NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Mendoza Moments, Jeremiyah Love's Debut and Takeaways from All 6 Thursday Games

Episode Date: August 14, 2026

Gregg Rosenthal and Nick Shook run through all of the Thursday night preseason action and give you their takeaways from each game including what they thought about the NFL debuts for Fernando Mendoza and Jeremiyah Love, a possible omen for Joe Burrow and the Bengals offense, quarterback battles getting some clarity and more.NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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NFL Daily, where a Drew Aller quarterback battle, I said it, is what the preseason is all about. I'm Greg Rosenthal. Nick Shook is making concerned eyes from across the country, doubting that the Penn State rookie could actually challenge Aaron Rogers. We're taping this on Thursday night. Thank you to everyone watching us live. Thank you to everyone who subscribes on iTunes and listen to us as a podcast.

all these games aren't over yet, but Aller is cooking with the third stringers and the Steelers. I mean, yeah, he's currently in 154 yards and two touchdowns. I would like to say half those yards came on a catch and run by weight chin. So let's pump the brakes here a little bit. No, I will. And we will get to that catch and run from a man I learned about today, Caden, Wetgen, 74 yards on that slant.

But we're not going to start with the Steelers and the Packers. And we're not going to just end with all these. these preseason games. It was a sneaky fun slate because of maybe the most entertaining preseason game since the Hall of Fame game a week ago, you know, Cardinals just delivering every week. You do the same team. Yeah, Cardinals, you know, putting Jeremiah Love out there for the entire first half in a game where we got to see Fernando Mendoza for the first time and there was plenty to talk about. I'm going to make a prediction shook here. Okay. This is going to be the longest and the most, I guess we talk about any one game in the preseason and the most highlights that we have of any one game in the preseason.

And then after we talk about the six games that went on Thursday night, we do have some news that will hit from around the league. But let's get to those highlights. And Mendoza didn't start the game. Kirk Cousins did. But almost right away, we got to see Mendoza doing what he does best. Let's go to that first completion that really got me going from Mendoza, which was to Malie. Benson over the middle. It's a play fake on first down. Down the field. Stripped to Benson between three defenders. It's a laser. I saw that rich.

That's a laser. Little play action timing. Uh, love that. And by the way, that's Jason Horowitz. You're gonna be hearing him and Rich Gannon and Kirk Morrison giving us all these Raiders highlights. We'll get to the rest of the Mendoza night, but overall, you know, your thoughts, that sort of play? Just what you saw so far out of the rookie. Oh, I mean, I love what I saw for most of what Fernando Mendoza did once he replaced Kirk Cousins. There was, he looked like a kid who studied a lot. Like he knew when he looked at the coverage and he looked at, you know, where it was post

snap. He's like, oh, no one's open. He immediately just throws it out of bounds. He knows where to go in his progressions. He's pretty decisive for the most part. Everyone's from while he hangs under the ball a little bit too long, pats a little bit too much. He's got a strong arm.

He made a nice throw outside the numbers later in this game. I was, I was very impressed. I thought he looked a lot better than I don't think I had a low bar for him. but I was super impressed by him. I also will say this, Greg, last year's preseason MVP was Jared Stidham. I think that we're going to have a number of contenders to be better than Jared Stidham this year.

I mean, there was one in this game. Jalen Brooks is putting up receiver triple crown numbers for the Cardinals, but unfortunately not as important as Mendoza. I agree with everything you said. The numbers aren't going to end up crazy, and they actually brought him back out after halftime, and there was a three-and-out there. You know, his first throw was like a high one,

to Jack Bash, who made some nice contested catches. But ultimately, you saw the flashes on a play like that. You saw a touchdown drive. He took some big hits. He was willing to hang in the pocket and go through his reads. Like you said, like a rookie, sometimes hanging on too long. But he got to those second, third reads a few times, including on the touchdown throw. Let's see that one.

Here's third and goal. We put it in the end zone. Try and tie up this game. Mendoza. Quick throw. That was a simple one where he's on the first read, get the ball out quickly. Like his feet, I thought were good today. I was thinking of a first down he picked up earlier that drive where he really hung in there

and took a big hit. Good night for Jack Bess, too, who really quiet, disappointing rookie year. Right now it seems like he's probably number three on that roster. But behind Trey Tucker, who made a nice play in the Kirk Cousins Drive. We'll get to that. And Jalen Naylor. but contested catches, some nice dump-off throws. Like, this is what you want to see out of Jack Best to taking a step forward with his guy Mendoza.

Yeah, I actually really like the fact that Mendoza a couple of times was willing to just take the checkdown. Like he went through the whole progression and then had a little bit of an off-balance throw of the checkdown. I think he got wiped out by a penalty, but it was a nice play. And just a nice example of him being able to process and realize, hey, you know, I don't have to go for the big play. I don't have to be a hero. There was one play where he held on to it a little long where Walter Nolan gets a sack on him. It was also kind of a failure on the part of the right guard in the center letting him through. Again, shout out Walter Nolan, one of my favorite guys that I want to watch this year.

But for the most part, he was decisive, like I said. And on that play specifically, the beauty of that is that he immediately sees him spot drop in coverage. And he knows, all right, there's a window that's probably about two and a half players wide. I know he's running a slant into that window. The one thing I have to do here is get it out on time and put it low to protect him in the end zone. Those are things that you don't really often see from a rookie quarterback. This is a guy who play a lot of college football. He's very talented and he's delivering already. And don't get it twisted. For everyone tonight, I know they're not running complicated defenses. I know it's the preseason. I'm not trying to gas them up too much. You just love

seeing these guys in a uniform actually playing football for the first time. And I do think you can see when certain guys are a little overwhelmed and you can pick up different traits. And so far, so good. It was nothing crazy. But he held serve as at Kirk Cousins. Like if Mendoza is playing against some future version of Kirk Cousins, like the week seven Kirk Cousins, that, you know, might be struggling. And then the coach Clint Kubiak has to think back and think,

hmm, Mendoza looked pretty good in the preseason. Look, Kirk Cousins went out there and directed a very quick touchdown drive. Wasn't anything flashy, but did Kirk Cousins things like making quick decisions, making sure he didn't get hurt and giving the ball to his big tight end? Michael Mayer, who looked a little more fleet of foot here in his third season?

Or is it his fourth season? that touchdown. Last jury did go five and three as a starter. On third down, fires to mayor. He is open. What he was? Making someone miss, we got Ashton Genti, running behind Tyler Linderbaum on the first drive for some first downs. It's all good. And Michael Mayer is a sneaky big part of this team. If he actually gives them a high quality tight end two, and they can play two tight ends most of the time, that's as good a, you know, could be as good at two tight end pairing if mayor lives up to like the player he could be as anyone in the league with Brock Bowers. You don't want to know something crazy.

In 2022, that college football season, Brock Bowers won the Mackey Award. Do you know who was a finalist for that award? Michael Mayer? Yes. They're both on the same team now. It's exactly the perfect scenario for a rookie quarterback to make some moves, even though that was Kirk Cousins throwing that touchdown pass, which by the way, I thought Kirk looked exactly as I expected him to.

Arm looked a little, had a little more zip on it than that. I think it did maybe two years ago. Last year was about the same, but impressive for him too. But it's just the idea of like, yeah, they don't have a lot of receivers. But they have a fun backfield. They have an offensive line that's going to be better just because you can't get really any worse than it was last year. And they got a situation that's going to be fun to watch, even if it's not necessarily going to be, you know, playoff contender caliber at this point.

So I'm excited for them. I'm happy with them. And shout out to Mike Washington, baby. I think he's my new favorite raider. I think he's more of my favorite raider than he's. Even Brock Bowers. If you are watching this, you will see the move that Mike Washington makes on a 50-yard run, where he just shows incredible juice, picking his way through the hole,

then exploding past the Cardinals' defenders. And I think Ashton Jentie can be a good pro. They're two very different flavors. I don't know if Ashen Genty is getting 50 yards on that play. You can tell me it's against the backups. it's like eye formation. It's Clint Kubiak with a fullback. I love it.

Mike Washington could add a little something to this group so that you don't need to rely on Genti to do everything. He's a fun little late fantasy pickup, and I'm not just saying that. I think you can tell things about running backs more than any other position in the preseason shook. Yeah, you know, when I watched Washington darting through there, which, by the way, that's a play that was propelled by the left guard

getting a pancake because he turned the defensive tackle and just put him on the ground. And then that opened up the hole. But it's on Mike Washington to find that gap and get through it. It's the burst. It's the vision. It's the burst. And as I watched him run through there, I'm thinking like, man, you know, maybe it's

because he's wearing silver and black, but he reminds me of like more of a throwback, like 80s style running back. One of the more athletic running backs of that era. Like, not this is, this sounds hyperbolic. I'm not saying he's this guy, but just in terms of style. He reminded me a little bit of a market style and a little bit of an Eric Dickerson getting through the hole there and exploding. I'm not comparing.

I'm not comparing. I'm just saying the body type and everything else. And I'm just like, and again, the race. Raider uniform. How about Darren McFadden? He's got a bit more of a stallion running style to him as opposed to Gentie who's more compact. So I like the idea of having both those guys

in the same backfield. I can almost hear our producer, Eric, thinking, you guys are way too excited about football. You've gotten 10 minutes on Raiders Cardinals. It's new tape. And you haven't even gotten to the Jacoby Brissette dime in the end zone to Marvin Harrison quieting all the critics out there.

Great coverage. They're set to the end zone, into double coverage touchdown. Marvin Harrison Jr. over the outstretched arms of Darian Porter. A seven-yard strike in the Cardinals answer here in the first quarter. There is so much to like about this play. And not only is that the offensive line sliding left up the play action, Jacoby getting out on the bootleg,

it's Harrison winning immediately off the line and having a step on the defender, it's Jacoby stopping in the middle of his rollout and just throwing it out there knowing I have Marvin Harrison, Jr. out there. You guys want to see Marvin Harrison Jr. live up to his, It's by playing with a quarterback who's just going to throw it out there and say, I know that guy's got the talent to go get it. That's a glimpse of what it could be. As accurate as you are talking about Harrison there, you know, it's a good route. Like, he's barely open. Jacoby's got a defender right in his face as he's rolling right and he doesn't want to get hit in the preseason either. And he kind of ducks away from it as he's like throwing on the move as good as Carson Beck was last week. Like he didn't do anything. that good. That was some NFL quarterbacking. That was a nice drive there by Jacoby. The ball just did not hit the ground much in this game between Gardner Minchu and Kirk Cousins and Jacoby Brissette. It just felt like we're going to do whatever we want throwing the ball. And that's why the Cardinals

right now are my team MVP, just giving us good entertainment for the preseason. Because, yeah, they're missing those tackles that inspires the comment here. Mike Washington, greater than Eric Dickerson, just asking questions. I didn't say that. I didn't say that. just saying in running style, it kind of reminded me of that. All right, relax, relax. I threw out Darren McFadden, and that's absolutely uniform scouting. And Darren McFadden probably wasn't quite as nimble in the hole. Jeremiah Love is the other reason I wanted to hit this game hard. 14 first-aff touches, and it started off slow. Like, you could see some of the wheels turning in his head as he's trying to make a decision. And you have heard a little bit

about that during camp. And I did find it interesting. They kind of treated Algier as more of the starter, even though Jeremiah Love was in there right away too. But then they took him out. And Jeremiah Love is playing deep into halftime, not just with Minchu, but you're into like the second third teamers there.

And he wasn't really getting into a rhythm until late in the first half. And then he does rip off a few plays. There was a great spin move that you can see. where it's just, you know, insane natural make-you-miss ability where he goes one way and the defender doesn't even touch him as he's spinning the other. There was also a really nice, decisive run-up the gut

where you saw the burst that is just entirely special. And I think Michael Lefleur had to be really excited about that and a couple of plays that he also had closer to the red zone. He finished off his day much stronger than he started it. But 14 touches, 73 yards. and one half is like a little much. I hope he's not doing that every week. But you get the sense maybe like they wanted to see him in real action

because they weren't quite seeing it in the practice. Yeah, especially like you said after that slow start. I think the first two carries were like two or three yard gains. It just didn't seem like there was much room to run. And you're thinking, I know this guy is a tremendous athlete. And he's not really getting the opportunity to show that off. So what do you do? You dial up a stretch.

You hope that a defender tries to shoot the gap and comes up short, which is exactly what happened. It's a stretch to the left. You get him into a one-on-one situation against a defender. And you say, go make a play. which is exactly what it did. Now, luckily, the Raiders had somebody else closing in to clean up the play. But Love moves differently.

And this is exactly what you expect from a guy you draft with the number three overall pick. I was just worried, and like you said, 14 touches. I'm watching him get carries late in the second quarter. I'm like, God, get him off the field. Like, okay, we see it. Put him on ice until the regular season. Get him off the field. I'm excited for what he can do with this offense.

I want to see starters in the preseason. We saw a lot of them tonight. We're going to get to Joe Burrow in a second. I just don't want to see that heavy a workload. That's on pace for like 30 touches for a running back. But as long, you know, it's probably not going to be every preseason week. If this winds up being his heaviest preseason workload by a decent amount,

I wouldn't be surprised. I also think it's worth thinking about the fact that Tyler Algear is there. And if Jeremiah Love is starting the season like a little bit, you know, slow picking things up, and even workload would not surprise me. So fantasy owners, like, Don't freak out. That might just be something that happens.

Let's move on. Chase Bissontas, by the way, the guard who they took in the second round, playing with the backups for the Cardinals and got a little banged up there. So that's just something to watch moving forward. Let's get to the Lions and Cardinals game. I actually think this is our only other highlight in terms of, you know, with the announcers that we get to in this show. And it's an important one.

Chook. It is what I call an omen. I'm all about first plays setting the standard. This wasn't technically the first offensive. plays, but it was the first throw from Joe Burrow of the preseason. And the Bengals working from under center and with play action. Burroughs, steps, throws over the middle and completes just short of midfield. That's going to be a familiar sight.

Jamar Chase. I love that. You know, I think that's Dan Horde doing the television for the Bengals, I believe. Look, the Bengals have talked about it. They showed it in the couple of Burrow drives. Under center, play action. It looked very different. from the normal Joe Burrow Bengals offense.

Yeah, I want to see the all 22 on this from the end zone angle because I think I saw a dig there from Chase and that's exactly the type of receiver that you want to run there, which makes you think it might have been a dagger concept out of play action. And essentially, what can you do to help an offensive line that's a little bit better than it's definitely better than it was four years ago, but it's still not like great, is you try to balance your offense out by going more under center and running the football and then building play action out of it. and you hope that your quarterback is able to master the footwork and the timing and then find his receivers.

And he has two very good receivers that he can do that with in Jamar Chase and T. Higgins. So you're right. It's a great omen, I think. It's an idea that, look, we're not just going to have Joe in the shotgun and just throwing the ball over the field every game. Like that we're going to try to create more of a balanced and less predictable offense and keep defenses honest because we know we have a very talented quarterback and a couple very talented receivers. And if we can do this type of thing, keep a defense on their heels. then maybe we can be even more explosive than we've been in previous year. So it's a good sign that all the concern about their more complex offense, borough under center, everything else,

because it was a highlight, but there was a low light as well. All the concern about that, at least you can put some of that to the side when they execute like that. Well, I just want them to actually go through with it and go through some growing pains. Comment in the chat, you know, says Joe didn't get hurt. That's a fantastic moment. He did take a hit.

He did take a big hit because Orlando Brown, I've been noticing, hashtag noticing, been struggling in practice against these Bengals pass rushers, struggled in this game, gave up two pressures, two hits, I believe a sack on Joe Burrow. This was Lions Bengals. I had Cardinals on the brain. And I sort of forgot the Lions involvement in this game in general because they played their second and third stringers the whole way. But Jacob Sailors, who was very active, ended up getting hurt at running back for the line. but it was Luke Altmire for the most part for the lion.

So I don't have a ton of lions takeaways. Josh Dobbs came in for a hot minute, but then they put Altmire back in. He got intercepted late, and the Bengals escape with an important 16 to 14 victory. I'm a little wary of Orlando Brown in general. A couple other just notes I'll throw at you, Shook. Cassius Howell had a couple nice pass rush wins.

We've been talking about him all camp for the best. Bengals, the rookie pass rusher, and then Isaac to Sla. When the practice reports match up with the preseason results, that's when I think you have a story. The reports in practice, Tisla has been struggling, not finishing plays. Tonight, he had two drops. One led directly to an interception, popped off his hands and went in the air and picked off by the Bengals.

Yeah, early interception, one of two for Altmeier. It's, I'm not going to overreact at this stage of the preseason when you're playing with backups, but these types of matchups when you're facing a team that likes to roll with more of their starters and test out what they have versus a team that is content with their starters staying on the sideline, you get some mismatches and you get some ugly play. Not to mention the fact that

it was raining there. The ball was slippery. There were multiple turnovers. Altmeyer botched one himself. I think it was on a handoff. It was an ugly performance from this lion's offense largely because their main guys weren't out there. And you also got an example of why Luke Altmeier went undrafted.

Fair. But That is the concern for Tisla. They weren't playing their main guys and he's out there. And for fantasy leaguers, for instance, I just don't expect necessarily, unless Tassah really turns it around for him to play more than Khalif Raymond

or their second tight end. Like he just might be a part-time player at this point in his development. And look, the Bengals, I think they only got three points with Burrow, very different than a year ago when he lit the preseason up and scored a touchdown basically every drive.

They stalled. Evan McPherson hit a long one in one of the two drives, but otherwise they didn't do much. But just deal with the growing pains. We'll see if we watch Joe Burrow again in the preseason. It might just be joint practices for him the rest of the way. Let's go to the Packers and the Steelers game. The Steelers walk away with this one, 28 to 9.

Big victory. But I'm going to just start where my heart takes me. When I see that nine, what do I think? Field goals. Okay. And you know who's kicking those field goals to the Packers? Trey-Smack, baby.

Trey freaking smack is a gamer. He might be missing kicks in practice. He's three-for-three in the preseason, including a 58-yarder to end the first half on like a one-minute drill where they kind of miraculously got in position. Kind of having some fun here talking Trey Smack. But honestly, that's a performance

that just wins you a job. Like if they were really worried about him, even though they took them in the draft. It's like, okay, you go three for three in the actual game and you hit a 58 yarder. You've made the team. Yeah. To the person who was in the chat, I think last week and was concerned about the Packers not bringing in more competition to push him, I think you can rest easily tonight.

I think Trace Mack has earned it. Don't have a ton of other Packers. Takeaways, Baron Sorrell played like a starter. He seems like the guy across from Lucas Van Ness in this game. And yeah, let's, I guess, get right to the. the Steelers. Drew Aller. The numbers are a little inflated

because of that 74-yard slant where the defender fell. That's more a good run after the catch by, yeah, Caden Wetgin. But Drew Aller, who people are going to want to be excited about because he's a rookie. He finishes 10 for 13, 153 yards, a couple touchdowns,

ran for a touchdown as well. actually had a touchdown dropped. It would have been two passing touchdowns by the fullback. What's that dude's name? Nawat Kowowski or whatever. Like, I don't know if he's making the team or not. He did get a touchdown in the end. They're kind of fullback, tight end on the team.

But Drew Aller, looking pretty good. But so did Will Howard. The young kids looked okay. Yeah, I wanted to make that point because Will Howard had a touchdown taken away from from him by replay review. and let a score and drive that ends up, you know, finishing it in a one-yard rushing score. And looked all right.

I want to also note, not noticing, but note, that Will Howard took the field before Drew Aller. And just keep an eye on this. Let's watch this rotation in the next two preseason games. See if Aller gets out there before Howard. That might tell you a little bit about how this backup situation is shaping up to look like this season. Also, I'm not going to apologize,

but I am going to hand some, due respect to Jeremy Bernard, who had a really nice handful of catches, and especially a catch in broken tackle and run down the sideline. He looked a lot better

than I thought he would. He actually really helped wake up this offense, which was just underwater for their first possession and a half. Mason Rudolph had like no time to throw. He was constantly buried by the Packers pass rush,

and then a Jeremy Bernard catch and run kind of unlocks things, and they're off to the race. Roman Wilson was out there. Not many starters were, I'm not sure his snap count, but he did play some. I saw him out there. Aaron Rogers obviously didn't start.

So the fact that Jeremy Bernard, who is reportedly behind Roman Wilson and not struggling, but not making as big an impact as you would hope from a second round pick, gets what, four catches in this game for 51 yards, a really nice run after the catch. It makes a big difference. And he made a great effort on a near miracle touchdown from Rudolph, where Rudolph shook off a defender and would look like Steve McNair or something out there.

It was actually Rudolph's only incompletion of the day, 10 for 11, 93 yards. He did take a couple sacks where he held on to the ball quite a bit. And I see the Rudolph homers in the Steelers media.

Like, let's calm down about Mason Rudolph. Shout out to Jonathan Gannon, the Packers defensive coordinator. Just throw in every blitz possible. I don't know if you noticed that. Like, they were getting very creative. So you can tell me that, oh, they don't game playing that much

for the preseason. Well, they've got a blitz package, And they used it. And the Steelers struggled to deal with it, including Brojerk Jones, their former first-round pick who gave up a sack on that. They had a rushing touchdown

also wiped out by a hole on Troy Vitano lining up on the left side. Got his hands inside the man he was blocking his sleep. You kind of keep it inside the framework. And it was very obvious. The starters were out there other than Rogers.

Yeah. The starting offensive line was out there and they were struggling early. And I think it's a good test for them because this is a solid offensive line. For the most part, the interior is solid, the tackle situation still has to kind of be sorted out.

But I think it's good for them to get a test against the team that's actually bring some blitzes. That's the beauty of preseason. Is it like, well, a lot of things are vanilla. It's also a great environment to just test things out. You're talking about Jonathan Gannon in his first year as DC of the Packers.

He's got to get some reps with these guys and show them how he wants to coach this defense. He's got to work some things out, test some things. So you're getting tests on both sides in week one of the preseason, probably the stretch of time in which we'll see most, the C, see the starters most before they kind of go on ice in the next couple of weeks.

and it's good to see at this point and it's good film for you to correct. I also enjoyed watching Jordan Love in this game. He only played one drive. Marshawn Lloyd was with him at running back. No surprise there. He's kind of a guy who like picks his spots and looks for the opening and takes his time.

And that can be a tricky style. He's not dissimilar to Josh Jacobs, who is the starter there. So keep an eye on Marshawn Lloyd. Jordan Love ripped a nice ball for about 19 yards to Jane Reed. but the drive ended when Jaden Reed's playing on the outside and you got to throw,

and he threw like a one-on-one contested catch was a good ball, but Jaden Reed, you know, doesn't make the play, and it does make you think, like, they don't have the biggest receivers outside. Those are kind of routes you want to see Christian Watson, maybe even Matthew Golden doing, but it was Jaden Reed.

It didn't work. And my guy, Asante Samuel, with a couple really nice plays, a pass defense on that play, and locked up, a different Packers Defender to end another drive. So Asante Samuel playing well for the Steelers. Hey, I'm Ruby Carr, the host of the podcast, Encore.

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to help bring home that league trophy. Listen to the late-round fantasy football podcast on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, it's time for the offseason ride-along, presented by Toyota. Let's go to the Colts and the Patriots. I think the biggest story here was Anthony Richardson. Now, six games going on at once, Chuck, you know, I'm assigning, I'm giving you a lot of responsibility on this Thursday night.

I don't know if you were able to have eyes on each and every game. It's kind of impossible. So I don't know if you have any Anthony Richardson takes for me before I do. I do. Okay, good. It's one of my lead notes. Actually, because of the way the games were staggered, we got two at the same time. Then Patriots Colts slides in a half hour later.

And then another game, two games slide in a half hour later. So at one point, I got five on at once. And that's when it gets a little much, right? But the cool thing about preseason is you know some of the guys that you really want to watch are going to be done by certain points in games. So you can kind of take your attention from those two games to the next two games. Richardson and company show up right in between. And I can't help but just continue to watch.

this game when they're on the field because for as much as you know adversity as he has endured and for as low as his stock is right now I cannot help myself but just watching him and thinking God somebody can make something out of this guy because when he's in the pocket and he lets it rip you're like oh that is not something that you get an average quarterback now he was inaccurate at times he under threw a ball that got tipped by a Patriots defender and still ended in the arms of of his intended tight end for a completion. He threw a pass directly into the arms of a receiver

and it went through his hands and then was intercepted. So that's not his fault on that interception. There were highs, there were lows. But overall, I watched him take off for a run. And I'm just like, the thought occurred to me. And I said to myself, I'm going to make this point in the podcast. If his value is so low that nobody's calling on him, if I were the Browns, I would call and offer a seventh

and see if it gets it done. because I just can't help but look at the physical tools and think, God, if you just gave him time to cook, just marinate, just let him bake in the oven. I think Chris Ballard is so stubborn. He does not want to see him succeed with another team, although I guess sending him to the Browns would maybe change that. Look, Ian Rappaport reported he thought that Richardson

could be cut or traded this month. And so maybe this was a bit of a showcase game. I don't know if a seventh would get it. it done, but there are plenty of teams where he would make sense. That's one of them. It's funny, if the Rams hadn't drafted Ty Simpson, I'm like, man, I'd like to see him as like the second or third. And you could use him. He ran six times for 53 yards and a touchdown and a fumble. And you just can't fumble. That was a game, that was a play where he could have slid. He could have avoided the fumble. Stephen Holder, who covers them for the, for ESPN said, like, that's been a

trademark in the training camp of like him trying to do too much. And yet he had a scramble and a design run, which he looked awesome on. Like there just there just aren't many guys. He, I mean, it's obvious, but he's a top five rusher of any quarterback in the league. And, you know, might be top, top three, top two, you know, like he could be incredible and that way, had some nice throws. Finishes 11 for 14 for 144, uh, 45 yards, but also, you know, made some iffy decisions. They would have had more points with him at quarterback if, if, uh, his running back. Was it Seth McGowan? I believe fumbled on the goal line, which was, uh, regrettable. Uh, if you're looking for good news as an Anthony Richardson fan and wanting him to be the backup,

Riley Leonard came in with the third stringers and that it's supposed to flip next week and immediately under through a bad pass that he probably shouldn't have thrown under pressure and threw a pick and didn't move the ball that well for the rest of his time. I think his completion percentage is around 50% and that they weren't moving the ball. So, I don't know, score this one for A-rich. We're not done yet.

Sook. Also, we can't move off this game without talking about Tommy Cutlets because he looked pretty awesome and I also understand why his team won the scrimmage. Like, he, I don't know if it's just because he's operating Josh McDaniel's offense and it's against backups or whatever. But I was very impressed. He had a couple of long throws where I was like, wow, I can't believe he got that ball off accurately and completed it.

He looked very comfortable and poised in the pocket. Like he knew what he was doing. There was no speeding up of the clock or anything like that. Andre Borgales lost a lot or missed a couple of field goals. So it kind of cost them some points on some of these drives. But overall, I was just like, you know what? I like the idea of Tommy DeVito, career backup, who, you know, is in the league. for 10 years cash and checks.

You know what the Josh McDaniel system and Josh McDaniels specifically in New England is great at? Is taking like a late round-ish talent, mid-to-late-round talent and making them pretty good. You know what I mean? Matt Castle.

Matt Castle, I mean, Jacoby back in the day, although Jacobi ended up being pretty good. Jim G. I mean, he did a great job with Mac Jones, which I would put at a higher level. I'm not saying Tommy DeVito could be at that, but they were pretty decisive being like, we like Tommy DeVito better than Josh Dobbs last year.

There's a reason why they, you know, they re-signed Tommy DeVito to, you know, so they think he can be a good backup and good on him. Let's actually show his touchdown pass. It was to Kyle Williams, who is one of my favorite young receivers in the league coming into the draft and has been really quiet. But Kyle Williams had an incredible release,

and there was some talk that the third round pick could get cut. But the Patriots reporters who have been, been there, say, look, he's going to be a very specialized role player, but there aren't many guys on this team. It's basically him and A.J. Brown, and he's very different that can easily win one-on-one coverage right away off the line of scrimmage and then just go, and he can go more than anyone. So I think there's going to be a role for him. Nice footwork there and a nice throw by Tommy DeBita. Preseason, the perfect time for Kyle Williams to dust a corner that may or may not make the team and boost his own stock. By the way,

The receiver battle royale that's going to happen in New England. I took a little note here early on the top three that were out there. I know this changed over the course of the game as it does in preseason games. Efton Chisham, Cajon Booty, Mac Collins. Mac Hollins had a drop early in this game too. So just keep an eye as we try to sort all this out. Who's going to make this team? Yeah, I think they all will unless they could find a trade partner for Cajon Booty.

And I think Kyle Williams will be wide receiver six. Although does that leave room? Yeah, they might have to make a trade. Let's go to the Chargers and Texans. I got to admit, I don't have a lot from this game. It was a lot of Trey Lance. It was a lot of backups on both sides. Davis Mills actually played with the starting offensive line for the Texans

and had a nice touchdown throw to Jared Wayne, the guy who has been on that team for a few years, was involved in that Tank Dell injury a couple years ago. They did draft that big blocking tight end, Marlon Klein. He had a big play down the first. field. So I like that. There wasn't too much. I don't know if you have anything interesting from this game from from either side of things. I believe that the Chargers walked away with this. The Chargers backups killing them. Yeah, nothing really new necessarily. But Davis Mills just looks

like the guy that we know he is. He's a plus backup. He looks like a guy who's gotten some time on the field and knows what he's doing. On the Chargers side, not a lot to talk about really. I think the running back was, I think his name's Amar Johnson. He had a couple of rushing touchdowns. DJ Oui Ungolet threw a touchdown pass, which is fun because that's a name that I thought we'd never hear again after his college career. I watched them in practice throw two interceptions on the exact same throw in the practice that I went to.

And it was disappointing because supposedly he's had a pretty good camp. I don't get the sense that either backup quarterback is playing very well. And it's definitely Trey Lance is the backup right now. but as I mentioned a few shows ago that's a logical J.J. McCarthy place. Heck, that's a logical Anthony Richardson place. I could see Jim Harbaugh wanting either one of those

because I'm not sure. Yeah, but when you pair, I'm thinking about best situation to actually get the most out of them. I don't know if I like that. For Richardson or for JJ? For Richardson. They're both backups at this point.

They're both backups at this point. You've got to just develop them. Richardson's 23 years. Someday. Someday. Someday. I also heard a lot about Avery Smith was one of the two undrafted free agents on the Chargers in the defense backfield that are supposedly going to make the team. He made a couple really nice plays in this game and he is aggressive. He did two seatbelt. I'm locking you up celebrations in the same drive. You don't see that often. Yeah. Shout out to Avery

Smith. Another D. Yeah, I wanted to note that Arrondi Gadsden and Kamani Bidel were out there. And that just kind of confirmed what I was saying. Those guys are third on the depth chart because the starters weren't really out there. Like Keandre Lambert Smith is out there. Like the backups are out there. So to me, like Gadsden and Vidal are definitely lower on the depth chart. You noticed a different DB too for the charges, right? Oh, God, I saw Lambert Smith almost make an incredible catch. Fell out of his hands the last second. Yeah, Genesis Smith is one of the stars of this camp, right? He made an incredible interception that didn't count because only got one foot in the end zone. I mean, I'm talking video game.

one hand up in the air, grab it, snag it, like it was nothing. His teammates nearby did one of these, like, grabbed the helmet, put the arms up in the air, thinking, oh my God, you just picked him off, but the second foot didn't get down. I even just in that play, I was like, oh, I see why he's turning heads in camp. That's, that's incredible athleticism. I want to go watch him. His reputation coming out of college was he just didn't tackle. Like it drove our buddy, Ali Connolly crazy. Like, the guy just didn't tackle. He was like, you can't draft him. He doesn't tackle. And you don't really see that as much at training camp. So maybe you don't see that weakness showing up.

But. Yet. Matt Money Smith was saying, like, this kid is a freak. Like, he has been wowing people day after day. So an interesting guy to watch. That was the off-season ride-along presented by Toyota. Because when people are the destination, your ride is important. Learn more at Toyota.com and find the vehicle that fits your people.

Titans 49ers last preseason game that will mention. The 49ers started Curtis Rourke and then went to Adrian Martinez at quarterback. So not a lot of big takeaways there. But they did play Dejean Stribling a ton and he delivered with seven catches and 63 yards in the first half. So Kyle Shannon wanted to test drive his young wide receiver and kind of like Jeremiah Love with Arizona. It's like, do we need that much workload for Deshaun Stribling? might be your wide receiver too. But yeah, good to see him out there.

And they did go up against the Titans starters. So he was out there mostly with backups, but the Titans played their starters early in this game. You saw a little, a decent amount of snaps for the starters. Tai J. Spears and Tony Pollard each got four carries. Cam Warded 12 pass attempts, completed five of them. Wondale Robinson got four targets.

I mean, these are guys that you're going to, these are names you're going to hear in the regular season for the Titans. So, and it's again, it's a new staff. So you're going to see this more from new staffs trying to get their team acclimated to what they want to do and get a little test run. But I do want a trivia question for you, Greg, and I hate to put you on the spot, but you know what? I like to come out of nowhere sometimes. If you, I don't have anything to offer, but can you name the two schools that both Curtis Rourke and Adrian Martinez went to in college? Powell was one of them?

No. I don't know. No. Oh, Miami, Miami? No. No. What did Adrian Martinez play? Why do I not know that?

He finished his career at Nebraska. he began his career at Kansas State. But the reason I really asked this is Curtis Rourke because he was a Mac guy. He started his career where, Greg? I don't know. Ohio University. I should know.

And you know where he ended up? He was the predecessor to last year's Heisman trophy winner because he played football in Indiana to close his college career. Shook is on it. Shook is playing EA college. Shook is grinding Mac tape.

And he's loving his Ohio. You, your team was like the worst team in college football just about last. Two years ago, two years ago. Kent State Golden Flashes. O and 12, lost to an XS school. On the comeback trail. Yeah, we had a good year last year. We're on our way back up.

We're getting better. So that was the preseason games. We're going to hit all the rest of the preseason games live on YouTube at 7 Eastern 4 Pacific on Sunday and putting the podcast up. quickly after that. That'll be me and Jordan Rodrigue on Sunday. Before we go, just going to hit some quick items of news. The Panthers signed Darren Waller. I was expecting this to happen earlier. Chuba Hubbard, by the way, is week to week. So Jonathan Brooks, he's got a chance to be your week one starter at running back if he can

stay healthy for the Panthers. But I really like this signing. I don't want to get too crazy about Darren Waller in the year, 2026, but they need something at tight end. Jordan was talking about needing more. And I thought Darren Waller had some real juice late last season. I think he would be a member of the Los Angeles Chargers right now with McDaniel, because McDaniel liked using him. But they're so deep, it just did not make sense as a destination. So Darren Waller adding a little juice potentially to a group that could really use it.

Yeah. Last year, there was a period about midway through this season, especially after Tyreek Hill went down where Darren Waller was the focus of the Dolphins passing attack. He was the only guy scoring touchdowns for them for a little bit. So he can obviously still do it, even though he's walked away from football once already. I don't understand what's going on with, like, you said they needed something at tight end, but like this goes back to the Hall of Fame game. I'm seeing Jatavian Sanders out there getting like pretty significant reps really in this, in that game. And Tommy Trembled in play. And I'm just thinking like, what is Dave Canales's

view of his entire tight end room? Mitchel Evans had dealt with an injury earlier. I think he's back down fine. I actually, this is a deep group in my opinion, but I'm wondering, like, is Sanders on the bubble? Because if I'm a team that needs a tight end, I'm taking a flyer on him for sure. That's fair. I think what this says is, yeah, they're not happy with their kind of catch first tight ends, which would be Sanders and certainly would be Tommy Trembal. So one or the other, that they feel like they needed another guy. Because that's a signing that you don't make in the offseason because you wanted to work out a different way. It didn't work out that way.

The Seahawks made a signing that was kind of foreshadowed on Hard Knocks. Got to wonder if the Hard Knocks producers had an idea that the Seahawks were signing Terry and Arnold because if you watch the show, not only did they feature the possible signing of Arnold and some behind-the-scenes conversations pretty prominently, but they literally ended the show with, like, him walking off. It was the last thing that they showed. And now Terriand Arnold, who is facing some pretty serious, accusations, felony, including a robbery,

is a member of the Seattle Seahawks. He fits the mold physically shook of the type of players that Mike McDonald and John Schneider want to go after in the secondary. I saw this positioned as a bit of a heat check for this team. Yeah. It is an interesting signing by Seattle. That's a great description,

because this feels like one of those signings that, what kind of team would make this signing? in the past. The chiefs? The chiefs would make this signing. The chiefs in the middle of their dynasty run. Yeah. They would just be like,

eh, screw it. Bring him on board. Football-wise, dealt with injuries in Detroit. Lack of consistency kind of stemming from that, never lived up to the expectation that came with his draft status. But I just have to think, like,

is he even going to play? Like, is this one of those things? Like you said, heat check words like, well, hey, if it all works out, then we got a former first round pick on our team. And it's like, do you need that right now? But you are going off of a, Super Bowl.

They've turned Josh Job into like a real deal player, a guy that Philadelphia didn't want. They do well with these kind of physical handsy corners. They tend to coach him up well. I don't know if Terry Ann Arnold will be available early in the season or at all in the season. His off-field arrest consideration is significant. I did ask around. I think there is a belief that a suspension is a strong possibility or putting him on the commissioner's exempt list is a strong possibility. We'll see. But the Seattle Seahawks taking a chance on Tarion

Arnold. Puka Nakua is a player we mentioned could possibly be suspended by the league. Sean McVeigh says that he is expected back next week. They're calling his injury soreness, like lower body soreness. Miles Garrett also missed his seventh practice of training camp with some knee swelling, so that those are injuries to watch there. But Puka will be back. They are going to start Stetson Bennett at quarterback by the. way for Jordan Rod Riggs first appearance as the color analyst of the Los Angeles Rams. How about that? Let's go. Let's go.

I mean, I knew that. McVeigh knew that when we were there last week and you couldn't have just announced it a little earlier so we could have enjoyed it with her on the show, but she's already, you know, on her way to the game. But we'll be watching and I'll be looking forward to that. That's pretty awesome news with our friend J.B. Long. That's one heck of a torch passing, by the way, from Mina Kheim to Jordan Rodriguez. Oh, man, a couple of all-stars right there.

Two of the greats. And yeah, that's a great tradition. And I've been going through, like, different players and their usage telling me just a little something. I forgot to make the point that Cam Ward, after delivering, like, a first drive touchdown, where you made a couple nice throws, they keep them out there for a handful of other drives that don't go as well. They want him to get the work. To me, that's like a little telling of what, like, Robert Sala wants to see stuff.

And I bring that all up, you know, right now to point out that the Rams traditionally never play their backup quarterbacks. And I heard, you know, speculation that they weren't going to play Stets and Bennett in this preseason. But I've also read and seen with my own eyes that after a quick start to camp, he has been struggling. And him playing in this game. indicates to me it's like you got to go earn that job bro and we know Jimmy

Garapolo's number I don't know if he's left LA yet like the answer to like who's their backup Ty Simpson or Stetson Bennett might be neither still well okay but at that point then you're thinking about a roster constraint they is this that's something that's something but this team they've had this weird fascination with him or some sort of affinity he goes to your he goes to some other team or he goes to your practice squad And that's it. I can't imagine a lot of teams would be picking up the phone

to get him. Yeah. Yeah, okay. Just throwing that out there. Jordan Tyson, the Saints rookie receiver who's been lighting up camp left practice with a hamstring injury.

He had a ton of hamstring problems throughout his college career and into the draft process. Might not be serious, but the fact that it's a hamstring injury is worth noting. Jedarian Price, I should have noted with the Seahawks

did return to practice, so that was great to see the rookie running back who's missed a lot of training camp is back in practice. I saw from Ian Rappaport, Rishie Rice is not expected to be suspended by the NFL. He was suspended previously for his latest infraction, and that's kind of the thinking there. And then I forgot to mention in my joint practice rundown on our power rankings show, one of the

joint practices, and it was the most lopsided one. And they did two days, so I'm glad I waited to hear the second day of confirmation. The commanders wiped the floor with the dolphins up and down the field. Jaden Daniels, look at amazing. Stephen Diggs, every commander's reporter is like, Stefan Diggs is immediately made every other receiver on the roster except for Terry McLaurin look like amateurs. Like he's obviously the second best receiver on this roster by a good amount right away.

And the Miami Dolphins did not look overly competitive in either of the practices, apparently. File that under the least surprising things I've heard this week. Maybe this month. It's only August 13th. Not surprising. Unfortunately, I am a little surprised of the struggles Gino had back-to-back days against the Bucks, reportedly, the Jets offense, the starting offense, not doing so well. So just dimming some of that buzz.

Well, I mean, we talked about the fact that they were lighting up the Jets defense, that it was a concerning side for the Jets. That's the beauty of joint practices. You get a little bit of a measuring stick and realize, oh, God, we're not as good as I thought we were. Pretty revenge, big revenge joint practice. The rare revenge joint practice by Todd Bowles against his former employer. Man, I got to say, I love preseason football being back. You got to embrace it for what it is.

I'm sure when we do our week three preseason recap, we will be more than done with it. But this first week, now it's transitioned, is often the most interesting one. It's certainly like one and two, and then it really, really dies off this. So this was fun, shook, and we'll be covering the rest of the preseason all month long on NFL day. Yeah, this might be a little bit of recency bias, but I felt like, like this first night of games had more meaning to it for a preseason than years past. Mendoza, Jeremiah Love in uniforms. Like, yeah, this is what we want.

So as I mentioned, we will be back on Sunday. Thank you, Shuck. You are getting a well-deserved and rare weekend off, not from work because NFL.com has you working, but from NFL Daily at least. So let's hit that music. We will be back on Sunday evening, 7 p.m. Eastern, 4 p.m. Pacific on YouTube. There's a big slate of games. Friday, Saturday, we will recap it all and all the news that's happening around the training camps.

I got so many nuggets that don't even have to do with the preseason. We'll see you there. The entire draft room groans because you just took the guy they wanted. There's no better feeling than crushing your fantasy football league. I'm JJ Zachary Eisen, host of the award-winning late-round podcast. Before your draft, our players to target and players to avoid episodes tell you exactly. exactly who to circle and who to cross off. Listen to the late round fantasy football podcast on the Iheart radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.