The Ringer NFL Show - Tom Brady’s New Deal, Plus: Training Camp With the Chargers, Cowboys, and More | The Ringer NFL Show

Episode Date: August 7, 2019

Tom Brady’s contract extension with the Patriots, plus takeaways from training camp with the Chargers, Cowboys, Packers, Texans, and under-the-radar players they are intrigued by this year. Host: Robert Mays and Kevin Clark Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Exclusive student discounts also apply. Welcome to the Ringer NFL show. I'm Robert Mays. Joined as always by Kevin Clark. Kevin, how you doing, buddy? I'm okay. I'm in Minnesota. He's in Green Bay today taking in a little Texas Packers practice.

I got to tell you, it's getting to me. You doing okay? Yeah, no, I mean, I'm as good as you can get. I just, you know, it starts, fatigue makes cowards of us all, as we know. And I'm just, you know, I got two more stops and then I'm going to sleep for a while. I have more than two more stops. I'm really not looking forward to. To be clear, I've got like seven more teams I've got to see.

I mean on this leg, I fly back to Los Angeles after two more stops. Yes, yes. And I have my West Coast swing. I just got that started today. I'm in Oxnard, California at a mall parking lot right now. I left Cowboys camp a little while ago. I have a six-hour drive to Napa today. Still left to go, which should be really fun.

I got to tell you, you know, everyone's talking about the death of sort of brick-and-mortar stores. Nobody goes to malls anymore. I would say the vast majority of mall attendance this month has just been you and I in parking lots at mall's recording podcasts. That's pretty much it because they're large parking lots. Yeah. And you know, you can kind of blend in. I mean, I don't know. People probably think you're a weirdo, right?

Yeah, but no one can really see me right now. I'm kind of off the side. So I think we're going to be okay. So we are going to continue kind of reporting our tidbits from training camps. I've been to a couple spots since we recorded. You've been to several spots since we've recorded. We're going to hit some news. And we're also going to today just talk about some of the players around the league that we're irrationally excited about.

Some of this is based on stuff that we've heard at a couple different spots. Some of them are just players that we're looking forward to. Players from other teams that we haven't necessarily visited yet. But we're going to start by talking about a little bit of NFL news that happened since we last recorded. That is Tom Brady's contract extension. And you wanted to talk about this, Kevin. What did you want to really discuss about Brady's new deal? He's the best player football.

He's got a new deal. that's totally fair. But is it surprising in any way? I mean, this probably locks them in through two more years, but I think that for the most part. Yes and no. Yes and no. Those are void years. They're basically placeholders for a renegotiation

next year. That's been widely reported. This deal was about 2019. So he goes from $15 million to $23 million. This was essentially an $8 million thank you to Tom Brady. $23 million in 2019. He'll be in the, he's either fifth or sixth and highest paid quarterback

that's still a bargain. It is impossible to overpay Tom Brady. The comparison I made when I wrote this column on Sunday was it's like a Marvel movie. Like Marvel movies cost like $200 million, right, to make. And then maybe more by now, but they just automatically make a billion dollars. You can never lose on your investment when you're investing in Tom Brady or Marvel movies. And so the fact they're paying him $23 million. First of all, you know, he's obviously been underpaid his entire career.

So even if he was paid one of these weird kind of, four-year deals where you made $66 million a year like Aaron Rogers, he'd probably still be underpaid for his career. So it's a nice thank you. And now it kind of gets into what happens next year, kind of a weird report today that his home and Brookline is on the market. What that means for his football feature is, you know, Jeff Darwin from ESPN kind of said all options are on the table.

He wants to sell his house and then deal with everything after that. And so I think the timing of all of this is quite strange. I don't think them giving him $8 million. extra strange, nor do I think he's going to be making $35 and $30 million in the next two years. Yeah, but it's also one of those things where it frees up some cap space this year, correct? Because they're just moving a little bit of money around. 5.5. So, which means they're going to use that. I mean, they're very good at using that exact amount of money. They have, well, it's 14.5, I think, overall now. And they can, they can make some moves now.

They can make some moves. And they're going to know what they need by the end of camp, you know, listen, I don't think the AJ Green trade was ever a possibility, but maybe you can swing for a, and obviously it's off the table now with the injury, even if you were kind of entertaining that fantasy. So I think that they can swing for the fences with not, not, you know, an AJ Green type, maybe a level below that, you know, six, seven, eight million dollar guy and just bolster that offense a little bit. Well, we've talked about this in the past. What good is cap space? Because some teams, if you have too much cap space, you can't even use it all.

you're overpaying guys. The benefit of Cap Space is flexibility. It puts moves on the table that wouldn't have been before. And I think that's why this is important. Even if it's not about getting a $15 million player, it's about understanding that you're going to be able to do pretty much anything you want to do to bolster your roster before the season starts. So the Patriots go the opposite way of what the Browns have done,

the Rams have done a couple of other teams. When they have money to spend because of their quarterback salary, they don't go for superstars. In fact, the working theory is that they basically told a lot of stars, you're not making more than Tom Brady. So Brady's contract sort of works as a salary depressant in a way. What they do instead is they just corner the market on mid-tier veterans, guys who make between about $4 and let's say $9 million.

Julian Edelman has been like that his entire career. Kyle Van Nuoy is one of those guys right now. Duran Harmon is one of those guys right now. I remember writing this a couple years ago, but they had 11 on the team that beat the Falcons in the Super Bowl. And I think the most teams they were competing against had less than five in those playoffs. Because no one really does that. No one wants the Kyle Van Nuoy at $6 million. Even if Kyle Van Nuoy in the right role can give you $10, $12 million worth of production.

Teams don't look at it like that. They've gone totally stars and scrubs. I understand why you would do that. But with the rookie wage cap, I think there's just a lot more flexibility. The Patriots, this is a long way of saying the Patriots are going to find one guy who's going to make $7 million. It's going to go to the Patriots Hall of Fame. Yeah, and that's the thing. It's that $5.5 million that they freed up.

That's kind of their sweet spot for these types of players that they can get either at the trade deadline, when training camp is over. They're going to have a lot of options on the table. All right. Let's move on. Let's get to some of the tidbits that we've kind of stumbled upon during our last couple camp trips. I don't mind getting started. I was at the Chargers this morning. and then I came to the Cowboys in the afternoon.

And it feels like I talked to a couple people about the Russell Okung injury and what they eventually think is going to happen with that. It feels like... Yeah, what's up with that? It seems like they're going to wait to see what Mike shake loose after training camp is over.

Who's going to get cut? Who's going to be on the table? They're not necessarily motivated to get this done right now because I think in their mind there's probably a good chance that no matter what happens between now and the end of training camp, it's not going to substantially change to the point where it's worth getting done now

when you don't know who's actually available. So this is something where we'll get to August 16th, 17th into August 20th or so, and then maybe they'll figure that situation out. But they know it's an issue. They know it's their biggest issue, but they're not going to scramble and make a rash choice just because that spot is vacated at this moment. Interesting.

Yeah, no, I mean, obviously that's a massive, massive injury. I was surprised at maybe because of the timing of it. It wasn't talked about nearly enough for a team that might be a Super Bowl contender. I'm really intrigued to watch where that goes. What's your first one? Okay. So I was at Texans and backers practice, as I mentioned today. Matlow Fleur does not like his offense.

And I'm okay with that. And here's why. There's a lot of hype right now around Green Bay about Mike Patton's defense. A lot of people I talk to think that defense can be really good. Adrian Amos. intercepted Deshawn Watson today in a two minute. I think people were saying that that kind of play has kind of been consistent throughout camp from a lot of guys on that side of the ball. If the problem right now is Matt LaFleur and the offense, that's a nice problem to have because

they've got some pretty good guys on that side, whether that's the line, whether that's the coach, where that's the receivers. And oh, by the way, the quarterback. Jordy Nelson retired today. He was walking around the sidelines. They could use a prime Jordan Nelson, but that's not going to happen. But other than that, you know, he was really, he just thought that the offense was kind of listless and lethargic and hasn't clicked yet. I'm betting it

clicks by the beginning of the season. And if they've got a really good defense, that really shakes up the NFC North. I totally agree. That defense terrifies me. I feel like they really added pieces over there. I've watched Adrian Amos very closely for his entire career. He's an excellent player. And when you combine

the pieces they added up front, even losing Mike Daniels, I just think they're going to have lot of different stuff they can throw at you. It's Adairius Smith is paid like an edge rusher, and that's what people consider him. But if you go back and you watch those Ravens games from last year, he's doing a lot of his damage inside. So they've seen what he can do as an interior rusher. So if you want to use him as a stand-up three technique in certain packages, if you want to

combine him with Preston Smith on the same side, you throw Ashung Gary into the mix, Kenny Clark is a guy that has really ascended. I love the players they've added in that front four. They spent a lot of money, and they better hope those guys are producing. This year they didn't necessarily spend a lot of them. I mean, obviously they committed to them, but the cap numbers this year,

7.2 for Smith. Preston Smith is at 6 million. I liked both those signings at the time. I thought that those were some mid-level veterans who were a good example of some guys, the market kind of forgot. You know, in a market where C.J. Mosley is getting 51 million guaranteed. obviously completely different players.

But I think you can, on the defensive side of the ball, if you can get a guy like either Smith for under $7 million, that's pretty darn good. And I just like the way they've built that defense. I really like Mike Patton. I think Mike Patton's a good example of someone we've talked about this in the past who got a head coaching job too early and it kind of derailed their career a little bit. I mean, that's part of the problem with some of these teams,

just fire head coaches every two years is eventually people stop taking the job. Then they get a guy way too early. and maybe the Giants are betting that happened with Pat Chirmer that remains to be seen where you just fail really quickly in Cleveland. I think there's a guy in New England

who failed really quickly in Cleveland with a different franchise but still it's an interesting a little parallel there. I don't think Mike Petten is built Belichick by the way. But I just think that he got a little bit

he obviously with Rex Ryan ran a really good defense in New York and I just think there's a lot more talent with Mike Patton than we think because he had such a decision disastrous tenure in Cleveland. There's a lot of talent on that side of the ball.

I am excited about the package defense. Guys like Dean Lowry, guys like G.R. Alexander, they got guys all over the place. I'm in. Jair Alexander's going to be really good. I think if he takes another step forward, that's a huge weapon for that defense. I also, I agree.

I'm with you on Mike Petton. I just think that he was a really good coordinator. We talk so much about all these first-year offensive coaches and how much of an impact they're going to have. But one of the biggest elements of being that play-calling head-com, coach on offense is figuring out your defense and getting that side of the ball in order. One of the best things that Sean McVeigh did was hire Wade Phillips and bring him in to make sure that side of the ball was stable. One of the best things that Matt Nagy did was keeping

Vic Fangio in Chicago because they knew the defense was working. And that's exactly what's happening with LaFleur and Petton. You look at the progress that unit made and you have a unit that brings back a lot of guys, knows this system already, and it allows them to hit the ground running. It's not surprising at all that the defense is outperforming the offense at this point because you've got a group that, for the most part, spent an entire season together. So I think they are very frightening.

As a Bears fan, I am not looking forward to playing against that group whatsoever. Can I tell you an embarrassing thing that happened to me? Maybe the most embarrassing thing of this camp tour. Sure. I had to talk to Lamar Miller about something, and he obviously went to Miami. and I went to Miami and I was going to bring up a play

and as I would walk up to him because my brain is broken because I've been sleeping five hours a night I did not I started to doubt whether or not the play ever happened or if it was from NCAA football. Oh man.

I was like I remember that touchdown and then I was like, wait, did this actually happen or am I remember like an incredible Lamar Miller touchdown from NCAA football? Luckily, luckily, right before I brought it up, I remember it actually did happen, but I want you to know that I briefly had a moment of inception where I was like, wait, did this actually happen? Are you doing okay?

It was not my finest. Are you doing all right? Yeah, I'm doing great. Okay. All right. I'm so glad. All right. Let's talk about the Cowboys a little bit.

A couple of things that I found interesting from there. I was told that Michael Gallup, who was there, it was a third round pick last year, I believe, is their number two wide receiver on the outside. has been the most impressive player on offense in camp so far. There we go. And that combined with the changes they're making on offense, that's how this team can outpace whatever defensive regression is probably coming. It's by really unleashing Dak Prescott as a quarterback in this new scheme, and it's about in-house players making enough progress to become different versions of themselves.

And he was a prime candidate for that. If they can get a lot out of him, that's going to be huge. and the other, I had a long conversation with Kell and Moore today about just kind of the process of putting in that offense with DAC. And what he told me is, they're really in experimentation mode

right now. You know, a lot of the language is the same and it's kind of the foundational aspects of the offense are the same, but they're doing a ton of new stuff when it comes to motions and how they're changing how Dak sees the defense before a play.

And he is a little uncomfortable with it. And Kellan Moore told me today is something I thought was really smart and very kind of intuitive when it comes to developing your players. He has told Dak over this camp, I don't want you to like all the plays. I want you to feel really kind of antsy as you go through some of this stuff so you can learn how to see a defense differently as all these things are moving around. The problem with that offense last year, there was so little pre-stap motion. It was so stagnant that I feel like they became so predictable that defenses were able to just read the route concepts from a mile away.

And if they can really dress this stuff up differently and give their receivers a chance to work in space and not have to win one-on-one without any sort of schematic advantages, then I think that's a huge thing for them. That's how Jack Prescott becomes a worthwhile $30 million quarterback. Because the player he was in the offense they ran last year was far from that guy. And they need him to be if they're going to pay him like that. So I thought it was funny. Were you around for when John Ketna was talking about how nowadays we literally just sit around watching practice and reporting on missed throws? Were you around for that?

No. No, I was not. Was that today? Okay. So Kitna basically, yeah, yeah. I just saw it on Twitter. And. Oh, yeah.

So I was talking to California at that point. Yeah, yeah. He talked to the pack, whatever. But he was saying someone was, I guess someone asked about missed throws. And he said, look. this is modern football for you. Like we're misthrows in practice don't matter. We're just trying stuff out,

et cetera, et cetera. And I think it's amazing. Dax's in this weird spot now where everything he does is under a microscope, probably in a way that nobody else in football is right now. I mean, that's fair. Five times a day,

I open Twitter and either they're saying like, look at this incredible throw from Dak Prescott or they're saying, look at this mistrow from Dak Prescott. And it's like, guys, it's August 6th. I love football. Stop making every DAC Prescott practice throw a litmus test. I'm really intrigued to see what this offense looks like, but I understand, you know, you've been talking about this for weeks at a time. There's what, half the league has new play callers. That stuff takes time to click. That stuff takes time to click. And so when you hear somebody like

Kellyn Moore talking about, you know, the actual process and how there's going to be plays isn't like and how how it's going to take a little bit. Yeah, look, it just happened in Green Bay. I just saw Matt Lofor complain about it. Do not read into these things right now. Don't do it. Hell, for God's sakes, don't even read into them in the first game of the season. It might take a couple weeks.

One of the things that the Patriots and the Seahawks and a lot of these teams have done is figured out the first half of the season is basically for experimentation at this point. That's what they do. The point is to win the Super Bowl, not to win on like October 3rd. 3rd. It'd be great if you want in October 3rd, but I'm just saying with the way training camps are now, what the way practices are, what the way offenses are, technology is now, it takes

a while for these things to develop. Absolutely. And the one other thing I'll say, Tony Pollard, their rookie running back, who's kind of the compliment to Darrell Henderson in Memphis. He's kind of a smaller back, you know, they're going to use him in more interesting ways. It's going to be a past catching option. Apparently, he's just been all over the place and they've really

like some of the stuff that he's done. You know, there's they're using more jet sweeps this year. you know, they, Kellamore told me, and this makes total sense, he said, you'd be stupid to not look at what the teams like the Rams and the 49ers have done with that play action-based offense and say, what can we learn from this and how does it fit our personnel? So I think you're going to see a lot more creativity from that team this year than you've seen from the Scott Linahan era. Not hard to do. No, not hard to do at all, but it was necessary.

Saw a little Detroit, New England practice. First of all, Matt Patricia. really, really, really hammering it up with your ATV. Have you seen this? I'm aware of this, yes. He's really, he's really into it. And I can't tell, I can't tell if I had an HV, if I'd be really into it too.

I think I might be. I don't think you can blame Patricia on this one. I'm not an ATV guy. No, neither of mine. No, no, no, no. I'm not an ATV guy at all. But if I had an ATV, I might really like riding it around. one thing I have enjoyed

I enjoy a good snowmobile a snowmobile ride every once in a while that I do like because it's just you're in the snow it's a little bit different any sort of wheeled thing though like off the ground not into I'm very scared motorcycles not my thing

so I just I'm good I'm all set are you familiar with BW Webb I know of BW web yes yeah yeah yeah so in Cincinnati he's got I'm not even sure what you call it it's not a

segue because it doesn't really have a front or maybe it is a maybe segues just look like that now. He just rides around on this like one wheel with two pedals on it. I've never, I mean, it looks like a unicycle but it's, it's remember when the hoverboards were all

the rage in NFL locker rooms like two years ago? This looks like something that's going to cause an injury to be quite honest with you. I'm sure the team is thrilled about that. He was riding it around quite a bit. He looked really cool doing it. But I would be worried. if I were here. Outside of Matt Patricia's

vehicular takes, what else did you learn? Oh, no, that's it. That's it. That's it. That's all you. No. Honestly, that's, that's probably the only interesting thing about the Lions. I saw the ATV and then I, and then I left. I wrote out on the ATV. No, it was a, it was an interesting two days of practice. I was there. Only one of those days was the Patriots there. Obviously, a lot of talk about the contract.

And for good reason, because there's obviously a lot of Tom Brady's future that goes, it goes on with that contract talk. Bill Belichick did not want to talk about it. Bill Belichick apparently extremely, uh, into just the entire, the fact that the Lions media had desks and notebooks. He remarked on that. I've, it was, uh, it was very easy. Look at your desks in your notebooks. Uh, it was, uh, it was among the strangest things I've heard this year. Okay, anyway, so, uh, I'm going to get to him in a minute, but Jacobi Myers, um, is still getting a lot of hype. Nicol Harry is not getting a lot of hype. Uh,

We'll get to that in a second, our kind of irrationally excited section. You know, I think that a lot of this stuff, you know, I think that Daryl Bevel, let me ask you a question. Where do you come down

and Daryl Bevel as an office coordinator? I think he is painfully mediocre and replaceable. That I think he's average. Yes. I'm with you. Middle of the pack. What I'm intrigued to find out is what it looks like without Pete Carroll.

Because I've always wondered if Pete Carroll is a real, there's a reason you hire Brian Schottonheimer, right? Like maybe a lot of the conservative stuff is Pete, and there's a, there's a Daryl Bevel waiting to come out. I'm just sort of putting that in the corner, and maybe I'll look at it in mid-September. I sat down Matt Stafford for a while. That story will run on the ringer in a couple weeks.

I was really intrigued with the conversation we've had. I think there's potential here. I think they're running into a buzzsaw because they have, of a really, really good division with just better teams. If this were a different year, you know, maybe this shakes out differently. You know, Mike Daniels is there now. I don't really see a Mike Daniels revenge season as far as winning. I think the Packers are going to be better than the Lions.

But I think that they have a decent amount of talent. And to be quite honestly, in that, but not sure can't get much worse than last year. I agree. But you say that who knows how much Pete Carroll it is, who knows how much Darryl Beville it is. And I can understand that. but I feel like they wanted Daryl Bevel because they want to be that more conservative team. I feel like the big narrative

is they're going to run the ball the more this year. And that's exactly right. And that I don't like. You know, if you're going to be a team that runs, uses more of these 12 and 13 personnel packages to throw the ball, sign me up. I love that. Now, give me Jesse James, T.J. Hawkinson,

two tight end sets, you play action, the shit out of people. And if that's what you want the basis of your offense to be, with, you know, Danny Am and Dahl, with, you know, Marvin Jones and Kenny Gallaudet just attacking teams down the field, be my guest. But if you're going to come out in 12 personnel packages and just try to hammer teams, that is, that ain't it, man. That is not happening in the modern NFL.

I just, and that's not the path to success for me. Because I don't think their defense is going to be good enough to be a ground and pound, let's control the ball sort of team. That does not make me excited about what's going to happen for them this season. Yeah, I'm not that. I'm not, I'm not jumping out of my shoes here. But, you know, I think they held their own in those joint practices. I mean, obviously, it's hard not to. I've seen some, I've seen some shillacking in joint practices before. And I didn't necessarily see at this time. I think the Pacer is just putting in work. I will say that the Lions installed a hill, which is similar to obviously New England's hill. Obviously, there's probably a Matt Patricia thing there, which is what, what they run after practice. So they'll at least be better conditioned. I I've written stories about this in the past. Essentially, the Patriots have to run hills and all the players hate it. And then they come back from a 25 point deficit in the fourth quarter or something like that in the Super Bowl.

And they say, thank God we ran those hills. So here come the Lions in the fourth quarter. All right. So speaking of those well-conditioned Patriots, we want to talk about some of the guys we have become irrationally excited about over the past couple weeks as the season starts to creep up here. and I believe you picked a guy in the Patriots. Yep, Jacoby Myers. I already mentioned him. The Nikiel Harry hype train is derailed. It is somewhere on a hill in Detroit somewhere, suburban Detroit.

But I think that, you know, let's not write off these wide receivers yet. Don't write off anybody. This is my number one theme of this episode. Don't draw any conclusions on August 7th, 8th, whenever you listen to this. But Jacobi Myers, you know, one of the things, about Tom Brady is kind of like we've talked about with Aaron Rogers. The number one thing about being Tom Brady's target is getting him to trust you. And it seems like there's a connection there thus far. And if you want Tom Brady to ignore you for long stretches of time, be unreliable in

practice. So I think there's at least in this preseason going to be a little bit of a connection there. I don't, you know, maybe it doesn't, you know, even translate into the regular season. But I think Jacoby Myers, a guy who, I was surprised to earn this. He left school early and then did not get drafted. I knew he was undrafted. I did not know he left school early until I started to do my research on him, put up big numbers at NC State. I just think that, you know, I think at the bare minimum, even though he looked good in practice and looks really, really athletic, he's six foot two, I think that, you know, just earning Brady's trust this quickly is, uh, is something to to note. I know we're not supposed to draw that many conclusions at this point in the count.

but I'm going to draw a couple from some of the stuff that's been coming out of Cardinals camp. I wrote about this this week, just the idea in my mind that Kyler Murray's potential as a fantasy football option this season I think is bigger than people either giving him credit for. I know he has the number one pick. He's not sneaking up on anyone, but some of the stuff that's come out of there, whether it's some of the throws he's making. There was one clip I saw where he had this little subtle pocket movement and just put like a dime on a crossing route.

And then came back and dropped one in down the right sideline. Larry Fitzgerald came out last week and told Kurt Warner that he's never seen a young quarterback have command of the offense like this. Again, I know he's the number one pick. It's not, it shouldn't

be invoked to say something that he is an exciting prospect and that we should be looking forward to this. But I honestly think this guy has a chance to really hit the ground running. I am excited to watch him. Hey, Rodney, Anderson is running back in Cincinnati, who played with both Baker and Kyler. And I was bored the other day in the locker room.

I went up to him and I said, hey, do you think that those two guys could start a legacy of smaller quarterbacks, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, pretty basic question. And actually gave me a much better answer than the question I asked. And he was like, no, I don't. I don't think you can say that because those guys are so special that there's no one coming after them. There's a really good point. I mean, maybe there is.

Maybe there is, but his point was to say they're starting some movement is to overlook the fact that they are that special. And I've been thinking about that ever since he said that.

I'm probably going to write that. Nay, no one's allowed to steal that or aggregate that until I write that. FYI, you aggregators. I think he is truly going to be special. And I think that in that offense, an offense he knows already, it just has all the makings of him exploding right off on the scene right away. I could not be just anticipating this more than I am right now.

All right. Who's your next one? All right. This is not, I'm not excited about this as a person. I'm excited about seeing what this looks like. I was in Cincinnati. And I wasn't extremely, I was there for their, open kind of scrimmage day. Nothing really jumped out at me except to say, I liked seeing

Andy Dalton in a modern offense, and I'm intrigued to see what that looks like come September. I would typically agree with you. And if they had all the pieces, I'd be it right there. Because I feel like we've discussed this on this show before. I think Andy Dalton is the quarterback control group. I mean, he's just the perfect guy for understanding how much infrastructure and support system matters. And we're going to have the schematic infrastructure. most likely, but not the personnel infrastructure this year. So I just think that every year

we have... Well, I mean, in the sense that in the sense that AJ Green is going to be out obviously, they still don't know. Their line is not where it needs to be. Tyler Boyd is not Tyler Boyd is not a one-man offense at this point. So I exactly right. I see what you're saying. I'm just

intrigued to see the McVeigh system come to Andy Dalton because, look, that system makes quarterbacks better. So what happens when you take the literal league average quarterback

and make them just a little bit better? It's a fascinating experiment. And that's exactly what I mean with the control group thing. But I just am a little bit bummed out

that we did get to see the best version of it. Because if you have Tyler Boyd, AJ Green, and that's the problem in it with the Boyd stuff, who's there even

their number three receiver right now? Who's going to be that guy outside, like on the outside when Tyler Boyd is working in the slot? They just don't have the bodies. They do not have the guys

to make them intriguing to me. And when you add in the problems that they're likely going to have along the line, I just don't think we'll get to see the true version of that system because they won't have good enough players to run it. I agree. I mean, I'm still intrigued with their backfield. Joe Mixing and Giovanni Bernard are pretty good players. They're good players.

The mixing in this system works for me. They got a little Bobby Hart-Hart-Madre-Smith-Right-Tackle rotation right now. Jesus Christ. Just think about that. sentence and that I think you can understand where I'm coming from here. You got John Jerry at left guard.

This is exactly what I'm saying. I stick to my point that I want to see Andy Donald in this offense, but I don't necessarily want to see the rest of the offense. There you go. All right. My next guy is, it's kind of a deep cut here. Terry McLaurin, the rookie receiver from the Redskins. There are some clips coming out, him just roasting guys

on beautifully crisp routes. And they asked him the other day to just about something specific to the fine-tune aspects of route running. And his answer, just about the type of stuff going through his mind, being on the same page with his quarterback and everything else, I just loved hearing it. And it just feels like he has a really good grasp on the position. I'm working on something very nuts and bolts about wide receiver play during these training camps.

And I talked to Keenan Allen about it today. And I've really talked to some of the best receivers in the league, Adam Thieland, Jiu, Keenan Allen. I'm talking to Julio about it when I'm there. and you know, it's, it's been really interesting. And to hear some of the Alan Robinson as well, and to hear these guys talk about how much they learned about the position compared to when they were young.

And Keenan Allen just telling me today about how much he took from Stevie Johnson and Brandon Lloyd during his rookie year and how little he knew about it as a rookie, hearing McClure and talk about the position like that as a guy coming into the league, I was like, man, this guy seems to get it. and he's not somebody, even like a Keenan Allen type, that is going to need to survive on his savvy. I mean, this guy ran a sub 4-440. His mock draftable page is pretty damn impressive.

And you look at that roster, who's going to really prevent him from getting opportunities if he deserves them? I mean, this is a wide receiving core that does not have much talent left. Hey. So, I mean, that's the guy to me that can ascend. I know who might prevent him from having opportunities.

communities. Colt McCoy. Colt. That's fair. That's understandable. I just think over the next couple seasons, if they can develop a really nice rapport, I mean, with his college quarterback, it just seems like that's a group that could really click with him into Haskins. Yeah. I just, I mean, hopefully Haskins is ready and gets on the field as soon as possible. There's no reason for nothing. This is my Washington. This is my Washington wish 2019. I like Case Keatim as a person. We've talked about this. slow newsday guest, but let's get Colt McCoy

in case Keenum out of the way. He should Atkins should 100% start from day one. Like, why not? Why not give him the opportunities because you're going to be bad anyway? If you feel like your offense is so bad that you could leave some scar tissue, which we've talked

about a lot when it comes to young quarterbacks, then maybe you have some reservations about that. But if you don't, if you think that it's going to be functional enough, just let him get out there and start playing, man. Who cares about it? if you go 3 and 13 this year? Well, Jay Gruden might care if he gets fired.

That's fair. Understandable. All right, who's your next one? He might care. Last one for you. We're going back a little bit. I mentioned this guy a couple weeks ago, but I don't want to expand on this.

How about our guy, John Brown? Last year, he accounts for Mofield. Last year, he accounts for 54% of the Ravens Deep Air Yards from NFL.com again. That was second behind Julio Jones. if I'm not mistaken he was fifth in air yards last year

per reception and he goes to an offense that is basically and I know they have Cole Beasley and they're trying to kind of diversify that and all that offense and not just go deep but Josh Allen one thing we know we can do even if it's not all that accurate

is throw the ball as deep as hell and I think there's going to be I think that offense is going to be really wonky and I think it's going to be really in a very narrow way fun. And I kind of think that we might have some like five to six, not too many, not too many, but like five to six ridiculous Josh Allen, John Brown connections this year.

I mean, you already saw what happened with Foster. I mean, 20 yards a catch. I mean, that element is there. That's what, that is what sets table for all of this. I think him and Foster basically was the most air yards to a receiver on modern era. That's spoken for. Now you can put John Brown on the other side of the field. You can have Cole Beasley, you know, in the middle of it, whatever you want to do. There's so many, I think Brian Dable is actually a pretty good coordinator. I think there's ways you can build this to where I don't

think they're going to make the playoffs or anything. I don't even know if they're going to have points per game of good offense. I just know that there's going to be some weird stuff happening and I'm going to watch it. I'm interested in them. That's what I will say. When when things start going, and I will be tuned into them early to see what this stuff looks like. This all comes down to me about Allen's accuracy. And I know that is this simple thing to keep coming back

to, but there's a difference between being a guy with a cannon and being a guy that can use that cannon effectively on these deep throws. His deep ball accuracy is hot garbage. So that's the issue. You know, if John Brown is wide open down the field all the time, then...

It's not going to be a good connection. It's going to be a ludicrous connection. It's just, it's going to connect three out of every five times. No, three out of every ten times, but those three are going to be

80s. It's going to be awesome. Yeah, I know. That's why I had to amend it. I could see that. I can understand where you're coming from. To me, it's, I wish that it was a little bit better just to kind of have that hit rate be something where it could be a consistent part of their offense, but I have

doubts about that. And I think that we kind of share that opinion. Who else for you? So today, I'm talking about the Chargers and their offensive line. And I was told that Forrest Lamp is the guy that they drafted him to be. And it's one of those things where sometimes when a guy is really hurt early in his career and it takes this long to get going. I mean, we're in year three for Forrest Lamp. You just think it's not going to happen. I mean, I think there were serious doubts about that. And he's somebody that was so physical in college. And I just think dropping him into the middle of that offensive line, and even if the outsides are a bit of a concern, if they're strong up the middle with him and Marky's pound,

him and Mike Pouncey, I feel like that's how that line can kind of overcome whatever is going to happen with Okung and the question marks on the right side. If they can be really, really physical and run the ball and just kind of have that be a foundational aspect of their offense. I mean, he's a guy I was really excited about coming out. And for the Chargers at this point, he's pretty much found money. So I'm looking forward to watching him play. Yeah. I mean, I, the Chargers, the Chargers in general fascinate me because we talk so much about

the Chiefs and whether or not, I mean, I essentially think, and part of the reason I've overlooked even thinking about the Chargers, aside from the fact that they're just the Chargers is I think so much just depends on how much. the Chiefs have improved themselves. And it almost, if they are the defense, we think they can be, I'm sorry, even if the Chargers win 13 games, they got no shot to get to the Super Bowl.

And so that's why I probably haven't thought enough about the Chargers, but hopefully I'll get back there in a couple weeks. They're in Los Angeles, right? That's where they move. They move from San Diego. Yes, they did. Their facility is in Costa Mesa, California.

Wow. Okay. Anyway, so I'll definitely look into that. I'm going to the chiefs in two days, though. So I'll check them out first. As soon as you go to the chiefs, you'll be writing off the charges. You won't even need to go anymore. It's like, you know what? I'm good.

I've seen all I need to from the AFC West. Maybe, yeah. It just depends if anybody has an ATV. All right, but that's all we got. We will be back. Can we get an ATV for every single head coach? Just hanging out. There's too many golf carts in this league.

Look into that. Yeah, the golf carts are worthless. We should definitely start mixing this up. We should have some personalized, you know, all-terrain vehicles for everybody. Patricia, Patricia, is the innovator we need. They may be the most backwards NFL team when it comes to actually being creative on the field, but off the field, they know where it's at. All right, guys, thank you so much for listening.

As always, the Ringer NFL show on the Ringer podcast network. We'll talk to you later this week.