NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Teams We Are Most Curious to See with Mina Kimes

Episode Date: August 20, 2026

Gregg Rosenthal and Mina Kimes tell you which teams have them feeling curious headed into the new season. Find out why Gregg and Mina can't wait to see the Colts, Eagles, Bengals, Ravens, Texans, Bears, Seahawks, Patriots and more take the field in Week1. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. 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 J.J. Zachary Eisen, host of the award-winning late-round podcast. Before your draft, our players to target and players to avoid episodes tell you exactly who to circle and who to cross off. Listen to the late-round fantasy football podcast on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

It's NFL Daily where all 32 teams are beautiful, special flowers in the middle of August. I'm Greg Rosenthal. And I'm here with my friend Mina Kimes, the host of the Mina Kimes show featuring Lenny, host of NFL Live, one of the biggest pavement fans I know. I'm just like a nice person. First hot take of the show, niceness. Underrated, Mina. Do you disagree or agree?

Now that you said that, I can't crack a joke about whether or not the Falcons are actually a beautiful flower after watching their preseason tape. Sorry Falcons fans, you know I love you. And I actually have a spin zone, which is, it's good if Tuo looks awful because then at least you can get excited from Michael Petty's Jr. She's coming out swinging. I love it. Yeah, the Falcons are very low for the exercise we're about to do. And I'm alluding to the beautiful flowers of it all because it's my favorite time of year in terms of interest level. of all teams. And so, look, we're three weeks out of the season as we tape this, Mina. And like, I'm ready to go. I want it. I'm ready to go. I've had enough of the preseason, all that stuff. But it is like, week one is my favorite week of the season. Because to me, it's like when

everything is possible. And I thought it would be fun. This is a very loose, the most subjective rankings show possible to just go back and forth and choose who we are most. And we are most curious to see week one. So this is what this is not. This is not a power ranking. It's not like who's going to be good. I thought of it mostly as like September and week oneish, you know, like early in the season. And so maybe some teams are punished a little bit if they're just familiar, even if they're fun to watch. And so it's the most subjective of rankings. And I'll let you go first, Mina. Let's just get going. Yeah. The way you described it is how I interpreted the exercise intrigues, right? The team where like, I just want to see it. Let me

see this. It doesn't mean I think it's going to be good. Doesn't mean I think you can see bad. I just want to see it. And for that, I'm going to start with a team that I have had trouble talking about during the off season because of the need to see this team play real NFL football. And that's the Indianapolis Colts. I feel like this is a slam dunk easy choice. Greg, we don't know if the quarterback can move. And all camp, and we've been hearing, he looks awesome. This is like a miraculous. ACL, Achilles, pardon me, recovery. He is moving, like, no quarterback has ever moved right after Achilles this close to the injury. Speaking, of course, of Daniel Jones.

And I believe it. Like, I've heard this now from multiple people who have been in Indianapolis, who have seen it with their own two eyes. I want to see it. I want to see it. Week one against the Baltimore Ravens, because it's hard for me to know what to even make of this team, which we know last year when Jones played, certainly the first eight weeks of the season, looked amazing offensively. So I have had difficulty kind of gauging expectations because of the lack of seeing him on the field.

I love that. I mean, they were in the middle of the pack. Yeah, I'm wearing my biases on this show, which is just kind of like teams I enjoy watching, players I enjoy watching. They're going to end up being high. And so the cults were a little higher than you would think because of everything that you said. And I think they're a team I'm going to overreact to like one way or another base. I'm going to try not to, but I'm going to overreact to one way or another the first week or two of the season. Because you're right.

Not only is that a mystery box. One case for them as a fun team to watch week one is like, we never saw Charvarius Ward and Sauce Gardner together at all. Louana Rumo is fun. I like C.J. Allen a lot as a rookie and Layatulatu, that's not the main reason we want to see in week one. But like mixing all them up, you know, Keenan Allen is now involved. I have no idea of Alec Pierce or Josh Dowd, like how they're going to be used that. Is Alec Pierce alive?

Okay. Has anyone talking about putting eyes on Jones? Has anyone gotten eyes on Alec Pierce? Can we get TMZ on it? It is fun. And that is why I wanted to do this exercise, because it's going to be the most random order of teams. And I'm going to go with their opponent then.

Because I did think about week one opponents. I am going to go with the Ravens, mostly because of Declan Doyle and the combo of Lamar. I'm a sucker for career arc narratives. And if you think about, like, Lamar's career, you know, the MVP year, you know, his first season with Roman. Okay. Munkin arrives and he goes back to back,

first team all pro as quarterback. The fact that it's like the first year and everyone's saying he looks faster, he's still 29 years old and he's going to be a first ballot hall of fame or whether people realize it or not. Like he's already that guy. It's a very manageable start to the season. So that combination of like is Declan Doyle, the next like capital D dude and Lamar with something to prove and contract?

Like I can see the career arc where the Lamar hive, which the two of us are in, are going to be eaten good for the first five or six weeks of the season. This schedule is very doable. Sneaking in and Lamar Jackson is a first ballot hall of famer into that sentence is why you're great at your job. Um, I mean, do you argue? No, you're just like the, you know, when I give my three-year-old son food and I try to like sneak in a little piece of protein into the cassidia so that he eats it. Um, yeah, I am really, this was also on my list, my short list. This is a game that obviously I'm going to be watching very closely. In part because the Declan Doyle offense,

I don't think we really know exactly what it's going to look like. There's this assumption that coming from Chicago is going to strongly resemble the Bears offense. Gordova comes from Chicago. Lamar under center, outside zone run game, maybe a little less dependent on QB run, play action off of that. I think that's all fair and likely from a schematic perspective.

But this is a very different group of skill players, right? This is a Ravens offense that during Lamar Jackson's tenure his quarterback has been one of the least three wide receiver heavy offenses in the league. They have used their fullback, pressure card a ton. They've used their tight ends a ton. Isaiah likely was part of that when he was healthy. Those are now New York Giants. So I think it's a little bit of a mystery, not just like what is the offense going to look like,

but who's going to be on the field? Who is the core that they feel good about? There's a couple young rookies that are very excited about Jacoby Lane and Matthew Himner, the tight end. are either of them going to get a lot of run, right? Because otherwise, I'm not quite sure if they can like lean into 12 personnel to tight ends as much as they have in the past, even though that is what Chicago did a great deal with Declan Doyle. See, you throwing out Matthew Hibner is why you are who you are just out of nowhere here. A lot of Hibner hype. I haven't heard any. A lot of Jacoby Lane hype.

We're counting on in the Lamar Hive, I'm using the we here, are counting on a lot of Jacoby Lane and like the one year out of four that Rashad Bateman gets everyone excited carrying a lot of weight here. But I think they're going to be good. A little worried, their center went down with the, what sounded like an injury,

Danny Pinter today. So it might be Ethan Pojik. All right, you're up next. Okay. I will do the LA Chargers here. Speaking of centers going down, it's an epidemic at the moment. Tyler Beaudish out for the season that looks like,

indefinitely. awful news. It is kind of like, for me, the chargers are just what happens when a tidal wave of expectations meet reality. And I guess meeting reality has already begun

with some of these injuries on the offensive line, but like there's been so much hype around this Mike Medellan offense, not just with Herbert, but with Marion Pampton, with the different skill players and whatnot.

And the hope is, I think, that his scheme, as it did in Miami at times, can cover up for deficiencies on the offensive line, getting Herbert to play super fast, protecting the interior with the run game. But you kind of got to see it, right? So I think the Chargers, to me,

you talked about the Colts spurring an overreaction. I feel like everyone is going to go, either the Chargers is going to, after week one, we're going to say, this is it, we did it finally, or there's going to be a full-on meltdown if it doesn't look as good as advertised. Yeah, I haven't been, like, the Chargers, the cliche at this point is like they are the Medias team,

the football hipster type of team. I have been extremely high on them. in many seasons and Herbert where it hasn't really happened for him. And I feel like I've slowed that role in the past couple off-scenes, but it's hard not to feel that way this year. Like the third year of a regime really means a lot to me. The Joe Hortiz, like the vision is all here. I'm influenced stupidly by the Biotic injury.

Like, okay, here we go again. But Galaxy Brain Thinking, what other team drafted? a true center in the second round, almost anticipating that their big free agent signing was going to suffer a devastating injury. So Jake Slaughter is going to be their guy. Our friend John Ledyard had a take that this is one of the worst interior offensive lines in the league,

and that hurt my feelings. I mean, they certainly don't think that. Mike McDaniel brought in Cole Strange, you know, over from Miami. Like, I think they think they're going to be awesome.

And I'm also influenced that they went after the 49ers defense. Everyone said that was at that. joint practice. I'm just a dumb dog who like is way too affected by the last thing I heard that like the Chargers offense looked incredible that day and just was absolutely killing the 49ers. Week when they have the Arizona Cardinals who I do not think are going to be very good defense. So I tend to think we're going to see more of the other type of overreaction where everybody just flips out if they, you know, hang a 40 burger or something on the Cardinals. But yeah, I, I felt a lot better about the guard situation when they had Biotish because he's a veteran center. And Slaughter,

who played center in college was going to play guard. Strange. I don't have, you know, holding too high estimation. But I thought, okay, three out of five ain't bad. And also we saw in Miami, right? Like McDaniel had an excellent center. They're decent at tackle. And I think that helped compensate for some of the issues otherwise. But now you're looking at the whole three being a little bit dubious. And that's also just been where Herbert has suffered, I'm going to say, suffered the most at interior pressure against that chart. Even when they lost Slater and Alt, I always felt like up the middle was where the chargers really had plays go to die. And you look at this now and you do worry about it. The schedule maker is giving them Cardinals, Raiders at home in like windows that

nobody's watching. This is where Dustin Herbert and Mike McDaniel can cook. I feel, I feel you're right that they're going to build up everything. The, real concern there on the offensive line. I mean, obviously, Biotish is a huge loss. Like, Rayshan Slater's coming off a torn Patelotend. That is a brutal injury. He has not practiced fully in two weeks. That is kind of an underreported story that's

been out there. He's supposed to be back this weekend. We'll see. All right. I'm going to, I stuck with, I do have a lot of the best teams near the top. And I'm really disappointed to have to give my son a Texans fan the news that Jane Higgins is out for the season. Oh, I saw that.

That happened since we last taped, he was going to have a big part of the offense because they just don't, they're sneaky thin there. I have no idea if Tank Dell is going to be ready for week one. I think county on him to have much of an impact this year is just hopeful. Like, I hope that happens, but he hasn't even practiced fully at all. And then you have Jaylon Noel who hasn't practiced all month either. It's thin. And yet, they're this high because, you know, to me, what's the short list of the best defensive backfields? Maybe best defenses period. But if you just want to like, limited to the secondary of like my lifetime this century covering the league. Like you start

with Legion of Boom. After that, you know, it's like the no-fly zone. That was like a one-year thing, though, for the most, I mean, they built it up, but it's the no-fly zone. It's, it's maybe the early aughts, like Bucks, Ravens, Eagles had a year where Brian Dawkins, Troy Vincent, and I think it was Bobby Taylor. We're all all pros, like that eagle. But these guys are all young and they have these pass rushers like all together. This does not happen in many moments of time. Like this can be an all time secondary that we're looking at. And so I

just want to see it. There are another team like year three, year four of the program of just like, okay, let's ascend. Well, I think this is the best matchup of week one too. Buffalo against you, right? Because Texan's defense versus Bill's offense is going to be about as good as gets. And then on the other side

you talked about, you know, the Texans' offense. I'm interested in seeing it. It's kind of like a did either of these things improved? Did the Texans run game improve or did the bills run defense improved? Because those were both really, really bad. Like, arguably, like, worse than the bottom of the league last year.

So I think, you know, that'll be kind of a good soft test for both of those sides. And I think also, like, we'll set the tone for the Texan season. Like, if the Texans can't run the ball on Buffalo, you start to worry about whether this offense as a whole is improved at all. right compared to what we saw last year because there was so bad they were so bad at running the football last season and they have a new offensive line they got david montgomery you got a blocking tight end

let's see if they can at least have some marginal improvement there yeah and i i did think about this as watchable i used to do a watchability rankings way back at rhoda world and to me cj and nico collins are still extremely watchable they started last season very slow but adding judevian clownie another one of my favorites to that pass rest do, just like, it's all, it's all happening. I can't wait to watch this team. I now I'm realizing this entire exercise mean is just sort of like I'm sick of waiting around and I'm ready to just talk about your point. That's good. That's good. That's good. Curiosity. Well, I was driven by like teams that have kind of made me crazy as an analyst trying to predict. You know what I mean? I suppose like teams. I'm just like flat out like can't wait to watch.

Like the Colts, I put number one because I just like don't know what to do with this team, right? And the same goes to the team. I'm going to go next. Minnesota Vikings, man. That's next on my list, too. Come on. Now we're the same. Yes, okay.

I got to see it. You know, Kyla Murray wins the job, but did he win by default? Did he win because somebody had to win? What does the offense look like? I am, and that's intriguing to me too, right? Because there's been constant discourse ever since they signed Murray about whether or not he makes sense in a Kevin O'Connell offense. But I think it's possible.

this offense looks a little bit different. Kevin O'Connell's no dummy. He's not going to try to force a square peg into a round hole. And I'm very intrigued. I talked about this on my show by the addition of Frank Smith from Miami in the run game. Does that look different from what we've seen in Minnesota? So this is one where like I, it's really just about the offense. Not only do I want to see what Murray actually looks like,

but I want to see what the offense around Murray looks like. I had him, I had him third overall and I thought I was being cute there. smart one. They are always a mystery box. They are always watchable. I included, like, watch, you know, in terms of like teams I'm just curious about, teams that could be bad, but in an entertaining way. Like, even if this goes wrong, I'm going to be fascinated to watch it. I also think it's easier to forget. Like, Flores' defense was all over the place last year. They had weeks where they got crushed, like midway through the season. Their DVOA was like below average. And then they could, they absolutely steamrolled the rest of the way. So they're always fun

to watch. But Derisaw is there. He's healthier. John Jennings added to that mix I think it's going to help the run game and then you said it like that's all they've been talking about at camp like the offensive linemen they just can be like wait until you see our running game week one it's going to be a lot different

and I am excited for them to be like a Kevin O'Connell team with the running game makes them a lot better. I'm going to go weird here I'm going to go the am I just like being contrarian to pick the chiefs this eye? To me they are so much more interesting.

They're on my list. There's so much more interesting now to me in this mold. I've got Eric Roberts behind the glass of Bill's fan, shaking his head as like, how are the chiefs intriguing? But to me, it's a little bit narrative-wise. I just needed them to, like, unplug and restart.

And it'd be cleaner if they were different, like, especially on-field. Like, you know, you had Kenneth Walker, and that's intriguing. But you bring back Eric B.N. Me, and still a lot of the people are the same. But Mahomes alone, like, the all-time, great of the all-time great quarterbacks I've ever covered in a season like this coming off an injury when like consensus is they might not even make the playoffs to me makes them so much more fascinating. And I love like greatness. I love great teams to follow this year than most years.

Yeah. Similar to they're on my list as well. Similarly to Daniel Jones, you know, Daniel Jones, it's a more brutal injury, but Mahomes is coming back real fast, right, given how late in the season was. So similar to that, I want to see how he's moving out there. And not just on whether he's willing to scramble, but how he moves, whether he's willing to make any plays outside of structure, what his pocket movement looks like. So that's something I'll be monitoring, especially like on those key money downs when, or if a defense plays manned coverage and turns their back on him, is he willing to take off? And then, yeah, I want to see what the run game looks like, because that's been obviously the focal point of their offseason,

and not just what does Walker look like, but does it look different? The only thing that I've kind of definitively heard is that they do want to put him under center a bit more and right, how that be a big part of the offense. What does that look like? Are they committed to it? Will they play action off of it?

All things I'm interested in saying. But the other thing I'll say about the Chiefs is like they have a lot of young players who are pretty important on this team. More so than usual for like a perennial contender, obviously they would warrant last year. And I think like at least, two of the five or so young players

who we're going to see a lot of need to hit for this team to be competitive. Whether that's our Mason Thomas and Mansour Delane or Cyrus Allen and Peter Woods. You know what I mean? Like they got it. Brad Veach has to have smashed this draft. And to be fair, we might not know that immediately, but I think it's something to monitor earlier. Yeah, to see like Noel Williams is a second year cornerback. I don't think a lot of people know that's like a really important. I don't know who they're going to start at

nickel, but it's going to be a young player. Like, Shamari Connor, they, they offer the opportunity, too. Like, I don't mind watching the Chiefs lose either. I want, I want Mahomes to be great. Like, I'd love to see that sort of for his arc, too. But to me, they're going to be fun either way. How are you feeling about, like, putting so much on Kenneth Walker? As someone who watched him.

Yeah. Closely. You watch everyone closely. I hate when people do that and just, like, ask extra about your home team. But, man, he was not a, like, a, when I think about Kenneth Walker, I don't think the word reliable. Like it was not a consistent arc that he had with the Seahawks. Well, that's another really interesting thing to monitor

is how much run do they give him? Because you're right. First of all, he had injuries in Seattle. At times he struggled with consistency, bouncing a little bit behind the line of scrimmage, but he was very much parts of rotations until the end of that Super Bowl season. Another young player I didn't mention,

who I thought looked awesome in the preseason game was Emma Johnson, the running back out of Nebraska. So that's something both from a real football and a fantasy football perspective. I think everybody's going to be monitoring is whether or not they actually... Like, does Keith Walker going to get the ball 20 times or are they going to split it up a little bit early on

and kind of follow the Seahawks model a bit? Something I'm just... Yeah, I don't think we'll know until they actually hit the field. Right. And Cyrus Allen is a late round pick who's popped at camp. They've had these stories before. Does it actually like come through for them? I'm fascinated to see them. All right.

You're up next. All right, easy choice here. Both of these teams who are playing are interesting, but I'll go with the Philadelphia Eagles. Great offensive experiment. And I say this, I just opened social media, and I was immediately served, maybe this is influencing a lot of posts

about how bad the Eagles' offense looked today. The Eagles did not play their, you know, J. La Hertz did not play in the preseason, so I'm always reluctant to draw too many conclusions from a preseason start without your starting quarterback or several of your starters generally. But, you know, it look pretty rough. And it is a grand experiment.

Sean Mannion is a first-time play caller. The offense that he's bringing is wildly different from what we've seen with Hertz. So this is one where my sort of grand thesis of the Eagles has been. It might look a little awkward early on in the defense, which is going to be awesome. We'll have to carry them. But it's definitely something I'm going to be watching closely

early in the season. to see Kurtz's comfort level in the offense. Yeah, I don't want people to panic. This is a theme around these rankings and this season is like, what's the succession phrase? Like the same old, but with a viby new banner.

You know, it's like the Bengals very much feel like that with more under center stuff. The Eagles feel like that. The commanders, it's a lot of the same people, but it's similar-ish vibes where early in the season, like I'm very curious about,

how it's all going to look. I'm kind of buying the propaganda in Eagles camp about how it's like a new Jalen Hertz and that it's gone pretty well. I guess the joint practice isn't like Mackay Lemon hasn't been out there healthy for much or almost all of camp which is a little worrisome. But I kind of but you're right. I want to see it. Like I usually I hate that Eagles Giants as wait that's not weak one. It's Eagles commanders. Let's just combine those two then.

Because commanders are same, same everything. It applies to a lesser degree, I think the expectations are less, but like new offense. Like Stefan Diggs getting added to them because there's just so much new of that team. And we just did our NFC East previews. I don't want to repeat myself. But like everything is new on their entire defense. And then you're asking Jane Daniels to do something that he's never done before. And it's tricky. Like I feel like all the reports with all the quarterback's Lurdy under center was like, it looks great. The footwork's great. Lamar's footwork is amazing. Like everyone that's got the new offense, it looks great. Like, but you really,

don't know until week one actually happens. Yeah, the tonsil injury is just so brutal too. That really knocked me. I was like, yeah, let's see it. And then that really knocked me down a pig. I did like the dig signing. I think, we talked about this

when we did the NFC preview on my pod. This is one where I am interested in seeing how committed David Blow, their new offensive coordinator, is to the new look, right? Because I, I'm pretty sure, certain with Philadelphia, they're going to really give to go. I do wonder for Washington if there's some struggles early on. Blow being on staff there with Kingsbury if they kind of abandoned ship early on

and go back to the cliff offense if it doesn't work. But I hope it works. Unfortunately, this is a very challenging week one test. So, you know, this could really, I talked about the Eagles, maybe getting off to a tough star. At least the commander's secondary, they should be fine against. Hildavvy's defense is good, good, right? So this is a challenging star for Washington. I don't know.

I saw A.J. Brown, you know, getting past Quigionan Mitchell in those joint practices get me excited. Yet the running game, too, for both teams. And I think that gets lost a little bit in these like transitions to the West Coast, the tree off. which I think Washington is going to be a little closer to like McVe LaFleur than necessarily Ben Johnson, not that it's it's all like connected. And sometimes it takes the running game a while to get going. So I'm a little bit worried about that. That's the next factor early in the season for both.

I'll do one more and then we'll take a break. I'm going Jags almost exclusively on like the full Travis Hunter like full time cornerback alone. And then Liam Cohen is like whether it's working or not, he is a fascinating play color to watch. And if it's a little chaotic, like, I like, I don't mind that. Like, they could be entertaining even if they're average, but almost entirely on Travis Hunter, you know, my guy is back. Well, if Hunter looks as good as I think he can and he played a little bit of corner last year and I thought he looked like he belonged, I really feel comfortable with putting this defense in the

top seven. I had them in my top 10 defenses pod. Okay. I think they're extremely balanced. They're extremely well coached. It's interesting because right now when you look the defense, like they don't, like Josh Heinz Allen is kind of like a just outside that star tier, right? But he's very good and honestly underrated. But outside of that, it's a defense full of like really good players.

But do they have stars? Maybe Travis Hunter could be that star. He certainly was drafted to be that star. And then suddenly, you know, just feel like this looks like one of the more balanced teams in the NFL in terms of like, like when I did top 10 offenses and top 10 defenses, and obviously there's some, you know, obvious choices, the Rams, you know, for example. Jags are one of the few teams in the NFL where I think they have the potential to be a elite unit on both sides of the ball.

It's, uh, I remember hearing that from you. And I remember this is like a rare me and a take that I disagree with. And that's good, which like, I look at their defense and I think, Like, isn't this a prime regression candidate? They had a ton of turnovers last year. On paper, it's not great. I like what you said about the Travis Hunter Star, because I can't kind of have it both ways.

I mean, I think he, if you told me he's a top five cornerback this year, I don't think that's crazy ascension from where we thought he was going to be as a prospect and as a player. But, man, no Devin Lloyd, like the linebacker position definitely is question marks, the entire secondary outside a Hunter. I just don't know. Like, they won a lot with turnovers in scheme last year, but can you repeat that year after year?

I think the secondary is good. Monteric Jackson, Jordan Lewis, Jerry and Jones's death, Antonio Johnson's arising. There's a lot of, there's no like stars, but there's a lot of really good players. I also think they're really well coached

and keeping their defense coordinator Anthony Campi really is good. I like that they are a high variance team because if it hits, you just said it, like top 10 offense, top 10 defense. I've always been a little Lauren skeptical,

but the combination of him and Cohen together, together was awesome down the stretch. So like, can he back that up with like an awesome group around him? And then like suddenly they're like in the mix for like a one seat. But if you also told me they have like a losing record, I feel like they're a team that could go anywhere. They're a little like their coach who I really like we add him on NFL daily. I love his personality. But he does feel like like quotable McBay Shanahan where like he's got all the play calling, but he's much more entertaining. Like if the Jags ever have a bad

season. I'm very curious, like, how that's going to go with Cohen and the media and everything. He's a mrs. Like me. All right, let's take a break and we'll be back to do the rest of the teams. We are most curious to watch the start of the season. You've heard the chaos. Now you can see it. Hello. My gosh. Watch all your favorite podcasts from start to finish right inside the free I-Hare radio app. Gets the blood going up. Catch every laugh and eye roll on shows like the Tom Green Farmcast and park the bus.

with full video. We're building a ramp for Tony Hawk. It's the same hosts and the same chemistry with all the hilarious moments you've been missing. Right on your screen. Cheers. Open the free IHard Radio app. Search video podcasts and tap watch.

You know the feeling. You make a pick in your fantasy draft in the entire room groans because they wanted that player. Or you grab a small school rookie off waivers and you start him right before he goes off in primetime. There's no better feeling than crushing your fantasy. Football League. I'm JJ Zacharyason, host of the late round fantasy football podcast.

Before your draft, our players to target and players to avoid episodes tell you exactly who to circle and who to cross off. We've got data-driven analysis, historical trends, and the strategies that separate winners from the rest. And your dominance doesn't stop with the draft. All season long, we have our 15 transactions, 10 trends, sleepers, and the mailback, data-driven, quick-hitting episodes to help bring home that. league trophy. Listen to the late round fantasy football podcast on the Iheart radio app, Apple

podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Back on NFL Daily. As we're taping here, your Seahawks signed Trayvon Diggs. A little strange what's happened with the Terriott-Arnell thing. Yeah. It makes you worried about the corners that they have. Well, that too. Them signing Trayvon Diggs makes me think they thought they were going to have Terry and Arnold for the preseason and get him ready. And now he's going to be on the commissioner's exemplist. We hadn't hit that on the show yet. And it almost seems like they were somehow surprised about how this is all going down. Either way, I think a good signing. I haven't watched Hard Knocks, so I know that they talked about death. But if they're surprised by Terry and Arnold being on the commission except,

somebody should be fired. Well, at some point when they, the first episode, or maybe it was the first one talking about Arnold, not the third one overall. They, you know, Schneider expressed that he expected, well, we can get him on the field. We can get them into practice. We can get them, you know, part of the preseason. And then he, so maybe they were caught a little flat footed there. But I think Trayvon Diggs is a, is a great siding. I know he's got some weaknesses.

You know, he's another year removed from an injury. Like someone that's shown a high level of play at some point in their career, take a chance on those guys. Totally. One of the very few questions with the Seattle defense is if they want to kick Witherspoon inside at any point. for like a matchup reasons. You've got Job on one side. Who's on the other? Is it an Emma Pritchett?

Who's a young player? Or is it someone else? Is it a veteran? And I think that's why they're looking at all these low-cost quarterbacks. And they can coach them up better than any team. All right. Who is next on your list?

Teams most curious to see week one. All right. I am going to go here with the Cincinnati bagels. Yes. I was looking to see what they're playing. They're playing Tampa. For a two, I think actually both sides of the ball intrigued me, right?

Because defensively, massively upgraded past defense, is the run defense any better? Do the linebackers look like they're competent this year? Are they protected by Dexter Lawrence? Dexter Lawrence, who's amazing against the past, can he bounce back against the run? And then offensively, you know, I talked about this a little bit on my pod, but they're just seems to be such a clear movement in Cincinnati to evolve this offense a bit this season. Burrow-under-center incorporating Eric Gould, the tight ends and all that. So I kind of want to see if they try to, if week one, that's a direction that they go in.

They're the team that I'm most afraid is going to bail in like the middle of week two because the new offensive structure that they're trying to implant on this team on Joe Burrow essentially like isn't working and then Joe just gets his way and like goes back. Although I we don't know that they've always been running the offense his way because like he is demanding it or just be or whether they just are trying to do what he does best. But some of the reporting out of camp like does sound like the Bengals defense is winning a lot more than you would expect, you know, in Bengals training camp. And then it's it's Tampa. So that's team you assuming Vita Bay is there you don't want to run on. it's the kind of team where you are probably better served

by just spreading things out and throwing it all around. So, you know, it might be like week one. Let's throw out some of that stuff we were talking about doing a power run game. But this is a kind of first month thing for me. I want to see what, because it's kind of, they are the, we can't keep doing the same thing and expect different results team.

And I feel like, let's see if that's actually true. And it was only last season. that the entire off-season storyline was, we're going to change things up so we're better in the first month of the season because we're always the worst team in the NFL, the first month of the season. That's no longer the storyline.

But it is interesting to think about what happens if they do get out to a slow start. I'll go Bears next. The Hutzpah by Ben Johnson to want the number one scoring offense ever when Caliph-Rame. Like when Caliph Raymond is your number three and either Luther Borden or Romadunze is your one, and DeAndre Swift is your, you know, top running back.

You have no idea who your left tackle is. If you could get anywhere near first in the NFL this year, like you have the title right now as like best offensive mind. The onus, after doing the NFC North on this offense, is so high in my belief. And this implies to the lions and the Packers, to be clear. that I think they're going to have to be that. Great, this defense is bad.

There's something fun, though, about watching Dennis Allen have to spackle it all together. I don't know why I'm like a Dennis Allen as a defensive coordinator defender. The way he did it last year, actually was quite entertaining to watch. They had zero pass rush, and they still made it happen,

but you're right. It looks way worse on paper even this year than last year. I'm very optimistic about the offense, though. So I don't want to, I know Bears fans, like, I sound like a hater, To be clear, copy paste, Detroit, Green Bay. I feel the same way about three of the four teams in the NOSC North.

Yeah, I also want to see Caleb, you're three, right? Like all offseason, the talk has been how comfortable he looks this summer relative to last. He's no longer, you know, drink it from the fire hose. He's playing more calmly. And I'm, you know, this is, I'm interested in seeing if that's true. So that's a good choice. I listen to your quarterback's pod. And I feel like similar in how I evaluated as see.

season last year where it was way more erratic than people remember. And yet I am kind of Caleb curious. There is a world where like there's a reason he was this level of quarterback prospect, like compared to the last, you know, 10, 15 years. He's one of the best quarterback prospects. And that it all does come together and that he like totally zooms. And it is like a different player this year, which, which is a big reason why I have them this high.

All right. You're next. All right. I got a, I got a effed up one. We'll love your laptop. We got to cover our faces for this one. You know what I'm going to say. Not the Falcons, but their rival?

Is Gino over? Does he have a chance for a bounce back season? All right. I can't aggregate us. You can't see our faces. I had them relatively high and the one, but not like as high as I really wanted to put it. And part of it is because I'm just afraid.

Like I'm just afraid too. I did it the whole bit. Yeah. That's why I'm, just afraid to get hurt or else they would be number three. I mean, I will be seated. This will be amazing. And he's got weapons.

That's what I'm saying. This situation should be infinitely better. Let's see. To be clear, I'm not saying he's going to bounce back and be 22 G-No Smith or whatever, but it can't be as bad as it was last year, right? If he has moments, all I need are some moments. I'm not expecting the playoffs.

If there's a handful of moments of like a, a big comeback victory, like a 30-point game. The Jets fans are chanting his name. Like, that's all I need. I'm eating that. What Jets fans want? Do they want comeback majors? I don't know. That's why it's confusing to me. Like, I don't know how Jets fans feel about Gino Smith in general.

Like, they would have never expected him to be coming back. I'm buying the 80 Mitchell hype though. I've always believed. Yeah. Got a couple of tight ends. You mentioned the Lions and Packers, by the way. I don't think they're going to come up because to me, they're like too much of the same.

It's like it's, it's all similar, but like a little stale and is it a little bit worse? Like if Michael was there, I'd be more into the Packers early, but like prove me wrong on that. I guess I have to take the Patriots

at somewhere, somewhere here. Because it's kind of underrated how different the Patriots are thinking about that, that week one game. You're talking about like a team that didn't have the horses

to kind of make that Seahawks outside corner group vulnerable. like last year and now you know that that juice all I needed to see was that juice for Mae J. Brown and like the depth here and the Drake may have it all. Well I'll take the flip side

and we can kind of just because of the game like Seahawks offensive coordinator is the biggest change on this football team right? Like we talked about cornerback three, sure. Brian Fleury, never called plays before this is going to be a test I think this Patriots defense is going to be pretty

damn good and their play call Zach Kerr, I think has really grown in my estimation. So this is the game that's prime for overreaction city because if Seattle's offense looks bad out the gate, there is going to be some panicking, especially because, you know, they let Walker walk, but otherwise they're running it back, right, on offense. They made a priority to bring back Rashidjee Shaheed.

There's players who have returned to health. So they're using the same offensive line, which is crazy. I came around last time that's happened in Seattle. So, and then there's, you know, Sam Donald,

the 21st best player in the NFL, according to the NFL 100. So I just think this is going to be, the Seahawks offense in particular is going to be very intriguing on that Thursday night game. Yeah, Wednesday night.

It is, it is strange to think how, yeah, we're starting the season on a Wednesday. I just love what, like, how well they own being badasses on defense. There just hasn't been.

been a team built like them since the last Seahawks team like them, like the confidence. And yet that week one game, like, I'm kind of with you. I actually think there could be like a lot of points in that game because I have concerns about like the Patriots pass rush and their safety position slow and the linebackers. Like I could see that being like a weird sloppy game where it's like, wait, the Seahawks and the Patriots were in the 30s in week one. Those are not the teams they turned out to be. Do you feel good about your bill?

Like, Rick Wollen is the guy you'd probably won on A.J. Brown. He's not on the team. How do they handle him with this new look Patriots offense? If Adrian Brown, again, this is this is the overreaction game. Because if AJ Brown goes crazy in this game, the Eagles, like just the noise around it, either way, right? Because if he's done, if he's, it's done, you will hear more from Eagles fans than you you might the entire season.

And look, Josh McDaniels, he doesn't quite have the reputation of like an Andy Reed type. But he has shown up. with, like, he shows up in the first couple weeks and knows that, like, you haven't been able to scout those games. And he just shows up with weird stuff. They were so vanilla in that Super Bowl, which was very disappointing. And I would expect the opposite. I would expect pace. I would expect it to be crazy. But more than anything, they're watchable because, like, you know, four players in NFL history, Mina have been first or second in MVP voting as a second year player. I know you voted for for Drake May as your MVP. So, you know, he almost won it. And that list is like,

is Dan Marino, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, and then Kurt Warner, who is, it's kind of a strange case because he was 28 years old. I'm not saying May is

necessarily at that level, but he's 23 years old. You know, it's possible. It's possible he could get there. It is possible. I want to see that. Okay, let's fire through

some surprising picks to end it up, go back and forth. I'll, let's go Giants. Like the Giants are a team where they don't have to be good for me to like be very intrigued.

Like I mentioned earlier, Cowboys Giants Week 1, they always used to put that on Sunday night. I was just, you just got sick of it. Like another Eli-Romo game in it. And yet, this being Sunday night,

I'm kind of into, because it's like, I want to see Abdul Carter and Arvel Reese on the same team. Dart has his flaws, but he's extremely watchable to me. I have no idea what this is going to look like. It could look bad,

but I'll be fine as a, as a slight Giants hater to watch it look bad. But I actually think they're going to be better than people think. I think there's a lot of like top level talent Maui Noah, like how that all works. In general, I'm just very intrigued by what this team is going to look like in September.

Are we going to see them like neighbors? Yeah. Pick a huge plot line. That's a good one. I'll go Rams defense. Is this the world destroying unit that everyone conceives of at the moment? Yeah, we might be being too contrarian to wait this long to talk about the Rams, but I think it makes sense.

I feel like we know who they are on some level. I feel like I know who they are. So at this point, it's more just like, are the expectations too high, right? Also, you know, I haven't heard anything about their left tackle, Lerick Jackson, whether or not he's going to be suspended. If he is, that's something to monitor as well in Los Angeles because the offensive tackle position is not an area of great depth for them.

And they are a team. They're kind of like the Bengals, but don't get the attention for it. I think they've started, like, under 500 through four or five weeks of the season for like much of the last five years. I'm trying to think, did that happen last year? They started normal last year. They were like three and two. But for that team, that actually was a slow start. But they've generally been like a slow starting team under McVeigh. And yeah, I think they're going to feel that that extra kind of attention as like the superpower, like the evil empire. I'll go like the opposite then and put the dolphins this high. I really do want to see

Malik Willis as like a starting quarterback and Devon A. Chan and just. the run game alone. I'm just into seeing week one, partly because I have a feeling that by December, I'm going to be less interested in the dolphins. Like the September is probably the time I'm going to be most interested in what Miami is doing. Yeah, I'm interested in how weird they can get. Like, Bobby Slovak, here's your chance to get back in the conversation. That's how I feel, right? And not because no one thinks they're going to be great, but if he can do some funky stuff with Malik Willis and that very deficient receiving group,

they could become a little, like a little borderline leak pass type team. All right, I'll go put

back to the heavies. Denver's offense, does Bo Nix take the step? That's going to, whether or not this team is a legit Super Bowl

contender, I mean, they are, but whether or not they're a favorite that is the whole thing, right? And Jalen Waddle,

by all accounts, looks as advertised there. The effect is going to be, or has been, touted as being real, so I'd like to see that. Yeah, the Broncos being lower on my list and Broncos fans think I

have it out for them. It is more just about they're great. They're the team with the most continuity in the league, literally. They are the team with everyone back. It's going to be awesome. My biggest issue with them, and the Chiefs and the Chargers, because I do consider the Chiefs real deal contenders to win that division

is that only one of those teams can win the division. It's just tough. I think that division is like whatever you think of like the division power ranks or like that division is even better, I feel like, than given credit for it. And it's going to be tough. Like, at least two of those teams either aren't making the playoffs or having to win three road games to make the Super Bowl, which is tough.

I'll put the Raiders then as my next team as part of that. It would be a lot different if we knew Mendoza was starting week one. He's probably not. So he's, they're much lower than they would be otherwise. But I'm kind of into the like the wholesale changes on defense and then Gentie and I'm a little Mike Washington curious. Like in general, I'm kind of into like this new Raiders thing

and just like biding my time. And the fact Mendoza is getting a little more first team reps lately, I still haven't totally ruled out him starting week one. I feel like that's possible. I mean, they got Miami.

So talk about a nice starting spot for Mendoza if they were to go that route. Along those lines, I'll go Titans here because Cam Ward, you get the Jets defense week one. if it don't look better than I did the preseason. I'm not hitting the panic button. It's the preseason.

Everything's new. But I do, you know, like, I really hope it looks better at the game. Yeah, the only reason I had them low was it was irrational. But I just now I like Cam Ward so much that I just don't want to see him struggle. And I'm like afraid for it, especially early in the season. And this is absolutely overreacting to the preseason and some of the practice reports. frankly. And like,

I never talked about it on the show because I hadn't gone back and watched it yet, but his preseason game was rough. It was just like, it was like basic stuff holding it. It just, it wasn't great. The bucks have a lot of players I like.

The only reason they're even this low is because I, and the defense is going to be different. I think the ceiling is high, but it is familiar like I've seen it for the most part before. I think they're going to be good. I had them on your pod winning the division. And I don't think it, I think it's a,

solid difference between them and the Saints at two. You add the Saints. Are you coming off your Saints to win the division prediction? I don't... Jordan Tyson is... Yeah. Yeah. That was a big blow. But Tyler Shock, by all accounts, still looks

great. Um, the bucks, assuming Vaya's out there. They're not super high not because of their own my estimation, just because I think I kind of know what we're getting with this team. I would love to see the run game bounce back. Great opportunity again, week one against that aforementioned Bengals defense because I think that's kind of be kind of the barometer

for how the season goes. Like can they run the football better than they did last year? To me, that's how you get the best out of Baker Mayfield. I love that. Yeah, I love that week one game too. I still believe in the Saints. I have a lot invested in the Saints. I'm going to the Paris game.

I don't know if we've been officially announced that. But we need the Saints and the Steelers. to stay in contention here in the mix to make that game. The Saints are in Paris. Who are they playing? I mean, they have been pushing. I'm not really sure why. Is it just the New Orleans?

I'm going to say, yeah, Florida Lee. They've been pushing for that game for years, like the Saints specifically. And so they were always going to have it if it happened and it's happened. And, yeah, they're hosting the Steelers. So I'll see Aaron Rogers playing overseas, assuming he's healthy for the second straight year. I saw them in Dublin last year. I actually would have the Steelers much higher. I have a lot of curiosity about this team,

if not for Rogers. Rogers and Watson are like ruining their two teams for my like overall curiosity because it just caps the ceiling. When there's a lot I'm really curious about otherwise for the Steelers specifically. Yeah, I just texting you about listening to a podcast had the Steelers at the Top Dead Office.

I feel like I know well okay so I'm about to tape my AFC North Pod and I will say flipping to the other side of the ball there's some intriguing things happening with the Steelers defense Patrick Graham new defensive coordinator I think there might be some changes there finally they're very talented unit as well after doing my season preview I regretted not putting

the Steelers defense in my top 10 defenses pod yes Patrick Graham Graham has a sneaky upgrade potential on Mike Tomlin, which feels harsh. But he was there for a while. And I'm just saying as like a defensive coach who's going to mix things up with an extremely talented front seven. And I think the secondary is going to be good enough. I apologize to the teams that haven't made the list. Because there aren't many.

The most. It's Cardinals. It's the Panthers. You know, I like the Panthers. They're likable. They're like the Bryce Young. of teams. You know, they're spunky.

Jayla Phillips and Devin Lloyd looks. Yeah. You got what you paid for. Holy mackerel. Both of those guys in the preseason game like awesome. I'm curious. Like the Browns, the young core there, I'm very interested to see how that looks.

And then the, where we're parking our car in the, in the same garage is I think we both have the Falcons 32nd. I least I did. I did make like a full list just in case, you know. It's a crime against football that a team with Bajon Robinson feels this vanilla

and boring going into a season. You, again, I'll say what I said about the Falcons this week. Michael Panix Jr., you will never have a better chance than this year coming off of the injury. Like the springboard is there. Tua looked awful.

Did they go against the Broncos? Yeah, they were against the Broncos. Having the Falcon starters on the field, most of them versus the Broncos starters was like one of those holy crap, like the talent descript, the moment. you know, just like, oh my God, this Brockco's defense is terrifying. And they say they don't game plan in the preseason.

I'm sure they didn't specifically for Atlanta. But Van Joseph was running those blitzes. And Sean Payton was literally talking trash at halftime with his home crew. He genuinely hates the Falcons and their fans. And I think it was a little bit of Saints Falcons like coming out in the preseason. There were a few defensive coordinators that took me by surprise. Like Flores, you know, obviously. you, but, you know, he was the one who, the, uh, the blitzer hit war, um, hit Jackson DART.

But like, Jesse Minter. Yeah. Yeah. Just like, hey, if we're going to like, rep it, uh, with our starters in practice and the joint practice, let's wrap it with our backups. So they'll be ready for the, but not for me. I think I actually ended up like saying, I don't think the Eagles were ready for me. Um, but yeah, the Falcons, listen, if Michael, with Michael Panks Jr. comes back and is healthy

and can make this interesting. then I will be reinvested in this team. And I know we've both been, I think, in your words, did you call it Cardinals Curious coming into the season? I saw that floating around. Maybe it was Hyphitz. Our friend Danny Hyphitz might have mentioned that. They are going to be fun.

They should have been higher on this list. This is why I talk about the flowers. I saw you talk about the skill position group. It's like great. It's great. I'm excited for every single one of these games. I am too. Week one, best time a year.

It is Mina time a year. It was the summer of Mina between Jeopardy and the Bakeoff. That was this summer too, right? That feels so long. Okay, that was last summer. I was like, that feels so long ago. And it really was. It was last summer.

The spelling bee is what I was thinking of. It's always Mina Kimes time. Check her out on the Mina Kimes show featuring Lenny. Thank you. We'll see you soon, Mina. Thanks for having me, bud. We will be back in this feed with our first fantasy specific show. leading up into fantasy drafts.

We have Josh Norris, one of my absolute favorites on the show, and we're going to do a Josh Norris type of show. Nine fantasy truce. Everyone's getting wrong. Something like that. We'll see you on Friday. The entire draft room groans because you just took the guy they wanted. There's no better feeling than crushing your fantasy football league.

I'm JJ Zachary Eisen, host of the award-winning late-round podcast. Before your draft, our pre-jointed. 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. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.