NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Around The NFC In 48 Minutes, Plus Jason Witten Retires & Matt Ryan Gets Paid

Episode Date: May 3, 2018

A room filled with heroes- Colleen Wolfe, Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling & Patrick Claybon- continue their look around the league as they go “Around The NFC In 48 Minutes.” They begin with reaction to Matt Ryan becoming the NFL’s highest paid player ever (2:20), Jason Witten’s retirement (5:00) and drama about the kickoff rule change (12:00). They kick off “Around The NFC In 48 Minutes” with The Arizona Cardinals (16:00) and go through all 16 teams in the division in alphabetical order.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.

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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 is the LeBron James of NFL Podcasts. It's true. Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. I'm your host, Colleen. Wolf, and I'm joined by a room filled with heroes.

We got Patrick Claibon in the house. What, what? We got Chris Wessling. All right. And we got Greg Rosenthal. Oh. Hey. Yeah.

So Mark Sessler is doing his civic duty today. He got roped into jury duty, so we have no idea when we will ever see him again. Well, according to Mark, the trial, it goes through May 11th. He thought he was going to get out of it entirely when we left. last spoke to him, and then he found out he is on it, and it goes through May 11. So I guess he's out all of next week. Wow. Why didn't he try to bomb the interview portion of this?

There's got to be at least 47% of Mark that wants to be on jury. Yes. I completely believe that. He's a man of high character. He's not going to lie on the jury thing. Plus, they don't really ask you anything, or at least my experience was I thought in my head maybe I'll try to suddenly do it, and they never, It never really even was possible.

I actively tried to get picked. Yeah, they just put me on. And they were like, nah, throughout. It's not, I didn't have that similar experience. It's like, all right, we don't want this guy. Well, Colleen, it all started back in 1648. No, I'm just kidding. All right.

So, Dan Hanses, he's off. I don't know where is Dan? Nobody knows. Okay. I think he's off the grid. I think he's going to Vegas with some friends. Oh, he's going to hang out with Spice rack. He is?

I think so. Oh, that's awesome. I think that. For, as you know him, pepper mill. Pepper mill. I could be wrong. I think that's where he's going. All right.

So, Dan, and Pepper Mill in the desert. That's cool. I'm sure they'll have some great stories about that. But as you guys heard earlier this week, we did around the AFC in 48 minutes. So that means today is around the NFC in 48 minutes. But we also have some news we got to get to. We didn't have that last week or a couple days ago. So let's get into it with Matt Ryan first, getting paid.

And he agreed to a new five-year, $150 million deal. That makes him the league's first $30 million per year quarterback. Tom Pelliserro first reported this. We knew it was coming, but now it's official, Greg. There's not much to say with these quarterback contracts as they get updated. I'm kind of tired of making my same argument each time, which is that they're all worth it and that they're all underpaid relative to other positions in the NFL. And especially with Matt Ryan compared to some of the other guys who have

gotten on a much smaller resume recently, like Derek Carr, Jimmy Garapolo. Ryan's so safe to me. I mean, he followed up an MVP season with a really good, I think, underrated season a year ago. And it's kind of a no-brainer. It's just it's the cost of doing business. And Aaron Rogers will pass him as the next $100 million man in a few weeks or a few months. Yeah, if Kirk Cousins on the open market is worth $28 or $29 million a year, Matt Ryan would have got maybe $38 or $39 million if he ever made the open market. It was his general manager, Thomas Dimitrov, who once said, until you find your quarterback, the search for him consumes you.

That's what it means not to have a quarterback in the NFL. There was never any chance that the Falcons were going to let him hit the market. He was always going to be the highest-paid quarterback in the league until Aaron Rogers once again becomes highest-paid quarterback in the league. Looking at his cash earnings throughout the years, it's crazy to jump. A guy that was making $15 million a year back in 2013 is now literally getting double that. Oh, my God. That's a good cost.

It's great. That's great for Matt Ryan. I wonder about income disparity, eventually becoming an issue in the NFL when you've got all of these quarterbacks. Because we look at the guys that have come in just the last couple of years. But it's not just quarterbacks, though. To me, to your point, like Nate Solders making more money than Matt Ryan made five years ago. Nate Solders making more money than Peyton Manning ever made in Denver. So I don't know.

It's a certain positions that get valued that high. But as things go and these incremental boosts go in quarterback salary, they're going at such a higher rate than all the other positions. When does that eventually, when's that bubble going to pop? I don't think it's going to. You've got to get a football team on the field, right? It's not going to pop until the NFL bubble pops. Yeah, I don't think it is because I still think it's that compared to other positions,

quarterbacks are still underpaid. I mean, because Indomac and Sue, when he's making 20, like, quarterbacks are just so important compared to those other positions that I think it's just kind of catching up with what it should be. Yeah, and I'm really interested just to see how the offense looks this year, but we'll get into that a little bit more when we get to the Falcons coming up. But wait, Lindsay, did I completely blow through a news drop that you had prepped? Well, I didn't want to interrupt your flow. It was a nice transition.

Well, you could always put it right now before the second item. Right. Yeah, so let's just do it now. Today I'll decide that it's time has come for me to pass the torch to the next generation of Dallas Cowboys and retire from the National Football League. It's official guys, Jason Witten. He's retiring and he's joining the Monday Night Football Broadcast. It's crazy to think that he was drafted as a third round pick in 2000. and three, and you look at what he's done. He walks away as the fourth in all-time receptions, only behind Jerry Rice, Tony

Garcia, or Tony Gonzalez, and Larry Fitzgerald. I mean, what a career he had and what a different offense this Cowboys team is going to look like. Oh, yeah. I think when I think of Witten, I think of him as kind of like a coach's dream. The way Bill Belichick spoke about him a few years ago inspired me to write an article called Billichick's opponent Mount Rushmore of all of his favorite opponents

and Witten like Ed Reed's got to be on there he does everything in addition to put enough stats that tight ends do he does everything you don't see that coaches love and I think that's what I'll remember about him that he was the complete football player yeah the person that he was jumps out and it's always going to be what I remember

is because you put him in another franchise in a different period this is a period of Cowboys like not success right like the the playoff moments that we remember are all losses for the Dallas Cowboys and those were all he never played in a championship game right yeah in a conference championship game rather and so we're still going to remember jason witten 20 15 years from now and that's considering that they didn't go to a super bowl they didn't do all of these things but we remember him because of the impact that he had on other people in the way that they talked about him and and that he was always he was almost never the

best tight end in the league, although he did get two first team all pros, which I was actually surprised to see. I don't know in those particular areas, because you really think it was kind of Gonzalez, and then it was Antonio Gates, and it was Gronk, and even Jimmy Graham in there. And Witton was always really strong, a great blocker. He did make two first team all pros, two second teams, but always kind of like that second third, maybe not quite the guy you're going to take right away in your fantasy draft compared to the other tight ends

but like an incredibly consistent I mean Jason Garrett watching the press conference what stuck out was just how emotional the Jones family was I mean it was like losing a son and Jason Garrett was extremely emotional and you can just tell how much they loved Jason and part of it

So he's a Garrett guy he is definitely a Garrett guy I think he is the definition of Gary and I think Des would second that he is a Garrett guy cool I walked into the huddle our commissary while this presser was going on. And it just really hit home.

It's totally natural to be watching this in that one place on earth, inside the huddle of NFL network. And really nowhere else in the country or on earth, is it natural to watch that much attention lavished on a football player for calling it a career? Well, the Cowboys did it like I've never seen a retirement ceremony done. The production value of him walking into the building and everyone is surrounding.

There was coaches, players, fans. There was a 30-minute-long procession. Like, there have been royal weddings with less of a procession and pomp and circumstance. I felt bad just thinking kind of behind the scenes. I felt bad for Andrew Siciliano, our host, and Mike Garifolo, Tom Pelsero. Because they were just spinning plates for 30 minutes. They thought this thing was going to start. And instead, it was just like Jason Witton walking down the aisle.

I mean, what about when Peyton had his press conference from Denver? I know he hadn't been there for so long as he was in Indy, but still that kind of felt like it was forever. I mean, he was talking forever, I felt like. Yeah. And it was the second time, because honestly, Peyton leaving Indianapolis was his retirement speech to me. Yeah.

Yes, that was the one I remember. That was the emotional one that's going to stand out here. Today I'm thinking, like, Tony Romo got a tweet, you know? Like, there was a goodbye, like a waving goodbye emoji to Des. and then we've got, like you said, this royal wedding for Jason Whitten. It just, they really let it. That's got to feel awful.

Like, Des has to feel awful. It's the benefit of staying with one team for your whole franchise, which is hard to pull off, and you might even have, I don't know if you had to make sacrifices at some point, but that is, that's one of the benefits.

I found it really interesting. ESPN won't confirm that he's been hired. And my theory with this is that there's going to be a third person in the booth, and that's not all, all the ducks aren't completely in a row to announce it. Maybe I'm totally wrong. I like that you.

You have a theory. Yeah, but that's my guess. It just feels right that he's not going to be the only guy, that it's going to be Witten and someone else, and we'll find out maybe a Lewis Riddick. That's just a total. That's just a total guess. I think that would be a fun one.

But that's just my guess. I mean, it's just going to be so weird to, I mean, you look and you see no Des Bryant, no Tony Romo, no Jason Witten. It's just strange to not have those three guys playing for the Cowboys anymore. And the timing was sort of weird with the draft. in the way that the news all came out, and then they didn't end up getting a tight end. I don't think he expected to get the job,

and then he got the job. And he was like, okay, I'm going to have to take this. The Monday Night Football job. Yeah, so that'll be interesting, something to watch, something to listen to this coming season with Jason Witten in the booth. He could be going up against Antonio Gates in the Hall of Fame voting in five years,

and I would vote Gates there if you can't get them both in right away. But they'll both get in eventually. I love Antonio Gates. He'd get my vote, too. All right. So we have some spicy kickoff talk, too, everybody. Braves yourselves for kickoff changes coming to a game near you. So some rule changes were proposed yesterday.

They're going to be voted on later this month at the Spring League meetings. But Claibon, you're really into this. I am really into this because I've always wanted kickoffs to be more fun. And, you know, my proposal didn't work out. Nobody cares about what I have to say. What's your proposal? Make the kick going through the uprights on a kickoff a point. Home run.

Explain the benefits. It incentivizes the ball going out of play. Everybody doesn't have to run into each other. And yeah, that's it. I couldn't agree more. Isn't there like an addendum to this? Didn't you have like a second part? There were so many suggestions.

I wasn't expecting people to like it as much. Then Wes said he liked it. And then everything. Oh, no, I like it. I like it too. because the couple times that it happens during a season, it does happen sometimes. Gus Kowski's, I've seen him kick it through.

That's one of the most exciting moments of the game, and there's no points even in Paul. It's fun. That was just for X-Bit. I always, like, tell everyone around me whenever that happens, they're like, no, we don't really care that, you know, the Chargers kicker just kicked it. Theoretically, it would reduce the number of overtime games.

I think that was the second part of it. So that would mean fewer injuries or increased minutes in that game. Claibon, I like this. Unfortunately, that's. That's not. What are the rules? What are the rules? The rules are, which they could be added to my rule to make it better.

The receiving team has to have eight guys within 15 yards of the line of scrimmage. So what they want to do is decrease the collisions. Also, the kicking team, the five-yard running start is gone. So you're lined up with the ball. You leave when the ball leaves. It's like a punt. Yep. And the two-man wedge, which was reduced to two men to make it less violent, is now dead as well.

So no wedging. Rich McKay said they've been 71 concussions in the last three years on kickoffs. Wow. And a third of those involved the wedge in some capacity. So that's gone. And no more running starts. No more legions of collisions. Now I have some thoughts hearing you lay it all out like that,

when they decided to change the kickoff rules last time around moving the thing forward, I said, like, isn't that going to just create a scenario where they're popping up more kicks, which is basically what's happened. You mentioned the concussions have still kind of been through the roof. And a lot of these changes to me does incentivize you to return your kicks more if you get the ball with a chance to do it because the running start, right? I mean, it's almost encouraging you to return the kicks more unless the ball is just until we provide some incentive for a team to kick the ball out of the back of the end zone

or out of bounds, the ball is still going to be important. play, but I think what Troy Vincent and them wanted to do was eliminate the collisions no matter what. Yeah. So if somebody's lined up at the five-yard line and they're going to get a running start to block somebody that's lined up at the 30 with a running start, I mean, we could go in the next-gen stats and look at the speeds these guys are getting, you know, versus the speeds they're getting on punts.

It's a, that five yards makes a huge difference. I'm in favor of anything that keeps special teams in the game because I don't think, all these people who cry about the physicality being taken out of football don't understand that the kickoff is either gone or it's tweaked a little bit but eventually it's going to be gone I mean you're fighting an uphill battle if you think that they're going to keep special teams that important for that long and that whole idea of you have to keep eight people near the line of scrimmage that kind of incentivizes going for creative types of onside kicks too where you kick it over the first wave of the people and try to get it into the second wave I think we'll

see more of those kind of the grounders and I love those plays. And you take the bigger linemen off the field in that instance too. You probably have like the smaller, faster guys. Right, because you can't, if they can't keep up then they're not going to be involved in the play. I like changes. Like changes like this or,

because it's kickoffs. It's worth a shot. Yeah, I don't know. Claibon, I like your rule change. Yeah. So I think that you should write a letter to the league. To Roger or? To Roger.

They raise the goalposts. You know, if they can do that, they feel like they can do anything. Yeah, just why not make the goalposts comically high? Let's do that. Let's have them peeking out of the top of stadium. That's what I want. Airplane goes down, hits goalpost.

All right, so that wraps up the news for today. Let's get into around the NFC. We have a lot to get to here. So, Claibon, you're kicking us off here with Arizona. Love it. My favorite thing about the Cardinals this offseason was a quote, from Steve Wilkes, sight is totally different than vision. Sometimes you have to see past the difficulties.

We had a plan. We had a vision. It was huge on that, especially before I went to see Infinity War this past week. But they are able to get Josh Rosen, they trade up the five spots. One thing that jumped out to me, and granted, this is moving up five spots in the front part of the first round, but they actually paid less to move up those five spots than Baltimore paid to come up and get Lamar Jackson. So they get a guy that a lot of people feel like was the best quarterback in the draft

at that spot. And they're going into this season where Sam Bradford is there, potentially healthy, a healthy Sam Bradford. If the stars align, my question to you guys, and Sam Bradford is healthy for this 2018 season, is that a waste if Josh Rosen doesn't play? Hmm. Hmm. I mean, maybe.

We're going to need a harder take from you there, Connie. I know. I think that I'm worried about David Johnson. I mean, I think he's going to be great, but he's coming off of the injury. And I think that because they moved up to get Rosen, yeah, they should play him. And if you have Christian Kirk there and you have Larry Fitzgerald and Josh Rosen and David Johnson, all of a sudden, that sounds like a good offense. whereas before I was like, yikes, I don't even know about watching these guys.

I think it'd be a waste. You said if all the ducks are in a row, everyone's kind of healthy and looking good. And so in this scenario, I'm assuming that Rosen is promising, plays well in the preseason, looks good in practice, and maybe Sam Bradford is the starter for a while. But if Rosen is ready to go, he's the one that matters. He's going to be the starter next year. He's going to be the starter into the future.

And so it would be a waste for an entire season. of Sam Bradford, my guess is the Cardinals think it'll work itself out naturally, whether they're losing games with Bradford or someone's hurt, or maybe Rosen isn't ready to play. A healthy Sam Bradford is a good quarterback, and I think that the NFL is different than other sports. I hate rebuilding. You don't have to rebuild in the NFL. The Cardinals certainly don't have to rebuild, and I think the best players should play. If that's Sam Bradford, he should open the season as the starter. And he will. I think he will. I don't think there's much question if he's healthy and looks normal that he would open the season.

In my mind, I guess it was an entire season of him. He would have to play at a really high level and they'd have to be winning, I think. Right. And if he does that, then that's how it goes. And I think one thing that helps Steve Wilkes out is being a first year coach. So it's not this Bolzian responsibility to win now. Right. He's not as concerned for his job security.

So he can put the best player on the field. I mean, look, Sam Bradford looked awesome last year to open the season with the Vikings. And then all of a sudden it was all downhill for him. So it's just a question of. him staying on the field, which has always been the question of him for his entire career. Yeah. I mean, it's going to be tough for Rosen to overcome, like, his, you know, affluent upbringing. Drew Brees and Peyton Manning and Tom Brady and Eli Manning and probably San Bradford.

I have no idea. Like, they seem to be okay. You're right. You're right. All right, Wes, we got Atlanta up next. All last season. Yeah, there we go. All throughout last season, we heard that the offense was a problem.

Sark was an issue. Matt Ryan was ruining Dan Hansis' fantasy football team. These are the things we heard as football fans throughout the season. Then you look at some of the metrics, look behind the basic stats. The Falcons were second only to the Patriots and drive success rate and yards per drive. Didn't they add Calvin Ridley? Should we be thinking of the Falcons as right there with the Saints as a team that could be the number one offense in the NFL? Number one offense.

I think so. Calvin Ridley with Julio Jones, you just have these two Alabama guys chilling together on their new offense. And Steve Sarkeesian, second year, maybe he gets like better footing under him. And he kind of realizes the mistakes he made last year as a play caller. I mean, the only guy that they really lost was Taylor Gabriel. Yeah, don't forget that Kyle Shanahan didn't exactly, he wasn't exactly a smashing success in his first season with the Falcons either.

Right. Everybody was worried that Matt Ryan took a step back in his first season. The Falcons were, like, not as explosive. They were a very methodical, kind of slow offense that did move the ball a lot, and they were, I think, better to your point than people really realized a year ago. The Falcons are kind of my team that I think has the best chance to win a Super Bowl that probably are going to have, like, the longest odds. Not that we get into that the most.

But, like, to me, they are right at the top of the teams, I think, can win the Super Bowl this season. There's probably four five. They might also have the widest open. window like the most number of years they could remain super bowl content i'm not saying they're like better than the rams or the eagles or the patriots or the steelers but i think they're kind of in that group and for whatever reason even though they've been in the mix two years in a row i don't know if people think of them that way they're not going to be worse in the red zone than they were last year they're obviously going to improve there i think that was a bit of an outlier

some situational issues that just went awry um so yeah to your point was they're one minute In terms of between the 20s, they were good last year. In that area, they'll be better. Don't quite know how Ridley fits in, but it's not going to hurt. Julio's still playing up to a high level. I think if he, you know, if his helmet doesn't cover his face, they might have been in the Super Bowl. That plays the snapshot of their whole season.

I know. When you talk about the red zone doubles. They're down. They have an opportunity. It doesn't work out because of confluence. I always think about the first down play. Matt Ryan threw a ball where Julio is, one-on-one, and Ryan just didn't throw a very good ball.

And you forget about it because it was the first-round, first-down play. It's like, if that is on the money, I think they score there, and it's on Nick Foles to go try to win a game-winning drive. Although, you know, the way Nick Foles is, he probably would have done it. Yeah, that's right. I mean, he was pretty unbelievable. I don't know. But honestly, that division is only getting better, too.

So, I mean, the Panthers improved. We're going to talk about them. I want to see if their defense that we saw late in the season keeps up. Because if it does, then they are absolutely good. Ooh, well, let's get into the Panthers because they're next in alphabetical order. And I have them. Okay, so for me, the Panthers Free Agency, it wasn't crazy or anything. They added Tori Smith and Dantari Po, but I thought their draft was awesome.

Drafting DJ more for me, they really needed to replace Steve Smith. And he kind of reminds me a little bit of Steve Smith. So hopefully they have Curtis Samuel to get right. and they added some pieces to the secondary. But what I want to know is where the Panthers sort of fall in the rankings of that division in the NFC South. Well, I put the Falcons and the Saints just naturally as the top two because I trust their offenses more.

Like I just trust that I think year to year, passing attacks, I'm going to take them. I mean, the record that Ron Rivera has, I think five playoff teams in six years, speaks to that they shouldn't be forgotten but I don't trust them nearly as much I trust the Turner family

to that's most of the coaching staff just the entire Turner family to get players in a position to get open and so DJ Moore in terms of Steve Smith

Matt Harmon who follows wide receivers closer than almost anybody in the world everybody feels great about the pick i i want to see cam in an offense where just people are getting open and he has a chance like non-greg olson people are getting open and he has a chance to get them the ball um they were really hurting uh with no ted gin last year i i think they got better um in terms of the south i'm not really taking any of those teams over the other ones i think they're going to be three

really good teams are going to beat each other up and it's going to come down down to the stretch I don't feel like Tampa Bay belongs in that discussion yet. So it's just going to be how the coin lands. Yeah, I ask the Panthers a tier below the Falcons and Saints because I think they have more questions they have to answer. Starting with who's their powerback. Certainly it can't be Cameron Artist Pain. And that's fair.

He's great in short-yarded situations. But you're going to need a powerback in that offense. Christian McCaffrey is not running successfully between the tackles. On paper, their defensive line after adding Poe is pretty strong. But it didn't really play to that level last year. If Kikli is healthy, they're supposed to be a defense-first team. I definitely put them a tier below because the Saints beat them three times, and they were pretty, I don't know if I would say they were all convincing,

but they looked like the better team three times. And I guess since I went to two of those games, it's like that's in my head that they're going to be a tough team to stop. And I think losing their left guard, Andrew Norwell, I wonder how big of a part that will play in how they do this year. Anyway, let's move on to Chicago. Oh, I love that. We all seem to like the Chicago Bears in this room, at least Wes and I. I guess Colleen and Patrick have not been in this room quite as often this offseason.

Like, good-looking defense, nice continuity that they kept Vic Fangio. We like everything they added on offense. My question for the room is now, after adding Anthony Miller and Taylor Gabriel and Alan Robinson and everything that they have, Tray Burton, I knew I was forgetting someone. What are our expectations for Mitchell Trubisky? Because he's kind of been almost forgotten in all this. Like what do we think we get out of 2018 Mitchell Trubisky? Because it was only about a year ago that everyone was kind of clowning their pick of Chubisky. This is not a player comp.

I'm not making a straight-up player comp because most player-coms are dumb. Remember the reaction to peak Bortles hype? Like Blake Bortles is ascending. He's becoming this other thing. I was part of that. I was part of that. Good job. We all have.

Thanks happen. Yeah. I think we could see that from the way we react to Mitchell Trubisky after this season. I think people will say, this is promise. This is something that can go forward. Who knows how long term it can be? But I think he can have that type of success. I'm an unabashed Mitchell Tribisky fan.

I didn't like how last season went for him, but he had nothing on offense. The offensive line wasn't good. The wide receivers were maybe the worst in the league. The play calling left a lot to be desired. The way the head coach handled him left a lot to be desired. But at his best, I see some flashes of Brett Farr. And again, not a straight-up comparison.

I just see flashes of the way he moves, his improvisational skills I'm excited by this team and I do expect Mitchell Trabisky to have like a Jared Gough type not quite as extreme I'm like thinking about like numbers like what sort of number

like Jared Gough he doesn't have we don't know what Nagy is yet but he doesn't have Sean McVeigh who's to me right there as the best offensive mind in football I think they're trying to be this year's Rams the expectations are so high now

because of all the moves they've made and because of all the players they've added around Trubisky I think that if he delivers that's great but if he doesn't then there's even more pressure on him because of all of the resources they've brought in for him I want to go back and watch kind of the end of his season because I think it got it was under the radar no one was watching the bears anymore and I think that he showed some signs in the last month that he looked better in the last three three games or so than he did really before that they moved him around in the pocket a lot early they had a roll throwing on bootlegs a lot which he's great yeah he's really good and to your far of comp the release, the more I think about it.

It does kind of visually remind me of that, but they opened it up for them. There were some rookie mistakes. It's just a question of how much of that was rookie and how much of that was it. Right. Best thing they can do is just be able to. And that's a problem because pass rusher, I think, is still an issue. But hey, time's up. So we move on to Dallas where we've talked to them, talked about them a little bit so

far. But does anybody ever call you Bon Bon? It's happened a couple times. There's only so many variations. Bon Bon, take it away. Clayface was probably one of my favorite. So Jason Witton is gone. Edward's little shrine, the candle goes out.

Big American flag. Wow. So that's over. Where are he? Love it. Connor Williams, they get the depth at tackle because last year we saw, you know, Tyrant Smith went out and everything just went to crap.

Just the whole thing was just booty. So they get him. He was DJ's 17th overall player. I think that's a huge value there So they get better there My question is We saw Jason Garrett Emotional today

We know he's the Jerry whisperer That being said What is the win total Where we wonder if the whispers Aren't to Jerry And they're from Jerry About Jason Garrett What win total makes that conversation start

Great question I think I think eight and below really gets that question i'm going to say five or six i think it's been a while it's been a minute and i think there are i i ask everyone who wants you know who's into this sort of thing go watch all or nothing cowboys it's i haven't gotten all the way through yet but it's the most compelling i think of the all or nothings and i like the other ones and part of it is because after a certain moments jerry talks to jason garrett like like uh an executive producer is talking to a

you know, PA on, you know, Total Access or something. I mean, I don't know. Like, you realize how much. Can you unpack that one for the people who don't know what that is? I'm just saying if I'm Jason Garrett, I don't want some of these conversations where Jerry's not too happy about a blowout loss, what he says to Jason Garrett. I don't want that in the public. Do you talk to anybody like that here at NFL Media?

I think I used to be like that at Roto World when people had bad, uh, bad post. You're leaving like gum and gum wrappers. It was all on instant message. Oh, I think I. I only got that side of Greg when I didn't show up for work. Yeah, that's a problem. But you look at their tight end position. I mean, now, yikes.

I know they love Rico Gathers. I feel like he's been there for a while and nothing has really happened with him. But the pass catchers are Terrence Williams, Michael Gallup, who they just drafted, Cole Beasley. I know they brought in Alan Hearns, but this is a really different looking group. Yeah, often when big names leave, people are shocked at the production. production stays relatively similar. I think in this case, they're going to end up missing what's gone. Because none of the guys they have are taking double teams.

They're not even attracting double teams, much as beating. Yeah, and if they start, like, with a lot of losses, I feel like Jason Garrett. What do you think? What are going to be more like yells? I think it's six. If it's six, it's a wrap, right? As is it? Every time the subject has come up, Jerry has said, I've got so much invested in him.

Yes. but at all right all right all right let's go to detroit west the offense comes back and it's almost identical they switch centers and then they bring in a couple of running backs and le garret blunt and carry on i'm just going to call them carry on because i love that name yeah that's good um is this the year that the lions finally have a running game Yes, I think so.

I feel like they invested so much in the run game just during the draft here. Frank Ragnall and Kerryon Johnson drafting those two, plus you bring in Legerat Blunt. I mean, Amir Abdullah, I feel like that experiment is over at this point. See, I don't... Like, to me, Carrie on Johnson is just the new Amir Abdullah. Like, he's just a shinier, newer...

Amir Abdullah might very well be a better player than Carry on Jones. We'll find out. I mean, I think he's more... of an inside guy that they think can be outside. They also have blunt. But you're right. You have to be right on the pick. Everyone at this time of year always thinks like, okay, we're just going to slide in that second round pick, but it's like, no, they're not all going to

work out. Another running back from the state of Alabama, by the way. But it's Jim Bob, right? Jim Bob stays in place. He's been there. He's been there. They weren't running the ball with Jim Bob before. It's fair. I just don't know how much has changed that's going to make

me believe that now, you know, you sub then, which Amir's problem was staying on the field. Right. So you get Carillon. If Carion can be on the field, if we know LaGarrett can stay in play, but the means to which they're going to try to run the ball, I don't know how much they're going to change, right? They're a top 10 offense if they have a running game.

It's the line, and they do get Taylor Decker back healthy. He missed a big chunk of the season. You get another first round pick on the office. offensive line. People loved their fifth round pick. I don't know if they're right or not, Tyrell Crosby. Like, this is Bob Quinn, who's now been there. Their GM's been there for three years. Like, he's put so much into their offensive line, T.J. Lang, Ricky Wagner, that it's on, it's on them. And on paper, they should be able to do it. I think that was their focus going into the draft, just based on their choices. I think they wanted to address the offensive line and the running

game because those were the two biggest weaknesses on the offense. And for me, it's almost like the defense is more of a question mark because the pass rushers. I mean, Zygianza is the only consistent pass rusher they have. Yeah, they have a good secondary, but outside of that, the front seven leaves a lot to be desired. I do think that they could have a top 10 offense. This could be a more fun team to watch this year. And what's Matt Patricia going to be like as a head coach?

Like, I love his press conferences. I love his like MO now suddenly. Like I'm feeling the Matt Patricia. It's all fun right now. You're drinking the juice. Well, he's just like a totally different person. person than I expected. It's like the substitute teachers

run in the class now. You know, he's outside of, he's not under Belichick's thumb anymore. He's got a personality. He's wearing fun shirts. Yeah. Which like, didn't he had a personality before, right? We're not allowed to see that stuff, though. Yeah.

So assistant coaches aren't allowed to talk to the press. But like, all he could do, the most he could show us was a pencil. Right. And we were like, oh, my God. And a long shaggy beard. All right. Well, let's stay in the division.

and go to Green Bay. Obviously getting Aaron Rogers back is huge. It's going to be a little weird to see him without Jordy Nelson there. But I like what Brian Gutakunz did now that he's running the show. Yeah, they were actually participating in free agency this year, which was cool. They brought in Jimmy Graham and Mo Wilkerson. And I think for Green Bay, like just the way that they have gone after cornerbacks the last few years, they drafted Kevin King last year in the first round.

This year they drafted Jair Alexander and Josh Jackson. That's one of their biggest things that they need to address. But the pass rushing situation here, I want to know how Mike Petten is going to generate a pass rush there in Green Bay. What did he used to call it Bih Bitties? What? That's Mike Pettenism. That's what he calls pass rushers bicketties.

Why? I don't know. Mark wrote about it a couple of years ago. But yeah, I think that was in collision low crossers. It was about the old Jets team with Petten. Petten to me was one of the biggest signings of the off season, and maybe we'll prove to strong, but I think he's a really good coordinator.

Not only that, I think you want to be the guy who's replacing Dom Capers. It's like you don't want to be the guy who's replacing Mike Francesa or whatever in New York on the air. You want to be the guy replacing Dom Capers. I think whoever's in there people are going to be excited about it. I think, yeah, half of Green Bay would have kidnapped Dom Capers. just sent him outside of state borders. His name would trend every touchdown. That's actually where Mark Sessler is right now.

You ask about the pass rush. You know, Nick Perry, I thought that was a big need for them and they didn't have it last year. Nick Perry and Clay Matthews, I mean, there are definitely teams with worse outside rushers. Perry was injured most of last year and just never. I was disappointed in the past rush last year. It just disappeared and you think on paper

that Matthews and Perry should do it. And the guys behind them, the Kyler Fackerel's and Vince Beagles and all these guys aren't getting it done. Mo Wilkerson is an X factor if they get, because he's not that old. Like if they get 80% of old Mohammed Wilkerson, that would be huge. I'm looking at this team. I mean, they got to be up in that tier of teams that can win the Super Bowl absolutely too. Like Aaron Rogers is due for a season where he just shreds the rest of the earth.

One thing that will help the pass rush is when the coverage gets a little bit better. And we saw them improve that in the draft. I was shocked that Josh Jackson lasted to pick 45. I like their secondary now. It's not nearly as bad as it was before. I mean, it was so hard to watch. When they had a safety playing corner who didn't want to play corner and then afterwards they admitted that he shouldn't play a corner.

No, yeah. In, you know, two seasons ago, they had a team that could have gone to the Super Bowl if it wasn't for the secondary. I mean, they took out a one seed on the road despite that secondary and then they basically just got dog walked in it. Yeah, okay. Well, Greg, while you're talking here, and let's want to you continue talking about a Super Bowl favorite, probably.

Who? They were last year. The Philadelphia Eagles? No, the Rams, right? The Los Angeles Rams. Okay, I'm bad with the whole alphabet. Los Angeles Rams, they're not the Super Bowl favorites when you got the Eagles in the conference, right?

But I look at everything that is going on in their team, And it's hard to find, like, a huge weakness to it. This is very similar to what I was thinking about Chicago. But I, after seeing what they added on offense in terms of Brandon Cooks, but for the most part, the rest of the offense is just back. Like, what are we expecting out of Jared Goff this year? Do we think Jared Goff can avoid kind of the next year malaise that took down Derrick Carr a little bit, took down Dak Prescott?

They had their breakout years. I think it's hard to sometimes do the follow-up to that. I have trouble answering that question because I haven't figured out just how valuable Sean McVeigh is yet. And just how valuable it is what Sean McVe is doing in Jared Gough's helmet for those first 30 seconds. He's allowed to speak to Jared Gough, dissect the way the defense is set up, and then tell him which play to run and which player to target. That seems like a huge, huge competitive advantage to me. And I think that explains Jared Gough's season last year. I just don't know if there's any way defenses can catch up to that and thwart it or not.

But I think Jared Goff is a perfectly fine quarterback. I don't think he's as good as his numbers were last year. He's also 23 years old, I believe. He is Baker Mayfield's age. So I think that should be, that's part of why I'm asking this person because I don't know. Like, I just don't know what to think about him yet. And that's fine. He's a 23-year-old player.

Jared Goff is the reason that I don't, I didn't really lean too hard on a Mitch Trubiskey evaluation. because it's just from the difference from 21-year-old Jared Goff to 22-year-old Jared Goff was so vast, so insane. How much of it was, as Wes said, how much is that is a new coach? How much of that was Jeff Fisher and everything involved with that? I think Jared Goff is going to have a solid season. To say he's going to have the season he had a year ago, I don't necessarily think that's going to happen. I feel like it wasn't just a fluke. like he, it's not like he just flashed last year.

Jared Golf played really well consistently throughout the entire season. And with what they did, they added some depth to the offensive line, so that helps. That was kind of their one big weakness is they were very thin on the O'L and right, they drafted. Yeah, because you look at the ages on that offensive line, Andrew Whitworth, he's got, like, when the season starts, he's going to be 36, Roger Saffold's going to be 30, John Sullivan's going to be 32. I mean, it's not a young line. And I think a lot of that, at least last year, bringing in Whitworth, that was one of the things that really helped Jared Gough take that next step. And so I think drafting that depth is really important for them just in case something were to happen.

And I don't think the offense needs to be as good as it was last year. I think that's part of the hope. You're right that the defense can carry more and they're not going to have to be as a question. I also wonder if Lesneed purposefully is trying to like money ball the draft by getting 10 day three picks. Maybe that's a new thing. They're so cheap to get. He drafted 10 guys on day three. So the Rams, Super Bowl favorites, so the Eagles can remain underdogs forever.

Okay. Let's go to Minneapolis, Claybond. All right, so it's all Kirk all the time, right? The team is better on offense. In the first five rounds, the only guy they took on defense was Holmes out of Ohio State. They feel good enough that they take Daniel Carlson, a kicker who would be perfect for my kickoff system. In the fifth round. Everything's in place, and that's why Kirk went there in the first place,

just like when Peyton Manning went to the Broncos. My question, are you more confident or as confident in the Viking success with Kirk Cousins as you were with the Broncos and Peyton Manning when he went there? No, I wouldn't put it anywhere close because ultimately I know the Vikings defense is great, but I don't trust it to be difference-making great. In fact, it got crushed in the playoffs last year. And when you're comparing Kirk Cousins, even to Peyton Manning at the latter stages of his career,

I don't think there's any comparison. I feel like when Peyton Manning went to Denver, we were all warned by the right people, medical people, coaches, analysts, that Peyton Manning might never be the same quarterback. It's true. But none of us believed it. We all believed he was still going to be Peyton Manning. And Peyton Manning's always going to have much higher

expectations than Kirk Cousins. So no, as great as the Vikings are with surrounding talent, offense and defense, I don't have hopes that are as high as the Broncos with Peyton Mason. What if we just grade the surrounding talent as far as the choice that the quarterback made to go to that team? I feel like the expectations were still higher with Peyton Manning because it was Peyton Manning. You just look at those two names too.

I mean, but in terms of the surrounding talent, like Greg, you said that the defense got crushed in the playoffs but it was really only the game against the eagles i feel like that that viking's defense gave up a big lead gave up a big lead to the saints in the fourth quarter that would have been the laughing memory that we had if not for the minnesota miracle i just trust the offense more but they have dalvin cook he chose well they have dalvin cook they have stephan digs they have adam thielin it's an amazing looking office is it is it is the worry foals based because if it's true breeze making a fourth quarter run that ends your it's like oh okay you know breezes got us But does the fact that it was Nick Foles, does that impact how you feel about Minnesota a little bit?

No, it's more that the NFC is so loaded. And we could be wrong, but it's just on paper, I can't remember a conference having so many teams that looked so good going into a season. There's like six or seven of them. Is there something about Mike Zimmer's defense that makes you think they're more susceptible to really good teams? And that's why they got exposed in the second half versus the Saints and against the Eagles? Or is that just coaching? I also think of the 2016 season when we thought they were going to be like, you know,

the purple people eaters and they were just like fine. Well, they started out on fire and then their back broke when they had to carry too much of the lobe for the offense. But yeah, I think... It's so hard for a defense to be special week after week in this league. It's just geared towards offenses. Yeah, well, that's what we saw with Minnesota. On the other side of that, Minnesota Miracle,

you had New Orleans, Wes. I'm in the middle of this, project where I'm ranking the top ten offenses in the NFL. I mean, it's an assignment. You're working. I have a job. I didn't have much of a choice.

God. So I'm going through position by position. Look at me. Not as much of this offseason. So I'm going through the Saints and I'm looking at their quarterback, backfield, receiving core offensive line. There's no weakness.

What is the weakness with the Saints offense? Because they're as good as any group in the NFL at just about every position. They have the best backfield. Their quarterback is top three or four. The offensive line might be the best. The receiving core, you add Cameron Meredith and Ben Watson to what they had. To me, I guess the receiving core, I gave them a B plus, maybe an A minus. But everywhere else, they're a straight A.

That's the only spot I would say, like maybe the tight end position. Right. But, yeah, they're so stacked. They're so solid. They have to be the favorites to be the top offense in the NFL this year. The only weakness I see is the division. Yeah. In terms of the – I mean, you put them in the AFC East.

It's like, oh, there's your automatic Super Bowl favorite. But things change a little bit. Right. Say it one more time. You put them in the AFC East, and it's like, oh, God, this is so easy. Because they were a top two or three offense so often when they weren't even winning that many games. It's not like their offense really dipped much. in the years that they weren't making the playoffs.

Michael Thomas kind of deserves to be mentioned now in that upper echel line of top seven or eight wide receiver. So even that position's loaded. I guess the only concern, but their only concerns are on defense. You're right. Man, I was so shocked when they traded up for Marcus Davenport. I thought for sure they were going to get Lamar Jackson

or just a quarterback in general. That's a lot to give up for him. But I kind of like it across from Cam Jordan, plus you have Alex O'Kofour coming off that Achilles injury, but Cam Jordan had such a year last year. He was so good, and that should make him even better. And they bring in Kirk Coleman, Patrick Robinson, DeMario Davis. They brought in some guys.

I don't know why it is, but for some reason I just don't quite trust the Saints' defense. Well, because they were the worst defense on the league on balance in over a five-year stretch until last year. They have new personnel now, and they did pretty well last year. year. I just, there's something about them. I just, I always consider them sort of like the falcons used to be where there's no backbone there. On, on, uh, up to the minute, we did Charlie Castle Lee's breakdown of, you know, keys to the game. And every single week, the key for the opposing team was stop Cam Jordan. Like that was right. And team after team, week after week,

they couldn't do it. So he's finally got some help, you know, considering the capital, they invested in Marcus Davenport. If that works out. The secondary is awesome. It's loaded. Latimore. good. All right, one team that who knows what they're going to be like this year, the Giants. For me, Dave Gettleman, he made some moves for them. They finally addressed the offensive line. They signed Nate Soder. They drafted Will Hernandez in the interior there.

And of course, they got probably the best player in the entire draft with Sequin Barclay. Like, you have Seguan Barclay and O'Dell Beckham Jr. coming back. This is loaded. I mean, I don't like it for the Eagles. Eagles, they're going to have to defend that twice a year, but they have a new coaching staff there. They added Alec Ogletree. I mean, they did a lot here.

So will the Giants have the biggest turnaround from last year to this year? Will they be this year's L.A. Rams? No. Wow. Or last year's L.A. Rams. Is that how I say it? Wait. I think the Browns are going to improve so much after not winning a single football game.

That's going to be tough for them to make the biggest jump. but I do think, you know, it can be comparable to what the Rams did. Right, because if you get to 10 wins, that's a 7-win jump. And I love the upgrade. Everything you said made a lot of sense. I love Evan Ingram and Sterling Shepard. Those are two guys I think you can absolutely build around, especially when they're going to be role players in this offense.

You upgraded your offensive mind, I think, a lot with Shermer over McAdoo. And I think you upgraded your defense of side. of the ball in terms of the coach with James Betcher. I don't even want to bring up Eli Manning's name on this podcast at some point, but he's kind of the question. Like, is he going to hold them back? Because if he's not holding them back, you're right. They should be a candidate to do that.

That's what this is about, is making the playoffs this year. They are expecting to, I believe. There is a chance. I don't know what the percentage is. If O'Dell Beckham comes back and is what he was, that they have the most dynamic running back and wide receiver combo And in the, I guess Levyon Bell and Antonio Brown is hard to beat. But as far as pure dynamic athleticism, Sequin Barclay and O'Dell Beckham,

you don't see combinations like that. And what it's going to do for Eli, even on the downside of his career, it wouldn't surprise me if Eli has some life breathed into his career. Yeah. And I'm not like, Shepard and Ingram, to me, could be almost a one-two in another city. That wasn't like a city that you don't want them to be your one-to. Ingram, he was so impressive to me.

I think he could have been a rookie of the year type of guy. And Shepard is like the custom-made sort of number two, three slot type of guy. Like, to have them, you're right. I mean, it should help. Like, it almost feels like a, like, it can't miss offense. And I think a lot of the Gettleman criticism was on the downslope. From the numbers folks who, you know, he rankled them a bit, taking shots at the criticism of taking a running back at number.

number two. But as, as Wes has said for the past couple of years, you got to have a plan after Eli. And so you got to look longer. If they don't make the playoffs this year, then absolutely it was a mistake. It's going to be so weird to see the Giants with a running game. Like I remember last year just seeing Orleans Darkwa run well, like one game for them was like, whoa. Tulane's Dark.

I mean, you got to go back to Tiki, right, when it was last relevant. Yeah, probably. Like the 07. Oh, sorry. We just love talking about the Giants. Let's go to the Philadelphia Eagles. And they weren't a team that were as overly active on draft weekend. They trade up to get Dallas Goddard, who is going to help them out in terms of a backup tight end.

But you know you're in good shape when you're like moving up for a backup tight end on draft weekend. And you just kind of look at their too deep depth chart. And my question for everyone here is just where is there? weakness. Like if anything goes wrong for the Eagles, like what's the weakness? Because this team on paper to me is is about as loaded as you'd want to be. There's no more bigger flex for a GM or a franchise than winning a Super Bowl with a backup quarterback. And that's just what they did. That I think could be the biggest weakness if Carson Wentz is not ready for the start of the season. That for me is the only thing that I'm kind of worrying about. But they have Nick Foles there.

Like not ready, not playing or not ready like not himself right not himself yeah not 100% him back to where he was I mean he said he's not going to change his playing style he's still going to do the things that he did before but I just don't I wonder how he's going to look out there right not just an ACL but also an LCL tear not your typical you know clean ACL tear so it wouldn't surprise me like Colleen said if he's out there because he says he can play and because the medical team deems he's ready but his confidence isn't the same and he's not playing at the same level and physically Honestly, he's not going to be the same for quite some time.

This is a substantially sized human being who's big and fast. And just looking at the play where he scores a touchdown and tears his ACL, I mean, that's the type of athlete that he is. So it's going to take a while to be back. My pick for their biggest weakness is now the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts. I think when we consider the play calling and how big that was down the stretch and how they were able to dismantle the Vikings go in and win the Super Bowl. Bowl against New England, I think when you lose a brain that was a part of that process,

I think it's got to hurt. Also, the guy in the same room with him in those game planning meetings, the quarterback coach John D. Flippo is in Minnesota. Also. Yeah. That coaching staff is really different now. And they were the most impressive coaching staff in the league last year. So you lose two of those really important guys.

Peterson got an option, a pricey option, and his contract picked up Thursday. How about that for a little breaking news while we're on here? But if you guys are basically saying like Carson Wentz might not quite be an MVP candidate and they lost a couple coaches but not the head coach who's an offensive guy, it's like, you know, if that's your biggest weakness, that's not that bad. Well, I mean, they were the Super Bowl champions. Then they went out and got Michael Bennett for nothing, signed a Lodi Nata, stole Dallas Goddard away from Dallas. And then signed Mike Wallace as an upgrade over Tori Smith. Yeah, they're improved. And they're hoping, Sidney Jones, I guess if I was going to pick a weakness, cornerback, maybe.

could be one, but they are thinking Sidney Jones, who was their second round pick a year ago and wasn't able to play, is going to come and be a big difference. Yeah, I was a little worried about the tight-end position, just losing Trey Burton and Brent Seller retiring, but Dallas Goddard's there. Super Bowler, your total disappointment.

Looking good. Super Bowl or bust. That's right. San Francisco. All right, so they're able to get Mike McGlinchie in the first round. It's kind of a part of this Protect Jimmy at all cost initiative goes with Weston Richburg. they're able to get Dante Pettis

who can flat out fly out of Washington so more Shannon Hannigan's there my question quarterback and coach pairings across the league is there anybody that you're taking over Jimmy and Kyle projecting out the next five years

oh okay five years this requires thinking sorry it's a really good question I like this question you're too good yeah can you just Write this, because if not, we'll just take this.

This is a good off-season article. The best offensive minds, Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVeigh, Josh McDaniels, Sean Payton, Andy Reid. That would be the top five off the top of my head. Reed Mahomes sneaky good, but we don't, you know, we haven't seen Pat, except that one game, which, as Greg has pointed out, has been spectacular. You know, Belich, Brady, obviously, you can't just ignore it, but you probably not going to be around the whole time.

I mean, you know, Brady is. I've said this jokingly. He's literally in his prime. The guy just won the MVP. After finishing second in the MVP race the year before that. And through 500 yards in the Super Bowl. Yeah. That said, I'm going to take Aaron just out of loyalty and principle.

I'm going to take Aaron Rogers and whoever. And I don't like his coach. Because you can't stand McCarthy. You've been trying to get in fire. I know. But as much as I am excited to watch Jimmy Garapolo and I have total faith in Kyle Shanahan, And, like, I think it's fair to just say, Aaron Rogers has been the best quarterback I've ever seen just about.

And I want to see Jimmy Grappolo play more before I give him a nod over him. So, yes, I'll take that. You guys are really missing out on Brian Schottenheimer here. Godin, Schottenheimer, Russell Wilson. Andrew Luck, Frank Reich. Yeah, that's an underdog. I kind of like taking the odds on that because no one's thinking about that right now. Matt LaFleur and Marcus Mariotta.

We'll have to make these picks. Matt Negi and Trubisky? I know. If we're going to go to luck there. James and Dirk Cutter? No. Oh no. That Ryan and Sarkesian?

Wow, you're really throwing us for a loop. I think you might be right on that one. This is a fun question, though. It is. We're spinning trying to come up with it. I should have extended it out more to leave Rogers out, honestly. I should have gone 10 years. This is something I feel like we need to unpack more.

I think our struggle with it, ultimately, I'm going to have to give it to it. I think they're probably one. That's a great one. You can't have a 10-year question on anything in the NFL. No, it's true. Wes, you already mentioned Brian Schottenheimer. Let's get in to see. I wasn't even planning to bring up Brian Schoenheimer.

You did it anyway. My question with the Seahawks is, great, they got Rashad Penny. That gives them a running back. What did you do to fix your offensive line that had people throughout the season, constantly quoting what percentage? of Seattle's offense Russell Wilson was doing on his own. It was always between 82 and 90 percent

Russell Wilson was the offense. Why should we believe that anything is fixed on their offensive line? I believe, here's what I think their answer would be. They fired Tom Cable. That's also my answer.

They changed their offensive coordinator and that their coaching staff is going to coach Russell Wilson too and the line in a way that will improve that situation because that's their plan. You're going to coach that out of Russell Wilson. The entire way he plays football.

Not the entire way, but I think last season, even more than other seasons, he was a bigger part of the problem. And I don't think that's a crazy. Everybody hasn't met his top five MVP guy through week 12 or something. I think he was a bigger part of the problem last year. Then the offense of why? Just in terms of the just talking about the protection. Yeah.

Okay. Just in terms of protecting himself? Yeah. In terms of walking into some of that. some of the issues. Maybe he got just so used to it over time. But I really, I'm kind of joking about the Tom Gable thing, but I really think that is their answer. Yeah, the only thing they did was really add DJ Fluker in free agency. They didn't draft anybody until the fifth round. Sometimes teams don't have answers. I mean, look what the Bengals went in the last season with as their

offensive line. They just threw up their hands instead, we got no alternatives. We just don't have an answer. This is what we're rolling out. That's what's going to happen. But it seemed like intent on Seattle's part where it's like all right well we got we got Tom Cable we got these guys you know George Fant he's he's madly you know we can make it work and then it just it didn't work it was an abject failure and so you think the idea would be well let's figure out what went wrong there and let's rectify it but I don't feel like that's happened well they gave up a lot to get Dwayne Brown who played very well for them so that is a huge difference so that's part of what they did they happen to do that in October November but that's they were

worse. As an offensive line, they were as bad down the stretch. Look at that Rams game. He played really well. And the one thing people are always like, well, they got to invest more on the offensive line. That's not been the problem. They have a second round pick at left guard, second round pick at center, a first round pick at right tackle, some third round pick on the bench. They've invested about as much as any team. Yes. This is a team that has major, major questions on both sides of the ball. That offensive line, the running game, and then we don't even know if Cliff Averill and Cam Chancellor are going to play next season. that entire secondary.

I mean, who knows what this team is going to look like. Plus that offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator additions, I just don't know. I kind of forgot about the Avril Chancellor thing. Yeah. But I'm not doubting any team with Russell Wilson and Bobby Wagner. True. Let's go to Tampa. And Earl Thomas.

Tampa Bay. All right. So they worked on their offensive line and defensive line in the offseason. But for me, the defense in general was a complete tragic. last year. It was so awful. Like they were dead last in DVOA and yards per play and sacks. I mean, in almost every category, they were

in the bottom of the league. And on offense, you saw James Winston and the Deshawn Jackson connection that was so highly touted and everybody had such high expectations for it. It really never panned out. But I want to know on that defense, have they

done enough to improve it in general? Yes. I mean, that killed them last year. Yes. I think when I look at the state their roster was in in December and the state it's in now, it might be the most improved in the NFL. That front seven is almost as loaded as the Eagles. It is incredible what they've done. I have a couple Eagles on it now. They bring in Vinnie Curry, Jason Pierre Paul, Vita Veja, Mitch Unrime, Bo Allen, and they already had pro bowlers in Gerald McCoy, Levante David. They have a good middle linebacker and Quad Alexander. They're loaded up front.

And the secondary has question marks throughout it. But I do think that they've brought in the talent. A couple of second round picks at cornerback this year, a fourth round pick at safety. They've added some young blood there. And it shows with such a glaring need in the secondary, how they feel about Vita Vaya as a player and what he can bring, considering the depth that they already had through free agency and having Gerald McCoy there. So it's obviously better.

Is it enough to make me feel better about their chance in the South? No, I think it's the toughest division in football. But they're definitely better. Is Dirk Cutter? Is Dirk Cutter worthy of this roster? Yeah. That's my biggest question. Him and Jason Light.

If they can't make the jump this year, they're in trouble. Their offense was better than people think. If you look at the metrics, I was studying this yesterday. They were better than the Rams offense in most categories. Really? They were a top 10 offense in nearly every metric. It felt like a lot of like. coming back when you're weighing down and stuff.

A lot of turnovers, awful in the red zone. And if you remember in the year, they were cutting kickers all the time. Chris Godwin is a really good player, and he's going to have a hard time getting on the field because they're so deep at receiver. We'll see. They definitely copied the Eagles.

I mean, that was the approach. Curry and JPP have to come through. I don't think it's a certainty that that happens. But if it does, I think this division is so loaded. And they did try to improve the secondary. They took two players, M.J. Stewart and Carlton Davis in the second round. Both players, maybe a little bit of surprise to some people, but they were second round picks at cornerback.

So they tried to do it there. I think Jason Light had an awesome offseason. Yeah. The team looks a lot better. I like Ronald Jones to replace Doug Martin. I think that Rojo, a little Rojo action there. I told Rojo. That's what we're going with.

Yeah, that's his nickname. I like it. That and the Texas Tesla. Wow. Yeah. You know so much more than us. Okay. Final team.

This is it, guys. Oh, we've made it. We've made it into the end. That was fast. Was it? The Washington Redskins. They lost Kirk Cousins. You would think losing, you know, the highest-priced, you know,

free agent in NFL history would be a bad thing. But my question is, after adding Alex Smith, Darius Geis, and Paul Richardson to an offense that I already had Dotson Crowder and hopefully a healthy Jordan Reed. Aren't you more excited to watch the 2018 Washington Redskins offense than you were to watch last seasons? Only because everybody's healthy and everybody was injured last year. Remember that offensive line?

How many injuries they had? Oh, it was unbelievable. Then Jordan Reed, who's their best offensive player, was out almost the entire year. Every time they had a starting running back, that running back got injured. Every time they had a number one receiver, that receiver got injured.

It was really sad. Well, I think Dotson showed enough last year. that now we're actually, I think he showed enough last year where I'm more excited about him legitimately, where I've now seen that he can be a difference maker when he's out. I'm genuinely curious. What did he show other than he's a jump ball specialist? I think he's great uncontested catches.

He's extremely athletic. And that's the flash, right? The flash was his jumpball ability, and we saw Kirk start to trust him a little bit more. Is Alex Smith going to be the guy that takes those chances? with Josh Dotson. I mean, that's the biggest question for his success. Is that going to be an opportunity for him?

Is Geis? You know, Geis on paper is an upgrade. Huge. talent-wise from the running back. And I'm not ruling out that Alex Smith is an upgrade on Cousins. I think it's probably, Cousins is definitely a safer. Like, if he was still in Washington, I would trust it. But, like, it wouldn't surprise me a ton if Alex Smith has the similar numbers

to what Kirk Cousins had in Washington. The run defense was a major problem last year, and I think that they addressed that really well in the draft pairing Duran Payne with Jonathan Allen. That will definitely help. Yeah, maybe. You don't think? I don't know.

I don't trust Bruce out. I don't trust their front office. I don't. They brought in a ton of defensive linemen over the last four or five years, and everyone thinks that that year that they solved it, and then it never gets solved. And Jonathan Allen didn't really show a lot last year.

Not that he's a bust or anything. He was just hurt. Yeah, I thought he looked good before he got injured. I like their personnel in the front seven, but then you lose one of your best cornerbacks in the trade that got you, Alex Smith, because he got sent to Kansas City. So the secondary to me is a bit of a question mark. No more DeAngelo Hall.

It's weird to look at a Redskins secondary with no D. Hall. I just saw him down in a meeting room at 9.30 in the morning. You know, life comes at you fast. You're at a total access prep meeting at 9.30. But things can change. You know, we saw Matt Schaub walking through here a couple of years ago thinking, oh, yeah, Matt Schaubb's going to be. Really?

And then he's been on the Falcons. Oh, yeah. Are you sure that wasn't just like Steve from accounting or something? Matt Schaub was here and I was like, oh, my God. I would have lost a ton of money if we were betting whether Matt Schaub would still be in the league at 2018. That's amazing. Thanks change quick. Wow.

Well, that's it. Well, that's it ended with the only way it could with Matt Schaub. Right. That's how we know. Shop talk. Good show, good show. good show. When are we back?

When are you guys back? Monday, Wednesday, Friday. We're back to that schedule. I believe through at least most of the mini-camp OTA season. Okay. So Dan will be back. Probably not Sussler yet. May 11th he's coming back?

I guess. I'm not sure how that all works. I think he's just out of commission. Okay. He's just like out of... What if he gets sequestered? Dude, that's exactly what I was thinking. I was like Mark Sessler on like some...

double murder case being sequestered. I can't wait to read the book, the like, Sussexler's book. Yeah, it'll be like, The Juror by Mark Sessler, one man's, you know, battle with conscience and crime or something like that. Oh, it's going to get weirder than that.

It's going to be great. I kind of love this whole thing. All right, well, that's it. That does it for us for Bon Bon. Oh, no. The mailman, the boss. Lindsay Fulton, behind the glass. Wait for it.

Until Monday. 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,

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