The Ringer NFL Show - Preseason Week 1 Winners and Losers With Mina Kimes

Episode Date: August 12, 2025

Heifetz and DK are joined by Mina Kimes to go through the winners and losers from Week 1 of the NFL preseason! (0:00) Intro(05:54) Cowboys-Rams(13:32) Commanders-Patriots(17:36) Seahawks-Raiders(22:27) Giants-Bills(32:11) Titans-Buccaneers(38:57) Panthers-Browns(50:59) Bengals-Eagles(55:24) Jaguars-Steelers(58:36) Colts-Ravens(01:04:52) Dolphins-Bears(01:09:55) Chargers-Saints Check out our 2025 Ringer Fantasy Football Rankings here! Email us! [e-mail] The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Getaway sales event. Hosts: Danny Heifetz and Danny KellyGuest: Mina KimesProducers: Carlos Chiriboga, Ronak Nair, and Kai Grady Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Ringer Fantasy football show. My name is Danny Hyde Fitz. I am joined by Danny Kelly and not Craig Grosbeck. Craig is on vacation. So we... Boo. So instead, we're going to have a special guest. We're going to have Mina Kimes.

It's going to join us to go over preseason of week one. And we had a great time. She makes fun of D.K. in the league. And then also we talk about a bunch of dumb stuff in Gilded Age. And also she tells an embarrassing story about the National Honor Society. And that was great. But yeah, preseason, it's both completely meaningless. But we do are able to see certain players.

every now and then you catch a glimpse and you're like, oh, well, that guy is definitely an NFL player, right, DK? Yeah, there are moments where, you know, that's all you have to see on a guy and you're basically like, he's legit, he's going to be really good in the NFL. It's really fun to see rookies in uniform for the first time and kind of see how they do. It's fun to see some of the quarterbacks that have moved teams.

You know, there's stuff you can figure out about preseason football. I kind of like preseason football, even though you just don't watch the second half of games and you're fine. There you go. Yeah, so here we go. We're going to go ahead and just tell you about all the stuff that doesn't matter. There you go. Great, great, great to pitch.

All right, we're going to get to all that. We're going to get to Meena Kimes. But first, quick break. This episode of the Ringer Fantasy Football Show is presented by Hyundai. Get into the Hyundai Getaway sales event and get away with a deal so right, it almost feels wrong. You can get huge savings on their adventure-ready SUVs like the Hyundai Santa Fe and Santa Fe and Santa Fe models or go all electric and choose from America's most awarded EV lineup like the breakthrough ionic 5 or ionic 6 visit Hyundai USA.com or call 562 314-4-4603 for details offers end

September 2nd 2025. All right, now we are joined by Mina Kimes from ESPN. You can fight around ESPN literally every day, basically, and then also your show, Mina Kimes show featuring Lenny. And I think ostensibly Mina accepted this invite here today. to talk about preseason week one, winners and losers. But I know in reality, you probably accepted this to just

shit talk, DK, for the league that you're in, the fantasy league you're in within where I think you kick his ass every year. Well, it is interesting. You waited to have me back on until Danny finally eliminated me. I mostly just complain about the platform that we use. How long is this dynasty

been going, Danny? Oh, probably like six or seven years now, I'd say. I still don't know how to use it. I still don't understand how the waiver wire works. I still don't understand the app is always, it's like an app from like 1995 or something. Is it my fantasy league? The Craigslist of fantasy apps.

It's the only one D.K knows is how to use. I like it. The app doesn't even work on newer phones. I like it. It's great. Every time I got every time I open the app on my phone, it's like gives me bugs or something. Like it frees my phone.

There's like Up of ads coming out of nowhere. It's like when you're trying to watch a football game using a sketchy streaming site of a Reddit and you have to close two windows at exactly the right time and then spin around in one place.

It's fine. You know what? Despite not knowing how to use the app, despite not understanding the waiver system, my team has been a juggernaut for... I think I've been to the playoffs every year, Danny. I've never missed playoffs. It's frustrating, actually,

every year that your team is so good and yet you still ask me like how do I log into it? I don't know what's going on every year. I know I'm also to leave with you in the same platform and I also just don't I have to open it only from a browser on my phone I can't do the app and then also

it's the only good news is that since AOL is not going to do dial up internet anymore like they just discontinued that that platform is probably going to go under I see I see I see MFL as a competitive advantage for me because I know how to use the website And so I'm never, we're never leaving. We're never leaving the site. That's why we're, I think I went on the web.

I had to use my browser, Danny, like you. And I think I was the least active on the waivers purely because I don't know how to use it. Not because I don't want to be active. I'm a little worried about my team. It's an aging roster. We're kind of all in every year. We're like kind of the Rams. Oh, the Rams not so much anymore.

I only have one active quarterback unless Spencer, Rattler wins John. Oh, yeah, Derek Carr retired. Derek Carr retired. Jared Gough is my quarterback, though, which is great. And then I have Sequin and Derek Henry. Ah, yes, that helps. Yeah, you're, you know what?

There's nothing like having Sequin and Derek Henry, depending on Spencer Rattler for relevance. That's a nice formula. So we're going to get to the preseason week one and winners and losers. And honestly, this is just an excuse for us to bring back one of our favorite segments from draft time, but I think it's relevant. to preseason two, which is Panda Watch. But I need DK to see it.

You already do it. Yeah, just set me up a little bit better there. Oh, yeah, you're right. Sorry. Now we go to a special report from Danny Kelly. Panda Watch. But literally the anchorman bit, though, where they just throw to Paul Rudd. And then every time he's like trying to report on the panda and the panda is like not there for like two seconds.

That's us with the preseason where we're trying to talk about the preseason players. And then Patrick Mahomes goes out and throws one pass for one yard for one touchdown and then leave. Jason Brownlee? Yeah. And then we try to have... Was his name? Yeah. We try to have takeaways from it.

But there are also things to learn, but then the pandas also make us look kind of stupid because they're like barely there. They're kind of in and out. The game's kind of over in like 20 minutes. So we're going to go through and glean what we can gleam. And we'll try to just ignore everything that we think is not either informative or not funny. But I do want to start with one game in particular, which is the Rams and Calb.

I have the scores here as if the scores matter. but the Rams 1-31 to 21 over Dallas. I don't even know why. No offense. But Mina, you actually announced this game, which is pretty baller? Hell yeah. I actually want to just start with what is something unexpected about announcing an NFL game that people wouldn't think of? Well, the Rams preseason, Sean McVeigh famously doesn't play anyone.

So that is, I would say it's a little bit. Yeah, it's a little unique. You're really, you have to learn the identities of players and facts about them that most people haven't heard of. There always ends up being like a few guys, though, who do make the roster and then end up being surprising contributors. Last year, it was Jordan Whittington, who became the Rams, like wide receivers three, four. And then Omar Spates was their starting linebacker. He was undrafted. So watch preseason football. It matters. But for fantasy purposes, I think probably the only relevant thing is like,

Blake Coram finally getting some run, although McAvey never plays his rookie running back, because they drafted another one this year. But I was actually surprised to see Coram out there, honestly. I thought, because again, it doesn't play starters. Blake Corum is obviously the running back too in that offense, but I didn't think he would play that much, and he played quite a bit. You think that's because they just don't have any other guys right now, or is it just they, I was like, is this a good thing for Coram,

or is this a bad thing for Corum that he's playing so much? couldn't quite figure out. This is like kind of what you have to do with the preseason stuff. But I thought overall, he probably looked a little bit better than Jarko's Hunter right off the bat. What did you think? Yeah. It's, again, it's like usually a bad thing for, like in terms of thinking about them in a starting role. But I think with Corum, a big part of the reason why he didn't get a lot of run last year,

why rookies never do is McVeigh basically asks one back to do everything. And so pass protections are really important. Karin Williams is one of the best past protecting backs. the entire NFL. Can he catch passes? Can you count on him in different situations? So I think they really wanted to get a good look at Coram. I mean, they just paid Karen,

but I think there is an understanding that maybe you want to cut down on his reps a little. He got the most NASDAFINI back in the NFL last year. Like he got like 86% of ramps. So I think they might, I wouldn't, I would be really hesitate to call it a committee, but I think they would like to see Corum at least eat into that a bit, Keep him fresh. Yeah.

The other thing from this game, so D.K., just going to spoil this, but your wife's 40th birthday was over the weekend, so you were kind of offline on Sunday. So, DK actually did not see. I'm just going to read the headline from ESPN, and I want Mina to explain what happened. It says, Lamb in street garb, trucked by ref, then flagged. D.K. does no idea what I was talking about. I mentioned this to him. He was like, what happened to Cady Lamb?

Can you please explain this, Mina? Yeah, we had no idea in the booth what the hell was going on because there was like, I think the Rams had some sort of penalty, just like a procedural thing. And then there was another flag thrown. And people were like, I thought one of the Cowboys players had like taunted a ref or something, the way they were talking. And we couldn't see in the booth that Lamb had gotten drilled in the back, which was kind of, when I first thought like that, I was like, oh, no, that was kind of frightening on the sideline.

And the ref just ran into him. Oh, wait, I think I did see this. Was he, like, celebrating down the sideline or whatever? And the ref just ran into him, kind of like trying to chase down a, like a pass down the field or whatever. Okay, yeah, yeah. Destroyed him. And I have to say, I've never said this in my entire life. But I knew this.

My football experience seemed more relevant than C.D. Lam, because the difference is when I played high school football, I was on the sideline all the time. You knew not to. I think C.D. Lam is not used to playing. He's not used to be on the sideline on offense. So you can't stand there. And everyone's like, oh, you think. the flag. Yeah, you can't stand where the rest are running. But he got drilled. His next half-back. His next half-back. Yeah. Yeah. Like in the back and he kind of like his back

curved into like the comma shape. You know, it was terrifying. I mean, I already knew who's okay. But I'm always surprised players don't get hit more by refs and vice versa generally. I agree. The refs are surprisingly agile. But yeah, so other than this, D.K., I'm going to, you mentioned Stetson Bennett being good. I won't even. I'm not. I want me to take on this. Because Stetson Bennett has yet to look good prior to Sunday. I watched the replay today. I thought he looked pretty good.

I thought he looked decent, at least, like confident running the offense. Decisive, more or less. Yeah, I think he had like a couple bad plays. But overall, I thought I was like, oh, this is a little bit more impressive than I was expecting. By far his best preseason performance. Yeah. But the bar was not super high because he's played a lot. I mean, Mivay doesn't even play Jimmy Garapolo.

It just makes your life so easy. So it's a lot of Stetson Bennett. He's played, I think he's had four preseason starts now. And I think prior to this week had three touchdowns to eight interceptions. So it had been a pretty rough couple of years. This was definitely the most comfortable, accurate he's ever looked. It helped too that on the other side of the field, Joe Milton, the Cowboys backup was launching like, bazookas into the stands.

I was interested in watching him because, you know, he's got a cannon. We all seen the viral clips of him like sitting on his like one leg and throwing the ball 80 yards. Throwing oranges like 100 yards or whatever. Orange, yeah. And then he won that game that forced the Patriots to lose the first overall pick. The Cowboys traded a fifth for him. But it was tough watch, man. Like I, it felt like rookie of the year or something.

thing out. There was a missed one. His arm is making that noise, like the elastic noise. Henry Rohn-Gartner as quarterback. There was one ball that was like, the guy was wide open. I think it was like on somebody on a crosser. And he overshot him so

again, it would have been like a massive play. The ball just went like 15 overs fed. And I I'm still like very green at calling games and not so polished. And I and I just spat out Oh, Lord.

Like really loudly and I felt bad about that. But it was crazy. Like crazy. I talked to Joe Milton a couple of years ago at the senior ball because he had one of those throws where like it hit the, it went, people ducked. It went past the sideline. People ducked and it hit the brick wall at the stadium and like made a sound. And I'm like on the far hash, I'm like, that is hard to do. Like I hear the ball in the brick wall.

So I asked him about it later. And I said, have you ever injured someone while throwing a ball? And he got like really mad at me. And he was like, that's kind of offensive, bro. You think that like I'm going to, well, actually, I guess I did break a couple different dudes fingers. Yeah, actually, I guess I have multiple times. It was pretty funny.

But yeah, so Joe Milton, honestly, mostly his legacy is Bill Simmons will literally never forget that he cost them the number one pick in the Patriots for this year's draft. So yeah, other that game's really funny. It's really cool that you announced the game in it. And honestly, never, please never. stop saying, oh, Lord, when Joe knows decapitated someone. Oh, Lord. Okay.

I want to get to some of these other. I want to start with the rookies, the rookie pandas, if you will, because it is cool to see them in the uniforms of the first time playing on the game and playing in the field. So, D.K., of all the rookies and preseason, who do you think impressed the most of all the pandas? Here's the biggest winner preseason. On the scale of most text messages I received about a certain player, definitely Trevion Henderson from the Patriots.

I mean, look, he took a, he took the opening kickoff 100 yards. This was his first time in an NFL uniform and he took it 100 yards for a touchdown. Like, love that. He has so much juice, so explosive, was a big part of the reason I loved him so much coming out. But then obviously he showed that he was good in the passing game. I think, you know, again, he's going to be trusted, I think, from right from the get-go in pass pro. It's going to be a big part of their offense. Like you go back through the years, Josh McDaniels, Daniels' offenses always kind of utilized

the running backs in the passing game. That might be more of like a Brady thing, but I think it'll probably still be applicable here. But I don't know. He just looked great. And he's getting so much buzz in camp before this too. So I just think he is among all the rookies. He's maybe one of the top guys I'm excited about.

I feel like you got more texts about Tori Horton. Oh, that's true. Seahawks. Don't lie. Tori Horton first ballot Hall of Favor. Yeah. That's true. That's very true.

I don't know if we were getting that deep into the rookies, but he actually looked awesome. The Homer Seattle thing is going to start already for doing this. How much you guys buzz into the or buy into the, everybody loves him at camp? Like when you start hearing that from the reporters and. I think it means a lot. I think there's a couple layers to it.

There's the fans are the beginning. The fan excitement can be either complete miss or sometimes disinformation or just legitimate buzz and you don't know it. Like Cason Williams. Yeah, there's always, but then I check in with like, you know, reporters or people work for the team or whatever and I see is it legit. But honestly, the Craig Holbeck is not here. Craig Horlebeck, the memorial, I've seen enough award. Yeah. The Treviant Henderson, like, I've seen enough.

Like, I saw two drives from the guy. And the kickoff was awesome. You see the top end speed. And, but I got to say, like, the acceleration, like the next touch you had was an 18-yard. run. And then he's catching pass on the sideline and he's dropping shoulders, trucking dudes. Staying in bounds. Keep moving. Everything you want, the contact balance, the blocking, like what you hear about him as a leader. And I'm like, my, I mean, do you want my, like, take purge? This is not like a take purge, but like an actual intrusive thought I had watching

this game. I was like, Treviant Henderson looks like Marshall Falk. Ah. Like, I know, I know. I know. I'm right. Well, I'm Torit in Hall of Favor. Like, I'm just saying, I'm not saying that's a comp, but it occurred to me while watching him. I'm like, this guy is awesome. And also, I guess we're just being, I guess we just work for Bill. Hi Fitz. This is, again, no one likes to hear about my fantasy teams, but I, in my experience, like last week, I traded Trayvion Henderson for Brise Hall. Why did you do that? Travion Henderson goes out and has like the most electric opening weekend or whatever preseason. And then Bruce Hall, like, everyone's panicking about Brise Hall. Why? Dude. Because of Braylin

Allen. Yeah. And I'm like, ah. Just immediate, like, immediate regret. What am I doing? It's also class. classic, you kind of forgot that you love Trayvion Henderson. And like, we just did a whole episode that's going to run later this week about take players you like. You love Trayon Henderson. I know, I love Trayvon Henderson. I actually had him ranked over Omar and Hampton in my draft guide. And I'm like, I don't know.

How you do it? Yeah. Because it was like a stupid, we were in the middle of a draft. I'm like, okay, fine, let's do it. It was with Jackson. It was with Jackson, of course, our friend, our friend Jackson. Were you drunk? Has our draft started?

This is a different league, Mina. We're in like a bunch of different leagues together. DK's toxic trait was during COVID. he did a dynasty drop every every week for a year. So he has like 40 fantasy teams. That was how I coped with it. So, okay. So, yeah, I think Henderson's legit.

I just feel like he's such a clear NFL player. I've seen enough. The other one, this is now, you guys did the six homer thing. What, do you guys want to just talk Seahawks? You want just do the Seahawks? It was the ultimate Seahawks Homer opportunity because it was Seahawks Raiders. It was Pete Carroll, Gino Smith, walking in. I mean, I don't know.

I mean, Meena, what do you want to do first? Do you want to do actual thoughts? or do you want to do Gino Smith walking in and just doing double middle fingers to the Seahawks fans? That was like the only takeaway I had from that game, really. It wasn't really.

I mean, the Seahawks played their backups. I think you saw the Seahawks' defensive depth is really good. The Seahawks defense is going to be extremely good, I think. The Raiders, I would, I'm not panicking at all about Gentie,

but I did watch the first couple of series and come out a little bit concerned, about the Raiders' offensive line, which I feel like I already probably should have been more concerned about, but, you know, they reshuffled it a bit on the inside. And Gentie had only for one drive, I think, with Colton Miller, as they're starting left tackle, and then they replaced some of the starters. But it didn't look great against the Seahawks backups, the Raiders run blocking, which was pretty atrocious last year. So I got a little bit concerned. But I think, you know, got to pump the brakes a little bit on any panic there. three carries for a negative one yards is it's a little disconcerting it is it's one of those where

I think after Sequin and Derek Henry had a combined like 4,000 plus yards from scrimmage last season no one wanted to be like well you can't take a running back in the top 10 because ashen gentie is just epic and every single week I watch them college football I'm like this is like the most amazing player I've ever seen and then you watch the preseason game where he gets a negative one yards and you're like oh yeah um maybe matters. Yeah, maybe he played a Boise State and not Alabama. Maybe that's going to end up mattering.

I don't know. It's one game, but it was, are you actually concerned, D.K., that we were wrong on Gentie? No, no, no. It's not about Gentie, though. Are you concerned about the Raiders' offensive line? I'm concerned that on your show, I mean, I put forth Pete Carroll as a favorite for the offense or for the coach of the year award.

Now I'm like, oh, maybe that's not. Yeah, the Raiders defense. That was the other, I guess that was the bigger takeaway from the game, the Raiders defense is, it's really. Not great. Got over my skis on that one. But yeah. I will say, though, I think for the Seahawks, though,

I do think the defense under Mike McDonald's year two is going to be way better. I know that there wasn't a ton of starters going on in that game, but I do just think that's the kind of system where like year one or year two is going to be way, way, way, way, way better. Either way, about the sign. First of all, Gino, obviously on his side here. The sign also made no sense. Did you guys see the actual sign that he was flipping off? It was his head and his middle fingers were blocking some of the words.

So what did the sign say? It said like Gino and Jamarcus Russell, who's the bigger bust or something. There's too many words. It's just so many. First of all, it's not that catchy. It's not that insulting. Gino also was not a first round draft pick. It was a reclamation project in Seattle.

It's not like they gave up anything for him. So like there's no like the logic of the sign didn't follow at all. Yeah. That's kind of, I think people had the real estate that they realized they could have a sign, but they didn't actually put that much thought into making the sign. Like, what's the meanest thing we can say about it? Compare him to Jamarcus Russell. I do like that. I do like that.

That's so satisfying. The double birds. Yeah. Have you ever double burdened like someone you didn't know, like a stranger? Not like a friend or something. I have not. This is a bit of a tangent. Oh, let's do it.

We got it. We got to do it. I almost got suspended once. for flipping the double bird. But the reason why is the most me embarrassing story ever, which is I was manning the table for the National Honor Society in high school. And some kid was like more like the nerd society

who I didn't know? And I went, who are the nerd society? And the teachers told me to it. And I got in trouble. I got sent to the principal's office. And I got in school. And then I made up a bunch of examples.

excuses to get out of it. What did you say? I said that. No proof. Yeah, I don't want to do the crime now as a statute of limitations past. I think I said that whoever said it had said like a profanity to me, which is crazy that I don't know. I mean, I was such a nerd that they were like, let's just give her.

They're like, manning the National Honor Society table. We don't want this on our record. Oh, my God. And then he pulled out a sign that said, like, meaner times, Marcus Russell. Who's the bigger bust? Yeah. All right, well, if you guys got to do your Tori Horton thing in the beginning of the show,

I'm just going to do my total homers right now for the Giants. So Jackson Dart, the quarterback the Giants traded up to for the 25th pick to take Dart out of Ole Miss. And then we'll get to Dart first. And so Brian Daibel, coach of the Giants, trying to save his job by developing Jackson Dart, the way he developed Josh Allen and Buffalo. So it's fitting that Dart comes out and plays versus Buffalo. And I thought Dart was good. I don't think he was great.

I don't think he was bad. He started, it was up and down. 12 of 19 passes. He completed for 150 yards and a touchdown. First drive was totally unremarkable. It's like a three and out basically and he comes off the field and tables. Like that was a bad pass and just yelling at him. It was funny.

I know. I love when you catch the coaches yelling at their players. I love it. And then Dart comes back in. He throws a touchdown. Like it was a good throw. It was deep. And I got so mad at the Bill's broadcast because they were like in a 10 minute segment

trying to sell Bill's season tickets to the stadium. that's under construction. This is why I love preseason football. This happens to us, too. When you asked about doing a preseason broadcast, you do have to fit in a lot of local stuff. And sometimes it is while exciting things are happening for the other team on the field.

And you're like, oh, and that was an interception. So back to the dog pound brought to you by kibbles and bits. There was so many of those this weekend. When I was just rewatching all these games, it was like the local broadcast is talking to the G. of the team or whoever, like, doing some interview and they're like, oh, and we've got a touchdown in the background here. Oh, like, Texan-Darr was a first, like, it's not like Stetson-Bennett.

Oh, offense to Stets and Beddett. It's fine. Like, it was the first round pick from the one of the teams as a quarterback in his first preseason game ever. And if you were a touchdown, they were like, all right, well, you know what? The great thing about the stadium is we want to give the opportunity for current season ticket holders to get back into the next building with the, we want you, if you've been part of her past to be, and they came back from the break.

and they'd clearly gotten the note. And they were like, man, what a throw that was by DART. Sorry we didn't really talk about that. Anyway, he looked all right. I'm biased, though. Sure. Well, yeah. Just, I mean, just little.

Well, D.K., we'll start with you. And what did you think of Jackson's art? I mean, I think I had the same reaction as you. It was that throw, that touchdown throw was a good throw. I saw somebody talking on Twitter about how he model, he told them he models this game after Jalen Hertz. So I was like, I can kind of see that. You know, like he's really good at those deep sideline passes,

um, aggressive down the field, but, but kind of still probably needs to like clean up some of the other stuff, the footwork, all that. Um, and, you know, the way that they could utilize him as a runner, he'd look good. He looked athletic on that one. Um, I don't know if it was a design keeper or just a scramble, but he looked like, like he picked up like 10 or 15 yards on a run.

Um, they ran like a draw. I think it was a draw. Yeah. Yeah. I think you're right. Yeah. Um, so I don't know. Maybe there's like a poor man's version of Jalen Hurst. it's there.

But, you know, I thought, like, I didn't think he looked bad. I'll put it that way. I thought he was pretty poised and he obviously made that really nice touchdown throw. You know, obviously have to feel overall positive about the performance. I wasn't like jumping out of my seat or anything like that. Like, Jack's dart is the next great thing. But, yeah, positive overall at first game. Yeah.

I just jumped out of my CTL at the bill's announcers. I love that you're getting pissed at the broadcast. I was so mad. The judge touchdown. I did want to see the touchdown. You're right. I don't care, obviously. I'm not a Giants fan.

But during the broadcast, I was like, show it again. Especially, you know what I wanted to see it? Because he got walloped. And which I thought was maybe the most impressive thing about the throw is that he stood in the pocket and took a really big hit. But you couldn't see it because there's no replay. And then NFL posted it. That's what he did in college, though. He was really good at standing in a pocket, under pressure, pardon me, taking hits.

And you saw the, I think athleticism was one of the things I was most surprised about watching him as a draft prospect. And you saw that too. I mean, for me, though, he was kind of like secondary to Abdul Carter. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, it was only like, what, six naps or something. But Carter was working against one of the best left tackles in the NFL in D.N. Dockins. So that was like a true barometer moment.

And, oh, boy, he looked past. My jaw dropped at one point. Giants fans are freaking out. You know, so Abdel Carter, the number three pick in the draft fell to the Giants at number three at a Penn State. He's like Micah Parsons copy paste. And I know that on one level, people are like, oh, you're not supposed to helmet scalp, blah, blah, blah. Well, you know what? If he goes to the Seguel because Michael Parsons went there and then wears the 11 because Michael Parsons were it and then plays a position because Michael Parsons played it.

You know what? And you know what? He looked like Michael Parsons. Three snaps. First three snaps. He had three pass pressures. and the one that I love was just, as you said, beating Dionne Dawkins, like a real left tackle,

not some backup, like Nick Benito for the Broncos crushed this weekend. He was playing the back. He wasn't playing Trent Williams. Like, you know, he was a backup in. Abdul Carter was actually going against starting left tackle. But then on third long, they did what the Cowboys do with Michael Parsons, where it's, you know, we joke, we call it DK a free end.

And they move him inside to guard. And I'm like, if that is the Giants, like, I am going to get hyperbolic down. I'm not saying the Giants are going to win the Super Bowl. I know that's insane. I'm not saying that. However, I will say this. Every Giants team that has ever won the Super Bowl, all four times, the defensive line looked like this. Where it's like, Abdul Carter looks like in a year or two, he could be a top five pass rusher.

But then you're like Brian Burns is a number two. Brian Burns would be one of the better number two pass rushers in the league. And then the best defensive lineman on the team is Dexter Lawrence in the middle. I mean, you pointed out last week, he's the most double team player in the league. So if Dexter Lawrence is getting double teams in the middle and the other guy on third long is Abdel Carter with Kavon Tibido and And Brian Burns in the edge, I'm like, this actually might be the best defensive line in the entire league. I don't think it's outside the room of possibility at all. I think that they're going to face a lot of quick passes.

I think teams are going to run the ball a lot on them. So it's going to come down to whether or not the linebackers can step up. The corners can tackle. But, yeah, I mean, and also whether or not, you know, they don't fall behind on off or offense to the point where teams can just run on them. But, like, yeah, they absolutely have the kind of defensive line that can take over games. And it's not speculation because, you know, Carter's a rookie, but they have, you know, Lawrence and Burns have already been there. Thippado, too, I feel like people are too hard on him. He hasn't really lived up to the fifth overall pick, but he's a good player.

He's really good against the run. So it's a nasty group. It's also all we have. Like, I know, like, no one else is good. We're the worst cornerback. They're up there with the worst cornerbacks in the NFL. And then also Russell Wilson went six or seven. I'm like, didn't even try to throw a throw over the middle of the field.

So it's going to, everything else will be ugly, but we're hanging our hand out of the defense. If it's, did you, after watching, after watching the quarterback, after watching Dart play, where do you, where do you land on how many games Russell Wilson's going to start this year? Did you adjust that number? Less than I thought. Less than you thought. Uh, like five, six. Okay. Okay. James Winston's just like there for fun, right? He's like, not part of it.

James Winston's there because I think they were worried they wouldn't get a second quarterback and they couldn't pretend. And like the Jets just having fields and like, yeah, we'll play them all year is so confident. The Giants without having a plan B, they would have gotten fired. And so James was plan B and now he's plan C. Well, he's, he's plan B on my fantasy team because I also have James Woodson along with Spencer Rattler. Have you looked at the schedule and like picked a soft spot where you would like Jackson DART just, because it's hard on the giant schedule. It doesn't get easy for a really long time. Originally my take was I wanted Jackson's Art to just not play this year because, yeah, it's also.

It's not going to happen. He's going to play. I know. But, you know, the Giants have the hardest. You very easily could argue the hardest schedule in the league. I mean, it's commanders, cowboys, chiefs, chargers, one, saints. But then you come around and, like, the Eagles are four days later. So you can't play them to week six because Thursday night Eagles would be, like, insane.

But then you have Broncos. Watch them do that. I will lose my mind if Darb plays them three days of rest of the Eagles. But guess what? Then they play the Broncos, best defense in the NFL maybe. Guess what? Then they play the Eagles again. Then it's the Niners.

That's the problem. with this whole scenario. Russell Wilson's the sacrificial lamb for like that. Yeah, we'll feed him to the walls. Oh my God. But anyway, I hope DART doesn't suck. That would suck. On Tuesday, August 26th, it's Fandul Futures Day, a new holiday for football fans.

It's 24 hours of deals on all your football season predictions. So take a flyer on the MVP race. We like Brock Purdy and the 49ers 28 to 1 or so. I just think that the Niners are like this universal team that everyone thinks is going to go back to the playoffs and they have the easiest schedule in the league. So I think Brock Purdy and MVP is 20 to one is pretty good value. Crown your champion in August. Super Bowl winner, honestly, it's hard for me to not to think about Eagles, Ravens going back again.

I just think those are the teams to me. Like the bills are picking up all these injuries, like maybe you want to buy it in the cheese. But I just think Eagles Ravens, it's a little lame to pick the Eagles to win again. But I just think the Eagles are going to win the NFC again. I just feel like that's such a better value than trying to pick like some random AFC team. when we just know Bill's Ravens, Chiefs, they're all going to go through the gauntlet. You can also parlay your division winner dark horses, mark your calendars. This is your day for your hunches, your hot takes, your calls, and your odds.

Visit the Fandall app today and start planning your future bets now because futures day is one day and one day only. Fandle, play your game. Must be 21 plus in present in select states or 18 plus in present in D.C., Kentucky, or Wyoming. Gambling problem? Call 1-900 gambler or visit RG-Help.com. Call 1-888-7777. Or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut. Connecticut. Other quarterbacks, though,

Meena, so you watch this Titans game, and I'm curious, how did you think Campbell Ward played? I thought he played well. You know, it was like a little bit of a tough start. And you saw like a little bit of jitters and a little bit of bailing. But I think at the second drive, he really settled down. You know, when he throws it quickly, it looks excellent. And you saw this in college, too. He's got such, like, cool arm talent. He can, you know, throw from different angles. I think he's a great RPO quarterback. And I thought like, you know, once he settled down and was a, let's call what it is, once he locked in on Calvin Ridley, things looked pretty good. That was, I mean, shoot, from a fantasy perspective, that was my takeaway from watching Cam Ward.

Calvin Ridley's going to be his guy. It might be the only one he really trusts. But I thought his placement on a couple of those throws to Ridley were really nice. The deep over where he had him and, you know, Ridley was in main, he was facing man coverage. I thought was really well placed. The timing was excellent. So like I came out of a pretty optimistic. I had the Titans offensive line look decent as well. I think if I have one concern, it's just, okay, the receiving group outside of

Ridley is pretty thin. And I thought that showed up a bit. Yeah, it was horrific. So, I mean, yeah, Kim Ward, obviously, number one pick out of Miami, went to Tennessee. The Bucks won this game 297. I don't know why I keep saying the source of the game. I'm like, because if the scores matter. I don't know what I'm doing.

But yeah, D.K., did anything jump out to you about Cam Ward? I mean, Calva Ridley, we have him 56, I think, at our fantasy rankings. And we're high on them. And I'm like, I watch the game. I'll say, I want to move Meyer again. I mean, yeah, that was the big takeaway, I think, obviously. Other than, you know, Ward, like Mina said, he kind of has like a low, he can kind of do like the low side release a little bit if he wants to and has a quick release.

So that was definitely apparent. I thought it was funny seeing Tyler Lockett playing out. there. He was, you know, I think he's going to be a big part of their plans, which I, yeah. On one hand, it's like, it's good to have, I think, a couple of veterans who are going to be where they're supposed to be at the time when they're supposed to be there. Like, that will be good. But obviously, you know, if Tyler Lockett is your true number two, that's kind of concerning

for the overall offense. And Tadier Spears got hurt in this game. So that's going to, you know, hurt the depth of their running back spots. High ankle sprain for Tadier Spears, which again, if you've had a low ankle sprain, it's nothing like that. A high ankle sprain is bad. We need a new name for a high ankle sprain. Yeah.

Oh yeah. This is a thing. We think the two injuries that don't sound anything like what they are. It's like pull the hamstring is actually tore your leg muscle. And it just sounds whimsical when you say pull the hamstring. And then high ankle sprain also just sounds like an ankle sprain. I've had an ankle sprain. And it's like, no, it's so not like that.

Yeah. Yeah. So I think Tony Pollard's a player. We have to move up the Titans running back because I think Tadje Spears high ankle sprain. He already has like the knee issues. he is like a tough knee situation already when he was in college. And the other thing with this game,

Rashad White for the Bucks pulled a groin and it's not probably as serious, but overall just... Dude, high shot holes. Is that not as bad? Pulling a groin versus... Pulling a... Well, it's weird because pole sounds fine,

but groin sounds worse. For every man, it's like, ooh, I don't know. That's tough. Yeah. Mena made a good point too. Like, the offensive line for the Titans, going back to the Titans real quick,

is such a big wild card for this team this year. If that offensive line can kind of gel and, like, turn into a dominant unit, I think all, all bets are off. Bill Callahan, the reverse NEPO. Yeah, the reverse NEPA baby. Hired by the son. You love to see it. It's just, how can you be reverse?

Well, I guess, yeah, right. It's not a classic reverse NEPO because the dad got the son into the business, but it's nice to see the NEPO baby's pulling it back. You know, it's like if Chet Hanks got Tom Hanks hired in a movie, like that'd be kind of crazy, you know? Cheap. Like, that'd be wild. It's kind of what we got here in Tennessee. You watch the Gilded Age, Danny? Yes, I'm actually, so I got to catch up.

I haven't watched the last night. Me neither, me neither. But so perfect, we're on the same page. Would you say that Merrill Streep's daughter is one of the worst nepo actresses? She plays Marion. It was just the character that's so annoying. I can't describe if I don't know whether the character is supposed to be like weak. But yeah, the daughter, when I learned she was Melville Streep's, I watched the entire first season before I realized she was Marrow's.

Street's daughter. So I think I'm like, and I was like, oh, that kind of makes sense now in retrospect, because it's a little flat. I will say, I'm so fed up with this whole thing where she's going to end this engagement without even talking to the guy because he went to this place and didn't do anything. Like he went to a place of ill repute, D.K. He didn't even do anything there. It was for a bachelor party. And she just ends the engagement with a letter in the mail. And I'm like, can we come on? This is crazy. She will never call it a whorehouse too. She always calls it a house of ill repute. House of ill repute.

And suitable place. An unsuitable place. Have you been watching a summer I turn pretty? I watched. It is true. Speaking of bad actors, it's truly one of the worst shows. I watched the first two seasons. I cannot believe I watched that show.

It's so bad. Every episode's my Super Bowl. Jackson's Art is like Jeremiah, me Anakin Skywalker. I just, you know, I just, no,

summer it's pretty is incredible. I can't not finish it. I don't know. This is what happens with D.K. when Craig and I start talking about SpongeBob, he just like tunes out. Danny, it's about a high school girl

having to choose between two brothers who are both, one of them, the one with the pretty eyes is like one of the worst actress. The summer I turn pretty is a perfect example of a show that when you're watching it,

you're like, I'm loving this. There's a vibe to this. And then you like describe the base facts of it to someone else. And you're like, this is like a psychological, sexual thriller horror movie.

it's horrific I've never heard you talk about this it's like the only other she's a guy and the only other person she's ever been with is his older brother that she is still in love with that old chest out Spoilers didn't know that

oh fuck sorry we'll bleep that Mina now the show's ruined forever but yeah we can yeah back to football yeah back to football sorry Hyphitz I got to shout this guy out you alluded to it

Sean Tucker looked incredible. Oh, he's still in Bucks, okay. Yeah. Sean Tucker. He always looks incredible. He's awesome. He's awesome.

He's awesome. He's one where I feel like you want him to be good just so that people can do the fantasy names. Sean Tucker must die. Yeah. But I don't know if he's actually good or if it's just that the Bucks offensive line is so good. Right. It's always. That's a great.

We'll remember that in week eight when Sean Tucker has more fantasy points than Ashton Jentee, you know. We'll keep that in mind. DK, another rookie winner from preseason that stood out to you. And I'm going to practice doing this whole name because I know his mom has mentioned that he doesn't like being called Tet McMillan. Tederoa McMillan. This is a tough one. Yeah. Tet's so easy to say.

We'll just say T-Mack. T-Mack was out there, look great. You know, there was one play in the end zone where I think he just didn't get his head around quite quick enough. And that, I think, is a tribute to, you know, Bryce Young being really decisive. throwing with anticipation. So he could have had an even bigger day. But I think Ted McMillan looked really solid out there, caught a pass down the sideline,

kind of like over his shoulder, you know, got open early on in his routes and a couple other plays. So I think the connection is there with Bryce Young already. So that is looking really exciting from the Panthers point of view that, you know, he's out there. He looks like it's the Craig thing.

I've seen enough. I feel like he's going to be a good player this year for them, even if, you know, there's going to be some rookie lumps here and there. And I thought Bryce Young actually looked pretty, good. This is one of those games where he was bailing from the pockets

here and there and stuff, but that's kind of his game. You know what I mean? Like, that's what you have to expect from a guy like him. That's why we liked him coming out of college. But, you know, he looked really comfortable. He looked confident. And overall, and Mina, Craig on a recent pod. Is this going to go up before this one?

So maybe I'm spoiling it. But Craig is kind of like interested in the Panthers this year from a fantasy point of view. Oh, yeah. So we were episodes, yeah. So we banked an episode. So that's going to come out later. So that's a tease for later. Sorry about that. Craig likes the Panthers. Yeah. So your Panther curious? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Uh, sex Panther. I really, I don't know. I just think this is a team that people are kind of overlooking to offense, particularly that people are a little overlooking, but from a fantasy

point of view with a bad defense and some upgraded weaponry and Bryce Young playing well, like, this could be kind of a good fantasy option here. Yeah. Mina, we were kind of trying to find a bad team that checks the boxes of still in your mind vibes. You won't accept that they're good. But if you actually look at the situation, the offensive line is just better than most bad teams that the interior of it is probably better for run blocking with Chuba Hubbard. Chuba Hubbard's an underrated guy that you don't want to admit as good. Bryce Young, people don't really want to admit this thing came off toward the end, but he's playing well.

And like, McMillan, I think is legit number one, but people wanted to like, you know, question him for like a thousand reasons. And you look and you're like, that's still a team that you associate with like Browns and Jags and stuff. But you look and you're like, well, I, Chuba Hubbard and McMillan are just going to be good. Like they're just going to be good fantasy players. And I will say watching this game. Bryce Young, like he had the, like the, I think the second touchdown, he was kind of scrambling.

He extended the play. And, you know, I know it's preseason, but. No, he told, he redirected. It wasn't McMillan. And it was whole, it was co. Coker, I think. Yeah. Coker.

Yeah. They have so many guys with good names for fantasy. Oh my God. Coker. The Ted Offensive. Oh, geez. What is the Berman, the Chubin Missile crisis? That was, poof.

That's like Burr. Herman's best work in when you said that. She was like, sat a little straighter. They have Jimmy Horn Jr. So you could be horny for him. Nice. Man, endless. The, like,

what's your favorite name you've ever had in fantasy meter? Me? Um, I don't usually do the pun names based on my players. Every episode of your show is a pun name. I know, I was gonna say. I know. I'm gonna say. I know.

I mean, yeah. Um, oh no, no, I had one on Gino. I had Gino's paradox, which is an extremely obscure literary reference. Do you learn that in the National Honor Society? Cino's. Yeah. What was going to say about the Panthers? The thing about the Panthers, though, is do we, I mean, the defense is still

really not great. Right. As long as they're not like, like, we're like, Kirkland brand. Kirkland brand bangles because they'll have to be in shootouts every week because the defense is still going to suck. Yeah. Remember, it's fantasy football media. So, like, you know, the actual outcomes of games is irrelevant.

I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. I'm saying the score, Hyphitz. Yeah, that's the problem with some saying the score and throw her off. I will say I still want to be in a fantasy league where if you lose the game, you get zero points on your players. Like I still kind of want to do that kind of league. I saw people talking about that.

Highfitts. So like winning actually matters. Yeah, like your stats, if like the Bengals, like Joe Burrow throws a 400 yards, they lose the game. Like Joe Burr gets a zero. I still kind of want to play with that one year. The other part from this game. That's crazy. I know.

I know. I just think you should root for your players to win the game. the Panthers, the only thing from this Panthers Browns game that I want to mention is that Shadurr Sanders played like so much of this game because Joe Flack was you know, geriatric and then Kenny Pickett and Dylan Gerell with his hamstring injury.

So Shadr played a lot. And I feel like if you saw the highlights in Instagram, you're like, wow, Shadurr Sanders played awesome and you just see the highlights of the two touchdowns and I'm doing the wrist thing in the celebrations. And then you watch the game and you're like, he was all over the place. And like the throws were, like there were guys

running open in stride and they're high and then these guys running open stride and they're low. And then like he's still doing the scrambles like he thinks he's in Madden where you can just, he's running backwards like literally like 25 yards backward. And I'm like, you are not Kyler Murray drafted to play outfield in major league baseball. Like that's not you. So there are a lot of habits there that I was shocked by, but he also did play like, you know, he also had moments for like, okay, I think you could play games this season. So really high variance play to play player was kind of my takeaway.

door. I think he can run an offense and also have crazy stuff. Yeah, Bina, what did you think? What was your takeaway? So I'm just thinking about your social people, just cutting Danny Sank. There were habits I was shocked by and making one of those quote cards of it and then just blasting that out to the internet. Danny Hyfitz, trash it. Shedora Sanders.

I know. I'm, yeah. I'm very glad Hyford's the first one to say that because my impression, I mean, I want to hear your take too, but. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I'm sorry. If you go, if you look at, there's like the Nike did like a personalized ad for this game. Oh my God. That's so cringe.

If you like see. That's so cringe. If you see that because I didn't watch the game live and I did the same thing you did High Fitz where I was like, oh, he must have just absolutely bawled the fuck out. Like I can't wait to see what happened. And then you watch the game. You're like, oh, okay. Like he made some nice throws.

So I said this in our one of our group chats. Danny and I read multiple group chats together. I feel like Shador Sam. is having the same effect on the sport that like Caitlin Clark on like basketball, not as a player, but in terms of like bringing in a lot of people who don't normally watch the sport, so have just like insane takes both good and bad about like positive and negative. Like it feels like no one's ever watched preseason football before seeing this. Like I even

like the thing about he had like a confrontation afterwards with Tony Grosie. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. And that turned into a whole thing. And it's like that's not a, one, it's not a big deal. It actually happens all the time.

Two, Tony Grosy, like, for those who don't know, famously beefs with players. He, do you remember? Like him in Baker Mayfield like notoriously got into it. Yeah, yeah. So this is not a Chador specific phenomenon. Him walking in.

He was with his teammates. It's like everything, you see all these like reactions and overreactions, and it feels like people's first preseason or something. Yeah. It's almost like this is why every single team that didn't have a grade on him as a starter literally wouldn't take him as a backup quarterback. It would be super famous. And then the Brown's owner had to come down from the mountaintop and be like,

yeah, we're going to take this guy. And I mean, a lot of this stuff is not his fault too, right? Like the stuff, I mean, you know, it's just the, he sort of like become like a culture war flashpoint in the same way. that's beyond his control. As far as the actual play, I thought it was, I thought, I will say I actually thought it was a little better than I expected,

to be honest, you know, playing with backups against backups, and we just talked about the pants defense being awful. Imagine how bad their backups are, right? For the most part. These guys can't play for the defense that gave up the most points than NFL history last year.

Yeah, it's not great. I thought, you know, obviously he had a few moments where he bailed on pockets like he did in college and he was able to, outrun in certain moments these backups. He will not be able to outrun like real NFL starters. But then I also

thought, you know, he flashed like the accuracy that I liked, especially throwing over the middle of the field, which I thought was a real strength of his in college and it's really important in Kevin Stefanski's offense. There was probably my favorite throw of his was when they were like kind of backed up near their end zone and he

instead of failing on the pocket, he took a little step to his right and then just ripped a dig. I can't remember which player it was two. But I thought that wasn't a really impressive throw. I thought the touchdown was like a really nice layered throw. So, you know, he's definitely, I think, has NFL caliber ability, whether that's starter ability, I think is still an open question.

I have a problem. I struggle with like how to even think about Sheter Sanders anymore because like we spent the entire draft process thinking he was like a first rounder. maybe like a late first rounder or whatever. And that's kind of like the lens that we were looking at him through. It's like he's probably worth the first round pick, but maybe not like a top 10 pick, blah, blah, blah. And then he just absolutely plummets in the draft.

And now I'm like, do I look at him as a four string fifth rounder? Or do I look at him as the guy that before the draft I was thinking of as like a fringe first rounder? It's like I've completely lost perspective. It's hard to kind of figure out how to even evaluate him now. And obviously like the only reason he's starting this game is because everyone else is hurt. Yeah. It's just,

he's like a normal quarterback situation. Yeah. He was in, like he's competing to be the backup to Joe Flacco. That's how I look at it. And then the question is whether anyone who's competing to be the backup to Joe Flacco will eventually leap him,

which is entirely possible. I mean, if I'm a Browns fan, I have zero interest in watching Joe Flacco. Right. I just don't care. Also, Mina, you mentioned it. Like, what are we doing?

some of the some of the players that he's throwing to i'm looking at just like the g s i g s i s that like the box score i'm like s canella b baits l floria k davis had two to who is floria that was the one i was like florida he had like a really nice one-handed catch yeah that's what yeah right that was that was a great play too yeah i mean yeah it was a great catch and then he immediately went to the injured reserve today because he like tore his hamstring or something but um but yeah i mean this it's the classic preseason thing where it's i don't know what to make of this i have no idea how to like evaluate this because there's so many different weird variables with it but i mean overall yeah every preseason people just lose they're in they're like men in black memory wiped yeah

of all of the quarterbacks lighting up preseason's past right yeah the eagles fans just losing their minds over tanner mckee man Just losing their minds. Yo, I listen to Sheel's podcast. Not person, but the name. It has a punny name. The Eagles one he does. The Philly Special.

Philly Special is not a funny name. And they legit had, I'm calling them out, like a 20-minute discussion where they said they would not accept a second rounder for Tannen McKee. Get the fuck out. I love this. Like flat-out. And, you know, in their defense, the Eagles are in, I think, a unique situation because because there is such an obvious Super Bowl contender, backup quarterback maybe matters more, right?

Than if it was like a, if it was a bad team, it would be a no-brainer. But it might, like, if it hurts, misses a few games, they actually seating matters. So I will defend it on that, on that ground. But it was, it was really something. Well, the Eagles game was also funny because you're, I mean, just watching like, you know, all these preseason games. You see like the charges. You see like Tray Lance throwing a Kandre Lambert Smith.

And you're like, oh, wow. Like this is kind of interesting. Yeah. And then the Bengals trot out Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase. And it was like that Cat Williams joke where it's like a Chrysler 300 looks like a phantom until a phantom rolls up. Yeah. And like watching Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase and T. Higgins play an entire quarter was so sobering over the rest of the weekend of football. You know what?

If again, it's a bit of a tangent. but I want to say like 10 years ago, so I was an adult woman, I got invited to play Laser Tag. Why who? It was a friend whose kids were in their like 10, 11, 12 range. And so we went to this laser tag spot, I think it was like in New Jersey or something. And it was all kids. And I just can't, I'm just really competitive and I can't turn that.

off and I just honestly started first I was I first a while I was just camping and since I'm just picking them off and then I was just like this is even too like I just felt so then I just started walking around and just like mowing them down terminator the end so I was like feeling myself and at the end when they put up the stats and it was like you know M-I-N by a mile the look of disgust that the other than that was You're just Billy Madison playing dodgeball. Now you're all in big, big trouble. Wait, me, did you know that Jim Harbaugh did the same thing at his bachelor party?

He went to play laser tag. And it was all of his friends, like, you know, adults playing bachelor. And I think it was like later in life. Like I think it was late 30s, early 40s or something. And there was one 11 year old that got stuck with Jim Harbaugh and his friends. And Jim Harbaugh got 100% of his points stalking this 11-year-old. old kids like that stuff. Literally just follow the kid around the entire time.

I got to admire the strategy on that actually. I just, that's, it's unbelievable. Hyphen, so you're so right about just the dramatic contrast of watching all these other games. Again, literally I'm like having to pull up rosters and be like, who the fuck is this guy? And then you go out there and it's just Jemar Chase absolutely smoking that the

Eagle's corner whose name I'm blanking up He was like Georgi. He's going to start. Yeah. Ringo and um, where as Solek says Ringo. Right. Ringo.

Did you know that? Oh my God. You're recording a Sulek this week. Uh, he thought Ringo star was Ringo star. Well, he couldn't name the Beatles. Like Reno like the city of Nevada? No,

like you just ring. But he couldn't name the Beatles. So like didn't know any members of the Beatles. So we had him play. We had him guess. And then even when we sent it to him in writing, he was like, Ringo star.

Who's that? So I think of that every time I see Kili Ringo. And then they also have the Giants watch. That actually is quietly a little concerning for the Eagles, the CB2 situation. The Eagles and the Bills, I think, are the Super Bowl contenders where the cornerback situations are tough. Obviously, the Eagles are so big. But the Bills are also a team like that where you got.

Christian Benford's great. But then after that, Taryn Johnson got banged up like immediately in this Giants Bills game. And then he's always kind of had some injury thing going on every year. And then Trinavius White, the cornerback that drafted this year really high. Maxwell Hairston at a Kentucky is already hurt. So then Tredavius White, who had the Clay Thompson ACL into the Achilles, is now like your healthy starter. And so that's going to happen all season.

It's like the bills just feel like that – like the Packers a few years ago that lost to that Brady team. It's like that team that just doesn't have a starting cornerback and just getting targeted the playoffs. I'm a little worried about the bills for that. Washington, by the way, get hurt in that game. I arrived at a take, which is if you're a coach and you have a player who you know can't like turn down the dial at all, don't play him in the preseason.

Karen Johnson was like, like, hit a hunt, he was like dying. I was like, no, like, too important to be trying this hard. Yeah, make a business decision. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And make a business decision.

That's why Kyrin Williams doesn't play. Just wants it too bad. All right. One last rookie here. One last rookie here I want to hit, which is just Travis Hunter. We talked about Cam Ward. We talked about Blue Carter. Travis Hunter played.

He did play both ways in Jacksonville. I mean, I've been obsessed with Travis Hunter. I'm obsessed with the fact that this is happening. I can't believe it. And I will say it was a little underwhelming. He played with the first team offense, like almost entirely. He got a couple third down short of the sticks. It wasn't amazing. Second team defense, it wasn't that amazing.

I actually think he was completely and utterly overshadowed by the Jaguars kicker making a 70-yard field goal. Cam Little made a 70-yard field goal. The record is 66. He made a 70-yard field goal. I thought this was crazy. Maybe no one else cares. It was like, it would have been good from

I feel like even, yeah, that was, I looked this up. His longest last year was 59. So this didn't, I feel like this is not that fluky. But it kind of changes things. Yes. Are you overstating that? Like knowing your kicker can bang it from 65 plus yards. Just get to midfield.

I think the August heat in Jacksonville, the heat, you know, probably makes it easier. But the fact that you're not at elevation like in Denver or somewhere makes it like harder. But I will say that I think what's crazy is a 70 year is from your 47 yard line. And we haven't talked about this on the show, DK, but the touchback this year goes to the 35. They moved it up to get more touchbacks. So if you think about that, he just hit a 70 yard it would have been good from 73. So what that means in theory is if the Jaguars get a touchback, they're one first down from field goal range, which you're not going to

probably try that in the game because if you miss a 70 yard kick, they get the ball right there. But at the end of every single half, the Jaguars need like a first down to get a field goal. That's kind of crazy to think about. Yeah. And like the Aubrey, all these guys, like the touchback moving up to the 35, there's a lot implications to this. I also think it's weird that if you kick a ball out of bounds, like 20 years ago, touchback was 20, but if you kick it out of bounds, the penalty was to go to the 40. Flash forward, the touchback's to 35 and the penalty for kicking out of bounds at the 40. So I think they're going to a lot of weird stuff in the corners and like, there's a lot of weird

implications to this. I think it's going to work, which is to say, like, I think that. that the intention of it is going to pay off in getting more teams to actually return. Like, this is, this came up during our game. McVeigh is inherently a pretty conservative coach, right? And a lot of, like, game management-wise and whatnot. And he just had his kicker send it for the touchback

as much as possible last year. I think the Rams only allowed 13 kickoff returns, which was like the second lowest in the NFL. I notice in this preseason game the kickers were trying to in the punter they were trying to place it more and I think that's going to be something you're going to see more teams too because 35

like you said is just don't want to give up that much. The average I think um shoot I saw that the average went up but I think it's going to go up even more. The average shirt. I think it's going to be I think they will succeed and bring in like it just will be I think you're going to see

more interesting stuff I think last year so to speak teams kind of punted on trying to kickoff and this year I think teams are going to try. So we're going to get to a few more things, but first, we're going to take a quick break. All right, Mina, before we get out of here, I really wanted to ask you about Anthony Richardson. I know that this was a few days ago at this point, but the Anthony Richardson sack hurt around the world that led to a pinky injury where he's already back to practice, but it was kind of like just guy got hurt. And everyone's like, it's his fault. But it wasn't great that Anthony Richardson just couldn't identify a free rusher in his face.

You could tell all the film guys had like so much pent up film breakdown energy. Because at the second that happened, like, every single guy dropped like a 15-minute breakdown of Hetty Richardson not recognizing he was hot, basically. We really need this money. You know, we all kind of get to have a good feel for. No, I'm just kidding. They are great. Yeah, it's kind of the worst possible outcome, I feel like, for Colts fans. Because I think, you know, there are probably 90% out on him, maybe 8%.

80%, you know, because there was some good buzz around him this summer. But you want to either have him win the job or play badly to the point where you can move that 80% to 100. And this is like a horrible intermediate zone where he was hurt almost immediately. You didn't get a feel for whether or not his accuracy has improved, which is, I think, what you want to see. And then Daniel Jones comes in. And again, he just looks like Daniel Jones. He was fine. He looked, I went back and watched all of his reps. He looked capable of executing Shane Steichen's offense, which was, there were a lot of RIPOs, not really him pushing the ball down field too much. But he also saw like some of the limitations in terms of accuracy and a few misses. And it just kind of feels like they're going to be stuck in that liminal zone now for the foreseeable future. I have been screaming for the rooftops this season

that I think Anthony Richardson is the best fantasy football bylaw of all time because he's just like a lot like the last he's undrafted in fantasy drafts and I watched that and I was like yeah he probably sucks he won't play it's just the thing about Anthony Richardson that's just so ironic and funny and you know just kind of explains how random injuries can be in the NFL is like do you remember at the combine a couple years ago is like don't let Bryce Young stand next to Anthony Richardson or was it the same

did they come out the same year am I remembering this correctly? No they went to the yeah no they did yeah and I love that your memory is just so fractured I don't know man they all went together at this point C.J. Anthony was that it was like we kept joking that Bryce Young's people had definitely been like you can never at any

point stay next to him because you'll get Meena's the one who started this whole thing because you took a photo with him and you took a photo and everyone's like oh my God he's so small to Bryce Young yeah I don't First of all, in the photo, he's taller than me and I'm wearing four-inch heels.

And I maintain that this folk, it's fake news, controversy stems from people's radical misperception of how tall I am because everybody thinks I'm short because I spend my TV time next to a six-foot-six. Oh, yeah. Gummy quarterback and Marcus Beers. Dude, Orlovsky. In fact, Mina, Orlowski is, he is so tall. When I saw him in person,

I was like, so tall. But he plays the same spot as Bryce Young. So if he sat in your chair, he would theoretically look at similarly sized. Yeah,

but Orlowski's unusually tall for a quarterback. Right? He's six to five or six six or something. I saw him at the combine and I was shocked at how tall he was. I like did not expect that whatsoever. Yeah.

It's like all about perspective. So people think, I think I'm small. So then they thought through the transitive property. He's small when in fact I'm not small, especially when I'm wearing heels. But you got to be, I mean, this is like, you know, like on dating profiles, how you got to choose the friends. Like people have to be strategic about who else is in the photos with them.

Bryce Young has like these quarterbacks, especially if you're short, they got to get better advice about who he should have turned me down for the photo. Right, right. You should have. It's true. Yeah. That's a, that's all fair. But anyway, real quick, just to get back to D.K.

No, but this is a point, though, in the Bell, but you're all larger point about we were like, oh, Richardson is going to be indestructible and Bryce Young's going to be injury prone. I think to your point, that actually, the Belichick book that just came out is not revelatory. He obviously is not out here just spilling secrets. I don't even know if he wrote it or Jordan Hudson wrote it. However, one of the things he says is a big and misnomer. And this one, there's like six insights in there out about football. And I thought one of them was, he's like a total misnomer is larger people are, uh, better, more durable.

He's like, larger people are often the most injury-prone. Gravity. Because one, like, larger strike zone. Well, yeah, big strike zone get hit a lot like gronk, but also larger bodies are more fragile. Like, this is intrinsic in the NBA where the tallest players always have like knee injuries or foot. And like, we're never surprised. But in football, we're like, yeah, the largest people getting hit the most are very frequently getting hit, whereas shorter guys are no, they can't take hits and are going down.

So that actually is like, I think a misnomer. But like Josh Allen never gets hurt. He's gigantic. He's an alien. Yeah. I also, on the other hand, though, like, when you see someone grab hold of Bryce Young and just throw him out the club, like, that is striking too. I think there's a middle ground for sure. It always does worry me, though, when you hear about guys gaining weight to get, like, to be more durable during the season.

I'm like, it's just harder on your joints. Flexibility is the most important thing, probably. So many gained. Oh, Marvin Harrison Jr. Right. They were talking about, I mean, I've seen photos where he got jacked. I think this is a huge red flag that you're a receiver working on your biceps. I'm like worried about that.

It's like we were out on Will Levis because he was ripped and we're like, why are you ripped? He's too vascular. You see what peak male performance looks like with Mahomes? It's like, Mom's is a beer gut. Yeah. Why are you ripped? The last thing I want to ask you for you get out of here, Mina. This is a total judgment.

This is mean. This is harsh. but I got the ick that Tua played in the preseason game versus the Bears and Caleb Williams did not. Is that unfair? Caleb Williams didn't play in the preseason and Tua did. Oh, I thought you got the ick regarding Tua because you were like, oh, pre-C. Okay, so to both ways. Okay.

But mostly that, like, Tua is on the field and Caleb's not. Just gave me the ick. For both. Okay. But mostly Caleb. But mostly Caleb. Mostly Caleb not playing. What are you so afraid of, Caleb?

bothered me. Cowered. I mean, but I feel like that's more about Ben Johnson, right? We're learning a little bit about him. And that doesn't, well, the whole thing with some coaches play him and some doesn't, don't. Usually a lot of guys who have connections to McVeigh are similar to him in their approach, which is to not play anyone. I felt better watching Bryce play this year after he didn't play last year.

So I think it's fair. I it's like, what are you hiding? I know. DK, do you feel that way? Like, Kayla was just not playing

and I'm like, I don't know. Look, the fact he didn't play didn't worry me. It's just the practice reports of dysfunction and inability to kind of like

get plays off. They're messing up motions. He's still learning how to take a snap from under center. That stuff like actually legitimately worries me. Maybe it would,

like, put that all together and you're like, he could probably use the reps. That is kind of worse. some. Do you feel, Danny, do you feel like you're being like catfished, right? Like, because you're only seeing clips that are carefully selected. You're like, how about we FaceTime? Oh, I can't FaceTime tonight. You know, I got something going. My wife, I spotty, but I'll definitely, yeah, we'll definitely meet. It's like all these spam texts I'm getting now. It's like now spam texts.

Hey, on my way home from some area code I've never heard of. And I'm, you know what I mean? Like, that's how it's starting to feel like maybe this isn't even a real person here. I don't know. Oh, my God. Mina, thank you so much for joining us. I appreciate being very generous for your time. If you have an extra second, if you want to rant about Bluetooth as a concept, you can, but if not, you'd like to get out of here, high tail it.

Yeah, I was late. Well, I guess we didn't talk about that, but we had to start later, was because I couldn't, my wired headphones broke, and I couldn't find wired headphones in New York City. I'd go to like three separate drug stores, and they were trying to sell me Bluetooth ones. and these cashiers were like looking at me like I was some boomer because I wanted wired headphones.

And it's not for Aaron Rogers reasons. I just don't like trying to pair things. There's just nothing more frustrating to me in life than when you cannot pair. Especially like if you're recording a podcast, you have a microphone, computers, all these different parts. And it's really hard to get them all on the same page together. But it's really simple. if you just plug in a pair of headphones

and you don't not counting on some weird technology to maybe work like 30% of the time. I've had my car for six years and I swear to God every time I get in it looks at my phone like they've never met. Like hey, yeah right like excuse me. Hello? Danny Kelly.

No, I'm not new here. Danny Kelly is beaming right now. This is Danny Kelly's strongest take. Literally of all those takes he has about anything literally it's number one is this is DK just hates Bluetooth and doesn't understand absolutely the most validating thing I've ever heard

Mina, thank you. I have the exact same experience with Bluetooth. It's just randomly connecting to other fucking Bluetooth things in your house. Like you drive up to your house and like suddenly my phone is connected to the car or whatever. Like it's just so annoying. I hate that shit. Just ask me if you want me

to join a new Bluetooth like you know like I'm downstairs listening to my speaker and all of a sudden it turns off and I'm like Where did it go? I don't know where it was. This is like magic. And I just, I just, this is like Wi-Fi airplane. Like, this is magic.

I couldn't explain to you if I had a thousand years how it works. And it works. And it works for my things. And I don't know. I don't know. That's amazing. So I'm always losing those little earbuds. Leaving them in Uber's and such.

Don't ask me how it happens. Mina, thank you very much. Is there anything you want to plug or just want to make fun at Dekis League? Yeah, you guys, if you're listening to this, Check out Minicam Show featuring Lenny. D.K. was just on. Talk about football year long. So Lex.

It's your guys' this old friend. I said, I'm sure. I know you see your friend. It comes on a lot. And I would like to come back on if I beat Danny, but I don't want to come back on if I don't. If you beat Danny or we can either finish Gilded Age or if you turn back on the summer, I turn pretty.

One of those. I'm going to check it out, especially now that it's already been spoiled for me. Oh, yeah. Sorry. My bad. You took the bullet. We bleeped it for the show.

So now people know it's interesting. But, you know, there we go. Meena, thank you very much. All right. Thank you to Meena for coming on. DK. Any other preseason things you wanted? Is there anything else in your mind?

The only thing we didn't hit with her was just the charges. Rishon Slater, the left tackles out for the season. That was the only thing. I mean, just freaking brutal. Because there's been stats floating around about how much better their offense is when he's in there. It's kind of like a Trent Williams deal where when he's out, the offense really struggles when he's in.

it's really dominant. So yeah, it's, it's terrible, man. The charges are just absolutely cursed. Yeah. So I feel terrible for that, that whole team. It's kind of a bummer. And it, I think, lowers my expectations for fantasy, generally speaking for pretty much everyone on that team right now.

No, I think it has to, including a Marion Hampton, who we're getting excited about. And it's tough because, well, a number of reasons. It's, it's weird because for the team, it's bad for him. It's great because, well, great. But Slater, he had just signed that big contract. It's, it was like two years, 56 million guaranteed. and then up to four years for $144 million for Shons later.

Or sorry, $114 million. So he signed it and then like a week later, you know, Terresus Patel attended out for the season. It's like a painful injury. I mean, that's why guys hold in. That's why you look at James Cook, who's not going to practice. It gets paid.

Like all these guys, you're like, it is a business. Like that's why you sign it. Because guess what? If you had done this, charges aren't giving him $56 million guaranteed if you'd sign this deal. Yeah. So that is why guys, you know, they seem like, oh, not team first attitude.

It's like, well, you do have to do that sometimes. So that's why you do it. It sucks for him. And so they're going to move Joe Alt, who is obviously the very highly touted prospect of under Notre Dame, who was a left tackle. He was at right tackle and I was going to snip, snap, go back to left tackle. But it's just all charges O lines, like a little bit of a question. They wanted to move Zion Johnson, left guard to center.

And Bradley Bowes in the center might have played guard. Now they already moved that back back. But it's like, no one's really in the right position. Joe Alt has been practicing at right tackle and it's going to be left. And Zion Johnson was learning to play center. And I was back to guard. And Bradley Bosom was going to stop playing center. And I was back there.

You know, it's like Mackay Beckton, the new play. layer at right guards now the only guy he's been there you know so it just it's just it's not usually how like great teams start a season frankly i mean yeah when i see like joe alt is still there and able to move to left tackle i'm like that's a nice that's amazing it's an amazing backup plan to have but you keep the best one in the league by far right but at the same time you hear about how you don't want one injury to compound because you move everybody and so like you know what i mean like you just said, they're basically moving everybody on the line to like kind of like adapt to this issue. Luckily, it's early enough in the preseason where they're still going to

be able to get some reps and kind of like practice and everything. But I mean, honestly, on offensive line continuity is so, so important. And if you're moving everybody, then you have, you go from one guy being out to basically all five guys sort of trying to learn a new spot and adapt to that spot. It, you know, it can compound and snowball. So I don't know. Obviously, maybe they'll figure it out and it won't be that huge of a deal. It won't be a season altering type of injury, but it doesn't sound good. It doesn't feel good for the chargers. And I think Herbert's good enough to overcome it, but it definitely lowers their ceiling. And the only other thing, related to this, the Eagles landed Dickerson, their excellent guard is also heard. He was

carted off of the practice at the stadium and it's sort of money. We still don't really know what the diagnosis is. He could be out for a week or the season. We don't currently know. But, you know, obviously that matters with the Eagles offensive lines like their whole thing. And they already moved Tyler Steen to right guard to replace McCoy-Becton who left. So, you know, as long as the Eagles have their tackles are pretty great. But the Landon Dickerson injury does matter when, you know, the touch push is such a big part of their identity. But, you know, they acquired Kenyon Green from the Texans. Maybe he would step in.

We'll see. But we don't know how bad that one is. There's a ton of stuff we didn't hit. I don't know. It was like J.J. McCarthy for the Vikings played. But I'm like, he played like, he was mostly just seeing him. He's true panda, you know? Yeah.

Just seeing McCarthy play. It was cool to see him on the field. I thought he looked pretty sharp. I was pretty impressed overall. But yeah, like you said, it was a very small sample. So hopefully we'll get to see a little bit more of them this preseason. I don't know how they're going to end up playing it off. But I don't know.

I watched that and I was pretty impressed. So maybe arrow up a little bit for JJ McCarthy, even though it was one series, I believe. Yeah. Yeah, we'll get to that. The only other thing I wanted to know is just I want to shout out Dan Campbell and Rahim Moore, the coach of the Lions and Falcons for a classy and creative ending to the Lions Falcons game where a horrific situation happened.

We're basically the first play of the fourth quarter, basically Maurice Norris, who's a defensive back for the lines. He was like motionless on the field. He was ambulance off. It was horrific. It was not quite to Mar Hamlin, where they're doing the paddles on his chest for his heart on the field. It wasn't quite that, but it was a very scary situation.

Very scary. And the players were not going to be able to continue. And Dan Campbell and Rahim Morris during the break kind of agreed on something where they snapped the ball, you know, 20 minutes later. they snapped the ball and the 11 players in each side of the field on each team like linked arms and the quarterback just held the ball and they were just going to like have a 15 minute play let the clock go just going to sit there they were like in a prayer circle and they were just going to like let the clock go for 15 minutes because and then eventually eight minutes in

the league like called down and was like Sashon Hockey it was like the game's over so call it and I wanted to watch this because I had heard about it but I wanted to go watch the thing because I wasn't watching it live and on NFL the replay the NFL has scrubs and this from the game. It goes from 14, 50 minute mark to seven in the game. They scrape the six minutes of the NFL players kind of just sitting there like, we will not finish this game. And I just wanted to note that for the record, that they scraped that.

They deleted that. And I've never seen that. It is weird. Yeah, it's weird. Just wanted to note it. Okay. We have a couple episodes coming later this week. We recorded them in advance where Craig is on vacation this week, but we recorded stuff

with Craig. Lessons from last season that we want to remember for this year. It's our memento tattoos. If you guys have been following, we do that every year. So that's going to be the next couple episodes. And then after that, we're going to be at like four episodes a week till like.

It is the playoff basically. Game time. Yeah. Yeah. So it is absolutely like it's game. Yeah. It is. We are ramping up.

It is crazy how quickly this always happens every year. But yeah, the season's basically almost here. We got real football coming up in a few weeks. Yeah. So, okay. Thank you to everyone listening. Thank you to Meena for coming on.

Thank you, D. Craig's here in Spirit. Thank you, Kai. Thank you, Carlos. Thank you, Austin. Thank you, Ronic. Yeah, check out Meena's show, The Meena Klam show with Lenny. Thank you everyone for emailing it. Ring your Fantasy Football at e-mail.com. We still need punishment ideas. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Dua. Dua Lepa. Did you see me? I think this is sending videos on Instagram with Dua-Lipa split in the G. Apparently, she nailed it.

Well, she sold out like five stadiums in a row in somewhere in Dublin or something. And so she split the G. She split the G perfectly in the Guinness. is there is there nothing she can't do no it's just amazing multi-talented artist yeah uh that is impressive though uh i don't know if people saw this but i tried to split the g when we went to uh chicago for our live show and it went it went horrifically yeah it's actually a little bit harder than you think i'm always one beat i'm always one beat off that's the it's gonna be crushed you said to a leap without a mirror i know sorry well this is in remembrance of craig who is on vacation Yeah. We've also done it like five times.

I know. It's fine. It's fine. Whatever. Goodbye, everyone. Must be 21 plus in present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus in present in DC, Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem. Call 1-800-gambler or visit RG dash help.com. Call 1-888-7777 or visit CCP.org slash chat in Connecticut or visit MD gamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gambling helpline, ma.org. or call 800 327-5050 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts

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