The Fumblerooski Podcast - Uncuffed -Ep 458 The Fumblerooski Podcast

Episode Date: June 30, 2026

On today's episode, we give a preview of the NFC North and give our Top 5 Running Backs heading into the 2026 season! Will the Bears repeat? Can the Lions return to form? Will the Lafleur talks continue this season? Can Kyler spark the Minnesota offense? We also catch up on some storylines, Terrion Arnold’s arrest, Chris Johnson’s ALS announcement, and Brendan Sorsby’s situation. CJ Medeiros, Justin Tucker, and Chris Costich talk all this and more!

On today's episode of the Fumble Ruski podcast, we're going to be ranking our top five running backs heading into the 2026 season, as well as a preview of the NFC North. And other news, Chris Johnson, unfortunately, announced he's been diagnosed with ALS. And a look at the Terry and Arnold situation, some Brendan Sorsby talked, as well as some gambling. And Gino Smith had an amazing Father's Day. All this and more, this is a Fulburneurke. 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. Welcome to the Fumble Ruski podcast, powered by Secret Weapon Consulting. We got CJ, we got Chuck. We got myself, Chris, for today. What a weekend. What a great weekend, general. wrapping up the group play of FIFA World Cup. Not what's going on in NFL news other than things that were brought up at the open there. It's going to be a bit of a TMZ type of day, unfortunately, in the NFL world. But in other news, great day to be a Boston fan, the Sox, with the four-game sweep of the Yankees. God bless America.

Also, happy Fourth of July to all those to all of our. American brethren's and sisterans. Definitely a happy 4th of July to the British cross the pond that, well, half the country is probably over here right now because of the World Cup anyways. So they'll be, oh, that, what a great time. The British are in town for the 4th of July. I didn't even think about that. How about that? How was you guys a weekend in general?

It's been all right. I'm doing it's been good. Can't complain. Same thing, C.J. Yeah, that's fine. USA's still in the World Cup. God bless. God bless America.

Going to be, going to be watching that Bosnia game with a lot of intent on Wednesday, that's for sure. We better win. I think they will. I think they. Bosnia is pretty solid themselves,

but the way that America's been rolling, golly. What's home is our game? I think that's at like, seven or eight o'clock. I think it's at eight o'clock and coverage starts at seven. Okay. Sounds like we're in primetime.

We better not too. We're in prime time. All right, baby. Come on now. Yeah. Let's do this. I've got the Brazil, Japan game up on my computer right now. Brazil just got a sick-ass header to get the equalizer.

Japan's giving them a smell right now. But definitely the highlight of my weekend. Oh, shit. Sorry, I forgot to turn off the AC before getting it going. But definitely highlight was Sox in that four-game sweep against the Yankees. Outside of them being straight dick and half the roster is pretty much a AAA roster right now. But, hey, God bless the Sox. The Orioles ain't much better, let me tell you.

Hey, man. I got a better record than Sox right now, so. And we're not completely out of the AFC North or out of the playoffs. race. The AFC North. What? All the East. A.L. East.

Yeah. The American League in general is just a fucking shit show. And somehow both the Sox and the Orioles are what, like five games out of a wild curt spot? Somehow. Somehow. Whatever. I have no faith in my team right now.

But we can turn it around. Yeah. Don't know how, but we can. We somehow get over the Dodgers. Figure out a way. Figure out a way. All right. I'm going to stop before I get really too deep and deep and turns into a baseball podcast.

But let's get into the breaking news of the day of a week, really. This was a bit of a shocker to not necessarily wake up to, but Chris Johnson went on Good Morning America with Michael Strayhan, which still feels weird that Michael Strayhan's a co-host for Good Morning America of all things. But good for him. announced that he was diagnosed with ALS. This diagnosis came from last year when he started losing strength in one of his hands. Pretty sure it was this girl that was next to him.

I was talking about how I thought it was just a pinched nerve and was more or less thinking that it was from his playing days and that it could be fixed. Well, it turned out it was ALS. and gone to the point where he's already not able to speak anymore, unfortunately. And he had to basically use his eyes to look at his screen to be able to say what he wanted to say. So ALS is a scary thing. Shit.

Maybe this turns into another summer where everyone does the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. But, yeah, the unfortunate situation for one of the best. One of the best running backs of the 2010s, someone that we enjoyed watching in our childhood. Shit sucks. This is one of those diseases that you're just like, fuck. This is terrible. This sucks. Any thoughts?

Man, this sucks. This is very unfortunate. I thought, C.J. C.J. 2K. Mr. 2000 M. I didn't. This one came to surprise. I just recently, like an hour ago, heard about this. And I was shocked seeing him in that state talking to Michael Strayan. And it just, ah, that, that seems so heartbreaking. A family man, a husband, a father of kids. Someone that had no issues off the field either. No. Yeah, no, he's fine. I wouldn't say the healthiest, but he was in good condition. He was working out every day.

You would think nothing of it, but then this all of a sudden started to happen and he got diagnosed. And it's like, and then with ALS, he has the form where it happens randomly with no genetic trait of it, which 90% of them have. And that's a scary thing, a disease that is not genetically passed just randomly shows up and that you have and there's nothing we can do about it. And that's a scary thing. Yeah. I wish him the best. I wish them well. hopefully through this we can get more eyes on this and get more development to hopefully deal with ALS better in the future.

But man, very unfortunate and very sad. C.J? Yeah. ALS has got to be up there among the scariest diseases you could hope to get or not. You know what I mean. I say I don't mean like that. The problem with ALS and touched on this is that it's completely idiopathic, which for those that don't know,

just means that there's no, it doesn't, like it's not contagious, it doesn't get passed down, it just appears. There's no known cause for it. It just pops up, kind of like how brain aneurysms work.

You're not predisposed for them. They just appear. And that's really the perfect thing. It's like, you know, like, you know, one day you can be fine and the next day, your entire life gets turned completely upside down six times over. And it's just, you know, it's just really, I guess the trite word is sad, but that's the really only way to describe it, you know. Like you mentioned, good dude, like really no off-of-field problems seem to be a nice enough guy,

like 40 years old as well. Like he's only 40. You know, so there's his whole life ahead of him. And, you know, his play on the field of the side, which was obviously, you know, very good, you know,

running for 2,000 yards in a season. I just, it's one of those things that you hear. And it just kind of makes you stop and think, you know? Like you hear it, you're just like, wow. And I remember,

like Chris, you mentioned, the Ice Bucket Challenge. I remember that was a thing. I did some digging on what ALS actually was, and that is just so horrifying, how, like, you lose your entire ability to move. Like, he uses that device where he can, like,

look with his eyes to make sounds, and it's, like, just, I don't know. I'm not doing the best job of verbalizing this, but it's just horrific, I guess, is the only word. And honestly, we, I would imagine I can speak for all of us, like, wish him the best. like obviously like nobody really deserves to go through this and for and i just hope he can live the best possible life he can while he like battles with this yeah um yeah i think you

it's not like no one really knows the actual effects of ls to its fullest degree unless you really live with it i guess um it's it's bad Everyone knows that it's Lou Gehrig's disease too. And like Lou Gehrig, when he was diagnosed, he was still playing baseball. And he pretty much almost finished out the entirety of his career. He was 1939 when he decided to retire. And he had a record that a record of most consecutive games played. Everyone knows of Calrican Jr.

If you're in the baseball world or follow baseball, Calrican Jr. has the unbreakable record of most consecutive games played. That was held by Lou Gehrig. And the only reason why it broke was because he retired because he had ALS. And, well, he never played again, retired that same year, 1939, at the age of 36. They held a Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day on the 4th of July, actually. So we're almost getting to that anniversary of it. And they ended up, unfortunately, ended up dying two years later in 1941.

Hopefully, Chris Johnson hopefully he holds a better fate in that and is able to still hold a somewhat long and fruitful life after this. but just unfortunate. Bald prayers to CJ 2K and his family. And like I said, hopefully it's a long and fruitful life after this interview. Terry on Arnold. All right. This is a weird one. This is a weird one.

So Terry on Arnold got arrested essentially for holding three men in their late teens at gunpoint battering them and pistol whipping them and robbed them in their Tampa apartment after Terion Arnold basically accused them of robbing him in his home. This whole thing today got announced he got he's being held at a $1 million bond with conditions. and those conditions are he's not allowed to contact the six code defendants or the witnesses in the case. He must surrender his passport within 48 hours, and he was ordered, and he was ordered confined to his residence in Tallahassee, Florida, except for when he's playing, training, and traveling with the Lions,

court-related appearances, or legal appointment. So right now he's still allowed to play football for the Detroit Lions. In the last week, some of his teammates, including the St. Brown brothers, shown their support. The whole thing's weird. Arnold thinking that he was in his right to essentially take matters into his own hands, which, I don't know. I guess I don't have a problem with taking matters into your own hands, but Jesus Christ, like this is a whole other level of taking matters into your own hands. Like, jeez, holy molly.

From one bad situation to another bad situation. The only good news is for Tarion Arnold is he made bail, so he's out right now, and he has an ankle monitor, and he can only go to work and home. That's it. So at least he doesn't have to spend the rest of this case in jail. At least he was able to make bail. A million dollars, but he's a... professional athlete, so he has it. Man, this situation is

rough. It's rough for him. It's rough for Detroit. It's rough for the individuals involved in this case. It's just a bad situation that went horribly wrong. I understand the reasonings behind Tarion Arnold doing what he did. I understand he felt justified,

but just because someone does wrong doesn't mean you do the wrong. Two wrongs don't make a right. And unfortunately, he got caught. He was stupid about it, and now he's facing the consequences of his actions. I wish him the best of his, but it's not looking really good for him right now because his co-defendants are taken pleas.

So, yeah, it's not the best look right now. No, no, not a great look by any mean, especially when you consider the fact that all three people that he had kidnapped, turns out they had nothing to do. with the robbery. So, CJ, anything you want to add? I say this every time an athlete gets arrested, and I'll say it again. I'm so dumb with this. I'm so done with this.

Any of us, if we did something like this, we would get held without bond. Oh, and by the way, they tried to hold him without bond, and it got struck down. And he's not even going to wear an ankle monitor because, oh, you can't play football with that on. This is just once again where people who are famous, people that have a lot of name recognition, they're not going to, they just don't get held accountable for literally anything. And it gets to a point, you know, where we have to ask ourselves, like, why? Why is this happening? Is it really just because he's famous or what would happen to us if we did, God forbid, you know, something like that? And it's not even, look, like you said, Chris, you know, it's not even that he could took marriage into his own hands, you know, vigilantism.

It's not even that. It's that he literally attacked the wrong people, people that did not rob him to begin with. And he's facing, are you ready, eight felony counts. He could literally spend the rest of his life in prison. But it seems like whenever this happens, whenever something like this happens, they just say, oh, no, no, it's fine. There's going to be no punishment because that's the problem. Like, it seems like unless you kill someone, and even then, that's iffy, there's no consequences at all. And look, let me just say, what I'm about to say is that this is just speculation.

I am not passing off what I'm about to say as pure fact. So NFL, you cannot sue me because I'm telling you right now, this is purely speculation. I would not be shocked if the NFL has like a slush fund that they use for bribes. Because don't you think it's interesting how many celebrities, athletes, whatever, do all this horrible shit and then magically the charges are dropped or, or the witness, like, retracts their statement. Like, you know, like, I just think that's a little weird, isn't it? Yeah, it makes me wonder, I'm not saying they are.

I'm just saying I am personally wondering if the NFL, you know, whenever someone like this happens, they write a check and everything goes away. You know, I wish they took, you know, I wish they took this as seriously as they took gambling, but, you know, it's, you know. Well, it's funny you say that considering we're going to be talking about Brendan Sorsby, and I've seen thought about that. Yeah, we'll get there. The fact that he's still allowed to practice is weird. And you know what?

I think we have to side-eye the Detroit Lions. Why do you want to do it on your team? And look, innocent until proven guilty. And that's true. It's a big part of the country. And that's what we are. But I would also argue that when everybody else has taken plea deals, my point is if you take a plea deal, that's the equivalent of telling on yourself.

That is okay, I did it, and I'm trying to minimize the punishment. And I just, in my gut, like, deep down in my heart, I don't think anything's going to happen. All the charges are actually going to get dropped. I will be shocked if he gets any sort of legal punishment. I will genuinely be surprised. He probably has to be on Proble. probation, like severe probation. Oh, yeah, no.

So he is. So the state asked the judge to require Arnold to wear a GPS tracking device, which we had stated. But his attorney argued that he would not be able to play football with such device. Oh, tough. Hold on. I'm sorry. Like, that's tough.

Hold on. Judge Sabella said that Arnold will have a paparazzi monitor. So shit like if he's late for practice, ESPN's letting them know. And if he violates the conditions of his bond, he's going to be found. Yeah. He might as well just sleep. at the damn facility at this point yeah hold on way depending on how long this trial goes what happens if he has away games i think they would have to rule on that i feel like that that still

constitutes under like what a part of the bonds right like it's work but at the same time i'm not sure they're allowing him to travel there i think he can no no it says here and he was ordered confined to his residence in Tallahassee, Florida, except for when he's playing, training, and traveling with the Lions. Okay, so that means he has to have a separate house in Detroit.

Yeah, which I would assume he does. Yes. Yeah. He would have to. At the very least an apartment. But at bare minimum, like, why? I'm just saying why. Like, why? Literally, if this happened to

any of us, we're getting an ankle monitor or being confined to our houses. And the judge said, oh, I don't want to interfere with his ability to earn a living. Do you know what, if this was any of us and we said to the judge, oh, but we can't go to work, the judge look at us and say, well, that's tough, isn't it? Like, that's just how the cookie crumbles. Sorry. Once again, this is just someone who's famous, like getting special treatment.

And honestly, if the facts play out the way that they look like they are, once again, I'm not saying, so I'm not legally liable, that if what he did, what we think he did turns out to be true, then no, he lock him up and throw away the key. No, no rehabilitation, no nothing. Like, you kidnapped, attacked, and robbed people that didn't even wrong you.

No, no, no, no, I'm sorry. And you have all this bullshit about, oh, you don't judge people by their worst moments. You don't, oh, but what if it was someone you knew. It's like, well, no one I know would do something that stupid. And I always hate that how people that support him literally will say, oh, you can't judge someone by like their worst moment. Like, really? What if their worst moment is that? Yeah, that's a bit of a, that's a little different, isn't it? I just, I'm so done. And honestly, every time I think something's going to

happen, the legal system reminds me that when you're famous, nothing ever happens. For example, but look at James Pierce Jr. on the Falcons. Oh, yeah, all that just magically went away, too. That didn't magically go away. I think there's still a problem with that, but that's... My point is, he's not facing felony charges, which he should be facing. He should be, but the girl... And most, he's probably going to pay a fine, and that's it.

Yeah. Well, of course, to our luck, we should. stopped. We hit and record and get the news that Terry on Arnold has been released by the Detroit Lions. Man, quite the timing, quite the timing to say the least. Let me just get the full Ian Rappaport thing up right now. Basically, it's really just, there's really not really else, much else to really talk about in terms of what we are. already knew and it's that he's been released because of the multiple felonies, including four counts each of kidnapping and assault that he's dealing with. Well, CJ, if you have listened to the episode already and you're just listening now to CJ's point that he made, would you like to

retract any of that for this scenario itself? Well, when I said punishment, I meant legal punishment. But yeah, this is actually a good, I think, I would say the morally correct thing for Detroit Lions to do. Because all too often, NFL teams will have their players do some really horrible stuff. And even when all evidence is pointing to them doing it, they just keep them around and they say, oh, well, we've either invested too much in. them or the talent is too great for us to just say, oh, no, you're done.

Lights out. Lights out little buddy. It's over. But this was, I think, the smart thing for lines to do. Whether or not he gets found guilty in a court of law and actually gets punished by the legal system is going to be something else entirely. But this, I think, was the right call for Detroit. So at least, you know, morally speaking, they're going to be fine.

Yeah. Touched on already. Florida judge found probable cause for him to face charges of armed robbery and kidnapping, but denied prosecutors motion that he be held without bond Monday, on a recording Monday, of course, and which bond was set at $1 million, and which the state asked judge to require Arnold to wear GPS tracking device and all that. And he has to stay in his home or in Detroit, but, well, that part of the bond agreement does not. exist anymore because he's no longer a Detroit line. Unfortunately, since he was a pretty damn good player and I guess we'll see how things shape up with the rest of this case, which may end up getting settled sooner rather than later because of him losing his job. Do the lion, here's something, do the lions have to eat anything of his contract? I don't know.

I believe he's still on his rookie deal, I think. Let me check real quick. If I call correctly, he's on his rookie deal still, so I don't know. Let me check. All right. For some reason, now I can't find Teryon Arnold in Spot Track for some reason. There he is. Yeah, Terry on Arnold, the only cap hip they're facing is 3.9 mil.

In terms of dead cap. That's not that much. And, yeah, like you said, he's still on his rookie deal. So, yeah, the Lions, you know, good move. Good move. Morally and economically. Yeah, I'm looking at this. People are saying,

oh, there's no presumption of innocence anymore. Like that's something I was saying. Like there's no presumption of innocence. Whatever happened to innocent until proving guilty. Lines are going to look bad when he beats the case. And then someone else said, well, it's simple. Ready? It's simple as this.

Don't steal. He's just defending himself. He literally did not go after the, people who stole from him. Literally, it says, for ESPN and other sources, investigators later determined that the victims had nothing to do with the initial theft. He didn't even plan this right. And also, he's kind of a draft bust anyway. He might have got cut anyway, not worth a goddamn roster spot, honestly. He's been really iffy ever since he's gone into the league. Yeah. Unfortunately. Yeah, this just ends up just, unfortunately.

unfortunately being another case of a guy throwing his career away. And I'm sorry about the innocent till proven guilty when like the facts are so far against you. Well, yeah, I just, innocent until proven guilty is very real. But like you said, but when all signs are pointing one way and like he very clearly did it and his accomplices are literally taking plea deals. I said earlier, a plea deal is literally just you telling on yourself and you're trying to minimize a punishment,

which is just smart. But it's just smart, honestly. Or, look, I just, I can't, I'm trying to figure this out. I'm a very firm believer in innocent until proven guilty, but I also believe where there's smoke, there's fire. And there are some cases, especially with, like, other athletes where they'll say, oh, innocent until proven guilty. And meanwhile, there's, like, video footage of them doing something bad.

Yeah. For example, I remember, this was back when I was a kid, I was, like, in middle school, the Ray Rice incident. happened and I was friends with the Ravens fan who was upset the Ravens cut him he's like he hasn't been found guilty in a court of law though or he didn't say that you know however middle schoolers talk he's like man there hasn't even gone to trial and I said it's on video it's very clear he did it yeah like the minute it's on video but I'm just saying it's shit like that where there's like very much overwhelming evidence where it's like yeah there that's the

proof right there proven guilty like the minute that that that Ray Rice video came out the Ravens got rid of them so fucking quick. And like, same thing with the Aaron Hernandez thing, too. Like, yeah, there wasn't video evidence of him doing it. But there was a lot of glaring things that were going on where the Patriots cut ties real quick. And yeah, you could say that they may have done that a little prematurely at the time. But that was the right decision. Lo and behold, that was the correct decision.

So, yeah. Sticky situation. We love sticky situations. Gino Smith's found himself in a pretty sticky situation as well. I saw this video like the day after Father's Day, and I don't know how I didn't bring it up in last week's episode. Did you guys see the video? I saw parts of it.

Yeah. I saw parts of it, and it did not sound like a happy Father's Day. Let me tell you. No, no, not at all. But once you remember. Yeah, basically Geno Smith's baby mama came up to his house and basically was just talking about how, basically how Gino Smith's a shit father and this and that, and how he beats her and other stuff as well. According to the CSPN article from last week, he was investigated for an incident in which a woman accused him a battery last two. Tuesday morning in Davy, Florida.

And one day after indicate, this was one day after indicating the matter was closed, officers were summoned to Smith's home Sunday afternoon after a woman claiming to be his ex-girlfriend called 911 and said she was assaulted by him, which is from

that video. Which, by the way, not to jump further, but it seems like she's just there for a fucking bag. She doesn't give a fuck. Um, so posted a video of a dispute with Smith saying on camera that he ran outside and attacked me,

which was in the video, I'm not saying that, uh, we saw Smith attacking her, but, we didn't. Yeah, I was about to say it's a little fuzzy what actually was really going on outside of her,

walking into the house, telling her to go fuck himself and then running away. Oh, then she went back to, yeah, on him. Yes. Yes. For me, that's the part that doesn't make sense. She's like, oh, he hit me, he hit me. And I can prove it didn't happen. If he hit you,

and he's that much bigger and stronger than you, why are you still there? And then she runs away, screaming, oh my God, he hit me, right? And you can see like she's live streaming it, like she runs away. Yeah. And then she goes back. Yeah. She fucking walks back. And it gets to a point where it's like, no, I'm sorry. I'm calling. I'm a,

officially calling BS. Or at least that's my perspective. Once again, not the truth. You can't sue me. I'm just saying, why do you, if you're in danger, why did you run away screaming, oh my God, he hit me, which he allegedly did not, which didn't seem like that because she wouldn't have saved she did.

Then she goes back. This is the equivalent of like flopping in the NBA or major league soccer. That's what it is. It's a verbal flop. like, oh my God, he runs away and then goes back. And that's what all the comments online were saying, too, like, if you pull up Instagram and you see the JPA report, everyone's just like, okay, so she is apparently in danger, so she runs away screaming, and then she walks back just to yell at it.

Well, he clearly didn't do anything if you were really scared. Yeah, yeah. I saw the video on TikTok and the comments in that TikTok were pretty much the same thing as well. Like the woman just seems like she's just looking for her back, which unfortunately for a lot of these athletes happens a lot too. Not saying that

like Gino was probably entrapped by this woman with this kid. Which, by the way, the caption of the video is what kind of just sets me off, like just puts me in the wrong way because it's like, the caption in the video is

beat my ass because he hates taking care of his special needs kid. can't be left alone with him because he'd rather watch sex online and play Call of Duty. That's, that's like now we're, now we're getting. At the end of the day, the special needs kid, if the kid does have special needs, which, I mean, if we're going by the caption, he does, the kid does, at the end of the day, the kid's, the real victim, it will always be good. Yeah. that will be the always be the unfortunate thing in this whole thing.

And I guess to wrap up, in my opinion, you know, we always see all the time about how men aren't stepping up to the plate to take care of these other kids that they have and whatnot or this and that, like, and stop trying. You're trying so hard for them to step up. Yeah, obviously the men, should in a sense fucking man up and do a job,

but at the same time, fucking just let it be. You're going to save your kid a lot more heartache at that point. Mm-hmm. So then again, I've never had a kid. So I wouldn't know. Fair enough. All right.

Last real storyline we're going to get into, before we get into our top five running backs in preview of NFC North. Where does it be? We surprised we went this long without talking about Brendan Sorsby on the show. This has been a story for the last month. Mainly, all right, I'll rephrase. The reason we never talked about it because it was a college football-centered story.

We don't really deal with the college football stuff unless obviously draft time. And this was mainly a college football story. And if you haven't been following this story, it's been the biggest story in college football, pretty much this summer. And it's been him gambling on games. Gambling on games in which his team is playing. And basically, I don't know if it also went into his Texas Tech days, but this is mainly surrounding him at Indiana,

where he was betting on games that Indiana playing it while he was on the team, not playing in the games. And basically the reason was, I guess the reason was, I guess the reason that was given was that he wanted to be more in tune with the game or some shit. I forget what the reasoning was. Silly fucking reasoning. And a court basically in Texas was like, hey, he can still play ball. And this has been the overarching story of college sports is that these schools,

these individuals, these teams are basically backdooring the NCAA time after time to go to the court, the federal court, or the state court, and basically say, yeah, this NCAA rule is bullshit, do whatever the fuck you want. And the NCAA is kind of like,

all right, whatever. They're like not doing anything about. They are starting to try to get some legislation across on their own end to try to, uh, uh, uh,

figure this out, which, by the way, came out with legislation that said that all athletes will have five years to play, no wretched, no nothing, five years, and that's it. Yep. That was a new rule that came out, which terrible, terrible timing for my girlfriend's cousin, because she plays, he plays baseball for UMass Lowell, and he just missed that cutoff for the extra COVID year. and he just ended his college baseball career this year,

just missing that new piece of legislation. Unfortunate stuff for him. So in response, essentially in response, what follows suit is that Texas Tech announces they're going to spend Brendan Sorsby for the first two games this season. And then it basically comes out that there's a chance Brendan Soresby is just not going to play ball at all. So this whole thing is really for nothing.

And that he has the problem. And then it turns into obviously what we just talked about, everyone discussing how the NCAA is fucked. Teams in the SEC or the Big 12, I should say, are saying that they're not going to schedule games with tech or debating not scheduling games with tech just because of this whole thing.

And now it looks like Brendan Sorsby is not even going to play college ball again in general, regardless of the ruling. He tried to go into the draft and the NFL was like, or not the actual NFL draft. He tried going into the supplemental draft. And the NFL basically said, all right, no more supplemental draft. We're not doing a supplemental draft this year. This guy ruined it for everyone else. They didn't explicitly say that, obviously, but you know why they didn't have this year.

It was because Brennan Sorosby was going to be in there, and the NFL said, fuck you, if you're not going to do anything about this guy, we're going to make sure he doesn't do shit. And now the CFL just came out and said they're not allowing Brennan Sorosby to play ball with them either. Talk about wheeling and dealing, am I right? You're telling me, man.

Golly. This is so unfortunate. First off, that he was allowed to get away with it while he was in college. Second off, that no one did anything about it while he was in college. Third of all, now that this has happened, it's just so unfortunate that this is how it pans out. And the worst part, I don't think any NFL football team is going to get them right now. Because they have to trust him to do right by the team. And if you're gambling, they don't know.

And it seems like it's a problem. I'm not sure they can trust you with a franchise. And being the quarterback, you have to be able, the GMs, the owners have to be able to trust you with the franchise and the direction it is going. And if you can't handle that due to other issues off the field like gambling, it's very unfortunate. And since college didn't do anything about it, the NFL. fellas, like, he is not our problem and we're not dealing with it. And so Brandon Sorosby, who does have a problem and hopefully he gets the help he needs. But unfortunately, he screwed over his college career and his NFL career because he was supposed to come out next year and he was supposed to be a really high draft pick because he was that good.

Not like first. I was about to say, I'm pretty sure he was about to be on like year seven or eight of college football. let's let's not get too crazy here he was going to be a draft pick i'm not saying first round is what i'm getting it he was supposed to be a draft pick coming out next year if you ask dan or owaski he's supposed to be a weapon but that's not that you know there but he's a talented prospect year six or seven but the point is he was supposed to come out next year and now he can't even damn you but he won't come out he can he can't come out next year he has to come out now and the whole process is all that stuff. So a fortunate

situation for everyone, both college Brandon Sorosby and the NFL. It is what it is. Now, let me just say, first of all, for those of you who are listening and not watching, Chris did

the 6-7 gesture. When he said, oh, it was there for six or seven years, Chris, you are a foreign agent and the State Department should smite you, but they won't. All right. But for Brendan Sorsby, it's a bad situation, but we can all admit it.

Let's be real. He brought it on himself, totally. If you ought to shadow the doubt, he did. We can all agree on this. And let me just say, all right, just stay with me, kids. The issue of his gambling is a lot worse than you may believe. Because, like, oh, we place bets on football games. That's not very good.

he plays football. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. He had to check himself into a rehab facility because it's not that he's placed some bets on games that he had a gambling addiction. When you're somebody like, you know, like Calvin Ridley or perhaps show Hey Otani if you want to cross sports, although that O'Tonnie wasn't ever proven. Or Terriers here, Chatsy Billups. Yeah, well, that's a different thing. Oh, yeah, well, true. This isn't like, ha, ha, I'm going to game the system. I'm going to make extra money and jeopardize the integrity. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. This is not that.

This is an addiction, meaning I can't stop. I have a compulsive need to gamble. This is what I do now. You know, like, that's obviously the difference. I think we can all agree there. Which means that, like, it's not like he's actually trying to do wrong or trying to scam. It's literally that he can't. stop or maybe he did you know we got out of rehab maybe he's good now but

and just addiction in general is just horrific like Chris when you and I were talking about Alden Smith it's like that where you don't want to take a chance on a player that has those problems or like I'm not knocking him but Josh Gordon in the words of Stephen A. Smith could not stay off the weed and this guy genuinely had all the tools and traits to in my opinion be a Hall of Fame or caliber talent player if he couldn't. And once again, we say it all the time. You know, your best ability is your availability. If you're going to find yourself suspended, especially in the NFL, which takes

gambling very seriously, more seriously than, of course, actual crime. But, you know, they take that very seriously. And you saw players Calvin Riddley get suspended for like a year. So that's obviously not going to work Like you don't want to take that risk So they slam the door on them as far as a supplemental draft goes And even more Honestly, let's be real

Like Chris, I'm on touch on that again I think you're right We said he ruined it for everyone else That wasn't the NFL just randomly deciding it won't be That was a no No, you are not allowed in, get out And there were teams that were doing their homework on them And I do honestly think that there's a shot he might have been taken.

I really do. Because there were, and you saw the report, there were many teams that were giving them at least a cursory look, which I think is more than the NFL wanted. And the CFL, yeah, they said, oh, don't come up here, eh? You know, because Canada. And it's like, no, no, no, no, we're going to keep our putteen, our maple syrup to ourselves.

You stay south of our border. And that's what happened. That's what they said. I was there. Now, I'm joking. But, yeah, for Sorsby, I just hope he's fine. He's gotten over his addiction. I would imagine he's made some sort of NIL money.

They could definitely parlay that into a successful future. I just, even though he brought it on himself and I was being harsh, I want him to be okay. I sincerely do. As long as he's clean, he can start anew, but he's got to work for that. Hard. Yeah. regardless, he's going to learn how to sell insurance, buddy. Ha!

No, yeah, I like O.C.J.'s statement, though. Glad he got the help that he needs. It's unfortunate that he did this. I mean, when you bet four, he made bets that total upward of $90,000, including 40 wagers on Indian football when he played there. Oh. Which, like, that was,

other thing these weren't like we're not talking about like he was placing $1,000 bets he was placing like $5 bets for the most part on a lot of these games from what I read um we're not in like Pete Rose territory where like where that was some fuck shit but and the other thing too like yeah good on like the NFL and all that for uh putting their foot on the putting their foot down and saying fuck off but at the same time, like, you're also a league that promotes gambling. So, yeah. All the professional leagues are hypocrites like that.

Oh, yeah. 100%. I mean, they just, they just love to show us what the lines look like and whatnot. How can you not bet it, you know? I mean, just, not just suspended. They just got rid of two NBA players for gambling. And, I don't know, Malik Beasley. Yeah, Malik Beasley just got Bob today.

Yeah. Who's the other one? Scary Terri Rozier. Terrizeer and Chatsy Billups, that was more a mob-related thing, I think. Yeah, Jonte Porter got Popped too. Yep, that was ridiculous. Yeah. And then the MLB, there's gambling there.

And yet for some, they'll promote it, but they still won't put Pete Rose in the Hall of Fame. Yeah. It is what it is. Hot tape. Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame, argue with your mother. I mean, the L.P. Hall of Fame has a lot of things wrong with them right now in general. And you're going to get steroids in, but not gambling. And by the way, I would understand it because I did a deep dive on the whole Pete Rose thing.

If he was betting on himself to, like, lose and was actively throwing games, that's one thing. But he's betting on himself to win, which you play to win anyway. So literally nothing changed. they'll argue he didn't bet all the time which would then say why didn't he bet today why didn't he bet yesterday so on and so forth which pre well he can't prove it well if he's not making money on it then he's not jeopardizing the integrity of the game so why didn't he bet today well he would have no incentive to throw it off then yes i'd say i'm pretty sure i'm pretty sure when pete rose was managing the reds at that point they were a pretty shit team when all that was going down so i don't think i really i don't think him betting them to a win or lose was going to help them anyways. But yeah, I mean, Emily Hall of Fame has a lot of fucking issues going on with them in general. Let's let some steroids in.

But these guys, since these guys really got a lot of numbers, we're not going to let them. I love David Ortiz, but he was doing the Roids when he had 50. And people were saying, Nomar Garcia, Parra.

I mean, he's not a Hall of Famer. But he was low-key on Roids. I mean, granted, everyone in the late 90s and early 2000s onroids at that point. Yeah. All right. Anything else about Britain Sorsby gambling, steroids, or anything other TMZ news-related bullshit? Nope. Not only.

Not only. We're talking about Terry on Arnold, considering we're going to be talking about the Lions today because of the NFC. Norton. But we're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we'll get into the NFC North preview and our top five running backs heading into the 2026 season. It may not have always showed it in the stat sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws. Back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's 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. All right. Top five running backs. I think in the 2006 season. Oh, Lord.

Oh, Lord. That's going to be I'm going back in 4-4, one or two on my mind just because the position is so weird.

Yeah, yeah, this is another position where it's just an absolute crap shoot. And especially all the time in running backs, you'll have some rando pop-off

for a thousand, thousand yards and then fade right back into obscurity. Peyton Hillis is the obvious one when we think about it, but might I introduce you to other people like Jordan Howard or Jay Ajay, for example? And Justin Forset, unfortunately. Rico Dowell is kind of a weird one this year. No, because he was productive in Dallas last year. They just let him go.

I mean, in the case that he was splitting time, and he wasn't really the main back until he went off when Chuba Hubbard went down. Fair enough. I see your point. It's weird because as a rookie, you can clearly see they can be a top five running back and you can put them there. Like as a rookie, Sequin was a top five running back easily. Yeah. And that's the struggle. You could clearly see like a rookie being a top five running back depending on the team they

go to and how well they can, like how productive they can be. Yeah. Like right now before we even get into the top five, not putting Ashen Genty into my top five, but like that was another guy that a lot of people were saying he's already a top five running back, even though he was going to the Raiders. And he could end up being a top five running back this next year

with the improvements they've made to the O line. Oh, absolutely. Also, Barrier and Hampton on the Chargers, if he plays a full 16 games, I'm expecting him to be like an 1100 yard rusher. Yes. I'm not sure that's enough to make them a top five because there will be several people.

At minimum. At minimum. Yeah. Top 10 minimum. All right. A healthy line, I'm just saying. Yeah. Top five running backs.

She wants to go first. Damn it. What? No, because there's like so many in, all right. Number five for me would be Yvonne H. I do not expect them I do not expect Miami to be great this year so that means the superstars are going to be

getting heavy touches and I expect Devon Aitian the only superstar they have to get 350 plus touches and probably like 400 plus overall touches both running and receiving I expect them to have somewhere between 1,300 to 1400 yards I expect eight or nine touchdowns,

and I expect them to be a force, just not a good force because they have nothing else surrounding him. I'm not sure how good Malik Wills will look under this offense. I'm not sure how the dolphins will look under the athlete. And quite frankly, I don't believe in anything they have on the offensive side of the ball right now. But we'll see. I could be wrong, but right now I have Devon H.N. at number five. you got it.

I'm going on with your list. Sorry, I, for that I have. Number four, unfortunately, I do believe he'll take a step back,

but he'll still be a force to be reckoned with. Derek Henry. I just, because of age, I can't put him over the other three, but he's still very productive. Four 1095 yards last year,

he's still a tank, even with a horrible, horrible right guard in a okay O line. He still managed to be productive and help Ravens almost make the playoffs, despite how bad we played last year. Derek Henry is still a force, and I believe he'll be productive. I just think it's another year, another year of tread, wear and tear, and, you know, father time is undefeated.

So he might take a step back, but it's still Derek Henry, so I don't, he still might have close to 2,000 yards. Number three, Bjoriejean Robinson. I'm, he is heavily depending on how good the Atlanta Falcons is. I think he by himself will have at least 1,500 yards, but again,

that quarterback situation is not helping him. Because I don't know if it's going to be Phoenix or Tua, because both of them are like the same caliber quarterback to me. So I think it's going to be do or die with Bijon Robinson doing most of the load in the run game. Hopefully you're clearing it up for the passing game, and that's going to be that. Number two, I think, I think Sequin will be number two. I think the line will be much better. I think he will have a bounce back season after the season he had last year.

I think Sequin has, I wouldn't say he has a lot to prove because he's already proven it. time and time again, how good of a running back he is. He's a Super Bowl champion. But last year wasn't his best season for obvious reasons, and I think he'll want to prove that he's still the number one running back. And then number one is Jemir Gibbs. I think his ability to not only run the ball, catch the ball, and his speed when he gets to the second level is ridiculous.

And I think he's, no, I don't think. I know he's a touchdown machine, so I know he'll have double-digit touchdown. touchdowns and all around. I think the success, the quarterback, the situation he finds himself in, the offensive side, the defensive side, I think he has the, he, his team has the most potential to generate great touches, great looks for him and long run. So I think he'll probably be the most productive running back. I'm not sure if he'll be the best, but the most productive. I think he'll look the best.

So I have him number one. Nice. Nice. It's CJ. You want to give your top five or you want me to go? I can go. All right. My fellow Americans, the way I see it,

there are seven people running backs as they are known who could be in the top five. I truly believe outside of the top three, you can put them any which way. And even the top three, you could put them in any of which way. So if there's two that... Low-key, sorry to cut you off. I was, yeah, whatever. Sorry to cut you off, but low-key, I would even go more than seven. Well, seven just like off the dome.

Yeah. I'm sure there's more you could argue for, but right now, but there's like the big seven. So if there are two specifically that did not make it that you think should, well, then that's just going to be what that is, isn't it? So my number five, give me Jonathan Taylor of the Colts. Absolute tank. Indie's got a good offensive line. He's got the receiving upside.

And you know he's going to get his touches while Anthony take a playoff, Richardson, is QB or Riley Leonard. So like I said, it's going to be like at the end of last year where he's going to get his touches. They're just going to use him as a battering ram. and he can take over games, which is why I say, Shane Stuyken, work your magic, make Jonathan Taylor a fancy beast again. Like last year, amen. My number four is Sequo and Barclay, the Philadelphia Eagles.

Good news, Eagles fans. You're free from the hell known as Kevin Petulow. And also, by the way, a lot of people don't realize this because the Eagles just didn't pass the eye test, but Barclay himself was a thousand. and yard rusher last season as well. So let's not hate on the guy here. Once again, good offensive line.

The offense should be better. I believe in Saquan Barkley. My number three, this is a bit of a risk, I'll admit, is Christian McCaffrey in the 49ers. Chat, knock on wood, but it looks like he's staying healthy. He's the premier,

actually, I would say maybe the second dual threat back, second premiere, but he was the premier dual threat back for a long time. I want to see him stay completely healthy and back-to-back seasons. I do. But outside of that, I really like the projection here. He can hit the hole. He can, you know, he can be fast with it. He can pause, I guess, if you are so inclined. And he's an elite receiving threat. It's just the health. My number two, Bejan. He's going to get his touches regardless. And whether you have

penics or two up, chucking balls to pits in London, I don't care. Bejohn's going to get his touches. Falcon's offensive line at a scary unit right there. And Bejohn is just going to run all over the place.

The past two seasons have been tremendous for him, and I really want to see where he goes. Bejohn's was another than I believe in. And my number one is Jamir Gibbs. He was always top five, but now I know people are oh my god

the lions broke up Sonic and Knuckles which for those of you don't know is the nickname for Jemir Gibbs and David Montgomery. But now that Dave Montgomery's gone, Gibbs doesn't have a handcuff anymore. He doesn't really have a guy that's going to

eat into his carry share. And when you consider Jemir Gibbs' receiving upside, which that dude is nasty out of the backfield, kind of like CMC, he has to be number one. And I said towards this time last year, because I think I put Jamir Gibbs at four or five to start last season, and I said the only reason he's not like my number two, because I was

very high on him, I said my number two or one was because he had that handcuff in David Montgomery. Well, David Montgomery is now a Houston, Texas. Jamir Gibbs, you're number one. Nice. Funny thing is, I still don't think David Montgomery was a handcuff because of how productive Jamir Gibbs was. Well, you know, as someone who owned Dave Montgomery and fantasy, I could tell you he

was eating quite well. And for what it's worth, the other two that I left off are Devon A-chan and Derek Henry. A-chan, I just, I wanted to sneak him in. I just think that the, that defenses are going to commit, like, all 11 guys on the fields to stopping him. Yeah, they're going to have to find ways to win without him and they can't. Like, he'll have his plays, but defenses are going to figure out fast when you erase A. Chan, you erase the Dolphins offense. And also their line is horrendous. And Derek Henry, Tuckett's, like you said, just the age day.

on up him. I still think he'll be top five, but I'm just concerned about the age as all. Also, his complete lack of receiving upside also, Curtis. He can catch the ball. It's just,

that's not his strongest suit. Oh, I most certainly agree. Good list. Fine list. Yours. Let's see. Um,

yeah, I was kind of kicking my, over my top five because there's just so many good running backs. I mean, yes. Really when I look at my top five running backs, I'm looking at the top 10 rushers from this past year and there's just so many good names on here.

Like it's just so hard to be like, this is my top five, right? But as far as my top five, I'm going to go, I'm also going to go Derek Henry as number five. I think that you'll still be able to crack 1400 yards. I don't know if you'll get 16 rushing touchdowns. Maybe he does just because maybe they'll just stick with the run-heavy scheme with Lamar and Derek. But I'll just see how that plays because at the end of the day, he's still a dominant motherfucker.

Sticking with dominant motherfuckers, John Taylor's going to be my number four. 1,500 rushing yards, 18 touchdowns. This dude was the entire offense and only one fumble throughout the year as well. Not much else to it. My number three, man, my number three is going to be Christian McCaffrey. I already fucked up this list, to be honest. You know, I'm going to redo it because... Oh, my God.

I already fucking do it on the fly? Yeah. No. No. McAfree at number three. I, no. I'm bumping Derek Henry to six for me. And...

What are we doing? What are we doing? I'm a bumping him to six. As soon as at age, I shouldn't have said age. I'm a moment of six. Derek, please rush for 2,000 yards this year. Watch him rush. Yeah, he's going to be a 2,000 yard rusher again.

I'm already saying. I could see that. He got 1,400 on a bad line. He can get 2,000. Oh, my, please with your list, Chris. Come on, now. All right. If Derek Henry 6, who's 5?

I'm going to go CMC as my 5 instead. But I think with this case, it's a matter of, I think for CMC, it's also an 8 because now he has also hit 30. Granted, he's one of two players in the top 10 in terms of rushing yards that also had 2,000 total and probably the sneakiest 100 yard receiving year that anyone will ever see. now granted he also had 311 touches and average less than 4 yards per carry so I'm kind of taking that into account but I mean this he's starting it seems like he might be over the injury bug but Lord knows Jonathan Taylor is my four like I said I'm going to keep it as that because don't know how that offense is going to run I he's definitely going to be the focal point once again but Can he get those same numbers? I don't know if he's cracking 18 touchdowns like he did last year, but we'll see how that plays. Number three for me,

number three for me is going to be Seekwon. I love Seekwon. I still think he's one of the best backs of the league, if not the best. This year was just a little weird for him. Honestly, when you really look at his stats, when you look at his stats, he's barely cracked 1,000 yards three times. Yeah, he got the 2,000 yard season in this year.

And that was a fantastic year. Last year was weird with the O-Line issues, but you even look at the days with the Giants, he was barely cracking 1,000 yards. And there was a lot of different things going on with the Giants at that point, too. But I think he's still going to be able to put up a whole thing. big year. My number two is Jamir Gibbs. And the only

reason why I'm putting him to number two is because my number one is Bejohn Robinson. This dude is a human highlight reel. He is the other player in this top 10 rushers that has cracked 2,000 total yards. He's a fucking animal.

And yeah, you could say that there's going to be a lot of, as you guys mentioned, there's a lot of questions with how Atlanta's offense is going to run this year. But the fact that he was still able to crack 2000 with how dysfunctional the quarterback position was and still is, is remarkable. So B. John's my number one. Man, when we saw him play on Monday night football,

he was something special. He was. We saw what prime Bijon is going to look like in two years. If not right now. I don't. Honestly, I don't have a problem with any of our list outside of, you know, Derek Henry being six. But, you know. Outside of me making a quick audible.

That's fine. Derek, you know what you need to do now. Yeah. Hey, look, I love Derek Henry. So that wasn't me hating. I just, I want to see that. Yeah, I still really like Derek Henry. I like there's in Jersey.

So, like, you know. Yeah. I wouldn't mind getting a Derek Henry jersey. A Titans one for Roversworth. Actually. No, no, I'm saying no, I have a Titans one. It's, oh, okay. No, I'm just saying I have that because I've had it since before you went to the Ravens.

So you can't get out of my freshman year in college. Low key. If it was a Houston Oilers, Titans jersey, I might be interested. That is the only one. That is the only one. Yeah. All right. Time for our NFC North preview.

Starting from the bottom to the top. Detroit Lions, going from first to worst. But considering how the NFC North was last year, really the last couple of years, it's really not that surprising. Because the NFC North, in the best way possible, it was a bit of a shit show. But like I said, in a great way because of how competitive it was. You had every single team above 500. It was a race to the finish line for that last wildcard spot and the division for that matter,

which the Bears won. The Lions and the Vikings just happened to be on the south side of that. But looking at the Lions, this was a team that was filled with injuries once again, a team that, you know, when the team, this was a team when they won, they fucking beat the living shit out of those teams. But when they lost, more often than not, they're losing by one score. And there was some weird losses in there, too. Yeah, they lost by 14 against Green Bay opening weekend, lost by three to Minnesota.

They also lost by 13 to Kansas City. They lost a tight one against a low-scoring tight game against Philly. Lost again to Green Bay on Thanksgiving. but the real kicker was that they lost three of their last four to end the season ultimately eliminating themselves from the playoffs and that was especially this game against Pittsburgh that a game they really should have won where they lost 29 24 and then they lost by 13 to Minnesota this was for what the Lions had been the two years prior

this was the most underwhelming version of the Lions that we could have seen and seeing how there's really no change in how the NFC North is going to look this coming season, well, things may be looking like the same thing again, to be fair. But who knows? I think the biggest thing with the Lions this year is if their defense can stay healthy again, which that's been a problem, as we have noted, bottom half the league and points against their offense continues to hum. But as we mentioned too,

Jamir Gibbs, probably going to be able to go crazy with no David Montgomery. He's going to be the Belkow back. I think Detroit, they are a playoff caliber team. They just had a bad year overall. I think Jaregolf is a quality enough quarterback, almost to the point he's underrated for how good he is.

Armand Mara St. Brown is a top five live receiver. Jameson Williams is a threat no matter where he is, whether in the slide or out wide. Jamir Gibbs is special. Their O-line got better through the draft, and their defense might have taken a step back or a step forward, depending on how you feel about Terry on Arnold. So I think it was just a bunch of injuries in bad luck last year. I think they'll come back stronger this year, and hopefully they'll be in contention to make the playoffs again. See, Jay?

So the Lions. Honestly, the NFC North as a whole is a division where all the teams were good. The Lions, the issue with them was just last year was injuries. Their entire team was just buried in a mass grave. Nobody could stay healthy, especially the defensive backfield or the offensive line. They didn't exactly have the most cap space in for agency if they did grab the center, Cade Mays, to a multi-year deal.

They got running back Isaiah Pacheco and Edd Rusher, DJ Wanam, both on one-year deals, which I think are fine. Got Greg Dorch, the Whiteout on a one-year deal, Corner, Roger McCreery on a one-year deal. So these are a lot of quick fixes, but a lot of their work was done. on through the draft. Like in the first round, they took the Clemson offensive tackle, Blake Miller. You got Derek Moore, the Eddrusher from Michigan, a Michigan offball linebacker and Jimmy Rolder, and also a steel in the fifth round, Arizona State Corner, Keith Abney

the second. Mm-hmm. And then I wasn't crazy about their last three picks. Kentucky wide-out, Kendrick Law, Texas Tech, defensive tackle, Skyler Gill Howard, and Tennessee defensive tackle, Tyree West. Those picks, I mean, Skyler Gil Howard, you can kind of sell me on, but Law and West I weren't, I wasn't really crazy about. But as a whole, I would say that the Lions improved. And you guys broke down the rest of the roster, but for me, it's hell.

That's all it is. It comes down entirely to hell. 100%. It's been like this for the last few years now for the Lions. and that's one of the biggest reasons why they have fizzled out in the playoffs. Maybe not that first go-around against San Francisco, but definitely the 24-year where they lost to Washington in the first round. So, or second round, pardon.

Predictions on the Lions over under nine and a half wins. Over. I got to go over. Over. I see them easily getting 11. They should get. get 11. They should. Everybody's got

to stay healthy. And like the fact, like, they got to 9 and 8 for the shit they were going through. So, if they can contain that, I mean, if they can contain it and get themselves in a spot like they were in the

24 season, that'd be a problem for them. The Vikings. This was for how the Vikings season was, the fact they finished 9 and 8 is kind of a shock in their own right. They finished the season on a five-game winning street. Miracle.

Miracle. Miracle. Ended up getting the 18th pick overall in the draft, got Caleb Banks. Other than that, this was a team that was also kind of just right and high on defense. This was in terms of points against, it was a top 10 defense in the league. but their struggle was offense. They have the talent. They just didn't have the quarterback.

And it was a cycle of quarterbacks from J.J. McCarthy to Carson Wentz literally on his last legs to UNH Minnesota legend Max Brosmer. And now their big ticket item this year, Caller Murray. So it's, well, it was the same thing. last year, it's going to be the same thing this year. It's going to be quarterback play. And can Kyle Murray get the ball efficiently? Jetta's

Addison. Now they got Joanne Jennings and Hawkinson. Run game's going to be a little interesting in my opinion because Aaron Jones still have him. He's 31. Jordan Mason's the number two. I'm curious to see how this ends up how the run game looks.

But I think that if Kyler Murray is able to perform well, passing-wise, it should open up the run game pretty good. Well, I guess it's me now. Yeah, we'll start. That's cool. Thank you. So J.J. McCarthy

will not be starting. And I think that there, that's probably an extra win for the Vikings. The thing with J.J. McCarthy is the few nine truthers, as they call him, the few nine truthers that are left will say, oh, but he led them to

you know, 9 and 8 record. He didn't lead them. He stumbled. Yeah. That's like saying Trent Dilfer led the 2000 Ravens to the Super Bowl. That's like saying Rex Grossman led the, what was it? 07 bears to the... 0-6-07.

Don't do it, Chris. Anyway. But yeah, so that's that equivalent. Or if you want, or I could double down more. To put in NBA terms, that's like saying Dionne Waiters led the big heat, the big three heat to the finals, or Draymond Green led the Dynasty Warriors in the finals. Like J.J. McCarthy had nothing to do with it. And you know how I know, he shattered the illusion that Justin Jefferson is quarterback

proof. You know, a lot of people myself included kind of viewed Jefferson the same lens as D'Andre Hopkins, where no matter who's throwing him the ball, he's going to get his. Nope, J.J. McCarthy said, hold my nine beers. He still got a thousand. Howard Murray, a guy that has actual

explosive potential, Vikings, you genuinely might be back in business. And the free agent class outside of Murray is pretty solid too. You got James Pierre getting a two-year deal at Corner. You got a one-year prove-it deal for

Joanne Jennings, who will be your wide receiver three. But he's a great upgrade from Jalen Naylor, I would say. And you got a good punter and Johnny Heckers well. So overall, it was solid, but the draft, Miami. I mean, not Miami, you know, M.M.

I was looking at a player draft guy from Miami. Those say my, Minnesota. Huh? Who were you looking for? Jacoby Thomas. That's what I, that's. Yeah. But, so I would say this, Minnesota?

Minnesota, come here? I don't like that draft. Caleb Banks. in the first round at pick 18. If he can stay healthy, it could be. Well, it doesn't matter. He was not in need. That was a luxury pick.

Why not go with the kid safety from Oregon there, Dylan Feyneman, Deanneman. He was right there. And you didn't do that. Shame. Dead me to hell. Then they double dipped at DT, getting Dominique Orange in the third round,

that of Iowa State. They picked a linebacker from Cincinnati, Jake Golday, in round two, which is a pick that I like. Also, they had two other picks in round three. Northwestern offensive tackle, Caleb Tiernan, and Miami Safety Jacoby Thomas, which are both picks, and I think are fine. They had tight end fullback hybrid from Michigan, Max Bredesen in the fifth round. I'm not sure I would have drafted him. They got Charles Demings, the corner from Stephen F. Austin, who's actually sneakily underrated. And then they got Demand Claiborne from Wake Forest and Gavin Gearhart from Cincinnati,

a running back in the center respectively. This was not one of my favorite drafts. I really liked the Gold Day tiered in as a steal, but the rest, especially Banks in the first round, wasn't crazy about it. As a whole, though, I think the Vikings at worst stayed the same, but at best got better, especially the quarterback position going from Kyler Murray, or going, I mean, going to Kyler Murray from

J.J. McCarthy's going to help a lot. Yeah. I agree. Or at least be fun to watch. I still think Justin Jefferson is quarterback proof because he still got a thousand yards. He still got it, Mara. He barely got a thousand yards and he had two touchdowns.

Quarterback proof. Think of what he, look at the conditions he was working under. I don't think, Even D'Andre Hopkins hasn't had quarterback play as bad as this. And he's had some, he's had some stunners in Houston. Oh, Tom Savage? Tom Savage. Oh, we're going to say Tom Savage wasn't as bad as this.

Tom said. No, he wasn't. He was not as bad as mine. I mean, talk, we're talking about a guy like Jettas who put up, literally put up Stefan Diggs numbers. Yes. And look at the. quarterback play. He didn't have Drake May as a quarterback for a quarterback. If he had Drake May,

he might have had 2,000 yards. Oh, yeah. If you had, yeah, it's a whole different story, but still, I mean, he had, what, three or four different quarterbacks and still tried to produce to what he was given. Yeah. The quarterback play, this isn't, this isn't the time nor the place for this. I think, I think Minnesota got better by putting J.J. McCarthy as the number two quarterback. Kyler, if you lose to him in this quarterback battle and you look worse than J.J. McCarthy, pack it up.

You need to go. Not just leave Minnesota, leave the NFL. This is ridiculous. Because if you lose to J.J. McCarthy, nine, we don't need to talk about anything else unless somehow, some way J.J. McCarthy becomes Tom Brady. That shouldn't happen. Yeah.

Over under 9.5 wins. Under. I think eight wins. I just don't see them beating Chicago, Green Bay, and Detroit. They might split one of those teams, but I don't see them consistently getting one or two wins against them. I think under in the sense that they're going to stay exactly where they were. I was thinking the same thing, just staying right at 9 there. No pun intended.

Yeah. Yeah, enough. I could see eight or nine wins, but I went safely and said under and went eight. Yeah. All right. Moving on to the Green Bay Packers, finished second in the NFC North. I might have to leave. It's 344.

You can go now if you need. All righty. Finally, Green Bay Packers, I think the Micah Parsons, Michael Parsons injury is going to impact their defense, that why receiving core looks a bit suspect. I need more from Christian Watson based upon the deal he just got. I need a little bit more from him, but he can't stay healthy, and I need more from Jordan Love. You were up 18, and you still can get the job done with what you had. I blame the coaching, but you don't escape either, and that's unfortunate.

Chicago did not look great in that second half, but they still found a way to win. Geez, I need the Packers to figure it out. I think they're a playoff team, but I think it's still going to be a struggle. I see 10 wins. 10, no, 11 and 6. 11 and 6. Over under 11 wins for the Bears. Over.

I see 13 and 4. All right. Kentucky, have a great day at work. You too. See you. See you. All right. So the Green Bay Packers, back to them real quick.

Did he not even log out? Oh, doesn't seem it. I just remember them anyways. We're good. Green Bay Packers, so 9 and 7 and 1. They had their tie on the list there. And this was a Packers team that started out hot. They were considered one of the best teams in the league, probably a Super Bowl contender.

But boy, today, this old. lost four in a row including and they had some pretty bad losses in there as well obviously the overtime thriller against the Bears where they blew that one but they lost by 17 to Baltimore and then they lost by

13 to Minnesota clinching somehow clenching a wild card spot through it all but yeah Micah Parsons going down was really the big killer that

that set green day into a bit of a spiral. And they never recovered. And it was a, they were one and done in the playoffs. So now the, this year is going to be an interesting year because last year, you already heard the rumblings of Malfleur. And I have a feeling that the rumblings are going to end up continuing, depending on how this season goes for them. Yeah.

I'm more or less the same boat, frankly. The floor is just such a frustrating coach. I just, I want more from him. You know, I really do. Now, I don't know if it's a him thing, if it's a Jordan Love thing. Like, they're just so, he's just so aggravating. And honestly, I can see a world where if they go one and done in the playoffs this year

and they don't even win the division, then he can get fired. Yeah. Like, I'm telling you, I can envision that. Now, like I said, it would have to be that scenario where they're runner up in the division,

right? You know, they don't win. And on top of that, they go one and done, then I think he's out. And I'm not saying they're going to miss the playoffs, but should they miss the playoffs, no ifs, or buts he's out.

And as for the receiver core, like Tuck said, I want to see more. Christian Watson literally didn't even match the statistics of Romeo Dobbs. They were like 1A and 1B over there. And they paid Watson more despite the fact you could argue Dobbs was the better receiver. And also, first round pick Matthew Golden. Hey, you want to contribute more? Don't just wait for the playoffs to get your first touchdown. I think you should do that.

I really think you should, you know, offense, we'll say. And Parsons, I feel like he should be fine, you know, especially coming back. I mean, this is still a really good defense. Yeah, the defense is good, and it's going to get better. They added Nate Hobbs, the corner, and defensive tackle, Javon Hargrave and Free Agency. And they got Tyrod Taylor to be a backup quarterback. So I will take that, you know, and if you're a Packers fan, I'll take that all the time. Weirdly enough, they brought in corner Benjamin St. Juist, which, that might have made your DB room worse.

He's not very good. But outside of that, you know, they didn't really, you know, spend a lot of money. In the draft, though, he really didn't have a first round pick. I liked this draft class. They got Brandon Siss or Sise, I think it is, from South Carolina. Chris McClellan, defensive tackle from Missouri. Honestly, that wasn't a pick that I loved. But the rest, Dan I, Dennis Sutton from Penn State,

Yeager Burton from Kentucky, Domani Jackson from Alabama, and kicker, Trey Smack from Florida? Those are some good picks. And honestly, how do you not love a kicker whose name is literally Trey Smack? We got some great kicker names. now. We have a laundry list of kicker names in the league right now. It's great. So, yeah, I think the Packers should be fine, but I don't know how good they're going to be again. I just, the vibes just seem kind of off in Green Bay. It's the only way I see fit to describe it.

What was there over under? Nine and a half. For Green Bay? Yeah, they win nine and seven and one. Oh, yeah. I think over. I think they're probably going to get like 10 or 11. Yeah, I'd say they get 11 wins as well. I think this, I want Matt Lafleur to not be such a,

such a conservative play caller because, like, you know, the games that they lost, especially those games. Huh? I said they were all blown leads. Yeah, especially the two games against the Bears, all of them blown leads. I know Tuck said that you could place some of the blame on Jordan Love, but we had this argument when they lost that wildcar game against the Bears. Like, for what was going on, Jordan Love also drove them down the field three times in three drives.

And in the last minutes of regulation, or in that fourth quarter, really, and put them in positions to succeed and defense failed. Obviously, we'll talk about the bears as well, the cardiac bears. That'll be interesting. But I think also over nine and a half as well, I think they can crack 11 wins. Before we get into the Bears, I definitely think that this division's really just going to come down to the lines, the Bears, the Packers, and who can stay healthy. That's really what it's going to come down to. Who can get on a big run late?

and yeah, should be another fun year of the NFC North. But looking at the Bears, the winners of said NFC North at a 11 and 6 record, making it to the divisional round where they lost in overtime against the Rams, which surprising in that because they had a lot of momentum going into overtime in that game. but cards just weren't falling in place. And, well, the expectations have risen a little bit more since Caleb Williams is on the cover of this year's Madden. So everyone's already thinking about the curse, this and that. So I guess the question is, can Caleb Williams get over the curse?

Well, I want to start up by saying that the bears of the whole actually got better this offseason. Please. They extended offensive lineman Braxton Jones, but they also grabbed offensive lineman Jedrick Wills, linebacker, Devin Bush, and safety Kobe Bryant, as well as Collief Raymond at wide receiver, and Cam Lewis at DB. But the draft, this was a good draft. You got Dylan Lanhamen, the safety from Oregon, who the Vikings should have taken, but they were able to snip them. Logan Jones, the center from Iowa,

Sam Ruch, the tie-in from Stanford, a bit of a reach, but I don't hate him as a prospect. Zavian Thomas, LSU wide receiver, solid steel in the fourth round with Texas corner Malik Mohamed, Arizona state linebacker, Kishon, Elliott, and Georgia Tech defensive tackle, Jordan Vandenberg. And, but I also like about the Bears, they're undrafted free agents,

like Louisville quarterback Miller Moss, Wyoming Guard, Caden Barnett, and wide receiver Squirrel White as well. So as a whole, I think they got better. But there's just something about the bears.

Everyone's like, oh, they're the cardiac bears, baby. No leads too big. You never count them out. I just, I'm sorry. That's not an effective way to win games. It's just not. I mean, I know Caleb William,

he's the ice man he's cold he can pull miracles out of his ass well what happened when you know and i was arguing at the time i said it wasn't really skill it was more so luck and i was proven right because straight up their luck finally ran out they lived by caleb williams but they also died by him too when they needed him most he threw a duck a complete duck right to the defense the court the safety could have fair caught that. Like, put his arm there and fair caught that ball. He played them out of that game. He got them back in.

And then he made the game-killing interception, or through the game-killing interception. So, and now the Madden curse, I'm not going to lie. I just, I think they're primed for a little bit of a regression. Because, once again, oh, they're the cardiac bears. But the problem is, all wins are not created equal. Comebacks are nice. but when every game is a down-to-the-wire nail-biter,

that's just not sustainable. You know, it's cool that you can come back and play a good second half of football, but a football game's four quarters. So what happens when you find a lead that's too big to come back from? Where, say you're down like five scores at halftime, you know, it's unlikely, but still, can you still do that? Or what happens when, like I said,

like your luck runs out. And when Caleb Williams, when you need him most, just threw a duck. I mean, make no mistake, he cost them that game. And I know DJ Moore, you know, kind of quit on that route. But if you watch the way DJ Moore was running, if he was running full speed, he was still not getting to that ball. That was a horrific throw. That was a team that got used to their comebacks and realized, oh, yeah, wait, no,

these aren't organic. They don't just happen. Like, you have to actually not. rely on nonsense. And part of, and like I said, I just want to see more. His Caleb Williams is a very strange quarterback because I'm not going to lie. He looks good playing

football, you know. He is why we have the eye test. But the problem is the eye test versus what he actually is are very different, which is I'm not crazy about the eye test. I mean, for some positions, it's different. For example, cornerback, where the eye test will tell you more than the stats ever can, you know, for guys like Saus Gardner, Christian Gonzalez, et cetera. But Caleb's stats were not that

great. They just weren't. He's not a 4,000-yard passer. He's, they didn't have his main touchdown down. Okay, cool. Almost. Like, what does that do, Chris? I'm just saying that there's a very real chance that he cracks the 4,000. No, there's a real chance, but like I said, his stats were, I'm going to say it, pedestrian. You know, 3,900 yards, 27 touchdown, seven picks. So it looks like he's good at, you know, not throwing interceptions, which is fine. But I just, and also a 58.1% completion percentage, that's actually bad. That's, like, really bad.

So the thing is, once again, I've said it once, I'll say it again. I just, the gap, and I would actually argue there's a sizable gap, in fact, between the eye test versus like what he actually is, you know? Because like I said, he aces the eye test, but the quarterback he actually is does not quite live up to that. I still think he's very good, and I still think the team got better, but I don't know. part of me really unironically feels like i won't say the madden curse is real but it has affected a lot of players so overall i think the bears are still going to be good and i still think they're

going to have their fluky nonsense here and there but i i don't like tuck said oh 13 wins i i don't know if i see 13 or 14 wins yeah i i don't see 13 14 i think they'll probably stick out 11 11 is 12, yeah. Yeah, because there's your over under. I'm picking the under and sticking out 11. But I think what killed Williams, you know, this year was kind of just more of like we're getting this guy progressed to what he should be. And yeah, like you said, the numbers don't live up to it.

He did have ended up with more touchdowns, more yards. He did have the one more pick. But as you mentioned, that completion percentage was down. 58% isn't going to win you a lot of ball games. I do think he's going to be the first bear to crack 4,000 yards in their franchise history, which is incredible to even say. I don't think he'll be affected by this Madden Curse because this side of the decade, the Madden Curse has been kind of has been shit.

It hasn't existed really outside of Christian McCaffrey. If you want to say Saquan Barkley as well, then fine. he still had over. Well, it's not even the players themselves. It's also the team, too. Who cares? It. I guess.

He does dipshit. I guess. But, like, it's still only mainly on the player themselves. Because when we're talking Maddenkirce, it's only the individual. And the individual, more times and not, some fuck shit happens. They get hurt. Or you have an Antonio Brown situation where he's just a complete headcase. all of these things

the madden curse if you're equating the madden curse to a team losing in the playoffs then that's not a curse um proof huh proof what do you mean proof well you made it

well no no it's not because I say it's not that's how you sound well if the individual still has a fantastic year then it's not a curse like like plenty of guy like is it okay well okay so So you're telling me the, so that. Is it a curse that Patriots haven't won since 2018?

Like, is it a curse that? Well, they haven't been on the cover. So you're comparing apples and bowling balls. Is it a curse that Tom Brady didn't win a Super Bowl the same year he was on the cover with Patrick Mahomes? Like, Patrick Mahomes still won a Super Bowl when he was on the cover of 20. Okay. Once again, that's the exception, not the rule.

I'm just saying. So, but your argument seems to be that, oh, Sequin, you know. having a good year the Eagles falling to shit doesn't fall under the definition of curse which I don't I'm just saying like I see the Madden Curse as an individual because like if it was a I guess we're going to go back to say like um let's see I'm just trying to remember what years uh there's Super Bowl winners right now um if we're talking about like years where got where teams don't win the Super Bowl, then like Tom Brady and Madden 18, Gronk and Madden 17, they still went to the Super Bowl.

Richard Sherman was the cover of Madden 15. They lost, yeah, but they still went to the Super Bowl. Like, I think that it just equate, I just think that the Madden curse equates more to individuals than it does to the team. Like, yeah, obviously, the individuals themselves getting injured also does end up according to team success, like you can make that correlation. But in my opinion, it just goes more to the individual itself. All right.

Fair. I mean, that's your opinion. I mean, I'm just saying like teams have also struggled as well. I mean, and to be fair, it has been less powerful too. But I don't know. It's just something that you notice is all. Yeah. No, like I said, I do agree there's a correlation.

But I don't think that Josh Allen throwing for 44, touchdowns and having 18 interceptions as a result of the Madden Curse. But his playoff performances sure are. Sure. All right. Anyways, I don't think that Caleb Williams will be affected greatly by the Madden Curse. And if the Bears don't make the Super Bowl or win a playoff game or win the Super Bowl, it's just that they're the Bears and has nothing to do with the Madden Curse.

Now, I do think that this. is a team that's going to probably stick out 11 wins and it's going to be another year where it's pretty much going to be up to if Caleb Williams can be up to the test. And I don't, I also don't think that they'll, not that they'll be as lucky as they were last year, but I think that we're now in the, I know, I think that we're now in the state of where we are with the Bears, year three with, or excuse me, year two with Ben Johnson. where they're going to be able to play a full 60 minutes for most of these weeks. All right.

Who do you have winning in the division? Call me crazy, but my gut instinct is actually the Lions. Yeah? Yeah, that was. Do you want to expand on that? No, I just, I feel like last year was a weird, fluky injury year. And if they stay healthy, then I think top down, they're arguably the best team. At least they have the most high-end talent.

Yeah, I can agree with that. I think that I'm probably going to lean lines, but part of me thinks that the bears may go back to back this year. Hmm. I guess it. Yeah. All right. That is our preview of the NFC North. That's all the schedule content that we have for you today as well.

Anything else on the list that you have in mind? No, not really. Cool. I guess to wrap up with other general NFL headlines, Bill's not honoring OJ Simpson at their new stadium. Good move. You mentioned Caleb Williams' attempt to trademark the Iceman moniker. I didn't.

That was denied. Yeah. Well, I kind of get why they didn't let that trademark go through because that name has been used before him. Yeah. UFC Fighter. What's his name? Wasn't that the...

Wasn't that who he was battling with? I don't know. It's possible. Not to mention there's literally an album by, I think it's Drake called Iceman. I didn't listen to it. I just know it wasn't very good. Plus, there's literally a Marvel superhero named Iceman.

So, yeah, he's one of the X-Men. Oh. It's in the movies. Okay. So I'm just saying like it's a better thing long before Caleb Williams. So I don't know. Trad marks are kind of weird. Well, I don't think a Super Bowl or Super Bowl superhero name has ever affected someone.

No, I mean, I'm just saying like, well, like you can't trademark that name, though, is the thing. That's all. I didn't say you can't use it. I'm just saying like he can't trademark it. Yeah. Like Shaq can't trademark Superman. because that's literally like a guy already or a fictional guy. Dwight Howard, but.

Or Dwight Howard. Shack actually had it first. Shack had the tattoo and shit. Hey, you know what? Fair enough. Fair enough. Dwight Howard can't do that either. So because it's like already like a thing that exists.

Yeah. All right. Thank you for tuning in for another Tuesday episode of the Fulmaruski podcast. No episode coming out next week where we'll talk about the NFC South and our top five wide receivers. that should be a fun one for usual. That'll be out at ADM next Tuesday. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, and we also have all our episodes available on all streaming platforms.

Be sure to follow our Instagram, Fulboroski underscore podcast, keep up a pod, and the latest coverage on the NFL. Otherwise, we'll see you next Tuesday. Over and out.