NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - The Spiciest Figure For All 32 Teams

Episode Date: June 5, 2023

A room filled with heroes- Gregg Rosenthal, Marc Sessler and Patrick Claybon take you around the NFL and tell you who they think the spiciest figure or player for each team is. Before the all the spice, the guys discuss some news from around the league including some transactions for the Bills (03:15), Dalvin Cook's future (09:54) and what could have been if Russell Wilson didn't end up on the Broncos (15:09). The heroes start their tour around the league with the AFC, first up is the North (19:55), followed by the South (26:44), the West (33:50) and then the East (41:09). The heroes work their way around the NFC starting with the North (50:11), followed by the South (57:45), the West (01:04:57) and they finish things up with the East (01:12:45).  Note: Time codes approximateNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the NFL podcast. Each sold separately. Battery's not included. Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. I'm Greg Rosenthal. Sitting in for Dan Handis, our host out today. Surrounded in a room filled with heroes.

Mark Sessler and Patrick Claibon. What's up, guys? How are you today? I'm great. We actually, we got to hang out with Jason Zumwalt down by the sea. And you as well, Patrick, on, was that Thursday? Friday, I don't even know it did. It was one of those.

They all literally run. They all fade into each other. But Zumwalt's moving to Connecticut at the end of the month, I believe. But what a great hang. He's an enjoyable person to conversate with. Yeah. And like the joy that you get from the drops, they come through in real life. And it's like consistently delivering.

Like, hey, man, like, it's okay. No, he's on and he's awesome. He is a joyous ball of energy that are our fans or our listeners, I should say, that bought tickets for our live show back in L.A. in January, got to enjoy. So we wish, you know, somehow well, but he's not going anywhere in terms of the listeners. He's going to be dropping those. You can still do what he does, voiceover acting skills from any location.

The Zummy drops are staying strong. And this is a good job by our host, Dan, who is out this show, but he'll be back on Thursday. We're back in the studio. We're feeling comfortable. You know, the beach was nice. The sound is pristine, though, in this studio. So there are positives. And I feel at home here in the Chris Wesleying podcast studio.

And Dan will be back on Thursday. We'll have a lot of mini camps, I guess, to wrap up. There's a handful of mini camps this week. And then the rest of them are next week. And then it goes from quiet to extraordinarily quiet. It really gets into Angel City season. Claibon wearing the sweatshirt of his wife's employer, the local soccer unit.

Yeah, we got a game against Chicago tonight at BMO Stadium. Okay. But yeah, just. Do you go to all the games? It's a tough go with the kids because they like to run in separate directions and they're faster now as well as stronger and it becomes a problem. But yeah, we've gone to a couple. It's been pretty good.

This is a delightful fan atmosphere at that stadium, I would say. I would agree. I know I'm off topic here, but I would recommend soccer's happening in L.A. All right, we're doing a lot today, actually. We're getting ambitious. We're trying something new. And we're going to go through all 32 teams and give you the spiciest player on every single team. And there can be no debate.

There is no discussion. We are determining, through scientific means, the spiciest players. for all 32 teams try to do like 90 seconds each so we're giving a lot of work here to Eric back there and Eric and Randy are going to pop in into the 90 seconds that's a plan can't wait to see what they come up with but before we do that let's do a little news as a western New York kid it gives me a great deal of pride to be here today I've been to a lot of groundbreaking ceremonies in my time at the NFL but none of them are more meaningful than being here today is that Raj getting a little emotional I thought I heard a little bit of uh you know

emotion hesitation in the voice there. He is a Western New York guy. They got the stadium built, or they got it approved, and it's getting built. It's all happening for the bills, and we mentioned that, not just because that'll be interesting when they actually have that thing done. I don't think they'll put a Super Bowl there, but it'll be fun to see it get done. The bills are at the top of our news rundown today because they got a couple items of business done. I'm going to mention them both, and you can comment on whatever you want to first.

Ed Oliver got $45 million guaranteed in a new contract. He was the top 10 pick from, what, four years ago, five years ago. They had said for a while, they put a fifth year option on them. They wanted to keep them long term. They spoke with their paychecks, a little bigger contract, I think, that a lot of people expected. And then they backed up that deal with a new signing Monday morning, just as we were getting ready to tape. Leonard Floyd is joining the Buffalo Bills, Mark. What do you think?

I love the signing. He has 29 sacks over the last three seasons, Floyd. And Von Miller, it sounds like von Miller will be ready for the opener. And I just go back to last year's opener and how disruptive they were. They basically blew up the season of the L.A. Rams right out at the gate with what they could do with their pass rush. So that, along with Oliver, who is only 25 years old. I mean, this is a defense that does not have Leslie Frazier. And it is going to be Sean McDermott calling the plays, so it's not going to change.

But that transition, just like last year, they had a new offensive coordinator. The bills want, I think, feel like they want to be as consistent as possible with their roster, with their approach. And that's one little area of transition. And an exceedingly consistent player who since 2018 has literally played in every game available between the Rams and between Chicago, and it gets reunited with Vaughn. I like to pick up. And I love Ed Oliver getting paid because.

I always, it's one of the things that always bugs me during draft season where a player questions a particular form of authority and then somebody says, does this guy love football? And it's like, does, is that the question or do you just not like the way he questions a particular aspect of authority? And this was, what happened? I don't even remember. It was, there was this college coach and there was a taking place off thing. Well, anyway, it looks like that's all been worked out. And Oliver's a good football player and the Buffalo Bills are playing him, paying him. And so, yes, win for the good guys.

I think some contract, I don't want to say dorks because I'm one of them. People that like to follow, okay, where do different players slot in? They find the financial aspect interesting. We're a little surprised by the size of this deal. Oliver really finished strong in the 2021 season. I then made, I think one of my making the leaps last year and really thought he'd even take the next step. sure that quite happened. He was injured at the beginning of the year. He was, he's been good. He's been a really good player. He hasn't racked up huge sack totals or anything like that.

His PFF grades are always like, good. Not amazing, but good, but a pass rusher. And so I think this is a smart deal, actually. I push back against those contract nerds. Because I think it was one where you know the player so well. And it is a little more risk, I think, than most contracts that you give to like a fourth year play. player, but they know him so well. And if you actually look at the money, it really only slots in once you count that fifth year option as like a top 15 defensive tackle. And I think all these contracts are about to explode.

And I've been saying that for a few years. But now the new TV money is truly about to come in. And I think this is one where it's like, we believe in you, Ed Oliver. We're going to give you some money. You could hold, you know, and wait another year and maybe make even more. Because I was thinking, if I was doing the top free agents, you can say, Ed Oliver's only been so good as a pro. like if I had done the top free agents this year,

Ed Oliver would have been in the top 15. I mean, he would have been making a ton of money as a free agent. Yeah, it's an absolutely core position in the McDermott defense. And I look at these deals and, you know, I'm not as contract nerd oriented as some, I would say. But like two or three years from now, it looks fine. It'll look better. I mean, it'll look good.

And I think they know him and they like them. So I think they see things too that maybe I don't see in the PFF. The models don't see. And when he beats guys, he beats him bad. And they signed a couple players this offseason, people think like Puna Ford that may be like, okay, he's not like the best run defender in the world,

but let's just open him up to do everything he does as well as possible, which is the rest of the past. And there's an extent where if you're the Buffalo Bills, you're not necessarily needing Ed Oliver to be a run-stopping defensive tackle. Like you're going to want to score points. You're going to want to get after the quarterback. And that's the tough thing about modeling all of the numbers and the grades is what is the particular coaching staff asking this player to do on this play?

And so that... And that's a good point. Of course, they are, like, the people who do these things are the best in the world at what they do, but they don't necessarily have all the context all the time. That's why we call then Patrick on his week off. We apologize that for you doing that. This is fun.

You know, it's like, you know, we got an open spot. Like, who do we call? You call Colleen or Patrick? Yeah. It's one of the two. That's the go-to. That's really the way to make the show sing. And Leonard Floyd, quickly,

these are one of the signings that, like, don't get much attention to the post. June signings or May signings. And like he's going to end up having some huge game in a big spot. And he's going to play better than I would say 70% of the defensive linemen that were taken in the first round of the NFL draft. We spent so much time on those guys. But I mean this year. Like he'll be good.

He'll be like Justin Houston for the Ravens. I actually did some homework, some source work on Leonard Floyd right after he got cut because I was like, man, I thought Leonard Floyd played well. ask some Rams people like what do you think of Leonard Floyd and they were just like look he's still like a league average or even better starter he's just like we can't afford him the way that his contract

was struck and like if we can get him back this off season we would love to and I don't think he really wanted to do that I think if he was going to take less money he wanted a new example and to your point Patrick he's not missed the game he's durable and he was six he was like the third best player on our defense was the response I got

and when they lost Vaughn Miller, that defense suffered. And so it's like, you want as many edge rushers as you can possibly get. Hit the quarterback 22 times last year as most of his entire career. So the Dalvin Cook situation has been hanging out there this offseason. I thought the most interesting part of Dalvin Cook's journey this offseason in terms of his news journey, his roto world player blurb journey, was when the Minnesota Vikings one day took him down as part of the background of their Twitter profile

where they have like three players and I think it's I will check now but I think it's like Jefferson Cousins and Madison which is kind of random and it was Dalvin Cook and now it's in Madison

I was like oh that that's something but he's still on the team and there's still this open question whether he's going to be on the team but there were multiple little reports out there over the weekend that I thought would be worth hitting on one was from Jeremy Fowler ESPN that thought the dolphins

would be the most likely team to trade for cook. And then another one, which was from the Miami Herald, Barry Jackson, who said that the cook to the dolphins would be a, quote, real possibility. But they thought maybe if he got released, that they would wait to see if he'd get released. So either way, a lot of dolphins cook talk. Patrick Clayman, what do you think? And it makes sense. But looking back to the way we felt about Mike McDaniels in year one, it's like, oh, this is going to be Shanahan East. and they're going to run the ball. And most of the action was balls to Jalen and Tyreek.

And I don't know that our vision of what the dolphins are is a representation of who the running backs were last year. Like, does Dalvin necessarily change that? I'm not sure it does. Like, from a fantasy perspective, I would know how to feel about it. I just know Dalvin's still a really good player. He had health issues. News flashed like, this is football, like everybody on any given play.

is going to have some problems. But I think it makes sense, but I don't necessarily know how much sense it makes, if that makes. Yeah, it struck me as a bit of an odd landing spot. They've got Rahim Mastard. They've got Jeff Wilson, Miles Gaskin. I mean, I guess the one thing I do think that would be similar to Shanahan's approach, even though last year, you're right. The run was not their strength necessarily.

that the Niners have no problem using like five different running backs and so I could see them well no but the Niners do so I'm saying that Mike McDaniel and Miami might have the similar right yeah so far yeah so I just I don't hate the pairing you know Cook has also spends his offseason in South Florida he's down there maybe that appeals to him on some level we'll see I think he's not going to be a Viking though half the NFL is in South

Florida I just don't think he feels like he's he's out of Minnesota don't you think? Yeah, it feels like it's over. It's weird, though. He's on the roster, but that's why we felt for... Well, that's a great point, Mark. It's how we felt about Zadaria Smith for a while, and he truly was off the roster eventually.

After he threw the going-away party for himself. Right. So maybe the Vikings are trying to wait out, just getting like a late pick. His cap number is $14 million. They are super close to the cap in terms of, like, if they need any extra money to just sign some people here or there, he's due 10.4, but he's a little different than most of these other running backs we talk about

because, like, he still looks good to me. Like, and I know he had a little injury, and maybe last year he wasn't, like, as good, but I feel like there's a 50-50 chance. You're going to get another peak Dalvin Cook season or two. He averaged 4.4 yards per carry, 7.6 yards per catch last year. He had a number of explosive plays. like I don't think he's running to the end of his career and he played 17 games it's not like he didn't play he played and there's there's just so much extra value in a running back that you

don't have to take off the field they can do so many and I know Mike McDaniel values that and now I'm talking myself into maybe it making more but it's I just it's going to be hard to see Dalvin somewhere else in my mind but I know that based on the way that the Vikings are moving it feels really a jarring jersey switch for you yeah I I've loved cook as a pro and i don't know there's there's not many players on defense they trust for the viking so it's like is it such a bad idea if you're trying to win football games year 2023 to just keep madison and cook another year because he's the most explosive player outside of uh jefferson i guess they have a lot of explosive players they got addison now too i like osborne but it's like

why not have more if it's not then show me what you're spending the 14 million dollars on don't go 22 cowboys and save the money and then it's just like, oh, that's money. And it's like, oh, it would be nice to have a player. He's thriving in Florida. It could be some, like, long-term deals. It could be Justin Jefferson. So it could, it, if that's the case, then, yeah.

It might make some sense. But I don't know who their backup would be in that situation, by the way. It's Ty Chandler, who's a fifth round pick a year ago. Dwayne McBride and Kenney. Girl Blazers. Kenna and Nuwango, who I'm not familiar with these. Like an injury away from. Nuwango is the kick returning specialist, who's one of the more explosive players you'll

ever see in your life. Not going to play much running back. You always give CJ Hamm a carrier too. That's fun. All right, let's finish with just like a what-if scenario that we've heard about this before, but it was a little more confirmed from Greg Bishop, who's a reporter. I really trust and respect. Always really good.

And he always knows the Seattle scene especially. And he mentioned in an article how Russell Wilson to the Eagles was maybe even closer than we thought, that it was more Russell Wilson's side that was not big on it. He made it sound like Russell Wilson all but turned down a potential Eagles trade. So the Eagles and Howie Roseman, who's number one on my GM list and all this stuff, like it very well could have been Russell Wilson to Alan Robinson last year instead of Jalen Hertz to A.J. Brown. So sometimes you just, you got to get a little bit of luck here too,

because I don't not, I know the coaching would have helped them play better than Alan Robinson to Russell Wilson sounds like, but they would not have been in the Super Bowl one possession away from winning. I love that for the Eagles. I mean, to me, I think probably Jalen Hertz had something to do with it. You're in a competition if you go to Philadelphia

versus the fact that in Denver there was nothing but a clear avenue to start. The commanders. Would it have been that with a contract? I mean, I would have guessed they were just icing. This is where I do wonder about it a little bit. Maybe, maybe they, you know, because Hertz was on this constant audition for his job until he suddenly,

they get A.J. Brown, and we see one year later we think completely different about him. He's an MVP-level quarterback. You're right. The fates swung in Philadelphia's favor there because everything we saw from Russell Wilson tells me that the Eagles would have been in a very dark place, had that gone down. Yeah, in hindsight, looking back on it, it's like, oh, it was always going to be Jalen, but there was a significant portion of last year. I don't know what Howie and the folks in Philly were thinking, but there was a discussion like,

oh, well, you know, the Eagles are so good. You know, you're going to put Gardner Minshu in, and the offense is going to, and then it happened. Right. It was like, oh, okay. Well, this is. Right. So, like, luck, it does, there are these moments and actually,

Justin Jefferson going to the Eagles instead of Jalen Rager is another one I think about often, and that would have been a totally different what if that, so that that one didn't work out well for them either. This one worked out great. And this actually is backing up what our guy Ian Rapport said last off season. I think it kind of fell under the raider where he thought he was pretty convinced Wilson would land with the Eagles, but Wilson wouldn't budge on his preference that Denver was always his number one choice, and he really was trying to get to Denver.

I feel like the money probably has a bit of a factor as well. Right. Would have Philly giving him all that money that Denver did. I don't know, but I'm much more excited to watch the Eagles. I mean, then I would have been with that commentation. All right, that's it for news. and I'm excited to start what's going to be, you know, a regular segment. I'm just going to call it now.

We're bringing this back. I don't know. Okay. Well, if you can check and see how it goes first, but regular June segments, maybe, let's get it. We didn't really agree on what spiciest player meant. So we're going to talk the spiciest players on each team. And I said, I left that to interpretation. Personally, I interpreted it.

the word different depending on the situation. I think the word spicy is flexible, and that's one of the reasons why I like it. One thing that I did, though, because you could argue that you could have 80% quarterback talk here if we wanted. I tried to veer away from, like, the obvious Stark quarterback person

to find something else that I feel is sort of an X-factor tipping point type player for various teams. I feel similar, but sometimes it's just some people give off a spicy vibe. sometimes star quarterbacks do. I may have one in there.

What's the spicy vibe? I can just feel it. It's hard to explain. I'll let my players speak for themselves and I'll say that. You know, someone is a little feisty, a little spicy, a little, it gives you a little extra. Okay, if you're spicy, you're spicy. It's like you see that player a little bit and it's almost like the spicy

aftertaste of something that's sneaky, spicy where 30 seconds later you're like, wow, there's a little more to that player. Okay, yeah, I'm feeling that now. fully expected. All right, we're going to go through all 32 teams. Always dangerous when we do this. So we are going to put a clock on it. Eric, give us a whistle after 90 seconds. We don't need a warning. We're not going to talk the 90 seconds, you know, just one person or anything, but do give us a whistle after 90 seconds. You got it. And then we'll move on. We're going to start in the AFC North with Mark. Let's go. The Baltimore Ravens. I have identified my spicy player

is J.K. Dobbins. I know that with Todd Monkin, there's going to be, and we're hearing Lamar Jackson tell people, I'm going to throw for 6,000 yards. No, you're not. I do like the weapons there in a much better way, but we have Dobbins. It's still going to be a Baltimore Ravens team that's going to need to run the ball here and there. And he's another year removed from a pretty complex ACL surgery. I think last year, I went, I liked this assignment because I went and watched a little bit of him. And there are still plays where you see the power and the explosion. I think he's speed was a little bit off, but this is a guy that was a 99th percentile in his 40-yard dash, a 96 percentile speed score before he was drafted.

He has a career 5.9 yards per carry, and this was a dominant college player who's shown it in flashes, and if you get the best version of Dobbins, it only makes that offense that is going to be more balanced, that much more of a threat. I mean, checking out tape, that's spicy. Mark's outfits lately, spicy. I love it because I think about our guy Spice Rack who love J.K. Dombins. I just put that together.

And he always compared him to Emmett Smith in that he thinks his feel and his vision of like getting seven yards when there's maybe only three to get is elite. And that's spicy. And there were clearly moments where you could see the speed, the power, the burst. And you also at the same time saw

that he was clearly playing on one leg. Right. And it's like he's doing this less than a year removed from surgery that was an extensive surgery as you said, against professionals and still having success, I'm with you on the spice. All right. Right on time, too.

Let's go Bengals. So I had a few good options, but the Mike Hilton is my spicy player. And this is an interpretation of spicy where I just think he plays spicy. He mixes it up. But I also wanted to mention because I think he's a good example of like what makes the Bengals great. They're really good at taking veterans from other team that were good on other teams and actually knowing how to use them too. And I think that's an underrated quality.

I think they're a spicy defense because they can change who they are depending on the week. Some weeks will be big Mike Hilton weeks, where they have him blitzing, they have him mixing it up. He's not as good in coverage, but they know how to hide him. Some weeks it's not as big of Mike Hilton week. And so to me, that's sort of a great example of what makes the Bengals great. But I think they've brought together a lot of spicy players, a lot of veterans who play hard. And Mike Hilton, to me, is like a great Bengal. Mike Hilton was a West favorite too,

and I think it's good scouting inside your own division because he was an underrated stealer and you pull him away from your rival. And then with Lou Anirumo, I think what he does on a week-to-week basis the way he creates matchups and to your point uses players differently in different matchups.

It's a perfect landing spot for Mike Hilton. At some points in the game, especially at the postseason, Mike Hilton transforms into a 5-9-185-pound edge rusher and is incredible. at it and it's like what is what is this guy doing how does it work that's why he's see if i was a player i would want to be like a mike hilton spicy feisty player i'm trying to get walker to get on board with this he like he likes playing football on the beach but i'm trying

to get him a little more the one time that i know um to other ball with walker at collins gonsos house he was calling himself a cornerback and a defense back so you're right there spicy all right you got the browns i got the cleveland browns and okay so my context for spicy, it was like, what's, what's a spicy take that I have about a player who maybe has a reason to be a little spicy about his circumstances? And it's Elijah Moore. Elijah Moore celebrates a touchdown at Ole Miss. The whole world implodes like, oh my God, he's pretending to be a dog. This is the worst thing that ever happened. He's a bad person. Then he goes to the Jets where he's essentially doing cardio for a quarterback room that doesn't necessarily work. The coaches don't, and now

he's out. And now he's in Cleveland. and this is a guy who's 23 years old who has plenty of talent. I think he can make it happen. I don't know what the quarterback situation. I almost went with Nick Chubb because they were a team that was good and then they make the quarterback change

and all of a sudden they're not good as good as they were and Nick Chub deserves a team he's been so good for so long. But Elijah Moore is spicy to me because I think in terms of where he's being drafted right now, I know ADP fantasy-wise is, it's June, it's early June, but I think he's going to outperform that significantly. We're just a couple of years removed from a summertime full of Elijah Moore hype and how dominant he was.

I think I like the situation in Cleveland because they really needed wideouts. He's got a chance to be a big contributor, especially they get better quarterback play. I still think Cleveland is a potential landing spot for DeAndre Hopkins. They've been whispered about here and there that would change things a little bit more. I think I can't wait to see what he does. He would compliment him out. His routes are spicy. I went and watched those routes as a rookie.

And I was, I think one of the people leading the hype last off season thinking he was going to be great because he just makes dudes look bad. He fits well in today's NFL. All right, Mark, Steelers. All right. There were a lot of ways I could go here, and this maybe feels a little more obvious, but George Pickens because, again, it was just like watching some of his incredible contested catches and he had one catch against the Browns, I believe it was Thursday night football,

whereas just essentially spinning around and catching it behind his back. I mean, there are things happening that normal human beings will never accomplish physically, but they're happening with him. He's a massive, like, asset for Kenny Pickett. And if you look at this offense, Najee Harris, Pickett, Pickens, Jalen Warren, Pat Friermuth, Darnell Washington, Deontay Johnson, Alan Robinson, we'll see. But the rebilt offensive line, there aren't a lot of excuses for the Steelers as a group. We saw it down the stretch last year to make a big step up.

And I think that Pickens is this complete game-changing element in that offense. Those, I mean, he gets the highlight plays, but he's pretty good at the regular, just slant routes too. I know he doesn't do well in an exercise like Matt Harmon, our friend does the reception perception perception. And he's maybe not a totally complete receiver yet, and so Pickens doesn't score that highly in that, but that reminds me a little bit of D.K. Metcalfe in that you can get better

at those other things, but you have the one thing that's already dominant, lean into that. That's spicy. And you can, the spice comes out to me in just how twitchy he is as a mover where he has these, he has these highlight pancake blocks almost every other week. Like every third week, there's a corner that's lined up and George Pickens just puts him on the dirt. And it's like, where's this coming from? He's a very explosive guy. And I think just like a lot of, you know, the spices, the capsaceous. I've said the Steelers are going to the playoffs.

Right. You have. You need a little something to juice up picket who doesn't seem as spicy. I got the Texans. You know, I thought about Stroud, and I was kind of avoiding quarterbacks, too, because Stroud makes better throws than people give him credit for. But I'm going to go Jalen Petrie,

because does I look at this exercise as a way to talk about someone maybe we haven't hit on on this show much, but seems like he's going to be a guy we are hitting on more in the coming years because he was one of the best defensive rookies in the NFL last year. He was second among tackles. He missed a lot of tackles, too. like he's he's a type of guy who's trying to make big plays and he made a lot of big plays. I think of that Chiefs game where they were kind of close against Mahomes and he gave a lot of trouble.

He forces turnovers. He intercepts the ball. He's just everywhere and they love him. He can do a little bit of everything. You can play him near the line of scrimmage, but he's not going to kill you in coverage. And he hits. He seems like he's one of the few players who's figured out how to hit in today's NFL. Maybe because he's come up that way.

I don't know, and the rules have been different, but he hits consistently and he hits hard. And Texans fans, like on Twitter, love them. Some Jalen Petries, a shout out to them. I think it's a lot of players who maybe should be spicy are the players who are on the Texans when they weren't necessarily putting this effort as they are in 20203. Because looking at like the bones that are there and now D'Amico comes in, there's something to believe in, whereas, like, impetri is a huge part of that, whereas...

Derek Stigley could, too. We just didn't see it as much. Yeah, like, what's the commitment? But now you can see it. It's what's going to happen. If I honk too long, it's how it works. We move on. Patrick, you got the cults.

Okay. I will take the Indianapolis Colts, and I will take a quarterback, and it's not the quarterback you think. Because is Gardner Minchew going to play? Like, is... There's so many schools of thought regarding, like, oh, if the quarterback doesn't have a lot of success instantly, then his mind's not going to work anymore, and he's not going to be a good football player anymore. To me, I think if you're that mentally fragile, like, maybe you weren't going to be successful in the first place, but Gardner-Menschu can captivate a population.

Like, we've seen that. And so if things come in and- Captivated this guy to my last year. If they take the route, if they believe in the idea that, you know, we don't want to ruin Richardson, the Gardner Minchu is going to end up playing. And I think I think that's spicy. Well, I also think he is, if you were to rank backup quarterback's Minchew is a fringe starter. So I think that it's a great thing to have him behind Richardson. If there is some lag in his progress, I trust Shane Steichen, who, you know, they didn't rush Jalen Hertz into the lineup.

They took their time there. There's some blueprint on what you do. I also, I do, though, when you, someone like Anthony Richardson, if you're sort of lighting people up in the preseason, even though Gardner Minchu is a really likable, enjoyable player, like it's a little tough, it's a tough spot because the crowd, the first sign of trouble is going to be going nuts for the idea that you've got this rookie who can do superhuman things on the field.

It won't be long before he plays. I feel like Minchu's, I don't think he's underrated, but he's not overrated. I think because this team has lost so much, you know, when he was in Jacksonville, you ignore that. 7.1 yards per attempt for his career. 44 touchdowns, 15 intersects. Like, he's a good player.

He could be really good with that coaching. I'm with you. Mark, you are up with the Jags. All right. So this is where I swerved away from Trevor Lawrence. We'll talk about him all summer. But I think that this is a team that didn't do a whole lot this offseason because they spent so much last off season

to formulate a Doug Peterson offense. But I do love with the trade they pulled off in the middle of last season for Calvin Ridley, who I think we forget about the fact is like, we haven't seen him in so long. This is a phenomenal wide receiver who, you go back to 2020, he had 1,300 yards, 90 catches and nine touchdowns,

and discovered mid-season that he had been playing on a broken foot. So now when the foot is not broken, what's happening? And I mean, it's like, it kind of just like you didn't have the most game-changing draft on the planet. You were quiet in free agency, but this is an legitimate option that changes your passing game and helps fast forward the progress of Trevor Lawrence, who was incredible down the stretch.

That's a great point, Mark. I love that, too, because if you think about Doug Peterson, he seems like he's a good coach for receivers. Like, they got a lot out of Zay Jones. They got a lot out of Christian Kirk. They got a lot out of the receivers when they were in Philadelphia, guys who struggled elsewhere. Like, they should be able to get a lot out of it, really.

And I think he comes into a room that knows where their strengths are, and he can only be a plus. And, like, the numbers are necessary. They're going to change for Zay. They're going to change for Christian. Calvin Ridley gives you an option and they're like you know their his suspension was not spicy though gambling on sports not not spicy but spicy go read his uh players tribune article he gives it goes into context on his decisions on his foot injury it's it's really good introspective as well

i like Greg i like that you put the aFC south up earlier because they're always last in these there was a reason behind that but yes we we went in a different order going north south west east it's never happened before in a podcast situation Tennessee, I think of our great friend, Justin Graver, who's now doing a great job over at Fox. And I remember he liked it when I said, you got to build the whole plane out of Chig O'Conquo. I mean, Chig O'Conquo, their tight end, defines spice to me.

He is the spicy guy. He's made for spice. He's running over guys in the open field. He's big. He's nasty. He looks strong. He's who Mike Vable wants. He's like, you go to Korea Town and you're like,

should I get the media? or should I get the spicy? And you have to adjust a little because Koreatown spicy is a little spicier even than your regular Caucasian establishment spicy. I'm not adjusting for spice

when it's Chigalquanko. I'm cranking up the spice. Turn it up. And you do need to build the whole plane out of them, Greg. Because their third wide receiver right now is a fifth round pick Kyle Phillips. It's like, they are very light at wide out.

He had these moments last year where he made them so watchable. I see it. It's kind of like Kiddle a little bit. Yeah, I mean, like in Titans, we know they take like a year or two to kind of formulate and like you can already see these flash moments with him. And that's a really great call. Because you're thinking about like 2018 George Kittle where he was running over everybody.

And that's what like on not as good of a team, Chig O'Quanko was doing towards the end of the season. It's just the Titans were kind of falling apart. Like what happens if the team gets it together? It's like it's going to be all chig all the time, baby. I'll be disappointed if he has the career route of Johnny Smith, who I once similarly loved in a similar spot. He needs Arthur back. What a time to take a break.

We haven't done it yet, and we are going to hear from our sponsors. Let's do it. All right, we are back, and we are going to the team that Russell Wilson did land with, the Denver Broncos, Patrick. It's Russell Wilson. Oh, wow. Because things were just so bad, and it can never be just on one person when things are that bad. It took a cavalcade of errors and just bad football, bad planning, bad implementation.

And I think the outcomes, clearly the outcomes are going to be better. They got better towards the end of the season. But I think if you're going to believe in a player and have that belief be spicy, considering the conversation last year, the spiciest player to believe in on the Denver Broncos is Russell. Well, and everything pivots around what happens there. I mean, it's like it wasn't an Urban Meyer situation, but they just seemed like massively disorganized from a coaching staff perspective.

There was, you know, reports that Wilson was out there, sort of calling Seahawks types plays. He didn't know the playbook. He was sort of lost on the field. Right. He might have been the Urban Meyer as the problem. Yeah, I bet Sean Payton, though, is not going on a disorganized ship, so.

Right. He wasn't as unlikable. Spice, it's interesting because you think him, You don't think Spice, but it's almost like, remember when Norm Corr was a thing? I don't know if you remember that. I don't know if that's still happening. We're just wearing like really basic clothes. I'll Google it.

Like Dad Corps, almost like wearing the most basic clothes possible was suddenly. Men's fashion in general, basically. Right. So Russell Wilson is almost so vanilla, boring that he, that can be spicy. He was a fun player in the past. He's got good players and he's got a great coach. So that's totally fair that he could be an entertaining player. I could also see him potentially benched by week six or seven for Jared Stidham if he is the guy up for him last season.

See, my fear in my expectations, he'll be sort of in the middle. He'll just be like the 13th best quarterback in the league and won't be that bad. Let's go, Mark, Chiefs. All right. Well, I don't know how else to do this. Because, again, it's like, yeah, Patrick Mahom is spicier. But, like, Darius Tony to me is on a kind of a bit of a weird wideout group for the Chiefs right now. they're already talking him up as having a pretty clear path to being the number one receiver.

Now, I think part of it is like, that's great. When he's healthy, he does things that are a total fascination. Can he stay healthy? Can you really rely on him to play that role? But, I mean, I have to feel like if you're Andy Reid, you could spend a full straight month in the offseason, devising trickery and elements of Cadarius Tony. Because we saw it in the Super Bowl. I mean, the game-changing touchdown, the longest punt return in Super Bowl history.

I just don't see why at this point he also had the highest target rate of any team, any wide out on the team last year so it's like they were starting to use him more and more can you project them into a big, big role as a number one guy, we'll see. Yeah, I worry. The number one guy is always going to be Travis Kelsey.

It's tough to say that he's going to be the number one guy, but if Cadarius Tony is on the field, like Andy Reid's going to utilize him and that's a good thing. If you're a fantasy manager, if you're the chief, especially, because Patrick Mahomes is going to distribute. Now, are they, is he going to get 129 balls?

Probably not, but that's because you have a really good quarterback that's going to make the right decision. Could he be 70 for a thousand? Yeah. I think so, but you've got to stay healthy and it worries me. I will always remember from my vantage point at that Super Bowl how the blocking sort of set up for that punt return and he could see it and he like takes that step one way and you're like, oh my God, this is going to change the entire game.

and you almost scored. I think he probably wishes he scored. Ran out of gas. You know who doesn't run out of gas? The Chargers. Wait, they totally do. In a big spot. But Justin Herbert doesn't.

So I avoided star quarterbacks too, Mark, except for this one. I just was like, don't forget that Justin Herbert is one of the most talented players we've ever seen. I was thinking in the context of this podcast, I would put Herbert with Andrew

luck, Patrick Mahomes, and Lamar Jackson as the most talented, pure capital T talented quarterbacks that I've seen come into league. Now, Josh Allen, you could throw in there now after the fact, but I didn't know he could throw the ball like he could, and that's on me. But Herbert is that guy, and I think with new coaching and the best group around him, and it's year four, he's a smart dude who's learned a lot as a pro. Man, I think he can take that next level and be even spicier than ever. I think it was mismanaged last year. No one liked the offensive coordinator,

the system in general. He played through injury. I mean, I think other guys would have not been on the field. It's questionable that he should not have been on the field for some of that too. But, I mean, it is the size, the toughness, like the physical traits. And the fact that, like, you know, before he was a starter, like I thought on Hard Knocks, he came across as a little bit of a floating personality. But they love him.

And he is one of the more watchable quarterbacks. we've ever not as spicy off the field that's fair yeah and like who needs maybe he could be spicy in the sense that he's running counter to what everybody else does and how everybody else behaves like maybe we could view that as spicy and like looking at the

even the playoff loss right Travis ETN out touched Austin Eckler after the second half like the Chargers had that massive lead like that's that's not on that's not on Justin it's not but it was a little bit of a disappointing second half I don't think he played he did not it wasn't that he got robbed he didn't play great either.

Defense also could have got to stop. Right. That would help. Raiders, Patrick, wrapping up the West. I will take a really good player. I will take arguably the best receiver in football and say it's Devante Adams because Devante comes to Las Vegas. He's playing with his college teammate.

And then that all falls apart. And now it's like what's going on? Like what is this organization's plan and people are maybe saying, I'm low on DeVante. He's still that dude. He is still him. That is Devante Adams. I am not necessarily doubting him. think he's going to outperform. Even though it's like a top 15 ADP, I think he's still

Devante Adams. He's still going to get open. I have questions about the quarterback. He should have questions about the franchise situation, but I think he's spicy. I mean, he survived bad quarterback play last year and had a monster season. So it's kind of like a trick. There's just like a cheat code type player where it doesn't really matter. He's been with a bunch of like he, you know, I think for him like the quarterback play with Rogers is one thing, but he wanted so badly to prove that he could do it without Aaron Rogers last year. And he absolutely did. And I, if you, TBD on Jimmy Garoppolo's health but I don't think Jimmy Garoppolo

is a step down from car. I just don't. Yeah, I don't think it's a big difference. I'm with you. I had someone at a school event asked me, you know, let's get the football talk at the school event. Is Devante Adams still the best

wide receiver league? Like how would you rank him, Jefferson? I forgot who else they threw in there. Maybe it was digs and chase as the top four. And I was like, I don't know. I think Adams is close to there, but at this point I would take Jefferson and Chase maybe if I'm ranking 1, 2, 3. But that's not fair.

I'm almost projecting because he's 30. It hasn't happened yet. All these guys have such unique skill sets and the circumstances. They're all good, yes. He is in that group. We are going on to the AFC East, and this is when Eric is going to step in. He's been helping us edit the shows lately.

He's also a Bill's fan, and he's going to tell us who the spiciest bill is. We're going back-to-back why receivers here, Devante Adams to Stefan Diggs in Buffalo. I feel like he's got a little bit of everything. What kind of spice you want? He's cryptic in the off season. It's every year where is he happy?

Is he leaving Buffalo fans? We're always in Civil War over him. He believes in himself. He's always on the sidelines. I am him. I am him. He's great at what he does. He gets picked up on hot mics, cussing out Patriots fans.

He's got the full ball of spice. What kind of spice you want? Hot you want, tangy, everything. Stefan Diggs, guys. I love that. And unbelievably talented and known as sort of, the hardest worker in the room in that he feels confident

getting on others when they don't live up to his standard. Would it be spicy if he staged a summertime holdout? Oh, it would be very, I mean, it might as well be at this point. Buffalo fans are up and it's not a big deal though. Do we know if he's coming to the mandatory mini-camp? I would very much like it if he did. Okay, but we don't know.

I mean, if skipping the non-mandatory stuff, who cares? There's a million players doing that all around the league, including like, well-respected veterans that aren't getting any attention. And there's a fine structure tied to it anyway. Like if he doesn't go, it's his choice. I still think Stefan Diggs it's going to be a good football player in 2023, regardless of where he shows up for minicamp.

Right. I would have him solidly in my top five receivers. I know his numbers weren't quite as good last year. Maybe they were, and I'm just totally wrong. But I don't care. He can get open. I like that Eric quietly made this three minutes long. No, he didn't.

He was quick on it. He was quick on it. He was quick on it. Three, two, one. Here we go. Stop that whistle there. I couldn't have been more wrong on his numbers being lower last year. He had 1,429 yards, 11 touchdowns.

He had a little bit of a down. 108 catches. He had a little bit of a quiet month in the middle of the season somewhere. I had him on his fantasy team, so I would know. I couldn't have been more wrong, though. He has lit it up. Dude, he's going to, looking at his numbers now, he could go to the Hall of Fame. He is going to have a realistic chance.

Now they look at it, he's got the all pros. He's got the numbers. Like, if he keeps stacking years. Next up, Mark, you got the dolphins. I am going a little bit of a different direction here because it's not a player, it is a coach, it is Vic Fangio. I think that, you know, it's so all, Dolphins talk is always like two of this, two of that,

the wide receivers, you know, they want to, they maybe want to add Delvin Cook. I get it. It's always going to be that way with this team under Mike McDaniel. But Jalen Phillips, Christian Wilkins, Bradley Chubb, Jalen Ramsey, Xavier Howard, Andrew Van Giggle. There's like seven more people I can name. If you go look at their defense, essentially,

analytically on PFF's like team page, there is no real weakness here. And I think that in this division where it's going to be like doggy dog, like this is the defense that I think could put lights out on Buffalo, could rattle the jets, Patriots offense doesn't scare me. It's like this defense to me has a chance to be special. And everywhere that Vic Fangio goes, it's like, yes, he flips the switch. And I think this is quietly one of the better coaching staffs in the league because McDaniel is special to me as a head coach.

He does something different than other coaches do. And I know that there's probably people are like, well, Vic Vanjio came in and, you know, consulted with the Eagles before. Playing Patrick Mahomes, like, come on. Like, sometimes things don't necessarily work out, but I love it. Vic is spicy. Yeah. He's a spicy individual. He's a bit cantankerous.

I had to interview him once, I think I mentioned. It was just like he didn't want to speak to me on any level. I couldn't help but think he once kind of buried Bradley Chub publicly and now Bradley Chub is playing for him. But then I heard some, I think. There were some Bradley Chub comments, like he loves Vic Banjo. He's the type of guy that can bury you a little publicly, but they love them behind the scenes. I'm going to do the Patriots. I have Christian Barmore as my spicy player.

So this is interpreting spicy in that I just think he's integral to what's going to happen to this team. I think their front seven, especially their defensive line, could be very spicy as good as it's been in six years or so, since kind of the Chandler-Jum. Jones Peak. And I think Barmore is the key to it all because he was really their best player as a rookie, which really doesn't happen much as an interior player, was hurt last year, wasn't quite as impactful. I think Bill Belchuk is very high on him, but just didn't pop as much a year ago. And if he comes back and now is a third year player who's been in that scheme and they know how to use him and he lives up to his potential, I think you could see him as an all pro type of player and take that unit, which is, to me, very deep and talented to another level

where they're one of the best groups in the entire NFL. I thought you might go Bill O'Brien there because so much if it's on that. I didn't think coaches. That's a good way to think about it. I wish I did. Some of these teams, it all kind of rests on that. This is a Bill Belichick type player, you said it. I mean, it's just like, and I trust Belichick just to continue to make him the star that he is.

Yeah, and there's been, of course, looking back, you know, Dante took that year off, but he eventually retired. And, like, people talk about this, you know, Belichick and Saban relationship. And it's like, oh, the players come in. And it doesn't, here's, here's another instance where it, they got a good player at a good spot. Probably Barmore could have gone a little bit earlier, but he fell to New England. And it's worked out. Like, it's one of those, as much as we'll criticize when they take somebody or it doesn't work out, this is a hit.

This is a win for Bill. Absolutely. Needs to get a on the field a little more. Patrick, you got the Jets wrapping up the A. Oh, so much young talent. So many guys who had good Ricky seasons, and I'm going to take one of them, but it's not the one you think. Mackay Beckton had a great season for 2020. He has a catastrophic knee injury.

It takes a little bit longer, and people are out on him. It's like, oh, yeah, he's not trying hard because, no. I think it's spicy to believe in Mackay Beckton, a guy who had so much promise. Dwayne Brown recently had surgery, and so it's going to move Mackay Beckton up a little bit, his circumstance to get on the field. and I think he's closer to being back and I have a spicy belief in Mackay Beckton. Despite the fact there's a guy

who's very spicy he's going to be his quarterback I think it's spicy to believe in the guy. It is like there's a high variance for what we could get from him but there have been very positive offseason reports. I think you're right that the stories of him

maybe not being the most driven individual on the planet are in the past at this point. That left side of the line if he turns out to be the guy that we think he is, Lake and Tomlinson at Guard, Joe Tipman at center.

I mean, it's Verra Tucker at Wright Cart, you start to see it. And it's like, it's absolutely critical that Aaron Rogers has kept upright. The way that like career arcs go, even if Beckton has an up and down career, I feel like he is maybe going to be good for one season or two seasons where like he's a difference maker. And this would make sense as that type of season. Like he, they haven't given up on him. He's shown he has talent. He showed that as a rookie. How are we feeling at halftime here? I feel good. I mean, we bid off a lot here.

What's our halftime show? What did you prepare? I mean, Claibon's in shorts here. I don't know. It's June, yeah. I don't know what the halftime show would be here, but he looks more just ready for one. We got Taylor and Beyonce are coming this summer and fall over at SoFi.

I guess if people are listening to this after that. We're going to sit here until then? They could play that. No, I'm feeling good. I mean, you don't need like a snack or anything. No, I'm ready to delve into the third. Well, we also drive up to SoFi, and people would know this from out of town. It's right next to the old forum, which is where the Lakers used to play,

which they now have turned into a concert venue. And they have some big acts there. But then you also have ones where Brian Adams is playing soon with Joan Jett as his, what do they call it? you know, opening band. Yeah. And I thought, well, Brian Adams, you know, playing a 8,000-person stadium in the year of 2023 with Joan Jep. Surprise.

I'm a little surprised. It is interesting around our workplace because whenever one of these shows occur, whether it's at SoFi or the forum, you just see a very different, from show to show, the crowds that gather. And this is going to be a lot of dudes and chicks in their 40s and 50s listening to Brian Adams. But then there was one band that showed up and it was like hundreds of like moms and young girls and kitty cat ears, walking around the street.

Well, Suga, I might be saying his name wrong. Like a solo act from BTS was there last week, and yeah, the place was swarmed for days. I mean, the Intuit Dome is going to be done pretty soon, and then we could just have three wide concerts all the time. So that's where the Clippers are going to play, which is, yeah, about to be about two blocks away. And the forum where the concerts is literally like sharing a parking lot.

Bearing on commute from hell, I promise. It's going to be a lot. All right. Dig a tunnel. That was our halftime. halftime show. Mark, you're going to kick us off in the NFC North with the Bears. All right. DJ Moore.

I just, I think this is, this pickup, when we talk about what happened with Jalen Hertz a year ago, you go get AJ Brown and suddenly the whole offense starts to sing. And I, I think the Justin Fields, having done QB index, I'd always get these tweets when I put, has he climbed up and up

the rankings. And it was, Joe, he can run, he can do nothing else. He did improve as a passer. There was a stretch of the season where you started to see it. And I it's fair to expect that jump. And I think DJ Moore is the kind of guy that only he can separate. He had more average, more yards of separation last season than every receiver in the league other than Justin Jefferson, C.D. Lamb and Devante Adams, we've talked about here. I love that fit for Justin Fields. And I think that if you're Ryan, like Ryan Poles went out and got the kind of

player. It was a very savvy trade. And I think we all look at that the fact that the bears, you know, there's no winner of that trade yet. But that to go get DJ Moore, I think, completely changed what they can do on offense and Moore's already shown they can do it. So it's not a draft guy. You're hoping hits. You know he will. Right. He is a guy like every team could use. Sometimes you get carried away of like

you need to search for the true number one. This, this, that. Like he reminds me of like a basketball player that's like a wing that can hit threes and defend. Like literally every team could use DJ more and he's going to make them way better. Yeah. There were points during late last season where you had

the lesser St. Brown brother and Chase Claypool were like the best guys out in the route for Chicago and it's like Equaniminous Yeah. Equaniminous. Equanimous. That's the right. I didn't feel like. I mean, he also has the the dad

the Mr. Universe dad. Like a mona. That's right. I'm not picking Amon Ra though as my lion. I could have. He's pretty spicy. But I'm going to go Jemir Gibbs. There was so much focus on the value of that pick taking a running back there and who else they could have taken. And I think a little bit less on, okay, how is he going to fit into this offense?

What's he going to do? I am excited as a fan of football to watch him in this offense because you have a road grading offensive line, just a big group that's played together. You have a great coordinator in Ben Johnson. And I hear the Lions fans that push back when I was like, did they upgrade that much at running back overall? Because like their last group was good. maybe the last group looked better than it really was

because the scheme and the line are so good. Jamir Gibbs might be the number one home run hitter in this offense for the first six weeks of the season. I think he is until Jameson Williams is back. He's the guy that can take it to the house. I found it a little curious. I like the pick and I think it's like, why not?

Go get those guys. But it was a bit of a curious overhaul at the position. Maybe they weren't as maybe it was had to do with the lines. They were down on Swift for sure. Well, I think, yeah, you could see that as the way the season played out. But I'm not a huge believer in David Montgomery as a big, like, upgrade over any of those guys from last season. So, you know, this is a coaching staff self-scouting. Yeah, it's got to be Gibbs.

And looking, well, because I know that a lot of criticism will come in. It's like, well, he had that success. He was playing with the Heisman trophy winner, number one overall pick. But go back to his time at Georgia Tech, he was still at like 5.8 yards per carry at Tech. Like, this is a guy who's been right around six yards. carry every single season in college football, I think it translates. Montgomery, no spice. Yeah.

And sometimes on the soup options, you can get mild. Yeah. But there's actually an option, no spice. Like if kids are going. Anti-spice suit. No spice. Randy Chavez is stepping up. Talk to me.

He's usually in the back helping producing, helping us behind the scenes, but he's a big time Packers fan. He's going to give us spiciest Packer. Randy, what's up? In my lifetime, the Packers have had a quarterback. They've had the receiver. They've had selective defensive players. You could argue they have the running back right now.

The one piece of the puzzle the Packers have never had is a dynamic tight end. And I feel like this year, maybe the year, the beginning of a dynamic career, my spicy pick is rookie tight end Luke Musgrave. Okay. At 6-6, running a 4.640, I mean, he's dynamic. It's a tight end that moves like a receiver. LaFleur says he does have an elite trait in that he can flat fly and he's a large. target. I mean, look at the last five Super Bowls. The last, four of the last five winners

have had a dynamic tight end. This could be the missing piece, maybe. Are you worried at all? He's just so tall. When he's running down the field, I just, I worried, like, he's going to get hurt. And he has been hurt. I mean, that was sort of my thing when it was like, Gronk. When Gronk was running around, I was like, how is this

practice? But he was thick, yeah. It doesn't even, I mean, you can get thicker, right? Hit the gym. Let's get the gains up, you know? But I think at 6-6 and already running a 4-6, that's something. It's outrageous. Gronk was built like a robot from outer space, but like Brady would send Gronk on missions. And Gromk would accept those missions and for some reason maintained his relationship with Tom. But I just think to a certain extent if your quarterback's getting you blasted, that's on the corner.

Well, what's better for like a Jordan Love who's starting his career essentially now to have a tight endicor and lion? I mean, that's like when you don't have that, I think you see young quarterback suffer without that element to the offense. Yeah, I get that like anyone that tall, you just worried he's got. going to take a hit, which happened. Maybe it's just because it happened to him in college. But he, a guy that tall, that fast is pretty rare. And he was already taking first team reps. I love, I love it, Randy. You stepped right in out of the park. Seamless. Minnesota Vikings, Patrick. Let's get super spicy. Jalen Rager is my spicy player on Minnesota Vikings.

No, because it would be easy to take Kirk. It's going to be Kirk in a contract here. We need some left field. There's going to be plenty of time to talk about Kirk Cousins and his quest for money, which is he's always going to be successful, and he should try to get as much as possible. But, like, so Thieland's out. I think there's a spot open. Jordan Addison is going to come in, but how much action are we expecting the rookie to really get?

Like, I think Jalen Rager is going to be a part of the offense, not necessarily throwaways, but especially in what could be a really Kirk-themed deer where the Vikings may be playing from behind a lot, I think there's space for Jalen Rager in our lives. And he's still an explosive player to me. And Greg has a pained look on his face. Yeah.

I feel like I've seen enough of Rager. He's played a lot. He had 100 yards last year. I was like, did I miss something? He had 104 yards. He did have some good ones? He did he have some return moments, although not, you know, Nuongo is the better one.

That's a spicy pick. There's no question. I want it to be spicy. I like KJ. Osborne a lot. I kind of feel like Jailen Rager's sort of playing for his career at this point. Yeah. So there will be motivation. I sort of feel like I,

I came in here and Patrick said he needed a few more minutes to finish his spicy homework like Rager was just like a guy he wrote down at the last second initially when I looked at when I looked at your text I thought I was just picking 10 spicy players and then on the way here it was like oh they're from particular team yeah I said check the email yeah there was that was a little confusing spicy

that was tough I think Rager is your guide now though I'll put a sandwich on Jalen Rager 40 catches. Okay. I will take you. Put that down. Let's get it. Nick Fortier, mark it down.

Anytime Jalen Rager makes a play, I'm going to bug Patrick in the newsroom. You got the Falcons Mark. All right. I want you to imagine two players kind of arm in arm forming one player. And it's Bejohn Robinson and Tyler Algier, who is my guy from last season. By the way, PFF's fifth overall running back, Tyler O'Gone. Everyone's like, oh, he's out of the picture now. No, he's not.

This offense is going to look like something from the early 80s. And I think that Arthur Smith, he needed a couple seasons to kind of get it into shape. Desmond Ritter, we're sort of waiting to see what he is through the air. But this offensive line, after years of wreckage, they went and signed their own guys. I thought that they built up this powerful offensive line. Bejohn Robinson's been used all over the place in minicamp. I think they're going to just find creative ways to unleash them. Alger can come in and hammer you when we're doing other things with Bejohn Robinson.

And they feel like an asteroid just about to destroy defenses. I really am not overstating this. When I think about my ranking of teams that I'm most interested to watch out of the gate, the Falcons are my kind of football team right now. And I know it's a little bit zigging than when the others are passing heavy all over the place. I think they're going to hammer teams. They are leaning into it. They're doing it in a way that I thought the Patriots were doing a couple years ago.

It's like, okay, everyone's going to get lighter, let's get heavier. And they're like speaking with their actions. Matt Collins is their number two running back. You're right. Algier will probably find his way to 175, 200 touches anyways. It's just going to be, I'm kind of with you. The fact that, like, it's also Drake London and Kyle Pitts is there one and two are these two massive guys who can also do a little blocking.

I think the lead, the league and rushing attempts. So there's plenty of. Yeah, there's a lot of carries to go around. And everybody, you know, you can't give Bijan all of that, but you can have a lot of it. And they have the talent to do it. He's a big dude, Algier. I have the Panthers.

I'm going J.C. Horn. I mean, you are born into the Horn family. Spice is part of the equation. It's in the DNA. Anyone who is Joe Horn's son is full of spice. And J.C. Horn looked like a true CB1, like top five cornerback in the league as a rookie. He had that injury.

He came back last year. I think when he played was still excellent. And I think he's a guy that Adjira. Evereaux, their defensive coordinator, will build around. So to me, he seems like a guy, and this can happen at cornerbacks. Cornerbacks can become stars. I think because of his personality and because of his game, like he can develop into a star who's talking a lot of trash and who's backing it up in a defensive-oriented division in general.

It's sort of like his rookie year last year because he only played three games in his true ready season. And so, I mean, you do expect a leap. And like, whenever there's a coordinator shift, you're looking at players that may not fit the new scheme necessarily, but not with him. Like that piece scheme, you know, there's no issues with that. And after the rule departure, it seemed like there was a little bit more of an idea what to do with JC. You're not trying to put JC in a situation where he's making a whole bunch of tackles necessarily at the line of scrimmage. It's a cover guy. He's a pure cover guy. Let's have him cover some people. There's not many of those anymore either. I kind of like that.

that, you know, some, I mean, you're going to have to tackle a little bit, like Asante Sammy, like, you will have to tackle. They'll find you these days. But guys who are just more purely, that's a guy you can leave out on an island, the stereotype. J.C. Horn. Let's go to Patrick. He's got the Saints. I've got the Saints, and I've got Juwon Johnson as my spicy player, the guy who came on towards

the end of last season, and people are looking at the car thing. I know you guys feel, you know, Carraropolo. is one for one. I think Derek Carr is an upgrade over Andy Dalton. I'm sorry, Greg. I think that's fair. I would agree with that. I don't problem with that. And so we saw what Joanne Johnson was capable of doing

another year in the same situation. I think it could be a big year for Joanne Johnson, who's the tight-in 15 right now? I think more like nine would probably be appropriate for Ju-Wan-Jolson. I like that Patrick on the fantasy show is given his fantasy takes. It's good. We need that angle a little more.

The only thing I'd say, though, because I overall, I'd take Carr over Dalton. But Dalton, like last season, played with this confidence, especially with the deep ball. And I think that he really unleashed some of their wideouts. And so it's like you hope that that is equal at least with Carr, who I think when Carr goes into a shell or when he misses, it's like really hard to watch. But we know he can throw to an athletic tight end. Not that that should be hard for a good quarterback. But I'm with you. Juan Johnson has shown a lot.

He is one of the most successful wide receiver two. tight-end transitions that I can think of. A lot of teams try that. Sean Payton started the process, and he is really dynamic. He is fluid. I think, did they extend his contract this off-season? That slipped a little under the radar. I could be wrong about that, but he is under contract.

I shouldn't just ask questions without knowing. They did extend his contract. Well, look at that. So there we go. two-year deal for $12 million, so they gave him some short-term money. I think that will age extremely well. Let's go to the bucks. It's Mark.

All right. If you're watching this on YouTube, I'd just like to bring up a photo here of my player. This is Cody Mock there. This is their right guard, rookie right guard. And he is an interesting individual. The flowing ginger mane, you see it right there. I think their offensive line was a problem last year. You got Tristan Worf's back.

There are some problems I think at left guard. Ryan Jensen did not grade out very well. So I think this is part of rebuilding your line. And Cody Mock is a big part of that. I love some of his college story because he didn't really even play in high school at all. He transitioned in college to play this position. He is 6'5, 302 pounds, but very athletic. He ranked out 90th percent eye on the 40-yard dash at his position.

not against wide receivers. We get that in 98% percentile in the three cones. So he can move. He's agile. They need help at this position. And I think he's sort of got a spicy look to him if you don't agree. I totally agree. And this picture we're looking at doesn't even show that he's missing his two front teeth.

And I think he has said previously he doesn't plan to fix them until after the NFL. He thought like, well, they could just get messed up again. I would, there's a significant, like I love sandwiches. I love biting into delicious food and I feel like I'd be missing something I mean he doesn't look like he's you know lacking for delicious food but for the for the YouTube viewers

because everybody's stationary there he's literally putting on gloves is there a fan is not a gust of wind his hair is blowing majestically that is an excellent take because it's like and so like he's not going to throw his hair back like that to put gloves on why is his hair flowing

he's magical that's what he looks like every I think it's just consistently like that All right, that is it. We're going to take one more break before we wrap up with the NFC West and East. I got the Cardinals. I'm going, Buda Baker. Man, it was tough to pick a Cardinals player.

Buda Baker, to me, is a spicy player who got a lot more attention over the last year, not only because he's good, but because he was trying to keep this team together on hard knocks, and now he was looking for a trade this off-season. He also said he will be there at their mandatory minicamp. I don't think they're going to trade him because I think at some point you need to have good players. And he's under a pretty big contract, but you don't want to just get rid of good young players, which he is.

And he's a player to build around. And he's like a modern day Bob Sanders or something. I mean, he's much better in coverage because the NFL has changed. They wouldn't be able to stay on the field. But he just throws his body around. And he's like, that dude, you would love to play. play with that cleats. I mean, it concerns me that he's openly asked to play for a different team because it's like you've got to, I think this year is a loss season and like these players

are a little too savvy to just trust in a rebuilding project out of out of outer space. I mean, we don't know the coach. The general managers knew there's not a lot of reason for dug in hope. And if you're boot a bit, you could go somewhere else and be a star right away. He could be a guy that gets traded at the trade deadline, like one of those guys we hear about, at least talked about. Yeah, because if we think about a career in the span of of eight to ten years and buddabaker has been there i think this is year four um in the desert and all of the things all of the changes he's seen what's what's going to be there for is this where i want to be for the remainder of my career i think it's a reasonable thing for him to ask that

considering like the way things have been and now people are talking about oh they're going to have the number one overall pick this is going to be a seventh season buddabaker that's that's that sneaks up on you holy crap you have the rams patrick i have the rams and i'm going to take another really good player. It's going to be a really good wide receiver. It's Cooper Cup. Cooper Cup is the spiciest player on the Rams. People might think, like, oh, there's, what spicy about Cooper Cup? Watch this dude, stiff arm like six people and then have somebody say, oh, he's not that athletic. What does he have to do? Spicy. What do you have to feed a class? You have to outrun everybody, stiff arm, six people on the way to the end zone for a touchdown. I'm just

looking at, because you have, Cup could be on that path. We know that Aaron go into the Hall of Fame. What are the Rams doing? Like, what's the plan for 2023? Because in a certain point, like, I'm looking at Cooper Cup. I'm looking at Matthew Stafford. Like, I want more for them because I know that they're good players that can be successful. And I'm just, I love Cooper Cup. And I want them to get back to, you know. Yeah, we have not talked to Cooper Cup like specifically in a while. Well, no, I mean, but we have talked about to your point, Patrick, just what some of these figures on the Rams stand out as sort of a top heavy luxury

on a team that I think really just has, they've gone super young. They have like 30, 40, like, young for rookies essentially on the roster. And I think they want to view this. I hope it's a one-year rebuild where you come out of this and Cup is plugged back into an offense. I just think Matthew Stafford

is someone that could get moved. If a disaster strikes elsewhere, I don't know why you trade Cooper Cup, though. So he had that tight rope surgery on his ankle, but there's not many people around him. I mean, He had 145 catches two years ago. I mean, is he a top five fantasy pick again? You'd love to see how he looks coming off that injury.

But if he's on the field, he will be worth the top five pick in fantasy. This is a guy who's already come back from a torn ACL early in his career. And, you know, people have tightrope, but they come back in three weeks. I just think, like, there wasn't a reason to bring him back. I'm just saying, like, why wouldn't he have 125 catches? Seattle. 50. Load him up.

Seahawks quietly have one of the better rosters. in football. That's one of your one-year rebuilding jobs happen right here in the same division. And the early returns on Jackson, Smith, and Jigba are really positive. Gino Smith was talking him up. I know that, you know, this is non-padded, non-contact scenarios

at this point, but they are talking about him as someone that just shows right out of the gate the juice and the spice to develop very quickly in a wide receiver room that already has Tyler Lockett and D.K. Metcalf. This could be the best trio in the league. And I think you're going to get something

right away for him. They're comparing some of his skills to essentially like a plug and play Doug Baldwin. And I, this is someone that had 347 yards, 15 catches and three touchdowns in a Rose Bowl. I think his skill set also marries so well with the two receivers that are playing on the side of him. And also with Gino Smith, who to me is a touch in timing and accuracy quarterback. He's not, you know, a power just chuck it down the field. And that's what Smith in Jigba does well. Once the two guys get on the same page, I think you'll see that connection

like Gino has with Lockett, too. Yeah, it's the feel. It's going to take time, right, for him to develop that feel and that trust with the turns to where JASN is going to be. But as a Gino believer, I can't help but to believe. I think it's going to be good.

The only thing is in fantasy, there's only so many yards to go around because they're going to run the ball a lot. Well, yeah, I also am more concerned with real life, right? He could be a better real player than fantasy, is all I'm saying. Yes.

Whereas, like, all three of them cut into each other. But they're going to be tough to stop. They're high on my list, teams I want to see. 49ers. I struggled with this one because, like, I love Ayuk. But is he just established? I love watching him. I'm doing a last-minute change.

I'm changing it from Ayuk to Colton McKivitz. Spicy. Okay. Every day, practically, I pass by Colton, Sessler's former grade school, and I see his lovely face. They still have that up? It's still up. It's on multiple corners, heavy traffic corners.

And he's like, it was like five years ago. This has nothing to do with Colton McIvitts. You have pivoted here. But I just like that story. And here's another man named Colton. And Colton McEvitts is the new right tackle of the 49ers. And he's standing in a little bit for this entire offensive line. where it's like, yeah, they have continuity,

but it's Spencer Buford, Jake Brendel, and Aaron Banks, and Colton McKivitts are the guys next to Trent Williams. I mean, that is an imbalance line. One first ballot Hall of Famer and these other dudes, and they're trusting that they'll make it happen. But to me, that's spicy. That's a spicy question to watch.

I like the spice because there's so much that people view, it's like, oh, well, Kyle's going to figure it out. Fourth year, fifth round pick, by the way, who's been in the system for four. years. So I should give some background. He's ready. You know, they put that signage up up with my child's face. It was just like a 10-foot image of his face. Never told

us. Never paid us for it. It was very on your radar. You were pretty upset about it. I'm not, like, Colton was fine with it. So as long as he is, but it's like, would you maybe tell a parent that we're going to slash your child's face along San Lonic Boulevard? That was when he was like six or seven? Right. That's when the picture's from?

Yeah. Revisit him now where he's in middle school. What is he entering? Fifth, sixth grade? He's entering sixth grade next year. Even now, like a child's not going to be able to provide consent. Like, maybe talk to the parents before you plaster an advert. I have thought about going out there in the night and just ripping it down. They'd have to take it. I'm annoyed now.

I wouldn't want to deface it, though. He's a beautiful young boy. Patrick, we're wrapping up with the cowboys. I'm just saying weird if I defaced it, but I would just take it. I'd love to see. I'd love to see Greg taken in by the cops for, you know, eating disturbance at it with a Catholic. Signs. Yeah, it's a Catholic school. I don't want to call them out, but yeah, it's out there.

I will take Brandon Cooks as my spicy player. He's who I was thinking of where a player was kind of toiling in futility in Houston. And now he has an opportunity to be a two on a good team with a good quarterback. And we've seen the thousand yard streak finally came to an end last season. If he accomplished that, I'd say put him in Canton immediately. But I think things are going to be a whole lot better for Brandon Cook. it's going to be what the Cowboys were missing last year. They were really missing it, and it stands out to me when we talked to CD-LAM at the Super Bowl, and he was peddling deodorant and actually gave me his stick of old-spice deodorant, which I still

it's my backup to your own, so I'll use it once in a while. But he was essentially When does backup come up? Well, you know, like if you're in a pinch in the normal brand that I'd mentioned, like I use that and runs out, got to go to CVS. So it's just, you know, it's good to have two of everything, I think.

But this CD-Land was lobbying, you know, verbally, Jerry Jones to go get help for essentially the offense. And it was that wide receiver. And this is a perfect addition for them. He's kind of, yeah, the perfect number two where you're not, you want to get him as many touches, keep him happy. But he also kind of knows where he is in the pecking order. And just dude gets buckets.

Anywhere he goes, he produces. At some point, he will get old, but I think his skill set will age fairly well. He's always a stronger player than I think people will give him. He will never get old. really just let you know all right he's actually a mortal giant mark when these segments when we kind of run out of things to talk about it gets a real quiet um i'm going darren waller because i mean there's a lot of obvious faces there we could go with in new york but i feel like the ceiling of this offense um would be suddenly different and higher if you get a full

durable season of darren waller playing the way that we know um dan and i spent time with him when he was the broadcast boot camp two off seasons ago. In the flesh, he looks like a godlike specimen. It's just simply about staying healthy. I do trust this coaching staff and Brian Daibald to use them correctly. They've got Daniel Bellinger as well, but that's two very dangerous tight ends. And I think for this kind of offense, and they're going to have Daniel Jones, they're treating him differently as a quarterback through the air.

And that started to happen a little bit towards the end of last season. But I love the idea in this New York Giants offense of you getting the waller from a couple years ago, that would be spicy. It's a huge year for him. I mean, just because I think he can have a great second act with the Giants. He's the best receiver on this team. But last year, you know, he struggled to stay

healthy. He needs to stay on the field. You want to start off strong and kind of be that dude because I think he can get a thousand yards in this offense. There's no reason why he can't. Yeah, and to not make a specific, because he's not Travis Kelsey, right? But

who says that there's some law that, like, your best receiver has to be a wide receiver. Not today. Just get the best 11 guys out there and make some plays. I mean, he already was the best receiver on those Raiders teams, right? Who else was on him? Renfro. I mean, he was one of those four or five game-changing tight ends.

Nelson Aguilar was their number one receiver one year? That was weird. Yikes. Patriots gave him a lot of money. I am going to go with Devante Smith, Devontas, Smith, I should say. of the Eagles as my spicy player. I thought about Jalen Carter because I do want to see him. I listen to Birds with Friends, the podcast about the Eagles that the athletic puts together.

They do a great job. If you're interested, check them out, Bo Wolves, Zach Berman. And they talked about, it's just a thought that maybe they didn't even get a slot receiver this offseason, almost because they want to keep Devonta and A.J. Brown as happy as possible. And that they're actually a little conscious of that and making sure these two guys are both so good that they want to make sure they're getting them the ball a lot every week and that they're both so competitive that they get so open that there's only so many balls to go around between those two and Godder.

And like, you don't need more. And talking about our friend Matt Harmon and reception, he looked at DeVant Smith's routes and like he wins everything in everywhere, every route. He is a superstar that could have superstar numbers, but he's playing next AJ Brown. So it would be a little trickier. But I think the Eagles are consciously.

that and they're just going to make sure they keep these dudes happy because they're just the two best players maybe on two of the best players on the team it's just it does something to your offense to have two guys who can always get open um and a j will make plays contested wise and you can see devonte make contested catches as well but the ability to actually get open uh in your routes whether it's zone whether it's man uh the the entire route tree it's you know it's why those those body type and weight questions coming out into the draft were a little silly Remember, like, I'd pick the Eagles a lot down the stretch. I just enjoyed watching how they operated with zero mercy out of the gate.

And when Brown and Smith, they would drop knockout punches on the opponent in the first quarter. He's also like, he's strong, like he's stronger than, let's say, Jalen Waddle, if he were going to compare it to it. He's a strong, even if he's a little lighter. Washington, let's wrap it up with the commandos. Let's wrap it up with one scary Terry, who is a spicy player who is so consistent regardless. of the quarterback play and the quarterback situation. And he's very even keeled, but I think that, you know, shift your perspective of spice to somebody who puts a feeling in defensive

coordinators to where Terry McLaren can break the game open. And if Sam Howell gets it together, I think we can have a great Terry season. And look what he's done with essentially zero at quarterback. It's a total chaos at quarterback. And if you look at their roster on offense, really both sides of the ball, There is a lot to like about Washington. I struggle to believe that the coaching staff will even be there a year from now, depending on what happens,

or especially what happens at quarterback. But McLaurin's done it wire to wire with terrible quarterback play. Well, I always remember that, I don't know if it was a Thursday night game. We watched over at Keisha's old place with Chris, and it was a Washington game. And he was a huge McLaren guy from the beginning, saying just like this dude's the truth. true number one. He's going to be a star. So as we wrap up here in the Chris Wesleyan

podcast studio, he had eyes on McLaurin. You're right. Like, his play is spicy. Him being a pro and not like complaining. Who cares? His play is spicy. Yeah. And he had every reason, every reason to complain. Yes, he does. I know. Washington. You set me up last week, Mark, to like talk about how they're, when we were talking projected starters, how balanced their roster is. And I kind of, I didn't really hit it right. I wish I had said, like they look like a good roster. I don't know about the quarterback thing, but like if it was, if you put a good quarterback on

that team, you'd be like, okay, this is a team. Let's see it, Sam. It's a big if. Show us. We did it. We picked the spicy. 32 teams. I don't think we've ever done a 32 team thing in a single show. So that's breaking ground. Maybe we have. Well, we do. Well, you're right.

I like to just say things and not fact check. I can't think of an instance. It's an odd, it's an odd thing to attempt to do in the first week of June, but I'm proud of it. I think it's good. I think it's good. It gives a little something for everyone. And it's spicy. And we got Randy Chavez involved. Spicey. We've got Eric Roberts involved. And we'll keep an eye on these mini camps this week.

And we'll be back on Thursday. Patrick, enjoy the rest of your week. I will. Thanks, guys. Well, Dan, back in the studio. Who knows? Maybe Colleen knows. Yeah. Should we bug her before the summer of Connie truly starts for Eric, for Randy, for Mark and Patrick. He'd the call.