Speaker 1: They Around the NFL podcast eats hot Dogs, Drake Spears
Speaker 1: and hands Castro and testingal issues. Check's out. Welcome to
Speaker 1: another edition of Around the NFL. My name is Dan Hansis.
Speaker 1: I got heroes up here virtually, Greg Rosenthal, Mark Sessler
Speaker 1: and the Man the Legend, Patrick Claybond. How is everybody
Speaker 1: good better than Colleen?
Speaker 2: I hope the question is how are you global traveler?
Speaker 2: That's the question. That's what we want to know.
Speaker 1: Listen, a lot of people are wondering, including my own family.
Speaker 1: Why did you take this mini trip in the middle
Speaker 1: of a random week to New York? And I guess
Speaker 1: I'm loyal to the soil. And I felt the need
Speaker 1: to get home and see some people I haven't seen
Speaker 1: in a while. And you know, it all took me.
Speaker 1: And one of the things about getting home and it's great.
Speaker 1: You know, I got to go to the Yankee and
Speaker 1: see my brother who works at a bar next to
Speaker 1: the stadium. I got to go golfing with my uncle
Speaker 1: yesterday morning. I got to catch up with my sister.
Speaker 1: Was her birthday on Tuesday, and my parents just got
Speaker 1: back from their trips. So it's all really nice. And
Speaker 1: then it all kind of like the cherry on top was.
Speaker 1: I was down in Jersey on Tuesday night and I
Speaker 1: just bump into NFL history out of nowhere, justin do
Speaker 1: we have the shot? I'm at the Summit Elks, incredible establishment,
Speaker 1: watching the NIXT game and the Yankees game simultaneously in
Speaker 1: a beautiful place, and all of a sudden, it's on
Speaker 1: the top two levels of this building in downtown Summit, beautiful,
Speaker 1: charming town. On the bottom floor is a restaurant. And
Speaker 1: then I'm told, you know what this restaurant is, Dan,
Speaker 1: I'm like, what.
Speaker 3: Pull it up, viewers, what a shot?
Speaker 1: Fiorini Restaurantey, That is the restaurant where Derek Carr was
Speaker 1: told he could be a Hall of Famer with the
Speaker 1: New York Jets. Pinch me, NFL history. I was literally
Speaker 1: sitting on top of it, drinking Tito's. So yeah, that
Speaker 1: has kind of been Ah. That was really the best
Speaker 1: part of the trip, realizing I was that close to
Speaker 1: football history and didn't even know it.
Speaker 4: Did they do the thing where like the restaurant owner
Speaker 4: now has a framed photo of him and Derek Carr,
Speaker 4: you know, a little sit there for the next twenty
Speaker 4: five twenty six years.
Speaker 1: Right, Well, yeah, I was. I was giving my dollar
Speaker 1: to the elks upstairs, so I didn't go into the
Speaker 1: Italian restaurant. In fact, it was closed when I came downstairs.
Speaker 1: But I imagine there's got to be a plaque or
Speaker 1: some type of national historic monument documenting when history was
Speaker 1: made in our country. So that was cool.
Speaker 2: So it's been a nice trill, like full alternate timeline
Speaker 2: and just have like pictures of Derek Carr and a
Speaker 2: Jets jersey like him holding the Lombardi Trophy and handle
Speaker 2: it the woody. That's what could have been is when
Speaker 2: you go into Feruzmo, Right.
Speaker 5: This is where Joe Douglas said, you could be a
Speaker 5: Hall of Famer on our team if we didn't prefer
Speaker 5: another guy who's actually a Hall of Famer, And we're
Speaker 5: just gonna make you wait possibly months for that to
Speaker 5: end to actually give you an answer on what's going
Speaker 5: to happen.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was talking to my buddy Howie, one of
Speaker 1: the good Howies by the way, who was like, why
Speaker 1: do they even do that in retrospect because they were
Speaker 1: never going to they were never going to sign them,
Speaker 1: So like, what was the point of that.
Speaker 3: I guess if Rogers backed out, they didn't know.
Speaker 5: They didn't know if Rogers when they got on that
Speaker 5: plane in California, it's Aaron Rodgers. They didn't know for
Speaker 5: sure what he was gonna do.
Speaker 1: It wasn't he already signed with the Saints before any
Speaker 1: of that drama.
Speaker 3: Pas, That's true. He got sick of waiting. That's a
Speaker 3: good one.
Speaker 4: You're Joe Douglass and you just like with no questions,
Speaker 4: asked expense a fantastic Italian dinner that Derek Carr proper
Speaker 4: was just like this is how we paved the way
Speaker 4: to get into that restaurant, and like.
Speaker 1: You know, you had Nathaniel Hackett there, just like smiling
Speaker 1: to himself the whole time, the only guy that really
Speaker 1: knew what was happening. What a comeback for Nate? All right, anyway,
Speaker 1: enough thing keeping very cool. I'm coming home tomorrow, don't worry.
Speaker 1: And Mark, and I think Patrick too, it is May
Speaker 1: the fourth, May the fourth be with you, Live and love.
Speaker 1: I think that's what it is. Live, long and prosper.
Speaker 2: That's where it is.
Speaker 4: Patrick knows that this is a long run gag of
Speaker 4: Dan's to pretend that you know there's no way to
Speaker 4: discern between one space fantasy and the next.
Speaker 6: I would say this, I don't agree with that tweet.
Speaker 6: You should read that Pat.
Speaker 1: Well Clavon tweet flashed up this may fourth. Enjoy the
Speaker 1: fact that Attack of the Klawanes is better than you remember.
Speaker 3: Four years ago.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's even more true now. Enjoy enjoy the
Speaker 2: prequels everybody that's watching them today, because I know you're
Speaker 2: not watching the sequels.
Speaker 1: So any common piece I'll.
Speaker 5: I'll give, I'll give a bonus point. I'll give my
Speaker 5: heart to anyone who knows what usually happens. At this
Speaker 5: point of the podcast, when Dan brings up me the fourth,
Speaker 5: I add a little something extra, a little fact about
Speaker 5: this day as well.
Speaker 6: What the fact are you going to add?
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what I want.
Speaker 5: That I was married on this day sixteen years ago too,
Speaker 5: so before before the arthers took over and took took
Speaker 5: squatted on it.
Speaker 4: Well happy in the first three Yeah, I was going
Speaker 4: to say the branding is very new because now apparently
Speaker 4: if you look at the certain calendars, the American calendar
Speaker 4: every day is something.
Speaker 6: Which is totally absurd.
Speaker 4: But this this is a little late to the party,
Speaker 4: and I think it's sort of a money maker. They've
Speaker 4: re released Return of the Jedi, and you know that
Speaker 4: you're going to fill George Lucas's pockets with more dollar
Speaker 4: bills and ten dollar bills.
Speaker 1: Somebody told me there's a show on one of the
Speaker 1: streamers now that's about Princess Leah and Luke Skywalker as kids.
Speaker 1: I mean, how much more can we mind from this ip?
Speaker 4: No, that was to get into it because you don't care,
Speaker 4: but it was an obi wan kenobi uh series that
Speaker 4: included them when they were very young.
Speaker 2: But also, don't I have your trophy for not caring.
Speaker 2: It's it's actually on the way. As soon as you
Speaker 2: get back to Los Angeles you will get the trophy
Speaker 2: in the full like Awards presentation for not caring. It's
Speaker 2: a tremendous accomplishment. I can't be that it has gone
Speaker 2: unrecognized for so long. Thank you Dan for not caring
Speaker 2: about Star Wars.
Speaker 1: Truli. You're welcome, Patrick. And the one, the one last
Speaker 1: element that usually happens Greg, which I thought was what
Speaker 1: you were getting to, is Mark. Usually after he gives
Speaker 1: me some grief for doing this over and over, he
Speaker 1: will then slightly defensively say that the Phantom Menace sucked.
Speaker 1: That usually comes up that the nineteen ninety nine movie
Speaker 1: was really bad.
Speaker 4: Yeah, why argue that, Like everything except the ones that
Speaker 4: I liked when I was a child are pretty much
Speaker 4: not my thing. But I know this is a tired
Speaker 4: trope at this point on the show. I'm annoyed now.
Speaker 1: No, I enjoy it. Boys, We got a lot to
Speaker 1: get to. It is. It is time all the silly
Speaker 1: business we need to transition to going around the NFC.
Speaker 1: How annoying it was it, by the way, maybe for
Speaker 1: both you guys, but Mark definitely knew once you clocked
Speaker 1: that it was May fourth that I was going to
Speaker 1: do the Star Wars bid again.
Speaker 4: I mean, it's just by the nature that the show
Speaker 4: is scheduled today was an absolute home run that it would.
Speaker 1: Occur like they took it off the board in Vegas.
Speaker 5: I mean, We've been doing this show almost as long
Speaker 5: as I've been married, So you get the same jokes,
Speaker 5: the same things, the same bits.
Speaker 1: All right, we're gonna get into it. We're gonna go
Speaker 1: around the NFC three minutes per teams, three timeouts and
Speaker 1: Grave Digger, can you jump in for a second, I think, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Speaker 1: Why isn't your Mini Titans helmet rotating behind you? What
Speaker 1: is going on?
Speaker 7: Disaster?
Speaker 1: I told you the motor was being over taxed.
Speaker 6: That's it's just no tightening.
Speaker 2: Look at it move.
Speaker 1: You really got to check out YouTube.
Speaker 3: Now it's moving.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 5: If this isn't an advertisement to subscribe to us on YouTube,
Speaker 5: I don't know.
Speaker 1: What is claivon does? Do you agree that it's moving
Speaker 1: about twenty percent faster than you would anticipate.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's spinning like frighteningly fast, like you want something
Speaker 2: slow to reveal, like the power of a Titan. But
Speaker 2: now it's kind of like ddddddd. But what we need
Speaker 2: is to just a couple fewer revolutions per second and
Speaker 2: or per minute, we'll be good.
Speaker 1: Like if you threw like a tennis ball at it
Speaker 1: or something, it would it would bounce off it with
Speaker 1: such fuor with such force that it could like hurt somebody.
Speaker 1: That's how fast that helmet.
Speaker 4: R Yeah, creve digger. Can you not control the Is
Speaker 4: there not a switch to control the velocity?
Speaker 6: Maybe the speed it was which it rotates.
Speaker 7: No, but it like the faster I spin it when
Speaker 7: I'm setting it up, the faster it will spin, or
Speaker 7: I could just give it a very a very light
Speaker 7: push and it.
Speaker 1: Would go slower.
Speaker 2: So you can push from here on.
Speaker 7: Just suspending between these two.
Speaker 5: I guess it's like a short Marcus Mario to pass.
Speaker 3: It's just like one speed.
Speaker 1: You know. How about a nice little a nice little tap,
Speaker 1: a little love tap. By the way, Tannehill spoke to
Speaker 1: the media yesterday and looked jacked. He looked big. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's got something cooking. I think he might have a
Speaker 1: little chip on the old shoulder himself. And he said
Speaker 1: as much because he told the media, Hey, man, this
Speaker 1: is like deja vu. This is the second time they
Speaker 1: try to get rid of me in two years with
Speaker 1: a kid.
Speaker 5: So that might be the most jacked room in the league.
Speaker 5: There was a lot of theories going around that Will
Speaker 5: Levis was too jacked to be a quarterback.
Speaker 3: Yeah it hurts his throwing.
Speaker 1: But anyway, just I wanted to apologize because you do
Speaker 1: wheeled the trank gun for this exercise and I don't
Speaker 1: know if it was effective. Maybe we've developed rhino skin,
Speaker 1: so if you you were giving clearance to up the
Speaker 1: power of the trank and I think we're all going
Speaker 1: to try to be a little more respectful of the
Speaker 1: trnk Okay.
Speaker 7: Today, I was wondering if my aim was off, and
Speaker 7: I was like just shooting but missing, and that's why
Speaker 7: it wasn't working or I don't know.
Speaker 4: Then you hit me straight in the pupil, but I
Speaker 4: kept talking. So I think Dan's point is correct. We
Speaker 4: need to act as though there's some impact to the weapon.
Speaker 2: As the dosage becomes more frequent, you had just you
Speaker 2: become more tolerant. And I think that's the problem. We've
Speaker 2: been shranked so many times that you're gonna have to
Speaker 2: really lay it into us.
Speaker 1: It's almost at a fatal strength right now. So just
Speaker 1: giving everyone a heads up to adhere to the rules,
Speaker 1: let's get into it. Kick us off justin starting the
Speaker 1: NFC East with the Dallas Cowboys. I'll get it going,
Speaker 1: all right. So Mazie Smith, they add him on the interior.
Speaker 1: The theory is that that's going to help the pass rush,
Speaker 1: which is a team strength. They identified their Adulton Schultz
Speaker 1: replacement in Michigan tight end Luke Schoenmaker. They added Brandon
Speaker 1: Cooks and addressed what was a need I think everyone
Speaker 1: agreed adding another playmaker, CD Lamb said as much on
Speaker 1: our program super Bowl Week, So that that checks out
Speaker 1: is fine. Like when I did the power rankings, I
Speaker 1: have him ranked at six, and I was like, I
Speaker 1: didn't feel great about it, but I don't know. I
Speaker 1: guess I put it this way and a wide open NFC.
Speaker 1: Where do you guys see the Cowboys? Do they feel
Speaker 1: like a conference superpower? Is conference superpower not a thing
Speaker 1: that truly exists in the NFC right now? Do you
Speaker 1: feel like guys feel good about the Cowboys entering of
Speaker 1: new season.
Speaker 5: I feel like their defense is absolutely loaded, Mazzie Smith
Speaker 5: helps with the run stopping, and they have one of
Speaker 5: the top quarterbacks in the conference, and so why wouldn't
Speaker 5: they be the favorites. I kind of look at it
Speaker 5: on paper, just paper, I'm starting to get that projected
Speaker 5: starter series going. On paper, I don't see huge weaknesses.
Speaker 5: I think they're the second best team in the NFC,
Speaker 5: that the two best teams are in that division, and
Speaker 5: there's no reason other than they're the Dallas Cowboys that
Speaker 5: they won't be back like in the divisional round.
Speaker 4: I think it's just getting out of their own way
Speaker 4: and you know, I think Dak Prescott quietly had some
Speaker 4: awesome football last season tucked in between kind of mind
Speaker 4: blowing interceptions that caught a lot of Monday morning talking
Speaker 4: heads by storm. And so there's that narrative around him,
Speaker 4: and I think Ceedeelamb has to at least agree that
Speaker 4: adding Cooks and getting the tight end you're doing something
Speaker 4: for Dak.
Speaker 6: I don't know if it's enough.
Speaker 4: I don't know if he also needs excuses for his
Speaker 4: play left and right. They've had weapons around him almost
Speaker 4: his whole career. I never really trust them. I just don't.
Speaker 4: But I would say this that they're in a conference
Speaker 4: it's never really looked like this, and outside of the Eagles,
Speaker 4: like if they got on a super hot streak at
Speaker 4: the right time, and it kind of reminds me of
Speaker 4: like the Flacco led Ravens kind of deal, where like
Speaker 4: you just mow through teams.
Speaker 6: Then these Super Bowl is a complete reality for him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I don't know if it's McCarthy or what,
Speaker 2: but I get the feeling of the late stage with
Speaker 2: Rogers Packers, where we know they're going to be contenders,
Speaker 2: but like, what's going to be the thing that causes
Speaker 2: this to fall off the edge. Brandon Cooks was an
Speaker 2: absolute need. Letting a Mario walk for basically nothing and
Speaker 2: then not spending that money was a mistake, and I
Speaker 2: think that mistake has been acknowledged with because dan Quinn
Speaker 2: spent so long looking for not just like because everybody
Speaker 2: would like to have Michael Parsons, but they didn't have
Speaker 2: anybody on the edge in Atlanta, and I think they've
Speaker 2: They've built around Parsons on that side of the ball.
Speaker 2: I think they're fine. It's purely just which way is
Speaker 2: the ball going to bounce. I think the Cowboys will
Speaker 2: be a contender, as I do think they will be
Speaker 2: for the next few years as long as That' still
Speaker 2: their quarterback.
Speaker 5: On paper, I think their defense is maybe the best
Speaker 5: in the league. They're like forty even better than the
Speaker 5: you know, really anyone four deep at defensive end and
Speaker 5: like seven deep in the secondary.
Speaker 1: I'd push back a little bit about Dak It was
Speaker 1: less to me a media creation and more he really
Speaker 1: did struggle at times. A lot of turnovers. They need
Speaker 1: a kick or too. By the way, go get Robbie
Speaker 1: Golden up next the New York Giants with Mark Sessler.
Speaker 4: All right, Dan, I know you're on the East Coast
Speaker 4: visiting old school friends, and I talked to one of
Speaker 4: my oldest football friends, Matt.
Speaker 6: Hogan, who listens to the show.
Speaker 4: He's been a Giants fan since like the late nineteen seventies,
Speaker 4: and we kind of just talked about Brian Dable and
Speaker 4: like how much of a raging badass he was for
Speaker 4: that team after so many kind of vanilla head coaches,
Speaker 4: and so I guess, like above the tree Tops type
Speaker 4: question is whether Dable, and I'll quote what Matt said,
Speaker 4: is like able to recreate the chemistry and magic from
Speaker 4: last season that got them to the playoffs. They let
Speaker 4: a bunch of guys go and brought in a lot
Speaker 4: of new guys, so it's a question as to how
Speaker 4: they're gonna gel as a group. And I'll add my
Speaker 4: own thought, like Daniel Jones, I think a year ago
Speaker 4: could have been one of these quarterbacks that really complained
Speaker 4: about not having this fifth year option picked up and
Speaker 4: gotten really annoying and said he didn't He just went
Speaker 4: out and produced like his best season, and a lot
Speaker 4: of that.
Speaker 6: Had to do with Dabel.
Speaker 4: So I would just ask, like from the Daniel Jones side,
Speaker 4: along with the chemistry of the team, like is there
Speaker 4: a Josh or is there a Josh Allen like next
Speaker 4: level to Daniel Jones, not the same quarterback, but is
Speaker 4: there more to him that day Ball sees and thinks
Speaker 4: he can unlock or is he is who he is?
Speaker 4: But you just hope you roll with this fun attitude
Speaker 4: from a year ago.
Speaker 2: No, I don't think there's a secret Josh Allen locked
Speaker 2: inside of Daniel Jones. I think Daniel Jones can definitely
Speaker 2: be better. But when we're looking for like ascension two,
Speaker 2: oh my god, Daniel Jones is not gonna like there
Speaker 2: have been We've already had several examples of these Josh
Speaker 2: Allen games where it's like, oh, this is simply this
Speaker 2: team has Josh Allen, the other doesn't, and he's willing
Speaker 2: this team to fike. I don't think we're going to
Speaker 2: see that from Daniel Jones, but I think it's a
Speaker 2: fundamentally different scenario with the way that the Giants are
Speaker 2: going to approach things than if they had a world
Speaker 2: destroyer at quarterback, and Daniel Jones can do that. It's
Speaker 2: the question is is the rest of the team good
Speaker 2: enough to do what Daniel Jones needs them to do
Speaker 2: and I definitely think there's there's improvement, but it's it's
Speaker 2: it's not all on It's not all on eight. I
Speaker 2: just think it can't all be on Daniel Jones.
Speaker 1: They also, I was gonna say they have it's gonna
Speaker 1: be different. I mean, they had a really nice season
Speaker 1: last year, but it's gonna be more difficult. I mean
Speaker 1: they're going to speaking of Josh Allen, they're going to
Speaker 1: Buffalo this year. They get the Jets, they get the Patriots,
Speaker 1: they get the Seahawks, they have the forty nine ers
Speaker 1: on the road, they have the Dolphins on the road.
Speaker 1: This is not an easy schedule compared to last year.
Speaker 1: And I know they added players on the offense, which
Speaker 1: they had to do after they gave all that money
Speaker 1: to Daniel Jones, which I thought was too much, but
Speaker 1: that's the way it played out. But I don't know
Speaker 1: if I think they are a team that's prime for regression.
Speaker 1: Greg Gannato what the Desert is saying about their over
Speaker 1: under right now, but I would probably bang the under.
Speaker 1: That doesn't mean I agree with Giants, but that's kind
Speaker 1: of where I come down on them, and.
Speaker 5: I agree they're prime, but I do think their rosters
Speaker 5: way better. Joe Shane I thinks than a good job.
Speaker 5: They don't really have a number one receiver, but they
Speaker 5: have like seven guys now that can actually play football.
Speaker 5: I think they have rookies that will play. John Michael
Speaker 5: Schmid will play. I think Jalen Hyatt might play as
Speaker 5: their third round pick. That they're better.
Speaker 2: Nat Franks yes.
Speaker 1: Up next the defending conference champion Philadelphia Eagles with Patrick Claiban.
Speaker 2: Yes, and the Eagles go more dogs again at this point,
Speaker 2: like the meme doesn't even need to be addressed that
Speaker 2: how he's taken guys like Jalen Carter they trade up
Speaker 2: to get him. The ultimate question is, as we saw
Speaker 2: a couple of years ago with the forty nine Ers
Speaker 2: deciding that they would go youth, they would go youth,
Speaker 2: and they bring in Javon Kinlaw. They decide to let
Speaker 2: DeForest Buckner go to the Colts, and I think ultimately
Speaker 2: they paid for that. And the question for the Philadelphia
Speaker 2: Eagles is after a season where it was Dallas and Philly,
Speaker 2: the defensive line, the front seven were putting up numbers
Speaker 2: that were not close to anybody else in the League,
Speaker 2: those two teams separated themselves. Can they do that with
Speaker 2: more youth? And we've seen youth, especially youth from Georgia
Speaker 2: for the second straight year without Hargrave, and I know
Speaker 2: it was one of the deepest defensive lines in all
Speaker 2: of football. They were incredible. They got of course, the
Speaker 2: Chiefs ran up and down the field against them, as
Speaker 2: the Chiefs as Patrick Mahomes who cares like you still got.
Speaker 2: I don't think the departure of Jonathan Gannon is going
Speaker 2: to mean much. I think Hargrave means more. And the
Speaker 2: question is can the young dogs do what the old
Speaker 2: dogs were doing? What they were birds? But these guys
Speaker 2: are dogs anyway people get that success.
Speaker 5: I think so because there the old dogs are still
Speaker 5: there Cock, you know, Fletcher Cox and Brandon Graham kind
Speaker 5: of getting a victory lap year each. This feels like
Speaker 5: their last year. That just makes them so much safer.
Speaker 5: And then you have the guys in the middle of
Speaker 5: their career like Reddick and Sweat. And then you have
Speaker 5: the young guys Jordan Davis no one's talking about. He's
Speaker 5: gonna hopefully improve this year. They have guys like Milton
Speaker 5: Williams and Tewey Poloto, who are pretty good players who
Speaker 5: are now like second third on the depth start. I
Speaker 5: just love their commitment to it. Like if you want
Speaker 5: good lines, offensive line, defensive line, just throw massive resources
Speaker 5: into it every year, draft picks, free agency. I don't care,
Speaker 5: like there's a reason that their lines are so good
Speaker 5: every year. It's because they spend more money and more
Speaker 5: draft picks than any other team on it and it works.
Speaker 5: It's like, that's to me, their secret sauce, and so
Speaker 5: you kind of have to do that every year. You
Speaker 5: have to keep bringing in new guys and they did that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I get like, I think it was
Speaker 4: a bit of an upset to get both Darius Slay
Speaker 4: and James Bradbury back, To get Jail and Carter and
Speaker 4: Nolan Smith in the draft was an upset. They just
Speaker 4: keep kind of hitting home runs over and over, and
Speaker 4: you know there are other Cowboys in the division. But
Speaker 4: when you look at the NFC, they kind of give
Speaker 4: me like a nineteen eighty nine nine Ers vibe, which
Speaker 4: I know he's always referenced that team, but it could
Speaker 4: be a relatively like dominant regular season where they just
Speaker 4: roll through like an angry asteroid in a down NFC,
Speaker 4: and like, I do question a little bit when you
Speaker 4: lose both coordinators what that means, because I think we
Speaker 4: don't know the impact of certain coordinators behind the scenes,
Speaker 4: and it's like, that's a lot of transition. But what
Speaker 4: team deals with the transition of coaches coming and going
Speaker 4: in players better than Howie Roseman and the Eagles. I
Speaker 4: just feel like they're so consistent. There aren't that many
Speaker 4: teams in the NFC like them right now.
Speaker 1: Two things can be true here. They are head and
Speaker 1: shoulders above the rest of the NFC, especially with the
Speaker 1: uncertainty of QB in San Francisco. And it's been fifty
Speaker 1: years from a team in the end since the team
Speaker 1: in the NFC lost the Super Bowl made it back
Speaker 1: to the Big Game. Could there be a hangover?
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: You gotta trank me.
Speaker 2: I got twelve seconds there, supply right now.
Speaker 7: I just want to make sure you know we don't
Speaker 7: derail the entire show with one trank.
Speaker 1: Dart Greg the Commanders, all right.
Speaker 3: The top two picks to me were a little surprising.
Speaker 5: I honked about Emmanuel Forbes as a guy I loved
Speaker 5: and body diversity, so he went higher than I thought
Speaker 5: sixteenth overall, ahead of Christian Gonzales. And then you take
Speaker 5: another defensive back Jr. Tavis Martin in the second round,
Speaker 5: who's like a nickelback safety type, and I was surprised,
Speaker 5: and I thought about and I'm just thinking, like, this
Speaker 5: is Ron Rivera in his fourth season, and if Ron
Speaker 5: Rivera is gonna go out, he's gonna go out doing
Speaker 5: what he likes to do, which is defense. And you
Speaker 5: kind of look up in down this roster. There's not
Speaker 5: a lot of holes. There's not a lot of spots
Speaker 5: where you're like, this is amazing. But it looks like
Speaker 5: a roster that's one seven to seven in eight games
Speaker 5: over the last three years.
Speaker 3: That's what it is.
Speaker 5: There's not many problems other than the quarterback. But I
Speaker 5: think Rivera's kind of got everything he needs to have
Speaker 5: a pretty dominant defense especially.
Speaker 4: That's fine, But like I feel like, because everyone loves
Speaker 4: Ron Rivera, the person that like another coach with this
Speaker 4: roster and would be getting killed for like the fifth
Speaker 4: year in a row, like the most conservative, safe, low
Speaker 4: octane approach to the quarterback position.
Speaker 6: Round maybe Sam Howell can do it.
Speaker 3: We don't know.
Speaker 4: Everyone's like loving like the four quarters. He played against
Speaker 4: the Cowboys in the finale, but there's a lot of
Speaker 4: TVD there, and you got Jacobrey Brissett, who I like,
Speaker 4: But it's like, what are we aiming for? Like I
Speaker 4: agree the rest of the roster's kind of set up,
Speaker 4: but like, why ignore the most important position in today's NFL.
Speaker 1: It's one of the most dangerous tropes I find in
Speaker 1: football is the out of contention team plays a young quarterback,
Speaker 1: sometimes in the very last game, and he plays okay
Speaker 1: to well, and then all of a sudden, there's this
Speaker 1: idea sometimes it's maybe one or two games or even
Speaker 1: three games, they you kind of go all in. And
Speaker 1: while I understand and believe on some level and the
Speaker 1: idea of knowing your roster better than anyone else, and
Speaker 1: really they are obviously quite fond of Sam Howell to
Speaker 1: give him this opportunity. With Jake Briskett in the mix too,
Speaker 1: it is a huge risk and I just don't think
Speaker 1: that it really lowers the ceiling to me in terms
Speaker 1: of taking them seriously as a contender.
Speaker 2: I think the reason and of course, at the time,
Speaker 2: because we were dealing with Taylor Heinekey and Carson Wentz
Speaker 2: it was like, oh, oh, Sam Howell's balling. He completely
Speaker 2: fifty seven percent of his passes in that game, and
Speaker 2: it was just that it felt different. And I think
Speaker 2: with the benefit of hindsight, we're kind of looking back
Speaker 2: and like, wait a minute, was that good enough? But
Speaker 2: we're gonna get We're gonna get a chance. We're gonna
Speaker 2: get a chance to see you know how Eric Binemy
Speaker 2: draws this up, like, is the offense going to look
Speaker 2: that much different? And if if Sam Hall can play,
Speaker 2: and I think you know, with with between the enemy
Speaker 2: and Rivera, there's enough trust to where if it doesn't work,
Speaker 2: it's not going to be because of the structure around,
Speaker 2: it's just gonna be Oh Sam Howell is not it?
Speaker 2: And then we have an answer.
Speaker 5: Right, They're pretty deep at receiver. I like their backfield.
Speaker 5: Oh line's okay, Like Chase Young might be the fourth
Speaker 5: best defensive lineman on this team right now, which is
Speaker 5: kind of crazy, Like there's reason for them to be excited.
Speaker 3: It's a better roster than the Giants.
Speaker 1: Time out, time out, Before we take a break, Just
Speaker 1: because I was curious, I checked out our Vegas partner
Speaker 1: bet MGM over unders We got the Eagles at ten
Speaker 1: and a half, which is a little surprising me. I
Speaker 1: maybe would have popped them up in the they have
Speaker 1: the Niners, Bengals, and Chiefs at eleven and a half.
Speaker 1: I would have definitely put the Eagles at eleven and
Speaker 1: a half. That surprised me.
Speaker 5: I think it's that schedule against the AFC East, and
Speaker 5: is it the NFC West. They have the whole division
Speaker 5: as a brutal schedule and each other.
Speaker 1: They got Cowboys at nine and a half, what feels
Speaker 1: about right. They have the Giants at eight and a half,
Speaker 1: which feels about right. I would bang the under and
Speaker 1: the commander is at six and a half given that situation, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I would. I would probably bang that the under there too.
Speaker 5: I like the commanders over. Something about Ron Rivera. He
Speaker 5: gets to that seventh win, you can start two and five.
Speaker 5: Every year he gets to that seventh or eighth win.
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe maybe let's take a break and we'll hit
Speaker 1: the NFC North. All right, welcome back. We are going
Speaker 1: around to the NFC in forty eight minutes. Let's start
Speaker 1: the clock, Grave Digger, and let's hit the NFC North
Speaker 1: and the Chicago Bears with Mark Sessler.
Speaker 4: All right, I think the Bears are slowly beginning to
Speaker 4: resemble actual Bears. Like I kind of love that they
Speaker 4: added a massive human being a tackle and Darnell Wright
Speaker 4: that was a need. They found a kind of pair
Speaker 4: of front door shaped defensive tackles and Gervon Dexter and
Speaker 4: Zach Pickens and I think, you know, Ryan Pace, general manager,
Speaker 4: think there's a real plan here. But I also like,
Speaker 4: look at a roster that's dangerously thin at pass Rusher,
Speaker 4: which is kind of weird when you're in year two
Speaker 4: of a regime under a defensive minded coach in Matt
Speaker 4: ebra Flus. And because I'd argue the Chicago's identity for
Speaker 4: most of us is really just based around the offense
Speaker 4: and the destiny of Justin Fields. And I could feel like,
Speaker 4: if they grow, continue to grow, that you've got like
Speaker 4: O c Luke Getzi taking head coach interview interviews a
Speaker 4: year from now and maybe departing. And so it's like
Speaker 4: I'd see this pressure point with an otherwise optimistic situation
Speaker 4: in Chicago. It's like, who is Matt ebra Flutes. It's
Speaker 4: kind of how I felt about Zach and Cincinnati a
Speaker 4: couple of years ago, Like is he the guy for
Speaker 4: this rebuilding job? And if he's not, if he's not special, like,
Speaker 4: are they facing potentially massive transition like an off season
Speaker 4: from now.
Speaker 1: I think if they get development from Fields, it will
Speaker 1: cover up sins on the defense, for instance, and I
Speaker 1: think it will keep everyone safe. Maybe if things go outstandingly,
Speaker 1: you lose your OC, but I think they this is
Speaker 1: a team that now is building towards something that I
Speaker 1: think there's going to be expectations for the first time
Speaker 1: in a couple of years there. They're going to be
Speaker 1: expected to contend in what I think is kind of
Speaker 1: a milk toast division. And if Fields does play at
Speaker 1: the level they believe he can play, and he now
Speaker 1: has a number one wide receiver in Dj Moore, I
Speaker 1: think they're going to be, you know, one of those
Speaker 1: teams like what on the list of who's the Jaguars
Speaker 1: this year? I think the Bears are absolutely in the
Speaker 1: mix there. But you're right, that's a I would say
Speaker 1: I would be surprised if they don't find a veteran
Speaker 1: pass rusher to address that side.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's there's still plenty of time. And of course,
Speaker 2: like people were wondering why, like guys like in Gacway
Speaker 2: were still out there. There's a compensatory pick type situation.
Speaker 2: You gotta wait until after the draft, and then you
Speaker 2: can you can consign guys and not have to risk
Speaker 2: some compensulatory picks. So I think they can go get
Speaker 2: a veteran. But in terms of like the rebuild situation,
Speaker 2: I think the way this team is structured, particularly and
Speaker 2: you look at them taking right who. Of course, like
Speaker 2: projection is always a thing, and we look at traits,
Speaker 2: but with like on the field, Darnell Wright's performance against
Speaker 2: will Anderson in that Alabama Tennessee game was as good
Speaker 2: of a performance as a tackle had all season in
Speaker 2: all in college football. And so I think, like you
Speaker 2: get solid players up front, and like the rebuild, let's say,
Speaker 2: like justin fields is a total dumpster fire this year.
Speaker 2: I really don't think the Bears have that much farther
Speaker 2: to go, considering where they were a couple of years ago.
Speaker 2: I think they've come a long way.
Speaker 5: Fine, I'm gonna take a time out for the hell
Speaker 5: of it. Give the Bears a little extra pop here.
Speaker 5: I was a little surprised by their picks. They remind
Speaker 5: me of the Saints in that, I think they they
Speaker 5: have their board and they're just gonna go with that.
Speaker 5: And like so, they had a lot of defensive picks
Speaker 5: in the second and third round, Garon Dexter, Senior, Zach Pickens,
Speaker 5: and then their second round pick was or one of
Speaker 5: their two second round picks with Tyreek Stevenson the quarterback.
Speaker 5: They also took Brisker and Kyler Gordon last year, so
Speaker 5: they've early. So they've taken a lot of picks. Like Eberflus,
Speaker 5: I'm with you, Mark, Like, show me something because you've
Speaker 5: taken about five second third round picks in the last
Speaker 5: couple of years. You've put a lot of money at
Speaker 5: off ball, linebacker. The receivers look a lot better to me.
Speaker 5: I think the offensive line. I think they've done a
Speaker 5: nice job through like two years of team building. And
Speaker 5: Tyler Scott, I mentioned from Cincinnati, was kind of one
Speaker 5: of those mid round receivers.
Speaker 3: I like that.
Speaker 5: I like their roster. I think the expectations should be high.
Speaker 5: I feel like we haven't said anything nice about the
Speaker 5: Bears in so long, Like they got a shot here.
Speaker 4: I like what you said, Greg, I would say if
Speaker 4: this were an actual football game and I was sitting
Speaker 4: in my cubicle Kittie corner from Greg's cubicle. He'd be
Speaker 4: going nuts that our team called two timeouts and essentially
Speaker 4: like the beginning of the second quarter here, it's fair.
Speaker 3: That's fair.
Speaker 1: I'm going Kyle Shanahan like, beymy, I'm gonna float. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna put it out there. And by the way, they
Speaker 1: are a potential need to be included in hard Knocks.
Speaker 1: They're not covered. The Bears is a potential team team
Speaker 1: of around the NFL this year.
Speaker 2: It's a real uphill climb, though, isn't it for the Lions.
Speaker 5: I mean, he means to pass the Lions. Yeah, my
Speaker 5: heart's with the Lions right now, it really is.
Speaker 2: I don't think. I don't think anybody's gonna be able
Speaker 2: to get you guys off that. I truly don't like.
Speaker 7: Lions fans say if you go to a division rival
Speaker 7: for the team of atl this season, true, that's true.
Speaker 1: I don't know, Mark, I'm already off the Lions. It
Speaker 1: was a great ride, and I hop off that's that's it,
Speaker 1: that's how it works.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think we'll get to Detroit.
Speaker 4: But it's kind of like it's a bit perilous to
Speaker 4: just expect all the same good vibes all over again.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get to Detroit.
Speaker 5: All right, forget you, uh forget, let's build.
Speaker 3: Let's build on what happened.
Speaker 5: Forget positions, Hey, forget your consensus grades.
Speaker 3: Uh draft knicks, no team.
Speaker 5: I think this offseason drafted more players more likely to
Speaker 5: play big snaps than Lions. Maybe they're at non premium positions,
Speaker 5: but Jack Campbell's got to play a lot. Unfortunately for
Speaker 5: Malcolm Rodriguez. Jamir Gibbs is gonna play a lot. Sam
Speaker 5: Laporta is probably gonna be their starting tight end.
Speaker 3: I love that, dude.
Speaker 5: The Bengals admitted Laporta was at the top of their
Speaker 5: tight end board along with Dalton Kincaid. They were maybe
Speaker 5: gonna take them. Brian Branch at safety was a great pick.
Speaker 5: So those four guys are gonna play. You have a
Speaker 5: developmental quarterback and Hendon Hooker. Like that's four quality players
Speaker 5: added to a really talented team. That's good up front,
Speaker 5: Like I'm buying. I'm buying that this thing continues and
Speaker 5: it continues, and that they're like a decent sized favorite
Speaker 5: in this division.
Speaker 3: What say you?
Speaker 1: The Vegas people. The Desert people have them easily a
Speaker 1: favorite at nine and a half. Okay, good, that's about right.
Speaker 1: I think they're still I think they can win double
Speaker 1: wins of But the question I had that kind of
Speaker 1: people aren't talking about as much. And I know they
Speaker 1: went and added Gibbs obviously surprisingly and remade the running
Speaker 1: back room and you're actually gonna get Jamis and Williams back.
Speaker 1: And is that offense gonna take a step back? I
Speaker 1: think they were third in many forget what the metrics is,
Speaker 1: but they were top three offense and by many metrics
Speaker 1: last season. Is are they going to take a step
Speaker 1: back with GoF I could see it. I don't. I
Speaker 1: don't have any hard data to back it up. But
Speaker 1: are they going to keep going in that direction? I
Speaker 1: don't know.
Speaker 4: Well, Golf is one of those quarterbacks where like you're
Speaker 4: gonna get peaks and valleys, and it's it's sort of
Speaker 4: inevitable that you'd question if next year is going to
Speaker 4: look like last season.
Speaker 6: I think that's really fair.
Speaker 4: And like Brad Holmes who has talked about the idea
Speaker 4: that they might sign him to an extension, there is
Speaker 4: belief in them. I don't know Henon hook is an
Speaker 4: older quarterback. When do you want to see him as well?
Speaker 4: But I you know, like maybe Greg, we might have
Speaker 4: a little down on doing the lines against team of
Speaker 4: atl But I do think that they're like Chicago. Their
Speaker 4: stock that they've got, they have a lot of made
Speaker 4: a lot of picks, and I think that they develop
Speaker 4: players really well, like there is.
Speaker 5: Some multi year journey. I feel like we're on with
Speaker 5: this team. Now, that's take advantage of the excitement. Let's
Speaker 5: not jump off and let's all.
Speaker 2: Right, let's say the offense does fall off, like they're
Speaker 2: not a top five, top three offense. If they're still
Speaker 2: top ten, I think that's a really good football team.
Speaker 2: Down the stretch. They really had some problems down the middle.
Speaker 2: The Panthers absolutely exposed them on that game in Charlotte
Speaker 2: late in the season. The question is can they stop
Speaker 2: those things? I think Jared Goff's gonna give you, Jared
Speaker 2: Goff like you're gonna get the success that you had
Speaker 2: from the offense, especially if Gibbs comes in and he
Speaker 2: plays all the steps that maybe Swift missed in that
Speaker 2: last season. I think I think the offense will be fine.
Speaker 2: The defense is the concerned the money.
Speaker 1: I want to lead a bandwagon. I don't want to
Speaker 1: when that's filled with people.
Speaker 3: But we were here, we were first.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was bandwagon, So why do we do it again?
Speaker 1: Like, let's climb them out and again with somebody else
Speaker 1: get on.
Speaker 3: But it was it was satisfying how it ended against
Speaker 3: the backers. Oh that feels it feels of me.
Speaker 1: So many things in a system through the years. That's
Speaker 1: a toxic stew all. Right, let's move on to the
Speaker 1: Packers and Patrick Claiban.
Speaker 2: Yes, and it's over. Aaron Rodgers is now a Jet,
Speaker 2: and the best case scenario for Packers fans could be
Speaker 2: the Jets winning the Super Bowl and getting a first
Speaker 2: round pick for Aaron Rodgers. But ultimately, I think the
Speaker 2: biggest question is can these young Packers who haven't been
Speaker 2: who haven't been playing, and not just Jordan Love like
Speaker 2: you talk about Davonte Wyatt, guys on the defensive line,
Speaker 2: what is their future going to look like when they're
Speaker 2: on the field more and more often. I know that
Speaker 2: there are some cap concerns and not the Packers aren't
Speaker 2: necessarily able to throw money at some of these undrafted
Speaker 2: free agents like the Minnesota Vikings are and so my
Speaker 2: big The most confusing thing was Jordan Love and this
Speaker 2: recent deal. I felt like there was more money of
Speaker 2: available for him now. This could be him betting on
Speaker 2: himself three years down the road, And if Jordan Love
Speaker 2: feels comfortable with that, then maybe I feel a little
Speaker 2: bit better about the.
Speaker 3: Green betty against himself.
Speaker 5: The details that came out on uh it was Thursday
Speaker 5: were crazy. It means if he does well, he's like
Speaker 5: locked in at a low salary, and if he doesn't
Speaker 5: do well, he's gonna make Jacobe Brisette money.
Speaker 3: So it was a weird.
Speaker 4: It was a weird things like what if there's a
Speaker 4: universe we live in And this is a cynical thought
Speaker 4: that Dan I don't want to annoy you with, but
Speaker 4: like we all think it's going to go a certain way.
Speaker 4: But what if Jordan Love, in a Geno Smith esque fashion,
Speaker 4: becomes like the next really solid to great Packers quarterback
Speaker 4: while Aaron Rodgers gets Nathaniel hacketed in New York and
Speaker 4: that thing goes totally off the rails of Nathaniel Hackett's
Speaker 4: teaching kindergarten a year. For now, I'm just saying, like
Speaker 4: we'd seem so unpredictable. But it's like the Packers remind
Speaker 4: me of last year's Seahawks, were maybe you come out
Speaker 4: on top of all this.
Speaker 3: I'm optimistic about Love.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he could be He could be good, and I
Speaker 1: don't think that would be Like, I'm not gonna be
Speaker 1: upset if Jordan Love does well for the Packers. And
Speaker 1: also Aaron Rodgers thrived with the Hackett in Green Bay,
Speaker 1: so I'm not really worried about that either. I think
Speaker 1: he could certainly be a good player. They've organizationally. I
Speaker 1: know it's different leadership now than it was when Rogers
Speaker 1: and Far entered the Fray, but they deserve the benefit
Speaker 1: of the doubt. I guess my question I would frame
Speaker 1: it this way, like Greg, like what defines success for
Speaker 1: the Green Bay Packers in twenty twenty three, because to me,
Speaker 1: it's different. It's not what it was with Rogers, where
Speaker 1: it was Super Bowl or bust.
Speaker 5: If Jordan Love looks like the quarterback of the future
Speaker 5: and their offense is good, and if you can go
Speaker 5: win the division or have a winning record, all the better.
Speaker 5: But they're so young that they have a chance here
Speaker 5: with Watson, Dubbs, Jayden Reid who they just drafted, and
Speaker 5: then the two tight ends must crave and craft and
Speaker 5: they're pretty young in the offensive line relatively other buck there.
Speaker 5: If it hits, this team could be set up together
Speaker 5: for a long time. The upside is very high because
Speaker 5: they're so young.
Speaker 2: Ten but also with the Hall of Fame quarterback. Granted
Speaker 2: there was the thumb injury, but they lost in the
Speaker 2: last game of the season at home to the Detroit Lions.
Speaker 2: So like expectations, maybe let's be a little more realistic.
Speaker 1: The Minnesota Vikings. Let's stick with a little quarterback talk.
Speaker 1: Is this the beginning of the end of the Kirk
Speaker 1: Cousins era? And what an interesting era it's been. I
Speaker 1: was looking at his Pro Football Reference page. He has
Speaker 1: now played five years in Minnesota. This will be a
Speaker 1: six year, so he'll match how long he was with Washington,
Speaker 1: and we've talked about it a lot. I feel like
Speaker 1: we talk about every summer. His numbers are off the charts,
Speaker 1: even though he didn't have a great year last year.
Speaker 1: Over his seventeen game average in Minnesota is forty five
Speaker 1: hundred yards, thirty three touchdowns, eleven interceptions, passer rating, you know,
Speaker 1: hovering around one hundred. I mean, it's everything you want.
Speaker 1: They've been to the playoffs twice, they won one play
Speaker 1: game in that time. Obviously, they were a five hundred
Speaker 1: team until last year's bizarre thirteen and four that ended
Speaker 1: with a very like oh yeah, that's what we thought
Speaker 1: playoff loss to the Giants. So I'm curious if Cousins,
Speaker 1: if this is the end, can he can he save himself?
Speaker 1: And I don't think he can in Minnesota unless he
Speaker 1: has like a far of year after Jordan Love got
Speaker 1: drafted where he really balls out at an MVP type level.
Speaker 1: Otherwise they think they reset Nick Mallins is also a
Speaker 1: free agent after this year, they'll have a clean break
Speaker 1: at QB.
Speaker 4: I thought they were like a real solid Kennedy to
Speaker 4: take a quarterback this year, and you know, next year's
Speaker 4: draft has some treats in it as well, and like
Speaker 4: it feels like if you're Kevin O'Connell, it is a
Speaker 4: massive year to find out what you really think about
Speaker 4: Kirk Cousins and what he can be, because like do
Speaker 4: you tie your coaching future to him or not? Because
Speaker 4: I think if you're Kevin O'Connell and you've had success
Speaker 4: like a rookie just gives you a whole new lease
Speaker 4: on life in a couple of seasons to develop said rookie,
Speaker 4: and people want to have patients around that. I mean,
Speaker 4: what can help Kirk Cousins more though than Brian Flores
Speaker 4: who looms is like a coaching assistant Coach of the
Speaker 4: Year type candidate with the worst defense in the league.
Speaker 4: That you know they've added a few pieces, but just
Speaker 4: it's going to be a better unit in general. I mean,
Speaker 4: they won all those games in the last minutes, so
Speaker 4: maybe that doesn't change the regular season win total, but
Speaker 4: that unit not being a comprehensive apocalyptic disaster would help
Speaker 4: a lot for Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 2: In the offense, they certainly got younger on the defensive
Speaker 2: side of the ball. I think for Kevin O'Connell, though,
Speaker 2: when he had that success in year one, perhaps he
Speaker 2: doesn't necessarily need the rookie quarterback. I'll call it excuse,
Speaker 2: like we have to develop with this guy, and so
Speaker 2: like there can be a down year in the middle
Speaker 2: because everybody will go back to the way it started.
Speaker 2: I think Kevin O'Connell will be just fine after this season.
Speaker 2: If let's say things go horribly wrong. If the one
Speaker 2: score results flip in the Vikings don't finish with nine
Speaker 2: wins or eight wins or even seven. I think he
Speaker 2: can be just fine.
Speaker 5: I worry about their defense. The defensive backfield sec the
Speaker 5: cornerback position is one of the worst in the league.
Speaker 5: You're asking a lot out of Flora's cousins. Is also
Speaker 5: going to be thirty five. We expect quarterback like, don't
Speaker 5: get old anymore. But he did, I think have his
Speaker 5: worst season in Minnesota last year.
Speaker 3: So that's that's a big concern. Those two things to
Speaker 3: get I do love the Addison.
Speaker 1: Flor Flores doesn't have a lot to work with, but
Speaker 1: it can't be much worse than they were.
Speaker 2: No, yeah, it was bad.
Speaker 1: Oh, get out of here with that. I ducked.
Speaker 3: It's the playoffs. Let him play.
Speaker 2: Caught me.
Speaker 1: All right, let's take a break. And then when we
Speaker 1: returned the NFC South, all right, we are back. We
Speaker 1: are halfway home. We moved to the South and the
Speaker 1: frisky Atlanta Falcons with Patrick claibn.
Speaker 2: Absolutely and so they all we talked about positional value
Speaker 2: with the Detroit Lions, and of course there was consternation
Speaker 2: when the best running back on the board. I think
Speaker 2: that was consensus. He'son, Robinson goes off in the top
Speaker 2: ten to Atlanta. He's already gonna wear number seven, which
Speaker 2: of course invokes a lot of feeling and emotion from
Speaker 2: people in Atlanta. The number is kind of sack for
Speaker 2: for folks who you know, watch football in the South
Speaker 2: for a long time, and so they're gonna be going
Speaker 2: and there's enough talent around Desmond Ritter that that they
Speaker 2: can do something. I don't think the question is necessarily
Speaker 2: about Desmond Ridder. I'm looking over on the other side.
Speaker 2: They get Matthew Bergern in the second round, a solid tackle.
Speaker 2: Zach Harrison is kind of a trades guy, like a heightweight,
Speaker 2: speed guy that didn't necessarily have the production at Ohio State.
Speaker 2: He was a five star guy, and they make additions
Speaker 2: in the secondary of well, of course there's the trade.
Speaker 2: So I think Terry Fontna has been active. But can
Speaker 2: this Falcons defense provide enough for people to feel good
Speaker 2: about the offense because we know what they're gonna do,
Speaker 2: But if it's not translating to wins and losses, then
Speaker 2: I think we're gonna feel a different way about Arthur
Speaker 2: Smith in this offense and Desmon Ritter as well.
Speaker 5: They got better up front like Anyamada and Calys Campbell
Speaker 5: with with with Grady Jarrett still there, they're definitely better
Speaker 5: on the back end with Jesse Bates, they bring in
Speaker 5: a Kuda, they draft Clark Phillips like, but it's the
Speaker 5: Jets thing that this has replaced John Abraham as the
Speaker 5: Falcons haven't had an edge rusher since I don't even
Speaker 5: know who was the last Falcons ed rusher. They have
Speaker 5: no one still. It's Bud Dupree and Lorenzo Carter.
Speaker 1: Dude, it's John Abraham.
Speaker 3: It was John Abraham. Mind blown, it was Abraham. They
Speaker 3: also don't have any receivers.
Speaker 7: So Beasley had like a sixteen sex season.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but okay got one season.
Speaker 5: They have the worst two to three receiver combo too
Speaker 5: this side of Tennessee Mac Collins and I don't even
Speaker 5: know who their third receiver. It could be Scotty Miller,
Speaker 5: who knows. I I want to throw one thing out.
Speaker 5: I did hear a little buzz Tannehill that they still
Speaker 5: might want Tannehill, but this that they did that I
Speaker 5: don't know if it's both ways, but that they might
Speaker 5: still Wantahill?
Speaker 6: How about this?
Speaker 1: Yeah, go ahead, Mark, go ahead.
Speaker 4: No, I just said, there's also there's out there that
Speaker 4: the Titans have looked at Tannehill as someone that they
Speaker 4: might bench for Will Levis if they get off to
Speaker 4: a rough start. So if that's the feeling around Tannehill,
Speaker 4: it's like they would be willing to part with them
Speaker 4: if Atlanta came with a heat seeking offer.
Speaker 1: I mean, how about this, I'll lay it out there.
Speaker 1: If they make the move for Tannehill, we turned that
Speaker 1: bandwagon into a tank and we gass it up with
Speaker 1: diesel fuel. And the Falcons are the team of around
Speaker 1: the NFL. I need them to bring in Tannehill. But
Speaker 1: I love that team with a veteran presidence, a quarterback
Speaker 1: with some past history.
Speaker 6: You would have my co sign immediately on that.
Speaker 4: And I also think like one thing that might help
Speaker 4: the defense is like they're building an offense that could
Speaker 4: have like fifteen play twelve minute drives here and there.
Speaker 6: I mean the.
Speaker 1: Right they really could. That's fun. Gregy the Carolina Panthers
Speaker 1: with Mark Sessler.
Speaker 4: I love Dan's new look concepts about Atlanta. That's that's
Speaker 4: exciting to me. The Panthers could use or pass rushing
Speaker 4: health you guys were premature to the dance.
Speaker 1: I am here where we should have been here.
Speaker 6: You asked us to be visionary. I think we were.
Speaker 4: We saw the makings of and now we're we're on
Speaker 4: the doorstep here. I do wonder if the Panthers, like
Speaker 4: you know, they could use a pass rusher. Absolutely, and
Speaker 4: like to your point Patrick before that, there are still
Speaker 4: guys sitting out there like in Gocway, Leonard Floyd is
Speaker 4: out there. But in general, I know this has sort
Speaker 4: of been said, but I really think it's true that
Speaker 4: this is a great place for a rookie quarterback compared
Speaker 4: to like where Sam Darnold went a couple of years ago.
Speaker 4: It's like usually you're showing up into a war scene,
Speaker 4: and I mean, I'm a little concerned about their wide outs.
Speaker 4: But then you hear like Frank Reich talking about Jonathan Mingo,
Speaker 4: the second rounder. It just seems like he's a perfect
Speaker 4: scheme fit. So there's a little bit of a TVD
Speaker 4: factor with that part. But I like the O line
Speaker 4: and it's you know, this team nearly won this division
Speaker 4: a year ago, and I just wonder if they are
Speaker 4: maybe a little bit of a sleeping giant if Bryce
Speaker 4: Young was what we think he can be out of
Speaker 4: the gate, or are they just a normal size sleeping being.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel like it's asking a lot looking at
Speaker 2: you know, Mingo coming in, considering what what Bryce has
Speaker 2: played with in the past. I mean, we're waiting, we're
Speaker 2: still waiting to see what John Metchi is able to
Speaker 2: do in Houston. But considering like the talent and the
Speaker 2: type of offense that that they've that they've had in
Speaker 2: the past, I think it's a lot to ask for
Speaker 2: this current receiving group. You know, you would like to
Speaker 2: have DJ Morbich. You know, that's the only way you
Speaker 2: get Bryce Young in the first place, right, And so
Speaker 2: it's it feels like a big ask. I think Bryce
Speaker 2: is gonna be fine, but you do need that guy,
Speaker 2: like you need a guy that can consistently get open.
Speaker 2: And I don't know who it is. For the Carolina Panthers, right.
Speaker 5: There are four guys at least, it's not like they
Speaker 5: don't have any guys. They have feeling, they have Mingo,
Speaker 5: they have DJ Shark, and they have Harris Marshall. I'm
Speaker 5: just saying, like, compared to thee the Falcons or Titans.
Speaker 3: They have four guys who can play football. I think
Speaker 3: at the NFL level, I.
Speaker 1: Think there's a low they can play football. I like
Speaker 1: the Miles Sanders move with Hubbard. I think Hayden Hurst
Speaker 1: is a bit of an underrated talented tight end even
Speaker 1: though he's a first round pick. He's settled in as
Speaker 1: a solid pass catching tight end. I think they do
Speaker 1: need Mingo to give him something year one out of
Speaker 1: the gate, and they they gave Feeling a decent amount
Speaker 1: of money. They need theland to show he's got some
Speaker 1: guests in the tank. Otherwise, Yeah, I think there he's
Speaker 1: in a better position young than Shroud is in Houston
Speaker 1: right now. But it's a question mark. I agree with that.
Speaker 5: I want I'm curious to how the old pieces for
Speaker 5: the last Panther's defense fit with Ajiro Everro's defense because
Speaker 5: it's like a three four defense and they've got talent.
Speaker 5: But you mentioned Brian Burns is coming off a major injury,
Speaker 5: might not be ready, Like there's not much edge rushing.
Speaker 5: Some of the pieces fit a little weird, and so
Speaker 5: their their defense might take a step out.
Speaker 1: Two one said all all that needed to be said.
Speaker 1: The new Orleans Saints the Nobland Saints. They go defense, defense,
Speaker 1: defense at the top of the draft with Brian Breese
Speaker 1: and Fosky Dt and the defensive end first two rounds.
Speaker 1: Then they get some necessary Alvin Kamara protection with third
Speaker 1: round pick Kendrick Miller at a TCU. I think there's
Speaker 1: no doubt in the Chris Alabby as a stud who
Speaker 1: can enter superstar territory in year two. Michael Thomas is
Speaker 1: a huge question mark, and they're penciling him in and
Speaker 1: hoping he's going to finally stay healthy. We'll see. They're
Speaker 1: putting a lot of eggs in the Juwan Johnson basket
Speaker 1: at tight end, and they made a trade. Adam Troutman
Speaker 1: was traded to the Broncos. Foster Moreau was on their
Speaker 1: radar and then he got six, So they really do
Speaker 1: need that tight end position to shake out. My question
Speaker 1: is with Derek Carr there. I know the NFC is
Speaker 1: not great shakes right now, so you don't need to
Speaker 1: have an elite offense and tons of weapons. But with
Speaker 1: cars the QB, is this enough to be a functional
Speaker 1: better than average offense or does a smell like an
Speaker 1: average type unit to you?
Speaker 5: M I think it's a good offense potentially. I think
Speaker 5: it's the strength of their team. Now, their offensive line
Speaker 5: freaks me out because like almost everyone on that offensive
Speaker 5: line has some sort of injury concern.
Speaker 3: They have a lot of continuity.
Speaker 5: But if everyone's healthy, Like, I'm more worried about the
Speaker 5: defense taking a step back that and I think they
Speaker 5: had to invest in the defense. And I think their
Speaker 5: picks were normal, which is rare for the Saints on defense,
Speaker 5: and I liked them. They were gonna take Mingo. According
Speaker 5: to Saints' Twitter podcast, they had pretty strong reporting saying
Speaker 5: like Mingo was their pick and then their division rival
Speaker 5: took them, but they got Fosk and said, but so
Speaker 5: I'm a little worried that the offense will be good,
Speaker 5: but if the defense is just mediocre, like, that's not
Speaker 5: how this team is built.
Speaker 6: And if Derek cars under, I'll go ahead, Patrick, no.
Speaker 2: Any any aging defense. Right when you go up the middle,
Speaker 2: you got Cam and then to Mario and then Tyron. Right,
Speaker 2: there's concerns for like how this team is gonna But
Speaker 2: if those guys were able to stay all season and play,
Speaker 2: I think they could be successful. I think they're gonna
Speaker 2: be a contender. Is the question, like, is Derek Carr
Speaker 2: a significant grade over Andy Dalton. I think that answer
Speaker 2: is yes, and I think bardikers will.
Speaker 4: Well that was gonna be my comment though, like I
Speaker 4: think he is on paper and upgrade over Andy Dalton.
Speaker 4: But Andy Dalton was like a like a flaming metrics
Speaker 4: starling last year and played pretty well for them.
Speaker 6: It wasn't like they had terrible quarterback plays.
Speaker 4: So I guess you got to go in and number
Speaker 4: one be as good as Andy Dalton was last year,
Speaker 4: which I think is possible. But like Derek Carr is
Speaker 4: coming off a pretty terrible campaign. And the other thing
Speaker 4: that I used to always have hope in with the
Speaker 4: Saints was no matter who you put on the field,
Speaker 4: like your coaching staff was gonna make that thing sing
Speaker 4: and they were gonna be there in December and January.
Speaker 4: It's like Dennis Allen is like probably for me like
Speaker 4: top five least interesting special coaches in the league, and like,
Speaker 4: I don't know, it just sort of feels like they're
Speaker 4: rolling down the hill in neutral right now a little
Speaker 4: bit with all the big positions.
Speaker 1: Hey, Downhill's good, though, I should mention Taysom Hill also
Speaker 1: he's not doing the QB packages too much anymore. Wouldn't
Speaker 1: think with Carr there, so he's a tight end option.
Speaker 1: He did some things last year and finally Mark said,
Speaker 1: flaming metrics garm I love it, he was, that would
Speaker 1: be a that's a good fantasy team name for people
Speaker 1: looking looking to get it out there.
Speaker 6: Yeah, wouldn't you agree though?
Speaker 2: That?
Speaker 4: Like he was like pff just loved him to the
Speaker 4: end of time.
Speaker 6: I dodged that.
Speaker 1: Do you want to do you want it? You can.
Speaker 1: We got a lot more, but it's up to you. No,
Speaker 1: all right, he just took the trnks. That means the
Speaker 1: conversation's over. Mark. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Greg Rosenthal, this is.
Speaker 3: A truly bizarre roster.
Speaker 5: It looks like a roster where you suddenly got Tom
Speaker 5: Brady and then you built a team around Tom Brady
Speaker 5: and everything tom Brady wanted, and then Tom Brady is
Speaker 5: no longer there. So that's what I guess. That's why
Speaker 5: it's a bizarre looking roster. It's very thin, but there's
Speaker 5: actually still good players on it. They see very focused
Speaker 5: on defense though they took Colijah Canty in the first round.
Speaker 5: Yah ya dabi An d Dresser in the third. It's like,
Speaker 5: this defense needs to be better, Todd Bowles, for you
Speaker 5: to kind of justify everything going into this defense, because
Speaker 5: the offense I ain't gonna be good with with Baker
Speaker 5: Mayfield as your quarterback or Kyle Trask as your quarterback.
Speaker 4: I mean, the one thing though, is like, the the
Speaker 4: one thing I'm thinking about Baker Mayfield is like, I agree,
Speaker 4: he's like there. You keep thinking like they must have
Speaker 4: had another plan still at that position, and maybe they don't,
Speaker 4: but but how frustrating. I know it's Tom Brady and
Speaker 4: there's no comp between any quarterback and Tom Brady, but
Speaker 4: that was one of the like the least watchable, most
Speaker 4: frustrating attacks league wide a year ago. So it's like
Speaker 4: maybe there was a way for them to simply not
Speaker 4: be that. But I am a little concerned, like when
Speaker 4: I see.
Speaker 6: Newport could be worse.
Speaker 4: It could be worse, because the one thing that stands
Speaker 4: out to me is like you hired is it Dave
Speaker 4: Canally is your offensive coordinator who in his intro presser
Speaker 4: acknowledge that he's never called plays at the NFL level obviously,
Speaker 4: but or even in college, And like the studies on
Speaker 4: guys jumping into that for the first time, and I
Speaker 4: mean unless you got Bruce arians in your ear somewhere
Speaker 4: from another part of the building. Like those guys struggle
Speaker 4: because you're put into situations you've literally never been in,
Speaker 4: and like the pressure, the volume couldn't be turned up higher,
Speaker 4: and so there is an implosion factor there with that
Speaker 4: whole side of the ball.
Speaker 1: We brought it up with when he had his moments,
Speaker 1: And there's something about Baker that he has just this
Speaker 1: like juice that does draw people toward him, and I
Speaker 1: think sometimes it can obscure vision on things like if
Speaker 1: he wasn't Baker and his production was what it was,
Speaker 1: I don't think the Bucks are going into the season
Speaker 1: with him and Kyle Trask. In fact, to go through
Speaker 1: eight draft picks and not a dress quarterback was one
Speaker 1: of the more surprising draft decisions any team made. I
Speaker 1: have him a twenty ninth twenty ninth in the Power
Speaker 1: rankings because, like you're saying, Greg, I see kind of
Speaker 1: a weird aging, but also unsure where it's going team
Speaker 1: without a quarterback.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like the circumstance of trying to contend and a
Speaker 2: few of those guys still being on the roster. It
Speaker 2: felt like, Okay, well, well maybe they can go get somebody.
Speaker 2: And then there's somebody that they get is Baker Mayfield,
Speaker 2: and you just wonder, like, clearly Baker can deal with turnover,
Speaker 2: he can deal with different guys in his ear. But
Speaker 2: there's so much that there's so many things that can
Speaker 2: go wrong. But I think maybe we were obscured that
Speaker 2: the fact that it was Tom Brady and it was bad.
Speaker 2: I think it's gonna be difficult for them to be
Speaker 2: significantly worse on offense than they were last year. It
Speaker 2: was just like, because it was twelve, it was, oh,
Speaker 2: you know, they'll they'll be back. They won that game
Speaker 2: against the Seahawks, and I thought firmly, oh Tom's gonna
Speaker 2: win another Trooper Bowl. I'm gonna hate my life. But
Speaker 2: it didn't happen.
Speaker 1: Yes, all right, Final Division the NFC West, starting with
Speaker 1: Pat Clayban. People don't call him Pat.
Speaker 3: Never heard Pat?
Speaker 1: Are you okay? Does that bother you? Pat?
Speaker 6: No?
Speaker 2: I prefer ernest, impatience. Put put Patrick on the old BERTHSA.
Speaker 2: So I'm gonna I'm gonna go with strong Nan Patrick Lack.
Speaker 2: I trust their judgment the Cardinals. Yeah, let's talk about
Speaker 2: the Arizona Cardinals. A lot of turnover and so many
Speaker 2: Austin Fork comes in, Jonathan Gannon comes in, They're able
Speaker 2: to bring one tackle back. They get Paris in the
Speaker 2: first round, and I think it a good value. They
Speaker 2: traded out of that pick once the Caserio maneuvering happened
Speaker 2: at the top of the draft, and I think that
Speaker 2: was a good play for both teams considering what was
Speaker 2: on the board. The question is, because the Arizona Cardinals,
Speaker 2: looking at things if Kyler does not play, could be
Speaker 2: on paper, one of the worst teams in the NFL.
Speaker 2: Because of that trade, they could be looking at two
Speaker 2: very early picks. And so ultimately, are we even looking
Speaker 2: at the twenty twenty three Arizona Cardinals as anything at all?
Speaker 2: Or is it all about twenty twenty four? Because when
Speaker 2: I peruse the Cardinals materials and the things the fans
Speaker 2: are talking about, they're not even concerned about twenty three.
Speaker 2: It's just thinking about the possibility of what could happen
Speaker 2: in twenty four.
Speaker 4: I love this question because I am optimistic about this
Speaker 4: team now. Where you know, before the draft and before
Speaker 4: a couple of months ago is like this, just the
Speaker 4: energy is so poor here. But I think they got
Speaker 4: rid of a lot of the bad energy characters. And
Speaker 4: now you're looking at two firsts, a second, three thirds,
Speaker 4: two fourth, two fists, and a seventh and next in
Speaker 4: next year's draft.
Speaker 6: I mean, you can do anything.
Speaker 4: You can reorganize who you are as a team completely.
Speaker 4: So it is the one team that stands out there
Speaker 4: where it's like, yeah, you know, if you're a season
Speaker 4: ticket holder, go drink a bunch of beer, buy some popcorn,
Speaker 4: but wait for the results to come a year from now,
Speaker 4: because they aren't coming this time around.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and if I'm if I'm the Cardinals, and take
Speaker 1: your time, Kyler Murray, like we don't need to have
Speaker 1: some miraculous Adrian Peterson recovery here. And I know that's
Speaker 1: not what anybody wants to hear. And if you're a
Speaker 1: Kyler Murray fan, you want to see your favorite player
Speaker 1: as soon as possible. But this is a team that
Speaker 1: sets up very well as a preseason Darling next year
Speaker 1: if things break a certain way. And most importantly, Murray
Speaker 1: is himself and healthy one hundred percent, so it is
Speaker 1: patients And yeah, if the fan base is down with that.
Speaker 1: That's even better because you don't have to worry about
Speaker 1: that pressure.
Speaker 5: I kind of can't believe that Colt McCoy would be
Speaker 5: their Week one starter though, just because of I mean,
Speaker 5: he had another concussion last year, he had injured this.
Speaker 5: I don't want to see it for him and you
Speaker 5: certainly I don't think you can expect him to play
Speaker 5: six and games.
Speaker 3: Teddy Bridgewater is still out there the tank.
Speaker 1: I think to set them up, they want the highest possible.
Speaker 3: So does Kyler Murray not play then this season? I
Speaker 3: think that's possible.
Speaker 6: That's a possibility.
Speaker 5: It's still hard in the NFL to tank because yes,
Speaker 5: they look pretty bad, like I deserve combat pay for
Speaker 5: trying to do their front seven on projected starters. I
Speaker 5: have no idea who's in their front seven, but they
Speaker 5: do have like good tackles. They're pretty deep at wide
Speaker 5: receiver like the NFL like there. This isn't like the
Speaker 5: SEC where they're Vanderbilt. They could easily stumble into six
Speaker 5: wins somehow because it's just like, I don't.
Speaker 1: Know, terrible QB play is kind of the fail safe
Speaker 1: to make sure you keep that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but is Kyler going to sit out so that
Speaker 2: they can draft Caleb Williams number one overall.
Speaker 1: I think that's juicy, and therein lies the rub of
Speaker 1: Arizona Cardinals, the LA Rams.
Speaker 5: Greg Rosenthal, I am kind of fascinated to see about
Speaker 5: what happens with this team. This is a truly bizarre
Speaker 5: experiment they are going on. They drafted fourteen players, then
Speaker 5: they signed twenty four undrafted free agents. For comparison, like
Speaker 5: the Giants signed nine, the usual numbers, you know, nine, ten, eleven, they.
Speaker 3: Signed twenty four.
Speaker 5: So they have thirty eight rookies currently on their roster.
Speaker 5: Over forty percent of their roster right now are rookies,
Speaker 5: and looking at their depth chart, a lot of them
Speaker 5: have opportunities to play, like probably five or six of
Speaker 5: them just because of the numbers, will wind up being starters.
Speaker 5: Because their whole defense on paper has Aaron Donald and
Speaker 5: even a worse roster than the Cardinals, I would say,
Speaker 5: like the most questionable defensive roster in the league. I
Speaker 5: just it's funny how hard they pivoted from the win
Speaker 5: now thing to we have forty percent of our roster
Speaker 5: with the rookies. I am kind of interested because it's
Speaker 5: not a crazy idea bring in twenty four rookies like.
Speaker 3: If eight hit hell, we got an amazing rookie Clay.
Speaker 1: Even if it's saying that for one hundred years though, Yeah.
Speaker 3: But they've never done it in this number. This is
Speaker 3: truly record breaking numbers FM picks the reverse.
Speaker 4: I think the thing that stands out that doesn't fit
Speaker 4: with what they're doing is like, are you putting Matthew
Speaker 4: Stafford through this if it goes really poorly out of
Speaker 4: the gate. And there's just a part of me that
Speaker 4: feels like, yet, you know what if you want to
Speaker 4: reboot and you're gonna do all this like next year,
Speaker 4: a quarterback makes a lot of sense in the draft,
Speaker 4: but you also have Stetson Bennett, and it's like, where's
Speaker 4: the inflection point on maybe we get more draft picks
Speaker 4: by moving Matthew Stafford to a team that lost their
Speaker 4: quarterback in August or before the trade deadline and find
Speaker 4: out what you have in stets and Bennett because how
Speaker 4: I kind of like what they're doing, and it's like
Speaker 4: they at least think differently if they want to pivot,
Speaker 4: like I trust them to go try a new avenue
Speaker 4: and they'll be interesting to watch just becase because of this,
Speaker 4: or they'll be terrible.
Speaker 6: But we understand what they're doing.
Speaker 4: But why not find out what you're having stets in Bennett,
Speaker 4: I just it feels depressing have Matthew Stafford with them
Speaker 4: for seventeen games if they're gonna win four of them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that goes and that goes for Cooper Cup, right,
Speaker 2: it goes for ad as well, Like why are we
Speaker 2: watching these guys in this city, in this stadium not
Speaker 2: necessarily run out a team they can compete.
Speaker 5: I think they think they can compete on offense. I
Speaker 5: think they think they can be a top ten offense.
Speaker 5: On paper, the offense looks okay.
Speaker 1: You feel like to me like a team without a country,
Speaker 1: Like they have too many high priced that's to fully
Speaker 1: rebuild and not enough young talent to develop. And it
Speaker 1: kind of puts them this weird twilight zone. And that's
Speaker 1: why they're a really hard team to kind of peg
Speaker 1: right now, because you're right, McVeigh did come back, and
Speaker 1: they have Cooper Cup back and Matthew Stafford is healthy.
Speaker 1: Just that with decent line play, I think they'll find
Speaker 1: a way to score points. But you still need a
Speaker 1: lot of things to work out for even that to happen.
Speaker 1: Ten weird, super weird.
Speaker 3: We got cam Akers back, We got a three Bobby Skarnick.
Speaker 1: Time out, then use our third time out because I
Speaker 1: just it was very compelling. Clayban dropping out, little Kyler Murray,
Speaker 1: Caleb Williams nug at the end of that convo, and
Speaker 1: now I'm thinking about it, and I gotta be honest,
Speaker 1: kind of preoccupied in my thoughts a little bit during
Speaker 1: the Rams talk. They don't give me much druice. It
Speaker 1: almost gives you more reason to think the cards keep
Speaker 1: him in bubble wrap, don't risk anything, and then you
Speaker 1: could shop him in the off season, like, hey, he's
Speaker 1: fully recovered from this knee. You saw what he was
Speaker 1: like when he was healthy. They go get Caleb Williams,
Speaker 1: and it's more reason to keep Kyler on the bench. Now, Well, Kyler,
Speaker 1: if that ever happened, would Kyler start speaking out in
Speaker 1: the media. They've had a rocky relationship at times. It
Speaker 1: does feel like potentially Patrick a grenade that the pin's
Speaker 1: been pulled and it's just sitting there and people are
Speaker 1: waiting to see if it will explode.
Speaker 2: Well, with all the turmoil at the top. What if
Speaker 2: the Kyler free season isn't necessarily an evaluation of the
Speaker 2: future with Kyler, it's an evaluation of Jonathan Gannon in
Speaker 2: one year to see what with all this chaos going on,
Speaker 2: because chaos is something that he inherited with this franchise.
Speaker 2: They've been through a lot considering the decisions at the
Speaker 2: top of the people who have been making those decisions.
Speaker 2: And so you give Jonathan Gannon a year to see
Speaker 2: whether it's Kyler, whether it's capable, is whether it's the
Speaker 2: kid out of UNC whoever it is, Like, is this
Speaker 2: the structure that we have on this team that we
Speaker 2: want to have in the future. And I think the
Speaker 2: values there regardless because the Arizona Cardinals won't be the
Speaker 2: only team that's interested, Like everybody that was picked and
Speaker 2: all the free agent moves, like, there's going to be
Speaker 2: some team that's disappointed with their quarterback situation and it's
Speaker 2: going to want the kid out of LA you.
Speaker 3: Know see, ye best way to they can just they
Speaker 3: can just have the pick if they have the worst record.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but like you know what, like and we brought
Speaker 4: we actually discussed this on we were loopy, but in
Speaker 4: our Round one draft night coverage. Uh, this scenario, because
Speaker 4: I think you have to look at Kyler Murray as
Speaker 4: someone that was brought there primarily as a Cliff Kingsbury guy,
Speaker 4: new regime. Now the one this these things maybe don't matter,
Speaker 4: but like the entire front office and like coaching staff
Speaker 4: went to Kyler Murray's statue unveiling and Kyler Murray sort
Speaker 4: of said he was surprised and a good way to
Speaker 4: see how much overt support they were giving him. That
Speaker 4: that doesn't mean anything to me a year from now though,
Speaker 4: And I think they're in a great position because I
Speaker 4: think Kyler Murray would be very tradable to your point,
Speaker 4: to a number of teams and like if you want
Speaker 4: a fresh start, because like it's like I think Kyler
Speaker 4: Murray has these traits that are like unmatchable, but the
Speaker 4: overall Kyler Murray experience is very replaceable if you get
Speaker 4: someone else you just believe in more. I don't think
Speaker 4: there's anything abut Kyler Murray where it's like there's no
Speaker 4: way we can move on from this guy.
Speaker 6: It's like, yes you can.
Speaker 2: Well, Nathaniel Hackett is back in the NFL.
Speaker 5: Cliff Kingsbury is not m financially to where is Kingsbury?
Speaker 5: Didn't he take an assistant job.
Speaker 1: He's a quarterbacks coach of USC's.
Speaker 6: Consultant quarterback coach ship.
Speaker 3: That's a nice way to keep keep that paycheck coming.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 5: Speaking of you know you were your mind was drifting
Speaker 5: with the Rams, Dan, can I intrigu you can I
Speaker 5: interest you in a little nugget as the owner of
Speaker 5: Kicker Corner, as a man who likes to go to
Speaker 5: the Kicker Club. Their entire special teams unit right now,
Speaker 5: which didn't exist before the draft, is complete with only
Speaker 5: seventh a seventh round pick and undrafted free agents. Their punter,
Speaker 5: their kicker, their long snapper. I don't know if their
Speaker 5: holder is, but it so that I don't know if
Speaker 5: that's disrespectful to the Kicker Club, but that's the entire
Speaker 5: Special teams right now is seventh rounders and undrafted free agents.
Speaker 1: Smells like trouble Greggys, like trouble time in Seattle, Seahawks.
Speaker 4: Mark all right, The NFC has waved farewell to Tom
Speaker 4: Brady and Aaron Rodgers. The Bucks and Packers are just
Speaker 4: sort of wait and see entities. The Rams and Cardinals.
Speaker 4: We just talked about. They are both overtly tanking before
Speaker 4: our eyes. The Niners are trustworthy, but gambling on the
Speaker 4: Rock Party, well, I mean.
Speaker 6: They're not going. They're not a super Bowl team that year.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but the Niners like, let's see, Like I love
Speaker 4: the Brock Party thing, but they are hoping that Brock
Speaker 4: Party is last year's Brock Party or Trey Lance is
Speaker 4: actually something at all. And so outside of Greg, all
Speaker 4: of America slept on the Seahawks a year ago, and
Speaker 4: I wonder if we are still asleep. Because they have
Speaker 4: the best wide out group in the conference. You've got
Speaker 4: a nasty runner in Kenneth Walker to now pair with
Speaker 4: Zach Charvina. You've got a star in Tarika Wolan across
Speaker 4: from first round cornerback in Devin Witherspoon. You got Pete
Speaker 4: Carroll strutting up and down the boulevard like a thirty
Speaker 4: five year old.
Speaker 6: Why are they not talked about as a team with
Speaker 6: a legitimate super Bowl window in a terrible NFC.
Speaker 3: Daddy likes it. I don't think you're crazy. They might
Speaker 3: be my third favorite.
Speaker 5: I don't think it almost worries me because I think
Speaker 5: there's a pretty decent case, you could make of them
Speaker 5: as like the third best team in the NFC me personally,
Speaker 5: just looking at their roster, whether whether it's the Cowboys
Speaker 5: or the forty nine ers or third or fourth like
Speaker 5: in that.
Speaker 3: Mix, the Seahawks are right there. I think it's a
Speaker 3: great roster.
Speaker 1: Can I ask you a question, Gregy Lions v. Seahawks
Speaker 1: NFC Title game, who you got?
Speaker 3: Well, my heart would still be with the Geno.
Speaker 6: Honestly, couldn't lose.
Speaker 1: Another strike against the running back the team of atn
Speaker 1: But I.
Speaker 2: Think my concern mark is at the edge. I know
Speaker 2: they love Witherspoon. I think it's a great value they
Speaker 2: get up there. But you have to wonder what the
Speaker 2: situation was like when the Arizona Cardinals make that trade
Speaker 2: with the Texans, because because I know the Seahawks were
Speaker 2: entertaining ideas of Will Anderson being.
Speaker 5: There or I think they were taking Richardson based on
Speaker 5: what Pete Carroll said, if Richardson got to them, it
Speaker 5: would have just changed their lives. He basically said they
Speaker 5: were taking Richardson, which is crazy.
Speaker 2: And also wild considering that this is a team that,
Speaker 2: as Market pointed out, can contend this year and The
Speaker 2: fact that they will be thinking about that is wild
Speaker 2: to me because there's still a glaring need at the edge,
Speaker 2: like if things go wrong or for Seattle, I really
Speaker 2: think they need to be able to rush the passer,
Speaker 2: considering they're gonna be able to score with anybody, Like
Speaker 2: why wouldn't you so?
Speaker 1: Yeah, Mike, I guess the only water I would throw
Speaker 1: on it is are we now rolling forward with Gino?
Speaker 1: Is you know a top five passer in his conference?
Speaker 1: I know he's got great skill. I love what they
Speaker 1: did with the draft. He did come down to earth
Speaker 1: down the stretch last season, like do we get which
Speaker 1: version of Geno? Do we get? Is he consistent for
Speaker 1: another season? And if he is, yeah, they can hang
Speaker 1: with anybody in the NFC.
Speaker 5: If he's Kirk Cousin's ish in terms of his just
Speaker 5: year to year consistency, I think they're a contender And
Speaker 5: that seems reasonable.
Speaker 3: Doesn't it?
Speaker 2: Feel?
Speaker 4: Quarterbacks in the NFC that were like, which version of
Speaker 4: this quarterback do we get this year?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Their secondary is so good.
Speaker 1: The legion of Boom, last team, the team everybody's chasing
Speaker 1: in the NFC West, the San Francisco forty nine ers
Speaker 1: and I how's it all going to play out? Because
Speaker 1: this is the to me, it's the Eagles conference right now,
Speaker 1: with San Francisco the clear number two and a very
Speaker 1: real I think they could have beaten the Eagles in
Speaker 1: the NFC title game with better injury luck. It didn't
Speaker 1: work out that way, but they will enter the season
Speaker 1: with questions and the hope is that Rock Party's ready.
Speaker 1: I'm curious how this summer is going to play out.
Speaker 1: How does Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch deploy the Trey
Speaker 1: Lance Sam Darnold side of things? Does is Trey Lance
Speaker 1: the favorite there to start if Purdy's not ready? If
Speaker 1: he does get a chance to play and plays well
Speaker 1: early on, does he have a chance to keep the job.
Speaker 1: Just in general, even Purdy's great six week run, you
Speaker 1: can't lock him in as a guy that you could
Speaker 1: trust one hundred percent. Lance. Obviously, we don't know anything Donald.
Speaker 1: We know what Donald's given in his career, So lack
Speaker 1: of trust at QB obviously is one of the worst
Speaker 1: things to have entering a season. And I feel like
Speaker 1: they're there and purty, mostly because the elbow, I want
Speaker 1: to say, but also not a ton of experience himself.
Speaker 4: If you look at like I was trying to look
Speaker 4: up a list of like late round and I mean
Speaker 4: like six seventh round or undrafted players who really succeeded.
Speaker 6: And there is a list.
Speaker 4: It's like the Tom Brady, It's Mark Bulger, Mark Burnell,
Speaker 4: Rich gannon undrafted guys like you got you know, Jeff Garcia,
Speaker 4: Tony Romo, Warren Boon. But half of those guys are
Speaker 4: from like decades ago. It just doesn't happen that often.
Speaker 4: And I think that brock Perty is an outlier potentially,
Speaker 4: but I mean it was a small sample size, and
Speaker 4: I think it's a real like what if, because they're
Speaker 4: gonna catch up to him. He's gonna you know, he
Speaker 4: is who he is, and it's just like I think
Speaker 4: it's a fascinating thing, but a potential like T and
Speaker 4: T bomb you're standing on.
Speaker 6: Because Trey Lance is also full of question marks.
Speaker 4: And suddenly, if you're in a world where like you're
Speaker 4: hoping that Sam Darnald is your starter for a seven
Speaker 4: game stretch, there's only so much that superpower, the superpowers
Speaker 4: of Kyle Shanahan can do it quarterback.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And one of those powers that is availability these
Speaker 2: past few years has been a defense that has been incredible,
Speaker 2: and so you've had one departure of a defensive coordinator,
Speaker 2: they're able to maintain that success. It happens again. Of course,
Speaker 2: he's always losing offensive assistance. I don't think that's a
Speaker 2: huge concern this time around. But at some point it's good.
Speaker 2: It's gonna reveal its head and can this edition of
Speaker 2: the forty nine Ers defense be enough to allow Trey
Speaker 2: Lance brock Purty coming off of injury, even Sam Darnald
Speaker 2: to have those stretches where they don't play well and
Speaker 2: they're still putting wins up on the board, and it's
Speaker 2: it's always, at some point it's gonna hapen. Why not
Speaker 2: twenty two?
Speaker 5: It's like the same thing every year. Though I feel
Speaker 5: like I'm not worried about quarterback. On paper, it's once
Speaker 5: again their cornerbacks look gross like Leonore and Isaiah Oliver's
Speaker 5: there's cornerback two and three, like your offensive line is underwhelming,
Speaker 5: and yet they always in the.
Speaker 3: End like it always.
Speaker 5: These are the same questions every year, and they always
Speaker 5: figure it out. So I'm sick of doubting, sick of doubting, doubting.
Speaker 5: The forty nine ers has been bad business for me.
Speaker 1: What was that Modern family guy?
Speaker 2: The facts you didn't lie?
Speaker 1: Good stuff. We just went around the NFC in exactly
Speaker 1: forty eight minutes. You could check out the see the
Speaker 1: compendium bombshells has me questioning everything now as well. The
Speaker 1: addendum to this exercise was the around the AFC with
Speaker 1: Colleen Wolf, so check out that as well. And that
Speaker 1: is for the content we are giving to you for
Speaker 1: the week. Ask for no more because you will get
Speaker 1: no more. Yeah.
Speaker 5: I don't think that's how you use a dndom either.
Speaker 5: I think it denim is like something you add to
Speaker 5: the end of something to sort of like clarify it.
Speaker 1: Perhaps companion, Yeah, companion or.
Speaker 4: Like a brother sister edition of the show. I don't
Speaker 4: know which conferences this.
Speaker 3: Is brother and Clavon being the brother and and Colleen
Speaker 3: being the sister.
Speaker 1: Or we could also we can also mark, have you
Speaker 1: decide who's the brother and sister and then no matter
Speaker 1: what your answer is, you get like struck from the
Speaker 1: league and any coverage of the sport.
Speaker 6: Yeah, midway through that sentence, I don't know why where
Speaker 6: I was going.
Speaker 1: With that, but all right, well, good stuff. Anybody else
Speaker 1: have anything to add good?
Speaker 6: We used all our timeouts.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Los Angeles welcomes you.
Speaker 1: Oh I can't wait.
Speaker 5: Thank you, Patri have a happy, happy anniversary to the
Speaker 5: beautiful Amica. This is like putting it on Instagram when
Speaker 5: when she doesn't check Instagram because she has never once
Speaker 5: listened to this podcast.
Speaker 1: How about how about this? Patrick and Mark. It's been
Speaker 1: a while since we got the invite to Greg's house,
Speaker 1: about a decade now. He's got a new house, he
Speaker 1: just hit a major benchmark anniversary with his lovely wife.
Speaker 1: We are in this partnership together that has really become
Speaker 1: a major like kind of aspect of our existences. Maybe
Speaker 1: maybe there's an invite coming, maybe we get back.
Speaker 4: And if we're not invited, like Greg, how would Emmica
Speaker 4: respond to the three of us showing up as like
Speaker 4: a modern day sort of singing telegram to give our
Speaker 4: well wishes to her specifically and marrying you and how
Speaker 4: the marriage.
Speaker 2: The whole squads.
Speaker 3: Depends what you're wearing. I think she we can make
Speaker 3: that happen, you know.
Speaker 1: To issue.
Speaker 2: We dressed the kids up. They've got little bow ties on.
Speaker 5: I want to get my hands this on and The
Speaker 5: plans are to fix up this garage a little bit
Speaker 5: this summer, and then maybe when that's done, I feel
Speaker 5: like that's the time.
Speaker 1: I told you you want to put down some rug
Speaker 1: in there. I'll go to the depot with you and
Speaker 1: we'll pick.
Speaker 3: Up We're got to put a little rug. That's that's
Speaker 3: a plan. But there is some water leaking into it,
Speaker 3: so that's that's a problem.
Speaker 1: Hey, you still got a landlord, though, you just call
Speaker 1: them up and then fix that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, all right, that's it.
Speaker 1: Until next week. We'll be back with two more shows,
Speaker 1: a lot of fun, a lot of excitement. I hope
Speaker 1: you all have a great weekend. Till we meet again,
Speaker 1: keep the calling.