First Things First - Mahomes underrated, Top Ten players with most on the line, Herbert-McDaniel Perfect Pair

Episode Date: August 18, 2026

(00:00) Is Patrick Mahomes underrated & Cowboys are Super Bowl contenders (25:24) Will Justin Herbert and Mike McDaniel be the perfect pair? (39:02) Are we sleeping on Daniel Jones? (48:21) Danny shares the Top Ten players with the most on the line this NFL season (01:05:49) Expectations for Aaron Rodgers & the Steelers this season (01:20:17) Are Burrow-Chase the best QB-WR duo in the NFL? (01:27:25) Winners and Losers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Live from New York, it's the show where one of us at the desk wears a size 182E sneaker. And it ain't me. He's giving it away. But it's Jeff Schwartz, Greg Jennings, Danny Parkins. How do you find such a sneaker? It's better lately. One brand makes the size exact size I want. Yeah.

And so I order mostly that shoe. Brand loyalty. And then when I go to another place where I can't really wear that shoe, I switch to another shoe just for that one day. But mostly, you see me rocking one shoe like 364. I get it, man. That sounds, I'm just a size 11 and a half. Yeah, I'm a 13. Must be nice.

Yeah, it's just pretty. It's pretty. You go to store down the street to buy shoes. Any store. Yeah, I fit in basically any store. Cannot do that. It's unfortunate. Yeah, well.

Since I was 16. 16? Yeah. Your shoe size is bigger than your age. It's unbelievable. On today's show, predictions week coming early. Micah Parsons gives us his AFC West standings.

And spoiler, he's not a believe. in the Kansas City Chiefs. Also, Jerry Jones, maybe not done making moves? Von Miller, apparently not enough, is the Cowboys roster ready for a Super Bowl run? And finally, it's top 10

Tuesday. I will give my top 10 guys with the most on the line this season. And then, I'm guessing my old buddy Jeff Schwartz will tell me it was a perfect list. Absolutely. Nothing wrong with that. Yeah, see? Get brew out of here, get Greg out of here, and all of a sudden, it's a perfect list. Okay.

We'll see. I'm going to go to him first. That's okay. That's okay. Great. Thank you. You submitted for my list before I had even said. You're like, you got to have this guy on.

I'm like, I haven't done the list yet. It's unbelievable. Anyway, let's start in Kansas City. Speaking of lists, Patrick Mahomes, he was named 18th on the NFL Top 100 list today. The quarterback dropped 13 spots from last year. We can throw up his 2025 stats on the screen. Honestly, based on that, 19 feels pretty generous. Greg, we'll see how he bounces back, of course, from the ACL surgery.

It was 18. I don't know why I said 19. Regardless, fair to say now, Mahomes officially underrated? No, I don't think he's underrated and he's being underrated. What I do believe is we are attaching this expectation to Patrick Mahomes of the highest of any quarterback that plays our game. and as it pertains to him and his productivity and his statistics, have they decline, of course. But what he carries, heavy is the head that wears the crown. He is the head of the class.

He is the cream of the crop. When they lose, and we have never seen them lose until last season as a team, he has to wear that. And so all the attention, all the focus is on, well, Patrick Mahomes wasn't in the Well, he's always been enough in our eyes, but last year, it just never happened and never came to fruition. In that game specifically against the Jacksonville Jaguars, kind of where it all derailed, he had an opportunity to win the game through the pick, and it was like that just ended their season. It just derailed them and they couldn't overcome anything else. But I don't think he's being underrated.

He did suffer the injury. Again, the team, we've never seen them lose. And so I think we're weighing his lack of productivity or his decline in his numbers in conjunction with what we saw them perform and how we saw them perform as a team. First off, these lists are great for us in this business, but I'm not trusting the players to rank anything. Like, you've been in those locker rooms when we rank these lists. Like, they're just a joke. I mean, it is what it is. But players don't take it seriously.

So is he really 18th best player? I don't know. I mean, the list is done basically like they pass out a form and they're like rank the players from memory. Yes. There's not a name of guys to pick the wrong. I mean, I never remember even doing the top one. Yeah, well, I started doing it in 2014, 2015. But again, like a lot of players don't watch football.

Like, they don't really watch it. They watch film. They don't watch football. So that being said, what you mentioned about expectations is why I think he'll sort of be criminally underrated forever if he doesn't win Super Bowls every year, right? We expect him to win every single season. season. Didn't win last year. It didn't go well for them last season. But right now, guys, we enter this season. If you have to pick a quarterback to win a game, half a drive, he's one of three, right? I think, in my mind, Mahomes, Stafford, Burrow. Those are three playoff game,

who I need to win a drive. Those are three I got. So I think he's underrated forever, unless he wins Super Bowls. He's always going to be underrated. This season, they bring back a good offensive line. They switch offensive coordinators. He has the motivation this year of everyone telling him he's not as good anymore. I think he's going to play very very. I think he's going to play very well this is I think he'll always be underrated unless he won Super Bowls every single season I also think to to your point about who's doing the ranking like this it's nice because this is something that I can actually say that I'm better at the players I knew where you were going to like I put more thought into it I care more about it and I honestly believe

that like my ranking and opinion on this carries more weight than players who played but if I remove myself and my own ego from it. I think that Fowler over at ESPN, Jeremy Fowler, does a really good job because he takes scouts, coaches, and executives and pulls them for every position. They had Patrick Mahomes as the number two quarterback in the NFL. Then Mike Sando at the athletic, he does the same thing. 50 coaches, scouts, executives, the people that are paid real money to get it right on regular.

You know where Mahomes was? number one. You know where the ringer had him at the end of last year when he was recovering from surgery? Number one. So like if the players coming off of a year

where he had 22 touchdowns, 11 picks and a pass rating under 90, like that means that Tyler Shuck had a better passerating than him last year. It means that the only player with fewer games and more interceptions than Mahomes last year was J.J. McCarthy. He did not have a good year

last year, statistically. but the people that actually care about this stuff grade that on a curve. He was injured, players around him, defense, everything. Like, we know that Mahomes is awesome. And I don't really care that on one player list that the players don't care about, he comes in at number 18.

Like, it means nothing to me. Because the, it means less than nothing. Like the executives, the people that make eight figures to draft and build football teams are like, you know who the best is? Patrick Mahomes. So why do I care? they expect what I think we all expect,

which is a bounce back season, right? Last year the offense was so stale, man. It was just so stale. They couldn't get guys open. There wasn't easy offense for them. They didn't run the ball at all. And so far, what we've heard, we've seen the preseason so far,

they're going back to run the football, which is they need to do under center. They're adding some more concepts in that make it easier for Mahomes to get yards. Like, we're going to see a better at Mahomes. So these lists, I think, all take into consideration what we're going to see moving forward. The list of players do is for last year,

right? It's based off last season. And last year, He was not very good. Yeah, I think a lot of it, when you start talking about the players and the voting on these players, other players, it's their, the injuries play a huge factor. Sure. And obviously the immediate stats. So when you get these voting opportunities, you got stats, you got all the other quarterbacks, you got touchdowns, you got yards.

And when you don't see Patrick Mahomes name at the top, it's like, oh, well, I'm not going to just put them there. and then you have other guys that have performed. We know they're not better than Patrick Mahomes, but it's like, well, I mean, they're kind of deserving this time because he hasn't had the typical season that we're accustomed to knowing and seeing him have. So I don't mind it, but we all know without doubt if there's one argument that can be made for Josh,

there's one quarterback that can have the argument of they're the best in the game. And that's Josh Allen. aside from Patrick Mahomes. Other than that, Patrick Mahomes is top of everyone's list. I also think it's a, what is worth pointing out about Mahomes is that he has not had an MVP caliber regular season since 2022, right? He was the Super Bowl MVP in 2023. He was unbelievable in those playoffs. But in the last three seasons, he has not had a 30 touchdown year. He has not had a 4,500 yard season. He has not been really close to winning an MVP. He's not had a dominant regular season, the last three regular seasons. Now, we can say that is not because of his deterioration.

We can say it's about the pieces around him, but like the statistical overwhelming dominance of Mahomes has not been there the last few years. So that's why I'm with you. If you want to say it's a debate on who the best quarterback in football is for this season, I think that's totally fine. Stafford was the MVP. Alan has the counting stats over the last few years. But like, it's still Mahomes's era. It's absolutely still. It's still.

It's still Mahomes. No question about it. Right? Like, if you needed one guy down for fourth quarter, your own 25 yard line and he's healthy, you would still take Mahomes. Going back to last year, think about how many times people said the chiefs still got it. They just do it. Thank you.

Only because of Mahomes. That's all. I was one of the few early on that was like, this is not happening this year. Like, it's just not. The team was not good enough. It can't rush the passer, which is a separate topic. But, like, Mahomes, it's just not working on offense. And look, the wide receivers to your point, like, Mahomes has got to do better at times

two, but the wide receivers have been pretty mediocre for three years now. Rice was good as a rookie. Then he got hurt, and then he was suspended for eight games. Now he's coming off of jail. He looks terrible in camp right now. I didn't look 100%. So that might be another year where it's like Mahomes is trying to do a lot with a little in that wide receiver room.

But who, like, other than, like, so this is the biggest insult we can find for Patrick Mahomes. than a year where he tore his ACL. He tore his ACL and a group of players who don't care about the ranking. I was like, yeah, I guess he's the 18th best player in the world. Like, it's not that big. It's not that big of an insult. It really isn't because the players still respect them enough to know.

Of course. To know, okay, this is about as low as we can put them. It's like, like Justin Jefferson. We're talking about that the other day. Yeah, you're like, you understand what they're up against. We understand what he's been up against, but we also have this ridiculous expectation of, I mean, you've done it before, do it again. It doesn't matter. You're Patrick Mahomes, so just do it.

And when he doesn't do it, or he looks like pedestrian at times, which last season was the first time we saw, like he was a part of the reason why they were having some issues. It wasn't just, well, no one's helping Mahomes. It was, man, Mahomes didn't help them this time. Or he hurt them with this interception or whatever the place may be. But he recognized that I think he's going to have a great season this year. One of the reasons why Eric B. Enamey, I think he is very underrated to your guy, Matt Nagy, that you love. I know you love him because you've told us numerous times. He's a nice guy.

But he's had so much success with Eric B. Enemy. It'll be interesting to see what that looks like moving forward this year. All right. Let's go to Dallas where Jerry Jones, it had been a few days since he had given us a nice quote. They made a splash signing with Super Bowl MVP Von Miller yesterday. But apparently that does not mean that Jerry Jones considers that his all-in move and that he's necessarily done. Take a listen. Yes. Yes. If we had an opportunity, I would be. Is it more of a wait-and-see thing?

And it's as much about what I think of where we are, which is. I'm more positive than when we started camp, seriously, about what our chances are. And so I think if we saw an opportunity to take a little of the future and put it on this team, I'd do it if it would help us. All right, so it's been a very busy offseason for Dallas. No drama around the franchise tag for George Pickens, a ton of investment, both in the draft and free agency on the defensive side of the ball. So Jeff, we'll see if any more moves, like Jerry alluded to,

are potentially coming. But does the current roster, is the current roster Super Bowl caliber? Yes. Okay. I think it has to be, right? If you go through a list of the Cowboys, right? Dak Prescott, we're talking about the quarterback list.

He was about six or seven. I think it's about where he's at in the NFL right now. And when he's been healthy guys, he's played very well. The health has been the problem in his career, not a big problem, but when he's been hurt, obviously, not very good. When he's been healthy, he's been great. The 3, 12, 1 years in a row, he played very well last season.

two outstanding wide outs, good tight end, good offensive line, good running back, check all those. And then the problem was defense last year. Well, they fixed it. They went and got a new defensive line. They drafted a new defense alignment. Overshone his back and linebacker. He plays a big role in their success. Remember, he missed most of the last year, but came back at the end. And Caleb

Downs looks incredible so far. We all thought he was going to be good NFL player. He dropped to 11 where they draft number 10. He's good. Yeah, it's a very good roster. Can they put it all together? I'm not quite certain on that. But when you just roster-wise in the NFC, they're one the better rosters. And of course, adding a piece

to make your team better is always something you should do. I don't know where that piece ends up being. Maybe it's one more pass rusher because the young guys aren't ready yet. Maybe someone in the secondary. You're not going to probably get a suitable difference maker right now, Greg, in a trade. But I think Jerry Jones realizes that they could win or get close to the season with the roster they have.

I'm right there with you. Absolutely. This roster as currently constructed and configured, they are good enough to win. Now, that doesn't, every single team, moving forward, we'll make an adjustment. No team has ever won a Super Bowl without adding or subtracting from their roster from week one to week 16, 17, 18, whatever the case may be.

With that being said, like this offense, we know who they are, we know what they've always been about, scoring points. They were fifth in the league yards per game. They were second last year. We know what the defense has been or what they haven't been. They've been very bad. However, we don't really talk about why they were bad. They couldn't stop.

They couldn't get off the field. Yeah. Third down, when you give up a lot of points, there's a reason why you're giving up these points. Well, you're not getting off the field so you don't stay fresh. You can't stop the run. In their case, they couldn't stop the pass. And offensively, when you are in a position where you have this expectation of being the best,

one of the best offenses, the guys in the locker room are feeling like we can be the best offense, you have this X factor that we never talk about. in Brandon Aubrey where we we don't like talking about kickers we don't we don't talk about kickers but in this case when you talk about the Cowboys and can they win a championship I guarantee he's going to be a huge reason why if they are to get it done yeah with I mean with the kickoff rules and the touchback rules it's like they need two first downs and they're in field for Brandon Aubrey you know he's a tremendous weapon for them so to answer the question like I clean sweep across the board like I tend to also be pretty

generous this time of year? Like I don't want to go into an NFL season believing that there's only four teams that can win a Super Bowl. Like I think that if you can be truly elite on either side of the ball, that I do put you into the big bucket of teams that can win. And I think Dallas can be the best offense in football. So if you can be the best offense in football, you can win a Super Bowl. To your point, they got a lot going for them on offense. You mentioned everything you agreed, mentioned, plus continuity of coaching. Yes. It's not a well, can Schotenheimer do it, new play call? It's just everything's the same. They got a left tackle question. but their offense is in a great spot.

Their defense probably can't be worse. And they invested a ton of young, a ton of draft capital, free agency, new defensive coordinator, all of those things. So yeah, I definitely think they have enough to compete for a Super Bowl at this point of the year. I also think that Jerry should mortgage a bit of the future for this year's team. Because I think there's a really good chance that this 2026 Cowboys team is the best roster they have going into a season for the next couple of seasons. It seems to me very unlikely

given what they've paid DAC, given what they've paid CD, that George Pickens is going to want big money at the end of this year, and Quinn and Williams is going to want big money at the end of this year. It seems very unlikely that they're going to be able to pay both. So I could see Jerry saying, okay, this is the year that I'm going to have two great receivers and a great defensive tackle on the team. I'm losing one of them at the end of the year. Pickens would probably be the small favorite in that spot. Trade a future first round pick

to go get Max Crosby if he's available. Trade a second round pick to go get a plug and play corner to help opposite to Ron Bland. Like go out and mortgage a bit of your future for this year's team because you don't feel like both those guys are going to be here going on. So I think that's on the board when we're this early in the season and I don't think you're talking about like do that right now. It depends when it's available.

I think Crosby is getting traded during the regular season, just for a name. And so there lies my point. Like with the Dallas Cowboys, you have a bit of a bit of runway because you want to see what this defense really looks like. Yeah. You can't really gauge it and say, you know what, let's throw a, let's throw an all pro in Max Crosby in here. And then the expectation is going to be a little slightly different. Like, we better be a good defense. Right now, they have a chance to where they're trending in the right direction.

with being able to sustain this for more than just this year, in my opinion. I think it really depends for Crosby specifically, like how the young pass rushers develop. If those, they drafted two pass rushers first and second round. If those guys develop in Vaughn Miller shows he can help those guys and do enough, maybe you don't have to trade for him. But you can trade for Crosby, you have to do it, right? If you're a contender and you're offered Max Crosby, and he's still playing well, you have to make that trade.

So Crosby's name, if left tackle doesn't work out and they do that, If they feel like they need a corner or a linebacker, whatever it is. And obviously, Crosby would be the more, the sexier name and the bigger draft game, the high end. I just think that Dallas is in a spot where because their roster is top heavy with like where they put their contracts, I think that it makes a lot of sense for them to mortgage a little bit of the future for this year's Super Bowl. Not give up, not give up everything. But if you think you're going to be awesome this year and you trade next year's first round pick, and that's the 28th pick in the draft?

Yeah. It's not that significant a capital to give away to go try to win this year's Super Bowl. Let's go to Chicago where there's a lot of talk, obviously, about one of the most hype teams in the NFL. Caleb coming off a year with him and Ben Johnson. They go 11 and 6, win the division, win their first playoff game in 15 years.

Albert Breer was saying this summer that it's not like last summer year over year. He says, now a year later, they're able to reintroduce some things that didn't quite work in 25. But Williams and his teammates have some recall on them. The upshot now is that with improved play, Williams has more capital with his teammates to direct and lead,

which ultimately allows Johnson, Ben Johnson, to give him ownership of the offense. All right, Greg, you know I like making a packer say nice things about a bear. How dangerous are Caleb and the Bears going to be this year? So. Oh, it's hard for him. It's not. It's really not. Okay.

They're going to be dangerous. They're simply how dangerous. This is where it gets, this is where we're going to see whether there's growth and consistency in Caleb's play between quarters one through three. Because we talked about Bo Nix and what he was able to do and what he didn't do. But Caleb was kind of on that same path. And when you look at these numbers, if he is. is anywhere close to being what he is on that right side in the fourth quarter in overtime versus what he is on that left side through quarters one through three consistently.

Yeah. Then the bears are going to get everybody a problem. They're simply going to be not just dangerous, but a flat out threat to everyone that we're saying is a contender. They will then be a contender. Aren't those stats a product of him just being more consistent, right? those fourth quarter overtime plays, a lot of those sort of scrambled around,

out of pocket plays. Like those are these great, obviously. We saw that at USC. But the knock at him coming out of USC was the more consistency, right? We need to see more just like on time, on rhythm. That's what I want to see. In the pocket. He completed less than 60% of passes.

Like, that's nearly impossible to do nowadays the NFL. You bump into like 66%. Like, can we get a little more of the easy throws? If he's able to do that, that's where he excels. We know he can do the out of pocket, the out of structure, the end of the game heroic. He's great at that stuff. But to your point is that it's that.

just, hey, here's the play call. Can you drop back? Can you set? Can you throw the ball on time? If he does that? And really, to me, this is year two for him. Year one, throw that out. We see a lot of quarterbacks that make a big jump between year one and year two.

They just do, because that's when you get a full off-season with the same offensive coordinator, with the same weapons. I think Lovin's going to have an incredible year. Thousand yards is not off the table for him, I think. And so I think Caleb Williams, if you can just do the simple things well, that will accelerate his game this season.

I have no reason to believe that he won. or that he can't. I just have not yet heard a good explanation why if a guy can do the 10 out of 10 difficulty play, that he would be incapable of doing the three out of 10 difficulty play. And that comes with time on task, mastery of the offense, year two in the system, year three in the NFL. Caleb Williams had three separate systems over three years. Final year at USC, first year in the NFL, second year in the NFL, three different OCs,

three different play callers, three different offenses. First time in four years that he's had some continuity of system. Also, so it's his second year with Ben Johnson. It's Luther Burdens's second year with Ben Johnson. It's Roma Dunesay's second year with Ben Johnson. It's close to Loveland's second year with him. It's a very young offense that is with an excellent play caller and an excellent coach. And if he can go from 68 sacks as a rookie to 24 sacks in year two,

because that was the number one thing he prioritized. And then this offseason, the number one thing he's prioritized, is what you guys are both talking about. Hit the layups, man. Yeah. Just, so if a guy is that talented with that much talent around him, with that excellent of coaching around him, and it's been his number one priority,

and he fixed the biggest issue from year one to year two, why would I think he would not fix the biggest issue from year two to year three? It feels inevitable. Yeah. One of the greatest compliments I ever heard a coach give Aaron Rogers when we were in Green Bay was, we got to keep him in the pocket.

Because he's even better, he's even more dangerous outside the pocket. Not just with his legs, but as it pertained to him being even more accurate. If Caleb Williams can just, even in week one to week four, just when he gets uncomfortable, challenge himself to play within the pocket to your point. And just steadily take the blows,

take the ups, take the lumps early in the season. So that it may, just like we saw last season, as it pertained to pre-snap and all the issues that they were having, he took those lumps, he owned those lumps, and later on in the season, as the season progressed, we didn't see them show up ever again.

And he got more confident, and then in the end of the game, Heroics, we know what he turns into. And that for me, if he does, again, like we're all saying, if he does that, there is no limit to what this offense can look like. I also wonder if him playing with a better defense will change his job. USC's defense, not good. Your one, not good. Lasted out, a bunch of turnovers,

but they weren't a good defense. He tried to do hero ball too much, right? That's what he did at USC. It's what I feel like he feels like he's due sometimes. If the defense is better, maybe it just calms them down. I don't have to do everything. Just take what's in front of me. What if the defense isn't better?

I'm not loving all of the early reports about their health of the secondary. Kyler Gordon hurt, Kobe Bryant hurt. It can't be worse, I guess, unless you don't force the turnovers, then it might be worse. Well, it can be because they were his story. They were number one. They were number one in takeaways. Yeah, more takeaways.

But yeah. Like 30th in EPA. Yeah. But Jalen Johnson is back. I think the defense should be healthier, but I don't think it will be good. But I think, you know, you give up points, you score points. You win some games 3530, some shootouts, bad defense. MVP?

I mean, MVP. Is that ridiculous? Yes. All right. Well, I got it at like 13 to 1. MVP for K. of Williams this year. We are officially counting down four hours and 20 minutes to the Freedom 250 Grand Prix which will take place in our nation's capital on Sunday

coverage starting at 1130 a.m. Eastern only on Fox four days 20 hours zero minutes is what I meant to say Greg did you get America a birthday present for 250 no I do not hot dogs and fireworks that's all we need to be a great race tune in on Sunday on Fox let's get back to football everyone assumed You know, listen, everything I hoped for and more, that's going to be what Justin Herbert says in his wedding vows to Madison Beer. Get it, he's getting married. He is? Yeah, you hear that?

Yeah, they look really happy. It's actually what Mike McDaniel said about his quarterback. Take a listen. Intentionally working at the craft every day, which is what you have to do at the quarterback position. So he's been everything. that I'd hoped and more in that regard. And so we're just finding different things to add to his game each and every day to have the best foot forward starting week one. Okay, so the vibes coming out of Chargers camp have been excellent.

Everything they're saying about Herbert and Mike McDaniel and Harbaugh and the relationship, but they had their joint practice today with the Niners. Tyler Beattish, their center was carted off. Quentin Johnson got hurt going up for a ball. Linebacker got hurt. So I guess the excuse is already starting to come in from me with Justin Herbert. No, we'll wait to see on the designation there. But do you think this is going to work immediately, McDaniel and Herbert?

First of all, no more joint practices. You don't like joint practices. No. Do you? No. No more joint practices. Whoa. Just practice with yourself.

You don't need to practice in joint practices. But I, okay, interesting. But my understanding of it is that coaches like the. joint practices so that they don't have to play the guys who matter as much in the preseason and they can have more of a controlled environment in the joint practices. Yeah, you can say it's... Do I have that wrong? No, you're right about what they say.

But anytime it's hard to dial down the competition. You got another opposing team coming on. Everybody's going to come in with a little bit of an edge. Every single time you're going on the field. And when you have older guys going out who pretty much are already solidified, it just bad things are the only thing that can happen is bad. Yeah. Interesting.

And the work is not as good as you think it is. Like the work in the preseason game is better than the work in the practice, obviously. You don't want to play in the game sometimes. I get that. But joint practices, we got a bunch of injuries so far. The fighting is out of control. And that's why, like, Andy Reid doesn't do him. He's never done him in Kansas City.

Dan Campbell got rid of him. He didn't do him this year. So I hope those guys are healthy. Beyond just a big deal. If he's out, that's a big problem for Herbert. Back to the point. I think Herbert will play better this year because I trust Mike McDaniel.

I think he's a really good football coach. He might be a great head coach. He's a great offensive coach. Look what he did for Tua the last three or four years in Miami. Like guys were wide open for Tua. He designed an offense around a quarterback that is afraid to get hit.

Now there's reasons, of course, why he is that way, but he's kind of an offense where the ball's got to be gone in two seconds. Now, I get why people say Herbert doesn't deserve some of the praise he gets, but he's a physical specimen. He can do everything a quarterback can do in the national football league. Now you add the coach in there,

that can design offense for him that works. It gets guys open. You have a better offensive line with Altback, and Slayer's a little beat up right now. He should be back soon. Hopefully Bealhaw is healthy. The run game should be good. I love the pairing of Harbaugh and McDaniel.

It's kind of two separate schemes, but two guys that want to run the football, right? They want to be physical. So take some of that pressure away from Herbert. And I think it's building up right now, Greg, to be a really good offense. More anything, like when the Chiefs were looking for

offensive coordinator as a Chiefs fan, I was hoping they'd hire at McDaniel. It was never going to make sense, but he's a very top-tier offensive coordinator. Yeah, you talk about the run game. That's where my focus is going to be because we know Justin Herbert has the skill set. We know he has the talent. It's just a matter of the health around him.

But when you have two coaches that share a type of identity and you have one coming in and Mike McDaniel that has identity, you see Sean McVeigh, 13 personnel, we talk about it at nauseam. You see Kyle Shannon Hand, he has 21 personnel that he likes to run. Mike McDaniel, 22 personnel, two backs, two. two tight ends. He, A. Chan, went crazy down in Miami every single time they turned on the tape. He's coming with an identity that fits who they are and what they want to do. And now it's just a matter of can these guys on the outside, if they can hold up up front,

can these guys on the outside make plays with their one-on-one matchups? You got a fast guy that you drafted in later round and Brennan Thompson. So you know you got some speed. Quentin Williams, or excuse me, Quentin Johnson, a guy. that we just talked about being hurt. If he's healthy, he can make plays. And Ladmanki had a, he took a step back because of Keenan Allen coming back last year. But I think he reinserts himself as one of their go-to guys and they'll be just fine.

As long as there is a relative amount of health around Justin Herbert and today's news is not a great start for that. And they definitely need to get Roshan Slater back on the practice field given the severity of the injury that he's coming back from. But like with that injury caveat aside and that is not me making an excuse. That is what I would say for all 32 teams in the NFL. They just have been very injured recently, and today's news is not great for it. Yes, I'm willing to guarantee that it's going to work. He was sacked 56 times last year, and he still had his most touchdown passes in four years, and they still won 11 games. It was a disaster around him, and he was still really good.

So you now have good coaching to make it easier for him. The sky is the MVP and the Super Bowl. And it depends on what you're going to say as works. But for Herbert, it is he has to win playoff games. He's never won one. And he has to actually have some of the hardware and accolades to match up with like the scouting eye. And I'm not saying my scouting eye. Like back to that Jeremy Fowler article, the coaches and executives have him as the seventh best quarterback in the NFL.

And he's got zero playoff wins because they watch the games. And they're like, yeah, this guy can make every throw on the field. So yes, I am willing to guarantee that it works. He's getting two all pro tackles back. Like those are like slouches. two all pro tackles back. To the three highest paid guys on the team. You're right.

The bar, though, is, and what we'll judge him on this season is playoff success. Correct. That's it. Absolutely. So he's got to get to that level, which we think he can again. He's got to win playoff games. That's where the bar is at for Herbert now. He's done everything up to that point.

The next thing now is to win some of those playoff games. It would be nice if his worst performances of the year were not in the playoffs. That would be a nice change of pace for a guy who spent a lot of time defending Justin Herbert. On television. Speaking of offensive coordinator and coach combinations, let's go to Philly. Jalen Hertz still getting used to his sixth new play caller with Sean Mannion. Six is just a crazy number. But with one preseason game under his belt,

Mannion already feels comfortable, at least with the play calling aspect. Take a listen. One game in, I'm very, very happy with our process. And, you know, we'll keep always, you know, like anything, whether it's scheme or the process on the sideline and call them plays, we'll always try to see if we can make it better. But honestly, through one game, I felt really good about it. All right, guys. So the question is, do you expect Mannion to get the most out of Jalen Hertz?

And I'm going to go first so that I can have a cop out of an answer, okay? I don't know. But what I do know is that if it works, Sean Mannion is going to be a head coach somewhere. And if it doesn't work, he and others are going to be fired. Because that is Jalen Hertz's track record, and that's how it works in Philly. It's a wildly. So Jalen Hurts has had a new play caller or offensive coordinator every year that he's played big time football going all the way back to college.

But let's just focus on Philly because in Philly he has this unbelievable roster and he's the Super Bowl MVP and he's got Howie Roseman and everything. Okay, Doug Peterson, he was his head coach and his play caller, fired in 2020. Then Shane Steichen has success. He gets the Colts job. Johnson does terrible, gets fired. Oh, Kellyn Moore comes in, has success. They're back in the Super Bowl. He's the head coach of the Saints.

Petulow last year, disaster, he becomes the fall guy. I don't know that Sean Mannion can just be the fall guy here. Jalen Hertz doesn't have guaranteed money going forward. Nick Siriani, to what have you done for me lately city? Like if Sean Manion does not get the best out of Jalen Hertz, Greg, he and others are going to be out of work. Yeah, look, I think the way you get the best out of Jalen Hertz is you establish what we know works well for that, that offense.

and that's running the football. They suffered a lot of injuries up front on the offensive line, which kind of derailed a little bit of their running game. Sequin Barclay didn't look the same after that 2,000 yards rushing season. If they can establish who they want to be up front physically and be more aggressive in the run game, it just simply opens everything up for Jalen Hertz in this passing game. Now, when you listen to Sean Mannion talk about, you know,

Jalen Hertz being hungry and him being first one in, last one to leave. You love hearing all of that. But if you're a Philly fan and you watched last year and you see that A.J. Brown is no longer in that locker room and kind of the bailout guy. You know you got some young talent at receiver and you know you get one proven receiver that's been doing it alongside of A.J. Brown, Devante Smith, it's like, well, where do we point the finger at? And it's Jalen Hertz.

So you have to be more than enough, regardless of if she's, you. Sean Mannion is play calls are what they need to look like. You have to be the eraser. And he just hasn't been that as of late. I have my doubts, man, for this offense. And look, I've been a part of many new offensive installs. It takes eight to ten weeks in the regular season to sort of feel good about it. And they're now changing the entire office.

It's not like they're putting someone else in there to sort of call the plays they've been running. They're changing the entire offense around. Like it's a completely different offense with obviously new. coordinator, but a new offensive line coach who developed all those guys for all those years. You mentioned Barclay, Brown's not there anymore, and you have a first-time play caller. So, Sean Mann has not seen the adjustments he's going to have to make during games yet. And Hertz has not seen the adjustments he has to make in this new office. It's going to take two months to figure out what they want to be.

And by that time, is the heat cool enough for them to allow, like, the growth to happen, right? Because if they start slow this year, they're going to be calls immediately, right, for changing everything very quickly. And look, preseasoning game one doesn't matter very much. They had two first sounds for 55 minutes of that game the other day. Like, I get it. Starters weren't playing. But for Sean Mayne and say, like, I like the process of what?

You didn't do anything. It sounded like they were just complimenting, like, literally his ability to make play calls. Yeah, he did speak to the game and he was frustrated with how they looked on office. It's just like, I'm curious if they play game too because. I think the starters have to play in this situation. Again, it's a completely, it's two different things, man. It's completely different. Like just hearing the play call and you're here

is going to be different than what he's heard for his entire career. And you have, again, new schemes up front, new, new everything. Like, they've got to play a little bit in the preseason in my mind. They have to get some of that out early on. I know you don't want to play your guys.

Maybe Lane doesn't play. Like, maybe Seekwan takes a couple reps and sits out. But they got to do something in the precinct to get this offense going. But at some point, with Jalen Hertz being a veteran quarterback, with him having success, with him playing in two Super Bowls, winning one, playing well in the one that they even lost, playing great in the one that they want.

Like we've seen him play at a high level. It is on him to share, to take some of this pressure off of a first time offensive coordinator and play caller. Yeah, you would think that a Super Bowl MVP with a $250 million contract, some of it would be on him. I mean, that just has to happen. And he doesn't have the luxury of us, you know, like Justin Herbert where, oh, he has so much talent, but we'll wait for him to become whatever he needs to become and win playoff games. Jalen Hertz doesn't have that luxury.

We're going to look at him and say he's the reason why they're not having success. Regardless of the play caller, regardless of the run game, regardless of no A.J. Brown in the building and no extra chatter coming from within the locker room, you are the constant. You are the calm. You should be the one that rises everybody's level of play. Well, it's why when I said at the beginning, like, if it goes poorly to Jeff's prediction, it's not going to be Sean Mannion who takes this blame. It will be Siriani and Jaylennyers. Siriani and Jay Leno.

But in the past, it hasn't been. In the past, it's been like, well, I mean, Siri. I'm an offensive coach. How many years can they be bad on offense, not as good as you want them to be? And Sierraini survived that. Right. I would think that Siriani, and again, that story that came out on ESPN right after. that the season ended.

This was just like, Jalen was partly responsible for the failures of the offense. And oh yeah, by the way, he doesn't have guaranteed money on his contract going forward. Jalen Hurts is on notice too. He's definitely on notice. In Philadelphia.

Back here with some weird and wonderful Wilds is out. I'll handle it, though. I wanted to lead the show with this wonderful. Check out my MVPA. Down in the ninth, tie it up. It's not every day. you get to start a game, first pitch homer, end a game, last pitch homer.

Show Hey, Otani, man. That's old news. Yeah, he also had two home runs. Yeah, I know. PCA for MVP. He puts the V in value. You know what I'm saying? Anyone know what I'm saying?

I am, I am on board with the MVP if Otani is not going to pitch. Well, he's not pitching. Correct. And this guy's the best defensive center fielder in the game. I like the 30.30 is a multi-dimensional. 30 30 back to back years. And if the Cubs finish strong too and end up with one of the top seeds in the NL, that's another feather in his cap. I agree.

And it's not a super team around him. Oh, wait, we're not doing this for the whole rest of the show. Okay, my bet. Let's get to the weird. So LSU posting a clip of Jalen. Nope. That is actually their cornerback, DJ Pickett. Greg, Jeff, you're a big college guy.

Yeah. You got issues on this number five situation? No, right? There's a hundred guys in the roster. You're going to have to sometimes use a number that may be worn by someone who won a Heisman previously. I got to admit, I understand Jaden Daniels being a little upset about it. I don't understand him being upset enough to involve a lawyer. I get being a little annoyed. But what is he what's the end game here? You just want five retired? Is that the end game for him? Yeah, I think so. Okay. You want it treated like they treat Burroughs number? I just think you don't say anything if you're just. Well, you maybe say something with a phone call? No, you just, you don't say, you don't say anything.

Correct. You don't say anything. You just let it happen. Or you call Lane and you're like, hey, next year, can you get you not do five next year? Yeah, you used to work out here. Getting the lawyer involved seemed like an escalation. George McDonnell, I'm going to need you to get your receiver to go up for that ball now. To the wonderful.

Check out Mets rookie right fielder Carson Benj, back-to-back outfield assists in the first inning. And check the scouting report. Ha. Once you get him once, you can't run on him again. That's a fact. I mean, what's going on here? These are crisp heart. It falls to the same guy.

It's like a replay. They're not even close. Not even close. Not even close. Back in the day that catcher would have been trucked twice in a row. I'm glad they changed that rule. That would have been brutal. Yeah, but I mean, the throw beats each guy by 20 feet.

Let's get to the weird. All right, so this Bill's fan had DJ Moore pick his fantasy draft order. I love it. That's very creative. That is very creative. I'm announcing right now exclusively that we are doing a staff First Things First and First Things First Overtime Fantasy Football League. Either you guys want in?

Sure. Let's do it. That was a no. That's a no from both of you. No, I'm in. I normally just like check my lineup on Sundays. I always forget. But I'm in.

I'm good game. We don't want you making trades. Oh, yeah. We want you engaged. I got too much gamblers. going on. Okay. Final wonderful.

Travis Kelsey. That was a backfire. He's entering year 14. Woo! I mean, put the oki-doke on him, Greg. Moving good for year 14. He is, man. And he moves at his own pace.

He's patient. That's why he gets guys. Because you know he's not fast. And you feel like I got to go for the first little move that he makes at the top of the route. And he's going to give you something else. His over under for the season is 674.5. Take a stand, Schwartz.

He's going over. I go over slightly. Okay. Time now for afternoon headlines. Sponsored by Hilton Garden Inn. Hilton for the stay. All right, nobody talks more Daniel Jones than Greg Jennings. However, Albert Breer thinks we're still not doing it enough.

He wrote that Danny Dimes is the most fascinating figure you're not talking about saying, quote. Now the best news, Jones already looks like he's all the way back. He thinks the one piece he's still working to get back is his explosiveness. The guy's coaching and leading the organization to agree. Based on what they've already seen, there's every reason to believe Jones will, and a big part of that is not just where he is now, but how he got here. All right, Greg, you've decided to climb to national stardom on the backs of Daniel Jones. He is your guy. Are we still underappreciation? Absolutely.

Okay. Like we continue, not we, excuse me. Everyone continues to snooze on him. You're pointing me. You continue to snooze on him. You snooze on him. It's just like you're sleeping at home and you, everybody presses the snooze button and eventually you know what you got to do?

You gotta wake up. Eventually you gotta wake up. It's a deep now. He's in a situation now that we continue to kind of go back to where we continue to kind of back to, well, he what he was with the Giants, what he wasn't with the Giants. Shane Steichen has him playing great football. If he is healthy and he gets back to what he looked like at the beginning of last season, that he has everything around him that he needs.

This is not just exclusively about Daniel Jones, which is why I get excited about it, because he has a running game. He has one of the best running backs in all the football. He has a good tight end. He has a guy that can go down the field in Alex Pierce and create a deep threat. He has guys that up front that can protect them to where he doesn't have to take all these hits. Like Daniel Jones is in a completely different environment. We saw it last year. We thought that it was fluff. We thought that it was a joke. Oh, it's going to fizzle out. Well, yes, it did because of the injury and all the things.

But Daniel Jones is in a great situation. He has a play caller and a head coach that puts them in a great situation offensively, leans into what he does great. And ultimately he can turn around and hand the ball off and they can get four or five yards a clip every time. In his best season he can have this season, where would you put him in the NFL? Like tier two, lower tier two, top of tier three. Like where would you? I think he's going to start off that tier three spot right now.

But he has the potential to be in that top tier two. Okay. No doubt in my mind, absolutely. If he gets to play, what, four of the worst? Teams NFL over eight-game stretch. That would be nice again this year. Because then he played better teams, like the Chiefs and the Texans and the Steelers. And this is a police percent has dropped 10 percent.

His officially dropped way down. Like, yeah, it was a good start of the season. And they played better teams and it wasn't as good anymore, right? They got eight weeks to film on Daniel Jones. You know about midway through the season, right? You have all that film on a guy. That's a first. It dropped down.

I mean, look, Ravens, Chiefs, Texans. And what you're not saying is the injuries that started to happen. Sure, but everyone plays a little beat up. And eventually he got, then he got injured out for the season. But, like, we all play a little beat up. I'm not even just talking about Daniel Jones. I'm talking about across the board on their team. Defensively, they started looking different,

so they had to do different things offensively. Like, they started suffering injuries. I'm not trying to make an excuse for him, because I still believe that if he can get back and he can get what he's feeling is more explosive, and he comes back, he plays from the pocket, he does everything that you want a quarterback to do. He doesn't turn the ball over the way that he did

when he was in New York. I like him a lot. And like I said, everybody eventually has to stop hitting the snooze button because eventually you're going to get up. It's a good line. I wonder if we're sleeping on Shane Steichen. Oh, definitely. He might be the best coach in the NFL that we never talk about.

We never talk about him. So he's been a head coach for three years. Eight wins, eight wins, nine wins. Leading passer one year was Anthony Richardson. Leading passer one year was Gardner Minchew. Leading passer one year was Daniel Jones. And then Daniel Jones got her. And then you go back and you bring in like his coordinator days to it.

These are the quarterbacks who have had either their best or second best year, depending on the numbers with Shane Steichen. Three, three different dudes, three different styles, three different teams. He is a very good coach who does get a lot out of their offense. So I think it's very impressive whenever a quarterback can go from one place to another. It's the Sam Darnold effect. It's like, oh, wow, Kevin O'Connell's a good coach. Like, Kevin, you're right?

Like, what he was able to do for Sam Donald. That's how I feel about Shane Steikens. We talk about the Colts like they've been a disaster. They have eight wins as their floor since Shane Steikin's been there. It's a pretty good floor for a quarterback to walk into. I do agree that we have undervalued him, maybe because the injuries last season, maybe because they're in the South and we look at that division and kind of roll our eyes at that division. But he has been a great coach everywhere he's been.

I agree there. So you're not sleeping on. No, I am sleeping on jumps. I think the coach is good. I don't think down jump would be upper tier too. No, I said you're not sleeping on Shane Steichen. No. But you are sleeping.

Yes. That's how convincing my argument. Yes. He came around on Shane Steiking. Okay. Score one from Mexico. Live from New York, it's the show that's asking Micah Parsons for predictions week tips. I love that Micah Parsons is in the NFL, but non-active.

And he's just like, I got AFC West ranking. Love it. That is just great. That is new media. It's spectacular. That's Greg Jennings and Jeff Schwartz. One hour down and one to go. Coming up though, as mentioned, Micah predicts the Chiefs will not win the

AFC West. We will get on the record. Still, though pencil, not pen, not quite two predictions week. And also, Jemar Chase was named the best wide receiver in the NFL. We will discuss whether or not that makes him and Joe Burrow the best duo in the NFL. But it's Tuesday, which means only one thing. Only one thing. Half-priced tacos and marks. Also, a perfect top 10 Tuesday. I'm calling my shot. We're 22 days away from opening night. I'm going to give you my list of the top 10 players with the most on the line this season. And we decided this week we would try something. Top 10 Tuesday? We're going to start with number 10. It seemed to make sense. You can laugh out loud, Greg. It's okay. We start with 10 every week. You get it? Okay, fine. Thank you. George Pickens. Now, some of these are going to be literal.

He's playing on a franchise tag. 27 million fully guaranteed in the bank. It's pretty good. But if George Pickens has the same year, this year, that he had last year, does George Pickens become the highest paid player at his position in the NFL? Maybe, but his contract will certainly start

with a four at the front of it. He will be a 40 million plus per year guy. And if he doesn't, and he moves on from Dallas, shorter-term deal, less money, and a worse situation. Because it's tough to be in a better offensive situation than in a dome with Dak Prescott. They throw 600 times a year opposite C.D. Lamb. He's got an absolute ton riding in the bank and for his reputation this year. Coming to number nine, another receiver, Puka Nakua.

He's just straight up a free agent at the end of the year. And he led the league in catches last year. And he's one of the best blockers. And he's been absolutely awesome since he's been in the NFL. but there have been some weird distractions, like bringing influencers into the locker room. There have obviously been off the field issues. There still was talk that he might face a suspension

at some point this year. But if he turns out another spectacular season, he will be the highest paid player at his position in the NFL coming off the rookie contract and all of that. So very similar between Pickens and Puka at number 10 and number nine. Coming to number eight, we were talking about it a little bit earlier. Jalen Hertz.

He's 18 months removed from a Super Bowl MVP. He's made hundreds of millions of dollars. So this is not necessarily a financial one. But it's Philadelphia. You can't blame Sean Mannion for everything. And at some point, people are going to look to you and say, are you sure you're the QB of the future? When there is not virtually any guaranteed money on his deal beyond this year,

they just traded AJ Brown for a 2028 first round pick. So not this upcoming draft, but the one after that. But that gives them maneuverability. if they wanted to draft the quarterback this year to bring in to push Jalen Hertz. I'm not at all convinced that two years from now, Jalen Hertz is QB1 in Philadelphia. Number seven,

felt like it was time to get a defensive player into this list. Kvon Tibado. Now, he's not a starter. This is a good one. Oh, do you like this one finally? Thank you. The first three were good to. Brian Burns and Abdul-Carter,

arguably top three pass-rush duo in the end. NFL. Kavon Tibido was the fifth overall pick. And if we look at what he did year two in the NFL, he looked like he was going to completely live up to it. Top 12 in sacks, 11 and a half sacks, great pressures. He's a physical specimen. Since he has eight total sacks, I don't think the giants are going to franchise tag Kavon. No, I think he's going to be traded at some point. Right. So he's either playing to be traded or he will this, if he has a big year this year, year like 2023, he will just be an unrestricted free agent in his mid-20s as a pass rusher. He will get a massive payday and he'll be able to choose his team.

So there might be no player in the NFL with actual dollars and cents more on the line than Kavon Tibido. Number six, Baker Mayfield. We'll get back to the quarterbacks. Didn't get the deal done before the year. If he plays like he did two years ago, he's going to get $50 million plus to stay in Tampa. If he doesn't, are they in a transition? They brought in Zach Robinson, new offensive coordinator, everything is there for him. Baker's clearly a starter in the NFL, but is he a starter in the NFL where he gets a four or five-year deal and he gets the Jordan Love, Jalen Hertz, Brock Purdy type of contract?

Or is he going to have to always take short-term deals, given that he's on the wrong side of 30? given the position that he plays, we're talking about tens of millions of dollars on the line for Baker Mayfield. I think you could put Todd Bowles right next to Baker Mayfield, too. I mean, they feel like they're together, right? They don't have the year that they want. They're both out of a job.

That's why Baker Mayfield didn't sign a, it's why Tampa didn't want him to sign a long-term contract for $50 million, because if it goes bad this year, they're both out. I was debating if I, there's a coach coming up on the list, but I was debating Todd Bulls. He's definitely on the house. Yeah, the Baker one for me is,

you're absolutely right. he should be on this list. But for Tampa, I'm just, where are you, where are you going? Who are you, where are you going to in terms of if Baker is not your quarterback of the future, just because of what he performed, how he performed in the latter end of the season. But he, he has been everything you've hoped him to be. Listen, I agree with you. I think they should have signed him this year and they should have committed to Baker Mayfield

for the next three or four years at the $50 million. I don't think they're doing better. but it sounds like they are potentially willing to take a step back after this year if Baker isn't good this year. It feels like after this year it's a reset go younger. Offensive coach like we're going younger because look the defense are cycling out some older guys right. Yeah. And it feels like offensively that's going to happen next.

And they have you sitting there on pieces of course. But like Mayfield's gone, new young head coach, like we're sort of starting over quarterback. I bet on Baker. Emeka, Abuka, Tristan Wirves, Zach Robinson. Yeah. Motivated Baker Mayfield. Bucky Irving. I bet on Baker would have a good statistical year this year.

All right, number five, Deshawn Watson. Is he out of football entirely next year? I can't see Deshawn Watson being a team's backup quarterback. This is the last year of his fully guaranteed contract. They traded

three first round picks and gave him 230 million fully guaranteed and this is what they got for him. 19 games played, 49 games missed, five more touchdowns than interceptions, then turnovers, excuse me, in 19 total games. The arc of his career from national champion to 12th pick in the draft to 4,800 yards in Bill O'Brien when he was like 23, 24 years old, to being traded for what he was just traded for, to if it doesn't go well for him this year, he's just out of football entirely at the age of 30,

waking up being like, what happened? I would not bet on the bounce back for him, but if it's literally out of the league at 30 years old, there's a ton on the line for Deshawn this year. Our one and only coach on the list, Zach Taylor. Now, there are conflicting reports about whether or not Zach Taylor

has another year left on his contract. Coaching contracts are not, it's not the most transparent of industries, but Cincinnati has never paid, since their current ownership group is in, they have never paid dead money to a coach. Like they just, you coach out your contract. And so if he doesn't have any time left on his deal and they don't win big, he's obviously out.

But if they do win playoff game or games this year and he gets an extension, because they don't pay dead money to a coach, he might get to coach all of Joe Burroughs Prime. Pretty big delta for Zach Taylor. You either get to coach Joe Burroughs Prime or you're fired and probably don't get another head coaching job. Pretty big. Coming to that number three. Kyler Murray could have been number one. Is he a starting quarterback in the NFL? I think so.

My gut tells me that even if this goes poorly somehow in Minnesota, he will go somewhere next year where he will be in competition for a job, like a legitimate competition, not a J.J. McCarthy competition. But wherever he goes next year, I guarantee it will be in a worse situation than Minnesota. because you will not have a top five wide receiver duo in the NFL. He gets to play in a dome, plays for a top 10 coach, has a Brian Flores defense. This is a situation that made Kirk Cousins look awesome. It made Sam Darnold look awesome.

If Kyler Murray can't be awesome in this scenario in Minnesota, probably not going to happen for him. So could have had this guy at number one, Greg. I know you're not at all. This one for me, you're playing for the not only, future, but for this franchise, they are looking for a future with you as well. I understand they got J.J. McCarthy, but you beat him out. So now if you're Kyler Murray, it's like you have the keys to the car. Like I've always been one of the mentality of when I get in the driver's seat, I take down

the rearview mirror. I don't need to know who's behind me because I believe in my abilities that much to where I'm going to keep working. That has to be Kyler Murray. Jimmy Butler once literally took the rearview mirror out of his car because he said he doesn't look back. And I was like, that's dangerous. Yeah, we should have a rearview mirror. I definitely wouldn't literally do it.

Yeah, he literally did it. He literally drove around a car with no rearview mirror. I was like, I don't know if that's road safe. This season for Murray comes down to like whether he's renting a place in Minnesota or building a house, right? Like that's, it's that simple. Because if he, he posed well this year is going to get, you mentioned Kavon Tibado with the most money on this list at stake. And Colin Murray's going from, I know Arizona's paying him, but he's going to get, He plays well 60 a year for Minnesota.

Like he's set. Like he's there for- Minnesota can't, they can't risk it again. Correct. They just did it with Sam Darnel. Right. If it works, they have to commit. They have to commit.

They have to commit. And I think that's why they brought him in. They do feel that if it does work, they're going to pay them long term. They won't be bad enough to draft a quarterback. And they just did it. They just drafted a quarterback. It didn't work out. So he has all this incentive to play well.

They will pay him a lot of money. So a lot of quarterbacks on the list, one defensive player, a couple of receivers, a head coach. Come in a number two. Jerry Jones. We talk so much about him. I legitimately do think there's a chance that this is the best roster they have for years because of what we talked about earlier with George Pickens

and the fact that next year's team might not be as good. I would mortgage some of my draft capital for the future to go a little bit more all in on this year's team. He turns 84 in October. Everything about the Cowboys is it's been 30 years since we haven't played in a championship game and 30 plus since the Super Bowl and all of those things. He wants one more Super Bowl so badly. He wants a Super Bowl that Jimmy Johnson had nothing to do with.

So badly. That was why the Netflix documentary was made. Yes. That is not a, he wants it to be known that he did it on his terms. 84 years old, an awesome offense, a completely revamped defense, a ton on the line for Jerry Jones this year. Coming in number one, C.J. Stroud. We don't talk Texans every day, but this is a Super Bowl caliber team.

Yes. It is a Super Bowl caliber defense with a Super Bowl caliber head coach with an excellent number one wide receiver in Nico Collins and a quarterback who if he was just Brock Purdy, I'd be like, they can win the Super Bowl. If he was Brock Purdy, they would have. They would have done. Execute the offense. Do not be spectacular. Be smart. Don't make mistakes.

could win the Super Bowl. But C.J. Stroud was obviously atrocious in their playoff loss last year, but he was bad in every loss. There was not a single game that they lost of their six that you could point to and be like, well, C.J. Stroud played well, but they lost. He was bad in all of them. He had four touchdowns in their six losses, total. So you look at Stratt and it's like, man, be the 16th best quarterback in the NFL and you guys can win the Super Bowl. That is such a low bar. Now, they picked up his fifth year option. 20th. Well, so they picked up his fifth year option.

So it's not like he's literally playing for, like he's got money coming a year from now. Right. But if he has an awesome year and they win multiple playoff games, they'll give him a contract extension for $250 million. Yeah, from the same number. Yeah. If he's terrible, they'll call Jimmy Garoppolo or they'll try to trade for somebody. Like, there is so much reputational, monetary, and just like the fate of the franchise.

on Stroud this year. We've taught a lot of quarterbacks in this, in this hour, right? Have we talked to one that has a better defense, everything around him? Like, he's got all in place. He's got, now, listen, he's got some question marks on the offensive line, but no team is perfect. But they've tried to fix the offensive line. They've tried their best. We'll see how much better is it.

But just like, just don't screw it up, dude. Like, he's got an easy job. Just don't mess it up. I wouldn't say he has an easy job, but, look, as it pertains to this list, Danny, I thought the list was really good. I really did. I took some issues with like where I would place him. So when I look at C.J.

Stroud, I don't know if there's anybody that I would put number one other than possibly Kyler Murray because of his situation. But C.J. Stroud was once I saw C.J. Stroud's number one. Okay. I'm good with that because you talk about real Super Bowl aspirations. They could literally have had a Super Bowl last season if all of what you talked about. He wasn't. If he was just fine.

If he was just fine, okay. But I thought you had Jerry Jones a little too high. Okay. Jerry Jones has done so much more than what we would have anticipated him to do post the Micah Parsons trade in terms of putting together this roster and it looking and feeling and the vibes and the chatter around not only the guys that are going to be on the field, but the coaches that are in the building. I think he's done a outstanding job.

But, I mean, I don't want to mistake activity for accomplishment. Like, they've done a lot, but it's still, we still have to see it work. We do, we do. But every team, every team, but there's last year, we felt like, well, Jerry, you didn't make any moves. You said you were all in. What does all in look like? Because you didn't do anything. This year, when he talked about getting, when he traded away Michael Parsons and he started

talking about you were going to do it by committee, We all were looking like, yeah, right, what committee? And now we look at this roster and we say, oh, I see the committee. And the committee actually looks kind of good. And so when you look at this defense and it starts with him. I get it. He wants to win a Super Bowl and his clock is ticking. But he's done his part in terms of putting his team in a position to where we're talking.

We're now talking about them being a contender, not him. We are. We'll give him credit for that, because I did, I was harsh about him trading Parsons away, but he's done a good job of backfilling that. We'll see how the young guys, but I want to make a trade potential on number eight here for Jalen Hertz. Is Nick Serrani not Jailen Hertz? Nick Schorney will never be a head coach again if he gets fired in Philly. Do you think he's a head coach again? Would you want him to be a head coach?

I would not. Packers or whatever team. No, he's definitely like this is it. Like this is his last time to be head coach. If they lose this year in a way that is enough for them to fire Nick Schiarnie, he's not even offensive quarter. He doesn't call plays. Like, he won't be an OC.

Maybe he'll be a senior advisor for the next 30 years of his career. He'll just go to... He'll just be somewhere. He'll have a job, obviously. He won't leave the NFL, but he'll just be a senior analyst or senior advisor for the rest of his career.

Like, this is it. He will never be a head coach again. Hurt's, let's say he plays a part of this year and they release him. He'll be a quarterback next year somewhere immediately as a starter. There's seven teams that could use him right now that he'll find a job.

It might not be the best job, but he'll find a job again. Sernan would never be a head coach again. So Serraini replaced Jailen Hurts. I think it's totally fair. I'm not, I certainly wouldn't. Listen, I'd be shocked if Jalen Hertz was just outright released to begin with. And Nick Seriotti definitely could be fired.

So in that stake, like, he does actually literally have his job more on the line. There's just generally so much more pressure on a quarterback than a coach. And I can't shake that article that came out that was just so clearly sourced from people in Philly. They're like, listen, we're going to trade A.J. Brown. But we kind of think it was on Jayland. We're training AJ Brown, but Jailen Hurts doesn't have any guaranteed money left on his deal. Like, there is a ton of pressure coming for Jailen Hurts. So I could have split the graphic and put it for both.

All right, let's get back to some football. Micah Parsons is spending the offseason just like me. Getting ready for predictions week. We should get Mike on. That would be great. Now, he sat down with Bleacher Report to give his AFC West predictions. I don't think this made its way to Nick on vacation. but we'll send it to him. Take a listen.

The Los Angeles Chargers are number two over Kansas City. I do not think Kansas City put enough around Patrick Mahomes to win the AFC West and go pick another time of run. I don't think they added enough or kept enough to say we're trying to win this year. It's just great stuff. Jeff, do you agree? You said you're a chiefs fan, you're a former chief. Yes. That's where we met.

do you agree with Micah that Mahomes doesn't have enough? When has Mojones really ever had enough, though? I mean, Tyree Kill, Mitchell Street, Travis Kelsey, Mitchell Schwartz. Mitchell Schwartz, of course, four-time All-Pro. Yeah. Best offense line in the NFL for many years at right tackle. All right, that's enough of that. Here's one.

So, look, I think that if you look at historically where they're at compared to where they've been, there's some question marks, right? Pass rush, right? Like, edge pass rush. got to be good on the defensive line with some of the young guys. They drafted two guys last year. They drafted a couple guys this year. Those guys have got to perform well.

The secondary, right? They got rid of McDuffey and Watson. But Spag, the defense corner, has proven year over year, they get young guys ready to play pretty fast than secondary. I'm actually not worried about that. They drafted Canada. Kennedy from Oregon, I think it was really good in the slot. They're probably going to be fine. Hicks played a bunch in the other day. I imagine he'll be a big role of safety

for them this season. And then offensively, okay? There's question mark a wide receiver. Absolutely. Rishi Rice, I don't know if you seeing the videos at camp, not great. Yeah. Not great. Now, he had surgery and went to jail. Like maybe his knee is not really ready to go yet.

There's more time for that. It's been an eventful off season. Yeah. The Cyrus Island kid looks good, the fifth round pick. But still, not a ton of weapons in wide receiver. Calcee is a year older. The offense line's really good. I don't know why this offseason we spent

like talking about the offensive line. It's good. They brought in Kenneth Walker. That's enough to make a run. Are they the most talented team in the AFC West? No. But oftentimes he's not been the most talented team. they've won the AFC West.

Is he the most talented of the AFC? No, we talked about Houston. Houston's more talented than them. But they have Mahomes, they have Andy Reid, we got Chris Jones, they have young players secondary. They have a chance if the young, I think it really comes down to the young edge rushers and what offensive design they have this season

and make things easier for Mahomes. I actually wanted to jump me because I was thinking a lot about Rishie Rice with this. Because yes, I'm with you on the pass rush. They've remade their secondary before, but you could mess it up this time. So I was just thinking about his supporting cast. I agree with you,

the offensive line should be good. I don't think that's a problem. Kenneth Walker was a big addition. That's great. He's got Andy Reid. He's Patrick Mahomes. That should all be fine. I think Rishi Rice is really good. I think. Like last year, I was looking it up to, he was pacing for it. He played eight games. If you did his eight game pace for a 17 game season, it would have been 112 catches for 1,200 yards and 10 touchdowns. When he plays, he is productive. But when you factor in the off-field issues and the fact that he's got 20 starts in three years, I don't know that I can depend on the guy. But if you told me right now today, Rishi Rice will be healthy for week one, there will be no knucklehead behavior, there will be no off-the-field issue, and he will play for 17 games plus the playoffs.

Then I'm like, yeah, Mahomes is good to go. But I have no confidence that I can count on Rishie Rice. If you go back even two years, the start of his second season, remember the first year he played. okay, but then that playoff running was really good, right? Yeah. Year two, he had 30 catches through three weeks, and then got hurt, missed two years ago, then missed half of last year. Now, obviously, look, if the knee comes around and he looks better, he can be that productive.

Absolutely. But we're what? We're four weeks from the season. He's not moving like he should right now. So, Michael Parsons, I agree with some of what he said in terms of, I don't, I wouldn't say that Patrick Mahomes doesn't have enough. I would say that they didn't add. the skill guys around him in large part because Patrick Mahomes is enough.

That's how you always look at it. If you're Brett Veach and you're evaluating, okay, how can we sustain the dynasty and continue it moving forward? Well, we paid Patrick Mahomes because he is the best in the business and we paid him that way because he is enough to raise the tide of the guys around him that we're going to afford that we can afford. Meaning we're going to have C plus B minus B guys at the receiver and in skill positions.

Obviously you've had Travis Kelsey, younger version of Travis Kelsey always has been amazing. He's getting now older. So you're losing a little of that productivity. But Patrick Mahomes is simply enough. Right. And so as long as you have a healthy version of Patrick Mahomes, it's like the Tom Brady effect. Tom Brady, until he got Randy Moss,

we never looked at his roster and was like, oh my gosh, Tom Brady has the best receiving court. Now, yeah, Rob Grankowski had injuries in and out of lineup, but he was awesome, one of the best to do it. But he never had a dynamic skilled set of guys around him. And his friend, and Wilms's first eight games last year, he was really good. He was great. And so, like, for me, it's a matter of, okay,

what can we do this year to a, ensure he doesn't have to carry so much so quickly. That was Kenneth Walker. That's why you get Kenneth Walker and you go acquire, get back Eric B. enemy, reestablish who you are in the run game. And now you can play action pass and do things off the run that will help these younger receivers and some of these receivers that we are looking to take a little bit more of a bump. The chiefs also look like they brought out the screen game in the first preseasoning game,

which they'd been the best screen team forever, but sort of went away from that. But now they had backs that can do it. They just didn't have back. Pacheco is not a screen guy. Yeah. Like, Cremont's not a screen guy. But also, too, I hope the offense goes back to just finding easy yards in the past game.

Like, that was a problem they had last year. They just didn't find easy ways to get seven yards, get five yards. It just was a product of, I think, stale offense. But also, too, like, the wide receivers just weren't good enough to beat man coverage a lot of times. You put credits on that, though, because that's a very polarizing thing in the Chiefs world. What? It is Andy. reads offense getting a little stale.

That's a very polarizing thing. It was last year, but the chief says wanted him fired. And my argument was like, can you give this Hall of Fame coach a year to figure out how to have a better offense? And firing him would be ridiculous. He got rid of some offensive coaches as well. They've been there a long time. So maybe there's some new energy at the running back room at the wide receiver room.

So I need to see the offense. Just give Mahomes a little bit easier completions. Like it just wasn't an offense last year that found him easy ways to move the ball down the field. Let's go to Pittsburgh where Aaron Rogers is gearing up. for you know year 22 totally normal and his new slash old coach Mike McCarthy he's not only excited about the contributions he can make this season but also the impact that Aaron Rogers will have down the line take a listen I haven't in Aaron in there is you know

incredible you know every day he wakes up he contributes to not only today but the future of our quarterback room that that's you know that's a very unique opportunity to in the quarterback room. All right, Greg, you played for that coach and caught passes from that quarterback. Expectations for Rogers this year? Expectations is to be enough to where we can make the playoffs

and have a shot at winning a playoff game. That's the expectations. A shot at maybe winning a playoff game. Look, with their track record of winning or not winning in the postseason, winning a playoff game, I know it's Pittsburgh. I know it's the Steelers.

And they're about championships. But they got to get back to doing what looks good and feels good when it matters most. And that's in the postseason. Haven't won one since 2016. Correct. And now what Mike is saying is spot on. The reason why you want to wait for Aaron Rogers to come back and say he's going to play this year is because he gives you the best chance to do that immediately. But also, you know he's not your future.

but you have understudies and Drew Aller and Will Howard. Will Howard to where you feel like, man, if they can see what it looks like under my system, my system being Mike McCarthy, then we have a step forward

moving into next offseason to where we have a running start. But the expectation is always going to be Super Bowl when you're talking about Aaron Rogers and you're talking about the Pittsburgh Steelers. Realistically, win a playoff game. I should hang on the banner in Hinesfield

maybe win a playoff game this season. Hey man, but he is correct. You're absolutely correct. Like, we saw the, I think the best of Rogers, the best you're going to get from this, probably a tick above average-ish, right? And we know that most years, the winner of the division has the best quarterback.

Not every year, but most years, that's the case. He's third best in division. Would you agree on that? Third best of division? Yeah, yeah. So he's probably not getting a home playoff game. Now, I know in different years they've won the division, even though the other guys are still in the division.

division. We know that, of course. But I just, I don't know, I think you're just a middling team. And some of the success over the years, where Tomlin has been that Steelers voodoo, where they just, the Colts game. They had, they forced like seven turnovers. You're like, well, is that, is the voodoo still there? Still there with McCarthy? I don't know. That's been a big part of of their success. I just think the Steelers are like an eight-win team and nine-win team. And to me, the problem with them, I've said this for years now, they've got to pick a lane, man. You got to either be bad and draft a quarterback or, like, go for a quarterback in the draft. this middle thing where it's like, well, Rogers for a year, maybe Jewel or next year,

never going to win. You never win championships that way. I agree with you. I would have done that two years ago if I was Pittsburgh. You've always been about Pittsburgh tanking. I've been the same way. Bottom up. You got to do something. They're just in the middle every year. My issue was like the stat about how Mike Tomlin never had a losing season is maybe the most overrated stat ever. Because it's like, if it doesn't come with playoff wins, it's like, cool.

He's just awesome at getting the 18th pick in the draft. Like, that's not the most exciting thing in the world. And so also when I saw this from Mike McCarthy, I was like, what are the chances that Drew Aller or Will Howard is actually the quarterback of the future? I mean, just a year ago, Drew Aller was being projected to be the top pick. So maybe he is, but generally speaking, like the projections are wrong. Like where they actually get drafted is correct. Right?

Like, generally. Yeah. Like, a lot of, like, the 2028 draft projections right now mean nothing to me. Where guys actually were drafted means something. Like, that's the Shadur Sanders argument. Like, well, Shadur was projected first round pick. It's like, I don't know. The GMs all thought he was a fifth round pick.

So I should probably grade him like he was a fifth round pick. And so, like, it is very, it's nice that Drew Aller and Will Howard are like learning from Aaron Rutts. but this isn't a Jordan Love situation. Correct. Jordan Love is a first round talent that got to learn from Aaron Rogers. My gut tells me that they still don't have their quarterback of the future and these nice guys are just learning from Aaron Rogers.

That's the point, right, is that when is Drew Aller, let's say he's the guy, when will he get a chance to prove he's the guy? Because Rogers will play this season. Is it then next year with a crowded quarterback room with Aller and Howard and they're going to add someone else in the draft? When's he ever going to prove he's the guy? He might never get that chance. So that's what, like, people that hype him up.

He had a good week one, good for him. But when will he ever get the chance? Jordan Love was there to have the chance eventually. Drouallor's third right now, fourth on the depth chart. He's never going to get that chance in year one. Maybe guys get hurt and get the chance to play this year, but he might never get the chance to prove he can be that guy. As far as Pittsburgh in the middle, man, like as a sports fan,

UF Team Zero 4, Uth, 3rds, being in the middle is the worst place to be. Because you don't think about the postseason, you're not bad enough to draft anyone good. I want my team to either stink. My baseball team stinks right now. good. Like they sold off. They got a bunch of young guys and maybe we're good in seven years. Or you want to be to win a championship. The middle

is the worst place to be as a sports fan. Being a serious fan right now has got to be pretty boring. I agree with you. We are aligned on that philosophy. Also, they have not gotten a good return on investment on defense. Like last year, they had the most expensive defense in the NFL. But when we talk about the best defenses in the NFL last year,

we didn't talk about it. There's Denver, Houston, Seattle. We were not even close to that. So, like, if, all stars aligned and like Rogers was healthy for a full season and him and Mike McCarthy hit the ground running and they added Pittman to opposite D.K. Matt Caff and there was a little bit more explosiveness on offense but it was paired with a

top five defense? Sure. Well then maybe you can win a playoff game and you can win 11 games and it can more resemble Pittsburgh football but that's a lot of ifs. So I think one of the keys of them possibly having success even if that defense isn't a top five defense is that guy on the screen has to allow himself to just play error football.

And when I say play error football, throw some interceptions. Throw the ball down the field. You got two guys on that roster that can go up and make contested catches. They're bigger-bodied guys. You've got to put them in the positions to where they can showcase their talent. D.K. Metcalf, you can't give him five-yard hitches, slants all the time, and expect him to break these long yards after catch type of runs every single time. You got to push the ball down the field, and that's just what they haven't been able to do and connect with.

If Aaron lets that go and forgets about the interceptions as a stat, just for one season, I know that's going to be hard to do. I was going to say you know him. I know. I know. I know. No, not at all. But if he's already not throwing a ton of interceptions for his career, just, okay, possibly have a 15. interception year. It's okay. Back to some football. Now, Fox Sports

writers were asked to rank the 10 best wide receivers ahead of the 2026 season coming in at number one, Jamar Chase. All right, Greg, let's complicate this. Let's add the quarterback, Joe Burrow, to it. Would you say that that is the best? Burrow Chase, the best quarterback wide receiver duo in the NFL? So, statistically, if we're just, Statistically, yes. But I would argue, for me, my selection would be Matthew Stafford, Pooka Nacua. Okay.

Because not only do they have the stats that support it and the productivity, anytime we rank quarterbacks, what do we attach to quarterbacks? Wins. Receivers, we don't attach wins to we just look at their numbers. But once you add the quarterback in, it's like, well, okay, can you put up these big numbers? and can you win also? That's what Matthew Stafford and Pooka and the Cua does. And so I have the numbers to support it.

When you look at Pooka Nicola and Matthew Stafford and what they've been able to do since 2023, Pooka Nekua is entering into the National Football League. He's been absolutely outstanding. Matthew Stafford has been absolutely outstanding. That's with missing six games in his second year. He only played 11 games in year two. Now, Jamar Chase and Joe Burrow, they're going to be number one.

It's just, it's almost like mad numbers that they've been able to put up. Yeah. But they haven't equated to them winning and then playing meaningful football. So that's why I would have Pooka Nacu and Matthew Stafford. If you're driving down to win a game, which do are you choosing? Like just nothing else matters. Just quarterback wide receiver. Matthew Stafford and Pooka Nacu.

Okay. I'm more fearful as a fan of the best. Bengals duo, because I've seen the Bengals duo be my chiefs many times over the years. Now, maybe if the same thing that happened with the Rams being the chiefs, I'd feel the same way. But that pair, I fear as a fan more than I would fear Puguanukua and that. And part of it maybe is because with, I credit some of the Rams success to Sean McVeigh as well. I'm not sure I credit the Bengals success to Zach Taylor as much, right?

You're not sure. Now, I would say no. So I think with Stafford, well, maybe not fair to say that in this moment. Like part of it is, I think, that the offense is really good, and it works really well. And they find ways to get them open. It feels like Burrow and Chase are kind of doing it like on their own without outside, not outside of the offense per se, but not because the coach is doing a great job of getting those guys open. So these are fun because everybody comes at it a little bit differently.

Like I, it's a team game. And so I didn't think about wins. Like, I was just like, I don't want to factor in their defense. I don't really want to factor in their head coach. I just want to actually be like quarterback-wide receiver duo. Well, they won then. Well, right. I think they're won.

I mean, there's no think. Okay. They are. But it's, okay, so the numbers, because you did 20-23 with Puka. Since 2021, quarterback-wide receiver duos, it's just kind of fun. Like, they have the most touchdowns. And look at that, 63 games. The combo that's second in that time period, they did it in 17 more, a full season's worth of games.

more to have six fewer touchdowns. It's ridiculous. I also, and this is a soft factor, I love that they were teammates in college. They're teammates in college. They get to be on the same team in the NFL, and they're just awesome in the NFL, just like they were awesome in college.

But also, would you guys agree that the argument for best receiver in football is four people deep? There's not really an argument beyond Chase, Jefferson, JSN, and Puka. Like, as good as Amman Rae is, as great as CD is, pick-ins maybe.

Say the four again? J.S.N. Puka. Jefferson, Chase. So you have J.S.N. I mean, he just... I get it. I mean, I use the bottom of those, like... Yeah.

So I would say, I would say, I agree with their top four. All right? And then, if it's quarterback-wide receiver duo, Kyler's clearly not a top-eight quarterback. Donald's clearly not a top eight quarterback so I can cut out JSN and Jefferson

that brings it down to Jamar and Puka and then Jammar's done it all five years he's been in the league Puga Puka's done it for two and a half out of three years like I do think it's Jamar and Burrow So Amunrah always get the short end of the stick here He's awesome he's great fantastic and he does it in the slot primarily

For me just seeing Justin Jefferson at number four This list is blubes Lastfulness. Like, I can't do that. That's what Mike. I cannot see Justin Jefferson at number four. I don't care what list it is. And you don't care about last year. I don't know.

Yeah. No, because if you look at all of those, you look at all of those players. Tell me, tell me a guy with the exception of like Drake London, Nico Collins has been struggling with C.J. Strau. But all of those guys have a great quarterback. Right. Or great quarterback play. He hasn't.

Right. I mean, if you gave Matt's. Stafford, Justin Jefferson. I think it would be pretty good. Like, there would be no. I think Justin will be. If Calamore is good this year, he'll be one B by then. Like on the, we do this list again and in the season, he'd be one B or one A. Like, he's way too low. He's too low, but that's a product of the environment he's in. He's not been with a good quarterback and he hasn't shown.

Just last year, right? I mean, like, last year he had Carson Wenz, Max Brasmer and J.J. McCarthy. And he still grinded out a thousand yards. Absolutely. Yeah. There wasn't a great year. I think it was three touchdowns, but it was. Puka and Matthew Stafford, they don't have the touchdowns because going back to last year, they went 13 personnel a lot.

And who was in? Devante Adams. Devante got a lot of those. He stole touchdowns. Here you go. Puka, there you go, Devonze. You get us all the way down the field. He got them all the way down there.

He stole all touchdowns. And so I kind of grade that on the curve. Puka Nicole is a, that's a bad dude, man. He blocks to. He does every, he does. He does. He does. does all the things that everybody on that list, if we can,

we ain't trying to do all that. We ain't trying to do all that. But like 45 seconds left in the game, you have to go the distance. I think I take Jamar Chase. Because Jamar Chase is, or Jeffers. Or Jeffers. But Jamar Chase is like six yards slant and he could score a touchdown. Yeah.

Like it's a bigger body. Like it was tough because Jedd is, oh my good. I don't know, man. I got to go with Justin. now. You know that, right? I got to go with Justin. Okay, but it's duos. You're not taking, you're not taking, you're not taking any quarterback. Justin in any quarter. I know, yeah. We saw that last year, though.

Yeah, JJ McCarthy then. That's a real indictment on him. No, we're talking this year, though. Yeah, for this upcoming year. So Kyler and Justin. Kyle and Justin is the one you want for this year. All right. Time now for a quick edition of winners and losers. First up, winner, the NL MVP race. All right, listen, bias aside, yes. I think it should. should be Pete Crowe Armstrong.

I'm a diehard Cubs fan. This is a sweet MVP race. Like, Shohei pitched early, but he's at late, 89 innings for the season. Their offensive numbers are virtually identical, but PCA's the best defensive center fielder in the game. Show Hay's on a super team, but he's won four of them. PCA's carrying the team.

It's like he snapped his finger mid-season. It was like, you know what, I'm going to learn plate discipline now? He's got more walks this year than he did the previous three years. It's an awesome MVP race. I'm looking up the odds. I mean, they're about even money. Like, it's going to be down to the wire.

Whoever has the better September. Here you go with the odds. I mean, it does matter, though. Like, it's part of the discussion. He was, like, 20 to 1 two months ago. Look, what PCA is doing, it's been impressive. I'm actually siding with Danny on this one. Thank you.

Show me he doesn't need another. You know, four MVP's. I'm not saying it because of that. Share some of the rest of us. Because I'm not one. to share if I'm the best. The Dodgers scuffing also helps this case as well, because the Cubs are playing well with Dodgers or not.

Yeah, the Cubs just swept the Dodgers. Let's just give it to PCA right now. All right, time for a loser. NFL aspirations. Bengals undrafted rookie corner, Sierra Wright, is quitting football to pursue a career in acting. Now, he had an appearance in Space Jam, not the OG Space Jam, obviously.

Correct. the new age space jam with LeBron James back in 2021. But I got to say, follow your heart. Undrafted, you know, if you're not, football isn't for you, go to the stage and screen. So who's the loser in this? The Bengals? I just think the idea that he's going to be in the NFL. I think they're putting on on a list.

He got back in October, I think. He should be, supposedly he's going to be back. Should he do both? Yeah, he's going to do his acting, you're going to come back to the NFL. Yeah. Look, I'm all about. pursuing your your passion if you're passionate about it you believe that it can turn into a career and you can do great things by all means I like I went from one

very difficult career to another I mean playing corner with you saw the list you saw the list we just put up with them receivers I'm gonna ask he he had he had training camp with the top guy on that list like I mean it could have been rough all right let's find a winner here and it's It's not going to have to go far. Greg Jennings is a winner, because your guy Daniel Jones gets Keenan Allen. More reinforcements for your guy, Danny Dimes.

Yeah, I saw that. They needed a veteran presence, somebody that can get open. We'll see what he brings to the table. I mean, he's a little older, but you always want to have that veteran presence. He still has the ability to get open, make those catches.

I like bringing veteran guys in the locker room. Here's a loser. Brooklyn. Nets owner, Joe Sye, recently said that the Knicks winning a title, it irates our fan base and it is embarrassing. I got to say, I love the honesty and also, what a hilarious joke, what fan base. Has anyone ever met a Nets fan? No.