NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - AB Update; Preseason Week 1 Winners and Losers

Episode Date: August 12, 2019

A room filled with some heroes - Dan Hanzus, Chris Wesseling and Gregg Rosenthal bring you all of the latest news around the NFL including the latest update with Antonio Brown and the Raiders (5:03) and an in depth kicker roundup you can't get anywhere else. (10:34) The heroes go through all of the winners and losers of preseason week 1. (25:19)Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the NFL podcast is the Maurice Harris of podcast. Welcome to another edition of The Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansus, and I'm in a room that is filled with some heroes. Chris Wesleying to my left, Greg Rosethal to my right. What is up, boys? Hey, Dan. I'm like the, I'm the Maurice Harris of this podcast.

low expectations, a camp grinder. It's going to max out his natural ability. I see you more as Edelman. I wish. Our show, of course, presented by the Great Serious XM, where you go for all your tunes. That's something I added, a slogan. They have not cleared it.

But if they did, we're looking for a new slogan. The place to go for all your tunes. That's available. And sports. And sports. So dot, dot, dot, dot, and sports. Do people still say tunes? No, that's the problem.

But I'm giving that the option. Hot tracks. All right. Erica, you ever listen to like coffee shop channel on Sirius X-M? That's a good question. That's a good one. Are you a serious listener? Yeah.

So what are your go-to stations? I mean, I like hits one. I like the heat, which is like R&B. Yeah. The Pulse is like Oldies Class X at Channel 15. That's good, yeah. But oldies, no, it's like early 2000s, right? They do a mix.

That's oldies now. I know it is. They do a mix. It's like, and here's the old-timer, Britney Spears. Yeah. Coming right at you with toxic. Yeah. I like the spectrum.

Spectrum's my, like, dad station that I like. What's that? It's like a spectrum of music from the 70s, 80s, 90s, and today. Like alternative rock. I like the college stations as well. Nice. I feel like they got to adjust that there in 2019. They're like, next up.

on the spectrum. Green Day. I don't know. It just doesn't seem right. All right. Good serious time. Hi, everybody. Welcome back from the weekend.

Wes, how was you? I know you held a shindig. Yeah, my brother drove in. He was in Vegas. We played quite a bit of cornhole. Had some pulled pork, some Cincinnati-style chili. Good night, good times. Very good.

You were there, I imagine, Greg? I was briefly. I had my kids with me, so it was an early departure, I hear it. You were that guy. Yeah, it raged out. Yeah, Patrick Claibon came over with his son Malcolm. But, yeah, we were both leaving probably as the party was just about to get really rip-roaring.

It was unfortunate. I was unable to attend double birthday scenario. When you get hit with a double birthday, you got to go underneath. You got to go underground. How to take care of the boy, how to take care of the wife. No room for Daddy to make plans. Good performance by Spice rack. Nice.

How spicy he doing? Spicey's doing well. You know, Colleen John were there. Oh, nice. Is there any value to Spice Rack on this show now that he's not in the desert? Let's just, let's just be honest about this. It's a fair question. Spacrack, of course, your desert consigliary you would go to, we would go to for college football,

wagering advice, stuff like that. I mean, that's out there as a question. I think it's a fair question, and it's something we will have to dig in deeper behind the scene. I think it would be good to have them in the studio one time, and it can be one of, It's like one of those guest stars on a sitcom where it's like if he happens to hit a home run, maybe it becomes a recurring character. But it's just the contract's just for one time. And I, it should be remembered that I am on call for jury duty all week. So feel free if I'm not here Wednesday or Friday to just plug spice rack in for that test.

No, you got to be here. You got to be here for that. Coming up on today's show. Okay, so we're about two weeks deep in training camp. And we have one week of the preseason in the book. So perfect time to take stock of what's going on in the National Football League. Some winners and losers thus far in August. Also, a lot to get to including, yes, more heat around Antonio Brown.

So we'll get to that in just a moment. It is time now for what we're hearing presented by Sirius XM. Let's do some news, Ricky. Everyone's still fighting for a spot on the team. Can you tell me how impressed you are with some of the players that are considered to be on the bubble? And can you give any names? Yeah, I don't know what the bubble is. I don't know who that is.

Yeah, I don't know who that is. I mean, listen, the woman, not a great question. The bubble is a widely understood and known term, so Belichick is banging her on that one. But he's never going to say who's on the bubble. Right, that's saying, like, whose job is on the line. No, no, coach. So not a great question.

He's lying. He knows what the bubble. He knows what the bubble. But he knows what the bubble is. Well, it's like when he says, it's like when he says my face at this point. He knows. He knows. He knows.

All right. As the Antonio Brown world turns, yes, that's what the Oakland Raiders are all about now. Antonio Brown and all the drama therein. So let's get into it. So, yes, where we last left off, the last episode, both in the soap opera and our podcast, was that Mike Silver, our own Mike Silver, NFL Network, released that 20-part thread, all the nuggets about his anger, about the helmet,

about his behavior and team meetings, about storming out of the facility and being AWOL, all that. So then we get a report that comes out that Adam Schefter reports, Brown has told the Raiders he, quote, will not play football again if the league does not allow him to wear his preferred helmet. moment. So where have we gone from here? Okay. So John Gruden, after the Raiders preseason opener, is asked to give comment on the situation. There's no way he can avoid it. And he's kind of in a tough spot because you can't really come down against Brown. It's a very sensitive situation.

Here's what Gruden had to say when asked about it. We're going to support him. And whatever his decision is, we'll stand by it. But we're confident that he's going to be a huge factor for the Raiders for years to come. years to come. That's funny. Then the athletic report of the Brown, he plans on holding the NFL liable if he suffers a head injury while wearing this new league approved helmet, which, again, everyone in the NFL after the one year grandfather period last year has to wear this new helmet. But Brown is attempting to call the NFL's bluff with the possibility that he could come after them down the line for any type of head injury. I mean, he can choose between 20 plus helmets. He just can't wear one that's more than.

10 years old and doesn't pass, you know, the players union and the NFL specifications. He has a lot of choices. And then finally, and you touched on it, Greg, that this is an issue that for once, the union and the NFL probably going to be on the same page on. But Brian McCarthy, who works for the NFL, made it clear in a statement that a player cannot play or practice without a league approved equipment. It's out of the question. So where does that leave us?

Antonio Brown's still missing. Oh, and Wes, he still has frost-bitten feet. And still a thing, too. Following the Raiders preseason game, John Gruden said, I support this guy. I think that's what needs to be said. And I think the problem isn't that John Gruden

took a calculated risk and traded for Antonio Brown. The problem is that he gave him a mega contract, which goes against a culture he's trying to institute with his draft picks. Cleland Ferrell, their number one pick on NFL Network today, says, I'm trying to reinforce a whole new culture.

Your rookie first rounder is trying to, trying to enforce a new culture, and the guy you traded for, rewarded him for his behavior in Pittsburgh, is now, he's really undermining your program. He's undermining John Gruden's program, and the emperor has no clothes. Like, to me, I'm not buying into this guy if I'm in that locker room. I mean, the program is chaos. That's always been the Raiders program. I know, and you love that, but that doesn't work. It doesn't work. It worked back in the 70s. It doesn't work when you let Calaisal Mac go. You trade him. You don't pay him, but you pay into I've been thinking more about that lately, that it is really funny to think back on that

Khalil Mack, who is being lauded every day in Bears camp as the ultimate leader because he goes balls to the wall, hardest worker on the team, destroying everyone, every day in practice. Working hard is not Antonio Brown's problem. No, but I'm just saying like Kalio Mack was exactly, they didn't want to pay Kalio Mack for whatever reason. And, and, and, and, and, Instead, you pay Antonio Brown. That said, we still have like three or four weeks. If I was a Raiders fan, I'd be more concerned about the feet than the helmet, because the helmet is so silly and so ridiculous.

It's like he has to wear the helmet. I'd be more concerned with the brain than the helmet or the feet. Yeah, I think that's fair. It's a big test for Hard Knocks. I know you got your eyes on that. Yes, we're talking about it downstairs. It is one of more anticipated episodes of Hard Knocks ever, and they're in a tough spot in the sense that how much access are the Raiders going to give.

And if the Raiders say we're not giving you any access on this story, is the biggest story in the NFL. It kind of defeats the purpose of what Hard Knocks is supposed to be. So it will be very interesting and you wonder what's going on behind the scenes with NFL films and Ken Rogers who runs the show for Hard Knocks and the pushback between the team and the league on this very interesting. And he's still away from the team. I mean, he's still just doing whatever he wants.

That is, that is the part that is crazy. And still two practices. Cut him. They're never going to cut him. He poisons your team. John Gruden said he'll be with them. for years to come. And you know what?

Well, that's not true. But he's going to make it to Vegas. I would bet it on it. I'll put a sandwich on that. But also, if he did get cut, Wes, there would be a line of teams looking to sign him still, I think. No, there wouldn't. Maybe not even close to the money that he was able to get from the Raiders.

Because I believe that he'd be so damp. What constitutes a line? More than two? Look at his numbers the last five years. Everybody knows what his numbers are. It gets to a point where the guy isn't worth it. I'm saying that would be your opinion as a GM. Right.

But you don't think there would be two, three, four, five NFL teams? I don't think there would be more than two teams. I'm on the downside. I think at a certain price, there'd be plenty of teams and that would be into it. All right. Oh, man. I love it. It's the second news item we're going to get into.

We're going to step into the clubs. Whoa. Wasn't that newsy weekend? Don't steal this moment. You know, the Ravens, I'm going to need some help with this name. But the Ravens had this kicker, Norwegian guy. Karay Vedvik? Sure.

Why not? Anyway, he has been a lights out performer for the Ravens for the past two training camps. But here's the problem. He's blocked. He's blocked as a kicker by Justin Tucker, who's The Goat. And then even as a punter, because this kid can punt too. But Sam Koch, he's one of the best punters in football. Ravens had a nice setup there at special teams.

The best. So, you know, it started bubbling, bubbling, bubbling, bubbling, bubbling. that this Vedvik kid was going to get moved. And he does. Three days after he goes nuts in the preseason opener, a great performance. Launch 250 plus yard punts.

Hit four field goals against the Jaguars. This kid's like the natural. He gets traded to the Minnesota Vikings. 25 years old. Minnesota sends back a 20-20 fifth round pick. So Minnesota obviously has their problems He's going to compete with Dan Bailey Maybe with their punter Matt Wild

How about this, Wes? That's a lot of draft capital to give up for a kicker It is, it's pretty high pick I guess they I guess they They value the position Which they should I guess Dan Bailey should probably be kicking

somewhere else this year Well, yeah, Dan Bailey's been terrible for like two years, including... For whatever reason. He's just done. He used to be one of the best in the business. He used to be. But a source told ESPN,

beat writer Courtney Cronin, that they want to see how he looks as a punter, that that's actually... That they might see it. He wanted to create competition at both spots, and they call them a kicker punter, but it sounds like he's definitely going to make the team as a punter. And I want to see him do it as both.

Be a punter, a kicker. Save a roster spot. That would be awesome. How come this hasn't happened yet? In baseball, you have Otani and Anaheim pitcher and a hitter. Well, not this year with the elbow injury. But, I mean, if you could do that, if you could pitch and play outfield. And kickoffs, that's just saving roster spots.

We're in the golden age of both place kicking and punting. So specialized now, these guys are so good that it's hard to be good enough at both to push a specialist out of a job. And by the way, kicker trade heat. The Vikings had to give up that fifth. because the Packers were reportedly in on giving up her a sixth or a seventh for him. How about competition? And guess what?

And that's what I told you about Mason Crosby, by the way, that Mason Crosby is on that cut list, potential cut list. They were ready to say, bye, by, Mason Crosby. Sam Ficking was a threat to his job, at which point I chuckled. I said Crosby could be out. Save your Ficking analysis. He hasn't practiced yet. I hear the excitement in your voice, Greg.

Well, good news. We're staying in the club. Stay hydrated, baby. Chandler Canterero, done. Out of the league. Awful, awful in the Jets preseason opener, missing two of three extra points. The only kicker in camp for the Jets,

which was a mistake. I mean, Chandler-Cantanerero, are we being serious right now? And after that bad game, right when everyone knew the Jets were going to bring in some competition, he taps out, Wes. What kind of strength of characters?

There's that. I don't know. I don't want to judge the guy. Never met him. Yeah, you do. Quits. You want to judge. You quit? 28 years old. It's not like he's taking hits. He quits? It's a rough, it's got to be the most psychologically horrifying position in team sports. I agree.

But man. He clearly was struggling. One beat writer, and this was before he was cut, said that, I forget what the word was, was like a, just a disastrous camp, that he was missing kids. And he's the only one there. And the writers were like wondering, like, this guy's like one for nine and kicks that we've been there. And there's no one else in the building to go against this.

So he looked in the mirror and said, I guess I'm not good enough. And you know what? Maybe there is a nobility to that, Wes. But when you're 28 years young and in the prime of your athletic life. I'm not painting this as nobility. I'm just intrigued by the kicking position in the psychological warfare that goes off. It is fascinating.

It is also fascinated. They didn't try to resign their Pro Bowl kicker, Jason Myers. bad job by the Jets. I agree with you. I was going to make that point that not only was it a bad decision to not have competition with the Catman. It also was a bad idea. A team flush with Capspace runs into Myers last year as a Pro Bowl kicker.

And the deal he signed with Seattle put him as the ADP, average pay for his position at number 10 overall. Not a huge contract. Go bring the kid back. Why am I saying kid all the time now? I don't know if you're talking like a 70-year-old. Griseled Scout. Your kicker makes, like, less than half of what your backup tackle, like Greg Robinson.

Like, people, you know, kickers deserve more. I'm with you. You don't have a kicker. You don't have a kicker. You're in trouble. I'm not judging the man. I'm not judging the man. I'm not judging the man.

A little bit of judging. Remember the Wizard of Oz? Yes, I do. Cowardly line? Yes. What did you lack? What did you need? Courage.

Hmm. That's all. They're both, like, in the feline. I thought it was heart, but that was actually. Maybe it is. Wait, you just said you're not judging him, but you just called him a coward. I didn't say it. In a roundabout way.

In a roundabout way, I did. All right, let's move on. Cardinals, some, you know, it's been a time. No other pod is hitting the kicker that early and that hard. Not even close. It wasn't quite. Yeah. Not even close. It's been a good, you know, training camp so far for the Cardinals with all the positivity and the good vibes around the number one pick,

Kyler Murray. But some bad news has resurfaced this weekend. And defensive lineman, Darius Phelon. Phelan, was arrested on Friday in Phoenix with one charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. On Saturday, the team announced it had cut him. We didn't have more details of the arrest at this time. But Phelan, who had signed a two-year contract in March, started in Thursday night's

preseason game against the Chargers and had a tackle. But obviously, a guy that had a history, they didn't want to do anything about. at it. And then also off the field, you know, Steve Kime, that was a major black guy for the organization that extreme DUI. He got, led to the heavy fine and a suspension. Well, you know, now the COO of the Cardinals, Ron Minniger, he was arrested for DUI. And the Cardinals said in a statement that the actions were inexcusable. Kime survived and perhaps just barely, I wonder, Minniger, who's been there for a long time, I wonder if he'll be a victim, well, not a victim, but if he'll end up being cast out as a cautionary tale.

Phylon, not a big name, was on our top 100 free agents. I thought it was pretty good last year on the Chargers. And I think this is noteworthy just because they are as thin as any team in the NFL on the defensive line. It's a terrible-looking defensive line. You got Rodney Gunter and Corey Peters are your other two starters. You've got no one on the bench that... It's a bad defense overall.

And then that was going to be my next point. Is that just like looking out further, you've got a bad defense. You've got Patrick Peterson suspended six games. You've got Vance Joseph running the ship. And just based on results, Vance Joseph as a coordinator or as a coach has made the defenses he's joined worse, significantly worse. It's just if I'm a Cardinals fan, that's a bummer, you know, that the defense might just be so bad that that...

it's going to overshadow Murray. Moving on. Let's talk about the Colts and Andrew Luck. Frank Reich, the Colts coach, said that luck will not take part in joint practices with the Cleveland Browns this week. This is all connected, of course, to the nagging calf injury, a calf injury that Luck has had three separate MRIs trying to determine what quite is the issue. And now we are, we're about three weeks. weeks out three weeks and change out from week one and luck has been shut down since april so i'm going to ask the question west is it time now to sound the alarm on chris wessling and his concern

for andrew luck's ailing calf sound the alarm it is way too early for that if next monday is the alarm date that's what you said last time now it was two weeks ago you said if he's not back on the field I said it a week ago if he's not back in two weeks. Oh, okay. Next Monday. Check the tape on what West said.

We want to get this right. It doesn't even matter what I said. It's a 1.1 until next Monday. That's when we already know he's not practicing this week. If he's not practicing next week, then it might go up to about a 5.5. I'm less concerned about, maybe he'll return and be fine. I'm more concerned about the previous three and a half months where he was able to practice two days and then was her.

already. That's a long time for a guy that wants to be practicing and is unable to. You guys remember? It saw how bad that hurt him last year when he hit through for 40 touchdown. All right, but what about the year before it when the cults kept on telling us he was going to be back, be back, be back, and then he never played. Look, I understand because of his

history, everybody's nervous, but this is a guy who did not play at all last summer, looked bad in his first game and then went on to have a great season. He practiced from the first day of training camp basically on. He had his rest days and stuff, but it was all sisters go. And there was much more concern over his arm than there ever will be over his calf, including actual NFL regular season game action, and we all thought that the house

was falling down. Nothing is scarier than a shoulder injury for a quarterback. That, so I agree with you on that. But, and, you know, not to belabor, the Kevin Durant tie in, but that lower body stuff, you know, guy that has a little bit of mileage on the odometer now, it's something to be concerned about, especially that it continues to linger. They keep on testing. like that you get the idea this is what you worry about if you're a Colts fan my team didn't quite handle this right medically two years ago or two and a half years ago is the same thing happening again here where they don't quite have it set now if you're if you're supporting the Colts organization what about last year we kind of nailed it finally and got him on the

field the right time and he had an all pro season I would be very nervous though as a the only thing that makes me nervous is all the wrong estimates that they've had that Reich and Luck said he'd be back next week in May, that there's no way he wouldn't be ready for the start of training again. Luck said that. You know, Reich said that. He'll be ready before the start of training. So when that doesn't happen, then... So what we've discovered here

is that you guys are very nervous and I'm not. Yeah. Okay. I think it's good, though. You have Jacoby Brissette. I know there's different feelings on him. But let's say it's something where luck is just going to miss two or three games. I think they have one of the best backup quarterback situations in the league with a really good offensive head coach. And can Jacoby Brissette, you know, get you a two-and-one record or

whatever two-and-two record if you happen to need that time? They're in a better spot than 28, 29 teams out there. Well, they certainly believe that, considering the comments they've made about Jacoby Brissette, the offers they've turned down for him. Supposedly he's had a good camp and the offenses look pretty good in camp. You know, let's get ahead of this. I don't know if the Colts are properly ahead of it, but we are, Ricky, let's dig. up the Jake Brisket sound drop that we haven't had to use for a while, but maybe you could just put that on your do-do list ahead of Wednesday show. I hope not to have Jake Brisket in our life, you know, all season, but let's just be prepared. Cool. You don't want to be caught with your

pants down. No, you don't, never. That's what's happening in the news. All right, before we get to winners and losers, a little station note, yes, it's that time, big announcement, the fantasy the extravaganza. It's ready, and it's locked, and it's loaded for next Wednesday. And if you have a draft coming up, and again, God help you if you draft before the third preseason game. Grow up, Peter Pan. You want to have your draft after that third preseason week for a lot of reasons.

Most of all, make sure you don't draft a guy first overall that blows out his knee before the season even starts. That's beside the point. We're making sure to give you this content before. before you have to make your decision when real draft should be taking place two weeks from now, right? I mean, you guys built Road to World brick by brick.

You don't really respect guys that are drafting in early August, right? You want to have as much data as possible and things like what we just talked about, Andrew Luxe Keth, for example, matter. Yeah. So the more time you have, the more data. If you're like the big fish, Evan Silva, and you've got your hand in hundreds of pots

and you're just, you know, borderline addict. But you've made a career out of it. It's different because you're just drafting all the time. He wakes up, he's just drafted, he's in some best ball leagues. That's different. But if you're like most people, you have one or two leagues, it's with your friends. That's the time to do it because you get to hear great advice like Wes Honkin for George Kittle a year ago. There you go.

People would be missing out if they weren't drafting George Kittle. Pay no attention to any of the bad advice, I guess. I believe Adam Wright coined the term. league of record you know everybody maybe some people do one league uh maybe you do two or three but there's always one league that that's the one that's most important to you classy of you to acknowledge rank on that throw him a book i like at him a lot nice guy long time colleague yeah yeah i would say besides mark rank might be my only colleague that i you know when i came into the NFL he was already here survivor wow yeah guys so rank's been here for a long time as of i

perhaps too long. Okay, here we go. Let's get into winners and losers of training camp and preseason week one. We'll go around the horn. I don't know about you guys. And if Mark was here,

Mark a little under the weather today. If Mark was here, I'm sure he would give us a lot of the losers. He's very good with that. I came up with a lot of positive ones and maybe you guys will balance it out because mine are mostly on the winter side.

Oh, I've got some losers. Yeah, so that's good. So that will balance it all out. So we'll go around the horn here a few times it sounds like you've got some good losers so I'm going to start Greg off throw us a winner Greg

and then maybe I'll come in with another winner and then Wes you can get going hammer drop a big old loser let's go let's start in Pittsburgh where really two winners basically the young Steelers but starting with Devon Bush and I know it's just a preseason game but this is their number

one overall their number one draft pick this year the middle linebacker of the Steelers following in that tradition. What you want to see out of a rookie or really any starters playing with a bunch of backups is that it just is obvious that he's the star out there and the starter and that he's playing with a bunch of backups and he's just dominating them. And for a guy to do that in his first preseason game coming straight out of college, Devin Bush had 10 tackles, five, I think, what are they called, stops where it's like a successful thing. Solo. Solo tackles that

creates a negative play for the offense. He was just flying around. And it also backs up what everyone's saying in Steelers camp is that look he's their leader he's calling the plays in the huddle and man they had such a huge hole there last year that to me he's the favorite right now for defensive rookie of the year just because that's the easiest position to do it and i love what i saw and i also love what i saw to james washington uh their receiver i think this steeler's receiver group's going to be fine james washington moncrieff and then you have dionte uh Spencer as like your fourth kind of smaller guy the ontay johnson the the guy they drafted Deontes Spencer is the CFL Return Special.

Making up my Deontes, right. And Washington, who made three big plays in that game and just kind of looks like he's coming along. And that, again, it supports what's going on in camp. So it's not, you're not just like going crazy off one preseason game, but you've been hearing that from the writers there that Washington's making. Well, I'm super peeves right now. I'm P-Oed.

Why? Because I had a chance to start the segment and be the hero to talk about the Steelers. That was my first one, too. They were my first winner, too. And for the obvious also reason, they're not dealing with Antonio Brown's headache. I have here. I have Devin Bush. They've been looking to fill that Ryan Chazier slot for years now, multiple years.

They need a little stability and maybe he's that guy. James Washington, they have such a great track record of developing wide receivers. I, and Juju Smith's Schuster, we already know, is now a superstar. I have no doubt that Ben Rutherberg if he stays healthy is going to be once again that guy that throws her 400, 4,000, 5,000 yards. I just, I assume they're going to find a way to make it happen. And I just think in general, the camp kumbaya vibe of all this. Now, they got hit by some tragedy this weekend.

Darrell Drake, their wide receiver coach, unexpectedly passed away. And that's really sad. But before that event happened, you know, everything around this camp has been very positive. And last year, the whole camp was undermined by the Levion Bell drama. And then at the end of the season, Antonio Brown pulled his shenanigans quitting on the, the team. You're not hearing any of this drama

around the Steelers. And I think we're on the same. I know Greg, you are and I imagine, Wes, you are as well that this team is perhaps lying in the weeds in the AFC, which they never do because you always expect them to be a heavy favorite, but you don't hear as much about them. And that's a good thing I think if you're a Steelers fan. You said the word

stability. And for the last half century, there's been no better example of stability in the league than the Pittsburgh Steelers. And that's how I look at them with Devin Bush. That was their one Achilles heel last year on defense. Now, they've got a guy who not only can call the plays, be the leader, can cover running backs and tight ends, which they didn't really have last year.

They've got Edmonds, the guy they drafted in the first round last year. Charlie Batch, the priest and his announcer, is talking about him being a Pro Bowl candidate because he's had such a strong training camp. And then James Washington and Deontay Johnson at wide receiver to give you some depth. This looks like a really stable team to me. Let me go with another AFC powerhouse, especially on offense. The Kansas City Chiefs, okay, so they drafts. of course. Remember around the draft, that's right when the Tyreek Hill stuff dropped like a hammer

with the recorded audio conversation with his domestic issue. And the next day, the Chiefs go out and they draft Nicole Hardman, who you thought at the time, it seemed in late April like Tyreek Hill perhaps would never play for the Chiefs again, maybe never play in the NFL again. Well, it turns out whether you agree with it or not, Tyreek Hill is going to be a part of the Chiefs all season. and now you add you take hardman who in the lens of the draft around that time it kind of looked like god you know it's going to be tricky they're going to ask this rookie to step in and be a major uh play a major role and is he going to be ready well now he could kind of develop at his own pace in the first preseason game he showed off that speed he took a shovel pass in the end zone

blew away some bangles on defense and he's had a really good camp from everything we're hearing So you've added all up, and you have, of course, Kelsey in there as well, and their abilities. It's almost an embarrassment of riches in Kansas City. That first pass from Mahomes to hit Kelsey in stride down the sideline. Right, to do that on the first play of preseason. And then Mikul Hardman runs a 433. Tyreek Hill runs a 4-3-4. Darwin Thompson, a guy they drafted in the sixth round, looked incredible in that game.

This team, like, I have got winner as Mahomes repeat MVP chance. already a couple throws look at the space i'm with you though i agree with tyriek and now i have this guy i'm with you the chiefs weirdly are almost not lying in the weeds but they should be the favorite to me just because they have mahomes and their defense played at such a terrible level last year that i actually think there's a lot to like about what they've done on defense including their rookie second round pick their original second round pick which was won thornhill who's had a great camp at safety and suddenly you have thornhill and and honey badger back there that was a weakness in their secondary and spags you know i've been tough on spags over there man they

they needed a change on their devens all they have to do is be average i mean they were 30 they were between 27th and 31st in league depending on which metric you trust and if they can just be better man that they're to me they are the favorites it'd be crazy that for anyone to not be i'm banging the i don't know what the desert people say but i'm banging the over if it's like 12 and a half for wins for them i think they're going to have another big regular season now we'll translate in january I don't know. That seems to be a bugaboo for about 30 years in county. I mean, if they won that coin flip,

I still think they'd be Super Bowl champs as much as I would not want that to happen. It's been a bugaboo since Len Dawson was smoking heaters in the halftime at the locker room. Smoking heaters. All right, speaking of heaters, West, drop it. Drop an A-bomb on something. Here's a loser.

Steal some dreams. There is a player in the midst of the most futile. Some might say hair-brained holdout I've ever seen Melvin Gord. is extremely futile. I know what he's trying to accomplish, but he's not Levi-on-Bell. He's not a free agent at the end of the year. He better get in camp and fight for his starting job.

Austin Echler looked incredible. Justin Jackson looked good. None other than Ladani and Tomlin said of Justin Jackson. He's got vision, power, acceleration, all the things you want to see in a young running back. And Melvin Gordon, I just think he's either getting bad advice or somebody is not twisting his arm enough to get him in. camp. I do think that's a big factor in his holdout that they have good backups, that they have a

good running scheme, first of all. I think Anthony Lund does a good job kind of, you know, in the running game, and they have really good backups. If they were in a situation like Dallas, where you just have Tony Pollard, who's a fourth round rookie, and it's looked fine, and they're trying to talk about. Also, if you were as good as Ezekiel Elliott, that might make sense, but he's not as good. So it's the combination, but I think the Chargers are a team that really want to make the playoffs, but I don't think they're sweating it nearly as much because they got really good backups. Also, hey, the rest of your teammates are working. We have

some breaking news. Oh, how about this? This from Tom Pelliserro. Antonio Brown's grievance over his helmet was denied by an arbitrator. After months of fighting it, he'll have to wear an improved helmet this season, barring a long-shot legal challenge. Otherwise, he can't play or get paid. And then AB on Twitter

chimes in, and this kind of refutes the Adam Schaefter reporting, or he changed his mind. But here's what Brown had to say, while I disagree with the arbitrator's decision, I'm working on getting back to full health and looking forward to rejoining my teammates on the field. I'm excited about this season. Appreciate all the concerns about my feet.

Hashtag, always a fight. Hashtag represent hashtag, it's bigger than me. See? He's a great teammate, Wes. What are you talking about? Where does this guy get off with the hashtag? It's bigger than me. Why don't you act like it for once?

Nothing is bigger than AB. That's the one thing you know about. No, but you're missing the point, West. That was before. Now he's a good teammate. It's bigger than me. Oh. I also like a tweet where it's all in quotes.

He quoted him. He's quoting himself on his own Twitter. That's like fourth person. I don't know what that is. It's a new frontier. All right. But there is something to take out of that that this drama is unlikely to be one that extends to a retirement or some malarkey like that. Now it's just a matter of his feet getting right and then complaining about the helmet all season, I imagine.

Well, that's a thing. I mean, I really, I hope he does not have a concussion for. many reasons, but if he does, he's going to go crazy. Oh, my God. All right. Got another one, Greg? Win or loser? Anything you got? Let's make the Jaguar's backup quarterback situation a loser here. I don't know if you guys are familiar with the stylings of Gardner Minshu,

sixth round pick out of Washington State. That's their backup quarterback right now. Totally familiar with that. For Jacksonville. The quarterbacks in the Jaggs game against the Ravens went 10 for 24. for 44 yards. You don't see that in a 60-minute game. They didn't top 100 yards total.

It's the worst quarterback, like backup quarterback situation. I think I've ever seen just a... I don't know. I guess it's tied because at some point you can't... You have a sixth-round rookie. You have Tanner Lee, who they're not even trying, Alex Magout, whatever it is. Like, if Nick Foles misses a game or two, like, they're done. I mean, they're going to try to get someone else, I would imagine.

But it's kind of crazy that they're paying Blake Bortals. $16 million on the cap right now while they don't even have a backup quarterback maybe they should have kept Blake Bordell's I was going to pick up the phone and call L.A. I mean, if you're going to pay him that much money, I know it would have been awkward.

Just make him the backup. He'd be a lot better than these guys. Some might say they've handled the Blake Bortles thing wrong at different points in the whole process. You know, it's funny you bring up Nick Bowles. It's not a big deal, but I just want to do that out. No one's brought up the old thing. You bring up Nick Foles who left the depth chart of Philly.

Maybe it's not quite as dire as. it is in Jacksonville, but with this Nick Sudfeld injury in Philly, and Nick Foles hasn't played really enough to worry about if he's a guy could stay on the field, but you could question it. Carson Wentz, we know the last two years, he's had a lot of injuries, and they have Cody Kessler and Clayton Thorson. I mean, how excited you about that group? If you did like a two-on-two battle royale between those. I mean, I would take Kessler, although he was on the Jags last year and rejected by them, but he's at least had some moments.

Spinning the league. Not who you want is your backup. Backup quarterback's important. You got to have a button down. Just quote Charlie Casterly. What is it again, Greg? The most important person in your organization C is your quarterback.

And the second most important person in your organization is your backup quarterback. And the third? Yeah, it keeps going. That's the QB Coach. Kee Coach, the third quarterback. I got a winner. The deflator.

I got another winner. winner. Here we go. Long time believers in the Jared Cook all pro season. Oh yeah. That's on my yeah. I like that. I mean, we've been waiting a long time. He's now 32 by the way. So if it's not happening now, it's probably never going to happen. He gets better every year. I know. It's not as old as it used to be. Like some guys now just get better. Yeah, but you well, they don't block as much. It's time. It's time for him to put together a true pro bowl type season or perhaps all pro. So you got, remember Dan Campbell? Sure. The former Jackman. Yes. Also, former Cowboys Tight End.

Former Cowboys Tight End, End, Elfins, Interim head coach. Anyway, he's the tight ends coach in New Orleans. And he's been raving about Cook and says it's easy to see the impact he's going to make. And Mike Triplett of ESPN said that Cook has emerged as, quote, the go-to pass catcher for Drew Breeze. And when you factor in all the tools, he's a toolie guy. That's a little industry term. He's got all this skill level, skill in the world to translate to a 1,200-yard, you know, 15 touchdown monster season.

If Drew Breeze is Drew Breeze, playing in that dome, piling up all the 30, 40 points a game, this is going to be the year, right? When you burn fantasy footballers year after year after year, it takes a few years for them to understand what's really going on. And for the last few years, Jared Cook has been a really good football player. Last year, he was outstanding. I thought he was the best player in the Raiders office. offense by far. Yeah, that's, that's absolutely true. He is their number two receiver. I mean, you're going to have Thomas, and he's number two. And it's probably not even, it's a pretty big drop off to number three. I'm with you. All right. Keep going, Wes. Hit us with anything.

Let's do one quick compliment on the Jets and one quick compliment on the Browns. Jets winners, those uniforms were snazzy. Thank you. And I didn't get to watch the game before we talked about it on Friday. Darno was, he looked great. I love how he moves in the pocket. You know, we always talk about Romo saying his spatial awareness. He was phenomenal. And then the Brown's blue-chip talent, Baker Mayfield, calming out looking like an absolute stud and Miles Garrett just abusing the Redskins left tackle with a move that you don't see from many defensive ends. We can worry about their offensive line, and it's absolutely a factor.

But I'm going to continue to believe in the Browns because they have better players than most teams. That was one of mine as well. I was more focused on the 2018 QB class. Baker looked great. Yes. Darnold looked great. Lamar Jackson did some things.

Rosen and Allen, maybe a little bit more of a mixed bag. But especially, and take my Jets fandom out of it, I just, it's not, this is my brain just watching Darnold that this guy, when this season's over, is going to be seen as a star quarterback. I truly think that's half the battle. He is just that, he has all the tools and his ability to move, like you were saying, West, to go through progressions, the ability in which he's picked up this Adam Gays' office.

very quickly. I think they're going to be a really nice match together. I don't know if Adam Gase is going to survive in New York, but I do think his sensibilities as a coach is going to lead to the Jets offense being maybe, I'm going to go nuts here. And maybe they could be a top 10 unit like they were in that Ryan Fitz year back into the top 10. They have the ability to put up points, I think, this year. So I'm very excited. And Mayfield, yeah, you're right. You could say maybe you could go the football, the farmer's almanac route, and say maybe all these other things are going to go against them. Football outside.

I know. I always call it the Farmer's Alman. And maybe they're an alien-in team. But Mayfield's going to be a superstar in this league. Yeah. I think he's already there. He is there. And there's nothing you could see from the preseason opener to tell you that's not going to be the case.

I do think the preseason opener the Redskins. Not a concern, but I'm going to put Dwayne Haskins' chances of starting week one as like a loser. Not that he is, you know. It's expected. A mid-round first-round pick. It really, again, goes with, you know, the beat writers for the athletic have been saying this for weeks that they don't think it's that close

between Haskins, Keenham, and McCoy, that Haskins is trailing because he just has too many missed throws where there's no one in his face and he just misses the throw. And that's what happened on his interception in the preseason opener. He actually had two overall. He made a couple really great,

throws, again, what you hear from practice, and then the rest of it was pretty up and down. And Jay Gruden more or less indicated to Peter King that he is trailing those other two guys. I think you got to make a choice between McCoy and Keenham, because I think you want to get Haskins as many reps as you possibly can. He'll probably play at some point this year. Just pick one of the other guys so you can split it instead of having it go in three ways, but just pick one of those other guys because I just don't think he's going to be the weak one starter at this point.

Gruden said he hopes to pick a quarterback by the end of the third preseason. season game. Right, but that's still two more weeks away. Just, I don't know. I liked Haskins' arm, and I liked his mobility. It was better than what I thought it was advertised. But his decision-making, to me, he's just too young and raw and inexperienced. He plays a little bit too much like James Winston, just loose with the ball. Is there any chance that Daniel Jones starts before Dwayne Haskins? Yes. I think there's a, I think that's more likely. What? Really? Absolutely. I definitely wouldn't go more likely. I think there's a chance, sure, if the Giants

started out really poorly. And there's a chance, Redskins didn't because I don't know it was only one possession and I guess if I'm the coach I'm taking him out after that one too because it was perfect he looked he looked so much more athletically gifted than I was led to believe he was supposed to play a second series and then there was a lightning storm so oh okay okay oh yeah his his combine numbers are wild they're they're up there almost with like luck and and Cam Newton I mean he is very athletic well he's playing behind one of the worst starting quarterbacks in the NFL on a team going nowhere so that's why he's going to play early.

All right. We brought up something good about the Jets. Here's a negative. Their secondary is probably the reason they won't be a playoff team. And the latest news, Trumade Johnson yanked his hamstring in practice, and he's out indefinitely. And this, you know, gross mismanagement in the Mike McCagnan era, first and foremost was offensive line, but never being able to put together a secondary during his time there. This is who they have right now.

Their top three cornerbacks. Get ready. buckle up new york it's on in new york city darrell roberts brian pool who the falcons said we don't want you around no more and a rookie kairon brown who's undrafted out of acron they have no other quarterback on their roster with nfl experience so truane johnson their only chance to be okay at cornerback it was if trumane johnson played like the guy the jets paid for which he certainly didn't last year if he's going to be down with an injury and he missed games last year with an injury as well, this is going to be a unit that will be lit up and will kill them all year.

Jamal Adams today, just today, said he volunteered to play cornerback, which I imagine wasn't just, but it tells you just how serious this problem is seeing both inside and outside the organization. Well, the combination of that cornerback group with a lack of a real edge rushing presence is easily their biggest issue. I think when you look at the best teams in the league, they have really deep defensive backfields, the ones that you can match up all sorts of different matches.

Because it's 2019, you're going to have to stop three, four, five receivers on every play. You know, not just wide outs, but tight it. And you're right, they're just not deep. They have a good safety duo, but even after their starting safeties, it's like the depth just isn't there. And I think that's, if there's anything stopping the Jets

from being a playoff team, it's that it's the past defense. Because that includes the past rush, I think, too. that the past defense, it's kind of just, it's hard to imagine. You never know, you could coach it up and it could be great, but it's hard to imagine them being near average. A lot of pressure on Greg Williams to figure out a way to scheme it up. Wes. I have another loser.

Clarity on pass interference replay standards. I am thoroughly confused after watching every game but the Jaguars game. I don't understand how you will see replays where the defensive. player hits the receiver before the ball gets there, enough to cause it. And sometimes it will be pass interference, and sometimes it won't. And I am only led to assume that this will be the case all year long, because that's what a judgment call is. It's funny, Wes, because I had the new pass interference rule under winners.

And this has nothing to do whether I believe in the new pass interference. It's just how was it operated? Here's some facts. 15 challenge flags thrown in week one, including the Hall Fame game. only one was overturned 6.7% per NFL research. There were 35 pass interference calls made in the 17 games. Coaches challenged six of them. None were overturned.

Coaches challenged nine plays in which no flag was thrown for pass interference. One was overturned. That was in the Jets Giants game. So to me, the fact that it wasn't a big story coming out of week one of the preseason is a good thing. And Ron Rivera made it clear when we were out the NFL. Talent Summit. He made it clear that they're not looking to reinvent the wheel of how this is officiated. They don't want to rock the boat and they did not in week one here. Well, that's all fine and dandy that they don't want to rock the boat and the standards

are supposed to stay what they are. But that's not going to make any fans happy when they see a guy on another team getting away with something their player can't get away with. And that's what the past interference confusion is. They're trying to send a message that they're not going to overturn many plays. I mean, that's what it's It feels like they're trying It's kind of a mockery I don't think Al Rivron or the officials

wanted this rule in the first place And it's almost like they're going to try to Destroy it on some level By never overturning anything Or minimize its impact Yeah, which I like I'm with you Dan I think ultimately

That's the best case scenario I don't know what else Could be better It's not as flat out stupid as the old catch rule But it shares some of the same things That if you're a fan You're looking at a guy Do something for another

team and he gets away with it, but your guys can't do it. All right, do you want to do a real quick speed round, go through it back and forth one more time? Sure. All right, great, give us a quick one. How about Jared Stidham, the Patriots rookie quarterback? I'm serious. He looks good. It's going to be a story. They've said

since the first OTAs, they've been shocked how accurate, how good he's looked, how advanced he is. He's gotten more reps with the first team than Jacoby Brissette or Jimmy Garapolo or who they draft last year? Danny Adeline ever did as a rookie, and he's pretty, I think you can just tell they like him, and he looked great,

and Patriots fans are just, like, ready to latch on to the next one. Not that Tom Brady's going anywhere, but it's someone they're going to live. Also, one last Patriots play. Jamie Collins looks ready for a reunion. This is going to drive Mark crazy. I think Jamie Collins is going to have a big year. Nice linebacker. The start of the Zach Taylor era in Cincinnati West,

11 penalties for 150 yards, 15 yards, four turnovers. You know, the rookie running back got hurt on one of the intercept. Not looking too hot. That's a negative. On the positive, well, you know, come on. Let's be honest about our boy, Marcus Mariotta. He's under pressure this season. Ryan Tannahill, very good in his debut, 12 of 16, 130 yards.

Two touchdowns, book it eight and a half starts for Tanny. On Bengals, quickly, the craziest thing I read all last week was Andy Dalton threw a touchdown to Josh Malone last Thursday, and it was the first explosive play touchdown of the Bengals training camp. They hadn't had one yet. They hadn't had like a 20 plus touchdown. In any practice? We're talking about practice.

Practice. That is worrisome. Dan and I are sympathetic on most of these. I have losers' 2019 Bengals' expectations because outside of the head coach, I'm not sure what's changed. They still have no wide receiver depth. They still have bad offensive line. They still have linebackers with no speed.

I don't know what's different about the Bengals other than the head coach. I wouldn't expect any different results. What was the other one? Oh, Mariotta and Tannahill. I talked about that last week based on what I think is going on in that building, and I do think they believe in Mariota. But then I watched the game,

and he has admitted in the past, he's got footwork problems. They looked worse to me just in that one series than they did at any time in the past. And Tannahill looked better than he ever did with the Dolphins. Keep an eye on a Titans fan. Also, David Montgomery, I talked about

when I only saw the highlights, and then I watched the whole Bears game. running back. And this is every preseason I have a running back that I'm all in on. I love David Montgomery. This guy has the instincts, patience, vision, receiving skills. He's got the cutting ability. I know he's not explosive. He's not Saquan Barkley athletically. He just looks like he was born to play running back. Is he the Philip Lindsay of a they're so different. Yeah, I mean, he's a guy that I like. Philip Lindsay was so different being an undersized, undrafted guy, but also a lot more speed-based than David Montgomery.

Before we go, one last loser, it's robot mindset. Are you guys familiar with robot mind? No, I'm not. On Jimmy Garapolo's wristband every day of practice, he looks down, and it says robot mindset. I don't like that. And that's what he has to have. He has to have the robot mindset. And they asked him about it.

Because he's not looking this way or that way. He's not worried about anything that's going on. He's got to have that robot mindset. Well, it's going to be tough when you don't have any players on your team. No one's had a worst month than the 49ers. I'm sorry. Every day there's a new injury. They lost their swing tackle.

Sean Coleman for the season in the opener. And Trent Taylor, their starting slot receivers now out four to eight weeks. Like everyone has heard on that team. They're missing seven, eight starters, tougher the robot minds. Isn't the goal of a quarterback or any athlete to not be robotic, to be free and easy and lose? Not Russell Wilson. Well, he's the exception of the robot mindset. Beep, all right.

That's it for today's show. And that's a little tease also that Dave Montgomery. Wes might talk about him a little bit next week during the fantasy extravaganza. I have the luxury right now of not caring about fantasy implications when I talk about David Montgomery. That adds a lot more stress when I have to say. How much does – what's the guy's name, Michael Davis or the other guy? Yeah, Mike Davis, who I'm not nearly as high on as David Montgomery. You only have to care about it for like 54 minutes a year.

Just that one episode and then you're free and clear. I want to say happy birthday to Jack Hansis, my son. Definitely not a listener of the show, but like maybe when I'm old in a retirement home or I'm living in his basement or I'm dead, he'll say, oh, you know, let's go back and listen to what dad used to do and maybe I'll check in on the August 12th, 2019 show. Here's the shout-out to my boy.

There you go. Hey, Jack. My best friend. You've always been ahead of the game, Jack, even at five. solid dad mature boy very ahead of the game way ahead of his dad all right left-handed swing too he's got the stroke all right let's get out of here stand hans is signing off for the mailman the old boss and sweet sweet ricky hollywood behind the glass till wednesday This is an eye heart

podcast.