Speaker 1: The Around the NFL podcast. It is going around the
Speaker 1: NFC forty eight minutes here we are should just have
Speaker 1: Jason do the whole show with Timber episode. I love
Speaker 1: that from the Chris Westley podcast studio. It's around the NFL.
Speaker 1: I am Dan Hansis got heroes here, great girls of ball,
Speaker 1: Mark Cecil wearing that black button up and joining us.
Speaker 1: A very special guest.
Speaker 2: We love her. She's been on the show, but never
Speaker 2: in person. Jordan Rodrigue of the Athletic.
Speaker 3: Guys are all taller in person, all to a man,
Speaker 3: all of you.
Speaker 1: Jordan, what is happening? This is?
Speaker 2: This is very fun. And Jordan, we're gonna get to
Speaker 2: a little bit later. Who covers the RAMS and the
Speaker 2: NFL and kills it over on the Athletic You come
Speaker 2: up a lot on the show, which is a credit
Speaker 2: to your work. You just came out with Finding Rams,
Speaker 2: which was a deep dive, two part breakdown on their
Speaker 2: entire draft process, which is awesome. Uh, and now we're
Speaker 2: going to talk about not just the RAMS, but all
Speaker 2: the NFC.
Speaker 1: Are you prepared for this?
Speaker 3: I'm very nervous because this is literally life or death
Speaker 3: because of the Dart situation. So I am prepared to
Speaker 3: be punctured by a dart.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 4: Also just that Dan is a very exacting judge on guests,
Speaker 4: and unfortunately, as a fan of the show, you.
Speaker 5: Do know that that we do have importance. And it's
Speaker 5: not a demad standards it. It really come boils down
Speaker 5: to how Dan feels like.
Speaker 2: You do you bring value to the show. We have
Speaker 2: it the famous that no one's ever seen it. Like
Speaker 2: we talked, we're going to talk about the RAMS database.
Speaker 2: We have our hit it and quitit list, and you know,
Speaker 2: could Jordan end up on it?
Speaker 1: We don't know.
Speaker 4: He's already been on the show at least like four
Speaker 4: times in person.
Speaker 1: Okay, now I can change it. Yeah, the pressure is
Speaker 1: off the charts right now.
Speaker 3: It's an incredible pressure. I am glad you did brief
Speaker 3: me about this when I last saw you over at
Speaker 3: the Orphanage. So thank you.
Speaker 1: It was great to see you. It was great to
Speaker 1: see you.
Speaker 3: I had an amazing guy right in the community.
Speaker 5: Well, the first thing Dan would have mentioned it himself,
Speaker 5: so it's it's important that you bring it up.
Speaker 3: I did. I ran into Dabo Sweeney at the Senior
Speaker 3: Bowl and mobile like what said he said, hey, I
Speaker 3: heard you know Dan hands a stack guy.
Speaker 2: You would know he personalized the football that Jordan saw.
Speaker 1: So it is great.
Speaker 2: Whenever I run into people at the orphanage that I'm building,
Speaker 2: it's always great. And Greg joined us at the orphan
Speaker 2: instead of getting mad about me getting these footballs for
Speaker 2: my work.
Speaker 1: Yeah, join me.
Speaker 2: Oh no, I I left some You know the thing
Speaker 2: where you lift the wooden frame of the home right,
Speaker 2: and everybody's got to work together. Yes, there's always one
Speaker 2: spot that's empty. That's the Greg spot.
Speaker 5: I don't love like you out you leave a plate
Speaker 5: out for Jesus or a dead.
Speaker 2: Right or the kid that's at the recital, and there's
Speaker 2: the seat save for dad. And they look and you see,
Speaker 2: like the light go out behind the ice. That's that's
Speaker 2: us with the orphanage building in.
Speaker 3: Greg, Greg, it was in that empty spot at the
Speaker 3: Orphanage that I carried you.
Speaker 4: Oh I don't I don't like The second thing Jordan
Speaker 4: did after taking a beat and seeing the great picture
Speaker 4: of Chris Westling the Chris Westling Podcast. After taking a beat,
Speaker 4: the second thing Jordan did here was take a picture
Speaker 4: of your football. But I do like you bringing it
Speaker 4: up because now that we know it actually was meant
Speaker 4: for Mark, that Mark did the you know, moderate amount
Speaker 4: of help for the Clemson you know, capitalists of America
Speaker 4: Society or whatever, and it just was a mistake, and
Speaker 4: that they actually don't know the difference between the two
Speaker 4: of you. It actually puts you and I.
Speaker 5: Feel like anytime that realization, that truth, that narrative bubbles up,
Speaker 5: it's probably scrubbed from the show.
Speaker 1: I don't really listen to the show.
Speaker 4: It's a great ending to this.
Speaker 3: I've never heard this. I've listened to every episode.
Speaker 4: It just came out then.
Speaker 1: I don't know. It's a baseless theory, and it's not baseless.
Speaker 5: You literally met the he's the one who met in
Speaker 5: our newsroom. But the way that we have our glass cubes,
Speaker 5: some one of their PR people probably that's probably Dan
Speaker 5: Hands because it's our names.
Speaker 1: But it looks like I said it.
Speaker 2: This says so much more about you, Mark than anyone
Speaker 2: and Greg less you continually.
Speaker 1: I've never thought about this a second time.
Speaker 4: For a second.
Speaker 1: You haven't.
Speaker 4: It's a delicious answer to the The best part.
Speaker 1: Is that I wouldn't have even said a word about
Speaker 1: it if that was true, which is an absurd theory
Speaker 1: that you have. It is Bryan the.
Speaker 2: Idea that as soon as the football showed up, Mark's
Speaker 2: brain started and I've been overlooked once more, that the
Speaker 2: gears turning.
Speaker 1: More under your skin.
Speaker 5: It's delicious. I would say this like I got a spill.
Speaker 5: Hang on, I'm so happy. I just simply like, yeah, students,
Speaker 5: So that could just be unannoying to hang out with
Speaker 5: most of the time.
Speaker 1: Can I get a quick something to wipe down my laptop?
Speaker 2: That would be excellent. All right, So we have a
Speaker 2: lot of work to do and we're going around the
Speaker 2: NFC in exactly forty eight minutes, and I think it's
Speaker 2: it's very important, Jordan, you are aware of the dart situation.
Speaker 2: We have Big Funk behind the glass that I filling
Speaker 2: in for ETP, and that is that's important to know
Speaker 2: because ETP is reckless with the Dart. But Big Funk
Speaker 2: has always wanted an opera Thank you. Big Funk has
Speaker 2: always wanted the opportunity to shoot people at the Dart
Speaker 2: in the studio, So just don't go over the three minutes.
Speaker 5: He's more of a like an Oswald type, so you know,
Speaker 5: high chaos potential.
Speaker 2: All right, let's get into it. We've divvied up the
Speaker 2: teams and we're gonna go through it. And we're gonna
Speaker 2: start with the NFC East. And why don't we start
Speaker 2: with the Dallas Cowboys. Why don't I get it going
Speaker 2: with the Dallas Cowboys. Okay, I hope my laptop is
Speaker 2: a play Matt.
Speaker 1: There we go. Hang on, We're gonna get the laptop
Speaker 1: wipe down a little bit more. All right, here we go.
Speaker 2: All right, The way the running back situation has been
Speaker 2: has played out has been yeah, minor fiasco on some level.
Speaker 1: I mean, they just resigned Zeke Elliott. But I think it's.
Speaker 2: Important to also point out the sky is not falling
Speaker 2: in Dallas.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: You know you you still have uh, you still have
Speaker 2: Dak Prescott, you still have Cde Lamb. I assume se CEEDE.
Speaker 2: Lamb's going to be in the building when it matters.
Speaker 2: You have questions, sure, like is Jalen Tolbert going to
Speaker 2: be able to fill that number three wide receiver spot
Speaker 2: the offensive line? We know Zach Martin is probably going
Speaker 2: to be the right guard, but where does everyone else
Speaker 2: fall in this mix? The defense has has some issues,
Speaker 2: but it's not overwhelming concerns. Brandon Aubrey's on this team,
Speaker 2: best dan kicker in the league outside of Justin Tucker.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 2: We could sit here and say the same things about
Speaker 2: Dallas eventually falling on their face in January, but I
Speaker 2: just want to say, like, I expect them to be
Speaker 2: playing in mid January once again, based on where this
Speaker 2: roster stands.
Speaker 3: What do you think, Jordan, I'm really curious. I mean,
Speaker 3: there was really strong team last year obviously, but then
Speaker 3: sputtered out at the end. And I'm really curious about
Speaker 3: the structures of the contracts. I know, Greg, you're in
Speaker 3: the weeds on some of those things as well. It
Speaker 3: seems like one year left for a lot of different people,
Speaker 3: including some of the fifth year option stuff that they've
Speaker 3: picked up. This is not reporting, this is not source,
Speaker 3: But I do wonder if they're trying to play the
Speaker 3: string out a little bit, including aligned with the head
Speaker 3: coach the last year on his contract. See what happens
Speaker 3: if they're in a good shape before the trade deadline,
Speaker 3: take a really big swing to try to push or
Speaker 3: understand that that's about that time that you start saying
Speaker 3: you're goodbyes.
Speaker 4: Which is like not the way I would run things.
Speaker 4: The sky isn't falling now, but it wouldn't surprise me
Speaker 4: if it is falling around the trade deadline time. Like,
Speaker 4: I've just been looking at this organization for a long
Speaker 4: time wondering because they used to never be able to
Speaker 4: handle success, and they have handled it under Mike McCarthy.
Speaker 4: They've been consistent, but this time there's just a lot
Speaker 4: of things pulling when especially when it's pulling at your quarterback,
Speaker 4: and then I do think there's questions that can Mike
Speaker 4: Zimmer fix what was a collapsing defense at the end
Speaker 4: of the year. Their linebacker play is what really killed them,
Speaker 4: and they don't seem any better at linebacker right now.
Speaker 5: They just feel to me a little bit more directionless
Speaker 5: than in years past. And now all that's amped up
Speaker 5: because it's the Cowboys, But if you look at their draft,
Speaker 5: like in their top three picks, you got to tackle
Speaker 5: a guard.
Speaker 1: I kind of like what they.
Speaker 5: Did on that side, on that side of the ball, because
Speaker 5: that was necessary and not everything can be some sort
Speaker 5: of fantasy based home run in the draft, but for me,
Speaker 5: it starts just with like you have a quarterback that
Speaker 5: you what are you doing with the contract there.
Speaker 1: I mean, I really agree with.
Speaker 4: That is Whatdy's zick back. That's gonna make them happy.
Speaker 5: But that's such a Jerry Jones thing from old I
Speaker 5: don't like it feels like like a play that hits
Speaker 5: kind of Jerry Jones move. But I'm with Jordan, like
Speaker 5: this feels like there's a one year window here to
Speaker 5: find out how much things could change.
Speaker 1: If they don't sign an extension.
Speaker 2: Dak will play the final year of his contract and
Speaker 2: counts close to sixty million against the cap. So a
Speaker 2: lot of stuff going on there, Mark Sessler, who's em
Speaker 2: all right?
Speaker 5: Some say the ancient pyramids of Egypt were actually ornately
Speaker 5: constructed energy centers offering a brand of cosmic power. People
Speaker 5: are not saying this about the New York Giants. Since
Speaker 5: selecting Daniel Jones in twenty nineteen, the g Men rank
Speaker 5: thirty first in points per game, total yards per game,
Speaker 5: and passing yards per game. That is why I love
Speaker 5: the Molik neighbors pick. I think it's a total change agent.
Speaker 5: No Giants players had eight hundred plus yards receiving in
Speaker 5: over half a decade. I think Theo Johnson is an
Speaker 5: interesting tight end prospect too, Tyler Nuban was PFS top
Speaker 5: safety prospect. The pressure is real, though the Rams and
Speaker 5: Seahawks went through what I'd call many rebuilds in the
Speaker 5: course of a season. They're back on their toes, rendering
Speaker 5: year three of Brian Dable. There's chatter that Drew Locke
Speaker 5: could see tangible snaps. The owner has of sugar sugar
Speaker 5: plumps and Bill Belichick dancing in his head. The Giants
Speaker 5: were a white hot regression candidate a year ago, but
Speaker 5: Malik Neighbors, Brian Burns, a healthy offensive line, a healthy
Speaker 5: Danny Dimes. Are the g Men actually an inflation candidate
Speaker 5: one year later? If that's even a thing. Weird team,
Speaker 5: weird days.
Speaker 3: Malik Neighbors is the type of player twenty one in
Speaker 3: his first training camp, by the way, twenty one years old.
Speaker 3: He is the type of player that makes you look
Speaker 3: less wrong about whatever quarterback and look.
Speaker 4: I like their idea that they were going to try
Speaker 4: to trade up for Drake May but otherwise take the
Speaker 4: best player on the board, which is Malik Neighbors. I
Speaker 4: thought it was alt if he was there right, I
Speaker 4: thought it was interesting. Our frenemy Daniel Jeremiah mentioned on
Speaker 4: his something. I guess he has a program Moved the Sticks.
Speaker 1: That's a radio show.
Speaker 4: He kind of gave the game away that he says
Speaker 4: Drew Lockey thinks has a good chance of winning the job,
Speaker 4: and that the Giants were literally comparing Drew Locke and
Speaker 4: Daniel Jones, but emphasis son Drew Lock to the quarterbacks
Speaker 4: that were gonna come out, and essentially, you know, reading
Speaker 4: between the lines saying like Drew Lock's just as good
Speaker 4: as JJ McCarthy. Uh so why take a quarterback? And
Speaker 4: it's something to think about. Dable got Coach of the
Speaker 4: Year because of like a run first offense with a
Speaker 4: quarterback that now has a neck injury, has had a
Speaker 4: neck injury and has injury guarantees in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4: So it'd be very risky to play Daniel Jones a lot.
Speaker 2: And yet I think they will. I think the I
Speaker 2: doubt I think he's gonna play. I think they're gonna
Speaker 2: give him a shot. I think they unless they've totally
Speaker 2: soured on him based on six games, seven games and
Speaker 2: an injury. I think he's going to get a chance
Speaker 2: to play this year and rectify or and make them
Speaker 2: look smart after he's made them look so dumb the
Speaker 2: last year.
Speaker 1: I guess what this is.
Speaker 5: Doesn't matter that the owner seems to like him, because
Speaker 5: that's of course it got a position which.
Speaker 3: A lot and Brian Burns came on Thibodeau.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I like that, Dexter Lawrence. I mean, that's an
Speaker 4: awesome front line. I think getting Martin Dale out of
Speaker 4: there is probably like positive. We don't really know what
Speaker 4: we're getting out of Shane Bowen, who's their coordinator. I'm
Speaker 4: predictable apparently, because Jordan says she made ten pages of
Speaker 4: notes for this nervous and one of them was Greg's
Speaker 4: going to bring up Drew Locke.
Speaker 3: It is I have to hear in parentheses. Yeah, Greg
Speaker 3: may bring up DJ's comment about your lock be ready.
Speaker 4: To me, that's like he had this info the whole time,
Speaker 4: and then he waits till after the draft because.
Speaker 2: They a class successor. Rub Build was in there always trips.
Speaker 1: Well. I think it's you can compare these.
Speaker 2: I was dizzy for about a minute and a half
Speaker 2: after he hit me. Rub Build all right up next,
Speaker 2: Jordan on the.
Speaker 3: Iggles first, I have no additional Howie Roseman take the
Speaker 3: range was pretty much already coming on the show. A
Speaker 3: big fan of the show, have listened to every minute
Speaker 3: of this show. I do love, specifically pairing Cooper de
Speaker 3: Jean with Vic Pongio, and in fact wonder Ifangio has
Speaker 3: an idea to make him the star, which is a
Speaker 3: larger framed hybrid safety and corner who in this defense
Speaker 3: does not have to abide by the coverage of the
Speaker 3: rest of the group. The idea is to make him
Speaker 3: an unavoidable player, especially pairing him with Quinyon Mitchell. It's
Speaker 3: an offman zone scheme that can get real matchy and
Speaker 3: Quinon Mitchell's ability on the outside can open up more
Speaker 3: movement for Cooper Dejene and more like dictating the throw
Speaker 3: to where they need it they needed amp up their secondary.
Speaker 3: I think schematically this could get really funky and cool.
Speaker 3: I love the legacy pick Jeremiah Trotter, great point, Mark
Speaker 3: and I think they're and I think they're underrated. Pick
Speaker 3: for twenty twenty five or maybe twenty twenty six as
Speaker 3: the edge Jlyx Hunt. Also, I met Big Dom at
Speaker 3: a leak function.
Speaker 4: Oh what's he like?
Speaker 3: Could not have been? Kinder?
Speaker 1: Okay?
Speaker 3: Really nice man?
Speaker 2: Does it seem like you seely the head coach and
Speaker 2: the centering force of the sideline.
Speaker 3: We didn't really interact that long, but you know, I'll
Speaker 3: dig deeper next time.
Speaker 4: That's a great idea about the Gene. I mean, Bondo
Speaker 4: is a perfect guy to use him, and then pairing
Speaker 4: him with CJ. Gardner Johnson, whos been successful there and
Speaker 4: is so versa like, they have a lot of options.
Speaker 4: I wonder if James Bradbury even makes this team there
Speaker 4: they're suddenly deep in the secondary after that being a weakness.
Speaker 1: I love.
Speaker 5: I kind of love when teams do that, and I
Speaker 5: think that's one of the reasons someone like Roseman's getting
Speaker 5: the praise because they rebuilt that entire secondary. Darius slay
Speaker 5: A Bradberry too, coming off like big names but not
Speaker 5: coming off good seasons. They only one team in the
Speaker 5: league allowed more passing yardage per game than the Eagles,
Speaker 5: So I think the Queny and Mitchell thing was fortuitous
Speaker 5: to have them land on their lap in Cooper de Gene,
Speaker 5: like I had them going in the first round, so
Speaker 5: to get him at forty, it's like good timing with
Speaker 5: good picks. That's why they're getting the praise they're getting.
Speaker 1: I love that for the league.
Speaker 4: Yes, I wonder if they're just as good on defense, though,
Speaker 4: as like Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter get better, that's
Speaker 4: a position it takes a little while to get better.
Speaker 4: Jordan Davis maybe didn't make the step they hoped last year.
Speaker 3: Well it'll it'll open up what you can do in
Speaker 3: the secondary, in the back half. You know this when
Speaker 3: it's functioning at its you know, at its truest form,
Speaker 3: like this, defense is all about tendencies. I think the
Speaker 3: combination of the quarters they brought in are tendency breaking
Speaker 3: or tendency forcing or dictating to the offense players. And
Speaker 3: when you have movement like that upfront or the potential
Speaker 3: of that, I think that could be really cool.
Speaker 2: It was good to have because we're gonna have Jordan
Speaker 2: also handled the falcons later.
Speaker 1: These are these are hot button topics.
Speaker 2: On the show, no opinion, So as a guiding force
Speaker 2: of the group on the show, I think that that
Speaker 2: that's a smart move. In fact, it could be Jordan
Speaker 2: in the role of peacemaker, and I think that's very important.
Speaker 4: Or you settle the ties, you know, you decide who's
Speaker 4: right who's wrong forever more.
Speaker 3: We'll see we'll see.
Speaker 4: The great Howie Roson debate of.
Speaker 1: Big Funk. Come on, big Funk. That peacemaker Eagles gotta
Speaker 1: be ready.
Speaker 6: I know I tried finding it. I thought I had it,
Speaker 6: and then I'm like, suddenly it's just gone.
Speaker 1: So yeah, time out, time out, all right?
Speaker 2: So listen, this Howie thing has turned into a national
Speaker 2: focking point.
Speaker 1: Interesting. Some of the takes a little bit similar to
Speaker 1: the ones you heard Saturday. I think you had a
Speaker 1: point there, but.
Speaker 2: That's beside the point. I wanted to say. This is
Speaker 2: not me looking to do some gotcha journalism. Jordan nailed it.
Speaker 2: This is uh, let's just take a look by the numbers.
Speaker 2: So I hit up NFL media research. I came up
Speaker 2: with this how we do that? A closer look at
Speaker 2: the draft prom king. Since Howie Roseman regained personnel authority
Speaker 2: following Chip Kelly's firing twenty sixteen, he's had eight draft
Speaker 2: classes total players selections, fifty seven first team All Pro,
Speaker 2: zero Pro Bowl players, five players who started Super Bowl
Speaker 2: fifty two or fifty seven, twelve draft picks who signed
Speaker 2: second contract with the Eagles, and an underrated kind of
Speaker 2: stat When you look at this draft stuff, eleven out
Speaker 2: of forty five eligible for guys draft that is late
Speaker 2: as twenty twenty one. What does that tell you? I
Speaker 2: guess you need to see other teams. It seems pretty normal.
Speaker 2: It seems I would guess, probably in line with an
Speaker 2: average type of GM's track record.
Speaker 4: I think the second contracts would be higher. But you're right,
Speaker 4: we kind of.
Speaker 5: Need I want to see I'd want to like line
Speaker 5: up everyone else. But those numbers are surprising, uh, compared
Speaker 5: to the amount of gushing and praise he seems to get.
Speaker 2: From I mean, in eight drafts, he hasn't nobody's been Uh.
Speaker 2: So this doesn't include when he was put out in
Speaker 2: the shed behind them after the shed. Once he won
Speaker 2: the shed, he's taken out of the Pocono's and returned
Speaker 2: to Also.
Speaker 5: I'd also say that a lot of the how he
Speaker 5: praised is bubbled up in like the last couple of years.
Speaker 5: It wasn't the minute he came out of the shed
Speaker 5: that people also, you know, he had to rebuild things.
Speaker 4: That's a hye bar. First team All pros like Jalen
Speaker 4: Hurts was a pick that people really were negative about.
Speaker 4: Why why would you do that? I mean, he's an
Speaker 4: All Pro. So that's one. I mean, I guess they're
Speaker 4: not counting second teams, but they've had multiple I can
Speaker 4: think of second team too, and they had a defensive
Speaker 4: Rookie of the Year. The eleven contracts, I think is big.
Speaker 4: It is a reminder though, to me, if you were
Speaker 4: picking what's how he'd done best, it's probably been the
Speaker 4: trade and free agency. If I had to rank, like
Speaker 4: how he's acquired players the best, it's and more most
Speaker 4: creatively has been trades.
Speaker 3: If the media was really so high on Howie Rosman's players,
Speaker 3: wouldn't they be voting for more?
Speaker 1: Just asking questions, Well it is.
Speaker 2: I feel like it's this time of year where the
Speaker 2: love affair peaks right and then people get to normal
Speaker 2: business and it's become a very safe trope to praise.
Speaker 1: How they don't allow us.
Speaker 5: Into the Pro Football Writers Association of America and beyond,
Speaker 5: we actually had the chief of that association.
Speaker 3: We can't vote, but yeah, we need more writing from
Speaker 3: Mark right, that would help.
Speaker 1: I'm good for I'm good with my current status. Like
Speaker 1: a J.
Speaker 4: Brown is an All Pro, but that's acquired through trade.
Speaker 4: Jalen hurts right, Yeah, does Scotter's never.
Speaker 2: Made And you know, the point there is not that
Speaker 2: how he has not done a good job. He's done
Speaker 2: a very good job by all accounts. Uh, it's just you.
Speaker 3: Know, I love this draft though, I mean, I he
Speaker 3: they really spammed a need with good players, the versatile
Speaker 3: players that match what the coach probably wants, what the
Speaker 3: scheme is, and that that consistency is kind of what
Speaker 3: I'm looking at here with him is you know, sometimes
Speaker 3: there's some some you know, high value picks, and sometimes
Speaker 3: there's some some wins. But if you look at the
Speaker 3: like the meat and potatoes of the drafts that he's doing,
Speaker 3: it's like you can understand why he made every pick.
Speaker 3: And I think that's part of it. It makes sense.
Speaker 3: It makes sense whether you really know a lot about
Speaker 3: football or whether you don't. You see, Okay, this was
Speaker 3: a need, but also these are the top players on
Speaker 3: their board and they fit the scheme.
Speaker 1: Woch cool.
Speaker 4: How he handled last season was a huge negative though,
Speaker 4: Like you got Jalen Carter, but the way they attacked
Speaker 4: that secondary and gave all that money to Bradbury that
Speaker 4: was a terrible contract. And they've been on the forefront
Speaker 4: of like linebackers don't matter until last year when like
Speaker 4: they were thirtieth in the league in DVOA and I
Speaker 4: think their linebacker position was the number one really.
Speaker 5: Greg, that was all after Big Dom was sentenced to
Speaker 5: Abstenia back. He was in their draft room on draft days.
Speaker 5: So it's like, you know, you can they're back at
Speaker 5: their back in the year. Ship Roles just become the
Speaker 5: head coach, Sirian.
Speaker 1: He is like assistant, he's not assistance.
Speaker 4: I think, so, like that's pretty high.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 3: I just want to really quick. It reminds me a
Speaker 3: lot kind of when the league catches you off guards
Speaker 3: the linebacker point that you made, Greg, that happens to
Speaker 3: teams who play that long into the postseason. I mean
Speaker 3: we saw it in twenty twenty two. They were caught
Speaker 3: by everything you could not see. You couldn't see it
Speaker 3: through all the injuries, but their offense had gotten stale.
Speaker 3: They lost an offensive coordinator, the players were injured like
Speaker 3: all spring. You couldn't see it because of what happened
Speaker 3: right out of the gate with the injury catastrophe along
Speaker 3: their offensive line. But they weren't running you know, new stuff.
Speaker 3: They were still very one dimensional. Their run game wasn't
Speaker 3: what it is now. They got caught by the league
Speaker 3: changing and they didn't have the time to regain their
Speaker 3: own pace because they were operating, you know, the longest
Speaker 3: season in NFL history At that time, the Eagles, you know,
Speaker 3: did the same thing. It also makes what the Chiefs
Speaker 3: do every year that much more massive.
Speaker 1: But you don't hear bred Veach getting any love at
Speaker 1: this level.
Speaker 5: I know when those numbers, those Howie based numbers were
Speaker 5: generated for you, I know you had a little grin
Speaker 5: on your face.
Speaker 2: No, the numbers don't look bad for him. It just
Speaker 2: kind of bears out that we already knew that he doesn't.
Speaker 2: They're all not home runs in reality, but they look
Speaker 2: awesome in April. All right, Let's move to the final
Speaker 2: team in the NFC East, the Washington Commanders, with Gray.
Speaker 4: Going into his Week one start. I assume Jayden and
Speaker 4: Daniels is the starter. His left tackle will be either
Speaker 4: Cornelius Lucas or Brandon Coleman, a third round pick who
Speaker 4: is probably a guard, and then his right tackle is
Speaker 4: Andrew Wiley. Overall, this looks like a bottom five offensive line.
Speaker 4: Is this offensive line in Cliff Kingsbury putting Jaden Daniels
Speaker 4: in a situation too, because I look at it and
Speaker 4: I saw a lot of like, oh, the Patriots, that's
Speaker 4: the worst situation at bottom five offensive line, Cliff Kingsbury
Speaker 4: and a skilled position group that's Terry Mlorin and just
Speaker 4: like a lot of questions like is Jaye and Daniels
Speaker 4: set up?
Speaker 5: Well, well, there's not a lot of proof that the
Speaker 5: offensive line is a big positive and Cliff Kingsbury, for me,
Speaker 5: is the biggest question mark of new coordinator position in
Speaker 5: the entire league. Pat matched with a when he had
Speaker 5: Kyler it was like, there's a very specific scheme here.
Speaker 1: The quarterback matches it.
Speaker 5: And it's not that Daniels doesn't, but like, is Kingsbury
Speaker 5: rolling that back out as he changed, as he gone
Speaker 5: through any sort of personal growth, and now he's going
Speaker 5: to attack teams because what he does he.
Speaker 4: Have the players? I mean, I don't know if he has.
Speaker 5: It's not a great situation, but that's why bad teams
Speaker 5: get these quarterbacks how often.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's going to be interesting. I mean, it's
Speaker 3: a great point on the on the offensive line. Bang,
Speaker 3: I guess is why I say here, Yeah, and so
Speaker 3: I'm so nervous. I'm sorry, but I do think you
Speaker 3: make a great point. Like everybody talks about how slight
Speaker 3: a frame Jaden Daniels is, and you know, you grow
Speaker 3: into that obviously, and you know, the medical assessments that
Speaker 3: teams do prior to the draft tells you how much
Speaker 3: more mass a person can put on their frame, and
Speaker 3: so they will have some sort of guideline for that.
Speaker 3: They'll know. But you also have to protect him, and
Speaker 3: I think that's that's key and critical. Obviously. You don't
Speaker 3: want a guy coming in and you know he gets
Speaker 3: beat to hell and and he's scared. You know, he's
Speaker 3: kind of seeing.
Speaker 2: Ghosts a little bit like that every every year, and
Speaker 2: you saw it with the first pick last year. There's
Speaker 2: guys that and basically every Jets quarterback that's coming too
Speaker 2: the league in my lifetime, it seems they get stuck
Speaker 2: with that type of team.
Speaker 1: It happens every year.
Speaker 2: You hope it's not going to be Jayden Daniels this year,
Speaker 2: but maybe this is a dawn of a new Aaron Washington.
Speaker 1: While it's not going to be built overnight.
Speaker 2: They'll protect him enough, like the Austin Eckler move for instance,
Speaker 2: Like I think the general consensus around Eckler now is
Speaker 2: he lost two three steps near the end with the Chargers.
Speaker 1: But he also is like.
Speaker 2: A potential really good weapon for a young quarterback, a
Speaker 2: guy that can has a nose for the end zone
Speaker 2: that could catch the ball out of the backfield. You
Speaker 2: have Brian Robinson with them, so maybe their running game
Speaker 2: can help stabilize things while Daniels gets his feet wet.
Speaker 1: But you gotta protect them.
Speaker 5: Or that's what the Sam Howell thing like through me
Speaker 5: as a not great move because you're you're like a
Speaker 5: snap away from Marcus Mariota being your starter.
Speaker 4: It's just a lot to ask him. He's explosive. Are
Speaker 4: any players other than mcluurin around him explosive?
Speaker 2: Take a break and when we return the NFC North
Speaker 2: All right, welcome back around the NFC in forty eight minutes.
Speaker 2: You are a fan of the show, Jordan, You're doing great.
Speaker 3: I just I just mouthed to Greg, do I do this?
Speaker 1: I would like you to so.
Speaker 3: I think I can actually.
Speaker 1: I understand the anxiety around this.
Speaker 3: I practiced this in my car.
Speaker 1: You already don't build more anxiety. Mark let let her.
Speaker 3: Nobody look at me right, look back.
Speaker 1: That's great, done, that was excellent.
Speaker 2: That might be the best one. There you go, big Funk.
Speaker 2: We just went through the entire first quarter of this exercise.
Speaker 2: The dart didn't come out once. I don't know, uh,
Speaker 2: if you're feeling any sense of tensions.
Speaker 4: We were good, good men and women here guys.
Speaker 1: You guys are pros. There was a moment, wait, can
Speaker 1: I please have the big Funk theme? Please? Before we
Speaker 1: go any further said the big Funk? Are you ready
Speaker 1: for the big Funk theme? When it's big Funk time?
Speaker 1: You spilled water on your laptop?
Speaker 2: That never happened, big phonem.
Speaker 1: Ajp ass than.
Speaker 4: Bunk.
Speaker 2: So yeah, don't be afraid to dart, including the guests.
Speaker 1: But I think we were.
Speaker 4: Putting the host.
Speaker 1: I thought we were well behaved though. Yeah, I thought
Speaker 1: we were. Yeah, you guys did a great job.
Speaker 6: There was a moment during the time out where I
Speaker 6: thought about hitting you guys with it. Yeah, I don't
Speaker 6: know the the attique time out wise.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's a bit of a one man band. He's
Speaker 1: trying to he's happening, having to do a lot back there,
Speaker 1: so he's doing great.
Speaker 2: He's got the the symbols are on the knees, he's
Speaker 2: got the accordion, he's got.
Speaker 1: The horn juggling, juggling.
Speaker 2: All right, let's get back into it, uh with the
Speaker 2: NFC North Market.
Speaker 5: It's going with the bears, all right, quick little story
Speaker 5: to get into this one. The first magazine article I
Speaker 5: ever published on the subject of astral projection for a
Speaker 5: publication called Fate Magazine. And I'm keeping this quid, but
Speaker 5: I wrote about an experience I had during a long
Speaker 5: water fast when I was living at that camp Happiness
Speaker 5: place in the winter. Okay, I began having these intense
Speaker 5: elusive dreams.
Speaker 1: Where I would load out of my body.
Speaker 5: I can see, I can see myself a seat in
Speaker 5: my actual bedroom, and I was kept floating like down
Speaker 5: the hallway. I went into different rooms, and I went
Speaker 5: into this one room in my dream, floating above near
Speaker 5: the ceiling, where I saw like a bookshelf tipped over.
Speaker 5: And then when I went into this room, my friend's room,
Speaker 5: after I woke, the bookshelf was actually tipped over. So
Speaker 5: I described this experience, but I will say that when
Speaker 5: I woke, I felt that these dreams brought incredible peace
Speaker 5: and a feeling of complete newness and intense calm, like
Speaker 5: everything was new upon awakening, everything and anything felt possible.
Speaker 5: And that is how I imagine it feels to be
Speaker 5: a Bears fan right now after so many days of darkness,
Speaker 5: because no team in the NFC has changed more in
Speaker 5: a calendar year. And I ask you, what is the
Speaker 5: bar for a successful season? What should we reasonably expect
Speaker 5: from this very different way Bears team.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, I know we're supposed to now get to
Speaker 2: the Bears. But when you set it up that way,
Speaker 2: you were a camp happiness in the summer, I mean
Speaker 2: in the winter.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, was this like a delinquent boys home? No,
Speaker 1: like there was thought. It was just like a place
Speaker 1: you went for six weeks.
Speaker 5: You would do a small amount of work with school
Speaker 5: groups that would come in on like Monday and Tuesday.
Speaker 5: But other than that, you you know, free food, your
Speaker 5: own room.
Speaker 1: Respond what unbelievable? It was wonderful.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a great question about the Bears, because.
Speaker 1: Sorry, Bears fans, you got one twenty two.
Speaker 4: Maybe maybe you get a time out here, because to me,
Speaker 4: the answer is just Caleb Williams is great, and I
Speaker 4: don't care anything else that happens, like that they provide
Speaker 4: enough support offensively and that maybe he wins Offensive Rookie
Speaker 4: of the Year and that he's the guy. And you
Speaker 4: come out of the season just feeling like we we
Speaker 4: got a quarterback because I think beyond that it's a
Speaker 4: really good division. I don't put them ahead of the
Speaker 4: Packers or the Lions. Do I complete? You said everything's new?
Speaker 4: I mean Matt Eberflus isn't new. What do I he
Speaker 4: looks new? Do I looks he looks up fresh?
Speaker 1: He's do?
Speaker 4: I fully think that, like their defense is gonna stay
Speaker 4: at that high of a level. They don't really have
Speaker 4: much of a pass rush. Ownership has been an issue
Speaker 4: over the years. Like as long as Caleb Williams is
Speaker 4: Caleb Williams, then it's a success, even if they win
Speaker 4: seven or eight games. That's how I feel the ola
Speaker 4: loose spruce ooh yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1: I don't the.
Speaker 3: Project we're gonna talk about later. You know, you got
Speaker 3: to be in a lot of rooms and listen to
Speaker 3: a lot of things and hear about just like league
Speaker 3: wide chatter, not team specific. I did not hear people
Speaker 3: gush as much as they did about Roma Dunze that,
Speaker 3: I mean it blew me away. I mean I love
Speaker 3: him as a prospect. I knew he was gonna be
Speaker 3: a great player. I love his film. But the way
Speaker 3: that people raved about him as like this is the
Speaker 3: guy to pair with that dude, you know, and I
Speaker 3: just think that that's gonna be really fun.
Speaker 1: Dock me right in the face.
Speaker 2: The Bears on paper are a great looking offense all
Speaker 2: of a sudden, so much as contingent. Is Caleb as
Speaker 2: good as people think he could be. But if he is,
Speaker 2: this division is fun.
Speaker 5: I got the AFC North where any team can make
Speaker 5: the playoffs, and I could sing any one of these
Speaker 5: teams in the NFC North can make the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Absolutely. I think you get dart Mark there too. Why
Speaker 1: why in that situation right in the eye? Gotcha in
Speaker 1: the eye? Patch for life?
Speaker 4: All right?
Speaker 2: Up next Jordan defending Division champion Lions.
Speaker 3: There's really no other way to put it at this point.
Speaker 3: The Lions know what they are about under Brad Holmes.
Speaker 3: This is a team that is gonna flat out pick
Speaker 3: players they like or are best available on their board,
Speaker 3: regardless of perceived positional value or consensus charting I also
Speaker 3: saw some commentary about the trades up. I get that,
Speaker 3: but I want to reiterate that Holmes came up through
Speaker 3: Less Snead and the Rams. When Sneid felt the roster
Speaker 3: was ready to break through up to the next tier,
Speaker 3: he started swinging hard regardless of the cost. And what
Speaker 3: some don't realize is that to NFL teams, it's not
Speaker 3: just playoff team or not playoff team. Once you become
Speaker 3: a playoff team, there are actual tiers to the dance,
Speaker 3: like breaking glass into legitimate Super Bowl contention. I get
Speaker 3: the concern, and they have to be the right players,
Speaker 3: but at least the Lions have told us who they
Speaker 3: think they are. They want to win, they think they
Speaker 3: can now, and the cost doesn't matter. Wondering about the
Speaker 3: quarterback extension, I'm really curious to see what the framework
Speaker 3: of a possible Jared Goff extension might be. And good
Speaker 3: for him, by the way, absolutely, and you said it.
Speaker 2: I believe around Philadelphia spamming an area need. Their cornerbacks
Speaker 2: are an issue for them last year, and they go
Speaker 2: and they draft two quarterbacks cornerbacks at the top of
Speaker 2: this draft. So if that defense takes a step and
Speaker 2: the offense kind of remains where it is. Yeah, they
Speaker 2: were final four team last year.
Speaker 4: They had a seventeen point lead in the NFC Championship game.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think this is like, unlike some of these
Speaker 5: other teams that spam a position, this was kind of
Speaker 5: like their last overt position of need and they and
Speaker 5: it happened perfectly for them, And like Terry and Arnold,
Speaker 5: to go to them is a total coup. I would
Speaker 5: just one question about Brad Holmes, like, because it's hard
Speaker 5: to get to know these gms from a distance, Like
Speaker 5: what kind of words would you use to characterize them?
Speaker 5: Because I think he's been one of the quickest team
Speaker 5: builders around.
Speaker 3: I think he's brilliant a lot of the stuff that
Speaker 3: the Rams would get sort of external praise for when
Speaker 3: they were identifying middle and late round players, Like Brad
Speaker 3: was one of the people who helped set and identify
Speaker 3: that framework and who really pushed for that type of
Speaker 3: thinking along with Less and some of the other people
Speaker 3: in that building. So this doesn't surprise me at all
Speaker 3: to see him killing it.
Speaker 4: But it like the Rams, he's not afraid to do
Speaker 4: things differently. I mean they're feeling themselves. They traded a
Speaker 4: future third for a kid from Canada, and then they
Speaker 4: drafted a safety who had twenty eight snaps at running
Speaker 4: back to play running back. So it's like they're feeling themselves.
Speaker 4: I would push back slightly that they don't have any needs.
Speaker 4: I don't think. First of all, they could use another
Speaker 4: receiver for sure, and then they absolutely need another pass
Speaker 4: rusher like Aiden Hutchinson needs help. Maybe it's James Houston.
Speaker 4: They put a lot of resources there. To me, they're thin.
Speaker 4: There were reports they actually were kind of trade up
Speaker 4: for Darius Robinson until Terry and Arnold the cornerback fell,
Speaker 4: and so that shows that they had an internal kind
Speaker 4: of thought too. We maybe need a little more beef up.
Speaker 5: They just don't have like, oh my god, this is right,
Speaker 5: costs nothing, crazy, pretty solid all over the place.
Speaker 1: I agree.
Speaker 2: The Detroit fanbez love Love Love affair for Jared Goff
Speaker 2: is so sweet, just chanting his name throughout the draft,
Speaker 2: just independent of anything.
Speaker 1: It's just like, I.
Speaker 5: Mean, they had a few beers in them, I'm sure,
Speaker 5: but that's it was. I knew it was coming, so
Speaker 5: I stopped talking. Also, many of them were completely sober.
Speaker 5: I would imagine there were there was just love that
Speaker 5: this underdog quarter as much as an underdog could be.
Speaker 5: A former first round, first overall pick, Jared Goff is
Speaker 5: really a guy that they've gotten behind, is an overlooked
Speaker 5: entity that rows up. I'm not suggesting you need drunk
Speaker 5: to like Jared Goff. I think he's earned the many ways.
Speaker 2: That's important to clarify. Raggy on the rise in Green
Speaker 2: Bay Packers.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think Jordan Love's going to get a new
Speaker 4: contract this offseason. I think Jared Goff, as we just mentioned,
Speaker 4: will as well, and those come later in the offseason.
Speaker 4: We talked about how the first three picks the Packers
Speaker 4: took in this draft I think are going to be
Speaker 4: able to play right away. They're still a little short
Speaker 4: at cornerback. I think they could be a Stefan Gilmour team.
Speaker 4: They would make some sense to me. But I'm looking
Speaker 4: at their receiver group and I'm just curious, how do
Speaker 4: you guys think they're gonna shake out? You got Romeo Dobbs,
Speaker 4: Christian Watson, Jayden Reid. I feel like we kind of
Speaker 4: know who Jaden Reid is and Doantavian Wick's Like I'm
Speaker 4: fascinated to just see how these four line up, because
Speaker 4: to me, they all have potential to be like twelve
Speaker 4: hundred yard receivers, and yet it's a good problem to have.
Speaker 4: I don't know how they're going to line up one
Speaker 4: to four.
Speaker 3: To that point, I almost wonder if we see Matt
Speaker 3: Lafleur do more with the tight ends this year. It
Speaker 3: seemed like that was something when they drafted last year,
Speaker 3: seemed like something that they might trend to. And then
Speaker 3: mid season you saw them doing a lot of this
Speaker 3: similar stuff as Sean McVay with some of that you know,
Speaker 3: escort motion, the sifts and the run game, those types
Speaker 3: of things as well as you know, getting those tight
Speaker 3: ends going. So I think that maybe we could see
Speaker 3: that too. And yeah, it's it's crowded, but I mean
Speaker 3: Jordan Love can throw it all around the yard.
Speaker 4: So right, That's why it's like the Bears optimism is great.
Speaker 4: It's like you look at the Packers and the lines,
Speaker 4: those teams seem further along.
Speaker 5: They all grew up so quickly, and it's I guess,
Speaker 5: you know, when it comes to the wide receivers, and
Speaker 5: like in today's league, if you're a team without that
Speaker 5: clear dominant number one alpha guy, like you can kind
Speaker 5: of use him in a lot of different ways, and
Speaker 5: I think some there was some unexpected growth and regression
Speaker 5: by some of them last year too, So it's like
Speaker 5: get him on the field and see what happens and
Speaker 5: let like the hot horse run it.
Speaker 1: The hot horse.
Speaker 2: The Christian Watson side of this is kind of interesting
Speaker 2: because they did. Everybody developed very quickly, as did the quarterback,
Speaker 2: and Watson, who was the apparent breakout star in the
Speaker 2: final Rogers season, was not really the guy that we
Speaker 2: were talking about by the end.
Speaker 1: That's who I was, like, we're sort of pointing to
Speaker 1: the right, so.
Speaker 4: Like wide receiver four at this point, I would say.
Speaker 2: And that's interesting, Like where does he fit in because
Speaker 2: he's had issues staying healthy. Did you know that he
Speaker 2: has worked with a quote spec show lab who addresses
Speaker 2: hamstring issues.
Speaker 1: What kind of lab?
Speaker 3: A special hamstring lab?
Speaker 1: Yeah, hamstring lab.
Speaker 2: Okay, So keep an eye on on Watson and where
Speaker 2: he fits in on this because he was super dynamic
Speaker 2: at the end of twenty two and now maybe he's
Speaker 2: healthy in twenty four.
Speaker 1: Those labs are often like in Sweden, by the way,
Speaker 1: isn't it weird? That's always the way to get on
Speaker 1: the plane.
Speaker 3: Fun fact at tip to our friend Justice over at
Speaker 3: ACME Packing Company, the Packers have added thirty five players
Speaker 3: in the last three drafts, most of any team since
Speaker 3: twenty twenty two, thirteen first to third rounders and twenty
Speaker 3: two in the other rounds. Basically, that's called dart throwing,
Speaker 3: no pun intended for the Nature program.
Speaker 1: The dart fires.
Speaker 3: It's volume. It's volume drafting those a couple of those
Speaker 3: guys are bound to work out out when you have
Speaker 3: the ability to draft with that kind of a volume.
Speaker 3: You can only draft with that kind of a volume
Speaker 3: if you already have your QB and they have their QB.
Speaker 2: Unbelievably done first time in studio, doing around the NFC,
Speaker 2: sticking the landing there.
Speaker 3: Like I'm gonna burst into tears at any minute.
Speaker 1: All right, let's move. Let's move to the Minnesota Vikings.
Speaker 2: Okay, I mean, if you're nervous, I'd like to see
Speaker 2: what you're like when you're cool. Colmon, collected, you're killing it, Jordan,
Speaker 2: give me a new clock. Give me that new clock anyway.
Speaker 2: The Vikings deserve it.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: Two fun plots to track around the two time around
Speaker 2: team of around the NFL. Okay, will Sam Darnold be
Speaker 2: able to hold off JJ McCarthy in a summer camp competition?
Speaker 2: Will McCarthy ever even get a true opportunity to be
Speaker 2: the Week one starter? We know he's gonna play, but
Speaker 2: how does this summer breakdown? And then there's the defense,
Speaker 2: which was, you know, an absolute sieve in twenty twenty
Speaker 2: two despite their great record, they improved to a middle
Speaker 2: of the pack unit statistically under Brian Flores, and now
Speaker 2: talent continues to flow in on that side of the ball,
Speaker 2: and it makes a possibility that this team defense could
Speaker 2: all of a sudden become team strength. And it's also
Speaker 2: a reminder scheme change, coordinator change, and a few players
Speaker 2: how quickly you could turn around a unit in this league.
Speaker 2: So my general takeaway here, the Vikings are not going
Speaker 2: to be many people's darling pick to get back to
Speaker 2: the playoffs, especially in this division, which we've just broken
Speaker 2: down is very competitive, But disregard them at your own peril.
Speaker 1: And yes, if Samwich.
Speaker 4: I think Sam has a little chance.
Speaker 2: I was surprised reading up on them ahead of this
Speaker 2: today that I kind of assume once they took McCarthy there,
Speaker 2: and he's a veteran guy. I mean, he you know,
Speaker 2: played a lot in college and was a quote unquote winner.
Speaker 2: Felt like a Week one guy. But they not necessarily
Speaker 2: is that their path here.
Speaker 3: To pivot a little. I do get trading up for
Speaker 3: Dallas Turner, great player, even though they you know, they
Speaker 3: have defensive players. Even though the moves they made in
Speaker 3: free agency. I do remember Van Ginkle had hurt foot
Speaker 3: into the spring, so maybe you're kind of just making
Speaker 3: sure you're shoring up that position just in case. And
Speaker 3: you know, I think my colleague Alex Lewis at the
Speaker 3: Athletic pointed out a little bit worried about their interior
Speaker 3: offensive line. We're talking about another slider framed guy, Tyler Williams,
Speaker 3: who runs their sports science department over there in Minnesota.
Speaker 3: He will have had the DEXA scan will have He
Speaker 3: will know like what he still needs to add and how,
Speaker 3: and also importantly like how long it's gonna take, in
Speaker 3: particular with what they're dealing with on the offensive line.
Speaker 5: I mean, I think the thing that could get McCarthy
Speaker 5: in there, if not just by week one, I just
Speaker 5: assume week one at this point. But that's fine, but
Speaker 5: you've got Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison Hawkinson, Aaron Jones, and
Speaker 5: you're you're right. Like their interior line, you know, per
Speaker 5: PFF is a bit of a trouble, but this is
Speaker 5: a good starting place for any rookie compared to some
Speaker 5: places you could go.
Speaker 4: I'm it is outstanding, especially with the coaching, and I'm
Speaker 4: really encouraged they invested so much in the defense because
Speaker 4: I'd be worried that Floris's defense will come back to
Speaker 4: the like you see that big one year bumped. When
Speaker 4: you change schemes sometimes and you're doing something creative, can
Speaker 4: you keep that going into year two? It usually doesn't
Speaker 4: happen the way. That's why I'm a little worried about
Speaker 4: Schwartz and the Browns too. It's just like when you
Speaker 4: pop up that high and you're creative. Like but they
Speaker 4: added Town, they added Grenard, they added Blake Cashman, they
Speaker 4: added Van Gyinkle, they added Dallas Turner.
Speaker 5: You had that much talent, they should be better. They
Speaker 5: have a lot for Dallas Turner, but they've got to
Speaker 5: love them, I believe to that point.
Speaker 2: I think they only have three picks right now in
Speaker 2: the twenty twenty five NFL Draft.
Speaker 5: But they didn't have to trade up a bundle to
Speaker 5: get McCarthy at all.
Speaker 1: Net Holmes, he wasn't at a bounce mark. You just
Speaker 1: shot him a glare, but he has.
Speaker 5: To I'm not glaring at him, but I feel like
Speaker 5: I've been better behaved on this like quasi fugeese dart
Speaker 5: situation than most during these.
Speaker 1: Quasi dart situation.
Speaker 5: Hey, I just has been a problem for me, and
Speaker 5: I acknowledge that, so I'm gonna try to work on it.
Speaker 5: The second half of the show, I think where when
Speaker 5: you wear the black button up, you're kind of like
Speaker 5: that bad boy Sessler comes out the Bad Angels, and
Speaker 5: that doesn't take long. That doesn't take too much effort
Speaker 5: for that my favorite. All right, let's take a break
Speaker 5: and come back with the NFC South. All right, we're back,
Speaker 5: Let's keep moving. We got Jordan Rodrigue here. She's killing it.
Speaker 2: She keeps saying she's nervous, but she's not performing as
Speaker 2: if she's nervous.
Speaker 1: You wouldn't know. And she keeps reminding us that it's happening.
Speaker 2: Right, I would say, I would say unsolicited advice. You
Speaker 2: don't have to keep saying your nerves.
Speaker 3: Just feel like you guys can.
Speaker 2: No, You're good, You're good, You're doing great. We're having
Speaker 2: a great time with you. I feel like the show
Speaker 2: has been very informative, and dare I say entertaining.
Speaker 1: That's what we're going for.
Speaker 2: Entertainment, informative, then diagram and then it's just a big
Speaker 2: Jordan's head right in the middle. You're killing it. So
Speaker 2: let's move forward now with utter and complete confidence.
Speaker 1: How about that?
Speaker 3: Okay, that was.
Speaker 1: The pep talk. Let's go into the NFC South with
Speaker 1: the Falcons.
Speaker 3: I don't have much to add to the Fenix Cousins
Speaker 3: dialogue that hasn't already been covered off this show and beyond,
Speaker 3: but I do have one extra thought. After once watching
Speaker 3: the Rams trade away their former quarterback, a number one
Speaker 3: overall pick who they signed to a massive extension they
Speaker 3: had not started paying yet that turned into a huge
Speaker 3: amount of dead money, it's clear to me many teams
Speaker 3: are starting to fear less and less the financial capital public,
Speaker 3: questioning consequences of their own actions as long as they
Speaker 3: ultimately get the quarterback right, and that's the big As
Speaker 3: long as too has to still be the right guy
Speaker 3: I'm a Michael PENNOCKX fan. I think he rules. I'm
Speaker 3: less worried about the age and injury stuff than other
Speaker 3: people might be. I also understand why they had went
Speaker 3: and got cousins when they did, and why they did.
Speaker 3: Just the decisions in sequence and not each in a
Speaker 3: vacuum is what is breaking our brains, and rightfully so.
Speaker 3: At the end of the day, someone just needs to
Speaker 3: get the freaking ball to Kyle Pitts elsewhere in their draft.
Speaker 3: I loved the Brandon Dorles pickup. He's super underrated in
Speaker 3: my opinion. I heard he was popular on a lot
Speaker 3: of teams draft boards. He can rush the heck out
Speaker 3: of the quarterback. He's versatile. If Jimmy Lake is moving
Speaker 3: to a three to four, it looks like the falcon
Speaker 3: are seeking out bigger edges, dynamic three techs who could
Speaker 3: possibly do some four four I stuff concerned about corner depth.
Speaker 3: There are a couple older free agents out there, including
Speaker 3: Akello Witherspoon, who has a connection with Raheem Morris and
Speaker 3: Lake the like.
Speaker 5: There's all everything's been said about the cousins part of it.
Speaker 5: The only thing that it's because I was supported it
Speaker 5: when it happened, and I think, Greg, you like just
Speaker 5: go get all the quarterbacks you need, and this is
Speaker 5: the league today. The way it happened in the order
Speaker 5: is you know, eyebrow raising. But there is like there
Speaker 5: is a suggestion out there that Cousins is a little
Speaker 5: bit more sensitive than other types of quarterbacks. And if
Speaker 5: there's a reason you can't operate in the you know,
Speaker 5: in training camp or the preseason. I think the type
Speaker 5: of quarterback that Penix is with like these laser arm,
Speaker 5: like the strongest arm around, like that just gets into
Speaker 5: the mind of everyone and maybe that's there the mind
Speaker 5: of Kirk Cousins and the fan base because it's son.
Speaker 5: You've got this like Titanic like potential behind Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 5: That to me is a little unsettling from a team angle.
Speaker 4: The human part of it is the most concerned. I
Speaker 4: don't think you can spend too many resources and quarter
Speaker 4: but it is concerning, especially with the guy that we
Speaker 4: all remember, like everyone has this image of like it
Speaker 4: was MVP candidate Kirk because like, dude, I've seen that
Speaker 4: Kirk Cousins a ton of times over the last twelve years.
Speaker 4: And what usually happens is like a five game slump,
Speaker 4: Like he's not always that guy. He's also coming off
Speaker 4: an achilles. So it does add a lot of drama
Speaker 4: to the mix, especially because I don't think the defense
Speaker 4: will necessarily support them. They need their offense to be
Speaker 4: good talent wise, it's it's not a good defense, huh.
Speaker 2: And that's and that's why part of the process that
Speaker 2: felt flawed to me and many others out there is like,
Speaker 2: then use a top ten pick on a defensive player,
Speaker 2: or trade down and take two defensive players. It would
Speaker 2: have made so much more. They just to me, would
Speaker 2: it boils down to this if you would have gotten
Speaker 2: a lower tiered quarterback like a hold the Ford guy,
Speaker 2: and then gotten Panix, everything makes sense, Like everything checks out.
Speaker 2: It's that investment cousins that will always irk.
Speaker 1: Me and many others.
Speaker 2: I mean, we could to o it if we want,
Speaker 2: if we want to continue to talk about it, but.
Speaker 1: I think we have we will yeah shah we shah.
Speaker 1: All right, here we go.
Speaker 4: Greg on the Panthers, like the concept of Jonathan Brooks
Speaker 4: behind this media offensive line that they've invested in. I
Speaker 4: like that they kept the Giro. Everro who you're familiar with,
Speaker 4: you know intimately there Jordan just in terms of he
Speaker 4: was there with the Rams, But like, I don't love
Speaker 4: that they have less talent on their defense. You know,
Speaker 4: they did trade away Brian Burns. Lagette seems like a
Speaker 4: boomer bust pick. I want to have optimism, but I'm
Speaker 4: not feeling it, Like do we does anyone else have
Speaker 4: any optimism here?
Speaker 5: I think Dave Kanalis is the reason for optimism, based
Speaker 5: on his solely on his work with quarterbacks that were,
Speaker 5: you know, on the edge of non existence before he
Speaker 5: took over. I thought though the Robert Hunt signing was
Speaker 5: really important and good along the offensive line. Yeah, we
Speaker 5: don't know about Lagett, and but I think Jonathan Brooks
Speaker 5: it's like, if anything, it happened almost a year or
Speaker 5: too late in an exposed Bryce Young a year ago,
Speaker 5: and we don't really have a full read on what
Speaker 5: he is at this point.
Speaker 1: I'm a little concerned.
Speaker 5: But yes, it was the off season to throw resources
Speaker 5: at your quarterback and get a quarterback coach that can
Speaker 5: come in and help them.
Speaker 3: If Legette was going into a Frank Reich offense, I
Speaker 3: wouldn't have liked the pick. I like the pick because
Speaker 3: I think that they'll do more. They're going to do
Speaker 3: more emotions, misdirection shifts, you know, stuff that makes sense.
Speaker 3: And I think that one of the quotes from the
Speaker 3: post draft press conference captured by the Great Panthers beat
Speaker 3: writer Joe Person. Yes that is his real name, legend. Yeah,
Speaker 3: just for the audience, Like Joe Person, You're like, okay,
Speaker 3: I see in the Missing Person's program.
Speaker 5: That's like back when like like uh, when they you
Speaker 5: get your last name based on like if you were
Speaker 5: a carpenter.
Speaker 1: This like it's just this Joe Person and Island. It's like,
Speaker 1: I don't know he.
Speaker 3: Is indeed a person. That's what he wants you to believe.
Speaker 3: So this, this quote really stood out to me. You
Speaker 3: can give them the ball in different ways including carries.
Speaker 3: Please God, let us see more motions, misdirection sweeps, quick game,
Speaker 3: lots of different layers, three tiers in your route concepts
Speaker 3: and let's see. Uh this guy turned into the do
Speaker 3: it all Deebo Samuel and he seems like you're great dude.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And and I guess the optimism Greg is it can't
Speaker 2: be worse than last year. And you dedicated in free agency.
Speaker 2: You spent money to help the protection side of things.
Speaker 2: Three or first four picks are offensive players. Hopefully the scheme,
Speaker 2: as we're saying, is more imagined Toante Johnson and you
Speaker 2: just you and you figure some things out. And people
Speaker 2: that are really draft heads are saying, this kid Bryce Young,
Speaker 2: do not count him out. He got screwed in so
Speaker 2: many ways. He would drop back. His receivers are getting
Speaker 2: no separation, he's not getting protected. Nobody would have had
Speaker 2: a chance. So maybe this year, maybe this year, we
Speaker 2: will be better than yours.
Speaker 4: He reminds me so much of Alex Smith in terms
Speaker 4: of playing style. In terms of the catastrophic rookie year,
Speaker 4: Alex Smith had the worst rookie year of any top
Speaker 4: shelf quarterback I've ever seen. They brought a North Turner
Speaker 4: his second year and suddenly he was league average.
Speaker 1: I think that's the path team around the NFL.
Speaker 4: Our original teamer around the NFL. The Carolina Panthers.
Speaker 1: Interesting, Okay, the Saints.
Speaker 2: The Saints have a lot of work to do to
Speaker 2: get this roster back to true Super Bowl contention, and
Speaker 2: the draft wasn't ideal toward that goal, With only two
Speaker 2: selections out of the first one forty nine on the board. Still,
Speaker 2: they added a blue chip, prospected offensive line potential Marshall
Speaker 2: Lattimore successor and teammate at corner.
Speaker 1: That made sense.
Speaker 2: Keep an eye on the QB position this fall because
Speaker 2: New Orleans drafted Spencer Rattler with one hundred and fiftieth pick.
Speaker 2: He's a guy that's got, you know, some tools, and
Speaker 2: people kind of into him in terms of that type
Speaker 2: of mid round QB. Given Derek Carr and everything around
Speaker 2: Derek Carr, You're gonna imagine if this team is middle
Speaker 2: of the road or worse like last year, it's gonna
Speaker 2: get really loud, really quickly around a quarterback change.
Speaker 3: Ted Wynn did an article on a bunch of people
Speaker 3: talking about quarterback mechanics, and people were raving. Coaches were
Speaker 3: raving about Spencer Rattler's mechanics. So might be kind of
Speaker 3: a sneaky good I'll defer to groa things because I
Speaker 3: know you're a fan, but.
Speaker 4: I'm not a fan.
Speaker 3: I do follow him, yeah, but I think he's maybe
Speaker 3: maybe a sneaky maybe a sneaky good pick there.
Speaker 4: He reminds me of a little Sam Howell in terms of
Speaker 4: a guy that you thought might be a first round
Speaker 4: pick at some point and probably even more talented as
Speaker 4: a thrower and could develop. So that was a good
Speaker 4: dart throat. I do think the new Derek Carr contract
Speaker 4: really slipped under the radar this year as they continued
Speaker 4: to kick the can down the corner, down the road
Speaker 4: or whatever. In terms of trying to save salary cap space.
Speaker 4: They've had like the normal off season everyone wanted. Finally
Speaker 4: they did stay quiet. It's a pretty normal draft, but
Speaker 4: they did kick more future money into Derek Carr's contract
Speaker 4: into twenty five, so it'll be more painful if they
Speaker 4: do want to get rid of him. It feels like
Speaker 4: he's going to be there the next two years.
Speaker 1: They I mean part of it.
Speaker 5: I kind of like their draft up top, except that
Speaker 5: you were forced to take a tackle and they'd taking
Speaker 5: an offensive or defensive lineman in the first round of
Speaker 5: nine of the last ten drafts.
Speaker 1: So they've got a type, they've got a thing they
Speaker 1: like to do.
Speaker 5: But you had to do that because of Ryan rams
Speaker 5: Check and you had to go get Kuoloid McKinstry. Because
Speaker 5: I'm not assuming this, but I think the Marshawn Lattimore
Speaker 5: is sort of the last piece of drama surrounding the
Speaker 5: NFC South.
Speaker 4: I'm glad you mentioned that their top four cornerbacks are
Speaker 4: Pulse in a Day, a debo, kool Aid, mckinnistry, Marshaun
Speaker 4: Lattimore is obviously number one, and Alontae Taylor. That is
Speaker 4: a loaded cornerback room. It's kind of awesome, but you're right.
Speaker 4: It makes you wonder if someone gets dealt in training camps,
Speaker 4: and it might not be Latimore. It could be like
Speaker 4: a debo who's in a contract ere It could be
Speaker 4: Alontae Taylor who has been a little up and down,
Speaker 4: but people would be into those cornerbacks.
Speaker 3: I like the McKinstry pick. Yeah, I think he's I
Speaker 3: mean that dude's a badass. I think that's a great pick.
Speaker 1: Got him at forty one.
Speaker 4: Lannis Allen knows how to they know, they've known an
Speaker 4: Mickey Loomis has known how to pick corners.
Speaker 2: There was, by the way, talk around Rattler and why
Speaker 2: did he fall to the fifth round?
Speaker 1: And one of them was that he appeared on.
Speaker 2: A reality TV show in high school in which he
Speaker 2: came off extremely PA watched I must dig it up.
Speaker 1: I must, I mean I think number one.
Speaker 5: People grow and change, and that's what his camp was
Speaker 5: trying to stress. But it is an unpleasant watch. It's
Speaker 5: not great for his cure.
Speaker 1: I let I kind of led him into not purposely,
Speaker 1: but I was. I needed that.
Speaker 2: I was providing information. But you had an option. You
Speaker 2: had an option there. You could have I.
Speaker 5: Gets caught staring at you and then I'm not watching
Speaker 5: the clocks right.
Speaker 2: But you had the option there to to fully flesh
Speaker 2: that out what you did, which the show needed. Or
Speaker 2: you could have just sat there quietly and let it
Speaker 2: the clock tick out and then it's a worse show.
Speaker 1: But you don't take a doctor that fight.
Speaker 6: If it makes you feel any better. I feel like
Speaker 6: really bad every time I shoot the darted Mark.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that does make me. I see it coming
Speaker 1: from like a mile away. Yeah, and I'm like, I
Speaker 1: have to go.
Speaker 3: I should do better.
Speaker 1: I should feel bad.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, but he like drew me into that,
Speaker 2: Dan especially it turns his head and gives you those
Speaker 2: Manson lamps.
Speaker 1: You know, I feel bad. I feel bad, all right?
Speaker 1: That is is that the NFC South?
Speaker 4: No it is not.
Speaker 5: Uh, there is one more, one more defending champion.
Speaker 2: Now I'm gonna get the Manson lamps. They are the
Speaker 2: defending division champions.
Speaker 5: Somehow the Bucks go Mark Goree sort of like a
Speaker 5: meat and potatoes draft for the Bucks. I think Graham Barton,
Speaker 5: the more I've read about him, it's like round one tough,
Speaker 5: immediate starter at center.
Speaker 1: They really needed that.
Speaker 5: Both Bucks guards last year Brent Brettison and Cody Mack,
Speaker 5: who I really liked the look of in terms of
Speaker 5: his wild madness, but they were pretty, they hop but
Speaker 5: mostly cold. A year ago they were twenty seventh in
Speaker 5: rushing EPA. The Bucks they were twenty six and short
Speaker 5: yarded situations. They had PFF's fifth worst run blocking great,
Speaker 5: and it's like, if you want this Baker thing to continue,
Speaker 5: I think Baker's been a little over praise for this,
Speaker 5: like great season he had, but like for this to
Speaker 5: happen two years ago, Baker, you got to you need
Speaker 5: a better ground game, and so I think this was
Speaker 5: a smart pick. I do a question for Jordan though,
Speaker 5: because Mayfield is onto his like four hundred and forty
Speaker 5: fourth offensive coordinator after Canalis went to Carolina, so he
Speaker 5: does know Liam Cohen a little bit to some degree.
Speaker 5: But there have been weird whispers about Cohen in other places,
Speaker 5: not totally being a favorite of everyone. Like do you
Speaker 5: think this can be a smooth transition for Baker? I
Speaker 5: just don't like quarterbacks that the switch schemes and coordinators
Speaker 5: every three hundred and sixty five days.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think Liam and Baker will get along
Speaker 3: really well. And like I said, so much happened in
Speaker 3: twenty two to the Rams, some outside their control, some
Speaker 3: inside their control, and it just was an all around disaster.
Speaker 3: No one person was the reason for that disaster. It
Speaker 3: was all around to total.
Speaker 4: But if you had to make one person, it was
Speaker 4: probably Liam Cohen.
Speaker 3: It was Greg actually spin held it. But yet no,
Speaker 3: I mean he Baker is a player that Liam will
Speaker 3: know how to work with and use and like it'll be,
Speaker 3: I think it'll he will remind him of a lot
Speaker 3: of the college quarterbacks he had great success with. Maybe
Speaker 3: not the arm strength that he was working with with
Speaker 3: Will Levis, but you know, the timing stuff, the quick game,
Speaker 3: some of the underneath things that the Baker really can
Speaker 3: get into a rhythm very fast doing. That's that's right
Speaker 3: up Liam Cohen's alley. So I'm curious to see how
Speaker 3: it works. But I do know that there they'll get along.
Speaker 3: I mean they're they're both like they'll they'll be fine.
Speaker 4: Yeah, they have a ton of continuity and on both
Speaker 4: sides of the ball, especially the defense. And I just
Speaker 4: don't get why the Falcons are negative money to win
Speaker 4: this division, Like no way to me, Like I would
Speaker 4: happily take the.
Speaker 1: For those that don't dig in on that realm.
Speaker 4: Just like that it is more likely the odds are
Speaker 4: saying that the Falcons win from an addition than the
Speaker 4: other three teams combined. Essentially, it's it's like a greater
Speaker 4: than fifty percent chance they win the division, and the
Speaker 4: Bucks and the Saints are way behind them. It's just
Speaker 4: like I don't see that like people came sleeping on
Speaker 4: this buck S team. It's just a solid football team.
Speaker 2: Like people are just like throwing up their hands with
Speaker 2: the NFC south right, So it's hard to really just
Speaker 2: figure it out there overlooked though, they just get overlooked right.
Speaker 4: And to me, the three of them are in the
Speaker 4: same ballpark where it's like you're probably a below average
Speaker 4: NFL team, but one team's gonna win the division.
Speaker 3: I like the Jaylen McMillan pick one of my under
Speaker 3: the radar favorite picks really great underneath will help with
Speaker 3: that pop gun stuff that Baker likes to do.
Speaker 2: Also, why the Falcons should have taken a defensive player
Speaker 2: and went for the division and get a home game
Speaker 2: of the playoffs and you never know what happens. Whatever,
Speaker 2: Let's take a break and we'll finish it out with
Speaker 2: the NFC West.
Speaker 1: That right, we're back.
Speaker 2: We are closing out around the NFC in forty eight minutes,
Speaker 2: exactly forty eight minutes, not a second over with the
Speaker 2: NFC West and Greg get us going.
Speaker 1: With the Cards.
Speaker 4: The Arizona Cardinals, after they put Kyler Murray into the
Speaker 4: starting lineup with Drew Petzing as his eyes defensive coordinator,
Speaker 4: were ninth in EPA per play for the rest of
Speaker 4: the season. That is buoyed by being second in rushing.
Speaker 4: I think it's a good and Kyler is a big
Speaker 4: part of that because to me, get dirty, Yeah, I'm
Speaker 4: excited to get dirty with this UH team. Adding Marvin Harrison,
Speaker 4: I think they're a really well run offensive team. He
Speaker 4: was a good higher. I think they added the most
Speaker 4: exciting running back in the draft in Benson. Is this
Speaker 4: a top ten offense?
Speaker 1: Whoa all right, where were they finished? Where did they
Speaker 1: finished after Kyler came back?
Speaker 4: I mean, technically they were a top ten offense in
Speaker 4: EPA per play already, but that can you keep that
Speaker 4: up a whole season that that's obviously not the only
Speaker 4: stat out there. I think they got a chance to
Speaker 4: be pretty exciting.
Speaker 1: Top ten feels rich, but they down the stretch.
Speaker 5: I think petsing is like a good play call comes
Speaker 5: from the Stefanski tree, and that's good for tight ends,
Speaker 5: that's good for I think, you know, we didn't like.
Speaker 4: Connor and Trey Benson are an awesome dude.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think that's like that was a lot of
Speaker 5: options around that, and like you know, Kyler looked good
Speaker 5: when he came back, but it's like a full off
Speaker 5: season together and all that. It's like there's a there's
Speaker 5: there's signs to suggest they could like pick up where
Speaker 5: they left off. They're well coached team.
Speaker 3: Yeah, to thank you for making that point. Actually that
Speaker 3: goes into my notes, so that Mark, I knew you
Speaker 3: would have my back on this.
Speaker 4: Mark.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I think they have some actually really talented up and
Speaker 3: coming coaches. Drew Tarrell, their new receivers coach Nick Rallis,
Speaker 3: their defensive coordinator. They're young guys, but I think they're
Speaker 3: super talented. I met Nick Rallis at a coaching incubator
Speaker 3: a couple of years ago, and he was sitting on
Speaker 3: the offensive side, so he was trying to learn from
Speaker 3: from a lot of those guys. So there's there's something
Speaker 3: cooking under the radar there on the defensive side. I
Speaker 3: think Matthew Stafford said last year this was the one
Speaker 3: defense that he saw that kind of was like, what
Speaker 3: the hell is that? And they were kind of doing
Speaker 3: this walk around pre snap thing. It was really interesting,
Speaker 3: and then they just ran the ball for four hundred yards.
Speaker 2: So I'm curious, yeah, because it could take a big
Speaker 2: jump if Arvin Harrison is that guy. Kyler Murray is
Speaker 2: Kyler Murray now, like we said, full year removed?
Speaker 1: Is he that guy again? I'm looking at some of.
Speaker 2: His you know, earlier years he rushed for He had
Speaker 2: ninety three rushing attempts as a rookie in sixteen games.
Speaker 2: I went up to one hundred and thirty three his
Speaker 2: second year. His third year and fourteen games, he was
Speaker 2: on pace to go over one hundred again last year
Speaker 2: in eight games forty four rushes, so a bit under
Speaker 2: that one hundred pace. Where where does he now? Like
Speaker 2: around one hundred rushes feels like a great spot for him,
Speaker 2: especially if he's moving well and feels good, and if
Speaker 2: he can add that element of his game back in
Speaker 2: full with having a big time number one wide receiver, potentially, Yeah,
Speaker 2: the offense could take a significant jump.
Speaker 5: I think one other thing, like Monte Austin, for it,
Speaker 5: two years in a row, has had a very rock
Speaker 5: solid plan with the draft, with the offseason, they look different,
Speaker 5: and I think their front office we know, I mean
Speaker 5: under Steve Kaine that was plaguing them for a long time.
Speaker 1: Was that to the establishment? Yeah? That was our producer.
Speaker 5: No, no, no, it was not to the Randy's been the
Speaker 5: listeners about this. No, it's just Jordan, like the greater
Speaker 5: world or universe things. They are going to catch me,
Speaker 5: you're going beyond zero zero zero, And they didn't.
Speaker 3: Except they except you guys all did well.
Speaker 2: If there's no regard for the rules, So it's not
Speaker 2: it's not connected directly anymore to the team. Talk's that's
Speaker 2: a little understood.
Speaker 1: Aspect of all of this.
Speaker 3: I'm new.
Speaker 1: Sorry, Yeah, here we go. Jordan your team, the Rams.
Speaker 3: While few classes in recent history hit like the Rams
Speaker 3: did in twenty twenty three, there's a lot to like
Speaker 3: this year about the way they sought out the combination
Speaker 3: of Jared Verse and teammate Braden Fisk at nineteen and
Speaker 3: thirty nine. They overpaid to trade up for Fisk, but
Speaker 3: I'm of the understanding that once the board fell their
Speaker 3: way and they got Verse, one of their three favorite
Speaker 3: players in the whole class and their top outside linebacker,
Speaker 3: they were always going to try to get Fisk, and
Speaker 3: they believed in paying more for the plug and play
Speaker 3: chemistry on a defensive line. Now without Aaron Donald, they
Speaker 3: did say they could never replace him with just one player,
Speaker 3: So here are two. Blake Korum the third round running back.
Speaker 3: Again a little high for generally what we see with
Speaker 3: running backs, but basically gives them Karen Williams and an
Speaker 3: intact scheme kind of left handed when Kien Williams was out.
Speaker 3: In light of his injuries, Throy miss four games in
Speaker 3: twenty twenty three. Also maybe wouldn't have been able to
Speaker 3: be healthy for a deeper postseason push he got hurt
Speaker 3: in that Detroit game. Rams fans do not want to
Speaker 3: hear this, I understand, But on the Matthew Stafford contract situation,
Speaker 3: Sean McVay kind of admitted that this situation is ongoing
Speaker 3: after rap Sheets initial report last Thursday night that Matthew
Speaker 3: Stafford wants more guaranteed money on his contract been simmering
Speaker 3: for a little while. I don't think it's anything to
Speaker 3: freak out about right now. He's at OTA's the Rams.
Speaker 3: It's kind of awkward a little bit. They made a documentary.
Speaker 3: It was really really well done. It was outstanding, but
Speaker 3: it was also parts of it where like how beat
Speaker 3: up he gets during a season. So when you enter
Speaker 3: that into the guaranteed money conversation, it's just something to
Speaker 3: keep an eye on. I do think they're going to
Speaker 3: try to find a win win solution, that's my opinion.
Speaker 3: The Rams spent the spring beefing up his offensive line
Speaker 3: and his run game. There's no reason to think that
Speaker 3: he won't or can't play a few more years. Like
Speaker 3: I said, he's been at voluntary Otia's, he's been throwing
Speaker 3: it around. Dude's a badass when he's healthy.
Speaker 2: Turned thirty six in February, so yeah, he's he's basically
Speaker 2: at Kirk Cousins' age. You think these guys have their
Speaker 2: body holds up two three more years and this is
Speaker 2: a window for the Rams to with this high level
Speaker 2: potential Hall of Famer.
Speaker 5: We all like watched a lot of like Rams together
Speaker 5: in some of our Monday NFL Plus shows, and like,
Speaker 5: he looked as good as he's ever looked last season.
Speaker 1: So I stick stayed the course there.
Speaker 5: I think a lot of people are wondering, like when
Speaker 5: Karen Williams was not on the field, they were a
Speaker 5: different offense, and like he led the league and yards
Speaker 5: per game. I mean, he really hit the scene. But
Speaker 5: with Blake Korum, is it like, what's what happens fantasy wise?
Speaker 5: Do you think how they have both of them at
Speaker 5: the same time.
Speaker 3: I couldn't tell you.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I just I don't know. I know you were
Speaker 4: early on the like a big role. I might have
Speaker 4: a bigger role than cam Akers right.
Speaker 1: Right, because they signed Boston Scott too.
Speaker 3: I mean that's just you're looking at Kirene still being
Speaker 3: the lead rusher, the lead back. But over time, especially
Speaker 3: a long season, they expect to go to the postseason
Speaker 3: this year if they have Matthew Staffer a healthy Matthew Stafford.
Speaker 3: So over time, you're probably looking at an increase in
Speaker 3: Blake Korm's snaps. I don't know what the fantasy footballlanguage
Speaker 3: would be for that, but like stashing him or something,
Speaker 3: or maybe you know, get him and stash him handcuff?
Speaker 1: Is that what it is? Good time out? All right?
Speaker 2: We got to talk about this feature this monster too
Speaker 2: parter from Jordan. The second part is coming out later
Speaker 2: in the week. The first part dropped today Finding Rams
Speaker 2: colon one year behind the scenes of the NFL Draft
Speaker 2: scouting process. Comma Part one really well done, beautifully written
Speaker 2: and reported. Even we're talking about the artwork is tremendous
Speaker 2: by the athletic on it. Everybody's got to read it.
Speaker 2: I think just to get into this conversation, Jordan, because
Speaker 2: you obviously did a ton of work and you were
Speaker 2: embedded behind the scenes. There's an irony to me that
Speaker 2: that this team less need famously wore the f them
Speaker 2: Picks t shirt after they won the Super Bowl. But
Speaker 2: just because they didn't have first round picks doesn't mean
Speaker 2: that this team doesn't absolutely value and obsess over uh
Speaker 2: these draft classes. And you really go behind the scenes
Speaker 2: in a way that it's really illuminating in this piece.
Speaker 3: Well, thank you. I'm happy to be here to talk
Speaker 3: about it. First of all, I felt like last year
Speaker 3: when we talked about the play Caller series, you, Greg,
Speaker 3: you and Mark said some really nice things about what
Speaker 3: it reminded you of. And Dan just was.
Speaker 1: Not on that episode.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he went with hell thumbs down. I know he
Speaker 3: doesn't listen.
Speaker 4: It was I was, it was six am and Tokyo. Yeah,
Speaker 4: that's so.
Speaker 3: But you guys also said something that resonated with me.
Speaker 3: And forgive me if my voice cracks, but you said
Speaker 3: that these are the types of things that that Wes
Speaker 3: would really get into for me that kept me pushing
Speaker 3: into this new space, which was very unfamiliar territory for me.
Speaker 3: I've covered a lot about team building, but I've never
Speaker 3: been behind the scenes in a scouting department for as
Speaker 3: long a period of time, the ten months as this was,
Speaker 3: And it was the entire time I was thinking, this
Speaker 3: is the coolest thing. This is so like to get
Speaker 3: to explain even a piece of what this looks like
Speaker 3: and how it works, it just like lit me up
Speaker 3: on the inside, and like I cannot emphasize enough, Like
Speaker 3: I mean, doing this project. Just like play Callers altered
Speaker 3: me forever, this also has altered.
Speaker 5: Me for it, Like, if you had ten pages of
Speaker 5: notes for this episode, how much dense you know, research
Speaker 5: and personal literature came out, do you have stashed away
Speaker 5: somewhere like in your apartment or mansion wherever you live.
Speaker 3: Certainly not the athletic.
Speaker 4: They're paying botts their.
Speaker 3: Bucks, moving right along. So it was one hundred and
Speaker 3: eighty six pages of notes from on site, on site reporting.
Speaker 3: A lot of stuff was off the record, so you're
Speaker 3: not You're obviously not, you know, recording notes at that time.
Speaker 3: You're sort of absorbing and listening. And also I think
Speaker 3: like thirty seven post its around on like just to
Speaker 3: help set up structure and and all of those things.
Speaker 3: It's really fun when a project's ever to like peel
Speaker 3: the post its off, the off the cabinets, very satisfying
Speaker 3: and no longer look like a serial killer in my
Speaker 3: own home. But yeah, it was. It was an extraordinarily
Speaker 3: cool thing to get to do. The fact that James Gladstone,
Speaker 3: the director of Scouting, and Less Snead were open to it.
Speaker 3: James came up to me on the sideline at training
Speaker 3: camp and was like, love the play callers, wish there
Speaker 3: was one about scouts. And I looked at him for
Speaker 3: all of two seconds and I was like, can there be?
Speaker 3: And he thought I was joking and then I pitched
Speaker 3: it to him and Less and I think Less maybe
Speaker 3: still thought I was joking until about six months ago,
Speaker 3: and because I'd been in the meetings, I just kept
Speaker 3: showing up and then it just was this very cool
Speaker 3: There was a lot of trust there, which I don't
Speaker 3: take for granted, but I think they understood what I
Speaker 3: was trying to do. I wasn't trying to say this
Speaker 3: is better or worse so the other I was trying
Speaker 3: to amplify the process and the language of a group
Speaker 3: of people with continuity who have created this thing behind
Speaker 3: the scenes that works for them. Not to compare or
Speaker 3: contrast or anything like that, but to show how something works, right.
Speaker 4: That's what I took Part one is great. I'm really
Speaker 4: looking forward to part two, and one of my takeaways
Speaker 4: would just be I didn't understand. I don't think the
Speaker 4: average fan would understand just how different the rams certainly
Speaker 4: do the evaluation process. And then it made me think, like,
Speaker 4: there's probably they're not the only ones, and that each
Speaker 4: team is attacking this entire process in such a different way.
Speaker 4: And there's yeah, maybe the kind of is a way,
Speaker 4: a conventional way to do it, but like how many
Speaker 4: teams do you think, or like how many different ways
Speaker 4: are there? Because the way they do it, I suspect
Speaker 4: is totally their own way of doing it, And like,
Speaker 4: what did you find different about it?
Speaker 3: I think there are thirty two different ways of approaching this,
Speaker 3: And like I said, that's where I think we on
Speaker 3: the outside we get into rankings and grades and things
Speaker 3: like that. But like, if their process works for them
Speaker 3: and it's different to another process and another building, they're
Speaker 3: not weighing that or leveraging that. They're looking for what
Speaker 3: fits them. And some teams do this very well and
Speaker 3: have a very functional behind the scenes process for a
Speaker 3: draft calendar. And as you see, like some teams just
Speaker 3: can't seem to find that a momentum or can't seem
Speaker 3: to like sort of gather themselves. One of the things
Speaker 3: that's really I learned one of the biggest things I
Speaker 3: learned from this reporting this out over the last year
Speaker 3: was this isn't really about players or picks, Like the
Speaker 3: result This is more about the process and the language
Speaker 3: of that process, and how they basically built an alphabet
Speaker 3: and then evolved it over time into a language that
Speaker 3: builds out what it is exactly that they do. And
Speaker 3: I know that sounds like kind of galaxy brain or
Speaker 3: like you know what you were reading at Camp Happiness,
Speaker 3: but at the same time, it's it's so it's a
Speaker 3: living thing, this language. And I think the number one
Speaker 3: reason why failure compounds in NFL buildings is the loss
Speaker 3: of that language when quick too quick turnover. Whether it's
Speaker 3: in the scouting for an office department, department, personnel department,
Speaker 3: or even the coaching staff that also has to assimilate
Speaker 3: and help build and evolve out that language. And this
Speaker 3: is one of the most They've been together for so
Speaker 3: long at this point, not just Lesson Sean, but that
Speaker 3: entire scouting department has been together for at least a decade,
Speaker 3: and they have built out this language that it's a
Speaker 3: living thing at this point.
Speaker 5: One quick thing is there's also a very human element
Speaker 5: to this, because I've always thought like the life of
Speaker 5: a scout would be very appealing to a certain personality
Speaker 5: if you like, don't mind being like a road Warrior
Speaker 5: out on the grind like it's related, so you show
Speaker 5: how much it's relationships with schools. But one little thing,
Speaker 5: like here's what scouts do, what they like? They have
Speaker 5: like a coda it said, stay at hotels with free breakfast,
Speaker 5: fill an insulated coffee cup with eggs and bacon, and
Speaker 5: bring it to the school to consume mid morning.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that one commatable psychotic.
Speaker 2: I noted that in my notes as well, what are
Speaker 2: we doing we get a fresh breakfast.
Speaker 5: I just want to see what it looks like. You
Speaker 5: got to save the dollars and cents.
Speaker 4: But they don't have time because they're at this place
Speaker 4: and they're not going to get fed while they're there
Speaker 4: all day.
Speaker 2: I guarantee you thirty one teams are reading what you wrote, Jordan,
Speaker 2: because sorry, Less there's a reason why there's and they
Speaker 2: weighed that, I'm sure, but like there's a reason why
Speaker 2: good teams stay good and bad teams stay bad. And
Speaker 2: look at and look at the Rams to go from
Speaker 2: seventeen through twenty three without a first round pick but
Speaker 2: remain pretty consistently one of the better teams in the
Speaker 2: NFC shows you how they've been able to keep the
Speaker 2: roster churning and stay competitive despite having those high end picks.
Speaker 1: I thought, that's very interesting.
Speaker 2: The other thing I want to read here, so you
Speaker 2: were talking about this almost sentient process they have now
Speaker 2: the most and I'm going to read Jordan's reporting here
Speaker 2: and writing most NFL teams and by the way, this
Speaker 2: is why Northeastern Classico two, this is why journalism matters.
Speaker 2: Sports journal It's fun what we do, but having people
Speaker 2: that are really smart and curious to be able to
Speaker 2: go behind the scenes and then write something like this
Speaker 2: and allow us to understand the sport in a different,
Speaker 2: smarter way.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Jordan to the Athletic. Now I'm going to
Speaker 1: read what you wrote.
Speaker 2: Most NFL teams have a data and information processing system,
Speaker 2: usually constructed in house, in which scouts, coaches, medical staff,
Speaker 2: front office executives, and others input notes on the players.
Speaker 2: The RAMS is is ja RS the Joint after Action
Speaker 2: Review system. They go on to say, it's valueized not
Speaker 2: only in its player data, it's the keeper of an
Speaker 2: entire language. Some RAM staffer's joke that the system will
Speaker 2: eventually need a new, more human senting acronym to reflect
Speaker 2: its approaching sentience. Now let me let me jump in
Speaker 2: if I might, and you could relay this or choose
Speaker 2: not to relay.
Speaker 3: I'm so happy now.
Speaker 1: So it's staring right at them.
Speaker 2: They want it's starting to feel like a human and
Speaker 2: they want to make give it a name that's human.
Speaker 1: And you got jaa r S.
Speaker 2: Okay, But what if it was joint after Action review
Speaker 2: value internalization system.
Speaker 1: Jarvis? Jarvis? Jarvis is right there, bang so close. Take
Speaker 1: it to less, Please take it to less. We've had
Speaker 1: less on the show.
Speaker 2: That would be my lasting input. Maybe I would get
Speaker 2: a super Bowl ring.
Speaker 3: You get a football.
Speaker 1: It's up to our football less.
Speaker 2: If there's a football to hand out, if it becomes Jarvis,
Speaker 2: that's all.
Speaker 4: It'd be nice if they had like a fourth round
Speaker 4: pick that meant a lot to them, that had actually
Speaker 4: been named Jarvis.
Speaker 3: I will tell you one last one last they probably
Speaker 3: knowing them, they would one last thing to add to.
Speaker 3: So much of us is still about Luck Part two,
Speaker 3: which releases Friday. There's some some moments in there that
Speaker 3: I think you guys will just get a kick out of,
Speaker 3: about how you can put in like to the nth
Speaker 3: degree amount of process and preparation and you can you
Speaker 3: can sound you know, like you're the expert strategist and everything,
Speaker 3: and then at the very last minute, some crazy could happen,
Speaker 3: right and and like just and some of it does
Speaker 3: come down to luck. I take people through the Pukina
Speaker 3: Kula pick in the fifth round. There was actually what
Speaker 3: people don't realize, there was actually a really interesting strategy
Speaker 3: behind that pick. They all say, now they should have
Speaker 3: picked them in the first but in the fifth round
Speaker 3: with their volume in there and draft, there was an
Speaker 3: interesting strategy that part two does go into and then
Speaker 3: but there also was luck. There also was a a
Speaker 3: crapload of luck in that pick as well. And they're
Speaker 3: the first to admit it was.
Speaker 5: Less need or is less neat because he's probably reading
Speaker 5: it right about now, annoyed that you've announced to the
Speaker 5: world that he doesn't know how to change a tire,
Speaker 5: which I think a lot of people I was a
Speaker 5: bit of a lot of ravio magnific See, I think
Speaker 5: a lot of people don't.
Speaker 1: But you don't want it on record at people just
Speaker 1: to think that you probably.
Speaker 4: Gets pretty it's pretty privileged. Once again, beautiful man, all right,
Speaker 4: time in great.
Speaker 3: Job, Thank you, Thank you guys, seriously, did.
Speaker 1: You have an answer on the less thing?
Speaker 3: I guess you'll find out, but yeah, you'll I took
Speaker 3: it more as a retort. I'll get, you know, a
Speaker 3: text maybe like I took it more as a rhetorical.
Speaker 2: And I should say that that little story ends with
Speaker 2: less and a very masculine mess. Yes, that's hiring the
Speaker 2: tire into the brush. Yes, so it kind of kind
Speaker 2: of saves it a little bit. It's like, yeah, him
Speaker 2: and his buddy couldn't figure it out, but that tire went.
Speaker 5: I'm weird because that's like the thing I'll remember the
Speaker 5: most about the whole thing, and the eggs and bacon
Speaker 5: in a coffee cup.
Speaker 2: It's a strange, but let's know, Jarvis, Jarvis servis one
Speaker 2: signed football.
Speaker 1: I don't need anything else.
Speaker 2: All right, let's time back in and head to the
Speaker 2: forty nine Ers. Drama will continue to swirl around that
Speaker 2: wide receiver room this spring. Did the Niners take Ricky
Speaker 2: Piersoll because they planned to trade Ayuk or Samuel or
Speaker 2: perhaps an even more dramatic thought exercise for the rest
Speaker 2: of us, what if Piersall is a stud and he
Speaker 2: just makes the offense that much more wicked?
Speaker 1: Could this score? Could this team score five hundred points?
Speaker 2: You know that has not happened by the Bay since
Speaker 2: the Steve Young Niners of nineteen ninety four.
Speaker 1: I believe they won it all that year.
Speaker 2: The pressure will be immense for San Francisco to finally
Speaker 2: get over the hump this year. But this roster is
Speaker 2: as good as any in football. Stay healthy, stay out
Speaker 2: of trouble, and I think just get ready to watch
Speaker 2: the Niners kick some more ass this year.
Speaker 1: I feel very good about this team.
Speaker 5: I'd love to see a similar article about the way
Speaker 5: that they draft and develop talent, too, because I thought, like,
Speaker 5: to not trade your guys. But then get Ricky Parasol,
Speaker 5: who has dropped five passes since twenty twenty and just
Speaker 5: looks like a Shanahan type. And then there's a second player,
Speaker 5: Isaac Garndo, the running back who had the fastest forty
Speaker 5: in the combine, had the best vertical jump, and like
Speaker 5: Shanahan spoke about that player after the draft, and it
Speaker 5: was just like this was just another Shanahan guy. And
Speaker 5: it's like they added more nine er z stuff to
Speaker 5: a roster without stripping away sick.
Speaker 2: When you start to think about it, because you're talking
Speaker 2: about a running back. They have the best running back
Speaker 2: on the planet right there, so you could use that
Speaker 2: guy exactly where you want to dot him into the offense.
Speaker 1: It's it's an embarrassment of riches.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's interesting. Tim Kawakami, who works with me at
Speaker 3: the Athletic, he wrote some really interesting stuff about how
Speaker 3: you could really pinpoint some of their draft class this
Speaker 3: year and project them a year or two years from
Speaker 3: now as replacements for some people on their current roster,
Speaker 3: and like trade identification seemed very similar in that way.
Speaker 3: I found that to be fascinating, and it is interesting.
Speaker 3: They're looking they're trying to win the whole thing and
Speaker 3: trying to stay in that, like I said, that top
Speaker 3: tier of contention, but they also at the same time
Speaker 3: have to start looking toward the future too, and this
Speaker 3: draft class seemed like they're kind of doing that right.
Speaker 4: It wasn't just pearsall. They had a fourth round pick,
Speaker 4: what was a cowing in the fourth round, like at
Speaker 4: wide receiver too, so you're trying to do both at
Speaker 4: the same time. I do just don't buy any trade talk,
Speaker 4: including for Juwan Jennings, who's entering a free agent year.
Speaker 4: And is going to get paid somewhere next year, probably
Speaker 4: not in San Francisco. Like there, all systems go. And
Speaker 4: if it had happened that they could have replaced it
Speaker 4: in the draft. Maybe it was a possibility, but they
Speaker 4: didn't get the right price. Like, no, they they know
Speaker 4: their window is now. There's no way to me that
Speaker 4: those guys are getting traded between now and week one.
Speaker 3: No chance.
Speaker 1: Not now.
Speaker 4: By the way, maybe been an offer, Oh there there was,
Speaker 4: and by the way, the last guy. And now I
Speaker 4: forget as any one find it that I remember Peter
Speaker 4: King was in the draft room for the forty nine
Speaker 4: ers when Kyle Shanahan like probably annoyed the entire scouting
Speaker 4: process and stood on the table for this running back
Speaker 4: that he wanted to trade up for. It was a
Speaker 4: big thing, and like the fourth round was like he
Speaker 4: was out of a league in a year.
Speaker 1: That happens too.
Speaker 2: Now I don't do this, Jordan, And on that side
Speaker 2: of table, sometimes there's some heat when certain individuals look
Speaker 2: at other people's laptops. We do have one remaining timeout,
Speaker 2: and I thought I saw it in bold like there
Speaker 2: was like time out here for the Niners.
Speaker 3: Was that not for the Niners. I was stuck in
Speaker 3: traffic for a long time today. Yes, I matched all
Speaker 3: of you guys to quarterbacks, like if you.
Speaker 5: Got time out, hold on, we've got a time Sorry.
Speaker 1: Seahawks, we will not be getting to you today.
Speaker 2: In fact, let's just cut everything that we've done to
Speaker 2: this point right out of the intro, right into what
Speaker 2: Jordan said.
Speaker 1: Cut everything I just said, just now.
Speaker 3: I can't believe you looked at my computer.
Speaker 1: To revealing okay, apologizing.
Speaker 3: So this, uh if you three were quarterbacks, and like
Speaker 3: I said, very this is all a compliment, Okay, Just
Speaker 3: so you're right. And also I listened to the show
Speaker 3: and and I have for a long time, and you know,
Speaker 3: we talk about things.
Speaker 1: And Mark's entire may is on the line. Right.
Speaker 3: But also but also I can't pretend to know you
Speaker 3: on like the deepest personal level. So if I'm wrong,
Speaker 3: I'm so sorry. But I think I'm right. Okay, Greg
Speaker 3: Rock Party short king who loves proving people wrong, Dan
Speaker 3: Dan Josh Allen, fun bit aficionado, Golden Retriever parentheses compliment.
Speaker 2: Yeah no, there's also the like a guy like a
Speaker 2: Kato Kalin Golden Retriever type. But I'll take that and
Speaker 2: I'll see Josh Allen's better than brock Party.
Speaker 1: So okay, right now.
Speaker 4: We're always I was smart that you understood Dan needed
Speaker 4: to be puffed up the most of any of us,
Speaker 4: So that makes the most.
Speaker 1: Listen, you're hitting out again.
Speaker 3: That's saying I called you a king.
Speaker 2: Do we can we get a little drum roll, little
Speaker 2: timpany for the Mark Sessler?
Speaker 1: Uh, this is really important.
Speaker 4: Mark.
Speaker 1: Wait, let's wait for the drums. We have them, then
Speaker 1: actual band back. They're big funk all right, here we go, Jordan,
Speaker 1: Here we go, Mark.
Speaker 3: Matthew, Stafford, Salt and Pepper bearded gunslinger with an appreciation
Speaker 3: for chaotic darkness.
Speaker 5: Totally in Yeah, I was I had in my mind,
Speaker 5: Stafford is what I was hoping for.
Speaker 4: Right, No, I think those are a few that's both
Speaker 4: great choices and I got a system creation that no
Speaker 4: one would want on their team with very few physical talent.
Speaker 1: Whispers of bench in December, one.
Speaker 3: Short king.
Speaker 1: About the story of rock Perky.
Speaker 4: If we're going on height, you know, then there's no
Speaker 4: one well, Kyler, I guess you could if you wanted to.
Speaker 4: You know, Uh, there's no there's no short quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: I think this.
Speaker 3: I also I also had it that you were most
Speaker 3: likely to correct my assessment.
Speaker 1: Oh no, talk about the scouting fact.
Speaker 2: This seems to have actually bothered you more than perhaps
Speaker 2: you were expecting it to.
Speaker 4: I mean, Brock pretty the tough spot.
Speaker 2: All right, excellent, great time out come on, Josh Allen.
Speaker 2: Now now I'm a Bills fan. All right, Time in
Speaker 2: and let's close it out. We have just enough time
Speaker 2: for the Seattle Seahawks and Matthew stat I feel.
Speaker 1: Like if if we did some AI.
Speaker 2: Like best case scenario for Sessler looks wise and you
Speaker 2: just change some things around. Okay, it's it's Stafford with
Speaker 2: those you know, gleaming new white teeth. He's gotten everything
Speaker 2: like that. That that would check out as well.
Speaker 5: I don't think Matthew Stafford would play me if there
Speaker 5: was a film version.
Speaker 1: Of me like.
Speaker 4: Foot in eighty pounds.
Speaker 2: But we just we film up, We film up, are
Speaker 2: tilted upward anyway.
Speaker 5: Think I'll take that as a positive from you, Dan,
Speaker 5: I will assess that comment later.
Speaker 1: Well, it's camera magic. It's a go ahead.
Speaker 3: Oh by the way, you're looking at my screen again,
Speaker 3: I know what you're doing.
Speaker 1: I know that. Start this over all right, Mark started over.
Speaker 3: Sorry Mark, Sorry, Mattler.
Speaker 1: Here we go. We're not going to start it over
Speaker 1: the cloud.
Speaker 4: Let's start this clock over the.
Speaker 1: Closs and here we go, you know, sorry.
Speaker 5: Talking about Seattle's draft, one executive told Mike Sando, you're
Speaker 5: co worker at the Athletic.
Speaker 1: Nice guy. Mike is a very nice guy. Mike.
Speaker 5: The scout set of Seattle's draft. It looks like they
Speaker 5: went Baltimoreish meeting, build up both lines.
Speaker 1: And I love the Byron Murphy.
Speaker 5: This is me talking now, not the anonymous scout or
Speaker 5: Matt Stafford or Matt Stafford, but I like Byron Murphy
Speaker 5: is one of the guys that we were like catching
Speaker 5: up and watching him. I'm like, I love this dude,
Speaker 5: Like he is a chaos maker and like the kind
Speaker 5: of like a beating heart of the front seven.
Speaker 1: And other people are talking, you know, not Tepper.
Speaker 5: Maybe Tepper be talking about guard Christian Haynes as a
Speaker 5: steal at pick eighty one. And it's never too early
Speaker 5: for me to talk talk about roughly twenty two coaches
Speaker 5: as my Coach of the Year candidates, even here in
Speaker 5: early May. There we go, here's one early vote for
Speaker 5: Mike McDonald. I think I am a total believer and
Speaker 5: what he did in Baltimore, he systematically milks the very
Speaker 5: best out of his defensive roster.
Speaker 1: Plus, it will tell a good story.
Speaker 5: When Gino Smith is benched for Sam Howell prior to
Speaker 5: Week eleven is the five and five Seahawks rip off
Speaker 5: seven straight wins and route to a wild card Berth
Speaker 5: Welcome to tomorrowland.
Speaker 2: Ooh okay, the last time you got behind a coach
Speaker 2: with no experience was Brandon Staley, So maybe this will
Speaker 2: be this will be different.
Speaker 1: I you never know, Matt Ruhle.
Speaker 4: I hope that you know that's not the route that happens.
Speaker 4: He's intriguing. They've they've kind of had a quiet offseason.
Speaker 4: They kept their players, they haven't had a lot of
Speaker 4: people coming in or out, and yet I'm intrigued by
Speaker 4: them because of the coaches like Ryan Grubb is one
Speaker 4: of the biggest X factors in the entire NFL this year.
Speaker 4: What he did at Washington was super creative and just different,
Speaker 4: and he has a lot of talent to work with.
Speaker 4: Like Gino, there's continuity on the offensive line. I'm not
Speaker 4: sure if it's great, but the skill position continuity is fantastic,
Speaker 4: and this group has been together and they're talented like
Speaker 4: him with like an electric coach, could be exciting.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm a Gino Smith fan, so maybe I'm back
Speaker 3: in your good grace.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, just give me Gino at least for the question.
Speaker 3: So, but grub Is, I think, like you said, I
Speaker 3: agree with you one hundred percent, Greg in this topic
Speaker 3: and most things in life. Probably I'm sweating. You know.
Speaker 3: It's an X factor here, especially with you know everyone
Speaker 3: when people watch Washing the Washington Huskies. Obviously Michael Penick
Speaker 3: stood out because of what he can do with the football,
Speaker 3: but if you look past that and you look at
Speaker 3: some of the route concepts, some of the pre snap movements,
Speaker 3: some of the alignments and the spacing that they were getting,
Speaker 3: I think that's perfect with Gino, and I think that's
Speaker 3: going to be really really fun to watch. I am
Speaker 3: curious see if Mike McDonald's defense is truly the Shanahan Killer.
Speaker 3: I know that that was sort of the the energy
Speaker 3: of it in terms of why you make a higher
Speaker 3: like that and swing and swing like that, So it'll
Speaker 3: be I'll be curious.
Speaker 1: Got her by milliseconds.
Speaker 3: I got kicked off the Wi FI.
Speaker 1: I will say two things, Gino.
Speaker 2: The off season worked out great for Gino, right he
Speaker 2: Sam Howe's is backup. They didn't draft anybody of note,
Speaker 2: and then as much as we could spend. That was
Speaker 2: a pretty positive assessment of Seattle to me, clearly the
Speaker 2: third best team in the division.
Speaker 5: That's tough, tough division. But yeah, and the Niners are
Speaker 5: one of those teams. I like teams that feel different.
Speaker 5: And I've always liked Pete Carroll. It's not a Pek
Speaker 5: Carroll thing, but it kind of is time and Mike McDonald,
Speaker 5: like they had this pre draft thing with him and
Speaker 5: John Schneider. It's like, you forget he's thirty six and
Speaker 5: he looks like really young, and it's like, wait a minute,
Speaker 5: what these coaches are like just just past that's agis.
Speaker 1: I like it. I'll say go for it, Pete Carroll.
Speaker 4: They remind me a little bit of the Cowboys, though,
Speaker 4: just in that they're Bill.
Speaker 2: And Pete shipped out of town, earned seventy bye bye.
Speaker 4: Like Seahawks could be very good. I think I don't think.
Speaker 4: I don't see them in the rams, like in a
Speaker 4: different tier of each other. They're they're both a different year.
Speaker 4: But if I had to put them in a pecking yard, right,
Speaker 4: I don't struggle put it this way, if either of
Speaker 4: them were in the NFC South, then I'm putting them
Speaker 4: as negative money to win the division money, including the Seahawks,
Speaker 4: I would I would put in that category. But the
Speaker 4: Seahawks feel a little bit of like the Cowboys, where
Speaker 4: there could be a lot of stress if things don't
Speaker 4: go right this year. There's just like Tyler Lockett, DK
Speaker 4: Gino some of the players on the defense, like are
Speaker 4: they gonna be with this regime long term? Is kind
Speaker 4: of open question?
Speaker 2: All right, we just went around the NFC in around
Speaker 2: forty eight minutes. Uh, let's give it up for Jordan
Speaker 2: Rodrigue and again check out her incredible deep dive journalism
Speaker 2: in sport Alive because of people like Jordan Rodrigue finding
Speaker 2: let me.
Speaker 1: Read it like that headline too. But what what what
Speaker 1: are you shaking your head for here?
Speaker 2: I'm trying to get a plug in a big spot,
Speaker 2: the biggest of all spot.
Speaker 1: Greg's gotta go, oh yeah, I'm good.
Speaker 2: Finding Rams Colon One year behind the scenes of the
Speaker 2: NFL draft scouting process. COMMA Part one. Check that out.
Speaker 2: Check out all of Jordan's coverage of the Rams and
Speaker 2: her NFL projects like this, and uh, you've said it all, Jordan.
Speaker 2: What else can I say.
Speaker 1: I'm so happy she did it, folks, that.
Speaker 2: She was great, and I hope everybody enjoyed it. We'll
Speaker 2: be back next week. Until then, you know what you
Speaker 2: must do.
Speaker 1: Say it, Jordan, Heat the call bang,