Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL Daily, where we continue to make marquee additions.
Speaker 2: We don't even put.
Speaker 1: Our marque editions on the practice squad like they did.
Speaker 2: With Dalvin Cook in Dallas.
Speaker 1: We're adding members to the NFL Daily family and that
Speaker 1: includes Keegan Abdu today from Next Gen.
Speaker 2: Stat's also got Steve Weisch.
Speaker 1: And Jordan Rodrigue here in the Chris Westling podcast studio.
Speaker 1: And yeah, Kegan, you work here for Next and Stats
Speaker 1: and you still had no idea where the podcast studio was.
Speaker 2: I took that as an insult.
Speaker 3: You know, we're just very solid at the end of
Speaker 3: you within your department, and if you crossover, you might
Speaker 3: get reprimanded.
Speaker 2: So I was excited.
Speaker 1: Look, Kegan, I met him at get together at the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl with Nate Tice, a lot of movers and
Speaker 1: shakers at the Super Bowl.
Speaker 2: I was like, this guy's in our building.
Speaker 1: He's a secret weapon, a great follow on Twitter, and
Speaker 1: we've been talking about NFL Pro and Next and Stats
Speaker 1: and everything that they have awesome, So he can bring
Speaker 1: that angle to the conversation today. It's an NFC preview,
Speaker 1: your favorite conference. Jordan fresh off the Rams practice field.
Speaker 4: Fresh being the key word yes, this week off the
Speaker 4: practice field, were you aware that you almost hit Keeky
Speaker 4: in the face like four times?
Speaker 2: My hands fly around, Steve. Good to have you back here,
Speaker 2: having you.
Speaker 5: I'm an NSC guy too, you know, growing up in
Speaker 5: between Manyams and Saint Louis. You know, grew up loving
Speaker 5: the NFC back when it was on CBS, I believe exclusively,
Speaker 5: long long days ago.
Speaker 1: And then once were you ever you were based in
Speaker 1: Saint Louis? Where you ever as a professionally?
Speaker 6: No?
Speaker 5: No, no, okay. Once I love University Missouri, I was gone.
Speaker 5: That city was my rear view mirror. I love the
Speaker 5: Cardinals and that's about it.
Speaker 1: So we hit the AFC on Thursday with Nick Wright.
Speaker 1: That was a lot of fun. We're going to go
Speaker 1: through same questions essentially as the NFC and go through
Speaker 1: them all today, hit every team. We're all gonna predict
Speaker 1: our seeds. Keegan's predictions hold a little more weight because
Speaker 1: they have so many numbers behind them, but we all
Speaker 1: get to make our predictions.
Speaker 2: But we do have some news, so I want to.
Speaker 1: Fly through the news quickly before we get to the
Speaker 1: NFC preview. I mean, it's just like we've been talking
Speaker 1: about these quarterback battles all off season. Now that they're
Speaker 1: officially over, we should at least mention it, Jordan, let's
Speaker 1: talk Patriots. Jacoby Brissett officially over Drake may I actually
Speaker 1: thought this was up in the air of the last day.
Speaker 1: My conspiracy theory is Drod Mayo might have been more
Speaker 1: on the fence or leaning Drake may than maybe his
Speaker 1: offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, who made it very clear
Speaker 1: he wanted Jacoby Brissett, but they did end up going
Speaker 1: with Jacoby, and Mayo set in a radio interview on Wednesday,
Speaker 1: actually that the right guy for us now might not
Speaker 1: be the right guy for us down the road. With
Speaker 1: Telegraft it a little bit. It makes me think he's
Speaker 1: got a pretty short leash.
Speaker 7: Yeah, obvious.
Speaker 4: I mean they're trying to be safe with the guy
Speaker 4: that they're developing to be their next franchise quarterback. And
Speaker 4: I think in that same interview he didn't he say
Speaker 4: Jacoby out had outplayed Drake may.
Speaker 1: No, he said Drake may had outplayed that day earlier
Speaker 1: this week. It's all very confusing, that's the thing. So
Speaker 1: as a Patriots fan.
Speaker 4: You're just not trying to rush and I know you
Speaker 4: don't really want to finish that sentence as a Patriots fan, Greg,
Speaker 4: but you're not trying to rush the guy into making
Speaker 4: too many mistakes, getting a little ghosts early, anything like
Speaker 4: that that could potentially happen to set him off trajectory.
Speaker 7: You're trying to develop him.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you want your starting quarterback who's going to be
Speaker 4: your starter eventually to play. You want him to get reps,
Speaker 4: but you also want to protect him, sometimes from himself
Speaker 4: and sometimes from the environment around him.
Speaker 1: And he thought Steve that Mayo stepped in it a
Speaker 1: little because he said all along, it's not about Drake
Speaker 1: May showing that he's ready, It's about who wins the competition.
Speaker 1: And that's where I think he got in trouble because
Speaker 1: the last few weeks everyone there, including jirod Mayo, say,
Speaker 1: Drake May outplayed Jacoby Brissett. That I think Jacoby and
Speaker 1: it's a tough situation he's in. Well, it wasn't playing
Speaker 1: his best either because of all the pressure and everything
Speaker 1: that's going on, and May can make some plays and
Speaker 1: look more comfortable and by all accounts kind of outplayed
Speaker 1: him in the preseason and in practice.
Speaker 5: Yeah, look, I think this comes back because remember I'm
Speaker 5: on the record on the show saying that Drake May
Speaker 5: should start me too. But I think they looked at
Speaker 5: the schedules, like, geez, this this is really really no joke.
Speaker 5: But you're gonna have to be thrown into it at
Speaker 5: some point. But I think they allis looked at the
Speaker 5: rest of the roster.
Speaker 2: They really won. I don't know.
Speaker 5: I'm a big believer in letting him play. You know,
Speaker 5: when you talk about Alex van Pelt having some sway,
Speaker 5: he had Jacoby in Cleveland as well, So there's that
Speaker 5: relationship and that familiarity and how he can deal with
Speaker 5: in game situations that Drake May has not seen in
Speaker 5: the regular season. That may be why he's slowing it down.
Speaker 1: Over under, Drake May starts Kigan this year, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go ten.
Speaker 2: Okay, whoa, that's the over underlined.
Speaker 1: I mean he's saying, yeah, Drake, I would go like
Speaker 1: fourteen or fifteen.
Speaker 2: I think this is quick. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think it's like, let Drake May see what the
Speaker 1: regular season is like. It's probably not going to go
Speaker 1: that well, and that they'll be impatient. Like, what was
Speaker 1: your view on May as a prospect coming in.
Speaker 2: I really liked Maya's prospect.
Speaker 3: I thought that, honestly, the Daniels pick was a little
Speaker 3: bit questionably.
Speaker 2: Hear did May's.
Speaker 3: Tools, So I thought he was the second best quarterback
Speaker 3: in this draft, and I really wanted my Giants to
Speaker 3: go up.
Speaker 2: And grab him. They tried. It sounds like a rumor
Speaker 2: that was happening.
Speaker 3: Unfortunately, the Patriots, as a Giants fan, seem to have
Speaker 3: maybe gotten another franchise quarterback.
Speaker 2: I think they will.
Speaker 1: And that's why I think Patriots fans to just relaxed,
Speaker 1: like calm down. It's so hard to get a quarterback.
Speaker 1: Just believe that this is going to be your guy.
Speaker 1: You're not gonna win many games this year. Enjoy enjoy it.
Speaker 1: What do you what are you thinking about? He said,
Speaker 1: Patriots fans relax, Yeah, shots the.
Speaker 7: Point do you want to address him?
Speaker 5: I mean that is the biggest wind picked fly things.
Speaker 5: Patriots fans can't relax.
Speaker 4: I do want to just say one thing on like,
Speaker 4: make one thing really clear. What I'm not going to
Speaker 4: do drowd Mayo's first year is like get on him
Speaker 4: for flip flopping on something He's This is also a
Speaker 4: building that never said anything to it about anything about
Speaker 4: anything about anything for years and years and years, drowd Mayo.
Speaker 4: I being a first year, he is allowed to a
Speaker 4: change his mind, B receive more information, see, consult his
Speaker 4: coaching staff, d talk to the media and change his mind.
Speaker 4: He's allowed to develop like like, I'm not going to
Speaker 4: hold him for what he said last Wednesday and change
Speaker 4: his mind this Wednesday, especially if they're developing a plan
Speaker 4: for this guy along the wayst why I.
Speaker 1: Like Jordan's takes a step back. She's empathetics, he sees
Speaker 1: the big picture.
Speaker 2: You're right a feeling. I kind of like that. Mayo says,
Speaker 2: whatever is on his mind, it is a beautiful thing.
Speaker 2: He's a tough guys.
Speaker 5: If former player they love I just want Jordan to
Speaker 5: go like on this on the steps of the city
Speaker 5: home province, Rhode Island or something and say this to
Speaker 5: the people who are kindly known as mass because they.
Speaker 2: Are not going to be his forgiving.
Speaker 1: Issue no to you know what, that's a miserable way
Speaker 1: to live. Because I'm the Patriots. The Celtics are the
Speaker 1: team that that has my heart the most now where
Speaker 1: I'm up and down, and you know what I saw
Speaker 1: all last season was a thousands and thousands of people
Speaker 1: who were miserable during a championship season, like, enjoy the ride.
Speaker 2: This is gonna be a fun ride with Drake May.
Speaker 2: Just enjoy the process, all right.
Speaker 1: The process in Pittsburgh seems less enjoyable. I thought it
Speaker 1: was really interesting after they announced Russell Wilson is the
Speaker 1: starting quarterback, which we expected Justin Fields. Keagan didn't seem
Speaker 1: like he did enough to win the job. In my opinion,
Speaker 1: he just didn't play that well in the preseason. I
Speaker 1: actually think the door was open. They opened it for him,
Speaker 1: and he struggled too, and it's a tough situation. I
Speaker 1: thought it was interesting though, on the Rich Eisen Show
Speaker 1: that Mike Tomlin immediately threw it out there that Justin
Speaker 1: Fields is too talented to just keep on the bench.
Speaker 1: That my friend Rahee Morris and his words should be
Speaker 1: ready for you know, some Justin Fields. And maybe that's gamesmanship,
Speaker 1: but I do believe him that Justin Fields will have
Speaker 1: some role in this Steelers offense in the first month
Speaker 1: of the season.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I can see that happening.
Speaker 3: Also, just both quarterbacks are such a weird fit with
Speaker 3: Arthur Smith, you know, he loves to get those wide
Speaker 3: open throws over the middle.
Speaker 2: He's in play action.
Speaker 3: Both of those guys are not really in structure quarterbacks,
Speaker 3: so that'll be interesting to see how either of them
Speaker 3: kind of fit in that offense.
Speaker 7: Yeah, we talked about it.
Speaker 4: It's like everyone was like popping a tiny mini bottle
Speaker 4: of champagne every time they saw a throw between the
Speaker 4: numbers because they knew that this is what was going
Speaker 4: to be a key element of Arthur Smith's offense. What
Speaker 4: I really hope to see, which never quite manifested. Yeah,
Speaker 4: it was a preseason but just didn't really manifest, was
Speaker 4: the ability of justin fields to be used in a
Speaker 4: multiplicity kind of way within Arthur Smith's sort of reputation
Speaker 4: or reputation among some as a run game guy and
Speaker 4: able to marry the run in the past in that way.
Speaker 7: And we just you know, like.
Speaker 2: You'll probably see it.
Speaker 7: The door was open.
Speaker 5: And in the third preseason game, which I thought was
Speaker 5: interesting because Russell Wilson comes out, leads a touchdown drive
Speaker 5: and he's out. So I was in studio work with
Speaker 5: Ron Rivera. He's like, Russell's a starter. You don't just
Speaker 5: go ahead and play him one series and take him out.
Speaker 5: If he's earning the job, he's the starter. But then
Speaker 5: when they put in Justin Fields, they did some RPO stuff.
Speaker 5: They did some stuff almost like some old school Viera
Speaker 5: option type of stuff.
Speaker 2: So I think that's going to be part of it.
Speaker 5: It's it's just interesting because again, when I see the
Speaker 5: Falcons preseason games, he had a chance to draft Justin
Speaker 5: Fields and wanted no part of him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I don't think he's a huge.
Speaker 4: And to that point though, Steve I did like seeing
Speaker 4: that as well.
Speaker 7: It's just I don't think that enough of it popped
Speaker 7: for them in order for him to fully walk through
Speaker 7: the door.
Speaker 1: Well in Ris, you know, they had they embracing on
Speaker 1: practice too, and the offensive line. I honestly think they
Speaker 1: just felt like unless Fields played excellent, not that they
Speaker 1: felt like they owed it to Russell Wilson, but this
Speaker 1: was the vision, this was the plan all along, and
Speaker 1: it was going to take something different to veer off.
Speaker 1: I do worry though. We have our predictions up on
Speaker 1: NFL dot com if you want to check it out.
Speaker 1: Keegans are in there. I don't know if Steve filled
Speaker 1: out the email this year. He's kind of big time.
Speaker 2: I didn't get one. I'm sure you did not get one,
Speaker 2: my friend, and check.
Speaker 7: Right now.
Speaker 1: Out of thirty analysts, only to even have the Steelers
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. And I think we did the opposite
Speaker 1: of what we did last year, where we overrated the
Speaker 1: Steelers because they had a nice preason. Maybe maybe we
Speaker 1: were overreacting to a bad preseason. They're still the Steelers
Speaker 1: and they have a great front seven. Quickly, I just
Speaker 1: want to go through the wide receiver drama before we
Speaker 1: get to the NFC preview. Surprisingly, Jamar Chase and Brandon
Speaker 1: Ayuk that it's taken new turns that Jamar Chase was
Speaker 1: back practicing, then he wasn't after Zach Taylor expected him
Speaker 1: to be all systems go and said he was confident
Speaker 1: Jamar Chase was gonna be playing Week one. I wonder
Speaker 1: if those comments had something to do with him not
Speaker 1: showing back up at practice on Wednesday. He was kind
Speaker 1: of there on Thursday. You're shaking your head, yes, Steve White.
Speaker 5: Well, I think that very much. Was like, oh, no, oh,
Speaker 5: you think I'm going to practice? Why should I? Oh,
Speaker 5: I'm under contract, Yeah, but you know I want to
Speaker 5: get paid. And I think those comments very much.
Speaker 2: But he did practice. That was the weird thing.
Speaker 1: And so Ayuk is in a similar situation where both
Speaker 1: teams are saying, okay, like we haven't been finding you.
Speaker 1: You've been doing this holding, which we've allowed. But Brandon,
Speaker 1: I believe in you. I believe this will get done.
Speaker 1: It's why I drafted you in the fourth round of
Speaker 1: my fantasy draft. Like people are too afraid of this contract,
Speaker 1: it'll show up. He's still a great player. A couple
Speaker 1: other items just in transactions before we take a quick break.
Speaker 1: I mentioned Dalvin Cook, who was advertised as a big
Speaker 1: deal Marky signing and then he went to the practice
Speaker 1: squad for the Cowboys. Let's calm down there. The Commanders
Speaker 1: signed Noah Brown. There was a lot of practice squad shuffling.
Speaker 1: Nothing to me that was that crazy. But Taylor Heineke
Speaker 1: got traded to the Charges. We've been campaigning for the
Speaker 1: Chargers to get a backup, and so that's an upgrade
Speaker 1: for them.
Speaker 2: Tyler Huntley is on the loose.
Speaker 1: The Browns cut him after not getting a trade partner
Speaker 1: for him, so he'll probably end up somewhere else that
Speaker 1: could use a quarterback to Let's take a quick break,
Speaker 1: and then let's just have a clean start of our
Speaker 1: NFC preview. We're going to go through. We're going to
Speaker 1: tell you who makes the playoffs, who doesn't, who's gonna
Speaker 1: be a little surprising, who's gonna get.
Speaker 2: Fired, who's gonna ruin our prime times? Hmmm, now we
Speaker 2: have to do that one too.
Speaker 8: Yes, For years, California's most beloved football franchise has been
Speaker 8: left wanting in the playoffs, lacking protection at key moments
Speaker 8: while opponents glibly celebrate world championships. You're gonna have to
Speaker 8: deal with That's why we introduce Prop seventy one California.
Speaker 8: Prop seventy one diverts key funds to the protection of
Speaker 8: brock Purty, resulting in a binding agreement with an institution
Speaker 8: bound for Canton, Ohio for the rest of his career,
Speaker 8: paid for by the collection of rational humans who believe
Speaker 8: Trent William should be properly compensated.
Speaker 9: Yeah, that is a fantastic Oh my god, it's an
Speaker 9: election year, it's an important issue, and uh yeah, I
Speaker 9: think I think forty nine Ers fans and brock Purty
Speaker 9: are gonna be in big support of that prop.
Speaker 3: So you read that fine print on those props. Yes,
Speaker 3: oh they are in California, and yeah that's a good point.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're not always the best written props.
Speaker 1: I suggest anyone yet check us out on YouTube, the
Speaker 1: NFL Daily, so you can see everything that went along
Speaker 1: with that.
Speaker 2: Thank you to.
Speaker 1: Patrick Claybah and his campaign to protect Rock Pretty Maybe
Speaker 1: maybe they'll be an answer early on. I'm gonna start
Speaker 1: with this a team favored to make the playoffs that won't,
Speaker 1: to see if anyone actually would go as big as
Speaker 1: the forty nine ers. I do want to say, who
Speaker 1: are the teams that are favored to make the playoffs
Speaker 1: in Vegas? So the forty nine ers are the team
Speaker 1: most likely to according to the Desert, the Lions, the Eagles,
Speaker 1: the Packers, the Cowboys, and the Falcons. Those are pretty
Speaker 1: strong six who are favored to make the playoffs. The
Speaker 1: Rams and the Bears were next. They were kind of
Speaker 1: even odds as the seven team. A little surprised the
Speaker 1: Bears were in there. We're gonna go around the room.
Speaker 1: Everyone's gonna pick one of those teams that you do
Speaker 1: not think make the playoffs.
Speaker 2: Stevie, you look like you want to jump in.
Speaker 5: I'm gonna go with to Cowboys. Okay, I mean it's
Speaker 5: crazy as it sounds. Here's a team that routinely wins
Speaker 5: twelve games, it only takes nine to get in.
Speaker 2: Will they make that six game swing? They could?
Speaker 5: I mean, I just I know they got CD back,
Speaker 5: Their offense gonna get better, young offensive line looks good.
Speaker 2: Dovin Cook, I mean, is he your answer? And then
Speaker 2: we're groundking?
Speaker 6: Now?
Speaker 2: Is he gonna be better than Rico Dubell? I mean
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, I just I don't like what they
Speaker 5: have in the run game. I know Mike Zimmer is
Speaker 5: a great defensive coordinator.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 5: When I look at the team say favored. I mean
Speaker 5: that's the thing. I still I personally think they are
Speaker 5: a playoff team. But when you look at the teams
Speaker 5: that's favored.
Speaker 1: Well then I just I mean, when you when you
Speaker 1: know you gotta eliminate someone.
Speaker 5: Well, okay, you know what I'm just gonna say, the Cowboys,
Speaker 5: I'm gonna say the Here's here's where I hedge because
Speaker 5: I just don't know if there's a division that's gonna
Speaker 5: give us three teams like we're gonna see in the
Speaker 5: AFC North Again, We're gonna see three teams like I
Speaker 5: just don't know if there's that division.
Speaker 1: I think the the West or the NFC. I had
Speaker 1: the Cowboys written down too. I think they're thin at
Speaker 1: a lot of positions where one injury really hurts them.
Speaker 1: But they're their linebackers, the offensive line going from what
Speaker 1: was a strength to a weakness, the depth of the
Speaker 1: of the wide receiver group. I don't know if this
Speaker 1: is going to be a good defense in Dallas.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I have the Cowboys written down, okay, And I
Speaker 4: really think part of it is because the specter of
Speaker 4: what could possibly become of this team is just waiting
Speaker 4: right around the corner. It feels like, you know, the
Speaker 4: coach on the final deal, the Dack situation. Here's a hypothetical.
Speaker 4: If you're Jerry Jones and they know more about this
Speaker 4: situation internally than we know publicly, clearly, right, But here's
Speaker 4: just the hypothetical, play this string out with me a
Speaker 4: little bit. If you are clear or internally you are
Speaker 4: aware that your franchise quarterback potentially is not going to
Speaker 4: sign a deal with you, or you're not going to
Speaker 4: pay this guy. You know you already know you're not
Speaker 4: going to pay him what he's asking. Then you're collecting
Speaker 4: calls trying to see if you can recoup anything from
Speaker 4: the loss of what this player will be before November.
Speaker 4: And you're not resigning your head coach, and you're not
Speaker 4: resigning several players, and you have a core receiver who
Speaker 4: can help a different quarterback like develop into that roster.
Speaker 7: This is a hypothetical situation.
Speaker 4: But I think if I'm Jerry Jones and I'm you know,
Speaker 4: talking to you know, our guy Clarence Hill about what
Speaker 4: a you know, great GM he is, and nobody you're
Speaker 4: obviously thinking about if this guy leaves, what can I
Speaker 4: recoup instead of just coming away with nothing and just
Speaker 4: having to rebuild with with no resource resources on the backside.
Speaker 4: And if I'm Dak, I do want to go and
Speaker 4: actually test free agency and actually get paid what I
Speaker 4: think I'm worth and what I think he will be worth.
Speaker 1: Well, you mentioned those Jerry Jones quotes and he was
Speaker 1: talking about Dak Prescott this week. Let's listen to what
Speaker 1: Dak Prescott said on Thursday, courtesy of k d f
Speaker 1: W Fox for in Dallas.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I understand that that's the business and the nature
Speaker 6: of this this game that we play. Uh yeah, I
Speaker 6: mean I stopped honestly listening to things that he says
Speaker 6: to the media a long time ago, so it doesn't
Speaker 6: really hold way with me.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's funny. I know there were some chuckles,
Speaker 2: but there was some biting in there.
Speaker 1: But he says he's talking about his boss, Jerry Jones.
Speaker 1: Wait was it a clean sweep? Did you write down
Speaker 1: the Cowboys too? Okay, well, we'll stop burying the Cowboys
Speaker 1: for a second.
Speaker 2: But I'm I'm with you.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I can get there on that
Speaker 1: they could ever trade Deck in season, that they would
Speaker 1: have to really start slow for that to happen.
Speaker 4: If you're already committed that you're blowing up your team
Speaker 4: after this season, then you.
Speaker 1: Were They're gonna They're going to try to make it
Speaker 1: work this year. They're they're a living the moment type
Speaker 1: of franchise. But you're right, just a coach who won't
Speaker 1: be back, a quarterback that won't be back, those are
Speaker 1: bad signs. Let's let's hear from your Kegan in terms
Speaker 1: of the team you wrote down.
Speaker 3: All right, So the smart take I think would be
Speaker 3: the Falcons, just because I think that people are putting
Speaker 3: them in by default, and there's still a lot of
Speaker 3: questions about offense. Their defense is not gonna be as
Speaker 3: good without after losing Ryan Nielsen. But I'm gonna be
Speaker 3: start out with the boom going Eagles.
Speaker 4: In the This is how we get the Cowboys fans back,
Speaker 4: exactly the one in the staff picks I noticed that
Speaker 4: had the missing out of thirty people.
Speaker 2: Wow, so let me go through a little bit.
Speaker 1: And by the way, clever that your last name is
Speaker 1: the first in every list, so you get more pop
Speaker 1: than all the other analysts and ease, I see what
Speaker 1: you're doing family anyway.
Speaker 3: So basically like I think Kelsey being lost the lost Kelsey.
Speaker 3: Everyone talks about it, but I do think that's gonna
Speaker 3: be a huge loss, especially with the new coordinator. This
Speaker 3: will be the first time that Jalen Hurts ever calls
Speaker 3: protections in his life, if that's up to him, if
Speaker 3: not as Cam Jurgens, who it would be his first
Speaker 3: time playing center as a NFL pro because last year
Speaker 3: when Kelsey missed the game, I think they kept him
Speaker 3: at right guard or left guard for continuity from all
Speaker 3: defensive perspective, like, I think the book might be out
Speaker 3: a little bit on Jalen Hurts.
Speaker 2: You know, you blitzed them.
Speaker 3: Someone said that in Mike Sandos Tiers. It was anonymous coach.
Speaker 3: It said he just cover zero blitz him. They have
Speaker 3: supreme talent, don't get me wrong. They have Saquon Barkley
Speaker 3: that's going to add explosion. But I don't think that
Speaker 3: just automatically assuming this offense, often problems are going to
Speaker 3: be fixed that we saw for the second.
Speaker 2: Half of last season.
Speaker 3: And then on the other side of the ball, one
Speaker 3: of the worst defense in the league last year. They
Speaker 3: you know, they invest in the secondary, have two great
Speaker 3: picks by most people's metrics in the in the draft,
Speaker 3: but you're expecting a lot out of rookies. You have
Speaker 3: two aging cornerbacks outside of that, Chauncey Gardner. Johnson's a
Speaker 3: big improvement for their slot defense, especially, and that's where
Speaker 3: they really struggled last year, Like they allowed the most
Speaker 3: yards to slot receivers last year. But you have Fletcher
Speaker 3: Cox retiring, you have Bryce Huff who's going to be
Speaker 3: a full time player for the first time in his career,
Speaker 3: and you have really no depth beyond Jalen Carter and Jordan.
Speaker 2: Davis, who are not. That's issue.
Speaker 3: Full time players like Jordan Davis has never really eclipsed
Speaker 3: sixty percent snapshare in his career.
Speaker 2: So I don't know.
Speaker 3: I just think it's a lot more of a fragile
Speaker 3: team than people are saying. And you know, if the
Speaker 3: heat's hot, I could also see Sirianni, you know, getting
Speaker 3: canned early.
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's a great real quick talking about the detackle
Speaker 5: lack of depth or that's an issue because behind him
Speaker 5: you don't have great lineback. I mean to Kobe, Dean
Speaker 5: is a hell of a talent, but that guy, when
Speaker 5: you look at him in person, you would think that
Speaker 5: maybe he's a slot corner, like he's about as big
Speaker 5: as Kenny Moore, and he's not.
Speaker 1: I don't think he's going to start either, which is
Speaker 1: also a problem. I mean, I think he's coming off
Speaker 1: the bed. You're right that I think they're a little
Speaker 1: more fragile. I'm high on them because I like the talent,
Speaker 1: but yeah, I think there's a lot of teams like this,
Speaker 1: and they're similar to Dallas where just if things start
Speaker 1: going poorly, it's going to really test that coaching staff
Speaker 1: and struck. Sure, and we know that the front office
Speaker 1: were kind of the ones pushing these coordinators, and you
Speaker 1: have some guys there that are just ready to elevate,
Speaker 1: and the vibes weren't great with hers. I'm hoping that
Speaker 1: they really integrate him into the running game and that
Speaker 1: they provide some answers that maybe Siriani didn't as a coordinator.
Speaker 1: I'll go with Falcons, by the way, anyways, just because
Speaker 1: I didn't have them in my playoffs, so I might
Speaker 1: as well. I just think there's a lot of projection
Speaker 1: there with the defense, assuming that it's going to be
Speaker 1: a lot better in a thirty six year old Kirk Cousins,
Speaker 1: who is always an inconsistent player to me coming off
Speaker 1: in Achilles tear, I'm just not convinced that he's going
Speaker 1: to be a plus plus quarterback. And if he's an
Speaker 1: average quarterback, we'll see. All Right, let's go to positive news.
Speaker 1: I feel like we've been so down so far. How
Speaker 1: about a team that's not favored to make the playoffs
Speaker 1: that will Let's start with you, Jordan.
Speaker 7: I have the Seahawks.
Speaker 4: Okay, I think the NFC West is going to be
Speaker 4: spicier than maybe people are looking at it first. Glinch,
Speaker 4: just because of how dismal the Cardinals were for much
Speaker 4: of last year. We've already talked at a nauseum about
Speaker 4: how they turned it on offensively in the back half.
Speaker 4: I think the Seahawks are gonna take take a second
Speaker 4: to get their defense figured out under this new scheme.
Speaker 4: The language of the new scheme. Although Mike McDonald his
Speaker 4: teaching tools, his teaching progression, you hear people rave about
Speaker 4: it inside coaching circles across the league, and everybody he's
Speaker 4: worked with just raves about how you're one. You can
Speaker 4: start to see it come together. Year two is when
Speaker 4: you really start to see this thing take off and
Speaker 4: players understand where they're supposed to be. I think that
Speaker 4: this offense is going to be really fun. I think
Speaker 4: the combination of Ryan Grubb, who was doing a lot
Speaker 4: of things that mary very well in NFL world, less
Speaker 4: so even in a collegiate world, because he's not necessarily
Speaker 4: exploiting the different hash marks in college. Instead, he's using
Speaker 4: his motions and shifts as it would adhere to an
Speaker 4: NFL field, and he's changing formations all of his top receivers, which,
Speaker 4: by the way, the Seahawks have three very good receivers
Speaker 4: all of those guys, you know, the concept record, like
Speaker 4: the concepts you can see, like the philosophy behind what
Speaker 4: they might try to do. And they also brought a
Speaker 4: former Rams past game courtenator Jake Pizza up to Ryan
Speaker 4: Grubb's staff to talk about the little intricacies like spacing,
Speaker 4: like how to spring people people out of different concepts
Speaker 4: and give them space in the second and third levels
Speaker 4: of the field out of those cut splits by moving
Speaker 4: like one inch to the left, let's go. And I
Speaker 4: think that that's something that's really really significant. If this
Speaker 4: offensive line can block anybody this year, which is always
Speaker 4: a question with this team, I do think that this
Speaker 4: is going to be a really fun year to watch
Speaker 4: for the Seahawks. I think they're going to be frisky,
Speaker 4: really really tough out, especially down the back half. And
Speaker 4: Gino Smiths a great quarterback.
Speaker 1: There it is you said it all for me.
Speaker 2: There might pick too.
Speaker 1: I think the coaching is so key, and I'm in
Speaker 1: we're taking a leap of faith, certainly on both sides
Speaker 1: of the ball, but especially on offense, where you need
Speaker 1: Grub and their scheme to make the offensive line passable.
Speaker 1: It doesn't need to be great, but it needs to
Speaker 1: be not league worst, like PFF ranked just pure offensive
Speaker 1: line talent, and they had him thirty second and that's
Speaker 1: a problem. And they played like that last year and
Speaker 1: it's why Gino Smith struggled so much on third down
Speaker 1: and in long distance situations, because otherwise I think they're
Speaker 1: going to be a very difficult team to prepare for.
Speaker 1: I do think new coaching staffs sometimes have an advantage
Speaker 1: that way. I think it's just such a great division.
Speaker 1: But yeah, if you look at just the players, just
Speaker 1: like think of players and coaches that could win awards
Speaker 1: yor like make a Pro Bowl team on that team. Yeah, Witherspoon,
Speaker 1: I think Riekuilan can be a Pro Bowler. Byron Murphy,
Speaker 1: I think could be like a defensive Rookie of the
Speaker 1: Year DK Gino ken Walker. It's like they have guys,
Speaker 1: and I think the defensive line is is actually a
Speaker 1: lot of fun. I know it's not superstars, but once
Speaker 1: Nuos is back and it sounds like he's not going
Speaker 1: to be out long. You got him, you got Leonard Williams,
Speaker 1: you got Draymond Jones, Like you have a lot to
Speaker 1: work with there, and uh yeah, I'm going with them.
Speaker 2: To win the division. I don't give you know, let's go.
Speaker 5: I am you know, I've been high on Seattle the
Speaker 5: whole time. I'm like, why aren't we talking about the
Speaker 5: Seattle Seahawks Because you look at McDonald where he's coming from.
Speaker 5: You talked about all that front seven talent that they
Speaker 5: have on defense. That's where Baltimore, where he came from,
Speaker 5: you know, makes its money. And now he's got a stunt.
Speaker 5: I've talked to people up there. I mean, what they're
Speaker 5: going to do with Devin Witherspoon is very similar from
Speaker 5: the corner what the Ravens did with Coyle Hamilton at
Speaker 5: the safety spot. Look, this guy's going to be in
Speaker 5: contention for Defensive Player of the Year. Yeah, I'm calling
Speaker 5: that shot right now.
Speaker 2: And I'm with you.
Speaker 5: Offensively, Gino's going to be fine if this offensive line
Speaker 5: can do things anything in that run game, which they
Speaker 5: got two stud running backs telling you, man, Seattle's going
Speaker 5: to be a pain.
Speaker 1: Do you put them in the playoffs? Kigga good or
Speaker 1: I don't like all this agreement. I don't want to
Speaker 1: be uh you know, oh.
Speaker 7: We did this. We planned this on purpose, so you'd
Speaker 7: have to pick against them.
Speaker 1: No, I will not pick against them. I mean, we
Speaker 1: got our picks out there, it's on it's online. All right,
Speaker 1: give me a team. Do you have another one that?
Speaker 2: Uh, the Cardinals are going to be interesting.
Speaker 3: I think I'm to make the playoffs, not to make
Speaker 3: the playoffs, but I think they'll be competitive and maybe
Speaker 3: in the wild card race. I'm looking about their defense.
Speaker 3: That's really my only what's holding me back. But I mean,
Speaker 3: a full year Kyler with Drew Petsing as a coordinator,
Speaker 3: you got Marvin Harrison, you got Trey McBride, like I'm
Speaker 3: excited for.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Okay, let's search that division race then, because my
Speaker 1: answer is NFC West. And to me, this is just
Speaker 1: from a dorky matchup perspective.
Speaker 2: It's the coaches, it's the players.
Speaker 1: Every one of these matchups is compelling to me because
Speaker 1: also it's one of the few divisions where there's four
Speaker 1: good quarterbacks for really good quarterbacks, so that that helps
Speaker 1: a lot. It's always going to make it more watchable.
Speaker 1: So I'm going around the room for best division race.
Speaker 1: But to me, these are all blockbuster box office because
Speaker 1: to me, even if the Cardinals don't win a ton
Speaker 1: of games, I'm not as you know, high on. You
Speaker 1: like them taking a big step in the win, Like
Speaker 1: they're going to be fun to watch.
Speaker 4: I think that the history is getting really juicy between
Speaker 4: all of the coaches in this division versus just two
Speaker 4: of them. Yeah, I think that this is going to
Speaker 4: be really really interesting. Some of the game planning they're starting.
Speaker 4: Finally it's always been sort of Seawan and Kyle, but
Speaker 4: then not even really Sean and Kyle, and like you're
Speaker 4: like hiring off of each other's staffs. They're starting to
Speaker 4: hire off of each other's staffs a little bit, which
Speaker 4: you only saw that like a couple of years removed
Speaker 4: out of any one Kyle staff or Sean's staff, it
Speaker 4: would be Rams forty nine ers.
Speaker 7: Now you're starting to see them like.
Speaker 4: Sort of pluck each other's staff a little bit, start
Speaker 4: sort of trying to get each other's ideas in the building.
Speaker 4: I think just on a coaching level, I mean, quarterbacks.
Speaker 2: A little going on.
Speaker 3: I even noticed how that she's talking about the second
Speaker 3: edition of her Right Playmakers.
Speaker 7: Too, you know, kind of in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2: It's personal.
Speaker 1: Yeah, like even the the four I like the other Rams,
Speaker 1: you know, claim the forty nine ers running back slash
Speaker 1: return guys like I see.
Speaker 4: What you saw one see how preseason game these couple
Speaker 4: of run concepts. Man, go back and watch the twenty
Speaker 4: twenty three Rams film. It's it's very, very interesting.
Speaker 1: Anyone. I feel like the Rams are a team. A
Speaker 1: lot of people steal from the same thing with forty nine ers,
Speaker 1: like around the whole league, not even just because all.
Speaker 2: The coaches are everywhere. They're running kind of the same stuff.
Speaker 2: Anyone to have a different division. I do like the
Speaker 2: best race. I do.
Speaker 5: We're talking about the most competitive and it's because it's mediocrity.
Speaker 2: It's the NFC South.
Speaker 5: Okay, you've got three Look, look you've got you've got
Speaker 5: three defensive coaches. Right, you have three defensive coaches down,
Speaker 5: so probably probably the only division in the NFL you
Speaker 5: have three defensive head coaches. You've got the one offensive
Speaker 5: head coaches. Hot stuff going to Carolina where they're gonna
Speaker 5: be better. I mean, they're not gonna be a two
Speaker 5: win team, they're gonna be better. I just think it's
Speaker 5: gonna be like it's been eight to nine, might be
Speaker 5: the best you get. So when you talk about the
Speaker 5: best overall race, I think it's gonna be those four
Speaker 5: teams kind of stumbling over each other.
Speaker 2: That's just ugly football. I don't I don't want I
Speaker 2: love it.
Speaker 3: I love Hey, that was question man, that it's true.
Speaker 2: And I like a good ugly division.
Speaker 3: That's division race, right, not the most competitive. Well, I
Speaker 3: misinterpret that now.
Speaker 1: I think there's room for interpretation however you want it. Like,
Speaker 1: I am totally down with like a season where when
Speaker 1: the Panthers when they were like four and ten with
Speaker 1: Ron Rivera and then they won three straight to make
Speaker 1: the playoffs or something like that.
Speaker 2: It's like, I'm fine with some ugly give me mess.
Speaker 2: I'm with you. I like it. I got NFC North, Okay,
Speaker 2: I liked that. I almost went there.
Speaker 3: I honestly think that the Packers and the Lions might
Speaker 3: be the two best teams in the conference this year.
Speaker 3: Wow that at the top. That and I also think
Speaker 3: I'm really high in the Bears this year. I mean,
Speaker 3: I think over those second half of last season, after
Speaker 3: they traded him on to Sweat arguably the top five
Speaker 3: defense they.
Speaker 2: Reteamed run defense in the NFL.
Speaker 3: Sick run defense ever Fliss he figured it out near
Speaker 3: the end, and I think from an offensive perspective, you
Speaker 3: get o'doons, you get Keenan Allen as the third wide receiver.
Speaker 3: That's a great place for him to be in this
Speaker 3: this part in his career.
Speaker 2: I think Cabe is really set up to hit the
Speaker 2: ground running.
Speaker 1: You have all these stats gigging in front of you,
Speaker 1: these crazy next and stat like, when are you gonna
Speaker 1: break them out? You know you're like you're like pulling
Speaker 1: from all these this crazy information. I want this version
Speaker 1: of next instances?
Speaker 2: Can I have this?
Speaker 1: I can get it? Yeah, okay, it's good, I can.
Speaker 1: I can get it. I'm excited.
Speaker 2: All Right, let's go.
Speaker 1: You mentioned you think the Lions and Packers might be
Speaker 1: the best teams in the NFC. Should we go number
Speaker 1: one seed? I'll throw out mine. I'm gonna go Lions.
Speaker 1: I just think the NFC is so much weaker than
Speaker 1: the AFC overall, Like there's a lot of good teams,
Speaker 1: but I obviously think the forty nine ers are coming
Speaker 1: back to the pack. If I have the Seahawks winning
Speaker 1: the division and the Lions are the team, it sounds
Speaker 1: so crazy to say that. I just trust the most
Speaker 1: that if if you told me they had a losing record,
Speaker 1: more than any team in the NFC.
Speaker 2: It would surprise me.
Speaker 1: So ultimately, I'm just gonna put my faith in continuity
Speaker 1: in this system, being really ready to go both sides
Speaker 1: of the ball. Really like the Lions on both sides
Speaker 1: of the ball. I'm going to go Lions in one seed.
Speaker 7: I picked that as well.
Speaker 4: I hate that we've agreed on almost everything to this point,
Speaker 4: but I do agree with you. I also, if the
Speaker 4: Trent Williams and Brandon and Ny situation weren't unfolding, I
Speaker 4: would have picked the forty nine ers here, but I
Speaker 4: picked the Lions. Line play quarterback has certainly raised the
Speaker 4: floor from several years ago, and they have their faith
Speaker 4: in him as a city and as a team coordinator,
Speaker 4: continuity fix some of the holes in their defense, I.
Speaker 2: Mean the secondary. They I love them well.
Speaker 4: I love that Their biggest problem this spring was or
Speaker 4: this summer was like, oh, who's our third receiver? You know,
Speaker 4: like that's luxury Now for the Lions, that's what we're asking, like,
Speaker 4: that's a good football team.
Speaker 1: They brought in Tim Patrick rather that and their practice squad,
Speaker 1: So that's just it.
Speaker 7: That's a guy who can dig out a safety or
Speaker 7: two they're going to use.
Speaker 1: Him, ye, coming off some big injuries, but that would
Speaker 1: be great to see Tim Patrick in a big spot.
Speaker 1: They need James and Williams to come through, but I
Speaker 1: think they will. Why are you so high?
Speaker 2: I'm Kigan, I'm the Lions.
Speaker 3: I think the secondary, as you said, I think that's
Speaker 3: gonna like allow Terall Austin for the first time and
Speaker 3: his few years as coordinator lean more into mand coverage,
Speaker 3: which I think he wants to play, and he's shown
Speaker 3: that over the course of the years. And they've just
Speaker 3: struggled to do that. I mean when you had who
Speaker 3: was the guy? Who are their cornerbacks?
Speaker 2: Last year? I can't even they all got hurt.
Speaker 1: Emmanuel Moseley was in and out now and was a.
Speaker 2: Real quick Aaron gland Is to d you see their
Speaker 2: Tarol Austin's in anyone? I have a different number, seed
Speaker 2: I do?
Speaker 3: All right, Well we both do. Yeah, go ahead, I'm
Speaker 3: going with the Packers. Okay, I'm betting on second half
Speaker 3: of the year. Jordan Love, you want to talk about stats.
Speaker 3: He was second in EPA over the second half of
Speaker 3: the season after starting.
Speaker 2: I think he had one or two games.
Speaker 3: With the above US fifty percent success rate in his
Speaker 3: first eight games finishes the year seven of his last ten.
Speaker 3: Above that, he ends up top five in that metric
Speaker 3: in terms of consistency, because that's what was lacking over
Speaker 3: the first You saw the flashes over the first eight weeks,
Speaker 3: but the consistency of getting rid of the ball quickly,
Speaker 3: trusting the short game, and trusting his receivers. I think
Speaker 3: all his receivers are so young. I mean, that was
Speaker 3: one of the youngest receiving corps last year. Hopefully they
Speaker 3: all take a step up. I love Jayden Reid this
Speaker 3: year in terms of his dynamic abilities.
Speaker 2: That tight end room, I mean, Tucker Craft and Luke.
Speaker 3: Dust Grave is awesome. Always have one of the best
Speaker 3: offensive lines. And now you know, you get Josh Jacobs,
Speaker 3: probably a little out of lateral move from Aaron Jones
Speaker 3: might play in the field more. The defense, I'm a
Speaker 3: little bit more worried about, But I trust that offense
Speaker 3: to be among you know, a top three unit in
Speaker 3: the league, and I'm gonna ride them.
Speaker 1: And they would be feeling like they're just so back
Speaker 1: if they're a one seed at at this age, it
Speaker 1: is just crazy. Randy's going crazy back there.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm going off the grid with my number one seed.
Speaker 2: And I know you talked about you didn't love them.
Speaker 5: I think the Eagles gonna be the number one about
Speaker 5: them because they played a division where I think they
Speaker 5: honestly could be the only team for their division to
Speaker 5: get into the playoffs, right the other two teams because
Speaker 5: each have two even if you go to the so
Speaker 5: you could hit Atlanta in Tampa. You talked about Green
Speaker 5: Bay in Detroit in the North. In the West, you
Speaker 5: could have your choice of Seattle, the Niners in the Rams.
Speaker 5: So that's why I think the Eagles are going to
Speaker 5: have an easier opportunity to become the number one seed
Speaker 5: if some of those injuries and those key spots. You know,
Speaker 5: they can't be weak up the middle on defense and
Speaker 5: right now that's a sauce spot.
Speaker 2: Potentially they are thinner than they've been.
Speaker 1: They used to have the big rotations, and they have
Speaker 1: a coordinator now in Vic Fangio who doesn't really rotate
Speaker 1: is much. So it's a different philosophy than Howie Roseman had.
Speaker 1: Can you mentioned it? Can those guys can? Can the
Speaker 1: edge guys be good enough? Otherwise though, I think you're
Speaker 1: onto something that the schedule I think is overall going
Speaker 1: to be pretty favorable, especially if we're projecting the Cowboys
Speaker 1: to be worse, then it's suddenly the easiest division in
Speaker 1: the league. You get the Carolina Panthers in the entire
Speaker 1: NFC South out of division, Like I don't hate that
Speaker 1: at all, some of the out of division games, like
Speaker 1: just because there's schedule, like the Jet I'm in. I'm
Speaker 1: in on the Eagles maybe being the one seed, but
Speaker 1: it could go in a million different directions. All right,
Speaker 1: last one before taking one last break here, let's go
Speaker 1: first QB to be benched.
Speaker 2: If if any I got one, please Derek car there
Speaker 2: it is. I knew it was coming. Yeah, it's happened before.
Speaker 3: First of all, he's got the Saints I think are
Speaker 3: over ninety million over the cap next year already.
Speaker 1: Okay, I will push back on that. That's every year though,
Speaker 1: that was yeah, clean it up. I mean, this is
Speaker 1: this is the last year.
Speaker 2: Easiest I'd like, easiest move you can make.
Speaker 3: That's sixty million, uh in terms of dead cap after
Speaker 3: this season. I mean, but you're going to be paying
Speaker 3: him fifty million either way. So I think in general,
Speaker 3: also Carr like having Kamara the whole year is going
Speaker 3: to play to his worst instincts. When Kamara was on
Speaker 3: the field last year, Carr got rid of the ball
Speaker 3: zero point three seconds faster, which is an eternity over
Speaker 3: the course of a lot of drop back. He just
Speaker 3: is so much more willing to check the ball down.
Speaker 3: When Kamari's Kamara is a little bit older, he's going
Speaker 3: to be checked down. Car And I think Dennis Allen
Speaker 3: eventually is going to try and pull the plug.
Speaker 2: And maybe if he's there to pull the.
Speaker 1: I know, I feel like those two guys are kind
Speaker 1: of connected at the hip. But yeah, there's been more
Speaker 1: than a few people in the media. They're pushing hashtag
Speaker 1: the agenda and that is spend He's not a normal
Speaker 1: fifth round pick and the Saints Black Party podcast for
Speaker 1: starting this. But the agenda is strong. If Carr struggles,
Speaker 1: that is not a popular quarterback.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and play the string out if another coach comes in,
Speaker 4: of course he is going to play Spencer Ratler like
Speaker 4: you're gonna get the breadth of fresh air. If if
Speaker 4: another coach or an interim coach comes in, of course
Speaker 4: you are going to do that.
Speaker 1: I put him third on my list. Actually, I had
Speaker 1: Daniel Jones is the most likely.
Speaker 2: I said, I said, Daniel Jones most likely.
Speaker 5: But usually when you pull your quarterback, you've got a
Speaker 5: succession plan, Tommy and Andrew.
Speaker 2: Drew Locke is not here.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but you know, it's like telling it's kind of
Speaker 4: sad that I actually completely forgot about Daniel Jones. Yeah,
Speaker 4: I have Derek Carr on my list. I wouldn't disagree
Speaker 4: with Daniel Jones. I still think it's Derek Carr, but
Speaker 4: I gotta say, like it's uh, I don't know. We
Speaker 4: heard whispers or Daniel Jeremiah heard whispers even at the
Speaker 4: around draft time that Drew Locke might play some games
Speaker 4: for the Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think they signed up to your lock with the
Speaker 1: idea of playing him at some point. I don't think
Speaker 1: they were encouraged by him and then he got hurt
Speaker 1: a little bit, although he should be back soon in that.
Speaker 2: He's a talented dude.
Speaker 5: I mean, my whole thing of though, is just after
Speaker 5: seeing the hard knocks, they are this is like it
Speaker 5: is all about Daniel Jones or all Audie. I mean
Speaker 5: I think they are. They have hitched their wagon to him,
Speaker 5: and if he makes it.
Speaker 1: If they're one and seven, though, and that contract is
Speaker 1: not guaranteed for injury, they just going he might make
Speaker 1: a business that everybody's good points.
Speaker 4: Steve brings up a good point though, I mean that's
Speaker 4: like the emotional attachment to it. If you've made your
Speaker 4: cards that clear that this has to work no matter what,
Speaker 4: then yeah, you're gonna stick with that guy a little
Speaker 4: bit longer.
Speaker 7: And they already have stuck with him.
Speaker 1: I think Kirk is more likely than Derek Carr to
Speaker 1: get benchedally, no, not less it's an injury think. I
Speaker 1: think if if something went out there, I think they're
Speaker 1: just gonna love Michael PENNOCKX and if they're losing with
Speaker 1: the love they love possible scenario. I don't really expect it,
Speaker 1: but if they're losing, I could see them going to Penis.
Speaker 2: It would be crazy, I think. I don't. The head
Speaker 2: coaches got too much, too much grace period down there.
Speaker 1: They're not okay speaking of head coaches with grace period,
Speaker 1: I get this one's too obvious. If in negative a
Speaker 1: first coach, if any to get fired, Dennis Allen I
Speaker 1: think would be be the favorite there stable maybe if
Speaker 1: things went really south, let's zoom past that. Well, let's
Speaker 1: take one more break and then we're gonna come back
Speaker 1: and we will be wrapping up the show, getting all
Speaker 1: of our playoff seats.
Speaker 2: You will learn who wins the NFC Championship. A lot
Speaker 2: to be with all of you today.
Speaker 10: There's been a lot of talk about the road we've
Speaker 10: traveled on the road ahead for America's team. Let me
Speaker 10: ask you all one question. If all we do is
Speaker 10: choke and lose, then who is the one truly living
Speaker 10: in the past? If we are the bandwagon, then shouldn't
Speaker 10: it be more fun?
Speaker 2: If you want fun, ask yourself this, why not? Now?
Speaker 8: What would be more Dallas than a season born of
Speaker 8: contract disputes resulting in the ultimate goal before it all
Speaker 8: falls apart? They want audacity? What about the audacity of cope?
Speaker 1: That is the campaign for the Dallas Cowboys, and I
Speaker 1: like it. Patrick Claybon putting himself, that's a smart take
Speaker 1: corner right now is actually to be big in on
Speaker 1: the Cowboys because no one is. And they still have
Speaker 1: Dak Prescott as their quarterback and a whole lot of talent,
Speaker 1: and they have had a history of winning through the
Speaker 1: drama over the years.
Speaker 2: I thought that was a Richard Nixon AI voiceover that
Speaker 2: was that was very well done.
Speaker 1: I'm almost annoyed that Patrick claibon has won Today's show
Speaker 1: m VP without even having to show up for work.
Speaker 2: No, it's it's a great thing.
Speaker 1: I love that Patrick gets such a huge part of
Speaker 1: the show, and he's going to be with me on
Speaker 1: our previews show each and every week starting next week.
Speaker 1: So I'm really excited about that and getting them back
Speaker 1: in here. All right, Uh, let's throw out a team
Speaker 1: that you just don't know what the hell to do
Speaker 1: with that. You know, I'm gonna throw out the Saints
Speaker 1: because I was there at their camp and I think
Speaker 1: people who are around that team see a scenario where
Speaker 1: it goes really bad and they have a top three
Speaker 1: or top five pick and yet like you look beneath
Speaker 1: the hood. I don't know what the next gen stats say,
Speaker 1: but for instance, like the Football Outsider's number, they're they're
Speaker 1: projected wins. You look at the players they brought in,
Speaker 1: how consistent Dennis Allen's defense has been, how it's pretty
Speaker 1: loaded defense, and like their win projection over at FTN
Speaker 1: is I think winning the like they like they're over nine,
Speaker 1: and I can kind of see it because the whole
Speaker 1: point of this franchise year after year is to keep
Speaker 1: Mickey Loomis employed.
Speaker 2: That to me is.
Speaker 1: Everything is geared towards getting to that ninth win, getting
Speaker 1: to that tenth win, just keeping the party going that
Speaker 1: Sean Payton started. And I can kind of see it
Speaker 1: like it's a bad division, and so I don't know
Speaker 1: what to do with them. They could be three wins,
Speaker 1: they could be nine or ten wins. That was the
Speaker 1: team that came to mind for me.
Speaker 4: They fall below that line for me, just because we
Speaker 4: can see very clearly, even outside looking in, what should
Speaker 4: have been done with this team, what continues to should
Speaker 4: should be done with this team. This is the time
Speaker 4: to capitalize and punish the rest of the NFC South.
Speaker 4: This was last year was the time.
Speaker 1: It would basically be their defense being the road for them.
Speaker 1: To me, is their defense being a top three to
Speaker 1: five defense.
Speaker 5: They've they've been a top five to eight for like
Speaker 5: seven years and they're great.
Speaker 4: And let me not discount that because they are. I've
Speaker 4: said this before on this show. That's a badass defense.
Speaker 2: Yes, it is.
Speaker 4: Ever that can be a little bit of a firefly
Speaker 4: situation just to continue to kick the can, continue to
Speaker 4: just okay, well this we've got this going for us.
Speaker 7: Awesome, that's great. But also again this if you're looking at.
Speaker 4: The division itself for the last two three years, especially
Speaker 4: as the Carolina Panthers continue to struggle the way that
Speaker 4: they have and be kind of like dipped in chaos
Speaker 4: every every year, this and last year and the year
Speaker 4: before that, this has been the time to punish the
Speaker 4: rest of the division, to really make those sort of
Speaker 4: really strong moves and those really like aggressive moves that
Speaker 4: show either you're ripping it up and starting over, or
Speaker 4: you're making a push over a different personnel, or you're
Speaker 4: getting the you know, up and coming young.
Speaker 7: Bright head coat or whatever that this last these.
Speaker 2: Last is running it back to try to get to nine.
Speaker 7: Win has been the time. That's that time.
Speaker 2: So that's what I mean.
Speaker 1: Though, if they do it, they employed again, anyone have
Speaker 1: a different team.
Speaker 2: You don't know what the hell to do.
Speaker 5: The Vikings, Oh yeah, that's a good I mean, the
Speaker 5: Minister of the Vikings. I think there's talented football team.
Speaker 5: They've got a very good offensive line, two very good tackles,
Speaker 5: the best wide receiver in the NFL, great young wide
Speaker 5: receiver in Jordan Addison.
Speaker 2: TJ.
Speaker 5: Hockkinson is coming back at some point. They've got Aaron
Speaker 5: Jones at running back. I mean they've you know, if
Speaker 5: Sam Donald could play seventeen games at a halfway decent level. Like,
Speaker 5: they've got some players on defense now, those safeties at
Speaker 5: that Tannem Harrison Smith and and and buying them.
Speaker 1: I think it's the best division in football. I don't
Speaker 1: think it's the best race because I do think the
Speaker 1: Lions and Packers are ahead.
Speaker 2: But I think it's the best. Yeah.
Speaker 5: I mean the Vikings and they're coaching. I mean you
Speaker 5: can see the shay what ever. I mean, Brian Flores
Speaker 5: is damn good. And Kevin O'Connell, hey man, he showed
Speaker 5: me last year that he is nobody messed with as
Speaker 5: a hell of a head coach.
Speaker 4: I think Kevin O'Connell is the coach of the year
Speaker 4: front runner. Yeah, I think I think that, especially if
Speaker 4: he can coax some things make polenta with Sam Donald,
Speaker 4: Like I said on previous you got to.
Speaker 1: Win like ten games. Though he's been a candidate every
Speaker 1: year he's coach.
Speaker 2: He was freaking close last year the front runner. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and do you have them in the playoffs?
Speaker 7: I don't have them.
Speaker 2: I don't have in the playoffs.
Speaker 4: But I think that like every year, there's been people
Speaker 4: that you know, have just been close and just missed
Speaker 4: it that should have deserved it. And then you know
Speaker 4: teams that won maybe more games and the other We're
Speaker 4: not going to get into this argument right now, but
Speaker 4: I have takes on that once we do get to it.
Speaker 4: But I have I do have the Eagles as a
Speaker 4: team that I don't know what to do with that.
Speaker 4: I am not discounting their talent. They have so much
Speaker 4: talent on the offensive side. I do have a big
Speaker 4: question about the center situation. I question the secondary less
Speaker 4: now that they've sort of overhauled that position, some of
Speaker 4: that young talent coming up, I do not question it
Speaker 4: as much as I probably would have had they made
Speaker 4: different decisions or not brought in a new coordinator and
Speaker 4: not had the DB's assistant coaches that Vic Fangio then
Speaker 4: brought with him. However, I think that the weird thing
Speaker 4: about the Eagles for me, or the thing that I
Speaker 4: can't quite square, is like we've seen their ceiling, right,
Speaker 4: but I think their floor can be potentially a lot
Speaker 4: lower than some of these other teams that are maybe
Speaker 4: in the middle of this of.
Speaker 1: They showed it last year where they were one of
Speaker 1: the very nast teams in the NFL. That's over a
Speaker 1: six week period, which is a crazy thing to envision. Shiocopatia,
Speaker 1: who does a great job over the Ringer at the
Speaker 1: Ringer and lives in Philly, that he he feels like
Speaker 1: he always has a good read on what the Eagles
Speaker 1: are going to be like going into the year, and
Speaker 1: he says he can't remember a year where he has
Speaker 1: less of a feel, which I think gets to what
Speaker 1: you're saying, and that the people there even are just
Speaker 1: like it makes sense, but we're not really sure how that's.
Speaker 2: Going to go.
Speaker 3: Do you have a different team, I have the Cowboys,
Speaker 3: okay in division points. First of all, the defensive philosophy
Speaker 3: change and how the personnel fits within that. You go
Speaker 3: from one of the most single high safety teams in
Speaker 3: terms of their coverage job press corner to Mike Zimmer
Speaker 3: who was the only guy back way before all these
Speaker 3: teams started, you know, moving towards more split safety coverages.
Speaker 3: He was the only team from twenty eighteen to twenty
Speaker 3: twenty one to play split safety coverage is on a
Speaker 3: majority of drop through The through the preseason showed a
Speaker 3: similar thing. You normally see teams play a lot more
Speaker 3: vanilla coverages. He's still doing it on over half of
Speaker 3: his dropbacks. They actually played I think more cover six
Speaker 3: or almost as much Cover six in the preseason in
Speaker 3: three games as Dan Quinn did in three total seasons
Speaker 3: as wow coordinator.
Speaker 2: And they lost their best dB and does.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's always a problem when you bring in a
Speaker 1: new coordinator to do the pieces still fit.
Speaker 3: And they also lost all of their pass rush steps.
Speaker 3: I mean, they were the best pass rush by pressure
Speaker 3: rate we've seen in the last five years last year
Speaker 3: and only beating themselves the year before. They lose Dorance Armstrong,
Speaker 3: they lose Dante Fowler, and Sam Williams goes out with
Speaker 3: a acl TA. I think they lost all their pass
Speaker 3: rush DEPP, but they still have Micah Parsons. And what
Speaker 3: the hell is Mike Zimmer gonna.
Speaker 2: Do with Mikeah Parsons.
Speaker 3: Is you gotta line them up over the A gap
Speaker 3: and do a bunch of double mug fronts. Is he
Speaker 3: going to move them on around or is he just
Speaker 3: say pen.
Speaker 2: Your ears back. We needed to get pressure because we
Speaker 2: have no other way to get pressure now that we
Speaker 2: lost all.
Speaker 3: Those antler pieces. Also, what the hell are they gonna do?
Speaker 3: Who's playing linebacker for that team?
Speaker 2: Like I think Micah Parsons might be a little bit
Speaker 2: not not all the time. He'll move them, he'll move
Speaker 2: them wrong. He'll be a chess peace.
Speaker 1: More than he's been. I like that pick quickly. Let's
Speaker 1: just do a speed round of this one. Biggest win
Speaker 1: increase in the in the comedy. This one was tough
Speaker 1: because I just had a hard time going against Chock.
Speaker 1: When I looked at the wins from a year ago,
Speaker 1: this was a tough one. I'm just gonna throw out
Speaker 1: a tough yeah. Even though I'm down in the Falcons,
Speaker 1: I don't think it'll be the Falcons. They won seven
Speaker 1: games last year.
Speaker 2: They have a chance.
Speaker 1: I think the Panthers have a pretty good chance. They
Speaker 1: only wont two games last year.
Speaker 2: I just think it.
Speaker 1: I've always said it, like, it's really hard not to
Speaker 1: win five games in the NFL.
Speaker 2: Coaches are always.
Speaker 1: Like it's the hardest thing to do in the NFL,
Speaker 1: or in all of sports, is to win a game
Speaker 1: in the NFL. Nope, it's the exact same as every
Speaker 1: other sport. It's a fifty percent of the team's win.
Speaker 1: It's exactly the same, and usually you win five and
Speaker 1: it's a bad division, so they could get to five,
Speaker 1: which that's a three win win increase three right there.
Speaker 1: The Commanders I think have a chance. We haven't mentioned
Speaker 1: them all. They and yet I just believe enough in
Speaker 1: the like the dan Quinn, like Juju and culture and
Speaker 1: energy and Jayden Daniels. Even though I don't think that
Speaker 1: team is very good. They strike me as a team
Speaker 1: that's not going to be good, and their analytics profile
Speaker 1: says they should be a three and fourteen team. But
Speaker 1: they end up winning a bunch of close games and
Speaker 1: win six, which you know that would be an increase,
Speaker 1: So they got a chance.
Speaker 2: Those are some teams, So you're going plus three.
Speaker 1: I just said I'm going speed round and then went
Speaker 1: on a long rant amount So that really sums up
Speaker 1: NFL Daily.
Speaker 7: I don't have a comment on that.
Speaker 4: I say Carolina because bless their hearts, first of all,
Speaker 4: and then second of all, I think I absolutely see
Speaker 4: them winning at least three more games. Hell, make it
Speaker 4: four more games.
Speaker 2: Okay, that would do it. I'm going Cardinals win team
Speaker 2: last year, I think they could easily get call. I
Speaker 2: won Arizona and Washington plus four.
Speaker 1: I worry about the Arizona defensive talent and they've had
Speaker 1: a lot of injuries.
Speaker 2: Good coach.
Speaker 1: I get too spooked by Oh August really changes me.
Speaker 1: Like I'd be higher on the Rams right now if
Speaker 1: they haven't had such a strange one. Maybe we'll get
Speaker 1: to that with the playoff seed, because I'm sure one
Speaker 1: of us at least has the Rams. We haven't mentioned
Speaker 1: them at all. Let's all go through our playoff seeds
Speaker 1: in order. Well, let's go a reverse order revorse order,
Speaker 1: and we'll we'll each say ours and say our NFC championship.
Speaker 1: We'll have a quick discussion about each of ours, and
Speaker 1: then we take a turn. So why don't we start
Speaker 1: with Keegan. I'll start with the Seahawks. It is a
Speaker 1: seventh seed. A lot of the things you guys said.
Speaker 3: Earlier in terms of I mean, I think Witherspoon's going
Speaker 3: to be awesome in this defense and Gino in that offense.
Speaker 2: I'm really bullish on that. The Bears is my sixth seed.
Speaker 3: Nice, I do think Caleb has a like very high
Speaker 3: level rookie year.
Speaker 2: I mean, maybe not c J.
Speaker 3: Strau because that was historic, but like he shows us
Speaker 3: why he was considered a generational prospect. Lions at the
Speaker 3: five seed just miss it out. They still might have
Speaker 3: the second best record in this and that's tough.
Speaker 1: Three teams in the same division in the playoffs, but
Speaker 1: it's possible.
Speaker 3: It doesn't really make that much sense, but just in
Speaker 3: terms of like team ratings and how I'm rating them,
Speaker 3: I think the Lions might be the second bet.
Speaker 1: They could all roll out of division and that's how
Speaker 1: it happens, and we've seen it before.
Speaker 3: Buccaneers at fourth. I just don't know what to do
Speaker 3: with the NFC West and South. I defer to who
Speaker 3: won last year, and I don't think they got that
Speaker 3: much worse. I like Grant Barton a lot. Maybe the
Speaker 3: run game can be a little bit better this year.
Speaker 3: Cowboys at three again don't really know what the hell
Speaker 3: to do with them, but still trust in Dak and
Speaker 3: Micah Parsons enough to and Mike Zimmer to kind of
Speaker 3: screen together a division title in a very weak division.
Speaker 3: Forty nine Ers at two, we haven't talked that much
Speaker 3: about him. I'm not picking them as the one seed
Speaker 3: for all the holdouts and stuff.
Speaker 2: I could be completely proven wrong. They could be a
Speaker 2: juggernaut again.
Speaker 3: But I also think that team is a little bit
Speaker 3: more fragile and has a little bit of a Super
Speaker 3: Bowl hangover.
Speaker 1: And the Packers at WANs I love that. I like
Speaker 1: that Kikan was bold. No Rams in there, no Falcons
Speaker 1: in there, some different teams like the Bears, and having
Speaker 1: the Packers won.
Speaker 2: That's fun.
Speaker 1: And your NFC championship will haul those. Actually I'll go
Speaker 1: my list seven Packers, six Rams. If my daughter wasn't fan,
Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe I would be harder on them.
Speaker 1: A lot of talent, I mean a lot of talent
Speaker 1: in terms of the coaching staff and stafford. It's still
Speaker 1: hard to totally go against him. Five to forty nine Ers,
Speaker 1: four Bucks. I went with the Bucks as well. I
Speaker 1: think they're a good defense, a good enough offense, a
Speaker 1: lot of continuity, like the coaching staff. Three Seahawks winning
Speaker 1: that division, two Eagles and number one Lions.
Speaker 2: What do you got, Jordan, Well.
Speaker 4: I'm just gonna tell you who my playoff teams are. Lions, Niners, Rams, Packers, Falcons, Eagles, Seahawks.
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, a lot of Seahawks off here. What do
Speaker 2: you got.
Speaker 5: Seven is Cowboys, six, Seattle five, Green Bay for Atlanta.
Speaker 7: I like it.
Speaker 2: Three nine Ers, two Lions, one Eagles.
Speaker 1: Okay, so a lot of agreement, and I haven't seen online.
Speaker 1: It makes sense. I think it was hard. I'm glad
Speaker 1: you got the Bears in there. I feel like they
Speaker 1: should be represented. I do think that the Vikings like
Speaker 1: have at least a better chance than people are giving,
Speaker 1: but I'm not ready to go there. There's really only
Speaker 1: three teams in this entire conference that I'm like, are
Speaker 1: four teams rather that I feel like have no almost
Speaker 1: no chance to make the playoffs.
Speaker 2: Just Washington Giants, I think.
Speaker 1: The Cardinals that you wouldn't throw them in there, and
Speaker 1: then the Panthers as well. So it's a fairly open conference.
Speaker 1: You want to go your NFC championship game.
Speaker 2: Get the lines with the Niners.
Speaker 5: Okay, yeah, I think I think the Niners are going
Speaker 5: to be red hot halfway through the season. They get
Speaker 5: all these guys back in Clinton Toano Whu fungo, but
Speaker 5: just not enough. I think Detroit it's their time.
Speaker 4: I have Lions over Niners as well, and I think
Speaker 4: it's you know, you sort of see these like poetic
Speaker 4: arcs every once in a while in the league. You
Speaker 4: saw it a few years ago when the Rams beat
Speaker 4: the forty nine ers for the first time in what
Speaker 4: seven attempts to actually you know, advance to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 4: There's some poetry sometimes in this sport, and I think
Speaker 4: the Lions get theirs back.
Speaker 2: Linons would be a whole lot more than poetry. I'm
Speaker 2: with the that would be his history book could be beautiful.
Speaker 1: And usually I'm afraid of the team that proved so
Speaker 1: much from one season to the next.
Speaker 2: It's it's kind of hard to yeah, but they've done it.
Speaker 5: They They've been one of the few teams greg that
Speaker 5: have done it successfully in steps. It has not been
Speaker 5: one seize micleap after one size.
Speaker 1: You know, they remind me of more than anyone is
Speaker 1: Joe Shane and when he was in Buffalo as the
Speaker 1: assistant GM and that Bills team, but they never really
Speaker 1: quite got over the hump. They just kind of stayed
Speaker 1: at that level. I also have the Lions winning the NFC. Man,
Speaker 1: I thought a lot of people would take the Packers
Speaker 1: this year. Okay, I got the Packers. Packers over the line,
Speaker 1: so we all four of us have the Lions in
Speaker 1: the NFC Championship. I had the lines over the Eagles
Speaker 1: in mind. That is fun we have.
Speaker 2: As we're taping, we.
Speaker 1: Have breaking news. I'm so glad this happened before we
Speaker 1: left the studio. This is like we always complain about it.
Speaker 1: This is like a sign. It's like groundhog Day that
Speaker 1: we're gonna have a great NFL season. Brandon Ayuk is
Speaker 1: staying in San Francisco.
Speaker 2: No surprise there.
Speaker 1: The deal is done four years, worth one hundred and
Speaker 1: twenty million. It's reportedly front loaded, according to Ian Rappaport
Speaker 1: and Mike Gara Folo. I don't even care about all
Speaker 1: the details. It's front loaded. It's about thirty million dollars
Speaker 1: a year. You can tell that number meant a lot
Speaker 1: to Ayuk. I think it's the right average because it's
Speaker 1: a tick abu. It's quite above the guys like Jalen
Speaker 1: Wattle and DeVonta Smith who signed earlier, who had two
Speaker 1: years left on their contract. And I would say we're
Speaker 1: just like a little tick below where Ayuk is as
Speaker 1: a player. But it's not quite where Jefferson and Ceedee
Speaker 1: Lamb is. In fact, it's significantly short of that. And
Speaker 1: that's fine. Not everyone needs to make thirty three million.
Speaker 1: Thirty sounds about right for Brandon Ayuk, and it's another
Speaker 1: reminder Keegan, just sign them earlier in the process. I
Speaker 1: can guarantee you if they had offered the Brandon Ayuk
Speaker 1: about twenty nine with its front loaded twenty eight like
Speaker 1: the forty nine, ers could have saved money if they
Speaker 1: had just done this a little earlier.
Speaker 2: But it's all happening in the end. And that's my
Speaker 2: wide receiver.
Speaker 1: Three on my fantasy team because everyone was too afraid
Speaker 1: of him in the draft. Have a long term vision.
Speaker 1: That's what you need as a fantasy owner and as
Speaker 1: a GM. But everyone's happy here. Yeah, I mean, that's awesome.
Speaker 3: He was just electric downfield last year, leading in a
Speaker 3: breakout year, let in a lot of our metrics. Very
Speaker 3: awesome to see that happen. What metrics like the downfield throws.
Speaker 2: Basically I think he had more yards.
Speaker 3: I'd have to double check this, but like more yards
Speaker 3: over ten are yards than almost any player in the league.
Speaker 1: He became that guy Brack Purty wants to go down
Speaker 1: the field, almost to his detriment. I think sometimes, but
Speaker 1: you like that out of a quarterback. You'd rather have
Speaker 1: them take that out of it. And yet Debo's not
Speaker 1: really that guy. Juwan Jennings is not really that guy.
Speaker 1: George Kittle. You can scheme it up, but he's not
Speaker 1: really that guy in the same way, and Ayuki.
Speaker 3: Is exactly he's actually in that intermediate area NFL pro
Speaker 3: shout out.
Speaker 2: That was really quick.
Speaker 3: He had over one hundred yards more than any other
Speaker 3: player in the intermediate.
Speaker 2: Area last year.
Speaker 4: Yeah, adds a dimension to their offense. Frankly ads help
Speaker 4: for the quarterback. And I actually look at this from
Speaker 4: like a microscopic and telescopic a little bit with this,
Speaker 4: because the forty nine ers not only got this done,
Speaker 4: which should have been done way sooner than this, our
Speaker 4: long national nightmare of hearing about this is over.
Speaker 2: Thank God, Lamar Chase, you're up next.
Speaker 4: But I will say at you know, on the other
Speaker 4: side of this. As the months and even the next
Speaker 4: year or so continues, all the teams that came out
Speaker 4: of the woodwork to show their card, their own cards
Speaker 4: to the forty nine ers about what they would potentially
Speaker 4: do for a player of brandan Ayux caliber. They have
Speaker 4: all that information now. So let's say, and I think
Speaker 4: he will maximize this contract. He's a great player. I
Speaker 4: think he's a great receiver and you know, deserves this payday.
Speaker 4: Let's say, in a small chance or an alternate world
Speaker 4: that he doesn't well, or that they move on, or
Speaker 4: that they, hey, we have to pay our quarterback, or
Speaker 4: that something happens down the road, and they now know
Speaker 4: what other teams are willing to do to get a
Speaker 4: player of that caliber, and those other teams know what
Speaker 4: he'll be paid. So I think this is like one
Speaker 4: of those win win wins. You do wish it happened earlier.
Speaker 4: This is also probably the best case scenario for brock
Speaker 4: Purty right now.
Speaker 1: It's fine in the end, Like we get bothered by
Speaker 1: it because there's these upstairs, these down.
Speaker 7: Yeah, they're probably not bothered by it one bit.
Speaker 2: I mean the forty nine ers I think were you could.
Speaker 4: I think I'm talking about some timing, like yeah, like
Speaker 4: and they're not going to be reliigating the timing over this.
Speaker 2: You know, maybe he's not fully up to speed.
Speaker 1: Week one, he has a little bit slow to start,
Speaker 1: They're not worried just about week one.
Speaker 2: It's great.
Speaker 1: I do think Deebo Samuel is going to be the
Speaker 1: odd man out, depends how this season goes, certainly. I
Speaker 1: just think it's going to be very difficult to keep
Speaker 1: paying everyone if Trent Williams is going to be around
Speaker 1: there for a long time and Nick Bosa. I do
Speaker 1: think Deebo Samuel could be a guy that is on
Speaker 1: the trade market next offseason. But we'll see, because I
Speaker 1: to me has become that guy. And I think the
Speaker 1: reason they were so annoyed in part was because of
Speaker 1: how much Brandon Ayuk means to them and means to
Speaker 1: their development. Kyle Shannon was so hard on this kid.
Speaker 1: It was his hand pick kid that he wanted, the
Speaker 1: perfect one for his offense out of Arizona State.
Speaker 2: Was a surprise pick.
Speaker 1: It was so hard on him, was in the doghouse,
Speaker 1: wouldn't play him, like God on him. And then he
Speaker 1: slowly got better and better and better to the point
Speaker 1: where he developed into exactly what Kyle Shanahan imagine. To
Speaker 1: Ayuk's credit that he improved so much as a route runner,
Speaker 1: and then right when it gets there, he wants to
Speaker 1: get out. And it's just like a lot of feelings,
Speaker 1: it's the one that you love that hurt you the most.
Speaker 4: Jordan, Well, I mean, I love that Brandon Ayuk did this,
Speaker 4: and you're putting it in that context because hey, he'll
Speaker 4: be hard on your right back. Then it's time to
Speaker 4: pay up and all of that work and sweat equity
Speaker 4: that he did put in to become the exact perfect
Speaker 4: player for them, which probably came up in negotiations. By
Speaker 4: the way, Well, of course, absolutely he's going to get
Speaker 4: what he is owed and make him sweat a little bit.
Speaker 4: And perhaps that's where some of the annoyance leaks out
Speaker 4: a little bit, is yeah, okay, you're gonna have to
Speaker 4: sweat for a second and then pay the player.
Speaker 1: And by the way, like I think Brandon Ayuk was
Speaker 1: annoyed how the forty nine Ers tend to place things
Speaker 1: through the media sometimes and you know that's not gonna
Speaker 1: make your players happy. But in the end, the Steelers,
Speaker 1: if they had just given up more, probably could have
Speaker 1: had him. Brown's Patriots didn't sound like he was going
Speaker 1: there in any scenario. Just wasn't interested in a fun show.
Speaker 2: Today.
Speaker 1: We did it, We predicted exactly what's going to happen
Speaker 1: in the NFC this season. Congratulations Kegan, amazing performance. And
Speaker 1: I should have mentioned Steve Weisch is no longer with
Speaker 1: us on this show, but he is.
Speaker 2: Okay, sorry, shut that poorly.
Speaker 1: He's on the Insiders. You know, he's so popular. We
Speaker 1: were so happy to have Fine, he's totally fine. If
Speaker 1: you're watching on YouTube and he just disappeared, it's like
Speaker 1: that that weird three men in a baby thing where.
Speaker 2: It looks like there's a ghost, it's a it's fine.
Speaker 2: He just laughed. So now you're doing the verbal means.
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's let's say goodbye, Randy. I'm really excited, uh
Speaker 1: to we have a nice little weekend here, but then
Speaker 1: we're coming back on Monday. I'm gonna start looking ahead
Speaker 1: to Week one with Ali Connelly. That's gonna be a
Speaker 1: fun show. We're not quite into our Week one schedule,
Speaker 1: but we're close. We're just days away from the scenes
Speaker 1: starting for Steve, for Jordan, for Keegan.
Speaker 2: I'm Greg Rosenthal. Football is back.