NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Top 35 Position Battles You Should Care About

Episode Date: July 20, 2026

Gregg Rosenthal and Nick Shook give you 35 training camp position battles you should keep an eye over the course of the next few weeks. Battles that include Kirk Cousins versus Fernando Mendoza, Tua Tagovailoa versus Michael Penix Jr., wide receivers looking for a spot with the Commanders, Giants, and Titans, offensive line battles with the Patriots, Lions, and Cowboys, and more! NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Welcome to NFL Daily, where the real honesty was Argentina's 116 minutes without a shot on goal. I'm Greg Rosenthal. I'm still in Massachusetts for one more show. Before I return to the West Coast and we really get this training camp going. You know who else is back from vacation? It's Nick Chuk.

No one else I would rather talk position battles with on July 20th than my friend Shuki. How you do? Fantastic. Happy to be back. Hopefully the sunburn isn't showing if you're watching on YouTube because I spend a lot of time outside. And now I'm happy to be in front of the camera talking football with you. We are T minus 48 hours, two days until the first two teams show up for training camp. Those are the Hall of Fame game participants, the Panthers and the Cardinals on this show.

We're going to talk position battles. And yeah, I mentioned the World Cup is over. And so that means I think it's time to turn our attention to football. And I was thinking because I watched the World Cup final and the Odyssey back to back yesterday. And it was about the same amount of time before Argentina got a shot as it took for Odysseus to get back to Ithaca. Now, the movie's not over then. Spoiler alert, you know, you got a little while more to settle things. But that was about the same.

I'm ready for our football. You ready to make these position battles interesting? Yeah, hopefully this is as theatrical and dramatic as the Odyssey was. I recommend it. It was a great, great movie. It was fun. Not much news. Like I said, the last couple of weeks is the quietest few weeks in the NFL news cycle all season long. It's going to crank up this week, really, with all the teams. The coaches, a lot of them are returning to the office on Monday as we're taping. And so the only two items of news that really caught my fancy since Thursday when we last taped. The Ravens finally signed at a center. Ethan Posick, who spent a lot of time on your Rams, I mean, on your Browns, rather, shook, is a very capable center. Now the favorite to start there. and then an executive for the Cardinals, their director of scouting, Ryan Gold,

director of college scouting, was suspended for gambling. The Cardinal said they fully supported the decision, and he is accused of providing confidential, non-public inside information regarding their draft selections before the picks were announced and also participating in parley bets on the NFL and college games. I mean, this is like,

this is a career. year-ender. And I keep being stunned by anyone would be dumb enough to get caught with this stuff. But it really does seem like the NFL is trying to make an example. And the Cardinals say they don't have any problem with it. They fully support the NFL's decision.

Yeah. And you're right. How can somebody think that they can get away with it, really? I mean, as two people who undergo annual training and understand very much the rigorous standards that the NFL applies to everybody associated with the NFL when it comes to gambling, don't even consider it. Just sit back.

and watch everybody else place their bets and everything else and just laugh along with him. And that's it. That's it. Nothing more. He's denying it. His lawyer says his wife was in some $10 picks pool and that he didn't know about the drafts. There was another report that said he hit a five-team, five-name parlay of the draft picks, which I think would have been done before the draft, which would seem almost impossible,

even if you were like the team owner and the GM, how do you really know who you were going to take? I guess unless you put like a bunch of different combinations, I guess you could figure it out. They can't all be as accurate as I was projecting Jeremiah Love for the Cardinals at three. I'm sorry. Good job. I mean, you could be if you work for the Cardinals apparently,

but we'll track that story. Today's episode is about the best position battles in the entire league. I thought we would frame this about why you should care about these position battles. We'll be previewing the season, talking training camp throughout. So this is more of an overview of the best position battles to watch. We'll see how many we can get through. I wrote down about 70, but that's more for my own preparation.

We'll use it in other spots. We will not do 70 on this show, maybe about half of that. But let's start with the quarterbacks. I rank them roughly in order of interest for myself. And so I started with the three biggest quarterback battles. But to me, the number one battle is still Kirk Cousin versus Fernando Mendoza. And the more shook that we hear, and there's a new report, including one from rap sheet last week, that.

the plan is Kirk Cousins, not just for week one, but all season. It's like the more you keep telling me that, like almost the less, I believe it. It's like, we get it. That's the plan. We get it. You tell me you're a cynic, you're a skeptic. You don't believe that they're pushing it that hard that it might not unfold that way. Actually, you know, when you just brought these up, I was like, this is not the most intriguing to me

because I believe that this is going to be the plan. And I believe it because of the way Clint Kubiak framed it when he essentially campaigned for the Raiders to go out and act. had a guy like Kirk Cousins, I firmly think that it's going to be a month to half of the season before they make the transition, because what have we seen in these battles in the past, which is that, all right, we have the veteran. We're going to start the season with the veteran, you know, kind of just slowly on ramp onto the season. And then within the first month, either it's clear that the veteran isn't capable,

or you just decide, all right, now the young guy is ready. Sometimes that aligns with the biweek. Their biweek is way late in the season. So I don't think it falls in that range, at least as we stand here right now. But I don't, I think that this battle is more about getting Fernando, you know, acclimated to the offense and getting ready for when he does take the field eventually because he will, then it is about a real true battle for the starting job. But you know what? If you're sitting back thinking, I don't believe you. I mean, that, that makes me a little intrigued.

Let me make the case. I should, I should make the case and why you should care about it. Because, yeah, you can put that out there. Well, first of all, it's two players that I'm interested in. We spent a long time with Kirk Cousins. I think he played better football at the end of last season. season with the Falcons and people realize. And so I actually think either one of these can provide fairly good quarterback play.

But the reason why I still think you should care about it, I'm excited about this kid, Fernando Mendoza. And I just don't believe any world where if he shows up and he's awesome. And this is a guy who I think as a prospect, you know, compares favorably to any quarterback that was in last year's draft class and is pretty advanced mentally and is great physically. and he's an older kid that if he comes out and just looks awesome in camp, and if he looks awesome in the preseason, you can't tell me it's not a battle.

Like, I just don't believe them. It's more about Fernando Mendoza. Now, do I believe that the bar for him to actually be able to play week one, or maybe he's really battling against like a week four version of Kirk Cousins that's not doing well is high, is higher than it would be for most number one overall draftics? Sure, it is. But he might be able to clear that.

If he's just awesome, like that to me is a really interesting battle to watch. Because I think the Raiders, based on their quarterbacks partly and Kubiak, could be a fun watch this year, no matter who's at quarterback. Yeah, I agree. And I think this is a good pivot toward why the preseason is still intriguing for a lot of reasons. And one being that if he goes into this preseason and sees a significant amount of time, because you think about it, Kirk Cousins isn't going to play all that much in the preseason. I don't think, given that he's a veteran, although you do want to see how he in a season. is the offense, then that's where the scales can tilt.

Because the style of quarterback that Fernando Mendoza is, like let's consider his journey to Indiana. He was playing at Cal, Cal operating in largely irrelevance, you know, out in the West Coast, just not being a very strong program at this time. Nobody was really paying attention to him. Nobody had him, you know, being the number one pick in the draft.

They didn't even have him being a first round pick. He kind of quietly goes to Indiana and then takes the college football world by storm. How did he do it with his play on the field? It's not somebody necessarily that you look at and go, generational talent, incredible arm, all of that stuff that draws that buzz. So you're not going to really get to get that buzz out of just regular training camp,

but you could get that out of preseason games if he plays a significant amount of time. And that's where the scales could tilt and where it could get really interesting. So I'm kind of buying in now a little bit. You've got me a little sold. Well, also there's a chance. And I just said how I liked how Kirk Cousins looked at the end of last season. You know, one of these years, Kirk Cousins could show up and just look kind of old. Or he could have some minor, you know, calf injury that keeps them out for two weeks of camp.

and then it's just suddenly over. So we'll see. An injury is also part of our number two battle. That's Tuatunga Viloa, and that's Michael Penix. It's a truly open competition. We don't know if Pennix is going to be fully ready to start training camp. And these just feel like two afterthoughts. They didn't make our top 32 quarterbacks when I drafted them around July 4th with John Ledyard.

And yet, let me take you, Shuk, to make my case for this one as number two, to a distant time in our past. Let's, 24. Let's say we're in March. A little guy by the name of Nick Shook, you know, just finished his top 59 starting quarterbacks of 2023 season. Everyone that started, who was ranked number nine overall on that list, Chuck? Oh, no, this is at the end of the 2023 season.

Oh, no, that was two, that was two in Tunga by Law. That was two of Tunga Bay Law. You know what quarterback was coming off a national championship game appearance and was about to get taken as a future franchise quarterback. That was Michael Penick. It wasn't Pennix. That wasn't that long ago that we were thinking of these guys in a much different way. And Tua specifically, I think can work in the right system, whether Kevin Stifansky is that

right system. We'll see. But this is a legitimately open battle. And look, I only need to even bring it back 12 months ago to think when we were much higher on Pennix's potential. He played through an injury. He didn't look great when he was out there. there last year. But overall, he's not that far removed from being a top 10 overall pick. So I think

some juice and some real intrigue, because I don't know who's going to win this job. Yeah, there's plenty of intrig there, given that you have a new coaching staff, you have two guys, you have no idea where they are in their careers right now. And they both kind of feel like they're at a got-a-havid crossroads type of situation, which is that like Tua is now on his next stop. He was unceremoniously discarded by the Dolphins and needs to prove that he can still hack it in the NFL. And Penix's got to prove that he's healthy enough to play and that the injury concerns that followed him from Indiana to Washington to the NFL aren't as significant as some might have thought them to be and especially when he got hurt last year. So like this is year three for him. He's got to

take control of this franchise quarterback role if that's what he's going to occupy, whereas Tua needs to prove that he still belongs in the NFL and they're both going into a new system with a coach who runs an offense that kind of favors Tua strengths, but he's still got to go earn it and Pennix is going to be healthy enough to compete. And I think, that this is one of those situations where we're going to see both of them this season. Like at some point, we're going to go from Tua to Pinnix, or we're going to see Pinnock start, and maybe he has some struggles and they throw Tua in there out of an act of desperation at some point. So it's really, really intriguing to see exactly how they start this season.

I lean toward Tua because I think if the Falcons are being, you know, kind of cautious about this and smart, they'll give Pinnix more time to make sure he's fully healthy. But then again, he could be ahead of schedule. We just don't know that right now. Right. There's a big question of if Kevin Savansky is looking for a quick trigger guy to just distribute and get the ball out, which he's had when he's had his best offenses, that is definitely Tua. Both guys are similar in that they've struggled, kind of throwing over the middle of the field. But Pennix is much more drop back and throw it deep.

I mean, he would he would fit well on like a 1978 Raiders team or something like that, which does not feel like the Kevin Stefansky Falcons. We shall see. Our third one, just because the name value is one that might not last that long. We don't think J.J. McCarthy is going to really compete with Kyler Murray. But again, we were only about a year removed from thinking they're handing the keys over to J.J. McCarthy. That bet kind of made sense at the time that they get rid of Darnold. And now he's here just trying to keep his Vikings career really alive. I think there is a scenario where he is not on the team by the end of training camp.

If someone wants to trade for him and it's just clear that Kyler and Carson Wenz, who's also on the roster, just make more sense as a one-two. Yeah, this one speaks, I think, to where this franchise is currently in their timeline, which is that they expect to compete for a playoff spot. And they'll point to the fact they won nine games last year with no reliability at the quarterback position as the main reason for them to have that sense of urgency. And it does feel like Kyler's just going to end up winning this job very quickly and that the competition is more of a charade than an actual competition.

and I also like to sometimes try to find some clues in the tea leaves, tea leaves being promotional photos. And as what I most recently saw, they're taking photos of both Kyler and JJ. So not decided yet, but I think it's going to be Kyler's job. No, they're going to have to walk that line

and it's going to be a really fun one to watch. That's the thing is it's consequential. All of these are consequential because it's starting quarterbacks, of course, but specifically in the case of the Vikings, there is a scenario where they hit their peak this year. Like their number three wide receiver is Juan Jennings

behind Addison and Jefferson. Their defense could be top five in the NFL. There is a scenario where they're winning that division, where they have a home game in the playoffs, where they're at three-seed, something like that. And so that obviously makes it more interesting, but you never know. Maybe J.G. McCarthy could shock us all.

All right, those are the quarterbacks. I'll leave the other quarterback battles for a minute just to not only talk quarterbacks at the top. How about the only guy in one of our top 32 rankings that's involved in one of these early position battles? Eagles Edge, Jalick's Hunt versus Nolan Smith. I'm putting that as the number four most intriguing position battle, just because these guys are good. Like I took Jailax Hunt at one of my top 32 pass rushers. He's not even guaranteed to necessarily start because Nolan Smith played a lot of good downs. You have Jonathan Grenard on the other side. It is a very deep position.

they also signed Arnold Evacetti. Like you have numbers there, but that's something I know Eagles fans and certainly the reporters are going to be kind of tracking who has the lead there between Hunt and Nolan Smith as a starter. And it's really fascinating

because there's so many different elements involved. You speak about the depth. You also look to the numbers in the production last year. Like Jaylix Hunt played nearly 250 more snaps than Nolan Smith did last year. He had 116 more pass rushing snaps. He had a higher quarterback pressure percentage.

He had more than twice as many sacks. Run stop percentage was about the same. The next gen numbers favor Jailix Hunt. The PFF grades favor Nolan Smith. So then you go, how do we drill down this further and figure out exactly what's going on? Let's go to contracts. All right. Well, Nolan Smith, former first round pick.

Jalick's Hunt, a year later, third round pick. Nolan Smith, due to make $13.75 million next year on the fifth year option, Jalick's hunt a lot more cost controlled at $1.79 million next year. So if it becomes a financial thing, where do we save money here or there? Or where do we have to spend more money? Because we've already dedicated that money to this guy. This guy needs to play more. That becomes an important element in this entire equation.

Or it becomes one of those things where you just ride the hot hand. Maybe they both have good camps and pre-seasons. And you start one here and you just hope that he plays well. And if he doesn't, you rotate him in and out. Like there's a lot of different avenues and directions in which this could go. But it's a good problem for the Eagles to have, especially given that, you know, they've kind of turned over that position a decent amount over the last few years. I'm excited to see how this one plays out.

I sort of forgot AJ Ep and S is on that team too. So they have like five different edges, if you want to call him in the edge. Different guy than those two guys, though. Very different. Nolan Smith is a guy who made a big impact two years ago when they won the Super Bowl, made a big impact in the Super Bowl. So did Jay Lux Hunt. And the fact that they picked up the fifth year option is a show of confidence. But I think Jay Lux Hunt is more likely to get that long-term money than Nolan Smith is. And I think it's more likely that only one of them get. get to from them than both of them because it's just tough to pay everyone. Number five on my list is a guy who I saw in the news a little bit over the weekend,

so I just decided to move him up the board. It's the Giants running back competition. People just assume in fantasy leagues it seems like that Kim Skadaboo is going to be fine, but that is a massive injury he's coming back from. He's hoping to be ready for the start of training camp, but Tyrone Tracy is there. Devin Singletary is there and they might split up the carries. It might be more about just seeing if Scataboo is healthy.

and it doesn't make you feel great if you're a scataboo guy to see him doing a backflip that he can't even land at the fanatics disaster over the weekend. I don't know why I call it disaster, just because Logan Paul and Tom Brady are pretending like they're going to do a WWE fight. Just come on, Tom. It's disappointing. The scataboo thing, though, crack me out.

But he's like, I'm fine. The next day he said he's fine, but you do wonder if this is a guy that's going to be able to stay healthy. Yeah, well, I'm not. I don't think any front office guy is excited to see one of his lead running backs doing a backflip at an event in July somewhere. And not landing it. Is the key? You can land it and it was okay.

Yeah, that's fine. But it was as soon as I saw him hit the ground hard and kind of fall over, I was like, oh no. Oh, no. Let's not have another entry. Not after what happened last season. But it's a really interesting backfield, I think, because there are some parallels to the last time the giants were really great, which is the earthwind and fire backfield of the 2008 giants, which was, you know, know, Brandon Jacobs, Derek Ward, and Ahmad Bradshaw,

because I think this whole backfield kind of could take on that identity with Skadaboo, Tyrone Tracy, and Devon Singletary. Last year, it felt like it was kind of Tyrone Tracy's backfield until the Scataboo, I don't know if I'd call it emergence, but him and Jackson Dart felt like they breathed new life into this team until Scadaboo goes down. Then it really became Tracy's backfield. And Singletary is in there as an experienced option that, you know, can do a lot of different things.

So I think that the depth is good for them. They want it to lean on any of these guys primarily. They'll be able to kind of do different things. given which running back they want to put back there, there's an opportunity to run two back sets if they want to. There's a lot of flexibility there. And so I don't think I'd necessarily need to sort it out. I think I'm more excited about the potential of the group overall.

Yeah, I think it, the reason you should care is probably more about fantasy and Scataboo specifically coming off a dislocation of an ankle in addition to the broken leg. That's serious stuff. And so that's a player I would be watching if he gets some preseason reps or what the reports are just in terms of, of how he looks in camp.

I'm putting a cornerback battle is my number six, and Broncos fans would probably rightly say that Riley Moss versus Jaday Barron is not exactly a battle because Riley Moss is an established starter and it'd be pretty shocking if he was not the starter

opening day opposite Patrick Certan. I buy that to a point. But they took Jaday Barron in the top 20 for a reason. and sometimes the biggest jump you make is in your first, you know, real off season. And that's what it is for today, Barron, right now. The Broncos have all but said, they love Jayquan McMillan. And in terms of how he's played, he's going to be the slot.

So Barron is not really playing that position. And they have great depth at cornerback. This is a great problem to have that you couldn't get your first round pick on the field for more than 300, 400 snaps. I just posit, shook. And this is why I think Broncos fans in. and regular fans should care about this too, because this is a championship contender, that if Barron comes out there in place to his absolute potential,

and I know he fits better maybe inside than as an outside-corner, but they're playing him outside. Like, there has to be a world where he's just a better player than Riley Moss, and they just want to get him on the field, and it stinks for Moss, who's a good player and is going to be entering his free agent year, but that Barron just takes that job, no matter what they're saying publicly

and in terms of all the reporting that's gone on so far. It's one of the higher pressure situations for a second corner to enter in the NFL because you're playing opposite Pat Sertan, which means you're going to see a ton of targets. And Riley Moss saw the most targets in the NFL last year at 116. And the numbers that he put up were pretty solid for the most part. You know, he tied for first in the NFL with Carolina's Mike Jackson and passed his defense at 19. Ball Hawk rate was decent at 16.4 percent, not as good as Mike Jackson, but that was a completely different defense and situation that Jackson's operating in if you're trying to find some comparisons.

A lot of man coverage. out there, which is where Riley Moss thrived. He had a really good separation. Average separation window was like less than three yards. His tight coverage percentage was really good too. He was consistent in being in tight coverage. But what he had a problem with was penalties. Twelve penalties last year.

It became a running theme with him in this Broncos defense. And if you're looking for another, you know, say he piles up a bunch of penalties again early in the season, well, you have a guy that you can easily roll out there to replace him. So I think what we're going to get is somebody in a contract year who they trust to play a solid number two corner in Riley Moss, and they're going to find every avenue possible to get Barron out there.

And I thought what Sean Payton said about Barron during OTAs was interesting. He said, I quote, I think there will be two things. A, he has position flex inside and out. Then there will be packages where I'm sure he's in, I'm sure we're in throwing situations,

Vance and those guys are going to look at what we're wanting to do with our people, but he said he's out there and competing and doing good. He sounds like he's high on him. He said he's wise beyond his ears. All these things that are typical of a second year player, getting ready to make that jump. It's just that we haven't been able to see him do it last, you know, so far. He played 30% of defensive snaps last year.

Like he just wasn't on the field all that much because they didn't need him to be. So I'm curious because of what you said about McMillan and how they love him at the slot, do they find a way to force Baron on the field or eventually do they just say, hey, we got to get you out there in Riley Moss a spot, given that Riley Moss is on a contract year and you are our future. So that's one that's going to be fun to watch from the very beginning because I think you're going to see a lot of both of them with the idea that eventually this should be Baron's job if he can go out there. and take it. Look, and they are a team that's going to be among the AFC favorites, and it's a good problem to have. They have a couple of safeties in Hufunga and Brandon Jones, who they love, but you can use Beren in a few different ways. So it's maybe not as simple as Moss versus Berenb. I'm just saying, if a guy, that talent, the light goes off, then suddenly he might be on the field. All right, our next three

are what I'm calling wide receiver morasses. We, you know, you don't really use that word. Morass. Is that how you pronounce it? It doesn't sound right. You know, but it's just a, it's kind of like a confusing bog of a wide receiver position and three different teams. I'm going to throw out Washington after Terry McClellan. There's just a group of players, Traylon Burks, their rookie, Antonio Williams, free agent, they brought back Diami Brown, Luke McCaffrey's a relatively high pick that's been around for a while. Jalen Lane is another one that's been around. Van Jefferson is on this team. They just have to figure out what's going on after Terry McLaurin. Again, Shook, I'm going to

list a lot of names here. The Giants' wide receiver situation, until Malik Neighbors gets back on the field, these are their receivers. I've never listed so many players you know, but you have no idea if they're even going to make the team. It's outrageous. Darius Slayton, you would figure is pretty locked in. After that, it's Malachi Fields, the rookie, Darnell Mooney's on this team, Ju-Ju-Smithshoos is on this team. Odell Beckham's on this team. Braxton Berrios is on this team.

He's a special teamer. Jalen Hyatt was a high pick pretty recently. You never know. He could bounce back. I threw an Xavier Gibson, who was a pretty good return man for the Jets for a while.

He's around. Isaiah Hodgins has actually been their second or third receiver at various times. I mean, this is just an insane group of receivers and until Neighbors is back on the field, this is all their receivers. and they basically have to figure out with the new John Harbaugh, Matt Nagy, staff, what is the order going to be?

Can we really have Odell be our third receiver? Like, is Mooney like the number one slash two? I just don't know. Is a rookie going to show up in terms of field? It's just totally wide open in terms of their receiver. I'll stop there because that's a lot of names between Washington and the Giants, which intrigues you more. I think that it's got to be the Giants just because, like, I have no idea.

how they're going to actually sort all of this out. And because ideally their top two, once neighbors is back, is pretty set in stone. And the rest of it's just like figure out who's had a good camp and who we believe in in the short end, maybe long term. We're also entering a season with a team

that has the same front office, but a new coaching staff. So you are thinking like, okay, some guys like Jalen Hyatt, for example, typically in past years with the same front office and coaching staff, there would be a little bit more leeway. We have to justify this pick.

him more runway to prove that he is going to be on this team, that he deserves a place on this team. Well, now you've got the same front office, but a new head coach, so you're not in lockstep in that area. If the coach says he's not cutting it, guess what? I don't care if that was a pick you made. He's not good enough to make my team. He's out of here. So I think his margin for error is much slimmer. But you go through the rest of that group and you're looking at like Malachi Fields. And you're looking at that like Darnell Mooney, two very different players in their places in their career at this point. You look at Juju, who I feel like's been on nine teams now but continues to find jobs.

Odell, does he have anything left in the tank? Why did they sign Odell and Braxton Berrios on the same day? There's so many questions to answer here and to figure out where they fit into the system. And we don't really know that much because it's the new staff. So I'm fascinated to see how this plays out. And I have a tough time projecting exactly how it's going to because, A, so many recognizable names, all in different places in their career. And I just don't know exactly how they're going to work with Jackson Dart in this entire

offense. I checked the pronunciation at least from the dictionary and I think it would be morass. Morass. Okay, so we need like a flatter O, something like that. You can say the end of the word. And yeah, I'd throw the Dolphins entire receiver group in the mix. I just kind of group these

three together because it's just like three groups that are kind of a mess. Yeah. From top to bottom. You have Jalen Tolbert who used to be on the Colbert, on the Cowboys. You have Malik Washington who's been there. A couple years, you have a couple rookies and Caleb Douglas and Chris Bell, who's coming off an injury,

Taj Washington, Terrace Marshall, who knows what's going to happen there. Let's wrap up before the break with the last two quarterback battles in terms of starters. I put your boys, Deshaun Watson and Shadur Sanders here with Cleveland.

And then the Arizona quarterback battle is open. Jacoby Brissette and Garson Beck and Gardner Minchu. What do you think there? I think the Browns are going to do everything in their power. I think I've said this for a while now

to make Deshawn Watson give you one. And I think that they're going to say everything that they need to say to push the propaganda machine in that direction. And it's not until they take the field in the preseason where they're actually going to be held accountable for that and have to be honest about where they are in that battle. It's a low ceiling battle. I'm not excited to see how it plays out. I just know that's their best two options.

And I'm pretty sure that neither them are going to be their option going into 2027. So it doesn't really matter all that much to me other than the fact that it's going to be what they have this year. I'm much more intrigued by the Cardinal situation, not because that team's going to be any better. I think they're actually going to be worse, but because we have a nice little comparison between journeyman veteran who's proven to be a very,

like he's a plus backup. He's a guy that you can count on. He's a guy that actually generated more offense and more success for you last year than he did with Kyler Murray versus Gardner Minshue, who's a backup that I would like to have on my team, but I'm not excited about starting him.

And then there's the unknown. And his name's Carson Beck. And nobody would have thought that he would even be in the consideration for a starting job at this time. if he hadn't led Miami to the national championship last year, and I got a weird feeling that it's going to be Jacobi's job, and at some point in this struggle-filled season that they're about to embark upon, Carson Beck's going to see the field.

Yeah, I think you should care about it because the Cardinals are better than you realize, I think. I think if they were in the NFC South, you could convince me that they could come in second place. I don't think this is a bad roster. I think the offensive line has potential. I think the skill position group outside a quarterback is good. and Michael Fleur, it's a little bit of an early test of his coaching ability.

We've seen coaches like Shane Steichen lift up Jacoby Brissette, Frank Reich. Like we've seen Jacobi Brissette put up numbers with the right coach. And so if he's out there with this talent, I think they could be an entertaining offense. Their schedule is brutal. We talked about it on our last show that it's the hardest schedule in the league. And so they're not going to end up with a great win-loss record. But I think they could be watchable, more watchable. watchable with Jacoby or Minchu for that matter,

then I think they would be with Carson Beck, but we'll be tracking the rookies development in training camp too. Because, again, when it comes to rookies, especially mid-round guys, you're kind of battling against, yeah, the mid-season version of whatever Jacoby Brissette looks like. Is it worth taking a look at Carson Beck? I think you're absolutely right.

And when it comes to the Browns and Shudur, like, hey, surprise me, kid, you know? I think he could at least be more entertaining than Deshaun Watson would be. and look, if they're going to be talking about Chatur on ESPN every day, we'll try not to over-talk about him here, but I'm going to watch every game anyways, Shuck. And so I want it to be as entertaining and watchable as possible.

I think there's a better chance for that with Chadur this season for Cleveland. You never know. But the better the Browns are, the better the press conferences are going to be for Todd Munkin. I think that would make that. Oh, you know what? I like that. That's a good reason to hope that they have a little bit of success. I don't think they're going to, but that's a good reason to want them to win some games.

All right. Let's take a quick break. We're going to come back and fly through the rest of our top position battles of the 2026 training camp. It's just a few days away. You've heard the chaos. Now you can see it. Hello. Oh, my gosh.

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It's July 20th. If it feels to anyone, listening, like we should be further along at this point. You're right. Training Camp is starting on like the latest day possible because of just how the calendar fell this year. Now with the teams going over to Australia, those teams are starting a little early. The Patriots and the Seahawks are on a Wednesday, so they're coming earlier. But if you compare it to last year, you know, teams were already showing up. For the most part, the rest of the NFL will be showing up over the weekend this week,

some of the teams come and start training camp. But it is about as late as start as we ever had, which gave us a little more time to prep this list. I got 70 position battles written down, shook. I think we'll get to 35 that are maybe worthy of mentioning on the show. This is where I started to get dorky. I kind of am into a couple linebacker battles with the dolphins. Jacob Rodriguez is a rookie that I really am curious to see how he fits at the NFL level.

He could start next to Jordan Brue. Brooks, but first he has to beat out either Tyrol Dodson, who used to be with the bills and has been there for a little while, or Kyle Lewis is there, who is also kind of an interesting prospect. I don't know if you had any takes on the Indiana product, but that's kind of a fun little group. I would assume Rodriguez is the favorite there to start, but that's something I'll be tracking. Yeah, I'm curious to see exactly how they deploy Kyle Lewis because he's like six feet, like, what is he, 200 pounds, 220, and he kind of projects more to me as kind of like a box safety than a traditional linebacker.

Like he worked out with the linebackers at the combine. He's listed as a linebacker. I see him as a sub package linebacker, not as somebody who's playing, you know, first and second down, although the majority of defenses now operate in sub packages. So I guess it's kind of an example of the evolution of the position, I think. But it's, it's an interesting group on a team that I don't expect to be very good, but does have some intriguing players because Jordan Brooks is a noted pillar of how they're going to rebuild this team.

Jacob Rodriguez would probably be a first round linebacker in most other class. that don't include Arville Reese and Sunny Stiles. And so I think that he's actually going to come in with some pretty high expectations, just a matter of figuring out exactly how they all slot in. Dodson is a veteran who was pretty productive for them last year, all things considered. I think it's one of the few position groups that they actually have some pretty good depth, and it's a good problem to have that they have to sort these guys out. And I expect all of them to play.

I just think that Lewis will be more in a specialized role than somebody who's going to see a ton of snaps. Yeah, there are so many dolphins positions that are wide open, but this is the one where it's like, oh, these, I'm actually intrigued by these guys. I could have listened to. Cornerback is way down my list where it's just a million guys that should not be competing to possibly be their number one cornerback. The other linebacker spot that intrigues me is in Dallas, where they're probably going to start to Marvion overshone as their middle linebacker

and have the green dot in the helmet, but it's not guaranteed. And there's just an intriguing group there with him, D. Winters, who they traded for from San Francisco, Jay Sean Barham, who was one of our guy, Ollie Connelly's favorite draft prospects. Shamar James is another veteran that's been around. And so just shake all those up. It's a brand new offense, defense rather, with Christian Parker.

And I think sometimes with new coordinators, you have surprising results. So that's what I'm going to keep an eye on. My next group is a ton of offensive line positions. And I'll start with the Cowboys who say that their first round pick from a couple years ago, Tyler Guyton, is going up against Nate Thomas, who played some for them last year,

and that it is an open competition. So whenever you get like a left tackle spot that's open on a quality team, to me it matters. The Bears left tackle spot is open. Braxton Jones is back and is probably the favorite over Jedrick Wills and Theo Benedict, who are behind him. They just keep resigning Braxton Jones, even though they always wanted to replace them.

And then the Panthers, their left tackle spot is pretty open with Rashid Walker, who was a free agent pickup. And then Monroe Freeling, who was their first round. draft pick you would think is the favorite, but you never know. They might bring them along slowly. So those are three teams that are trying to compete this year that have left tackle spots open for you. Which one of those stand out to you the most?

I think the Cowboys talking about an open competition is them trying to push Tyler Guyton to take the next step. I don't think that it's actually a legit competition based on what they saw from Thomas last year. Maybe I could be wrong. Rashid Walker versus Monroe Freeling is pretty wide open because Freeling comes in the NFL with a pretty high reputation as a rule. rookie, whereas Walker was a guy who a lot of people thought was going to get a pretty big deal in

free agency and didn't, and just lasted out there and lasted and lasted. And finally ended up in Carolina, which kind of speaks to how the league views him versus how maybe we view him. And I have no idea exactly which direction that's going to go because they're also in a situation where they're kind of just trying to figure out who's going to play in place of Iki Aquano for now, right? Maybe not long term. It could be wide open long term, but for now. And then the last one, the Bears, I don't think Jedwell's is going to compete seriously. He didn't play football last year. His final year with the Browns was not good. And I think that that's probably Braxton Jones's job, but it's good for them to have some depth there,

you know, considering some of the injuries that they dealt with up front last year, a team that comes in with high expectations. Yeah, kind of the flip side. Another similar spot is the Lions right tackle, where Blake Miller, I assume, was going to be penciled in as their right tackle of the future. He's their first round pick. He fits the profile in Detroit. I would consider him the favorite, but the local reporting says that Larry Boreham, the veteran, will have a chance to win that job. So that's just something to keep an eye. And you never know which rookies are going to show up and just not be ready for pro football. And so that's what training camp is for. And then I threw in the Patriots

first round pick to Caleb Lomu, who's taken snaps at right tackle in the offseason, but also took some snaps at left tackle where Will Campbell is going to be. And so it's Morgan Moses is the veteran there who's going to have a lot of veteran days off. He's older. And there's just a scenario where if Lomo looks awesome that they're ready to kick Will Campbell inside, I really doubt that's going to happen this off season. But it's just kind of figuring out where Lomu fits for the Patriots. I don't like to sit back and be like, I was right all the time, although I do it occasionally.

but I do feel like the entire football world needed the Super Bowl to then get on the Will Campbell move to guard train and now they won't let it go. And I think that even the Patriots drafted with that kind of in mind, like maybe this is what we do long term by selecting Lomu. I would be very excited to see him coming to camp

and just tear it up right away. Like that would be awesome. And given his background, you know, Utah offensive line and that sort of thing. Like I would be very excited to see that type of player just instantly make a difference

and then also solve this issue because we're going to continue to hear about this. And it's not really even a knock on Will Campbell. Like I've always said, solid, average to solid tackle, but could be a very, very good guard. And I think that's still his long-term path. Maybe this is the first step toward that. Maybe they delay it for another year, like you said.

But the idea that having another talented young guy in there to make that happen, that's always going to catch my eye. Yeah, injuries will play a big part there. Like if Moses suddenly goes down, then it's all set. Lomo is at right tackle. But the Will Campbell believers will tell you that he was coming off in the injury in that playoff run when it didn't look quite as good. So he's going to have to prove he's healthy and looking good. The other offensive line battle I thought was most interesting here was the Bears Center where it could be the rookie Logan Jones or Garrett Bradbury, the former Patriot who they traded for.

So that's one to keep an eye on there. Let's go to some running back ones. I had four running back battles that I thought were intriguing. I'm going to make the case of why you should care about the Chargers preseason. And there is an assumption, including by me, when I took Amari and Hampton very high in our running back draft, that he is the next big fantasy battle. I think that's very possible to even likely. But there were times during his rookie year where he was a little tentative. It is a new offense with Mike McDaniel.

And Mike McDaniel in the past has liked to rotate his backs until one really earned being the guy. And the other two players in that backfield are Kamani Vidal, who is one of the best past protecting rookie backs you'll ever want to see and was a tough player and a guy who can eat carries. And Keaton Mitchell, a speedster who they handpicked in free agency to have a role. So to me, Amarian Hampton is going to have a role, a big role, likely the starting role on this team. But I do think how quickly he can pick up the offense and look in some preseason work. will impact whether he's getting the lion's share of the carries or maybe they're going to spread it around. That's going to affect not just a really good team with the Chargers,

but a lot of fantasy drafts. I hope that those who went to the Amari and Hampton experience last year got a nice dose of reality in the fantasy world, which is that stop spending high picks on rookies who haven't taken an NFL field yet. Please, please stop doing it. I hear it every year. I have my friends be like, what do you think about this rookie?

Don't take rookies high. It's a blind selection. and please don't do it. Having said that, his tentativeness from last season, I think could partially be blamed on the fact that he started the season injured. Like he was, he battled health issues for a good portion of his rookie season before he was able to really hit the ground running. And so if you give him an entire off season to really get acclimated to this new offense,

I think that he could really flourish in it. Because what you described in the two guys behind him in Kamani Vidal and Keaton-Mitchell are two very different styles of running backs. Hampton is the perfect blend between the two where he's got speed, and power, and I think that he could be a force in Mike McDaniel's rushing attack. However, I like the strengths of this entire backfield as a whole. I love a good Mike McDaniel backfield that relies heavily on different types of running backs who can be rotated in and out and just thrive behind good blocking schemes because that's what he's always been a master of. So I would

really love to see this offense run the football this year. And I don't care who it is running the ball because they love to run it. They tried to establish it as their identity even when they lost their offensive line, mostly the most of the offensive line last year and couldn't do anything offensively. You come back with a healthy offensive line and all of these different types of running backs there. Let's pound the rock baby. Like the hat says behind me that you can't really see even if you're watching on YouTube. Run the damn ball. Run the damn ball in L.A. Yeah, I listed that one high just because I think these players are intriguing and I don't think it's as much of a cinch for Hampton to wind up with 300 touches this year with such good players

around them. And so that's a good problem to have though. Yes. It is. is a good problem to have it. And so that's similar to the other three, quote-unquote, battles that I listed here. I put the commander's Bucks and Seahawks running back situation. It's just ones to keep an eye up. With the Bucks, you have Bucky Irving coming off a bad year. You have Kenny Gainwell, who's making a good amount of money, who I think is going to have a big role. You gave Sean Tucker a pretty aggressive tender in restricted free agency, making sure that he stayed home. And so those three guys are kind of figuring out the mix with this staff. Rashad White and Bill Kroski Merritt in Washington are going to figure out, you know, what they're going to do.

And Jerry McNichols is still there. And then in Seattle, I kind of mentioned the battle of Judarian Price was drafted to start. So he's got to prove that he can be that guy right away. They also signed a veteran, Emmanuel Wilson, who was last seen with the Packers. You had George Halani, who was taking some snaps in the Super Bowl. So, you know, that's worth something. And then Zach Charbonne's health is just something to watch there. And because it's the Seahawks and the defensive. defending champs, everything matters a little more. But I think all three of those spots are fairly open in terms of figuring out like what the in terms of participation of each one of those running backs are going to be. Yeah, I agree. Two of these three groups I'm excited to see because they're well balanced and they have good depth and they can do a lot of different things. Like I like the role of Bill Kroski-Marit in the second year after hopping on the scene,

but not having to be the guy because Rashad White's also in that backfield. I don't think there's quite as much depth there as there is in Tampa where Bucky Irving, if he has a bounce back year, you pair him nicely with Kenny Gainwell, who was one of my favorite past catching backs last year. I think he can do a lot of different things. Sean Tucker, one of my favorite, just like classic power backs,

guys that run hard, guy that was even taking kick returns last year. I love the depth of that backfield and what it presents the options that it presents them. The Seahawks, I'm a little bit more cautious with because as much as I like Judarian Price coming out of Notre Dame, he is a rookie,

and the depth there is a little bit concerning, not just because he lost Kenneth Walker, but also because Zach Charbonnet is coming back from an ACL injury that he suffered in the playoffs, which means, you know, he's not going to be probably 100% to start the season. And like you mentioned, George Falani playing in the Super Bowl, yes, but he was also a guy that's at the bottom of that depth chart. Emmanuel Wilson veteran. Like, there's just not as much quality depth there that I can rely on at this point in the season.

That's the group that I'm more concerned about than excited to see unfold. And we'll be playing in the first game of the year. And I would expect Zach Charbonnet to be on the PUP list or short term injured reserve. It's just really tough to come back from the injury that quickly at that position. And Price, a rookie, has never shown he could be the guy. I don't really think he profiles as the guy. I think he profiles as a great compliment to a guy like Zach Sharbonny. But in the meantime, I am curious how that's going to look on opening day.

I love quarterbacks. And so I'm putting some backup quarterback battles here in my top 35. at the Mason Rudolph versus Drew Aller versus Will Howard combination in Pittsburgh is funny to me. And whoever wins that battle, you know, could wind up playing if Aaron Rogers got hurt. And we can kind of see who is Mike McCarthy's favorite quarterback of the future. We have a Ty Simpson versus Stetson Bennett, quote unquote, battle. If Ty Simpson can't beat out Stets and Bennett and they can't trust them to play a little if something happened to Stafford, what are you doing, taking them 13th overall?

And then you also, just for, just for laughs, I'm into the Sam Howell versus Joe Milton preseason that we're going to have for Dallas. Those are my backups that I like. That last throw in. That last throwing so good because he's just like, really? Come on. But you're right. Well, this is why I do this exercise, Nick, because I was going through each and every team, looking at the depth chart, reading some about each team. And I was just like, oh, I kind of forgot Sam Howells on that team.

and Joe Milton is still there. I was just like, I just saw myself on like Saturday night, August 13th, watching some Sam Howell Joe Milton experience that we were going to end up talking about. And we're like, oh my God, Sam Howell is having a Jared Steadham preseason. No, I'm just kidding. That's not going to happen. The best of these three, I think, most intriguing to me is Pittsburgh because this has already divided people into camps in Pittsburgh. If you're really paying attention to it, there are the Mason Rudolph diet.

who are like, no matter what, you have to keep him on the roster because, God forbid, Aaron Rogers goes down. The whole season's over, but Mason can save us and keep us afloat, which he has proven in recent years that he's capable of keeping you afloat. But then there's also the Drew Allers, the future camp. And we spent a third round pick on him because he's going to be the guy. And then there's that group of people in Pittsburgh's front office who were leaking stuff or maybe speaking on it publicly last year. And then into this offseason before the draft, they were like, Will Howard's awesome. He didn't see the field at all last year,

but we really believe in Will Howard so much that we spent a third round pick on Drew Aller. And I'm not a hater against Will Howard because he got my team in national championship. But all three of those guys are not going to be on the roster by the end of camp. So it's just a matter of who goes. And do you go youth versus somebody

who's older and proven in Mason Rudolph? There's some who have a theory that Rudolph's just not going to be on the roster. I have a hard time believing that if you are really going to be. I am that guy. I would say he could make it to the practice squad and you just pay it, you know, you figure out some salary.

Somebody's poaching him from the practice squad because there are worse backup situations than the NFL than Pittsburgh. And that's why I'm like, I can't really see that as a feasible option if you believe that you're going to compete because if Rogers does go down, granted he rarely gets hit

because he gets the ball out so quickly, then you're in a bad spot if you turn to Drew Al or Will Howard to try to carry your team. I'm most interested in Ty Simpson because they have traditionally played their number three quarterback, like all throughout the preseason,

you would think they would want to get Ty Simpson some experience. I don't care how much you try to lower expectations. He's a top 15 quarterback in the entire draft. I'm going to be very curious about the daily tramp camp reports and also what he looks like in the preseason. And you better beat out that's embedded. Speaking of a guy who talked about a lot in the draft, Jermad McCoy, I threw in here as my next position battle.

we're up to about 25 on the list. Germant McCoy was practicing a little bit in OTAs. It's wide open there at the cornerback two spot for the Raiders, where Eric Stokes is number one. I guess Darien Porter would be the favorite. But McCoy, you know, has a chance to really prove the Raiders right that they've had faith that he didn't need any more surgery. It was a fourth round pick,

but I'm just kind of going to be tracking him because of his draft journey and how talented he was when he was on the field at Tennessee. fourth round pick with a first round status before his injury at Tennessee. And somebody who I think if he can get healthy, I kind of think about Will Johnson last year with the Cardinals where he was coming off of injury and he wasn't quite the guy that you thought he was going to be. Year two, after such an injury is usually when they get back to themselves. If they're ever going to get back to their former selves at all, that's when it happens.

So maybe it's a little bit early for McCoy, but the fact that he's out there on the field is encouraging. And it's a team that, look, we had a lot of optimism or at least excitement with them last year when they got Gino. and we saw how much of a nightmare that was because their offensive line was the worst in the NFL. I feel actually more excited about them this year because I think they're actually doing a pretty good job

of rebuilding this team. And that's one of those underlying little secondary storylines where you're like, oh, Gerard McCoy, also a guy that's the fourth round and ends up actually playing. I kind of caution against being excited about his rookie season because of the injury that he came off, but he didn't play football last year.

So this could be year two, and maybe we do see it. And that's one of the ones that will be intriguing for sure. we're starting our division preview series a little later this week, and so we're going to talk Raiders more there. I'm intrigued too of how they kind of shake out their edge position, wide receiver. They have questions, but we'll leave it there for the Raiders.

A cornerback spot that doing research for this surprised me a little was the Buccaneers cornerback spot. And so this is going to make my top 35 because, again, a team I think is going to make the playoffs. These are good players that they have at cornerback in terms of Zion McCollum, the second year player Benjamin Morrison, Jacob Parrish is in that mix. And those three are reportedly competing for two spots on the outside. Now, McCallum makes a lot of money,

and it would be the heavy favorite, and it's expected that he's one of those two spots. That leaves Morrison and Parrish, who was great last year in the slot. And yet, all the reporting from Tampa suggests that the slot job is just going to be handed to Kianti Scott, who was one of my absolute favorites in the draft. I chose him as one of my guys,

and he fell all the way to day three, and yet they're saying, no, that the slot job is going to be County Scott, which great. That's going to make me feel smart, although it's pretty rare to hand a day three pick a starting job right off the bat. And if that's the case,

that's a good battle on the outside, and I'm curious if Jacob Parrish, who is really good, can translate that. So I know we're getting in the weeds here, but this is a Todd Bowles cornerback group, I think this defense has really high variance. I think they have top five to eight potential. And like a lot of Todd Bowles' defense,

it could look bad in a given week. But, man, there's a scenario where this is one of the more intriguing cornerback groups in the entire league. And then you have Antoine Winfield and a good safety group too, and they can really be dangerous. Yeah, I think that defense's ultimate ceiling comes down to how effective Rubin Bain can be right away because they have lacked that edge rushing presence,

really, since like the final year of Shaq Barrett or final two years of Shaq Barrett, really. It's been a while since they've had a difference maker at Edge Rusher because Hassan Reddick didn't work out there, right? But the strength of this defense is that secondary. And they felt so good about it that they moved on from Jamel Dean. They moved on from Christianizian. And in the offseason, they let them both walk.

And then they went and spent that pick on Keante Scott because they like the group overall. This is one of the ones that's, I'm not necessarily so much fascinated as I'm just excited to watch how they all kind of settle into their roles and how they could be moved around. because I think this is going to be what they need to depend on is the back end of that defense, unless that pass rush gets a lot better than it has been

over the last few years. So it's good. It's just a lot of talent. And you like it when you see a lot of talented players in the back end of the defense. They're pretty wide open in terms of their second linebacker spot too. So I'll keep an eye on that. I have the Titans wide receiver group up next.

Mostly because I'm curious Calvin Ridley could be traded depending on how training camp lines up. So follow my line of thinking here, Shook. Carnell Tate is locked in as one of their top three receivers. Wondell Robinson, he gave a lot of money to Brian Dables there. He's locked in. And then you have these rookies from a year ago,

Elykeye O'Manner and Chimeriddeke, who both showed some potential. You have Calvin Ridley who took a reduced contract to stay and is really talented and had great seasons in the NFL and could be a really good number three. I just think depending on how camp looks, how the second year players are improving and fitting in a new offense. Either Calvin really could wind up leading this team in receiving as possible, or he could wind up getting traded in camp if kind of the younger guys step up.

And that's why I'm just kind of keeping an eye on this Titans wide receiver spot. It's not that it's a team that's necessarily destined for cap space, but they could move on from him if they wanted to. They'd save 7.7 in cap this year. And it would make sense given that he's 32 years old and that he does have some variance in his career. Obviously, he only played seven games last year, after a thousand yard season, his second of, you know, second straight in the last two years,

he had 303 yards. Like he was non-existent in this receiving court. And it was a receiving court that desperately needed a player like that, given that they relied so much on D.K. and on IMA manner last year for Cam Ward. So this is part of why I'm more excited to see the Titans this season. I'm just more optimistic about them. Maybe not in terms of overall record, but just how this offense is going to function. Because I think finally, Cam Ward has some, you know, improved weapons around him. Wondale Roberts, it was excellent last year. I thought it was a great pickup for them going into this season. And, hate, you know, they're taking a big swing on him at fourth overall, but he's also a very

good receiver and was the best contested catchmaker in college football last season. I think that translates immediately. So he's got better options. It's just a matter of how do you sort out this group. I think it's the four minus Calvin Ridley that you're going to end up seeing on the field for the most part. And I think that moving on from Ridley is very realistic, especially if they feel like now is the time to get the younger guys more reps and really push it toward the future. But Ridley could have a bounce back. He could, you know, be healthy and be the productive guy that he was two, three years ago. And then it just adds more depth to the group.

I just feel like if there's going to be a time for them to move on, it's probably pretty soon. Sneaky old, Calvin Ridley? It's weird for myself with, you know, my increasingly gray hair on the side of my head to call a guy that's 31 years old, sneaky old. I just wouldn't have guessed that Calvin Ridley was 31 already. It snuck up on me. The Bengals edge position is something I'm keeping an eye on.

I assume Miles Murphy will start opposite Boye Mafie, but I'm curious if they're going to get anything out of last year's first round picture, Shamar Stewart. I'm curious if they're going to trust Cassius Howell to just be a fireball off the edge as an early second round pick, a pass rusher. I liked a lot. So I'm going to keep an eye on that. The Giants cornerback situation has some names. I'm kind of interested in Colton Hood was a second round pick. Your old guy Greg Newsom, who's bounced around the last year from Cleveland to Jacksonville now to the Giants, I would assume, is the favorite there. And Deonti Banks, their former first round pick is still around. There's some more wide receiver three battles that I like. Josh Palmer and Kian Coleman is an interesting one in Buffalo. How about a little Xavier Legget, Chris Brazel, my two-lane guy in Carolina, is kind of fun. And then New England, after Romeo Dobbs and A.J. Brown, it's pretty wide open with good players. And I'm not sure they're really going to figure that out in camp, but I think they could wind up trading a guy like Kay Sean Booty or Matt Collins or DiMario Douglas. I don't know.

Kyle Williams is there as well. So that's a lot of depth that wide receiver. Do any of those wide receiver battles, you know, strike your fancy more than others? Well, first I want to say that, yes, we don't know what we're going to see how the Bengals edge guys, but they have more depth and more options

than they've had in the last four or five years. And that should be a reason to be encouraged if you're a Bengals fan. So that alone kind of just tempers my, or it assuages some of my concerns, right? But when it comes to this receiver group, you're right. And when I look at the group for the Patriots, I think, oh, well, now is probably the time

to move on for Mac Holland. if you're going to, you know, store out the rest of this group, well, where should Mac Hollins go? Oh, he should go back to Buffalo. Oh, but that's an indivision trade. They would never do that. But that's exactly where I would like to send him

because I don't like the bills receiver situation still because, yes, we're coming down to number three between Joshua Palmer and Keon Coleman. And you think, well, that's not actually a bad set of options to have. But behind that, it gets really thin again, just as where they've been over the last few years. And I would like for them to have a return trip for Mac Collins. But, yeah, so there's,

There's different situations. It's not an embarrassment of riches, but it's a bit of a luxury for the Patriots as opposed to the bills who would probably happily take one of those guys, but I don't think that that would ever happen between these two franchises, given that they're competing for the same division title. But in a perfect world,

if I could play matchmaker, that's what I would do. It drives me crazy that the Patriots would be way less likely to help out their division rival bills by trading Matt Collins. I totally agree with you. Then the Celtics were to trade Jalen Brown to the 76. Oh, sure.

Here. Jalen Brown. One of our biggest rivals. Did they kind of sell Mac Hollins down the river publicly when they tried to trade for somebody else? Did they do it? Did they sell Mac Hollins down the river when they tried to trade for A.J. Brown and then actually did trade for A.G. Brown. It's ridiculous. How about your rival?

The last one I have listed is another ride receiver one. I just thought because the 49ers are going to be competing to be one of the best teams in the NFL. That's their hope that just keep an eye on Deshaun Stribling, who is their rookie. wide receiver. Christian Kirk is in that mix. If we're looking at depth, DeMarcus Robinson is still on that team. And then I also included just Ricky Pearsall's health. Obviously, Pierceall and Mike Evans are going to be starters if they're healthy. But Pierceall is just a guy that has not been able to string multiple weeks of health together, especially in training camp. And so if he can't, then Striblings development, Kirk staying healthy,

just curious how that shakes out with a wide receiver friendly offense and a wide receiver focus coach in Kyle Shanahan. I believe that's our 35th and final position battles. Are you excited about the 49ers camp? Do you care about all these? Are you ready to go, Shuck? Yeah, yeah. This has been a good primer.

And I've shifted from holding on to the final glimmers of summer. And I am now ready for football season to arrive because of this exercise that we've gone through. And also, I feel a little more excited because some of the guys that we mentioned, I did list on players I expect to improve this season because of the situation surrounding them, Ricky Piersall, Traylon Burks, a couple of those guys that come off the list off the top of my head. So plenty of reason to watch.

Training Camp is basically here. I am going to the Hall of Fame game, which is around the corner. Come on, come on. Get ready, folks. August 6th, not that far away. I could release a position battles list. How about number 36 to 70?

I just don't know if the interest would be there. Maybe you have to sign up for our. extra secret newsletter to find out that Kalyn Rutchledge versus Jake Andrews is number 57 on my personal list. We've got Austin Booker and Dio Odenbo, the Bears edge battle way down the list. There are a lot of cornerback battles. I feel like every cornerback two spot is wide open. We've got some running backs, but we'll get into it all. That's what we do on NFL Daily. We have a daily show. Really starting Wednesday, we're going to be going daily for the rest of time. Sorry, Eric Roberts out there.

And thank you. I'm thinking about pitches right now for your substack. TheGregularseason.substack.com. It's just like I don't know if people would be that interest in the rest of them, but I'm going to use it for my own preparation. I wanted to say thank you to Eric Roberts, who's back on the ones and twos helping to produce us this week. He was gone last week, and Kyrie Douglas did an incredible job manning the ship.

So I also wanted to send a big thank you to Quab and to Kyrie Douglas. for handling the audio and the video last week. They did a great job. Like I said, we'll be back to Daily, really starting Wednesday. Me, Jordan Roderig, back in the studio. It's not quite QB Island, but it's close. You'll see it's a brand new edition of a QB Island. We got spin-offs going on in NFL Daily.

That's coming up on Wednesday. We'll see you then. This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Thank you.