NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Rookie Risers and Fallers and Everything We Learned in Training Camp

Episode Date: August 27, 2026

Gregg Rosenthal and Nick Shook take you around the NFL and give you updates on the most interesting position battles across the league including Michael Penix vs. Tua Tagovailoa, Cam Skattebo vs. Najee Harris, Fernando Mendoza vs.Kirk Cousins and more! Plus, a look around the league at the rookies who have helped their case and the rookies who find themselves in a worse spot compared to the start of camp and what injuries do Gregg and Nick feel better and worse about. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Get new episode to the NFL Report Monday through Friday all season long. Listen to the NFL Report podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to NFL Daily, where we hope no one ever calls us inoperable. I'm Greg Rosenthal here in the Chris Wesleying podcast studio with my friend, Nick Shook. Inoperable, Shooki, was the word to describe the commander's joint practice against the Ravens, specifically the offense and the offensive line. Never great when you inspire. And this is from their beat writer, Nikki Habala of the Washington Post, or the athletic rather. This is the worst I've ever seen the commander's offense in years.

Inoperable offensive line. Oh, that's just like, I don't want to hear that two weeks before the season starts. I mean, what's the most important part in football? It starts in the trenches. If you can't protect your quarterback, you got problems. You can't get the ball out on time. And yeah, it sounds like it was pretty much a nightmare against the Ravens and a joint practice.

Not ideal. Not ideal as we're a couple of weeks away from the start of the regular season. For some context, no Sam Cosmey, who is probably their best offensive line. for this particular practice. But it supports something we saw in their brief appearance in the preseason where you're like, oh, two pressures

and two dropbacks, it got sack. Let's not panic. And then this happens. And I bring all that up to kind of give context to what today's show is going to be all about. Show.

Me and you, a little over a month ago, I think it was June 20th, or July 20th or so. We went over the top position battle. in all of training camp that we would be watching. This is about a week before training camp even started.

And I thought it would be interesting to go back and revisit. Not the entire list. We've talked about a lot of the battles and some just aren't that interesting, but the 12 most interesting position battle updates. And that got me thinking of just what have we learned in general in this entire preseason training camp process? Maybe you're not even listening to every single NFL daily, although we're not going to be repeating ourselves.

So what we're going to do on this show is kind of get everyone up to date. Update the position battles. We're going to talk about some rookie risers and rookie fallers, the guys who really stood out. And then get everyone up to date about injury situations like what we feel good about, what we don't, what we're really not sure after this five weeks of data. Because at this point, the local access watching practice, it's over. the preseason. We got a few games left to go.

They're not going to be that meaningful. We'll have cut down day on Sunday, but it's the last time we're going to have Shookon for a minute. He's going to be doing some important life stuff that we're excited about him for. We'll update the listeners at some point in the future. But let's go to these position battle updates. Let's start with the Atlanta Falcons.

Michael Pettix and Tuatunga Viloa was right near the top of the list of the ones I wanted to watch coming into camp. and it is taking a turn this week, Nick. Let's actually listen to our friend Ian Rappaport, update the situation on the insiders on NFL network on Tuesday night. The goal of the entire organization was to have Tua be the starting quarterback right away to start the season, let Michael Paddock come along.

So remember, it's still a nine months or so from the ACLTA. Really, you'd like him to be inactive for the first several games. And really just take his time and make sure he's fully healthy. to his play made that impossible, not just in the preseason game, which we've seen, but sounds like practice as well, all of which is to say, this is Michael Pennick's job for the taking. If he comes out and plays as well as he can, it actually could create the best case scenario for the Atlanta Falcons.

Oh, boy. When you have Rapaport, usually reporting with kid gloves, he's got a lot of sources. He's not trying to necessarily offend that, Tuatung of Iloa has given the Falcons no choice, but to change their initial plan. Those are really strong words. Let's listen to how Kevin Stefanski positioned this week's practices. So they're splitting first team reps immediately.

Michael Pennix making his first practices with the team in 11 on 11s. And then they have a preseason game later this week. This was an important week for Mike, first time out there with people around you, the offensive line, the defensive line. think going through a drill where you've got to move up in the pocket or get chased out of the pocket, whatever it is. So I thought a really good first step for Mike in that regard. But outside of this week, I don't think it's fair to go farther than that. So they're going to play Tua in the preseason game with other starters. Maybe they'll rest a few guys. They're going to rest

Pennix in the preseason game, but they're splitting reps at practice. Throw all that together with the end's report. And where do you think this one is going? What do you think? The Falcons have realized that, oh my God, we better hope that Michael Penix is ready to play in week one because we know we don't have a great chance of Tua Tuna Vaila Lua. And for those who, you know, I'm not here to pile on on Tua, but he hasn't looked good. There was, of course, that clip with the joint practice with the Colts where he looked like he was completely frazzled in the pocket, had no idea where to go and like he hadn't played pro football before. And that doesn't look good either. But I think it's just a sign that he hasn't made the progress. You know, he started camp injured like Pennix, but it was kind of a surprise back.

issue that limited his ability to get going. And he hasn't really gotten any better. And it sounds to me like they're ready to shift toward Pennix because they're desperate to. Now, Stefanski continued to talk on this today and said that he wasn't willing to name a starter as of now and that he wasn't trying to intentionally, you know, play coy or anything. He just needed to give the time, the process as much time as possible, aka, we need to give Michael Pennix as much time as possible to prove to us that he can play in week one. Penick said that he would be ready mentally and physically for week one. was named the starter. As of now, he does not feel like it's quite the right time for him to take the field, which is why he won't be playing in this preseason game. And, you know, there's a bit

of clash of logic here because you think, all right, week three, do you really want to play your starters? Right. Most teams might not want to. The Falcons are going to want to because they still are that far away from finding rhythm offensively. And it all starts at quarterback. So the idea that Pennix isn't playing a signal that he's going to be the week one starter, not quite the same because he's just now getting back to 11 on 11. But the fact that Tua is playing means that they need to see something from him, at least as a backup plan.

So the situation is not really ideal right now for the Falcons. No, I tried to focus on this show at stuff that we can be sure about our real top line stories. And Ian indicating that he's left them no choice because of the practices, supports the vibes I've been getting out of there at practice as well.

They open at Pittsburgh. I've said all along, I think the Falcons, there's a chance here. They're one of the worst couple teams in the NFL. I do not like this roster. Then they host the Panthers.

They're at the Packers. Like, it might be a good time to get them early in the season. We got the Falcons in primetime schedule makers, back-to-back weeks, weeks three and four.

Weird. Early. Not sure who we're going to see them. Get them off the runway. Yeah, but you don't have to put them on the runway at all. Treat them like the Browns. Sorry.

I know they got Bajon. Drake London, but man. The second position battle wanted to hit was Cam Scadaboo versus everyone that was in that Giants backfield. And I wanted to bring this up first because it's clear that Cam Scadabu has distanced himself from Tyrone Tracy and Devon Singletary. He's listed as first on the depth chart now for the Giants. But when they list it on the second team, it's Tracy or Singletary or Najee Harris

and Najee Harris was taking first team reps already at practice on Monday and Tuesday. That is fascinating to me and makes me think, man, Najee Harris is going to be a factor that we never saw coming in this Giants backfield. And it all goes back to the background of the Harbaugh's and where they've been. Last year, Najee was with Jim Harbaugh with the Chargers until he missed the rest of the season. Prior to that, Najee was a Steeler playing the same division as John Harbaugh's. Baltimore Raven. So they're very familiar with him. He was a late arrival to practice during this camp and has seemingly worked his way up to speed quickly enough for them to think, all right,

you're an ideal number two. I also think it speaks to the fact that Tyrone Tracy has had a terrible preseason, which is really unfortunate because I kind of liked him last year. And Devin Singletary, just who is who he is at this point? They're looking for another guy behind Skadaboo who can make a difference. So they turn back to a guy who came to the NFL with a lot of treadborne off those tires from his time at Alabama, but still a hard runner that really matches the persona that they really want to adopt as an offense. Scatibu being a hard runner, Naji being a hard runner, that becomes your identity in the backfield. So it makes a lot of sense, even if it is a bit of a surprise. Scadaboo is not built to have 400 touches. I just don't think the way that he runs,

they trust that. I think it's going to be way closer to a 1A, 1B situation. I'm not sure about Najee Harris coming off such a serious injury. But if he's good enough, he could be the 1A potentially or that'll be very even. At wide receiver, I had called it a morass coming into the season, the Giants wide receiver situation.

We have takeaways here about who won, who lost, who got injured. Malachi Fields, the rookie, I think is wide receiver too here. I mean, other guys are going to play. They were taking calls according to the local beat reporters on Darius Slayton and Darnell Mooney

last week. I don't know if they're going to continue to after Calvin Austin tore his ACL. That's happened since we last tape that we had that confirmed. He was going to be the slot. I think Malachi Fields was going to be the two. And then Malik Neighbors, which is a big part of this, is slowly ramping up. The expectation is he's going to be ready for week one. And yet we haven't really seen him in full team drill. So there's questions there. I still think they could get rid of either Slayton or Mooney. I think the Austin injury means they'll definitely keep one of them.

But I think we have a pretty clear order. And this is what camp is all about. Fields is two. You assume neighbors is healthy enough to be one. And then one of the two I just mentioned is three. And maybe O'Do Beka makes the team now. You know they want to keep them on the team. You know they want to keep them on the team.

Yeah, they've been rightfully high on fields. And I think that this has always been kind of the aspirational plan for him. And he's fulfilled the expectations that they set for him. to become, you know, wide receiver too. The idea that neighbors, you got to get neighbors, you know, at full strength, which is closer to that than he was even a couple of weeks ago. But yeah, you're right. The rest of it is just like, how do we figure this out because of the Calvin Austin's injury?

And I think between Slayton and Mooney, I think Slayton's the one to go. Slayton has essentially been getting preseason auditions by playing much deeper into games than you would expect for somebody who's, you know, got that. Mooney did too. They had him out there in the second half last week. And then I was like, oh, okay. Yeah, I just, I have a feeling that it's going to be Slayton. who ends up on the move. It would be hilarious.

Not, I guess, yeah, kind of hilarious that O'Dell would make the team, given that he, you know, had that drop in the back of the end zone. I was very frustrated by it, but you're right. But it's the, it's the romantic element of it, you know? If you got space form on the roster, why not? Austin's injury, I think locks in Braxton Barrios for people that are interested in that sort of thing. But that's more because of his return ability and he'll play some slot as well.

And yes, we lost the Juju Smith-Suster to this battle along the way. A couple other quick battles. hit at wide receiver for the Dolphins. That was another morass. We found out it's going to be the rookie Caleb Douglas, a third round pick. It's going to be Malik Washington. I think those are your top two guys. Jalen Tolbert

seems to be number three there. I thought Caleb Lomu versus Will Campbell was going to be a thing. Very much not a thing. Will Campbell, great camp. Lomu, their first round pick at left tackle, not a good camp. I thought the Cowboys left tackle position was going to be up for grabs. No, it's Tyler Gighton's

job for sure. I was looking at the Ravens number three receiver situation. Elijah Surratt, Jacobi Lane, Tess Walker. It's Jacobi Lane, one of the stories of camp. Love that.

You got, you are, you are literally lifting your arms. I was going to say flexing, but that's just naturally how they look. This is my natural state of rejoicing. Not quite the same here. My guy,

Jacobi Lane, went to camp and seized the opportunity, baby. Let's go. Yeah, he's been great. And it does make me feel better about that offense because they need some depth. They don't really have it at Titan

or receiver. They're hoping for a lot out of Rashad Bateman. Let's finish with Cousins and Mendoza, at least like the preseason talk about them. Although we might see Mendoza in the preseason finale. We'll find out. I found this battle fascinating. Cousins is getting the first team reps in practice this week.

I'd be shocked at this point if he's not the weak-one starter. Is that too strong of a word shocked? Like what percentage do you put it at now? No, I'd be shocked too. I was surprised, I shouldn't have been, but I was surprised that you were being the straw that stirs the drink for most of the preseason trying to push the whole Mendoza agenda

knowing that Kirk Cuviac wants a veteran quarterback to start the season with them. I think Cuncubiacs backed me up by not committing to Cousins. And then the preseason numbers have not looked good. I swear, and it was great to see Stephen Ruiz, one of the writers I respect the most

who cover quarterbacks. he's moved to Fox Sports now. You know, he was so high on Mendoza's preseason in terms of the processing, decision-making, that he just looks like an adult back there. And that's the most important thing. And I do still wonder if Kubiak's like, man, if he just keeps showing this progress,

they're still, you know, not committing that, like, maybe we should just do it sooner than later. So to me, I think it's like 80-20 cousins is the week one starter. And that it's 40-60 that cousin's, is the week four starter. I'm just throwing things out. Yeah, I'll ride with that. Because for a rookie head coach,

this is very unusual, but he's in the bit of a cat bird seat with the quarterback situation because Mendoza has looked so good in the preseason, despite what the numbers say, Stephen Ries is absolutely right. Mendoza looks like a guy who is extremely prepared,

which is exactly what Kubiak said about him. And you're in a luxurious situation in which you can choose between two guys that you actually have some confidence in that can handle the operation of the offense. So it makes a lot of sense for the long-term planning of this franchise, to start the season with Kirk Cousins.

And if he's just average, it's fine. And eventually you try to work in Mendoza because you know that he's going to be prepared for it. And you got to see what you can get. The dangerous part of that, though, Greg, is what if Kirk is all right. He's kind of what he was in Atlanta last year. You're competitive. Maybe you aren't winning a lot of games, but you're competitive. Mendoza comes in and then struggles more than you expect and you take a step back.

Because then you've already kind of taken the genie out of the bottle. You can't go back at that point. to quote the great Mike Tomlin, we do not live in our fears. Not living our fears. You got to just go. Does make me wonder a little too. Has Kirk been a little underwhelming? Who knows?

There's no way to know. You'd have to be at the practice, be inside of Clint Kubiak's mind. A couple other position battles I had written down a month ago that have declarative winners in the Patriots receiver medley. And I'm not including Romeo Dobbs and AJ Brown in that. Kayshan Bouti got traded and DeMario Douglas won in terms of the guy who's going to be on the field

most snaps. Matt Collins seems kind of locked in as that number four guy. And then my guy, Kyle Williams, will stay on the roster for sure after they traded Kishan Bouty. We also learned just in terms of usage that it's going to be a cornerback year

for Travis Hunter. That was one of the questions I had. And I think it's going to be an even more extreme cornerback, not wide receiver year than I expected going into camp. Let's flip to another section we're going to do,

called some rookie risers and fallers. And these guys could also be counted as position battle winners. A month and a half ago, I was naive enough to include Ricky Pearsall in a wide receiver mix. The wide receiver competition for San Francisco was Dejohn Stribling versus Christian Kirk versus DeMarcus Robinson

versus Ricky Pearsall's health. And we can say, that John Stribling is the winner. One of the biggest rookie risers in the entire NFL. He's been strong, but it's also, you can't hold this against yourself.

You couldn't predict that Ricky Pearsall's knee that he should have had an operation on, then swelled up and got to the point that he needed the operation. Like, you're not in the team doctor's heads there. So that's not on you. But look, these are the developments that you hope for when you draft the guy and you throw him in there and they end up exceeding expectations.

It's a good situation for the 49ers to have. It's not a perfect situation, though, because they just can't stay healthy. Hopefully, Stribling ends up, you know, kind of matching what he's produced so far in camp in the preseason and ends up being a key part of this team

because I think they're going to need him. Oh, I think he is. I think he's going to have a lot of volume. I get it. I just don't think there's other people that are going to be catching enough passes on this team. Kittle will obviously be a volume target once he is out there,

but his situation is a little bit of a question. Mike Evans is expected to return to practice next week, but his injuries have been a little more serious than they've let on because he just hasn't been out there. I also list your two rookies in Cleveland, Casey Concepcion and Denzel Boston, among the biggest rookie winners. Just an awesome month for the two of them. And people might say, well, okay, they got to do it in the game. This doesn't mean everything. I'm reading all the reports in all the camps. It's not like this for everyone. Like, Zach Jackson, who's covered this team, forever is like these are the best two receivers they've like had in the building for so long.

They're just they're just the best two receivers on the team. And that includes a guy and Jerry Judy is making a lot of money. And they're just clearly better than him already, which is great news for the future of your Browns, if not the present. Yeah, the big question of you who's throwing them the football. We already know that drama and everything else. But this is about the long term. This is about building your core and answering a need that you've had for forever.

And if you could get them to be not, you don't have to produce at the level that Josh Gordon did, but just fill a role that Josh, Josh Gordon once occupied in this receiving court, they'll be fan favorites, they'll be productive, and there'll be an ideal situation for whatever quarterback comes to town next year, because one will be coming to walk into.

Caleb Downs, I wrote down just as another rookie who's gotten a lot of positive. Presid Jadarian Price, I am absolutely swayed by some of those hard knocks clips, and the fact that the Seahawks coaches, the way they've talked about them, they're like, we don't need to see them in the preseason.

I think they're a little wowed, by Judarian Price's talent. And no one else has really emerged there. And so he's just got to stay healthy. But to me, he's a riser despite missing some of camp with injuries. Is that the problem you got for me? No, it's not a problem. I'm just, I'm, it feels kind of like a bit of a kid gloves thing too,

where they're like, look, we've already gotten bitten hard by the injury bug at this position. We lost Kenneth Walker in the off season. Let's keep this guy who's very talented on ice until the regular season. It's also like pretty fascinating to me to consider the, idea that this was a guy who most people did not see as a first round pick, maybe early second round ends up going in the first round, and can come into a camp and then flash at that level and look so much better than his peers when he was just in college. That will forever fascinate me when guys just show up like that and are that much better right away.

If you've got the juice, like KC. Concepcion is a great example. And Denzel Boston in the way that he is a ball winner, but that's different. Like Judarian Price, in Concepcion, like, they just move different. And like, you either have that or you don't, I think, at some level. And it probably takes the NFL coaches to see, like, oh, yeah, him compared to the other guys on the field, he just moves different. So I'm very excited about him. He could be a better pro in terms of production, certainly, this year, than he was

at Notre Dame last year. He was stuck buying Jeremiah Love. It's really crazy. A couple other rookies that I see as risers. Akeem Messador has had a great camp. for the Chargers. I would package two running backs. Kaelin Black for the 49ers. Once he got back from his injuries look great. Mike Washington, we've talked about on the show a lot for the Raiders has looked great. Caleb Elarms or for the Bills, not a household name, has a real

chance. I think he's going to start for this team at linebacker. Fourth round pick. I didn't have many day three guys here in the rookie risers. I would also throw in Douglas, Caleb Douglas, who I mentioned with the dolphins before. And then J. Sean Barham, another guy who's had some injuries, but has really wowed everyone that watched him out of that group. And if you have any others, feel free to throw them out. Out of that group,

though, is there anyone that stands out to you as exciting. Oh, this reminds me of how much I enjoy when guys leave college and go to the NFL and they change uniforms and I can actually enjoy watching them play football. J. Sean Barram being one, as an Ohio state fan, I can't enjoy watching Michigan in any capacities to see him go to the NFL

and then immediately flash. I'm like, yes, he's one of my favorite players of the preseason. I cannot wait to see how he fits into his Cowboys defense at the second level, how much playing time they give him as part of a remade defense that I think is going to be a lot better than people expect with Christian Parker, the new DC overseeing things. So I'm excited to watch him play as well. And I'm really curious to see exactly how Mesdor fits into this front with the Chargers, given that Khalil Mack is there and everything else. But he was one half of a great edge rushing tandem at Miami with Rubin Bain. And to see both of them come in and find success would just be fulfilling to somebody like me who really enjoys watching the top players in college football,

take that immediate next step and make a difference. Bryce Lance was another day three pick, I wish I mentioned. He has come on strong, according to the Saints reporters, in the last week and a half at the joint practices. And he's going to have a role. Unfortunately, it's because of injuries there, including to Jordan Tyson. But I think Bryce Lance and then Barry Ann Brown,

as a late round pick as a return guy and kind of a number four receiver, those guys are going to play for the Saints. so I would include them in the rookie risers. It was easier for me to fall or to find the rookie fallers. Jordan Tyson has to be at the top of the list. And it comes with an asterisk. I don't know if any rookie was impressing more on the field than Jordan Tyson until the moment that he hurt his hamstring

like he did for so much of college and was out for two months. But you just worry that this could haunt his entire. rookie season. I hope they're just so careful with them that by the time he gets back, he can then have a productive second half of the season, whatever it's going to turn out to be. It's especially disappointing for a team that, you know, you have Chris Olavay on a new deal in there, but you needed a running mate in this passing offense, especially with Father Shuck coming into year two with a lot of optimism based on how he finished last season. But that's always been the rub with Tyson. And in the idea, you know, if it was, it would be one

thing if it was even an ankle. It's the idea that it's a hamstring for the type of player he is in the injury history that he has is that this is going to take. take a while. And you're absolutely right. I worry that it might haunt his rookie season. I hope that it doesn't. I hope that he can come back fully healthy and then make a contribution down basically what's going to be the back half of the regular season. But it's a real bummer. And just a hit to the optimism surrounding the Saints right now. But that doesn't change my pick. I'm still with him to win the division, baby. I cannot agree. I think this division could be a bad. You got to be different somewhere. I think this division could be a mess. I'm even starting to get a little worried about

my bucks, at least offensively, some of the reporting of how the offensive practices are going, but I'm staying strong with them as the winner of the NFC South. Caleb Banks was a surprising first round pick, first pick of the post-Quessie era. He was the GM of the Vikings, so Kevin O'Connell might have won a power struggle. And Caleb Banks is not a player that is expected to make much contribution, if any, early in the season. So I would consider him. I'm a faller right now. It looks like a project. The Jets, rookies in general,

loved it on paper. It's not going great so far. No reason to panic. These are four or five-year contracts. But Kenyon Siddiqua has been hurt. He's the tight end that they took in the middle of the first round that they expected to be a big part of the offense. Omar Cooper, late first round,

hasn't necessarily made a big impact battling for snaps. DeAngelo Ponds, undersized cornerback, who I really like, kind of the next Aaron Glenn, but he hasn't been healthy at all. So that's three guys that you took near the top of your draft that don't look like they've had a productive training camp. The good thing is you do have David Bailey,

who's had an awesome one. So I didn't want to be all negative about the Jets, and David Bailey was the number two overall pick and I think has calmed any fears that he would just be like a one-trick pony. When that one trick is getting off the ball faster than everyone else, it can work at any level, apparently. Yeah, not all is lost.

because your top pick is looking awesome. And that's a good thing. But yeah, it always sucks when a rookie with high expectations gets hurt or is dealing with injuries in their first camp. It's common. Like, it's not something that, you know, comes as a surprise sometimes. But this was a group that I think this may have been my favorite class

of this entire draft. I like the Browns a lot, too, but I thought the Jets was just very strong. A bunch of names and guys that were my favorites in college football. And so the Sadiq thing hurts because he still has some things to prove as a hyperathletic tight end with relatively inconsistency. and hands. I wanted to see how he fit into this offense and how he works with

Gino Smith, the veteran quarterback who knows how to use his tight ends, right? But I think what bothers me the most or what bombs me out the most is DeAngelo Ponds, because he was just, he's one of those guys that's really hard not to root for in a secondary that certainly needs some difference makers. Do you hope that with the passage of time, they get back healthy, they can make a difference. But as we enter the season, it does dim the light of optimism just a little bit. Yeah, the rest of my rookies are impacted by injuries. Jeremiah Love for the Cardinals has a high ankle sprain. be ready for the start of the season. The second round pick for the Cardinals was a guard,

Chase Bissontas, who's going to miss the entire season. C.J. Allen, a linebacker for the Colts in the second round, expected to start right away, has missed much of camp. Now not looking like a starter. Max Ihanachor, the potential starting right tackle first round pick for the Steelers, hasn't been healthy. Might get back on the field in time for the preseason this week, and that would give him a late chance to earn a job or at least a high-level backup. role. And then a guy who's been mostly healthy until just this last week is tight end Eli Stowers for the Eagles, but he is now out with an injury. Mackay Lemon has missed a lot of camp too, and Stowers reportedly just didn't look ready for prime time. It happened, especially at

tight end. And I just don't think he's going to have a role early in the season. Hopefully, McCoy Lemon is healthy enough for week one. We'll find out. Let's take a break. That was our rookie risers and fallers. When we come back, we're going to get you. you up to date. The injury situations now after five weeks of camp and preseason we feel better about, that we feel worse about, the ones we don't know. Get Bell, Pure Fiber Internet with Crave, Netflix, and Disney Plus from $94 a month. Price guaranteed for two years on internet with a two-year term and auto pay credit. Visit bell.ca for details and to check availability. Bell, connection is everything.

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Listen to the NFL Report podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Back on NFL Daily. Busy time in the Shook's life. How you doing, Shook? Fantastic. Everything's fine. Everything's going great. I'm playing a fake trombone right now because I think that's the instrument being played on this music.

I don't know. Going crazy. Let's do it. Shook's got what you call good problems. He's a wanted man. He's got lots of roles, lots of jobs, a lot of things to do. And he's going to be on NFL Daily a lot this season. Hopefully we're not just talking about injuries all the time,

but that is how we're kind of wrapping this show here just in terms of situations that we feel worse about after this last month. I have to start with Nick Bosa. They say he could return next week to practice. potentially. I don't know what level of practice. The reality is we're hearing things in late July that he looks better than he did before. And the guy just hasn't practiced. He's so important for that team. Mike Evans, I mentioned earlier, should return to practice. I'm less worried about him.

But Bosa is part of a 49ers team that had 23 players out of practice recently this week. just devastated across positions, especially wide receiver. And yet Bosa, and then quietly Michael Williams is still on the PUP list. I went to check on that. I was like, whatever happened with him, their first round pick from a year ago, he's still on the PUP list too. That edge spot has me worried because of Bosa. It just continues to happen with this team.

I mean, Bosa kind of makes sense. He's got a history of knee injuries and it's the one that was repaired. That tends to happen and you kind of have to be cautious with it and ramp them up slower than usual. I guess the good news here is, hey, Fred Warner is healthy. And you got to the divisional round of the playoffs last year without Bosa and Fred Warner. So, like, they'll find a way to still be competitive.

I would just like that they had their best players to really maximize their potential. Luckily, it's late August. We got a little bit of time. Fair enough. I just think Bosa is right there with Trent Williams and Brock Purdy as the most important guys. Fred Warner, too.

They just need to have him be a difference maker. I don't think they're going to be able to ultimately compete to win that division. And then suddenly you're in third and the best you can hope for is like, hey, we got to try to do what we did last year, which would have been win in Philadelphia, win in Seattle, and then win in L.A., like back to back to back. Yeah, good luck with that. You'll probably get close to shut out in Seattle,

which is what happened last year. Other injury situations we feel worse about than we did since the training camp period started. Trey Benson, the Cardinals running back, has gotten waived, injured since we've last taped. So he's no longer even on the team, never really got over a knee surgery

that he underwent. That's unfortunate to see. Remember when they said there was too many Cardinals running backs, Shook? Huh, do I remember? I remember vividly, right before the draft, we had a clip from this show,

shared on social, that just lambasted me for suggesting that the Cardinals might want to draft Jeremiah Love with a third overall Let's go, Shook. They already have too many running backs. How you feel now?

You can never have too many. I'm patting myself on the back just for having Shook on our show and having so much foresight. Trey Benson, not even on the team anymore. James Connor hasn't practiced. Sounds to me like an injury where you don't know if he'll ever be the same guy again.

And I guess I will fully believe he's going to play in the NFL again when I see it. but definitely doesn't sound like he's going to be ready for week one. And oh, by the way, Jeremiah Love has a high ankle sprain too. So it's Tyler Alger out there by himself right now. And and Bam Knight. Okay. Don't forget about Bam Knight.

No, I mean, I did. I did forget about him. Shout out to Zonovan. Quote, Bam Knight. That's his first name. See, but you didn't know that. Maybe he did. I did.

I don't know if the listeners did. The Bear Secondary is an injury situation. that I just feel worse about. They have gotten progressively injured. They lost Kobe Bryant at safety. We hit this on our NFC North preview. So go check that out. But it's just a position group

where you don't want to see all the injuries at the same position, especially when that position had questions to begin with. And that's exactly what happened and they don't have a pass rush to make up for it. The Saints injuries have kind of slipped under the radar outside New Orleans. They had 20 players out of practice.

this week, Chuck. You can make a depth chart. Kat Terrell of ESPN did it where you just start listing the positions. Like there's four running backs out. There's three edge players out. There's four offensive linemen out. And these aren't just end of the roster players necessarily.

Brian Brisee is going to be important for them. He's out for the season. Camara, Alvin Camara, their backup running back out for four to six weeks. We talked about Jordan Tyson. Cam Jordan is nowhere to be found. A potential starter at defensive end. Quincy Riley.

important player. Christian Miller, their second round pick. And they've been a team that has not looked good in the preseason necessarily. Not sure about the joint practices, but a lot of injuries, a little more antsy

in terms of the Saints and your pick to win the division than I was a month ago. Yeah, and I admit that I also feel some trepidation about my selection at this point. I haven't put that in writing yet, but receive. You have to Now, NFL Daily is writing, bro.

Like, we're, uh, I gotta stop using bro like my kids do. I'm not, I'm not 11, but, uh, I'll tell you what. When Brisee went down, we had concerns. We were like, wait, so they're kind of thin there. And then the rest of this happened, yeah, that's, uh, that's not great. Also, it's very strange, as I was listening to you list that whole group, backup running back Alvin Camara. It's just weird, man.

That sounds wrong. I thought he was going to have a nice role as a third down back. And hopefully he was, The Chargers Offensive Line, I feel worse about. They lost their starting center, and Roshan Slater has been in and out of practice at left tackle. And then I started this show talking about the commander's offensive line and their struggles.

They have me legitimately worried. They don't have a center. I think there's a strong chance their starting center. Week 1 is not yet on the roster, which is not where you want to be. And you have a left tackle situation. where it's Brandon Coleman replacing Laramie Tunsell and All-Pro. There's been some reporting that maybe at Wright tackle, Connerley, Josh Connerley, hasn't looked great in this camp.

And suddenly you've got questions kind of popping up everywhere. You have a first-time offensive coordinator. You don't have an offensive head coach. You have a quarterback coming off of an injury. I hope I'm overreacting, but I feel worse about their offense. This could be one where week one against Philadelphia, Jalen Carter, and Jalix Hunt and Jordan Davis that you're just like,

oh yeah, I should have seen this coming. This does not look good for the commanders. And the worst part about it is the fact that when we started training camp, when we talked about them, our biggest question mark was with the receivers

and who was going to play opposite Terry McLaurin. Obviously they signed Stefan Diggs. Trailing Burke seems like he's carved out somewhat of a role. It was that, and it was their defense, which has been completely remade with a bunch of veterans, as Dan Quinn tries to get control of that group

that was so terrible last year. We didn't see this coming. Like this is that you're right. You're right in your concern. And the scenario that you just detailed there puts me in a nightmare, which is Jaden Daniels under constant assault from the Eagles. Like this is, that's bad.

That's exactly what you kind of dealt with last year except worse. So you better hope they figure it out quickly. Also, do you think realistically, do you think? And you're no doctor and I'm no doctor and we're no medical professionals. Do you think Laramie Tunsell plays this year? Yeah. Right?

Because like a torn tricep, I mean, that's given when it happened during the regular season, it makes sense, but that was what ended Joe Thomas' career. I mean, he was going to retire after that season anyway. But like, it's not an easy injury necessarily to come back from. Yeah. I'm curious how many games he plays if he plays. Fair. Yeah, the standard recovery anywhere from four to seven months.

And Dan Quinn said we have to prepare that he's going to miss the rest of. regular season. I think the hope is that he'd be back late in the season or for a playoff run. If it's worth it. I'm glad you put up, put that out there. Yeah, because he's not returning if they look anything like the 2025 commanders. A section I'm calling injury situations. We don't know what to think about. Alec Pierce is expected to return to practice in some form or fashion this week. He underwent serious ankle surgery. We haven't seen him. There was a shot of him and Josh Downs. who both aren't healthy right now. Josh Downs has a calf injury.

It's believed to be minors. Alec Pierce walking a little funny. I guess I don't know what to think about it when it was like a little bit of a limp there, shook, and he hasn't actually practiced football. So a lot of these guys are the guys that they're telling me it's going to happen,

but I kind of want to see it happen. Malik Neighbors I would throw into that bucket. Maybe even Tucker Kraft would be thrown into that bucket. At least Tucker Craft's doing 11. on 11 and close to fully practicing. Namdi Madabweke, I'd throw into that bucket. I'll just put them all out there as guys that, okay, like they're making progress,

but this is contact football and it's starting in two weeks. And I think the most concerning out of all of them is Pierce because we've got the least amount of information and the least examples of progress with him. I don't know. Was that shot that you saw pretty recent? Like, was it within the last week or two? It was Tuesday and I'm totally overreacting.

He was walking. normal-ish, but it just didn't look quite right to me. And then you couple that, like, I know the Downs thing is minor, but when you couple that with the idea that maybe Downs has a calf thing that could become nagging, suddenly the situation that was like, no, we'll figure it out, we'll be fine, gets more concerning. Also, given the fact that they felt they needed to go sign Keenan Allen to add to this receiving cord, that kind of signals to you that they also realize that,

oh, our receiver situation might be worse than we thought it would be. There's a world where you have Keenan Allen as wide receiver one in week one. Seems unlikely, very unlikely when it comes to Downs. But Downs has had these injuries over the years. Maybe they could call the Jets and try to get A.D. Mitchell back. I think A.D. Mitchell would look pretty good on this Colts team. I think that ship has sailed. Malik Neighbors is just so important to the Giants.

We're just going to have to track it. We won't know until we know. Miles Garrett and Pukunakua. I don't know what to think about this. I don't think it's great to miss all of August. The fact they wear a Rams uniform and Matthew Stafford did this a month, you know, last year, maybe makes me a little less panicked. And then I mentioned Namde Madabweke.

He hasn't really been practicing for the Ravens. He's a defensive tackle that's trying to come back from a serious neck injury. And that's why I warn with this entire group of players that it's great to hear that first report. They're back at practice. But there are many steps to go after that. that's going to go for Nick Bosa, too, to actually be ready to play on Sundays. And this group of players,

I don't think we really know if they're going to be ready. And yet, the defensive line was good enough to dominate the commanders this week at joint practice. It's not a bad-looking defensive line, I guess, shook either way, whether they have him out of week A or not. But he's a big difference maker. I think the most important follow-up question when somebody says they're back at practice is in what capacity?

Right. Because that will tell you how long until they're back to themselves and if they can ever get back to themselves within the confines of the season schedule. You know, the Mataviki thing with the Ravens, they at least had time to prepare for this. They've known about this for almost a year at this point. So they're not completely caught, you know, blindsided. I'm not worried about Miles Garrett and Puganakua.

I know that you think like, well, you know, Miles Garrett swelling in the knee that's concerning. And sure, it is to a degree. But also does Miles Garrett need to practice? No. Right. Is Pukukukua really really really? I mean, you need a little bit of a ramp up period.

but that's what week one practice is for at this point for guys like that. So I'm not too concerned with their situations. I like being the voice of reason. That's what we need for J.J. McCarthy fans out there. It's tough living. He had a little bit of an injury situation. I do wonder if he will be an ex-Minnesota Viking when we tape on Sunday evening.

He is going to split reps right now with Carson Wentz for the QB2 job, but that's actually a change. they're now giving Wendt more reps. We have injury situations we feel better about. Daniel Jones, we hit that hard early in camp, but it has been all systems go. That's one where you had to see it throughout the course of camp, and it's absolutely come to fruition.

He's been great in the joint practices. He's looked great. George Kittle, I do feel better about, because it's a torn Achilles, he has steps to go, but I wouldn't have thought he was so in the mix to start week one, and the reporting would be so positive. And then Patrick Mahomes, oh yeah, by the way,

like one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time is coming off devastating torn ACL, the first big injury of his career. And all systems sound like go right now, even though Andy Reid hasn't declared him the week one starter. Patrick Mahomes declared himself the week one starter. Let's listen to Andy Reid talking about his usage in the preseason. Listen, he's looked good during the practices

and doing the stuff this week. He was a scout team quarterback. and pretty good scout team quarterback. But he's looked, listen, he's looked good, he's looked strong and obviously his attitude's right. Andy Reid kind of freaked me out because he wouldn't commit to Patrick Mahomes as his week one starter.

I was like, wait, is there a story here? And then Mahomes made it pretty clear that, no, I'm fine. I think he's just making absolute sure that he's going to be fine. So we've had, I think, three examples. of how quarterbacks coming back from injury can vary in the way that they approach starting a new season. We've had Daniel Jones, full bore from the jump.

I'm going to be ready week one. And there are no concerns. We've had Michael Pennix slash the Tua thing where nobody knows what is going on for most of training camp in preseason. And then right in the sweet spot in the middle is Patrick Mahones at the Andy Reid just saying, hey, you know what, this has been a long process.

I've been working hard. I aim for week one. We're not committing to anything, but it sounds like it's all gone according to plan. And all those chiefs haters, you can't avoid it when an organization does some things well like that. Just laying in the cut, Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in 20. In the pocket.

26. Eric's loving this that the chiefs are finally not getting talked about. I think they need to be talked about more. We'll be doing that on our over unders next week before we get there. I had a mini category to wrap. of just remember me. Tyree Kill. Remember Tyree Kill?

Not going to be in the NFL, it appears, anytime soon. Brandon Ayuk, remember when that was like a daily story? What happened there? That just sort of went away. He bought on paper like a $10 million house or something in Washington, D.C. I don't know if that was a real thing, but he said so. I mean, I wouldn't advise to buy a $10 million house if you're not moving there. He doesn't seem like he's moving there.

I don't know. He's still a member of the San Francisco 49ers. That's weird. And then one, which is sadder, just for the nature of how his career went. But Joe Mixen, just not in the NFL anymore.

I don't think that that's going to happen. So he's just stayed unsigned. And look, I think we've done it, Shook. I think we've recapped all of what's happened in training camp in the preseason. And, you know,

that category was, remember me. We will never forget you, Shook, even when you're on just a little bit of a break here from the show. You have stuff to do. I think it's maybe, you know, like a week and a half, something like that. I just don't want the Shook ones out there. Your big fan base to be worried because you're going to be a huge part of this season. We're just, you know, giving you some time here to set of some things. Yeah, don't worry. You're going to see so much of me across different platforms and everything else, you might get tired of me. So enjoy this break while you have it.

That's why we're like, we got to have a shook show before we say so long. I would miss them too much. That's not it for this week, though. We do have a fantasy football preview part two with Trevor Sycamma and the guys from the fantasy footballers. That show goes up on Friday morning. Enjoy preseason week three. Enjoy your life because football is coming at you soon. The entire draft room groans because you just took the guy they wanted.

There's no better feeling than crushing your fantasy football league. I'm JJ Zacharyason, host of the award-winning late-round podcast. Before your draft, our players to target and players to avoid episodes tell you exactly who to circle and who to cross off. Listen to the late-round fantasy football podcast on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Whether you're a seasoned NFL fan or, new to the game. There's one place to keep up with all of it. The league's newest podcast,

the NFL Report, hosted by me, Andrew Siciliano. It is your home for everything football, breaking news, expert analysis, game picks, and hear from your favorite players too. Join me at an all-star cast of experts for everything you need to know from around the league. Get new episodes to the NFL Report Monday through Friday all season long. Listen to the NFL Report podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.