The Fumblerooski Podcast - The Winning Edge -Ep 365 The Fumblerooski Podcast

Episode Date: June 3, 2025

On this episode, Patriots WR Stefon Diggs is in some hot water with a video surfacing of him on a boat with some IG models. He did show up to OTAs on Monday, however, not without rumours circulating he could be getting cut. Would this be a good move for the Patriots? Along with this, Chris Costich and CJ Medeiros preview the AFC West and their Top 5 Edge Rushers heading into the 2025 season.

On today's episode of the Fumbaruski Podcast, is Miles Garrett still the best defensive and edge rusher in the league? Where do guys like Trey Hendrickson and TJ Watfall? Are the Chiefs going to win their 10th straight AFC West title? Find out next. You're listening to the Fumbarooski Podcast. It may not have always showed it in the staff sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws. Back to back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's gotta get that six or seven spot.

He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. Truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. This is the Fumbarooski Podcast by Powerade8, Dean Radio, and Secret Weapon Consulting. scenario for both sides. This is the Full Marushka Podcast by Powerade18, Dean Radio and Secret Weapon Consulting, ECJ Medeiros. I'm Chris Kostich. Got a good one lined up for you today. Gonna do a preview of the AFC West, the final division in AFC that we have yet to talk about for our offseason coverage

this summer and then we'll also be giving our top five edge rushers going into the 2025 season but first news around the league our producer Adam Wright wanted to say this was a local more local story, which makes sense, you know, we're We're Pat we're Pat's fans like so it makes sense that he would say that anyways Stefan digs in some hot water right now on a boat with some Instagram models Instagram models calling them calling him daddy models, Instagram models, calling them daddy, also some sort of pink substance in a water bottle, respect that they're calling them daddy. Good for him, I guess.

There's your pop culture take for one second, this wide receiver that the Pats really needed, signed him to a three year $69 million deal in March. Now, this really didn't start to get off the rocker until Friday, which happy belated birthday, CJ. Wanted to throw that out there for the show. Birthday was on Friday. Now you're 24, right? Yeah. 23. 23. Oh, my baby boy, the Jordanian. But so Friday, unfortunately, CJ didn't get a good birthday present from Scott Zolak. Zo reportedly said going into their show Bertrand and Zo in the morning on 98.5, Zo went into the show basically having the knowledge that there is the possibility that Stefan Diggs could be getting cut and that it is very much on the table. Uh, a little bit shocking, but you know, at the same time, when

you really think about it, it says a massive leverage play by the Patriots. The whole, I mean, the whole contract that they have with digs is a massive leverage play in itself. Any, you know, this whole thing with digs could have went completely off the rails. Patriots cut him, he gets no money. If he gets cut at any point, he doesn't get a single dime of that $69 million contract, which 26 million is also guaranteed as well, but he would still not be getting any of it because of the stipulations in that contract.

CJ, you were telling me you had a rant, so I'll let you take the floor before I give my official opinion on it. Awesome. Thank you. So yeah, I do. I have some thoughts on this. There have been some people, not just in New England circles, but across the league. I mean, you look on Instagram, you'll have all these sports pages saying, you know, digs is a locker room distraction New England should cut him. It's not what Drake may needs. He doesn't need that bad press. You know, it's bad for the locker room It's a bad look on variable to keep them around My counterpoint is for the love of God just shut up

How big of a deal is this really and even though Scott Zolak say he was a cut candidate famous hack from Boston Felger from a fulgur and mad fame, you know one of those he's a shock jockey, you know misinformation peddler Greg Badaard tore him a new one over his take saying about how digs probably shouldn't be cut. Or Badaard said that, and he basically said to Felga, dude, just do your job.

Very funny. Shout out Greg Badaard, he's a real one for that. But, but I wanna make something abundantly clear. Is it really a big deal? Oh my God, he was on a boat with some models and some pig substance that no one knows who it is. Okay, and? So here's the thing. Let's just say they do cut them. What kind of message does that send Drake May?

Your career isn't as important as our morals? Because that's what I'm hearing. It's like, yeah, well sure you're just going to be throwing to plumbers and garbage men again, but hey, at least we've got a good media image Like yeah, have fun throwing to nothing. It's like seriously see New England has what I call an easy come easy go mentality for wide receivers They they have no qualms of letting someone talented walk because they don't suffer divas and on one hand I do respect that but on the other hand the choir boy wide receiver, you know these I have no qualms with letting someone talented walk because they don't suffer divas and on

one hand, I do respect that but on the other hand, the choir boy wide receiver, you know, these unproblematic guys, you know, like Larry Fitzgerald, Doug Baldwin, AJ Green, Julian Edelman, those guys are gone. Oh, we got breaking news here.

RONALD ARBY is retiring. Yeah, you once won a Super Bowl as a depth piece with Philly. Thank you, Adam for that. Adam, to be able to tell us that. I'm not sure if you're going to be able to tell us that. I'm not sure if you're going to be able to tell us that. I'm not sure if you're going to be able to tell us that. I'm not sure if

you're going to be able to tell us that. I'm not sure if you're going to be able to tell us that. I'm not sure if you're going to be able to tell us that. I'm not sure if you're going to be So here's the other thing, right? Like I said, the choir boy wide receiver is gone and every receiver now is gonna be a little bit of a diva. And when you have this new angle mentality of no, or I'm going to pass up on like elite talent,

be it in the draft or be it in free agency due to character concerns or care I use that term loosely Then do you really want to win? I mean you can't tell drake may we're committed to helping you and then take away What would be his wide receiver one because this is the first time you have at least in name only a legitimate wide receiver one Or any semblance of a wide receiver one since Julian Edelman was last healthy in 2019. I know some people say Edelman is not a wide receiver one, but these people are not worth their salt and we can debate this later. But still he was a one back in

2019. CJ I'll go a step further on that and they haven't gotten a like big name wide receiver one since Randy Moss like actually went out and got one because Edelman. I mean, I've gotten a like big Randy Moss and Antonio Brown and Brown. That's like a whole thing that's different but I guess I mean, look, I've been told I've been, you know, I was just told that Adam things cooks as a headliner. I don't care. I mean, at the time, he was. Yeah. Like he's but like I

don't really, I don't think. I genuinely don't I'm sorry like that's true and if you are still looking for a choir boy to be your wide receiver one Then I got news for you. You're gonna suck and I guess at the end of the day. Here's the real rant part. It's all a matter of comparison. It really is Because there's something I want to make abundantly clear If this stephan digs Then like was it cardi b was there too on a boat with some models. He is reportedly dating Cardi B.

Yes. If that is your biggest problem, Stefan Diggs on a boat with some models and some weird substance, then honestly you're doing pretty good. Cause here's the thing. When I say it's all matter of comparison, I mean it. For example, another wide receiver, take Tyreek Hill. Would you

rather have him? He's beating his girlfriends. He's beating his kids. And, but oh no, Stephon Dins is on a boat with some models. Really? You have child beaters. You have wife beaters in this league. You have people like Rashi Rice who caused serious car accidents and flee the scene. Some people might say it's a whataboutism. I mean, I know, like some people say, oh, it's whataboutism. I get it. But those people, I just want to say congratulations on using that word you learned yesterday. You know? And some people are like, oh, it's different. Well, no, it's not. My point is you have all these people doing horrible things and digs

Now gets under scrutiny for this. Oh, yeah, but hey, let's forgive Tyree kill cuz did you hear about Tyree kill? He said oh, I'm going to church. I'm going to therapy sir. There's no therapist I can save you you're going to hell the end. I just helped you Tyree kill, you know and or or Here's where it gets better You know, and or or here's where it gets better You know sure Stefan Diggs is bad. That's what they say, but but what about people like to Shawn Watson? you have a rapist getting a fully guaranteed contract and And people want the Patriots to cut Stefan Diggs you You have wife beaters, you have child beaters.

You have rapists, allegedly. And you've got people like Rishi Rice who meanlessly endanger people. But no, no, no, no, I'm sorry. Mike Rable has got to rise above it. And this is something where I could see him saying, hey, we're human, we make mistakes. Everybody gets one. In the words of Spider-Man from Family Guy, everybody gets one.

And if I'm going to Dix, I'm saying, hey, man, you've used your one screw up awfully early. And let's be real. Mike Raible, let's talk about his mentality. He's a he's an alpha dog So would say he's a lion and if you're a lion, you gotta look past things the lion doesn't care About women on a boat. The lion does not care about pig substances So it's one of those things where it's just noise. You can tell people like Scott Zolak and Felger. That's great but The lion doesn't care. And then like I said, when you have people like Tyree Kill, the Sean Watson's still on a roster, I don't think Stephon Diggs is much of a problem,

especially if you're as serious towards helping Drake May as you think you are. Keep Stephon Diggs in New England. Look Look if we're gonna talk about players doing coke that's been a problem in the NFL since it's very killer Let's let's be real about that. So you're anyways, um Look, I think that this whole thing really comes down to the fact like Mike variable bit Basically said it himself like as long as he's making good decisions like whatever. I think the biggest mistake here is that digs

let himself get videotaped and let that get posted online. That's the biggest mistake. Other than that, I don't really think that many people give a damn what these athletes do outside of outside of work essentially outside of work essentially. Outside of work. I mean, this is like really heinous, but this isn't really the deal. Everything that I've seen on X has been Patriots fans being, that's my wide receiver one, that's what I wanna see.

Wide receiver one's divas, that's what's gonna happen. Like the only thing that I see wrong, like I said, the only thing that I see wrong, and I'm sure Mike Rabel sees wrong, is I said, the only thing that I see wrong and I'm sure Mike Rabel sees wrong is that dig, like he's a player, he gets it. You want to have some fun. Like the only thing he did wrong was get videotapes and let that get out to the internet. That's the probably the biggest thing that is that went wrong here.

I think everyone can agree with that. And CJ, I agree with everything that you said as well. It would just be stupid to cut them at this point. Yeah, you save $69 million, but like, you need a wide receiver one. It's you need something for Drake May. Yeah, you certainly do. And before we move on, I do want to mention, like I said about New England's easy come, easy go mentality. Yeah, you'll let them go all the time, but getting them to come in the building, pause, is, has been a challenge.

And I don't want to look too far ahead into the future, but just remember if you cut Stephon Diggs next year's wide receiver class in the draft is going to be abysmal. Tread carefully, Patriots. Yeah. I do want to just mention that Diggs was at OTAs today, just made it his parents today. So, you know, it probably was Mike Vrabel strong arming him, giving it, like you said, CJ, probably giving him that, you know, you get one screw up and don't do it again type of thing. So it's a great time to be honest.

But real quickly on some other NFL news that we'll touch on real quick, just a brief mention. Obviously, we, as we mentioned, probably like five, 10 minutes ago, Ronald Darby, informing the Texans that he's retiring from the NFL, uh, lions Pro Bowl center, Frank Ragnow announcing on Instagram that he's retiring from the NFL. Um, and I think the lions of course were set up for that as well. Right. Uh, especially with the mood that they made to replace him, uh, in a guy in, uh, uh, grand Glasgow.

So, yeah. Oh, Tate Radlich. Sorry. My apologies. Tate Radlich. Thank you, Adam. So yeah, that is all the NFL news that we have for you today. Unless anything, unless any other players frickin decide to retire in the next two seconds or if Jalen Ramsey or and Rogers wants to make a move but uh We're gonna move on when we come back We're gonna get into our AFC West preview or the Chiefs gonna win the division for the tenth year in a row. I Guess we'll talk about it You're listening to the Fumbarooski podcast I guess we'll talk about it. You're listening to the Fumbaruski Podcast.

It may not have always showed it in the staff sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws. Back to back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's got to get that six or seven spot. He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. Truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. You're listening to the Fulmaruski Podcast. Curtis Kostich, E.C.J.

Medeiros. Moving into the AFC West. If you've been listening the last few weeks, I'm going to do the same thing. I'm going to go bottom to top in terms of talking about these teams. But real quick, Chiefs, in terms of last year chiefs, of course Winning the division getting the number one overall seed at 15 and to somehow some way 15 and to number one see making it to the Super Bowl and losing to the Eagles 40 to 22

The Chargers 11 and 6 finished in second place, losing in the wild card round to the Houston Texans in a pretty bad Justin Herbert performance, but we'll talk about Justin Herbert more down the line. Denver Broncos shocking the entire league. They finished in third, but only a game back from the Chargers going 10 and 7. And you know, three and three in the division, pretty well done for them. And of course, keeping home field advantage at six and two, loss of the bills in the wildcard round. And defense, man. Defense, defense, defense. Does that make a difference? The Raiders finishing in last place at four and 13,

firing Antonio Pierce, hiring Pete Carroll, and that's where we'll start with here. Getting the sixth overall pick and drafting, pardon me, drafting Ashton Jeanty at running back. As mentioned, they got Pete Carroll as their head coach. Then they traded for Gino Smith to be the quarterback. Making some big moves out there. And of course you got Brock Bowers as your tight end.

Ashton Jeanty, hopefully going to bring some life to a running game that was at the bottom of the league last year now the only real problem is that you don't have much of Anything else outside of that you one of the bigger moves that you made was bolting up the offensive line and getting Alex Capa to play right East kernel listed as the Number one right guard for the Raiders right now on the depth chart He's currently listed as the number one right guard for the Raiders right now on the depth chart. So they were somewhat active in the off season and also extending Max Crosby as well.

I'm pretty sure. Right. Yeah, I believe so. Yeah. Yes. Yes, he was. I think it was want to say beginning of March or early or late February, and he held it, and he held the highest who is, what was it?

Highest paid defensive player, highest paid non-coord back in the league, and then held it for like one week before Miles Gara took it. Yep. So, like I said, Raiders making some big moves. I don't really see them doing a whole lot still this year. Like better, I could see them doing better.

Like I said, probably going to have a much more revitalized run game. I could see them probably at the very least being middle of the pack, maybe not dead last or at like bottom five, but I could see it being better. And I have high hopes in general because you do have Pete Carroll and Gino Smith teaming up again. And seeing how it went in Seattle, I could see similar things in Vegas, but you know, also two very different teams at that point as well.

Pardon me again, sorry. Either way, regardless of all that, having Pete Carroll as your head coach is a huge step up. Proving guy over in Seattle winning a Super Bowl, countless number of playoff appearances as well. I still don't see him getting out of last place though. There's just too much going on in the AFC West. I say that they get themselves up to seven wins though and win more than no divisional games. Maybe they got a sneaky upset on a couple on like each

team and each games at home type of thing. So CJ, what is your go about on the Raiders? I don't think the Raiders are built to compete and I think that was by design. I believe I said something higher P. Carol and sign Geno Smith. This isn't a team that wants to compete for a Super Bowl. This is a large part a team that I wouldn't say settled for, but a team that normally went after placeholders.

Because you know Geno Smith and Pete Carroll are not going to be there in the long term. No. So this is a team that after coming off the disaster, Shosh with coaching tenure and Antonio Pierce making business decisions. This is a team that's not striving for Super Bowl, but rather normalcy, just lying to steer the ship into calmer waters for lack of any better terminology. Trying to steer them to not be one of the butt of the jokes of the league. I mean, you want to go from, I mean, look, average is still going to be tough to achieve,

but you just don't want to be a dumpster fire anymore. And I respect that. And getting Ashton Gentry, I think is going to help as well. So all the pressure isn't on Geno Smith and Gentie can make something out of nothing. And I really do like that. They did have unfortunately that four and 13 record which allowed them to get Gentie at six, but I can see them improving.

I would be shocked they stayed as bad as they were because you no longer have to deal with Aidan O'Connell at quarterback. So that in and of itself is a step up. Max Crosby is no longer disgruntled, so you don't have that hanging over you. And Geno Smith should pair well with guys like Jacoby Myers and Brock Bowers,

who's looking to take that next step. Even though he took a massive step his rookie year. The only issue that I can think of for the Raiders is what's going on with Colton Miller. And he might be traded, he might be unhappy, he might not be, I don't know. Yeah, either way, this is just a bridge for the next couple years, really. Don't expect much out of the Raiders this season. What you can't expect much out of is the Broncos finished as mentioned finished 10 and 7 last year wildcard loss to the bills.

What showed a lot of promise and Sean Payne offense, it's a very complicated offense. And it seems Boat Next has been able to cycle himself around that and be a very good quarterback. Now here's the other thing that a lot of people brought up as well. Like Boat Next had some good quarterback play, but when you look at the offensive analytics of everything, the real difference maker was the defense. The defense was top five in almost every single category last season. Especially when you look at the deeper analytics as well. The main difference was the defense, and you could tell in that playoff game as well against the Bills, that the defense had the perfect game plan.

But they're going up against Josh fucking Allen MVP Josh Allen but either way this was a Season to be proud of first winning season since 2015 and what did they do after that? Well in draft terms, they didn't really do a ton It was a little interesting. CJ, what is your makeup of the Broncos? You may remember if you've been watching the show for a bit how last season I was one of those people that wasn't necessarily high on Denver.

And frankly, them getting knocked around in the playoffs really didn't shock me all that much He Yeah, and I don't get me wrong Bo Nicks Opened the game hot but oh he fizzled out and fast So as a whole I think with Sean Payton As a whole, I think with Sean Payton commanding the way, Knicks should improve, keyword is should. But Denver doesn't strike me as a team that took any great leaps.

I mean, don't get me wrong, their defense I think is going to go from great to whatever the hell's after great because they grabbed Talano, Hufanga, Andre Greenlaw from the 49ers. So that's gonna make them be more dangerous. You pair that up with guys like Pat Sertan. And yeah, that's just something really to hang your hat on.

But my issue with Denver is, let's be real, Bo Nix is kind of a schedule merchant. Denver had a really easy schedule. He wailed on really bad teams but would routinely get smacked around by contenders as evidenced by the playoffs. And now that Denver, I would say I don't really know what to make of their schedule this year but now it's a little tougher. I think this is a good test for Bo Nix. And while I'm still a little skeptical, Bo Nix and well, I'm still a little skeptical I

Do I my views on him have softened a bit and I definitely think he can I I definitely see him improving is all say yeah I'm seeing a big Bo Nix improvement here as well Hopefully we can see Cortland's son really explode onto the scene as well. Hopefully we can see Cortlandt's sign really explode onto the scene as well. Uh, this season I I've been high on Cortlandt's sign. I really want him to blow up. Um, this gotta be the year. It's gotta be the year. If this isn't the year, then all is lost for him. In my opinion. Probably. Yeah. Um, in terms of how they're gonna do this season, uh, I'd say it's 10 and 7 is pretty safe again.

I wouldn't be surprised if they ended with the same record that they had last year and maybe hanging around that two and three spot because as we mentioned, Chargers were only a game up on the division against Denver at 11 and 6 record in Denver being at 10 and 7 So it can eat very easily be the opposite way here Yeah, that was really Insane you know that turnaround for Denver They've admired in misery for so long and they finally take a swing on a quarterback in the top 15 and hey, what do you know? It turns out that's all the difference.

Well, that and an actually good coach because as you see, first winning season since 2015. The last time the Broncos won a playoff game was literally the Super Bowl and you got to see Peyton Manning ride off into a sunset. And for Denver, I think now this is really where the rubber meets the road. This is going to be the real test because a lot of the people, for a lot of the takes about Bo Nicks

being a schedule merchant, I don't really, I mean, as much as my views soften on him, I kind of want to admit it. That's still, I feel like it's accurate. Like I said, whenever he played against a contender, he got smacked around. That's something that I want to see more. I want to see him beat contenders.

And not one of those moral victories where, oh, you showed you can hang with them. No, I don't want you to hang with a good team. I want you to win. So I feel like he has the ability to do that and if he doesn't well we'll cross the bridge when we come to it I think he should be fine. Yeah I concur. Moving on to the Chargers 11-6 record last year. Lost to the Texans in the wild card round and Justin Herbert

Boy, I love Justin Herbert. I really do a lot of people Started to write him off after that playoff loss and for good reason for good reason. He did not have a good game that That is very very safe to say The shocking part is that this is only his second playoff. That was only his second playoff game that he has ever played in. The first one being the, infamous 24 point blown lead that they gave up to the

Jaguars in the wild card round of the 22 season. Ooh, bad, bad, bad, bad. They gave up to the Jaguars in the wild card round of the 22 season whoo bad bad bad bad Now I gives Herbert some Not as much flack for that game This game I'll give him some flack, but I don't think we can write him off completely just yet off completely just yet. Uh, like he played a pretty solid season. The numbers don't show it, but he had a solid season, 23 touchdowns,

three interceptions, uh, 3,800 yards. But that was mainly because of the type of offense that Jim Harbaugh was running and for good reason, because Herbert didn't really have. Many receivers outside of lad McConkney Over the off season now you pick up nazi harris you get mike williams back because why not? So you're looking to You're looking to pick it up, especially with joel as one of your tackles who had an insane rookie season So expect him to be a top five offense tackle this coming season.

If he can perform and perform the same way. Um, the real X factor in this whole thing from last season, that was Jim Harbaugh easily going from the five and 12 record in 2023 to go on 11 and six and making the playoffs the next year. It's incredible. It's incredible. And the trends show that the Chargers are probably going to make the Superbowl this year because that's just what Jim Harbaugh does.

I could see them doing another 11 and six season. What were some other moves that the Chargers made? I'm blanking on them right now, CJ. Well, that is the issue. That's something that I didn't actually want to address the the Chargers. the most noteworthy guy they brought in

was Steelers cast off Najee Harris. You know the guy who will get you a thousand yards but on like three yards a carry one of the one of if not the most probably the least efficient back in the entire NFL and Beyond that it's Kind of shocking because the Chargers. I'm sure you recall Chris were swimming in cap space they had I believe they were top five

and they just didn't spend. They were teased with a big spending spree. They were a new sexy team with a good coach and a great quarterback. And they just kinda, they played it conservative. They didn't really add anything for Herbert, which in my eyes was the exact wrong thing to do. I mean, I think all they did outside of Harris was I believe they grabbed Mackay Bekden. But that's not going to make you a contender. I mean, he's a good guard, but who does Herbert have to throw to?

I mean there's really nobody there. That's my problem. I mean that's really the issue here is that there's nobody there that Herbert has to throw to. I mean it's, that's literally it. That's everything. It's like, I mean, look, Lab Macconkey is good, but I mean, I'm still waiting for him to, you know, I mean, I said, I was still waiting, like he's not entering his second year, but I would admittedly be surprised if he became like a top five receiver in the league. And this might be a take that might get me

in some trouble with some people, but I really don't care. We gotta have a conversation about Justin Herbert. I'm tired of the excuses. Cause do you wanna know the Justin Herbert motto? If, I mean, you've seen the joke, people are treating him like a superhero, if man, because it's never his fault. If he had better receivers, if he had better coaching, if he had a better line, if the defense was better,

then what? Like seriously, like if, if, if, I'm tired of if. No, there's no more ifs. This is on Herbert now Yeah Looking at like some of the other things that the Chargers could be doing right now too is they could be resigning JK Dobbins They could be resigning a Santa Samuel j Jr. Yeah, we love that. No, and 26 minutes ago, according to Sports Illustrated, Chargers projected $45 million free agents predicted to stay in L.A.

But with the Rams. So throw that out the window, but the Chargers did also grab Dante Jackson and free agency as well. From the Steelers last year had five interceptions. So not a bad corner to have in case you officially do move on from Asante Samuel Jr. And we've mentioned this a few times. We probably won't see any official wording on him until he gets done with whatever physical he's supposed to have. Pretty sure this month actually.

Moving on to the Super Bowl runner up, the Kansas City Chiefs. 15-2 record last year. Lost in the Super Bowl to the Eagles. Ended up having the first overall seed in the AFC playoffs. Beat the Bills in the AFC Championship game. Beat the Texans in the divisional round. Chiefs sneakily the Texans and Bills daddies. No one talks much about how much they beat up on the Texans, well, the Bills are just so much more heartbreaking.

Chiefs have won the AFC West nine years in a row. Josh Simmons, one of their big off-season signings. Oh, baby, oh, baby. Draft pick, sorry, but either way, a great addition. You're getting Isaiah Pacheco back or getting Rashi Rice back. You're gonna have Hollywood Brown for a whole season, for a full season.

That's huge. Probably your biggest loss was, what's his face? Joe Tooney. That's probably your biggest loss. Yeah, I would say so. Man, the Chiefs are one of those teams where as long as they have Mahomes, they'll be good, but they've kind of been stagnant for the last few years.

The roster continues to regress. I mean, sure you have a full season for Shea Rice, but what does that mean for Xavier Worthy? Now Worthy, some would say caught fire at the end of the year, but is it me or does he or for a guy that fast he has trouble getting open. Whenever I saw him catch the ball, the ball had to be schemed into his hands. If you have to be schemed open and you can't just get open naturally, then you're not a wide receiver one. I don't understand someone that fast needs to have plays designed for them instead of just finding the ball naturally.

You might as well just wear like number zero and call yourself a scat back at that point. Yeah, I agree. And Kelsey is getting worse. I mean these past two seasons now that his big claim to fame of a thousand yards every year is gone. I can say that he's probably played himself out of that top three conversation. He's not or for tight ends at least he's not nearly what he was and Chris Jones getting up there in age. They're locked into some less than ideal contracts, but it really doesn't matter because as long as they have my homes, they're going to be a threat but when you see how all these other AFC teams really started beefing up then The roads I just think the roads gonna be a lot harder for him

100% I don't see them winning 15 games again this season And if they do they're selling the soul to Taylor Swift or something like that. I don't know I don't know what it is But that's like the only thing that I can think of at this rate besides just saying the league is rigged, right? It's kind of like the Pacers they did some sort of freaking voodoo devil magic to get themselves to the finals or something I don't even know possibly but uh Yeah, like I said, don't see the Chiefs winning 15 games again this year. I I see them winning like cool 11 12 games Yeah, it's all games And they're probably gonna sneak their way into the AFC championship game because it's Patrick Holmes Like that's how it is every single season. Now I think we're gonna probably see more of an emergence from some of these guys as well. Like

you have an extremely fast wide receiver core again, right? Shee Rice, no pun intended, Xavier Worthy, Hollywood Brown. Very fast wide receiver course. So he probably gonna have a lot of fun again with, expect a lot of misdirection stuff. That's probably what I would say. If you're wondering what the Chiefs probably gonna do this year. Think of 2018, 2019, maybe even heighten that. Yeah, when you look at how the Chiefs are built,

they're definitely gonna be a team that I think is gonna rely a lot on gadget plays, kinda like when Mahomes first started out and how they had to rely on trickery rather than outright outplaying them, their opponents. I feel like Andy Reid's really gonna have to go deep into his bag and rely more on gimmicks than on an actual like scheme you know yeah 100% either way I like I said

still have him winning the division at absolutely let's call it 12 wins officially 12 wins. Yeah, I can see 12. Yeah. That is the AFC West preview. We're going to take a quick break when we come back. We're going to give our top five edge rushers going into the 2025 season. It may not have always showed it in the staff sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws. Back to back games where he has three touchdowns.

Someone's got to get that six or seven spot he's an elite wide receiver as a rookie truly a lose lose scenario for both sides welcome back to the fumbarooski podcast he's cj i'm chris top five edge rushers player rankings uh fourth set of player rankings we've done this season and started out with safeties once a linebackers got done with cornerbacks last week and Well now we have Two more or whatever we doing the defensive tackles to next week, right? No. No just edge rushers. Okay, I Keep getting the schedule mixed up in my head but uh

Well, if you've been listening in the past if you haven't already CJ You can go first. Ah Thank you, Chris. You are very generous so Uh, kicking us off for my number five. Oh boy, Trey Hendrickson. Now, this man is a nightmare for defenses and the probably the only good defensive player left in Cincinnati. 17 and a half sacks leading the league last season. 46 combined tackles, 33 of them being solo, 36 QB hits as well.

First team all pro, six passes knocked down the line, two forced fumbles. Now, I'm sure you're thinking, oh, but CJ, that's amazing. Why isn't he higher? Well, I'm glad you asked. Maybe you did, maybe you didn't. I don't know, let's just pretend you did. So he's 30 and come, I believe, December,

he's going to be 31. That's usually, at least for a lot of these more physical positions where we tend to see a tiny bit of a decline. And I'm just gonna come out and say it. I don't know if he's gonna play that much this year. Now, unless you've been living under a rock, football speaking, you probably know that he and the Bengals have reached a stalemate for his contract. In fact, he's willing to sit

out the entire season if he's not traded. Or at least they't, or at least if they don't give him what he wants. So the only reason I have him at five is out of respect for his abilities, but I just flat out don't know if he's gonna play. That's the only reason why I have him at five. You probably argue him down to like two or three, but there's a very real and very likely chance he won't play. At bare minimum, he's going to miss some time

because both sides are pretty dug in. The Bengals are ruining everything again. And Hendrickson's had enough. This is a classic case of the Bengals taking a page out of Dallas Cowboys playbook, where they just wait too long and the market dictates them. So moving on to number four, I feel weird putting him there just because of his injury,

but Aiden Hutchinson, he only played five games last year, so I felt weird putting him top five, but he had 19 total tackles across five games. Here's the crazy thing, still across five games. Seven and a half sacks, seven tackles for loss, and 17 quarterback hits across five games. Yeah, that's worth being top five.

And I know what you're thinking. Oh, but CJ, you didn't put, you know, you didn't put a Jai Alexander in your top five for corners due to injuries. Well here's the thing. That was Hutchinson's third season in the league. And he played an entire 17 games as freshman and sophomore seasons in the NFL as it were, or as rookie and sophomore seasons. But now, so this injury could very well be an exception

and not the rule. Whereas Richaier Alexander, that was the rule. He is, he's, you're only gonna get six to seven games out of him a year. So Hutchinson, yeah I definitely think he is worthy of being top five. Cluthy's a full go for the start of next season. He was an early season injury, which means he's gonna be ready for week one So yeah, I cannot wait so moving on to my number three

Micah Parsons This man is a pure pass rusher 43 combined tackles 12 tackles for loss, 23 QB hits, and 12 sacks along with two force fumbles to boo. And when it comes to just being a pure pass rusher, look no further than Michael Parsons. The only ding on him is that he can't do anything else. And when I say anything else, I mean he's, he can sometimes be a liability in run defense that's

Basically what I mean he can play coverage Sometimes I guess but I remember I go back and forth with our producer Adam about oh Well, I've always brought up coverage before but he's like, yeah Well, I don't want my edge rusher to be good in coverage. So it is what it is and low key I do think he is a point now and uh, he they only dropped him to coverage Sparingly last season less than they ever have. He's only targeted four times so

Yeah If maybe if he was better at run defense, I'd have him higher. But in the meantime, this is where Michael Parsons will have to be. You're gonna be wrong. This man is still a monster and he's gonna be in line for a massive payday next off season. Unless the Cowboys screw it up, which is very, very possible. Never under rest the senility of Jerry Jones.

So, moving on to number two, give me TJ Watt. So yeah, I'll say 11 and a half sack, sure it's not the sexiest number, but 61 total tackles, 27 quarterback hits, six forced fumbles, four passes batted down the line, a monster in the run game. He's got everything you want. He's basically, Micah Parsons of Micah Parsons could do literally everything else. He can stop the run, he makes

plays, he doesn't just get sacks, he makes plays, he forces turnovers, seven career picks, didn't have any last year, but he can drop into coverage. But then again, it's not the most important thing for an edge rusher and six force fumbles as well last season at least so he can in fact take the ball away and that is something that i really do appreciate with him the only reason why despite the fact he can do everything why i don't have him at one this is something we talked about last year i believe it was adam who brought it up this man does not get double teamed like at all. Everyone else gets double teamed except him. And I know because he's got Alex Highsmith alongside him, but you know, I want to see him get double teamed as much of my number one, then maybe we can talk.

Speaking of which, my number one, Miles Garrett of the Cleveland Browns. This man, oh my god, coming on, he's played eight years in the league and for the last seven years he's had double digit sacks coming off back-to-back 14 sack seasons, 47 combined tackles, are you ready for this? 28 quarterback hits and a league leading 22 tackles for loss as well as three forced fumbles. Need I say more? On top of being one of, if not the,

don't quote me on that, most double teamed player in the NFL, if not number one that I know he's probably top five, second most. Thank you Adam. Adam just buzzed in and told me that. But yeah, despite being the most, second most double team player in the league, he's still a force in the run game to get those tackles for loss to hit the quarterback and to force three fumbles Myles Garrett's my number one all day. I like it. Listener disclaimer I got the same five guys. I'm just gonna say it right now. Same five guys just a little bit of a different order.

And we'll start with number five TJ TJ Watts, number five for me. He's not number two, he's not number three. He's number five for me. He's a fantastic catcher-pusher, fantastic football player, absolute animal. One of the highlights that you'll see on NFL films is him getting a sack with his helmet taken off. The problem I have is the decrease in numbers from last season from him,

as well as his inability to perform late in the season. Last four games of the year last year, including the playoff game against Baltimore, seven total tackles no sacks he wasn't there just wasn't there granted I think there was like an injury concern with them but either way he didn't perform and when you need a big named player like TJ Watt to perform late in the season and he doesn't show up what does that say?

Now I agree with everything that you've said about TJ Watt, but with that information in mind, he's at five for me. Number four, Aiden Hutchinson. My only concern is how he's going to play after the injury. The statistics say them like show for themselves. He is a top five guy could potentially is maybe even top three with what he probably could have gone to last season. He was five weeks in. He was at the top of everyone's list for defensive player of the year easily.

And then he got weak or he got hurt in that fifth game. So that's really the only concern for me. Uh, number three, I have Michael Parsons. Michael Parsons also an absolute animal, also an absolute animal. And I think my big thing too is as CJ said, uh, not as great in the run game as he is in the past game, but that could also go for, as we had mentioned him being the highest rated double team guy in the league. And that kind of showed when you look at, take out Aiden Hutchinson real quick,

of the other four players that we have on our list. He ended up having the fewest amount of tackles for loss. Number two, I got Trey Hendrickson. Hendrickson, of course, leading the league in sacks last year, potentially up is fighting for this contract right now. He's going to play. This is my list going into this season. If Trey Hendrickson plays. fighting for this contract right now. He's gonna play. This is my list going into this season if Trey Hendrickson plays. Yeah, he's gonna be on the wrong side of 30,

but who's to say this isn't his last great year and he's gonna put up another fat number so he gets his payday most likely somewhere else or he gets traded or he gets traded and goes off somewhere else. Either way, this is a big name guy that is going to play his absolute tail off like a top two edge rusher. So he gets paid like a top two edge rusher.

Probably not the highest paid non quarterback of all time, like Miles Garrett. But he's going to try to get himself paid like one. Which leads me to number one, Miles Garrett. It's what else can you really say about him? Absolute animal ever since he got it into the league. There's really not much I'll say. He is 100 percent that guy. That is my top five. That's our top five. I agree with number one and number three.

But yeah, I mean, you got to understand where I'm coming from at least with Trey Hendrickson is like, I don't know if he's going to apply. Yeah, no, he's not bluffing anymore. Like he's willing to just sit out the entire year but I'd love to see how I will say about Michael Parsons real quick is that I I know I sound like every other old head harping on this but dude stop the podcasting Like your team just lost and you're hopping on a podcast now, man Imagine how much maybe how much better you could be if you'd stop.

For real. Um, in the case of Trey Hendrickson, I'm curious to see if this turns into like a Hassan Reddick type of situation and Hendrickson just starts getting fined for like half a million dollars and his agency cuts him as a client because no one in their right mind tells you to lose 500 million every single week that you don't play in a game. See if that happens.

Yeah. Gonna be interesting to see how that ends up though, but that is our top five. Anything you wanna add, CJ? Uh, no Well, that's all the schedule content that we have for you tonight Thank you for tuning in for another Tuesday episode of the Fomber Rouski podcast new episode coming out next Tuesday at 730 Same time same day, you know it Next week we're doing NFC East and what's the

player group CJ? Uh, I believe tight ends. We gotta do a better job of looking before or I gotta do a better job of looking at this before I start talking about it. It's really no problem. Chris. We forgive you, but it is NFC East breakdown and top five tight ends. We're moving to the NFC now, kids. Hell yeah. So tight ends and NFC East next week. Be sure to tune in for that, along with any other news

that might come across the table going throughout the rest of this week. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Also, I have all our episodes available on Spotify, Spreaker, Apple Podcasts, I Heart Radio, Google Podcasts, and so much more. Be sure to follow our Instagram, FulmerSki, underscore, podcasts to keep up with the pod and latest coverage on the NFL. Otherwise, we will see you next week. Over and out.