NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Overrated/Underrated Storylines and Ian Rapoport

Episode Date: July 19, 2024

Gregg Rosenthal is joined by Nick Shook to tell you which storylines they think are overrated and underrated heading into next season (2:00). Is the Browns defense overrated? Are we underrating Kyler Murray and the Cardinals? Is J.J. McCarthy being overrated? Gregg and Nick give you those answers and more! After the break, NFL Insider Ian Rapoport joins the show to give you his take on the Davante Adams discourse (21:40), to discuss possible contracts for Jordan Love and Tyreek Hill (27:05) and give you an break down on what goes into breaking a mega trade like the Brian Burns trade (30:18). The show is wrapped up with Shook giving us his review of NCAA 25 (34:05). Note: time codes approximate. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Welcome to NFL Daily, where the two-lane green wave are a burgeoning college football dynasty. I'm Greg Rosenthal. Beyond lucky today to be joined by Nick Shook, the other kid from Akron. And yes, I know, Nick, you have been playing EA college football. with the Green Wave as your team. How are you doing? Yeah, baby.

Well, Craig, you know, not to spoil the surprise, but the Tulane Green Wave are the 2024 national champions, my friend. Let's go. I mean, Tulane overindexes in Coolness Factor because of those uniforms. Oh, wow, yeah. If you check us out on YouTube,

you can see Nick has been doing it big. Not surprised. Nick is a budding gamer. We're going to talk about that later in the show. He's been doing it for a while. He's got a Twitch stream. and we're going to get Nick Shook's three-minute review on EA College Football 25. That is what we're wrapping the show.

I don't know why we're wrapping because usually you just bring the best stuff right off the top and that's going to be the best stuff we hear all day, Nick. Yeah, I mean, obviously. How can you not be on board with Tulane as your national chance? Green wave. Hey, they were close to it. They won a, what do they call it, power six, you know, bowl six game? What do they call that?

A New Year's Six game. A New Year's Six game a couple years ago. over Caleb freaking Williams. That was amazing. Also coming up in the show and is amazing is Ian Rappaport. So, yeah, we're having our Insider Weekly segment every week. It'll be 10 to 15 minutes with Ian or Mike Garifolo. They have a rivalry, so they don't just want one guy to get all the shine.

But this week, it's going to be Ian again. But before we do that, Nick, we are going to do our segment today, and it's going to be simple. We're going to throw ideas back and forth, overrated or underrated players. and it's as simple as it gets. It could be teams, actually. It doesn't have to be players. Could be coaches, could be units. It's whatever you think is overrated or underrated

going into the 2024 season. I'm going to get started by asking you to go. I want you to start and give me something underrated. Let's be positive. Yeah, way to pass it down. You know, Greg, I want to expand the boundaries of this exercise real quick. Not only could it be teams, players, coaches, whatever. I want it to be like theories, like just ideas, general trends.

That could also be overrated, underrated. And for me, I'm going to start underrated the Rams 2024 draft. And the reason that I say this is, look, we all know what Kobe Turner did on the defensive line last year in Los Angeles. He was not a name that anybody was really paying attention to. And some people might have wondered how did he play, you know, was it part of playing next to Aaron Donald? No, the kid's a stud. Well, then they just went and reinvested in the defensive line again twice. They go get Jared Verst, one of my favorite players in the draft.

They go get his Florida state teammate, Braden Fisk, in the second round. And then on the offensive side, they went and got Blake Corum, a running back at Michigan, who did a lot in his time with the Wolverines. Just savvy moves and coming off of a draft a year prior in which they snagged Pooka and Akua and turned him into a phenomenal receiver. I think that less needs two for two, and we're all going to see it happen here this season. Wow. I'm surprised, not that that's not a good draft, but didn't get a ton of attention.

If anything, I think they got more attention for the guys they didn't get, because it kind of came out that they wanted to get Bowers. at tight end. They were trying to trade up, which would have been really intriguing on that offense, which is already loaded enough. But the Raiders took them before they could do that. And then they also wanted Byron Murphy, the defensive tackle. I think that the CX got it. But sometimes that's how drafts work. You don't get the players you want, and it works out better. I'm going to stay in that front office tree and go to Detroit and talk about what they've been doing as a front office and go with the Lions offseason as my first underrated option.

And I just feel like everyone has been sleeping on the fact that this is an organization that has done everything wrong for decades. And now they're doing everything right. And yeah, you can get it right, hiring the right coach and the right GM. But are you going to make the right personnel decisions and step up when it's time from an ownership level? And I think they have. Like on the defensive line, I like the Marcus Davenport move. You don't sign him when he's expensive in free agency. You sign him when he's cheap. You might get a really good pass rusher out of Marcus Davenport. DJ Reeder also, I think, was a smart signing. It might not be a big factor until later,

but the defensive line balks up. But the bigger thing was that they signed everybody. Like all their foundational guys, Amon Rae St. Brown, Penae Soule, to get them done along with Jared Gough, a contract I think worked for them, but also can work for the team. And oh, by the way,

they had a secondary problem all last season, and you trade very little to get Carlton Davis, who to me is a plus starter at cornerback, which are just very difficult to get. And you draft Terry and Arnold, they attacked their weaknesses aggressively. I just think they had one of the best off seasons of any team out there. And everyone's just a little tired of the Lions at this point, that they were kind of the story of last year.

But I think they've set the foundation, Shucky, to get better than they even were last year when they built on their success from 2022. Yeah, Greg, I don't know if you know this, but I'm a football cynic. And I always try to poke holes and things because I want to see, where, when is the other shoe going to drop? You know, when am I going to get disappointed? We actually discussed this on, you know, shameless plug, my podcast, the Gridiron podcast a couple nights ago.

And in discussing this with my friend Carmen Vitale from Fox Sports, who covers the NFC North, I'm thinking, I don't know what to tell you. This roster looks better than it was last year. Like, they addressed their weaknesses. They went and got Terry and Arnold. Their secondary was probably the worst part of their defense, and they got better and they got deeper on that side of the ball. This is a team that I think is built for a deep run.

So as much as, because every year, this happens. We get a team or two that was great the previous year that should be good and then falls off. We know the turnover numbers from year to year in playoff appearances and everything else. I thought the Lions might be that team last year that they were getting too much like going into the year.

And instead, this is a team that I feel fully confident. I'm not saying they win the Super Bowl. I'm not going that far yet, but I feel fully confident in them. I think they did a great job continuing to build this roster and those contracts, all three of those contracts, not team friendly necessarily, but I mean make complete sense you're getting key players locked up so I love it right and their

defensive line to me was a little disappointing I thought it was promising going into last year it's deep they still have a lot of gut the guys they drafted aline mcneal uh own wuzerike josh paskel like these guys john kuminski who came in who they want to get better but even if they don't all the people that they've brought in from the outside I think are going to set them up well I'm going to go overrated it is hard to do overrated in the middle of july and hope season no it's not But I'm going to... Just pull your takes out. I'm going to start with your Browns then.

I just want to go hard and just push against you. And just say the Brown's defense, maybe a little overrated. And here's why I think that when a new coordinator shows up, like happened for Jim Schwartz a year ago, and he immediately improves them by so much, you usually expect a little bit of a decline the following year. They had an easy schedule last year, but they went from 16th in DVOA to first,

by a long shot. One of the best defenses we've seen in a long time, shook. And you look at where they're spending money, Warren Sharp put it out there today, $190 million on their offense, the most expensive offense in the league.

Not like I see a ton of holes in their defense, but I think it's natural that the schematic advantages that Schwartz brought last year aren't going to necessarily carry over. You see this with defensive coaches a lot into year two. Who knows? Maybe it started to show up in that playoff game when they got smoked by the Texans.

Yeah, and that's partially. because the bar was so low going into last season with what Joe Woods had left behind the former defensive coordinator, just playing guys out of position. Guys didn't know what they were doing deep into week 15, 16, 17 of the season. So, Schwartz coming in was not necessarily a calming presence, but an organizing presence and an aggressive presence,

which voted well for their talent. But I totally agree. In fact, that's one of the things I included in the camp countdown for NFL.com was, is this Brown's defense actually for real or was last year a bit of an aberration? I do think they come back to Earth. I don't think they're going to be the best team, the best defense in terms

of yards per game allowed in the NFL like they were last year. And you spoke about the soft schedule. I think about how they just feasted against teens with bad quarterback. Clayton Toon got his only start in the NFL last year against this Brown's defense. Of course you're going to post gaudy numbers when you get a few of those matchups. So, yeah, I'm not going to disagree with you. I'm a realist and I totally agree on this one. The amount of professionalism is oozing from Shook.

Not only did he plug his own podcast already, but he's willing to say his team's own defense might be, overrated. And yeah, Chuck hosts the only F1 slash football podcast out there. So if you're into that, you should do it. Yeah, it was fun. It was fun doing the F1, the Gridiron podcast.

All right. Give me an overrated choice. All right. Well, I kind of was going to go in the same line as this because this kills me. The allure of a new offensive coordinator. This kind of falls in line with what you were just saying about the Browns and Jim Schwartz last year. I think back to the Ravens with Todd.

Monkin and how we heard so much about how they were finally going to throw the football effectively for the first time in the Lamar Jackson era. And yet they finished the regular season as the NFL's number one rushing offense again. Now, they did throw the ball better than previous years, but this is the time of year in which everybody gets behind that podium. They get behind the mic in front of all these reporters and they say their offense is going to be juicy and it's going to be open and it's going to be high power and we're going to stretch the field. Pump the brakes just a little bit. Pump the brakes a little bit. A new coach and a new system isn't going to transform your team overnight

if you had one of the worst offenses in the league. It could get better, but it's not going to be vastly better. So let's not build that up. You're just saying the general concept of a coordinator saving you. Because I would say Todd Munkin did a great job to use that example. Until the NFL game. Well, you know, only one team wins, as the St. Brown brothers like to point out. I mean, they still were the best team in the regular season.

Lamar won the MVP. For the most part, I thought the office. made a lot more sense and it's going to be more sustainable. And I'm hopeful that Lamar is going to take a step this year, even though the talent around him in terms of the past catchers aren't there. I think the model that they have is more sustainable on a year-to-year basis than it ever was under Greg Roman. But I hear you.

And I hear what you're saying about offense in particular. I think it's harder for an offensive coordinator to come in and make as quick and as big an impact than on defense, where I do think scheme can matter. and overcome bad talent. Like, I've been listening to Denard Wilson, the defensive coordinator in Tennessee and the way they want to attack things.

And he's, yeah, he's from the Baltimore school, but he's also from the Greg Williams school out there. And he just wants to go crazy and attack. And like, that can fix you for a year or two if you're well coach. Like Brian Flores did not have a talented defense last year and he got them to the top for a while. I'm going to go overrated next.

I'm going to go Baker. Mayfield's job security and here's the thing like he got that contract and it feels like oh finally we've got the team that respects me and everything's great and you just look at his career Nick, I don't need to tell you this as a Browns fan of just every year

is totally different. There's big ups, big downs, he's a streaky quarterback and he's losing his offensive coordinator, Dave Canales, who to me was so vital and then you look at the contract itself, how much guaranteed money is into 2025, $10 million. That's the

type of guaranteed money that we've seen teams eat over and over. The Seahawks ate way more than that for Russell Wilson. But Derek Carr, with the Raiders, for instance, like, if he doesn't play well this year, who knows if that coaching staff is back, I don't really trust the coordinator. It's Liam Cohen, who did not have a great year when he was with Sean McVeigh in 2022. If you couldn't make it work with Sean McVeigh, are you going to make it work with Baker Mayfield and Todd Bulls? Yeah, I agree very much again.

I'd hate to not disagree with you for the same. of entertaining podcast banter, but I mean, 2018, Baker you know, turns the Browns around coming in as a rookie. 2019, he's awful and he's kind of overweight and just, you know, thinks that everything is made for him already. 2020, he's back again and he's playing well.

2021, not so great. Leads the Browns to ultimately make the decision that they made. I mean, it's just been very up and down. Maybe he's just, I would say, an even year's quarterback, but last year he had a pretty solid. He had his best year of his career. You know, I just railed against the fact that a new offensive coordinator isn't going to transform your team,

but losing an offensive coordinator can hurt you very significantly, especially one who oversees the transformation like Dave Cadillis did with Baker Mayfield. So I'm on board with you there as well, and it's not because I'm a Baker hater or anything like that. It's just that if you watch a lot of those games last year, they were fun to watch, but they were also living on the Razor's Edge for a lot of it. The first seven weeks of the season last year,

it just felt like Baker was dropping back and just chucking it to Mike Evans and hoping it worked out. So I think the margin for error is slimmer than we think. Right. He still is not going to be a guy. who is able to create enough. His arm is great if he's protected well. If they have a great offensive line, then I'll look stupid.

But I think Canales was really important in making him read the game. And maybe that's a skill set. That's just going to stick with him now. But he got rid of the ball quicker, which to me is everything for Baker Mayfield. All right, give me something underrated, Shook. All right, underrated. Let's go with a full season with Kyler Murray in Arizona.

I feel like we're not paying attention. Not that we necessarily need to pay a lot of attention to the Cardinals, but the Cardinals were an afterthought from week one last year because they did not have Kyler Murray in the fold. If you watched them once he came back, they became kind of a fun watch. That game they played against Pittsburgh with like three hours worth of delays was a fun watch if you got the short and condensed version

and didn't have to sit through the live broadcast. That's the type of team that I find interest in, not because they're going to win a lot of games, but just because nobody's talking about them. And I think Kyler with a full season in Arizona, now Jonathan again, second season as a head coach, Drew Petting's second season as the offensive coordinator. I'm curious to see what step they take forward because they don't have a big excuse anymore, which last year was, we don't have Kyler. We have Josh Dobbs and Clayton Tune and whoever else. You got Kyler now.

Let's see what you can do. Now, this is going to be a recurring theme on this show until we get the game started. I'm very high on Kyler this year and the development that he showed as a quarterback. He's still so young. He is that guy that you're like, I can't believe he's still only 27 years old. I like Michael Wilson as a two. And he showed something as a rookie.

I obviously love Marvin Harrison Jr. Tray McBride, we had it in the top five of the entire league right now as a tight end. So I think they're going to be fun to watch. That to me is the most compelling division to watch. Sticking in the West. I'm going to go Chargers offensive line as underrated. Just weirdly, like the Jim Harbaugh Chargers

haven't gotten a ton of pop this offseason. And to get Joe Alt in the first round of that draft and put him at one tackle and Roshan Slater at the other. And I know you lost Corey Lindley, who retired, but they did get ready for that with the signing Bradley Bozeman. We'll see how that works out. But I think they like Trey Pickens at Guard. Like, that is a nasty tackle combination.

And I think they're going to get really creative in the running game and those two tackles especially are going to be able to play football. I think the way Jim Harba wants. Yeah. You know, I don't think the Chargers are getting nearly enough attention enough press and maybe it's just the anti-harbaugh situation where everybody's tired of hearing from Jim. I get it.

I understand he's an abrasive figure, but we should be paying more attention to the Chargers because of all the changes they've undergone this offseason since moving on for Brandon Staley and hiring Jim Harbaugh and remaking their front office and everything else. It's oftentimes you hear people that are reporting on teams, covering teams, or following teams talk about bookend tackles. We got bookend tackles. Bookend tackles only matter and only have significance on paper unless they are actually playing like bookend tackles.

And this is the first tackle tandem I can think of in quite some time where I look at it on paper before they even go out and produce and think, yeah, those guys are going to be there for the next five, 10 years. Like this is rock solid and exactly what Justin Herbert needs, considering how much he got beat up last year. If those guys are healthy, he's going to stay healthy and they're going to flourish. Yeah, I'm totally with you. I felt like a weirdly safe pick.

And I know we say that sometimes about tackles and it doesn't work out. It was a steal. It was a steal. Yeah, an incredible. ceiling. I'm looking forward they got the training camp. It's just starting, like it's just happening. Just on Thursday, Nick, like

I listened to a practice report from an actual training camp practice. Tank Dell was supposedly beating Kwame Lasseter the Texan's second round pick pretty significantly. I would expect Tankdell to beat basically any cornerback in a non-padded situation, so I wouldn't get

too carried up about that way with that. But I just, I felt alive again that we're actually getting these reports now. All right, Give me overrated, underrated, whatever you want. We're going to run out of time soon. So give me your best. Okay, overrated. I'm going to be drawn a lot of heat for this, and I'll take it.

Where J.J. McCarthy was drafted. Not that he's overrated overall because he's got a great coach in Kevin O'Connell, which I tagged this with but underrated Kevin O'Connell because he's the guy to help develop him. But my God, I know he won a ton of games at Michigan, and that was a fantastic program that Jim Harbaugh had built. They were a machine, especially defensively, and he was a winner. But when we're scouting for more than that, it feels like a Baker-Mayfield comparison to me where it's like, that guy's a winner, he's won at Oklahoma,

his teammates loved him, the whole John Dorsey. I watched Baker walk into the pro day and he whistled and they all went, whew, or whatever, back to him. That guy's a locker room guy. I got the same vibes surrounding McCarthy. I mean, do you get these vibes because he's a Michigan guy and you're an Ohio State guy?

No, no, because I respect the hell out of him. And I hated watching him scramble for first. down on third and eight repeatedly. And that's what you can do in college. And you can do that in the pros too, but let's not act like this guy is in the same realm as some of the other top quarterbacks drafted. Give him time is what I'm asking for.

Give him time to get ready to play. All right, that's it. Physically, like he has all the traits. So that got me back on board, but I'm totally with you. It is always a red flag when anyone going near the top of either the NFL or NBA draft starts getting lauded for their intangibles first.

It's like, it's like that's, you know, we've, we've been through Tebow. We don't want to hear about the intangibles. I want the tangibles. But I think J.J. McCarthy has those. He's just so young, doesn't have a lot of experience. My last underrated is going to be just D'Amico Ryan's ability to make players better, make them money. Like, that to me is the ultimate test of a coach is you take someone that wasn't successful with other coaches and you make them successful. Blake Cashman got rich in Minnesota because he was on D'emiko Ryan's team.

Stingley was a much better cornerback. in his second year. He's on this top 10 cornerbacks list for ESPN because of that. Jonathan Garnard, I think they're believing that D'emico Ryan's

maybe made him better than he really is. Desmond King, Stephen Nelson, all that. Really just guys that I think Domingo Ryan made better than he is. One last thing, actually, I want to point out

on that cornerback list. I don't know if you saw that. The ESPN, the executives rank the top 10 cornerbacks. They went through every position. And, yes, Stingley was number 10 on that list. list, which I thought was well earned for him.

And one of the guys said that Saus Gardner, who ranked third on the list, was the most overrated player in the NFL. And he actually ranked behind your guy, Denzel Ward. I was a little shocked by that. How is, Soss Gardner, to me, is not overrated. This is one of my overrated choices, is anonymous off-season rankings. If you're going to slam somebody, put your name on it, please. Yeah.

Yeah. And sauce Gardner's a hell of a cornerback. And the numbers back it up. The tape backs it up. It's indisputable, okay? He would have been one on my list. I know Sir Tan got one. But if I'm just betting on who I'd want for this year, it's Gardner.

And one of the complaints is like, oh, he gets away with so much holding. Yeah, that's a skill. That's what I want. You know who has that skill? Who doesn't have that skill yet? Who hasn't developed it yet? Joey Porter Jr. gets tagged for holding all the time.

Sauce Gardner knows how to get away with it. That's the difference. Right. You know, who had that in Spades was like Stefan Gilmore when he won defensive player there. You know, who had that, like, Derell Revis. That's what the great tab. So that was a strange one.

It just reminds me, though, because I saw, I read this. list before, you know, along with all the other positions. I think it's catnip for me to just look at what the league thinks. But cornerback had the most variation. Like, cornerback is the position where everyone's like, I don't know. Like, I don't know who we're going to count on year to year. Like, and some guys were just totally unranked and some guys were three, whereas there's consensus at other positions.

It is the toughest position. It's volatile, though, Greg. Like, I mean, AJ Terrell's listed as an honorable mention. He was one of my best corners two years ago, according to Next Gen's death. Right. And he was a dog. And then he had a down year the next year. I would still put them in the top five or six

because you got to look at the long view but cornerbacks are very up and down. You are not up and down, Shuki, you're consistent as hell. You're properly rated, maybe underrated. We're working on that. You're going to join me at the end of the show and we are going to get that EA college football preview in just three minutes from you.

You can't go over three minutes. You could go under if you want, but first we're going to talk to Ian Rappaport about those traits. Back after this. Back on NFL Daily, and it is that time a week where we bring an insider, and you know he in Rappaport. He's competitive. He's not letting these other insiders get into this weekly segment.

It's the NFL national insider. Yeah, you know, Mike Garifalo. We'll get to him a little later in the show. Got some pop on Hard Knock. I don't know how you feel about that. We got Pelisero. saw him out here this week. He's doing Rich Eisen's show. He's doing all sorts of things. But, you know, we go to the best to start. And that's you, Ian. And I am curious for your thoughts

about Devante Adams' status being such a talking point in this total quiet part of the year and whether there's like anything to that. And if even if there's nothing to it before the season, that whether there could be something to it during the season. You know, first of all, let me just say this. I've done this a long time. I think this is my 13th season if I've counted properly with NFL network. And one thing I will never do

is say something is nothing, right? Like, I remember we interviewed Dionne Dawkins on insiders that'll air tonight. And he was talking about Stefan Diggs. And it kind of brought me back to when everyone told me two different organizations

that Stefan Diggs was definitely not getting traded, Minnesota and Buffalo, got traded both times. So I will never say never. not about Devante Adams, but with literally anything. Anything is possible. It's the NFL. Things happen. I think the reason why it's being talked about now is because Aaron Rogers said something

to a reporter about looking forward to playing with Devante Adams again or something like that. And then whoever's watched receiver can see that last year there was some discomfort and frustration between Devante and Jimmy G. and the Raiders. I don't get the sense anything is going on right now whatsoever. at all with Devonthe and the Raiders. He is going to be there. He is going to be a Raider. If somehow the season goes terribly

and they want to move on from him or they can get something real from him, I'm sure teams will be calling. I haven't gotten any indication at all that this is something the Raiders would listen to. I haven't gotten any indication that this is something that Devonte Adams wants. But basically what happens in the NFL

is someone starts something and until it is literally dead, it exists in the world where people will call teams. So, like, media will start a rumor and about a player maybe getting traded. A team will then call the team that the players on and say, hey, is this true? And then it's like, whoa, this team received a trade call. It happens all the time. So I think that's why it's kind of happening with Devante, and it probably won't be dead

until he retires a member of the Raiders. Right. And I don't think that's going to happen. I mean, he doesn't make sense on that team if they're losing games. Now, if they're winning, if they're competitive, it's fine, but he's 32 years old. I think they will, too, but 32 years old, the contract is at such a point that they could trade him now and actually, you know, save money. Someone, you know, Patrick threw out the idea on this show that sounded just crazy enough that it almost made sense. Like, what about Brandon Ayyuk for Devante Adams?

Like, who says no? Come on. Let's have some fun. Let's get like the NBA. Ian, don't you just get jealous of all their fun stuff? No. No. Do you think IU could happen at all? Do you think IU could happen? Because I actually do think that would make sense for both sides because the Raiders could, you know,

they would get something back for them and, you know, they make Devante happy and the 49ers are in win-now mode. Yeah, except I don't know why the, I don't know why either of those teams would do it, being totally honest. I mean, I guess the Raiders would sort of make sense. The hardest thing, first of all,

those trades don't really happen in the NFL. They just don't. Sowering cap is too hard. finding the value is too hard. Like, we could workshop it, but like trying to figure out what that actually is worth. You have a young in your prime star receiver like Brandon Ayyuk who's very good, not Justin Jefferson, maybe not Amundra St. Brown, but really super close, excellent, excellent, excellent player, young and about to get a huge contract, near $30 million, whatever that ends up being.

For Devante Adams, who is still awesome, but older with big money, like, how do you actually value that? It's too hard. And I think you're the 49ers, like, yes, getting a great player back would make sense, but then, like, how long do you have him for? And if you want a great receiver, why don't you just have the great receiver

that you currently have and pay him what you would probably end up paying Devante Adams anyway? Don't keep making sense, but I'm with you. I think an Adams trade would be more likely in the season than I have trade at any time. I don't really see the 49ers. wanting to trade iuk we're getting close to camp there's not a lot of precedent for that i'm sorry to interrupt right there's not a lot of precedent for great teams trading great players when you

can't like the 49 if the 49ers trade iuk which i do not think is going to happen digs would be one by the way won't be able but that would be one but like the bills are in probably a little bit of a different mode right now than the 49ers the only comp i could ever see is the patriots cutting their top defensive back right before the season that would be the only one i could ever think about, but it almost never happened. Do you think a Jordan love contract happens before training camp, during training camp, or before the season? I think it's so tough to say.

My guess is probably yes. And this is based on not reporting, but just my sense of things, because he's a really good player. He's only going like this. And from the people I talk to around the league, the people who really study and watch these things, like they feel, who knows, but they feel like he is on a rocket ship. Yes. And generally, if you have a player like that, then those guys get paid, if only because

you're going to pay him eventually, pay him now, rather than pay him like $60 million or whatever it is, or $61 million next year. So that is my argument. Like, I think there was a while when people weren't sure what he was going to be, even the Packers, he looks like he is going to be a really, really, really good player. I like it when you say that it's not based on your reporting because, you know, I can almost hear the wheels turning. Ian has so much information and so much stuff and he can only allow like a certain amount out and he has to like pilfer and decipher what he can actually say publicly. We're going to get it out of you, Ian.

Why are you making that face? One of these days. No, it's just so the reason is because there's so much aggregation these days that God forbid you say something that's not like properly and 100% source. it's like report Jordan Love Extension will get done which is like not what I said but no one listens to anyone anyway so anyway I've got my eye on this Tyreek Hill

situation before we let you go just that he clearly wants the new contract he's got a couple years a new contract for him would be so much and I don't know if the dolphins are going to prioritize that so it actually could be a situation

where the two sides aren't very happy with each other what do you get a sense of with Tyree Kill yeah I mean I mean, I think they know that he wants some sort of adjustment. You know, historically, there's a way to do this without killing yourself, right? I mean, I think the Raiders did probably a really smart deal with Max Crosby. I think it was $6 million more they gave him. Didn't affect next year, just this year, made a really good team leader, good guy, happy.

They just gave him more money. That almost never happens. That's shocking when teams do that. Yeah, it, you know, but the way they did it happens, where you take money from the back end of a guy, I believe this is the way to take money to the back end of the contract, move it up. Like that happens some. I think the Marshaun Lynch example is probably the most famous one when we all thought

they were going to have a divorce and they just ended up giving them more money. I think there are ways to do it for Tyree Kiel, but to me, it does feel like the priority is the quarterback. Now, that's not done. And, you know, I don't know if it will get done. And, again, like, there's some optimism, but nothing's done until it's done. but that's my sense is the quarterback is probably more of a priority and then for Tyreek I mean he's he's 30 but he's still great

and he's got a lot of years left like there are ways to do that without killing yourself okay and just just wondering not that I'm rooting for things to go to go poorly I want that team to do well but they got a lot to manage aren't you always rooting for chaos I mean yes in general which is why I'm going to introduce this next sound clip of a deal that did get done Ian you often are a part of these Hard Knocks episodes

because they show the NFL network reports and look they got NFL network up all day it's all Judy Batista it's all Mike Garifold it's all Ian Rapport so let's actually listen in to a part of Hard Knocks where the Giants were watching our network report the Brian Burns trade Carolina Panthers move on

Giants land to pass rush or Burns gets paid all the things happen at the exact same time Let me tell you something. You think this was stressful for Giants general manager, Joe Shane? It was stressful for this guy. You're going to chill out now. You're going to relax. He was so on edge all day long we were talking about this.

If you're watching or you have a chance to watch that clip on YouTube or on HBO Max, just a look of love from Joe Shane's face, endearing to Mike Garifolo. Just are you jealous as an insider that he got to? that big of a reaction from Joe Shane? No, because Mike is talking about me. And you can't really tell on the show, they kind of make it seem like he's talking about Joe.

Mike's talking about me. Because that day, I probably had a good feeling, let's just say good feeling that the Burns trade was done probably more than two hours from when I was able to report it, firmly, officially, agreed to by all sides and done. and like, you know, it was great to break it. I'm very happy that it worked out that way. I'm very happy that Hard Knock showed that clip.

It was so miserable. It was so miserable. And the amount of things that had to happen for that deal to get done. And then for me to break it, it was one of the most stressful things. I mean, it was like a nine-month saga, honestly. And I was tracking every bit of it. And, you know, you want to win, you want to break the story. But the two hours where I was pretty sure was getting done.

but couldn't get it 100% confirmed that it was actually done were definitely some of the most painful I've had as a reporter and then to get it was great but that's what Mike's talking about on this clip which I think Joe appreciates how absolutely awful it was to wait and make sure that it was done so that's kind of why he's that just the look of affection to me was was something but like why do you put yourself through that Ian I think like in our roles we all have some sort of emptiness inside of us that we're trying to fill. but like why why put yourself through that for what I like to deliver the people that follow very closely the news as soon as humanly possible I like to win and I like to tell people what I know

as soon as I can and when I don't get to do that it really eats at me I'm just really just a man of the people and I want to give them what they want which is trades and contracts and news It just seems extremely stressful way to live that you're never off the clock but that's between you and, you know, your therapist if you have one or you and your wife and you seem like you guys are doing great, you're doing great,

you've got back to back appearances here on NFL Daily, so I don't know, we might have to go to Garifolo next week because, you know, he seems like the insider maybe you would resent the most if he got this coveted spot next time around. I mean, Mike got a lot of, buzz this week from breaking news on the

golf course, so he deserves all the shine he can get. There we go. Thank you, Ian. Again, yeah, we're going to have an insider on every week. Appreciate the insight. We're going to wrap up the show just after this break with Nick Shook talking a little EA college football.

This is my first year. I'm bringing a TV. So I haven't brought a TV ever before, but NCAA came out and I'm going to have to turn it on. So I brought a TV for NCAA and the Olympics. So that's my first year of a breed doing that. That was Patrick Mahomes, of course, talking about EA sports college football 25. If you're on the internet this week, or if you played a video game at any point in the last

15 years, this is not news to me. This is, you know, maybe the biggest sports gamer news. I don't know in how long, Shuki. You are a burgeoning gamer. The biggest sports video game release ever. Wow. If not ever, a close second. No game has gone dormant on hiatus for a decade that was so beloved. And then suddenly came back with 11 years more of technology and authenticity and attention to detail and, you know, TLC that it needed like this. This has never happened before.

I was in E.A. I was in Orlando at E.A. And in May. In late May. In late May, we were playing this game. And I could not drop the controller. I didn't want to move for four hours. So now you fast forward to here where you're getting tens of hundreds of thousands of people,

millions of people who are so desperate to play this game. They've been playing a game that's 11 years old for the last 10 years with mods and everything. Now they get a new one. It's like Christmas for these people. Yeah, and you're one of those people. I know you've already won that championship. We showed. I'm very proud of the Tulane Green Wave.

But before I throw it to you, and I like that you're sneaking in some extra takes before we even get to your three-minute review, so you're really tacking on. I do want to just show the listeners who are watching on YouTube, but also for the audio audience, obviously, just a taste of what Nick Shook has been doing on his Twitch stream because, yeah, he is a major gamer. So this is what happens. We're going to listen to Nick Shook when he scores a touchdown

playing EA college football. All right. First reads R1, second reads Square. Third read is Prey. They'll try to pass it in. Get in there, Tommy! Get in there, Tommy! Let's go!

First time, I don't care. Oh, okay. Now Nick in his tank top is pumping his fist to lights on. I mean, how much is the production budget here? The lights are flashing. That is amazing. I want to play that every time. I want to play that every time we're on the show.

That is amazing. Yeah, you can catch that at. Twitch.com. You can find it there. We are doing a Kent State rebuild. That was the first game. We were playing Pitt. One star program, Kent State, one of the worst in the nation.

My alma mater, who I saw nearly go to the Orange Bowl when I was in college, we've fallen. And we were never really up that high to begin with. But we are going to turn them around starting right now with my rebuild of Kent State over on Twitch, part of my enjoyment of the game. I love it. I love the blinking lights. I love the tanked up. If you're going to put in all that work, like really what's the point on some level?

That's what I think. But that's the point. You've got to show it off. You've got to show those guns in the biggest of spots. All right, you have three minutes to make your pitch. Talk about EA college football. And we are going to start right now. And kick over three minutes, Chucky.

All right. Well, hopefully I have a timer. Greg, let me ask you something real quick. What's your favorite part about a sports narrative? Is it the destination or is it the journey? It's the journey. It's the journey. And the journey is what this game is all about.

People love college football for the journey, the story of a program being built, and you are in full control of that with College Football 25's Dynasty mode, where you can choose any school. You can start as a coordinator. You can get a job somewhere else if you don't like your school. I just won with Tulane.

Florida wanted to hire me. Did I take the job? Hell no, because I'm down for the Green Wave and Greg Rosenthal's alma mater. We're winning multiple national titles, even if we got worse in the off season. And why should you play this game? you can have the same experience or your own experience.

You can take your skills on the gridiron to online and play through, you know, ranked matchups in college football with some of the best. Do you want to play Alabama, Texas in their first SEC matchup? You got it. And you got everything else. And attention to authenticity. Years and years, literally five years of work building this game from the ground up.

And for those of you who say it's a Madden re-skin, you're wrong. I've played both, including the new one. There are different games. And this game is enjoyable as all hell. Wait, you play the new Madden? Yeah, I have. I've played tested it. Breaking news.

Any different? Any different? It is different. There are some improvements. But college football 25 might be the best football game I've ever played. In fact, I will go so far as to say it is. Wow.

Get yours now. Wow. I didn't expect this to just be a full-throated cell job of EA college football. But hey, that's part of being a reviewer. When you recognize greatness, you got to bump it up. You got to love it. There's a few things we've got to fix. The computer defense runs too much.

much press coverage right now. And if you have a fast receiver, it's easy pickings. There's an issue with running into the kicker that pops up occasionally for people I know. It has not really happened for me. But my God, the experience, Greg, it's just, it's like they took the last game and they gave 10 years of innovation to it. And they treated it with the proper love and care that everybody expected. And it's a blast. I love it. I've averaged four hours of sleep this week, Greg. Okay. The only complaint I've heard is like the defensive backs, their hands are way too good for D1 athletes or for any defensive backs. Like you should not be intercepting

the ball that much that easily. That's awesome. I do know it's like... That's on you for throwing bad passes by the way. That's an internet criticism passing the blame. It's such a big deal and I'm excited my son's been begging me for it. I just don't know if I'm in on like getting him two games a year now. So I've

held off for now with the college football but he loves building it. We'll see. You've sold me pretty well, Nick Shook. And yeah, that's been our after Dinerman today, just a little something extra with Nick Shook and the video game world. It's been a fun second week of NFL Daily. I really appreciate everyone who has been listening every day and checking us out on YouTube and giving us feedback. And look, it's been great and it's only going to get better. Training camp is off and running by the time we come back on Monday.

Shook, we might even have some news, some like training camp flow of, like, training camp flow of like practice reports. It's all happening. And we'll have it covered every day on NFL daily. Until next week. And yeah, that Monday show is going to be fun. We've got Jordan Rodriguez in the mix. We got Patrick Claibon on the mix. We'll have Nick shook back next week as well. Until then, talk to you next time. podcast.