The Fumblerooski Podcast - Marking the Calendars

Episode Date: May 13, 2023

How can the NFL make the schedule release a worthwhile event? Who has the easiest schedule? Who has the toughest? Do the Browns have a shot at their division with Za'Darius Smith added? Adam Wright and CJ Medeiros debate 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! It's a catch! Side-line! Touchdown! Unbelievable! This is what makes Skyline touchdown unbelievable! Swings it way down the field to Watkins! Sammy Watkins for the touchdown! Well, the NFL schedule, Reese, has just gone by.

As some other news in the trade market has just arisen, has a pretty significant pass rusher has just been sent to Cleveland. This is Adam Wright with CJ Medeiros. This is the Fumble Ruski podcast by Power 88 and Secret Weapon Consulting. So in this episode, we are going to go through some of the teams with the toughest schedules and the easiest. Now, the only problem that I have with the schedule release, and this could be a much, it's clear that the NFL wants to turn this into a big event. Only problem is, we already know who these teams are facing during the previous season. So the schedule release is just the order for which these teams are facing each other, which isn't that big of a reveal.

But it does still hold a little bit of water when you see that some of the most competitive teams are stacked up or if it's just a straight up an easy schedule. And once we see it, then, you know, so we're, we're going to go over both the toughest and easiest schedules, but first we're going to start off with Zedarius Smith, who was traded by the Vikings to the Browns. Now, there were a lot of rumors over the early part of this offseason where Zedarius Smith, he requested to be traded earlier. Is that correct? Yeah, it was a whole contract thing, I think. Yeah, and we weren't sure if they were going to go through with it.

And it's been a couple months, but here we are. It is mid-May, and Smith has been traded to the Browns. Now, this is an intriguing spot because you have Garrett Williams already on one side. Excuse me. Miles Garrett? Miles Garrett. I don't know. Who's Garrett Williams?

Is he the corner that you keep on mistakening everyone's name for? Yes, I am mistakening, Adam. Yes, I'm sticking with Garrett Wilson. Garrett Wilson is obviously the widest year for the Jets, and Garrett Wilson's the corner for Syracuse, who was recently drafted. All the Garrets, man. It's the Garrets that you mistaken because they it's it feels like you can garrett could be a last name and it could be a first name

yikes it's weird imagine being named garrett garretts no couldn't be me i would never put myself in that situation all right i wouldn't allow it yes well zadaria smith now enters um what's going to be a pretty significant dynamic duo between these two zadaria smith and uh miles garrett and that is going to be pretty scary now the the browns have been working on their defense for a couple of years now and everyone has thought that this team is going to. Have the best defense in all of football. And it winds up not being the case.

And whether or not. Their run defense is something. Their linebacking core. Their secondary. That's one thing. This is going to be a pretty badass. Pass rush. That's one thing that we can say.

Yeah. Yeah. And honestly. All of the chips are in place for this Cleveland Browns team to possibly contend. If the, if everything all works out, if this team could gel, they have the pieces everywhere you look. Yeah, I would say so and obviously you know the the afc north is really just a tough tough division but when you look at who the browns have it at edge rushers because you know they they told jadavian clowny to take a hike because clowny i don't know, went on with him, but he just stopped trying. So now they have Miles Garrett and they have Z'Darrius Smith. And Z'Darrius Smith, he's not a household name like Garrett, but last season he did have 10 sacks.

And now, obviously, you can't not double-team Garrett, which is going to free up Smith some more. I mean, done again, Garrett eats double-te teams for breakfast, so it doesn't really matter. But I think it does wonders for their defense and how a really good front seven, which they have, can greatly change the dynamic of the game. And it's going to make their secondary just breathe a little easier. You know, they have guys like Denzel Ward out there, too. So honestly, I feel like it was a great pickup for cleveland uh do we

know what they gave up for him though i'm still trying to find that it doesn't look like that's been released in fact i just like as you just asked that i got a an espn notification saying vikings trade zadaria smith to cleveland and deal that includes multiple draft picks oh boy i have not mentioned the compensation and this has happened a couple hours ago Vikings trade Zedaria Smith to Cleveland in deal that includes multiple draft picks. Oh, boy. Have not mentioned the compensation. And this has happened a couple hours ago. Like, it's not like this just – Usually it comes within the first 15 minutes of the trade.

If that – It's been a couple of hours. That's been a little weird, don't you think? Yeah. Yeah, maybe they've already agreed to the trade, but the compensation is still, being worked out. Sometimes that happens. I mean, I really don't know. But either way, I think it's a great pickup for the Browns. And like you mentioned, they're going to need it because, you know, you have like quarterbacks like Lamar Jacksonson and joe burrow in your division quarterbacks that routinely eat your defense alive so you need to fight back and it's gonna and having those two bookends on your d-line can help keep lamar in the pocket and help you know keep joe burrow

uncomfortable so yeah this is like a win for the Browns. Of course, if they gave up something stupid for him, then I would argue it's not, but we will see. Yeah, and you mentioned those offensive lines for the Bengals and Ravens. Those are pretty good offensive lines right now. So for them to be, they need to get some sort of an edge in order for this to work. And on defense, they just haven't.

Their identity on defense clearly has not been their secondary, although they have pieces there. Not their linebacking core. The only real significant superstar piece they have is Miles Garrett. So you might as well make that pass rush be their identity. So they found something that pass rush be their identity. So they found, they found something that, um, can disturb Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson. And those are some pretty good offensive lines. So they're going to need that. Those are four games. Do you know how many four, you know, how many wins how are, how significant four wins is in the, in the NFL out

of a 17-game season. That's the difference between making the playoffs and not. That's the difference between being the number one seed and barely squeaking into the postseason. So if you can win those games, then you might not only make the playoffs, you could be in the running for that division. I mean, I'm just spewing out possibilities here. The Bengals are still taking that division,

with the Ravens having an outside chance. I was going to say, don't say that out loud too many times or else Justin will materialize behind you. Yeah, it's too bad he couldn't make the show. Otherwise, he'd be screaming in my ear right now. He's out tonight, some would say. Yeah, happens. Happ happens happens sometimes but while we are on the show that's i mean that's where that's what i have i mean we're gonna i think the browns

all right they were already a top three team in this division which doesn't say much because this is a very competitive division actually it does it does i don't know you know what i'm trying to say like this is this is a competitive division and this browns team is going to be a competitive team and they are in and because of that they need every edge that they can get no pun intended that's right yeah i'll allow it all right well we will see how that all shakes out with Z'Darrius Smith. Good pickup for the Browns. We'll see what the draft compensation looks like. But we're going to get into this schedule release and possibly make some comments just about the schedule release in general as an event.

Because it's had some mixed reviews to say the least so we'll get to that next we're going to start with the toughest schedules and then we're going to transition to the easiest ones just like just as we have every off season that's next this is the fumble ruski 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 it's a catch It's in front! Diggs! Side-line! Touchdown!

Unbelievable! Swings it way down the field to Watkins! Sammy Watkins for the touchdown! Welcome back to the Fumble Rooski Podcast by Power 88 and Secret Weapon Consulting. I'm Adam Wright with CJ Medeiros tonight. No Justin Tucker for the night. Sorry to disappoint you, Justin Tucker fans. The real Justin Tucker, not the wimpy football player. But no shade at just the other,

the real Justin Tucker, like as in Ravens. That was a joke. He's actually, we have the real Justin Tucker. He even talk, even plays football too. I know,

but the real, like the Ravens, Justin Tucker is a bad-ass Justin Tucker too. So I didn't want to throw shade there. I was just making a joke. Please don't come at me uh please don't come at me please don't come at me ravens fans and i probably also pissed off tuck because he's also a ravens fan um sorry sorry but listen so we're gonna get into the schedule release and i wanted to just comment on the whole thing as in general

before we start and i really like i really think if they want to turn this into an event they probably could pull that off the problem is they're not executing it the right way because why make it into such a big event when we already know who these teams are facing, right? It's like you're trying to tease something that everybody knows. Like imagine making a new trailer for a movie that's already been out that everyone has seen. No one would care because everyone's seen it already. They know what happens.

It's the same thing with this schedule release, right? We already know what's going to happen. We know the teams that they're facing there. You're just, the only thing you're revealing is the order from which, from, from which these teams are playing each other, which does hold some water, but it's not the same as if we learned everything at once, that would be something. I don't want to know who the Patriots are facing, like exactly who they are and when they're going to face them at the exact same time. That would be something. But we find out.

I'm not sure exactly when we find out the schedule for the next season, but it's fairly early, is it not? Yeah, it is. It's like, I would say around the Super Bowl-ish is when we at least know who the teams are going to face and that's another thing about like how they release it on the actual like releasing day they don't put out all the schedules at once it kind of trickles

down it's like these are the big games and also I'm sorry, but the NFL tries too hard with their marquee matchups. It was like, oh, look at this. These guys on prime time. It's like, yeah, but how often does that work? Remember the Broncos got Russell Wilson. They got all the prime time games. Look at how that worked. And the Rams, running Super Bowl champs, got all the prime time games

until the entire team was hurt. My point is, it's not that the NFL should make an event at this. It's that they shouldn't. And they're trying so hard. And they don't need to. So you think this shouldn't be an event that they try? No, it should not. Because it's not like the Super Bowl.

It's not like the draft. It's not like those first few days of free agency. It's just the schedule release. Stop trying to make this a thing. I'm sorry. They are trying really hard to make it an event. I'm just saying, and I'm very indifferent on whether or not they should. It's just if they do, there's things that they could do to pull it off.

Because like I said, we already know who these teams are facing. So why are we turning it into an event if we already know? It's either you go all the way in, you go all in, and you give the teams and the order for which those teams are facing each other at the same time, or you just don't make it an event at all. Just kind of have it be a side thing, maybe a little event. There's a show that happens, and it's just kind of low-key, but they're kind of trying to market it as this huge thing like it's the draft.

And I'm saying they could pull that off. That is a possibility. But there's things that you need to do. And we were talking a little bit off camera here. If they really wanted to lean into this schedule release to really make it interesting, because we already know their first eight games of the year, they're going to face their division rivals twice.

What if you took out the divisions what if we what if we really made it interesting and we say you could be facing the buccaneers you could be facing the chiefs you could be facing i mean the the possibilities are endless there yeah and look i agree and getting rid of the divisions is something like i agree with because it's just i just i don't think that the winner of each division should go to the playoffs now i mean i don't have any specific examples looking at you tampa just kidding i do remember the like over a decade ago, the what were they called? The seven and nine Seahawks made the playoffs because their division was trashed. I think that happened again in the NFC South sometime between like 2013, 2014. Just get rid of the divisions.

Let's have it be by record. Right. And that would do wonders for the nfl postseason too because then you have better teams there because there's teams who will finish 11 and 5 but they're in the toughest division in football and they don't make it and then there's a team that goes seven and nine are well i'm i'm i'm naming records that are outdated because it's a 17-game season. But you get the point, right? You have teams who don't deserve to be there getting there

and teams who deserve to be there not making it. And it makes the postseason that much worse. Yeah. So, like, I mean, we complain a lot. I complain a lot about the wildcard round. It's almost like the real postseason doesn't start until the divisional round. In most cases, every once in a while you'll get a good matchup, a nice upset. But for the most part, the real postseason starts in the divisional round, where the real teams make it.

Yeah, I agree. Barring some sort of catastrophic meltdown because there's always that one team and that one terrible division that's either at or below 500 that is in the playoffs they have no business being there and it's like well congratulations you've wasted like you waste like three hours of your life watching a team that shouldn't be there get smacked by like a team that should be there it's just it's so aggravating exactly it's exactly um but let's start on this segment here which is the toughest schedules i know you have some strong feelings about your patriots go at it this is not going to be a fun year for them now depending on who you ask because

there's really no way to rank the schedules like because i've seen the patriots at lowest five and highest one like everywhere in between yeah but but it's like but there's no bones about it they have the tough one, if not the toughest schedules. And in a make-or-break year for Mac Jones, this is not ideal. He's going to be running the gauntlet, and chances are it's going to kill his confidence. Because the whole thing about the Bill Belichick drama, that also hurt him.

But this, I'm not looking forward to it. I'm really not. And it's not even like an if slash when the Patriots finish below 500. It's not their fault. They just had a bad roll of the dice. Well, they also haven't done enough to fix that offensive line. No, I know they haven't. That's another thing. And they didn't even have to go offensive line in the draft.

There were some pieces in free agency that they could have gone after. But no, we'd rather go for Riley Reif for some stupid reason. See, here's the thing. Let's just be grateful we even got anyone in free agency because all the reports were saying that Bill was, even though we were like top 10 in cap space, Bill was content to have another patriots offseason you know like a few under the radar moves very modest free agency and like another patriots draft

apparently that's what he wanted the only reason we did anything this offseason was because craft made him do it he didn't want to but craft made him yeah so yeah like i said i know it's not about the schedule but i do think it's worth pointing out that the page should be lucky they're even as halfway decent as they are because they'll do not want this all right but also the i just want to say the afc east just zooming out the afc east in general that's got to be one of if not the toughest division maybe like the nfc east a little tougher. Because any one of these teams, you put them in the NFC, and they're going to be a playoff lock. Yeah, a lot of it is about the division.

And that's another part of why the schedule release is not that big of a – it's not that big of a mystery. Well, we know six of the games already. Exactly. Actually, eight, right? Because you face each other twice. Yeah, but there's three. that big of a mystery well we know six of the games already exactly actually eight right because you face each other twice yeah you're right six six because you don't face yourself stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid forgive you um you're right you already know those and if you're in a tough division then you you already know your, your schedule is overall is going to be tough because that's, those are six games right there. Um, but another, like, let's look at this New York

jets team. So which this, and this also further supports your argument of the AFC East, just the whole thing, having a tough division, uh a tough schedule, because let's look at this schedule for them. So nine of their 11 games are going to be extremely tough. So right out of the gate of their first 11 games, that's rather so right out of the gate. So you got Bills, Cowboys, Patriots, Chiefs, then Broncos, then Eagles, Giants. Like, this is going, I think this Jets team is going to be a pretty talented

team, and I believe they'll be competitive, but it might take them some time to gel. And what better way to gel than your first four games being against the Bills, Cowboys, Patriots, and Chiefs? Yeah. I mean, that's going to be our September for you. Well, they drafted Rodgers to win, and we'll see.

And then their October is not any better better they have the broncos so that's a coin flip there and the chiefs are technically october but they're october 1st uh broncos eagles giants chargers i mean we're now we're in november at this point and i mean it's going to be tough for them to win any of these games. Then they have a quick turnaround against the Raiders on November 12th, but then it's Bills, Dolphins, Falcons, Texans are easy. They should win those games. Knock on wood.

Then you have the Dolphins, Commanders, Browns, Patriots. But nine of those first 11 games of the season are going to be extremely tough. Actually, no, not 10 of their 11. 10 of their 11. Because I don't know why I got the other one. Yeah, that's fine. I mean, those are all teams that should be competitive. And let's not... The one team that we don't believe will,

let's not completely rule out the Raiders. Not completely. Yeah, I mean, they have talent. I mean, Garoppolo's not a quarterback to sneeze at. And not to mention, you have a, you know know what's his name there of the receiver davante adams we got max crosby and chandler jones on the defense so it's not like they're scrubs yeah um and before we before we move on to easiest schedules i just want to look at the entire nfc east as well because that is really tough too. The Eagles

are going to have it tough. The Giants, the Cowboys, not just because they're in their own division, which is tough already, but they also have the AFC East, which is the other toughest division in all of football.

So they, I mean, everyone is going to have, whoever comes out of that, of either of those divisions are going to be battle-tested, man. They're going to be ready for postseason action. I mean, that is going to be one thing that they have as an advantage, is that they did not face any

scrubs. They have faced tough competition. They're ready to go. So whoever comes out of those divisions is going to be, they're going to be ready to go. And they out of those of those divisions is going to be they're going to be ready to go and they have the north don't they both have the afc north i just don't maybe i'm not sure i know the i know the afc well i think the afc east had the afc north last year but okay i'm i'm not sure but but the North is no division to sneeze at either. See what I'm talking about?

Like, we're basically just getting into divisions now. If you're in a tough division, you're going to have a tough schedule, which is why if you want to turn this into an event, if you want to turn this into a thing, then get rid of the divisions, and it would probably make a lot of other things better too, including the NFL post season. But we'll see what they do about that. It'll make,

it'll, it'll make the rest of the league a lot better, but we'll see. All right. Well, we talked about some of the toughest schedules. We're going to get into the easiest ones, the walks in the park.

That's next. This is the Fumble Rooski podcast. No sign yet. Hamilton comes down with a football. They're saying it's a catch. It's caught. It's made. Side-eyed. Touchdown. Unbelievable.

Slings it way down the field. The walk-in. Sammy Watkins for the touchdown! This is the Fumblerooski Podcast by Power Radiant and Seeker Weapon Consulting. Adam Wright, CJ Medeiros. So we have talked about the Zedaria Smith trade. The Browns making a good pickup with him. And then we've went on to talk about the toughest schedules after the schedule release that the NFL is so trying so hard to turn into a

great event, which they can again. I think they can, um, they gotta do, they gotta do some things first, but without further ado, easiest schedules. There's a lot of interesting ones out there. And if you don't mind, I would like to lead off. I'll allow it. Now, the Houston Texans are probably not going to make the playoffs, but they have a fairly easy schedule. And again, this all comes down to their division.

Their division kind of blows. All they have is the Jaguars twice and they're set. That's their division. Outside of that, they have the Ravens, the Bengals. They have the Broncos, the Browns.

That's about it. They have the jets. They have the jets. That's kind of a tough one. But see, here's the thing. thing i'm sorry i don't want to cut you off but like see here's the thing when you talk about easy like you know how these bad teams like the texans product to make the playoffs have easy schedules is it really going to be easy for them if they themselves are also not good but for the most part it'll be like watching two children have a tickle fight well i i i think that they while the texans aren't ready for contention or maybe not even to be competitive they have some talent there oh yeah they do but

i don't know also it's the same thing with the nfc south like a lot of those guys have like an easy schedule and aside from the saints it's like oh thing with the NFC South. A lot of those guys have an easy schedule. And aside from the Saints, it's like, oh, wow, the rest of your division sucks. Right. And what you're saying is, well, you suck too. Yeah, pretty much. But I just don't like they might not be ready for the spotlight, but it's hard to put this in the way that I want it to. But, like, they can be competitive, and they have some talent that is young.

They may not be ready for the spotlight, but they can make some noise at the very least. Yes, yes, this is, yeah, I guess. And it helps to have the schedule, just saying. It helps to have the schedule to go along with it. I think the New York Jets, who they're facing later on in the season on December 10th, they're going to be a tougher out because that team by then will have had plenty of time

to all play together, all those new faces, and they will be a formidable team. Broncos are a coin flip. They sucked last year, but they have a lot of talent and they did make some necessary changes. Exactly. And the Bengals are going to be a tough out. Um,

the, the Jaguars, that's a, that is an up and coming team that looks ready to contend, but they can take one of those two, those divisional matchups. The Ravens are going to be interesting so they they could win let's say they go nine and eight i could kind of see that perhaps but another thing is uh this whole schedule thing i just you know come to think of it it's just we don't know how

good these teams are going to be this whole easiest hardest ranking if you think about it's a little stupid because i alluded to this earlier how many times have were we in for what the nfl calls a marquee matchup by the time that team by by the time that rolls around, one of those teams sucks. And it's a blowout. You know, one team's just playing down the competition. The other's hurt. That's the thing.

You can't predict injuries. So a team with like a really easy schedule could completely fall apart if they get hurt. Yeah. But bad matchups are going to happen just regardless of if you add if you push for it or market it or not you know these matchups are there's going to it's going to happen that way i mean but you can do you can do the best you can with the scheduling to make the nfl season more more competitive yeah i think they still like they can still go and market these matchups. It's not like it happens all the time

where every single matchup they sell is going to just be putrid. Except for the Rams and the Broncos last year. That was awful. They had so many primetime games, and they were not deserving of any. This was also just an ass-backwards season. I feel like everything that we thought would happen did not happen. I had the Buccaneers going to the Super Bowl. I'm pretty sure I did too.

The Offs. And I thought the Rams were still going to be at least in the conference championship, and they were in – I mean, they gave the Broncos a – actually, no, it was the – sorry, Jesus, the Seahawks. Yeah. They gave the Seahawks a top five pick. Mm-hmm.

I mean, that'll do a few things. Yeah. I just – like I said, it's just, it's just, it's foolish to promote these games ahead of time because you have egg on your face when it doesn't work out. And it happens every year. How many primetime games end up sucking? Not going to play on a specific time, Thursday night,

but those games always suck. It's like, oh, we're going to have a really good matchup, and everyone's hurt. Yeah. Here's another team that I have. The Chicago Bears. They have a pretty decent schedule. Especially, it's not too bad to open up the season.

So the first two games of the year, they have the Packers and then the Buccaneers. Yes. That seems like a very easy 2-0 start. Then you have the Chiefs. That's a loss. Scheduled loss right there. Unless the Bears just, unless Justin Fields just turns into like the second coming of Deshaun Watson and this Bears team is like electric

but I don't see it yet we'll see what happens Deshaun Watson well not I'm talking about on the field then they have the Broncos again a coin flip they could be very good or very bad the commanders

probably going to finish last in that division. Then the Vikings, and another team that looks like it's starting to trend on its way down. Raiders, that should be a win. Chargers, now the Chargers are never as good as they're projected to be. So I feel like that could be a very – yes. And I feel like that's a game that they can win. Then you have the Saints.

Saints, we only have them winning the division because – being a competitive team because of their division. Another team with an easy schedule. Panthers, Lions. So they have the Lions twice, and that's basically it. Then the Browns could be competitive. But, I mean, it really helps when your division sucks and you're facing everyone twice a year.

Yeah. Yeah, I can see that. Which is, again, why if they took away the divisions, it would make things a lot more interesting. Oh, yeah, you don't have to sell can see that. Which is, again, why if they took away the divisions, it would make things a lot more interesting. Oh, yeah, you don't have to sell me on that. I'm 110% on board. Yeah, I think the Patriots might have had a better shot at making the playoffs if that were the case,

but we don't need to go down that road. You have any picks yourself? No, I pretty much agree with you. I mean, despite what they say, we all know who's got an easy schedule and who's got a hard one. And you are correct when you say a lot of it is just because of the division. Yeah, and the more we have talked about these schedules on this show, the more we just allude to talking about the division.

So again, if we want to make this an event, we can. It would be an interesting event if you took away the divisions, you don't reveal anything, anything, not the teams, not the order from which you're facing the teams, all of that until the exact same time until the exact same time on your schedule release. Then we have some good matchups to break down. And I think that would be great.

That would be fun. I'll have a bunch of my friends over. We'll have some wings, have a few beers. It'd be a great time. I'd love that. Wouldn't be the worst thing. It wouldn't be the worst. Not at all.

All right. Um, that pretty much covers all we were going to talk about today. Do you have anything else? Uh, no, I do not. All right. Well,

without further ado, 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 PM. Eastern standard time. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. We also have all our episodes available on Spotify, Spreaker,

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