NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Raiders Camp With Jack Jones and Your Mailbag Answers

Episode Date: August 7, 2024

Gregg Rosenthal is LIVE from Raiders camp where he talks to Tashan Reed of the Athletic about the outlook for the Raiders upcoming season (2:40), Raiders CB Jack Jones about the Raiders defense setting the tone during camp (15:30), and wraps things up with a look in the NFL Daily mailbag (23:34).  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 we call Aden O'Connell AOC, but it's a little confusing. I'm Greg Rosenthal. I'm down in Costa Mesa at Raiders training camp. This is going to be a little different NFL daily. I talked to Tashon Rita, the athletic, about the Raiders deep. dive. I'm a little optimistic about this Raiders team if it wasn't for the quarterbacks. Man, the quarterback struggled here on Tuesday, but that's been the case throughout training camp.

I think otherwise this roster kind of frisky, including their defense, including Jack Jones, who I also spoke to. So you'll hear an interview with Jack Jones, which was a lot of fun. And we'll wrap up the show with some questions from y'all out of the mailbag for NFL Daily. But quickly, going to hit the news to start the show. Brandon Ayyuk, I hit it on her last. show, got permission to talk trade with the Patriots, with the Browns. They've agreed to trade terms. And now it's in Brandon Ayuk's court. And I think the silence speaks volumes right now that the 49ers were maybe in a position where they thought, look, Brandon Ayuk doesn't necessarily want to go to either of these teams. We'll have to wait and see no real updates on that. As of

yet, Gerard Mayo, the Patriots head coach said he's learned from his guy, Bill Belichick, not to talk about players on other rosters. Other than that, just got some updates about who's playing in the preseason. Who's not? We got Jared Stidham as the starter in Denver. Drod Mayo said he's going to play all four of his quarterback. So we get

some Drake May, we get some Jacoby Brissette this weekend, which I'm very excited about. Jaden Daniels is going to get the start for Washington this weekend. And just selfishly, I want as many good players as possible to play in the preseason this week, because Nick Shook and I are going to wrap up all the games on our show that airs Monday morning.

So more interesting players, the better this weekend. Texans are also going to play their start. Jordan Love is also going to play. Other than that, a couple of minor moves, Adrian Amos signs with the Jaguars might end up being their starting safety. The Lions lose Emmanuel Mosley, who is a cornerback, was potentially going to be their starter at Nickel. And that's a little tricky because they might have to move Brian Branch into that spot, eventually not what they wanted. Also, everyone's favorite kicker in America.

Harrison Bucker became the highest paid kicker in the NFL, a great kicker. They would not win those Super Bowls without them, and I will leave it at that for Harrison Bucker. And for the news, let's get to Tashon Reed and start talking some Raiders. All right, we are here to talk some Raiders with Tashon Reed of the Athletic. One of the best beatwriters out there, the best two-man combo with Vic Tafer at the Athletic.

Go check out their coverage. They do a great job. We were here watching this offense struggle. Was that typical? Was that typical of what you've seen down here? It's been a pretty constant thing throughout training camp so far. I mean, and really since OTAs. I mean, it's been rough for the offense, particularly the quarterbacks.

Obviously, this was a great defense last year. They were ninth in scoring, so they're going up against a tough unit, but you would like to see more flashes than they've shown so far. I'm going to start on the optimistic front, and then we'll get into the quarterbacks and the offensive struggles. And the optimistic case for them is that these lines, to my eye, could be pretty good. I thought the offensive line was underrated last year. You'd think differently after we talked ahead of time, so maybe I'm wrong.

I don't trust myself. And that the defense could be a top 10 group. And that the skill position players, if you really look at it, Devanta won, Jacobi's a good two. I liked what Trey Tucker did. Two really good young tight ends. Like, that's more than enough to win with. So usually Raiders fans are incredibly irrational.

overly optimistic. They're always getting on me for doubting them. And usually I'm right the last 20 years. But this year, I can actually kind of see the irrational Raiders fans case. Are you feeling that? I don't feel exactly the same way. I do think there is some good things to celebrate. I mean, like the defense, I think they're legit. And there's always that question when you have one unit dominating the other in training camp is, or are they good or they're just going against a bad offense or vice versa. But I don't have any doubts about this defense. I mean, they were a top 10 unit last year. And really after AP took over, you know, those last nine games of the season, they finished, I believe, first in scoring defense the rest of the way. I mean, we saw what they

did to the Chiefs on Christmas Day. They went on and won the Super Bowl. And they brought back nine starters last year. And one of the starter changes was a massive upgrade, you know, getting Christian Wilkins' defensive tackle from the Dolphins. And I mean, you know, Patrick Graham, this is his third year with the Raiders. And so he's really starting to like, you know, starting to loosen up the playbook. And then I think AP referred to like rolling dice out there. He's just trying stuff playing Russian roulette. And so the defense is clicking. And I think that'll translate even when they're not going against a struggling offense. In terms of the offense, like, I think their offense aligned last year struggled, really,

towards the beginning of the season. Like, toward the end of the year, they started to have more success running the ball and then protecting the past for a little bit better. And so they did make some progress, but they needed to make upgrades. And I think they did that this off season. I mean, they drafted Jackson Powers, Johnson, the guard out of Oregon. He's probably going to be a starter at left guard if he can be healthy, healthy. Right now he's on the Pupp list.

You know, you got Colton Miller back. He's one of the pretty solid left tackle. And the rest of the unit is coming together well also. And so, and as you said, I mean, there's no shortage of talent on this team when it comes to weapons. I mean, Devonty Adams, arguably the best receiver in the league. Jacoy Myers is super underrated. You know, two tight ends. You know, Brock Bowers, I know he's a rookie, but he looks the part so far.

Yeah, how has he looked? They saw him lining up out wide on one player where the receivers were actually on the inside. That's cool. I think some 13 personnel where there's three tight ends on the field. I think the third was Harrison Bryant probably. So, like, yeah, how has Bowers looked? Yeah, I mean, he's sort of like a, I don't want to call him a jack-of-all-trace because he's really good, but they use him everywhere. I mean, they have him lined up in-line as a traditional tight-in.

They have him split out wide as an outside receiver. They have them in the slot. You even see him at H-back sometime. We've seen him take jet sweeps. They're using them all over the place and trying to maximize his skill set. It helps to have more of a traditional tight-in like Michael Mayer who can play in line. You know, he's a bigger guy. He's about 30 pounds heavier.

He's a better blocker. And so that frees them up to utilize Bowers in a lot of different ways. And even Harrison Bryant, I mean, he's been a solid. a third tight end for him. He's a really good blocker. He's lined up as fullback. They don't have a traditional one on the roster anymore. He's even made some some pays in the passing game as well. He made a nice catcher to today. That dude's a big

man, those tight ends are crazy. Yeah. So, I mean, they have all the talent. And even Zemir White, you know, running back. You know, he's taking over for Josh Jacobs this year. And those are big shoes to fill. I mean, Josh Jacobs, he's been a star running back for years now. But he's looked pretty good. The issue has just been their quarterback player.

Yeah, let's get to it. So today was pretty rough. Aiden O'Connell, especially, just not a lot of confidence with where he's going to go with the ball to my eye. A lot of just pumping where you can just see he's not on time where pump, pump goes and then throws a pick. I think he had a handful today. We're going to have Jack Jones on right after you. He had a couple of them. And he didn't, he did not look like he was comfortable in this Luke gets the offense. And that's one thing that gives me a little bit of pause. I thought their offense looked capable enough down the stretch last year,

but that was a different offensive scheme. It was an interim O.C. Bohardigree, he's gone. Luke Getz. He comes here from the Bears. You mentioned changing it to kind of a zone scheme in terms of running, just a lot that's different. Like, tell me where those two guys are at, Minshu and O'Connell in this competition.

Yeah, they're neck and neck, but not in a good way. You know, like they've both been struggling. I think O'Connell, you know, he's more of the stationary pocket passer type of guy. like he doesn't have many athletic traits like he's not going to be moving around so he's going to stand back there and fire and the timing isn't perfect and it's not on the money then he kind of freezes up when he has to improvise he's not going to move around too much um you know and so that that leads to some of those anticipation throws where he jack jones it was three on three drill i believe and it was a slant route and he telegraphed it the whole way and jack just jumps in front of it and

picks it but even that one was late like he could have thrown it earlier and he kind of he kind of pumped it But you can kind of see he's almost, like, determining what he's going to do before he does it. And, like, that works sometimes, and you need an element of that in the timing-based offense. You know, with Luke Getzi, I mean, he has some of those Shanahan elements, you know, coaching under the floor. But that can't be what you do all the time. And Gardner Minshu, he offers more of that escapability outside of the pocket. He's more of a gamer type, but he takes it too far, you know, pretty often. And that leads to some other costly interceptions.

I mean, he got picked off today towards end of practice by safety, Trayvon Merrick on one of those kinds of plays. And so he takes risks that a quarterback should take if you're, you're, you know, you know, Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Brett Farr of kind of talent. He doesn't have that type of talent. And so it's been a struggle for him. I mean, it's early in camp, so you don't want to overreact, but they still have a month to try to figure it out, but it hasn't been pretty much.

They keep saying the coaching stuff. They want someone to step up. Minchu apparently was better at the scrimmage, which checks out. Like, no coach, that's Coach Cardner Minshu, has ever really fallen in love with him off practice. They always kind of not want to play him. And then he gets in the game and it's like, oh, okay.

And he ends about playing the guy. that are there. And so if I was a Raiders fan, I'd be a little disappointed. I personally, I went back and watched him, O'Connell. And I thought, man, for a rookie, he did good things. And the upside's bigger. I got to say, for my one day of scouting here, just the arm. I thought he maybe had plus arm strength.

And maybe I don't see that. He has a bigger arm than Gardner Minchew, but not even a plus arm. No, his thing is more accuracy. Yeah. But the issue has been, like, as I said, when things kind of get off schedule a little bit, he has to create like and you have to move around and make throws on the run and maybe make throws that a little bit more difficult that's what that's when it starts to break down for him and so for me a i don't i don't you know i mean he was a day three pick like right i mean he's a he's a good backup

i think in my mind who can be a spot starter in a situation if you get that out of a day three pick at a quarterback like that's a win but they're asking him to be something that's much more than that you know in terms of competing for a full-time starting job you can't just be that type of guy and so he may not have ultimately have that ceiling i mean he's going to be 26 years old this season, so he's only a second year player, but you know, I mean, he's not that much older than him. He's 21, you know what I mean? Right. We'll see. Like, again, we still have

a month to go before the season, and so maybe he makes a vast improvement, or even Minchu, because Monshu hasn't played lights out either. To me, if it's close, though, I would, not that we could do this at the NFL, if it's in Vegas, like, to me, it's going to be Minchu week one if it's that close, because I think they'll just trust in the money that they gave him,

and the experience that he's had at least showing he's a gamer and give him a chance. I wanted to get to on how insane Max Crosby appears to be. I mean, he is just talking during the whole practice, so fired up, getting after these right tackles to the point you almost feel a little bad for him. He's beating up on him.

Yeah, he's a madman. I mean, he plays the same way you see him in games. I mean, he never comes off the field. It's constant effort. He's talking. I know he went viral a couple years ago for his interaction with Patrick Mahomes and them going back and forth.

That's how he is all the time. You know, that's not an act that he turns. turns on for game day, you know, day in and day out. I mean, he has insane offseason regimen. I mean, he's in the facility pretty much every day at like 6 a.m. He stays late. He's really diligent about his body. And so he takes it as seriously as anyone that you'll see in the league.

And that translates to practice. And you always feel bad for the right tackle. Last year was J. Luminauor, and he got it every day. This year, Thayer Munford, and rookie DJ Glaze. And so he doesn't hold back. And they view it the Raiders, they don't try to pull him back because they view it as iron, and sharpens iron type of situation where if you can come to hold your own against a Max Crosby, then when you're going against, you know, a so-so pass rusher, you'll be all right.

But, you know, those early days of camp when he's really getting after you and he's beating you play after play and letting you hear about it, that can be demoralizing to a guy. And so, but I think you need that because, I mean, you're going to go against some tough pass rushes in this league. And if a guy can't hold up against, you know, some of the better ones, like you can't trust them as you're starting right tackle or left tackle, you know, depending on what side that next Crosby is on. And so if those guys can't stand the fire, then you know you need to make an upgrade at that

position. They got a chance this year because the defensive line talent is excellent. I think it's deeper than people realize. Malcolm Coons is a good player. Their players inside are stepping up, obviously Wilkins. And Pierce got those linebackers. That's where I give him a lot of credit. Just playing at a level you wouldn't have expected last year. The secondary, a bit of a question, but certainly some talent there. And they're bigger, they're better than some of their parts. You saw, and that happens with defense and energy. I guess give us someone that you've seen maybe on the defensive side in this camp that stood out to you that

surprised maybe someone people don't know that much about it's got to be gecorian bennett like you said coming in the camp with the with the defense the question was really is that secondary complete i mean we knew what the safeties could do with margott seps and tray around merrick i think they were one of the better safety tannums in the league last year jack jones once he got picked up really came on strong nickelback Nate hobbs i think is one of the better nickels in the league but a big hole was do they have another outside starting cornerback? And Jacorian Bennett, he was a rookie last year. He came in. He had a really strong training

camp started the first four games of the season, but he really struggled and he got hurt and he lost his job and fell out of the rotation. But training camp, he's been bawling, man. What number is he? Number zero. Yeah, so he had a nice day too. Yeah. They all did, though. I don't know what to think. The secondary has been leading away, honestly. I think they've been the most impressive unit on defense.

Because, you know, when the pads aren't on, like the trench play is kind of hard to fully evaluate that. But whether the pads are on or off, the secondary has been balling. But like, on those days when the pads do come on, you see the defensive line start to dominate and how they kind of feed off of one another. I mean, at linebacker, Robert Spillane, I mean, he came out of nowhere last season.

I mean, not just in the run game, but he was really good in past coverage. So, I mean, this defense, to me, like, it has all the makings of potentially being a great one this year. I love our Raiders fans that are listeners, because I feel like we have a lot. I feel like we haven't covered that that much over the years is because they've been so boring.

And this is the one year I come in thinking, like, I don't know. I saw that over, under is like six and a half or something. I know they have a tough schedule. I think 11 of their first 13 games are either in division or against playoff teams from a year ago. They start with a couple of road games. But those indivision games,

like now maybe week one at Chargers doesn't look too bad. If Herbert's not 100%, Broncos aren't great. I'm definitely feeling over six and a half. I was feeling maybe a couple over that, but you're not feeling it. Well, I know, no, I would put them above six and a half. I think that's kind of low. That's pretty good.

I think they're going to be somewhere around, on a 500-caliber team. I think the pessimism, just, I mean, it's a quarterback-driven league. So if you have, you know, an uncertain situation. You've got to be quiet. Aden standing right over there, actually, right there.

If you have uncertain situations, then, you know, that kind of makes people less optimistic about you. But, you know, I think with their defense, if they can get their run game going, if the offensive scheme change under Loop Gatsy, if it ends up being a better fit, you mentioned that they have weapons.

Like, I think there's enough there for them to stay competitive and win some of those games maybe that people don't expect them to make? Like, do they ultimately make the playoffs? I don't know. Like, the AFC is tough. Like, this is...

Yeah, I don't think so. I'm not going that far, but just to make it interesting. I mean, give us interesting. I think they'll be competitive. It's just been so many years of trying to convince us. Oh, yeah, the Dennis Allen Raiders are going to do it. The Gruden Raiders, like, had, like, a little moment.

But these fans are starving. I want to see it for them. So I'm on your side this year, Raiders fans. Appreciate you, Tisham. Appreciate you having me. What's up, everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks.

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is going to set the NFL record for interceptions this year and kickoff returns. You're nodding all seriously. I'm half joking or you're actually going to do that. Yeah, that's the goal, you know, to go in there and do something that's never been done. Yeah, I picked the right day. A couple of the other writers we were watching this. They're like, oh, who are you going to have on?

I was like, oh, Jack Jones is coming on, and then you get one pick. Great anticipation on Aiden O'Connell was like a three-on-three drill. You get another pick later. You have a big return. You boot that return, actually. So far it almost took out our guy, Drake here, behind the camera. So I was like, this was the right day to have Jack Jones on. You've had a lot of days like that out here?

Yeah, every day, you know, the defense's been coming out, stepping up, and, you know, playing hard. And I think that right there is going to lead the plays being made. Yeah. I wonder when you look at your role in this defense, do you think it's part of your job to take the ball away and score some points for this. offense. Definitely. You know, I can't be a guy giving up touchdowns, giving up a lot of passes, giving up yards. You know, that's not good coming from a DB, especially when we have a D-line like we have. You know, plays have to be made. Yeah, where do you kind of see yourself? You've had an interesting career. Obviously, you start out in New England and really a great start to your

career on the field. Some things don't work out there. Then you come to the Raiders and make a big-time impact and really you're their best cornerback, I think, the way you played last year and coming into this year as a number one cornerback, where do you see yourself amongst all these league cornerbacks out there? Thank you. I appreciate that, but I mean, if you ask me,

I think I'm the best corner in the league and I think every corner that's going out there stepping on that field should feel like that. You know, it's a thin line between arrogance and confidence, you know, so you got to be confident when you're going out there. And if you're not confident, then you, you know, you're setting yourself up for failure. So I believe I'm the best.

So does that thin line getting you in some trouble sometimes going against the same guys every day on offense? Definitely. Definitely. Were you guys getting in? There wasn't much fights or anything, but how has it been? It sounds like the defense has kind of been dominating day after day against this offense. Are they getting upset? I mean, we just trying to push the offense to be the best that they can be because we know if we go hard and don't give them any breaks, then, you know, that's going to make them better in the season. So we just try to go out there and compete and show them a real look. Yeah, we had you.

I did a show with my friend Mina Kimes on ESPN a couple weeks ago where we each had to pick an X factor for the Raiders. And separately, we actually both picked you just because the ceiling feels very high for you and really for this defense. It was kind of representing this defense. Where do you guys kind of feel like you fit into the NFL where the Raiders defense is at?

I believe we're a top five defense in the league. You know, and this upkeep of season, we're going to show exactly why we're, I believe, top five, you know, defense in the league, but, you know, without a question, I think we're top five. Yeah, it's crazy because you got here in the middle last year and it was pretty close to when Antonio Pierce got the job and that defense really took off. What was, what was it like joining this culture and, like, how was the difference in how this team operates, especially on the defensive side of the ball and, like, where you came from in New England? I just think AP, AP get the

guys going you know he know how to bring the best out the players he can get you he can get the fire you know from the players and have every player player going out there with their head on fire you know just flying around willing to give it all for the team and I think if you don't have that as a as a player have a coach that that you really believe in then it's going to be tough to go out there and give you all so we have AP and I give hats off to him or give all the credit to him max also kind of get you guys going oh definitely he was getting me going just watching there today definitely max is a guy shows up every practice, every play almost, you know, it's just undeniable. What was it like you had that Christmas game where you really shut down that Chief's defense?

And that was a big time moment for your team. And now you're back. It's your first full season with the Raiders. And you're looking up at those guys as the back-to-back defending champs, three Super Bowls. What is it like going against that team and Mahomes and having that target for you guys? to go after in this division? That's a good team right there. And we know every time we see Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs,

this is going to be a tough game. You know, if we don't come out there, you know, playing an assignment alignment game, then we'll lose because that team, they're real discipline, you know what I'm saying? They have a great quarterback on their side. So we know the type of challenges we have when we face the Chiefs. So I think it's going to be a lot of, you know,

a lot of click-clack and a lot of talk and good game coming from the Raiders and the Chiefs. Yeah, because it had been a minute since the Raiders could could shut down the chiefs like that. How did you do that? Once again, credit to AP and credit to the defense and the team, you know. One thing I noticed when we was out there on Christmas Day was, you know, sometimes some games would be like defense would be like, dang, defense is back up.

We want the offense to score, but that game, we didn't blink. You know, we didn't question it. When defense was up, everybody had they had on ready to go and was ready to step on the field. All right. I want you to talk me through one of my favorites. favorite plays from the 2023 season. I think you know where I'm going with this, that interception that you had against the Chargers. I'm probably not the first person to ask, but that, to me, it's an all-time, like, cornerback play, a play. I think people are going to

remember where you reach back and you read the play. Kind of walk me through how that play took place for you last year. It was film study, for one, for two. Coach PG, you know, coach Pat Graham, he made the call to put me in position to make that. play um you know we we played cover two on that play and that allowed me to take that chance to make that play if PG would call cover 3 or man-a-man you know I would have to stay back and do my technique but PG put us in a great cause to to be able to make that play I seen some um four by one okay I see four-by-one pre-snap that's what I was looking for and after that you know PG he just I

mean after that I made the play I went up made the play P-G put us in position and I seen four by one and I went and got it Do you have a, like, when you're making a play like that, and that was on Thursday night football, I actually had my son. That's the only game of the week I get to watch with him. Did you even have in that moment? I'm sure you're going crazy. Like, man, that's a play that's making eight-year-olds go crazy all over the country. Nah, I didn't think that, but I was in my head when it happened, I'm like, wow, one hand.

Like, you know, because when I ran back there, I was going up with two hands, but I realized I was running past the ball, so I just kind of reached back with one and, you know, plucked it out there. That's awesome. Last thing for you, I saw you, you know, entered training camp that you had noticed a little bit where the national media was putting you. That you maybe saw some predictions out there where I think 6 and 11 was one that you mentioned. I guess what's your opinion on those predictions that have been out there that the Raiders, you know, not a lot of people expect a lot out of the Raiders this year. Yeah, I don't know why they don't have faith in us when, you know, the season that we had last year with the coaches Swiss. middle of the season. I mean, I obviously wasn't here,

but, you know, quarterback switches, you know, throughout the season, and we have more wins than six wins. So, and I think this year we're a better team, you know, we have a solid foundation. So for them to say, we're going to win six games, that's kind of like a slap in the face, you know, and, you know, the team fills that.

So we're going to go out and show them. So that's something you guys talk about amongst yourself? Definitely. Okay. Jack Jones, the cornerback for the Raiders, looking forward to watching you this year. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for having me.

All right. That was a lot of fun with Jack Jones. I'm easily swayed. I come down here and the defense is so dominant and I'm convinced Aiden O'Connell is going to be trashed this year and that this defense is going to be awesome. Man, O'Connell just did not look comfortable at all in this practice. But the playmakers are there in Jack Jones and Max Crosby at the top of the list. We're going to wrap up this show down in Costa Mesa by going to the mailbag. You can ask us questions at NFL Daily Podcast at gmail.com. I want to hit another mailbag early next week, maybe later this week.

NFL Daily podcast at gmail.com. And yeah, while we're here, go to the YouTube page, subscribe, like, help us out. I loved all the encouraging emails that we were looking at between me and Randy. And yeah, Randy, we're now through five teams doing a deep dive on. I need that big board. We've hit five out of the 32. If we haven't hit you yet, we've hit Eagles, Raiders, Rams, charges, bears. We are going to hit you at some point this season.

It's going to take a while. All right, let's get to the questions. Let's start with Eldon, who asks, how many starts for J.J. McCarthy this year? I'm putting the over under at 14. I don't think it's going to be long. J.J. McCarthy at training camp, getting positive notices. Sam Darnold is still Sam Darnold. I would almost put it higher, if not for the injury.

risk for McCarthy, but I don't think Darnold's going to last more than two or three weeks. If I had to guess, their schedule is pretty difficult at the beginning. They would love Darnold to do well, but I think J.J. McCarthy is really playing against himself at practice and in the preseason, and

so far, so good. I think if he plays well, they're just not going to wait around that long to get to him. Our next question is from Oliver in the UK. He asks, what is the best case scenario for the Colts this season? what's their ceiling, assuming Richardson stays healthy,

in plays to what you believe his ceiling is this season? I mean, their ceiling's high. 12 wins, 12 and 5, like 3 seed in the AFC. One of those teams that you go into the playoffs thinking, like, could the Colts really go to the Super Bowl and probably won't? But I've seen lesser teams in terms of line play make it to the Super Bowl. and Richardson's ceiling, fantasy-wise, top five. And NFL-wise, if he can hit enough big throws,

this guy is a great decision-maker. He is tier one as athletic, a runner, and in terms of his arm strength, of anyone that's ever played in the NFL, he's not going to be that accurate. But if he can just make good decisions like he was making as a rookie, he stays healthy, he hits his ceiling. I like the weapons around him.

I love the offensive line. I love the defensive line even more. To me, they have as high a ceiling or higher than the Texans. I do think those are two of the best teams in the AFC, and the Colts should be a little disappointed if they don't make the playoffs. Thanks to Oliver. Let's go to Jack. Jack was determined, and we got a lot of these emails.

Determined. Why do you got to be so determined not to like this show? Like, I get it. I felt the pain of around the NFL ending as much more than anyone, obviously. And I did have a little bit of time to kind of grieve and get used to it and understand life sometimes gives you things you didn't expect, gives you things you didn't want, and it's how you respond to that. But you don't need to be rooting against this show and not wanting to like this show. Love this show. Love the new show from Mark and Dan that's going to be coming out.

Head the call. They announced that. and I know that's going to be awesome. And I mentioned that partly because Jack has a heed the call tattoo like myself. I love it. So I remember the words of Chris Wesley. He told me that. The first time he told me that was, and I'm going to sound like this is a humble brag, actually.

I was in Hawaii, and I was having a little bit of a personal crisis of I can't do the job that I had, which was in management anymore. I just couldn't do it. had to be happier, more fulfilled, do something like I ended up doing with around the NFL more full-time and with the network. And now what we're doing with NFL daily. And that was the first time Chris gave me that advice. He was technically someone who was under me at work, but I always went to him for advice. And that was all about it's a short life. And you got to do what you love and what matters to you. And I'm doing it now. Even though it's not around the NFL,

this podcast is going to mean a lot to me, and I really appreciate everyone who's along for the ride. He does ask a football question. He says, I think Tony Pollard's a brilliant example of a truly explosive, valuable second running back who excelled in that role. But when given the RB1 role,

with no viable RB2 struggled. So who are your top five RB2s for 2024? Five best RB2s. Well, immediately, I think of Taj Spears and Tony Pollard in Tennessee, whoever you call the RB2 there, too. I love what I'm hearing out of AJ Dylan that Matt LaFleur says this is the best AJ Dylan has ever looked. And so whether it's him, whether it's Marshawn Lloyd in Green Bay,

I think those are two guys that are going to be absolutely electric as a backup running back. And then, man, I'm going through the Rolodex right now. Justice Hill, this might be a little high for Justice Hill, but I think Justice Hill is going to have a great season. And I'm going to think of all the RB2s out there that I should have picked for this in like five minutes and it's going to drive me crazy. And to defend Tony Pollard,

I think he struggled because he was coming off a broken leg in the season that they were asking him to do more. He was set up for failure there. He just was not confident in that leg last year. And that's going to be big for Tennessee

if he is this year. We'll see. Our next question from Andrew, love the show. Wondering if this could be a segment that would focus on the Panthers possibly being good this season. I know it's unlikely,

but could be a way to talk about teams that don't live in the spotlight. Now, I don't know about an entire segment, but I will give you a mailbox answer. Defense is more variable every season than offense. I do not like the personnel in Carolina, but there's a reason why Carolina did not let Agiro Evro, their coordinator, go to Los Angeles where they wanted him to be their coordinators because he's one of the best young defensive coordinators in the league. He has a young group, and even if it's hard to see the image, I've seen coaches

make young teams like that be average when they didn't have any right to be. So you get the average defense there. Bryce Young and Deonte Johnson, I think, are going to be a really good connection. I think they can improve quite a bit. I think of Alex Smith's career arc when I think of where Bryce Young is at right now. One of the worst quarterbacks I've ever seen was Alex Smith as a rookie. Second year, gets a better coordinator. They improved to 7 and 9.

He was around league average. To me, that's the recipe for them being good. and, you know, Mingo steps up a little bit and that they're just watchable and that you have a guy that can be a starting quarterback. So not an entire segment, but I gave you, like, a minute. Thank you, Andrew.

This one's also from a different, Andrew, a diehard Dolphins fan that has been so accustomed to mediocrity asked you a bigger question. I wanted to ask me about the Dalton scale, what are entire teams this year that lie on the Dalton line? So for new listeners, the Dalton scale was Chris West Solene's invention of how to measure whether you have a franchise quarterback or not.

If that quarterback is better than Andy Dalton, you have a franchise quarterback. If that quarterback is worse than Andy Dalton, you do not have a franchise quarterback. So I'm here, in Costa Mesa, rather, with the Vegas Raiders, they do not have a quarterback that's even approaching Andy Dalton back when he was with the Bengals. They are below the Dalton line. Tuotunga Vailoa, he's not as high above the Dalton scale line as Dolphins fans think. but he is above it. Entire teams is funny.

I thought about this for a while. At first, my thought was the Saints because they're so off the radar. No one really knows what they're going to do. Their entire franchise is just, can we keep our jobs for one more year? They're just trying to get to eight wins, nine wins like they had a year ago

so that everyone can stay employed. But I thought about their talent's not even as good as Andy Dalton. They're below the Dalton scale, to me, of teams, and I think they'll finish below that. And I came up with the perfect answer. Come at me, Jags fans. It's the Jacksonville Jaguars. Now, you have a quarterback in theory that's like a top 10 quarterback,

but it's more in theory, and Trevor doesn't get me excited. Now, he's definitely above the Dalton scale, so that makes them a tricky pick here. But as a team, I look at them and I just don't know what to think. I think, yeah, they're good. They're fine. Their coach is good. Their defense should be okay with Ryan Nielsen.

Like, they'll be better. The weapons around Lawrence, pretty good. The offensive line, Anton Harrison, they got some questions, but it's like, it's okay. It's a lot of okay and a quarterback that hasn't been enough better than okay. So the Jags are my pick for the team

on the Dalton scale. And finally, last question, it's from Torque, who says he loves the chemistry with Claibon and Jordan, and yeah, I love it too. We're going to build it up together. We're going to have the regulars in these couple weeks you might realize are different

than the rest of the season's going to be. I'm doing all these training camp tours. A lot of the network people like Steve Weiss and Colleen and Patrick are all over the country. And so it's a little different than when we're going to be in the studio almost every day. But it's been fun going out to the teams. And yeah, Patrick is actually on tomorrow's show drafting some fantasy players. I'm looking forward to that. Torque's question is about the 18 game schedule.

What do you think of the timeline and steps getting to the 18 game regular season? I've seen thoughts out there, including two buys, reducing the. preseason even further. Yeah, you hit it. There's not even any question. Preseason will go down to two games. They will, I believe, add a week to the season, which now gets us to the day after the Super Bowl being President's Day, which is why I don't think they're going to add another buy. If they did that, then they would have to start a week earlier. I don't think they would want to do that. And even though the players, I think, would love that time off, I don't think that's going to happen. And if the owners are actually willing to give up some money and pay the players a little higher percentage of total revenue, I think this could happen before the 2131 CBA agreement is up, that they could go to the table and this could happen sooner than later because the players seem open to it.

I don't totally love it. I think that's asking a lot for these players' body. And I think if you're going to do it, you should add that extra buy, even though that's going to give us all an extra week of work, which I don't really want to do. And so that was from TORC. I appreciate, again, all the emails, all the support. You can send the emails to the NFL Daily Podcast at gmail.com. And that will wrap up today's day, down in Costa Mesa, with the Raiders. Tell me what team you want to hit next when we do some deep dives.

We don't want to do it too often, but we'll do it every so often. And, yeah, I mentioned Patrick Claibon, Marcus Grant, Mike Florio, going to be on our next show drafting the first three rounds of a fantasy draft. We're going to have a lot of fun then. Until then, see you next time.