OverDrive - Ross on the Bills' ranking in the AFC, Sanders' level in Cleveland and preseason notes

Episode Date: August 12, 2025

NFL Network Analyst Marc Ross joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines around the NFL, the Bills' ceiling in the AFC and how the team can get to the next level, Matthew Stafford's injury concerns, how preseason is imperative for depth, the Chiefs gearing up for an extended run, Shedeur Sanders' ranking with the Browns and more.

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it's very early in the preseason. One of our questions we had that we kicked around earlier was could the bills finish with the best win total in the AFC? Where are you on that? Well, they'll be in the mix. I mean, you know, to me it's the big three. I haven't broken down the schedules in detail just yet, but of course, it's Baltimore, Buffalo, and Kansas City. So, I mean, between the three of those, I think one of those will represent the ASC once again. There'll be other teams fighting forward and in the mix, but those three, you know, if I had to say. So definitely it'll be a part of it. It'll just come down to, you know, the matchups and, you know, injuries and things like that, but they'll definitely be in the mix.

Well, there's obviously a whole other situation going on in Buffalo right now with James cook. What did you make of this situation where he dressed for the preseason game against the Giants but refused to play when called upon upon the team? Like, does that reflect poorly upon him or is that just business? What do you make of this whole thing?

Yeah, you know, I've been around players long enough that who've been a part of holdouts and one thing other players never hold it against them. So, because they never know when it's their turn and when it's their situation and you never count another man's money. And you know, I think for a team,

teammates, point of view, they'll say, okay, whenever he's here, we're going to embrace him or whatever he plays. He is there. Coaches, same thing, where the coaches are going to support him and not let it get contentious in front office. You know, they have to do business, and, you know, they have their side of it. They have their way of doing business, and James has his, and I think when it's all settled, there'll be no hard feelings that won't linger into whenever it's done to the season or have any ill effects on how the bills perform. Mark, when you look a bigger picture at the bills this year, obviously a lot of bills interest up here in Toronto.

They have been close and good and close and good for a long time now. It feels like what do you think is that last step for them? I know the AFC is stacked, but what is that one thing you think can help put them over the hump and get them back to the Super Bowl? Well, the one thing is a one play. And if you look at the bills the last few years, you know, it's one play. And that's generally when you come down,

at big games and big moments. And I've been a part of those winning two Super Bowls and having a lot of success. And, you know, what separates them from the Chiefs? You can't say, you know, the Chiefs are so much better at this, this, that. It's, you know, the Dalton Kincaid play last year, the fourth and one play. In a year before, you know, you can point to one play here and there. And, you know, even the bills against the Ravens. The Ravens are saying, well, you know, a Mark Andrews drop away.

And, you know, that's each year they brought in different players and, of course, try to strengthen different positions. To make that one play, you know, this year I really have emphasized how heavy they went on the defensive side of the ball to get that one play as a pass rush or get that one stop because, you know, when I looked at it, look at them, you know, that's really generally their defenses let them down for the most part. And they've taken a lot of swings at a lot of high, a lot of high draft picks on the, with their pass rush with the A.J. Olives and A.J. Epinesis and Greg Rousseau's and Boogie Bashams that just have not panned out to be. be that impact player. So once again, will this new crop of defensive players that they draft it be the difference? But it's just one play. Who's going to make that one play to make the difference? Mark, I want to shift over to L.A., and it's kind of a developing story, I guess, with Matthew Stafford, who was supposed to practice today. It was much, you know, highly reported

all last week that he planned on suiting up for the first time in camp on Monday. Monday rolled the round and he was sitting in street close watching practice as it unfolded. How concerning is this getting for Stafford and his kind of status going forward with the Rams? Well, you know, it's got to be of great concern. You know, been around quarterbacks and older players, not just quarterbacks, but older players. And once he's 37, you know, the guy has been up there.

and, you know, once you get old, it's, you know, you guys, I don't know how old you are, but the older you get, the harder it is to recover. Now, imagine, you know, a player, it's the same thing. And for a situation like that where it's a disc in your back, I mean, backs and necks are just, you know, a knee, an ankle, all those things you can kind of figure out quickly and do the right things, but a back is just so, so, you just never know there, and your trainers never know, you can do all the right things and boom one one minute it could just flare up on you so yeah I think this is serious now with a 37 year old player with a back that has had this

serious concern of course they're going to do everything possible to make sure he's right for opening day or at least close to opening day as possible but yeah this could linger mark I was watching that rams preseason game yesterday and at this point of the year just anything for that football fix when preseason football comes around and I think a lot of people watch preseason football through the fantasy football lens. They want to see their receiver make that slow motion catch in the open field that either would or wouldn't happen in a real game. But regardless of that, you and your background, what do you care about in a preseason NFL football game? How do you watch that? What do you actually care about? What do you

value? What are you looking for? Yeah. I had to learn my very first year scouting where our first preseason game and we got the doors blown off of us. I was like going into a tank And the coaches, the veteran coaches, like, no, this is nothing. We did game playing. We didn't do anything. We, you know, at 10% of our plays. So I learned that, you know, pretty quickly that you can't look at the wins and losses and the production and who's going, what offense you're going to run. It's really about the young players making the team.

You know, your veterans don't even play anymore, so you don't even have to worry about them. It's about what young players are going to step up and emerge to make the team. And match with what you've seen in practice. practice with them. So you're really looking at for that confirmation or players to step out of the shadow. You know, Victor Cruz was famous with us with the Giants who Monday night football, you know, had 180 or whatever he had that night to establish themselves. And the X's and O's and all that, of course, it gets, people are starving for football. So, of course, it's going to get overanalyzed right now because that's all there is. But you really can't

read into too much of that because 90% of your good players aren't playing. It's about those young guys making the team. Mark, give us your thoughts on what Casey's season should look like. I mean, obviously, they lost the Super Bowl, but had won previous two, so still plenty of gas left in the tank. You say Casey? Yeah. I mean, they'll be

right in the mix again. Yeah, they'll be in the mix. And I, you know, although their division has gotten a lot lot stronger, you know, the Broncos made the playoffs last year. I think they've only gotten better on the defensive side of the ball with signing the 49ers duo and draft in Taday Barron and the charges.

I think will be really good making a playoffs last year, and I think they'll be even better, getting O'Mary and Hansen back there in the backfield, another year of Harbaugh. You know, the rainals will be better, but not a serious contender. But I'm still picking the Chiefs to win their division and still picking them to be, again, once again, one of those three teams of the Chiefs, the Bills, and the Ravens, I'd be hard-pressed to pick against saying one of those will be the representative. Mark, every year it seems like there's, you know, there's just, some teams out there that you're really intrigued to see, okay, well, what does that look

like, whether it's from a positive or a negative perspective, maybe there was a lot of overturn in the off season? Is there a team that sticks out to you where you can't wait to see once, you know, they're ready to go come week one, what that squad looks like? Yeah, the Patriots, and I'm on tonight. I'll talk about them, but, you know, everything they've really done in the offseason has kind of been positive steps to saying, okay, And we're a legitimate franchise, again, you know, post-Tom Brady. And, you know, that started with Mike Brable. You know, it's not guesswork of the type of coach you're hiring.

You're hiring a coach who at Tennessee showed he could, you know, not take the greatest roster and win playoff games and win the division. And then in free agency, you know, they crushed it with, they had a ton of money and they spent it on top three agents, not, you know, the top three agents, you know, namely Milton Williams. And then, okay, in the draft, they want, and then you got to. a high draft pick, get the best offense line in the draft. Will Campbell, you come back in the second round, you get a dynamic playmaker there

and Trayvon Henderson, who showed what he could do the first time he touched the ball, returns a hundred yards for a touchdown. And then, so I think the Patriots, I'm really intrigued to see, okay, how much better are they really second year of Drake May? He should make tremendous strides and a stable coach in there. So, you know, how close they'll get to the bills? I don't know, but I'll pick them to come second in that division and make a push for the playoffs. Yeah, I like that.

Mark, I need you ask you about my Green Bay Packers this year going into the year. I think a healthy Jordan Love is a big step. I think Matt Lafleur is a spectacular coach, and they have enough receivers to fill a few teams here going forward. But they're in that good group. I don't know if they're jumping into the very good, the great group in the National Football League, but do you think that they're capable of making that next step

with Jordan Love, with Lefleur, and the young talent that they have this year? Yeah, when you look at the landscape of the whole NFC, You know, Philly's going to be silly, and they're going to be in the mix again. But it's really wide open from there, and very good in the NFC could do it. And very good to great. If Jordan Love plays up to what he can be great and all that young talent comes together, you know, I think Green Bay will be, you know, I'm looking at everyone else. Like, yeah, they might be the second best team.

They might be the third best team in the whole NFC. And, you know, the defense, Edron Cooper, watch out for him. I've been talking about him for all offseason. I mean, he is going to be a perennial all-pro player. He is his dynamic, so he'll take that defense up to another level. And I think last year there was so many expectations for Green Bay just because the year before, they crushed Dallas and they, you know, went toe-to-to-to-to with San Fran and, you know, was somewhat of a disappointing year, but they still made the playoffs.

You know, they still had double-digit wins despite Jordan Love being hurt. And I think it got lost. Like, this was a pretty good season, you know, the big picture of it. So I think if he stays healthy, health's always. is important that Green Bay will be right in the mix. I really like their chances. Mark, along those same lines, you know, we can pick favorite teams because there's none in this market.

So, while I'm a one-share owner of the Green Bay Packers, I'm a lifelong Lions fan. Which is wild. And I like the Lions, but, you know, I like gambling, but not in a big stakes playoff game. Where do the Lions go here? Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, they were having a season for the ages last year, as you know, until everything just started falling apart and, you know, injuries.

every week until they just couldn't sustain it. And, you know, losing the coordinators, you know, Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn, it definitely will be an adjustment. It's not so easy to just say next guy up as a coordinator, you know, that's an art and a skill to being a coordinator in this league, especially the level that those were playing at. I mean, Aaron Glenn, he was a masterful last year with all those injuries, you know, keeping that defense together until he couldn't anymore.

And, you know, I think, but once again, the division is so tough. The NFC North is just so tough. And, you know, they won't have the record they did last year. If you look at their schedule, it's extremely hard. But playoff team, they'll be in the mix, but do they have enough? Is Jared Gough good enough to get them over the hump? You know, can they say help you on defense? Do they have enough pass rushers outside of Aiden Hutchinson to get it done?

But they will be in the mix. To the most crowded QB rooms in the NFL is the Cleveland Browns and the New York Giants. And both of them started rookie quarterbacks this week. and preseason. Both look pretty good, Chedur Sanders and Jackson Dart. Between those two, who do you think has a more likely chance to start NFL games this year? Well, Jackson Dart, by far. And I know the Giants have tried to say, well, this is a red shirt here, but they don't mean that. And they're not doing anything with Russell Wilson. They're not going anywhere with Russell Wilson. And, you know, they're going to, they're going to,

you talk about, I've talked about schedules earlier, you look at a giant schedule. You'll be hard-pressed to count two certain wins on that schedule, maybe even one, where you're saying, yep, they're going to win this game. I mean, it is brutal. So I can't see much of a long leash with Russell Wilson, and I think they'll struggle. And there's no point in having James Winston on the roster. If you trade it up and draft at a first-round quarterback, there's no need to keep another veteran-free agent in front of that player to keep that young guy on the bench.

and especially in light of the Bo Nix's last year and Jaden Daniels and C.J. Strauss and the year before where you put those guys out there, Michael Pennick's towards the end of the season, you have to see what they can do. You can see what they perform. And even if they struggle, like a Bryce Young, a couple years ago, you know, two years ago,

okay, let's see what we need to do. Let's see what we need to adjust to get better to help the player and see what his strengths and weaknesses are on the field to help him. So I would think Bill Nix is going to be on the field. at least by mid-season. And, you know, Shador, despite the other night, you know, that's, I was in the Browns camp last week,

and he was fourth on the depth chart. And through injury, he's got a chance to play. But, you know, take everything in totality with the game and what they see in practice. I think the coaches will just trust Joe Flacco and give him a longer leash. And then Kenny Pickett as well before Shador, before they turn the Shador.

Well, how much should we read into those depth charts? Because they put out another one today, and he, again, came in as the fourth quarterback. Like, is that meaningful at all? Of course. Yeah, they're not going to put out the fake debt chart. And, you know, that's, they're going to stack on the way they see them and not the way that the fans think it should be.

And, you know, they see these players every day in practice. And almost practice, not almost, it's harder than a preseason game. Because in a preseason game, you're showing two coverages and you're not blitz, you're not doing much on the defensive side of the ball, but when you're in practice, you're trying to replicate a game situation, and he's going against a Miles Garrett in practice. You know, he's not seeing that in other ways. So, you know, you really have to, the coaches have a better idea day in and day out, as opposed to a half of a preseason game.

Mark, thanks very much. Appreciate it. Sure thing. Mark Ross, NFL network analyst, spent a year consultant for, the NFL football operations department. 11 years were the Giants, two Super Bowls, five seasons, vice president of player evaluation,

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