NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Camp Buzz: Bijan Signs, QB Tiers and the All-Underpaid Team

Episode Date: August 4, 2026

Gregg Rosenthal and Nick Shook get you caught up on everything you need to know from training camps around the NFL including Bijan Robinson's new contract with the Falcons, what Robinson's contract means for Jahmyr Gibbs and the Lions, Zay FLowers' new contract with the Ravens, and an update on Kenyon Sadiq's health. Plus, Gregg gives you his All-Underpaid Team and the guys react to Mike Sando's 2026 QB Tiers for The Athletic. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Welcome to NFL Daily, where we love a dislocated thumb. I'm Greg Rosenthal here in the Chris Wesleying podcast studio. It's a camp buzz Tuesday with my friend Nick Shook, the offensive lineman. Did you mangle your fingers up like a lot of the lineman? Like, baldy style? Mine aren't too bad.

I got a little bit of bend here, but nothing terrible. I'm double-jointed with the thumb, so it looks a little funny. I can also bend my fingers all the way. the way back. So that's completely except for the thumb. I can go all the way back. Okay. No, I went, I can touch the back. I mean, which is, it's not good for you. That's concerning. It's a big, it's a big thumb day around the NFL because, yeah,

AJ Brown dislocated his thumb and Mike Braybill made fun of it a little bit. Added the podium. Dislocated a thumb. Just Jim. How is he doing? I think he's going to be okay. I think, I think he's going to be okay. Now, I tell him the lineman do that every other snap. And, you know, it's not a national story when a lineman pops his finger back in place. but we had a little bit of fun. I love seeing Vrable there at the podium.

It's kind of been under the radar, by the way. Just Mike Vrable being a normal coach again. Got a lot of grief for using the dog as a shield on his first training camp press conference. I don't know if you remember that shook, but when you consider the off season that Mike Vrable has had, the noise has quieted down. And yes, AJ Brown didn't miss any practice time.

And he's out there going one-on-one with Christian Gonzalez day after day, which Vrable says is, been a highlight of camp just seeing kind of these two greats going at each other. In the last few days he's been beaten Gonzalez down the field. I don't know if I have a question or a bigger thought on this. I just thought I would start with thumbs because I saw our friend

Gerald McCoy was on get up. Now our NFL network brethren are now regularly on ESPN and he showed some pretty disgusting digits that were bangled. Look, that's part of the wear and tear that comes with playing in the trenches in the NFL

but I'm all about digits. I'm all about keeping people healthy. I'm all about, you know, minor injuries at best because we're in training camp when worse things happen. You know what else I'm all about, Greg? Yes. I don't know if you're into the aesthetic of the game as much as I am, but yesterday, the new sideline gear was released. New caps, which means one thing for me. It's time for me to get a new Rob Lowe hat this year. Oh, wow. Is that, that's not part of the new sideline gear. No, this is last year's sideline gear, the old NFL hat. Yeah. Okay. So, yeah, this is a real advertisement to join us on YouTube. We're there every day. Obviously, we love you listening to

the podcast, but you can see Nick shook there. I will check out that sideline gear. We're way off track to start the show. It's a camp buzz episode, which means we're hitting the news as quickly as we can. We're getting you out of here before our division preview, which will go up on Wednesday. We got some big contract sign, but John Robinson is now locked up long term. I decided because I don't think he's making enough money to make a very impromptu, all underpaid team that would just fly through and then some other bits and bobs in terms of injuries around the NFL. And also the QB tiers that Mike Sando puts out every year. We'll have some takes on that at the end of the show. But let's start with Bajon Robinson, $51 million guaranteed on a three-year deal. It's an extension

up to $75 million. When I heard that Bajon Robinson and Jemir Gibbs might be recent, setting the market, I was then disappointed by the amount of this contract. That's why I'm doing an all underpaid team. I know he's making more than every other running back in the league. It's by like a million or two over Saquan per year. But man, running backs are still underpaid. If Bajon Robinson can't get more guaranteed money than the guard that they signed earlier this week. I mean, what are we talking about, Nick Shuck? Well, I mean, it's indicative of the fact that despite the re-emergence of the importance of the running back position. Running backs are still not paid as well as we would like them to be,

even when you're a player of Bajan Robinson's caliber, and it's because of the shelf life, as we all know. And I totally agree. In fact, if anybody's going to be upset about it, it's probably the other running back that was doing the hold in this week, which is Jemir Gibbs, because these were always going to be tandem deals. He's yet to sign with the Lions.

He's probably not going to get as much money as he thought he would either. If you do the $51 million guaranteed over $1,000, three years, right? That's what, 17 a year, average guarantee per year. That's still a million behind Sequin's average guarantee per year. And I have to blame Sequin a little bit because after he got paid, he wasn't as good as he was the year before, which of course is going to be very hard to have a 2,000 yard season. It's just not fair, man. Come on. Pay the running backs. I was referring to Matthew Bergeron. Look, it's a one-to-one comparison because it's the same team. Matthew Bergeron, a upper middle class guard, shall we say? It's been like okay in

NFL career got $60 million guaranteed from this same Falcons team on a four-year $96 million extension. I understand the guard market is different than the offensive line market. But I just remember Rahim Morris and a lot of other people pointing out last year, this is the best player in the NFL. This is not Saquan Barclay at the age that Saquan Barclay was at. Kyle freaking Pitts got like three years, $54 million. It's not that much different. It's less.

but it's not that much different than Bajon Robinson. It doesn't make any sense to me. And you're absolutely right. I'm glad you made that point about Gibbs because usually you want to be the second guy to sign the deal. But in this case, I wonder if him and his agent saw this and thought, really, bro?

Because everyone thinks you're a little bit better than me. Let's listen to Dan Campbell, who might have been happy about this Bajon Robinson deal coming down. This is him speaking on Tuesday. I think it's certainly not going to hurt. I mean, it's not going to hurt. But we'll see. You know, we'll see.

Look, I'm anxious to get Gibbs back out there. Every day that goes by, you know, that's another day that you feel like you miss with him and getting him out there with the guys and him doing his part. But there again, man, it'll get done when it gets done. Jamir Gibbs talked to the media briefly after practice on Monday. He was out watching practice for the first time that they had seen him. And he said he wasn't holding out because of contract related. And then they asked him, well, what are you holding out?

He's like, I don't, you know, I don't know. He said, he said, what I'm aiming toward? I don't know. This is the same running back who, when I went to have the Pro Bowl, and I tried to ask him about like a new offense, you know, moving on from last year's offensive coordinator of Detroit. I was like, how's it going to look? And he goes, I don't know, we haven't been there yet.

I was like, oh, okay, simple. Yeah, you're not going to get it much out of him. I'm disappointed. And yet it's tough because fans would get on, Bejan. if ever someone was going to reset a market, it was going to be him really holding the falcons feet to the fire. Like, you just will never convince me that he is worth like $8 million less per year than Chris Olavé?

Like, what are we doing here? Everyone recognizes he's a better player. This is the power. This is why Arthur Blank made Matt Ryan president of football. It's the ability to schmooze his players into taking contracts. They just took advantage of a guy who did have more years left on his contract with a fifth year option and all that. So he is getting the deal early that's worth pointing out. But this contract's going to age well. We'll get to other contracts that have aged well in a minute.

The Zay Flowers contract that came down on Tuesday morning four years up to 140 million. They're not even saying the up to in the original announcements from these insiders. I'm watching you insiders. You got to at least say the up to. It's just straight up lying at some point. They say $108 million. I'm not sure if that's guaranteed or in guarantees. A player that I've struggled with because he's so different than most wide receivers.

And yet he's always freaking open. And this team would stink if they didn't have Z-flower. So very important to them. And as you look at the list of long-term wide receivers, he deserves to be on it. And so if you're the next one up, you're going to get paid pretty well. I think he's somewhere in that top. 25 receivers in the league. I'm not sure how high you would have him, Nick.

I would put him in there as well, both because of production and importance to this offense. This is a guy who's had 1,000 yards receiving $1,200 last year, and each of his last two years. He's got nine total touchdowns between the last two years. He's a key part of this passing game. He was a key part of the passing game under Todd Monkin. I'm curious to see how his role might evolve

with a new offensive coordinator now in town and Todd Monkin being the coach of the Browns, but I think he's proven that he's worth this type of money. to this team where they don't have, you know, they haven't spent a lot of money on a receiver, which is unlike most of the other teams in the NFL. But it is interesting with these contracts because we have the up to 140 on the extension,

and we have the 108 million guaranteed. So if you start sorting guys by average guarantee per year, he lands in the top three. He's actually had a Justin Jefferson in terms of average guarantee per year, because mental math tells me that's what, 27 a year, 54, 27 times four is 108, I believe. Something like that, yeah?

Yeah. And so that would put him, you know, just behind George Pickens on the franchise tag. So that's good money. We'll see if it ends up being the four-year 140, up to 140 that we see right now. But it's something that he deserves. And it's a key part of the Ravens as they take this next step into their new era with Jesse Minter as their coach. Yeah. When we put him on our all 32 rankings, he ended up in the 20s with me and Nate Tice when we did our wide receiver rankings.

he and Lamar Jackson have a pretty special connection. And now I think just the way that they understand each other and where they're going to be. It looks unpredictable. Zayflowers has a little bit of Antonio Brown to him where it's like, I'll run the route that just gets me open and you figure it out. And Lamar and him are great at putting that together.

So Lamar is on my all underpaid team. I just decided let's go through the veteran contracts. Obviously the best rookies, the guys who are on rookie contracts, still like a Puka Nakua are the most underpaid players in the NFL because they just haven't gotten that veteran contract. I wanted this to be limited to veterans who are the most underpaid. Lamar is my quarterback. Fifty two million dollars a year, which sounds pretty great, but it's still like, you know, over 10 under the top guys. And less than Brock Purdy,

Jared Gough, Trevor Lawrence does act as his own agent. But it's more about that he's like the next up and he's going into a contract year. Lamar Jackson, my pretty clear all underpaid quarterback. At running back, it's a guy who signed pretty recently, James Cook, only at $11 million per year. Like, that's kind of shocking that James Cook is making half as much as the top running backs in this market. And he's probably not going to get his next deal.

This, these numbers are from the over-the-cap website. So thank you to them. What do you think, like, Lamar is going to get with the Ravens? Do you think he will be the highest-paid quarterback? back in the league, do you think it'll happen before this year? Like, how do you think this all plays out? It's pretty crazy to have a player this good going into his contract year. Yeah, I think that he'll probably get past Dak Prescott.

I don't know if he'll get past $64 million per year with Patrick Valhomes because of the way that they've structured that and that allows him to kind of get in that range. But, I mean, it's the perfect time. It's going to happen because it has to happen before next year. His cap number next year is $84.3 million. You have to stretch that out over the future. So he's going to get a raise. It's going to climb the charts.

And it should. But because of where the quarterback's rankings, you know, just get deep into the numbers, the nerd category, the financial nerd category of this podcast, beneath. Maybe I'm doing too much financial nerd stuff. Between beneath Patrick Mahomes and Dak Prescott, you have four quarterbacks, five quarterbacks.

Yeah, it's hard to count a spreadsheet for me. But $55 million per year for Matthew Stafford, Jordan Love, Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence, and Josh Allen. I think Lamar will pass all of them, get in that DAC and Patrick Bahomes range. because it has to happen. And I agree. I think that he is relatively underpaid.

James Cook, I think, is the better point of the two. It's crazy as it sounds because it's a guy who led the NFL in rushing last year, 16, 21 yards, no 1,621 yards, 12 touchdowns. He's been the engine. We give all the credit of the world to Josh Allen, as we should, but he has been the real counterbalance to Josh Allen, the real engine of the offense. His success has allowed Josh Allen to be that much better as a quarterback.

And yet the way that they handled this contract, there was a period there where it felt like the bills just weren't interested in paying him. And then he ended up, you know, kind of forcing their hand. But they kind of won out by with this deal. I mean, there's a number of running backs that are well ahead of him in APY. Some guys who signed recently. Some guys who didn't sign recently. You've got immediately in front of him are Josh Jacobs, Travis E.TN. Alvin Kamara. Jeremiah Love on a rookie contract. Jonathan Taylor. Like, he should be making more money than some of these guys. Kenneth Walker, who just signed this year. And yet he's, you know, he's under contract through 2029 now. So yeah, that's the last big deal. Yeah.

I guess so. And I don't want to root for management in these cases. No. And someone pointed out, well, Bejan Robinson has the highest guaranteed of the running backs. I'm like, no, he doesn't.

Because a rookie, Jeremiah Love actually had more guaranteed money than him, which is just, if nothing else, Bejohn should have just held their feet to the fire, extended this thing a few more weeks. But he wanted to get back with his team. The rest of my all underpaid team,

Mike Evans, but that was partly by choice. He took less money to go to San Francisco. But he is making less money per year than Josh Palmer, which is crazy. Nico Collins somehow just signed a raise a deal, and yet because they got him at such a discount early rate, he still is underpaid to me.

At tight end, I couldn't really find a great tight end. Chico Conco, I thought, actually, will wind up being underpaid. So the rookie, the guys on the rookie contract, Brock Powers and Colston Loveland were my choice there. The offensive line, Andrew Thomas got a ton of guaranteed money, but he is an elite left tackle that is only making $23 million per year, and they hold his rights for another like four, five years. That is going to age extremely well for the Giants.

So he's never going to leave there. At defensive tackle, it's Vita Vaya, who's looking for a trade. Cam Hayward is still at a good price. I know he's old, but he's still playing at a very high level. And then his teammate is my choice at Edge, Alex Highsmith, only making $17 million a year, only got $27 million guaranteed. He is due a new contract at Line. backer. I liked Fred Warner. Yeah, I know that contract's fairly recent, but he's just so good

that it's kind of similar to Bajon Robinson. Wow, he's only making $21 million a year. That's like David Edwards money, like the card for the Saints. Like it's just, it's impressive. And then Jalen Petrie is my defensive back at $13 million a year. He's kind of transitioned into a nickel back. He was a safety. But man, that is that is a bargain. So that's my all underpaid team. I don't know if anyone stands out or anyone else you wanted to put on there. I have an issue with classification when it comes to some of these guys who are listed as linebackers, but they're living more in an edge role. Nick Herbig is one of those guys because when you're trying to compare Alex Highsmith's contract,

you have to factor in Herbig. And then you have to consider the Steelers' overall cap situation. They obviously have a ton of money dedicated to J.J. Watt, excuse me, at $41 million per year. And then you go down the list and it's like, if you combine Edge and linebacker salaries, you've got to go pretty far down to find Highsmith at 17 per year. year, you get Herbick at 25 per year. They're kind of operating, I mean, it's within the same financial pool, but it's also the same positional pool for the most part.

But then again, you look at the Steelers' cap space. $3 million as of right now, $4.9 projected next year, according to over the cap. It balloons in 2028, but it explains why Highsmith is, you know, far down on that list. And he might get traded. I think this is going to be his last year on the team. So that's our quick, all underpaid team. And yeah, but John Robinson might immediately go on it because, He's that good.

Some notes in terms of injuries around the NFL on this Tuesday. The Jets rookie tight end. Kenyon Sadiq is out. Sounds like it's going to be a little while. Aaron Glenn sounded optimistic that his rookie tight end could be back for week one, but he's already been out for three days. And what I hate to hear is that it's a recurrence of this groin hernia issue that he's struggled with a little bit coming into the draft.

at Oregon. So there's been a lot of positivity about the Jets offense at training camp so far. Some Jets fans wondering, is that a bad sign about their defense? Either way, Kenyon Sadiq, who is going to be a real weapon next to Mason Taylor, that is one to watch. I'd be really disappointed if we don't get like full Sadiq to start the season. Because I'm in on that Jets Titans week one game. It looks ugly, but I want to see what it looks like. I just want to see what these teams look like. And you got Bob Sala revenge opportunity there with Titans too. That that makes it even juicier. I always worry about core muscle injuries. Now, the groin hernia is a little bit different than your traditional core muscle injury. But like I think about when, I think it was Odell's

first year in Cleveland where nobody really knew that he was dealing with the core muscle injury for most of the year. But talking to him, talking to Jarvis Landry, who was dealing with a hip injury that entire season, you understood by the end of it why they were limited in the way that they were. And I would hate for a guy like Sadiq, who is an athletic freak that is his greatest strength, is his athleticism. He still kind of needs to work on hands consistency. I would hate for him to have to deal with that in his first year in the NFL. When the level is raised, your athleticism is more important than ever. If you're limited by something like that, lowers your ceiling.

I would hate that because I'm excited. That's one of the 12 personnel groups that I'm most excited to watch this year. Yeah, there are so many times where I can remember a second year player and the offseason storyline is, well, I missed that time in training camp and he never really caught up. I was hurt. Yeah, it was banged up, rookie wall. I mean, it makes sense that just like you never really catch up.

You need that time in camp. So I'll keep you an eye on that. Some other injuries, Devante Smith and Mackay Lemon are out of practice for the Eagles on Tuesday. We'll see if those are serious. Lane Johnson has also been away for the team for three days for personal reasons. I check out the Zach Jackson and Friends podcast covering the Browns. He thought day five, first day in pads, was another day where Shador Sanders won, and that Shadur Sanders is clearly winning this quarterback competition so far

and that the rookie wide receivers are looking good there. We'll see if the Browns, agree, and if that continues. One guy who doesn't have to battle for his job anymore is Matthew Stafford. And our producer, Eric Roberts on the ones and twos, running back and forth, playing the sound drops. I thought this was an interesting soundbite here from Stafford that just kind of speaks to where the Rams are at right now.

You know, there was a lot of high quality plays out there, plays that, you know, in the books will go down as good for the offense, and in the books that will go down as good for the defense that sometimes you just tip your cap, you know? I mean, they covered a couple things really nicely and were plays where maybe in a game, they shake out a little bit different. We go to the ground or whatever it is, but like, man, that's, that's as high quality of practice football as I've been around. I'm not surprised.

I'm looking forward to being there on Wednesday. We will, you know, talk to the team and everything that'll go up on Thursday. But for a veteran like that, who's looking kind of swole, Matthew Stafford right now, definitely ready to go for the season. Like it's going to benefit that offense and that defense to go up against each other throughout camp. Yeah, what's the old saying? The cliche, iron sharpens iron.

Everything is good vibes coming out of the Rams camp right now. And it's going to continue to be that way for as long as there's every reason for that to be like that. I mean, you don't want an injury or something terrible to happen. But understandably so, everybody's excited about what they have. And it's good to hear that they're a well-oiled machine at this point in training camp when you're working out a lot of kinks elsewhere. But I do have

one recommendation. And this is so superficial. And I know it doesn't matter. But the shirt that Matthew Stafford was wearing, it looked like he just got off of a water ride at an amusement park. That's bad. That's bad, Matt. Pick a better shirt. I know it doesn't matter. It's under your pads.

But like when it comes to the press conference, just wear something better. Okay. You're saying that's not flattering. It's not flattering. It just looked, yeah, it does look like that the shirt you wear, or at least that a man of my age wears at the public pool, like in Vegas, if you're there.

Yes, yes. I just got off the front row of the log flume. I'm drenched with my kids, and I'm ready to take a family photo now. Let's pick a better shirt. I mean, he is a family man. He's got like four daughters. Let's talk about Netflix

and their broadcasts of NFL games this year. I just thought it was interesting. Nick Foles and Clay Matthews. added to the Netflix crew. So their set is L. Duncan, who hosts all the Netflix sports now. Michael Irvin, who's been with Netflix now, like that. And Nick Foles and Clay Matthews. Like, okay, let's see it.

I don't know. Is this the same, this is the same platform that Luke Keekely is going to be on, right? Luke Keeakley will be the game broadcast, correct. Yeah, with Noah Eagle. And I think they're going to try to like make it the same group throughout. So we're going to be watching. It's Australia. it's the second game of the season.

It's a big game. Like Rams 49ers matters. And this is the crew. So I always like to keep an eye on the new broadcasting talent. Is Nick Foll's going to be inspiring and see? He was sometimes pretty good at the podium. I could see him being okay. As long as we don't get a cameo from a random former player

and a cross sport involvement, like James Winston pushing a hot dog cart at the season opener and Netflix's MLV coverage. Let's not do that. Or Burke Kreischer, like a comedian. Let's not do that either. We don't need that. We don't need that.

We don't need a lot on Nick Foles' nickname either. Some other nugs around camp. Derek Moore, who is the rookie edge for the lions that they are counting on to really play a lot for them, is going to be out for about a week, maybe 10 days with an injury. Brian Branch reportedly looking pretty good on the side field, according to Colton Pouncey of the athletic and some optimism that he could be back for week one. the Dolphins Titan. Greg Dulcich has been out for a little while. Could be out next week, but just wanted to note that. And then happy trails to Akello Weatherspoon, a former Ram last year,

and 49er before that, who was placed on the reserve retired list. There's been a couple of these each day. There are a couple of players I'm not as familiar with, but just like guys who, the game ain't in them no more. So a nice veteran career for Akeller Witherspoon. Let's wrap up by talking about these QB tears that are out from Mike Sando. I told you, I wanted to just mention it at the end of the show right before we started. And there was something on there that just gave you like the, the what? Like just like you went absolutely. What?

What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What?

What? It was like the reaction that people have in the stills for the YouTube videos, which we need more of, frankly. Eric, it's like, you know, it's like stuff like that. You can use that one. What was it, Chuck? What was it that made you do that? Yeah, that's like outlined.

It's like a heavy stroke in the outline there. Okay, so first off, shout to the athletics graphics team. You guys always do a fantastic job, and I thought this is a perfect way to visualize these tiers. So at the top of this article, there is this pyramid style graphic in which Patrick Mahomes is at the top, and there's little subheads, little descriptions that explain why they land there. And it said Patrick Mahomes is no longer a unanimous tier one quarterback.

And I went, what? Yeah. Really? There's a GM out there that believes a Patrick Mahomes. What? What? Is not a tier one quarterback? Or a coach, it's 50, you know, it's a little misleading.

Like, it's 50 votes. I guess he's always a bunch of haters? Like, what are we doing here? It's literally one hater who thinks he's a tier two quarterback. Look, for this season alone, he was coming off a torn ACO and we did our quarterback's draft. I think we had him third or fourth, which felt disrespectful, but because of the injury. But overall, yeah, it is a little crazy, but it's one guy. That's a little crazy.

It's, you know, Josh Allen had two guys who did not think he was tier one. Same thing with Matthew Stafford. Joe Burrow was the last guy in tier one. And that's where I was by far most surprised that Joe Burrow is a locked in tier one quarterback according to them. Okay, I'm fine with that. 46 votes to four. And that Lamar Jackson is not 28 people put him in tier two. It's like they're like I don't really live in a world where I put Joe Burrow ahead of Lamar Jackson in anything. Like you can't even say last year where, which was Lamar Jackson's worst year in a while, uh, it was that big a difference because Joe Burrow wasn't healthy. And Joe Burroughs

very often not healthy. And so that, that, is curious to me that Lamar got bumped down that far off of one. He's not getting like the grace, certainly that Mahomes get. And he shouldn't overall, but he did win, you know, two out of the last three first team all pros and nearly two out of the last three MVP's. Yeah, I mean, we're moving the goalpost here. The rubric is changing based on the quarterback that we're evaluating because if you want to complain about Lamar and maybe not finishing every season healthier playing all 17 games, we can say the same exact thing about Joe Burrow. And yes, I think Joe Burrow is a better pastor than Lamar Jackson. But overall talent,

I think they both belong in the same category. I don't know why we would dispute it otherwise. Lamar went down. His voting average was 1.56, it declined by nearly half of a tier. For what? What reason? Because are we treating this like MVP voting?

Well, team's best quarterback of the best team. He played through injury poorly, but again, like I'm not holding against Joe Burrow that when he started the season poorly coming off some of these offseason injuries. It's like, yeah, he's rounding into form.

And yeah, it was not the Lamar that you normally expect to see if he's not healthy. He was still fifth on the list, so I'm not going to go too crazy here. Probably the other surprise. I mean, Drake May is down in tier two. You got to, they got to earn, he's got to earn like his love from the group. But, yeah, you have them tied with golf right below Justin Herbert and Dak Prescott. Not how I'd see him, but I get that he has to earn it.

And I do like that the coaches and GM's incontentists were pretty similar to how we finished when we talked quarterbacks that I had pretty. 10th and Jordan Love like 8th or 9th. Jordan Love ends up 10th. Purdy ends up 11th tied with Caleb Williams. Jane Daniels next at 13. That is all very similar. Where I disagreed the most was C.J. Stroud actually being way lower at 20. Like behind Bo Nex, behind Baker Mayfield, who's up there at 14.

I know it was a rough end to the year. Behind Aaron Rogers, you're laughing, but come on, bro. I managed to think, well, wait, hold on. This is something that I do weekly during the season. I have an entire spreadsheet for the week-by-week comparison. So I went to the end of last year. Nailed it. Bo Nix was 18th on my list.

C.J. Strav was 20th on my list last year. At the end of last year, but that is one season. That is not the overall reputation. But it does make me smile a little bit when a lot of these end up landing pretty close to where I had them. Yeah, that's one where I think it'll change. Like, to me, he is absolutely at that level with a Baker Mayfield.

and you know, Trevor Lawrence not getting a lot of love, which I think was interesting that he still has to prove it down there at 16, where the coaches and the GMs kind of want to see the consistency out of him, but pretty significantly below where Brock Purdy and Caleb Williams are, for instance. Yeah, I think they gave Jayden Daniels, and look, there's only been two seasons with Jayden Daniels. One was amazing. One was extremely forgettable and just a nightmare because of health issues. I think they gave him a little bit too much credit in placing him there, but that's projection.

I think a lot of this is projection, but if we're going off of projection, I believe that Trevor Lawrence is going to climb in this ranking too. 16 makes sense because I was in that camp too where it was like, I don't know. I don't think he's ever going to get to that level

that the Jaguars are paying him to be at. And then I saw the second half of last season, and I'm really excited to see if he can replicate that this year from the first week on with Liam Cohen in year two. If that happens, he will climb and he will finally turn his reputation into something that's closer to the potential that he's always been given

since he was at Clemson. Here's a thing, though. He is the last, like, solidly tier two quarterback. That second tier was massive. So they're putting him in the same tier as Herbert and Lamar and Drake May as just like a big tier two. And Jalen Hertz is the definition of kind of the median of the NFL right now, stuck between tier two and two, tier three, 25 votes for tier two, 25 votes for tier three.

And then the next, you know, spots down, as I mentioned, were Bo Nicks, Aaron Rogers, and C.J. Stroud. absolutely outrageous and it calls the entire votes into question that one person put Deshawn Watson as a tier two vote.

One person also had Aaron Rogers as a tier one vote. It's why I like to point out sometimes like not everyone in the league knows what they're talking about. There are plenty of coaches

and GMs that don't watch the other teams that I value your opinion and many other media's opinion much more than some of the people in the league. including the guy who gave Deshawn Watson a tier two vote. Wow.

You could throw 100 darts blindly at the dartboard and you'd still end up with a lower ranking than the tier ranking that one person gave Deshawn Watson. I mean, my God, you're just not watching the game. Kyler Murray down there at 23. That feels about right now. Daniel Jones at 20. I thought it was interesting.

They sorted the class of 2025 quarterbacks, DART, Cam Ward, and Tyler Shuck in that order, I would probably have the reverse order, but they had them all extremely close. So ultimately, it's those three guys. It's very interesting to track over time, like how they separate.

You've separated yourself. Two shows in three days here, Shook. Very excited about what's coming up in the Nick Shook world. And you've also got a big column coming out next week. Is that right, too? Or is that this week? No, yeah.

I mean, you're just going to see a lot of me with different columns. Okay. All the next in the weeks ahead. And pro football Hall of Fame game coverage Thursday night, baby. Okay. I look forward to seeing what you write, what you say in Canton. We'll be doing a live show after the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I know the game itself is not that big.

It's not going to be big takes from that. But we just thought it'd be fun to kick off the first primetime game of the year with a live show on YouTube. So check out myself and Jordan Rod Reed for that show. But we got a couple shows before. we even get to that. That's going to be at 8 p.m. Eastern Thursday night. Before that, we are going to have an AFC South preview with a first-time NFL daily guest that is coming in your feed on Wednesday. We will see you then. This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human.