Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL Daily, where we're four days into realizing
Speaker 1: Daily is both a promise and a threat. I am
Speaker 1: beyond lucky today to be joined by Bill Barnwell of ESPN,
Speaker 1: the best pro football writer on the interwebs, the TV
Speaker 1: star from Around the Horn, host of the Bill Barnwell Show,
Speaker 1: the podcast, and someone who is wearing a suit right
Speaker 1: now coming straight from NFL Live. Thank you for just
Speaker 1: outshining me Bill in the first week of this show.
Speaker 2: You know what this is like. This is like when
Speaker 2: you have ten people on the field out of play
Speaker 2: and twelve people on the field out of play. The
Speaker 2: average is a liven. The average is just straight. I
Speaker 2: feel like the appropriate garbage halfway between my outfit and
Speaker 2: your outfit for podcasting.
Speaker 1: Yes for the YouTube bodying. Sorry, I keep starting this
Speaker 1: week talking about what we look like when most y'all
Speaker 1: are listening. I do have my Jerry from Succession you
Speaker 1: Little Slim Puppy T shirt, which I bought at like
Speaker 1: one in the morning with a Twitter ad. They work sometimes, Bill,
Speaker 1: I promise, I am not going to bring up the
Speaker 1: time I saw you speak at some bar in Manhattan
Speaker 1: for Football Outsiders fifteen years ago. But that shows how
Speaker 1: long we've been doing this together.
Speaker 2: Yes, do you know who was in the bathroom when
Speaker 2: I gave that speech and I went to the bathroom.
Speaker 1: Absolutely not No Raiders head coach Antonio Peers. Wow. And
Speaker 1: Giant's great Antonio Peers, who was also the subject of
Speaker 1: the first question I ever asked at a Super Bowl
Speaker 1: press conference to Bill Belichick in two thousand and seven.
Speaker 1: I just thought, I know he likes talking about other
Speaker 1: players nice more nicely than his own players. So I
Speaker 1: had some sort of Giants linebackers Antonio Piers the history
Speaker 1: of Giants linebackers question, and he totally gave me a
Speaker 1: great answers.
Speaker 2: So there you go.
Speaker 1: Love Antoni Appears, love the NFC, Love this entire week
Speaker 1: of NFL Daily, and Bill, I thank you for helping
Speaker 1: me wrap it up. We're gonna go through every single
Speaker 1: NFC team. We're gonna talk just like I did with
Speaker 1: Mina yesterday, about what we think is the most intriguing
Speaker 1: storyline about this team heading into training camp. Could be
Speaker 1: part of training camp, could be bigger picture. I'll get
Speaker 1: going right now with the NFC East, and I'm gonna
Speaker 1: start with Jalen Hurts one of the quotes that I
Speaker 1: found most interesting over the last couple of months was
Speaker 1: from Jalen Hurts talking about how it's going to take
Speaker 1: him time to get ready and comfortable with this offense
Speaker 1: and that need to it, rep it, rep it until
Speaker 1: he really knows what it is, because ninety five percent
Speaker 1: of this offense is new, And that told me this
Speaker 1: really is Kellen Moore's offense. It's not Nick Sirianni's offense.
Speaker 1: And that offense that they ran was wildly effective. Should
Speaker 1: have won the Super Bowl, Like had a much better
Speaker 1: defensive performance in the Super Bowl then either of the
Speaker 1: teams last year. That that's for sure. It didn't get
Speaker 1: it done and then slowly eroded. And it really does
Speaker 1: seem like Nick Sirianni is handing over the keys two
Speaker 1: more and I don't know how Jalen Hurts and the
Speaker 1: rest of this team is going to handle it. It's
Speaker 1: going to take some time. But to me, that's that's
Speaker 1: the most exciting thing and most intriguing thing to me
Speaker 1: with this Eagles team going into camp.
Speaker 2: Yeah, a couple of things, I would say. Number one,
Speaker 2: I want to see how it adjusts in terms of
Speaker 2: what it keeps from the Sirianni offense. I know, one
Speaker 2: of the big things that popped up with the Sirianni
Speaker 2: offense is that they really do not have good answers
Speaker 2: for the Blitz. They didn't have a lot of like
Speaker 2: the built in adjustments that teams have a lot of.
Speaker 2: It was just jailen, you know, make a guy miss
Speaker 2: or pass the ball up to one of your star
Speaker 2: receivers and let them figure it out. And I'd like
Speaker 2: to see more built in answers for the blitz. But
Speaker 2: I also wonder what happens if the offense struggles early
Speaker 2: in the season, which adjusting to a new offense is
Speaker 2: going to happen very often. I think there's real concerns about,
Speaker 2: you know, are they going to abandon what they didn't
Speaker 2: go back to what worked in years with the Sirianni
Speaker 2: style offense. Are they going to you know, sort of
Speaker 2: be willing to endure some of the growing paints that
Speaker 2: happened as you adjust to a new offense, because we
Speaker 2: did see them a couple years ago. Jalen Hurts his
Speaker 2: first full season as a starter, really shift the offense
Speaker 2: as the year went along, and it was for the better.
Speaker 2: I wonder if they might do it again and have
Speaker 2: for the worse this time.
Speaker 1: Around, and the patients just isn't going to be there.
Speaker 1: It's never a great situation when it's a do or
Speaker 1: die year for the coaching staff. Yet there's new systems
Speaker 1: on both sides of the ball. It's a weird combination.
Speaker 1: And yet I do believe in the roster. The offense
Speaker 1: is so talented. The defense I think is more talented
Speaker 1: than people give credit for that. I think they will
Speaker 1: figure it out. Another team obviously at the top of
Speaker 1: the division. It's the Eagles and the Cowboys, and it's
Speaker 1: everyone else. They're trying to figure out who their running
Speaker 1: backs are, who their wide receivers are. So this is
Speaker 1: one intriguing storyline to me that is about camp because
Speaker 1: I want to see how it shakes out. This is
Speaker 1: These are some position battles that matter. People were a
Speaker 1: little more surprised than I expected that Brandon Cooks would
Speaker 1: in decline last year because he had been declining in
Speaker 1: decline for a couple of years. Yeah, I don't know
Speaker 1: if he's done as an effective receiver, but he's not
Speaker 1: a great number two. And then you have Jalen Tover
Speaker 1: and Cavante Turpin and Jalen Brooks. I don't know how
Speaker 1: that's gonna shake out. At running back, at Zeke, it's
Speaker 1: doubtell it's Deuce Vaughan, it's Royce Freeman. Like I don't
Speaker 1: know if if they're going to pick up someone during
Speaker 1: camp for either of these positions, but I am curious
Speaker 1: who ends up getting the reps.
Speaker 2: It does feel like it would have happened by now right.
Speaker 2: I mean, there's guys out there, and a Hunter Renfer
Speaker 2: is out there who's a very viable slot receiver, has
Speaker 2: been at his best of the past. There were running
Speaker 2: backs out there who the Cowboys could have signed, could
Speaker 2: have drafted. They did not address any of those positions.
Speaker 2: They've been talking about playing Deuce Vaughn in the slot,
Speaker 2: which feels like peak off season in terms of stories.
Speaker 2: So I actually ranked the Cowboys think seventeenth or eighteenth
Speaker 2: in my playmaker rankings for ESPN dot Com this offseason
Speaker 2: and expected pushback than I actually got. I mean, CD
Speaker 2: Lamb is a you know, a legit number one star,
Speaker 2: and yet their below average outside of tight end everywhere else.
Speaker 2: I mean they're maybe top bottom five running next situation,
Speaker 2: maybe bottom five wide receiver, two wide receiver three situation.
Speaker 2: This offense would be doa if CD Lamb got injured,
Speaker 2: and that's great leverage for CD Lambas he negotiates a
Speaker 2: new contract.
Speaker 1: And da if Dak Prescott wasn't making them all look
Speaker 1: better and until the playoffs getting underappreciated Washington, this is
Speaker 1: an answer we probably won't get fully till the regular season.
Speaker 1: I'm curious, you know, what does this version of Cliff
Speaker 1: Kingsbury's offense look like? But more specifically, does he have
Speaker 1: a little offensive line magic? The nicest thing you can
Speaker 1: say about Cliff other than you know, his handsomeness and
Speaker 1: his houses and his ability to make money. Let's face it, despite.
Speaker 2: Like the opposite of me, I feel like it every way. No.
Speaker 1: I think they did a good job with their offensive
Speaker 1: lines in Arizona that kind of got swept under the
Speaker 1: rug like they always thought. They overperformed in terms of
Speaker 1: the talent that they had in the running game and
Speaker 1: pass protected Kyler Murray pretty well. So they're gonna need
Speaker 1: to like He's this offensive line is not that talented,
Speaker 1: And that to me is the number one concern with
Speaker 1: Gane and Daniels. It's any rookie quarterback that would be
Speaker 1: a concern and someone that didn't always have great reps
Speaker 1: under pressure, you know most college quarterbacks do. But he
Speaker 1: was so good on the reps he was protected that
Speaker 1: it was a big difference that I do worry about that,
Speaker 1: But maybe Cliff can cook up some schemes that's going
Speaker 1: to protect his young guy.
Speaker 2: I'm really intrigued. I sort of wonder is this going
Speaker 2: to be an offense where it operates the same way
Speaker 2: it did in Arizona because Arizona was one of the
Speaker 2: most empty friendly teams in football. They ran empty at
Speaker 2: one of the highest rates in the league, sent five
Speaker 2: receivers out into routes at one of the highest rates
Speaker 2: in the league, blocked with five players at one of
Speaker 2: the highest rates in the league. And you know, there's
Speaker 2: ways to make that work. It's not as simple is
Speaker 2: just you know, max protecting and sending as many blockers
Speaker 2: as possible, because if you have more blockers, that's usually
Speaker 2: they defenses will add on more rushers. It isn't as
Speaker 2: simple as saying, hey, we're going to block with eight
Speaker 2: send two guys out. That'll solve our problems. But it
Speaker 2: also is easier to block with extra people, and so
Speaker 2: they did go out and sign zach Ertz. I wonder
Speaker 2: if this is eight team that uses more too tight
Speaker 2: end sets this year it was with Benson O there
Speaker 2: as well. I wonder if they are a team that
Speaker 2: goes out and you know, tries to make Jandon Daniels's
Speaker 2: life easier by having more people in protecting than maybe
Speaker 2: there were for Kyler Murray in Arizona.
Speaker 1: M Yeah, that's a good point because they drafted the
Speaker 1: tight end two and it just isn't that talented. I
Speaker 1: mean this is these are positions that they're not going
Speaker 1: to be stars, especially in the offensive line. But you
Speaker 1: can find some veterans maybe cuts. When I mentioned the Cowboys,
Speaker 1: like if they're going to do it, they would have
Speaker 1: done it by now. It's probably guys who couldn't make
Speaker 1: other teams rosters, which is never how you want to
Speaker 1: build your team. But I have a feeling guys who
Speaker 1: don't make other teams roster might be able to make
Speaker 1: the Cowboys at least at running back and receiver, and
Speaker 1: maybe the Washington offensive line. Finally, the Giants. You're a
Speaker 1: recovering Giants fan, you try to hide it. I always
Speaker 1: like to bring it up. I could bring up the
Speaker 1: QB battle because I think it's going to be a battle.
Speaker 1: That's fine. I could bring up the Front four, which
Speaker 1: is awesome. That's cool. Yeah, But I do want to
Speaker 1: get your take on my take that this Hard Knocks
Speaker 1: off season is actually the best Giant season since maybe
Speaker 1: Ben McAdoo, maybe even the Super Bowl. What do you think?
Speaker 2: Yes, I think it's better than the Ben macadow year.
Speaker 1: I mean that was a good that was you know,
Speaker 1: Eli kind of wasn't Eli kind of great that year?
Speaker 1: If I if I remember, like that was kind of
Speaker 1: a fun year.
Speaker 2: He was. He was actually impressive with macadoo, really turned
Speaker 2: things around after they went out and changed change coordinators there.
Speaker 2: I I've liked it because it feels honest to me,
Speaker 2: or mostly honest to me, which you know, I think
Speaker 2: there's one like this shock this shock reaction to it
Speaker 2: of just like oh my god, they're talking this way
Speaker 2: about these players, or like that's how part officers talk
Speaker 2: about people. That is what you get from people behind
Speaker 2: the scenes, so I know they're hiding some stuff. It
Speaker 2: does feel like I like Joe Shane a lot more
Speaker 2: and don't disliked Joe Shane, But it does feel like
Speaker 2: I like the people who are in charge of the
Speaker 2: Giants more, and it's putting in a position where they
Speaker 2: look like human beings, which after the Joe Judge era,
Speaker 2: that was the exact day Vitamin err I should say
Speaker 2: that was the exact opposite of how I felt about
Speaker 2: the Giants' front office. So it does feel like they're
Speaker 2: humanizing the people who are making these decisions, which I
Speaker 2: think is nice.
Speaker 1: Yeah, can we can we lay off Florio? And I
Speaker 1: saw Albert Beer write about it too. It's like, is
Speaker 1: this going too far? Are they giving away too much info?
Speaker 1: And now we're not going to get cool content. It's
Speaker 1: like they're not giving away that much. This is selectively edited.
Speaker 1: Everyone looks great. It's interesting, like, let's not be a
Speaker 1: snitch here. Those articles you're like speaking into existence are
Speaker 1: the reasons why NFL Films will be having some sort
Speaker 1: of meeting and they'll be printing out Florio and Brier's article.
Speaker 1: It's just like, let's calm down. It's interesting. I'm just
Speaker 1: pleasantly surprised that to me, it's been more compelling than
Speaker 1: a lot of the n season hard knocks, or maybe
Speaker 1: maybe even the camp hard knocks because we've gotten.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree, I agree, And you know what, seeing
Speaker 2: Drake May break down a play, it doesn't have a
Speaker 2: secret into Drake May. It's gonna be okay.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be fine. All Right, I'm gonna have you
Speaker 1: take care of the NFC North Bill and tell me
Speaker 1: what you got for most intriguing storylines.
Speaker 2: We're going north. Okay, So let's start with the Chicago Bears,
Speaker 2: where everyone's talked about how great the receiving core is
Speaker 2: for Caleb Williams, But what about the offensive line. They
Speaker 2: traded a fifth round pick for Ryan Bates, a guy
Speaker 2: they tried to sign us an RFA a couple of
Speaker 2: years ago. Ryan Bates was benched by the Bills after
Speaker 2: one year as a starter. He's probably gonna start at center.
Speaker 2: He played tackle and guard for the Bills. Nate Davis,
Speaker 2: they're a big free signing for a year ago at guard.
Speaker 2: Wasn't it mandatory? Mini camp was not good last year.
Speaker 2: They're kind of relying on him to be a regular
Speaker 2: up front. Coleman Shelton figures in somewhere here. But for
Speaker 2: all the talk we have this offseason about how great
Speaker 2: Caleb Williams's situation is and it is really great at
Speaker 2: receiver and with the playmakers. Concerns about whether the offensive
Speaker 2: buying is up to the task on the other side
Speaker 2: of the offense.
Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely, because we just don't know with this coaching
Speaker 1: staff whether they can provide like a schematic advantage for
Speaker 1: them or not. Like I have, I have high hopes
Speaker 1: because it's Caleb Williams, and like you have a lot
Speaker 1: to work with at wide receiver, but on paper it's
Speaker 1: not great. And I appreciate your professionalism, Bill and just
Speaker 1: trucking through us playing like the Hard Knocks sound underneath
Speaker 1: the giants, because I mean, like you're a TV pro now.
Speaker 1: You literally came straight from the set. I almost feel
Speaker 1: bad now that you just went from an hour live
Speaker 1: TV to doing this. But yeah, Bears will be on
Speaker 1: Hard Knocks too. It's a long way with me saying
Speaker 1: like that's cool. It's fun to have a cool Bears team.
Speaker 1: The Eberflus glow up is awesome, and the defensive talent
Speaker 1: at least in the back seven is great. But I
Speaker 1: absolutely agree that is the number one concern for me
Speaker 1: for that team, really both lines, and it's why I'm
Speaker 1: not going to pick them to make the playoffs. Spoiler
Speaker 1: alert for an article there are a podcast like Months
Speaker 1: from Now, because they're not. I always go like for
Speaker 1: the teams that are kind of on the border line,
Speaker 1: which they would be, like if who's the best offensive
Speaker 1: line defensive line? That it's such a dorky thing to say,
Speaker 1: but it's kind of true. It just feels like it
Speaker 1: provides a floor for a team and they probably don't
Speaker 1: have that floor on either side.
Speaker 2: Yep, Detroit Lions. A little more traditional fantasy football analysis here,
Speaker 2: does the Jamison Williams hype survive training camp because it
Speaker 2: is easy to hype a potential impact wide receiver in May.
Speaker 2: This is the sky More rule. If you want to
Speaker 2: go back to last year, not so easy to hype
Speaker 2: them in training camp and into the season. Jamison Williams.
Speaker 2: Of course, we can say, hey, he was injured for
Speaker 2: most of his rookie year. He was suspended for the
Speaker 2: start of his second season. I know he had a
Speaker 2: didn't He scored that reverse touchdown for the Lions in
Speaker 2: the championship, So that was just highlight. I say pro
Speaker 2: so far, but this is a guy of the Lions
Speaker 2: traded up in the first round tick Wrap. They saw
Speaker 2: him as a superstar and it's what they need. It's
Speaker 2: like the one piece on offense they don't have is
Speaker 2: a guy who can win at all three levels. So
Speaker 2: does Dan Campbell still say he's the most improved player
Speaker 2: on the roster by the training camp.
Speaker 1: I hope so, because Dan Campbell love him for this
Speaker 1: is very giving in terms of not hiding what where
Speaker 1: a player is at, like when he has a player
Speaker 1: he doesn't like, I'm trying to think of who it was.
Speaker 1: Was it Donovan, People's Jones? No, it was someone that
Speaker 1: they ended up cutting, Denzel Mims, And they're like, yeah,
Speaker 1: he's on the roster, like when they ask him about
Speaker 1: him and they they they let him. They let everyone know,
Speaker 1: like we're not happy with Jamison Williams. And then they
Speaker 1: flipped late last season and I remember going back and
Speaker 1: watching a ton of Jamison Williams route hoping to do
Speaker 1: a little segment on his growth, like about what they're
Speaker 1: talking about, and I don't know if it all there.
Speaker 1: There were some really good just regular NFL routes like
Speaker 1: comebacks where it was timed well and it was like
Speaker 1: a seventeen yard catch by Jamison Williams, and it's like,
Speaker 1: you hadn't seen a lot of that, and so that's nice,
Speaker 1: but it wasn't a ton of them, So I don't
Speaker 1: want to get too carried away. I was surprised they
Speaker 1: didn't look for another receiver. So usually teams speak with
Speaker 1: their actions, and they spoke with a lot of confidence.
Speaker 1: And if you remember, he also had a big time
Speaker 1: drop in the NFC Championship game, but they also made
Speaker 1: an incredible catch and I'm hoping I'm remembering this right
Speaker 1: to essentially give them a chance to kick an on
Speaker 1: side kick, you know, on fourth down when they were
Speaker 1: wasting too much time at the end of the game.
Speaker 1: So it's like he's given you some nice plays. He
Speaker 1: doesn't need to be the best receiver in the league,
Speaker 1: but if you can give you eight hundred, nine hundred
Speaker 1: yards and a bunch of big plays, they'd be thrilled.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, they did not replace Josh Reynolds after
Speaker 2: they let him go to the Broncos. This offseason in
Speaker 2: free agency, the grimmind Packers really fascinating what's happening here
Speaker 2: with their defensive coordinator situation. They hired Jeff Hafley from
Speaker 2: Boston College after he was the head coach there. Over
Speaker 2: the last four years, Jeff Haffley ran single high coverages
Speaker 2: more than any other coach in college football by a
Speaker 2: considerable margin. I think he was like sixty seven percent.
Speaker 2: Someone else is at sixty one. Nobody else was in
Speaker 2: the sixties. He was head and shoulders about the competition
Speaker 2: when it came to single high looks. And this is
Speaker 2: a league where it's been talked about plenty that the
Speaker 2: I have to use my Jarkin correctly, sorry, single high
Speaker 2: pour one safety, one safety in the center of the field. Typically,
Speaker 2: teams have moved to playing more dual safety coverages, more
Speaker 2: split safety coverages, play two safeties back with the hopes
Speaker 2: that you're taking away the big plays, but you're also
Speaker 2: sacrificing something up front and the run game. Jeff Haffley
Speaker 2: is going in the opposite direction, and the Packers have
Speaker 2: spent accordingly. They used a They spent a ton of
Speaker 2: money opening free agency by signing Saviory McKinney, one of
Speaker 2: their few free agents signings. They used the second round
Speaker 2: pick on Javon Buller, who was the free safety in
Speaker 2: Georgia last That's two guys that can both play center field.
Speaker 2: But in a league that is more and more too high,
Speaker 2: are the Packers going to thrive by going to single
Speaker 2: hick coverages instead.
Speaker 1: I'm fascinated to see that too, and see because look,
Speaker 1: Hafley wasn't working with a full deck at Boston College
Speaker 1: and got a lot of love for his creativity there.
Speaker 1: So I don't know if it was personnel issues of
Speaker 1: that that's partly why he leaned so hard into that,
Speaker 1: But we've seen it. We saw it last year with
Speaker 1: Jim Schwartz, and I think he had more talent to
Speaker 1: work with. But defensive coordinators who take over someone who
Speaker 1: is doing a bad job and can get everyone on
Speaker 1: the same page and has a decent amount of talent
Speaker 1: can go from sub mediocre, which I think the Packers'
Speaker 1: defense was last year, to good pretty quickly. And so
Speaker 1: I'm optimistic because to me, they do have enough really
Speaker 1: good players on this defense to excel. Rashan Gary's off
Speaker 1: the ACL. Kenny Clark is still a dude. You brought
Speaker 1: in Xavier McKinney, which was really nice. You still have
Speaker 1: dire Alexander Like I like this defense fine, and so
Speaker 1: they needed something new. I'm excited for it any any
Speaker 1: They just need to be average, and I think the
Speaker 1: offense takes care of the rest.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I feel like we've been saying for years,
Speaker 2: like if the Packers just have an okay defense, they're
Speaker 2: gonna make it to the super Bowl, And every year
Speaker 2: the Packers have.
Speaker 1: I thought they were gonna be awesome a couple of
Speaker 1: years ago, but I choose to blame that all on
Speaker 1: the coaches.
Speaker 2: Fair, not unreasonable. Last one for the Vikings, very straightforward.
Speaker 2: Would love to be a hipster and talk about like,
Speaker 2: you know, is Ivon pay is gonna you know, be
Speaker 2: the Green Dot and his second season? Like, no, is
Speaker 2: Sam Donald going to make this an actual race to
Speaker 2: week one? No?
Speaker 1: I appreciate that, like you play the hits. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: haven't had enough QB battle talk on these two shows
Speaker 1: with Mina yesterday, And I do consider this a competition
Speaker 1: between you and Mina it is. I'm gonna You're both
Speaker 1: gonna be winning winning.
Speaker 2: I'm the Sam Donalds of this, this comparison with Mina Kimes.
Speaker 1: I think Donald's gonna win Week one, don't you?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Who do you think starts week one?
Speaker 2: I think Sam Donald starts week one? And I think
Speaker 2: they have such a difficult schedule early in the season
Speaker 2: that I could say Sam Donald starting for a couple
Speaker 2: of weeks, a few weeks. They gave him ten million dollars.
Speaker 2: I think nine and a half was guaranteed, like or
Speaker 2: eight and a half was guaranteed. They paid him like
Speaker 2: he was going to be their starter this year if
Speaker 2: they couldn't find somebody else. They gave him more than
Speaker 2: backup money to ensure that he was going to go
Speaker 2: to Minnesota. And I don't believe there's anything different about
Speaker 2: Sam Darnald versus what he was a year ago when
Speaker 2: he just threw some garbage time passes and I think
Speaker 2: some week eighteen passes for the forty nine ers. He
Speaker 2: was not especially great in those situations. But we've seen
Speaker 2: Sam Donald when things are perfect around him, when he
Speaker 2: has protection, when he has good receivers, when he's not trailing,
Speaker 2: he's been fine. And so I think in their head
Speaker 2: they believe, Hey, if we just do right by Sam,
Speaker 2: he'll be okay. I don't think that's going to play
Speaker 2: out in reality, but I could see them talking themselves
Speaker 2: into that because Sam Donald is going to look good
Speaker 2: in camp, because he always looks good.
Speaker 1: In camp, right, I was gonna say, like, there's very
Speaker 1: little reason to think that JJ McCarthy in his rookie
Speaker 1: season is going to look better than Sam Donald at
Speaker 1: picking up a new NFL offense against air. Sam Donald's
Speaker 1: issues come when the pass rush is coming and he
Speaker 1: just does some inexplicable things. And I do think he's
Speaker 1: gotten better as a pro because he had that Panthers
Speaker 1: season where until Week eighteen he put together a really
Speaker 1: strong string of games that was like, hey, I can
Speaker 1: be a league average quarterback and he collapsed in Week
Speaker 1: eighteen and that always stuck in my mind and he'll
Speaker 1: throw that in there. But he's a real dude, and
Speaker 1: he's more talented than JJ McCarthy was coming out of
Speaker 1: college too, So I think they're going to fall in
Speaker 1: love with him. It probably will have more downs than
Speaker 1: ups once you get over a long regular season timeline
Speaker 1: and then you see J McCarthy. But I have for long,
Speaker 1: a long time kind of been annoyed by the Donald hive,
Speaker 1: and I kind of want them to have one moment
Speaker 1: going to give them that, and I think this is it.
Speaker 1: I think he's gonna have a moment because Kevin O'Connell's
Speaker 1: pretty awesome, and I think the situation for either quarterback
Speaker 1: is great. Yeah, all right, that's AFC North, I mean
Speaker 1: NFC North and NFC East. We are going to take
Speaker 1: a quick break and we're gonna come back with the
Speaker 1: other two divisions, and even a little bit of news
Speaker 1: will be right back back on NFL Daily. Bill Suit
Speaker 1: really fits that music. It's just it's serious.
Speaker 2: It looks like it came from Super Bowl five.
Speaker 1: I love it. It honestly just puts me in the mood.
Speaker 1: And let me know if y'all agree out there. We
Speaker 1: have an email address. I was gonna mention at the
Speaker 1: end of the show, but why not now NFL Daily
Speaker 1: Podcast at gmail dot com. Let us know what you
Speaker 1: think of the music. We're gonna do news here for
Speaker 1: the first time on this show. Look, this show's gonna
Speaker 1: be a lot different. Bill. I launched in maybe the
Speaker 1: last completely dead week. Next week will be a hybrid
Speaker 1: week where it's still pretty dead. And so these types
Speaker 1: of shows to me, are their preview type shows. They're
Speaker 1: different than it's gonna be once the news is happening,
Speaker 1: and it's gonna be a real news heavy show to start.
Speaker 1: But We got a little bit of news on Thursday,
Speaker 1: so Eric hit the sound. Oh wow, thank you, Joe Buck. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the Titans sign Jamal Adams. That came out of nowhere.
Speaker 2: I like that.
Speaker 1: Denard Wilson, who's their defensive coordinator, was his position coach
Speaker 1: with the Jets. I do feel like Jamal Adams is
Speaker 1: still a big enough star, and I know he's like
Speaker 1: that's not his playing level right now that he is
Speaker 1: worth having his own little news items in a show
Speaker 1: like this.
Speaker 2: What do you think though, Well, your sound was seemingly
Speaker 2: dialing into America Online. It kind of feels like that
Speaker 2: was the last time Jamal Adams was an impact player
Speaker 2: in the NFL, and that's unfair. I do think Adams
Speaker 2: at his best is a player who can be really valuable,
Speaker 2: and I think that can be really thoughtful about how
Speaker 2: you're going to use him. Seattle seemed like they went
Speaker 2: back and forth, like they found spots for him as
Speaker 2: a blitzer his first year that were really valuable. He
Speaker 2: got injured a bunch, he was not good in coverage,
Speaker 2: and I think there's a real question about whether he's
Speaker 2: going to be a safety or something closer to a
Speaker 2: linebacker or really maybe best as some kind of hybrid player.
Speaker 2: I actually really liked the idea of him being in
Speaker 2: Mike McDonald's defense before they cut him, which I had
Speaker 2: to cut him for cap reasons, for financial reasons, he
Speaker 2: was making too much money. But I do wonder, you know,
Speaker 2: going forward, if he plays regularly, I would assume he'll be,
Speaker 2: at least on paper, a safety. But how often does
Speaker 2: he play in the box. How often does he blitzing
Speaker 2: the quarterback? Because that's really what his game is at
Speaker 2: this point. You don't want him in coverage. You don't
Speaker 2: want him against tight ends, don't find to want him
Speaker 2: against slot receivers, you don't want him against Deebo Samuel.
Speaker 2: But rushing the quarterback, being a guy who does you know,
Speaker 2: factor in when you're blitzing, I feel like that is
Speaker 2: kind of a useful player in the right spot.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Dinard Wilson, who, as you know, Bill comes from Baltimore,
Speaker 1: and the Mike McDonald tree. We're going to talk about
Speaker 1: that on Monday actually with Nate Tyson and Jordan Rodrige.
Speaker 2: Like, oh wow, these coaches the stars.
Speaker 1: Yeah it is. We're going big in the first week.
Speaker 1: I'm excited about that. Show. This defense is weird. Kenneth
Speaker 1: Murray is heavily involved. Also a player that hasn't been
Speaker 1: great in coverage, Like I love the lagarious need pick up.
Speaker 1: It seems uneven. We don't know much about Wilson. I
Speaker 1: think it's a below average group in terms of talent.
Speaker 1: But I think Jamal Adams is worth a shot like
Speaker 1: these prices, like he absolutely is worth a shot. Also
Speaker 1: worth a shot the NFC West. I'm gonna do my
Speaker 1: most intriguing thing to start with about the Arizona Cardinals
Speaker 1: going into this year, and it's just Kyler year two
Speaker 1: and Drew Petsig's offense. Kyler Murray's twenty six years old,
Speaker 1: Like I could do the whole like he's only this
Speaker 1: much older than Michael Pennix. But it's a thing like
Speaker 1: we do not need to write the book on Kyler Murray.
Speaker 1: We have seen players that talented who in their first
Speaker 1: four or five years of their career, they're good and
Speaker 1: you see the talent, but they're maybe not exactly what
Speaker 1: you expect, and they get more mature, they get more
Speaker 1: football intelligent, they get more emotionally intelligent. They take big
Speaker 1: hits like a torn acl that keeps you out for
Speaker 1: half a season and you come back, and I thought
Speaker 1: he was a nice fit last year. I went back
Speaker 1: and watched his offseason tape and I thought he did
Speaker 1: some things just from a plane from the pocket perspective
Speaker 1: and making good decisions that he hadn't always done before.
Speaker 1: And he wasn't quite all the way there physically, but
Speaker 1: he was pretty good and a full year healthy in
Speaker 1: this offense with Marvin Harris and Junior. I'm really excited
Speaker 1: because to me, he is still box office and like
Speaker 1: he gets I believe slept on a little bit as
Speaker 1: a guy. That's like, would it be that shocking if
Speaker 1: Kyler Murray when Bill Barnwell is writing his Week eight MVP,
Speaker 1: like Ladder, I know you do that. I used to
Speaker 1: do that. Like that, Kyler Murray's on it. He's literally
Speaker 1: been on it like twice before. It would not be
Speaker 1: that shocking if it happens again where he just like
Speaker 1: starts really hot and is the old exciting Kyler Murray.
Speaker 2: The way you said I used to like it was,
Speaker 2: oh my god, Yeah, that was something that was something
Speaker 2: you know. I don't I'm above that now, but in
Speaker 2: the past I used to do that now.
Speaker 1: I used to do it weekly. That's all that was
Speaker 1: in my mind. I assigned it to myself. It was fun.
Speaker 1: I should do it here, I should do it on
Speaker 1: the podcast.
Speaker 2: It's fun. You have every right to do that. I
Speaker 2: think the thing about Kyler Murray that makes that so
Speaker 2: accurate is this isn't like an Andy Dalton situation where
Speaker 2: Andy Dalton was kind of okay for four or five
Speaker 2: years and then just had that one year where everything
Speaker 2: went right. The offensive line was healthy, he had great playmakers,
Speaker 2: and he had a career year that was so far
Speaker 2: beyond when he played at any level for any significant
Speaker 2: period of time. Kyler Murray was an MVP candidate earlier
Speaker 2: in his career at mid season. I think that was
Speaker 2: the year. I want to say, the Bills hell Mary year,
Speaker 2: right where it was they beat the Bills.
Speaker 1: In the game. If things fell off a cliff but yes, yes, no, but.
Speaker 2: That was at that point of the year. It would
Speaker 2: not have been shocking in the slightest to go and
Speaker 2: talk about Kyler Murray as a not an MVP favorite,
Speaker 2: but certainly deep in the MVP discussion, and we have
Speaker 2: not seen him number one. With all of all the
Speaker 2: following being true, we've only seen him in a Cliff
Speaker 2: Kars offense before last year, which Cliff might not be
Speaker 2: a great NFL scene. That's not out of their own
Speaker 2: possibility that he's upgraded. Massive offensive coindator Richard Petsi, he
Speaker 2: has not been one hundred percent, which in last year
Speaker 2: he was, like you said, he was better. He could run,
Speaker 2: but he was not necessarily consistently one hundred percent. And
Speaker 2: last year I believe when he came back Marquis Brown
Speaker 2: was pretty much hurt for the vast jump that stretch,
Speaker 2: about the entire stretch, which meant he had probably bottom
Speaker 2: three NFL wide receivers for that entire stretch. He had
Speaker 2: Trimick Bride, which helps, and James Connor was really good
Speaker 2: last year. But now you're adding a legit potential number
Speaker 2: one receiver in Marvin Harrison. To me, I think it's
Speaker 2: so much better around him this year that that's absolutely
Speaker 2: within the range of outcomes for Kayler Murray is an
Speaker 2: MVP caliber campaign. It's also he could be the twenty
Speaker 2: fourth best quarterback in football.
Speaker 1: And oh see, that's that's where I pushed back. I
Speaker 1: don't think he could be. I mean, as long as
Speaker 1: he's healthy. I think his floor is middle of the pack.
Speaker 1: And I know there's more good quarterbacks than you think.
Speaker 1: When you actually write out the list, you're like, Wow,
Speaker 1: the seventeenth best quarterback is pretty good. But to me,
Speaker 1: that's his floor. That's how much I believe in him.
Speaker 1: And I think this offense ran really well for the
Speaker 1: most part schematically. It was a really good running game
Speaker 1: at the end of the last year. And he'll help that.
Speaker 1: And yeah, I expect Marvin Harrison Junior to be awesome.
Speaker 1: Maybe I'm just projected, but Trey McBride already is awesome
Speaker 1: to me. He could be a top five quarterback. I
Speaker 1: don't know why I went a top five tight end.
Speaker 1: I don't know why I went MVP, Like I just
Speaker 1: I guess just put a was not playing in that.
Speaker 1: You put a mic in front of me, and it's like,
Speaker 1: I just feel like I gotta go first take. I
Speaker 1: just I'm excited. I'm excited to see what he does.
Speaker 1: Let's go to the Rams. Little drum beat this offseason,
Speaker 1: gotta be careful in OTA's this does tend to happen.
Speaker 1: But the Cooper Cup revival season is just it's been
Speaker 1: sprinkled out there. We're friends with JB. Long, who's there
Speaker 1: play by play announcer, and I've seen in a couple
Speaker 1: of other players, just people just who are there and
Speaker 1: they just see what cups look like this offseason, and
Speaker 1: maybe it's just hope. They're hoping for this guy who
Speaker 1: put together one of the all time great wide receiver
Speaker 1: seasons only a couple of years ago, that he could
Speaker 1: get back to where he even close to where he
Speaker 1: was because he was so far from that last year
Speaker 1: and just health wise, we're not gonna learn much other
Speaker 1: than he needs to get to week one like that.
Speaker 1: But by all accounts, he's looking explosive in a way
Speaker 1: that he maybe hasn't even in OTAs, even in practices
Speaker 1: for a couple of years. So that's just one thing
Speaker 1: I'm intrigued by and watching because I think they need
Speaker 1: that to be as good as everyone thinks their offense
Speaker 1: is going to be. Our friend Mina had them, I
Speaker 1: think number two in her Air best offenses. I think
Speaker 1: that that only happens if cupp Is is close to
Speaker 1: where he was a couple of years ago.
Speaker 2: Showan Fay is going to make the Hall of Fame
Speaker 2: one day, and I'm gonna be grumbling about the twenty
Speaker 2: twenty two season when they were down like two touchdowns
Speaker 2: on the fourth quarter and he was still throwing like
Speaker 2: bubble screens to Cooper cup And I'm like, you have
Speaker 2: as the only good player on your offense. You're going
Speaker 2: to get ruined if he gets hurt. And then of
Speaker 2: course he did get hurt and then missed the chunk
Speaker 2: of twenty twenty two, and then he was even when
Speaker 2: he was playing last year at the restretch, for he
Speaker 2: was on one hundred percent like the fake kepnsisting he
Speaker 2: was healthy and Cooper cupperul go like the entire game
Speaker 2: and get one target. So I'm still skeptical he was
Speaker 2: one hundred percent for when he was on the field last.
Speaker 1: Year, absolutely wasn't. You could just tell what his movement.
Speaker 2: He wasn't And and to me, having Pukinakua goes a
Speaker 2: long way. I don't think he has to be the
Speaker 2: guy from the crazy season, which is loving more and
Speaker 2: more like a huge outlier. But the other factor here
Speaker 2: is I'm not sure Kyon Williams is going to be
Speaker 2: there because Kyen Williams has a history of foot injuries.
Speaker 2: Sean mcvayh has a history of downplaying or fight out
Speaker 2: lying about the severity of injuries. You know, if you
Speaker 2: have Kyen and you have Nikua, I think you can
Speaker 2: get by without Cup. But when they had all three
Speaker 2: in the field last year, Matthew Stafford would have been
Speaker 2: number two in the NFL and QBR, which maybe relates
Speaker 2: to Iimena was so optimistic about their chances. But I
Speaker 2: think Cup, you can't count on Cup, like, even if
Speaker 2: you're feel good about him right now, he's a receiver.
Speaker 2: I think he's Is he thirty or thirty one? Now?
Speaker 2: Is that's that my? Yeah? Say that you know you're
Speaker 2: not at that age. I don't think you can count
Speaker 2: on any receiver to be as good as they were
Speaker 2: three or four years ago. That is just the reality
Speaker 2: of aging curves in the NFL. I don't think he's
Speaker 2: going to fall off a cliff, but I do think
Speaker 2: if you can get what you got from him when
Speaker 2: he was healthy last year for a full season, I
Speaker 2: think you'd be happy with that.
Speaker 1: I need more. I need more. He was not he
Speaker 1: was just he was just a guy last year. I
Speaker 1: think he would say that, and I think that's why
Speaker 1: the people around the team. They knew what he was
Speaker 1: really going through, and I think they feel, at least
Speaker 1: for now, that he's not going through that in a
Speaker 1: way that probably hasn't been true since Yeah, that season
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one. He is thirty one years old, so
Speaker 1: he can be a number He can even be a
Speaker 1: number two. That's a great point about Kyrien Williams and
Speaker 1: their actions drafting. Blake Korm might speak to that, and
Speaker 1: he might do a pretty good facsimile if Kiraen Williams
Speaker 1: isn't right. I'm looking at the forty nine ers next
Speaker 1: and just wondering if and how they keep everyone happy,
Speaker 1: even in a world where Brandon Ayu gets his contract.
Speaker 1: There's just a lot there and they've done a great
Speaker 1: job with it. But George Kittle's coming off a pretty
Speaker 1: serious core muscle surgery injury. He doesn't seem like he'd
Speaker 1: be unhappy if he's not getting enough targets. But I
Speaker 1: think he was having more fun last year when he
Speaker 1: was back to being like George Kittle. So you have Ayuk,
Speaker 1: you have Debo maybe it's his last year with the team.
Speaker 1: You have a first round pick in Pearcel, you have
Speaker 1: a guy in Juwan Jennings, who's low drama certainly, but
Speaker 1: just got a contract too. And it's just it's a
Speaker 1: lot of mouths to feed. And I hate it for
Speaker 1: the forty nine ers and their fans that I think
Speaker 1: a team that's been this close year after year after year,
Speaker 1: they have a lot of the same negatives of what
Speaker 1: happens when you win at Super Bowl without actually having
Speaker 1: won the Super Bowl, like the disease of more that
Speaker 1: pat Riley likes to talk about, and the expectations and
Speaker 1: you being circled on everyone's schedule, and they have all
Speaker 1: of that stuff, and it's just hard, and they've done
Speaker 1: a great job kind of keeping it together. I give
Speaker 1: them so much respect for I think that's the hardest
Speaker 1: thing to do in the NFL is like make the
Speaker 1: Final four the Final eight almost every year, and they've
Speaker 1: they've done it. But I do worry about the human
Speaker 1: side of this and can they kind of keep everyone
Speaker 1: happy with their roles, especially the skill position guys.
Speaker 2: So what I'm gonna say sounds dumb, and usually when
Speaker 2: I say that, it actually is dumb, but I swear
Speaker 2: it's not. They benefit in a way. Even thinking this
Speaker 2: in my head, I feel them. They benefit in a
Speaker 2: way from how often their star players get injured.
Speaker 1: Yes, right, Like I get it, I get it, like their.
Speaker 2: Element of Okay, well, George is missing a couple of games.
Speaker 2: I guess we're gonna have to go with more you know,
Speaker 2: more Debo in the offensive playing camp by this week.
Speaker 2: Oh deebo is hurt, well, George brand and I it's
Speaker 2: going to be the focal point of the offense. CMC's
Speaker 2: banged up. Okay, we're going to throw the ball more.
Speaker 2: Like like it almost benefits them in a way because
Speaker 2: you don't want to lose those guys for the entire season.
Speaker 2: You want to have them healthy for the postseason. But
Speaker 2: when you have Deepo missed a couple of games, I
Speaker 2: think that has sort of like natural built in windows
Speaker 2: for other guys to get the ball more, and it
Speaker 2: opens up opportunities for Juan and it opens up an
Speaker 2: opportunity for Peer Salt to play more. I don't want
Speaker 2: to see anyone get injured, but it feels like that's
Speaker 2: the way to do it, or its split faster or
Speaker 2: just just just turn into the Chip Kelly Eagles and
Speaker 2: just play as fast as possible and get as many
Speaker 2: plays as possible as the wait for the Numers to
Speaker 2: do this.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the positive spin to that, which is is that
Speaker 1: they can survive injuries in a way that just other
Speaker 1: teams can't and they're built for it, and injuries are
Speaker 1: going to happen. So you're absolutely right, and so that
Speaker 1: it's a great it's a great retort, and it's absolutely
Speaker 1: true what you're saying about people getting there is like,
Speaker 1: one of the reasons the Celtics had one of the
Speaker 1: greatest seasons in the regular season of all time is
Speaker 1: all the guys that would take games out like they
Speaker 1: loved it when two of their five best players were
Speaker 1: off because then Jalen Brown and Derek White could just
Speaker 1: eat for a night and then they'd be off for
Speaker 1: a couple of nights, and Tatum and Holiday who porzingis
Speaker 1: could eat for a night and it's like, yeah, it
Speaker 1: kind of works better that way if everyone, yeah, takes
Speaker 1: a turn. It's like this podcast, you know, you eat
Speaker 1: I E the Seahawks, E. They are the last team
Speaker 1: in the NFC West I want to talk about and yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm I just am intrigued by how Mike McDonald is
Speaker 1: going to use a handful of specific players in this
Speaker 1: defense because he definitely has I think more tools to
Speaker 1: work with than people really think, Like Draymond Jones was
Speaker 1: a really compelling player before last season in Seattle where
Speaker 1: he disappeared, How is he gonna use him? Byron Murphy
Speaker 1: is just a ball to watch on film. I think
Speaker 1: the Rams wanted him and the Seahawks wound up getting him, Like,
Speaker 1: how is he going to use him? Tyrel Dodson had
Speaker 1: a run in Buffalo that was really impressive at the
Speaker 1: end of last year and is going to be playing linebacker.
Speaker 1: And then mostly Devin Witherspoon, who Pete Carroll did a
Speaker 1: great job and I think any coach would, but especially
Speaker 1: Carroll's great with the secondary and just how is this,
Speaker 1: you know, defensive coordinator who is as good as anyone
Speaker 1: in the last two years work with a group that
Speaker 1: I think's above average. I think I think it's a
Speaker 1: better defensive group than people give credit for the edge
Speaker 1: rushers like not stars, but deep it should be fun
Speaker 1: and I don't Again, it's another team where I don't
Speaker 1: think they need to be great. I think the offense
Speaker 1: will be good enough that if the defense is just
Speaker 1: solid to good, they're They're going to be much better
Speaker 1: than a year ago.
Speaker 2: You know, we always talk about or I don't know
Speaker 2: if we eve and I always talk about the idea
Speaker 2: that when a team gets rid of a coach, they
Speaker 2: typically go for the opposite coach with their next higher
Speaker 2: So you know, you would figure Pete Carroll kind of
Speaker 2: old school but players coach, you know, but a defensive
Speaker 2: minded coach. Maybe you flip it, maybe you figure an
Speaker 2: offensive minded coach, a guy who maybe is a little
Speaker 2: more of a little more Coughlin esque maybe when it
Speaker 2: comes to his personality. But they did not do that.
Speaker 2: They hired another defensive coach, which is going to lead
Speaker 2: to a really fascinating kind of reveal. Right, I mean
Speaker 2: on paper, you're right, Seahawks will get They have a
Speaker 2: lot of impressive pieces. I mean someone even like like
Speaker 2: like Greek Wohlan, who was really good as a rookie.
Speaker 2: She's going to take a step backwards last year. Julian
Speaker 2: Love made the Pro Bowl last year, if I'm not mistaken.
Speaker 2: You know, they signed Jerome Baker, who I think has
Speaker 2: been a good linebacker you know in his career. Boy
Speaker 2: in Mafe was good last year. There's a there's a
Speaker 2: lot of stuff. I think that we're gonna find out
Speaker 2: are those guys as good as we expected? Are those
Speaker 2: guys as good as our reputations? Just like mcdonald'll get
Speaker 2: the most out of them. And Kinder revealed that maybe
Speaker 2: Pete Carroll's defense is not all that great by the
Speaker 2: time he left, or do we find out that Pete
Speaker 2: Carroll actually still a pretty darn good defensive coach. Maybe
Speaker 2: those players are not as good as they seemed. I
Speaker 2: feel like this is almost a referendum, strangely on Pete
Speaker 2: Carroll on his way out the door in Seattle.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think Pete Carroll's was a very good
Speaker 1: head coach over the last five or six years, or
Speaker 1: a good head coach. But I don't need Mike McDaniel
Speaker 1: to tell me anything. The defenses are bad, Like go
Speaker 1: to your old site, you know, go to your go
Speaker 1: to DVOA.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: Now you can see it at FDN, like they were
Speaker 1: literally below average. I think every year, or maybe every
Speaker 1: year but one for seven years, and he's a defensive coach,
Speaker 1: and they put a lot of resources into it, and
Speaker 1: I think he was so good at all the other
Speaker 1: aspects of coaching that it made up for it, and
Speaker 1: they had enough offensive talent too, and so you can't
Speaker 1: just look at that number. But they weren't an effective defense,
Speaker 1: and so I think it absolutely makes sense that Mike
Speaker 1: McDonald's going to do a better job with their defense.
Speaker 1: Let's take one last break. We're gonna do our final division,
Speaker 1: the NFC South, and then we're gonna wrap up the
Speaker 1: week just a little bit after that. Back on NFL Daily,
Speaker 1: running through thirty two teams in two days. My guy
Speaker 1: Bill Barnwell handling the NFC with me. We've been doing
Speaker 1: this long time. Bill's it up and down business. Bill
Speaker 1: Barnwell goes nowhere. He is a foundation upon which this
Speaker 1: business is built.
Speaker 2: Don't go.
Speaker 1: So I told you I had to get on with
Speaker 1: customer service at ESPN plus just to read your articles
Speaker 1: and Zachlow's. I gotta admit it's both.
Speaker 2: Good, exactly.
Speaker 1: It really bothered me somehow my cookies were messing it up,
Speaker 1: and I'm just too old and I had to get
Speaker 1: into But yeah, the best writer out there, you're gonna
Speaker 1: help us go through the NFC South and then we'll
Speaker 1: do a little little extra and say.
Speaker 2: Goodbye, beautiful. Let's start with the new Orleans Saints because
Speaker 2: there's like a weird game of reverse life wage happening
Speaker 2: in New Orleans. Alvin Kamara when he signed his deal
Speaker 2: with the Saints, I think, was five years, seventy five million,
Speaker 2: one to fifty million dollars a year or his agent
Speaker 2: one to fifteen million dollars a year on paper, So
Speaker 2: he had a basically fake, unguaranteed salary for his final year,
Speaker 2: a big leap in his final season up to twenty
Speaker 2: two and a half million dollars. He is not going
Speaker 2: to make that, and there's noise going to make it
Speaker 2: on the open market, but his agent hasn't holding in,
Speaker 2: I guess because he can say, hey, listen, I'll take
Speaker 2: a fifty percent pay cut if you guarantee next year.
Speaker 2: But Alvin Kamara has been below four yards to carry
Speaker 2: each of the last three seasons without Drew Brees, and
Speaker 2: he is not an eleven million dollar player at this
Speaker 2: point of his career. But he also has no trade
Speaker 2: value at He's making a little under twelve million dollars this year.
Speaker 2: There's no real trade value for him, so the Saints
Speaker 2: can't really get anything for him. So to make him happy,
Speaker 2: do the Saints who are generous with their money, guarantee
Speaker 2: him eleven million dollars next year. Does Kamara get traded?
Speaker 2: Is there a team that suddenly wants him? I don't know,
Speaker 2: but what happens with Alvin Kamara in New Orleans?
Speaker 1: Love that you brought this up because this is one
Speaker 1: of those rare offseason stories that I think actually could
Speaker 1: result in a guy changing teams or real holdout or
Speaker 1: something happening, because I think multiple things can be true
Speaker 1: with him. Yeah, he's now worth that right now, and
Speaker 1: so hold out seems a little crazy and maybe indicates
Speaker 1: he's just not incredibly thrilled about some aspects of what's
Speaker 1: going on there in general. And he wouldn't be the
Speaker 1: first player that that's true of. But those numbers lie,
Speaker 1: and I trying to check my bias because I love
Speaker 1: Alvin Kamara. He's still a really good running back. Now,
Speaker 1: maybe not above enough above league average because the explosiveness
Speaker 1: is not the same, but his intelligence, his receiving ability,
Speaker 1: his ability to make guys miss in a small area
Speaker 1: and maybe turn three into seven versus three into thirty
Speaker 1: like he used to. I really do believe if he
Speaker 1: was on a better, more cohesive run blocking team over
Speaker 1: the last couple of years, those numbers would look a
Speaker 1: lot different. But I also love that dude. Man. I mean, so,
Speaker 1: maybe my eyes are lying to me, but that's what
Speaker 1: I believe, and I do believe this is a real
Speaker 1: thing that you're bringing up in Marshaw Lattimore another one.
Speaker 1: I know. He showed up for Mini Camp two and
Speaker 1: that does seem to have settle down. I think they
Speaker 1: they want to keep Latimore and they know how valuable
Speaker 1: is him. But the Saints are a team more than
Speaker 1: any team in the NFL. I feel like where you
Speaker 1: could just see something like, oh wow, that happened, kind
Speaker 1: of like the Chauncey Gardner Johnson trade a couple of
Speaker 1: years ago, it wouldn't surprise me in August.
Speaker 2: M Yeah, I can see it. I have a lot
Speaker 2: of running back and rushing related ones for the NFC South.
Speaker 2: But Carolina Panthers. Does Jonathan Brooks come off of the
Speaker 2: pup list in camp? This should be on paper, a
Speaker 2: much better rushing situation. The Panthers spent a ton of
Speaker 2: money at guard on Robert Hunt and Damian Lewis, and
Speaker 2: if Brooks is healthy ish, he's not really a lot
Speaker 2: of competition. Miles Sanders is a sunk costs at this point.
Speaker 2: Tuba Harbard has been fine, but it's not like they're
Speaker 2: going to have Trooba Hubbard keep Jonathan Brooks from getting
Speaker 2: onto the field. There's no reason to rush him. I guess,
Speaker 2: like you don't want to have him reinjure his knee.
Speaker 2: But on paper, he's by farther their best running back,
Speaker 2: and in reality, they want to do everything they possibly
Speaker 2: can to get Bryce Young back in a good place
Speaker 2: as quickly as possible.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's a shame to me that as good
Speaker 1: as he looked, big power back with nice you know,
Speaker 1: movement ability, and he's coming off in ACL and it
Speaker 1: was in November, Like that was not an early season injury,
Speaker 1: and it just feels like they're not going to be
Speaker 1: fighting and playing with a full deck early in the year.
Speaker 1: I also look at Xavier Legett as a guy that's
Speaker 1: like maybe, but it's gonna take some time. You know,
Speaker 1: it does not seem like he's a guy that's going
Speaker 1: to have a full command of like the NFL route
Speaker 1: tree right off the bat. And so the two guys
Speaker 1: you're adding to really help with explosiveness along with Yantay
Speaker 1: Johnson and try to make this offense more watchable. Frankly,
Speaker 1: I'm just thinking of it from a selfish perspective, like
Speaker 1: might not be all the way who they are until
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five. So that's my work with Brooks.
Speaker 2: Fair legit Tampa. I'll go with one more running game
Speaker 2: and then get to the Falcons who are not rushing
Speaker 2: game related ken Liam Cohen and first round pick Graham
Speaker 2: Bardon on track what has been a horrific Tampa Bay
Speaker 2: Buccaneers running game, and I will refer to the NFL's
Speaker 2: Next Gen Stats project here. In twenty twenty two, the
Speaker 2: Bucks ranked thirty first in expected yards per carry, and
Speaker 2: they were thirty second, and then in twenty twenty three
Speaker 2: they were seventeenth in expected yards per carry. They were
Speaker 2: thirty second again in yards per carry in reality, So
Speaker 2: maybe pin that on Rashad White if you want to.
Speaker 2: You can pin it on the general offensive confusion losing
Speaker 2: Ryan Jensen to a basically career ending knee injury. But
Speaker 2: this is a team that has had absolutely no run
Speaker 2: game the last two seasons, and they've changed the quarterback,
Speaker 2: they've changed the coordinator, they've changed basically everything but Tristan
Speaker 2: Wurf's and the receivers. Does this new group get the
Speaker 2: running game going for once in Tampa Bay?
Speaker 1: I hope so. But you know what, this is their
Speaker 1: four coordinator in four years, Is that right?
Speaker 2: I believe? So?
Speaker 1: No stability really since Arians left and Liam Cohen is
Speaker 1: a little bit like Alex Van Pelt in New England
Speaker 1: as the guy that's like testing the bounds of do
Speaker 1: all the McVeigh Shanahan Tree guys work because they were
Speaker 1: the guys that mcveay and Shanahan weren't picking really, So
Speaker 1: Van Pelts the coordinator and he was, you know, under
Speaker 1: Stefanski and Liam Cohen only lasted a year with the
Speaker 1: Rams and now he's with the Bucks. And Canalis did
Speaker 1: a great job last year at least with the passing game,
Speaker 1: and I think it was cohesive. Yeah, I worry about that.
Speaker 1: I worry about this team just kind of poor Bucks fans.
Speaker 1: It's like they just won a Super Bowl and they
Speaker 1: just won a playoff game in the divisional round, and
Speaker 1: yet they do care about how much attention they get
Speaker 1: and they're just not going to get much attention. They
Speaker 1: are like as off the radar as a team with
Speaker 1: as much recent success as as they've had and all
Speaker 1: these division championships in a row could be And it's
Speaker 1: partly because, yeah, the offense looks like it's gonna be
Speaker 1: blah at.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it does feel like the post Kurt Warner Cardinals, right, Like,
Speaker 2: you know, you guys made it to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 2: But if you asked fans to name thirty two teams,
Speaker 2: they'd probably get thirty and forget the Buccaneers unfortunately. I
Speaker 2: feel bad. They're a fun team to watch. Their best
Speaker 2: defense is really fun.
Speaker 1: They were last year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and if they had any sort of running game,
Speaker 2: I think the offense would actually be good. So hopefully
Speaker 2: they can just get to like twenty fourth in yards
Speaker 2: per carry. If they could just not average like three
Speaker 2: point four yards per carry every single week, that would
Speaker 2: be fun. Atlanta Falcons thirty second and final team in
Speaker 2: Gregg's breakdown. Are the Falcons really gonna go into the
Speaker 2: season with this as their pass rush? I mean, their
Speaker 2: top two rushers last year by sack total six and
Speaker 2: a half each, Kaleas Campbell and Bud Dupree are both gone.
Speaker 2: Their biggest additions is offseason were James Smith, Williams from
Speaker 2: Washington and Rooke o ro ro rooke Oh row row
Speaker 2: row too many rows. Uh, that's on me, I apologize,
Speaker 2: and Brilin Trice So a couple of rookies to the
Speaker 2: front seven. Not really a lot there at edge rusher
Speaker 2: even last season with dupre as their primary edge rusher.
Speaker 2: You know, they have Lorenzo Carter, they have some young guys.
Speaker 2: But for a team that signed Kirk Cousins, which tells
Speaker 2: me they think they're capable of making the postseason this year,
Speaker 2: for a team that has pieces in the secondary, kind
Speaker 2: of shock, they did not do more to add pass
Speaker 2: rushing in terms of veteran pass rushers to this roster.
Speaker 1: I love that you brought this up. I love that
Speaker 1: you've been like a little more negative, I would say
Speaker 1: than me and Mina in this exercise. And that's that
Speaker 1: you need. That's I need to need a little bit
Speaker 1: of that because when I when I've heard like the
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins like Joins already made Super Bowl roster, this
Speaker 1: team was lucky to be average last year. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm not saying Arthur Smith like did a good job
Speaker 1: maximizing their talent. That's that's not my point. But they
Speaker 1: were lucky to win as many games as they were.
Speaker 1: They had a profile of more of a five or
Speaker 1: six wing team like the rest of the NFC South.
Speaker 1: That because their schedule was unbelievably easy, not even in division,
Speaker 1: but out of division, they all looked like a little better.
Speaker 1: They weren't average. And defensively, you know, Ryan Nielsen goes
Speaker 1: to Jacksonville and you get Raheem Morris, who has done
Speaker 1: a great job as a coordinator, but pure talent, I
Speaker 1: think it's bottom five in just pure defensive talent. And
Speaker 1: so when you're a coordinator for a team like that,
Speaker 1: especially with a pass rush other than Jared and Onyamata
Speaker 1: are good inside. But uh, I don't know. I don't
Speaker 1: see it as some Super Bowl made ready roster because
Speaker 1: the defense matters, and there's there's some questions on the offense. Obviously,
Speaker 1: cousins Is health is number one, but it's more about
Speaker 1: the defense.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean you named Jarrett and on your moda,
Speaker 2: those are good players, but aren't they both on the
Speaker 2: wrong side of thirty.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, and on your matter coming off coming off
Speaker 1: two really good years, but also two really good years
Speaker 1: in this style system, which isn't quite the same in
Speaker 1: his best two years. So yeah, and Jesse Bates is
Speaker 1: there and Ajterrell is there, like they have dudes, but
Speaker 1: it's kind of like the Cowboys receiver group. It's like
Speaker 1: it kind of doesn't matter if you have two dudes
Speaker 1: in the secondary. If you have two or three spots
Speaker 1: that are just way below league average, those other two
Speaker 1: can only help you so much, right, All thirty two teams,
Speaker 1: we did it. We did it, Bill, you did sixteen, but.
Speaker 2: I did sixteen. I feel like I could have credit
Speaker 2: for this one, but I'm happy to take credit for
Speaker 2: Mina's accomplishments at any time. So I'm happy I did
Speaker 2: all thirty two. Wonderful work by.
Speaker 1: Me, And yeah, wonderful to spend this week starting this
Speaker 1: show NFL Daily and my after dinner Mint today. It's
Speaker 1: a nice little way we wrap up the show here.
Speaker 1: Bill is just answering like some questions I've heard from
Speaker 1: the listeners I've had won specifically from a friend a
Speaker 1: friend of a friend Dallas, friends with my guy Stephen,
Speaker 1: who is just like, can you tell? And I've seen
Speaker 1: this from our listeners too, just like, what's the regular
Speaker 1: season schedule gonna be?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 1: So I'm just doing some housekeeping here, Bill, and I'm
Speaker 1: pointing out, like, yeah, of course we're going to have
Speaker 1: a great preview show and I'm really excited about that,
Speaker 1: and the details of that are coming, and we'll have
Speaker 1: our Sunday night recap show. And I love as an
Speaker 1: NBA fan, I love the shows that go live right
Speaker 1: after the games and you can either watch it right
Speaker 1: afterwards or you have it in your podcast feed like
Speaker 1: an hour later, or at worst, if you're you know
Speaker 1: on the West Coast, you know, you wake up and
Speaker 1: you play it. And so that we're gonna do all that,
Speaker 1: like the Monday nights, Thursday nights obviously preview the recap shows.
Speaker 1: And I've told you who's who's going to be part
Speaker 1: of it. I told you who's on Monday. I'm really excited.
Speaker 1: It's a fun show coming on Tuesday with Colleen Wolf
Speaker 1: and Patrick Claybon and a special guest there. And so
Speaker 1: that is it from a scheduling perspective. And I want
Speaker 1: to thank you Bill for joining me and Mina and
Speaker 1: everyone that's been on this show this week and everyone
Speaker 1: that has reached out those closest to me, and then
Speaker 1: also the listeners look it's been challenging. It's been a
Speaker 1: week too, Like it's been a lot jumping into this.
Speaker 1: But I'm so excited about just making this show better
Speaker 1: and doing it every day and like growing with it
Speaker 1: because it's gonna get better and it's fun right now.
Speaker 1: And I don't know, I'm just so corny that like
Speaker 1: I love football, like I really do, and I love y'all,
Speaker 1: and like I love being able to do this, and
Speaker 1: I appreciate everyone close to me who's been reaching out
Speaker 1: this week. It does mean a lot to me. And
Speaker 1: if you've made it this far in the show, you
Speaker 1: are one of those people. You are close to me.
Speaker 1: And Bill is just laughing over there, but yeah, the
Speaker 1: email addresses NFL Daily Podcast at gmail dot com. Any thoughts,
Speaker 1: any questions, We're gonna start integrating that into the show
Speaker 1: so listeners can reach out. You're doing overtime, Bill, You're off.
Speaker 1: You did an hour of television and now an hour here.
Speaker 1: You are done. Thank you, my friend, my longtime.
Speaker 2: Friend of course. Greg. A lot of people myself included,
Speaker 2: are rooting for you. So hope you guys enjoyed this
Speaker 2: week's shows. Hopefully it didn't drag it down happily you
Speaker 2: to save you for the end of the week. You
Speaker 2: got the stars out first, but anytime, Greg.
Speaker 1: Not at all. We wanted to go big first week,
Speaker 1: and I was like, Meana and Bill would be great.
Speaker 1: So yeah, we will be back on Monday. As I
Speaker 1: mentioned earlier, Jordan Rodrigue and Nate tay Tice talking talking schemes,
Speaker 1: getting dorky, getting at getting a little dorky, I gotta admit,
Speaker 1: And then we'll have some fun with Colleen and Patrick
Speaker 1: on Tuesday. Until then, Greg Rosenthal for NFL Daily, See
Speaker 1: you next time.