The Fumblerooski Podcast - Bridging the Gap -Ep 193 The Fumblerooski Podcast

Episode Date: June 7, 2023

Who are the top 5 safeties headed into the 2023 season? How will the AFC East division shake out? Adam Wright and CJ Medeiros discuss these topics and more!

Here's Edelman broken up and the pass is no sign yet. Edelman comes down with a football and they're saying it's a catch. It's a catch! Today's sideline touchdown! Unbelievable! It's caught! Diggs! Side-hide! Touchdown! Unbelievable! Slings it way down the field to Watkins!

Sammy Watkins for the touchdown! We welcome you to our very first episode of our summer coverage as we start with our player rankings, their third annual player rankings for this season. I'm Adam Wright with CJ Medeiros. You're listening to the Fumble Rooski podcast by Power88 and Seeker Weapon Consulting. So, yeah, here we are. This is the first episode, that is, of the player rankings where we are going to start with safeties. And the Fumble Rooski fan box has officially come back. Did you guys miss it?

And we're going to be talking about who you believe is our, are your most underrated safeties in the league. And with that, we're also going to do our AFC East preview. So division previews. We're going to have the Ac for pretty much the entirety of the month of june and then the nfc in july and then in august we'll get into some fantasy football which is around the time where you guys start doing your fantasy drafts so we figure you could use a little bit of uh you know every everyone could use a little bit of, you know, everyone could use a little bit of advice, you know, some coverage here and there.

I like to get 10,000 different opinions before I do my draft. Get everyone's thoughts on where you are. What's up? I said, yeah, how'd that work out for you last year? No, I'm playing with you, obviously. Jesus. Talk about friendly fire. I will tell you this.

That was the only league I've ever missed the playoffs in. Besides that, I've made the playoffs in a year. But yeah, that was a bad year. I don't even remember what my record is. And honestly, I don't either. I'm okay with not remembering it but all right let's start off with our top five free agents uh jesus christ safety striking out left and right today uh top five safeties going into the 2023 nfl season cj kick us off oh why thank you so for my number five now i just want to preface this by saying the safeties i don't know about you adam but i had a hard time with this there's like a lot of good safeties and it's kind of like tight ends where it's really top heavy and then there's just everyone else you gotta kind of see who fills out that back end but for me i decided to go with the buffalo bills's very own jordan poyer now originally i would have said micah hyde, but Hyde is coming off an

injury. And while Poyer is now really on the wrong side of 30, he's still a good leader for Buffalo. He can lay out the hits. He had four interceptions last year. He does have some blitzing upside with 63 tackles last season. I mean, I don't think there's any reason for him not to keep playing well, but age is kind of a factor, which is why I put him at number five. All right. So here's my number five, which is... I'm going to hate Barnai.

I wouldn't say that. Again, I would say this is probably the toughest uh this is probably the toughest position we're going to cover because there's a million good safeties out there yeah true but jordan poyer is my number five oh hey and the reason i have him at number five is because um so he's never been he's not it's tough to, like I said, I mean, this is a tough, this is just a tough position to do, but he's never been like one of the top overall safeties of, in all of football, but he's been part of one of the best safety tandems in the league in recent memory with Micah Hyde.

But now Micah Hyde, he's coming off an injury. So he's going to need Jordan Poirier to pick up the slack. He's going to have to use his leadership skills to really lead this secondary because it is riddled with injuries right now. I think the Bills are going to have a bounce-back year, especially in the secondary, because they're going to get a lot of players back and healthy. But Jordan Poirier was the only one who really remained healthy through that year. I think he missed a couple of games towards the end there, but overall he didn't

miss a beat, which I think is going to help him. He doesn't have much to really come back from. He's going to be healthy. He's going to be healthy here He's, he's going to be healthy here in training camp. So I think this is, this is a guy who is, who is a solid number five safety going into this year. And the bills will need them by the way, because they're going to need all the firepower they can get to get over the hump and eventually reach a Superbowl. I'm not saying they will. You don't need to make that face. I'm not saying they will. I'm saying if they want to, they're going to need everything that they can get.

Fair is fair. So should I do my number four now? Give me your four. So my number four, this could be seen as a bold step, but I'm going with from the 49ers, Talanoa Hufanga. And some casual fans will be like, who is that? Well, I'll tell you who that is. This man started all 17 games for the 49ers last year, racked up 66 solo tackles.

That's just solo, and he had 97 overall. Showed his blitzing ability with two sacks also had two forced fumbles nine passes deflected and uh four interceptions and what's really scary about him is that he's young i mean he's i don't even i think he's like 24 which means he has a lot more room to grow and i'm expecting him to take another big step next year that's a good one and yeah you he's not a household name yet which is kind of a crime because that guy had a very good year last year he was a big part of what was in what was a very lethal 49ers defense. And, you know, Adam, what's up?

Last year, this is per pro football reference. He was first team all pro. And a pro bowler. And people still don't know who he is. Yeah, casuals, I tell you. Casuals. Well, my number four is Kevin Beard. And, uh, so this guy has been a perennial all pro guy himself. And I think that that is going to continue and they're going to need it because this Titans team does not have much throughout their entire roster. It's really bad. But Kevin Beard has, I mean, he's still in his prime.

There's no reason to believe, unless there's injuries, and we're not going to predict those. Who the hell just predicts an injury? Like, those could happen, they could not. But there's no reason to believe he won't continue that. He's the type of guy who is really explosive in that secondary, and I think that's going to continue. Yeah, I totally agree.

I see where you're coming from. All right. Give me your three. My number three is C.J. Gardner-Johnson. Now, this guy is a tackling machine and a ball hawk with 67 tackles last season, a sack for good measure, but six interceptions, six of them. And now he's joining the lions where I personally think they are really going to build something special.

And when you look at everything else, he also had eight pass breakups too. And he had like a forced fumble on top of that. It's just, I'm telling, wait, yeah, sorry. I was looking at the wrong thing, but yeah, he's still at eight. I was looking at the right thing all along, but yeah, let me tell you this guy, he's a good leader. He's a good locker room guy. And I really think that he's going to help Detroit really establish something really good next year. Well, that's actually mine as well. And listen, the way that he played last year, you could make a case that in the coming years, he could be the best safety in all of football. Well, he is only 25.

What's that? I said he is only 25, so there's a real argument behind that. Oh, yeah. But now he just absolutely exploded at the safety position. So the more he just figures out this position, the sky is the limit for this kid. So, I mean, next year at this time, when we're doing these player rankings, we might both have him at number one. But it's just too small a sample size. That's the only limitation for this guy.

The guys above him have just already proven themselves,, they are already the best of the best. I hear you. So for me, moving on to my number two is Derwin James. You want to do it all guy. This is your do it all guy. He's like Jamal Adams. If Jam Adams could cover. 115 combined tackles, four sacks and two picks last season. This kid can literally do it all. And on top of that, he's just a great leader for that defense. Oh, and I forgot, you throw in a two force fumble, six pass breakups. Yeah, I definitely think this kid is bare minimum top three. Me personally, I had him number two, and I think there's only one that I would argue is better. All right.

So here is where we are going to disagree on our top two. Oh, boy. Because I have Minka Fitzpatrick at number two. All right, fair. Because I, so Minka Fitzpatrick is the the type of guy he can do a lot of very good things i just think it's getting to a point in the league where we value the safe we value the safeties who can do it all they can be in the box they can play linebacker they can go and uh they can play man they can do zone and a lot lot of these things Fitzpatrick can do.

But he hasn't shown the ability to get to the quarterback yet. He really hasn't. Well, I think a lot of it's just how they're used, but whatever. Yeah, well, you can't use that against him, but you can't use it for him either. And they've used Derwin James to get to the quarterback. And that's why we'll, we'll, we'll transition into our number one here. That's why I have Derwin James as my number one. The only thing that could hold this guy back because this

guy, this guy can cover, this guy can play in the box. This guy can rush the rush the passer he can play anywhere on the field the only problem is his health but maybe he figured that out because this year he was actually healthy so that is why i have derwin james as my number one sorry i did kind of a two and one but all right i forgive you so yeah if you're listening to homie I've figured it out my number one's Minka Fitzpatrick this guy is literally just a ball hawk an elite tackler a true leader great signal caller for that defense I mean he's captive for a reason he break you see for me I'm kind of old school when it comes to my safeties I it's just like I said it's just a matter of preference there's nothing too big to disagree on. But I definitely value when you're a defensive back and you can cover.

And if you want coverage, Minka Fitzpatrick is the best. He goes from sideline to sideline, dishing out big hits. And on top of that, he's a ball hawk, like I said. Six interceptions last year and even got a pick six. And 11 pass breakups too. Like I i said like definitely no matter how you slice it he's a top two safety there's no way around it listen four or more interceptions in four yeah four or more interceptions in uh jesus uh four or more interceptions in three of the last four seasons. And actually four of the last five, actually.

So this guy, I mean, he's been, he has been a ball hawk. I just like the guy who can do it all. That's all. Yeah. I mean, I'm not going to, I mean, that's your opinion. I'm not going to like rip your head off for it. I'm not Tucker. No, I'm just kidding. We love Tucker. Yeah. I wonder if, if Tuckber's kidding. We love Tucker. Yeah. I wonder if, if Tuck was here, if he would have a Raven in there.

He, of course he would, but it's okay because he's our favorite Ravens fan. He'd have Hamilton in there. Oh, the sad thing is, I don't even think that's like, that could very well be true.

It could be. All right. Well, there you have it. Our official top five safeties going into the 2023 NFL season. We'll see how these go. We could be wrong. We could not be. I mean, these are almost way too early rankings.

Who could have seen Hufanga last year, though? You know what I'm saying? Nobody saw him coming. Exactly. Stuff happens. Players who we don't even know about rise up, and players who we would think would continue to be dominant just fall off the face of the earth.

It happens all the time in the NFL. Stuff like that happens, which is why we love it. It's why we love this league, and we love continuing to make predictions and being blatantly wrong about all of it. All right. Well, next, speaking of being blatantly wrong, we're going to preview how the AFC East is going to go this year. That's next.

This is the Fumble Rooski Podcast. here's edelman broken up and the pass is no sign yet edelman comes down with a football they're saying it's a catch This is the Fumble Ruski Podcast by by Power 88 and Secret Weapon Consulting. Adam Wright and CJ Medeiros. So we just finished our top five safeties for the 2023 NFL season. So now we're going to try and predict how the AFC East division is going to pan out. So just off the bat, I can tell you my take on this division. So last year, I remember vividly how I previewed this division. I thought last year was the first year in recent memory where you could legitimately give everyone in that division a

chance to make the playoffs not at once i'm not saying at once although it is mathematically possible i'm just saying everyone individually had a chance it's the same thing with this year except even better because now the jets just replaced zach Wilson with Aaron Rodgers. You ever heard of him? And Miami, when they were healthy, they were kicking ass, man. They were blowing through everybody early in the year. They were 8-3 at one point in contention for the No. 1 seed in the whole conference. And then you look at the Bills.

Nothing more has to be said about the Bills. They're automatically going to make the playoffs, barring some serious injury. Oh, by the way, Madden curse. Oh, yeah. It could be alive and well. For those of you who don't know, Josh Allen has become the next cover athlete for Madden.

No Super Bowl for Buffalo, I fear. Or, God forbid, a quarterback injury. I hope not. I hope not. But, I mean, you can pretty much book them for making the playoffs unless something crazy happens. Or if Josh Allen just forgets how to play football. Or to turn the ball over, which would actually help him.

But the only one that I could see has a very minimal chance is the Patriots. And even them, if you put them in another division, let's say they're in the AFC South, they have a pretty solid chance then. Let's say they're in the even the not the north i feel like the north is an even better division but they like in other divisions they would have a pretty solid chance they're pretty much put them in the nfc yeah they they probably make the playoffs if they were in the nfc but like that the thing. This is such a competitive division that the Patriots,

who actually have some talent, we're looking at them as a last place team and probably in contention for another top 15 overall pick again. But they actually have a pretty solid roster. Like their receiving room right now is Juju Smith-Schuster, Devontae Parker, Kendrick Bourne, Tyquan Thornton. That's actually pretty solid. And then your tight end duo is probably the best it's been in quite a while.

I'm not saying singular tight end because Rob Gronkowski is better than all of them, but you have Mike Isiki and Hunter Henry. That's pretty good. Ramond Stevenson as your running back among other players who will probably be pretty solid as well. That's pretty good. Mac Jones is, has been okay in some at time. And he should be now that you have, like, you know,

a real offensive coordinator. Hallelujah. Exactly. So I, this is a tough division. And as two Patriots fans here, CJ, I'm proud to be in the toughest division because then if they make it out, then you can say we got out in the toughest division because then if they make it out, then you can say we got out of the toughest division.

But I don't love their chances of coming out of it or even making the playoffs for that matter. Fair. Yeah. So here's the thing with the AFCs. You could argue it's probably the toughest division. And the thing is with New England, it's like, I feel like a lot of front office decisions have held them back because as it's been reported robert craft had to like

threaten bill belichick to literally like do things so the fact that they had to make changes while kicking and screaming i think is not a good sign but but they did make said changes. They had a good draft, and I feel like this is more of a developmental year. You know, maybe try not to get Mac Jones killed, but that's neither here nor there. Now, the thing is with Buffalo, I feel like they're weaker than they were last year. You know, Hyde's coming off an injury. Poyer's just on a one-year prove-it deal. Their defense is banged up. Their pass rush is, I mean, outside of Von Miller and now Leonard Floyd,

was not that good. But the thing is their O-line. Nobody on their O-line, you're like, ooh, you got to make sure they don't get you. I mean, it's true. Nobody on their O-line is somebody who you have to be concerned with. And their running game, you have Damian Harris for one year. That's pretty pretty good except he couldn't beat out Ramondre Stevenson for the job and you have James Cook who as a rookie showed flashes but struggled mightily and Josh Allen great quarterback truly a top five quarterback but he has to limit the turnovers which i think opens the door for teams like the

jets who have an elite defense and aaron rogers because i know i'm gonna sound stupid but even with rogers their offense doesn't wow me because breese hall's coming off an injury garrett wilson element that kid's good but that's pretty much it. And their offensive line is middling. But with Aaron Rodgers, he's played with worse. So that's why you can't count the Jets and the Dolphins. We saw what happens when the Dolphins were at full power last season. And, oh, boy.

You know they're in the running to get Dalvin Cook, too. So if they get Dalvin Cook, oh, man. That's going to get scary. But then there's Tua. And I'd like to point out their offensive line has not improved. It got worse, actually, I think. Yeah. Your other tackle is going to be Cedric obwehi or uh isaiah win so yeah

good luck because outside of turon armstead the rest of that line is not that good probably the exception of their right guard robert hunt who's all right who do you think is better austin jackson or isaiah win for the for the starting right tackle position i I lean, and I mean lean, Jackson. So you believe they got a little worse, actually. Yeah, I do. I think they got worse. And they have the Bengals reject Cedric Obwehi, too. So I'm not thrilled with that O-line.

And if you somehow give Tua another concussion, then he might actually retire. So yeah, Miami's walking on eggshells here. Yeah, yeah. So Miami's walking on eggshells. My point is every team has their strengths. Every team has their weaknesses. Long story short, though, I think it's Buffalo that makes it out.

And the rest, it's going to be a dogfight. Because even teams like Newland who aren't favored to make the playoffs they're not gonna roll over and die they're still gonna make you earn that victory so we'll see yeah see i yeah see i think the jets are going to be in the running for that division and buffalo like like you said buffalo did get a little bit worse like they they're still fine they're not in a in a bad position but in some spots like the linebacker they they got oh yeah yeah they lost jermaine edmonds and i and i wasn't thrilled with how they replaced him either yeah so they really pick on a tight end oh sorry i keep

i don't want yeah it was on it yeah it was on a tight end. So they, they got, they have Dalton Kincaid when they already have Dawson Knox. That had me scratching my head. The offensive line, I'm not too worried about because it did play really bad this past season, but the guys that they have, have played well in the past. So I'm not too worried about it. Let's see this season. But I think like, I think the Jets will be right there with them. I think they both have issues with the offensive line.

Both teams. Those are the only real issues that I have with the Jets is their offensive line. Other than that, they're pretty solid. I think their pass catchers, even outside of Garrett Wilson, are pretty good. jets is their offensive line other than that they're they're pretty solid like i think i think their pass catchers even outside of garrett wilson are pretty good alan lazard cory davis right miko hardman i think those are pretty like you're not looking for a level players you're looking for b guys like the type of players the new england patriots have as their top guys

those kinds of players um i think they're fine and they're off their defense has no question marks their defense is awesome the only question mark they have i would argue is in the future is like future because i believe quinn and williams contract is up after this year and if you lose him that's going to be a massive blow but then again that's a problem for future jets yeah and they're not looking to the future when they invest in aaron rogers they're looking for the next one to two seasons which is what they're doing right now and rightfully so because that team over the last half half century hasn't done anything so when you bring in a guy like aaron rogers and you have the two aren't the who aren't the J E T S jets, jets,

jets of yesteryear, then yeah, you're going to be looking to win a super bowl here. That's what they're going for. They've been going all in on that. And I think they have a really solid chance. Brees Hall is coming off an injury, so he won't be the same player he once was, but they won't really need him to be all that because he was carrying them to victories do they need to carry him now Aaron Rodgers at quarterback now and you have Garrett Wilson who's going to be elevated with better quarterback play to probably be one of the better I think he's going to be a top 10 inside the top 10 receivers this year man I think he's going to be really good um but yeah i think he should be what's that i said he should be yeah like inside the top 10 i think you could like let's say let's

say he's top six this year uh that's a little much but i but it's not out of the question like i'm not saying like the end like end, like, 8, 9, 10, like, maybe, like, 6 or 7. That's what he has potential to be. Maybe even better because you have Aaron Rodgers and you're going into your sophomore season. So, I mean, like we said when we were ranking our top five safeties right before we ended the segment,

there are some players who we're not even talking about in our top five who shoot up to the top, and there's some guys who are not even talking about in our top five who shoot up to the top and there's some guys who we expect to be there who aren't even close so it's possible i'm just saying but this jets team i really i really am high on this year if there's a time that they contend for the super bowl in the next decade this is it this is it man yeah i mean they have to i think i think they're really, they're in the mix for the division and they, I think they, the expectation has to be playoffs at least. No expectations, Superbowl, but at the bare minimum, you got to make the playoffs.

So that's kind of, that's kind of how, what I expect. It'll be between the bills and bills and jets. And if I'm going to predict either, I think the Bills, with their experience, take it. Jets will be right behind them. Miami is going to be there too, but the injuries are going to get to them again because they didn't improve the offensive line. Yeah.

Followed by our New England Patriots. If you thought we were best Patriotsots fans go back and watch this episode where we just both predicted that our our patriots are going to be last in the whole division so there you go all right well that is it for our AFD preview. So I think we're pretty much in agreement on where we have our guys. So Bills, one. Jets, two. Dolphins, three. Patriots, last.

Over in the cellar. All right. What a good draft pick, I believe. So earlier we gave our top five safeties going into 2023. So we asked you, who are the most underrated going into this year? That's next. This is the Fumble Rooski Podcast. Here's Edelman broken up and the pass is no sign yet. Edelman comes down with a football and they're saying it's a catch. It's a catch!

It's a catch! Skyline! Touchdown! Unbelievable! Slings it way down the field to Watkins! Sammy Watkins for the touchdown! This is the Fumble Rooski Podcast by Power 88 and Secret Weapon Consulting. I'm Adam Wright with CJ Medeiros.

Tuck is off tonight. He's got work. So we are on to the... What's that? I said he's very responsible. He's being very responsible. He's not ditching for the Fumble Rooski Podcast. All right.

So we welcome you to the Fumble ruski podcast all right so we welcome you to the fumble ruski fan box portion of our show where we post a question filter on our instagram every monday and you can respond with hot takes questions and more and we will discuss it and give you a shout out on our podcast respond to next week's fan box question to be featured on our show so the question of the week was who is the most underrated safety in the league so ian mulhern said von bell who was recently acquired um via free agency by the panthers and he was most recently a cincinnati bengal i would say he's underrated. Absolutely. Especially since he was getting continually overshadowed by Jesse Bates and Cincy.

Yeah. And I would, I would say Cincinnati in that defense, their safety core was really what helped them. I mean, that's what carried them besides a couple of pieces. They never really had a true superstar on defense during, in the past couple of years

it's really actually in quite a while i don't i can't remember the last time they've had a defensive player of the year candidate it's been a long time maybe gino atkins maybe yeah that was a while ago though yeah but um yeah trey hendrickson it's about it but i mean von bell he was a big sign he was a big signing for the panthers no two ways about it and uh with his signing that secondary that was already stout is going to be pretty good yet again um and even better in fact um but grayson mortimer said micah hyde i wouldn't exactly call him underrated but yeah he's really not actually like he's recognizes one of the 10 best safeties in the league he wasn't he not, he's not underrated anymore, but when he first got to Buffalo and when he was a Packer, he was absolutely underrated. But now it's kind of, he's being recognized as a perennial all pro candidate and him alongside Jordan Poyer are looked at as one of the best, uh, uh, safety tandems in all of football. But Patrick Williver, who's a Cowboys fan,

remains in Dallas with Donovan Wilson. You know, I can see that. Wilson's actually pretty good. Yeah, he was a pretty good safety this past year. And it was actually believed at one point this offseason that he wasn't even going to be re-signed and they managed to bring him back in a round and in the same stretch of time in the same 24 hours they brought back uh they traded for spot for uh stefan gilmore so that secondary i'm telling you that this dallas cowboys team is the most well-rounded team

uh in the past decade yeah i i could definitely see that like their offenses their their offense looks the best it's been uh their defense is looks the best it's been it's kind of it's the most balanced which is which is pretty good i mean that balance the uh these days that wins championships absolutely but jz8 hockey said jeremy chin i mean i guess he is kind of getting underrated because chin really burst on the scene his rookie year and since then he's kind of i don't want to say fallen off he hasn't been able to capture that spark he put out his rookie year he hasn't been the same but he's at least been able to showcase his versatility which brings me to my point that i don't believe that he's going to be used as much as a safety,

especially since they just signed Vaughn Bell, and they also have Xavier Woods to play the other safety position. So they're probably going to move him to the box. Yeah, I would think. But I mean, yeah, because they already have Shaq Thompson at middle linebackers, so I imagine Chin will be utilized more as an off-ball hard hitter, kind of like Jamal Adams. Right. That'll probably be the spot that he would be at.

Nick Reyes, this is a good one. He said Jason Pinnock. Oh, yeah. What happened with this guy is he was drafted as a jet and he was a corner and he was you know he was okay then he put safety towards the end of that towards the end of this uh the 2021 season and he actually he absolutely lit it up but it was on such a small sample size that it didn't stop the Jets from cutting him during that training camp before the 2022 season.

Then he's picked up by the Giants, acquires a starting role, and here he is, looked at as, again, a very underrated safety. And as we mentioned earlier on in the show, the NFL, it's a league where players who you're not even thinking about, you may not even know their name, they wind up being one of the better ones in all of football.

I'm not saying he is, but it's just an example of a guy who wasn't looked at as much one man's trash it's another man's treasure jason pinnock um but cola dj said javon holland i'm not sure i'd say underrated though I mean he's good But the average fan would definitely know who he is Yeah But players can know who he is And he could still You know he could still

He could still Be underrated Like a lot of people know who Jabril Peppers is Doesn't stop me from thinking he's underrated perhaps i just i don't know when i think of underrated i really don't think of holland he's like on the border we'll call it okay do you think he would be closer to underrated or overrated i would actually argue he's he would be closer to underrated underrated yeah i think of the underrated safeties once again who fongo from the 49ers almost nobody knows who he is and he was first

team all pro yeah that is i mean there you go every everyone knows who he is and yet first team all pro All-Pro and underrated. Who is this guy? All right, well, that's all our responses. Do we have any other thoughts before we end the show tonight? Brock Purdy might be back in August, apparently, I saw. Yeah, you mentioned that. That's an interesting one.

If he is back and healthy then that then we might have to change up our top five teams because i don't think i had him in there yeah but yeah we'll see if he actually comes back though that's all yeah he actually has to come back which might be reason for us to still have the 49ers outside our top five teams going into 2023, which we will have on July 25th. Or no, it'll be August 1st. Yeah. Yeah.

So that'll be interesting. All right. Well, that'll do it for us tonight. Thank you for listening to us. We have new episodes out on Tuesdays and Fridays at 7.30 p.m. 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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