The Ringer NFL Show - How Defenses Will Perform in 2022

Episode Date: August 18, 2022

Following Sheil’s list, he and Lindsay go through the league and debate which defense will lead the NFL and which ones can also take a leap this upcoming season. Hosts: Sheil Kapadia and Lindsay Jones Associate Producer: Stefan Anderson Additional Production Supervision: Arjuna Ramgopal and Conor Nevins Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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please check out Fairway Rowland every week, available on Spotify. Welcome to the Ringer NFL show. I'm Sheal Kapadia, joined by my friend Lindsay Jones. We're talking defense today. I had to write a piece for the Ringer, ranking all the defenses. It was very difficult.

I think I've done this three or four years in a row, Lindsay, and this year, as you know, because you were editing it, I couldn't make up my mind. I was switching them all over the place. So you're going to chime in today. Let me know which teams I should have had higher maybe, which teams I should have had lower. We're going to go through some of these teams.

How does that sound? Sounds good. I was pretty in agreement with you on your top teams. There were a couple in the middle, though, that I was like, Sheel, I think you're really excited about this team. Like, let's bump them up a little bit. I could tell in your writing that you believed in them, even though I maybe didn't personally myself.

And we're going to get into a couple of those. teams that maybe I'm higher on than you were and maybe a couple that I'm like, maybe we should rain it in, rain it in a little bit. Well, the defense is so hard to do because there's huge swings year to year. I mean, the best defenses last year will not necessarily be the best defenses. This year, teams will make huge leap. So I usually like to take big swings on this piece. I'm not always right. I'm usually very wrong. But you know what? That's part of the fun. I did go back and look at last year. Don't do that. Yeah, don't do that. I've got to scrub that from the internet. All right, let's get started. So I had my top five, I had the Ravens, the 49ers,

the Bucks, the Rams, and the Bills. And so we can talk about some of those teams at the end. But I wanted to get right to your wild card. So what was one of the teams that you wanted to talk about, maybe a team you thought could sneak up there in the top five or a team that should have been lower? Sure. So I thought about the Chargers, who you had at number six. And I thought, you know, that's kind of just like low hanging fruit, right? To just pick the team that's right outside of your top five. I mean, there's a lot to love about the Chargers. They got Derwin James back today.

He's been doing that hold-in, which is basically a, it's like the new trendy thing where guys like show up to camp, but they don't do anything until they get their new contract. But now Derwin James is going to be back on the field. And I'm just really excited to see what that group is with that coaching staff. I think they could make a nice lead. But I'm not going to pick the Chargers. So when I'm looking at teams, so I wanted to take teams that were maybe right around number 10 or then into the teens and lower that I thought,

okay, here's a team that could get into that very elite group at some point this season. So the first team that I wanted to pick is the Pittsburgh Steelers. They're kind of right, they were right at the bottom of your top 10. So they were kind of right on that range. But, you know, the biggest reason I think that I'm confident in the Steelers is coaching. I mean, I think you could make a really strong argument that they have the best defensive coaching staff in the league. And that's not just Mike Tomlin. that's Mike Tomlin plus Brian Flores plus Terrell Austin.

I just think it's a really, really good group. And then you have elite star power in T.J. Watt and Cam Hayward. And yes, there are questions. You pointed out some of those in your piece, particularly at cornerback and, you know, playing in a division where, you know, you're going to have to line up against Burrow and Jamar Chase a couple of times a year. You know, I think you'd want some good cornerbacks. I'm not as concerned about that, given the strength that they have up for. front and the ability of that staff to really scheme up some really interesting blitzes and coverage

schemes and stuff to maybe minimize some of the weaknesses on the back end. I like it. I'm high on the style. I had the Steelers at nine, but you're right. I definitely could have bumped them up. I was at Steelers camp this week and I had the same thought you did. I'm just like, Tomlin, you just watch how he coaches a practice and you're just like, all right, it makes sense why the Steelers just often overachieve their talent and kind of that culture of competitiveness. I was there. And he was just having George Pickens and Minka Fitzpatrick do these one-on-ones, like over and over and over again, just pushing their buttons and, you know, just making it a really high energy practice. And then at the end of practice, you've got the Steelers wide receivers on one sideline just yelling at Cam Hayward and Minka Fitzpatrick and they're going back and forth. So I'm with you.

I just kind of trust the infrastructure there. If it's like a Monday or Tuesday and they're game planning for the next opponent and you have Tomlin and Flores and Terrell Austin, I mean, I didn't count up the number of years. of experience. But man, those guys have coached a lot of really good defensive football teams. They added Miles Jack, who I think, they like what they've seen so far.

From him, you're right. It's like, you look at it. You're like, oh, corner is kind of, you know,

they signed Levi Wallace. They've got Nekyllow Witherspoon. They've got Cam Sutton. It's not the most star heavy group of cornerbacks. But I'm with you. I feel like they have enough around that group where they'll be able to figure it out and not put those corners in positions where they're just going to get burned week in and week out.

Yeah, it's really hard to find teams, though, that are loaded in the front seven and in the secondary. I mean, they're kind of unicorn teams where, you know, and maybe a couple of them are in your top five and we'll get into some of those teams. So how do you want to do this? Do you want to go into one of your teams now? I want me to go through. I want to get to yours. I'm bored with my list. Let's get to more of yours.

All right. So you probably knew this was going to happen at one point, right? I'm looking now at kind of the mid-tier picks. And I swear I'm not just being a homer. and I swear I'm not just going by the only team that I've seen practice live this summer and that's the Denver Broncos. Okay.

I've watched them several times now out in practice and there's just something brewing there. Like it just looks like it's going to be a special group. And you do this as long as I have and I'm real old. I've been to a lot of training camps. And you can kind of just get the sense of like this unit, whether it's sometimes it's an offense, a lot of times it's a deal.

defense where you're just like, they've figured it out. They figured something out here, whether it's chemistry or just they know that they've got good players. And they've just got this like swagger to them that I have not seen in a really, really long time out of that group. And part of me wonders if a bit of it is that they know they have a good offense now. And there's just like everything has been lifted there. And, you know, the Broncos for years have kind of tried to fool themselves, I think, and kid themselves that this was going to be a competitive team and, oh, the defense is good and it's going to make them competitive. And, like, I don't know, maybe there's just a freedom now that this defense has,

that they're not going to have to carry this entire team week after week after week. I 100% believe in that. Like, I think that happens. I mean, players know, like, especially defensive players, they're not shy, whether they're talking amongst themselves, like, oh, my gosh, you know, our quarterback stinks or, wow, we actually have something at quarterback. this year. And it's been a while for them, as you said. And as you know, they were one of the hardest teams to place. I think they are such a, I don't even want to say high variance,

because I think their floor is pretty high. I think they're at least going to be mediocre. I do think they have that high ceiling. And I probably shuffled them around quite a bit here. I just like a lot of the players. I mean, Patrick Sertan could easily be an all pro corner this year. Justin Simmons just does it year and year out. It's a different coaching staff, but I don't think it's going to be like this crazy scheme change. It's like similar coaching trees, I think, where, you know, they're going to know a lot about what they've done. Previously, my question is just with kind of the depth. And some of the players they have who, if they're healthy, Bradley Chubb, Randy Gregory.

I mean, if those guys are healthy, if you told me, hey, they're each going to play at least, I don't know, 14, 15 games this year. I definitely would have bumped them up. They both had obviously injury histories in the past. And I feel like if those guys go down, then it could be a little tougher with that pass rush for sure. But it goes back to what you said. Not every team is going to have the pass rush and the secondary.

They've definitely got the secondary. I mean, they're pretty deep there with Ronald Darby. Kwan Williams was a nice signing. I thought the slot corner. They've got like a veteran group there in the secondary where I agree with you. I think that could be a fun team for sure. Yeah, I think so. And you mentioned the two guys that I'm really excited to watch.

And that's Patrick Sertan and Justin Simmons. Simmons has been kind of on that cusp of like not quite in the conversation for best safety in the NFL. He was paid like it for a little while. Now I think he's third after a couple of the deals, the Derwin Jamesdale that I just mentioned. But he's been on bad teams. You know, he came here, I think, in 2016. So he's just never really won. And he could very much get into that, like, elite safety year.

If he just keeps producing the way that he has, but on a much larger scale where people outside of Denver are actually noticing. And Sir Tan is just fun as hell. I mean, one of the practices I was out there recently, it was just like, I'm just going to follow him around. I'm only going to watch him. And I'm totally like, I'm getting way ahead of myself. But I was really, I was lucky enough to get to watch Champ Bailey practice for a lot of years.

And there's just something about this guy, the way that he moves, the way that he cut, like how he practices, his demeanor. That I'm like, he's got some Champ Bailey in him, which is a very high bar. But. Yeah, I love it. I was wrong about that traffic. I'll admit it. I was wrong. I didn't like it at the time. And now I'm like fully on board.

Yeah. Awesome. Well, they were, I mean, they were so injured last year, too, is the other thing. They were the third most injured team, injured defense, according to adjusted games laws from football outsiders. So it's like, if they just get that league average injury lock, which I write about like for every one of these teams, I'm like, she'll find something new for one of these. But it is a big factor, which teams are healthy. And they were still the 21st ranked defense last year. So I agree that the pieces are in place there. All right. Who do you have next year? All right. So now this is my first team that I'm higher on. you are. And that's the Green Bay Packers. You have them at 17. Look, I didn't rank one through 32,

so I don't know exactly where I'd slot them. But I think I would have them much closer to 10 than to 20, which is kind of where you had them. I believe they were, they finished 18th last year, DBOA by the end of the season, which surprised me. I thought they were higher than that. And maybe that was just a little recency bias by, you know, watching them kind of win some games when the offense struggled. It was just this very unfamiliar. style of Packers teams where the defense was kind of having to carry them through some stretches of the season. I do think like from a metric standpoint, and if we're talking about just where they're going to fit in the whole scheme, I think they could benefit from playing in a little bit

of a weaker division where the Broncos, one of the things that's going to be difficult for the Broncos defense is that they're playing against Patrick McHones and Justin Herbert and Derek Carr, and they're playing against really good quarterbacks in their own division. That's not necessarily the case for the Packers. You know, I guess the best opposing quarterback they're going to face multiple times in division is Kurt Cousins, which he's right as long-time listeners of this podcast will know is kind of the dividing line on if a quarterback is good or not. So I, you know, I do like them. I love Jair Alexander. I'm really excited to have or that they're going to have him back full-time. I think that's going to make a huge difference to the way that they can play

in the secondary and also to the depth of that position that was really, really, really tested last year. I mean, remember, they got really lucky, I think that Rassoul Douglas was this kind of like a revelation. But they had to go so deep that they were having to sign Russell Douglas out the Cardinals practice squad in October and force him to play,

you know, basically right away and kind of lucked into finding something there. But now you have one of the best cornerbacks in all the football back full time. So hopefully you're not going to have to going that deep into a bench to get some good coverage there. So there are a team that I'm a, a little bit more excited about than you are.

Yeah, I think I had them like a few spots higher. I do. It's funny, we just had the Sartan conversation. And it's like sometimes we look at the rookies or your team draft somebody and you're like, wow, they just filled that hole. They're going to be great. And it does happen. Micah Parsons, Patrick Sertan.

But I always am skeptical when it's like, oh, this team has a couple of rookies. Like they've got Devante Wyatt and Quay Walker. Those guys are just going to come in and be really good because most of the time it doesn't happen. And so I was looking at the Packers. I was struggling with it a little bit for sure. I just don't see like a massive talent upgrade from what they were last year. And you're right, Jaira Alexander. I mean, if he's just healthy, that could be enough. And if nothing else changes, then they could be better. The rest of their defense had pretty good injury luck. So if Alexander's healthy and then, you know, they get, they get dinged up in some other areas. That could be a factor.

I think they were kind of turnover reliant last year. You know, Rasul Douglas was an awesome story last year. But he had five interceptions in his first 60 NFL games, and then he had five interceptions in 12 games for the Packers. So it's like, can you count on that? You know, Devandre Campbell. Again, awesome story. I hope he's an all pro again. I hope he has 10 more all pro seasons, but he was a good player for like five years. And then he was an all pro last year. So is he going to be able to do that again? So I think I'm with you with their ceiling. There's a scenario where we look at this and go, man, they've got the maybe the best, a great secondary, one of the best corner groups in the NFL if Rousseau Douglas even plays it like 80% of what he was last year where they're really

good. But I was fading them a little bit. Maybe it's just in my head as I was doing, I'm a little lower, I think, on the Packers in general. So that might have snuck into my head there a little bit. Yeah. Maybe it's just I've kind of talked myself into like I'm preparing for these like 13 to 10 Packers wins. I don't know. I'm trying to prepare myself for some like different style of Green Bay Packers football. Maybe not. In the moody area. and Rogers, if that's the case, I would think. Yeah, I mean, that would assume they can make some field goals. This is not a special teams podcast, though.

Yes, that's, we're not going to rank there. I am not ranking, yeah, we're not ranking 32 special teams. I don't know what to do there. All right. So that's the Packers. They would fire both of us if we tried that. Yeah, no, I can't. I don't, it's funny when you try to like understand different aspects of football,

you know, something. Oh, okay, that's interesting. Special teams, I'm just like, all right, I don't know what. It's chaos. I don't know what's going on here. I know the punt god. I know if the kicker's good. Beyond that, I don't really have much desire to learn more about special teams.

All right. I think you've gotten three. We've gone over three, right? We've gone three. All right. So now I'm going to pick a wild card from in the 20s that I think could make a leap. I'm not saying top five here. But a team that if everything breaks right for them could be a really fun defense to watch.

And really good, too. And that's the New York Jets. and I don't say a lot of nice things about the Jets typically or in recent seasons. So this is big. I mean it now when I say that maybe the Jets defense could be really fun. And I think this comes from a couple reasons. I still have a lot of faith in Robert Sala to get the most out of a group. And now he actually has more talent than he's had really at any time in his tenure there with the Jets.

I love that they're getting Carl Lawson back. He was absolutely one of my favorite free agents that hit the market in 2021. I was thought it was a little curious that ended up with the Jets. Obviously, they've had a ton of money to spend. So I think that was probably part of it. But we just never got to see him. I mean, he got hurt so early. I was during camp last year, right?

I mean, he hasn't played an actual, you know, legit snap for the Jets yet. So, you know, that's like, you know, almost getting like a bonus draft pick or a bonus big agent this year because they just never had him last year. and like you, I'm a little hesitant to, you know, put too much into how much rookies are going to be able to contribute. But I liked the sauce gardener pick. And if he can just flash in some big moments, I mean, I don't know if like, you know, a Patrick Sertan like rookie season is necessarily realistic. But if he can be a reliable cornerback and kind of a guy who, you know, maybe three or four interceptions and, you know, has a big game against the bills or something in kind of one of those big moments, it could. be really fun. And maybe they're, you know, they sneak into that 12 or 13 range by the end of the year. I love it. I mean, I was looking, if I had any guts, I would have moved them, uh, up a little bit.

It's, I was probably just the jets. Oh my gosh. I get how high am I going to make them? I actually thought when I was starting the exercise, I was like, I'm probably going to have the jets pretty high here. Like I thought that was going to be a headliner. But as you go team by team, I couldn't get them up there. But the roster is got. I mean, I feel like I say this on every podcast, but the jets are such an interesting team for next offseason to me. I mean, we'll see what happens with Zach Wilson this year. Maybe he'll be healthy. Maybe he'll be good.

I don't know, but like it's one of those where if you just remove the quarterback from every team and look at roster spots two through 53, they've really added a lot of talent. And they've had a lot of resources because they've stung. But they've added a lot of talent over the last two years. And it's certainly there on defense. I mean, that defensive line should be really good. Carl Lawson, Quinn and Williams, John Franklin Myers. Again, Jermaine Johnson's a rookie so you don't want to put too much into it.

But they've got dapped with their fifth, sixth, seventh guys where I was looking at the roster going, man, they can really withstand an injury or two. And the defensive line should still be okay. DJ Reed, the corner from Seattle. I mean, he played well for the Seahawks last year. Jordan Whitehead is safety. They signed who's very good against the run. Like, I'm just looking at it.

It's not like a roster where you look at it, and specifically on defense and go, they've got a lot of holes. Like they're pretty evenly distributed throughout the, throughout the defense at all three levels. And they've got, I mean, if you're a regression person, I mean, they should really benefit from it more than maybe any other team. They were the most injured defense in the NFL last year, even more than the Ravens.

I couldn't believe that when I saw it. It was like, how was anyone more injured than the Ravens? But that's just on defense. So if they stay a little bit healthier there, if they create some more turnovers, they didn't have very good turnover luck last year. They're definitely a defense that can make a big leap down. They were 32nd last year.

So like even I had a, I have him at 20th, so even if they get the 20th, that's a nice leap. But I agree with you. I think it's within a reasonable range of outcomes that they finish even higher than that. All right. So before we get into your top five, we're going to have a little bit of therapy right now. So we're friends. We've been coworkers for a long time.

I'm now your editor. And we need to talk about the Minnesota Vikings a little bit here. I knew this was coming. So you have the Vikings at number two. 10. And this is the team that's going through a lot of change. Massive, massive change. Complete regime change, new general manager, new head coach. Mike Zimmer was so associated with that defense. And while I think there's, you know, they, it was time to move on from Mike Zimmer. But the one thing was like, you always knew during the Zimmer era who their defense was going to be, what

attitude they were going to play with. You know, you just had this really, really high floor and really high expectations for that team all the time. And I'm just not sure if I'm ready to jump on board with you as this being a top top 10 team. So I want to know exactly how you talk to yourself into the Vikings, this current version of the Vikings being a top 10 defense. This is so funny because I turned in the piece. I was at Ravens training camp and I turned in the piece.

And then I had this like four hour drive to get to Pittsburgh for Steelers training camp. And in my head, I'm going over stuff going, you know, did I leave? Did I make too big of a leap here? Should I change some of this around? Because I still had some time. And the Vikings are a lot where I'm like, do you just, do you just ride with it and take the big swing? Or should you move them down a little bit? Now it's going back and forth.

And then I'm like, you know what? Just stick with your first instinct. All right. So what's the case here? The case is that this offseason, I think a lot of people myself included thought the Vikings were going to be like, let's reset this thing. It's a new regime. We'll get rid of some veterans. We'll try to make the roster younger, maybe look for other solutions at quarterback.

And they didn't do that. there was ownership or they thought, hey, let's just, you know, be competitive this year and we don't have to go all the way to a full rebuild. They signed Jordan Hicks. They signed Zadarius Smith. They're using draft picks on rookies here with Lewis Seen and with Andrew Booth. And so I just looked at the defensive roster and was just, you know, you go through the starters and I'm like, these starters are pretty good. I mean, the defensive line, the front board is really good if those guys are healthy. Zadarias Smith win healthy. One of the best defensive players in the NFL. Now, that is a huge if because he was not healthy last year. I totally understand that

Daniel Hunter, if he's healthy, one of the best pass rushers in the NFL. I know he's been banged up recently, but like he had a nice stretch for, what, three, four years where he was healthy. He was durable. He's still young. He's not like in his 30s or anything. So I'm like, those two guys can stay healthy. That is a ferocious pass rush. They added Harrison Phillips, the defensive tackle from the bills. They've got Dalvin Tomlitz. And it's just like a roster of a bunch of solid veterans there. And then you have those young wild cards where if one or two of these guys pop, then maybe they are able to make that leap. I should just say what you said with the Packers.

They get to face Justin Fields. And I know some are excited about the Lions. I don't think it's going to be a great offense. So Justin Fields and nothing around him. And then Jared Goff and an offense that I think is going to be mediocre to below average. So that was my case for the Vikings. As I was second guessing myself, it's like, she'll, it's like one of those guys gets injured. And they've been injured.

They don't have depth. If Hunter goes down, if Smith goes down, it's not a deep roster. It could get ugly, like you said. I mean, I was huge on Zimmer. I was like, you have a Zimmer coach defense, your floor. I think we saw the floor last year. There was 17th in DVOA, and it felt like they sucked, right? I mean, we all watched the Vikings.

Like, this defense is terrible. And you looked up and they were still mediocre rankings-wise. So that could come back to hunt me for sure. I think the most likely outcome is probably more mediocrity. But like I said, sometimes you take swings. Listen, if I have the Vikings in my top 10 for like the next 15 years, one of those years, just the odds are in my favor that I'm going to be right. Well, we'll just put a pin in this so that when you file your first picks against the spread

column and you're all over the Vikings, we'll revisit and we'll check in with you, see how you're doing there. But so those are my five. So those are the teams that, you know, maybe not quite in that elite tier. But I want to know exactly how you got to this top five. because a couple of them, you know, were teams that were making a significant jump from last year. Yeah, I think I looked at it and I felt like there were a bunch of teams that I felt good about being in like the top 10.

You know, like a team like the Rams, we probably don't need to discuss that much. Their defense has been good for a while. They've got two of the best defensive players in the NFL, two of the best overall players in the NFL and both those guys are pretty young. Like, I feel good that the Rams are going to have a top 10 defense unless they just get crushed by injuries or Aaron Donald retires midseason or something crazy happens. And so I felt good about that one. The bills are probably pretty similar there. I know corner is a question for them, but that's another one sort of like

the Steelers, where I trust the infrastructure with McDermott and Leslie Frazier. Like, these are veteran defensive coaches. It's the same scheme. I think their defensive line could be one of the best in the NFL with, you know, you covered Von Miller. I saw him at Bill's camp today. And they're just like what Von Miller is doing with a bunch of young pass rushers they have. They're just basically like, well, it's like having another coach with us. He took them to like his pass rush summit that he has and has really taken everyone under his wing. And so those probably don't surprise a lot of people. The one that probably surprises people is the Ravens who I had, you know, I had so much trouble picking who I wanted at number one. I mean, I was going with the box, then I was going with

the Rams, then I was going with the Niners. And I'm like, you know what? Maybe the Ravens, if they're just healthy and they were so decimated last year, the roster. is good, the secondary is good, the D-line is good. And I was talking to John Harbaugh when I was there, and it just feels like schematically, he's, I think he might be like the most open-minded or coach. I don't know if that's the right word, but he's always willing to adapt. I feel like when something's not working, he's not like stuck in his ways. And they made a defensive coordinator change.

And I do think they feel like they're going to be more flexible, more varied with what they do. What did you think? When you open that up, are you like, is he nuts? Do I need to call him right now? this is a wild pick or were you like, oh, okay, I can kind of see it. No, I kind of liked it. But I mean, I think, you know, the Ravens are always a trendy pick for like when you're

looking at how a team. But when it's like, because it's like, how is this team built? Like you can see the plan. The moves make sense. Even moving on from Wink Martindale at Defense Corner, like it kind of makes sense. You know, it felt like his style of defense just wasn't working for the Ravens anymore. And we'll see how it works for him with the Giants. if he can play that style with a much less talented roster

that he's going to have with the Giants than he had his years with the Ravens, even a year like last year when they were injured. But, you know, they had gotten kind of predictable, you know? And when you're playing in this AFC where you have so many good quarterbacks, you can't just be predictable on defense. So it really felt like the time was right to make a change.

It was interesting that they went to Mike McDonald, who was a guy who spent a long time in the Ravens organization, that's where he came up as a coach and then he left for one year. He was the defensive coordinator at the University of Michigan. Didn't leave the Harbaugh family but one year and made massive improvements to

Michigan defense last year. Also worked really, really closely with Aidan Hutchinson. And then John Harbaugh brought him back and is kind of letting him go now with that defense. I'm really curious. I mean, you were just there. What does that defense look like, feel like, what does it sound like around practice with this kind of new energy in that group?

Yeah, I think, Honestly, you nailed it. Like the word predictable, I think that's probably a word that's been tossed around their building when they're talking about why they made the change. I mean, they were so heavy with man coverage and they were such a big blitzing team.

They didn't have really a plan B. And, you know, part of me doesn't blame them because their defense was good for what, four or five years. Most of the time it worked. It just wouldn't work against Patrick Mahomes. Yeah, yeah. And with their injuries. So I think it was a combination of those two things,

the predictability that you mentioned, and then they were the second most injured defense in the NFL last year. They just had no defensive backs to play. So when I was there, Marcus Peters, Peters, Peters, Humphrey on the outside. At safety, they've got Chuck Clark. They signed Marcus Williams.

They drafted Kyle Hamilton. So it's like even if he has some growing pains, he's not just going to be thrown in there and maybe might not be asked to play, you know, 90% of the snaps. But I like loading up on defensive backs and giving yourself some flexibility. Like I do think they can play a lot of dime if they want to.

And then I'm kind of bullish on their defensive line. You know, Odafei Owe, I. I think it's like a breakout star candidate. You know, I think one of these years, and maybe it'll take until year three. I don't know. It's going to click for him, and he's just going to have, you know, 12, 13 sacks and just be somebody everybody is talking about. You can just see the upside with his athleticism, the way he moves.

And so it's kind of a nice mix of younger players, you know, like O.A and Kyle Hamilton, and then you have these veterans who they still have Callais Campbell. They brought back Michael Pierce there to play nose tackles. So I just feel like that week-to-week flexibility where it's, you know, like you said, shoot, we're going to up against the Chiefs. We're going to need to do something different this week. They're going to have more answers to problems this year, I think, than they did last year. Now, there could be growing pains because when you have those schematic changes that I think Mike McDonald's going to bring and you try to do different things, you could go through growing pains. But it could be a scenario where it's like November, December and we're like, wow, this Ravens defense is really coming on now.

So let's get to one more. Was there another? How about the Niners? Can we talk about the Niners? Yeah. So I'm excited about the Niners. And I liked in there, and I thought that was a little maybe surprising because they, you know, look, the Rams just won the Super Bowl in large part because of how good their defense was. And, you know, Aaron Donald being able to close out games, you know, multiple back-to-back games, really closing out the NFC championship game and the Super Bowl. You know, and the Niners, though, they just.

So I already said these really good things about Robert Salah. And then they replaced him with D'Amico Ryans, who was really unknown, unproven, you know, along, he played for Kyle, not directly for Kyle Shanahan, but he was in Houston when Kyle Shanahan was in Houston. So I think he kind of knew that this guy was going to be a coach at some point. But this time last year, we had had no idea who D'Amico Ryans was going to be as a coordinator. He was a really good linebacker's coach. He did great work with Fred Werner. But we didn't really know.

And then he kind of took that group that was really good under Robert Sala and even elevated it further. So, I mean, I think that's a really big reason to be confident in them. And then just they're just this defensive line factory. I mean, they just keep bringing these guys in here. Nora Preciati was in San Francisco recently or in Santa Clara, excuse me. She wrote a piece about Trey Lance that ran today. But one of the things that she noted in there was how tough the D-line has been making it on Trey Lance. and their offensive line,

and that's been one of the hard parts of kind of evaluating Trey Lance right now is that they're just getting beat regularly by Domeko Ryan's defense. And one name that she noted was Javon Kinlaugh is a guy who's been like popping in camp. And if he's able to have that breakout season that he hasn't had yet,

he's had a lot of injury issues over the first couple years, if he's able to pop on their defensive line, that would be really, really huge for them. So I'm very intrigued right now. Yeah, he's a key player, no doubt. I was thinking when I was looking at the Niners, Mike Tomlin had that awesome, like, quote or anecdote or whatever this offseason

where he said, you got to run to coaching. Like he hates when a coach is like, this guy doesn't use his hands well. And he's like, and I've thought this for so long and he articulated it so well. Like sometimes NFL coaches don't understand what their job is. And I just want to yell at them like, you are getting paid to help this player. And when I saw what Damiko Ryan said last year, that's what I loved about it. Because there's so many coaches who are making so many excuses. Oh, we had injuries.

Oh, we don't have the talent to fit our scheme. First year defensive coordinator, one of the most injured defenses in the NFL, the second most injured secondary in the NFL, and they were top five defense last year. And they were the reason they were winning in the playoffs was because of D'emico Ryan Stevens. I mean, think about how limited he was.

He could not, they literally could not play man coverage. I mean, if you look at the numbers, when they played man coverage, complete disaster. Like that part of the, the playbook was just not available to him. And guess what? He still figured it out. Domeko Ryans, you understand how to be an NFL coach.

That's what you get paid for. And so I'm just very bullish on him. I hope it wasn't a one-year thing. I feel like, I felt like this off-season, he should have been getting as many interviews as any of these other guys we're getting, even though I know he might not have a ton of experience. But I'm just really excited about him. And then just their blue chip players, man, Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, Eric Armstead,

They signed your various ward who I thought that was a little bit expensive, but that's going to be an upgrade over what they had last year. And so, again, it's not the most talented, I don't think it's a top five talent did defense in the NFL. They are deep on the defensive line, which I like. But when a coach shows me that they can solve problems and come up with answers under less than ideal circumstances, I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt. So that was like a Domeko Ryan's pick probably as much as anything else. All right. We got to a bunch of these teams.

You can read the rest on the ringer.com if you want to know where the other teams were ranked. Thank you to Lindsay Jones for joining me today. Thank you to Stefan Anderson for producing additional supervision by Arjuna Ramgopal and Connor Nevins. We'll be back with the Ringer NFL show tomorrow.