The Ringer NFL Show - Drafting the Worst Teams in the NFL

Episode Date: July 9, 2024

This week, Steven, Nora, and Diante are each drafting six teams who they think will have the worst records in the NFL. Hosts: Steven Ruiz, Nora Princiotti, and Diante Lee Producer: Isaiah Blakely Additional Production Supervision: Arjuna Ramgopal and Conor Nevins Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey there, humanoids. It's the Maskman David Shoemaker. It's a new era in professional wrestling, and that means a new era here at the Ringer Wrestling show. Kaz here, every Monday and Thursday hang out with me and my guys' shoes on the Masked Man show. And Ben Cruz here. Come kick it with me, Cal and Brian on Tuesdays for Ringer Wrestling Worldwide, where we hit on the most interesting headlines and even react to some of Maskedmans and even your hottest takes. Don't tap out. Tap in to the Ringer Wrestling show feed now on Spotify. or wherever you get your podcasts. Worldwide. Hello and welcome to another episode of the Ringer NFL show. I am your host, Stephen Ruiz,

and I'm joined by Nora Prince Yati and Deonté Lee. And I have to ask you guys right away. Did you guys see the Brandon Ayukh Instagram post of the Commander's film? Because this is the only thing I've been thinking about for the last two days. I don't know how this was legal. I don't know how this isn't tampering. But just to explain it to the folks at home that didn't see it, Brandon I, you posted a clip of Washington's practice.

film from last month on his Instagram post. And he's been in, I guess he's been in like a holding pattern with the 49ers. And he's not hidden the fact that he wants to go to Washington if he has to leave San Francisco. So I have to ask you guys, is this a stunt or is this an actual instance of him grinding commander's film? Nora, what's your, uh? I have to believe that it's real in the sense that who would grind commanders film as a stunt?

Like that's not exactly a flex, you know? Like you're coming from the San Francisco 49ers. You're trying to mount a case for like, I don't need you guys. You guys aren't paying up. You're not showing me the love. I don't want to play here anymore. I want to be on my way out to an organization that values me. And in exchange for Kyle Shanahan's offense, may I present to you the grass,

just shockingly electric green on the other. side, the Washington Commanders film. Like, it's not a good, it's not good performance. And therefore, I led to believe that, like, that's from the soul. Yeah, I would agree. Deonté has a real coach who has watched practice film. How much utility is, is Brandon and I are you getting out of watching that film? I have to say, there is a date on the film.

It was June 11th. Me and Danny Heifitz were at that practice. I know what they practiced. There is no use from that film. They were practicing RPO's and bubble screens. I'm telling you, I don't think Brandon and I actually even watch any of the film. I think. From the scene reporting, this is incredible.

And he's also on 4% on his phone and it's not charged in. So he's not grinding in that moment. I refuse to believe he was actually grinding film. But how much use could he get out of that? Disagree. Disagree on that front. He is grinding. That's how you get to 4%.

You're invested in what you're doing. You don't care about what you're doing. Like, you didn't even put on low power mode. That's how you know he was grinding. He couldn't scroll away. He didn't even want to do the drop-down menu. He didn't want to go to settings. The tape was too important.

Yeah, yeah, you're right. He couldn't look away. But serious question, how is this legal at all? Like, how is he not being punished already? Any just regular staffer for Washington put that up. You are probably either insta-fired or you are going to be shoved so deep in the locker that you will never see practice film again. I don't know how somebody from an opposing team gets to scout your film and

post it and this is not like a real incident for NFL info security. And here's the thing is. I think it is, right? But it's not the player watching. It's not the fault of the player. You know, possession is not the crime. Right. It's the distribution.

And because he is at least innocent of that as a non-current member of the commanders, it's not his issue. But like this can't, this can't be a non-issue for everybody that this exists and that this is out there and that Brandon Ayuk has it and is posting it to social media. The issue for everyone involved is that we know who gave him the film. It's his BFF, Jaden Daniels, who he played with at Arizona. Somehow, Jaden Daniels is just entering the league in Brandon Ayuk. I feel like it's been around for five or six years.

Like he was in Kyle Shanahan's doghouse for most of those years. He's definitely the one that gave him the film, in my opinion. 100%. He's getting an email that's C-C'd, so he thinks it goes out to the entire franchise, but is definitely only being sent to him about, so can we play this out? Let's do it. Which is that along this narrative,

Jaden Daniels gets his practice film, June 11, dials it up, thinks everything's looking great, clip something out, text it to his buddy. Hey man, check out this bubble screen.

You got to see the shit. You got to see what clip is cooking up. Come join the squad. man. We're running bubble screens. I feel like we're going to spend some time talking about the commanders with our topic for the day. We're going to do an anti-draft. We're going to try to draft teams with the aim of putting together a group that will have the fewest combined wins. It's basically golf rules. We're trying to have the lowest score. Another way of putting it is that we're trying to create the mock draft order that people are going to end up using

later on in the season. That's essentially the goal here. We're going to do a snake draft Nora goes first, Deonte goes second, I will go third. I will get two picks in a row and we'll go back and forth like that. So without further ado, let's just start. Let's start. First overall pick, the Chicago Bears of this exercise. Nora, what's your pick? Well, in a way, if we're trying to construct the draft order,

the Chicago Bears of this exercise is the right way to put it. I am going to, with the first pick of the suck draft, I'm going to keep pounding. I will be selecting the Carolina Bathers. To have the love. lowest win total in the NFL this season. I have to be honest, this felt intuitive to me.

And then when I started to look at the roster, started to look at some of the other rosters of the teams that I expect to be among the weakest, this was a heart and soul pick. I'm sort of looking at the Panthers roster and finding more, you know, little tiny silver linings and ways to talk myself into, well, maybe, you know, they add Robert Hunt, that interior protection for a small quarterback might

be a little bit better. Maybe Dave Canales can help Bryce Young out. And then I just think more globally about the last few months of Carolina Panthers football and roster building that we've experienced. I think about the fact that this is a team that last year was shut out in two games and just go, what evidence do I have that Dave Canales, as bright and offensive mind as I might think that he is, that being the most significant change to this organization, that his coaching is going to make a difference in just the very sad state of affairs for the Panthers. So I'm taking them with a number one overall pick.

But at least, at least they'd get to keep it this time. Oh, God, you didn't have to bring that up. I was thinking of the same thing. But like you look at the roster and it's a decent roster, but you just can't get over David Teper being, in control of all this. And there's a saying in soccer. They say form is temporary classes forever.

I think that applies to this team, but like the opposite way in a bad way. The roster could look good, but they're going to find a way to waste that roster and ruin that team. I know I've been rooting for this team my whole life. I know they're going to win four games. It would have been my top pick.

How do you feel about the Panthers, Dei? I think you kind of touched on what I was going to say, which is that bad team stay bad, generally, in pro sports. Right? Like I do think that if you look at the roster, as a whole, you can find a lot of spots where marginal improvements were made. And you can try to sell yourself on Dave Canales and the last year with Baker Mayfield and his work with Russell Wilson at other points and say, hey, maybe he can figure out the

whole short quarterback thing. And I do think that Bryce Young was a little bit better in the second half of the year than he got credit for. I think once he kind of settled in, the offensive line got a little bit better, a little bit more consistent. And you started to see some of the timing and anticipation that made him a first overall pick to begin with. But still, I look at the wide receiver room. There's just not enough yet. I don't think that there's enough in a running game to keep Bryce Young out of early down obvious passing situations. And I just think that that's going to be trouble for this team.

And then on the defensive end, even if J.C. Horn is the best version of himself, even if Jadamian Clowny looks like the same edge setter he was in Baltimore, even if Shaq Thompson is still playing well, I just don't see enough across the roster in terms of impact play that is actually going to turn things around in a year's time. Especially in the secondary, and that's been a problem for this team for like, I would say the last 10 years, you can go back to Cam Newton's time. And this team also loses a home game to the international series, a game against the Giants, which I think is a winnable game. That's kind of a loss for them by the schedule makers. But it's going to be tough sledding for the Panthers either way. Deonté, you are next on the board. Who is your pick for the second worst team in the NFL? I think that this kind of follows the same line of thinking that Nora was working with in terms of just like the spirit of this team tells me that they're going to be bad.

and that's the Denver Broncos. I don't think enough improvements were made. The quarterback, you take bonnics in the first round, and I don't even know if he's the best quarterback on the roster. I have no idea who is going to end up being the best quarterback on this roster. There's just been attrition year over year, the defensive line that was really good when Azira Eri was calling the defense, I think, has kind of taken a step back over the last couple of seasons, and you look at the rest of the defense, and it's basically Patrick Sertan,

and then you look at the roster as a whole, and it's like, who outside of Patrick or tan as a winning football player at the level that it needs to be to cover for some of the issues that they're going to have. I don't know how you can project a strong passing game, guys creating after the catch the way that, you know, Sean Peyton may want with all the quick game stuff or guys that can push the ball that allows them to push a ball vertically the way that they want to. They're just missing so many pieces. And then you have to see the chiefs twice this year. And I do think that the Chargers who will get to will be competent enough to beat them twice this year and the rest of the AFC schedule. I, I just,

just can't project more than like four or five wins for this team as it stands right now. Yeah, they play nine games on the road. They go to Baltimore, too. They go to Cincinnati. They obviously go to Kansas City. They play at the Jets. The Saints are a hard team to play on the road. The Seahawks are always a hard team to play in Seattle.

This is not a good schedule for them. And they don't even get the early season boost. They typically get playing in Mile High in September. Three of their first four games are on the road. So this could get ugly. I can't even imagine a scenario where the Broncos are good this year. I can't envision a good Broncos team this year that wins like eight or nine games, nor any thoughts on Denver.

Are you high on them? Are you low on them? What do you thinking? They would have been. If I hadn't picked the Panthers, they would have been my first overall peck. I mean, the Bonix thing is confounding in its own way.

They don't have a center. Likelihood is that Luke Wattenberg is, I think, going to be their starting center. I mean, that combination with a rookie quarterback in the style of offense, because the one thing that you get, you hear talked up about the match between

Knicks and Sean Payton and sort of like a cause for optimism is, oh, it's a scheme fit. Yeah. Oh, it's, he's, his style of play should fit what Sean Payton wants to do. They can do kind of like the Drew Bree's stuff. They can do the dink and dunk short passing game stuff. You know what you need for that? You need a good center.

And they don't have it. I think Deontay made a really good point, which is just if you are an offensive coordinator, game planning for this defense. you're going to come up with your plan to deal with Patrick Sartan. And then you can go home for the rest of the week. There's just nobody else who's scary on that side of the unit. I know they got better last year.

They were starting from a place of giving up 70 points to the Dolphins. So the fact that it felt like they were getting better. Yes, it was real. But let's remember where the bar was. Yeah. This is, I think, one of the worst teams in the NFL. So now it's my pick. And I got to be honest.

You guys threw me a curveball. I was not ready to have to draft without the Broncos on the board. I really wanted to draft the Broncos. And then one team with the lowest win total, according to Vegas, is the Patriots, four and a half. And they're still on the board. And I'm going to keep them on the board. I'm going to go with the Raiders.

I'm going to pick the Raiders because I feel like we all forgot that Aidan O'Connell is starting for this team. And nobody is like making a big deal. Why are we all on board with this? Why is this cool? Like, Aidan O'Connell was good for what he was. Like a rookie that stepped in. He was a system guy.

but you watch his tape and there's no way to get optimistic about what he can become. Like I think maybe there's a universe where he lands with a Shanahan coach and he has a great supporting cast around him, a great offensive line. But he just doesn't bring much else to the table outside of, I would say, okay accuracy and okay timing. Like he doesn't create out of structure. He doesn't do any of those things that we want in a modern quarterback. And then you look at the side, you look at the defensive side of the ball.

And while I'm optimistic about this defense. I think Patrick Graham's a great defensive coordinator. I like the strides they made last year. It's just hard to maintain a defense year to year, which they've had to do. And I think like so much of their eggs are in the Max Crosby basket that if he gets hurt or goes down or has a down year, that I think the whole thing falls apart. What do you think about the Raiders, especially their defense, Deontay? I think so to me, if you're going to make a case of them not being like a top three in the draft team,

it would be that Christian Wilkins and Max Crosby continue to be guys that play 95 plus percent of the snaps. And they just create so much backfield production that it kind of papers over the fact that they have a pretty weak linebacker room. And they're still kind of working out finding a number one corner. Though I do like Jack Jones. I do like Nick Hobbs. I think that they have some things. It's just not complete, right? The defense is not complete in a way that you would want it to be, especially when you look at the other side of the ball.

Like if I'm trying to project, I don't know what Luke Getsy does with this offense. that any other just kind of run-of-the-mill offense coordinator wouldn't do in terms of just like, we're going to feed Devonthe Adams 150 plus targets again, and that's just going to have to be the guy that gets us out of trouble. There's no Josh Jacobs to give them explosiveness in the running game anymore. You know, the offensive line I do think would be a little bit better maybe than the names look on paper, but I just don't see any explosive offense coming out of this team outside of Devonte Adams. And I don't know if it makes sense to put so much of the load bear, make Devante Adams a

load bearing piece of an offense without anything else to balance it out, especially if Aiden O'Connell is a quarterback. Right, especially without a quarterback who's going to create for him like Aaron Rogers was able to do. Any thoughts on the Raiders, Nora? I feel like this is an easy pick. I feel like there is some optimism around him,

just based on what Antonio Pierce came in and did, but the talent on the roster. It's got to just be vibes, right? Because there is. I mean, their win total is six and a half relative to a team like the Patriots who are at four and a half and I agree with you

I look at that and I go hold on a second neither of these teams were talking about a team with a very good offensive wine but with the Patriots for example you've got no matter

who's playing quarterback I think your quarterback situation is better than Aiden O'Connell no offense to Aidan O'Connell and some offense then you go to the defense And yeah, they're building a, you know, maybe a sneaky good defensive front, but the other layers are not particularly strong.

And, you know, I would love to see Antonio Pierce succeed there. The story last year was really, really awesome. It looks like those players were having so much fun. I mean, shout out to our colleague, Austin Gale. He loves the Guardians of the Galaxy or whatever it was. The Guardian at the gate. The Guardian at the gate. Excuse me.

Sorry. But it's, it's, I can't come up with. with a great reason for you why this team is predicted to have two more wins than a team like New England, you know, more wins than the other teams that we've been talking about at the very early reaches of this list, other than just they were a fun story towards the end of this end of last season. I think once you start looking at the roster, it falls apart. There is a big glut of teams that Vegas has projected as winning six and a half games. There's the Raiders, there's the Vikings, the Giants, the Titans, and the commanders.

I feel like they just don't know what to do with any of those teams. Because I personally do not know what to do with any of those teams. And also they can't, this is so not my area, but my, my, my take is, my takeaway is that they can't predict some team to have like two or three wins, right? The likelihood of that is less. That's the way to lose money, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. The upshot of that, though, is like some of these teams are going under. Some of these teams are hitting the under because.

Some of these teams are bad, bad. And I look at the Raiders and see six and a half wins. And the idea of taking the over on that just seems crazy to me. But who knows? Maybe they'll surprise. To your point, on the other end of the spectrum, you have like the 49ers at 11.5 wins. And we know that if they max out, they're going to obviously go over and 11.5 wins. But I'm going to take a team with my next pick that we've already talked about.

I'm going to take the commanders. And it's all based on the fact that you have a combination of Cliff Kingsbury. and a rookie quarterback who is inclined to play out of structure, a questionable offensive line, and then a first year in Dan Quinn's defense. I think this could be the worst team in the NFL. I really like the value I'm getting here. Am I wrong?

No, I think if you think about the commanders only in the context of their defense, everything they did in the offseason, like it might not be awe-inspiring, but it makes sense, right? Like, okay, you had a bad season. You bring in a veteran guy, Dan Quinn, a bunch of veteran players that he knows, you know, maybe you quibble with the value for guys like Bobby Wagner, Frankie Louvre.

But they added professional football players. You sort of, you see the logic. And then you go, wait a second. Who's coaching this offense? Oh, God. What are we doing? Wait, where did Cliff? Didn't Cliff like go on like a sabbatical

and like go to another continent for like a year? Cliff bought a one-way ticket to Thailand. Don't give me wrong. I respect the move. I respect it too. This is a team. This is a locker room full of bold people. Well,

Brandon I, U.K. isn't there yet, but Jaden Daniels just sending off his film. And Cliff King, buying a one-way ticket to anywhere is insane to me. But credit to him for coming back and finding his way back to America where he can coordinate the commander's defense,

the hot commander's defense. There's like a real, the guys who came up with fire festival vibe to the commander. right now. There really is. I do have to point out that Danny Hyvitz was forced to use a porter potty at the Washington commanders practice. I just want to throw that out there for Brandon Iuk. Can I tell you guys the story? And this is not really what the commanders didn't do this. And they also were not called the commanders at the time that this happened. But I very, very

briefly covered that team. And it's prior iteration. And I was with a friend over the 4th of July, who was my roommate at the time. And she reminded me of a time when I think like every reporter got sent a like Washington football Tostitos collaboration like PR box. And what it was, all that was in the box was a bag of Tostitos and I think a thing of salsa. But they had this crazy box that was built to look like FedEx Field. and you would open it and it's like all like it had a little video screen and it played like a a little video hyping up to his ditos and we opened it and I thought it was like we're like

cracking up it's you know it's the most like wasteful packaging they've spent $40 a box to FedEx every like reporter who doesn't care a thing of chips and we open it and the video plays one time and then it glitches out and dies. That's a pretty good metaphor for FedEx Field. If you've ever been there, one of the worst stadiums out there. I'd forgotten about that. It had been a long time since I thought about that in the memory. The memory warmed me.

Deiate, try to sell me on a Cliff Kingsbury offense with Jaden Daniels, if you can. I will do no such thing. I actually have a question for you. If you're looking at this depth chart defensively, can you make a case for why this wouldn't be the worst defense in the NFL? No. No, I'm right there with you. I think honestly, the cliff jokes are easy to make and easy to write, especially with like a,

I'm not trying to take away from Jaden Daniels because I actually liked him more than I thought I would later in the draft process. But he's like a cartoonish style of quarterback. Like that's how he plays. He's going to like jump into piles. He's going to scramble. He's going to take big hits. And I just, I think that is a bad combination long term.

But I wouldn't be surprised if they do do some good things in that first year. We saw some good things with Kylo. in Arizona with Cliff. My concern is Dan Quinn and this defense. And we've asked, especially we did the top 10 defensive pod, Deontay. We talked about like the lack of evolution for guys on that side of the spectrum, like the guys that just kind of line up and play, the game playing guys. And I do think Dan Quinn deserves a little more credit for evolving over the last couple

years, but he just doesn't have the dudes to continue that process in Washington. And I do think he's going to take a step back in his. defense is going to take a step back because of that. I mean, that's the issue. Like, I look at this edge rusher rotation. It's Dante Fowler, Dorrance Armstrong, Cleland Farrell, and, like, Frankie Louvo is like your utility guy. Frankie Louvo is nobody's version of Michael Parsons.

And I like what you can do with moving him around as a chess piece, but that's not going to get it done from a pass rush perspective. Of course, I love Durant Payne. I love Jonathan Allen. I think that that's probably going to be the best defensive interior that he's had since he was in Seattle as a defensive coordinator. So there's some things you can do there. But you look at Jamie Davis and Bobby Wagner.

These are two guys that have struggled in coverage for the last three, four years, especially with Jamie Davis. Like we don't have a reputation like we do with Wagner of him being able to kind of solve his own problems athletically. And that's a guy that was slipping if you were watching Seahawks film last year. You could definitely see that slippage coming. And all I can, I can't get out of my head, AJ Brown, just going nuclear on Emmanuel Forbes. and trying to play more press man with a guy like that against some of the receivers that they're going to see in division alone,

it's giving me a lot of pause and trying to figure out how they're not going to be like bottom three, if not the worst defense in the league this year. I am looking at their schedule and they don't have any Shanahan coaches on here. So I will say Dan Quinn can feel safe in knowing that he doesn't have to go up against those evil, evil men with his cover three, cover one style of defense. But let's move on. Deonti, I believe it's your pick. Just to recap, so far off the board, we have the Panthers, the Broncos, the Raiders, and the commanders. Those are my bottom four teams. So next for me, it's going to be the New York Giants. I think for me, the reason why I'm making this pick,

and I feel like it's easy to pick them here at 5th, even though there is kind of a cluster of teams in this range. It all comes down to A. Daniel Jones, having stagnated last year, if not taking a step, I'm not taking a step back. I don't know if that gets any better. You lose. Sequin Barkley and replace them with Devin Singletary. And I don't know if there's enough playmaking in the backfield to approximate what you had in the two-man game as far as zone reads and design QB rushes around the threat of Saquan Barkley. I like Malik Neighbors as just a playmaker, but that was just such a desperate need. That kind of brings them up to baseline more so than making that position a plus. And Evan Neal has been an issue for them at right tackle, and I don't

think that that got fixed over the offseason. So I don't know if there's just, I don't know if enough gains have been made offensively, even though I do like what they have on defense, to make them better than a bottom five, bottom 17 in the NFL this year. I remember after the first night of the draft, Brian Dayball explained the Malik neighbor's pick saying, we need to get faster on offense. We were the slowest offense in the NFL, but I'm looking at the depth chart, and I don't see where they got faster. Swapping out Saquan Barkley for Devin Singletary is the opposite of getting faster and more

explosive on offense. If you're putting all of that on the plate of a rookie receiver who, I think, Malik Neighbors has some things he needs to fill out in his game as like a route runner as a guy who makes contested catches. Like when there's bodies around him, I think that's when you see the worst of his hands. I think he's going to be a really good and talented receiver, but it's going to take some time. Nora, I wanted to ask you, what does a successful season look like for Daniel Jones? Like, what does he have to do for us to not be questioning him going into next offseason? I mean, like, I don't know that that's, I don't know if the spectrum of giants

outcomes includes a Daniel Jones performance that is going to change people's minds about him long term, right? Like he could he could go back to the Daniel Jones that we have seen who is a competent enough quarterback who can take advantage. I think he's a useful player. A useful player, right? And, you know, I think they were hoping that he would take a step forward from that last year.

obviously injuries were a part of it, but if anything, he took a step back. I think he could kind of return to that useful zone. I do think that's gotten harder, not easier just because, yeah, Sequin's on the Eagles. You've got a pretty iffy to maybe genuinely bad offensive line that he's dealing with. So Giant's success to me does not feel calibrated to Daniel Jones. As much to me as it is, the best thing this team had going for it last year was, was its past defense.

they did lose a core piece of that in Xavier McKinney. But I still think that's the path for them this year. The long-term problem that still leaves them with is like, you've got to figure out what you're doing a quarterback. I just think that that, you know, Daniel Jones had a good season. They decided after the fact to give him the contract. I think that was a huge mistake.

I think Daniel Jones was like one of the most. And I was pretty supportive of him after that season. And yet still felt that he was one of the most obvious franchise tag candidates that's ever existed in the NFL. And so the fact that they didn't go that route in that moment gives them the Daniel Jones problem that they currently have now that they're going to have after the season. They're going to have to figure that out. Best case scenario for this team this year, I think doesn't have to do with the Daniel Jones

performance that like changes the way that we look at him, which I guess is good because I just don't think that Daniel Jones has that has that in them right now. Yeah, honestly, like him taking another step back and making it clear that he's not the guy going forward would probably be a better outcome than them going 8 and 8, 8, 8 and 9 and 9 and him looking decent. I think that's more of a setback. All right, Nora, you have two straight picks, so who's your first? Oh, right. Okay. So I wonder if I'm curious to see if you guys feel like I'm going out on a limb with this one.

I'm going to take the Tennessee Titans, who more than a bad team. team, I think are a weird team. Just like one of the strangest rosters and franchises and trajectories. Remember when this team fired Mike Rable? Like every moment of thinking about the Titans just like brings me back to different sort of fork in the row moments

that have happened for this organization and reminds me of how little sense they make altogether. This is, I suppose, the Will Levis season, Right? This is the Ken Will Levis take a step forward and really be the guy and really do something. And Will Levis had some flashes last year and that was very exciting. As an actual game, I would say that his best game last year was against the Falcons where he threw for like 230 yards. Right. Like this is still just, I think, a real leap of faith to be saying that this team belongs in any tier other than like pretty far down.

the list of NFL teams. He has a good set of experienced wide receivers around him, but I'm just not sure. And Stephen, I would be curious what you think of this, because as the quarterback guru. But from what I know of Will Levis, it feels very tenuous to me to say, yeah, absolutely.

I can count on the fact that he's going to be able to take advantage of DeAndre Hopkins, of Calvin Ridley, of the weapons that they've, they've put around him. And then you get to the fact that, you know, this defensively, this front seven, I just think is really, really toothless. I mean, Jeffrey Simmons, I think is probably the player in the front seven who's going to make opponents the most worried. But I don't think that Arden Key is really worrying anyone. I don't think Harold Landry is really worrying at anyone.

I think the linebacker group is thin at best. And, you know, they've worked on the secondary. but I just don't think that the defense here is really going to be able to win them games, which again, the amount that is being put on Will Levis for this team with a new and pretty unproven coach and coaching staff, just to me feels like a miscalculation to expect anything more than like a sort of bottom quartile finish. Yeah, I do wonder what this offense ends up looking like,

because you have Bill Callahan coming over from Cincinnati, and we know that Cincinnati did not run the offense we expected then to run when Zach Taylor was hired. It wasn't the McVeigh offense because Burrow comes along and Burrow has his own style of play that didn't mesh well with it. They did the best thing possible. But like, how does Calvin Ridley, Tyler Boyd, and DeAndre Hopkins fit into an undercenter, condensed sets, play action offense?

I don't really see it. None of them have really had a lot of success in that style of offense. Like, DeAndre Hopkins has not been in that style of offense. Like when he was in Houston, they weren't. call and play action. When he was in Arizona, it was a spread. He was on the left side of the field every snap. I think Tyler Boyd is a slot receiver. I don't know how he fits in with that. He's probably the best fit. And then Calvin Ridley, we just, I really don't like his fit there either. I am somewhat optimistic on Will Levis because I do think he's one of the more talented quarterbacks that have

come along in the last couple of drafts. It's one of those situations where you're not going to know until you know, if that makes sense. It's like a Josh Allen situation where it was like 50-50 until 2020 and it was obvious that Josh Allen was now a superstar. But going into that season, we didn't know what he was going to be. I'm curious what your thoughts are on Levis, if you've had a chance to watch him. I think that there's reason to be optimistic. What Levis, I would say, I would have picked him.

I would have picked the Titans exactly here just because I'm not sure yet. Like you said, Stephen, I have to see it first. This is such a, like Nora was saying, this is such a weird roster because I like a lot of the moves they made, and I still don't necessarily think it's a good football team yet because they're missing so much on the defensive front. Like I like Calvin Ridley, DeAndre Hopkins, and Tyler Boyd's individual pieces. Like you said, I don't know if the mesh of that, if they are going to get into more under center, multiple zone run game, play action stuff, which I think fits Levis well. I don't know if Levis plus that receiving core makes for a good play action

passing game. I like what they did with taking Peter Skorosky and J.C. Latham in consecutive first rounds. Like that makes a lot of sense as well. I still don't know if the offensive line is where it needs to be to be a dominating outside zone team the way I think that they probably want to build that offense out to be. And Norris said it, the defensive secondary, I think is okay. I like Sneat. I like Sneat in Kansas City. I actually think he'll be better than some people are projecting. I think that he can kind of live because he's so versatile as a player, he can kind of live in any world defensively, even if he's not being used exactly the way that Spagnolo used them in Kansas City. I think Chidobe Ouzia can be decent as a number two corner. There's just not

enough pass rush around Jeffrey Simmons for it to matter, I don't think. So I do think that they're in a weird place. I can see this offense is generating so many explosives, having Tony Pollard, if he's healthy, having Tai J. Spears, if he's healthy, having that combination of three receivers, that they're all at their best. I can see them having a very interesting awesome. offense. I just don't know if there's enough on the other side of the ball to keep them competitive in the AFC. We also have no idea what this coaching staff is going to provide these players. We don't know if it's going to be value at it. They have a first time offensive coordinator and Nick Holtz, a first time defensive coordinator and DeNard Wilson. I don't know what to expect

out of this team. And then Brian Callahan did not call plays in Cincinnati. That was Zach Taylor's job. So we don't even really know what to expect out of him as a play caller assuming he's going to do that. So just a weird team. I totally agree with that. Noria, you have another pick. So I'll take the Patriots here. And this is a team that I think I feel or at least, and I'm curious where you guys would have slotted them in and obviously not yet. I felt like I was comparatively high on them. Again, their win total is four and a half, which to me just, I don't quite get that.

I mean, this is a team that last year was fifth in the NFL on defense by, EPA per play aloud. While they did that, they were missing Christian Gonzalez and Matt Judon, who I would say are their two best defensive players for most of the year. The reason the only won four games was because the passing game was absolutely atrocious. And I would add there there seemed to be a huge amount of internal dysfunction. The quarterback situation, whether it's Jacoby Brissette, whether it's Drake May, I feel confident is going to be better no matter how that turns out. Jacoby Brissette is a professional quarterback,

and every indication is that they will allow him to, like it is his job to lose at least at first, and May is not going to get that job until he's ready. So if May is playing, it means good things. And if Jacoby Preset's playing, I think he's going to be better in that role than anyone who's playing quarterback for the Patriots last season. So feel good, at least comparatively,

to last season's result about that. you know, there's, there's, that said, there's still certainly questions. You know, I don't think this is going to be a good team. I think the offensive line is probably going to be pretty shaky. They are playing in a very good division. They have a tough schedule. And you do have the uncertainty post-Belichick, which counts for something, even though I do think that just the whole dynamics around everyone,

sort of being at each other's throats last season can't have helped. but that's that's something that they're going to have to navigate. Mayo is obviously an unknown quantity in certain ways. I do think that at least in the first year after Belichick, there are enough people there that know how that defense operated, how that how he ran that defense who, you know, that's the area in which the fact that they chose to hand that organization over to people who were schooled by Bill Belichick primarily,

that's where that makes me feel good, right? Is, okay, they're going to know how to keep that going and the defense is what was working for that team. So I think that you feel pretty good about. And in the longer term, it just becomes, do you have the quarterback and can you develop them? I think that's a much bigger question mark in terms of how effective the coaching staff is going to be at doing that.

But I do think that this is better than a four and a half win team. So taking them here because I still think they have. have a ways to go and I think they're in a really good division and have a tough schedule. But this was one of the teams that I felt like I was going to end up comparatively high on, actually. Yeah, this is the spot where I would have taken them to. Same. What are your thoughts on their defense, especially with Jared Mayer have taken over, Deontere?

I think it's going to be stable. I think that they're stable defensively, especially if Christian Gonzalez is healthy and Matt Judon stays healthy throughout the year. You know, I think Nora kind of laid out what I think of New England exactly, which is like they cross that line where they're competent without. being good. And I don't think that it speaks negatively on them if they were picking seventh in the NFL draft this year. If you've got competent play at a Jacoby Reset for as long as he's a starter and maybe for the last month and a half, you get to see Drake May take over the job.

Right. I think that that would probably bode well, even if you might want to see May win the job outright. If he doesn't, I don't think it speaks negatively of him. I think that really just the reason why I would have them seventh, which is where I had them ranked as well, it just kind of speaks to how much rot had kind of taken hold on the offensive side of the ball. Sure. That is a two to three. It probably is like a two to three year total turnaround. They still got to, you know, address some things on the offensive line, especially on the

interior. I think they keep him like a win who definitely was a win for them. But they don't, they still don't have anything really at wide receiver. Jalen Polk is not going to change things for them. I don't think Juju Smith-Schuster is going to be much better than he was last year. You know, clearly the offense that they were running was a poor fit for what he was. was compared to what he was a couple of years ago in Kansas City. I just don't think there's enough there yet, but it's stable enough defensively. I think that they'll remain competitive.

They'll be that team in the NFL that beats bad teams pretty easily or pretty handily, and they'll probably stay competitive against the Miami's and Buffaloes. They just don't have enough firepower to get over the hump yet. Yeah, and I think with like Alex Van Pelt coming in and replacing the just like clown show of offensive coordinators they've had over the last couple of years, I think that helps them initially because their personnel does fit that style of offense. Like you're going to have tight ends on the field. You're going to have bodies on the field. The question, as you alluded to, is what are they going to get out of the interior of that offense flying? Because this is, I think it's an offensive line friendly offense because you're running the ball a lot.

You're pulling. You're hitting guys in the mouth. You're not necessarily past protecting in pure past protecting situations. Right. But if you can't get that run game going on first and second down, you're going to find yourself in those past protection situations. And I think that's when you're going to really. see the warts of this offensive line, especially if a rookie is back there behind center and is not controlling protections and doing all that stuff that a veteran quarterback like Jacoby Brissette could do. I would argue that Jacoby Brissette is a borderline top 20

quarterback in the NFL. Do you agree with that? Is there any pushback against that? I don't think I've got to pushback against that. Until we see what the rookie quarterbacks look like, I think that it's fair to say he's a top student quarterback in the league right now. Yeah, because, I mean, he got to start in this offense. He was like, top. 10 in EPA a couple years ago in the Browns offense. I mean, I agree with that in general. I will I will caveat that with when we've seen Jacoby Brissette do that. I do think he's been behind better offensive lines. Yeah, particularly because, yes, the interior is going to be an issue. They also, you know, not that Trent Brown was was playing his best football most recently with

the Patriots, but now that he's in Cincinnati left tackle is something they have to figure out if Unwin, who stays on the right side, you know, maybe it's, it's Caden Wallace going over to the other side. Maybe it's one of the veteran guys that they have on the roster. But that's going to feel a little tenuous. The interior is going to feel a little tenuous. I don't think that's going to quite match up to those Browns offensive lines that Jacob Bressets played with. And then even, you know, earlier on in his career when he was with the Patriots, those teams had good, good units up front too.

So, you know, there's there's times when I think Jacoby Resett's looked like a really competent kind of like lower level bridge starter. And not that that's, you know, that's not winning you a Super Bowl, but compared to what this team had last year, like that is just so different. That said, I do think that that that has been in a slightly different context. But even if you split the difference there, it's still better than what they've gotten used to. And Jacobi does like to take his time in the pocket. I will say that. He will hang in the pocket. So a porous offensive line could be an issue. Okay, we've gotten rid of the teams that nobody expects to make the playoffs. We're getting to playoff contender territory. This is when it starts to get harder. Deontay, it's your pick.

So this is kind of tough. I think there's like a cluster of three or four teams here where I really could flip a coin and probably feel good in any direction. I'm going with Arizona here mostly just to kind of, I really want to cool maybe my own jets more than anything on thinking that because they have Marvin Harrison Jr. here to be a two number one receiver, that that's going to completely change the outlook of the Cardinals franchise. There are still holes defensively that have not been totally addressed or fixed yet. And that to me continues to be their issue. They still lack pure pass rush that I think that they're going to need to compete, obviously, in that division. They don't have a true number one corner yet. And for as much as I like,

maybe kind of like how interesting and creative they can be on both sides. of the ball, I don't know if there's enough there yet with how tough that schedule is in who you have to see twice a year in order for them to be much better than a bottom 10 team in the NFL. Have we gotten to the point where we think Jonathan Gannon is a good head coach? I know last year we all made fun of him. He was the cringe god last year. I think I'm the only one that called him that.

I don't know why I'm trying to put it out there. Like it's an actual nickname that has picked up any steam. Well, we all made fun of, are you riding the bus? Right. And that was worth making fun of. I still stand by that. But I will say this, that locker room bought in. And we made fun of Dan Campbell for doing a similar bit,

but I think Dan Campbell is a little more believable. It's a little more forced with Jonathan Gannon. But it seems like these 22-year-olds love that type of messaging. And then James Connor just came out last week, and he said we have cleansed. That's the word he used. That's the verb. Cleanse the locker room of guys that didn't put the team first.

So I feel like it's not only that the locker room is buying in, it's that they're continuing to buy an in two-year. too. And that was my concern with a coach like Jonathan Gannon. So Nora, I'm leaving it to you. Is Jonathan Gannon a good coach in your mind? Okay, don't make me say it like that. I do think, look, like he is, what did we say about him when we were doing the like coaching archetypes? It was like he was one, he was one good season away from being like a locker room guy, from being a bona fide. like this dude brings people together. I'm kind of like,

Deante, I really related to you saying that you had to kind of like cool your jets on the Cardinals. But now that I haven't had to pick them because they're on your team, like my jets are uncooled. I kind of want to get into the hype on this team. They beat the Cowboys. They beat the Steelers.

They beat the Eagles. Like, who's to say that if Kyler gets back into the swing of things, they've still got a good run game. Marvin Harrison Jr., if he goes off, like no one needs. Sorry, Deonte.

Who needs a defense? It's fine. Don't worry about it. No, I agree. And like, they had the number one rushing game by like any metric you want to look at, yards per attempt, EPA per attempt, success rate once Kyler came back. And that just supercharged the run game, which I already thought was good. They used the quarterback in the run game, a lot of creativity, a lot of RPO's,

a lot of zone read. You throw Kyler into that, an explosive athlete who could produce explosive run plays in a way that I think is unique around the league outside of Baltimore, there's a chance of this offense could be a top-ten offense. Kyler Murphy has, Murphy. No, that's his name now. His name is Kyler Murphy. Kyler Murray has been a legitimate MVP candidate in this league.

Like, I, there's just, and yes, it's really funny that Johnny Gans would be the man to make it happen. But, like, there's a world in which this team is not a, Super Bowl contender, but is like a team that you're a little not, not thrilled about playing in the playoffs. Yeah. Like I said, I think I made this joke before. He cringed his way to the other side and he's a good coach. I'm going to say it. I'm going to say he's a good coach. All right. I think I'm up next. And this is really, this is where it really gets tough. But I'm going to take the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I think this is a team that has been overvalued throughout the offseason because they beat a

a sleepwalking Eagles game in that wildcard game where I think everyone in America, like, Everyone in media was picking the bucks to win that game. Everyone knew this Eagles team was left for dead. And I really think that covered up a lot of blemishes with this team. This team was in a fight with the Saints and the Falcons all year long for that final wildcard spot, or that NFC South Berth. And in a must-win game in week eight, they had to survive the Carolina Panthers. And I think they only scored nine points in that game.

Like, this is a team that I think was a lot worse than the ending of their season suggests. I'm going to go with Tampa Bay. I don't think they got any better with their roster got any better. They lost some veteran pieces. I think resigning Baker Mayfield without ensuring that Dave Conallis is coming back could end up looking like a mistake in the future. So I'm going to go with the Bucks. I think there are two better teams in this division.

All right. So I think I have a second pick in a row. I'm going to go with the New Orleans Saints. This is the same approach I'm taking with the Bucks. I think they are a team that hasn't upgraded much. They have the same quarterback coming back. and they're in a division that I think it's going to be competitive.

More competitive, even more competitive than it was last year. I think the Panthers are going to be a little bit better. I think the Falcons are going to take a couple steps forward. And then I wouldn't be surprised at the Bucks and Saints kind of find themselves battling out for that number two spot and then kind of eating their own,

eating themselves. So I wouldn't be surprised if they fall back down to like a six-win team this year. And then we really reconsider where this team is headed under Mickey Loomis's leadership and under Dennis Allen's leadership, am I wrong in thinking that Dennis Allen is probably

probably has the hottest seat in the NFL right now going into the season? I don't think that's wrong. I'm not sure if anyone's seat is hotter than Mike McCarthy is just in the sense of like you so rarely get a true expiring contract coach situation, but it's definitely a warm down there.

Yeah, it just feels like that fan base has gotten apathetic and I think people are finally starting to realize that like the Mickey Loomis jokes about him kind of kicking the can forward. In 2017, 2018, 2019, we were making those jokes, but the Saints were winning games. Now he's continuing to do that and they're not winning any games. I think it's only a matter of time before ownership finally wises up and just blows everything up. Because I really think that's what this team needs. There are a lot of good pieces across the roster.

I wouldn't be surprised if they win nine, ten games. But I wouldn't be surprised if they win six or five games either. And I think they're the best value for the rest of the teams left on the board here. I would be surprised if they win nine or ten games. I mean, I think you, you feel like there's a little bit more capacity for Derek Carr on this offense than maybe I do. I just feel like this team is like interesting from the perspective of what feels like a year's long quest to have a quarterback throw for less than one yard per attempt. And like Ryan Ramchick's knees falling apart is an unfortunate, but potentially exacerbating event in the eventual accomplishing of that feat. I mean, if, you know, Trevor Penning ends up your right tackle, that feels like a tough situation.

I don't feel like, yeah, like this is such a winnable division. And obviously that's going to juice the juice and win totals in some way. But I just don't feel like this is a roster that has nine or 10 wins in it. I think they'd much more likely be it, you know, six or seven. And that's, that's sort of the ballpark that they're in with. Yeah, Deontay, when you look at this defense, where are your concerns? Because I do think Dennis Allen is a good defensive coach who has earned the benefit of the doubt. But it does seem like this roster has taken like a small step back for the last three or four years in a row now.

Well, I mean, you just think about the best version of the defense and there was just so much versatility all across the board. And I think that there are still good pieces. I just think that there's less that they can do to cover for problems than before. The older that Cam Jordan gets, the more you're going to have to wonder. when it is that this team is going to become similar to Atlanta in the sense that you're not getting enough pass rush, even from your star player or around your star player to make that guy really matter on a game-to-game basis. I like the combination that linebacker between Pete Werner, DeMario Davis, and Wille, Jr. I think that you can do some really interesting things there.

And I know that Dennis Allen has been excellent with like getting into passing downs and getting into like different mug fronts, changing the pressure pass to be able to get guys one-on-one. And so they've been able to do a lot, I think, to kind of hide some of their problems. To me, and for as much as I'm kind of like creating these contingencies or this defense can still be good, that's honestly not really where my concerns lie. I think the issue for me is on the other side of the ball and see when we talked about it, you know, when we were ranking coaches, we talked about it, we're ranking tops and defenses. I think that they can be competitive on the defensive side of the ball.

My biggest issue is you bring in Clint Kubiak and there are all these promises of, hey, we're going to use a play action game, we're going to marry the run in the past, to be able to protect Derek Carr, and they're going to have these beautifully drawn-up play action passes where Chris Oliva is running deep over the middle of the field, and Rashid is taking the top off the defense, and Derek Carr is going to check down to the tight end or the fallback in the flat.

And there's just going to be no change, and there's not enough there offensively to change their range of outcomes. And that's where I think things stand with them. I think they'll be fine on defense, but probably still just nowhere near explosive enough offensively, even in a weak division to be able to win it. God, I hope we see Spencer Rattler at some point this season. I would pay money to see Spencer Rattler.

I don't think it would look good, but throwing to those receivers, they do have a cool receiving cord that I don't think Derek Carr is getting the most out of. And the reason why we don't recognize them as one of the better receiving cores is because of what you said about Derek Carr. He's always going to take that check down no matter what. And that's why I will always rank them in the bottom 15 of my quarterback rankings. So, Deont, you are next on the board. The thing I feel good about is the fact that every team that's been picked so far has been in the bottom 10 for me.

So I don't feel like I'm just pulling something completely out of my ass here. My pick is Minnesota here. And I have them almost tied with Seattle for me in this space. I think this is more just I trust Gino Smith a little bit more than I trust the brain trust of Kevin O'Connell and J.J. McCarthy to figure this offense out quickly enough for them to stay competitive. and what I think is a deep division in the NFC North. This is another team to me that's competent but not good. I love what they did in adding defensive pieces, you know, especially up front to kind of help their pass rush.

I think that Brian Flores is going to do some really interesting things this year. I would not expect them to be any worse with rush in the passer and really kind of dictating the terms than they were last year. If Justin Jefferson is healthy, I think everybody here has kind of talked about the fact that he's kind of like an offense to himself, especially when you have them with Kevin O'Connell. This office just is going to need time, I think. I think they need time, even if Aaron Jones is healthy and available all year long,

even if this offensive line, which has been dinged up, basically for as long as Kevin O'Connell has been the head coach there is healthy there. I just don't know if, I don't know if they're fast enough on their development track to get them in that kind of wildcard picture, which would get them out of like that kind of 11 to 14 range. Honestly, if they were in any other division, I might pick them to make the playoffs. I think the fact that they're going to be in tough games, like almost guaranteed they're going to be in tough games in this division

with the Packers, the Lions, and the Bears, that's going to be three solid teams. It just makes it harder for a rookie quarterback. Whereas, like, in a vacuum, this is the ideal situation. You're going into a run-first offense, a play-action-heavy offense. You have a decent offensive line. You have weapons all over the field.

But I do think there are going to be growing pains for J.J. McCarthy. Those growing pains are going to be highlighted against the best teams in the NFL, especially in this division. So I was with you with the Vikings. I didn't know where to put them, but I think you've got good value here. Nora, you're up next. You have two picks in a row. Yeah.

Well, so Deonti alluded to kind of making a decision between Minnesota and Seattle. And I'll take Seattle here. And I like, I mean, you know, this exercise is sort of oriented towards the teams that were not high on. I actually like Seattle. I think this is just sort of like where they are as a roster right now. Obviously, Mike McDonald taking over there, I'm really excited by and I'm really excited to see what he can do with the defensive pieces on Seattle, which I like, but you know, they've just gone through so many iterations of trying to figure out what they want to be

on that side of the ball. I do think, you know, it's going to be a year of figuring that out, right? Because I don't want to overstate how great the results. of that are going to look in the first year when you're dealing with the 49ers, you're dealing with, you know, a Rams offense that has the capacity to be really good. Arizona group that I'm pretty high on. I think there will be some growing pains there, even if I'm excited to see where it ends up. And then, you know, I think, I like Gino.

This is a pro Gino podcast. I do have some worries about the offensive lines ability to protect him and ability to to give him what he needs. So I think this is this is the right zone for them, even though I do think that that Seattle has a little juice. So I'll take them. And then I think I have another pick. And maybe this is this is going off the board slightly.

But I'm going to take the Browns here. This is a team that can go in one of two directions. And it's entirely hinging on what Deshawn Watson has as a quarterback. I thought that he was looking a little bit better towards the end of last year. I didn't think that he was looking anything like, you know, the quarterback that he was with the Texans that made the Browns pay all that money and give up all that to go get him. And to me, if I have to take one piece of evidence to base which direction, arrow pointing up, arrow pointing down, I should feel like this is going. the fact that this team didn't want to keep Joe Flacco

around because it was going to be too much of a threat. Yeah. Hated that. Did not think that was a good sign. Joe Flacco, who was not a big enough threat to keep him away from Zach Wilson in New York is a big enough threat to your $230 million quarterback. Yeah.

That felt bad to me. That felt like not a situation you want to be in. So Brown's win total here is eight and a half. There's still some teams that would fall under that. But I think Cleveland, that number is kind of factoring in the possibility that if Watson is great, if Watson is a top, top 10, top 12 starter,

which at one point in his career, he was obviously more than capable of being, then this is a really good roster and is going to be a really good team. But they are in a really difficult division. And the alternative to that is that he's closer to what we've seen. in the last couple of seasons since he has come back and fits and starts since his suspension. And I think if he is closer to that quarterback, they're going to struggle. I think they are weighed down by what the last couple of years have been like, too.

I just feel like that's what the Browns feel like. You even saw it in kind of the lift that it felt like they got from Flacco when he came in, oddly enough. So I think that's what gives me maybe a little bit less. optimism than the win total here would indicate. Deonti, is there any worry about this defense taking a step back? Obviously, they finished around the top of the league last year, but there was a little slippage in the second half.

I'm wondering if you think, like even beyond that slippage, which was a little injury base, they did lose some cornerbacks. I think Miles Garrett missed a game too. What's the worry for them and how, what's like the obstacle they have to get over to sustain what they did last year? I think that they've got to be better up the spine. I think that investing, bringing in Delvin Tomlinson, bringing in Shelby Harris to be your big bodies for Jim Schwartz in this four-down defense, that has to, I think, pay immediate dividends to keep teams away from just pounding them where they're weakest, right? Like, I think about them making, you know, making that big comeback against Baltimore.

I think it's easy to focus on that fourth quarter. But if you think about what it was prior to that, they had so much success, just running the ball downhill, setting up play action, getting the ball out of Lamar's hands quickly enough to our. where Miles Garrett couldn't really have an effect on the game, that sticks with me just as much as the Houston game in the playoffs, right? And that was a story was that even as a team that could not really run the ball well all year, they clearly were able to protect CJ Stroud just enough off the play action game and keeping guys in to account for Miles Garrett that was probably a little dinged up at the end of the year anyways to really attack them down the field.

So while I feel like the defensive lineup is pretty strong and stable, I do think when you're talking about the range of outcomes, anything from this defense that is not top five with the bullet, one of the best in the league again, immediately put so much pressure on Deshaun Watson and Ken Dorsey to make this offense work and work really well that I can see them slipping. I don't know if I would say that they're not a playoff team where it is picking here. But I also, I can see them in a really competitive AFC North if anything goes wrong. If Miles Garrett misses any time at all, this team kind of falling off the table because I'm not ready to trust the Sean Watts in the way that this franchise seems to want to put so much behind them, given what they've invested in them. Yeah, that's the thing is there's like so much riding on this defense, not just being good, not just being great. Like, it has to be an elite defense to be able to just replicate what they did last year, which was just barely getting into the playoffs. And you have to imagine the AFC North is going to be a lot better.

Like Baltimore could be better than they were a year ago conceivably. I think Cincinnati is guaranteed to be better than they were. as long as Burrough is healthy. And then I would say Pittsburgh is probably going to be better because their quarterback play is going to be improved. So I understand that pick completely. Deontay, you are up next. So she pit, Nora picked one of the teams that, you know,

kind of had me held up a bit. I think there's going to be a team in the AFC that's going to have to miss the playoffs and this exercise that's going to piss fans off. But for me, the next pick would be the Chargers. I'd have them as kind of the 13th or 14th team. I think that they're in a similar place as Indianapolis. I think that's another team similar to like what we talked about with Tennessee, similar to what we talked about with Arizona or Tampa

Bay. There are a lot of pieces that you may like in the lineup on the depth chart. I still think that there are gaps in this roster that are going to keep them from being a playoff level team, even if you do get the best possible version of Justin Herbert. And it's something I've been spending a lot of time looking at. I think that there's more reason to be optimistic than maybe the Chargers, offensive staff is getting credit for just because the name Greg Roman, I think, doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. And you think about the last time he was working with the franchise quarterback, I think that they're going to work really hard to protect them with the run game. Greg Roman has been instant offense in the run game everywhere he's been at. And while the

wide receivers, I think, can't really separate to the degree that you would like in a spread offense, I don't think that this offense is being built to play very spread out at all. I think this is going to be very much ball control, play action, vertical. game and everything else is probably just going to be Ladd-McConkey high-target share. And from everything I'm seeing from the Chargers out of mini camp and going into training camp is that he's picked up the offense really quickly. So I'm banking maybe a little bit more on that, on them being a better team, more competitive team than you might think given what they've lost over the years and how much they have to

build up. But I think this defense will be just fine, especially if Durham and James can play closer to the line of scrimmage and just a little bit more like defined in a role than he was under Brandon Staley. There's a lot of reason for optimism for me, and that's kind of why I have them in that competitive fringe playoff type of range. I'd imagine there's not a lot to pick up as a receiver when you're learning to Greg Roman offense. You just got to learn how to block. Nora, where are we at with the Charter's uniforms?

Do we feel like Jim Harbaugh's raw-rah personality will overcome the softness of the Charter's powder. This is a great question. No, no. The answer is no. It's still not a uniform that any defensive player should wear, which I think, explains a lot of what's happened to the Chargers over the last few seasons. That said, I do believe, I believe in Harbaugh in general. I believe in Harbaugh in particular in his first year with an organization.

Like, I don't think that this is a fake thing. I think that man comes in burning so hot and just like willing a team around him to get their act together in his first year with an organization. and you know whether or not that becomes grading in years three, four, whatever, like that's a problem for another time. This roster has a lot of holes, but it also has Justin Herbert. It also has some defensive players who I think are going to be in roles that make a lot more sense for them.

It also has a run game that it feels like they're prioritizing, which should take some of the pressure off of Herbert. I want to like, I think the Chargers are getting a lot. little bit too left for dead. And I, this is probably like the right sort of zone for them. But if anything, there are a couple teams that I would have would take before them. Just because I really do think that Harbaugh is going to be able to inject something in his first year there.

Yeah, I would agree with that. I think we discount as we discount coaches who come off as kind of weird. But like, it's showing in the results. Jonathan Gannon. They're all weird. You're right. And it feels like. the weirdest ones are the best one. So I'm with you. I think Jim Harbaugh is going to have them

playing a lot better than people think. I have two straight picks and I'm going to go with AFC South teams back to back. I'm going with the Jaguars who I think are just always on the verge of collapsing totally and the only thing that's propping them up is the hope that Trevor Lawrence provides them. But outside of that, where did this team get better in the offseason? I feel like their plans were kind of foiled with Calvin Ridley escaping to Tennessee. And And I'm not sure I like the moves they made to kind of work around that. Deiante, I know they've gotten a little bit of hype, especially on the defensive side. Like, what is the reasoning for that hype?

Like, what have you seen in that defense that leads you to believe that that could be a playoff level defense? To me, this is just banking on Ryan Nielsen to me that Ryan Nelson is going to get something out of Chavall Walker, mostly, right? I think that's what a lot of this is banked on is playing a little bit simpler up front, you know, which Nielsen, I think, will do for them. will help Walker and then pass that that Devin Lloyd gives them something at the linebacker position that really just kind of helps fortify this front seven. I'm just, I don't see enough. I think that I'm with you, Stephen. There's just not enough there for me to feel comfortable quite yet.

And I think that we're in a weird space with Trevor Lawrence. You've obviously been fighting this fight. Our good friend Nate Tice has been fighting this fight. I think that he is a good quarterback and a much better quarterback than I think he gets credit for, just given kind of the circumstances with the offense and what's around him. But I also think that he's kind of falling into maybe the best kind of quarterback that you do have to build a system to protect in, where you're not going to ask him to be a heavy dropback, shotgun drop back. You know, you have to deliver the ball perfectly every time.

I do think that he needs an offense that maybe takes something off his plate. There's just nothing there on this offense that takes any stress off his plate. They don't have enough in the run game with ETN and Tank Visby. They obviously don't have enough at wide receiver because they didn't have enough last year with Calvin Ridley. in my opinion, even when he was healthy. And I don't think that Gabe Davis is going to give them enough, nor is Brian Thomas Jr. in year one. I don't think.

I think that's still a really raw guy, even if he projects well as like an X type of receiver. They're not there yet on the offensive line either. There's just so many pieces, I think, that are nearly there, but not all the way to where I can see this team maybe going nine and eight again and just ultimately missing the playoffs and feeling like a big disappointment. And Press Taylor is still the offensive coordinator. still going to be calling plays. I can't remember a coach being this dedicated to an offense coordinator who's literally never done anything well when in that position. I just really can't.

And my other pick, I have two back-to-back picks. I'm not happy about this pick. I feel really badly about this pick, but I'm taking the Colts. And the reason why I'm taking the Colts is like what happens if Anthony Richardson doesn't stay healthy? I think so much of this offense is built around the threat of him as a runner to provide explosive plays. And we've had this conversation a couple times over the last year or two, maybe, Nora, I still don't see any explosive plays outside of the run game. If it's not Jonathan Taylor, it's not Anthony Richardson, where are the explosive plays coming from?

Am I being too pessimistic about this team, Nora? No, I think this is the right zone for them. I mean, I think they kind of got to show it, right? Like, I have a lot of optimism for what this coaching staff can do if Richardson can stay on the field and looks the way that he was looking in the earlier part of last season. But how is that four games?

Like it's just a really, really small sample size. So I think when we're talking about, you know, teams like, even teams like the Chargers, right? Like a team that has a lot of uncertainty, a lot of roster holes, but has a quarterback like Justin Herbert

who's proved what he's proven, even if we're talking about a team like Jacksonville, right? which like I'm with you. It has a real, you know, they're starting to play the song on the Titanic feel to it. The one thing I'll say is that the Jags started last season, eight and three, and then Trevor Lawrence got hurt.

And I don't think that Trevor Lawrence's play was at the root of what went wrong for the Jaguars last year. So I would not expect that to be sort of the turnaround that really changes things. But it's still true. And when they fell apart, he was dealing with various physical ailments and working through some stuff. And I'm sure it had some degree of effect. Right. So I think it takes a lot to leapfrog quarterbacks like that, teams like that when, you know, we saw a really small sample size and it looked exciting.

But it was still a really small sample size. To your point, I recently rewatched the Trevor Lawrence games, like the three games before he got hurt and then a couple games after he got hurt. Those injuries really affect him. I think we talk about the high ankle sprain, but he injured his throwing shoulder and just kept playing. And you could see it affect his throws. You could see the lack of zip on the downfield throws. And he was still very good and able to kind of overcome that, even though the pieces around him weren't helping him. So I agree with you there.

I think you were going to say something, Deonté. I was just going to say to the point of the cults that you made, like I think they got a pretty friendly schedule last year. Yeah. Having to see the NFC North this upcoming year, I think is going to be an issue. for them. There is a lot of good vibes, obviously, around Anthony Richardson maybe being available for longer for them. But with all the AFC teams, they have to see plus having to go to Green Bay. I think they have to go to New England this year. They've got to play Detroit, even though that's at home. That's going to be a tough game. You go to Minnesota this year, who we talked

about being a competent team. Chicago, I think being a little bit better this year than it were last year, especially with Caleb Williams, is a player we think he can be. There's a chance that they could be just as good this year and come out with the worst record because the quality opponent of opponent is just going to be much better this year than it was last season. Yeah, and that's kind of been the issue with the Chris Ballard era. It's like they've been solid, but they've never taken that step forward and they've never even tried to take that step forward, which is why I feel a little bit better about being pessimistic about them going forward.

We have two picks left. Deonti, you are up next. All right. So I think that now we're really in the, you're picking a team to miss a playoffs that's going to piss somebody off. So my pick for this is going to be Cincinnati. And most of this, I think, just comes down to the fact that I just don't trust this defensive backfield. I don't trust his defense backfield. I don't trust his pass rush. I don't, I think that things were great a few years ago with Louana Rumo and you lose Jesse Bates, who I think that we learn, the longer

that he's gone, the more it just becomes clear that he was the transformational piece. And when you don't have, I think, some of the good luck or fortunate, you know, kind of ball production, I think that their pass rush has kind of slipped. If that offense is not like top tier explosive in the way that it was in 2021, they're going to have trouble with how competitive a schedule they have this year. That team that played like the drop eight coverage against Patrick Mahomes and the AFC title, that defense is gone. It's gone. I don't even think that's a viable approach to how they play anymore. Because like you said, the pass rush has taken a slight step back.

I underrated the loss of Jesse Bates, but you could see like the Bengals are kind of trying to bring back their old safeties and trying to get the vibes back to that level again. And I agree. I don't take the talents there. And then there's the other thing, the other elephant in the room, the quarterback has had trouble finishing seasons. And I do think when you're...

Okay, but did you hear he's learning the piano. I did hear that. And I don't know how I feel about a guy with a wrist injury learning out of my piano. It's for flexibility. I was someone who... It's also so the girls on TikTok go crazy. Oh, my. He knows his base.

He knows how to play to his face. He really does. I've never seen anyone lean into their lore more than Joe Burrow. And that's a compliment to him. But at what point do we start getting concerned? Like, at what point do we start having the Lamar conversations that we had around his contract situation? And there has been some, some, I don't think it's been legitimate, but there's,

There have been some injury scares already during this off season where he has been rested during practice. So it might be in a Bengals hater, a Joe Burrow hater, by waving a little red flag here? I don't think so. I mean, this is another team. Even though they've been really successful, you have to see it again, in my opinion. I have to see that guy finish the season healthily. I want to see this offense be explosive with him at the helm again. I need to see whether or not Gino Stones can kind of paper over some of the communication issues.

they had on the back end because you can go you can go turn on the tape at any point in the season and just see that the guys on the back end really just didn't have the same kind of idea what they were doing they weren't distributing routes the way that they were a few years ago and when the pass rush is not getting home and the defensive backfield and that versatility is meant to be the feature of the defense they didn't get enough out of DJ Turner they're not getting enough yet out of Daxon Hill they definitely miss some of the guys that have walked over the last couple of years that attrition hit them really And they didn't stop. I think they'll be decent stopping the run, but not good enough, especially without DJ Reeder playing next to BJ Hill to really kind of paper over some of those issues. And that doesn't even get into the fact that you don't have Joe Mixing anymore in the run game. So there's going to be a lot of stress, in my opinion, on Joe Burrow and on a defensive backfield that we did not see the best results from last year to immediately make the situation better.

And Zach Taylor is losing his offensive coordinator and Brian Callahan, who apparently, from everything I've heard he was one of the better coaches in that coaching room. I think that's a big deal. And then everything we said about the competition and the NFC North applies to them too. They have a tough schedule also. All right, Nora, you have the last pick. You're picking Mr. Irrelevant, I guess. This is the hardest pick to be it. I do not envy you here because you're going to, like DeAndi said, you're going to pick someone off. I really thought, I thought

Deonti, because I have a couple teams that I feel like I could choose here. And I guess I can do it live. And I thought the most tempting one. I know the most tempting one, but I'm telling you, just don't pick that team. I don't know what I feel like I know the most tempting one. Russell Wilson is starting at quarterback. That's my tent. Okay.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. They're a contender.

To me, I guess I feel like there's four teams that feel like they're in the zone here. One of them, I guess, is the bears just because there's an amount of uncertainty. But I like the bears. I'm into the bears. I'm taking them out of the running. The next team that I would look at would be the Falcons, just because we're starting to get into the upper stretch of the league, the teams that, you know,

are serious organizations. And I have some questions of whether or not the Atlanta Falcons belong in that discussion. But I do think that, you know, we're doing win totals. They're in a very winnable division. Famous last words, but I'm going to use that as a reason to kick them out of this. conversation. Another team that I'm thinking about is the Rams.

And it's for two main reasons. One of them is that defensively, I don't think this is something that Stevens brought up that we've talked about before. Don't think enough is being made about the fact that this defense just lost like the defensive player of the 21st century. Or lifetimes. And that even though Aaron Donald might not have. you know, might have retired at the right time, might have been going over the hump,

was still a really, really impactful player and just a player that's been defining for them and for their defense for so many years. So I think there's a lot of uncertainty there. I also, if we're talking about quarterbacks who feel like a question mark to finish the season, I enter Matthew Stafford into the chat. Yes, big time. So this is one that feels tenuous. I do also believe that the team that is deciding between Russell Wilson and just

and fields as their starting quarterback belongs in this conversation. And this is, we're now in the zone where Tomlin can still keep his streak alive and this can still be a reasonable pick. I don't know. I honestly don't feel like the Steelers are necessarily that much more obvious here than like a team like the Rams just because I think outside. of quarterback, the roster as a whole is better and there's more stability there. But I do think for the same reason that we've just been discussing, which is that those AFC North teams are in for a real gauntlet schedule-wise, I do think I'm going to take those Steelers here. Famous last words. I mean, it's a bad quarterback situation, but objectively it's the best quarterback situation

they've had it since like 2019 before Ben Rothesberger officially lost it. Maybe that's the one thing they'll say. Significantly more competent offensive play caller will say at least in comparison to Matt Canada. So there's a lot of reason to feel good about them, I should say.

The Rams pick is a good one. I think like I think that would have been the team that would have been the team I might have ended up with just because I think the Matthew Stafford thing is a valid point, but also what happens if these offensive line upgrades don't pay off? I don't think it's a guarantee that this offensive line is going to be like

significantly improved. And I think Sean McVeigh is great. And also what happens if these offensive line upgrades don't pay off? And therefore because the offensive line is porous, Matthew Stafford gets hit in the elbow. And like how does Matthew Stafford love to play football? He likes to put himself in harm to dust. Yeah. Right.

And then if we see Jimmy Garoppolo on the field, though, what do we, do we think the Rams could survive a injury plagued season for Matthew Staff? Because, like, Jimmy G, like, we like to make jokes about him, but he's still, like, a decent backup option. Oh, I feel confident that Sean McVeigh could make Jimmy G into something that would inspire a lot of takes that people would come to regret. Yeah, I agree. I think he could be a Jacoby percent level player if he absolutely had to be leaned on. I think my issue there is, like, if anything happens with Matthew Stafford, the kind of offense that you run with Jimmy Garoppel would just be so different. Yeah.

Because there's so much you can just, you can ask. Matthew Stafford to fix from the line of scrimmage if something changes. You know, if the picture changes last second, if you get pressured, there's so much more that Matthew Stafford can do the Jimmy G can do. I'm with you. But at the same time, this coaching staff knows how to how to handle a Jimmy G. They've had a Jimmy G before. They've had plenty of Jimmy Gs in their careers.

They've been to the Jimmy Coropalo School of quarterback coaching. In a way, they invented it. That's a good point. No, I think the biggest thing for me is where we started, which is that, fact that arguably the greatest defensive player who ever lived is not wearing their uniform anymore. And the replacement there is Braden Fiske, who was a flawed prospect, and bringing in Jared Verso, I think, is a decent pass rusher. But I think it's a lot better. I think things look a lot better for the rest of that pass rush unit when you have 99 in the center of it. Like now there's

a lot being asked of Jared versus and Byron Young to be real pass rushers in ways that I don't know if they should be asked to so early in their careers, at least for Jared versus. Byron Young is like, my age in a second year here in the league. And then you have to Dave just right, who's obviously coming off of an Achilles, Darius Williams, who's a smaller guy, didn't look the greatest in Jacksonville, Cam Curl, who I like, but is not a picture changer so much on the back end. There are a lot of assumptions being made because they've made some solid additions at places, at places where they needed to address along the depth chart that made people feel

good. I don't know if this roster is as good as maybe people assume it to be just based off the signings and where they slot in and how we might feel about them based off reputation or who they were as prospects as what the reality may be if Matthew Stafford is not again an MVP, a near MVP level quarterback down the stretch of the year. I will say there were times when he looked like that level of quarterback last year, but as Norris said, the question is, can he sustain it? I think it's going to be one of those situations where we don't appreciate the loss of Aaron

Donald until we see it. And that's going to just add to his legacy. We're going to be like, holy shit, he was holding this defense up by himself at the end there. Some of these picks are teams that could win nine games or they could win six. And some of these teams are teams that could win 11 games or they could win five. And like the Rams feel a little bit closer to that. Yeah. I put them in the same category as the Jaguars in that regard where like, yeah, I can see them picking in the top 10 or I can see them picking in the bottom 10 when the draft comes along. That is all 18 picks. We actually did it guys. We got through all that. Just to recap

our teams, Nora, you had the Panthers, the Titans, the Patriots. the Seahawks, the Browns and Steelers. Deonté, you had the Broncos, Giants, Cardinals, Vikings, Chargers, and Bengals. And I had the Raiders, commanders, bucks, saints, jags, and Colts. I feel like Deonté had the boldest choices here. And I think Nora ended up with the best collection of teams.

I'm going to put myself in last place. Oh, I have the most envy of your team, Stephen. Yeah. Which team would you trade if you could? Because I really want the Panthers. I'm willing to make a draft trade right now. So maybe. maybe there are like lower lows on some others,

but your team, Stephen, is the one that I would be the least surprised if none of those teams make the playoffs. Yes, I think you have the safest picks here. Yeah. All right.

So you heard it here first. I'm the best at drafting terrible teams. And I guess that means Deonti, you're the worst. I'm just kidding. You're too good. Do we want to put anything on this? At the end of the year, you want to do a good old-fashioned Twitter avatar bet?

I'm always fond of those, and I have a terrible record in them, by the way, on these pods. I can take that. I'll do that. I'm so down. I don't think I've tweeted in months, so it's going to be really funny at playing. Your first time, I'm back. Here's my Brian Callahan avatar. See you again in eight months, or if Taylor Swift does something.

Which everyone comes first. Oh, now I'm hoping you lose so we can make it Taylor Swift related. I've got to figure out something. But that's going to do it for us. I will say this. I don't know how you guys are going to take this, but I think football fans are going to be happy to hear this. The Bears, rookies report to training camp exactly a week from today.

So we're getting close. We're almost there. Football season is, it's getting close. It's getting too close, personally. From my perspective, I don't know about you guys, but not super excited. That's going to do it for us. Thanks to Isaiah Blakely for producing the episode with additional production supervision by Arjuna Ramkopol and Connor Nevins. That's Deonté Lee. That's Nora

Princeati. I'm Stephen Ries. We'll see you next week.