NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Ashton Jeanty Injury and Preseason and Camp Takeaways for All 32 Teams

Episode Date: August 24, 2026

Gregg Rosenthal and Nick Shook react to the news that Ashton Jeanty went down with an injury at Raiders practice before they take you through EVERY preseason Week 2 game. Can Mike Washington be the answer if Jeanty misses time? Drama brewing Cleveland over the starting quarterback spot. Falcons leaving much to be desired! Who is QB2 for the Rams? Can a team go 0-17 this season? Every game. Every team. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. Get Bell purefiber internet with Crave, Netflix, and Disney Plus from $94 a month. Price guaranteed for two years on internet with a two-year term and auto pay credit. Visit bell.ca for details and to check availability. Bell, connection is everything. The entire draft room groans because you just took the guy they wanted. There's no better feeling than crushing your fantasy football league.

I'm JJ Zachary Eisen, host of the award-winning late-round podcast. Before your draft, our players to target and players to avoid episodes tell you exactly who to circle and who to cross off. Listen to the late round fantasy football podcast on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Welcome to NFL Daily, where we didn't want to start the show with Mike Washington News, but I think we're going to have to. I'm Greg Rosenthal. I'm in my garage. We're going to hit all 32 teams in this show going over the preseason week two games, sometimes more importantly, going over the joint practices, the injuries, the training camp battles,

because not a lot of starters played in preseason week two. Unfortunately, one starter for the Las Vegas Raiders was practicing Nick Shook, who is joining me, as always, on this Sunday evening. Ashton Genty at Raiders practice did not sound good. the entire team knelt, prayed, practice ended. They turned the music off as he left the field, had to be helped off the field after colliding with the teammate. That was on Sunday afternoon.

We don't know how serious it's going to be, but it sounds very serious. Yeah, and obviously terrible news, or at least intinuation that's going to be terrible news. Coming from, and it really, I think, especially burns when you get to the. this point in the preseason process. We have one preseason game left.

You're almost to the finish line and ready for the regular season. And something like this happens on a Sunday when you would be playing football during the regular season for most teams. It's especially, I think, painful. You hope for the best for Gentie. And I mean, on the bright side, the silver lining is that they have Mike Washington in this backfield. But this is the sixth overall pick from last season who was stuck behind the worst

offensive line in the NFL and still had a respectable season despite getting hit behind the line more often than pretty. much anybody in the NFL nearly hit 1,000 yards in his rookie year. And now this, this is not good news. We appreciate everyone joining us live on YouTube on these Sunday evenings. As you listen to this as a podcast, maybe there's more information out there. You mentioned Mike Washington. He is someone I was planning to talk about in this Raiders recap talking preseason regardless, because for the second straight week, this rookie running back really made the case to have a big role in this backfield, regardless of how healthy Genty was. Let's take a look at one of his great runs.

Handoff is to the rookie Mike Washington, who they love. He's big. He's got speed, and he's down inside the 25. And a touchdown saving tackle made by Jalen Smith, but a big run by Washington. of 33 yards. That is a wild run there. And it's one of those where you just get bottled up. But the thing I've really liked about him is he combines, like, very difficult to take down with an ability. And I saw this on some of the other runs, too, to cut at full speed. That was like a little bit of a different run, you know, yards after contact and everything.

But he's also shown a good ability to just go and make people miss in a small area. You realize that, you know, he's a guy who's a prancer, who's a runner. who has burst, who has excellent vision. He's got those long legs that really hit the hole and he takes off. And you know when it comes to Joe Buck getting excited in a preseason action that somebody's got a little bit of juice. And that guy is Mike Washington. Again, you don't like it when it's coupled with Genty and the news there.

But I was already excited to watch Mike Washington play football. And I can't wait to see what featureback Mike Washington might be for this Raiders team. Yeah. And look, we don't know. maybe the gentian injury isn't as bad as it sounded for the people at the practice, but I did see a report from like a team reporter there, you know, that's already for the team site that just the way that they were speaking. I think like a good scenario would be, you know, something where it's a multi-week injury and that's like maybe best case scenario. Although you never

know. Let's talk about the quarterback in this game, Fernando Mendoza. So what we're going to do now, because there's big injury news with the Raiders and the 49ers because they're already back at practice on Sunday. We're going to go in reverse order. We're going to hit all 16 games, all 32 teams, and so we're going to have to be concise, shook, to get through the show in like under 90 minutes. We got a lot to talk about here.

It's one of my favorite shows of the year, really, and it's actually the last time we'll get together like this because the way they've moved up the schedule next Sunday is cut days. And the third preseason week is kind of irrelevant anyway. So next Sunday we'll be talking about cut day live. This is the last time we're talking about the preseason and camp. You know, media access closes off for all these reporters who have been able to tell us what's happening on a day-to-day basis. Usually that's either already closed off or it's going to be closed off by Tuesday or so.

So we won't have as much information to go off. What we have to go off with Mendoza on the field. Actually, I want to get your thoughts so far. Eight for 15. He had only 86 yards passing in this game and a pick six. What did you think about Mendoza? I thought that it wasn't quite as sharp and as confident as week one, but in week one, they played the Arizona defense that couldn't get a stop in that game

or the previous game of the Hall of Fame game. Granted, it's preseason, but still, this is a leveling up by multiple degrees playing against Houston, who doesn't have their starters out there, but still has a defined system culture and expectation that just raises the bar for that whole defense. And you could tell that, you know, D'Amico Ryan's defense, given that there's backups out there,

still kind of made Fernandemendezzo's a little uncomfortable. He looked frantic in the pocket. He didn't look quite as sure of himself as he did the week prior. We all saw the interception that picked six. Wade Woodhouse taking it back. That was because Mendoza was, you know, late and stepping up and threw behind his intended target. And what as was there to pick it off. It wasn't terrible, but it was one of those reminders that this is a rookie quarterback

who you can't expect to come light the world on fire right away, even if he is the number one overall pick. And another good reminder that it's smart to listen to your coach when he makes a public plea for a veteran quarterback going in his first season. Well, we'll see. Am I biased that, like, I've thought that Mendoza's looked better than his numbers, at least? Like, I, in both games, if you just looked at the box score, you'd be like, eh. But in both games, I was like, okay, I see it. The first one for sure. Absolutely the first one.

I didn't even mind this one either. The pick six, Mendoza, the way he spoke about it afterwards, explaining what happened. I just love how clearly he could explain it. And he did not throw his running back, which was Mike Washington in this case, under bus, but they were not on the same page. He thought Washington, you know, was going to keep going, and he sat down, and it happens. And he was a little late getting there. But part of the reason I've liked his last couple weeks is like that.

Washington was like its third read in the progression. And I think he's made quick decisions. I think he's gone through his reads quickly. There was a third and long to Benson that was awesome. Benson, Malik Benson killed another drive, you know, with a drop. And Troy Aikman's there. You can tell when Troy likes a quarterback. Troy likes Fernando Mendoza.

Like he's just, he's looking like an NFL quarterback. And then after the game, Clint Kubiak wouldn't even declare that Kirk Cousins was his starting quarterback, which I'm thinking, man, Ian Rappapur and all our insiders, everyone was saying, oh, they're not going to play Mendoza all season long. And here we are before the third preseason game.

And Kubiak won't even say Cousins is his week one starter. I'm like, what is he seen behind the scenes? Now, we have an update on that, which is on Sunday at practice, the reporting from ESPN is that Kirk Cousins took the majority of the first team rep. So there is every reason to believe Kirk Cousins is the week one starter. But if you had a gut feeling that Mendoza is going to be starting earlier in the season compared to later, I think Kubiak, the way that he's talking and how things have gone.

That supports my gut feeling. There's two things I want to point out here. Number one, nobody likes to shovel coal into the fire of drama more than you when it comes to interesting football-related drama. And you want to see this because you, do like the juice behind it. And I get that and I'm on board with that. But the other thing is,

I like the way that Kubiak talked about Mendoza after the game, which is that he said he was really impressed by how well, how prepared Fernado made sure he was for everything. And that's what we saw on the field in his first two games, was that he was very prepared and knew exactly where to go in each of the progressions. That difficulty level is going to increase in the regular season. It's one of the reasons why you roll with Kirk Cousins to start, just to give yourself a better chance of victory,

maybe a lower overall ceiling, but a higher floor than if you throw out a rookie in week one. But I do think that there's some serious smoke to this fire that you're putting out there, which is that maybe after a month, you know, I was thinking maybe like their biweek super late. So like it's tough to do the whole, let's transition to him during the bi week. So I was thinking maybe like four to eight weeks, but you might be looking at like after a month, regardless of how they play. I'm also curious if the Genti injury is serious. whether they go pick up a veteran running back.

Because as much as I like Mike Washington, and if you told me he's 1A in a 1B backfield where they pick up like a veteran, you know, I'm taking Mike Washington, I'd have to look at the list, but like sixth round in Fantasy League's fifth sixth round, like he's one of those guys, you're making a face,

but he can just have an absolutely monster season. Yeah, but this is still a semi-rebuilt offensive line that was terrible last year. They still don't have anything at receiver. I'm taking Jinty top like 10, which was crazy to me. That's why I made the face, because my face is don't invest in rookies. We have nothing to go off of in fantasy. Here's what I'm going off.

Shook, like seven runs in the preseason that I really got excited about. Look, I'm on board, but I don't know. Sixth round might still be a little too really. And I'm telling you, a couple of the runs that didn't make the highlight real where he picked his way through the line at full speed were part of the reason. Okay, enough of that. And you do start to think and we'll talk about it. as this week goes on, you're going to be with me on Wednesday,

and that's going to kind of be a look ahead of, like, who could be traded, who could be cut, a show like that. And I will start thinking about the veterans that might make sense there. Like, would they want a Tyler Algear from Atlanta? Like, that might be a little expensive. Would Josh Jacobs ever make sense? Probably not with a suspension looming. I'm just thinking out loud.

Let's keep going, because we got a lot of teams to get to. Trey Tucker, by the way, lining up as their number one, one receiver didn't play in the preseason game. Jalen Taylor's, uh, Jalen Naylor, rather, is a pretty clear number two right now. And I saw the rookie Jermad McCoy out there with the third string at. The Texans were also in this game. They played their starters for the first drive of the game and got exactly what they wanted. Very sharp. The running game looked awesome. Woody Marks, who I think was underrated last year, looked great. The, the offensive line ran Blockwell, C.J. Stroud, who's out there with, here are the starters. Zavie.

Zavian Hutchinson, Jared Wayne, and sixth-round rookie Lewis Bond was also out there playing wide receiver because they sat Nico Collins. Like they need a wide receiver in the worst way, but CJ Stroud, perfect on the day. They got a touchdown, got off the field. It's what you like to see. Yeah, I was refreshingly impressed by that offense, if that makes sense. Primarily because of the running game, you kind of have to take it with a grain of salt, given that they're facing the Raiders in the preseason.

But I like that they were very much about their business. CJ looked comfortable, which I think is very important. I know, again, it's preseason, it's vanilla defense and everything else, but like there was a play. I think it was third down where CJ looked like he was going to take off. And then right before he cleared the line of scrimmage, dumps it off for first down. And I was like, okay, there's the improvisational, you know,

ability that has been lacking at times with him. That's a really good sign. And of course, Woody Marks, you know, getting off to a hot start. Because, like, if we think about this team in their backfield last year, it was all about Joe Mixen. They lose Joe Mixin. Suddenly it's Woody Marks and Nick Chub a year away from retirement. And it's like,

everyone's like, who's Woody Marks? I didn't watch USC football. And he gets a higher workload than he ever probably anticipated. And was impressive. You're right, underrated. But now that he's in that second season, he's got his feet underneath him as an NFL running back. He ran hard.

I love the way he finished off his touchdown run, running over some defenders across the goal line. It was a very encouraging start from this offense. But you're absolutely right. They need help at receiver, which we kind of already anticipated. Yeah. And, you know, some of these guys like, who knows? Maybe sixth round pick Lewis Bond will be a factor.

They're kind of high on Jared Wayne, who's been around on that team now for three years, and he'll be a factor. They signed Zay Jones and Sterling Shepard. Sterling Shepard might still have some snaps left in them. They also inquired, according to Aaron Wilson, who covers the team locally on Kishon Booty and Rashad Bateman. Kishon Booty would make a lot of sense on this team. Do you think this is a team that's a candidate to scoop up whatever's left on the scrap heap or came off? Yeah, on the scrap heap from the Giants and them,

figuring out their receiving positioners, that too low grade for them? Right. Like, when we're talking about these trades, someone like Kishan Bouty, to me, what would the point be for the Patriots to trade him unless they're getting like a third or a fourth that moves to a third under certain conditions? Like, why not just keep Kishan Boutty? But if we're talking a little lower, like, yeah, Darius Slayton, could you get Darius Slayton for a sixth?

You've got a lot of reps this week, by the way. You know, you probably could get Darius Slayton for a six. or like Darnell Mooney for a fifth six swap, whatever it is. You're right. Those are the sorts of trades that the Texans will probably make. All right, let's move on to the 49ers. Now, they killed the Chargers in the preseason game. What's more interesting to me here is that Christian McCaffrey returned to practice on Sunday.

He did some team drills. Not many. They're bringing him back slowly, but he's out there. Individual drills. Okay. Nick Bosa still hasn't really practiced. or even gotten close. He is getting closer to a return.

He's doing some individual drills, but at this point, I'd be shocked if he's ready for week one personally. George Kittle, activated from the PUP list. There is a chance he could play week one, according to our guy, Ian Rappaport. A reporter for CSN Bay Area, Matt Mayoko, thinks week two,

so he doesn't have to make the long trip to Australia, is more likely for George Kittle. But either way, He's off the Pup list. He's doing some individual, some seven-on-sevons. He's warming up. And the thing that is most interesting to me is Christian McCaffrey said it was his plan all along to sit these 10 days of practice. It was the plan to practice 10 days, sit for 10 days, have your coach not say anything about it, and then return.

Which I actually kind of believe Christian McCaffrey because what that does shook is it just means that Kyle Shanahan was lying to us, the last couple of weeks, which actually I will buy that. I would actually side with that as well. Now, and you have to go back to Kyle Shanahan's history because if you look at what he's done over the last few years, he has prided himself on running one of the toughest daily and weekly practice schedules of anybody in the NFL. And the Niners have taken a lot of pride in being tough and being, because they run their practices harder that they've built that callous and that it's a different level out there

than it is, you know, with other NFL teams. I could see him taking that approach and not being like, yeah, I'm giving my one guy 10 days off. In order to maintain equity among players. But with Christian McCaffrey, it makes so much sense because this is a guy who got hurt a few times in Carolina and basically established a reputation for overtraining during the off season, which then contributed to him not finishing seasons. It's not that he's avoided injury with the Niners. We know what happened two years ago.

But at this stage in his career, coming off of a pretty high volume season, it makes a lot of sense to take a week and a half off when you're able to do it. Yeah. So they played this preseason game, and it's a great sign for Christian McCaffrey. I don't know if that was it. Maybe it was contract-related. Who knows? They said it was not contract-related. And the good thing is he's back. So I still want no part of him in fantasy leagues. Don't twist it. But it's a much better situation, for instance, if you are drafting in fantasy today than it was five days ago, you at least feel like it's optimistic. I think he's going to struggle to have a great season regardless. It's going to be more about the passing game,

including Deshawn Stribling. Four catches, 46 yards. He did drop a touchdown from Mack Jones in this game. Yeah, but appreciate the folks in the comments who are jumping into the Strip Club. We're in the Strip Club. We're in it. I don't know about offensive rookie of the year,

but I think he's going to be active. I don't love that he hurt his shoulder in that game and then sat out practice Saturday, but he was already back at practice on Sunday with a non-contact jersey. Mike Evans also back at practice on Sunday and reportedly didn't finish the practice. Like, they are really playing it safe. At this point, I think this is just what they're doing with Mike Evans, which is fine, as long as you get him to week one.

But stribling is my favorite to be second on that team, at least at wide receiver in receptions. If we get a healthy George Kittle season, obviously. Kiddle will go ahead of him. McCaffrey, I think, could be a shaky fantasy pick, not just because he's not going to play as well this year and have fewer touches, and I think he's a big injury risk. Could they actually use a backup running back finally shook more often? Kalin Black, their third round pick, looked pretty good in the preseason game.

He's healthy, had some good pass pro reps, had some juice in the back field. He's really impressed the 49ers reporters in practice, and he is healthy again. And that's good news, I think, for the 49ers, to have a number two behind McCaffrey that you can trust. It's, yes, absolutely. And the context of this, I think is a little strange because we're basically talking about, like, hey, keep an eye on the backup because the starter may get dinged up or not see as high of a volume as you would expect. And the starter is a star. But I think that this offense at running back and receiver is the ideal situation for a younger backup to step in and find himself in a bigger role.

Stribling being the case because of, is Christian Kirk even going to make this team at this point? hasn't been able, you know, been really been out there. So like you slide in alongside Mike Evans, Adivo Samuel. Suddenly you're number two, but number three, but you're also, you have attention being paid elsewhere. So you're going to get your opportunities. The same thing could be true for Black where McCaffrey's off the field. We're not worried about the running back as much. Oh, wait, there's Black making a difference.

And we know that he has the juice from what he's done this preseason. So I love the potential for like sneaky depth, I guess, is the way to describe it with this team, because it'll it'll reinforce them overall and make them a stronger offense than I think some people might even expect, even with the 49ers reputation, because you're thinking about how some of these guys may, you know, miss a little bit of time. Right. And, like, I think use Kalin Black more often when McAfrey's healthy.

And then also, yeah, you have a good backup if he does get hurt. Shanahan has talked over and over about wanting to do that for McCaffrey. We have a comment here that it's the first time joining the YouTube. And no, that is not at all how I expected Nick shook to look. I mean, I've tried to talk about Nick as he's the best. Bouncer at the strip club. Yeah, I am. Have you ever worked as a bouncer like you should?

I actually have worked security. About seven years ago, I worked security for a little bit. But I actually, somebody was funny. I was out in Cleveland like a month ago and somebody just came up to me. He goes, hey, I'm a rapper. I want you to work security for my shows. And I said, I have enough work to do already, but thank you. We are getting Chook's work in here.

He's writing. He's doing power rankings. He's on NFL daily all the time. he's going to be on NFL channel all the time. Forget it. You're too smart, Shuck, not that security guys aren't smart. Yeah, you think you got a good view

how I look now. You wait. You wait. You wait a couple weeks, James. You wait. Let's go to the Chargers. First of all, big joint practice win. We're still deciding who wins the joint practices.

It was a, I think it was a one-day affair. Some of the teams did the two-day joint practices this week. And unfortunately, it was the day that, Tyler Biotish suffered what now we know is a season-ending ACL injury. They put them on injured reserve, their center, and we did talk about that on the show, you know, after it happened. That was the joint practice day. It was reportedly the best day that the Chargers offense had all camp, that they

went up and down the field on the 49ers. So they get the joint practice win. Their backups, for the most part, were awful in the game. 49ers win 41 to 17, but Justin Herbert only played one. series. It ended up being only three plays. Three snaps, yeah. Yeah, because he went deep on third down. They didn't hit. Didn't happen. Really good news on the injury front other than Biotis on Sunday. Trey Harris, back at practice, their receiver, making a bunch of catches. Hakeem Messador, back at practice, their first round pick missed close to a week, but reportedly looked awesome

on Sunday, according to the ESPN Chargers reporter Chris Rhyme. So he's back in healthy. And then the biggest news, Roshan Slater, not taking every rep as the starting left tackle, but did take team reps, the first, first team reps. That is the first time Slater has practiced since the very beginning of the month, maybe even late July. So that is a big step for him. Quentin Johnston and Brennan Thompson, their two receivers are both hurt. Thompson got hurt in the game.

I don't know how serious either one of those. So it's not all good news when it comes to the Chargers, but at least trying to give some good news in terms of the injuries. Slater is huge, and I think Chargers fans came out of this game. A little panicked, shook, because when the starters were in, and now the starters include second round pick Jake Slaughter. He's the new center. They drafted him as a backup at center and a starter at guard.

He is now the starting center, even though he hasn't been playing center all camp. In that first drive, the interior line did not play well. When they stayed out there a little longer, they didn't play well. David and Joku got blown up as a blocking play. The offensive line, especially on the interior, still a bit of a concern. This and all the optimism with the Chargers offense is all going to revolve around how well that five can play. Because even if you have your healthy tackles, if your interior three are bad, doesn't really matter that much. Like last year was the inverse.

The interior three were like average. The tackle play was bad because you lost your starting tackles. And this is why the Biotish injury hurts so much because of what you just described. You have to kick slaughter back over to center, which is what he played in college, but wasn't playing here. You have to turn to guys like former high pick for the Patriots. Cole Strange to play right guard. Awashika's at left guard. Like, there's a lot of uncertainty.

Like, if you just scan this depth chart and think about it on paper, I just did it as you were, you know, bringing it up. And I'm thinking, oh, oh, oh, buddy. I don't know. And they got Trevor Penning as a backup. We know what his journey's been like. And it's just like, ooh, I don't know. Can I interest you in a little Tray Pipkins, I think, took the first

snap. No, no, you can't. I've seen enough of him. The Chargers. So Awasika seems like he's the favorite, but it could be Trey Pickens. Either way, I, even as a Herbert fan, as it stands now, I don't think there will need to be the same excuses

as before. Yes, Cole Strange could turn out to be a bad free agent signing and the interior could struggle. All of your points are correct. If the tackles are healthy, and the weapons that they have and year three. Like, I think they got enough to overcome it.

I don't think he'll need the excuses. It's different when the entire offense of line is a disaster because you don't have those two tackles and you don't have the weapons. And we'll see. Ladd-McConkie's healthy. Like, we'll see. I'm not giving him any excuses.

Look, they're good enough that Aranda Gads and their rookie tight end is their third tight end right now. Very clearly. Yeah, playing the second half of that game. Yeah, he is pretty clearly their third tight end. All right, those were the Thursday game. Since we started this way, we're just going to go backwards and go through the Friday games. A little less on these.

The Packers crushed the Broncos. The Broncos have been outstanding in the preseason. They're Sean Payne. He was not happy afterwards. He likes to win in the preseason, but he feels better about this preseason loss because when Bo Nix was out there, and this was just for fans, probably the best preseason game of the week, because we got long drives from Bo Nix and Jordan Love, like real deal players on both sides. We had Jordan Love picking on Patrick Sartan. for a couple snaps.

I mean, I don't know about picking. They were like crossing routes and zone and everything. But Patrick Sartan was the man in coverage on two gainers. So you just don't see that too often. And Jordan Love not afraid to make those throws. But let's start with the Broncos.

Bow Nix, 10 points and two drives, had no pressure facing him whatsoever. Had a huge gainer to Jalen Waddle, had a great touchdown throw on a wheel route to R.J. Harvey. Pat Bryant is clearly the wide receiver three. That's a camp battle that looks over over Troy Franklin.

Jonah Coleman is a rookie running back, only had a few carries because last week, Sean Payton said, I've seen enough of Jonah Coleman. I know who he is. I like Jonah Coleman. So Jonah Coleman is going to have a factor, a role on this team,

along with J.K. Dominance and R.J. Harvey. I am drafting Jonah Coleman late in fantasy leagues. And, you know, just kind of check the box for me, for the Broncos in the preseason, even though they're starting defense did give up a long touchdown drive. that big ganner to Jalen Waddle was that classic welcome to your new town moment for Jalen Waddle because the way that the crowd reacted and the way that the broadcast crew reacted,

oh, they were over the moon to see him catch a pass for a big game. Like, oh, this is only the beginning. Keep an eye on it because, and it's going to be explosive. It was nice to see Bo Nix back out there healthy and doing what he does best and not taking like, I don't know, three quarters given it's a preseason game, but, you know, to wake up. Like he was in a rhythm from the beginning. beginning. And that passed to Harvey, great catch by Harvey, but a dime on that wheel route. So it's good to see this offense kind of, you know, in rhythm. And I wouldn't say a well-old machine,

but they're in a good place right now. But I do want to stand up for Patrick Sertan for just a second. Okay, come on. Because he was the man in coverage and he did give up catches. But he was out there hitting like it was the playoffs. Yes. Flying around. At one point, he nearly had a strip after a catch. It looked like it was going to be a huge turnover. It didn't end up being a takeaway for the Broncos. I was shocked that he was out there that long, frankly. Last week was too. That drive was long. Yeah.

And I was like, you know what? All right, he's giving up a couple of, look, they're going after him. Good for them. It's the preseason. It doesn't matter. I guess this is the time to go after him. But I was like, man, I didn't realize he was such a hitter. Like, okay.

He's gotten more physical as his career has gone on. And I think he's so tough. And yeah, you mentioned it was a slant to Christian Watson. Might have been the first pass of the game by Jordan Love. And it looked like he forced a turnover, but they ruled that. that Watson was down on that play. I love that we're just breaking down, like, play. Sean Payton's one of the last old school coaches out there.

He's playing his starters. Certan played a decent amount last week, too. And I think the, look, this is the best defense in the league or one of them. And they don't mind. They did give up a 17-play drive. Like, you kind of don't want your starters to be out there that long. It kept being third-down, fourth-down penalties, and eventually the Packers moved the ball.

Jordan Love looked awesome. So did Matthew Golden. So did Christian Watson made a couple. catches one on the sideline. So it was all great to see. And I love love just going for like the hardest pass possible. I think it was to Golden on either a third and ten or a fourth and ten. And it's like, okay, that's the Jordan love I know and love.

So bad news. And the catch that Golden made too, which is like down on his hip. And I was like, oh, good hands. Good hand. Not just a burner. Good hands. All right. Can you tell that we're desperate to talk real football?

Because like this was the most real football of the weekend. We'll move on from most of these preseason games quicker. in terms of like the on-field action. I did want to mention Riley Ross hurt his rib in that game. So he was definitely the starter. I thought that was going to be a position battle there potentially. He's reportedly had a great training camp. He had a very good season last year.

We'll see how serious that injury is. Marshawn Lloyd was the primary running back for the Packers because Josh Jacobs has been out. He's supposed to be back next week. We're still waiting to hear if he's suspended. Marshawn Lloyd, I think he looks okay. Not amazing. If Josh Jacobs was out, I don't know how I'd feel.

about that Packers running game. Tucker Kraft also not yet practicing on 11 on 11s. And he mentioned he could be on a snap count for a while. Like, it might be a while till he's back 100%. So just something to keep in mind with the Packers. Eating well shouldn't be complicated. But somehow it turns into recipes, prep, cleanup, and half your Sunday gone. Factors solves all that.

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Get Bell, purefiber internet with craved Netflix and Disney Plus from $94 a month. Price guaranteed for two years on internet with a two-year term and auto pay credit. Visit bell.com for details and to check availability. Bell, connection is everything. You know the feeling. You make a pick in your fantasy draft in the entire room groans because they wanted that player. Or you grab a small school rookie off waivers and you start him right before he goes off in primetime. There's no better feeling than crushing your fantasy football league.

I'm JJ Zacharyason, host of the late round fantasy football podcast. Before your draft, our players to target and players to avoid episodes tell you exactly who to circle and who to cross off. We've got data-driven analysis, historical trends, and the strategies that separate winners from the rest. And your dominance doesn't stop with the draft. All season long, we have our 15 transactions, 10 trends, sleepers, and the mailback, data-driven, quick-hitting episodes to help bring home that league trophy. Listen to the late-round fantasy football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Let's go to the Jets. I can't believe I waited this long.

talk about the resurgent New York Jets. Not only are we having the Aaron Glenisance on defense, but Gino Smith, with the drive of the week, let's listen to the call and the shutout victory for the Jets. First and 10, ball at the 13-yard line. Smith, rolling, throwing, open man right there. He's going to be Jalani Woods, and Jolani Woods gets in for a touchdown.

They just put him into the game and right off the bat. Guy out of the University of Virginia. Virginia scores the first points of this game on a very nice drive engineered by Gino Smith. It's always tough when the Steelers are announcers are the ones that we get on NFL Network. And so he's so unexcited when he should be through the moon for the 7 for 7, what was it, 65-yard drive that Gino Smith authored against the Steelers starters. It was starters on starters. Let's go. I enjoyed, too, how he did one of those like, I'm not excited about this. this was not a good showing for the Steelers defense.

So I'm going to give you the background on Jolani Woods so I can pass the time until he kicked the extra points. Yeah, it was an impressive drive. I'm actually kind of excited because we talked about this in previous weeks where it was the Jets offense is dominating their defense that they must be back. And then we get to the first preseason game and it's like, oh, it's actually that defense is just bad. Maybe it's not the Jets offense.

And then we get this this week and you're like, oh, all right. Now we're kind of back toward the center. And this is why we need the regular season to get here tomorrow so we can actually get some real tests. Right. I very often have noticed a trend in preseason, which is if one team is terrible one week, they always come out and try harder the next week. And in the preseason, that's all you need. Like, that's, that will carry you.

I'm not into these things. Like, people that are getting into the preseason and picking the games in Vegas and whatnot, you know, that's like, that's another level. People are into it. The sharps are into it. But like the Falcons, for instance, after what happened last week with the Falcons, I was like, oh, they're going to come out this week and kill a team in the preseason just because they're just going to want to shut everyone up.

But Gino Smith, to be real, looked more athletic on a throw out to his right that was improvised to Garrett Wilson than I think he's looked for the last two years. He actually looked a little bit faster. He also hung in the pocket on a third down and delivered a really nice spot. while taking a hit. That's never really been his problem. His problem is that those passes sometimes go in the arms of defenders. Like he'll always hang in there.

But I thought he looked better. He knew where he was going and it's a preseason drive. But you at least feel good. I think he looks healthy. He looks a little fresher than he did a year ago. The two most interesting things with this Jets offense this year for me are going to be. Can Gino prove that he was just stuck behind a terrible offensive line last year and then he still got it?

and can A.D. Mitchell capitalized on playing with Gino Smith. That's what I'm paying the most attention to with this group. I think A.D. Mitchell is going to have a big season. He made plays here. He's been getting the most targets of anyone but Garrett Wilson. I'm definitely going to keep an eye on Kenyon, Sadeke, and Brees Hall. They're both overcoming injuries. There's optimism. They'll be back for week one. We just don't know. David Bailey, their second overall pick, has been great in practices. He was very good in a brief, last week with a pressure, and in this game he had a sack

where he beat Broderick Jones the tackle for the Steelers. So that was nice to see. In fact, the Jets defense, I mean, this is where I really know I'm being stupid. Five series, this preseason, zero points allowed.

We're halfway to a shoutout for the Aaron Glenn defense. Can you mention who the Jets defense was facing at quarterback? Was Will Howard? Who was it last week? I don't remember. I think it was some star.

last week. You know. I just want to say anything, anything that's done against the Steelers' offense on Aaron Rogers is on the field, take it with a grain of salt. Because they are working through that backup situation. Hey, look,

the Will Howard and Drew Aller played well last week. This time, Willa Howard got the whole game, the whole first half, Drew Aller got the second half. They both were rough. It's so funny how the preseason is such a liar, even from one week to the next, because both of them had awesome first preseason.

season appearances. Howard, I actually thought looked, he took a bad sack, they were punting, but then he... The picks were bad. He looked like a normal quarterback on these drives, and then the picks were awful to end each drive, whereas Drew Aller just looked overwhelmed and inaccurate, and the offensive line was struggling. Unless you looked at social media and you saw that one throw he made out of structure down the sideline. At the very end, he had one nice play, but he took It's like that one shot in golf that you have when you finish your round and you're like, oh man, I stuck that on the green and it keeps you coming back. That was the Drew Aller experience in this game.

Yeah. There was a report from Jerry Doolock who has covered this team forever that said his source reports that both Aller and Will Howard are making the team. It's a very interesting report to have a week before Cutdown Day. Like, why is the team letting that be known? Maybe they just don't want Will Howard and Drew Aller to be freaking out, or Will Howard specifically? Maybe they think... No.

They're driving the phone calls for Mason Rudolph. Okay. But are they really that comfortable with Mason Rudolph not being there? If these are how the young guys look, I guess what's the point? You're right. If you can get anything from Mason Rudolph, just take it. Yeah. Don't have a lot else on this game.

Jeremy Bernard and Roman Wilson are splitting the wide receiver three debt. reps, but as you can probably guess, there wasn't a lot of offense here. Dylan Cook is probably this team's right tackle because their first round pick, Max Ihanachor is working his way back from an injury, although he was seen, I think did some things at practice last week. So could he get into the preseason finale and finally get that job? If not, it's a bad start to this draft because they took Jennings Dunker and Ihanichur so high in the draft. And Jennings Dunker was a guard that everyone got excited about because he doesn't have teeth and he's got long hair and stuff. And I've seen some reporting that suggests like if he was not a second round pick or was he

a third round pick, either way he was a day two pick, that he would not make this team, that he's like the fifth or sixth guard right now. And that's why we have to be careful about falling in love with guys with long mullets and no teeth. They can't all be Cody Mock. They can't all be Quinn Miners, which you didn't have exactly that combo, but people just love like the belly and everything back in the day. It was very similar senior bowl darling vibes,

and he turned into an all-pro. Speaking of not making the team, Caleb Johnson, you know, the running back from a couple years ago taking high. I'm not sure he's making this team. And we haven't seen Joey Porter Jr. in a while. I think he's hurt. Maybe he's holding in.

Just keep an eye on it. Hashtag noticing. Important player for them, for sure. But we haven't seen him all month. And Keanu Benton is a guy who just popped in this preseason tape. I'm just going to keep an eye. on him. I think they used him in a incorrect way in the past. John Ledyard and his audibles and Analyics Steelers podcast have been all over this, that they kind of were trying to have him like,

you know, at the nose and occupying blockers with the old staff. And now, he's better like being kind of a down defensive end and rushing the passer a little bit in a three, four. And they just gave him a big contract, which was really interesting for a new staff. And there is a thought that you get that contract done early because you think this guy is about to have a monster season in a role that makes sense. So he's a steadily improving player. Nick Shook, I know

he's a Midwest guy. You've probably always had your eye on Keanu Benton. Yeah, I have to a degree their defensive line depth and the guys that they've tried to add to this group over the last few years they haven't really hit on a lot of guys. There's been a lot of players

who are there for two, three, you know, maybe the rookie deal never quite rise. to the capability and production that they expect, and then they end up going somewhere else. Benton, I felt like flashed in, you know, last year and was kind of moving in that direction. So I think that you're right about the contract coming now, trying to get ahead of it,

but we'll see, we'll see. We're at about a two and a half hour pace here. I need to speed things up. It's in my head. And I'm also thinking of the nightmare scenario. We got some crazy weather here across the country. We're hitting triple digits this week in L.A. We got a storm rolling in in Cleveland.

So if we lose power for Shook, I'm finishing this thing out with all my notes solo. Sorry, the show must go on, Shook, without you. No, I know that you are fully capable of doing a one-man band show. I don't want to. But the rain is very loud right now. Okay, convenient that the Panthers and Jags didn't give us a lot to talk about in terms of their preseason game,

34 to 17, the Panthers win. Bryce Young did play two full drives. The Jaguars played deep backups the whole time. Bryce Young had a quick punt on in the first drive and then a touchdown on the second drive. They played five drives this preseason. It took them until their fifth drive to get more than a first down.

But they did get a touchdown on that drive. Jimmy Horn's been used a lot at wide receiver three. Teteroa McMillan in the slot made a big catch, which I like to. to see. And then Jonathan Brooks watch, who have been keeping an eye on this third year player who's at injuries really ruined his career. And I thought he had a little more juice this week. You know, he looks the part. Not on the field on passing down as much, but an interesting player to see his development. Thought he looked a little more comfortable this week. Had one

longer run. And an interesting guy who might be the week one starter, Jonathan Brooks for the Panthers. Yeah, this is, I think the Panthers preseason is an interesting study in how you're a approach can maybe kind of slow your start with your starters on offense, but also can open a window for a guy like Jimmy Horn to climb the death chart because they have had very little, they didn't play any of their starters in the Hall of Fame game. They played Bryce and Company briefly last week and they did nothing. The offense didn't even have any life until Kenny Pickett came in. I can't believe I'm saying that in 2026. And on the flip side, Jimmy Horn's playing into the second half of the Hall of Fame game and now is in the conversation for the top three.

Like that's just how weird the preseason can be sometimes. Yep. And it's a good one. It's not a good sign for them that they're looking for wide receiver three that much. I think it's Xavier Legate if he's healthy, but he hasn't been healthy for much of his career, including the last week. Got another joint practice victory to award. It's the Jaguars. I'm going to say this was like a solid victory.

If it was a game, it was by like nine points, like not a blowout, but a two score win. the best practice of Bachel Tutin's career, according to our friend John Shipley at SI.com. The reason why I know it was a good practice for the Jags is Liam Cohen was like a fusive about the running game afterwards. And they've had a ton of injuries on their offensive line. So the fact that the running game was Malling the Panthers, that gave them the win.

Their offensive line is very much not set. But here's an item I haven't mentioned on this show. Anton Harrison, who's played three years at right tackle, is their left tackle this year, has been their best offensive line. lineman, they have moved him to left tackle, partly because of an injury to Cole Van Lannin. We don't know when he's going to return, but when he does, he's probably going to be on the other side. Right now, they're using Walker Little at right tackle. The rookie Emmanuel Pregnan is going

to be probably a starting guard, even though he was like eighth or ninth on the depth chart, but because of all the injuries, he's moved up. And so a lot of uncertainty. Jacoby Myers has a hand injury. I don't know how long that's going to keep him out. Parker Washington is returning to practice this week from an injury. And yet, despite all that, the offense in general, it sounds like has been cooking at camp. And it's partly because of these young guys. CJ Williams and Josh Cameron are two late round picks who've been killing it in practice. It's what camp's all about. They killed it in the preseason game. And even with Myers and Washington in and out, like Travis Hunter has had zero offensive team snaps in team wrestling. In

reps in the last few practices. That includes Sunday. And I got to think at least it's a little bit because these younger receivers are stepping up and we're like, we don't even need Travis Hunter. Let's focus on making him the best cornerback in the league. That's exactly what it is. And I think that's the goal when you're building a roster and you're getting through camp is, can we get these depth guys to become contributors to the point where we don't have to not stretch a player's limits, but can we just keep him on the side of the ball that we prefer him on instead of having to have him as somebody that we rely on on both sides of the field. And I mean, that's an ideal situation for this team,

especially when you're dealing with so many injuries. If you can come in prepared with a group of five that you feel very good about because of what you saw in the preseason, then you're in a much better place and you have every reason to feel good about it. But I do actually think that a lot of this does point back to Bejold-Tooten because this is a guy who struggled with ball security early last year and then was playing a 1B role behind ETN, which is now A-chan, by the way. still training my brain on that.

And I think that's been the biggest question mark with this group. Because it's been a team filled with continuity. You know, they didn't make a ton of moves. But he, you know, rises to the role of starter. He's got to have,

you know, a strong season to justify that promotion and also keep this offensive flow. So while you get good production from your depth guys at receiver, you feel good about that depth, it really all does come back to Tutin. It all comes back to whether you can still be a balanced offense, especially with that offensive line,

the question marks. So to come away from a joint practice where the running game looks great. Yeah, over the moon for 24 hours until we get back out there and test it again. Right. And then they get out there and the backups were, you know, not great in the game, but they didn't play. I don't really care. And yes, I do think the plan is going to be to play a lot of heavy, tight end formations with this Jaguars team. Borker reportedly had

his best practice of camp on Sunday, too. That was according to John Shipley. And Trevor Lawrence, I think, I had a good camp. And I'm really curious to watch this team. early. Let's get to the Saturday games. Patriots get a last second score with like the deep backups 24 to 21. That was the good news. Also, I'm awarding a joint practice victory for the Patriots over the Eagles. And that's impressive because those are two real deal teams. This was a two-day joint practice. I listened to a lot of coverage from both sides because either two of the teams I follow the best and frankly have some of the best podcasts and local coverage out there. Step up other cities, if you think I'm wrong.

It was really the Patriots offense on the first joint practice day that sounded like it really lit up the Eagles defense in a way that was more decisive than any other side. The rest of the practices, I think on both sides, and on the second day, sounded like it was good action back and forth, pretty even. But Drake May, Dobbs, A.J. Brown, it's been a drumbeat that they've really gotten in sync as Camp has gone on. The bad news here is Christian Gonzalez is still out.

In the preseason game, it was all backups, but the Eagles dogwalked the Patriots while it was the second team out there. The first half of the game was like a joke on both sides of the ball. The Patriots were just getting absolutely dominated. And Mike Rable was not happy about it afterwards. This was an epic Mike Ravel press conference in general. Here was a taste of it. Mike, and toward the end of the first quarter, you call it timeout, and you had the conversation with your defensive unit on the side. So what did you see at that moment

made you feel like a conversation was needed? I saw dog shit defense and I wanted to talk to him and I figured that if I didn't call a timeout that I wouldn't be able to get what I wanted to say off my chest. I love Brable right now. He also said during the same press conference

asking about some of what went on the game, he just said, well, I don't think we're very deep right now. We're not a deep team. That's fair because the way Britt and Covey took a screen into the end zone and then Mike Frable's reaction was not good. He just did one of those classic like, you gotta be freaking kidding me, looks.

And that fits the whole why he called a time out. Yeah, I mean like, man, this is still a team that overachieved last year and really got there with a collection of some young guys, but a lot of veterans that just bought into Vrabel's system and maximize their potential. They're not a team that's super deep. And it's also hard to be a very deep team in the NFL.

on a quick turnaround like that. Yes. They've hit on so many free agents that that is important, but the lack of young players that they've drafted really shows up if you look at this depth chart

at cornerback on the offensive line, edge defensive line. Right now, their first round draft pick, Caleb Lomu, it feels like it's kind of been a disastrous camp for him. He would be tackle four right now and he has been,

but Marcus Bryant, who was like a seventh rounder a year ago, got hurt in this game. Lomo hasn't looked good in practice, hasn't, you know, look good on the field. They, you know, they hope they don't need it much, but, but they might. Kyle Williams, never given up on him. Rollercoaster, as always, he's out there. He's going to make the team.

He's their third round pick from a year ago, but he doesn't fight for a couple passes. You know, you could have, I don't know if you would call one a drop, but maybe. But then he hits, like, a, I don't know how long that touchdown was, but it might have been like 70 yards. 69. Every catch he has is a long touchdown. So if like every time, four times he catches the ball, it's like a 70 yard touchdown. You know what you do, Shook? You're getting paid?

No. You're, you throw him the ball more. Like that's, like if we go one for four with a 70 yard touchdown every time, just like throw him four passes. You know, we got a touchdown. That's the Tess Walker story. That's how he started his career in Baltimore. It's funny because if you watch preseason, you just watch the highlights, you'd have no idea that Kyle Williams is up and down. You think he's having the best preseason of anybody in the NFL right now

because he does make big plays. It's just not consistent. Yeah. And he may, I think last week he was good in the game, but the practice is, Mike Brable's kind of talked about it. It's certain plays that they talked about that showed up again in this game.

But then, you know, he has something that no one else on that team has, which is he can get loose right away off the line of scrimmage and go deep. And I do think Kashan Bouti will be an ex-patriot if they get, like I said, a third, but I don't think anyone's given up a third for Kishan Bouti. I don't think it makes sense

to trade a fourth for him, but they might get a fourth for him. We'll see. I mean, I like the Texans connection because Kisario's history with them too. That feels like the place is going to happen. I would honestly rather have a year of Kishan Bouti than a fourth round pick.

You're so greedy. You are so greedy. You got enough. This is a battle royale at receiver already. Here's why. How many fourth round picks to the Patriots have on their roster this year? You know what I mean? Like how many...

That's fair. What are the odds of your fourth round pick contributing to your team as much as Kishan Booty does in one season? Like, maybe it's 50%, but I don't know. At least I know what I got with Kayshan Booty. You're trying to win games right now. Let's go to the Eagles. How much is Kayshan Booty contributing with A.J. Brown and Romeo Dobbs on that team? He'll contribute plenty.

I think he'll be... Kyle Williams. I think he'll be a key. Kyle Williams is like wide receiver six right now. joke. That's a joke. I think Kaysen Boodie will help this team. And you never know. Like if AJ Brown gets hurt, you know, he's had some injuries. Like, he would be very valuable.

Jonathan Grenard could be out into the season, according to Vic Fangio, who is like press conference All-Star just says what he wants. The Eagles ends said anything about Grinard. But Fangio keeps saying, yeah, he might not be out until the season. He also described a guy, Ty Robinson. I don't know if you're familiar with Ty Robinson. After last week, he had a sack in the preseason. And Vic was like, yeah, that was good to see because he's, been on life support here. Because he had one this week too.

He had I think butter too this week. It was like a delayed stunt where he's just like kind of in the interior lineman's pads, just like not really doing anything. And then he lets go as the stunt arrives and crushes that guy and he wraps around and gets the sack. And I was like, who's 95? It's Ty Robinson, the guy on life support. I think he had another half sack in the game where it was actually a better rush,

if I'm remembering correctly and two guys got there. But just crack me up that victim. They just said that out loud. Injury-wise, the Eagles, yeah, their running game reportedly looked really good in that first practice with the Patriots joint practice. So that's good to hear with Sequin Barclay. Mackay Lemon working his way back. We don't know when he's going to be 100%.

He's closer to getting back on the field. But, you know, I think it's pretty clear Dantavian Wix is wide receiver two right now. Devante Smith is practicing again. Their second round pick. We keep continuing some of the same stories, but I like to. reinforce it for people who are joining and say that they're continuing. Eli Stowers, their second round pick at tight end, I don't think is going to have any impact with this team.

Their lines are deep. That's why their backups dominated the Patriots. I've heard some negative things. Jimmy Kemsky was one of them at philly voice.com that maybe Lannand Dickerson has been kind of the one guy who's struggled a little bit, new system, has had a lot of injuries, might not be the same guy that he used to be. We'll see, just something I'm watching. I'm also watching Annie Dalton stink in the preseason.

I mean, I know Tanner McKee's like not the best quarterback in the world, but I think Andy Dalton went three for 10 in this game. So can we end this quarterback battle? And no one's trading for Andy Dalton. Well, yeah, but the only problem is that when they played Tanner McKee last year, he was a disaster. And it completely tanked the value that he'd built the preseason. Sure.

But just I'd rather have Tanner McKee than Andy Dalton. So cut Andy Dalton. Yeah, at this stage, yeah. Lions beat the commander 17 to 13. I was excited to see Jaden Daniels play football again, Shook. And I got three plays. One of them included DJ Wanham, sacking Jaden Daniels, who just kind of stood there for a 10-yard sack.

And then they ran on 3rd and 20. And then the drive ended, and Terry McLaurin went into the blue medical tent. Yeah, everything is perfectly fine. That still wasn't the worst dropback of the week. I think that belonged to Jake Browning. You drop back about 25 yards before getting sacked. This is a weird situation for the commanders, and I've heard a lot of this from commanders fans

who didn't like where I put them in the power rankings to start. There's just a lot of things that they're still figuring out. I mean, you are in the preseason. It is a small sample size and Jaden's coming off of multiple injuries and everything else, but all those good vibes from a couple of seasons ago, they're going to have to really dig to bring them back. I'm not going to overreact to three plays. I don't love the Terry McLaurin thing.

I don't think it's serious. It didn't sound like it was serious. It's just like three plays. This is the guy who's really struggled to stay on the field lately. So you're concerned. Trelon Burks started for them and actually stayed on the field when Stefan Diggs went off the field, like on a running down, Stefan Diggs in the slot. So you got some clues here about how they're going to use players.

Both Bill, Kroski, Mera, and Rashad White, the running. were hurt in, you know, before, and so they didn't even play in this game. And then Johnny Newton is a guy I was really excited about as a draft prospect, defensive tackle, who just has not been able to stay healthy as a pro. He has a torn pectoral muscle. He's going to be out a long time. Sam Leporta could be out a while. This one really slipped under the radar. Like, was this made a bigger deal at any point? Like, Dan Campbell on Thursday said he's not sure if Sam LaPort is going to be ready for the season. I saw that. I was like, did I miss this in like the ESPN NFL.com stack?

Maybe I did. And I just caught it on Sunday. But that's awful news there for a team that's had his share of injury news this preseason. That missed him last year, too. I think it's slipped on the radar because it just wasn't a big talking point earlier. But the lines have been kind of quiet throughout preseason anyway, which is usually the mark of a team that's like, yeah, we know what we're doing. We're about our business. We're getting ready for the regular season.

But when things like this pop up, you're like, oh, no. it's kind of like what happened with Cade Mays. Like that takes a little bit of the good vibes out of there too because that was a huge addition at center. They lose him for an extended amount of time. And suddenly I got worries about the offensive line again. So there's some slight reason to be a little unsettled going into the regular season at this point for Lions fans.

I think they're a team that should be better later in the season than they are at the beginning because of the Cade Mays injury, LaPorteur, I'm a little worried about. And then most importantly, the two safeties, Brian Branch and Kirby Joseph, we have no idea how they're going to be. I think there's some other good signs, though, from their defensive front. They didn't play starters in this game.

I happen to watch this, and Josh Dobbs had one of the worst two-play sequences you'll ever want to see. A fumble returned for a touchdown, and then a, like, awful interception, like Will Levis-style throwing across his body that was picked off the next drive. So it wasn't great for the Lions, but I'm not going to worry too much. If we want some positivity, 8.5. Hattinson, he's still Aiden Hutchinson. All the reporters there say he maybe has cranked it up another notch in practice and just

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You know the feeling. You make a picking your fantasy draft in the entire room groans because they wanted that player. Or you grab a small school rookie off waivers and you start him right before he goes off in prime time. There's no better feeling than crushing your fantasy football league. I'm JJ Zacharyason, host of the late round fantasy football podcast. Before your draft, our players to target and players to avoid episodes tell you exactly who to circle and who to cross off. We've got data-driven analysis, historical trends, and the strategy that separate winners from the rest.

And your dominance doesn't stop with the draft. All season long, we have our 15 transactions, 10 trends, sleepers, and the mailback, data-driven, quick-hitting episodes to help bring home that league trophy. Listen to the late-round fantasy football podcast on the I-Heart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Let's get to the Bills and the Browns. The Sean Watson train has gone off the tracks. We're taping this Sunday evening. So I don't want to spend too much of this segment, Shook, like predicting what's going to happen because Todd Munkin says he's announcing the starter on Monday, so we're going to find out soon enough. But as bad as the entire Deshaun Watson era has been in Cleveland,

this almost felt like a new low. What happened on Saturday? You're laughing, but 31 to 7. 2.3. I was there. Oh, you were there. I need to give you the floor. Okay, before we hear from Deshawn Watson

and talk about that, what was it like to be there? Okay, first off, let me just set the weather scene for you. National Anthem's playing, and it starts torrentially downpouring a lightning delay ensues after about a minute into the game. About an hour delay. Offense comes back out. Shador looks pretty good.

Playing against backups has about four seconds to throw every time he drops back, never really gets pressured. Has some success. halftime arrives. It rains again, torrentially. Stop just in time for the third quarter to start. I am walking down one of the tunnels, seeing the field in my view.

And as I walk toward the stairs, I'm hearing fans booing as the offense takes the field because Deshawn Watson is leading them out there. That set the stage for then one of the worst preseason performances for somebody battling for a starting job against third stringers that I've ever seen. At field level, He is slower in movement and in processing than anybody else out on the field.

The ball does not look good out of his hand. He did not look confident. I thought he was okay last week. He looked worse than ever this week. And then he goes to the press conference and does this. Man, I didn't have no reaction. I think the biggest thing is I think you guys know too. And I think the whole world knows it has nothing to do about the performance.

it's a little bit personal than that. So I think that's a disrespectful thing. So, yeah, I mean, I'm going to keep whatever I feel with me and my family internally on how I feel about that. And yeah, just move on. Except he doesn't keep it internal. Right, keep it how he felt internally. He's always lying to himself because he even said during the week, I don't care what the response is going to be. and the most real moment he had of the press conference,

which no matter what you think of the Sean Watson, I can't imagine there's many Deshaun Watson supporters out there. But I'd rather hear him at least be real. And when he brought up how they cheered him, cheered when he tore his Achilles a couple years ago. And he said, like, these are the same fans that cheered when I tore my Achilles a couple years ago.

There was, like, real emotion in his voice. And you understand, like, that has stuck with him. And he also talked about, I thought, the charity work, everything I've done out in the city, like that that would have made a difference and not. And so then he's telling you, okay, it actually does matter to me. And we can get into that. But I actually thought this comment, which didn't make as many headlines, was the most telling, the most damning. And ultimately, like, it should be the final thing to say goodbye to Deshaun Watson in Cleveland. Port-deback job is tough enough.

Can you defeat that negative? I don't know. I don't know. It's a mental battle every day. I feel like I feel like I get more love on road games than I do home games. So if it is my spot and he does make me the name, maybe his 17 away games then I don't know. I don't know. It sounds like a guy who doesn't want to be there. Yep. And that's what it looks like on the field on Saturday. It doesn't want the job. Like, and so Jimmy has him wouldn't cut him. Andrew Barry, who everyone was giving flowers to all off-season and is still in charge of the front office that decided to roll out to Sean Watson

for this training camp. Oh yeah, Andrew Barry, he's getting a great. Yeah. Like, he's casting a pall on the entire season by going through with this plan. He didn't cut him. You know, the previous coaches didn't cut him? Munkin didn't cut him. You know who's going to end up cutting him?

If they do? Man, they should. is the people that you were with and the stadium. The fans would cut him. Like if it actually happens that way, and this would be a fascinating moment in the Brown's history. And kind of, they probably won't,

and that's what I don't want to predict what's going to happen. But if they actually did move on now, it really would be the fans that made it happen. Mm-hmm. Because of his response to them, And they just, it became untenable. Which in the history of the Browns since they returned in 1999, that has often been the case.

I have spent many a Sunday listening to fans chant so angrily that people lost their jobs the next day. That maybe wouldn't have lost their jobs. And so this would only be the latest instance. And I think this would probably be the first time in which the fans are right, as opposed to previous scenarios. Now, they can't cut him. This is the problem. the fans know this that they're stuck with him for one more year because if they cut him it's $127 million in dead camp. I know but you could put him.

It's $86 million against the cap. It's a contract that already has four void years on it, including $36 million and $51 million cap hits in the next two years. A, you could just do it. Stop being so just do it. Like, yeah, you're going to have all this cap pain. Just do it. Do something right. for ones because if you had it, you're going to have to do it somehow. There's also a world where they just work out something with him where he just kind of goes away. And they can keep that cap hit until next year, but. And that's what's going to happen. You just put him on in, you know, whatever. It's just going to go away. You just put him on injured reserve. You pay him his money.

I don't know how it would work, frankly, but you just go away. Yeah. Congratulations, Sanders, you are the starter. And frankly, I think you earned it with this performance. Okay. I don't know. We'll hit that on our next show because I just don't trust the Browns ever to do the right thing. And no, I just don't. So I, because I went into this game and it's really interesting how they structured it. Because Watson still got most of, you know, they've been splitting first team reps. They put them out there with like the three and the fours. That was strange

because I went into the game assuming Deshawn Watson was the week one starter. I really did. Like all the reporting was Watson had some moments and that they were leaning Watson going into this.

But the way they put him in a position to fail and then he did and then the response, Todd Monkin spoke on Sunday, said he'll make an announcement on Monday, said some weird comments that I frankly just didn't understand and we'll find out later. But the thing that go ahead. Well, I think this is an interesting

examination of Todd Munkin's first friction point as a head coach because either it's coaching malpractice putting out a guy that you think is the week one starter with the thirds and fours, you know, and letting him, you know, kind of just torch himself. Or that's what you wanted to do all along. And because he committed to starting him the week prior. I can't imagine he's like that. Exactly. So which one was it? I don't know. Maybe it's that they actually were leaning Chador, that they're not putting Watson out there to fail, but maybe they were leaning Chador and just no one had an idea. We'll find out. We'll find out on Monday.

That's why you don't commit to starting one guy one week and the other guy the next. Right. Watson also said when asked if he regrets coming to Cleveland that he doesn't really. regret anything that he's done in his life. I don't, I don't have, he says I don't have any regrets. And to me, that was the most telling thing. And Deshaun Watson's talking about like, this is personal. Yeah. Of course it's personal. But it's also performance. That performance was terrible. If you perform better, they would shut up. They would cheer. It's, it's obviously both. But it is personal because Because Deshawn Watson never took accountability. Like, he never once said that he made a mistake for the accusations and the assault

that ultimately got him suspended, the sexual assault accusations that got him suspended. He never once made a real, like, owning up to what he did. And that's the difference. I had someone come at me in the comments about, like, well, you know, like, people cheered Michael Vic. It's like Michael Vic like owned up to it. And he tried to make it commends.

And Watson never did. Now, it's dime store psychology, but I'll always believe that that and the negativity that he feels and probably feels like without even admitting to himself, but the negativity all around him.

Like that's all impacted the lack of confidence that he clearly shows as a player. That's the thing. You don't even need to talk about any of the rest of it. he has no confidence whatsoever and hasn't for years as a football player. So he's not helping your team. Okay.

I'm sorry, Shuck. No, it's a great explanation of it, I think. And he's one of those people that I think in his own personal happiness will probably be happier when he moves on from football. Whenever he decides to do that. Yep. Totally agree. You know who's making me happy as someone who wants you to be happy? Casey Concepcion and Denzel Boston.

Those two guys look like dudes. Joint practice, they played well. Unfortunately, joint practice, there was also an injury to Alex Wright. We don't know how serious that one is. Manken's not talking about it, but he's a starting edge and it sounds like it could be serious. There's so much going on with the Browns. It's like story number six that they cut a player this week

that is now going to play at LSU. Daekwon Wright, like what? That's insane. We don't have time enough to dive into that, but that's insane that that's being allowed to happen because of a court ruling. And then, oh, by the way, Nick Chub retired since we last taped.

Let's just play a Nick Chubb great run as chosen by Browns fan, Nick Shook. Second down in 10, takes the snap, gives it. Chubb runs. He's in a 10, 15, he's at a 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, there goes, Chubb. He's in the 30, 20, 20, 20. 10, 5, touchdown,

Shabalava Hub, 92 yards. Pretty unbelievable. He has a second gear. I just got hit more by you than I did in my 14 years in the NFL. That, I mean, that was the, that was the peak of the Browns

becoming a competitive team. That was the late Jim Donovan on the call with Doug Deakin, two phenomenal individuals that I was privileged to work with. And you know what? Nick Chubb was pretty awesome too. Now, I was told when I arrived in Berea that he was pretty reserved, kind of a hard guy to crack. But I cracked him and got to know him and he was an awesome guy.

Sneaky, funny, just a good dude and a damn good running back in his beak. I'm glad we just have the opportunity on this show to kind of say goodbye to these players when they do retire. And he was with the Texan didn't get signed this off season. It's hard not to think about the injury that changed the course of his. his career. I was on live television at the time in the UK, and I'll never forget that night. Like, it was devastating. And he was never the same after. Those sort of injuries still happen. But at his peak, I don't even think it's a question. Like, he's on the very short list of the

best pure runners of the last decade. And I think you can extend it out to like just at their peak, running the ball, toughness, and just running ability. it's a very short list before you get to Nick Chubb of like the last 25 years. And so those players that make an impact that he made with the Browns and their fans, like that's worth more sometimes than all the numbers that, the cumulative stats and even some guys that get into the Hall of Fame, like Nick Chubb had a bigger impact and reached higher level of football than some guys who do make the Hall of Fame.

And so just happy retirement to Chubb. Yeah, I was happy to see a lot of people wearing 24 jerseys on Saturday. It was a nice little reminder of what he did for this city. So Bill's fans are probably wondering, hey, we won 31 to 7. You're not talking about us in this preseason game. Well, they are the team that Shook is talking about. I was thinking about this. Been a really quiet camp for the Bills.

I find that a good sign. I have new coach, too. I thought Joe Brady was going to be getting all crazy, saying things and stuff. Like, it's been business as usual. Josh Allen's super happy. the athletics, Joe Basalia, says Dalton Kincaid their tight end has had a really great camp. Khalil Shakir's been out a little bit lately. They got a joint practice win.

Another win for the bills, not only in the game, but the rare joint practice and preseason game doubling up. Although, by all accounts, including from Zach Jackson, it was pretty competitive practice. Like, the bills started out really fast on offense, but otherwise, like, it was competitive. To the point where the Brown starters actually felt, I think, pretty good about the joint practice. But overall, a couple Ws there, and then you don't really play any starters in the preseason. That's a recipe for a quiet camp. Some guys that you might know that might not even make this team because it's so deep. Gino Stone at safety, McColl Hardman, at wide receiver.

And then I thought it was interesting reading that Maxwell Hirston, last year's first round pick, who I'm really high on, might not be even locked into being their starting cornerback right now. It might be Davison Ibnasson, the second. Oh, no, Buckeye. Maybe. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

Yeah, Igbenoson. He was a... Igbenosan. It was a very handsy defensive back at Ohio State two years ago. And then his final year with the Buckeyes, he got cleaner in coverage. That's actually, that's surprising, but in a good way. It's encouraging. You're right.

The bills are doing, I think everything right. But I do think that it's... I'm glad you brought up Miko Hardman there as one of these notes because I'm sitting to the game on Saturday. I'm messaging Kevin Patra, fellow NFL.com, writer. And I'm just saying, yeah, I think it might be time for Hardman to to call it. Like, he had a bad couple of drops.

And then he scores on a screen, and I'm like, oh, well, maybe I was wrong. Well, he will always have a Super Bowl ending catch. Not many people in NFL history have that. Super Bowl ending play. I mean, how many are there? There's only two overtimes. So it's probably just him and James White.

Like literally the last play. I guess kicks would count there, but as just like a regular scoring a touchdown, on the last play of the Super Bowl, not many people have done that. So, you know, he had his fun. Also, I wanted to send our thoughts out. We heard the tragic news of Ed Oliver's son passing.

It happened apparently previously, and then the news came out. The bills sent out a statement. His two-year-old son died this summer and just the most tragic, awful news that you can think of. So thinking to Ed Oliver, who has been with the team and his teammates also you know, really, really said they support him

and they're just trying to stand behind him as much as he can. They can. Let's go to the Rams and the Saints. The Rams in a game I attended. I don't know if you knew that. 34 to nothing. Me, Walker, a couple of his friends.

Nothing like being the neighborhood dad bringing some kids to a preseason game. Cool, dad. Plenty of good seats available at SoFi. For this one where in terms of the game, the only thing that was really interesting was the Stetson-Bennett-Ty-Simpson situation. Stetson Bennett got the first half, Ty Simpson got the second half, and yes, Stetson Bennett ran in for a couple touchdowns, including one where our friend Jordan Roderig was on the call.

Dropback game, third down. Stets has already scrambled for one. Stetson goes in again. There's Jordan with a call that we... absolutely will be using on this show. The stash is loose. Yes, I was going to say, please make it a little sound drop. As soon as I heard it when I was watching this back, I was like, oh, please, that's got to be a feature on the show. The stash is loose. Yes.

I was going to say, and Jordan did a great job. Again, Brenda Song joined the booth for the third quarter. A lot going on there in that booth. But the only problem with that call is Stetson Bennett, probably not going to be scoring a lot of touchdowns in the regular season. But it could work for anyone with a mustache. Jackson Dart is a mustache right now. Jalen Hertz has a mustache right now. Does George Kittles have a mustache again?

Right. Like mustaches are, they're back. They are in. They are in. They're very in. So it doesn't have to be Stets and Bennett. Although if you listen to Dan Orlovsky, and I've seen this bubble up in a couple places,

the Falcons should trade for Stets and Bennett. Some teams should trade for Stets and Bennett. I smell something wrong. gotten here with this like Stetson Bennett should be traded doc. I don't like that idea because I, and this is no knock on Stetson Bennett, but I do think that there are certain situations in the NFL in which backups look especially good in a system that they've gotten to know that they've gotten reps with and a team takes a swing on them and it fails tragically.

Let's not do that. Let's just let the Rams have two backups that they like. Has it even looked that good though? Even at the game, I know he had one beautiful layer. throw on a third down, I think, to Tyler Scott that was like next level. He had a deep ball, too, that Scott kind of messed up, that his numbers would have looked better. I think it was a good pass by Bennett. But I'm not going to get carried away about how Bennett's looked in the preseason. He's looked fine. And practice, like, he's been fine. He was, he had his share of struggles. Maybe I'm

being affected by the day I'm out there. But there was reports, you know, he was struggling a little bit, you know, for more than that. This sounds like someone from the tree, the Shanahan tree, the McVay tree, like trying to shake a draft pick loose. No one's trading for Stetson Bennett, anything significant. I just don't believe it. Like, I don't believe that that's something another team would do. If you want to tell me, like, someone would give up a sixth round pick or a six-seventh swap, sure, but that's, it's basically like- At that point, it's not worth it.

Just keep him. But, like, what are the Rams doing with Ty Simpson? I don't like it. You draft him 13th overall, and what are you getting out of these preseason reps with the third and fourth string where it's all just these rollouts and he was fine. I just felt like what's the point? Don't you want to be developing this guy as much as possible? He didn't get that many reps during training camp either, so you want to get it with the preseason. But why isn't he getting more reps during training camp? Like he's the 13th overall pick. Would you be surprised if you

saw him going with the de facto starters in week three? I feel like it's been an acclimation. Yeah, but they don't play any of the starters. So I would rather... Right. So it's not the actual starters. Right. I would rather get them... I'd rather have him get better snaps like in the first half of this game. I'd rather him get the entire week three game. Right.

And see if he can put it together for four quarters. Yeah. And I don't think he's looked bad. I've just been a little confounded about what happened. There was a moment in this game, though, was first and goal at the, like, half yard line. And I said to my friend who came to the game with me next to me that if they run the ball, here, McVeigh wants Ty Simpson to be the backup, the quarterback too, like a first and go at the half yard line. And if they pass the ball here, they want Stets and Bennett to be the quarterback to, you know, fluff up his stats. And they did run. They called a rollout. He ran it in

for a touchdown instead. But it was like a, you know, if the receiver's open, pass it, if not run it. And so Bennett got his touchdown. So, or maybe they're trying to fluff up his job value. No, that's the thing is because they've rolled out tie a lot. Like more than you see an average rookie quarterback, and I know it's been in like second half, you know, with the third stringers.

But what they've asked him to do is more complex than what you usually see from a first round pick who's behind an entrenched starter. I kind of feel like that type of scenario is one of the ones where it's like, hey, let's test the mobility here. He's see if he can win a race down the line. Sure.

Yeah. And that was Bennett. They have some similarities to them in that play. Maybe, maybe though the theory is actually they're trying to puff up his value, make him look great in this game so that they could trade him. Who knows? The joint practice. The joint practice victory between the Rams and the Saints this week, we're going to give it to the Rams. Matthew Stafford, every time that Matthew Stafford's like practiced this offseason, everyone said he's looked incredible and that's continued. Jordan continues to beat the drum of Terrence Ferguson.

He is definitely one of our guys here at NFL Daily. young tight end. I think he's going to have a big role. Pukena Kua and Miles Garrett have now been out for two straight weeks. I wouldn't panic. But, you know, let's keep an eye on that. Like, that's not ideal. Alvin Kamara for the Saints is going to miss four to six weeks with an injury.

Adric Estime, who was looking like they're running back three, who would be elevated with Kamera out, has also been hurt. Kendry Miller was out there. Jordan Tyson, we know, is going to be out for much of this season. So at wide receiver, Bryce Lance. the brother of Tray Lance stepping up. Couple of catches. A couple of catches in an offense that I think

this is what preseason is perfect for for some of these teams where you're just kind of figuring out you're taking stock of everything. Now you don't want to have to do that because of injury, but that's where they are now. It's at a couple of these positions where they're like, okay, well, one of the guys we were counting on a start is not going to be available for most of the season,

figure out what else we have. Lance had, yeah, two catches. He looked all right. This is a backup receiving group that I'm very confused on how it's going to shake out. I mean, they might not be backups. Him and Barry and Brown, I think, are going to play for this team who are two rookies. I mentioned the bills, you know, having rookies that are probably going to contribute right away. I think these receivers are going to be at least asked to do some things.

This was a rough performance to watch in person. The Zach Wilson hype train that Saints fans were feeling for one week after the preseason did not last. And Spencer Rattler, he moved the ball, but then he. threw a pick six. It was bad. It was a bad pick six. And I want Ratler to be good somewhere, but that was bad. That was bad. I think the Saints did something that no team's ever done before. Tell me if I'm wrong, anyone that knows differently out there. They had two joint practices in the same week with two different teams. Never heard of such a thing. So maybe they were tired. I'm not even joking. They had one on Tuesday and fought like 10 times with the Cowboys and got

fine $500,000 for those fights. And then they had another joint practice on Thursday. Granted, it's most of the starters doing the work there. But maybe they were just like tired by the time they got to the weekend. I've got an update. This is important, Shuck. Okay. We always want to be accurate with our information.

Do you know why Terry McLaurin went to the Blue Medical Tent? Probably not. Tell me it was something trivial. He went pee-pee. Yes, trivial. Perfect. better than taking a knee on the sideline like Josh Lambeau once did.

Wasn't that Josh Lambeau? I don't know why I decided to speak like a six-year-old for a second. The Falcons, like I said, tried a lot harder in the preseason this week. They beat the Colts 34 to 6th. That's the good news. The unfortunate news is that they took an L

in the joint practice. There was a sad to a Tunga Bailoa clip going around of the Colts rushing him and he's just like moving around. not knowing what to do, not looking too smooth. Reportedly didn't have a great completion percentage in that practice and was definitely not going down the field at all.

Is it too late for Michael Pennex? Supposedly he's progressing to 11-on-11s this week. So basically the expectation is Michael Penix is practicing fully this week. I feel like it's too late, but maybe not. You got a couple weeks of practice. If he was an established starter, it wouldn't be too late. With, there's a lot of unknown here because you have new staff, uh, new competition in Tua who has not looked good, right?

Um, I think desperation might say, no, it's not too late. By the standard timeline, it feels too late. Yes. I also would like to give just one small shout out to the guy who's named nobody knew at the start of training camp. Jack Strand, 12 for 17 for 212 yards and a touchdown. Good job. Let's go.

Let's go. Kevin Stefansky cracks me up because the storyline around Falcons practices have apparently been that they've just been dead. Like no juice, like no energy at practice. That's kind of Kevin Stifansky in a nutshell. And they wanted, like Matt Ryan even talked about it. Like we wanted more energy at practice. These are one of the things that maybe you shouldn't talk about publicly. So Stifansky told his team because he wants more juice that he'll allow for one celebration.

penalty in this game. And so if you look at the long score, I think it was the first one that the falcons scored, they were absolutely nuts. It's a great, it's a great clip. So they took advantage. They're all running on the field, like, and they all get like, you know, you can only give them 15-yard penalty. But it's just hilarious to me that Kevin Sifansky brings so little juice to the table that

he said, okay, you can get one penalty. It's a preseason game. I want you guys celebrating. Like he has to incentivize them to actually celebrate playing football. That tracks, and I don't know how I feel about that. I don't like it. I mean, I do like it because it's taking preseason for what it's worth, but it's stupid. No, that part's fine.

It's just the lack of energy thing that makes me a little concerned. It's, uh, this is the guy who won coached the year twice, but also got the worst grade among coaches on the NFLPA report card. So, yeah, I don't know. Jack Strand would be a great detective name. Supposedly a lot of screens in this offense to Kyle Pitts for people watching at practices. Zachariah Branch, we've talked about the rookie. He's being treated as a starter,

had like a couple quick catches and then taken out. A big takeaway for the Colts was that Riley Leonard has been so bad in the preseason and pretty bad in camp. And this is according to the athletic, James Boyd writes there, that you kind of have to keep Anthony Richardson. Now, Anthony Richardson was awful in this game too. They went 10 for 23 for 84 yards combined,

but I guess Richardson's first preseason game was better and he's been better in practice. So, you know, sometimes you just, there's no point in trading these guys. You might as well keep them both. This is one of those situations where it's not great behind Daniel Jones, and you have to kind of brace

for not having Daniel Jones for an entire season and just hope that you can survive because this doesn't sound good right now. It could get better. Riley Leonard did look good, better in game action last year, but not super encouraging at this point. They also have a lot of injury concerns.

Tyler Warren, the hope is he's in the expectation, is he's back for week one, but he's got a groin strain. Charverius Ward, I missed this, but he's been out indefinitely with a back injury for weeks. Like, it's just one of those quiet things that, okay, he missed one day and then one day turned into four days, and no one really said what his injury was, and then they finally said, oh, it's a back. We're not sure when he's going to be back.

It's been like two or three weeks. This guy's barely played any football in years, so it's a little concerning for a really important cornerback for this team. And then I did note C.J. Allen, who I was so high on at linebacker in the draft process, they drafted him to start. Right now he is not with the starters. He is like linebacker three or four coming back from an injury. We'll see if that changes in the next couple of days. The old guys are healthy, though. DeVorese Buckner's healthy at least. Yeah, I mean, I don't know how to feel about a lot of the Colts defense because of what you just listed. And the idea that like some of their draft picks just have not become the guys that you expect. T to Amalo is a guy who hasn't made a step and isn't playing much for their team. No. I just think.

Come on. Second round pick. No, but here's the issue is that he was really good as an underclassman at Ohio State. And then that was it. Like by the time he left Ohio State, he still went in the second round because of potential, but I kind of felt like he already maxed out what he had. Maybe he could take the next step in the NFL, and it seems like he hasn't. So this is one of those groups where I'm like,

I thought he had such like play strength, like, but like a strong guy, but sometimes just you don't know what separates like a good prospect from a pro that just doesn't work. Like sometimes it's things it's not about it's not about the physicality. It's not the fit. Who knows what it is. But yeah, he has not been able to pop. Eating well shouldn't be complicated. But somehow it turns into recipes, prep, cleanup, and half your Sunday gone. Factors solves all that.

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Visit bell.ca for details and to check availability. Bell, connection is everything. You know the feeling. You make a pick in your fantasy draft in the entire room groans because they wanted that player. Or you grab a small school rookie off waivers and you start him right before he goes off in primetime. There's no better feeling than crushing your fantasy football league. I'm JJ Zacharyason, host of the late round fantasy football football. podcast. Before your draft, our players to target and players to avoid episodes tell you exactly who to circle and who to cross off. We've got data-driven analysis, historical trends, and the strategies that separate winners from the rest. And your dominance doesn't stop with

the draft. All season long, we have our 15 transactions, 10 trends, sleepers, and the mailback, data-driven, quick-hitting episodes to help bring home that league trophy. Listen to the late round fantasy football podcast on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Ravens and the Vikings played football this week. They had a joint practice, and I'm giving a tight win to the Ravens. This was like a last second, if it was a game, Tyler Loop field goal to get it for the Ravens. Sounds like it was pretty even. Both teams, it was very low scoring if this was a game, would have been like 12-9. Essentially, and this is a little surprising, for the Ravens offense that they struggled so much,

but then you think about, okay, they're a new offense and they're facing Brian Flores, who doesn't mess around in these training camp and joint practice settings. Neither offense could really get much done either way, but they were better. Marlon Humphrey said he hasn't been, like, he thought it was the most electric practice

that he's had in 10 years, their joint practice on defense. There's a lot of shade being thrown at John Harbaugh by veterans with the Ravens right now. Rashad Bateman came out and kind of buried the previous staff last week. You got Humphrey saying this now. It's good because you have the new staff and during the honeymoon period and everything's different.

So they're all having fun and they're a good team. They should enjoy this. But it's just very interesting the way that they're kind of throwing shade at Harbaugh. They have absolutely thrown shade at the offensive staff too because they're like, oh, we're on our detail. You know, on both sides of the staff, they're like, they're teaching us the details, actually teaching us what to do,

like not letting things slide in a way that is totally new. And it's hard not to take that as a little bit of shade. Tyler Loop, yeah, at practice. And then I think in the game, too, he might have had a job-saving game here with one of his long field goals because he struggled after ending the season with a miss last year.

Last week, he missed a 49-yard field goal in the preseason. And then his preseason game, this week started with a 49-yard field goal. It was one of those moments who are like, if he misses this one, they're bringing in a kicker this week. But he hit it.

He hit all his kicks in the game. It was confirmed that Danny Pinter, their center, has a torn Patelotendon. He is out for the season. He was the favorite to start at center to replace Tyler Linderbaum. The new favorite is Ethan Pochick,

who's coming off at torn Achilles of his own, only eight months ago, but he did play in this game, so that's a pretty big step forward to winning that job. J.J. McCarthy play, at quarterback. They didn't play Kyler Murray. Reportedly, Kyler Murray ended the joint practice.

It was pretty up and down. I think it was a couple days, too. Like, it was pretty up and down overall, but he made a couple big plays to end it, including like an improvised 40-yard throw down the field. I forget if it was to Addison or Jefferson. It was kind of like one of those plays practice ended that way, and everyone was like, okay, that's why we have Kyler Murray.

At least he can make those sort of plays. Who do you think the backup quarterback is? week one j jay mccarthy or carson wens mcg jay mccarthy i think um he had a speaking of improvised plays he had a bomb to tie felton uh in this game there was a little bit of juice in this game early um i think that they're going to be going with j jay as the backup with the security and safety and the cozy warm blanket feeling of man we got carson wince you know in case it doesn't work out I look at the Ravens and I think, you know, even though the Vikings weren't playing starters, I think like the preseason dynasty that John Harbaugh established, that's continuing.

They just continue to keep winning games. The Vikings takeaways from the game, I listen to Purple Daily, and they say right now, Big Orange. Who's your guy? Big Citrus, rather. Not Big Orange. Why am I calling him? Big Citrus.

What's our guy there? Who am I thinking? Do you talk about Caleb Banks? No, not Caleb Banks. Big Citrus on the Vikings. Dominique Orange, of course. Might be ahead of Caleb. This is news to me.

I didn't know that was his nickname. Oh, yeah, Big Citrus is the man. Looks like he's got to contribute right away. You never know with your draft picks because he was, what, a third round pick, fourth round pick? Third round. And yeah, and Caleb Banks was their first round pick. Caleb Banks looks like a project that's not going to help this team at all.

And yet, you know, Orange, the third round pick. and then their sixth round cornerback, Charles Deming, looks like he's going to make a big impact right away. So you just never know. And that Kyler Murray throw had Alec Lewis from the Athletics saying the arc of Kyler Murray's camp, including the battle, the slow start, like hating some big plays in joint practice,

is eerily similar to Sam Darnold's arc, his first camp with the Vikings. Because it was kind of, if you remember back to that camp, it was our first NFL daily camp. It was very similar to Darno had a slow start, and then joint practices came, and it was like a steady build, and then he started hitting some plays, started understanding the offense. Well, I mean, that year, we didn't even expect Sam Darnel to play. It wasn't until McCarthy had an knee injury in his first preseason game, which that performance, by the way, wowed everybody, that it became clear that Donald was going to have to play, and the rest is history. So, okay.

I don't know if I'm going to buy completely into that, but all right. Okay. We are, we are having a monster show here on this Sunday. night. Let's get to the Cowboys Cardinals. But first, I did want to mention you had said Rashad Bateman earlier. He is now facing three charges, including family violence after allegedly breaking the windshield of a car carrying his three-month-old daughter and her mother, according to court documents that were obtained by the athletic on Friday. So it remains to be seen whether he faces legal punishment, whether the Ravens suspend him. They have said they're

aware of it. The NFL is aware of it. There was some, you know, interest from the Texans in him and a trade that I'm sure is gone now. And so we'll see. I'm going to keep an eye on there. The Cowboys and the Cardinals played. The Cowboys are dominant in the preseason right now, in part because Joe Milton has put an end to this quarterback two battle. Joe Milton with the game of his life against Arizona, he had a bomb so good that Eric Roberts said this, this throw needs to be in the show. Let's see it. If you are watching on YouTube, you'll, we'll see him about 60 yards in the air. And Joe Milton can spin it.

Like, if you're just talking about, like, throwing a go route, Joe Milton would be pretty high on the list of just who can throw the ball the furthest in the NFL. No one never doubted that. And this receiver group's been pretty deep right now for the Cowboys. I don't even know who's going to make this team. That was Jonathan Mingo, right? Catching that touchdown, I believe. That was Joe Milton's greatest strength coming out of Tennessee.

In fact, when he arrived. That was the talk in Knoxville was, oh, he's got a cannon for an arm, but we know what's happened with his career since then. I love the preseason arc of Joe Milton and year two under Brian Schottenheimer. Not that I ever want to see him on the field, but if they have to, you know, play him if Dak can't play for whatever reason, yeah, there's no freaking way that he's not the backup quarterback. It matches style of play, potential to push the ball down the field.

Imagine him with C.D. Lamb and George Pickens. It would be fun. Periods of it would be fun. Yes. It would be box office. And it would be interesting seeing him develop. Malik Davis is reportedly the favorite to be the running back too here. But Jaden Blue did have a good game here. Jashon Barham is a linebacker. We're keeping eye on him. He looked awesome in this game for the Cowboys. And I thought it was interesting. Brian Schottinheimer was asked, what guys have exceeded expectations in camp? Caleb Downs was the first guy he mentioned. Okay, Caleb Downs' expectations were already high. And I like Chavon Ravelle was.

on the list too but Caleb Downs very exciting. Yeah, Ravel had a pick in this game because the guy that Gardner Minchie was targeting fell down. But it was a nice play by him to be in the right place at the right time. Not surprised at all by downs because I feel like he's been unfairly underrated even though

he was one of the best defensive players in college football because of his size. It was all related to size. The kid could play at all three levels. I don't know why he fell to the point he didn't. The Cowboys were happy to scoop him up. But that was my number one note, which is Barham. jumps off the screen. And maybe it's partially because of his hair.

That's fine. I love that kid. I totally see why he's in the mix right now. DeMarvie on Overshone is probably the middle linebacker to start the season. But Jashon Barham is pushing and the two of them are both exciting players. I think you figure out how to use them both. Another guy on Schottenheimer's list was Tyler Guyton. Jaden Blue was not a guy that he listed.

The running backs, it's a mystery to me. I'm not sure Jaden Blumers. has much of a role at this point. I don't think he's the running back too. I wouldn't be surprised if they pick up someone on waivers and Blue is on their practice squad or is kind of running back three or four. It was a cool story here that a prospect by the name of Shiaz, Pete,

is believed to be the first tribe member of the Navajo Nation to beyond an NFL roster, had an entire section of fans, and they're well represented in Arizona, just giving him a huge standing ovation late in the game right behind the Cowboys bench. And very cool moment. He comes into the game late, helps to block on a late touchdown.

They're chanting his name. And he breaks down the team afterwards. And you've got to find a spot for this guy on the practice squad because his teammates love him. And if nothing else, he gives better post-lockroom speeches than any player I've seen. So just keep him around for that. Very cool story.

And a guy who picked up football late and it was like a walk-on in college. And I hope his story continues. One of the cool training camp stories out there. For the Cardinals, like sloppy practices and a really sloppy game. Like they struggled just to like snap the football penalties, operation. And when I say sloppy practices, that's what Michael Fleur said. He said, our team knows. We had a bad practice week.

We've been sloppy all week. it carried over into the game. It's hard to have too many takeaways here. There was no Carson Beck again. Garrett Williams, their young cornerback, returned to practice at some level this week, returning from an Achilles injury. We haven't heard from Josh Sweat.

They're edge rusher. But right now we're just kind of waiting and seeing if Jeremiah Love can get ready for week one. But otherwise, I don't have a lot to say about this Cardinals performance. I did think it was interesting that you threw Alger in there as a potential trade candidate for another team that needs a running back. because the rest of this group all has some sort of health question at this point.

And I know that's not really a takeaway from the preseason action, but it's like if you're taking full stock of this team right now, it's a sloppy operation, had a sloppy week, doesn't really have a healthy running back room. How do you calm down offense? You run the ball well, right? So it's interesting,

but it's year one. You're going to take your lumps in year one. Good point. They kind of need Tyler Alger. They also already like paid him if guaranteed money for the moment, Yeah, for this year. So the Bengals and the Bears played, and the Bengals won that game.

The Bears starters were out there initially. Joe Burrow, though, I thought was more interesting than anything that happened in the game talking about the urgency that he is looking for this season. I'm trying to put it out into the world. I'm trying to manifest it. I'm trying to show our guys the urgency that I have and that I want us to have as an organization

to go and make it happen. you can keep pushing it down the road or you can talk about it now and say this is the year and I'm tired of saying next year next year next year next year this is it you know your life is too short to keep pushing things down the road and I'm trying to instill some urgency and some intensity in everybody to go and get be great every day and try to go make it happen. What's up? Maybe it's because I watched Friday Night Lights in the last week,

but I can't help but just keep thinking about Billy Bob Thornton going, can you be perfect? Can you win state? I haven't ever, you know what's crazy? I've never watched the movie. Oh, it's way better than the TV series. Way better. The TV series is incredible.

I've watched the TV series at least twice in full, like one of my all-time favorites. Got to watch the movie. Okay. But yeah, his... And I get it. like he feels confident and he's been like this the entire offseason really since they traded for dexter lawrence he looks at them on paper and he says this is a defense that can compete and i know what we

have offensively now is the time let's go to it but the fact that you have to say publicly that you're trying to get the sense of urgency up is a little just a little unsettling for me zach taylor doesn't give you a great sense of urgency but no it's been i think they've had a great camp by all accounts. Like there's a couple issues. Tackle is one. Like they don't have a third tackle. I think they feel a little bit better about their cornerback depth. Well, there's

some questions about the defense, but they feel good about the defensive line. The offense, they're really deep at receiver. Dexter Lawrence, by all accounts, has had a monster training camp. Was great in the joint practice. I'm giving them the joint practice victory according to all the reports because of the Bengals defense. Ultimately, was kind of

the biggest difference making group up there. And you just wouldn't expect that necessarily that they played that well against the Chicago Bears offense but there is a little part of me that here's all this from Joe Burrow and maybe it's unfair

to Bengals fans but here's it in a way that's like or else you know yeah yeah well because it got pretty close to or else last year like this better be the year or else I'm not going to be happy about it not just like who's my coach and stuff but maybe

I don't want to be here but that's probably unfair. I'm not, I'm sure Joe Burrow is unconsciously thinking that, but I can't help but think it. Joey B is happy. Joey B. is happy. That's a drop I completely forgot, exists. I love the receiver depth, by the

way. Andre Yoshavos, I'm not even sure if he's the third receiver anymore. Dante Myers is there. I love Dante Myers. Kobe Young is a young player. They're good at finding receivers and Joe Burrow is good at finding them on the field, too. The starters for the Bears

gave up 14 plays and 67 yards to Josh Johnson, the Bengals' third quarterback. They're playing all the backups in this game. Not like the best sign in the world. Caleb Williams played in this game, but Ben Johnson said after the game with some tough love that he thought Caleb Williams made the wrong read on what was a busted coverage

that Caleb Williams tried to take advantage of and threw to Colston Loveland, but he just didn't make the right read. Ben Johnson said, look, there's two receivers underneath that that's where your priorities should have been and they were wide open and the drive ended with that. So some tough love there by Ben Johnson. And Stacey Dale is on the broadcast saying, and she knows this team better than anyone,

they are waiting for someone to step up at left tackle and it hasn't happened yet. They've actually added contenders to the left tackle spot. There are four players in the mix, including Braxton Jones, who's back from an injury and struggled in this game. But they all look like they struggled in this game. that makes you a little worried for Caleb Williams. It does a little bit, but I feel like I anticipated some uncertainty of this position, and I think they did too because Braxton Jones was coming back from injury.

And they tried to kind of prepare for this to happen by giving themselves options. It is a little concerning that they haven't figured out at this point. But, I mean, sometimes that just happens. Sometimes guys don't come in and just crush their position every year. And when there's some uncertainty, sometimes nobody emerges from the pack and you just kind have to choose the best or who's got the hot hand and figure it out as the season goes on. But the thing is, is like, teams are figuring out as the season goes on across all positions because injuries happen everywhere.

So it's not the worst thing in the world. Yeah. I have my concerns, but I also think Ben Johnson makes them less important. They'll scheme around it. He'll scheme around it. But I do wonder if they're going to miss Drew Dalman at Center. It was a surprise retirement. It's Garrett Bradbury.

He didn't look good in this first, in this preseason game either. And they have a lot of injuries, guys who are week to week for them. Elmanungai, they're running back. Tyreek Stevenson, their cornerback. Kyler Gordon has been out forever. Luther Burden is uncertain for week one. It's the left tackle situation. There's just a lot of injuries right now, especially in the secondary.

Let's go to the Giants and Dolphins. We have two more games to get through. Eric is going to kill me. I love everyone who is this deep into the podcast, who's with us live, but more just like in their ears. It's like the third listen because it's your third different drive to work, and it's taken that long to get through this entire podcast. This probably will be our longest podcast

of the entire season and it's preseason week too catching you up of an entire week. But this, to me, is like, it's what the sickos are all about. And I should just be shutting up. And I hope that you didn't lose your place, listener. No.

This is your one moment in the podcast. Remember me saying this now so that when you get out of the car and go into work, I hope your coffee's hot, I hope the weather's good, and I hope you don't lose this spot. I mean, do you not listen to the podcast? It's not like they start over, Shook.

I mean, I need to you to be listening. What if they're getting out of the car right now, and they turn it off and they walk into their office job or whatever they do? This is going to stick in their head. And they'd be like, all right, I got to come back for the last two games. Okay, okay. Yeah, you're right. Come back for Giants Dolphins. 26 to 3.

Giants doing the double duty. They won the joint practice. They won the game even more decisively. The Giants reporters were taking. were taking victory laps that they crushed this joint practice and it sounds like the Miami offense in the joint practices were

like couldn't do anything. Malik Willis couldn't do anything. That's the second time that's happened in the joint practices which is a little concerning. First time was a couple weeks ago. But they also were saying it was Jackson Darts like best performance

and offensively they looked pretty good. I think the running game was good. That's great to hear. But it was their best performance throwing the ball. And I, I heard a breakdown on three yards per carry, this Dolphins podcast. There were zero touchdowns thrown by either quarterback, by either team.

I've never heard of a joint practice where there's zero touchdowns throw. How good of a victory could it be? How good could your offense be if you went over in the red zone period, like the Giants? So there's like, that's a tough joint practice, an entire joint practice without touchdowns. That is a beat searching for positives because there's no scoring. And let me tell you, grain of salt, think about who you're competing against. Maybe it was just the red zone. But the red zone periods usually get like 12 to 15 plays.

There was a famous Tuatunga Vailoa joint practice a couple of years ago where I think he went like, he hit 12 touchdowns in like 15 plays against the Eagles. And afterwards, they talked about this on the podcast. The Eagles were talking about that team's going to the Super Bowl. And they did start out the season with an awesome offense. But they did not go to the Super Bowl. No. says. But that's what you can do in these Red Zone periods. And both teams went over. I don't know

what else to take from this game other than I can't wait to watch Arvel Reese play football on a week-to-week basis. Another couple snaps where he just absolutely destroys like a fullback in the hole. And he is just a tough, tough player. I want to give a shout out to Joe Shane for getting a sixth round pick for Daniel Fulele in a trade to the Jaguars. Although it was probably more John Harbaugh and his friends since Daniel Falayle was like a Raven and it's all.

Yep, yep. Raven following Harbaugh on New York. Yeah, and flipping it to a team in need. Probably a panic move, to be honest with you. Hashtag noticing Tyrone Tracy's precipitous fall down the death chart this preseason,

now behind Devin Singletary in terms of who's getting snaps at what stage in the game, and not helping himself by fumbling the football one week after blowing a block so bad that had sent Jackson Dart to the medical tent. Rough preseason for him. Yeah, it doesn't get much more rough than that.

And yeah, the fumble, the nausea Harris. That is tough. Also saw Demotion Darius Alexander last year's third round pick, another senior bowl hero who was starting for a while. He's behind Chauncey Goldston now. O'Dell Beckham dropped a potential touchdown in this game. And at this point, it'd be surprising, I think, if he made the wrong.

or, you know, it's harsh to call that a drop. He's leaping. It would have been difficult, but it's the type of plays that, you know, Odo Beckham used to make. And it just doesn't seem like there's, you know, a spot for him on this team. He was out of football last year. So the expectations are probably always a little unfair. If he wants to be on the practice squad, like I could see that.

It's possible if he wants to keep playing football and work. Yeah, because if you're on the practice squad, you can get a job somewhere else, too, if they need you. So it's better than being out of football entire. and getting those reps. Look, Father Time comes for everybody, and Odell's been through it health-wise over the last few years,

which has really been unfortunate for his career path. I also will say that, yes, he dropped that ball in the end zone, but he did have a catch. It might have been earlier on that drive or maybe just earlier in the half where he made a guy miss

and I immediately, like I knew it was him, but like he made, he did a little step back. And I was like, oh, that's the Odell I saw in Cleveland in 2019. Like, I remember those fast feet. He still got a little bit of,

in there. Let's go. I did see more than one, in fact, exactly two. O'Dell Beckham three jerseys at SoFi Stadium. I mean, he was barely with the Rams and he was a big part of them winning that Super Bowl, the run, and then specifically the Super Bowl itself. But still, it was a little surprised to see a couple of Odell Beckham jerseys out there with a lot of the Cooper Cups still getting worn. What the heck? Let's listen to Odell Beckham. Let's go two hours on this. Let's make it Michael Man Heat. I'm never going to be 23-year-old. me, but I'm very comfortable and confident in this version of myself. I'm pissed. This is the one that keeps me up at night. It's a play that I know I can make.

Just felt like I was hanging so long. They didn't want to see you get your feet down. You take it on the chin like a man. Confidence is still there. And I know that I'll make that play next time. Not a lot to take from the Dolphins week. I don't know if Tutu Atwell is making this team. If you're curious, it kind of seems like he's not. Quinn Ewers is their backup quarterback. He could be back from an injury this week. I don't think the backup quarterback for this team is necessarily on their roster right now. The Dolphins defense had some moments in the joint practice and Chop Robinson keeps getting a lot of love for how he's played this week. But if you are wondering how the Dolphins week went between the joint practice and then this

game, the Palm Beach Post ran a column on Sunday. Could the Dolphins go 0.17? What's your interest? they could you're wrong they could I hate it but they could I saw someone be like this week should not

like have you adjust your no over under down from like five to two I agree I think they're gonna win three or four games let's calm down

yeah yeah I mean zero's hard I did see I saw two teams do it but you gotta have an extra stroke or two of bad luck to go

oh and 17 now with the extra game but it's like when you look at all the in the NFL, I know roster-wise, which one's the worst? As of now. The Bucks and Chiefs played, and we did see some starters, not Patrick Mahomes, but starters for both teams were in this game that made it more interesting. I thought our Mason Thomas, their pass-ratcher, the Chiefs, that they took high is flashing, like flashing again, which is good to see. Look, their first-round

Pickram four years ago, Felix and Adi-Uzama is finally making some plays in the preseason. We'll see. I didn't even know if he was going to make the team. I think he's going to make the team now. Harrison Bucker ended the first half with a 69-yarder, but he has not been as good in recent years, and then he missed the 43-yarder that would have won them this crucial preseason game, potentially.

There was like three minutes left, but he missed it. He's had a lot of misses lately. Mansour Delane, their top pick was out there. He looked good. And then their right tackle position seems like it's a problem. They have not found their right tackle. Jalen Moore, Khalil Benson,

Esa pool all playing in this game, all struggling in this game. And that coincides with another point. If you're watching us, we appreciate you. Give us a like late in the show if you're still with us. And that you get to see this Ruben Bain highlight of him just getting back to the quarterback. And I just feel like he's a quarterback, I mean, an edge rusher that I'm going to enjoy watching. and just push the defender back into the quarterback. This is a double win, really, between him and Yaya Diabe at the same time.

And that's the type of pass rush. I think this Bucks team could have Shook. Yeah, that is precisely what he did at Miami. He is not a guy who's super long. He's not a guy who's going to win with Incredible Ben. He's going to get between your shoulders and win with power. And that's exactly what he did there, just shoving aside the offensive linemen in front of him to get inside.

I think this is going to be the first year in which they have a legitimate rusher opposite, a guy like Diabi, and a legitimate group that strikes some fear in the hearts of opposing offenses since the end of the Shaq Barrett era with them and the JPP time with them. It's been a few years since then.

Major win for this side of the ball. They desperately needed it. And Bain is exactly what I thought he was going to be. All I want for them is to stay. stay healthy and maximize production. It's good to see flashes in the preseason. Yeah, I think this pass rush could be one of the most improved groups in the entire NFL. David Walker was cooking a big spin move in this game.

Diabhi, Bain, Collaja Canty. And yes, they got their guy Vita Vaya locked up long term, two years, $48 million. It's almost all guaranteed. I was close, Chuck. I said, in the end, they just got to give them a big one-year raise and get on with it. They did one year better. They gave him a nice raise for this season, and they gave him a nice, guaranteed season next year, and then it's over.

So a terrific bit of business. Good holdout. As holdouts go, it goes perfectly placed. Trade request. Well done. He's back with plenty of time before the season starts. And Jalen Daniels will wrap here. Could be the quarterback, too, of this team.

Where did he play Kansas? Was he Kansas? Yep. And he was fun. Half of why Kansas was a really fun team to watch and a more enjoyable team to fantasize about their potential that they never quite reached when he was playing quarterback and Devin Neal was at running back.

I love watching Jalen Daniels play football. He's having a really good preseason. And I know that he's making a difference when my Buccaneer fan friends text me Jalen Daniels, for starter, because they're being facetious. But it's still, that's good, it's good news. They're saying actually that they want him to be QB2 over Jake Browning.

I don't think that's going to happen, but I think he's probably earned his way onto the team. I don't know, man. I don't like Browning's fit in his offense based on what I saw this weekend. Browning hasn't looked like that little surge of a three to five game sequence where he was winning games with Jamar Chase, T. Higgins, where the numbers didn't look much worse with him compared to Burrow.

We are wrapping this show up, and we're going to finish in just under two hours with the Titans and the Seahawks. Now, we have to be real, shook. You're not prepped for this. We've taped the show as kickoff happened in this game. And so I'm not going to pretend like I have massive takeaways from a game where Cam Ward was out there for three drives. I did go check and they only ended up with three points.

I think it's fair to say like the Cam Ward camp and preseason has been frustrating for its lack of production and the up and down practices. and we'll see what it looks like when live bullets are out there. But he was out there and they didn't get it done. Some starters out there for the Seahawks, but not many. Maybe not the best sign in the world either, that Drew Locke, you know, drove right down the field against the Titans starters and had a touchdown. Don't want to overreact to the preseason, but it hasn't been a great one for the Titans. Offensively, I would say trust the process, give this time.

This is not going to happen overnight with a new staff and Brian Dable and everything. defensively I would be a little bit more concerned because that's a that's the side that you invested in a lot to get a lot of Robert Saul's guys and you know, we'll see. We'll see right now. New staff, you've got to give it time, but I think I would have a lot more patience with the offensive side with Cam Ward and not hit the panic button too much.

It is fun though. It's a nice little example of how we do this, how the cake is baked that we may or may not get a highlight from a game that happened while we were doing this. It may have come from none other than two blocks. Eric Roberts is so good that he has a Drew Locke touchdown ready for us.

Why not? If you stuck around this long, let's enjoy some Sunday night football. On the 36th off the play fake, catch is made and is taken it to the end zone by Arroyo for a Seahawks touchdown. Arroyo! Boyle! Baby, let's go! My guy! I think he's going to be great. man, that kid moves like you want your tight end to move in the year 2026.

I think he can make it happen in year two. Not what you want to see out of the defense. Totally blown coverage there by the Titans. Not supposed to be that complicated of defense. I don't know. You say trust the process. Offensively. Offensively.

I hate to say it, but Tennessee has kind of reached the point where they're like the Jets and the Browns to me where it's like I'm not trusting the process just because of the uniform. until they prove otherwise. I'm sorry. Well, it's a new staff. I'm going to give them some. I know, but like, it's just,

I've been hurt before by trusting the Titans process. That's it for today's show. Thank you, Shuck, for hanging out. Thank you to my family who've been, like, knocking on the garage door. Aren't you done? Like, we were supposed to go do something. Thank you to everyone who tuned in live.

We love to do it on Sunday nights. It's not going to be our last Sunday night episode of the season. Next week. We will be here recapping Cutdown Day. That'll be same time Sunday at 8 p.m. Eastern. But we're going to be in your ears all week long. Really exciting set of shows, including the NFC North, our final division preview

with superstar Jordan Roderick that is coming on Monday. See you then. The entire draft room groans because you just took the guy they wanted. There's no better feeling than crushing your fantasy football league. I'm JJ Zacharyason, host of the award-winning late-rafficer. podcast. Before your draft, our players to target and players to avoid episodes tell you exactly who to circle and who to cross off. Listen to the late round fantasy football podcast on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.