The Ringer NFL Show - NFL Preseason Week 1 Story Lines

Episode Date: August 6, 2025

Sheil, Steven, and Diante scan the league to analyze and debate the biggest story lines they’re excited about going into the first week of the NFL preseason games. Teams discussed include: Las Vegas RaidersNew York JetsCincinnati BengalsMinnesota VikingsIndianapolis ColtsCleveland Browns They then discuss what they’re looking for in some of the individual matchups this weekend and much more! The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.rg-help.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hosts: Sheil Kapadia, Steven Ruiz, and Diante LeeProducer: Chris SuttonSocial: Kiera GivensProduction Supervision: Conor Nevins and Arjuna Ramgopowell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Welcome to the Ringer NFL show. Rochiel Capadia here with Deontay Lee and Stephen Ruiz. We have reached a new stage of summer. You know, you got the practice report season, but now it turns into preseason game. So that's what we're talking about today. What are we watching in the preseason? What matters? What doesn't?

Do we have something weird that we want to keep our eye on? And Deonti, I mean, last week you made me talk Jailen Hertz, Cam Newton. Now you're making me talk preseason. I'm taking this as an attack. I just, you know, I just want you to know. Look, I mean, nobody takes their summers off better than Sheel Capadia. So in the meantime, got to load up some stuff. It was waiting on you in the queue for you to get to once you get back here.

That's all that is. Nothing personal. All right. Ruiz. How locked in will you be? Thursday, Friday, Saturday, preseason games. What is your, like, are you sitting down in front of the TV watching it live? Are you like, hey, I'm going to catch up on what I missed there?

So how do you take in the preseason? I do watch it live. I don't like the replays. You know how NFL network will just so replays with the preseason games nonstop? I feel like every time I tune in, I'm getting like the worst part of the game, like guys I've never heard of in the third or fourth quarter.

But I do enjoy a preseason game because you can check in and check out and get like 30 minutes of useful content to watch and then you're out of there. It's a nice football viewing experience. I think I'm going to get tired of it after the first weekend. But for now it's better than nothing. What have we been working with for the past month? Just Jalen Hertz debates.

there you go. You know how they say that like half of the thing with coffee was being addicted to caffeine is the routine of having the cup in the oral fixation piece of drinking the coffee is just as important as the caffeine content itself? I feel like that's what preseason is. It's more so like, I'm back to getting my reps. This is usually how I would spend my weekends.

I'm going to flip through channels. I'm watching a couple games. None of this stuff is actually all that engaging. But there's football on the TV. And now I kind of get to commandeer this stuff for my kids again, right? For all my family, my family guys, with family women out there, you get to commandeer the TV, more NFL network, more ESPN, you can't lose that way. That's a great point. Being able to be like, I got to watch this for work.

I'm sorry. It's such a good cheap code. Get out of family obligations. There you go. Part of the beauty of the job, as we've discussed before, you know, so there we go. All right. So we're just going around the horn, you know, what what are we interested in, what storylines have our attention, what players do we want to watch, Ruiz, start us off who is first or what is first on your list? I'm going to go with the Raiders, and I think this is a team we've all talked about, just being excited to see what it looks like. And I think in preseason, I think we're going to have to wait to the regular season to really get a good feel for how Chip Kelly's offense is going to look at the updated version,

Act 2 of Chip Kelly's NFL coaching career. But I am interested to see how some of these young guys that they're really banking on, there are holes in this offense along the interior offensive line. who's the wide receiver number two behind Jacoby Myers. And I think this preseason, we're going to get a real chance to see these guys compete. I'm really interested to see how the interior offensive line shuffles around because Jackson Powers Johnson started the offseason thinking that he was going to play center. But there's been some weirdness with that.

I think they moved him over to guard. They told Jordan Meredith, apparently, in OTAs say, hey, you better be ready to play center. And it just seems like reading between the lines that they didn't like what they saw out of JPJ. when he was there at center and how he was calling the shots before the snap. He had Alex Kappa at left guard or right guard, and he was calling pre-snap protections for him. So that's going to be interesting.

And then the young receivers, Jack Besh, the second round pick. And then also Dante Thornton, who I think has a chance to provide that deep element that this team really needs the rookie. If those guys can make plays, I might raise my expectation for this Raiders offense. And it's already probably too high as it is. Yeah, Pete Carroll goes to. to Seattle. That too.

First, uh, preseason game. Did you see the, he's like, it sounds like, if you reap it through the lines, it sounds like, hey, I, I really want to win this game. Well, I was thinking, you know, this was weird because when the Seahawks did the thing where they parted ways with people, remember the initial reports were like, oh, he's going to move upstairs, an advisory role. And it was just, I mean, the only well, unless something changed, it just seemed to be a complete lie that he, no, he was actually just fired.

He was fired. They didn't want to say he was fired. He was there for 14 years. He won a Super Bowl. He was out of a job. And I know at that time, I didn't think he was going to get another shot to coach in the NFL. You know, he topped the class at USC in that clip. I don't know.

Did you guys see that clip last week that was circulating of him talking? Oh, him talking about all the different coaches? Yes, he was asked about like, what's the difference between you and Bill Belichick and Phil Jackson and Greg Popovich? And maybe I'm a sucker. But, man, I'm just like, this guy still has a. it together and he's going to be able to get charismatic as a get as a kid as charismatic as it's a NFL I'm like how to I'm like he's turned 74 in September this is crazy I mean he was he was with it it was a great answer the delivery everything and that got me fired up like I had this on my

list for sure the the Raiders going to Seattle I feel like the Broncos are getting a lot of buzz and I'm looking at that AFC West going like I don't know I'm looking at this Raiders team and as I try to identify maybe a sleeper playoff team. I'm looking at them pretty closely. So, yeah, I think the Raiders are interesting. I think Pete Carroll going back to Seattle is interesting. You just kind of want to see the competency when you go Josh McDaniels, Antonio Pierce, and now Pete Carroll.

I mean, it's going to be a different team. I don't know what their ceiling is, Deonté, but I am pretty excited or at least interested, I should say, in kind of the relevance of this Raiders team. Yeah, I'm with you. I think I'll be more interested than excited, right? I'm trying to keep the baseline of expectations relatively low because the wide receiver room is limited. You look at that defensive back seven on the other side. I mean, they just trade away.

Jacorian Bennett to the Eagles. They're probably going to be rough at the corner and safety position regardless this year. There are a lot of reasons why a Raider season could be the same kind of typical Raiders bad as it always been and it's just a talent issue. But like Stephen, right, like you know you have Geno Smith. I think that their tackle situation is okay. interior can be a problem. You've got Ashton Gentie, you've got Brock Bauer. So there are all these pieces that I think

projecting out past the Gino Smith window that can turn into something real is just that the most interesting pieces, Gino Smith and Pete Carroll are probably here for the shortest amount of time if we're projecting out. So you would like to see something happen quickly. I just don't know if this team

is well positioned to do so. And the only way I can be convinced is if some of these guys start flashing in the preseason that give us an idea that maybe they're developing more quickly than what I would think based on just looking at their depth chart right now. Yeah, that's what I want to see, especially on the other side of the ball. You mentioned the secondary and the Bennett trade, I think caught a lot of people off guard because the talk around them, this offseason is like, what are they going to do at corner?

Eric Stokes, I mean, it was a decent signing for what they needed, but I don't know if Eric Stokes is going to, you know, rescue your secondary room. But I'm interested in what that means for Darian Porter, the third round pick, who doesn't have a lot of experience playing cornerback. I think he was a wide receiver before. then and there are natural comparisons to Richard Sherman because of the wide receiver background and Pete Carroll. But that guy was not supposed to hit the ground running as a rookie. And he's already getting first team reps. He's already on the depth chart as the top as the starting

corner. And the fact that they just traded away Bennett leads me to believe that Pete Carroll and company and Patrick Graham think that this guy can play from day one. So it's going to be interesting to see how he does in preseason and how much he plays and if they give him a chance to kind of flash like Deontay's saying. Because I definitely. think we need to see at least two of these young guys on both sides of the ball flash for me to even think about picking this team to make the playoffs. The scheme stuff defensively is also very interesting with the Raiders. You know, I think there's this idea that, oh, you know, Pete Carroll, stubborn, going to stick with his cover three. He was trying to figure this out in his last few,

you know, two, three, four years in Seattle where he came out and said, I've been arrogant. We've been arrogant with how we play defense. We waited too long to make the shift. He hired Sean Desai who was under Vic Fangio. Like he was trying to figure, he was understanding that what he was doing wasn't working and trying to find the solution. And he couldn't.

He failed, but it wasn't because he was just sticking to what he was doing. So I thought, you know, Patrick Graham didn't get the notoriety last year that he probably should have because the Raiders were irrelevant. But when you look at just what he was working with and their bad injury luck and their bad

turnover luck and Max Crosby being injured and Christian Wilkins being injured, they were a mediocre defense last year. Like, I know you don't, you know, you don't have. Complementary, right? Yeah, you don't hang the banner for mediocre defense. But if, hey, we always talk about, did the coach do more with less? Did they maximize their potential?

Like, I didn't look at that and go, man, if they had another defensive coach, they would have been better. So I'm interested in that marriage also, you know, kind of emerging of different ideas and how hands on, hands off is Pete Carroll. How much is he like, hey, we retained this guy. He did a good job. Let him do it that kind of thing. So even in the preseason, you know, you can see, hey, what's the base kind of looks they're working with? What does it look like on third down? What does it look like on first down?

Does it look more like a Pete Carroll defense or a Patrick Graham defense? So, yeah, I'm with you there on the Raiders. All right. Deontay, what are you got? What's on your list here that you have an eye on? I think I will follow it under the same thing that Stephen mentioned, right, in terms of like an intrigue and what it's going to look like. And I'm going to go to New York and mention the Jets. I really want to see what they look like on both sides of the ball.

I think the last most recent headline is that New York kind of had a rough offensive practice and they've had inconsistent offensive practices throughout training camp. I think that they've been pretty insistent in terms of the public-facing commentary from the coaching staff, from general management and all that, that they want Justin Fields to really kind of take on a true quarterbacking pocket passing role. Some of that I think is subterfuge, right? I think that some of that is maybe trying to let the guy that you just paid know that we trust you to pass a ball.

but if you look at their depth chart and read what's happening at training camp in terms of the ball hitting the ground in terms of him having some issues with managing the pocket in terms of guys having drops. And you look at their depth chart and how limited they are outside of Garrett Wilson in terms of past catching talent, I look at them and I think, I wonder if Aaron Glenn looks at his roster and wonders, can we do the poorest man's version of what Philadelphia did to be as competitive as possible and just say, hey, Justin, if you've got to take some sacks because it's not there

or you don't want to risk it throw in the middle of the field. We would rather you do that to force a ball up and take a turnover. We're going to run the ball on every early down that we can. And we're going to lean on this defense. We're going to play a bunch of tight coverage, try to force turnovers on that side of the ball.

And hopefully we can win the time of possession and turnover margin battle, and that'll be good enough to win the game. So that's kind of what I think their identity is going to be. I guess I'm just most fascinated to see whether or not that's the way that they approach this preseason or is it going to be more of the inverse, where let's take this time where the stakes are low

to see exactly what we can get away with in the passing game and see how much Justin Fields can handle and what this offensive line looks like. So I think that I'll be able to glean and I think something interesting in either direction depending on the way that they handle this preseason game they have against the Packers. I feel like last year in Pittsburgh,

you kind of got that version of Justin Fields that you're talking about, like the guy that's not going to make mistakes, almost to a fault, obviously. I want to see somewhere in between how he kind of played in Chicago when he was making huge plays with his legs and also pushing the ball down field, not with much success, but he was doing it. And then he comes to Pittsburgh,

and maybe it's just the Mike Tomlin aspect of it or the fact that their defense was so strong at the beginning of the year. But you do want to, if the Jets are going to do anything of note this season, I think you've got to get a decent season out of Justin field. I think, I'm not saying he's going to be like a top 10 quarterback or it has to be a top 10 quarterback.

But if you get a fringe top 20 quarterback, then I think you have something there with that run game, with the potential for the run game. Yeah, the Steelers never, really unlocked the Justin Fields runner that I think we were all looking forward to seeing because that was the one thing in Chicago where you're

like, no, this is, he literally looks like one of the most special runners we've seen at quarterback in the last decade, two decades, whatever it was. Now, some of that was scrambling. Some of that was on designed runs, but I think when he went to Pittsburgh and it was like he's going to play and you had Arthur Smith, you thought, all right, what's

going to look like? And it just kind of never happened. So I think they're going to lean into it. I like your comp, Deante, where it's a We know the Jets defense isn't going to be as good as the Eagles defense. We know the jet supporting cast. It's not going to be the same, but the idea behind it, how many wins can that get them? Because I do think they got some pieces on defense that are interesting. And I just feel like with Aaron Glenn, they're going to lean into the run game.

And especially when you look at how aggressive they were in signing fields, it sort of feels like Aaron Glenn looking at it going like, hey, this guy was hard to defend because of his legs. And so you're not going to bring him in and then not use. though. So yeah, the Jets, I think, have a chance to be a little frisky. I'm not going to say good, but a chance to be, you know, kind of competitive, frisky, maybe a little couple things fall their way. And they're a bit of a surprise team, you know, certainly not one of the worst teams in the NFL there. All right. I'm taking some low-hanging fruit here with my first one. Joe Burrow is going to see significant action in the preseason. Zach Taylor told reporters in Cincinnati that Burrow will play several.

series Thursday night against the Eagles. The athletics Paul Deiner Jr. Had this note that he has only taken nine preseason dropbacks in his career. And part of that's been because he's dealt with a lot of injuries and in the summertime and they're like, no, we're not going to play an injured Joe Burrow out here. But then the other part of it is they get off to these slow starts. And they seem to think that if he plays a little bit in the preseason, that they're not going to get off to a slow start.

and if I were in the building, I'd be going, guys, guys, guys. Are we sure? Are we sure we wanted to? Is this the reward here worth the risk that we're taking with our franchise quarterback who, when he's healthy the last two or three years, we've had a very good offense. We don't have a great offensive line. He's been injured in the summers. Maybe that's the reason why we got off to these slow starts.

Right now, he says he feels as healthy as ever. He's throwing the football well in practice. maybe we just simulate some stuff in a controlled environment in practice rather than putting him out there to play several series in a pre-seasoning game. By the way, not just one, their plan according to all the reporting, is that then the next week against the commanders, he's going to see even more action. So I know Burrow wants to play. He's been on record. Guess what? Take most of the time the players say they want to play. That's what they do.

Yes, this is why someone needs to make the decision that, Joe, we know you want to play. Listen, we're going to do some stuff in practice. Let's simulate stuff better than we've done in previous years. But we are not putting you out there unless you have the red jersey on and you cannot be hit. So I'm just going on record. I don't think this is a good idea. I don't think it solves any of their problems. I would rather get off to a little bit of a slow start, but I know I'm not risking injury.

And I know every time you play, there's risk of injury. But this is literally more. than he needs to against an opponent who is allowed, they're allowed to hit him in this game. And it was the best defense in the NFL last year. I know the starters aren't going to play probably for the Eagles here. But I don't like the risk. I don't like the philosophy, the reasoning behind it, Ruiz. This would have me pretty nervous if I was a Bengals fan.

No, I'm totally with you. This feels like a massive overreaction and them drawing the wrong conclusions. Like you said, he's been hurt. And that's probably why they've got, that's not probably why. It's definitely why. Like, we could tie his poor performance in September to various injuries. Like, he couldn't move the one year because he had an ankle injury. He had the wrist injury that everybody was looking into when he was how he was holding the water bottle.

That was the reason why they're often sputtered. It wasn't because he didn't play in preseason. So I'm totally with you. And the fact that the Eagles backups are starting the game kind of gives me even more concern because now you've got guys that are trying to make the team and maybe try a little too hard to finish plays. maybe they roll up on your knee or your ankle, and then all of a sudden you're back to where you were the last couple of years with the banged-up Joe Burra going into September.

I don't see how it's beneficial, especially in this day and age when you have these joint practices. I mean, I don't know if the Bengals are doing, I'm assuming they're doing joint practices. The coaches are always saying, that's where the real work is done is in those joint practices. We get more out of them than the preseason game. So you already have that built in.

I don't get it. If he gets hurt, they're just going to be killed, too. There's a C-Y-A aspect to this. Like, cover your ass if you're Zach Taylor and you subject Joe Burrow to hits and then he gets hurt. I mean, that's a fireable offense in my opinion. Yeah, that's why Deonti,

I wanted to get out in front of it and make sure on the record before the game actually takes place that I think it's a bad idea, so it doesn't look like second casting. Listen, man, like I can say this as a coach as a coach on a much lower level. You come out of a season where you couldn't run the ball, you want to know the first thing you install,

12 personnel. We're talking power. We're talking inside zone. We're starting there. You give up a bunch of explosive plays defensively. You're starting with all your cover zero blitzes when you open up the season. You know, your first install, you want to be as aggressive as possible. Right. And I feel like, like Stephen was saying, like you were saying, Shil, I feel like this is learning the wrong lesson from the start of last season. If you want to fix the problem, the issue was that your defensive front and your offensive line weren't where they needed to be to start the season. And that's why you couldn't control the line of scrimmage against the Patriots and you ended up not being able to hold on to your lead when it looked like you had an opportunity to go win the game against the Chiefs early in the season as well. That's also not something that you're going to, you're not going to fix 2024's problems in 2025. And that is one thing from a from a coaching perspective I don't get for Zach Taylor, because this is not Brian Davel who's always got to be looking over your shoulder like, okay, is today going to be the day that the mayor family decides that they're sick of looking at me. If you're Zach Taylor, you've got a Super Bowl appearance in 2021 that all the Bengals fans that I

see online seem to still be clutching on to. I don't think that anybody's upset with anything other than the fact that they did not make the playoffs last year. And that can very easily be fixed if you believe that the run they went on from October to the end of the year is a truer representation of what we saw than what they were at the beginning of the season. And I do think so. And we just came off of Joe Burrow having his best year as a quarterback in spite of the fact that he didn't get a lot of preseason reps in spite of the fact that we were concerned about his hand health and that he was dealing with something that was relatively unprecedented for quarterbacks in terms of what he's dealing with his thumb and all of that.

Why does he need to take preseason reps? Do I need to see him throw a fade ball to know that he can throw a fade ball? I don't need to see that in the preseason. I know that he's going to give the ball to Jamar Chase when he's open. I know he's going to give the ball to T. Higgins on one-on-one coverage and that those guys are going to go one on the perimeter. If you want to show me something, pull out your backups and still show me that you're going to put a bunch of tight ends on the field, that you can control the line of scrimmage up front,

that your defensive front is moving forward with Al Golden as defensive coordinator. I want to see an identity change in the trenches. There is absolutely nothing that Joe Burrow can do as a quarterback in the preseason to change my outlook for the Cincinnati Bengals besides get hurt. And the one thing that makes it more likely than any that he gets hurt is him being out on the field. Like Stephen said, with a bunch of backups that are not invested in all in whether or not Joe Burrow finishes the game healthily. These are guys that are trying to make the roster that are trying to get their reps

against other teams that are trying to compete for a championship. I don't get it at all. This to me seems very performative and performative toughness type of thing that you see from football coaches sometimes and are losing the plot. Just go out and win games in a regular season. That's all that anybody's asking out of CMP right now.

I do wonder if part of this is them trying to follow Kansas City's lead because Andy Reed is notorious for running a tough camp. Patrick Mullins plays a lot of preseason. He plays into the second quarter sometimes, which I think is ridiculous. And I would have the same criticism for Kansas City's approach that I do for Cincinnati's right now. But like DeAndi said, nothing we're going to see in this preseason, nothing the coaching staff is going to see in this preseason is going to affect their outlook.

So I just don't get the point. And if you're Zach Taylor, you just want to be that anonymous coach that nobody really ever thinks about. You don't want to be a guy. You don't want to become the main character. Yes. You don't want to see your name in a headline. Yeah, Zach Taylor, you don't want to see. Anytime Zach Taylor's name is in a headline, it's.

not because except for the once when he took the, when he went to the bar, right, in Cincinnati and celebrated with what when was that, that was after a playoff win. Remember that? That's the one time I remember. It was like, oh, that's pretty cool. He's going there and buying everyone drinks because they made it to the Super Bowl or NFC championship, whatever it was.

But it just, I think you guys said it best that they're trying to solve a problem that cannot be solved by the actions that they're taken is how I feel. And I looked it up, Ruiz. They do have joint practices. It looks like against the Bears. So it's like you're going to be able to practice against another team. That feels like a nice tune-up.

Ben Baby of ESPN pointed out, this is the first time since Burroughs rookie season that he's not dealing with any kind of entry or recovery in training camp. Why embrace that? Embrace that. Something going wrong. Yes. What are you doing? Do not.

And I know it'll probably be quick game in the bulk. But all it takes is one weird, fluky thing to happen. happen and all of a sudden this becomes the biggest story. So I don't want to, I understand, football players have to play and they can get hurt at any time. But it's, it's a matter of risk. Like what they don't, he doesn't have to play here. It's not worth it to have him play here. So that's something if I'm a Bengals fan. I'm just going to be kind of holding my breath, watching that game Thursday night. And then the following week also. So he'll, he'll get some reps against the Eagles and then against the commanders, the following

By the way, last thing on this before we go to break. I did see a quote from Jamar Chase where they're like, you know, Joe wants to play in the preseason. Do you feel like, you know, it's, and he was like, no, man, like I held out last year. My legs felt great all the off season. He's like, yeah, he started laughing. I think it said, I can't remember if that was the athletic or ESPN. He's like, no, I was good. Yeah, no, I don't need to play in the preseason.

So I thought that was hilarious. All right. Let's take a break. We come back. We go around the league with some other stuff. We're watching in the preseason. All right, we are back on the Ringer NFL show. Ruiz, what do you got?

What else is on your mind? I'm looking at 7 o'clock on NFL network on Friday. It's not the best way to spend your Friday night, but Cleveland at Carolina, I'm in for the Shador watch. We're already in. Slop bowls? Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm not going to want the slop in like October.

You know, in the heat of the season, I can't watch a game like that. But in August, it's perfect. and I hope Shador plays a lot. I just want to see him play just so we don't have to react to these out of context, training camp stats and these clips where it looks like he would take five sacks in one play. I want to see it in live action and see how he reacts to a NFL pocket. That would be very – I feel like he's one of those guys where you're going to know instantly. Is this guy going to last in the NFL or is his time running out?

And then on the other side, like Bryce Young, if he plays and if he plays a significant amount of time, I just want to see how confident he looks. And if he can pick up where he left off last year, where I think over the second half, I still have questions about his long-term viability, the same questions I had before the draft. But he established himself as a player who probably belongs in the NFL and probably as a starter. And I think if he could continue that and looks confident in the pocket, then I would be a little more bullish on the Panthers. But like from the training camp clips I've seen, he's doing a lot of running around.

And I don't know if that's the offensive line or if that's him, but it's going to be fascinating to watch him in an actual football environment. Yeah, Sanders is going to start that game per Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. So, I mean, they've had this weird. Kenny Pickett and Dylan Gabriel, both have hamstring injuries. Joe Flacco's not going to play. The preseason is Joe Flacco is too good for the preseason, but Joe Burrow, do you? Go out there.

That's right. They're not risking it with Flacco, but the other team in Ohio is risking it with Joe Burrow. Now, they signed Tyler Huntley. And it's just been sort of, I'm with you. It's been a weird sort of camp for Shador Sanders. It feels like I don't really have a handle on how he's looked. Has it been really bad? Has it been really good?

Has it been somewhere in between? He had arm soreness just on Saturday where he sat out most of practice. He hasn't taken any reps with the first string offense per the athletic. And now he's going to be out there, what, Saturday to Friday? So less than a week after he sits out of practice, he's going to be out there starting for them in a preseason game. And I don't know, Deante. Like I had this one written down too. And I'm just looking at this.

This is as like hopeless of a situation. You know, most NFL fan bases this time of year, if you say something or write something critical, they're going to fire back, defend their team. That's fine. That's fandom. You know, a lot of times you can be like, oh, they're just being irrational. That's okay. Check back with me in October or November.

I don't even know what the bullish case is for the Browns. Like they just seem like they're going to be irrelevant by like, week two, week three. You know, I thought their defense had a chance. And then cornerback Barton Emerson suffers the Achilles, linebacker Jordan Hicks retires, J.OK's not playing this season. You don't have a Luce Cora. Yeah, it's like, I don't know if I can get.

Maybe it'll be a little bit better, but not good enough like it was two years ago where it can carry you to a playoff berth. The quarterback situation is terrible. Like, is this just a situation where Browns fans are like, all right, we'll tailgate, we'll sip through it. And we have two first round picks next year. It just seems like one of those situations. But I don't know.

At least there's some anticipation, I guess, with how Shador Sanders looks because he's going to play in the preseason. Look, I think that we wrote the book on this team in March. They should hang the banner of We kept Miles Garrett. That would be one objective. There were really two objectives. We kept Miles Garrett and we were able to get a friendly kind of exit from the whole Deshaun Watson era.

Those have been the two. If there is something to feel successful about as a brinket, Browns fan, you check those two boxes. I don't know if there's anything else to be gained in 2025. If you look at all the injuries and what this quarterback situation is, I don't think that if you're a Browns fan, you're probably not going to feel good about this team until the 2026 draft. And even that is kind of contingent upon where you land outside of Shador in this preseason. And maybe things look good, right? Like even in doing the scouting for him, coming into the draft, there was a lot to feel optimistic about the guy will hang in the pocket. He will take

some hits. He will throw the ball in the middle of the field at times. He can, he's decent with extending plays. You don't have the best armed talent. And I think I made the point that he's a hyper-trained quarterback. And sometimes I say that as a backhanded compliment, but usually what it does is it provides you a baseline. So when you're in-game situations, you don't look the way the Josh Yanna look for the first two years of his career, right? Like you have a certain baseline of understanding how to operate a pro-style offense. And I wouldn't be surprised at all if he shows up and he's dumping the ball off underneath and getting the ball to tight ends

and throwing your hitch routes and your curl routes and everything looks good against these very regulated zone defenses. And we all feel very warm about Chador. And as long as there's something positive to say about him in that quarterback room, again, if you're a Browns fan, you should feel good. The worst thing that could happen is you get like the CJ Stroud preseason game

where he shows up in his first drive. He throws a pick against New England or whatever. And now you've got to hear, oh, this might have been, what a horrible idea to even bring. this guy in and now the owner's being asked again about what the situation's going to be. You've got these hurt quarterbacks. People are going to start asking who's going to get cut.

Is it going to be one of the rookies? If not both, you want to avoid that by any means. So I feel like any completion you get from Shador, no matter how many yards it gains, you were just clapping up the fact that you're not going to have to litigate everything that has happened so far over the last calendar year. Yeah, this is the best it's going to be all season. Like, this is your Super Bowl. You're right.

I mean, that, like, it seems like a joke. It's really not a joke, I think it's not hyperbole. The most likely scenario is like other than week one where you can always build up a little juice for week one because anything can happen. But yeah, I mean, I don't know. Maybe I'll be wrong, but it just, I don't see the upside. In addition to what Deonté said, they did get the extra first round pick. So watch on Saturdays, which college quarterback do you like? Because you're probably going to be in the market there.

But this is just a bad, bad situation in Cleveland. So we'll see. But I love it. Ruiz. I mean, Ruiz is a football sicko. He just recommended that you sit down Friday night seven a crowd. On a Friday. How dare you guys?

I'm a Panthers fan. You would not be spending your typical Friday night watching Panthers ball. Absolutely. Preseason is played over the last couple of years. Preseason is for watching stuff like this and judging other teams' draft picks. You know what it also is? It's a great opportunity to do the performance. film grind thing like hey man i'm i'm pulling up all 22 of preseason film for the panthers that's how

that's how deep in the muck that i am you won't see that from me but there are some people out there yeah i was going to say i'm not doing that dante don't look my way i know you took you took the summer vacation shot but you can take a shot of me for this too i know she'll won't be doing this you're right about that you're damn right about that if i watch one second of preseason all 22 i'm going to be very disappointed myself all right brats Shador Sanders Friday night against the Panthers. All right, Deonti, you're up. What do you got?

What's next? I'm going to go with the quasi-rooky here and taking a Minnesota. I'm really fascinated to see just how much JJ McCarthy plays. I'm interested to see how Kevin O'Connell calls an offense with a guy like J.J. McCarthy at the helm. This, to me, is the biggest ball of clay type of project that he's taken on. I would say when Kurt Cousins came in, he profiled honestly not that far apart from what J.J. McCarthy was coming out of Michigan, almost like robotic. He's going to get rid of the ball rather than get hit. You're not going to see him push the ball down the field very often unless

it's specifically designed. And then what you saw ultimately, especially in the year where Kirk Cousins ultimately tore his Achilles, was that it seemed like Kevin O'Connell finally got him to cut it loose a little bit, like being willing to hang, take the hits, push the ball down the field. And it looked like maybe Kirk Cousins was going to find yet another layer in his game as he approached his mid to late 30s and obviously the injury ultimately kind of derails that. I think with JJ McCarthy, you now have an opportunity to show some Sam Donald film, to show some end of that phase with Kirk Cousins film to a guy like that and say, you've got the arm talent, you have the mobility, you've just got to be willing to take some of those chances. The chances that he didn't take at Michigan,

you always saw him, get the ball to Colston Loveland because that was by easy kind of get out of jail free card. If I'm in trouble, I get the ball to Roman Wilson, easy, get out of jail free card. Now we kind of get to see JJ McCarthy in an offense that at its best has been designed to aggressively attack the middle of the field in that kind of 12 to 18 yard range. I would not say in scouting J.J. McCarthy that that was the kind of player that you were looking at. So it's going to be fascinating just to see who's doing the tailoring here. Is McCarthy trying to meet Kevin O'Connell where he's most comfortable or has Kevin O'Connell augmented the offense, I think, to better suit what J.J. McCarthy was coming out of Michigan. and there's going to be a big question that I'm looking to see whether or not it gets answered in the preseason. I feel like the best of Sam Darnold's film last year was when he was attacking that area of the field you're talking about,

and layering balls over second-level defenders. And that was the thing that we've talked about this during the offseason. Like, Cheney McCarthy has a strong arm. Does he have an overly talented arm that's able to put some finesse on it? Can he throw different pitches? And I think this offense, if it's going to, this passing game in particular, if it's going to get back to where it was, the highs that it enjoyed last year, he's going to have to, be able to do that. If not, it's going to look

different, and it's going to be an offense that kind of holds its quarterback's hand by necessity. And he's another one of these quarterbacks, similar to Shador, where it's really hard to tell how he's performing in camp. You hear from some people, he's struggling, the ball sitting in the ground a lot. You hear from other people, and he looks amazing. His arm looks great.

I just want to see it for myself. I want to see it in a live context, too, and I think this is going to be one of those games that I am tuning in for. Yeah, shout out to the Vikings beat writers, because I feel like it's very easy when you're covering a young quarterback that your audience is excited about to really be like, oh, you know, he's crushing it. And just from the reporting I read, I was reading Alec Lewis at the

Athletic today. It's kind of what you said, Ruiz, like, I don't think anyone knows that O'Connell is sort of, you know, they're kind of like, he's had some good days. There's stuff he needs to work on. It's not just glowing reports every day that, you know, watch out. J.J. McCarthy's going to take the league by storm. And to Deante's point, I think this is a pretty, all right, this is going to be dramatic. So it's the preseason. So take it with a grain of salt. It feels like kind of a big week for McCarthy because they have preseason game and then

they have joint practices next week against the Patriots. So to what you're saying, where we're kind of like, we don't really know how he's performed so far. Now you see him in these environments. You get different sets of eyes on him. We'll all be able to watch the preseason game. You'll get reporters from New England and national people be watching it. Oh, you'll be there. There you go. So you'll have eyes on him for us next week. So I think that's going to be interesting to see how he does in those environments. You know, I think, again, the athletics said he had his best practice probably this summer on Saturday. They're trying to focus on like making good decisions, not turning the ball over. And I do trust their coaching staff. I know we, Flores obviously deserves credit on the defensive side of the ball. And then O'Connell, I feel like they'll have a plan. Like when they go into the season, hey, what has he

shown he can do. What has he shown he needs work on? Let's not just throw everything at him at once. What concepts does he like? Can we run the ball? Can we not put him in tough situations? All those things. I feel like they are well equipped to do those things because we just saw it with Sam Darnel last year. He had never had a full season the way he had last year under this coaching staff under Kevin O'Connell. So I'm with you. McCarthy just continues to be one of the more fascinating players in the NFL as we kind of countdown to week one and what this thing's going to look like. Only other note I had on the Vikings was Jordan Addison. That suspension came down today.

First three games of the season. He's out. So it goes to kind of what we're talking about that. Hey, it should be a good environment for him. Well, all right. First three weeks might not be as good. You're a little thin. Jefferson's had the injury.

They expect him back week one. But it might not be as conducive to a young quarterback playing well as maybe we thought it might be several. several months ago. So he'll be back after that. They're at the Bears, home against the Falcons, and home against the Bengals to start their season. All right. Take one more break. We come back. We'll see. What do we have left? Any other preseason storylines we still want to get to. We'll get to that when we come back. All right. We are back on the Ringer NFL show. I feel like this doesn't usually. Usually I have like, you know, extras and I don't get to them.

This time I got to use the extras because I had Shador written down. I had Piers. Carol written down. I had J.J. McCarthy written down. We have to get to a guy who we've talked about before, but if you told me I could only watch, well, it might be McCarthy, but he would be on the short list. Anthony Richardson is starting for the Indianapolis Colts. Now, we've seen little snippets. Ooh, that looks like a good play. Oh, nice highlight level throw. All right. Report's interesting. He's doing stuff that he didn't do last year. All those things with Anthony Richardson. He's going to play a quarter and a half Thursday to start the game. This is per the athletics, James Boyd. And then Daniel Jones will play a half quarter. And then for the second game, they'll flip that. Daniel Jones will play a quarter and a half. And Anthony Richardson will play a half quarter. So, what does it look like? You know, is there consistency? Is he thrown into the second row? Is he shaking off a defender and throwing it 70 yards? We know with Anthony Richardson, everything is in play, this might be the only time to look at a quarterback's A-dot in a preseason game just to kind of check it out.

How does it compare it last year when it was 15 or whatever it was? But I feel like if you're a Colts fan and you're a Richardson fan and you're holding out hope, at least you still have that hope going into preseason game number one, Ruiz. Yeah, I think the guy is two years younger than Bo Nix. He hasn't played a lot of football. There's still a lot for him to prove. But I think I said this a couple of pods ago. like with him, it's going to be very easy to tell if he has checked those necessary boxes or not.

Like, can the guy complete a pass under five yards? Can he complete a checkdown? Can he get it to the running back? I know he can throw one, but can he complete a pass? And I don't think it's going to take a lot of reps to figure that out. And he apparently worked on his throwing motion, so we're going to be able to see that, and we're going to see how that allows him to be more accurate underneath. And then the decision making, I think even going back to last year's playoffs, we saw a couple of bad decisions. I think there was that one nationally televised game against Cincinnati where Kirk Hershey first brought up the idea of benching him for Joe Flacco. He turned out to be right. I was, I know I was crapping on him that night, and I was

wrong, so I'm going to take the hell there. But I think if we see a professional display from him, I've never been more excited to see a checkdown in preseason. I want to see what it looks like. Yeah. Deonti, what are your expectations when you, you know, I don't know that you're going to watch it live, but I'm sure at some point you will watch the Anthony Richardson dropbacks, how much are you buying that this guy is going to look different that we'll be able to tell differences right away versus, hey, it was a nice storyline in the summer, but he looks kind of exactly like the guy I watched last year. Well, that's what's interesting about him, right?

Like, I would say that he exists on a totally different paradigm from Shador Sanders and J.J. McCarthy that we talked about earlier in the show. We're for a lot of reasons, even if things went poorly for either of those guys, you can kind of explain it away. I think that their play style is much different from Anthony Richardson. So it will be much easier to say like, hey, man, that's just kind of within the flow of a preseason game. Stakes are low. You're probably not seeing the full offense, et cetera, et cetera, and move on.

Unfortunately for Richardson, he's not a guy where it's just, oh, we've got to cut down on your turnover problems. Okay. And if you get through a preseason with no strip sacks and no interceptions, we can feel good about it. It's not just, oh, we've got to cut down on your sacks problem. and if your average time to throw is lower than it usually is, that's a sign of progress as well. Unfortunately, for Anthony Richardson, he is maybe the one quarterback in the NFL

where every single throw is going to be evaluated as the most important throw that he has made in his NFL career up to this point. And I would say it's probably the last guy we had that was anything like this, was Trey Lance. And with him, I thought that it was a lot of unfair expectations most of it because I think the 49ers fans were really, really eager to get rid of Jimmy Garapolo and we're so excited about the idea of a talented quarterback being able to supplant him. So there was a lot of pressure, I think, from the fan base around him.

To me, I think that this is probably going to be a lot of internal pressure for Anthony Richardson. And I don't mean like Colts organization. I think that for Anthony Richardson specifically, given what all the noise has been throughout his career in the NFL, I think it's going to be difficult for a guy like that, making throws and not trying to overcorrect anything that goes wrong. If you leave a ball short, I want to see if he leaves a ball short, are you going to sail the next pass because you're so concerned about where the ball is placed, right?

Like, if you miss a guy who's open, crossed in the middle of the field on the third down, on the next series out, are you going to force a ball in a tight coverage because you don't want your head coach bugging you about not looking at the middle of the field? Right. Like, I just want to see kind of what his self-awareness level is at, how he handles the flow of the game. I will say based on what I've seen in terms of like these very small clips, and then really what some of the reporting has been, it's been very complimentary in terms of, okay, he's got better footwork. It seems like he's got a little bit better control of the

ball. It seems like it's a little bit more consistent coming out of his hands. You're not getting as many wild misses. But I think that Colts coverage has also been pretty honest. Like Anthony Richardson still kind of is what he is at this point. You're going to have some throws that get sale. You're going to have some throws that are three, four yards outside of outside of a receiver's catch radius, and that's still part of the experience. It's really just going to be like, can we turn the knob a little bit closer to what the expected baseline is for a starter in the NFL? If we get nothing else but that, I'm happy, but unfortunately, the first throw that he misses

over the top of a wide receiver's head, it's going to be everywhere else social media. The first time, he does spin out of a sack, turns around and flings the ball deep down the middle of the field and there's a guy in the post waiting for an interception that's going to be somehow a reflection on his entire offseason's worth of work. I wish it wasn't that way. And I'm hoping that we get the best version of him going forward. But it's going to be hard not to evaluate him more harshly than we would evaluate really any other starting quarterback or potential starting quarterback going into a season. Nobody's excited to watch Dimes play. Danny Dimes? It's been a while since we see him. For a second. Oh my gosh. Not for a second. No, no.

Yeah, I didn't have anything there. You want to talk about a checkdown. You don't have to worry about that when he's in the game. Which is wild. Because back in the day, the original Daniel Jones wasn't that way. But yeah, I mean, he has, he suffered a lot of injuries and it's not the same guy. You're earning for the old Daniel Jones? Like, my version of Joe.

Yeah, your version. There were something there. It was almost like James a little bit where you're like, man, he will fire these throws in. He's talented and anything can happen. And then they're using him in the run game. I mean, there were little, you know, little morsels, little moments in there. But I think that version's gone. You know, he did suffer serious injuries where now he just looks like a total shell of himself.

But Morse's moments. That sounds like the best grunge band and the Colts quarterback room right now. By the way, this guy's making $14.5 million this year. Well, that's what I was thinking, too, when Deonté was talking about, you know, he misses a throw. Does that get in his head? Like, I wouldn't really trust the organization. I play for, if I would be like a headcase if I made a mistake. That's what I'm saying.

It doesn't feel like an environment. Now they can tell him, hey, it's okay. But based on his experience there so far, it doesn't feel like it's okay to make a mistake and move on. I don't think they've created a culture for him or an environment for him. And again, I'm not absolving him of blame and, you know, whatever. Like he's got to play better. But it doesn't feel like an environment where you're just like, oh, everyone's behind me.

You know, I can put that throw behind me, move on. Next play, let's go. Maybe I'll be wrong, but based on what we've seen where the organization has been all over the place to the point where they're paying Daniel Jones $14 million to light a fire under you, I'd be like, shoot, I missed that throw. My career here might be over. You got to be more confident when you sail a throw and then you get to watch Daniel Jones do the same exact thing right after you. Because he's the most expensive emotional support animal that we have. Oh, my, that's true. He could tell himself, hey, next week,

Daniel Jones is going to play the first quarter and a half, and that might boost his confidence a little bit. All right, I've gotten to all my preseason storylines, Ruiz. You got any extras here that we haven't hit on? Yeah, I got a couple. Cam Ward is the most anonymous first overall pick ever. I don't even know how he's doing in camp.

I don't even know if the Titans are holding training camp. I haven't seen any reports. I saw him called the offense mid a couple weeks ago, but that's, like, been the highlight of camp. I just want to see the dude playing because he's fun to watch. Travis Hunter is an easy one, just how he gets deployed. I don't know if Aaron Rogers is playing in that game, Pittsburgh at Jacksonville, but I do think even if Aaron Rogers isn't out there,

we're going to see the bones of the offense and how that's going to look. And then one more, just the Packers' Wide Receiver Unit and how that kind of gets deployed and how they align. They have a lot of heads in that room and they've got to sort things out. So that will give us our first clue as to what that passing game is going to look like. Yeah, but I feel. like, yeah, I'm so with you on Cam Ward. I mean, I don't remember this where I just, it's, it's almost like they're an anonymous NFL team, the Titans who are just, I don't know

what's happening. And I'm, and Cam Ward is a very fun player. So we know whether he'll be good right away or not. He is an entertaining player. But yeah, I'm with you. I think I saw that report. And then I saw, I think Brian Callahan was fired up about something. I can't remember. Was he making, you know, take laps or he was doing. See, he was upset with something at practice. He always is. Yeah, which I'm like, oh, man, I'm going to have to get on this guy like two weeks into the NFL season again, aren't I? So I'm with you on Cam Ward there. That's a good one.

Deontay, what about you? Any other preseason storylines you have an eye on? Cam Ward was on my list. I would say the next thing for me would just be watching what Chris Casiric can do with the 49ers defensive line. I think that the preseason is going to be pretty important for trying to sort out what, if anything, is going to be solid. about the 49er season. Like I felt like all off season. I was kind of trying to team myself up.

I was kind of like jazzing myself up about like, oh, man, let's not forget about this team that has Kyle Shanahan and Robert Salah calling the defense. And you still got Brock Purdy. And, you know, maybe when they're healthy, everything's going to be okay. And now Joanne Jennings is hurt. We still don't really have a clear idea of what Brandon Ayuk's going to be whenever it is that he comes back.

And now they've been, and because they've been dealing with these injuries and because they have this really young defense, it's entirely possible that the woes of last season are there for them to start the year. So I want to see if that young defensive line has anything to say about that. If they have a big showing against the Sean Peyton Broncos team, which I would expect to be really well designed to thrive in the preseason because it's a lot of continuity. They haven't had a lot of roster turnover. That offense is now being built, I think, even more so to fit the pieces that they have around Bownecks. I'm really interested to see whether they're not those young guys,

kind of wrecked shop against the Quinn miners and the Mike McGlinchies of the world. And if we see that, then maybe I can be in on the 49ers being a frisky team in the NFC. Yeah, Broncos have been a very buzzy summer team, I feel like so far with people, can they make the leap,

Bone X, do they have one of the best defensive for the, yeah, I actually, I'm wondering if it's, yeah, I don't know if it's hipstery or mainstream, you know, because Sean Payton has been in the media, and I feel like he has reasons for sort of spinning stuff a certain way. I don't know if he loves his team.

If he wants them to believe in them, you know, he wants them to believe it or what. But I do feel like the Broncos have been in the coverage quite a bit here. And with the Niners, I'm with you. I feel like if Michael Williams can have like a 75% Jaredverse type season, it kind of just, you know, makes me think about them differently, which is weird to say about a rookie defensive line. but I know the reports out of him so far seem pretty encouraging out there in camp.

Now, he's a young player and you never know until the game start with some of those pass rushers. But I'm with you. They need to work the magic that they've been known for with their defensive line. Because just from a talent perspective, I don't think they have the guys that they've had in recent years. So can some of those young guys step up? Can the defense be good enough? And can the offense be better than it was last year? So there you go.

How do you guys, I wanted to point out one more game. We got the Bears. I just want to see what the Bears' offense looks like because everything I hear out of camp is like they're the most disorganized unit of all time. And Ben Johnson is swearing every other snap. So I want to see that. But how do you guys feel about the Sunday 1 PM preseason game? Are you guys, does that work for you guys or no?

Outrageous. I'm going to Thursday Friday night. I will probably never touch my television if I'll be entirely honest with you. That is the YouTube clip, YouTube clip, invitational for me. I really feel like it should be weekday evenings. I think fans are ready for that. All right. I might not watch the whole thing.

But hey, this is cool. There's not a lot of sports on right now. I'll watch my favorite team in the pre-st. But now when you're asking them on a summer Saturday or Sunday, like I think next week the Eagles play Saturday at 1 o'clock to take two, three hours out of their day to watch. Now maybe some fans listen to this or like. You want me to orient my weekend around preseason ball?

Are you crazy? Well, listen, we're a little jaded probably. There are probably listeners who are like, what are you guys talking about? I live for this. I've been waiting for football all year. And I will absolutely plan stuff around that. So I understand that, too. Maybe we look at it more from a different perspective here.

But yes, I prefer the weekday evening game, I think, is perfect for preseason. So, Roger, if you're listening, I know you got a lot on your plate, but go ahead and make that fix for next year. All right. That's what we're watching in the preseason. Now we will watch the preseason. And then we'll talk about what we watched, hopefully, avoiding serious injuries. That's always the big thing in the preseason as well. We don't want to be talking about that in the weeks ahead. So we'll see who's out there, who's not out there, who flashes, who surprises what we learn, all those things in the weeks ahead. Thank you to Stephen Ruiz, Deonté Lee. Thanks to Christopher Sutton for producing and Keerick-Givens. on social. I'm Sheila Kapadia. We'll talk to you next time on the Ringer NFL show. Must be 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in D.C. Gambling problem. Called 1-800 gambler or visit RG dashhelp.com. Call 1-888-8-9-77777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut or visit MDGamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gambling helplinema.m.m.org or call 800-32750-50 for 24-7 support in

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