The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Biggest questions heading into training camp, with Courtney Cronin

Episode Date: July 24, 2023

By the end of this week, all 32 teams will be in camp. In other words, the NFL season is here. What are our biggest questions at the start of camp? Robert Mays and Courtney Cronin from ESPN lay them out on this episode of The Athletic Football Show.Follow Robert on Twitter: @robertmaysFollow Courtney on Twitter: @CourtneyRCroninSubscribe to The Athletic Football Show...AppleSpotifyYouTubeThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/MAYS and get on your way to being your best self.The Football 100, the definitive ranking of the NFL’s best 100 players of all time, goes on sale this fall. Pre-order it here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Football Show. Welcome to the Athletic Football Show. I'm Robert Mays. Joining me today, a guest that I cannot believe we have not had on up to this point. It is the Chicago Bears writer for ESPN, but also a face on your television in many different capacities these days. It's Courtney Cronin. Courtney, thank you so much for doing this.

Thanks for having me. I really cannot believe we have not done this yet. For whatever reason. It just slipped my mind. We've had this conversation offline, I bet. I've been 100 different times about whatever's going on in the league and whatever you're working on. And it's very fun to have you cover the hometown team now after your years covering the Minnesota Vikings. So we're glad to have you back.

But I'm very glad to have you today. It's training camp time. We're here. Camp kicks off in the next couple days. You will be out there in Lake Forest in the sweltering heat for the next month or so, which I'm very excited for you. But every year around this time, I like to just reset about what are we excited about? What are we interested in? And what are the questions that we have kind of on the eve of trading camp?

So that's what we're going to do today. The 10 biggest questions that we have now that training camp is 24, 48 hours away, pretty simple, but I think the right way to kick off this stretch of the calendar. And you are our guest. So you are going to get us started today. What is the biggest question that you have as training camps are about to? open. Ooh, so like I knew we were going league-wide on this. I do have some bear stuff in here just because it's my wheelhouse. We're not going to get to that yet. But I think coming off of what

happened earlier this week when there was no long-term deal reached with Sequin Barclay, Josh Jacobs, and their respective franchises, like, how is the running back market in the fallout from what we've seen and, you know, the devaluation of the position? Like, how is that going to affect the other running backs that are out there who have not yet? signed deals, whether it's Dalvin Cook, whether it's Leonard Fournett, Kareem Hunt is still a free agent, Zecchio Elliott's out there too. I'm really interested to see where they end up and what these contracts look like because we know that there's a cap on the position and owners, teams, whoever, they want to utilize the franchise tag to their advantage to put a ceiling on this

position. But how are these running backs who probably thought, like a Dalvin Cook, like he didn't take that deal from Miami when it was on the table a month ago. Like, how are they going to approach the next couple weeks of trying to find a team to play with? We know that, like, there's interest, but they're going to get shortchanged. And that's kind of the reality of this position now. And I mean, it's been the reality. We've known it. And so I'm curious to see, does this change the plan of where we think many of these running backs are going to end up? because there's a lot of good conversation about where and where they can go. I mean, Dalvin Cook, we've heard the Jets, we've heard the Denver Broncos, we've heard the

Miami Dolphins. Miami makes a ton of sense, but will the offers that are currently floating out there change their minds about where they might end up? It just seems like there's not going to be a robust offer for any of these guys at this stage of the calendar, and that's beyond even considering some of the limitations on the position. DeAndre Hopkins is only 31 years old, okay? And DeAndre Hopkins, even if he's on the decline, still pretty good receiver at a position where there's a lot of money being thrown around. He got two years, 26 million.

I don't think any of these guys on July 24th when we're having this conversation should be looking for any sort of multi-year commitment that's going to give them anything close to what they want. And I also think that potentially opens up some teams that you might not think about. If these are one-year deals for kind of paltry sums, are there some teams? lingering out there that really just need depth, one more body at the position that maybe we aren't considering when thinking about some of the connection points for these guys. Yeah, and that's where my mind went, because I thought about, you know, Cook's kind of on his like, of those, of those four that I mentioned, it'd be like Ezekiel Elliott and Dalvin Cook, probably on the same tier.

And then I think Kareem Hunt's got to go someplace where he knows he can be the number two, like Baltimore makes a ton of sense. And then, you know, with Leonard Fournette, I saw he was visiting the Patriots. It's heartbroken. as a Ramadre Stevenson dynasty investor. I'm very sad about the Leonard Four Net News. That one was curious in the timing of it too. But I, you know, the David Montgomery deals feel like those are way in the past.

And that's, you know, a three year commitment, you know, 18 million. That was in March. I mean, like that's the biggest deal you're going to get. The Miles Sanders, David Montgomery deals are the biggest deals out there. And those are getting handed out in the first week of free agency. And I don't think those guys, like any of the guys that we're talking about are going to get any. anything close to that, which, you know, I've got to wonder, we have to wonder as people who cover this league, like, what did Monday do to the rest of the running back, free agent running back

market going forward? And how is this going to potentially affect, not just like going in a training camp, but like next year, potentially? It's setting us up for what it could be a very wild free agency because Sequan's headed towards that. Josh Jacobs is headed towards that, which that's another part of it. You know, you can make the case on Sequin Barclay, pay him, don't pay him, the injury history, whatever. Like, I still think he should have gotten paid. But Josh Jacobs is 25 years old. He does not have any of the injury concerns that Saquan Barkley had.

That offense, do we know? Are we sure Jimmy Garapolo is going to be good to go for week one? And even if he is. Amiramira Dula is their backup running back. Even if Jimmy Garaplo is good to go, even if he's on the field, what is he going to look like? I know. The Josh Jacobs part of this, this feels to me like a team that doesn't really understand

exactly what it is. This is a front office group, a coaching staff that they didn't pick Josh Jacobs. They have no commitment to Josh Jacobs. So are you going to give Josh Jacobs a multi-year deal as you're kind of a retooling other areas of your roster? This is a team in transition. Jimmy Garoppel is going to be there this year. But the Raiders absolutely could finish with one of the worst records in the league.

They 100% could. They could be a team that wins four games this year and be picking in the top two and be very much in the Drake May. Caleb Williams sweepstakes. So if they are, do you want a pretty sizable running back extension on your books as you kind of transition into the next phase of whatever your roster looks like? I don't know. I don't think you really do. And there are elements to the Josh Jacobs production last year, even though he was fantastic, where they're doing with a ton of two high coverages because Devante Adams is there. There's a lot of favorable looks. And it just seems like they don't totally

understand who they are, how they want to build. I can get, if you're Dave Ziegler and Josh McDaniels not wanting this to be one of the first major moves that you make as you're transitioning whatever this next phase ends up looking like for you. Yeah, it's a curious case. I would give him at least, I think you can give him the longer term contract, whether it's four years, because you expect he would have four good years of production in him. He's 25. He has less tread than Saquan Barkley. But I can understand from a team perspective, they could have done this last year. They let him go into a contract year. He bawled out and he did what he was supposed to do. He's not getting rewarded with it other than the franchise tag. They're telling you how, like, they're not going to

change their minds. They're telling you how they feel about this. And how, I don't have any doubt that he will end up showing up and playing this year on the tag. I think there's too many cautionary tales that we heard. Even Levyon Bell coming out and talking about it this week, I think Sequin will eventually end up doing it too. But it's, like, this is the whole, whole running back conversation, the fallout from what happened on Monday, I don't think we're going to end up stopping talking about this for a while. I think this is going to be a lingering storyline because it's going to affect the guys that are still sitting out there and what they hope to earn. I agree. And I'm curious where the landing spots are now. So if you look around, the couple that

have jumped out to me, like, I still think the Chargers could use another back. If they went out and got an Ezekiel Elliott, he knows Kellyn Moore. That's a connection that I've made multiple different times. You know, if you think about the Cowboys and who they have behind Tony Pollard, it's no one proven. You know, this is a team that I think has real championship caliber aspirations. They should probably go out and get a little bit more depth at the position. But there aren't that many other teams after you get past the top three or four that have a huge glaring need at running back. A lot of the teams that, you know, there isn't a clear number two that's a veteran, they drafted somebody. You know, the Bears have Rochon Johnson as a fourth round pick.

The Titans went out and got Taji Spears in the third round. Tank Bigsby was a third round pick from the Jags. You know, Chase Brown got drafted in the fifth round by the Bengals. Even if they move on from Somagia P-run, they have a little bit more depth there. So there aren't that many clear landing spots for a guy like Kareem Hunt or a guy like Leonard Fournette. So the fact that there aren't that many seats when the music stops, I think, also affects this a little bit. Yeah. I mean, we've played the game on TV like the last week or something.

So the landing, best landing spots for the running backs. I mean, you bring up Zeke, Dallas might be going back there, which is weird to think about. And I don't know if he will. I know Daph kind of left the door open and he said he wanted that to happen. But I, the seats are being taken away, like, kind of in rapid time. And I just, I wonder, like, at what point are these deals going to get struck? At what point do we end up seeing running these running backs on new teams? I would imagine it's going to be in the next couple weeks.

It's not going to be well in the training camp, but who's going to be the first domino to fall? I would still imagine it's probably Dalvin Cook. Yeah, most likely. I think that he has the most recent track record of real production, even compared to a guy like Zique, who was more specific in the way that he was used last year. All right. My first one is kind of in this same vein, but just with a little bit of a broader scope. Essentially, what final touches might a couple contenders add before the season? And this is at any position.

So the first one that we saw yesterday that I thought was interesting. The Lions traded for Denzel Mims. I was wondering how they were going to chase that sort of skill set within their offense. I really wanted DeAndre Hopkins to go there. I know that it wasn't going to happen for a bunch of different reasons, but that skill set to me was one of the last things they needed, like a big ball winner outside the numbers. You think about they have Amman Ross St. Brown, they have Sam Rapporte now. But they got Marvin Jones and Josh Reynolds. I mean, not necessarily the big body guys on the outside.

they're going to take you where you want to go if you're Detroit. So going out and taking a flyer on a Denzel Mims made a lot of sense to me. But now look at some of these other teams that have some cap space and really might want to push it. Like this is a real opportunity for them. Something we didn't really discuss on this show, the Evan Ingraham extension, I was hoping the Jags were going to do that because I wanted them to have a little bit more financial wiggle room in a season where they absolutely can contend in the AFC. So now they've got about $20 million in cap space when you consider the extension for Evan Ingram and the Cam Robinson suspension. That's the seventh most in the NFL. They are tied for the 10th best Super Bowl odds in the league right now.

They can absolutely make a couple more moves and put themselves in a really good position to make a run at this thing if they want to. These opportunities when you're in this sort of spot, if you're Jacksonville, if you're Detroit and you're a potential playoff team, these aren't guaranteed to you every single year. So when these doors are open, you have to take advantage of it. So what sort of moves are we going to see from teams in this position to maybe try to put some finishing touches on the roster? Jacksonville needs a couple more pass rushers. The Cowboys have $20 million in cap space. Do they go out and get another pass catcher? Do we see kind of a CJ Gardner-Johnson like trade at this point in the calendar?

Beyond the guys available in free agency, are we going to see a couple of these contenders say, this is the last piece? This is what we need to kind of have everything else on our offense or defense kind of fall in line to put us in a really good position as we make a run at this. So what those moves end up looking like if we see four or five of them from some of those teams kind of on the cusp. That's what I'm curious about. I mean, there's still some really good free agents out there or at least, you know, guys that you would imagine could, like, you know, I think about unique in Gokwe. Yep. Like, where's he going? A lot of pass rushers.

Clowneed, Justin Houston, Melvin Ingram. Like those are the guys I'm thinking about. A team would benefit from one of those guys on a one-year $4 million, $5 million deal. They still have gas in the tank. Yeah. And I mean, in Gakwe is somebody, because I mean the Bears ties, like of thinking, what are they going to do at edge rusher? Like, I've been tracking this for a while and we know that he's somebody, wherever he's going to go, he wants a multi-year deal. Is the reason he hasn't signed anywhere because no team's willing to give him a two-year contract right now and that he might have to go the one-year, $4, $5, $6 million route to have to have.

have effectively approve it season. I mean, we see Jadavia and Clowny do this every single year. Yep. So he's quite used to it. But it's, there's still some names out there that like in kind of a weird year for free agency, just because there weren't that many big names, there's still surprisingly a couple out there. You're like, wait, this guy hasn't signed somewhere yet.

Marcus Peters is another good example. I mean, he's looking for a team still. So these teams, just looking at cap space available, okay? The Panthers have $27 million in cap space. the Jets have $24 million in cap space. The Jags now have 22. The Cowboys have 21. So that's still a decent amount of wiggle room at this stage in the calendar to both

have enough money for in-season moves while also being able to add maybe one or two more bodies depending on how much you're spending on them. So those teams that are like, all right, we have aspirations and we have a little bit of flexibility. What are the last few kind of personnel dominoes to fall? And I assume we'll have some answers on that within the first couple weeks of camp. And it should come around the time, too, of contract extensions, because we haven't seen that many this summer. But we know, like, Chris Jones, I mean, Quinn and Williams was the recent one.

Chris Jones should be, like, tomorrow. The tackle market fell, but that was really the only one that did. We're still waiting on the Nick Bosa extension. I mean, there's a few of them that are lingering out there. Yeah. And so I would imagine those are typically the eve of training camp sort of deals. Like, when teams get those executed, then, like, then what's the? then what's left to go and like if there's one position that's out there, maybe it's even a trade.

I mean, you know, I think about Chase Young in his situation with Washington. Is there going to be a contender that's like, we need to, you know, fortify our pass rush? We are going to go call Ron Rivera, say, okay, look, like, you know, we know how you guys feel about him. Let's get a deal done here and bring him into training camp because there, I just think that there's going to be some bigger splashy move for one of these contenders. I agree with you. I think that there's still time for those teams to fortify their roster, and there are some names that we're tracking. The Chase Young thing is I was thinking about it too,

and I'm wondering how the competing motivations play into this, okay? They probably don't want to sign him to a long-term deal because they have the Montes- Sweat thing lingering as well, and he's been a more productive player for them. But if you're Ron Rivera, what is the most important thing for you this year? It's not planning- Exactly. It's not maximizing your loss or construction a year from now. Exactly. So I just think that their optimization is not what Washington is chasing right now. I think

they're chasing survival. So trading Chase Young at this stage, if you're Ron Rivera, how much value does that really have to your short-term goals, which is the thing that you should be prioritizing? But if I was a contender, if I was Jacksonville, if I was Chicago, if I was, not the bears are contender, but they have a need at the position and any amount of money they want to spend. If I had a need at pass rusher, I'd be calling every 20 minutes. Like, are you sure? You sure you want them? I promise you I can give you something that's more than he's worth right now.

So that's a name I've been thinking about too, but I think that there's some complicating factors. All right. Absolutely. What's your next one? Is everything just fine in Buffalo? Are we going to act like the explosion that happened during mini camp is, you know, everything's back to normal? I don't, like having covered Stefan Diggs in the situation in Minnesota that he, in his way, I didn't even think about that.

Before, you know, the 2020 season. I just don't buy what they were selling us after they're the ones who raise the concerns. Meaning Sean McDermott saying he was very concerned about Diggs's absence. And then, of course, he comes back. And we know Diggs has not spoken to the media. I doubt he will be quick to do that when he gets to training camp. But what are we expecting from him? Like, if he's not happy and we start seeing things crumble with that offense,

which I certainly do not expect it to, but the level of expectation for a digs is above, you know, it's above what most people, I think, can live up to. And so if these things aren't truly squashed, then what does training camp look like? What is, I mean, is he going to end up, like, coming back and, like, wanting his way out of there? I don't think we're at that level, but you just don't know. There's too much uncertainty and, like, too much smoke for me to be like, oh, everything's fine. It's, you know, they're going to be good. And also, this receiver position for Buffalo, talk about a contender.

Think about how many new names, new faces there are for Josh Allen. That's Trent Sherfield, Deante Hardy, Justin Shorter, I say a Colter. The only production they really have outside of Diggs coming back is Gabe Davis, and he's coming off injuries. So how do these other, either some of the returning guys who didn't have meaningful production, new faces, like how do how does buffalo get past their ceiling right now, which feels like the divisional playoffs? How can they get into Bengals territory, Chiefs territory in the AFC? And I think it comes down to how this wide receiver room shakes out and what the competition

looks like behind Stefan Diggs, assuming everything's fine with Diggs. I was so glad that you put this on there because I've been thinking about them a lot over the last week as I've kind of changed my focus to, all right, we're getting toward the season now. are the things I'm interested in them. I think you can look at the bills a couple different ways. I think you can look at the bills as the window is over. They had their chance. They had their best shot to pull this off. Two years ago, 13 seconds, that team was the best team in the NFL. That's when they could have done this. Now everyone's one year older. Josh Allen's one year more expensive. Their window has closed to an extent. They're still a very good team, but their best

shot is behind them. I also think you could spin it the other way where we were considering this the best roster in the NFL coming into the season last year. I think that was a little misguided. I think that was colored in part by the Gabe Davis four touchdown game in the playoffs. And in reality, there were areas of the roster that weren't as good as maybe we had previously thought. But you look at this team right now, they fortified areas that were weaknesses heading into last year. And they brought back everybody that you want them to bring back. I mean, the sheer amount of bodies they have on the defensive line right now, going out and signing Leonard Floyd, bringing back Jordan Phillips, having all those guys that were rotational

players and young draft picks for them still in the mix. Greg Rousseau looking pretty darn good when Von Miller was on the field last year. They're bringing Von Miller back. We forget that their safeties, which is the best safety duo in the NFL for multiple seasons, was banged up all of last season. Even if they're one year older, if you can get a healthy Micahe Hyatt and Jordan Poir back, what does that mean for you? They'll have Trey White for the entire year after he was coming off of injury last season.

Kair Eelam was a first round pick last year. Now he's in year two. Is he going to be better? Taylor Rap, I think, gives them a little bit more flexibility on the back end than they've had. And that's beyond, or that's before you even get to, Sean McDermott's now calling defensive plays. Like, are they going to be better with him as their defense coordinator? Are they going to be worse?

There are just so many different little nudges that you could do to the bills in terms of your expectations depending on how you want to frame this. If you want to frame it optimistically, I think you could. really talk yourself into them being a post-type team that's actually an as good a position as they were last year. But if you want to frame it pessimistically, you could absolutely talk yourself into the idea that their best shot is probably over. And I didn't even mention the Dalton Kincaid part of this. They retool their offensive line. They're a little bit more physicality. Are they going to kind of transition into a better version of who they want to be on offense?

So there are just so many little questions about this team that I think are worth asking that maybe we didn't ask last year because we were so excited about their chances and the level of talent that they had. In the Von Miller injury situation, like, remember they were toying with the idea that, like, he could come back for the playoffs. I mean, he was putting it out there and they're like, no, we're going to shut you down. Like, what does he look like? It sounds like he's, there's been no concerns about his health whatsoever, but he's getting

up there in age. And you're right. Like, when he was on the field, there were a much more productive pass rushing unit, and he made Gregor so better. And then, of course, he gets injured. and his production goes down. So I think that there's a lot to like about Buffalo, but I'm not convinced that the moves that Kansas City has made,

I mean, Kansas City just being like who everybody's chasing in the NFL. I'm not convinced that Buffalo is better than Philadelphia, than the Chiefs, than the Bengals. And who knows what happens with the Jets? I mean, I still say the AFC East is Buffalo's until it's not. But you've got two teams, right behind. you like, you know, clipping at your heels in Miami and in New York. And I think that's going to put a lot of pressure on them to deliver this year.

And I'm not so sure that they can break through that ceiling that is the divisional the second round of playoffs. There was a several year stretch where they unquestionably had the best roster in the AFC East. I don't think it's as cut and dry now. I mean, even close. You look at the talent that Miami has top to bottom on top of bringing in Vic Fangio. And then you look at what the Jets have done.

The Jets are a really good team. The Dolphins are a really good team. Their edge in the AFC East has diminished or it's non-existent. But I still think the roster is very good and maybe even a little bit more versatile and flexible than it was in years past. But there's no way to know, even if you can see that, if the vibes are just off. Like the McDermott, Leslie Flazier thing, I think is a little bit weird and I don't think we've talked a lot about that. And then you get to the digs part of it. So they're a fascinating team.

I'm very intrigued about how things are going to go there because I think they could go a number of different directions. I do too. And I'm excited about, I mean, I think the AFC East is the most exciting division race. And they'll start out ahead just because they've been there. But if you look at where their schedule is, I mean, it's hard. So I'm excited to see what Miami can do. I'm excited to see what the Jets can do to push Buffalo this season. All right. Let's stick in the AFC a little bit. I wanted to talk about some of these new offenses and how they're going to look around some of the most exciting. young quarterbacks in the NFL. We saw James Jones come out yesterday and start talking about it's the first little nugget that we've gotten and I'm sure we're going to get a bunch of them.

He said he talked to Todd Monkin and that they're going to spread this thing out. They're going to sling it around. It's going to be a version of that Ravens offense we've never seen with Lamar Jackson. I was already excited about it. I think that is just kind of pushing it to a different level because I can't wait to see what Lamar Jackson looks like with Todd Monkin coordinating that offense. and then the receiving talent that they have now. We've talked about this a bunch of different times on this show.

It's beyond Odell Beckham to me. This is the fact that Nelson Aguilar, who is their number four receiver, would have been the best receiver on the Ravens for each of the last two seasons. And apparently as they Flowers looks really good. So what is the ceiling for a Baltimore offense led by an offensive coordinator that I'm very excited about with so many more past catching options than we've ever seen Lamar Jackson have? Are we going to see a different, more elevated, kind of just mature version of Lamar Jackson in the passing offense than we've ever seen

before. And then similar question, what are the charges going to look like with Kellynne Moore? I mean, they have all of this talent on offense. We have seen Justin Herbert be one of the most efficient quarterbacks in football since he got into the NFL. The biggest question about them over the last couple years is was the structure of their offense holding them back in ways that were really preventing them from getting where they wanted to go. Does that change when you bring in somebody like Kellynmore? And these are questions

we're not going to fully know until we get to the season. But I want to get updates on what sort of personnel groups we're seeing. How does the offense look a little bit different in training camp? Like what sort of breadcrumbs are we going to see over the first two weeks when media starts to get involved in practices and start watching about what we may see as we get into the regular season? Because on a football level, I think it's very interesting. But I think you combine that with a real urgency in both of these places because the Chargers, it's win or go home. Like that this staff needs to win this season. And with the Ravens, you've paid Lamar now.

Like, you need to get everything that you can out of him. So the nerdy elements of what they're going to look like combined with some of that urgency, I just cannot wait to watch what it's going to be in either of those places. I'm more excited about the Baltimore situation because when you look at what Todd Munkin was able to do, and I know George is basically, and there's, They're head and shoulders, but above everyone else. They're going to win their third straight national championship. They retool every year with talent.

But like what he got out of Stetson Bennett the last couple of years is remarkable. I mean, I fully expect this offense to finally kind of like rip the governor off. Like everything. It's a great way to put it. Like you got to unleash Lamar Jackson in this. And I know that what they were doing before, it served a purpose for a while, but it became, outdated and it became beatable with Lamar Jackson. They invested in receivers. They invested in Lamar Jackson. Now's the time. You don't have to just go back to the way that things were. And that's,

they wouldn't. I mean, there's the reason that they made all of these moves to entice Lamar Jackson, to, you know, stay there and end up signing the big deal. I never thought he was actually going anywhere. I think he was just upset and he wanted his contract situation to fulfill a lot of needs that he had. and they fulfilled a lot of things offensively to make this team better. So I am a firm believer. It will be different than Greg Roman's approach with Lamar Jackson, not just scheme, but the overall approach of you are a talented passer. You can win from the pocket.

Go out there and prove it now because we have the pieces around you to do that. That version of it went as far as it could go. It's that simple. And putting a governor on is a great way to describe it. I just think that now there's nothing potentially holding them back. Now, we may see Lamar reach his ceiling. Maybe he can't take advantage of this structure of a passing game, and we don't see another level to this, but I have a suspicion that we might see another level to this.

And I'm very excited about potentially exploring that. And you combine that with what their defense looked like during the second half of last year, watching Mike McDonald last season just throw all the shit possible against the wall and seeing what stuck over the course of the year was very fun to watch. This is a team that underwent a very conscious transition. schematically on defense. I think it took them a while to figure out exactly who they wanted to be. But I do think they locked into something during the second half of last year. And they've had some personnel changes. Marcus Peters is no longer there. Chuck Clark is no longer there. But they still have

a lot of talent on that unit. And I do think a really good sense of who they are now post-Raw-Quant-Smith trade, even if they need one more body as a pass rusher. So you combine a defense that has a lot of things to be excited about with this version of the offense. And I think that the Ravens could be really, really good this year. And that's just one of the things that I've got on my radar pretty heavily. All right. What's your next one? We're inching closer to the bear stuff. I promise we're going to get there. I know it's your team. I want to make sure that we spend as much time. If you didn't want to talk about them at all today, I wouldn't mind. Well, the NFC North is, it's the first time since 07 that Rogers, like, hasn't played. They have, you know, it's wide open. He hasn't, the whole situation with

Aaron Rogers this offseason made for such great drama. such great conversation about what the potential for this division is. But I'm not so certain that the Packers fall off. There's like different storylines within the NFC North. But is it really as open for the taking as we think? Or can Minnesota and Green Bay stay where they were, respectively? Are the lions going to lions their way into disappointment? I don't think so.

But like within the NFC North and how wide open it is, I look at the Minnesota Vikings first. Like how much of a step back do they potentially? take this season. We know they were in 10-1-score games last year. The 13-3 record was kind of fraudulent for a lot of different reasons. They've got Brian Flores calling their defense this year. They are going to be multiple. Like he is so difficult to, like when you think about how, what his scheme looked like in Miami and some of the Vikings players that I've had a chance to talk to throughout this off-season, like how difficult it is going up against that defense every day in practice. I'm very curious to see how much better they can.

get this year. I mean, it's a better fit for a lot of their personnel. DeNeil Hunter wasn't a great fit in the three-four, but speaking of DeNeil Hunter, what's going to happen there? Like, this is now, like, the third time they've done this with his contractor in the offseason. Is he going to be like, I'm not doing this, trade me? Like, because then that opens up the sweepstakes for a lot of teams. I know there's the injury concerns, but if DeNeil Hunter becomes available for a trade, like the Chase Young thing, you make the call. But what happens then, you know, can they, you know, beyond that? Can they build a more. efficient run game. I know that Dalvin Cook, you know, departed in free agency. They're turning it over

to Alexander Madison, but they really weren't as efficient as, you know, you would have hoped to see from that running group last year. So there's that. And then the Packers with Jordan Love, they're clearly not rebuilding because if you're rebuilding, you siphon off assets. I think the realistic expectations for this team could be anything from like a six-win team to maybe a 10-win team. And that's crazy because there's so much in between that with the Green Bay Packers. And we don't know what to expect from Jordan Love. I don't think grasping the offense is going to be an issue because he's been in the system now for four years, but when he's actually out there, what does he look like?

Because we've seen him in such limited action over the last couple years, and now with Rogers gone, how different do things look? I don't think the scheme's going to change, but the biggest out, like, the biggest question for me is him. And that's, you know, in the defense too, like how much are they leaning on other elements of their team to support and insulate Jordan Love in this transition. The Lions, they just added Denzel Mims, I'll be mentioned at the top of the show. They've been building towards us for a while.

If you look at their offensive line, you can see just like the steps that they've taken, really since 2016, the previous regime of fortifying their, you know, fortifying the five up front. Jared Goff is, you know, the most experienced quarterback in this division. What does that yield for an offense now that has multiple pieces in it? and Jemir Gibbs, probably one of the most exciting players in the draft. I'm really excited to see what that looks like. And then in Chicago, everything's skewed towards Justin Field.

So does he show you enough to say that's our franchise guy in year three? Or, you know, if the improvements aren't enough, that's a team that's probably drafting a quarterback next year because they have the extra first round pick. So as boring as people outside of the division probably think the NFC North is because Rogers isn't there anymore and it's, you know, you have a bunch of teams that might finish kind of around the same, the same, you know, win-loss record. I think it's intriguing because we haven't had this level of uncertainty in the NFC North any very long time. You don't have to tell me that the last 30 years of my life have looked very different than this season might.

The Packers aren't rebuilding in the traditional sense when we talk about rebuilding. But if you look at the way that they've approached this offseason, Green Bay is 30th in cash spending this year. 30th. They may not be taking a conscious step back and unloading assets, but I do think this is a conscious reset for them this season. So if they're not trying to win as many games as possible, what does that say about their potential outlook? I think it looks different in this version of the NFC North and in this version of the NFC in general than it might otherwise. Even if this team isn't trying to push it toward the contender status, in a wide open NFC, they still could potentially be a playoff team. And you look at that same list.

the Bears are 28th and the Vikings are 27th. So the Bears understand this isn't their best chance. So there have been some urgency to make improvements, right? Like you go out and get DJ Moore, you spend a little bit of money in free agency, but this is more about evaluating Justin Fields and it is about doing anything else. Then the Vikings are 27th. And what are the Vikings? Like, are the Vikings trying to win games this year?

Are the Vikings resetting? They are the most confusing team in this division. Like, I think the bill came due and now they're thinking, basically, I mean, obviously, with Justin Jefferson. They've got to figure, like, what his contract extension structure looks like is going to be fascinating. Because if I'm him, if I'm his agent,

I'm saying I don't want to sign the five-year deal. I want to sign something shorter term because eventually they're going to be resetting at the quarterback spot. Whether it's, I don't, they're not a team that ever wants to blow it up and like start over with a rookie. And they'll never be bad enough.

It'll never be in the position where they can go draft a Drake May or a Caleb Williams. But whoever they get, I mean, it has to sync up with what Justin Jefferson he got to keep him happy. So whatever happens this year, if they try to, they're not trying to run it back as much as they are just like, let's throw everything at the wall with what we have and see how far we can get.

Because the competitive rebuild that they have branded this whole thing as, I think the bottom could fall out on that this year. And then they finally have to face the music, which is something they don't like to do in Minnesota. So the bottom falling out is hard for me to imagine because of the state of the offensive personnel that they have. I know. I know. And that's why they're so tough to figure out because I don't expect Kirk Cousins to fall off a cliff this year. Like, not at all. But like they've basically said you have to go out and win this year and then we're going to be. Because they want, they finally want the financial freedom that's not tied to having to pay him on these like extensions that they've given in the last couple of years. It's a tough spot to be in. But the changes that could be coming to this offense, not this year, but like beyond what we're. beyond the 2023 season, that's going to change the dynamic of what this team looks like.

And it's finally, I feel like we're finally on the cusp of that happening. Of course, they, you know, this off season, they get rid of Eric Kendricks, they get rid of Adam Thielen, they, you know, get rid of Dalvin Cook. Patrick Peterson signs, I think he's Pittsburgh now in free agency. Like, there's, there's a lot of change. And I can't tell what they're, I can't tell what they're doing. Like, it's like they tried to push this thing through and they were quietly rebuilding behind the scenes. but I don't know if by the time they're ready to reveal whatever this competitive rebuild has yielded, I don't know that they're going to be a better team.

It's hard for me to imagine Kirk Cousins being there after this season. I think they want a new path at quarterback. Yes. But that doesn't say much about their 2023 chances. Courtney, they were ninth in EPA per play on offense in the second half of last season after the T.J. Hawkinson Century. They were ninth, okay? All of the component parts of that offense except for Delvin Cook, who was an inefficient runner last year, come back.

And they added Jordan Addison, who I think probably will be better than Adam Thielen was for them last season. So this was a top 10 offense in the back half of last year. You have your quarterback and everyone else with one more year in that system. And I think you could make an argument that the personnel is as good or better

on that side of the ball than it was last season. Go to defense. They lost a couple guys. They lost Eric Hendricks. They lost Patrick Peterson. At this stage in their careers, Does that matter that much? And the losses of those two guys, first of all, you went out and got Marcus Davenport,

who I think it could give you a lot of what Sedaria Smith gave you last year. You went out and got Byron Murphy, who could probably give you as much as Patrick Peterson does at this stage of his career. And switching out Brian Flores for Adonatel, the level of competency you're going to get across your defense, even with those downgrades, quote-unquote, personnel-wise, I still think the defense has a chance to be markedly better than it was last season. it be worse. That's the question. Exactly. So if it's going to be better and your offense is probably going to be pretty good, this was never a 13 win team. But that kind of the way of framing the Vikings, that way of framing them makes them a potential contender in the NFC North. Like they can only take

so much of a step back constructed this way. I think that the best plan is you say, all right, we're moving on from Kirk after this year. We need to try to thread the needle somehow quarterback wise, whether that's huge trade up, whether that's going out and getting some sort of veteran. What if Kyler Murray is the quarterback for the Vikings next year? I've heard that floated out there. Something like that. It's hard to picture it, but it's also like I don't, I don't think they want, because we know rookies tend to struggle at the quarterback position in year one.

And so are they willing to, A, make the trade, B, understand and assume that, and then you have a season where they fall off offensively. to me, it's going to end up being some sort of big trade where you have either a disgruntled veteran or somebody who is up for a contract situation. I mean, not putting this out there. But like, think about Dak Prescott. Matthew Stafford. Like, he's, Dax's going into the final year of his deal in 2024. If they don't win in Dallas this year, could he potentially be a trade target?

I also think the rookie is, it makes more sense than you do. because if you look at the component pieces that make up their roster, like the cornerstone players that they have, they're extremely young. Dara saw is in year three now. Justin Jefferson's 24 years old. Jordan Addison's going to be a rookie. Brian O'Neill isn't that old.

I think his contract will probably be up before they would be ready to compete again. But if you kind of keep that offensive line intact, then I really do think that dropping a rookie in, if you can make a move up the board and get into the back half of the top 10 somehow and get one of these guys, whether it's a Quinn Uers or one of these other players that could potentially be first round picks this year, you could smoothly make it happen. But you would need things to fall a certain way in the draft and be able to make that trade up the same way we've seen other teams do, right? Like the patch of Mahomes trade is obviously like the ideal version of this. But I still think that that is a reasonable outcome here. It's just very difficult to pull off the landing with the way that they've tried to do this. All right. I want to have this conversation and ask the this question because I haven't done it yet. You've done it many times talking about football at ESPN over the last couple of months. What the hell is the Jets offensive experiment going to look like? Okay. This obviously the Rogers factor, which is there's a ton of intrigue and

rightfully so. He's one of the best quarterbacks of all time. You know, he's going to a team that has been starved for competent quarterback play. You know, that's obvious. But there's been a ton of turnover and there are a ton of moving parts there, even beyond what you can expect. from the quarterback, right? Who's the offensive line going to be? Who are the five starters on the Jets offensive line? I do not know, okay? You assume Duane Brown's going to be the left tackle, AVT, they drafted Joe Tippin in the second round, you know, Lake and Tomlinson, but who's going to be the right tackle? Is it going to be Mackay Beckton? Is it going to be Billy Turner who they signed this offseason? Does any of that matter? Or is the amount of depth that they have at those

positions now, that's what it's about, is that no matter what happens, we're going to have five competent starters over the course of the season. They've built the position group that way, I think smartly. So maybe it doesn't really matter who the first five are in week one. You add to that, they have a new offensive line coach this year. It's not just that they're dropping Aaron Rogers into whatever the offense looked like last season. They brought in Keith Carter from Tennessee.

The Titans were very good on the ground for a couple years. They fell off a little bit. It was their running game look better with him kind of overseeing it after John Benton, their previous offensive line coach left. So many questions there. similar questions about the receiving groups. Like who are going to be the receivers on this team consistently? Who are their best three when they're in 11 personnel?

Does that matter? Or do they have enough different answers because of specific skill sets where McColl Harbin's going to do a little bit of this for us? Corey Davis is going to do a little bit of this for us. You're just kind of mixing up who you have there. Is it more about having the bodies than about who your best three are in any given situation? And then the other side of this that I don't think we've talked nearly enough about. Nathaniel Hackett did not call plays in Green Bay.

It's not as if him getting back into an offensive coordinator role is going to solve all of this. The last time he was calling plays before the disaster in Denver last year was with the Jags. And it was fine. It wasn't as if they had this incredible offense. They had Blake Portals and not Aaron Rogers. But with him being the play caller there, are we automatically going to get a better constructed offense with Hackett there than we got with LaFleur? And does any of that matter because Aaron Rogers is the quarterback? So there are like 15 questions that I have about the Jets and that side of the ball that I want answered here over the next couple weeks.

And the situation with Hackett, like, I mean, we know why they did that, why they made that move. We know why they hired Keith Carter. I mean, think of the ties to that system, that offense, Darren, it all makes sense. If, and I'm not expecting. I mean, I know some people are saying that Rogers is like in one of those candidates for a bounceback season. I don't see it really. I think that the circumstances last year, he went into the year unhappy, he was also dealing with a thumb injury. I think he's going to be fine.

I think he could be really good. Yeah. If he's engaged, I think he could be really, really good for them. And that's why I'm not, like, I don't know, we think about the quarterbacks that need to prove a lot this year. Obviously, Russell Wilson, you know, the situation in Denver can't get worse than it was. and, of course, Deshaun Watson. But, like, I never put Rogers in that category because I think of last year as an outlier. He's two years removed from MVP award.

If he gives a shit, I think he'll be okay. And people made the argument, oh, well, you know, Nathaniel Hackett was the offensive coordinator when he won those back-to-back MVPs. You're right. He wasn't the one calling the plays. Can he get into a situation with the pressure that's on them, which is so immense to win in New York after everything they gave up for Aaron Rogers? If it doesn't go well, and they're scheduled to start the year, I was looking at it the other day, it's kind of a gauntlet through the first five, six weeks of the season. If it doesn't go well, how do they make, like what are the adjustments that they make?

Because you have the reigning offensive rookie of the year. And we know that Breece Hall, who was on the path to get there before he got hurt, like, is he going to be good to go for camp? Are they going to sign somebody right before to bolster that run game? Like, what at this stage of Roger's career, what do they need? is there anything that's like still remaining? Because I don't know if they're completely done bringing in players to like bolster this, bolster this offense because the window for this, you know, we talk about their championship

window on defense and the window to win with that group. And of course, where they were in scoring defense, really the last five years as they built to this point, now it's on the offense with a massive upgrade at the quarterback position to complement what's been the missing piece for this Jets team. they just have to do it in a division that's absolutely loaded. And the investment that they made on the offensive line, like I think they got screwed, the trade, the pick swap that they had effectively in the first round because of what New England did, I think the offensive line will be fine,

but like we say that every year with the Jets because they've got the personnel, at least in theory, and they spent a lot on the offensive line. I think it was like two of their top three draft picks, for offensive linemen in, you know, this year in the new center and I think a new guard. Like, it's, there's too many questions here for me to like let this one kind of like go by the wayside, which is why I look at the Jets is the most intriguing team in that division. I think I feel good about the personnel. Here's what I'll say about the Jets.

I have no idea how any of this is going to work out because there's so many different factors. I think that Joe Douglas has put them in a very good situation because he's done a good job. I will give him that. Even beyond like the draft picks and everything else, that's been a mixed bag. you miss on Zach Wilson. It's kind of all over the place. Barnwell was tweeting about this earlier this week. And that's how it is a lot of general managers.

It's a mixed bag in the draft. But do you protect yourself by the ways that you build these position groups? And if you look at the Jets roster, that's what they've done this year. They have built-in contingency plans at really important positions. Their backup offensive linemen include a lot of guys who started a lot of games. Okay, Billy Turner, West Schweitzer, Connor McGovernors, another backup center because they drafted Joe Tipman. And they're set up to absorb an injury or two at that position group. And when you're a contender, that's the way that you want to be built.

Even something like the Adrian Amos signing immediately upon Chuck Clark getting hurt. Because we are not leaving ourselves a hole there. Like we are going to be in a good spot here, going out and getting an owlwoods and kind of building that depth in the middle of your defensive line. I think this team, the best case scenario of them, is a contender. They are an absolute Super Bowl contender. I think in part because of how much care they've taken. and to make sure even the worst case scenarios put them in a very good spot.

I think the last couple years long, the offensive line have informed some of that thinking, but I think there's still enough questions about what quarterback you're getting, what version of him, how these position groups shake out, and then some of the dynamics of the coaching staff that ultimately are going to determine how far you can take this thing. I agree. And I look at, you know, Miami, how they're constructed. I mean, you're right. I think they are the most talented roster, but does that make them the,

best roster does that make them the best offense? I honestly don't know if they're the most talented roster. I just think that they have a lot of depth at the right positions. I think you can absolutely make an argument that the dolphins top to bottom are more talented than the Jets are because they have more stars. That's fair. That's fair. It's a fair argument. But the pressure that's going to be on Aaron Rogers this year and do we know, like if it doesn't go well? And I think when you get locked in Aaron Rogers, it's different than what you've had at least the last couple years in Green Bay. How motivated is he to continue playing beyond the season if they don't end up making the playoffs or if they end up like in the wild cards in a wild card game and they lose?

I'm curious because that's going to drive a lot of their decision making beyond 2023 as far as personnel and as far as like what they continue like how long they can how long they think their window is, how big they think it is and stuff beyond that is. I mean, we're in a year to year situation with Rogers at this point of his career. He's 39 years old. I'm really curious to see what he looks like refreshed because he hasn't been that guy the last couple years in that, at least in that mindset. All right. Let's get through the last couple here. What's your next one? So we're finally at the point where I can talk about the bears. I kind of wanted to like, you know, get them a little further down the list because they aren't the most exciting team.

They certainly are not. I'm close to it. So I figured we had to do this outside of fields because like frankly, I'm talked out on Justin Fields. I get it. Like, they spent a lot of resources this year in free agency and in the draft to bolster the core around him. It couldn't get any worse. Like, this was by design. They were, they told him, we're going to make you play with your hand tied behind your back last year. You at least need to like just get through the season before we can put you in position to win. They followed the model that Miami did with Tua and getting him to Tyreek Hill that Buffalo did with Josh Allen going into a year through. getting him Stefan Diggs and that Philly did trading for AJ Brown. So this whole year three, the year that you expect your quarterback to make the biggest jump,

you have to like insulate him and support him with a number one receiver. They did that with DJ Moore, but what does the receiving corps look like beyond that? What is Chase Claypool? Like, what is he? Because there's a reason that Pittsburgh was willing to deal him at the deadline last year. It's not that like, oh, you know, it kind of an offer that they absolutely couldn't refuse. I mean, they did. but clearly there were some issues where they're like, he's expendable.

He gets to Chicago. It's a disaster. He has like 14 catches for 140 yards. Like it was not a good season for him by and large. I think he would like to like take the 2020 season and punt it into the sun. Yeah. So would I. Me too.

Covering a three win team is not easy. I would like to punt chase Claypool's 22, 2020 season into the sun. It's, but like he's been injured all spring. So how does that slow down his problem? to get up to speed and what is he in this offense? Because we know, you know, Mooney's coming off injury, but Mooney's best is a three. Like he did his, he tried his hardest last year. He was never meant to be in the position that they put him in. He should go back to the slot. But like, where does Chase Claypool make his hay in this offense? That's probably my biggest

offensive concern and one that I know I'm going to be talking about ad nauseum the next six weeks. Beyond that, something we've been talking about for six months. There's no help at edge rusher coming, at least as of right now. They keep posturing that they are going to sign somebody last year on the eve of veterans, like everybody reporting, they signed Riley Reef and Michael Schofield. So we know they can be active up until kind of like their deadline to get everybody in because they want everybody there for camp. Do they sign somebody on Monday night?

I don't know. But like this pass rush has a lot of problems. This defensive line has a lot of problems from last year that have not been fixed just because they signed DeMarcus Walker in free agency. I'm excited about DeMarcus Walker, but I, to me, they're going to sign somebody. They're going to bring in a body. Like, they have to. They have to.

I just don't care that much. Like, the defense is bad. The defense is bad this year. All I care about is what the offense looks like and what the progress looks like from the quarterback potentially. The Claypool thing, if you're trying to spin it optimistically, is that now because they have DJ Moore, you can slot him into just more of a gimmicky role, where you're just getting the ball in his hands, it's yak opportunities, it's crows.

it's crossers. He is not the most important pass catcher in the offense. So now he can be kind of a truer version of himself because I think that's when he's been at his best when you can kind of use him in these hyper-specific ways. And he's not like your number one outside the numbers target. So that's my hope is that now with DJ Moore, everything else falls into place in more natural way and it all makes a little bit more sense. And then I'm just excited that their best five on the offensive line, they decided

Cody White-Harratt Center and then everything else that we have is the right way to do this. that's what I hoped they would do after signing Nate Davis in free agency and then what Kevin Jenkins did for them last year. So I think, again, the best version of the offense, it all makes sense to me, but there's still some lingering questions about what the fits are going to look like when we actually see it in practice. Yeah. And I'm curious to see this is the first time that they've had their starting five on their

offensive line, more or less figured out before training camp even starts. For a couple of years, even like before I started covering this team, when, you know, Fields is going into his rookie year and they still have, you know, guys like Charles Leno on their roster. Like, that was not a good group. He was sacked the most times of any quarterback in the NFL his rookie season. Some of that, of course, is on fields. Can he fix those fatal flaws? I'm not entirely convinced that those things will completely disappear just because he's had another year in this offense. But it's a good sign when you know who you're rolling in with going into training camp because last year, because of the Lucas Patrick injury and because we didn't know what was going

on with Tevin Jenkins because of the, he didn't want to move from left tackle to guard. He didn't want to do that. And now that those questions, like the hard parts out of the way for the offensive line, and they go in and they know these are the starting five, like the pass protection can't really have, can't be any worse than it was. And I don't think that you'll expect the same sort of communication issues because they've now had this time to get in the same, you know, get into like the same space. and that communication,

I just don't think it's going to be nearly as bad as it was last year because they're set up in a way that leads them to have a lot of improvement in that area. Set up is the right word. They have set this up to get what they need to out of this experience, to get the information they need to about the quarterback and to say, all right, this is how we need to move forward. They have done enough. They have put the right pieces around them with the resources they had

to have a solution or an answer by the time this is all over. and I think that is the goal. All right, I'm going to run through a couple more very quickly here that I have. One, how the hell does the Niners quarterback situation shake out? Is Brock Purdy going to be healthy? If Brock Purdy is healthy, is he going to be the starter? If he's not healthy and it's Trey Lance, what does that look like? Because we have an understanding, or I think there's a general sense that,

oh, Trey Lance is just bad, you know, that offense was not good with Trey Lance. Trey Lats plays two games last year. He played a monsoon in week one in Chicago, and then he got hurt in week two. we don't know what the Niners' offense really looks like with Trey Lance in normal circumstances. So if he has to play, are they going to be okay? Are they significantly better with Brock Purdy? You know, how does Sam Darnal play into all this? I think that's more of a contingency plan than anything else. But that's one that this is a team that has the fourth best odds to win the Super Bowl. They're 10 to 1. We don't know who the fucking starting quarterback is. That's insane.

Like I just can't even, I've said it a bunch of times, but it's worth repeating every single time. To be 10 to 1 to win the Super Bowl without knowing who the quarterback is, is like the best compliment you could ever give Kyle Shanahan. Like, it's absolutely bonkers. So that's one I have. And then my other one, how do the pass catcher roles kind of get figured out on some of these contenders? We talked about the bills. You know, is this a team that lives in 12 personnel now with Dalton Kincaid?

Is it really kind of 11 personnel with a bigger receiver? What happens with the Chiefs? You know, Rishi Rice is there now. Cadarius Tony's there for the full season. Are we going to see more, Sky Moore? What do those past catching options look like now that Juju Smith's Shuster is gone? What happens in Dallas? Is Brandon Cook's like the number two receiver like with a bullet, no questions asked?

It's Brandon Cook's C.D. Lamb, Michael Gallup, and then some tight end. They've got a bunch of options at tight end. Does Luke Schoonmaker become the best option they have at that position? So that's another team with real aspirations that I have questions about there. What about the Browns? You know, the Browns go out and get Elijah Moore. You know, do they feel comfortable living in 11 personnel a little bit more? often because they have Elijah Moore,

Satcher Tildman, who they drafted in the third round. Do they still want to be a team that mostly lives in heavier personnel? Because that's how they've been successful recently. They want to still be able to run the ball. If they lived that way, are they really getting the most out of the investment? They tried to make it quarterback. So many different questions there.

And then the Giants. You know, the Giants have all of these different guys they added this offseason. What does that look like? Who are the best five when the Giants are putting together their past catching options? How does Darren fit into that? a lot of teams that either made the playoffs last year, I think have real high hopes this year. What do their past catching groups end up looking like?

Yeah. And that's kind of like where I took my last storyline for camp because we know that DeAndre Hopkins was sitting out there in free agency for a while. And the only contender that was around was the chiefs. Like we're trying to invest in the services. They would have had to make too many things happen to make that happen with their salary cap constraints. And of course, we know that they're on the cusp of paying Chris Jones. I am not sad that it didn't work because I think Kansas City goes receiver by committee anyways.

And, you know, if MVS can be that guy this year and then everything, you know, kind of the trickle-down effect with KT, if he can stay healthy, Rishi Rice, Skymore, like, I think they're going to be fine, too. They also have a Hall of Fame tight end in Travis Kelsey. And I think he will catch a lot of passes from Patrick Mahomes. But, you know, with DeAndre Hopkins going to Tennessee, it did not move the needle for me whatsoever. Like, I think their Super Bowl odds were pretty much right around plus 8,000, like, before and after.

Like, really didn't change all that much. But how dangerous can that offense be for, like, in setting up whoever the quarterback is going to be next year? Yeah. Like, I think we start seeing Ryan Tannael at the beginning of the season, whether they pivot to Malik Willis if they're still trying to give him a shot in this offense, whether it ends up being we'll love us sooner rather than later. You've got to, in theory, guys that are getting older, D'Andre Hopkins at 31 years old, Derek Henry, you know, nearing kind of that other side

of his career, you have two of the most dangerous weapons in the NFL. Can they make a push for the playoffs just because of how bad that division is? It's interesting because they're, you know, when they're going to, when they load, when teams load that many guys in the box to stop Derek Henry, that's, you know, just pick your poison with this team. Are you going to try to stop him? Are you going to try to stop DeAndre Hopkins downfield? I'm really curious to see how that works out for Tennessee. And I'm also curious to see how it works out for the New England Patriots in,

there are a number of different factors. Why he didn't sign there? I do think the Bill O'Brien thing is probably a bigger thing than we were making it out to be. Yes, they're cheap. Yes, Bill Belichick wants to do things his way. I think they should have made a bigger push for it. But how does that hurt Mac Jones going into his third season? Like, they're not following the model that the Bears and all these other teams I talked about

with their quarterback going in the year three, how is that going to hurt Mac Jones and how much are they going to have to rely? Is that kind of why we're seeing, you know, the Remandre Stevenson effect and them trying to bolster their running game if they do end up signing a Leonard Fournet? Like, what are those things going to do for an offense that is kind of missing some weapons on the outside, and they didn't have really last year either in Mac Jones' a second season. Yeah, I don't know what that team is. Again, they're 31st in cash spending. I'm looking at the list right now. Like, are they trying to make the playoffs? Like, what are the Patriots right now?

I have absolutely no idea. The DeAndra Hopkins thing, this feels like we compete here for 2023, that that's what this move is. We never tear it down. We're not going to tear it down. But this is setting ourselves up, hopefully, for next year. Because even if we're excited about DeAndre Hopkins and Jaylon Brooks in year two, and Chicka Conquo, I think is a really exciting young player. I can't get over how bad the offensive line is. When we're talking about winning divisions and being a playoff team, I still think that's the worst offensive line in the NFL, even after drafting

Peter Skorotsky. So I just can't get over that. But if you're setting yourself up for the next two years, for the next calendar year, and you're saying, we have a culture here. That's what this is about for this year. And then we're going to be better positioned to really make a run at it next year. I think that actually does make a little bit of sense. And you talk about the past catching options in Kansas City.

we won't even get to this. The team that won the Super Bowl last year that has, I think, the best odds won the Super Bowl has two new starting tackles. There's just so many different things we could have gotten into here about some lingering questions about all of these teams, their personnel, how it's all going to shake out.

We could be here for hours. But you've got places to be. I sincerely appreciate you spending the time with us. Courtney Cronin, please tell everyone where they can read, listen, watch you these days. So all of my stuff at ESPN.com, to go over, click on the NFL tab, click on the Bears,

stuff populates there. You can follow me on Twitter at Courtney R. Kronan. I'm on Around the Horn Weekly. It's become an awesome outlet for me to get to talk about things other than the Bears. And you can hear me on ESPN Radio as well. Please go check out everything that Courtney is doing. She's consistently crushing it. Very good to finally have you on. This will not be the last time. So we will do this again very, very soon. Hopefully I will see you very, very soon. I will be popping by the old, what is it called? House Hall. My mind is slowly melting. You're going to show up. in Bourbon A and be like, where is everybody? I will be at Halis-all at some point this summer for a training camp practice, so I will see you there.

But enjoy your last couple hours here before camp kicks off. We will talk to you very soon. All right, guys, that's all we got today. Thank you so much to Courtney. We will be back all this week with plenty more preview stuff as we dig into training camp. We will be back on Wednesday. We'll have shows Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. That is going to be our cadence here as we get into our real preseason mode for shows.

a week, they'll be coming your way all the way through, I don't know, late August when we get to five shows a week, but there's going to be a lot of stuff coming your way. So be on the lookout for it. Really appreciate the time. We will talk to you guys soon. This was the Athletic Football Show.