Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL Daily, where we're always feeling the urgency.
Speaker 1: I'm Greg Rosenthal and beyond excited to be joined today
Speaker 1: by Jane Slater of NFL Network. You will recognize her
Speaker 1: from the NFL Network polos. She's always wearing this time
Speaker 1: of year up in Oxnard, but she's now back in
Speaker 1: the Dallas area. But you're not just the Dallas Cowboys reporter.
Speaker 1: You can talk NFL, Jane Slater. So we're going to
Speaker 1: do some news before we get to Cowboys talk.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm just as excited about the football season as
Speaker 2: a lot of the fans are. I'm obviously following it
Speaker 2: very very closely, and they're I mean, some of the
Speaker 2: things that have happened in the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 2: I don't know about you, Greg, but I am a
Speaker 2: huge fan of the Real Housewise franchise. They've got nothing
Speaker 2: on the reality that seems to be. Some of these
Speaker 2: storylines that have peaked in the last.
Speaker 1: Couple of weeks, Well, I feel like they could do
Speaker 1: a Real Housewife. I was maybe like the real single
Speaker 1: Ladies of Dallas and have Slater on. I almost feel
Speaker 1: like you've been trying out for that quietly for years
Speaker 1: like your life is a reality show.
Speaker 2: It feels like it sometimes.
Speaker 1: All right, So we're gonna do some news, like I said,
Speaker 1: and then we're gonna talk deep dive into the Cowboys.
Speaker 1: We'll try to talk some this stuff on the field
Speaker 1: because we've hit the contract so hard, but I'm more
Speaker 1: interested in what this team's actually gonna look like this season.
Speaker 1: And then we're gonna wrap up the show with Pete
Speaker 1: Sweeney from Arrowhead Pride. So talking Cowboys, talking Chiefs today,
Speaker 1: But first we will do some news, yeah, bummer Jane
Speaker 1: that we're starting with a quarterback injury that didn't see coming.
Speaker 1: Nick Schuok and I spent the top of our show
Speaker 1: on Monday morning just so excited about how good JJ
Speaker 1: McCarthy looked, and he apparently hurt his knee in that game.
Speaker 1: Came into the building Monday morning after not saying a
Speaker 1: word about it on Sunday, and he told them he
Speaker 1: had some knee soreness, and it turns out he needs
Speaker 1: surgery for a torn MCL. At this point, we are
Speaker 1: waiting to find out how or what kind of surgery
Speaker 1: he's going to get, whether it's going to be a
Speaker 1: full repair or if it's just going to be a trim.
Speaker 1: The full repair would potentially knock him out for the
Speaker 1: entire season. The trim would be four to six weeks.
Speaker 1: And I think we might have got a little bit
Speaker 1: of a hint from Kevin O'Connell of what's more likely
Speaker 1: in this situation when he spoke to the media on Tuesday.
Speaker 3: What's best for the long term health of of JJ
Speaker 3: McCarthy will be the priority And and and I don't,
Speaker 3: like I said, have that answer and really won't be
Speaker 3: a part of determining that answer. Is the best thing
Speaker 3: I can tell you because I have total complete trust
Speaker 3: in in our medical staff and also you know the
Speaker 3: uh you know the people that will be you know,
Speaker 3: performing the procedure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Jane, when he when he starts that saying the
Speaker 1: long term health of the player is going to be
Speaker 1: the priority, that that makes me worried that we might
Speaker 1: not see JJ McCarthy this entire season, because that's going
Speaker 1: to be the best for him long term.
Speaker 2: And why would you, right, Greg, I mean they went
Speaker 2: out and they got him with the number ten overall
Speaker 2: pick I mean, you lose Kirk Cousins to the Atlanta Falcons.
Speaker 2: Thankfully they went out and got Sam Darnold, who you know,
Speaker 2: was a huge off season acquisition. And you know, I
Speaker 2: think we all thought that JJ McCarthy would take a
Speaker 2: little bit obviously to get onto the field. But why
Speaker 2: rush this first round pick?
Speaker 4: For you?
Speaker 2: I know that you know you had mentioned it. They
Speaker 2: got to wait till they get in there, they do
Speaker 2: the surgery, Are they going to clip the meniscuss? Is
Speaker 2: it going to sideline him for the full year? But
Speaker 2: why rush him back? I mean, if I'm if I'm
Speaker 2: the Minnesota Vikings, I'm protecting this pick. I'm protecting him
Speaker 2: in the sense that you know, when he's rested up,
Speaker 2: he can come be around the sidelines. But I don't
Speaker 2: know that I'm trying to push that out in the field.
Speaker 2: But I mean, I think probably the most disheartening part
Speaker 2: about it is to your point, he came in on
Speaker 2: Monday and hadn't really had any issues with it, and
Speaker 2: then lo and behold. You know, now the Minnesota Vikings
Speaker 2: fan base that was so excited about J. J. McCarthy
Speaker 2: and moving forward now has to wait and see, you know,
Speaker 2: when they're going to actually STEI on the field.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you feel for McCarthy first of all, you feel
Speaker 1: for Vikings fans because, yeah, the excitement level. You think
Speaker 1: about how well Kirk Cousins was playing before that injury.
Speaker 1: You think about the history of the quarterback position over
Speaker 1: the years in Minnesota and Teddy Bridgewater and just everyone
Speaker 1: else that they've tried over the last bit, Christian Ponder,
Speaker 1: Sam Bradford and this kid. He looked so exciting to
Speaker 1: a twenty one years old You mentioned it. The doctors
Speaker 1: are going to make this decision ultimately if they think
Speaker 1: it's you know that they could just do the lighter
Speaker 1: surgery and he could come back. That would be exciting,
Speaker 1: but we will see. Something else that crossed my mind
Speaker 1: on this is just Quessea Dopha Mensa and Kevin O'Connell
Speaker 1: are both up for extensions. That makes that decision a
Speaker 1: little trickier. And yet I feel like Sam Bradford has
Speaker 1: an awesome situation, as did JJ McCarthy. It's a really
Speaker 1: good offensive line and it's a great receiver group, especially
Speaker 1: when TJ. Hockinson gets back. Flores coached up that defense
Speaker 1: pretty good. There's actually a narrative here, and I know
Speaker 1: that Sam donald Hive is out, you know, dancing on
Speaker 1: toward JJ McCarthy's injury. Here, they're excited to see their
Speaker 1: guy finally do something. I'm not as much. But I'm
Speaker 1: actually not ruling out this team from being very competitive.
Speaker 1: Whether Sam Donald's great or not. I think there's a
Speaker 1: lot of good things around.
Speaker 2: Him well, and like I said, you've got to be
Speaker 2: happy that they went out there and they've got at
Speaker 2: least some depth as a result of these injuries. I mean, look,
Speaker 2: I'm certainly no stranger to covering injuries at the quarterback
Speaker 2: position here in Dallas, and sometimes there is a silver lining,
Speaker 2: and so you know, Sam Donald, I think there's, don't
Speaker 2: I don't think Sam Donald excites a lot of Minnesota fans.
Speaker 2: I don't know if you know many I actually do.
Speaker 2: This was devastating news to a lot of Vikings fans today,
Speaker 2: But I would just say, you know, pump the brakes.
Speaker 2: At least you've got a vet that you know, at
Speaker 2: least knows his way around live action in the game.
Speaker 2: He looked in the preseason, he's looked good at camp,
Speaker 2: and so you've got a viable option there. But certainly
Speaker 2: takes sort of the air out of the realm for
Speaker 2: fans that were you know, already losing Kerko, now having
Speaker 2: to deal with this situation, and then to bring up
Speaker 2: Teddy Bridgewater. I mean, it's just it feels like this
Speaker 2: franchise has been snake bitten a little bit at times.
Speaker 1: It has, and yet it is good to keep Yeah,
Speaker 1: this in perspective, He's a twenty one year old. He'll
Speaker 1: still get to be around the team throughout the course
Speaker 1: of the season. Even if he is out. What we'll see,
Speaker 1: we don't need to write that story. Maybe it'll it'll
Speaker 1: turn out better. What would turn out better for me
Speaker 1: with Brandon Ayuk is if this thing just just ended.
Speaker 1: We got, you know, no slight to our insiders, but
Speaker 1: we got kind of another non update update and there
Speaker 1: was a little moving forward to the situation, which Ian
Speaker 1: Rappaport was first to report our guy the Insider, saying
Speaker 1: that the Steelers have been waiting ce mode, that they
Speaker 1: actually believe that a deal from their side has been
Speaker 1: agreed to in terms of trade terms, that Ayuk was
Speaker 1: also happy with their contract terms. But it's sort of
Speaker 1: in the forty nine Ers slash Ayuk's corner because the
Speaker 1: forty nine Ers sent out a new offer to Ayuk
Speaker 1: and I was trying to parse, like, what does this
Speaker 1: all mean? It almost felt like this was the forty
Speaker 1: nine Ers saying we've done everything we can do and
Speaker 1: now it's up to Ayuk. That was my takeaway. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you had a takeaway on this.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 2: I think he's also got to ask himself, you know,
Speaker 2: is this a better situation for him than what he's
Speaker 2: currently got with the forty nine Ers. I mean, you've
Speaker 2: got Russell Wilson, which a big question mark with him
Speaker 2: the Steelers. I think you feel good about Mike Tomlin.
Speaker 2: He's always got you in there. But to your point,
Speaker 2: the whole back and forth, the showing up at camp,
Speaker 2: how awkward that has to be. I was actually talking
Speaker 2: to Steve Weis, who covers the forty nine Ers quite
Speaker 2: a bit, and doing an interview with Nick Bosa recently.
Speaker 2: He talked about how hard it is when you're holding
Speaker 2: out in this situation. A lot of holdout guys they're
Speaker 2: not at the facility, they're not around things. Ayuk's been there,
Speaker 2: he's watching practice, he's just not an active participant. I
Speaker 2: would imagine it's uncomfortable for everyone. But I think that
Speaker 2: the storyline that is I've at least been entertained by
Speaker 2: is there seems to be this kind of new culture
Speaker 2: of punking insiders. And the reason why there's always new
Speaker 2: information out there, Greg is as somebody who covers a
Speaker 2: team that is always out there in the news, don't
Speaker 2: I mean when I once covered the Rangers, there was
Speaker 2: a player that told his daughter that he was going
Speaker 2: to go play for the Cleveland Indians, and she told
Speaker 2: her preschool teacher, who told a local reporter that my
Speaker 2: dad's going to be an Indian, And that's how we
Speaker 2: knew that Murphy was moving on. And so these days,
Speaker 2: you never know who these players are talking to. A
Speaker 2: lot of times they love to give them to former teammates.
Speaker 2: They're in the media. So that's why I've constantly got
Speaker 2: to stay on top of it. You've got to see
Speaker 2: every twist and turn when the story is still out
Speaker 2: there and developing. But yeah, I find it really really
Speaker 2: interesting some of the aggregators, these blogger insiders versus the insiders.
Speaker 2: These days, it's sort of the story within the story
Speaker 2: on my timeline.
Speaker 1: Right, let's be around. No one's covered themselves in glory
Speaker 1: with this story, and it's no one's fault. But you're
Speaker 1: not allowed to take credit. I've seen this one one reporter, like,
Speaker 1: you're not allowed to take credit for saying you were right.
Speaker 1: If he ends up going to the Steelers when you
Speaker 1: said the deal was done last Friday, it's not even done.
Speaker 1: I mean, I got a bone to pick. Even with
Speaker 1: some of the wording on these headlines. There's a headline
Speaker 1: Niners Steelers have deal agreed upon for what I guess.
Speaker 1: I get what they're saying that the deal, that part
Speaker 1: of the deal is in place, but it's not agreed upon.
Speaker 1: If he's not going there, it's it's not agreed upon.
Speaker 1: If the forty nine ers haven't made the decision, or
Speaker 1: AUK hasn't made the decision, just just let it end
Speaker 1: and hopefully we don't have to retape this.
Speaker 2: It's a little misleading, right, Like, yes, I always get
Speaker 2: frustrated with that too. I'm always like, until the deal
Speaker 2: is done and we've seen the twist and turns, I
Speaker 2: mean again, bring it back Dallas, Eric Kinchurch. Remember he
Speaker 2: was headed to the forty nine Ers and then at
Speaker 2: the last minute changed his mind and came to Dallas.
Speaker 2: And so to me, until the ink has dried you
Speaker 2: got to be very very careful about how you word
Speaker 2: these things. But personally, I'm like you my Twitter timeline
Speaker 2: At first, I honestly I don't know. I to do
Speaker 2: some deep diving. I'm like, what am I missing with
Speaker 2: all of this? And it's fascinating, So if you have
Speaker 2: missed it, go do a deep dive on X formerly Twitter.
Speaker 2: I just will never get used to comfortably saying X.
Speaker 2: But it is fascinating to watch this and far more
Speaker 2: interesting than some of the trade talks that we've had
Speaker 2: around here.
Speaker 1: It's fine. I'm never gonna stop calling at Twitter. I'm
Speaker 1: never gonna even mention or apologize for that. Elon must
Speaker 1: supposedly in that space that he had the other night,
Speaker 1: call it Twitter himself, so even he calls it Twitter.
Speaker 1: Let's go to the other weird hanging hold out right now.
Speaker 1: There's a few. Jamar Chase quietly wasn't at Bengals practice today,
Speaker 1: by the way, for the first time, which is interesting.
Speaker 1: He's been holding in. And there's Trent Williams. But the
Speaker 1: one I wanted to just talk about quickly was Hasan Redick,
Speaker 1: who requested a trade and then the Jets immediately release
Speaker 1: a statement we're not gonna trade you. And it's just
Speaker 1: back to where it was, which is they won't consider
Speaker 1: giving him money unless he shows up. He won't consider
Speaker 1: showing up unless they give him money. And at some point,
Speaker 1: I do think it's fair to criticize Joe Douglas in
Speaker 1: this front office for even getting themselves into this mess.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think, going back to the real house
Speaker 2: Ayes analogy, the messiest Housewives season or franchise this year
Speaker 2: has been New Jersey. Like we're talking, they couldn't even
Speaker 2: sit down at the final dinner together. They were pointing fingers,
Speaker 2: they were you know, there's been a lot of stuff
Speaker 2: that's been leaked to the media, and it feels very
Speaker 2: much like the Jets, who you know right there, New Jersey. Uh,
Speaker 2: there's been a lot of leaks out of that building.
Speaker 2: There's been I feel like some of the business has
Speaker 2: been really, really messy as it relates to players. I mean,
Speaker 2: even your starting quarterback. There's been drama around him. And
Speaker 2: then when I was talking to a couple of gms
Speaker 2: and agents because I'm nosy, I'm just curious, what am
Speaker 2: I missing with this Hassan Redding deal? You know, is
Speaker 2: it is it the player who's making fourteen and a
Speaker 2: half million right now, final you your deal. You understand
Speaker 2: that you want some security and safety. It's always been
Speaker 2: my impression, Greg that a lot of this stuff before
Speaker 2: even trade, you know that you were trading for a pick.
Speaker 2: In this case, it was what a third round conditional
Speaker 2: pick in twenty twenty six, But you also know you're
Speaker 2: gonna have to pay the player what is market value
Speaker 2: as and with the fifty and a half sacks like
Speaker 2: he's looking at twenty five to twenty eight million, you
Speaker 2: are under the impression that's already going to happen. So
Speaker 2: a lot of the gms that I talked to in agents,
Speaker 2: I won't even say what some of them have said
Speaker 2: to me, but they're they're absolutely are pointing the finger
Speaker 2: at the Jets. This should have been done.
Speaker 1: Right because other teams knew the situation with Reddick going
Speaker 1: into it. And yes, I know he did an opening
Speaker 1: press conference, but even in that press conference he said
Speaker 1: he wanted to get paid in that I thought assumed
Speaker 1: he was. I'm working on the top fifty free agents
Speaker 1: by the way of twenty twenty five, and yeah, son, Reddick,
Speaker 1: at least for now is on that list. A couple
Speaker 1: other just quick items I'm going to run through, and
Speaker 1: then we're going to take a break and talk about
Speaker 1: the Cowboy. There was an article on ESPN that said
Speaker 1: teams have inquired about Matthew Judon, which to me just
Speaker 1: was a sign of like maybe it was Judon's camp
Speaker 1: trying to scare up some offers or just getting that
Speaker 1: out there. That's interesting. He was at joint practice today
Speaker 1: and one Patriots reporter said maybe he was motivated by
Speaker 1: it because he had his best practice of camp and
Speaker 1: supposedly was awesome going up against the Eagles. Amarius Mims
Speaker 1: the left tackle for the Bengals, unfortunately, or right tackle
Speaker 1: left tackle. They were trying them at both, but probably
Speaker 1: going to be the right tackle. Gott to miss a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks, so that's disappointing for him. They really
Speaker 1: wanted him to be ready for the season to protect him.
Speaker 1: And then Jalen Phillips good news for the Dolphins off
Speaker 1: the pup list, and a bunch of injuries for the Lions,
Speaker 1: including Jamir Gibbs with a hamstring injury, which is something
Speaker 1: to watch. Anything strike you there. I'm a little worried
Speaker 1: that we're counting on an injured first round pick and
Speaker 1: Trent Brown who's just coming off the pup and is
Speaker 1: very inconsistent, like to protect Joe Burrow potentially in Week two?
Speaker 1: Is that matchup I think against the Ravens.
Speaker 2: Well, I thought Maryusmims when they this was one of
Speaker 2: my my probably like I don't know if I've ever
Speaker 2: heard an injury described this way, but extremely minor setback.
Speaker 2: That's going to make you feel, right like, extremely minor setback,
Speaker 2: So good for Mems. And then the one that's standing
Speaker 2: out to me is the Giants and what they're going
Speaker 2: to do at the running back position. I mean, I
Speaker 2: realized that Tyrone Tracy wasn't going to be your starter,
Speaker 2: but you're already going into the season without Saquon Barkley.
Speaker 2: You need Daniel Jones to do less, not more, and
Speaker 2: so I would imagine handing the ball off is part
Speaker 2: of that. You've got Singletary there, Eric Gray, so it's
Speaker 2: going to be interesting to see how they sort of
Speaker 2: navigate through this thing just in terms of depth and
Speaker 2: how they run the ball up there.
Speaker 1: Yes, I'm glad you mentioned that Tyrone Tracy had an
Speaker 1: air cast put him on as he left practice. It
Speaker 1: does seem like they avoided the worst though, and so
Speaker 1: we'll see how long you's out for there. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: not going to be season ending, so that is good
Speaker 1: news there. All right, it's good news. We get to continue.
Speaker 1: You to talk to Jane and we're going to talk
Speaker 1: about her favorite reality show on Earth, the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 1: Right after this break, we're back on NFL Daily.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: One of the world's biggest Real Housewives fans, Jeane Slater.
Speaker 1: I'm more of a like a terrorist house guy. Have
Speaker 1: you ever watched Terrast House. It's just it's more peaceful,
Speaker 1: like not much happens. They're very nice to each other.
Speaker 1: The relationships move slowly. It's on Netflix. It's set in Japan.
Speaker 1: It's great.
Speaker 2: I'll to chee that in. I'm always looking for Netflix suggestions.
Speaker 2: Octopus Murders is another great one if you're looking for one.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm very that is very you.
Speaker 3: You.
Speaker 1: You and Mark love to bond over.
Speaker 2: I love reaching out to Mark Sessler over our conspiracy theories.
Speaker 1: Yeah. No, I'm like three years behind the zeitgeist. Everyone
Speaker 1: was into Terrast House during the pandemic, and I'm catching
Speaker 1: up to it. Late, but there's like fifty episodes per season,
Speaker 1: so it'll it'll take your mind off things if you're
Speaker 1: looking for mindless entertainment. The Cowboys they're great at mindless entertainment.
Speaker 1: They've been doing it forever. I was at the I
Speaker 1: got to use bookstore a couple of weeks ago, and
Speaker 1: I saw that Skip Bayless book where it about the
Speaker 1: Cowboys where Troy Aikman. Yeah, the book starts with him
Speaker 1: telling Skip Bayless I'm not gay, which was like this
Speaker 1: rumor back then, and then absolutely ripping his coach after
Speaker 1: they won the Super Bowl to shreds in print. They
Speaker 1: don't do it like that anymore, Jane. This team has
Speaker 1: been drama forever.
Speaker 2: Oh and there's so much drama that I don't even report.
Speaker 2: That's the craziest part about it. It's too TMZ. It's
Speaker 2: too tawdry.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 2: The whole Skip Bayless Troy Aateman thing is so fascinating
Speaker 2: about the backstory on that working in Dallas, as to
Speaker 2: who Skip Bayless's source was and how he decided the source.
Speaker 2: It was like a game of.
Speaker 1: It was Switzer's camp. It was Switzer's camp at least
Speaker 1: according to this, you could tell it was Switzers camp
Speaker 1: versus Troy's camp, and they were putting all this stuff
Speaker 1: out there. And to be fair to skip As he
Speaker 1: never said that Troy ye Aikman was gay. But Troy
Speaker 1: Aikman knew that people were saying that about him, and
Speaker 1: he wanted to set the record straight. And he did
Speaker 1: it while burying his head coach after they won the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl, on the record saying, I don't even know
Speaker 1: what that guy does here, and he was still the coach.
Speaker 1: That's oh well.
Speaker 2: And I've always appreciated like Troy suffers no fools. I've
Speaker 2: done a couple of events with him, and I will
Speaker 2: tell you this, I show up ready to work when
Speaker 2: it's Troy Aightman, like I know the material I am
Speaker 2: typically I'm on time, but I'm like on Lombardi's time
Speaker 2: when it's Troy eight men. And so he and if
Speaker 2: you talk to some of his former teammates, they'll tell
Speaker 2: you there was a little bit of a disconnect during
Speaker 2: his time in Dallas because he, you know, required so
Speaker 2: much of others. But in his defense, he was used
Speaker 2: to the way that Jimmy coached, and Barry was just
Speaker 2: completely different. I mean, he was like he was like
Speaker 2: the fun step dad.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I got a better sense. And I've just started
Speaker 1: this book. I thought that'd be interesting. I've read another
Speaker 1: Baylist book, and yeah, you get a different view of Aikman.
Speaker 1: He definitely even. He seemed like a complicated, complicated guy,
Speaker 1: but not kind of who you think, not the not
Speaker 1: a life of the party guy, a very serious guy
Speaker 1: who's always thinking about everything over and over and over.
Speaker 1: Not too smart for his own good because I think
Speaker 1: that intelligence got him to where he is, and very
Speaker 1: different I think than the current Dallas Cowboys head coach.
Speaker 1: I mean a quarterback Dak Prescott in his situation, not
Speaker 1: as much drama there. I wanted to get off the
Speaker 1: Dak contract in the CD contract, and we'll talk about
Speaker 1: that on this show.
Speaker 2: Exhausting.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's fine, it'll get done or it won't.
Speaker 5: I don't think.
Speaker 1: I actually don't think the Dak thing will. But we'll
Speaker 1: talk about that plenty. Let's talk about what's on the field,
Speaker 1: because to me, this team is fascinating. They've been so
Speaker 1: good the last couple of years that it's the only
Speaker 1: division in the NFC to me where it's really a
Speaker 1: two team race. So you start the year already kind
Speaker 1: of knowing, all right, you got either a fifty percent
Speaker 1: chance here to make the playoffs, that's great. You're gonna
Speaker 1: have a bunch of games against Washington and the Giants
Speaker 1: that that's great. You have a game against Carolina in
Speaker 1: the NFC South like, but it's a Stars and scrubs
Speaker 1: type of team where there's really great players and then
Speaker 1: there's some questionable spots. So I'm going to start this way, Jane.
Speaker 1: I'm going to give you problem areas as I see
Speaker 1: it for this team, and you can choose what you
Speaker 1: think the biggest concern is, uh and just go from there.
Speaker 1: I'll give you four options, which is it's telling there's
Speaker 1: four options wide receiver depth. Let's assume CD gets back,
Speaker 1: but basically beyond CD the running back position, I'm going
Speaker 1: to call it defensive line bulk, like like defensive tackle edge,
Speaker 1: that that type of thing, not not parsons, but like
Speaker 1: you know, stopping the run or the offensive line. Those
Speaker 1: are all issues I think could come up, Like what
Speaker 1: do you what would you be most worried about in
Speaker 1: close to that, you know, with.
Speaker 2: Wide receiver, I think that they're good in the sense
Speaker 2: they've got Brandon Cooks there, right, People seemingly keep forgetting
Speaker 2: about Brandon Cooks and when they opened when they opened
Speaker 2: this offensive last year, if you guys remember there was
Speaker 2: so much discussion about Dak Prescott and the interceptions leading
Speaker 2: into last season, and then I think he had like
Speaker 2: I mean, I think he only had like eleven like
Speaker 2: versus like twenty two. Don't quote me on that. One
Speaker 2: of the reasons why they were doing like it's felt
Speaker 2: like dink and dunk to start the season was he
Speaker 2: almost felt like the coaching staff didn't trust Dak with
Speaker 2: the ball security or maybe they were trying to build
Speaker 2: up his confidence. I don't know, but we found ourselves
Speaker 2: multiple times during the game, go throw the ball to
Speaker 2: Brandon Cooks, Like if Ceedee Lamb is getting double teamed,
Speaker 2: get the ball to Brandon Cooks and good things happened,
Speaker 2: and so people forget about him. But I you know,
Speaker 2: obviously you've got Brandon Cooks here, Jalen Tolbert and Jalen Brooks.
Speaker 2: The two Jalen's have really sort of stepped up. And
Speaker 2: Jalen Tulbert's an interesting story because they went out and
Speaker 2: got Jalen Tolbert in the draft two years ago. They'll
Speaker 2: tell you that maybe they put a little bit too
Speaker 2: much on his plate in that first year, and maybe
Speaker 2: some of the terminology and the schemes they weren't clicking
Speaker 2: with him. But he and Dak have worked together a
Speaker 2: lot this aw season. Like Dak took, I think it
Speaker 2: was eleven guys to the Nike facility in Portland. Ceedy
Speaker 2: interestingly enough was not there, but those guys were all there,
Speaker 2: and he's just been getting a ton of reps in.
Speaker 2: I think Jalen Tolbert is going to be interesting for
Speaker 2: them to step up in that role that they wanted
Speaker 2: Michael gallup to but didn't. Of course, Michael left and
Speaker 2: then announced his retirement this off season. So I think
Speaker 2: wide receiver I'm good with. I'm going down the list here.
Speaker 2: Running back, I just don't know. I want to believe
Speaker 2: that Zeke's gonna even though they keep saying it's going
Speaker 2: to be a running back by committee. Anytime Dallas is
Speaker 2: done by committee, it's never really worked for them. Now
Speaker 2: it's worked when you've got like a bruiser running back
Speaker 2: like you had Zeke, and then you add a change
Speaker 2: of that guy a little bit of a joystick in
Speaker 2: Tony Pollard. Now, Tony Pollard didn't do so well in Dallas.
Speaker 2: I think because you didn't have that bruiser type of back,
Speaker 2: you were having issues with your offensive line and a
Speaker 2: lot of people this was underreported last year, but the
Speaker 2: running backs coach was new to the position and stepped
Speaker 2: away from the facility for personal reasons. I think it
Speaker 2: was quite a few games last year, and I know
Speaker 2: for a fact that that was an issue for some
Speaker 2: of the running backs that were looking for some direction.
Speaker 2: You know, they had Skip Peete there before, who had
Speaker 2: been two stops in Dallas, La Rams played the position.
Speaker 2: This coach hadn't even played the position. Now, I don't
Speaker 2: want to take that away. That's like someone saying, well,
Speaker 2: you didn't play the game of football, Jane, so you
Speaker 2: can't cover it. Like I get that, But I do
Speaker 2: believe that there were some issues with the running game
Speaker 2: last year as a result of all that. So I
Speaker 2: think green Zeken is big because he's always been known
Speaker 2: to have a high football IQ, sometimes not the best
Speaker 2: off the field IQ that's gotten better.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't want him in there to be
Speaker 1: my running back coach, though, you know, if he's the
Speaker 1: third guy. I kind of think at running back they
Speaker 1: might not have their they could have a week one
Speaker 1: starter that's not even on their roster. Like I look
Speaker 1: at like Denver and Miami both got a lot of
Speaker 1: running backs I could see.
Speaker 2: I just don't see. I don't see Malik Davis or
Speaker 2: I mean, I guess Rico Dadel has shown you some flashes.
Speaker 2: And then you've got uh, You've got deuce Vaughn. But
Speaker 2: I think what I'm more interested with duce Vaughn is
Speaker 2: they were working him in the slot, more of that
Speaker 2: receiver role, like Cole Beasley. I think that's going to
Speaker 2: be really interesting to watch. That's another one. You know,
Speaker 2: even when I was talking about wide receivers, they've also
Speaker 2: got Cavante Turbin. So you've got two small, really fast
Speaker 2: guys that you can, you know, throw in the slot.
Speaker 2: And I think that that could get real interesting for Dallas.
Speaker 2: And then we've even seen Micah Parsons finally getting some
Speaker 2: snaps at running back. I mean, he's been like pounding
Speaker 2: the table for that for a year. So I think
Speaker 2: offensively shot in.
Speaker 1: High I'd say that again, getting snaps at running back,
Speaker 1: why why are we spending time giving Mark Michael Parsons
Speaker 1: snaps at running back. Is that a real thing that
Speaker 1: could happen or is that just because he's Michael Parsons
Speaker 1: and they want to I think it's.
Speaker 2: More like goal line situations, right, Like, I think they
Speaker 2: use him like in sort of more of like a
Speaker 2: full back roll. I don't think it's the smartest, especially
Speaker 2: with him coming up on a contract here, But Micah
Speaker 2: loves to eat and I know that he wants it,
Speaker 2: and I think a lot of people probably would have
Speaker 2: laughed at him if it wasn't for Dan Quinn when
Speaker 2: he came to him and said, I want to play,
Speaker 2: you know, I want to rush off the edge. I
Speaker 2: want to be a defensive end. They're like, no, we
Speaker 2: drafted you as a linebacker, and so yeah, I mean,
Speaker 2: I think they could get creative in certain situations, and
Speaker 2: so I think, you know, they came up with this
Speaker 2: Texas Coast offense last year. It took a little time
Speaker 2: for them to get it going. A lot of times
Speaker 2: the terminology they were using wasn't meshing up with like
Speaker 2: a West Coast offense. And I think it's sort of
Speaker 2: found its rhythm. So I'm not as worried about that.
Speaker 2: The offensive line is still something I'm like another entry.
Speaker 2: You know, yet Chuma Adoga get injured in the preseason game.
Speaker 2: I think we really like what we saw from Tyler Dyton.
Speaker 2: I mean that guy was like bullying dudes out of
Speaker 2: the stadium the other.
Speaker 1: Night with their first round pick, who's now going to
Speaker 1: be their starter. You mentioned Adoga is probably out for
Speaker 1: a month or something like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and Tyler Gotton. What was so impressive about him
Speaker 2: is I talked to his offensive line coach, Duke manny Weather,
Speaker 2: and he told me it was Thursday he got drafted
Speaker 2: and on Saturday he decided to stay in Frisco forgo
Speaker 2: is summer and worked out with Duke Mannyweather five sometimes
Speaker 2: six days a week. And I think you're seeing some
Speaker 2: of that on the field. What's going to be interesting
Speaker 2: to watch is what are they going to do with
Speaker 2: the center position? Like I thought brock Hoffman was their guy,
Speaker 2: and now I'm hearing they're splitting some reps there. I mean,
Speaker 2: I think they like what they're seeing from Cooper Beabie,
Speaker 2: the rookie that they got. So I think the offensive line,
Speaker 2: I think they're still trying to find like their best
Speaker 2: starting five. So that's kind of an area. And if
Speaker 2: you don't have Tuma, you've got TJ. Bass, you got
Speaker 2: a couple of these other guys. But offensive depth was
Speaker 2: a problem last year, so yeah, maybe they don't quite
Speaker 2: have that figured out. Defensive line. I think Marshawn Neelan
Speaker 2: has done a nice job stepping in for Sam Williams.
Speaker 2: A lot of these rookies are getting asked to do
Speaker 2: a lot. I think the area of I think that
Speaker 2: I'm probably most excited about right now always linebackers. I mean,
Speaker 2: this is something Mike Zimmer is so good at. He
Speaker 2: is He's got a very he's got a very specific
Speaker 2: vision for what he wants to do there. Eric Kendrick
Speaker 2: squaring the green dot. And you've got these young guys
Speaker 2: that are really really stepping up, not just your corners,
Speaker 2: but some of your safeties that we saw really getting
Speaker 2: after the ball in the preseason. It was even some
Speaker 2: of the players talking after the game, you know, Dan
Speaker 2: Quinn coached up in the booth and they said Mike
Speaker 2: Zimmer at times was even looking at his call sheet.
Speaker 2: It's just sort of instinctive. So they're just getting this
Speaker 2: wealth of information with Mike Zimmer and who is very,
Speaker 2: very different from Dan Quinn. He admitted to me at
Speaker 2: camp that he's had to work on developing relationships with players,
Speaker 2: like very old school in the sense it's like separation
Speaker 2: at church and State. But it seems like the guys,
Speaker 2: at least one guy put it out to the game.
Speaker 2: He said, this defense feels like it's going to work.
Speaker 2: So I think that's an area, you know, maybe to
Speaker 2: get excited about.
Speaker 1: Yes, I think that I had a list of like
Speaker 1: things and to spin a positive that you'd be excited about.
Speaker 1: And you know Jake Ferguson being like a real deal
Speaker 1: tight end in Tolbert. You mentioned having a big camp,
Speaker 1: but Zimmer is kind of it that You've got a
Speaker 1: lot to work with, a lot of talent in the secondary.
Speaker 1: People kind of forget Trayvon Diggs is coming back around,
Speaker 1: Bland off that great season, Jordan Lewis is a good player.
Speaker 1: You have a lot of safeties. They were so bad
Speaker 1: at linebacker, and Zimmer's good at coaching. I'm not sure
Speaker 1: if I'm buying your Eric Kendricks pop I just because
Speaker 1: he hasn't been you know, he's been an issue for
Speaker 1: his last couple of teams, so it's hard to ignore that.
Speaker 1: And even Brandon cooks, I'm like a little worried about
Speaker 1: the older guys, but if they can have the young
Speaker 1: guys come up, then then they'll be fine. To answer
Speaker 1: my own question, I probably yeah, I'm with you. I
Speaker 1: would probably be most concerned about the old line because
Speaker 1: that's what this team used to be all about, and
Speaker 1: if you don't have great talent in the backfield, you
Speaker 1: kind of need that to make up for it. But
Speaker 1: you mentioned Parsons playing running back. I actually have a
Speaker 1: quote from him today which is just crazy. Mike McCarthy
Speaker 1: questioned his reads. I think he was kind of joking around,
Speaker 1: and Parsons was joking back and he said, has Mike
Speaker 1: ever played running back in his life? Someone who has
Speaker 1: never played the position can't question somebody's reads. You just
Speaker 1: got to let me be a football player. I'll tell
Speaker 1: you this, He's kind. He's a little crazy. Michael Parsons
Speaker 1: just based off like seeing him on his YouTube was CJ.
Speaker 1: Stroud and they taped this thing where they went to Japan.
Speaker 1: I watch a little bit like Michael Parsons a little different.
Speaker 2: He's a different cat and honestly. Look, I'll be honest.
Speaker 2: Like some of the stuff you heard last year that
Speaker 2: came out and people were like, you know, bashing some
Speaker 2: the reporters, I heard the same stuff. I mean, he
Speaker 2: can rub some of his teammates the wrong way, and
Speaker 2: then you know, wanting to be a leader and not
Speaker 2: showing up for and again it was voluntary, and he
Speaker 2: made a point of bring that up, but saying things like,
Speaker 2: I mean this was on the record. I mean he
Speaker 2: said this to me and Calvin Watkins when we were
Speaker 2: standing at his locker during OTAs. He said, you know,
Speaker 2: they don't pay me enough to be here. I'm like,
Speaker 2: they pay you enough your rookie contract, and by the way,
Speaker 2: you're looking to get your next deal. And so I
Speaker 2: was a little shocked by that, but I also appreciated
Speaker 2: that Micah will put his name to it. You know,
Speaker 2: some of these guys will float it out there unnamed sources.
Speaker 2: He says everything with his chest, and it reminds me
Speaker 2: so much of you know, and I watch football back
Speaker 2: in the nineties, guys said it with their chests, and
Speaker 2: I think a lot of guys have gotten a little
Speaker 2: bit more savvy over the years. But I can't knock
Speaker 2: him for it. I mean, there was a couple of
Speaker 2: years ago I think he it was I mean, not
Speaker 2: to get too political, but it was during you know,
Speaker 2: the Black Lives Matters and it was police and he
Speaker 2: went on there and had something to say about, you know,
Speaker 2: a police officer, and I remember saying something to him like,
Speaker 2: it's your rookie year, he might want to be careful.
Speaker 2: He he literally once again, was like, no, this is
Speaker 2: how I feel about things. And so he talks the
Speaker 2: way he talks in the media is the way he
Speaker 2: talks to his coaches. And I thought it was really interesting.
Speaker 2: Before we even got to camp, he said, you know,
Speaker 2: him and Mike Zimmer had had very limited interaction because
Speaker 2: he hadn't been there, and he said, Mike's gonna want
Speaker 2: to do things his way. I'm going to want to
Speaker 2: do things my way. And he goes, We're going to
Speaker 2: have a compromising relationship. But I think what he meant
Speaker 2: is like, you know, it's going to be a relationship
Speaker 2: a compromise. But I'm like, it is going to be
Speaker 2: compromised if you don't fall in line with Mike. But
Speaker 2: I did learn from him at camp that him and
Speaker 2: Mike are now doing morning breakfasts, which is what Dan
Speaker 2: Quinn used to do, and Micah started bringing Trayvon Diggs in.
Speaker 2: And so what I've learned with Micah is Micah and
Speaker 2: I've been described this way from a mentor. They're like,
Speaker 2: you're a golden retriever, Jane, Like you constantly need a
Speaker 2: pat on your head. It says you've done a good job.
Speaker 2: Like your tinkerbell you like die without applause, that's Micah.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 2: And so I think as long as you understand the
Speaker 2: psychology of Micah, and I've learned this new coaching staff
Speaker 2: has tried to really tap into that, like going to
Speaker 2: his training camps this offseason and getting to know him,
Speaker 2: I think that you can have a very good relationship
Speaker 2: as long as you can tap into that psychology and
Speaker 2: that mentality of understanding what makes Micah.
Speaker 1: Tig Yeah, and you can get away with annoying your
Speaker 1: teammates a little bit, or taking stances or talking like
Speaker 1: that when you're one of the greatest defensive players I've
Speaker 1: ever seen enter the league. That's the thing is, like
Speaker 1: I think people get it twisted a little bit. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't say he's underrated, but I've been doing this since
Speaker 1: four and the list of defensive players that have entered
Speaker 1: the league that have put up the first three years
Speaker 1: that Michael Parsons has put up is probably a list
Speaker 1: of like JJ Watt certainly, uh dreu reves not quite
Speaker 1: as fast as start, but basically that's like, that's the area.
Speaker 1: Aaron Donald, you know, he was a little slower out
Speaker 1: the gates, a little slower, but Aaron Donald certainly. It's like,
Speaker 1: those are the types of players we're talking about. And
Speaker 1: so when you're that that good, you can get away
Speaker 1: with it. I'm just I'm fascinated, Like, yeah.
Speaker 2: Bring up point. I'm like, you also have to ask yourself, like,
Speaker 2: if I'm Micah Parsons, why do I want to continue
Speaker 2: to put some of these unnecessary treads on my tires? Right?
Speaker 2: Like when we talk about the running back position, like
Speaker 2: even if it's a goal line standard, mixing it up
Speaker 2: or you know, like playing out of position, Like I
Speaker 2: guess you could argue what is his more natural position
Speaker 2: these days? But I felt like at times, and and
Speaker 2: this is not just my observation, he would sort of
Speaker 2: disappear at the end of the seasons, and that was
Speaker 2: some of a knock that he was getting internally in
Speaker 2: the building is like, where are you going? I think
Speaker 2: he was sometimes getting worn out at that position, and
Speaker 2: so I'm gonna be what's going to be intriguing to
Speaker 2: me is how does Mike manage it? It's almost like
Speaker 2: a child that's like hyperactive, right, Like you love the energy,
Speaker 2: you want to support that, but you also don't want
Speaker 2: him to burn out, like about whatever their passion is.
Speaker 2: And I don't know if that's if that's a thing
Speaker 2: for Micah, but sometimes I I just wonder if you're
Speaker 2: if you're trying to do too much. You know, it's
Speaker 2: like what is it like jack of all trades, master
Speaker 2: of none, Like if you truly want to be great
Speaker 2: at something, should he be dispersing so much energy? I mean,
Speaker 2: we've seen him line up at safety at times.
Speaker 1: Uh, he's been an off ball linebacker that that seems
Speaker 1: like it's really going to be a thing this year. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I wasn't expecting to go this deep on Parsons,
Speaker 1: but I find him fascinating and the way they're possibly
Speaker 1: using him, that's another story that I think is going
Speaker 1: to get a lot of attention once people see it
Speaker 1: in the regular season that they really are planning to
Speaker 1: use him as an off ball linebacker again, which I
Speaker 1: thought was in the past. And I'm not necessarily saying
Speaker 1: it's the wrong thing to do. I want to see
Speaker 1: it first, but that could be I don't know if
Speaker 1: that's adding pounding, like we'll see. I kind of trust
Speaker 1: Mike Zimmer to use him creatively, but that's a sea
Speaker 1: change from really where he's been the last couple of years,
Speaker 1: which is, to me, the best pure just edge rusher
Speaker 1: in the NFL.
Speaker 2: Well. And I think the other thing is last year
Speaker 2: we saw that there were other guys that can get
Speaker 2: to the quarterback. The one area that they really really
Speaker 2: struggled with last year and they seem to do any
Speaker 2: NFC just in general, is stopping the run. And so
Speaker 2: I think that's been the biggest challenge for Mike Zimmer
Speaker 2: is like, what is my best my best lineup, my
Speaker 2: best mix of players on deep that's going to help
Speaker 2: us stop the run because that has truly been an
Speaker 2: Achilles hill. And when you look, you know, when you
Speaker 2: look right now with the Eagles getting Saquon Barkley, and
Speaker 2: I don't think you have too much story about with
Speaker 2: the Giants. I mean, knock on what. I just don't
Speaker 2: feel like they've got a lot of debt there Washington.
Speaker 2: But again it's the forty nine ers every year. I
Speaker 2: mean Christian McCaffrey, Like, how are you going to slow
Speaker 2: him down? And so when I just when I look
Speaker 2: around the league and some of the games that really
Speaker 2: trip the Cowboys up, it was that that is an area.
Speaker 2: And they'll tell you that, like, that's an area they
Speaker 2: have to shore up. And so I'm just wondering if
Speaker 2: they're trying to figure out ways that you could better
Speaker 2: utilize Micah, Like, if you've got other guys getting to
Speaker 2: the quarterback, can he help you stop the run better?
Speaker 1: Yeah, And you mentioned marsha On Neiland. That was their
Speaker 1: I believe second round pick. He looks like he's probably
Speaker 1: going to start at edge and they draft just help
Speaker 1: stop the run. I'm gonna leave you with this, and
Speaker 1: I know this is tricky. You are the NFL network
Speaker 1: reporter covering the Cowboys, but I have you in this
Speaker 1: role as an analyst. They won't hear this. You mentioned
Speaker 1: the forty nine ers. They play the forty nine ers
Speaker 1: in San Francisco. There's a couple of primetime games. I
Speaker 1: think that's Week eight. They have a couple of tricky
Speaker 1: primetime games. They also have a Monday night football game
Speaker 1: against the Texans, who I know Jerry would hate to
Speaker 1: lose to in a big spot kind of Texas. Yeah,
Speaker 1: sneaky rivalry. Their schedules actually quite easy down the stretch,
Speaker 1: that's where they have a lot of those Giants and
Speaker 1: Commanders and Panthers games. But before that, it's pretty it's
Speaker 1: pretty challenging. And so if in either of those games
Speaker 1: they come out of it like five hundred or worse,
Speaker 1: like the season is not going well and you lose
Speaker 1: in a big spot to the forty nine ers or
Speaker 1: you lose in a big spot. This is I think
Speaker 1: Week eleven to the Texans. Mike McCarthy obviously brought back
Speaker 1: this year, but uncertain about, you know, his contractual future, Like, well,
Speaker 1: what are the odds this something could happen here with
Speaker 1: with Mike Karthy? Do you think if things aren't going
Speaker 1: well during the season.
Speaker 2: I'm trying to think the only time that they've the
Speaker 2: only time they made a switch what mid season would
Speaker 2: have been. It would have been Jason Garrett taking over
Speaker 2: for uh. Was it Campo.
Speaker 1: I think so, but or was it?
Speaker 5: No?
Speaker 2: It was oh, what's his face?
Speaker 1: Wade Phillips.
Speaker 2: Wade Phillips. Yeah, that was the only time they made
Speaker 2: a switch mid season, and I know Jerry's not like
Speaker 2: a huge fan of that. So even when Mike Nolan
Speaker 2: in that defense was really really struggling. Mike McCarthy's year.
Speaker 2: The reason why I was told the Cowboys got so
Speaker 2: mad at me for putting that report out was that
Speaker 2: they were considering making a switch to George Edwards and
Speaker 2: then ultimately they didn't. That was the only time they've
Speaker 2: actually even gotten rid of a coach after one year.
Speaker 2: I think Jerry will play it out regardless. I don't
Speaker 2: see that making that kind of switch. I'm I mean,
Speaker 2: they know what they're getting out of Mike Zamma, right,
Speaker 2: You've seen him as a head coach, You've seen them
Speaker 2: as your defensive coordinator. I just I would be shocked
Speaker 2: if they did that.
Speaker 1: Okay, that's fair and it's an easy Like I said
Speaker 1: the end of the night, I.
Speaker 2: Think it's fair to say that Mike McCarthy in his
Speaker 2: final year of his contract, you continue to lose to
Speaker 2: the forty nine ers, you know, especially with you know,
Speaker 2: how they've overcome. I still think a lot of people
Speaker 2: want to, you know, knock Mike McCarthy. I still argue
Speaker 2: that despite injuries and some of the setbacks over the years,
Speaker 2: you still got what two thirteen win seasons and you
Speaker 2: bait's the playoffs. It's just how they lose in the
Speaker 2: playoffs that you find yourself going, well, how how much
Speaker 2: longer are we going to waste some of the talent
Speaker 2: on this roster and you're already seeing some of the
Speaker 2: you know, some of the roosters coming home that you've
Speaker 2: got to figure out to pay because they're getting long
Speaker 2: in the tooth and so right, good up, soundly Jerry
Speaker 2: Jones there with some of my uh my ISM's there.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I just I truly, I truly think that
Speaker 2: Mike's gonna have to get one from the forty nine
Speaker 2: ers here. And it's just that is just that is
Speaker 2: not that he has just not done well against them
Speaker 2: or the Packers for that matter.
Speaker 1: Remember his first yeah that was.
Speaker 2: With the Packers and then collapses to the Packers and
Speaker 2: young Jordan love to go home this year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they just need someone else to take out the
Speaker 1: forty nine ers for them. But that that's I just
Speaker 1: looked at that schedules like, oh, these primetime games are
Speaker 1: in very interesting spots. It's a it's a fascinating season.
Speaker 5: I know.
Speaker 1: You know fans who think the Cowboys get a little
Speaker 1: too much shine on on ESPN and NFL Network, like
Speaker 1: this isn't a good season for you because McCarthy in
Speaker 1: the final year of his contract, Dak in the final
Speaker 1: year of his contract, Like, it's a real thing. Dak
Speaker 1: might be uh, the most highly sought after free agent
Speaker 1: quarterback ever in a year from now. I wouldn't bet
Speaker 1: against it. I also wouldn't bet against Jane Slater, you know,
Speaker 1: leading leading the reporters and coverage as she's covering all
Speaker 1: this from around the Texas area. And I know they
Speaker 1: have you on other teams too. It was a play,
Speaker 1: Jane having you on NFL Daily. We will have to
Speaker 1: do it again. Welcome back to NFL Daily. Very excited
Speaker 1: to welcome my next guest. He does a great job
Speaker 1: over there at Arrowhead Pride. It is Pete Sweeney, one
Speaker 1: of the best Chiefs reporters, writers analysts in the business.
Speaker 1: And yeah, he's coming to us live from Chiefs training camp.
Speaker 1: Welcome Pete.
Speaker 5: Yeah, thanks, Greg.
Speaker 4: Loved the old show, you know, for a long time,
Speaker 4: excited about the new show. I like that your every
Speaker 4: day now right. I'm sure the workload is interesting, but
Speaker 4: I've enjoyed it coming back and forth from Saint Joe
Speaker 4: about our north of Kansas City.
Speaker 5: So I've been making that commute.
Speaker 1: Yeah that's tricky. Yeah, daily, it's different, but you know what,
Speaker 1: it gives us a little extra breathing room some to
Speaker 1: dive into teams. I feel like have been underserved on
Speaker 1: the podcast. And it's crazy, but I kind of think
Speaker 1: the Chiefs have not been talked about that much. I
Speaker 1: don't know if it's just nationally, whether we're sick of
Speaker 1: them or it's just like, Okay, here they come again.
Speaker 1: I remember this as a Patriots fan. There was certainly
Speaker 1: fatigue in certain years, and yeah, I feel like the
Speaker 1: Chiefs they're always different, and yet this is a year
Speaker 1: they're kind of slipping under the radar a little bit.
Speaker 1: So I wanted to talk to you. Well, the first
Speaker 1: thing I wanted to ask you because you have the
Speaker 1: privilege to just like watch Patrick Mahomes every day of
Speaker 1: his career, which is just crazy, especially in this training
Speaker 1: camp set, Like what's different, Like, what do you see
Speaker 1: about Patrick Mahomes twenty twenty four maybe that you haven't
Speaker 1: seen before?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean it's wild, you know, covering him now
Speaker 4: since twenty eighteen, how normal some place you see at
Speaker 4: practice have become in an odd way. I mean I
Speaker 4: started in fourteen, so I got to cover Alex Smith
Speaker 4: and obviously was very different. But now you go to
Speaker 4: practice and you know, you see him curl a side
Speaker 4: arm around a tackle and it isn't something that you're like.
Speaker 5: Well, what a play like? It almost is like a
Speaker 5: normal thing.
Speaker 4: But that's just the product of the situation and one
Speaker 4: of the greatest athletes we've ever seen. And you know,
Speaker 4: one of the things that you try to always ask,
Speaker 4: especially with this coaching staff, is how do you coach that?
Speaker 4: Like how do you challenge him to get better? And
Speaker 4: it's funny. We had a chance to talk to offensive
Speaker 4: coordinator Matt Naggie today and I remember earlier in the offseason.
Speaker 4: You know, you ask, you know, what what is he
Speaker 4: working on this year?
Speaker 5: And it's always.
Speaker 4: For him a little bit of the footwork, staying in structure,
Speaker 4: because I think he always has that natural tendency to
Speaker 4: get out of structure. One of the points for him
Speaker 4: this year was a depth of dropback right and especially
Speaker 4: when now you're dealing with a rookie left tackle, that's
Speaker 4: going to be more important, especially at the beginning of
Speaker 4: the season now than ever, you know, in a sense.
Speaker 5: And so it's.
Speaker 4: Something where it is interesting because you know, I think
Speaker 4: a lot of us realize and where you are and incrastination,
Speaker 4: and you know, in Kansas City quite obviously like this
Speaker 4: is one of the greatest athletes of all time. But
Speaker 4: what makes him consistently great is he is always trying
Speaker 4: to ask these coaches what he can work on. And
Speaker 4: so that's been a point of emphasis for him. A
Speaker 4: little bit tougher to see that aspect when you're going
Speaker 4: against your own team and it's a practice kind of
Speaker 4: designed for you. And so we'll learn, you know, more
Speaker 4: that I think as the season goes along. But even still,
Speaker 4: like even if he's bad at that, I mean, you're
Speaker 4: still probably looking at like three touchdowns in two hundred
Speaker 4: and eighty yards in a bad game, and so it's crazy,
Speaker 4: it's it's it's become the norm, and I think he
Speaker 4: looks for anything to be motivated by you know, you know,
Speaker 4: it's something where I can't believe the Raiders did the
Speaker 4: thing with the puppet that end of the day.
Speaker 1: I mean that was a fan. He was set up
Speaker 1: to fail. A fan brought it in and he gave
Speaker 1: him the puppet.
Speaker 4: You know, you like the NFL Top one hundred with
Speaker 4: you know, a lot of people respect Pat now is
Speaker 4: like the best in the game. But you can tell
Speaker 4: that he's always like when he's asked about these things,
Speaker 4: he's checking them because it's it's any motivation for him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So you've watched this offense evolve. It really changes
Speaker 1: year by year. This is a team that tends to
Speaker 1: address things in all at once in bulk, whether it's
Speaker 1: the offensive line or at one point their pass rush.
Speaker 1: And now you know, the emphasis this offseason has been
Speaker 1: apparently on the deep ball, like they it's been there
Speaker 1: at practice. It certainly was there with the personnel acquisitions.
Speaker 1: We know Marque's Hollywood Brown might not be ready for
Speaker 1: a Week one, but have you seen difference in how
Speaker 1: the offense is running things in practice?
Speaker 4: Well, what has been interesting about that is, you know,
Speaker 4: the grand story of the Chiefs coming into the preseason
Speaker 4: in training camp, was this idea that they were going
Speaker 4: to throw the ball down the field more and asking
Speaker 4: Andy Reid, like, you know, what are you guys working
Speaker 4: on that?
Speaker 5: That's different?
Speaker 4: And his point was, you know when they're not working
Speaker 4: on the ravens, which you can tell they are sometimes
Speaker 4: doing that, especially you know when they have the defense
Speaker 4: out there and the quarterback is scrambling and not throwing
Speaker 4: as much, but you know when they are working on
Speaker 4: the offense, Andy Reed has kind of said, we have
Speaker 4: similar stuff that we've always had, but now Mahomes is
Speaker 4: seeing that his targets are getting separation, and I think
Speaker 4: from stemming from that, we're seeing them throw the ball
Speaker 4: down the field more. You know, there certainly has been
Speaker 4: an emphasis on the eleven personnel with the three wide
Speaker 4: receivers before Brown got hurt. And that's what's the new
Speaker 4: buzz story right now in Kansas City is just this
Speaker 4: idea that it was going to be so exciting where
Speaker 4: and you saw it in the preseason game where by
Speaker 4: design it was going to be Rice and Brown and
Speaker 4: Worthy and now you know you're taking a back seat
Speaker 4: to that, like in practice today with Brown out of
Speaker 4: the mix.
Speaker 5: It was justin Watson. We saw in the game that
Speaker 5: it was sky Moore.
Speaker 4: These are fine players, but not the the speed that
Speaker 4: we were looking for the Chiefs to lean back into
Speaker 4: like they were more so like in the twenty eighteen season.
Speaker 4: And so I think it's trying to make sure if
Speaker 4: you're two really tough opponents to start the year, get by,
Speaker 4: you know, grid out those wins without this speed. This
Speaker 4: return to the quote unquote legion a zoom that they
Speaker 4: were looking for. And then maybe you see that with
Speaker 4: the timeline in week three, Week four.
Speaker 1: Oh, I hadn't heard Legion a zom yet. Yeah, that's good.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's the thing. When Hollywood Brown is
Speaker 1: back out there, if they are healthy, that the closer
Speaker 1: we get to the season, the less I'm expecting a
Speaker 1: Rashi Rice suspension. I just I just think if it
Speaker 1: was going to happen, it would have happened by now.
Speaker 1: And yeah, this this group ranks like with any weapons
Speaker 1: group that he's had. If you're getting a good year
Speaker 1: out of Kelsey and that three receiver group, that is
Speaker 1: more than enough weapons. I feel like there's almost not
Speaker 1: any tangible reasons. There's not many to not believe in
Speaker 1: the Chiefs. But if I was looking for intangible reasons,
Speaker 1: and I think in tangible's matter, because I mean, they
Speaker 1: kind of won the Super Bowl on some level off intangibles.
Speaker 1: They weren't the best team in the NFL last year.
Speaker 1: They certainly weren't the best offense in the NFL and
Speaker 1: not the best offense Mahomes has had, and yet they
Speaker 1: went through one of the toughest gauntlets any playoff team
Speaker 1: has literally ever had. So that that was intangiles. And
Speaker 1: so the intangiles I look to and tell me which
Speaker 1: one you think is a bigger concern to you? Number
Speaker 1: one would just be the three P. Like the weight
Speaker 1: of it all. There's a reason why it's never happened before,
Speaker 1: and teams usually haven't even gotten that close, or just
Speaker 1: the defense regressing a little to the mean as great
Speaker 1: as Steve Spagnolo is and they're always peeking late. You know,
Speaker 1: there are year end rankings and efficiency haven't been outstanding
Speaker 1: every year. Last year was the year that kind of
Speaker 1: came out of nowhere, and the personnel looks good. But
Speaker 1: which which would you be more worried about? Kind of
Speaker 1: just the weight of it all, the three P and
Speaker 1: not having fun maybe doing that or the defense maybe
Speaker 1: coming back to earth.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think I would say the latter more so
Speaker 4: than the former. The defense, the defense was so damn
Speaker 4: good last year. I mean it really was. And you know,
Speaker 4: now you have an injury to Charles Menu, you who
Speaker 4: is a big part of that, especially you know when
Speaker 4: he was able to get back some from suspension, and
Speaker 4: you know, compile all those sacks as the ACL in
Speaker 4: the AFC title, and I think he's going to be
Speaker 4: a big player that the Chiefs are missing. You trade
Speaker 4: away Lagarious Sneed. I think we all knew it was
Speaker 4: you either got to keep Lagarious Sneed or Chris Jones.
Speaker 4: You know, you goud have to make that choice. Stand
Speaker 4: Chris Jones, and you understand why, you know, you say
Speaker 4: it all the time, like there's not as many dominant
Speaker 4: defensive tackles in the NFL. That's such a luxury to have.
Speaker 4: And I think the Chiefs realized that. And they've been
Speaker 4: very good at at drafting corners, certainly in the first
Speaker 4: round with first team All Pro Trent McDuffie. But even
Speaker 4: on the day three picks, like Sneid was a Day
Speaker 4: three pick. They just got this kid, Jayden Hicks, who
Speaker 4: has looked really good in training camp. But I think
Speaker 4: when you think about replacing Lagerius Snead who was very,
Speaker 4: very very good, and you look at these younger players,
Speaker 4: this is been an underrated storyline that you know, not
Speaker 4: a lot of people would realize they've been looking for
Speaker 4: when Steed was here, a third cornerback to step up,
Speaker 4: you know, for a while now it was it's between
Speaker 4: these two again, Day three guys, Joshua Williams and Jalen Watson,
Speaker 4: and over the years, like no one has really been
Speaker 4: able to claim it.
Speaker 5: It's been more of a rotation thing.
Speaker 4: Dave Merritt, the defensive backs coach, has been forward and
Speaker 4: saying like we've.
Speaker 5: Been waiting for one of these guys to step up.
Speaker 4: Now Sneed's gone, right, so now you have to have
Speaker 4: one of these guys step up. Trent McDuffie, it seems
Speaker 4: like he's all world, you know, slam dunk first round pick.
Speaker 5: But which of these guys is going to do it?
Speaker 5: You know?
Speaker 4: And I tend to think they are not confident in
Speaker 4: either one of those guys. I actually think they're most
Speaker 4: confident in seventh rounder Nazi Johnson, but he's had trouble
Speaker 4: staying on the field last year. He was going to
Speaker 4: trump both Williams and Watson for that final cornerback position,
Speaker 4: and it was a rainy day here in Saint Joe.
Speaker 4: The Chiefs had to go indoor on the turf, the
Speaker 4: enemy of all football players and Nazi Johnson tears his
Speaker 4: ACL and he's mix out of the mix. He misses
Speaker 4: the entire season when he's been out here, and he
Speaker 4: had a little bit of a hamstring.
Speaker 5: Issue a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 4: He's been very, very good, and it's tough to be
Speaker 4: good in this camp because we know about the prolific offense,
Speaker 4: and so when he's staying with these receivers, who you
Speaker 4: know are some of the better, speedier receivers in the NFL,
Speaker 4: you know you're seeing okay. You know, maybe they're going
Speaker 4: to be okay without a ledgarious sneed. But it's been
Speaker 4: tough for him to stay on the field. And I
Speaker 4: just want to make a comment about the former and
Speaker 4: the motivation thing.
Speaker 5: I think you're right.
Speaker 4: And again, I know this is a podcast at all
Speaker 4: NFL fans listen to, so I'll keep the Mahomes love
Speaker 4: at a minimum, But man, like ten minutes after they
Speaker 4: won the Super Bowl, he was on the stage with
Speaker 4: Chris Jones. He was miked up because NFL Films done
Speaker 4: such a good job with that stuff. And the first
Speaker 4: thing he says is I want the three peat dog.
Speaker 4: This was no joke less than fifteen minutes after they
Speaker 4: had won it. And so I just think he's trying
Speaker 4: to make sure that everyone is motivated and knows like
Speaker 4: this is a real shot at history. Not to say
Speaker 4: that you just throw away the fatigue and all that,
Speaker 4: but I think when you have him as a leader,
Speaker 4: that's why I would say there's any questions. It's like
Speaker 4: the defense certainly taking a step back from I believe
Speaker 4: they were number two.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I like that they've embraced it, that they haven't
Speaker 1: been like the Patriots who are like, we're not defending everything.
Speaker 1: Everything's starting over because it's just going to be so hard.
Speaker 1: And you hear it at the end. You hear it
Speaker 1: at the end of the Nuggets, you know, defense of
Speaker 1: their championship this year, just like, yeah, we didn't tell y'all,
Speaker 1: like put man that weight on us after it. And
Speaker 1: I've seen it with the Patriots. We've seen in NFL
Speaker 1: history with the Cowboys back in the day, certainly the
Speaker 1: forty nine ers, and it's different. And can you get
Speaker 1: the buying and everyone to just want it that bad?
Speaker 1: If any team could do it, like this is it?
Speaker 1: Because yeah, I tried to come up with, like what's
Speaker 1: the thing that's going to get in their way the most?
Speaker 1: And yeah, the cornerback battle is interesting. And yet the
Speaker 1: two of those guys have been playing significant snaps in
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. And you know, they've won the Super
Speaker 1: Bowl off their defense last year, certainly off their offense
Speaker 1: the year before. They have a new you know, left tackle.
Speaker 1: We don't need to go into it too much. He's
Speaker 1: the second round pick, though, Kingsley sua mattea, so that
Speaker 1: you know that's a question mark. But that's that's one
Speaker 1: offensive lineman out of out of five and the other
Speaker 1: four are are good. And and I like the pass rush,
Speaker 1: Like I love this linebacker group with Drew Tranquell and
Speaker 1: Nick Bolton and Leo Chanel. Like the roster is about
Speaker 1: as good, I think, on balance, as it's been in
Speaker 1: the Chiefs era. So like, I'm not even going to
Speaker 1: go logical in terms of like things that would get
Speaker 1: in the way I want you to tell me something
Speaker 1: you've been excited about. What's something that you're there every
Speaker 1: single day, you're driving an hour that they're at old school,
Speaker 1: there's still like you're doing this from what college? Is
Speaker 1: it exactly like in.
Speaker 5: Or Western State University?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 5: Yeah, this was a funny anecdote.
Speaker 4: Like early on in camp, Travis Kelcey was brought to
Speaker 4: the ponium and one of the things that he said
Speaker 4: really struck me because I've been covering him about the
Speaker 4: same time. He's like, yeah, this is year twelve for me.
Speaker 4: That means I've spent an entire year in a college
Speaker 4: dorm in my twenties and thirty. So Andy Reid loves it,
Speaker 4: and you know what, it's hard to argue with three
Speaker 4: super Bowls in five years. And like, I think what
Speaker 4: he really likes about it more than anything is like
Speaker 4: the players eat right downstairs. You know all their meals,
Speaker 4: all three meals. You know that you hang out, there's
Speaker 4: no distractions for the older guys who might have kids
Speaker 4: at home. You know where you're able to focus on
Speaker 4: on football. And I think they leave a little bit
Speaker 4: closer And I know that it's becoming less and less
Speaker 4: popular but Andy Reid seems to believe in it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and they have longer practices In generals, they've always
Speaker 1: been a hard practicing team and it's working out. What Yeah,
Speaker 1: what's something there? Carson Steele is this He's fullback who
Speaker 1: got noticed but nationally over the you know, first preseason
Speaker 1: week for some great runs. It sounds like he's going
Speaker 1: to make that team. Xavier Worthies obviously had at a
Speaker 1: good first training camp. Sounds like he's stepped right into
Speaker 1: that role. Maybe just something that you've been there day
Speaker 1: to day that's surprised you. Impressed you the most.
Speaker 5: In recent days.
Speaker 4: Arson Steele, undrafted free agent at a UCLA, has really,
Speaker 4: I think been the greatest riser of training camp. I
Speaker 4: just got out of practice a couple hours ago, and
Speaker 4: in this particular look, he was taking all of the
Speaker 4: second snaps after Isaiah Pacheco. You know, we had seen
Speaker 4: that from Darren Erik Prince earlier on in training camp
Speaker 4: and Clyde Edwards. Ailaire has been in and out with illness.
Speaker 4: It's kind of a serious matter. He revealed that he's
Speaker 4: been dealing with some PTSD stemming from a situation in college.
Speaker 4: And you know, you wish him the best, but the
Speaker 4: reality is in the football field, it's opened the door
Speaker 4: for other guys to get more opportunities. So then Erik
Speaker 4: Prince is trying to win a position. You could tell
Speaker 4: he's gotten a little bit better in the pass protection.
Speaker 4: But Carson Steele, you know, I think he really wasn't
Speaker 4: going to make the team. You know, when he entered camp,
Speaker 4: I thought practice squad was probably his best hope. He
Speaker 4: was able to capture the attention. You watch all the
Speaker 4: preseason games. You saw the play where he was bouncing
Speaker 4: off the defenders, and Andy Reid really likes him as
Speaker 4: a runner. And what I'm starting to think is now
Speaker 4: that he's starting to get these second reps, is you know,
Speaker 4: maybe like a spellback slash fullback, could it open up
Speaker 4: the door for the Chiefs to keep three running backs?
Speaker 4: Like I sat here today and I did another fifty
Speaker 4: three and one of the things I wrote was, I'm
Speaker 4: more sure right now that Carson Steel's going to make
Speaker 4: the roster than I am Prince or Clyde. Like I
Speaker 4: think they know, and I'll think I think they'll keep
Speaker 4: a Pacheco obviously, I think Steel will be on the roster.
Speaker 4: Do they need both Prince and Clyde if you're keeping
Speaker 4: you know those guys, and you know they have they
Speaker 4: have seven receivers they can keep. You know, they're probably
Speaker 4: thinking about nine or ten offensive lineman and so, you know,
Speaker 4: roster construction, you got to make these tough decisions. I
Speaker 4: just think Steel has been such a surprise out of
Speaker 4: the woodwork, and he's a really you know, likable guy.
Speaker 4: Andy Reid seems to really love him. And now it's
Speaker 4: a matter of how does that impact the final fifty
Speaker 4: three And it's going to be an interesting August twenty seventh.
Speaker 1: That's wild, Like Carson Steele could be getting drafted in
Speaker 1: your deeper fantasy leagues, Like, listen to this man, that's awesome.
Speaker 1: This this team is crazy. You know, I'd love to
Speaker 1: see some new blood, but I also would love to
Speaker 1: see I still just know that the Chiefs are going
Speaker 1: to be there at the end. And the NFL is
Speaker 1: better when the best player that I've ever seen is
Speaker 1: there at the end. And it's going to take like
Speaker 1: a great effort to knock this team off. And yeah,
Speaker 1: the season starts tough with the Ravens and the Bengals,
Speaker 1: but overall, this is you know, one of the softest
Speaker 1: divisions in the NFL other than the Chiefs, especially if
Speaker 1: Justin Herbert doesn't get healthy. So yeah, I feel like that's.
Speaker 5: What Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes can agree on.
Speaker 4: Right, They were able to have these divisions where you know,
Speaker 4: you're looking at five six wins off the bat. Yeah,
Speaker 4: until these guys get quarterbacks, you know.
Speaker 1: And see I always push back though, because everyone's like
Speaker 1: and I was like, you know what, they had a
Speaker 1: better winning percentage out of the division in that whole
Speaker 1: run than ever in it. You know, they just like
Speaker 1: the Chiefs, they beat everyone.
Speaker 5: Ryan he had his year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Rex, Rex had his moments. The Dolphins always gave
Speaker 1: Belichick trouble no matter who was the coach for whatever reason.
Speaker 1: Appreciate you, Pete. We're gonna fly up by the way
Speaker 1: a graphic. We're wrapping up this show. But we just
Speaker 1: hit two more teams, Cowboys and the Chiefs, and yeah,
Speaker 1: we're trying to do a deep dive on every team.
Speaker 1: We're getting through them. We've highlighted them and we are
Speaker 1: now through eight teams. And so we did the Chiefs
Speaker 1: and the Cowboys today and we will still keep cranking.
Speaker 1: Tell us who you want to hear from it, except
Speaker 1: for your own team. Everyone always wants to hear about
Speaker 1: their own team. Appreciate you, Pete, and we'll hopefully talk
Speaker 1: to you again down the line. Check out his coverage,
Speaker 1: the great daily recaps that you have on Twitter, but
Speaker 1: obviously everything at Arrowhead Nation podcast. Everything is going on.
Speaker 1: We will be back. I'm really excited about Thursday show.
Speaker 1: Colleen Wolf back in the studio, Patrick Clayband also there.
Speaker 1: That's going to be a fun one. Until next time,
Speaker 1: An ncotic
Speaker 2: M