NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Camp Takeaways for Every AFC Team and Micah's Trade Request

Episode Date: August 4, 2025

Gregg Rosenthal is joined by Nick Shook to give you camp takeaways for every AFC team. First, the guys react to Micah Parsons requesting a trade from the Cowboys (01:50). Then, the camp takeaways start with the AFC East (07:25), followed by the AFC North (24:15), AFC West (40:45), and AFC South (55:07). Gregg and Nick wrap the show with some thought's on this year's Pro Football Hall-of-Fame Class (01:10:45). NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Hey, everybody. Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6th, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.

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Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. Welcome to NFL Daily, where unlike Michael Parsons, we want to be here. I'm Greg Rosenthal. I'm with my friend Nick Shook. We will talk, Micah Parsons. We will give you camp takeaways for all 16 AFC teams.

But before we do that, just a little bit of housekeeping, I wanted to announce due to popular demand. The show I did with Daniel Jeremiah 40s and free agents, it's got to be back for a little preseason preview. We're going to go through all the divisions, talk about some of the acquisitions, how the draft picks are going, how the free agents are going. and that will be dropping in your feed on Tuesday. I bring that up now because I'm going to ask a favor for all the listeners out there. Go ahead and subscribe to the show 40s and free agents. I know we've been posting it in the NFL Daily Feed

back when we were leading up to the draft, but I want this beautiful baby bird to fly on itself. Let's prove it to the bosses, you know, and let's prove we don't need that. Maybe we'll cross post that first one, but we don't need it. So please, just do me a favor. I don't ask for too much. Go ahead, subscribe.

like, give us a review for both shows. And with that, Nick Shook, love you, buddy. How you doing? Well, I'm happy to be here. You know, I was also happy and fortunate to run into DJ in the elevator in Canton at Tom Beds and Hall of Fame Stadium on Thursday, him and money.

They were both there for the Chargers game, obviously. So while you're not going to be as fortunate as I was to shake hands and joke around and chuckle with both of them, you can come a little bit closer by subscribing to that show. So make sure you do it. Oh, yeah. I mean, we got to pay like an excellent.

to actually get Jeremiah in the studio with me, but we're working on it for some of these preseason preview shows, which I'm really looking forward to. So let's get to it. And I mentioned Parsons, and it's an AFC show, but since we last recorded, that's when the Micah Parsons trade request came in. And, oh, man, he went full notes app.

And if you're watching on YouTube, you'll see just how long and insane this post was from Michael Parsons. But I got to say, if you went through all of it, it's really worthwhile. What Jerry Jones said before Parsons ever put this out is actually right on. That Micah Parsons is one of the savviest business people in terms of a player and getting his brand out there and getting his opinion. Please take off all that word salad now from the screen. It's giving me a headache. And if you went through it, it really did paint a picture, Nick.

And I tend to believe everything that Parsons said. that Jerry Jones and Parsons got into this conversation that he thought was going to be about leadership in March. And then Jerry Jones, you know, thinks he starts negotiating with Parsons, thinks he essentially gets a deal done with Parsons. And when they bring that up to the agent, the agent's like, no, you can't be trying to negotiate with my client without me in the room.

And that literally the Cowboys haven't sent an actual offer or communicated since. And that's back in March. So it's a peek behind the curtain about how a team that it's worth so many billions of dollars operates sometimes like a mom and pop type of organization like, oh, hey, yeah, we don't need the agent involved. Let's just get a great relationship and try to take advantage of that with the actual owner. Meanwhile, Micah is saying, this trade request is through Stephen Jones. We have submitted it and I think they're just going to ignore it. But kind of bad job by the Cowboys. I think it makes the Cowboys look bad, which was the idea by Parsons. Yeah, and an old school business person would

say, well, this is how business is done with discussions like this. But I push back against that just like Micah did. Micah's very long Notes app post there read like an impromptu press conference with himself because every time he got to a point where somebody might have a counter or a question, he answered it. He laid it all out there point by a point throughout the whole thing. And let me tell you, I use the Notes app sometimes when I'm working on a feature. I just have ideas and I'll type out little chunks of stuff. Nothing has ever looked that long with so few paragraph breaks in my life like that. You need a paragraph break on the notes app.

Good on him for being honest, though. I'm glad you laid it out there. It's bad formatting. It is. Look, I don't want to even get into the potential trade offers. Like, what would it cost? You know, multiple first round picks or which teams would make sense. Like, we did a, you know, potential landing spots on the site.

And the teams that Eric Hood at home, like, throughout there, like the Raiders, the Bears, I think the chargers were in there. The bills don't make as much sense to me because they don't have room. Like, yeah, that all makes sense on paper of, like, who would actually be bold enough to do it and who would have the money. But unlike Terry McLaurin, where I actually think it would make sense for other teams to send that offer and that the commanders would have to even just think just a little bit about it if the money is out of control. The Cowboys have shot this thing down so quickly. Jerry Jones could not have been more dismissive when he spoke about it at training camp over the weekend.

said, we're in good shape. It's negotiating. I don't really place that request with any real seriousness at all. So he was just kind of like, yeah, that's nice, Micah. And meanwhile, Micah Parsons, even though he wasn't as active, like with his group at practice, he literally is at training camp still. And he was kind of walking around practice, although maybe not as engaged now since he put up that trade request. So as much as Michael Parsons says, he does not want to be there. It's just hard not to imagine this just ending in a similar way to all the other Cowboys extensions. It's just a pain and they're wasting a lot of our time. They are and we all get tired of it. But when you hear trade requests get submitted by star players, you have to consider

two or three things, which is age of the player, total like potential earning power over the course of their career, how much they're going to cost. And then effective calories, their salary cap space with potential suitors. None of that fits with this. Nobody's going to pay or or have the money to pay Micah Parsons or give up the draft capital to acquire him in a trade. It's just not going to happen. I had a friend, Browns fan, text me. He's like, you think the Browns could get him? I was like, absolutely not.

You're going to dedicate over $80 million a year to two edge rushers. It's just not going to happen. So, yeah, I think it's nothing more than like Jerry said negotiating. It's unfortunate that it becomes so public and we have to kind of deal with it. But that's the way that this business operates. Miles Garrett did the same thing in February. And look, he got his money. So don't be surprised if Micah gets it eventually.

But the biggest difference there is that was before, you know, free agency and the draft when those picks have a bigger premium. You know who doesn't want to do this trade? The Dallas Cowboys who are trying to win in 2025. You know how much those draft picks are worth in February or March compared to now? Like the exact same. So unless you have an offer where you are sending like premier edge rushing talent back that's going to help the Cowboys now plus picks, there's no way the Cowboys are going to be interested in that because they want to win in 20. 2025. And unlike the NBA, who's planning out rosters into like 2029, 2028, NFL doesn't work like that. They think about today. And that's what the Cowboys are going to be doing. And I really

believe if Terry McLaurin has like a 4% chance of getting traded, I'm giving Micah Parsons about a 0.5. So let's get into the notes because we got a lot. Let's go around the entire AFC will hit every single team. And we're going to, you know, ping pong divisions. I start. with the AFC East. And it was interesting to see how James Cooks decided to handle his contract situation. After practicing fully, Chuck, for the first couple of weeks, he was out of practice on Sunday and then kind of went full Marshawn Lynch. Every single question that he took from the media after practice, he just answered with

the word business. Didn't matter what the question was. Are you now conducting a holden? Business. What is it that kept you out of practice on Sunday? Business. Are you going to be practicing on Monday? Business.

And it's an interesting move. James Cook kind of shows up, shows that he's healthy, he's ready to go, and then kind of pulls the rip cord in the middle of training camp. But it's a camp where a lot of guys have been on the sidelines for the bills. and one where I don't think he's going to get his money because I think they like the depth of that position and that's one even more than Michael Parsons where the hammer of the franchise tag

really does not help running backs in these negotiations. No, it doesn't. It takes away some of their power to leverage a new deal. But I think that the writing's been on the wall with this situation for months because every time Brandon Beans talked about it, he said, yes, we would love to have him. He even spoke about this, I think, last week.

We would love to have him in training camp at this time next year, but it's about piecing your puzzle together and figuring out where everything fits. And let's face it, unless you're Saquan Barkley or, I mean, I guess even Derek Henry and, I don't know, Bijon Robinson, running backs just don't get paid like they used to. Most of them don't. And I think they look at him as a guy who maybe doesn't carry the three down potential that they would want out of a guy that earns that type of contract. He's mentioned that he's working on becoming a better and more reliable pass catcher in this camp.

But we saw what they got out of Ty Johnson last year. Like, this is not a player that they're, I think, will. willing to invest top dollar in, even if he has paced their ground game, a ground game that was so bad before they changed offensive coordinators, that it was a massive Achilles heel to this team for many seasons. And yet, I just don't see them investing him long term. And this is probably going to drag on, even if I think they should pay him, because I like who he is as a running back. I don't think he necessarily commands the dollars that he's going to want from them. And we're not going to get a resolution to this. I love his style of running. I just, just a slasher.

Look, when you get the ball in his hands as a receiver, he is dynamic. I think it's maybe the blocking that's gotten in his way. The problem is not every team drafts at running back well, but the bills have. Ty Johnson has turned into one of the very best third downbacks in the league. And Ray Davis has a ton of juice as a third back. That is one of the very best running back rooms in the league. So that works against James Cook as well. And yeah, I don't think that deal is going to happen.

I mentioned a lot of people are out of practice. So Khalil Shakir, their number one receiver is week to week. Nothing to panic about, but he's going to miss a lot of camp. Josh Palmer has not been practicing with the team. Curtis Samuel has not been practicing with the team. So it's a bit of a mass unit out there. They did get Elijah Moore back. A lot of highs and lows from Keon Coleman.

They had the scrimmage. A lot of teams had kind of the family night scrimmage with the crowds and everything. And Keon Coleman, after a couple early drops, ripped off like two really, big plays, like down the field, 35, 40 yard play. So they need more of that. One of them was on Christian Benford. So that's good to hear, but that's apparently what the Keon Coleman experience has been like in training camp, like big ups and big down. So they want to have a little more consistency out of him. Their first round pick, we mentioned it earlier in the week. Maxwell Harrison, he's been updated to week to week out right now. And not a lot of juice just there

out of Bill's camp because they don't really have like a lot of people competing for spots it's not the worst spot it's like they're trying to make a story out of Shaq Thompson who's a little banged up

like trying to make the team like Spencer Brown the right tackle's not there either not a lot of juice there just because everything's settled and that's fine that's actually not a bad place to be for an NFL team

yeah I mean when some of the most juice you get out of camp is Josh Allen showing up to their practice at the stadium wearing a red helmet I think you know the state of camp for them they're just getting right that's got to be their December helmet

everyone was excited about that The week 18 helmet or something, yeah, like it's the game in which maybe many of their starters are not playing, but it's a rivalry game. So we're going to wear it then. The receivers worry me if they were longer-term injuries, but all of these seem like they're going to be ready by the end of August. So what's really the concern? Let's go to the Jets where the good news is Justin Fields got back to practice. The bad news is he's been spraying it. And he's, we try not to overrate with the quarterback stats.

Nick, but when you just see enough, like with this exercise, I go through the reports throughout the week. Once you see like three or four of these days stacking up where it's like, oh, Fields was two for ten. Or, oh, there was literally a two for ten day. Or a couple other days where it's like under 50%. Like you start getting like a little concern there that not only is Fields not the most consistent passer, but Josh Reynolds is your wide receiver two.

And so far, Tyler Johnson, the former Randolph. I think is your number three. Malachi Corley and Lazzard are not locks to make this team. Apparently, I know it's going to be a physical run first team. And so it's not all about the passing game, but that's kind of the good and the bad from Jets camp. That's why when I wrote the Terry McLaurin landing spots, I listed the Jets, because I think they could definitely use an addition like that at receiver opposite Garrett Wilson. I think you're going to expect this from Justin Fields. I think we know who he is as a passer. And this is going to be a team that's probably carried more by its defense than its offense. But yeah, we are at that point of camp where

some quarterbacks in different camps are having those days where the beat riders come away and they're just absolutely just not devastated, but they're just so sad. Like they just, they don't know where the light is. They don't know what to hope for because they've just seemed to rough play at the position. And it might be because, look, this is a really talented defense and a defensive-minded head coach. They have a fourth round rookie at safety, Malachi Moore. These are the types of things that keep an eye on in camp. It looks like he's probably going to start over Tony Adams. So that's good news. a rookie that's, that's been showing out. Mason Taylor, their second round draft pick is reportedly kind of locked in as

tight end one. These can't be assumed because we'll get to them, but some of these second round picks, first round picks, they're not looking good. They're not, they're not where the team wanted them to be. So that's nice. And then this was from, and Braylon Allen, by the way, he's just, he's going to be tough to keep off the field. It's going to be 1A, 1B with, with Brise Hall.

But this is from one of the better beat writers in the game, Rich Samini, VSPN. He noted how Nick Folk returning to the team, which is fantastic, this last week, was teammates Nick with Jason Taylor on the 2010 jets. And now he's teammates with Mason Taylor on the 2025 jets. He also was teammates Nick Folk once in a camp with the Cowboys with Aaron Glenn. I mean, that's some circle of life stuff. Has that ever happened? a guy literally playing out an NFL roster with a dad and a son, that's pretty amazing. We should go to the research department for that, but yeah, I can't think of anything off the top

of my head that would suggest that even Frank Gore's son didn't quite catch up in the timelines that doesn't make. But here's the good thing about Nick Folk. I don't know if you remember, but it was a few years back where he was struggling to hit from like inside 50, like just coming up short. I saw a reporter earlier this week that he hit a couple from outside 50. So I was like, all right, that legs back. Let's go. Yeah, he's probably going to win that job. There might be and Antoine Winfield, junior, senior, really got on top of each other in the NFL. But you have to last so, so long. Jason Taylor lasting long helped out that factor.

That's pretty amazing. The other thing that struck me there, I know we're spending a lot of time on the Jets, was they're like tackling to the ground all the time. Almost no teams are doing that. All the reporters were saying like Wednesday's practice was the most physical practice by far they've seen in the last five or six years. We'll see how that happened. But they're practicing tackling a lot.

even allowed to do it that much, but they're doing it as much as you're allowed. A lot of teams don't do it at all. So just something to watch. Quinn and Williams is out for one to two weeks. Olu Fashionoo reportedly, like, just looking like a future stud. And then Soss Gardner was practicing with a $200,000 Richard Melly watch on. I don't even know how to pronounce that. Richard Meal.

It is a sponsor of the McLaren F1 team. I can't believe. That's bad research by me. I should have totally gone to YouTube because I'm showing how ignorant. I am, not a watch guy. Practicing with a $200,000 watch on and said that he was, he, that Quinn and Williams went over to him. It's like, bro, you could, you could kind of damage that watch practicing. He was like, oh, yeah. And then he immediately took it off. Why do you need your teammate to tell you that? That should be pretty obvious. Because you're young and rich.

I mean, but the fact that the second Quinn and Williams said was like, bro, that's not a good idea. You could damage it. He's like, oh, yeah, it's good idea. Take it off. Patriots, a lot of notes on them. Do you think it's good or bad that Jared Wilson, their third round pick, is immediately stamping himself as the starter at left guard? He was a center in college, but it looks like he's going to be a starter right away at left guard. He's looked good at both center and left guard, and I think that's their best matchup. That's not the good or bad. That I just assume is good. Who cares what position? They're going with their best five. And that vindicates me. Is it bad that he's outplaying Will Campbell, who just keeps

keeps getting trashed by Caleb on chase on and just like giving up a ton of sacks and hasn't necessarily looked like. Well, okay, there's a few ways to look at this because I always was concerned about Will Campbell's lack of arm length and how he looks and moves more like a guard than a tackle. Yes. Of course, he gets drafted to play tackle. But it's also a harder position, I think, to make the transition to the NFL at because you're on an island as a tackle. So it's going to be more difficult for him. I've also seen like the spin on that is no matter whether he has a good or bad day, he's consistent in his effort and his focus, which is good. Like, if you have that part figured out, you can get better over time with the right coaching.

But, yeah, not surprised, but yeah, I'd be a little concerned if I was a Patriots fan. But I wouldn't compare it to Jared Wilson because Jared Wilson's a dog. And we've been saying that for months. And he's going to be a very good guy. Yeah, but he was a third-round pick. I am excited about that. You're getting younger. You know, you kind of have an idea of what your offensive line is going to be assuming

Garrett-Bradbury's at center. We'll see. Like, I just want a higher ceiling for a number four overall pick. And sometimes a rookie really struggling at camp. And I don't think it's been as bad as Ikea Conwo as a rookie, but I remember those reports. And they, and Evan Neal's reports, their rookie year. And it absolutely carried over into the regular season. So sometimes it does matter.

Matt Collins returned this week from an injury and immediately was with the starters. And Kayshan Bouti has reportedly been great and is kind of locked into having a real role on this team. Kyle Williams, he's a rookie, but he's made. enough big plays down the field deep that their top five is kind of locked in and i think kendrick bourne is not going to make this team i don't think jalen polk is necessarily going to make this team and then drake may who reportedly has been really good at camp uh was cursed by my friend tom curran who asked them about throwing a no hitter in camp no interceptions at all through the first like eight nine days and then he showed up to the scrimmage with the whole stadium there and then

through two picks that night. So I blame Tom Curran for that. The old broadcaster jinks. I'm glad we're getting some clarity on the receiver position because this is something that we've discussed multiple times over the last few weeks just because it's been a battle royale at the position. So it's nice as you get close to your first preseason game that you're starting to get an idea of it. And I think it'll go a long way toward helping Drake May in his second year get on the same page with a lot of that group. I hope Drake May hasn't been too careful to like listening to him. It does seem like he's really trying to avoid interceptions. And he said he doesn't want to run as.

much and I'm like oh come on and so I'm sort of like fast forwarding to year three and then it's like yeah well last year I kind of learned I was being a little too safe so this year I got to let it rip but I want to run a little more so let's not go through that process you're little Kyla Murray vibes there be careful now you're a little you're too talented for that but supposedly he's looked really good then again he's going against a secondary without Christian Gonzalez he's still been out and Carlton Davis hasn't really practiced at all since joining this team which we're getting to the point where it's starting to be a little

concerning to me. They have a guy, DJ James, who was a sixth-round pick of the Seahawks last year, who was starting and actually has supposedly looked good, but they're rather thin at cornerback without those two guys. Also, Remandre Stevenson, one of the worst fumblers in all of football fumbled during that scrimmage in front of the crowd. So it's just like, come on, Remandre. Let's wrap up with the Dolphins, the AFC East. Here's a take. I threw this out on Blue Sky. might have the most consistently positive camp reports of any rookie quarterback from the 2025 class. Name me another rookie quarterback

with more consistently positive reports. I don't think you can do it. I mean, I can't, but the bar is low. I mean, we haven't gotten there. People kind of like what Jalen Milro is doing lately with the third team. It's getting better in Seattle. I don't know.

None of the rookies are like looking at so far. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I, look, I know what Quinnie was did in college. to Texas and everything else, I did not like his combine workout, and it'll be burned in my brain forever. So if he's actually figuring it out in Miami, good for him, but the bar is low. Right. And I always want to credit where I'm like reading this stuff or hearing this stuff. I saw a little bit of it in the Palm Beach Post, three yards per carry, who I gave a shout out to, and then they sent a tweet out with my clip. If you do that, you're always going to get

mentioned, absolutely. They just said he's looked really good, that they think they might have found something in Quinn Ewers and that he had a much better week than Zach Wilson. And that's just what you hope. Can you find, could you possibly find a backup quarterback late in day three? That's, that's a huge win. Austin Jackson is their starting right tackle. He's going to be out a few weeks, but Mike McDaniel did say on Sunday that they're optimistic he will be ready to start practicing basically after cut down day. That's when they target him to return. So that'll give him about two weeks to get ready. So nothing major there. Darren Waller. We got all excited, you know, about his signing. He hasn't really practiced at all yet,

so it's kind of on my radar. Aaron Brewer, their center really hasn't practiced either. And then it's our weekly update of Tyree Kill saying things that kind of crack me up, but also make you say, hmm. He said this week, shook that he didn't really, he didn't really understand the Dolphins offense the last three years. But the new passing game coordinator, Bobby Sloak, has explained it to him and now he actually kind of understands it so it's going to really help him and he's also never taking notes before but that they're really they're really up in their ante the assistant coaches and his wide receivers coach i forget the name now it's not west welker uh now they're taking notes there too so that's your so so you're telling me that tyreek hill is basically who

i was until about high school didn't even study for tests and and just would show up and everybody's all nervous and then you look around me like what's going on guys we have a test today oh we do Like, what, now he figured out he needs to study? It's crazy that he's gotten to this point like that. And that, like, he said he, like, didn't really understand the concepts of the team, which to me, it's just crazy. But hearing a lot of good things about him and especially Jalen Waddle out there. So I actually weirdly do have some optimism, at least about the passing game.

I did want to note, Jalen Phillips has been out there practicing. And, yeah, the aforementioned three yards per carry, they've given him their practice player of the day twice. So he's reportedly looked pretty good. And Bradley Chubb is out there practicing. So that's something we haven't really hit, but the health of those two guys is really important. And I have noticed, too, Taran Armstead shows up there

and, like, is giving tips. Is he, like, going to come back at midseason? Who knows? I don't really know. And a lot of Willie Gay Pop. That was a free agent linebacker. I was wondering who would win their linebacker competition. A lot of Willie Gay Pop so far for the Dolphins.

I said we might do this show in under an hour. Nick, we are definitely not on pace. So we are going to take a quick break, and we're going to come back, and we're going to hit the rest of the BFC. Hey, this is Matt Jones. And I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL cover zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different.

Did you see the Colts pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh, my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen to NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL.

Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. What's up, everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game. from scouting reports and player development to team building philosophies coaching trends in how front offices construct winning rosters every week we study the tape talk to decision makers and share the insights you won't find anywhere else is the kind of conversation that connects the dots from college football prospects to the NFL stars of tomorrow we break down the draft analyze matchups and evaluate how teams put it all together on game day plus we dig in the coaching strategies roster construction and the trends that shape the league year after year. Whether you're a diehard fan or just love understanding the game on a deeper level, we give you the full picture.

If you want insight that goes beyond the box score, this podcast is for you. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Six podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Fiorio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL fantasy football podcast,

your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet, we've got the insight to help you crush your opponents. Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. Back on NFL Daily, doing the AFC notes here on a Sunday evening.

We'll be back with the NFC notes in the studio with the great Patrick Claibon and a very important update on the naming of his fan club. I put it to a poll on Instagram and we've got some exciting results. And a reminder, everyone, go. Go sign up and subscribe to 40s in a. free agents. My podcast with Daniel Jeremiah will be back this week. And Shuki, you're here. We're doing it every Sunday night. Next week. We'll have some preseason games to recap. But for now, we're talking your favorite division, the AFC North. Yes, we are. Back to the

north. And where else to start? But Baltimore. All right. Look, we talked about kicking competitions. It's over. It's over. John Hoyland's been released. Got cut Saturday. Tyler Loop's still cooking. He's unofficially won the job. John Harbaugh has not confirmed that yet, but when you release one guy, I think it's safe to say that you found your kicker. He made all 11 field goal attempts at Sunday's practice. In the home digs,

the friendly confines and the not-so-friendly confines to road teams, M&T Bank Stadium. So he did well there. He passed the test with flying colors, according to Harbaugh. So good for that. Jair Alexander continues to look good, like he fits in that defense really well,

picked off his old Louisville teammate Lamar twice. And Chuck Pagano, by the way, senior secondary coach in Baltimore, said, looks like he hasn't taken a day off when referencing that Jeyer hasn't played football since November. So that's also very encouraging. One of my favorite stories to track, lower-level story, but could factor into their starting lineup. Andrew Voorhees, remember, this is a guy who was going to be like a third-round pick when he was coming into the NFL out of USC. He suffers the ACL tear at the Combine, ends up going in the seventh round.

He is on track to win the center job over Ben Cleveland. He has the lead as of now, according to Harbaugh, which is something that's just, it's heartwarming. I like to see somebody like that bounce back from something so devastating at such a pivotal part time in their career. And last but not least, as if the Ravens needed another running back, they signed Dearness Johnson, formerly of the Browns. He probably won't crack the Final 53. I mean, he's battling for a spot with Derek Henry and Justice Hill and Keaton Mitchell. So probably a bubble practice squad guy, but he got signed. So that's your latest news in Baltimore.

I love that. That gave me sort of a local radio feel. Speaking of, one of the best in the entire country, Glenn Clark, my friend, glencarkradio.com. If you're in Baltimore, you know him. He's the best. He said to me, Mike Green looks the part so far. Their rookie pass rusher who fell in the draft

because of the domestic violence accusations and incidents and that, you know, they could really use a pass rusher. You mentioned Alexander, by the way. I hadn't seen the contract that he signed yet. The details hadn't been out there. They only are paying him $4 million. You know how we always do like, how we did it again?

Oh, how'd you let the eagle? In the draft? We got to start doing that in the offseason in August and July for the Ravens. Because it's always, it's, DeCosta did it again. He'll sign some veteran or two. every year between like June and August, they might have another one coming for very little money

and then they'll just get like 800 great snaps at it. So we got to bring DeCosta did it again. Ozzie did it again back in the day. They're always doing it again. I agree. They must be selling their culture and their history of being competitive because I don't know how else they convince these guys

to take so little money to come play for them. But it usually works unless your name is Deontay Johnson who they got in trade and couldn't keep convinced to get on the field. All right, let's keep it in the AFC North. We'll go to, well, the most depressing story in the division this season, which is the Browns. The quarterback competition, while interesting, has been a bit of a dud. None of the guys have really played all that well.

Joe Flacco has gained a lot of ground. It seems like he's the favorite to win the job at this point, especially can he picket out? Pickett is participating in, like, limited fashion. He's not, you know, he said he's working 24-7 to get back, but he acknowledged that he's losing, you know, ground in this race. it's fairly safe at this point to think Flacko is going to be the weak one starter. Shador sat out on Saturday because of arm soreness was caused everybody in attendance in the greater Northeast Ohio area to panic as if the Browns were sabotaging his attempt to win the job, which is hilarious in itself. And then at the same time, it was Flacco and Dylan Gabriel.

You're only two guys available to participate in full team drills. Dylan Gabriel has a couple of really, really rough practices over the weekend so much that Kevin Sifansky had to like answer about it afterward. He just struggled to complete pass. consistently. I saw a little compilation. It was just like, there's a miss. There's a miss. Oh, that was a nice throw. There's a miss. So it doesn't look good. But what does look good for the Browns, wide receiver, gauge Larvadane. Stayed that name five times. You're going deep. Yeah, he had a strong Saturday session. He's had a nice little run of a few practices here. And it looks like he could make this final 53 man roster. And on the bad side, of course, they lost M.J.

Emerson to an Achilles tear earlier in the week. So that's going to hurt their strength of the team, which is their secondary. I hate to be a bummer because you want every team to have hope. This team obviously came into the year with some of the worst vibes, I think, in the NFL. And if you just look at real takeaways from the last month, there aren't many teams that have lost, like, multiple players for the season. You know, Jordan Hicks is not coming back. He retired.

Martin Emerson was a starting cornerback, probably your second best one. Maybe it was going to get a long-term deal. is not coming back. It's just depressing. And then you have this quarterback battle where Gabriel per Zach Jackson, who covers them for the athletic on his podcast, he said like he,

he had been at the point where he kind of feel sorry for Dylan Gabriel out there. Just no confidence. Like, beyond awful was the word he used. Like, not anywhere close. Where Shadur is clearly more talented and just better. And it's weird, they're like giving Gabriel reps ahead of Sanders because he was taken ahead of him.

It's just like why. And then it's in a week where Jimmy Hasam, the owner said literally out loud that we have to play our rookies this year. Like we have to play our rookie quarterback. You don't have to. I mean, if he shows that he can't play, then he can't play. And I don't think it shocks that many people that he's going to take some time. Yeah.

And you swung and missed at that point, which Jimmy Haslam already used. that phrase to describe Deshawn Watson. I'm glad you brought up Zach, though, because I think that if you listen to his podcast, the tone of his voice, he's usually a reserved and very observant individual, somebody that I've known for a long time who I value very much,

but the tone of his voice and his podcast kind of says it all. Like, he even said it, the Browns are in a bad place. It's not going to get better overnight for them. So take a moment to listen to that, Zach Jackson and friends. He does a great job of recapping.

Can I give you some positives at least? I did, You know, ask our friend Andrew, too, and Andrew Siciliano. And he did point out, like, Schwessender and Mason Graham are having really good camps. And if you are a Browns fan looking for some hope and something to be excited about this season, if they can get this rookie class to be good between those two guys and Dylan Samson is going to have a rollout running back. And Harold Fanon has reportedly made some noise at tight end. Like, obviously the front office needs it.

And they could really use Shudor, you know, showing up and the shoulder not being an issue. and playing eventually, like, that rookie class is one reason to be excited. One last one, by the way, I did want to mention Mary Kay Cabot, legend, got the award at the Hall of Fame this week for service for her writing career. And while she was, you know, talking about how her career started out tough, that Bill Belichick was a tough coach to deal with at first. He would always give her, you know, a lot of grief. she had the one-liner of the weekend.

And that was, well, it makes sense now because I was 28 years old at the time and Bill just couldn't relate to a woman that old. Fantastic. It's great. Zing! Nailed it. I'm sure she didn't expect it to become like national news and pick up by the New York Post, but good job by Mary Kay Cabot

who's been doing a great job for a long time. Yeah, fantastic. Love Mary Kay. Another fantastic member of that beat and a veteran of it, which, let me tell you what, it chews you up and spits you out based on how this team has struggled over the last few decades, but she's always been there and doing a great job. Let's go down to the other corner of Ohio, Cincinnati,

home of the Bengals, where they've added tight-end Noah Fant, which felt like perfect. This is a team that picks up tight ends that bounce around. This is a team that goes after a Mike Gisicki, or now a Noah Fant, and they get them on a one-year deal worth up the $4.25 million, so affordable as well, and another weapon. for Joe Burrow to work with.

The big story, though, for this team, really encouraging out of camp this past week, has been their defense. Al Golden has taken over as defensive coordinator, and his impact is starting to show. They've been remarkably competitive, and they've talked a lot of trash. Burrow even commented off on it

after one of the sessions late in the week. He said, the young DBs are really stepping up and making things tough. Both sides are going to make the plays, but the energy, physicality, knowledge of coverages has been top level, and that's exciting. And that's huge for them, because if their defense can come back to a competitive level,

this team's ceiling goes up dramatically. So it's very encouraging to hear now. Obviously, defense are usually ahead of offenses at this portion in camp, but good things here. Like, it's gotten to the point where the beat there is like, wait, is this defense actually good? So that's good to hear right now. Offensively, Ameris Mems dealing with a minor hand issue and has been replaced by Devin Cochran at right tackle during this portion. and the feeling the most worry about this entire team

has been their offensive line. They lack experience, they lack proven reliability. It's going to be the big question mark for them. So keep an eye on that because you know you've got to protect Joe Burrow if he's going to take advantage of all that talented receiver. So we'll keep watching that.

Like I like hearing that the young DBs are playing with some fire and talking trash to Jamar Chase and all this stuff. Josh Newton has really been with the starters and DJ Turner with the backups, but reportedly he had a good day. but I do kind of just think of the flip side that if the defensive line is dominating and on paper without Trey Hendrickson, it's not that good of a defensive line.

Although you love to hear Shamar Stewart kind of showing up right away and making a big impact. Maybe that's just the offensive line is bad. And on paper, to me, it's bad. Other than Mims, who's, you know, exciting, and Orlando Brown is going to be fine at left tackle.

He's a little overpaid, but he's fine. But it does make you worry. They're very thin up front and could be back to the same old Bengals issues with the line. I don't get that vibe that Joe Burroughs that worried about it, though. Here's just a very quick snippet for you, surprising you with this one, Shook, of him on NFL Network with our Tom Pelliser. For myself, I expect to be close to perfect. You know, I think I'm at that level at this point. I understand the offense. We've been together for a long time.

How good does it feel to be able to say, I expect to be close to perfect? At this point, I'm at that level, you know. I mean, that's good. That is, that is good. the confidence, fitting of a man who dyed his hair, bleached blonde, and set off a trend last summer. It's just a confident guy. It's what you want to. I mean, that's that he expects perfection that he's at that level. And yeah, I love that. Yeah, yeah, I agree. All right, last team in the AFC North is, of course, the Pittsburgh Steelers, where they practice in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, St. Vincent College. James Pierre, defensive back, who's fighting for a roster spot, may have an opening to earn a place there. And it's a pretty deep.

secondary. Corey Trice Jr. suffered a hamstring injury and that could open the door for him. He's had some nice sessions at the end of this past week. Three interceptions between Friday, which they played under the lights, Friday night lights and Saturday, starting to make a difference there. We'll see if he can continue to ride that toward a roster spot. It sounds like this defense is ahead of the offense, which is very encouraging for them. We talked about this in the show last week that, you know, that defense just wasn't as good as it was expected to be over the last couple of years. And if they can, with the changes that they've made, if they can become that this year, then again, like the Bengals, their ceiling goes up a lot. Patrick Queen's feeling the good

vibes about the unit so far. According to ESPN's Brooke Prior, he said, I think we're farther ahead than last year, but still not where we need to be, which is good because that kind of fits with what he said about himself last year. It felt like he didn't get to where he needed to be and he entered this season feeling as if he was a step ahead or back on track. So now with all the good vibes in the defense. You have to keep an eye on Alex Highsmith who suffered what he thinks could be a possible groin injury. We're going to get more info from Mike Tomlin after further testing and everything. That's expected on Tuesday. So watch that one because you know how important he is to that edge rushing group with T.J. Watt, obviously, being the headliner there. And last but not

least, Isaac Samalo is starting to work his way back into the lineup. They actually haven't gotten their starting five offensive linemen out there for a good portion of camp because he was on NFI. He's come back from NFI, he's gotten some work in some of these sessions. So you're starting to get a better picture of where this offense could look, starting with their front five. Yeah, their left tackle, Project Drones, too, has kind of been in and out, I believe. It's had some injuries and they really need him to be good. Here's what you're not hearing to me out of Steelers camp too consistently.

Like a lot of Rogers. Oh, Rogers is cooking. Mark Caboli, who does a good job writing these long notes on Twitter for the McAfee Show, Like, he's noted some positives with Rogers. Not like Rogers is struggling, but I just feel like it's optimism season. And if Rogers was super cooking, we would probably hear about it.

It's a lot of DK pop. A lot of, it's like a lot of slants to DK, a lot of yards after the catch. Calvin Austin might be the wide receiver too. Some Jalen Ramsey pop that he really looks good, which is always good to hear. But not a lot of like Rogers pop yet. So just something to know.

Actually, I did want your thoughts, about the story in the middle of the week that they had a personnel package. Forget 12 personnel, which is, you know, is taken over the league, which is one receiver, two tight ends, you know, get heavy, start running. How about 04 personnel?

No receivers, four tight ends on the field with Jono Smith in the backfield as the running back. Give me that. Okay, Arthur Smith has been known to deploy, non-running backs at running back. Cordial Patterson manned that role for him in Atlanta and in Pittsburgh, Cordial Patterson

has since been released, by the way. I don't know if we hit that on this show. Like, literally a guy who will get some Hall of Fame consideration just because he was the best special teams player of his era. We should have mentioned that. Thank you.

Got fired on his day off. But we did talk about this tight end group, right? And how it's crowded. Like Pat Friermouth, John Smith, Darnel Washington, who I learned last week has the nickname of Mount Washington, which is also a literal mountain

in Pittsburgh, great nickname. And then Connor Hayward, who's been more of an H-back, but one of my favorites since his days at Michigan State. If you're going to find a way to use all these guys, you're going to keep all these guys and you want to go heavy, why not? Because a lot of these guys can make plays and they're all kind of different archetypes. And if anybody was going to do it, it's the madman who has made having a mustache quite notable, Arthur Smith. And it makes you maybe a little less concern about the receiver position that, look, they couldn't find a wide receiver to fill in behind Metcalf, you know, between him and Roman Wilson and Calvin Austin, which you would like. But maybe it's just, you're just going to play all those

tight ends because that is an awesome tight end room. Like Darneau, Washington, if we do making the leap on the show, is my Steelers making the leap guy. Like, I think his ceiling is higher than people realize. And then the other two tight ends are obviously productive, good players. All right, let's go to the AFC West. Let's talk Chargers. So we just saw them in the Hall of Fame game. won't repeat what we said there but one thing I didn't mention on that show was Keandre Lambert Smith who was the Daniel Jeremiah

he is a ball knower I gotta admit he put him very high on his rankings no one even knew who that kid was then suddenly the team he works for hmm drafts him and now he's playing really well like making deep plays down the field

I didn't mention in that game he had a really nice slant for a touchdown and then he also had a long play And that note that Lambert Smith making some plays down the field is also repeated by our very own Jordan Rodrigue, who is giving us a camp correspondent bucket of notes here. She was at Chargers camp, so she just texted me something. So this is from her on Saturday. She said Cleo Mack looked fast, maybe that he dropped some weight. He's coming into these last few seasons, like so good.

And then the wear and tear tends to wear him down. But she just says he looks really fast, looks good. She noted just seeing them in person. This has to be one of the biggest offenses in the NFL, which is true. They're just, like, massive. They're, like, bigger than the Chargers' defense in some spot. It's true. Like, they're tight ends.

They're running back room. Their quarterback room is huge. Like, they're just huge. It's just awesome. In Jordan's words, Trey Harris, he's got some shit to him. So I don't know exactly what that means, but I think that's a good thing. Trey Harris, that's what he's got to him. And, yeah, Quentin Johnson at the X right now.

No surprise there. That's what he's got. That's a good thing. That's a compliment. I agree. I agree. My favorite thing about this size thing that you just mentioned

that Jordan mentioned is the fact that I'm at the Hall of Fame game Thursday night and I'm like, I'm looking and I'm just looking and I'm looking and I'm tracking the man who plays fullback and also plays defensive tackle.

It's Scott Matt Lockhe. Where's 44? It's a great football number. And I'm watching him just dominate in both sides of the ball, whether he's blocking it fullback. Like he, personifies. He embodies this mindset that I think Jim Harbaugh wanted to bring to the charges,

which is toughness. Toughness at the point of attack. We're going to win in the trenches. We're going to wear you down. Who cares if we have a guy who's an awesome quarterback in Justin Herbert? We're going to win on the ground and with physicality first, and then we're going to throw the ball on you later. And you're right. It totally is visible in the roster construction, the way they look when they take the field. It's a bit of a throwback, but I like the approach, especially in a division. that also has Patrick Mahomes. It's like the counter to that. Right.

They don't make a lot of mental mistakes. They don't turn the ball over a ton. Like a lot of coaches talk like this, but Harbaugh, you actually see it. Literally everywhere he's ever been. It actually happens. It seems like it's happening here. It's happening again.

I'm falling for the chargers. Nico Reed, by the way, UDFA in that game had like a ridiculous game. A pick six, knocked the ball out, special teams tackle. He seems like a find. And then they're starting inside, Linebacker, Denzel Perriman, has been arrested for felony possession of a deadly weapon.

That happened since Thursday as well. So that risks, obviously, some serious repercussions, whether it's a suspension from the league. Who knows? We'll have to track that. The one last thing here is we didn't talk about from that game, the virtual measurement that they did for the first down. you were there live and in person, thoughts on the virtual measurement. It didn't take forever. I'm kind of accustomed to it now with all the replays that we get the NBA

and how it stops the game incessantly. But there was a funny moment in the press box where they announced that they were stopping for virtual measurement and somebody in the front road goes, for what? Virtual what? Like making a joke. So, I don't know, we'll see. We'll see how it works out this year.

They were just trying it out. They were just trying it out last year too. and it didn't work in the preseason. So I'm skeptical. I don't need the game being stopped more times than necessary. So you better have this locked down. Got my eye in you, NFL. Let's go to the Chiefs.

This is a team kind of like the Bills where I don't have a ton from this week. I really check out Pete Sweeney at Arrowhead Pride, who does a great job. And then just some of his camp notes that kind of struck me of just a talking point for the Chiefs is the cornerback position. He noted that Shamari Connor is kind of their inside guy right now with McDuffie and Jalen Watson on the outside. And it's like, Trim McDuffie's way better in the slot. He just is.

I don't think he's that special on the outside. I know he got like the All-Pro or whatever he got Pro Bowl. It was like that was a little maybe on reputation. When he's inside, Nasey Johnson's on the outside, and it's like those are two guys, Conner and Nasey Johnson, who were both cooked quite a bit in the playoffs. like in the Super Bowl, they seem a cornerback short when everyone's healthy.

That's what's crazy to me is like everyone's healthy right now. So to me, that's just something to watch. They're a great candidate to me to sign one of these cornerbacks that's out there. I would do that because, man, if they lost McDuffie or Watson, it's like, man, it gets kind of grim there. Yeah, you know, when we talk about them finding ways to stay competitive over the last few years with roster turnover and everything else, The one area that is kind of flown under the radar

is the fact that they've cut corners in the secondary. Like, no pun intended with corner. And they made it work, though, right? Yes, they made it work because they got the most out of guys like McDuffie. But that attrition year over year, I think, is starting to show at least at this like portion of the summer that we have a reason to finally be concerned about this. And I agree with you.

But it also comes down to when you're looking at McDuffie because the fact that they hit on that, you know, a first round pick playing as well as he has, has helped them kind of navigate the choppy waters that come with roster turnover. But I will say it comes down to what do you value more? An outside corner who's going to man up against the number one guy or a guy who's going to be an elite slot corner. And if you're not strong enough on the outside,

you're not confident enough on the outside, then you're forced to do what they did with the offensive line last year, which is take your best corner and move him outside, like they did with Joe Tuny moving him to tackle. So I agree with you. And I hate that you have to make that choice because it's robbing us of elite play. Even if it's just one step down,

It's not quite as good, but it does kind of just speak to where they are at the position right now. The salary cap makes it so hard because, you know, they got McDovey because of a brilliant trade. He came as a pick that came from the Tyree Kill trade where they nailed it. And they hit on him in Karloftus, but you got to pay those guys now. Like, Karloftus has got his money. And the cycle begins, again, there's a guy who they've given some snaps, Chris Roland Wallace, a UDFA from a season ago that they're trying to roll in there. But you point in the offensive line, like now they've got almost too many starters.

It's the same deal. Josh Simmons continues to be the guy at left tackle, where the big $15 million man, Jalen Moore, is battling at right tackle and left guard. So that's a good problem to have. Sky Moore is back from an injury, but I think he's probably going to get cut. The second round pick from a few years ago, Tyquan Thornton and Jason Brownlee are ahead of him. Let's go to the Denver Bronco.

Zach Allen got paid $4 million, $102 million, $45 million guaranteed over the next two years. If he's on the roster a year from now, which seems very likely, it goes up to $60 million guaranteed. Sean Payton had a great quote on it, which is periodically there's a player that comes up for a contract, and we just have to look at ourselves.

If we aren't willing to pay him, who are we willing to pay? So I love it. They got ahead of it, even for a player that's hitting his 30s, And if you listen to around the NFL and now NFL daily, man, we were, we were early on the Zach Allen train. Even in Arizona thought that was a great signing turned out to be one of the best free agent signings of the last five or six years. So good on them.

He led the NFL and QB hits last year, a stat I had to like reread. I was like, really? Zach Allen led the NFL in that? That's amazing. So shout out to them for being smart and for him to get paid. Yeah. You can count me in that group being on the. Zach Allen train early, even when things weren't the best in Arizona or they were struggling

defensively. He always stood out. It's crazy. You actually look at his stats and like, wait, he's only been a Bronco for two years because I feel like he's been there for a long time because he's just been that consistent over the course of his entire career. Set a career high with eight and a half sacks last year. Perfect dime to get paid. Sean Payton, take that knowledge to the team you used to work for way back in the day in Dallas. Send it right up the ladder to Jerry and Stephen Jones. Maybe they'll agree. Right. It almost was like, it was an indirect shot. without trying to be shot. Riley Moss reportedly having a good camp.

You know, it was a little up and down last year. It wasn't healthy as their second cornerback. Dre Greenlaw's been in and out of practice. They hoped to get him back in about a week. It was good that he was back, but then he hurt his quad, but it's supposedly not serious. Drew Sanders is also at that position. He's out four to six weeks with foot surgery.

Alex Singleton broke his thumb. He had a surgery, but he's going to be back. You know, the linebacker with a thumb injury. He'll be back, but a lot of injuries at the same position. Let's wrap the AFC West with the Raiders. So a week ago, I mentioned no one's stepping up behind Jacobi Myers at receiver. And I did get it some notes from some radio. What about Dante Thornton?

You're not paying close enough attention. It's like, no, I'm just reading the reports. But I've got to say in the last week, it does seem like Dante Thornton, a day three pick at receiver is their starting X, which is interesting. Now, Trey Tucker, according to Sean Reed, might be their wide receiver too in terms of snaps. But maybe that's sort of evolving into their top three, which is interesting. It doesn't include Jack Besh, a second round pick. And that's why I like watching these camp reports. So Dante Thornton, someone to keep an eye on, someone I don't know a ton about as a fourth round pick.

But he might be their starting X to start the season, which is an important spot for them. And maybe they have a fine. We'll see. Yeah, they need it. They need some sort of other option outside of Jacobi Myers. So that would be really encouraging. It would be a bummer if Jack Vash is not as important. involved in the picture, given the fact that you spent a higher pick on him.

But that's the way the draft goes, man. People forget a lot of it is a crapshoot. And sometimes you realize that the guy you spent a day three pick on was actually better than the other guy, but nobody saw it. Nobody, you know, expected it. And then you get the results and benefit from it. And it's extremely early. Obviously, it can change over the next couple of weeks, much less the next

couple of months, much less, you know, their careers. But it just might be coming along like a little slowly. The reason I wanted to mention that, too, I think this was from Deshaun Reed at the athletic too, that Dante Thornton apparently was showing up in the quarterback's group text, whether it was Gino or Aiden O'Connell said that, that like, oh, yeah, we were texting each other easy early, like, you can really trust this guy. And I was like, oh, that's a good, that's a good sign that he's earned Gino's, you know, trust in the group text. It makes me wonder if Kyle Allen sends the same texts about receiver Dominic Levet, who he targeted a

billion times in the whole thing game. And the Lions game. That's a deep cut. Surprising news that they have a new starting center, Jordan Meredith, a fifth year veteran, displacing Jackson Powers Johnson, who was a lot of people's, like, favorite center prospect from a year ago. And now Powers Johnson is battling at right guard with Alex Kappa, who they brought in. I think this might be about, like, just getting the best five. And I suspect you know, Powers Johnson gets that job. And people who thought Alex Kappa was going to come in there and, like, save their offensive line. It didn't make a lot of sense to me if you've watched.

Well, yeah, and it reminded me of the, it's just kind of a lie that people tell themselves every offseason, which is, hey, we can rebuild this offensive line through free agency. And it's like, no, because there's not that many really reliable offensive linemen out there that you're going to end up, that are going to end up being worth that money. So this is another example of that. But it is interesting because Jackson Powers Johnson actually had a clip, I don't remember when it was from exactly where he talked about,

how he demanded to take the center job. He's like, I, you know, I won, I think it's the Remington Award, like top college center. I know how to play the position. Give me the damn job and ended up taking it. Now if he loses it, I'm curious to see how he was. It seems like he's lost it at this point. And maybe isn't like that is the position he wants to play. But Pete Carroll obviously is the one making those decisions.

He's in charge. Lonnie Johnson, who's a reserve cornerback, defensive back, broke his leg at practice this week. You hate to see that. Eric Stokes has been starting for the, them at cornerback to Camry and Richardson getting more first team reps battling with rookie Darien Porter. I wanted to mention that because Richardson's cousin is on this Raiders team and is also geared up for a starting job. A man by the name of Devin White, who Pete Carroll says is back to his old self. I'm filing this under, you know, I'll believe it when I see it in the

in the actual regular season. It's not a great sign. Like the guys that they're starting, like Eric Stokes was like cornerback five or six on his previous teams, and he's like cornerback one here. We got Devin White and who couldn't, you know, crack a rotation last year, starting next to Landon Roberts. Like Pete's got to work some magic. But they're cousins, White and the Camry and Richardson. Stokes was a former first round pick too.

Yeah, former Packer. You're buying. Yeah, you're leaning a lot on past pedigreeing guys like White and Stokes. We'll see. We'll see. Maybe it turns out. Man, yeah, they're really. fighting an uphill battle.

I know everyone has so much Raiders optimism, and I look at this defense, and I think it's as, it's amazing to say, considering Max Crosby's on their team, it might be 32 in like overall defensive talent. It's certainly close to the bottom. It's really close.

Definitely lower third. I mean, lower bottom three or four, no doubt. All right, let's take one more quick break, and we will wrap with Nick Shook's favorite division on Earth. It's the AFC sound. Hey, this is Matt Jones. And this is NFL cover zero.

We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh, my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what. you're going to get.

Listen NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. What's up, everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game from scouting reports and player development

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Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. Back on NFL daily while we're taping. here we got some breaking news to us to you it's old news it's a contract extension for one of the most underrated players in the entire NFL Zach sealer of the dolphins getting 44 million dollars guaranteed on a three-year contract that's 64 million dollars a very similar deal to the one that Zach Allen got and I'm impressed and I'm surprised the dolphins forked over a really fair contract to a guy who's been one of their best players. So shout out to Zach

Seeler for making it happen one of the best players, period, on the Dolphins. All right, let's go to the AFC South Shucky. These are my two favorite Zaks who played defensive line in the NFL, so good for both of them. All right, we started in Houston where we didn't have a lot to talk about last week, except for the fact that they didn't have a lot of guys in camp. Well, I have great news. I have great news for you, Greg, because D'Amico Ryans is a firm believer that the offensive line has figured it out in one week, they went from being one of the most concerning points to focus on with this team to something that is now, quote, solidified. And that is because some players have separated themselves,

according to Ryan's, since they put the pads on. Rookie tackle Arionte Urstery from Minnesota is included among their top five, which is interesting to watch because you like to see investment payoff immediately. But again, without proof that he can be that guy over the course of the season, we'll have to continue to track it throughout the year. The defense looks fantastic. As expected, this is going to be, I think, the strength of their team. We knew how good they were last year. They're giving the offense trouble, and it's not all the offensive lines fault. In fact, oftentimes it's not the offensive lines fault at all.

It's just that their secondary is playing really well. Kaelin Bullock continues to ascend as he enters his second NFL season. He picked off C.J. Stroud and a seven-on-seven. He was one of my favorite defensive backs that flew under the radar last year. I'm very excited to see if he makes that sort of leap in year two. But they're so dominant that our favorite trash talker, C.D. Deuce himself, C.J. Gardner Johnson, said, quote, we on the ass. It's belt to ass, end quote.

I mean, rinse and repeat. I feel like he's had that type of quote, or maybe even in that exact quote, in every camp he's ever been in. I love C.D. Deuce. It's amazing how good they could be in the secondary. Because you think of Camari Lasseter as this incredible rookie last year, paired with Derek Stingley, and Bullock gets a little bit forgotten, there's a writer for their team website that's good, John Harris. And he said he's as good Kaelin Bullock as anyone he's ever seen with the ball in the air in terms of being a ball hawk. And I think Stingley obviously can do that. And C.D. Deuce can certainly do that. So it just

sounds like a nightmare to go again. So it is funny to hear that they've kind of decided on their offensive line. And no huge surprises like Cam Robinson, Lake and Tomlinson. And you mentioned Ursary's the most interesting, the second round pick who's going to start. But you hear them, that's solidified. At the same time you hear that like Will Anderson is just absolutely destroying every single practice and defense is absolutely dominating and there just hasn't been a ton of juice from the offense in general. I am a little, a little concerned about like the drop off from Nico Collins to basically anyone else as a pass catcher. Although Ryan's talked up Dalton Schultz a little bit this week saying that he looks like the guy we expected coming out

of Dallas, which almost felt like a shot that, like, he hasn't necessarily been. But D'Amico Ryan keeps it real. And I think that's true. I think Schultz underperformed a little bit and maybe he looks better now. Yeah, I also feel like they didn't quite, I mean, 85 targets last year, but I felt like they didn't quite prioritize him in that offense as best as they could, but they changed offensive coordinator. He didn't make you say, like, wow. Like, he had some really nice plays with the Cowboys, whereas last year he just seemed like just a guy. Yeah, he was a secondary figure there. All right, let's keep it in the south, of course. And we're going to go to Indianapolis where bad news, unfortunately,

Savon Ahmed suffered a severe right, lower leg injury. It sounds like it was due to a hip-drop tackle in practice. He was carted off immediately taken to the hospital for X-rays. Sounds like that's going to be a season-ender. A bummer for a team that could use some quality depth behind Jonathan Taylor because of his lack of consistency in terms of the health department over the last few years. But you just hate to hear that with any guy in camp having an end in such a fashion. But on the bright side, the QB competition, not separating, but getting better, more encouraging

results. Anthony Richardson goes 14 for 18 unofficially, of course, as everybody's hand-tracking these. On Thursday, now he threw a couple of touchdown passes. He threw a beautiful deep ball to Ashton D. D. D. Mitchell, who needs to make some strides in his second season. Richardson wasn't perfect, of course. He kind of flopped in an end-of-game scenario. I think they put like 46 seconds on the clock, that sort of thing. Daniel Jones was looking. bit better in that portion. He finished 22 for 27 and threw a perfect pass to A.D. Mitchell, who sounds like he, you know, might be coming around a little bit, but there's no separation, like I said. And I think the real test of this battle is going to come up against quite an

opponent in Baltimore when they have joint practices with the Ravens. Other injury-related news, Zaire Franklin returns to the field for the first time after undergoing off-season surgery. Jalen Jones has a concerning hamstring injury. So both sides of the coin there. And last but not least, of course, the first round pick. Tight end, Tyler Warren. He's balling. He made a great juggling catch that they put, they set to cinematic music that they put on Twitter,

which was, it's a fun watch. Go check it out. It's beautiful. If you're watching on NFL Daily, you can see the play. We'll take the cinematic music out of the mix, but was an incredible catch on a, not a great throw by Daniel Jones.

It does feel shook like the quarterbacks have been, at least according to the people watching, probably a little better than expected overall. Now, I look at the cornerbacks that are not there for the Colts overall, and like there should be a lot of mismatches for them to pick on. But overall, I feel like, you know, maybe we're at like a slight pleasant surprise on balance with Richardson maybe having like the slightest of leads.

Shane Steichen had a quote during the week that said, I think everything's cleaner now, talking about Richardson. He's playing at a high level. He's making good decisions with the football, taking completions when needed. It's been really good to see. Now, he followed up that good scrimmage, you mentioned, with supposedly, like, his worst practice of the entire training camp, but then followed that up with Sunday, looked better.

Like, it's a process. I'm following these every day. And on balance, I think that's kind of the big takeaway. And I saw this note from Indianapolis stars, Nate Atkins, where he was like, yeah, Jones has been really solid, but you just kind of want to see him just, just rip one occasionally. Just like go for it. And I'm just thinking like, yeah, welcome to Daniel Jones ever since that rookie year.

That rookie year, I'm telling you, you go back. He was ripping it then. Something happened where, whether it was injuries or dable programmed it out of him. I've never seen that guy again. So you're going to be waiting a while. And right now I think if it's tied, the tie's going to go to Richardson. Yeah, because they have more invested in and they need him to prove it. So I agree with that.

Finally, well, we got two more teams left in the AFC South. Jacksonville Jaguars were, you know, of course, the main focus is still on Travis Hunter, but a little bit less than before. We do have to give a snap update. He played 38 snaps at their scrimmage at their stadium. 17 with the first team offense, 21 with the first team defense. So cool. He's still very much doing both sides of the field.

And it'll be interesting to see again how this plays out in an actual game. He caught three passes for 43 yards, including a, 21-yard reception. And overall got positive marks from Liam Cohen, who said, I thought it was great. We got him the work that we wanted to get him on offense early and then able to get him on defense and get him enough reps. That's pretty stock there.

Not so promising for a guy we love Brian Thomas Jr. Up and down week for him. He had a great day Friday, six catches, 65 yards, a couple of touchdowns. And then Saturday, you understand how fleeting success can be in the NFL. He'd struggled with some frustrating completions. At one point, I think he took the ball after, play and threw it like and it hit a bystander in the leg just because he was that upset with

how things have been going. So I think that there's still progress to be made. Now, could that suggest the defense is playing better? Yeah, but I think I know about enough about the Jaguars over the last few years that they probably still have a ways to go offensively. And then in the injuries department, Bachel Tutin, the rookie running back held out of Thursday session with a hamstring issue. Always got to be a little bit worried about that. Linebacker, Dennis Gardek, has a knee issue as well. So keep an eye on both of the. those right when you hear that about brian thomas junior i never know what to think like does this matter a lot because you're right it's been a steady drumbeat like a lot of drops

and by him like all camp like he's not having a great camp for a guy that there's a lot of pressure on to be a top 10 type of receiver because that's the type of talent that he showed i tend to not be too worried about it if it's just drops in concentration like he's shown he can play when it really matters. John Shipley, who's really good covering them for S.I.com, said he thought this is one of, if not, Trevor Lawrence's best camps. And so that's notable to me. He's been at all those camps, and it's a new head coach.

It's a good sign because in Shipley's words, he thought, well, maybe Lawrence isn't like always been the best at practicing. He's more of a gamer. And, like, I get that. but I also think, well, what truly great quarterbacks aren't great practice quarterbacks? Like, I don't think there's many, put it that way. For the most part, if you are going to be a great NFL quarterback,

you're going to be dominating and you're going to be extremely consistent in practice. So I think that's a really good sign, though, that he's been better. And it does feel like the game is slowing down a little bit for Hunter in terms of the playbook. Like, that's what Brian Thomas Jr. said, two he's starting to pick it up and by all accounts like hunter had his best days of camp day after day after day like on both sides of the ball that it's like it's happening for him now which is just very exciting i think hunter because of the athlete that he is and just the football player that he is he's going to be a camp star annually until it gets to the point where he doesn't have to take as many

reps just because he's that type of football player but it is interesting to me because this is now the latest test of how productive and how believable is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator to head coach factory. How much can we rely on that pipeline? You know, is this Glenville High School to Ohio State in the early 2000s or not? Because you saw what Dave Canales did with Bryce Young and Carolina last year, albeit he had to bench him and then bring him back later. But now the test is for Liam Cohen. And there's no better situation for Liam Cohen to prove that, yes, that pipeline is strong than by turning Trevor Lawrence into something that we've been waiting for him to become for the last three years. So if it starts in practice where he's

suddenly become a better practice quarterback, then maybe the results are ahead for us. Of course, remains to be seen. Yeah, I'm also a little concerned. Arick Armstead, like, is never healthy for them. Still hasn't practiced in team drills at all. So just that move has not worked out for them so far. Just something to watch. No, I mean, when he was in the Super Bowl with the Niners couple years ago, I remember him like that week talking about how he was hurt all over. So it just It's kind of a, and it's a position that's tough on the body. All right. Finally, in the AFC South, we go to Tennessee, where we probably shouldn't be surprised

that the defense is still ahead of the offense. How ahead of it? You ask, well, Cam Ward has a great description of just how ahead they are. I just think we're very meet right now from my position to up front, to the receiver's position. But at the end of the end of the day, it all starts with me. I just don't think we're at where we need to be, but we got a little bit of time. So every day we get better as a whole. We're a young team, but that's no excuse.

That right there falls in line with what we did last week. We talked about ORA. Can we use the term ORA? Can we use the term mid? For those who are unfamiliar with the term mid, it's just like, eh, average, just not impressive, just very forgettable. That's basically what he's saying about the offense right now.

So not encouraging, but at least you're hearing a rookie quarterback admit, you know, not fault, but that they need to be better. I like that out of a young guy like that. Here's the thing about mid, though, like mid has come to mean bad, but Monty Jones has a great rant about this, but mid is supposed to be mid, you know, it's supposed to be average. You know, I believe it was, you know, initially used to be, you know, describing the, you know, the $40 bag of you're getting, you know, that might have a little too many seeds in it. But it, mid is supposed to get the job done. It's not supposed to be the worst thing in the world. I would describe what we've heard. about the Titans offense, including Sunday, by the way, Cam Ward was 5 for 14 in team drills, according to titans.com. And I go through, and there's a lot of those ugly, crooked numbers. That's not mid.

That's worse. Like, that's bad. Mid would just be, like, what's going on at Colts camp is probably mid, you know? It's like, yeah, it's been pretty decent. It's been fine. Now, unlike ORA, this was a very accurate description and discussion on the term. And I thank you for that, you know? A real pro, as always.

And I agree. It comes with a negative connotation, but you're right. This is worse than mid. So hopefully they get beyond mid, suddenly upgrade, but it takes time. It'll get you, it'll get you by. You know, it's not be. It'll do the job, but it's not going to blow your socks off. No. He's not throwing picks as often in practice, which is great, because that was the issue last week. Brian Callahan's still pretty annoyed by them. He's unloaded on them a few times in practice. He made them run at the end of Saturday session, which is like very old school. And also, do we really need to do this I think back to 2019 when I was working with the Browns and Freddie Kitchens was a coach and there were so many fights during practice that he made them run gassers in the middle

of a highly attended practice, which led to another thing that I won't discuss at this point that happened during those runs. But that pointed to me that like, oh God, maybe this team's in a bad place because he couldn't keep control of them. I think Callahan's just frustrated because he feels the pressure already. They are going to have a big test when they do joint practices with the Buccaneers this week. We're going to find out just how mid they are because right now. yeah i i read from paul kaharski just not a lot of juice at their camp like

they had a something in front of the fans at the stadium it was like extremely hot but you know the fans aren't really showing up there's not a lot of juice maybe within the team there's actually not almost any position battles which is weird for a team so bad so usually that's sort of where the competition just not a lot of juice uh from the titans right now Legerius Sneed still out. You know, we need a little, we need a little more juice. I mean, that, that, that, that throwed a Cam Ward. I mean, that throwed a sound.

That had some juice. That was professional. Yeah, yeah, I got a little bit. I see your development. I love it. Yeah. All right, before we go, I just want to say, congrats to the four gentlemen who went into Canton over the weekend.

Antonio Gates, you know, did it like, like nobody else, like stepped into the, league and was like immediately one of the best tight ends for a decade straight. Sterling Sharp finally getting in. I love a guy who has a great peak. I think he waited too long, frankly. I'll take a great peek over a longevity guy, maybe the best receiver top, you know, three or four, certainly in the time he was in the NFL.

Eric Allen, the former Eagles player and Saints player who rolled up a lot of interceptions. I was like, man, if Eric Allen makes the Hall of Fame, like Asante Sammy was kind of similar in terms of just like racking up interceptions, but probably not going to happen. And then Jared Allen, shout out to him. I always remember, you know, I was covering the league early. One of the first guys that was really outspoken about holding out, getting, you know, very, like, held his ground to the point where he got traded from the Chiefs to the Vikings. It was complicated because he early.

earlier in his career had had a couple DUIs and was suspended from the NFL, which is, which is really serious. But just an interesting player who talked about sobriety and at a time where, like, that wasn't the norm about that he had to, you know, clean up his life and get sober. And he had a great Hall of Fame speech. So did Sterling Sharp what he talked about in terms of brotherhood was really great. So congratulations to all of them. And yeah, Alan, just like a little different, like was early on player empowerment, early on being open about his battles with his demons, and obviously he came out in Canton. And so congrats to all them.

And to you, Shuki, for being in Canton this week. And I got to give a shout out to Antonio Gates, of course, because he's the pride of Kent State University, baby. He never played a down to college football, and he ends up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. That's right. He was the first of the basketball player to football player transition. You didn't know him, though, did you?

He's before your time. No, he's much older than I am. But I remember watching him lead the Kent State basketball team to the elite eight in the NCAA tournament. Well, this is where our age difference, you know, because he's younger than I am. So a great player. Yeah, you were out of college. Antonio Gates. I thought it was very cool that Matt Money Smith's call of Antonio Gates breaking the tight end touchdown record was the last thing that you heard before Antonio Gates came onto the stage to reveal the bus.

How cool is that, Matt Money Smith? It's going to happen again, too, when Philip Rivers makes the Hall of Fame, if I have anything to do about it. We went way over what I expected, but it was great talking to you. Shuki, we will be back on Monday. Like I said, me, Patrick Claibon, the entire NFC, man. When we're glazing up the chargers, when we're bored by the Titans, when Shooki's throwing to sound like a,

pro man football is back Hey everybody Daniel Jeremiah here And I'm Bucky Brooks On move to six we take you inside the game From breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies To evaluating team building philosophies Coaching trends and how front offices

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