Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast is the Lebron James of
Speaker 1: NFL podcast. True. Welcome to another edition of the Around
Speaker 1: the NFL Podcast. I'm your host, Colleen Wolf, and I'm
Speaker 1: joined by a room filled with heroes. We got Patrick
Speaker 1: Clavn in the house, we want Chris Wesling, and we
Speaker 1: got Greg Rosenthal. Yeah. So Mark Sessler is doing his
Speaker 1: civic duty today. Um, he got roped into jury duty.
Speaker 1: So we have no idea when we will ever see
Speaker 1: him again. Well, according to Mark, the trial it goes
Speaker 1: through May eleven. He thought he was going to get
Speaker 1: out of it entirely when we last spoke to him,
Speaker 1: and then he found out he is on it and
Speaker 1: it goes through May eleven. So I guess he's out
Speaker 1: all of next week. How didn't he try to bomb
Speaker 1: the interview portion of this. There's got to be at
Speaker 1: least of Mark that wants to be on jury. Yes,
Speaker 1: I completely believe that a man of high character, he's
Speaker 1: not gonna he's not gonna lie on the on the
Speaker 1: jury thing. Plus they don't really exactly okay, they don't
Speaker 1: really ask you anything, or at least my experience was.
Speaker 1: I thought in my head, maybe I'll try to subtenly
Speaker 1: do it, and they never never really even was possible.
Speaker 1: I actively tried to get picked and they were like, nah,
Speaker 1: it's not I didn't have that similar experience. We don't
Speaker 1: want this guy. Well, Colleen, Uh, it all started back
Speaker 1: in alright, So, um, Dan hands is he's off. I
Speaker 1: don't know where where is Dan? Nobody? I think he's
Speaker 1: off the group. I think he's going to Vegas with
Speaker 1: some friends. He's going to hang out with Spice Rack.
Speaker 1: He is, I think so for as you know him,
Speaker 1: pepper Mill. I could be wrong. I think that's where
Speaker 1: he's going. All right, So Dan and pepper Mill in
Speaker 1: the desert. That's cool. I'm sure they'll have some great
Speaker 1: stories about that. But as you guys heard earlier this week,
Speaker 1: we did around the a f C and forty eight minutes,
Speaker 1: So that means today is around the NFC in forty
Speaker 1: eight minutes. But um, we also have some news we
Speaker 1: gotta get to. We didn't have that last week or
Speaker 1: a couple of days ago. So let's get into it
Speaker 1: with Matt Ryan first getting paid, and he agreed to
Speaker 1: a new five year, one fifty million dollar deal that
Speaker 1: makes him the league's first thirty million dollar per year
Speaker 1: quarterback Tom Pelicero. First report at this, we knew it
Speaker 1: was coming, but now it's official. Greg, there's not much
Speaker 1: to say with these quarterback contracts as they get updated.
Speaker 1: I'm kind of tired of making my same argument each time,
Speaker 1: which is that they're all worth it, and that they're
Speaker 1: all underpaid relative to other positions in the NFL, and
Speaker 1: especially with Matt Ryan compared to some of the other
Speaker 1: guys who have gotten on a much smaller resume recently,
Speaker 1: like Derek Carr Jimmy Garoppolo. Ryan's so safe to me.
Speaker 1: I mean, he followed up an MVP season with a
Speaker 1: really good, i think underrated season a year ago, and
Speaker 1: it's kind of a no brainer. It's just it's the
Speaker 1: cost of doing business. And Aaron Rodgers will pass him
Speaker 1: as the next hundred million dollar man in in a
Speaker 1: few weeks or a few months. Yeah. If Kirk Cousins
Speaker 1: on the open market is worth twenty eight or twenty
Speaker 1: nine million dollars a year, Matt Ryan would have got
Speaker 1: maybe thirty eight or thirty nine million dollars if he
Speaker 1: ever made the open market. It was his general manager,
Speaker 1: Thomas Dimitroff, who who once said, until you find your quarterback,
Speaker 1: that search for him consumes you. That's what it means
Speaker 1: not to have a quarterback in the NFL. There was
Speaker 1: never any chance that the Falcons were gonna let him
Speaker 1: hit the market. He was always going to be the
Speaker 1: highest paid quarterback in the league until Aaron Rodgers once
Speaker 1: again becomes highest paid quarterback in the league. Looking at
Speaker 1: his his cash earnings throughout the years, it's crazy the jump.
Speaker 1: A guy that was making fifteen million dollars a year
Speaker 1: back in two thousand thirteen is now literally getting double that.
Speaker 1: That's a good cost, it's great. That's great for Matt Ryan.
Speaker 1: I wonder about income disparity eventually becoming an issue in
Speaker 1: the NFL. Would you've got all these quarterbacks, because we
Speaker 1: look at the guys that have come in just a
Speaker 1: couple of years. But it's not just a quarterbacks though.
Speaker 1: I to me to your point, like Nate Soldiers making
Speaker 1: more money than Matt Ryan made five years ago. Nate
Speaker 1: Soldiers making more money than Peyton Manning never made in Denver.
Speaker 1: So I don't know. It's a certain positions that get
Speaker 1: valued that high. But as as things go in these
Speaker 1: incremental boosts go in quarterback salary. They're going at such
Speaker 1: a higher rate than all the other positions. When when
Speaker 1: does that eventually, when's that bubble gonna pop? I don't
Speaker 1: because you gotta get a football team on the field,
Speaker 1: all right. It's not gonna pop until the NFL bubble pups. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't think it is, because I still think it's
Speaker 1: that compared to other positions, quarterbacks are still underpaid. I
Speaker 1: mean because because in Dominican Sue and He's making twenty, like,
Speaker 1: their quarterbacks are just so important compared to those other
Speaker 1: positions that I think it's just kind of catching up
Speaker 1: with what it should be. Yeah, and I'm really interested
Speaker 1: just to see how the offense looks this year. But
Speaker 1: we'll get into that a little bit more and we
Speaker 1: get to the falcon and um coming up. But wait, lindsay,
Speaker 1: did I completely blow through a news drop that you
Speaker 1: had prepped? Well, I didn't want to interrupt your flow,
Speaker 1: you know, it was a nice change. Well, you could
Speaker 1: always put it right now before the second. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: let's let's just do it now. Today, I've decided that
Speaker 1: the time has come for me to pass the torch
Speaker 1: to the next generation of Dallas Cowboys and retire from
Speaker 1: the National Football League. It's official, guys, Jason Witten, He's
Speaker 1: retiring and he's joining the Monday night football broadcast. It's
Speaker 1: crazy to think that he was drafted as a third
Speaker 1: round pick in two thousand three and you look at
Speaker 1: what he's done. He walks aways the fourth in all
Speaker 1: time receptions, only behind Jerry Rice, Tony Garcia, Tony Gonzalez,
Speaker 1: and Larry Fitzgerald. I mean, that's what a career he
Speaker 1: had and what a different offense this Cowboys team is
Speaker 1: going to look like. Oh yeah, I think when when
Speaker 1: I think of Witten, I think of him as kind
Speaker 1: of like a coach's dream. That the way Bill Belichick's
Speaker 1: poke about him a few years ago inspired me to
Speaker 1: write an article called uh Belichick's Opponent Mount Rushmore of
Speaker 1: all of his favorite opponents, and Witten, like Deed Reid's
Speaker 1: gotta be on there. He does everything in addition to
Speaker 1: putting up stats that tight ends do, he does everything
Speaker 1: you don't see that coaches love. And I think that's
Speaker 1: what I'll remember about him, that that he was the
Speaker 1: complete football player. Yeah, the person that he was jumps
Speaker 1: out and is always going to be what I remember
Speaker 1: is because you put him in another franchise in a
Speaker 1: different period. This is a period of Cowboys like not success, right,
Speaker 1: Like the playoff moments that we remember are all losses
Speaker 1: for the Dallas Cowboys in those roles. He never played
Speaker 1: in a championship game, right, in a conference championship game rather,
Speaker 1: And so we're still going to remember Jason Witten fifteen
Speaker 1: years from now, and that's considering that they didn't go
Speaker 1: to the super Bowl, they didn't do all of these things.
Speaker 1: But we remember him because of the impact that he
Speaker 1: had on other people in the way that they talked
Speaker 1: about him, and and that he was always he was
Speaker 1: almost never of the best tight end in the league,
Speaker 1: although he did get two first team All Pros, which
Speaker 1: I was actually surprised to see. I don't know in
Speaker 1: those particular ears because you really think it was kind
Speaker 1: of Gonzales and then it was Gates, Antonio Gates, and
Speaker 1: it was Gronk and even Jimmy Graham in there. And
Speaker 1: Witten was always really strong, a great blocker. Uh. He
Speaker 1: did make two first team All Pros, two second teams,
Speaker 1: but always kind of like that second third, maybe not
Speaker 1: quite the guy you're gonna take you right away in
Speaker 1: your fantasy draft compared to the other tight ends, but
Speaker 1: like an incredibly consistent I mean Jason Garrett watching the
Speaker 1: press conference with what stuck out was just how emotional
Speaker 1: the Jones Fani really was. I mean it was like
Speaker 1: losing It was like losing a son. Uh, And Jason
Speaker 1: Garrett was extremely emotional, and you can just tell how
Speaker 1: much they loved Jason Witten part of it. So he's
Speaker 1: a Garrett guy. He is definitely a Garrett I think
Speaker 1: he is the definition of Garrett. And I think I
Speaker 1: walked into the huddle our commissary while this presser was
Speaker 1: going on, and it just really hit home, like it's
Speaker 1: totally natural to be watching this in that one place
Speaker 1: on Earth, inside the huddle of NFL Network, and really
Speaker 1: nowhere else in the country or on Earth. Is it
Speaker 1: natural to watch like that much attention lavished on a
Speaker 1: football player for calling to the crew. Well, the Cowboys
Speaker 1: did it like I've never seen a retirement ceremony done.
Speaker 1: The production value of him walking into the building and
Speaker 1: everyone like the rounding and there was coaches, players, fans,
Speaker 1: There was a thirty minute long procession like there have
Speaker 1: been royal weddings with less less of a procession and
Speaker 1: pomp and circumstances. Well, I felt bad just thinking kind
Speaker 1: of behind the scenes. I felt bad for Andrew Siciliano,
Speaker 1: our host, and Mike Garrett follow Tom Pelsera because they
Speaker 1: were just spinning plates for thirty minutes. They thought this
Speaker 1: thing was gonna start and instead it was just like
Speaker 1: Jason Witten walking down the aisle. I mean, what about
Speaker 1: when Peyton had his press conference um from Denver. I
Speaker 1: know he hadn't been there for so long um as
Speaker 1: he was an indie, but still that kind of felt
Speaker 1: like it was forever. I mean, he was talking forever.
Speaker 1: I felt like, yeah, and it was the second time
Speaker 1: because honestly, Peyton Peyton leaving Indianapolis was his retirement speech
Speaker 1: to me, Yes, that was the one I remember. That
Speaker 1: was the emotional one that that's gonna stand out here today.
Speaker 1: I'm thinking, like Tony Romo got a tweet, you know, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: there was a goodbye, like a waving goodbye emoji two dez,
Speaker 1: and then we've got, like you said, this royal wedding
Speaker 1: for Jason Witten. It just gotta feel awful, like it's
Speaker 1: the benefit of staying with one team for your whole franchise,
Speaker 1: which is hard to pull off, and you might even
Speaker 1: have I don't know if you had to make sacrifices
Speaker 1: at some point, but that is that's one of the benefits.
Speaker 1: I found a really interesting ESPN won't confirm that he's
Speaker 1: been hired. In my theory with this, that there's going
Speaker 1: to be a third person in the booth, and that's
Speaker 1: not all all the Ducks aren't completely in a road
Speaker 1: to announce that. Maybe I'm totally wrong. I like that
Speaker 1: you have a theory, but I I that's my guest.
Speaker 1: It just feels right that he's not going to be
Speaker 1: the only guy. That it's going to be witting in
Speaker 1: someone else and we'll find out maybe a Lewis Riddick.
Speaker 1: That's just a total I think that interesting, But that's
Speaker 1: just my that's my guest. I mean, it's it's just
Speaker 1: gonna be so weird too. I mean, you look and
Speaker 1: you see no Dez Bryant, no Tony Romo, no Jason Witten.
Speaker 1: It's just strange to not have those three guys playing
Speaker 1: for the Cowboys anymore. And the timing was sort of
Speaker 1: weird with the draft and the way that the news
Speaker 1: all came out and then they didn't end up getting
Speaker 1: a tight end and I don't think he expected to
Speaker 1: get the job. And then he got the job and
Speaker 1: he was like, Okay, I'm gonna have to take this
Speaker 1: the Monday night football job. Yeah, so that'll be interesting, um,
Speaker 1: something to watch, something to listen to this coming season.
Speaker 1: With Jason Witten in the booth, he could be going
Speaker 1: up against Antonio Gates in the Hall of Fame five
Speaker 1: years and I would vote Gates there. You know, you
Speaker 1: can't get them both in right away, but they'll both
Speaker 1: get in eventually. I love Antonio Gates. You'd get my
Speaker 1: vote too, alright. So we have some spicy kickoff top
Speaker 1: to everybody break yourselves. Who are kickoff changes coming to
Speaker 1: a game near you? So some rule changes were proposed yesterday.
Speaker 1: They're going to be voted on later this month at
Speaker 1: the spring league meetings. But Clai Bonn, you're really into this.
Speaker 1: I am really into this because I've always wanted kickoffs
Speaker 1: to be more fun, and you know, my love proposal
Speaker 1: didn't work out. Nobody cares about what I have to say.
Speaker 1: Make the kick going through the uprights on the kickoff
Speaker 1: the point home run, explain the benefits and incidvises the
Speaker 1: ball going out of play, everybody doesn't have to run
Speaker 1: into each other, and UM, yeah, that's it. I couldn't
Speaker 1: agree more. And when they're like an addendum to this,
Speaker 1: didn't you have like a second part? Um? There were
Speaker 1: so many suggestions. I wasn't expecting people to like it
Speaker 1: as much. Then West said he liked it, and then everything, Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: I like it. I like it too because the couple
Speaker 1: of times that it happens during the season, it does
Speaker 1: happen sometimes Kowskis. I've seen him kick it through. That's
Speaker 1: one the most exciting moments of the game. And there's
Speaker 1: no points even I always like tell everyone around me
Speaker 1: whenever that happens. They're like, no, we don't really care that.
Speaker 1: You know, the Chargers kicker just kicked. Theoretically, it would
Speaker 1: reduce the number of overtime games. I think that was
Speaker 1: the second So that would mean pure injuries or increased
Speaker 1: minutes in that. I like this. Unfortunately, that's not the
Speaker 1: rules are which they could be added to. My rule
Speaker 1: to make it better. Um, the receiving team has to
Speaker 1: have eight guys within fifteen yards of the line of scrimmage,
Speaker 1: so what they want to do is to decrease the collisions. Also,
Speaker 1: the kicking team, the five yard running start is gone,
Speaker 1: so you're lined up with the ball, you leave when
Speaker 1: the ball leaves yep. And the two man wedge, which
Speaker 1: was reduced to two men to make it less violent
Speaker 1: um is now dead as well, so no wedging. Rich
Speaker 1: mackay said they have been seventy one concussions in the
Speaker 1: last three years on kickoffs, and a third of those
Speaker 1: involved the wedge in some capacity. So that's gone, and
Speaker 1: no more running starts, no more legions of colligion. I
Speaker 1: have some thoughts hearing you lay it all out like
Speaker 1: that when they when they decided two change the kickoff
Speaker 1: rules last time around, moving the thing forward, I said, like,
Speaker 1: isn't that gonna just create a scenario where they're popping
Speaker 1: up more kicks, which is basically what's happened. You mentioned
Speaker 1: the concussions have still kind of been through the roof
Speaker 1: and a lot of these changes to me, does incentivize
Speaker 1: you to return your kicks more if you get the
Speaker 1: ball with a chance to do it, because the running
Speaker 1: start there's it's there's right, I mean, isn't gonna it's
Speaker 1: it's almost encouraging you to return the kicks more unless
Speaker 1: the ball is just unless, until we provide some incentive
Speaker 1: for a team to kick the ball out of the
Speaker 1: back of the end zone or out of bounds, that
Speaker 1: the ball is still going to be in play. But
Speaker 1: I think what Troy Vincent and them wanted to do
Speaker 1: was eliminate the collisions no matter what. So if somebody's
Speaker 1: lined up at the five yard line and they're gonna
Speaker 1: get a running start to block somebody that's lined up
Speaker 1: at the thirty with a running start, I mean, we
Speaker 1: could go in the next gen stats and look at
Speaker 1: the speeds these guys are getting, you know, versus the
Speaker 1: speeds they're getting on punts. It's uh that that five
Speaker 1: yards makes a huge difference. I'm in favor of anything
Speaker 1: that keeps special teams in the game because I don't
Speaker 1: think all these people who cry about the physicality being
Speaker 1: taken out of football don't understand that the kickoff is
Speaker 1: either gone or it's tweaked a little bit, but eventually
Speaker 1: it's going to be gone. I mean, you're fighting an
Speaker 1: uphill battle if if you think that they're going to
Speaker 1: keep special teams that important for that long and then
Speaker 1: in that whole idea of you have to keep eight
Speaker 1: people near the line of scrimmage, that kind of incentivizes
Speaker 1: going for creative types of on side kicks too, or
Speaker 1: you kick it over the first wave the people and
Speaker 1: try to get it into the second wave. I think
Speaker 1: we'll see more of those kind of the grounders and
Speaker 1: I love those places. And we take the bigger linement
Speaker 1: off the field and that instance too on probably have
Speaker 1: like the smaller, faster guys right, because you can't if
Speaker 1: they can't keep up, then they're not going to be
Speaker 1: involved in the play. I like changes, like changes like
Speaker 1: this or because it's kicked off. Yeah, I don't know,
Speaker 1: claim I like your rule changes. So I think that
Speaker 1: you should write a letter to the league, to Roger
Speaker 1: or to Roger. Raised the goal post, you know, if
Speaker 1: if they can do that, they feel like they can
Speaker 1: do anything. Yeah, just why not make the goal post
Speaker 1: comically high. Let's do Let's have them peeking out of
Speaker 1: the top of the stadium. That's what I want. Airplane
Speaker 1: guys down hit post. Alright, that the news for today.
Speaker 1: Let's get into around the NFC. We have a lot
Speaker 1: to get to here. Um, to claim you're kicking us
Speaker 1: off here with Arizona love it. Um, my favorite thing
Speaker 1: about the Cardinals this offseason was a quote from Steve Wilkes.
Speaker 1: Site is totally different than vision. Sometimes you have to
Speaker 1: see past the difficulties. We had a plan, we had
Speaker 1: a vision. It's huge on that, especially before I went
Speaker 1: to see Infinity War this past week. But, um, they
Speaker 1: are able to get Josh Rose and they trade up
Speaker 1: the five spots. One thing that jumped out to me,
Speaker 1: and granted this is moving up five spots in the
Speaker 1: front part of the first round, but they actually paid
Speaker 1: less to move up those five spots than Baltimore paid
Speaker 1: to come up and get Lamar Jackson. So they get
Speaker 1: a guy that a lot of people feel like was
Speaker 1: the best quarterback in the draft at that spot. And
Speaker 1: they're going into this season where Sam Bradford is there, um,
Speaker 1: potentially healthy, healthy Sam Bradford if the stars aligned. My
Speaker 1: question to you guys, and Sam Bradford is healthy for
Speaker 1: this two thousand and eighteen season, is is that a
Speaker 1: waste if Josh Rosen doesn't play. Mhm mm hmm. I
Speaker 1: mean maybe, like we're gonna need a hotter take from
Speaker 1: you there I think that I'm worried about David Johnson.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think he's going to be great, but
Speaker 1: he's coming off of the injury. And I think that
Speaker 1: because they moved up to get Rosen, yeah, they should
Speaker 1: play him. And if you have Christian Kirk there and
Speaker 1: you have Larry Fitzgerald and Josh Rosen and David Johnson,
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, that sounds like a good offense,
Speaker 1: Whereas before I was like, yikes, I don't even know
Speaker 1: about watching these guys. I think it'd be a waste.
Speaker 1: You said, if all the Ducks are in a row,
Speaker 1: everyone's kind of healthy and looking good. And so in
Speaker 1: this scenario, I'm assuming that Rosen is promising, plays well
Speaker 1: in the preseason, looks good in practice, and maybe than
Speaker 1: Bradford is the starter for a while. But if if
Speaker 1: Rosen is ready to go, he's the one that matters.
Speaker 1: He's going to be the starter next year, he's going
Speaker 1: to be the starter into the future, and so it
Speaker 1: would be a waste for an entire season of Sam Bradford.
Speaker 1: My guess is the Cardinals think it'll work itself out naturally,
Speaker 1: whether they're losing games with Bradford or someone maybe Rosen
Speaker 1: isn't ready to play healthy. Sam Bradford is a good quarterback,
Speaker 1: and I think that the NFL is different than other sports.
Speaker 1: I hate rebuilding. You don't have to rebuild in the NFL.
Speaker 1: The Cardinals certainly don't have to rebuild, and I think
Speaker 1: the best players should play. If that's Sam Bradford, he
Speaker 1: should open the season as the starter. An he will,
Speaker 1: I think he will. I don't think there's much question
Speaker 1: if he's healthy and looks normal that he would open
Speaker 1: the season. In my mind, I guess it was an
Speaker 1: entire season of him. He would have to play at
Speaker 1: a really high level and they'd have to be winning,
Speaker 1: I think, And if he does that, then then that's
Speaker 1: how And I think one thing that helps Steve Wilkes
Speaker 1: out is being a first year coach, so it's not
Speaker 1: this bolsey and responsibility to win now. He's not as
Speaker 1: concerned for his job security, so he can put the
Speaker 1: best player on the field. Looks sam Bradford looked awesome
Speaker 1: last year to open the season with the Vikings, and
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden it was all downhill for him.
Speaker 1: So it's just the question of him staying on the field,
Speaker 1: which has always been the question of him for his
Speaker 1: entire career. Yeah. I mean it's gonna be tough for
Speaker 1: Rosen to overcome, like his affluent upbringing. Manning and Tom
Speaker 1: Brady and Eli Manning and probably Sam Braford. I have
Speaker 1: no idea like they seem to be. Okay, you're right,
Speaker 1: You're right, alright, Wes, we got Atlanta up next. All
Speaker 1: last season, Yeah, there we go. All throughout last season,
Speaker 1: we heard that the offense was a problem, sark was
Speaker 1: an issue, Matt Ryan was ruining Dan hansss fantasy football team.
Speaker 1: These are the things we heard as football fans throughout
Speaker 1: the season. Then you look at some of the metrics,
Speaker 1: look behind the basic stats. The Falcons were second only
Speaker 1: to the Patriots and drive success rate in yards per drive?
Speaker 1: Didn't they added Calvin Ridley? Is this should we be
Speaker 1: thinking of the Falcons? Is as right there with the
Speaker 1: Saints as a team that could be the number one
Speaker 1: offense in the NFL, number one offense? I think so.
Speaker 1: Calvin Ridley with Julio Jones, you just have these two
Speaker 1: Alabama guys chilling together on their new offense. And Steve
Speaker 1: sarkisian second year, maybe he gets like better footing under him,
Speaker 1: and he kind of realizes the mistakes he made last
Speaker 1: year as a play caller. I mean, the only guy
Speaker 1: that they really lost was Taylor Gabriel. Yeah, don't forget that.
Speaker 1: Kyle Shanahan didn't exactly He wasn't exactly a smashing success
Speaker 1: in his first season with the Falcons either. Everybody was
Speaker 1: worried that Matt Ryan took a step back and his
Speaker 1: Falcons were like not as explosive. They were a very
Speaker 1: methodical kind of slow offense that did move the ball
Speaker 1: a lot, and they were I think better to your
Speaker 1: point than people really realize the year ago. The Falcons
Speaker 1: are kind of my team that I think has the
Speaker 1: best chance to win a Super Bowl that probably are
Speaker 1: going to have like the longest odds. Not that we
Speaker 1: get into that the most, but like to be they
Speaker 1: are right at the top of the teams I think
Speaker 1: can win the Super Bowl this season. There's probably for
Speaker 1: they might also have the widest open window, like the
Speaker 1: most number of years they could remain super Bowl content.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying there like better than the Rams or
Speaker 1: the Eagles, or the Patriots or the Steelers, but I
Speaker 1: think they're kind of in that group and for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: even though they've been in the mix two years in
Speaker 1: a row. I don't know if people think of him
Speaker 1: that way. They're not going to be worse than the
Speaker 1: red zone than they were last They're obviously going to
Speaker 1: improve there. I think that was a bit of an outlier,
Speaker 1: some situational issues that just went awry. Um. So yeah,
Speaker 1: to your point, was there one minute in terms of
Speaker 1: between the twenties. They were good last year in that area.
Speaker 1: They'll be better. Uh don't quite know how Ridley fits in,
Speaker 1: but it can't. It's not gonna hurt. Julio is still
Speaker 1: playing up to a high level. I think if he
Speaker 1: you know, if his helmet doesn't cover his face, they
Speaker 1: might have been in the super Bowl. That that plays
Speaker 1: the snapshot of their whole season. When you talk about
Speaker 1: the red zone trouble. They're down and have an opportunity
Speaker 1: that don't work out right because we're confluences. I always
Speaker 1: think about that. First the first down play, Matt Ryan
Speaker 1: threw a hot ball where Julio was one on one
Speaker 1: and Ryan just didn't throw a very good ball, and
Speaker 1: that you forget about it because it was the first round,
Speaker 1: first down play. It's like if that is on the money,
Speaker 1: I think they score there and it's on Nick Foles
Speaker 1: to go try to win a game winning drive. Although
Speaker 1: you know the way Nick Foles is, he probably would
Speaker 1: have done it. I mean, he was pretty unlivable. I
Speaker 1: don't know, but honestly, that division is only getting better too.
Speaker 1: So I mean the Panthers and Freud, we're going to
Speaker 1: talk about them, and I want to see if they're
Speaker 1: defense that we saw late in the season keeps up,
Speaker 1: because if it does, then they are Well let's get
Speaker 1: into the Panthers because their next in alphabetical order, and
Speaker 1: I have them. Okay. So for me, the Panthers free agency,
Speaker 1: it wasn't crazy or anything. They added Tory Smith and
Speaker 1: Ontarry po but I thought their draft was awesome, drafting
Speaker 1: DJ more. For me, they really needed to replace Steve
Speaker 1: Smith and he kind of reminds me a little bit
Speaker 1: of Steve Smith. So hopefully they have Curtis Samuel to
Speaker 1: get right. And um, they added some pieces to the secondary.
Speaker 1: But what I want to know is where the Panthers
Speaker 1: sort of fall in the rankings of that division in
Speaker 1: the NFC South, Well, I put the Falcons in the
Speaker 1: Saints just naturally as the top two because I trust
Speaker 1: their offenses more like I trust I just trust. I
Speaker 1: think year a year, the passing attacks, I'm going to
Speaker 1: take them. I mean the record that Ron Rivera has
Speaker 1: I think five playoff teams in six years speaks to
Speaker 1: that they that they shouldn't be forgotten. But I I
Speaker 1: don't trust them nearly as much. I trust the Turner
Speaker 1: family too. That's most of the coach, just the entire
Speaker 1: Turner family to get UM players in a position to
Speaker 1: get open um and so we d J. Moore in
Speaker 1: terms of Steve Smith, Matt Harmon, who follows wide receivers
Speaker 1: you know, closer than almost anybody in the world. Um,
Speaker 1: everybody feels great about the pick. I I want to
Speaker 1: see Cam in an offense where just people are getting
Speaker 1: open and he has a chance, like non Greg Olsen,
Speaker 1: people are getting open and he has a chance to
Speaker 1: get them the ball. UM. They were really hurting with
Speaker 1: no Ted again last year. I think they got better. UM.
Speaker 1: In terms of the South, I'm not really taking any
Speaker 1: of those teams over the other ones. I think they're
Speaker 1: gonna be three really good teams are gonna beat each
Speaker 1: other up, and it's gonna come down down to the stretch.
Speaker 1: I don't feel like Tampa Bay belongs in that discussion yet,
Speaker 1: So it's just it's just gonna be how the coin lands. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the Panthers a tier below the Falcons and Saints because
Speaker 1: I think they have more questions they have to answer,
Speaker 1: starting with who's their power back. Certainly it can't be
Speaker 1: on Cameron artists paint and that's fair. He's great in
Speaker 1: short yarded situations, but you're gonna need a power back
Speaker 1: in that offense. Christian McCaffrey is not running successfully between
Speaker 1: the tackles. On paper, their defensive line after adding Poe,
Speaker 1: it's pretty strong like, but it didn't really play to
Speaker 1: that level last year. If you if Keithley is healthy,
Speaker 1: like they're supposed to be a defense first team. I
Speaker 1: definitely put him a tier below because the Saints beat
Speaker 1: him three times and they were pretty I don't know
Speaker 1: if I would say they were all convincing, but they were.
Speaker 1: They were. They looked like the better team three times,
Speaker 1: and I guess since I went to two those games,
Speaker 1: like that's in my head that like that they're gonna
Speaker 1: be a tough team to stop, and I think losing
Speaker 1: their left guard Andrew Norwell. I wonder how big of
Speaker 1: a part that will play and how they do this year. Anyway,
Speaker 1: let's move on to Chicago. Oh, I love that. Uh.
Speaker 1: We all seem to like the Chicago Bears in this
Speaker 1: room at least West and I guess Colleen and have
Speaker 1: not been in this room quite as often. Uh this offseason,
Speaker 1: like good looking defense, nice continuity that they kept Vic Fangio.
Speaker 1: We like everything they added on offense. My question for
Speaker 1: the room is now, after adding Anthony Miller and Taylor
Speaker 1: Gabriel and Allen Robinson, uh In and everything that Pat
Speaker 1: Trey Burton I knew us forgetting someone, what are our
Speaker 1: expectations for Mitchell Trabisky because he's kind of been almost
Speaker 1: forgotten and all this, Like what do we think we
Speaker 1: get out of two thousand eighteen Mitchell Traubinsky Because it
Speaker 1: was only about a year ago that everyone was kind
Speaker 1: of clowning their pick of this is not a player,
Speaker 1: car mp. I'm not making a straight up player because
Speaker 1: most player comps are dumb. Remember the reaction to peak
Speaker 1: Bortles hype, like Blake Bortles is ascending, He's becoming this
Speaker 1: other thing. Good job, Um, I think we could see
Speaker 1: that from the way we react to Mitchell Robisky. After
Speaker 1: this season, I think people will say this is promise,
Speaker 1: this is something that can go forward. Who knows how
Speaker 1: long term it can be, but I think he can
Speaker 1: have that that type of success. I'm an unambashed Mitchell
Speaker 1: Robinsky fan. I didn't like how last season went for him,
Speaker 1: but he had nothing on offense. The offensive line wasn't good,
Speaker 1: the wide receivers were maybe the worst in the league. Um.
Speaker 1: The play calling left a lot to be desired. The
Speaker 1: way the head coach handled him left a lot to
Speaker 1: be desired. Um. But at his best, I see some
Speaker 1: flashes of Brett Farve, and again not a straight up comparison,
Speaker 1: I just see flashes of the way he moves, his
Speaker 1: improvisational skills. UM. I'm excited by this team, and I
Speaker 1: do expect Mitchell Robinsky to have like a Jared Goff type,
Speaker 1: not quite thinking about numbers, like what what sort of number?
Speaker 1: Like Jared Goff he doesn't have, we don't know yet,
Speaker 1: But he doesn't have Sean McVeigh, who's to me right
Speaker 1: there as the best offensive mind in football. I think
Speaker 1: they're trying to be this year's Rams. The expectations are
Speaker 1: so high now because of all the moves they've made
Speaker 1: and because of all the players they've added around Drabinsky.
Speaker 1: I think that if he delivers, that's great, but if
Speaker 1: he doesn't, then there's even more pressure on him because
Speaker 1: of all of the resources they've brought in for him.
Speaker 1: I want to go back and watch kind of the
Speaker 1: end of his season because I think it got It
Speaker 1: was under the radar. No one was watching the Bears anymore,
Speaker 1: and I think that he showed some signs in the
Speaker 1: last month that he looked better in the last three
Speaker 1: three games or so than he did really before that.
Speaker 1: They moved him around in the pocket a lot earlier.
Speaker 1: They had a role throwing on bootlegs a lot, which
Speaker 1: he's great. Yeah, he's really good at and to your
Speaker 1: varve comp the release. Yeah, the more I think about it,
Speaker 1: it does kind of visually remind me of that. But
Speaker 1: they opened it up for him. There were some rookie mistakes.
Speaker 1: It's just a question of, you know, how much of
Speaker 1: that was rookie and how much of that was right.
Speaker 1: The best thing they can do is and that's a
Speaker 1: problem because pass rusher, I think is still an issue.
Speaker 1: But Hey, time's up. So we move on to Dallas
Speaker 1: where we've talked to them, talked about them a little
Speaker 1: bit so far. But does anybody ever call you bond? Bond?
Speaker 1: There's only so many variations by Clay Face was probably
Speaker 1: one of my um. So, Jason Wittman is gone. Uh,
Speaker 1: Edward urs a little shrine. The candle goes out, big Americans.
Speaker 1: So that's that's over. Uh, Connor Williams. They get the
Speaker 1: depth at tackle because last year we saw, you know,
Speaker 1: Tyrn Smith went out and everything just went to crap.
Speaker 1: Just the whole thing was just booty. So they get him.
Speaker 1: He was DJ seventeenth overall player. Um. I think that's
Speaker 1: a huge value there. So they get better there. My
Speaker 1: question is, we saw Jason Garrett um emotional today. We
Speaker 1: know he's the Jerry whisperer. That being said, what is
Speaker 1: the wind total? Where we wonder if the whispers aren't
Speaker 1: to Jerry and they're from Jerry about Jason Garrett, what
Speaker 1: wind total makes that conversation start? Great question. I think
Speaker 1: I think eight and below. I'm gonna say five or six.
Speaker 1: I think it's been a while, it's been a minute,
Speaker 1: and I think there are I ask everyone who wants,
Speaker 1: you know, who's into this sort of thing, go watch
Speaker 1: All or Nothing Cowboys. It's I've only I haven't gotten
Speaker 1: all the way through yet, but it's the most compelling
Speaker 1: I think of of the All or nothings, and I
Speaker 1: like the other ones. And part of it is because
Speaker 1: after certain moments, Jerry talks to Jason Garrett like like, uh,
Speaker 1: an executive producer is talking to a you know, p
Speaker 1: a on you know, Total Access or something. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't know, like realize how much have you unpacked
Speaker 1: that one for? Sorry, I don't know. I'm just saying
Speaker 1: a moment, if I'm Jason Garrett, I don't I don't
Speaker 1: want some of these conversations where Jerry's not too happy
Speaker 1: about a blowout last one, he says, I don't want
Speaker 1: that in the Do you talk to anybody like that
Speaker 1: here at NFL Media? I think I used to be
Speaker 1: like that at Rhodo World when people had bad posts,
Speaker 1: it was all instant message. Oh. I think I only
Speaker 1: got this side of Greg when I didn't show up
Speaker 1: for work. Yeah, that's a problem. Uh, but you look
Speaker 1: at their tight end position. I mean, now, yikes, I
Speaker 1: know they love Rico Gathers. I feel like he's been
Speaker 1: there for a while and nothing has really happened with him.
Speaker 1: But the past catchers or Terrence Williams, Michael Gallup who
Speaker 1: they just drafted, Cole Beasley. I know they brought in
Speaker 1: Alan Hearns, but this is a really different looking group. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Often when when big names leave, people are shocked at
Speaker 1: the production stays relatively similar. I think in this case
Speaker 1: they're gonna end up missing what's gone because of all,
Speaker 1: none of the guys they have are taken double teams.
Speaker 1: They're not even attracting double teams much as beating. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and if they start, uh like with a lot of losses,
Speaker 1: I feel like, I think it's six. If it's six,
Speaker 1: is a round, right. Every time the subject has come up,
Speaker 1: Jerry has said, I've got so much invested in him. Yes,
Speaker 1: but all right, let's go to Detroit. Was the offense
Speaker 1: comes back and it's almost identical. They switch centers and
Speaker 1: then they bring in a couple of running backs and
Speaker 1: mcgarrett Blunt and carry On. I'm just gonna call him
Speaker 1: carry On because I love that name. Um. Is this
Speaker 1: the year that the Lions finally have a running game? Mhmm, yes,
Speaker 1: I think so. I feel like they invested so much
Speaker 1: in the run game. Just on during the draft here,
Speaker 1: Frank rag Now and carry on Johnson. Drafting those two,
Speaker 1: plus you bring in Lagarrett Blunt, I mean a mir Abdullah.
Speaker 1: I feel like that experiment is over at this point.
Speaker 1: Just see, like, to me, carry on Johnson is just
Speaker 1: the new meer Abdulah, Like he's just a Shini or
Speaker 1: newer a Mierabdula might very well be a better player
Speaker 1: than carry on Jim. We'll find out. I mean, I
Speaker 1: think he's more of an inside guy that they think
Speaker 1: can be outside. They also have Blunt. But you're right,
Speaker 1: you have to be right on the pick. Everyone at
Speaker 1: this time of year always thinks like, Okay, we're just
Speaker 1: gonna slide in that second round pick. But it's like, no,
Speaker 1: they're not all going to work out another running back
Speaker 1: from the state of Alabama, by the way, But it's um,
Speaker 1: Jim Bob Right, Jim Bob stays in place because you've
Speaker 1: been there, he's been there. They they weren't running the
Speaker 1: ball with Jim Bob before. It's fair. I just don't
Speaker 1: know how much has changed that's gonna make me believe that.
Speaker 1: Now you know you sub in which a Mir's problem
Speaker 1: was staying on the field, right, so you get carry
Speaker 1: On if carry On can be on the field, if
Speaker 1: we know Laic can can stay and play. But that
Speaker 1: the the means to which they're going to try to
Speaker 1: run the ball. I don't know how much they're going
Speaker 1: to change. Right, they're a top ten offense. If they
Speaker 1: have a running game, it's it's the line. And they
Speaker 1: do get Taylor Decker back healthy he missed, you know,
Speaker 1: big chunk of the season. You get another first round
Speaker 1: pick on the offensive line. People love their fifth round pick.
Speaker 1: I don't know if they're right or not. Tyrell Crosby
Speaker 1: like this is Bob Quinn who has now been there
Speaker 1: this their GM has been there for three years. Like
Speaker 1: he's put so much into their offensive line. T J. Lang,
Speaker 1: Rickey Wagner that it's on it's on them, and on paper,
Speaker 1: they should be able to do it. I think that
Speaker 1: was their focus going into the draft, just based on
Speaker 1: their choices. I think they wanted to address the offensive
Speaker 1: line and the running game because those were the two
Speaker 1: biggest weaknesses on the offense. And for me, it's almost
Speaker 1: like the defense is more of a question mark because
Speaker 1: the pass rushers, I mean, Sigynsa is the only consistent
Speaker 1: pass rusher they have. Yeah, they have a good secondary,
Speaker 1: but outside of that, the front seven leaves a lot
Speaker 1: to be desired. I do think that they could have
Speaker 1: a top ten offense. This could be a more fun
Speaker 1: team to watch this year. And what's Matt Patricia going
Speaker 1: to be like as a head coach? Like I love
Speaker 1: his press conferences, I love his like m O. Now
Speaker 1: suddenly like I'm feeling the Matt Patricia. It's all fun
Speaker 1: right now you're drinking the juice. Well, he's just like
Speaker 1: a totally different person than I expected. It's like the
Speaker 1: substitute teachers running the class. Now you know, he's outside
Speaker 1: of He's not under Belichick's thumb anymore. He's got a personality.
Speaker 1: He's wearing fun shirts, which didn't he had a personality before. Right,
Speaker 1: we just we're not allowed to see that stuff though
Speaker 1: assistant coaches aren't allowed to talk to the press. But
Speaker 1: like we could do the most. He could show us
Speaker 1: as a pencil, right, and we were like a long
Speaker 1: shaggy beer. All right, let's stay in the division and
Speaker 1: go to Green Bay. Obviously, getting Aaron Rodgers back is huge.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be a little weird to see him without
Speaker 1: Jordy Nelson there. But I like what Brian Gouda Hunts
Speaker 1: did now that he's the show. Yeah, they were actually
Speaker 1: participating in free agency this year, which was cool. They
Speaker 1: brought in Jimmy Graham and Mal Wilkerson, and I think
Speaker 1: for Green Bay like just the way that they have
Speaker 1: gone after cornerbacks the last few years. They drafted Kevin
Speaker 1: King last year in the first round, and then this
Speaker 1: year they picked they drafted Jay r Alexander and Josh Jackson.
Speaker 1: That's one of their their biggest things that they need
Speaker 1: to address. But the pass rushing situation here, I want
Speaker 1: to know how Mike Petton is going to generate a
Speaker 1: pass rush there in Green Bay. What do he used
Speaker 1: to call it? That's a that's a Mike pettan is um,
Speaker 1: that's what he calls he calls pass rushers. Why that,
Speaker 1: I don't know. Mark Mark wrote about it a couple
Speaker 1: of years ago, but yeah, that's I think that was
Speaker 1: inclusion low crossers. It was about the the old Jets
Speaker 1: team with Petton. Petton, to me was one of the
Speaker 1: biggest signings of the off season, and maybe we'll prove
Speaker 1: to absolutely. I think he's a really good coordinator. Not
Speaker 1: only that, I think you want to be the guy
Speaker 1: who's replacing Dom Capers. It's like you don't want to
Speaker 1: be the guy who's replacing Mike Princessa or whatever in
Speaker 1: New York, like on the air, you want to be
Speaker 1: the guy replacing Dom Capers. I think whoever is in
Speaker 1: there people are going to be excited about. I think, yeah,
Speaker 1: half of Green Bay would have kidnapped Tom Capers eventually
Speaker 1: sent him outside of state borders. His name would trend
Speaker 1: every touch through. That's actually where Mark Sessler is right now.
Speaker 1: You you asked about the pass rush, you know Nick Perry.
Speaker 1: I thought that was a big need for them, and
Speaker 1: they didn't have it last year. Nick Perry and Clay Matthews.
Speaker 1: I mean, there are definitely teams with with worse outside rushers.
Speaker 1: Perry was injured most of last year and just never
Speaker 1: I was disappointed in the pass pass rush last year.
Speaker 1: It just disappeared. And you think on paper that Matthews
Speaker 1: and Perry should do it, and the guys behind them,
Speaker 1: the Chiral Kyler fact rolls and Vince Beagles and all
Speaker 1: these guys are aren't getting it done. Wilkerson is an
Speaker 1: X factor if they get because he's not that old.
Speaker 1: Like if they get of old Mohammed Wilkerson, that that
Speaker 1: would be huge. I'm looking at this team. I mean,
Speaker 1: they gotta be up in that tier of teams that
Speaker 1: can win the Super Bowl. Absolutely too, Like Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: is due for a season where he just shreds the
Speaker 1: rest of the earth. One thing that that will help
Speaker 1: the pass rushes when the coverage gets a little bit better.
Speaker 1: Then we saw them improve that in the draft. I
Speaker 1: was shocked that Josh Jackson lasted. I like their I
Speaker 1: like their secondary. Now it's it's not nearly as bad
Speaker 1: as it was before. I mean that was it was
Speaker 1: so hard to watch when they had a safety playing
Speaker 1: corner who didn't want to play corner, and then afterwards
Speaker 1: they admitted that they shouldn't play corner. No, yeah, they
Speaker 1: in you know, two seasons ago, they they had a
Speaker 1: team that could have gone to the Super Bowl if
Speaker 1: it wasn't for the secondary. I mean, they took out
Speaker 1: a one seed on the road despite that secondary, and
Speaker 1: then they basically just got dog walked in yeah. Okay, well, Greg,
Speaker 1: while you're talking here, let's money continue talk. All right,
Speaker 1: We're probably they were last year, the Philadelphia the Rams,
Speaker 1: right are Angelis Rams? Okay, I'm bad with the whole
Speaker 1: alphabel Los Angeles Rams. They're not the Super Bowl favorites
Speaker 1: when you got the Eagles in the conference, right. But
Speaker 1: I look at everything that is going on on their
Speaker 1: team and it's hard to find like a huge weakness
Speaker 1: to it. This is very similar to what I was
Speaker 1: thinking about Chicago. But I after seeing what they added
Speaker 1: on offense, uh, in terms of Brandon Cooks, but for
Speaker 1: the most part, the rest of the offense is just back, like,
Speaker 1: what are we expecting out of Jared Goff this year?
Speaker 1: Do we think Jared Goff can avoid kind of the
Speaker 1: next year malaise that took down Derek Carr a little bit,
Speaker 1: took down Dak Prescott. They had their breakout years. I
Speaker 1: think it's hard to sometimes do the follow up to that.
Speaker 1: I have trouble answering that question because I haven't figured
Speaker 1: out just how valuable Sean McVeigh is yet and just
Speaker 1: how valuable it is what Sean mcveigh's doin and Jared
Speaker 1: Goff's helmet for those first thirty seconds, he's allowed to
Speaker 1: speak to Jared Goff, dissect the way the defense is
Speaker 1: set up, and then tell him which play to run,
Speaker 1: hich player to target. That seems like a huge, huge
Speaker 1: competitive advantage to me, and I think that explains Jared
Speaker 1: Goff's season last year. I just don't know if there's
Speaker 1: any way defenses can catch up to that and thwart
Speaker 1: it or not. But I think Jared Goff is a
Speaker 1: perfectly fine quarterback. I don't think he's as good as
Speaker 1: his numbers were last year. He's also twenty three years old.
Speaker 1: I believe he is Baker Mayfield's age, so I think
Speaker 1: that should be That's part of why I'm I'm asking
Speaker 1: this person because I don't know, Like, I just don't
Speaker 1: know what to think about him yet. And that's fine.
Speaker 1: He's easy. He's twenty three year old player. Jared Goff
Speaker 1: is the reason that I don't I didn't really lean
Speaker 1: too hard on a Mitch Trubisky evaluation because it's just
Speaker 1: from the difference from twenty one year old Jared Goff.
Speaker 1: It's twenty two year old Jared Goff was so vast,
Speaker 1: so insane. How how much of it was as West said,
Speaker 1: how much is that is a new coach? How much
Speaker 1: of that was Jeff Fisher and everything involved with that.
Speaker 1: I UM, I think Jared Goff is gonna have a
Speaker 1: solid season to say he's gonna have the season he
Speaker 1: had a year ago, I don't necessarily think that's going
Speaker 1: to happen. I feel like it wasn't just a fluke
Speaker 1: like he It's not like he just flashed last year.
Speaker 1: Jared Golf played really well consistently throughout the entire season.
Speaker 1: And with what they did, um, they added some depth
Speaker 1: to the offensive line to that help that was kind
Speaker 1: of their one big weaknesses. They were very thin on
Speaker 1: the oil and right. Yeah, because you look at the
Speaker 1: ages on that offensive line. Andrew Whitworth, He's gone like
Speaker 1: when the season starts, he's going to be thirty six,
Speaker 1: Roger Staffold's going to be thirty. John Sullivan's gonna be
Speaker 1: thirty two. I mean, it's not a young line. And
Speaker 1: I think a lot of that a lot of the
Speaker 1: at least last year, bringing in Whitworth, that was one
Speaker 1: of the things that really helped Jared Golf take that
Speaker 1: next step. And so I think drafting that depth is
Speaker 1: really important for them just in case something were to happen.
Speaker 1: And I don't think the offense needs to be as
Speaker 1: good as it was last year. I think that's part
Speaker 1: of the hope. You're right, that that the defense can
Speaker 1: carry more and they're not gonna have to be as
Speaker 1: as I also wonder if less Need purposefully is trying
Speaker 1: to like money by all the draft by getting ten
Speaker 1: day three picks. Maybe that's a new thing. They're so
Speaker 1: cheap to get he drafted. So the Rams super Bowl favorites,
Speaker 1: so the Eagles can remain underdogs forever. Okay, let's go
Speaker 1: to Minneapolis, all right, So it's all Kirk all the time. Right.
Speaker 1: The team is better on offense, and the first five rounds,
Speaker 1: the only guy they took on defense was Homes out
Speaker 1: of Ohio State. They feel good enough that they take
Speaker 1: Daniel Carlson, a kicker who would be perfect for my
Speaker 1: kickoff system, in the fifth round. Um, everything's in place,
Speaker 1: and that's why Kirk went there in the first place,
Speaker 1: just like when Peyton Manning went to the Broncos. My question,
Speaker 1: are you more confident or as confident in the Vikings
Speaker 1: success with Kirk Cousins as you were with the Broncos
Speaker 1: and Peyton Manning when he went there. No, I wouldn't
Speaker 1: put it in anywhere close because because ultimately I know
Speaker 1: the Vikings defense is is great, but I don't trust
Speaker 1: it to be difference making great. In fact, it got
Speaker 1: you know, crushed in the playoffs last year. And when
Speaker 1: you're comparing Kirk Cousins even to Peyton Manning at the
Speaker 1: latter stages of his career, I don't think there's any comparison.
Speaker 1: I feel like when Peyton Manning went to Denver, we
Speaker 1: were all warned by the right people, medical people, coaches,
Speaker 1: analysts that Peyton Manning might never be the same quarterback,
Speaker 1: but none of us believed it. We all believed he
Speaker 1: was still gonna be Peyton Manning. And and Peyton Manning
Speaker 1: is always gonna have much higher expectations than Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 1: So no, I as great as the Vikings are with
Speaker 1: surrounding talent offense and defense, I don't have hopes that
Speaker 1: are as high as as the Broncos with Peyton. What
Speaker 1: if we just grade the surrounding talent as far as
Speaker 1: the choice of the quarterback made to go to that team,
Speaker 1: I feel like the expectations were still higher with Peyton
Speaker 1: Manning because it was Peyton Manning. You just look at
Speaker 1: those two names too. I mean, but in terms of
Speaker 1: the surrounding talent, like Greg you said that the defense
Speaker 1: got crushed in the playoffs, but it was really only
Speaker 1: the game against the Eagles. I feel like that that
Speaker 1: vikings Lap gave up a big lead to the Saints
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter. That would have been the lasting
Speaker 1: memory that we had if not for the Minnesota miracle.
Speaker 1: I just trust offense more. But they have Dalvin Cook,
Speaker 1: he chose well. They have Dalvin Cook, they have Stefan Digs,
Speaker 1: they have Adam Feland. It's an amazing looking offense. It is.
Speaker 1: It is the worry folds based because if it's Drew
Speaker 1: Brees making a fourth quarter run that insured it's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: you know Breeze has got us. But does the fact
Speaker 1: that it was Nick Foles does that impact how you
Speaker 1: feel about Minnesota a little bit? No, It's more that
Speaker 1: the NFC is so loaded and we could be wrong,
Speaker 1: but it's just on on paper. I can't remember a
Speaker 1: conference having so many teams that looked so good going
Speaker 1: into a season. There's like six or seven of them.
Speaker 1: Is there something about Mike Zimmer's defense that makes you
Speaker 1: think they're more susceptible to really good teams, and that's
Speaker 1: why they got exposed in the second half versus the
Speaker 1: Saints and against the Eagles. I also think that just coaching.
Speaker 1: I also think of the two thousand sixteen season when
Speaker 1: we thought they were going to be like you know,
Speaker 1: the Purple People leaders, and they were just like fine,
Speaker 1: they wouldn't where they started out on fire and then
Speaker 1: they're back broken. Had to carry too much of the
Speaker 1: load for the offense. But yeah, I think it's so
Speaker 1: hard for a defense to be special week after week
Speaker 1: and athlete it's just geared towards offenses. Yeah, well that's
Speaker 1: on the other side of that Minnesota miracle you had
Speaker 1: New Orleans West. I'm in the middle of this project
Speaker 1: where I'm ranking the top ten offenses in the NFL.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's an assignment. I have a job. I
Speaker 1: didn't have much of a choice, So I'm going through
Speaker 1: a fisition by position, and not not as much as
Speaker 1: this offseason. So I'm going through the Saints and I'm
Speaker 1: looking at their quarterback, backfield, receiving, core, offensive line. There's
Speaker 1: no weakness. What is the weakness with the Saints offense
Speaker 1: because they're as good as any group in the NFL.
Speaker 1: I just about every position. They have the best backfield,
Speaker 1: their quarterback is top three or four, the offensive line
Speaker 1: might be the best. The receiving corps. You add Cameron
Speaker 1: Meredith and Ben Watson to what they had to me.
Speaker 1: I guess the receiving corps. I gave him a B plus,
Speaker 1: maybe an A minus. But everywhere else they're a straight A.
Speaker 1: That's the only spot I would say, like maybe the
Speaker 1: tight end position. But yeah, they're so stacked, they're so solid.
Speaker 1: They have to be the favorites to be the top
Speaker 1: offense in the NFL this year. The only weakness I
Speaker 1: see is the division. Yeah, in terms of the you
Speaker 1: put them in the A f C East, it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: there's your automatic Super Bowl favorite. But things things changed.
Speaker 1: You put them in the East, and it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: because they were a top two or three offense so
Speaker 1: often when they weren't even winning that many games, Like,
Speaker 1: it's not like their offense really dipped much in the
Speaker 1: years that they weren't making the playoffs. Michael Thomas kind
Speaker 1: of deserves to be mentioned now in that upper rational
Speaker 1: the top seven or eight wide receivers, so even that
Speaker 1: position is loaded, I guess the only concern, but it's
Speaker 1: their only concerns around defense. You're right, man, I was
Speaker 1: so shocked when they traded up for Marcus Davenport. I
Speaker 1: thought for sure they were going to get Lamar Jackson
Speaker 1: or just a quarterback in general. That's that's a lot
Speaker 1: to give up for him, But I kind of like
Speaker 1: it across from cam Jordan's. Plus, you have Alex oklf
Speaker 1: coming off that Achilles injury. But Cam Jordan had such
Speaker 1: a year last year. It was he was so good
Speaker 1: and that should make him even better. And they bring
Speaker 1: in Kurt Coleman, Patrick Robinson, de Mario Davis. They brought
Speaker 1: in some guys. I don't know why it is, but
Speaker 1: for some reason, I just don't quite trust the Saints
Speaker 1: defense well because they were the worst. They were, you know,
Speaker 1: the worst defense on the league in on balance and
Speaker 1: over a five year stretch until last. They have new
Speaker 1: personnel now and they pretty well last year. I just
Speaker 1: there's something about them. I just I always consider them
Speaker 1: sort of like the the Falcons used to be, where
Speaker 1: there's no backbone there on up to the minute we
Speaker 1: did Charlie Castley's breakdown of you know, keys to the game,
Speaker 1: and every single week they for the opposing team was
Speaker 1: stop Cam Jordans like that one, and team after team,
Speaker 1: week after week, they couldn't do it. So he's finally
Speaker 1: got some help, you know, considering the capital they invested
Speaker 1: in Marcus Davenport. If that works out, the secondary is awesome.
Speaker 1: It's loaded Lattimore alright, one team that who knows what
Speaker 1: they're going to be like this year? The Giants, for me,
Speaker 1: Dave Gentleman, he made some moves for them. They finally
Speaker 1: addressed the offensive line. They signed Nate Solder, they drafted
Speaker 1: Will Hernandez in the interior there, and of course they
Speaker 1: got probably the best player in the entire draft with
Speaker 1: se Kwon Barkley, like he hit, you have se Kwon
Speaker 1: Barkley and Odell Beckham Jr. Coming back. This is loaded.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't like it for the Eagles They're
Speaker 1: going to have to defend that twice a year. But
Speaker 1: they have a new coaching staff there. They added alec Ogletree.
Speaker 1: I mean, they did a lot here. So will the
Speaker 1: Giants have the biggest turnaround from last year to this year,
Speaker 1: will they be this year's l A Rams No Wow
Speaker 1: or last year's l A Rams. And I always say it, Wait,
Speaker 1: I think the Browns are going to improve so much
Speaker 1: after not winning a single football game that it's gonna
Speaker 1: be tough for them to to make the biggest jump.
Speaker 1: But I do think you know, it can be comparable,
Speaker 1: uh to what the Rams did, right, because if you
Speaker 1: get to ten wins, that's a seven win jump. And
Speaker 1: I love the upgrade. Everything you said made a lot
Speaker 1: of sense. I love Evan Ingram and Sterling Shepard, Like
Speaker 1: those are two guys I think you can absolutely build around,
Speaker 1: especially when they're going to be role players in this offense.
Speaker 1: You upgraded your offensive mind, I think a lot with
Speaker 1: Shermer over McAdoo. And I think you upgraded your defense
Speaker 1: side of the ball. In terms of the coach with
Speaker 1: James betcher We I don't even want to bring up
Speaker 1: Eli manning him on this podcast at some point, but
Speaker 1: he's kind of the question like is he gonna hold
Speaker 1: them back? Because if because if he's not holding them back,
Speaker 1: you're right they should be a candidate to do that.
Speaker 1: That's what this is about, is making the playoffs this year.
Speaker 1: They they are expecting to. I believe there is a chance.
Speaker 1: I don't know what the percentages if Odell Beckham comes
Speaker 1: back and is what he was, that they have the
Speaker 1: most dynamic running back and wide receiver combo in in
Speaker 1: the I guess Levy on Bell and Antonio Brown is
Speaker 1: hard to beat. But as far as pure dynamic athleticism,
Speaker 1: se Kwon Barkley and Odell Beckham, you don't see combinations
Speaker 1: like that and what it's gonna do for Eli, even
Speaker 1: if even on the downside of his career, it wouldn't
Speaker 1: surprise me if Eli has some life breathed into his career. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And and I'm not like Shepherd and Ingram to me
Speaker 1: could be almost a one too in another city that
Speaker 1: wasn't It wasn't like a city that that you don't
Speaker 1: want them to be your one to. But Ingram he
Speaker 1: was so impressive to me, I think he could have
Speaker 1: been a Rookie of the Year type of guy. And
Speaker 1: Shepherd is like the the custom made sort of number
Speaker 1: two three slot type of guy. Like to have them,
Speaker 1: You're right, I mean it should help like it almost
Speaker 1: feels like a like it can't miss offense. And I
Speaker 1: think a lot of the Gettleman criticism was on the
Speaker 1: down slope from the from the numbers folks, who you know,
Speaker 1: he he wrinkled them a bit, taking taking shots at
Speaker 1: the criticism of taking a running back at number two.
Speaker 1: But as as West has said for the past couple
Speaker 1: of years, you gotta have a you gotta have a
Speaker 1: plan after ELI and so you gotta look longer. If
Speaker 1: they don't make the playoffs this year, then absolutely it
Speaker 1: was a mistake to see the Giants with a running
Speaker 1: game like I remember last year just seeing Orleans Dark
Speaker 1: One run well like one game was like, whoa, I mean,
Speaker 1: you gotta go back to Tiki right when it was
Speaker 1: last relevant. Yeah. Probably, we just love talking about the Giants.
Speaker 1: Let's go to the about Philadelphia Eagles, and they weren't
Speaker 1: a team that was overly active on draft weekend. They
Speaker 1: trade up to get Dallas Goddard, who has got to
Speaker 1: help them out in in terms of a backup to end.
Speaker 1: But you know you're in good shape when you're like
Speaker 1: moving up for a backup tight end on draft weekend
Speaker 1: and you just kind of look at their too deep
Speaker 1: depth chart and my question for everyone here is just
Speaker 1: where is their weakness? Like if if anything goes wrong
Speaker 1: for the Eagles, Like, what's the weakness because this team,
Speaker 1: on paper, to me is is about as loaded as
Speaker 1: you'd want to be. There's no more bigger flex for
Speaker 1: a GM or a franchise than winning a Super Bowl
Speaker 1: with a backup quarterback. And that's just what they did
Speaker 1: that I think could be the biggest weakness. If Carson
Speaker 1: Wentz is not ready for the start of the season,
Speaker 1: that for me is the only thing that I'm kind
Speaker 1: of worrying about. But they have Nick Foles there like
Speaker 1: not ready, not playing or not ready like not himself, right, yeah,
Speaker 1: him back to where he was. I mean, he said
Speaker 1: he's not going to change his playing style. He's still
Speaker 1: going to do the things that he did before. But
Speaker 1: I just don't I wonder how he's going to look
Speaker 1: out there, right, not just an a c L but
Speaker 1: also in L c L tear, not your typical, you know,
Speaker 1: clean a c L tear. So it wouldn't surprise me.
Speaker 1: Like Colleen said, I if he's out there because he
Speaker 1: says he can playing because the medical team deems he's ready,
Speaker 1: but his confidence isn't the same and he's not playing
Speaker 1: at the same level and physically, honestly, he's not going
Speaker 1: to be the same for quite some time. This is
Speaker 1: a substantially sized human being who is big and fast
Speaker 1: and just looking at the play where he scores a
Speaker 1: touchdown and tears his a c L. I mean, that's
Speaker 1: that's the type of athlete that he is. So it's
Speaker 1: gonna take a while to be back. My pick for
Speaker 1: their biggest weakness is now the head coach of the
Speaker 1: Indianapolis Colts. I think when we consider the play calling
Speaker 1: and how big that was down the stretch and how
Speaker 1: they were able to dismantle the vikings going and win
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl against New England, I think when you
Speaker 1: lose a brain that was a part of that process,
Speaker 1: I think it's gotta also a guy in the same
Speaker 1: room with him in those game planning meetings. The quarterback coach,
Speaker 1: John d. Flippo is in Minnesota. And also, yeah, that
Speaker 1: coaching staff is really different now, and they were. They
Speaker 1: were the most impressive coaching staff in the league last year.
Speaker 1: So you lose two of those really important guys. Peterson
Speaker 1: got an option of price. The option in his contract
Speaker 1: picked up Thursday. How about that for a little while
Speaker 1: we're on here, but if you guys are basically saying,
Speaker 1: like Carson Wentz might not quite be an m VP candidate.
Speaker 1: And they lost a couple of coaches but not the
Speaker 1: head coach, who's an offensive guy. It's like, if that's
Speaker 1: her biggest weakness, that's not that bad. I mean, they
Speaker 1: were the Super Bowl champions. Then they went out and
Speaker 1: got Michael Bennett for nothing, signed a loading Nada, stole
Speaker 1: Dallas Goddard away from Dallas, and then signed Mike Wallace
Speaker 1: as an upgrade over Tory Smith. Yeah, they're they're improved,
Speaker 1: and knew in there hoping Sydney Jones. I guess if
Speaker 1: if I was going to pick a weakness cornerback, maybe
Speaker 1: could be one. But they were thinking Sidney Jones, who
Speaker 1: was their second round pick a year ago and wasn't
Speaker 1: able to play, is going to come and be a
Speaker 1: big difference. Was a little worried about the tight end position.
Speaker 1: Just losing Trey Burton and Dallas Goddard's super bowler. Your
Speaker 1: total disappointment, that's right, San Francisco, All right, So they're
Speaker 1: able to get Mike lcglinchey in the first round. Um,
Speaker 1: it's kind of a part of this protect Jimmy at
Speaker 1: All Costs initiative goes with Western rich Burg. Um, they're
Speaker 1: able to get Dante Pettis, who can flat out fly
Speaker 1: out of Washington. So more shanahanigans there. Um. My question
Speaker 1: quarterback and coach pairings across the league. Is there anybody
Speaker 1: that you're taking over Jimmy and Kyle? Projecting out the
Speaker 1: next five years? Okay, five years? This requires thinking. Sorry,
Speaker 1: it's a it's a really good question. This should be
Speaker 1: too good. Yeah, can you just write this because if not,
Speaker 1: we'll just take this. This is the best article, the
Speaker 1: best offensive mind. Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVeigh, John McDaniels, Sean Payton,
Speaker 1: Andy Reid. That would be the top five off the
Speaker 1: top of my head. Read homes sneaky, sneaky good. But
Speaker 1: we we don't. You know, we haven't seen Pat except
Speaker 1: that one game, which, as Greg has pointed out, has
Speaker 1: been spectacular about you know, Belichick, Brady. Obviously you can't
Speaker 1: just ignore it. But Brady is I've said this jokingly,
Speaker 1: he's literally in his prime. The guy just won the
Speaker 1: MVP fancing second in the MVP race the year before that,
Speaker 1: and through yards in the Super Bowl. That said I'm
Speaker 1: gonna take Aaron just out of out of loyalty and principle.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna take Aaron Rodgers and whoever, and I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't like it because you can't stand McCarthy. You've
Speaker 1: been trying to get I know, but I'm i as
Speaker 1: much as I am excited to watch Jimmy Garoppolo, and
Speaker 1: I have total faith in Kyle Shanahan, Like I think
Speaker 1: it's fair to just say Aaron Rodgers has been the
Speaker 1: best quarterback I've ever seen just about and I want
Speaker 1: to see Jimmy Garoppolo play more before I give him
Speaker 1: a nod over him. So yes, I'll take that. You
Speaker 1: guys are really missing out on Brian Schottenheimer here, Ron Shotenheimer,
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson, Andrew Luck. Frank Reich. Yeah, that's that's that's
Speaker 1: an underdog. I kind of like taking the odds on
Speaker 1: that because no one's thinking about that, right, Lafleur and
Speaker 1: Marcus Mariota will have to we're gonna if we're gonna
Speaker 1: go to Luck there, Jamis and Derk Cutter at Ryan
Speaker 1: and Sarksian, Wow, you're really throwing us for a loose.
Speaker 1: I think he might be right, on that one. This
Speaker 1: is fun question, though I didn't like we're spinning trying
Speaker 1: to come up with it. I should have extended it
Speaker 1: out more to leave Roger's out. Honestly, I should have gone, okay,
Speaker 1: should go ten years. That's this is something I feel
Speaker 1: like we need to unpack more. I think our struggle
Speaker 1: with it. Ultimately, I'm gonna have to get Yeah, you
Speaker 1: can't have a ten year question on anything in the US.
Speaker 1: You already bent and Brian Schottenheimer, let's get into see
Speaker 1: I wasn't even planning to bring up My question with
Speaker 1: the Seahawks is great they got Rashad Tenny that that
Speaker 1: gives them a running back. What did you do to
Speaker 1: fix your offensive line? They had people throughout the season
Speaker 1: constantly quoting what percentage of Seattle's offense Russell Wilson was doing.
Speaker 1: On his own, it was always between eighty two and
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson was the offense. Why should we believe that
Speaker 1: anything it's fixed on their offensive line? I believe here's
Speaker 1: what I think their answer would be. They fired Tom Cable,
Speaker 1: they changed their offensive coordinator, and that they're coaching staff
Speaker 1: is going to coach Russell Wilson too. And the line
Speaker 1: in a way that will improve that situation. Because that's
Speaker 1: their that's their plan. You're gonna coach that out of
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson. Not the entire way. But I think last season,
Speaker 1: even more than other seasons, he was a bigger part
Speaker 1: of the problem m and I don't think that's everybody
Speaker 1: had them at the top five MVP guy through Week
Speaker 1: twelve or something. I think he was a bigger part
Speaker 1: of the problem last year. But just in just in
Speaker 1: terms of just talking about happens protect Okay, just in
Speaker 1: terms of protecting himself. Yeah, in terms of walking into
Speaker 1: some of that some of the the issues. Maybe he
Speaker 1: got just so used to it over time. But I
Speaker 1: really I'm kind of joking about the time Gable thing,
Speaker 1: but I really think that is their answer. Yeah. The
Speaker 1: only thing they did was really add d J. Fluker
Speaker 1: in free agency, and they didn't draft anybody until the
Speaker 1: fifth round. Sometimes teams don't have answers. I mean, look
Speaker 1: what the Bengals win in the last season with us
Speaker 1: their offensive and they just threw up their hands in
Speaker 1: the gay point. We got no alternatives. We just don't
Speaker 1: have an answer. This is what we're rolling out. That's
Speaker 1: what's gonna happen. But it seemed like intent on Seattle's part,
Speaker 1: where it's like, all right, well we got we got
Speaker 1: Tom Cable, we got these guys. You know, George Phant's bladly,
Speaker 1: you know, we can make him work. And then it
Speaker 1: just it didn't work. It is an abject failure. And
Speaker 1: so you think the idea would be, well, let's figure
Speaker 1: out what went wrong there and let's rectify it. But
Speaker 1: I don't feel like that's happened. Well, they gave up
Speaker 1: a lot to get Dwayne Brown, who played very well
Speaker 1: for them, So that is a huge difference. So that's
Speaker 1: part of what they did. They happen to do that
Speaker 1: in October November, but that's they were worse as an
Speaker 1: offensive line. They were as bad down the stretch. Look
Speaker 1: at that game. He played really well. And the one
Speaker 1: thing people are always like, well, they got to invest
Speaker 1: more in the offensive line. That's not been that's I've
Speaker 1: been a problem. They have a second round pick at
Speaker 1: left guard, second round pick at center, a first round
Speaker 1: pick at right tackle. Uh, some third round pick on
Speaker 1: the bench. They've invested about as much as any team. Yes,
Speaker 1: this is a team that has major, major questions on
Speaker 1: both sides of the ball. That that offensive line, the
Speaker 1: running game, and then we don't even know of Cliff
Speaker 1: Avril and Cam Chances are going to play next season.
Speaker 1: That entire secondary. I mean, who knows what this team
Speaker 1: is going to look like. Plus the that offensive coordinator
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator editions. I just don't know. Ye I forgot
Speaker 1: about the Avriel Chancellor things. Yeah, hang, but I'm not
Speaker 1: doubting any team with Russell Wilson and Bobby Wagner true
Speaker 1: Thomas Tampa Bay. All right, So they worked on their
Speaker 1: offensive line and defensive line in the off season, But
Speaker 1: for me, the defense in general was a complete tragedy
Speaker 1: last year. It was so awful, like they were dead
Speaker 1: last in d v o A and yards for play
Speaker 1: and sacks. I mean in almost every category they were
Speaker 1: in the bottom of the league. And on offense you
Speaker 1: saw Jamis Winston and the DeShawn Jackson connection that was
Speaker 1: so highly touted and everybody had such high expectations for
Speaker 1: it really never panned out. But I want to know
Speaker 1: on that defense, have they done enough to improve it?
Speaker 1: In general? Yeah? I mean that that killed them last year. Yes,
Speaker 1: I think when I look at the state their roster
Speaker 1: was in in December. In the state it's in now,
Speaker 1: it might be the most improved in the NFL. That
Speaker 1: front seven is almost as loaded as the Eagles. It
Speaker 1: is incredible what they've done. Have a couple of Eagles
Speaker 1: on it now. They bring in Vinny Curry, Jason Pierre,
Speaker 1: Paul vita, Vea, Mitch un Rhyme bo Allen, and they
Speaker 1: already had Pro bowlers and Gerald McCoy, Lavonte David. They
Speaker 1: have a good middle linebacker and Quad Alexander. They're loaded
Speaker 1: up front, and the secondary has question marks throughout it.
Speaker 1: But I do think that they've brought into talent a
Speaker 1: couple of second round picks at cornerback this year, a
Speaker 1: fourth round pick at safety. They've added some some young
Speaker 1: blood there and it shows with such a glaring need
Speaker 1: in the secondary, how they feel about vita As as
Speaker 1: a player and what he can bring considering the depth
Speaker 1: that they already had through free agency and having Gerald
Speaker 1: McCoy there, So it's obviously better. UM Is it enough
Speaker 1: to make me feel better about their chance in the
Speaker 1: South Now? I think it's the toughest division in football,
Speaker 1: but they're definitely better. UM is dirt Cutter is this
Speaker 1: this dirt cutter worthy of this rocket? That's my biggest question,
Speaker 1: Jason Light. If they can't make the jump this year,
Speaker 1: they're in trouble there. Their offense was better than people think.
Speaker 1: If you look at the metrics. I was studying this yesterday,
Speaker 1: they were better than the Rams offense in most categories.
Speaker 1: They were a top ten offense in nearly every metric.
Speaker 1: It felt. It felt like a lot of like coming
Speaker 1: back when you're down and stuff. A lot of turnovers,
Speaker 1: awful in the red zone. And if you remember in
Speaker 1: the year, they were cutting kickers all the time. Chris
Speaker 1: Chris Godwin is a really good player and he's gonna
Speaker 1: have a hard time getting on the field because they're
Speaker 1: so deep at receiver. We'll see they they definitely copied
Speaker 1: the Eagles. I mean that was the approach Curry and
Speaker 1: JPP have to come through. I don't think it's a
Speaker 1: it's a it's a certainty that that happens. But if
Speaker 1: it does, I think this division is so loaded, and
Speaker 1: they did try to improve the secondary. They took two
Speaker 1: players m J. Stewart and Carlton Davis in the second round.
Speaker 1: Both players maybe a little bit of surprise to some people,
Speaker 1: but they were second round picks at cornerback, so they
Speaker 1: tried to do it there. I think Jason Light had
Speaker 1: an awesome offseason. Yes, the team looks a lot better.
Speaker 1: I like, uh, Ronald Jones to replace Doug Martin. I
Speaker 1: think that Rojoe little Rojoe action there, and that's that's
Speaker 1: what we're going. That's his nickname, like that in the
Speaker 1: Texas Tesla. Wow. Yeah, much more than us. Okay, final team,
Speaker 1: this is guys. Oh, we've made it. We made it
Speaker 1: into the end. The Washington Redskins. Uh, they lost Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 1: You would think losing you know, the highest priced you know,
Speaker 1: free agent NFL history would be a bad thing. But
Speaker 1: my question is after adding Alex Smith, Darius Guice, and
Speaker 1: Paul Richards into an offense that'd already had Dots and
Speaker 1: Crowder and hopefully healthy Jordan read, aren't you more excited
Speaker 1: to watch the two thousand eighteen Washington Redskins offense than
Speaker 1: you were to watch last seasons? Only because everybody's healthy
Speaker 1: and everybody was injured last year. Remember that offensive line?
Speaker 1: How many injuries they have? It was, it was unbelievable.
Speaker 1: Then Jordan Reid who's the best offensive player was out
Speaker 1: almost the entire year. Every time they had a starting
Speaker 1: running back, that running back got injured. Every time they
Speaker 1: had a number one receiver, that receiver got injured. Well,
Speaker 1: I think Dotson showed enough last year that now we're
Speaker 1: actually I'm I think he showed enough last year where
Speaker 1: I'm more excited about him legitimately, where I've now seen
Speaker 1: that he can be a difference maker when he's out.
Speaker 1: I'm genuinely curious what did he what did he show
Speaker 1: other than he's a jump ball specialist. He I think
Speaker 1: he's great uncontested catches, and that's what I'm streamely athletic,
Speaker 1: and and that's the flash, right, The flash was his
Speaker 1: jump ball ability, and we saw Kirk start to trust
Speaker 1: him a little bit more. Is Alex Smith going to
Speaker 1: be the guy that takes those chances with Josh Dotson?
Speaker 1: I mean that's the biggest question for his success. Is
Speaker 1: that going to be an opportunity for him? And is
Speaker 1: Gus you know, Geiss on paper is an upgrade huge
Speaker 1: talent wise, and I'm not ruling out that Alex is
Speaker 1: an upgrade on Cousins. I think it's probably Cousins is
Speaker 1: definitely a safer Like if he was still in Washington,
Speaker 1: I would trust it, but like it wouldn't surprise me
Speaker 1: a ton if Alex Smith has the similar numbers to
Speaker 1: what Kirk Cousins had in Washington. The run defense was
Speaker 1: a major problem last year, and I think that they
Speaker 1: addressed that really well in the draft, pairing Ron Payne
Speaker 1: with Jonathan Allen that that will definitely help. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you don't think. I don't know. I don't trust Bruce that.
Speaker 1: I don't trust their front office. I don't like they've
Speaker 1: they've brought it. They've brought in a ton of defensive
Speaker 1: lineman over the last four or five years, and everyone
Speaker 1: thinks that that year that they solved it, and then
Speaker 1: it never gets solved. And Jonathan Allen didn't really show
Speaker 1: a lot last year, not that he's a bust or anything.
Speaker 1: He was just hurt. Yeah, I thought he looked good
Speaker 1: before he got injured. I like that personnel in the
Speaker 1: front seven. But then you lose one of your best
Speaker 1: cornerbacks in the in the trade that got you Alex Smith,
Speaker 1: because he got sent to Kansas City. So the secondary
Speaker 1: to me is a of a question mark, no more
Speaker 1: D'Angelo hall. It's weird to look at a redskin sectary
Speaker 1: with no d Hall. I just saw him down in
Speaker 1: a meeting room at nine thirty in the morning. You know,
Speaker 1: life comes at you fast. You're at a total access
Speaker 1: prep meeting at ninth theory. But things can change, you know.
Speaker 1: We we saw Matt Shaw walking through here a couple
Speaker 1: of years ago, thinking oh yeah, and then he's been
Speaker 1: on the falcons Ristmas. Yeah. Are you sure that wasn't
Speaker 1: just like Steve from a county a ton of money.
Speaker 1: If we were betting weather, Matt Shop would still be
Speaker 1: in the league at two eighteen. That's amazing. Thanks change
Speaker 1: quick well. We had ended with the only way it
Speaker 1: could with Match Shop. Right. That's how we know. Good show,
Speaker 1: Good show, good show. Um, when are we back? When
Speaker 1: are you guys back? Monday, Wednesday, Friday. We're back to
Speaker 1: that schedule. Uh, I believe through at least most of
Speaker 1: the Mini Campo ti A season. Okay, so Dan, we'll
Speaker 1: be back, Uh probably not us Laria May eleventh, he's
Speaker 1: coming back. I guess I'm not sure how that all works.
Speaker 1: I think he's just out of commission. Okay, He's just
Speaker 1: like out of what if he gets sequestered? Dude, That's
Speaker 1: exactly what I was thinking. I was like Mark Sessler
Speaker 1: on like some double murder that I can't wait to
Speaker 1: read the book, the success book. Yeah, it be like
Speaker 1: The Juror by Mark Sessler, One Man's Battle with Conscience
Speaker 1: and Crime or something like that. Oh, it's gonna get
Speaker 1: weirder than that. Great. I kind of love this whole thing. Um,
Speaker 1: all right, well that's it. That does it for us,
Speaker 1: for Bond, Bond, the Mailman, the Boss, Lindsay Bolton by
Speaker 1: the Glass, wait for it. So Monday