NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - Falcons, Eagles Rookies Shine, Early Team Needs & What Matters Most From Week 2

Episode Date: September 16, 2025

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Welcome to the opening bell of the NFL Stock Exchange podcast. Trevor Sycambe, Connor Rogers, here with you guys for a post week two. Sort of. We have the doubleheader for Monday Night Football that hasn't happened yet. But what matters most marches on? Folks, we're going to talk to you about every single game in the Sunday slate. Some thoughts on Thursday night. football last week as well and tell you guys what matters most we'll talk about some of the rookies

we'll talk about big picture stuff some of course like just game analysis that we had but uh it's going to be a lot of different things because we're going to give ourselves a flexibility to talk about that's right folks what matters most connor how you doing my friend i'm good man another fun weekend a lot of wild finishes a lot of good rookie moments this weekend which really is a great thing for this show and what we do here as we try when we can to look at the team building young player aspects of this. So let's get it rolling, brother. We got a lot to get through.

We do have a lot to get through. I guess we should start with Thursday night football, right? Just turn back the clock a little bit. We'll start with Thursday night football. The Packers end up defeating the commanders by a score of, what was the score of this one? Where is it? Where is it? It was 27-18.

Never really felt that close. No, it really didn't. It feels like the Packers are up by 40 before the ball was even kicked off every single. game they play. Might be that way almost every week. I think through through the first week of the season, the Packers are the best team in the NFL, right? I think that's

generally the thought. Yeah. Yeah. Right now? That's how it feels. That's how it feels. And, you know, the 2-0 looked phenomenal on Thursday Night Football. Connor, there were so many good things from this game. I mean, even the weaknesses we thought that the Packers would have going into

this season. The cornerback room looked great. The wide receivers looked diverse and reliable. But this is your game. I'll let you kick it off here. What mattered most here from Thursday Night Football for you? To me, with Green Bay, because the constant conversation is who are the Packers going to funnel their past game through, right?

The run game, very good and very predictable with Josh Jacobs, the defense now with Michael Parsons looking pretty top tier. But, you know, they draft Matthew Golden in the first round in this game after, unfortunately, on it what looked like a great play, they lose Jaden Roe. read for a while now. To me, Trevor, what matters most is I think the Packers showed they can effectively run their pass game through Tucker Craft. And I believe in it.

I think Tucker Craft is the type of tight end in this league. He is now in that category, in my opinion, of past catching tight end. And what's beautiful about it is he can play every snap because he's a good enough blocker. But pass catching tight end that you can funnel your entire pass game through when you need to, you look at him through two weeks right now he is 96 percentile two out of 50 and yards per run at 3.04 average depth of target hasn't been a problem either he's fifth in that 88th percentile 9.8 is the average depth of target for him right now you look at the contested

catches he's only had one opportunity but we know in the past he's been really good with that he catches everything he's very good after the catch as well so this is someone to me that is kind of showing you right now that he's ready to be up there with the big boys, like the Trey McBrides of the world that we've seen LaPorte do before. I think Tucker Kraft is in for a really, really special year. And that's the thing with the Packers where if they don't need a number one wide receiver to take over this offense because of how effective he is, that they're more just kind of ancillary.

They're more like secondary parts, these wide receiver room. I think it changes how great this team can be. Yeah. And not that, like, I'm saying this, like, as if it's a good thing, but it's, it's an opportunity for Tucker Kraft. With George Kittle missing time now due to an injury, I mean, that certainly opens the door for Tucker Kraft to potentially have a first team all pro season. You know, I know it's early. I'm not trying to, like, crown him right away.

But I think that as long as Tucker Kraft is healthy, he is going to be in that Pro Bowl and all pro conversation when you look at that conference. So he is having that kind of a start to the season. and he's a big reason why the Packers are playing really well. On the other side of things, I'll just shout out. It's probably time already for Trey Amos to get the start and outside corner from Archon Ladamore. It has not looked good for the Washington commanders two weeks in.

I mean, you look at that game that they played against the Packers. Connor, there wasn't a single starting defensive back, whether it's the two safeties or the two starting cornerbacks that had a coverage grade above 38 against. Packers. And this was kind of their demise at the end of last year. So, you know, they acquired Latimore. The question with Latimore is he always healthy. Out of summer, you know, he was saying, and they felt that this is as healthy as he's been in a long time. And corner's a position, man, that when the wheels fall off the bus, they really fall off the bus. And I fear that with Latimore,

you have to start to wonder if he's not just a high variance player anymore, but if this is more of who he is. And not, you know, not that you want to rotate corners. I'm not saying that you should just like rotate corners all the time, but like, it's such a confidence-driven position that sometimes you got to play the hot hand too. And Amos had the highest coverage grade of anybody on the team. And so if he's feeling himself and if he's playing really confidently,

put him out there. Let him start, you know? I think that, I just think that he's got to get some consideration there to, uh, to be able to start well yeah and amos played such at a high level of college football for multiple years at multiple programs so it's it's not like a developmental corner where you go you know hey he needs a lot more time like no if you drafted treyamos tray amos it's you were thinking like no this guy should be able to help us right away because of how long he was at the college level specifically in the SEC yeah another rookie on the packer side of things uh matthew golden

he was open deep on two of those passes. They just should have been a touchdown on the first one for sure. It could have been two touchdowns, you know, with how well he was getting open deep. And so it just felt like it was all clicking for the Packers. And if they start connecting on those Matthew Golden passes as well, this is going to be an incredibly difficult team to stop. And then if we're looking forward a little bit,

Kishon Nixon looks pretty damn good through two weeks of the season as an outside corner. If there was a weakness that we had on this green, Bay Group. And if we were, you know, doing mock drafts for the Green Bay Packers, which, you know, we don't anymore. We're not in the business of doing that anymore because they traded away there. They traded away two first round picks. They left that business. But I felt like, you know, if they were still in the mock draft conversation for the first round, we'd be talking about Corner, at least for the way too early one that we did before the season started.

Nixie keeps playing like this, man. We ain't going to talk about that for Corner for the Packers. We're just going to sit here and talk about Super Bowl stuff. So I agree. I think that what Tucker Kraft does for the offense and how he unlocks that is indeed what matters most for a team that is really, really good right now. The Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas Chiefs, that's where I want to start with my game here. Rematch to the Super Bowl, obviously, you knew that it was going to be closer than what it was when these teams matched up in February. Two things that I had as major takeaways and sort of what matters most from a team building perspective is you looked at this Eagles team and they lost a lot, right? Darius Slay is not there anymore.

Bradbury is not there anymore. C.J. Gardner Johnson's not there anymore. Nicobi Dean is not in the lineup right now. Obviously, things on the defensive line. They've got a lot of defensive linemen who aren't there either. And we saw Jehad Campbell stand out for them in a big way, one of their highest graded defenders in week one. Andrew McCuba was one of their best players in week two. I loved what I saw from Andrew McCuba. What a steal that they got in that player. And he is so much of what he was at Texas. already in the NFL when that last season he was in Texas in 2024 he was flying around the number one thing that you noticed about Andrew McCuba was the play speed and yes what I wondered

about him going into the NFL and the reason why I probably didn't have him higher on my big board ultimately is just he's small he's skinny he is a smaller guy you know and you go you know durability is one thing and I certainly hope that he never has an injury throughout his entire NFL career But it's something that you think about with guys who are a little bit stronger who play that fast. We're just throwing their body into offensive ball carries to try to bring them down. But then just overall tackling efficiency as well. When you have lower weight on you, it is more difficult for you to bring NFL defenders down. And again, through two weeks, he seems like he is up to the task.

Now, that one catch that he gave up to Travis Kelsey where Travis was kind of just like dragging him along for an extra 10 yards. I mean, that's where the lack of weight shows up from Akuba. However, you will take it when you get plays like to pick six. I know it was a little bit of a gift from them, but the athleticism they showed after the catch, she almost take it to the house for a pick six. Isn't it one thing? And then later in the game,

that third and one closed down on mesh that he had was unbelievable. There are just not many players, even at the NFL level, who have that kind of play speed, to be able to come downhill and stop a guy from, getting one yard after the catch on a mesh concept. That's why you call it in that situation because it's so difficult to stop, let alone when Travis Kelsey basically stands there and does a actual basketball pick in the middle of the field right beyond the line of scrimmage.

And yet Andrew McCuba was still able to stop it. So he was unbelievable. What matters most to me is that the Philadelphia Eagles lost some talent this offseason. And I don't know if they're going to be as as dominant as they were last year. But holy cow, they're still going to be in that Super Bowl conversation. because the young guys that they have picked over the last couple of years, but this past year specifically, they're already bawling out in a big way. Yeah, I think it's a great call out.

You just talk about the instincts that he has and what he brings to the back end. And somebody that, you know, another guy, this is a common theme talking about on this show. Like, he's played a lot of college football. He's played in a lot of big games. And him and Jada Baron last year, you know, I asked Mukuba about this. He's like, we did not have to even say anything to each other. ever. We just looked at each other and we knew exactly what we were going to do, what the opposition was going to do. So, McCuba, when you look at outlier players undersized, you have to have some

other intangibles, I would say, almost to make up for it. This is somebody with tremendous ball skills, tremendous instincts, and just understands. He's a great processor of what the opposition is trying to do in front of him. You're seeing that kind of payoff right away. And what was Trevor, what was an absolute rock fight of a game? Yeah. I mean. mean yeah it was it was it was you know i'll tell you i'm a little worried about the chiefs on their defensive line though you talk about like future scouting i know they drafted a more norman lot they've got action jolotti those guys are young they got plenty of time but like right now it feels like it's just christjones on that defensive line i mean you could make

the argument that's the case and they went through some offseason losses and warren and you know obviously they they have replenished it a little bit with rookies but rookies always need time. All right, your favorite game of the week? My favorite game of the week. The Jets getting absolutely curbstopped by the bills. Oh, man. Try doing a post-game show for this one, folks.

How did Justin Fields have his career best PFF passing grade in week one? And then complete a three passes? And then a career low just seven days later. Folks, that's what we call the full Justin Fields experience. You know, do you remember the commercial? the Michael Vick Experience commercial with the roller coaster where they strapped you

and it was like welcome to the Michael Vick experience and they strapped you in a roller coaster and you go into this dark room and there's just like holograph of Michael Vick and he's like he says like welcome my life or something and then the lights come on

and you're the quarterback and it's just like absolute hell and you get hit in the leg and you're flipping over and everything and you basically puke afterwards that's kind of like the Justin Fields experience except maybe you get F5 helicoptered before you get to the goal line.

That's kind of what that is if that's a roller coaster. That is fair. There was two plays that totally turned this game. One on the first drive of the game, Fields had Garrett Wilson wide open on what would have been a pretty big game. He just airmailed it. And it's like, oh, you can't get that one back. That was a turning point offensively because the Jets could have at least gotten

some points on the board on the opening drive. And then the second one was the Jets had zero, zero. The Jets have the bills at third and 19. Michael Clemens, who inexplicably just keeps playing for the Jets. I'll never understand it. Well, who else is going to punch Josh Allen in the nose? Yeah, right. This is before he punched Josh Allen in the nose and broke his nose.

He's the enforcer. He's the hockey enforcer. Right? Right? Yeah, no, absolutely not. Let's have some respect for our hockey enforcers. Michael Clemens just does all of the dumb stuff and none of the fun stuff. So he gets the roughing the passer call.

the bills get a first down and moved almost into the red zone they were barely in field goal range on the third and 19 he gets the roughing the passer call the jets would have got the ball back after that um you know what you play players that make dumb mistakes like that year after year after year that's what you get so that's a hopefully a teaching moment for aaron glen those are the two plays that turn the game josh allen like trevor said basically broke his nose in this one didn't really even have to do anything my what matters most for the bills i was impressed on the fly with their young defensive tackle depth stepping up in this one when Ed Oliver was out out of nowhere.

They didn't make game-changing plays, but they were competitive enough. But to me, it's more so that even when Josh Allen isn't like coming out of the gate firing, that their continuity on the offensive line and their run game with James Cook, they can just play multiple ways now. And that's to me the most important thing for the bills

if they're trying to make a Super Bowl, is that they can now kind of pivot when they need to. It's like, okay, Josh Allen's going to be, like, at the Ravens game, Josh Allen needed to be Superman in the fourth quarter. Like, that's a lever they can pull. But it's nice when you're playing a team that you are much better than the Jets, that you're like, you know what, like Josh Allen made not really miss. He had a couple intentional groundings.

He just wasn't, he didn't come out of the gate firing and he didn't really need to. And then he had what looked like a broken nose that he was playing through. Chubisky had to come in for a play that they can go run heavy and it's effective with James Cook in this offensive line. So that's something that's going to take the bills potentially further than they've gotten. The Jets side of this is what matters most to me. You brought up fields playing from behind. Everybody knows that.

For the purpose of this show, trying to focus on team building and younger aspects, there's something not so great. And this isn't telling of what Arian Smith's career is going to be. But it is ironic to me, Trevor, that the Jets had an early drive that they were going down the field, completely killed on a reverse to Arian Smith that lost them 12 yards. and then another play where he made a nice catch, but he stepped out of bounds, so it didn't count. And at the same time, you have Tori Horton,

who was drafted after him, catch a touchdown, and Elykeye O Manor, who was drafted after him, catch a touchdown. And Elykeyeh had a really good day. We'll get to that later. Darren Mugi, being the NFL GM is not easy, man. The consensus board had Arian Smith miles behind those two guys. Those two guys is day three wide receivers.

The Jets team, by the way, after Garrett Wilson, has no wide receivers. They have none. So, like, we can get on Justin Fields, who has his own problems. But he also has no help in the past game besides Garrett Wilson. That looks like a rookie GM colossal with, colossal. And like I said, Arian Smith's career is far from over. It's been two weeks.

But I think just about 99% of people in the draft industry and scouting industry would take Tori Horton and Elykeo Manor over Arian Smith 100 out of 100 times. And through two weeks, you're already seeing the early repercussions of that. This podcast certainly would have. Wouldn't have thought twice about it. Consensus board probably would have by about 120. 25 spots. Yeah, which is not great for the Jets because they're literally just still licking their wounds

from the Malachi Corley pick, right? Who are they? I know it was a different regime, but. Yeah, but you're hired to fix the mistakes of the previous regime. You got to, like, you got to, you got to, dude, take the, take, make your layups. Yeah, you got to hit that. Yeah. Like, so, I don't know, definitely, uh, that's a tough one.

Speaking of that, Bears and the Lions. I think the lines were a little pissed after week one. Oh, boy. That is you showing up to the party with somebody who is just trying to show up your ex. That is what you are trying to do there. Yes. You are pulling out all the stops. You are the funny guy at the party.

If you know how to play guitar, you go up to this guy. Oh, is that a guitar in the corner? And then you just start playing. You got on a new outfit. And then you just start playing Freebird out of nowhere. That's exactly what the Detroit Lions did. Yep. Yeah.

You got on your finest clothes. To the Chicago Bears. Yeah, yeah. That was a tough game to watch for the Chicago Bears. And unfortunately, I don't know how much better it's going. It's going to get better simply because it has to because his game was terrible for them. But this is now back-to-back weeks where they've been terrible at defending the deep pass.

Shout out Judah on the PFF betting show. Connor, I don't know if you caught this, but Judah, who is an insanely sharp better, he's awesome to watch and take advice from. in this game, he had a long shot prediction for his same going parlay for this game, and it hit. It was Jared Goff over 300 passing yards, Jameson Williams over 100 receiving yards, and Jared Goff under 33 passes in this game. That was a 1 to 70 aughts, and it hit in this game. And the reason why he said that he had a good feeling about that sort of the storyline is because the Bears were terrible last week

when it came to the perfect deep coverage that you have to have to be able to have incompletions and no throws deep. They had a 25.5 coverage grade against passes of 20 or more yards so far this season. They've given up eight of 10 targets of more than 20 yards, 100 yards, and those two touchdowns. This team cannot defend deep when Jalen Johnson is not on the field, and now it looks like Jaylon Johnson might be out for the entire season with that groin injury. Yeah, not good.

That's not good, man. Tyree Stevenson's not playing nearly as good enough. They do not have the secondary right now. to keep up. I know a lot of people want to be like, oh, Caleb Williams, he's owing two, he stinks. I actually went back and I watched Caleb Williams. Caleb's playing all right. You know, you should have played better week one. There's no question about it. Week two against Detroit, he actually played all right. Him and Rome have a pretty good connection. The run game was a little bit better, but it's not been great through the first two weeks. Caleb's doing okay.

The defense lost in this game. 52 points? That's bad, man. And what really matters most here, which could be a talking point heading into the off season, depending on how the bears do if they don't make the playoffs. Shemar Turner, Ozzie Tripillo, Kieran Amagashi. That's two second round picks and a third round pick. All of them healthy scratches in this game. Luther Burden and Colson Loveland through two weeks of the season, they have four catches combined for I think 18 total yards between the two of them, and both of them have a receiving grade below 50. You talk about looking around the league and wondering if he got buyer's remorse. What do you pick Colson Loveland above Tyler Warren? Tyler Warren already looks.

like he could potentially be a sneaky offensive rookie of the year type of a player, depending on how much they feed that guy in the offense, maybe even sneaks in as a Pro Bowl potentially as a rookie depending on how the rest of the year goes, but he looks awesome. Now I'm not saying that Colston Loveland's a bad player.

I had Colston Loveland like four spots below I had Tyler, where I had Tyler Warren. I'm not sitting here and being too, like, hypocritical on that. But you're going to get judged off of it because right now if Colston Loveland and Luther or burden, aren't involved in the passing game at all whatsoever, you have the same offense

you had last year. Right. It's the same exact offense. It's DJ. It's Rome. It's Colquemette. So they got to figure out how to get their rookies involved. They got to get them up to speed.

It's only two weeks. It's not a big deal. But it is something that is worth mentioning is all I'm saying. Not great. Not great when your rookies that were picked in the top 100 are non-factors for you. or not even playing. All right, Cowboys Giants, one of the thrillers of the day. My goodness.

Truly, man. Truly, one of the thrillers, a place that the Giants have not had much success in for a long time. Give Dallas a real scare, a real scare with about 25 seconds left. But real quick on the Cowboys, because there's a Giants point that is very important to this show. Trevor, with Aubrey, it just allows them to play differently than everyone else. It feels like, the only other, what a weapon.

there's a couple guys like we saw boswell week one make from 60 that was good from like 68 but Aubrey the Giants totally screwed that up by playing conservative there after the tipped pass where they almost got to Dak there's 19 seconds left tack just needed to make one completion and you knew the game was going into overtime and when you're on the road and overtime and you lose all that momentum I hear people I hear people are like well these kickers are so good now we got to change the rules. I'm like, no, no, no, no. Just because we have a historic kicker does not mean you change what, number one, I don't know what that means, change the rules. Dallas has a competitive advantage because they found an amazing kicker that decided to go from being a soccer

player like, you know what, I'm just going to kick now. Yeah. It's, I think it's awesome. Also, what are we going to change? What are we going to like narrow the field goal? Narrow the go post. Why would we do that? Put them in the stand. Have fans in the stands. Oh, so we want people to get more pissed at kickers? That's what we want? That's your solution? Yeah. Yes. not it's just nonsense no absolutely not it's good for him um on the giant side though which i think is the real takeaway here as much as this is a big win for the cowboys russ having a game like this and holding off dart is a really good thing for dart in my opinion sure we were we were one more and i didn't expect russ to go for over 450 this was ridiculous this game i know dallas

has been banged up at corner and Russ just said screw it I'm just going to start chucking the ball and Malik Neighbors is down there Wondell Robinson is somewhere Wondell Robinson screw it Wondale's down there somewhere wild choice but hey and he was you watch this offensive

you watch this offensive line man not just the game but you go back and watch the tape of where it is right now and not just the viral drive that was totally nuts with James with James Hudson but you watch this offensive line right now and they just aren't they like

they shouldn't be in charge of protecting a rookie quarterback and they as much as scataboo had the one big run that he almost scored on out of a full house formation his other carries the other 10 they're not they have no consistent run game and I think this is just an awful spot to put a young quarterback in right now where you know this is a situation where John Michael Schmitz gave up a couple of pressures. Greg Van Routen gave up three pressures. I actually thought Marcus Boe, even though he gave up a couple of pressures and a quarterback hit, coming into this game at left tackle because James Hudson has a total

meltdown with four penalties on one drive. Like Marcus Boe's not supposed to be a left tackle. He did enough at left tackle on a whim there. But I think this is like this is a good deep breath for everybody because I just think throwing Jackson Darden to try to save Brian Dable's job is. the worst thing for the development of Jackson Dart right now. So I know Giants fans are super bummed that not only did they lose a heartbreaker in Dallas, but I think there is a real positive that is a long-term outlook from this game.

I also think the Jackson Dart package plays kind of suck and they should stop doing them. I hate the, like let's dip our toes in the water. It was three plays. We paid three plays. They were all three RPO's. So the defense knows that. And it's like, buddy, this isn't Jalen Milrow out here. Like DART can run, but it's not Jail and Noro.

It's not Justin Fields. What do we doing? It's just dumb. I don't like it. I think they're only in there to appease the fans, and I'm never a big fan of that. I agree. Appease the fans is a good way to put it.

It just feels like, hey, let's dip our toes in. It'll be his time at some point, but let's wait until then. Let me bring this up while we have the chance. Do you think the Giants should try to get something right now for James with all these quarterback injuries? Or do you think Jamis holds value as a backup on a cheap contract? No, they should absolutely try to trade James. I agree.

100%. I mean, like some teams might look at Jamis and be like, hey, maybe he could save our season right now. Think of the injuries you have in this league. Like the Niners are fine. They prepared for this. Mac Jones was fine. That's not a team.

But the Bengals, obviously, depending on what they think of Browning. Well, I mean, Jamar Chase would break the single season receiving record. Oh, we all like as theater, we all, like. James on the Bengals. Yeah, yeah. Genuinely. Somehow, somehow both, somehow both Jamar Chase and T. Higgins would break the single season receiving record

if James was on the Bengals right now. I mean, Mitchell Tinsley. Zero offensive line. Might, might do it. Yeah, it's true. Yeah, that'd be a fun landing spot. I don't really know where else he goes. No, because, I mean, he's not going to go.

McCarthy's out for a couple weeks and it's Wentz. Yeah, he's not going to go to Minnesota. Jaden might be hurt, but they have Marriota. Right, and it sounds like a one week kind of injury. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Trade him to Cincinnati. Let's have some fun. Trade him to Cincinnati.

I agree. The Browns of Ravens. I don't really have a takeaway of what matters most for the Ravens. They've really failed to run the football in this game, but... Bizarre. Which, which, I mean, I'll give. the Cleveland Browns their respect. I think this can be a really good defense. In fact, I looked this up, there was not a single defensive player in this game for the Cleveland Browns that

had a run defense grade below 68. Most of them were in the 70s. Some of them were in the 80s. This is a really, really, really good run defense team. They're good on the defensive line. They're pretty good at the second level. And even their secondary players will tackle. So this is a good defense that if you are not prepared, like if you just go, it adds to Browns, whatever, they'll punch you in the mouth. They should have beat the Bengals in week one. And they actually had this game pretty close with the Ravens for longer than a lot of people thought that it was going to be because of how they played up front. So I think it's more of a one-off with the Ravens. I think that they were taking the Browns a little lightly, if I'm

being honest with you. But for the Browns, I think my big takeaway is Joe Flacco can't throw the ball 45 times a game. And through two weeks, he has thrown the ball 45 times and 45 times. his 90 passing attempts is second only to Bryce Young, who basically passed the ball for the entire second half because they were down double digits the whole time. Outside of Bryce Young doing that, Joe Flacko would lead the NFL in passing attempts right now, and that just cannot be as a 40-year-old.

The Cleveland Browns have to figure out something in the run game. Quinchon Junkins had one run that looked really, really good in his first game. Dylan Sampson looked good as a receiver last week. They've got to figure out what the correct one-two punch is with those guys, moving forward. That has to be what they lean on moving forward. because that's going to be the actual fruits that they have from this season that'll go into next season, in my opinion. So that's the what matters most to me.

You can't pass the ball that much. You've got to figure out the run game. And you've got to figure out what the right duo is or what the right combination is for that duo in the backfield. Yeah, I think it's a matter of time when Judkins gets his legs under him that he's the guy. To your point about the run defense, not only you could see how much depth they have, it's why they were able to trade a player of Joanne Briggs's caliber of the Jets for a day three pick. They just had so many bodies. And good to see Mason Graham have two TFLs in this game. It's,

you know, it's like you want to see him make some impact plays. I know that the pass rush hasn't been there yet, but defending the run, it was good to see two TFLs from Mason Graham for that tough Brown's front. Jags Bengals. So my minor Jack's point is Bayshall Tootin adds a really different element to this offense out of the backfield. You know, they trade tank Bigsby. I love that they got Tootin going in the past game a little bit. It kind of feels like they can, you know, use him how the Steelers use Jalen Warren and his ability to make people miss and create explosives after the catch. I'm glad Jacksonville is leaning into getting him on the field. My question for you, Trevor, and this is a classic overreaction from week two, do you think this usage of Travis Hunter

is possibly going to hurt him where it's like, it feels like, hey, we traded all this capital because we can differentiate how we utilize him on it. Like we need to play more defense this week. We need to be big part of the offensive game plan or do you think for any rookie and i know hunter's special i know he won the heisman i know he was spectacular on both sides of the ball last year i get it but do you think there comes a point where it's like okay this is actually a bad thing and i'm not just saying that because he had the interference call at the end of the game i'm not and he was really not effective on offense i just wonder if the ping ponging back and forth where it's like week one he plays a lot of offense week two he played more defense i wonder what the tipping point is there of it just not being

Yeah, I mean, to answer your question, yeah, I think that it could, there could come a point to where you've got to make a decision. But like I said, pre-draft the whole time, I'd play him until I figured it out and had a definitive answer. I really would. Right. Like, he was, he's going to struggle as a rookie no matter what, like whether he's a receiver or he's a corner. Right. So you can't just be like, oh, well, he's not an all pro it either. So let's take one side of the ball away from him.

I don't believe that's how you should operate. I think that's fair. I think you should give him basically the whole rookie season, unless he's catastrophically terrible at one. side of the ball. I think you give him the whole rookie season. You go, yeah, play both sides. And then, like, let's meet about it after the season. How is your conditioning? How is your stamina by the end of the year? Did you feel like you weren't picking up either spot? Did you feel like you can get mastery of it? And if he says, no, I was good the whole time and next year's going to be even better, I go, okay. That's why we, that's why you trade up to draft him with the, that's why

you trade the draft capital that you do to go up to number two to draft the player like this, because he has both sides of the field title. That's right. Honestly, that's, that's, no, I think That's right. It justifies the trade if you're just going to utilize him that way. My Bengals point, Jake Browning comes in. Yes, he threw the three interceptions. The one before the half was on a third and 11. He did throw two in the second half. It's tough for any quarterback to just be thrown into the fire like this. And Browning's been there long enough that they trust them to run their system and they pass the ball a ton. You just wonder if he can keep them afloat for at Vikings, at Broncos, verse line.

at Packers. That's their next four. That's their next four. As an organization, you need to ask yourself, one, is there even an upgrade available for us? But they like Browning as their backup, but you never want to just punt on a season.

I'm not saying the Bengals are punting on a season, but you've got to give Browning a curve because he was just thrown into the fire in this game. But I don't think the Jags defense is the level where I'm like, oh, he threw three picks. Like, is it going to get better against Brian Flores? at Denver rarely does

against the lions who are just furious at the world after week one and then at Green Bay where I don't know who on this line can block

Michael Parsons won a single play. I think that's the biggest takeaway for me is that we're in year six of Joe Burrow and they still can't block like they just can't block

and he also holds the ball. So it's a, it's a match made in hell. Like there are a couple of times where I'm like, oh, Joe's really holding the ball here and trying to make something happen which great quarterbacks do that.

but yeah I'm like as a organization I hate to utter these words but are we heading down an Andrew Luck path here like how many that's your Dalton said on the PFF show

how many I mean this is every year there are some and these are weird injuries the wrist this turf toe injury for a quarterback like turf toe surgery is not common at quarterback

it's just it stinks for the game man it really does you hope it's not another Andrew Luck situation you really do but they've got to be better at protecting Joe Burrow. There's no question about it moving forward. Yeah, but what's the like concrete solution here? Drafting Spencer Fanow with your first.

It could be bad enough. With your first round pick. Using your second and third round pick to trade back up into the back end of the first round and draft Jennings Dunker. So then you. Connor Lou out there somewhere. What'd you say? Connor Lou is out there somewhere.

So, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Connor, Conor Lou. No, yeah, well, okay, how would we do this? So you would need... I think it's their 2-0 right now. I'm saying they're going to be so bad they're going to get all these guys. Like, they are 2-0. You draft Spencer Fanon in the first round.

You draft, you trade back up at the back end of the first round. You trade a second round pick, and then you trade next years. Like a Falcons trade? You go back into round, like the Falcons had to get guys this year. year they fell. I don't know how we're going to do it, but on the next mock draft, I'm going to get the Bengals, Spencer Fanon, Jennings Dunker, and Connor Lou. I'm going to do it. Dude, I really think you're right. And pay Eli, they don't do this, but pay Elijah Vera Tucker, all the money in the world. Ooh, yeah, they're not going to do that. Yeah, they're not going to do that.

They're not going to do that. But it's a fun Madden proposition. Patriot's Dolphins. What matters most here is that Drake May rules. this is a great Drake May game it really was for the Patriots and their offensive efficiency five of their seven non-end-of-half drives ended in points the first three drives they had had over 10 plays in each of them

and garnered 17 points touchdown touchdown field goal may look fantastic out of the gate even with the past catching group not as talented as what it might be in the future although I think that they're coming together pretty nicely the running back room's coming together nicely. Remodric Stevens had a really nice day.

The offensive line was able to pass protect pretty well. I know it's the Dolphins and they seem like they're sleepwalking at times. Maybe playing for a regime that isn't going to be there for very long. But all that to say, man, I think that the Patriots on the defense side of the ball, they were able to get home without blitzing, which is great. But Drake may look great in this game. And this was, I think, the highest graded Drake May game that he has had so far in his NFL career from a passing perspective.

And so it was great to see. It was great to see them get a win against the Miami Dolphins. I know Dolphins fans aren't happy to hear that, but what matters most is the fact that we talked about Drake May as a franchise quarterback for over a year here on this show as the guy who led college football in big time throws for two straight consecutive seasons, and now we're seeing dividends of him in his second year in the league. Last year, he was really efficient as a runner.

This year, he is focused on really improving as a passer, and I think this past game was great evidence to that. So to me, what matters most is Drake May looks really good for this team. That is absolutely everything to New England right now because we know Vrable is going to be able to coach up and, you know, put up a capable defense and they got to get more talented receiver. Weird Travion Henderson usage that I don't fully understand. I didn't really notice Trayvion in this game much. Oh, because he was barely out there ever. It was Ramandre Stevenson all the way.

But, yeah, something to keep an eye on, but Drake may playing well is everything. It is. That is huge. Before we move on to the next game, this NFLSE betting segment. It's brought to you by our friends over at Draft Kings. I think this episode is coming out Monday night, or at least it should come out Monday night. Hopefully it comes out Monday night.

So why don't you know a little bit of a little bit of Monday night matinee? Let's look at some of the lines that we have here. The Chargers currently favored by three and a half. How do we feel about it, Connor? I like the Plucky Raiders. Yeah. Not necessarily to win. win because I think the Chargers

have a lot of good things going for them right now but the Pete Carroll's Raiders, Gino Smith's Raiders, feel like a team that especially in a divisional game like they're going to hang around so I think the three and a half is I don't know not going to say generous but if I'm taking aside I think the and the Raiders

are going to be fired up at home. They are going to be fired up at home. I love a Pete Carroll coach team. Me too. I think this is going to be a back and forth battle So I like a team getting more than a field goal here. I think I would like either side if they were getting more than a field goal. Right. Yeah, you're just taking, you're expected to be a good game.

Well, if you expect to be a good game, then you're taking a team that's getting three and a half point cushioned. I would agree. I would agree. And at the time of us recording, we don't know for sure. It seems like Brock Bowers trending the right way. That's good. That's good.

That would be extremely key for this team. Yeah, yeah. If we're going to record two versions of this podcast, if Brock Bowers doesn't play. insert the ad that hits. Yeah, insert the ad that hits. Go back and put it in the show. Don't release it until it comes out.

That's actually, that's how, that's actually how we manipulate and we win. By the way, I said matinee. I forgot matinee is during the day, not during the night. I didn't correct you because, you know, it would just be rude. Yeah, that's right. That's not how that works. I just grew up to it. Tonight we have a matinee.

Tonight we have our finest anti-matine for you. In the morning, we're recording NFL's, Stock Exchange after dark. It's the evil matinee, they're saying. Oh, my God. The NFL season's rolling, folks, and every touchdown can bring you close to a payout with Draft King's Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NFL. Every game is another chance to cash in.

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All right, what's your next game? Next game is Which matinee are we hitting here? We're hitting the matinee that was Colts Broncos. Actually was technically a matinee. Technically a matinee. Kind of. I mean...

Hey, kicked off at 3.25 local time. That's not really a matinee. Come on, it's in the daylight. What do you mean? Yeah, but it goes into sundown. That's the problem. You're like, if you went to the movies at $3.25, you're getting a discount? Yeah, but what if they run the ball?

No, you're not. What if they run the ball a lot? Then you're getting out and the sun's still out. Boy, did the Colts run the absolute heck out of the football in this one? But despite Jonathan Taylor just going nuclear and being a warhorse in this one, you got to give it to Daniel Jones at this point, man. He made... Unfortunately, you've got to get it to.

I regretfully, no, he made two throws in the sky. game that were big time throws in our system. Yeah. One was the second and six right in the beginning of the game, where he kind of started to drift back with the rush in his face and just threw a beautiful ball. And then, I believe it was to Josh Downs. And then before the half, under two minutes, he hit Pierce on the deep ball. Like when Stuyken is letting him push the ball or take chances, he is making the most of it right now. Yeah.

this against a really good defense that didn't the Colts looked like they had no fear against that defense at all they were a little careful at the end of the game and right I thought that was kind of interesting because that kicker looked like he had no shot from there I mean he did have no shot from there and they got bailed out because it was a 60 yard attempt and it was not anywhere close so maybe they should have let Jones kind of take even more chances but They got bailed out by the penalty, and now, you know, the conversation, Trevor. The conversation moves to, can Daniel Jones really be this year, Sam Darnold? It does.

I mean, look, man, I'll do you one better. I think he's better than Sam Donald was last year. And the numbers through two weeks show it. Now, he's going to win 14 games like the Vikings did last year. Like, okay, I think that's a different story because you talk about total team stuff. But here are the numbers that I would sort of want to look at if I was comparing Daniel Jones to Sam Donald. Overall passing grade, obviously,

like things like that, like you want to compare it. The big time throw is tournament where we plays. But more specifically, I would want to see his passing grade under pressure, his time to throw, his passing grade on money downs

on third and fourth down, and then his average step to target, right? Well, I got the numbers for you off the top of my head. He has a faster time to throw that Sam to Donald did. Darnell was just over three and Daniel Jones is just under three, I believe. Actually, I think it's closer to like 277 is what Daniel Jones is so far two games into the season.

He has a better passing. Two point eight. Okay, so close. He has a better passing grade than Sam Darnold did on third and fourth downs last year. He has a better passing grade under pressure. And Connor, his average step to target is two yards above what Sam Donald's was last year. Yeah. So obviously it's a two-game sample size compared to a 17-game sample size, well, 18 because of what Darnold gave us in the playoffs as well.

But so far, not only is the answer like, yeah, he could be Darnold, he could be better, which is crazy, given that what Darnold did last year was so off the wall for a guy who was a seen as sort of like this castaway, not really going to be a full-time starting quarterback ever again kind of a thing. The reason I bring this up is the not, yes, we're going to have the cliche. Ken Daniel Jones revitalized his career, like Baker Mayfield of years past, like Sam Donald last year, blah, blah, blah. And they're good conversations, but you're going to hear them on every show. The bigger part is, Trevor, I think this is going to be a real NFL trend right now with the college system for quarterbacks being borderline broken. Yes.

That you have a decision and we have seen a trend of it. The Jets are trying it with Justin Fields. It looked great week one. It looked awful week two. Let's see how the rest of the season played out. The Colts are trying it with Daniel Jones. It looks really good through two weeks. There's going to be misses, undeniably.

But guys that are more high picks are going to keep getting second chances in this league because the college system is not sending quarterbacks anywhere near ready to play that they are getting chewed up and spit out. And now you have play. And Mac Jones, let's see. be real. Mac Jones is going through this a little bit. I don't know if Mac Jones is ever going to be viewed as a long-term starter,

but now he's viewed as like, hey, if our backup's Mac Jones, we're going to survive. So I think, Trevor, this is really just kind of shining that the second chance quarterback trend is only going to grow larger in the league. We're going to have a longer conversation about

this on Wednesday. Yes. When we get to the Stockwatch episode, because we start every Stockwatch episode talking about the quarterback position. And there are some heavy hitters. that I'm going to bring to the table that we're going to have a conversation about on Wednesday. And just as a sneak peek, because I don't want to fully get into it because it would take too much time for this episode. But quarterback development in college is bad, man.

It's really bad. We have universities that are hiring coaching staffs that their only goal is to get kids in the building, and then they have no idea what to do with them after that. Now, I'm not saying that I'm a quarterback coach or I'm a head coach or an offensive coordinator. I've never done it hands-on, but I can tell you I'm watching a lot of kids in college either not get better or regress. And I think that we're going to get to a point where, yes, the NFL is always going to be starving for who's next to quarterback. But we've seen in a couple of drafts now the league draft five of these guys in the first round or five of these quarterbacks in the top 50 or whatever it is. And all I'm saying is we might start getting to a number where it's like, eh, yeah, well,

draft one or two in the top five and then there's going to be a pretty big gap after that right so i wonder if we get to that point but again i don't want to dig too far into it we'll get to it when we get to the stock watch on wednesday make sure you guys watch that one one quick point on denver troy franklin right now is a little and roma dunezay maybe too are little reminders that not every wide receiver prospect is a day one star and because rome looks really good in year two Troy Franklin has shown wild growth this year. And this started over the summer. Troy had a really, really good summer after a disappointing rookie season.

A disappointing fall in the draft. Let me raise my hand. I had Troy Franklin as a top 40 player. And he went a lot later than that in the draft and did nothing as rookie season. I think you had him a little higher than me, but I think we both had Troy Franklin, at least top 75. Right. You watched the tape yesterday, the play to me that really stood out, and he had eight catches, is almost 100 yards.

There was, and this is his relationship with Bo Nix as well. There's a second and 13 in the beginning of the second quarter. He's running this little speed out from a condensed alignment. And Bo is reading the other side of the field. And Franklin stops right at the end of his route. And when Bo spins all the way around, it starts coming back to the sideline that Franklin's sitting at, Franklin sticks his foot in the ground and puts on the track 40, you know,

like 40 yard dash. just flies over the top of the defense and bow throws him a deep ball right into his hands. That was the NFL brainworking of like scrambled drill. I'm off my route, get down the field and win. And when you're that fast, you're going to win. So awesome day from Troy Franklin. I love seeing his growth and that's huge for Denver. Yep.

Steelers and Seahawks. The Seahawks win this game. I thought the run game looked great. I think the offensive line looks so much better this year for them. Great early return that we're seeing on Tori Horton, who you mentioned earlier in the show. he got a touchdown in this one. Byron Murphy looks fantastic as well. That whole defensive line for the Seahawks looks just great.

I know Devon Witherspoon in this game, but a lot of the young guys for Seattle really standing out. Jackson's been the Jigba, as I feel like he is every single week, looked really good as well. My what matters most is more on the Steelers side of things. Troy Falunu, you know, you miss him for most of the season last year with the season-ending injury. He barely plays.

He's struggling a little bit here. with what is basically a rookie season for him. Roger Jones continues to struggle, man. This offensive line for the Steelers is a lot of young guys, and I think they got a great one in Zach Frazier. But outside of Zach Frazier, I don't know the long term. I don't know how we're going to feel

about this Steelers' offensive line going into next off season. And Jones just, the thing that's so frustrating about Roger Jones is he has all the ability. Yes, he does. Like he's so athletic. He's got great. balance, he has good recovery movements, he's got good power, he can anchor, but his technique is all over the place. Like he won't, like he's not dropping his hips in his butt to anchor as

quickly as he should. There are so many reps that I went back and I watched a bunch of his reps from this past week. I mean, he's past protecting and his hands are like down at his side and you could tell that the edge rusher is like, all right, and they just like stick their hand straight in his chest and they knock him back a couple of feet before he gets his hands up and then he anchors and normally is able to counter it a little bit because he's athletic enough to do it but it's like dude you got to get your hands up when you're pass protecting it's just it's so inconsistent it feels like his technique is all over the place and this is year three of him right in the NFL and the technique has consistently been an issue for him and

at this point if your technique is still bad three years in I don't know if you're going to pick it up. And so now is when I actually start to, for the first time, really say like, okay, now we're having legitimate thoughts about moving on from Project Jones if it doesn't get better for you at the end of this year. I agree. The combo with him is, is he just approaching the territory of you're not even picking up the fifth year option. Yeah. Right. He is, in my opinion, he's a total liability in pass pro. He's a, he had a bad week one against Will McDonald's as well, a really bad week one. And guess what? It's going to get harder than the Jets and the Seahawks.

Like, it is. You're going to have tougher matchups, and you haven't passed those tests? I don't know, man. Trey Anderson might eat him alive. Because Trey is playing at a potential defensive player of the year level again. Right, and Trey is everything Broderick is not. Yes. Like, the hand placement to win is going to be perfect every single time.

The timing. Yes. So he's going to play Miles Garrett again twice, you know? Oh, that would be fine. Miles Garrett might pick him up like the mountain. and giving the eye give him the eyeballs give him the eyeballs give him the eyeballs well here's worth 80 million dollars when i watch him play i'm like this guy if he was anywhere else he'd be the face of the league oh boy true titans rams yep rams handle

their business in this one i think everybody listens to the show knows how highly we think of the rams obviously more of a veteran team though so they're not always a main character of this show. The Titans for me, Trevor, this goes back to something I said earlier, but like, Elkayo Manor is Cam Ward's number one wide receiver. Tell him. Tell him. Tell him. Watch the tape and look at the comfort level with Cam. So what the highlights of Cam, you get, is him running around for 25 seconds and then throwing the ball across the field, but just sick. And we've seen Cam Ward do that in college a million times. But what I liked about watching the tape of the six targets was a couple

throws to I.O. Manor are him matching up with his release and throwing the ball with some anticipation and with I.O. Manor the corner is still in phase and still in the hit pocket, but I.O. Manor is so big, and

these two have now worked together clearly over summer, where that's the structure of an NFL offense. It's not just all of the out-of-script stuff, but it's how do we get some chunk plays? I mean, in the second quarter in the two-minute drill, and this game is 10 to 3. It's a third and six. with a minute left.

Cam throws a beautiful ball down the sideline, and, like, it's caught with basically one hand and secured. And he had a back shoulder ball on a third and seven. That was just once again, get off the line of scrimmage, the corner is matched up with you, but the corner's not looking at the ball yet. You turn around and find the ball. I think these two are going to have something special.

Brewing, and I think Iyo Manor in the fourth round is going to be one of the steals of the draft. Hell yeah, brother. It's not always that hard. What are these teams Tell me What are two idiots on the internet See? Help me! Help me to help you! Help me to help you!

These are billion-dollar organizations with multi-million dollar scouting and health departments. It was the injury thing. I went on this rant last week. I went on this rant last week. Yeah, I know. With Will Johnson. I get it, you don't want to draft a guy who has any sort of hint of availability issues because you just don't want that liability liability. It's hard enough. It's hard enough to nail the analysis of a player without having to think about the games that they're going to miss.

I get it. What was Alec A.O. Manor's injury? He tore his ACL earlier in his career and then, okay, like he had some drops his senior year, but like we got to know at this point. Like, he didn't have, it's not like he had these drops his whole career. He had a bad year with drops.

It happens. In a bad offense. It happens. Yeah. That was one where Elkayo Maynard should have never been a fourth round pick. And the second they used a fourth round pick, we did an instant analysis of the grades and everything or whatever, and I've said the whole time,

I can absolutely see a world where this guy is the wide receiver two in Tennessee. Now, I didn't say wide receiver one because they have Calvin Ridley, and Ridley still has more targets and more catches two weeks in. But guess who has more first downs? Elkoio Maynard does. How many receivers do you think were taken over him in this draft? All right, now you're trying to get me mad Um

Aryan Smith Definitely Aaron Smith Uh was he wide receiver I'm gonna say he was wide receiver 9 He was the 20th wide receiver No way! Yes he was You want me to do the thing

Dude he was like he was wide receiver like five or six for me he was the 20th receiver taken in the draft yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah list them all off so I can get more angry Travis Hunter I'm about to I'm about to hit chest after this so I need this there you go let's go I forgot my headphones this is pre-work out yeah Travis Hunter Tederoa McMillan Emeka Bucca Matthew golden Jaden Higgins Luther Byrd and Trey Harris Jack Bech Kyle Williams Isaac Tesla Pat Bryant Jalen Newell Sabion Williams Ty Felton Shimrey Dike Dante Thorin Ariens

Smith Jalen Lane Jalen Royals Yep Very happy for the Titans very happy Titans very good for the Titans Something young and fun to watch even though I know it's been tough times Crazy to me just draft good football players That's what that's what that's what that's what that's what the first year it's gonna be He's draft good football draft the good players Yeah just draft the good players

Um okay Panthers Cardinals You know, one of my takeaways here from this game is that the Panthers linebackers aren't good enough. I think Rose Boom was a liability for them. Middle of the field coverage over the first two weeks has been not good for the Carolina Panthers. Trevin Wallace is fine, but he's still not great in coverage for the athlete that he is. They played a lot of cover three buzz, I noticed in this game, having a safety come down, and yet it wasn't Latham Ransom that was on the field.

They absolutely need to play Latham Ransom more. he is one of their best players, regardless of the fact that he is a rookie and he needs to be on the field more. But they're playing a lot of cover three buzz because they're trying to get one of these safeties to really be able to help out the linebackers over the middle of the field. And shout up to Kyla Murray and Drew Petzing because they realized that they could bait the Panthers into doing this by hitting a couple of good shots over the middle. And then they would run these either like Yankee or Mills concepts where it's a high

low that you have to read. And one of the safeties is going down on the dig route or whatever the cross the route is over the middle, and then they're just throwing it over the top in the area that he used to occupy that now there is nobody there. So I thought it was a really great job identifying where the weakness was with the Panthers, how they were going to try to help themselves out to mitigate it, and really being able to attack that. I think that that is a takeaway and linebacker could be an option that the Panthers are going to go after when it comes to the draft and just talking about team building. Ultimately, though,

Connor, the team is not nearly as talented on offense as we thought they were going to be. And they're just not. The offensive line, even before Robert Hunt and Austin Corbett went down, were not playing well. This was the top 10 offensive line last season. They did not start out of the gate through the first two weeks as one of the top 10 offensive lines in the NFL. They either sort of like all played a little bit of what was last year, but I thought

it was a little bit of a step back from them and they just did not have an impact. Xavier Leggett, not only is he not effective for them deep downfield as a vertical threat, it feels like they're confused as to how they're even getting him the ball. Dude, I watched a play for him where it was one of the catches that he got where the, I have no idea how this play got called. The Panthers, the Panthers have the ball at the left hash mark, okay? To the left of Bryce Young, so to the short side of the field, they have Xavier Leggett and I think it's Tetero McMillan in a stacked alignment. they hike the ball Josh Sweat is in like a wide alignment

so the second that Bryce gets it he almost has to like sidearm it and throw it a little bit behind just so he avoids Josh Sweat getting his hand on the ball to potentially pick it off Andrew Van Ginkl style and then the second that Xavier Legat gets it he's already on the short side of the field

so the Cardinals are rallying to the ball immediately quickly and it's not like they add numbers to that side of the field so now I don't even love the plays that they're dialed up for Xavier Leggett, and I think they're kind of confused and frustrated at how to get him the ball. We talked about this last week with him, but it's so much more beyond that. I just don't

think this offense is that talented. And does Bryce Young have his issues? Yes. I did not come away from this game thinking, oh my God, you've got to bench Bryce Young now. That was not my takeaway from this game. Now, the fumble that he

had, yeah, he's small. He has smaller hands. He doesn't have as much strength on his body. If somebody gets a clean punch out on the ball, there's a good chance that it's going to come out. That's just part of having a smaller quarterback. So yes, he fumbled out there.

The interception, he's getting hit, and the ball loops up in the air and they pick him off. But second half, I know Panthers fans are going to be like, oh, it was garbage time, the Cardinals didn't really care. There's a little bit of that. But it wouldn't like they were playing completely soft. Bryce was kind of dealing in that second half. and he had some really nice throws

and even under the pressure, Bryce has had some really nice throws. So to me, when I look at Carolina, I don't know how many games are going to win this year because I already think that their defense is young and they weren't going to be great anyways, but you would hope that the offense was going to take a next step. Yes. I don't think it is.

No, there's no reason to. I just don't think that they have the talent. And so instead, I'm wondering if the Carolina Panthers are going to earn a top five overall pick again. And if they are, is Dave Canales even the one making the pick anymore? I don't know. I don't think so. I don't know.

Probably not. Their ownership? So that's, it's, it's, it's part of sort of like what we're going to have to, it's, it's how I'm viewing the Carolina Panthers at this point. Is, I don't even think it's like, okay, well, if they, if they get this right, if they do this a little bit different, they'll be good to go. Two weeks in, I don't know if they have the talent. I think that they still look like they are at least a year away on the defensive and offensive side of the ball. Yeah, it's just like every year, how many times can you always be a year away everywhere?

Right, and that's why I wonder if they make changes this offseason. Right, at some point it's like, you know what, we just can't keep spinning our tires here. Right, right. Panthers fans, I get it, man. I do pre and post game for a team where it feels like this is. is the combo all the time. You know, the Jets have had some good defenses at times over the years, but offense, never.

So, yeah, it stinks. Yeah, we got two games left before we get to that. Talking to all the parents out there, parenting filled with high-pressure decisions. It can be difficult to tell if we've made the right choice for our kids' future, but here is a simple way to make sure that you could have a meaningful impact on their future. It's opening up a UGMA account with Fabric

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Additional services provided by apexcline Corporation. All vesting is subject to risk. Learn more at meatfabric.com. All right, Connor. last game from you what do you got last game from me was sunday night football because i am a company man falcons vikings appreciate it thank you man let's just be real here great showing from the falcons rookie class on defense boy was it ever yeah the falcons decided okay we are basically going to remake our defense in one draft and we are going to spend a lot of draft capital to do it to go back in and get

James Pierce. But you know what? When you win games like this, you feel damn good about it. Xavier Watts had a pick. Yep. Billy Bowman had an incredible pick along the sideline.

Those guys, you drafted them for their ball skills. For them to each come away with a takeaway in a game where there wasn't being touchdown scored is massive. Jalen Walker had the sack that was basically an instant win

and James Pierce Jr. had four total pressures. One was a half sack, the other were three hurries. He had one play Trevor on a pressure that McCarthy was going to take off for the first down and Pierce stopped him from running. Great impact from these guys, man.

This is good scouting and a good plan for these players in a game where once again, Brian Flores had the Vikings defense containing Michael Panics in the offense. Bejohn Robinson had a couple of hero plays, but I was really impressed with this rookie class and how these players played together in Jeff Ulbric scheme. I think the big, like, and he's hurt now,

so maybe this conversation lost some luster before I had written it down. J.J. McCarthy's been bad for seven of eight quarters. They have, if you take out the fourth quarter against the Bears. And the Bears, look at, the Bears look at, the Bears look great against the Lions this week. They have, by a mile, the lowest EPA per play of any team in the NFL. By a mile. I can't.

So this is a team that was built to win this year, and it's damn good. Like, this roster's good. They need Christian Darisaw back clearly in the first. worse way. And losing Ryan Kelly, a veteran center with your rookie quarterback hurts. Sure. There's no doubt. There's no doubt. But man, McCarthy's development and this roster and coaching staff are on wildly different timelines. Like, just not even in the same stratosphere of timelines. I mean, we'll see what Carson Wentz of all people could do, but it just can't be worse than what they've got. Honestly, like the Carson Wentz,

Carson Wentz starting might be the best case scenario for them. Because McCarthy's floor is so low for this team. They really just need a guy who has a higher floor. And if Wentz can give them the higher floor as a veteran, he might be able to pick up a couple of wins here and get them to, I don't know, four and two when McCarthy comes back. You got a little bit of wiggle room there. McCarthy can kind of, okay, yeah, I've been getting in the lab,

I'm figuring things out a little bit more. I'm in the film room. We're working through a lot of my mistakes. and maybe this short little time off could be a nice little catch-your-breath and a reset for him. Hopefully. But it has been bad.

But the Falcons' rookies look phenomenal. Should have been the second week in a row that Xavier Watts had a pick, honestly, because he had two opportunities against Tampa. He's been phenomenal. Bowman's been a little more. You talk about guys, how does he get in the third round, man? I don't know.

What part of, what part of, like, double-digit interceptions in two years, and the Bronco Nogerski winner did you not like? I don't know. Teams didn't think he was fast enough. Bowman, the interception was sick. He is a little bit more high variance. Sure.

Like, Jalen Naylor should still be running on that slot fade that McCarthy missed. But at least Bowman for his flaws. Like he gives you the big plays. But Pearson Walker, really good signs from them. The Saints in the 49ers, I don't have too many high-level takeaways for this one. Sorry I gave you this game. No, no, no. That it's on me.

Look, it's a good team versus a bad team. It's a team that's ready to win right now versus a team that's not. Even with Mack Jones in there, a Kyle Shanahan's offense is the closest thing to quarterback proof. I feel like can exist in the game of football right now. Mack Jones and his skill set, very comfortable, obviously, and what Kyle Shanahan wants to do. And they're getting a little bit healthier.

Some of their heavy hitters are back out there. So you feel good about that. The defense played better for the 49ers. The Saints are more competitive than I thought they were going to be this year. Like, there are showing up some fight. I think a big issue for them in this game was in the fourth quarter, they had a 37 pass blocking grade as an offensive line. They allowed seven total pressures and a 41.2% pressure percentage.

It's just, I think Spencer Rattler has actually played decent through two games, especially in this one. I thought that Spencer Rattler was decent. But when you were behind on the scoreboard, when you know you have to throw, your offensive line's got to be able to play. better than what they have in the fourth quarter specifically in this past game. So it might be something to, we might have some big changes along this, this offensive line, especially on the interior, depending on what the situation,

I can't remember off top of my head with the contract situation is with Cesar Ruiz or Trevor Penning moving forward. I know they like Eric McCoy. Obviously, they have Talesei Fulanga and Kelvin Banks when those guys are healthy, but they've got to play better as a unit or I could definitely see some starting roles open up for the Saints on their offensive line next season. And to be honest with you, I don't think the offensive line is ready. yet for Tyler Shuck to go out there. I really don't.

No. It's a little bit of the same conversation that you had with Jackson Dard, except I think it's a little, you know, it's not as headline-ish, you know, it's not as high profile. But it's sort of that same conversation is. I don't think Tyler Shuck's ready for prime time behind the way this offensive line's currently playing them right now. Give him a little bit of time. Let Spencer Rettler be out there. He gets NFL speed at this point in time. So, yeah, that was my big takeaway for them is just long term, could have some more offensive lines. lines, issues that we're looking at with the Saints, probably not in round one again like they have been in back-to-back drafts, but just something to think about for the Saints is they're

hopefully hitting hard reset totally on this team. And you're seeing high pressure rates across the league right now. Like you're seeing the offensive line play across the league is pretty consistently behind where the defenses are at right now. So I think that wraps it. I think we got through every game. There we go. We did get through every game. I appreciate everybody watching and listen to the show. If you haven't subscribed to the channel yet, we would love for you to do so. We love for you to be a part of the community, a part of the addicts. Always very fun to get some new members into people who say, like, hey, I pick this up during summer scouting or what matters most or the fixture franchise or whatever it is.

We love you guys. It's a free way to be able to support the show, so we always appreciate anybody who subscribes to the show. Best way to get into the conversation of anything that we talked about here, and we would love to hear from you guys. You guys know your team inside and out. Inside and out. We would love to hear from you more, get into the details of how you think your team did in week two. we're just two weeks through the season.

Best way to do that, YouTube.com backslash at NFL Stock Exchange. You can follow the show at NFLSC show on Twitter, on TikTok, on Instagram, which we're going to be doing some shorts from the episodes on those pages pretty soon. You can follow us at Tampa Bay Trey at Connor J. Rogers on Instagram and Twitter as well. Wednesday, we have a Stockwatch episode for you. I already tease the quarterback conversation that we're going to get into, but boy, I've got some fun players that we have for the stockup,

stock down stock market portion of the show we're going to bring a new name to the table that we haven't heard yet who could be a big player in the upcoming 2026 NFL draft and we're actually getting pretty close here to that first update of the PFF big board and my big board that we'll see over on the mock draft simulator so we will get to that and some hints of what could be some up and down movement there on Wednesday as well Connor anything else before we get out of here did you see my boy from one of the stock watches so far this year keishon james newby of New Mexico had 12 pressures against UCLA. He had 12.

He had a 91.4 pass rush grade. Pass rush win rate of 43.3%. That's insane. I know UCLA is it shambles, but it is fun to track these things throughout the season. I've been writing down names throughout the weekend, especially on my Big Ten shift on Saturday, so I'm really excited for Wednesday.

Shout out to you, man. What a call. Getting that guy out there. You were first? Truly first. I collect my points. First on the scene. They will mail me my reward. We will have plenty more names for you on Wednesday and throughout the rest of the season.

For Connor Rogers, I'm Trevor Sikkim-Mussain. Thank you guys so much for watching the NFL Stock Exchange Show. See you guys on Wednesday. You know what I'm going to do.