The Fumblerooski Podcast - Off on the Wrong Foot -Ep 35 the Fumblerooski Podcast

Episode Date: August 4, 2021

In the final episode before preseason starts, we give our predictions for player awards. We also give our takes on Colts players Carson Wentz and Quenton Nelson going down with foot injuries, Aaron Rodger's brutally honest press conference at training camp, and the fight that broke out at the Giant's training camp.

Good evening, it is time for the Fumble Rooski podcast by Power 88 Dean Radio. I'm your host Adam Wright along with co-host Justin Tucker. Now as I said, we're all done with our rankings. We did our power rankings, we did player rankings, we ranked our quarterbacks, we did all sorts of stuff like that. So we're about to predict our player awards. So you know, we have the rookie of the years, offense and defense, offensive player of the year, defensive player of the year, coach of the year,

comeback player of the year, and of course, the big award, MVP. Now, I did say last week that we are going to do some Super Bowl predictions and conference championship predictions. I think we should actually hold off on that and just wait until right before the season and take our picks. I mean, because you also don't know what's going to happen during the preseason. Any sort of injury could happen. Maybe during a dress rehearsal game, Patrick Mahomes tears his ACL, or Tom Brady just, you know, dies of old age.

So you never know what could actually end up happening. Do you like that? The Tom Brady joke, dies of old age because he's like 50. But anyways, as usually, we're going to get into our current news and there is a lot of it and some interesting stuff. So before I start off on this, I was talking to Justin about what we should name our next episode and it just came to me because of some of this information. So Carson Wentz and Quentin Nelson to undergo foot surgery, each expected to miss five to 12 weeks. So we named this episode Off on the Wrong Foot. Get it? Get it? Because two of their best players are having foot surgery

and they're starting off the season on the wrong foot. I think they got it when you first said it. It's pretty clever if I may say so myself. Anyways, Aaron Rodgers, during training camp, he held a brutally honest press conference on his first day back. Some interesting stuff he said in there. There was a fight that broke out during Giants training camp today. We're recording this episode on a Tuesday, as always. So on Tuesday afternoon, there was a fight that broke out. A furious Joe Judge, he decides to discipline the players, makes them run a ton.

Daniel Jones was in the middle of it. I believe Evan Engram was part of it as well. He threw some punches. So a lot of stuff going on justin do you have any have any thoughts on all this stuff that has gone on this past couple days yeah um it's one thing for carson wentz to have foot surgery because with his history of injuries it's kind of like you kind of expect it at this point but qu Quentin Nelson, for him to also have foot surgery, like this came out of left field when I saw this. I'm like, well, are you sure this isn't a typo? Are you sure it's not Carson Wentz instead of Quentin Nelson?

But when the story was confirmed, I was like, the Colts can't catch a break. They lost their franchise quarterback and their franchise left guard all in one fell swoop unbelievable and as far as the practice is concerned uh daniel jones was at the bottom of a pile that is one thing you don't want your franchise quarterback to be under which is a pile i don't know how things got that serious in new york but i'm glad joe Judge was able to calm the situation down and made those boys run for putting his quarterback in that type of situation. And for punches to be thrown, he wants to run a very tight, neat organization, which I'm happy about. And hopefully this aggression can lead to on-field production for the Giants. So look, when I say that this season is about to go off on the wrong foot for the

Indianapolis Colts, I mean that. Not only are they missing Carson Wentz and Quentin Nelson to start the year, but people are forgetting they're also going to miss Eric Fisher, who's supposed to be their starting left tackle to start the season. So their offensive line is going to be their starting left tackle to start the season so their offensive line is going to be extremely banged up their car their quarterback who is whose body has has a track record of being made of chandelier parts is going to be chandelier parts again and i just and i was talking to you a little bit about this off camera justin but i but I think this – so last week I had them – had the Indianapolis Colts on my top ten. I think – I believe I had them sixth. I don't think they can even make my list anymore. Because this team, even if they come back in, say, five weeks, then their season is still starting off. It's not starting off right.

And they're just going to have – it's going to take extra time to gel. They're going to lose games during that stretch. And the team is just – they'll barely make the playoffs if they do. And that's not worthy of top ten teams in the entire NFL for me. It just doesn't cut, it just doesn't cut it. I actually, so my, I'm going to, so I, it, the way I kind of have it updated is, um, so I took out, I just took out the Colts entirely. I moved everybody up a spot and then I added the bears at number 10. So, so Justin, you had your Bears in there as well.

So I added them in only because the Colts just lost their quarterback for a little bit. And they're all pro-guard, and they're going to be without Eric Fisher. So that team is the injury bugs hurting them early. As for Aaron Rodgers, for those of you who don't know, Aaron Rodgers literally at the podium said that he was contemplating retirement. Yeah, he was at one point in time. He said that he was contemplating retirement at one point during this offseason, and he decided let's just give it another go and let's see how things go. So I'm glad he's – as much as I hate Aaron Rodgers, Aaron Rodgers is still good for the NFL. He's good for the league.

It's good to have good quarterbacks around the league. He's great. It's good to have good teams with great quarterbacks around the league. So I'm glad he's back as much as I don't like that guy. You love him. You don't like him. You as much as I don't like that guy. You love him. You don't like him. You love him. I don't.

But as far as the Colts are concerned, when I look at their schedule, they got the Rams, the Seahawks, the Ravens, the Dolphins, and I believe the Titans. All five of those teams are playoff caliber teams, depending on what Miami is doing with Xavier and Howard. All five of them could potentially make the playoffs. If they start off 0-5, you can kiss your playoff hopes goodbye already before Carson or Quentin Nelson gets there. So they need to figure out how they're going to get some wins in the meantime. Yeah, I mean, you're absolutely right there. They need to find a way to get wins. Well, we know Carson Wentz is going to be out at least five weeks.

So it's going to be a matter of – Wentz is going to be out at least five weeks. So it's going to be a matter of – so we'll have to figure out how are they going to win games. Are they going to bring in a new quarterback? I saw some jokes, some half jokes going around, especially on Twitter saying, well, what if they brought in Nick Foles? That wasn't a joke. To replace Carson Wentz. You know, the last time that happened on an NFL team, good things happened after that, just saying.

Yeah, I know. You were a part of that. He's still technically somewhat. Belichick was part of it. Malcolm Butler. We don't need to go down that rabbit hole. But I believe he's still on the Chicago Bears.

I don't think they're planning on, according to reports, they're not planning on adding a Mariota or a I'm blanking on the kid from Jacksonville's name. Not Lawrence. Connor Minshew. Minshew or Foles.

They're not looking for that at this time. I highly recommend they reconsider that because I don't think their quarterback room decides that. I don't even know their names. Like who the hell are these guys? And Sam Ellinger. Exactly. Point proven. I know who they are.

One of them was a Georgia quarterback before he went to Washington. Sam Ellinger was a good quarterback for the Texas Longhorns, I believe. So I believe Jacob Eason will get the start over Sam. Right, but this is NFL. Yeah, so Tom will fail. It's going to be tough for them to win

any games. Even if they start 1-4, their playoff hopes are slim at that point. I think if they start off 3-2, they can salvage the rest of the season. I think that would be a fair. Absolutely. Anyways, you have any other thoughts

on this before we get on to the... At least I know Aaron Rodgers will be on the Packers for this season and maybe next season. But the Packers as a whole might have a cap hell situation going on next season. So maybe he won't be there for long. Time will tell. Yeah, definitely. All right. All right. Now that's – I think that's enough for our – I think that's enough for our current news. So we'll get into our award predictions coming up. So we're going to start off with our rookies of the year. So we'll have the defensive rookie of the year and the offensive rookie of the year. But stay tuned. You're listening to the fumble ruski podcast all right welcome back so we're going to get into our rookie of the year predictions we're

going to start with defensive rookie of the year justin you want to give me your pick when i was really looking at the spots this year i was more so focusing on my guy and he's been me a lot, which is saying a lot, because we usually don't have development until like year three, year four, when they eventually leave us. But the fact that he's showing this much improvement in the first year is telling. And I really want to choose this guy. So fingers crossed, he will be our defensive rookie of the year. But just not to sound like a base, just to sound like a biased homer, begrudgingly, I'm going to pick Micah Parsons from the Dallas Cowboys. I believe in that 4-3 scheme, he won't have to be the Mike linebacker. I believe he'll be more of the Sam Becker, which means he can be more aggressive, which plays into his strong suits.

And I believe that defense as a whole will have plenty of opportunities to be on the field because not only will they be giving up touchdowns their offense will be scoring touchdowns so I believe that he'll have plenty of times to flash his potential and rack up stats see I thought of using Micah Parsons because I thought – I think he's an incredibly gifted linebacker. He's physically talented. He's going all the whole nine yards. The only issue with him that I have is that they already have a pretty strong linebacker core with Jalen Smith and Vander Esch.

So my pick is actually Jeremiah Owusu-Koromora. So this is your guy, Justin, who you wanted throughout the draft. And he actually fell fairly far. He fell into the And this guy, he wound up – so he's going to be – so he's still talented. I think – so I'm not sure why he fell. They said it was a lot of questions with his – what was his – was it off the field stuff? Was it his work ethic? I'm blanking on it. I'm blanking on it too, but I think it fell due to a health problem. I think that's the reason why he fell.

But on the field, he's good. I think it was more due to medical reasons more so than off the field issues. So he's going – so Jeremiah Owusu-Koromora, he's going to have – he's going to be working with a Browns linebacking core that has – that's their main weakness on defense. Now they get this guy. He's going to be running the show in that linebacker core, and he'll have his time to shine. He's going to be able to rack up all the stats that he wants to make his case for defensive rookie of the year. That's why I have him as my pick for that award. I respect your pick. As a matter of fact, I wanted him on the Ravens,

but I was like, we don't need him. We have Patrick Queen and Millie Kerrison. I just thought for value, I wanted him. But I wish we could have gotten him in the second round, but we didn't have a second round pick because of Kansas City. But the reason I chose Micah Parsons is because you're thinking he's not going to be on the field as much as Jeremiah Owusu-Cormoran. I believe he will be based upon the scheme he's running with Dan Quinn.

Because in that scheme, they'll have three linebackers on the field at the same time. I believe Jalen will be the Will, Leighton will be the Mike, and Michael Parsons will be the Sam. And if they run that system, then he'll have more opportunities than most to get plenty of to make plays. Because Dallas defense sucks. They're going to give up a lot of points which means he'll have a lot of opportunities to make plays just like his offense will be making plenty of opportunities to him because they'll score a lot of points as well so it's just a matter of him being on the field a lot to garner the stats and i think once you have the stats i think he'll be able to win defensive rookie of

the year pretty convincingly okay see i i still think it's going to be called i still think it's going to be let's call him jok just call him joker joker that's a that's a that's what they want to call him in cleveland but there's only one joker, and that's Deshaun Elliott. So JOK is one. Yeah, JOK because it's three different – almost three different words here. We'll call him JOK. I think it's going to be him because I think they're going to need him in that linebacker core. They're going to lean on him in their schemes, their defensive schemes with linebackers.

So they'll be using them a lot more. Okay. So do you want to give me your offensive rookie of the year? Well, this was hard because it was kind of hard picking between, like, the quarterbacks in the first round because it usually goes to the quarterbacks most of the time than not so I was like all right so who do I believe will have the opportunities and when I first looked at it I thought Trey Young then I thought no Justin Fields and then I thought if you think Cam Newton is bad as you think he is, it might be Mac Jones.

So then I kept on thinking and I kept on thinking. I was like, you know what? I believe in this guy too much to let me down. And I said Justin Fields will be the NFL Rookie of the Year. I think I said in last week's podcast when my top ten rankings came out with the Chicago Bears, I believe he'll have a Justin Herbert-like impact on the game. I'd say 3,800 yards, 29 to 30 touchdowns, 11 interceptions, something like that. And if he can produce at that similar level against NFL defenses,

then, yeah, I think he'd have a pretty good shot to be the NFL offensive rookie of the year see i just don't think any of the quarterbacks are really in the position to win offensive rookie of the year so i actually went a different direction with at i went with wide receiver and i went with jamar chase and the reason i have jamar chase is because Jamar Chase is an offense where he is fit. He may be, he may be working on the transition from college to NFL, but I think that, I think that transition is going to be seamless. And I'll tell you why his old quarterback, Joe Burrow is now on his team so he hasn't he has the same

quarterback throwing to him they're gonna they're all they're gonna be on the same page they're gonna hit the ground running he's already probably going to be the top target in that offense and i just don't see see they're gonna they're gonna line up t higgins wide and they're going to use so between jamar chase and t higgins jamar chase wins out and with tyler boyd they're going to use him in the slot he'll be in the slot so it's not going to be he's not going to be have an issue with depth and he'll have joe burrow that offensive line has improved i love' offense this year. It improved a little bit. And they have a lot of targets for this offense, for Joe Burrow.

We'll get to Joe Burrow in a little bit. Just a little sneak peek there. A little bit of a hint hint. A wink wink to the audience. Anyways, I have Jamar Chase. I think he's going to have a phenomenal year this year he wins i really do but my issue with that is their line won't allow him to be successful i don't mind the transition from like the college to the league because if you have any you have it just look at justin jefferson last year he had it in spades. So I believe Jamar Chase could have that same effect because they both come from that LSU wide receiving core. But my issue is, you know,

that line, I don't trust them at all. I really wanted them to pick up Penny Sewell out of Oregon. Penny Sewell, yeah. Yeah. They didn't. They let Detroit get him, which, congrats Detroit. It'll be good for you. But I'm just not seeing it. I believe Joe Burrow won't have the same impact as I want him to

as a fan because that line will get him killed. I believe Jamar Chase won't have the production he should have, even though I think he'll have good production because that line is not good. And so they'll have to set up for screens. And another thing that worries me, if I want him as the offensive rookie of the year, he has to face the Ravens, the Browns and the Steelers six times a year. Those are three of the best defenses in the league. Three of them, I think they're top 10.

So these aren't going to be easy defenses, especially the Ravens because of their secondary. And because it's such a blitz-heavy defense, Joe Burrow might not have the time to give it to Jamar Chase. That's what I'm worried about when it comes to him. Yeah, I just think they won't need that much time to throw. So you're just thinking on him just getting the ball and going north? He'll go, yeah. I think he won't need, with the amount of targets he'll have,

somebody's going to get open. And I think they going to they're going to lean on joe mixon a lot more and i think you're you're not giving that offensive line enough enough credit they get they they they improved on they addressed it in the second round they should have addressed it in the first but they addressed it in the second and i believe they I believe they took one early later on in the draft, correct? So they've addressed it a little bit. And so clearly their plan is to surround Joe Burrow with targets and just huck it all over the place. He won't need that much time.

And that's why I have jamar chase i think he's going to have that type that type of a season i mean if justin jefferson could have the type of year he had with kirk cousins throwing to him then then i think they can do pretty in a run first offense by the way then i think they i think jamar they can do pretty well. In a run-first offense, by the way. I think Jamar Chase can do pretty well in this Bengals offense, even with that offensive line. I think despite the offensive line, I agree with you. It could have been better. But I don't think you're giving this team enough credit. I think their offense is going to be good enough.

Whatever you say. I will trust you. We will see you within the first four weeks. Absolutely. Alright, so now we're going to go on to, in general, Players of the Year. So we're going to go into Defensive Players of the Year and Offensive Players of the Year. Stay tuned. You're listening to the Fumble Rooski Podcast. Okay, without further ado, we have our defensive player of the year and offensive player of the year. Why don't we lead off with defensive player of the year, Justin,

why don't you give us your pick for the best defensive player for the 2021 season? Well, this season, I believe Miles Garrett will take the throne this year. Mainly because they have Jadavion Clowney now and they can line him up wherever on the line. So if they really wanted to, he can be on the other edge with Miles Garrett

or side by side with them, depending on what they want to run. And that'll give Miles Garrett plenty of one-on-one opportunities to rack up stack of sacks. I believe he'll have 15 plus sacks, a few forced fumbles, and maybe a defensive touchdown. And with all those things, Cleveland is in the playoffs and fighting to see where they go as far as like the championship so my pick for defensive play of the year is tj watt and the reason i have tj watt is because he was snubbed of it this past year he's been nothing short of spectacular

in these past and ever since he entered the league and And I think that offense runs through him. I'm sorry, that defense runs through him. And he's going to put up the statistics just like he did this past season. And maybe even better, I have him, TJ Watt is going to come back and he's going to get revenge for being snubbed of defensive player of the year. I'm sorry, Aaron Donald is amazing, but the fact that TJ Watt didn't get it, just sorry. It should have been Watt.

It's Aaron Donald. I understand what you're saying. I thought he should have won it too, but I'm not going to say he got snubbed. It's Aaron Donald, bro. It's him. I know. I know. He's over 300 pounds, and he has a six-pack. No, he's not. I i know i know he's he's over 300 pounds and he has a six-pack

no he's not i don't even think he's 300 he's six foot like 270 that's still like built built kind of built like an offensive lineman and i i agree i agree great player this physical specimen he's still tj watt tj watt man should have been tj watt and i think he's still T.J. Watt. T.J. Watt, man. Should have been T.J. Watt. And I think he's going to get it this year. I certainly hope so. But I think the Steelers' record might hold him back. I think we'll have to see what happens.

But I think that offense, regardless of what happens to the team, I think that defense is going to run through him. And all their schemes are going to run through him. I think the team is starting to realize that TJ Watt, he's the focal point of that defense. He's their best player on that side of the ball. And he's going to give them that defense life throughout the season. Especially, just watch the way he celebrates his sacks.

You just get – like even as a viewer, just watching the game, you just get – you just feel just – you just feel electrified whenever he just does that. Whenever he just does that, when he just lifts up his knee and he just gets out in the crowd. It's unbelievable. You can be horrified by it. I feel disgusted and in pain. Right, because you're a Ravens fan. You probably feel that after he sacks Lamar Jackson. Psych. Lamar will stiff arm him off of him because he's done it repeatedly.

But that's besides the point. All right, so why don't we move on to our Offensive Player of the Year. Who do you have? Who's your pick? Well, I think Offensive Player of the Year usually go to running backs because more than likely they won't give it to they won't give running backs MVPs. So

Offensive Player of the Year, I think it might go to Alvin Kamara this year. Alvin Kamara. year Alvin Kamara that's an interesting pick so you don't need so you don't need to Alex I'll try to guess what your thought process is for you they lost their quarterback yeah Michael Thomas is going to be out for a long time yeah they lost Jared Cook so the offense they're just going to lean on him. They're going to throw to Alvin Kamara. They're going to make him run.

And they're just going to run him into the ground. Is that your basic? Is that pretty much right? That he's going to get even more of a role? Yeah, he'll have more of a role. I think he might break 1,000 yards this season and might have like 800 to a thousand yards and receptions or in receiving yards. I think he'll have over a hundred yards, not a hundred, a hundred catches.

And so I think in a balanced offense like that, where it's only him or bust, I think he'll get more opportunities to be an offensive player of the year. I think that's how they're going to frame that offense, depending on who the quarterback is. Some say it might be Taysom Hill. Others might say it's Jameis Winston. Hopefully they've both taken steps in the right direction to be the franchise guy for them, but I think it's going to be Alvin Kamara more so than anybody else because he'll have such

a heavy load on his hands. So for Offensive Player of the Year, I picked Tom Brady. Okay. I think that with a torn MCL, I've got – he put through for 40 touchdown passes, just 12 interceptions, and nearly 5,000 yards. And this was all with a COVID-shortened preseason. Or there was no – sorry, there was no preseason. It was just an irregular offseason all around.

And on top of that, this is year two in a new system. He's going to put up even better numbers. And I think Tom Brady is going to wind up winning this this award i have a good feeling about tom brady this year as long as that as long as he stays as his age doesn't show which it hasn't in during his career so far at least hasn't enough i have tom brady winning this award of course course you have Tom Brady winning the award. Of course you do. No surprise there.

No surprise there. You're telling me Tom Brady, who can't even win a Pro Bowl, is going to win Offensive Player of the Year. Okay. I believe you. I'm saying Kyler Murray didn't deserve that Pro Bowl. But the NFL thought he did over Tom Brady. They need to start deciding that during the playoffs or something. How would they do that during the playoffs?

At least in Week 17. Because Tom Brady played his best football after they decided to pick for the Pro Bowl. And Tom Brady had a better season than Kyler Murray. I'm sorry, he just did. Okay. They still have to pick during the season. They can't just pick during the playoffs. That's kind of not how rosters work for the Pro Bowl.

But I get what you're saying. Tom Brady did have a better overall season than Kyler Murray, so he did deserve it. But Tom Brady would settle for a Super Bowl and the whole World 1. All right. So I think that wraps up our defensive and offensive players of the year. So next we're going to go into the coach of the year and the comeback player of the year.

So this is a little bit of a tricky one. A lot of different opinions you could have for this one. I think it's going to be interesting how we pick this. Stay tuned. You are listening to the Fumble Ruski podcast. Welcome back. We are doing our player awards predictions for this upcoming season we've done the we have we've done defensive player of the year offensive player of the year both rookies of the year now we're going into coach of the year justin why don't you lead off and give us our coach of the year? After many considerations, I think you talked me into this one when talking about how Matthew Stafford is going to show me how he's a top 10 quarterback this year. And if he is going to show me it, I believe Sean McVay will be a big part of

that. And so I believe Sean McVay will win coach of the year. So I'm glad I could talk you into something and convince the college football player on a take that I have that Matthew Stafford is going to have an electric year this year. No, I didn't say that. I did not say that. I said I predict that he'll win coach of the year, regardless if he is a top 10 quarterback or not. So let's say Matthew Stafford has a worse year than Jared Goff. Do you think McVay wins coach of the year at that point? Depends on where they are in the playoffs or like seating in the playoffs.

If they're like a two, yeah, he could still win coach of the year because of the run game or the defense for that matter. So it really depends. So you're going strictly based on wins. If the team wins a lot of games, then Jared Goff, sorry, then Sean McVay is going to win coach of the year. I think they can have 12 wins, and I think Matthew Stafford's going to be good in that system. I don't – I'm not sure he'll be top 10, but top 15 is good enough for me.

See, I see a bit of a contradiction in your argument, I've got to say. Because when you first started talking – giving your – explaining your case for Sean McVay, you said, you talked me into it by talking about how electric Matthew Stafford is going to be and that Sean McVay is going to be in the middle of it. Then I said, well, is it because – so it's because of Matthew Stafford. What if Matthew Stafford doesn't play well? And then you're saying, well, if the team wins, then it doesn't matter. So is it going to be because of Matthew Stafford or is it because they win a lot of games?

Because if they play worse with Matthew Stafford than they did with that puppet Jared Goff, then it's not a good look for Sean McVay. He's a puppet. He is a good quarterback. You just stick your hand. He sticks his arm up his keister, and he just moves him around. And he goes, throw to here.

Throw to here. Okay. Do this. Do that. That's what he does. But if he has a worse year than Matthew Stafford, what does that say about Jared Goff? And what does that say about Matthew Stafford? I believe at the end of the year. If he does a great year, like you're trying to tell me he will, then, yes, I do believe he'll win coach of the year.

That's all I'm saying. If you're trying to tell me that Matthew Stafford is this top 10 to top 15 guy and maybe even top five based on talent, then yes, I could see Sean McVay with the talent around him offensively and defensively winning coach of the year pick is actually joe judge and the reason i have joe judge is because ever since he took he took control of that team as head coach in the 2020 season that team well that team started off very poor but ever since then that team has got that team rallied around him they played for him and despite their lack of talent in certain spots they were still able to contend for a playoff spot i mean the team started one and seven and then they were next thing you know they're five and seven or five and seven six and seven somewhere around there and they they they nearly got a playoff spot in fact they were the favorites in the NFC East for a little bit before Washington swooped in and won the last couple of games at 7-9.

But, I mean, that just tells you how bad the NFC East is. But I have Joe Judge. I think that team is loaded with talent. They listen to Joe Judge. They love Joe Judge. I think that team is loaded with talent. They listen to Joe Judge. They love Joe Judge. I know we just mentioned earlier on in the latest news that a fight broke out, but, I mean, hey, it happens. It's happened before.

You know, it actually happened right before. In the 2015 season, there was a fight that broke out during before the season started with the carolina panthers one team one the quarterback of that team can one one league mvp and the and ron rivera the head coach of that team one coach of the year just saying is it an omen it's possible not saying not trying to say fights are good but but you can win player awards in spite of that. So just saying,, all of the chips are on the table for that Giants team. It's all going to be on Daniel Jones. They drafted this guy number five overall, number four, five. Now it's time for him to prove that he is worthy of that number five pick.

It's time for him to prove that he is that guy if he's not then they're then that team that Giants team might need to start looking elsewhere at quarterback maybe start looking in the draft for other guys or maybe maybe trade for one find some something because what they what they're doing if it with Daniel Jones if it doesn't work, then that's a problem. But that's besides the point. But let's go into Comeback Player of the Year. Who do you have for Comeback Player of the Year, Justin? Comeback Player of the Year? I believe it will go to Christian McCaffrey.

That's not a bad pick. when he's healthy phenomenal but i just don't think he had the opportunities last year to be healthy because of injuries or whatnot so i think he'll come back to be resurgent as ever not necessarily a thousand and a thousand yard season like he did two years ago in 2019 but but maybe somewhere around 1,300 yards, 600 passing yards, 1,900 total yards. That seems about right. So what I have for comeback player of the year is Joe Burrow. I heard it, and I still can't believe it. So Joe Burrow is going to be Comeback Player of the Year

because even before he got hurt, he showed some flashes. He showed some potential that he could be pretty good. And they had some good players around him. They had with Tyler Boyd and T. Higgins. And now, yes, as you mentioned earlier on in the show, they didn't address offensive line in the first round, but they did take Jamar Chase. And Jamar Chase is going to make that player better.

He has that one guy in his back pocket who he's played with before, who he went to college with. He was his teammate in LSU. I think he had a historic year back during his senior season with Jamar Chase. I think Joey Burrow is going to have himself a great year and become comeback player of the year this upcoming season. I think that offensive line has improved a little bit it certainly isn't where we would like it to be but they may not need that much time they will they joey burrow may not need that much time to throw the ball i'm just saying i've been

saying it i love i've been talking up these bengals during this episode i know you don't like that as a as a ravens fan but I'm doing it anyways. I think that offense is going to be legit next year. Do so at your own peril. I keep telling you that line isn't where it should be if you want them to have an explosive offense. I keep telling you that. I keep also telling you they have to face against three of the top ten defenses in the league six times a year. That is not something I would

want to go against, especially the Ravens, who have arguably three corners that match up favorably against the Bengals. We have Jimmy Smith, Marlon Humphrey, and Marcus Peters. That's not something you want to relish. And if you have food, that's right, I'm calling them food for an offensive line. My young rookie in Jason Odafe, or I'm sorry, Odafe Owoa, will go right through your left tackle and say hello to Joey Burrow all game long. Justin Houston will say hi to Joey all day long. My blitz is hi. Hi, Joey, says Patrick Queen. Remember our days at LSU? So I'm like, all right, this is not going to be good for him. I really I'm insistent that they should have chosen a lineman for him.

But at the same time, Bengals are going to bangle. So if you really believe that he'll be a comeback player of the year, you're basically banking on the fact that he'll have 4,000 yards, maybe 30-plus touchdowns, and he'll stay healthy for the majority of the season. I'm questioning whether you can make it out of October. That's where I'm at with this line. Really? So you have no faith in the offensive line right now no see i'm gonna keep on saying it i don't think he needs that much time anymore

i think they have plenty of targets they have three great three very good wide receivers and i think one of those receivers jamar chase Chase, is going to have himself an incredible year. And I think those two have such a great rapport that he's going to be comfortable throwing to him as much as he wants. And he still has Joe Mixon to throw to out of the backfield or hand it off to him. And think joe makes i think that whole offense is going to function a lot better than you think it will and i think joe burrow will be the will be a benefactor of that i had no faith whatsoever i tell you like this if that offensive line was a religion i'm an atheist i have no faith in that wow line okay there. There we go. All right. We're not going to agree with that.

We're not going to agree on this. This is one of those things where time will tell. So we'll figure it. We'll find out. Just like how you are going to find out who our pick for the league MVP is coming right up. You're listening to the Fumble Rooski podcast. All right. So we have reached the end of our show.

We've gone through all of our player award predictions, except for the last one, the finale, the award that we all covet, League MVP. How'd you like that transition, Justin, going from... I thought it was impressive. Impressive? I just thought of it on the fly. I was like, well, time will tell.

We'll figure it. We'll find out. Just like we're going to find out our league MVP. Anyways, Justin, do you want to give us your pick for the MVP for this coming season? My league MVP will be Tom Brady. This hurts. This hurts, bro. I can't stand him.

I don't like him, but he's damn good. Oh, my God. But Tom Brady has the system around him to be good. He is a he is a Hall of Famer in the flesh. He has the player. He has the receiving core around him to put the numbers to one MVP. I believe he has the overall team like building around him to be an MVP as far as offense and defense and special teams that coaches the right one for him. And he has an O-line that is pretty darn gone good I believe top five in the game so they can keep Tom Brady Tom Brady's head on straight I think he can throw an upward of 45 touchdown passes and maybe nine

interceptions now that he has a clearer mindset of the offensive playbook, and he has another year under his belt in that system. It pains me to say, but Tom Brady does have the best opportunity to win league MVP again. I'm sorry, I didn't hear all of what you said. Could you repeat everything and say it slowly so I can hear it? I said Tom Brady fumbled in that Super Bowl. Yeah. Oh, that's not what I heard. That's not what I heard. I heard.

That's not what I heard at all. But you and I have matching picks. I'm double dipping with Offensive Player of the Year, and I have Tom Brady winning MVP. He can't win both? I don't think he'll win both. I think win both? I don't think he'll win both. I think he'll get MVP. I think he'll get both.

If that's the way you feel. It's going to be. As I've said, I explained why he's offensive player of the year, why he's league MVP is, I mean, just look at what he did for this past year. He didn't win league MVP, but you could see once reporters took a much closer look at what was going on in that locker room, he wasn't just helping out with that offense. He was helping out with that entire franchise. One man walking into that Tampa Bay Buccaneers building transformed a losing now, now you go into the off season. You have all of these free agents. You expect, well, we're going to lose some.

Well, but hopefully they'll be close to as, to as good as they were. Maybe, maybe, maybe they'll match as good as they are, as they were because Tom Brady will be in his second year. They all came back and they all took discounts. They just, they wanted to play with Tom Brady. They bought in. They all love it there. They wanted to play with Tom Brady. They bought in. They all love it there. It's just a new culture there.

And that just – if that's not the meaning of MVP, most valuable player, then I don't know what is. I know nowadays it's like the best statistic, give it to the best player. Tom Brady might not only put up the best statistics, but he's also the actual most valuable player in this league. And I firmly believe he's going to win it this year. If not, he'll at least be a candidate. If some jackasses decide, let's go with the statistical great player. Let's go with the arm talent or. Let's go with the arm talent or something like that.

Or Patrick Mahomes. Some stiff who can't win Super Bowls. I wonder who that could be. Anyways, got anything else to say before we end the show? Nah. I'm happy my Ravens

signed Justin Houston. I believe that's another great potential edge rusher coming off to sack Joey Burrow because that line will not save him from us. But other than that, no, other than Superman will save the day for the Patriots as usual. No, it's going to be a bowl of mac and cheese. Mac Jones is going to lead that team to the playoffs. Is that the nickname you guys gave him, mac and cheese? I kind of like it. Or Mac City.

Mac City will work. Something like that. Something basic that I'm sure will just stick with him. They might go with both. He could have several nicknames, depending on how good he is. I mean, if he sucks, then he might have won he might have won i mean somehow i mean who knows somehow matt uh matt ryan got maddie ice for some stupid reason even though he's the worst when he's under pressure i don't know how he got that but that's fine i think they just like the like the way it sounds and they're like oh it's his quarter

it's our quarterback. He won league MVP, so let's give him Maddie. He had that name before then. He had that name before then. It's still stupid. It's still stupid. It's stupid. But anyways, I mean, one thought I have is, you know, this is our last episode before preseason starts. The last episode before an NFL game starts.

We're going to – football is back. Can you believe it, Justin? It's back. It feels just like Christmas. It's the most wonderful time of the year. It's going to be great. That's going to be – You know how I advertise our episodes and put some music under it?

For our last episode before the season starts? You're using that. That's what I'm using. That's what I'm using as an episode. As music. Alright. It's the most wonderful time. It's going to be amazing. Alright, anyways.

I'm going to have to end this right here. That will do it for us tonight. Thank you for listening to us. Make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel. Check us out on Spotify and Google Play. Also, be sure to follow our Instagram at fumblerooski underscore podcast to keep up with our podcasts and the latest coverage on the NFL. Otherwise, we will see you next week, over and out.

Bye-bye.