Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL Daily, where we're so smart we launched
Speaker 1: a new show in a completely dead week with no
Speaker 1: NFL news. Also smart enough to ask my friend Mina
Speaker 1: Kimes to join me today. Mena of course of NFL
Speaker 1: Live and the Mina Chimes Show featuring.
Speaker 2: Lenny and Around the Horn.
Speaker 1: And somehow, I swear Pablo Tori finds out like Daily,
Speaker 1: which is really great.
Speaker 2: I enjoyed that it's Mina Kimes. Welcome.
Speaker 3: I think the biggest NFL news of the week is
Speaker 3: the launch of NFL Daily, at least in my world.
Speaker 3: I'm so excited for this new venture for you. Obviously,
Speaker 3: it's at about the end of Around the NFL Amazing podcast.
Speaker 3: I was so excited every time I got to go on,
Speaker 3: especially kind of earlier, you know, when I wasn't doing
Speaker 3: as many podcasts, I didn't have my own. But Greg,
Speaker 3: just for people who are listening, Not only do I
Speaker 3: count you as a real life friend who I can
Speaker 3: talk to about family stuff, books, life whatever. I think
Speaker 3: of you as someone whose opinion on football I not
Speaker 3: only you know value and enjoy listening to, but I'm
Speaker 3: actually nervous sometimes out presenting my opinions because if you
Speaker 3: disagree with them, I worry that I'm wrong. So and
Speaker 3: then if you and you do agree, I am delighted.
Speaker 3: So I'm excited to hear what you do in this space.
Speaker 2: You're too nice. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: And yeah, I appreciate you saying that, because I know
Speaker 1: I've heard you on podcasts say you don't like at
Speaker 1: the top of the show what the Brits would call
Speaker 1: faff Yeah for five minutes, and we're doing that, So
Speaker 1: for you to say that, if it shows you really
Speaker 1: mean and yeah, we are friends, like we once ended
Speaker 1: a pavement show together. There is no higher form of
Speaker 1: friendship than that. So I'm really excited to have you
Speaker 1: for the first week before you get ultra busy, although
Speaker 1: I know you're already busy now, and we're going to
Speaker 1: do a loose camp preview kind of look ahead to
Speaker 1: the season, just a way to hit every AFC team today.
Speaker 1: I just want to start getting takes out there, get
Speaker 1: to all the fan bases. We'll hit the NFC tomorrow
Speaker 1: with your friend Bill Barnwell, and we'll pick what's the
Speaker 1: most intriguing storyline we're looking forward to for each team,
Speaker 1: So we'll split it up by divisions. I'll do the
Speaker 1: AFC East. I'll just get us going, no more faff
Speaker 1: and I'll start with the Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills,
Speaker 1: because Josh Allen is my most intriguing storyline. And by
Speaker 1: that I just kind of mean what Josh Allen we
Speaker 1: see this year, because I think we have this tendency
Speaker 1: with great quarterbacks that like, Okay, he's great, now he
Speaker 1: just stays there, Like Josh Allen's great, That's an accepted
Speaker 1: thing we know about him, and I do expect him
Speaker 1: to stay great. But he's the type of quarterback to
Speaker 1: me that's gonna have different versions of great. And he's
Speaker 1: streaky even within seasons, within games. He talked this week
Speaker 1: actually about really changing his throwing mechanics, and I've thought about, like,
Speaker 1: how does Joe Brady wind up making him better? And
Speaker 1: we know how the offense changed last year during the season,
Speaker 1: and now you look what they added and it's Kean Coleman,
Speaker 1: but it's a lot of yak guys, a lot of
Speaker 1: guys over the middle two tight end sets, I think
Speaker 1: quite a bit, which I think will be fun. It's
Speaker 1: the running game, and like, how do they how does
Speaker 1: Josh Allen's development fit into all this, and especially as
Speaker 1: like a fan of his running at twenty eight years old,
Speaker 1: how does Joe Brady work in his you know, amazing
Speaker 1: skills as a runner. So just hit his development because
Speaker 1: he's not going to stay the same. Some guys stay
Speaker 1: the same, like Drew Brees was always kind of the same,
Speaker 1: but most quarterbacks, even like at Aaron Rodgers, very different
Speaker 1: at different points of his career.
Speaker 2: So what kind of Josh Allen are we going to
Speaker 2: see this year?
Speaker 4: I think a good one. I think he'll be fine.
Speaker 4: And obviously it's not a bold take to say Josh
Speaker 4: Allen will be good, but part of the reason why.
Speaker 2: Like what's in style? You know?
Speaker 3: Yeah, well that's kind of why I'm confident in him
Speaker 3: and I think how he'll play this year because the
Speaker 3: offense you're describing, and that, to me is going to
Speaker 3: be one of the more fascinating things about the Bills
Speaker 3: generally is the transformation of this offense, which kind of
Speaker 3: started in the second half lest season obviously when they
Speaker 3: switch coordinators, but now with thigs gone altogether and both
Speaker 3: tight ends healthy, I think we will see the next
Speaker 3: version of this what it calls for hypothetically, is you know,
Speaker 3: a little bit more.
Speaker 4: Surgical quarterback play.
Speaker 3: You talked about this, you know, Josh Allen setting up
Speaker 3: his receivers to get yards after the catch, working over
Speaker 3: the middle of the field, being patient and greg. Part
Speaker 3: of the reason I'm confident is we've seen Josh Allen
Speaker 3: do that, like we have seen him. I think there's
Speaker 3: this misconception out there that he's only good when he's just,
Speaker 3: you know, bombs away gunslinger. And yes, he definitely has
Speaker 3: the gunslinger mentality, and it has certainly been in him
Speaker 3: at times. But I can think of many games over
Speaker 3: the last three years where Allan's average det the target
Speaker 3: has been sub seven and he's been deadly accurate, super smart,
Speaker 3: and super careful. I think the question is kind of okay, Well,
Speaker 3: is that a consistency thing? Will he get impatient? Will
Speaker 3: he press? And that's certainly plausible. But when I think
Speaker 3: about this offense and what I expected to look like
Speaker 3: with the new skill players and coordinator and whatnot, it's
Speaker 3: not hard for me to imagine Josh Allen executing it.
Speaker 1: Well. No, and it's just the details. And it changed
Speaker 1: so much last year. It was effective before they made
Speaker 1: the offensive coordinator change its own way and effective afterwards.
Speaker 1: But yeah, as averaged up, the target went way down
Speaker 1: when Joe Brady. So it's I thought it was interesting
Speaker 1: Hearum this week, you know, talk about the mechanics and stuff,
Speaker 1: and it's just a reminder to me, like I expect
Speaker 1: him to be in the Hall of Fame someday. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I also just like to see how these guys changed
Speaker 1: throughout his career. And I don't don't want to totally
Speaker 1: lose the like prime Cam Newton running style.
Speaker 2: All right, let's let's go.
Speaker 1: When we first talked about this, we thought about just
Speaker 1: like camp storylines, and this one is a camp storyline.
Speaker 1: It's just how the receivers shake out. I know you
Speaker 1: had Taylor Kines right on your AFCPS pod cast, which
Speaker 1: was really good.
Speaker 2: People should check that out.
Speaker 1: And I was curious what he would say to your
Speaker 1: receiver question. He thought to Mario Douglas was maybe the
Speaker 1: guy to watch. To me, I'm thinking about like that,
Speaker 1: what's the starting group who's going to get the most snaps?
Speaker 1: Like I would guess it was kJ Osborne, Jalen Polk
Speaker 1: and to Mario Douglas, maybe not in that order. But yeah,
Speaker 1: why you're making a face.
Speaker 3: Oh no, I thought your sentence was going to stop
Speaker 3: at kJ Osborne.
Speaker 1: But just the top three, like they have like seventeen guys.
Speaker 1: They have Juju there. They have Kendrick Bourne coming off
Speaker 1: at ACL. Yeah, they still have Taekwon Thornton, who I
Speaker 1: don't know if he makes a team, But they just
Speaker 1: have a lot of guys and I'm curious how it
Speaker 1: shakes out.
Speaker 3: They have a lot of receivers who if any of
Speaker 3: them were on the San Francisco forty nine ers, would
Speaker 3: be the guy who doesn't do much but then, like
Speaker 3: on third down in a key moment, makes a great
Speaker 3: play and everybody's like wow to Mario Douglas the wild
Speaker 3: card for this Niners team, right, But on a Patriots
Speaker 3: team where that's it, it's kind of a tough.
Speaker 4: Build because isn't really a true number one.
Speaker 3: And I say that as someone who really likes Jalen
Speaker 3: Polk loved Washington watching him pardon me at Washington, which
Speaker 3: is the college team I root for. I think his
Speaker 3: skill set aligns really well with Drake May whenever he
Speaker 3: takes the field. But as far as like, you know,
Speaker 3: if you're a defense playing them. There's no skill player
Speaker 3: who you circle and you say, okay, we're gonna tilt
Speaker 3: coverage towards him. We got to put our best cornerback
Speaker 3: on him. I don't think they have that sort of playmaker,
Speaker 3: which you know is going to be limiting.
Speaker 1: Like we got Hunter Henry back and you shouldn't say we.
Speaker 1: And I avoided talking about Drake May just because I
Speaker 1: know I'm going to talk so much about Drake May
Speaker 1: in the preseason.
Speaker 2: There's only so much to talk about.
Speaker 1: As you mentioned, this show is daily, so that's going
Speaker 1: to be an interesting challenge, and I'm going to talk
Speaker 1: so much Drake May that I didn't.
Speaker 2: Want to say.
Speaker 3: Austin Hooper is like on the NFL All Star Team
Speaker 3: of desperation streams in fantasy, where you're down like.
Speaker 4: Two tight ends. You just got to field someone.
Speaker 3: And you're looking at the waiver wires and they're just
Speaker 3: giving you Austin to Hooper and you just take it
Speaker 3: because you've got none else.
Speaker 2: You're just hoping three for thirty to go Dolphins.
Speaker 1: What I'm mostly Cheegbaye is McDaniel in September. It used
Speaker 1: to be that every season NFL dorks like me would
Speaker 1: be like, what's Andy Reid cooking up in September?
Speaker 2: And he still does like he can.
Speaker 1: But I think some of the idea that like Dolphins
Speaker 1: are bad at playing in cold weather, which is true,
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that that's not a factor. Is also
Speaker 1: just the Dolphins are awesome in September because Mike McDaniel
Speaker 1: provides schematic advantages that other teams aren't ready for and
Speaker 1: haven't stolen yet. Like we saw it with the speed
Speaker 1: in the space in a couple of years ago, we
Speaker 1: saw it with the cheap motion, and like that's partly
Speaker 1: why they're good, as teams have not adjusted and they're
Speaker 1: so well coached, they're ready to go. And now you
Speaker 1: add OBJ to the mix, and you add the running
Speaker 1: back group which is deep and fast, and it's just
Speaker 1: I just want to see what he's got going because
Speaker 1: I kind of think they need a good September. There
Speaker 1: could be some rocky stuff with the contracts and everything
Speaker 1: like that, but I expect they.
Speaker 4: Will, or Galaxy Brain might be.
Speaker 3: Daniel saves it all temper and rolls out like a
Speaker 3: like the Dolphins come out.
Speaker 4: It's Week one.
Speaker 3: I forget who they're playing in Week one. It's I
Speaker 3: think it's maybe the chart. It's a good matchup. I
Speaker 3: think they're in an eye formation. There's just it's they're.
Speaker 4: Just handing it off to do on Ahan on first out.
Speaker 4: Everybody's so confused.
Speaker 3: People have prepared for high flying offense, all kinds of
Speaker 3: crazy motions, and then he saves all that or whatever
Speaker 3: next innovation he has for the end of the season.
Speaker 1: That's one way to go. I mean, that would be
Speaker 1: next level thinking. I do worry about this team if
Speaker 1: they did that and they started like two and five,
Speaker 1: this is a highly likely team to I feel like,
Speaker 1: implode in many ways if that happened. I'm high enough
Speaker 1: on the Dolphin. They're playing the Jags by the way
Speaker 1: Week one.
Speaker 2: I like that matchup. I'm with you.
Speaker 4: I'm excited to see it.
Speaker 3: I think, though, what's going to be hard, and what
Speaker 3: is often hard with this team is trying to figure
Speaker 3: out what stock to take and what we see because
Speaker 3: this has happened a couple of times. Also, you know,
Speaker 3: when we think about the Dolphins and their struggles late
Speaker 3: in the year, a lot of it has to do
Speaker 3: Some of it is just attrition through injuries. No doubt
Speaker 3: you saw that with the receivers at the end of
Speaker 3: last season. But I think something that shows up time
Speaker 3: and time again is just the lack of investment in
Speaker 3: the offensive line and particularly that interior, which they do
Speaker 3: such a good job of shielding.
Speaker 4: The quarterback shields it.
Speaker 3: So much so I guess my question is, Okay, did
Speaker 3: you solve that in any way? Right? And from a
Speaker 3: personnel standpoint, it doesn't look like they did, but perhaps
Speaker 3: there is something schematically he can do to further protect
Speaker 3: what is the weakest position group on the team.
Speaker 1: Right the Dolphins fan would say, well, they're no worse
Speaker 1: than they were the last two years, and they were
Speaker 1: pretty awesome in September. Offensive line wise, I don't know
Speaker 1: if there was Well, we'll see.
Speaker 3: Did you really have to draft another fast running back?
Speaker 3: That's all I have to say.
Speaker 2: I like it.
Speaker 1: I like building strength and strength. I think he is
Speaker 1: going to do fun stuff with that. We'll wrap the
Speaker 1: AFCA East with the Jets. Mine is just what does
Speaker 1: Aaron Rod look like? I'm going I'm going big. I
Speaker 1: guess I haven't podcasted a while. It's like I want
Speaker 1: to hit the big stuff because I feel like there's
Speaker 1: this idea maybe I've been listening to too many podcasts
Speaker 1: and everyone is treating Aaron Rodgers like he's got to
Speaker 1: be great. Aaron Rodgers from twenty eighteen, and I think
Speaker 1: everyone memory hold he was the worst Aaron Rodgers we've
Speaker 1: ever seen In twenty twenty two, like PFF had him seventeenth.
Speaker 1: I went back and looked QBR twenty sixth. I went
Speaker 1: back and looked at QB index on NFL dot comos
Speaker 1: Our friend Mark Sessler had him fourteenth for the season,
Speaker 1: and it's like that was the thing that happened. And
Speaker 1: what kind of playing style is he going to have
Speaker 1: behind this offensive LINEBC He's always been a quarterback that's
Speaker 1: gone up and down but likes to hold on to
Speaker 1: the ball.
Speaker 2: It got him in trouble in the.
Speaker 1: Brief time he played last year, and like what kind
Speaker 1: of style, Like is he going to be able to adjust?
Speaker 1: Kind of like I talked with Alan about getting rid
Speaker 1: of the ball quicker and maybe not being as fun
Speaker 1: a quarterback, a little Peyton Manning late career adjustment.
Speaker 3: I think it's gonna be interesting to see both him
Speaker 3: and Kirk Cousins what they look like post Achilles, because
Speaker 3: it's such a weird injury, and there's really not that
Speaker 3: many examples of starting quarterbacks coming back from that particular injury.
Speaker 3: And you could talk me into the idea that it
Speaker 3: won't affect Aaron Rodgers as much because at this point
Speaker 3: his career, he's not leaning as much on his mobility,
Speaker 3: and he's got like such a crazy release, he can
Speaker 3: make throws from compressed pockets. He's still got a strong arm. Sure,
Speaker 3: I think I just kind of want to see it
Speaker 3: because I do expect his mobility to be limited. It's
Speaker 3: I expect cousins mobility to be limited as well. I mean,
Speaker 3: that is a brutal, brutal injury to come back from
Speaker 3: at any position. I think quarterback obviously have the benefit
Speaker 3: of not being on the move all the time. But
Speaker 3: if he is limited as a mover, does that lead
Speaker 3: to any adjustments in his play call or primely his
Speaker 3: style of play. I'm curious to see that as too.
Speaker 3: I wish I had more belief in his play caller.
Speaker 3: I love a lot of belief. I like the offensive
Speaker 3: line they put together. I like the skilled players obviously
Speaker 3: and healthy, but yeah, I don't like I guess since
Speaker 3: so much of the offense will based on what he
Speaker 3: is capable of. It's probably good that the coordinator is
Speaker 3: someone who is just going to ultimately bend to his will.
Speaker 4: But I don't know if he's going to solve any
Speaker 4: problems for him.
Speaker 1: Right if I felt like he had had a coach
Speaker 1: that's going to give him a schematic advantage, great, and
Speaker 1: he believes that that's partly why he's there. And I
Speaker 1: also don't rule anything out. He is an upper tier
Speaker 1: all time great and sometimes with guys like that, you
Speaker 1: just can't be shocked if he comes out and balls out.
Speaker 1: So that being a possibility, which I think it's absolutely there,
Speaker 1: is what makes it intriguing to me. Or it could
Speaker 1: be really mediocre because he's a forty it's not just
Speaker 1: coming off an Achilles.
Speaker 2: It's a forty year old coming off in Achilles.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Do you think people are underrating.
Speaker 4: The Hacket factor?
Speaker 2: Yes, Okay, I mean because, like.
Speaker 1: I just think at this point in his career, he
Speaker 1: could really use a schematic advantage and it's one of
Speaker 1: those teams that you worry and I don't think there's
Speaker 1: that many. I tend to think coaching gets overrated and
Speaker 1: there's just more in the middle, like most teams, it's
Speaker 1: not like a huge advantage of dispend but they're one
Speaker 1: of the teams on offense that feels like it could
Speaker 1: be a disadvantage and he does not need that.
Speaker 2: Going against them. Yeah, the way he north your team
Speaker 2: these UPA I gave you homework.
Speaker 3: Yeah, uh, any order or any order you want, you know, Okay,
Speaker 3: I know you said you don't want to overrate that.
Speaker 3: We tend to overrate coaches, but I've started with the
Speaker 3: Ravens and I am going with a coaching angle on
Speaker 3: this one. I just want to see how much the
Speaker 3: defense feels the loss of Mike McDonald. I think from
Speaker 3: a talent perspective, While there's definitely some notable departures, J
Speaker 3: Davin Clown, who was excellent for them is gone, Patrick
Speaker 3: Queen is gone, Gino Stone, who was a surprising gem
Speaker 3: gone to a division rival gone, But I think there's
Speaker 3: still enough elite talent, particularly up to spind the defense
Speaker 3: to where they'll be fine. I like the cornerback they drafted,
Speaker 3: but we don't really know what to expect from Zach Orr.
Speaker 2: Who's the.
Speaker 3: Uh. I mean it's there were now old enough to
Speaker 3: where guys are becoming defensive coordinators who I think of
Speaker 3: as players, but not even just players, like I grew
Speaker 3: up watching players when I was in you know, college
Speaker 3: or whatever, and that's kind of disturbing in and of itself.
Speaker 1: But do you like to know zach Orr's age, mina
Speaker 1: because kind of shocking because he's been a coach for
Speaker 1: more than a few years.
Speaker 2: Here, he's thirty two years old.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so they chose him, which is important because the
Speaker 3: whole coaching staff got plundered right by the entire NFL,
Speaker 3: and they they wanted zach Orr to be Mike beat
Speaker 3: On successor, which obviously.
Speaker 4: Bodes well for him.
Speaker 3: But while I think it's we can assume the defense
Speaker 3: is going to look pretty similar to how it has
Speaker 3: looked a lot of the same tendencies in terms of
Speaker 3: the simulated pressures and SPA safety coverages and.
Speaker 4: All of that. In the disguise.
Speaker 3: I thought McDonald had such a great feel for individual
Speaker 3: game planning. The Niners game comes to mind in particular,
Speaker 3: So you know, when we think of this defense and
Speaker 3: how good they were against elite offenses, that's going to
Speaker 3: be really tricky to approximate what he did.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're we're doing kind of a schematic.
Speaker 1: Trend overview that's going to go up Monday with Jordan
Speaker 1: redrig and Nate Tyson. I just feel like this defense
Speaker 1: spreading everywhere is one of those trends. There's four teams
Speaker 1: now that are going to be running it, and just
Speaker 1: how does that affect Baltimore's effectiveness the fact the tape
Speaker 1: that they put out last year, and who knows, maybe
Speaker 1: zach Or has a lot of like really great ideas.
Speaker 1: I'm with you that I tend to trust the raven
Speaker 1: that they chose him over two guys that got jobs
Speaker 1: as coordinators elsewhere, and so that's big, But they could
Speaker 1: really use Da Faioa to show up, and you know,
Speaker 1: Clowny's not there. They just I know they've made do
Speaker 1: without great ad dreshing. But that's just one area. But
Speaker 1: I go through this every year where I think the
Speaker 1: Ravens are going to be in trouble because they've had
Speaker 1: it's been quiet, but DaCosta since he took over, has
Speaker 1: had so much turnover since he got there. And yet,
Speaker 1: for the most part, other than games that Lamar Jackson
Speaker 1: is hurt like, they are play like an eleven or
Speaker 1: twelve one team every year.
Speaker 3: This is to me one of the underrated things that
Speaker 3: when we think about John Harbon, why he's one of
Speaker 3: the best coaches in the NFL. He is the I know,
Speaker 3: he's you know, he does a lot right, but he
Speaker 3: is a little bit more like the CEO coach because
Speaker 3: he's not a play caller, but he's such He's been
Speaker 3: so good historically at identifying talent amongst coaches, so you
Speaker 3: think about the HighRes he's made the decisions to move
Speaker 3: on from guys like your Greg Romans, Martin Dale's and
Speaker 3: then the people he has chosen to replace them. I
Speaker 3: thought Monkin was fantastic last year, so I have a
Speaker 3: lot of faith in him as the CEO coach, but
Speaker 3: a little nervous you know, just a little bit nervous
Speaker 3: about about that. Okay, I'll go Browns next. I feel
Speaker 3: like there's only one choice for the Browns. What is
Speaker 3: Deshaun Watson at this point? I mean, have you gone
Speaker 3: back and watched any of his games from last year?
Speaker 4: Do you have thoughts?
Speaker 1: Because it's faster, absolutely, specially that last one, and that
Speaker 1: Browns fans are always in my mention saying he was
Speaker 1: so great and it was like none of the balls
Speaker 1: went more than six yards, and it's you know, to
Speaker 1: be fair, it's one of the reasons why Jacoby Brissett's
Speaker 1: numbers were so good for him too. It's like Stefanski
Speaker 1: when he's cooking, he cooks, and so that's going to
Speaker 1: help Deshaun Watson.
Speaker 2: But he was.
Speaker 1: He was sub mediocre in her and it's an injury
Speaker 1: that's still prevented him from practicing fully this offseason to
Speaker 1: this point. So I'm still leaving room even though I
Speaker 1: obviously like I'm not rooting for the man that he
Speaker 1: will have a moment again in his NFL career where
Speaker 1: he's excellent, but he's shown no evidence to say that
Speaker 1: that's gonna happen since he's come back, right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, No, I mean I was not super impressed by
Speaker 3: the perormances last year. I thought he was definitely competent.
Speaker 3: In the Ravens game, I made a couple of throws
Speaker 3: that stood out to me as being like, Okay, that
Speaker 3: looks like a little bit like old Deshaun Watson.
Speaker 4: But it's a really small sample size.
Speaker 3: It's funny you talk about Kobe Brissett being propped up
Speaker 3: by this game, because when it's Watson. I'm like propped
Speaker 3: up when it's presette, I pretend I do not see
Speaker 3: its elite. I guess I'll just wrap by saying, like,
Speaker 3: if you take out the quarterback, I think the Browns
Speaker 3: have the best roster in the division, which is a
Speaker 3: very very good division.
Speaker 4: And that's kind of why.
Speaker 1: I would say the best division, by the way, if
Speaker 1: I had, you know, yeah, they had to choose one,
Speaker 1: maybe NFC North, but I'd probably go close this division.
Speaker 3: All right, Bengals might be a little bit kurveball. Yeah,
Speaker 3: what the hell happened last year on defense with this team? Yeah,
Speaker 3: dropped from tenth in EPA pri played to twenty fifth.
Speaker 3: There's a ton of really really ugly metrics past defense,
Speaker 3: explosive plays.
Speaker 4: I guess you can answer what the hell happened? Their
Speaker 4: secondary play was pretty atrocious.
Speaker 3: But this is Big Lou right, he had been such
Speaker 3: a darling amongst our cohort, and I'm not blaming him,
Speaker 3: but this is a pretty pretty dismal performance. And so
Speaker 3: Joe Burrow's back, and they're immediately back in contention, and
Speaker 3: they're listed in the top ten and power rankings, and
Speaker 3: I think, bro, will you know, I think the offense
Speaker 3: is kind of going for a last dancing with t Higgins.
Speaker 3: I think they'll be about the same as they've been.
Speaker 3: I don't know about the defense though.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm skeptical.
Speaker 1: It's one of those things where we have this idea
Speaker 1: of how good Lou and Rimo is, and that's what
Speaker 1: I mean about sometimes credit with coaches, like, of course
Speaker 1: she's he is a good coach. But there's such a
Speaker 1: fine line, especially a defensive play, secondary play, and a
Speaker 1: team in Cincinnati that really relies on their red zone
Speaker 1: defense and short yardage defense. E've been so good in
Speaker 1: situations that if a few things happen, you lose it.
Speaker 1: But I look at them and like, I like it.
Speaker 1: I like their defensive line. They have a strong candidate
Speaker 1: to bounce back. Logan Wilson and Jermaine Pratt like their
Speaker 1: linebackers really struggled last year and their their candidates to
Speaker 1: bounce back.
Speaker 2: Like, I don't have huge concerns.
Speaker 1: I'm more concerned that you know, the Titans looked at
Speaker 1: Tobia Wuzier and thought like that's a guy that deserves
Speaker 1: big money coming off that year. So there's a lot
Speaker 1: of reasons to believe the Bengals are going to be
Speaker 1: better this year, and to me, this is at worse
Speaker 1: than average defense.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I did like Gino Stone, who I talked about leaving Baltimore.
Speaker 4: Von Bell didn't. He looked a little bit like a
Speaker 4: player in decline last season. To bring him back.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it's asking a lot. If he's not maybe
Speaker 1: he's the third or fourth safety.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's it's a little bit tricky, but I
Speaker 3: think you're right that they'll be closer to average. Certainly.
Speaker 1: I apologize by the way. You know, this is your
Speaker 1: first time on the show. It's just the two of us.
Speaker 1: I'll just cut you off there, and I'm like making
Speaker 1: you host essentially by introducing East team, but I will
Speaker 1: not make you throw it a break. We are overdue
Speaker 1: to take a break, so we're going to do one
Speaker 1: more team in the AFC North when we get back
Speaker 1: from the break, and then we.
Speaker 2: Will hit the other two divisions back on NFL Daily.
Speaker 1: You know, what do you think of us going heavy
Speaker 1: NFL films? I like it in the mood, and it's
Speaker 1: free and we have access to a million of these songs.
Speaker 4: It adds a lot of weight to this July typing.
Speaker 1: I know it's like I need I need the reps.
Speaker 1: We need the reps, and I was ready to get
Speaker 1: back to it. We uh have been talking about most
Speaker 1: intriguing storylines each team. It's probably going to annoy people
Speaker 1: who are like OCD about it, but we have one
Speaker 1: AFC North team left.
Speaker 2: We had to get that break in Mina. What do
Speaker 2: you got?
Speaker 4: It didn't annoy me, but I've been reeling over.
Speaker 2: The last five I was just overdue. I was overdue
Speaker 2: to take it. I should have done it before.
Speaker 3: Clock management, in my experience, is the hardest part of hosting.
Speaker 3: I was really the Andy Reid of podcast hosts for
Speaker 3: like four years. It took me that long to get
Speaker 3: it right. So you're fine, you're getting these reps in.
Speaker 3: This is training camp for you. Really okay, the Steelers.
Speaker 3: See again, I'm so discombobulate. I'm like, wait, scroll back up,
Speaker 3: scroll back down. This is I don't want to do
Speaker 3: too much coaching stuff, but.
Speaker 2: Do what you want.
Speaker 3: I am really intrigued by what an Arthur Smith offense
Speaker 3: looks like with either Justin Fields or Russell Wilson. And
Speaker 3: I know that the probably I'm being a little bit
Speaker 3: hipster because the correct answer is just who the hell
Speaker 3: is going to be Who's gonna win this quarterback competition.
Speaker 3: My suspicion is it'll be Russ at the start of
Speaker 3: the season and we'll see what happens. But the thing,
Speaker 3: the reason why I say either or is they're pretty
Speaker 3: similar quarterbacks and a lot of their tendencies, a lot
Speaker 3: of their strengths and weaknesses. I think Fields gives you
Speaker 3: more upside, Russ gives you more consistency. That's not a
Speaker 3: controversial take. In some ways, I can see it dovetailing
Speaker 3: with Arthur Smith. We think about the hard play action,
Speaker 3: throwing deep, whatnot, but in a.
Speaker 4: Lot of ways it kind of doesn't. So I don't know.
Speaker 3: I like the skill players for his offense. I love
Speaker 3: this run game, I love what they've done with the
Speaker 3: offensive line. But I'm curious to see how he accommodates
Speaker 3: these two quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: And he's going to want his quarterback to move to
Speaker 1: some degree. Russ does look trim, looks looks like he's
Speaker 1: in good shape, moved better last year certainly than the
Speaker 1: year before, which I think helped them in Denver. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I think this team is I don't
Speaker 1: know if it's a sleeping giant. And I always worry
Speaker 1: about the teams that as this off season goes on.
Speaker 1: Maybe I didn't love them at the very beginning of
Speaker 1: the off season. Now I'm like, are the Steelers going
Speaker 1: to win this division? It wouldn't totally shock me. Quarterbacks
Speaker 1: obviously the biggest issue, and the depth of the wide receivers.
Speaker 1: But even though they are similar in their strengths and
Speaker 1: their weaknesses, like one of them's fireworks and to me,
Speaker 1: and that's justin fields and he really might not be ready,
Speaker 1: and he might never be as consistent as you want
Speaker 1: to be. But one of them just authored one of
Speaker 1: the greatest, maybe the greatest running seasons by a quarterback ever.
Speaker 2: It was just a couple of years ago.
Speaker 1: And he's just adding such an advantage to me in
Speaker 1: what should be an awesome pulling running game that like
Speaker 1: that alone, I want to see it.
Speaker 2: But maybe rest can take advantage of that too.
Speaker 4: Oh, I would vastly prefer to see that.
Speaker 3: I want to be clear, Like I mean, if I'm
Speaker 3: Arthur Smith, I think about what I did with Marcus
Speaker 3: Mariota on the ground, and when the Falcons had one
Speaker 3: of the most dominant runishing attacks in football that season,
Speaker 3: and I look at what Justin Fields is capable of,
Speaker 3: and like you said, what the rest of these the
Speaker 3: backs and the line. I mean, there's a recipe there
Speaker 3: for an offense that is really really annoying for defenses.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I don't think I think they can play
Speaker 1: conservatively because I think the defense is going to be
Speaker 1: really good. I know you believe you had them on
Speaker 1: your top ten defenses, right, yes, yeah, let's go to
Speaker 1: the AFC South the Texans. I'm just on digs honeymoon watch.
Speaker 1: Like I thought about some it's like run game concepts
Speaker 1: or Demigo Ryans' way of like taking average players and
Speaker 1: making them better. But just as like a guy that does,
Speaker 1: I do enjoy the drama of it all. The fact
Speaker 1: that he said more nice things about Josh Allen and
Speaker 1: the Bills in that opening press conference, and I know
Speaker 1: this was on Bill's fans radars.
Speaker 2: Then he then ever happened in Buffalo and it just
Speaker 2: and he did.
Speaker 1: You think it was a relief for him to get
Speaker 1: out of there and he was happy and we see
Speaker 1: this receivers. I just think it's gonna be like an
Speaker 1: amazing honeymoon season. Not that I is that worried about
Speaker 1: like his attitude or anything like that. But I still
Speaker 1: think he can get open and I think he's just
Speaker 1: gonna be a lot, and I think that team's gonna
Speaker 1: want him to be a lot, And I think the
Speaker 1: combination of him and Stroud off the field could be
Speaker 1: fun too, just like press conferences everything, And we've just
Speaker 1: seen this with great receivers that first year, and I
Speaker 1: think he's still good enough to take advantage is just
Speaker 1: fun in front of the microphone. It's gonna be fun
Speaker 1: on the field, and he's gonna have great players around
Speaker 1: him that obviously helps him a lot.
Speaker 3: What if it's week six, Nico Collins not only is
Speaker 3: the leading target getter in this offense, but he is
Speaker 3: the clear number one outpacing Staph two to one.
Speaker 1: I mean two to one is dramatic. That would be
Speaker 1: a problem. Then the honeymoon is ending.
Speaker 3: Yeah, then I'm like, how about this press conferences?
Speaker 2: Now? How do we see that they won't let that happen?
Speaker 1: And I guess I'm of the camp that Digs is
Speaker 1: not cooked, that he's killed. There's a variety of factors
Speaker 1: or even even that in that much of a decline,
Speaker 1: and so to me, I expect Nico Collins and Stephan
Speaker 1: Diggs to be in the same ballpark, But I actually
Speaker 1: think the coordinator the quarterback are too emotionally intelligent to
Speaker 1: ever let that happen, And Diggs is good enough that
Speaker 1: he wouldn't let that happen either.
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, I hear you.
Speaker 3: I think I just don't want his inclusion, and this
Speaker 3: sort of effort to feed him and make him feel
Speaker 3: wanted come at the expense of Nico Collins, who I
Speaker 3: think is really really good.
Speaker 1: So if Diggs is as good as I think he
Speaker 1: still is, it's the best receiver in kank Delle's healthy.
Speaker 1: It's the best receiver trio easily, because I'm totally with
Speaker 1: you on Nico. He's a top twenty five guy. I
Speaker 1: thought that was maybe the best contract of the off season.
Speaker 1: It was really eighteen per It's just kind of crazy.
Speaker 1: Let's go to the Colts. My intriguing storyline. We'll see
Speaker 1: a little bit in camp. It's kind of how fast
Speaker 1: is this eighty Mitchell thing is going to happen. I
Speaker 1: generally don't try to buy into any offseason hype. If
Speaker 1: you were making an article and I used to do
Speaker 1: this of like Ota Mini Camp winners, like he's on
Speaker 1: that list. Everyone that was there was like, okay, he
Speaker 1: was ready to go, and it was against air and
Speaker 1: not really you know every concept you want to think
Speaker 1: you see. But I think in terms of knowing what
Speaker 1: he was doing and what and just going up against
Speaker 1: NFL cornerbacks, everything that we heard from the Colts was
Speaker 1: very positive. So there's a lot of reason to believe
Speaker 1: he'll start right away over Alec Pierce. And if he's
Speaker 1: actually a dude right away, that's not a bad trio
Speaker 1: either with Down's and Pittman, that's a nice one.
Speaker 3: It's it's not just an average trio or even not bad.
Speaker 3: If Ad gets Ayara close to his ceiling, I think
Speaker 3: it's excellent because he would have a force multiplier effect.
Speaker 3: Everybody falls into the right role. Those three players, him,
Speaker 3: Michael Pittman Jr. And Josh Downs, they all fit really
Speaker 3: well together, working different parts of the field, very different
Speaker 3: skill sects. With Ad being your put typical number one,
Speaker 3: who can you know he can win deep, he has
Speaker 3: great hands, he's got the athleticism. It just didn't have
Speaker 3: like the consistency as a prospect, which is why you
Speaker 3: think you fell. But if he hits where he's capable of,
Speaker 3: that is a really really fun group.
Speaker 1: It just felt like it was maturity, maturity, maybe more
Speaker 1: just on the field than anything that was specific off
Speaker 1: that like teams.
Speaker 2: Just it just helped.
Speaker 1: It made him fall, Like a lot of receivers got
Speaker 1: drafted before Adie Mitchell considering how talented he was. But
Speaker 1: sometimes those guys when it's their livelihood and they can
Speaker 1: often be like he might be very NFL smart. It
Speaker 1: sounds like he can pick up concepts and stuff that
Speaker 1: that has nothing to do with that side of maturity.
Speaker 2: And if he can do that, like he's gonna be great, like.
Speaker 4: A George Pickens style arc.
Speaker 1: Yeah, potentially, it's a good comp My Jaguars pick is
Speaker 1: about the coach. It's the defensive coordinator, Ryan Nielsen. I
Speaker 1: listened to the Jack on SI podcast used to be
Speaker 1: Jaguars Report.
Speaker 2: It's really good. John Shipley is one of the good.
Speaker 1: Yeah, heem beat reporters out there. He does an awesome job.
Speaker 1: And look they've been talking like Nielsen like he's come
Speaker 1: to save the day and he has exciting concepts, and
Speaker 1: I agree when you hear him talk and I think
Speaker 1: compared to their last defensive coordinator, there is a lot
Speaker 1: of reason to be excited. Can he add like a
Speaker 1: big time schematic advantage because I still look at the
Speaker 1: roster and I'm not I'm not thrilled if they're average,
Speaker 1: like that's okay. And I know some of the numbers
Speaker 1: weren't bad last year, but I do think Nielsen was
Speaker 1: like a hipster favorite because he did a lot of
Speaker 1: cool stuff. And you know, it depends what numbers you
Speaker 1: look at. The Falcons overachieved, but some other ones they
Speaker 1: really weren't very good. He does fun stuff. He could
Speaker 1: be a guy that eventually gets, you know, some head
Speaker 1: coaching love. So it's like, is Ryan Nielsen as good
Speaker 1: as maybe Jaguars fans and NFL hipster's.
Speaker 2: Hope he is.
Speaker 3: I think there's a really strong opportunity for him as
Speaker 3: someone who if he wants to be a head coach.
Speaker 4: I'm guessing he does.
Speaker 3: Because unlike Atlanta, he's got all the talent in the
Speaker 3: world upfront in Jacksonville. But it's one of those teams
Speaker 3: kind of like Green Bay, where like everyone looks at
Speaker 3: them and they see the talent, but the talent hasn't
Speaker 3: played up to certainly a draft status. There's a number
Speaker 3: of guys there outside Josh Allen, Josh Heines Allen.
Speaker 2: Sorry freaking news. Thank you. I'm glad you pointed that out.
Speaker 1: I think just came out this week, Josh Heinz Allen,
Speaker 1: and one of the reasons was he's sick of being
Speaker 1: the other Josh Allen.
Speaker 3: I feel like that's a w for quarterback Josh Allen.
Speaker 3: You get to keep the name, to be honest, but
Speaker 3: I mean for.
Speaker 1: It to happen after the Josh Heines Allen had almost
Speaker 1: twenty sacks in the Monster Contract and really kind of
Speaker 1: made his name and.
Speaker 2: He's still is giving it up. It's a nice moment.
Speaker 3: He had nice family reasons for doing it. But anyways,
Speaker 3: Josh Allen's great. Outside of Josh Allen, a lot of
Speaker 3: underperformance on the defensive line. So I think for like Nielsen,
Speaker 3: if you can be that coach who's like, oh, he
Speaker 3: came in and he finally got you know, he found
Speaker 3: the right way to use Javon Walker and these linebackers.
Speaker 3: Devin Lloyd is living up to his draft stats, which
Speaker 3: you know maybe happens anyways, with off all linebackers and
Speaker 3: later in there, you know, after the rookie season, then
Speaker 3: I think that this could be a unit and a
Speaker 3: coach that a lot of people are talking about, no doubt.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the cornerback position is what worries me. Tyson Campbell's
Speaker 1: a good player. But after that, you know, they gave
Speaker 1: Ronald Darby day one free agency money to start a cornerback,
Speaker 1: which was surprising. They have I think a third round
Speaker 1: pick Ery and Jones might be the slot and so
Speaker 1: he's gonna he's gonna have to cook up some stuff.
Speaker 2: But I'm watching that. Uh.
Speaker 1: Last in the AFC South is that the Titans. And
Speaker 1: it's just the uh, the effect of Bill Callahan, one
Speaker 1: of the great position coaches of all time.
Speaker 2: Why are you laughing cause you were.
Speaker 4: Like, oh, we talked too much about coaches. I feel
Speaker 4: like half of your picks have been coaching.
Speaker 2: Can I say that, I don't know. I just I
Speaker 2: didn't say we.
Speaker 4: Talked too much credit to coaches.
Speaker 1: Yes, that is one of my long standing takes that
Speaker 1: like there's more coaches.
Speaker 2: In the middle.
Speaker 1: They're all I'm saying, you know, they're all good, and
Speaker 1: it's like you we look at the results and we
Speaker 1: just put it all on the coaches and all the players.
Speaker 2: It's like there's variants, there's players. You know.
Speaker 1: Anyways, Bill Callahan, though, I mean, you've got to agree,
Speaker 1: he's a pretty big difference maker.
Speaker 4: It's big.
Speaker 3: I mean, because the offensive line is clearly the weakness
Speaker 3: of this team. It made the offense at times non
Speaker 3: functional last season. They obviously continued to invest in it
Speaker 3: draft the first pick, and it would be the thing
Speaker 3: that holds his offense back well aside from Will Levis,
Speaker 3: but he is a quarterback who we see affected by pressure,
Speaker 3: so you can use it as a proxy. It's a
Speaker 3: very talented group of wide receivers. I'm very intrigued by
Speaker 3: the combination of Well Levis and Callahan.
Speaker 4: I'm intrigued by the fact that they seem to believe in.
Speaker 3: Will Levis and they're betting on him with all the guy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Nate Tye, I mean I kind of do too.
Speaker 2: I see it.
Speaker 1: He is the type of guy I fall in love
Speaker 1: with because his highs have been pretty exciting. I'm talking
Speaker 1: about Levis, not Nate Tye.
Speaker 2: Of course, I'm in love with Nate Taste.
Speaker 4: His sighs are exciting.
Speaker 2: There's kind of a coaching treat too. With Bill Callahan.
Speaker 1: Right now he's got his assistant or old assistant from
Speaker 1: Cleveland is now the Patriots offensive line coach. So they're
Speaker 1: just hoping that that Callahan magic can because he's installing
Speaker 1: some of the same concept Scott Peters can do it,
Speaker 1: but for real, like an offensive line coach when when
Speaker 1: Mike Munchak sorry was one of those guys. Is just
Speaker 1: one of the most valuable uses of money you can
Speaker 1: possibly have for like the quality that you.
Speaker 2: Get out of it.
Speaker 1: And these players aren't that bad like Scarronsky, JC Latham
Speaker 1: and Lloyd Cushenberry.
Speaker 2: That center to the left side could be that could
Speaker 2: be pretty good. It would be pretty good.
Speaker 3: I think there's nothing better to be from like a
Speaker 3: coverage standpoint than an offensive line coach. He's regarded as
Speaker 3: a guru because none of us know what we're talking about.
Speaker 4: With offensive you can see it.
Speaker 5: You're like, oh, the loss of Dante's grner Yell looms large,
Speaker 5: or oh the Mike munchhag effect or Bill Callahan, like
Speaker 5: once you once these guys become like dudes Aaron Cromer
Speaker 5: and Buffalo, we just remember and then when we see
Speaker 5: them playing well because I think, you know, there's a
Speaker 5: little bit of a binary.
Speaker 4: Did they pasper hold up?
Speaker 2: Did it not?
Speaker 4: Are they getting pushed? Are they not?
Speaker 3: You know, as opposed to like just technique or whatnot.
Speaker 3: I will give a lot of credit to a guy
Speaker 3: who I've heard it's good.
Speaker 2: Like that's fair.
Speaker 1: I like you poking at me, But how dare you
Speaker 1: besmirch the name of Dante Scarnacia. I don't know that
Speaker 1: it's only a couple of these coaches and it's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: the run everywhere he guys. So it's just how can
Speaker 1: you question it? Let's do one more break? It's nice
Speaker 1: and even after the division, we are going to wrap
Speaker 1: things up with AFC West.
Speaker 2: And then just a little something sprinkled extra at the.
Speaker 1: Just like know when the music swells that someone just
Speaker 1: broke a tackle and is running into the open field.
Speaker 1: When I hear that back on NFL Daily with Mina Chimes,
Speaker 1: going through the AFC and just what we're intrigued by
Speaker 1: heading into training camp next week, Texans are showing up,
Speaker 1: some rookies are showing up elsewhere.
Speaker 2: Early in the week.
Speaker 1: I think the Ravens might be the Weirdly the first
Speaker 1: team that do that. You're gonna help me out here,
Speaker 1: Mina by picking what you like in the AFC West.
Speaker 3: I will start with the defending champs because sort of
Speaker 3: picking knits with them when you're looking for areas of concern,
Speaker 3: I mean, I go with something to be excited about,
Speaker 3: no doubt. I'm excited to watch their rookie Daviere Worthy.
Speaker 3: I'm excited to see the offense. But like as far
Speaker 3: as like things I'm intrigued by, I want to see
Speaker 3: how much the laws Lagerious Need affects this defense. I
Speaker 3: understand why they moved on. They essentially picked Chris Jones
Speaker 3: to prioritize that contract. It makes sense, and I understand
Speaker 3: anyone who conviction in not only the young players who
Speaker 3: have gotten some gotten some decent run over the last
Speaker 3: few years, the young corners rather, but also the fact
Speaker 3: that they the fact that they have the best defensive
Speaker 3: coordinator in football is one of their biggest edges and
Speaker 3: a big reason why they have this dynasty. That said,
Speaker 3: I object to anyone who doesn't believe Lugarious Need was
Speaker 3: unbelievable last year.
Speaker 4: He was an easy All Pro vote for me.
Speaker 3: I thought he had an amazing season, the way they
Speaker 3: were able to deploy him against number one wide receivers,
Speaker 3: the way his ability to press impacted their ability to
Speaker 3: get pressure, and some of the types of pressures they ran.
Speaker 3: He was very very important to this defense. And I
Speaker 3: think they'll be finest. Also think they'll be very very good.
Speaker 3: But I'm just you know, I want to see what
Speaker 3: it looks like with him gone.
Speaker 1: Okay, two responses there. Number One, do you have an
Speaker 1: all pro vote?
Speaker 2: Reason? Yeah, I picked him.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm happy for you, You're my friend. But like
Speaker 1: that's like that is my dream. I can't get one,
Speaker 1: I think because I work for the NFL anyways, but
Speaker 1: I wouldn't.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't have.
Speaker 3: They might take away all my offensive line votes after
Speaker 3: my confessions.
Speaker 2: Like I really want that.
Speaker 1: If anyone, not that anyone is listening that I would, honestly,
Speaker 1: I'm so into like I want to be a Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame voter. I would freaking love that, and I
Speaker 1: think I would be good at I think I could
Speaker 1: do it. I've been doing this long enough, come on,
Speaker 1: give me that vote. But that's really cool. And then second,
Speaker 1: my second point is I'm not I'm not downplaying what
Speaker 1: sneed did I think he was better than Charvarius Ward
Speaker 1: when he left for San Francisco. But I do just
Speaker 1: have ultimate faith in the system and that these guys
Speaker 1: who was a Jalen Watson, Josh and Joshua Williams were
Speaker 1: playing in the Super Bowl and they won. They won
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl because of their defense, and those guys
Speaker 1: were out there a lot. I remember it, and they
Speaker 1: had a guy in the Zay Johnson I believe towards
Speaker 1: ACL during last year. So he's coming back Shamari Connor like,
Speaker 1: it's like they're always just finding guys under the couch
Speaker 1: and they develop, and so I think they'll be fine
Speaker 1: even if he has a big loss.
Speaker 4: I think they'll be fine too.
Speaker 3: But I think you can't underestimate how much easier it
Speaker 3: is for every other cornerback when you have like a
Speaker 3: true eraser.
Speaker 4: And I love Trent McDuffie. I love him as a
Speaker 4: nickel personally, you know, on the wall.
Speaker 2: So yeah, it's just I think very that's why you
Speaker 2: have the AP vote.
Speaker 3: And I know, okay, and now I'm regretting ribbing you
Speaker 3: for the coaching stuff because I do have a couple
Speaker 3: of coach.
Speaker 4: Ones here for the Chargers. I ask, this is very key.
Speaker 3: What does a Jim Harbor offense look like? In twenty
Speaker 3: twenty four we haven't seen Jim Harbaugh on the you know,
Speaker 3: like we're coming into the season. I think correctly he
Speaker 3: was lotted as the best coaching higher.
Speaker 4: His record is undeniable. I think what he did at
Speaker 4: Michigan it's.
Speaker 3: Not just he just wins, baby, But like, the offense
Speaker 3: was creative, the defense was very creative too, So I
Speaker 3: like the mentor. I don't expect much from the defense
Speaker 3: here wide. Frankly, I could be wrong, but there's just
Speaker 3: a lot vels offensively though, Like twenty fourteen was this
Speaker 3: last year in San Francisco, that was ten years ago,
Speaker 3: you know, And so again, obviously he's been coaching, but
Speaker 3: I want to see what it looks like. I want
Speaker 3: to see how him and Greg Roman build around the
Speaker 3: They obviously decided to invest in the offensive line, prioritizing
Speaker 3: that over receiver. Although I did love the lab of
Speaker 3: conking draft pick. Everyone's just like ground and pound.
Speaker 4: I don't know right now, he's pretty creative.
Speaker 1: And he was at Michigan, and the fact that he
Speaker 1: chose Greg Roman was a little bit of a curveball
Speaker 1: of Okay, what are these two kind of look like
Speaker 1: together after when we last saw them together? But I
Speaker 1: have faith and I think that is the question. I
Speaker 1: think that's one of the biggest questions in the entire
Speaker 1: NFL this year, because I expected to be creative on
Speaker 1: the ground and throwing the ball, and I disagree a
Speaker 1: little bit about mintor just because man, I'm just I
Speaker 1: guess I just have takes that clash with each other
Speaker 1: because it is easier to improve defensively just with better scheme,
Speaker 1: like you.
Speaker 3: Can take linebackers who are their starting linebackers who are
Speaker 3: their starting cornerbacks.
Speaker 2: I get it.
Speaker 1: Do these previews every year and we always overrate defense. Well,
Speaker 1: it's been a little more consistent the last couple of years,
Speaker 1: but it's just so inconsistent that like good scheme in
Speaker 1: Floris was a good example, and in Jesse Minter, they
Speaker 1: have been so good at picking defensive coaches. Obviously, now
Speaker 1: John Harbor and Jim Harbar like fighting over you know,
Speaker 1: the same coaching tree. But good defensive coaches can take
Speaker 1: average talent or take blow average out and at least
Speaker 1: make them average.
Speaker 2: So I could see that happening, and you're right.
Speaker 1: I think they're coming out with something we don't expect offensively,
Speaker 1: and I'm really excited as a as a Herbo fan.
Speaker 3: Listen, those three games where Khalil Mack and Joey Bosa
Speaker 3: are both healthy will be electric. So pun intended with
Speaker 3: the Chargers, Okay, the Raiders by the side of the ball,
Speaker 3: I want to see how much of the defensive improvement
Speaker 3: we saw on the second half of last season is sustainable.
Speaker 3: I think there were things from that part of the year,
Speaker 3: basically once they made the coaching change whence Antonio Peerce
Speaker 3: took over, and the defense from that point on the
Speaker 3: season was tremendous. Now they played some bad quarterbacks, there's
Speaker 3: a few regression signs, but when I look at the
Speaker 3: depth chart, they're pretty talented up front, particularly that defensive
Speaker 3: line now with Christian Wilkins.
Speaker 2: Finally, but I.
Speaker 4: Actually think some of the role players are pretty good too.
Speaker 3: Malcolm Kunz, but Max Crosby's amazing Linebacker's played decently. Corners,
Speaker 3: you and I talked about Jack Jones.
Speaker 4: They're just thin.
Speaker 3: So I don't know how much I believe in the unit,
Speaker 3: but I think if they're all healthy. There's enough talent
Speaker 3: there for them to still be feisty.
Speaker 1: But yeah, Raiders fans, you can clip that. I don't
Speaker 1: know how much they I believe in the unit at
Speaker 1: the end of the year, because no one, no one
Speaker 1: believes in them. This is not a unique take. Like
Speaker 1: they were not in your top ten defenses. I don't
Speaker 1: even know if they were in the.
Speaker 4: They were mad about that.
Speaker 3: I did.
Speaker 4: I put them on in my outside looking at category.
Speaker 1: Okay, so they were I get it though, because we're
Speaker 1: all trained to think that short of sample size and
Speaker 1: like you didn't see schematically anything that was like crazy.
Speaker 1: They just seem to play together and play harder. And
Speaker 1: there is something about defense, and I think this was
Speaker 1: true of lou Ana Roumo's Bengals defense going back four years.
Speaker 1: There is something where you can kind of see how
Speaker 1: hard they play on a week to week basis, play
Speaker 1: to play basis that can overcome some things and they don't.
Speaker 1: And that isn't even consistent year to year. But they
Speaker 1: played their ass off last year. If Antonio appears can
Speaker 1: get them to do it again, they can. A lot
Speaker 1: of Raiders fans can clip off this podcast and others
Speaker 1: because yeah, I mean, I think average is a totally
Speaker 1: fine outcome for them. I'm surprised you didn't go with,
Speaker 1: you know, the one of the only true quarterback battles,
Speaker 1: Aoc Gardner Minshee, let's go.
Speaker 3: I'm still holding out hope that they trade for Jacoby
Speaker 3: Jcoby Brisset would lead.
Speaker 4: This offense to a top fifty.
Speaker 2: You wouldn't do it.
Speaker 1: I think he is like a no, he's on the
Speaker 1: no trade list, like he's untouchable. They want him to
Speaker 1: be the sense for for Drake May and they do
Speaker 1: not want Bailey Zappi anywhere near a football, you know,
Speaker 1: for them again, so he's untouchable.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 3: I saved the best for last. Denver Broncos not the best.
Speaker 3: I actually really struggled with this one. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: We were trying to compare the Broncos to like teams
Speaker 1: outside the NFL. I'll I'll take the hit. I don't
Speaker 1: care if Broncos fans are right. They're like the Chicago
Speaker 1: Bulls to me of like of the NFL. It's just
Speaker 1: like why what I actually my.
Speaker 3: The thing that I ended up coming over this actually
Speaker 3: it sort of ties to a like an ongoing question
Speaker 3: I've had, which is. I still don't. I mean, I
Speaker 3: guess the answer is just money. But why did Sean
Speaker 3: Payton pick this job to come back to the NFL?
Speaker 3: For it was very confusing to me, and that leads
Speaker 3: me to my question.
Speaker 2: And he was struggling to get jobs. I think that
Speaker 2: was it. He was the third choice. They wanted Dad
Speaker 2: Quinn and Harbor and Quinn.
Speaker 3: Okay, well, I'm still a believer in his brilliance, which
Speaker 3: is why I am making this my storyline. What do
Speaker 3: you got, dude, because I'm willing to write last year
Speaker 3: off as like a forced marriage. You clearly hated Russell Wilson.
Speaker 3: Uh and you called the bumper bowling offense who never
Speaker 3: you know, he basically was the most conservative offense in
Speaker 3: the NFL, So you obviously I don't know. I'm talking
Speaker 3: to Sean paytnon one assumes he had a hand in
Speaker 3: picking Bonis to be their quarterback. I don't think that
Speaker 3: means he prefers Bonix over Drake May and Jay Daniels
Speaker 3: and kill mlliames obviously, but you know, I don't think
Speaker 3: they would have done that if Peyton didn't say, yeah,
Speaker 3: I can work with that. So Sean Payton again, we
Speaker 3: have seen you call competent offenses with a variety of quarterbacks.
Speaker 3: Game obviously Famo, the Winston Bridgewater. You know games hate
Speaker 3: Taysom Hill. Why not can you pull a rabbit out
Speaker 3: of your hat with this one? Can you build an
Speaker 3: interesting and efficient offense with boon Nicks. I have some
Speaker 3: ideas of what I would like that to look like,
Speaker 3: but I kind of I landed on this idea pre draft,
Speaker 3: which is I actually think and I'm not comparing them,
Speaker 3: but I actually think bo Nicks has some similar qualities
Speaker 3: to Tua. He's got like a super quick release, he
Speaker 3: can throw over the middle of the field with accuracy. Now,
Speaker 3: they don't have the skill players that Miami does, but
Speaker 3: I think you'd want to see an offense that has
Speaker 3: a very strong downfield RPO component with with bon X
Speaker 3: and put him on the move.
Speaker 4: He can throw on the move really well.
Speaker 3: Anyways, that's neither hereded there, but this is I just
Speaker 3: want to see Sean Payton, Like you've heard everybody talking like,
Speaker 3: come on, like show us something, you know, show us
Speaker 3: some creativity, show us some moxie, because.
Speaker 4: You're one of the best coaches in NFL history.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and they're gonna need to score. I just think
Speaker 1: the defensive talent is hoping to be average because I
Speaker 1: think the talent is below average and the upside is
Speaker 1: barely low for that defense, so they're gonna have to score.
Speaker 1: I think he did do a good job coaching last year,
Speaker 1: like you could see it, yeah, like the weighted DVOA
Speaker 1: because I was like the you know, they ended pretty
Speaker 1: well last year. It was eighth on offense, it was
Speaker 1: nineteenth overall, so it was they had their moments and
Speaker 1: like he can still create efficient offense out of not much,
Speaker 1: but it's not that pleasant to watch. And I just
Speaker 1: don't know if he has the personnel. I like what
Speaker 1: you said about Bonicks. That got me thinking of like
Speaker 1: comps for him, because I've tried to warm up to
Speaker 1: it a little. Like it's not like he throws an
Speaker 1: unpretty pass.
Speaker 4: It all comes out lightning fast.
Speaker 1: Actually reminds me of a little bit of Teddy maybe,
Speaker 1: like who we loved, Like you know, just just a
Speaker 1: little bit of like an underrated pretty thrower.
Speaker 2: But you canton thing. Yeah, he can move. Also, that's
Speaker 2: our divisions.
Speaker 1: Well we did it nice and quick, I mean on
Speaker 1: the NFL Daily Feed so far, this week I've been
Speaker 1: doing after dinner min It's just like something nice to
Speaker 1: finish out the show. And used to have a segment
Speaker 1: at the end of the Mean Time show featuring Lenny
Speaker 1: where you ask questions to me, to everyone, but you know,
Speaker 1: I'm concerned about me and Lenny always submitted the last
Speaker 1: one and some of them and my stammering responses to
Speaker 1: them like live inside of my brain.
Speaker 2: Literally I can remember. I don't remember anything.
Speaker 1: I have the memory of a goldfish, and I remember
Speaker 1: some of these questions.
Speaker 2: So I'm gonna flip it.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna not trying to exact revenge, and They're not
Speaker 1: all going to be tough questions here, but I'm gonna
Speaker 1: throw a couple questions before we go.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: This is a fun one because you are quite possibly
Speaker 1: the pre eminent ball knower at the nexus of Ryan
Speaker 1: Grubbs and uh Geno Smith appreciation like you you are
Speaker 1: there and they are there together, and you know you're
Speaker 1: a U dub fan and obviously appreciate Gino. Just tell
Speaker 1: me get me excited about this combination because everything I
Speaker 1: read and see about Grubs is really exciting. But I
Speaker 1: can't say I watched like a ton of you DUB.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, i'd be sure when you watch some of
Speaker 3: the prospects past, So don't say you saw some of
Speaker 3: the reasons why people loved this U do of offense
Speaker 3: so much. It's interesting because schematically he it's not. I
Speaker 3: don't think he has like a very uh like clear
Speaker 3: cut identity. I guess you would describe it to spread offense,
Speaker 3: pro style, strong RPO component. The funny thing is everyone
Speaker 3: thinks about as being like bombs away and just attacking, attacking, attacking,
Speaker 3: But I really think that was a lot of that
Speaker 3: was just a product of the talent he had. You know,
Speaker 3: a quarterback who could throw it all over the field
Speaker 3: and the best college group of college or receivers in college.
Speaker 3: He was an offensive line coach Ryan Grubb, and he
Speaker 3: will run the ball. And he's a pretty creative run
Speaker 3: game as well. And you saw that at times at
Speaker 3: UDUB when teams seeded the pass or probably seeded the
Speaker 3: run to them because they were so afraid of you passing.
Speaker 3: He was like, all right, great, I'm gonna handball off
Speaker 3: to Dylan Johnson. We're gonna run a variety of concepts.
Speaker 3: But I think you know, going back to kind of
Speaker 3: that spread aspect. It's that coupled with some a lot
Speaker 3: of creativity in terms of personnel groupings and formations, ton
Speaker 3: of motion, and to that extent, I guess it's.
Speaker 4: A little chief seat at times.
Speaker 3: I mean, the Chiefs offense has gone through different iterations,
Speaker 3: but it's much more like that than I don't know,
Speaker 3: you know, the Shanahan Tree. It's not like that at all.
Speaker 3: I'm interested in seeing so in many ways that goes
Speaker 3: really well with Gino. I think because Geno can make
Speaker 3: he can throw it all over the yard too. Unfortunately,
Speaker 3: the Seahawks offensive line is not comparable to the Husky's
Speaker 3: offensive line on a relative basis, right to compared to
Speaker 3: NFL players, the Huskies had one of the better offensive
Speaker 3: lines at football. So I think he's going to have
Speaker 3: to make some adjustments in that regard to help Geno
Speaker 3: and help the line. But I'm excited to see it
Speaker 3: because I think it's we have proof of concept that
Speaker 3: he knows how to get the ball in the hands
Speaker 3: of playmakers, and Seattle still has a very good group
Speaker 3: of playmakers.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the thing that you said that excited me the
Speaker 1: most is like, if they can just improve the offensive line,
Speaker 1: and that is where coaching in the NFL can matter
Speaker 1: a lot.
Speaker 2: Just to be good enough.
Speaker 1: That just that's going to mean everything for him because
Speaker 1: when he was protected and yeah, the scheme wasn't the
Speaker 1: issue last year, just wasn't happening for him when he
Speaker 1: had time. You know, it's been a sneaky big part
Speaker 1: of the off season on Twitter, I feel like.
Speaker 3: Yeah, a couple of days every now and then there's
Speaker 3: like a day where all of the NFL film nerds
Speaker 3: just start posting, you know, clips like this is like
Speaker 3: a little outbreak and then it spreads quickly and that
Speaker 3: happened wild.
Speaker 1: I feel like a proud father, Like I don't even
Speaker 1: need to say anything anymore about you know, like it's
Speaker 1: just out there. It's accepted what a underrated, incredible quarterback
Speaker 1: he is. And I can't believe we waited until day
Speaker 1: three to talk about him on the show. All Right,
Speaker 1: do you feel bad for making me feel bad because
Speaker 1: you produced a baby that's larger than me.
Speaker 4: He's not quite there. You've met him, can you? Yeah? Like,
Speaker 4: what's your scouting report on maybe?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 1: Well, I think he's going to be a team player,
Speaker 1: great attitude, big in the Hips, you know, in the Hips,
Speaker 1: I think like he's gonna be tough to move, nice anchor,
Speaker 1: you know, possibly an offensive lineman, possibly a tight end,
Speaker 1: but one that can block.
Speaker 2: And yeah, he's massive, you know, he's massive.
Speaker 4: He's absolutely in it.
Speaker 1: As your Twitter you know, profile says taller than you think.
Speaker 1: That's true about Mina. But you and Nick are not, like.
Speaker 4: Not big people.
Speaker 2: That's not a tall couple. And yeah, it's impressive.
Speaker 4: Thank you. You did the opposite of Lenny's question.
Speaker 3: Lenny's question was always rude and that was self deprecating,
Speaker 3: which does feel on brand.
Speaker 1: Okay, how about how do you feel how do you
Speaker 1: have so many friends?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 2: How do you have so many friends?
Speaker 1: And is it difficult for you that they all have podcasts?
Speaker 3: Uh? You're all it's been quite the off season of
Speaker 3: NFL podcast free agency where everybody's it's kind of like
Speaker 3: an NBA hiring where all the coaches surface in new
Speaker 3: jobs and suddenly there's one guy's out and one guys
Speaker 3: in and listen, I just I just say, yes, oh,
Speaker 3: you're in a new podcast now?
Speaker 4: Sure, all right, come on.
Speaker 2: I do think it is your superpower.
Speaker 1: I think people look at me and this is all
Speaker 1: true that you're so good at synthesizing, you know, the
Speaker 1: numbers and the film and putting it all in really
Speaker 1: concise ways that you know. I'm I definitely envy when
Speaker 1: you're on TV, but I think your superpower is you
Speaker 1: really do have like so many friends that I think
Speaker 1: have meaningful relationships with you. I feel like I have one,
Speaker 1: but i'm and it's impressive. I do ask that, you know.
Speaker 1: I don't know how you pull that off. It just
Speaker 1: feels like it'd be so time consuming just sing with everyone.
Speaker 3: You're with this new venture, Greg, you were about to
Speaker 3: deepen a lot of friendships very quickly because you're going.
Speaker 4: To be asking a lot of people to come on
Speaker 4: this show.
Speaker 3: And as I said texted you when you tant me
Speaker 3: the news, I think I owe you about twenty five appearances,
Speaker 3: So comeing in.
Speaker 1: I will take you up on that. That is it
Speaker 1: for today's NFL Daily Hit the Music, Eric. I am
Speaker 1: really excited about Friday show, last show of the week,
Speaker 1: Bill Barnwell coming in will do the same conversation going
Speaker 1: through the NFC for me to chimes, I'm Greg Rosenthal.
Speaker 2: We'll see you next time on it thought Daily
Speaker 3: Sh