NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Around the NFC

Episode Date: May 2, 2019

A room filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Chris Wesseling and Gregg Rosenthal are joined by Colleen Wolfe to go around the NFC in 48 (ish) minutes. With only 3 minutes allowed per team, this spin around the AFC is sure to get you updated on where each team stands for the upcoming season. Respect the Harp.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. Hey, everybody. Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6th, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.

It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet. We've got the insight to help you crush your opponents.

Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. The Around the NFL podcast has trouble booking the tiny box. Welcome to, whoa. Another edition of the Around the Around the World. Round the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis,

and I'm joined in a room filled with heroes. Yes, Tiny Box, Colleen Wolfe, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosalwood is up, boys, and girls. Hey, Dan. There's something about the moniker Tiny Box, which is made even more gross by calling it the Tiny Box. I don't know.

I don't know why you'd say it is gross. It was a simple... You guys have a hard time booking Tiny Boxes. very rich here. It is. And what did you just say? It was a simple autocorrect fail

on a text from Colleen once upon a time. And anybody else that wants to read into it? Autoccurrect from what? Connie Fox. Connie Fox, your nickname,

which... Auto corrected into Tiny Box. That's how it was born. And anyone else that wants to take it a different direction, that's on you and whatever's going on

upstairs. Somebody at the draft was like, hey, Tiny Box. I'm like, what's up? that's hilarious yeah not that this would ever happen to you but if you ever put on an extraordinary amount of weight people could call you the large box hey large box not so tiny box yep uh-huh

hey refrigerator box let's talk more about boxes all right here we go hey welcome back kaleen hey it's so great to be back what is up what is happening it feels like friday it does you like Friday. You know why? This whole week has a nice kind of exhale to it after really what, and we talk about on the show, from the end of July through the draft is really our quote-unquote season. It doesn't end at Super Bowl. It ends really after the draft.

And we still do a lot of work leading through the summer, but there is an exhale. It's a beautiful thing. I've enjoyed, we were just, Connie and we were just talking like how much nicer the schedule is at this time of year, especially if you compared it to the schedule four or five years ago when Connie was showing up to NFL now at 7 o'clock in the morning every single day and putting on makeup, whether she was going to be on TV or not, and sitting there for nine straight hours with her buddy, Mark Istok, which will take the chance to say, happy trails to.

And NFL Network, great, who's moving on to better things in morning TV in Dallas. Mark Isstook, a Texas son returning home. He announced today on all social media platforms. Mark, a great guy, was the original, like, co-anchor of the deceased NFL now. I know. He is also the centerfielder of the first Shield championship winner in 2016 and played a great centerfield. He's on the all-time team for the Shield.

Oh, for sure. And one of the all-time great guys in this building, I think. He is. And he's just a great dude. So we're very happy for him as he returns to Texas and takes a TV job that sounds perfect for him. So, yes, happy trails Mark is took. Today is part two of our big week around the NFC in 48 minutes.

And I want to, before we get into it, because we like to kind of get right into it here. I did get some feedback, negative feedback, critical feedback, I'll call it, about our sound drop system for this, that it was a little abrasive. For instance, at the end of the three minutes, you would hear this sound.

an air horn, maybe a little bit aggressive. And, you know, the robotic voice hearing it over and over again, some people got on their radar. And, you know, we're here to help. So Erica and I worked this morning for some more soothing type sounds. I'm so excited about that. That will, for the listeners that really struggled. And I can't even imagine how much the free podcast of good football content,

how much you struggled through last show, we're going to help you out. Are they all right? I don't know. But I'm hoping if they're still alive, if the ears are still functional, these new sounds will be more soothing. I'm a little worried about them. Yeah, I should have known this was on Dan's radar. I could tell from a response on Twitter.

I'm hoping for like a lullaby situation here. A single response is all took. It's like one guy. All these people were all over me about it. Anyway, so we're going to go through. We did the AFC with Patrick Claibon on Tuesday. We went three minutes each with every team in the AFC, just catching up with the team as their team building has gone through free agency.

And, of course, now the draft where the teams are now. Now we're going to do it with all the NFC teams. Colleen sitting in the Mark Sessler chair, Mark's still on vacation. Connie, how you're feeling right now as we're digging? I don't think you've joined us for in around the NFL 48 minutes yet. And I'm really glad that I didn't prepare for all of the AFC teams. Which you almost did. Which would have really been on the nose for me.

That would have been awesome. All right, so here we go, Connie. I am about to throw it to you to kick off the NFC East. And we're going to start with your favorite team. So here we go. I'm nervous. Around the NFC and 48 minutes starts now. All right.

So Philly said goodbye to Nick Foles. And now there's just a giant statue of him in Philadelphia commemorating the Super Bowl and everything he did for the city. No pressure, Carson Went. In free agency, Howie Roseman brought back. Deshawn Jackson. He traded for Jordan Howard, and then at the draft, they spent three draft picks on offense there, their first three on offense. I loved how they leapfrogged the Texans to get Andre Dillard, who will eventually replace

Jason Peters. Then they picked up Miles Sanders, the running back, who backed up Sequin Barclay at Penn State for his first two seasons. So he has under 300 total carries. I like that. He's got some fresh legs, and he catches passes. Sounds like someone's optimistic. Stop, stop, stop.

But that is something that the Eagles really needed because Jordan Howard, that's not really his forte. They needed an every down back. So I kind of like that situation. They always have a ton of running backs there by committee. And then they got jumpball specialist, JJ Arsego White Side. Jump man. So all of these moves tell me one thing.

What? Super Bowl? My takeaway, Howie Roseman is trying to take the pressure off Carson Wentz. The physical pressure of him performing and elevating. The mental pressure. around him and that mental pressure now that Foles is gone just being the dude that can do it.

I agree that their depth on offense and you could see it in this draft is incredible and I don't know if it's just to take pressure off Carson Wentz. I think it's a belief that you win with offense in the NFL that they want their offense, more than anything I think they want

their offense to be a top five offense every year and give Doug Peterson and Wentz as many matchup options as possible. And that's what I'd be excited about as an Eagles fan with the depth that running back and receiver and tight end that just depending on the play and the opponent and the matchup and the down, it's like they can find some sort of matchup to take advantage of. I feel like the trade up for Andre Dillard is basically the microcosm of the Howie Roseman

second era that like he can do no wrong first of all. That's the one minute mark. Oh, okay. Was that a harp, a liar? I was like, I thought that was some, you about to wax poetic about Howie Roseman. Just the gentle reminder. Thank you for that. I feel like I'm in a douche commercial.

Wow. I love the Eagles as a bounce back candidate this season. Well, they don't have to bounce back. They made it to the second round of the playoffs. But bounce back and getting that division back for all the reasons you pointed out. And my belief that Carson Wentz has a big comeback season ahead of him. Yeah, on paper, it seems like everything is lined up for them. Now, I am concerned a little.

bit at safety. Safety and linebacker. After losing Jordan Hicks, I felt like they kind of need to do something there. I got to look at their depth chart right now because I don't know who they have. Paul Warrelo? Yeah, I think it is Warrello there. L.J. Fort? I don't know. They'll probably play two linebackers a lot with

Nigel Radham and Gruget. If you're going to have a weakness, that's a good spot to be. That's what is that the final 10 seconds? Does that mean it's over? That's it when the music ends. It's more like the heart. Yeah, they have Nigel Rodham and Elton. I mean, yeah. I hope this one person who complained is happy because I enjoyed the clarity of the previous one. He'll figure it out.

Wes, you're up. The Dallas Cowboys. You know, Al Davis used to say, when you draft, go for strength on strength. And that's what the Cowboys are doing. Defensive line, front seven, get Rob Marnelly some more horses. The offensive line, you're getting Travis Frederick back, at least that's the word. And then you add Connor McGovern to this group. They're bolstering both lines, and I feel like we haven't given enough respect to the Cowboys being a better team now than they were when they closed out the season in incredible fashion over the final two months. This is one of the best teams in the NFL. Whoa.

One of the best teams in the NFL? They were for November, December, and there's no reason to believe that just because it's May, they're not going to be. Okay. And you know what? Who agrees with you? Jerry Jones. He said today, again, ratcheting up the expectations for Jason Garrett, there's no reason

to believe we're not better. now than we were. He's absolutely right. Okay, I guess I'm asking why other than Travis Frederick, why have their additions been better than league average? If anything, that's kind of it, right? Well, no, they got Connor McGovern, which gives you more adaptive versatility. You think their draft is better than the average team's draft? Just because they didn't have a bad. Compared to what they've lost, a lot of teams that had good drafts also lost players. And the Cowboys lost cool Beasley. Okay. Randall Cobb's about the same. Maybe he's, he could be better. It could be worst.

David Irving didn't do anything for the Cowboys last year, so who cares about losing him? Randy Gregory, but then you get Robert Quinn, Carrie Heiter, Tristan Hill, in the second round whom I've heard several analysts say this was the steal of the draft, Tristan Hill. Yeah, there was a lot of people that were kind of angry about that, thinking that it was kind of a reach, but he was really good in his first season at UCF, and then he sort of fell out of favor with the new coaching staff when they came in. So I think you're right. I think he was a steal.

And it's interesting, Wes, this was a playoff team last. year they're having a nice off season usually when those two things come together people are going nuts about the cowboys and that's all you're hearing about but they seem to be a little bit under the radar people don't trust that press guys well i i think a team that struggled on offense but was dominant kellen more is the new offensive coordinator is something to worry about because you want your offense to be better than they were below average on offense a year ago they only outscored their opponents by 15 points over the course of the seasons they want a lot of A big part of that is that their offensive line went from being absolutely dominant to slightly above average.

Yeah. And Frederick, you know, he's coming back from a disease that not many NFL players have experience or, you know, anyone with coming back. So we just don't know. But hope if he does come back like he was, that's a major, major addition. Mm-hmm. Yeah, they were ranked 22nd and points per game last year. That's got to improve. I know Scott Linahan gone and with Gellon Moore.

I can't with this music with Gellonmore in there now. I wonder how things will. change, and you look at what was essentially their first round pick with Amari Cooper, how they started three and four, and then they ended the season seven and two. Having won two back-to-back seasons with double-digit wins since Barry Switzer. Respect the harp, Greg. R.T.H. Respect to respect. Has the harp ever been respected? It's this the first time. Now. Like 300 BC, maybe. How about Joanna Newsom? I love Joanna Newsom. I love Joanna Newsom. Okay. Lot of respect. All right, here we go. The New York Giants.

I have one kind of overarching question. Now what? Yeah. We did a segment once called Now What, right? Yeah. Something like that. We've done every combination of words at this point. It's time to shut it down.

Now what? So you forget about it. Daniel Jones, people killing the Giants or taking him at 6 and it was a reach and it probably was. Perhaps it was. But he's in the building and that's it. And now the question is, what are you going to do with him? Because here's the thing. Dave Gettleman can sit and he needs to stop giving press conferences, by the way.

Stop running this guy up to the podium. I think it's great. Please continue. Dave Gettelman can say we might follow the Packers plan that they did with Aaron Rogers and sit Jones three years. But you know what the difference was? Well, there's a lot of differences. But one of them was that Brett Farr was the quarterback

and Brett Farr have still had a lot of promise and the ability to lead a team to a Super Bowl. And that's why he kept that job. Eli Manning is a guy on the way out No one will argue that Even I won't argue that And the rest of the roster Is barren

Especially on the defensive side of the ball So the chances of the Giants have a nice season this year Or in contention by say Halloween It's far-fetched Let's just be honest So if the Giants are three and seven By November I mean what is the

You're really So you're going to keep them on the bench Another two and a half years No you're good The fans are going to be calling for it Daniel Jones is going to have to play. So just get your plan together, Giants. Figure out what the actual plan is.

And maybe Dave Gettleman's not in charge when it's time to actually enact the plan in a year from now. But I feel like Daniel Jones is going to get a lot of snaps this year. So just stop telling people that this is a totally different situation or it's a similar situation of the Packers because it's not.

Right. If you didn't need a quarterback, why did you reach for one with the sixth pick in the draft instead of getting a pass rusher? Make up your mind. firm up your message. And by the way, over, under for Daniel Jones starting the game, Halloween.

Halloween, wow. Well, because they're on a bad team, and bad teams change quarterbacks. They're a bad team because their defense is bad. Also because their offense is terrible. You know, their offense a year ago, and this is what Gettleman's been trying to say, was okay.

Because they had like a six week, they had a six weeks stretch where they were all right. They were a better offense in the Cowboys. No, they weren't. Yes, they were. Over the course of the season, there's no way they were. The Browns are great on offense in the second half.

The Giants produced the, They put up numbers and scored points in the second half. Their offensive line got better. And as I've been saying on the show, there are skill players on this offense in Sacon Barclay and Sterling Shepard and Golden Taiton, Evan Ingram. They could potentially score points with a quarterback that can get the job done. But their defense is a mess.

I think it's the best situation Eli's been in just in terms of the talent around him in a while. Yeah. Even without O'Dowell is a good situation. Losing O'Dell and then not getting anybody on offense in return. Jabrille Peppers, Dexter Lawrence, and then O'Shaine Zeminz. Zimenez? It's all defensive players.

Like, I'm really excited for the road game against the Patriots on a short week for them. That is the game that I have circled on my calendar. Interesting. I like that. Let's move on. The Washington Redskins. She circled it. Everybody.

Everyone, you know, including me, kind of looked at the Redskins as well. If you're going to try to find a team that's only going to win three, four, five games in the N of. this year, you know, it's probably Washington and Arizona, maybe the Giants are the ones that stick out. But after the draft and you look at this roster, especially on defense, where in the front seven, you have Jonathan Allen and Duran Payne

who've been good draft picks. You get in Montez's sweat, a nice pass rusher, a good value. You like Ryan Carrigan, Mason Foster. We'll see what Ruben Foster does for them. And some it's an uneven secondary, but you have Landon Collins and, you know, Josh Norman's still kicking around there. Like, I look at

this roster up and back, like the offensive line solid. The passing game is a huge, huge question mark. But I look at this team and I think if Jay Gruden managed to win between seven to nine games the last four years in row, I think he can do it again with this roster. I think he could be headed right to the middle of the NFL again with like a seven win team. I know it doesn't excite Redskins fans, but I don't know. If you have a rookie quarterback, that's not such a good thing. I don't know that they're a tire fire right now. They're okay. I expect their defense to be better than they've ever been in the Jay Gruden era and their offense to be worse because they're either going to have a journeyman

quarterback or a rookie quarterback. Yeah, I mean, I love the fact that they didn't move up to get Haskins, that they waited for him, that they had patience, and then they ended up moving up for a defensive player in sweat. But I look at the passing game and what they have there. Paul Richardson, Terry McLaren, I mean, that's a guy who is speed guy, but Josh Doxon, he's at 81 catches and 1100 yards in three combined seasons. Thinking of jumpball specialists, what else can that guy do? They and we're here, Laquan Treadwell, Doxon, who was the other, the triplets that were drafted in that first round?

Oh, uh. Is it 0 for 3 for the 50-year option getting picked up? I think you're right. Was it Devante Parker? Hmm. We got to go back in love. Ricky, can you look that up? 2015 NFL drafted, believe it was?

Anyway, sorry. Yeah. But. Then it means a sidetracker. Yeah, way to go. They are going to run the ball, though, especially, look, they got two guys coming off ECLs with, oh, and Devonti Parker. A lot of bad wide receivers in that draft.

Aguilar was the other one that you might be thinking. I don't know. I like the Bryce love pickup, though. I know Geist didn't really like it that much, but they are going to be able to run the ball, I think. Well, that's the thing. They have Morgan Moses and Brandon Sheriff and Trent Williams. Like, that's a great top three, not in that order,

of an offensive line, and you get Geist back, and you have Peterson's still. sitting around. It's like, I don't know. Jay Gruden, I think, actually is a pretty good play caller an offensive coach. If Jordan Reed can stay healthy. He's the best guru. I would take Jay Gruden in a heartbeat over John Grue. Do I say that every year? Everybody's saying. If Jordan Reed could stay healthy. This is like Oscars. It's the Oscars. Yes, exactly. Wait, does this mean it's a one minute warning or it's over? No, this is it. You missed the one morning morning. I'm a little unclear on what each sound effect means because every time I hear when I think

it's over? It adds to the uncertainty of the NFL season. We don't know what's going to happen. When you hear that harp, we move. And now we move to the NFC North starting with the Minnesota Vikings, Colleen Wolfe. All right, here we go. So Kirk Cousins, it's no breaking news to anybody. He was completely sabotaged, I thought, by the offensive line last year. He had a lot to do with it, but he was hit 40 times last year. The past protection was not great. They could not run the ball at all. So they drafted Garrett Bradbury. So then that way they can. probably kick out Pat Alfline to guard, and they brought in Josh Sitton. So the interior of their offensive line looks completely different.

Yeah, Josh Klein. So the interior of their line looks completely different. They had Mike Remmers and Tom Compton there before. But the offense was so unbalanced last year. 27th in rushing attempts. You have Latavius Murray, who's gone. Dalvin Cook hasn't been fully healthy in a season yet. He's 15 games he's missed in two seasons.

He was dealing with the hamstring injury and the ACO. So they did draft a third rounder, Alex Madison, who could actually play a pretty decent role on the offense. So my takeaway here is that Kevin Stefansky's got to figure out a way to get the run game off the ground in order for the Vikings to be successful. Well, the best thing Kevin Stefansky has going for him is Gary Kubiak, who was brought in basically above him to be their offensive consultant. And he's been able to run everywhere he's gone with that zone blocking scheme.

I think Kubiak is one of the biggest pickups of the offseason. Well, yeah. And Rick Denison came with him. Levansky might look at it a little different, that he's kind of a shadow offensive coordinator without a lot of juice that might have his job taken from him from Gary Kubiak. Because by all account, it seems like Gary Kubiak has about as much control as any coordinator in the league. He's not even technically a coordinator, but he's making personnel moves.

But Stefanski didn't even really have a chance last year. I mean, he had just a few games, half a season or whatever, when he was finally in that role. So to your point, though, they. They took their, I think Cousins was a big winner and Stafansky and everyone on that offense that their first three picks are on offense and that add, Erv Smith, the tight end, adds another dimension. They have not gotten rid of Kyle Rudolph and it's just, this roster is really, you know, if the line is okay, this roster is really good.

But they're still going to have the same tackles as last year. Riley Rife and Brian O'Neill, well, O'Neill, I think, ascended to the starting job about halfway through the year and maybe he'll be better in his second year, but I'm not convinced the offensive line just because Garrett Bradbury looks like a good player is going to be really good. You're hoping the coaching and cousins can improve in terms of making the line better.

What do you guys think about the Vikings right now? What are you feeling about it? What's your vibe? I'm back. They should be really good. I sort of back in on them now. I feel like they took the step back and then I look at the team and I'm like, this team's ready to go and be one of the big time contends. The one positive of last year, which was highly disappointing

for Vikings fans who thought cousins was going to be the final piece, was it does take a little bit of the heat off them and this idea that it's Super Bowl or bust and they can just get back to it. He's got to play better in big moments. I've defended him, but he's got to play better with seasons on the line

and games on the line. Is this the minute or the 10 second? See, listen. I thought I heard something before. The minute marker is so gentle, you guys are missing it. That's the minute marker? No, that's 10 seconds.

I haven't heard music like this since Easter sunrise, man. I got to say, guys, it's not that couple. No, but it's kind of fun. behind the glass. Listen, we don't call on Erica to be a statistician too often, but in this spot, the 2016 NFL draft, right? There were three wide receivers taken in a row. Who were they?

Yeah, from my memory, I want to say the Houston Texans, I think, took Will Fuller. There it is. And his option was picked up. At 22, I believe the Washington Redskins took Josh Dotson. Oh, you got that, yeah. And I want to say 23 was Minnesota Vikings with Laquant. Treadwell.

Excellent work. Very well. That's all correct. That's a wonderful memory. Don't quote me on that, though. All right, very well, very well, very well done. And yes, only one 50-year option picked up with those three. All right, here we go.

Moving on the Detroit lines. Chris Wessling, get us going. I don't have like a cottage industry on annual off-season articles like Greg does. Right. But one of my few is. Greg just tossed up his hand. Like just flicked his wrist. You guys have turned it in this.

this weird negative storyline. No, that's in your head. You have a stable of columns. Of your storehouse. Yeah, a stable of boys, remember we had. Stable of columns. Well, one that I do have is top 10 offenses, which I write after the draft.

And about 16 teams make my final cut. And the Detroit Lions were the 16th team. I actually considered them with Marvin Jones coming back healthy, Carrie-on Johnson coming back healthy. You add Amandula, T.J. Hawkinson, Jesse James, and your offensive line is healthy. It was not healthy at the end of last year. To me, the biggest question mark is the style of play. That Cooter had this style where he had Matthew Stafford getting rid of the ball fast. And then Matt Patricia comes in. They change their

passing offense. And then Stafford is sitting back there again. There's not much rhythm to their passing game. And to me, that was their biggest issue outside of the injuries last year. Well, and they have a new offensive coordinator, Darryl Bevel, who's had a long track record in the NFL, most famously, with the Seahawks. And it kind of remains to be seen what kind of offense they want to run. I always was a little torn because Stafford played his best under Cooter, and yet the offense they ran didn't really show off what he's best at, which is kind of the deep outs and the deep passes.

Yeah, I wonder every year with the Lions, is this going to be the year that they can run the ball? Is this going to be the year that they can balance out the offense? So it isn't all on Matt Stafford. Since Barry Sanders retired. It's like, it's just a recurring thing. And with Darryl Bevel, he's led some top rushing attacks in the past. He's had Marshaun Lynch and Adrian Peterson.

So you just wonder if he has the adequate pieces to do it now. Stafford came into the league, I believe, in 2009. Couldn't stay healthy for the- Just ask Ricky, she'll know. Oh, she knew. Couldn't stay on the field the first couple of years and has turned into an Iron Man since. And you get the feeling there's mounting pressure around him. and in that city at the quarterback position. This is another team, even though they're not a Super Bowl contender,

that you get the feeling that there's a lot of a lot riding on what happens this year, especially on the offensive side of the ball. Yeah, there's some really good secondaries too in that division, but I loved the pickup of T.J. Hawkinson. He's a really good blocker, and he can catch too, so he's a perfect combo tight end for them. It shows some organizational onions, too, like, because they whiff. Well, they didn't whiff on Eric Ebron because he turned out to be a big time.

player in the right system. Well, he turned into a star, but that's not with them. Different regime. Teams don't typically take a tight-in top ten. They do it twice in six years. But the two Iowa tight ends, they both went high. And they both, they're very much like George Kittle. I mean, it's just like the Iowa tight-end thing.

Oh, yeah. Let's extend 10 seconds, Greg. I'm sorry. I stepped on a point you were about to make. No, forget it. We can talk about the Lions defense some other day. Okay, here we go. Chicago Bears, the old Zusser.

We'll dig in on the bears. And, you know, this to me, this draft is like, what happens when the bill comes due? The Khalil Mack trade, which was a great trade. It looks like a great trade. It looked like a great trade last summer. It still looks like it because not only is the Hall of Fame talent, but he performed like one in year one.

But now they have a reverse Gruden situation where this draft, you know, it remains to be seen, but they didn't pick till the third round. They get David Montgomery, 73rd overall, a running back. Their fourth round pick is a Georgia wide receiver, Riley Ridley, which I didn't see a ton of buzz around him as a big prospect and a draft that didn't have a lot of buzz at the wide receiver position, period. People expected him to go in the second round.

Well, he didn't. Calvin's bro. So I guess my point being is, listen, that's the way it is. You trade draft assets to get players. You're going to eat it on the draft side potentially. So if this is a draft glass that doesn't give them much, and we'll find out, but it's working against you when you don't have the first two picks, is the roster strong enough not to have a big offseason haul

because they didn't make a lot of moves in free agency either. So the Bears essentially are telling us, we like this team. We're making minor moves, but we believe it's ready to take the next step. We'll see how it plays out. But that's how you read this offseason, I totally agree. And they went into the offseason knowing that, I believe they had 20 or 21 of their 22 starters under contract for the next year.

And that's great. It's continuity. It's rare in the NFL. I'm always a little wary about a team that A is bringing back the same crew and expecting it to say at the same level, especially when you lose Vic Fangio. And then B, the biggest question on the team is your quarterback, which is absolutely the case for me in Chicago. I think their biggest loss was losing Vig Fangio.

Now they have Chuck Bagano there. And yeah, they have some really talented. guys on the defense, but I wonder if we're going to see a fall off at all. I see this team totally different than you guys do and their offseason. If their offense isn't much better, it's going to be a disappointment when you had Cordero Patterson, David Montgomery, and Riley Ridley, and even Mike Davis, who is okay, but I thought Matt Nagy explained it well. The reason why when he talks about Jordan Howard not fitting his offense, and we heard that

for the past 14 months, Jordan Howard doesn't fit his offense, it's about matchups. and when you evaluate players as a coach, I think, it's not just what was the production, is what does this player allow me to do, allow my quarterback to do. Jordan Howard did not allow him to play matchups. And now with David Montgomery, who can play in the passing game,

with Cordero Patterson, who can play in the running or the passing game, with Riley Ridley, and even a guy like Marvin Hall, who they got from the Falcons, who runs a 4-3-something, he can put him out for four or five routes a game and play matchups.

I think this allows Matt Nagy to do so many more different things that he wanted to do. Yeah, I mean, but it's throwing darts with these mid-round picks if these guys can play at this level, that's all. And they have a ridiculous. And Corderole Patterson, a fantastic special team guy. Corderole-Patterson was like, he was like,

I thought he personified last year's Patriots. They got good when they started featuring. Cupid is getting pissed. Respect the harp. Sons of the harp. All right. Greg, hit us up, baby. the Green Bay Packers we amazingly have been in the news for defense

and we've talked about their defense so much and how much Mike Patton's loaded that now that we got past the draft I feel comfortable enough to say I think this is the worst supporting cast Aaron Rogers has had in a long time maybe in his career if you look at the wide receiver depth and Jimmy Graham is not getting me excited at tight end

and the offensive lines had some great moments the last few years and Bakhtiaris maybe the best left tackle the league. But after that, I'm not that excited right now about the line either. So it's really all on Rogers and Matt LaFleur and Hackett. And that could be plenty. I mean, the Tom Brady goes into seasons with less than this and they do great. Maybe that's plenty. But I do think just in terms of raw talent around them, this is about as barren as it's been for Rogers in the last five to 10 years. I think my biggest question with the Packers is how is everybody going to mesh? How is Aaron Rogers and Matt LaFleur going to get along?

how are all of these pieces that they've added on defense? It's a lot of new pieces for Mike Patton. How do they all come into play? They brought in Zadaria Smith and Preston Smith. They added Adrian Amos. So you look at all of these different pieces, Rishon Gary, they added in the draft, Darnel Savage. Like, I just wonder how all of them are going to fit together. And like you said, the past catchers, his Aaron Rogers' only dude there is Devante Adams.

He really didn't show any real chemistry with any of those. rookie receivers last season. I wrote about this in the mailbag, which went up live on NFL.com slash handsis. Packers, and was worried about the offense. And I guess when you take a step back, what did the Packers do this offseason? I think, yes, they invested heavily in the defense. But I think it was also an endorsement of both Rogers and a new brain trust and a new thinking on offense with a young head coach in Matt LaFleur.

And this idea, we believe in these. guys, these young guys, and we believe Rogers in the last two years sucked, but we believe that he's going to put it together. And if Rogers can do that and Lafleur can do that, one minute, then then the defense gets better.

All of a sudden, you're back in the playoffs. It's almost like, and I know they would never do this, but it's almost like the front office and maybe even Rogers do it. It's like they're trying to prove, hey, we're going to win with Mike McCarthy's players. We're going to show you that Mike McCarthy was the problem by

basically bringing back the same offense and being way better. I think there's something to that. They know Valdez Scantley can play. He had like 100-yard games in three of his first four or five-star. Pretty impressive for a rookie. Allison's had, like, they liked Geronimo. Even though I'm saying it's the least that Rogers has had around him in the last decade, I still don't think it's that bad.

Like, I don't think it's, like, way below league average or anything. I just really like Equanimia St. Brown's name, too. Sexy. Strong, strong name. I have one less. It's like the harp of names. It is. Geronimo Allison, Equanimius, Equiniminius, St. Brown, and Marquez, Valdez, Scantling,

55 letters total. Wow. Just counted that up. That's what you've been doing. So I wasn't totally plugged in to that last minute. Let's move to the NFC South. Connie Fox. Okay.

Start it off with the bucks here. She'll never be the enormous box. I really hope not. Okay, here we go. Go ahead. So it was a defensive heavy draft for them. Their defense ranked 27th last year. Now they have Todd Bowles.

They have a lot of new pieces there. A lot of new coaches with Bruce Ariens. But Todd Bowles is going to bring in some more kind of three, four looks. They drafted Devin White, who I love. They got him with the fifth overall pick. He replaces another fellow LSU alum in Kwan Alexander at linebacker. They got a pair of corners. and a safety.

So my biggest takeaway for the bucks is, can Bruce Ariens save this ship? I have a lot of questions, actually. Can he save the ship? And will he get more out of James Winston? And will he send Gerald McCoy away? I feel like there's a lot of questions just surrounding this team in general.

I think you will. I don't know if he'll save the ship, but I think he'll get more out of James Winston. If he can't, then I don't know who can. To me, if you look at Ariens' track record, who he succeeded with, with in the NFL and the quarterbacks, like, Winston could not have handpicked a better guy to help his career out. So for the people out there like me who still believes Winston can

have a good NFL career, like Ariens is sent from heaven. That's true. It's not a small thing to lose to Sean Jackson and Adam Humphreys. From an offense that was gangbusters early last year because you had so many options, you had the two tight ends, and then you have four wide receivers, and now you're down to, what, two and a half wide receivers and the tight ends. And you still don't have a running back. They love Peyton Barber, but he seems to me more like a tryhard guy than a playmaker. Before O.J. Howard went down with a season-ending injury late in December, he was really emerging as a potential stud.

Absolutely. So if he continues that trajectory, that could change that entire offense. To me, he's the closest thing to a gronk-like complete tight end that they're there is in the league. I don't know if he can get anywhere near that level, but he's that type. I was disappointed that they didn't do anything with the offensive line. I thought that that was a big issue for them.

The right side, yeah. They didn't address it at all in the draft. I do like that we're already getting the articles of like, James Winston's really taking control of the huddle again. It's that time of year, maybe. We're also about a week away from James Winston is displaying a maturity that we just simply haven't seen in this building in the first three years.

It's grown up a lot. He's made mistakes, but he's learned from them. The Gerald McCoy thing is hanging over this team that they still might trade them. But if they don't, you know, Bowles has a lot of talent to work with. Between JPP who had a nice year, McCoy, Vita Vea, came on late in the year. Shaq Barrett was a free agent signing who I liked a lot. The secondary has been among, if not the worst, in the entire NFL for a while. And they've just put so many resources into it, and it's never worked.

I can't wait to see who comes back in the best shape of their lives. Like, I'm real excited. Gerald McCoy. For that, yeah. Car on Nassib. Keep pounding, Wes. I would like to take this opportunity to talk about how different evaluations are in NFL draft rooms. Albert Breer had a story where the Panthers, they drafted Will Greer.

They had him ranked ahead of Kyler Murray. What? Behind only Locke and Haskins. That's what they say after they take them. The Bengals drafted Finley, who they had ranked. behind only the top four players taken and practically even with Locke. I don't believe any of them.

I do believe it because I think they like they see different quarterbacks fitting their offenses differently. People want different things in quarterbacks. But to me like you had Greer rated ahead of Kyler Murray. That is. So you're telling me if for some reason, some bizarre reason,

Kyler Murray was on the board when they picked the, made the Greer pick, they would have taken Greer over Kyler Murray? Well, like, to me, it doesn't fit what they want to do on offense, which also doesn't really mix it. I don't think it's that hard to believe. I think the... It's a five-foot-nine quarterback, and nobody's ever succeeded as a first-round five.

The draft, like, you know, industrial complex that we base all of our opinions on who had a good draft, who didn't. Just copy-a-legious. Like, there's very little original thinking in there, and everyone is afraid to get too far away. Whereas I think teams, there's some teams that are all over the place, especially at different positions. The Bengals might just evaluate quarterbacks a certain way, and so do the Panthers. I don't think that's that crazy. Look at the Seahawks. The Seahawks do that every draft.

You can tell the Seahawks draft board looks like absolutely no one else's draft board. They're just doing whatever the hell they want. You want your scouting department to stand out from the crowd to be bold and to be forward-thinking and unconventional. You don't want somebody who's like, I got to see which way the wind's blowing before we pick. Does taking Will Greer at 100 overall and obviously being in love with his ability and potential, What does that mean for the quarterback? It's going to sit well. It's going to sit real well.

Well, I mean, what does it mean for the long-term future, potentially, Cam Newton? How much pressure is on him coming off a second shoulder surgery? Yeah, second shoulder surgery in three years. And we saw how they started the season last year, six and two, and then they ended as a seven and nine team. His shoulder was a real problem left. I don't think it means anything. A hundred is very deep in the draft. They needed to upgrade their backup.

I think smart teams should be drafting quarterbacks. I mean, the Patriots took the current Washington Redskins offensive coordinator higher in the draft while Tom Brady was in his, like, off of an MVP season, then they took Greer. Do you know who that man is, by the way? Did anyone have any idea? Current offensive coordinator of the Redskins. Kevin O'Connell. Kevin O'Connell drafted with like the 85th pick of the draft. I don't even remember these picks, the Patriots.

I think the Panthers looked at Will Greer and said he should have been taken a long time ago. He's still there. We love him. And we need premium insurance for a guy who's had shoulder issues. Shoulder, the shoulder is a big time concern. I mean, he's basically throwing ground balls to the sideline by the end of December. Did you see Christian McCaffrey, like the shots of him at OTAs? He looks like a he man figure.

Jacked. Like legitimately, he looks like Prince Adam. Orco? Not Orco. But it's basically just Christian McCaffrey. Orko was such a complete waste of space. I mean, as a magician, just in general as a member of attorney. He just had no real purpose there. Who?

He's like the Jar Jar Jar Bix. It's before your time and would not have been dressed. Do you know Shira? No. Okay. All right. You're a little younger than us. All right, let's move on.

Say that one more time. I didn't hear you. I don't think it didn't matter what age you are. You probably weren't watching Heemann. All right. Let's move on to the Atlanta Falcons. All right. So the Falcons, you know, they circled it in red marker and highlighted it.

They targeted the offensive line as the biggest weakness of their team. They've spent this offseason rebuilding. building the thing. James Carpenter, Jimon, Brown, Ty Sambralio, all signed in free agency. And then they go to the draft and they take Chris Lindstrom, BC Guard at 14, trade back into the first round, take Caleb McGarry at 31. And I get the thinking with a rebuilt offensive line

and a new offensive play caller in Dirk Cutter. The hope is that the Falcons could turn back the clock and all of a sudden it's 2016 again. But the only question I have, and that all makes some sense. I kind of like that. But the only question is when you look at the biggest flaws with the Falcons,

maybe they underachieved on offense under Sarkeesium, but their defense just killed them last year and they just haven't put the focus there. If I'm somebody that is plugged into what's going on in the desert and I want to be somebody that makes money in the desert, I'm pounding the over all year on games that the Falcons are involved in, especially when they're played in that dome.

Yeah, but their defense last year was crushed by injuries. They lost both their safeties. That's football. Cardo Allen and Keanu Neal and Dionne Jones, their middle linebacker who was like everything for them. Those three guys missed a total of 38 games combined. Right, but they weren't hurt as much by injuries

as the Super Bowl champion Eagles. So I do think that's too much of an excuse. They should have had more of an infrastructure where they don't fall apart. I agree with you, Dan. I think they have a lot of faith this roster and Dan Quinn, but it hasn't really been borne out with the results on defense. I think they looked at that Thanksgiving game against the Saints and said we would be guilty

of negligence if we did not improve our offensive line and protect Matt Ryan, who got obliterated it was hardly the wrong move to focus on the offensive line. I guess it's just you can make the case that there maybe could have been a little bit more balance in their plan of attack and free agency in the draft. I agree with you. It showed a lot of confidence. It is kind of a sign of like, hey, we think this roster is Super Bowl ready still. This is our number one problem by far. If we fix this, we like this team. I just feel like they've been chasing 2016 since the end of that season,

and they just can't get back to it. But to me, yeah, I get. To me, they were back to it when they lost to the Eagles in that playoff game. It was a different sort of team, but that team was absolutely one of the best four or five teams in the league at that point. They went into L.A. and beat the Rams. Right. People forget about that.

And they look at Dion Jones and Keanu and say those are two of our five best. players and we lost him. I get it. I feel for this team. I'm rooting for the Falcons. You know, I just feel like getting, I don't know. I want this group to get it, get over the hump together. You don't get it.

No, you don't get it both ways. You don't get to crush the organization with your favorite team for all time. Oh, and by the way. The Falcons will never be the same after that night. Adrian Clayburn. And now you can be like, oh, and I hope things are okay with the Falcons going forward because I'm really rooting for them. No, you don't get it all ways, bro.

I've been ruined for them since. Adrian Claiborne's back. What a sentimental story. That's not firing anyone up. By the way, Connie, have you ever became the enormous box? It would not change. I feel like you're trying to will this to happen.

What's going on? It would not change how I felt about you or anyone else in this room would feel about you. Thanks, guys. I just want to make that clear. Thanks. Greg? I mean, your personality might change.

She could change, you're saying. Yeah. Are you telling me I need to go on a diet or something, Dan? Is that what this is? I knew we were going to go. This is where I was going to end up. Well, you keep bringing it back up. I'm staying out of that.

Are you saying that I'm on my way to be coming an enormous box? You look wonderful. No, I'm not. Erica's buried me on this before, too. I'm just going to move on. I'm going to get out of the way. And Greg, you're going to talk about the Saints. There's not a huge reason to believe the Saints won't be one of the best teams in the league.

I guess the one question I would have with them is, are we just accepting now that their defense is good? Yes. Because for the first time, you know, they were ready to go win a Super Bowl with the defense being a huge. huge part of that. And with a couple breaks, maybe they would have. I guess I've watched them long enough, and maybe Marcus Davenport gets better, and

Anzolone keeps getting better. And it really is a great secondary. I think if you look at the best teams in league, they all have good second. A lot of them have good secondaries, and they're very deep there. I'm not just because of muscle memory, ready to accept that they just have a good defense. Because if they do have a good defense, they probably

should be like the leader in the NFL for over, under wins in 2019. I have more questions about how Drew Brees played down the stretch than I do about their defense. 40-year-old quarterback who fell apart over the final six weeks. Fell apart is strong.

No, he could not throw beyond 30 yards. He fell apart. Hmm. He had some of the worst games of his career down the stretch last year. They also don't have a solid number two wide receiver on the roster at all. I mean, I know Alvin Camara

catches a ton of passes, but it's real thin after Michael Thomas. What are you doing? It's kind of amazing how much you trust. Sean Payton and Breeze to cook up the right matchups and great offense. Killed it. Like it, like it. Wasn't intentional.

Bruce Ariens save the ship. Like, you're right, because other than that, the receiving talent doesn't get you too excited. I mean, Jared Cook is quite an upgrade at tight end. I know you accused me of being a fanboy, but this guy has been a really good player for three years now. He's an upgrade. We, on NFL Network, recently we talked about

who are the Steelers still a powerhouse. Yes, our whole three and three minutes, 44 seconds on air. But who can you put in marker, West? You said like, Powerhouse is a team. You can put it in Magic Marker. I'm putting the Saints there, even with these concerns, even with the defense maybe not being up to snuff or Drew Bree is not looking good down the stretch.

I feel this team is, you know, 12, 13 wins C in January. I have prohibited favorites. Prohibitive favorites in that division. Absolutely. It's still a good division. For sure. It's a deep conference. I usually don't put this.

this much stock into the kind of intangibles and the mental side of things. But I do wonder about getting over the maybe the worst back-to-back playoff losses that we can think lately for any team. I was thinking about that too. They had everything set up perfect. That is the worst one too. Can they use this fuel on the other hand? Sure.

I don't know. Can go both ways. I don't know. Maybe none of this even matters, emotional hangover. Maybe that's something we just make up, but I'd be worried about it. I don't think you can, I know the Browns had those two terrible losses to the Broncos in the 80s, but they weren't back to back. When you talk about back to back.

And it was at home in New Orleans. Like that was the whole thing they had been building towards. Sean Payton might still be in that dark room watching that NFC championship over and over. I think that's how you get over that. It was Netflix. That stuff matters much more than we think, but our ability to predict it is much less than we think. True. Well put, Chris Wessling.

That's why he's the scientist. That's why he is. He's the mailman. He delivers. great insight at all times. Finally, the NFC West. Get us going, Connie. All right.

Let's start it off with the Niners. All right. Jimmy G. He's back from that torn ACL. That alone is a huge boost. No disrespect, Nick Mullins and C.J. Bethard. Behind him, another recovered ACL back on the field with Jerich McKinnon.

Plus, they brought in Tevin Coleman, and they already have Matt Barado on the field. So I like the running backs that they have. And they have the most productive tight end in the league in terms of receiving yards, with George Kittle. So I think this team could maybe have one of the biggest turnarounds from last year to this year. Something about that seat over there.

Mark Sessler is the biggest 49ers fan I know. It's contagious? It is. Mark could be outside Kyle Shanahan's house right now cleaning his car. He loves Shannon and he loves that team. This is a hard team to nail down what they're going to be.

Their defensive roster, their starting lineup on defense seems so much better. That D-Line. now. And if Jason Verrett can play, now you've got two good cornerbacks, but that's a huge if after he's barely played in the last five years. The offense, I just, I trust Kyle Shanahan so much, but it's not like anybody in the NFC really got worse. There are no real cupcakes in the NFC, so it's hard to say San Francisco's just going to start knocking teams off with

ease. Right. It seems like they're going to play a lot of close games, and they could go six and ten. They could go nine and seven. Who knows? And I know you have Kiddle and some depth but your best wide receiver is who it's probably Gittle Marquis no a wide receiver Jordan Matthews Goodwin right if you're talking pure past

catchers right pedis like if you told me Marquez Goodwin finishes fourth on this team in receiving that also would shock it's not a good shot shock me so that drafted two receivers maybe maybe they'll provide a little bit of spark I wonder if someone a veteran wide receiver shakes off a tree somewhere if the Niners wouldn't aggressively seek that I don't think they would because then they'd have to

one of their young guys who they just drafted in the top Jordan Matthews. He can't upgrade over Jordan Matthews in 2009. Well, I don't making the team. Yeah, I don't know if he's going to be starting. I would put Pettis and Taylor, but I think this is so they are one of the most fascinating teams this year because they're defensive talent

too. Oh, D. Ford, DeFarrest Buckner and then Nick Bosa. Connie's in! That is, it is pretty intriguing. I got to admit, they stuck with their coordinator, Robert Sala, who's, you know, not produced too well in his first two seasons. Like, they're going with continuity, and I don't know.

And they drafted a punter in the fourth round. That guy's going to be good. Robbie Gold wants out. You better be a punter. You better be a good punter. And I'm not allowed to say this in here, but I will say it again. Jimmy Garapolo has never really put together a full season of tape as a franchise quarterback. I'm just going to say it under this piece of paper.

Why are you not allowed to say that? Yes, I know everyone disagrees with me. I actually don't know. It's factually correct. I think you need to come out and really say it. Let's say it. Come on, Dan. I just want to see him play for 16 games.

No, I'm with you. I'm going to wait and say. Louder. Throw for like 4,000 yards and like 29 touchdowns once. The first three games last season freaked me out a little bit. He did not play very well. All right, the Seattle Seahawks, Chris Wessling. Oh, I got to talk about them?

I'm just kidding. Let me look at my notes here. Oh, wow. Yikes. You haven't figured out the rotation yet? I mean, we've been doing it for an hour. We made it. A long filibuster.

It was a riveting Garoppel. led by our host. What was it? We've made it through like 87 minutes between the two shows and then finally Wes brings it to a halt. It feels like John Snyder

played this draft like a fiddle. You know, a week before the draft, he's got four draft picks. He ends up making 11 picks. And yet, when I look at this team, is it crazy to say they're not even going to be as good as last year after losing Frank Clark?

They're probably going to lose Doug Baldwin. They go from J.R. Sweezy, who played really well at Guard last year, to signing Mike Yopati, who hasn't been healthy in three or four years, to me, those are three positions where I wonder, are you going to be as good as last year? And I think, you know, they get rid of Clark and they're, you know, they take Collier in the first round, but where is the pass rush coming from that's not manufactured? And they do, Carol does as good a job coaching up team defense as anyone, but just the pure

talent in terms of the pass rush. And even the secondary is not. overwhelming. Geron Reed and Puna Ford played great down the stretch from the inside, but I agree with the edge rush. You're going to ask a lot out of L.J. Collier, your first round pick. Speaking of L.J. Collier, our friend, the big fish, Evan Silva, had this to say about going from Frank Clark to Collier, a horrifically suboptimal exchange. Wow. Wow. So the big fish has concerns. But I feel like also last year, the Seahawks. Sounds like a punk band. Who expected the Seahawks to do as well? as they did last year.

It was supposed to be a rebuilding year for them. Oh, Greg did. Greg and Mina Kimes. I had them in the playoffs. Well, Mina has a Seahawks tattoo on her arm. Which is basically what they were. Does she? She has the Super Bowl. She does, yeah.

Wow. How about that? Good for Mina. I forget what I was saying because now I'm thinking about this. Are they going to let Russell Wilson throw the ball? I mean, the memory of that playoff game haunts me, and I'm not even a Seahawks fan that they ran every first and second down. It was brutal to watch.

And you don't need to give Brian Schottenheimer an excuse not to throw the ball. And the fact that their number two wide receiver right now is, I don't know, DK.K. Metcalf or David Moore, like, that's an excuse to run the ball a lot. D.K. Metcalfe who a lot of people, it turns out that no, don't like that guy at all. As a player, yeah. Yeah, I mean, they think he's supposed to be a tremendous person. He is so nice. Listen, this is the sport that we cover. I hate it.

I talked to him with the combine, and then all of a sudden I'm like so in on D.K. Metcalfe. and everybody who talks bad about him, shut up. And I heard the phone call. It was awesome when Schneider called and he was crying. I know. And it was very sweet and all that. But the reason he dropped to Seattle is that some people don't think maybe he's going to be a good pro. He better be.

They're going to have a big hole there at wide receiver if Baldwin doesn't come back. He can stretch the field. He's super fast. He really needs to work on his route running. All right. Arizona Cardinals, of course, Kyler Murray represents a new beginning for Arizona. last year is what really ended up being a false start, a very public false start with Josh Rosen and Steve Wilkes, of course.

One of the most exciting subplots of this year is now waiting to find out how good Murray is. And I love that Kimebaum, Tick, Tick, Tick, and Cliff Kingsbury, they're doing away with all that garbage about whether or not Murray is the weak one starter. Yeah, of course he is. He's the weak one starter. Sparis, the charade. And that's great.

I like that. Try a bit of a charade with her. We're very excited about Brad Huntley. Yeah, well, okay. They have to be nice to people. But, you know, if Kyler Murray hits the ground running, he could turn the NFC upside down. That's all I have to say.

I'll throw it to you guys. If he is as special as some people believe, we know certain to the Carolina Panthers thinks he's a piece of garbage. I mean, it's a player. Right, right, right. But a lot of other teams think this guy is special as hell. And if he is, and this is a much better team on paper than it was a year ago, things could change a lot.

NFC West could change quickly. Well, it helps that he fits into Cliff Kingsbury's offense a lot better than Rosen. And you have Christian Kirk was Kyler's teammate at Texas A&M, so maybe that will help a little bit. And I like that they drafted Andy Isabella super fast guy. So you don't just have Larry Fitzgerald there, which was I felt like last year the only guy that was like available on the team. But I love that we have David Johnson already talking again about another 1,000 and 1,000 and 1,000. David Johnson. Well, yeah, I mean, he's had as good an offseason as anyone because suddenly he's going to have great matchups in the passing game.

You would think there's less people around the line of scrimmage. He should be helped out in this offense. I think that to me is the question is how air raid does Kingsbury go? People thinking, okay, this is going to be a brand new NFL. I mean, it's been there. I mean, anyone watched the Chiefs last year? I mean, this is the direction the NFL is going, but how wild is he going to take it? How hard he's going to put it?

That's true. but this is also a grand experiment. We've never seen something like this before where you hire an unproven guy who got fired by his college team. Yep. And then you draft a 5-foot-9 quarterback to fit that guy's offense.

It's something not a lot of franchises would have done. And it's not an untalented team. And that's the thing with the NFL. I was going to say this about the Lions too. It's like the line between six or seven wins and 10 or 11 is not that big. You look at the Cardinals roster up and down The offensive line's pretty bad, but there's players.

There's players on offense. There's Chandler Jones and Terrell Suggs and Buda Baker and Patrick Peterson and Jordan Hicks. It's a lot of questions, but there's some players here. It's not like totally talent poor. The offensive line is bad, but having Kyler Murray, who can get out of trouble when things are collapsing, helps, whereas Rosen, he just got hit 45 times. And get into trouble. Right, right.

True. It works both ways. Wes, over under Lyre Fitzgerald, 72 and a half catches. I'll go over. I'm a Larry believer, one of my favorite players of all time. I'm never going to doubt that guy. I'm trying to think who that, like, the harp song as it starts reminds me of, maybe like a Diana Ross type of.

It has a, there's a Beatles song, too, that I'm thinking of. Hey, but a quick pause before we wrap up with the Rams, one bit of Cardinals news that they reportedly have declined defensive lineman Robert Gimdice's 50-year. option. And to mark the occasion, I'd like to sing a song if you guys don't mind. Yeah, sure. Ricky. Kim D. He he changed. Why did you fall out that window? It changed your whole life. You fell, we all fell. They no pickup option. You had the option not to stand by that window.

but you liked the view. Kim D.J. Why did you fall out that window? It changed your whole life. You felt we all fell down. How long did you work on that? That's why I was late. Beautiful, beautiful rendition.

I felt like it was deep. There's a lot of meaning beyond just It took me to a place When I was writing it It took me To that dorm room I'm starting to complain Yeah

Could you use a little more harp Hmm I'm gonna Throw some harp in there I'm gonna say This window incident's five years old You need to let go Kim D-J has tried to put it behind him

You won't let him As the song states It changed the course of his life Yeah I think everything changed He stood by that window And everything changed For all of us

That's how life works sometimes. It's sad and it's scary how your life can totally change based on one decision that seems totally inconsequential. That guy doesn't go falling out that window. Everything could be different. The Rams. The Rams, you know, they're hoping that everything didn't change on one day, you know, last February. And I feel like that that's been the vantage point in this, in this room and beyond.

I don't think everything did change. I mean, they're going to remember that. That's going to be painful forever, but I don't think it changes anything about the fact that they're one of those teams that I'm writing in Magic Marker into the playoffs, that I think they're about as big a favorite to win this division as just about any team is

to win any division, because I think they're just really solid all the way through. You can't find a huge weakness, and I like how similar to the Saints and the Patriots, they are so deep in the secondary. I think that's a big trend in the NFL. right now to have match-up players that can match up one-on-one in different, you know, against different formations so that you can deal with the Texas Tech air raid type of stuff,

so that you can have the right cornerbacker safety, and they added, who'd they add this off? Eric Weddle. Taylor Rap and David Long in the draft, and then Eric Weddell in free agency to replace Joyner, and I think it's just a good group. I do not see weaknesses. It's a young roster overall, and I think they're sailing right back into the playoffs. I'm guilty of perpetuating that narrative that another people have

that Jared Goff is he going to be the same after being completely exposed by Bill Belichick in the Super Bowl You could say that about McVeigh though You could say that about everything McVeigh is proven to be one of the best minds in football

Jared Goff has not proven to be one of the best quarterback Yeah McVeigh would tell you he had a bad day at the office too but Goff in a different way was exposed And the Todd Girlie thing You can't sleep on the Todd Girlie thing

That's my biggest thing With this team It wasn't just Gough though, but yes. I know, I know. But he made some terrible throws and big spots in that game. It could not make a play for them.

But I'm just saying when you look at what is the future of the Rams, there is a logical scenario where it's like, yes, that Super Bowl loss kind of ended an era for them. It could also be,

you could be totally right, that they'll again win 11 or 12 games and be another bit hard January out. It's a young team. They get Cooper Cubs. But it's fair to ask the question how they bounce back from that

and the girly injury. The Rams go as Todd Gurley goes. Like, is his knee okay? Is his mind okay? I feel like the C.J. Anderson stuff, when he came in and he went off, I feel like, you know, Todd Gurley, I think that kind of affected him a little bit mentally, too. Give the Pat's defense some credit. Not that we need to be litigated.

I am not taking anything away from the Patriot. Okay. Here's what I'm saying is like they lost a few offensive alignment. I think they replaced them with draft. Thanks, Connie. I mean, I think those are question marks. I think, and with cut back, they brought back Fowler, which I think was a good move. Overall, I just look at this team, and I actually think they're still maybe the best roster in the NFL.

Like, they probably are the, they're the team I feel the most safe will be in the playoffs, them and the Patriots. We'll copy the same guy. They've got so many holes. We'll copy the same guy. Can Clay Matthews play? Who's playing inside linebacker next to Corey Littleton? Can the two draft picks who's never played in the NFL start on the offensive line? They've got a lot of question.

Is Jared Gough, like, he hasn't had a good game, basically, since that Chiefs? I think Cup will be fine, by the way. I mean, you see guys come back from ACLs all the time. And losing him was a huge deal. RTH. RTH. Right, right. Okay, respect the heart. Fine, fine, fine.

Great work, guys. We went around the NFC in 48-ish minutes. Right. The whole 48 minutes tag is... Do you really want to know how long we went around the NFC in? Yeah. Because I'll tell you. We did about five minutes off the top.

We're at about one over. two now so I'm not good at math but you guys could figure it out it was like 55 minutes or something that's not bad it's probably right what did you say 102 minus five yeah so 57 that's not bad I mean the goal was 48 you just put an asterisk next to it yeah well you got a free show how about that yeah that way how you got to leave room for some candiche and that one dude oh kimdice too we had a stop down for keem days that's worth it needed that um and that dude that complained well guess what i guess complaining works out so there was only one guy that's what my mom told my mom told me my whole life the the squeaky wheel does get greased and that's what that dude did yeah just that's a great

he's squeaking he got greased i mean it might be sending the wrong message to our listeners very wrong message one complaint guys could totally change your next show to just just send them along but here's the thing people complain all the time that's true about our show and everything else you never know which one's going to get through so don't think now that you uh this is going to open the floodgates keep complaining if you want but that we're going to ignore almost everything. But this is, look at it this way. Well, just send them all to Erica.

I was going to say send them all to me. I'll be happy to deal with them. Can we parse them out? Absolutely. I'll be happy to deal with it. All right, Erica and Wes. We could read complaints. Maybe that's a nice off season show.

I love that. I can't read them if they're blocked. I want to be here for it. All right, that would be a good show. Let's do that. Colleen, we're running out of time with you, right? Because the summer of Connie. What do you mean?

No. The summer of Connie has kicked off. The box is a good condition. The box is. Can Confirm. Can confirm. Save it for the existentialism podcast. The box is sharp around the edges.

It's not like some Amazon delivery guy throwing it over a fence and all of a sudden there's a dent in it. It is not a mangled box. No. Oh, my God. Anyway, when are you starting your vacation time? What do you mean? It already started.

All right. Yeah. Well, we'll try to get you in here whenever we can. Great. So we love having you. Awesome. I'm back. I'm back whenever.

Erica, you killed it today. Thanks. You killed it last night at softball. You hit a major home run. Dan killed it last night. West, you did great too, but Dan, he really, he pulled through when we needed him. He's got that clutch gene, you know. He had the big hit that opened up the flaggates.

That was on a script that Tamposi was reading. I turned on a 3-1 pitch and, you know, put one over the left-fielder's head. Forget about it. Two outs, two-outs, bases, or no, two runners on, but you got to, the power hitter has to swing in that situation, not take a walk. When there's two outs and runners in scoring position? I heard Wes, too. I was in the box 3-1. Wes reminded me, hey, don't let this go.

If it's close, you better swing at it. Guess what? Zusser didn't let it go. He got an RBI mindset. Hey, the nerds haven't gotten rid of the RBI yet on our team. Wow. Hey, the nerds can try, but driving in runners is a skill. Did not expect this show to end with the anti-analytic rant.

I love analytics. Just don't be dogmatic about it. All right, we will be back three weeks. weeks three shows next week right that's right that's right whoa so we'll be back in time for there to be no news at all exactly let's do it monday we're back monday we are back with another episode of the show so please uh tune in for that uh comment uh and star over on um iTunes send your complaints send your complaints to west and uh oh yeah c c ariac on just west just west and uh and check out the around the NFL subreddit growing we're about 11000 now i believe that's a pretty good number

And that's it. Let's go. Stan Hans is signing off for the tiny box forever and always. The mailman, the old boss, and Ricky Hollywood behind the glass. Till Monday. Hey, everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies

to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else. It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday.

Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Fiorio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast.

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