The Ringer NFL Show - AFC South Offseason Grades

Episode Date: June 4, 2025

Sheil, Steven, and Diante use their expertise to analyze the AFC South division and discuss each team's offseason moves to determine what their level of success could be in the upcoming NFL season. Houston TexansJacksonville JaguarsIndianapolis ColtsTennessee Titans The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠www.rg-help.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hosts: Sheil Kapadia, Steven Ruiz, and Diante LeeProducer: Chris SuttonSocial: Kiera GivensProduction Supervision: Conor Nevins and Arjuna Ramgopal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Folks, it's Jay Kyle Mann from The Ringer, and as always, basketball is so freaking, freaking good. It's so good, in fact, that The Ringer's NBA Draft Show is finally back just in time for a ramp up to June. We've got you covered every week as we take an in-depth look at who's got next for the NBA's future. We'll talk the rising and falling stocks of the best and the brightest prospects in the 2025 NBA draft class. From Cooper Flagg to Dylan Harper, the BJ Edgecom, and more. tap in with me on the Ringer NBA draft show every Wednesday and make sure that you follow, subscribe, and hit us with those five-star ratings. Welcome to the Ringer NFL show. Shield Capadia here with Stephen Ruiz and Deonté Lee.

We continue our division by division offseason assessments. What have we seen from these teams in the months that led up to, what are we, June 3rd, free agency, the draft trades, all that coaching moves. and then of course we look ahead to expectations. Guys, I just came back, though, from a two-hour field day viewing. When did that when I was a kid, no parents were going to field day? Deonti, when did this happen? Where parents, I'm sorry, I should say, no parents were coming to field day. When did this happen when parents were invited to field day to watch for a couple of hours?

I don't know. I feel like this is where the enabling of the helicopter parent has really kind of gotten out of control with this generation. I don't know what that's about. Like I get the amount of times that I dropped my son off and I get asked like, hey, do you want a chaperone for this? Do you want to show up for this or having this event? Do you want to be here for that?

And I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with that. Of course, I'm going to be there for my child as often as possible. But if it's not an assembly or chaperoning for a field trip, I don't know that I have to be there. I think that my kid would be okay just as they are every other day of school year when I'm not there. Yeah, that's the worst. I feel like that's the worst day as a student for your parents to come. Field day is sacred for the kids.

That's like the end of the year. You get a little treat at the end. I don't want my parents there. I used to cause ruckus on field day. That was my day. Yeah, I agree with you. Exactly. You know, it's like,

it's like where you get that freedom after the quarterback breaks a pocket, right? You can just make contact with any receiver downfield. This is my time to be as physical as I want to be as a kid. I don't have, like, a lot of memories from my like early elementary school days, but I do remember one field day. It was like second grade, first grade, maybe. And they gave us like popsicles at the end of the day.

And like, they were so frozen that they were sticking to the kids' tongues. and it became like a whole issue. Like 10 kids got sent to the nurse's office because I was not one of them. All right. Well, I did not witness that. I witnessed some relay races, of course. Like DeAnda said, always fun, you know. See your kid.

See the other kids. I don't recall. I'm with you guys. And I'm older than you guys. So I didn't know if you, you know, your generation might have started this. Then I could have ripped you. But yeah, I'm with you. You know, that's end of year celebration.

Act up a little bit. Obviously nothing too out of hand. But, you know, some mischief happens. And everybody has a grand old time and you look ahead. to summer. So yeah, I just got back from the sunshine there at Field Day, and now I'm ready. That preps you for getting ready to talk a little AFC South. So that's what we're doing today. Let us start with the Houston Texans. And I think we did finally choose the right day to cover the AFC South because there actually was a bit of news with the Houston Texans here.

This is via Adam Schefter says Texans QB, CJ Stroud continues to not throw at OTAs due to shoulder Sorness. There's no concerns with CJ, said Texans, head coach Damico Ryan's. It's just general soreness. We're taking extra precaution with him, but he'll be good to go. No concerns on my end.

There. Deante, it's always hard this time of year with these types of reports because part of your mind is thinking, oh, yeah, not throwing June 30. He hasn't played a game in months. That doesn't sound good. And the other part of you says, they're not playing a game for a long time. Who cares?

be fine. Where do you land if you're a Texans fan? Because obviously we're going to talk about Stroud in this offense, but just from that report, and it seems like that's the depth of the report, what's your level of concern with C.J. Stroud if you're a Texans fan? Well, it's tricky, right? Because I remember applying all this grave concern to Joe Burrow, not throwing much last off season, right? And it's like, oh my gosh, what's going on with the hand, with the thumb? Is he not going to be able to grip the ball? He's already had all these different kinds of injuries. Are we just bumping into a guy who's soft tissue injuries are just stacking up over time. And that's not to say that C.J. Stroud has that kind of reputation coming into this season.

But it is a bit concerning, right? Like, not that I have to see this guy ripping 55 passes at practice for me to feel good, but if you're not throwing and you're telling me you're not throwing because something's going on physically, it's just something to monitor. I think that if he had to throw, as is with most NFL guys, if you had to play in a game on Sunday, he'd probably be at practice participating. and I think that, you know, maybe just some cautious, just a little bit of cautious kind of set a note

if this transfers over into like, you know, training camp, deeper into OTAs, and we can have more conversations about it, but for the most part, I think we'll probably be just fine. Yeah, I mean, it's a concern if it lingers, but, yeah, I didn't see any problems with his throwing shoulder during the season. I don't know, maybe it's just like a sordness issue, like they're making it out to be, and it's OTAs.

Yeah, I don't think he's missing, like, valuable practices yet. Yeah, for me, it is a thing to keep an eye on on July 26th or whenever they report to Training Camp. You know, if he's at Training Camp and it's still like, no, still feeling a little bit sore, all of a sudden, it becomes a very big story for August and the preseason. Like, this is a team that obviously, I think, is positioned to maybe bounce back here and they made it to the divisional round last year. And we're going to talk about their offense. And C.J. Stroud is a huge, huge part of that, obviously. All of a sudden it becomes a little story to monitor, so not full panic mode,

but something to monitor in the weeks and months ahead. All right, let's grade their offseason. I mean, they made some moves. They made some moves now. There you go, coach speak. On offense, specifically, this offseason, reshaping the O line a little bit, changing coordinators.

So let me recap the ones that I have down for you guys. So they trade Laramie Tunsell and Kenyon Green. They released Shaq Mason, all three starters for them last year. They let Stefan Diggs walk in free agency. They add Christian Kirk at wide receiver. They add left tackle Cam Robinson. Then they take like a million dart throws on offensive linemen who may or may not be starting caliber offensive linemen. You guys can tell me.

Lakin Tomlinson, Ed Ingram, Trent Brown. So a lot of bodies, not a lot of short things there. They draft Ariante Ursary in the second round, who I thought was a good prospect, but maybe not someone who's going to come in and play well for you right away. They draft two Iowa statewide receivers in Jaden Higgins and Jalen Noel. And then they replace Bobby Sloick, who I was thinking, man, we spent a lot of airtime on Bobby Sloick last year. When do we have him fired? Was that like week three of the season? It might have been. You might have had him in the preseason. De I'd say, yeah, we were, we got a lot of things wrong. But I think we were pretty good on that.

They replace offensive coordinator Bobby Sloick with Nick Kaley, who comes over from the Rams. And then the biggest issue maybe on their team was the coaching of the offensive line. Maybe talent and coaching, but certainly coaching was a part of it. And they make kind of an unorthodox move by not going outside the building, but rather promoting assistant offensive line coach, Cole Popovich, to offensive line coach. So a lot of moves on offense. Defensively, it's a lot of running it back. They replace safety Eric Murray with Chauncey Gardner Johnson, but that's about it.

So Ruiz, you add a lot of things. You add all those things up, where do you land on grading the Houston Texans offseason? I mean, the Sloic upgrade alone for me is worthy of a B. And I just think the shift from having C.J. Stroud in this Shanahan-style offense, where we know the quarterback isn't really in control, especially the pre-snap, to what I think is going to be more like the Rams offense we saw the past couple of years since they got in Stafford. And C.J. Stroud has already talked about this during the OTAs during the offseason. And he said he's going to be taking more control before the snap.

And he said that was something we didn't really work on at all the last two years, which I think is a big indictment of Bobby Sloick, given the problems with the offensive line, he said he's going to be able to put his guys in a better position to succeed. I think he's talking about the offensive line there, calling protections. So I think, like, offensive coordinator is usually a small move if the talent doesn't change too much. And I think the offensive line talent, even though there are different names in there, the talent level is still the same.

But I think that could make a huge difference. especially with a guy who I think is just a football junkie in C.J. Stroud, like, I think he's very capable of handling the protections if that's what's going to be the case this year. So I'm going to give him a B because I do like the reshuffling of the offensive line, like, from a financial standpoint, I think people balked at the Laramie Tunsell trade and were like, this offensive line already stunk and then you traded away the best guy on it. You weren't paying attention last year because the Lernery Tunsell was not the best guy on that, or not, he may have been the best guy, but that's a very low bar. But he was a

part of the problem, a major part of the problem, if you look at these penalties last year. So I like running the back with the defense. I like the remade wide receiver core, especially if one of those Iowa State guys hits. I think this team has a better ceiling than it did last year because of the offensive changes. What do you think, Deontay? I'm with them. I gave them a B minus, right? Just because there's really not a lot of high impact moves being made, some of that's intentional. They're going to have a lot of young guys whose contracts are going to be coming up over the next three off seasons that they're going to

have to address, right? A lot of guys who are going to be getting paid at or near the top of the market. So I think that it was smart for them to not be reckless with their money. And I think that in not being reckless, what they actually did is give themselves depth that they basically haven't had since bringing in Will Anderson and C.J. Stroud. And that has been a sneaky issue for them over the last couple of seasons. Their wide receivers have gotten hurt in each of the last couple of seasons. And everybody who's been behind Tank Dell and Nico Collins have just not been up to par for what they need to do in the passing game. I think that there are a lot of ways you can kind of nitpick their approach with drafting wide receivers between getting Jaden Higgins and Jalen O'L when they got them and how they just approached those middle rounds of the draft as a team that didn't make a first round draft pick. But once you look at the depth chart, every piece of it makes a lot more sense. Even bringing in a guy like Justin Watson, who can be a field stretcher, if guys go down, can be a positive ad. You think about Ed Ingram, Trent Brown, is offensive line depth. So even if they haven't necessarily, perfectly address the biggest weakness on the roster.

I think that there's a lot more there. And I think the bet is we just don't want to have as many weak links. If we don't have as many clear weak links, that we will probably be better on offense and the aggregate. And defensively, Stephen said it all, right? Like this was one of the best units in the NFL last year. They landed upon a defensive identity that I wasn't expecting, which was playing a lot more man, really just trusting their front four to get after guys.

And they were very successful at that. And I think that they doubled down on that being their identity. if you look at their too deep going into 2025. I feel really confident about where this team is. It's a B-minus based on their moves, and that doesn't even touch on, like you said, bringing in a new offensive identity with Nick Cayley as an offensive coordinator

and probably putting a lot more in C.J. Strauss hands and maybe trying to build him up to a guy that we know he really admires in Matthew Stafford by bringing in that offensive system and allowing him to kind of operate from the gun in the way the Stafford has in Los Angeles. I honestly like this off-season a lot more than I like their off-season last.

year where they got a lot of the hype because of the Stefan Diggs move. Obviously, you know, DeNeil Hunter comes in too. That was a big one. And I think that was honestly a very good move for them. But I think this one just like solidifies who they are to Deontes point. And defensively, like I just feel like they built the perfect defense for the playoffs specifically. Yes. Being able to rush the passer, being able to play tight man coverage. And they're like a quicksand defense to me, like where if you mess up on first down, it's over. Like you just continue to sink and sink and sink. And once you get behind the, script, it's over. You saw that in the Chargers game.

They could just pounce on you, and they make things very difficult on quarterbacks, even the best quarterbacks, even a quarterback like Justin Herbert, even Pat Mahomes had problems with that defense. The next game after that. Josh Allen in the regular season. Josh Allen in the regular season. Jared Goff, and that offense as a whole, it's a very impressive defense. I think being able to maintain that and start to add little pieces, like, I don't know what CJ Gardner Johnson's going to bring to him,

but I feel like mentality-wise is a perfect fit for what they do. and then they re-signed Derek Stingley Jr. They re-signed Jalen Petrick. I really like where the identity of this defense is going and how it's evolving subtly. Well, I would say, like, to the CJ point, he's now, if they spend most of their time

in nickel, which they probably will, CJ Gardner Johnson is now your fifth best defensive back if you look at that depth chart, right? And if CJ Gardner Johnson's your fifth best DB in your charting lineup, you're probably feeling pretty good about what you're doing in coverage, right? You can really pick the matchups that you want. I do think there's still some holes at

at the linebacker spot. That was an issue that Kansas City just picked on relentlessly. It was basically the only matchup advantage that they had on the field when they were dropping back to pass. So I do still have kind of that flagged is something that could be maybe a limiting factor for this defense. But you look at the rest of this, they've basically got everything you need to be a true contender in 2025 in the way that

I think we all assume they would just be in 2024 because of just the power that or the reputation that C.J. Stroud have built up in his rookie season going in a year too. Yeah, I'm with you guys. feel like we talked about the Texans a lot during the regular season and the playoffs and then the offseason to Ruiz's point, there wasn't like the big splashy move where it's like, all right, we got to lead the show with what the Texans did here, except maybe the Laramie Tunsell trade.

But now sitting back and looking at what they did in totality, it's like the OC change had to be made. I mean, we're talking about that in January. Like, all right, D'Amico Ryans, are you sticking with your guy or are you realizing this is an issue? This offense isn't good enough. you're not maximizing your quarterback and he made a change. Now, I don't know if Nick Kelly is going to be good or not,

but you got to kind of just trust the head coach to try to identify talent on his coaching staff. And so they make a move there. That was a big move. I like sort of the diversity of their wide receiver group. Now, not everyone might hit, but I feel like Nico Collins is obviously a legit number one and you have a lot of options to be complementary pieces around him. So I like that.

The O line is the big one where it wouldn't shock. me if we're October, November going, all right, they made the OC change, but man, this is still, this offensive line is still an issue. Doesn't mean it's definitely going to happen, but there's, there's some variance there. So I think the variance is that, you know, they'll be either a little bit better than they were last year, or this could be, when you look at it statistically, like one of the most improved units in the NFL, their offense if some of these moves hit. So I like that, and you guys mentioned it, Gardner Johnson. I mean, he made some high leverage plays for that Eagles defense against the run specifically, the toughness coming downhill, that kind of thing.

It just fits so perfectly with what the Texans want to do there. So, yeah, I gave them a solid B. I like their offseason as well. The next question is, are they better or worse than last year? Because the way we talked about them at times last year, you would have thought they were probably 6 and 11. They did make the divisional round. They're in that game against the Chiefs.

They went 10 and 7. They lose 2314. Now, what's that a little fluky? do the underlying numbers back up that they were a 10 and 17. We can talk about that, but they were 10 and 7 the year before as well. Deonte, do you feel like this is a better team than we saw last year? I feel pretty emphatically that they're situated better going into 2025 than they were going into 2024. And I do think that there will be a better team.

And I think that there's a chance that they're the team that I thought they were last year. We were doing preview content and I had them as a number one seed in the AFC. I think that that's a lot more likely looking at this roster, knowing what we know about the players on this team now versus what we saw in 2024. So especially if we get anything closer to the CJ Stroud that we saw in 23, I think that there's a really good chance that this can be right back to being a team that's hosting a game in the divisional round of the playoffs. Yeah, I definitely think they're better,

but I think your point about the offensive line shield is a good one, and one that can't just be glossed over like me and Deonti kind of did, just because we've seen in that RAM system, which Nick Haley's coming over from, when they don't have an offensive line, it kind of struggles, especially in the run game. And very well, like in September,

we could be talking about the same issues we were talking about last year, no run game, offensive line issues all over the place. I wouldn't be surprised if that happened. But I still think it's an upgrade over what they had offensively last year. When we were talking about the stat,

like the success rate stats, and they were behind like the Panthers and all these bad teams and the giants, They can't be the same as last year. I think they're going to be improved on offense. And I think the defense is going to pick up right where it left off last year. Yeah, that's why I've got them better too. And I'll just reiterate those stats that I probably said during every conversation

about the Texans during the regular season, 31st in offensive success rate last year ahead of only the Cleveland Browns. And success rate, again, is just how often are you producing a positive play? So a 10-yard gain on 3rd and 9 is the same as a 40-yard gain. So it doesn't measure explosives and turnover as well, but it measures consistency. How often are you producing a positive play? I mean, that's pathetic with C.J. Stroud healthy for 17 games

to rank 31st in offensive success rate. They were 25th in EPA per drive. And so, you know, the year before, C.J. Stroud was 9th, just the passing game as a rookie, ninth in success rate, seventh in EPA per pass play. So this looks like a group. And then remember, that was with a banged up offensive line. They had injuries. It's not like that was a perfect situation.

So it really does look like a group that is positioned for a bounce back offensively. So I look at that and just say, all right, they're going to, you know, they have to be better than they were last year. Now, does that mean they're going to get past the divisional round? We'll see. I think they probably have a better chance. You know, I'm with you. If I look at it compared to what I was thinking last year, now I feel like they do have a chance to pile up some wins in the regular season, put themselves in better position, win in different ways, both defensively and

maybe with the passing game more than they could last year. So yeah, I've got them better than last year. I forgot to give the odds at the top here. They are plus 1.15 to win the division. They're tied for fifth to get out of the AFC with the Broncos and the Chargers. So they're behind the big three of the Ravens, Chiefs, and Bills. And then the Bengals are just ahead of them fourth. And then that next tier is Texans, Broncos, and Chargers. I would probably put the Texans in the Bengals tier, I think. I don't think the Bengals necessarily really have a better chance than them to get to the Super Bowl, right?

Yeah, yeah. You beat me to it. I was looking at Super Bowl laws there plus 2,500. And I think in the NFL rates are like 11th or 12. And to me, this doesn't feel like a fringe play. That's like fringe playoff team type. Yeah. Like the Chargers, I think, belong in that spot.

The Broncos belong in that kind of spot. I do view them a lot closer to the Bengals, right? a team that I do expect to make the playoffs. And if everything is aligned properly, that's a team that could very easily end up in the AFC championship game. They're not at the level of Buffalo, Kansas City or Baltimore,

but they can very easily be one of those teams that can knock them off, especially if they have a hot regular season and they're hosting a game in the playoffs. Yeah, they're probably going to host a game in the playoffs if they make you because I'm assuming they won the division. They wouldn't win the division.

It's going to be tough for them to beat the Ravens, even if they do get bounced back seasons from the defense. But I would, yeah, I would definitely put the tech. I might put the Texans ahead of the Bengals, actually, because I think their defense is just as good as the Bengals offense. And I think the offense for the Texans has a way higher ceiling than the Bengals defense does this year. Yeah, that's fair. I agree with that.

Yeah, if you believe in the Bengals offense, you believe in the Texans defense. And then you look at the other side of the ball, you know, who has a better chance to overperform. I mean, it's easily the Texans offense. Yeah, I said the Delta is probably pretty big. Yeah, I think it's pretty big. So we'll say they're minus 144 to make the playoffs over under for wins. It's nine and a half. I'm with you guys.

It feels a little undervalue. Now, let's see with this Stroud injury. Maybe the betting markets know something we don't know about that, but it does just at first glance they feel a little bit undervalued this year. All right. Way too early prediction, Ruiz. What do you have for the Houston, Texas? I have that C.J. Shroud will get at least one MVP vote this year.

Okay. I think that he was one of the more underrated quarterback, especially down the stretch of the second half last year, just because his stats weren't where they were, and people were talking about regression. I saw people comparing him to Bryce Young, which I just think is laughable at this point. I do think the playoffs,

like winning a playoff game alone kind of rehabilitated the image of how his season win, and I don't think he's really getting underrated during the off season. But I can see him take a big leap, just because, like I said earlier, he's stepping up into what I would call big boy offense.

He's getting the keys to the offense. He's not relying on his offensive coordinator to set him up on first and second down, which usually set him, back on third down. I think you're going to see a lot fewer third and tens for C.J. Stroud. And quarterbacks tend to put up their biggest numbers on first and second down. Deonti? Yeah, I'm with her. I'm saying I still own the C.J. Stroud stock. I'm with you, Ruiz. I'm not selling. What do you think, Deontay? I'm there as well. It's funny that

even brings that up, right? Like, I think that for most casual NFL fans or teams that are not, are guys that are not paying specific attention to the Texans, you really had three opportunities to see them. It was a disaster game on Halloween against the Jets. which is just awful. So now that's part of your, part of your impression of the team. You get the Christmas Day game against the Ravens, which is just like an absolute pummeling.

And then you do get a little bit of reclamation in the wild card against the Chargers, right? So if you had those two regular season games, you probably felt a particular kind of way. The Lions game, right, and the Lions game, which was a mess in the second half on both sides of the ball for the Texans.

So you probably do walk away in the regular season being like, oh, this team is a fraud. And then they beat the Chargers. And now it's like, oh, the Texans and Chargers are frauds. not maybe a more holy stake picture of what their season was like. I'm with Stephen with that, and I would say that my way too early prediction is actually on the other side of the ball

because my expectations on offense are a little too volatile right now. I feel like you might have the same one as me. I think this is going to be the number one defense in the NFL, and I think they're going to have two players in the top five, a defensive player of the year voting. Who are the two players? Will Anderson and Stingley and Anderson. All right.

There you go. Mine is Will Anderson wins defensive player of the year. way too early. Prediction. He's at plus 1,300. Seven sacks his first season, 11 sacks last year, complete player. If Deontes right. And I do think I feel like I have them in the Eagles kind of in the top tier.

And we know that defense year to year, usually the best defense doesn't, you know, it's hard to be the best defense two years in a row. Eagles were the best defense last year. I think if I had to pick a team to overtake them, I would have the Texans as that team. And to Ruiz's point, I love that it's not just. juicing up your stats against trash quarterbacks for lack of a better term, that it's when they face the big boys, they're ready for it. They have a plan.

They do different stuff and they're able to compete against the best quarterbacks in the NFL. I think that elevates them against some of the other defenses that might put up good stats. And all right, you look at their EPA at the end of the year, whatever, DVOA. But it's like, do I trust them against Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes? And oftentimes the answer is no. Well, I think that's a fascinating thing about. Because if you look at their schedule outside of those big three in the AFC, you look at the rest of who they're playing.

There's really no other clear underdogs. And two of the four, two of the four games outside of those big three that they play against playoff teams are at home. Right. So, and two of those are happening early in the season. You have the bucks in the rounds as a first two opponents of the season for them. If you're able to split those games, I expect them to kind of dominate this division. And then you're able to be competitive against those big three teams in the AFC.

we could very easily look up. And maybe just like last year, even if they struggle on offense, you can look up and this is still an 11 and 16. Just because their schedule, I think, is pretty friendly and that defense is dominant enough to basically be able to control most of the games against the opponents that they have this year. Yeah, I'm with you. If you just look at the Super Bowl odds, schedule strength,

they're right there, middle of the pack. It's not a hard schedule specifically for a team that's coming off first place in their division the year before. So they're in a good spot there playing in the AFC. South. All right. Let's take a break. We look at these other teams. Do any of these teams? Who's going to challenge the Texans? Do any of them have a chance to be a wildcard team? We will get to the Jaguars, Colts, and Titans when we get back.

All right. We are back on the Ringer NFL show. Second in division odds, barely over the Colts, are the Jacksonville Jaguars at plus 290. They are plus 172 to make the playoffs. Over Under for wins is 7.5. a half another team with some offseason turnover remember the whole charade early in the offseason we want to keep trent bulky and just hire a new head coach all head coaches say no thank you we are not interested in that setup they say okay how about we fire trent balky then will you come yes okay then leom cohen says all right yeah then i'm interested so they end up with james gladstone as their new gm Liam Cohen as their new head coach there.

They lose some veteran offensive linemen and Gabe Davis and Evan Ingram so that they lose all those guys on offense. They add Travis Hunter in the big trade draft day trade. They signed Diami Brown at wide receiver. Defensively, it's so funny doing the Jaguars right up, it's like offensively add Travis Hunter. Defensively, add Travis Hunter. If Travis Hunter can be what, you know, they kind of do need him to be like that guy. On both sides of the ball, we'll, of course, discuss his role here in a minute. They add Jordan Lewis, the nickel from the Cowboys there,

and then they've got a first-time DC that comes over from the Packers. Ruiz, their off-season. A lot of things there, I just threw your way. Where do you land on the Jaguars off-season? I'll give them a C-plus just because of the regime change. I think that's a positive step in the right direction. But I think you look at the roster, I don't feel any more optimistic about the roster alone.

Forget about the coaching staff, forget about the GM and the direction of the franchise. I don't feel much better about this roster than I did about the roster going into last year, which was obviously flawed. I think the offensive line changes they did make. I don't know how impactful those are going to, I'm not like a big,

Patrick McCarrey's going to turn around the Jaguars' offensive line guy. Liam Cohen, it's a first year coach, a guy who has one year calling plays in the NFL. It's hard. Like, I was very impressed, with what I saw out of him last year in Tampa Bay. But he had one of the best offensive lines in the NFL last year. I think that was one of the more underrated things about the Bucks offensive success

was how good their offensive line was. I do think Liam Cohn deserves some credit for scheming up the run game to make the offensive line look a little better than they maybe were. But I just don't see the parts here to replicate that success. So I think it's another struggle year for the Jaguars. But if this is the right coaching staff and James Gladstone can live up to all those epic speeches he's been giving in the offseason, I think next year might be the year where they can step up and contend with the Texans and give them a fair fight. But I think this year,

there's still a year away. So I'm going to give them a seat because I think this was more, you know, clearing out some stuff, some bad stuff from the roster last year and kind of just standing pat. As the president of team content, Deonti, I really should be giving them an A because James Gladstone. I mean, what a fun new character in my life. I'm just walking around my house, talking in his voice in my head. And yeah, I can't get enough. I will take all the James Gladstone content that there is. So if nothing else, it makes the Jaguars a little bit more relevant.

But yeah, I had to see also. You know, I thought, am I being a hater? But then, like, in addition to what Ruiz said, where I look at the roster and I'm like, all right, you give Jordan Lewis is a 30-year-old nickel and you gave him 10 million per year. And I like Jordan Lewis, but that's pretty rich. Diommy Brown's career high for receiving yards is 308. and you gave him one year $10 million. Eric Murray is a 31-year-old safety.

You know, you're paying him a decent amount. So I looked at all those things, and then I looked at our unproven DC. We don't know what we're getting there. And then I just looked at, all right, let's do a little process over results here and how they landed on Liam Cohen. You know, this was not a smooth operation in the offseason.

And so I understand that they got to a place where maybe it looks okay. But when you have an owner who's been the losing owner in the NFL during his tenure. I can't ignore the fact at how they got to some of these things. So yeah, I don't think I am being a hater. I landed on a C, Deonte. Is that fair or are you a little more bullish?

Before Deonti answers, I do wonder, like, if we took the names away and you just looked at the moves, this isn't like a huge departure away from the bulky front office. I agree with that. That was the exact point I was going to make. It's like, if this was a blind item thing and we just, we just detailed the moves that were made and didn't talk about the stock that each of these names have coming into the job. People were like, yeah, it's probably about a C. And that's what I'm giving them for this offseason, right?

Like, getting Travis Hunter is cool and it's a lot of fun, but they also gave up a lot to get them. So I am trying to balance that out. I don't want to be presumptive that the best version of Travis Hunter shows up and weigh that more than if he's just decent or above average at both spots and you trade it away, basically quarterback capital. like we're drafting a quarterback draft capital in order to go get the guy

how I would feel about that. And then I look at the rest of the roster. The offensive line, not moved. You look at the wide receiver room, not really moved. You look at the defensive front, which is where we thought they would be addressing

a lot of their issues in the off season. They don't do much there. I'm not really moved with that either. I don't have a lot of warm feelings about this team, but I am willing, I am willing to be optimistic if they give me something

to be optimistic about, right? I'm not going to slam them coming into the season because there is an opportunity for them to make positive regression. I just don't know if they made the best spending moves and if this roster is really constructed to be anything other than what they've been over the last few years under Trevor Lawrence. I will say this for Gladstone. It wasn't quite like what the Chargers had to deal with

when they took over to Lesco, but it wasn't far off from it, I don't think. I think they needed an offseason like this where you make some mid-level moves for some vets rather than trying to blow it up and build it back up in one off season. With Travis Hunter, I'm wondering how, you know, again, I'm looking at it going.

They could use him a corner. Oh, but wide receiver next to Brian Thomas Jr. That's interesting too. So I think I ended when I was thinking about it. All right, where should he play more? Where might his focus be more? I think I landed on offense just because I feel like you hired the offensive coach.

You're trying to get Trevor Lawrence to bounce back from who he was last year. You got Brian Thomas Jr. on ones, like, that could, there's potential for that to be exciting and maybe for him to have more of an impact there on offense. But I could be swayed. Deante, where are you with how Travis Hunter should be used as a rookie here? I mean, I think it's receiver because I think that's where the bigger need is. Outside of Brian Thomas, there's really not a lot of reliable production that we've had.

Parker Washington is one of those. You know, if you were a fantasy, if you were a fantasy guy, that's a guy you have on the bench that you feel bad the day that he gets to start because maybe he gets eight catches and a touchdown because there's really not much else available in that offense. So they definitely need Travis Hunter to be productive. I'm really interested to see what his role is in that capacity, right? Like, is he operating more out of the slot? Are you trying more outside?

He does not necessarily have to be the number one rod receiver because it's entirely possible that Brian Thomas is an all pro level player in year two based on just some of the flashes that we got in 2024. And then you look at the defensive, you look at the defensive backfield. And if he is a corner, you don't necessarily have like an A tier number one guy in Tyson Campbell because he's hurt often and his production has been up and down throughout his career. But you do have somebody in that slot. And Jerry and Jones, I think, is a nice kind of bar for you to set for Travis Hunter to say,

if you're the corner that we think you are, you beat this guy in camp and you're playing opposite Tyson Campbell. If not, then we're just probably going to focus more of our energy on the offensive side of the ball is the way that I would be looking at it if I were the staff. Ruiz, where are you with that? Travis Hunter's role as a rookie? Yeah, I think that makes sense. I think putting him where they have the biggest need,

and I think, I don't know, I think it would be easy for him to kind of have a package on defense and just kind of play and use his natural ability, especially if it's like a third down package compared to offense, where I think he needs a lot of help in, like, the details department. I think that's where he needs the most work if he's going to become a star at either spot. So, yeah, I would probably start him with a heavy offensive load and it kind of work the defense in as we went along.

Okay, I'm going to be Coach Brain for a second. Here's my one concern with this, the whole package on defense thing. I think that's a lot harder to do with the defensive back than it is to do with like a defensive lineman, right? Yeah, that makes sense. You're bringing a DB who might not be working full time on defense. Okay, so what, is that dime? I think that if you're looking at Anthony Campanile as a defensive coordinator and where he's come from from Michigan, you know, from Michigan to the Miami Dolphins for a little bit to working with the Packers for a second. You look at all those systems he was in very zone heavy.

So now you have to probably be very intentional about what kind of zone coverage responsibility is my putting on a guy who's not a full-time corner. And if you're that tendency-based where we know you're not going to blitz him, right? We know you're going to be in a certain spot. Maybe you're playing a lot of cover two to his side so that way he can be more of a free guy and you're not putting a lot on his plate in terms of adjusting coverages. I can see a world where he's okay or productive in terms of getting hands on. the ball, but he's not necessarily an additive to the value of the defense just based on when

he's on the field, because it would have already been an obvious passing situation or something to that effect. I think that would be more my concern is that the stats look one way, but the impact is maybe more muted because of the situations when you do see him in on defense. And eventually, if this team does have, is able to meet his playoff aspirations, I think that having tendencies that type could be a problem for you when you're dealing with some of the elite quarterbacks and offensive play calls that you're going to be seen in the AFC. Yeah.

Yeah, it's an interesting risk-reward thing that you kind of painted there, Deonté, because it's like you don't play him on defense just to say you're playing him on defense. Right. You play him on defense because you feel like he can do things that whoever the replacement level guy is can't do. Right.

And so if you're playing him and it's like, there's not that much of a difference, well, now you're putting extra mileage on him, you're putting extra snaps on him. Does that change who he is on offense? So yeah, it's fun because we have it. We've literally not seen a player like this in our lifetimes, but they got to be able to figure all that stuff out

and come up with a good plan by the time we get to week one and then see how it evolves maybe throughout the course of this season. All right. Better or worse, it kind of feels like it has to be an easy better because this team was 4 and 13 last year, disaster season. They were 2 and 8 with Trevor Lawrence. Now, they were a little unlucky. They were 3 and 10 in games decided by 7 points.

or less. So, man, 14 of the 17 games there, you know, they were, they were a pretty competitive team. They were 24th in turnover EPA, and now they do face the eighth easiest schedule. So, Deonti, you look at those things. Is there a chance? What are the chances that this can be a little bit of a surprise team that finds itself in the playoffs or in the playoff mix? without really getting into the scheme and the strategy and all that, I think it's going to be better because you have the head coach that's not such a fucking bummer every week in front of every press conference looking like he does not want to be there anymore,

looking like he hates every money of what it takes to get this team from one Sunday to the next. I think that there's going to be an improvement in vibes on that alone. And I will say, I mean, there's a lot we don't know about Liam Cohen as a head coach, right, because he hasn't been in his capacity. But what we have seen over the last few years is that he's very quarterback-friendly. And that's been, I guess that's been the book on him throughout his career, right? It wasn't necessarily certain when he would be ready to take over play calling responsibilities when he was younger, but that he's always been good with quarterbacks and understanding how to translate the system in a way that quarterbacks can easily glom onto.

We saw the best example of that with Baker Mayfield last season. And I do think that he'll be good for Trevor Lawrence in that respect too, right? And I think that the arc of Trevor's career has been so difficult to kind of pin down because it's been so different stylistic. early industrial is a lot of quick game, a lot of RPO, a lot of mesh concepts, man beaters and stuff like that. And he looked really good when he was healthy. And then over the last two years, it's been a lot more deep pockets trying to take these big shots behind an offensive line that can't protect him. And he's banged up. So I'm just fascinated to see what Liam Cohen thinks of the quarterback that he has now, right? Do you want to use him more as a

bootleg, mobile guy that can go out and extend plays and throw the ball underneath for guys to go create after? Or do you want to set up more than Matthew Stafford, big pocket, seven-man protections? We're going to really push the ball. And we're going to trust our quarterback when the looks not there to make the checks at the line of scrimmage to get us into the best play. That to me is going to be, I think, how we synthesize the way we feel about this season for the Jaguars is just what kind of quarterback Trevor Lawrence becomes under what is now his third head coach in a half decade. I do wonder if that falls, do you think that falls more on what he thinks of his quarterback or what he thinks on the supporting cast?

Because I think it's going to be more about Trevor. I think that this will ultimately be more about Trevor. And I think that for us in the media, the conversation is going to be more about Trevor, obviously, than it will be about the supporting cast. So even if the supporting cast is a limiting factor, ultimately now this guy's on a second contract, I don't love that it's like this with how we evaluate quarterbacks all the time because they can put guys in unfair situations. But the truth of the matter is that this falls on the quarterback's shoulders at this stage.

I think definitely in this offense. Like, you look at the tape from last year, and you just look at Trevor's negative plays, there's a lot going on in these plays. Like, the wide receivers are missing their landmarks almost every time. There's interceptions because of the spacing on the field. Like, it was a poorly coached offense last year, and they were trying to do a high-wire act,

essentially because they had no run game, no early-down run game. So they're in obvious passing situations. To Deontes point, they're taking these deep drops, trying to throw the ball down field and running these routes where the receiver has the option to convert them. We run this route against one coverage, run this route against another coverage. And there was miscommunications.

It's all over the field in addition to the spacing issues, in addition to the past protection issue. It was just like a terrible environment to play quarterback in. And Trevor has his own faults, but I think those issues in particular really highlighted his faults with like accuracy and decision making. So I'm very interested to see what version of Trevor Lawrence we get. I have high hopes just because I think Liam Cohen is a quarterback-friendly coach, like you said. But it may take a while because you need some personnel around him.

And I just don't think they have the personnel at this point. So I was trying to think about what the fair expectations are for Trevor Lawrence based on what we saw with Baker Mayfield last year. And so I think to your guy's point, the supporting cast, the environment is not going to be as good. you know, we can probably have a debate about wide receiver. Chris Godwin played seven games last year. Brian Thomas Jr. is awesome. I think there's a Mike Evans comp there in terms of what he gets with the number one guy.

I think the offensive line is worse than it was in Tampa. But I doubted Liam Cohen going into last year, I was making Liam Cohen jokes a lot. And he was awesome last year. I totally agree with what Ruiz, you said earlier. I was really impressed with him last year, finding him. for his personnel in that buck's offense. And just statistically, I mean, the bucks, fourth in EPA per play, third in success rate,

seventh in offensive DVOA last year. Like, this was a really, really good offense. It wasn't just slightly above average. It was legit, one of the best offenses in the NFL. So when you look at, all right, that's the constant as Liam Cohen goes from Tampa to now Jacksonville. Ruiz, what are fair expectations when you say, all right, I think Trevor Lawrence should be this statistically or the offense should be this

statistically this year. Obviously not knowing injuries and all those kinds of things that can happen. Just kind of what are fair expectations for what we should see in 2025 just with the change in coaching staff. I would say like fringe top 10 offense or fringe top 10 passing game. I guess he doesn't really have as much control over the run game as much as Cohen in the offensive line and the running backs would. Yeah, but I expect him to have. have a much better environment. I expect to see the full measure of who Trevor Lawrence is, and I think his mistakes

will be easier to pin on him solely rather than the supporting cast. But I'm expecting like a year similar, in terms of production alone, I think like a year, like his second year where he looks like a Pro Bowl quarterback basically by the end of it, I think that's a fair bar to set for him

just because of the personnel issues. If this was a stronger team around him, maybe a better offensive line, I think you would have higher expectations. Like you need to make a Pro Bowl, maybe you need to be like C.J. Stroud and get an MVP vote. But I think right now, if he can get them to top 10, I think that's a very impressive feat for him. That feels fair, Deonti, I think, because I'm with the Ruiz. We have, listen, Lawrence's career has been sort of, you know, I don't know if one of a kind is the right word, but there have been highs, there have been lows. But yes, he did, he has had a full season where he has performed statistically like whatever, top six, top eight, top 10, whatever you want to say type quarterback.

And so that has been proven. There is a proof of concept there that that's in there somewhere. It's not like just, oh, wishcasting because this guy had the tools and was taken one overall. We have seen it for a full regular season. And I think that feels fair that around that top 10 range should be a fair expectation with a number one wide receiver and with an offensive coordinator who has done it before. You agree with that, Deonti? I think that that's right up the upper edge of my expectations right now for Trevor Lawrence. To me, if we got a 2025 from him that looked like Gino Smith last year, I'd be satisfied.

That's interesting. And I still had a lot of qualms with the way that Gino was playing on the back half of the season. Obviously, that's informed by offensive line issues. That's informed by Ryan Grubb, struggling as a play caller. So there were other, you know, kind of, there was a confluence of events that definitely held Gino back at certain points. And I just think that the offense is just not well constructed in general to begin with. But I think if you can get that out of Trevor Lawrence, you're probably, satisfied. To me, it's more about what he can't be. He can't come into the season and try to be

what Brock Pretty was last year, where it's super highs for a few weeks at a time. And then another stretch of weeks where he can never convert on third down. He's taking a bunch of bad sacks. He's putting the ball in harm's way, right? I think of Kyler Murray sometimes in that respect as well. I think of late season Sam Donald last year in that respect to like he can't be that style of quarterback with what I think this team needs to maximize its window. He's going to have to be at absolute best, a Jared Gough type of player. And to me, just stylistically, we don't really see, we have not seen a lot of that from Trevor Lawrence, right, where it's very much by the book.

I know my progression is one, to here, to hear, to hear. The second I don't like it, I'm checking it down. I'll take my four yards to my slot receiver, and we'll get right back on the ball and try again in the passing game on the next down. If Liam Kohn is able to get that kind of like polished play, timing-based play out of him a la Jared Gough, all right, Baker, Mayfield before he really started taking chances over the last month and a half of the season, that would be like excellent. That will put him in the top 10 to me. I think that the most

realistic thing is probably somewhere between 12 and 15 and that's kind of where I look at Gino Smith. Yeah, that makes, I mean, I feel like the heat got turned up on Trevor Lawrence just from a narrative public standpoint last year for sure. I think the issues Ruiz mentioned are true and the flaws are true as well. And so you want to get sort of an environment where you say, all right, these people around you have done, have performed at this level before you are the change. What does it look like? And so there certainly is some pressure on him, I think this year to perform, like you said, at least a solid starter, consistent level. And I think there is a little bit of a ceiling, even though I think a lot of people are selling

their stocks or a lot of people are tired of hearing about it's not Trevor Lawrence's fault going into this season. Okay. Let me frame it this way. If you, He has the exact season that Jalen Hertz had in 2024. How do we feel about Trevor Lawrence? Stylistically, production-wise, what is the conversation around Trevor Lawrence coming out of that season? What is it? And let's say they go like 9 and 8th, right?

But he has a take a bunch of sacks, doesn't really push the ball down the field, but you don't get a bunch of turnovers out of him. How do we feel about him at the corner of that stage? I know how I would feel if he played like Jalen Hertz next year. I think I would be very disappointed. You'd be disappointed. Right.

I think the one thing he does need is consistency. I don't think you got that out of Jalen Hertz during the regular season at all. There were very high highs for Jalen Hertz. There were very low, low. There was some ugly film throughout his season last year, and I think that the same can be said for Trevor throughout his career. I think we've seen a lot of flashes,

but we haven't seen him put it together for a full year, which obviously the supporting cast and the coaching staff plays into that a lot. But I do think, if Cohen is who I think he is, just from a offensive designer and not necessarily a head coach because those are two different things, then I think he should show more consistency this year and I'll be disappointed if he doesn't.

Because what Cohen did show last year, especially for Baker Mayfield, was the easy buttons. They were producing so much off of throws behind the line of scrimmage, a little screen passes out to the perimeter where I think if you can scheme those things up again, then Trevor Lawrence's stats should look a lot better

than maybe even his play looks if you watch it on tape. All right. Way too early prediction on the general. Jaguars, I can go first here. Deonti kind of mentioned it earlier a little bit. How about Brian Thomas Jr. is a first team, all pro wide receiver? So, I mean, his rookie season, 1,282 yards. He was fifth in the NFL in yards per route run. In the last 25 years, here are the rookies who have had more receiving yards than Brian Thomas Jr. in their first seasons. Puka Nakua, Jamar Chase, Justin Jefferson, Anquan Bolden, O'Dell Beckham Jr.

That's it. So it's hard to crack that, you know, first team all pro. They name three of them. Justin Jefferson, Jamar Chase are hard to beat out. But can Brian Thomas Jr. potentially enter the fray there as a first team all pro? So that'll be my way too early, bold prediction. Deontay, what do you got? So this is going to be less about the season and more about Travis Hunter specifically. And I guess my way too early take is just like trying to set my own expectations of them. And I'll frame this as a question as well. if he is basically the Diggs brothers on both sides of the ball, is that worth the trade that they made to go bring him in?

100% in my opinion. I would say so too. And I think that's kind of the ceiling I'd want to set for him as a player. I love that. The brothers. The Diggs brothers combined, one person. I think Diggs is good at separating. I think that when you watch him at least over the last couple of years,

it's not about sharp route running as much as just like body control, knowing how to change tempo. And he's much better at the line of scrimmish, Stefan Diggs is than what Travis Hunter is coming into the league. But I think if you can be that kind of wide receiver, that you can move around and use on double moves, push the ball downfield too, that would be great value for this offense.

And if he's Trevon Diggs on the other side, where he's going to give up an explosive every once in a while because the guy just ran six routes on the other side of the ball. And, you know, he's only playing a certain amount of coverages and teams are attacking them that way. But if you throw the ball, then the wrong spot, he's going to pick it off. to me that's worth making the trade. If you can get that at one player, that's certainly worth it.

Yeah, I'm looking at it now. So Stefan Diggs, multiple, all pro seasons, you know, four-time pro bowler. And then like you said, Trevon Diggs might not be for everybody, but I think you're getting a plus corner playmaker. Second contract is paid over $19 million per year. It almost feels crazy. Like at first I was like, come on, I don't know. And then I'm like, man, those actually are very high expectations to be to get that in one player. Yeah, to get that in one player. Yeah, I think that's right.

Ruiz, what do you got? All right, mine is also Travis Hunter related. I'm going to say Travis Hunter leads the team in touchdowns on offense in touchdown receptions over Brian Thomas Jr. I don't think it's a Hunter is going to be a better receiver than Brian Thomas Jr. I just think when they get in the red zone, I think Liam Cohen's going to cook a little bit.

I think you're going to see Travis Hunter's ability with the ball in his hands kind of shine. and I think his ability to go up and catch the ball and make 50-50 catches, which I think is one of the more underrated aspects of his game as a receiver. I think you're going to see that. Because in Colorado, at Colorado,

when it was third and we got to have it, like Shador just threw it up to Travis Hunter and he usually came down with the ball in most cases. It's a great play. Yeah. Throw it up to Travis Hunter. It worked well for them. Yeah, and I could see them like making an extra effort

to kind of get a lot out of Travis Hunter after what they invested in this offseason. It's going to be fat. The usage piece, of it is going to be so fascinating to me. Like, I can already see myself seven, eight weeks into the season being like, he's an early down bubble screen

and JetSuite merchant, right? Because they're just, you know, kind of manufacturing touches for him. And I think that that's going to be a really good way to use the guy, especially if the run game isn't there. It's to just pop the ball out to him the way the Buccaneers did with Chris Godwin when he was healthy and just let him go cook, make it a glorified

punt return every first down, basically. And then in the red zone, that's where it probably, it will be nice for him to be a great route runner, but you're just going to put him in a slot, run them in a bunch of motions, and try to get him out in the flat and go make a guy miss. So I think that if that's the bulk of the targets that we see from him on early downs, we're probably going to be pretty happy with the receiver that he is as a rookie. I love Ruiz's point about they're going to try to get a lot out of him because that's the, you know, the politics of an NFL franchise, who, you know,

you have a first-time head coach, a first-time GM, a bad franchise, who has the owners of player. Yeah, the GM just took a big swing, a big swing in his first draft. And now you are motivated, incentivized to make that big swing, regardless of everything else. I mean, there will be other stuff he's judged on. But that Travis Hunter trade is going to be a big part of what James Gladstone will be judged on in his first two to three years. And then you're going to have Liam Cohen and you're going to have a defensive coordinator and a defensive backs coach. And like, there's a lot of people like, yeah, I don't know, it's not as easy as maybe we thought it was going to be. Or hey, let's get him to play a little bit more on our side of the ball, all those things at play, which make it such a fun experiment. And listen, it makes them relevant. I'm going to want to watch his snaps every single week.

Travis Hunter, touching the ball on offense, playing defense. He is going to be one of the most exciting players to watch, regardless of what the production looks like and the team success looks like. All right, we take a break. We come back.

We will get to the Colts and the Titans. All right. We are back on the Ringer NFL show, the Indianapolis Colts just behind the Jaguars in division odds plus 300. They are plus 180 to make the playoffs. They're over under for wins is seven and a half. You look at their offseason, they wanted to bring in competition for Anthony Richardson. They go with Daniel Jones as his backup.

In terms of the draft, they get Tyler Warren falling to them. They draft the Penn State tight end. They make some moves on defense replacing Gus Bradley with Lou Ann Rumo defensively, they also spend more than they usually spend specifically in the secondary, adding Charverius Ward and Cambinam. They spend a second round pick on defensive lineman J.T. Tui Malau. So a more active offseason, I feel like that we typically see from the Indianapolis Colts. Ruiz, where do you settle on the Colts offseason?

I'm going to give it a B just because I like the moves to the defensive secondary. I think that was necessary, especially bringing in Luana Ruma. I don't think they could have ran it back with that same defensive back group. I think the results may have been similar to what he saw in Cincinnati last year, if that was the case of the last two years. To Daniel Jones move, I get it, but that's a lot of money for a backup quarterback or just competition. And I would have much rather seen them just go all in on Anthony Richardson this year.

If he stinks, then you draft a quarterback next year. I don't get this, like, kind of putting one foot in the water and not really committing to either way. But this offense, like the receiver core, that's where I'm kind of look at it. I'm like, they couldn't have done anything to improve this. That's where I think they kind of left the box unchecked in the offseason. Why not giving them higher marks?

I kind of looked at the supporting cast here. I'll be honest. And I'm like, this is a little better than I thought it was at the end of last year. Now, maybe I'm putting a lot in Tyler Warren, but Michael Pittman Jr. is not like a great number one wide. receiver, but he is a fine option. You've got Josh Downs. You've got Jonathan Taylor. You got Tyler Warren. Can he be good as a rookie?

And the offensive line isn't bad there. So as we know, we do these exercises. And sometimes I'm like, oh, you know, I kind of thought, but it's not that bad for a quarterback. Now, I gave him a B minus Deonté because I like, like Ruiz said, I like the moves on defense to be aggressive. And I like the Tyler Warren pick. I can't get behind the offseason messaging with this team.

and how they've handled the victory. I'm not saying Richardson is blameless. But it's just like, I don't understand how they keep passing the buck to, this guy doesn't work hard, this guy's habits are bad, this guy is inexperienced, this guy's raw.

It's like, you drafted this guy, where was your plan for, your job is to help him, not complain about it. Like, this is what the money is for. All right, you don't like his work habits,

you don't think he's prepared. Guess what? Communicate. with the quarterback who you spent a first round pick on. Let him know what the expectations are. Put him in place to improve. And it's like their offseason messaging is like a pee-wee team or something. Like we need to light a fire under him.

Like that's the biggest issue with Anthony Richardson is you need to light a fire under him. Like aren't there things mechanically or play calling wise or scheme-wise at play here to help him be better as well? So like I had to give him a B-minus because I don't mind a lot of the personnel moves. But I zoom out and I look at just the messaging and how they're handling this. And it's kind of like, do they just want this experiment to be over? And so that they can move on to the next thing. So, Deonti, I gave them a B minus here.

I think that what's at the heart of this is the fact that they already have one foot out the door with the Anthony Richardson experience. It feels that way. Yeah. And I just don't think that anybody wants to verbalize that because of the big swing they took on the guy. That to me, I think, is what it is, right? is that there's no running from the accountability involved for Shane Steichen and Chris Ballard that, yeah, we handed this very young guy who did not have a lot of experience, the keys to the franchise. We assumed maybe out of our own hubris that, hey, this talent alone is going to be enough.

And we all know what we're doing so well that all we've got to do is dropping him in and hand on the playbook. And the guy's just going to get it because he's too talented and we're too good at our jobs for it to bail. And the moment that it went sideways, now the messaging is all over. over the place. We can't get one solid message to come out of this organization about what the exact plan is to fix what they think ails this young guy. And I think that the longer that this has gone on, the more that my stance is adjusted from pointing very directly at Anthony Richardson for not understanding what the gig is and more to the people around him for not having a plan put together. Getting Daniels in this offseason is haphazard. Whether I think it's the right move or not,

I do think they needed a veteran to back him up. It's a haphazard move. You backed up, you put a guy that's often injured and has not played his best football in the last couple of seasons behind a guy that you're not certain is mature enough to hold down this job for a 17 game season. That's a problem. That's not the right way to approach that

unless the message was going to be, Daniel Jones is just here in case Anthony Richardson twists his ankle. That's what it feels like, right? To me, I don't know if I don't know if I buy it that way. To me, I feel like if Shane Seichen is at practice and feels like Daniel Jones is out playing Anthony Richardson, that he might go into Chris Baller's office and say, hey, what is it going to take for me to get the veteran in this job? Right. How do we need to message this in case I need Daniel Jones to take Anthony Richardson's job without it being proceeded by an injury

or something like that? That to me, I think, is the most concerning thing. Everything outside of that I'm fine with. I gave them a C plus because I'm fine with what they did defensively. I'm fine with them hiring Luan Arumo. I think that's the right way to pivot off of what they were doing with Gus Bradley for, God, it feels like a generation now of him just calling mediocre defense in Indianapolis. I think that the pieces fit a Luanarumo defense a little bit better as well than what he was dealing with in Cincinnati. But God, it is so hard to look at this offensive depth chart and not think, to your point shield, none of these guys are bad.

This offensive line can be an above average group, at least with their tackle situation. and having Quentin Nelson at left guard, you should be able to move the ball on the ground with your quarterback running back combo. The wide receivers are just enough where if you're good in the passing game, you can be competitive. And I think if you're going to get better play out of the defense,

the problem is just that I don't trust any of these people involved, and I don't trust the quarterback in conjunction with them either. So my expectations are low, even if I'm kind of happy with where this roster stands right now. I don't know if this is new or not, but I noticed that Anthony Richardson added a senior to his last name. Maybe he's trying to have. Got to add a little maturity wherever you can, man.

That's how you add it. What better way. He's throw a senior on it. I'm a father. There you go. I mean, the Daniel Jones thing, I kind of with Deontay. I mean, they're paying for, like you, Ruiz, you said a lot of money. They're paying $14 million per year.

That's the highest. If he's a backup, he's the highest paid backup. That's a guy you expect to play. The NFL coming off a season in multiple seasons where he was one of the worst starters in the NFL wasn't a great situation. But, I mean, since he's had the injury issue. There was a time where I was in the camp of, this guy has some tools, you know, maybe get him with Andy Reid or something in a better situation.

There's something there. I don't think it's necessarily looked like that in recent years since he's had those injuries. And so I don't know what their plan is. I could see a scenario where the coaching staff, maybe even the GM, says, let's play Daniel Jones. Richardson's still not getting it. Whatever it is, they feel like he needs to get that they can't get through to him. Again, it's all very vague.

but they're not shy about putting it out there that he needs to mature, he needs to prepare more, whatever the case may be. I mean, they benched him last year. That was as clear as could be. So, yeah,

it wouldn't be shocking to me if Daniel Jones plays here, but we shall see. So better or worse is a little bit of a tough one. You know, they went eight and nine last year. They were a pretty mediocre team or slightly below average,

kind of any way you want to look at it. Richardson started 11 games, Flacco started six games. Ruiz better or worse than last year, the Indianapolis Colt. It is a tough one. I'm going to go with worse, just because I do think eight wins was impressive for everything that went on with them. I think if they get eight wins this year, there could be a universe where they get the same amount of wins, but you feel a lot better because maybe Anthony Richardson shows something at all. Or maybe like some Tyler Warren proves to be a star like a Brock Bauer situation last year.

But yeah, I don't see how this team like improves drastically. And I don't see how they regress drastically because everything that went wrong last year basically went wrong for them. I do think Anthony Richardson shows a little bit of something. I don't know if it's enough to like be like, this is our guy. We're going to stick with him for the next couple of years. But I do think he ends up winning that job. And that's more a comment on Daniel Jones who was dealing with some like very scary injuries at the end of his giant's career where you were almost questioning whether this guy was going to have a future in the end. He was going to keep playing.

And he was playing horribly when you saw it. He was like he was worse than he was in previous years when people were a little too low on him, in my opinion. But this is a bad quarterback room at the end of the day if nobody improves drastic. If Anthony Richardson doesn't really improve. So I'm going to go with worse, but I think the vibes are basically the same as last year. Deonti, what do you think? I think that they are the same objectively. I think I just feel worse about this team.

So I'm going to say worse because I just don't trust, you know, not to reiterate too many times, I just don't trust Anthony Richardson in his development under Shane Steichen. To me, I struggle so much with trying to wrap my mind around what is going to change materially for all the parties involved on the offensive side of the ball to make this an easier transition for Anthony Richardson, and now you do have a veteran that's making over a dozen million dollars standing right behind you, right? And Daniel Jones is not a ceiling razor by any means, but he'll throw

the checkdown. And maybe Shane Stuyckett is just at that phase in his career where, you know, I mean, you might miss the checkdown too, though. Like, that's the funny. That's the funny thing about like the maturity and the preparation talking point is like, that's not necessarily Anthony Richardson's problem. The problem is the guy can't complete a five-yard pass. And I don't know how much watching film isn't going to unlock his ability to complete a five-yard pass. And I agree with, and that's part, that's been part of my problem with this from the beginning is that it seems like nobody just wants to speak frankly to the fact that he has just not been dependable in the pocket. It's just been as simple and easy as that. And they brought

in a guy who's not dependable, but his holder and the way that, and I guess in any other situations, I would not take that as a serious bullet point against an Anthony Richardson, but to Shields point, just the messaging that we've seen since he tapped himself out of the game last regular season has been that maturity is the problem. And if maturity is a problem, Daniel Jones is not going to do stuff like that. He plays through his injuries, right? Like, you kind of do know the quarterback you're going to get from him on a week-by-week basis, even if it's not the most sexy or enticing thing to watch.

I can just see a world where Shane Snyck and feels like I've got to distance myself from Anthony Richardson being the guy I took a bet on. and I'm just going to go with the mature guy that I've seen because we coached against him in the NFC East for a few years and I trust that he's going to give me what it is that I want out of this offense even if it is lowering the ceiling pretty significantly because of where Daniel Jones is at athletically compared to Anthony Richardson. I do feel like we're glossing over some of the strengths that Anthony Richardson has shown

when he has played. Like the guy has shown an ability to avoid sacks, which was a thing in college, like at an impressive level too. And even on the play that he got benched for where he throws a guy like a 300, pound defensive line. Or like maybe the most impressive play a quarterback's made out of the pocket all you did. I just remember Brian Flores being asked

about it the next week and being like, I mean, I think most guys would have tapped out after what he did. Like he pulled off like a superhuman effort to do that. If Brian Flores isn't doing like the tough guy like, oh, you never tap out of the game, then I'm gonna, I'm gonna side with Brian Forrest on tough guy matters. That's all I'm saying about that.

And he has shown an ability to complete deep passes at a higher rate than the average quarterback. So he might not be able to complete a five-yard pass, but the guy can completed 25 to 35-yard pass, as well as basically anyone in the NFL at this point. This is where I pull a shield, and I use Stevens' words against Stephen. Steven is the first got to tell you that a deep pass is not a quarterback stat. It's a wide receiver step because it's a high variance throw.

But that's the hang-up, right? That's the hang-up for me with Anthony Richardson. It was like, yeah, you can chuck the ball deeper than anybody in the league. What else are you doing to add value in the passing game? We just haven't seen it demonstrated enough. And I do think that that's not only his weight to bear, but the fact that we have not seen enough from him tools-wise to suggest that he can fix that problem without a severe amount of coaching

just leaves me feeling like this team is kind of dead in the water the way it's currently constructed. But just in terms of comparing him to Daniel Jones, like I don't, where is the Daniel Jones the huge advantage besides being able to complete a checkdown pass? And even Daniel Jones has a lot of accuracy problems. And I think he's going to take more sacks. So you kind of like give up 100%.

It's a give and take no matter what. Worse in the run game. Yeah, there isn't. Now, listen, Richardson was 36 out of 36 quarterbacks in EPA per pass play last year. But Daniel Jones was 34. So, yeah, to your point. And I do sort of tend to side a little bit with Ruiz. And there have been highs where at least I say, if you took a, if I were in the organization,

I would say, we invested a first round pick in this guy. And there haven't been enough highs. There's not been enough consistency. accuracy might be a fatal flaw that he never gets over, but there have been enough highs where let's do everything we can to see if there is a little bit more there and see what it looks like. I do agree with that. I mean, like, I do think those plays have existed where you say,

I could give you a playlist of I don't know how many plays it would be. Maybe it would be 10. Maybe it would be 25. Maybe it wouldn't be more than that. But where you would say not many quarterbacks in the NFL can do what he just did on this play. And that to me is at least something there to work with. It might never happen.

But you drafted him. Like you drafted him. So find out. You have no backup plan. You have Daniel Jones behind him. You don't have someone behind him. What's the upside too with Daniel Jones? Daniel Jones has there's no side.

There's none. I don't want to come across like I'm advocating for Daniel Jones to be a starter. I'm just trying to be as realistic as possible about what the outlook is for this team. Right? Like to me, this is worse than what Trey Lance was in San Francisco. Cisco because at that stage, you still have Kyle Shanahan calling the place. You still have Trent Williams at left tackle. You still have Brandon and I youth playing wide receiver.

You still have George Kittle at tight in. And you had already seen demonstrated an elite offense in the past game and the run game at different points, even if we didn't think that Jimmy Garapolo was that level of quarterback. So it was very clear that, okay, Trey Lance is not ready, right? That was the only conversation we needed to have because we're not dealing with those levels of that caliber of play calling, that caliber of coaching, this team, this team's front offense has not engendered a lot of trust, I think, outside of Indianapolis for us on the

outside looking in. So it does leave this in a very convoluted space where it's hard to divorce what exactly is Anthony Richardson's fault outside of the issues with accuracy, right? And how much of this does fall on Shane Steichen and Chris Ballard and what they've built around him. So I'm just kind of out on the whole experiment. This is not just a Anthony Richardson indictment to me. This is me just kind of being out on their handling of this process since they picked him. All right. Colts fans, if you're like, this is depressing. I have them a little bit better than last year because they won eight games.

And again, statistically, they had the worst quarterback play in the NFL. So even if you improve a little bit there, there's a chance. If I felt better about the infrastructure and if I felt like they were committed to, hey, let's find out what we have with this quarterback, I could make a sleepery case that they could win 9, 10 games and make the playoffs. I mean, they have the 10th easiest schedule. They're better in the secondary than they were last year. And I'm not saying Tyler Warren's going to be Brock Bowers,

but maybe if he can just be like a, you know, if he can be a plus tight end, then that's more than you had last year. So I think that case exists. I just don't trust the infrastructure. I think maybe this is one of those teams where we get a week eight, you know, Jay Glazer report. You know, Shane Stuyken wasn't really in on that Anthony Richardson pick. But, you know, he was new there.

I could see this thing just spiraling out of control there in Indianapolis. So yeah, I've got them a little bit better. I think that possibility exists, but I'm not confident enough to say, hey, they're a sleeper in the AFC and can make the playoffs. All right. Way too early prediction, Deontay, what do you got? Well, way too early prediction is that this is the worst team in the division and everybody's fired. Ooh, okay.

All right. That's just kind of where I'm at. It's where I'm at. I just, the indicators are not positive to me. And again, we just had the entire Anthony Richardson conversation. We've had a version of that multiple times over.

My issue is with the everything else. So I have a question for you guys. 51 running backs last year that had at least 100 touches. Where do you think Jonathan Taylor ranked in success rate last season? Well, you're asking me, so I'm thinking it's going to be pretty low. It ain't top 10 if I'm asking, right? 37.

He was 38th. Behind Remandre Stevenson, behind Kareem Hunt, behind Nick Chubb, behind Amir Abdullah. These are all guys that were either replaced or just not brought our benched during the season. That's not a Jonathan Taylor indictment. That's an offensive health indictment. So even when they don't have the best version of Anthony Richardson pushing the ball downfield, they have not addressed that by leaning in or creating a new super strength or raising the floor enough to where it's not as damage. when Anthony Richardson is throwing an early down in completion.

That to me is a big time concern. The defense to me, now you're bringing in these veteran guys on the back end, who I do think are a good fit for what Luana Ruma wants to do defensively, but we still have not gotten the high-end pass rush for a team that has made multiple additions on its defensive line over the last half decade to do so. If they're middling again, which they've kind of been in Laitu Latu, as a good pure pass rusher, had some kind of flashes early, you know, early in his rookie season

and then it was kind of up and down and got a little dinged up so we didn't necessarily get to see the best version of him. But even what I saw, a lot of that is like clean-up sacks, cleanup quarterback hits, cleanup pressures.

I don't know if they have anything dependable where I should feel like this team will be one of the more improved ones in the AFC and you look at their schedule it's going to be really tough to me. They play a lot of playoff teams. You're not the Texans

where you don't have to see yourself twice a year. You've got to see all the other best teams in the AFC. This is just not a lot of, a friendly scenario to me for Indianapolis. I don't think that they're going to be one of the worst teams in the NFL on a week-by-week basis. I just don't think that this is going to be conducive to them having positive regressive this

year. All right, Deontes got me rethinking my prediction, but I already have it written down. So I'm just going to go with it. Ruiz did make the point last year often that the run game with Richardson versus with flaco. There was a big kind of gap. It was a huge. Yeah.

They went from like the top 10 off on the game to like the worst. running game. Right. So I've got, you know, they were 10th and rushing DVOA overall. Now, I think, again, a lot of that was probably with Richardson. I'm going to say they have a top five run game. I think if Shane Steikens gets in job survival mode and it's like, all right, we're playing Richardson, what are we going to do? I just think the pieces exist there, you know, maybe Taylor's a little bit healthier. If Richardson's in there and they're saying, this is our only path and the offensive line looks like a strength, maybe they just totally lean into that. Then maybe the defense is better. so they feel like, hey, we can play this way and win games this year.

So, again, don't feel great about that, about the after the stats that Diante just gave us, but that that's my way too early prediction. Ruiz, what do you know? I have the same exact prediction. I wasn't bold enough to go best running game in the NFL just because of a commitment to it. But I do think it's going to be top five. And I think you can kind of see with the quarterbacks they chose to back up Richardson that they don't want to have a flacko situation where they can't, you know,

access this quarterback run game. If Richardson does get bench or does go down to injury, they have Daniel Jones that could run the same style of offense. Even Riley Leonard. My other option for a prediction was going to be that Riley Leonard starts at least one game. Because, yeah, two injury prone quarterback. They're also two bad quarterbacks, but they're also two injury prone quarterbacks ahead of them on the depth chart.

And I can see things going real south for Indianapolis, where in week 17, they kind of get like a Joe Milton late season start. But yeah, I do think the run, like say what you want about Shane's as a head coach, the guy could still design run play. All right. I don't disagree. It's just like you look at the depth chart. They've only got one way to run the ball.

Tyler Warren is not a great in-line blocker. So it's going to be a lot of spread RPO game. Yeah. I have to see it. I've got to see it, right? The best run games in the NFL are the ones that can switch gears and do a bunch of different things, get heavy bodies on the field and still be able to move players in between the tackles.

We don't necessarily see that. I don't see anything that projects towards that, unless the interior of this offensive line takes a massive step forward. It is not necessarily built to be mallers in between the tackles for me. I do think we've seen like flashes of a very high-level run game when Richardson is out there. Even without like, like you said, like they don't have the ability to run in different ways like the lions do, for instance. But we have seen Stuyken be able to get creative with his run concepts and throw different looks at teams and kind of come up with bespoke run designs for the fronts that they're seeing. So maybe, like, I think my optimism is based on Richardson starting most of the games.

I think if you get Daniel Jones out there who's taking a lot of knocks over the last couple years. I don't think he's quite the runner he was a couple years ago. But I do think if Richardson stays on, we're going to see a more expansive run game. And I think not that it's going to be like something that elevates this offense where it could be a top 10 offense and these teammates to playoffs. I think it's just like a matter of like we can't run. We can't pass the ball. So let's throw in all of our resources to running the ball. Yeah.

I've just got to see it. I've got to see it without Jeff Stoutwin as your offensive line coach, because I just don't know that I've seen a lot of them. You don't get to borrow from the good will you build up in Philadelphia to me. You also don't have Jason Kelsey. You have Tanner correct. Nobody has left Philadelphia and been able to replicate that offensive, that offensive run game since leaving.

That sounds like this could be a Deonté Lee candidate for Fraud Watch in August, if I'm reading between the lines here with some of those comments. All right. That's the Indianapolis Colts last. team the Tennessee Titans plus 750 to win the division plus 440 to make the playoffs. The only teams in the NFL with worst playoff odds are the Jets, Saints, Browns, and Giants. They're over under for wins is five and a half, which I don't know. I think that's tied for the lowest in the entire NFL. Having said that, I feel like this may be a more optimistic conversation than we just

had with the Indianapolis cold. So their offseason, they make a change at GM, ran Carthon out, Mike Borgonzi in from the Chiefs, and then of course they land the number one overall pick. They draft Cam Ward. They add a couple veteran offensive linemen in Dan Moore Jr. from the Steelers and Kevin Zitler from the Lions. Wide receiver had Van Jefferson and Tyler Lockett to Calvin Ridley.

And then I think they make some sort of maybe not the most significant moves on defense, just changing some of the guys around. Ruiz, you look at this offseason for the Tennessee Titans. What is your grade? I'm going to give him a day because I'm more interested in watching the Titans that I've ever been in my entire life after the offseason, just because I think you're adding a quarterback who is very exciting to watch for me. One of my favorite quarterbacks I've watched, quarterback prospects I've watched over

the last couple years. Not saying he's one of the best. It's one of the more fun ones. And I also like, like, they took, it wasn't just, it wasn't just, like on the offense and defensive, they remade their special teams, which was an issue at times last year. It was a big issue, actually, if you look at the numbers, I think that might make a difference where we're not necessarily giving them credit during the offseason, but when you look back in the special teams, you make a huge game there. I think that will make a big deal in the standings,

to make a big difference in the standings. And defensively, like, I like the pieces. I'm interested to see where they go the second year in this system. This Mike McDonald's system was the one Mike McDonald's assistant who didn't get into the top 10 or get near a top 10 defense, but I think that DeNard Wilson is going to have a way better year in season two. I don't see them being competitive yet, but I think they could win like five games, which is a big upgrade from where they were.

And I think you're going to be optimistic about the quarterback situation going forward whether Brian Callahan is the guy that's going to lead Cam Ward over the next 10 years or so in his career. So I'll give them what I'm... Dejanta? I give him an A, right? You give him an A? You give him an A? Deante, you giving him an A or a little lower than that? A little strong for me. I'm going B, though.

Like, it probably would have been B plus A minus if they had done something a little bit more impressive at the wide receiver spot, right? Like, I would need to see a big time year out of Calvin Ridley for me to feel a lot better about this passing game. But I think for everything else that they needed to address that, I thought they did so really effectively. You get Kevin Zitler, you're able to move Peter Skoranski onto the inside, full time. You don't have to worry about him being a swing tackle for you in case guys go down. You move J.C. Latham to the right tackle spot, which is a better fit for him. Obviously, really up and down, really up and down early in his career. So you hope for a little bit better play for him in that respect.

And then you get Dan Moore, who is not the most impressive pass protector, but he can run block a bit, right? And I think that similar to how we were talking about the Texans, I think that making these moves now, again, the aggregate is no weaklings, right? We're looking to bring in a Lloyd Cush, you have a Lloyd Cushinberry, you have Peter Skoronsky and Kevin Dightler on the interior. that looks a lot more like no weaklings of what they had last year. And I think that if you're banking on JC late them to be anything like what he was at Alabama

at the right tackle spot, you're probably going to be pretty well positioned, I think, to get a lot better. And maybe a Jackson Slater, who they drafted in the late rounds was a pretty good athlete, maybe not the most powerful guy, maybe he's able to beat a Kevin Zitler out, right, and play along the interior as well. So I'm optimistic that they'll be able to build something a little bit more sustainable in the run game on that end of the ball. And then on the other defensively, I talked about this with Tavondre Sweat when he's on the field.

Their run defense got a lot better. The issue was that he's a nose tackle. So you're already not going to get a lot of snaps out of a big guy like that. And you're not going to be able to access the personnel groupings that get him on the field very often. It teams are playing more spread out. So they approached this offseason with just building along the rest of their defensive front. You bring him to Carlos Watkins is not the most impressive player, but we'll give them good depth. Obviously, you bring your Jamon Jones to start on the edge, big body guy to help you set edge.

is Cody Barton to be kind of your above replacement level linebacker playing on the inside with the rest of that core. And I do trust that Dinard Wilson can build a passing defense that doesn't give up explosive plays because we just saw that in 2024. They were actually pretty effective about middle of the pack for a team that doesn't have a lot of high-end talent on the back end. I don't think that this is going to be some worst-to-first type of team at all, but I do think that what Steven said, this can be a six-seven win team.

their schedule is pretty light as well, which we'll get to as we continue the conversation. I just like the way that they approached this. This to me was a solid B, maybe a B plus if you think a guy like Chimir, Dike, or Elym andor can make a big leap early in their career. Yeah, I give them a B plus just because they had a plan. You know, I didn't realize the plan probably as it was unfolding. I'm going, why is this team signing Kevin Zitler and Dan Moore Jr. I should have seen that well.

You're drafting a rookie quarterback. You want veterans up there. You don't let like Deonti said. You don't want to have a weak link where you're gambling on a young guy who you don't know what you're going to get from them. These are maybe not Pro Bowl level players, but they should be reliable vets to add to the first round pick investments you've made up there up front. So I think that was a good plan. I'm with you guys. If you could have added one more wide receiver, then I would really say, okay, this is really interesting.

You're positioning him for success here. But I think you did enough. Like the number one thing for that rookie quarterback is protect them. You don't want them developing bad habits. and I think they tried their best to do that here with this offseason. So I'm with Ruiz. You should be excited if you're a Titans fan. I mean, it's fun to have the rookie quarterback who has upside, who's exciting, who's fun.

And I think Cam Ward checks all those boxes. It doesn't mean he's going to be awesome right away. It doesn't even mean he's going to be awesome ever. But there is that chance there and that hope. It's like, you know, your baseball fan and the prospect gets called up and they're making their first start. Like, that is exciting. That's an exciting part. about being a sports fan.

So I think there's reason for a little bit of excitement there. Better or worse than last year? I mean, three and 14 last year with a minus 149 point differential. I think it's got to be a better. Now, Ruiz said maybe better as in five wins. Deiante said maybe better as in six and seven wins. So Ruiz, you don't see like, how much are you sticking to that five wins thing? Is there a little bit more upside?

or would you be surprised if they were like, let's say, seven and ten, eight and nine? I would kind of be surprised. I'm just out on Brian Callahan. And maybe I'm just like over-indexing the sideline outbursts. And we had a lot of fun with that last season. But how about some emotional maturity, you know, Anthony Richardson getting ripped for the,

how about the coach here with the Titans? I would agree, I'm with you on that. Don't back down from that take. That's a good take. Yeah. And I think, I do think they've gone, in a lot of places on the roster, or they've gone from below replacement to just above replacement,

which I think in the aggregate, it's going to make a big deal. And the special teams point, I don't think we can belabor it enough. Like they were not only dead last in special teams, DBOA, their DVOA was minus 8.4% and the next team was minus 5.6. So there was a 3% cap between those two. And I just remember that Lions game, one of the weirdest games ever where the Lions, like, lived in the Red Zone because of the special teams issues Tennessee had.

And it was like an all year thing. I think remaking that new special teams coordinator with Bones Fossil coming in, new play sticker, new punter. I think we're going to see them, you know, gain some stuff in the margins. I mean, literally an abject disaster. Like almost every week something was going wrong on special teams, even if it wasn't as explosive as that Lions game where I think they had like a kick return and a part return housed in multiple special teams plays that landed the ball on the wrong side of the 50 yard line for the Titans. they went out and got Johnny Hecker, I think, to be their punter, who's a very dependable guy, even if his leg isn't as big as it was a few years ago. I think that they've addressed, they brought in a returner of their own in Chimery Jika in the draft.

He should be pretty good for them, a four-three guy who can kind of help them out in the return game. There's just so many marginal improvements for this team. It's pretty clearly better for me in that respect. And you did what you needed to do, which is address the quarterback position. even if I'm out as out on Brian Callahan as Stephen is, I just feel like the roster is so much better position for them to not be an embarrassing watch. I mean, doing power rankings and having to watch this team

on a week-by-week basis was a chore. Maybe the biggest chore out of anybody in the NFL. Yeah, yeah, I'm with you guys. I mean, fourth easiest schedule, special teams you would think would be better. Second year, same defensive scheme. I mean, the upside here for your Titans fan and say, hey, give me a little more optimism.

Can you get a Jaden Daniels? or C.J. Stroud type rookie season from Kim Ward. It's not likely. I don't want to make it sound like those happen all the time because those were literally two of the best we've seen probably in the last decade, maybe longer than that. I can sort of see it with the offensive line. With this supporting cast,

I would have a hard time seeing Kim Ward performing at that level. And I'm with you. I need to see something from the coach. If I felt like the coach could really give him an edge and put him in position to succeed, then maybe I would be more bullish, on that happening. So maybe they'll surprise, but I'm with you guys where that that would shock me if they got up to that level. So I think better and you're just hoping that

Kim Ward gives you those highlights. Don't worry about the low lights. You know, there can be interceptions and sacks and as Ruiz coined them last year, got a little bozo in and plays. Those are okay. That's what a rookie season is for. But do you also see the highs and do you see a little bit of improvement where you go into December, January being like, oh, it is going to be really interesting to see what they do in the off season. And maybe this could be a team to watch in 2020. It's not how Titans fans deal with the lows. It's how Brian Callahan deals with the lows.

True. No kidding. They might be a little bit more level-headed there. All right. Way too early prediction. I'll be honest. I had one written down that Brian Callahan is fired at the end of the season. And then I thought, it's kind of mean, she'll, you know. So summer's around the corner here.

It's sunny outside. Be nice. So I didn't do that. We'll see if either of you have. have that. I went with Cam Ward wins offensive rookie of the year. So Ashton, it's not that bold of a prediction, but he's not the favorite. Ashton

Genty is the favorite. Cam Ward is at plus 380. So those are good odds if you think he's going to win it. I feel like he will do enough as a rookie to win offensive rookie of the year. So that's mine. Deontae, you fire in the coach or you got something else? I'm not firing this coach. I was

just going to say, I feel like since I've been on the show, I've kind of done the space jam, taking a Shield's coach firing power. since I've been here because he has definitely gotten a bit softer. I've gotten soft, yeah. Over the last year and a half. But my prediction is that this team is not picking in the top eight in the draft next year. Oh, okay.

So I think that they'll be, they will be firmly out of the drags of the NFL, but not necessarily ready to be a playoff team. If there is an issue on this schedule, it's the fact that only two of the seven games that I expect that they'll be playing against playoff quality teams are at home. and those two home games is going to be against the Rams early in the season. So the old guys, Devante Adams and Matthew Stafford, will still have fresh legs. And then late in the season, it's against Kansas City.

And that's about the time that they start ramping stuff up in preparation to contend. So I don't feel good about those home games against playoff teams in that respect. But I do still think that the defense is going to be about league average, which to me is going to give you an opportunity to be in those one-score games. And now you're just kind of relying upon a variance. And I think that Cam Ward, in the way that he plays quarterback, in the way that we've heard about his preparation and how competitive he is and what we saw in Miami at his absolute best, that there's a chance that he'll be the next kind of older starting quarterback

coming in as a rookie that is ahead of the curve and able to get this team over the hump and some of those close games. And if that's the case, then I think that even if he's not C.J. Stroud, as a rookie, you can get to a 6 and 11, 7, and 10 type of season based on how the rest of the roster is set up. All right, Ruiz. What are you got? Finish the show with your way too early prediction.

All right. Meadillo are on the same page today because my prediction was Cam Wardman's offensive brady the year. But since he went with that, I'm going to pivot. I'm going to steal his other one. I'm going to say Brian Caliban gets fired. Because I do think, and I have reasoning behind this, I do think there are a lot of expectations on him.

Now, after they spend in the offseason, they bolstered the offensive line and bring in Tyler Lockett. They obviously traded for, or they signed, Calvin Ridley last year. That was another big investment. I don't think he's going to be able to meet the standard that I think the front office is looking for after they, you know, reinforce the offensive line and the receiving core.

So I think there's a higher bar than he can reach with this team, which I still think at the end of the day, four wins, five wins, maybe six wins. Yeah, we've discussed it before that. Just because you draft a quarterback eye, there's this thought that that gives job security to the coach. And it really just has not been the case throughout the course of NFL history. specifically the last 10, 20 years, whatever it is. And they already made the GM change.

So the GM's not going anywhere, you would think. So now if the GM says, hey, you brought me in last offseason, Callahan's not my guy. We didn't perform the expectations. We invested in Cam Ward. We need a different coach to put him in the right direction. Then that becomes a pretty easy change. And their ownership has just been kind of all over the place with their moves.

Ever since kind of the Vrabel firing and the power struggle there. They made it. The GM, John Robinson ran Carthorne. Now Mike Borganzi. So I'm with you. Like, it's not just, hey, this guy's acting emotionally on the sidelines. He's going to be fired. It's kind of like there are pieces in place where just if you look at the landscape of the NFL, it's the type of setup that could lend itself to a coach being fired if the season doesn't go specific.

There's a bigger microscope on you, especially with a rookie quarterback. And, like, Will Levis regressed last year. Will Levis was better in his rookie season than he was in his second season, which is very concerning to me. Because in theory, he should have fit the type of offense that Tennessee wants to run under Brian Kelly. I'm like an undercenter play action guy. And it just didn't work at all. And I'll call my shot a little bit more. I'll say that not only does he get fired, I think Joe Brady is the next coach of the Tennessee Titans in 2020.

No, that would be interesting. That would be interesting. I was going to say, though, to really kind of hammer the point home, not only is this a GM that was not the guy that hired you, anything that goes right with Cam Ward is going to be much more a Borgonzi thing than a Callahan thing. And if you just had a horrible year and Mason Rudolph was your starter all year, that's one thing. You're walking in the door as the guy who screwed up the last young quarterback that you were with. Whether we think that Will Levis contributed to those problems and watching a lot of those games, a lot of the problem was Will Levis and his decision-making.

Unfortunately, that's just not how this works for head coaches. And if you look at Mike Borganzi and where he comes from, I mean, you're talking about a guy that's probably going to be about as precious with quarterbacks as a new GM hire can be coming from Kansas City because he got to see the ideal of all ideals with Patrick Mahomes and the passing of the torch from

Alex Smith to Patrick Mahomes. I don't think that the leash is going to be very long here. If Stephen is right and they start off this season, maybe one in three, one and four, and Cam Ward or Stowing picks because it looks like he's not being coached up on how to kind of iron out some of the stuff with his mechanics and how he handles the pocket

and trying to work before the snap. I don't think the Borgonzi is going to be hesitant to make a move. And we haven't heard very much from Amy Adam Strunk either, which I kind of read as she handed this thing off to a guy who was working at the Super Bowl winning organization and said, hey, go do your thing. Go bring us Super Bowls. And I think that Borgonzi is probably going to have a lot of power there to be able to make moves with this staff as he sees fit. And that kind of pretends poorly, I think, for a guy like Brian Callahan right now.

All right. There you go. The AFC South offseason grades, predictions, all that stuff. That's a wrap on the AFC. So if you missed any of the other divisions in the AFC, those are in the Ringer NFL feed. We also did the NFC West. So we've got three to go. We will do in the weeks ahead, NFC East, NFC South, and NFC North.

Thank you to Stephen Ruiz and Deonté Lee. Thank you to Christopher Sutton for producing and Kira Givens on social. Potta, we will talk to you next time on the Ringer NFL show. Must be 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in D.C., gambling problem. Called 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Help.com. Call 1-888-789-77777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut or visit MD gamblinghelp.org in Maryland.

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