The Kevin Sheehan Show - Trent Williams Soon?

Episode Date: September 4, 2019

Kevin opens with the Nats, the report that Jay Gruden wanted to cut Adrian Peterson, and the report from DeAngelo Hall that Trent Williams may be back sooner rather than later. Scott Van Pelt was on the show to talk College Football, Terps, and to make a few NFL predictions. Kevin finished up the show with his AFC season preview and picks. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now here's Kevin. All right, I'm here. Aaron's here. Scott Van Pelt's going to join us on the show today. We'll talk a lot of football with him, college football, Maryland, and then get to the NFL as well with the season getting ready to start tomorrow night with the Bears Packers game. I'm going to do my AFC picks. So I will work you through division by division, records, wild cards. Picks, and then the eventual AFC championship game, and then the eventual AFC participant in the Super Bowl. So I'll do that to end the show today. And then tomorrow, I'll do the NFC picks and Tommy will be on the show tomorrow, so we will get his Redskins season prediction tomorrow. Lots happened since the show ended yesterday.

We had the reports about Trent Williams. DeAngelo Hall does a podcast with Aaron Hawksworth. Aaron used to be a Channel 7. They're doing it for the athletic. We're going to get to that here momentarily. He had some news about Trent Williams. I think it's news, but we'll go through that in a bit. There was also this yesterday after we left the show,

and I didn't know about it even though it had happened earlier in the morning. Jason Bishop, Junkies, WJFK 106.7, had this story that Jay Gruden wanted to release Adrian Peterson wanted to cut him Saturday did not want to keep Adrian Peterson on the team in part because he knew that Adrian Peterson would be in his ear

when he wasn't playing and he didn't want to deal with that that was the implication anyway that's interesting to me I know Jason and I know some of the junkies I know Jason pretty well

and they've been right about a lot of the stuff they've reported I think we've gotten a lot right here as well. So I am not going to dismiss this at all as potentially true. I think it's interesting because the thing that made sense for the organization in this offseason was to resign Adrian Peterson. Once they decided they weren't going to do a reboot, which would have been my strategy, it made sense to resign Adrian Peterson. And you got them for nothing, basically, with a lot of it on the come. A lot of it's incentive-related in terms of his contract. You had a guy that had a phenomenal

year last year. You had your running back from last year that you drafted in the second round, Terra's ACL. You didn't know if he'd be ready or right by the time you got to the regular season. There was a lot that made sense about signing Adrian Peterson again, resigning him. The only thing I I think I said at the time, Aaron, was they could have waited. You know, they didn't have to do it right away when free agency started. But Adrian, I don't think, had at 34 years old, a lot of options. And he knew what he was getting himself into. He knew that Darius Geis was the future. So they resigned him. So I thought that made sense. And I think Gruden, perhaps, at the end of last year, if somebody told him, hey, Geis, we're not sure about the, you know, we're not sure about

Geis being healthy. I think Gruden at the end of the season would have said, we've got to bring AP back. But apparently, you know, there's even some suggestion that Gruden didn't want to resign AP in the first place. Let's not forget that Darius Geis wasn't cleared to play in a game until two weeks ago, that Atlanta game on a Thursday night. So there were still the possibility that Geis was going to be slow to get cleared for the season. Anyway, look, on Adrian Peterson, personally, if Jay Gruden doesn't have final say on the roster and he wanted to release him and management wouldn't let him, that bothers me. Jay Gruden should have final say-so over the roster.

But at the same time, initially, you know, the organization should have been together on resigning him and understanding that if you resign him, you're resigning him to be on the roster, right? If they resigned him in March not to cut him at the end of August. you know, and not that there would be a significant salary cap hit by doing that, but it'd be a minimal cap hit. Why even do that? I mean, are you just going to bring them back in the event that Geis isn't ready to play? Maybe that's what Jay thought.

I don't think that would have been the right strategy for Adrian Peterson, a guy that really, for all intents and purposes, carried you last year. It probably would have been in the team's best interest if they thought there was some sort of confrontation between coach and front office coming, probably would have been in their best interest with that player to say, you know what, we can't assure you of a roster spot. Maybe they did. Maybe they did.

I doubt they did. But that bothers me that Jay doesn't have final say-so over the roster. It also bothers me that they wanted to release him because I'd keep him. Darius Geis has been injury-prone throughout his career, was injured at LSU, injured last year as a rookie. There's no guarantee he will hold up. And the other part of this, too, is that, you know, part of the coach's job is to manage your star players. You know, you've got to be able to manage players who aren't happy about playing time. Now, Sean Payton didn't do it.

And, you know, they didn't do it in Arizona where AP, you know, was upset about playing time. That could be an issue with Jay saying the other day that Geis was going to be essentially the guy that the offense went through with respect to the running game. The other thing, too, is that, you know, remember back in the spring how much he was talking up P. Ryan, Jay? Like, it made me think when I read this thing. Maybe that's why Jay was talking up P. Ryan. Jay was still talking up P. Ryan after they cut him the other day. Said he's going to be a really good back in Cincinnati. He's going to be really, really, he's going to play very, very good, he said, in Cincinnati. We'll see.

Interesting to see that his former team where he was an offensive coordinator, even though it's a completely new staff, ended up taking Samajai P. over the weekend. I don't have any reason to believe that the report was inaccurate. I don't know anything about it. Hadn't heard anything about that. Was surprised to hear it because I think Jay was very positive about AP during the season last year and at the end of last year. But it would be interesting and it will be interesting actually if Geis gets the bulk of the carries, how Adrian Peterson handles that and how Jay Gruden manages that situation. I'm going to get to the DeAngelo Hall stuff in a second and then we'll bring Van Peldon. But just a quick two minutes on the baseball game last night.

I will be completely honest with you. I've been so into the Nats for about a month. But last night, Aaron, I fell asleep at like 8.30. And it was 4 to 1 and I didn't feel like staying up made any sense. I was exhausted. Fell asleep early. That's super early for me, even with my schedule. I typically don't go to bed until about midnight.

and last night I was exhausted, fell asleep, missed the whole thing, woke up at three this morning and saw what had happened, watch the highlights. That is an all-time comeback. It's the biggest deficit overcome in the ninth inning in franchise history, or at least since they've come to Washington, seven runs in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Mets last night, 11 to 10. It was revenge, really, in so many ways, for the just backbreaking loss that they had in New York,

three and a half weeks ago when Doolittle came in to try to save a game that they had a six-three lead in, and Frazier cranked one out in front of a sold-out, you know, juiced up Friday night crowd to tie it, and then Conforto won it on an RBI double to end the game, RBI single to end the game, and beat the Nat 7-6, and then they got beat the next night, four to three in comeback fashion, so it's good to get one back on the Mets. Dramatic game, you know, sort of a memorable game, you know, regular. season baseball games. You don't, you know, I guess real hardcore baseball people remember them. Most baseball fans remember postseason games. It's not like the NFL. They're 162 of them. But wow,

Kurt Suzuki's three-run walkoff homer, the final blow. In a game, by the way, where the bullpen fell apart again. They gave up five to the Mets in the ninth inning, which created the 10-4 deficit. And Scherzer was really good. I watched the first, you know, few winnings. He was really good in the first three. Had a no-hitter going, actually, and then gave up four runs in the fourth. They need him back to normal. What a game, though. Nat's 16 of 21 now. They've won, but the Braves have won six in a row and 14 of 16, so the lead is still six and a half games. The crowd, another bad one last night, mostly met crowd from everybody that was there. 20,000 plus, you know, not a good crowd for, you know, a Tuesday night in September with a pennant race going on,

and have, you know, essentially the opponent's fans be the majority of the fans there. For some reason, you know, people, you know, don't like when you bash, you know, a local fan base or local crowd situation, but I don't really understand that. It is what it is. If you went to the game last night and people did, you know, 20,000 plus, if you were a Nats fan, you weren't at a home ballpark atmosphere, in a home ballpark atmosphere. There were a majority of the fans last night, according to everybody that was there, were Met fans. Worst case 50-50. Same thing on Labor Day. It is what it is.

Right? I mean, it's the Mets. The Phillies have done the same thing. And in a big series, and this is a big series for the Nats, huge series for the Nats, the Mets are trying to hang in there for that second wild card spot. They're a long way off now. But you're going to get a lot of Mets fans in the park. If the Nats somehow played the Phillies in a wild card game at Nats Park, on October 2nd or whatever that Tuesday is, be interesting to see what the crowd would look like.

I mean, it could be the Cubs too, and I remember that series against the Cubs. There were a lot of Cubs fans in the park. It's okay to talk about reality here, all right? It's a fan base that is truly niche. It is bigger, I think, in scope and volume than the Caps fan base, probably equivalent to what the Wizards fan base is,

but it pales in comparison to the eroded Redskins fan base. It just does. Compare, you know, television ratings. Like the Nats and the caps and the Wizards, it's a fraction of what the Redskins do on television locally. And the Redskins numbers have tanked over the years in recent years. But anyway, I do think people will get excited about a postseason game

and potentially a postseason series against the Dodgers, which would be really exciting. We've had four of them. The crowds have always been good. you know, not true knowledgeable baseball crowds in my view. I've mentioned this before, you know, been told with a three-two count and two outs in the bottom of the fifth or top of the fifth in a home playoff game to sit down because people behind me couldn't see.

And I turned around and said, no, no, no, stand up. This is what you do as a baseball fan at a big baseball game in the postseason. You don't tell people to sit down in front of you. You stand up. You got to get out of your phones. you got to stop texting with your friends on the hill about various political matters. If you're there at the game and a playoff game,

you've got to pay attention. You've got to be involved. You've got to act like a real baseball fan. You don't tell people in front of you with two strikes in the top of the fifth and a two-two playoff game to sit down. Can't do that. That doesn't happen in a real baseball town.

But I think we've seen here in the last two days that it's not a real baseball town. Hasn't been. I would love it to be because I love this time of year in baseball. I love postseason baseball. But it just isn't there yet. It just isn't. You can look at the attendance.

It's down. The attendance in previous years was very good comparative to the rest of the league. But when you compare things like television ratings for meaningful games in October compared to other baseball markets, they pale in comparison. All right, let's get to this DeAngelo Hall thing and then bring Scott on. So DeAngelo Hall and Aaron Hawksworth have a podcast. on the athletic. You know, if you want to subscribe to the athletic, they've got a lot of really good writers,

and now they've got some podcasts there, and DiAngelo and Aaron Hawksworth are doing a podcast together. Last week, DeAngelo said, no chance Trent is coming back to the Redskins. Trent Williams is coming to the Redskins. This week, after talking to Trent, he changed his story. Here's what he said.

I think he comes. I think he comes sooner rather than later. I think he reports, and I think he's a part of this football team. And then I think everything else is just a mute issue. You know, Bruce has said he'd make concessions when it came to the medical staff, whether it was having Trent use his own guys or bring his guys in or, you know, giving him the ability to get to his guys to get worked on or, you know, get looked at. And so I think that will be resolved.

And I think the money thing is a situation where, hey, I think he's made his point. If they don't want to pay him, I think he still shows up because like you said, he doesn't want to default the rest of that money. He doesn't want to lose a season. He wants to be a part of his football team. And so, you know, I think he shows up sooner rather than later. And I think once he's in the building, they start to figure out, hey, how can we repair this relationship? All right. So that was DeAngelo Hall yesterday, a week after saying that there was no chance that Trent was going to come back.

He's obviously talked to Trent, and he's gotten a different feeling. Now, since the radio show ended this morning, Ian Rappaport has put out a tweet that says Trent Williams didn't report today, which would have been the first day of the true regular season because they've got the preparation for the Eagles. Here's the tweet. This was the expectation, but now official Redskins left tackle, Trent Williams, did not show up at the team facility today to practice with his team. His holdout continues into the regular season, and he won't play.

Sunday and then he says at least. It's been interesting that, you know, DeAngelo and even Rappaport yesterday all suggested that this could happen sooner rather than later, but didn't talk about him coming back for this week. I don't get that. Like if things are getting resolved and Trent doesn't want to miss game checks and maybe there's been some conversation, why don't you just come back now? Like if it's resolved, what's the sooner rather than later, but more, you're,

sooner meaning like next week or the week after. I don't know why I wouldn't come back now. The regular season starts Sunday. They need him against the Eagles. I would have traded him. I would have traded Trent last January. I definitely would have traded him to Houston for a first and a third or whatever the Texans would have offered. And I think it's malpractice if the Redskins didn't listen.

And I think that they'd done messed up if they didn't accept an offer that was made if they were listening. I would have done that. I think they would have looked good for doing that. I think you're going to get 13 games from Trent Healthy, another three played where he's injured, and then next year he'll have one year left on his deal, and he's going to demand a contract extension, and you're going to have to think about paying him a lot of money at age 32 for not to happen again next summer. By the way, not as much leverage next summer to trade him because he'll be 32 years old, and he'll only have one year left on his contract.

This was the year to strike. this was the opportunity to strike gold. This was the opportunity for the organization, not to look bad trading them because they were forced into a corner and had to do it. And if Bruce had gotten an offer from Houston, which I think more likely than not, he certainly was approached by Houston, only makes sense, right? I mean, wouldn't you want Trent Williams instead of Laramie Tunsell?

Tunsell's six years younger, yes, but Trent Williams is a better player. And Houston wants to win now. I would bet any amount of money that they reached out to find out the availability of Trent Williams. And if they were told no and they were told we're not listening to any offer, I just find that to be ridiculous and borderline sort of NFL roster management malpractice. That's how I feel. Now, I just don't know why you wouldn't listen.

And if they were listening and Houston offered anywhere near what they offered Miami for Tunsell and they turned it down, then I think. they messed up. I think they made the wrong decision. I'm not saying that it's not debatable that a starting left tackle for a front office, an elite starting left tackle for a front office that wants to win now, that thinks they're close, isn't a better alternative to a first and a third. They have the right to make that decision. I think they would have mistake, I think it would have been a mistake to do that. I think it would have been malpractice not to listen. That's really what I think with respect to the front office if they weren't listening to offers.

I can't imagine that if Houston called up and you're on the other end, what are you offering? Why wouldn't you ask that question? You're not accepting anything. Why wouldn't you want to know what someone's offering? The fact that Houston got Tunsell may be the reason these stories started to come out yesterday, that now Trent realizes he ain't getting traded. Like the Texans were the last, the Patriots were a possibility, but Isaiah Wynn started to show something early in camp,

and then they dealt for two backup tackles, so they were out. The Texans needed somebody. They did not have a left tackle. They've got Deshawn Watson, and once they made the deal for Tunsell, maybe for Trent, he's like, well, now there's nobody to trade me to, even if they were willing to trade me, and even if they got a great offer, there's nobody left. I don't want to miss out on game checks and maybe that's accelerating the

process of a return or at least initiating the process of a return. DeAngelo Hall said something else on this podcast that I didn't hear until actually after the radio show today. I want to play it to you because it's insight into a conversation he claims he had with Bruce Allen about the possibility that the Redskins could have traded Trent Williams. Listen to this part. Yeah, so many different layers to this that, like I said, would have made this team better. I will give you a glimpse into Bruce's mind right now.

Okay. I asked him those questions, and Bruce simply said, you don't ask for a trade in mini-camp. You ask for a trade in January, February, you know, before free agency. before the draft, you know, that's when you ask for a trade. So that was his comeback.

If that's true, and I have no reason not to think that it isn't true, that's a bad answer, man. That's a bad answer. In fact, some of the craziest blockbuster trades, the biggest fleecing's happen this time of year, from now until the trade deadline, where teams get desperate and they end up. up overpaying for players. If you cut off the possibility of trading a player when, you know, the draft ends and you get to minicamp and you get to OTAs and you get to training camp and you've got a player that's holding out and you're, you've got some sort of, you know, uniform policy of we only make trades, you know, between January and April. Well, that's stupidity. That makes no sense

to me. Look at what Miami just got back for Lerman. Tunsell. Are you kidding me? Now, Tunsell's a good player. He's a potential really good player down the road. My God, did they strike gold there? Look at what the Raiders got from the Cowboys last year for Amari Cooper before the trade deadline. If the Redskins were offered a first and a third or a first, third, and fourth for Trent Williams from Houston, do you think they were going to offer that in January or February? I don't think they would have. I think you get closer to the regular season. They think they've got a team that can contend, and they don't have a left tackle and they get desperate and they overpay and they essentially get fleeced by the

dolphins. The Redskins could have been in that position of fleecing the Texans. That's a bad policy, man. Bad policy. You don't ask for a trade at mini camp. You don't ask for a trade in training camp. Who the hell cares when somebody asks for a trade? You can strike gold in January. You can strike gold in August. You can strike gold in November, or late October before the trade deadline. You should always be all ears on anybody that's really interested in one of your players and is willing to overpay for him at any point on the calendar. I would be, but that's just me. I'm not the GM. Nor is DeAngelo Hall. Quick word about stamps.com. No one's got time to go to the post office. you're busy, who's got time for all that traffic, parking, lugging all your mail and packages,

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Kevin D.C. That's K-E-V-I-N-D-C. That's Stamps.com. Enter Kevin D.C. All right, let's bring in Scott Van Pelt, who we haven't talked to in a few weeks. He took a lot of vacation this summer. You always do. And I always think about that because I think you're smart in that people, all of this, you know, activity around the NFL's preseason and all the different, you know, reports that are coming out from all the reporters, the Rappaports, the Schefters, all these guys. I think personally, most fans, most NFL fans, aren't paying attention to all of that stuff.

It's just noise, and they're just waiting for post-Labor Day in the games. I have a sense that you sort of feel the same way and that a lot of this stuff that goes on is sort of boring to you. Yeah, no one cares. And people go on vacation, and I want to go on vacation. And so that's what I do. That's it. That's your answer.

But what do you make of all the activity, though? Like all the holdouts, I mean, the constant, you know, 24-7 coverage on your network of the league, of Melvin Gordon, of Zeke Elliott, of Antonio Brown. There's nothing else to talk about. What else is there to talk about? What are you going to talk about? Like, here's the thing. Baseball nationally is a topic you can't do. You can't do it.

because like people people this is what this is the biggest difference between football and baseball people in Washington care about the nationals and people in Washington care about the redskins people in Dallas don't care about the nationals but they do care about the redskins right yeah that's football and baseball in a nutshell so trying to do like sports nationally people check out and at some point like I mean what I make of all excuse me what I make of all the conversation is it's just you have we're on the air like it's the same as you like what are you going to do talk about like your trip to bethany no you can talk about sports so like it's all there is i mean now granted you could do nationals and by the way how about that last night holy hell

incredible that wasn't i mean really amazing i slept right through i mean see well i'm big boy you woke up and you're like they did what now but i mean you could do that but i mean you could do that but i I mean, it's a difficult sell nationally baseball. So for us, it's real simple. It's talk about football and, you know, talk about Ezekiel Elliott and talk about whatever. I mean, I couldn't help but think of Riggle. I'm bored. I'm broken.

I'm back, right? It's been going on forever. So this is just the newest incarnation, I guess. Yeah, the holdout's always been a part of sports in the NFL in particular. I think that what, you're right. You have to fill the content requirement if you're doing a show, if you're doing programming. And you can't just sit there the entire time and say, hey, remember that incredible Kansas City Rams game on Monday night last year? Let's go back and watch some of that together.

Even though personally, I'd rather do that on YouTube than sit there and watch, you know, somebody report on whether or not Melvin Gordon is going to report. But I think you and I are cut from the same cloth when it comes to this. We just love the games, and we like talking about the games that we've just watched, or the game that we're about to watch. That's sports, and I also think that you get to a point in life where all the other stuff, it just seems like silly that people are all wrapped up into it. Couldn't agree more. I mean, and it becomes difficult if you're, if you're,

guys like you and me because, I mean, the game's the game. And, you know, look, there's stuff about it that's interesting. The ancillary things, but it's just, when that's all there is, you know, that is the entree. I mean, that is, that is the, you know, the garnish or something. That's fine. But if that's all there is on the plate, it becomes, it becomes hard to really conjure up an appetite for it. Yeah. I mean, none of it, you know, we've had to deal with the Trent Williams situation here all summer. What's going to happen with that? Well, I mean, DeAngelo Hall, who just launched a podcast with Aaron Hawksworth, last week said

zero chance, talk to Trent, zero chance he'll ever play for the team again. And then the next week, as in yesterday, talk to Trent, and there's a, you know, I think he'll be back sooner rather than later. What he's done in two podcasts, I think they're doing, are they doing Aaron a weekly podcast, the two of them together? Something like that, right? Yeah, I believe it's weekly. So he's gotten headlines for both of his podcasts.

Good for him. I don't know if he's right or wrong. But that situation, it's weird, Scott, in that a lot of these situations that happen, you have a sense of each side's position. There's been not one comment from Trent Williams or his agent and not one comment from anybody in the Redskins front office during this entire standoff. Not one. You can't find Bruce Allen saying other than back in June, I've talked to Trent.

I know what Trent thinks. I know what he thinks and what he feels. Nothing's come out of Trent. Now, it's come through surrogates like Dee Hall, like Santana Moss. We've heard some of that. But nothing directly from any of these people. So it's really hard to figure out what the hell's gone on. You hear from Williams, you know, surrogates, the people that you essentially, you essentially,

think that he's speaking through. It's this, you know, tragic medical situation that the team has. And yet when you talk to people behind the scenes at Redskins Park, they're seething because they don't think they have a medical staff problem. In fact, their training staff won the award last year for the best training staff in the NFL. So, yeah, it's been hard to figure out. I don't know. I would have traded them.

I would have taken the offer. If the Patriots were interested in offering a first, I would have waited. I wouldn't have taken that one, but I would have waited for whatever Houston offered. I think Houston probably went to the Redskins first before going to Miami for Tunsell. And given what they offered Tunsell, they probably were talking first and a third or something like that to the Redskins. I would have taken it. Yeah. I mean, Houston's been fascinating.

I mean, they're operating without it. They fired their GM after winning to do. division. And now they're, I mean, how about this, Kevin? They gave, they gave up a third to get Duke Johnson and got a third for Chedevi and Clowny. Yeah. Incredible. That's all they ended up getting for Clowny, who, I think you and I had to sit down to play cards.

I'd have to play cards with them. Yeah. Well, they don't have a GM. That's what I just said. They're operating with our GM. It's kind of an interesting scenario they got there. The whole Clowny thing. too. I don't know. I don't get bogged down in stats and all of that stuff. I just watch the games

like you do. And there were a lot of people that said, you know, Clowny's okay. I don't know what they're watching. That guy's a menace on the football field, and you have to game plan for him. He's one of the, you know, the dozen guys in the league defensively, you have to game plan for. That's what I thought going into it. I'm surprised that Seattle essentially got him for. a song. Because of the contract and the putting the franchise on him, I mean, you can't negotiate an extension,

blah, blah, blah. Anyway, I mean, it's I mean, look, this is all the stuff that we talk about in lieu of games and now thankfully we have games. All right, let's get to the games. And we had a week of college football here, finally. Big takeaways from you on the first week of

college football. The SEC had some losses, you know, SEC East had a rough week, so it becomes ha-ha, the SEC stinks. Well, all right, that the depth of the league maybe is overstated. Now, maybe the depth of the league's overstated. Fine.

The top of the league is still Alabama, Georgia, and LSU. So, I don't know. I mean, I think take your top three teams out of any other league and then let me know how the rest of your conference looks. I mean, how do you look after you take away your top three? I mean,

So that became kind of a significant headline. And the depth of the league does include Auburn. How they won that game, I don't know. Bo Nix wasn't very good until he had to be. Made a couple of throws that he was actually on the show and explained to me that the way the clock was, they just felt like they were going to take a shot. And he gave his guy a chance to make a play and he did. I mean, if you lost that game either on the field or at the window,

I mean, you've got to be wondering how that happened. That's a gross loss for Oregon. Really, really tough for that league and for that team. But, I mean, other than that, I felt like, and maybe this is sort of in the weeds for your listeners. I don't know if people are, like, died in the world college football fans. Like, I thought Boise State, the way they won at the Florida State, was really interesting and kind of speaks to the fact that Florida State's still reeling maybe a bit as a program.

USC losing their quarterback probably means Clay Helton is going to be in big trouble because their schedule is brutal, so that'll start the Urban Meyer conversation. And I've never believed for a second that he's done coaching football. So, I don't know, I mean, there's just a bunch of different sort of buckshotting of last week's different things that happened. I want to go back to the last week in a moment. But on Urban Meyer, it just would be weird to me. Like, Ohio State was sort of the dream job, and he's there.

and then he leaves and he's going to reappear a year later at Southern Cal. Great job, and he'd kill it there. It just, it seems odd when you see people like this move around, especially from the jobs that you think were their, you know, dream and final jobs. Well, I mean, look, I'm not reporting this. I'm just the guys working for the box. You're down in Los Angeles. Yeah, of course.

And, I mean, I just, I think people are wired. how they're wired. And like I get the, you go through these physical, you know, ailments and he dealt with it at Florida. I mean, how much of it was what was going on behind the scenes

and how much of it's medical? How the hell I don't have a clue? But he stepped away, goes to Ohio State, obviously killed it there, steps away again. He's a young man. He's,

he's, this is what he does. And, I mean, SC has really managed to mangle their situation across the board. I mean, that, the athletic department, the admissions. I mean, like, they've made messes of things that, like, you can't get out of their

own way. But if you just take a deep breath at USC and go, we've got all the money on earth, you back the truck up to Urban if they move on from Helton, and you say, what do you want? Figure it out. You can recruit globally. You can be in this league. This league has been down. You can resurrect it in a hurry. I just think that kind of stuff appeals to somebody that's clearly got the acumen to do it and it has to have enough of an ego to think, well, yeah, I want to, I mean, yeah, I'd be interested to shine up this USC trophy case. I mean, don't you think? Yeah, I mean, it's certainly one of those marquee jobs.

It's just, it's odd. And I'm sure the way it ended at Ohio State with everything that was going on over the last year, maybe it left a bad taste in his mouth. You mentioned the health that's been an issue before. Who knows? but a guy like that has to compete. I've watched him on the Fox show, and that can't last more than a year.

It just doesn't seem like it's something that he's going to love. By the way, on Southern Cal, you know, I actually, and I don't think Clay Helton's a terrible coach. I actually liked their team coming into this year. They won that opener, now they lose their quarterback, so it may turn out to be a bad year, but I actually thought that team was decent. The Oregon thing real quickly, the number was four and a half, right, four, and a half.

So they're going for two, which Auburn should have done at the end. I mean, major malpractice there. They nearly lost, I mean, if they had lost on a Hail Mary 28, 27, they would have been killing Malzahn, justifiably so. But God, I thought Oregon looked great for two and a half quarters, and Justin Herbert looked apart for two and a half quarters. they really should have had like a three-score lead in that game. I think they're a good team. I agree. It was a really odd game.

There were about three or four different plays and things that happened. I came on after the USC game at like 2.30 in the morning on Saturday. And when we're trying to put the highlight together, we're just looking at you like, we're going to have to leave out so many insane plays because otherwise it's a five-minute highlight. It was, I mean, it was an odd, it was an odd game, But it was, I mean, again, as I said a moment ago, like, I mean, that's the kind of loss that just sticks with you because it's a game that you should have won. And you don't get it back. And, you know, you've got to spend the rest of the year, you're kind of trying to dig out from the hole that your league is created for itself.

I mean, everybody thinks that league stinks. They can't get a seat at the table. Yeah, it's one of the things that I love about the sport is how important every single game is, including the opener's. and what it does to the narrative of the league for the rest of the year. I mean, that was a huge game for the PAC 12, as was the Washington game last year against Auburn in a similar spot. There's a lot of football left. Some people hate that your season, your playoff chance can be decided in week one.

I love it. I mean, and I don't know that their playoff fate was sealed by any stretch of the imagination. There's a lot of football to be played, and they looked like a really good team. I mean, one of the better teams I've seen in the PAC 12, they'll go back and kick themselves, you know, a million times for the lost opportunities they had to build like a three-score lead in the first half. But that looks like a good team to me. I agree with that. But the thing is, when your league's identity has been sort of the perception of it has been formed and you lose a game like that, then all you get the, rest of your year is a chance to go play against

Stanford and Washington and Washington State. You know, they don't play Utah unless they, you know, unless they meet him in the title game, I guess. And, yeah, that's a team. Did you see them against BYU? Their defense is nasty. Yeah, they really, they got, they got some fellas on that side of the ball. And, like, big, big, angry men.

And that's, that's an interesting team. a lot of sort of the pundits, I guess, had penciled into the, to the playoff, which was like, whoa, I mean, that's really. So, I don't know. Well, I guess we'll see what the deal is with that league. I mean, like, it's September the 4th, you know. I know. But it is, I love this time of year when, you know, you can dream of maybe, you know, a new player

in the playoff because I still, the odds are heavily stacked that we're going to see, you know, a combination three of the following five teams, Alabama, Clemson, Ohio, State, Oklahoma, and Georgia. Like three of those five will likely be in the playoff, and that's what stinks about the sport right now. We can dream about outsiders. You just mentioned Utah, and their defense is nasty, and if they were to go undefeated, it would be hard to keep them out. I think you know that in the SEC, I actually think Auburn and Florida's defenses are really good, but probably don't have enough offensively, but I'd love to see an outsider from the SEC, somebody who hasn't been in it, make it. LSU's, I got a shot. I actually liked Joe Burrow. I liked him last year. I think he's

the best quarterback they've had in a while. Where is that game, the Bama? Is that in Tuscaloosa this year? It is, right? I think it is. LSU, Alabama, yeah. Yeah, they played down in Bat Roos last year. And they've got a, I mean, that's the game, one of the games of the week. I guess we've got two of them, A&M Clemson and LSU, Texas, Saturday night. Before we get to Maryland, and then I want to get to the NFL a little bit, just are there teams that you think could be sort of outsiders busting the playoff party this year that you really like and are going to be watching all year long? I have no idea.

How about that? Really? I mean, I have no, I don't know. I don't know. I don't mind saying that. Okay. Can I interest you in LSU or Michigan? Well, you're calling the sixth ranked team in the country and outsiders?

Yeah. Yeah, I'm talking about a team that hasn't been to the playoff yet. Outside of what? A team that hasn't been to the playoff yet. That's what I'm talking about. New blood into the playoff. I'll tell you what's interesting about LSU. that they hire this guy everybody's looking for the new young guy

and by the way I said the other night on the show like Lincoln Riley can't coach Oklahoma more than like how much longer can that guy be there the NFL is just going to say what do you want and they're going to pay him at some point you just you just go because he's I mean that's what you do

he's going to leave I mean Cliff Kingsbury is actually a guy I've gotten a note through the years I consider him like we have a friendly relationship so I like him He went, sub-500, got fired and was hired in the NFL. I mean, that's what the NFL, they're so desperate for guys that have that kind of offensive brain. Like, a dude like Lincoln Riley, I think will be in the NFL, who knows, maybe next year. But all of this is sort of a way to get to this Joe Brady guy that LSU hired away from the Saints.

If you haven't read about him, like he's a guy that kind of like a McVeigh mind, that people just are like, this guy's got it right here. And LSU, whose offense for years has just held them back, they come out to zipping it around. So this game Saturday against Texas is really, really fascinating because Herman has been phenomenal in these spots as an underdog, winning on the field and winning with Vegas. So here comes LSU in with this new guy, Brady and his offense, and Burrow, who's very capable and a bazillion different five-star guys all over the field. So, sure, I mean, I just didn't think of them as an outsider.

I thought you were asking me to give you, like, somebody off the grid. No, no, no, I was talking about, we've had essentially the same group of participants in the playoff. Sure. I'd like some new blood in the playoff. I agree with that because I think you, I think at some point, if it's just Oklahoma, if it's some combination of Oklahoma, Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Alabama, then people get bored. Yeah. No, I think that's true. It's got to be, just give me some new jerseys. Give me some new jerseys.

That's what I'm looking. That's what I was asking. All right. So Maryland opens up 79-0, and they also open up as a two-and-a-half-point dog to Syracuse. And now they are a two-and-a-half-point favorite over Syracuse. By the way, is Chris Falica ESPN? It's Felica. Fulika.

Okay, sorry. I don't know who. Is he the guy that does the show with Stanford, Steve? He is. Better known as the bear on game day. Oh, that's the bear? I just know him as the bear. I had no idea what his name was.

That's my fault. Now you know. Felica, the bear. Okay, so Felica put out a tweet that said, since 2015, teams ranked between 20th and 25th that are underdogs against unranked teams or four and 19 straight up. And by the way, I think we've been.

on a lot of those teams. A lot of the unranked teams that were favored over the ranked teams from 20th to 25th over the years. And this sets up as another one, unranked Maryland against 22nd ranked Syracuse, now is a two and a half point favorite. Explain. Well, I mean, I, you know, it's free money? All summer long, Felica and I have been kind of joking about this. spot for Maryland because Syracuse, Dino Bavers is a really good coach

and that program has done a quick 180 under him. They've got momentum and this and that. But somehow, I guess among their fan base and whatever and perception-wise, this Maryland game seen as like a trap game for them because they've got Clemson coming

in next week. And it's like hold on a minute. In what In what exists, like, I mean, and maybe this is, I mean, this is clearly the Maryland didn't be showing. But like, when did Maryland become your trap game? Like, where Maryland becomes the little, the little pebble in the road you're going to trip over mighty Syracuse. And it's just, it's a really interesting spot where they open up back to back on the road before hosting Clemson. And again, I want to make this clear.

The program's got momentum. Syracuse does. They've done some nice things here on the day. very good. But I like them a lot. There's a lot to like. But I think, I think Maryland, um, talent for talent is not going to be undermanned in this spot here. And, um, the Vegas bit of it, where the number came out kind of short and then gets pounded the other way. It's like, whoa. But I mean, and this is where maybe you're listening that don't pay attention to this, their eyes gloss over, but you and I pay attention to this. It's not like the public's

hammering Syracuse. It's not like the dopes are on Syracuse either. So that part of it's confusing to me. Like, you normally don't see Power 5 numbers come out and move four or five points unless someone's injured, but this one has. So, you know, there's, if you pay attention to stuff like that, there's things that point you in the direction of thinking this could be a good spot for Maryland. But I just, look, just push back from this and say, if you're able to beat Syracuse, then don't get silly and go up and lose to tell. who came in here and beat Maryland last year. You know, you have an opportunity in front of you, if you get this one, you know,

to potentially open 3 and O with a Friday night home game against Penn State with all the momentum in the world on your side. So Saturday is a big deal for Maryland. It really is in terms of the trajectory of locks in this first year. Totally agree. And I'm glad that they have sort of a significant game. It seems like it's been a while since they've. have had one. I'm sure there have been a couple here and there, but it seems like it's a big deal.

I've talked it up a lot on the podcast and on the radio show. Loxley's on with me on the radio show every Friday. I like him a lot, by the way. Just a normal dude, and you can totally see how he recruits well. He's a great communicator and all of the things. And he's, and it matters to him. Like this is, you know, this place matters to him. He's from this place. This is what he wants to do. He wants to build this thing. And he's done everything he can to get out and try to pound the pavement to try to, you know,

encourage people to get on board here. And a game at noon on ESPN against a ranked team, if you can win it, then you can start slowly building it back. And it's going to be a slow build. but, you know, I'll say again when I said from the beginning, he was the guy that could come in and help extricate Maryland from the situation that I don't think anyone else could have. All right. Let's move to the NFL. Have you had your silly little fantasy draft with your friends there already? Yeah, I have. I sure have. Do you like your team? You know, these sites will give you, you know, they'll hand out grades about how they feel like the drafts went. I mean, I've been getting all A's Kevin.

I get AAS when I draft. I go to title games. Yeah, I win titles is what I do. It's really amazing. I feel pretty good about it. The transformation here over the years from a guy that would mock anybody that would do fantasy football to now a guy who's, what's the fantasy guy expert at ESPN that I can't stand? name. Matthew Barry. Matthew Barry. He's become like your best friend. Um, I understand. How did this happen? It's really hard to figure out. Stanford Steve murders me. He's just, he'll just say you are

the worst. And he's right. He's right. No one made more fun of this than me. And, um, And now I just, I enjoy it. I enjoy it because I'm, I, it just gives you something to pay attention to. That's all. Well, I mean, you can pay attention to the big boys stuff, which is like, you know, the Redskins plus nine and a half on Sunday at Philadelphia, which I actually really like a lot. I understand.

And I was always the guy that said, hey, if you want to be interested, take the nine and a half, you're in and you're out in three hours. And you can still, you can still certainly do that. I'll say this, honestly, it helps me be better at my job because, you know, I know the wide receiver depth. Like, I wanted to get Trey Quinn. I didn't pick him up. I'm keeping an eye on him. I feel like he's going to be, you know, a valuable pass catcher in that Redskine offense. Well, we both always said that because we bet sports, we actually had a perspective that people who didn't bet it just didn't have. And it was an edge in sort of, you know, analyzing and talking about sports.

I've always felt that way. And look, I've been in fantasy leagues forever. I had to be at work. And I think I've told you, I've won it twice with auto picking the original roster. Now, I tweaked the rosters, you know, after they were auto-picked. There you go. Didn't care, but cared enough to tweak rosters. Well, I mean, I don't want to be completely humiliated by starting five guys that are on a bye week, you know, or three guys that were injured.

But I've never quite, it's never come close to the rush and the pleasure I get from actually wagering on a game. Like, they're not comparable. Don't tell me that they're comparable to you. Well, when I won the league that I won last year for the, you know, for the, you know, for the. whatever I got for it, it absolutely did. Really? Okay. What did you win? How much did you win in that fantasy? We could talk offline about the check that I got if you like. I'm not going to discuss it here. I think you told me, and you don't want to share it. I mean, it was, that's great.

Very Christmas. That's great. You know what? Let's try to hit a little two or three team money line parlay on Sunday and see what that pays. Who do you like in the NFL this year? Is there, I mean, other than the usual suspects, is there a team that you, you like to, I mean, we know every year, there are going to be four or five of them that nobody's expecting to be good, that will be good. Who do you like? Denver. Oh, my God. We haven't talked about this. That's my team. Denver. I think their defense is going to be nasty. I think Fangio gets there. That guy, Chubb that they got, you team him up with Miller. I think Flacco is a perfect quarterback in a team that's got a good defense. um like denver denver denver is the team that that no one will talk about because flacco's become he's talked about like he's a bum a bum and i mean we've took you and i've talked about this for years whether it was on the various shows we've done um that that he's actually quite capable uh you know is he a superstar quarterback no but he's he's quite capable i Denver's a team that i think nobody has said

boo-about that I think could be good. I think I'm interested in what Brissette does in a second shot with this Colt team that I think is talented, more talented that people probably realize. He took all the reps in the off-season. Frank Reich made that point. So it's like all of a sudden, oh, I guess T.Y. Hilton, he's not going to catch a pass because Jacoby Brissette's the quarterback. But they've been working together the entire off-season.

I feel like the Colts are a stock that has been shorted that I buy just on principle. Outside of that, I don't know, I have no idea what Galapolo is with the Niners, and I'm just trying to go with teams I don't feel like are necessarily talked about. The team that will be the most interesting is Cleveland, just because how they went from being the punchline of Hard Knocks a year ago to the favorites to win the AFC North is just astounding. but that guy kitchens their coach i don't know if you pay attention to him he's awesome he's funnier than hell and he'll say anything i haven't paid that much attention to him um other than that

one listen you'll like him yeah other than that one moment where he basically said if if anybody leaks anything to the media they'll be they'll be fired no matter who they are so i i'm wondering maybe i don't think we've had this conversation together which is odd but i have been You don't call me. You haven't called me recently. I've been on Denver forever. That is my, I just did my AFC picks on the radio show, and I'm going to do them here when we get done. Denver's making the playoffs this year, and I've already bet they're total.

I bet that is a future this year. I like, I don't know if they win the division, but I think they'll be in the postseason. Fangio, this was something interesting. John Kime did this story about some of the former Red Skies. assistants that are now head coaches that were on the Shanahan staff, Lafleur, you know, McVeigh, Kyle, and then Zach Taylor off of McVeigh staff. And they were all asked about the guy that was the most difficult guy to game plan for and to beat with their offense. All of them said Vic Fangio. And that team defensively has ridiculous talent. Chubb and Von Miller, as you

mentioned, that's the best combo edge pass rushing threat in the league. They were good defensively last year. They just couldn't do anything on offense. And I, you know what I think about Flacco. Of course. And that's why I was picking up Denver by my fantasy drafts. Yeah. Pick up Denver. There you go. So kind of, kind of, kind of in tow to, to win some leagues. I like Pittsburgh, too. I think Pittsburgh's going to be good. I agree. I agree. I think, I mean, as I'm sitting here talking to you, I'm seeing with Antonio Brown decided to tweet out something about

fines he got first during training camp and he said, the devil is a lie, everyone's got to pay. I mean, that guy is, my God, you can have them. You can have them. And I'm not saying

that Rafflesberger like, I have no idea, you know, what role he played in that, what went on in that relationship. there, but I mean, Brown is just, he just does so many things that are just, not what adults do.

And there's no one that can tell him to stop. Like, no, he'll listen to no one. No one. He's ungovernable. Like, no, he's in charge of him. He's going to tweet what he tweets. He's going to say what he says. And so Pittsburgh, do you get better when you lose a guy like that? Well, no. You're not as talented.

But, I mean, it's the situation better because you don't have somebody that makes everyone nuts maybe has to help, doesn't it? Yeah, that's where it helps. And the truth is, they have talent, wide receiver. You know, they've got Smith-Schuster. They've got James Washington.

They got players. He'll be interesting. He'll be interesting to see what he does. And they're going to chuck it all over the lot because that's what they do. So, I don't know, man. Just, it's starting tomorrow, we've got games.

You know, that's all we want. Thank God. Yeah, I think that the Raiders are the team And I watched some of the hard knocks. I haven't seen the last episode. It was insufferable to watch. And by the way, John Gruden was insufferable to watch.

But I think that's the team this year. I'm rooting for the most to lose. I'd love to see them completely fall flat on their ass, including in that opening Monday night game against our favorite team this year, not including for me, the Redskins, the Denver Broncos, who I'll be rooting for in the AFC this year. All right. How did you do in winners last week?

I know we had a couple of the same games, I think. one and two, what did you do? Well, two and three. I gave out Nevada who won outright against Purdue, but I had liberty against Syracuse. They managed to fumble a couple of times inside the 20, which didn't help a team getting 17. Who else?

I gave Georgia Southern. Their quarterback got hurt, and they got beat by a billion by LSU. So it was, but I mean, I made the point on the show. Like, I don't love any of these, but I'm kind of mandated to give picks, because that's what we do on Thursday. Thursdays. So I'm looking at the board this week. I don't love the board this week either,

be honest with you. Oh, see, I, I'm surprised. Have you, I, I went through it last night. There are a couple of them that reek. Like Friday night, you know, Boise with that comeback, and they're laying 10 and a half to Marshall. That numbers come down from 12. Marshall looks right to me. Missouri, who got, you know, who got beat. They're playing West Virginia, who barely beat JMU, and they're laying 14. That seems like a lot. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, look, I mean, A&M's getting a lot from Clemson, but Clemson beats people by billions. Did you see either one of you, Aaron, do you see the Alabama line this week? Have you seen it?

55 or something? Yeah, 54 and a half, 55. What is the biggest point spread ever? I don't know. I mean, but New Mexico State got beat by Washington State like 587, so I guess they figured. if you get beat by that, what's Alabama going to do? Yeah, I know we've seen 50 something before. I don't know that we've seen 55 before. Maybe we have. Typically when Bam has been a huge favorite like this, they win like 41 to nothing or something like that.

Like they don't even score the total. These games are interesting because the over-under total is 64 and the line is 55 right now. That's a tough fit, you know, if you want the, if you want BAM and the under. It's a tough, tough squeeze there, but I bet the easiest bet is New Mexico State doesn't score. Did you find it, Aaron, biggest points spread ever? Yeah, I believe Savannah State played Florida State in what year was.

This looks like 2017, and it was 70 and a half. Really? Yeah. Well, Savannah State wasn't a Division 1 team, so it would have been, you know, one. Right, I mean, you could find offshore lines when people play like FCS or whatever the hell that calls. Right. All right. Thanks for doing this. Appreciate it. I'll talk to you later. Maybe. Did we lose him there? We lost him. Perfect timing, though. We lost him just in time. For a guy that, you know, has been so gracious with his time over the years coming on radio and on the podcast with me and how, I mean, how many times have we had issues with his phone?

Many times over the years, we didn't have one issue with his phone. And when he finally did have an issue with his phone, we were done with. with them. So perfect timing. I want to finish up the show with some picks. I did this on radio earlier. You just heard one of my picks with Scott. But I'm going to do AFC today. I'll do NFC tomorrow. And when I finished with the NFC, we'll have our Super Bowl matchup and I'll give you my Super Bowl winner. But here are my AFC picks. All right, let's get to these picks. Start in the AFC East. The Patriots are going to win the AFC East. 11 and 5 is the record.

They lose Gronk. They're still the best team in that division. But what I want to mention about that division are two other teams that I think are worthy of keeping an eye on. I think Buffalo's got some talent, and I think the Jets have some talent. First of all, these were good defensive teams in 2018. Buffalo in particular.

They add Ed Oliver from Houston. I've heard nothing but rave reviews about Ed Oliver. Remember, Aaron, he was a guy that dropped a little bit because of attitude, work ethics, some of that stuff. No one, no one doubts his talent as an interior defensive lineman. You put him next to Lottulele and Jerry Hughes. You know, you still have, by the way, two X Redskins on that roster, and Alexander and Trent Murphy, and then Tremaine Edmonds.

You know, the first round pick in 2018 out of Virginia Tech. I think he was only like 20 years old when they picked him. he looks like the legit part as a linebacker and as a havoc wreaker. I've always been a Micah Hyde fan in their secondary. Buffalo's defense is really good. The coordinator's Leslie Frazier, the head coach is Sean McDermott. They've got a very good defense. Offensively, we get to see Josh Allen here in year two.

They traded LaShawn McCoy, or he's in Kansas City now. They do have a back that they drafted that I really, liked coming out of Florida Atlantic, and that's Devin Singletary. They've got Gore, believe it or not, on that roster as well, and T.J. Yeldon, but keep an eye on Devin Singletary in Buffalo. The Jets are the other team. They've got talent. This team may be a year off from contending for something, but I think we saw enough from Sam Darnold last year to believe, and they add Levyon Bell into that backfield this year with a defense that has. talent and is added to that mix. You already had Leonard Williams. You know, now you add

CJ Mosley to the mix. You already had Jamal Adams in the back. You add now Tramane Johnson to the mix. This is a good defensive team. Greg Williams is the defensive coordinator. Adam Gase, the new head coach. I think the Jets and the Bills are teams to watch. I've got them both finishing at 8 and 8 in the AFC East. Patriots win it at 11 and 5. Dolphins bring up the rear I've got them as the worst team in football finishing 2 and 14. Let's move to the AFC North. I just mentioned it to Scott. I like the Steelers a lot.

I think they've got talent. I think losing Antonio Brown will ultimately be more beneficial for the team. Sure, they're missing out on one of the most explosive players of the last, you know, seven, eight years in the NFL. But they've got Smith-Schuster. They've got James Washington. They have Dante Moncrief now. They have James Connor, and I'll tell you what, Jalen Samuels, the kid from NC State that was drafted last year, is a guy they love and a guy they played late.

They also drafted the guy from Kentucky, Benny Snell Jr., the big back, I liked him a lot, and you've got Ben still. I like the Steelers a lot offensively. I think they're going to be much better than people think, and then defensively, I'm hearing nothing but rave reviews about Devin Bush Jr. They picked him out of Michigan. He was not a guy coolly liked at all, but apparently he has shown really well so far. Bud Dupree is a star in the making. T.J. Watts a baller. I like their team.

I think Pittsburgh wins the AFC North with a 10 and 6 record. Now, I like the Browns, too. Don't get me wrong. I do not have them making the playoffs. I do, however, have the Browns going 10 and 6. I think they're going to have a very good season and just barely miss the playoffs, which I guess is sort of what. happened last year as well. But you look at their roster,

right, defensively. You add Olivier Vernon and Sheldon Richardson to a D-line or, you know, a situation where you all already had Miles Garrett. Miles Garrett is an NFL defensive MVP type player. They're going to be really good defensively, not to mention Denzel Ward, who's one of the best young corners in the game. Offensively, OBJ and Jarvis Landry and David Nojuku together. I mean, that's a good. pretty damn good. You know, as a receiver core with a tight end, you know, they got Nick Chubb in the backfield and Baker Mayfield. You look at their roster. The only thing you question is their coaching staff. Freddie Kitchens, you know, is the head coach. They hired Steve Wilkes

after he got fired in Arizona to be the defensive coordinator. Cleveland's got a lot that you have to be impressed with. I think they take another jump forward and go 10 and 6, tie the Steelers for the AFC North. But I've got the Steelers. winning in a tiebreaker, that division, and the Browns not making the playoffs as a wild card. I'll get to that in a moment. The Ravens, I've got it seven and nine. Now, here's the thing about the Ravens. There may not be a more interesting team in the league to watch this year, because John Harbaugh has already told you, we're going to play offensive football the way it's never been played in the NFL. And what that means is their quarterback, Lamar Jackson,

is a running back. To go, by the way, with Mark Ingram in that backfield. You'll see Trace McSorley on the field as a runner, as a receiver. They have, you know, few offensive weapons. I liked the Hayden Hurst pick from last year. Apparently, he's not really their go-to tight end quite yet. You know, they had Willie Sneed from last year, but what they really lost was a lot of players off that defense from a year ago. That defense a year ago, Aaron, I thought was one of the best defenses of the last five, ten years. No more Terrell Suggs, no more C.J. Mosley, no more Eric Weddle. I'm forgetting somebody, too, that they also had defensively. They've made a lot of changes defensively. I still think they will be good

defensively in 2019, but not as good as they were a year ago. Do you know who's starting at outside linebacker for them this year? Pernel McPhee. So that goes to show. They They lost some stuff from last year's team. They added Earl Thomas to the secondary. Marlon Humphrey is hopefully back and healthy. Tony Jefferson's a baller. I do like Baltimore's defense, not as much as I liked it last year, and I think the offense is a big unknown.

I'm going to be intrigued watching them play, but I think they go 7 and 9 in a step-back year from a year ago. I get the Bengals bringing up the rear in that division at 4 and 12. The AFC South has my first surprise team of the year. I think Jacksonville is going to win the division in the AFC South. Good God, are they still so talented on defense? You take a look at that Jacksonville defense when healthy, especially if they've got an offense that's halfway professional,

which they haven't had in recent years. You have In Gokwe, who I loved coming out of the draft from Maryland. He's turned into one of the best pass rushers in the NFL. You still have Marcel Darius and Callais Campbell and Miles Jack. All right, Miles Jack's one of the, you know, think about that injury that he had. He and both Jalen Smith, right, were both sort of injured coming out, perceived to be potential star players at linebacker, but had the serious injury coming into the NFL. Miles Jack is a beast of a player. And then they've got the secondary with the two corners

and Jalen Ramsey and A.J. Bouye. I love Jacksonville's defense. I loved it last year. And now you get Nick Foles offensively, a professional quarterback, certainly more professional than the one they have had. I like Jacksonville to go 10 and 6, I'm sorry, 11 and 5 and win the AFC South. I think the Texans and Colts both have a chance to be competitive. I am a Jacoby Berset fan. I think the Colts take a step back in this first year with him. Maybe they're better next year.

They go 8 and 8. I've got the Texans just one game better at 9 and 7. You know, despite these trades in recent days, Houston's roster is still pretty damn good. You know, you've got, you still have Deshawn Watson and Hopkins. You still have that offensively. You know, now you've got an actual left tackle to protect Watson. They traded for Duke Johnson.

They just added Carlos Hyde offensively. And then on defense, you still have JJ Watt. You still have Whitney Merciless. You still have some players there defensively in Houston. I think there are a team that can go 9 and 7 and contend for a wild card. I got the Titans bringing up the rear in that division. division at 5 and 11. Then we go out to the West. The Chiefs last year, all last year, Aaron, right on this podcast, I said, I don't care how good they are offensively. They cannot go to

the Super Bowl with that defense. And they didn't. They lost 37, 31 or whatever the final score was in the AFC title game. They've gotten better on defense, though. You know, there are a couple of players to keep an eye on. First of all, they did add, you know, another pass rusher in a big time D-end in Frank Clark from Seattle. They also, drafted a guy that a lot of people are talking about so far coming out of Kansas City, a guy that a lot of people liked coming out of Virginia in the draft. Juan Thornhill, remember that name. He was the second round pick of the Chiefs.

He looks like a potential big-time contributor and player at safety. To go along, by the way, with Terran Matthew, who they added as well. They're better defensively, still not great defensively, but better defensively. and in year two of Patrick Mahomes, look out, especially with the addition I think of Lashon McCoy. I mean, Lashon McCoy would have been fine in Buffalo. He's perfect for Andy Reed. The two of them obviously did it together once,

and he will design an offense that Lishon McCoy can take advantage of. Tyreek Hill didn't get suspended at all. They've got Travis Kelsey. They've got Sammy Watkins. They've got McColl Hardman that a lot of people like the receiver out of Georgia that they got in the second round. I like the Chiefs to win the division, but my real big surprise in the AFC, just talked about it with Scott, had no idea that he had the same team.

I love Denver. Vic Fangio is a feared defensive mind in the league. They have as good a defensive roster as any in the NFL, especially when it comes to getting after the quarterback with Von Miller and with Bradley Chubb. They added Kareem Jackson. They've got Chris Harris there as well. This is a defense that's going to be. top three, four, five in the league this year.

Last year they were fifth in DVOA and they had a bad offensive football team with struggles of quarterback with Case Keenham. Turned it over 15 times last year. They had their moments, but they had offensive line issues too and not to put it all on case. They drafted Dalton Reisner from Kansas State in the second round. They liked him. They added Ronald Leary.

They added Juan James and they added Joe Flacco at quarterback. Say whatever you want to say about Joe Flacco. hasn't been a better big game quarterback over the last 10 years, and I'm talking about playoff games on the road in particular, than Cool Joe. And he can throw the deep ball, and they got Cortland Sutton, who I like in his second year out of SMU. I always liked Aeshawn Hamilton coming out of Penn State,

Emmanuel Sanders, and they drafted Noah Fanta tight end. I love Denver this year. I don't think they'll win the division, although I think they could win the division, but I've got them at 11 and 5. the surprise team in the AFC snagging that first

wild card spot and the second wild card spot even if Melvin Gordon doesn't play goes to the Los Angeles Chargers who I've got at 10 and 6 and I've got the Raiders

bringing up the rear in that division at 5 and 11. So my AFC picks New England wins the east Pittsburgh wins the north Jacksonville wins the south Kansas City wins the west

the two wild cards both out of the AFC west, the Broncos in the Chargers. That would set up a wild card weekend round of Jacksonville Chargers. I've got the Chargers beating the Jags, and then the Broncos going to Pittsburgh

and beating the Steelers. Then in your divisional round, Chargers at Chiefs, I like Chiefs in that one. Broncos go to Foxborough and shock the Patriots. Flacco's done it before. Should have done it twice. Actually, he's won two postseason games in New England.

And they should have won that third one when What's His Face dropped the go-ahead touchdown pass, and then the kicker shanked the kick that would have put it into overtime in the AFC title game. Broncos over Pat, so my AFC championship game, Denver at Kansas City, and I've got the Chiefs winning that game at Arrowhead and advancing to the Super Bowl. If the Chief's defense isn't improved and we'll know it early in the year, I will be off them quickly. But God, they have to be one of the two or three most explosive teams offensively in the league, and they've improved defensively. But Denver, major surprise for me.

I've mentioned it all offseason with their moves. I like them to be a major surprise in the NFL and make it all the way to the AFC title game. Tomorrow I'll do my NFC picks and then Friday. And actually tomorrow with Tommy will get Tommy's Redskins season prediction. I'll save mine for the Friday show. Thanks to Scott, thanks to Aaron. Have a good day. Back tomorrow, more picks.

Tommy's Redskin season pick, which should be interesting. We'll do that tomorrow. Have a great rest of the day.