Speaker 1: The Around the NFL podcast knows how to pronounce gift
Speaker 1: or is it?
Speaker 2: Jim?
Speaker 1: Welcome to another edition of Around the NFL. My name
Speaker 1: is Dan HANSI heroes here, Mark Sessler, Greg Rosenthal. I
Speaker 1: don't care what your gift, Jiff take is.
Speaker 2: Don't care what is?
Speaker 3: What is your pronunciation?
Speaker 1: Though, Tim, mine would be Giff.
Speaker 3: That's what I'd say.
Speaker 1: And if you say I'm wrong, I don't. I don't care.
Speaker 3: Yeah, irrelevant what anyone else doesn't matter.
Speaker 2: Can you accuse me of not caring about your big
Speaker 2: weather bit yesterday and then it took a fire? People
Speaker 2: are looking for more weather from the zeuser all week.
Speaker 1: Well here's the thing. Here's the thing, and this is
Speaker 1: why I had to push back against your subtle mocking. Uh.
Speaker 1: This was historic weather in Texas and I take it
Speaker 1: as a public service announcement to anyone traveling here just
Speaker 1: to be ready. So in a lot of ways, I'm
Speaker 1: trying to help people, and you were trying to cloak
Speaker 1: the Republican darkness. So where do you align? I mean,
Speaker 1: what were you on January sixth?
Speaker 2: I'd like to hear how many listeners are visiting this
Speaker 2: area of Texas this week? And it was just reminding
Speaker 2: me of a podcast I listened to which I enjoy,
Speaker 2: which Will Go Nameless, which always talks weather for the
Speaker 2: first thirty seconds, And I always think how much better
Speaker 2: that podcast would be if they just didn't do that
Speaker 2: every single show.
Speaker 1: That's all.
Speaker 4: And I believe a gentleman actually reached out to Dan
Speaker 4: thanking him for the information that he provided. Is that untrue?
Speaker 1: I mean, there was just a whole movement, and I
Speaker 1: think there were people that were excited to learn about
Speaker 1: the various climates both here in North America and overseas
Speaker 1: and how they different, how they're similar. I got a
Speaker 1: tweet from someone who pointed out that we are here
Speaker 1: in Texas. Central Texas is south of Baghdad in terms
Speaker 1: of latitude, So you start to look at the Earth
Speaker 1: in a different way, and I think in a lot
Speaker 1: of ways. In addition greg to being safety minded, also
Speaker 1: is informational, and I think we strive for that. We
Speaker 1: haven't won an award this podcast since twenty thirteen Best
Speaker 1: New Podcast Apple. It's time for another one. So maybe
Speaker 1: we change angles here, shift gears and just become a
Speaker 1: lot more information based in terms of teaching.
Speaker 2: Well, we did win the Stitcher Award that was the
Speaker 2: same year, but the award mysteriously disappeared. And I've won
Speaker 2: some awards over the years. If you're watching on YouTube,
Speaker 2: I've got this Lock of the Week Championship trophy. So
Speaker 2: that's one.
Speaker 3: Why did you need to lead Greg down that path?
Speaker 1: I don't know. He found his way there on his own. Listen.
Speaker 1: This is the second podcast of the week as we
Speaker 1: edge into late June, and it's tough. It's tough to
Speaker 1: manufacture content that people will enjoy. So those that find
Speaker 1: us enjoyable this time of year, thank you, and for
Speaker 1: motivation to call back to another conversation from our earlier
Speaker 1: show this week, I want to thank Robert Griffin IID
Speaker 1: for reminding us what it's really all about. Some people
Speaker 1: like to call this the grind. You call it the
Speaker 1: fine because you figure out what you got, and I
Speaker 1: think we got some good stuff.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Rob Well, what you didn't consider Dan is
Speaker 2: grind and fine rhyme.
Speaker 1: So here's the history there. About eleven twelve years ago,
Speaker 1: I was so taken by that press conference. I was
Speaker 1: probably airing live on my little television on the desk
Speaker 1: in our old newsroom in Culver City that I recorded
Speaker 1: it off the TV, uploaded it onto a YouTube page,
Speaker 1: probably put it in some article at some point, and
Speaker 1: then it lived there in complete obscurity. No other digital
Speaker 1: footprint of that interview exists except for this random YouTube
Speaker 1: account that I used once twelve years ago, and now
Speaker 1: I've unearthed it and it has been reintroduced to the world.
Speaker 1: And I would say, check out our YouTube program of
Speaker 1: this episode, so you could a watch it and be
Speaker 1: really enjoy how satisfied RG three is with himself after
Speaker 1: he lands that line. Can I hear it one more time?
Speaker 1: Some people like to call this to grind. You can
Speaker 1: call it the fine because you figure out what you got,
Speaker 1: and I think we got some good stuff.
Speaker 4: The girl behind him, the female reporter behind him, did
Speaker 4: not seem impressed with the slogan. But Dan, how many
Speaker 4: hits does that YouTube video have in this you know, decades?
Speaker 2: Since all right, let's see I want to blow this
Speaker 2: thing up. I also would like to put that on
Speaker 2: our Instagram page with no explanation, just say like hashtag
Speaker 2: weekend motivation and just leave it there. So that's my instruction.
Speaker 1: It has over two thousand views. So let's see where
Speaker 1: we can get it up after today's episode and leave
Speaker 1: some comments as well, because we're sitting hard at zero
Speaker 1: right now in that department. Today's show. It's gonna be
Speaker 1: fun and it's going to be interesting to talk about
Speaker 1: because I found it to be a very sneaky, difficult assignment.
Speaker 1: Ranking the skill positions in the league. This is non quarterback,
Speaker 1: but the weapons that these quarterbacks have to work with
Speaker 1: for each team, ranking one to thirty two the skill
Speaker 1: groups on offense across the NFL. We're going to count
Speaker 1: down that list. And Mark I texted out when we
Speaker 1: were all collectively doing our work on this that it
Speaker 1: got very quickly got into a bit of a murky maze.
Speaker 1: So I'm sure we're gonna have a lot of differences
Speaker 1: in opinion here. You know.
Speaker 4: We came out of the earlier week episode saying, let's
Speaker 4: come up with something kind of fun and interesting.
Speaker 3: But it's June's light.
Speaker 4: And I spent the next I think I spent three
Speaker 4: hours on this on my list and got to the
Speaker 4: point where I started to change things entirely. I just
Speaker 4: got lost in a mental swamp. But in the end,
Speaker 4: I feel good about what I've done.
Speaker 1: I love it.
Speaker 2: It was very instructive because there are some teams you
Speaker 2: think of other their quarterbacks not that good of a situation.
Speaker 2: Then they're sneaky high up on the list. You're like, actually,
Speaker 2: that seems good, and then there's the vice versa. But
Speaker 2: you're absolutely right in terms of time management. Mark, we
Speaker 2: had the fortune of grabbing Hananosberger last night with our
Speaker 2: great friend Lakeisha and our former producer Ricky Hollywood. And
Speaker 2: Mark had mentioned he responsibly did all his work before
Speaker 2: he got there because he didn't want to be going
Speaker 2: home and doing that work at night. And it was
Speaker 2: about eleven thirty pm. And I'm like, forty five minutes
Speaker 2: into this thing on the night before I leave for Japan,
Speaker 2: I'm thinking Mark played that well. I should not have
Speaker 2: left this. This was way more challenging than I wouldn't say.
Speaker 1: It was great.
Speaker 4: It wasn't panic in your eyes, Greg, but it was
Speaker 4: like a dawning of real realization that you had a
Speaker 4: lot of work to do suddenly late in the evening.
Speaker 2: For some reason, I thought it would take ten minutes,
Speaker 2: and that was that was dead wrong.
Speaker 1: I love this because two things here. Why me personally
Speaker 1: the old Zeuser is pumped about today is this is
Speaker 1: rife for a rife setup for Greg's second guessing himself repeatedly.
Speaker 1: Always love that. Think back to our running back draft
Speaker 1: a few weeks ago, and b I do like exercises.
Speaker 1: What that potentially put Mark alone on a take island
Speaker 1: and then Mark has to swim to shore or set
Speaker 1: up a fortress and defend it. Where will Mark go
Speaker 1: when he is on take island all alone with Wilson
Speaker 1: the volleyball?
Speaker 4: Well, and you know, I took a peek at what
Speaker 4: we produced, and there are a couple take island scenarios
Speaker 4: for each of us.
Speaker 1: Excellent, all right, So why don't we get into it. Hell,
Speaker 1: it's quiet news wise, there's a couple of nugs out there.
Speaker 1: We'll kind of bake into this. I think the best
Speaker 1: way to go through this is thirty two to one.
Speaker 1: Otherwise highly anticlimactic, you know, like if we're talking fifteen
Speaker 1: minutes on the Texans wide receiver room, that feels depressing.
Speaker 1: But we'll work our way. We'll be a little quicker
Speaker 1: on the back end of the teams, and then we'll
Speaker 1: give the teams that we believe are truly set up
Speaker 1: for success for their quarterbacks this year a little bit
Speaker 1: more time, So why don't we do that? And we'll
Speaker 1: start with the number thirty two team, And that's no
Speaker 1: surprise here, the Houston Texans coming at thirty two. Eric
Speaker 1: and Randy, our team behind the glass or the virtual
Speaker 1: glass in this case, did a nice job giving us
Speaker 1: a full rundown of how things broke In this case,
Speaker 1: we're all on the same page with Houston at thirty
Speaker 1: one for Mark, thirty one for Greg, and dead last
Speaker 1: for Dan. Is there anything to get excited about here? Mark?
Speaker 4: I mean, I think number one. I'm interested to see
Speaker 4: what Bobby Slowick, the Shanahan disciple, has to do with
Speaker 4: this offense. I've always liked Damian Pierce. I almost considered
Speaker 4: them as a making the Leap candidate in our last show,
Speaker 4: and I know we've talked up Nico Collins before. Dan
Speaker 4: doesn't really buy into that situation. It's a light offense.
Speaker 4: There's not a lot to love. But I just think
Speaker 4: you've got a rookie quarterback, so they're gonna be more
Speaker 4: enjoyable and intriguing than in the past. But I'm very
Speaker 4: comfortable to put them down at thirty one due to
Speaker 4: a lack of weaponry at.
Speaker 2: Least they're young that you can get excited about. You
Speaker 2: got Robert Woods, it's a decent backfield. I like Devin
Speaker 2: Singletary as a backup running back. Like, the thing you
Speaker 2: realize is, first of all, teams are way deeper at
Speaker 2: the scale positions than they used to be because like
Speaker 2: and then for the most part, every team feels better
Speaker 2: about it going into this season than they did to
Speaker 2: end last season. Like, the Texans were awful last season
Speaker 2: at the skill positions for the most part, and they
Speaker 2: look better on paper now. But everyone looks better on paper.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was I had some a couple of bullets
Speaker 1: for myself, and one of them was, there's a lot
Speaker 1: of talent at this level of professional football. So most
Speaker 1: teams have at least one guy, I thought, and we're
Speaker 1: going to get to it at the top of list,
Speaker 1: But I thought, only one team though, has three true
Speaker 1: superstars in the skill positions, and most have maybe one
Speaker 1: big guy. A couple few teams have two. And then
Speaker 1: it's like some teams are deeper than others without as
Speaker 1: many stars. It's very interesting when you kind of dig
Speaker 1: into a little bit. So but we all had Houston,
Speaker 1: We all finished with Houston at thirty two, ahead of
Speaker 1: them thirty one Arizona, thirty Carolina twenty nine, Tennessee twenty
Speaker 1: eight Indianapolis. And I think it's pretty evident with Arizona
Speaker 1: where they're at, we don't need to dig in deep.
Speaker 1: Derek Carolina, they obviously to get Bryce Young, giving up
Speaker 1: DJ Moore by far their best player on offense. In
Speaker 1: a post Christian McCaffrey landscape, who also exited the pitcher,
Speaker 1: they are kind of starting over and trying to build
Speaker 1: that room up. Tennessee and Indianapolis are interesting to me
Speaker 1: because Tennessee still has Derrick Henry, a Hall of Fame
Speaker 1: running back who showed last year, maybe if it doesn't
Speaker 1: have the same gear as a couple of years earlier,
Speaker 1: still a big time player and a statistical producer at
Speaker 1: an elite level. And then the Colts have Greg an
Speaker 1: interesting player and Michael Pitton Pittman as their number one
Speaker 1: wide out, and then Jonathan Taylor, who's under the radar
Speaker 1: as a potential big time bounce back candidate this year.
Speaker 2: Right, those two teams are a good example of how
Speaker 2: deep it is because Taylor and Pittman. That's a good
Speaker 2: one too. Titans have Henry who, yeah, I see declining,
Speaker 2: but two guys I could see making the leap in
Speaker 2: Oconqua who I love in Treylon Burke. So I don't
Speaker 2: think it was as bad as a rookie. So it's
Speaker 2: like it does say a lot that almost every team
Speaker 2: has younger players too behind them that they feel good
Speaker 2: about that these teams are thinner. The one where I
Speaker 2: disagreed with you guys a little bit, and this was
Speaker 2: one of the surprises doing this, was like I had
Speaker 2: the Panthers dead last. There's this idea that it's a
Speaker 2: good situation because he has Frank Reich and uh on
Speaker 2: paper a good offensive line. They played well last year,
Speaker 2: but they have some big injuries. They're coming off of
Speaker 2: interior line. But I had them dead last, like their
Speaker 2: number one receivers DJ Shark or Adam Thielend and like
Speaker 2: Miles Sanders is a blow average starter there. I didn't
Speaker 2: see anything on their skill positions other than Bryce Young
Speaker 2: that's close to average. They were just about dead last
Speaker 2: for me, Like at tight end, Hayden Hurst is okay receiver,
Speaker 2: they're maybe dead last, and running back their mediocre. So
Speaker 2: I had them dead that.
Speaker 1: They're starting over at wide receiver. I in general in
Speaker 1: this exercise, I don't know how you guys did it.
Speaker 1: With one exception the rookie class. I'm just not going
Speaker 1: to get totally pumped up yet. They haven't played football
Speaker 1: at this level yet. But I like Hayden Hurst, I
Speaker 1: guess a little bit more than you. I do like
Speaker 1: Miles Sanders more than you as well.
Speaker 2: I think I like them, But I think if you
Speaker 2: if you ranked them all, would they would either of
Speaker 2: them rank better than average? I don't think so.
Speaker 1: Well, where do we have them Gregy?
Speaker 2: I would if positions, yeah, I have him dead last
Speaker 2: because the receiver position.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I just I don't think there's a lot of variance
Speaker 4: between where I put the that team at twenty eighth
Speaker 4: versus thirty two.
Speaker 2: Now that every other team has kind of like one
Speaker 2: or two guys though, that to me could be stars
Speaker 2: or like real plus starters, and on paper, to me,
Speaker 2: I don't really see any unless mingo super pops.
Speaker 4: I have a question for you, because, like, look at
Speaker 4: the cults, all right, is there some prejudice based off
Speaker 4: how disastrous last year was versus what we're actually looking at?
Speaker 4: Like I'm not saying there's stars on this team. But
Speaker 4: and again, like we were not factoring in Anthony Richardson,
Speaker 4: but Jonathan Taylor, Michael Pittman.
Speaker 3: Alec Pierce.
Speaker 4: A year ago, we were talking about the Cults as
Speaker 4: like a top five team in the AFC and not
Speaker 4: a lot to change except that the offensive line was
Speaker 4: the offensive line was taken apart last season. But if
Speaker 4: that improves, I don't hate this team as much as
Speaker 4: where I put them. This is why I found this
Speaker 4: exercise a bit frustrating. It's like, I don't think these
Speaker 4: teams look that bad, they just are citty where they
Speaker 4: are because of these other teams.
Speaker 1: Well, the Colts are interesting because I think you have
Speaker 1: there has to be recency buys in terms of looking
Speaker 1: at a guy like Jonathan Taylor, who had like a
Speaker 1: peak Jamal Charles season heading into last year and then
Speaker 1: dealt with injuries and the offensive line came down and
Speaker 1: all that factored in. So I guess I'm not as
Speaker 1: high on him coming off a totally lost season. But again,
Speaker 1: we have we're all kind of in the same boat.
Speaker 1: They're pretty low in this exercise.
Speaker 2: Well, he was. He was a huge part of my
Speaker 2: spectacularly bad running back draft, so it's got to carry
Speaker 2: me there.
Speaker 1: He could, he could bounce back. Their line needs a
Speaker 1: back bounce back. But we're not talking about the offensive line.
Speaker 1: I'm also not you mentioned an offensive coordinator Frank w.
Speaker 1: Reich or a head coach, and Frank Reich that is
Speaker 1: known as a play caller. I didn't factor in that either. YEA,
Speaker 1: All right, up next New England. So the Patriots that
Speaker 1: we have at twenty seven, and for Patriots fans that
Speaker 1: are out with the pitchforks or maybe thinking like Dan
Speaker 1: for instance, is burying them and bringing him down. No,
Speaker 1: we're all kind of in the same boat here. In fact,
Speaker 1: Mark and Greg both had him at twenty fourth. I
Speaker 1: had him at twenty seventh, and Greg, you could squint
Speaker 1: and see some some you know, real opportunity for this
Speaker 1: offense to be better. I just talked about Romandre Stevens
Speaker 1: Stevens in our last draft potentially being a big time
Speaker 1: make the leap guy. But it's their wide receiver room
Speaker 1: and suspect tight end group that really holds them back
Speaker 1: for me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they It kind of goes on like what are
Speaker 2: you gonna rank these teams on? Like, let's say them
Speaker 2: versus the Rams. Like the Rams have Cooper Cup, the Giants,
Speaker 2: for instance, have Saquon in Waller. The Patriots don't really
Speaker 2: have that guy. They have Remandre, which could be that guy.
Speaker 2: But they do have a lot of players, so I
Speaker 2: think depth does matter. I think their fourth receiver and
Speaker 2: their second tight end you know they have Gasiki and Henry,
Speaker 2: are better than most teams. And that's probably why we
Speaker 2: all ended up in the same spot. They're not. To
Speaker 2: March's point, like team feels deeper at the scale positions
Speaker 2: than they were seven years ago. I think that's just
Speaker 2: the evolution of how the NFL is.
Speaker 4: And this is I'm with you that I didn't try
Speaker 4: to factor in the coaching staff and Shane Steichen in
Speaker 4: Indianapolis or Bill O'Brien, but it's a little hard to
Speaker 4: I just I don't want to judge the Patriots off
Speaker 4: a last season for what we talked about in the
Speaker 4: last show because it was an absolute apocalypse. So I'm
Speaker 4: fine with where they are, but like I could see
Speaker 4: them being much better than twenty fourth if Bill O'Brien
Speaker 4: makes a big change.
Speaker 2: Well, in a perfect world, they have like four number
Speaker 2: three receivers or four two slash three receivers. There's like
Speaker 2: no hope that any one of those guys is like
Speaker 2: a true one, which is a problem.
Speaker 1: I DeAndre Hopkins ends up in Foxborough this year. They're
Speaker 1: probably moving up for me into maybe as high as
Speaker 1: the late teens or at least twenty twenty to two range.
Speaker 1: But you know, and like I said last week, don't
Speaker 1: let him out of the building. You let him out
Speaker 1: of the building. We'll see what happens with Hopkins. But
Speaker 1: he continues to linger on the market. All right, moving on,
Speaker 1: here's an interest. So the Giants were all kind of
Speaker 1: in lockstep pretty much on the Giants twenty two, twenty seven,
Speaker 1: twenty eight in our rankings Mark gregxam.
Speaker 2: I'm most on an island there. It gets thin there
Speaker 2: pretty quick after Saquon.
Speaker 4: Well, yeah, you know, yeah, I mean I kind of
Speaker 4: want to see what happens with Wan Deal Robinson. I'm
Speaker 4: with you there. They're not weapons rich, but Darren Waller,
Speaker 4: if you get a healthy, good version of him, that
Speaker 4: improves that offense a lot. I mean, I think in
Speaker 4: general they were so well coached that last year they
Speaker 4: were tenth and past Dvoa and seventh and Rush DVA
Speaker 4: with a lesser cast than this. So it's like that
Speaker 4: says a lot about Brian Table. But again, I can't
Speaker 4: I gotta get that out of my head. I can't
Speaker 4: factor that in.
Speaker 1: I got bad. I like the trade at the time.
Speaker 1: In fact, I love the trade, especially when you factored
Speaker 1: in what they gave up. I'm getting the suspect vibes
Speaker 1: on Darren Waller on the Giants. That just doesn't doesn't
Speaker 1: feel right. There, Just a hunch, nothing based on nothing
Speaker 1: else other than I guess his recent production, injury issues,
Speaker 1: changing teams, whether he's really into it, how much he
Speaker 1: was into our presentation. Mark at the Pro Players Training
Speaker 1: for Media Summit when we were asked to give a
Speaker 1: speech on how to make a successful podcast didn't seem
Speaker 1: over them.
Speaker 4: I mean, but let's be honest, that's probably where ninety
Speaker 4: two percent of your take is coming from, because he did.
Speaker 2: You guys overly engaged. I wasn't there. It's called broadcast
Speaker 2: boot camp. I mean, you were engaged enough to real
Speaker 2: we did a wonderful I do like pro players practicing
Speaker 2: for broadcasting.
Speaker 1: At some point, I think broadcast boot camp was thought
Speaker 1: to be too edgy and name I think they gave
Speaker 1: it a new name this year, by the way, But
Speaker 1: I don't know. Yes, maybe he wasn't engaged at the
Speaker 1: boot camp, but I don't know is he engaged at
Speaker 1: all at this point. I know he got paid. We
Speaker 1: shall see the rams. This one's interesting. We have them
Speaker 1: collectively at twenty fifth when we averaged out where we
Speaker 1: had Mark you on him at twenty seven, Greg, you
Speaker 1: had him at twenty six. I had him at seventeen.
Speaker 1: So I'm going to share why I had them at
Speaker 1: seventeen because it was one of the principles I had
Speaker 1: when I was making my rankings. Uh, And the one
Speaker 1: that this one fell under was if you have a
Speaker 1: true X receiver, a true difference maker, a super duperstar
Speaker 1: that just changes the temperature in the room just by
Speaker 1: being on the field, he is actually going to have
Speaker 1: the power to lift you up about five spots than
Speaker 1: just a standard kind of Pro Bowl type receiver. And
Speaker 1: that's what Cooper Cup is to me. He is in
Speaker 1: that different club. So the fact that he's there just
Speaker 1: gives if you have a true star at that level,
Speaker 1: to me, it makes your offense better on than it
Speaker 1: even looks on paper, because he does so many things
Speaker 1: and opens things up, so that matters to me. That's
Speaker 1: why he's higher in fact where you guys have him.
Speaker 1: If I did what didn't think so highly of Cupp
Speaker 1: or that I didn't think of this exercise in that way,
Speaker 1: you guys nailed it. But I decided to give teams
Speaker 1: extra pop for having top tier superstars at certain positions.
Speaker 4: I think that's good logic. I guess, like you'd need
Speaker 4: to get the best version of cam Akers. They did
Speaker 4: sign and bring back Sony Michelle gives them some depth
Speaker 4: behind behind acres, like there's just not a lot going
Speaker 4: on at running back and beyond Cup. You're hoping that
Speaker 4: Van Jefferson coming off of an injury, is able to
Speaker 4: you know, form chemistry with Matthew Stafford. But I just
Speaker 4: this seems like just an unspecial collection of players to me.
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, it's not like the best skill position player.
Speaker 2: It's the skill position group. And you know, I tried
Speaker 2: to write.
Speaker 1: The skill position players greg make up the skill position group.
Speaker 2: So I know, and they only have one good player.
Speaker 1: So one, No, they don't have one good player. They
Speaker 1: have one transcendent talent and Cup. That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: Absolutely but I would say, if you include tight ends
Speaker 2: and running backs, you know our count less, but they count.
Speaker 2: You know, there's like eight to ten of those guys,
Speaker 2: and they do have one of those guys. But I
Speaker 2: tried to do I tried to write out, you know,
Speaker 2: their top five or six skill position players and almost
Speaker 2: like in some sort of order, and after Cup, my
Speaker 2: second choice was Tyler Higbee and so that I we'll
Speaker 2: talk about the bills later, because I disagreed with you
Speaker 2: guys on the bills too. It's like, if your second
Speaker 2: best player that's a skill position player is Higbee or
Speaker 2: Acres or Jefferson, Jefferson's You're two at receiver. To me,
Speaker 2: that's pretty grizzly. And I felt like I was giving
Speaker 2: them a cup bump, even even to put him up
Speaker 2: at twenty six, Like I'd rather have the Patriots group
Speaker 2: than the Rams group.
Speaker 1: For sure, you gave him a cup bump, Greg, tell
Speaker 1: me more a cup Probably.
Speaker 2: It could be thirty two. Otherwise, I mean they could
Speaker 2: be thirty two if it wasn't.
Speaker 1: I agree, if Cooper Cup was not on the Rams offense,
Speaker 1: they probably would be at the very bottom. But he is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I give him twenty six.
Speaker 1: You know, m I understand. I'm not furious about it.
Speaker 1: I get it. I get your logic. All right, Chicago Bears,
Speaker 1: we have at twenty four, uh, and we were pretty
Speaker 1: much in lockstep on that. I think one of us
Speaker 1: was a little higher or a little lower. Mark and
Speaker 1: I both had him at twenty one. Greg, you had
Speaker 1: him twenty fifth, and then we could touch on any
Speaker 1: of these teams. At Green Bay, we were all on
Speaker 1: the same boat. Mark twenty three, Greg twenty one, Dan twenty.
Speaker 1: So they finish at twenty third, and then Tampa Bay,
Speaker 1: let's head to it. Let's head to take island with
Speaker 1: Mark Sessler. Will he build a raft and try to
Speaker 1: escape or will he fortify both? Dan had them at nineteen,
Speaker 1: Greg had them at sixteen, Mark all the way down
Speaker 1: at twenty six.
Speaker 2: You buried the Bucks, you know that?
Speaker 1: For the Bucks and their duo dynamic duo at wide Receiver.
Speaker 4: I can't get out of my memory the I felt
Speaker 4: like I watched twenty seven Bucks games a year ago,
Speaker 4: and you know, fighting off sleep whenever the offense was
Speaker 4: out there.
Speaker 3: And that was with Tom Brady.
Speaker 4: I see what you're saying about Mike Evans and Chris Godwin,
Speaker 4: but I just I'm not you're hoping that Rashad White
Speaker 4: is a capable three down back.
Speaker 3: You got Chase Edmonds behind him.
Speaker 4: Russell Gage is your third wie who I don't hate,
Speaker 4: but he didn't really make a different Slashers wasn't out there.
Speaker 4: Kate Otten is a tight end. I don't know. I'm
Speaker 4: pretty comfortable putting them at twenty six. And that's not fat.
Speaker 3: This total quarterback chaos.
Speaker 2: It's top heavy. It's basically two receivers. But I tried
Speaker 2: to think about, like what if this group was with
Speaker 2: like Andy Reid or Joe Burrow, Like what would I
Speaker 2: expect them to Like I think you could art I
Speaker 2: had them one spot ahead of the Chiefs, for instance,
Speaker 2: who were the world champs. Like they have two great receivers.
Speaker 2: I think Godwin will be healthier. Gauge is a good
Speaker 2: three better than most. You're right, it's a little thin.
Speaker 2: It's a little thin after that, but that's an average group.
Speaker 2: Like I don't think Mayfield and the offensive line might
Speaker 2: not be bad either. By the way, it's not actually
Speaker 2: a bad group around the quarterback, it's just the quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: I've decided I might have had them a little bit lower.
Speaker 1: But I've now decided, as we turned the calendar over
Speaker 1: to twenty twenty three, to be part of the solution,
Speaker 1: not the problem. When people overlook Mike Evans and what
Speaker 1: he's brought to our league nine straight years with a
Speaker 1: thousand yards, that is incredible durability production, you just don't
Speaker 1: see it. Has anybody ever done that? Did Jerry Rice
Speaker 1: even do that? Yes?
Speaker 2: I believe so.
Speaker 4: But I would you say that most of these teams
Speaker 4: chance to make Hall of fame what we're going to
Speaker 4: dig into from here, most of these teams start having
Speaker 4: their version of Mike Evans, whether it's on the ground
Speaker 4: or through the air. I mean, like these rosters are good.
Speaker 4: And I think that Tampa Bay on the whole is
Speaker 4: not a special group, right.
Speaker 2: I think Godwin cut you know, a year removed from
Speaker 2: the Aco that mattered a lot to me. I see
Speaker 2: those both as top twenty five receivers and there's very
Speaker 2: few teams and receiver to me is the most important
Speaker 2: position here. And there's very few teams that have two
Speaker 2: top twenty five receivers. There's probably five in the in
Speaker 2: the Bucks are one of them. And so they got
Speaker 2: to big a just one one thing. Quickly, we all
Speaker 2: ended up agreeing on Green Bay, which is interesting because
Speaker 2: I actually found them maybe the most difficult team to
Speaker 2: rank in this entire exercise. There running backs are awesome
Speaker 2: Jones and Dylan, and then there are receivers. I love
Speaker 2: Christian Watson as a rookie, and then it's Dobbs and
Speaker 2: some rookies. I gave a little rookie pop if I
Speaker 2: like the rookies, but I didn't try to overrate it,
Speaker 2: like it's just a fascinating, weird group. I didn't know
Speaker 2: where to put them. They're not as they're more interesting
Speaker 2: than the Patriots and the Titans of the world. But
Speaker 2: I guess we all kind of agreed in the end.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I'm with you on that. I was
Speaker 1: trying to figure out because I kind of broke it
Speaker 1: down when I was trying to make decisions. I had
Speaker 1: the three star tier, which is just one team. I
Speaker 1: had the two star tier, which I had a group
Speaker 1: of about six or seven, and then the one star
Speaker 1: or close tier. And I couldn't figure out if the
Speaker 1: Packers were the two star tier or a one star
Speaker 1: close tier, and I had them just on the other
Speaker 1: side because Christian Watson, I do want to see how
Speaker 1: he performs with a different quarterback other than one of
Speaker 1: the greats. Ever, but he did show a lot. But
Speaker 1: am I ready to say that guy is locked in
Speaker 1: loaded star? I'm close to it there.
Speaker 3: Well, I'm with you.
Speaker 4: I love their backfield, Aaron Jones, AJ Dillon. I think
Speaker 4: Watson can be a star. Romeo is super intriguing to me.
Speaker 4: It's like there's not a lot not to like. It's
Speaker 4: a great I've moved the packers up and down in
Speaker 4: this exercise like probably fifteen times. That was sort of
Speaker 4: one of the teams that started to make me go
Speaker 4: mentally insane.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I hear that. All right, let's get through to
Speaker 1: into the top twenty and then take a break. We
Speaker 1: had it number twenty one or number twenty, I should say,
Speaker 1: And this one surprised me a little bit. Twenty one
Speaker 1: the Detroit Lions, who we all love the Lions. But
Speaker 1: when you look at the breakdown once again, Mark a
Speaker 1: little bit on take island here he built a fort
Speaker 1: on Tampa Bay. Greg had them at twenty two out
Speaker 1: of thirty two. I had him at twenty three. Mark
Speaker 1: had him up there at fifteen. I think I dinged
Speaker 1: a mark on Jamison william being out of the mix.
Speaker 1: They probably would have been or they would have been
Speaker 1: higher if I could have talked myself into him having
Speaker 1: a big role early on, and he won't because he
Speaker 1: suspended for I think six games. Why do you have
Speaker 1: them in the top of half of the league in
Speaker 1: terms of skill players.
Speaker 4: Well, that's interesting on Williams because the way that I
Speaker 4: did this, when I looked at their roster, there is
Speaker 4: some projection because part of it is like I didn't
Speaker 4: really factor in the suspension because I'm looking just literally
Speaker 4: at the roster, so we did that a little differently.
Speaker 3: I actually don't.
Speaker 4: I'm not in love with David Montgomery, never have been,
Speaker 4: so to me, it's a projection of Jimar Gibbs and
Speaker 4: like Sam Laporta, who has been blowing up the offseason program.
Speaker 4: Those guys need to work out. But this is one
Speaker 4: where I did factor in the rookies a little bit,
Speaker 4: and I maybe factored in Ben Johnson a little bit.
Speaker 4: I guess I shouldn't have done that, but I think
Speaker 4: the Lions, to me, I almost thought I was going
Speaker 4: to come in with one of you guys having them
Speaker 4: higher than me. I thought, if anything, one of you
Speaker 4: guys were gonna like them more. And I'm a little
Speaker 4: surprised with how this turned out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they were one of the teams. I thought this
Speaker 2: was instructive that after doing it, I was like, oh,
Speaker 2: the Lions actually don't have a great, you know, weapons
Speaker 2: group compared to average. I mean a mon Ross. Saint
Speaker 2: Brown's a nice player, but he's your number one. And
Speaker 2: then's who's the guy you're totally counting on behind him.
Speaker 2: I believe Jamison Williams could be interesting. I didn't count
Speaker 2: the suspension, but I've never seen him do anything. And
Speaker 2: then you have Josh Reynolds in there. You have rookies
Speaker 2: that I like, and so I give him a little
Speaker 2: bump for that, or else they wouldn't even been as
Speaker 2: high as twenty two. But it's a little shallow.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what I took out of the exercise too,
Speaker 1: is like, oh, good job by you, Ben Johnson, right right,
Speaker 1: It's not like, oh, it's not like with the Chiefs,
Speaker 1: for instance, Like, well, but then you have Patrick Mahomes,
Speaker 1: it's Jared Goff. Then who's making all this go? And
Speaker 1: maybe maybe we got to give Jared goff Moore respect
Speaker 1: because that offense was a top five offense last year
Speaker 1: in many many metrics.
Speaker 4: I think it's tough because you can't factor in the
Speaker 4: fact that their offensive line is a dominant group that
Speaker 4: really turns the key on the whole thing GC mark
Speaker 4: g c G c uh.
Speaker 1: But perhaps you did because they're very high in your rankings.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, like I when I maybe maybe some
Speaker 4: improper procedures leaked into this exercise for me with some teams.
Speaker 1: Uh oh, Wilson, the volleyballs floating over the tide on
Speaker 1: that one a little bit.
Speaker 2: You know, he's not standing strong. You were saying, what
Speaker 2: do you what do you stand strong? On his takes?
Speaker 3: Or he would yet I wouldn't move them. I wouldn't
Speaker 3: move them.
Speaker 4: But I think it's just that we did it a
Speaker 4: little differently because you're saying you don't want to really
Speaker 4: almost factor in rookies, and with Detroit I did.
Speaker 1: Got it? Okay? Uh finally before we take a break,
Speaker 1: this one was another very interesting one to me, and
Speaker 1: it's really how you how you choose to look at them.
Speaker 1: What do they call it the rors test? Is that
Speaker 1: how you pronounce it? Yeah? Yeah, the Atlanta Falcons kind
Speaker 1: of are that for our podcast and for this exercise pacifically,
Speaker 1: there's so much to like about it, but at the
Speaker 1: same time, how much is actually proven? So you look
Speaker 1: at the Falcons and again Mark take Island Part three.
Speaker 1: Greg has him up at fourteen. I have him at eighteen. Mark,
Speaker 1: you have them all the way down at twenty five,
Speaker 1: which really surprised me because You're such a big fan
Speaker 1: of the Falcons. This is the only team really where
Speaker 1: I kind of got maybe in over my skis about
Speaker 1: a rookie because I'm like, all right, running back v
Speaker 1: Jean Robinson. You put him with Drake London, who we
Speaker 1: talked about and are making the Leaf series a couple
Speaker 1: days ago. You take Kyle Pitts and you project him
Speaker 1: maybe finally finding his way, and that's a in terms
Speaker 1: of like triplets, that gets you very excited. Where did
Speaker 1: you How did they end up at twenty five? For you?
Speaker 1: Do is it just the lack of proven entities here?
Speaker 4: I really ding them for what's happening behind Drake London
Speaker 4: at wide Receiver with Mac Hollins and Scottie Miller. An
Speaker 4: injury to London leaves them totally capsized through the air.
Speaker 4: Unless Kyle Pitts becomes what we need them to be
Speaker 4: this season. I trust they can run the ball. I
Speaker 4: think this is a team where like I think, I
Speaker 4: still am fascinated by the Falcons, and I think they're
Speaker 4: gonna be a punishing ground based team obviously, and I
Speaker 4: think Arthur Smith can make all these parts work. But
Speaker 4: just looking at them on paper, they've got their wide
Speaker 4: receiver position is hard to look past.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's surprising. Dan Mark is the one that's way
Speaker 2: down on these Falcons guys. But I did notice Dan
Speaker 2: he I don't know if you heard this, he said,
Speaker 2: we need Kyle Pitts. That's what we need. He's already
Speaker 2: that's a WE team from Mark.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this one, this would be the most stunning entry
Speaker 1: of anyone. Mark putting them in the bottom they're a
Speaker 1: bottom third offensive skill position and their quarterbacks Desmond Ritter.
Speaker 2: That's fair. I'm probably projecting too much, especially with Pitts,
Speaker 2: because I still think of him as a top ten
Speaker 2: tight end and it hasn't happened. I'm thinking of bees
Speaker 2: On as a top and running back. You gotta see it.
Speaker 2: But I looked at it like when you write all
Speaker 2: the names out and this is where we like. Why
Speaker 2: we like the Falcons, I think, Mark, they're so different.
Speaker 2: They have five guys that I believe in Drake London,
Speaker 2: Kyle Pitts, Bijon Robinson, yeah boy, Tyler Rausier and Cordrell Patterson.
Speaker 2: You're right, they don't have any wide receivers, so it's
Speaker 2: very funky. But I do believe in those five guys.
Speaker 2: Fourteen Now, even in hindsight might be a little rich.
Speaker 2: I'm doing the thing where I'm questioning myself, but I
Speaker 2: would only move them down a couple spots because those
Speaker 2: are five dudes that I think can make plays. A
Speaker 2: lot of them are running backs, and so maybe you
Speaker 2: ding them a little bit for that, but there's still
Speaker 2: they're dudes that look nice and big coming up.
Speaker 1: Compelling group, Yeah, unproven, but super compelling.
Speaker 4: If you But if you said, if the exercise was,
Speaker 4: let's rank backfield potential, like they'd be top three or
Speaker 4: four for me.
Speaker 3: If not, Sheven Hunt.
Speaker 2: Just how about guys that you wouldn't want to mess
Speaker 2: with in the dark alley?
Speaker 3: I think yeah, I feel that way about that.
Speaker 1: Yep, sexy. All right, let's take a break. We'll be
Speaker 1: right back. All right, we're back. Let's move now into
Speaker 1: the top twenty, starting with the Denver Broncos. All right,
Speaker 1: we had a big difference in opinion here, Mark, you're
Speaker 1: off the hook. You had him at twenty. I had
Speaker 1: him at twenty four. This time it's Greg Rosenthal who
Speaker 1: has the Denver Broncos all the way at number twelve.
Speaker 2: Jeez, why well could hell? I think I rewarded depth.
Speaker 2: But you're right, they don't have the superstars. But Judy Dulsi,
Speaker 2: who I like a lot, Courtland Sutton, Tim Patrick, kJ Hamler,
Speaker 2: you like a little Marvin Mims in the draft, Javonte Williams,
Speaker 2: samajp Ryan. So they overwhelmed me with just like NFL
Speaker 2: players who are good.
Speaker 1: So many NFL players on the Broncos. What? So many
Speaker 1: NFL players on these Broncos.
Speaker 2: I just mean, like, not many teams have that many,
Speaker 2: Like they could survive a lot of injuries. They're deep.
Speaker 2: They're like a much better version of the Patriots, where
Speaker 2: they have like a bunch of people, but their people
Speaker 2: are more talented. I think they're a little more talented
Speaker 2: in that talent. Wasn't you know able to flourish last year.
Speaker 4: I feel like though this is the second, if not
Speaker 4: third year in a row that we're pumping up Denver's
Speaker 4: skill position group. And it's like they outside of samajip Ryan,
Speaker 4: who I like, like in a role, like they had
Speaker 4: all these guys last year and I know, I know
Speaker 4: that it was a coaching debacle and your quarterback fell
Speaker 4: off the side of the earth, But uh, when when
Speaker 4: are these players going to become what we're asking them
Speaker 4: to become.
Speaker 2: When they're healthy? Like literally, and maybe I shouldn't, I
Speaker 2: shouldn't ding them more for health, but literally every single
Speaker 2: one has had a major injury. Williams Hamdler, Patrick Sutton, Dulsitch, Judy,
Speaker 2: I guess just missed a bunch of time one year.
Speaker 2: But he's been the healthiest. It's a it's been a
Speaker 2: banged up group, which is.
Speaker 1: Now never for that group? Yeah now or never? All right,
Speaker 1: let's uh move on, all right. This one was a
Speaker 1: little different. I think this one. I was on Take
Speaker 1: Island a little bit of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Oh no,
Speaker 1: I wasn't, but I had him the highest, So I
Speaker 1: had him as the number eight offense in terms of
Speaker 1: skill players around their quarterback in the league. Mark, you
Speaker 1: were in the same boat as me. You had him
Speaker 1: at eleven, Greg, you had him down at twenty. I
Speaker 1: guess I'll start on this one. I think this is
Speaker 1: kind of similar to what you're saying with the Broncos, Greg,
Speaker 1: but I thought in a more proven way where you
Speaker 1: look at their depth chart and we saw how the
Speaker 1: offense came together last year. I really like what we
Speaker 1: saw from their wide receivers. Christian Kirk made everybody look
Speaker 1: dumb last year for saying they paid too much for him.
Speaker 1: He was a real asset and a weapon for Trevor Lawrence.
Speaker 1: You add Calvin Ridley to this mix now, and you know,
Speaker 1: we don't know what we're gonna get from Ridley. But
Speaker 1: he was a star, an emerging true star with the
Speaker 1: Falcons before he had some personal issues and then the
Speaker 1: gambling suspension, and now he has this fresh start. I'm
Speaker 1: guess giving him the benefit of doubt that he's gonna
Speaker 1: at a young age still be a performer. And then
Speaker 1: Travis atn I saw him as another emerging star on
Speaker 1: offensive running back. So I like what they're doing a
Speaker 1: running back. I like their wide receivers. I think Evan
Speaker 1: Ingram showed a lot and is a perfect match with
Speaker 1: that quarterback. I think it's just a really rock solid core,
Speaker 1: even if there's no like superstar jumping out at you.
Speaker 4: Yeah, i'd say like because we were in the same place,
Speaker 4: so I won't belabor the point. But I actually had
Speaker 4: them a little bit higher for seventy five percent of
Speaker 4: the sexualized, then bumped them down a bit.
Speaker 3: But I agree with you.
Speaker 2: I I guess I'm just giving more credit to Doug Peterson,
Speaker 2: like I've seen Zay Jones and Christian Kirk elsewhere, and
Speaker 2: Evan ingram Etn's a nice running back to me. You know,
Speaker 2: he's not special to me. He's not a top ten guy,
Speaker 2: and so I was guess I was giving it more
Speaker 2: a little bit to the scheme was making these guys
Speaker 2: who are more like number three receivers look better than
Speaker 2: they are. I mean, Jay Jones turned into a pretty
Speaker 2: reliable player, and they're all fine, but I feel like
Speaker 2: if you put them on a team without a good
Speaker 2: coach or in a good system, they would not look
Speaker 2: very good.
Speaker 1: So all right, fair enough, Moving on to number seventeen
Speaker 1: the Saints. This one was the most predictable one for
Speaker 1: me because I knew I would probably have him the lowest,
Speaker 1: and I knew Greg would have him the highest, and
Speaker 1: sure enough Mark HadAM right in between Greg and I
Speaker 1: and I have him at twenty six. Greg, you had
Speaker 1: him at eleven. I had him at twenty six because
Speaker 1: I'm not high in Alvin Kamara anymore. I think he's
Speaker 1: played his best football. I do factor in guys not
Speaker 1: being on the field because I'm looking at to twenty
Speaker 1: twenty three and I don't think he will be I
Speaker 1: think he'll be suspended, but he hasn't been special for
Speaker 1: a couple of years now. Michael Thomas, I'm done waiting
Speaker 1: for that ship to come back in. I think at
Speaker 1: best he is a serviceable number two if he could
Speaker 1: be on the field, but I don't think that's anything
Speaker 1: I should ever be assumed. I do love a lave so,
Speaker 1: but I'm not at the level like of a Cooper
Speaker 1: Cup where he's gonna give me those extra bumps to
Speaker 1: get him up five more spots. So that's why I
Speaker 1: had him there. Do you have them just outside the
Speaker 1: top ten in the entire league?
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm way higher on Kamara. I think it
Speaker 2: was better last year playing through an injury, someone that's
Speaker 2: a factor, but I could see a monster year. To me,
Speaker 2: him and a Lavi are two stars, So they're a
Speaker 2: two star team for me. And then the others are
Speaker 2: very high upside intriguing players, Juwan Johnson, Michael Thomas, Rashid Shaheed.
Speaker 2: So there's they're not all going to hit those three.
Speaker 2: But if you got two out of those to hit
Speaker 2: and you have the two stars that I believe like that,
Speaker 2: that's an explosive skill position group.
Speaker 4: And I'm right between the two of you, So I
Speaker 4: vaguely agree with both of what you just said.
Speaker 1: Nice, I think that I think you were the one
Speaker 1: that was right. I think that's where this comes in. Hey,
Speaker 1: speaking of disagreements. Now it's zeus Or truly on take island.
Speaker 1: Because the Washington football team, also known as the Commanders,
Speaker 1: are at sixteen on this list, right in the middle,
Speaker 1: and Greg, you mark, you had him at fourteen, Greg
Speaker 1: at thirteen. I had him down at twenty two. I
Speaker 1: guess I should defend my take here. I like Terry McLaurin.
Speaker 1: He's excellent. I think he's he's not a true superstar
Speaker 1: wide receiver. He's just below Johan Dotson is interesting. I
Speaker 1: guess CURTL. Samuel was kind of who they thought he
Speaker 1: was gonna be when they first signed into that big contract.
Speaker 1: So that's pretty good. The running back room is is
Speaker 1: what it is. Brian Robinson, Antonio Gibson, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I guess I was tell me why I should be
Speaker 1: more excited about this group?
Speaker 3: Can I?
Speaker 4: Well, I'd start with Johan Dotson. I'd really like him
Speaker 4: a lot. McLaurin. Dotson and Curtis Samuel are a high
Speaker 4: quality trio. I like the running backs more than you do.
Speaker 4: I think, especially what I think Brian Robinson can get.
Speaker 4: Logan Thomas has always fascinated me. I will say this
Speaker 4: with the same cast of characters they were last year
Speaker 4: twenty ninth and rushing DVOA in twenty six In past
Speaker 4: DVOA and they there was a lot of quarterback chaos,
Speaker 4: but it wasn't the worst quarterback play in the league.
Speaker 4: That's sort of like they remind me of Denver, where
Speaker 4: it's like I want to outside of McLaurin, like the
Speaker 4: rest of you guys, like this should be a better group.
Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe we had them a little high mark, but
Speaker 2: I see them as average, like McLaurin is a true one.
Speaker 2: To me, I'm not going to fight that hard. I
Speaker 2: see that, and then the others. The other positions are
Speaker 2: all just like solid. You know, we're solidly average. Logan
Speaker 2: Thomas is a little bit of a question, but I
Speaker 2: think it's a good group overall. I don't think they
Speaker 2: have excuses at this point. They've been building this team
Speaker 2: for four years. I think they've done a decent job
Speaker 2: at it. It's like it's go time, and.
Speaker 1: Yet they're starting a former fifth round pick with very
Speaker 1: little experience or proof of past success. But whatever, We'll
Speaker 1: see what happens. The Cleveland Brown is another one where
Speaker 1: I was higher on the group than you boys were.
Speaker 1: Seventeen for Mark, eighteen for Greg. I had him in
Speaker 1: the top ten. I had as a top ten group
Speaker 1: around Deshaun Watson. I think Amari Cooper is I put
Speaker 1: him kind of right in that class with Terry McLaurin,
Speaker 1: where I see him as a true number one, even
Speaker 1: if he's not at the level of like the DK
Speaker 1: metcalf or Justin Jefferson or Cooper Cup solidly an X
Speaker 1: receiver you can pound the table for and improved that
Speaker 1: last year. They have to me, the best running back,
Speaker 1: the best power running back in football and Nick Chubb,
Speaker 1: Derrick Henry fans can can debate that, but Chubb, I
Speaker 1: think just does it all the best, you know, pure
Speaker 1: power and speedback in the league. At this point, it
Speaker 1: gets a little thin at wide receiver, and having lived
Speaker 1: through Elijah Moore, I am not buying into all the
Speaker 1: offseason hype pieces, but in Cooper, in Chub and Chubb
Speaker 1: that kind of sold me on this two star put
Speaker 1: him in that territory. With Chubb being the example, like
Speaker 1: I said with Cooper cup earlier, a true superstar is
Speaker 1: going to pump him up, pump a team up about
Speaker 1: five spots for me in this ranking, and that's how
Speaker 1: they got from middle of the pack to top ten.
Speaker 4: You know, I struggled, like I was like going in.
Speaker 4: I thought the Browns would be higher in my list,
Speaker 4: and not for past fan connections, but just that they've
Speaker 4: done a nice job this offseason and I think you've
Speaker 4: got to project that. Yeah, there's been a lot of
Speaker 4: hype around Elijah Moore, but they've talked about how well
Speaker 4: he's fit in the attack. So if that worked, suddenly
Speaker 4: last year's really weak wide receiver group because I think
Speaker 4: Donovan Peoples Jones fits as a two to three type guy.
Speaker 4: He's a little inconsistent and a Joku's a little inconsistent,
Speaker 4: but when he's good, he's fun to watch.
Speaker 1: Harrison can I just also one thing, Mark, not to
Speaker 1: interrup him, sorry, but in Joko, I meant to bring
Speaker 1: him up. I love in Djoku, and I thought him
Speaker 1: and Watson showed a lot of potential as a pairing
Speaker 1: last year, even though Watson was so inconsistent. I could
Speaker 1: really see him blowing up if Watson gets back to
Speaker 1: being a high end starter, which I think is certainly
Speaker 1: in the position. So it really was for me Chubb
Speaker 1: Cooper and and then having a vibe that in Joku
Speaker 1: could be a Pro Bowl guy this year.
Speaker 4: I just think nin Jokhu's a frustrating watch because when
Speaker 4: he's good, he looks great, and then there are some
Speaker 4: incredible drops. I think, I look up and down this roster,
Speaker 4: there's just some inconsistency. But you we can't factor in
Speaker 4: the offensive line and the quarterback playing all this other stuff.
Speaker 2: I mean, come at him as average, Mark, I think
Speaker 2: it does show how deep skill position groups are that
Speaker 2: they're coming out as average. I thought they'd be higher too,
Speaker 2: but their best players are running back, so I do
Speaker 2: dig them for that. Cooper's not a one to me.
Speaker 2: We've kind of learned that, like when I said, like
Speaker 2: the Bucks have two top twenty to twenty five, or
Speaker 2: you know, I'd put Godwin and Evans both over Cooper. Uh,
Speaker 2: and then it I like more in people's jones, but
Speaker 2: that's that's not an amazing in amazing group. So they're
Speaker 2: like a little blow average, not bad.
Speaker 1: Oh, right, Number fourteen the New York Jets. This time
Speaker 1: it was Mark at sixteen, Greg at nineteen. I had
Speaker 1: him nine, sir as he is he drinking that green
Speaker 1: juice always?
Speaker 3: That is not a stunning result.
Speaker 2: But their number two receiver is who is their number
Speaker 2: two receiver? I would say Corey Davis is actually their
Speaker 2: second best receiver. I know they're not paying Blizard that way,
Speaker 2: but in terms of having a.
Speaker 1: Nice, right real I mean, Corey Daves is your second
Speaker 1: best receiver. They like Alan Blizard a lot, and what
Speaker 1: he brings to the offense and what his past success
Speaker 1: or knowledge of the setup with Aaron Rodgers is. I
Speaker 1: think Garrett Wilson is going to be a superstar this year.
Speaker 1: I think Breese Hall that's the big question. Maybe if
Speaker 1: I could do it again, I would have dropped him
Speaker 1: a couple spots out of the top ten because I
Speaker 1: can't just assume he's going to be the guy he
Speaker 1: was immediately before the injury. So Breese Hall, though, to me,
Speaker 1: flashed as a potential superstar running back. I just like
Speaker 1: their depth at wide receiver. It's another group that's maybe
Speaker 1: not after Wilson, filled with stars, but I do like
Speaker 1: the idea of having Wilson, Corey Davis, Alan Lazard, McCole,
Speaker 1: Hardman as your four. I think they're gonna be productive.
Speaker 1: I think you're gonna see better production at tight end
Speaker 1: with the real quarterbacks you do. Zama, I think as
Speaker 1: a tight end that could do some things in a
Speaker 1: real offense. And then it comes down to his Bresall Breeshall.
Speaker 1: I wonder if they're gonna end up Dalvin Cook. I'm
Speaker 1: kinda I keep on seeing that floated by different beat
Speaker 1: scribes in that area that you know they are monitoring
Speaker 1: that situation, and especially knowing Breeshall's medical situation, the Cook
Speaker 1: ends up there, that would be a good fit for them,
Speaker 1: But I'm going to I'm gonna follow the volleyball a
Speaker 1: little bit on this one and say maybe I should
Speaker 1: have dropped him two or three spots. But it's only
Speaker 1: because I'm a little too bullish on Breeshall being immediately himself.
Speaker 1: Otherwise I love to set up around rogers.
Speaker 2: Many a little bit in my exercise of like who's
Speaker 2: the second best skill position player in Breese Hall's is
Speaker 2: a second year player coming off of torn Aclso to me,
Speaker 2: it was just such a cliff fall. It's a little
Speaker 2: like the Bills. So I had even lower than then.
Speaker 2: We haven't gotten to but I had them lower where
Speaker 2: it's like you have one great player and that's about
Speaker 2: and then it's just okay, guys.
Speaker 4: I feel like if Breesce Hall is healthy and he
Speaker 4: is who he was last year, I'd hate to shadow
Speaker 4: him with Dalvin Cook. I just wanted him to touch
Speaker 4: the ball as much as he can. I'm not in
Speaker 4: love with Alan Lazard and Mikole Hardman. I guess as
Speaker 4: much as you are, do.
Speaker 1: Fair, I'm not in love with them. I just think
Speaker 1: they're depth pieces that give. They just have it's solid
Speaker 1: behind Wilson's But it's not like Yeah, it doesn't blow
Speaker 1: you away. I get that. Pittsburgh they come in at
Speaker 1: number thirteen on this exercise, and let's take a look
Speaker 1: at where they fell. Mark, you had Pittsburgh at nineteen.
Speaker 1: I had them at fifteen. Greg, you had them as
Speaker 1: a top ten unit at number ten. Tell us why?
Speaker 2: Cause, like their top five positions are good? I mean,
Speaker 2: I guess that's what I really leaned on. Like, if
Speaker 2: you have above average starters at four positions, then you're good.
Speaker 2: Nowji Harris is good. Pickens and Johnson is a nice tandem.
Speaker 2: You have a very good tight end in Friar with
Speaker 2: your third is you know, Alan Robinson and gets a
Speaker 2: little thin after that, it's like not the worst thing.
Speaker 2: So they're they're plus at a lot of positions and
Speaker 2: they're gonna get better. Like, I think it's safe to
Speaker 2: say these are this is a young team that gets better.
Speaker 1: Surprised here, Mark, because I know you have we just
Speaker 1: talked about making the leap. You have Pickens as making
Speaker 1: the leap at wide receiver to being like a number
Speaker 1: one type guy. Why are they down at nineteen?
Speaker 4: I think this is one team that I struggled with
Speaker 4: and I kind of want to I need to see it.
Speaker 4: I need to see this growth. I think there's a
Speaker 4: lot of there's good players here. There isn't a great
Speaker 4: player here. I'm not as big on Nause Harris as
Speaker 4: some people are, so I guess you know, when you
Speaker 4: do this, it's like, could you convince me they're more
Speaker 4: like fourteen or something?
Speaker 3: Sure, it's how the chips fell a little bit.
Speaker 4: But I just don't see one player that absolute I
Speaker 4: can trust to dominate defenses.
Speaker 1: That's fair, fair, all right, Let's move on to oh
Speaker 1: next team Number one on the urgency meter field Zeuser,
Speaker 1: the Buffalo Bills. Have they built enough around Josh Allen?
Speaker 1: A big question? DeAndre Hopkins a team, a player that's
Speaker 1: been connected to this team. They certainly probably could use him,
Speaker 1: especially according to Greg Rosenthal, who has him as the
Speaker 1: twenty third ranked team just you know, almost a bottom
Speaker 1: third skill position group in the league. Mark and Dan
Speaker 1: were in lockstep on this one. Mark at ten, Dan
Speaker 1: at eleven. I gave a preemptive league Greg, I'll tell
Speaker 1: you again. Stefan Diggs, I'll give I gave him a
Speaker 1: bump because I think he is a true one wide receiver.
Speaker 1: Hopefully he's in a good mindset to continue to be
Speaker 1: that way. And then when I looked at the rest
Speaker 1: of the depth chart, I was like, I was looking
Speaker 1: at him. I was like, Okay, I think they did
Speaker 1: a good job here. I think they need another guy.
Speaker 1: But Gabe Davis, you have a tight end. You have
Speaker 1: Dawson Knox and Dalton Kincaid. Again first round pick. You
Speaker 1: don't know what you're gonna get from them, so I
Speaker 1: didn't put too much into that. And then at running back,
Speaker 1: James Cook and Damian Harris, who I've always liked, so
Speaker 1: I really like kind of that combo is an upgrade
Speaker 1: this year. At running game with the Digs, bump is
Speaker 1: how I got there.
Speaker 2: I do like their backfield that it's cheap, and you're right,
Speaker 2: maybe I didn't give enough value to true number one
Speaker 2: receivers like Diggs because I love Diggs. At first, I
Speaker 2: had them even lower, and I was like, I'm being
Speaker 2: too hard on the Bills. I had them at like
Speaker 2: twenty six to twenty seven. It's a pretty steep fall
Speaker 2: from Stefan Diggs to your second most explosive, slash reliable
Speaker 2: player that I'm excited about is probably Dalton Kincaid. I
Speaker 2: mean gave Davis is not a good two. The running
Speaker 2: the backfield's okay. I mean they're hoping to be average,
Speaker 2: I guess. So I get to me, you have like
Speaker 2: one receiver and it's a pretty big drop off to
Speaker 2: these teams that have three, four or five receivers. I
Speaker 2: guess I was just thinking of, like, if you gave
Speaker 2: Josh Allen, and I'm just picking some teams that were
Speaker 2: a little lower on your guys as maybe higher and
Speaker 2: mind like, you give Josh Allen the Saints or the
Speaker 2: Broncos or the Commanders weapons like, I think he'd be
Speaker 2: cooking even more. I think Josh Allen has covered up
Speaker 2: a lot in Buffalo and good coaching in that and
Speaker 2: we're not taking that into account.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean they were second in passing Dvoa with
Speaker 4: a thin cast last year. For me, a lot of
Speaker 4: it is Kincaid, But this is one where it's hard
Speaker 4: to look at the skill position group and say, well,
Speaker 4: nothing matters here if you don't have Josh Allen. Like
Speaker 4: the whole thing centers around the quarterback as much as
Speaker 4: with any quarterback in the entire league. So it's I
Speaker 4: think he elevates their play and I.
Speaker 1: Know last year was a little bit tough, and maybe
Speaker 1: some of the digs drama where a lot of the
Speaker 1: digs drama is going back to the shift away from
Speaker 1: Brian Dable and maybe the offense not working as well
Speaker 1: last year, especially struggled in the red zone. Josh Allen
Speaker 1: wasn't as good. But I'm looking at that wide receiver room.
Speaker 1: I know most people have forgotten about it now, but
Speaker 1: I remember you gave Davis. I remember you going eight
Speaker 1: for two oh one and four touchdowns in the greatest
Speaker 1: playoff game of the century, arguably Chiefs forty two Bills
Speaker 1: thirty six the thirteen second game. There's something in there
Speaker 1: with Gabe Davis. I think there's a chance you could
Speaker 1: see him get unlocked. And if he does, and they
Speaker 1: could really turn him into a true number two, they're
Speaker 1: gonna be humming. I think it's one of the big
Speaker 1: subplots of the year is that Bill's offense is it
Speaker 1: going to get back it's swaggering and be that dominant
Speaker 1: unit because it was a lot of hard work last year,
Speaker 1: surprisingly hard work. With Dable out of the picture.
Speaker 4: Gets could this be the team that goes and gets
Speaker 4: DeAndre Hopkins? Though that would change a lot, and I
Speaker 4: know the digs. There's reports that digs. You know, part
Speaker 4: of his frustration was that he really wanted them to
Speaker 4: go get DeAndre Hopkins.
Speaker 2: I mean, my vote barely made a dent. I guess
Speaker 2: this is why it's good to balance it out. I
Speaker 2: had him twenty third and they still ended up twelve,
Speaker 2: and you guys had him tenth and eleven. So it's
Speaker 2: like it's like my vote didn't even matter.
Speaker 1: Math baby all right now just outside the top ten.
Speaker 1: And this is perfect because they don't deserve to be
Speaker 1: in the top ten. But I don't just reactive Anti
Speaker 1: America's team takes. We don't do that either. So the
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys are at number eleven. Wow, Mark, you had
Speaker 1: him at number six in the league. Greg and Dan
Speaker 1: were in lockstep at fifteen and fourteen. You love yourself,
Speaker 1: some Tony Pollard and some CD lamb. What else do
Speaker 1: you like?
Speaker 4: Brandon Cooks, Michael Gallup a year removed from physical chaos.
Speaker 4: You have to hope that Jake Ferguson can step in
Speaker 4: for Dalton Schultz. But you know, when this team is,
Speaker 4: when they're vibing, I think they're one of the better
Speaker 4: offenses around, and I think they figured out what happened
Speaker 4: like last year with wide receiver Brandon Cooks, to me,
Speaker 4: will be a plug and play, totally productive guy. And
Speaker 4: I don't see a real weakness with this group of players.
Speaker 1: I think the Michael Gallop thing I'll push back against
Speaker 1: a little bit, just because, in a true Cescilarian way,
Speaker 1: you referred to it as a physical chaos of a
Speaker 1: year ago. But that was two years ago. Last year
Speaker 1: was the first season back from the ACL and.
Speaker 4: Well that's what I mean, though I don't think we
Speaker 4: got that player last year, right.
Speaker 1: But I for me, that puts me in a holding
Speaker 1: pattern on Galop because he came back from the injury.
Speaker 1: Wasn't the same guy, Kenny now two years removed. They're
Speaker 1: close to two years removed, be the guy where he
Speaker 1: looked like, oh he was maybe emerging number two or
Speaker 1: a star wide receiver maybe, But I think the jury's
Speaker 1: out on this. Some guys just aren't the same after
Speaker 1: they suffer a serious knee injury.
Speaker 2: See like their ceiling is quite high. I could see
Speaker 2: why Mark you would put them at six. I think
Speaker 2: Dan and I had him in the middle because Cook's Pollard
Speaker 2: and Gallop are all a little bit distressed assets, you know,
Speaker 2: like Cooks is not the Cooks of five years ago.
Speaker 2: Good player will help, Pollard is coming off a serious
Speaker 2: injury now, and Gallop everything Dan said about him. So
Speaker 2: if they get the best versions of all three of
Speaker 2: those guys, like that is an incredible looking top four
Speaker 2: skilled guys.
Speaker 1: Also, who's their tight end.
Speaker 2: Ferguson maybe or the rookie schoon mocker.
Speaker 1: I mean, so that's it doesn't seem right. There should
Speaker 1: be like a serviceable white guy like anchored there somewhere
Speaker 1: Ferguson play.
Speaker 2: They played Ferguson and who is that other guy with
Speaker 2: a great.
Speaker 3: Names they played them started eight games last career.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he played a lot.
Speaker 1: They do seem down a serviceable white though.
Speaker 2: I think Ferguson kind of like is the definite Like
Speaker 2: if he if he pans out, he is your guy,
Speaker 2: Jake Ferguson.
Speaker 1: Wait, fingers crossed, All right, let's move into the top
Speaker 1: ten please at number ten the Los Angeles Chargers. How
Speaker 1: did we do on this one? Eight? Nine eight for Mark,
Speaker 1: nine for Greg, sixteen for Dan. I think I'm a
Speaker 1: little bit coming out of my I love Mike Williams
Speaker 1: keenan Allen tandem era. Just because of injuries and the
Speaker 1: idea at this point where penciling them in in June
Speaker 1: to just be a stud combo. I just it doesn't
Speaker 1: fly for me anymore, because I know that's just not
Speaker 1: how it goes with these two guys. When they are
Speaker 1: in the field, they excite me, but they're not typically
Speaker 1: on the field together. I know you have a first
Speaker 1: round pick and Quentin Johnson there that he's going to
Speaker 1: get a lot of snaps most likely, but we don't
Speaker 1: know what you have there. Gerald Everett is fine to me.
Speaker 1: And then the running game. I love Eckler. Eckler's awesome,
Speaker 1: but because of the Alan Williams constant injuries thing, it
Speaker 1: has depressed them for me, just a little bit.
Speaker 2: To me, I depressed them to put them down to
Speaker 2: eight or nine, because if everyone's healthy there, Josh Palmer
Speaker 2: is your third or your fourth. I think Josh Palmer
Speaker 2: is a good player. Like that's a top three or
Speaker 2: four group, and so I'm trying to bake in a
Speaker 2: little injury concern because otherwise this is a fantastic group.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm with you, and I guess I hadn't factoring
Speaker 4: that Quentin Johnson's going to be exactly what they need.
Speaker 4: I really think he's gonna fit with them, And to me,
Speaker 4: I just see depth all over the place.
Speaker 1: We have at number nine the Kansas City Chiefs and
Speaker 1: Dan and had him at seven, Mark had him at nine. Greg,
Speaker 1: you had him down at seventeen. I was a little
Speaker 1: bit surprised that I had them as high as I
Speaker 1: did when I kind of went through it all. But
Speaker 1: then I kind of thought about what we just talked
Speaker 1: about this week about Kadarius Tony and my belief, and
Speaker 1: then I gave that super duper star bump to Travis Kelcey,
Speaker 1: who Greg, I know, ear muffs, but he really is
Speaker 1: closing in and really building the argument as the greatest
Speaker 1: tight end to ever play the game. Shows no signs
Speaker 1: of slippage, So they get the bump because they just
Speaker 1: have this all world talent that commands all sorts of
Speaker 1: attention and game res season after season.
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't need to just put on my
Speaker 2: ear muffs. How about how about Mike Dicka, how about
Speaker 2: how about Kellen Winslow Senior? How about Shannon Sharp?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 2: Why why are these guys all just getting definitely passed up.
Speaker 2: They all racked up All pros, Tony Gonzales and Tonio Gates,
Speaker 2: Like he's in that conversation, that's all.
Speaker 1: And is wait, are you saying he's behind all of
Speaker 1: those guys.
Speaker 2: No, but I don't think he's like way ahead of them.
Speaker 2: I think the league's changed. And they were incredibly valuable
Speaker 2: in their eras because the game was different and they
Speaker 2: blocked and and that was a big part of some
Speaker 2: of their games. And they're like their first team All pros. Yeah,
Speaker 2: they they are all very similar.
Speaker 1: Actually, Okay, great respect.
Speaker 2: I feel like the year after years and in agreeing
Speaker 2: with me here.
Speaker 1: As he as he racks up All pros, super Bowls,
Speaker 1: as he does unforgettable things in the playoffs, takes over
Speaker 1: game after game.
Speaker 2: And but you said the greatest of all time, And
Speaker 2: I think I didn't say that.
Speaker 1: I said he's really building the argument, and.
Speaker 2: I think you're But first team All Pro is a
Speaker 2: great way to measure it. And all all of those
Speaker 2: guys are competitive or have more than him, So I
Speaker 2: think it's okay to say if we're saying all time,
Speaker 2: like they got to be in the in consideration, he
Speaker 2: is getting older though. He's turning thirty four this year,
Speaker 2: and their second best receiver is Valdez Scanting or Tony
Speaker 2: and the backfield is okay, And so to me, I
Speaker 2: think it's just a measure of Mahomes's greatness and Andy
Speaker 2: Reid's greatness. If you gave this group of weapons to
Speaker 2: a young quarterback, everyone would say they are not helping
Speaker 2: him out enough.
Speaker 4: I'm with you entirely, like it was almost impossible for
Speaker 4: me to not look back at last year with a
Speaker 4: hodgepodge cast of characters that come out first in offensive DVOA.
Speaker 4: It's you gotta separate Mahomes from this exercise, but I
Speaker 4: just kind of feel the way they all fit together.
Speaker 4: I just trust the results. And maybe that's a shaky
Speaker 4: way to do this, but I just I trust the results.
Speaker 1: Kelsey has played basically nine seasons, and he's been either
Speaker 1: first or second team All Pro and seven of the
Speaker 1: nine seasons. His age thirty three season, one hundred and
Speaker 1: ten receptions, three hundred and thirty eight yards averaging twelve
Speaker 1: point two yards per catch, twelve touchdowns, and beyond that,
Speaker 1: beyond just the counting numbers, we've all watched a million
Speaker 1: Chiefs games in January and February now, and the guy
Speaker 1: is just different. He is the dude when you need
Speaker 1: somebody to make a play, he never lets that team down.
Speaker 1: And I just he's He's in that rare class. And
Speaker 1: I think about the greatest playmakers in like ATM history
Speaker 1: since we started this pods in twenty thirteen. The guy
Speaker 1: gotta have it, Like give me Travis Kelce, He's gonna
Speaker 1: go get it for me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, love it guy. I think what Gronk did was
Speaker 2: more dominant while he played in terms of first team
Speaker 2: All Pros and stuff like Tony Gonzalez gets forgotten. He
Speaker 2: is a six time first team All Pro and a
Speaker 2: ton on the second team too, And that's all. It's like,
Speaker 2: you had these guys that were totally dominant in their era,
Speaker 2: and I just don't want to over overreact and just
Speaker 2: say like he's the best of all time because he
Speaker 2: plays in this era. That's all.
Speaker 3: Well, you're a measured historian and we appreciate that.
Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, you did. You were the same guy and
Speaker 1: that you weren't wrong though that you've been talking about
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahones is like the best ever since.
Speaker 2: Is because I think you can use your own evaluation
Speaker 2: and you see it, and I.
Speaker 1: Well you can. I can't. That's what you're saying, got it.
Speaker 2: I mean you can. And that's why I disagree, like
Speaker 2: we were allowed to disagree. I to me, he's not
Speaker 2: as as special as Gronk was during his peak. I
Speaker 2: think Gonzales actually is a good comp for him. For
Speaker 2: his era. Gonzalez racked up more like first team All
Speaker 2: pros and stuff like that. But I think they're very similar.
Speaker 1: All right, Mark, decide it, Bronk or Kelsey. Who do
Speaker 1: you want for one game?
Speaker 3: Gronk?
Speaker 1: All right, Greg, you win, go off to Japan. Now
Speaker 1: fly off. Not you don't even need a plane.
Speaker 2: I got a bird to catch you. Gotta fly all right.
Speaker 1: The Baltimore Ravens, this one wasn't surprising. Mark Hadham at twelve.
Speaker 1: I had him at thirteen. Seems sensible. Greg had him
Speaker 1: at number eight. Why Gregy, Why are they.
Speaker 2: So high depth? I mean they have the one of
Speaker 2: the best three tight ends in the league. I love
Speaker 2: Jay and Andrews, I love Dobb and then yes there's
Speaker 2: projection at wide receiver, but Beckham, Bateman, Flowers, Aglar, you
Speaker 2: have a nice backup tight end. And Isaiah Likely. To me,
Speaker 2: you just have a lot of guys. I think that
Speaker 2: was where I guess differed from you guys, Like if
Speaker 2: you had seven guys that I kind of liked, you
Speaker 2: ended up pretty high on my rankings. And the Ravens
Speaker 2: were that team.
Speaker 1: I mean they're high in our rankings too, right.
Speaker 2: That's yeah.
Speaker 4: I think we're Adam at twelve, like I almost I
Speaker 4: see like Isaiah Likely is like a fringe making the
Speaker 4: leap type guy. You've got Mark Andrews in front of you,
Speaker 4: but that is a really promising player. I guess for me,
Speaker 4: it was just like Rashan Bateman. Seen it in moments
Speaker 4: here and there, but can you do it for an
Speaker 4: entire season?
Speaker 3: Who are you?
Speaker 4: Zay Flowers were hoping on Odell Beckham. Where are you
Speaker 4: at this point? So I kind of ding them a
Speaker 4: little bit on a wide receiver group that looks better
Speaker 4: on paper than what reality may present.
Speaker 2: Chargers above them.
Speaker 1: Now in hindsight, this isn't a new take for me.
Speaker 1: But you know, I thought Becking got too much money.
Speaker 1: I don't think he's been an elite player for years now.
Speaker 1: I know he had a nice run in the playoffs
Speaker 1: a couple years ago, but they also blew out his
Speaker 1: knee in that Super Bowl game. Just expecting him to
Speaker 1: be a you know, four month playmaker is just asking
Speaker 1: a lot. I I just don't see it, but Baltimore
Speaker 1: obviously does because they gave him fifteen million dollars guaranteed.
Speaker 1: It's crazy. The Vikings are at seven as a group.
Speaker 1: I don't think we were in lockstep on this one either.
Speaker 1: Not too bad. Actually, actually it's pretty good. Mark at seven,
Speaker 1: Greg at five, and Dan at twelve.
Speaker 4: I actually get a bonus when I put them at
Speaker 4: seven and they actually land at seven, or we all
Speaker 4: should because it took all our votes to do to
Speaker 4: do that.
Speaker 3: But you know, it's like a bingo right there.
Speaker 1: It's really nice.
Speaker 2: I like Jordan Addison. Maybe I'm projecting too much, but
Speaker 2: I like him a lot as a two, in Osborne
Speaker 2: as a three, and Hockinson's a nice tight end. It's
Speaker 2: a nice group, all right.
Speaker 1: The last team outside the top five is the And
Speaker 1: also they get for me the Justin Jefferson bump best
Speaker 1: wide receiver in the league. Even with Adam Fleeland now
Speaker 1: gone and dal McCook gone, you got Jefferson and he
Speaker 1: makes the entire team. What do you think the boat
Speaker 1: but the tie that lifts all boats got it nailed
Speaker 1: at Vegas at number six, thirteen for Mark but six
Speaker 1: for Greg, four for Dan. This is a great group
Speaker 1: of skilled players. I think for Jimmy Garoppolo or whoever
Speaker 1: ends up being the quarterback, Mark, why did you have
Speaker 1: him depressed a little bit compared to your colleagues here?
Speaker 4: I don't know, I get you know, this is maybe
Speaker 4: some bias. I'm just well son well like because with
Speaker 4: Josh Jacobs, all right, I guess I'm in that camp
Speaker 4: of like I want to see it happen again. H.
Speaker 4: I wonder if Hunter Renfro will be on this roster.
Speaker 4: There's been trade whispers around him.
Speaker 2: But he's now it's on and now you had to
Speaker 2: count them.
Speaker 4: Sure, But like, I don't love the tight end group. H.
Speaker 4: Demante Adams is a true star. I don't know.
Speaker 3: I don't really trust. This is one where I baked.
Speaker 4: In the whole overall raiders like coaching staff mill you
Speaker 4: where I'm just like, I'm not sure I buy this.
Speaker 2: That's why I like this exercise. I think if you
Speaker 2: separate him out from being the raiders, you're like, Wow,
Speaker 2: this is a really good group, especially if mayor Michael
Speaker 2: mayor the rookie tight end pans out. But Renfro is
Speaker 2: a great a Grete three Jacobs is a great running back.
Speaker 2: You have a great one.
Speaker 1: It's a night if you The Myers, I think is
Speaker 1: a really good roster fits right number two behind Adams.
Speaker 1: It's just a lot. There's lots of light there, and
Speaker 1: it's you.
Speaker 2: Know, like imagine if Josh I keep saying this, but
Speaker 2: imagine if Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes or someone had
Speaker 2: this group would be like they would be going freaking b.
Speaker 1: Freaking bananas, is right, Greg, you bring it back bananas.
Speaker 4: You remember with them at thirteen that I was going
Speaker 4: to get be in a weird camp there.
Speaker 1: Do you feel good about it?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Because I still think they're gonna win like seven games.
Speaker 2: I feel good because Raiders fans have something to be
Speaker 2: happy with us about, at least Danny and I. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's like the one. It's like the nicest thing we've
Speaker 2: said about the Raiders in a while.
Speaker 1: Okay, there's only one team in the entire exercise that
Speaker 1: what we all agreed on, and we're not getting to
Speaker 1: them yet. But there's one other team that we all
Speaker 1: virtually universally agreed on but not quite the Seattle Seahawks
Speaker 1: and Mark you had him at number five, Greg you
Speaker 1: had him at number four. Dan had him at number five.
Speaker 1: That is a really good set up around Geno Smith,
Speaker 1: perhaps you know, making up for the fact that the
Speaker 1: quarterback is actually average. But you know that's you know whatever,
Speaker 1: he made the most with great weapons. It was an
Speaker 1: unfair dig, but I threw it out there.
Speaker 2: I mean, part of it. Is there better this year
Speaker 2: than a year ago? Smith and Ja yes, yes, please,
Speaker 2: okay a healthy hopefully Kenneth Walker stays healthy. But then
Speaker 2: you add zak Sharbon ain't nice little rookie like even
Speaker 2: the tight ends like Phant and Disley, like that's a
Speaker 2: slide tight end group. Everything is solid and the receiver
Speaker 2: group ranks with anyone.
Speaker 1: I feel like I like dk metcalf a little bit
Speaker 1: more than other people, like some people put him at
Speaker 1: like number ten. I think he's like a top five
Speaker 1: talented that at wide receiver in the league. I love
Speaker 1: me and Lockett is just I mean, name me a
Speaker 1: better like one two duo that you can count on
Speaker 1: to just put numbers up year after year.
Speaker 4: These guys keep nailing the draft and altering and improving
Speaker 4: the roster. And I think that Jackson's number one there.
Speaker 4: But Zach charbon A, like he came out, he averaged
Speaker 4: seven yards of carry last year, had over the last
Speaker 4: two seasons twenty five hundred yards and twenty seven touchdowns.
Speaker 4: And they're talking about unless someone who literally is battling
Speaker 4: for the number one job. They've got a super deep backfield.
Speaker 4: I just see no weakness here with the Seahawks. I
Speaker 4: started them lower and I kept moving them up and
Speaker 4: up and up the list.
Speaker 2: Also, I believe I saw Zach Sharboney at the Westwood
Speaker 2: in and out. It was during draft season, and I
Speaker 2: were they were obviously football players, and I thought it
Speaker 2: was him, and then I like googled it on my phone.
Speaker 2: I'm like, yeah, pretty sure that's him. So shout out
Speaker 2: to Zach. If you're listening, that was me.
Speaker 1: In the old days. Greg, if you were working at
Speaker 1: the PFT, that might have been a post about it.
Speaker 1: Is sharbon A taking his training seriously at the fast
Speaker 1: food joints.
Speaker 2: He got the lettuce, you know, the lettuce animals.
Speaker 1: Though, all right, we're closing in now, on the end
Speaker 1: of it. Uh, the Miami Dolphins come in at number four.
Speaker 1: We're all feeling hot about the Dolphins. Uh, Mark at four,
Speaker 1: Greg at seven, Dan at three, I mean, Gregy, I mean,
Speaker 1: I know seven is not a bad Sunday, but you
Speaker 1: got Jalen Waddle and Tyreek Hill. Dolphins fans are raising
Speaker 1: their hands. No, we have the best one to two
Speaker 1: punch Barrios is whatever to me as your slot. But
Speaker 1: maybe an upgrade tight ends a little bit of a hole,
Speaker 1: I guess, but moster Jeff Wilson, maybe they end up
Speaker 1: with dal McCook. I look at it, and maybe I'm
Speaker 1: putting a little too much on the one two punch
Speaker 1: at wide receiver. But hot, damn, that is someone two
Speaker 1: punch speed kills.
Speaker 2: It's awesome and in retrospect, maybe I shouldn't have the
Speaker 2: Vikings ahead of them. But you mentioned it. The third
Speaker 2: receiver and tight end. That's two positions that seem a
Speaker 2: little below average to me. So it didn't quite match
Speaker 2: up with these other teams.
Speaker 1: Okay, that's fair. That's fair. I'm looking at it again.
Speaker 1: Maybe I should have toned that down. By the way,
Speaker 1: Tyreek Hill is involved with issues with the law once again,
Speaker 1: an altercation in which he's accused of, I think slapping
Speaker 1: somebody in the head. It's unclear if it's going to
Speaker 1: lead to any charges at this point, but the Dolphins
Speaker 1: are aware of it, the league's aware of it. Tyreek Hill,
Speaker 1: keep your damn nose clean, brother, Come on now, keep
Speaker 1: an eye on that situation if it becomes something bigger.
Speaker 1: The Cincinnati Bengals coming at number three on our list.
Speaker 1: Two for Mark, three for Greg, six for Dan. I
Speaker 1: think the only reason two things I wanted to talk
Speaker 1: about the Bengals with this. First of all, Joe mix
Speaker 1: and we don't even know if he's on the team,
Speaker 1: but even even if he's not on the team, he's
Speaker 1: no longer Joe Mixon it appears anyway based on his
Speaker 1: play last year. And then the only other thing I
Speaker 1: want to kind of keep an eye on here, like
Speaker 1: I want Jamar twenty twenty one back before I'm ready
Speaker 1: to crown the Bengals wide receivers as the best triplets
Speaker 1: in the league. I just thought like, if you kind
Speaker 1: of examined his season a little bit closer last year,
Speaker 1: he was just not and I know there was an injury,
Speaker 1: but I'm factoring in kind of before and after the injury,
Speaker 1: he was not nearly as explosive in terms of playmaking.
Speaker 1: And then you know, I kind of looked at his
Speaker 1: stats because that's how it felt, and sure enough, he
Speaker 1: actually had more cat eighty seven catches, but he had
Speaker 1: nearly five hundred and four hundred and fifty yards less.
Speaker 1: His yards per reception dropped from eighteen to twelve, which
Speaker 1: is pretty substantial. So in general, he was much more
Speaker 1: of a possession receiver in year two compared to year one,
Speaker 1: where he was just blowing up the league and running
Speaker 1: through and passed and around guys. I'd love to see
Speaker 1: that guy again and feel like he is super duper star.
Speaker 1: Jamar Chase I didn't think he was last year.
Speaker 4: Well, I mean there's I think a couple things like
Speaker 4: the injury factor, the way that teams were no longer
Speaker 4: surprised by him on an level and had another offseason
Speaker 4: to plan for him. T Higgins becoming a genuine star.
Speaker 4: I hear what you're saying, but I think that we're
Speaker 4: going to get that player back where I almost I
Speaker 4: put them in number two. But I have to say
Speaker 4: that that's hoping that like the tight end position isn't
Speaker 4: a complete fail because there's just there's not a lot
Speaker 4: going on there. And if you got a lower version
Speaker 4: of Chase, they would not be the number the second
Speaker 4: best offensive skill position group in this exercise.
Speaker 2: Right, they're hoping Nerve Smith is the dude to tight
Speaker 2: end and we'll see. I thought, you know, pound for pound,
Speaker 2: I take them as the best three receiver group in
Speaker 2: the league. I think you made a really interesting point.
Speaker 2: We've never talked about that with Chase. He did have
Speaker 2: more yards per game, though, and I guess I look
Speaker 2: at it like they he found a way to be
Speaker 2: extremely productive. He was still like a top five or
Speaker 2: six guy in terms of yards per game. You know,
Speaker 2: he missed five games, so the total yardage was down,
Speaker 2: and he did it in a different way, and you
Speaker 2: want him to get back to being explosive, but he
Speaker 2: still found a way to really impact every single game.
Speaker 1: Do you know how his yards per game is only
Speaker 1: higher because the targeting was relentless. I mean he played
Speaker 1: just twelve games and was still targeted more times than
Speaker 1: he was targeted in seventeen. Yeah, that's when he.
Speaker 2: Takes what the defense gives you. They adjusted, You're right,
Speaker 2: it was shorter, and that's less exciting. But Higgins, I mean,
Speaker 2: Higgins to me is a top fifteen receiver. I just
Speaker 2: love Higgins. So the fact that two of them are
Speaker 2: on the same team and you have a great number
Speaker 2: three in Boyd, it was just too much. It overwhelmed
Speaker 2: everything else for me.
Speaker 1: I guess I yeah, I just want to make a
Speaker 1: clear I'm not like down on Chase. I just thought
Speaker 1: like it was he felt more like Justin Jefferson in
Speaker 1: year one, and then year two just felt a little different.
Speaker 1: His yards per target also was down from eleven four
Speaker 1: to seven point eight, so it was just a little
Speaker 1: bit different. I'm curious to see what it looks like
Speaker 1: in year three for Jamar Chase. All right, now we're
Speaker 1: into the number two team and it is the Philadelphia Eagles.
Speaker 1: The Eagles we all love Mark. You HadAM at three, Greg,
Speaker 1: and I had them at two. And what else has
Speaker 1: to be said? Greg? I mean you did, and I
Speaker 1: gave you a shout out on Twitter. Greg, your projected
Speaker 1: Starter series is great resource for things like this, and
Speaker 1: you just look, you look at their both sides of
Speaker 1: the ball, really, but the offense too. They just have
Speaker 1: done such a great job building up every area of
Speaker 1: their team in the salary cap era, it's hard not
Speaker 1: to be jealous as a fan of a different team. Right.
Speaker 2: The Bengals, I said, are the best three receiver group
Speaker 2: wide receiver, but the Eagles are the best three pass
Speaker 2: catcher group. Brown, Devanta godd Her to me are all
Speaker 2: you know God mode there, God are It's so underrated,
Speaker 2: Like he leads the league in yards after the catch
Speaker 2: per you know, per catch over the last couple of years,
Speaker 2: which which is crazy. And I love DeVante and the
Speaker 2: running back room has enough players between Swift and Game
Speaker 2: one penny they think, I think they'll be fine. So
Speaker 2: they're awesome. And you mentioned that on Twitter. I wish
Speaker 2: I could have responded, but I've been locked out of
Speaker 2: my Twitter account for a week and a half. Haven't
Speaker 2: What if you had two factor authentication? You know, they
Speaker 2: told us to sign up for the old two factor
Speaker 2: and then I got a new phone at work. They
Speaker 2: erase the old phone. Did the second factors go to
Speaker 2: the old phone? So you know, I've contacted Twitter customer
Speaker 2: service and whatnot. It's a ghost town over there. If
Speaker 2: anyone works at Twitter and wants to somehow help me, out, that.
Speaker 1: Goes that number goes straight to like Elon Musk's burner
Speaker 1: phone for his side people.
Speaker 2: So I don't know. I might be done that that
Speaker 2: might that account might be done. I've tried every troubleshooting
Speaker 2: thing possible. I'm logged out, and I don't know.
Speaker 1: It's just I know we we work for a fifteen
Speaker 1: billion dollar company, Greg, we have the strong arm of
Speaker 1: the shield. You want to maybe get them on the
Speaker 1: case to try to help you.
Speaker 4: I've had these issues before, and like our social team
Speaker 4: has actually jumped in and been great because.
Speaker 2: A unique one and they're helping and I think they're
Speaker 2: going to get it done. But but yeah, I was
Speaker 2: looking at it. Maybe it's a sign I'm about to
Speaker 2: go to Japan. Would it be the worst thing in
Speaker 2: the world to have, like a five week break from Twitter?
Speaker 2: I haven't I haven't minded the last week and a half.
Speaker 2: It's been okay, it's been okay.
Speaker 1: I'm missing a lot on Twitter right now. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of submarine stuff, a lot of Titanic stuff, a
Speaker 1: lot of heat waves stuff. Have I mentioned the.
Speaker 2: Heat The thing I missed the most is live sports,
Speaker 2: like ten I follow a lot of tennis people. And
Speaker 2: then when the NBA Finals, the game the game five
Speaker 2: was on Great Game, and I was like, I believed
Speaker 2: I want to I want to see.
Speaker 4: I'd set up a burner account, Greg and have a
Speaker 4: second account. I know you that was suggested to you
Speaker 4: last night when we were with Erica and Lakeisha, that
Speaker 4: you just, you know, don't worry about this one, just
Speaker 4: start over, start a new one. He's got like four
Speaker 4: hundred and seventy thousand followers, Like I don't think it's
Speaker 4: going to be that easy to start for New Resistence.
Speaker 2: If we get to training camp, but and we haven't
Speaker 2: figured this thing out, that that is what I will do.
Speaker 1: Finally, the number one offense in case you haven't been
Speaker 1: able to figure it out, is.
Speaker 2: Yes, you know it.
Speaker 1: The San Francisco forty nine ers mark deep all over
Speaker 1: the place and for me in my uh when I
Speaker 1: was going through it, the only team that has three
Speaker 1: true stars and Christian McCaffrey, the best all round running
Speaker 1: back in the league, Deebo Samuel, the best kind of
Speaker 1: do it all wide receiver in the league. George Kittle,
Speaker 1: who is a Hall of Fame level talent who showed
Speaker 1: last year he still had a Ton left in the
Speaker 1: tank and then Brandon Ayuku, I think is knocking on
Speaker 1: the door as like a star in his own right.
Speaker 1: At wide receiver as well. I mean you can't beat that.
Speaker 4: I'd throw Elijah Mitchell in there as a really productive packer. Absolutely,
Speaker 4: Kyle Yuscheck, I mean, the one of the only fullbacks
Speaker 4: matters any.
Speaker 2: Jon Jennings has really developed into a nice Jenny's third receiver.
Speaker 2: They've settled on their third receiver.
Speaker 1: Guy.
Speaker 4: This was I mean, I'm sure for all of us,
Speaker 4: but I just like I put them at one and
Speaker 4: didn't never looked back. It was it was more about
Speaker 4: where to put the Bengals and the Eagles. But they've
Speaker 4: consistently they're star studded and these each of the players
Speaker 4: have perfect roles. They're perfectly used. And I mean, I
Speaker 4: just say to look at the what you saw the version.
Speaker 4: We got a Christian McCaffrey. If he stays healthy, I mean,
Speaker 4: they're almost unstoppable. I think they just baffled defenses. There's
Speaker 4: no way how do you figure out how to stop them?
Speaker 4: It doesn't matter he's playing quarterback.
Speaker 1: Right, You take this scroup and you put a great
Speaker 1: offensive line and gifted young play caller and Kyle Shanahan.
Speaker 1: You just need a serviceable quarterback that can make it
Speaker 1: all go. And that's you know, that's the way it's worked.
Speaker 1: And I wrote about this on NFL dot com this
Speaker 1: week about the forty nine ers and where they are
Speaker 1: right now. Doesn't it feel like the Niner should have
Speaker 1: a Lombardi Trophy or two? For the past dozen years,
Speaker 1: you had those great teams under Harbaugh and got so close,
Speaker 1: and now you've had these great teams under Shanahan. They've
Speaker 1: had six playoff appearances in twelve years, too painful near
Speaker 1: misses in the Super Bowl, and now here they are
Speaker 1: again knocking on the door hoping to get some QB locked.
Speaker 1: But like the window is open right now with this
Speaker 1: offensive group because who knows how long you could keep
Speaker 1: them all together.
Speaker 2: Well, not only like six, you know, playoff appearances, they
Speaker 2: made the conference finals in all six, so they were
Speaker 2: in the final four six times.
Speaker 1: Good call.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's painful. They got it. It's true. It's tough
Speaker 2: to be that team that gets keeps getting so close.
Speaker 4: I'd say if you factor in Kyle Shanahan's Super Bowl
Speaker 4: loss to the Patriots with the Falcons the coach has
Speaker 4: been through a lot of January and February disappointment, Like
Speaker 4: I give him credit.
Speaker 1: Don't forget about the Rams NFC title game loss two
Speaker 1: years ago as well.
Speaker 3: And they keep, they keep.
Speaker 4: It's you don't see a lot of football teams that
Speaker 4: go through things like that and keep returning year after year.
Speaker 4: And that says a lot about to me, a lot
Speaker 4: about him as a coach.
Speaker 1: What that he can't close and he blows it all out.
Speaker 4: Well, there's that side, But the other side of the
Speaker 4: coin is like, you know, way Abraham Lincoln lost an
Speaker 4: election like eighteen times before he won one, So yeah, he.
Speaker 1: Lost at Ford's Theatre too, does that make him?
Speaker 4: Yeah he did, and that was the ultimate loss. I
Speaker 4: don't know why you needed to take it in that direction.
Speaker 1: When did Lincoln Ford's Theatre's jokes become not too soon?
Speaker 1: Like what was the year? What do you think, like
Speaker 1: nineteen oh seven.
Speaker 3: Something like that, Yeah, like early nineteen times the.
Speaker 1: Open season on the Ford Theater jokes like turn of
Speaker 1: the century maybe.
Speaker 2: Just what like people are writing letters back and forth
Speaker 2: and it's like, you know, Gustavius is sending it. It's
Speaker 2: like too soon for that joke my friend.
Speaker 1: So I've noticed it's been a real uptick in the
Speaker 1: last couple of years of like like nine to eleven
Speaker 1: bits and stuff, And it's like, is that was that
Speaker 1: only twenty years? Is that? Is that? What it is?
Speaker 1: Maybe it was eighteen sixty eighteen eighty five?
Speaker 3: Are there a lot on the track like nine to
Speaker 3: eleven bits? Flip? Like there's a cropping up.
Speaker 1: Surprising amount, surprising amount on the internet I find I'll
Speaker 1: throw I'll send you some memes and things of that.
Speaker 3: Yes, send me some. I want to discover what you're
Speaker 3: looking at.
Speaker 1: All right, inappropriate all of them? I say, good stuff, Greg,
Speaker 1: you got to catch a bird. You're heading to Tokyo.
Speaker 1: Any final thoughts before let's let's let's save our pop
Speaker 1: culture thoughts. The show went not surprisingly longer than we expected,
Speaker 1: so we're going to put those in our back pocket
Speaker 1: for now, but you could share your thoughts before you
Speaker 1: catch that bird.
Speaker 2: You do get this feeling on days like you're about
Speaker 2: to take a little vacation or you're going overseas and stuff,
Speaker 2: and you just have that It's like a kid like
Speaker 2: feeling of excitement. I woke up excited today. You feel
Speaker 2: grateful for what you have to like this. We've had
Speaker 2: a tough offseason as a group, but there's there's no
Speaker 2: two guys that'd rather be doing this with. We're having
Speaker 2: fun and this is a nice time of year for us,
Speaker 2: so we better enjoy it.
Speaker 4: It was nice, Greg, almost a great statement. I wish
Speaker 4: you luck in Japan.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I will be a couple of shows there, but it
Speaker 2: won't be for a week and a half.
Speaker 1: I think the one one of the big things I
Speaker 1: took away from COVID in the lockdown year or so,
Speaker 1: how much not having something to look forward to affected me,
Speaker 1: you know, whether it was a meet up with friends
Speaker 1: or a vacation or this that when you were just
Speaker 1: locked in this like nothing else going on, that is
Speaker 1: what I missed the most. Like now you were looking
Speaker 1: forward to this trip to Japan and now you're off.
Speaker 1: And finally, last thought this coming from behind the virtual glass.
Speaker 1: Social psychologists colon it takes thirty six days after a
Speaker 1: tray before jokes about it become funny. That's not true.
Speaker 1: Thirty days is indeed too soon. Thirty six years maybe
Speaker 1: thirty six days. I don't buy that, all right, Greg?
Speaker 1: With that, with that information, to the far East with you.
Speaker 2: Good luck all right.
Speaker 1: To everybody else. Have a great weekend. We'll see you
Speaker 1: on the other side. Mark you and me buddy with
Speaker 1: Connie Fox on Tuesday.
Speaker 3: I'll see you then.
Speaker 1: Heed the call.