The Fumblerooski Podcast - Believe Your Eyes -Ep 279 The Fumblerooski Podcast

Episode Date: June 18, 2024

Who are the top 5 cornerbacks heading into the 2024 NFL season? Are their states the end all be all or is the eye test more valuable? Which team will claim the AFC South this season? Adam Wright and CJ Medeiros debate these topics and more!

player rankings continue with our top five corners going into the 2024 NFL season and the AFC South we're going to preview that division next I'm Adam Wright you're listening to the Fumble Rooski podcast it may not have always showed it in the stat sheet but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns someone's got to get that six or seven spot he's an elite wide receiver as a rookie truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides welcome to the fumble ruski podcast by power 88 and secret weapon consulting i'm adam right with cj maderos for those of you who celebrate the NBA, happy Boston Celtics.

Boy, congratulations to the Boston Celtics on winning the NBA finals. For those of you who don't follow any sport besides football, we're working with you. We hope you're enjoying your summer. And we have another episode of our summer coverage, which previews the 2024 NFL season. And this is going to be a good one. We have a division that's very, very intriguing going into this season, to say the least, the AFC South. A lot of teams that you have Houston and then you have the Jaguars. I think those are pretty obvious ones that are very competitive, but also

the Colts and the Titans. What they did over the off season was fairly interesting. So that's going to be a fun one to cover. But first we're getting into our player rankings. Top five cornerbacks. This is a fun position on defense to rank because everyone loves the cornerbacks. The corners that can shut down some of the best pass catchers of the game are always the most fun to watch and watching those matchups week in week out, right? Those are so much fun to watch. Um, and there's a reason why a cornerback is, um, one of the most important positions on the um on the defense um and it shows in the financials as well but cj why don't you start off give me your top five corners heading into 2024 so heading into 2024 i'm one of my top five corners right

and i'm gonna pull a parental advisory sticker on this one. You people out there will not agree, but I don't really care. So number five, and this is probably where you folks out there are going to have problems, is Trent McDuffie. I just, I don't know why. He just, he doesn't do it for me. I mean, yeah, for corners, a lot of it is the eye test versus the numbers. And I'll give him, you know, his 80 tackles, his five forced fumbles, three sacks, seven passes broken up. That's really good. You know, I'll give him all the credit in the world.

But, like, no fumble recoveries, no picks, only like three tackles for loss. And he was first team all pro. And that is even more confusing when you realize he gives up a 94.4 passer rating when targeted and allows a completion percentage of 65.8%. But that being said, like I said, said you know just the five force fumbles seven pass broken up you just can't overlook that along with three sacks and he does once again a lot of it's just the eye test you know what i mean because he is shutting guys down even if the stats aren't exactly crystal clear so out of respect i did put him top five. And number four, this one was weird, but I feel like he gets a lot of hate because of the team he's on. It's Daron Bland from the

Dallas Cowboys. And I know we like to go, ha, but look it, he gives up a lot of, yeah, yeah, we'll get there. 69 total tackles, but 15 passes broken up, nine interceptions, five of them going for a pick six. You could say, oh, but what does he give up? Well, I'll have you know, he has only, he is a sub 60% cliche percentage when targeted, you know, and he allows only a 60.8 passer rating when targeted. So both of those numbers are better than what McDuffie gives up. I think he gave up a few more yards and like maybe one or two more touchdowns, but that was pretty much it. I mean, it's not like a Trayvon Diggs thing where Diggs will give up the most yards and the most touchdowns, but Deron Bland actually covers better than Trayvon Diggs. And like I said, just the fact that he allows a sub-60% completion percentage

and a sub-70 passer rating, that's pretty good. And number three, this one shocked me when I went back and looked at his season. It's Sauce gardner and i know everybody you know in the gangrenous uh gangrene fan base see what i did there i'm not sorry uh i know they're gonna have my head on a spike for this and i'm with that but sauce gardner is truly the epitome of the stat sheet versus the eye test. Because once again, eye test, and I watch him play. This man will lock your players down. There's no ifs, ands, or buts.

But he took a step back from last season. Last season, 20 passes broken up. That's really good. But then 11, which is also good. He had a forced fumble. 75 combined tackles, now down to 57. Two tackles for loss. I mean, that's good.

But once again, let's take a look at the actual numbers themselves. A lot of completion percentage of 56.4, a little worse than last year. We allowed 53.5. Still only gave up one touchdown but still an 80 percent passer rating when targeted which isn't the best but you know and no picks but at the end of the day he does erase guys and there's a point that i think adam likes to bring up of how well teams won't target him out of respect and there is is a lot of merit to that. So which is why I left him at three, because he'll still lock you up. He's not, other than his name, I wouldn't call

him flashy, but he will lock you up. I'll just leave that there. And then this is a guy that I was shocked to find out was as good as he was. Jalen Johnson, my number two of the Chicago Bears, he just got paid. And when you look at his tackles, right, only 36 tackles. So you're going to say, maybe not the best. You know, one tackle for loss, but holy crap, 10 passes broken up, a forced fumble, four interceptions. And that's the thing is that it gets better, allows a 55% completion percentage and a 50.9% passer rating when targeted. Only gave up 279 yards and two touchdowns. So when he lacks in tackles, he will make up in locking you down you know that is

insane because usually i was like oh just another guy that racks up picks but no i didn't realize like that guy and i know what you're thinking oh but cj if you're hyping him up why isn't he number one well i'll tell you why because you just ball out absolutely but and this is something i have said many a time he's in a contract year and you know myself i think to a lesser extent adam tend to be wary when guys in contract years have career years like will that hunger still be there in johnson's case i think so but i've been wrong before and my number one and i was shocked when i looked at it but it's derrick stingley jr because oh my god again 39 tackles not not the greatest one tackle for loss not the 13 passes broken up five inter, and just the covering was great.

He only gave up two touchdowns compared to his five picks, gave up 288 yards. But here's the kicker. A sub-50% completion percentage allowed when targeted, 47.9%, and a passer rating of 41.3 when targeted see i don't know what you're thinking oh but you know they're picking on that's why he gets all these picks well that these other opposing quarterbacks have played against stingley they effed around and they found out a sub 50 complete percentage and a sub 50 passer rating rating. That is no joke. So he's not one of those guys that racks up picks and gets burned.

No, he does not get burned. The eye test shows that he's good. The numbers show that he's good. And on top of that, oh my God, he's only entering his third year. And not to mention, he was battling injuries last season. He only started 11 games, which means now that he's got a completely clean bill of health, he's going to be a problem, and he should have very little problems repeating what he has done. And I shall stand on that.

All right, Adam. This is a very different list. I don't think I've seen a sell for Derek Stingley Jr. being the number one corner, but he did have a very good year. That being said, some of my list is kind of inverted to yours. In other words, so with that being said, Jalen Johnson is actually my number five corner. I think Johnson, in all of the ways that you stated, had an incredible year. When you allow 279 yards in coverage, you rack up all the other statistics. It means he not only does things productively, but he also is on the stat sheet, but he is also able to erase

guys, to lock them down, which is the eye test is kind of what you want to see out of a corner. The corner who is actually, um, you know, he does his job. He erases wide receivers. That's what you're supposed to do. Um, And that's incredibly difficult to do now at today's day and age with the way wide receivers are. My number four is Jair Alexander. I once had Alexander perennially as my top two to three wide receiver corner. In fact, I'm pretty sure I had him at one a couple of years ago. And the reason for that is he was such an even keeled guy and entering into the league,

right? He was that the problem with corners is that they become so arrogant that it, it ultimately becomes their undoing. They get so cocky that they demand for a ton of money they get a little too comfortable back there and it causes for them to get burned that wasn't jair alexander now it is and it's unbelievable how like this guy looks like two different people from like right now to a couple of years ago when he was first in the league. But he's still a great corner. He's still technically in his prime,

and he still shuts guys down. And I think a big part of why he played not as good as he used to is because he was in a bad Packers defensive scheme. This was a bad year for the Packers defense all around, and it wasn't personnel. This was a bad year for the Packers defense all around, and it wasn't personnel. It was coaching. Now that that's a little bit more shored up, I think Alexander has another good year. And I think it's going to come at a good time because this Packers team looks like it's on the up and up. They're a good young team, and it looks like they're in a spot where they can only go up from here. I think I'll just leave it at that with him.

Next, I have Devin Witherspoon. A lot of these corners, especially from this past draft, and the past couple of drafts, I would say, they all show their best work when they first enter the league and it's the same reason that i mentioned without jire alexander right alexander was very confident but not arrogant and he played like he had something to prove once he proved everything then he turned into an arrogant bitch devin witherspoon is not there yet. And neither is Christian Gonzalez, who's also, you know, he only played four games.

Right? So these kids still have something to prove. And they balled out. They're great coverage corners. Devin Witherspoon, he can intercept the ball. And he's also long. He's lanky. So that means that he can so that means that this so that means that

he can cover a lot easier he can make up for some of the speed some speed issues which he doesn't have much of but if he have if there's ever an issue where the wide receiver somehow creates separation, he can make up for that because he's very long. And that helps him a lot. At number two, I have Sauce Gardner as well. And for all the reasons that you had him at three, that I had him at two for. And the reason for that is because the eye test to me is everything, especially for the corner.

It's all about limiting what the wide receiver can do. If you're getting a lot of tackles, great. A lot of those tackles could be after the catch is already made and he already gained 10 yards, right? So that's not as, that's not as,

as great a statistic interceptions. That just means that you're not respected. They threw your way. So that's something that can't be ignored. They ended up paying for it, but ask Trevon Diggs how that works for him. Pays for it a lot, but so does Trevon Diggs because he gets burned because quarterbacks don't respect him. They get a lot of interceptions. That's also a reason why I left Darren Bland off the list.

Yes, he's a better coverage corner than Trevon Diggs, but I don't think he's among the elite man corners. I don't think he's there. And that's just the type of corner he is. He's a ball hawk that's very creating. Those turnovers is very very productive but if you're looking for a corner just to lock guys down that's what you're looking for in the corner and i think i for me i find more value in the guy who limits the amount of yardage production and touchdowns than the guy who gets a bunch of the interceptions not not saying that there's no value

in that, but that being said, I have Trent McDuffie at number one. And the reason I have McDuffie at number one is again, the eye test. This guy locks down every wide receiver he faces. This was an unbelievable year for Trent McDuffie, as far as man goes. And just seeing him from his rookie year to his sophomore season was unbelievable. It's like watching two different players. He was okay. Like he was just meh his rookie year. But boy, did he just turn into one of the best corners in the game his second year.

And I think that's going to continue this year. And the Chiefs are going to need it because they just lost their other one. We'll call Trent McDuffie their 1A, their 1B corner, not the number two in LeJarius Sneed. So that's something that they're going to need his production more than ever. And McDuffie, yes yes sometimes he gets burned i think that's the i think every once in a while right and it happens to every corner you just you make a bad play. But if you never get targeted, and in the few targets that you do get, yes, 65% completion percentage, 94% passer rating, just means that when he is targeted, he gets burned. Okay. But if he's never targeted, then it's not that much of a problem. If he's allowing one chunk yardage play every now and then, I can live with that. You're still a lockdown corner. Just sometimes you blow the coverage. It happens. But for that reason, I think Trent McDuffie is my number one. And the Chiefs have a great defensive scheme that helps and favors him uh in that game i mean i i guess but it's like

even when i looked at the eye test i was never wowed you know and that's just what it comes down to for me as i mean the eye test is important it's just call me crazy but he's not a corner that would like if i'm an OC that would make me lose sleep. I'm not going to be like, oh, crap, it's Trent McDuffie. I think he can get there, and I think he will, but maybe not like right now. Okay. Well, it is 2024 now, not 2023.

So if he does get better, then that means going into 2024, he is going to be an even better corner than he was last year. Um, and I, and you know, I, again, man coverage is everything for me. It's not necessarily the stats that I like. It's being able to lock guys down. The fact that you don't see him on the stat sheets because he's never thrown to. That's something that is the same way that we look at Sauce Gardner, right? He just makes corners disappear. He makes wide receivers disappear. And that's what makes Sauce Gardner and Trent McDuffie a couple of the best in the game right now.

And same with Devin Witherspoon. He did the same thing. He had a very good year. And they needed that, obviously. We thought Devin Witherspoon was a luxury pick for them at No. 6. Ooh, clearly not. Maybe they saw something in Tariq Wollin going into year two where they're like, Ooh, maybe he's not what we thought he was, but I mean, Wolin's still good. So that one and two punch, but you know yeah,

I think those two at one and two are, those are definitely my picks. All right. So I want to move on. We're going to get to the afc south we're going to preview how that division might stack up next this is the fumble ruski podcast it may not have always showed it in the staff sheet but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns someone's got to get that six or seven spot he's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. Truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. Welcome to the Fumble Rooski podcast by Power 88 and Secret Weapon Consulting. I'm Adam Wright

with CJ Medeiros. You're on to the AFC South in our series of division previews going into the 2024 season. And as I teased when we first brought this up in the episode, this is a very intriguing division. I wouldn't say this is like the AFC North where it's just loaded with talent and we're not sure who's going to finish first, but it is certainly one of those divisions where you can see a lot of these teams being competitive. I don't think there's enough being said for the Indianapolis Colts, who low-key have built a decent team. And I'm not saying that they're going to win the division. I'm not making any predictions here.

All I'm saying is the Colts and the Titans have kind of flown under the radar this offseason. They've made some good moves, and they look like teams that if everything goes right for them, or at least enough things go right for them, they could end up making a strong playoff push. But CJ, what are your thoughts? The AFC South is a very, very, very weird division.

I just, they're like the AFC North in terms of the fact that a lot of these teams you'll see are evenly matched, but they're not on the same footing as the AFC North, like the AFC North's G League affiliate, essentially. They're the minor league AFC North. And you're right, the Colts have built a team that could be sneakily good. But as far as I'm concerned, it all comes down to Anthony Richardson because I had some reservations about him coming out of the draft because let's face it, in two drafts ago when he came out, he had probably the highest ceiling of anybody there,

even more so than Stroud, who you know I love. But, you know, but he's very raw. And, you know, now that he – and I did agree with the decision to start him week one. And look at that. His play style literally got him hurt. But all in all, I think he should, you know, pan out if the other coaching keeps going there. Cause it's not like he doesn't have weapons. They drafted AD Mitchell for him. They wrangled Michael Pittman Jr. You know, you still have Jonathan Taylor. So, you know, like it's not,

like I said, it's not like he's hurting for weapons. So offensively they should be fine. But would you believe me if I told you that there was an even bigger corner question mark in this division or quarterback question mark i think there is and i think that's the titans with will levis yeah will levis he's another one you know he's sneakily mobile he's got a big arm and this man is armed for the teeth and i will grant you the running back position did take a step back because you know derrick henry's arguably the best in the league but we'll have that debate another time and uh but tony pollard is still serviceable you know he going to be fine. It should be relatively ish business as usual. Also, I think they have TyJay

Spears as well. Who, you know, he was pretty good last season. But it's not that. It's who he's throwing to. You have DeAndre Hopkins. You have Calvin Ridley. You have Tyler Boyd,

and you have that guy from Arkansas whose name escapes me, Traylon Burks. That's it. Well, they might trade Burks. Apparently Burks isn't too keen on being wide receiver three, and I can't blame him. Or wide receiver four, and I can't blame him. And at tight ends you have that guy chig goes in sometimes they call him chig a conch woe who i'm sorry has the

potential to uh be a sneaky contributor with we'll say well maybe like uh 700 yards five touchdowns thereabouts sure so i want to mention something that adam said about caleb williams we're gonna know pretty soon whether or not he can actually hang whether or not he can actually play right yeah is it not the same for will levis because this titans offense is pretty good considering the fact you have tyler boyd who is the best wide receiver three in the game. I mean, that's what he was in Cincy, and I think he'll stay that way in Tennessee. You also have Calvin Ridley, and you had DeAndre Hopkins.

There's no reason for Will Levis to suck, and even still you could lean on Tony Pollard and Tajay Spears in the ground game. And you look at the offensive line where you have guys like Peter Skowronski, Lloyd Cushenberry, and this one tackle they got up. The right tackle. Ah, you know, it doesn't matter. His name escapes me because, you know, oh, the line. And even still on defense, you have Jeffrey Simmons,

Harold Landry's coming back. So their defense isn't the best but it's not hopeless if that makes sense they have a woozy and legeria sneed in there okay oh yeah that's right their defense is pretty good yeah i i retract that yeah you got chidobe a woozy and who could forget legeria sneed who you swung a trade with the Chiefs for. So the pieces are in place, just Levis is an even bigger question mark than Richardson, because Richardson was actually playing pretty well before he got hurt. And then, of course, you know, you got the Texans. C.J. Stroud. Joe Mixon. Stephon Diggs.

Dalton Schultz. Tank Dell. Nico Collins. An offensive line anchored by guys like Titus Howard and, you know, Mr. Gas Mask himself there. That eye kid. You know, Laramie Tunsell. And a defensive line that has Daniil Hunter and Will Anderson and a backfield that has Derek Stingley. And they just signed the guy.

Oh, they signed that one linebacker who played with the Niners and he had then he was with the Titans last season. I don't know why. Oh, is he's all shy here. That's it. And so once again, this I do believe is the Texans division to lose. You just got to keep CJ Stroud away from that dreaded sophomore slump. And I think they can, because they saw they had something special with him. They saw what he could do.

And here's a revolutionary concept. They built around him. You know, they went out and they got Joe Mixon and Stefan Diggs. And now he has a true wide receiver one. And Mixon is being paired with Damian Pierce, who's pretty solid in his own right. And then, of course, this team is an enigma. I have no idea what to think of them. That's the Jacksonville Jaguars. They just threw Trevor Lawrence the bag. And frankly, as much as I liked T-Law coming out of the draft, do we know if he's the guy?

Are we like 110% sure? Because I hate to break it to you, I don't think we are. And I don't know what to think of the Jags. Because on one hand, I understand that their offensive coordinator, Press Taylor, is the human equivalent of a ball and chain. I get that. That's not lost on me. But when you also have Christian Kirk, Travis Etienne, and you just drafted Brian Thomas Jr. out of LSU, and you have Evan Ingram at tight end, there doesn't seem to be that much of a reason for the offense's struggles, defense notwithstanding. You know, you get what you get with that defense.

That's not lost on me. But even when the Jaguars were winning games, because they were like, what, 8-3 at one point? Yeah. Something like that? Yeah. They were 8-3 at one point and even they were eight and three the offense wasn't wowing me i mean they were winning but they weren't convincing wins these

weren't blowouts the offense looked pedestrian and that's got to change and if they can turn it around then they should be able to go toe-toe with the tex. But if they can't, you have the Colts and to lesser extent, the Titans breathing down your neck. Yeah. So it's hard for me to trust the Jaguars, but I think they have the talent to be as good as any team in the league. But again, it's hard to trust them. So that's another question mark that you pointed out there. And all of this, all of these teams that we're pointing out in this division, I don't think anything, any of it matters if Houston lives up to what they should end up being. None of it matters. And I'd like to point out what a great year, just a great calendar year the Houston Texans have had.

So you go all the way back to the draft in late April of 2023. You draft not only the offensive rookie of the year, but the defensive rookie of the year as well. Then you manage to surpass all expectations, and you leapfrog the Jaguars to win the division out of nowhere. You go 10 and seven, you win a playoff game in convincing fashion over the Cleveland Browns. And then over the off season, you got, you got even better. I just don't see how you can't have the Houston Texans as division champions right now. Again, this is the same thing we said about the Jaguars last year.

So notice how I'm not guaranteeing it. I also think that they should have that expectation, right? The whole, well, paper doesn't win championships. The best team doesn't always win. I know that, but that doesn't mean we can't expect them to be the best team, which is why there's, this is why letdowns happen, right? If Houston goes 10-7 again and barely makes the playoffs, that's a disappointment.

They should be better than that. They should be at least 12-5. Did you get that too, Adam? Yes, I did. For those of you who are wondering, there's a public safety alert in the state of Mass. I'm not in Mass, but I don't know why I got it. In the city of Worcester too.

I'm supposed to be there in about two hours for a WUSOX game, so I don't know what happens there, but we'll see. Might be the heat. It is extremely hot out there but we'll continue um if things get worse then we'll keep you updated if something is actually seriously wrong i hope everything's okay but uh as for right now while we don't know anything uh afc south preview okay um if the tech there's there's no reason why the texans should not win this division and if they do if they don't then it'll be a massive letdown but i also i need to give

flowers to the other the other teams have bet who have been trying to work on um their rosters and trying to improve their situations i think anthony richardson looked a lot better than we all thought he would in his first year. And they surrounded him with more weapons. You still have Alec Pierce on top of Michael Pittman Jr. And you also just brought in Adonai Mitchell. And an offensive line that looks, out of the blue, pretty good. Like, somehow it just got better overnight.

Their defense is solid, right? And their coaching situation hasn't been bad i mean if you're if you're flirting with the playoffs with gardner minshu then i think you're doing something right so why can't so you can acknowledge that the texans should win this division but you can also acknowledge that it's a tough division. The Jaguars, Titans, and Colts have all done very good things this offseason. And they showed some promise last year. I don't think there's anything wrong with pointing out two different things at once. Yeah, so Texans should win this division. That's my two cents.

The rest of it, you can see anything happening. And again, we can't jump the gun early on the Texans because last year we had the Jaguars winning the division and it was a completely different winner. So the same thing could happen this year. We'll see. I think there's a lot of question marks in the rest of this division outside of houston and even they aren't a safe bet because you don't know what's going to happen anything could happen um so yeah that's there's

my two cents there but um i think that's all the scheduled content we have for today. Um, I guess since we have the Texan, since the Texans are one of the better teams look like in this division, I guess we'll like real quick. What do you think? Like just quick, what do you think the Texans, uh, what do you think their ceiling is this season?

Well, I feel like their absolute ceiling is probably an AFC championship game appearance. Because while I like them, I just don't think they have the experience to tangle with the Chiefs and the Bengals. On paper, yeah. But you mentioned, you know, papers always win championships. And it's just a question of experience for me. Yeah, and the Chiefs are just, they have so much experience in the postseason. It feels like if they did run into the Chiefs, they're a team that the Texans should beat them,

but there's a lot of teams that the Chiefs should have lost to and didn't. So how could we ever rule out the Chiefs? And, yeah, the Bengals have a lot of experience as well. And while Houston's on the up and up, they are young. They have a good roster going. But, yeah, I'd say I agree. AFC Championship or bust probably. How could you even say bust either actually?

Because they're, they're young. I mean, yeah, that should be their expectation. But if they they're out in the divisional round, but they were 13 and four, I could kind of live with that. Kind of. It depends on who they run into as well. If they lose to a team that's lesser than them, if they lose to any team that isn't the Kansas City Chiefs

or the Cincinnati Bengals, then that's the wrong thing. Maybe the Ravens. Maybe the Ravens too, but the Ravens are a different team in the postseason. If you lose to them in the right-hand season, then that's like, okay, cool. I get it. But in the postseason, they don't always play that well. They did lose to them. I should also point out they did lose to them in the postseason.

That was the team that ultimately knocked them out. But that was rookie C.J. Stroud and Tank Dell had a torn ACL. So the only weapons he was working with was

Nico Collins and Dalton Schultz. Yeah, no, true. So, like, you're not, they're not always going to come out on top. I mean, we'll see. So Houston is very intriguing and the rest of this division is as well. So I'm very excited to, this is one of the divisions and one of the reasons why I'm excited for this season. All right. Well, that'll do it for us tonight. Thank you for listening to us. We have new episodes out on Tuesdays at 7.30 PM Eastern Standard Time. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. We also have all our episodes available on Spotify, Spreaker, Apple Podcasts,

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