NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 2023 Beautiful Mysteries
Episode Date: August 23, 2023In a room full of heroes - Gregg Rosenthal, Marc Sessler, and Patrick Claybon look ahead to the new season and discuss the beautiful mysteries that still loom over the league. Before the guys get myst...erious, they get caught up on news from around the league including the end of the greatest streak in sports history (01:54), Sam Darnold getting the back up job in San Francisco (08:40), Jonathan Taylor getting a chance at a new team (13:38) and more! After the break, the guys look ahead to next season and tell you where the mysteries are with the Baltimore Ravens (33:15), the Cowboys (40:12), the Washington Commanders (50:30) and more. Note: Time codes approximate. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
This is an I-Heart podcast.
The Around the NFL podcast lives for this stuff, bro.
That's right.
Welcome to another edition.
The Around the NFL podcast.
I'm Greg Rosenthal sitting in for Day Hanses today.
We're back on Thursday alongside a couple of heroes in the Chris Wesleying podcast studio.
It's Mark Sessler and Patrick Claibon.
what's up guys there's a lot of important people here today yeah and there was a crew of them walk
i say that whenever people are in suits and i walked past a bunch of people in suits and somebody
was telling them like yeah the mark sessler and greg rosenthal and dan hans just do a podcast
wait really yeah is this true there were they put it in that order i liked the order yeah that
was the order it may have been because they walked by and that was the order no he wasn't there
because there were people in suits had no idea who they were pointing at me while
I was sitting here eating an apple by myself in the studio.
But you know where we sit in the newsroom.
I'm constantly, I have the most fishbowl seat possible
because they bring those tours by its school kids
or its executives or fill in the blank.
And like, I'm sitting there with like two cups of coffee.
Like, I look like a disaster.
And they're just staring at you.
Like, me typing.
Starring my morning.
I miss that.
I can't wait for whatever.
It's back, baby.
Dignitaries.
Yeah, I believe Troy Vincent, who works in the league office,
but many other league office figures around.
the studio. Mark Sanchez was just in this
studio, but as much as I want to, like,
I see how you're doing, Patrick. It's nice
to see you. It's been a little bit
and Mark got it. Yes. You are
concerned about how I'm doing, I'm sure.
It's just like, we can't
wait any longer. One of the biggest stories
that we've covered
and around the NFL happened this
week. Let's just drop that news drop right now,
Eric. Hey, how about that?
Yes.
Yeah.
That was Ron Rivera in the winning locker room.
Commanders take down the Ravens on Monday night football,
crowd going crazy, Joe Buck, Troy Aikman.
It felt big because it was big.
Jahan Dotson said after the game,
I felt like we just had the biggest preseason W in history.
He's not wrong.
He's not wrong.
I mean, I would say because if you talk about when they were branded as the commanders,
Okay, I'm saying even post-Washington football team, like, that is the, this was the biggest moment in Commander's history.
What was bigger?
What was bigger?
Like some hollow victory in week four a year ago?
Yeah, before that, before this, it was the opening press conference for Josh Harris and Magic Johnson's there and there's a fanfare.
But this was actual football and people were poo-pooing at the celebration.
We heard Ron in the locker room.
They ran the end of the game celebration and everybody's on the field.
Like, let the dudes have fun.
Like a lot of those dudes may not ever play NFL football.
And Greg, Tori Ackman called it.
He said, this is the greatest preseason game I've ever been a part of.
It actually was great from the first half where Josh Johnson and Sam Howell are going up and down the field.
And it looked like football because we had a lot of starters, especially for Washington playing.
And then you get to the end and the drama and the comeback.
And wait, who was it again?
Jake Fromm for Washington.
And the excitement in Joe Buck's voice on the game winning field goal was just incredible.
The crowd is on their feet.
That's Troy.
This is good stuff.
All right, here we go.
Troy, I feel like, had a little tongue and cheek for perhaps in the game.
But it's still good for them to pretend.
Listen to the crowd.
That's a free season game.
And with nine seconds left.
The commanders are on top by one.
Great job.
Great job by Joe, of course, but also by the ESPN cameras immediately catching the awkward high fives for the ownership group in Washington.
And that crowd was loud.
I'm not shocked.
The Raiders crowd, I got to admit, was very loud, louder than any preseason game I've ever been to on Saturday.
I can only imagine what's happening.
I'm sad that Dan's not here for this.
Of course, he did the Hard Knocks podcast on Tuesday, everyone should check that up.
I couldn't wait another day before we got that.
Well, Dan, you know, Dan, I became very enthused by the streak that the Ravens, you know, concocted.
And I don't think it will ever be touched by any other team ever again while we're alive.
But Dan offered that he did say he would apologize after essentially guaranteeing a Ravens victory.
And that will come tomorrow.
Yeah, put a pin in that.
We'll have to revisit.
Dan did go live on Instagram during the final, like, six minutes.
And you know, there was a couple penalties, a couple injuries.
So it got stretched out where Dan was in his front room watching this game on Instagram live.
for a cool like 10 or so minutes.
He got a little hyped when, you know,
the ball through the uprights kind of had a little push to it.
Yeah, he looked at it best.
He yelled, he pushed it and then had over the eyes.
It may have been ultimately Dan's fault that this happened.
It was.
And look, emotions were running high.
You may think we're spending a lot of time on this game.
By the way, Sam Howell showed to me why he's going to be a fun watch this year.
He's looking for big plays.
He's not afraid to run the ball either.
And he looked quite good in that game.
Terry McLaurin, unfortunately, had a toe injury.
He's day-to-day.
That's a little concerning turf toe injury.
But there were high emotions on Washington side.
There were high emotions on Baltimore's side as well.
John Harba was clearly not happy after this game.
Preseason games that people want to write about, some of you in here,
want to write about and say they don't mean anything,
because you never played the game.
You never were out there in a preseason game.
You never were fighting for a spot on the team.
And yet you have the audacity to say that the effort that somebody puts into that
to win and fight and win a game like that is meaningless.
Tell me it was meaningless out there what you just saw.
If you like football, is that a meaningless football game?
You know, I can't respect anybody that says that.
That's got to be tough for the guy that wrote that.
I mean, he went there with the you never played scenario,
which is sort of like infallible against most people.
I mean, I'm kind of with him, but you can tell it meant a lot
because he talked about how proud he was and they did not want to lose this game.
I don't know.
Baltimore, like they only played a couple starters on defense.
I think if you want to rewind Earth
by a day or two and say
maybe we just load that defense with all our starters
and we keep everyone in here like
I hate that this streak has been snapped
the second to last draw I was wondering like
are we going to get Josh Johnson back in here?
Right they actually haven't played
it's a misnomer they haven't played their starters
for most of this streak
they kind of take a pretty normal approach
in terms of who's in who's out
but rest in peace
Ravens preseason streak
my son Walker I
think was alive before this started, but he can't remember.
He was just an infant.
Was Malcolm alive for a...
Malcolm did not exist.
He would not exist for two more years, and, like, he's running around, like,
going into first grade now.
My children were alive, but they were not, they did not remember that last victory
that they had the Ravens.
The story September 3rd, 2015 game against the Falcons, that's where this all began.
One...
One...
Tiny nugget I wanted to throw in just from that game was, I don't think...
Tyler Huntley's going to be on this team.
You've been on this beat.
Because if you, in Harbaugh's been the one that's on this beat.
If you listen to his quotes, all camp, he's made it clear that for whatever reason,
this backup competition is wide open.
We really like Josh Johnson.
Tyler Huntley has to go earn this spot.
He's not guaranteed anything.
And you look at what they did this off-season.
They looked into Baker-Mayfield.
They looked into Jacoby Brissette.
Just something.
And then you listen to the ESPN broadcasters who said,
point blank that the offensive coordinator now, Todd Monkin,
really loves Josh Johnson, I think prefers Josh Johnson.
And won't another team, come on, give up a six to seventh round pick swap or a fifth round pick.
That's worth Tyler Huntley.
He's a good backup.
I mean, you can't have your backup making the Pro Bowl when the started,
and that's controversial at the four.
Is that what happened?
Yeah, I guess he was injured.
Mar Jackson didn't make it.
I'm just saying last year.
Pro Bowl quarterback, Tyler Huntley.
I'm okay with it.
because Josh Johnson
deserves this.
This is a nice spot for Josh.
And he played well for the Broncos
last preseason and it's like,
oh, this is finally it.
But then he gets cut.
And I would like to see Josh Johnson
finally be able to have a full season
with one team where he can live his life
because he's generally look good
in the regular scene.
So we'll see.
I think a lot of teams could use
some backup quarterbacks.
One team that won't,
though, is the San Francisco 49ers
as we're going to tape,
the news broke that Sam Darnold
is going to be the backup quarterback
with San Francisco. I feel like
there's more important news here, but this is the freshest
and it's pretty spicy when you think
about Trey Lance going into the season
as a number three quarterback
or will he, our rap sheet
in Rapporte and Tom Pelliserro
saying that the 49ers are
evaluating options
with Trey Lance, which would mean
a potential trade. We're going to get into
our segment later, which is, you know,
outstanding, still unresolved, big mysteries of the season.
If that's the title, Greg, is it close to that?
Beautiful. Beautiful mysteries.
If Dan was here, he would have laid that out right off the top, but I just was overwhelmed by...
I think it's good.
You created a mystery for the audience.
They didn't know what would come after the news.
But now they get it.
Now they know.
The first thing I had was the fate of Trey Lance, because he's just felt very tradable.
It just has felt like Kyle Shanahan verbally and in practice has never really fully backed Trey Lance as a concept.
you know, Tray Lance's body is not backed
Tray Lance as a concept too, which has been
sort of a problem, but you hear how he talks
about Sam Darnold. I felt like this was
in the mail for weeks. I just think he's
fascinated by Sam Darnold.
Yeah, if we go back
because honestly, what's the number
I got pro football reference with? Fifty-six
career attempts for Tray Lance.
Like that's really it. And so
in terms... Not many college ones either.
No. And even going back to high school, right,
that there's a limited number of reps. And so
it's an uncertain thing. But we
what Sam Darnold is. And I think Coach Shanahan knows what Sam
Donald is the question is they can't afford necessarily to just keep waiting
right now for Trey Lance. And if somebody else wants to come in and say,
hey, we'll take this. Then that's the way they go. But I also think it's worth
considering that they were evaluating all options with Jimmy Garoppolo
well before this time last year. And he wound up starting all those games. So
these things were fluid. I would hold on to Trey Lance if they don't get
anything better than, you know, a late round pick offer for him.
I'm with you.
And I'm not sure they will.
I don't know.
They might like Brandon Allen, who is their fourth quarterback, who was the Bengals backup
and would be a big upgrade, by the way, on the Bengals backup situation.
And I know Cincinnati is keeping an eye on that.
Maybe they feel like, okay, that's a third quarterback where we really don't need
Tray Lance.
But just based on everything that's happened with 49ers quarterbacks over the last
handful of years. Like, I don't know. They are in their Super Bowl window, unless they just feel like
it's too awkward. I don't hate having Trey Lance as a third good option, even if they feel that
Darnold is better as a second option. I just don't think they've seen the progress in the
preseason in terms of making the right reads and quick decisions from Lance. And that's why
Darnold is second. And you said they know what they have in Darnold. And I'm curious to see him with
the 49. He'll be better with the 49ers than he's probably ever been just because he's on the 49ers.
every quarterback would be better with 49ers.
Yeah, I mean, it feels like a safe assumption.
And there's some certainty there and get some consistency.
Because Sam seeing coaches get fired too.
He's seeing staff's turnover.
There's a 102 attempts career for Trey Lance.
Want to make sure I got that number right.
Sam Darnold, in his four biggest attempt games, has that number.
Like in four games alone, has an equal number of dropbacks as Trey Lance.
And so I think while this happens, and the first thought may be,
oh, Trey Lance is a bust.
It's over.
we still don't know, just like we didn't know with Sam
Donald. We don't know. And like, I think also if
anything, there is this
element to Trey Lance that
other coaches, there's going to be coaches out there to think
that if we need a quarterback at some point in the season,
if things go south or there's an injury,
like he seems like high potential.
Like he's going to be an object of
fascination to other coaching. But it's a red
flag for everyone. If they're, they're going to
look at it and think, man, if Chanahan
couldn't get it going,
that's going to hurt his value.
And he's in a weird spot where, I
I think Tyler, Tyler Huntley, in some ways, would be more attractive to teams looking for a backup quarterback because he's just a veteran who knows how to be a backup.
He's established kind of his baseline of solid play.
And Tray Lance is more of a bet on the future, but it's not necessarily like a secure backup.
But a team like Tampa, for instance, I was kind of looking at the teams who, hey, throw a fourth out there or something like that.
Arizona, like L.A. Rams, I actually don't think would be a crazy one.
although I don't know if you can imagine them
like just just a lottery ticket
I could see Sean in that sort of weird
relationship with Kyle thing where he's like
yeah let me take Trey Lance
into something yeah try to be a team that it's more
thinking about like well we're not really sure
what's going to happen next year and maybe our
starter's not going to stay healthy who
knows let's move on to the rest of the news Jonathan Taylor
requested a trade since we last
did a podcast and it feels like he didn't he already
any request to trade? I don't even. They granted them permission to seek a trade. Thank you, Patrick.
And the Dolphins were a team that Barry Jackson and the Miami Herald threw out there as a team that could possibly be interested in another national reporter, I believe, threw that out there as well.
So small movement on the Jonathan Taylor front, but not really. The Colts, for their part, say he still has not been cleared for practice, that he's not medically cleared, which is dubious, but also complicates this.
trade situation. I mean, this story is weighing on my patience. I move beyond whatever happens to him
with the cults to just like where he could possibly land because he's in a tough spot. Because on top
of having to pay him beyond this year, he wants a new contract. That's not going to change if he goes
to a new team. He's not going to simmer on that, I don't think. But then you've got to give essentially
the cult's draft picks. And, you know, the wording out there is that they want a sort of what Christian
McCaffrey got in return from the Niners, which was, I believe, second to third and a fifth
or something, a future fifth?
It's not happening.
What team, I mean, it's just hard to find teams that will do that.
And my mind goes back to the Cowboys a little bit because it feels like kind of a Cowboys
type thing to maybe pull a lever on that.
I don't know.
There's not a lot of landing spots, and it's a tough time a year to do it.
Your rosters are mostly set.
Yeah.
I think the good news, at least for Jonathan, you get some sort of an answer, right?
with regards to what the market is, how teams feel about.
And also, he gets what he wanted from the Colts
was just an opportunity to look into this.
Like, we saw Austin Echler go through this.
And the Chargers actually wound up giving Austin
a little bit more money, changing the structure a little bit.
Maybe there's some hope that he can see some sort of movement
in that aspect after this process goes through.
But at least he's going to have more answers now than he did a few weeks ago,
which was just, no.
I was like, hey, am I going to be a Colt next year?
Like, can we talk?
No.
right we don't have to talk about this so so no and we could both be long gone and nobody would care whatever the you know what's weird is the team that needs a running back is is the cults right they should trade for jonathan taylor i feel like that would be a good move i wouldn't give up all those mcalfrey picks i mean that was like a trade deadline trade where you got a an elite player i think even on a level slightly above taylor who is healthy in the middle of a good season and you had multiple division you had division you had division
division rivals, the Rams and the 49ers, both going after him, driving the price up.
This is before the season.
He's not 100%.
He's coming off a weird year.
Like, there's no chance, and they're kind of talking out of both sides of their mouth
where they're not going to give him the money.
And yet, they want the trade value of someone that good.
So I do not expect him to be on another team.
The one thing I would slightly disagree, Mark, is he might just take a trade and not look
for the new money.
If he got onto a good team, it might just be happy to get out of there and then try
I don't think it will be a talking point now, but I guess he could go back into the agency.
But I think, like, in general, why are we in these situations with these running backs?
Because they've gotten on a Zoom call together and wholeheartedly agree that their value is not being valued by other teams.
And so it's like, I don't think he's going to go quiet about that, but not right away.
Right.
And I'm just guessing because one thing Stephen Holder, who's a good reporter of the Colts pointed out this morning, he's at ESPN now, was at the Athletic.
he said if anyone thinks and he's seen this written that like Jonathan Taylor is just doing what his agent wants him to do, you have never spoken with Jonathan Taylor in your life.
Jonathan Taylor is the one running this show.
He's a strong-willed individual.
He's a smart guy.
And he is the one that is making this stance.
It is not about like him doing what the agent just asks him to do.
Yeah, he just watched Josh Jacobs lead the NFL in rushing and see his circumstances improve not at all.
because of that.
Although I think Josh Jacobs is going to,
I hope that can open up Jonathan Taylor returning
because it really sounds like Jonathan,
Josh Jacobs is going to come back.
And I highly suspect he's going to get like a Sequin,
Barclay, raise plus to come back,
like some incentives and maybe a little more money.
That's the buzz, at least, around the Raiders,
and I tend to believe it.
And if he hadn't been public about his discontent
regarding the situation,
I wonder would that be happening?
Ultimately, like, these guys are,
their options are very limited.
And Jonathan Taylor's looking at, all, so let's say I give my all and do everything I can for the Colts.
If what you're telling me right now in August of 2023 is none of that matters,
like why am I smashing my body into 300, 30-pound people?
Yeah.
I mean, also, I mean, if you're Shane Steichen, if you're Anthony Richardson, it's like, what are we doing here?
Like, I get the owner doesn't want to pay this running back, but this is an owner that a year ago decided to hire an ESPN analyst as his head coach.
I mean, the Colts were a picture of.
You almost forget about it.
High organization for a while, and it's like, what is going on here?
And they have by far the worst running back room in the league without Jonathan Taylor.
You kind of pointed out earlier, but that's a team that really wants to run the ball.
And running backs are an important relative to other positions until you don't have one and you want to run the ball.
And it's a problem.
Let's move on to the least surprising news of the week.
We don't have to spend too much time on this, but that Baker Mayfield is your week one buck starter.
Todd Bowles finally announced that.
you were once a Baker Mayfield believer and appreciator, Mark.
Yeah, he, he wore me down a little bit.
Any hope here?
I think there's hope because I think, again, it's like he has experience.
He still seems to me to be highly self-confident hearing his comments about being named starter.
I think it's the Baker Mayfield experience has a lot of people down on Baker
Mayfield when as a player, I think he's a B-minus quarterback.
He's better than Kyle Trask.
I think in general, this announcement probably was triggered by our own show
because Dan went on another rant about the fact that Todd Bowles was just like hedging around this absurdly obvious decision.
Now we know it's one of the least exciting quarterback battles I can remember ever in my entire lifetime.
Wait, I want to get your thoughts before we hear from Patrick, Mark, on the Buck's social media photo, time to bake.
I don't know if you saw this.
It's actually the pinned tweet on Buccaneers' Twitter account right now.
I was like, is this a weed reference?
Because it's getting kind of wild here.
Time to bake.
I mean, it is what you make.
To you, it is.
What are your thoughts?
I think in general, I don't want to sound, you know, cantankerous,
but these social media outfits need to absolutely, you know, settle down a little bit.
I don't hate that graphic.
I think it's fun.
It's a cool graphic.
And there's not a lot of pop to the bucks right.
Now, let's have some fun with the quarterback announcement.
I think we will be seeing this graphic again on our timelines if things don't necessarily
go great for the Buccaneers.
But I'm glad that we'll have another one of the, another edition of the Baker-Mayfield cycle,
and he's going to come out, and he's going to address his doubters, and then there's going to be
some conversation, and then, you know, there'll be reason to doubt, and then this thing will happen again.
You're reminding me of the QB1 Nathan Peterman.
Yes.
That the bill's released once.
One of the greatest tweets of all time.
That got reused quite a bit.
Dalton had one of those.
I'm hoping, yeah, that's right, Dalton had a good one.
Was that with the Bears?
Yes.
I think that was with the Bears.
It's like, why did you even tweet that?
Hard to keep track of the teams he was on.
Why did you X that?
I am hoping for a Baker resurgence because, number one,
I want Mike Evans and Chris Godwin to do well,
and I just want them to be watchable.
And this story that PFT has been writing about
that's in the legal system right now,
how he's suing for essentially millions of dollars,
maybe over tens of millions of dollars of his investments
that sounds like money started going missing.
And it's family members who are involved in this investment group
where over $10 million is gone missing.
And he spoke about it.
He was kind of emotional.
This has been going on for a long time.
Now it's just going public and makes you feel for him
because that is a difficult thing to go through for anyone,
especially with your family.
Chris Jones is a reply guy this week, Patrick.
The Chief's defensive tackle makes some news
by just replying deep into his mentions
to just some random fan when they're like,
well, when is he going to show up?
Like, this guy's got to show up, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Money, he needs to show up soon.
And Chris Jones just replies, week eight.
that's when I can return.
It's actually like, yeah, that's actually kind of news.
He's like, that's what I'm going to show up.
And he had another response in the same thread where they're like,
he's got to show up soon.
He's losing millions of dollars.
Do they, do they, like, on Rotor World, do they credit?
Not that the fan, the fan asked the question.
So he's sort of a reporter asking a question.
Do they credit the fan on X?
Because Chris was the one that made the news.
Jack Smith 2019.
Chris said he had plenty of money.
And I don't doubt him.
He is going for his third.
contract, not his second
one here, so he's banked some
money. You buy it. It's a little
this one has more
heat and maybe not animosity, but
more doubt to it than any other holdout right now.
Not Nick Bosa, not Christian
Wilkins. Yeah, he's
expressed a willingness and said that he's got plenty of money.
Patrick Mahomes was at the mic.
And of course, you know, Mahomes gets
these questions and he said, you know,
he supports Chris. He's going to stay away from it.
But, you know, you support
people trying to earn
fair compensation.
And so I think, like, reading the tea league, maybe there's a little bit of budging
from Veach and company?
I don't know.
It doesn't, there's no reason if Chris Jones, let's say he wants to come back week three,
why not let him think about week eight, you know, just, just throw that out there.
It's all in negotiation.
Yeah, he's watching, you know, Dexter Lawrence, Duran Payne, Jeffrey Simmons, Quinn and
Williams all get paid.
And he is as important as anyone on the team to that defense.
And I do buy it.
I think he, you know, you get to a point where he's willing to pay the fines,
willing to, you know, let certain money go because he believes in himself.
And I think if you're the chiefs, it's like, you're in this really special, unique place
where you could win multiple Super Bowls.
Like, pay him.
Yeah.
His words were, I can afford it.
The reason I wanted to mention, too, because it's like the temper you're getting, you know,
brought up a little bit.
Andy Reid said about Chris Jones.
There's been no communication.
Whatever happens happens, the game goes.
goes on. Nick Bosa is still holding out, and yet I just am not worried about that one.
I just think that one's going to happen before the season.
I don't feel worried about any of these situations.
No, I'm not, I know what you mean.
I just mean, I expect Nick Bosa to be ready in time for week one.
I expect Christian Wilkins, who's quietly having a hold in right now in Miami to be ready for
week one. I expect Josh Jacobs back. Taylor, we talked about Jones, Jones, it wouldn't shock
me if he actually missed it.
If you're Christian Wilkins, you've got to get a little more PR going in this.
It's like half people don't even know he's in a holdout.
Like, you've got to let everyone know.
The hold in is tricky.
Yeah, people don't like it as much.
One last quick injury nugget before we get to 8 o'clock delay.
Jackson Smith and Jigba, who we talked about, you talked about Mark, right, is a long shot
for week one.
We didn't know that he hurt his wrist in that preseason game.
Long shot for week one is Ian Rappaport's reporting after wrist surgery.
They're pretty thin at wide receiver after their top three, which might be the best top three
in the league.
And yet, I don't know who their number three is.
It might be a man named Jake Bobo.
Well, that's exciting.
I mean, yeah, we mentioned Jackson on the last episode.
I thought it was someone that from the minute the first game starts,
he's an important part of their offense.
And suddenly, you don't have them.
I want to root for the preseason.
I want to root for these joint practices.
I want to root for the prep for the regular season.
But it just feels like we've already lost 30 to 40 important people.
Not as men, not too many.
The McLaur and toe injury bothers me.
That might be turf toe.
and stay a day, but like that can affect your whole season.
You find out in February that it was never himself.
I've never, maybe Patrick can help me.
Maybe you can help you, Mark.
I've never been able to express this take I have that I've felt strongly about for 10 years.
Let it out, Greg.
And it's the people that get really upset that someone gets injured in the preseason
and what a waste that is.
And that's namely me.
Terrible, sure, but really everyone.
Okay.
But, and there's something, I think Belichick has talked about this.
a little, like, but that same level of consternation, like, isn't quite there for the,
like, 40 injuries that come at you on week one when they suddenly have to play 50 or 60
snaps. And to me, like, I don't know, I haven't been able to express this. Well, I don't know if
playing in the preseason helps prevent that or not. I'm not even saying that. All I'm saying is,
like, their job is to play football and injuries, I guess, are going to happen. And you have,
and you're suddenly going to play 50, 60 snaps.
like snaps are needed to be played people are going to get hurt it's annoying but it's not like
much more tragic to me if it happens in the preseason than the regular season it's all bad
it's not more bad in in august i i feel like i never can say it well i think you've said it well
yeah you've said it yeah i i feel like we do kind of need to know whether or not playing football
prevents you from being hurt playing football to in order to to to feel that
that way. I just, I typically tend to believe that, you know, it's, it's done everything for us,
but in terms of your health, like playing football might not be good for you. And so it's hard
for me to believe that in order to be more healthy to play football in the regular season,
guys need to do it in the preseason. I feel like there's a, that's fine, but there's going to be
like 40 of these same injuries in the regular season. And that's disappointing. You know what I find
doing, Greg?
That's all. That's sort of all my point. It's like, it's got to happen. You're going to have to play football.
And I hear you, someone's got to play these games, you know?
Well, so I think for me, it's more of a personal thing where we are tasked with spending five to six months talking about rosters as if they won't be affected by injury.
And in ranking, you know, skill position players, ranking quarterbacks, ranking wide receivers, running backs.
And then like eight minutes into the preseason, most of what we talked about is reduced to rub it.
It's the same thing week one, week two, whatever.
When it's week one, it's like, cool, it happened in a game that mattered.
Yeah.
I just think, right.
I get it.
Jackson Smith and Jigba had so much production at Ohio State.
He was a first round pick.
I don't necessarily think that they needed the amount of information about Jack and Smith and Jigba in order to play him in the regular season that necessitated him playing in the preseason.
I think that time could have gone to somebody who maybe needs more time in order to earn a spot, not just on the team, but maybe in the league long term.
Sure.
Maybe we don't necessarily need to see guys that we know are going to play playing in the preseason.
That's how I think.
That's probably, I basically agree with that.
But there is some level where I think there's some players that probably it is useful to play.
Maybe they're not as far along.
Maybe they're young quarterbacks.
I don't even know what it is.
And the point is like once week, one week two happens, it's like all these injuries are happening.
That's a shame as well.
Let's get some developing news here.
We're throwing in a surprise.
We're spending too much time on news.
I'm talking about.
This is a weird one.
Corey Davis has let the Jets know he's stepping away from football.
I feel like he did that two years ago.
Ouch.
Look, he was locked in to making over $10 million for this team.
He was probably going to be their third or fourth receiver.
And it sounds like he might be retiring.
Corey Davis.
So a hit to the Jets wide receiver group.
Has...
I know I'm springing this on.
last second. Nope. 66 catches over two seasons with the Jets. I, you know, like, I think it were,
we started to see this about five or six years ago where, like, the concept of retirement
has become so much easier for players. You're making enough money to have generational wealth.
And there's more information about the long-term negative effects of playing football. And I think
it's, what are you going to do next with your career, with your life? And these retirements
come from younger players at a higher rate than ever before.
and he's notably someone that's that struggled with his health and did get a healthy second
contract so he's in a position too where you can feel a little more comfortable with that yeah
reading the instagram post now it's clear he is planning to retire saying he's thought about it
for for a long time i wonder do they do does does joe call the browns back and like hey
how do you all feel about a lash and more do you want to flip-flop this back again i'm just
because Cori Davis was going to play.
I think so.
I mean, my immediate thought was, was there any chance?
Did he have any feeling that he wasn't going to make this team potentially?
Because they did bring in McColl Hardman.
You have Lazard.
You have Garrett Wilson.
It'd be tough to cut Randall Cobb.
Well, you can't annoy Aaron Rogers with that.
So that's four guys right there.
And three of them are or two of them are on veterans contracts.
So I don't know for sure.
The talk was that they were going to keep them.
And happy trails to Corey Davis.
Had some nice moments there with the Titans as a speedster.
Good luck with what you do next.
I think it's time to take a little break.
And we're going to get to our exciting segment,
which really is inspired by the New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rogers.
Some of the beautiful mysteries heading into 2023.
What's up, everybody?
Daniel Jeremiah here.
And I'm Bucky Brooks.
Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game from scouting reports and player development
to team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters.
Every week, we study the tape, talk to decision makers, and share the insights you won't find
anywhere else.
It's the kind of conversation that connects the dots, from college football prospects to the
NFL stars of tomorrow.
We break down the draft, analyze matchups, and evaluate how teams put it all together on game day.
Plus, we dig in the coaching strategies.
roster construction, and the trends that shape the league year after year.
Whether you're a diehard fan or just love understanding the game on a deeper level,
we give you the full picture.
If you want insight that goes beyond the box score, this podcast is for you.
Don't miss it.
Listen to the Move the Six podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts.
Hey, this is Matt Jones.
Now, I'm Drew Franklin.
And this is NFL Cover Zero.
We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different.
Did you see the Colts Pretzel?
That was my other big takeaway from that game.
What was that?
Oh, my.
We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining.
And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get.
Listen to NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL.
Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more.
All right, we are back, and we're going to talk about some of the things going to this season.
We've kind of talked about everything, Mark, haven't we, at this point?
Today or over the course of the last, like, the last, like, three or four weeks.
Yeah, I feel like we've covered a lot of time.
We've hit it off.
I would say to you, too, but you haven't been here the whole time, Patrick.
I know you're in spirit.
Yeah.
So I, now that we're heading into the season, we're going to do some big predictions.
We have our around the AFC, NFC shows next.
week. We're hoping to lock Patrick back into a one-week contract, a one-week contract for one-year
shows, Patrick. I know we're using you this week, but I'm hoping to reach out to your agent
and get you back for that next week. And we'll do predictions. So I was thinking, what do we talk
about now? How about the things we don't know anything about? Maybe it's the things we haven't
talked about much on this show. That's sort of how I approached it, too. But it's also the things
that, like, that's just a mystery to me.
Like, going into the season,
I just don't know how to feel about it.
It doesn't matter how we've talked about it.
It's a beautiful mystery.
That's what Aaron Rogers said about his football future.
I think that was back in April.
And I think we got to start with Mark,
because when I think beautiful mystery,
I think the sizzler.
Oh, thank you.
Man, you know how I, like, came up with, like, 82 topics here.
So I'm going to just fish for one.
I think we don't have any clear evidence.
We'll go around.
I'm playing in, like,
three or three times
around.
We can keep it pretty quick.
I don't have any like clear evidence
that Todd Munkin is a
a plus play caller or that
this Ravens offense in general has shown
really anything to suggest that
this post Greg Roman world is
exactly what they needed.
It was wonderful to change from Greg Roman,
I think on paper because they kind of hit an
exhaustion point with him that happens with Greg Roman.
But, you know,
Lamar Jackson coming off two disappointing seasons.
You add O'Dell Beckham.
I think you've got a much better wide receiver core than you've had in the past.
I don't know.
Like running the ball the way they did, work for the Ravens.
If you're going to move to a past heavy offense or so-called, you know, more balanced
offense, cool.
It's got to work.
We've seen nothing in the preseason that suggests to me that we know it's going to work.
No, I don't think they're going to show that at all.
And that was a great, beautiful mystery to get us going.
I think you're right.
I heard
it was Collinsworth, actually.
He was on Mina Kimes' podcast.
I listened to that episode.
And he thought the Ravens were as maybe variable as any team in the league.
Like it could actually go terrible.
I don't see that happening.
There's such a good organization.
They're so talented in terms of their coaching.
It really goes terrible, right.
But just like that, he had questions about the defense, too, that or they could win the Super Bowl.
He just thought there is a huge range of outcomes for this team.
And I think you're right.
For a team that doesn't have a new head coach or a new quarterback, week one, they are maybe at the top of my list of like, I want to see what this is going to be because they're not going to show it in the preseason.
We really have no idea.
Yeah, I think the reasons for optimism, right, because they had so much success on the defensive side of the ball and they change a coordinator, right?
And Harbaugh is making that decision.
And I think ultimately they feel good about it.
It was a very specific coordinator, Greg Roman, who really, there wasn't like a Greg Roman tree out there.
You know what I mean?
Like, that was the only Greg Roman offense.
So it's going to be different.
Yeah.
And so now it's, I think the subtraction part, right, where it's no longer Greg Roman.
There were some issues in the passing game with the concept.
Guys were in the same place.
You had Pat Ricard running digs.
And it's like, wait, like, this offense needs to grow.
It needs to change.
I don't think having Todd Monkin eliminates the capacity for them to run the ball in the way that they have.
But differently, maybe.
Yeah.
But there is that question of, in terms of calling the plays.
as a play caller, you're right.
It is a mystery, but are we going to find out
how much of a detraction, like late stage Greg Roman was?
Right.
And how much was he holding the offense back?
I think we will get an answer there.
And maybe we'll get an answer on Todd Munkin,
or maybe it's just you have an exceedingly talented quarterback
who got hurt in the pocket.
Like, it wasn't like Lamar was out there doing Lamar stuff
and he got hurt.
Like, he got hit in the knee in the pocket just like anybody can.
And so, like, long term, what is this offense going to be?
And I could take some time, too.
It could be something where after week five, there's some grumbling and it catches fire by the end.
I think it's a good point, though, about the running game just because they do have a healthy, you know, assuming J.K. Dobbins is fine.
And Gus Edwards and Lamar just makes the running game that much better and makes it easier on the passing game.
I'm going to throw out a beautiful mystery.
Let's get beautiful.
Do it.
Mysterious.
And it's a team I'm trying not to be a.
downer on, but I think I am a little lower on consensus, but it's more that I just don't
know. And it's the Jacksonville Jaguars. Like, are we sure that they're going to be taking
this next step? I always am a little wary of teams that finish the year really strong and you
just assume, okay, that's how that team is now. And I look at their defense and they've had a
couple injuries lately, Foley-Fat Takasi's had a cast on his arm. And more importantly,
Dave on Hamilton, who they gave a big contract to one of their
best defensive lineman has what sounds like a serious injury that is indefinite and might be a
non-football injury. He might end up on a list. Like, I don't know what's going on there. I look at their
defensive roster and they weren't a good defense last year. They didn't really add to it. I look at
their cornerbacks after their top guy Campbell. And I look at their pass rush depth after Josh
Allen. Like that, is Trayvon Walker going to make a jump? And I'm like, is this possibly a bottom five
defense. And if it is a bottom five
defense, are
my that confident that Jaguars' offense is good
enough to make up for it? I'm going to say
it's a mystery to me. It's possible
that Trevor just continues
to ascend in Ridley and they continue to ascend.
But there's big questions on
the offensive line and there's
really big questions to me on the
defense. That's a lot of questions
going into the season for your boy
Trevor Lawrence to make up for
Patrick. There's a lot of questions
but there's even more questions elsewhere in the division.
Sure, but it's possible for everyone to be bad in the division.
Like, they can still be mediocre.
But the things that have to happen for those other teams to leapfrog the Jags,
I feel like are a little more mysterious than, like,
well, can Josh Allen stay healthy?
Is Trev going to be as good, if not maybe even better than he was a season ago?
They had Tank Biggsby.
We get a full season of Travis E.T.N.
Hopefully.
Like, there's just less Jags questions for me,
I'm not going to swayed your concerns.
Yeah.
I disagree.
But because they have Trevor, then they don't have that question to me.
So also, it's not like the dance last year was a strength and it's become a non-strength.
It was not a strength last year.
And so that's baseline.
And I feel like the Trevor Lawrence factor is like you could give, you know, a B-minus director a great script.
It will probably still be a good movie.
But you give a good director a terrible script.
Good luck with that.
Like when you've got the quarterback, the quarterback's the good script.
Like, they were, I think, like...
What if he's the good director?
He could...
Well, Doug Peterson did a pretty good job with that last year.
And, I mean, he just grew as much as any quarterback in the league next to maybe Justin Fields.
Like, I think, like, there's nothing about that that felt half-baked.
It felt completely tangible.
And, you know, DVO-A-wise, like, their offense over the final six, seven games of the season was terrorizing teams.
And so I just like that as your court.
Now, they're over-under, I think, was 9.5.
To your point, Greg, I was like tempted in that one episode to go under because I don't think you're going to get the last five or six weeks of the regular season last year just all over again necessarily.
But to Patrick's point, the environment is better than if you were stuck in the AFC East.
I hear that. I just, I think it could be an environment where the division standings look similar to last year.
I was going to make this a whole AFC South thing and then I decided just to make it Jaguars or it's an NFC South from a year ago.
And like if you told me that the Jaguars are a little bit of a.
let down and they actually win the division winning eight games or nine games like that that feels
possible to me because i just think they're counting on trev to do a lot give me a beautiful mystery
patrick okay i'll give you a beautiful mystery it comes out of my mind and trying to change the
way i feel about something because with players the constant my constant idea is well both of these
guys could be good i don't afford that leniency to coaches and we saw a change in the office
of coordinator spot in dallas and now mike mccarthy's calling plays kellen moore is over here
across the street and in my mind one of these coaches has to be good and another has to be bad but
could the chargers and cowboys both have top ten offenses oh everybody's good it was just
not meant to be a win win is that possible i think it i think absolutely because first of all
like personnel wise they've got the makings of two top ten offenses um mike mccarthy we've got a lot
of history of him doing very well at
calling plays. But Kellyn Moore also.
Kellyn Moore is not like,
he didn't get, he got, there was a bit of a power issue there and things needed to change.
I think Dax meltdown led to some of that too.
You know, Kellynne Moore to me has proven that he can do it.
I like the idea of Kellynne Moore or anyone with Justin Herbert doing a better job
than last year's coordinator in Los Angeles.
I just think, like, I,
Kellyn Moore also and Justin Herbert are like legit close friends who have a shared
background. And like, they've talked all along about they want to really tailor
things to make Justin Herbert
comfortable in the offense. That was not happening
last year. And so I think it's arrow up
on both teams. Yeah, I think
both could be better. I'm confident.
I just think the Cowboys are in a better situation
health-wise and depth-wise. I just like the look
of their team. And
Kellyn Moore, I like what I've heard in terms of their
running game. A little more of a North-South running
game. Even an average
first and second-down running
game would really help Herbert. And I don't
know what Kellan Moore is doing behind the scenes, but
I mean, forget Bruce Ariens. He's the new
quarterback whisper.
I mean,
DAC was like his best buddy pretty much.
And now Justin Herbert,
maybe he learned just like,
if you're friends with these guys,
you're going to have jobs forever.
Tether yourself to a really good quarterback.
Things will be good.
Right.
It wasn't even intentional because he was,
you know,
Dak,
I was there out of the day.
Kellen Moore,
unfortunately,
broke his ankle,
which led to Dak Prescott becoming
the number one quarterback
of the Dallas Cowboys.
Let's get another beautiful mystery mark.
So we are situated about
100 feet away from SoFi Stadium.
We've talked about the Chargers.
I think it is a true mystery.
Is it a beautiful mystery?
TBD, but who are the Rams?
What on earth are they going to look like?
And I guess I'd be more down on the Rams,
except Sean McVeigh seems more delighted and joyful
than really ever before.
I know that he's on a personal journey
to try to maybe have less of his darkness
spread over the whole team that things start to go south,
but he seems to be more, I guess,
from a coaching angle, more jazz.
hazed up than I can recall in a long time.
But then you look at the Rams roster and like talking of the Chargers running game,
they destroyed Los Angeles on the ground a couple weeks ago.
And the Rams to me seem very sort of beyond Aaron Donald floating on that entire side of the ball.
Then you've got Matthew Stafford and Cooper Cup.
On an offense, it's pretty shaky too.
And it's like, do the Rams get eight or nine weeks into the season and say,
we can shop some of these parts if we want to truly get into a deeper rebuild?
Or is this the beginning of the rebuild?
and like these young guys on defense gel
and look more surprising than we expected.
I just have no concept of what the Rams could be.
I think that they're probably five or six wins,
but does Sean McVeigh have a trick up his sleeve?
I'm with you on him being in a better mood.
There was this clip of him going around calling the Rams game
because I think in this, he gives up play calling
and he joins the broadcast.
Right.
It was Andrew Whitworth, Andrews Siciliano, our buddy Andrew.
and he calls the pick six that the Rams had in the second quarter.
And I got to say, Amazon offered, I think, McVeigh, all that money, supposedly.
If we could get McVeigh to announce Rams games as they're happening,
we're really on to something.
I would pay, I think they should pay a lot of money.
And I think that would be a fun way to connect fans to the game.
He also dropped an S-bomb on that call.
Oh, he did. I didn't know.
Because I was watching the broadcast as it happened,
and I think he knows you're not supposed to,
but he also knows that as fans, we like hearing that.
Sure.
It gives us a little like, oh, you know, this guy, this guy's being real.
This guy's being authentic.
And I think he knows, and that part of it is fun.
I'm glad to see Sean having fun and not being, like, remorse, like, yeah,
this may be my last game.
Yeah.
Everything is bad.
So I like that.
But also, it is a complete mystery.
I wish I could help you, Mark.
No, I don't think none of them.
I'm not asking him for help, because I think we just don't know.
Defensively, it's insane, but then there's this idea, oh, the offense will be fine.
And, like, maybe, but we haven't seen Stafford in a while.
Their number two receiver is Ben Jefferson.
How did they upgrade the offensive line?
I think it is better.
They took a villa in the second round.
They made him an immediate starter.
No, boom's healthy now, and he's a guard.
The other guys have been there.
Allen's healthy.
They're healthier.
I think they have three guys back.
Well, that was a disaster a year ago.
It was.
They've been happy about Tutu Atwell, starting to show some promise.
Yeah, that's a beautiful mystery.
Puka Nakua.
We'll see.
I'm going to give a beautiful mystery that's a little more like league-wide.
Okay.
It's a little more taking a step back.
Birds-eye view.
Birds-eye view.
And the Rams are a little related to this because I think they help start the trend of these Vic Fangio acolytes.
Spreading around the league.
Brandon Staley was one.
We see them everywhere.
Everyone playing this too high shell and playing essentially to prevent the big play.
That the whole point of defense right now is to prevent the big play.
And it's begging you to run.
And we want you to run.
And we've seen over the last year some teams go too far in that direction,
like the Chargers giving up five and a half yards per carry.
And they just can't stop a nosebleed.
And it's a problem.
And I do look at the league as a whole.
And there's a lot of these coordinators.
out there and just wonder
it's a cyclical league
no one system
ever stays
effective for long. You think of the
Tony Dungey Tampa 2. Remember when that
really spread out? And then there was kind of
a tipping point where it was like
everyone's just hitting eight-yard passes
all over the Tampa 2. I think in this case
it's some teams running
the ball a little more, whether it's with
wide receivers who can block
well or whether it's with two tight ends
and whether that shift is really going to start happy.
I think we saw a little bit of it last year.
You certainly see the Eagles making it hard on some of those defense,
but just as a league, a beautiful mystery,
if we're going to just see a little more the run game punishing these light boxes
and the real man football comes back.
I think it could happen.
I think that's what Belichick was trying to do back in 21 with Cam Newton already.
And I think there's going to be a little more of that.
The Patriots will be one of those teams this year,
but it's a mystery.
Yeah, we see the cyclical nature of things all the time.
It's just a question of when it happens.
You know, I was referencing Don Martindale going to the Giants.
He still brings the heat, right?
And I think maybe it got to the point where Harbaal saw the rest of the league and
says, hey, maybe we need to incorporate these things.
I also think it's probably a little cheaper financially to design a defense that approaches things that way than the attacking defense because you have to pay corners.
Sure.
And so maybe that.
But at some point.
somebody is going to flip the script and do something the rest of the league's not ready for.
It's just who takes that risk.
And I think it's just offensively making defenses have to come up with answers
when you have big personnel in there.
And it doesn't always have to be two tight ends or anything or a fullback.
It could be Robert Woods and Cooper Cup who can just block on your outside and you teach.
I think the dolphins are going to be a really good running team.
And they've got two lightweight ride receivers out there.
but they also have just geometry problems they create with those wide receivers,
and they're going to play a lot of two tight ends that don't catch a lot of passes.
I think the Patriots, I think the Lions, I think the Packers, I think the Browns.
I think there's a lot of teams out there that could just start punishing these looks.
And you saw the number.
The numbers for rushing last year were up.
It was more effective last year to run the ball that has been for many years.
I could totally see that.
I mean, I think also we're in a time where, you know,
I think of the play caller series that Jordan Rodriguez did where your head coach is
now are vastly offensive-minded.
Like, that was not the case a long time ago.
And I think that the environment of your entire organization is innovative,
and we're going to do things differently in Zig and other teams.
But I also look at, like, what the Ravens did with, you know,
at the outset of Lamar's starting rain and under Harbaugh,
where that was, I thought, incredibly inventive and open-minded to just become a
1970s team that hammers people on the ground.
But you didn't get 22 teams to copy them.
No.
Like, I think in general, like, it's still a quarterback.
League. It's still going to be, you're in too many situations where the passing game is too
effective and needed in certain situations. So I don't know if you're going to get 18 or 19 teams
that suddenly turn us back two or three decades. No, but if the teams that are doing it, Atlanta
being maybe foremost among them, maybe it's ball to, like if the teams, the Philadelphia, certainly,
like if the teams that are doing it start to be more and more effective. I think the Patriots are going
to try. I don't know how effective it'll be, but I think they'll try.
He treats to try not being completely boring to the eye on offense.
How about that?
Maybe the thing that does finally go by the way side this season
is like the early era Brandon Staley Chargers mindset
where it's, hey, you know, it's really hard to run the ball
four and a half yards to carry every single, every single play.
And then teams came out there and did that.
And like, he's still saying that.
So it's like maybe we make some changes to get rid of that mindset.
Right. You got to have guys up front that are,
if you're only going to have six guys,
in there you better have some great run blockers among those six guys uh let's go patrick and then
let's let's wrap with a speed round let's get a third round but we'll do it quicker okay um
somebody's going to go worse the first we know that and it's a mystery right now if i'm just
riding the high of the greatest preseason football game of all time is that team to watch
oh this was gonna be mine that's good i'm glad you took it we could just have this convo
I don't know.
They are a beautiful mystery.
There is something about that game.
And I started thinking of team of ATL.
And I was like, wow, how transgressive would it be after years of, I at least said that I, you know, I don't hate any team except for one.
There was one team out there.
With the source of that hatred has been.
With the ownership, it's gone.
Unlike the commandos fans out there that feel like reborn.
And then I got Sam Howell swinging.
I got to admit, I kind of like Sam Howell.
maybe Eric B. Enemy actually runs a really fun offense.
He's shown some fun stuff so far.
Like, you've got a nice coach you like.
You've got a defensive line that you like.
I'm kind of feeling the command.
Worst to first.
That is aggressive.
The Eagles won six more games than them a year ago.
That's aggressive.
The Cowboys won four more.
The Giants also went to the playoffs.
So you're going to need a lot of calamity to occur to those other three teams.
Another team I think that would like to run the ball quite a bit in play.
and
Washington.
Power football.
Washington.
Yes.
I just think them
as a fun entity
is such a value ad
potentially.
It is.
My mystery would be more like,
wait a minute,
Sam Howell,
who we've been kind of
giggling at,
the concept of them
not really going out
and getting a bone-ified.
Well, no,
but just in general,
Washington under Ron Rivera's,
like, we're just going to get
by a quarterback
where the rest of the league
seeks, you know,
a franchise starter.
Sam Howell looks really spicy.
They've been saying all along
they believe in them.
You know,
I thought with this one game
sample size from a year
ago wasn't enough to completely convince me.
But even just a couple days ago against the Ravens, I'm like,
I watch Sam Howlant's like the kind of quarterback I like watching.
So if he's watchable and he's productive,
there already were a lot of parts on both sides of the ball in Washington.
So 8, 8 and 1 a year ago, they can be better than that.
They could win 10, 11 games.
In a best case scenario, he is a better version or a rich man's baker,
which is, to your point, you're kind of quarterback.
A little more physical.
Let's not drown the hope already.
No, I just think a better version.
better version.
Like, if it, I, it's going to be a better runner, obviously, he's in a more physical
guy.
But I think he's got some bakerish tendencies.
But like, if you could be a baker that processes and makes better decisions, I think
you, you would have something talented.
All right, let's do a speed round and get out of here.
Okay.
You want me to go?
Sure.
All right.
I wrote this down, but I kind of think I already know the answer.
Are the Raiders a disaster or maybe good?
I think they're a mess.
But my second question to that
Is this is where the preseason
The off season has been so long
Because you had that famous rant
They used that GMFB
Well no I went through all these other AFC teams
It's like are the Raiders better than any of these
And it's like 10 AFC teams
It's like not really
But then I do wonder if
Josh McDaniels worked forever with Tom Brady
Tom Brady had a very fascinating origin story
What if we're on the verge of an Aiden O'Connell revolution
Where we get it Jimmy G
I think people are too down
on Jimmy G, but what if Aiden O'Connell can actually play?
It was a fascinating college player.
And, like, we're six or seven weeks away from a Jimmy G injury where Aiden O'Connell
comes in and makes the Raiders a totally enjoyable product.
This is how the offseason is so long that now I start going against the takes I had
because we've sat with him too long.
I'm with you.
I'm sort of now like, oh, maybe the Raiders will be injured.
And I've gone the other way with the Dolphins, which was going to be my last beautiful
mystery.
I'm going to skip that to it.
It's like, I was so high on them at the beginning of the offseason.
And now I'm like, maybe actually that they won't be that good.
Let's, I'm going to finish my beautiful mystery with a player, Justin Fields,
who is a, to me, a beautiful mystery because he's one of the greatest running
quarterbacks of all time in terms of his running ability.
That was a surprise that he was that good as a runner.
He's sort of been a little opposite of his profile coming out of school.
Like, yes, his deep accuracy is supposed to be great.
We just haven't had a chance to see a lot of it.
I don't know what to think about Justin Fields.
I think the ceiling is so high.
I think the floor is a little lower than I would like.
I'm looking forward to watching him play,
but that offense to me is a beautiful mystery.
And I'm not confident going into the season that he's going to be great.
But if you told me he added Jalen Hertz type of year where he's in the MVP,
like that wouldn't shock me either.
So to me, Fields is just a mystery, especially what they do in terms of the passing game,
how they do the running game this year.
I'm not sure what we're going to get.
I'm confident.
You are.
Yeah, I think he doesn't have Jalen Hertz type pieces.
I haven't seen it enough.
But like when you go from Equanimity St. Brown being your best option at received
DJ Moore, like I have to feel better about that.
You're probably right.
It's partly the getsy thing.
It's partly the, I haven't felt overly confident with the tape he's put out there passing the ball.
Not as good as I.
There hasn't been like great glowing reporting around fields over the past month plus.
It's been a sort of a strange.
season for him.
But it's all there for him to be great. It always
concerns me, though, when like 98%
of the people just assume he's going to be
Jalen Hertz's growth process.
Like, we don't know that. Like, just because
there's someone that we saw do that,
doesn't mean that he can't accept
at least half of his game.
I thought he got better as a passer, first of all.
He really did. I think that's a little bit
slept on. Like, doing QB Index,
there was no quarterback that people would
reply on X in my mentions
and say, like, this guy actually
stinks you keep rising him up the rankings and like no he's devastating people with his
legs and can he grow as a passer like shouldn't most quarterbacks be growing as a passer from year
two three four and he also he was making those scramble decisions on passing plays so like that's a
part of the passing game so i think it's fair to to include that in passing he is as
mike vick like on just like a scramble i know his different body types can run over a guy like
but as Mike Vic like on just a scramble when he decides to do it as anyone since.
Lamar's at that level or better, but he's just a different sort of player.
Yeah.
My beautiful mystery is a former mystery, which was not a mystery at all before.
It's Michael Thomas.
I think the Saints can win a whole lot of games.
Am I out of my mind to think Michael Thomas could have 100 receptions in 2020?
And if he stayed healthy, that's the mystery.
Sure.
I don't think you're out of your mind.
I think it's...
Because I do have 40 catches from Jalen Rager.
Well, you did...
You do that at that moment.
He's done it, but it's like...
I can't think of too many, like,
Hall of Fame-type careers
that went completely south because of health,
and it's like, where is his body?
It also might be tough just because
I think Olavé is the one there.
He's so good.
And Joanne Johnson's going to get his share.
But if you told me, Michael,
Thomas plays 17 games, I would, I don't think it over under at like 80 is wild at all.
And that's, that's, that's, that's in the ballpark.
How to run for a lot of, you know, caught a lot of balls.
Derek, I'm just saying.
That, that's fair.
That is it.
We've, uh, we've hit the beautiful mysteries.
Thank you, Eric.
Behind the glass.
The chimes.
Was that a, uh, was that a tuning fork on one of them?
I didn't know what that tone was.
It was like, I have no idea for that is meaning of reference to.
It's a beautiful mystery.
It is a beautiful mystery.
No mystery, what Thursday's show is going to be.
It's an annual favorite of the around the NFL listeners.
It's the hot butt rankings.
And we'll be back for that.
You know he's not missing the hot butt rankings.
He can't miss the Raven streak ending and Hot Butts.
We'd be concerned about that.
No.
Yeah, you would need to file a missing person.
Yes, that would be a mystery.
So we will be back on Thursday with those hot butt rankings.
for Mark Sessler to Patrick Claibor.
I'm just gonna go ahead.
I'm gonna say goodbye right now.
Heatha Call.
This is an I-Heart podcast.
