay do this again did he find another apooka was fourth round though right fifth round maybe fifth i think he's a fifth yeah so but still man like he just he might be the best wide receiver evaluator out there right now i don't know he finds guys man it's crazy Do you feel like the one piece of the of the equation with McVay and I mean like 2-2 at well and then also like Van Jefferson those sure it's got some stuff he's got some stuff that bothers me. Yeah, you're right.

You're right. I oversold that by a lot. So he's probably had I had to bring you back down to earth real quick there. It's funny. His higher, his higher darts at it have not worked out, but his later guys have. Right. Jefferson and that well, his highest draft picks. Second and third round picks.

Yeah. Yeah. Wait, there were both seconds, I think. Wasn't Van a second? Was he? I know that Tutu was because I will never forget Tutu at well being a second round pick in my entire life. You're right, 57th pick in the draft. Yeah. Yeah, but then, you know, Cooper Cup, third, and then Puka and now Whittington, potentially. You know, I'll take this a step further. He's not good. Like, the earlier he takes a skill player, the worst they seem to be.

Like, how many running backs is he drafted in the second round? Cam Acres versus Kairn Williams. Right. Cam, Darryl Henderson, second round pick. There's been a few over the year. Gerald Everett versus Tyler Higby. Right. Yeah. Just go with the later on guys. Let's pick up.

Yeah. So what we could do offensive line, Logan Bruss versus Alarick Jackson, you know? Right. Right. It never ends. It's crazy. So maybe that's not all McVeigh. Maybe it's just their scouting department.

So coaches probably have less less influence in the guys drafted later. So maybe we're giving the credit to the wrong guy, right? We're that's, that's a scout pick for sure, these Jordan Whittington types. But anyway, it's very, very fun performance. It's interesting because Demarcus Robinson seemed to have found his home. Towards the last year, he was ball out. They extended him. They extended him.

Perpetual wide receiver four, though, perhaps. Maybe that's just, he's just a wide receiver four. And, you know, that's a, if he's your wide receiver four, you're in a good spot. Maybe. Maybe that's the way to look at it. Right. So, all right, cool. I'm going to throw one out.

My guy, A.T. Perry, New Orleans Saints wide receiver, I know towards the end of last year, he was getting on the field's playing time as a six-round rookie. He looks awesome. He looked good last year. know he's in a battle for that wide receiver three spot right now. I think currently a battle he was losing previous to this game. But he goes out there, 55-yard bomb. Like the ball tracking's never been a concern, right?

I think I tweeted the year he was coming out that he had by far the best resume of deep ball catching. Playing with Sam Hartman, who just throws yolo balls in college. Perry was out there tracking him down, bringing him in, tough at the catch point. Just awesome. Like, looks like a center field. tracking the ball down and for his size dude he's such a smooth mover um he's got sneaky speed because of how smooth he is he's a really good double move route runner that's when he that 55 yard

bomb was a double move right yes it was yes that route was a heck of a route the way he he like he dared that corner to try to play through him yep couldn't do it couldn't do it and then the thing that really jumped out to me where i feel like we've seen improvement now is aty perry was not a guy you were really working into the soft part of the zone, you know, in college. And then even last year, you're not trusting him to go find that hole. He did it. He was working the soft parts of the zone this week, even a couple times where it was an inaccurate throw or he wasn't even targeted, but he was open.

Really felt good about what I saw there. He also learned this throw-by technique that I really love because when you got a guy with vertical ability, you want those free yards underneath, those hitches and those outs. Yeah. But when you're as long as AT Perry, it's not easy to generate quick, separation on those throws. So that throwby technique is excellent. He hit that on a hit route. It was beautiful. I loved what I saw from Perry. Fun call out. All right, I'll get into my next one here, and it's going to be to the absolute disappointment of Mr. Brett Whitefield,

who continues to mis-evaluate Jalen Wright, the outstanding young running back for the Miami Dolphins. I thought he was great in his debut. I thought for a player that is coming out of Tennessee where, you know, a lot of extremely light boxes, a lot of clear air production, for him to show up in this game, his first, you know, NFL game where that's not the case. And for him to navigate tight quarters and show what I thought was very good vision and contact balance, being able to find his tracks and just go, run the daylight. I appreciated that. I thought he strung together moves extremely well.

Obviously, he's a four or three guy, so the acceleration and speed shows up. big play potential, but like I just thought he looked really dynamic, but he's not just like a scatbacker. He's got some power and some physicality about him. And I thought he finished runs extremely well. I thought the one route he was asked to run, the little flat route, thought he was great separation, terrible throw, good route overall. And so, you know, don't don't be surprised when Jalen writes Rahim Mostert in 2025 and, you know, he's going to get a bunch of touches and score a bunch of touchdowns. And I think that's kind of the path for him. But I thought it was a really strong debut and I thought the way that he was able to make quick decisions and be like

find where he wanted to go at the ball and then show good vision in the hole stringing together moves while being physical and explosive was really exciting to me. Yeah so I'll concede the he impressed me with his navigation of heavy personnel tighter boxes. I did think in fact I'll I'll just say this. I thought his best runs were on, he's got a fullback in front of them. We're running an inside zone. You don't expect it, right?

Yeah, like gaping the defense there. I think there was another inside zone play where he hit it a little cutback, found a crease. I thought his worst runs where he was given space, where it was like a gun outside zone carry, was pitter patted a little bit. I think got hit for like minus six. It was probably going negative no matter what he did.

Right. But like the indecisiveness there cost him a few yards. But I will say that I thought the vision was a little better and I anticipated. Navigating those, those congested areas looked really nice. And then obviously the speed and acceleration is there. If you compare that with a crease for the man, he can be a very effective runner.

That's basically been Rahim Moster's whole career, right? Right. I think they got the second version of them. And like you could tell a lot of what the dolphins did with their draft this year was to kind of get ahead of some expiring contracts and some aging players. So, like, chop Robinson's your succession plan for Bradley Chubb. Then you took Patrick Paul, who's your succession plan for Toronto Armstead. And Chalyn Wright's your succession plan for Rahim Moster. I think they try to get ahead of that with some younger players.

And the role this year is going to be tough because of Rahim Moster and A. Chan, I think they're going to obviously get his touches. So at Bessie's RB3, and you never know how Jeff Wilson's going to factor in. I know that there's a lot of familiarity with him and Mike McDaniel. I think Mike McDaniels spoken pretty favorably about where Jeff Wilson's at right now. So we'll see what the opportunities look like. But I think in 2025, I think he could be there starting running back. Cool. I don't disagree.

I'll take an L there if I have to eventually. That's fine with me. Hey, listen, I had to take an L on Breece Hall. Like I was such not a fan of him at Iowa State. I mean, it was clear air production, Big 12, horrible tackling defenses. And space for days, too. Yeah. Looks like a pretty good player to me.

Yeah. All right. Another guy I liked was Germain Burton. Obviously, sometimes when I watch preseason tape, I am looking to confirm priors on my draft takes, right? So I love Jermaine Burton coming out. I thought he was from a peer talent standpoint. I thought he's a fringe first round type of wide receiver. Goes in the third round because of presumed off-field concerns.

But man, dude can play. Already showing it. He had a deep ball win on like a setter and go that was just gorgeous, 37-yard. TD. Then he had, this is a thing too that I thought he was so underrated part of his game at Alabama was his physicality at the catch point. So he had this go ball where it was clear go. The rule is if you're even, you're leaving. For whatever reason, though, quarterback flops the throw. You need to hit a three iron and he pulled out a seven. And it's like, it's worse than back shoulder. And Jermaine Burton has to fight back through the corner contact to go win the catch, wins the catch,

wins the catch, gets his feet down in bounds. Really nice looking play. And that's the exact type of receiver. Joe Burrell thrives with, right? This is T. Higgins. This is Jemar Chase. Guys, you can trust to go win those routes. Like, I just love that about Burton.

Looked pretty good after the catch as well. I just thought it was a great performance. And just a very typical Cincinnati Bengal type receiver performance. He's got to be wide receiver three, right? Like, didn't Charlie Jones just get hurt? And then it's like Yosevis is the other, other guy. Yeah, and they like, they tried playing, he started in the slot. However you, I pronounce it. Yosevis. Okay, Yosevis. They started him in the slot that game,

but he does not look like a slot player to me at all. But Jermaine Burton hasn't, doesn't have a lot of experience in the slot either. So for me, the ideal makeup would be we're going to play chasing the slot most of the like 50% of the time. And then the other two guys will work in there. Chasing the slot's going to be a problem if that's the case. He's just going to be, I mean, he, he bodies. He's been tilting him that way a little bit the last couple of years. He's more and more in the slot. So I think maybe just go full commit just to make sure you get the best three on the field.

Yeah, chase after the catch. Giving him space over the middle is scary. So good luck. Good luck. Love what I saw from Burton. I think that was a really smart draft pick, especially if T ends up leaving. And that's like you mentioned the dolphins setting themselves up for future success. This is like Burton might not play a ton this year, but if T goes and signs a big deal somewhere else, Burton's the freaking man.

So good luck. I got a shout out one of my guys, one of my, my draft crushes, Austin Booker, Eddrusher out of Kansas. I think that I think people mis-evaluated him. I love this tape. I thought he was so slippery, like getting off of blocks. And that's such a unique trait. I think of slippery players, think of like John Allen at Alabama, Quinn and Williams, Max Crosby. Like those are guys that really just popped to me as like, you get off blocks so well.

And Booker was like, didn't have a ton of like snaps. But what you were able to watch was so translatable. And this dude is tearing up the preseason so far. He destroyed the bills. And I thought it was exactly that. It was his ability to be slippery and get off blocks and win in a bunch of different ways. Like whether it's a spin, a rip, he's got a one arm stab. He can win with power.

He can win with speed. I think he's a stud. And if I'm not mistaken, they made, made a fairly aggressive trade to go get him. I think it was like the fifth round he winds up falling to. I love Austin Booker. Did he try to get your fourth for him? Yeah, I did.

Brother, he wasn't available in my fifth round. I promise you that. I was a big fan. And I think that this was, I mean, really, he's had two good performances, but I mean, he wrecked the bills on Saturday last week. Yeah, I'm looking at my notes here. So, well, for one, I had a day three, or day two grade on Booker as well. So I was higher on him than he went in the draft.

thought he was a very technically sound player coming out that didn't have a ton of physical upside. But then, Joe, this week I'm seeing him toss around Buffalo Bill's offensive lineman. Like, I didn't know he had that kind of power in his hands, my dude. Like that third and 15 or whatever, third and 13, they shot it, he shot an inside gap and fork lifted, whoever 63 is. I don't know who that is. Kevin Jarvis, poor one out. Bro. He lifted him off of the ground.

and threw him into the lap of the quarterback. Like that was insanely impressive. Probably the best, my favorite pass rush rep of the week. And then the motor, dude. Talk about football player. Cranked. Bro, that dude is never stopping. Like, it's never stopping.

He is moving at all times, going hard. Minds me, he's got a little hutch in him for sure. Not the same pedigree necessarily, but he's got some hutch in him. So loved what I saw there. I think that's a great call. Nate Wiggins is my guy, my defensive superstar. Where were you on him as a prospect? I know that people were all over.

I had a firm first rounder to me. And people talk about tackling concerns. I didn't really have those level of concerns. Other people did. Okay, I lied. Let's see. I had, he was my CB7, but I had like a fringe, like a early second, late first on him. So that's not bad.

But I did like six guys more than him. So yeah, here's a deal. I think the BMI concerns, I had some PTSD from watching old boy and Washington last year. You know what I'm talking about? Come on. Forbes? Forbes, yes. Well, I mean, Wiggins has got tall and long. I mean, Forbes is just,

Forbes is supposed to be long, right? I don't think he's as long as they wanted him to be, but, or he was billed to be. But, yeah, Wiggins, though, like, he's slight. I will say this, though, Wiggins plays physical. You mentioned, like, you never had tackling concerns. I kind of agree with that. Like, even though he was smaller,

he would come up and throw hands, kind of like Devin Witherspoon, the year before Illinois, Witherspoon's tiny. He'd come up and wrecked dudes. Wiggins was super competitive. Yeah. Wiggins. Super competitive. Listen, I, the ball production already as a rookie, like Baltimore came out and they're just like, you know, we're going to play press man. Screw it. Like we're just, we're going to do it. We're going to see what our corners got. That's literally what they did. Ball production was insane. I think he he had forcing completions on a third down, on a fourth down.

Man coverage was awesome. Never once felt like he looked small or worried about the the play strength. there like he was he was locking guys up at the line of scrimmage he was active defending the the gap there as a corner coming up playing on the run there was a screen pass that came right his direction he blows up his blogger doesn't make the tackle but he defended his gap the way it's supposed to be defended blew up his blocker there so like dude the ravens landed another one here so I just so on brand for them right just to let just to get a corner later than they should and then him him being good four to eight speed guy can run Yeah, I mean, he's with six, six, one and three-eighths, hundred and seventy-three pounds.

So, like, that's not my favorite thing going. I think he was billed to be a little taller, but, man, he's so competitive. And I think we talk about, like, the variety of skill sets in wide receiver rooms, which I believe in that. But, like, I think having their ability with, like, the Ravens with their corners, which I think are very uniquely different players, all of their top guys, they can mix and match with that a little bit, too. and play matchups with how it suits them best.

And I think Wiggins, I mean, for him to be able to carry in turn with what's, I mean, think about what's Bruin in Kansas City with those speed guys, with Miami's guys, guys that can really just like run and get down the field, Wiggins is going to be able to match steps with them. Yep. And you know what? Humphrey's kind of lost a little bit too. So if they end up playing teams with a more speed package at receiver,

I think Wiggins can help them a little bit there. Humphrey in the slot more. I mean, that's kind of what he's done. but like yeah i mean for sure for jama we're talking about jama r chasin that division you'd love to play humphrey over him in the slot as opposed to wiggins on the perimeter right so absolutely all right you got anyone else or we should we should get to bensonot we should definitely get to bensonot uh the tight end with washington i know zach urts is there but ben senzanat is such a complete tight end whether it's the blocking ability or the receiving upside and i mean the play that stood out is obviously

the seam route and catching the ball and being able to turn a run and get some yards after catch. But I think he's a sneaky. I don't even know if sneaky is the right word. I think it's a he's going to be a in time, an important piece of this Washington offense. And yeah, Cliff since he's been in the NFL, I've been a little bit surprised by how deliberate he's been with trying to find answers at tight end. Like you don't necessarily think that that's going to be an important part of what he wants to do, but it is. And I think Ben Sinat is such a complete player and a very strong debut for Washington. Agreed. I mentioned the

hair-on-fire mentality with Jordan Whittington. That's for sure true with Ben Sennat. Go watch that scene ball he caught. Usually when a tight end catches a seam ball, it's like catch, two steps, fall down, takes a hit. Nah, bro, he was like, no, I'm going. Catches the ball, gets upfield, starts just smashing helmets. I just love the competitiveness, man.

He's got that run-after catchability. I think that, you know, it's very George Kittle-esque in a lot of ways. So that that should be good for Jaden Daniel's development at some point. And Zach Ertz is old. So like, I like having, and obviously Ertz knows the Kingsbury offense coming from Arizona together. He brings stability to the room, but it's Sinai is obviously the big upside play there for them. So really, really like that for fantasy guys too, like especially, well, everyone's done their dynasty draft. So I won't mention that, but like late, late round or just make him make a note that he's a waiver wire guy. Like you got to keep an eye on him. He starts producing.

snatch him up. He's talented. Yeah, I think in Dynasty, he's probably snatched up, but tight ends are weird and regular, like, redraft leagues, right? Like, never know. Hopefully, if you get him on your team, he catches a touchdown that week, right? Yes. Yes. All right, remember, folks, no matter what happens,

we will always be your first read. Thank you so much for listening to us. We are out.