NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Training Camp Risers and Fallers

Episode Date: August 10, 2026

Gregg Rosenthal and Nick Shook take you around the NFL and tell you who is trending up and who is trending down at training camps across the league. Plus, Gregg and Shook react to the 2026 Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony and take a look ahead at next year's first-time eligible players. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Before your draft, our players to target and players to avoid episodes tell you exactly who to circle and who to cross off. Listen to the late round fantasy football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Come to NFL Daily where we're in the dog days at training camp. Training camp's sort of over for some teams. That's weird. I'm Greg Rosenthal. I'm here with Nick Shook. He's in Cleveland. I'm in Los Angeles. It is Sunday evening, August 9.

And yes, the last full week of training camp practices before most of the league plays their preseason games are over. And when I say camp is over, I mean teams like the Rams, the Giants, the built, like they've packed up their one location and they're going to another and perhaps practicing not in front of the fans. Things are already changing, shook. And we have so many risers and fallers, so many nuggets from a week that included you. in Canton watching Carson Beck, you know, become a household name if he wasn't already. Watching the greatest Hall of Fame game I've ever covered in person. Let me tell you, what an electric night that was. It's crazy, Greg. It's August 9th. Yes. I mean, I know July 27th, which is when all the camps generally opened for the veterans,

27th, 28th. It feels like it was just yesterday because it was basically less than two weeks ago, but it legit feels like it was yesterday. Training camp has flown by, and I know the guys that were in camp do not feel that way. Right. For a lot of the teams, they do the install period right away. That just ended. It's like eight, nine practices. And then there's a transition where you start doing some game prep, where you're working on specializing, where you start to really narrow down what the depth chart is going to look like. And that's what a lot of these risers and fallers are going to be about throughout the program. So let's start positive. And let's just roll through a bunch of the different ups. And one of the, one of the, you know, items of news that popped over the,

weekend. Unfortunately, if you're a Deshawn Watson fan, it's a good weekend for you. He got all the first team reps after looking great for two straight days, according to the people there. And great is relative, but in terms of how he had been playing two positive days in a row, one of them was after they essentially stopped playing Shadur Sanders with the first team. Weird because Todd Munkin, who's been a straight shooter, said, yeah, we're going to keep the rotation going. And then later that day, he absolutely didn't. So look, if you're looking, looking for Deshaun Watson to start week one, throwing the ball to Denzel Boston, who's definitely a riser.

A lot of people saying he is the best-looking Brown's offensive player in camp, period, maybe at any position. It sounds like it's trending that way. If nothing else for preseason week one, it sounds like he'll start. Yeah, that's the biggest takeaway that I heard this week was Denzel Boston, just being the star of camp, whether it was somebody who was visiting for a day, like I saw Ben Soak from ESPN, his takeaways were literally just different ways to describe how Denzel Boston is a monster in this camp.

Camp, you know, standouts are one thing. On field is different. We'll get the first test of that this week. But it is good for Browns fans to hear that they may have their next favorite receiver because they haven't really had one that they've really, really loved since that guy who wore number 12

and couldn't stand on the field because of disciplinary issues. I'm talking about Josh Gordon. The quarterback thing, it's weird because the narrative as of, God, what did I do? I did Cleveland Radio this past week. Like four days ago it was different.

They were like, oh, Shudor's, but at this point, you might, well just name him the starter. And then now all of a sudden it's Deshawn's momentum. So again, this is one of those things, more than anything with this team that's going to be decided, I think, on the field and preseason. So we'll see how it unfolds.

I think the fix is in. They want to give them one more shot. I've been saying that for months. Yeah, it's unfortunate. Cedric Tillman, for instance. We're doing risers at this part. But one thing that's rising to me is just the base level of this Brown's receiving group.

Because now that Jerry Judy is in theory just part of your top three with Boston and Concepcion. Like everyone's moved down the order. Like guys like Cedric Tillman might not even make this team. So that is a good sign if you're a Brown's fan. Let's go to New England where A.J. Brown, Christian Gonzalez, going at it all week, even got into it like yelling at each other a little bit. Little iron sharpens iron. Let's listen to Christian Gonzalez talk about it. Yeah, I mean, it's good on good. You know, he's a, he's a number one receiver in this league going up against a number one corner. I mean, that's how it's going to go. You know, it's football at the end of the day.

You know, there's never no disrespect or anything. You know, we're just battling and getting each other better. He's going to face corners like that that are, you know, going to yap at him, going to try to get in his head. And I'm going to face receivers like that that are strong and come right back at me. So it's great work for the both of us. I just wanted to get some positivity here early in the show. There are some pretty major injuries to talk about, like Laramie Tunsell.

and other situations in the Patriots have some negative stuff too. But if I was going to pick a positive from this week, Gabe Accus, their second round pick, by all accounts, has hit the ground running and they need it with Harold Landry, been out with an injury. They don't have much of a pass rush. He's reportedly looked good. And then at receiver, DeMario Douglas,

according to Greg Bedard, who really covers this team closely, you know, he knows he's done well in each of his training camps. He's the type of shifty slack guy that often studs well in training games. But he says this year feels a little different, that he is right there at the top of this depth chart. And to me, if you're asking me, who's going to lead this team in receptions, A.J. Brown and DiMargo Douglas are probably the top two candidates. I am kind of buying that hype that the guy who came in with Drake May,

who has the best chemistry, third year leap, like, he's not going to go away just because they bring in guys and you're making a face at me. No, I just think it's interesting. It's intriguing the idea of A.J. Brown is your threat to win in one-on-ones, potentially downfield, and then Pop Douglas underneath. Like it makes for a very balanced, you know, a passing attack that can attack you basically at all three levels. I like this idea.

The idea of him leading them in receptions, that's one that I'm going to have to see happen. Okay. Okay. The Patriots, we'll get to some followers a little bit later. I wanted to hit inside that same division. Chop Robinson keeps getting positive notes for the dolphin. Not a lot of national dolphins coverage right now. So it's good to hear he might be having a little bit of a third year resurgence in this

defense, which is going to be much more attacking, much different. Also, a lot of positive notes, from the people on the ground that Malik Willis has had a nice camp. Let's go to Tampa where this is the type of thing that you need training camp for. And I know you have to see it on the field, yada, yada. But the way that the Bucks edge group is coming together reminds me of what I just talked about with the Browns. And the most surprising part of it is a man named David Walker. I don't know if you scouted him heavily going into the 25 draft, but he missed all the last. year. They were excited about him. He was a third round pick for Tampa, misses it with a knee injury, doesn't play as a rookie. He has a sack in all nine days of

trading camp in which there were team drills, which is a wild, like, streak to keep going. And maybe it seems a little fluky, but a lot of the Bucks reporters have said, like, he's looked like the best player in camp. And if nothing else, like, he's not going to displace Yaya Diabi, but you have Ruben Bain, who's looked good. Those two guys are saying, and yay, we're going to be like the new version of Frini and Robert Mathis, because they're not like the biggest, tallest guys. Okay, like, calm down, but they're young guys who are getting excited. And you also have Al-Qahid Muhammad there.

And so now I look at this group, it was a group, for instance, Anthony Nelson and our friend John Ledyard pointed this out, was like the number three edge a year ago. And now he's the number six edge on the team. And so everything, you know, you add a couple, you know, new players, free agents, rookies, and then Walker getting back into the mix. If he's a good rotation guy, I'm pretty excited about this buck's defense. Yeah, well, you have to be because it's a make or break situation for them, given, I mean,

you know what you're going to get out of the offense for the most part. This has become an offensive team, but you have to be better defensively. You have to be more toward Todd Bull's identity to justify his employment and to also win football games and keep, you know, the negative vibes from taking over. This is a good week of positivity. And getting it from a player like this is very encouraging because, like you just explained, it adds to your depth. Now you've got to keep riding that, keep building that. If this can become a more balanced team, then I'll start to feel a lot better about them than I do right now that I did at the start of training camp. I like the direction.

There have been some injuries, but overall, like, I feel like this defense might be more exciting than the offense, which just has not been the case there for a couple years. It definitely was the case with the Colts last year with Daniel Jones rolling through the early portions of the season. He has been back. We've been tracking this. Shane Stike and very excited about his quarterback. Obviously, we chart all the throws. We chart accuracy throws, all that stuff, and he's on fire right now.

So it's awesome to see. It's obviously a good sign for our football team when he's throwing the ball that way, for sure. Hasn't had a lot of health there at wide receiver. Alec Pierce still has not come back. Josh Downs was out of practice this weekend with an injury. We don't know how serious that is. But they're trying to use him on the outside, and it just doesn't make sense. They don't have anyone really stepping up on the outside.

outside, maybe it's Ashton Doolin, Westbrook, Akina. Like, whew, and yet the reports are that Daniel Jones is like dicing up this defense. I don't know if that's a bad sign for the defense or just a great sign for Daniel Jones. He needs to get his receivers back on the field, but it's one of my biggest takeaways from the first couple of weeks of training camp is just, okay, Daniel Jones is like, we'll see when the season actually starts, but everyone there seems to think like he's all the way back in a way that even with Patrick Mahomes at his knee brace who will get to, I don't feel like that's the case for him and for Daniel Jones. Like it does feel like they're just

expecting him to be full system go. Yeah, that was weird. At the start of camp that they seemed to have such a positive outlook that they were just just basically guaranteeing, not guaranteeing, but I'll be guaranteeing, operating as if he's going to be ready to roll. I'm thinking about this receiver situation as you're describing it. And I'm looking at their depth chart, just thinking like maybe this is a big 12, 13 personnel candidate team this year. Like maybe it's just Tyler Warren and Moe Alley Cox and Drew Ogletree. And you're just going to pounded with Jonathan Taylor, who just got paid again. And then you just kind of work off of that with Alex Pierce once he comes back healthy and Josh

Downs. But moving Josh Downs out of the slot, I don't like the idea of putting him in the outside. That's not what he should be doing. I think we're underrating Nick Westbrook-a-Kine a little bit, just a tiny bit, but he's not like the, he's not a number three that's going to be like, oh, that's turn of my head. But I think he might be more productive there than you expect. John Byrne in the chat says Laquan Fredwell breakout. I was going to say that.

I was going to be like, Greg, did you know the front-trudlow? on the team. Shout out to Laquan Treadwell. Still getting checks if he makes the team because those training team checks aren't that meaningful for the former first round pick. But yeah, if you got any questions, we appreciate you watching

along live on Sunday nights. It's Sunday nights with Shook. And yeah, give us a like and ask your questions. Let's go to the Bills who opened Highmark Stadium here and we'll go positive first.

before getting to the uniforms. Osiris Torrance got paid. A lot of money. I was like $88 million guaranteed for Osiris Turrance, but he's been an ascending player, think who they want to be. This is why you let a guy like David Edwards go in free agency because you want to pay your homegrown talent

and you're really excited about him. Some other just depth chart notes that I wanted to get to. Caleb Elam's Orr, who's a mid-round rookie, has been getting a lot of the green dot, you know, the starting lineback reps, partly because of injuries there, and now they're getting healthier at linebacker, but just someone that the official Bill's podcast

have been saying has really stood out. That's with Chris Brown and Steve Trasker. They also say Joshua Palmer has looked much more like the guy that they expected a year ago. He's healthier, more comfortable in the offense, doing some yards after the catch. And so it might be something where he's not a fantasy guy, but if he can just help out the bills a little bit more,

than last year where he basically was a free agent bust. That would be big for them. Dalton Kincaid, according to the athletic, has been the best receiving option in camp. My note for him is just like, he's healthy, sweet. He has not had many multi-week periods in the NFL, including in camp where he's just healthy. So cross your fingers because Kincaid is the fantasy guy on this team. I'd be most interested in. And so far, one of the guys we've talked about a lot on the show over there, is Alec Anderson, who is that kind of brought in the whole sixth offensive lineman trend in the NFL. He right now is winning the left guard battle. Are you a, are you a Kincaid guy? I don't know what got your fancy out of all these bills notes, but are you

like a Kincaid? Because I do feel like Dalton Kincaid has like an 1,100 yard season, gets drafted as the TE 14 in fantasy and finishes fourth. I just don't know what season that's going to be, shook. It could be this season. It could be in two seasons. Like, it's going to happen one season. I don't something's going to happen every season? I think it's going to happen one season. Can it can yeah, you know what? That's a fair projection. The thing is is like answering that question is a little bit difficult. Are you a Dalton Kincaid guy? I'm an aspirational Dalton Kincaid guy if that makes sense. Like I'm hoping that he ends up living up to the expectation that followed him out of college and the expectation that comes with sharing a tight end group with Dawson Knox,

but it hasn't really happened entirely yet. So on, for the player on like just the player by himself. I am very much Dalton Kincaid guy. I just don't want to set my expectations too high. So maybe one of those seasons comes around and then, you know, it reaches that bar, checks that box and we're fine. I'm a fan of him as a player. I just don't expect him to be a big fantasy monster or anything like that. Now, are you a uniform guy? Because I sort of, I am the uniform. I don't know if you know this, but I am the NFL.com uniform guy. Okay. So let's, um, let's put up the nickel city uniforms. They officially opened the Bill's new facility, looks, really cool. You know, the fans are covered, you know, from the elements, but it's an open-air

stadium, which, you know, getting to see it for the first time, it almost looks like a very cool, you know, Euro soccer stadium. So shout out to the bills for getting that done. But they go out there the first time Josh Allen is on the field in the new stadium. He is wearing these uniforms, which I don't hate as much as everyone. And I can't remember a uniform getting as routinely dismissed as this one, which reminds me a little bit, shook, people say in CFL, reminds me a little bit of the Dave Craig Seahawks uniforms, like that era of Seahawks, which, you know, it's not bills, but it's not the worst thing ever. Are you as anti these uniforms as everyone else's? I appreciate when a design group tries something new and tries to be different with a team that

is pretty locked into their color scheme, their look, their logo. There's not a lot of variety with the bills. It's basically, you know, the, the bill logo, like the main one that we all know, the primary, and then you have just your wordmark. There's no secondary marks to work with, which I think limits them when it comes to things like this. So instead, they try to take the charging streak from the logo and make it on that, that's their logo on the side of the helmet. I don't think that's executed properly. And it looks really weird from behind because it meets in the back in the shape of a V, which reminds me of Fresno State wearing the V on the back of their helmet, college football. I also think that the bills are not a team that needs a gray uniform. I

I don't care about the Nichols City thing. They had a red color rush uniform that was way better than this. So it's ambitious. I like the effort. You're trying to do something different. But ultimately, it deserves some of the criticism it's gotten. We are, yeah, we're getting a lot of booze, a lot of negativity. And I agree.

And the little bills on the uniform, it just, it looks a little too much like Boise State. Ben asks, any idea how DJ Moore is looking for target share? Shakir holding the top wide receiver spot in Kincaid getting more. It scares me. I think DJ Moore is the most talented receiver on this team. I think you're going to get a honeymoon season out of him. I think they gave up too much for him. But ultimately, I think he leads them in yards.

I think Khalil Shakir, it's been a little bit diminishing returns, especially with Joe Brady running things lately. And so I think he's going to get a pretty good target share at DJ Moore and end up living up to what's been a pretty high fantasy billing. All right, let's move on from the bills. let's go to the riser. That shockingly has not been mentioned that much on NFL daily. It's one of these stories of the century, I would say, in the NFL.

The fact that the Jets have brought back Gino Smith to start games again is one of the craziest things ever, especially Gino Smith out of one of the worst, off of one of the worst seasons of any starting quarterback in all of last season, maybe the worst. I mean, he was right there with anyone that actually started the whole season. And that he's the freaking starter for the New York Jets after. how it ended last time. And you know what he's doing, Nick? He is lighting up the defense. He's giving them a high level day after day. A.D. Mitchell is going down the field. He's getting

protected by Armand Membu. I'm hashtag noticing that a lot of people saying Armand Membue has taken another step and is possibly the best player on this team and maybe the best player on this offense already. I like it. I like the competence that I'm hearing. All the Jets reporters are like, Maybe we just haven't seen it in a while, but this looks pretty good. Competence on one side of the football. It's a little concerning that Gino's lighten the defense up in training camp just because I feel like the defense needs to be better. That is your head coach Aaron Glenn's identity.

And it's a team that also, you know, notoriously didn't have an interception all last year. So getting lit up by Gino. Well, it's not that surprising given what we know Gino can do when he's protected well, it is a little concerning. But you know what? You know what? You know what I'm happy to hear about from this that you just described?

The Jets invested in a mountain of a tackle, and it paid off this time because it sure has held in with Mackay Beckton. So I'm so glad that the vibes are good with Armand Membu. And I was pining for Armand Membou instead of Will Campbell. Will Campbell's reportedly had a pretty good camp. You missed a couple days with injury, so I just decided not to mention that in the Patriots thing. But Membu is special if you watch his tape last year. Commenter notes, yeah, Frank Reich is on the jet staff. It is easy to forget that.

I am very curious what Frank Reich's return to the NFL because I would have never expected him to get an offensive coordinator job again. By the way, Isaiah Williams, who was the team MVP last year as a return man, is reportedly a wide receiver four lock, doing a lot more on offense, and they really like him in that four slot right now. Travis Hunter, another wide receiver four, which is weird. But that's what John Shipley says he's like, you know, really cemented himself. It's been pretty clear that its defense.

and offense, but it's defense first, like starter, and it's offense next. It took a year to get there, but this offense has been rolling in camp for the most part. In terms of the skill position, everyone's taking turns. Parker Washington looks to be their number one threat, but Brian Thomas, including on Sunday, has gotten a lot of positive pop of how he's fitting into the offense. But what I went as kind of a winner here, we're doing risers and fallers. The riser was maybe a little bit of certainty with the running backs. Like everyone's wondering what it's going to be

and in their first scrimmage and for the most part in the practice reports, it's been pretty consistent. It's like they're mostly splitting between Bachel Tutton and Chris Rodriguez, but between the 20s, it's more Tutin. And then around the goal line, it's more Chris Rodriguez.

And in a shortyarded situation, it's more Chris Rodriguez. And if it's an important third down, it's like, like, Quinn Allen. So when they actually do this plan, shook in the regular season, don't complain if you're a fantasy owner. Like, they're telling you what they're going to do

as much as I like Bachel Tootin, like they're telling you what you're going to do. They're all going to have their roles. They don't see any of them as like a 300 touch type of guy. And that's fine for NFL football. It's not great for fantasy. So just know that. Yeah. And enjoy the explosiveness that they'll display in the passing game.

And maybe if you're going to lean toward one guy that's way at the bottom of your fantasy bench, look when Allen, because it sounds like he's the third down back. Look, this is a committee backfield. And I feel like we've moved away from committee backfields in some cases because we've had the reemergence or the new emergence of some stars that end up being on the field. all three downs like a Bijon Robinson, a Jemir Gibbs, a Sequin Barkley. But committee backfields are a good sign

because that means you have options because running back as we know, but the heaviest physical toll of any position in the NFL is running back, especially running back who's going to look at 300 touches. This is good news for the Jaguars. So we'll get to their injuries on the offensive line later when we're doing the fallers.

But Liam Cohen, who does not beat around the bush, was beaming after this scrimmings. about how good the running game looked. It's a complex running game. It's year two. So despite a lot of injuries up front, he is a running game guy. He's been so good.

I mean, just think about that Bucks running game when he was there for year, how much better it was. He sounded very happy with where it's at. I think they could be a dangerous offense because of the depth, obviously, at receiver, but also because this dude knows how to coach up the running game. So I'm really looking forward to that.

It is rare shook in a Bengals. training camp to be talking about the defense. But the defensive optimism. And I know it's camp. I know it's hyperbole. But the Cassius Howell optimism has got me excited. This was a kid I was excited about coming into the draft. He goes top of the second round.

He is beating their left tackle pretty regularly, which maybe isn't a great sign for Orlando Brown. There's been some talk about Orlando Brown maybe not having the best camp in the world. Cedric Thompson, I believe is his name, has beaten him a handful of times too. But here's part of the optimism is that Howell is going to have one-on-ones because he's next to Dexter Lawrence. And Dexter Lawrence, according to, I think it was Dan Horde that has covered this team for a while. I was like, my expectations for Dexter Lawrence was high, and he's exceeded them. And again, I know it's this time of year.

But this time of year, last year, people said Dexter Lawrence didn't look great because he wasn't 100% healthy. So I'm just excited where this defensive line is at. Yeah, and I'm not trying to put any, throw any cold water on this because I'm also excited about the potential of this entire water. I need some cold water thrown on me. It is like 95 degrees in this garage and it's August 9th and every team is going to the Super Bowl. I mean, that's where we are in the preseason process, right? Still optimism season. But I want to say two things.

One, I love the fact that they went for Cassius Hal because he was the antithesis of what they usually go for, which is Straits guy. He's the opposite of a traits guy, but he is an explosive edge rusher. and he's a situational edge rusher. And you're right, he's going to get looks because he's lined up next to Dexter Lawrence. But what's really important here is also when you're watching training camp and you're watching a lot of 11 on 11,

best on best, usually the guys that end up popping the most just from the observer's perspective are edge rushers, are guys who get after quarterbacks because oftentimes you're not seeing the little nuances and things that are amounting to smaller victories for other guys. Unless it's a long, you know, completion,

not even really a long run because you're usually not tackling that often. it's going to be an edge rush or getting to the quarterback and doing it frequently. And that's exactly who Cash's Howe is because that's who he was in college. If he's deployed properly during the regular season, he may become Bengals fan favorite. So I do like the idea of it. But let's just let them get on the field first. Well, it's like anything with the camp.

Sometimes it's like, oh, yeah, the defensive line is dominates. Hmm. Is that a bad sign for the Bengals offensive line where like one of the most repeated takes from people I respect and see, like, is that the Bengals offensive line is much better. They actually finally fixed it. And I'm not sure. My eyeballs did not tell me that last year. Even pass protecting.

And there was a story of Joe Burrow kind of staring, collecting himself in the locker room, pretty like upset after one of these practices. He's had a bunch of interceptions. They're installing a new offense. The fact that the defense is making the offense in Joe Burrow, this mad is interesting.

Dan Pitcher, the OC, tried to explain it this way. We feel like this is going to help us build an offense that can win a number of different ways can help us win an NFC North championship, if not a training camp trophy. We don't really need that. I don't really care. The under center play action, it's different for Joe Burrow, and they have stuck with it. It's one of the things I've been watching, I've been listening to the Growler, which is a good Bengals podcast with Paul Daneer. And they say the offense really has changed.

They are trying to do it. And it's been a bit of a bumpy road for Joe Burrow, who's only played one way for his whole career. It's just something very interesting to watch in the preseason, too, because they're going to play them in the preseason. Yes, and that's going to be a great first look for us at this different offense, because what do you need in order for play action to work consistently? First, you need a running game that's being taken seriously. But secondly, you need an offensive line that can hold up to execute the fake. And that's going to be the great test of whether this offensive line is fixed, because I'm on the same page as you when it comes to that group, still not overly impressed by them last year. So that could explain why they're having these struggles at this point in camp.

But the good thing is, it's still only August night. More risers. Let's go to the NFC South. The Saints. Jordan Tyson. Just quietly out there practicing all the injury concerns hasn't been a problem. He's wowing me. Some of the clips, I know we're not supposed to fall for these clips, but man, he's breaking

dude's ankles. He's open by five yards. Just the way he moves is really exciting. Berrien Brown is a late round rookie receiver that also, has been playing well. It sounds like he's going to make this team and just been, you know, trying to add a little bit to their depth, someone to watch in the preseason, Barry and Brown. When we talk risers, how about Clint Kubiak putting his foot down and showing the rest of the Raiders, he is boss. Let's hear him talk about Kirk Cousins and Max Crosby getting into it the

other day. Yeah, that's training camp. You know, those are those two leaders of our team going at it. So that is part of camp. Obviously, you fight in the game, you throw a punch in the game, especially, then you're out of the game. So we've got to be smart, treat it like a game. So what he did, Shook, was Benchim the next day. Pretty interesting that he sat Crosby and cousins down, almost to send a message and maybe give Fernandez some love with the first team.

Who knows? But that's interesting, Kubiak. I'm sure Max Crosby was not thrilled with that. I love this idea of this new staff and Clint Kubiak coming in and just putting his foot down. And setting a standard that he carried over from the Super Bowl champion Seahawks, where he's like,

we're just not going to let this stuff happen anymore. I know it's a simple, hey, Max Crosby's going hard, but we're just not, this is not going to, we're not going to let it slide anymore. We are the Raiders and we are going to be a different Raiders team

than they've been for the last 10 years. And it starts with things like this. I also do like the idea of getting Fernado some extra reps with the ones for a day. It's kind of nice. And reportedly, like, he's looked good. Overall, I've been trying to track,

like, how is this rookie camp going? And I think right now it's like par. Like it's ups, it's down, it's flashes that you want to see. It's not so good that it's making you think, oh, this is going to be Russell Wilson his rookie year and make you have to start him. But he has much tougher competition in Kirk Cousins. So we'll see. I think that growth would actually come in the next two weeks than it would really matter right now.

So if Fernando was going to go, I think it's going to be the next couple weeks. You know who's been going? According to Jameson Hensley, I believe, said this, who's been covering the Ravens for 30. years. He doesn't know if he's ever seen a rookie, I believe, just rookie period, but definitely rookie receiver. You know, flash as much as Jacoby Lane. What are you doing? Chuck. I'm wafting the good smells of that right there because this was my guy. This was the fit for the Ravens. This is exactly what I thought might happen. I love to hear this so far. Yeah, he's their number three receiver, I think. And I wasn't sure about him as, you know,

coming out of college because he's all about the like acrobatic contested catch. That's a tough skill set. He's like a Brandon Lloyd type. But man, he has been rolling. And it gives the offensive shape if he's a real number three. We'll see. Obviously, it's early. But at this point, I think the expectation is he's going to be the three.

According to, you know, the athletic, Tess Walker is probably the four. And then the other rookie right now, Elijah Surat is probably. I like that group. That's a five that I could really get behind. I mean, I'm not going to go there. If Bateman is your two and a rookie I've never seen play yet, is your three? I'm telling you, man. I got to see it.

It's a diverse group. I like the idea. Okay, okay. I'm with you. For now, by the way, Ethan Pochick, who's their center, that everyone expected to be their starter. Hasn't played with the starters at all, but he's coming off a torn Achilles. So they're, like, working him in slowly. The coaching staff says he's ramping up in that he will battle with Danny Pinter to be their center later in camp.

But it's not necessarily his job. Peter Skoronsky is a riser because he got major money. He is the number one paid guard in the NFL. He is the contract that I cited earlier. So I apologize for having the wrong money on Osiris Torrens. It was the four for $188 million guaranteed for Skoronsky. I think a lot of tape-knowers would put Skironsky in one of the best young guards in the league. So it makes sense that he is now locked in long term and the highest paid guard in the league because he was the next one up.

He had really good, I think, development in terms of his run blocking and his pass blocking, and that showed up at the scrimmage. So did Cam Ward. Really good numbers at the scrimmage. We had a lot of team scrimmages. This used to be a bigger thing when teams would tackle to the ground, but a lot of teams practiced in the stadium over the weekend in their various stadiums. It would be the last team scrimmage in Nissan Stadium because they have a new stadium

open up next year in Nashville. And Carnell Tate made some nice. catches on that one, including a fancy one-hander, if you're watching us. Now, you could say, oh, why didn't Cam Ward just put it on him? I mean, that happens. But he also, Cardinal Tate, put up three touchdowns on Sunday, the practice after the scrimmage. So, Carnell Tate, Wondale, this is a pretty diverse wide receiver group, too. And so far, all systems go for everyone there.

I just talked about Tupé Lane being my guy. Carnal Tate was my guy in this class. He was wide receiver one. Everyone's guy. He was a guy that, you know, some people were shocked to see him go as high as fourth overall, making plays like that and making contested catches, which they also threw up on their socials and they've done it multiple times during this camp. He's doing everything that you expect him to do.

And he's giving Cam Moore the number one receiver that he lacked. And hopefully they can kind of hit the ground running more or at least, you know, at a better stride than they were at this time last year. Under a new coach, a really strong offensive staff, at least on paper, new era, figure it all out, get new over at, them instead of dealing with the dysfunction that they had to deal with during Cam Ward's rookie year. I like some sneaky optimism coming out of Nashville. And I appreciate the positivity coming my way here from a commenter. Thank you for the Titans positivity. I know you had to dig deep.

Not really. I'm excited to watch this offense and see what this team is. I think it's just a better division right now. So that that'll make it tricky for them. I mentioned the Colts earlier, by the way. I mentioned to put Seth McGowan while I'm thinking at AFC South. Just seems like he's locking in rookie running back as their RB2 if you're curious in fantasy leagues. Let's go with some Chargers winners. Tully, Tully-Polotu is back in team drills. He hasn't signed his contract, but maybe there's some sort of agreement there of how they were going to handle it. He's back practicing. So if indeed that was a Holden, it's over despite him not having a contract. I don't have much to say about the Chargers.

I just wanted to note that like Rayshon Slater's been healthy. I know he missed some team drills for a couple days, but then he was back. Ladd-McConkie, healthy, a lot of hype around the running backs, Keaton Mitchell making a lot of big plays. Mike McDaniel saying Amari and Hampton has improved the most of any player on the roster. We'll be there Tuesday, so I don't want to spend too much time on them. Can I put something out there, though?

This is going to be the most enjoyable rushing attack to watch in the NFL this year, Los Angeles Chargers. Okay, we will see, maybe we'll get McDaniel on the show. I don't know. We've put in our requests. He was one of them. We'll see if we can get him on Tuesday. We'll be down there.

That'll go up on Wednesday. Marshawn Lloyd is another guy. I've monitored just staying healthy at Packers camp. He's their backup running back, but Josh Jacobs been in and out. So he's a guy who just hasn't been able to put together healthy weeks. Drew Aller, I'm going to give us a little bit of a riser. I think he's probably the one standing out the most among the Steelers backup candidates.

So that's nice. In Minnesota, it's been a lot of outside zone running talk with former Dolphins coach Frank Smith, who is with Mike McDaniel. So all the players have been talking about, they're really excited, especially the offensive lineman, Aaron Jones, about the new running game there. So we're going to keep an eye on that outside zone there. And I'm going to go to Philadelphia next where we'll get to the receivers that have been out

later. But Dantavian Wicks, man, I think he is having a really strong camp. And I think he's at the point. You know, Mackay Lemon was kind of quiet and has been missing. time. He's been out four or five days that Dantavian Wix feels like, you know, he might be the two, three, along with Dallas Goddard in that offense behind Devonte Smith. Yeah. And that's, there's a lot of like, it's an interesting group. It's not like the same receiving group that it was a few years ago. So like there's intrigue. Like, I mean, Hollywood Brown is in this group.

Well, I should more is in this group. But you were kind of counting on lemon filling out one of those top three spots, even though he's a rookie and you should never, you know, fully count. on rookies. I'm very curious to see what, because we don't really know. Like this offense, I think, is going to look pretty different than it did in years past. Obviously, new offensive coordinator and Sean Mannion, but you also have this almost completely different receiving group now. And is there a possibility for Eli Stowers to become more involved behind Dallas got it as a

glorified receiver who's listed as a tight end? A lot of things I want to really watch closely when they hit the field of preseason. It's optimism season, Chuck. So I just want you to be positive. It's why we've gone so long on the risers. If you are listening to this, you know, in your ears as a podcast, we'll take a quick break now and finish up with the risers because I don't have as much negativity to talk about.

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room groans because they wanted that player. Or you grab a small school rookie off waivers and you start him right before he goes off in primetime. There's no better feeling than crushing your fantasy football league. I'm J.J. Zachary Eisen, host of the late round fantasy football podcast. Before your draft, our players to target and players to avoid episodes tell you exactly who to circle and who to cross off. We've got data-driven analysis, historical trends, and the strategies that separate winners from the rest. And your dominance doesn't stop with the draft. All season long, we have our 15 transactions,

10 trends, sleepers, and the mailback, data-driven, quick-hitting episodes to help bring home that league trophy. Listen to the late-round fantasy football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We roll along, and yes, we're taking your questions, and maybe we'll have a little deeper of a dive

on Aaron Donald's return because we actually haven't talked about the impact football-wise that it's going to be later in the week because it sounds like it's happening this week. It's now all but decided and now the reports are that like now that they're back

of the team facility could be happening this week. So we'll wait until that's official and we'll kind of break down a little bit how we see him fitting into the offense because I don't assume that he's going to be the Aaron Donald of old. At Eagles Camp, which we were just talking about. Like Jalen Carter is reportedly having an awesome camp after signing this new contract.

It's like, you can't expect Aaron Donald to necessarily be the top of the top. Maybe he'll prove us wrong. But we'll get into him a little later in the week. The Cowboys are a team where overall, I don't think there's been a lot of news coming out of that camp. Ryan Flournoy having a good camp, Jaden Blue, sounds like the backup running back there in Atlanta. What do you think of the Zachariah Branch comp to Jalen Waddle that Tua was trying to give him? because there is a lot of Zachariah Branch talk at Falcons Camp right now. I mean, Zach Branch did himself a lot of favors by transferring to Georgia and then, you know,

having a successful time in Athens because he did not leave USC with that type of reputation. It's continues up on the positive trajectory for Zach Branch. But I also do think, as we've acknowledged multiple times already tonight, that it is hyperbole season. So this is a group in which he could maybe carve out a spot in the three and then maybe makes, I think he'll make some plays. He's an athlete. And he made some plays at Georgia. The jump to the NFL will see how well he adjust to it.

Sounds like so far he is. But again, like many cases, we'll see it on the field first. Here's the thing. It is hyperbole season. It's not necessarily going to translate to the regular season. But what it does is it gives him the chance to do it. Like his camp, I think, has ensured he is going to have a big role week one. And so we didn't know, you know, you just never know with rookies.

They don't have many great players there. it's Alamedea Sekias, it's Jahan Dotson. I think he's going to cut into those guys playing time based on how it's looked. But also, the preseason matters. The Falcons are a rare team, though, getting some preseason like practice in because they are doing some live tackling. There's only a handful of teams left doing it. But the Falcons have done that a couple times.

Despite the injuries that they've had, they're doing some live tackling. Let's go to the Giants where I think Malachi Fields has probably stood out the most in their wide receiver. Maybe their wide receiver two. Malik Neighbors is steadily ramping up, but he has not even done seven-on-sevins yet. And so we're still watching that. I'm not, I don't think it's necessarily a guarantee that he is starting or playing week one. Darius Alexander, though, their defensive tackle was a rookie last year.

It does sound like he is starting, had a really good camp. In Detroit, I wanted to throw this one at you. Like, their biggest acquisition this year, Shook, could be Alim McNeil, Alim McNeil returning to 2024, Alim McNeil. Because he was returning off the injury last year. He was hurt in 2024. And by every rapport, I listened to this podcast, the Lions Collective, like, he has been that dude at training camp.

And to me, that is huge. Their defensive line could look a lot different, a lot better this year if he is right. Yeah, it was a presence that, I mean, they just missed guys up the middle generally last year because you know coming off of injury and just a lack of depth there. Tiley Williams never really stepped up and did what a lot of people thought he would, myself included. Having somebody back like that at their full strength after, you know, battling through the challenges that come with playing through a season that came after a significant injury is always going to make you better because it all starts in the trenches. It's also going to be better for the rest of this group because as the lions have learned over the last few years, depth is. very important and they still never really quite found the ideal pairing with Aden Hutchinson off the edge. That's no disrespect to DJ Wanam. I actually love watching DJ Wanam play football,

but it's going to be more about the strength of the front four instead of just this edge and that edge. And because of a guy like Alian McNeil there, if you can make the whole group better, it's going to help out the entire defense and make your team better. So Levi Onuzerike, who's been around this year, like might not make that team from the sound of it. And Peyton Turner, the former Saints first round pick. Like he hasn't been healthy at all, but some of the young players have stepped up and then McNeil getting back

and Tileak Williams looking better this offseason. We'll see. It's early. Ahmed Hassanin is another player, a six-round pick from a year ago, who is believed to be really threatening to play a lot of snaps. So I just feel a little bit better

about their defense now than I did a couple weeks ago. The final thing rising, other than just giving some love to Jordan Love for like one particular throw, is competition at Texans practice. I really tracked Seth Payne, his YouTube channel. And he's just saying like, it's been going back and forth, which is nice to see. Instead of one-way traffic, which it was apparently, I think it was on Sunday's practice,

the defense kind of fought back and totally dominated and made the Texans defense or offense look a little bit more like last year. That CJ Stroud was stacking days. And the running game was stacking days. and it's, if you can just look competent against this Texan's defense, it is a great way to get ready for the season. I need to know if, well, I mean, first, to hear that CJ Strauss stacking days and the running game stacking days, that tells me that the offensive line is also stacking days.

And this is an offensive line that has been a sore spot for the Texans for the last few years, and it's also kind of been rebuilt recently. So, you know, does the arrival of a guy like Wyatt Teller help build out this group into a stronger unit because if they can actually fix what was going on up front, which it was a lot better last year than two years ago, but if it can get even better now, then maybe I'll believe in this offense again, and then maybe C.J. Strauch can show the whole world

that he is the guy that was awesome as a rookie and hasn't been awesome in the last couple of years. If that happens, then that immediately vaults this team much higher up into the power rankings or whatever you want to call it of the NFL because that's been their weakness. What do you mean whatever you want to call it? You've got power rankings.

Have we, has anyone announced that? No, it was just me trying to avoid attention. But yeah, this has been a defensive-laden team. I don't care if anyone said it. If this is exclusive, shook as the new power rankings guy at the NFL. We'll see where the Texans are. I would have them quite high. Tank Dell, who everyone's excited to see back in practice,

it's still not fully back. I'm not sure how much we can count on him early in the season. We'll see. The final thing I just wanted to say as a winner was there was one throw from Jordan Love at the family night to Matthew Golden that is just a thing of beauty. I don't know if there's anyone in the NFL that throws a prettier ball than Jordan Love. And I know Christian Watson go get it, but so can Matthew Golden down the field. And I am really looking forward to that. I know we shouldn't scout camp on like highlights, but there aren't

that many people that could make a highlight like that, Chuck. I think Jordan Love is. gonna have like a monster season. Okay. Sign me up for that because he needs to. After what happened last year, he needs to. Oh, he was good last year. Just ended bad. Just ended bad.

Okay, let's go to the negatives. And we've put off talking about the biggest item of news since we last taped for a while. So these are the fallers, the stock down, whatever you want to call it, at this point in camp.

The commanders have had a rough camp. And Laramie Tunsell, tearing his triceps is absolutely brutal. I was really concerned about this offensive line even before this injury. And I know there was optimism for a variety of reasons of how the rest of the line like shaped up. But I also thought like these guys were drafted for a different type of system. It's a new system. They have a new center in Nick Allegretti who's had a lot of injuries as a pro and has been out basically all of training camp.

So now you're, you know, you're into your backup. backup kind of at center. And Sam Cosmy's had injuries. And I know you're hoping Josh Connerley, who looked good at the end of last season, you know, steps up and continues it at right tackle. But it all kind of falls apart if Laramie Tunsell isn't there. And torn triceps could knock them out for most of the season. How it works a lot of times is how severe the tear is upon surgery.

Depends on how long he'll be out. So, you know, most optimistic, it's probably, closer to three months. But even that's half the season. And you have a guy in Brandon Coleman who has played a lot of left tackle, the young player, but there's a reason why they tried to replace him

and moved him to guard. It's just a little bit of shaky footing. You're having to sign Stefan Diggs, which I don't know if they really wanted to have to do, even though I think it's a good move. Like, just a little uncertain right now with what's going on with the Washington commanders. And you combine it with the uncertainty

that comes with revamp. being almost your entire starting defense. Right. Like you're starting defense. Like it, I thought, you know, when I said it, when I first kind of pointed it out, I thought, am I being crazy?

Dan Quinn's seat getting warm. But if the way that these types of things shape up and the pressure that mounts, like it all starts with Jane Daniels, but if you can't protect him, then you're going to run to some of the same situations that you ran into last year. And so yeah, this is a legitimate concern,

especially when you don't know what you have on the other side of the ball. You have the defense with the, it was worse in the NFL in terms of yards allowed per game last year. a lot of reasons to be a little uneasy at this point in camp. Another one, by the way, is that Trey Amos, who was their best cornerback last year, hasn't practiced basically at all at training camp.

And then when he did return, he got hurt on his first day back. I also looked at this wide receiver morass coming into training camp. Remember that position battle? We were hoping Antonio Williams was going to step up kind of at, they've really struggled to draft wide receivers. He's a slot guy. Stefan Diggs, not just a slot guy, but probably best in the slot.

He kind of blocks him. I haven't heard a lot about Antonio Williams at that camp. Not like the greatest sign there. Traylon Burks is maybe the outside receiver. So nothing to panic about if you're a commander's fan, it's like all hope is not lost, but Laramie Tunsell's probably your most valuable player

other than Jaden Daniels. So it is what it is. Like that's as big a lot. There's a reason why they gave him a monster raise. He played awesome for them a year ago. So what we've done, Shuck, is stay disciplined. And in some scenarios, most scenarios, I had winners early in the show for a team where I now have losers.

And that's the case for your Cleveland Browns, where it's a little early, but like, should I be concerned that Spencer Fano has not won the left tackle job? That actually seems like Duan Jones, like, might win it. And maybe they're just... Yeah. Okay. Yes, you should be concerned.

You spent a first round pick on this guy, a pretty high pick. You traded back to spend it, but you still spent a pretty high pick on him. And you did it with the conviction that he was polished enough and prepared to be able to step in and man that spot from day one. And he's just not there yet. And you should especially be concerned because DeWan Jones, who started as a rookie, you know, when he ended up taking the field as a rookie, he started off great. I mean, he was attracting all sorts of praise for not giving up sack. and just looking like a dominant player. He's been nothing like that over the last two years.

I know he's dealt with injuries, but he hasn't been anywhere close to that. This is a big reason why you went and rebuilt your whole offensive line. And we know the left tackle is the most important position on the line. So yeah, you should be concerned, especially given you don't know who's going to play quarterback. Okay, good.

And it might just be something where they're seeing what Juan Jones looks like and, you know, making Fano earn it. We'll see in trade. Like, he's someone I really want to watch in the preseason is Fano. He was a guy that I didn't, I wasn't as high on as other people were. Well, they were high on him. The first tackle off the board, like they had their pick and they traded back and then they took them. And it's part of like a bigger like, oh, all these names look good when they fix their

offensive line and it looks better. But Elton Jenkins has missed a lot of camp. In fairness, both Elton Jenkins and Tevin Jenkins returned over the weekend. So right now they are healthy again. But both of them have had a lot of injuries in their career. Both of them have missed most of training camp so far or various points. to training camp. They're back on the field right now,

and it's just like crossing your fingers that those guys can stay healthy. Lane Johnson is a guy we had noted, was not at training camp for much of the last week. And we'll get to the Cam Ward comment in just a little bit. Lane Johnson

announced more or less that this is going to be his final season. And he didn't, put a like 100% promise, but he's going into the year with the idea that this is going to be his last season. It was a really interesting press conference. He was away from the team for four days. Not sure why. He said it's just really hard being away from his kids, his family. He said both of his parents are having health issues. His mom said it as a cancer battle, so that might be part of why he was away from the team. He also pretty pointedly mentioned it really bothers him.

like the lack of recognition that he's got for everything that he's put his body through. And he sees he's not in the top 100. And he's talked about in the past, like he was second team all pro. And whoever I forget who it was, you could look it up. The first team all pro from a couple years ago, like how many sacks that person gave up compared to Lane Johnson. It really bothered him that he was second team all pro when he thinks he's the absolute best offensive linemen in the league.

it's interesting that that is part of the reason, like, it's draining his energy from the sound of it. And he said he just wanted to come into this year with a clear mind. He's talked about his mental health issues too. It's a brutal position. He's had, you know, concussions, all of that. One of the greatest players in Eagles history, just point blank. One of the best tackles of this century, point blank.

If I did my top 25 or 25, like he should maybe be on there. And just, you know, looking forward to him getting his flowers over this last year. And it'll be interesting. He's a guy who has a chance to win a third Super Bowl title with the Eagles this year. It's a thankless job to play tackle in the NFL to really play any offensive line position in the NFL, but especially, I think, right tackle because you're not the glorified left tackle. And I understand the frustration. I also think that this sounds like it's a guy who's overwhelmed right now and is also coming off of a very injury-rilled season,

in which he tried to fight his way back and just couldn't do it. And that's draining. That is absolutely draining, especially when you put so many years of high level football into your career. But I will say that, like,

it could be a good thing that he's pretty upset or just, like, you know, pissed off by the fact that nobody's ever really given him any recognition because it's like, all right,

this is your last year, go prove him all wrong, leave it all out on the field. Let's go. Get one great season out of him. I hope he can stay healthy because you're absolutely right. He's a generational right tackle. He's been one of the best in the NFL throughout most of his career. And he's going to be somebody that's going to be very hard to replace

once he packs it up. Yeah, he will be in Canton. We're going to go through the players that'll be eligible for a first time and just give a couple of quick thoughts on what happened in Canton and the induction this weekend. But Lane Johnson, to me, is a no-doubter first ballot, Hall of Famer. So, yeah, you're right. He'll get his love this season. The offense has reported. reportedly look pretty good at camp, you know, considering it's a new offense and how many injuries they've had. Makai Lemon and Devante Smith have been out for most of the last week. It worries me, Mackay Lemon, you know, a little bit. I don't know if he was making, you know, huge, huge impact before that. So you want to get him on the field. Eli Stowers, too,

is their second round pick not getting like a lot of love from the people watching on a day-to-day basis. It might not be ready for much of a role there. Let's go to Detroit, where we got the surprising news on Sunday afternoon. I'm not going to say it made me emotional where I teared up, but, because we've gone through this before with Teddy Bridgewater, but I was a little bit sad. Not as sad as Dan Campbell. Let's listen to him. But I feel like this is where it's at for sure right now.

You know, this is where it needs to be and, you know, where he felt. And his biggest worry was letting us down. That's the type of guy he is and he's not, you know, that's as far as it can get. So it's been a lot. Dan Campbell was with Teddy in New Orleans. Everyone who's banging around Teddy Bridgewater just seems to love him. You do wonder, I don't know, camp's tough. He's away from his family.

He's a Florida guy, you know. I have a feeling if some team really needs a quarterback in like November and just calls Teddy Bridgewater. He might be on a sideline again. I mean, that's probably not playing last year. my favorites. Exactly. Yeah. I'm actually moved by Dan Campbell being so moved by it. Yeah. But you're right. It just, that goes to show what he's meant to the people that he's worked with in his NFL career. He's a guy who was a former first round pick who had his moments, never quite got

some, you know, the flowers that maybe he deserved. He became a reliable backup. He stepped in in a big spot in New Orleans back in the day. He was coaching high school last year. He's been through a lot in that this past year because he was. was trying to help his players out and, you know, got penalized for it by the state. And there's been a whole battle over that, allowing, you know, coaches to help out their players financially. And Teddy Bridgewater law. He's got a law named after him.

Exactly. Yeah. So he's been through a lot. And I can understand you get to this point in camp, we're just like, man, don't have it in me anymore. Yeah. But, man, it's not often that you see a coach get emotional like that when a guy retires during camp. Usually they're like, yeah, he's retiring.

Next question. So, you know where he's gotten the credit that he deserves over the. the years, Nick Shook. Right there. You. I mean, big two gloves guy. Between, around the NFL and now NFL Daily, yeah, how many, I mean, how many people have podcasted more than me, I would say, you know? So like, volume-wise, I have done my part and probably overrated him at times. But in the perfect situation, you know, surround him with the right people, he was great. Some other down news with the lions.

By the way, they're signing Josh Dobbs. Pass or not, maybe. Let's go. Just makes total sense that he's the one replacing him. The couple of injuries there, Sione Vaki, their backup running back candidate, has a broken nose, so he's been out. And I mentioned Levi-on-Wazurake.

He's been kind of struggling. It doesn't sound like he's necessarily even a lock to make that team. Isaac Slaw, people were hoping, would kind of make a big leap. maybe not happening so far in camp. They have plenty of weapons there, but they would love him to develop a little more.

So we'll keep an eye on that. There was a question or a comment that said, Cam Ward threw a prettier deep ball than Jordan Love. I'm going to put you on the spot. You can compare these two, certainly shook. But I also will ask, just like prettiest deep ball, this was Russell Wilson's terrain. certainly Aaron Rogers at his peak

don't think he's there anymore although he's got plenty of juice still like prettiest deep ball in the league right now I don't know who your contenders are if you have anyone that would top those guys if you agree with Ward overlove pretiest because Prettious is different than most effective

yes you got to put Josh Allen in there he hasn't really had a field stretcher but you got to put him in there because he's got a cannon that's a debate That's one that I would actually really like to dive into. Okay, that's a way of not answering.

Stafford is, Stafford is pretty pretty pretty. Yeah, but his passes are pretty no matter the distance. So it's the thing. It's different. Sure. It's a very specific argument to make here. I've got to think about this more.

I mean, if you're just talking about... Patrick Mahomes when he had Tyree Kill was a pretty deep ball. Sure. I mean, if you're just talking about a go ball down the sidelines, not many throw it better than Jalen Hertz. It's like it's his skill. I disagree. I think Jordan, with the ward over love, one, I think love is my choice for the prettiest,

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room groans because they wanted that player. Or you grab a small school rookie off waivers and you start him right before he goes off in primetime. There's no better feeling than crushing your fantasy football league. I'm J.J. Zachary Eisen, host of the late round fantasy football podcast. Before your draft, our players to target and players to avoid episodes tell you exactly who to circle and who to cross off. We've got data-driven analysis, historical trends, and the strategies that separate winners from the rest. And your dominance doesn't stop with the draft. All season long, we have our 15 transactions, 10 trends, sleepers, and the mailback,

data-driven, quick-hitting episodes to help bring home that league trophy. Listen to the late-round fantasy football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Let's go to the Patriots. I mentioned Will Campbell out of practice for a few days, and it highlighted something I haven't enjoyed reading about and hearing about. Greg Bedard of Boston Sports Journal has been all over this, but I've heard it from a few of the other Patriots reporters. Caleb Lomu struggling quite a bit at Patriots practice. He is the 21-year-old tackle that they drafted. So not ready, it sounds like,

to step into the starting lineup there. And Will Campbell, there was never going to be a battle, but Will Campbell reportedly taking a nice step forward in his second camp should. Should I be concerned shook? Not that the first round pick, who's not even starting anyways, is struggling, but that Tommy DeVito's team beat Drake May's team, like handily in the scrimmage with some sort of point system. I don't know what the point system is. You get points for first downs. You get whatever. DeVito beats Drake May in Gillette Stadium.

Panic time for Drake May fans. It depends. Are they going against the ones of the twos? They mix it up. They mix it up. They mix it up. In the same machinery?

What's going on here? Yes, they mix it up. So, like, I was listening to the breakdown. It was like, well, Drake May had more like first team offensive linemen, but DeVito had more receivers. But basically, they tried to split the difference and they played with like equal teams.

Who are they playing against? That's the question. They playing against the ones on defense a whole time. They mix kind of the ones in the twos to try to even out the teams. And DeVito's, team, I think with a big day from Pop Douglas came out on top. I mean, I didn't love hearing that. This is like, when you are with your friends and you pair up or you like make groups of three

and then you're just like, oh yeah, I know my team stacked. But it was supposed to be random draw. It feels like that's the kind of result of this. I've done this. I'll play some sort of multiplayer game with my friends and then we get into certain combinations and I'm like, oh, my team's in a crush. Or I look at the group, but I'm like, I got to carry the team because this is not a good group. Maybe it's the same thing. It would be telling we should do this at different training camps because it would be really telling to see who the quarterbacks take, you know, for their team if they were allowed to draft them. Yeah. Because from the sound of it, like DeMario Douglas was, you know, the most productive guy.

And for whatever reason in this setting or maybe just this camp and he knows the offense. It's a complicated offense. A lot of choice routes. McDaniels, he's done it for a couple years. It's like, yeah, I think they would take him over Romeo Dobbs. And I think they're taking. Imagine if you're playing with like your third string tackle and, and, and, you know, imagine you are the third string tackle,

but you're blocking for Drake Maine. You're like, oh, God, I really got to perform now because I'm on Drake's team instead of the third team. Carlton Davis has been out with a hamstring injury since the earliest part of training camp, which is just part for the course. But he played a lot last year, so maybe he just doesn't like to practice

or can't stay healthy in practice. But he just never practices over the last four years for any team that he's on. And Travion Henderson, like if you're looking for the year two, breakout. It might happen, but there's been nothing in camp to indicate that he has made up any ground on Remandre Stevenson. If anything, it's probably been the opposite in terms of patience and vision and the past protection stuff that they really value Remandre. So that's something.

And then my guy, Kyle Williams, just seems a little buried on the depth chart. Like, I assume he'll make the team, but he is not part of the top five, which is a little worrisome for a second year. I told you, you're figuring this out. You might have to part with some guys that you hold near and dear to your heart. The AJ Brown effect. Here's what you do. You trade Kashan booty for a third. Can we get a third?

Could they get a third for a Kishan Booty? That's a little high unless the team's desperate. Some other fallers, we'll call them. Jack Besh, I've noted, is not really in the top two for the Raiders at wide receiver, and they're really playing a lot of two tight ends on the field, so that's an important formation. And then I note, like, when Tray Tucker or Jalen Naylor's been out, like they, bump up Malik Benson, who's a rookie, maybe even ahead of Besh. So something to note.

We said that Kenyan Sadiq, the tight end for the Jets, is going to be out for a little while. That's a bummer. DeAngelo Pons, also their rookie has not practiced at training camp. Joseph Asai, their big defensive end pickup has also not practiced at camp. Neither's Tavondri's sweat, their defensive tackle that they traded for. So a lot of injuries there on the Jets defense, which maybe helps explain some of Gino's success that we talked about. I told you. The defense. You know, they do like the practices under the lights.

I forget, do the Steelers do it at the college that they do training camp? I forget St. Vincent College or whatever. The Steelers coach, Mike McCarthy, used to have something called the Mojo moment, which became a little famous when they did hard knocks. And in Pittsburgh, he now calls it the Franco moment in honor. of Frank O'Harris because the immaculate reception he said was the ultimate mojo moment. It was kind of lucky, but

whatever. Sorry. I don't know if he caught it. I don't know if I was a catch. He probably caught it. He probably caught it. It would have been a crime if they didn't give it to him. The mojo moment at the practice in front of the lights for the Steelers was, okay, the first second and third team offense all going to get a chance

to go do a drive down the field and score a touchdown. First team offense comes out. they got to go down the field. It's Aaron Rogers. At this time of year, this is what you live for if you're Aaron Rogers.

First down and 10. Back to pass. Very first throw. He throws it inside of Roman Wilson. Jamel Dean cuts on it. Pick six, Jabal Dean. There's your mojo moment. It's over.

The drive's over. You don't get another chance. That's the rules. It's over. The first, I mean, I knew what was coming because I have the notes in front of, of me, but as soon as he said, throws it to Roman Wilson, I thought, oh, God, oh, no, probably not going to end well.

Roman Wilson supposedly having a good camp and is well ahead of Jeremy Bernard, the third round rookie, so that, or a second round rookie, so that's a note. But yeah, not a good moment. Look, I have such a hard time reconciling this entire Steelers situation going into this year, because, like Aaron Rogers even said that he was basically sure he was done, and then they hired Mike McCarthy and the door was basically closing on him coming back and then they hire Mike and Mike's foot goes in between the door and the door frame and it keeps it open and that's why Aaron Rogers comes back. And then McCarthy shows up and he's got all this love for Pittsburgh and it makes for good stories and good headlines during training camp and he's got a new mantra tempered,

you know, to like make a reference to steelmaking and they're going to be tempered by training camp and become stronger and more durable and everything else. And yet part of me is like he brings the offensive genius to this and that's all great, but what are these Steelers going to be? I don't know. It's one play. And one of the viewers right now, what asked in Jamel Dean pick six Roger? I do remember a Tampa one. What's it Jamel Dean? That would, that would be incredible. And yeah, it's good for the defense where I am excited about some of the things I've heard about this Steelers defense. They've been lining up the three edge rushers, Herbig, Highsmith, and Watt together.

with Herbig kind of at an off-ball worker situation. NASCAR package, let's go. Okay, that's cool. I love that. Maxi Hanachor, who I mentioned a week ago on this very show, you know, wasn't getting a lot of run, started to get more run with the first team and reportedly looked really good.

So he would have been in my risers, but he did that for a few days, and then he got hurt, and he's been out of practice now for about three days. So that's not a great sign. And then Brandon Eccles, who is probably their starting nickel, unless I'm forgetting someone.

is in a boot. Or, yeah, at least he's starting or playing a lot of snaps for them. He has been in a boot. Eric, our producer, is watching, he's enjoying, he lives for these Sunday nights, for me making him drive in on Sundays in the middle of the summer to tape these shows. And he now has a rejoinder for the answer to the prettiest deep ball in the league. So I don't know what he's coming with here, but let's let's. Let's see.

That was Carson Beck. You want to talk about losers. You want to talk about fallers. How about me? Not being able to honk about Carson Beck and the greatest Hall of Fame ending of all night, all time. Now we talked about how he played really well on our Thursday night show while Carson Beck was in there. But we didn't get to see Haynes Kang finish off.

that game with a back and forth first ever Hall of Fame game where both teams were over 30. Haynes King with a buzzer beating run. Unfortunately, he's kind of in the fallers too, too, because he hurt his hamstring at some point in that game in his out for a few weeks.

I don't know if you knew that. And he tuffed it out and took that running score in from five yards out at the buzzer, because that's what Haynes King does. That's what he did at Georgia Tech. All he did was make plays of his legs. He was actually a better runner than a thrower. And then he's throwing it all over the field on Thursday night. And then he runs it in to cap the most electric Hall of Fame game ever by doing it in his fashion.

But actually, that's a funny choice, Eric, the Carson Beck ball. Because it's pretty. It was pretty. And he did it a few times. He got some Panthers defenders on double moves a couple of times in that game. But my favorite moment from that was, as you heard on the highlight there, you could probably hear the contact, the stick from the defensive back who hit that receiver. Whole press box just went, ooh, when he got it.

We were all surprised that he got up and celebrated. Some of the analysts looking at UASBN needs to calm down a little bit with like Carson Beck needs to be in the mix to start like no one's running any defense here. I love that he passed his first test. Let's not draw too much from it other than it was fun to watch. It was fun to watch. It's funny that you mentioned that nobody's running any defense though because I'm watching him like carve up the Panthers and there's like a third down.

They're like high red zone and they run a stunt and you can just tell because it's the first time you see any sort of defensive line action outside of a straight rush, and it immediately gets home in Saxon, and they have to settle for a field goal. And I'm just like, that's preseason in a nutshell right there. They finally actually did one stunt and it immediately worked. Right. And the thing I like the best was he had a little bit of pocket presence. When the, when the, pressure was coming from his right, just a nice little shuffle, like the mechanic, like I'm no quarterback's mechanics. But it looked good. And that's something I think that can potentially carry over. But I'm not going to draw too many conclusions other than curious to watch

him the rest of the preseason. A faller right now, I guess, would be anyone else wanting to watch Patrick Mahomes in the preseason. Let's listen to Andy Reid, who says, yeah, that's probably not happening. There's a pretty good chance. I don't play him, and percentages are leading that way. And I don't know if I'll play him a second or third game. I mean, I don't know that. So, but percentages probably lean against doing that and letting the other guys, we've got new people in those other positions and behind him that needs some work. And so, The more reps they get, the better. A lot of questions.

A lot of guys that I'll be curious to watch week one for the chiefs because Mahomes probably isn't going to play in the preseason that just aren't all the way back. Like Xavier Worthy still out with his shoulder injury. We assume he'll be back at some point. Mansour Delane's still non-contact. Rishie Rice, it's just been this slow ramp up period, but he's not like fully back

and just so really important players that just have had some injuries. They have one on the offensive line right now, too, I believe at Wright Tack. It's just a lot. And we'll see. Steve Spagnola, I thought it was noteworthy. He wants a little more vocal leadership, and they miss Trent McDuffie and Jalen Cook.

Pretty interesting for him to just say he just wants to hear the communication be a little better. Let's go to the Saints who had some injury news. I'm concerned about. Kristen Miller, their second round rookie's been out for most of the training camp. I was excited to see him play. They lost a depth piece, Dylan Radin. at the offensive line was kind of their sixth or seventh offensive lineman.

So for them, an important player, he tore his ACL. He's going to be out for the season. And then I didn't like the sound of how Kellynne Moore talked about Cam Jordan's hamstring injury. It's tough to parse injuries this time of year, whether to mention them or not. But it just sounded the way that he talked that this could be a while. And I just don't love to hear that out of Cam Jordan. And they're a team that already lost Brian Bressie for this season.

Just their lines, I question the depth on both their lines and the risk that they have in terms of the injury possibility right now for both their lines. Just dimming that Saints optimism a little. Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned the depth. Because on paper, your starting group, more on the offensive line and the defensive line, still looks pretty solid for the most part.

But yeah, depth, and we know depth matters, especially if you suffer. They're pretty thin, I think, already in the defensive line after losing proceed. So it's like, yeah, you got to hope for some luck there to make sure that you can, you know, maximize what's possible with this team. And you're right, dimming the optimism a little bit, although I, I still, I'm on the optimism.

Oh, you mean, Kimes picked them to win the division? I like them. I'm just like, they could be a lot better and still only have seven wins. And that's okay, like six or, you know, that's okay. It's a winnable division. The rest of the division, uh, division, in terms of, you know, health right now has been like, okay, I would say. I mean, the Panthers haven't had as much injuries lately. We're hearing Haynes Kang, by the way, I think he was hurt on that last play right now. But the rest of this show is probably going to have a lot of little injury updates. We've got the fallar situation.

So I'm just going to roll through some injuries here, starting with the bears. A little worried about Luther Burden. That Luther Burden hype was out of control in the fantasy. streets. I don't know if you knew about this. He has a groin injury that sounds like it's going to keep him out. I don't know if it's got to be one week, if it's got to be three weeks, if it's got to be more, it's got to be somewhere in the middle, but a concern there. So you got a lot of like today Walker, Zameon Thomas, I believe, left practice on Sunday, too, not sure how serious. That is Braxton Jones and Montes Sweat. Their left tackle right now and their edge left practice,

not believed to be long term according to Ben Johnson, but then you go to their secondary and it's crazy. Cam Lewis, who was a replacement for Kobe Bryant, is also hurt right now. Jalen Jones, who was the replacement for Kyler Gordon in the slot. They're both out. Elijah Hicks is another guy hurt in the secondary. So you hate when it's clustered. It's early. We got a month ago here, but Dennis Allen, at least in practice, he's going to be tested. I feel like the bears, if I was making a list of the teams that have suffered the most injuries, the most concerning aspects they've obviously lost their left tackle too. They're

high on that list. Yeah, them and the Panthers, two of the first teams that I think of when it comes to this stuff. And you're right, clustered is the most concerning part. You spread it out and you get one here, one there, you can still kind of find ways to navigate because you have such a large roster at this point in the process. But

when it's a whole group, and especially when you talk about the secondary, that's a secondary that are welcome to new additions. And now all of a sudden, you're looking at Dylan Thineman to kind of hold it down back there. I kind of forgot about Telling Theta Man, hasn't really heard much of that. Good player at Oregon, but a rookie who has not, yeah, he hasn't really popped in camp either. So, look, I'm not going to be one of those people that gets in the crowd that then lists the Bears as the number one regression candidates. And then Ben Johnson will just mention it in a press conference. But I do think that, yeah, this qualifies for the fallers right here and slight concern. Some injury news elsewhere that will point out that the Jaguars have been without both their tackles and Patrick McCar. at guard, Emmanuel Pregnan at guard, who was a high pick. So, like, they're missing all sorts of tackles in offensive linemen right now.

I mentioned some of the Giants receivers that were going up earlier. Some of them going down, Jalen Hyatt, Isaiah Hodgins, Juju Smith-Schuster. If I had to guess, those guys could be on the outside looking in in terms of even making the team. We talked about Josh Downs, who I do think ultimately will be a slot guy for the Colts later, but they just haven't been healthy. I also wanted to note that Cam Taylor Britt, their cornerback, probably their third or fourth cornerback, is suspended for one game for violating the personal conduct policy we found out. And then a bummer report from Ian Rappaport this afternoon that Anthony Richardson could be cut or traded soon and that there's real concern about whether his eyes have fully recovered after that freak access.

with the resistance ban before game, which is really disappointing. There were a lot of reports shook that he's had a big problem with catching shotgun snaps. It's just like a bummer, man. I mean, I know, I know people like to pick on him

how he came into the league. He was a 21-year-old kid who, like, had some real wow plays. And I know he was getting replaced anyways by Daniel Jones, but that injury is is depressing. And for Ian Rappaport

to go public with that report makes me think that trade or cut could be coming as early as like next week. Yeah. And if it's

because that's not just like poor performance. That's a lack of ability to, I mean, it's quarterback. You have to have your eyes. You know,

it's one of your greatest tools is your eyes. And if you're struggling to catch shock and snaps, that means that tells me that the rest of the picture is probably not very clear for you either.

So it's, It goes from being like, oh, this is a guy who didn't work out there. It's like, oh, damn. Like, he doesn't even have a chance because now he's being held back by a freak accident. That's just, that's unfortunate. It stinks. Another young quarterback who's had his share of struggles. Certainly is a lot of attention on him.

J.J. McCarthy hasn't felt like Kyler Murray's exactly crushed it in this competition, but the longer it goes on, the disparity in terms of first team reps. is just noticeable. So I like how Luke Braun, who hosts Locked on Vikings, put it on Blue Sky the other day. He basically said, multiple things can be true

that JJ McCarthy does look a little more controlled this year. Like he's a little more under control. There is improvement there. And that Kyler Murray has a couple like wild misses every day that you're just like, huh, like, is he picking everything up?

And yet, when you just watch the whole back and forth and you're there every day. And then certainly how the reps are stacked, there's only one takeaway, which is that Kyler's running away with this. So I just think that's kind of where we're at in terms of the Vikings battle.

This is a Sunday night show. If you're watching us, we're doing it every Sunday evening. And it has been a little interactive. And we got the tip that Jamel Dean picked off Aaron Rogers. What the hell? Eric Roberts, he found the play. Let's listen to it.

back in 2020, the COVID year. Every time he catches a ball, you see Rogers. He's kind of smiling and laughing because he's just kind of taking Tanya in since the first time he saw him and just loves the way he plays the game. Passes, his picks. Intercepted back the other way. Touchdown, Tampa Bay. Intercepted by Jamel Dean. There is no other show on the interwebs in the blogosphere anywhere, if that even exists

anymore. that is finding Jamel Dean highlights mid-show and then playing them. You want to know why? Because they don't even have the permission. I was going to say that's right. NFL media advantage. It's still happening. That's Aaron Rogers targeting Devante Adams in a stadium

that the broadcast is pumping crowd noise into because there's like nobody there because it was a pandemic. We dig that up. If I remember correctly, that was like his first pick six in a very long time because Rogers has only thrown, I don't know what it is now, but at the time that was only his third career pick six,

which was crazy. He was on a wild streak of like years without having a pick six. And so, yeah, Jamel Dean, he just gets after him. Charges Foller right now before we go to their camp. I think Trevor Penning

has kind of been eliminated from their competition at Left Guard, which is about four ways deep at this point, which is interesting. Like they just can't decide anything. think the Packers' Offensive Line certainty is another one. They're just totally up in the air, I think, because of injuries, because of how the offensive line is playing. And that's about it in terms of our risers and fallers for this second full week of training camp. But we do have

one other thing to talk about to end the show. And that's the Hall of Fame speeches and the ceremony. Obviously, it's a great weekend in Camp Canton and Drew Breeze, I think, had a really strong speech, you can tell how well he prepared for that speech. I know that the Saints fans and the media in my life was like really fired up. It was emotional. How many people were there? All those old saints, that's one of the coolest things to see who comes out. And you're like, is that Brandon Coleman in the crowd with Drew Brees and Michael Thomas and Lance Moore and some of the current players like Alvin Camer and Camero and Cam Jordan were there? And Sean Payton getting teary eyed. And And that was really fantastic for Mr. Saint.

And I think of Larry Fitzgerald the same way in what he meant to the Cardinals. Adam Venetary, a little different, you know, because he means a lot to two different franchises. He had one of the most surprising Hall of Fame speeches of all time. He went blue, not like Colts Blue, just like, I'm going to pretend I'm a stand-up comedian for like 15 minutes, blue.

Let's listen to him, you know, relate his wife to Pat McAfee. Hey, Pat McAfee's here in the crowd today. Great to see you, brother. The only person who enjoyed holding my balls more than my wife. She held for me in the off season when everyone else was gone. Get that right. Adam. What are you doing, Adam?

The first joke was great. McAfee, if you watch the video, interesting reaction. If you know, you know. Vinatari, I think if he was a stand-up and he's testing out the material, I think he realizes, don't follow it up with the holding it in the off-season. Like, you nailed it with the first joke, you know what I mean? It almost got a little weird afterwards, and it was unnecessary. But he nailed it.

He nailed the delivery. Didn't nail the Belichick joke as much. Did you happen to see that one? No, I did not hear the Belichick joke. I didn't even want to play it here because he like kind of killed the delivery, but essentially, yeah, Belichick couldn't make it because, you know, he was, you know, probably busy with UNC and also evaluating, you know, his girlfriend's cheerleading competition over the weekend.

It was just like, wow. Oh, wow. Is there animosity there between the Tudy and the Patriots? I mean, he basically cut him, so. Yeah, true. Send him to a great second. Long memory. Some players are long memory.

and maybe, like, he immediately followed it up with, and I think he's the greatest coach of all time. Like, he was quick to do that, and he did give, like, respect in other ways. But look, if Bill Belichick didn't handle that situation well, and they haven't really talked much since, like, that's the risk you take, I guess, is in a very blue Hall of Fame speech.

Vinatieri doesn't really give you that much love. He did a whole bit on, you know, Peyton Manning's forehead, but it was like the, it was like maybe, he like, maybe had a drink or something and went like a little, like the tone was just like a little too, too hard. I don't know. Maybe I'm just getting soft in my old age. I love, I like the balls joke, though.

Yeah, I actually think it's a little refreshing to not, I mean, look, you're talking to somebody who used to volunteer with the local committee to like set up and tear down and do all the stuff behind the scenes and serve wine at the cold jacket dinner and stuff like that. I did that when I was like 21, right? with my dad and it was like at the highlight of it basically signaled it was the start of the football season and it was my dad one of my dad's favorite things but what i often did during those times is they didn't have time limits there's no band to play them off and i one year i was guarding michael strahan's row

with kelly rippa and everybody else i was personal detail at that row on a knee listening to speeches for like hours long like 90 minute speeches so it was great there was no 90 minute speeches i used track this back in the day. There were some like 35 to 40 minutes speeches. Now they say they cap it, I think, at 12. Some people still go like way over, but they really like they tried to make it way tighter. Some people still go 15 to 20 or whatever,

but in general, it is a tighter operation. Agree with our comments are angry as that kickers are just weird. Yeah, like. Yeah, they are. I mean, they are only part of the team in like, that their inclusion on the roster. They go out of the field and practice separately

from everybody else. They spend most of the time hanging out in the locker room and the trainer's room and then they come on for special teams periods and that's it. So of course they're going to be

a little weird. And I always do wonder if Venetieri hit so many of the biggest clutch kicks of all time, including the one in the snow, not to win the game in the tuck roll,

just to get to overtime. And then he hit one in overtime to win the game that was closer. But the epic one was to send it to OT. I always wonder if his blood pressure ran low because I forget if it was a preseason game or like an early regular season game early in his career

when Parcells basically told him like if you don't turn around like you're going to get cut and he went out there that day and he hit his kicks. You know, if you're a rookie and then you can solve that earlier in your career like you're going to be a great kicker moving forward. At least if you're Adam Benetary. There were some points. moment. You know, Roger Craig revealed in a taped induction that, you know, he has dementia

and, you know, talked about that his doctors do believe that, you know, it came from playing football. He also had many incredibly joyous, beautiful moments, including the Friday night ceremony with Eddie DePardolo, his former owner, getting the gold jacket. It was, it was great. Roger Craig is just an effusive guy. but, you know, a tinge of bittersweet of what it cost him. And you can't help but think about like Luke Keekeley is there getting inducted just the all-time panther. And one of the reasons he left the game because of his concussion issues was he just didn't want to risk that. And just those two guys getting inducted on the same weekend was poignant.

And congratulations to all of them. Before we go, I just, you threw this out at me. I thought it was a great idea. the 2027 class inductees are crazy. Like if you're Tori Holt or these guys that have been waiting year after year and you look at who's coming the next couple years, it is so stacked. This is ridiculous. Here's the list of the people eligible for the first time next season.

I'm going to list them in the order. I'm going to be specific here, Chuk, of who I think has the best chance to make it right away. Not who I think should. That's a little bit of a different question. Okay. If you want to know should, you could ask. But Rob Gunkowski, Adrian Peterson, you could flip those two,

but I think those two got to go in. Ben Rathesberger, who, I'd be shocked if he's not a first ballot, and yet I've heard some people disagree. Richard Sherman, Antonio Brown, Gerald McCoy Andrew Whitworth

Cam Newton Eric Weddell Alex Mack then we're getting deeper Levion Bell of guys that probably got to wait

but like in a normal year I think Gerald McCoy would be like a like the third guy usually like he's made a lot of all pros and he's way down this list Gronk

Adrian Peterson Big Ben Sherman those are four guys who have a great argument to get in right away Antonio Brown's going to be an interesting conversation. I'm sure they'll make him wait. He might be the greatest quarter, the greatest wide receiver I've ever covered.

I really think he's that good. To me, he actually is a no-douder. It's like, that is a lot of amazing group. Andrew Whitworth might be a no-douder. I don't even know. That is a crazy, crazy group. I don't know, like, where you would stack those guys, what you think about all those great players at once.

Your slam dunk first ballots have to be Gronk and Adrian Peterson. And then from there, it's essentially, who else do we have to get on the list that has already been eligible before? Do any of these guys surpass them? It's going to get competent. And this is what happens is every year that passes that some of these guys don't make it. The backfield tends to, you know, come in and kind of overtake them. And especially when it's a strong group like this, I would like to see Whitworth.

I don't think he's going to be a first ballot, but I think that the longevity, the high level of performance, the second act of his career with the Rams should get him in quickly. I don't think it'll be a first ballot. But I think Gronk and AP are pretty much like two slam dunks. Yeah. With Whitworth, he won Walter Payton Man of the Year. He left on that and a title and a first team all pro, two first team all pros. I think it's total blasphemy that Ben Rathesberger wouldn't be a first ballot Hall of Famer.

That is, and I'm not like a rings guy because that's not about that. It's about that he was one of the three to five best quarterbacks in the league and was weirdly underrated. And yet I don't think he's going to get it. His career. Yeah. And I don't think he's going to get the first guy. I think he's going to get it. I think he's probably a second guy.

And that's the thing is how many of these guys do you pick from that are newly eligible from the first time? I would say at least those three would be my answer to that question. And then Sherman, I'd have to compare it to the other guys that are waiting because I have a feeling if I look at the guys who didn't make it this year that I'd have Sherman probably ahead of a lot of them. And Whitworth, you know, then he's in that mix. and we'd have to get deeper into the conversation.

And Tony Brown's the toughest one. I agree with the take that, you know, people are going to punish him for everything off the field. Mm-hmm. He's one of the greatest wide receivers I've ever seen, point blank. I mean... That's the idea of him giving a speech has probably got some people nervous, though.

And I know you can discount, like, that he probably hurt his team at times because of the way that he act. And so that's why, like, He also was a four-time first-team all-pro. His stretch, this is a thing for another day. His stretch from 2013 to 2017, like he was playing at the same time as Megatron and Andre Johnson.

He would, I thought he was better than them. Like, yeah, anyways. I don't know if he was better than Megatron. At the time. He was, yeah, yeah. He's right there. Yeah, right there. Yeah, definitely right there.

Yeah. And, man, those Steelers, I don't know. People love this. Steelers, so they'll probably all get in. We love the Steelers. We love all 32 teams equally, even if you say that we don't. And we're going to be covering them all week long.

Shook, thank you. We'll be doing this again next Sunday night. So check us out. Then check us out in the feed. Hit that music, Eric. Let's get out of here. We are going to be welcoming Jordan Rodriguez back onto the program on the show that's going to go up on Monday.

we are doing NFC South. We haven't, yeah, I'm like, which South haven't we done? Trevor Sycambe, fan favorite already. Also coming back on the show on Monday for that. Join us then. The entire draft room groans because you just took the guy they wanted. There's no better feeling than crushing your fantasy football league. I'm JJ Zachary Eisen, host of the award-winning late-round podcast.

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