First Things First - HIGHLIGHT: Nick's Training Camp NFL Tiers

Episode Date: July 31, 2025

Watch clips on YouTube! Subscribe to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠FIRST THINGS FIRST YOUTUBE CHANNEL⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ How will Nick Wright's NFL Tiers turn out now that teams are back in training camp? Listen and find out! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Last night on a Bahamian fishing dock, clouded in a fog of vapes smoke. This is funny. What? Did I get that wrong? Yeah, you got it all wrong. You actually got everything about that wrong. The committee didn't meet on a Bahamian fishing boat? No.

Clouded in a fog of vap smoke? No, they didn't. Go ahead. Founded out. An elite group of analysts, savants, and skinny Luca truthers. Too skinny. Fought and toiled and burned the midnight oil to concoct the best segment in all of sports, it's an honor and a privilege.

It's time for a special edition of Training Camp Tears. Indeed it is. Now, obviously, not a ton of reason for movement from when we did this a couple weeks ago, but there has been some news, Stafford's back, you know what I mean? There's been some pieces of news. Niners injuries. Right. So a little bit of movement, nothing substantial.

Caleb got kicked out of the drill. Yeah. Ben Johnson's like, what's going on here? This is a disaster. Caleb scrambling. Scambling. Scambling. It would either be scrambling.

Yeah, you can't do it. We can't tackle you anyways. Bottom of the tiers. Legit man. So I don't know what else to say about these three teams. I can't fain hope. I know the Titans are one of wild teams. Hey, bylaw.

And I do want to, I'm rooting for Cam Ward. The Browns, all we can talk about is their third. string quarterback and the Saints. I'm not, listen, Saints, Fanton Media. I'm not here to say I told you so for the last three years about the salary cap coming home to Roos, but I told you so in the next three years it's going to be a lot of this. Next, can't even fake it. So I, I would like to be able to sit here and say one of these four teams could be a sleeper. I just don't believe it. I don't, I think that Seattle made a legitimate, jarring mistake and going from Gino to Darnold.

We'll see. It is not, the reports out of the cult's camp that Daniel Jones and Anthony Richardson are neck and neck in the quarterback competition, and it's not because Anthony Richardson came back a lot better. That's a little disappointing. Yes. And I think the Falcons are going to have real, real troubles defensively, and I'm also a, I am cautiously, I guess, optimistic about

pinnics, but we need to see more. And I think the Panthers last year, they got some out of boys, but I still think they have a ton of holes, even though I like Ted McMillan. All right. Now to, you know, 25 teams that I think there's a little more reason for optimism for it. Something to like. It's the two New York teams. So with the Giants, it's very simple. The reports out of training camp are so overwhelmingly positive. positive for Abdul Carter and that he is the latest report I read was he looks markedly better than Burns and Tibido. And now you can maybe say Tibido, you know, hasn't quite lived up to the top five

billing, but Burns is an excellent player and Carter's been their best guy. You add to the fact that they already have a great first team or all pro D tackle. Could they have the best defensive line in the NFL? Wow. Could they? And if they, is that alone enough to race? raise your floor to a place we haven't seen with the Giants in a couple of years. And every Jets player that gets interviewed is like, man, it's amazing a difference having a

coach can make. And so, like, I think Aaron Glenn's done an awesome job thus far, at least according to what his players are saying, and Justin Fields avoided major injury. So I think there's something to like for both of those teams. Five teams with huge variances. That's the next group, which is the Cardinals, the Cowboys, the Steelers. the Dolphins and the Vikings. I feel like you could make a case for 5 and 12 through 12 and 5 for these five teams.

Now I, the where for the Cardinals, Jonathan Gannon finally gets the defense going. Marvin Harrison, a big year two. Kyler puts together a full season. Like, we know what the downside is. For the Cowboys, it's that their stars play like stars. Micah gets taken care of and they don't need to run the balls. They're throwing it all over the field. The Steelers, it's what the Steelers optimists are.

It's like, well, we win nine games no matter who our quarterback is, get above average quarterback play. We can be good. The Dolphins, we saw it a couple years ago. And for the Vikings, it's that we just won 14 games with Sam Darnold. You don't think we can win a bunch of games. Now, the downside risk of all these teams, I don't need to go through it, but it's pretty obvious what it is.

So I think these teams have wide, wide variances. popularity test. So here's what I mean. These three teams are going to test the popularity of this show. Oh, oh. Because from a strategy standpoint, from a cares about ratings standpoint, we probably shouldn't talk about any of them. However, we're going to talk about all of them.

We'll talk about the Jags because of the print. We'll talk about the Raiders because Brew's lifelong hatred of Gino. We'll talk about the Patriots because of this guy. So we're really going to be testing how much the audience likes us when these three teams come up. I think all three of them have a more than viable chance of being AFC playoff teams this year. I don't think we're going to get the same teams we get every year in the AFC playoffs. I think this year it shakes up a bit. And I think you might see one or two of these teams in the playoffs this year.

Healthy skepticism from the committee about these four teams. So these are four very trendy contenderish picks. The Niners with the same projected win total as the Lions. Everybody loves the Broncos this year. ESPN said they have the sixth best roster in football. The Chargers year two with Harbaugh and the Bengals, if only they have a defense, how good they can be.

From the committee standpoint, the Niners, last year was ruined by injuries. They're already getting bitten a bit by the injury bug, at least the wider Cedar position. The Bengals, same defensive problems they had the last couple of years, and I not sure why we expect the Chargers and Broncos to take these massive leaps that everyone is projecting. Similar to last year, sure.

Big leaps, I don't know. Next, bright, present, and future. I think most people think these three teams have three really sharp coaches and three really good young quarterbacks. And if that is where you're at right now, should be good right now and have a long runway with Caleb and Ben Johnson, J. Lo and, oh my goodness, what's the. Flour?

Thank you very much. Matt LaFloor and, of course, CJ and Domingo. There are holes on each of these teams. I think the Bears secondary leaves a lot to be desired. I think the Packers' lack of blue chip personnel anywhere is, you know, is maybe a bit of a concern. And I think the Texans' offensive line, but they have the most important. pieces they should have the most important pieces in place.

QB reliant. So you might say this is every team, but these two teams in particular, I think, I think either one of these teams could make the Super Bowl out of the NFC, but they need 17 or at least call it 15 healthy games from their quarterback. And they need their court, both of their quarterbacks to play at the highest level they've played over the last few years. Like not, not higher than they've played, but equal. For Baker equal what he did last year,

for Stafford equal what he did a few years ago. Explosive offenses, I don't think the Lions in Washington are going to be able to, let me rephrase it. I do think they are going to have to beat teams the way they beat them last year, mostly outscoring. Now the Lions defense should be a little healthier, but the loss of Aaron Glenn is obviously significant. And Washington looked at their team last year,

which had an awesome offense and a crummy defense and was like, let's be a good. more resources on the offense because we have an awesome young quarterback. So I think the offenses are going to have to be great and I think they will be great. If not now when, Ravens and Bills, we could have been saying this about these two teams last year and the year before. We now how good the rosters are. We know how good the quarterbacks are. We know at some point the Chiefs will stop making every Super Bowl. Just don't know if that's this year. Near the top of the tiers, the defending Super Bowl champions. And their tier name is make up your

minds. And by that, I'm just talking to Philly fans who have really skyrocketed up the list of annoying fan bases. They were always pretty high. I know, but now they are high on their own supply in a way. And here's what I mean by make up your minds. You cannot simultaneously be yelling at sports TV and radio and podcast personalities for this is what they will argue. You guys are not giving Jalen Hertz enough credit for everything he's done and arguably being a top three quarterback in this league. Here's the other thing they're yelling. We have the best offensive line, the best receivers, the best defense, the best running back, the best everything. You got to pick.

You can't have the best roster everywhere and also your quarterback is wildly underrated when the reason people are in theory underrating your quarterback is because they think you have the best roster everywhere. And then atop the tiers, Trent Williams 2.0 and 3.0, not better, but newer. They got Trent Williams back up, and now he might not even be good enough to start because they got Josh Simmons. Spun this into a positive. What do you mean? What that they got? I know, but that was not your plan. What do you?

What do you kept on saying Trent Williams 2.0? Yes, exactly. And then Josh. And now, and now they somehow got a guy even better. And so exactly. So you go from a dearth of tackles to a server. plus of tackles. That's the latest year. Well, look. Is that not a positive wild? I think it's a positive. Okay. It's not spinning. Go ahead. Go ahead. Coach. Not bad for for pre-scent tears.

Yeah. Not bad. Better than I expected. I don't I don't love where you have Chicago. And I was high on Chicago. Too low. Too low. Too high. And then I think you have San Francisco too low. I think you need to switch those two teams. And as much as you want to hope that Caleb is going to take that next step. And ideally with Ben Johnson, he's going to take that next step. And ideally, the offensive line is going to lead the NFL in sacks and the new vibes and all that stuff is going to play out the way you want it to. And I get that you're down on San Francisco because of Brock. But when you look at it, when you look at it collectively, when they're healthy,

with the easiest schedule and compare. these two teams and the addition of Sala, look at where they were last year. So as bad as San Francisco might have been, they were still 13th in points per game, fourth in yards per game. Their biggest problem was 29th in opponent points per game, but I think Sala is going to help that significantly. And they were top 10 in opponent yards per game, as opposed to the Bears where they're pretty close to last in almost every category except opponent points per game.

So I think the injury bug could be an issue. We see it a little bit with the receivers, but all three of those guys should be back by the start of the season. They've got the easiest schedule. They've added a better, you know, they've transitioned to a defensive coordinator that's shown success in that system. And collectively, they're a lot more healthy than they have been. Coach, I know it's confusing because it's July. It's not the power ranking. It's kind of an odd time to do tears.

But it's the 2025 season for looking at. So all those numbers from the 2024 season, I mean, those would have been used. in like February if I then bears ahead of the Niners but this is we're looking forward and while you are giving the Niners defense a lot of credit for adding Robert Sala I feel like the Bears offense for adding Ben Johnson would be getting similar credit well I was just saying you're adding someone who's pru and they could do it in that system and be very successful where you're adding a guy who has been successful as a coordinator but we haven't seen how he's going to be as a head Fair, and I like Sala.

I like, well, but here's the thing. Sala has proven he can do the Niners when they had this. And I think Salas is a very good coordinator. I think he'll do a good job. But it's not the same personnel that he had when he was there and they were dominating. This is, that is to me, you think my Niners skepticism. And Ben Johnson doesn't have the same personnel as he had. No, he probably is.

I mean, honestly, maybe better. But the, the, the, the, the, you think my Niners skepticism is purely Brock related. It kind of. It's partially Brock related, but it's also, I think, one of the more underrated stories of the offseason is this is the least talent that Niners defense has had since Shanahan's first year there. And I think that that's almost universally accepted with the losses they had on the defensive line. The entire secondary is remade. Obviously, Warner and Bosa are great players. But aside from that, it's slim pickings.

Go ahead, Drew. I do think Atlanta should be higher. I actually think, yeah, I think they could have a decent. I agree. I think they're a threat like to the, to the Buccaneers in that division. Pennix obviously is good. I think they got some good receivers and the run game, obviously. So I think they should be higher.

But my main thing is the Chiefs can't be number one. Why not? They just gave up 40 points to the team that's number two. The team that's number two, Philadelphia should be number one. I mean, they just, they destroyed the Chiefs. I know we keep showing the highlights of Xavier Worthy catching touchdowns in the last few minutes, but they annihilated the Chiefs, all right? Before that, then after that, the Chiefs played well.

But they added an offensive lineman, doesn't that? Right, right. I mean, really, like, John Simmons is just going to change everything. And obviously the Chiefs are going to be really good. I'm just saying there's no way they should be ahead of the Eagles. The Eagles have, as much as you like Simmons, Eagles got the better offensive line. Yes. Eagles had the better running back.

Eagles have the better receivers. Eagles, defense, if you could call it a wash. But right now, the Eagles from last year certainly had the better defense. They lost nine of those players. They still got Zach Bond, who was almost defensive. They have Zach Bonn, Jalen Carter, and the two rookie defensive backs. And, yeah, Dejean and Mitchell. I mean, that's four.

And they got the defensive coordinator who turned the whole thing around. And they lost the offensive coordinator. They lose offensive coordinator every year. Right. I mean, that's nothing to Jalen hurts and a winning quarterback. So, and then we have to look, Andy Reed obviously has the coaching edge, although he didn't look great in the Super Bowl.

Why is that? But here's, okay, this will support you, Wilds. I'm not ready to say Siriani's better than Andy Reed. That's what I'm saying. Are you ready to say that Wilde? But I'm willing to say it's obvious when I saw them play and one guy, the score was, what was the score at half? Hold on.

Can I ask a question then? I'm not ready to say Andy. Andy who's been to two of the two Super Bowls and just they just played a Super Bowl and who did I have had a better coaching job. Hold on. Wait. I would probably go with that. I mean, hold on. Yeah, I mean, I would go to Andy Reed.

I'm just saying not obvious. No, right. It's their argument to make. No. Yeah, I mean, it's not. It's not obvious. You can't say it's obvious when they have coached against each other. So hold on.

This is the question that I'm asked. Okay. Is that, is that, is that every. because it feels like that's the argument you make for everyone on the Eagles against everyone they win against. Is that in this instance, so is that, I'm just curious, if that's just across the board how it works. Well, I'll say this. Since Siriani has been a head coach, he has won more, a higher percentage of games than Andy Reid has. No, let's show. Look at this.

I think he has. I think he has. No, he has been. Siriani was the coach. Right. Since Siriani, go ahead. Look at the graphic. Go over it.

Since Siriani, he is the third winningness coach in the last, in the Super Bowl era. Yes. Since he's been coach. 70%. I think I thought I had that. He's the only super, he's the only coach ever in his first four years to make the playoffs every year and make the Super Bowl twice. And so, and he is, that was a four-win team when he got this.

So I, I was going to just say Siriani is a very good coach and you got to give him props. I wasn't ready to say he's better. Of course. So let me now address this piece of it. I'm not saying he's, I'm not saying he's better now. I'm not willing to concede. He's Andy Reid's obviously better than Siriani. I understand what you're saying.

But now I want to address the other things you said. What is not accurate is that since Siriani has been a head coach, does he have a better winning percentage in that time frame than Andy Reed? Absolutely unequivocally, no. Then I thought, then I have that stat wrong. Josh, can you tell me in the ear what our Siriani stat is that I keep on getting wrong? I mean, it's not that he has a, he has the same. really close.

He doesn't have a better winning percentage over the last four years or five years or whatever than the chiefs head coach because the chiefs have won more games than every team in the league over that same time frame. All right. Then I must be getting something wrong. No, it is. He might have a higher career winning percentage than Andy Reed because Andy, we're talking about a 25 year career for Andy Reid.

But you're saying since he came into the league, who has the better winning percentage. Also, it is very impressive that Nick Siriani has been to two of the last three Super Bowls. and he has been to two Super Bowls in his four years as the Eagles head coach, right? It's almost as impressive being to three of the last three Super Bowls and winning two of them. They are one and one against each other in Super Bowls. And what Sirianni's two and one against him? Two and one against three. Well, I didn't play one other time.

I think they played one. Three games, Siri Annis. They're two and two. They're one and one in the regular season. They're one in one in Super Bowls. And it is, we can't, we cannot be. And if they both went four and 12 this next year, Seriana would be on the hot seat and Andy Reed would.

I mean, like I say, I'm not ready to go. But if Andy Reid's a great coach because he wins and Siriani is also just wins, how come Andy Reid automatically better than Sirian? Because we have, Wilds, the same reason why if we were six months removed from the 2017 Super Bowl and someone said, I'm not ready to say that Bill Belichick is obviously better than Doug Peterson, you would say that's ridiculous. Was Doug Peterson winning at a historic rate? At that point, yes.

He won a Super Bowl his first year. Well, no, give me one. Or was it was his first or second year, you guys can correct me, but it was, he won a super bowl with a backup quarterback right when he got there. He was winning at a historic rate. Yeah, you ran a Philly special. And so like, I mean, we, I'm, it's the sample size is much, it's too small. I mean, it's just, it's just outrageous.

It's not outrageous. In fact, what? What's outrageous is we saw the Super Bowl. You talked all year about a dynasty. A guy and a quarterback came in here and demolished the Kansas City Chiefs. But all of a sudden, there's no consequences to anyone's reputation. Patrick Mahomes is still the best. Andy Reid is still the best.

The defense is still the best. Travis Kelsey is still great. There has to be some consequences for the Chiefs for getting humiliated in the Super Bowl. That's just fair. They were on the verge of doing something that no other team had ever done. This is bananas. I get it. But here's what.

It was a bad game. It was a bad game for him. But like historic, they were on a, doing something historical. You are, I agree. You're saying there should be harsher consequences for the chiefs finishing the most successful three-year stretch in the history of the league. That they should be not for that. That's what you're saying. They should just be number two on the team.

Well, that's a separate. If we want to say the Eagles should be ahead of them, that's like I understand that. And the Eagles were ahead of them in the final tiers of the 2024 season. we've now turned the page of the 2025 season. That's fine. But this, this, the, the idea that we must be, and again, the Eagles were extraordinary in that game. Hertz was extraordinary in that game.

And Siriani turned it around from after being on the hot scene in week four to only losing once the rest of the way and he deserves credit for that. But we were, the fact that we were all in agreement that going into. that Super Bowl. It was, we were one game away from there being an argument of is Andy Reed unequivocally a top two coach of all time if he wins that game? And now you're saying it's now, it's now a fair argument. Is he a top two coach in the league right now? I'm not willing to say it's obvious. I'm just not letting that pass on the show. It's obvious he's better. I'm like, I don't think it's super. I don't know if it's super obvious. Okay. One of the reasons it's not obvious is

there was a televised matchup between the two coaches. It's not, it's like, it's obvious this boxer would beat this boxer. And the one boxer knocks the other boxer out. But it's still, it's obviously he's about, I'm like, I'm not going to say it's obvious. But instead of it being boxers, it's teams, right? Yes, but it's the head coach of the team. Yeah. So it's the head, but it's so it's the, okay.

I mean, I think. How do you want to judge the coach? Vibes? Hawaiian shirts? I think hamburger consumption. I think overall body of work is fair. I think that should play a piece. Sure. Let's look at it.

Let's look at then. Then it's not obvious when one guy's winning percentages here and the other guys winning percentage is there. That's obvious. Yeah, because you're, because you are. And then when they play head to head in the last three, they're, they're. And what's what overall success? Since your guy's been a head coach.

I didn't even know you were the serious, like I don't even think you're believe what you're saying. I don't like the obviousness of it. It's not obvious when the score is 36 to nothing. Who's the best head coach in the NFL? Right now? Yeah. Remains to be seen.

Okay. I'm a McVaddy guy. I'm a bravely guy.