NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - The Top 59 (!) Position Battles of NFL Training Camp

Episode Date: July 21, 2025

Gregg Rosenthal is joined by Nick Shook to get you caught up on the news from around the NFL and give you the top 59 position battles to keep your eye on during training camp. The guys talk about T.J. Watt getting his extension with the Steelers (04:00), Will Levis missing next season due to an injury (06:20), Mike Williams retiring (08:20), possible drama with the Cowboys (15:00), and more! After the break, a look at position battles between Giants QBs (26:02), Cowboys EDGE rushers and RBs (32:00), Colts QBs (41:00), several WR rooms across the league (49:00), Patriots RBs (56:05), Packers WRs (01:04:30), Seahawks WRs (01:10:36) and more! Note: time codes approximate. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

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Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. Welcome to NFL Daily, where we are officially reporting for training cam. Yes, I am back. state side in my garage for now and training camp is beginning this week. I am joined today by my friend Nick Shook and we are going to fire through a lot. A lot of news over the weekend as some teams are reporting. Some players are signing. We are going to go through the best position battles of the

2025 training camp. I have 59 written down. We will see if we can get to all 59 in this show. But I thought that we have to start this show. The first word for training camp should go to the man who is coaching the team who started training camp. The Santa Claus of football. Jim Harbaugh, how are you feeling? Oh, so excited. It's a homecoming. You know, I mean, all the best words in the English language, I mean, I associate to the first day of football.

You know, it's being reborn in football. It's the start of the year. It's the, you know, someone think it's January 1st. You know, those who espoused to Catholicism, Christianity would think it's the birth of Christ. Us in football, it's the first day at training camp. Homecoming. That's what I love Jim Harbaugh. Like no one else is saying, if you espouse to Christianity, it is like the birth of Jesus Christ.

But that's what I'm feeling. Shuki, we finally have some football to talk about looking forward to doing it with you. Yeah, birth of football. I just think about the Wilson Football Factory and all the footballs that they produce every year. You know, the birth of the Duke, it's a new era upon us. Another season is here.

Yeah, and we will be hitting your feed every Sunday evening, actually, during training camp. Me and Shook recapping all the news from around the league that's happened over the weekend, get you caught up. And then once the preseason starts,

all those takeaways on the preseason game. So that's part of our schedule moving forward. But now NFL Daily is back to being daily. We'll have a show for you every day this week looking forward to it. Let's get to the news. I can start in a million places here, but just kind of playing catch-up shook. I thought it was interesting that Von Miller is back in the NFL. He got a $6.1 million base to sign with the Washington commanders. And it makes me kind of wonder, like, what are these Washington commanders? Because on one hand, they have Jane Daniels. On the other hand, they were one of the oldest teams in the league,

and they needed help at the edge rush position. Do you think Von Miller can help them out? Yeah, I mean, they lost Dante Fowler and Free Agency. It was one of the most economical pickups last year. They needed to probably throw another body in there. So they give Von Miller an affordable deal. He's back in the NFL. But you're right.

Like, I think about Bobby Wagner being back there. I think about the trade for Marshawn Lattimore. They have a ton of veterans. So it doesn't surprise me at all. But it is an interesting dichotomy of this relatively young offense and this veteran defense. Dan Quinn, just collecting guys. as he knows he can count on.

Right. And Von Miller last year, he was a situational pass rusher for the bills. They cut him. The PFF numbers said he got a lot of pressure. I think on tape,

he just didn't seem that impactful to me. And then you look at their edge position. It's Dorrance Armstrong, who was pretty solid for them last year. And then it's Von Miller, Cleland Farrell, Dietrich Wise,

and Jacob Martin. I mean, those are some guys who have been around and they've seen some things. It's not a young dynamic group, and I thought it was interesting. They did not report any guaranteed money with this deal, at least that I've seen so far. So I'd be very interested to see that.

It's my guess that Von Miller has to actually make this team, that there's at least a chance that he shows up and doesn't look right, and they at least wanted to have that in their back pocket and potentially cut him if he doesn't look good. But they're obviously hoping he looks good. $6.1 million is not a ton of money, at least in current NFL terms. compared to the top of the market like T.J. Watt. So since we last taped the show, I was in Tokyo. I'm now back.

That jet lag is still hitting like a truck this morning. Shook, it's two in the morning right now in Tokyo. It's tomorrow. And after we taped that show, T.J. Watt signed a contract. That was fascinating to me. He gets $108 million guaranteed in the first three years of a four-year deal. What were your thoughts on that? I mean, this was the kind of.

that I thought, look, they need to get this done because it makes all the sense in the world for T.J. Watt to be, as Cam Hayward called him a one helmet guy and finish his career with the Steelers. And yet, with the age and the market exploding this off season, there were some barriers to get this done. Not at all surprised that it's $1 million more per year than what Miles Garrett got, because that's how the market works, and especially in a rivalry between two AFC North teams. So that makes all the sense in the world. It also makes all the sense in the world for him to stay with the Steelers as, you know, one of their most impactful defensive players of this era and of many eras. But yet, the three years points to the reality of it, which is, we also know he's not

exactly a spring chicken anymore. And it also points to the fact that they are still all in on this year with Aaron Rogers and all the veterans they've collected on that team. Yeah, they are spending money. The three years actually was a lot. It was a better deal than Garretz, ultimately, because he got that third year guaranteed. I think for people that, that are interested in the contract minutia of it all. Most players, unless they're really young, do not get that third year guaranteed. T.J. Watt will make $108 million.

That's the most ever for a non-quarterback. It's actually, in terms of fully guaranteed money, shook, more than Brock Purdy got, who's a quarterback. And more than Miles Garrett got, like, into that third year where it's fully guaranteed. He's going to be 33 that year. I thought T.J. Watt had his worst season last year

in the second half of this season, he looked a little worn down. To me, this is a highly risky deal. I would hate to doubt T.J. Watt, but the fact that he's going to be making $36 to $40 million in his age 33 season is a big time risk, but the Steelers stepped up. They are very deep at the edge rush position. And T.J. Watts staying, which is good.

You want the great players to stay as long as possible. Will Levis, not a great player for the Titans last year. We're taping on Monday this morning. He randomly was announced that he's out for the season. Anything stand out to you there? No, I mean, it's unfortunate because he's had such a tumultuous time in Nashville with this team. And as they've gone through so much transition, and he has been known to, you know, cause a lot of self-inflicted errors and mistakes for that team. I mean, there's the whole shout of Brian Callahan.

What are you doing on the sideline last year? Like, that is basically that typifies his entire time in Tennessee. It's a bummer, though, because you knew they were moving on. to Cam Ward, but you always had Will back there as just in case. And you never know. It could be a trade chip. You never know. And now all of that's out the window because he can't participate at all this year, which is a bummer for him. And we'll set him down this path where maybe he ends up with another team as a backup, but that's essentially his fate is sealed. That's his future. So I should have given credit to our guy. The insider game, it's back on. Ian Rappaport broke

this exclusively. So good job by Ian. And I thought the wording was very interesting. And it said after consulting with his doctors and his representatives, and that was from, I believe, the team, you know, Levis decided to do this. And just makes you wonder, he had this injury last year. He supposedly was having good training camp. I'm sure it was bothering him, of course. But if he was the starter, would he be having this surgery? It almost sounded like the team was caught unawares.

And there was a funny tweet out there, which I wish I could credit. It was a Titans, you know, content creator who said, oh, Will Levis, like, waiting and waiting and waiting to the last decision and then, you know, making a choice that the Titans organization didn't like, this doesn't seem unlike him at all. I mean, like I said, self-inflicted heirs. Yeah, they have Brandon Allen is their next quarterback up, and they might be looking for more depth there because that's not great. You would like some more depth behind the rookie.

All right, just flying through some of the veteran news, then we have some off-field news. And again, we're getting to 59 position battles today. Mike Williams retired at the beginning of Chargers training camp. They drafted Trey Harris shook in the second round. And I didn't think this wide receiver group looked better enough, at least not in terms of the upgrades I was expecting this offseason before Mike Williams retired. And now he retires. He's 30. He had recurring injuries.

and just didn't feel good coming off of this latest injury that they said he'd be ready for training camp. I think they surprised them by retiring. And what do you think about what's around Herbert right now? Yeah, I didn't feel great about it last year. Obviously, he wasn't there. He was with the Jets to start the year before he ended up back there. But it just didn't feel good. It was Ladd-McConkie and trying to run Josh Palmer deep, which did not work for them. And I don't feel much better about where they stand right now. I mean, you have McConkey and Troy Harris, so I guess that's a little bit better, but at the same time, it's just a lot of, it's a big question mark. This is not their, you know, for having a quarterback as good as Justin Herbert, that is not their identity. We know

where they've invested and it's been in the running back room, the offensive line. They want to be a tough throwback physical team. That's the horrible identity. It just doesn't make me feel good about this group. But also, it gave me like a reason to dive into Mike Williams' career picture for a second. Okay. And for as much as we, you know, valued him as a receiver who came out of Clemson, who was a big time player and everything else, he only had 2,000 yard receiving seasons in his career. And I know he dealt with a lot of injuries over the course of his career, which is always the big knock on him. And he had one where he flirted with. He finished with 895, another one with 756 and 15 games. Kind of surprising for me. I think that we held him in higher esteem than his

stats maybe suggested he should have been. But, hey, nonetheless, a career, I guess well played and ends where it started. Yeah, you feel for him, he struggled with the injuries with the Jets last year. You're right. I think it was because he stepped up and Herbert talked about this a lot in big moments. He definitely timed his best season well with that 76-yard season where he had nine touchdowns and over 1100 yards and got the contract after that. And he tended to make the biggest plays when it mattered. He made very highly difficult plays. But yeah, kind of a B, I would say, in terms of a guy that got taken seventh overall. But you feel for him. I think you could sound You could hear Herbert was a little heartbroken

because Mike Williams was hoping to have kind of a renaissance here and he was just frustrated with another injury and yeah, the Chargers, they're out there, not too far away from me right now. It's like rainy and kind of cold on the west side of Los Angeles. I was told by Tony, Tony, Tony

that it never rains in Southern California. It's rainy and it's like 65 degrees or whatever and they're down there in El Segundo and it's Monday, as I mentioned. They're already on day five of their training camp, They are in pads on Monday. So the first team to get in pads, they showed up three days before the Lions who are also in that Hall of Fame game. So those were the first two teams to get going.

The rest of the league will show up the rest of the week. Speaking of the Lions, got some injury knees. Levi Onu Zerike will miss the entire season. He was a free agent this year, and they brought him back. He's had ups and downs in his career because of injuries. And he has a torn ACL. I guess that happened in the off season. So that it's just like starting out a little bit.

how last season ended, which is a bummer. I saw Josh Pascal, who's there another edge rusher on Wuzerrique's more of an inside guy, is out until at least September. And then they also revealed that Taylor Decker, their starting left tackle, is coming off of a knee surgery that we didn't know anything about, and his start of training camp as delayed, although they think he is going to be fine. So just like, it's one of those things you want to be able to turn the page. I feel like this happened to the Ravens for a few years in row.

they'd be the most injured team in the league. And then the next training camp, they'd show up, and they'd be the most injured team and train. And it's just like a bummer of a way to start out to lose a guy that you really were counting on and that you re-signed in the off season before training camp even starts. Yeah, and I believe Alie McNeil is also coming back from injury too.

So like the on-paper depth that you thought you might have had by bringing him back suddenly is not there. And this is an injury that surprised them. They didn't know this until after free agency that he was dealing with this. And then it just became clear that he needed to address. Now, I remember talking about this signing on the show, and we thought, well, that's a pretty low cost. I think it was three and a half million for a year.

And it was like, well, why wouldn't he get more? Because nobody was really interested because of his own injury history. He had the back issues before and now this. So it's a bummer. You hate to see guys' careers get interrupted by injury. But I guess it's not entirely surprising. It does make me a little bit worried about the lions, just like you said, because that was always the Ravens big hang up. Like they had good teams.

It's just it was usually their secondary was always banged up, incredibly banged up. They'd throw everything at the wall to try to get super. deep at the position and still run into injury issues. I hope the same fate isn't ahead for the lions this season. Yeah, the whole idea behind this lion's season is sure that maybe the offense doesn't come out firing as much with the changes in their offensive line and there's a new offensive coordinator and like maybe they're not the top of the top right off the bat, but the improvement from the defense is going to make up for it. And this is obviously a disappointing start and I'm going to keep an eye on that Taylor Decker injury too. But no one panic. We've got about

six weeks till week one. So we've got a lot of time. We'll be having lots of... I mean, six weeks is okay. You're not getting known Wuzerike back, but I'm saying like Taylor Decker and, you know, sometimes I found that I've panicked over like late July injuries

and sometimes they're fine by like mid to late August and that's all that really matters. We're going to get a lot of contracts over the next couple weeks of good young players getting paid. One of them was George Carloftus. the Chiefs, Edge Rusher, who was part of that great draft class they had, what, now four years ago with Trent McDuffie as well.

He gets $32 million guaranteed, not a ton, $61 million guaranteed for injury on a four-year, $88 million extension. But if you include the two years, he still had left on his deal, it's six for 105. So a very rare, that's under $20 million a year, like middle class contract where he gets a ton of security and they get a good player, a plus starter. long term. That's good for him. I noticed that the Patriots did not put Stefan Diggs on the Pup list to start camp. So he's coming off a torn ACL, but he is literally ahead of schedule. And we'll talk about the Patriots-wide receivers a little later in the position battles, but that's good news for him. And then I notice his brother, we're combining the digs here, was docked $500,000 by the Cowboys for not working out with the team enough. He had a bonus

in his contract where he had to be rehabbing or being with the team at the facility enough and he wasn't there and there's been a whole story of how he wasn't at the team facility enough to rehab and they're not going to pay him $500,000. That's their choice. Like they have the right to do that, but they could have also just ignored it. It speaks a little to a larger issue maybe between Diggs and the Cowboys right now. Yeah, an interesting one. It's also an interesting one because when you look at contracts and you break them down, you just assume that the workout bonus, which is usually like 500 grand, is going to just pay through because I would.

Unless you're Lamar Jackson. He didn't take it again this year, by the way. It shows how rich he is that. He's just like, no, I don't need that. Half a million dollars. I don't need that. I'm fine with that. Yeah, that's totally fine.

But yeah, I think it's definitely worth keeping an eye on, especially because the Cowboys, again, being the team that struggles with contract situations and roster management, just when you compare it against conventional wisdom, it always raises an eyebrow. What do things really go, you know, what do they like in that building with some of these key players? Yeah, I, uh, I just wonder,

When is he going to be ready to play again? Is it going to be in the 2025 season? Is he going to play again? They're a team that has a lot of question marks in that secondary. Just a couple other little news items. Seahawks released Noah Fant, who was scheduled to make $7 million, and I thought was going to be their starter. So that's a sign of confidence, I guess, in their two guys who are left over.

Who is it? Elijah Royo and A.J. Barner, so they'll get some extra run. The Bengals brought back Desmond Ritter, the former Cincinnati. Barry Bearcat. I know the Wesleyan brothers are going to be fired up. He's now with the Bengals. And I mentioned the Chargers and Trey Harris, who they haven't been using to replace Mike Williams. And that's one of the reasons I was frustrated about, you know, and just disappointed with that retirement was Quinton Johnson is now back in that X receiver spot, which it just just doesn't seem like he's made for. They're using Trey Harris kind of, as you said, at the Josh Palmer spot, moving him around. He was among a flurry of second. round signings. I was never really worried about this standoff where the entire league of second rounders were not signing, but they have all almost signed now. There are only four second rounders left. A lot of them got fully guaranteed deals, including Tyler Shuck, the Saints quarterback, Luther Burden, as deep as like the 39th 40 pick. And everyone else has basically signed.

Your guy, Quinchin Junkins, is one of the players who didn't sign. He is facing a different situation. I guess let's pivot now to the off-the-field stuff, and we'll hit these quick, but just a number of off-the-field news. Quentin Jenkins is not showing up to training camp. I think the team basically told him to stay away until he handles his off-the-field issues. We mentioned on the show last week that he was arrested on a charge of misdemeanor domestic violence. So, you know, something that the Browns in the league are going to take seriously. It might be a while before we see him in uniform shook. Yeah, I would agree

and the proper way of going about these things but everything gets sorted out on that end and whether he ends up playing football for them or not remains to be seen but there's no reason

to keep him around and really I think from a team standpoint too you don't need guys you know being asked questions about him either while he's there

so it's the right way to go about it as they handle this yeah and you know he he's unsigned I mentioned there were three other

second rounders unsigned I expect they'll be signed before the veterans report on on Tuesday. And then there is that one first-rounder that's unsigned Shemar Stewart with the Bengals, who's part of our one of those position battles.

So the very last other first-rounder, Jaday Barron, did sign before Broncos camp started. Another item to update you on is the NFLPA chief Lloyd Howell resigning over the weekend. I believe it was on Friday or Thursday night. And this was according to the Associated Press that he resigned as executive director of the NFLPA citing distractions that is leadership caused in recent weeks. And then that was followed up on Sunday by the NFLPA chief strategy officer, J.C. Tretter, he used to, you know, be the head of the players, resigning from his position and withdrawing himself from consideration for the NFL's PA's interim executive position. Howell came under scrutiny. Since ESPN reported, he maintained a

part-time consulting job with the Carlyle Group, a private equity firm that holds legal approval to seek minority ownership in NFL franchises. And, man, this all comes on the heels. It is so complicated, but it all comes on the heels of Pablo Tori and my old boss, Mike Floria, hopping him out, but Pablo Tori, Tori, unearthing this document that the NFLPA in the league had a confidentiality agreement to keep quiet over an arbitrator's ruling about possible collusion over quarterback salaries. And then there were a number of other investigations and revelations about Howell. And the really logline of this all is that, look, time flies.

We're already halfway through this collective bargaining agreement. They're going to be able to redo the TV deals in a few years. It's a new CBA in another five years. And so the NFLPA is looking for an executive. director and just a lot of upheaval within their organization. Man, this section is my least favorite section of the show. We got Trump talking about the Washington commanders possibly changing their name back, shook, to their old name. And I was like, is this worth even mentioning on the show? It's just, you know, a social media post. But there is some actual football

relevance here because there's a threat. The federal government is helping to potentially fund a new stadium. And part of what Trump put in the social media post was that could potentially be contingent on them changing the name back. The mayor was asked about it on Monday morning. So I don't think there's much to say here, Shook, but it's just a story that maybe going away. I just say bring the Washington football team name back. That everyone could agree with. I think it's fine. I just think that it may be a product of boredom and being online too much because how does it matter? I understand how it matters because they're trying to build a stadium. And for the first time in seemingly forever, this franchise has a ton of positive

momentum. So of course, living like this has to get in the way. But yeah, hopefully this all just blows over. And a week from now, it's not a topic anymore. We'll see. They are wearing some of the old throwback uniforms you've seen in social, them kind of embracing their history. As you would expect, it's a proud franchise, but, man, I thought we were done talking about the name of the team. I thought commanders was actually going to stick out. It's fine. It's totally fine. And the uniforms are fine. Everything's fine. Let's just move. I'm saying it tongue and cheek. I think people would be all for Washington football team. I liked it. Rishi Rice, and this ends are off the field part of the show.

finally received his punishment for the arrest he had last off season. He will be sentenced to 30 days in jail and five years of probation after authorities said he and another speeding driver caused a chain reaction crash that left multiple people injured on the Dallas Highway last year. Ah, that's it. It's like a down note to go into news. And by the way, he's going to show up to training camp and the chiefs are just going to wait to see how long he's suspended, assuming he is suspended,

but we haven't heard anything from the league yet. So for now, Rishi Rice is just showing up and we'll be practicing at training camp unless the league comes to a very quick decision. It's such a sour note there to end the news on that I think we've got to circle back to these chargers who are giving us a lot of news. It's always an advantage.

You show up for that first week, you just dominate the news cycle for a week. Herbo shook, showed up with those contacts, like the UV rate contacts where you kind of look like one of the reporters there said he looked like the Sith Lord. I'm not as familiar with the Star Wars, but I kind of know what he's getting at. He looks a little freaky in the huddle. Do you think that means we get a better Justin Herbert?

Well, I can tell you one thing. Back in the day, I think it was Brian Roberts of the Orioles used to wear these contacts. They were made by Nike at the time. I got a pair. You could get a trial pair in your prescription because I'm blind as a bat without contacts. and I wore them playing high school baseball. It is incredible how vivid the colors are and how it really helps.

It separates. You can see the ball. I can totally understand why he would do that there. Doesn't mean he's going to score more touchdowns. They do play in a stadium with a translucent roof. So I don't really know what it means. But it's not like, is your vision better? Is your vision better?

No, it's like wearing contacts, but the colors are changed. It's like putting sunglasses on your eyes. Like if you wear the top tier sunglasses that just make things green is more green and things like that. The football pops, that sort of thing. I don't think they're going to score more points, but it's kind of fun to watch. And it's cool to look at

when you look at the pictures of him up close because he looks crazy. It's funny you mention that. There's multiple things that play here for me personally. I'm colorblind, so green isn't always exactly green or it kind of blends in a little bit with brown and gray and purple. A lot of confusion, a lot of making fun of me by my kids. I, in Tokyo, got some prescription sunglasses.

this is making me think of that. The thing is popping more than ever. And I'm like, it doesn't really make any sense because I wear sunglasses over my just normal contacts and shouldn't that be the same. But you just explain something to me. I actually thought maybe the prescription in these are too strong because it's like I'm, I feel like I'm in a VR headset when I'm wearing these prescription sunglasses. It's the first I ever got. And it opened your world up. Like it's just, and when you take them out or you take those sunglasses off, you're like, God, I think I want to put these back on. Maybe it's not ultra-realistic. because they're tinted, but it's amazing to experience.

We've spent way too long on this, but shout out to Japan, who is coming up with a way to give me high quality and attractive products for like a fraction of the price that you would get here. So let's step up. That's why I'm doing things like buying sneakers and prescription sunglasses there. Everything is way cheaper there. Shout out to Japan. Let's step it up, America.

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

What was that? Oh, my. We think NFL coverage should be in four. informative and entertaining and twice a week that is exactly what you're going to get listen to nfl cover zero with matt jones and drew franklin on the i heart radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast toyota the official automotive partner of the nfl visit troyota dot com slash nfl now to learn more what's up everybody daniel jeremiah here and i'm bucky brooks on move the sticks we take you inside the game from scouting reports and player development To team-building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. Every week, we study the tape, talk to decision makers, and share the insights you won't find anywhere else. It's the kind of conversation that connects the dots, from college football prospects to the NFL stars of tomorrow.

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I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fans. fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL fantasy football podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet,

we've got the insight to help you crush your opponents. Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. Back on NFL Daily, I'm here in slightly rainy Southern California, and my backyard is a little bit of a pond right now.

And it's not because of the rain shook, it's because there's a broken water pipe deep within my ground, which is a major problem. And I've got someone digging the entire yard up in my... Oh, French drain. Like my water bill is going to be like thousands of dollars because it was leaking the entire time. I was gone and then I came back to a lake in the backyard so that that's fun position battles

I wrote down 59 I just thought it would be a good exercise for me personally to just go through them all and and like have an idea of what we're dealing with and write them down as I went and we'd talk about the top shelf ones and then I thought why not take this as a challenge shook do you think we can get 59 position battles in without this show being like insanely long well I'm going to have to really be economical with my words, but we really should, everybody should take away is that if they ever need an example of how Greg Rosenthal is a football sicko, it's the 59 position battles that we're going to go through. Okay, here we go, though. I'm going to rank them in order of how much I actually want to talk about them. So we can talk pretty quickly about the top 10,

the top 20, and then we'll really fly through the rest. Just pick out some highlights and some quick thoughts, but we don't need to go too crazy. So I, I, I, I, I, I, I, think the position battle I want to talk about the most is maybe this is obvious because it's not all quarterbacks at the top, but James and Russ and Jackson Dart is to me the perfect kind of dumb, chaotic summer fair that I like. You know what I mean? It's like a much better version of the Brown's quarterback battle, which just seems like kind of depressing to me. Like this all just seems so funny imagining those three guys in the room. They all have extremely chaotic playing styles. None of them really seem like they fit with Brian Dable to me. Exactly. Maybe

Winston, I don't even know. It's in New York. There's going to be good quote. Like, everything about it, I'm actually in on it. I'd like it even more if I felt like it was truly an open battle, but I guess it's Russ's job to lose. What do you think? Yeah, it's the perfect quarterback training camp battle souffle. Like, we just get the primary ingredients. We get the ecutrauma, We get the aromatics that make everything better. Like, you got, your base is Russell Wilson. And then James Winston's like, ooh, the interesting, spicy thing that we threw on. And then Jackson Darts, the unknown that ends up bringing out the whole dish.

It's, it's, it's, how it's going to go. Russ is going to win the job because it's going to be his job. James is going to be your backup, veteran backup. And Darts going to be the, oh, I don't know. We don't know anything about him. Let's see if we can get them all the field. If things go really poorly, don't be surprised if Jackson Darts on the field. but I think for now, that's the way it lines up.

See, I don't know. Like, Russell Wilson was with Sean Payton. Sean Payton couldn't wait to get rid of him. He didn't fit. He was with Arthur Smith and the Steelers. Ultimately, in terms of the contract offers, they chose Justin Fields as a guy they would rather have long term over Russell Wilson.

They did not want to keep Russell Wilson. He's not getting paid like that much money. I guess he's probably going to be the starter. I'd feel better. I think James would be the most interesting and maybe give them the best chance to win. But I look at them all and just think of the ups and the downs James has had since he was a number one overall pick, like one of the characters.

Russell Wilson, like one of the defining figures of his generation, like so up and down, such a high ceiling in theory, but not anymore, and a really low floor. And that's how I think of Jackson Dart, too, who has a prospect to me was completely boomer bust, had so much to learn. I think he is playing to potentially win the week one job. And if he plays well enough, he's going to get that job in like week three or week four at the latest. So we will see.

But I'm just ready for anything there. Number two on my list is the Bucks wide receivers. So we got Amika Agbuka. We've got Jalen McMillan, who we haven't talked about much on the show. And then we've got Chris Godwin, who's not going to be ready for the start of training camp. So he's there with his health. Obviously, it's his job when he gets there. But I just didn't want to sleep on McMillan because, man, he ended season the last.

season really strong. And they've got some other guys there, Trey Palmer, and then my guy, Sterling Shepard, actually ended the season as like a nice role player. So I just thought that was an interesting mix. Everyone automatically assumes the first round pick. Egbuka comes in there and has a great role. But this is where training camp can help you learn some things like, will he hit the ground running? And it doesn't always happen. And you can pick this up with training camp reports and kind of how the preseason is going. Yeah, but I love this group on paper. Like I know worried about Gobin not coming back healthy, you know, immediately. But this is like the top six, I'm good with this. Like Evans, Gavin, Gabon, Ibuka, McMillan, Shepard, even Trey Palmer.

Like, I like all these guys. They also drafted Tess Johnson, who's very thin and slight for the NFL, but had a nice career at Oregon. Like, I love this group. And I also love the way that McMillan ended his season. Like he, in the back half, basically from, what is it, week 12 on, he was pretty solid. Like he, okay, two for 25 in one game, but then you get five for 75, five for 74 and a touchdown. four for 59 and two touchdowns. How much of that is due to Baker Mayfield and Liam Cohen and then offense

and the fact that he's playing with Godwin and Evans or at that point it was just Evans and whoever else they could throw out there, including Shepard. That remains to be seen, but I think his upside is very high and adding a book into that group. I think it's one of the stronger receiving cores

in the NFL, so I'm super excited. And frankly, I don't really necessarily worry about how it's going to shake out. I just think they have a lot of good options. I agree. McMillan, I think, don't sleep on it. It was a little like Bucky Irving. Like he really picked up his point.

play late in the season and made some difficult catches down the field. Like, he is the speedster of that group, and I just love that team. I love that group. The next couple are the Cowboys. I don't want to go too long. We might be doing a little Cowboys on Tuesday's show with Colleen Wolf. But, man, when I was going through it, I realized their edge position is awesome. Like, you have the best player in the league, potentially, Micah Parsons.

That's who I would take, even over your guy, Miles Garrett. If I could just pick someone, I would take Parsons. And then on the other side, you have a battle of Sam Williams, who tore his ACL in early 2024, but looked really good in 2023 as like a young rising edge rusher. You have a first-round pick I liked a lot in Donovan Azaraco. You have Dante Fowler, who you just mentioned, had a nice season for Washington last year. And then you have Marshawn Neeland, who's coming off of an injury as well, but is expected, I think, to be ready for the start of the season. He had a meniscus tier. And I was thinking, like, is this the best edge group in the league?

The Cowboys are a little frisky. That's a good group if everything worked out well. And those four are really fighting for snaps. Not everyone can play because you know Parsons is playing every snap. Yeah, you're going to stay fresh and you're going to stay fresh opposite Michael Parsons. But I think it's really an example of you buying into and believing in the potential of what all these guys could be collectively. And you know what? It's July. I'm on board with that. Only, like, two need to hit. And that's where the Cowboys running back situation doesn't make much sense to me. They're next of my list.

Their running back battle is Javante Williams, who just did not look good most of the last couple of years. Miles Sanders, who's sort of a journeyman at this point, hasn't, you know, really done. And Jaden Blue, a fifth round pick, who were already hearing whispers and not positive ones about, like, how he looked in the off season. And just why? Like, why, it shouldn't be this hard to find a running back shook? This is also a team that let Tony Pollard walk and they let Rico Doudal walk.

And this is how they responded. I think we've talked about this before. I hate this room. I think it's one of the lowest ceiling rooms in the NFL, especially when you're putting that next to Dak Prescott. You finally get another receiver next to CD Lamb and then you have this to show for running back. I don't like it at all. I think about Jaden Blue is the guy who ran the wheel route against Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl

for a touchdown. like it's it's basically that's what i see out of him um the rest of the group miles sanders has operated in anonymity in carolina and like he said about giovante williams after being an exciting guy out of north carolina has never really put it together in the last couple of years so low ceiling not excited about this group at all and i think it could hold them back pretty significantly that it is a position though you can find guys from other teams so could they be a a travis et n team at the end of training camp some sort of veteran that you could send a sixth round pick you know swap it the cowboys love to do that wouldn't surprise me but

just why uh number five let's go back to the quarterbacks tyler shuck and spencer rattler again what i like in the summer is like it's like popcorn movies i like i want it to be just sort of dumb this is what august is about like spencer rattler was all over the place last year but he's got a new head coach and kellen more who i think will be a lot more organized and he's got that year of experience in the offseason. Supposedly, he looked better than Shuck. And yet we know Shuck, who signed a fully guaranteed contract and is in camp on time is the heavy, heavy favorite.

If it's anywhere close to a tie, they'll give it to Shuck. I would assume Shook. Yeah, the investments in him. Yeah, well, I was kind of blew my mind when I heard some people pronouncing his name is Shook, even though it's spelled differently. Riddle me that. But, yeah, it's a low-expectation team.

and I think it starts at quarterback because this is the guy that is the favorite. But the agenda still exists. The agenda continues to push Spencer Rattler into our consciousness. And I, like you, would totally sign up for chaos that leads to Spencer Rattler

being out there and putting on a bit of a show with Kellyn Moore. That would be fun. They start the season with three NFC West teams, which is not easy. Is there a chance that they put Rattler out there at the beginning with some tough games before the schedule opens up

just to give them a job. a chance because you don't want to be like flip-flopping. Maybe the rest of our listers' art is interested in that, but like, to me, that's what August is all about. Like, finding a week one starter, it's these two weird guys, you know, Shuck is significantly older than Rattler, but to me had, you know, very high ceiling tape in college and yet couldn't handle pressure. It's just a lot going on.

I think it's fun. The Giants Edge Battle was next on my list because to me, it's just juicy that you have the number two pick of the draft. Carter, who you just assume is going to start. But you have a guy in Kvon, Tibido, who was a top, what, five pick, top seven pick, hugely talented, hasn't really paid off that talent, but maybe he's got a fire lit under him, got some experience. Like, I'm not just assuming that Carter ends up ahead of him.

So to me, this is, it's kind of fascinating. You don't normally have two really high draft picks like that going after each other at the same position. Yeah, I mean, if you look at this group as a whole, I mean, Brian Burns opposite them. Like, they're going to be good either way. It's just... They have a, well, who, Chauncey Goldston, too, who's like a good, he's a good fourth defensive end who they signed to some money who played for the Cowboys, too. Yeah, so you want to talk about edge groups. I mean, I kind of like this group more than the last group we talked about. Okay. It's just a matter of his, when they drafted Carter, it was a no-brainer

because a lot of people thought he was the best player in the draft. So it made sense. But on a roster construction from that standpoint. Not so much. But then again, is it because Kavon Tibido is not the guy they thought they were getting? That's the question. I think Carter wins this job, and I think it applies pressure to Tibido, who, I mean, he had his own endorsement deals a year ago. Now he's looking at potentially having to split snaps or start behind a rookie in Abdul-Carter, which makes it very interesting, especially in a market like New York. Yeah, I remember Kvon, you know, on draft. Friend, friend of the career? We've made friends with him on a around the NFL. And I would say, yeah, the Carter pick is not only was he the best pick.

And to me, they had two options, him or Travis Hunter. I think they made the wrong choice personally, but I think it had to be one of those two. And you had to take them for the talent. But part of it is absolutely that Tibido hasn't lived up to his building. He's been like a good player, but not a great player. And it's not like a quarterback battle. They're both going to play. It's just who's going to be first in line, who's going to get more snaps. And if Carter is playing a lot over Tibido and Goldston kind of sneaks in there. And then does this Tibido, you know, honk a little bit? We'll see.

The next one is a similar type of battle. I mentioned Shamar Stewart, who's holding out in Cincinnati, we presume. The camp hasn't actually started yet, but they were talking on Monday, just hopeful that he'll show up. And Trey Hendrickson also they're not totally sure about, but I think he might show up and hold in. The edge battle opposite Hendrickson, and if Hendrickson's not, there is is pretty grim it's a former first round pick miles murphy who hasn't done anything in

his first two years it's stewart who was like the biggest workout wonder of the the league and it's another guy joseph asi who they brought back who they've always had high hopes for i remember him in that in that super bowl making a couple of plays against the rams but otherwise has been mostly quiet and man it that's it's kind of a thin group there shook especially if hendrickson's not there But even if Hendrickson's there, that's an interesting group with some first-round picks after him. Yeah, I think that in such a, what I think is going to be, a pivotal season for the Bengals, that they've done themselves a massive disservice by letting this Hendrickson thing last as long as it has, understandably, because money is involved.

But the rest of the group, I mean, you have to replace a guy who retired, and suddenly you can't figure out who's going to be there. And so you go with Osai, you hope you take traits guys in Stewart and Murray, Murphy, lack of production coming out of college, especially Stewart, and you can't even get Stewart in the building. Do you want to talk about Grimm? I would be very worried if I was a Bengals fan about this, especially if they can't figure it out with Hendrickson. And this is a defense that was so bad, Lou Anirubo lost his job. This is going to be an important part of your team. We're going to get back to the playoffs. And going into camp like this, every year, there's

something with them in camp, but this is not encouraging. Right. Just because I want to, you know, combine them. Number 21 on my list is the guard situation with the Bengals, too. It's just a really good team to have some really big holes when you look at their roster. Their cornerback position, too, they have to shake out. But edge and then their guards where really both spots are up for grabs, and they're hoping some of their draft picks pan out. And everyone just assumes draft picks are going to pan out. And then you just look at Miles Murphy.

A year ago at this time, he's the Eddresher. There are all these articles. Okay, after a quiet first year, first round pick, Miles Murphy is ready to go. and he's going to be a big contributor for the Bengals. And then we got nothing from him, basically, for the second straight year. And so they got to show that they can develop these guys. So it's a really good team in theory because it's got really great strengths. But man, they have some big holes at edge and at guard.

We got to mention the Colts quarterback situation. Anthony Richardson sounds like he's going to be ready for training camp. So that's good. It'll at least give him, in theory, even footing with Daniel Jones. who do you think wins that battle shook? I mean, the messaging with Richardson was weird when it was revealed that he wasn't going to be participating in minicamp. It's encouraging that he's going to be ready,

or at least we think he's going to be ready. It sounds like he will be. I mean, this is an absolutely pivotal crossroads year for him. He's got to come through this year. And losing your job to Daniel Jones would be embarrassing for him, but also embarrassing for the Colts for spending the fourth overall. pick on him. And yet they seem like they want to do it. They gave Daniel Jones $14 million. Just. Yes, because I think Shane Steichen is tired of it. He needs somebody he can rely on.

I don't know if he can rely on Daniel Jones unless he just needed a change of scenery. So Eileen Richardson because of the investment in him, but I also don't think that they are completely committed to him in that they would overlook him being, you know, outworked or outperformed by Daniel Jones in this camp. So I think it's going to be one of the more fascinating ones outside of what we talked about in New York and what we might talk about in Cleveland just because it's going to matter so much for the entire state of this franchise.

Right, and post-knee surgery, Daniel Joseph was not the same as pre-knee surgery. I know he was never a Pro Bowl player, but he was worse last year than he's ever looked. And so maybe a year, you know, healthier, he'll be better. But to me, Richardson should win this battle. They'd just be so much more interesting. But there's something weird going on there.

I think they feel like tough love is maybe like motivating Anthony Richardson and that's why they've been so aggressive. We'll see. The Jags running backs I mentioned Travis E.TN. Now I'm confusing the Trevor and the Travis of the ETN brothers who are now in the NFL. But you have the original one is in Jacksonville and he's facing off against Tank Biggsby and Bayshall Tutin. And I know who's a fourth round pick this year, I know fantasy guys base everything off last year, but sometimes sometimes guys show up different than they were the year before. And who knows, maybe ETN shows up this year

and he looks better than Biggsby and takes it back. It's an interesting group. And if ETN isn't the winner here and they like Tutin, then maybe he's a trade chip at the end of the camp. Yeah, that's been the rumor so much that Liam Cohen had to come out and talk about it months ago about how much they love him and he shows up. He's consistent and everything else,

which is kind of like the ownership vote of confidence right before a coach gets fired, where it's like, it's that last little nudge that we really like this guy, we're also dangling him there. Bigsby outperformed him last year, and it was not a good offense. So, you know, take that with a grain of salt. Tutin's a guy who's very fast, who didn't produce, like, the most positive marks coming

out of, you know, the spring activity. So it's going to be an interesting dynamic there with those three. But I think by the end of camp, if ETN doesn't show that he's on track for a bounce back year, he's in trade talks, and we're talking about a Bigsby, Tutin backfield in Jacksonville. Yeah, Tutin was the guy who blew up the combine with that. that 4-2 or whatever just just a big boy running extremely fast finally our top 10 to wrap up the top 10 we got 49 more after that we're going to fire through um it's the it's the chief's tackle

situation so they're starting camp with joan taylor it's been their right tackle on the p o p list i found that really interesting because josh simmons uh who fell in the draft all the way to the chiefs very talented tackle because he's coming off of a major knee reconstruction is not on the PUP list. So they have Simmons, the first round pick. They have Jalen Moore, who they gave $15 million a year to, who was the backup to Trent Simmons over in San Francisco. And I find this one really interesting because it's the Chiefs.

It could impact the Super Bowl. But also, like, if Juan Taylor takes a while to come back, like, could both of those guys start? Could Simmons be on one side and on the right side maybe? And Moore's on the left side. In the end, you're kicking last year's second round pick, Kingsley, Sue and Matea, inside to left tackle. Maybe Jalen Moore, I mean, to left guard, rather,

actually could move inside to left guard. There's been some talk, too, if they like Simmons at left tackle and they pay them that way. So it's just a puzzle that the chiefs are trying to figure out. But Josh Simmons, to me, is like a really big part of how good this team could be this year. Yeah, and we also can't forget Mike Calliando's role in this, too, because this is the assembly of a puzzle, this offensive line. We saw how important it was to find some sort of stability there,

which they didn't. They had to kick out Joe Tuny to left tackle last year. So they're just throwing a lot of options out there and hoping that they find a starting five. And I think that this could take on a number of different appearances in terms of where a guy is playing or who's playing, you know, what position by week, who's starting, who's not, which is not super encouraging for a team that's been to the Super Bowl.

But they're talented. Like there's a lot of investment that Lee, Shook. It's like it's a first round pick who a lot of people thought was the most talented tackle in the draft. Not without effort. It's Jalen Moore who they're paying $15 million a year

who's interesting. And Joanne Taylor who's been overpaid the last few years and if he makes the team this year and I assume he will, I would guess this is his last year with the chief. So it's just, it's interesting.

They are making sure that Patrick Mahomes is protected or at least making sure they're doing everything possible spending a lot of money. Supposedly they wanted Ronnie Stanley and the Ravens stepped up and kept him. All right, we're going to start going a little faster here.

We're outside of the top 10. Our next three, we've got the Dolphins cornerback situation. It's just wide open. The top candidates to be their cornerbacks are Storm Duck, Cam Smith, Ethan Bonner. Those are outside. So I think they're going to add someone at some point. We have Cater Kohu, but he's more of an inside nickel guy.

So that's just like a little worrisome. you're a Dolphins fan. I'm going to be watching that. You got the Bill's second cornerback. They drafted a first round pick in Maxwell Harrison. But Tredavius White is back there. Dane Jackson is back on the team. So I'll be interested to see if Harrison really steps up as like a young draft pick.

They want him to start. And then we got your Brown's quarterbacks. I couldn't put them any higher than this on the list just because it's just a little bit of like, it's going to be interesting to watch. But for who, for what? shook yes to what end is this two things two things here the Dolphins defense as a whole is concerning to me especially in a big year for them and and look no further than cornerback as you mentioned but the Brown's quarterback situation

comes down to a simple sentence I tweeted like a week ago well we posted a picture maybe it was two weeks ago of the four quarterbacks for the AFC North Browns training camp preview and I just said I'm sorry but how do you not laugh at this picture because it's I mean these are your options like you got four of none of them are probably good enough to start for most teams, but they got to figure out and find one. So it's intriguing because if you like chaos and, you know, like you said,

popcorn movies, that sort of thing, you're going to get that in Cleveland, but it's not super encouraging. I mean, let's go through them. How many of them would be backups on most teams? Flacco probably would be a backup on more than half the teams in the league.

He's, I think, a good backup, but he was freely available for not much money and no one wanted him. So for the most part, like that says something. I don't think Kenny Pickett would be a backup on most teams necessarily. The Eagles dumped him. And then, yeah, you have Dylan Gabriel and Shudur Sanders,

who are a third and a fifth round draft pick, wouldn't normally be counted on to be a backup. So, yeah, I just want to kind of catch everyone up. If you haven't been listening to NFL Daily and you're, like, plugging back in at the start of training camp, just kind of where everything is. And so we're going over all these position battles. But, man, I grouped a lot of these wide receivers

together. So I'm just going to mention a bunch of the teams. And the difference at wide receiver is like, it's kind of figuring out what the order is going to be. But for the most part, a lot of these guys are making the team. But all right, let's go through it. The Jets wide receivers after Garrett Wilson. It's wide open. It's like Josh Reynolds, Malachi, Corley, Tyler Johnson. It's not a bunch of good names. The Panthers wide receivers in general. You figure Adam Thielen has a role, shook. Xavier Leggett, probably has a role. Ted McMillan was their top

10 pick. You have Jalen Coker, you have Hunter Renfro. That could go anywhere like one to five. I'm not sure what the order is going to be. The Patriots wide receivers, I already mentioned Stefan Diggs. He's obviously going to play if he's healthy. DeMario Douglas, I think, is going to have a role

for them if he's healthy. And then you have like Mac Collins. You have my guy, the third round pick, Kyle Williams. You have Jalen Polk, who was high second round pick a year ago was a disaster, but you can't totally give up on him. Supposed he's looked good when he actually practiced. It was the games that you threw him up. You have Kendrick Bourne, who has always like, you have this guy, Efton Chisholm, who supposedly is like the next Danny Amandola has been lighting up practice. You have Kashan booty. Like,

what is going on? Like, it's just these teams where you can just shake it all up and try to figure out, like, what stands out to you out of those three? It's a snow globe. And it's not because they play in New England. It's an actual snow globe. You just shake it up and figure out where it lands. I actually like Carolina's top three. If Thieland can be the guy that he was last year, he was a pretty big part of that offense. And I like, I so likely get Ted McMillan, we'll see, like it was very mixed results on, you know, depending on who you talk to for his evaluation, but he's, you know, a bigger target. So that's good for them. But the Patriots, yeah, it's just complete battle royale. Like just drop them in and figure out who wins these jobs.

And frankly, for a team that was terrible last year, I like that idea. I like that approach. Like, is Kishan Boudi going to beat out Jalen Polk? Who knows? Is Greg's guy? Kyle Williams going to be used. I just listed like nine names. Like, yeah. And I didn't even, there are a couple more. It's crazy. It's essentially, and I consider Diggs more of like a two slash three at this stage of his career. It's more like they have eight, you know, guys who could be two slash three. Would you rather, though, would you rather have their group or the Jets group who has Garrett Wilson, but then after that, it's Josh Reynolds, Tyler Johnson, Malachi Corley. And in theory, you're thinking, okay, well, they'll use two tight-end sets and they'll

have, you know, you'll use their tight ends, but their tight ends aren't really good receivers either. Like, man, it falls off a club. Would you rather have the Patriots-wide receivers or the Jets? Can I pick the Panthers out of both of those groups? The correct answer, by the way, is the Jets because they have Garrett Wilson. You have one great young receiver that still worth more, I think, than all the Patriots combined. But either way, it's not great. All right. More wide receivers, Titans, Steelers, and Broncos. So the receivers for the Titans after Calvin Ridley, it gets really thin. In theory, Tyler Lockett is their number two. But, man, like Van Jefferson is there. They drafted a couple guys. Aumanor and Chamere Dike are two

mid-round draft picks. Like, who steps up? Traylon Burks is still on this roster, but always hurt. Xavier Restrepo is like a well-known undrafted guy, but that's wide open really after Calvin Ridley. Similar to the Steelers, rather, after D.K. Meckoff, you have Calvin Austin, you have Roman Wilson, you have Ben Scoronic, you have Robert Woods, you have Scotty Miller. And then the Broncos, I think this is a better group, but after Cortland Sutton, it is pretty open. And it's Marvin Mims, Valet, who did pretty well for them as a rookie last year. Pat Bryant, who they drafted earlier than expected, and Troy Franklin. So, like, out of those three groups, anything to stand out to you as the most interesting

of those groups. But another group where two through five is kind of open. Tate dogs, the draft Nix, the college guys, really like Chimari D.K.'s tape, so keep an eye on him. Fourth round pick. They need someone to step up, don't they? Yeah, they do. But Alvin Ridley, as you're, like, locked in number one. And Berks is on his way out.

Like, Berks has, he hasn't done anything. He never justified that pick. He's on his way out. So I don't really like the rest of that group at all. The Steelers, I thought Roman Wilson was going to be a pretty important playmaker for them. And then he had an ankle injury and never got going last year. So keep an eye on him. I still like him as well.

And the Broncos, I think probably the best of the three, just because I at least saw some production from that group last year. But yeah, if I had to take, I mean, the Steelers have D.K. Metcalf now. But D.K. Metcalf became just a go merchant. in his last year and a half in Seattle. So, oh, God, none of these are really great. I don't think they're terrible, but it's more like getting our listeners ready for like a watch list.

This is your watch list for August that I think is going to be interesting. The big advantage the Broncos have is they have Sean Payton and he makes wide receivers look better and they have a solid young quarterback in Bo Nix, whereas the Steelers, we'll see. We'll see what Aaron Rogers brings to table.

Wrapping up the top 20 here, shook, is the Broncos running back situation, and it's J.K. Dobbins, R.J. Harvey, and Adrick Estimate. I gave a little bump on this list to, like, teams that are good. Because to me, this battle actually is going to impact a team that has a real chance to make the playoffs again. Yeah. I like the fact that they committed to estimate who's like an old school powerback and they used him in short guarded situations last year. Dobbins always comes with the question mark of health just because he's struggled with injuries so many times over the last few years. R.J. Harvey is, unless you watch

to UCF football, you might not know who he is, but he's the most intriguing of the group. But I like this committee approach with a blend of different styles that I think will balance well with how they like to run their offense, which of course is getting mixed out on the perimeter. I think they'll have some opportunities to find some running lanes. Yeah, it's a great candidate to have like great fantasy value compared to where he's going to get drafted. We will do some fantasy in the coming weeks as we get ready for the season. That's the top 20. And I already mentioned the Bengals Guard. So technically, That's, that's 21.

I think that's a good spot. We're going to take a quick break. And then we are getting through the 59. It's two a days. It's happening, Chuck. I feel like I'm in conditioning right now. Woo. Mm-hmm.

Hey, this is Matt Jones. And this is NFL Cover Zero. We're just here to try to. give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts Pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen to NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

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anywhere else. It's the kind of conversation that connects the dots, from college football prospects to the NFL stars of tomorrow. We break down the draft, analyze matchups, and events. how teams put it all together on game day. Plus, we dig in the coaching strategies, roster construction, and the trends that shape the league year after year. Whether you're a diehard fan or just love understanding the game on a deeper level,

we give you the full picture. If you want insight that goes beyond the box score, this podcast is for you. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Six podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL fantasy football podcast.

Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL fantasy football podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet. We've got the insight to help you crush your opponents. Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. My goal, shook, is not only to entertain a little bit, but also inform.

And I want our NFL Daily listeners to be the most informed of all their friend groups, of their entire town, you know, of anyone they know. And so that's why they need to know the top 59 position battles. I'm a sicko. And it's why we're going to hit the news every day throughout training camp and keep you up to date. It's one of the times of the year. I love the daily format because there's just these little things that if you're a sicko, like you have to be to be an hour into the position battles, then you want to know all the information.

So let's keep it going. We did 21 position battles so far. Our next group, the Eagles and the secondary, their safeties pretty wide open. they have a rookie Andrew McCuba. They have Sidney Brown. It's more interesting to me because it's also like where does Cooper de Jingo? You assume he's staying at Nickel,

but if the safety doesn't go well, like could they be rotating them? They also have their other cornerback spot open. It's probably Keely Ringo, but they have Adory Jackson there. So just their secondary because they're such a good team to me, they get a little higher on the list, just keep an eye on that.

The Cardinals Edge Group I thought was interesting because they're potentially really good players, but boom or bust. BJ Ojalari was a really promising rookie two years ago before he tore his ACL last year. Baron Browning came there in a trade and then re-signed on a pretty nice free agent contract. And then Zaven Collins,

who's kind of found home as an edge rusher, was a first-round pick. Some interesting names they're battling for their second spot opposite Josh Sweat. The Jaguars cornerbacks are interesting just because Travis Hunter is part of it. So how much is Travis Hunter actually going to play at cornerback? We know he's playing at wide receiver.

Jerry and Jones, Buster Brown is there. You assume Hunter's going to be on the outside. Just everything Travis Hunter is fascinating to me. We mentioned the Chargers receivers before, but I'm assuming Quentin Johnston is kind of locked in there at the X. So then you have Trey Harris, the rookie, you have Keandre Lambert Smith, you have Darius Davis. They're all battling for snaps.

And then let's finish this little pack at number 26. The running back position of the Patriots, Ramandre Stevenson, your guy, Trayvion Henderson, from Ohio State, and Antonio Gibson's still there. They're all going to play, but it's kind of figuring out which snaps. Like, out of that group, what stands out to you? I mean, I love that the running back room in New England. I know that you gave money to Ramandre and you kind of need him to produce,

but I love the depth there. And again, a difference in styles a little bit, too. I thought Gibson's time in Washington was cut too short. It was premature, and I'm glad that he's got a home there, even if he's going to be fighting for snaps. You look good last year. Yeah, as much time as we spent on the receivers and how it's a battle royal. I think this is a very solid top three at that position.

So I very much love that. The Eagles secondary is an interesting examination of what happens when you draft well and you're so deep that some of the guys that you would expect to make plays earlier for other teams just don't see the field very much. And then you get like three years down the line. You're like, oh, God, now we need those guys to play. And we still don't know if they're any good or not.

Sidney Brown is one of those guys. So I'm excited to see how that kind of shakes out. And Kili Ringo, too, not that you would have expected him. He's a talented cornerback who is, I think, a fourth round pick, maybe third, but guy from Georgia that now it's their development. But man, is that a young secondary

when you think about it? Because you had the two rookies last year getting the rookies of the year vote in Quignan Mitchell and Cooper Dejean, who, to me, Dejean's already among the best that his position in Mitchell might not be that far behind. Like, what a young, exciting group.

But I like the Eagles kind of combination of change because they do have some change on the defense, but also continuity, especially on the offensive side. All right, our next group. I had to throw a kicker battle in. Justin Tucker has been suspended by the league. We didn't mention that on the show that happened during our break,

but we already knew that he was cut. And so when you're replacing possibly the greatest kicker of all time, I would say he is, Justin Tucker. Vinotary obviously hit more big kicks, but if Tucker was in the position to do that, I think he would have as well. When you're replacing him and you're on a team that could make the Super Bowl,

Tyler Loop, their draft pick will be the heavy favorite over John Hoyland. But you never know. It's a rookie. What if he just thinks, Tyler Loop? You have the Chiefs running back, Isaiah Pacheco getting some pop. Cream Hunt is still there. Elijah Mitchell is on this team from the 49ers. Prashard Smith is a late-round pick.

I mean, Pacheco is a late-round pick, so I'm not going to rule anything out. That's interesting to me because it is the Chiefs and it's wide open. You have the Raiders-wide receivers after Jacoby Myers. You got Trey Tucker. You got Jack Bess, the second round pick. You have another rookie Dante Thornton. Like, this is a team that kind of screams to sign a veteran. I mean, I don't know what Keenan Allen's going to bring at this point,

but there is a Tom Telesco connection there. Maybe he ends up there. The Falcons edge spot to me was interesting, Shook, because they have two young draft picks that they took, you know, very high in James Pierce and Jalen Walker, who are battling for time, but also some veterans, Leonard Floyd, who's been around forever in Arnold Evacetti.

So how much time will the rookies get there? And then similar type of vibe in Washington at cornerback. Trey Amos is competing to start there. But you have Jonathan Jones, the former Patriots cornerback, a veteran. You have Noah Igbonaghani is there. Can Marshawn Latimore ever stay healthy? I assume he's starting, but is he ever on the field. So that's one of the kind of like up in the air spots for Washington.

What stands out to you from that big pack? Yeah, can he play well when he's taking? takes the field unlike the postseason last year. Yes. I got to go to two places here. I'm going to the Raiders receivers because we, you are among them who love the Raiders just because Gino's there and they feel like they're headed in the right direction with Pete Carroll.

But this is the position group that worries me the most. I know they made additions there, but it's one that I'm going to continue to keep my eye on. And it might be a candidate for them to pick up some of these other guys get cut elsewhere when we have these massive receiver battles with other teams. You might see the Raiders front of the line trying to add some of those guys. So keep an eye just to see how that shakes out. It's that and it's a Falcons edge group because they drafted two edge rushers in the first round and they did it so confidently that I have to see it come to fruition.

I need to see this follow through. And James Pierce being one of them, and you said, Jalen Walker being the other. And Pierce had some questions coming out of Tennessee. So got to keep a close eye on that because they are deeper there than they were in previous years, which is big because that was a huge weakness for them last year, but a lot of it is unknown. We are rolling to 59 position battles. And as I look at the end, I probably could have cut out, like, a couple of them. But, you know, they say leave them, you know, wandering more.

Maybe we'll leave you wandering less. Number 32 on this list is the lion's interior offensive line group. So, you know, now that you've had the retirement of Frank Ragnow, there already was going to be some change there. Can Tate Ratledge start at center for them? Could he move over to guard? You've got Graham Glasgow there. You've got some players who've been there.

That's an important spot for that team. The 49ers Edge Group has a top 12 pick in Mikel Williams against a guy they traded for. Bryce Huff, who's probably going to be more of a situational pass stretcher. You have a veteran there, Yatur Gros Mato, so that's opposite Nick Bosa. That's a big spot. They used to be known for their defensive line,

their edge group. Now it's a little more of a question mark, but I think it looks better than it did a year ago. That's an interesting battle. I threw the Lions backup quarterback situation in, because it's the lions. That's Hendon Hooker. Is he ever going to become a guy?

He's against Kyle Allen. You have the Raiders cornerback. We just talked about, you know, wide receiver. Man, cornerback is thin for them there. Who is their cornerback one? DeCamarian Richardson, Jacorian Bennett, Eric Stote. Darnay Holmes. Like, Darien Porter.

Like, who knows? Who knows? One, two, three. It's wide open. They're a candidate to pick up a veteran. But I'll just be curious to see how that, shakes out. You got your Brown's running backs here. You will see if Quinchon Junkins is a part of the team. I don't think he will be necessarily early in the season. So that leaves Jerome Ford and

Dylan Sampson, who's an interesting prospect. And then the Packers' wide receivers will stop there. I think you have to wait for the games to see how the Patrick Packers wide receivers really shake out. Like we know Romeo Dobbs is like a good player. We'll see. I guess you could follow Matthew Golden's their first round pick, like how his development is. in camp, do they give a role to Savian Williams, a third round pick? But we kind of know those Packers receivers. Christian Watson not going to be ready for the start of the season coming off of a torn ACL. I kind of want to wait for the games for the Packers wide receivers, which is why they were low on my list. Who stands out? Who do you want to talk about out of that

group, Shucky? Well, no, I think it's smart to wait for the games of the Packers just because they've just been so inconsistent year to year with production, but you've seen flashes from basically all of those guys. And then you add in the first round pick, it becomes more interesting. You know, honestly, I look at the 49ers front seven. It's not just the edge group, but the entire front seven. This is a team that used to have a lot of household names, and really their entire defense. They've had so many guys leave. There's been so much turnover. It's a transitional year for them. And they also invested a lot in the front four. They drafted a couple of defensive tackles. But like this front seven that you looked at now, as opposed to previous

years, the big names are basically gone. You have Bosa and you have Warner. And the rest of it's like, all right, how are these guys going to fit in? So I think that's going to be something that they're going to sort out in camp. We're going to see a lot of examples of it during the preseason, but I think it's going to be a point of mild concern going to this year. Yeah. I mean, I did not include their defensive tackle battle on my list of 59. You've got to make some choices, Nick, even 59. And, uh, no love for CJ West, the former Golden Flash. Yeah, they got two draft picks, Alfred Collins and CJ West. And they've got a two, two veterans who have been pretty forgettable, Kevin Givens and Jordan Elliott. Like, these are not the 49ers

that you used to see. And it's interesting how Vegas and the projection models have them ranked so high. Football, outsiders used to be the name. Now it's Aaron Schatz at FDN. And they have the 49ers, I think, projected to win the third most amount of games in the entire NFL. But man, they have some questions up front. All right, continuing on the list.

We are down to 38 on the list. We got the Bears number three receiver. So that could be the rookie Luther Burden, who they took him the second round. That could be Olomede Zakias. That could be Devin Duvernay. Just one of those that's like everyone always slots in the rookie. It's like these guys have actually been in the league for five, six years, and they might not impress you that much.

But like, we'll see if Luther Burden lasts in the NFL five, six years. Like, you don't really know. So that's just one to watch. But if he pops off, he has a nice high ceiling to add some juice to that group. The Vikings wide receiver three, they drafted a kid Ty Felton in the third round. You have Jalen Naylor there. You have Rondale Moore. They all should have roles, but I'll be keeping an eye on that.

The commanders are looking for a right tackle. They drafted Josh Connerly, but moving him positions to the right side, he'll probably be against Andrew Wiley. That's something to watch. The center for the chargers, they're like rotating Bradley Bozeman and Zion Johnson between center and guard. I don't know if they did enough at wide receiver or interior offensive line to make me as hyped as I want to be about the chargers.

You have the Panthers edge, just in general. The Panthers edge group is, to me, very thin and wide open. Their linebacker is pretty thin as well. I combine that with the Dolphins linebacker, which is guys I know, Terrell Dodson, who's bounced around with Buffalo and Seattle. You have KJ. Britt used to be with the Bucks. And then Willie Gay. That takes us to number 43, Nick Shook.

KJ. Bridget took Devin White's job in Tampa back in the day. That's probably the group that I like more other than their edge rushing component, considering who they have still coming back. I mean, I look at Carolina, and what I see is a lot of chips being moved to the center of the table on guys that you've drafted, Nick Scorton being one of them. But this is what happens when you have a team that you've had to steadily rebuild over the years.

You can't address everything in one or two off-season. So it's going to be a test to them, but they did invest in the back end a lot with Trayvon Merrig and J.C. Horn. So, you know, I think that collectively they can probably be better, but they're not going to be super, you know. I mean, they have Derek Brown's still up there. He's a hell of a player. So they're just going to expect a lot of production from key guys

without the collective group being super strong. Yeah. Like you mentioned in the secondary there, I think is telling. Like, I'm with you. They made a nice signing morgue. They paid to keep horn. They brought back Mike Jackson. And so that's three guys that actually feel pretty good about.

But then they're a team that when you look at the depth chart, maybe these guys will step up, but it falls off a cliff after that. And so you need more than three defensive backs. They're linebacker position. You need more than one or two edge that you can count on, and I'm not sure who we can count on there. A long way to go. Number 44 on the list, your old friend Nick Chubb,

the backup battle with the Texans, because I don't think Nick Chubb is going to start over Joe Mixon, but keep an eye on him and Damien Pierce is still there. They drafted the running back marks from USC, so that's an interesting backup battle. The Brown's edge spot is pretty wide open opposite. Miles Garrett, Joe Triang Chianca, the former Buccaneer, is part of that battle with Alex Wright. The Texans' offensive line, like, they blew it up.

They got rid of Laramie Tunsell. It is a battle royale for like almost all their spots. And so we'll see how that works out. The Lions Edge Group is number 47 on the list. I already got to cross off a name, Josh Pascal, at least for the start of the year. And so you're counting on Marcus Davenport to stay healthy. That is never the best position to be in. still a little thin, and you're counting on Aiden and Hutchinson just coming back and being the guy

that he has been. The Dolphins Guard position, you drafted Jonah Savanea to take over that spot. But again, you're counting on a second round pick to start, and so we'll see if he beats out Liam Eichenberg. We've got the Saints third receiver group. Man, this group is weird and wide open, but Brandon Cooks is there. And then we wrap up the top 50 with the Seahawks wide receiver number three spot. And I just, I wanted more Bobo.

in this show, so I'm putting that spot there. Jake Bobo, you got Marcus Valde Scantlin, you got like a third round pick in Tori Horton, and that wraps up the top 50 there. Now, anytime you can get more Bobo in your life, you have to capitalize on that. You got to take advantage of it. And I would agree.

You know, I don't like a top three that includes MVS. I'm just going to say it right now. No, he probably isn't going to win that group. I think he'll be fourth or fifth. I would like to see more Bobo. I agree. I know we have some people in the newsroom out in L.A. that would agree with that as well.

Ricky White, the third, UNLV product. I'd like to see what he does. I don't know. It gets pretty thin after the top three, but we do have a lot of attention paid to Cooper Cup and Jackson Smith and Jigley out there with Sam Darnold. Man, tricky here for them.

Coming off of, you know, making some significant changes and everything else. Could be a bit of a danger there. Could be walking on some unsteady footing there. Yeah, and I'm really curious to see and hear the reports about Cooper Cup. You would expect it to be very positive. Sometimes you can't trust everything in camp. Like I remember all the positive reports about Alan Robinson with the Rams a couple of years ago.

And it didn't really happen when the game started. But I will be curious, really curious to see how Cooper Cup season looks in Seattle. But he's not on this list because he's not really battling. The final nine names on these lists, at least these final battles are lesser ones. I mean, I ranked them in order. But Rams linebacker is like wide open. The end of the roster, Texans wide receivers after the top. couple guys. I'm talking about guys like John Mechie. You know, Watson's there. Justin Watson,

the former chief, Braxton Berrios, that to me is interesting. The Brown's wide receivers are pretty wide open after Judy and maybe Cedric Tillman. The Titans Edge Group, we'll see if their second round pick, Ola Dejo can immediately, like, become a contributor. Arden Keyes is there. Dremont Jones is there. Some interesting names. See who ends up on top. You have the 49ers defensive tackle list. We already hit. I guess I did put them on the list. They were just much lower. And the Chargers linebacker, Jr. Colson, who they took in the third round, one of the first picks with Jim Harbaugh, his former Michigan player, can he get on the field? He's fighting an uphill battle against Denzel Perryman. And you've got your Brown's tackle spots.

They're kind of wide open because of health, the Colts, offball linebacker. And yes, the Titans safety position. That was where I was like, okay, I've gone too far. Xavier Woods versus third round pick Kevin Winston I was like okay that's it Kevin Winston's maybe an interesting player

I think it needs to wrap it up right there I thought the Brown's receiving court would be the other one that makes you stop well they have Deonté Johnson and to me I find Deonté Johnson interesting can Deonté Johnson

actually become an NFL player again is you know in theory on a bad team like if you had told me two years ago who would you take out of that

entire group that's on the team right now, including Jerry Judy, and Cedric Tillman, it's like, I would be like, hey, Deonti Johnson's probably the best player. So you never know. Maybe he could be wide receiver one. This is no shade towards Cedlerc Tillman, but the fact that you said after Judy and Tillman, I was like, oh, yikes. Right? Well, he's got to make the team, I think. He will, but like, you got Jamari Thrash, who was a draft pick. Michael Woods, who just hangs around every year, I don't know how. David Bell, who I don't know how he's still on the team. DeAndre Carter was a sneaky ad. I mean, no, this is not a good group.

This is not going to be a good offense. Everybody should prepare for that. But I think the junior Colson thing is interesting to me because for as good of a linebacker as he was at Michigan, I felt he was overvalued coming into the NFL and that he ended up with the Chargers at that pick because Harbaugh was the coach there. And so if there's going to be a year for him to prove that he's worth it, I think he starts toward that right now. And it's not a weak group overall.

It's just that he's going to battle some guys who have a little bit more playing experience than him. You know, Diane Henley being out there, Perryman, like you mentioned. I mean, Henley, they're hoping becomes an all-pro. He's a stud. He was their breakout guy a year ago. And, yeah, and so Perriman's more of the run-stopper. Can you get it?

I think Henley's kind of taken his job. And it reminds me of our training camp visit to the Chargers last year. And I asked Matt Money-Smith, this was very early in Chargers camp, give me one player that fans don't know about that they should keep an eye on this year. And he said, Dayon Henley. And he nailed that because Dan Henley became one of the best young linebackers in league. I think he's stolen that spot, basically, from Junior Colson. We will be heading out to some training camps.

We're working on the particulars. We got back together Saturday this weekend NFL Network coming back on air. So our trips will come after that. But I hope we're going to be going to the Saints and the Cowboys, and I believe the Rams this year. So I'm looking forward to that. I'm looking forward to this entire season. Our former Browns employee for a brief time, Nick Shook, we got you back with the NFL,

and we couldn't feel any better about it. It's going to be fun doing this season, and we're going to be doing these Sunday nights with you throughout training camp, Shookie. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, looking forward to it. Years ago, I used to sweat wearing a bucket hat and Berea. Now I'm in an air-conditioning company.

Doing a podcast with you. That's a hot one. I'd rather be doing the podcast with me. But I'm biased. We will be back on Tuesday with Colleen Wolf. I'm looking forward to getting back inside the Chris Wesleyan podcast studio with my friend Colleen checking on what her summer is like,

yeah, like when the majority of the NFL is literally reporting for training camp tomorrow, like that is the definition of football being back. Hey, everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move to 6, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front

offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else. It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant.

And I'm Michael Lev Florio. and together we host the NFL fantasy football podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL fantasy football podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet, we've got the insight to help you crush your opponents. Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast

on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL, Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. This is an IHeart podcast.