The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Richard Sherman Podcast - NFL 2025 Predictions: NFC West Champs: 49ers or Seahawks, Packers Rising, Eagles-Chiefs Super Bowl Rematch?

Episode Date: September 4, 2025

Richard Sherman and Mitchell break down the 2024 NFL season outlook with bold predictions, insider analysis, and unfiltered takes. From division battles to MVP conversations, every storyline is covered. In this episode, they dive into: 🏈NFC West – Can the 49ers stay healthy behind Brock Purdy, Christian McCaffrey, and Kyle Shanahan’s genius? Will the Seahawks’ young core spark a resurgence? Do the Rams have another Super Bowl run in them? And are the Cardinals ready to rise with Kyler Murray and Marvin Harrison Jr.? 🏈 NFC North – The Packers shock the league by adding Micah Parsons, the Lions test their young roster against a tough schedule, the Vikings face QB uncertainty, and the Bears unlock new offensive firepower. 🏈 AFC Contenders – The Chiefs continue their dominance, while the Broncos, Chargers, and Raiders fight for positioning. Plus, the Texans place their future in rookie QB C.J. Stroud’s hands. 🏈 Super Bowl Picks & MVP Race – Find out why the Eagles and Chiefs are early favorites, and how stars like Joe Burrow, Brock Purdy, and Sam Darnold could shake up the MVP conversation. This NFL season preview is loaded with expert insights, roster evaluations, and raw conversations you won’t hear anywhere else. 📌 Don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE for weekly breakdowns, post-game analysis, and exclusive content with Richard Sherman & Mitchell. Hit the 🔔 bell icon so you never miss an episode! #NFL #RichardSherman #NFLOutlook2024 #NFLPredictions #FootballPodcast   00:00 - Introduction / NFC West 36:45 - NFC North 1:06:00 - NFC East  1:17:58 - NFC South 1:23:45 - AFC West 1:29:53 - AFC East 1:33:03 - AFC North 1:41:48 - AFC South 1:45:0 - NFC & AFC Champs, 2025 Super Champs, And MVP PredictionsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Welcome back to the Richard Sherman podcast. Another season, another incredible year for the Richard Sherman podcast. We appreciate you always joining us and hit that South. button if you knew. Your team has a lot of hope right now. Super Bowl aspirations all around. Mitchell, how are you feeling? Richard, it's great to be back. Football is almost back, my friend. And this is, again, my favorite time of year right next to the NFL draft. You know I love me, the NFL draft, but NFL kickoff, we got a doozy right around the corner. And we're here at the Richard Sherman podcast, The Breakdown. You know, this is a lot.

season ahead. Let's get right into it, man, because I know I know your allegiances lie heavily with that NFC West. And for once in a long time, this NFC West is truly anyone's game. I mean, we see the 49ers. They're going to have to battle a lot of adversity this year, Rich, a lot of roster change. You know, the L.A. Rams pretty darn good. The Arizona Cardinals, do they rise from the depths? And then the Seattle Seahawks, I mean, a quarter of a quarter. back change. Obviously, second year under the head coach, you got to see some of these guys live in camp. You went to San Fran. You went to Seattle. Richard, talk to me. What do you like in the NFC? Is it the 49ers division? Because I like to tell you something, Los Vegas, they're

known for making odds. I don't know if you knew this or not, but they're known for making some odds. And they favor your San Francisco 49ers to take this division. Do you like that or do you like the field, my man. Mitchell, I feel good about the San Francisco 49ers always because they have Kyle Shanahan, because they have Brock Purdy, because they have Christian McCaffrey, because they have Trent Williams, Nicholas John Bosa, Fred Warner, Diomador, Lenore. These are the reasons I feel comfortable. George Kittle, the list goes on.

It seems like a who's who of the Pro Bowl, all pro team. but the reason I have paused, the reason I look at that 10 and a half and I say, hmm, I can see it, but I need to squint a little bit to see it because of the injuries,

because the injury bug has been so ravenous through the San Francisco 49ers locker room that it gives me pause and concern because the last few years, it's been contagious. And so if you keep those guys that are mentioned healthy, I think 10 and a half, 11 wins sound manageable. Those are some of the best players of the National Football League.

They make impacts week in and week out. They will be perfectly fine. They will find a way Kyle Shanahan, Clay Kubiak, they'll figure it out. But it's fragile. It's very, very, very, very fragile this year when you're top-heavy like that. It's like when you see a circus act and you see the elephant at the top, and you're like, if one thing breaks, the elephant falls, Mitchell, and that's a heavy fall. So could that they win the division of 49ers, no question about it.

They're talented enough. They have some of the best players in the National Football League. They have one of the best play callers, if not the best play caller in Calshanahan. A great coach. Robert Sale is back coaching that defense. They have a talented defense, young in the back end. outside of Diomador-Lanour. But Upton Stout has looked really good.

He looked incredibly feisty. He looks like he's going to fit right in. If he's healthy, Renardo Green looked good last year. I think he'll take another step in year two. They like the safeties. They like the linebacker and court. I think this is, again, another good, talented linebacker and core. I think DeWinters will take the next step this year.

It's the detackle position that leaves me really, really concerned. You got the rookie C.J. West, penciled in as the starter. You got Jordan Elliott, who doesn't have a ton of experience. You got Alfred Collins, who they took in the second round, who they're really high on, who, you know, it's a hard position to play. So it's going to take some time, some experience for him. McHale Williams, the draft pick, the first round draft pick, if he's healthy, looks to be everything they thought he would be. But that defensive tackle position is the one that. It's really, really concerning because if you can't get that right, then you're going to be in for a long, long, long, long, long, long season. And you pick up Jordan Jefferson off waivers. And I think he will factor into the mix. And I think Chris Casaric will maximize these guys to the fullest.

But you just never know. And if that, it's not like you can go do something else and make a big tray, you can. But it's costly. And they're the second highest dead money in the league. so it's not like you can make some crazy trade and really secure that spot during the season. So this is pretty much what you're going with. I think they really like Marquis Singh in the back end. I think he'll start.

They've been praising him. It looks like he'll start. They were actively shopping Jair Brown, so I'm not sure how he'll factor into that or what that mix will look like. On the offensive side, they look really good, Mitchell. They look really good. And still, that offensive line was a question mark to begin the season. They didn't do a lot to make me feel more comfortable. Obviously feel good about Dominic Pony, but he was a little banged up.

You feel good about Trent Williams. But there's a lot of question marks and a lot of guys that are on proven seasons. This is a proven year for him. And Carl Shannon has spoken glowingly about this offensive line, but it's to be seen. They're a great run-blocking offensive line. and pass pro is where they struggle, and we'll see your first game in the season. You got Seattle Seahawks, you got Leonard Williams,

you got Jaron Reed, you got Byron Murphy, you got these fast rushers galore. You got DeMarcus Lawrence. You got pass rusher galore coming in to Boisem Lafay. So they'll be challenged right out the gate, and we'll see how well they stand up against that offensive line because, again, you pay Brock Purdy 50 plus million. When he's upright and he has time, he's one of the best.

proven. He's got the highest EPA. He's efficient. He's accurate. He's all those things. Got great anticipation. But nobody's good if you're not standing upright. And so they got to keep him upright. Obviously, we mentioned all the other guys. They brought him Brian Robinson, the running back. I think that's a great one-two punch with Christian McCaffrey. If I's Garindo gets healthy, I think this is going to be a great backfield and they can feel really confident and excited about it and all the ways they could use Christian McCaffrey as a receiver, maybe even two back sets with Brian Robinson. I think there's some exciting possibilities. Obviously, they're without

Debo Samuel now, so they have to replace that factor of their offense. Maybe they use Christian McCaffrey in that role while Brian Thomas, I mean, Brian Robinson is in the backfield, you know, things like that. I think Calh-Shannahan will use his creativity. The receiving core.

Huge question mark. No, I mean, you talk about question marks, and that's all I hear you saying, is question marks. And that's the story of this team right now is the question marks. How will they be answered because we talked off air this week. I mean, you look at the embarrassment of riches this team has had over the last five years. When you were playing there, Richard, you had DeForest Buckner and Eric Armstead, you know, clogging that middle. Now you're relying on these relative

of unknowns in the middle. What the 49ers have really benefited from over the years is they've had all these all-pro and pro-world players, but it was these guys that came out of nowhere to fill in those gaps, the Dre Greenlaws, the Telenoa of Fungas. You know, know, Diomador Lenore being another one. Like, who is that guy going to be defensively is the main question mark for this team? Because while they are favored by Vegas to win the NFC West, I don't know, man. My gut tells me no. I lean more towards the Rams.

I lean more towards the Seattle Seahawks that I do the 49er faithful. And I'm sorry, I know our bulk of filers here and listeners are probably not going to like me for saying this. but I just do not see them winning this division without somebody, you know, somebody big stepping up and filling those voids. We asked all last year, how is Brock Purdy, paying Brock Purdy going to affect this roster? And now we see firsthand. I mean, you don't get the luxury resigning a Telanoho funga.

You lose a Drake Greenlaw. Like, now it's time for Kyle Shanahan to develop and John Lynch to pluck these draft picks and insert them into the roster to help level set this 49ers organization. Because I think this is a tipping point for them right now, Rich. I know you're cautious and agreeing with me. I know you are. But like, there are a lot of question marks and that's all I've heard from you right now.

It's definitely an inflection point. It's definitely a fork in the road that will be defined the Calashanahan and John Lynch era. And I say that knowing that, they've been to multiple Super Bowls. They've been to multiple NFC championship. This has been a successful tenure by every stretch of the imagination. No question. You're judged by what you're doing now. And I think they've put together as solid of a team as they can under the circumstances. I think they could have done more to address that offensive line. Hopefully what they did has bears fruit. But I think the receiving corps, you know, bringing in Marquez Valdez Scantling, I think that's a positive

I know his hands have been inconsistent. The speed is still there. He looked solid with the Seahawks. I thought he would make it. Obviously, Tori Horton had an incredible training camp, an incredible preseason, and just beat him outright. I mean, he earned the spot. He has a bright future, incredible young man who was very versatile, dominant at times in training camp for the Seattle Seahawks.

And so you understand what happened there. It's not like it was because the veteran just didn't play well. He just got beat out. That happens in the National Football League. these hungry rookies come in and they got a point to prove and that kid proved the point. He should have definitely went higher in the draft. He looks more like a first or second round draft pick. But I think he's a solid addition. I thought they brought Sky Moore in to help more with special teams, but also still a veteran receiver who was played on the Super Bowl teams with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Obviously they were going to move on from him, the San Francisco 49ers. He had a big punt return for a touchdown in the preseason game versus the Seattle Seahawks. So there was some energy there, some hype there, and they capitalized on it. They didn't spend too much on it. They needed to solidify this receiving core. Again, the Juan Jennings saga continues. They're saying he wants over $20 million a year. And it's starting to become, it's getting to that point where rubber has to hit the road.

Either they're going to pay him, John Lynch has said he's not going to trade him. So you're not going to pay him. You're not going to trade him. Either he's going to go out there and play well, which would be great. He goes out there and plays well. I'm sure he'll get over $20 million a year. But if he doesn't step on that field,

if he makes one of those moves where he sits out the game or continues to say his calf issue is an issue, and they go on and play the Seattle Seahawks without Juan Jennings. Whoa. Who do you even throw the ball to at that point? And this is, you got Ricky Persol in his second year, Rich. he's expected to take a huge step forward, but without Joanne Jennings,

that veteran presence, right? The guy who's overcome a lot of odds, seventh round pick out of Tennessee. You know, he didn't even see him during the first two, three years of his pro career because he was battling injuries, and now here is, he is again battling this, you know, the calf issue, Richard, you can speak a heck of a lot more

than I can with calf issues. I know those bothered you towards the tail end of your career. How big of a worry point is this for the 49ers? because like you just alluded to, without Joanne Jennings, who else is there? I mean, there's Ricky Persol and then a bunch of relative unknowns, a bunch of guys that they just brought in, and that's the main question mark with this 49ers team. Yeah, it's a bunch of relatively unknowns, and you're going into the Kubiak bow versus the Seattle Seahawks. The two Kubiaks is offensive coordinators.

We're going to get into that in a second. But who do you throw the ball to? I know who you throw the ball to. You throw it to George Kittlemore, which you've neglected for the past. couple of years, one of the best tight-ins, if not the best tight-in in football. You feed him more than you have. You've had so many miles to feed with Brandon I.U. Can Devo Samu's that you've neglected George Kittle.

So you definitely feed him. He's a match-up nightmare for especially the way the Seattle Seahawks defense plays in the Mike McDonald's scheme. The tight-in is where you have to go with the ball. They do a great job on the receivers. They do a good job disguising coverages. The windows are going to be tight. The pressure is going to be there.

But Christian McCaffrey in the past game, like there's going to be ways that they can navigate this space. But it's just such a ridiculous, it would be such a bad and detrimental move for Joanne Jennings for what he actually wants in the long term. There's an huge opportunity here for Joanne Jennings to have the season that would get him $25 million a year. If he goes out there and continues to just be himself,

he's been incredible, incredible. As a player, as a teammate, as a competitor, he goes out there and sets the tone. So going out there against a division rival when the season starts and earning your keep and going out there and showing how dominant you are, how great you are, why you deserve the money, goes a lot further for you than sitting out and saying,

hey, you guys didn't give me the money I want it. So now I'm going to, my calf is going to linger on. that's a hard one to play when you haven't had the seasons to really support this argument. You've had one season where you almost had 1,000 yards, which is great. But can we do it again? When you try to make the point when you haven't done it again, it's almost like you think it's a flu. We all think it's a fluke. And you're like, hey, I don't want to have to, I don't want you to find out that it's just a fluke.

I want you to pay me now before you find out. Like, no, don't play that game. You are who you think you are. You've been dominant. You can be dominant. you know you're dominant. Go out there and prove it one more time, $20 million. If they don't pay you, somebody else will.

But if you wait and play this game, and then Brandon Iyuk comes back. Now there's a $30 million receiver on the field who's going to get those targets. Now, all of a sudden, your opportunity to show what you can do has just evaporated. And so I don't want that for Joanne Jennings. I hope he goes out there and puts his best foot forward

and beat, and continues to be the guy that he's been every time he stepped on the football field, which is a tone setter, a great teammate, a guy who rallies this, is the energy and really the attitude of this offense a lot of time. He along, obviously, with George Kittal and Christian McCaffrey and the rest of those guys,

but he sets an attitude and a nastiness that they need. Let's talk a little bit about some of these other contenders in the division. Like we talked about, you went to Seattle Seahawks training camp. You got to see it first hand. This team is getting slept on. I mean, let's just call spade of spade. They're picked the finish fourth in the division. I don't see it, man. I really don't.

Second year coach, getting his feet wet. This team seems to figure out their identity. They want to get back to playing sound defense. Richard, can this Seattle Seahawk team take that step and be true competitors in this division like they were 10 years ago when you were running that field? Yes. Yes. If I hadn't gone to training. camp and I was just outside looking in, no insider information, no knowledge of what's going on. I kind of, I mean, I don't think eight and a half, they won ten games last year. I don't think they go that far backwards. But I don't see how you have the Cardinals at nine and a half and the Seahawks at eight and a half.

But I've been at practice. I watched them. I've been in the meetings. I'm sure they look good. They look good. Clint Kubiak in this scheme. I don't even want to call it Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVe, LaFleur, O'Connell scheme

is doing work for this team. Last year, that's why they got rid of Ryan Grubb. No offense to him, you know, no bad. It just doesn't work in the National Football League. You have to have an identity on offense. You have to be able to run the ball. You have to have the identity in a run game in the past game. You can't just say, hey, we're going to just put together a run game,

whatever, but we had a great past game. You can't play like that in the National Football League and expect success. A lot of times the past game is predicated off the run game. Hey, if you can run the football, you get people to commit to the run, you can play action, you can really move people and have a great game. If you can't run the football in the National Football League and you can't run in the football against too high, you don't have a chance. And I think people saw it, glimpses of it.

In the preseason, you saw Sharp-Sharbonnet, 13-yard run, first play of the preseason. and I'm sure Seattle Seahawks fans were jumping for joy. This offensive line looks really good. And they have the right mindset. They have the right approach to the game. And they're getting great coaching. It's the way they're talking. This is coming from understanding what it takes to win,

being around winning culture, being around championships, winning Super Bowl. When you get guys who are out there, sacrificing because they don't want to let the guy next to them down, that's special. It's not every day. Just because people are in the National Football League doesn't mean they feel like that. Just because they're in the National Football League doesn't mean they take pride in their job and take pride not letting a man next to them down. They could take pride and feeding their family, no question about it. They can take pride and saying, hey, I'm coming here. I'm going to

do what I got to do to make sure my kids are good. No question about it. But when you sit there and say, hey, I don't want to let the guy next to me down. It's a different mindset. It's just shift. And so that's what I'm hearing from the offensive line. That's what you're hearing from Charles Cross. That's what you're hearing from Gray Zabel. You're hearing that from those guys.

And then you see the play come together on the field. I think that's going to be a really strong component for them and really take them far. The scheme, Abe Lucas looks really good and healthy, moving people. I think that's going to open up this past game. and that's what Sam Donald needs. That's what Sam Donald has run. That's what he ran in San Francisco behind Brock Purdy. That's what he ran for Kevin O'Connell and Minnesota.

And that's why they brought him in here to run the same scheme. Cooper Cup has experience in this scheme. I think it'll do wonders for JSN. Obviously, I think this scheme works for so many people. And I haven't even seen K9 in a ton. Obviously, he's been injured, but you've seen the lanes, the lanes that are there. I mean, we've seen what he's done when he's getting hit in the backfield, three, four yards and still coming out with eight, eight, nine yard games. So imagine if he gets a lane.

And we're talking about split zone and he's seeing, he's seeing nothing but daylight and one cut, make one guy miss in your house call. Whoa. Scary. Well, you just brought up a name. I think this guy is going to break fantasy football wide open and win a lot of, a lot of fantasy football fanatics, some leagues this year. It's Kenneth Walker. And with that point being, is these young offensive linemen, the Charles Crosses, the Abe Lucases, and then you sprinkle in some of these rookies, Gray Zabel, being one of them.

These guys on the tackle positions are no longer rookies, rich, they're veterans now, and they're going to be leaders. And we've heard so much, Kenneth Walker, the third. This could be his breakout moment, an opportunity to bring the Seattle Seahawks back to this beast mode style. of running the ball between the trenches. When you couple him with Zach Charbonnet, a guy who can take a play, one-yard gain into a 15-20-yard gain,

you have those two guys in the backfield together. I love the Seattle Seahawks. There are questions, right? There are questions. They got rid of what, you know, what was their main focal point at offense, D.K. Metcalf. Obviously, it's tough to see Tyler Lockett leave,

a fan favorite and a great person in the community, but you add Cooper Cup, And then you expect JSN, Jackson, Smith, and Jigba, another guy could have a massive year. The biggest question mark here is, how big, if at all? If an upgrade is Sam Darnold from Gino Smith? Because to me, it looks like they just made a lateral move. Maybe that's what they wanted. Maybe they just wanted to get a little bit younger at the position.

You know, go with the hot hand Sam Darnold, who benefited so much playing with Minnesota last year and playing with Justin Jefferson and one of the best wide receiving core in football last year. But you can't turn your head at the Seattle Seahawks offensive weapons. JSN's going to be a rising star. You've got the veteran Cooper Cup.

I mean, that's why I like Seattle so much. There are, like the 49ers, a lot of question marks. But I like these question marks more in Seattle than I do in San Francisco because I think they've got a lot younger building blocks here to help turn this team around. And when you ignite that mind, like you talked about. You switch from just showing up and putting the pads on to now

showing up, putting the pads on and wanting to win games for the guys next to you. Seattle, to me, looks like a team that could surprise a lot of folks this year. I know you also like the L.A. Rams. And that's why I think this is going to be one of the most competitive divisions, start to finish in football. The L.A. Rams are going absolutely nowhere from where they've been. They are going to be another dominant team ready to go. I know Matthew Stafford's been battling the injuries. He's dealing with it. He's getting older. But you had Devante Adams. I mean, you want to talk about an upgrade to that offensive unit. The L.A. Rams are not just a division, you know, the potential winner. To me, they're a Super Bowl contender this year.

They're very young defensively. They've Jared Verse, they've transitioned so well off of Aaron Donald. They immediately had Jared Verst and the other defensive tackle young, up and coming. stars in L.A. I know we talked about it and I know you don't want to go there, but would you term the L.A. Rams is a favorite in this division? It's tough. It's tough. It's close, but there's still question marks in their secondary. There are things that I got to see happen. I got to see things come together. Obviously, their defensive line is really strong. Their offensive line could potentially have some issues. Matthew Stafford, lower back missed a lot of the time in the preseason could be fine.

But if anything happens to Matthew Stafford, everything goes out the window. Everything. Not that Jimmy can't get it done and can't be proficient, can't be efficient, and take this team to a Super Bowl, but I think the gap between Matt Stafford and Jimmy Garoppolo in terms of like how they change the complexity of the gains is drastic. And not that Jimmy can't go out there and run the offense proficiently. And, hey, they got a great run game and make it happen and get this team that 10-11 wins and get him to the playoffs. But Matthew Stafford is a special talent.

And if he's not playing and if he's injured, the dynamic changes. And he's got a back injury, which is those things are temperamental and he's older and he's older. You know, his father time is undefeated. And so, but I want to get back to the Seattle Seahawks because I hadn't finished on them in their defense. everything and what, what, because I sat here and said it was a lateral move between Gino and Sam Darno. The thing that makes it different is Clint Kubiak. The thing that makes it a different move is this run game and how effective it has been in

the preseason and practice and how effective it has been throughout the league. I think that is what makes this totally. totally different. Now, if you gave Gino this same run game with this, then I think Gino would have the success he had that Pro Bowl season he had in Pita last year. But, was that the year before? Was that 23 or 20? Time is crazy. But I also think it benefits him to have all these people who are experienced in his offense come with him and be able to move in the offense that had a ton of success in last year. He went to a Super Bowl with San Francisco as the backup to Brock Purdy.

I think he has a lot of experience and those things are going to help him. That run game is going to help him be able to manage and not have to deal with the pressure that he's dealt with before. And this offensive line, it'll take some of the pressure off of them that they've had to deal with that they had to deal with last year. They have a lot of moving parts between the right guard and center. There's a lot of spots up to up for grabs. and a lot, you know, three guys kind of battling for three spots.

You don't know who's going to go where between Alu and Jalen Sundale and Anthony Bradford, but between the center and right guard spot, but they'll figure that out. They got them all listed between center and right guards, so I don't know who's going to be the starter. But defensively, I think that Seattle Seahawks are going to surprise a lot of people. If they can stay healthy, DeMarcus Lawrence is a game record. and I don't think he got enough credit in Dallas. Everybody said, hey, when Michael Parsons isn't playing,

this defense is different. But when DeMarcus Lawrence wasn't playing, things really fell apart. It falls apart for Michael Parsons. It falls apart for the rest of the defense. He's a great run defender, a great pass rusher, an impactful player. And in this defense, they're not going to be able to double him at all.

Because you've got to worry about Leonard Williams. You've got to worry about Byron Murphy, Jaron Reed, you've got to worry about Boye-Mafé, You got so many guys that Derek Hall that are impact players that are really good pass rushers. And then in the secondary, you got Julian Love, the pro bowler. It's the reason they paid him. Every coach in this conference speaks highly of Julian Love. When Cal Shanahan, I went there, he said, hey, make sure you tell Julian Love, bro.

I did not know. Like, I'm watching Julian Love. Like, he is good. This is ridiculous how good he is. I'm like, yeah. That's what I got him starting. Kobe Bryant. Another guy that's impactful. Spoon.

Spoon is having a great camp. I think he's going to have another great year. Rick Woolen, contract season for him, very motivated. Got to have a great year within this scheme. You see Ernest Jones, a full year in this system. Tyrese Knight, full-time starters. I think they're going to pick up where they left off. And then Nick M. M. Worry, the Wildcars, the Swiss Army knife,

they're going to use them everywhere in this scheme. And it's going to be really fun to work. Watch. They got him in the Deptron. I look at the Deptron. I'm like, they're not giving credit for where he is at. You could literally put him at every, as the backup to every single position pretty much in his defense. And they're going to use him like Mike McDonald used Cowell Hamilton in Baltimore to where he's, hey, he might be a nickel. You might see him at linebacker. You might see him look like he's at D-Tackle. He might be outside of corner. You might be bad beat, but say you never know.

And I think that speaks to the versatility that this defense is going to have. and the scheme is going to be tough to deal with. You're going to see a lot of it on display in the first week. This got to be the first time two brothers have coordinated against each other international football league. Somebody's going to have to check me on that. But Clay Kubiak versus Clint Kubiak, that's going to be really cool. That's going to be really cool.

I'm sure their dad is going to be really proud of that. But I think the Rams can make noise, but Stafford's health is the big question mark. And if your quarterback's health is a big question mark, then everything's the question mark. And the last team we haven't touched on is Arizona Cardinals. I mean, this is another team. Expectations are higher this year than in years past.

You got Marvin Harrison Jr. coming back, you know, in year two, it looks like he's added a lot of muscle. We'll see if he's able to get involved more. You know, this team made a lot of changes this offseason to try to compete in this division. I don't know if they're there just yet, but Vegas has got them over under nine and a half wins, which tells me they're right on the cusp of being a playoff team. Are the Arizona Cardinals contenders in this division as well, or do you put them bottom of the totem pole? Right now, I just, can we see Kyler Murray get back to where he was two, three years ago,

where he was given defenses, a lot of problems run with his legs? We saw it, we saw it, you know, James Connor was a lot more involved at the goal line. But two, three years ago, you saw Kyler Murray taken over as soon as they got in the red zone. This is what it's going to take, in my opinion, for the Cardinals to be a, a true threat is unleash Kyler Murray. Can he rise to the occasion now that he's been in this league? What is this? Year 5 for Kyler?

Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. He's a wild card and you don't know what you're going to get. Is he going to be healthy? Coming into the draft, like he's small. He's demit, demut, diminutive. And you don't know what you're going to get from him. So you sit there and say, what is he going to do?

what is he going to do this year? I don't know. I don't know. Like, what is their offensive line going to be? I don't know. I know James Connor has had some success, but he's also, you know, running back, you know, they eventually fall off a cliff. So is he going to fall off a cliff soon? I don't know. I think they have two big, good receivers and Michael Wilson, Stanford guy, and Marvin Harrison, Jr. I think those two receivers, I mean, having two big receivers that he can just throw the ball up and, hey, ask him to make a play. sure. I can see that having some success, but it's almost like they had, it seems like they figured Kyler Murray out a little bit. And so if you figured him out, then I don't know. What is he doing different? What is he done to grow? What is he done to evolve? To help, you know, change the narrative around what he did last season. And so I think,

I'm in a wait and see mode with Arizona Cardinals because of Calvin Murray. Calvin Murray just, he had a solid season last year. He was 21 touchdowns, 11 interceptions, but they didn't win. They didn't win. And so, you know, at the end of the day, it matters. That matters. They were eight and nine. And I think Josh Gannon did a good job.

You know, I think he did a great job with that defense. I think they got a lot of veterans. on that defense. I like Will Johnson in that draft. I think I thought he was one of the better corners in that draft. They got him in the second round. I like him. I obviously Buddha Baker is going to be a factor in his defense, but I don't know. I still see them as middle of the pack.

You know what I mean? Eight and nine. I don't see him as nine and a half. I see him as eight and nine again. And at that point, they're going to have to make a decision on if Kalamari is the future or if they're drafting somebody for the future because if you keep going eight and nine eventually mitchell you're setting yourself up for failure because you're in the middle of the pack so it's not like you're drafting high enough to get a potential franchise defining generational player and you're not good enough to be like hey we're competing in the playoffs where we we got a chance and we know hey we're doing things the right way

i just don't know wait and see so who who's it going to be before we leave this division it sounds to me like you're you're a bit muddled it's it's almost like a wait and see division, but that's not how we do things at the Richard Sherman podcast. Who are you taking right now? I need a division winner, courtesy of Richard Sherman. Oh, division winner. And so this one's tough. This one's tough. I don't know how Matthew Stafford's back is going to be

throughout the whole season, and that's going to keep the Rams at least second for me or second to third, they're not going to win it right now for me. I think if they make the playoffs and he's healthy at the end and they're in a playoffs, he's going to cause some noise and they're going to cause some problems. So I think it's between the Seattle Seahawks

and the San Francisco 49ers. I think the first game will determine a lot. Shocking. It's crazy because they play first game and then they played the last game. I don't know how many times that's happened in the history of the game, but I don't remember that happened

that many time. But, hmm, it's in Seattle. It's in Seattle. San Francisco's banged up. You got a lot of young, new receivers. You got your guys, though. You got your all pros. It's tough for me to bet against them in Seattle with everything going on and all the injuries and all the uncertainty and in the detackle situation. I got to, I think Seattle wins the division in a tie record-wise with the San Francisco 49ers, but it's going to be a close tiebreaker. I think they both win 11 games and they're tied for the division, but the edge goes to the Seattle Seahawks. That's what I...

This is the fine line you walk, having played for both organizations, Rich. Well, this is not even a fine line. This is really how I'm seeing it because I think Seattle has enough to make the jump and to do that and win 11 games. I also think San Francisco is talented enough to win 11 games. Now, if they win 12 games, if San Francisco wins 13 games, nobody would be that surprised. Now, if Seattle wins 13 games, people would be like, oh, my God, we were so wrong. But I see the Seattle Seattle Seattle's a lot better than everybody else does.

And we'll see if I know football in week one and how they do against San Francisco 49ers. But to say eight and a half wins is insanity for the team I've seen in the way they've been executed in the way they've been working. If they get eight wins, Mitchell, I don't know nothing, and I need to stop. I need to stop this. If they're healthy and they get eight wins, color me, dumb. Well, I'm not going to color you dumb,

but I'm going to go against you. I'm going to be your adversary here. I think the L.A. Rams, I think this is their division this year. I think Matthew Stafford does stay healthy. You couple Pooking the Cool with Devante Adams, and all of a sudden, you know, this wide receiving core and this offense takes another step. forward. Then you got Kyron Williams. Obviously, you know, Blake Corum's second year as well,

a good running back stable there. But the big difference maker for me in L.A. is Jared Verst. As he continues to get older and more developed, I think he's going to strike fear in a lot of defenses. He's going to be a guy to keep an eye on dark horse candidate for defensive player of the year. You heard it here first. Jared Verst out of the L.A. Rams. A division, I want to talk. Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news? Huge news. We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a... We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys?

I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Oh, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band the four Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this.

We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, Hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys.

Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, Not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends.

Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

The French Open is one of the toughest tests in. tennis. And I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on Clay. Jenchian went. I mean, she went down in three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lena Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open.

Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman. documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds.

I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Talk about Richard, as we tie the knot on the NFC West, is the NFC North. You already know I'm rocking that Honolulu Blue for a reason. But the big news out of the NFC North, before I go on my rant about the NFC, Detroit Lions and how they're going to walk away with the division with ease is the Green Bay Packers. I mean, this team is a team I now envy. I mean, this is a team that's going out there and taking chances.

This deal for Micah Parsons, certainly without a doubt, pragmatic opinion, my Detroit Lions bias aside, this Green Bay Packers team just got a lot better overnight by adding Michael Parsons. That comes with the flexibility they have with their cap space. I mean, the Green Bay Packers have orchestrated this team so well. They have not had to pay any receivers. I mean, they've been dealing with these guys that they drafted a slew of young wideouts. They haven't had to dab into the $30, $35 million paydays that the Detroit Lions have had to do,

that the Cincinnati Bengals have had to do, that your San Francisco 49ers, whether they like it or not, what Brandon Ayuk have had to do. And the Green Bay Packers are sitting very, very, very well. well managed from a roster construction standpoint. They strike fear in me right now, Rich. I got to know how big of a plus is Micah Parsons' additions to this Green Bay Packers team? Ooh. I'm trying to quantify for you, Mitchell.

Please do. But it's bad, Mitchell, it's bad. It's, is it, is it, is it, is it, no, it's not, it's not, it's not, it's not bad for you, Mitchell. Is it Luca Donchis joining the Lakers? Let's talk NBA here for a second. Let's talk NBA. No, because we didn't go. The Lakers didn't do enough with that.

I'm trying to understand a way that this impacted it so that you understand this team is a Super Bowl contender now. This was a top-five defense without him. They were 8th and sacks. Tide for Ethan Sachs. without him. Rashon Gary has developed into a ferocious pass rusher without him. Now you're going to have to,

now you don't get to double team Rashon Gary anymore. You hopefully double team Michael Parsons, but you got other people to deal with. And it's not like they needed Michael Parsons. This is icing on a cake, Mitchell. This is the topping. This is the cherry, and this is a big juicy cherry on top of Green Bay,

green and gold Sunday that they're going to love. Like he takes them over the top, Mitchell. He gives them not credibility because they had credibility. But for example, if you take the game we had Thursday night football in Detroit, Green Bay Packers versus Detroit Lions, they won that game, Detroit Lions won that game by three points. Michael Parsons, I think, changes the outcome of that game. Like, that's how much of a difference maker he is.

I think he ruins that game for the Detroit Lions. I don't think you can iso him with Penae Sewell all day and think, oh, man, this is just going to go great. And I also don't think you just slide to him and leave Rishan Gary to just feast. And so I think he changes the trajectory and the dynamic of this division. It makes them the clear favorites in this division. And honestly, right under, right under, because I still have question marks about Jordan Love. I just don't know, you know, because in big games, in huge games,

he hasn't shown me what I need to see to say, hey, he'll take them to the promised land because that's, but will he ruin it for him? I don't think, you know, maybe not. And so that's the question mark now. I think this defense, I think they have a good enough defense to take them where they need to go to win this division, to be dominant, to really, to really have impact,

to find a way to get home field advantage in a player. They, I mean, they're with the Philadelphia Eagles right there, but they got to prove it. That's the thing that that differentiates them from the Philadelphia Eagles. The Philadelphia Eagles have just won a Super Bowl. They went to multiple Super Bowls. They're proven. They're proven product. It's not speculative.

It's not, oh, man, it looks good on paper. This looks great on paper. It looks like they got a ton better. But I think Jordan Love and how he plays will determine how deep they can go. and that's obviously going to be the case regardless. But this defense is doing enough. Like they're going to be phenomenal. If they're not top three defenses in the league,

I'd be really, really, really surprised. And to your point, I mean, you look at this Packers team. Jordan Love, he's only going to get better, in my opinion. They just added Matthew Golden in the draft. Word from him at camp is he's, you know, definitely exceeding expectations from what they thought. you already have a very good wide receiving core, very young wide receiving core, young tight ends. You know, is the offense going to be able to do enough to be able to elevate them to that championship contender?

Because I think you're right. I think the Packers with the addition of Micah Parsons certainly have a Super Bowl caliber defense now. This move reminds me a lot of what the Philadelphia Eagles did last year. They took some huge swings. They went out and got Sequin Barkley. I mean, look how that all paid off. You know, in years prior to that, they went out and got A.J. Brown. I mean, these are teams that are not afraid to be making huge moves that are going to impact the direction of the franchise for not just this year, but the next five, 10 years. Micah Parsons is one of those guys that he's going to be a relevant main say in this league for the next seven, eight years. And I don't think there's much debate about that. It hurts me to

my soul that he is in this NFC North Division because I thought this division was the Detroit Lions for the next five years with ease. And now it gives me a a little bit of pause, my friend. It should give you pause because Brandon, I mean, Josh Jacobs, I don't know why. She's how old I am. Josh Jacobs had 1,300 yards last year, 15 touchdowns. He's coming back.

He's going to be healthy. That run game is as healthy as has ever been. The thing that worries me is the two teams I just talked about, like in Jordan Love, and Packers fans can hate me and feel how they want about me, but he threw three interceptions in that game in the playoffs, in the wildcard game. They ran the ball well, and they didn't. stop Sequin Barclay. Seacquon Barkley ran for 119 yards.

And you just got it worse. You against the run. Like you lose Kenny Clark. It's not like, hey, that's, sure, you get Michael Parsons. That's phenomenal against the pass. They didn't, I mean, I think Jimlin Hertz had 131 yards passing in the playoff game last year. It's the run game that concerns me going forward.

And, I mean, the run defense. And they were seventh last year, which is fantastic. I think it was historical. They averaged under 100 yards rushing a game, giving up. So that was historic for the – it's been a long time since the Green Bay Packers had a run game that well, but that good. But then you give up 119 in the playoffs when you need to have it. Your offense only scores 10 points. You lose that game.

So when I'm talking about Jordan Love, I'm not talking about the season he had. He had 25 touchdowns, 11 interceptions. But in the playoffs, multiple years, his interceptions have become an issue. It was an issue the year before against San Francisco. when, you know, it looked like they were in that game. He got in a two-minute drill, threw it to the other team. I think back-to-back drives. He threw interceptions, if I'm not mistaken.

You know, my memory doesn't, isn't as clear as he used to be. But this defense can give them a chance in those games. Now, maybe it'll be different this year, and they can be, they can be great. They can, it's going to be fantastic. But he has to show up in these playoff games. win them. He has to show up and make the plays that get his team over to top and not the plays that get his team sent home. And you can be as mad as you want to, but three interceptions, no touchdowns in a ball game. It says what it needs to say. And then you watch Matthew

Stafford play a totally different game. Obviously, conditions were different and it's cold, but they had a chance to win that game at the end. I don't know the Rams were as good as the Green Bay Packers were last year. But quarterback play made the difference in that game. And so that's going to be the case going forward. Can he outplay these veteran great quarterbacks and get this team who has all the talent in the world to get to a Super Bowl to the Super Bowl? Well, to your point, and three playoff games started his career. And remember, he had a big one too when they took care of the Dallas Cowboys on the road

with relative ease two years ago. Jordan Love has a pass rating at 83.4, 678 yards, five touchdowns, couple with five crucial interceptions. Can he avoid that? Can he just be a game manager and a leader that elevates this team offensively to match what they are able to do defensively? This Green Bay Packers team certainly scares me of his Detroit Lions fan, but I'm going to tell you right now, Richard, why I believe the Detroit Lions are going to win this NFC North

again. The Detroit Lions, they are built the right way. And sure, they lost both of their coordinators. But I'll take that as a huge compliment for what Dan Campbell's been building here. You know, they lose Aaron Glenn, who goes off to New York Jets. They lose Ben Johnson, the mastermind, the offensive genius, who is now staying in the vision, come on, man, and going to the Chicago Bears. But they got a guy in Johnny Morton, who's been part of this organization in years past.

Dan Campbell does not tread far from who he believes in. Johnny Martin was part of this staff prior to going to Denver the last couple of years. He comes back. He's already said he's going to be taking more shots down field. The Detroit Lions have got some absolute juggernaut offensive weapons. Let's start offensively. Jared Goff, you all know what we're going to get with Jared Goff. You're going to get the consummate pro, the guy who's fallen into, I think, the perfect state of his career.

This is peak Jared Goff right now. I don't think we're going to see in terms of his age, in terms of his age, in terms of everyone around him, his offensive weapons, Jared Goff is going to continue to elevate this offense for the Detroit Lions. I'm on Ross St. Brown, one of the top wide receivers and most sure-handed receivers in the NFL. He is their safety net. The big guy here, Jameson Williams, the maturation of Jameson Williams over his first three years in the league, now entering his fourth year, this is we're going to see him shine.

And I know it's fantasy football time. I see James firmly as a top 20 wide receiver statistically this year in the league. He can take the top off the opposing defenses, and this is exactly what they're going to need to be able to beat a team like the Green Bay Packers. Jameson Williams, right, Richard, if this guy can have 1,000 yards, you know, 70 catches, 8 touchdowns, tell me that's not feasible. I mean, because this guy is very much so prime.

another guy who's playing for that next contract. And then, God love Brad Holmes. You know, they just made a huge trade. They traded Tim Patrick, who a lot of folks thought was going to be for sure their number of three wide receiver. They were able to get a slip. They were able to move on from Tim Patrick

and make some roster tweaks, free up an extra roster spot because they drafted a guy in Isaac Tesla. Richard, Isaac Teslae grew up in, western side of Michigan. He went to a small Christian school. No one knew who he was. He went to Hillsdale College, which is a very, very small school here in Michigan. Very small. He balled out so well. He ran the wing tee as a quarterback and a running back. You know, speak to me, Rich. I'll speak to you here for a second. And then he goes to Hillsdale and because of this lovely thing they call the transfer

portal, he was able to end up at Arkansas where he was really not that utilized. I know Arkansas had some quarterback issues last year. They didn't really get him a ball a ton. I think he netted out less than 40 receptions. But Brad Holmes made a huge swing. He traded multiple picks to move up in this year's draft in draft Isaac to Sla. And everyone questioned it, everybody.

But Richard, I don't need to live in Detroit and be exposed to Detroit media to see how big of an impact this guy is made. I mean, he was all over NFL's Instagram with all the catches he was making this preseason. This is a 6-foot-4 guy that runs a sub-4-4-40 who reminds me a lot, a lot, a lot of Pooka-Kua. If the Detroit Lions could have found a diamond in the rough and Isaac Tislaw and partnered him up with Jameson-Raw with Amon-Raw-Saint-Brown, with the beast that is Jemir Gibbs, Sam Leporta, David Montgomery, where would you like me to stop? Because I know the Green Bay Packers added Michael Parsons,

but Richard, this Detroit Lions team is the best, youngest team in the NFL right now. I think they've got the most players under the age of 25 that made the highest ranks in NFL's top 100. That is offensively. And then you look at the defensive side of the ball. And I'm just going to come out and say it. This might surprise some of you guys.

I think that the Detroit Lions are going to have a top three deep. defense this year. And you get a healthy Aiden Hutchinson. You get absolute stalwarts in the middle. A Lee McNeil battling an injury. You know, I had a terrible ACL injury. Who didn't get injured last year on the defense for the lines? 13 defensive players went on Iyer last year. I saw a crazy stat after this Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl. Did you know that 21 of 22 day one starters for the Philadelphia Eagles played in the Super Bowl? Did you know? I mean, because this shows you The NFL is not just about ability, it's about durability. It's about sustainability.

And the main one, availability. Detroit, unfortunately, did not have anyone available, and we saw it, unfortunately, when they lost to the commanders. But you look at this defense at the back end, Brian Branch, Kirby Joseph. They just added your buddy, DJ Reed, on the outside at corner, and then you get a Terry Ann Arnold, a Meek Robertson, dog. Richard, where would you like me to stop? because I really firmly believe that this Detroit Lions team is well ready to make this run. They have a gauntlet of a schedule. If you guys have not looked at their schedule, I believe they said it probably goes down

as one of the hardest schedules in NFL history. They're going to have to battle a lot of opponents on the road. Kansas City Chiefs, Cincinnati Bengals, Baltimore Ravens, obviously the gauntlet of the division that we're in right now. But I'm telling you, I said the Detroit Lions, in 12 games, 12 and 5. Richard, I got to hear from you, though, man, because I know you like the Green Day Packers right now.

But come on, man. Show me some love for my Detroit Lions, at least. I got to show love to your Detroit Lions. And the Honolulu Blue Boys, Metro, because they are a fantastic team. And I think Jared Golf is going to have another good season. Obviously, their offensive line has been, I mean, along with the Philadelphia Eagles,

probably one of the best in football. The issue that I have is health, as always. Taylor Decker, a little banged up already. Low banged up. And anytime you come into the season with questionables, you're concerned, especially at offensive line. Graham Glasgow, low banged up. Yep.

And you're going to have to deal with pressure. And what doomed the season last year, was mistakes from the quarterback position and pressure. Like, people started to get, and I hadn't said this in a long time. I had not. I had not said this about Jared Gough because he just looked different in Detroit. I don't know if he went there and they injected that blue collar toughness into his veins,

but he turned into a different quarterback, not a more effective or better talent-wise. just different in how he responded to physicality and how he responded to getting hit and standing up and standing in the pocket, standing strong. Like there were times when he was with the Rams that his reputation was,

hey, if you hit him a few times, he's going to start to get flutter. His feet are going to get quicker. His passes are going to be erratic, and that's the recipe for having success. I feel like we need to cue the video of you knocking out Jared Goff at the one-yard

line during his rookie year. If you guys have not seen this video please, I mean, Richard, have you hit somebody harder than when you hit Jared Goff and knocked them out of that game what, seven, eight years ago? Rock at one. Let's come in. Shasten

Dopp away, flag gets thrown and Dopp with a hole. Oh, gets slaying out of bounds of free by Richard Sherman. knocking along his speed, but there's a flag down back at the 28-yard line. No, I don't think I've ever hit anybody harder in my life. But that's what happened late in the season.

And also, the defense was just so banged up. Like, let's be honest here, your defense was so banged up. They were taking guys off the street. Literally. Starting them. So I'm not going to put that against them, but they gave up 45 points to the Washington commanders. And it doomed the season.

Three turnovers by Jared Gough and 45 points for the defense. He can't do much with that. Jared Gough still scored, I mean, that offense still scored 31 points. That should have been, be enough to win in the National Football League. But you don't want to run into that situation again. And again, you talk about guys understanding how to affect this offense and say, hey, you've got all these great receivers. You got this great offensive line.

But the way we can stop this offense is hitting the quarterback. getting pressure on the quarterback. So that's why the Green Bay Packers felt like it was a need for them to go get one of the best past rushers available in the National Football League to change the trajectory of these games when they play the Detroit Lions. Now, again, is Jemir Gibbs going to continue to evolve into one of the best runningbacks in the National Football League? I believe so.

There are people who believe he's the best running back in football. And he's shown that. He's been impactful. But how does he continue to take this? next step. And what does that look like? What does this defense look like? Tarion Arnold is the name I want to talk about. That's my dog. I sat there and had a great conversation with him at the draft. And he has

really high expectations for this defense and how they played in the conversations and the connection and brotherhood that they have in that back in along with Brian Brandt. He has really high expectations for this team. Aidan Hutchinson coming back from injury. He tried everything he could to get back for the playoffs last year. I think he takes the next step.

but you got to stay healthy. And again, that health doom them. Health is dooming these scenes. And that's an unpredictable factor in the National Football League. But I thought last year was the year that they had to, like, do it because it was perfect scenario. And unfortunately, it didn't work out for them. The year before, it was like a Cinderella year.

They weren't expected to do much. And they got all the way to the NFC championship up double digits. And unfortunately, it didn't go the way they wanted it to. What happens this year when everybody in the division is getting better? I mind is the Minnesota Vikings. I think the Minnesota Vikings got worse. I don't think J.J. McCarthy is as good as Sam Donald. I don't think he's going to be as prepared or run the offense as proficiently as Sam

Donald did. I thought that was a Cinderella season for them that they had to maximize, and I don't think they did. I think they take a step back. I think the Chicago Bears with Ben Johnson did a lot to solidify their offensive line and at least give Caleb Williams a chance to develop into what people think he is. And if he doesn't, it's clear and apparent it's him and not the offense or the scheme or the team.

It's him. So if he has a good season, it's like, hey, he just needed time. He just needed protection. If he doesn't, maybe this isn't it for him. But I think they're going to be better. Their defense is stout. They have weapons on offense.

They have Ben Johnson calling the play. So they may be a sneaky team. This is NFC North. Godlet. Murder is row. It sure is. I mean, you already touched a little bit on J.J. McCarthy. This Vikings team, no one saw it coming last year.

14 and 3. I mean, dude, the last game of the season, they were playing the Detroit Lions, both with two losses. Whoever won that game was going to be the number one seed in the NFC. That is absolutely unheard of, especially in a 17 game schedule now. They move on from Sam Darnold. They get J.J. McCarthy.

Obviously, he gets hurt year one. Beneficiary, Sam Darnold. I don't know if the McCarthy starts year one anyway, so Sam Darnold, you know, obviously took that team to heights they never expected. But you've got to think that J.J. McCarthy, with a year under his belt, and what Justin Jefferson is his number one option, is going to have some level of success. You really see that big of a downfall?

And if so, how much? I don't like unproven. I don't like to go guessing. I don't like to figure it out. think they had a sure thing and a guy who fit their scheme and fit their system and Sam Donald, I thought, hey, it might have been a Cinderella season, but you know it's working. It was kind of like Nick Foles when he had that Cinderella run with the Philadelphia Eagles. They beat, they win the Super Bowl to beat Tom and those boys, and then they go on and pay Carson

Wins all that money, and they trade Nick Foles. And I understand. You feel like Carson Wins is the guy. You feel like Nick Foles isn't. But sometimes the hot hand. just keep going. Just keep going. Maybe this engine only works in this car,

but it works incredible, over and above expectations. So just keep that engine in the car. Don't sit there and be like, yeah, but we might have a better engine in the back. Like, no, this one's proven. This one's one races. Like, go with this one.

And that's the mistake I think teams keep making. I think Minnesota Vikings are the newest victim of that. And sure, maybe he does solid. I think Kevin O'Connell is arguably the best play caller in the league right now. So it should be open, people open and the run game should be there. And he should be set up for ultimate success. But if he doesn't, then they gave up Sam Donald for a maybe. It's just the same thing that Jerry Jones is doing in Dallas.

You have an all-pro, a three-time all-pro player, and you say, well, we'll take two draft picks because we might be able to draft some all-pro players in a couple years. I'm sure you will. Yeah, I got you. But like, how does that help you win now? And if J.J. McCarthy works out and he becomes a pro bowler and they win 13 games this year, I'll sit there and eat crow because I was wrong. But I don't see a rookie quarterback behind that offensive line, the offensive line that was getting Sam Donald beat up late in the year in this division with a lot of really good pass rushers always.

I don't think they're going to go out there and replicate what. they did last season and every game he loses, they're going to start fans and everybody else is going to say, man, would Sam Donald have lost that game? He went 14 and 3. And the expectation shouldn't even be 14 and 3 for this year. But that is what y'all did. And so you're going to put that burden of expectation on this kid. So if he wins seven games, Mitchell, they're going to be calling for his head. Like that's the seat he's sitting in right now. And that's the point I'm trying to make where I don't think he's set up for necessarily success. Addison, Anderson is going to be out the first three games. They brought Adam Thielen back. Sure, that'll help.

But people are not going to just let Justin Jefferson run around and be Scott free and and be open and just, hey, you know, we're going to, we're going to just let him play pitch and catch with a rookie. Like, I think he's going to have a learning curve. And during that learning curve, will the fans continue to support or will they sit there and start to be frustrated and say, hey, why didn't we keep Sam Donald if you guys knew? fair i mean but this is a coaching staff that was able to get it done with sam darnold who was kicked around the league with kirk cousins i mean i know he's been battling injuries of recent but this team was able to get it done with relative castoffs right so now it's j jay mccarthy's time to shine that is a big big question mark let's turn to the bears quickly ben johnson right dan campbell is loses both

coordinators. Ben Johnson's was the heaviest hit because he was considered this absolute dynamo offensive mastermind. Can he replicate this with the bears? The bears have a bundle of offensive weapons. DJ Moore, obviously. Roma Dunzee. They just drafted Luther Burden and Colston Loveland, who they love in Chicago right now. They got a mixed bag of running backs DeAndre Swift. Maybe he can revitalize his career in Chicago. Are you worried about the Bears as a speaking from my standpoint. As a Detroit, as a friend of

a Detroit Lions fan, Richard, should I be worried about the Bears? I don't know about worry. You should be worried that they're not a dumpster fire that they, you know, I think they have. They're going to have an identity.

They're building a really solid team and they're going to have a solid foundation that could have the potential to be a really good team. because you got to get offensive line. You got a good defense. You'll have a good running game. It's going to be based on how the quarterback played.

And he played solid last year. I mean, I know he had a lot of scrutiny, a lot of people beating him down. He had a solid season last year. He had 20 touchdowns, six interceptions. And he was under a lot of duress, under a lot of pressure, you know, made some mistakes. Only 62% completion percentage. But it wasn't as bad as they said. That's why I think Ben Johnson,

and came in here. He thinks it's an easy fix. And we'll see. If he goes out there and has a great season and he's the guy that everybody projected him to be coming out of USC, you may have something to worry about. It may be, they may be that team that you surprisingly split with that you weren't expecting to. But that's a big if.

Again, quarterback situations, this is the new quarterback. I mean, the question marks that quarterback for the Bears, market quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings, what are they going to do? Because that dictates how high these teams can go and how low. And I guess that's true for every single team. But if Caleb Williams plays well, the team wins. And they're a 10-win team. But Vegas hasn't met eight and a half. I agree with that. All right. So burning question here. You know I already got the Detroit Lions. Who do you like in this division? And I don't, this Because the Packers won 11 games with the roster they had.

I think they've gotten better. I think they can win 12 or 13 games this season. The Lions went 15 and 2 and unfortunately lost in divisional. I think they're going to have a hard time replicating that. I still got Detroit winning. I got Detroit winning the division with Green Bay right there on their heels and them playing. Yeah, yeah.

I got them split in the series, but I got the Lions win the Division. I'm going to sound like you with the NFC West. I think they both finished 12 and 5, and I think somehow some way the Detroit Lions win that tiebreaker and win the division. This division, the NFC East, is the one.

Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, huge news? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't,

invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it.

Oh, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about. a thing, a bit for the podcast, people could call in and say, hey, Jonas.

And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite.

Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform?

We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis, and I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs,

and on the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on Clay. Genshin win. I mean, she went down at three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay.

Listen, Lina Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now, and I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games.

Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put it. on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the

I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm probably most excited to talk about just based on the new news that came out. We cannot start with any other team other than the Dallas Cowboys.

Richard, we talked about it off air. We've talked about it on air. Jerry Jones, I just go back to Mark Dan Tony, man, I'm such a Michigan State Spartan fan, and he had one iconic line as pertaining to Mike Hart and the University of Michigan

Wolverines when Mike Hart called him little brother. Mark Dan Antonio went on and said, pride comes before the fall. Has Jerry Jones's pride gotten in the way? Yeah. Yeah. He's gotten in the way and a big way. I think

this is one of those franchise defining moments that could have been a boy. it where you drafted well, developed well, all pro players. You did it with Dag Prescott, you did it with CD Lamb, Trey Diggs, etc. You paid the guys. Tyrant Smith is in there. They used to have offensive linemen.

But now a guy who impacts, you watch the Philadelphia Eagles in your division, go to the Super Bowl with one of the most ferocious pass rushes, terrorize one of the best quarterbacks in national football. League on their way to a Super Bowl dominant Super Bowl win. And you said, hmm, yeah, I think we should trade away our best pass rusher because that seems like the past to the Super Bowl. Makes a lot of sense. I know that every other Super Bowl has had something to do with defense and a dominant

pass rusher and a dominant pass rush. Even when the San Francisco 49ers lose to the Kansas City Chiefs the year before, what was the defining play? It was Chris Jones pressure on Brock Purdy unblocked that if he's picked up, San Francisco wins that Super Bowl. He wasn't. He gets to the quarterback. You look at the Super Bowl between the Bengals and the Rams.

Oh, my God. Jamar Chase, wide open for a touchdown to win the game. What happens? Aaron Dyernda. Noons it. Like, Patrick Mahones, loses to Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, both tackles out, pass rush, beat the crap out of them,

lost. So when you see these things happen over and over and over and over, and you see how the league has evolved, but you see the factor in the end, in these big games, is usually pass rush. Like you got the receiver quarterback combo, cool. You have to have the franchise quarterback, that makes sense.

But defensively, you have to have the pass rush. So what you did was put your team further away from a Super Bowl because you didn't want to negotiate with an agent. So you talk about pride comes before the fall. This was stupidity. This was utter nonsense because you can't justify this any other way. And you're like, oh, we got a boatload of picks for Mike. Picks don't mean nothing.

Like picks are a bunch of fluff and conjunction. like conjuncture. Like there's nothing that those picks are going to do to help you this year. And I saw Des Bryant put out a tweet, oh, we're going after Arch Manning in a couple of years.

That's why we're stacking up pick. What? How does that help you win a Super Bowl? You are paying Dak Prescott $60 million. So bringing in Arch Manning is going to make the difference. I don't think that does it. Defense, pass rush is what you need to be securing

and you just made your defense a lot worse. a lot worse. Not that Kenny Clark isn't a great player and a pro bowl player and it's going to be impactful at the defensive tackle position probably help them stop the run. But now they're going to just be able to drop back and pass. You got worse. I'm sure the Philadelphia Eagles, Washington commanders,

New York Giants, they're cheering for Jerry Jones. Thank God they couldn't have heard better news than you have traded away arguably the best player in, one of the best players in your division, one of the best players on your team, and that's not, like, you could argue with somebody else. Like, there's not anybody in the league that wouldn't say he's arguably the best player on their team.

You're on drugs if you think otherwise. But I'm trying to understand how you could justify that, but he can't. And when this team goes, what they have, man, eight and five, that seems accurate. Maybe lower than that. Yeah. Because you got a new, coach. You got a new coordinator. You don't have Dan Quinn on that defense anymore. Like,

there's so many things that you don't have Al Harris in that secondary where he's coaching these guys to 10 picks, 11 picks, 9 picks, 6s, like, you got rid of a lot of the things that made you great and got worse. I echo your sentiments. And we saw it when DeMarcus Lawrence went left town too. I mean, here's a guy who was a stalwart for this team who spent his entire higher career with the Dallas Cowboys. You know, they didn't, they didn't want to pay him either. So he says, and his parting shot when he left was, I want to go to a place I can win a Super Bowl.

And he goes to the Seattle Seahawks. You know, that right there, the way you're treating your veterans, and Micah Parsons got to peek behind the curtain with the way they handled it with C.D. lamp, you know, the way that situation drug out. Jerry Jones is just shooting himself in the foot because he watched, Amon Rae get paid. He watched Tyreek get paid. He watched all these other guys get paid.

And then he says, I got to pay CD Lamb. If he would have just been proactive and signed the guy three, six months earlier, he would have saved $5 million a year. I mean, you look at the Amon Rod St. Brown contract, which is pretty much what he could have signed CD for. And now St. Brown is not even a top 10 paid wide receiver in the league. The same thing with Bolsa. Exactly.

And you look at the same thing with Micah Parsons now. He let this play out for far too long, messed around, and he found out, Richard. He found out in the worst way. And to your point, those assets, those draft capital, that's just a shiny object. The cold hard reality of those picks, unless there's a monstrous injury with the Green Bay Packers, those picks are going to be in the high 20s, minimum. So you're trading an absolute game wrecker in Micah Parsons for a Pro Bowl caliber defensive tackle and Kenny Clark and two late round first picks or first round picks. That just does not make sense to me.

For the first time in probably 10 years, Richard, I would say I would trade places with the New York Giants as opposed to being the Dallas Cowboys. Because the way they've orchestrated their roster makes a heck of a lot more sense to me than what they're doing in Dallas right now. It does. And I think this is low. They got him at six and a half wins for the Giants. I think their Giants can win seven, eight games because of how their defensive line is built. More than anything. I think they've got some issues on offensive line. I think Russell Wilson is going to be really solid for them. He's going to be better than Daniel Jones has been no question about it. He's going to help Malik neighbors have a great season. He's going to help that offense to be a lot more effective. But I think that defense is going to be ferocious, that pass rush with,

with all the guys they have is going to Brian Burns, they got Dexter Lawrence, Excy Dex, the rookie that they just drafted. Abdul Carter. Abdul Carter. Avon Tibodh. Kvon Tivod. Like that's those four on third down and nine?

Oh, like who wants to deal with that? And so not only do you get worse. Now, again, what we talked about, a defensive line, a ferocious password, can ruin games. It can literally ruin games. They can ruin games for teams. So that's why I don't know what the Giants record is going to be because that's a, you got a puncher's chance every time.

Like they can literally go out there and two sack force fumbles and change the trajectory of any game. And you have guys that can get there in a flash. So I look forward to seeing them in action. I think they get eight, nine wins in his division. I think the Cowboys and the Giants should flip. I got the Giants are probably more eight and a half, in my opinion, in the Cowboys. The left tackle, Tyler Guyton, is out for an extended amount of time with a knee fracture.

That's another huge deal. You got the Philadelphia Eagles coming into town first game of the season. Then you got the New York Giants in this crazy pass rush. You've got to hope you can outscore him. And if you can't predict the quarterback, then you got a $60 million quarterback, a $35 million receiver who can't get the ball. they should win that game easily. But you could also see a world where that pass rush gets home and it makes it really difficult.

I think the Philadelphia Eagles are going to be who they've been this entire time. I mean, they're going to be consistent. They got a Super Bowl caliber roster again. They're coming off a Super Bowl win. They're so consistent. One of the best offensive lines in football. One of the best defensive lines in football. And as we know, trench warfare is what wins in the National Football League.

They still got the reigning offensive player at a year in Saquan Barkley, the reigning madden athlete. Still got Jalen Hertz. They still got all day, always open, A.J. Brown. They still got Devontay Smith. So, I mean, the talent is still there. All the things that they need are still there to make another run. So I expect them to win this division easily going away.

I think the commanders, right around 9.5, 10 wins. If Jaden Daniels doesn't have this sophomore slump, If he continues to play as efficient and effective as he's been, and Debo Samuel can come in and make an impact like he did in his earlier years in San Francisco. Defensively, I think they need to take a step forward. But, you know, I think that's tough. Bobby Wagner is going to continue to anchor that group. So I think they got nine, ten wins in them.

I think they go to the playoffs. But I got the Eagles winning this game, I mean, winning this division. And I think the Cowboys and Giants compete for those last, the three and four spots. I agree with you. thing about the commanders is like they're looking like they're in win now mode too they're kind of operating like the green bay packers like the philadelphia eagles they go out and get laramie tundzel they go out and get your friend dbo samuel like they have weapons the one area of concern for the commanders they really don't have a set running back austin eckler we'll see how much he has left in

the tank they really like this chikori kroski merrit uh the rookie um we'll see but what are your expectations of debo because it seems like everyone just kind of kind of cast him aside. Do you think he can have a big impact with this offense in Washington? I do. I do. Obviously, AP, Adam Peters, the GM for the Washington commanders, is very familiar with Debo Samuel and what he can do. I think they'll use them in the right way. I think he'll factor into that backfield in the run game. I think he's highly motivated right now. He's frustrated about everything that they dealt with. They did what they can to protect Jayden Daniel so he can get these passes off, but I think Debo Samuel is is, is, is wearing for a really, really good year.

And, and remind people of who he's been. And I think that's going to be really great for the Washington commanders. Let's talk about the NFC soft. This looks like it's Tampa's division to lose yet again. Vegas has them as a minus 120 favorite to win it. With the Falcons nipping at their heels and then, you know, obviously the Carolina Panthers making some changes. And watch out for the New Orleans Saints, Richard.

I tell you what, man, they look really, really good. No, they look terrible. But talk to me about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers because it seems like this team has been on the cusp. They've been very, very competitive. They're very good defensively. You know, obviously Baker Mayfield, I think he's made you a fan.

I mean, certainly has turned his career around and made the Tampa Bay Buccaneers something to fear. How much do you like Tampa in this division right now? I like Tampa. I like Todd Bowles and everything. stands for. I think this team is just a steady ship. They're always where they need to be.

I think Mike Evans' career is a perfect analogy for who the Tampa Bay Bookingeers are right now and who they've been just a steady 1,000 yards no matter what. The sun is going to rise in the east. It's going to set in the west, and the butts are going to win the south.

That's the way it's been, and I expect them to only be stronger this year. A Mecca, Abuka, has been praised a ton in that training camp. He seems to be everything they expect him when they drafted him. Obviously, Chris Godwin has been there for a long time and been fantastic for this franchise. If he can be healthy, that makes this trio a very, very difficult trio to deal with for defenses. On the other side, Todd Bowles' defense always creates incredible issues for these teams.

Went 10 games last year. I expected them to win 10 games again this year, potentially 11. if the Panthers and Saints are as bad as they have been. And I don't have a lot to say about the Falcons or the Panthers or Saints. They're going to, a lot of prove it, a lot of things they need to show. Pennix obviously is the starter. And, you know, they're expecting big things out of him. Drake London can be one of the best receivers in the National Football League. Will they find a way to finally unlock Kyle Pitts?

those are the questions that they have. AJ Terrell is still one of the best corners in National Football League back there. He has to find his footing back. But yeah, the Carolina Panthers, they got Technic Millen, T-Mack, as he likes to be called. And by the end of last year, you saw Bryce, Bryce looked a lot better.

He looked more comfortable. He looked more efficient, more effective, more like the guy they thought he was coming out of Alabama. the Saints, I just don't, they named Spencer Rattler, the starter. They named Spencer Rattler, the starter, I think last week. And I just don't, I just, unless I'm missing something, you know, the cover's kind of bare out there in New Orleans right now. Obviously, they got some veterans on defense with Cam Jordan.

You know, the challenge's there on defense offensively. They got a lot of question marks. Chris Alave, it obviously is a bright spot on that offense, but you got to understand what you're getting from quarterback. So I think the expectations are low for the Saints. That's why they got the four and a half win total from Vegas. It's got to be tough, Richard. I know you really can't speak to it because I feel like every single team you played for

had high expectations going to the season. But if you were a season vet playing for the New Orleans Saints, I mean, they're comparing this quarterback room to one of the worst in NFL history. Spencer Rattler, as you said, is starting, like, how demoralizing would it be that? You talked about the Seattle Seahawks wanting to play for the guy next to you. It's got to be tough being a while. I don't know if I'm going to get a shot to catch many balls today. Yes, it's been tough for years, and it's tough for a defense to go out there, understanding that you're not going to have much of a chance, you're not getting a lot from

the quarterback. I think it's a very frustrating space for them to be in. frustrating space for fans and their only hope and bright brightness at the end of the tunnel is to think that archmanning is in the in the cards somewhere down the line uh and and you're not even sure that's got to be what you know what what you think it is you know it's all up for debate but i just don't know about the saints and i don't know what their plan is um going forward the rivalries the marching bands the upsets saturdays just got way more fun College football is back. Think you know the game?

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New customers can bet $5 and get $300 in bonus bets instantly. Download the Draft King Sportsbook app and use the promo code Richard. That's called Richard for new customers to get $300 in bonus bets instantly when you bet just five bucks. In partnership with Draft King Sports Books, the crown is yours. It's time to move on to the AFC, Richard. Let's start with the AFC West,

a team that just will not go away, whether you want them to or not. Kansas City Chiefs are minus 115 favorites to win again, 11.5 over under win total. And the biggest news for the offseason is off-field, right? It's Travis Kelsey getting engaged. I mean, I don't know if we need to talk about any of the teams in this division, man. Let's just talk about that for 20 minutes and we're good.

Well, you know, it's rare that you lose the Super Bowl and you still get a ring, Metro. And so it was great for Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey. Happy for them. They've looked happy in every photo and, you know, every event they are. They seem to be too supportive partners. Happy for him. You know, it's always loving air. It's such a weird time we live in where you've got to follow people's personal lives

and comment on them getting married. But congratulations to you, Metro, because you got engaged too. You got everything to it. It's ring season. Heck yeah, man. I appreciate that. I definitely appreciate it.

I followed Travis Kelsey's footsteps, my man. You know, he motivated me. He motivated you. And congratulations to you and Bailey. That's freaking awesome. But I think that the Kansas City Chiefs, again, are the classes of this division until proven wrong. Like, it's hard to bet against.

them. After being in the Super Bowl five of the last six years, they've been in the last three. It doesn't, I don't, I'm not going to bet against them. I'm not going to say somebody else's winning the AFC West. I'm not going to do that. Yes, Rishie Rice is suspended for the first six games of the season. Will that factor in potentially? But again, as long as they have Travis Kelsey, Patrick Mahomes, and Andy Reed, and Spags on the defense, they're going to win 11, 12, games. They're going to be in the mix at the end. I don't care if they have home fielded Venge or not. They are the favorites to win the AFC every single year, and I have them as the favorites to win the AFC. I think this division has gotten more interesting. I think the

Broncos best defensive in football last year. They have done nothing to think that they've gotten any worse. Added Drey Greenlaw, Tala Noah Hufanga, from the San Francisco 49ers, huge additions. Still got the same cast of characters returning a defensive player at a year, Pat Sertan. I think they're going to continue to be dominant. I think Drake May, I mean, Drake May. Bow Nicks, I think Bo Nix takes the next step forward in this offense.

And I think they, I don't think they challenge the chiefs because I'm not even going to go there. But I think they're second. I think they make the playoffs. and I think they give people run for their money. Charters with Jim Harbaugh. Again, they won 11 games last year. Justin Herbert needs to win now.

People keep putting them in top 10 conversations. He's got to win to prove that he belongs there. It's hard to keep putting him in top 10 conversations without the playoff success, without the team success. And I know that the excuses are there every year. What weapons does he have? What about this? What about that?

we can make the same excuses for for patrick mahomes a lot of these years you can tell me all his weapons in the playoffs some of these years you couldn't tell me like you can't tell me you'd think that hey if we gave justin herbert these guys that you would expect him to take this into the super bowl so um he has to produce i think he's in a great position with jim hardball to do that the big question there and i because i like the chiefs or the charges coming into this season a lot but then they suffer a massive injury to Ray Sean Slater in the preseason. I mean, it's just devastating, especially when you see how Jim Harbaugh wants to build this team in the trenches. And they just go and draft Joe Alt, you know, and they get Ray Sean Slater.

They get their bookends. And then they go and draft the hammer in Amar Ann Hampton, and they bring in Najee Harris. And you see what they're doing. You see how they're trying to build this roster. And then in one move, Ray Sean Slater gets knocked out for the season. And that's a crippling blow to this Charter's team. The one dark horse in this division is a guy you know very well. That's Pete Carroll with these Las Vegas Raiders.

You know, they bring over Gino Smith. They draft Ashton Genty, which clearly Boise State needed. I don't know if you saw them getting the doors break off of them against USF. But how much is the addition of Pete Carroll to that franchise going to change the winning ways in Los Angeles? Vegas. It's going to have a tremendous impact. I think he takes them to a winning season for the first time in a long time. I think he takes them to at least them fighting for that seven spot, wild card spot in his first year. And I know people are like, hey, it's boring.

He's run the same things for years and yada, yada, yada, it also works. It also works. It's solid. You won't have the volatility. You won't expect the volatility with this is skiing the sound. guys know what to do, know where to be. They can play fast offensively. They'll run the ball. Gino will maximize these receivers. Obviously, Jacoby Myers wants more money. He'll have a chance with a quarterback,

probably the best quarterback he's had in a long time to have his best season to earn more money. Their best player, Brock Bowers, will be set up for another career year. Obviously, matchup nightmare. You saw that in the game against the San Francisco 49ers where, you know, they just line them up and throw fade balls to them. Football is easy when you can do that.

I think Raiders fans should be excited. I think it'll be a fun, consistent brand of football. They'll be in every game. I'm sure there will rarely be a game. They're out of where they're down double digits or more. That's not Pete Carroll style. I would expect them to be around eight, nine wins and have a chance. in the AFC East, there's not a lot to talk about.

There's the Buffalo Bills, reigning MVP, Josh Allen, everybody else. And everybody else in the Pips. I think Mike Brable will have the Patriots more competitive in these games. Will Drake May take the next step forward? Will they, you know, their identity is obviously going to be toughness. He's working for more of the Bill Belichick style. of dealing with the media, it seems like.

He's pretty tough on him. They just let Gibral Peppers go, which was a surprising move on a lot of fronts. But I think they'll win eight, nine games. I just don't see this division being anything but the Buffalo Bills winning by multiple games. The Dolphins have a lot of question marks. You're talking about Tarreek and two of the conversations,

Tariq saying he wants to be somewhere else. else at the end of the season to us saying they need to regain his trust, just things happening. Jalen Ramsey taking shots on the way out about respecting his head coach and not respecting his head coach is just things not going great for them. The Jets with Aaron Glenn, you know, they'll be tough. They'll play man to man in the back end. What does Justin Fields give them? Is this his chance to have his Sam Donald moment where he revitalizes his career and takes it to the next level? We'll see his Baker Mayfield moment where he just, hey, he takes the reins and he looks like the guy that they drafted coming out of Ohio State. We will see.

Those are the question marks. There's a lot of talent there, though, Richard. Garrett Wilson, the big question I have for you is it pertains to Aaron Glenn in his tenure with the New York Jets is he's tried to change, you know, the way people look at the Jets. He's not dealing with the media anymore. You want to talk about some Bill Belichick-esque play. He doesn't even talk to the media. Like, what are your thoughts on that approach? Because it seems like the Jets really need an identity reset.

And I think Aaron Glenn is trying to deliver that for him. Yeah, I mean, I don't know because none of that matters until the on-the-field product shows it. Like, that works if you win. If you don't win, then you just ostracize the media. They're going to be pissed. They're going to talk even worse about you. And it's going to make your tenure even shorter. So it could work out.

great if you're winning and people are like, yeah, he's all business. Cool, perfect. But if you're not winning, you're going to have to answer questions. You're going to have to talk to the media. And they're going to write worse things about you because they're human beings. And they're like, hey, he's being a, he's being a dick to us. We're going to be a dick to him. And that's just human nature. The team's not winning. I'm sure those writers in Boston couldn't wait to write things, write bad things about Bill Belichick, when they were losing and things, you know, we're falling in a park after Tom left.

Like, because you have been that way to them, these are humans, that's what's going to happen. But if they win, he's going to go great. It's going to be a different culture in New York. And the team will follow suit. Let's talk about the AFC North. There's a lot of storylines here. Vegas likes the Ravens to win it.

You know, and in fact, they're a Super Bowl favorite this year, the Baltimore Ravens are. They're followed closely here behind by the Pittsburgh Steelers. obviously Aaron Rogers enters the fold there. The Bengals, I mean, can this team finally reach their potential? It seems like every year we talk about how good Joe Burrow is, how Jamar Chase is playing, but they got off to a slow start last year. They got off to a slow start the year before that,

and they've just been trying to play catch-up. Like, who's your biggest competitor to the Ravens? Do the Bengals have an opportunity here to regrane the stronghold and potentially make another race? run at a Super Bowl appearance? Well, they'll be their greatest competitor in a head-to-head game. I think they, you know, they've already proven that they can score on this defense and they can keep up.

But the Bengals problem is that they're 30 for 30. It's like a 30 for 30. ESPN, because they're going to average 30 points a game on offense and they're going to give up 30 points a game on defense. That's been the story. That's been their Achilles heel. So it doesn't matter that Joe Burrell had one of the best seasons of any quarterback in in the National Football League

because your defense is so bad, it ends up being a nine and eight season. And you got two of the best receivers in the National Football League. It doesn't matter because you got one of the worst defenses in a league. And unless they can change that narrative and their defense can give them any semblance

of putting up a fight, they're going to have a hard time. They're going to have a hard time winning this division or being competitive because of that. They're literally negating all the greatness that they have on offense with how terrible their defense is.

So obviously signing Trey Hendrickson is a big deal because he's their best player. They're going to have to find a way to get some stops on defense in order for me to put them in there. Vegas has them nine and a half wins. I could agree with that if they could just get some stops. I think the Ravens win this division.

You talked about Trey Hendrickson and he was a storyline in this division, a lot of it, and the way they did not want to pay him, they made it abundantly clear. And even when they did pay him, they just said, hey, here's an extra $14 million. We're going to bring you up to $30 million for the year. We're not going to give you any long-term security that he was after.

Like, you've already talked about this ad nauseum for the last three, four, five years, how poorly managed the Cincinnati Bengals are. They don't want to pay any of their players to remind us a lot of the Dallas Cowboys. Richard, this is the best defensive player they've got. The Bengals have finished 25th on defense last season, bottom half of the league for the past five years that Burroughs been in the league. Why do you do this to one of your best players that needs to help the most on the defensive side of the ball? I don't know. I don't know. It's insanity. I mean, but it's the same insanity that goes to making Jamar Chase play on his last year of his deal.

And then you have to pay him $40 million. Instead of just paying him the $35 million that Justin Jefferson, He wanted, I think he said he wanted 100,000 more than Justin Jefferson got. That's all he wanted was to say I got more than Justin Jefferson. They end up paying him $5 million more per year than what Justin Jefferson got because they wanted to stupidly wait for him to see. I don't know what you were seeing. He's already a great receiver. You're seeing if he got injured or something and it would be cheaper for you to pay him later.

And it ended up biting you an ass. And I think the same thing is true with Trey Henderson. and they gave him more money or something, moved some of his money, and I think gave him $30 million this year, which is fine, but you also wasted time with your first-round draft picks Shamar Stewart. And that was a stupid decision because you want him to get acclimated to the NFL game and to have all the time to be prepared and have the most impactful rookie season he can. But instead, you're fighting over minimal language in the contract

and almost to the point where he goes back to college. And again, that's just not what you want, especially a guy you just drafted to help change, help Trey Hendrickson. So two of the most important guys on your defense, you're pissing off. So hopefully they get that fix, and Shamar Stewart is in, Trey Hendricks is in, and maybe those two help them solidify this defense that's been in the bottom half of the league for four of Joe Burroughs five years. Can the Steelers be something when Aaron Rogers?

It's a question mark. Can they be something worthwhile? because right now they're just seen more of a storyline. I mean, this is, we talked about tipping points. Mike Tomlin's one of the best coaches in the NFL, but I think I would have to imagine just making the playoffs is not good enough anymore of the Pittsburgh Steelers fan base and their ownership group.

What does the addition of Aaron Rogers really do to tip the scales more in that favor? Because to me, it seemed like Pittsburgh Steelers waited too long. They waited too long to address the quarterback. They drafted Will Howard in the draft, and they started waiting around. Why didn't they just re-sign Russell Wilson? Why didn't they re-sign Justin Fields?

I mean, this is a guy that was four and two before bringing back Russell last year. Instead, they turned to Aaron Rogers, who is a bigger name, in my opinion, than he is a differentiator in the wing column. Do you think the Steelers can get above 500? Do you think they can get back to the playoffs with Aaron Rogers at the helm? I don't know because I don't know how Aaron Rogers is going to play. You know, I think the last two years, one of them he was injured for most of the year, or injured four plays into the season.

Yep. The next year he was erratic and not great, not great by any stretch and imagination. So can he get back to the Aaron Rogers that won four MVPs? I don't think so. I don't think he can get to that ceiling anymore, but can even get close. It's just pro-bowl caliber, the guy that can throw for 300, be really efficient. You know, the guy that rarely throws interceptions that has 25 touchdowns,

four interceptions, can he throw 30 touchdowns? What can D.K. Metcalfe do? They did a lot this offseason. I mean, they brought in Darius, like, rented a program. They traded for Jalen Ramsey. Cam Hayward's upset about the money because he sees everybody else getting their money and he's like, where's mine? They traded away George Pickens to the Dallas Cowboys.

So how do you replace that production? is DK because you can't, they're going to double DK Medcaf. So a lot of it is on Aaron Rogers' shoulders. Can he get back to the guide that we all know him to be, which is one of the best quarterbacks to ever grace the football field? That's the big question. And I think that's what they're banking on, the reason why they didn't sign Russell Wilson or Justin Fields, because they felt like they saw their ceilings.

They know what their ceilings are and their siblings aren't able to get them to a Super Bowl or even in those conversations. So can Aaron Rogers be better? I don't know. We don't know. We'll see. If he plays like he did last year, I don't think that's high enough to get to San. I mean, the Pittsburgh Steelers where they want to be.

But we'll see. We'll see. It's going to be an interesting storyline or it's going to be something to talk about. But if he doesn't play well early, we're going to know early and they don't have anywhere to pivot. Like you're not going to go to Will Howard. in the middle of the season with Aaron Rogers and think, oh man, that's our future now. No, you're not.

And then the questions about Mike Tomlin going forward coming to play, do you make a change there? Again, like you're saying, he's never had a losing season. And he won 10 games last year and he'll fight. Hey, it's us to Jonas Brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, huge news?

We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. First people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how did we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys?

I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast.

could call in and say, hey Jonas, and then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and headwriter, Streeter Seidel,

help an acapella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis, and I know firsthand because I competed there myself.

I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on Clay. Jenchen went. I mean, she went down at three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lena Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now,

and I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your courtside seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days I'd put on 10 pounds, I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Find a way to win 10 games this year, but do you get frustrated with that, like the Seattle Seahawks deal with Pete Carroll? And you say, okay, that's enough. Like, we want to go a different direction. The Pittsburgh Steelers organization hasn't been one to make moves like that in their history.

A lot of their coaches stay for a long time. there for a long time regardless. So I just don't know. I don't see them making a move, but I also, if Aaron Rogers doesn't play well, this season could go bad really fast. But you have a dynamic secondary with Joey Porter Jr. Darius Slay and Jalen Ramsey. You have a great pass for us with J.J. Watt, Cam Hayward,

Alex Highsmith. You have the pieces there to make a run, but they're going to have to put it all together. And finally, the AFC South. This looks, again, like the Houston Texans division to lose. Vegas likes them a lot, plus 105 to win the division. Do you like the Texans? I mean, this is C.J. Stroud's third year in the league. We saw a lot of regression in his sophomore season.

Do you think he gets back to his rookie ways and his winning ways? Yeah, I think he does. I think he does. I like the addition of Nick Chubb to that team. Obviously, with Joe Mix and missing the first four years. games of the season. A healthy Nico Collins. I think he's a top five receiver in the National Football League if he's healthy and he's

doing what he needs to do. But again, health is a big factor in it. They got rid of Laramie Tunsel. I'm not sure how I feel about that or how that will play out in the long run. They still have a great pass rush with Daniel Hunter and Will Anderson. Derek Stingley is honestly one of the top cover corners in the National Football League. unfortunate stuff happening with Jimmy Ward. So there's, you know, but you still got Petrie back there.

And, you know, they have enough talent. They're in a weak division with the Colts. It seems like they're giving up on Anthony Richardson and starting Daniel Jones. You know, it doesn't speak great volumes about what you could expect from them. But maybe Daniel Jones turns it around and has a great season. They have great weapons. And guys that can make plays down the field, Jacksonville, Jaguars drafted Travis Hunter to play both sides.

That'll be the storyline of the season for that team, just seeing what he does. But Brian Thomas already developing into one of the top receivers in the National Football League, what can he do? And obviously, you know how I feel about the quarterback in Jacksonville. And you know, you love him, Rich. I love him. I love him. What's not to love him?

What's not to love? He's the best. But if he doesn't have, if they don't win the win this year and he doesn't go to the playoffs, what did the conversations start to become about the quarterback and what does that look like moving forward? The Titans, Cam Ward, what is he going to be able to do with that team? Obviously, he's shown flashes during the preseason, but he's one of the most, the least talked about number one picks

in the history of the National Football League. You almost talk about him like he's a third-round draft pick. Like, oh, yeah, yeah, they got Cam Ward, the number one pick in the draft. But I don't think they have enough talent around him. to really make a ton of noise this season. I think they surprise some people and win some games they should. And I think he's going to be up for rookie of the year

with his performances just because he's the quarterback and he'll put up stats and he'll start from day one. But not a lot. Not a lot. I'm going to throw two names at you because I know we got some folks that follow fantasy football here. Two names for you guys to keep an eye on.

Jalen Higgins for the Houston Texans. He's a rookie out of Iowa State. Look out for him. He's going to fill. He's a big receipt. opposite of Nico Collins. You saw what Tank Dell was able to do there in that wider receiver 2 spot. Jalen Higgins, look out for him.

And then I know one of your Stanford alum, and I'm going to butcher his name here, Richard. So help me out. Elic A.O. Menor, is that correct? Alamane. Alec Alaminer from the Tennessee Titans has been getting a lot of love throughout training camp. Cam Ward is in desperate search for who's going to be the wide receiver to throw to. Look out for both of those guys. This division, while the Tennessee,

or the Houston Texans are expected to walk away with it, it could be interesting. But that concludes our division recaps. I got to ask you, though, man, this is our prediction time for you, Richard. We're going to keep receipts going throughout the season. I got to know who's going to win the NFC and who's going to win the NFC.

And finally, who's your Super Bowl champ? NFC, you know I want to be Homer. I want to go with San Francisco or Seattle. I just don't know if this is their year this year unless some drastic things happen or some young guys step up in a big way. I think the Philadelphia Eagles, they're just too consistent, too talented on both sides of the offensive and defensive line. They have some question marks in the secondary, but they also have Quinnion Mitchell, who had a phenomenal rookie season all the way down to the Super Bowl and played well in the playoffs. I think he continues to thrive. but I think the Philadelphia Eagles, it's hard to root against them in NFC.

I got them winning the NFC unless some drastic injury news happens to their major players. They still got Saquine Barclay, A.J. Brown, J. Brown, Jalen Hertz, et cetera, the list goes on, Lane Johnson. So I just don't see a path where they're just knocked off unless major injuries happen in some critical spots. AFC-wise, it's boring to say this. It's hard to go against the Kansas City Chiefs. I want to say Baltimore is going to win it. I want to say the Buffalo Bills got a chance.

I want to say the Bengals are going to make one of them crazy runs like they did. But it's difficult for me to go against the Kansas City Chiefs because even when they have a down year like they did last year. And the year before where you're like, Patrick Mahones came back down to Earth. They're still in the Super Bowl. You're like, oh, they don't got home field advantage. They're going to struggle. And they're still in the Super Bowl.

You're like, man, they're beat up going into the playoffs. And they're still in the Super Bowl. Man, they had to move their all-pro guard, left guard, to tackle. And they're still in the Super Bowl. So I just have a hard time rooting against them. They still have spags running that defense. They have a secondary in guys back there making plays. They still have Chris Jones.

They still have Nick Bolton. it's just hard to bet against him right now. So I got the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, I guess. And who's taking home the crown? I would add that if it goes the way it did last year, I would say the Philadelphia Eagles go back to back. Richard, I got the Lions playing the bills, lions coming away victorious.

I know that's not going to surprise you one bit. Let's talk about our MVP candidates. Last year, Josh Allen, ended up winning over Lamar Jackson. I know you weren't necessarily thrilled with that, but who do you think is going to take home the hardware this year? I think Joe Burrow will be in the mix. I like that. I want to say he would win it. I honestly think he had a better case than Josh Allen last year. I thought Lamar had a way better case, one of the most efficient seasons in the history of the national football league. He had one of

those Aaron Rogers S MVP seasons, but with a lot more touchdowns. But he didn't. He didn't didn't win it. I think it was, what is it, 45 and 4, something crazy like that. Like, he was, silly knowing that. Silly numbers and they didn't give it to them. So I just, cover me, I, I, I, I hate the people they have voting for it because I don't, I don't think they're voting based objectively, you know, it's too much emotions, too much subjectivity getting involved, too many feelings. Oh, the more one, so many, it's Josh is starting, like, I don't care about that. Who had the better season?

who's more valuable? You're going to say you punish Lamar Jackson for having Derek Henry, but he threw for 41 touchdowns and only four interceptions. Like, how? How do you punish him for that? That's valuable. Those numbers are valued. And so I think it's Joe Burrow,

but I think the same issue that he had last year is the issue who will have this year is his team isn't good enough to give him what he needs. His team isn't going to be good enough. Last year he threw for almost 5,000 yards, 43 touchdowns, 9 interceptions, 108 rating. But his team, his defense was too terrible, and they didn't win every shootout that they were involved in. So, uh, what am I going to give it to? I would love, something would love to say Brock Purdy would do it, but. What about Sam Darnold? Come on, man. Sam Donald could definitely.

I mean, if they win 13 games, he'd definitely be in a mix. But again, he wasn't MVP Kennedy last year, and he had a phenomenal year and took his team to 14 and 3. So I'm saying if they're not putting him in the MVP race when they were 14 and 3, I don't think you're going to give it to him. Him being in Seattle. Give me Joe Burrell. I like that one as well.

And finally, before we wrap, we got it. know who starts off week one preseason edition going into week one richard sherman's top five power ranks top five power ranks national football league we're going to go philadelphia eagles one Baltimore two bills three kansas city four Detroit five okay I respect it well richard that concludes it man this is our regular season preview. It's been a long one, but a good one. And I'll let you sign us off, my friend.

Well, I appreciate you guys. Sorry, it's been so long, but it's the season preview. We have to get every division in here. We appreciate you joining us. You could be anywhere in the world, but you're here with us. And do not forget to hit that sub button if you're new. Stay tuned all season for updates, reaction videos. And of course, after game content with me and my guys.

mentor. Also, Big Play Slay. See you next time. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it.

Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Winning on Clay is an art. The rallies are relentless. And at the French Open, only the toughest survive. I'd know. I competed there for decades. Join me, Renee Stubbs, on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast

for no-nonsense breakdowns of the biggest matches, the toughest players, and the moments that define Roland Garris. She's an outsider to win the French win. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lina Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any surface. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports.

Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. and we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlic on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicalife-12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. This is an I-Heart podcast, Guaranteed human.