The Herd with Colin Cowherd - What's Wright - Nick Wright's NFC Predictions: Is this the Cowboys year? Caleb & Bears for real? Rams unbeatable?

Episode Date: July 31, 2026

All lines provided by Hard Rock Bet.   Nick Wright shares his predictions for the NFC ahead of the 2026 NFL season. Is this finally the year Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys go on a run in the NFL Playoffs? Or will Jalen Hurts' Philadelphia Eagles win the NFC East for a third straight season? Are Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears ready to prove they are here to stay with Ben Johnson or was last season a flash in the pan? And just how unbeatable will Matthew Stafford's Los Angeles Rams be in a loaded NFC West, which also has last season's Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks and Brock Purdy's San Francisco 49ers? #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey, Portlandia fans. Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen here. The Dream of the 90s is alive in podcast form. We're launching Podlandia, AEO, rewatch, our brand new podcast where we revisit every episode of Portlandia together, breaking down sketches, going deep on our iconic characters,

and pulling back the curtain on how it all got made. And we'll also be joined by the people who helped bring it all to life. Guest stars, collaborators, and friends, including director Jonathan Chrysler, the mayor, himself Kyle McLaughlin, legendary musician Amy Mann, and many more. Kyle is going for it here. You fully improvised, not just words, but a song. Well, I thought you were all going to write a song.

I remember you thinking that. Listen to Podlandia. A.O. Rewatch on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? I'm sports journalist Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your girl, Sam J. And we're the host of Everyone Watches Women's Sports, a new podcast from Together and I Heart women's sports. We're breaking down the biggest headlines. Naomi Osaka, showing out. Shout-houts to you, Naomi. The viral moments. I've been obsessed with Kashan Rock's

boxing journey. She looks good. Her combos are swift. And the stories everyone's talking about across women's sports. Because everyone watches women's sports. Listen to everyone watches women's sports on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Jake Brennan. And on the Disgraceland podcast, I explore the wild lives of rock stars and unbelievable true crime stories from music history. These are the stories you haven't heard, the kind you'll end up telling someone else. Like the time Paul McCartney spent in a notorious prison

or the bizarre crime Lady Gaga is accused of where that time Blondie's Debbie Harry escaped Ted Bunny. Listen to Discraseland on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Nick Titoro. You probably know me from NYPD Blue, the longest yard or Spike Lease Black Klansman. And on my new podcast, Delivering Happiness with Nick Titoro,

I deliver pizza to a new guest. I've shared a slice with everyone from Seth Rollins. What are you doing my belt? To Bill Burr. I don't think I've ever met somebody so exactly out of their mind as I am. And now, we even have more great guests coming up, including the great John Titoro. It's called Happiness, Delivering Happiness.

And many, many more. Open your free High Heart Radio app. Search Delivering Happiness with Nick Tour. And listen now. All right, welcome in. What's driving Nick Wright episode 485. If you listened on Tuesday, we did 16 minutes, 16 AFC teams. We are going to do the same thing today with the NFC as I am on vacation, but I wanted you guys to have something in your feed. So that's why you should subscribe to the pod.

So you get those, you know, no matter what, YouTube, iTunes, Spotify, all of that. And then we'll be back on Tuesday with a live full episode. This episode is brought to you by our friends at Boost Mobile. As always, we can go ahead and start the clock. We'll go to the NFC. We will start in the NFC East with the Dallas Cowboys. The only question for the Cowboys, the biggest question for the Cowboys is this. Can the defense be average?

If the defense can be average, they not only can win the division, this can be the best Cowboys team of Dax's career. George Pickens, to his credit, accepted the franchise tag, decided he's going to go try to prove it. I thought last year he was phenomenal until the very end of the year when he seemed to kind of, you know, quit on some games. But he had nearly 1,500 yards. He was great. C.D. Lamb is one of the most talented players in the entire league. Last year, the defense did not give them a chance to compete.

But they drafted one of my favorite players in Caleb. They took Malachi Lawrence. They traded for D Winters and Roshan Gary. They remade the secondary. If that defense, if they can have the 15th ranked scoring defense in football next year, they can win 12 games. Giants. All right. Concern for the Giants. Did Malik, is, is Malik neighbors going to be all right? I, he suffered a bad knee injury, but he is, has had, having one of the rare ACL recoveries where it does not seem like he's not only is he not ahead of schedule. He seems like he's behind schedule. He was so dynamic and so special when we've seen him healthy. That's terrifying if you're a Giants fan. On top of that, you're, you know,

you're running backs. He's got a blown up ankle doing backflips at Fanatics Fest. And I don't know if Jackson Dart is the, you know, the mature force in the room that a lot on John Harbaugh's plate. I'm not going to read too much into the embarrassing viral video from last week of him trying to fire up the team, but John Harbaugh is going to really have to prove his coaching medal this year with this Giants team that's going to be a trendy pick for a lot of people. Eagles, I've said it before, I'll say it again, and this might seem like a cop out of a take, but I believe it. The Eagles are the only. team in the league that them being the number one seed would not surprise me and also them firing

their coach during the season would not surprise me. I think their spread of potential outcomes is the widest of any team in football. I think them going seven and ten and fourteen and three, both are possible. And not surprisingly, hurts, Once again with a new offensive coordinator, this one, Sean Mannion. Unlike, you know, the last few offensive coordinator changes, he's not going to have AJ Brown for good or for bad to rely on with Mannion. Manion, they made it very clear they want to change the offense. We will see how much hurts accepts that.

And then finally, the Washington commanders, I can't remember a team being more almost popular and in the zeitgeist to just totally out of the conversation, like the commanders from two years ago to last year. Jaden had one of the greatest rookie seasons ever, and the commanders earned the conference championship game, and then an injury-plagued year, a year where you saw a lot of the holes on that team

from its offensive line to its weapons, to its older, kind of, you know, sloppily, if I may say put-together defense, all those warts were in full display. I'm not a big believer in the Giants. If the Giants are as good as a lot of you think they will be, the commanders feel to me like the worst team in this division. And I think that barring the Philly being on the downside of what I said that span was,

their best case scenario was third place in this division. I'm not a big believer in the commanders. NFC North. Start with the Bears. They won one of the most competitive divisions in football. last year, even though none of the teams, except for them one double-digit games. They, I am buying maybe not as much as Colin, but a lot of the Caleb Williams stock again. I think the leaps you saw him make in his first year with Ben Johnson, now that the pre-snap

operation, that some of the terrible sacks, those things got cleaned up, Now I think he can work on fully mastering the offense and something he was not so sneakily really bad at last year, which is just hitting the easy passes. The magical stuff will always be there, the escapeability, the clutch stuff. That's not going anywhere. If the easy stuff gets cleaned up, they can win 12 games. All right, the Lions. First year without Ben Johnson last year, and it looked like they were missing Ben Johnson.

The secondary all of a sudden, big hole, thanks to Terrian Arnold's, let's call them Escapades. Another year where you're like, all right, Aidan Hutchinson's great, but what about everybody else? With that said, Jemir Gibbs, Sam La Porter, Amont La Porta, Amon Rae St. Brown, Jared Gough, when he has time, that offense, even without Ben Johnson, should still be one of the scarier ones in the league. but this is the season where we find out how prophetic Dan Campbell was when he told the team a couple years ago after they blew the NFC championship game, guys, this might be our best chance. We might never get closer than this. Lions fans obviously hoping that's not the case, but we'll find out this season.

Packers, you could argue their best players on both sides of the ball tore their ACLs last year. Micah's unquestionably the best defensive player. Tucker Kraft might be their best offensive player. Obviously, Jordan Love the most important. They were, I think, 9, 4 and 1 when Micah, 9 3 and 1, actually, when Micah tore his ACL, they then lost five consecutive games to end the season, including the playoff game. Micah, I do not expect back right to start the season. He got his ACL surgery while after Mahomes, he also plays a different position.

How will the defense look without Micah when he seemed to totally transform it last year when he was on the field? Tucker Kraft, you expect to at least by midway point in the season be back to being Tucker Kraft. Jordan Love, the stats to me tell a better story for Jordan Love than actually watching him does. Packers feel like the third best team in the division. then there's the Vikings. Such an intriguing spot for Kevin O'Connell. Kevin O'Connell, I think, knows and wants and plans for Kyler Murray to be a starting quarterback. To give them the best chance to succeed, they should give Kyler Murray every single first team rep possible so we can learn the offense, so we can get up to speed, so we can do everything that one needs to do to be ready to

be the starting quarterback. However, if you do that, you are officially saying J.J. McCarthy, who we took with, I think, the 10th overall pick, we're giving up on you after how many career starts? 10 career games played? That seems like it would be organizational malpractice, but splitting the reps doesn't give you the best chance to succeed this year. It's a really tough spot, very interested in how Kevin O'Connell handles it when you know he wants to start Kyler. Today's show is brought to you by our presenting sponsor, Hard Rock Bet Sportsbook. Some sports fans call this the slow period until football season. But on Hard Rock Bet, we call it baseball season.

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What's up, fam? I'm sports journalist Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your girl, Sam J. And we're the host of everyone watches women's sports, a new podcast from Together and IHeart women's sports. Because let's be real. Women's sports is giving us way too much to talk about these days. So Kelsey Finler, she became the first female solo.

rower to go from California to Hawaii. My first thought is, like, what's up with the snacks? Like, what are we eating? The highlights, the rivalries, the breakout stars, the moments that take over your entire timeline. And the conversations that start during the game and somehow keep going all week. Every week, we're breaking down the biggest stories across women's sports. Naomi Osaka showing out, she beat Sabalinka.

Shout out to you, Naomi. You get the palm, Naomi. You get the palm for that. Because we're not just interested in what happened. we're interested in why everyone's talking about it. Because everyone watches women's sports. Listen to everyone watches women's sports on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast,

or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, Portlandia fans. Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen here. You know us, or rather you know them. Tony and Candace, Nina and Lance, Spike, and yes, the chicken. We've played a lot of iconic characters over the years, but today we're showing up as ourselves

to tell you about Podlandia, AEO, rewatch, our brand new podcast. Each week we'll revisit an episode of Portlandia from the very beginning, breaking down the sketches, exploring the backstories of our most iconic characters, revisiting the Portland locations you know and love, and opening up about our creative process.

How did any of this get made? Why do we think that was a good idea? We're ready to talk about it. And we'll also be joined by the people who helped bring it all to life. Guest stars, collaborators, and friends, including director Jonathan Chrysler, the mayor himself, Kyle McLaughlin, legendary musician Amy Mann, and many more.

Kyle is going for it here. You fully improvised, not just words, but a song, a melody. I thought he was going to write. I thought you were going to write a song. I remember you thinking that. Listen to Podlandia. Ayo, rewatch on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. NFC. South, maybe the most uninteresting division in football.

Sorry, NFC South fans. The Falcons. Stafansky. Everybody loves Stavansky except for me. I didn't think Stafansky handled the quarterback situation great last year. I understand that I said, you know, during our AFC side, that's a tough job because of the meddling of the owner. So maybe I should cut him some slack there. Kevin Stifansky, to me, has a far greater approval rating than his win-loss record would demand.

I also don't think Tua all of a sudden is going to stop being Tua. And if you're a Falcons fan, man, oh, man, you're hoping Tua is the backup. and that Michael Pinnix, your surprising first round pick right ahead of the Vikings surprising first round pick and JJ McCarthy, that he is able to validate that selection. Carolina Panthers and all of a sudden, freshly minted NFL top 100 player Bryce Young, who came in 98 on that list, which ultimately is going to end up being the 18th best quarterback in football.

That still feels a little rich to me about where Bryce is. Can they build on last year's success? They finally make the playoffs in part because of the, not in part, in large part, because of the buck's epic collapse. But it wasn't because Bryce all of a sudden took a leap. Bryce, the previous year was 6.3 yards per attempt. Last year, 6.3 yards per attempt. Bryce, you know, for his career, is still well under 200 yards per game passing.

That is every single year. That's his rookie or second year and last year when he was. was under 200 yards per game passing. I don't see it with him and I don't see enough talent outside of him for them to be able to repeat what they did last year. Saints, an interesting one. Tyler Shuck, second year quarterback, could he be the best quarterback from that draft class?

I guess it's possible. It also warns mentioning that before we get to week four, second year quarterback Tyler Shuck will be 27 years old. Man, that's almost the rarefied Brandon Whedon territory. They also brought back again, Alvin Kamara, which is a bummer for me. I kind of wanted to see him on an actual contender.

Now, the Saints, to their credit, refuse to bottom out. Like, you expect them to. I go into every year saying this is going to be, you know, one of the worst teams in the league. and instead they're just a cut above that each year. They win six games. They win five games, not bad enough to be in contention for the number one pick,

but not good enough to really be sniffing a playoff spot. I don't know. Like I said, it's not really the most interesting division. And last but not least, the only team I'm really that interested in this division, Tampa Bay Box. By the time you hear this, maybe Baker will have a new contract. Now, Baker has said when training camp starts, we're shutting that contract discussion down.

Baker is on a huge bargain contracts. There are right now a dozen quarterbacks making 50 plus million a year. The quarterback franchise tag number is $55 million a year. Baker is going to want around three years, around 160 at least, and around 100 guaranteed. That is the market rate, not for the best quarterback in football, which he is not, but for a quarterback of his caliber, are the bucks willing to pay him that? And will we actually see the best out of Baker?

What his history tells us? If they don't pay him that, and he goes chip on his shoulder, maybe they should be the best team in the division this year. NFC West, Arizona Cardinals, new head coach and Mike LaFleur. They are, if it's not the Browns with the most underwhelming quarterback situation in the league,

it's Arizona. Jacoby Resett's their starter, but they don't want to pay him as such. They have third round pick Carson Beck, Gardner Minshew. I don't, I think, if I'm Mike LaFleur, and I have real job security,

and I just got hired, so I hope I have some. I am hoping against hope that Carson Beck looks good in training camp and gives me a reason to give him the source of, starting job over Jacoby. Credit to Jacoby, the Cardinals were actually better last year with him than Kyler.

That's why even when Kyler was healthy, they went to him. But Jacob Brissette is definitionally a great backup and a bad starter. Similar Gardner Minch who's a tier beneath that. You hope that that could be better. This is the worst team in that division by a mile. It's the toughest division. It probably shouldn't have started with them. The Rams.

They were going to be the favorites to win the Super Bowl before they traded for Miles Garrett. Then they traded for Miles Garrett. Now they might add Aaron Donald. That all sounds good. I can't explain why adding Aaron Donald feels like a bridge too far. I think I'd run it as we currently have it. Here's the one thing no one is talking about with the Rams. And you guys know how much I like the Rams. Second oldest quarterback in the league and the only question mark on the team is offensive line, particularly left tackle. That is the only, the only, way this ram season is not somewhere between wildly successful or just success, but don't win the Super Bowl, is if something happens to Stafford and that left tackle spot makes me a little

nervous there. All right, the Niners. I feel like now that they've luckily put that, you know, that, that, that electromagnetic field or whatever the hell is, they put it to bed. Guys, our players, our players, are not hurt because of some weird, you know, where our stadium is, our players are hurt. It's our fault. It's either because of how we run the team, how we run practices, our training staff, let's make it clear. It's not because of that. I don't know if that's good or bad.

I also think they all of a sudden look pretty light in the weapons area unless McCaffrey has a bounce back massive season. Kittle coming off the injury, Ayuk, sadly, seems to be. out of the league and certainly done with the Niners. Now they have a floor with Shanahan. We saw it when Mack Jones put up Brock Birdie numbers, but do they have enough weapons offensively to compensate for the very young defense and the loss of Robert Sala?

And last but not least, the defending champion Seattle Seahawks, who aside from Kenneth Walker and a couple front seven defensive losses, are simply running it back without Clint Kubiak. Now, Darnold's a veteran enough that I think he'll be fine, and Darnold obviously coming off the best year of his career by a mile, and they don't have to have a great offense. Their defense is so good that as long as the offense, and with J.S.N, they should be fine, can be good. They will be very good. If the offense without Clint Kubiak is very good again, there's no reason they can't get back to the Super Bowl other than it's very very. very difficult to get back to the Super Bowl.

The most interesting story in the NFC this year is who wins this division? If the Rams win that division, I think they will go to the Super Bowl. If Seattle can prevent them from winning that division and force that Rams seem to go on the road in the playoffs, then I think for all the talent the Rams have, I don't think they're going to quite reach their ultimate goals. All right, there was the NFC. I'm on vacation. I hope you guys enjoyed these quick little shows. Thank you to boost.

Thank you to Hard Rock. Thank you to volume. Thank you to Blue Duck. Back live Tuesday. Talk to you guys then. What's right. Hey, Portlandia fans. Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen here. The Dream of the 90s is alive in podcast form. We're launching Podlandia, A.O. rewatch, our brand new podcast where we revisit every episode of Portlandia together, breaking down sketches, going deep on our iconic characters, and pulling back the curtain on how it all got made. And we'll also be joined by the people who helped bring it all to life. Guest stars, collaborators and friends, including director Jonathan Chrysall, the mayor himself, Kyle McLaughlin, legendary musician Amy Mann, and many more.

Kyle is going for it here. You fully improvised, not just words, but a song. Well, I thought you were all going to write a song. I remember you thinking that. Listen to Podlandia. A.O. Rewatch on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? I'm sports journalist Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your girl, Sam J.

And we're the host of everyone watches women's sports. It's a new podcast from Together in I Heart Women's Sports. We're breaking down the biggest headlines. Naomi Osaka, showing out. Shoutouts to you, Naomi. The viral moments. I've been obsessed with Kashan Rocks, boxing journey. She looks good.

Her combos are swift. And the stories everyone's talking about across women's sports. Because everyone watches women's sports. Listen to everyone watches women's sports. On the IHeart Radio app. Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast. This is Chelsea handler from Dear Chelsea. Every week, the news gets worse.

The world gets crazier. And Yamanika is here to tell. whoever's responsible, you're the problem. Do you know I just found out who Sidney Sweeney was? If he got a bunch of women, then I should have a bunch of men. Do better or do less so I don't have to do so much. I'm Yamanika, and I'm out. Listen to You're the Problem with Yamanika on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Nick Tuturo. You probably know me from NYPD Blue, the longest yard, or Spike Lease Black Klansman. And on my new podcast, Delivering Happiness, Nick Totoro, I deliver pizza to a new guest. I've shared a slice with everyone from Seth Rollins. What are you doing my belt?

To Bill Burr. I don't think I've ever met somebody so exactly out of their mind as I am. And now we even have more great guests coming up, including the great John Tuturo. It's called Happiness, Delivering Happiness. And many, many more. Open your free High Heart Radio app. Search Delivering Happiness with Nick Tutro. And listen now.

This is an IHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human. Thank you.