NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Preseason Week 1 Recap: What We Believe In

Episode Date: August 15, 2022

A room filled with some heroes - Gregg Rosenthal, Marc Sessler, and Patrick Claybon breakdown what they liked in the first week of preseason. We start with some news (04:01), and touch on Zach Wilson's injury, the QB battle in Seattle (16:11), and Lamar Jackson's contract details (21:24), before transitioning to what we believe in for week one of the preseason (24:14). The heroes discuss Trey Lance's debut, the Jaguars defense (30:21), the excitement of Steelers WR George Pickens (31:53), why the Lions will be fun to watch (42:05), and the concern over Commanders QB Carson Wentz (52:03) Note: Timecodes are approximate  NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet. We've got the insight to help you crush your opponents.

Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. The Around the NFL podcast. Which producers love life will they expose next? Welcome to another episode of the Around the NFL podcast. podcast. I'm Greg Rosenthal. City in for our host, The Enhances. We're missing him today. But we are lucky to have a room filled with some heroes. Mark Sessler, of course, and the electric Patrick Claibon.

Electric. Yes. Let's get it. I'm all about energy. Sean was chiding us for our energy. I'm here. I'm caffeinated. I'm ready to go. Right. Sean Kelly, sitting in one more show here in the producer chair for Graver. I guess if we're getting into a producer's love life, you're up next. So what's going on? There's nothing going on on that front that you can expose. So not with anyone currently single, ready to mingle. You know what's up. And, you know, just living my life every day at a time. Okay, we've hit the allotted Sean time for the day. The camera like went right to him.

He was so ready. Ready to mingle. It's just, it took it to a point, right? There will be a fun Easter egg, though, for the diehards at the end of the show. Can't wait. Sean Kelly, really bringing the energy, getting us ready. We don't have to manufacture energy preseason week one. We keep it real here at the around the NFL podcast.

Like it's fun to have football back. There are things to take away. We're going to do a segment, things we actually believe in from the preseason. But we also don't need to make it more than what it is. Like we're veterans. Well, I know, I will, the Easter egg will come, but I'll say it in a capsule that like it was like,

hey, Mark, get your energy up. It's like, I will be who I am. When the light goes on, you're going to get what you need. But I don't need to raise my voice or, You know, swing pom-poms around the room in a false manner. I'm going to be genuine. Not a rah-rah guy. But it's just you need to treat each person in the chair differently.

But after a thousand plus shows, wherever we're at 1,300, we know Mark delivers. They say at the preseason, you want to see who transfers it from practice to the game. Who, like Aaron Rogers said, there's some players that actually only show up when the lights are on. That's Mark Sessler. That's exactly right. I think Mark shows up in practice. Well, that's true, too. My practice is sometimes more internal.

And then the show starts and I will speak to you. But it's like, I'm not going to come in like, you know, hey, check out my weekend. It's like, I don't need to, I don't. I was like that as a tennis player. I couldn't practice. It just didn't look good. I wasn't, it didn't bring it. But, you know, the matches, we're there.

That's ultimately what your practice for. Right. It's how you perform. Right. There are some coaches. I like Dennis Allen was talking about, like, a certain player on his team, I believe it was, Peyton Turner kind of having good practice. And the reporters were really going crazy with it.

And he was like, yeah, that's good. But like the games do matter. The games are important. That ultimately matters. You're not sure if everybody else is checking it down for practice as well. And then there's that one guy who's like bananas for practice. Right. It's right hard.

Claybond's getting some practice in. He taped a fantasy live earlier today. So he's doing double duty. We appreciate him sitting in. on multiple shows. Hopefully we'll be seeing Patrick Claibon on Fantasy Live throughout this season.

I think we will. But in the meantime, when can we see that Fantasy Live show you just taped? It's got to be actually on. What is it? Draft special? Yeah, it's actually our first time

doing preseason stuff live on the network that's going to air live on the network. So we've got that tonight and we've also got tomorrow on 6.30. And so, yeah.

Tuesday night. And message to cuddly executives in their little offices like keep him on the show. Well, and also keep pounding out this preseason is fantasy time. This is it. I think if you listen to the show, you'll get a lot of good fantasy nuggets. We will have the fantasy spectacular coming up next week,

and we're working on a lot of great guests. So we're excited for that. But before we do that, let's do some news. They'll know more once they get in there. We're optimistic, but he's not out of the woods until they get in there and make the decision. That was Robert. Sala talking about his quarterback, Zach Wilson. Fortunately for Zach Wilson, if you want to look at it this way,

the worst fears don't appear to have happened with his knee injury that he suffered on Friday night. The initial estimates are two to four weeks and a bone bruise. But just a little bit of caution. There is a surgery on Tuesday, and there's some talk they're not really sure what the prognosis is going to be 100% until they get in the knee. We've kind of seen, it's dangerous to be a Twitter doctor out in these streets.

Don't be saying someone tore his ACL early or with Mackay Beckett in the reverse. No need to say that a guy is okay early. We won't know for sure until Tuesday. But thankfully, Mark, it was a relatively news-free pre-season week one. And I was thinking about that this morning, oh, there's actually not that much to hold on to. And that's good because almost all preseason news is bad news. It's injury news. And Zach Wilson was really the only major one from the weekend.

Well, it's all, it's a, we're in a different world than five years ago when you, in this first preseason game, you'd get a bunch of quarterbacks out there and more disaster would strike. I mean, there was a dark period there for Jets fans where it looked like you lost McKaybeckton last week and now you've lost Zach Wilson. So the update where it was less, you know, severe, that is helpful. But it's one quarterback that whether or not he was going to appear in a game again needs reps with his players, needs reps on the practice field. It's just not the, there's, there's more. pressure on Zach Wilson than almost any other second year passer because it's like if the Jets are set up to really make a big leap if Zach Wilson does X, Y, or Z. And there is no real proof

that he's going to do that on the field. I feel like there's a lot of propping him up because we want him to, but there's no proof that that's going to happen. And this is, he had a right knee injury last year. It's like Dan's gone and Mark's just, the claws are going to come out now. His real opinion Dan would agree, I think, that it's like, we haven't seen it on the field at this point. It's a projection. But the Jets have a weird energy around them. I don't love this for them at all. And it's a setback for Zach Wilson.

But it wouldn't be, it does tell us there's a chance we're not going to be watching Joe Flacco and regular season games, which is important to humanity. Yes, important to anybody who watches football and would like, and would like to enjoy it. And honestly, you saw the reactions coming in because Wilson goes down. And I think the generational trauma of Jets fans was like, oh, okay, so that's it. it's done, it's over, they're going to have to dice his knee up, but it's better than the news of having to do a full knee reconstruction. But speaking on behalf of everybody who's had their miniskeye operated on and or removed, it can be tricky.

And like Robert Salas said, they don't know what it's going to be like until they get in there with the arthoscope and decide how much they're going to take out, how long the recovery is going to be. But at least they're not harvesting parts of his body and moving it to another part of his body. Yes, that doesn't sound fun. Yeah, we will get Zach Wilson back at some point. And as you said, hey, shout out to Joe Flacco. A great moment, great season, great championship.

In 2022, it's not something that we need. It's just not. He has a decent chance, though, to start week one, I feel like Joe Flack. Because Robert Sala likes Joe Flacco. He said a couple weeks ago, like, people are sleeping on Joe Flacco. He's a starter in this league. That he would like Jimmy Moore. Right, when he thought, when I thought maybe Zach Wilson is going to miss the season,

you kind of thought, okay, they're going to go get Jimmy Garvey. with it being two to four weeks, then you just keep Joe Flores. Can I tell you what's spicy, though, at least? I don't want to see Joe Flacco for an extended period of time, but they open at home against the Baltimore Ravens. Well, it's spicy for Ravens fans. I don't hate that the idea. It's fine.

You're motivated Joe Flacco out there? Here's the thing, though. Joe Flacco was the best Jets quarterback last year. Well, that's to my point. Josh Johnson deserves better than to hear you say that, Greg. Josh Johnson deserves better. You know about Mike White had a game too. He had a game and then it went sour.

Right. But I am a little, I'm worried about Zach Wilson. I actually think there was some real takeaways from this beyond, okay, he's just going to miss two to four. He needs to work, as you mentioned. And in six dropbacks, he had two disastrous plays. And like that, you don't want to pile on to a guy who got hurt, but I think it's worth saying that his first throw throws it right to Kaiser White, the Eagles lineback. He telegraphs it. The camera goes to Robert Sala, and you can see him mouthing on the sideline.

I can't believe he threw that. That's Wilson's first throw. The injury occurred on a play where it was third and long, and you saw this a lot with Zach Wilson last year, held on to the ball forever, could have just ran out of bounds. Instead of running out of bounds, on third and long, by the way, and he had no chance to pick up the first down. He didn't pick up the first down. He came up about seven yards short.

he tries to juke a guy, and that's how the injury happens. And that's absolutely a play that I think a veteran quarterback or a smarter young quarterback isn't going to make. Like he's learning this lesson the hard way. But in a very short time, like that preseason excitement that he's like making some progress. Like that was a rough start. Yeah.

And at some point, you do have to protect yourself. And we saw Marcus Marioo the first play of the game for some reason in a similar situation instead of running back out of bounds, cuts it back inside and takes a hit. And it's like, guys, it's week one of the preseason. I know you would like to get a first down. I know you would like to make plays, especially with Zach Wilson

in all of this conversation about his long-term viability and wanting to make a play, but you're not going to be able to do it all on one play. I think he was panicking because he made that interception. It was like my first drive went poorly. My second drive is about to go poorly. I'm going to force it. It reminded me a ton of Jimmy Garapolo's play

that he tore an ACL on back in 2018 where he could have gone out of bounds too. Robert Sala, I believe, was on the sideline for that game, Mike LaFleur. From a PR angle, it might help to be out for three weeks versus having more poor performances that we're talking about on this podcast. But in general, it's a disaster. You also don't want Joe Flacco and or Mike White out playing you again this year.

But I'm glad for the Jets and for Zach Wilson that it really looks like he's going to be able to play this year. That's what the season's all about, evaluate him. They were evaluating quarterbacks in Pittsburgh on, what was that, Friday night? That was kind of the main preseason game to me, Steelers, Seahawks. So we're going to go through the things. we believe in after, and we can just jump around to any game. But this game I just wanted to hit quickly because it has the two genuine quarterback battles,

I think, still going on. I don't quite count Carolina as a genuine battle. It just feels like it's Baker's team. I agree. They'll just announce it. But Pittsburgh and Seattle were interesting. Kenny Pickett, Patrick, who started preseason getting a lot of negative reports, helped to quiet those down with a nice performance that maybe gets them a little more look in the coming weeks.

And I don't think just a settling down. tight performance. Kenny Pickett comes in and gets a win in Pittsburgh. This home fans are used to watching him in that very stadium. I think Kenny Pickett made a good case. It's going to be hard if he keeps playing like this to say to a fan base, yeah, we appreciate you guys liking what we did in the preseason, but we're going to get Mitch Trubisky out there and get him some more snaps. I think it's a hard sell to make. I know Mike Tomlin's going to make this decision based on who plays the best. He said who performs the best in the pocket. I've seen improvement in Kenny Pickett from what we saw from his college tape, I think it's

Kenny Pickett. I really do. Interesting. I think there's more to go on that. The one problem for Mitch Trubisky, who I think, you know, I've been down on Mitch Trubisky his entire career. I thought he looked pretty, he looked fine in that game. And Mike Tomlin, going back to the heart of last season, when he would talk about the future at the position, kept talking about mobility. And

Mr. Trubisky created that. And I thought he gave him, he helped the Steelers in that. And you haven't seen that, obviously, from a guy like Big Ben in a long time. He wasn't perfect, but Kenny Pickett is out there, and you've got the entire stadium yelling, Kenny, Kenny, the dynamic is a problem. But Kenny was Pickett was not perfect in that game either. I mean, he was fine. A lot of his completions were less than 10 yards with yards after the catch.

I mean, Mason Rudolph, I thought, made the throw of the game to George Pickens, who is a star already. Right. Might have a little Pickens pop coming up later. You're right. All three quarterbacks had their moments and played pretty well on balance. Trubisky, if you guys didn't watch the game, and I hope that most people listening weren't watching every single game.

So that's what we're here for. We're going to let you know. I didn't watch it until this morning. Real talk, but I did it in time for this show. That's how it works. That's how it works. Yeah, you're catching up. Trubisky's offensive line was just getting destroyed,

which was a little worrisome. And so he did what he could. You're right. Rudolph made a nice play. Also had like two or really one rough play where he should have been picked off, but otherwise, probably threw the ball the best of the three. and for what it's worth, the athletics Mark Koboli

thinks that Rudolph's actually been the best quarterback in camp but that he's sometimes a player that's better in practice than games. Yeah, and he also said that with a caveat, right? And it's one of those, if the season started today, but if the season started today, it'd be 24 weeks long. Like, there's a whole lot of things that we have to analyze besides that. But we've seen so much of Mason Rudolph. Like, at a certain point, we know what Mason Rudolph has off.

Well, the Steelers have two, and they brought in Trubisky and Pickett. Yeah, exactly. The ceiling is evident. And this is why I love doing shows in the studio versus when we were at home for a year plus. I saw just the distaste curdling into Claibon's face as I said something positive about Mason Rudolph. Like it was like he just drank sour milk or just like someone like ripped apart. And I just had to shut up and listen to what he was going to say next. No ill will for Mason Rudolph.

I just I would like to see. We haven't seen Mitch in a while. Give Mitch a chance. He's the least like exciting. of the three options. He's not going to be starting. And it sounds like they want Trubisky to start. But Koboli kind of pointed out, you know what? Trubisky hasn't really played well in practice either. And pickets come on very strong. You're right, Mark. He wasn't like perfect. The one time he really held the ball, he did take a sack. I went and looked at the time to throw. We're looking at time to throw preseason

because it just felt like the ball was out of his hand so quick. And he was one of the lowest time to throws of any quarterbacks that played this weekend. But I look at that as a positive. Yeah, they were scheming them up well. But he was getting rid of the ball very fast. He was accurate. He's good throwing on the run. I mean, like, he kind of can do some things that Mitch can do. He also, he was fourth and one, and he got dragged like 25 yards behind the line.

That should have been how the game ended. He took a bad sack on fourth and one with under a minute left in opponent territory. He actually took the sack behind the 50. That should have ended the game, but then Drew Locke fumbled the ball right back. And he got his moment. Pickett got his moment. I think that stuff matters, the fact that the crime. crowd is chanting Kenny Pickett and he wins the first game. I think Mike Tomlin is like

the ultimate football guy. And like, not that he's going to say, okay, you're starting week one, but I think he likes that. His rookies showed up and had a moment. It puts a total ticking clock on Mitch Trubisky. And also, it doesn't just matter from like a field standpoint. The people in Acrecher, Acresure. Yes. Acresure Stadium have seen a lot of Steelers football and they're excited for a reason. I think the opportunity. that Kenny Pickett has, I can't discount that feeling. It's not just a feeling.

Well, they took him in the first round. They know what they're talking about, too. So here's what's going to happen. He's most likely going to get more reps with starters coming up. And to me, even if he doesn't have much of a chance for a week one start, and maybe he does if he kept it going, every preseason appearance, he's fighting against the week two or three Chubisky that's struggling.

Because if he stacks a game or two pick it like this, then the hook is just going to be. that much quicker. And that last throw, I know the receiver made a play to go win the game, but good timing, good anticipation on that throw. He let it go. He let it go. Pickett did before the guy made his cut.

That's perfect. Drew Locke was the opposite, which is that he had some good moments before then. They moved the ball up and down the field, kind of like Pickett, mostly on short throws where guys made plays after the catch. But his game ended really poorly. And I think that's going to matter to Pete Carroll, who titled his book, Win Forever.

And the only two bad reps that Locke really had the whole game, two really bad reps were his last two. He had a third and long tie game where he had a wide open receiver in the middle of the field where he would set up for the go-ahead score. He sails the receiver by 10 yards. Then first down, all you got to do is get about 10 yards to go win the game. and I think Pete Carroll cares about winning the game and he takes a strip sack where Locke admitted he should have seen the free rusher. That was his responsibility.

Strip sack loses the game. I actually think that was meaningful and I thought luck didn't have much of a chance to win the week one job over Gino and now I think he almost has no chance the way that Pete Carroll speaks. I think Gino Smith looks more at home in the offense which makes sense he's been in it.

You know, he is who he is. And I'm not like for me, I think they kind of want Gino Smith to win the job. He was plagued by a few drops in that game. If you take away those drops, like his numbers were really good. And I just think he, you know, I've always thought his ceiling, and sorry, Greg, is very limited. And they've signed up for these two quarterbacks at this point. But Gino Smith looks like the better guy to me.

If you're going to have an example of what you don't want from Drew Locke for the author of Win Forever, right? it would be to have a bad offensive line slide, right, on a strip sack to lose the game. And then Gino coming out and just being Gino, right, just operating this offense. Which is a low ceiling, to be fair, a lower ceiling. To be clear, but Gino's not going to get you killed, right? You're going to be in these games.

It's like you ask yourself, what's the more likely scenario? You start the season with Locke and then you eventually go to Gino or you just ride it out with Gino throughout. And I guess there's this cost idea where you have Locke and there's the potential there and it could turn into something. But how much of that do you really believe? And it's Pete Carroll and John Snyder. And they don't have anything to lose.

It's not like they have to stake their career. Oh, I think they're going to win games here this year. They can. It's not going to be the one thing I think with Gino Smith, and it's like we all get what he is. We watched every team play. And there was good quarterback play from a variety of spots where you see electricity, you see big plays. and I just don't see that from Gino Smith.

He's going to get you, he's a field goal guy. He's going to get you field goals. I agree in aggregate. He did make two really nice throws in that game, but I think Pete Carroll's favorite rep from Gino might have been a third and six in the red zone, or third and 12 in the red zone, where he had a lot of time, but everyone was covered.

And then, like, P, and then Gino just dumps it down for a boring six-yard gain and they kick a field goal. Like, Pete, Pete Carroll loves that stuff. And that is Gino. Like, he's found. his, Pete Carroll's found his conservative king. Gino is a conservative quarterback, ultimately. Like, he'll go for checkdown to hold on to the ball a little too much.

And then I find, like, the post-game pressers always, and just all the quarterback questions to Pete Carroll generally this month, funny, because whenever the reporter tries to gas up Drew Locke a little bit, Pete Carroll has like a retort. Both quarterbacks were efficient. Really, Gino could have been 10 for 10. You know, he had two drops in them, and Noah's got staying in bounds on the ball on the sidelines, and he hits them all.

And we moved the ball around pretty good with Drew also. You know, that was like a question where someone actually was like, looked like Locke was pretty good, maybe made some ground here. That's how he answers it. Gino had one great throw to Noah Funt, who was out of balance. But when you say 10 out of 10, a person is 10 out of 10, you're thinking something. Gino's 10 out of 10 is not what I'm thinking

when I think 10 out of 10. And also for Drew Locke, especially in that soundbite, for Pete Carroll, the way that he approaches the game, losing the game on that strip sag, he's definitely not going to sing your praises. No matter how you phrased the question afterwards, I'm sure he was stinging over there. Right, the one play Gino mentioned, too,

after the game that he was really happy was reading a pretty creative blitz by the Steelers 2 where he found the dump off for a first down. I think it was the running back and it ended up being a first down. Like, that's what Pete Carroll loves. That's why he wants Gino Smith. It might not be excited, but we're getting Gino. You can't freaking believe it.

You're going to get both, and it's not exciting. Like, I just, I don't have to agree that it's exciting, Greg. This is your world, and I'm glad it's happening for you, but it's not excited. After all these years, Gino Smith is really going to be a weak one starter in the NFL. You have a, you have a hyper fascination for middling QBs. I don't get it. All it took was a franchise puny. on their Hall of Fame quarterback.

That's all it took. That was the journey to get this. Hopefully the Ravens will never punt on their franchise Hall of Fame quarterback, Lamar Jackson. That's our final bit of news. Lamar Jackson mentioned this weekend that he's kind of set a deadline. It was phrased to him, is that a hard deadline? And he essentially said yes, answering the question. He didn't put it out there.

But that was the question that was asked to him in terms of a contract discussion that if he gets two-week-one, he doesn't want to talk contract anymore, and he would enter a contract year next year. Best way to do it. Yeah, and that's, Lamar's been consistent with this. We were in Owings Mills for the start of training camp, and Scott Pioly, who was with the organization when they moved to Baltimore in the first place, reported that they were confident that they were going to get this done.

And Lamar said that. I miss that. That he was confident. They were having discussions, which is always a good sign when you're still having the chat. But if the number is not what Lamar wants, he's perfectly content seeing what's happened. We saw Dak Prescott's leg in two pieces, and he still got his contract. I think Lamar is confident that if the number's not right, he'll play this season, and it's only going to get bigger.

The number's only going to go up as the season goes on. So it's up to them to find the number that works. He's never panicked. He's been extremely kind of low-key and chill about it, and I just think, like, it's not, but there's no scenario here that they both like each other. We'll see if it happens. The boots on the ground reporting here from Claibon in Baltimore. How was it?

You know, you've, you know, I don't think of you as, like, a guy who puts his emotions on his sleeves a lot with players or teams. But you're a pretty big Lamar Jackson fan. So you interviewed him on NFL Network. Was that, how was that, like, as a fan to interview, like, someone like that? It was a pretty nice moment because it was on Back Together Saturday and there was a fireworks show and kids are holding up jerseys for Lamar to sign and he's coming through. and doing everything. It was just one of those I love my job type moments

and also cool to dab up Lamar who says he kind of downplayed his body changing but he's up in the 220s now says there's Ricky here he was at 202 but do you think he knows you're a fan probably not

you know it's not like oh hey Lamar like I try not to bother people like if I see somebody in the airport I think the last time I asked for an autograph with Stone Cold Steve Austin in 1997 in the terminal in Charlotte

yeah but other than that you know I just try to you know hey hey appreciate you thanks for thanks for stopping by that's that's my attitude as dan would say pros who are pros yeah you don't vibe fanboy that's going to lose his head on the nfl network there's not just saying if there was one player it would happen that would have been it so I'm curious Lamar I blocked over 5,000 people on Twitter because of you so that's how that's how we roll that is amazing and that is it for the news let's take a quick commercial break Franklin. And this is NFL cover zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective

a little bit different. Did you see the Colts pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that. What was that? Oh my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen to NFL cover zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. What's up, everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here.

And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game from scouting reports and player development to team-building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. Every week, we study the tape, talk to decision-makers, and share the insights you won't find anywhere else.

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Let's get to the preseason games we've already started to hit on it. But we're now going to talk about some things over the weekend. And we're taping this after all 16 games because we didn't talk about that Patriots Giants game and the two games that were on Thursday. So I'm opening the floor to you two and I'll throw some out there. It's hard to kind of separate the wheat from the chaff in the preseason.

That's an old phrase I don't really understand. Separate what matters, what doesn't. What's a farming phrase? What we actually believe in. More of a berry guy. Farming used to be... Very important to the world. A bigger...

I mean, it still is quite important. Food is good. It was a bigger percentage of the economy. of me back in the day. And of workers. I think farming nomenclature and, you know, parables worked probably better back then than now. I mean, you're making fun of me, but how many farms have you ever worked at in your life? I worked on a farm in Australia, actually.

Oh, dang. See? What about you? It's international farm. I'm zero for zero. So me and Mark are tied at one each. Yeah, you guys have got me. Tell family farms.

It'd be probably better for us to all know a little bit more about agriculture. It was good. It was a good experience. Unfortunately, you learned about, yeah, like, that. that these farms largely rely on illegal immigration. And there's problems there too. And not the farm I worked on. I don't know where you were operating on top of it. That's what I mean.

Let's throw out what we believe on. Believe in. Let's start with Mark. Why not? It's so easy. I just put these in order. I like you, Greg, you know, your weekend's going up and down. I watched some of these games, a lot of them yesterday. And I caught, you know, a bit of the live action of the Niners versus the Packers.

And I could tell it was one of the better preseason games around. But Trey Lance. because we've spent months and months and months wondering whether he can play or not whether Kyle Shanahan didn't actually want him but maybe the front office it did John Lynch and then you watch what happened in that game and his arm and it's like oh

this is why Jimmy G is a persona non grata in San Francisco at this point the 76 yard laser bolt to Danny Gray who is also a fascinating young wide receiver extremely fast four three speed was incredible to watch I mean it's like there are a lot of moments in the preseason and that just make you feel something within.

And that did because suddenly the Niners feel completely different to me. And then the 39-yard touchdown to Rayby MacLeod, I mean, he can just do it. And it are both these go routes where it's like it changes what the Niners' offense can be. And I think if you're Kyle Shanahan, you are freaking out inside after what you saw.

Because they've seen it in practice. Even last summer, you talked about how much more aggressive he was on certain plays than Jimmy G. And I think he had that finger injury at the end of last season that limited his performances in general. You kind of went into the offseason wondering who is Trey Lance. At this point, with what I saw, I look at the Niners and think their stock is totally up if this is what he is.

I'm sure there have been practice reports that have been a little up and down too. But maybe you get to the games and he can do this because they've got someone like Danny Gray, Brandon Ayyuk, Debo Samuel. You've got weapons that can beat secondaries and you've got a quarterback that can find them. It changes everything for San Francisco. And it's not even with the full running game on display because Trey is not going to, have too many keepers in the preseason. And honestly, it's not going to be Trey Serman back there. You're going to have more speed in the back field.

It's just going to look totally different. It's going to be catered to Trey. And unfortunately, for the Jimmy G. era, the thing we're going to remember is the pass to to Manny Sanders that wasn't. And we're going to think about the missed opportunities deep. And Trey steps in and you feel better about it. You think the offense is going to be better on the short end. And also, you know, Jimmy had problems in the intermediate, right?

not seeing linebackers sometimes. I think the sky's the limit. I'm with you right there, Mark. You were excited. I know you were watching that one live. Yes. Little Trey Lance action. That was about as good as the preseason is going to get it, to be fair.

Trey Lance. Can I say one thing that's annoying about the preseason where you have to, I watched it yesterday. I was like, I want to tweet something about Trey Lance and it got like three likes because it's like, bro, that game was days ago. You got to make, yeah, you got to make, it's tricky. You just got to not do it. And you've got to find a time where everybody's watching the same game.

And it's like, you're, you got to make it spice. If it's the next day, then it's got to be more of like a traylans for the season take. Well, it was also a very milk toast tweet. I didn't see it. Well, that's probably the problem. I said, like, just catching up now or something. It's like, all right, loser. Like, why are you bothering us with this?

So it was unnecessary. You know what? I think that is a lesson. You don't want to do the just catching up now. You just skip that part. I hate when people do tweets like, hey, guys, I'm watching film right now. It's like, hey, listen, nerd, nerd, don't care. We'll just get to the real part.

I know you're watching. That's what the tweet tells you. It's kind of like if you're hosting a podcast and if there's any listeners out there, and I still make this mistake, you don't need to, like, say, as I tweeted. This is not what you just did, actually, because you made it into a story. Well, I'm killing myself. Or as I said in, like, the chat, or as I, you know, just say it. Just say it.

Go right to the money. Danny Gray has been a guy that has gotten a lot of, like, fire from Kyle Shanahan. He tends, because he played receiver, I think he's, like, hard on the receivers. That's at least the rep. He was like that with Ayuk. He's been like that with Debo very early on. And he's like that with Danny Gray. So they really, that to me is actually a good sign for Danny Gray.

They want Danny Gray to really be a bigger part. And Brandon Ayuk, it's worked with because he's been the star of her camp. And if you're making a scenario of how you wanted Trey Lance's first 15 months as a 49er to go, If you had said beforehand, we make the NFC championship with Jimmy G. We have what looks like on paper to be a top five defense going into 2022 and a great running game. So, you know, he's not going to have to do as much. And we've got Debo Samuel is like an MVP candidate.

And Iyuk is, you know, peaking. Well, that sounds about ideal. It actually sounds like exactly how you would want to develop this young quarterback. What's something you believe in, Claybond? After watching one week of the preseason and getting a chance to see them in practice, I believe in the Jags defense. People wonder about, you have back-to-back number one overall picks. You take Trayvon Walker, and it's like, oh, I don't know if he's got the polish.

It's there. Trayvon Walker is solid against the run, the power. People wondered if that would show up at the next level. It's there. I think this defense, because Doug Peterson and the offense are going to get a whole lot of attention, we saw how they performed against Carson Wentz. There's the Carson Wentz caveat. It was Carson Wentz in the last.

week of the season. But I believe. And of course the cloud of Urban Meyer is gone. They don't have to deal with that. They can kind of get treated like adults, which Josh Allen said, I'm ready. I'm ready for the Jags defense in 2020. And when you talk, like we talked about the bad teams last year that have a chance to get a bunch more wins. I think the Jaguars are right in that conversation. And I know everyone was picking the Jets as that. And they could be too. But the Jaguars with good coaching versus what the apocalyptic scenario that happened a year literally players needed like psychological recovery from that the way they talked about it there's stability there i thought trevor lawrence looked a lot better in that offense in this game

in the short moment that we saw him but you're right two weeks in a row the defense has been pretty fiery yeah trevon walker uh he helped force a fumble where he just like exploded i mean you could just you can just see it with some guys there even though he looked like he's more athletic than the other guys in the cc he still looks like that in the nfl and tyson campbell is another defensive player that they seem to be really excited about that's been flashing. I'm going to go with a rookie as well. The rookies are ultimately the most interesting, I would say, part of the preseason. And you mentioned George Pickens before, and I'm going to be that guy.

When you have a take in the offseason, you only have to wait one preseason game to have it confirmed. My priors are confirmed. George Pickens is awesome. Just when you watch this college tape, he seemed like he might be the best receiver in this class just based off of his tape. But he was coming off of a torn ACL, and there was some off-field, you know, stuff.

Okay, Mike Tomlin is exactly the team and the coach that you want a player to land in. At some point, all these receivers that they draft in the middle rounds that usually fall for whatever reason, people give all the credit to Kevin Colbert, and he should get a lot of it. He spots talent, he picks the right guys. but there's a reason why they all seem to work out

because they're on Mike Tomlin's team like he creates a structure and a system and you can change who the offensive coordinator is sometimes it's a baller like Bruce Ariens sometimes it's not you know whatever it is the receivers tend to work out because I think Mike Tomlin has a way to reach players to create a structure where these players thrive

and George Pickens to go off another Mark Caboli in the athletic sentence, said that before this game, he's literally never seen a rookie been better this fast, that this early in camp, that they're this good every single day as George Pickens. And unlike Jameson Williams, who got taken first, and I was debating between Williams and Pickens as my top two in my rankings.

I went Williams first, Pickens, second. You got to worry about that ACL recovery while he was still in college. Now he's good. He returns for the very end of the Georgia season. And so now he actually has some time away from it. And he made that catch on the Mason Rudolph throw that you mentioned. That was just like a really high-level touchdown catch. I know it's one play.

But he also made a really tough contested catch on the sidelines. I think he's going to be a guy from the get-go. He's so complete. And it's like I was getting like year two or three Josh Gordon vibes from him, to be honest. I mean, as a blocker, if you go watch when other. like runners are coming around that he just is looking for someone to blow up and there's that one Twitter clip that went viral where he just went up and jacked a Seahawks cornerback to the ground and he went like three or four years ago he didn't he didn't because he wanted to he's like

out there looking to create disaster and I mean I he's just so complete to me it looks like a year seven pro he can make the sideline catches it was the touchdown catch he sort of does it all and it's like he's like he's going to be kept talked about all the guys that went before him and somehow the Steelers have found another one of these people I know their quarterback play is going to be up and down but they've got weapons and here's the thing because Greg mentioned it right

if not for the ACL injury towards the end of his career at Georgia there's no way George Pickens is going 52 right burst onto the same also Birmingham Alabama's on George Pickens he was the MVP of his ballgame as a freshman and the talent the talent is there the size the physicality

is there and people were just wondering about his recovery from the knee but it's There. Like, George Pickens is back. He's had all of his time to recover. And now it's just, we're dealing with the Steelers, having another receiver that everybody else was like, uh, nitpicking on and taking other guys. But the talent is undeniable.

Like, pick it to Pickens? Like, is that going to be like the next 15 years of our life? I, uh, and Deontay Johnson's now around for the next couple years. They love Friermuth. Uh, to use a fantasy term, I'd be fading, uh, Chase Claypool stock slightly. Just because I think, ultimately. they're kind of similar players and Pickens will cut into

if you're hoping for a Claypool Renaissance he's got to cut into it not that Claypool is going to have a bad season or not but I you know I just don't know how many. Yeah there's only so many targets that's going to come out of either Kenny Pickett or Mason Rudolph or Mitchell Chubisky there's only so many balls to go around

because Najee Harris is going to occupy most of the touches on this offense anyway Right let's take a quick break shall we I'm going to be a host Good host work. I'm going to, you know, I'm a little late on this, Sean Kelly, and now you're just going to have to figure out how the breaks work. Let's do it.

Hey, this is Matt Jones. I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL cover zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh, my.

We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to. again. Listen to NFL cover zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. What's up everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game from scouting reports and player development to team building philosophies, coaching trends and how front offices construct winning rosters. Every week, we study the tape, talk to decision makers, and share the insights you won't find

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Fourth round pick. out of Florida, going to a team we almost never talk about unless we're making fun of them, the Houston Texans. Damien Pierce, running back. Automatically, their lead running back, in my opinion. I think he was the most enjoyable runner I watched of any of the games. It's one of those running backs where he blasts through the line of scrimmage, and suddenly, even though there's like four defenders in his face,

he's seven yards ahead. Every gain was seven yards, eight yards, nine years. It had a great 20-yard gain. There was one play's incredible low center of gravity where he got knocked down and he just used his hand to spring back up and bang he's 12 yards down the field

he I think gives the Texans something they can really anchor around and I know that it's like easy just to forget about the Texans but we talked about them in our over under episode and I took them clearly for the over We both like them as our favorite

among our favorite overs favorite over because I think was 5.5 it's 4.5 it's not hard to win they won four games a year ago they have a good running back I think they have a quarterback they can work with they've got a couple wide receivers but Damien Pierce I know

They have Marlon Mac. Marlon Mac is automatically the second option right there. I mean, he just to me was poetic, has the speed, the burst, just enjoyable to watch. If you, I don't know, how many people here have watched the Houston Texans game in the last year? Go dial up his reps. And you will see in this game that he's the real deal. I'm excited to watch the Texans now. Yeah.

It was like, and it was five. And you're right. And I know we also say like, don't totally get, you know, don't overreact to the preseason. But we mentioned how Wes, and I think this is true, running backs, A, you're earning a role, and then B, it's not that hard to see. His cutting on a dime, he just like stops and starts, and then the burst is just there, and he's not afraid to run people over. And, oh, by the way, he's been getting crazy hype, and he was the first name that Lovie

Smith said when they asked for a player after the game that impressed you. And he just, he looks like one of those guys that can see the field. Like, in two or three of his runs, when he made his cut. he found exactly the right hole and he's just like you can't really teach that you're a half second ahead of the defense he had that and so yeah it was a good weekend for random rookie running back i feel like it's a little bit of a tandem pierce might be like a straight up starter and a totally under what's his average draft position at this point it's like going to be it's almost too late it just went up a bunch yeah after listening to mark it's going to go up and honestly as people are watching these games and going through you're going to see the shifts in the ADP especially for for these young guys because it's a value position and when you can have a running back in an offense it's going to that people are kind of staying away from it's you're just looking for touches at a certain point right there's a there's just going to take him off the field right marlin mac hasn't looked the same since his Achilles i think burkhead's still on that team like

he has a chance to have 250 touches so to me whatever his ADP is it's not high enough right now because there's a legit chance he has 250 touches. I kind of groove him with Isaiah Pacheco. I don't know how to say his last. Is that how you say his last name? So I'm going to just throw him out too. I don't think Pacheco has a chance to have as many touches, but where these players are used is absolutely instructive.

And he had snaps with Patrick Mahomes and the first team. It's like so long Ronald Jones. I don't know if Ronald Jones is going to make the team or not. I think there's a pretty decent chance he doesn't at this point if everyone stays healthy. finish the game, didn't he? But the fact Pacheco's out there, and you can see it with him, too. I don't think he's going to have as many touches, because, you know, Clyde Edwards

Zillera is there, and Jared McKinnon's probably going to make that team, and they'll mix a match, but the fact they're already using him with Patrick Mahomes and this is a seventh round pick, that tells me a lot. And he just, like, looks cool. He just has a cool running style. A little like Fred Taylor-ish.

I like him. And he's got, the number advantage does have a thing because we associate the number with Tyreek Hill, and so you see a person in number 10 in the Chiefs. And that's, I... When he's the returner, so he's active on game days, and he looks like a baller returner, too. So maybe he's not your, you know...

Nothing but upside. If you're choosing, right, if we're talking fantasy and you're looking at a running back, the upside's higher with Pacheco than it is with Rojo. I think that's safe. I do feel like we were saying this. Do not draft Ronald Jones. I don't think he's going to make that team.

I feel like we're two years, three years removed from, like, overhyping Clyde-Eder-Tillera to the skies. And then it was... I didn't. Well, all right, you didn't. But, I mean, it happened, like, system. You came out of the blocks game busters, though. Okay, that's true.

That's right, that week one game, too. Did you notice how, like, and Nate Tice tweeted about this, too, that they were just eye formation over and over with Michael Burton lined up at fullback and then running back, fill in the blank behind him, pounding away. And it just, they look like a different offense. Their offensive line, that's what, on paper, they do well. Creed Humphrey, the other rookie last year. I'm blanking Smith, Trey Smith, Orlando Brown.

Like, those guys are mallers, and they look good last year. They should be able to run in pass. Well, Claibon, what do you got? I don't ding me for it. I was watching the game. I believe that the Detroit Lions are an exciting and fun for all the team to watch. Oh, sure. Maybe it's the hard knocks bump.

And I see D'Andre Swift getting all these carries and the opportunity. I see Jared looking pretty good. It's hard. You know, fool me a million times. I'm still getting fooled, but I am, I had fun watching the Detroit Lions, and I will continue to watch the Detroit Lions. I'm guilty. Well, you know what's, I mean, but offensive line play creates a lot of things for them. And like they, and I think golf, there was a incredible rollout play to Amun Ross St. Brown, which was set up because they were pounding away at the

Falcons with their run game, with their offensive line. I just think it's a good environment for a mid-tier quarterback. And they're a team that like they are, they were interesting a year ago. But they kind of went, they can remind me of the Eagles a little bit, not with their skill position player, but it's like, build up your lines and dominate from there. And, like, Aidan Hutchinson, someone else we can talk about too. But, I mean, the way that their offense is set up, they march right down the field and scored a touchdown.

And I don't think that's false. I think there's something to look at there and say, this can carry into the regular season. They have a great coaching staff. Yeah, I'm curious how they use their guys in the season. Some teams like the Eagles, and I think the Chiefs might be another. We'll see, though, that Andy Reid likes to play a start. Some might use their guys in week one and then not again

because they have these joint practices coming up and then they think that's kind of the game. It sounds like the Eagles, for instance, played their starters a little bit this weekend and then they're not going to play again. So each team approaches it differently. I'm curious. I'm with you, though, for a three-win team,

if you just watch the Lions each and every week, they had entertaining games. Their offense was fairly entertaining, considering, and they were always in these games and they were fun games. to watch. What else you got, Mark? And if you really want to get negative,

you could, like, spin this somehow. I think there's things I believe in. I believe that this thing isn't going to work. You know, could, but I mostly have gone positive. There's 20 more weeks, 25 more weeks to get negative. I'd like to stay positive here in August. This is not a player that is going to see the field this season, I don't think, unless utter disaster takes place.

But I really enjoyed watching Trace McSorley. I've talked about it before. Okay, now maybe you should have gone negative. What relevance does this have? I'll say this, just go watch Trace McSorley, but I will spin off to this. I will stop talk about Agent Hutchinson. Hutchinson, like, to me, was dominant in his first performance.

Sorry, Mark. There's at one point where he just, Jake Matthews, the Falcons left tackle, does the thing where he tries to, you know, take part of him. Hutchinson just like vanishes through him, like, throw a portal into the backfield, takes out the running back.

There's another play where he's burning across the field to chase Mariotta, who suddenly on a bootleg is going the other way. He just spins around with superhuman speed, runs to the other sideline, and bumps Mariotta out of bounds. I just thought Aiden Hutchinson could not have showed more to say he is exactly what they wanted. Sometimes that does not work. You draft that pass rusher first overall, second overall, and it does not happen. I mean, we love him on hard knocks, but on the field, he delivered masterclass.

I'm so glad you said superhuman speed, Mark, because there's so many times, and I don't know it's a Detroit and it's the Motor City, but the motor thing always happens. And it's like Aidan Hutchinson does a spin move, jumps over a guy, and then uses incredible speed to get a quarterback. And it's like, oh, look at this guy's motor. It's like, no, I don't want to say that. This guy is extremely athletic.

It's not that he's trying harder than everybody. He's incredible. And it was another, again, I hate to go back, but it's like, this is fun. Yeah, right. This is fun, I believe. Like, they're making good picks. I like what the staff has done. hurt me.

Go ahead and hurt me. I'm sorry for stepping on your, McSorley. We can have quick points here. I would say go watch McSorley's tape. He wasn't even on the Revens, to be honest. He's on the Cardinals. You know what? He actually their backup.

I love Cole McCoy, but he is a better backup for their offense because he does Kyler-Murray-type things. And he just threw a couple moments where he just would disappear into a scrum of enemy defenders. And then bang, circles back around and made a play. And he's running all over the place. Like, he's just enjoyable. We may not see him again.

What if they get an entire quarterback room of small quarterbacks? Like, what if that's their thing? Well, that is what they've done. That is what they've done. If you were having another child, I know you have some 20-year-olds just floating around the area. I'm not having another child at this point. But if you did, maybe, Trace, just like Colt is your youngest son. Yes.

They're in the same room. He feels like a similar vibe. Hey, look, the Ravens. I'll consider that correct. The Ravens develop quarterbacks. I mean, look at, right now, Hunley might be my favorite backup in the league. Kind of came out of nowhere.

It looked good in their preseason game. Trace McSorily comes from there. It looks like he's learned some things. You're right? That's no surprise. You get an organization that treats people right and gives people opportunities and, like, lo and behold, right?

Tyrod, people forget, like, people slag on Tyrod. It's like, this is a sixth round pick who once made a pro bowl and has, like, cast multiple good long-term contracts. He's had an incredible career, Tyrod Taylor. I don't know why I just got on that front. I'm going to say a take that I believe in. Oh, okay.

Okay. Okay. And you have to be careful with the Titans fans these days, and we don't have Graver here. But I just think it's August 15th, and I think this is a true statement. And if you had said this statement in June, you would have been like, what?

What are you talking about? Kyle Phillips, their rookie receiver, slot receiver, at this moment, I believe, has a more secure week one role than Traylon Burks, which is odd. You wouldn't have expected that. Now, depending on who you listen to, I don't want to get into the Traylon Burks as having a good camp or not discussion.

It's like some people say he's looked fine. Some people say he doesn't. The reality is he was playing with the backups deep into the fourth quarter. And that's unusual. He was the only one of the first and second round picks at receiver to be doing that. And that might just be what Mike Vrable wants to do. He just wants to get him out there

and it doesn't say much about Traylon Berg. And it's also a totally normal part of Berks' development. But just in terms of where he was slotted, he was sort of slotted six-seventh receiver and he's out there. Kyle Phillips, also a rookie. Played three snaps or six snaps, something like that. Had as many targets, by the way,

as Berks in that game, they each had won. It looks like by all the reporting that Phillips is going to have a week one role as kind of that smaller slot guy. Phillips, rather, is going to have that role week one slot guy, whereas Burks is battling. And right now, like Robert Woods, Nick Westbrook-Akeena

sat out that game, kind of looked like the starters. And at the very least, Berks is sort of splitting reps and battling with Westbrook Akina and might not come out of the gates getting that full compliment of snaps. I think that's a fair interpretation

of what we're seeing so far. It doesn't mean that by week five, because this is how it happens with rookies, often that Berks isn't getting all those snaps. I think that's what the Titans are hoping. And I think that's why they're playing them this much in the precincts because they're trying to build them to that point. But the reason he's playing all those snaps, I believe, is because I think he needs him right now. Can I have a take off your take? Okay. Do it. I think because of the presence of Gravedigger, and I understand what happened with that report around Traylon Berg's last. You're almost being too, you're acquiescing to them too much because I think you're exactly.

right. If they're in love with him, if they prize him, if he's had a great camp, if all things are going wonderfully, he's not finishing the game. That's highly unusual usage of a first round pick. It's all we need to see. Someone somehow had Nathan Janky, Junkie at PFF, I probably bushered that. He somehow had the stats that DJ Moore was the only

other first round pick to play into the fourth quarter of his first I think the Titans are trying to send a message to him. I was like, well, that's good company. It's a good company. It's tough to take too much away from Because obviously the reason that we're talking about it is because Vrable and company are approaching it in this certain way. But because Traylon's not beating out NWI at this point, it might not be exceedingly negative for Traylon. Maybe it's just Nick Westbrookicane is having a solid step into the fold. And he was good in parts last year.

He had a big role on a team that, you know, had the one seed. It's not like Westbrook Aquinas coming out of nowhere. But he's playing behind, like, Racy McMath in these games. Who had a couple big plays. He had a couple big plays in that game. That's a little more concerning. But he might be the four. Kyle Phillips was actually the guy I wanted to put out there

because I had no idea until I was, like, researching for this column, which everyone should check out on NFL.com. It's 59 takeaways from preseason week one in last week. Be careful, though, because last time one got wiped off the board due to news breaking. At this way, I think they're locked. in. It was 51 last week. I've stepped it up. It's 59. It's everything in one place. The public has a Pavlovian reaction to seeing Greg Rosenthal and then a number. Like, whatever the number is, it's like, oh, this is it. I got a key yet.

So whether it's 59, 64. You know where it comes from? I used to be the editor of the fantasy magazine at Roderworld, which Beckett would produce. But it was the Roder World Fantasy magazine presented by Beckett. And they told me, go with the weird number. don't go 50 on the front for give make it like 67 I like you know they said it sells better at the back in the and that's not really why I'm doing that I just am writing as many things as I think are interested in by and then stopping but that's that was what their take was back in the day Claybon what do you got I okay so coming into the season I I know I I've been negative about backup quarterbacks at times And it's not to be negative about the starting quarterback for the Washington Commanders right now. But Sam Howell looked really good. Okay. That's possible. You're right.

And it's not, this is not a, Carson, I support you. This is not noise that you have to tune out. You had an MVP caliber campaign a few years ago. You've got a Super Bowl ring. Yeah. But Sam Howell looked really good for the Washington commanders. and he made plays inside and outside of the pocket. He operated the offense well.

I think Sam Howell could get some run here in 2020. Well, and that's a team that could vie for the first overall pick. I mean, there's not a lot of spice around the commanders right now. And if Carson struggles and they get into a position where they're out of the race, he could just start the last five or six games of the year. And it could be the third team in a row. We decided to really go ahead and start to take command. And he did take command in that game.

He was 10 to 13. It was pretty good. So Sam Howell, though, you're saying, could be the third. be taking command. Yeah, maybe. Didn't he look just like Carson Wentz? And I'm not trying to be negative. It's like, listen, I don't know what they're asking

him to do in that game, but like it was fine numbers, but Carson Wentz. But he did not, he did not like. Oh, Carson Wentz. It just sort of looked like Carson Wentz to me. Not broken down that, uh, take yet. I am curious to watch Howell, though. I think I'm going to, if, you know,

some lower tier rookies, if you guys are just curious out there, Matt Corral really struggled with the Panthers, had the most bizarre game-winning drive ever. That was all penalties, but I think he was one for nine. And Howell kind of was the other guy like Corral that fell further. I guess Malik Willis, too. Let's throw him in there, who I would say had some really flashy plays and then also held the ball a lot and upset Mike Rable for that,

but also showed some really fun, good plays. And I guess you're saying Howell, who I haven't gotten a chance to watch, was a little spicy. Yeah, that's interesting. A little spicy, made plays with his feet. I like it. This is a guy who. He's got a howitzer.

A couple years ago, yeah, people saw. their arm talent. This guy could go number one overall. And it didn't work out that way, but now he's got another opportunity. Well, he's another guy to a lesser degree than Pickett. And I would even throw Corral in this mix if he had a better preseason, but he's off to a really bad start,

which is if Howell does have three good weeks, we're going to see him in December. And if Corral has three good weeks, which it looks like he's not going to have now, he won't. Then if he has three weeks like this where he struggles, we won't see him in December. Yeah, that's fair. I think for Corral, though, there's a huge hurdle in a quarterback battle going on in front of you

and those guys occupying so many reps that probably he's playing with his crappy hand. For what it's worth, you know, Baker and Darnold both didn't play that long and both looked fine. There wasn't any huge takeaways. While we're on Washington just quickly, I did have a takeaway from that game, which was I do sense the backfield's going to be a committee there. So I love Antonio Gibson as a player, so I wouldn't be fading him. But I just have a feeling that Brian Robinson is Ron Rivera's type of running back, runs aggressively. He's like a downhill runner.

They also have J.D. McKissick there, and Gibson fumbled in that game. And it just feels like they're all going to get run. Brian Robinson is going to get run because that's Ron Rivera's dude. And Ron Rivera's trying to bring it back to smash and dash. DeAngelo Williams, Jonathan Stewart, the best backfield, dual backfield

in my history of covering the NFL. The one I would put in front of them would be Fred Taylor and MJD. But that would be my one-two punch.

What do you think? Gibson had a terrible fumble in that game too, which I know Ron Rivera would not like. He had six fumbles last year too. It's been a lingering issue. I love Ron Rivera

trying to go back and do what worked in like 2004. I mean, that's very Ron Rivera-ish. Well, to be fair, those might be the two, you know, they have pretty good skill talent. They have good running backs. They have pretty good receivers if John Dodson shows up. Right.

Like, I don't mind that. I like Antonio Gibson, but I do think it's effective to use all your good running backs. Why not? All right, let's go around one more time, speed around, and say goodbye. Love Romeo Dobbs. I know, you know, with Christian Wilkinson out of the lineup right now, and it's like Romeo Dobbs, I thought he looked fantastic against the Niners. And, you know, Jordan Love, conversely,

I just view Jordan Love as a backup forever. I do not see it with him. And there were three interceptions. Two of them were not on him. But one of them was, but I see Jordan Love with constant overthrows. I just don't find it with him. I'm going to watch him closely the next couple weeks, too. I want to see more.

He's always intriguing to me. The thing I think about, and this was this game in a nutshell, he led PFF last year in big time throws per snap. And granted, it was a limited sample size. in the pre-season, I believe in the preseason and the regular season, and he led PFF in turnover-worthy plays per snap. So it's like, you're getting it all with

Jordan Love. Yeah, I see that. But at least there's the high side. He had one great touchdowns throwing this too, so I'm not, it's both there, but like, there's some guys you never see the high side and they get taken in the first round, you know, and so. He does not vibe as a first round pick for me, but Romeo Dobbs, though, I mean, and Aaron

Rogers has been talking about him all camp, and I think he's got immediate playing time, it's impossible to keep him off the field, and suddenly that wide receiver room looks a little bit better than we were, you know, panicking over a couple months ago. Yeah, we saw them in the slot. We saw them out wide. Like, it's all Dobbs. It's actually crowded. I don't know, like, is someone straight. I don't think anyone weird is going to get cut, but they actually have five or six guys. Like, if Dobbs is starting, and I did learn over the last week, it's Dobbs, not Dubbs. And you guys have been saying it

right. Apparently, I was saying it wrong. It's too bad. Dubs would. What a great name. He would prefer him to be named Dubs. Romeo Dubs. Yes. That's like a, in all, time receiver name. I'd be saving Romeo Dubs for the next. His name's Romeo. I mean, come on. I mean, that's great, too. He's still like an 8.5 out of 10,

but Romeo Dubs is an all-timer. I see. Well, he could change it. All these players are changing their names left and, right? But at this point, yeah, he's going to have a week-run role. Maybe as a starter. You know, Watkins is the guy who's like, are we sure Watkins and Cobb are going to make the team?

I guess. I don't know. You have to think Randall Cobb is going to make the team. Right. Amari Rogers, they're not going to trust Amari Rogers, like, as their slack guy. Dubs has been playing more on the outside, but he could play a little inside, too. Just saying. My last one quickly, and we'll give you one more, Claibon.

Yeah. As a cognizanti, we just, we assume too much out of these rookies in May. Now, some of these late round guys are stepping up quick that you wouldn't have expected. We talked about the running backs. We talked about the running backs. And then there's other guys. People were just slotting in. Lewis Seine to the Minnesota backfield right away.

They were sliding in Elam 2 into like, okay, now we've added these first two picks and they're going to start for the Vikings. Andrew Booth is who I'm thinking of and Lewis Seen, rather. And both of them right now are behind guys that have been there, Cam Bynum at Free Safety and Cameron Danzler at cornerback. Both of those guys who've been around kind of been up,

you know, Dancer's been up and down. had a good camp, and just right now those two guys look like their backups going into the year. Again, like, Burke's, that's fine. But it's like we slot these guys in. Oh, Trevor Penning, first-round pick, going to slot him in as the rookie starting left tackle. He struggled. Yeah, it wasn't pretty. And it looks to me like he's probably not going to start week one.

They're going to start a veteran by the name of James Hurst. And it's just like, you just got to see. It's really hard to know who's going to be good right away, who's not. And that's fine. Like the Vikings have a deep secondary. I think these two guys probably would be starting on other teams. They have a nice secondary. It's like a good problem to have,

but their first two picks are probably coming off the bench, which to me is interesting. Yeah, you're not closing the book on somebody's career. No, no. They'll probably even be playing. Like they're just not starting right away. And it's one of those things that when I did the projected starters back in April and everyone's making their, what a great, okay,

they're building secondary first. It's like, okay, they're not starting right away. That's fine. That's it. That's my last one. I believe in Darnell Mooney. I think it's going to get a ton of targets. I think they can be a fun team to watch.

Seeing the way that they're handling the Roquan situation, I don't necessarily know how great the season's going to go. But I think Justin Fields and Darnell Mooney are healthy. They're going to put up huge numbers in 2022. My concern, it's based off of what we saw, at least in this one game, and I know not everyone's on the field, but their offensive line is a disaster. I mean, the Chiefs had five sacks and trade. or Justin Fields was running for his life all over the place.

Right. Carl Office looks like he's going to Canton, according to this game against the Bears. Right. The Bears, like, the upside was Justin Fields made a bunch of really good plays. The downside was like every play he had to make was incredibly low percentage. Like, including one of the catches by, who is it, Tajay Sharp? Who's like their number two receiver right now? It's just, there's a lot going on.

But I'm with you. on Darno Mooney, Tulane grad. Bears are really a two-lane central right now with Mooney and the kicker Cairo Santos. I guess that's good? Carro Santos gets in there. Yeah, I think it's great. You know what's not great?

Sean Kelly didn't get a lot of pop on this episode. But like I said, we might have a fun. Was our enthusiasm enough for your life? I would just like to say the enthusiasm was absolutely off the charts. Fantastic. Once we talk football, that'll get us going. When we have to talk to each other, it should be. Because Sean's, I just not noticed, you have on the Robbins.

low like NFL hat yeah is this the Robloo that's the one yeah just the shield and he's double where do you even get like they hit it to him in the stadium this is all brand rep here I'm a company man he's double lettering with the around the NFL t-shirt not available in stores it's exclusive to us not available anywhere all right that was fun Dan will be back on Wednesday we've got a big week of shows planned check out Colleen and Dan they'll have the hard-knack Recap on Tuesday night, we're giving you guys lots of content at this time of year. And you guys hope you love it, eating it up. Thank you, Claybon.

Thank you, guys. A pleasure. And that's it. Hit the music, Sean. Hit the thing. I mean, I guess in theory I could just assume you would hit it, and that would be like more professional. I was about to hit it. You know, but at some point it's like, hit it already.

Hit it already and then heed the call. I'm going to be. All right. You guys ready? Yeah. Are we pumped? Yeah. Where's the energy at?

I don't respond to that. Come on, Mark. I don't. I don't, that's not how I respond to you. Mark, give me some of that. A good head coach needs to understand how his players work. Every player. It's different.

It's all right. We'll talk privately. Okay. We will not talk privately. I want that little segment as the Easter egg. I'm not kidding. If you were recording that little 15 seconds. Oh, no.

We have it. All right. Well, that would be good. That would be really good. Some of that. Ooh, all right. No. I wanted you to cut it before all that.