The Fumblerooski Podcast - Tackling The Problems -Ep 278 The Fumblerooski Podcast

Episode Date: June 11, 2024

Who are the top-5 linebackers headed into 2024? Is the AFC North division a race to who stays the most healthy? Adam Wright and CJ Medeiros debate these topics and more!

continuing our 2024 season preview with our player rankings top five linebackers and a preview of the afc north outlook i'm adam wright and you're listening to the fumble ruski podcast it may not have always showed it in the stat sheet but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns someone's gotta get that six or seven spot he's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. Truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. Welcome to the Fumble Rooski Podcast by Power 88 and Secret Weapon Consulting. I'm Adam Wright with CJ Medeiros.

We have a great show for you guys today. So we're going to do our continuation of the player rankings, our fourth annual player rankings, if you could believe it, with top five linebackers going into the 2024 NFL season, as well as a preview of the AFC North. How is that division going to stack up? This division preview I'm actually particularly excited for because it is widely regarded as the best

division in football for the past what five years maybe more than that basically somebody said the afc north is the hood of the of the nfl who said that i saw it in the comments section once and i'm like dude like their fan bases actually hate each other. Even if the team just straight up sucks like the Cleveland Browns, they just hate each other's guts. And it's actually insane. I hate the Bills. I hate Bills Mafia.

I respect them. I respect the rivalry. We build up our enemies so that when we beat them, it's more bragging rights. If you say this team sucks and then you brag about them after beating them well you just said they suck yeah what kind of a breath you know what kind of a brag is that i don't respect the jets i don't they they need to earn some respect but no that's why what's that i said the only reason i never liked the jets is just

because of rex ryan i was like I'm not going to kiss the rings. Like, oh, well, and look where that got you, bud. Yeah, but it was fun for a couple of years. They made back-to-back AFC championships. We went 14-2 in 2010, but it's nothing compared to the AFC North. Oh, my God. It's an unbelievable division, and we'll get to that soon, but we're going to start off with our next week of our player rankings,

which is the top five linebackers headed into 2024. Just to be clear, we're talking off-ball linebackers because we also do edge rushers. And a lot of the best edge rushers are technically listed as outside linebackers. Micah Parsons, most notably. There's a couple of... And hasn't Khalil Mack always been an outside linebacker as well?

For most purposes, yeah. Right. And you can even, if you want to talk about Aaron Donald, even though he's retired, I'm just talking about in years past, right? He's an interior lineman but you know you know what i'm saying like he's still like he's one of the best at getting to the quarterback so top five linebackers off ball cj kick us off so we're going through just five through one right yes okay good just want to make sure all right so i really had to stop and think about this right but my number five plays on the jets i

know what you're thinking oh cj mosley wrong it's quincy williams who i believe has earned the right to cast off the title as Quinnen Williams' brother. No, he's so much more than that. He's undersized for a linebacker at 5'11", 225 pounds, but oh my God, this man, 139 tackles, 95 of them being solo tackles, primarily playing off-ball with 15 tackles for loss, along with an interception, 10 passes broken broken up and a fumble recovery two sacks like this guy he's all he's only entering his sixth season and you know the sky's the limit

for him now that uh the jets should be firing all cylinders now that hopefully, for them at least, everybody stays healthy. Moving on to my number four is a guy who doesn't get talked about a lot, but we got to end that disrespect right now. It's Bobby Okereke of the New York Giants. Yeah, that's right. We're staying in MetLife Stadium. And this man had 149 tackles, 92 solo tackles, 11 tackles for loss, 6 QB hits, 2.5 sacks, 10 passes broken up, 2 interceptions, and 4 forced fumbles. And this is more impressive when you take it in consideration that he started all 17 games and played over like 95% of their snaps. This man just does not rest. And it's just the way he just conducts himself on the field is absolutely just scary for a lot of teams. And he has a missed tackle percentage below 10, which is also good.

And he just doesn't get enough respect. And we all know why right because he's on the giants right and you know and even when he was on the colts the colts were just kind of middling so you know that doesn't make sense and for one more thing i want to correct myself okara key played 100 percent of the defensive snaps for the giantsants last season. He was on the field every time they were on the field. That is, I don't know what to tell you. That's just great. So moving on to my number three is coming from the Baltimore Ravens, Roquan Smith. And I can already hear Justin Tucker fuming in the distance, but there's a method to my madness here.

So 158 tackles, right? That's good. But 84 solo tackles, which if you crunch the numbers, meaning that 74 were assists, that's darn near 50-50. You can't let that slide only five tackles for loss one and a half sacks you know and when you look at uh the fact that he's allowed like a 76 completion percentage as well and at 103 quarterback rating when targeted that's not great but on the flip side it is roquan smith and he is a top three linebacker and one thing that we do know for sure is that I actually think he's going to improve next season because he had a handcuff in Patrick Queen, did he not? Well, I got news for you. Patrick Queen is now suiting up for the Pittsburgh Steelers next season, and that puts more of the load on Roquan Smith, meaning that his numbers should react accordingly. Because once again, this is going into 2024. And all these guys, I think, should

stay at this level if not take a step up next season. Moving on to number two. this guy adam and i were talking off camera and this man is horrifically overrated and let's make right here at the time of this recording june 11th of 2024 the time where the disrespect stops foy oluokun or foysada are you saying under excuse me are you saying underrated or overrated? You said he's overrated. Yeah, no. Yeah, underrated. Okay. Foyalukun is horribly underrated. I don't know how they let this happen, but just look at this man's numbers. 173 tackles with 111 solo tackles, 10 QB hits, 8 tackles for loss, a forced fumble,

6 passes broken up, an interception, 2.5 sacks. This man is everywhere. And once again, he's just going to keep getting better. And his 111 solo tackles i might add leads the league and so many people leave him off their top five and uh it's disgraceful not to mention he allowed by the way i just want to point out the linebackers usually allow a high passer rating but he only allowed an 88 passer rating that's pretty good with quarterbacks completing under three hours of passes thrown at him so once again you got to give him some credit there and aluakun by the way jacksonville played a hundred percent of the snaps as well this man

is a machine and then we got number one and stop me if you've heard of this one before, but who else is it going to be other than Fred Warner? 132 tackles, A2 solo tackles, that's good and all. But this guy, this man, oh, it's the coverage ability. Four interceptions, four forced fumbles, 11 passes broken up, and two and a half sacks. He's just a leader. He came in sixth place for defensive player of the year,

first team all pro and a pro bowler. This guy just burst onto the scene and continues to just kick ass and take names. And once again, allowed a sub three quarters completion percentage when targeted. And quarterbacks only had a 76.6 passer rating when targeted him. He can tackle. He can apply pressure. He's got, like I said, six tackles for loss. He's got five QB hits.

And he's a ball hawk. He's everything you would want in a linebacker, and he has just earned the number one spot on my linebacker top five. Adam, what about you? I like your list. I really do. I thought you were going to hit me, to be honest. No, there's so many off-ball linebackers who don't get a lot of love because linebackers in general, especially the off-ball ones, they don't get a lot of credit because they're not the guys who get to the quarterback typically.

They're the guys who rack up the tackles. They can stop the run. They can make tackles for loss. They do a lot of important things, but they're more of an afterthought when we're talking about all the flashy abilities that some of these skill position players have. But linebackers, my top five that I have here, I'm going to round it out. I'm going to start with TJ Edwards.

Find yourself a linebacker who had a great year in a contract season and with that was with the philadelphia with the philadelphia eagles then he breaks the bank getting paid for the to play for the chicago bears goes and have has an even better season with the Bears. In a defensive system that was okay, they played better later in the season, but their offense wasn't keeping them off the field. That defense was getting exhausted week in, week out. And this kid still had a good season. And now the offense has become more fortified. It's gotten much better. That's going to make this defense a lot more well-rested. They have a really good surrounding defense now. This makes for a much better environment for TJ Edwards. He's been

among the best linebackers in the league. I wouldn't be surprised if we're talking about him higher than top five going into next year. After that, it's Foye, excuse me, not Foye. I'm going with Patrick Queen at number four. So Patrick Queen, he had an electric season and he's been pretty good. He's always been among the best linebackers in the league since he's been drafted by the Ravens. He's always been stuck in Roquan Smith's shadow since the Ravens have acquired him. But now he is not a Raven anymore.

He is now a Pittsburgh Steeler. And the Steelers have one of the better defensive systems in football. The Ravens did too, but now he's kind of alone. He's going to be racking up those tackles. The Steelers have historically been known for their defense. So this is a great system for Patrick Queen to continue his resurgence, whereas he's always been one of the best. He had a career year this past season, so I like Patrick Queen at number four. At number three, I kind of slightly pulled back the curtain by misspeaking. Yeah, Foy Asade Oloikun. This guy, so CJ, you put it very eloquently here he is one of the most criminally underrated

linebackers in the league and i think i think people talk more about devin lloyd than they do aloakan which is not fair because this guy if you don't even have to just look at the statistics. Give it the eye test. This guy has sideline to sideline speed. He can get to the quarterback. It doesn't show in the sacks, but it does show in the quarterback hits, in the tackles for loss.

It shows in the solo tackles. He doesn't miss. This guy does not miss. And Aloaka, he deserves his flowers. And I strongly believe he doesn't miss. This guy does not miss. And Aloaka, he deserves his flowers. And I think, I strongly believe he doesn't get them because he's playing for the Jacksonville Jaguars. And it sucks, but it looks like that's how it is. My number two is Roquan Smith. Roquan Smith at number two. So you had him at three i had him at two simply because he's the most reliable guy on this list here he doesn't get hurt he's always going to put up numbers

and he's a good leader so roquan smith at number two we know what he is going to give you week in and week out. And he can do pretty much all. He can do it all. Which brings me to number one. Another guy who is a Swiss Army knife, can do everything and also do it effectively. Fred Warner. This guy can not only get to the quarterback, he can also get the tackles. He's an incredible leader. and he can play in coverage. Get yourself a linebacker who can do it all.

This guy can do everything. Fred Warner has been unanimously, has been widely considered one of the best linebackers, if not the best linebacker in the league. He is the gold standard. That guy over in San Francisco, Fred the league he is the gold standard that guy over in san francisco fred warner he is my number one and i believe i had him as my number one last year if i'm not mistaken yeah um i'll have to go back and double check that but he at least made my top five he made my top three i'm pretty sure but we talk about linebackers off ball guys who

may not be these edge rushers who rack up double-digit tackles every year, but he still gets his flowers because he makes his presence known as an off-ball linebacker. And you are off-ball. You're an inside linebacker. It's in your name that your presence won't be felt. But Fred Warner does that. He does just that. And you talk about a guy who got paid a couple of years ago, who has continued to produce as if he is on a contract.

He is in a contract year. That's exactly what you want from a linebacker. So that's my top five. But I mean, we kind of had a lot of the same players in our top three, I would say. Yeah. You know, between Smith and Warner and Aluakun. Yeah. There. Aluakun is, he was going to be four for me but i mean like we said he's criminally underrated we can't do that to him yeah the disrespect has got to stop for him you know and uh uh just a quick note for the people listening at home linebackers are probably even more so than safety just the toughest position to rank just because as a linebacker, you're expected to have some sort of pass rush ability and some sort of coverage ability, some sort of ball hawking ability just to be a playmaker in general.

And well, that's tough when you have some guys that can do things better than others and just, it's just, it's a real just crap shoot. And it's a hard position to just see in statistics. Like, yeah, you get a lot of tackles, but what if those tackles are when they already gain 10 yards? Looking at you, Kenneth Murray. Right. Like, you're getting the tackles, but sometimes you just have to give it the eye test. I think the most annoying thing about football is in some players,

you just can't tell by statistics you have to kind of see them play and see how dominant they are just by the eye test because you just don't see it in the statistics but a lot of these players are just so they're so gifted that it does show in the in the stats like foyer aloakan this i mean with what he does it's actually insane um all right we're going to move on get to our afc north preview how is that division going to stack up there's going to be i mean any one of these teams can make the playoffs i don't think i'm exaggerating when i state that that's next you're listening to the fumble ruski podcast it may not have always showed it in the stat sheet but you can see him making throws when

he needs to make the throws back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns someone's gotta get that six or seven spot he's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. Truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. Welcome back to the Fumble Rooski podcast, Adam Wright with CJ Medeiros. So we are on to the AFC North in our division previews um so just going over this in a quick discussion um the ravens won the division last year how do we feel about them doing it again this year cj it's not out of the question but i think it's gonna be be tougher because look, Lamar Jackson, an MVP campaign, well-deserved MVP. But when you, and it's just the dynamics have changed because the Browns,

which we could probably argue could come in last place, had that weird Joe Flacco, Lynn sanity run, you know, and all of a sudden Flacco turned back the clock and was his 2012 self which you know nobody saw coming after they lost to sean watson and they did it without nick chubb as well which made it more impressive but the big headline was you know joe burrow who was widely considered a top three quarterback for the cincinnati bangles obviously went down right and as soon as they pulled the

plug on him it's like well there goes your season you know just like how it always tastes that one guy getting hurt to derail your season obviously it's a quarterback's gonna hurt 10 times more and that's another thing and then there's pittsburgh who you know they oh boy wave the flags they got their slightly above 500 record so good it's just you know we all we knew what they were and they were promptly shown the door as soon as they made it into the playoffs you know they're just another one and done because i guess that's the real standard isn't it mr tomlin but i just i feel like it's doable but it's going to be a lot tougher especially now that burrows back and healthy and pittsburgh improved because you went from baby hands picket to now russell wilson who can at least be capable and and they took your boy

and patrick queen as well on the defense defense. And then there's the Browns who maybe they get a game on you. I don't know. Yeah. The Ravens are an interesting one because they still have good talent. They lost some players and they also gained some. A lot of people are pointing at Patrick Queen, his loss being the most notable. But I think it's the fact that they lost so many pieces on that offensive line. And like, yes, they lost Patrick Queen, but they also gained some good

young pieces in the draft in their secondary. And they also managed to hold on to Justin Matabike, which is something that I think is more important than Patrick Queen, that inside presence who's able to get to the quarterback. That's rare. You don't see that very often from an inside, an interior defensive lineman. So the Ravens feel like that one team that is probably going to stay relatively the same, maybe take a little bit of a step back.

Because they also, like, yes, they lost a couple pieces, they gained some, but they still have Derrick Henry. They brought him in. And even with their losses on that offensive line, I still think that's a better offensive line than the Titans had. So Derrick Henry's in an improved situation where the Ravens, the other teams are going to be forced to respect both aspects of the game, through the air and through the ground,

which is something that Derrick Henry has not had the luxury of in quite a while. Um, the only thing is, I think the Bengals are a team that is the biggest threat right now to the Ravens. Um, as long as, as long as Joe Burrow is healthy, they have a chance. And Joe Burrow looks healthy. Let's hope that stays. We'll see if that stays the same way. But Joe Burrow looks healthy. And their offensive line has improved a lot more.

So I think that's a much bigger factor than losing your interior run stuffer and DJ reader. I think that's more important than losing your number three option in T, not T Higgins, Tyler Boyd. So that's the biggest threat. And I think the Steelers are honestly a slam dunk to finish last. The Cleveland Browns, I would call the wild card because that's a team where they have Deshaun Watson. Deshaun Watson is capable of doing much better than he has in

recent years. We know that. And they also have a pretty good roster. A good defense, mind you, as well. So that's a team I could see finishing close, closer to the top. They could also finish towards the bottom. So I'm not sure where the Browns will stack up, but I believe they'll be competitive. I think it's the Steelers that are the team that's, yeah, maybe they go nine and eight, but what does that mean in the, um, in this division? Nine and8 in the AFC North could be good for last place. So I think it's between the Bengals and the Ravens. I think it's between those two teams. I know the Bengals lost a couple players,

but they also gained some. And they kept the pieces that are important, that are the most important. So it's between those i just i feel like whether you like you know what the steelers did this offseason i think the browns are a wild card barring cataclysmic injuries again to Joe Burrow and then to Lamar Jackson, it's hard to justify the Steelers or the Browns winning the division, no? I mean, we all know this is like probably the most talented division. I mean, even the Browns and Steelers, you could say, are a wild card.

But we all know who the two favorites are to win. It's literally going to come down to Cincinnati and Baltimore. And I just, if you had to twist my arm and make me choose, I would probably say Cincinnati just because with Burrow coming back, you know, and you know, you at least get one more year of T Higgins.

You already have Jamar chase and you've you at least get one more year of t higgins you already have jamar chase and you've got that really exciting guy jermaine burton out of alabama who was like a third round pick but trust me he's not anyone to sleep on i assure you i like that not to mention you plugged up the offensive line with getting that big tackle from ge, Amarius Mims, and Trent Brown from New England, who should care now that he's on an actual contender. I mean, the defense did take a hit, but at the same time, the Ravens' defense, that also took a bit of a hit. And another reason why I would put them slightly over the Ravens is because Lamar just,

I mean, don't get me wrong. Zay Flowers is good, but the Ravens just don't really have weapons. If that makes sense. I mean, they have Mark Andrews, but, but you know, they don't have that game breaker like Jamar chase.

You know what I mean? Yeah. And. Romes didn't either though. Yeah. Okay. But Lamar Jackson isn't Patrick Mahomes. Now is he?

Could Lamar Jackson win a Superbowl. Now is he? Could Lamar Jackson win a Super Bowl with that Chiefs team, even with Kelsey? I don't think he could. Probably not. But he did lose Odell. I don't think he still has Aguilar. Well, addition by subtraction, but yeah. Kind of, yeah. So yeah, you have Zay Flowers and you have Mark Andrews. And I know Zay Flowers was a productive piece. I'm not saying he's not going to become better. All I'm saying is for what he was expected to be, if he stays the same, like the same level of productivity that he had last year for the rest of his career. I'd say he's a little, I wouldn't say a boss because he's still good. Little bit underperforming, I would say. 800 yards for a wide receiver of one, I don't think that's not good enough.

You need better. As a rookie, yeah, I get that. That's what I'm saying. If he ends up being better, if he ends up getting better from year one to year two, then that's fine. All I'm saying is if he stays the same, if he doesn't improve a little bit, that's a little troublesome, just a little bit, because they've been looking for that wide receiver one for years. They didn't get it in marquise brown yes they have rashad bateman but i don't know where to stand on him because he has

all the tools to succeed it's just he gets buried on the depth chart when he's not injured so he's okay the the biggest the biggest advantage is 367 yards had in the past couple of years over the Bengals is the offensive line. And now I'm not quite sure if it's any better. They lost Morgan Moses, and they also lost one of their guards as well. Yes, they lost one of their guards as well. And also, Ronnie Stanley can't stay healthy. Let's not forget that. He plays like eight games a year.

Exactly. Ronnie Stanley has a hard time staying healthy. And all they did during the draft was improve the defense. So I don't... Is it a hot take to suggest that the Ravens offensive line might be a little worse, just a little worse than the Bengals this year? No, it's really not. Personnel-wise, the Bengals have had good personnel

on the offensive line the past couple of years, and it is severely underperformed it has been bad but if they play up to snuff which is a big if which is a big if they should be a better offensive line than the better offensive line than the ravens have they The Ravens have. They don't have a right tackle right now. Yeah, no, no, they really don't. And when you look at the Ravens draft class, right, it was just, it was okay. They drafted, correct me if I'm wrong. Okay, here we go. drafted uh yeah i was gonna say nate wiggins the clemson corner in the first round that's good right uh then they took offensive

tackle roger rosengarten with the with their second round pick which once again that's good but i felt like round two was a little high for Rosengarten. Round three was edge rusher Adisa Isaac from Penn State, which, okay. Then round four, Devontae Walker, wide receiver, North Carolina. He's one of those guys that if he hits, he's going to be like a perennial 1,000-yard guy. But, oh, there's a lot of risk there too and then they also took tj tampa another corner in the first round good steal running back rachina lee round five which let's face it for some reason they actually i do know why because they're always going to need running backs because none of their running backs stay healthy i don't know if they're

cursed or whatever but have you noticed that team just chews through running backs like it's nothing? I don't know how or why that is, but whatever. Then round six, they got Devin Leary, a quarterback from Kentucky, non-factor. Round seven, center Nick Samick from Michigan State, once again, non-factor. And then round seven, safety, I think it's Sanosi cane from purdue who i don't see him starting so once again just that draft it was don't get me wrong it was overall a decent class but for all the wrong positions and even the positions like of need like tackle they reached on and they waited way too long to address receiver so i don't know

okay so what's your give me real quick quick answer before we before we conclude the show who's winning the division probably cincinnati barring like another injury but if we predict injuries injuries, then why even bother, you know? I want to pick Cincinnati, but I'm going to go a different answer with you than you. I'm going to go the Ravens. I think the Ravens, they didn't lose enough to lose the division. And to say, yeah, if Joe Burrow stays healthy, it's a reasonably big if.

And, yeah, Lamar Jackson. Lamar's a reasonably big if. And yeah, Lamar Jackson has a – Lamar's a reasonably big if as well. Lamar – yes. But I think Lamar Jackson has a better – probably the best rushing offense that he's ever had. And also, I think he hasn't had, I feel like Lamar's injury issues haven't been as bad as Burrow's. When Burrow gets hurt, it's a season-ending injury. When Lamar is out, he's out a few games and then he's back.

Well, really though, because like not this season, but the two seasons before last, he gets hurt. And then, then it's like, oh, he's going to come back. Then he never does. Right. And the media plays this big game of will he, won't he come back? And then what happens? He never does. And I can set my watch to them petering out and either missing the playoffs or just complete or just making it and then getting shown the door right so if that ends up happening then it ends up happening but it's hard to just predict injuries and to predict this division is kind of hinges on on health will it be lamar jackson or will it be jo Burrow? Or they both stay healthy and this is a division battle.

Let's play that game, actually. I hope. If both are healthy, which one has the advantage here? If both stay completely healthy, I'm tilting, tilting towards Cincinnati. I'm tilting Baltimore. I think when Lamar Jackson is healthy, he has a hard time losing to the Bengals. So I'll go with them. Yeah, me too, probably.

It's a tough one because when they're both at their best, it is a good rivalry. Just as we said, as these division rivalries are in the AFC North, they are always 0 to 100. It's either 0 or 100. There's no in between. All right. That's all the scheduled content we have for today.

But do you have any other thoughts before we end the show today? No, I don't. Yeah. Well, that's probably our best division preview. I'd say that's a pretty solid division. I think we can how many of these divisions can we actually say that one of them that all of them could finish above 500 um there's not many that you can say that in fact how many maybe the south um yeah that's kind of it isn't it maybe if the chips align and the stars align

the chips fall well perhaps the nfc west you know depending on how big of a step the cardinals take because they improved and you know it's not like kyler's a bum but we'll see. Maybe. I guess that's a massive maybe. Yeah, sure. Yeah. Maybe the Cardinals. Yeah. Everything else, I don't know. The AFC North feels

like it's almost likely that they all finish above 500. Well, that'll do it for us tonight. Thank you for listening to us. We have new episodes out on Tuesdays at 7.30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. We have all our episodes available on Spotify, Spreaker, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Google Podcasts, and so much more.

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