The Ringer NFL Show - Interesting Nuggets From the First Week of Training Camp

Episode Date: July 26, 2024

Sheil, Diante, and Steven comb through all the highlight clips, quotes, and stories that are coming out of training camp, then they each provide two nuggets from the first week of training camp that they found intriguing. Hosts: Sheil Kapadia, Diante Lee, and Steven Ruiz Producer: Isaiah Blakely Social: Kiera Givens Additional Production Supervision: Arjuna Ramgopal and Conor Nevins Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Join me, Danny Kelly and Danny Highfits on the Ringer Fantasy Football Show for all things, fantasy, NFL, and more. But that time you said, join me, Danny Kelly. It sounds like you're Danny Kelly. It's join me, Craig Horlebeck. Right, right, right, right, right, right, right. Okay. Join me, Craig Horlebeck, as well as Danny Highfits and Danny Kelly. Nice. Thank you. For all things, fantasy football, NFL, and more on the Ringer Fantasy Football Show. Boom. Welcome to the ringer NFL show. Shield Capati here with Stephen Ruiz and Deontay Lee footballist here. I was at an actual practice today in South Philly.

Jim Harbaugh compared it to what? Coming out of the womb and being born again? I'm not going that far, but I still had a good time. Ruiz, you're a football guy. You probably, you know, aligned with Jim Harbaugh on that take. I don't remember much about my birth, but I would imagine it was along the same lines as watching quarterbacks throw routes on air. Sure. Deonti, what do you think? I mean, you're, you are, you got the coaching

gene. I mean, are you, were you like Jim Harba? Finally, someone articulated what I've been feeling all these years or maybe a little bit too far. I have often said that holding my whistle reminds me of holding my son moments after his birth. So there you go. There you go. Deonti was on board with Jim Harba. All right, here's what we're doing today. We're going around the league. You're seeing these clips circulating. You don't know. What do I pay attention?

What's real? I mean, listen, nowadays, you don't even know if it's a real clip or not that's being circulated in your group chat or on Twitter or Instagram or whatever. So we are here to cut through some of the nonsense. Maybe. Maybe we'll embrace some of the nonsense, too. But basically what we did, we each picked two things. It could be a play that we saw.

It could be an interview. It could be a note. It could be a report. two things that we saw that we found interesting. We're going to talk about why we found them interesting as a way to take you around the league, what you need to pay attention to this week as training camps begin and all the teams have reported. All right. Let's see.

Deonti, you start us off. What do you got? What's the first thing on your list today? I think true to you and my Philadelphia fandom here, the first thing, well, one of the things I was definitely looking for early in camp is to know exactly where Jalen Hertz, Kellen Moore, and this offense stood early. And I think that the early reporting is that, A, he's healthy to start camp, which is a big deal for me, right? Because this offense definitely missed his legs, his ability to extend, you know,

design, run game, all those things. But that he looked pretty well passing the ball, which I think is a big progression from what we were hearing during OTAs in mini camp, right, which was that there's still a little bit of confusion, the verbiage is different. He's still kind of trying to find his footing. Some of the ways he's just working through progressions. seems a little bit, you know, he's kind of lagging on certain things. So to hear that he's sharp

right now makes me feel good. And I will say this is also in conjunction with Howie Roseman doing a press conference. And I think speaking pretty openly on the fact that they're exploring their options with finding another receiver, which I think is going to be necessary to make the most out of this offense. I've been working on stuff in terms of like table setting for training camps this year. And one of the things I wanted to look at was how Kellam Moore has really made the most out of slot receivers when defense has tried to blitz his offense. And If you look last year with Keenan Allen and then two years prior with CD Lamb, those receivers in each of those three seasons were in the top 10 in targets and receiving

yards against the blitz from the slot. So if you can drop Devante Smith into that role, you have a reliable outside receiver that allows Devonte Smith to be used in that way. And Jalen Hertz is sharp with understanding this offense and executing it. There is an opportunity for them to quickly fix some of the issues they had with pressure last season. Yeah, it's a good one to start on. I actually had this as one of mine, but I thought, you know what? One of them might choose an Eagles related things.

So I have an extra one. Don't worry about it. But yeah, like I said, I was boots on the ground today. Got to go to an NFL practice and what you said is spot on Deont. And the other thing that stood out is like they bring in Kellyn Moore. And like Kellynne Moore is not Kyle Shanahan or Andy Reed. But it's kind of like the very simple things you expect from a modern NFL offense. The Eagles did none of that last year.

And so there was a play. today where Jalen Hertz is under center. Devante Smith is going in motion, motion from right to left. And Jalen Hertz hands the ball off to Saquan Barkley on an inside run. And you're saying, who cares, Shield? Why is that? It's because last year, like the extremes with this team were crazy. I mean, they were in shotgun or pistol 94% of the time tops in the NFL. They had the lowest rate of motion of any team in the NFL. They threw to the middle of the field and some of that is on the quarterback, not just the scheme, but less than any offense in the NFL. So it's like I don't need them to have a, you know, a complete makeover where they're a totally

different offense, but you just need more buttons to push, more tools in your bag, whatever, you know, comparison you want to use. You need to have more answers because they didn't have answers at the end of the season and you could see it. And I think that was a big part of the disconnect between Jalen Hertz and Nick Siriani. I mean, NFL players from their coaches, they want to know that this coach can help me, give me answers or help me be my best. And the Eagles coaching staff just was not doing that. So, yeah, that was part of what I kind of noticed as I was there today and encouraging.

It's one practice. We'll say once the game starts, who knows? Week three, we could be saying, man, it's the same issues with this offense once again. But at least you're seeing the changes that Kellyn Moore, it looks like, has been handed the keys here. What do you think? Yeah, I saw a clip that it was like, I don't know if it was significant or not, but it was a clip of Jalen Hertz kind of carrying out like a fake zone read, which turned into like a speed option type of pitch to Saquan Barkley.

And the reason why I thought that was significant, because I know we've talked about what this offense is going to look like, is it going to be what Kellyn Moore has ran in the past, or is it going to be more like what we saw out of Philadelphia the last couple of years, just because I think that kind of fit Jalen Hertz's game, or is it going to be a mesh with the two? And I think the fact that they're working on different types of zone read actions that you don't typically see tells me it's going to be a big part of their offense. Like I don't think you're practicing the change up if you're not going to throw the fastball a lot is what I would say. So I do think that's going to be a big part of the offense. And I like that there's creativity added to that.

Like I thought at times you had the bet you put it the best way shield. They didn't have answers last year. That was the biggest difference between that year and the year before that when they had changed Stuyken, who always seemed to have an answer. even when the defense is won initially, Stuyken would find an answer. I think the Super Bowl was a perfect example of that. They couldn't run the ball early, but then they got into empty. They started pulling Kelsey outside and running those quarterback draws. Something they ran a little too much last year, but that unlocked the Chiefs defense and they were able to run the football.

I don't think they had that last year. And I think Kellan Moore, if he can provide one thing, it's that he's not only going to be able to do the stuff that they do well already. He's going to have changeups built off of that. And you're already starting to see that in camp. And like you're hearing that like Paris Campbell, I don't know, Sheila, you were there. Obviously, Paris Campbell is getting some touches. I mean, I think if he can overcome his just the most unlucky injury history, I think I've ever seen a player. Like two years ago, it was bad and he's only been hurt since then.

But if you can unlock a player like that within the scheme, and I think Helen Moore has that, it just adds another layer to this offense they haven't had before. So I think that's the encouraging news from this. Not only is Jalen Hertz improving in the offense, but it sounds like the offense is going to have more answers. The question for me is, is that core, like the foundation of the offense still going to be as good because obviously Kelsey has retired. And I think he was the best player on the team. Yeah, no, there's, you know, you saw it today, Cam Juergens, who's replacing Kelsey at center, unfair to expect him to be able to do the same things. But in terms

of like type, athleticism, that kind of thing, that is kind, you know, that's why he got drafted, where he got drafted. And you mentioned it. One of the by big takeaways today is like, man, Jalen Hertz is being used a lot in the run game. It's like, you know, they're doing all kinds of stuff, whether it's out of empty. You mentioned it, whether it's speed option. So it seems like that's going to continue to be a big part of the offense. Wide receiver three, I think Deontes right about what Howie Rose been. Like, I wouldn't be surprised if their actual wide receiver three is not on the roster right now.

They've got Paris Campbell. John Ross was line. John Ross. Yes, that John Ross is on the Eagles. And he was lining up with the first team today as the wide receiver. three. He's still running a four, too? He could still run. Yeah, he can still run. Yeah, there's no doubt he can still run.

The other stuff, I don't know, but we'll see. I mean, it's not a position that's going to get a lot of targets for them, but obviously debt, and again, just answers. You want to have somebody who's competent enough, who was capable enough to make defenses pay when you have something called for them. All right, we started out with the birds there. Ruiz, what do you got? What's your first thing? I didn't know what to go with my first one. I know we talked about Sam Darnold earlier in the weekend. There's been some Sam Darnel buzz, but I'm going to lay off of that.

I want to talk about the Bill's tight end situation. And apparently, according to Joe Luscoglia, I hope I pronounced that right. Great job. Joe Biscoglia. Yep, he does an awesome job on the Bills. But apparently, Dalton, or Dawson Knox is holding off Dalton Kincaid for the number one tight end spot, and he's been getting a majority of the number one reps there. And I think that is a big deal because I think the bills and moving on from Stefan Dix, part of that plan was, well, we have Dalton Kincaid. You know, we invested him last year.

We invested in him to be that wide receiver who can kind of win underneath, win from the slot, win all over the field. And if he's not being out Dawson Knox, who I think he's a good player, but if he's not beating out Dawson Knox at this point, I think it is a bad sign. I think what you want to be reading as a Bill's fan is nobody can cover Kincaid in camp. He's like the focal point of the offense. He's like the heart of the offense now. And the fact that that's not happening, I think puts a little more pressure on that receiving core with like Khalil Shakir, who I think can handle the pressure there, but also Keon Coleman. I think like the emphasis on Keon Coleman, we've talked about it on the feed on the feed throughout the last couple of weeks. But he really needs to be a good player, like an impact player, a useful player for this team and this offense to pick up where it was last year.

And if that's not happening and Kincaid isn't maybe making the leap, like maybe I need. to, you know, pump the brakes on my bill's optimism for this year. What do you think, Deontay? I'm with you, Ruiz. This is actually something I was looking at yesterday, right, was as the AFC teams have kind of stacked up or retooled or reloaded their skill position groups, you know, over this past off season, I kind of lined them all up. And the more I looked at Buffalo, the more I kind of came to your takeaway, which is that

Don Kincaid and Keon Coleman have to be guys immediately to not land this franchise in a position where, I guess, similar to early in Josh Allen's career, so much of it is going to be on him to solve every problem, right? And they've done so much work with this offense, changing coordinators, changing offensive approaches to try to take some of that load off of Allen's shoulders. But if you can't get an outside receiver that wins, if Dalton Kincaid is not clearly your best underneath yards after catch, you know, kind of diverse route tree guy and a reliable option for Allen, now we're really looking at an offense that's going to have to push the ball down. field more often than not to generate explosives because you're not going to have guys that separate often underneath. And that means more Josh Allen holding the ball. That means more time to impure dropback, less time doing what I think they want to do, which is balance out this run game and force defenses to play them a little bit more honest and not just pin their ears back or

Blitz, Josh Allen or anything like that. So I am a little bit concerned just looking at their skill position group. If James Cook is not on fire, if Keon Coleman does not, you know, drop in and immediately make an impact as an ex-receiver. And if Don Kincaid can't beat your chess piece that you can move around to attack mismatches immediately, this offense could have a really, really rough start to the year, and this team really can't afford that. I think that was a good point.

The fact, like, the offensive coordinator change was a move to take something off of Josh Allen's plate, and I think Sean McNermott did that. If you read between the lines and his comments he's made publicly, that putting too much on Josh Allen's plate kind of leads to those mistakes that he makes, like the boneheaded interceptions, the plays where he's trying to be a hero. If, like you said, if those receivers aren't there and they're not stepping up, like Joe Brady won't have any choice but to lean on him more. And you could see that ugly side of Josh Allen's game.

But I do think this is a chance for us to kind of figure out what Josh Allen is going to be. Like, we saw Patrick Mahomes make that evolution in his game. Like he went from the guy that was trying to be a hero all the time to the guy that knew when to take a checkdown. I think this year it's going to be the perfect test. ground for Josh Allen to see if he can become that guy. And if we see him revert to like the old stuff, like he starts playing like he did under Dorsey, I do wonder what that, like, are we going to have to have a conversation about Josh Allen and what he can be?

Because as good as he is, I think he's the second best quarterback in the league. He does have those moments. And typically when we talk about like the elite quarterbacks, the real franchise quarterbacks, the first thing we say is they don't lose you the game. And we saw even last year, Josh Allen lost them a couple games. He won them way more games, but he still loses you some games sometimes. And I think it's going to be an extreme situation for him this year, if it is all on display. Yeah, you look at it at the end of every season, and they have basically a top five offense,

and he's top five in every statistical category. But you are right that there are times the viewing experience. He plays every play like it's fourth down, and you're down by six, and the Super Bowl's on the line, and his legacies on. It's one reason why I love watching the guy. I play because like there are no times where he's not playing like that and it is it makes for a fun experience. But you're right. Then there are times where you say, oh my, how is this guy the second best quarterback in the NFL when he just did that? Now, those are probably, I don't know,

like it's not a high percentage of plays, but it's more than you're right. We're typically used to seeing from a guy who was absolutely an elite quarterback. And I look at it. I'm not worried about the initial reports with Dalton Kincaid and Dawson. I mean, Dalton Kincaid had 673 yards receiving as a rookie, that's more than Dawson Knox has ever had in his career as a tight end. I think Dalton Kincaid is, if that's the floor that we saw last year, and I think it is, because tight ends typically don't come in and produce like that as rookies and the ones that do, you know, usually go on to do a really impressive thing. So I think the concern about the supporting cast is fair.

Now, I made the case on, I don't know if it's the last episode I did with Ruiz or another one, but I kind of think they're going to figure it out. I think there's enough there between Allen, the offensive line. You got a bunch of sort of complimentary pieces in Cook, in Khalil Shakir, in Kingade. Like, it'd be great if you had, if you threw in a number one, if you trade for Devante Adams at the deadline or whatever. Now I'm feeling fantastic. You think they'll win the Super Bowl. So that would be ideal.

This is obviously a bit of a reset this season. So I still think the offense is going to be very good. But yes, you want to see the different. I did see a, I think it was the. the Bill's account, a little Keon Coleman touchdown. So that's good. You know, the more Keon Coleman highlights that are in your feed, if you're a Bill's fan this summer,

the better you're going to feel about the team. Yeah. I would ask one question. And there's no way to answer this until we start seeing the games. But I do wonder if the fact that Dawson Knox is getting more, getting more reps in practice kind of alludes to the fact that Joe Brady runs an offense. It's not an offense that is like heavy on dropback concepts,

like on early downs. So I do wonder if like it's just a preference for the type of tight end he is. Because obviously Kincaid is more of a he's going to line up outside. He's going to win. He's not a blocker. I don't know if Dawson Knox isn't much of a blocker either, but I think he's better than Kincaid at it. So I do wonder if there's like a stylistic preference thing there.

And I think that would be a mistake to choose like the guy that just blocks better than the guy that can actually be a factor in the passing game. I definitely agree with that when you consider the fact that they don't have a clear number one receiver the way they did was Stefan Day. right? Like the less of a true matchup winner you have on the outside, the more you have to ask of your slot, your tight in to be available to the quarterback on a regular basis. And to your point, I mean, the fact that he does not run a heavy kind of dropback centric offense was an issue when he was an officer coordinator in Carolina. Right. Now, obviously, the supporting castor

that he was working with was not the greatest situation under Matt Rule was not the greatest thing. So I don't know if we got an honest look at what that offense could be. But still, Like you said, there's just a lot in the air. I would say the lack of certainty that I have with this offensive skill group is more of a concern than anything. Yeah. Yeah. There's no among the teams that can actually win the Super Bowl is on the short list of like, you know, you look at kind of the depth chart and the roster and you got to be a little bit concerned about.

All right. Let's take a break. We'll come back. I will give you my first nugget. All right. We're back on the Ringer NFL show. Now, this one just happened hours ago before we started recording, and it caught my attention. And this was Jerry Jones's state of the team press conference.

These clips are circulating. I don't know if you guys even had a chance to see them or not. He said a lot of things. He said he is all in. He said he's like an option. You know, I think he was asked about Dak Prescott's contract situation. I think he compared himself to my whole. I don't know.

If I'm getting this wrong. He did, right? Okay. Yeah. He said he's like an option. quarterback, which Mahomes, I don't know that anybody would really describe him as that. But he said he's like an option quarterback who hasn't made that decision yet. Do I hand it off or do I take off to the sideline? Listen, if I didn't get the analogy 100% accurate, don't kill me. Okay,

I didn't understand what the man was saying for most of the clips I was watching. But here's my issue with Jerry Jones. He continues to paint this picture about, oh, my woe, it's me. It's so hard to pay, Dak Prescott and Cedie Lamb and Micah Parsons and there's a salary cap and it's not baseball and other teams are going through this. He's trying to sell you a story that is just flat out not true. And that annoys me to no end when owners try to do this. The Cowboys, the Dallas Cowboys are the most valuable franchise in the world. According to Sportico, they're worth $9.2 billion. dollars. Guess where they rank in terms of active cash spending on players right now? The number is 32nd. They had the lowest payroll in the entire NFL. So I don't want to hear

it Jerry Jones because there are very straightforward team building strategies that any of us could explain how you hold on to your best players. Number one, you get ahead of the market. You pay them before it's absolutely the last second to pay them because it's only going to get more expensive, that's one way to do it. They don't do that. They haven't done that with CD LAM. They haven't done it with Dak Prescott. They're probably not going to do it with Michael Parsons. That's number one. And number two, you spend more cash up front. That's a way to kind of give yourself more salary cap flexibility. You pay a big signing bonus. You spread that signing bonus out over the course of a contract. It gives you flexibility to make moves down the road. They don't want to do

that either. I just told you what their cash spending was. So I'm just looking at this Cowboys team, and it was, you know, the clips I saw of Jerry Jones would have me very concerned. Now, having said that, it could all work out for them. By the time this podcast, you listen to this podcast, they could have signed CD Lamb. They've won a lot of regular season games. I think only the chiefs have won more regular season games than them over the last three seasons. So it could be much ado about nothing. But I cannot just sit there. And people are probably, if you're a loyal listener, a completist to the ringer NFL show. You're like, Sheel, we've heard you go on this ramp before.

That's fine. Every time they bring it up, I'm going to bring it up. Because I don't like owners lying about how they can't spend money when I know for a fact, and you all know for a fact that they can spend money. So there you go. I don't know. What are your, you know, Ruiz, I saw you nodding your head there. Just what's your kind of feeling on the state of the Cowboys as they go into this season?

And additionally, how Jerry Jones kind of spins this thing. I feel like it, the term all in, isn't always good. Like, some people can be all in when they shouldn't be all in. And I do wonder what Jerry Jones' definition of being all in. I think Jerry Jones thinks, okay, we have just enough talent to maybe win a Super Bowl now. So I'm just going to ride this roster out. I'm not going to make any moves that, like, help us in the future, but, you know,

hold us back in the short term because I want to win now because, you know, I'm getting up there in age. I want to see a Super Bowl. I'm running out of time. I think that's the position he's in. So it's like, yeah, it's not that, oh, we're in a position to win now. So I'm going to pour all my resources into making sure it's, oh, I have to win now. And we're kind of close. We're too close to blow it up.

But I think they're like in the staces, like in this holding pattern where they're going to be the same team for the next three years if they continue to kick the can down the road. It reminds me a lot of the saints where the saints were in around like 2018, 2019, where it was like we refused to move on, but we are like blow things up and move on from this era of the team. But we also don't have the financial resources to do that and still compete. And I think that's the worst place to be. And it's the owner that I think is holding them hostage and keeping them in that spot. Because if they blow things up, Jerry has to be like, all right, I'm going to have to wait four years for this team to rebuild and be back in a position where they can win. If they, you know, throw a bunch of money at the problem that Jerry has to spend his money. So I just think that it's a short-sighted plan.

And the fact that Jerry keeps reiterating this and keeps like, and keeps like, throwing out, like you said, the woe is me. Oh, nobody. Like every team has to deal with this while we look around and every team isn't dealing with their problems the same way. They sign their quarterbacks. They sign their star receivers. So I think it's a really bad sign for the short-term future of this team, which could

turn into a problem long-term, obviously. To me, this thing is simple. This thing is simple. If you're all in, show me where? Right. Where on this roster does it look like you're all in? There have been plenty of opportunities. Like you said, Sheel, if you get these deals done ahead of time,

and you play the restructure game the way that we know certain NFL franchises to do, you can find enough cap space along the fringes to continue adding quality role players or quality depth along this roster. What I see with this roster is good offensive line drafting and development, I will give them credit for that over the years. And the fact that they got kind of lucky with Michael Parsons landing where he landed, Dak Prescott landing where he landed in the draft, you know, and they've been able to kind of build a stars and scrubs, quote unquote,

roster around, you know, where they were able to pick some high-level guys, which is nice, but it's been past time to pay some of these guys. And you were just kind of reaping some of the mistakes, you know, that they've sown over the years. There have been two to three opportunities to pay Dak Prescott at what would have been market rate over the last few RF seasons. And you could be looking up now saying, hey, we're fine. It's a big number.

But we've already established the fact that this is our franchise guy. And now we're going to figure out ways to build this roster out in kind. you know, around having a $50 plus million dollar quarterback. You haven't paid CD Lamb. This one is, and to me, that contract is easy. You know what the market rate is for the guy. You know what the years are, what the guarantees are. Like, there's nothing to be confused about.

And the same is going to be here for Michael Parsons, right? Like, this is something I was writing yesterday for something that's going to run tomorrow. All of these contract negotiations for each of their top three guys have been pretty simple. Put me at or above where the top of the market is. And each of these guys deserve to be negotiating with that. type of leverage and it did it did not have to come down to the end so if we're calling this all in i think that we're much closer again to seeing this thing all blow up in jerry jones's face and then we're going to look up next off season even if they have a good year and say where is this franchise really

what is the three to five year outlook for this team and can they even continue to build a roster to be competitive once they do have to pay these guys at market rate or worse even watch one of of these guys or multiple or many of them walk and really have to you know kick off a entire rebuild. So I just don't know where the all-in is and how they plan to compete with the top of the NFC play. Is Jerry, like, aware that you can restructure a quarterback's contract after you signed them, like, a couple years down the line? Like, I feel like they can restructure contracts, period. Like, you don't see enough of that from Dallas. Yeah. And I feel like this is a pattern. Like, going back to even, even the days of Des Bryant, and I'm forgetting the running back that

went to Philadelphia, to Marco Murray, was that who it was? Like, even going back to then, it was framed as, oh, well, we can only sign one of these guys. Like, we have to let one go. I mean, they obviously made the right decisions by getting rid of the running back. And that was the Eagles loss. But I just don't understand how when it comes to this time, when they have to sign multiple players, it's always the same discussion. It's always like, oh, man. And then Jerry comes up with this metaphor that nobody understand. You got to circumcise the mosquito. And you need to start circumcising these mosquitoes. When do they start getting circumcised? I don't know if we do drops for this show, but if we are doing that this season, I would

nominate that. We need to start circumcising these mosquitoes as one that we should go to right away. I mean, you guys mentioned, you know, the possibility like are blowing it up. Like, I don't think he understands how fragile this situation is. Dak Prescott has more leverage than any quarterback we've probably ever seen in our lifetime. I mean, we're doing this podcast on July 25th. If nothing gets done with him between now and week one, now if you're Dak Prescott, no, during the season, no way.

Like, why wouldn't I just wait 17 weeks and go literally you can Ted? There's never, there's never a quarterback who is a top 10 quarterback in the NFL at this age who gets to just go test the market and say, what does everyone want to pay me? You know, like if they got this done at a reasonable time, you're talking 50 million per year. By the time we get to March of 2025, what's that number going to look like? I mean, it literally could, yeah, it literally could be over $10 million more per year that you have to pay. I don't understand. And maybe it's because it's a family business and his entire family's on staff.

And how is there no one in the building able to explain this in a very simple way that? No, we keep waiting. It's only getting more expensive. You might think he should be at 50 and he wants 52. And you're hackling over that. Well, guess what? If you're going to wait, it's going to be 60. Like, it's like, you should just do probably the 52.

And you mentioned it. I mean, C.D. Lamb, Deonti, you mentioned like how many wide receiver deals have gotten done this offseason? So, man. There's been like a dozen. Like, go through your list of the top 20 receivers in the NFL and like done. Copy paste. Same for cornerbacks too. Justin, AJ Brown, Devante Smith, Jalen Waddle.

I'm probably like forgetting three or four. And so I just don't understand. understand what they're doing there. I mean, if you're like running, you know, Will McLeigh runs their personnel department, it's got to be frustrating to be like, we found Tyler Smith, we found Dak Prescott, we found Micah Parsons, we found Ced Lamb. Like, we've gotten you guys and we can't get past the second round and you're not taking care of the players we drafted. Like, how is this continue to happen? So again, it could be like, you know, you could be laughing. You see in Shield. They're going to win 11 games and be in the playoffs. They could be, it's still a very

fragile situation where, man, if things don't go well for them, it's kind of different than any other team because they could be going into 2025 with no quarterback. And Jerry Jones did say he expects Stack Prescott to be the quarterback in 2025. We'll see. I mean, it's really one of the biggest stories in the NFL. So you know, it's funny. Like, I think that we all, and I think that, you know, the NFL media at large spends a lot of time kind of heckling the Saints for the way that they approach their roster building strategy. But the more I look at Dallas, right, I think that we spend a lot of time talking about cap space is fake or you can always work, work ways around the cap. I think that you can make the argument that cap space is quote

unquote fake because revenue inflates the cap year over year. But what the cowboys are a perfect example of is how much cash spending matters. And because they have been so reticent to just renegotiate deals, pay big money up front, give players a practical guarantees that they're looking for. They will continue to be backed up against the wall in this way. With each of these three, contract negotiations, you rarely see NFL teams have zero leverage in these negotiations. And I'm looking at CD Lamb, Deck Prescott, and Michael Parsons. And almost like sight unseen, they're going to have to pay top of market money because they won't just do the cash spending and get the deal done early.

And that's something that just, it boggles my mind. I can understand why certain franchises have that kind of approach, you know. And maybe this is the same for Dallas because it is kind of a quote unquote mom and pop organization, kind of similar to the Lakers in the NBA, where I, I think maybe the size of the brand has kind of outpaced the earnings of the ownership group over time. But still, if you're not willing to pay the millions of dollars it takes to get these deals done ahead of time, you are going to be hurting for it later and later on in the process. And you're not in a position where you can franchise tag all these guys,

because that would put you in the exact same situation that you already are now. So, again, I just don't know how this ends in a way where everybody comes back to the table in 2025, and it's all cope aesthetic and everybody's happy. And we're still moving forward as a team that's kind of on the fringes of contention in the NFC. Yeah, Parsons is, I mean, as you were going through that, I was just thinking in my head like, all right, Michael Parsons, highest paid non-quarterback in the NFL, done. Why are you waiting?

Like, what is, like, give the money now. Nick Bust's contract plus a dollar. Nick Bunch's contract plus a dollar. I mean, it's incredible. The guy is like an all-generational player in his prime at a premium position. This should not be. These are the players you dream of drafting at where they drafted him. Like, this is what you dream of.

And you can't figure that out and get that. Again, not worth $9.2 billion the most of any sports franchise in the world and the lowest cash spending in the NFL. And then you're crying to me about how you can't make it work. Give me a break. I mean, it's easy to say when you've never circumcised a mosquito, obviously. I've never circumcised a mosquito. and I've never had anything worth 9.2 billion.

So you're right. This could be hypocritical of me, have not walked in the man's shoes. So I will allow for some leeway there. All right. Good Cowboys chatter there. Who started? I don't even remember. It was Deonti.

All right, Deonti, what do you got? What's your second one? So the second thing, and this is less specific to like a clip or reporting and more just kind of taking stock of where the franchise is at overall. I'm so fascinated with the Packers this year in this training camp. multiple reasons, right? Whether you're talking about Jordan Loves contract and this is something I was talking to Justice Mosqueda about an SB Nation, right? Because my question to him was like, why isn't this deal done? Similar to what we were talking about with Dallas. I'm like, you have a

franchise quarterback. Guys young, you're going to have them throughout his prime. Looks pretty clear that the trajectory is still heading upwards. And even if the baseline that we got in 2023 is as good as it gets, that's a good enough quarterback to contend in the NFC with. And he kind of had to remind me, right, the Green Bay has a little bit of a creative way that they go about structuring contracts, right? Or it's a little bit more complicated because they're another team that doesn't do big cash spending long-term in contracts, right? So I'm fascinated to see how that works out. And then looking at Jeff Hathley in this defense, we have been waiting maybe for like the last five to six years for this defense to put it all together, right? The coverage will be great like it was in 2020, pass rush isn't all the way there.

Pass rush will be there in the next year. Jair Alexander is hurt. They can't cover us all in the back end. I think this is one of the few times where they kind of have that confluence of events. I think Xavier McKinney is a safety that they have been pining after for years now, having him in this defense, a healthy Rishon Gary, Preston Smith's still being productive, you help that Lucas Van Ness takes a step forward. And then you have, you know, some young linebackers that I think are ranging and probably

fit this defense pretty well. I'm really fascinated to see if they can be as disruptive as they say they want to be. And I think it's a worthwhile approach to them, even if it means giving up few were big plays because one of the issues that they had through the last three to four years under Joe Barry is that even if they weren't giving up big plays, they weren't getting enough stops. And then that broke and they started giving up big plays and also not getting stops in a run game or the underneath passing game. So I'm just really interested to see what this approach is like both on offense and defense.

I think the one thing you're hearing early from Packers camp, there hasn't been much out of it. I've been following along is that Jaya Alexander is having a big camp and looks like he's prime for a big season, which I think is a key thing. And the fact that he's flashing in camp, I think, speaks to how he's going to be used in the offense. Like, I don't think he's going to disappear at times like he did with Joe Barry. So, right. I mean, we talked about Jeff Hathley on the last show. I don't know what to expect.

But literally one of the biggest figures looming over this NFL season. Yeah, he could be like as I'm doing my preseason stuff and we'll do all those shows in August and make predictions. Like the Packers are on my list. the teams in the NFC where I'm debating is this the team I think is going to get to the Super Bowl. I mean, I think they've got that kind of ceiling. You know, you look at it on paper and you're like, oh, come on, Jordan Love had half a season. Jordan Love, really, and we talked about it, I think on extra point taken at the time, I'm like, why is Jordan Love signing this extension?

He signed before last season. I mean, I don't know who his agent is and I don't want to start any agent worse, but I'm like, it was a weird decision to make. And I guess that's easy for me to say you get cash in your pocket and you get guaranteed So I take that back to an extent. But it was just like if he didn't sign that extension last year, would have been the last year on his deal. And this thing probably would have gotten done a lot earlier.

So now the Packers are probably in this spot. Like you got to make maybe the highest paid quarterback in the NFL off eight game sample. Now, I'm all in on Jordan Love. So I'm saying, you know, I can't be speaking out of both sides of my mouth. I'm saying you probably just go ahead and do that. And the guarantees with quarterbacks are, you know, usually less important than other, especially a quarterback his age. I mean, like, someone's going to be probably pay you that money.

It doesn't matter. You're going to play out the length of that contract unless it's like the 1% scenario that happened. So yeah, the reporting on that has been a little bit like it's been different than the Cowboys stuff. It's been like, no, things are trending the right way. It's going to get done. It just hasn't gotten done yet. So I wouldn't be surprised if that's one even before we do our next show. It's like, all right, that got done.

And now the vibes with the Packers are very good. Can I throw a theory out there? And I just made this up in my head. So it could be an insane theory. Okay. Could the Packers possibly be waiting to see how Camp plays out, see how these young players, the young players around Jordan Love have progressed to figure out like, you know, we're going to need money to sign this guy.

We're going to need money to sign Wix. We're going to need money to sign Tucker Kraft. We're going to need money to sign these guys and figure out like their long-term planning before they give him the deal. Because it sounds, everything I've heard sounds like the deal is basically done and they're just waiting to put pen to paper. So I do wonder. if there's some element of, you know, let's plan this thing out. And the only way to plan this

thing out is like we have to know who needs contracts soon. I think it's probably get love done and then you figure that that other stuff is second. Usually it's like you got to do what it's. Now it could be, it's interesting when you think about the little details though with the way like Dak Prescott got that we just mentioned it got the no trade clause and the no tag clause. If I'm Jordan Love and I'm 24 years old, like I don't know, you know. Yeah. If you're if you're quarterbacks now, you should absolutely be pushing for the no tag, no tag clause. Like even it's not going to mean taking less money, but just be like, I need that. Because once this deals up, I don't want you to have an extra year of control over me.

And if you don't want to pay me what I'm worth, then I'll hit the market. And that's the way to really cash in. So who knows? It could be, it'll be interesting when that comes out to see what kind of little stipulations he's got in there and what it looks like. But again, I would, if I were a betting man, I would say next week, next to, weeks maybe sooner than that. It's like, that's done. And now they're just kind of ready to go for the next five, seven years, whatever it is with Jordan Love. All right. Take one more break. We'll come back.

Ruiz will give his second note and I will give my second note. All right, we're back on the ringer. NFL show. I feel like it's been an eventful like first week of training camp. These have been some like juicy. I don't know if it's always like this or what, but I'm like, oh, these just some juicy items we're getting to. and these guys have only been there for like two days. Ruiz, what do you got? What's your, what's your next one? My second one is the emergence of Jermaine Burton with Jamar Chase. And obviously T. Higgins has his contract situation, but Jamar Chase has been sitting out at Bengals practice the first two days. And the tweets you're seeing from Bengals reporters is that Jermaine Burton has stepped up and has, you know, flashed throughout the camp and it has a good

report with Joe Burrow. Apparently he's made plays downfield. I saw one handy catch he made along the sideline. And then the other thing, the one that stood out to me the most, because like teams can put out clips that make your receiver look good. But T. Higgins kind of endorsed him. He said once this offense, once he gets the offense down pat, guys are going to realize this guy's a problem, which I have to say to T. Higgins, bad negotiation in public. Don't hype up the guy that's replacing you. Too good of an employee. Yeah. That's how you get traded to Carolina, buddy. Like, you know how to get traded to Carolina now. But yeah, but I do think this is a big deal because I think the Bengals are realizing another team that is doesn't like

to spend a lot of cash, another mom and pop organization. I think they realized when Jamar Chase showed up and sat out of camp, they're like, oh shit, now there's two of them that we have to deal with. And when we give out these contracts, you got to give a lot of money up front. And I don't know if the Bengals have all that money. I don't know if they have Jamar Chase and T. Higgins money right now at this moment. So Jermaine Burton better hit. And I think they drafted them to kind fill in whatever void is left over when all the dust settles. So the fact that he is flashing in camp, and we are getting those tweets, and we are seeing the clips, I think is a very good sign for this Bengals team.

I think it not only raises the ceiling for the season, because if Burton is a factor, and they're able to replace Tyler Boyd after getting rid of him this offseason, like naked with the AFC North, they could be a Super Bowl contender. But this has ramifications long term, obviously, and I think it helps them clear up this contract situation with their two receivers because it's looking like they're going to have to choose one or the other. And if there's a guy that can step into one of their roles, that makes that decision a lot easier. It lowers the stakes at least. Yeah, they've done a good job with dart throws a year ahead. And they don't always hit, but I think the approach is sound. Like they did it

at safety and it hasn't worked out with Dax Hill. They did it at, you know, defensive end and it hasn't exactly worked out yet. But the process is sound. Like I, if I'm a whatever, a fan and analyst, it's like I can I understand that it's hard to evaluate which players from college are going to be good in the NFL. That's what happens with every single team, but is the process sound? And I think their process has been sound. Don't sleep on my boy, Andre Yoshivas also there as a depth receiver with the Bengals. So they've taken like a few dart throws. All right, who can step up?

And it's not like that person's going to be targeted a bunch, but it's like, all right, that person has to be a part of this offense. But I am like, they're in a tricky situation with Jamar Chase right now because that's another one is sort of like the CD-LAM one where you just like Jamar Chase the price is only going up. I mean, there's no doubt about that. Like what you pay him now is going to be less than you would have to pay him a year from now. At the same time, you just told T. Higgins that we're not paying you long term. You're on the franchise tag. And T. Higgins has signed the franchise tag shown up. He's not. He's like, all right, let's go try to win the Super Bowl and I'll figure it out

in the off season. If he has to sit there and then you're like, all right, we just, we're giving Jamar Chase $34 million per year with X guarantee. I don't know. Like, you're I would feel some type of way if I were T. Higgins. So it's interesting that this thing is flipped and T. Higgins is practicing and Jamar Chase is doing the hold in and he's not practicing for this team. So I don't really know. They're a franchise that concerns me a little bit in terms of like knowing how to navigate a situation like this.

Like they haven't been in it a bunch in the past. And I do think that is a storyline to kind of watch in Cincinnati what that looks like. What do you think, Deonté, with that sort of wide receiver situation with the Bengals? If Jamar Chase weren't holding out and we just had this news about Jermaine Burton, I probably would have come in and been like all my pessimism about the Bengals, I'm throwing out the window. I feel like this passing game is going to figure it right back out. But the fact that to your point, Sheal, they don't get T. Higgins's deal done. They don't trade them, which I think there was reason not to trade them if you want to make a

run at a Super Bowl because you would just be taking back draft capital to hope you get a receiver in the second or third round. that's going to be as good as T. Higgins. So I understood the thought process there, but I was kind of working on the assumption that if the concession there was franchise tag T, and then we'll just wave goodbye and everybody shakes hands and you go get paid and we go make one more run at it, if that was going to be the approach with Higgins, then Jemar Chase's deal would have been getting worked on immediately if you knew that he wanted to get his deal done early. Right. So this again comes back to this process of not getting deals done when the

timing is most prudent for the organization because this offense can't afford not to have Jamar Chase on the field. They need as many reps possible with a healthy Joe Burrow, with Jamar Chase there, getting Jermaine Burton reps in the slot because this offense is going to need the passing even to be working at peak capacity for them to be competitors in the AFC North. They don't have, you know, a lot of creativity out of the backfield. For all the Chase Brown's explosive ability, this is a guy that was pretty low volume and carries. We don't have enough to know whether or not, he's going to crack the big runs that Joe Mixing probably kind of started, you know, waning off of over the years being their leadback.

Zach Moss is more of kind of like your plug for plug and chug three to five yards guy, not somebody that you're going to rely on to give you something in the running game. And I'm looking at that and thinking, well, that means another year of 35 plus dropbacks per game for Joe Burrow and a lot being asked of him. And they are going to need this receiving court to be available and at peak capacity for as much as possible. So I'm kind of of two minds here that the Burton news is good, but they need to get the Jamar Chasing figured out quickly because this offense needs all three of those guys playing as good as possible for them to contend in the AFC. I was wondering if there would be like

an identity shift with the offense, like going from like, oh, we're going to always be an 11 personnel to, oh, we might have like some different body types on the field that have more tight ends. But then they go out and sign Mike Kisiki and you don't you don't bring him Mike Kisiki to run like, oh, we're going to be tough on offense. We're going to get under the center. in anybody, yeah. Pound the Rock. So I think that's what it ends up being. I think it ends up being like, oh, Joe, figure everything out, 35 dropbacks, pure dropbacks, too, no play action.

None of that play action stuff. But I do think over the last half of the season after Joe Burrow went out, we saw what these two receivers could do for this office. This was a good offense. It was a better offense than it was with an injured Joe Burrow. And it was built around Jamar Chase. And it was built around T. Higgins on the outside. I had, like, Jamar Chase's volume went up. He was getting, he was getting, like, bubble screens and manufactured touches.

And the offense was just as good and just, and even more explosive than when Burrow was in there. So, like, my takeaway from all of this, like, when I'm considering everything is, man, just sign both of them. Bring both of the, why don't you just, like, lean into the bit and just have the best passing attack to the Gen Z version of Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, and Marvin Harrison? Like, I just don't understand why that's not on the table. and it doesn't seem to be an option for them. You know what? You're right. It's actually the stuff I said about the Cowboys can apply to the Bengals.

Now, the Bengals do not have the same, you know, cash or reputation that Jerry Jones has. So you kind of give them a pass. But you're right. I mean, you have a chance to burrow Higgins and Chase for the next five to seven years and take shot after shot after shot and build around the margins. Like that, you know, like the Eagles just signed Agent Brown and Devante Smith. You can't say that. No, no, you can't do this. But the cap, you're right.

And that's a good call out because the Bengals cannot cry that we cannot do this because of the salary cap. That's just not true. You absolutely can pay two wide receivers. Now you have to make decisions at other areas of the roster and you have to do stuff in terms of how you structure the contracts and signing bonus and all that stuff. But you're right. And it just, it's been like a given, it seems like since Higgins came up that they're just like, no, we can't do this.

We're not doing it. Like, that's why it didn't even enter my head. But you're right. They should be called out for that because if you really care about winning, which, you know, owners say they care about winning all the time. If you actually, if that's the number one priority, there are absolutely ways where other teams would figure out a way, keep both those guys with the quarterback and figure it out elsewhere. So I'm curious to see what the Bengals do because it is a, I mean, Jamar Chase doesn't have a ton of leverage. Like, you know, it's like, is he going to miss game checks? probably not at the same time. He's not a veteran, so it's not like he can be like,

oh, let's just give him some more, you know, guaranteed money and we'll meet in the middle and then we'll take care of you after the season. So it's like a trickier situation, I think, probably than I initially gave it credit for. I know it's not a perfect analogy or comparison, but he was one of the COVID opt-outs in college. Like he sat out a year already to, you know, better his career. So I think he would, he'd be, I don't know if he would be willing to hold out, but like, I think that, I don't know, maybe he would. Well, I think, The only way to kind of force Cincinnati's hand is to be willing to sit out, right? Like, Jamar kind of does have to take the stance of you're not going to stretch this contract situation out with me the same way you did with T. Higgins.

Right? And take me into the next offseason and then try to tell me about the money that you can and can't spend for me in terms of guarantees. And to your points even about them probably just needing to pay all their top offensive guys, all their roster decisions over the last two to three years would signal that that is what they would do. right they let jesse bates go instead of paying market rate and they brought in a lot of young defensive backs they've been taking dark throws to shields point on the offensive line trying to bring in either cheap veterans or rookies you know that can fill in spots and add depth outside of like trey hendrickson there's really not in logan wilson there's really not many guys that they're paying big you know high value role player money to on the defensive side of the ball so everything does kind of

line up for them to just bite the bullet, pay what it takes to bring these guys in. But again, that comes back to the same conversation we had earlier, that if your ownership is not ready to do the cash spending necessary to bring in and retain star players, then you are going to be on this hamster wheel of guys getting into contract years and all the complications that come from that. Just don't forget why you're good. That's I think teams do this too up. They chase the team that they aren't. They like, well, we don't have the offensive line. We got to build up this offensive line and then you forget why you were good and you were good because you had Joe Burrow and those two studs on the outside like you you weren't good because of the offensive line

and I don't know I think it could be a mistake down the line now that's not going to matter for this year if T. Higgins isn't around beyond this year. I do think that's the smartest approach if you're getting rid of Higgins is to ride this out and not trade him and try to win a Super Bowl but I just don't understand it just signed both of them. Yeah that'd be a good you know that's a fine spot to be in. If you're not going to sign him, all right, Higgins, Chase, give it a shot. You throw at some dart throws and maybe one of these wide receivers emerges this year and you feel good about where you are after the season. But now this Chase thing really kind of throws a curveball into all that. I remember when I first started doing the free agency rankings and I would

do this piece where I predict who goes to what team and I wouldn't even give the Bengals anybody because I'm like, you're not going to sign any. And then they did change that a little bit. Then they signed Trey Hendrickson and Bengals fans are like, you know, what do you tell? Look at this. And I'm like, all right, that's true. Next year I'll give you someone. But there are some still, you know, some of these limitations with how they operate compared to some of the other organizations. All right. My last one. Russell Wilson suffered a calf injury and was held out of practice Thursday and is day to day opening the door for Justin Fields. And I go through this thing every summer where I'm doing my previews and I get to the Steelers

and I start out my research on the Steelers and I'm like, oh, the Steelers are going to suck this year, Tomlin's finally going to finish under 500. And then I get finished and I go, the Steelers are they going to make the playoffs? Am I going to be the one saying, no, the Steelers are going to make the playoffs? I literally just did that this week. I'm looking at their defense. Go, man, their defense was really good last year. I like a lot of these players. They got a nice blend of young players and veterans like Minka Fitzpatrick and T.J. Watt, ascending players like Keanu Benton and Joey Porter Jr. like, man, this defense is going to be pretty good. And then I'm looking at the offense. I'm like, oh, he's invested in this offensive line, quite a pit.

They got Arthur Smith. I mean, they were 15th in offensive DVOA with Matt Canada. Do it. Can you tell him they can't get to 15th offensive DVOA with Arthur Smith and this offensive line. And so I don't even know what my honestly, I just needed to get your guys take on the Pittsburgh system. So I don't know what your takes are on this team, whether you have defined takes. Now, I do think Wilson's day to day. So we'll see it open. it's the door a little bit for Justin Fields. Mike Tomlin has said Russell Wilson has been in pole position to be the starter. If Justin Fields comes out and makes the most of his reps, I do think Tomlin is a guy who's like, if everyone can see one guy's better than the other guy, we're going to

give the job to the better. And that's how it should be, not, you know, but especially him, just having been to some of those Steelers practices. It's like every coach preaches competition. But man, I remember I was there one day, two years ago, and he's just like, George Pickens, rookie versus Mika Fitzpatrick again again again and I'm like this is awesome every NFL practice should be like this so I don't know what they're going to do I'm curious if you guys think how this quarterback thing is going to play out given the Wilson injury and also your take overall on the Steelers Deontay what do you think start us off what do you think about this Steelers team in the quarterback situation I think if you walked in Mike Tomlin's office and you saw like the whiteboard

with the depth chart and all the names kind of stacked. And they had all the names stacked outside of quarterback. And you were just looking there. It was like, oh, and then we're going to add Arthur Smith to the mix. It's like, okay, you've got some big, mean blockers up front. I can see the downhill kind of pistol duo power run game that he had in Tennessee. I think George Pickens can be a problem, not just like as a ball winner over the top, but even on endbreakers, I think there's an opportunity for them to kind of grow his skill set.

I like Roman Wilson as a slot receiver. There's so much there. Pratt Firemoot as a blocker and somebody who can release underneath. There's so much there to like. And then you tell me that the guys that are going to be executing this turn your back to the defense, heavy play action, work the middle of the field passing game is Russell Wilson and Justin Fields. And I'm just out.

Like, I'm just out. I want to believe so badly because I love this defense. I love the way they play. I love Mike Tomlin. I think the way that they've addressed this offense. offensive line has actually been one of the more impressive turnarounds in the league period, bringing in young guys who can play. I love the way that it projects going forward.

Jaylon Warren, I think, can be a breakout running back. But, God, the times that they pass, when they're in obvious passing situations, it's going to be rough. This is going to be one of, like, the best teams on early downs and like 29th, 30th in the league on obvious passing situations. As I like to say, sometimes it's third and seven. and you're going to need someone. You're going to need an adult in the pocket when it's third and seven.

So if I got things straight, Shield thinks that the Steelers are a Super Bowl contender? No, I'm just joking. But I just feel like you're a little higher. Don't make that our social breakout. I did those words. Did not come out of my mouth yet. Who knows?

Talk to me in a month from now. And maybe I will have talked myself into it. No, but I do think Tomlin is the type of coach who will be like, the guy that's on the field and has been practicing is the guy that's going to play the games. So I think like any setback for either guy is a big deal in this competition because it does seem like they're a bit of the same quarterback. Like they have the same weaknesses at least. I don't think they have the same strengths at this point, especially with like, you know, where Russell Wilson is at with his athleticism. But there is the same issue.

Like being in the pocket, reading the middle of the field, being comfortable in the pocket and getting the ball out on time. I just assume that the tiebreaker would be Russell Wilson's ability to avoid turnovers. But if he's not on the field, I really think Justin Field has a chance to run away with this job, where it's like we two, and we're not even having to question anymore. It's Justin Field's team, and Russell Wilson has been resigned to the role of backup. And the reason why I think that is because Justin Field is the perfect player, this is the perfect situation to highlight his strengths. in a practice where you can't get touch.

The pocket is wide open. He has a little bit more time to read things out. The guy has physical talent. If you just looked at him from a physical talent and a traits perspective, I mean, he has the tools and the bones to be a top 10 quarterback. I wouldn't be surprised if he's lighting it up

in training camp over the next couple of weeks and runs away with that job at this point, especially if Russell Wilson with this injury, if it lingers a little bit. And he's not in practice by next week's set. Yeah, the best version of Justin Fields is some version of what we saw Russell Wilson with with the Seahawks. I mean, I totally agree with that.

It's like, all right, the guy can create a little bit. You can be a factor in the designed run game. He can chuck the ball deep. Middle of the field is probably not going to be available to you. So like, don't get what Deontes said. It is, I think it's a good test of like, all right, Arthur Smith. Do you just have your scheme? How much are you able to adjust to their strengths?

How much is there even a scheme you could run with Russell Wilson? center Justin Fields right now with the supporting cast and it would be a good offer. I mean, the answer could be no, you know, I agree with you. Justin Field, his highs are very high and he's exciting and he is an enjoyable watch at the same time. There's not really a precedent for a quarterback being as bad as he's been statistically over the first, over a rookie contract and then suddenly emerging into even, you know, like a top 12 quarterback in the NFL. So it would be very much be the exception. At the same time, I'm not going to come on and say there's no chance. of it happening because like you, like others who are fans of Justin Fields or maybe Bears

fans or whatever, like you have seen games, you have seen possessions, you have seen halves where you say, no, there is something here with this guy. So I don't know how it's going to play out. But yeah, the Steelers and, you know, Mike Tomlin was very funny. He's like, I'm not going to tell you how I'm splitting up reps between these guys the whole summer. I'm too experienced for that. Don't come at me with that nonsense question. So he's going to be tired of these questions very quickly if he's not already, but that's a situation to keep. And it was already a situation to keep an eye on. And now that Russell Wilson might not be on the practice field for a little bit, even when you saw Justin Fields, like there was the videos of him, you know, going up to the

fans and signing autographs. I'm like, oh, man, it might be happening sooner. It's a smart play. It's a smart political play there. All you need is. Yeah, all you need now is a couple of teammates. Justin, you know, he's really come in and he's, we've been impressed with all those things are at play. So not a great start for Russell. Let me ask you guys. a question, and this is a safe space. You can admit, whatever you want to admit, what would it take for you to get back on board with the Justin Fields trade? Like, what do you need to see in, like, let's say he starts week one or week two, like, what do you need to see to be like, all right, I'm in? Like, this is the Steelers starter, and I think they can make

the playoffs with them. The bar is in hell for me. Like, all I need to see is a zone read, a zone read where he pulls the ball and gets like a 40-yard game out on the edge. And then the next play action pass, he takes a deep shot on like a deep overrouter opposed to George Pickens. Because that's the whole sales pitch for his game to begin with, right? Like that's all I need to see, especially if it's going to be in comparison to Russell Wilson. I think for me, the more difficult question to answer would be what would I need to see from Russell Wilson throughout the year to make, to wash away the experience that I had watching him at the end in Seattle and the last couple of years in Denver?

I don't know what it would take for me to believe that he's gotten some of the worst habits out of his game. Okay, let me, yeah, I don't know if that's possible. I don't even know how to answer it. I think for me with Justin Fields, I just want to see him drop back in the pocket. His first read's not open. On time, he gets to his second read, steps up in the pocket. It makes it throw on time. If I see that, if I see it once, I would be all in.

Because I know he can do all the other stuff. I feel like if Russell Wilson saw that, he'd be like, I didn't even know you could do that as a quarterback. I didn't know that was allowed. step it up in the pocket. But I don't know. Like, I'm ready to buy in the hype if it's just in fields.

It's not going to happen if it's, I need to see probably, let's say a three game stretch where he's not killing his team with negative plays. To me, that's his kryptonite. Like,

I don't even need to, I understand what, yes, it would be great if he did what you said, Reese, but if he's just chucking bombs and running the football, like,

can you not take sacks that kill your team and can you not fumble the ball and throw interception? I mean, that's really, if you're talking about the difference and why a coach might prefer Russell Wilson, even at this stage of his career over Justin Fields. That's what it is. And you could see that with Tomlin. Tomlin going, no, no, our defense is going to be awesome. We'll win with special teams.

We're not going to ask the quarterback to do too much. The run game, their run game, I think, is going to be like a top five run game in the NFL. I mean, I really like the pieces there. I think they've got a lot to work with there. So I think that's how they're going to try to play. So it might not, like, Tomlin might not be so worried about the ceiling of the quarter. quarterback more so do not kill me with the turnovers because I know what kind of team I have and we can't play that way that's going to lose us games okay let me ask this another way fill in

the blank here if just if Justin Fields is a top blank quarterback the Steelers will win 11 games next year or the season 11 games yeah um I was at like the 14 to 16 range I would entertain 15 was my instinct yeah yeah that's what I was thinking I was thinking like 15 to 20 I Like, even, like, 19th might be enough. Because what they've had over the last couple years has been, like, bottom three. And that's going back to the Ben Rothensburg years at the end there. That's what I'm saying. Pick it in Canada.

15th and offensive TVOA. Come on, Pittsburgh. You can do this. You can talk me into believing in you. Clip this for social. The Steelers are Super Bowl contenders. No, I heard you say. What did you say?

You just had a line where I'm like, no, no, take it back to him. Clip that on. I forget it was something Justin Fields is a perfect player or something like that. I don't know what it was. I'll go back. I'll listen to the team. Yeah, there you go. All right.

There you go. That was good. We went around the league. We hit on a bunch of topics, a bunch of teams, a bunch of quarterbacks. That was fun. Thank you to Stephen Ruiz and Deonté Lee. Thank you to producer Isaiah Blakely. Additional production supervision by Connor Nevins and Arjuna, Ram Gapal.

Everyone, have a great weekend. We'll talk to you next week on the Ringer and NFL show.