September 7, 2020 • 40 mins
Mike Blewitt and George Kurtz are back again for another edition of Football Full Circle! In this episode, the guys discuss Adrian Peterson's release from the Washington Football Team. How does this impact the Washington backfield? Mike and George take a look at some of the surprise cuts in the NFL. Plus, Emory Hunt joins the show to discuss his 2020 QB projections, focusing on Big Ben, Cam Newton, Joe Burrow, and others.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sports grid dot Com Betting insights and entertainment at your
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sports grid dot Com Back on the Grid. Mike and
(00:24):
George follow us on Twitter at sports Grid, on Instagram
at sports grid TV. George can be found on Twitter
at George Kurtz. I'm at Mike Plute. Everything's pretty simple there, so, uh, George,
As we are seeing everything unfold throughout these several months
that we've been doing this shot, and we've been trying
(00:45):
to draw blood from a stone in terms of finding news,
the stories surrounding social justice reform in a variety of
different sports and as it relates to football have been
a lot of what we've talked about. Right. I think
we all know that the temperature now for protests in
the NFL different than it was four years ago when
(01:06):
Colin Kaepernick was doing it. And John Mara of the
New York Giants, obviously one of the sort of crown
jewel ownership groups longtime ownership groups in the NFL, had
some comments so He said his preferences for players to
stand during the national anthem, but that the First Amendment
provides them the right to kneel. He says, quote, I'm
going to continue to support the players. He said that
(01:29):
via Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News. I
understand the fact and accept the fact. That's not that
that's not going to be necessarily popular with certain segments
of our fan base, but I think that's the right
thing to do. So. There were times in the past
where Mara was forcefully against it and other owners were
forcifully against it. But I think it's gotten to a
(01:50):
point now where we're looking for respectful protests and the
NFL owners are going to acknowledge it. Maybe not necessarily
parts of the fan base or certain politicians, but that's
the way it looks like it's going to be. We've
heard comments from Dallas Cowboys players and others saying that
we intend to do something and be respectful about it.
(02:11):
I think that's the key there. You want to be
respectful about it. I think you know how I feel, Mike.
I've stated my opinion on the show before. UM I
have always wondered why we even sing the national anth
of the force boarding events. We don't sing it before
a movie. You don't sing it before you're going out
and having a barbecue or whatever else. Why do we
sing it before a sporting game? What's so what's so
different about that? So that's one way I think old
(02:32):
sports can aleviate the problem. Just don't sing it before
a game anymore. Uh, you would't have to worry about it. Personally,
I would stand. You know, I come from a military
family somewhat. My father, uncle, several cousins roll uh in
the military, so I would stand. I don't necessarily think
kneeling is you know, I'm mocking anything. If you're you're
(02:52):
a church going person, which I'll be the first todment
I am not. But you're a church you kneel to
praise the God, who supposedly is the most biased for right.
But kneeling to the flag is disrespectful. It doesn't make
a lot of sense to me. I don't think you
should sit. I think that is disrespectful. I wouldn't sit.
I would never sit. But kneeling doesn't bother them at all,
you know, it never really has. I think these these
(03:13):
players are starting to want to use their platform to
get change, and I don't blame them for that. If
they wait till after they retire or when they're not
in the public light, I can't make as much noise.
We saw what happened what a week ago, ten days
ago when the NBA and h L MLB players all
had their wildcat strike for lack of a better time.
It's really what it was, uh, and games were canceled
(03:33):
to bring publicity to the problem. So I don't think
football players will do that, mind you, I don't think
they will, mainly because it's two weeks later when they
would be doing it, and also because the games will
be a nightmare to try and make up. You know,
I would supposed to me and the NFL would make
them all play Wednesdays. Then you got two days off, now,
you know. I don't think anybody wants that, So I
don't expect anything to happen that way. But I think
(03:54):
we're gonna see most games whereas a certain amount of
players are going to kneel or put the fist in
the air or wherever however else they're going to do.
This said one thing that is still curious, and you know,
I'm not gonna We're not gonna explore it too much
during this segment because we want to get to news.
And by the way, a little bit later, we have
(04:14):
coming up Emory Hunt will help us through some of
the latest NFL stories. But you said that you're from
military family. I have probly just recently retired from the
military as well, and I think sometimes that does get
twisted together, and I think that's why some people get
angry about it. I think you can be entirely dedicated
(04:40):
to doing a respectful protest in order to shed light
on an issue, in this instance, towards police brutality, but
not have any not have any connection with the military
at all. I think the flag in the military are
always going to be intertwined in some fact. But I
(05:00):
don't think kneeling for the anthem is direct disrespect to
the military. I don't personally think that, but I would
also stand um And it doesn't mean that I'm for
any of the issues that are being protested against anyway. Uh,
just it's important because John Mara, I'll close it on
him saying this, I'll tell you this, one of the
most memorable team meetings I've ever been involved with, I
(05:21):
guess took place Right after the George Floyd Urder Mara said,
I listen to the players talk about their own experiences
growing up dealing with law enforcement, and to see the
raw emotion that they came out of them. I mean,
guys got very emotional talking about it. It It was something
that was really an eye opener for me. Uh. And
to see how they've reacted since then, all the work
they put in their communities and local communities here is
really gratifying. It makes it easier to want to support them.
(05:42):
So I think it's a good lesson. John Mara had
a different point of view. He opened his ears, listened,
and uh, he came out feeling differently about the topic.
And hopefully we can all do that as we move ahead.
So quick transition to football, Ja Daveon Clowney. George he's
waited it out and guess what, he's got multiple bidders.
I don't know what the bids are though. That's the problem,
(06:05):
and that's what we're waiting for right apparently. I mean
over the past uh twelve sixteen nine, as we're hearing
Saints and Titans that they're all they're going all out
to try and sign and they got players contacting, Oh yeah,
come play here, come play here. I would think of
that's two. You're going to the Saints, right, I mean
Saints really good team. Favorite. Titans are a good team,
(06:25):
but they're not the favorite that goes super Bowl or
anything like that. They might make the playoffs. But if
I'm clowney, the money's even, I'm going to the loans.
You know, I guess what it comes down to it.
But then again, is the money even? We don't know?
You know, and listen, I think it's only a one
year deal. I would think so at this point, you
think someone's gonna give a three four year deal fifteen
million a year? Now it has to be one and
(06:46):
throw an extra year on it. Why aren't the Lions
in this any pass rushers? Forgetfully hat that. Why are
the Jaguars being mentioned here? If the Jaguars would have
signed Clowny Clowne, what you Todava what I mean? You
gotta be well, yeah, they got cap space, baby, it
has to be a true, true big time contract. But
(07:07):
if thirty five million bucks in cap space, if the
Titans in the Saints say I got you for fifteen
and the Jackson I got you for nineteen. I'm in Jacksonville.
He's not getting fifteen, not from not from new one
with the Tennessee. I would guess I think even that
might have to become with incentives. And to be fair,
this is the one time we have to say this
(07:30):
segment is being filmed a couple of days in advance,
so if it happens, you get out of the bag. Folks,
if you're a regular watcher of the show. We don't
record live on Saturdays and Sundays, Okay, we do Thursdays
and Friday. So that's why, Mike, you know we mentioned
what do we mentioned yesterday? We thought, let's let's mccoyobe
the one who gets axed talking about that next segment. Yeah,
(07:51):
so much for that happening, as McCoy actually kept his
jo I can't believe. I can't believe they kept McCoy
to me, that's just silly. Oh the oat. But whatever,
it is, what it is. But yes, there's a cut
out of the bag. Few this is actually Friday afternoon
in case this thing changes here. But yeah, I would
think the labor the point, George, I'm just trying to
let them know that we might get PM about thirty
(08:14):
eight seconds if you really want to know, it's one
one Dallas, Colorado in the hockey game. Okay, but anyway, Uh,
if Clowney would have signed with Jacksonville, I mean you know,
I'm sure I would have to be a three or
four year deal, big money contract. But what's Jacksonville doing?
Why are they even be mentioned here? You traded for net,
You traded Yannick already took them under four and a half.
(08:34):
I would prefer Clowney and not signed, to be honest,
because sing it, I don't know if he's a big
game changer on a bad team. Anyway, certainly, just not
add talent money. The money is already in George, So
I would just prefer them not to add anyone in Peterson,
not your damon Clowney. Ain't nobody. I got the under
(08:56):
as well, so I'm there with you, but I just can't.
I just found this what this report wrong? What is
going on here? You know you're releasing everybody of trading everybody,
which is the right thing to do. You got one
of these raftics and now you get to sign Cloudey,
who you know, he's a good play it by the way,
he is not Reggie White, you know someone, Oh my god,
Lawrence Taylor a true game changer. He's not that, but
(09:18):
I think he would help. The Saints are Titan Sure,
Saints only have seven million bucks in cap space right
now that Titans have twenty two. So we know that
the Saints are maneuvering contracts around, extensions everything else to
try to move the money around, which could potentially help.
But teams can work magic. I've seen them do it
(09:40):
before and I just don't know if they'll be able
to do it. But yeah, those are two good options,
by the way, both playoff teams last year, good options
for him. Crazy that the Seahawks did all that trading
and he's just gonna walk. They ultimately get really very
little production out of him and very little, um very
(10:01):
little during the exchange and the trade with the Texans.
So all right, well, uh, we'll wrap it up this segment.
We're gonna come back talk about the bucks. Like George
just talked about a few other things that happened in
the NFL this week, We'll be right back on the grid.
It's FFC Mike and George Sports grid dot Com Betting
Insights and Entertainment at your fingertips as our team covers
(10:23):
the most important topics in sports wagering, real time odds,
predictive betting models, expert picks, and more want the edge
than get on the grid Sports grid dot Com. Back
on the Grid, Mike and George talking about just just
can rip off a whole bunch of news players being released.
(10:47):
See if there's anything that we can sift through here.
But first one was sort of confusing, George. We talked
about it on yesterday's show and I have to follow
it up because we were sure that Lashawn McCoy was
going to be the odd man out of the five
running back We didn't. Nobody thought they were going to
keep five running backs. They didn't. But Lashaw McCoy is
(11:07):
not the odd man out. They released Special Teams captain
Daria Gumbawe. Now, the Special Teams captain doesn't assure you
of a spot on the roster. It just means that
you've been hustling and doing everything you need to do
in order to make the team and sort of doing
the yeoman's work that keeps guys that are fringe players
(11:30):
on football teams. But a year ago, Daria Guai was
sort of this like maybe he's a deep sleeper. I'm
not sure about Ronald Jones and maybe he can uh Barber,
remember that was talk about a year ago. I didn't
get on the field much offensively, caused some passes, but
he's the one released. So now you've got Leonard Fournette,
(11:51):
who I get is treated like an older player but
is not. Then you have Rojoe, our guy. Rojoe out
out to Chris Ventra, who says that Rojoe now needs
to go to another team. And then it's McCoy and
uh Keyshaw Vaughn their draft pick. So I don't get it.
(12:12):
I just don't get it. I don't see. I don't
see what Lashaw McCoy adds to this team. He doesn't
anything to the team, all right, at this point is crazy.
He's an average football player at best. Uh Fort is
gonna be the main bull carrier here. Eventually. I know
Arians came out yesterday and said Rojoe is still the starter. Okay,
uh is a better player and that's gonna play. And eventually,
(12:33):
I know Venture loves Rojoe. Free ro Joe. Yes, I
remember the frenzy last year. I think you'll get a chance.
But Eventually, the more talented player is going to play,
and that is for net. So getting back to the
initial question, you know, Keisha Voen's got a job. They
drafted him. McCoy is superfluous. You have this already, you don't.
Here's nothing he can add to your team. You released
(12:54):
a very good special teams player. He will be claimed immediately.
There are teams out there they're gonna look for a
special teams player that had the room running back. I
understand there was it's sort of a deep running back
group here, But what does McCoy do for you unless
there's an injury. There's an injury, Yes to McCoy could
help you out there, but without one, you already have
what he does. Uh in Roe Joe's were saying, or
(13:14):
Khu when it's a different kind of player there than
McCoy ever was. I don't understand this. This to me
seems like you you kept the bigger name player rather
than you know, almost a play kate. You know, fans
and stuff like that. I don't understand. There's no attachment
to this guy whatsoever in this locker room on this team.
I get he's a veteran player that I'm sure other
(13:35):
players like and may even gravitate too, But once you
signed for net that was it. Yeah, I think you're right.
I think of Gumbo Ali finds his way onto another
team pretty quickly, and he might even be the type
of guy that the second there's an injury with the Bucks,
they bring him back, right, don't. I don't think he'll
get a chance. I think he's going to sign. I
(13:56):
don't think he could be out there a free agent
for long. I agree, I agree. So all right, next thing,
just a couple of news and notes. Hakim Butler, fourth
round pick of the Cardinals last year that people thought
could be a sleeper. He's huge, a huge target, really
struggled in his year plus with the team. He was
released this week, and any guy like that with that
(14:18):
kind of size and potential ability is going to get
an opportunity somewhere else. But the Cardinals turning over this
roster George in in a way that Cliff Kingsbury has
obviously demanded. Cliff Kingsbury was there for the drafting of
Hakim Butler, but the receiving corps now is DeAndre Hopkins
in the lead. He got Christian Kirk coming back, hopefully
(14:41):
a big season, Larry Fitzgerald, uh Andy Isabella, and Keyshawn Johnson.
That's really it at the moment. Uh, So it's a
pretty full receiving corps. I don't think Kim Butler is
going to see many, if any targets, but uh to
move on from a guy like that, I think is
indicative of him is having had a bad camp or
a bad year with them. I think it's a numbers
(15:04):
game as well. Once again, most teams probably only gonna
keep five wide receivers. I think a six wept to
be an outstanding special teams performer. They stay on the roster.
And you mentioned Hopkins, Kirk, Fitzgerald, Isabella, Kisha, and Johnson.
They all got jobs. You know, they were locked in.
They were like locked in at five. So I think
Butler would have had to be outstanding, outstanding. Did you
(15:27):
have a shot at the you know, to stay with
this team. So I'm sure he didn't play that great
as well as what you said, but I don't know
if he had much of a chance. Yeah, Plus you
also have guys like Johnson and Isabella. Look, most teams
are gonna keep six wide receivers, but you have guys
like Johnson and Embella and Isabella that are contributing on
special teams, and Butler is not a major contributor there.
(15:49):
That makes it even tougher for him. If you're not
a star player or a very good player, you better
do something on special teams to secure your spot. We've
seen it hard knocks. If there's one thing I know,
you're not a hard knocks guy, but there's one thing
that hard Knocks drills into every year. And there was
the episode last week with the Chargers where the receiving
coach it wasn't talking about special teams necessarily, but the
(16:12):
receiving coaches talking about you better block. And he was
using very colorful language, and he was telling the receivers,
you've got Keenan Allen here, Mike Williams, and he ripped
off one or two other names. He's like, there's ten
of you here. There's obviously not enough jobs for you,
and he's like, you better block. Your head coach is
(16:34):
a former fullback and special teams captain. If you don't block,
you're out of here, especially when Keenan Allen is doing it.
So you see that I'm not trying to be old
school here, but you really do see that a lot.
And I don't know what the reasons for he Kim
Butler being cut or frankly Darring Gimbo Goombo Ali because
(16:55):
he was doing the right things, but really interesting sort
of focus on that. So here's a guy George, next
guy up, unfortunately released John Kelly running back for the Rams,
the Rams running back group and the Chargers running back
group to me in fantasy circles, has not been talked
(17:17):
about enough. People like Cam Akers, we love Austin Ekeler great,
but the Malcolm Brown, Darryl Henderson, John Kelly thing has
not really been talked about that much. Similarly, I don't
think people have talked much about Justin Jackson and Josh Kelly.
So not to get your Kelly's fixed up. John is
(17:38):
released with the Rams, Josh is with the Chargers. But
you give me just your thoughts on those back fields
right there. Let's just say something. I mean, acres, he's
the guy, right, he's gonna be a rookie running back
that has a shot. Yes, we assume, right, we assume
he is heard much about it. That's what I'm saying.
(17:58):
I don't think it's a four A conclusion at all.
I know fantasy owners assume he's going to be that
guy as well. Drafting last night my home league, I
picked up Darryl Henderson, and I think it was because
it's a home league. You know, No, it's not an
industry league. But I got Henderson. I'm gonna say around
sixteen and you're still there, I'm like, okay, I'll have
you gonna leave with me? And I didn't need a
running back, you know, I'm like, fine, I'll take it there. Um,
(18:20):
I don't think Acres is a lock. He's the guy
I want and that uh for the Rams, but I
think he's immortal lock. I don't. And I think Malcolm
Brown can make some noise as well. I think this
could be a situation where the hot guy who's playing well,
who fits the offense that day, who's the better pass
block on certain situations. I think a lot of this
could play a part in here. Um, I mean personally free,
(18:41):
but I have Justin Jackson and Malcolm Brown shares on
a whole bunch of best ball teams. I am Justin
Jackson shares and seasonal teams. Justin Jackson, we've seen him play.
If he gets you served by Josh Kelly, then I
was wrong, but I basically don't pay anything for him.
And if Austin Ekeler were to get injured and frankly
George starting to go down this path, but when Melvin
(19:05):
Gordon was on the team, Austin Ekeler had a role
to sim Austin Ekeler is going to touch them all
four hundred times and he's got it like old school
leving On Bell. That ain't it. That is not happening.
They don't play like that, and I don't think they will.
Plus he's only five two hundred pounds. Yeah. Times, he
(19:26):
won't make it to week ten. You know he'll be dead.
So he won't. Uh. I mean, if I was going
to take the back, if I would rather go to
the Rams because I think there's more of a chance
for Henderson or Brown to player is the guy now,
I don't mean the guy is in Elliott Barkley, but
he's going to be the guy that Yeah, I want.
(19:46):
I think I was the top. They used him in
the red zone. He catch his passes. He's just a
really versatile back that you like to have. I think
he's the top eight, uh running back as fast as
certain this year. I think it'll be that good over
some of these other guys. But I uh, you know,
Justin Jackson I think has a role there. I do.
I think he's going to play something. The ranch is
more wide open. Okay, I think it's acres. I do
(20:08):
think it's acres. But you're right, why are we hearing
a lot? We're not hearing a lot of buzz about this?
And once again this could be because the media members
really aren't there watching my practice on hard knocks, I
don't see anything about it. Men running back on the Chargers.
It's like the one running back story. It's too quiet,
which is one of the reasons I was very happy
to get Henderson lest night. I'll take the running back.
(20:30):
Maybe something does work out there. Of course, in that
draft I also took ahre in Peterson. Well that'll happen, George,
we're all gonna get burned. I got some ap shares
in Best Ball too that I had no interest in it.
But when does he go, Mike, when I'm down to
my fifth or six running back, I'm not even going
to hazard a guest there. Oh, you're no fun. I
(20:50):
can't Where is he gonna go? Who just wants a
thirty five year old running back. He's better than some
of the guys on rosters, though even at this age,
assuming is not he's not going to be a starter
all right now. He knows that. I mean, Chicago makes
some sense. They're banged up Philadelphia though, Philadelphia, I don't
know what Freeman wants. But I'm surprised Freeman hasn't been
signed already, says he has, but still too much money.
(21:12):
I mean, I can't believe Freeman doesn't have a job.
But I think we're very good back at running back
for a team. I could see Houston, I mean, David
Johnson find but he gets hurt a lot do because
that's a different kind of running back. So I wouldn't
mind him going there to be a backup kind of guy.
I think that could work out. Looking at other teams here,
(21:35):
that might be about it. Would the Chiefs want a
just looking at them? Would the Chiefs want somebody else
with some experience in there? Different kind of back though
not not a good pass catching back. Darwin Thompson and
Darryl Williams that you know, and DeAndre Washington. Those guys
have gotten reps in the past with but the Raiders
and elsewhere like everybody else who's an old and ancient
(21:58):
the Raiders. I mean, that doesn't pretense. Actually, that's a
that's a Grooten move all day. It does smell like
a group. How about the Patriots, right, they were in
on four net. I know he's not Fournet poison goals. Okay,
I understand they were in on foinancal. They could use
some running back help. Michelle is not helping anybody, and
Harris has already banged up a little bit. Yeah, but
(22:19):
we're here's the Raiders running back from uh, you know what,
We're gonna come back. We'll close We'll close it up
at the end of the hour. Michael George back after
this sports grid dot Com betting insights and entertainment at
your fingertips as our team covers the most important topics
in sports wagering, real time odds, predictive betting models, expert picks,
(22:40):
and more. Want the edge than get on the grid
sports grid dot Com Welcome back to football full circle
right here on the grid, and we're joined by my
(23:00):
friend and excellent analyst Emery Hunt. Do you find him
on Twitter at f ball game Planets. The owner and
football Game plan e Ray. I hope it's been a
good summer for you football right around the corner. Yeah,
I appreciate you guys having me on. It's been a
fun summer. A lot of work goes into what we're
going to talk about during the fall, so it's never
a dull moment here at the football game playing complex,
(23:22):
good stuff. So, UH really wanted to focus a little
bit on quarterbacks. We can take this conversation any which way,
but a couple of guys in particular stand out to me,
and that's Ben Roethlisberger and Matt Stafford in that they're
getting up there in years notably, been both coming back
from pretty significant injury. Stafford didn't play a whole bunch
(23:44):
of games and Roethlisberger missed basically fourteen games. What are
your expectations for those two to come back? People sound
bullish on Matt Stafford. The reports have been good on Roethlisberger,
but it's a major elbow surgery at thirty eight years old. Yeah,
I'm more we're about Roethlisberger than I am about Stafford,
although I am worried about Stafford because of the back
(24:05):
and he's had this back issue the last two seasons.
So we've seen how that played out for uh Tony
Romo and how that prematurely ended his career. And I
think but for Stafford, judging by what he was doing
when he was out there on the field, he was
playing his best ball, to be quite honest, and Detroit
was in the mix. And now he comes back healthy
(24:25):
with a better team around him. I think De Troy's
when it was sneaky under the radar, teams that could
buy for maybe that seventh spot in the playoffs because
of what they built. It all depends on if their
defense can get up to speed and be ready to play.
But for Roethlisberger, that elbow, like you said, and it
wasn't an elbow where he got hit awkwardly. He was
throwing the football and hurt himself. So you wonder, without preseason,
(24:46):
without getting hit, all those things you worry about with
rookie quarterbacks, you have to worry about with Ben Roethlisberger,
especially when you see guys that came in with him.
Eli Manning retired, Philip Rivers didn't look his best last
year year, and I'm surprised he got quickly picked up
by Indianapolis so Roethlisberger is up the same Elk is,
and in terms of his age and where he is
(25:08):
in his career, he still plays a very good level
of football. I won't say super high level, but he
plays good level, which should be enough to get Pittsburgh
into the playoffs. We saw this scene come to the
break of the playoffs last year with everybody at quarterback,
and so now they get at least some stability with Roethlisberger.
So he could be good in real football or fantasy.
I would be a little leery. All right, Ay, I
(25:29):
got it. I got a two part questions for you here.
Uh still Cam Newton, car New New England. I personally
think they got a gift from God. The Bills amazing,
the Patriots amazing, how everything works out for them. Uh
what do you think about Cam? Is he going to
be the player? We've become a comfort custom to you seeing,
you know, Superman out there where he can run, he
can throw the ball, or we can see maybe more
(25:50):
of one or the other. And my part two questions
is we're just talking about Ben. In my mind, Ben
and Cam with a two leading candidates for a comeback
Player of the Year, do you have to pay, you
know which one with will the award. That's a good
second question because you you think that's gonna come with Okay,
who's gonna have the better season, which means who can
have the better team, which then you're really splitting hair,
(26:11):
as when you talked about Pittsburgh in New England because
of the coaches staffs on both teams. So I like
that question. I'll tackle that one first because you look
at Cam Newton and you look at Ben Roethlisberger and
what they have around them. You like the weapons that
they have in Pittsburgh, But I would say when you
look at some of the weapons that they have in
New England, I kind of am impressed with what they
(26:31):
were able to acquire. Like the tight end. The rookie
Devon Assisi from U C. L A. Was one of
my favorite tight end prospects in the class. The fact
that you have a Cam Newton running the football, are
able to run the football, it opens up the run game.
So those guys that they have already in the backfield
on their roster are guys that will benefit from Cam
Newton just being back there at the quarterback positions. So
(26:53):
I guess that kind of leads into your first question,
where I think he's gonna do a little bit of both.
But I do think, uh, knowing that you know he
has come off of an injury and and wants to
be out there for the full sixteen game season. When
he runs, he may be a little bit more judicious
and win. And where he takes hits, which means he
would come, he will become less reckless, which will help
preserve him for the long hold. That's what people don't
(27:15):
understand about a guy like Lamar Jackson and a guy
like Russell Wilson. Both of those guys, while they run often,
they protect themselves by not running reckless. When you talk
about running reckless, you're talking about your Michael Vix, you're
talking about your Steve Young's. You're talking about guys that
tend to run into contact too often. And I don't
care how big you are, you can't continue to take
(27:36):
that pounding like that if you're initiating the contact. So
I think we'll see Cam Newton limit his contact this year,
which should help preserve him but also not lose that
element of being able to run the football. As we've
seen over the course his career. It's a really good
point about Cam. I I this moment stands out to me.
It's a relatively innocuous moment. But there was a game
(27:57):
of a few years ago against the Giants. It wasn't
a particularly good Giants team. It was early in the
game and Cam was just running over people to try
to impose his will upon people, which is great because
it worked at the time. But I remember thinking, you know,
you can take a couple of plays off from doing
(28:17):
this in order to preserve yourself. The chickens come home
to roost at some point. Even if Cam, who is
likely to be considered one of the greatest athletics specimens
in the history of football at that position, I just
always thought that he could take a couple of hits
away from himself. To your point, But let me transition
over to another QB situation. We have Josh Rosen, and
(28:40):
to a tongue of Biolo down in Miami too, it
seems like he's going to be installed strictly as the
number two quarterbacks they'll start the season. Patrick, it's tb
d as to win to a will come in. So
I'll ask you the question about Josh Rosen. First, Miami
has been fielding calls. They're open about the fact that
they've been fielding call halls. Do you think Josh Rosen
(29:02):
has a path to be a starting quarterback? He's never
gotten a real shot. So that's question number one, number
and question number two. Uh, give me in the number
of games that you think too is going to start
this year. You know I have to disagree slightly. I
do think he's gotten a real shot to be a starter.
That was an Arizona and he also got a shot
in Miami. But we saw that offense look like it
(29:25):
wasn't even supposed to be on an NFL field when
he was out. There's the point when when Fitzpatrick came in,
that offense instantly became better and he became much more competitive.
So I think he's flamed out at two spots man,
to be honest, and usually they will give first round
picks every opportunity to prove themselves terrible. We saw we
see this in Chicago. You know they will not quit
(29:48):
Mitchell Trobinsky, even though it has been obvious that he
has been the problem out there for their offense. So
I think Roses chances to be a backup. He can
grow into the new Blaine Gabber, who has embraced that
role and has played well when called upon in spot duty.
Now that he's a reserve, I think he's now in
Tampa Bay. But when you look at toa I think
they have the luxury now of gone with the Ryan
(30:10):
Fitzpatrick who played some of his basketball last year and
guiding this football team leading them to some competitive wins.
But I do think if they're at week eight and
they're a week nine or two and eight, then you're
probably gonna see two of If they're two and six
and you know two and six can still go either way,
I still think you'll see Fitzpatrick. I think it will
(30:32):
depend on the record of the of the team and
when they are in the season and how they're playing.
I think we may see two for five or six
games because I do think the Dolphins will be competitive. Um.
And it may just be, hey, we reached this point
that we can go as far as we could with Fitzpatrick,
so let's put two in to get some repis to
see if he can push this thing forward. UM. But
(30:53):
I think it'll have to be a dire situation where
the Dolphins are out of playoff contention and they want
to get the future rolling right, you install packages like
the same state with Taysom Hill. Would you do that
with toa who I think too is obviously a part
superior player to Taysom Hill. But if you're the Dolphins,
are you installing certain different look packages like the Eagles
could with Jalen Hurds, like the Dolphins obviously could have too.
(31:17):
And now I don't. I don't view to it. That's
saying well to meet to Sinson. His athleticism is that
like Jimmy Garoppolo, So I would I wouldn't feel comfortable
with him out there trying to, you know, execute his
own read because I do think he's not the type
to really make a guy miss. He's gonna take more
sacks and he gets away from him. Um, I would
(31:37):
be more intrigued if they do some things like that.
What you're talking about with Malcolm uh Kelly, the the
Malcolm paragram sort of a quarterback, the former option quarterback
at Navy that's now a slot receiver with the Dolphins. Okay,
little piece of news here, A Jaguars have placed running
back right Well Mstly on the reserve COVID list. Second
(31:59):
time he's placed on that as this PRETT season, So
just let people go out there. So armsteads on the
COVID list for a Jaguars, that's not my question. However,
question know what came up last night? So there's no
story here that we know that Watsons and negotiations to
get a new a new contract, it's gonna be a
gazillion dollars blah blah blah. But one thing that I
was interesting, according to the reports, and we don't know
(32:20):
how true or false these reports may be. The money
being talked about is more in the range of Russell Wilson,
not Pat Mown or not anywhere near close to Pat mahomes.
My question, will you for you Emory, is this, assuming
that's true, what does this mean to the dock negotiations
where he seems to want more money or he doesn't
want to be with Dallas right once a three year
contract not a five year contract or whatever it might be.
(32:42):
How do you think the Watson negotiations will impact the
dock negotiations. I think they all help each other out
because it consistently pushes that number further up for for
Doc or for even for Watson. You know, I think
when you look at those quarterbacks and Watson being just
like Dak book guys have been consistently good and consistently
(33:03):
putting their team in the playoffs and playing good football.
Uh So, I think both guys will warrant that highest salary,
and whoever you get signed first, the other guy will
use that as a negotiating ploy with their team and
try to push that number of peoven for further. That's
that should be the brotherhood of the NFL, where guys
are trying to constantly raise the level of pay for
(33:25):
their position. You saw it with the running back position.
You see it. You saw it a while back with receivers,
and you see it in our quarterbacks. So they're rooting
for one to to get signed at a at a
very good rate because that kind of pushes the bar
ahead of where it is currently. So how about our
one guy attracted in the first round this year that
(33:45):
we know is going to play. We talked about two
of you, and I talked about Justin Herbert offline. He's
not ready to go, at least for this year. Jordan's
Love not ready to go. Joe Burrow expectations here offensive
line slightly improved. Do you trust it's Taylor to bring
him along the right way. He's got decent he's got
good too, decent to good weapons. We don't know a
(34:07):
j Green's health. We know about Joe Mixon and Tyler Boyd,
but expectations for Joe Burrow. He's a rookie, but can
he be a good room I think so because he
has taken all the reps throughout all the first team reps,
draw camp and also during the zoom meetings and stuff
like that. But they also have Te Higgins to another
talented rookie receiver from Clemson. I do like Joe Burrow's
(34:30):
situation in Cincinnati, to be quite honest. Last year, I
thought the Bengals. They didn't play terrible. They were in
a lot of ball games. Um, they just didn't They
couldn't finish. I felt like if they hadn't benched a
j I'm sorry, Andy Dalton, then maybe they could have
won more games. But I do think this team is
set up to really help a young quarterback, a rookie
quarterback get up to speed pretty quickly. They got the
(34:51):
running back like we talked about, they got good options
that receiver. For now, it seems like John Ross is healthy,
so that's another addition to the perimeter, and defensively, I
think there'll be much better than what we saw last season,
especially at linebacker. I like what they've added there, so
I think this is a good situation for him to
grow in. It wouldn't surprise me to see them when
six games even pushed for seven or eight, depending on
(35:14):
how things break for that defense later in the year,
because we know Burrow will get better every game. He's
played a lot of college. He hadn't played a lot,
but he did play a lot in a short period
of time, and he's an experienced guy, so he's not
gonna be too shocked by the moment. I think having
no fans in the stands this season kind of helps
the rookie quarterback get up to speed pretty quickly. I
(35:36):
actually like that. Did you think about that no fans
of his dance could help the rookie quarterbacks? Uh? Listen,
we are a gambling network, and I bet that I
know I like. I think Mike likes it as well.
Get your opinion now here. Kyler Murray to win m
v P well Offensive Player of the Years up there
about one, but I don't think it makes the playoffs
do you think what would it take for Kyler Murray
(35:59):
to win m v P. Gotta have forty seconds. I
think you have to kill the numbers wise number one,
but also push that team to the playoffs. I do
think the Cardinals can finish first in the a f
C on paper. They've gotten better defensively and there in
that second season of Cliff Kingsbury net offense, and I
think that was another team that was five plays away
(36:19):
from being nine and seven. Yeah, it's interesting, man. I'm
going to I have Kyler Offensive Player of the Year
to win m v P, they'd have to win the division,
but I don't. I just don't know if they can
get there. It's a lot of competition there, but great
stuff is always. Thank you for joining us on our
final show of this offseason. You find Emory on Twitter
at f Ball game Plan. We'll talk to again soon,
(36:40):
but have a great season. Appreciate you get asked right
back on the grid after this Sports grid dot Com
betting insights and entertainment at your fingertips as our team
covers the most important topics in sports wagering, real time odds,
predictive betting models, expert picks, and more. Want the edge
than get on the sports grid dot Com thanks to
(37:16):
Emory hunted stuff there on all quarterbacks and everything else. Again,
find him on Twitter at f Ball game Plan. It
does a great job. You see him constantly commenting and
always putting out good information on both college and pro football. So, George,
I want to wrap up a conversation we were having
before we talked to Emery, and that was about the
(37:36):
Raiders running back from how it's just such a John
Bruden move to potentially signed Adrian Peterson. They got Josh
Jacobs is such an absolute clear cut starter. By the way,
you like Jacobs more or less than Eckler for fantasy
exclusive debate? Right, It's really it's really it's pretty much
the debate there. I actually think Jacobs would seymore touches.
I think you're right. I'll agree with you there. Um
(37:59):
I want to go if you play in a standard league,
it's definitely Jacobs playing a PPR, I'll probably go. I
probably lean a little bit more towards what do you
want to what kind of fantasy on are you? Are
you a gambler? If you live upside, I'll go Eckler.
If you look at it, I want to get my points. See,
I want to know I'm gona be covered each week.
I'll go Jacobs. Yeah, I'm a gambler, so I'm taking Eckler.
So Josh Jacobs, Uh, Lynn Bowden is in the backfield.
(38:22):
He's obviously kind of a Swiss army knife of a player.
Jalen Richard who's been there, DeVante Booker, and Theo Rittic.
That's the running back room as of Friday, late Friday.
That could change. We don't expect him to have five
running backs, like we don't expect other teams to have
five running backs. But that's sort of a full room.
You're effectively cutting two of those guys to bring in
(38:45):
Adrian Peterson and I don't I don't know that he
would do that. I also don't know what kind of
camp uh Davante Booker, Theo Rittic or Jalen Richardo having.
I just don't know. Lynn Boden gets things written about
him because he's such an explosive athlete, and Josh Jacobs
is what he is. Sell Well. We bring it up
because it is a Raiders move to bring in a
former superstar, you know, future Hall of Fame. They've done
(39:07):
this before in the past, you know, So that's what
we're bringing up. But you're right. You look at their
running back roster, they don't need him. I mean he
might be better. De Rochard is a fear backup running back,
but as he do other things as well. Do you
want to pass catching back so that he doesn't do well?
You could say the ridicks that guy, they'll play special teams.
Those guys will not do the head what's funny. I
(39:29):
mean when you go back to zero snaps on special teams.
Jimmy Jimmy Johnson and Bill Parcels believe there were three
parts of a football game. Offense, defense, special teams. Some
coaches don't look at like that that we can afford
to lose special teams, and maybe in some ways in
today's game you can because al kikos are generally in
the end zone, right most of you know, there's not
many of returns there, but they're still punt returns. I
(39:49):
think it was nuts to not value special teams, but
I do want to so if some coaches don't value
it as much as others, Okay, and that's it. Thanks
for watching this hour of football full Circle. But half
of Brian Rokowskians rage grids. I'm like blue. See you
next time on the grid. Sports grid dot Com betting
insights and entertainment at your fingertips as our team covers
(40:09):
the most important topics in sports wagering, real time odds,
predictive betting models, expert picks, and more. Want the edge
than get on the grid. Sports grid dot Com
Sports grid dot Com Betting insights and entertainment at your
fingertips as our team covers the most important topics in
sports wagering, real time odds, predictive betting models, expert picks,
and more. Want the edge than get on the grid
sports grid dot Com Back on the Grid. Mike and
(00:24):
George follow us on Twitter at sports Grid, on Instagram
at sports grid TV. George can be found on Twitter
at George Kurtz. I'm at Mike Plute. Everything's pretty simple there, so, uh, George,
As we are seeing everything unfold throughout these several months
that we've been doing this shot, and we've been trying
(00:45):
to draw blood from a stone in terms of finding news,
the stories surrounding social justice reform in a variety of
different sports and as it relates to football have been
a lot of what we've talked about. Right. I think
we all know that the temperature now for protests in
the NFL different than it was four years ago when
(01:06):
Colin Kaepernick was doing it. And John Mara of the
New York Giants, obviously one of the sort of crown
jewel ownership groups longtime ownership groups in the NFL, had
some comments so He said his preferences for players to
stand during the national anthem, but that the First Amendment
provides them the right to kneel. He says, quote, I'm
going to continue to support the players. He said that
(01:29):
via Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News. I
understand the fact and accept the fact. That's not that
that's not going to be necessarily popular with certain segments
of our fan base, but I think that's the right
thing to do. So. There were times in the past
where Mara was forcefully against it and other owners were
forcifully against it. But I think it's gotten to a
(01:50):
point now where we're looking for respectful protests and the
NFL owners are going to acknowledge it. Maybe not necessarily
parts of the fan base or certain politicians, but that's
the way it looks like it's going to be. We've
heard comments from Dallas Cowboys players and others saying that
we intend to do something and be respectful about it.
(02:11):
I think that's the key there. You want to be
respectful about it. I think you know how I feel, Mike.
I've stated my opinion on the show before. UM I
have always wondered why we even sing the national anth
of the force boarding events. We don't sing it before
a movie. You don't sing it before you're going out
and having a barbecue or whatever else. Why do we
sing it before a sporting game? What's so what's so
different about that? So that's one way I think old
(02:32):
sports can aleviate the problem. Just don't sing it before
a game anymore. Uh, you would't have to worry about it. Personally,
I would stand. You know, I come from a military
family somewhat. My father, uncle, several cousins roll uh in
the military, so I would stand. I don't necessarily think
kneeling is you know, I'm mocking anything. If you're you're
(02:52):
a church going person, which I'll be the first todment
I am not. But you're a church you kneel to
praise the God, who supposedly is the most biased for right.
But kneeling to the flag is disrespectful. It doesn't make
a lot of sense to me. I don't think you
should sit. I think that is disrespectful. I wouldn't sit.
I would never sit. But kneeling doesn't bother them at all,
you know, it never really has. I think these these
(03:13):
players are starting to want to use their platform to
get change, and I don't blame them for that. If
they wait till after they retire or when they're not
in the public light, I can't make as much noise.
We saw what happened what a week ago, ten days
ago when the NBA and h L MLB players all
had their wildcat strike for lack of a better time.
It's really what it was, uh, and games were canceled
(03:33):
to bring publicity to the problem. So I don't think
football players will do that, mind you, I don't think
they will, mainly because it's two weeks later when they
would be doing it, and also because the games will
be a nightmare to try and make up. You know,
I would supposed to me and the NFL would make
them all play Wednesdays. Then you got two days off, now,
you know. I don't think anybody wants that, So I
don't expect anything to happen that way. But I think
(03:54):
we're gonna see most games whereas a certain amount of
players are going to kneel or put the fist in
the air or wherever however else they're going to do.
This said one thing that is still curious, and you know,
I'm not gonna We're not gonna explore it too much
during this segment because we want to get to news.
And by the way, a little bit later, we have
(04:14):
coming up Emory Hunt will help us through some of
the latest NFL stories. But you said that you're from
military family. I have probly just recently retired from the
military as well, and I think sometimes that does get
twisted together, and I think that's why some people get
angry about it. I think you can be entirely dedicated
(04:40):
to doing a respectful protest in order to shed light
on an issue, in this instance, towards police brutality, but
not have any not have any connection with the military
at all. I think the flag in the military are
always going to be intertwined in some fact. But I
(05:00):
don't think kneeling for the anthem is direct disrespect to
the military. I don't personally think that, but I would
also stand um And it doesn't mean that I'm for
any of the issues that are being protested against anyway. Uh,
just it's important because John Mara, I'll close it on
him saying this, I'll tell you this, one of the
most memorable team meetings I've ever been involved with, I
(05:21):
guess took place Right after the George Floyd Urder Mara said,
I listen to the players talk about their own experiences
growing up dealing with law enforcement, and to see the
raw emotion that they came out of them. I mean,
guys got very emotional talking about it. It It was something
that was really an eye opener for me. Uh. And
to see how they've reacted since then, all the work
they put in their communities and local communities here is
really gratifying. It makes it easier to want to support them.
(05:42):
So I think it's a good lesson. John Mara had
a different point of view. He opened his ears, listened,
and uh, he came out feeling differently about the topic.
And hopefully we can all do that as we move ahead.
So quick transition to football, Ja Daveon Clowney. George he's
waited it out and guess what, he's got multiple bidders.
I don't know what the bids are though. That's the problem,
(06:05):
and that's what we're waiting for right apparently. I mean
over the past uh twelve sixteen nine, as we're hearing
Saints and Titans that they're all they're going all out
to try and sign and they got players contacting, Oh yeah,
come play here, come play here. I would think of
that's two. You're going to the Saints, right, I mean
Saints really good team. Favorite. Titans are a good team,
(06:25):
but they're not the favorite that goes super Bowl or
anything like that. They might make the playoffs. But if
I'm clowney, the money's even, I'm going to the loans.
You know, I guess what it comes down to it.
But then again, is the money even? We don't know?
You know, and listen, I think it's only a one
year deal. I would think so at this point, you
think someone's gonna give a three four year deal fifteen
million a year? Now it has to be one and
(06:46):
throw an extra year on it. Why aren't the Lions
in this any pass rushers? Forgetfully hat that. Why are
the Jaguars being mentioned here? If the Jaguars would have
signed Clowny Clowne, what you Todava what I mean? You
gotta be well, yeah, they got cap space, baby, it
has to be a true, true big time contract. But
(07:07):
if thirty five million bucks in cap space, if the
Titans in the Saints say I got you for fifteen
and the Jackson I got you for nineteen. I'm in Jacksonville.
He's not getting fifteen, not from not from new one
with the Tennessee. I would guess I think even that
might have to become with incentives. And to be fair,
this is the one time we have to say this
(07:30):
segment is being filmed a couple of days in advance,
so if it happens, you get out of the bag. Folks,
if you're a regular watcher of the show. We don't
record live on Saturdays and Sundays, Okay, we do Thursdays
and Friday. So that's why, Mike, you know we mentioned
what do we mentioned yesterday? We thought, let's let's mccoyobe
the one who gets axed talking about that next segment. Yeah,
(07:51):
so much for that happening, as McCoy actually kept his
jo I can't believe. I can't believe they kept McCoy
to me, that's just silly. Oh the oat. But whatever,
it is, what it is. But yes, there's a cut
out of the bag. Few this is actually Friday afternoon
in case this thing changes here. But yeah, I would
think the labor the point, George, I'm just trying to
let them know that we might get PM about thirty
(08:14):
eight seconds if you really want to know, it's one
one Dallas, Colorado in the hockey game. Okay, but anyway, Uh,
if Clowney would have signed with Jacksonville, I mean you know,
I'm sure I would have to be a three or
four year deal, big money contract. But what's Jacksonville doing?
Why are they even be mentioned here? You traded for net,
You traded Yannick already took them under four and a half.
(08:34):
I would prefer Clowney and not signed, to be honest,
because sing it, I don't know if he's a big
game changer on a bad team. Anyway, certainly, just not
add talent money. The money is already in George, So
I would just prefer them not to add anyone in Peterson,
not your damon Clowney. Ain't nobody. I got the under
(08:56):
as well, so I'm there with you, but I just can't.
I just found this what this report wrong? What is
going on here? You know you're releasing everybody of trading everybody,
which is the right thing to do. You got one
of these raftics and now you get to sign Cloudey,
who you know, he's a good play it by the way,
he is not Reggie White, you know someone, Oh my god,
Lawrence Taylor a true game changer. He's not that, but
(09:18):
I think he would help. The Saints are Titan Sure,
Saints only have seven million bucks in cap space right
now that Titans have twenty two. So we know that
the Saints are maneuvering contracts around, extensions everything else to
try to move the money around, which could potentially help.
But teams can work magic. I've seen them do it
(09:40):
before and I just don't know if they'll be able
to do it. But yeah, those are two good options,
by the way, both playoff teams last year, good options
for him. Crazy that the Seahawks did all that trading
and he's just gonna walk. They ultimately get really very
little production out of him and very little, um very
(10:01):
little during the exchange and the trade with the Texans.
So all right, well, uh, we'll wrap it up this segment.
We're gonna come back talk about the bucks. Like George
just talked about a few other things that happened in
the NFL this week, We'll be right back on the grid.
It's FFC Mike and George Sports grid dot Com Betting
Insights and Entertainment at your fingertips as our team covers
(10:23):
the most important topics in sports wagering, real time odds,
predictive betting models, expert picks, and more want the edge
than get on the grid Sports grid dot Com. Back
on the Grid, Mike and George talking about just just
can rip off a whole bunch of news players being released.
(10:47):
See if there's anything that we can sift through here.
But first one was sort of confusing, George. We talked
about it on yesterday's show and I have to follow
it up because we were sure that Lashawn McCoy was
going to be the odd man out of the five
running back We didn't. Nobody thought they were going to
keep five running backs. They didn't. But Lashaw McCoy is
(11:07):
not the odd man out. They released Special Teams captain
Daria Gumbawe. Now, the Special Teams captain doesn't assure you
of a spot on the roster. It just means that
you've been hustling and doing everything you need to do
in order to make the team and sort of doing
the yeoman's work that keeps guys that are fringe players
(11:30):
on football teams. But a year ago, Daria Guai was
sort of this like maybe he's a deep sleeper. I'm
not sure about Ronald Jones and maybe he can uh Barber,
remember that was talk about a year ago. I didn't
get on the field much offensively, caused some passes, but
he's the one released. So now you've got Leonard Fournette,
(11:51):
who I get is treated like an older player but
is not. Then you have Rojoe, our guy. Rojoe out
out to Chris Ventra, who says that Rojoe now needs
to go to another team. And then it's McCoy and
uh Keyshaw Vaughn their draft pick. So I don't get it.
(12:12):
I just don't get it. I don't see. I don't
see what Lashaw McCoy adds to this team. He doesn't
anything to the team, all right, at this point is crazy.
He's an average football player at best. Uh Fort is
gonna be the main bull carrier here. Eventually. I know
Arians came out yesterday and said Rojoe is still the starter. Okay,
uh is a better player and that's gonna play. And eventually,
(12:33):
I know Venture loves Rojoe. Free ro Joe. Yes, I
remember the frenzy last year. I think you'll get a chance.
But Eventually, the more talented player is going to play,
and that is for net. So getting back to the
initial question, you know, Keisha Voen's got a job. They
drafted him. McCoy is superfluous. You have this already, you don't.
Here's nothing he can add to your team. You released
(12:54):
a very good special teams player. He will be claimed immediately.
There are teams out there they're gonna look for a
special teams player that had the room running back. I
understand there was it's sort of a deep running back
group here, But what does McCoy do for you unless
there's an injury. There's an injury, Yes to McCoy could
help you out there, but without one, you already have
what he does. Uh in Roe Joe's were saying, or
(13:14):
Khu when it's a different kind of player there than
McCoy ever was. I don't understand this. This to me
seems like you you kept the bigger name player rather
than you know, almost a play kate. You know, fans
and stuff like that. I don't understand. There's no attachment
to this guy whatsoever in this locker room on this team.
I get he's a veteran player that I'm sure other
(13:35):
players like and may even gravitate too, But once you
signed for net that was it. Yeah, I think you're right.
I think of Gumbo Ali finds his way onto another
team pretty quickly, and he might even be the type
of guy that the second there's an injury with the Bucks,
they bring him back, right, don't. I don't think he'll
get a chance. I think he's going to sign. I
(13:56):
don't think he could be out there a free agent
for long. I agree, I agree. So all right, next thing,
just a couple of news and notes. Hakim Butler, fourth
round pick of the Cardinals last year that people thought
could be a sleeper. He's huge, a huge target, really
struggled in his year plus with the team. He was
released this week, and any guy like that with that
(14:18):
kind of size and potential ability is going to get
an opportunity somewhere else. But the Cardinals turning over this
roster George in in a way that Cliff Kingsbury has
obviously demanded. Cliff Kingsbury was there for the drafting of
Hakim Butler, but the receiving corps now is DeAndre Hopkins
in the lead. He got Christian Kirk coming back, hopefully
(14:41):
a big season, Larry Fitzgerald, uh Andy Isabella, and Keyshawn Johnson.
That's really it at the moment. Uh, So it's a
pretty full receiving corps. I don't think Kim Butler is
going to see many, if any targets, but uh to
move on from a guy like that, I think is
indicative of him is having had a bad camp or
a bad year with them. I think it's a numbers
(15:04):
game as well. Once again, most teams probably only gonna
keep five wide receivers. I think a six wept to
be an outstanding special teams performer. They stay on the roster.
And you mentioned Hopkins, Kirk, Fitzgerald, Isabella, Kisha, and Johnson.
They all got jobs. You know, they were locked in.
They were like locked in at five. So I think
Butler would have had to be outstanding, outstanding. Did you
(15:27):
have a shot at the you know, to stay with
this team. So I'm sure he didn't play that great
as well as what you said, but I don't know
if he had much of a chance. Yeah, Plus you
also have guys like Johnson and Isabella. Look, most teams
are gonna keep six wide receivers, but you have guys
like Johnson and Embella and Isabella that are contributing on
special teams, and Butler is not a major contributor there.
(15:49):
That makes it even tougher for him. If you're not
a star player or a very good player, you better
do something on special teams to secure your spot. We've
seen it hard knocks. If there's one thing I know,
you're not a hard knocks guy, but there's one thing
that hard Knocks drills into every year. And there was
the episode last week with the Chargers where the receiving
coach it wasn't talking about special teams necessarily, but the
(16:12):
receiving coaches talking about you better block. And he was
using very colorful language, and he was telling the receivers,
you've got Keenan Allen here, Mike Williams, and he ripped
off one or two other names. He's like, there's ten
of you here. There's obviously not enough jobs for you,
and he's like, you better block. Your head coach is
(16:34):
a former fullback and special teams captain. If you don't block,
you're out of here, especially when Keenan Allen is doing it.
So you see that I'm not trying to be old
school here, but you really do see that a lot.
And I don't know what the reasons for he Kim
Butler being cut or frankly Darring Gimbo Goombo Ali because
(16:55):
he was doing the right things, but really interesting sort
of focus on that. So here's a guy George, next
guy up, unfortunately released John Kelly running back for the Rams,
the Rams running back group and the Chargers running back
group to me in fantasy circles, has not been talked
(17:17):
about enough. People like Cam Akers, we love Austin Ekeler great,
but the Malcolm Brown, Darryl Henderson, John Kelly thing has
not really been talked about that much. Similarly, I don't
think people have talked much about Justin Jackson and Josh Kelly.
So not to get your Kelly's fixed up. John is
(17:38):
released with the Rams, Josh is with the Chargers. But
you give me just your thoughts on those back fields
right there. Let's just say something. I mean, acres, he's
the guy, right, he's gonna be a rookie running back
that has a shot. Yes, we assume, right, we assume
he is heard much about it. That's what I'm saying.
(17:58):
I don't think it's a four A conclusion at all.
I know fantasy owners assume he's going to be that
guy as well. Drafting last night my home league, I
picked up Darryl Henderson, and I think it was because
it's a home league. You know, No, it's not an
industry league. But I got Henderson. I'm gonna say around
sixteen and you're still there, I'm like, okay, I'll have
you gonna leave with me? And I didn't need a
running back, you know, I'm like, fine, I'll take it there. Um,
(18:20):
I don't think Acres is a lock. He's the guy
I want and that uh for the Rams, but I
think he's immortal lock. I don't. And I think Malcolm
Brown can make some noise as well. I think this
could be a situation where the hot guy who's playing well,
who fits the offense that day, who's the better pass
block on certain situations. I think a lot of this
could play a part in here. Um, I mean personally free,
(18:41):
but I have Justin Jackson and Malcolm Brown shares on
a whole bunch of best ball teams. I am Justin
Jackson shares and seasonal teams. Justin Jackson, we've seen him play.
If he gets you served by Josh Kelly, then I
was wrong, but I basically don't pay anything for him.
And if Austin Ekeler were to get injured and frankly
George starting to go down this path, but when Melvin
(19:05):
Gordon was on the team, Austin Ekeler had a role
to sim Austin Ekeler is going to touch them all
four hundred times and he's got it like old school
leving On Bell. That ain't it. That is not happening.
They don't play like that, and I don't think they will.
Plus he's only five two hundred pounds. Yeah. Times, he
(19:26):
won't make it to week ten. You know he'll be dead.
So he won't. Uh. I mean, if I was going
to take the back, if I would rather go to
the Rams because I think there's more of a chance
for Henderson or Brown to player is the guy now,
I don't mean the guy is in Elliott Barkley, but
he's going to be the guy that Yeah, I want.
(19:46):
I think I was the top. They used him in
the red zone. He catch his passes. He's just a
really versatile back that you like to have. I think
he's the top eight, uh running back as fast as
certain this year. I think it'll be that good over
some of these other guys. But I uh, you know,
Justin Jackson I think has a role there. I do.
I think he's going to play something. The ranch is
more wide open. Okay, I think it's acres. I do
(20:08):
think it's acres. But you're right, why are we hearing
a lot? We're not hearing a lot of buzz about this?
And once again this could be because the media members
really aren't there watching my practice on hard knocks, I
don't see anything about it. Men running back on the Chargers.
It's like the one running back story. It's too quiet,
which is one of the reasons I was very happy
to get Henderson lest night. I'll take the running back.
(20:30):
Maybe something does work out there. Of course, in that
draft I also took ahre in Peterson. Well that'll happen, George,
we're all gonna get burned. I got some ap shares
in Best Ball too that I had no interest in it.
But when does he go, Mike, when I'm down to
my fifth or six running back, I'm not even going
to hazard a guest there. Oh, you're no fun. I
(20:50):
can't Where is he gonna go? Who just wants a
thirty five year old running back. He's better than some
of the guys on rosters, though even at this age,
assuming is not he's not going to be a starter
all right now. He knows that. I mean, Chicago makes
some sense. They're banged up Philadelphia though, Philadelphia, I don't
know what Freeman wants. But I'm surprised Freeman hasn't been
signed already, says he has, but still too much money.
(21:12):
I mean, I can't believe Freeman doesn't have a job.
But I think we're very good back at running back
for a team. I could see Houston, I mean, David
Johnson find but he gets hurt a lot do because
that's a different kind of running back. So I wouldn't
mind him going there to be a backup kind of guy.
I think that could work out. Looking at other teams here,
(21:35):
that might be about it. Would the Chiefs want a
just looking at them? Would the Chiefs want somebody else
with some experience in there? Different kind of back though
not not a good pass catching back. Darwin Thompson and
Darryl Williams that you know, and DeAndre Washington. Those guys
have gotten reps in the past with but the Raiders
and elsewhere like everybody else who's an old and ancient
(21:58):
the Raiders. I mean, that doesn't pretense. Actually, that's a
that's a Grooten move all day. It does smell like
a group. How about the Patriots, right, they were in
on four net. I know he's not Fournet poison goals. Okay,
I understand they were in on foinancal. They could use
some running back help. Michelle is not helping anybody, and
Harris has already banged up a little bit. Yeah, but
(22:19):
we're here's the Raiders running back from uh, you know what,
We're gonna come back. We'll close We'll close it up
at the end of the hour. Michael George back after
this sports grid dot Com betting insights and entertainment at
your fingertips as our team covers the most important topics
in sports wagering, real time odds, predictive betting models, expert picks,
(22:40):
and more. Want the edge than get on the grid
sports grid dot Com Welcome back to football full circle
right here on the grid, and we're joined by my
(23:00):
friend and excellent analyst Emery Hunt. Do you find him
on Twitter at f ball game Planets. The owner and
football Game plan e Ray. I hope it's been a
good summer for you football right around the corner. Yeah,
I appreciate you guys having me on. It's been a
fun summer. A lot of work goes into what we're
going to talk about during the fall, so it's never
a dull moment here at the football game playing complex,
(23:22):
good stuff. So, UH really wanted to focus a little
bit on quarterbacks. We can take this conversation any which way,
but a couple of guys in particular stand out to me,
and that's Ben Roethlisberger and Matt Stafford in that they're
getting up there in years notably, been both coming back
from pretty significant injury. Stafford didn't play a whole bunch
(23:44):
of games and Roethlisberger missed basically fourteen games. What are
your expectations for those two to come back? People sound
bullish on Matt Stafford. The reports have been good on Roethlisberger,
but it's a major elbow surgery at thirty eight years old. Yeah,
I'm more we're about Roethlisberger than I am about Stafford,
although I am worried about Stafford because of the back
(24:05):
and he's had this back issue the last two seasons.
So we've seen how that played out for uh Tony
Romo and how that prematurely ended his career. And I
think but for Stafford, judging by what he was doing
when he was out there on the field, he was
playing his best ball, to be quite honest, and Detroit
was in the mix. And now he comes back healthy
(24:25):
with a better team around him. I think De Troy's
when it was sneaky under the radar, teams that could
buy for maybe that seventh spot in the playoffs because
of what they built. It all depends on if their
defense can get up to speed and be ready to play.
But for Roethlisberger, that elbow, like you said, and it
wasn't an elbow where he got hit awkwardly. He was
throwing the football and hurt himself. So you wonder, without preseason,
(24:46):
without getting hit, all those things you worry about with
rookie quarterbacks, you have to worry about with Ben Roethlisberger,
especially when you see guys that came in with him.
Eli Manning retired, Philip Rivers didn't look his best last
year year, and I'm surprised he got quickly picked up
by Indianapolis so Roethlisberger is up the same Elk is,
and in terms of his age and where he is
(25:08):
in his career, he still plays a very good level
of football. I won't say super high level, but he
plays good level, which should be enough to get Pittsburgh
into the playoffs. We saw this scene come to the
break of the playoffs last year with everybody at quarterback,
and so now they get at least some stability with Roethlisberger.
So he could be good in real football or fantasy.
I would be a little leery. All right, Ay, I
(25:29):
got it. I got a two part questions for you here.
Uh still Cam Newton, car New New England. I personally
think they got a gift from God. The Bills amazing,
the Patriots amazing, how everything works out for them. Uh
what do you think about Cam? Is he going to
be the player? We've become a comfort custom to you seeing,
you know, Superman out there where he can run, he
can throw the ball, or we can see maybe more
(25:50):
of one or the other. And my part two questions
is we're just talking about Ben. In my mind, Ben
and Cam with a two leading candidates for a comeback
Player of the Year, do you have to pay, you
know which one with will the award. That's a good
second question because you you think that's gonna come with Okay,
who's gonna have the better season, which means who can
have the better team, which then you're really splitting hair,
(26:11):
as when you talked about Pittsburgh in New England because
of the coaches staffs on both teams. So I like
that question. I'll tackle that one first because you look
at Cam Newton and you look at Ben Roethlisberger and
what they have around them. You like the weapons that
they have in Pittsburgh, But I would say when you
look at some of the weapons that they have in
New England, I kind of am impressed with what they
(26:31):
were able to acquire. Like the tight end. The rookie
Devon Assisi from U C. L A. Was one of
my favorite tight end prospects in the class. The fact
that you have a Cam Newton running the football, are
able to run the football, it opens up the run game.
So those guys that they have already in the backfield
on their roster are guys that will benefit from Cam
Newton just being back there at the quarterback positions. So
(26:53):
I guess that kind of leads into your first question,
where I think he's gonna do a little bit of both.
But I do think, uh, knowing that you know he
has come off of an injury and and wants to
be out there for the full sixteen game season. When
he runs, he may be a little bit more judicious
and win. And where he takes hits, which means he
would come, he will become less reckless, which will help
preserve him for the long hold. That's what people don't
(27:15):
understand about a guy like Lamar Jackson and a guy
like Russell Wilson. Both of those guys, while they run often,
they protect themselves by not running reckless. When you talk
about running reckless, you're talking about your Michael Vix, you're
talking about your Steve Young's. You're talking about guys that
tend to run into contact too often. And I don't
care how big you are, you can't continue to take
(27:36):
that pounding like that if you're initiating the contact. So
I think we'll see Cam Newton limit his contact this year,
which should help preserve him but also not lose that
element of being able to run the football. As we've
seen over the course his career. It's a really good
point about Cam. I I this moment stands out to me.
It's a relatively innocuous moment. But there was a game
(27:57):
of a few years ago against the Giants. It wasn't
a particularly good Giants team. It was early in the
game and Cam was just running over people to try
to impose his will upon people, which is great because
it worked at the time. But I remember thinking, you know,
you can take a couple of plays off from doing
(28:17):
this in order to preserve yourself. The chickens come home
to roost at some point. Even if Cam, who is
likely to be considered one of the greatest athletics specimens
in the history of football at that position, I just
always thought that he could take a couple of hits
away from himself. To your point, But let me transition
over to another QB situation. We have Josh Rosen, and
(28:40):
to a tongue of Biolo down in Miami too, it
seems like he's going to be installed strictly as the
number two quarterbacks they'll start the season. Patrick, it's tb
d as to win to a will come in. So
I'll ask you the question about Josh Rosen. First, Miami
has been fielding calls. They're open about the fact that
they've been fielding call halls. Do you think Josh Rosen
(29:02):
has a path to be a starting quarterback? He's never
gotten a real shot. So that's question number one, number
and question number two. Uh, give me in the number
of games that you think too is going to start
this year. You know I have to disagree slightly. I
do think he's gotten a real shot to be a starter.
That was an Arizona and he also got a shot
in Miami. But we saw that offense look like it
(29:25):
wasn't even supposed to be on an NFL field when
he was out. There's the point when when Fitzpatrick came in,
that offense instantly became better and he became much more competitive.
So I think he's flamed out at two spots man,
to be honest, and usually they will give first round
picks every opportunity to prove themselves terrible. We saw we
see this in Chicago. You know they will not quit
(29:48):
Mitchell Trobinsky, even though it has been obvious that he
has been the problem out there for their offense. So
I think Roses chances to be a backup. He can
grow into the new Blaine Gabber, who has embraced that
role and has played well when called upon in spot duty.
Now that he's a reserve, I think he's now in
Tampa Bay. But when you look at toa I think
they have the luxury now of gone with the Ryan
(30:10):
Fitzpatrick who played some of his basketball last year and
guiding this football team leading them to some competitive wins.
But I do think if they're at week eight and
they're a week nine or two and eight, then you're
probably gonna see two of If they're two and six
and you know two and six can still go either way,
I still think you'll see Fitzpatrick. I think it will
(30:32):
depend on the record of the of the team and
when they are in the season and how they're playing.
I think we may see two for five or six
games because I do think the Dolphins will be competitive. Um.
And it may just be, hey, we reached this point
that we can go as far as we could with Fitzpatrick,
so let's put two in to get some repis to
see if he can push this thing forward. UM. But
(30:53):
I think it'll have to be a dire situation where
the Dolphins are out of playoff contention and they want
to get the future rolling right, you install packages like
the same state with Taysom Hill. Would you do that
with toa who I think too is obviously a part
superior player to Taysom Hill. But if you're the Dolphins,
are you installing certain different look packages like the Eagles
could with Jalen Hurds, like the Dolphins obviously could have too.
(31:17):
And now I don't. I don't view to it. That's
saying well to meet to Sinson. His athleticism is that
like Jimmy Garoppolo, So I would I wouldn't feel comfortable
with him out there trying to, you know, execute his
own read because I do think he's not the type
to really make a guy miss. He's gonna take more
sacks and he gets away from him. Um, I would
(31:37):
be more intrigued if they do some things like that.
What you're talking about with Malcolm uh Kelly, the the
Malcolm paragram sort of a quarterback, the former option quarterback
at Navy that's now a slot receiver with the Dolphins. Okay,
little piece of news here, A Jaguars have placed running
back right Well Mstly on the reserve COVID list. Second
(31:59):
time he's placed on that as this PRETT season, So
just let people go out there. So armsteads on the
COVID list for a Jaguars, that's not my question. However,
question know what came up last night? So there's no
story here that we know that Watsons and negotiations to
get a new a new contract, it's gonna be a
gazillion dollars blah blah blah. But one thing that I
was interesting, according to the reports, and we don't know
(32:20):
how true or false these reports may be. The money
being talked about is more in the range of Russell Wilson,
not Pat Mown or not anywhere near close to Pat mahomes.
My question, will you for you Emory, is this, assuming
that's true, what does this mean to the dock negotiations
where he seems to want more money or he doesn't
want to be with Dallas right once a three year
contract not a five year contract or whatever it might be.
(32:42):
How do you think the Watson negotiations will impact the
dock negotiations. I think they all help each other out
because it consistently pushes that number further up for for
Doc or for even for Watson. You know, I think
when you look at those quarterbacks and Watson being just
like Dak book guys have been consistently good and consistently
(33:03):
putting their team in the playoffs and playing good football.
Uh So, I think both guys will warrant that highest salary,
and whoever you get signed first, the other guy will
use that as a negotiating ploy with their team and
try to push that number of peoven for further. That's
that should be the brotherhood of the NFL, where guys
are trying to constantly raise the level of pay for
(33:25):
their position. You saw it with the running back position.
You see it. You saw it a while back with receivers,
and you see it in our quarterbacks. So they're rooting
for one to to get signed at a at a
very good rate because that kind of pushes the bar
ahead of where it is currently. So how about our
one guy attracted in the first round this year that
(33:45):
we know is going to play. We talked about two
of you, and I talked about Justin Herbert offline. He's
not ready to go, at least for this year. Jordan's
Love not ready to go. Joe Burrow expectations here offensive
line slightly improved. Do you trust it's Taylor to bring
him along the right way. He's got decent he's got
good too, decent to good weapons. We don't know a
(34:07):
j Green's health. We know about Joe Mixon and Tyler Boyd,
but expectations for Joe Burrow. He's a rookie, but can
he be a good room I think so because he
has taken all the reps throughout all the first team reps,
draw camp and also during the zoom meetings and stuff
like that. But they also have Te Higgins to another
talented rookie receiver from Clemson. I do like Joe Burrow's
(34:30):
situation in Cincinnati, to be quite honest. Last year, I
thought the Bengals. They didn't play terrible. They were in
a lot of ball games. Um, they just didn't They
couldn't finish. I felt like if they hadn't benched a
j I'm sorry, Andy Dalton, then maybe they could have
won more games. But I do think this team is
set up to really help a young quarterback, a rookie
quarterback get up to speed pretty quickly. They got the
(34:51):
running back like we talked about, they got good options
that receiver. For now, it seems like John Ross is healthy,
so that's another addition to the perimeter, and defensively, I
think there'll be much better than what we saw last season,
especially at linebacker. I like what they've added there, so
I think this is a good situation for him to
grow in. It wouldn't surprise me to see them when
six games even pushed for seven or eight, depending on
(35:14):
how things break for that defense later in the year,
because we know Burrow will get better every game. He's
played a lot of college. He hadn't played a lot,
but he did play a lot in a short period
of time, and he's an experienced guy, so he's not
gonna be too shocked by the moment. I think having
no fans in the stands this season kind of helps
the rookie quarterback get up to speed pretty quickly. I
(35:36):
actually like that. Did you think about that no fans
of his dance could help the rookie quarterbacks? Uh? Listen,
we are a gambling network, and I bet that I
know I like. I think Mike likes it as well.
Get your opinion now here. Kyler Murray to win m
v P well Offensive Player of the Years up there
about one, but I don't think it makes the playoffs
do you think what would it take for Kyler Murray
(35:59):
to win m v P. Gotta have forty seconds. I
think you have to kill the numbers wise number one,
but also push that team to the playoffs. I do
think the Cardinals can finish first in the a f
C on paper. They've gotten better defensively and there in
that second season of Cliff Kingsbury net offense, and I
think that was another team that was five plays away
(36:19):
from being nine and seven. Yeah, it's interesting, man. I'm
going to I have Kyler Offensive Player of the Year
to win m v P, they'd have to win the division,
but I don't. I just don't know if they can
get there. It's a lot of competition there, but great
stuff is always. Thank you for joining us on our
final show of this offseason. You find Emory on Twitter
at f Ball game Plan. We'll talk to again soon,
(36:40):
but have a great season. Appreciate you get asked right
back on the grid after this Sports grid dot Com
betting insights and entertainment at your fingertips as our team
covers the most important topics in sports wagering, real time odds,
predictive betting models, expert picks, and more. Want the edge
than get on the sports grid dot Com thanks to
(37:16):
Emory hunted stuff there on all quarterbacks and everything else. Again,
find him on Twitter at f Ball game Plan. It
does a great job. You see him constantly commenting and
always putting out good information on both college and pro football. So, George,
I want to wrap up a conversation we were having
before we talked to Emery, and that was about the
(37:36):
Raiders running back from how it's just such a John
Bruden move to potentially signed Adrian Peterson. They got Josh
Jacobs is such an absolute clear cut starter. By the way,
you like Jacobs more or less than Eckler for fantasy
exclusive debate? Right, It's really it's really it's pretty much
the debate there. I actually think Jacobs would seymore touches.
I think you're right. I'll agree with you there. Um
(37:59):
I want to go if you play in a standard league,
it's definitely Jacobs playing a PPR, I'll probably go. I
probably lean a little bit more towards what do you
want to what kind of fantasy on are you? Are
you a gambler? If you live upside, I'll go Eckler.
If you look at it, I want to get my points. See,
I want to know I'm gona be covered each week.
I'll go Jacobs. Yeah, I'm a gambler, so I'm taking Eckler.
So Josh Jacobs, Uh, Lynn Bowden is in the backfield.
(38:22):
He's obviously kind of a Swiss army knife of a player.
Jalen Richard who's been there, DeVante Booker, and Theo Rittic.
That's the running back room as of Friday, late Friday.
That could change. We don't expect him to have five
running backs, like we don't expect other teams to have
five running backs. But that's sort of a full room.
You're effectively cutting two of those guys to bring in
(38:45):
Adrian Peterson and I don't I don't know that he
would do that. I also don't know what kind of
camp uh Davante Booker, Theo Rittic or Jalen Richardo having.
I just don't know. Lynn Boden gets things written about
him because he's such an explosive athlete, and Josh Jacobs
is what he is. Sell Well. We bring it up
because it is a Raiders move to bring in a
former superstar, you know, future Hall of Fame. They've done
(39:07):
this before in the past, you know, So that's what
we're bringing up. But you're right. You look at their
running back roster, they don't need him. I mean he
might be better. De Rochard is a fear backup running back,
but as he do other things as well. Do you
want to pass catching back so that he doesn't do well?
You could say the ridicks that guy, they'll play special teams.
Those guys will not do the head what's funny. I
(39:29):
mean when you go back to zero snaps on special teams.
Jimmy Jimmy Johnson and Bill Parcels believe there were three
parts of a football game. Offense, defense, special teams. Some
coaches don't look at like that that we can afford
to lose special teams, and maybe in some ways in
today's game you can because al kikos are generally in
the end zone, right most of you know, there's not
many of returns there, but they're still punt returns. I
(39:49):
think it was nuts to not value special teams, but
I do want to so if some coaches don't value
it as much as others, Okay, and that's it. Thanks
for watching this hour of football full Circle. But half
of Brian Rokowskians rage grids. I'm like blue. See you
next time on the grid. Sports grid dot Com betting
insights and entertainment at your fingertips as our team covers
(40:09):
the most important topics in sports wagering, real time odds,
predictive betting models, expert picks, and more. Want the edge
than get on the grid. Sports grid dot Com
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