Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - INTERVIEW REPLAY: Robert Mays weighs Vikings vs. NFC North after Week 1

Episode Date: September 11, 2025

This is a replay from Wednesday night's livestream on the Purple Insider YouTube channel. The Athletic Football Show's Robert Mays joins the show to react to the Vikings' come-from-behind Week 1 win. Coller and Robert also discuss how the Vikings stack up in tough NFC North. The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel.

All right, we welcome into the show from the athletic football show. One of my go-to podcasts and a good friend, Robert Mays. I got a game for you, Robert. I try to up my game every time you come on. I feel like I really got to bring it. So here's the game. The game is I'm going to give you some opinions from week one, a lot from the NFC North. And I want you to either say, you nailed it, dog,

or I don't know man those are your two options for every one of these opinions okay you nailed it dog or I don't know man and those are the only two ways you can answer and then obviously we'll talk about why okay all right I'm in I'm in let's do okay okay let me let me start off with this I don't think we know a whole lot about the NFC North yet despite the results may be telling us we do except for I don't think I could take the Chicago Bears that seriously are you in yeah dog or I don't know man I don't know man it's week one with a new coaching staff it's week one period I don't I think that I still have a kernel of hope about taking the bear seriously just because I've seen what Ben Johnson has been able to do over multiple years in Detroit and

I also think that the defense played pretty darn good for like three quarters of that game without your two best defensive backs arguably so I still have like a small candlelit for this team being at least competent over the course of the year. But I feel like some of the early returns, especially on the offense, are about as worrying as they can be. But I'm never going to set anything in stone after one week. That's what I would say. Okay.

I think that that is very fair, especially the part about, I mean, playing without your corners, although we all had a pick six for Nashon Wright. It had to be the Nashon Wright revenge game against the Vikings. What I saw watching back that game, was a lot of receivers that were there. And I guess you could look that as one of two ways. Caleb Williams couldn't hit them, which is bad. But also they were open, which is good,

that Ben Johnson's stuff, I think, was working. But then they really couldn't play the run off of it with DeAndre Swift, which, you know, a lot of people wondered, why aren't you looking for better running back help? It's not so much that I think the Bears can't be a serious football team. I think that they can. I think they can be someone where anybody who goes, to play them is not just going ah you know but i just don't know what they could play with the big

boys i mean the amount of talent on the field for the packers and the lions and the vikings you saw it the top to bottom the defense the defensive line for the vikings i just think they're on another level talent wise from chicago i i guess i agree with that i mean i feel like i you probably should agree with that because i think that the three teams that you just mentioned when it comes to 21 of the 22 starters, they're trying to win the Super Bowl this year. Like all three of those teams. I mean, J.J. McCarthy was really the only big question.

If you look at the entire rest of the Vikings roster, this is a Super Bowl ready roster. I don't think I ever would have thought that about the Bears. On our show, we do division previews. We talk about every single team. And at the end of every single preview, we say, what does success look like for X team in 2025? For the Bears, success to me was

finishes a top half of the league offense. So the fact that they're still a little bit of ways away from all of the other teams in the NFC North, I think that's okay. I think some of that is a talent gap, but I think a lot of that is just where you are in the process. You know, this is year four of Dan Campbell. This is year seven of Matt LaFleur. This is year four of Kevin O'Connell. Like I just think it's a slightly different trajectory and a slightly different timeline for all of those teams.

I don't necessarily think it's the talent is not the first thing I would point out. I think it's just where you are on the curve as an organization. The bears are just in a different spot than all the three of those other teams in the NFC North. So part one of that opinion for you to react to is, hey, I'm not taking the bears seriously in contention with the other teams, but also implying that week one's results between the Packers and Lions don't give us all the answers, or the Vikings pulling off that crazy win with J.J. McCarthy looking great in the fourth quarter, doesn't tell us everything about what he's going to be. either. I think there was a natural reaction if you look at the markets as well when the

Packers get Micah Parsons to make them Super Bowl favorites in the NFC. And then they came out and looked like it. So when those two things match up and all of the problems that the Lions were purported to have, they did have. I think so much of it matched up with what we thought it was going to be that it was like this, this is the obvious truth. I don't know if I want to go that far just yet with the Packers and the Lions. I'm like willing to go there a little bit with the pack with the packers specifically just because I believed this heading in like I pick them to win the division I pick them to win the NFC I just felt like this version of the Packers was possible like the version that we saw on Sunday I'll seeing that for 17 games I do think that was potentially on the table with where this team was and that was in part just because I really liked the way that their defense was coached last season I felt like Jeff Halfley did an excellent job and year one as their defensive coordinator with some holes personnel wise holes you didn't really plan for coming into the season which iere alexander supposed to be having like him

as a definitive starting corner for you and so them going out and getting micah parsons but also just them having one more offseason understand who they were i thought that unit could be pretty good heading into this year and i have a ton of faith in the packers offense like i've had a ton of faith in the packers offense since matt lefleur got there so i'm willing to believe in what we saw from the packers on sunday is like maybe indicative of what we could get from them all year because I came in believing they could be that. And I'll say this, like, I don't think it's going to necessarily be a huge problem for the Lions all season, but similar to the Bears where it's like you can't make definitive

statements after week one, it looked about as bad as it could look, giving all of the questions that you had coming into the year. So I don't think it's necessarily we're going to see those versions of those teams for 17 weeks. But I do think that it's an early initial signal to pay attention to based on what some of our concerns for the Lions and optimism for the Packers looked like heading into the year. So I tend to agree with you on this because with the Lions, there

is no, oh, you know what you guys should do is just get Frank Ragnow back? Like, just call them up, hey, Frankie, why don't you come back and just be like the best center in the league? And the other part of it too is Ben Johnson is not coming back either. And when you build an offense over four years

with two dudes, quarterback and head coach, like, if you took Andy Reed away from Mahomes, it would be different. If you took McVeigh away from Matthew Stafford over several years, it would be different for that quarterback. And how long is that going to take to adjust? And then even can it adjust back to the point where it was before because Jared Goff just didn't look comfortable with anything he was doing. And I don't think that was all because of the pressure. We know Goff and his numbers drop severely under pressure and when he's sped up. But, you know, he's really good at executing even against

great defenses a lot of times. He just didn't look like he had places to go with that football. I don't know if I've ever seen a running back have 10 catches for 31 yards before. That is a very strange. That's like when you play on All Madd and you have no other answers because the computer is just too hard. So I think that Detroit's problems are very real and very hard to solve. And I think Green Bay's talents with Parsons there, there's a trickle down effect.

And when you see Lucas Van Ness rush up the middle and you're like, that's probably where he should have been, but now he doesn't have to play a little out of position in an edge spot because they have a guy who's there. There's a trickle down effect. And I agree with you on LaFleur. I think he's one of the better offensive minds. I think what it comes down to there is just how consistent Jordan Love can be because it has been a roller coaster for him in his first two years. There's no doubt about that. I think the consistency of their passing game is going to be the thing I pay the most attention to. And obviously, they've had stretches where it's been really, really good. Last year, if you look at the third down number,

remember specifically and just some of their struggles in that situation, then against main coverage, that was actually the outlier. Like Jordan Love's first year, they were actually much better down to down than they were in 2024. And whether that's him being a little bit banged up, I think there are a lot of things that contributed to that. But I do think that Jordan Love, he's played 32 games in the NFL. Like this idea that Jordan Love is some fully formed product after those two years,

like I'm very open to the idea that we could see the best version of Jordan Love that we have this season. And if we do that, combined with everything else the Packers have, I feel like there is a gear to this team that makes them, if not one of, if not the best team in the NFC, then certainly one of them. Which is funny, because the other side of that opinion might be, hey, Jordan loves like 27 years old and we still act like he is this unknown type of thing. So when do we know about a quarterback is sort of a fundamental thing? And I have an easy answer for that. It's after one fourth quarter. That's how you know.

So let me get to my second, let me get to my second opinion. for now I even forget how I frame this. Yeah, dog, or I don't know, man, are the two ways. So here's an opinion for you. J.J. McCarthy showed you in the fourth quarter everything that he can be. And all he needed was a little comfort and all he needed was his coach to maybe take the shackles off. Stop trying to play around with short passes and just say, let it rip J.J. McCarthy and also use your athleticism. Go get him, kid.

And now that that happened, off the Minnesota Vikings. go with their young franchise quarterback. So I think, in this opinion, we saw everything we need to see from J.J. McCarthy to know what he's going to be going forward here. I don't know, man. It's one quarter of a week one game. He made four throws. I think they were an impressive four throws.

I think the thing I would be most encouraged by by the fourth quarter for the Vikings is this was the vision of what the offense overall was supposed to be. And when I say that, I mean, being able to run the ball on your terms in the most important moments of the game. For the first three quarters, JJ McCarthy struggled, but the run game also struggled. They just couldn't get anything going on the ground. And Kevin O'Connell tapped into like one concept that he went back to a couple of different times for chunk plays.

He clearly saw something. And on one of those plays, you have Ryan Kelly just winning a one-on-one against Jervon Dexter as like a shade to the play side where like, God bless Garrett Bradbury, he's not doing that. And so you have the backs now. You're supposed to be, you're supposed to have the pieces up front now. so that part of the vision comes together and then obviously you have KOC like dialing stuff up in that fourth quarter like that little i don't know what you would call it like a little like stutter wheel go to aaron jones is just like a perfect play ball in the high red zone and i also think that i was a little surprised they didn't try to get jj on the move a little bit more earlier in the game i don't know if some of that is the bears playing more man coverage than the vikings might have anticipated but you think about those two big completions to jefferson the one where he goes in motion runs like the deep out to the left side and then obviously on the touchdown,

I feel like it was just a little bit more dynamic some of the things that they were doing later in the game. And I put a lot of that on the play caller who is capable of that kind of stuff. So I think my optimism for the Vikings offense coming out of that is more about the overall formula than it is the quarterback convincing me that he is something after throwing three or four passes

following a pretty rough first three quarters of his career. I should mention that if it hasn't become obvious, opinions are exaggerated for the sake of the show and for the sake of discussion because, of course, I don't think that we saw every single thing we need to see. But I do think that we learned a lot about J.J. McCarthy and how he handles that moment. I also think we learned a lot about what throws are going to work for him. And if you are rolling out with J.J. McCarthy a quick pass game where he's got to just, you know, throw short to Jefferson, throw short to Hawkinson, I just don't think that that matches up with the head coach's philosophy and his offense.

And I don't think that Kevin O'Connell should tie one hand behind the back to try to protect the young quarterback. You might have to let him throw some pick sixes in the name of getting downfield passing to Justin Jefferson. I mean, we saw Jefferson is the best and we all know it. But running a four-yard route, apparently not his thing, like getting to three yards and getting short. And I was like, well, you know, that was what they wanted maybe Rondale. more for to come into this offense when they signed him and he got heard. That's just not going to be who they are. So I think what McCarthy showed, of course, is the poise and the ability to not let the

moment be too big for him to lead his team. All that stuff is extremely relevant and important and a baller nature to go run in a touchdown to rip that pass to Jefferson over the middle with a lot of confidence. Like after the game he was having to throw that at that point is pretty darn impressive. But I also think that O'Connor. learned. One, get Jordan Mason in the freaking game earlier. And then, two, run your offense. Don't try to run a Mickey Mouse version of it or a protect J.J. McCarthy. Do what you do. I feel like if you're going to protect him, the play that comes to mind for me, which is a good

example of this is the screen they threw to Justin. And I think it was, I can't remember which drive it was on, but it was later in the game. I think it was in the fourth quarter. Like, that's a, that's a scheme touch that makes sense to me, where you're not throwing him like a there was a third down, it was a third and four where they threw him like a three-yard route. He was stops, stops for the sticks. That I don't need anything of. But if you're trying to get him scheme touches with a little bit of runway as a way to kind of give some layups to your young quarterback, that's something that I can support.

So because I do think that there needs to be the right blend of this stuff, asking him to rip those intermediate throws that he is more than capable of doing, that should be part of this. But if you can sprinkle in a few more screens, things of that, to get your best players just quick touches with the ball in their hands with yak opportunities i i feel like that also should be part of this i think there's a balance to be found there yeah i wrote about this going into the game and it's one of those you know all about this excuse me that you write an article about a players sorry let me i'll edit that out boy the takes they're just they're just too spicy okay well you know how this goes robert when

you write an article before a game and you're like please do the thing that i wrote about you doing and so i wrote a big piece about the screen game and how much it can help j j mccarthy get on track keep keep things going and of course they threw three screens in that game now one was kind of a run it was counted as a run but it was more of a screen to just to jefferson but i think that those parts of it, staying ahead of the sticks a little with the run game is going to be important for them, getting the screens is going to be important for them, and then push the right buttons. And I just feel like there's going to have to be some Gary Kubiak, Mike Shanahan style, run the boots, man, run Jordan Mason. Like that drive really looks like a, like Kyle

Shanahan had called it. Hand off big gain, hand off big gain, play action roll to the left, hit Jefferson, and then your quarterback makes one play. And you get a touchdown. but I don't want to see it, like, paired so far down to try to protect him. I totally agree with that. And the comparison that I've made and when it comes to the style of this offense, it's actually the Rams offense early in the Sean McVeigh tenure before Kevin O'Connell even got there. And before West Phillips even got there, I think Wes got there in like 2019, maybe. I don't know where my timeline is, but it was after those first couple years when they really built

the foundation of who they were. But if you go back and you watch those 2017, 2018 Rams teams there is a lot of it's a matter of the run game the play action game and the screen game and to an extent the play being tied in together and they were not asking Jared Goff to do a ton like what they were asking him to do in that offense is we want you to rip intermediate often in breaking throws off play action and I feel like that is where JJ McCarthy can really be successful and so that being the foundation of it and it's funny because I think if you talk to Kevin or Wes,

they still do believe in like the core tenets and principles of that McVeigh offense, which goes back to the ideas that Gary Kubiak trotted out there, which is we want the run in the past to be married together. That didn't exist in Minnesota for a couple of years simply because they couldn't run the ball. But I think part of why you go out and you get those guys is that you want to be able to run the ball a little bit more efficiently.

And that allows you to kind of tie those things together in a way that you couldn't over the last couple of years. And so I think that's the vision that they're chasing, even if we haven't necessarily seen that version of the Kevin McConnell offense since he got to Minnesota. I love that you bring that up because it's the exact comparison that I made of Jared Gough early, where it was keep the train on the tracks. Todd Gurley was fantastic then, especially with the screen and swing pass game. And using Aaron Jones out of the backfield is something that don't hesitate to keep doing that as much as you want to do it and play to the strengths of his throws, which I think that

they did in the second half of this that game okay next opinion for you if you were to have an all head coach draft and this is this is a uh what's the fantasy league when you keep the guys for a dynasty so this is a dynasty to this is not win one super bowl tomorrow this is dynasty draft Kevin O'Connell number one overall pick I don't know man I uh I need a yeah dog out of you somewhere here. If you had said he would go in the top five, I think that's kind of undeniable. I still feel like McVeigh is just a different sort of guy

and what McVeigh has been able to do over the last several years is just on a kind of a different level. But Kevin, I think, creeps up and up and up with each passing year. And that's for a bunch of different reasons. Obviously, like, what he's able to draw up and just how dynamic that offense always feels as part

of it. But I feel like he really is the ideal of what you want in a modern head coach. And just in terms of the forward facing stuff, how he carries himself, clearly like the buy-in he has from the locker room, the culture that he's created there. I think just on a bunch of different levels,

he checks all of those boxes. I just think for me, considering the success that some of those other guys have had, and it's not as if McVeigh is like 65 years old, right? Like, if he wants to keep coaching, you could have him for another 30 years. And so I still feel like, even without doing my own little big board,

Sean would probably be number one, but I think Kevin is kind of firmly in the, top five at this point, even if he has not necessarily had some of the postseason success that other people you'd throw into that mix have had so far. Well, that's, yeah, that's absolutely right. I mean, McVeigh, I think is the number one overall pick in this sort of draft. And I wouldn't put Matt Lafleur too far behind. I think that there's a lot of these guys who are sort of rooted in the same ideas and these ideas work. Now, we all agree that Kevin O'Connell can't get out coached in playoff games and be considered the best coach in the entire NFL.

but I think that what is kind of left behind in that discussion even and is not to apologize. He got out coached by McVeigh. He got out coached by Brian Daible, which was pretty bad in that Giants game. I think Ed Donatelle got outcoached by Brian Daible. I think that that's probably how I would spin that one. Someone had the chance to fire Ed Donatel halfway through that season where we knew that defense wasn't working. So he's responsible for that.

But I think that setting the bar when you win 13 or 14, games in seasons where your team is not really ready to win that many games, it makes people sort of look at it like, well, you won 14 games and you can't even win in the playoffs, but it's like, that was probably a 10 win football team that won 14 games. And in 2022, that's probably an eight win football team that won 13 games. And a lot of that was, you know, crazy stuff at the end. But I think that his, he has sort of raised the bar beyond a place he's been able to reach it, which ties into, I think now he's got the tools over the next two years to be able to reach that bar.

I totally agree with that. Say, yeah, dog. Give me a yeah, dog. Yeah, yeah, dog. Yeah, dog. I'm in on that. I needed one. I have always said in like the multi-year kind of vision for the Vikings,

why I was a supporter of them allowing JJ to play this year is that to me, 2026 always felt like the year for the Vikings. I think that's the year that you have circled. and you know there's some dicey elements to that like your jonathan allen will be a year older the jvonne hargrave will be a year older again this is already a team that is invested in some third contract players and so your the margins on that are pretty slim but i always felt like that was the year where it's like all right that's when we're going to be the team that can really make a run at this thing and so that's why getting jjy mccarthy the experience this year was so important because

you didn't want to go into that 2026 year having no information about this guy and so over the next two years I think that we're going to find out a lot about Kevin O'Connell, about the core of this group that Quasio de Fu Mensa has built and about J.J. McCarthy. So I'm with you. I think that these next two seasons, we're going to figure out whether Kevin O'Connell can clear that bar that he consistently has kind of made higher for himself. By what week do you think that we should feel like we have conclusions on how good J.J. McCarthy is for how far he could take the team? week eight of next year I just I think we with quarterback specifically it takes a long time to fully understand what they're capable of

and like you said earlier like Jordan Love's going to be 27 like shouldn't we know not really you know like Lamar Jackson was a different player last year than he had ever been at any point in his career Josh Allen has been a different player in his age 28 season than he was earlier in his This is a position specifically, and I think Sam Darnold was a great example of this. Like when you get to, there's a convergence to me with quarterbacks where when you get to like 27, 28, 29, the physical tools have not started to a road and the mental side of the game has sharpened to a point where you really understand what you're looking at. And that's when you're truly entering your prime at the position. So I don't think we're really understand like what J.J. McCarthy is until a long time from now.

I think you'll get a sense of like what you'll be capable of in the short term, hopefully by the end of this season. But Jordan Love looked like he was unplayable for stretches of that first year as a starter. And he looked great in the back half of the year. So I'm always pushing toward a more conservative timeline when it comes to us getting answers on these guys at that position specifically. Yeah. And of course, it's ironic, right? The best versions of these quarterbacks happen when they're expensive and not when they're on their rookie contract. If it matches up like a Jalen Hertz, the first time you go to the Super Bowl. I don't know. Maybe we have seen the best version of Brock Purdy, but they go to the Super Bowl. And with J.J. McCarthy, I think what it comes down to for me for this year and knowing what he's going to be is what does it look like when he hits a halacious stretch in the middle of the season where you've got the Eagles and the lions and the Chargers. And you're just. just getting hit each week there's multiple road games against tough teams if they get through that and he plays well through that stretch even if they go one game above 500 in their toughest five game stretch i'm going to think i don't know if they go into the playoffs they could be just about

anyone because he doesn't have to be the age 27 fully formed adult man j j mccarthy to win games with this team i think that's that's also a part of this is that they've been able to build something around him that doesn't force him to be that sort of player, right? Like that's the entire point of having a quarterback on a rookie contract is that you can create something for him that gets him from the fledgling version of himself to the fully formed version of himself. And that's the entire argument about the Vikings is that they were able to build this thing in part because they went with the cheap quarterback.

And so I think with him this year, it's do not turn the ball over, right? Like just make sure you're not turning the ball over. and those intermediate throws that we're going to ask you to make notably off play action, are you able to consistently make the throws that we are providing to you? If he's able to do both of those things

and the Vikings are able to make good on all the other promises they've made about the offense, we can run the ball well. We have extreme receiver talent. We have the best play callers in the league. I think that version of Gigi McCarthy is enough for this to be a playoff team in 2025. And I think that is a perfectly reasonable

set of ambitions to have if you're the Vikings or you're a Vikings fan. I told, yeah, dog, that's right. I totally agree. Let me give you a few yeah, dog or naman's before we go. Great stuff, as always. Okay, so the Vikings are playing the Atlanta Falcons. Here's my take on the Atlanta Falcons. I want to watch the Atlanta Falcons. I don't know what that's going to be. I don't know what's going to happen. I just know I want to see it. Yeah, dog, with one caveat, I did not like what I saw

from them in week one. Like I, we talked about it on our show. I think the Falcons through like 36% of their pass attempts to the sticks in week one against the bucks. That is not what I want to see out of the Atlanta Falcons. You have got a quarterback that can throw the ball through like a dry wall, like wall in front of him. Like he has one of the craziest arms I've ever seen on an NFL player.

It's a pretty erratic at times. But the guy, the phrase arm talent was created in part because of people like Michael Pennix. And so watching that version of the Falcons on Sunday where they could not run the ball efficiently, which was crazy, considering they were the most efficient running team in the league last year. And you're defanging this guy who has a howitzer. I do want to watch the Falcons over the course of the year. But the first glimpse that I got of them, I will say I was a little bit disappointed just stylistically in what they were trying to do against the bucks. So I was thinking more big picture that I think every Falcons game this year will end on

someone kicking a field goal to try to win the game or tie the game. Like I just, they are just talented enough, just flawed enough to be that team that goes, I don't know, nine and eight, but every single game is crazy. It comes down to the last minute and you just don't know what's going to happen. I think that the Vikings on Fandulul, they're favored by four and a half. I think they deserve to be favored in this game against the Falcons. But I also foresee madness in this contest. Yeah, I think so. I think that there are two young quarterbacks who could potentially provide that madness for you. And I'll say this, the Falcons defense. I was very curious what it was going to be under Jeff Ulbrook. He was the defensive coordinator with the Jets over the last couple of years. He comes to Atlanta this year. And both him and Robert Sala, I feel like we've kind of seen like the next subtle evolution with that defensive system. If you go look at what the Falcons were doing on defense last week against the bucks, there's some wild stuff in there. And so I think that that part of it is going to be entertaining. I do think the office.

over the course of the season will be entertaining, but I'm with you in that there are enough gaps in the talent on that team where it might be entertaining, but it also might be soul crushing if you're a Falcons fan, the exact same way that it was on Sunday. Okay, last one. So coming out of week one, you would probably say in the AFC, and we're doing a yeah dog. Here's my actual dog. There he is. This is buddy, Robert.

This is my. I can't see him. He's too low. Oh, that's, oh, sorry. Well, you could see him on the, I think the audience can see. him. Anyway, I'll point the camera at him for you in a second so you can see him. But anyway, so coming out of week one, I think you would say in the AFC, the teams that have the best chance to win the Super Bowl are the Bills, Ravens, and Chargers. Is that a, yeah, dog, or are you

still throwing KC in there? You throw in anybody else? I don't know, man. It's week one. I want to see a little bit more from the Chargers. I will say that I've always been a Justin Herbert believer. I've been an ardent Justin Herbert believer. I've crowed from the mountaintops for a very long time that if you watch the games, Justin Herbert is a very good NFL quarterback. And it was very funny to watch that happen on Friday

where it was an island game where he played well. And so suddenly everyone was like, oh, man, like, why don't we always get this from Justin Herbert? It's like he was like this for 17 regular season games last year with planet her fasciitis and his sprained ankle and then played that garbage in the playoffs. just because you weren't watching the 305 Raiders Chargers game from last year does not mean that this was not Justin Herbert last season.

That comes with a caveat about my concerns about the Chiefs on two fronts. One, Novershey Rice and Xavier Worthy for that game, which I do think is at least worth pointing out. I don't think that excuses everything we saw from the Chief's offense, but I do think it's important to throw out there. And then the other point of it is that I am really concerned about the Chief's defense because the Chargers, I still want to see what that group looks like on offense

against a better pass rush because even though Joe Walt is going to be really good, you still have four of the other five component parts that were essentially, and Mackay Beckton will throw half of it. We have three and a half of the component parts of what have been really disappointing offensive lines for the Chargers over the last couple years. And I want to see them play against the team that has actual pass rushers

because the Chiefs had one of the worst pass rushes in the league last season and it did not look any better last week against the Chargers and I still feel like the Chiefs secondary there are a lot of like young unproven players there like we'll see what Jaden Hicks is over the course of the year stepping in there for Justin Reed but I feel like the youth is going to show on that side

and if the pass rush doesn't come along this could go from being a good Chiefs defense when they were winning Super Bowls to a bad Chiefs defense and so it's always interesting with week one because you could be looking into a fun house mirror with these teams. We have absolutely no idea and so with the Chargers specifically I'm just going to be in wait and C mode for a tiny bit longer

because I don't know what to make of the Chiefs defense. I think that's very fair because when we got to the playoffs last year, they weren't the only team. There was a number of teams, including the Minnesota Vikings, whose offensive lines they painted over in the regular season. And then when they got to the playoffs, they were very much unearthed as what they really were. Robert Mays, the athletic football show,

one of the best podcasts in the entire universe. That is true. When people ask, like what football podcast to listen to, yours is one of the top of mind for me. So highly recommend your end to the team. You're adding new camera angles for your YouTube podcast. Got a lot going on at the athletic football show, Robert. Thank you very much for taking the time to get together.

I'll give this two yeah dogs. I appreciate it. It's always good to chat with you. And thank you for throwing that out there. It's very kind of you to say that. And it means a lot. And yeah, if you're looking for a national NFL podcast, we've been doing this one for a while. But it looks a little sleeker this year.

So if it's something where you're seeking out something on YouTube or you want more national discussion about the league, we would love if you guys came and checked it up. All right. There you go. Robert Mays. Thanks for joining. And we'll talk to you all later.