The Ringer NFL Show - Preseason Rookie Power Rankings

Episode Date: August 16, 2022

Jason Goff and Austin Gayle get together to share their performance evaluations for some of the exciting new talent around the league after the first slate of NFL preseason action and discuss how they are able to develop under the new CBA agreement. Hosts: Jason Goff and Austin Gayle Production Supervision: Arjuna Ramgopal Production Assistance: Chris Sutton Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Ladies and gentlemen, this is the NFL Ringer Show. I'm Jason Gaw. Along with my AR commissioned me to call him. my newest friend, right? But he's a dude who puts things together rankings-wise. He is Austin Gail from the ringer. Austin is a pleasure to be doing this thing with you. And hopefully throughout these weeks of the NFL season will have enough content to have rankings because, you know, the NFL doesn't give you things week to week. You kind of have to scrounge up. I'm just messing around though. How you doing, brother? How are you feeling?

Doing fantastic, man. I'm excited to record this with when this one with you. I've been grinding the full go podcast. I know more about Chicago sports than I ever have after listening to that podcast. I'm sorry. I will say, dude, I'm excited to record with you. Just before we were recording, I feel like I can't get on the right foot with you. I had to change my freaking hat and all this shit. I'm excited to try and get something on the tracks here and some positive momentum, but I like where we're at to start.

No, for sure, for sure. And the BTS will be amazing for all the people. Yes, he did switch his wardrobe a couple of times. We had to make sure we're getting all the good angles for our guy, Austin. So, Austin, first year, play. You know, the preseason is cool because you get a chance to see like new, new hairstyles, new cleats. You get a chance to see new numbers for certain guys. But for these first year players around the league, here in Chicago, there's a whole bunch of guys that this draft is hinged upon because, you know, the foundation of Ryan Poles and new GMs coming in around the league and tenured guys who are just looking to add a piece or rolling over franchises like what the Pittsburgh Steelers are doing.

We're going to talk about a couple of rookies who made their preempties. preseason debuts, but first year players are always fun to watch, especially in the preseason, because you kind of get a chance to see if they can, if they can sink or swim in their first live action. So who we starting with? Both lines of scrimmage, obviously, that's where winning is made, right? And we got a lot of offensive gliming in their first year starting around the league. We got a lot of defensive guys on the line of scrimmage as well. So where do you want to start this thing? I think we have to go to Pittsburgh, my guy, because I think they had two rookies that are really, really impressive in their debuts.

You have the quarterback Kenny Pickett, who they obviously drafted in the first round. The only quarterback in this year's class drafted in the first round. And this guy, George Pickens, fell to the back end of the second round for some injury stuff. And some people questioning his character or maybe his vibe overall. Well, the vibe through training camp and the vibe through his first preseason game is freaking insane. This guy is making every single catch. Circus catches time after time, throwing dudes on the ground as a run blocker. Pittsburgh man has some exciting first year players.

Yeah, no, the Kenny Pickett thing all offseason, and then, of course, the draft process. And then he goes to the Steelers, and immediately we start talking about hand size and is he going to be able to throw it in Pittsburgh weather. He hadn't experienced it as of yet, right? But he looked good. And then George Pickens, as you mentioned, why receivers used to be seemingly a crapshoot in the draft, but now you can get, you know, really, really good production out of first year players, as we've seen over the last two or three years, especially these last few years where guys like Jamar Chase and Justin Jefferson, have already ascended to the top.

When you watch a young wide receiver like George Pickens, you know, you look at how tall he is. You look at how strong he is. What are some of the other things that might have to be refined that Pittsburgh Steelers fans can get excited about now but have to still wait for? Yeah, Pickens is big, physical and great in contested catch situations. He showed that at Georgia when he was healthy and he showed that through training camp. And now through the preseason, the touchdown grab that he had, putting his two feet in over Kobe Bryant, another rookie out of Cincinnati.

Maddie, like super impressive debut. I think where he needs to improve and where his skill set has always kind of needed to refine is consistency as a route runner and consistency in terms of giving everything on every route. I think you see, when you go back and watch all of his routes, he does a lot with speed variability where he's starting routes a little bit slower and then turning it on. Even when you look at his touchdown catch, it's kind of freelancing the route a little bit necessarily that won't, I don't think, sell against better in corners.

But I think that's all stuff that can improve as he gets, you know, it gets more experience. you can't improve size. You can't improve contested catchability in hands and that competitive tenor that he has. And I think something that I will say, Pittsburgh does such a good job of drafting, identifying, and developing receivers. You saw it with Chase Claypool.

Deontay Johnson just signed a monster contract extension who was a nobody out of Toledo. You saw it with Antonio Brown. Antonio Brown's best years coming out of Central Michigan. He lives Pittsburgh. He leaves Pittsburgh and all the wheels fall off for Antonio Brown. They just do such a good job. Even Ju-Ju Smith-Schuster early on, like they do such a good job of identifying receiver talent and putting them in a position to succeed.

And Pickens already a fantasy football darling by all senses. Everyone's obsessed with what he's doing. I think there's a really good chance that he's in this starting rotation with a Deonté Johnson with a Chase Claypool once the regular season kicks off. Yes, it's great that you make that point about what the Steelers have been able to do as a franchise and identifying that talent going all the way back to Heinz Ward. With Antonio Brown identifying who you have to pay too, right? Because remember Mike Wallace and Antonio Brown, it was a. debate on who do you pay, which guy do you pay? And obviously Antonio Brown goes on to have, you know, a damn near Hall of Fame type of run for five or six, seven years with the Steelers.

So it seems like they got another one in George Pickens. And anytime I see guys, especially why receivers who get doubted or knocked in the draft because of this thing here, this thing there, and then you look at the measurables, you look at the conference guy who plays. And he hasn't played a lot of football in these last two or three years because of the COVID short season. He tore his ACL. And, you know, the year before that, he didn't get a lot of run because it's George. They got a whole bunch of people playing at those positions. So I'm looking forward to seeing what this dude could do because last time we saw someone that was, I think, doubted so much in the draft process.

And you're looking at those measurable and like, but he's got to be able to play because you look at him, right? It's D.K. Metcalf. Like we talked all that stuff about him not being able to do the shuttle as quickly as you'd like certain receivers and breaking down this, that, and the other. Now we're talking about him being one of the 10, 12 best wide receivers in the game. I don't know if that's on George Pickens' plate coming up here soon, but they seemingly have one in Pittsburgh.

Speaking to wide receivers, you know, Traylon Brooks, a quarterback wide receiver conversation in Tennessee as well, right? Malik Willis, Traylon Burks, Mike Vrable said he had an inconsistent preseason debut. Malik Willis, he talked about him not throwing the ball and being, not being on schedule as much as you'd like. We know that Malik Willis isn't going to start, but the Traylon Burks part about this. I mean, they lose A.J. Brown.

They're looking for another wide receiver to compliment whatever Ryan Tannenhill is going to do before they maybe move on from him. So what do you think of Traylon Burks? It's been a disappointing roller coaster start for Traylon Burks, the first round receiver out of Arkansas. And he's someone, I talked to Pittman, the coach there, Arkansas and how they use Traylon Burks. I found it very interesting in that we just got him the football as quickly as we possibly could, whether it was like near the line of scrimmage screens, all this stuff. We had packages specifically designed for him because he was the best football player we had when he had the ball in his hands. Now in Tennessee, you're seeing less of scheme targets for Trailing Berks.

Now, it's very early. It's one preseason game, but not as many scheme targets in his debut. And he's having to create separation as either the first, second, or third progression. It's just underwhelming. You saw the officer coordinator, new offensive coordinator in Tennessee in a press conference recently. He just kind of needs to see more consistency in camp, more consistency in the games to really feel all that confident in Traylenberg's hitting the ground. he's the only first round wide out of many that played in the second half of their preseason debut, which is telltale sign that they want to see more out of him.

They want him to get more reps and more opportunities. There were reports early out of camp that he wasn't, you know, he was out of conditioned and all that stuff. So I worry a little bit about his start. Now, there are a handful of flashes you see in this game where he has it. He has the size. He has the speed. I was talking to Benjamin Solac, another, you know, ringer analyst here, a guy that loves the draft and covers the NFL really closely.

size and speed, size and speed. The NFL bets on that every single time. I was talking to Daniel Jeremiah and why maybe the Jets went after Mackay Beckton initially. Mackay Beckton has a bad practice. Guess what? The next day, he's waking up six foot eight, 300 pounds. Trailerks is still going to be big and fast tomorrow in the next day. And they're banking on that, developing and, you know, into polish. And the polish and the consistency is what he's lacking. Way too early for the jury to be out on the kid. Like, don't doubt him by any means. But it's just not the start that you probably were looking for for a guy that literally has to be. to come in and try and replace one of the better receivers in the NFL and AJ Brown.

So the Seattle Seahawks, they're rebuilding this thing. They're starting all over again. And anytime you go out and get a couple of offensive tackles at the very top of the draft, you know what Pete Carroll is trying to build through that line of scrimmage. Abe Lucas, Charles Cross, I'm watching a couple of young tackles here in the city of Chicago that we may or may not get to. And it's going to be a struggle. And you limit your offense.

You guys sometimes keep a tight end in there. you got to help, you got a chip from the backfield. How do you think Abe Lucas and Charles Cross not only are going to fare, but how they started their preseason? You have to be impressed with the start to this preseason for both those tackles. Both have experience in the Mike Leach air raid offense where they're throwing the football on every single down. Abe Lucas doing that early in his Washington State days and then Charles Cross this past year

with Mississippi State. Cross a first round pick. You expected him to be this good. And he passed his first test. You talk about Birx, a first round pick where you're looking to see him pass some early Test hasn't done that yet necessarily. Cross flying colors. Zero pressure is allowed according to pro football focus in his first game. And he did it against some backups at Pittsburgh. You're always going to see that in the preseason, but still passing the test to start.

And then Abe Lucas played 52 offensive snaps more than any other player in this game for the Seattle Seahawks and was absolutely dominant all throughout. And I think that is what's more impressive. He's a third round pick. You're not expecting him to even start over veteran Jake Coran, who was there last year for the Seattle Seahawks. But if he can be this good out of the gate, a guy that's a third round pick that's just such surplus value as a swing tackle, even if he is a depth player out of the gate. So two rookies on the bookends for a team that's obviously not in the running for a deep postseason run. Just recently traded Russell Wilson. They're looking to invest in youth and invest in the trenches to see that from their debut. If I was power ranking,

how excited you should be, that's up near the top because I think Seattle Seahawks should be excited about both those guys. Speaking of a team that is trying to rebound from the loss of an all-time great quarterback, go from Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks to Drew Breeze. New Orleans Saints. New Orleans trying to figure it out.

And of course, you got to build through the line of scrimmage. Trevor Penning, one of the highest grades in week one of the

preseason for any tackle, not just rookie tackles out there. I think the New Orleans Saints have found something that they can anchor with on the left side

of that line. Yeah, he as a run blocker shows so much potential. He is a big, menacing offensive tackle. There are so many snaps in this game

where he's on the backside of runs, picking up reach blocks, throwing people into the dirt, even in the echoes of the whistle, pushing people down and getting into the extracurriculars. This is a guy when I talked to him pre-draft.

He said every single game beforehand, I watch Saw. The movie Saw, the horror film. He has talked in practice about how he wants to physically assault people. He got kicked out of a saint's practice for fighting a player. He is a nasty dude and that showed up in the run game. But there was also some nastiness and pass protection. Really struggled in this game with his feet. They were just downright sloppy, downright vile feet for a young,

offensive player and he got exposed. Okaranko, who's been around the league a bit, had anything he wanted. He'd go inside. He had a spin move early on. He could go outside. And even Derek Rivers, who is not a decorated pass rusher in the NFL by any means, also beat him to the outside. That's why he's not starting. Trevor Petting played 57 snaps in this game because they want to see more out of him. He's getting thrown out of practices for fighting. They want to see more out of him, and that's why he played so much. And they want to see him improve his feet and his overall polish and pass protection. You did not see that in this game. Run blocking? Incredible. Pass protection. still needs to improve.

So when we talk about being nasty, I love, we're still doing this whole thing about playing to the echo or the whistle. It's okay, Austin, and just call the motherfucker dirty. Like, just say that Trevor Penning, it mixes it up to the level where he might be considered a dirty player going forward. Hey, you know, there's a lot. We celebrate the dirty offensive line and as long as you're good at it. You can't be bad and dirty out there.

And, of course, we don't want anybody to ever, ever get her. All right, let's swing over to New York. The Giants seemingly are always in rebrand. Bill Mote. And in the first round of the draft, they shore up both lines, the scrimmage in Evan Neal and Kvon-Tibodil. Their preseason and their training camps and all the things that you've read about these two players, I think it's true to form in what some of the strengths and weaknesses were for both these players coming out of the draft in terms of technique and fundamentals being a thing where if Evan Neal can dominate that part of the

game, you know, he's already physically gifted. And of course, Kavon-Tibato on the other side, the same thing being said about him as a pass-rrrrrruster, like, okay, we know you have athletic. We know you're physically gifted, but what counters do you have? Are you thinking out there? When you do get blocked, how do you counter? What else do you have in your bag? So Evan Neal and Kvon-Tibodil, how do they fare in their first preseason action? You hit the nail on the head there, Jason, and that, like, we saw a lot of what we thought they were. They are who we thought they were, and we let them off the hook, what they were in college. You know, I'm in Chicago, right? So that's music to my ears. I know. I know.

Chicago guy. But Evan Neal, the offensive tackle that they drafted in the first round of Alabama coming out, had some balanced concerns, right? Sometimes you feel like he's out of control and a little bit gangly with his stance and gangly with his hands. And Anthony Jennings, another Obama kid, just like ragged all his ass. Like, legitimately was throwing him on the ground. He was on the ground for multiple snaps. And he just never felt in control, whether that's nerves and obviously like still really early in his NFL career. It just did not look like he was comfortable in his own skin. And that, you don't want that at offensive tackle. And it reminds me a lot of how Andrew Thomas, that's another first round pick for the New York Giants along the offensive line,

looked out of the gate as well, and that he just didn't feel improved, feel uncomfortable, feel prepared for the NFL, right? I think it's going to take time for Evan Neal to develop that polish and to develop that balance as he kind of goes forward. But out of the gate, though, the test was definitely low. And then for Kavon, Tibod, Justin Huron, the office to tackle for the New England Patriots just had his number. Like, he could not throw any move at Huron and really win.

Like just totally lacked creativity, totally lacked what I thought was like a pass-rush plan. And now, and you saw flashes, right? You saw him, you know, throw her onto the ground, defending the run. And there was one where he kind of beat him to the edge. But still, overall, up and down, kind of roller coaster and just like lacked creativity, which is exactly kind of what we saw at Oregon and what were some of the concerns with Kayvon, Tibu. Who was a very polarizing player in the draft. Some people loved him and, you know, really invested in his tape and his potential and his athleticism. Other people were like, this kid's not even a first rounder. He's, his head's not in the game. He has his own

cryptocurrency. I thought all that was bullshit. And I think Kalin Jones, who used to work here at the ringer wrote an excellent piece about the mind that is Kavana Thibod and what his plans were and all that stuff. I think he's still going to be a very, very good NFL player. Just out of the gate for both Neil and Kavon, Thibodeau, you just saw a lot of the same concerns in college, which is going to take time. It's more than just a training camp at one preseason game for these guys to reach the maximum potential. When you talk about the preseason, obviously we don't have four anymore, is down to three games. And if you're a part of any future plans, you get taken out in those first 18 to 20 snaps of that first

game, second game, you do whatever, and the third game, you get a chance to sit it on down. How do you think rookie development has either been stunted or matured with some of these new CBA conversations that have been had over the last five, six, seven years where the hitting is decreased? And of course, now the preseason game goes down and you add an extra regular season game. What do you think it does to these rookies in terms of development and growth that you've seen? Jason, I think at the top of this, you said, you were my newest friend. I think we're going to hit it off nicely because I fucking love this question.

It's something that I think about all the time. that the NFL critically, under the new CBA and under how they're trying to reduce hits and practice and all this stuff, it has a development problem. It has a development problem in that it's harder and harder for guys to get drafted into the NFL and if they don't exceed expectations right out of the gate to have enough opportunities to actually develop as football players. And it's why a USFL, XFL, AAA, all that shit pops up because there isn't a developmental league for the NFL like there is obviously for the NBA like there is for the MLB. And that forces over-drafted rookies against high expectations, shattered confidence to try and develop as players,

and then under-drafted rookies, not getting the opportunities they can because there's only so much contract control for those highly invested players, all this bullshit that just like does not allow players to develop. It doesn't. And like, I think you see that worse, at its worst, at the quarterback position. You know, back in the day, you talk about like, oh, should he sit for a year and should you like take time to develop and all that stuff? The reason, you know, teams aren't doing that is because they just legitimately don't have time. The best thing in the NFL that you can possibly have is a cost-controlled rookie contract for your quarterback. And if you are not maximizing that by playing it across all those four years or with that fifth-year option, you're losing out

on what this is objectively just a massive edge for football teams like the New England Patriots are trying to do with Mack Jones. And you have Justin Fields in Chicago. You're trying to maximize a cost-controlled cheap quarterback, put them in the best position to succeed with highly invested players in other positions. And that just forces other quarterbacks not to develop at the speed that they need to and can force a Zach Wilson in New York, right, to just look completely out of sync to start. And they have just no choice but just continue to throw him into the fire and hope that he fucking hits the ground running. That's why I love that there are so many quarterbacks forcibly taking in first rounds of drafts that when you kind of see the market correction that we saw this year. Where it's like, no, there's only one that we should probably take.

And we saw a lot of Malik Willis talk very early on in the process. Maybe you can go top 10 somewhere of Seattle, Carolina. And then you see where he gets drafted. You talk about Kenny Pickett at the middle to the end of the first round. I want us to get back to overdrafting quarterback so we could throw them in these kinds of rankings because I feel like, you know, when you talk about the development part, the CBA kind of forces the real developers and the real organizations out a lot more so, like the separation. And the margin for error is that much more slim when you talk about less time, less hitting, less games. And I know players want to preserve their bodies and obviously they're getting it.

invested a whole bunch of money in the guys, not in the pre-San Bradford days type of guarantees, but you're not finding out as much as you need to find out by the time it's time to pay these guys two or three years in. And I think it's a cumulative effect when you look at how little you get a chance to practice and hit. I'm extremely confident in the take that teams bust, not players. You know, every time you bring up players where, oh, man, he busted it. He's a bust. And this guy didn't, you know, see expectations. There are examples where players bust. to Marcus Russell, we've heard the stories, was eating like double double Wendy's cheeseburgers instead of watching tape and like completely like shit the bed in terms of meeting expectations when he was drafted by the Raiders way back when. But there are other examples like the David Carr situation and, you know, commonly with quarterbacks where like he just was not in a situation to succeed out of the gate, we had reduced opportunities after that.

And then as you continue to progress forward, just never really given that shot. And I've talked to quarterbacks that have, you know, been into the league and have been out of the league like Jordan Palmer, JTO Sullivan, Zach Robinson, who's now the quarterback's coach for the Rams. And they're like, dude, you look at the Chase Daniel situation. If I was putting his shoes, I probably have a lot more success. You know, you look at Bruce Kreikowski, who I've worked with in the past at Pro Football Focus and talk to regularly. He's like, dude, I don't make it in the NFL if this guy doesn't get hurt or this guy doesn't give me this chance and all this shit.

Like situation matters so much and how teams develop players matter so much more than he was drafted number two overall and it was never good. It's his fault and all that shit. I definitely do think that the best developing teams continually win. That's why you see the Baltimore Ravens always happily drafting well. That's why you see the Steelers always getting good receivers. It's sometimes talent evaluation, but oftentimes situation, development, consistency, all that stuff.

No doubt about it. All right, let's go to the top of the draft because you have to influence the quarterback or help the quarterback in this league. Those are the people who get paid along with the quarterbacks, right? So we're talking quarterbacks, left tackles. We're talking edge rushers, corners, and, you know, throwing a lineback or a safety of this, some kind of generational talent. But at the top of this draft, you've got edge rushers.

You've got people who are paid to put pressure on the quarterback, Trayvon Walker, and of course, Aidan Hutchinson. That Georgia defense, five first rounders, Nicobe Dean, Jordan Davis, all the hell, you got Jalen Carter, who people think might be the best player on that defense, who's getting ready to come out. So that first Jacksonville game where I'm watching and I'm like, all right, I'm waiting to see the rookie here. And he looked anything, he looked like a real player, but he didn't look like a rookie out there. He looked anything but a rookie like. So tell me about Trayvon Walker and what you thought. We brought up Evan Neal and how he didn't look comfortable, right,

and look kind of out of his own skin and out of control. Walker is the complete opposite. You can see that he has complete control over the outcomes. You know, you look at that game in the Hall of Fame game against the Raiders. Brandon Parker was put in an absolute body bag. I thought Trayvon Walker maybe should have been arrested for abuse after that game because it's just, it's absurd. It's absurd how quickly he's able to dominate against NFL competition. I think in the preseason, it's very easy.

to overreact to first and second year, you know, players performing well. But what isn't you can't mask? And it goes back to the stuff I said about Mackayette and Traylin Burks is size and speed. Like big and fast and that matters. That translates. That shows up every single day. And like to see him have the success he did against Brandon Parker in that Hall of Fame game.

And even against Cleveland, Jedrick Will's Jr. is one of the better offensive tackles in the NFL. And you still saw him beat up on him a little bit. Not the same success he against Parker, but still you like that size and speed. Like Trayvon Walker, in my opinion, looked really, really good in his debut. And there are, you know, there are things that he's going to have to clean up. He did not play, you know, true standup edge at Georgia a ton. They kicked him inside because he's so fucking big.

But, like, he can play on the outside and have a lot of success in this Jacksonville defense. If he's, if his start continues to build momentum, because I really was impressed with how he started. Aidan Hutchinson, a guy that bears fans like myself get ready to see twice a year for the next seven to ten years. Looks like the young man is going to wreak the same kind of havoc that he wreaked. in Ann Arbor, got a tackle for loss, was active. What did you think of the second pick overall in the draft? Two words to describe, you know, his start, disruptive and constant. And it's exactly what you saw at Michigan.

He's a guy that had an opportunity to do a four-part podcast with at PFF. He and I sat down for like six hours. I talked to his mom, his dad, his coaches, all this shit. He is, by every sense of the word, a very, very consistent player and a guy that is going to be every single play, disruptive and just constantly working his way to the ball. And you saw that. He only played 11 snaps, but he felt like he played the whole game because he's just coming off time and time again. Even on the touchdown that Marcus Marriota ran in, beat two blockers to the quarterback. He had that play against Jake Matthews where he just completely throws a veteran, highly played offensive tackle in the NFL.

In his first 10 snaps of the NFL, completely to the ground and makes a tackle for loss. This guy is going to be a presence. Does he have, you know, we talked about in the pre-draft process so much about his ceiling and is he as good as Trayvon Walker? Could he be as good as what Trayvon Walker could be? I'll tell you what he is right now. Disruptive and consistent. And that's exactly the presence that the Lions drafted him for. I think they're going to be very happy with his rookie season if it continues like it did in his preseason debut.

Speaking of disruption and consistency, we know what the Kansas City Chiefs are year in and year out. They're going to get to 12, 13 wins, and they're going to be in somebody's AFC championship game. But this team is going to look a little bit different. There's no Tyree kill. Now, Juju Smith-Schuster takes over as the number one or, you know, the facto number one wide receiver for Patrick Gholmes.

By the way, I love the fact that people where, well, this is going to make him a better quarterback. Well, when Tyree Kiel was on the team, y'all should have said that it makes him a worse quarterback if that's the case, right? Like, just say that Patrick Gahomes is going to have to be a different kind of quarterback and spread the ball around a little bit. But I watch the Chiefs and the Bears. There's a few rookies on the field that, that of note, not just of note, but are going to be material. George Carloftus for the Kansas City Chiefs. Now, I know they went out and got Carlos Dunlap to go on the other side. of Frank Clark to disrupt backfields and was going to be an absolutely crazy AFC West if you're

Justin Herbert and Russell Wilson and of course, there are a car out there. George Carl Loftus, he went up against a second string tackle for the Chicago Bears who hadn't played in a year and a half. He looked good. And mind you, by that time, Braxton Jones, the fifth round pick out of southern Utah, who the bears have pretty much dubbed to be the starting left tackle was out of the game. But what did you think of George Carloft is coming off the edge for the Chiefs? This is my guy, Jason.

George Karloftus out of Purdue, a first round pick that I think fell way too far in the first round. You can't tell me that Aidan Hutchinson's the number two overall pick and George Karloftus is getting drafted towards the back end. It doesn't make sense because he is absolutely phenomenal. He's a guy at Purdue that played all four years. He purposefully bought an apartment that was walking distance to the practice facility at Purdue because he's just that type of lunch pale fucking hard hat guy. Also, he was on the Greek national water polo team, the U-14 team, at like 12 years old. This kid is an absolute freak of nature. And, like, I'm moving to L.A., just recently started at the ringer.

I'm getting an apartment right by the office as well. There you go. The Calatist types are coming in. But to this game... Please don't wear a speedo to the office, though. We'll see. We'll see. I already had to change my hat.

Now I've got to change my swimsuit, Jason. But he went against Braxton Jones a little bit, the rookie that you think, you know, he's obviously going to start there in Chicago. And then really where you saw him just tear off against Kevin Jenkins, the former second round pick out of Oklahoma State. and he was flashing power. He's flashing long arm. He had this, you know, he had this one move against Tevin Jakin, specifically where he flashed the hands, got him to extend, dips underneath and bends.

Like, this is productivity as a pass rusher and as a run defender and motor that the Kansas City Chiefs desperately need. They broke the bank for Frank Clark. And he has been an utter disappointment for them. They have Chris Jones, who's one of the better interior pass rushers in the NFL, but they need a consistent, dominant, disruptive edge presence. And Carl Loftus, oh my goodness, I think he's that. The only negative I have if I was power ranking number aesthetics. And I'm not a number aesthetic guy. Wear whatever fucking jersey number you want.

Number 56 on George Carloftus looks absolutely heinous. I don't think he should be a 56. He should be like in the upper 90s or like a single digit number like some of these other guys wear. 56 is awful. You want like a Ryan Carrigan kind of vibe, huh? Yes. Yes.

I want something better than 56. He just looks skinnier. He looks like skinnier with the 56. I don't know. I can't get on board. It's a pretty good edge rusher that wore 56, Austin. I mean, you know, the guy who kind of changed the game a little bit, but I got you. I got you.

Another defensive player in his first year on the other side of the sideline was Chicago Bears safety, Jaquan Brisker. All the talk through training camp has been that this guy is the real deal. He is a absolute specimen. He's a big safety. He's a guy who can play up close to the line scrimmage. Matt Ebefoo's talk about his versatility once he gets the game down where they're going to try to put him. I would have loved to have seen Kyle Gordon out there as well. the two players for the Chicago Bears who are going to factor in incredibly.

One's going to have to play the nickel and one's going to have to play the safety, which is pretty much starting positions right now in the NFL when you're in subpacks just for 70% of the time. So what did you see out of Jaquam Brisker, the young man out of Penn State who's going to be next to Eddie Jackson, trying to hold it down in that secondary for the Bears? Dude's just a baller. And I talked to him after he had a game-winning interception. I think it was early in the season last year for Penn State. and him describing the play.

So I asked him, hey, describe the play when you got the pick. And I was expecting, you know, a super, I read this coverage and all this stuff. He's like, dude, I just had to go get the fucking ball. And it's like, let's coach. This is, that energy Chicago needs, right? And I think they had another rookie to Jack Sanborn, who's a Wisconsin offball linebacker that like is super productive, man, super productive. Brisker and Sanborn both showed that they just no ball.

You know, they're chasing the football, forcing turnovers, you know, putting on big hits. Like, I think Brisker is going to be a much. needed presence on the back end. I think heady players like that that just have a natural, instinctive kind of football ability is something that that defense is going to need. And I think it's something that Chicago fans is obviously they set expectations up for

Justin Fields and hope that they can hit the ground running offensively and continue to see development in this new era. Bristker is not someone that's going to develop. He's going to be someone that immediately offers impact to this defense. All right. So as we close it out here, are there any other rookies that you wanted to mention from around the league that we didn't get a chance to touch on?

Damian Pierce has got a lot of fantasy football heads out there looking around like, all right, the Texans are going to be bad. So you're going to have to run the ball a little bit. Marlon Mack is a guy who's been injured a little bit over the last couple of years. Is there anybody else out there, kind of like a Damian Pierce is some of the guys that you've already mentioned. Yeah, Damien Pierce, I thought was fantastic in his debut. And you love watching preseason tape up rookies where they look exactly like they looked in college. Just like mean, tough running Damian Pierce is in a Houston Texans uniform now.

One other rookie I'll mention, though, a guy that fell in the draft. way too far all the way to the third round because the rumor mill in terms of injuries for this kid Nicoby Dean, the linebacker out of Georgia, you would have thought he was made out of fucking paper machete. They were talking about his shoulder and his knee and his ankle and his wrist. And it's like, oh my gosh. Like, can anyone draft him? Can he even like walk?

And he's already healthy, has not missed anything in training camp, is wearing the green dot on defense, calling plays, working with the second string and was absolutely lights out in his debut for the Eagles. I think that the Eagles ultimately do start a combination of Kaiser White, a guy they signed him ratings from the Chargers and the T.J. Edwards, but slowly and surely, I think as Nicoby Dean works in this preseason, it continues to look like he did, I would not be surprised if he's an absolute force for this Eagles defense at some point this season. There it is. Austin Gale, you want to end up on the positive side of his rankings. You don't want it to be on the downside,

the downtrendant. You're going up. You're going down. You're going to find it out right here on the Riggers NFL show. So for Austin Gale, I'm Jason Gawf. Of course, our production staff of our Juner Ram Gapal and of course, my guy, Chris. sudden we thank you so much for hanging out with us we'll talk to you soon