Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - NFL Squad: New England Patriots Situation Most Appealing After Vrabel Hire

Episode Date: January 23, 2025

In this week's NFL Squad, the crew discusses this weekend's NFL Conference Championships in the AFC and NFC. Will the Buffalo Bills become the team of destiny and end the Kansas City Chiefs 'Villian' era? Can Jayden Daniels make history for the Washington Commanders against the Philadelphia Eagles and Jalen Hurts? Plus, the crew reacts to the latest hires in the NFL coaching cycle and touches on which jobs that are still open are the most appealing or unappealing.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!TalkspaceAs a listener of this podcast, you’ll get $80 off your first month with Talkspace when you go to Talkspace.com/LOCKEDONNFL and enter promo code SPACE80. LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply. PrizePicksDownload the app and use code lockedonnfl to win $50 instantly when you play $5. You don't even need to win to receive your $50 bonus, it's guaranteed! Prizepicks. Run Your Game.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFL GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms Apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. FanDuelFrom the first whistle to the final drive, FanDuel makes the NFL Playoffs even more exciting! Right now, new customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get THREE HUNDRED BUCKS in BONUS BETS – if you win your first bet! Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

It's championship weekend and everybody is a Bills fan and a Commanders fan, right? It's NFL squad time. You are talking ball with the NFL squad. Sponsored by Game Time. From the Chiefs to the Bills, Falcons to the 49ers, and everyone else around the NFL, it's the local experts of the Locked On Podcast Network bringing you scoops, breakdowns, and the most comprehensive preview of the upcoming weekend for hard-hitting football with our harder hitting takes buckle up it's the nfl squad then we have a seat for you

no hurt feelings allowed squad up you're part of the nfl squad and welcome into this week's nfl squad sit back grab your favorite beverage and join us as we get you ready for another wild week of action across the National Football League. Of course, all of us are part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team, every day, and we're doing this episode today thanks to FanDuel from the first whistle to the final drive. FanDuel makes the NFL playoffs even more exciting. Right now, new customers, you bet $5 and get $300 in bonus bets

even if you win your first bet. Visit FanDuel.com to get started today. We are joined Cody Rourke, Locked On Broncos, Landon McCool, Locked On Cowboys, Peter Borkowski, Locked On Packers. What is that cup? What does that cup say? Nice. It's bleach.

Kevin Ostringer of Locked On Ravens, Damian Parsons of Locked On NFL Draft. And no Bills fans, Joe is not here, but we are talking plenty about your Buffalo Bills, so stick around. Plus, if you watch the episode on the Locked On Bills channel, it actually still helps Joe. So you can actually do Joe a solid.

We know you guys love Joe as much as we do. So you can still do Joe a solid by sticking around here. No Joe is still a show. People will probably watch because they don't speak the Ravens and they get to poke fun at me, so it's okay. I'll be there. It's a win-win. It's still worth hanging around for.

Speaking of which, guys, let's put on our fan hats here for a moment. Every single person in this room got into this business because you like football or you love football to some degree. I don't think anybody here woke up and said, know what that game that i really don't like i'm gonna dedicate my life to talking about it yeah so let's put on our fan hats here let's talk about the bills chiefs how many of us in this room are bills fans this weekend how many are chiefs fans this weekend and is it because you genuinely like the bills or you're just sick of the kansas city chiefs peter mccoskey you always bring the hot take so i want to i want to start with you well i feel like now there's a lot of pressure on me to say that i'm the Kansas city chiefs, Peter Bukowski, you always bring the hot take. So I want to,

I want to start with you. Well, I feel like now there's a lot of pressure on me to say that I'm cheering for the chiefs. Cause I know everyone else is going to say that they're, they're cheering for the bills, but I think the best thing for the NFL is for, and I said this to Kevin, I think a week ago,

I said the best thing for the NFL is for either Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen to win the super bowl. Patrick Mahomes having an actual rival is the best thing that could happen in the NFL. And remember this happened with Tom Brady and Peyton Manning where Brady just owned that rivalry. And then Peyton Manning in the AFC Championship game, one of the craziest comebacks we have ever seen. They got that, I wouldn't say the script flipped, right?

Like Brady still ultimately like on manning but getting that it carried them for like 10 more years yeah of rivalries and if if patrick mahomes wins again and and they win the super bowl again it's just sort of like i kind of feel like why do why do we even have a regular season because like who cares um the the chiefs kind of felt that way it seemed like for the first eight, 10 weeks of the season too. So I'm just sort of like, man, they have to, they have to serve some sort of penance for not giving a crap about the first 10 weeks of the season. And I hope Josh Allen can deliver that because I think it'd be great for the game. Yeah. Damian Parson. I mean, you're, you're first time through your buddy. So I want to kick this over to you pretty quick. Um, where is there a value? Is there, I mean, should football fans, generally speaking, I mean, obviously,

Bills fans don't want to see the Chiefs win another Super Bowl, and whoever plays the Chiefs in the Super Bowl is not going to want to see them win. But general football fans, is there a value to seeing the first-ever three-peat in the Super Bowl era? Is there a value to that? Somewhat, right, because it creates more hatred for Mahomes and the chiefs which it's like the floyd mayweather effect every time floyd fought people tuned in hoping and praying he lost and it's still it's going to be the exact same thing lamar uh well lebron james he was the same thing

right when he was on his run whether it was with the calves or with the heat anytime he was on the championship team even with the lakers when they were in the playoffs, in those big moments, people watched, hoping and praying LeBron lost, hoping and praying his team did not win the NBA title. So I definitely think it has some value. I'm just hoping that the value does not come to fruition. Yeah.

Kevin Ostriker, Locked on Ravens. I want to throw you a very not football-focused question, so I really hope you get your fan hat on here. Should there be a side wager? If the Chiefs win, you're fine. You get to keep Taylor Swift on the television screen. But if the Bills win, Haley Steinfeld's got to get some burn here. Should there be a coverage death match happening here

to where one or the other gets shown on TV, the other one disappears forever? I just feel like the NFL is always going to side with Taylor in this, and that just feels like the reality. I mean, we've seen it. Obviously, she brings eyes to the game, and not that Haley wouldn't. It doesn't, but obviously the Taylor Swift effect is very real. She brings my eyes. I'll be honest. I kind of look at it, though. It's like if the Chiefs lose, Haley replaces Taylor as the NFL.

Like, you know, that's who brings the eyes to the screen. But I feel like, to me, people would be less inclined with the whole, like, Chiefs repeat. This is so annoying. If we didn't have the Patriots just do this for years and years and years before, it feels like we just kind of went from, okay, the Patriots dominate the league for a decade plus. And here we are now, we just went right into like, literally it was a segue. You could see the Patriots dynasty fall in the Chiefs dynasty rise up.

And there was no in between of like five years of different champions. It was right from Patriots to the chiefs. So I feel like it's people are just ready for some, some parody. Like let's get five years of just like different champs, or maybe a team wins twice in five years. And the other three are, are different teams and not taking away from how great the chiefs team is.

I mean, it takes a lot to go to seven straight agency championship games. Yeah. To me, it feels like there's just like this. We've seen this before. It's been happening forever. We want something different.

It is crazy that, like, I thought we'd never see a quarterback that could do the things that Aaron Rodgers did on the field, and then Mahomes is, like, right after him. And I never thought we would see a quarterback control and win games the way that Tom Brady did. And Patrick Mahomes, like, he's still playing. And Tom Brady played for a million years but to have it happen right after like we don't see that happen like there was a gap between Michael Jordan and LeBron James a pretty big gap of like when Jordan in his prime right like I know Kobe was in there too and Allen Iverson like there's

some really great players but there was a whole discussion of like, who's going to carry the torch. And it took, you know, until, you know, the early 2010s for LeBron to start winning titles. And so like this, this is really in sports. We don't see this happen. Like you don't, you don't go from Tom Brady to Patrick Mahomes. It doesn't happen.

And the fact that it is, I think Kevin's totally spot on about this. Like people are just ready for it to be open the same way that they were when the Warriors were winning all the titles. It was just sort of like it almost felt preordained. And that's not fun. Like we don't want that. I think you hit the nail on the head, man. I think we're dealing with exhaustion of dynasties.

And, you know, again, in the league that has the most parity. And I think the NFL still has the most parity of all pro sports leagues, but still you have this team constantly at the top. Landon, I do want to kick it over to you, Locked On Cowboys. Tell us what happens, man. Do you think the Bills are going to pull this off and finally Patrick Mahomes is going to have a true rival that can actually beat him?

Or are we all doomed to another year of chief's kingdom i hope they can pull it off because i'll tell you what i mean i think just from a personal side i just think the bills fans deserve this i mean i i think you talk about like how long they've been long suffering and and frankly as you know the perpetrator of two of their super bowl losses you know 35 years whatever it was ago the last time we were relevant in the NFL. I think that, you know, I feel for like the kind of long suffering. I saw that commercial the other night where the guys like, and they put prosthetics on his face and he's the bills fan.

He's young and then he's old. He's in with his grandson. I'm like, man, they've, they've never actually won a Superbowl in his entire lifetime or beyond that. that and it's like it's tough so i i think from that point of view just to see kind of a really great fan base that's kind of beloved in in a in a you know kind of a smaller sports venue i think it's it'd be incredible just to see and and i i know that's tough for kevin to hear it right now but i think if he's able to look past fandom, I think that's – I mean, Ravens fans have a Super Bowl in somewhat recent history, right? Like maybe not the last handful of years.

Two in 20 years? I mean, you'll take that. You have some Lombardis in your building that are older than 9-11, right? I don't know if that's the benchmark we really want to use here. But Cody Rourke locked on Broncos to give you the last call on this game. Is it going to be Bills or is it going to be Chiefs? And keep in mind, most of the no Joe, no show people

have probably already left, so we don't need to suck up the Bills. Yeah, look, I think everyone's going to root for the Bills just because, you know, they're not necessarily a villain, right? You look at the Chiefs as like a villain right now. Everybody does. The national media, you know, certainly when we necessarily a villain, right? You look at the Chiefs as like a villain right now. Everybody does. The national media, you know, certainly when we were all watching the game,

even Troy Aikman flipped the script a little bit and was like, this is ridiculous. You know, some of the penalties that were coming up. And right now the Chiefs are the villain. And I think they thrive in that role. And I think they embrace it. They love it. And the Bills are this team that, you know, yeah,

there were some people that were writing them off early on in the season. And I think some people in the national media who don't really bring credibility to football discussion like the Emmanuel Achos of the world don't really feel like they bring value and substance to it but the Bills have a gripe like you look at Josh Allen the narrative surrounding him was well he can't do it without a legit wide receiver like Stephon Diggs well they brought in Stephon Diggs things didn't go well. They lose to Joe Burrow in the Bengals one year in the playoffs at home. There's all this conversation and drama.

Josh Allen doesn't have as great of a receiving talent or crew around him, but I think he's got a more balanced team. You've got a good run game with James Cook. You've got Ty Johnson. You've got Kincaid at tight end who's very talented. Amari Cooper, he ain't the guy he used to be, but he can produce keon coleman kalush kern you got a guy who you know you absolutely hate if you're going against a mac hollitz but if he's on your team you love him they they can punch you in the mouth and josh allen against the ravens didn't have to really use his arm to do

that it was the run game and the way that that defense is playing matt milano is an absolute piss missile that team right now I think everybody Buffalo would be easy to root for against a villain like Kansas City and luckily we get to watch that this weekend yeah look I I'm with I'm with a lot of what you guys have said I've been to Bill's games just as a football fan just just living in upstate New York so I want to see football in person and a fan base is wild, man. They definitely deserve a championship. There's another fan base that deserves a championship. Hasn't had to wait as long as the Bills fans

have, or fan base has. It's the Washington Commanders fan base. They've got a quarterback that if Josh Allen can't get the job done, they think maybe he can get the job done against Kansas City Chiefs. We'll talk about the NFC championship game coming up next on this episode of NFL Squad, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.

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Locked On NFL Squad episode, or NFL Squad episode of Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. We're going to switch it over now to the NFC Championship game. The Washington Command commanders visiting the Philadelphia Eagles number six against number two in the NFC. And we're going to kick it back over to Kevin Ostriker locked on Ravens. I know it's not the team from the DMV that you wanted to see trying to go to the, to go to the big game, but you're kind of close to the situation.

Quarterbacks are somewhat similar, at least athletically. So let me ask you this. Jaden Daniels, best rookie quarterback that the NFL has ever seen, or do you think he's not quite? I think he might have the best poise of a rookie quarterback I've ever seen. I mean, this guy's faced by literally nothing. And, you know, there's all these stats out of it. Obviously, Jaden being a rookie and getting to the championship game.

Obviously, I watched Joe Flacco do that as a rookie in Baltimore. And that was such an incredible season. And I think obviously the way, and even Mark Sanchez, like all three of these guys handled it differently going there. But the thing that stands out to me with Jaden is that he he's just calm. Doesn't matter. The stakes doesn't matter. The pressure.

I mean, that's why the commanders are where they are right now is because some rookie quarterbacks hold under that pressure, you know, and we've seen that over the course of a lot. But to me, this team, the commanders, they go as Jaden Daniels goes, right? This is what it is. And if Jaden isn't that calm, cool and collected and look at what do we got? Cody, go. What do we got?

The VR training. Yeah. Look at that. You know, and maybe's the Jaden Daniels training. Yeah. Look at that. Maybe Jaden actually starts a trend here. Maybe Jaden is a trend center, and I think he will be in certain aspects, but this commander's team, their poise comes from Jaden, and that's

what I love about his game and what we've seen from him so far. Yeah. The truth be told, man, look, if the Chiefs can beat the Bills, Jaden's the only option here to be a quarterback that's going to defeat Patrick Mahomes. Can I ask Damien? Yeah, go for it.

Can I get Damien to chime in? Because I don't get to ask him about other – I have him on to talk about the Packers players, but I don't get to ask him about other guys. Damien, I was a Jaden Daniels guy in the pre-draft. I thought he was the best quarterback in the draft. He was the guy that in the middle of the year when the packers were not great in 2023 i was like jayden daniels is the guy that i wanted green bay to draft what what did people miss about that

because it didn't feel like there was the heat for him to be this like people liked him i know he went number two overall but like all of the heat was on caleb and then it was like oh drake mays underrated it seems like everyone missed this why do you think that is a lot of times um the age thing the how long guys play in college football that is such a and it's honestly a big thing in college basketball as well where they hold it against guys right if you're a basketball player you stay till you're a senior you're any good. We shouldn't draft you in the lottery. It's the same thing with the NFL, especially a quarterback. And for him, there's a lot of misnomers that, hey, he won't make those throws in the middle of the field,

which is where NFL quarterbacks need to live and thrive. And we've seen it, you know, in his rookie year, he's been able to do that. I talked to an LSU, someone who worked with him, worked at LSU on the coaching staff before he left, after the draft. And I asked him, I said, tell me about Jaden. He said he's one of the coolest, calmest, collective guys I've

ever been around. The main thing he drilled to me was self-awareness. He said he's very self-aware. If he makes a mistake on the field, he runs to him, he comes to the sideline, the first thing he says to him, I messed that up. I messed that up, didn't I? He was like, yeah. He said,'s okay then they look at what happened and they go out and he corrects those mistakes to watch him play the way he plays i think the the frame also people say took those

cartoon hits in college right like where you just see him get hit did that too like i yes if you go back and watch lamar jackson in louisville he's taking hit like i i went back and found it in my draft notes i was like what is he doing like you're 190 pounds what are you doing he has improved on that by the way and and you know what jayden has to actually in one year he's actually he's gotten better the thing is jayden daniels did it right away he like walked into the nfl and is just like no i can avoid hits now it's like well then why didn't you do it for two years i was just like what? His football IQ is through the roof because if he sees what he wants pre-snap, he identifies what you're in, you're done, essentially. Because he's one of those quarterbacks.

He played a lot of football. He's very decisive, and he knows how to find the mismatches. That's a key part of playing quarterback, and he does that at a great level. Yeah, look, I'll tell you guys, leaving Indianapolis last year, every single person on the commander's beat that was in indianapolis i can tell you without a doubt every single one of us was jayden's quarterback number one and we were all just praying the chicago bears didn't realize it um and i know there were multiple members of chicago media that were in indianapolis who were

praying that the bears realized that they i don't say make a mistake that's not fair to caleb right but like in the aspect of getting the best quarterback in the draft, that's where a lot of people work. We do need to talk Philadelphia Eagles. As much as I would love for this to just be a Jaden Daniels. Let me get to the Eagles real quick, Peter. We'll come back to your question. I won't forget you.

I promise. It's about the commander. We do need to talk about the Eagles, and I want to go to Landon McCool here because you obviously know both of these teams. Saquon Barkley. Is Saquon Barkley going to be enough to get the Eagles past the Commanders, or are the Commanders going to be the team in the Super Bowl?

Because Saquon, if you look at the stat box, had a lot of stats in both games against the Washington Commanders. But in that first game, the Commanders held a fourth-quarter lead. In the last game, obviously, the Commanders won that game. So both of those situations prove that Saquon, by himself, not necessarily going to get the job done himself. What do you think is going to happen this weekend? Yeah, I mean, I think it's a good question.

I mean, I think they've had to work around Jalen Hurts even more these playoffs than it seems like in the recent past. And it's worked. I mean, obviously, they've won. They've gotten as far as they have. I do wonder, just watching washington their ability to be able to slow down you know saquon i i mean i i think that's a major concern is that jayden daniels and is as excited as everyone is about jayden daniels that he may not have a ton

of opportunity in this game if if eagles are able to possess the ball the way that i'm assuming they're going to especially with the way that that the Eagles play defense, not just with the volume, the efficiency that they play, but the actual X's and O's of the way that they play defense. They're going to slow things down, and it's going to, I think, try to get eyes on Jaden Daniels and try to just slow things down to a grind. And if they can get that, I think that's going to play right into the Eagles' hands. So if that's the case, I think you're going to see a lot of Saquon Barkley. And until Dan Quinn can figure out a way to kind of load up the box

to kind of get that going, then we'll see if they can stop Jalen Hurts in the kind of design pass plays when he's got his outside receivers in one-on-one situations. Yeah, 100%. Peter, go ahead. I was just going to ask, I wanted to know from the group because we're probably not going to talk about the coaching stuff.

Ben Johnson to the Chicago Bears. We are going to talk about the coaching stuff. Okay. But he had the opportunity to go to Washington last year. Do you think in retrospect, whether he was going to pick Jaden or not, he thinks that that was a – given what we've seen of Jaden Daniels and Caleb Williams, all due respect to Caleb Williams, Jaden Danieliels was one of the five best quarterbacks in the league this year i think someone was on the squad show saying he was the best quarterback in the nfc i can't remember

who that was but do you think he regrets not taking that job in washington a year ago maybe i mean it's tough because you know there's still some uncertainty it was an organization that was going through widespread changes and transitions of ownership. For a coach, and especially for a guy who's going to be a first-time head coach, you go into a place where they're going to fulfill their promises. And certainly, ownership groups, as we've seen, can be the negative side of an NFL team. Having the right ownership in place, that actually can help you.

And I think that they've proven so far it's been good. But for Ben Johnson, maybe at the time, it was a little risky considering the unknowns. I don't think Ben Johnson should regret anything. And the reason I'll say that is the reason this fell apart between Ben Johnson and the Commanders is not because of anything. It's because of philosophical reasons, right? So Josh Harris went out and hired Adam Peters.

He and Adam Peters had a very clear and they were very much in agreement with how they wanted the washington commanders team to be like what is it going to be to be a washington commander he and adam peters had a very clear agreement on what that was going to be and they sought out a coach that agreed with what that was going to be ben johnson didn't agree with adam peters and josh harris's vision of what a washington commander's team was going to look like therefore that's that's why things fell apart and they found the guy and dan quinn who does see that so i don't think i think it comes down to to coaches and teams and gms and everybody involved having being on the same page i think it's incredibly important because truthfully if ben wasn't willing to come off some of the things that he wasn't willing to

come off of i don't think adam peters is going to hire him anyway. So it kind of actually saves him a little bit of face because you can't go from being the number one target, having a plane flown privately to your location to not getting the job that makes you look a lot worse than you bowing out of the race. So I think that honestly, he probably made the right decision for him if those are some of the sticking points that were there. But we are going to talk more about these coaching journeys, but I do need to get two predictions here. Cody Rourke locked on Broncos, David Parsons locked on NFL draft. I need to know who's winning, Commanders or Eagles this weekend.

Damian, we'll start with you. I'm going Commanders, man. I'm a big GD5 fan. I'm just pulling for them, man. No disrespect to Philly. I love Saquon, actually. Some disrespect to Philly. Some disrespect to Philly. If I was Landon, well, I'd be. Some disrespect to Philly. Some disrespect to Philly.

If I was Landon, I'd be 100% disrespect to Philly. Full disrespect to Philly. Full disrespect. But I'm going JD5. I'm going with the Commanders, man. Let's go. I'm going to go with the Commanders in the upset. Look, I think the Eagles, I think Saquon's going to get his.

The biggest wild card that will determine whether or not the Eagles win or lose, I think it's all going to come down to Jalen Hurts in this game, to be honest with you. But Saquon, obviously a dog. I mean, I think the formula, and we can talk about it later on, for some of these teams who are perennial playoff or on the outside looking and trying to get to the playoffs, what they can do to replicate what we've seen. But I think Jaden Daniels, the commanders, that story,

I think it's going to be commanders versus Bills in the Super Bowl. I mean, that's the matchup all the other fans want, and I'm all for it because, you know, don't threaten versus bills in the Super Bowl. I mean, that's the matchup all the other fans want, and I'm all for it because, you know, don't threaten me with covering the Super Bowl. I'm all for it. Look, we don't have to worry about offending Eagles fans because I hear down or up in Philly, they say no Louie, no Viewie, so they're not here

anyway. We're going to talk about the NFL coaching carousel next year on Locked On's NFL squad as part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. Today's episode is brought to you in part by talk. Space therapy is a game changer. It can help manage stress,

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Promo code space 80. Wrapping up this NFL squad episode for this weekend. You know what? It just kind of dawned on me. We've got a very large prediction happening here that the commanders and the Bills are going to be in the Super Bowl. So I actually really quick want to go around and put all five of you on the spot. We're probably going to talk about this between now and the big game, but Commanders, Bills, who wins that Super Bowl? We'll start with Cody. We'll just go around the horn. You know, hey, great for a rookie

quarterback and obviously, you know, a new head coach in their first year together to get to the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, Josh Allen, the Buffalo buffalo bills are the team of destiny and will finally get that super bowl win that has been eluding them for quite some time and then it really changes the conversation but it also sets the stage for the young guys like jayden daniels maybe bone nicks maybe some other guys jordan love like the young quarterbacks the nfl is in a good spot i think going forward but josh Allen is going to run away with it at this point. Landon, you're next. Bills, just simply because I can't take it anymore.

I couldn't take that. You can't do this. Fair. Bills, I think Josh Allen, I think he gets it done. He steps into the phone booth, puts the cape on, takes off the glasses, throws away the briefcase. Superman comes out. He has a heroic type of game on the biggest stage of them all,

and he go ahead and submit himself as one of the best ever. I'm going to go Bills also. They're a heck of a team, and I think that they've improved in a lot of areas over the course of the season. And I know that everyone thought trading away digs would have a negative impact, but it actually has opened up their offense a lot more. And I just feel like looking from, if you want to talk about it, I feel, you know, listening to the champs, it's okay. If you lose it, the chance you take that.

So I'll go bills. This is boring. I'm going's okay. If you lose to the champs, you take that. So I'll go Bills. This is boring. I'm going to go Commanders then. Forget that. I'm going to take Jayden Daniels. Like, give me Jayden Daniels. The Buffalo Bills just won a football game where Josh Allen did not even get to 150 yards passing. He didn't get to 130.

It is one of those things where Jayden Daniels, what I saw in Detroit, I know that defense was just like beyond fumes. Like they were getting out and they were pushing the car to the gas station. They had the six of us out there. But the poise that he played with, the dual threat ability that he has, I just think he had, like, I think he can be the kind of guy that puts on the Superman cape and just says, I'm going to,

I'm going to do something historic here. I think the way that you're playing in the playoffs matters so much and nothing drives offensive success, offensive efficiency, like quarterback play the quarterback playing the best football right now. And really for like the last month is Jane Daniels. Go back and watch what he did against the philadelphia eagles three weeks ago he lit them up no one has done what jane daniels did against the eagles in since october he is he is that guy and if he's gonna be that guy why not put your stamp on it go in the

super bowl as a rookie i don't i don't think we've's going to be that guy, why not put your stamp on it? Go in the Super Bowl as a rookie. I don't think we've ever seen anything like this before, so why not make it fully historic? Him do something we've never seen. Yeah. Landon, that's a bigger flex if Marcus Mariota doesn't come in after halftime and torch the guy with defense. Well, I don't know.

Actually, I think it's a bigger comment on maybe Jaden Daniels not being as spectacular. That's not true. Where's the James Rapine clip from earlier in the year? Sammy Baugh is the only quarterback in history, in pro football history, to have a championship

win as a rookie, of course, for Washington. Jaden Daniels winning a Super Bowl as a rookie would just add to that kind of lineage there. And listen, for those who are fans of the NFL being ascripted, Jaden Daniels beating Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in the Super Bowl is actually the way to go because the way that probably goes is the Chiefs have 10 penalties called against them

while the Commanders have less than five. And then next year, the Commanders visit the Chiefs. Obviously, it wouldn't be week one because the Commanders would get a home game in week one. But eventually, they visit Kansas City and this quote-unquote rivalry that we're trying to figure out for Patrick Mahomes could potentially be born if everything is scripted. We do have to get to the coaching searches. The notes here say head coaches, defensive coordinators,

offensive coordinators, and whatever. So, Landon McCool, clearly the whatever is for you. What's going on with the Dallas Cowboys? I think whatever sums it up pretty good. I mean, they're just taking their time at this point and trying to do whatever they can to get into the, uh, the new cycle.

You know, I mean, I, you know, they had an interview with, with, uh, with Brian Schottenheimer who wasn't even,

you know, calling plays for them last year. And now he's going to be the head coach. I don't think so. I, I just think that they're trying to, you know, insert themselves into the conversation that their two most hated rivals or two of their most hated rivals are in the conference

championship game i don't know if anyone's mentioned that by the way um uh and so you know jerry jones is hurt because cowboys fans are screaming and yelling uh and you know so that's why you're hearing names like deon sanders despite the fact that de Deion Sanders isn't getting in and hasn't gotten an official interview. You know, Brian Schottenheimer is probably being interviewed for an offensive coordinator job, depending on who the actual head coach is. But you're hearing all about it in the news because Jerry is trying to keep, you know, the organ grinder grinded. Right. Keep it grinded. And so that's what you're saying so i think we're gonna have an answer in probably you know a week or so maybe like or depending on you know who loses in this next these next round i think that's that he definitely wants to talk to kellen more maybe even cliff kingsbury so

and i'm hoping joe brady if joe brady you know were to fall out of the playoffs for some reason so uh but i think they're just kind of trying to keep their name in people's mouths for jerry jones has not requested interview billy Bob Thornton or Jon Hamm yet? Not yet. I mean, listen, he is giving lessons on acting if anyone needs him. I will say, that was pretty true. Damian Parsons, locked on NFL draft. Which of these, I want to say open jobs, but we'll include the Chicago Bears,

the New England Patriots, even though they've hired their new coaches, which these teams that's going to have a new head coach this off season has the best draft assets to really make a move like the Washington commanders did this year or the Houston Texans a year before. I think it's the Patriots, you know, being what they have, the fourth pick hiring Rabel and bringing in Josh McDaniels, you have your quarterback. Now you can go in a litany of ways, whether it's Travis Hunter, Mason Graham, Abdul Carter.

You can grab one of these blue chip prospects and improve your team right away. Travis Hunter being that dual threat, that just athlete. We haven't seen a guy like that where it has that tag. Typically, guys coming out of high, have that tag where they are. Yeah. I play wide receiver and I play corner. It's up to you coach to figure out which one I'm a play. This guy can come in and play both. And I think honestly, when you look at that Patriots receiving core,

I might lean for him to play wide receiver. So for a team that for them to be in a position they're in and you don't trade, if you, I mean, of course, if a team trick themselves with that whole qb thing like i want to reach for the third best quarterback that i can get them to like if they want to reach up and try and move up to four cool but if i'm the wingling i'm staying right where i am i'm picking one of the top players off the board let's go ahead and inject this team with some talent.

Yeah, I absolutely hear you. Peter Bukowski. Well, you know what? First, actually, before we get to that, I want to go to Cody Rourke. What do you think about the New England Patriots doing this Back to the Future Act? What do you think about it? Look, I think Mike Vrabel is going to be great for that culture there in terms of that. I know Gerard Mayo tried to instill that.

And, look, I still think that the Patriots, the way they went about with Gerard Mayo, I didn't like it. I mean, obviously they had a guy in mind already in Vrabel, which I found it a little interesting because Dan Orlovsky early on in the year said, Hey, don't worry. Vrabel's already got something lined up, but things continue to go poorly in one destination. Everyone already thought New England turned out that way. I don't agree with how they did it, but I mean, Vrabel makes sense for that job. And then now you go and you bring in Josh McDaniels, you bring him back. What's next? Tom Brady going to come out of retirement and play quarterback again?

I mean, it's certainly in the stars here. I think New England's probably an appealing job because then obviously Vrabel, that's the reason he took it. You're going to have a lot of salary cap space. You're going to have good draft capital work with you're in a good position to add a playmaker here. And you saw from Drake May, I don't know how many times we've done the squad show or you know we've had mike debate say get drake may some playmakers this is the opportunity to do that um is it still going to be enough right now to compete with the buffalo

bills probably not and look but maybe they can climb up ahead of the jets and they can climb up ahead of the miami dolphins but uh that's the job i'm very curious to see. But can we also maybe talk about the most unappealing job? Look, I understand you only have 32 of them every year, but it's rarely open up. The New York Jets job has to be one of the most unappealing jobs to take if I'm any potential coach. Well, I want to let me pause you there, Cody, because actually that's what I want to ask Peter Bukowski about,

because Peter, the smoke around that Jets job is Aaron Glenn, Lance Newmark, two, well, one former Lion, currently commander for Howard Long. That's going to last. And then one soon to be former Lion. What do you think of that tandem? From what you know about what they did in Detroit or helped, you know, be a part of in Detroit, what do you think about that tandem going to New Jersey? I think Aaron Glenn is a hell of a coach matt dairy and i had a running bit about um future head coach aaron glenn because for like two or three years he was tied as a future head coach and i kept watching those defenses going these defenses suck like what are we talking about here and then

this last year oddly enough with like you know it is the proverbial making chicken salad out of chicken something else and like what they were able to do for long stretches without their best players with, you know, like somehow 15 of their 11 starters were injured. And it was just sort of like a crazy phenomenon there. And everyone you talk to in Detroit raves about him from the players to the coaches to like, you know, the parking attendants, like everyone just loves Aaron Glenn, the saints, you know, Ross Jackson, our guy would like, would love Aaron Glenn in new Orleans. So I, I really like that pairing in New York and like the jets have to be

thanking their lucky stars that Aaron Glenn played in New York. Otherwise, I don't know why he would want that job over any other opportunity that he would get. They don't have a quarterback. There's no way Aaron Rodgers is coming back. You've got to deal with Woody Johnson, senior. You've got to deal with Woody Johnson, the juniors. It doesn't matter what their names are. Don't even tell me what their names are. It doesn't matter. They have 17-year-olds in the front office meetings. What are we talking about it is it is a disaster area and i don't know why anyone would want to go like they are some like my son's favorite song still even though we're in past christmas is grinch i don't know why you'd want to go near that job with a 39 and a half foot pole i just it's it's toxic yeah as long as that ownership situation as far as like how

involved the ownership is i should say stays the same i don't know how anybody can be successful in that position. So to Cody's point, I like Lance a lot. I've gotten to know him just a little bit here as the assistant GM for the Commanders this year. Great dude, cool dude, really enjoyed him. If he takes that job, buddy, good luck to you. I'll be rooting for you, but I don't know if it's going to go very well. Kevin Ostriker, I want to finish up this week's episode talking to you.

Which of these open jobs, so no Bears, no Patriots, which of these open jobs would you take if you had your choice uh i'm gonna go you can't fire harbaugh well that's not happening anyway i'm gonna go maybe off the grain a little bit i'm gonna say las vegas i'm gonna say las vegas and the reason is i think there's a lot of room to grow there i think that there's a lot of room to grow there. I think that there's a lot of, you can shape that team to wait. Like you were like the jets,

that's just going to be someone else's decision. Like there's always going to be someone who's over top of you. The Jaguars job, Trevor Lawrence is that quarterback. And you know, you don't get your choice there. I think that fresh, fresh slate,

like you get to choose who comes in. You get to choose what direction you go in. Do you want to swing big at a quarterback here? Do you want to maybe wait a year or two? Do you want to beef up your defense? I think that with the Bears' job being gone, with the Patriots' job being gone, I just feel like a blank canvas is honestly what I'd want to sign up for at this point, as opposed to maybe a team that has a couple more good assets,

but there's not as much flexibility. Is that going to be the coaches? At Chicago is where he always wanted to be because they just gave him $17 million a year to do that job. But I heard from multiple people that, that were very close to that situation that said that Ben Johnson was close to signing in Las Vegas, that, that they had cleared the decks for him. The Tom Telesco firing was part of clearing the decks for Ben

Johnson and that the people in Las Vegas talk, talk to your boy Q. I know that he's all over this. They are pissed at the way this went down because they thought this was not, not a done deal. Cause it's never done until the names at the, at the bottom of the contract, but they thought this was not a done deal because it's never done until the names at the bottom of the contract, but they thought this was happening. And I had someone who knows a lot of things say that they wonder if there was a little bit of panic post Jaden Daniels, post Jared Goff, after that playoff game that he was all set

to go to Las Vegas. And then he was like, oh no, I just watched what happened with Jared Goff. I need to have a different quarterback plan here. I need to find a more creative opportunity, and that that's what sold him on Chicago. That is just someone speculating, but someone who knows, you know, that they know a lot.

So it was one of those things that when they said that, I kind of stood up and took notice. I'm just going to say this right now, And I don't mean any disrespect to him, but the, the more I hear about Ben Johnson's decision-making process, the happier I am that he's not in Washington. I'm just, have you noticed we've,

we've heard an awful lot about what he thinks and what he wants. And, and like on the record, way more than we've ever heard from like a hot offensive coordinator name. Like, it just seems weird to me a year and a half ago, what he wanted out of a head coaching job. It me like a year and a half ago what he wanted out of a head coaching job it's like you have a job bro what are you doing cowboys fans

are are livid that that ben johnson's not part of that process and i was like but look what he's asking for there's in no way would the joneses ever give that up to anyone and frankly i understand the joneses may not be the the model of how you should be running franchise, but I cannot believe that more people weren't pushing back on what he was asking for. Like personnel control. When you're, you're a first time head coach and your play calling, like that's a lot.

But when has that ever worked? Can you point to me? I'm not going to pretend that I was like Dan Quinn, number one from the jump. Cause I wasn't, but I'm also not going to sit here and say I was Ben Johnson. Number one throughout any stage of that process. Well, obviously, I'm very happy with the way that turned out.

Very happy with the way that this NFL squad episode turned out as well. So thank you to all these illustrious hosts for joining. Thank you for all of you out there, Bills Mafia especially, who are still here hanging out to hand this episode for watching. We will be here every single week. And, of course, each of us is here for you every single day, bringing you the latest on your favorite NFL teams and the NFL draft. Damian Parson, shout out to you for coming through.

So make sure you're subscribed. Make sure you're not missing a minute of the coverage. All of it part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.