The Ringer NFL Show - Making the Leap in 2020 With Evan Silva and Nora Princiotti | The Ringer NFL Show

Episode Date: June 18, 2020

As we prepare for the 2020 season, we ask who will take the leap this year. We offer up the players, coaches, and teams who will make a significant improvement this season. Host: Kevin Clark Guests: Nora Princiotti and Evan Silva Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Ringer Podcast Network. I'm Liz Kelly. Make sure to subscribe to the ringer's YouTube channel to watch the newest episode of Slow Newsday with Kevin Clark featuring NFL MVP Lamar Jackson. And in anticipation of the NBA's return in late July, NBA desktop with Jason Concepcion is back to posting weekly episodes. Also up on our YouTube channel are the best clips taken from this week's Bill Simmons podcast, rewatchables, and higher learning with Rachel Lindsay and Van Lathen. You can find all these videos at YouTube.com slash The Ringer. It's The Ringer NFL show, part of the Ringer podcast Network. I am Kevin Clark. joined today by Nora Prenciati of The Ringer.com and Evan Silva of Establish the Run. How are you doing, guys? Doing below. Sweet, Kevin. What's up? I am ready to talk football. What we're going to do here is one of our favorite shows. We've done it for the last few years. It's called The Leap Show, and it's very simple, and it's who's going to take the leak this year. And that could mean anything. That could mean they were

a bad player. Now they're going to be a good player or a bad coach. Now they're going to be good or they could be going from good to great or mediocre to good. It doesn't matter. It's just going to be who's going to improve. It's very simple. We each have five. Let's start with you, Nora, your number one leap in 2020. Really supposed to be ranked. My are in no particular order. And I don't want them to be represented as such. Okay, Kevin. Wow. That's a lot of confidence to kick us off. All right. Let's go. Don't be too hot takey here. Nora. Wow. I just, I like an established set of ground rules, okay?

I want to be clear. These are very important to me. We're editing all of this out in Post Pro, and we're going to have just a big voicing, number one. Could you let me talk about John Ross now? Yes. Yes. Oh, wow. Wow. Go ahead. So my number one, but not at number one in my heart, number one in these rankings, Bengals receiver, John Ross. who it's really make or break with my guy.

A lot of injuries, but did start off last year with a pair of 100-plus yard receiving games. I just feel like the talent is there, the speed is there. I don't know how getting up to speed with Joe Burrow is going to go, but I do feel like for a guy who came into the league with pretty high expectations and just has not mostly because of injuries, but also because of situation, been able to meet them or really come close to meeting them,

I feel like there's really high upside. When he was able to play a little bit more in 2018, he had seven touchdowns, so there's some good performances in the red zone, and there's just a path where it all comes together and looks really good. And the other possibility is that, since they didn't pick up his fifth year option. If it starts to go south,

you also have the possibility that he gets traded to a contender and goes off for them. To the Patriots. So I just have these, like I just feel like there are two narratives where we get a good John Ross outcome. And I'm an optimist, so I'm looking forward to it.

I'm intrigued to see the Bengals this year because especially the skill guys, because again, something Daniel Jeremiah coined, I love repeating it, that vision is Joe Burroughs superpower. So you get five guys, into a route and just see what happens. And it's hard to sort of predict who will benefit from that.

Obviously, AJ Green is there. T. Higgins is going to be there. John Ross is going to be there. Tyler Boyd is going to be there. I don't know who benefits the most from Joe Burroughs vision and his ability to spread the ball around, but I'm intrigued to see it. Evan, the John Ross hype train. Are you on it or off? It took a bit of a blow from an opportunity standpoint when they used that 33rd overall pick on T. Higgins. However, if you look at the makeup of their offense right now with A.J. Green and Tyler Boyd and John Ross and T. Higgins, I wonder, and then you look at the makeup of their tight end depth chart, which is Drew Sample and C.J. Uzoma and, you know, I wonder if they might run more four receiver sets. Now, four receiver sets are pretty

uncommon in the NFL right now. I mean, last year, the Cardinals ran four receiver sets at a 33% clip, which by far led the NFL. And then the next team was like 18% or 12% or something. Like, there was a very steep drop off. But I wonder if the Bengals, you know, in passing situations, we might see them running four receiver sets because that's what their personnel sort of dictates that, you know, that's where their best personnel is. well none of those other guys have his speed either right of those other guys have his speed no one in the NFL does

right so if you talk about it like making a basketball team it's so hard to project the opportunities just because they do have a lot of options and so much is new there but you can make the argument that there's a skill set that nobody else has so you figure they will at least make an attempt to make the most of it and I also think that

some of Joe Burroughs ability to improvise and create when a play starts to break down, you know, you can have some explosive plays if you have a guy who can just burst down the field like that. So John Ross, hype train. And you also cannot rely on AJ Green to stay healthy, number one. And number two, you know, he's, I mean, he seemed like he was halfway out the door last year.

He might hold out. So, yeah, I think that John Ross ends up seeing the field quite a bit, even though it seemed like that T. Higgins pick was sort of an indictment of it. Does anyone think the Bengals are going to be good this year? No. They'll be like medium. Yeah. Well, medium would be a big league from last year for sure. Yeah, they were awful last year.

Yeah. Okay. Just wanted to make sure that there was no, there was a John Ross hype train, but there's no Bengals hype train as of yet. Evan, your first leap candidate. Arthur Smith. Yes. I was going to have him.

Love it. Really? Yes. I don't have it. He's not on my list, but go ahead. Arthur Smith makes the leap to head coaching candidate. So Arthur Smith, who was not a well-known assistant prior to 2019 and was a real question mark, I think, for a lot of people entering last season.

I think he had a great debut as the Titans' offensive coordinator. Titans had their highest scoring season in a decade and a half. Derek Henry, Ryan Tannihill, Jono Smith, all had career years. AJ Brown and the positive environment that they put him, He was sensational. All those guys are coming back. Arthur Smith finally committed to Derek Henry as the focal point of the Titans' offense

after they just wasted like three and a half years of Derek Henry's career trying to use him as a committee back. They were top eight in play action rate under Arthur Smith. I think that he is a progressive, sort of inventive, innovative, offensive mind. They created a ton of run-after catch opportunities for A.J. Brown and Johnny Smith and Derek Henry on screen passes. I mean, what team besides like the Chiefs or maybe like the 49ers

were springing guys loose for breakaway runs more often than the Titans last year? And the Titans this year have the second softest schedule according to opponent win totals at Sharp Football. So I think they're going to be successful again. And that will get Arthur Smith more notice. And I think that he becomes a head coaching candidate in 2021. one. So I'm in complete agreement with you. I actually have some notes in Arthur Smith because he was

in my honorable mentions category for this list. A couple things. Number one, one of the big leaps will be people mentioning that Arthur Smith's dad founded FedEx, which I think just did not. Because everything was happening in January, nobody mentioned that he's just casually a billionaire. And I feel like we're going to bring that up more. It's kind of going to become the Jordan Shipley and Colt McCoyer roommates of Arthur Smith. Now, Jason Lockenfor had this, and I thought it was interesting, that Smith was so well thought of, even when Matt LaFleur was on the Titan staff, that there were people in the organization who thought he was going to at least have some play calling responsibilities in 2019, even if LaFleur had stayed. That is how well thought of he was as a tight ends coach, that he made his name with his diligence from 2015 to 2018 as that tight ends coach in that building. What he did with Ryan Tannehill was really incredible and basically turning him into,

what we thought Tanna Hill could have been for the previous eight years. The bootlegs, the play action, the screens, everything, everything was there. I'm in agreement with you. I don't see a lot of of Wunderkins at the offensive coordinator level right now because so many of them were hired really, really early. And the offensive coordinator ranks have been depleted a little bit. But if you're looking for that guy who's going to take the next step, I go Arthur Smith. I love it.

All about efficiency. FedEx and Arthur Smith. I mean, you also have the advantage that, you know, he works with a defensive head coach. So when we're trying to extrapolate where the credit is due, I think that's a fairly easy one where you look at a great offense and think, okay, that offensive coordinator probably has pretty big hand in that whole angelata. So I'm into it. He also ended Tom Brady's Patriots career. Yeah, him and Logan Ryan. All right.

My first one. This one's easy. might have it on the list as well, Mr. Kyler-Murray. Biggest jump, statistically, is always from year one to year two, not year two to year three. It's something we've gone over the last couple of weeks. A couple of things I want to point out. Number one, yesterday, he tells Arizona reporters he was, quote, just kind of winging it earlier in his rookie year, and towards the end, he could diagnose things pre-snap. Now, we've heard this before from some quarterbacks who say they weren't really reading the defense and they were just kind of going with feel and then their

diagnosis ability increased. And I think that that's a really interesting thing for Kyler Murray to say. He's going to have the weapons now with the Andre Hopkins. Cliff Kingsbury proved to be a much better head coach and I thought he was going to be. And his ability, listen, there were people who said that his ability to evade pressure behind the line of scrimmage was as good as they've seen from any quarterback ever. There's a reason he's. He's, so small and take so little damage. That's a superpower is the ability to be smaller than basically anyone at the

quarterback position and never get hurt and be able to take a sack. And one of the things that was so interesting was his ability to fall and not take damage before he's about to get hit. Next Gen stats had this in December. I think it was interesting. His ability to evade pressure and Cliff Kingsbury's scheme with more quick passes when the Cardinals went from allowing the highest pressure rate in 2018 to the lowest pressure rate

in 2019. I think that's something you can build on. I think we probably, for all of Joe Burroughs success in 2019, Kyla Murray by PFF grade was just 0.4% away from his grade when he was in his draft eligible year in 2018. And so I just think that when you combine Kingsbury's innovation, which is only growing, the weapons, the upgrades they've had in the roster, the excitement there, I think Kyla Murray is going to take a big, big leap this year. Wait, I don't mean to come into this podcast and be really combative, but what qualifies as elite? Because Kyler Murray was already really good. Well, I mean, he wasn't, I think he's going to be a top 10 quarterback this year.

I don't think he was last year at all. Okay. So top 10 is what we're calling elite. I'm just jealous because I wanted to choose Kyler. And I was like, I don't know if this is a belief. I mean, pass, this is, you can't really pass a rating has its full. flaws, but his past rating was only 87 last year. I mean, it wasn't like he was a nailed on superstar last year. Again, quarterback wins, not a stat, but he went five and ten and ten of one,

excuse me, the Matthew Stafford, Darrell Beville debacle. And I just think that that whole Cardinals team takes a leap. And I don't think they're going to make the playoffs necessarily, but I think we're going to be talking about Kylea Murray as a as a borderline elite quarterback this year. Evan? I mean, I think they're just pulling Demir Bird and Kishon, Johnson and Trent Sherefield out of the offense and inserting DeAndre Hopkins is, you know, maybe the, you know, the biggest personnel upgrade of the entire offseason. Demir Byrd is like, he's like a guy that you play in preseason BFS, you know, Keeshaun Johnson with six-round pick who averaged 4.5 yards per target.

And Trent Shurfield, again, you know, another like preseason sort of player. So, I mean, they went from like, you know, preseason second and third stringers to a top five receiver in the NFL. I mean, I like Kyle Muriel a lot, and I do think he's going to take. I mean, traditionally, historically, these quarterbacks that are drafted early, they take their biggest leaps going from year one to guys that have kind of spluttered out like Mitch Trubisky. He was better in his second year. Josh Allen was better in his second year. You know, Carson Wentz was pretty mediocre as a rookie, you know, was like an MVP candidate in his second year. So I do. think we'll see a nice leap, especially in the passing department. I mean, he was already like a top

three rushing quarterback as a rookie. And now I think in the passing department, we'll see him take his biggest leap. Yeah, Mike Renner, last month, had him as one of the best bets for MVP, and I agree with that. I think that you're going to see him make a serious run at MVP level play. Whether or not the Cardinals win enough, that's such a narrative award that it's hard to actually map out who's going to win the MVP award. this early, but I will say that you're going to see some MVP level production in 2020, and that's the leap from good to legitimately great. If you have any of the semantics questions, Nora, I'm here to field them.

Thank you. I appreciate that. All right. Here's your number two leap in your ranked tiers. I'm nothing of not consistent because this qualifies as a leap because there's just a lot of room for leaping. My next selection is the Miami Dolphins defense. which was the worst in football last year.

Yep. So space. Again, they were 30 second in points allowed and defensive DVOA. You know, I think Brian Flores is a great coach who I am super high on. I don't feel ready to hype up the team as a whole because I just think that they're at least another year away. But for the defense, you know, Flores came. in and he wanted them to play a lot more man coverage and they just didn't really have the roster for it and I'm sure that that was valuable time to put in in terms of implementing this

scheme but they just had so little pass rush that you know even you have a good corner like Xavier Howard he's out there on an island and it's just never going to look good and I think we really saw that but then they went out in a draft and in free agency and they got Byron Jones, no egg binogany in the first round, Kyle Van Nuoy, Shaq Lawson. They improved that I felt on both ends in ways that, you know, didn't just add good players, but added good players who are going to be effective in playing the way that their coach wants them to play. Plus, they're going to go against a lot of bad to mediocre offenses in the AFC East.

So Dolvin's defense, let's go. So I'll just spoil this right now. actually had Flores on my list of five. I think that he's going to take the leap into being a guy. Again, I don't think that the dolphins are made to playoffs necessarily, but I think he's going to take the leap as a guy we're talking about as a really good NFL coach, maybe borderline top 10 this time next year when we do the coaches ranking next year. I think that the ability for him to beat the Patriots with that roster last year, beat the Eagles with that roster last year, I think that was some of the most impressive week-to-week coaching jobs I've seen. I visited with him

last week and I have to have excuse me last season and I talked about that last week and and just my interactions with him and I also think you can't discount what a leader he's been during the social justice initiatives over the past month and and the guys you know Steve Weish was on this podcast last week and said the guys want to play for Brian Flores now because of the leadership role that he's taken on that organization I think it's all going to come together for him and I think that the way they're building his defense like you said is really intriguing and the fact that They have two lockdown cornerbacks, essentially, and that Brian Fular's knows what a good defense looks like,

and that Tua is going to be good, and hopefully he can start sooner rather than later, and if they don't, they have fits who can at least beat the Patriots late in the season, as we know. But I think that Dolphins team is as intriguing a bad team as there's been in a long time. Evan, what are your expectations for the dolphins this year? I'm not sure, honestly.

I'm worried about their pass rush. They did make some, I think, solid additions, like they might be able to field a pretty good front seven rotation. But I don't really see any dynamic player. I'm sure that they're hoping that Christian Wilkins becomes that. Some people thought that Shaq Lawson would be that coming out of college. And he finally had a good year, although it was in his contract year with Buffalo last season.

I think that Kyle Van Nuoy was like a stabilizing force for the middle of their defense, but he's not really like a big time pass rusher either. But, I mean, they're going to be able to get people covered, I think. You know, they should be pretty, they should be a lot better in past defense because of their talent in the secondary. I just, I think that they're probably still a year away from being, you know, like maybe a nine or ten win team, obviously. But I think that, I think we'll see them take a step forward. I think that they're, you know, their tank, which is really, they really just took a step back for, for a year and really invested in the job. draft and wanted to, you know, stockpile a really young roster and get their quarterback

and everything. You know, I think it was only a one-year tank. Yep. Pretty clearly because they were aggressive this offseason from the draft of free agents. Yeah, I'm in agreement with you. I think that the one-year tank or the two-year tank is pretty much the way you have to go. San Francisco kind of had that a little bit. Cleveland tried to go a little longer term and got bit, got bit and we saw that. I just think that the way that the NFL works where it's four-year contracts and

when they come in and then they get expensive in the fifth year and then injuries or you know guys get extended since midway through or guys bust or whatever i mean i just think a long-term tank is not this isn't basketball where you can get two elite players sign them to max contracts fit them under the cap all that and then you're good um this is a much different sport and i think that the the dolphins understood that they understood how to rebuild again i don't think this is a playoff contending team and i think that there are just there are a lot of smart people in a fc right now and and the fact that the Patriots of lost Brady is obviously a big thing. I think that, you know,

I was going to expand this a little bit and go with a lot of the AFC people we don't talk enough about because Brian Flores will get some run in the post Brady AFC. I think Joe Douglas as a GM, I think he's really, really smart. And I think that there are some structural problems with the Jets that he might not be able to overcome in the next two years, just the fact that, you know, he came in so late into Donald's rookie contract. They let Mike McHagden into the draft in 2019. I mean, there's, he's fighting enough.

battle, but he's really smart, and I think he'll get some buzz. And then we've talked so much. I ranked Sean McDermott as a top 10 coach in the coach of show a couple weeks ago. Brandon B and I've talked about it a lot. I think they get enough run at this point, but I think that you're going to see a really good Bill's roster to the point that a lot of people not named Belichick are going to be talked about in the AFC. I think that's important. There's great coaching in that division. It's kind of funny because it feels like very recently that was not how we felt, but it's wild, but the AFC has actually has really strong coaching. Yeah, they've got three really strong coaches

And then one kind of sticks out like a sore thumb You know what I'm saying? I have no idea who you're talking about I did not name Adam Gase as any as a leap candidate I do not think Adam Gase will be taking a leap Evan who's next for you bud? No, but you were just talking a lot about the bills And staying on that theme

Josh Allen makes the lead Oh my God Oh my God, yes Yes, yes, yes, yes, make the case So I actually have two guys that I like as long-shot NFL MVP candidates right now. Josh Allen is 50 to 1 to win NFL MVP at Drafking Sportsbook. So I think that when you were looking at longer shot NFL MVP bets,

I think you start with two criteria. First, you want a quarterback because quarterbacks are the actual most valuable players in all of sports. And 12 of the last 13 NFL MVP have been quarterbacks. And you want your quarterback to be playing on a contender. And I think that Josh Allen fits both of those criteria because, you know, this is kind of similar to what they're doing in Arizona. They're pulling out Duke Williams and Isaiah McKenzie and Robert Foster out of the offense inserting Stefan Diggs. And Stefan Diggs was the best deep ball receiver in football last year.

And that's where Allen struggled the most. So if Josh Allen or if Stefan Diggs can kind of help elevate Josh Allen in that area and just, you know, go grab a couple, you know, of those errant footballs. I mean, catching four or five of those errantly thrown downfield passes will make a very, very big difference over the course of a 16-game season. And Josh Allen leads all NFL quarterbacks and rushing touchdowns over the past two years. So he's a prolific rusher. And I think that there is a conceit. And he got better in his second year as a passer. They put John Brown and Cole Beasley around him.

I think that Dawson Knox has a chance to take a nice step forward here in his second year. and then adding Stefan Diggs, I think that there's a conceivable scenario where Josh Allen throws 30 touchdown passes. He runs for 10 or 12 touchdowns, and the bills go 12 and 4 or something. And in that scenario, I don't know how Josh Allen wouldn't be squarely in the NFL MVP race. I love that case. When you said that, just so the listener knows, I was fist pumping because I was so excited you were making the case. and Nora had her hand over her mouth and sort of surprise.

So that was, I really enjoyed the fact that we're making a Josh Allen for MVP candidate case. So, wait, Kevin, Kevin, it's not surprised because Josh Allen is also on my list.

Oh my gosh. Okay. Nora, you have the floor. It was surprised that I had a, that I had a friend here. Okay. But yeah,

I mean, I'm just, did such a phenomenal job describing all the factors that I think put him in such a great situation. But I'll just say that I was at one point tempted to make one of mine, not specifically Josh Allen, but just AFC East quarterbacks. Because in the non-Bradie era, they just have had such a tendency to be incredibly disaster-prone. Like there's a world in which all Sam Darnold really needs to do is not get mono or tell people that he's seen ghosts and that can qualify as a leap. But I think when I talked myself down from that particular take, the more realistic actual football situation that Josh Allen is in is if he can clean up some of the deep passing stuff and just be.

in what is a really ideal football situation, things can go from okay to really pretty good very quickly. So just eliminating the disasters would make such a big difference there that I feel like there's very good leap potential. So I'm just thrilled that we're having this conversation. Do both of you think the bills are going to win the AFC East? Yeah. Or I do.

I'll speak for myself. Oh, yeah. Yes. Oh, yes. Wow. Okay. Oh, yes. Do you guys, do either of you think the Patriots are a playoff team? No.

Lean, no. Wow. Okay. That's really interesting. I mean, again, I think the AFC East is one of the most fascinating divisions this year, just because I don't know what this looks like, right? Like, I just don't know. Everyone has sort of had these weird alternate history,

sort of what happens if Belichick and Brady never, never got together kind of things. and now we get to see that. And I just, I'm uncomfortable making any predictions on what that looks like because it's just, it's a world without Belichick and Brady is just impossible to predict. I think that they both make the playoffs, especially with that extra wildcard. There are seven playoff teams. That's a good point. That's a lot of playoff teams.

I think Belichick can, can outsmart and coaches enough 10 times. I mean, I don't think that the bottom, the bottom is going to completely fall out on the Patriots, but I think that they're going to be like in that seven to nine win range. And hey, with seven playoff teams, that might be good enough to get in there. Yeah. Okay. My next one, this is a very specific one. Norah don't wait for me to do the whole thing before you get mad.

Lamar Jackson as a deep passer. So John Harbaugh comes out last week and says the next step in the Ravens offense is making at a deep passing offense. Here's the quote. Those corners are going to be one-on-one, and those safeties are going to be one-on-one against receivers, especially on downfield throws, and we've got to make them pay. We absolutely have to make them pay. The ability to make them pay for tilting their defense towards stopping our run with a really, really efficient passing game, I really do believe that's the next step of this offense. I really do believe Lamar is capable of taking that next step. Now, Lamar Jackson said in interviews this week

that he wants to be Mahomes, basically. I mean, that was that was what he was saying as far as just the passing game. And he was obviously, he was a little bit tongue in cheek. But I think that when you think about Marquise Brown, according to next gen stats last year, he had a 47% deep catch percentage on Lamar's throws. Everybody else on the team had 31% deep catch percentage.

Lamar Jackson obviously led the NFL last year in touchdowns from the pocket. But obviously, the most of his value came from just the fact that he was able to just confuse defenses and they had no idea what they were doing. and one of the tight ends told me that they made players look like they were in high school. Okay, I mean, that's where Lamar's value came from last year

is the defense said no idea what to do with him. And now I think you take advantage because they're so spread out because they're so confused because they're so scared that some linebackers are going like they're in high school that you just start throwing deep on them. And you don't necessarily need to have 100% accuracy on those deep passes. You can have, this can be a home run type of thing. And it only takes a couple of these throws to really connect.

it against the dolphins, but I think you're going to be able to see the next step this year where they take, no one was able to take what they do well and craft it towards dominating defenses more than the Ravens last year. And they take that next step. You add in the fact that no one in the NFL is in OTAs or mini camps or whatever able to stop Lamar Jackson. I think the quarantine offseason is really going to help Lamar Jackson because they can't hone in on stopping him. I think this is a recipe for Lamar Jackson to get even better this year. I was on Cowherd yesterday and he said he thinks that Raven's going to go 16 and 0. I'm not necessarily there, but they did go 14 and 2 last year.

And I could also see, by the way, the idea that maybe his numbers take a hit, almost like Mahomes in 2019, from 2018 to 2019, where his numbers take a hit, but he becomes a better quarterback and they win more. Can I be mad now? Yeah, go ahead. Okay. Well, no, we're not in a fight. I actually really like that argument. I just think, I don't know that we have the same definition of leap, but all of that I think is a good compelling argument.

And I'm really happy for Lamar Jackson. And I do think that while, you know, he became, I think it's tricky to talk about Lamar Jackson as a passer because people have a tendency to focus on him as a runner and just as an athlete, which I think minimizes how good of a passer he actually is. is, but he did make a pretty significant jump year one to year two in terms of his accuracy. Now, I think that's harder to do year two to year three, but I do think for all the reasons

you just outlined, if there's someone who's going to do it, I like, I like that bet. I think it's harder to do unless you're putting stress on the defense like Lamar Jackson does. I mean, like, I don't think there's been a, I remember having. conversation. This is even before his MVP season in Cincinnati with their defensive coordinator. And I said, and I asked Pittsburgh's defense coordinator at the same thing, and he had the same answer. And I said, how do you game plan to stop Lamar Jackson? I said, you don't. Like, you don't have a Lamar Jackson stopper. You don't have a spy because he's as fast as the cornerbacks. So what are you going to do? Have a cornerbacks in the middle of the field spying on him? Like,

that doesn't really work. And so he's almost, unless, unless something changes at this point, point, Lamar Jackson, because of his throwing ability and his running ability, is from a full season standpoint, defense proof. Now, we saw that there were teams that had success against him. Tennessee is one of those. He thinks that they caught Tennessee. Tennessee caught the Ravens napping a little bit. He says that he constantly thinks about that game. I think when they play in the regular season this year, I'm surprised it's not a Sunday night game because it's been really fascinated to see. But Tennessee had some real success going up the middle of the line. I think replacing Marshall Yonda is going to be a bit of a challenge because he's a future Hall of Famer.

but I think this Ravens team is really good and I think that they they're probably going to make the Super Bowl. Evan, where are you on the Ravens this year as far as where they are in the constellation of AFC teams with the Chiefs and kind of the pecking order there? I think they're going to be really good.

I mean, their win total right now is like 11.5 and I mean, I still like they have a favorable schedule. Lamar is, it's interesting. Like people still say that he can't pass after he literally led the NFL in touchdown passes. There's something going on there with the people that say that Lamar Jackson can't pass. And also, I think it's important to note, number one, every single year at Louisville,

he got way better as a pass. His efficiency, his accuracy got better every single year. And then we saw him take a leap from year one to year two in the NFL, and it was massive. So, I mean, is he can continue this upward trajectory? He's a really, really hard worker. He's still very, very young. He was, what, 22 or 23? And also last year, he dealt with Marquise Brown.

You know, he had that big week one game. And then, you know, he was coming off that Liss Frank surgery. Yeah. Wasn't the same until the playoffs. He really only had two really big games last year. It was week one. And then in the playoffs against Tennessee when they were kind of trying to rally back. But a healthy Marquise Brown adds it.

an entirely new dimension to their offense. And also Mark Andrews spent half the year on the injury report last year. Only like 41% of the Ravens' offensive snaps last year. Now, that is in large part due to just his role because he's a big slot tight end. But, man, I mean, you know, at 100% Mark Andrews and Marquis Brown, they can be a filthy duo. And I think that Miles Boykin also, as the other guy on the outside there, has a chance to take a leap as well.

So you look at the guy. And I like how you mentioned the continuity too. I mean, is there a better situation than coming back with Greg Roman and offensive coordinator and John Harbaugh at head coach and Wink Martindale coming back on the defensive side. I mean, Greg Roman or Wink Martindale easily could have been head coaches somewhere. And they're getting all that back. So, yeah, very bullish on the Raven still.

I would say, Nora, if you want to go with your definition of leap, which is going from good to bad, or bad to good, unless it's Josh Allen, who wasn't necessarily bad last year, that if you wanted to say that, then this take is a Hollywood Brown leap take. Is that better?

I love that, actually. That feels really much better to me. I just don't like the very good to very, very, very good leap. I only deal with eliteness, so I don't know what you're dealing with. Legends only. All right, who's next for you, Nora? So my next lead candidate is Devin White, Bugs linebacker. Almost at him.

Player I just really like in general, but as we've been talking about, you know, year one to year two, year two to year three, I would generally be pretty comfortable counting on, you know, a super athletic coverage linebacker to make. a pretty significant year one to year two leap just because you know you're learning the intricacies of playing the middle of the field at the NFL level and all of the ability all the athleticism all the raw talent is there um he already had pretty good production in 13 games last year and you know good opportunity playing some pretty good passing offenses in that division um plus he really likes horses

which is an incredible, like, horseback riding, I feel like must be the best. Josh Norman. Josh Norman, part two. Josh Norman vibe. Strong Josh Norman vibe. And so here's the two pronged logic here. One, horseback riding.

Great, safe, outdoor socially distant activity. So I... I don't think horse riding is not safe. It's totally safe. It's not... There's been a lot of horse riding injuries. Okay. But you don't, he doesn't have to gallop.

He can just like go for a nice little trough. Okay. So that's a different pod. Okay, hold on. Good headspace. A good activity that he can just go do clear his head. Plus, you know who really likes horseback riding on the beach? Tom Brady.

Wow. That could, that's a chemistry builder. Chemistry builder. Good juju team bonding. So there you go. Evan, where are you on the buck's defense? and Devin White. And horses.

Love the Bucks defense. And those massive dudes up front. Yeah. Like in Domen Sioux, Vita Vea, even William Golston, it's a massive space eater as like a 3-4 defensive end. Jason Pierre-Paul, one of the biggest outside rush linebackers in the league. Shat Barrett coming off Monster season. He was good before that.

I don't think he was a flash in the pan. Their athleticism on the second level is going to come and really, really, I mean, they're going to create a lot of turnovers this year, I think. I think this is going to be more of a defensive-oriented team, actually, than people anticipate. Their talent on defense is nasty. I mean, it really is. And then Jamel Dean, who I thought as a rookie flashed, like,

shutdown corner sort of ability, or number one corner sort of abilities. But Devin White is a huge piece in all this. And Levant, right playing next to Levanti, David, like they're going to play two linebackers on the field at all times. Those guys can cover backs out of the backfield. help against side ends. They're going to be able to get pressure on the quarterback. This is going to be like the bucks are a really good pick as like a fantasy defense this year.

Yeah, I'm in agreement. And it's something we talked about a couple of last week, actually, you and I know, where I'm just, the more this goes on, the more I'm buying the bucks as a serious contender. And initially I had bought into them just as a can count out Tom Brady kind of thing. And the more I look at the roster and their coaching staff, everything that's going on, the more I buy it. Now, there is a. I think there's probably a problem with building sort of continuity and chemistry without OTAs when you're coming in. When you're someone like Tom Brady who likes things a very specific way, but I think that their talent is going to be, is going to be enough for them to sustain early in the season and maybe it clicks by the end of the season. Evan, who's next for you?

Cowboys make the leap to Super Bowl champions. Oh! So the Cowboys, they just have a lot of factors working in their favor that suggest they're going to take a big leap in the win. lost apartment this year. They should catch some favorable mean regression because they went one and six in one score games last year. And those are typically closer to coin flips. And if they had just won half of their one score games last year, they would have been more like an 11 win team. And then they were number six in point differential last year, which also suggests that they were a lot better than their eight and eight finish. I think it pulling, well, first of all,

pulling Jason Garrett off the, off the team, I think is just an immediate upgrade. And then I think that pulling out Jason Witton, pulling out Randall Cobb, and inserting C.D. Lamb and playing Blake Jarwin Moore is going to make them even more explosive. And they were number six in the NFL in scoring last year. On defense, I think they look like a team that is going to give up some points. You know, I think that this team is going to win a lot of games like 34 to 24. But I think that their defense has a chance to make a lot of big plays. create turnovers. They drew one of the, according to Sharp Football,

they had the ninth softest schedule based on 2020 opponent win totals. And I like that Mike McCarthy retained Kellan Moore as the play caller. I think that just moving on from Jason Garrett, throwing the reins to the offense to Kellyn Moore. We saw what he was capable of doing last year when he had more of a full command of the offense and they were one of the best passing and rushing offenses. in the end, they were a complete offense. So I know that for years and years, the Cowboys have underachieved.

I think a lot of that can be attributed to Jason Garrett. And I think that in the post-Jason Garrett era, we're going to really see how talented this team is. And I think they're one of the five most talented teams in the league. They have a soft schedule, and they're going to score a lot of points this year. I love the fact that they did not pass on CD-LAM, even though wide receiver was technically a strength for, them. They're just going to, they're going to be able to outscore almost everyone they play this year.

Yes. Evan, are you concerned at all about sort of the COVID offseason, quarantine offseason, and Mike McCarthy's sort of inability to install his program. Now, Jim Harbaugh was able to make the NFC championship game without an offseason in 2011 because the lockout, we saw that. And he's, he's just obviously, it was an incredible coach right away. Are there any hesitation because of that, or do you think Mike McCarthy's a veteran enough and that this Cowboys roster is good enough to overcome any of that? I think there is hesitation there,

but I think that Mike McCarthy is trying to be more of like a CEO type head coach as opposed to a hands on, hey, you know, we have to install my offense and, you know, you guys are going to have to learn it. You know, no, they're going to maintain a lot of continuity offensively because they're bringing back the same play caller. And they all have familiarity. I mean, shoot, some of the dudes like we're on the same.

team is Kellan Moore. You know, Kellan Moore was on the roster not too long ago. So I mean, they have a lot of friendships there. You know, the, the rapport that they are bringing back

with that Prescott and Michael Gallup, who was sixth in the NFL and receiving yards last year. And Amarra Cooper, who was just a perfect receiver for Dak Prescott because he can win against man coverage. And Dak Prescott's sort of like a see it. You know,

he needs to see it first. And then he'll, and then he'll rip it. He's not a great anticipation passer. But, yeah, think that they all work together really well. They did lose Travis Frederick, but they're bringing back their other four offensive line starters, and they have Joe Looney, who started all 16 games when Travis Frederick was out in 2018.

I think that there are a couple things. I think obviously there's a huge distinction between the top two teams in the NFC East and the bottom two. I think that Brandon Brooks is a massive injury. I think that one of the things I've learned the last couple years is every single year I overlook the lines. and the Eagles have not overlooked the lines, by the way. When I talk to people in the front office or the coaching staff, the reason they won the Super Bowl was because they built through the lines and all that stuff. And I think Brandon Brooks is a big, big injury for Philadelphia,

and it almost tips the scales towards Dallas for me. Again, I think they're an incredibly talented team. We've talked about how many coaches we think could have won 12, 13 games last year with the Cowboys, and Jason Garrett was not one of them. I would say that the fact they got unlucky in one-score games is a blessing in disguise, because if they hadn't done that, they would have been stuck with Garrett, who just is not a modern coach and just doesn't have the schemes to compete and likes execution over schemes and just a million other things.

I don't want to legislate Jason Garrett. But I totally agree that they are loaded. Nora, where are you on the Cowboys in the NFC East in general? Well, I would definitely pick them to win the division. I don't know that I'm quite ready to hand them the little Mardi Trophy. I do think, you know, the presence of Kellen Moore is significant in terms of alleviating some of the issues of the coronavirus offseason. I loved their draft. I don't know that I just, I do have some skepticism for all of the teams with a lot of newness.

So I guess maybe, I mean, I'm not picking the Eagles, but I'm maybe a little bit more. hesitant also for that reason, but they're doing all the right things. Yeah, no, I agree with you. And I think, I agree with both you. I think that the Cowboys are really good. And I don't know, I, I'm intrigued to see with the Eagles. I'm going to have an Eagles taking in a minute here, but I'm intrigued to see how the Eagles offense evolved, especially with the way they did their draft. All right. My next one, however, speaking of the COVID offseason, is the fame of Dr. Alan Sills and NFLPA director Tom Meyer, who are going to become the Fauci's of the NFL in the next couple of months.

So first of all, on CNN this morning, Dr. Fauci comes out and says there needs to be essentially a full bubble for the season to even be played in the fall. This obviously should be of concern to anybody who wants to see the season played on time. There's obviously extremely, there's more important things than football. But if the goal is to play football on time, starting in training camp, but in late July and starting the season in September, ending in February, Dr. Fauci thinks there should be a bubble. A couple of things, Sports Illustrated, had this quote from Tom Meyer.

This is a contact disease and a contact sport. Essentially, they think that there's going to have to be a lot of changes to the sport and how it's done, and social distancing and locker rooms, whether or not fans can be in the stands. And I think that, you know, there would be down a couple of billion dollars if there's no fans in the stands. And then you get into what happens to the salary cap. Is Dak Prescott going to be able to negotiate a long-term contract if the salary cap goes down $30 million, $40 million? What about Patrick Mahomes?

Is Jared Goff going to be the last quarterback to ever get paid, right? Like, I mean, in a way he should. Like, there are so many questions that stem from this that I'm just, I am. As much as I am concerned about everything, I'm intrigued to see how this all develops and what their leadership looks like. Today, Texas announced that 13 players tested positive for COVID-19, the University of Texas. USC's tell season ticket holders that any fan is probably going to have to wear a mask in the stands. How this develops, and then beyond that, how it affects football is very intriguing to me. One of the quotes from Meyer that Sports Illustrated had was that if you look at the outbreaks in the military, that being young and healthy doesn't make them immune.

It can sort of kick the ass of anybody, even if they're 26 years old and in great shape. And so in the next 30 days or so, they said they'll have answers. But how COVID affects football and these two guys, in part making decision, obviously, there will be a lot of folks who make the decision. I think it's one of the most fascinating things. And yeah, it's unlike anything we've ever seen in football. Here's my question. How long will they be famous for? Will this just be like a 15 minutes of fame situation?

Or is there a way that either one of those guys can parlay this into like a book deal or? No, I think they can do like a leadership thing if they get through it effectively. Like they can be on the speaking circuit. Like the speaker touring speaker? Yeah. I'm like Fauci's famous for. his briefs all the time. Like, you could have Dr. Allen Sills and NFLPA medical director Tom Meyer just like at these press conferences with Goodell explaining how everything's going to happen.

Depends how many interviews they do. Right. I'm just trying to figure out like for instance, I don't know, how often do we still talk about like Judge Berman from deflategate, you know? Well, that was a lot. That was just, Judge Berman was talked a lot about in New England. I don't think Judge Berman was ever nationally famous. New England doesn't be the only part of the country? Yeah, exactly. Didn't Judge Berman go to like a party with Robert Kraft or something? Wasn't there a mini scandal about that like two years ago? Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He like really wanted to, he kind of was like, there were like strong Lansito vibes where it was just like, you kind of want to hang out. Yeah, exactly. It was, to answer your question, no one talks about Judge Berman anymore. And I barely remember that there was the string of the mini scandal of the party. All right. Are we on Evan for next one?

Yeah, we're going to do another MVP candidate. Yes. So Jimmy Garoppolo is 40 to 1 to win MVP right now at Draft Kings. Again, Josh Allen's 50 to 1, so a little bit better value on Josh Allen. But this is only Jimmy Garoppolo's second full season under Kyle Shanahan. In their first full year, Jimmy Garoppolo ranked third in the NFL in Yardsburg pass attempt. He was number 7 in TD rate. He was number 8 in pass-a-rating.

They went to the Super Bowl. and Jimmy Garapolo was kind of viewed as a game manager, but he was very, very efficient. And I think he's going to have to throw more this year, so he's going to put up better stats with no de Forest Buckner, pretty questionable secondary that lost Joe Woods, who was, you know, helped piece together. Well, like all their safeties had career years.

Richard Sherman is going to be a year older this year. They pieced together that right cornerback spot with Akello Withers Spoon and Emmanuel Mosley, and sometimes that was a disaster last year. I think their pass rush isn't going to be quite as good. They had all these like fourth down stuffs at like an incredible rate that they were able to stuff stuff opponents like in short yardage and especially on fourth down. They're probably going to regress a little bit in that statistic. They're facing a tougher schedule this year.

And I think they're going to end up playing from behind more and they're going to get into more shootouts. and who doesn't love to see a Kyle Shanahan offense in a shootout. And so I think that Jimmy Garplow is going to get more volume. He's going to put up better stats. George Kittle was incredibly banged up last year. I mean, I think that a healthy George Kittle is going to have at some point a season where he scores like 10 or 13 touchdowns. And I think that this could easily be it.

They traded up for Brandon Ayyuk, maybe the best after catch receiver in the draft. Eba Samuel was awesome as a rookie, kept getting better. as his rookie season progressed, and he's entering his second year in the offense. And I think that Jimmy G is going to start fast. If you look at his schedule in weeks one through six, week one is at home against Arizona. And I think that that is, you know,

a spot where Garoppolo and Kittle could go off. Like Kittle just teaches Isaiah Simmons a lesson in that, you know, welcome to the NFL kind of moment there in week one. Weeks two and three, they go to New York for the Jets and the Giants, both good matchups defensively, I think, and they don't have to come back to San Francisco. So it's almost like just a two-week vacation almost. And they come back for three straight home games against the Eagles,

the dolphins, and the Rams without Wade Phillips. So I think that Jimmy G starts hot. I think the 49ers are going to continue to be a good team. Of course, he plays quarterback. So he's checking all of our sort of criteria. yeah. And he's a very, very handsome man as well. That cannot hurt him. Who, who, if you had to bet one of Josh Allen, Nora is laughing quite hard. If you had to bet one of Josh Allen or Jimmy Garoppolo, who would you choose, Evan? I would, I would bet them

both. You know, I think that you make like five long shot MVP bet. You know, you bet on like five guys. If you would have, I think nine out of ten times last year, if you would have bet on five long shots, you would have landed on Lamar Jackson last year as long shot picks. And I think that that's the way to do it. So I would just, I would bet them both. Yeah. I've always been surprised. Again, I'm not much of a gambler.

And I haven't really adjusted the strategy and stuff like that. It was, you know, it's amazing learning about how much volume matters. I remember listening to a golf betting podcast a couple months ago or a couple years ago. And they were talking, there was this guy on who, who won a million dollars in draft kings or a fan do or whatever. And it was because he put 200 different entries in and all of them had Sergio Garcia who won the Masters. And he was just like, if Sergio wins, I win because you just do every single combination.

And it's like when you're betting MVP, that's what you do. You just keep spinning the wheel until something happens. Nora, Jimmy Garoppolo. Love it. MVP candidate? Let's go. Yeah. My only thought on this.

So first of all, I think I agree with you, Evan, in the sense that, first of all, George Kittle is just a beast and hopefully he's healthy every single week this year. I've spent a lot of time with him in December. And when I was there, it's the story I've told before. But when I was there, Western Richburg had just gone on IR. And everybody I talked to there was just like, man, we can't catch a break. They were trending in a very unlucky direction. It's not like everything broke right for them. And the fact that they were able to go to the Super Bowl,

They lost both of their offensive tackles at one point. Remember that? Glinchy and St. We're out. Yeah. I do. And the fact they were able to still go to the Super Bowl speaks to the organizational infrastructure, speaks to Kyle Shanahan, speaks to the depth they had in that roster.

I'm intrigued by that whole situation. Do I think Jimmy Grappo is a fine long shot bet? I don't think he's going to really just ball out this year. I don't, you know, I don't really see that from Jimmy Groppo. I think that Kyle Shanahan puts guys in position. I think Jimmy Garoppel. with Kyle Shanahan is a really good quarterback. Jimmy Grooplo, without Kyle Shanahan, it's a completely different situation.

But the fact of the matter is, he's got one of the three best play callers in the sport right now. And I think he's going to have a solid enough season to where they remain very, very top contenders. Also very handsome. Also very handsome. Nora, your last one? The Cleveland Brown. And so. What's the leap?

What is the leap? Is it from to like 10 wins? Actually, yeah. So it's funny that you say that I have in my notes six and 10 to 10 and six. But really, I think more fundamentally, the leap is to like respectability and an absence of chaos. And like we were talking about, you know, for the most part, I'm skeptical of the teams that have new coaches and have a lot of change. but that is just sort of the default state of the Browns. So it's hard to say that that's really going to hurt them.

You know, I don't feel like I totally know how Stavansky's going to do, but he seems like a good, just calm. Like calmness seems like it would go a really long way there. And then, you know, Baker-Mainfield had a really tough year last year. He was sacked 40 times. Some of that was his fault, but they were a disaster at the tackle spot. And even just the fact that with Jedrick Wells and with Jack Conklin, they've done a lot to address those positions, I think is going to make a pretty significant difference on its own. That's still an incredibly talented roster.

I think we saw, you know, how effectively they used play action in Minnesota. and I think there's a pretty good opportunity with that roster to recreate a lot of that in Cleveland. And again, there is space for leaping here. There's definite space for leaping. A 10 and 6 Brown's team is one that has leapt, and it's one that I can buy into. So I'll say this. The fact that you think that calmness is a good prerequisite for Brown's coach makes you think they should just like hire a yoga coach. Just everybody breeds.

We just put 90 mats out there for training camp. to start breathing? A meditation app. Yeah. Okay, so I'm in agreement with you. I think that I was a year early on the Brown type, and I think that Andrew Barry gets the benefit of seeing where the holes are on an already talented roster and getting to plug those holes,

where that's the offensive line, obviously. Baker's bad habits, getting rid of Freddie Kitchens is just massive, and I think that they're going to be much improved. Evan, how do you see the AFC North shaking out? Well, the Steelers, I mean, they're really, really dangerous. If Ben can stay healthy, then they're going to have one of the best offenses in the league. And they already have one of the best defenses. So they're real, real dangerous.

The Ravens, I think, are, you know, a top three team at Redons. And the Bengals are going to be better for sure. And then Cleveland, I mean, that's, you know, the biggest thing for the Browns is like their schedule, is just absolutely brutal. But I like what they're doing. They're building a bully. You know, they use their big free agent splash was Jack Conklin. At right tackle, they used the 10th overall pick on Jeddrick Wills.

I mean, they had two good offensive linemen last year. Their offensive line was a problem. I think that that contributed a lot to the sort of, you know, how Baker Mayfield would be like fading away in the pocket, sort of like, you know, anticipating pressure. that wasn't there because he didn't trust the offensive line. And his passer rating on play action passes is like 40 points higher than his, you know, his passer rating without play action.

So I like what they're building. And I like betting on them as a post-hype sort of pick here. And so, yeah, I'm with Nora on this one. We're hyping the post-hite round. I love that. We're going to hype them too much. they're going to be bad again. This is our fault.

This is the media's fault. I like them to be improved. I just think that the AFC North is a really tough place to try to make a leap right now. And even the Bengals, I mean, the Bengals are not an easy out, you know? I mean,

I just think it's going to be hard. I think the seventh wild card helps them, helps a lot of teams, obviously, who are in that range where they are probably going to win seven games and they could accidentally win two or three more. But I think that there's just a lot of competition right now for, for the middle of the package.

AFC teams. Are the post-hype Browns going to be the team to keep the post-braeby Patriots out of the playoffs? I don't know. We're spending a lot of time debating the seventh wild card spot. I kind of like it. All right. My last one is Miles Sanders as making the leap from a good young running back to one of the top offensive weapons in football. Now, PFF says there's only, there were only two running backs last year with 100 plus receiving yards on, on throws 20 plus yards down the field. Miles Sanders led the NFL on that. He can catch a deep pass out of the back field. His blocking ability is going to keep him on the field this year, and what was last year, but he's going to be a three-down back. There's something every single Eagles beat writer says.

They have depth there, but Doug Peterson once a three-down back, Jeff Mosher, one of the beats down there who does a great job, say you should get 18 touches a game. I think that there are a lot of questions about the Eagles, how they operate in the draft, what Jalen Hart's going to look like and how they're going to innovate that, whether or not that's going to get off the ground this year with the two-quarterback offense. But I think that the Eagles have a plan. I think they've really smart offensive staff. And I think they've got the real capability to turn Miles Sanders into a legitimate star

and one of the top offensive weapons in football. Evan, where are you in, Malice Sanders? Love them. Wish you wouldn't have lost Brandon Brooks, you know? Yeah, that's, that's so, again, that's one of the, I feel like we just, everybody, maybe because it's a summer, we're removed from it, we're not, there has not been a new cycle where we've paid enough attention to Brandon Books being out for the season. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we're paying attention to different stuff, really. Yeah, no, of course. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, that was a big deal. That was, that was a big loss. but I think that there are ways that he could, I mean, if they just, if they don't run in between

the tackles as much and they run them on the edges more, they throw to them more, Miles Sanders could actually benefit from that. So, you know, I didn't like move Miles Sanders down in my fantasy rankings or anything. I mean, if it translates to more receptions, that's a good thing. He was one of the winners coming out of the draft because the Eagles did not draft. They're running back. The only R.B of any note that they have added was Mike Warren. an undrafted

an undrafted rookie. They have been connected to Devante Freeman. You know, you want Miles Saeners to be getting a ton of touches. And that's his final year at Penn State. And when he was getting a ton of touches down the stretch last year, we saw he was dynamic. But I think you kind of want to avoid them, or you want to hope that they, you know,

if you're betting on their sleep, you want them to not go sign Devante Freeman. You're glad that they didn't get Carlos high. You know, you want these touches to be. coming in bunches and you want Boston Scott, not some proven veteran to be the number two behind Miles Sanders. And that's the case right now. Yep, I'm in completely agreement with you. Nora, where are you on the Eagles offense? I just, I don't know, honestly. This is one that I it's okay. That they've done, they've done some confusing moves to the point that being agnostic to what

their 2020 looks like is totally fine. Yeah, every time I start, I mean, I think that's such a smart organization with a lot of talent, a lot of good players, a lot of good people. And every time I start reading up on them, I just have this like, I don't get it quite feeling. So I'm, I'm going to decline comment for now, but I'm happy for you. You're going to pass? You're going to pass? All right, Evan, Evan, last one. She went from being, you know, completely anti-mile Sanders to then saying no comment. I love it. Yeah. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. No, I'm not, no, I'm from Miles Sanders. There's a Miles Sanders hype train, and Nora is robbing it.

She's, she's putting pennies, she's putting pennies on the tracks for the Miles Sanders hype train that Evan and I are the engineers, though. We've got little hats for the conductors. All right, Evan, last one, buddy. I would never do that. Okay, so my last one is that Alan Robinson is going to lead. Yes. Catches.

Lead the league and catches. I like that. Lead the league and catches. He was seventh last year. So he was already, you know, within strike. distance, he was number three in the NFL in targets. If you look at the the receptions leader last year, Michael Thomas, you know, the, well, first of all, the big trend toward, you know, trying to get these guys that, you know, can catch like 110 balls in a season or see 150 targets is that

the talent in their own past catcher core is pretty weak. Like, if you look at Michael Thomas last year, the Saints really didn't have a contributing number two or number three receiver. Alvin Kamera was playing through a high ankle and knee spring. Jared Cook really was not a factor until the second half of the year. So Michael Thomas just dominated his in-house passing game. And Sean Payton sort of manufactured him touches by moving him into the slot. When Michael Thomas goes in the slot, he's getting the ball. The ball goes to him at an insane clip, the highest rate in the league,

whenever he lines up in the slot. You know, Alan Robinson actually ran over 40% of his sprouts in the slot last year. He was really good there. Average well over two yards per route run. I don't think the Nick Foles is going to set the league on fire. But this is definitely the best quarterback of Alan Robinson's football career. I mean, for a guy who caught all of his passes in college from Christian Hackenberg and Matt McGloin at Penn State. And in the NFL, his two primary quarterbacks have been Mitchell Tribeskey and Blake Bortles.

You know, what's the meme of the Spider-Man? You know, like, yes. And it's a contrast. track to year for Alan Robinson. Again, he murdered in targets last year. He was seventh in receptions. I think that his past catcher, look, I mean, they have, you know, 17 tight ends. None of them are really going to do much this year. Anthony Miller, I think, is okay. And then Ted Ginn is not going to command targets, you know, in that offense. So, I mean, you know, he's going to get like three a game. So I think that the upgrade to Nick

Foles can really benefit Alan Robinson. And again, he was pretty close last year. It's, it's, It's a mountain to get to Michael Thomas. But the Saints did add past catching help in Emmanuel Sanders, Alvin Camara's back healthy, Jared Cook, in his second year in the system. So I think that Michael Thomas' catches go down. Alan Robinson goes up. So Alan Robinson is in the last year of a three-year, $42 million contract. His cap-it this year is $15 million, which for someone like Alan Robinson is pretty decent.

Now, in 2021, he's a free agent, as you say. said, this contract here. I would love to see Alan Robinson go play with an elite quarterback. We can just get him the damn ball. And I think Nick Folles a step in the right direction, exactly what you said. He's not going to be perfect, but he's going to be a hell of a lot better than Mitchell Trubisky and Blake Bortles and Christian Hakenberg before that. But if there's any justice in the football world, he will not only get paid what he's deserved, which, you know, three years 42 is nothing to sneeze at, but he will get to play with, I don't see it happening, but a Patrick Mahomes.

Somebody like that who's just going to get him the ball on time, get him where it needs to be, and I just, I want Alan Robinson to be happy with his quarterback. Nora? Yes, I too want Alan Robinson to be happy with his quarterback. And I also think I love that we're having this discussion just under the, what I believe to be correct assumption that his quarterback will be Nick Foles for the entire of the season. Mitchell Trubisky came out and was like,

yeah, they probably shouldn't have. They were probably right to decline my 50 or option. Like, so there's so many guys who were just like, I'm going to make them pay. Like, they're, man, they're going to, they're going to see the error their way. And Mitchell was like, yeah, no, that, that checks, that tracks. I didn't really earn it pretty much justified. But yeah. So, you know, you can also throw as a feather in his cap that he probably won't even have to deal with switching

quarterback's midway through the season because I think that one's going to be wrapped up pretty quickly. All right. Well, we had two Josh Allen for MVP cases on this episode. Nora got mad at the definition of leap. It's been quite an episode. I appreciate you guys stopping by. Thanks, Kevin. Thanks so much, man.