The Fumblerooski Podcast - Tight Tight Tight -Ep 457 The Fumblerooski Podcast

Episode Date: June 23, 2026

On today's episode, we give our Top 5 Tight Ends and a preview of the NFC North. Along with this, discussing Jeffery Simmons $105.8 Million Extension and other NFL news! CJ Medeiros and Chris Costich talk all this and more!

On today's episode of the Fumble Ruski podcast, the Titans hand out a three-year, $105 million extension to Jeffrey Simmons. Other general NFL news, such as a new standard set with the salary cap from the Broncos. Top five NFL tight ends heading into the 2026 season and a preview of the NFCs. This is the Fulmuriski podcast. It may not have always showed it in the state. out 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 to the Fulmariski podcast by Secret Weapon Consulting. We got CJ. We got myself, Chris. Happy Tuesday to all those who celebrate. And, well, obviously, we're still neck deep in the offseason. And we'll get into our top five NFL tight ends, get into the NFC East as well.

The NFC Beast. Kind of an really interesting division. I'm pretty excited to talk about the NFC East. CJ, how is your weekend? My weekend was fine. You know, I can't really complain. How about you? Can't complain.

You know, always great watching Team USA. just Team Jose, any sport, get a win. A great win against Australia on Friday. Football related. Did you watch any of the game, by the way? Oh, no, no, not this weekend, no. I wasn't. So I don't know if you're familiar, but there's a player on Team USA.

Christian Pulichich, right, or whatever his name is? Well, there's Policich, yeah. Pulichich, whatever. The most well-known, but I'm not talking about Pulicit. Or is his name. Alex Friedich. Do you know who he is? Heard the name he's from around these parts, right?

I guess. Not necessarily. I don't think so. I don't know what Alex Freeman you're thinking of. No, I'm thinking of somebody else. Anyway, continue, my bad. Anyways, are you familiar with the name Antonio Freeman? No?

Really. Really? Antonio Freeman. That name sounds. It sounds familiar. I don't know. Dude, it's really late. Like, I don't know. What if I said that he used to be a wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers? Okay. That's why he's familiar to me. Yes. Okay. As, you know, the juggling, catching OT against the Vikings.

Okay, yeah. Okay. Okay. Okay. I knew the name sounded familiar. I don't know why I knew him. Yeah. Okay. So his son, Alex Freeman, is on Team USA. Oh, okay. Nice. Good for him. And he scored a goal on Friday. And the goal came like 20 minutes after they were talking about the fact that his dad played on the Packers and used to catch touchdowns on that same field. So pretty cool story from that I thought football related in both senses, football, American football and European football and whatnot. Of course, Father's Day weekend this weekend too. Yeah.

You do anything good with you yet? Are you fucking with me right now? Oh, that's right. You're fucking listening to Delaware, my bad. Yeah, hey, but you know, my dad watched the episodes. So, Dad, once again, happy Father's Day, you know, I obviously. I didn't know if you made the trip down the bulletin and everything. But it's like, you know, but hey, dad, once again, you know, happy at this point, really bladed Father's Day, which, you know, I spoke to him.

But, hey, because I know he's watching, I'll say it again. Hell yeah. I've been bullied father's day to my dad even though obviously I saw him already so or already said it so I said it too just Hey man it's all right

but yeah happy father's day to all the fathers that that are out there and that may listen to this podcast outside of CJ's dad so no especially well obviously well you know what I mean like the only father we don't want to be like the only father we don't want to

this podcast is Tyree Kill you know what you did you know what you did fair enough fair enough man uh let's talk about geoffrey simmons agrees to a 105.8 million dollar contract a hundred million guaranteed locking in a cornerstone on that defense career high 11 sacks this past season broke jurel casey's franchise record for most sacks in a season by a defensive tackle also led all NFL interior defensive linemen in solo tackles, TFLs, sacks, sack yards, cuby pressures, pressure rate, and forced fumbles, first team all pro, and selected to the Pro Bowl for the fourth time.

And he's about to enter into year eight. I mean, what would you like to, what would you like to add? What's your take? Well, from the rip, Jeffrey Simmons, I mean, he was a little banged up his rookie year, but he's just been a beast. That's his whole thing. He's a beast. From the get-go, he was a beast. Start off as a big run stuffer by first time, first team all pro last year.

He spent a second team all pro a few times, four-time pro bowler, set career high in sacks last season and tackles for loss with 11 and 17. respectively, which is tough do is a defensive tackle as well as a career high in quarterback hits with 21. And he got a safety last season, you know, hats off to that. You know, and he forced three fumbles. Yeah, he's definitely the best player on the team, and I don't think it's particularly close. Not track. That's just how good Jeffrey Stevens is.

And he's one of those guys that, you know, when you watch him play, you know, he's a big dude. I think he's like, what, six, four, three, ten somewhere in that park. with the ability to get after the corner. And just the way they try to block him, too, like he's always double-teamed. Sometimes he gets triple-teamed, you know. And look, Jeffrey is not, Jeffrey Simmons. I mean, not so when you want to leave on an island, you know,

because he, I just watch him completely destroy lines one-on-one. He's a, he's one of those people, one of those players, where he, I think, would get a lot more love and a lot more recognition if he were on, say, the Rams or the Chiefs or the Packers or the Patriots or whoever. Like, you put him in a big market on a good team. He's getting his love. But, hey, he's worth it. You know, he's worth $100 million by far.

100%. 100% really just echoing everything that you said also I want to know I went to Jeffrey Simmons his page just to see how accurate we're on the height weight

64305 Ah all right Bang Okay I'll get myself for that Bang Yeah it's just a great signing and it's well deserved

well deserved He's a top 10 DT in the league And I was saying at the very least I'm not Not saying he's not potentially top five Especially getting that fucking contract But hopefully he does I mean I think we're talking about when we were doing the

AFC South preview you know the tyans are definitely going to improve this year They made the moves to do so probably not going to be a playoff team still, but like progress is there. Progress is there. Now they just have to go excel. Hopefully they do so with Sala and Shet. Sala being the defensive coordinator or defense coordinator head coach, defensive-minded head coach. Could see Simmons improve even more this season.

Yeah, definitely. I really, obviously, you know, I'm a fan. I just, I want to see what he could do with Robert Sala. And overall on Robert Sala, I can't wait to see what he can do with the Titans because you obviously know if you watch the show.

I think he got hosed in New York. I really do. Actually, I don't think this. I know this. So, I just think it's a match made in heaven. I really do. Yeah. 100%. Uh, moving on. This was more so

just catching my eye. just off of interest alone. And basically, it's an article that the NFL, or Jeff Legwald of ESPN came out with last week and the last week. And the title was, did the Broncos start NFL salary cap trend by cutting Russell Wilson? And like, why that set of trend? That was like a fuck ton of dead money that they had to pay, 85 million to be more exact. and for the casual fans, and I say that respectfully, that don't know what dead cap is,

which I would assume a lot of people don't know what dead cap is. It's basically the money that you have to pay a player, or just pay in general, for any player that's just not on your team anymore. So Broncos paid 85 mil of dead cap, and that affects your salary cap too. And lo and behold, it didn't hurt them. It didn't hurt them as much.

much as it would probably other teams. They went 24 and 10. This is going to be the first year that they have no dead cap to worry about in terms of Russell Wilson. They are going to have to pay off the Drake Greenlaw, dead cap money because he got released during the part. Denver has the second lowest dead money charges at about $3.4 million with $2.16 million coming off of offseason release of

Drake Greenlaw. The Seahawks are the only team to have less. And like I said, hasn't heard them. 24 and 10 in the last two seasons since releasing Russell Wilson with Bowenicks at the helm. And they had an AFC championship birth out of it to playoff appearances, both times. So then later down, the

article, it kind of makes comparisons to what Miami is doing. Because Miami, as many people know, are now taking on new record, 179 million of worth of dead cap charges for Tua. And just 99.2 mil alone for the release. And 55.4 mil is going against this year's cap. So Miami, in an informal survey, among. 11 coaches and personnel executives around the league by ASPN in recent weeks. Many respondents believed Miami's off-season strategy was a progression from what the Broncos did two years ago.

Teams have had dead money issues, cut guys so they could draft or do free agency, and people have had to cut guys on big contracts. But I do think the Broncos got everybody to kind of think you could rip the tape off if you really had to and you could work through it. It didn't always have to be this long road back. And that was according to an anonymous NFC GM. Well, I do think it's true. Like, you do have options.

Like, you can still be competitive. But the question is, really good team building wise. Yeah, but I was to say, but the question is, do you think Miami's smart enough to pull it off? You know, Stephen Ross and the boys? My answer is no. I don't think they are. And I said before we talked to the AFC East that I wasn't, you know,

huge on the hiring of Jeff Hathley as the head coach. I don't remember who their new GM is, but I'm sure he's, oh yeah, it's, John Eric Sullivan or whatever's name is from Green Bay, which the Green Bay drafting and privacy philosophy is very, to put it nicely iffy. you know, the Packer way. It's got to be the unflashiest thing ever, but it works. I mean, they haven't won a Super Bowl in a while, but you know, they're at least competitive.

But at least for Denver, yeah, I definitely think that's a trend, you know. Like they said, just rip the tape off and you keep plugging along. But the thing for Denver, though, is the team building and the drafting and the fighting steals and pre-agency. That was the highlight. That was what that's what the engine for that car looks like. So for me, it's can Miami replicate that? I am not confident, no.

I think another thing too in terms of Denver is they kind of sort of already had the team to begin with that were on fairly low contracts to begin with. Or just like a lot of rookie deals, right? like they didn't really have to worry a ton about that outside of getting the steals and draft and free agency over the last couple of years. But they already had a pretty solid team to begin with outside of having Russell Wilson as your quarterback. They kind of just got the change and just went from there. Yeah, definitely. I think so. Yeah. But Miami doesn't have such a team.

Yeah, no. So I guess to. Yeah, sorry. I guess to expand on that, like, Miami definitely does not have the team and they did not have the team to, like the Bronco's last year, Russell Wilson tried to refresh my memory. Did they,

they did not make the playoffs, correct? With Ross, I don't believe they ever did now. Yeah. So, but they were, that last year they were right on the cusp of it. But Russ was just so bad in Denver in general. You could say that Champaign ran out, but like Russell Wilson was not good in Denver. Did we ever talk about Russell Wilson retiring?

Yeah, and he's going to CBS, yeah. Yeah, that's right. they were either way they were on the cuffs of making the playoffs they were right there the dolphins were not even close to making the playoffs this year like yeah the record says otherwise but they were eliminated pretty not pretty early but they were eliminated significantly early enough where like two is getting benched they're already on quinuers like shit like that type of thing. And yeah, they may have ended with more of a favorable record than what one would realize they were shit.

And this past off season also is reasonable leave that they're going to be shit. Outside of like maybe the draft or whatever, but other than that, they're not going to be good. And they might not be good for two years. So this may end up being a bit of a longer process, team building process than what the Broncos have had to deal with the last two years. Yeah, I definitely agree. Yeah. I mean, shit, even like staying on Tua, I guess.

I mean, when he first got in the league, it took him a year to actually make it to the playoffs and be somewhat of a successful team. Yeah. I definitely, yeah. And that's more just saying success being making the playoffs. Maybe not if they ever did anything When they were there

Yeah Obviously I'm gonna go on the road to fucking Kansas City In Buffalo Dick freezing Anything else You wanted to Get into before we got into

The top five tight ends No not really All right It may not have always showed it in the stats 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. I was a bit of a quick trigger right there. My apologies. I forgive you. Top five tight ends heading into the 2026 regular season.

You ready for this? No, because I know you're going to hate what I say, but you know, what else is new. I don't hate what you say. Hey, man. Let's fucking, let's fucking do this together, you and me. That's a way to put it, but sure. Can't we? All right, all right. All right. Give me your top five.

And my number five, I'm going with Lions tight end, Sam Laporta. I know that last year wasn't his best, but that whole Lions team was in a horrible slump. And I'm kind of expecting them to bounce back. and once golf gets his big security blanket back, I think you're going to be right back with it, you know. I think you only have like 500-some-odd yards, three touchdowns, but the tight-up position is so weird, you know, like how every year there's like one or two guys that just have a career year and then dip.

Like, you know, like they never do it again. They just don't. And it's about consistency, and I think the port is consistent. By number four, I know the Chief fans are going to be mad that he's not in the top two. It's Travis Kelsey. I'm not going to lie. Kelsey's stats look good, but his numbers are empty calories. He's not really getting open.

He's not really a threat anymore. The problem with Kelsey is that he gets force-fed the ball. And people say, oh, well, the force-fed targets are still targets. I philosophically disagree. You know, it's a simple. like think about economics and inflation. But like that's what it is. The more of something there is, you know, like,

like if you like flood the system with it, it becomes less valuable. That's the thing. Their whole offense last year is just, ah, screw at Travis is down there somewhere. And they're getting him dinks and dunks. I still think he's a good tight end for his old age. I mean,

I would say the past few seasons he did maybe play himself out of the goat conversation. But he's still going to get his targets. Like he will be force fed the ball. So just by virtue of that, you have to put him top five. By number three is George Kittle. For the love of God, can he stay healthy? Because there's an argument to be made. He's numero uno when he's healthy.

You know, he could block. He could catch. He's got nose for the end zone. He's got everything you want. So do that what you will. my number two, maybe coming off a tiny bit of a down here, some would say, is Brock Bowers. You know, Kirk Cousins loves his security blankets, and you know, Mendoza does too. And with Bowers being like the number one option for them, I definitely can see a world where perhaps he's even number one.

You know, he's dynamic. He's explosive. He gets out of the field. He's a good contested catch guy. I am so confident that he's going to be a top three tied next year. And my number one is Trey McBride. And I said last year, I think I had him in like number four, where I'm like, oh, well, if he can like score some touchdowns,

he's going to be number one. He's scoring touchdowns now. And I had him in fantasy last year. And he's really good. And he's another where he benefits from being a number one target. So, yeah, Tray McBride is my number one. Might ruffle some feathers by I don't care. So for reference, my top five from five to one,

Sam Leporta, Travis Kelsey, George Kittle, Brock Bowers, and Trey McBride. You're going to love my top five. I probably won't, but go ahead. There you will. Coming out number five for me, Tyler Warren. All right, I understand. Don't tell the Bears fans that because there's that debate

between him and Loveland. And that's not even the sake of, Colson Loveland is a bad tight end. I think he had a really, when you look at both Colston Loveland and Tyler Warren as the first two tight ends taken off the board in the first round, mind you. Two top 15 picks.

It's Tyler Warren ended up just being better in general. Like, yeah, he had the better stats, but he was looked to more often than Colston Loveland as that. as that guy that they need yeah the numbers may have went down as the season went on because that's kind of just how the things went for the Colts that year but the numbers the numbers don't lie

and Colson the leveling was you could say was probably more like you know in a system where he's fighting for targets with Roman Dunes-A Luther Burden and DJ more last year you also mess two games but anyways if I had the choice I would probably even put

Colston Loveland as a six if anything but it's really tough I just really love Tyler Warren this year I'm just saying right now Travis Kelsey's not my top five fuck Travis Kelsey yeah well once again the only reason I did that it's solely like by far it's only for the numbers

that's literally what it is, even though he's getting force fed and it's not even happening naturally. I just, yeah, no, it's just so everything about his game is just so artificial now and how they're only trying to pat his stats for the Hall of Fame. But yeah, and it's like, you know, I'm sorry, he's not the goat tight end, just deal with it, Chiefs. But yeah, but fair enough. I mean, if we're going off in numbers, then Kyle Pitts and Joanne Johnson are top five tight ends. That's my thing. Johnson. Yes, especially Joanne Johnson because those two guys had A, more receptions, more yard, B more yards.

Jawan Johnson didn't have as many touchdown catches as Travis Kelsey and Pitts at the same amount. So that's me. No, Kyle Pitts and Juan Johnson are not in my top five. Or was I? Number four, I'm also going Sam Leport. Kind of the same thing as you. He just, it was a weird year for the lions. He was still good, but like, that's just, it was just a weird year all around.

And the stats for a lot of guys weren't, uh, weren't great. Moving on, number three, George Kittle. If he play a full 17 games, then he's hitting a thousand yards. Enough sad. And he's still, he's still fucking George Kettle. That's, he's still a freaking beast. Mm-hmm. Number two, Brock Bowers, kind of the same thing.

You know, he was the beneficiary of a really shit team. Or not the beneficiary, but the victim of those shit team in terms of stats. But he's still Brock Bowers. He was injured this year. And if he wasn't injured, there's a good chance. He also cracks 1,000 yards. So, yeah, Brock Bowers, number two. Number one, Tray McBride.

A tight end has 126 catches and 11 touchdowns. A hundred and twenty-six catches. That's not even being a reliable target. This is a guy that gets fucking open and that can make difficult catches. And it's almost like a gronk sort of figure that it doesn't. doesn't matter who the fuck you put on him. He's, he's coming down with it. Not saying Trey McBride is Rob Grunkowski. I'm making a comparison. But, yeah, that's my top five. That's our top five. You know, I didn't hate that as much as I thought. Yeah. See? Who would? I'm pleasantly surprised.

Who would you have, Tyler Warren or Colson Loveland? I don't know. This year, I think it's going to be the cider. I think they're pretty even. I can see that, especially with Colson Loveland getting a bit of a larger role in the offense coming up. Yeah. But just don't have this conversation with Bears or Colts fans. You can't do it. They're so insufferable about both of them. Yeah. To which I say, dear Bears and Colts fans, I don't care. like whatever you say like whatever yeah gronk is still my go and that's all there is to it true that's facts all right anything else you want to add for tight ends no i've said my piece cool let's go to the

nfc east starting with the worst team in the nfc east new york giants four and 13 record they had a point differential of minus 58 win. This was a team, yeah, they were bad, but this was a team that was mauled by injuries. Malled. Yeah, and even with the injuries and when they were bad, they were

that fun kind of bad. You know how they use cutesy words describe bad teams like feisty or scrappy? That's what they were. You use cutesy bad words to describe them. I get what. They were entertaining.

I'm not going to lie. A lot of it was because of Jackson, Dart, and Cam Scataboo, and I'm going to be honest, I think they're both a tiny bit overrated just because they have big personalities. I don't think the production matches and say, oh, Dart could be top 10 next year. Scatibu's ready to take the league by storm. It's like, what do you like about them beyond their personalities? because I think Harbaugh's work cut out, trying to get them to stop eating crayons

and start looking at playbooks. But the Giants, I think, are a team that's ready to be good. Now, if you will, Chris, consider this. Will you? Will you consider this? I'm always considering something. Yeah, it's the spirit. So in Free Agency, they grabbed the Baltimore Ravens, what should be their tight-in one.

Isaiah likely. They got Tremaine Edmonds from Chicago, Darnell Mooney from Atlanta, Greg Newsom, the second from Jacksonville, Patrick Ricard, the fullback from Baltimore, and also Calvin Austin, Jason Sanders, and Guard, Lucas, Patrick to fill out. The defense is already good. I like they're kind of focusing on the offensive side of the ball more, but it's the draft that I like. You got Arvel Reese and Francis Maui Noah in round one. It picks five and ten. Arvel Reese,

probably the biggest project of the draft, but I do think he's more of a Harbaugh guy. And Francis Maui Noah replacing the dreadful Evan Neal, I think is something great you could hope for. It's one of the best things you'd hope for if you're a Giants fan. A Colton Hood in round two, that's good stuff right there. You know,

after losing Cordell Flot and the other corner you have there, that getting Colton the hood in round two is a steal. Malachi Fields, the wide receiver from Notre Dame in round three. I'm not the biggest Malachi Fields fan, but I think he's more of a harbaw receiver, you know, like, you know, reliable catcher.

bigger body guy, which is something that he used to like, but he kind of went away from. Now he's going back to it. And rounding out, they had three, six-round picks with Bobby, James and Travis from Auburn, defensive tackle, Illinois offensive tackle, J.C. Davis, and BYU linebacker Jack Kelly, who I thought was a steal there. So honestly, I think the Giants had good enough off-season. It's now a question of if you don't make the playoffs, can you at least still? be entertaining.

Can you maybe, you're not a contender, but maybe we don't use the word scrappy to describe you either, if that makes sense. It's about growth. I want to see everyone to stay healthy, especially Scataboo and Dart.

And, yeah, then we'll reevaluate the end of the season. Yeah. And I think that this Giants team speaks a lot to, like the younger or the older Ravens-Harbaugh teams

of, a big emphasis on defense. And they really showed that in the draft and the offseason, getting our military, drafting R.V.L. Reese, getting Tremaine Edmins. Exactly. You know, one of the big things with this Giants team in the past was they had a pretty solid defense.

You know, they had some pretty good guys on there the last few years. And now here we are pretty much kind of in the same spot. And I think if you're the Giants, you'll love what. happen with the offseason and you know there's a chance to contend for a wild card spot i'm not there to say they're competing for division title yet but i've seen crazier things yeah shit i saw the patriots go from 413 to a super bowl berth why not the why not the giants true um predictions for this

season uh i think they're a fringe playoff contender i i agree. Because this division, I'm just saying, is fucking stacked. Yeah. Dallas and Philly are the heavy hitters. And the commanders are also, like, if they get healthy, maybe they've returned to form, especially with Jane Daniels, who we know is very good. So the Giants together were cut out for them, but I think they're going to win more games

than they did last year. Yeah. I'm definitely smashing the over on four and a half, that's for sure. Uh-huh. We're probably looking at, I think, every. Everything, everything goes right. We're probably looking at 9 to 10 wins. That's everything going right.

I think in reality we're probably looking at worse, six at, you know, I was thinking 7 or 8 totally. I was thinking 6 to 8 wins. Probably finishing third kind of depends on the commies, but I could see them finishing third in the division this year. Speaking of it, let's go to the commies. five and 12 finish this year, minus 95 point differential. This was a team also kind of mulled by injuries.

It helped with bad pass game because Jane Daniels couldn't stay healthy, but they had a really good run game this year. They were fourth in rushing yards, or last year, I should say. Last year they were fourth in rushing yards and 24th in the league in passing yards. Well, this was kind of the culmination, unfortunately, of what this team was. It was a little too old. And it caught up to them in year two of the rebuild already.

Yeah, that and the injuries, but that coincide. That, like, points a lot with the age, though at the same time. Like, you kind of almost expect to hear injuries when you hear age or veterans. But, yes. Especially with the commies. And unfortunately, Jaden Daniels did nothing to protect himself this year. And that kind of cost them a lot of games and a lot of the season. And, yeah.

But Washington trying to do right, of course. He got Sony Stiles up to defense. That was the other thing. Defense was, if we're talking about old, defense was pretty old. So they go and pick up sunny styles, great pickup. Yeah. on that nothing too crazy on the offensive side of the football they did get laramie tonsel but yeah c j yeah uh for the commanders this was a really good free agency class for them

you know when i look at how their roster improved getting odafi oa from the chargers and chagicadalcoe from the titans your primary pass rusher and your safety blanket on offense is here. I forgot about it, Conkwell. They addressed the second level as well, grabbing Leo Chanel from Kansas City. And they got Tim Settle in the middle on defense at DT. They grabbed corner Amik Robinson on a two-year deal,

Safie Nacross on a two-year deal, Caleb on Chase on, Eddresher for a one-year deal. Another one-year deal given to running back Rashad White. They did a lot of retooling, especially on the defensive side of the ball, which makes sense. on offense. Yeah, you got your wide receiver one. You got your quarterback. Maybe you don't necessarily have a running back with the offensive lines looking to improve.

So, you know, that just makes more sense. And in the draft, round one, you have Sunny Stiles. That's a great pick for you. But then they didn't have another pick until round three where they grabbed Clemson, wide out, Antonio Williams, who I think could be a good slot guy to pair with Terry McLaurin out wide. Then in the fifth round, they got a bit of a steel, I think, with Tennessee edge rusher Joshua Joseph's. Two six-round picks, Penn State running back, K-Tron Allen. I don't know how he fell that far, but they'll take him. And Michigan State Center, Matt Goldman.

And then in round seven, they grabbed Ruckers quarterback Athens. I think it's Calli-Ikmanus, Cali Akmanis from Rutgers quarterback. Obviously, he's not going to be starting on a gunlist, like the Sky Falls. But for the most part, their first four picks of Stiles, Williams, Josephs, and Alan I really liked. And I think Lee Stiles and Williams should be impact guys on day one. I guess I under it. I guess I didn't take the time to really look at the depth chart to see what I was looking at,

my bad it's my bad you will be forgiven I'm glad they put me on notice there because no they and gladly so because they really did

they really did a great job of re-upping this lineup you go younger getting a quanko instead of having to go back to Zachertz no disrespect to Zacherts he's old as shit granted he was basically

their number one target for like the last few games of the season too. I'm curious to see how this running back duo of Rashad White and Jacori Kraski Merrico, or aka Bill, especially with how the running back situation has been since they got rid of blanking. Brian, They traded him to San Francisco. CJ, help me.

Say that again? Running back that Washington traded to San Francisco. Oh, oh, oh, nice time. Is it Robinson, Brian Robinson? Ryan Robinson, yes, yes. Thank you. Wow.

Yeah, shows to go out of where we are, I guess. So I'm curious, anyways, I'm curious to see how these two work out. it's interesting that Terry like I'm going to see how Luke McCaffrey does in this season as the number two technically on the depth chart. But pretty excited about the defense. Like I said, you need to get younger on defense. And he did just that. So please. In terms of wins and losses, five and a half over under going over.

Yeah, it would have to be over. Like, it was the age and the injuries that hurt them before. And maybe not the, maybe they could beat back the injury bug with age isn't as much of a problem. So, yeah. Is this one we want to go game by game on? Not quite. Yeah. Not yet.

Yeah. I think this is definitely going to be, it's going to be interesting to see how the commies and giants play out in terms of where they fall. standings, though. Yeah. Yeah. NFC is just going to be fun in general. It's going to be wild. I got a feeling we're going to see some barn burners out of this division.

Good. Give me entertainment or give me death. True. Dallas Cowboys, 7 and 9 and 1, minus 40 point differential. This was a team that was shit defensively. When I mean shit, I mean shit. they were dead last in the NFL and points against. That's all you need to know.

This diva, this defense gave up points. Golly. And like games where like the offense were going off too, they're just sucking ass. They're just sucking straight ass. Um, so yeah. What do you,

what do you make of the team this year? Well, I think the offense pretty much is going to stay the same. It's the defense. like it's literally just the defense because the offense hasn't changed they didn't do any changes to the offense yeah and the offense didn't need to change but good lord and it's not just the defense i know people like to say out of the pass rush but good god they couldn't cover and i mean this that cowboy's defense couldn't cover jerry rice if he scooted up now like

I don't think you understand it. This defense couldn't cover Don Hudson if I dug him up tomorrow. At least I think Don Hudson's dead. I don't know. I'm fairly certain he is. But my point is, if I dug up Don Hudson and put a helmet on him, and if I drag Jerry Rice and he's like, fucking, what, 60, 70, Ed said, all right, you two, now you play.

Like, they want people to cover it. It was so bad. So they took sets to remedy that. God love it. So obviously you grab Kobe Durant from the Rams, the corner, and safety Jalen Thompson from the cards. That was huge. They weren't exactly swimming in cap space,

but they also grabbed Ed Rush or Roshan Gary from the Packers in a tree. I like that trade. I think it's a good way to get some more sack production as well. And that was pretty much it, honestly. But the real gem was the draft. My favorite prospect, Caleb Downs

at the Ohio State University, 11th overall. And then they get back in the first round and pick 23 to grab edge rusher from UC. CF, Malachi Lawrence. Some say he's underrated. Some say he was a reach, but I think he's fine. He fits the scheme regardless. In the third round, they got Jayshon Barham from Michigan.

He's a linebacker. Then you got in round four, offensive tackle for Penn State, Drew Shelton, and Florida corner, Devin Moore. And also in round four. Could be considered a bit of a steal. defensive lineman from Alabama, L.T. Overton. And between him and Lawrence, one of them's got to pan out. And then round seven, Anthony Smith, wide receiver, East Carolina. Yeah, they did a lot to the defense here and rightfully so. At this point, I'm not expecting them to be world beaters, but right now you're looking to see if these younger guys can pan out, especially Downs and Lawrence. Yeah, I think if we're looking at three moves that the Cowboys made that could define their season,

it's the, it's getting Caleb down, drafting Caleb Downs, drafting Malachi Lawrence, and also retaining George Peckons. Now, granted, you retain George Pickens on the franchise tag, but this is probably one of the, the only times we'll ever see a guy really willing to play on the franchise tag. And that's George Pickens. And it's shocking that it's George Pickens. Yeah, of all people, right? Of all people, it's George Pickens. And, like, we kind of were to talk about it

when franchise tag season was more strong, more out there, really, when we were still deep and actual off-season shit. But, like, not off. Like, when the Cowboys franchise tag, an extension is usually coming later, especially with wide receivers. And the last one to do it was Des Bryant. So it was more than likely to come. Granted, it didn't come, but there's a chance it's going to happen.

There's a chance that's going to happen. A very good chance, I should say. Yeah. Over under seven and a half. Oh, I don't know. Over. Over. smashing the over button.

Yeah, if this defense can, A, be healthy, B, be good, they'll get 11 to 12 wins. Because you know that they're still going to, you know, it's the Cowboys, they're still going to lose those funky games. They're going to have a bad week here and there. So you've got to kind of have to count on that. Excuse me.

So I could see them going 11 at 6, 12 and 5. Yeah, definitely. And that's going to be pretty impressive considering. I feel like if you go above 11 or 12 wins, that'll be really impressive considering the division. Yeah, I think it's them and Eagles for, you know, the division crown this year. Yeah. I think the giants are still a year or two away, and the commanders just, have to prove they were in a fluke.

Yeah. Do we want to go through the Cowboys schedule? Sure. Giant Sunday night football. When? In New York. When? Yeah. Home against Washington.

When? Home against Baltimore. That's Lamar Jackson and the Ravens. They almost never lose the NFC team, so I'm going to count that as a loss. Yeah, it's probably a loss. And I'm pretty sure the last time Balls. Baltimore was in Dallas. They gave him some, they gave him that day. So, Houston Texans. We're at two and one going into Houston. Oh, we got the Texas Bowl here. I'm going Dallas. That's going to be fun watching that

offense, that defense trade blows. Yeah, I'm very curious to see how that plays out. But I feel like it's definitely going to be offense supreme for that one. Thursday night football, home against Tampa. This could be a sneaky loss. Yeah. Yeah, because, you know, Dallas over the years hasn't been great against teams with a weighing record, unfortunately. So I could see Tampa, and Tampa usually starts out fucking guns. Yeah, that's what Tampa does. They like, yeah, I think Tampa's still riding their hot streak. I'm taking Tampa in the upset. Three and two, heading to Green Bay on Sunday night.

Ooh. Am I crazy for Car. calling this possibly a loss. I'm not, I was going to say, I could see this being a loss. All right, three and three going into Monday night football in Philly. L. Yeah. Three and four playing Cardinals. That's got to win.

And that's back. That's probably like a win by like almost 30. Yeah. Going up against the Colts the next week, four and four. Five and four, home against San Francisco, America's game of the week. That's going to be a tight game, but I like the Cowboys to pull it out. Six and four. Heading to Tennessee, home against Tennessee.

Ooh. This could be a game that they drop just like one of those weird, funky games, like you mentioned. I was going to be those one or two games they lose. They have no business losing. But until it happens, I'm still going with the Cowboys. So we are at seven and four. Thanksgiving against the Eagles. They're going to win this game,

and Philadelphia is going to have, like, auto world meltdown over this. Yeah. Seattle Seahawks, Monday Night Football, in Seattle. Yeah, not in Seattle. They're not. No. So we are now...

What, eight and six? No. We're at eight and five. Go eight and five, yeah. And five, heading to the ball. by week. They lose the bye week. Oh, no. Rams on the road. Rams. That is eight and six. Home against Jacksonville, Sunday night football. I can see that being a game they lose, but I just don't think Jacksonville's defense has the horses to keep up. I think that game's

going to be a shootout and I think Dallas is built to win shootouts. I 100% agree with that. I 100% agree with that, especially with how inconsistent Jacksonville's offense was last year. Like I could see it being same thing here. So that's now nine and six. New York. When?

So we're giving Dallas the sweep against the Giants. Yes. 10. and six. Way against Washington. Flex game. If Dallas has a playoff spot wrapped up

and they're not in play for the division, I could see them losing this game because they're resting everyone. Well, right now we're at 10 and 6. If the division's in play, then it's a win. But if the division's not in play, like they're going to be second.

and like they know they're going to be second and they've got a wild car birth wrapped up then then there's no reason to play anyone that being said they should win that game yeah so we're at 11 and 6 i got a feeling that they would play the boys in this game but yeah just because of the record how the nfc what how the nfc is i feel like they're playing they're playing the starters so 11 and 6 yeah Philadelphia Eagles finished at 11 and 6 they won the division and you guessed it, just like just like every other, just like the other years where they collapsed,

they collapsed in the first round, and holy moly did they do it. And of course, the big story with them was firing Kevin Petulow or relieving him of his OC duties, traded AJ Brown, drafted Malachi Lemon, drafted another tight end and Eli Stowers.

So, you know, Yeah. You know, when you're looking at the Eagles, you know, shit. Their biggest problem was offense. You got rid of the problem. And maybe another problem. And then you went and got Don Tantavian Wicks. So now your receiver room looks like, Devanta Smith, Mackayle Lemon,

Dumbatian Wix, also Hollywood Brown, Dallas Goddard. Yeah. I want to see what their new offensive coordinator can do because it seems like, And I know people keep talking about Philly needs consistency and Hertz doesn't have, you know, the same coordinator for more than a year. There are a lot of people actually saying that Philly should keep Kevin Petullo, you know, just so we could build some consistency. But if things are consistently bad, why would you want that? So I'm sorry, it's another year on the O.C. carousel, and it's weird. they'll have a great OC who gets plucked away to be a head coach.

Then they hire a terrible one. Then that one gets five. That's a great one. And it's like I'm back and forth. So that's what I want to see. And if Hertz can turn it around as well. Because Hertz too, much like with the OC cycle, we'll have a year where he looks like he's top 10 and then another year where he just comes back down to Earth.

I don't get it. Like for the love of God, please consistency. I'm not even Eagles fan, but it's frustrating. So we have three agencies. didn't do a whole lot. They brought in Veteran Corner, Jonathan Jones, a veteran running back, Elijah Mitchell, Hollywood Brown, like you mentioned, Rieke Wullen, as well to pair with Cooper DeGine and Quignan Mitchell, and Edge Arnold Evacchatee, or Evakita, and bringing back guys

like Dallas Goddard and Braden Mann, I think helps. But for me, it's the draft class. I really like this class. Like you mentioned, Mackay Lemon out of USC in the first round. Eli Stowers from Vanderbilt in round two. So you have two new targets for Jalen Hertz. Offensive tackle, Markell Bell for Miami. I think like the biggest dude in this year's draft.

Going to be a great replacement for Lane Johnson when he retires. In the fifth round, got your backup quarterback, Cole Payton out of North Dakota State. Yeah, Michael Morris, a guard from Georgia in the sixth round. In the seventh round, we have Texas safety, Cole Wisniewski, a guy from the International NFL Pathway Program. And I think it's UR. UR. Bernard, a defensive tackle. And he was turning heads in camp, you know, just like being a sheer physical specimen.

So let's see if he can turn heads on the field, which I think he can. And then, of course, there's New Mexico edge rusher, Kishon James Newby, which New Mexico That's always a college you forget about You know Mountain West Legend New Mexico The Lobos

Yeah I don't think that they've had a I'm trying to think When was the last time they had someone drafted Like in the first round Was that Erlocker? New Mexico Because I don't know I just thought about the university of Mexico

It was like first round. Because the only New Mexico player I can ever think of getting drafted in the first round was Erlocker. And that was like... I was about to say, I'm curious to see if you get this one. It was Brian Erlacker.

The only... Was it ever drafted in the first round out of the University of New Mexico? Come on. Come on, New Mexico. Step your game up. Now, if we're going a little bit more general,

Ronnie Lott, born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, attended USC before being drafted to ETH overall in 1980. No, I don't count that. It's all about where you go to college. I know. For example, if, you know, if they had play introductions back then, would he be saying Ronnie Lott, USC? Or what do you be saying, Ronnie Lott, I was born in Albuquerque? Consider that. Oh, I know.

Hey, man, you know, I'm just giving you a fucking fun fact, man. I like that. I like giving fun facts. Hot take, Ronnie Lott. Don't show my fuck back down. Hot take, Ronnie Lott, low-key might be the greatest strong safety ever, and I'm going to die on that hill.

No, I think he is. I'm not going to lie. I mean, lucky for you, that's not the craziest hill to die on. Yeah, I know everybody says Troy Palomalu, but I'm going Ronnie Lott, and I'm not going to get into it here, but compare the stats for yourself, guys.

That's all I'm going to say. I guess I've never put it. any thought of who I think the best strong safety is of all time. Because free safety, I would personally argue, is Ed Reed. Yeah. But for strong safety all time, I talked to a lot of people about this, and they usually say it's Troy Palomalu. And don't get me wrong, he's up there.

He's very good. But I just, I like Ronnie a lot better. I always have. Because if you don't know, not you, Chris, but are you listening? you don't, if you guys don't know, Ronnie Lott literally like lost half his fucking pinky so he could keep playing. He chopped it off himself.

Yeah, chopped it off himself. Married to the game. Yeah. And for reference, right? Ronnie Lott had a longer career and still, had 63 interceptions to Paul Malu's 32. Paul Molo had 12 sacks to Ronnie Lott's eight and a half. Ronnie Lott also had, are you ready?

Are you sitting down? 1,113 solo tackles compared to Ronnie Lott's 500, I mean compared to Palomalus 583, he had 20 forced fumbles to Palomalus 14 and 17 fumble recoveries to Palamalus 7. One thing Palamalu does have on him is that he was a defensive player of the year, whereas Ronnie Lott wasn't. But Ronnie Lott has seven all pros to Palo Malu 6, 10 pro bowls to Palomalus 8, and no, Chris, bad, condemned you to hell. He did the 6-7 thing, for those of you listening and not watching. And four rings to Paul Mollos, too.

Ronnie Lott is the greatest strong safety ever. Oh, about the argument of teams were actually making sure that they were not throwing it to Troy Paul Moller's way. Okay. And yet, despite that, Ronnie Lott is more interceptions. So, yeah. And he was just better in coverage. He could hit just as hard. like, look, in this, no disrespect to Troy Palomow, he was a legend, but man, Ronnie Lott was an absolute demon.

Yeah, he was. Once again, any guy who would cut off his own finger for the love of the game, I'm sorry, that's, no, that's not someone you screw with. Yeah. All right. Over under on the Eagles, 11 and a half. I feel like they're sticking out of 11. Yeah. I'm going back to what I said.

Like, it's going to be really hard to get past 11 or 12 wins this year. So I think I'm sticking I'm at 11. And there's going to be, it's going to come down to a tiebreaker between the Cowboys and the Eagles. Yeah, I think so. Yeah. All right. Do we want to pick a winner of this hypothetical tiebreaker? Oh.

Call me crazy. I'm tilting towards Dallas. I was just about to say, I wouldn't be surprised if this was the year that, like, Dallas, say Dallas wins the division, and it just sets Philly to all hell and Sierra get the can over it.

Yeah, I can see that. Be interested to see what the squawking eagles boys have to say about it, but... Yeah, they would probably beat us with sticks. Yeah, probably. I think I'm going to stick with the Eagles on my end, but I could see this coming down to like one win in the NFC record book.

Yeah. All right. That's our preview of the NFC East, and that's all the scheduled content that we have for you. Anything on your mind before we end the show? No. No, not really. All right.

Sounds good, man. That'll do it for us tonight, today. Tonight, today. Thank you for tuning in. We have a new episode coming out next Tuesday at 8 a.m. Where we'll be going over. Oh, and best running backs five.

Hell yeah, brother. Top five NFL running backs. And a preview of the NFC North right here next Tuesday. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Also have all our episodes available on all streaming platforms. And be sure to follow our Instagram Fumble. Ruski underscore podcast to keep up with the pot and the latest coverage on the NFL. Otherwise, we'll see you next Tuesday over now.