NFC East Preview

Gregg Rosenthal and Patrick Claybon go around the NFC East for a team-by-team preview of the Cowboys, Giants, Eagles and Commanders. Gregg and Patrick tell you which non-quarterback player on each team is the most important, what each team's biggest concern is, discuss the ceiling and floor for each team and more!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to NFL Daily, where all divisions are created equal,
but the NFC is a little more equal. I'm Greg
Rosenthal here in the Chris Westleying podcast studio with my
friend Patrick Claybahn. That's a little bit of a joke there, Patrick,
because you know the shadowy League figures the schedule makers,
it's they're all about the NFC East. They're just always

(00:25):
hoping the NFC East can be good so that they
can just put them in primetime all the time.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
And that's how you feel.

Speaker 3 (00:31):
Imagine how the people who are not fans of a
team in the East might feel, or the general viewer
when it's like Week twelve and here's you know, a
non Jackson Dark Giants team playing on Monday Night.

Speaker 4 (00:42):
I've been that guy. Over the years.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
The Giants and Commanders have been the most egregious members,
always in primetime, the old Washington team, especially back in
the day.

Speaker 4 (00:51):
It's just like just trotting them out there.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
And yet I surmise this season, oh, Patrick, that they
are one of the most interesting divisions, that they are
going to be worthy of that much airtime. Because even
if the Commanders and the Giants, maybe they're not projected
to go to the playoffs. I think top to bottom.
If I'm ranking like most interesting divisions, worst case, they're
in the middle this year, they're not very often in

(01:15):
the last ten fifteen years, it kind of been at
the bottom. I think all four of these teams were
going to preview today are intrigument Yes, I mean.

Speaker 3 (01:20):
Well again, we got thirty two interesting teams. The problems
with the schedule makers is, you know, certain things are
made for ever audience, maybe viewer, not necessarily people who
are dialed in and watching NFL Network listening to the
NFL days.

Speaker 4 (01:34):
They're not all ego though.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
There's like there's like four to there's like six to
eight that are a little less intriguing I think from
like a national broadcast perspective. But even the giants, I
mean they got some top line talent. We'll get to
them second. Because what we do on this show. If
you've been tuning in and this is number seven, so
we don't play favorites NFC East, they're not, you know,
closing the show and you know they're just in the middle,

(01:58):
seventh out of our eight division. In previews, we have
a twelve minute clock for every team. Soft clock not
a hard one, So sometimes you go a little over.
I give you some categories, we both answer those categories,
and then at the end we predict how this division
is going to finish. We go in alphabetical order by

(02:19):
the city. The Dallas Cowboys get us going. A young
Patrick Claybah once rooted for his favorite player, DeMarcus where
when he was on the Cowboys. Let's start here even
before what's bringing us joy? Which is usually how I start.
But since we've last taped, Von Miller is a member
of the Dallas Cowboys. Does that remind you, Yeah, a

(02:39):
little bit of your guy.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
Yeah, that's why he's my most important ark.

Speaker 3 (02:42):
No, but can the parallels there as dware goes to
the Denver Broncos on tail and he wasn't at the
tail end of his career that Von Miller is, but
you know, just outside or maybe towards the end of
his prime, goes and gets a ring there, and Vaughn,
after recording the franchise on social media for what feels
like the last five months, as finally you know, acquired

(03:04):
a spot on his on his hometown team. But I
think it's another player on the defensive line. I think
Quentin Williams is the most important non quarterback because again,
the defense was so bad and there's only so much
you can do. To ask a rookie free agent, I
mean a rookie at free safety in Caleb downs to
do and to take over everything it has to be
quin Williams, you had the highest pressure percentage among all

(03:26):
defensive tackles in the entire league after the trade, and
so I think that is where the true importance is
on the interior of the Cowboys defensive line.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
I love that you just like, we don't have to
do these categories in any sort of order, and I
agree with you. I was thinking about the same thing
when thinking about most important non quarterback, and I got
a little cute because Quinn Williams, I think, is the
more like, the more like logically answer. He's got to
be He's got to be great, but there's no reason

(03:56):
to think he won't be great. Donamanezerakus who I picked.
And so it was going along with this von Miller
signing in general that the money they gave von Miller,
like over five million dollar base salary, and you could say.

Speaker 4 (04:09):
Like that's the respect for a player who's done a
lot in the league.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
But that's a significant amount of money at this point
in free agency. That tells me like you're gonna have
a role. Does that make me worried a little bit
about how they saw the rest of their edge position
now the reports in camp, or maybe Malachi Lawrence, their
first round pick, maybe not ready to make a huge
instant impact, so it could be a little bit more
about that. I thought Sam Williams, who they brought back,

(04:33):
has been having a good camp reportedly, but maybe, you know,
maybe they're not counting on too much from him. Rashan
Gary is who he is. I think he's a solid
NFL player. I don't think he's going to change your life.
Eziaku to me, is kind of the key one of
this whole defensive line because they work as a defense
if they are deep along the defensive front. We talked
about defensive tackle, but Aziraku is the chance to be

(04:54):
special out of that group, to make a big leap
and to have a difference maker. Because I see a
lot of solid players, I want a difference maker, and
I think as Araku in his second year and the
reports have been good so far, could be a difference maker.
Let's let's go back and let's talk about what's bringing
you joy with this Dallas Cowboys.

Speaker 3 (05:13):
I think what's bringing me joy is we kind of
talked about the overall feeling of fatigue regarding vision and
I think a lot of that fatigue is also placed
on the Dallas Cowboys. But there appears to be this
begrudging acknowledgment that.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
This team is good.

Speaker 3 (05:29):
Yes, the people who have cast a franchise and you know,
mainly due to the actions of its ownership to the side,
I have come back to take this grim sense of
the Dallas Cowboys are good like it's it's not homersm
for people to talk about it. It's not like this
overwhelming pressure from capital to talk about the Dallas Cowboys

(05:52):
like they're they're going to be a good football team.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
I think that it brings me joy in that it's changed.

Speaker 3 (05:57):
That doesn't bring me joy in the sense like you
accuse me of being a Cowboys fan would this time,
which you don't do anymore. But that does bring me
joy because the cyclical nature of the ability of football
teams has come back around for the Cowboys.

Speaker 1 (06:09):
We enjoy watching certain players, we enjoy watching excellent offense.
I think Dak Prescott is a man we've enjoyed watching
at his peak, and that's what's bringing me joy. And
it's very similar to what you said there that we're
kind of set up for Dak three point zero or
four point zero, how you want to.

Speaker 4 (06:26):
Think about it.

Speaker 1 (06:27):
If you think about Dak's career, he's always been very good.
He's had some devastating injuries to come back from, but
I do think his peaks have been especially special. His
rookie season where he gets an MVP vote, like as
a rookie, that was the Matt Ryan rookie year.

Speaker 4 (06:43):
That's just next level.

Speaker 1 (06:44):
I think about the first McCarthy Division title year where
they led the league in points. That was a special
Dak year. I think that was maybe his comeback Player
of the Year vote year the top. Yeah, him and
Burrow came back in the same season, so they split
the votes. Burrow ended up getting it, but that was

(07:05):
a special year. And then a couple of years ago
he's second in MVP. But now that's actually three years removed,
so I guess those are three really specially. I just
think we're all set up with Pickens is still here,
having a great camp. The offensive line to me is
enough shoddy. I think is a good head coach and
it's year two of an offense where everyone like it's

(07:25):
just set up for him to live up to those
shirts he's wearing where they're going to be like the
best offense in the league and he's wearing super Bowl shirts.
It is very exciting that DAK is set up for
this sort of season. So we did the most important
non quarterbacks one of the categories here is just something
schematic related that gets your your football loins as juicing

(07:47):
seame dream well.

Speaker 3 (07:48):
Yeah, and ultimately because Christian Parker would like to escape
this giant shadow that is cast all over the league
in terms of Vic Fangiol.

Speaker 2 (07:57):
He's connected to everything as you've their.

Speaker 4 (07:58):
New defensive coordinator.

Speaker 3 (07:59):
Yeah, so Christian Parker comes in and we're not going
to really see all of the coverage disguising everything in
the preseason, So just have to kind of base it
off of what Christian Parker was saying over the course
of the summer, which sounds like everything that everybody says.

Speaker 2 (08:15):
Here's the quote, We're going to be multiple.

Speaker 3 (08:18):
Whatever you form a defensive structure is about the players
you have or our cour pencibles will be three four
by nature, but four to three spacing will be appropriate.
All that coming in just to acknowledge the sameness of
what all the coordinators say when they start. But I
think as we see the front seven, specifically the off
ball linebackers get a little bit bigger for Dallas, there'll

(08:39):
be this capacity to kind of limit things on the
inside where for years they've been getting run all over.
There was no amount of scheming that Matt Eberflus could do,
you know, as limited as things were with his capacity
for that last season. Between the talent, the play calling, everything,
I don't think it is just coach beak to hear

(09:00):
Christian Parker say these things, yeah, and to talk about
the way that they're going to approach things because they
have the players to facilitate that scheme. Not to the
extent that Vic Fangio, you know, had a future Defensive
Player of the Year and Patrick's Artan when he had
queen Ya Mitchell come in as a rookie and be
able to stay on one side of the field for forever.
They don't have that level of talent. But I think
there's something to be excited about there.

Speaker 1 (09:22):
I totally agree, and look, he was with vic in
Denver as well. He was with like Patrick Sartan. He's
had a little Vans Joseph time, so he's learned from
the best. I think of those systems as so secondary
dependent that that is my things go wrong if oh,
like he doesn't have the pieces enough in the back end.

(09:45):
Now on paper, it looks a little better than a
year ago. Shavon Ravel is a player they took high
in the draft knowing he wasn't going to contribute as
a rookie really, and he didn't. He struggled down the stretch.
He's reportedly looked better. Dron Bland is healthy, so he's back.
They signed Kobe Durant, but that's kind of a middling
solid replacing guy midlan is Ow.

Speaker 4 (10:06):
Sorry.

Speaker 1 (10:08):
They signed Jalen Thompson, a guy from Arizona who's played
a lot of STAPs, has not practiced in campleing he's
just been hurt the whole time. So Malie Hooker is
a guy some people around the team wonder like, is
he long for this roster. It's putting a lot on
Caleb Downs as a rookie, and Caleb Downs could be
that dude. But That's kind of why I started with
we're talking pass rush. The pass rush can make the
back end. I don't see a great secondary there. I

(10:30):
think I see a hoping to be solid, and solid
would be a big improvement from a year ago.

Speaker 3 (10:36):
Yeah, And that was why things go wrong if if
darn Bitbland isn't all the way back after two consecutive
years with foot injuries, because then you start, which is
going to be kind of a theme with this division,
that shell game of all right, well so did we've
done this to make up for this, and then eventually
the whole thing just kind of collapses where yeah, if
they if they can't cover it, we don't need like

(10:57):
Defensive Player of the Year candidate Ron Bland for things
to work, like they need.

Speaker 2 (11:04):
Just Deron Bland.

Speaker 3 (11:06):
Yeah, just the guy that be out there, out there
on the field for fifteen games would alleviate a lot
of concern.

Speaker 4 (11:12):
I think that's true.

Speaker 1 (11:13):
And Christian Parker, who's been a rising name I think
in coaching circles for a while, he did the thing
that Bill Barcels always said was important. I thought that,
you know, sometimes Bill Barcells spoke some bs. Sometimes it
was truth and or are.

Speaker 2 (11:27):
We putting the balance on that. If you put it
right in the middle.

Speaker 1 (11:30):
It's pretty. It's pretty in the middle. Oh yeah, we disagree.
I mean he said something about like you gotta take
jobs when you know he once talked about how you
take the jobs when they're at their lowest because you're
gonna look better when you take it. I don't think
that was Christian Parker's intention of taking this job. But
they literally, according to the DVOA, were the worst defense

(11:50):
in the last twenty five years.

Speaker 4 (11:52):
So only you're only going up.

Speaker 1 (11:54):
You're gonna look like a good coach if you make
them twenty first and that might be all they need
to be a playoff team now, if they want to
go far in the playoffs, they might need to be
a little bit better than that. The scheme dream I
wanted to talk about was they were the team. And
I'm not sure everyone realizes this. That played at the
fastest pace in the entire NFL last year. You have
Dak Prescott as smart as canny like at quarterback, as

(12:18):
I think any quarterback in the entire NFL, kind of
at the peak of his powers mentally, while the physical
attributes are still there. Everyone thought Brian Schottenheimer was going
to be like his dad and run the ball like crazy.
They actually were last in the NFL in choosing to
run in power situations. In terms of neutral situations, they
were well below average in choosing to run. He knew

(12:41):
where his best players were, and so it's not just
about that they were trailing that they let Dak do this.
And I see that George Pickens in year two of
this system. Ryan Flinoy is a good young player as
their third. It's a really veteran group, even the offensive line,
how the Tyler's you know Smith guy in Booker. Two
of those guys are young, but they've been there. Like

(13:01):
this is a team that can go fast, fast, fast,
and I think that works well against a lot of
what defenses are doing. So to me, that's gonna be
a really fun thing to watch them, just maybe playing
at a little turbo speed, which it kind of did
last year while no one was looking.

Speaker 3 (13:12):
Yeah, why sit back if you don't have to and
get pummeled and have chances for everybody's checks to come through,
you know, the pressure schemes to all get set up,
maybe even substitute, like if you if you.

Speaker 1 (13:24):
Don't have to do that, you got to trust everyone,
and you got to have and you do with Dak Prescott,
and you got to trust all the personnel to run
the play, and you got to have a versatile group
of players, and I think they do. I've really enjoyed
hearing everything at camp that Pickens has kind of come
in there.

Speaker 4 (13:44):
Just like ready to go.

Speaker 1 (13:45):
Because this is him, like like after he hasn't always
been in camps and stuff. He's had smaller injuries and
stuff like that over the year. So I just like
that he's healthy. I just I just love I love everything.

Speaker 3 (13:57):
Then I'm here like the overreaction like after last year
where the culmination of the Pickens things was getting hurt
against Detroit and he went to a casino with CD
before a game like that was it.

Speaker 2 (14:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (14:10):
What I mean is that for the people watching the
practice reports, it hasn't always like he hasn't been the
most consistent player, and I think that happens with young players.
And if you get an extremely consistent season out of
Pickens again, they are going to be really really tough
to stop as long as that offensive line plays well enough.
I going into last season, I thought they had like

(14:32):
a top five ceiling, and they were I would say
well below that. In the end in terms of their
offensive line, they just need to be good. But I
think their ceiling is still pretty high. Let's talk ceiling
floor the whole team.

Speaker 4 (14:44):
Where do you see them?

Speaker 2 (14:45):
The ceiling is the super Bowl.

Speaker 4 (14:46):
Okay, let's go.

Speaker 2 (14:48):
I don't think that it's bluster.

Speaker 3 (14:50):
I think this this Cowboys team can, as a lot
of these teams can when the Super Bowl, the way
things play off, I see the floor as relatively high
as well.

Speaker 2 (15:01):
Ten wins, that's a high floor. It's a high floor.

Speaker 3 (15:05):
But like that's the place where we're saying all things
are saying the court, and again.

Speaker 4 (15:09):
We're talking in ceiling floor.

Speaker 1 (15:11):
We've made it clear if you're just tuning in to
the division previous, that's assuming health, relative health, and so.

Speaker 3 (15:18):
As thin as things are in the secondary, which every
single team has to navigate this minefield, that is a
game that's inherently not good for your body to play.
DAK plays the secondary is able to stay thin and
play that they win take games.

Speaker 4 (15:33):
I think the ceiling.

Speaker 1 (15:36):
At first, I just thought win the division, win some
a playoff game or two, and that's about the ceiling.
I don't know if I'm backing off my like extreme
optimism that I started the offseason with because everyone's on it.
I shouldn't be like that. Don't let the outside forces
infect you. Are they one of the teams I can
imagine in the Super Bowl representing the NFC they are.

(15:58):
It's not that long a list, not as long a
list in the NFC as it is the AFC.

Speaker 4 (16:02):
They are. I think they can make the Super Bowl.

Speaker 1 (16:03):
I think the floor is closer to you know, eight
and nine, nine and eight, just if if the defense
just doesn't take a big step forward. You know, they
were still as good as the offense was a year ago.
They were like eighth and dv awaight like they did
the floor for a team. I think it is a
round five hundred, maybe nine to eight or so. Let's
go to the Giants. What is bringing you joy?

Speaker 4 (16:26):
For the New York Giants?

Speaker 2 (16:29):
Not to be shot and fruity.

Speaker 1 (16:30):
I'm a little I'm a little worried about the hesitation there.

Speaker 4 (16:33):
You know, You're like, is anything bringing me joy?

Speaker 2 (16:37):
No?

Speaker 3 (16:37):
Well, ultimately you get it. You get a chance to
have people talk about the adult in the room. There's
been a lot of conversation about the state of the franchise. Yeah,
and now with John Harball there to lead it. And
I'm excited for the results to play out, whatever they
may be, because I think they could possibly be instructive
as to how we have view circumstances regarding changes.

Speaker 1 (16:58):
Okay, so you're what's bringing joy as you're rooty against
John hord.

Speaker 2 (17:01):
I'm not rooting against John Holbro.

Speaker 3 (17:03):
I'm rooting against the results to play out and everybody
to adjust their expectations relative to what they see.

Speaker 1 (17:09):
How high are the expectations for this team? Are they
that high?

Speaker 2 (17:13):
I think they're higher than they have been.

Speaker 3 (17:14):
And this is a team that has been more likely
to lose nine games than they are to go to
the postseason, you know if you go back the past decade,
and so the expectations are up. There's excitement surrounding Jackson Dart.
But I think I'm just it brings me joy that
we get to find out, Okay, we get to find

(17:36):
out how it works to have a quote unquote adult
in the room.

Speaker 1 (17:40):
You're being a little sneaky here, but heck, nine losses
would be a great season for them. That would be
their second best season of the last twelve years.

Speaker 4 (17:49):
Yeah, they're not third best.

Speaker 1 (17:51):
Sorry, they made the playoffs twice, but every other season
was that at least six wins or fewer, going back
all the way to their last nine and seven season
with Eli Manning.

Speaker 4 (18:02):
That's crazy to think about. I'll start with the draft picks.

Speaker 1 (18:05):
Watching the first preseason game, Rvel Reese just throwing Donovan
Jackson that the Vikings guard aside and sticking who is
the running back in the hole? I think I think
it was Jordan Mason and just like that run stopped
right there. I think he was born to play off

(18:26):
ball linebacker. I'm kind of glad that he got drafted
by a team that doesn't need him at edge. And
then between him and Francis Mauinoa, who had a good
first preseason game two and could help transform that line
into a group where suddenly you know you got him
and Andrew Thomas. You okay, we got a couple of
difference makers. We got a couple other solid players that
we believe in two including illumin Or at right tackle,

(18:48):
and we could get powerful, we could run the ball.
This is a team with top end talent. Potentially if
those guys pan out and then which will bring me
I'll just go right into my most important quarterback because
it'll be It'll be Neighbors. And to me, the two
options where neighbors are Abdul Carter. Did did you choose
one of those two? Okay, why don't you go with
neighbors and I'll go with Abdul Carter. But my point

(19:10):
connecting all these is like, Okay, Reese Mario a Neighbors,
Abdul Carter, Andrew Thomas, Brian Burns, Like, we got some
some great players on this team. You go through other
teams that are consensus last place teams, which the Giants
are for everything you're saying, like the expectations are higher,
like that they're favored to come and last, like these
are some high level players. Why is neighbors to you

(19:33):
so important?

Speaker 3 (19:34):
Because in terms of offensive playmakers, and you know, acknowledging
the fact that Cam Scatabu was one of the best
performing running backs over a stretch last season, he's got
to come back from that.

Speaker 2 (19:46):
But Malik Neighbors.

Speaker 3 (19:47):
Is is so unique in terms of talents capacity to
make plays with the football that it kind of changes
the season long outlook of an offense, which is why
it's it's very important to you to not kind of
hand phicedly get him back on the field if he's
not ready to play. And we're not just in terms

(20:07):
of their ability to execute on the field, but general
belief probably not just am on the fan base, but
among the team.

Speaker 2 (20:15):
If Malik Neighbors is.

Speaker 4 (20:16):
Is the opponents too, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (20:18):
Because it's there's so much more that you have to
do to prepare for this version of this Giants team
that you know. Well, we'll talk about the scheme and
those facilitating it shortly, but Milik Nighbors changes all of that.

Speaker 1 (20:32):
Yeah, that's that's a little what I'm worried about the
the offensive staff. I caution and we might get into
this on some of our fantasy previews. Everyone check out
Patrick Claibond back hosting NFL Live for the what seasons.

Speaker 3 (20:47):
NFL Fantasy Fantasy Life. This is going to be the
sixth season because it coincides with my daughter's birth.

Speaker 1 (20:55):
That is incredible, And yeah, people can check out Patrick
and Adam Rank and Marcus and Cynthia Florida, like the
whole gang is back. Very cool and it's back to
daily on NFL Network. I love seeing that so we're
gonna be talking on that sea.

Speaker 4 (21:09):
Why not.

Speaker 1 (21:11):
I'm not taking Milak Neighbors in fantasy under any circumstances.
I think these injuries are really serious. I think people
are getting a little over their skis of like the
slight improvements as he's getting ready. And I'm just thinking
about as a realistic human that we're probably not seeing
the best of Malik Neighbors until twenty twenty seven. Now,
can you see that maybe even the second half of

(21:32):
twenty twenty six, that would be great, That would be
a massive bonus, which I think it's the right choice, yeah,
for most important non quarterback. But I'm just about like
setting expectations at a fair level. And then I think
if he's not full Malak Neighbors, I think you look
after him and you think, you know, this is one
of the worst receiver groups overall in the NFL. You

(21:53):
know you're hoping Malkyfield steps up. You get a hope
Darnell Moon, Like, we've got some NFL players there, Calvin Austen,
and we'll see if it'll be makes the team. But
like it's a lot for Jackson Dart in this this
offensive staff to make up for if malak neighbors isn't right.

Speaker 2 (22:06):
Yeah, And there was a great catch about you know,
Malachi makes it.

Speaker 3 (22:08):
It makes a great play in a in a situation
where they might not have done much with that one
offense out there if not because he got a great
screen to Devin Singletary to get forty two yards on
that draft, to get Dart in that position to throw
that ball to Malachai fields. But it's there's going to
be so much on Mylikue neighbors if he's not healthy,

(22:30):
and like one plage neighbors can do all of those things. Yeah,
are we going to ask eighty nine percent Molakue neighbors
to carry this offense if he if he's only eighty nine.

Speaker 1 (22:40):
Even some other reporting Jordan Rainon from ESPN at yeah,
saying it was his first day. It was a big
step for him going in some drills you know against
you know, defensive players on Monday. So that's it's a
big first step. But it's still non contact. He looked
like he, you know, maybe it was favoring Like I'm
just saying, be patient. Abdol Carter would be the other
option if you want like five to ten minutes on

(23:02):
Abdul Carter. We did an edge rusher draft way earlier
in the offseason in May me and Ali Connelly.

Speaker 4 (23:06):
We took Abdul Carter ninth.

Speaker 1 (23:08):
He actually went six spots ahead of Brian Burns, which
is almost disrespectful to Brian Burns. But he's got to
go perform. I think he can. I think he can
be an elite edg rusher. He's got to go prove it.
Finish plays. And if you can do that, him and
Brian Burns and then with Keveon Thibodeau as your third,
is as good an edge rush group as there is

(23:29):
in the entire NFL. My concern and you, I think
alluded to it were for this team in general. I
have it under scheme dream, but it could be things
go wrong if as well would be the three horsemen
of the offensive apocalypse, Matt Naggie, Greg Roman and Brian
Callahan running your team. Little concerning that that's the trio.

Speaker 3 (23:48):
Yeah, that was what I actually had for my scheme
dream was a parenthetical nightmare where Naggie and the Chiefs
and arguably the best quarterback of all time, got worse
progressively as his ten got longer. His second tenure in
Kansas City, they were ninth in yards, sixteenth in yards,
and twentieth in yards over those three seasons. Brian Callahan's

(24:08):
quarterback when he was the offensive coordinator and head coach,
his offensive finishes. His offense has finished twenty seventh and
thirtieth in yards the last two years. And if those
two don't concern your enough, Greg Roman is also there
to help make things so much better. And we saw
how that went for a Chargers team that yes, fell

(24:28):
apart on the offensive line, but schematically things were so
frustrating for the end to watch what Justin Herbert was
dealing with that. I don't know if Jackson Dart can
solve the things that both Justin Herbert and Lamar Jackson.

Speaker 1 (24:42):
It's a lot of cooks in the kitchen in the
passing game specifically, I'm curious if they'll have the right answers.

Speaker 4 (24:49):
Hot take.

Speaker 1 (24:49):
I'd actually feel slightly better about this if Greg Roman
was just the OC.

Speaker 4 (24:55):
Just tick away.

Speaker 2 (24:55):
Yeah, that's searingly hot.

Speaker 1 (24:58):
I think here's why, and it's why I have a
little bit of confidence between this offensive line and the
running game that he installs, and hopefully Scataboo and possibly
Najree Harris. There's some talk that he could be joining
this team. Usually the first year or two of Greg Roman.
Like you got a mobile quarterback, like the Running Game,
the running game can be solid, That's all.

Speaker 4 (25:20):
I just would feel better.

Speaker 1 (25:21):
I feel okay about what he's adding if he's in.
You know, his title is specifically about the running Game
that I actually feel more confident that he can help
that I will go to the things go wrong if category,
and it would be the secondary getting flamed, very similar
to my last one. But in this case, I think
the past rus is going to make up for it

(25:42):
so much that hopefully it won't happen. But between the
linebackers in coverage and we'll see. I think our VL
Reese could be great. But you know, it's been a
weakness for them. Paulson Adebo's running with the second team.
They're really counting on Greg Newsom, who struggled a lot
in previous years and has been hurt for camp. Deontay
Banks is actually bad good graces and is now starting again.

(26:02):
Colton Hood is a second round pick who reportedly hasn't
had like the best camp in the world. Denard Wilson
is the defensive coordinator, and I just don't know what
he's going to bring to the table because he was
given a tough group to work with in Tennessee. I
think he did okay with that, but he's more of
just like a concept. I'm not really sure what he's

(26:23):
going to do. And I think he's got a tough
situation here in the back end potentially too. So that's
something where the secondary could let them down if the
but maybe the passer's so good, like the secondary doesn't
even matter.

Speaker 3 (26:34):
Well, if that were the case, we would have seen
that last year, if that were possible. Right, for all
of this talent up front, you know, you take Dexter
Lawrence out of the equation. It's like, is a legitimate
question which defensive front seven had more talent? Was it
the twenty twenty five Giants or the twenty twenty six Giants.

Speaker 1 (26:53):
The defensive tackle, I should note too, on paper, is
a group that has a lot of questions. They brought
INDJ Reader as a free agent. After that, it's not
a lot of pass rush and when they were one
of the worst run, you know, stopping teams in the
NFL last year.

Speaker 2 (27:09):
And Wilson was with the Titans. I believe that as
DC for a couple of years.

Speaker 3 (27:12):
One of those years was really really good and so
like that, Hey, plus, like if if there is a
way to facilitate that that back end uh to have
somewhat of a decent performance relative to what they were
able to do last year. Like that's that's a positive
way to make this all work. And as you said,

(27:32):
the offense, as you know, there's a pullback on the
Matt Naggy and a push forward on Greg Rosenthals Greg Roman,
twenty twenty seven.

Speaker 1 (27:40):
I'm just saying I think he brings something to the table.

Speaker 4 (27:44):
I'm not sure about the Callahan and the Naggy of
it all.

Speaker 2 (27:46):
Yeah, you you.

Speaker 3 (27:48):
Grind Jackson Dart, you're running QB power at the five
and you you know, carve out a season.

Speaker 1 (27:56):
What's the ceiling and flora this team. We haven't talked
Jackson Dart specifically yet, so this is a good spot
to do it.

Speaker 3 (28:03):
Yeah, they could, they could win ten games. I think
they could get up there full pedal to the floor,
triple options like they're they're they're doing it right and
Darts dobbin and the end zone head first having a
great time. Uh, they could get up there and win
some games and bother some people. The floor is a
decidedly different circumstances.

Speaker 1 (28:24):
You're going extreme floor, Yeah, like top five pick, yeah, six, six, seven, Okay,
six wins probably gets to like the seventh pick something
like that. Ten wins a lot like what what is
the ceiling of both the offense of the defense. When
I was really thinking about even as good as I

(28:45):
think some of their top end players are, man, if
they got like a slightly below average offense, I think
that'd be a pretty big win for them. It's hard
for me to scratch out a team that would be
better than average on offense. It would really be about
the offensive line, and it would be about Jackson Dart
doing what we expect second year quarterbacks to do, which

(29:06):
just take a step forward. And he's shown he can
make the special place. He saw it with Malchi Fields
last week. He saw it last season like his great
moments were really great. He's got something to him. He's
an NFL player. It's the consistency down to down, it's
getting to his second reads, it's running an offense and
having the right setup. To me, nine to eight is
about as high as I go even eight and nine,

(29:26):
I think would be an outstanding result for this team.

Speaker 4 (29:29):
So that's more what I see the ceiling of the
team and you.

Speaker 1 (29:32):
Have five and twelve, and that's really more about Dart
would be my floor.

Speaker 4 (29:36):
I think there.

Speaker 1 (29:37):
I don't know how his career is going to go,
but he could be someone that kind of kicks around
and doesn't stick as like a permanent starter. I think
that's I think there's a lot of outcomes for his career.
I think he's a really high ceiling, low floor quarterback,
and so this is going to be important season. But
if I could see him struggling and then he's then
they're five and.

Speaker 3 (29:54):
Twelve, like a circumstance where it's like not a like
a minimum Baker where the second the second actor never
comes and it's it's not due to injury.

Speaker 1 (30:06):
You just kind of like a poor man's Baker. Yeah,
like like a like a Portals maybe. I mean Bortles
had his one year for Jacksonville, but yeah, like he's
physically gifted and he showed way more than Bortles did early.
I just mean, I don't know, I think it'll be
better than.

Speaker 3 (30:25):
That Portles versus Dark career arc Is on does he
ever get within a controversial play of a Super Bowl.

Speaker 1 (30:31):
I think he's going to be much closer to Jamis
Winston's career. Arc you know, maybe like slightly lesser his
backup quarterback to me is actually kind of the type
of player, type of career I think he'll have.

Speaker 4 (30:45):
We'll have a long career.

Speaker 1 (30:46):
He'll have some fun highs, but maybe a guy that
you can't really trust.

Speaker 4 (30:50):
He'll evaluate these young quarterbacks. He'll be getting a backup.

Speaker 1 (30:53):
Yes, yeah, he's going to be playing for a long time.
Let's take a quick break. We've hit half the nf
see East. We are going to come back with the
team that has dominated the division for the most part
over the last decade. Back in the NFL Daily Patrick

(31:23):
making off colored jokes right before we turned the camera on.
They had nothing to do with the NFC East. There's
a theme here with these last two teams, the Eagles
and the Commanders. And as much as I alluded to
the Eagles dominating this division over the last decade, I
mean that that Commander's team is only two years ago
in the NFC Championship, the Eagles still dominated.

Speaker 3 (31:46):
But yeah, the pinnacle of franchise they still got.

Speaker 1 (31:52):
I'm just saying they were one of the final two
teams in the NFC. The Philadelphia Eagles and the Commanders
have something in common, and it that they are installing
tree or tree adjacent offense, is a lot more under
center work for their quarterbacks. It's what fans in both
cities have been asking for over the last few years.

(32:14):
It's really similar everything you're hearing out of the two
training camps. And I'll kick off the Eagles by saying,
that's bringing me joy when it comes to Philadelphia, that
they're committed to this, that the Sean mannion who comes
from the Green Bay Matt Laflor system buzz has been

(32:35):
good in terms of that. This offense really does look different.
I've gotten increasingly tired of watching the Eagles offense be
erratic in the same way year after year, no matter
who the coordinator is. And so I think you're going
to see a different running game with more outside zone.
I think you're going to see the play action, You're
going to see the more motion. It's going to be

(32:57):
less one on one and the thing that is bringing
to me more joy and everyone is everyone for whatever
reason saying this year that hurts is just like in
a much better mood. He's ready to go. He's embracing
this offense, he's taking more leadership. He feels lighter, not
the weight of the world on his shoulder. All this
stuff is coming from inside and outside the house. That's

(33:19):
bringing me joy that we see a different Eagles offen.

Speaker 2 (33:21):
Where are they getting that? Though? Where are they all.

Speaker 1 (33:24):
Of his teammates, For one, some have been on the
record that they've talked about that that he's been like.

Speaker 4 (33:33):
Kind of viewing that part of his job.

Speaker 1 (33:34):
And if you just watch him at the podium, he's
just not as like self serious for what it's worth.
And more importantly is the on the field stuff that
I think it's going to look different, so that I'm
excited about. They're one of the teams I'm really looking
forward to seeing week one, Like what does this look like?

Speaker 2 (33:49):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (33:49):
I think you know, there's a probably a little bit
of a contrast from the doom and gloom questions about
his teammates and their relationships over the course of seven
months not happening anymore. That can make things a little
bit lighter at the podium. It's just odd to me
because there's a lot of external conversation about the interior
thoughts of Jalen Hurts when it's the same quotable Jalen

(34:10):
Hurts that's available to everybody at all times. I just
the conversation in Philly is so constant and overbearing and
everlasting that that's what brings me joy is the capacity
forward to end.

Speaker 4 (34:25):
Oh okay, you think it will end?

Speaker 3 (34:27):
No, just with regards to this rendition of the team,
because eventually you run out of people to blame and
perhaps that attention and maybe it'll all be focused on
Jalen Hurts, but some of it we'll get to the
head coach and the decision making and the process that
goes into the making of those decisions where it's got

(34:50):
to happen at some point and this is going to
be the season for it.

Speaker 1 (34:53):
Do you think he entered into chat GPT? How do
I stay off the hot seat? You know?

Speaker 2 (34:59):
What do I do?

Speaker 3 (35:00):
And maybe it probably was For a lot of people
that would never listen to certain voices, the llms have
been great because it gives them the chance to talk
to somebody that doesn't exist, because those other voices might
as well not exist to them.

Speaker 1 (35:15):
To something that is just you know, trawling through like
three year old you know, rivals dot Com articles, Yeah,
and just picking out things and then spitting out.

Speaker 2 (35:25):
Yeah, if there are forces of power in your life
that don't listen to you, go on Reddit and make
incessant comments about your worldview for the next six thousand
years and perhaps that will collectively be up sucked into
this death of thought.

Speaker 4 (35:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (35:40):
So Sirianni their head coaches embracing our new overlords.

Speaker 2 (35:44):
We're not.

Speaker 1 (35:45):
But the scheme that I talked about, and I think
it will be a change from what Nick Sirianni's coaching tree,
including Chanine Ssyke and runs, is going to look different
for the offensive line. I'll talk about that for my
scheme dream because Lane Johnson and Jordan Malatta and even
Lane and Dickerson have talked about it in the preseason.

(36:06):
It's gonna be very different for them too. I think
their old scheme was a very like we're gonna ask
you to win one on one, and it got to highlight.

Speaker 4 (36:14):
How good they were. Here.

Speaker 1 (36:15):
It's a little bit more of bean and sync, you know,
especially with the with the running game, when Saquon Barklay
hasn't really played in this sort of offense that often
either I just am curious, like, what is it gonna
look like for this offensive line? We know they're very talented,
but they are gonna be asked to do different things.
It could be Lane Johnson's last year sounds like it

(36:37):
will be. Uh Lannon Dickerson's a guy who's had his
injury struggles, but Melata is like an all pro caliber player.
Cam Jurgens is a good player. Like, just what is
it gonna look like? Is it gonna unlock even more
for them? Could there be some growing pains because they're
gonna be asked to do different things? And they have
spoken about they think it's gonna make it easier, but
they've really emphasized like it is really different. Like it

(36:58):
like Lane Johnson specifically has been in one type of
way of doing things and here he's now trying something different.

Speaker 3 (37:03):
And it's it's funny that it's different when there's this
level of homogeny now throughout the league where so many
like Mentor in his capacity for and again as a
preseason game and nobody's showing a lot of things, it
looked disjointed, It looked weird. I don't know if that
was anything. Yeah, the Eagles offense in the opening preseason game.

(37:24):
It did not lead to a lot of excitement to
say like, oh yeah, the tree is here.

Speaker 2 (37:29):
To say Philadelphia, it.

Speaker 1 (37:31):
Was second and third stringers. They'll say they don't you know,
game plan and all that stuff. But that's fair.

Speaker 4 (37:36):
What is schematically interesting you to this team?

Speaker 3 (37:40):
I think right because when my lott I was talking
about their capacity to impact the field stretch wise, I
think people consume that is, oh, we're gonna go down
the field more. They went down the field all the time.
I think he meant horizontally in terms of places to
attack the defense in the run game as well as
the pass game, that it's not just those those screens.

(38:01):
To DeVonta Smith, I, it's the tree.

Speaker 4 (38:06):
Yeah, is it?

Speaker 3 (38:07):
Is it the same version? Is it more leaflora as
it's coming from?

Speaker 1 (38:11):
Uh?

Speaker 3 (38:12):
You know this this Green Bay aspect of it where
we've seen it in so many places. Can they can
this group of players execute it to the extent that
we see an others doing it?

Speaker 1 (38:21):
And how creative is it in terms of the running game,
How creative can they execute the running game?

Speaker 4 (38:25):
How run heavy is it?

Speaker 1 (38:26):
Because I think Michae Lafleur or Matt Lafleur rather, that's
where he you know, loves to live, and I'm excited
to see it. I think we could get not a
resurgent Saquon Barkley season, but I expect something between twenty
four and twenty five in terms of his production, and
maybe closer to twenty four just in terms of pure

(38:49):
effectiveness this season. So I think Saquon Barkley could be better.
DeVante Smith is going to be treated as a true
number one. I think Doantavian Wicks is a really important
player for them in terms of you talk about.

Speaker 2 (39:00):
He's more familiar with the offense than anybody else on.

Speaker 1 (39:02):
The team, and just according to training camp reports, makaile
Lemon just hasn't been out there, and Darius Cooper, who
I thought is making this team, was out there deep
with the deep backups, and so I, you know, I
don't know about this receiver depth. I think they really
want don Tavian Wicks to be a really crucial player
for this offense. Who is your most important non quarterback

(39:24):
on the team.

Speaker 3 (39:25):
It's Jalen Carter that I think, because the team relies
on this defense, They rely on their defense to make plays.

Speaker 2 (39:33):
And with Dejean and and Quinnon and all.

Speaker 3 (39:38):
Of these guys that are there to facilitate the player
that ultimately makes the plays. This Jalen Carter. I think
that makes the most plays on this defense. That is
the strength of the team.

Speaker 1 (39:50):
He wasn't as consistent last year as he was the
year very hurt. He wasn't consistently healthy, and that's hard
to predict. But that was my cho because I think
the defense needs to be great. I think the defense
should be great. It is looking really good at every level. Yeah,
I think it's the best looking defense in the NFL.

(40:12):
Look on paper. Even It's tough to pick between them
and the Texans. But if if you were telling me,
take the coaches away, okay, and I'm just you just
just get the eleven starters and you got to go
play a game, and uh, and I'm coaching it, so
basically they're going to coach themselves, I think I actually
would take the Eagles. I mean, I just like I

(40:34):
love them at every position. Ojamo has turned into a
real player. Jordan Davis is such a player. They bring
in Jonathan Gernard Riek Wollen was a free agent pick
up I really liked from Seattle. You have quinnyan in
Cooper de Gene, you have Jehad Campbell in his second year.
You have pass rush depth with Jylex Hunt, and like you,
you're bringing Nolan Smith off to I just I just
think they have aunt Zach bond Is like a defensive

(40:56):
player of the year. I just I know that the
Texans are almost there. Maybe they're there, I don't know.
It's tough to pick between them. It's a stupid for instance,
because those are my top two. Yeah, and it's by
a lot.

Speaker 3 (41:06):
I think Bernard takes it over the top because there's
that interior versus edge where you may slide with the
generational edges that they have in Houston. But the fact
that the depth jumps out at you, you know, it's
six and one hand half done.

Speaker 1 (41:20):
Yeah, that was It was a silly thing to bring up.
My larger point is they're very good. They're great. But
I also think Carter being the superstar and healthy is
really important for everyone else because I think that really
helps out the rest of the line things go wrong.
If for this team, anything stand out to you of
something you're you're worried about.

Speaker 3 (41:39):
Yeah, there's upheaval with regards to a slow adjustment for
the offense, where if you want to make the parallels
to to Matt Lafleur, there was the time Jordan loved
to grow and learn and adjust and maybe more patience
with regards.

Speaker 4 (41:55):
Even like the first half of the season with Aaron Rodgers.

Speaker 3 (41:57):
Yeah, and so like there was are they going to
be able to undergo that same adjustment period? But again,
the overbearing feeling of constant dread that's not just exclusive
to the Philadelphia fans, Like it's in the building. You've
got constant leaks about how people feel and like what
they're doing. It's just a place where everything could fall
apart on really nothing.

Speaker 1 (42:19):
Yeah, they're a team where you could see the vibes
impacting the overall product, because I think it has in
multiple seasons, especially what was it three years ago now,
the year between their two Super Bowl appearances, but even
last year, like I don't think they were having a
great time, but by the end of the year and

(42:40):
it impacted them. I think, yeah, things go wrong, Like
if the defense isn't dominant, there's every reason to believe
that it will. But I just think this team is
built to be a top five defense and the offense
be good enough. Another thing I could say would be
like the new blood that they brought in. I am
excited about it. Grenard's got an injury though right now
mkaith Lemon hasn't shown a lot just because of injury.

(43:00):
Uh as well Rieke Willen I think is going to
be an important player for them. So just some of
the additions wis you know, how do they all integrate?

Speaker 4 (43:08):
Is going to be important for them.

Speaker 1 (43:10):
The ceiling and floor for this team, I think it's
more of a conversation about the floor.

Speaker 4 (43:16):
Do you agree with me that that they can win
the Super Bowl?

Speaker 3 (43:19):
Like this group of guys does nothing but either like
get a coach fire or go to the Super Bowl?

Speaker 2 (43:23):
Like it'd be simpy to not say that they could
they couldn't do it.

Speaker 1 (43:26):
And to me, if you're power ranking the NFC, I
do think just before the season starts, and this isn't
a prediction of how it'll finish, but I do think
you got to kind of give them the credit. To
me as the third team behind Seattle and the Rams,
that's just me. If I'm if I'm forced to slot
teams in terms of total talent and like average baseline expectations.

(43:47):
I kind of slot the Eagles as a solid number
three because I think there's more questions everywhere else. Yeah,
you know, you get you gotta get team, you gotta
get into the Cowboys just now really how it's gonna happen.
But I just kind of mean the baseline average season
to me there third, I'm more interested, what do you
think the floor is for this team?

Speaker 3 (44:08):
I think eight ooh, that would be tough. That would
be a nasty season.

Speaker 2 (44:13):
But like.

Speaker 3 (44:17):
Considering the way things looked towards the end there and
albeit that was a Jalen Carter with two shoulder injuries,
like the offense in disarray.

Speaker 1 (44:26):
That was an eleven win team too, that was beating
up on some of the bad teams at the end
of the year.

Speaker 3 (44:30):
Yeah, but I just mean at the end of the
season when things were more rose and they get ran
out of their own building by the forty nine ers.

Speaker 1 (44:36):
Ultimately, it's it's crazy, how you know. I mean, they
were in that game late, but it's crazy though that
that has been Like the way you just described the
end of the season describes three of the last five
Sirianni seasons like the weight of Philadelphia and how the
season ended was so negative by the end of three

(44:57):
of the last five, even though you know, like you said,
they won the super Bowl and could have won in
the other two. Now, I'm going to put their their
floor at ten wins. You know, they've been eleven or
about four street years. I just think there's too many
good players. I kind of think it's like a lot
has gone wrong actually for them in some of those
bad years and they still manage to win like eleven games.

(45:17):
So to me, I'll say ten is the floor, and yeah,
the ceiling is.

Speaker 4 (45:20):
The roof is uh there? It is a super Bowl
appearance here in Los Angeles that we're covering.

Speaker 3 (45:26):
I'll just have them at that floor because I'm like,
if everybody else hits their ceiling, all right, if everybody
else in their division hits the ceiling.

Speaker 1 (45:33):
It has potential to be a sneaky good division. Let's
talk about the Commanders. To me, they are kind of
the X factor. They would bring this division up to
a much higher level if they are anywhere close to
where they were a couple of years ago. But even
if they're just like a playoff contending team. What's bringing
you joy about the Commanders.

Speaker 2 (45:53):
Jade's back, he's back, he's healthy.

Speaker 3 (45:56):
Unfortunately, the dispute with LSU kind of puts a cloud
over the thing, and like like give me my Jersey,
give me the trophy back and all of that stuff.

Speaker 2 (46:07):
But the fact that.

Speaker 1 (46:08):
I kind of feel bad for him here, so I've
mostly avoided it. But yeah, let's just get out of
this storyline if we can. Okay, no, not you, I mean,
like everyone involved, Lica Jaden, like, let's just settle this, please.

Speaker 3 (46:20):
Please, because it's weird, it's uncomfortable, it's awkward. But having
him on the field like brings back the memories of
the Magical Commander's season that it was not so long ago,
and we it's a little bit glimpse of that and
with the hope and the promise of the future.

Speaker 1 (46:38):
Yeah, Jaden in this offense, just getting to watch him
play again, that's it for me. I mean, I didn't
want to get too complicated.

Speaker 4 (46:48):
He is such a mystery.

Speaker 1 (46:53):
I don't assume that Jaden Daniels is locked into like
one of our top ten quarterbacks, you know, if we're
drafting or we're taking for the next seven or eight years.
I think there's an outcome where he is absolutely like
elite hashtag, you know, like like Joe Flack like, but
he's like top five, like we're talking about him. But

(47:14):
he's a young he's a young player that's that had
such an erratic second season where it was injuries but
also didn't look as comfortable and he was in such
a goofy offense that ultimately I think was probably bad
news for his development. And now it's like a restart.
There's a lot of reasons to believe he is going
to be a great NFL quarterback for the next decade,

(47:36):
but I just want to see it happening because he
has such a unique skill set. I love hearing how
comfortable his footwork has looked into practices and the joint practices.
Over all, the Commanders reporting has been really positive about
the under center stuff, and it'll be fun to see that, Well,
who is your most important non quarterback on this team.

Speaker 3 (47:53):
So the Tunsil injury means that Brandon Coleman moves from
left guard to left tackle. Yeah, which is no Now
this centerpiece of the shell game where the line could
start to deteriorate if there's no Brandon Coleman, and so
like if the whole thing, because they need to be
able to run the ball. You're gonna have blow calling
the plays and Jayden under center, and they need in

(48:14):
order for the roots of the tree. It's the run
game here, and so like, if that's going to happen,
you have to keep everybody intact. And now Brandon Coleman
is the centerpiece of that.

Speaker 1 (48:23):
Not only that, they've been missing their center, Ali Gretti,
who they tabb to replace Tyler Biatish last year. There
was a lot of like free rushers getting at Jayden
Daniels and Marcus Mariota reading between the lines. It felt
like the staff was maybe blaming like the center quarterback

(48:44):
operation a little bit on that, and so they make
a change. But Ali Gretti hasn't really played much center
and he's been hurt all of camp. You have like
a practice squad guy Julian good Jones behind him. Parts
are moving around. And I listened to Logan Paul on
this Take Command podcast. He's really good breaking it down.
He's very positive in general about the Commanders, but he

(49:06):
said just one thing he has been watching is like
the running game specifically the interior running game like they
are learning this new system, and that's where Bill hasn't
had a lot of room necessarily in these joint practices.
In practice in general, parts are moving around. Josh Connerley,
their first round pick a year ago, really physically talented,

(49:26):
but he's a little bit of a boomer Bus guy.
Sam Cosmy was an All Pro. He had a serious
injuries coming back from Chris Paul is another starter who
was out there in free agency for a while and
then came back.

Speaker 4 (49:37):
And so you're right.

Speaker 1 (49:37):
I think the offensive line could hold this team back potentially,
and I think Coleman might be the most important part.
I'm glad he pointed out Tunsel is out for so
much of the season. My most important non quarterback first
time I picked a GM for this, it's Adam Peters,
who like talk about up and down like man. Everything
he did like hit his first year, it did not

(49:57):
hit last year. And considering HiT's the third year in
the program. They are counting on a million signings from
this offseason, not only to pan out, but they're just
going to be playing like eight hundred to a thousand snaps.
So Adam pieriders, I hope you're right about. Here's some
of the key guys. This is my way of reviewing
the off season because I think it's more important for
them than just about any team. Calebon Chason had a

(50:20):
nice year as a pass rusher for the Patriots. He's
going to be playing starter snap. Nick Cross got a
nice contract. He is a safety that I really liked
for the Colts, and so will he pan out A
Dafeoway a little up and down, I would say in
his career. Timed a good half season with the Chargers
before getting a big contract here.

Speaker 4 (50:38):
He's going to be important.

Speaker 1 (50:39):
Charles Amanahu, Dran's Armstrong are guys that they sign, maybe
more depth pieces, but Armstrong will play. Armstrong is suspended
for the first week of the season.

Speaker 4 (50:46):
Important.

Speaker 1 (50:48):
Chigo Konquo, by all accounts, going to be kind of
a centerpiece of this offense. I like a lot of
these signings. I got to say on paper, they signed
a lot of guys. I like Leo Chanell is another one,
a linebacker from the Chiefs who kind of has a
pass rusher type of role throwing. Stephan Diggs He's going
to really matter. I think he upgraded the receiver like

(51:09):
I actually like these moves, I don't Usually they don't
all work out, but if you hit on two thirds
of these, they're going to be a pretty good team.

Speaker 3 (51:16):
Yeah, you mind, they've mind the NFL for guys who
had flashes with an opportunity to kind of continue that
if we you know, extrapolated out with more snaps, like
that's the common.

Speaker 2 (51:29):
Thread to all of them. Does it work for all
of them?

Speaker 4 (51:32):
Right? Digs? I feel yeah, other than stuff on DIGS,
I feel digs.

Speaker 1 (51:35):
I feel safe about Nick Cross is actually the other
one where I think he put two or three years
of good tape out there. Yeah, like yeah, the others,
can you coach him up? And like that's just a
lot of new guys. Generally I'm skeptical, but because he
chose players I personally enjoy watching play, I'm relatively optimistic here.

Speaker 3 (51:57):
Yeah, guys that if he plays and splashes, then and
that's what because Charles Men who was out here for
the media summit, as guys you know, practice their skills
and holding their skills to eventually have the second career.
And that was the thing that he had stressed, was
the fact that they're going to attack. It's there's not

(52:18):
a lot of read and react stuff going on in
the counds and so this is a group of guys
that can do that.

Speaker 1 (52:23):
Right, we haven't mentioned and I guess that's giving my
scheme dream. Deronte Jones comes from Brian Flores. I don't
know if you were going in the same direction there
to talk about something schibmatically, he comes from Minnesota, will
now be running first time coordinator for the Washington Commanders.

Speaker 3 (52:38):
And and that's it goes along with that theme. My
scheme dream was looking over at the the blou version
of the offense. But if they can because dan Quinn's teams,
like when they have been successful, they've been able to
take the ball away, create chaos over on.

Speaker 2 (52:53):
The defensive side of the ball.

Speaker 3 (52:55):
It's like a wholesale change and dq' is still there
and so like that has to be a focus.

Speaker 1 (53:01):
To try to know it's crazy. It's like I didn't
even mention like there were more I Mek robertson. I
think it's going to start for this team. Razull Douglas
is on this team. Trey Amos, who had a nice
rookie season, has been hurt all camp. That when I'm
a little concerned about I love the idea of this
scheme and that Flores should and could have a tree.

Speaker 4 (53:21):
It's it's been effective.

Speaker 1 (53:23):
It's it's rolling the dice and Sonny styles Is is
right there in the middle of it as a top
ten pick that I'm really excited about watching and him
and Frankie Lulu, Like, this team is going to get funky.
We we are going to debut the teams I'm most
excited to see week one in an upcoming show. Another
team they're they're they're pretty up there. Yeah, David Blough

(53:48):
you mentioned, is their new offensive coordinator, Like, is there
anything you're looking for in general?

Speaker 2 (53:53):
Just to find out, just to find out who David
Blau is. Who you know?

Speaker 3 (53:57):
It's it's the theme he came in sos We're gonna
make the best of the talent that we have and
put them in positions to win. Apparently there was a
bidding war between Ben Johnson and Dan Campbell that ultimately
led to David blow getting promoted to this job at
thirty one years old because they wanted to keep him
on the staff. We've seen those things go all kinds
of different ways. That there's a similar situation in Denver

(54:18):
now where you've got a younger former quarterback calling the
plays because they didn't want to lose him, and so
just get an opportunity to find out who David Blow
is and why was it so necessary as a lot
of former players have to navigate the coaching ranks for
a long time before they even sniff even close to

(54:40):
a relatively close to the head job on either side
of the ball, and he got there pretty quick.

Speaker 1 (54:46):
I think we got a clue from Quarterback the Netflix show.
I thought Jade and Daniels' section of the show is
the least revealing of the quarterbacks by far. My biggest
takeaway that I didn't know before was how close I
think his relationship is with David Blow. Those two are
on the same page, and I think they just viewed
that tandem as one they wanted to see, you know, continue,

(55:08):
and that that he would be a good steward for
like making the most important guy in the in the
organization work.

Speaker 2 (55:13):
So it's all on Cliff.

Speaker 1 (55:14):
It's just like, I don't know, maybe it was just
the edit, but they definitely like it. It definitely seemed like, yeah,
Jayden like Bloo is Jayden's guy, and vice versa. That
happens with your position, coach' that's how it should be.
Things go wrong if blank for this team.

Speaker 3 (55:31):
If they can't run the ball, yeah, if they If
they can't run the ball, they can't facilitate the play
action game under center. I think with the offensive line injuries,
it just all falls apart if they can't facilitate a
run game within the first five game.

Speaker 1 (55:46):
Pretty skeptical about this running game. I think Jayden will
help open it up in a way, but also him
figuring out his balance of when to run when not
too We tried to avoid injuries in this segment, but
it's less about the injury to me as just him
calibrating how aggressive do I need to be as a
runner because I'm so good at it. He led the

(56:08):
NFL and scrambles per snap last year and he was like,
I think second the year before that. So that's what
he does and he's great at it.

Speaker 2 (56:19):
Diggs will alleviate some of that, I hope.

Speaker 3 (56:21):
So as long as Diggs and Terry are on the
field at the same time, some of that will get
alleviate it.

Speaker 4 (56:28):
Diggs, Diggs is a bucket. Diggs is.

Speaker 1 (56:33):
Still so high level and I'm not surprised at all
from the commanders reporters there that like the second he
was on the field, they were like, oh yeah, it's
like one A, one B Like Terry obviously is their
number one wide receiver, but he's so much better than
every other receiver that they had before that it actually
like you're like, oh, this is what it looks like.
Really intriguing combo. I mean, imagine McLaurin and Digs together

(56:57):
at the peak of their powers. There's some similarities with
them as a as a route runner and their versatility.
If Blou can cook, you know, Daniels, Digs, McLaurin, and
a Konkwa. I'm even gonna throw in there because he's
an interesting piece of how you're going to use him.
It's quite a like okay, how are we going to

(57:17):
move these puzzle pieces around? It's very intriguing group if healthy.

Speaker 3 (57:22):
Yeah, if you know the astrous caveat there, but excited
to see, you know, an offense where Chigo Konquo's incredible
athleticism and explosiveness with the ball in his hands gets
utilized because it kind of we kind of missed.

Speaker 4 (57:35):
We did a lot of that.

Speaker 1 (57:37):
He was like full Chig as a rookie and then
he just kind of stayed there, never never really developed
in Tennessee. But I want him to run where John
new Smith briskly job kind of. I think he can
be the next passing the torch, the next John new
Smith ceiling floor for this team, I'll let you go
first here.

Speaker 3 (57:58):
My ceiling floors have had a lot of but I
will have them one game plus uh on the On
the Giants, I think they could win eleven games, okay,
as the ceiling and also the floor being seven.

Speaker 1 (58:13):
Okay, that's a good floor for them. I think it's lower.
I'll go six.

Speaker 4 (58:21):
For them.

Speaker 1 (58:21):
It's they're in a tough spot where dan Quinn has
been there, and yet this feels like a first year
still because of all the new players and the new
offense and how.

Speaker 4 (58:32):
Does it all fit.

Speaker 2 (58:33):
The first year went pretty good.

Speaker 4 (58:34):
Yeah, good point. I think they'll be good.

Speaker 1 (58:38):
Maybe maybe the floor is closer to seven and the
ceiling for me is yeah, an eleven win team. I
have a hard time seeing them win the division, but
if you win eleven games, you certainly could. I think
it's a wild guard appearance and coming in second in
this division and being a factor again, I am. I
am not ruling that out for the Commanders. Now as

(58:59):
we've taped, there has been some breaking news inside the
division that I think will particularly interest you as a
supporter of this player.

Speaker 4 (59:10):
Do you know what it is?

Speaker 2 (59:11):
No?

Speaker 4 (59:12):
You know, sometimes you're you're on it.

Speaker 2 (59:14):
We didn't get an email.

Speaker 1 (59:15):
I even hinted about it as we were talking. The
Giants are signing free agent Naj Harris to a one
year deal.

Speaker 4 (59:23):
It was rumored.

Speaker 2 (59:24):
Yeah, and the you know, the the Joe.

Speaker 3 (59:30):
The Joe Shane Uh circumstances where you wonder who the
decisions are being or I don't wonder or being made
by this is this is Harball all over.

Speaker 1 (59:42):
It, Harbor, It's Harbaugh, and Harbaugh's consiglieris and Uh and
Joe Shane's there too. That's that's how I value it
is interesting. It happened, you know, right after that tough
moment by Tyrone Tracy where Harbaugh, to believe, blame Tracy
for Jackson Dark getting lit up. I think Tyrone Tracy

(01:00:04):
is a good player, but someone here between him singletary
Naja Harris Skataboo is obviously going to be a big
part of the mix. If not the starter for sure,
So someone's going to get left out here.

Speaker 3 (01:00:16):
Yeah, it was a rough rep of RB protection. But
a certain part of it is, you know, not putting
your quarterback or running back in a situation where that
could happen.

Speaker 1 (01:00:25):
I also think they have to be a little worried
about Cam Skataboo.

Speaker 4 (01:00:28):
Not the biggest running back in the world.

Speaker 1 (01:00:30):
You don't want him to have three hundred and fifty
four hundred touches. I think he's going to be better
in a committee. So who is that committee with. I
think Tracy is a pretty reliable player. Naja Harris is
coming off a torn achilles. It could even be something
where he's not available early in the season, but you
almost bring him in as a replacement. Juju Smith Schuster

(01:00:51):
was released as part of that transaction. Might be the
end of the line for Juju. What a weird career,
you know, outsized influence for you know, how how soon
it might be ending, you know, but we had we
had some good times.

Speaker 2 (01:01:11):
Yeah, some really good times. He made He made tiktoks
and people were like.

Speaker 5 (01:01:15):
Oh my gosh, this is crazy. This is the weirdest
thing anybody's ever done. Is this okay, Mike Tomlin, are
you okay with this Chinese social media app? And then
you know, uh that that wasn't a big deal. There
was the the the perfect incidents, uh, the divergence with
Antonio Brown and the and the team and then the

(01:01:36):
chief stint shout out to Juju?

Speaker 1 (01:01:38):
How about first of all was nine years ten if
you count this year. But I kind of doubt he's
going to end up being on a week one roster,
although it's certainly possible.

Speaker 4 (01:01:47):
He hasn't.

Speaker 1 (01:01:47):
He hasn't had much production in the last three seasons. Now,
how about that season with the Chiefs as we bid
a do to uh Juju Smith Schuster that I don't
think people will really remember that much. And yet he
ends up with nine hundred regular season yards for the
Super Bowl champion Chiefs wild wild career, big input. Let's

(01:02:08):
wrap up giving our division picks. We go one through four.
You have to make a decision. What are the final standings.
You know you have to include tie breakers if they
have the same record, you don't have to give the record.

Speaker 4 (01:02:21):
But one, two, three, four.

Speaker 3 (01:02:23):
Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Commanders, New York Giants.

Speaker 4 (01:02:27):
That was my order.

Speaker 1 (01:02:29):
Early in the offseason, I don't want to be and
this happens to me swayed by Like the closer I
get to the season, then I start like rethinking it,
and now I'm like, why am I.

Speaker 4 (01:02:41):
Doubting the Eagles again?

Speaker 1 (01:02:42):
Like, on balance, they just have so many great players
and I actually think Jalen Hurts is a perfectly good
starting quarterback with enough people around him, I'm gonna go
Eagles in the end. I've always I've been annoyed at
myself when I don't just stay high on the Eagles
because their their floor has been so high. But I
do have the Cowboys as like one of the best
wild card teams and making the playoffs.

Speaker 4 (01:03:05):
I'm boring.

Speaker 1 (01:03:06):
I got the same exact order because I think the Commanders.
I think the Commanders are going to be spicy. Not
everyone can be good in this division, though, and so
so maybe the Giants are closer to their floor.

Speaker 2 (01:03:16):
Then yeah, Subterranean.

Speaker 1 (01:03:20):
You know, you know, we can't get cute with all
our our divisions, And like.

Speaker 2 (01:03:24):
I said, Greg, You're always cute.

Speaker 4 (01:03:28):
Thank you. I'll take that as a compliment.

Speaker 1 (01:03:30):
What a week this has been already on the around
Oh he did it? I was gonna say, let's edit
that out, but you know, it's a natural thing. We're
here in a studio that we taped many many episodes
of the Around the NFL podcast, which was a lot
of fun to do. But now we're NFL Daily and

(01:03:51):
we're coming at you all the time. Do you know
who's on our next show, Patrick, I don't think you do.

Speaker 2 (01:03:59):
I don't, and if you told me then I probably
would have forgotten.

Speaker 4 (01:04:01):
We got a special guest.

Speaker 1 (01:04:03):
ESPN's own your coworker, Mina Kimes is joining us. Oh cool,
So I'm really looking forward to that one that will
be next in your feed. That'll be Thursday morning. But
always good when Patrick is here. Patrick is going to
continue to mean here.

Speaker 4 (01:04:19):
Yeah, not going anywhere, neither are we.

Speaker 1 (01:04:23):
And yeah, we're really looking forward to the show with
Mina preseason week two coming up.

Speaker 4 (01:04:28):
We'll be back Thursday morning.

Speaker 2 (01:04:29):
See that