Preseason Power Rankings

Gregg Rosenthal and Nick Shook reveal Shook's first power rankings of the 2026 NFL season. Find out who Shook has ranked ahead of the defending Super Bowl Champions, how high the Bengals are in the rankings, where the NFC South log jam happens, which team comes in the 32nd spot and more!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to NFL Daily, where the twelves can send their
complaints to Nick Shook, the author of the Power Rankings.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Not me, I'm the host.

Speaker 1 (00:12):
I'm Greg Rosenthal, host of this show, NFL Daily. But
Nick Shook is going to be one of the hosts
of the Power Rankings show, and he's going to be
on the NFL channel. That doesn't start till the regular season,
but the first Power Rankings are out with the author
Nick Shook. He's taking over the franchise for the NFL

(00:33):
in twenty twenty six. A lot of responsibility there, And yes, Shook,
you came out swinging by putting the defending champs at
number three on your first Power rankings.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
How dare you? Frank?

Speaker 3 (00:45):
Well, you know what, It's the inverse of what Uncle
Ben once told Peter Parker. Instead of with great power
comes great responsibilities, with great responsibility comes great power rankings.
Right in this first one right here, I'm taking swings.
I'm not trying to upset people, but I'm follow in
my heart, I'm laying the table, setting it for how
I think this might play out before we even get

(01:05):
done with preseason.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
And look, if you don't want to be on the
other side of a Nick Shook swing.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
This is a powerful man.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
So I'm happy, at least for now to be across
the country from you and poke you on these power rankings.
So these are already out on NFL dot com. Everyone
check them out, but everyone who likes to digest these
things audibly or on video. Thank you for checking in
on YouTube, and you can also join us if you're listening.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
On Thursday.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
Thursday evening, Nick and I will be joining you live
at seven pm Pacific, ten pm Eastern to go over
all the preseason Week one games and update you on
the news. This show is all about the rankings, and
let's just start with the top three because I wanted
to get into the Seahawks discussion right away. The Rams
are number one, the Broncos are number two, the Seahawks

(01:54):
are number three. I'm starting at three because to me,
that is extreme spicy to put a team that is
essentially bringing back almost everyone that matters.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
I know Kobe.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
Bryant was a good safety, and you know that you
lose Kenneth Walker, but this is a young, balanced team,
as deep a defense as we've ever seen, one of
the best Super Bowl champions at least according to the numbers.
It like DVOA and whatnot of the last you know,
ten twenty years. I get putting the Rams over them,
but putting them at three is bold enough that you

(02:29):
have to explain yourself shuck.

Speaker 3 (02:31):
Well, it's either that or I go chalk. And I'm
not going chalk here because I actually have some seven
times Chock is right. Yeah, sometimes Chock is right. Yeah,
But it wasn't. It wasn't just to be a contrarian either.
I have some semi legitimate concerns about how this backfield's
going to shake out. That's a lot of responsibility, responsibility
to put on Jerry and Price as a rookie right
out of the gate. You don't know when you're gonna
get Sharpenny back. You lost Walker in free agency. It

(02:52):
just feels like a thinner group than I would like
to see for this team. And otherwise, yeah, everything else
is pretty much pretty good for this group. Yeah, but
Sam Darnald, can he continue to find the success he
did last year. Let's not forget that they did lose
their offensive coordinator do a head coaching job with the
Raiders and Clint Kubiak. Let's not overlook that and yes,
Kobe Bryant left, boy A Mafe left, Rik wooland left,

(03:14):
so there were a few guys that you have to replace.
Maybe you're not quite as deep as you were before.
I understand they're the rgning champs and they wear the
crown that they earned, and they definitely earned it, that
is unquestioned. But I do believe going to this season
that the Rams have something to say about it, and
the team in front of them, the Denver Broncos, also
have something to say about it.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
So this brings up a philosophical question I'll hit you with.
First week, you're doing the power rankings. This season obviously
hasn't started. What's the difference between like predictions for the
season and like just ranking where they're at now, because
you know clearly you're high on the Broncos in general.

(03:52):
But I guess the issue I had with it was
man on paper, it's hard for me to question much
about the Seahox, And you're right about the backfield Jendarian Price.
By the way, he's been out of practice three or
four days. He's never carried a full workload. Suddenly you're
down to like George Hallani, you know, potentially starting there
are potentially holes in this team.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
And yet have you been watching Hard Knocks shook? I
have not spent a lot.

Speaker 3 (04:18):
You know why, because I've been spending some time in
this and some other things that'll be just described later,
explained later life things.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
Yes, And frankly, it's shook week on the podcast, it
shook year on the podcast and throughout NFL media. But
you've been very busy. Look, that show is making me
even more of a believer. Something about Mike McDonald, the
way this team is practicing as one, as hard as
they play, all those veterans. Just seeing DeMarcus Lawrence and

(04:45):
Byron Murphy and Derek Hall and you know, Leonard Williams
altogether just gets me fired up. And I just think,
like I think it's strengthly a little disrespectful, because I
really do believe that them in the Rams are are
far and away the best two teams going into this season.
I know that's how last season ended, but I do
believe that it's a huge gap. And then it's opinion

(05:08):
after that.

Speaker 3 (05:08):
Okay, Okay, So what I'm hearing right now is that
you are taking the bit of propaganda bait that comes
before every season with a Hard Knocks team, this is
the defending champion.

Speaker 2 (05:19):
We don't get to see that on Hard Knocks traditionally.
And you know what, I'm okay with that. And I
agree with you with Mike McDonald because I saw a clip.

Speaker 3 (05:26):
On social media today this morning of him getting after
Derek Hall for getting too close to Sam Donald and
tossing him out, not completely out of practice, but getting him.

Speaker 2 (05:34):
Off the field, and I was like, Oh, I like that.
That's an intensity that I like about the spin.

Speaker 1 (05:39):
Watch that clip the spin on Sam Donald's passes. I
do appreciate this show for making me enjoy the Donald experience.
And if you are looking rose colored glasses, you think, man,
he takes some of that confidence and free wiggling play
and he establishes a better baseline. But it's totally fair
the controvert thing. And I don't think we need to

(06:01):
get go too long about the rams at one. This
is a loaded roster. Also, are you just anticipating Donald
is on the roster when putting in one?

Speaker 2 (06:08):
Did they? Did he even need to be on the
roster to put in one? It was just all part
of the expectation.

Speaker 3 (06:14):
I included it in the little blurb underneath, And did
he need to be on the roster. No, because I
don't think that they need like Aaron Donald of what
we knew before. He can be rotational slash guy who
is thirty five years old and comes in and makes
a few big splash plays and it still makes them better.
But I fully anticipate that he's gonna be on the.

Speaker 1 (06:29):
Roster make the case for the Broncos at two. And
this is where I start to struggle, and it'll it'll
get to a larger point I have about the power rankings.
That's very difficult before the season, like this is a
tough division. They're going to have to go win in general.
But if you had him three, I wouldn't have blinked, deny,
But what is your reasoning and your belief that they
are at this level kind of the inner circle Super

(06:52):
Bowl contenders?

Speaker 3 (06:53):
You know, the thing with power rankings is it always
involves a little bit of projection, And so I'm projecting
a few things that we did not see happen last year,
which is that one bo Nicks is healthy for the
absolute final game of the year. Because they didn't have
him the ANFC Championship game, they very well could have
been in the Super Bowl last year. He's back healthy.
I think he picks up right where he left off.
They hit their stride offensively in the second half of
the season, which is a big reason why he didn't

(07:14):
climb higher in the QB Index for most of the year,
because they were just so lackluster until they really needed
it for a lot of the season. And I think
that the offense and the way that he performed in
the back half in the playoffs is what I expect
them to be throughout this season.

Speaker 2 (07:26):
Also, the return of JK.

Speaker 3 (07:28):
Dobbins, who promised to everybody in Denver that he's going
to play a full season. I'll have to see it
before I believe it, but if he can actually play
a substantial portion of the season, that makes their running
back room a lot better than it looks on paper
right now. So that's two big reasons, because the rest
of this offense continuity is there. Oh and by the way,
they went and got Jalen Waddle and added him to
the receiving corps, which makes this offense better as well.
It's already one of the most complete defenses in the NFL.

(07:50):
I don't really have any questions about them as long
as they can stay healthy. So on paper, they look
like one of the most complete teams in football, and
they just have to answer or fill in those little
gaps that were created last year.

Speaker 2 (08:00):
So that's why they end up at number two.

Speaker 1 (08:01):
I think offensive line, defensive line, continuity and talent is
top and so they deserve to be this high. Four
through six. I'm going to group together because to me,
you kind of gave the Eagles at four, the Bills
at five, and the Ravens at six a totally understandable

(08:22):
bump of If I'm saying, like the best teams of
this decade, if I'm making a list, I would say
these are three of the four Eagles, Bills, Ravens, Chiefs
are obviously number one on that list. We will get
to the forty nine ers in a little while, who
maybe would be there close in the top five. So
you're kind of trusting the consistency and the expectations are

(08:46):
absolutely high. And when it comes to the Bills and
the Ravens specifically, you're betting on quarterbacks.

Speaker 2 (08:53):
But what kind of separated.

Speaker 1 (08:55):
These three teams for you from the rest of the pack,
Because I tell you, man, it's crazy. After these top three.
You could have shaken up four through fifteen. I really
believe you could have shaken up four through fifteen in
a different order, and you can make the case for it.
So what is it about these teams just to group
it in a certain way that got them this high.

Speaker 3 (09:18):
It's so funny because I did not do this entire
thing in sequential order. I got done with the first three,
I got to four, five, and six, and I went,
you know what, I'm gonna start from the bottom, and
I went and took care of thirty two through twenty
eight because I was I had such a hard time
figuring out exactly who I wanted at four or five, six,
And I kind of knew I went in Jacksonville at seven, right,
which that's a preview of what's to come later in
the show, of course. But I was conflicted about the

(09:40):
Eagles at four, and I think the consistency that they've
demonstrated in this last decade is exactly why they ended
up this high. It's it's kind of a battle between Okay,
do I believe in the Bills. Yes, they went and
got DJ Moore, But I've had enough reason to think, Okay,
you know, every year's high expectations, Are you actually going
to deliver? Do I believe in them enough to put
them at four? I don't think so. Even though they

(10:00):
have Josh Allen, they got James Cook, you add more
into that mix. I love their two tight ends. Everything
else right. And then I was like, do I believe
in the Eagles? And I thought, well, the vibes and
then I wrote this right around the start of training camp,
or at least started working on this around the start
of training camp. Throughout this last week, I thought, Man,
the vibes in Philly are unusually high. Like the energy
there is very, very positive, which usually isn't the case

(10:22):
with this team. And it seems like moving on from
aj Brown kind of put them in a new position
where they can you know, the skies have opened, the
cloud is gone, and everything's great here in Philly. I
am concerned about Jonathan Grenard and the extended absence that he,
you know, continues to be enduring, I guess, because I
think it does hurt some of their defensive potential. But
they still have Vic fangieb you know, coordinating that defense

(10:46):
and roster wise otherwise, like you know, you get Lane
Johnson back and he's if he can be healthy throughout,
you know, most of the season.

Speaker 2 (10:52):
You got to one of the best tackle tandems in
the NFL. LANDA.

Speaker 3 (10:55):
Dickerson said, he feels a lot better than he did
last year. I was a little disappointed not here McKay
lemon making more of a difference in camp at this point,
but he is a.

Speaker 2 (11:03):
Rookie, so I'll give him a little bit of grace.

Speaker 3 (11:05):
And I'm thinking, okay, new offense Sean Mannion, and the
talk out of there is that it looks a lot
better than it did last year. If you can take
this team, which for half the season looked like one
of the best teams in the NFL before they kind
of fell apart as they do in odd numbered years,
and figure out the offense to get out of the
dysfunctional offensive place they were in last year, then they're
going to be a top five team. And I still

(11:27):
believe in that and the demonstrated success and ability to
get over the hump over the last five six years.

Speaker 2 (11:32):
Then I do the Bills.

Speaker 3 (11:33):
So that's why they end up at four, and the
Bills go to five, where there's questions with them with
Joe Brady coming in as the new head coach. But
you're keeping the offensive, continuity, the familiarity, it's all there.
You add DJ More to give yourself another option. It's
not like you went and got aj Brown, but you
still gave yourself another option you didn't have last year.
I still have questions about their defense. I still need
to see them deliver because they didn't really do it

(11:54):
at a level that I wanted them to under Sean
McDermott over the last couple of years. And then you
end up with Baltimore's Ken Lamar stay healthy, as simple
as that, honestly, because if he's healthy, they're a much
different team than they were prior. They also have a
new coach, they got a new offense. Those are some
things that they have to work out, which is also
why they land behind the Eagles. But overall, this is
still a very strong three that I have a lot

(12:15):
of confidence in.

Speaker 1 (12:16):
Okay, So I like what you did because ultimately it's
saying last year was a little bit of an anomaly
for the Ravens. Certainly, you know, the way it ended
for the Bills was familiar. That Eagles have been this
up and down team. But the crazy thing about the
NFL this decade is that it's actually been rather consistent

(12:38):
at the top that the best six or eight teams
have kind of been there. And there's a reason why
Howie Roseman finished his number one on all those GM lists.
To me, these power rankings are very much just about
who's got the players, and on defense, the only teams
that can even challenge the Eagles would be the Houston
Texans and maybe the Broncos, although Frankly, just in terms
of pure talent, Jalen Carter, Jordan Jay looks on Zach

(13:01):
Bond Quinnon, and Cooper Dejine in the back end, and
then all the depth they have, I actually would even
take them pure talent over the Broncos. So it's hard
to beat them. And then you have a future Hall
of Famer at Lane Johnson, you know, still on the
offensive line, you still have Saquon like a potential future
Hall of Famer. You have a good one in DeVante,
Like the players are all there. I like trusting in them,

(13:22):
and I like trusting Frankly and Lamar and Josh Allen
with enough around them as tiebreakers kind of in a
pretty wide open grouping. So that all makes sense to me.
Four through six your next group and will go you know,
seven through nine. I think, or maybe among the most
controversial things you put on this list. The Jags there

(13:45):
at seven, the Bengals at eight, and then the Texans
at nine. The Bears are round out the top ten.
We'll get them in a second because I kind of
put them in a different group, But those three are
very interesting to me.

Speaker 2 (13:57):
The Jags going at seven.

Speaker 1 (13:59):
Did did you just get intimidated by Liam Cohen saying
NFL dot Com specifically doesn't give enough love to the Jags?

Speaker 2 (14:08):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (14:08):
I did feel like I was catching astray from Liam there,
but that did not motivate my decision, although I did
right that I hear him and I wanted to know
that I respect and believe in his team very much. Look,
I am a cynic by nature, but optimism season has
an effect on me as well, and I cannot overlook
the team that they became in the back half of

(14:30):
last year. Yes, they lost in heartbreaking fashion in the postseason,
but they did things with that offense. I mean, they
turned Parker Washington into a name people actually recognize now.
First off, they got Trevor Lawrence to a place that
he's never been before, which is somebody who actually looks
like he is the franchise quarterback they've always wanted him
to be. A lot of that was because he started
using his legs more. They just became a unit that

(14:50):
was so explosive and so fun to watch that I'm like, Oh,
they've hit their groove. If they can keep most of
this together, stay healthy, and then into the next season,
they're going to be hitting the ground running and continue
to as explosive as they were last year, especially if
Brian Thomas can actually figure it out, which you know
he had struggles doing that last year, especially in the
first half of the year. So I'm thinking, all right,
that's cool. My only concern with them is that this

(15:10):
is a team that did probably the least of any
franchise in the NFL in the offseason in terms of
roster changes. Sometimes that's a good thing. Sometimes I worry
if that's you're resting on your laurels, or if you
just like the continuity and the familiarity and you're going
to ride it going forward. There's also the whole question
of the backfield. You know, baseil toot and we've talked
about this before, how it's going to be a committee
group that with guys, you know, filling different roles. I

(15:31):
firmly though, I am a believer in what Jacksonville has
put together in a division that's going to be more
competitive than people realize. But they came out on top
last year for a reason because they figured it out
and they didn't change much. So that's why they end
up at seven. I'm also I'm drinking the Bengals kool
aid because.

Speaker 2 (15:46):
Okay, I'm going to stop you there, because the.

Speaker 1 (15:49):
Jaguars I actually get, and you're almost correcting a weird
wrong in terms of perception. They are the type of
team that normally would have a lot of people predicting
them to make the Super Bowl, a team that's very
offense heavy, that really emerged last year, that finished strong.
It was a bad luck playoff loss, but that doesn't

(16:11):
bother me. Like they're a thirteen win team ascending a
lot of young players that make sense. You want to
pick them over the Texans, fine to me. The Texans
have been in the final eight teams for three straight years,
have one of the most reliable units in the league
on either side of the ball in the defense, and
so I would have them much higher. I would have
them in my top five certainly, but it's not too crazy.

(16:35):
The Bengals is the one that sticks out like a
thorst a sore thumb here because it's all just projection.
This team has been mediocre for three straight seasons. They
get Dexter Lawrence and get a good couple like offseason articles,
and suddenly you're putting the Bengals in the same group
as these two teams that actually did it last year.

Speaker 2 (16:55):
But you're also.

Speaker 1 (16:55):
Putting them, you know, well ahead of the Patriots tour
in the Super Bowl, the Packers, who are at least
in the playoffs every year and have a better organization,
I think, the Lions, the Chiefs suffording all these teams
you're putting the Bengals way ahead of And to me, yeah,
this is this is projection.

Speaker 2 (17:14):
This is prediction.

Speaker 1 (17:16):
This is in power rankings because they're not that powerful
until I see it.

Speaker 3 (17:20):
That's fair, But I think power rankings before the start
of the preseason is nothing but projection.

Speaker 2 (17:24):
Fair.

Speaker 3 (17:25):
Sometimes it's evidence based, sometimes it's projecting. Right, let's identify
a few things real quickly with this team that have
been pretty consistent.

Speaker 2 (17:33):
Themes over the last few years one.

Speaker 3 (17:34):
Joe Burrow has struggled to stay healthy and if throughout
a full season over the last few and their defense
hasn't been able to stop a nosebleed for the last
three Their offensive line has been meh, and it's gotten
more credit than I think it deserves. And we've known
what they've had at receiver, and that's basically been their
story to the point where we thought maybe Zach Tarrell,
Zach Taylor might get fired.

Speaker 2 (17:54):
Well, no, he didn't.

Speaker 3 (17:55):
He's the only coach that survived this past offseason the
NFC North. And there's a reason for that because if
he has his quarterback, then he has a much better
chance of success if he can also get some you know,
solid performance from his defense. And I you know, when
you heard Joe Burrow earlier this offseason say, this is
the most talented roster I've been on since I was
at LSU.

Speaker 2 (18:11):
You know, in terms of just comparing me.

Speaker 1 (18:13):
You started pressing plus one plus one, move him up
a spot.

Speaker 2 (18:17):
Joey b is happy, happy around the horn. This is
around the horn.

Speaker 3 (18:22):
Yeah, but then the passage of time can produce some
interesting results. And the more I thought about it, the
more I consider the fact that I love their secondary.
I think DJ Turner had an incredible second half last year,
and he's one of the most underrated guys in the
NFL right now that everybody's going to start to know
about this year if they pay attention. I don't think

(18:43):
they're going to have to pay that much attention to
get to know him. Dexter Lawrence is a huge upgrade
on the interior. They also added Jonathan Allen, a veteran
with plenty of experience, maybe not top you know, he's
not a top tier player anymore, but I mean that's
a good pairing right there. Mafe comes in as an
edge rusher, cash Is Hall making some noise in camps
as a specialized pass rusher. I look at this and

(19:04):
I think, Okay, I could start to see it. They
got athletes at the second level of the defense. Do
I like the fact that Orin Burk's slotted as a
potential starter at this point, No, but because he's been
a veteran deaf guy in his last three stops. But overall,
I can see the vision with this group, and again,
I think knows how to put up points if they
can get solid play from their defense. They're going to
be right there. They're going to be right there in
the AFC North Race and beyond. And that's why they're

(19:26):
behind the Ravens. But they're still up here in the
top eight. Ahead of the Texans. Is outread because I
don't have any and let me explain that real quick.
I need to see it from that offense. This is
not a CJ. Stroud thing. This is the offense. Losingico
Collins late hurt that they've.

Speaker 1 (19:41):
Had those They've had that bad offense and still been
winning a lot of games.

Speaker 2 (19:45):
They get to the divisional round with the defense. So
if I'm going to put them ahead of a team
that might be more balanced in Jacksonville or Cincinnati, I'm
going to need to see it proven by this offense.
I think the addition of David Montgomery is going to
be a big pickup, and Nico Collins coming back healthy
is going to be good. But as of now, this
is where they stand.

Speaker 1 (20:01):
You know, who was a lot more balanced than the
Bengals the last three years, the Texans. You know, as
bad as that offense was, it was better than the
Bengals defense, that's for sure.

Speaker 2 (20:10):
But I get it.

Speaker 1 (20:11):
See it's all interpretation power rankings to me before the
season is tricky because you're right, we're just projecting things differently.
I would have the Bengals lower until they proved it
for this exercise. To me, they've been the AFC Cowboys
who are in our next grouping. I just like the
Bears Cowboys there at ten and eleven the NFL.

Speaker 2 (20:30):
The NFL is.

Speaker 1 (20:31):
Good that you know, it's got the Bears and the
Cowboys kind of on the comeback trail here. They're similar
to me. We need the Raiders back in the mix
too because they're similar to me too. But just the
expectations are high for both of these teams. I love
the Dan POMPEII column about Ben Johnson that came out

(20:52):
on Wednesday, and it has a quote from Ben Johnson.
He's a total maniac, but he said, you've got thirty
one other teams coming to training camp saying our goal
is to win the Super Bowl.

Speaker 2 (21:04):
I want more than that.

Speaker 1 (21:06):
I want to have the highest scoring offense ever, which
happens to be the twenty thirteen Denver Broncos. I know
how many points per game they scored, thirty seven point nine,
and I want to surpass them.

Speaker 2 (21:16):
I want shutouts. I want blowouts.

Speaker 1 (21:19):
Then he went and asked the author, what's the longest
winning streak in the history of the NFL? And it
was the Patriots who did it over two seasons. What
was it twenty one game?

Speaker 2 (21:27):
He's like, I want to do that.

Speaker 1 (21:28):
The whole thing is insane, but it got me fired up,
and it got me to make a point here that
I haven't much on the show yet, which is that
Caleb Williams, by all accounts, despite all the injuries around him,
has looked incredible at camp and there is a world
where he goes up another level. And Ben Johnson's insanity

(21:48):
is something that gets me going, even if if it's
like borderline unhealthy. If you read the article, very John
Gruden by the way, yeah, young John Gruden, Look, you
got to.

Speaker 2 (21:59):
Be a little crazy to find success as a coach
in the NFL. You just do.

Speaker 3 (22:02):
You have to be a little bit delusional to really
get to that mountaintop. And I firmly believe that Caleb
will take that next step because of the progress that
he made last year just over the course of the season.
Their biggest flaw is that oftentimes they needed him to
be his absolute best just to win football games, and
I'm concerned and a lot of this power ranking is

(22:22):
related to what's happened in training.

Speaker 2 (22:23):
Camp so far.

Speaker 3 (22:24):
They have suffered multiple losses in the secondary, and this
was filed before we found out that Kobe Bryant's going
to miss most of the season. They've been in crisis
mode in that secondary for the last week or so
and it's a weakness that I'm worried about now. Offensively,
I think that they'll be strong. I do think that
they're going to miss Dj Moore a little bit because
they're putting a lot on the shoulders of Luther Burden,

(22:45):
which I believe that he has the talent to live
up to that, but it's about delivering on your talent,
which we know oftentimes those two things don't align. I
fully believe in Caleb and Ben Johnson and what they
can produce, but when it comes to this team overall,
I'm not putting them as a regression candidate necessarily because
this is still the top NFC North team I have

(23:05):
on this list. It's just that they don't land inside
the top nine because of what's happened so far this
season during training camp.

Speaker 1 (23:13):
I mean, where would they have been even to finish
like last regular season right around that, so you're not,
you know, painting them with a big regression brush. You
have the Cowboys improving, but not like, you know, an
insane amount. I think a healthy amount there at eleven,
so some optimism that they're a playoff type of team.
Do you like the fact that after the Rams joint practice,

(23:34):
and yes, we do have our joint practice winners coming
up at the very end of the show very quickly.
Do you like that as the Rams were filing off
the field in blistering hot Thousand Oaks, they're back at
their team facility, which is far away from the oceanic
training camp spot they had before, which has a nice breeze,

(23:54):
and it's like you know, in the seventies. Now they're
a ninety five degree weather. The Rams are all leaving,
and the Cowboys players on their own decided, we're going
to do the conditioning that we've been doing at the
end of every practice, even without our coaches asking, We're
going to be doing like twenty yards suicides with Dak Prescott,
Debarvion Overstone leading the way. And you almost see some

(24:15):
Rams players walking by and muttering under their breath, Like,
is this try hard trading camp nonsense or does this
show that they got the fire in them?

Speaker 2 (24:24):
And Brian Schottenheimer is that dude?

Speaker 3 (24:26):
Usually I'll call it tryhard stuff, but not with this team,
because this is exactly what this team needs. This team
needs some motivation and some clear intent and the idea
of having Dak leading that makes me excited. It makes
me excited because I think they believe the changes that
they made this offseason and put them in a position
to contend.

Speaker 2 (24:41):
It's what I think is going to happen with them
this year.

Speaker 3 (24:43):
I think they're gonna be one of the teams that,
despite being the Dallas Cowboys, are going to improve pretty
significantly on their finish last year. And I don't know
if I want to say surprise, because they were the
star on their helmet, they're always in the conversation.

Speaker 2 (24:53):
But I think they're going to surprise some people. Yeah
again a lot of us.

Speaker 3 (24:57):
Yeah, as long as everything the defensive side comes together,
which so far, so good, I think this is could
be one of the very good team in the NFL
and a fun team to watch this year.

Speaker 1 (25:06):
Yeah, I think they're gonna get a lot of pop
coming into the season third of in terms of predictions,
but you have them right around where I would expect
them to be slotted. I think George Pickens is a
huge X factor. But I have to admit I am
encouraged by the fact that multiple Cowboys beat writers in
podcasts have been listening to say that he's been the
best player in camp, and so that gives me confidence.

(25:30):
That he's been an up and down player throughout his career,
but he found something here and maybe what he found
was Dak Prescott as his quarterback instead of like Mason Rudolph.
But he knows how important this year is for his future.
And so far, so good, because to me, he's the
biggest X factor. My next group to two more teams
that are outside your top ten, but inside I guess

(25:54):
what would be a roughly playoff team Patriots at twelve.
I think that's fair. Even coming off the Super Bowl
in thirteen. I think there's there's holes in this team,
and if they made the playoffs again, I think that
that's a good season for them.

Speaker 2 (26:07):
I just wanted to ask.

Speaker 1 (26:08):
You something we were kicking around at Chargers practice on Tuesday.

Speaker 2 (26:15):
Jordan Love or Justin Herbert I knew this is gonna
be the talk you did. How did you know that?

Speaker 3 (26:24):
I because I've been hearing this a lot lately. This
is they're getting they're getting paired a lot in preseason talks.

Speaker 1 (26:29):
Yeah, so who. It was really hard for me, and
I have to admit, I know who. I stuck with
Herbert because it's like sunk cost fallacy, maybe that I'm
so in and nothing has taken me out of you know,
the playoff games haven't been great, but it's not enough
that I'm going to back out of it. But man,

(26:51):
as it was so hard for me to make that
choice that you know, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (26:56):
I also lean Herbert, but it's by a hair There's
something in me that just had I have this faith
in him that, like when the chips are down and
that he's got.

Speaker 2 (27:05):
To go make a play, he's gonna do it. It's
not that Jordan Love can't do it.

Speaker 3 (27:08):
It's just that I don't have that same high level
of confidence in him. Yet otherwise, the town's there, the
arms there, the athleticism, you know, the improvisation, the arm strength,
and just the beauty of the way the ball comes
out of both of their hands.

Speaker 2 (27:23):
It's all there.

Speaker 3 (27:24):
It's just a matter of like in crunch time, if
I had to choose between the two, I'm taking Herbert
as of right now. Of course, you think about situation
around the two, and I think Love has benefited from
a better offensive line situation, not significantly better, but better
then the disaster Herbert's been playing behind for the last
couple of years. But otherwise, I mean, they're both very close,
but I'm still leaning Herbert.

Speaker 1 (27:44):
Okay, how about them or Drake May for both this
year and long term? M I would assume most people
would take May long term, but that not everyone. I
would certainly, but for this year, I think it's an
interesting question. Can can May year three already like kind

(28:07):
of stabilize and be at or above that level. Ultimately,
I'm going to believe in my guy, and my guy
is Drake May. But I think it's a fair question.

Speaker 3 (28:14):
So I think what's going to happen is right now
it goes Herbert love May, and by November it's May
Herbert Love and that's how much AJ Brown's going to
mean to him. I think that they're going to put
up some serious fireworks together and it's going to improve
his already sparkling reputation very quickly, and that'll carry on

(28:35):
through the long term as well.

Speaker 1 (28:37):
Yeah, the reports from that joint practice, you know, just
they're just spamming aj Brown. Both the connection with him
and Dobbs have gotten better. But I think the Packers
and the Patriots were a canny like a perfect pairing
together because to me, the quarterbacks you love, the offensive
system you really like, and I'm really optimistic about this year,
but there's a lot of just peeking under the hood

(28:58):
questions about lots of different parts of the team, the
secondary for each, the offensive lines for each, and injuries
and depth at defensive edge position. So I think they're
very similar. Let's go to your next group, which fascinates
me fourteen through sixteen Lions, Chiefs, Niners, and my big question,
and you've got to make some choices, but why are

(29:21):
the Niners so far back? Because I mentioned teams of
the decades earlier, they've earned some sort of respect. If
I just go through the rosters and talk about how
good the forty nine ers are at the very top level,
they're right, you know, they're close to that Eagles team
in terms of top end talent, and I also struggle
to see the Lions this low too, because you know

(29:43):
they've got such great continuity of great great players in
terms of aman Rah and Gibbs and Jamison and Piney
Sewell and Hutchet like those are real deal guys. I
know there's questions of depth in this category. Is where
my point from earlier really stands out. Because if you
gave me the Lions, the Chiefs, and the forty nine

(30:05):
Ers shook okay, and you get your four or five
six team Eagles, Bill's Ravens, I think I got a
fighting chance here to beat you and overall wins this
year with fourteen through sixteen, I don't think.

Speaker 2 (30:19):
I don't think that's crazy at all.

Speaker 1 (30:20):
Lions, Chiefs and forty nine Ers going better than Ravens
Bill's Eagles. I probably would take your four five six,
but I think it's I think it's close, okay.

Speaker 3 (30:28):
So that's you showing respect to the coaching staffs that
exist with the latter three as opposed to the new
ones with the former three, the ones that are ranked
higher at this point.

Speaker 2 (30:37):
And I respect that, and I understand that.

Speaker 3 (30:39):
Have you ever done a spring cleaning in like your
you know, with like a closet and you, let's say,
instead of just like picking and purging, you kind of
like just take full stock of everything and you lay
everything out right, and then you start to reorganize and
you put some things in a pile to donate to
goodwill or whatever, and you feel good, and then you
look over and you're like, oh, no, I still have
this pile of stuff, and and suddenly I don't I

(31:01):
don't know where to put it. That's how I felt
with this group, because I'm like, wait a minute, you're
telling me right now that I got the Lions at fourteen,
I got the Niners at sixteen. Chiefs, I can understand
being at fifteen, how do they end up this low?
I am going to catch some flak for this, but
in the order of all of it, I also can't
justify moving them ahead of many of these teams. I
was just kind of stuck with this group of three,

(31:21):
and it really comes down to some questions with all three.

Speaker 2 (31:24):
Also, what's happened in training camp.

Speaker 3 (31:25):
We know that the Niners are already dealing with a
number of injuries both at receiver and beyond, and I
hate that that's just a consistent theme with this team.
It also shouldn't be the biggest red flag for them
because they've overcome it in the past, But do you
really want to make that journey that difficult in yourselves?

Speaker 2 (31:39):
That's why I kind of put them down a little
bit lower.

Speaker 3 (31:41):
I don't think I'm you know, just in self examination
and self critique here, I don't think that I'm putting
enough respect on the name of Brock Purdy and this group.
But I also am getting George Kittle off of an injury.
I'm getting I've already lost Ricky pier Sall, Christian Kirk
coming off of some sort of injury, you know situation.
Even the young guys Stribble, a guy who's turned a
lot of heads dealing with injuries that sort of thing

(32:03):
throughout this camp, and it just makes me think, like, God,
is this going to be another year in which they're
going to have to overcome so much of this injury
related stuff that it's going to kind of hurt their
overall value. So that's how they stand right now, but
that could be very different very quickly. Whereas with the Lions,
I still think about this whole group and what happened
last year with them and how they've had to reshuffle
their offensive line and losing Caid Mays to a risk

(32:24):
injury because I had written in there that adding him
was going to be a big boost for this offensive
line and getting back to the strong unit that they
were a few years ago, which is very key to
their offensive success, which then ends up being very key
to their overall success. That takes a hit that drops
them down a little bit makes me a little more
concerned about their trajectory. We've kind of broken down their
roster in the past already, but I still have some

(32:44):
questions about what they look like defensively, especially opposite Aden Hutchinson.
I know, I like dj Wantam, I like Derek Moore
and what they've got there, but I just feel a
little bit concerned about their front and then the Chiefs.
It's like, when I first did this, they were a
little bit higher, and then I took a step back
and I think thought, well, Mahomes is coming off the ACL.
We don't really know exactly if he's going to be
the same Mahomes right away.

Speaker 2 (33:06):
And it's not like it's easy.

Speaker 3 (33:07):
When they faced the Broncos to start the season, and
they still have some questions. There's some there's a lot
of uncertainty with the fact that they basically revamp their
secondary both because they wanted to and they needed to.
They had departures, you know, Jalen Watson leaves, they trade
away Trent McDuffie. They're putting a lot on mansword Delaine
to come in and play, you know, a key spot
at corner opposite Lagerius Snead. I like the idea of

(33:27):
adding Cater Kohu, but I just feel a little weird
about this defense. Steve Snagnelo deserves a lot of credit
for what he can do with the defense, but that's
a group that I need to see prove that they
can be effective before I just blindly believe they're going
to and receiver for them.

Speaker 2 (33:40):
I'll blindly believe that they're the Chiefs.

Speaker 3 (33:42):
Like everyone wanted to kill the problem that we have
with this group, because let's look at what they did
last year.

Speaker 2 (33:47):
They never became a jib. They're going to figure last year.

Speaker 1 (33:49):
Like last year going into it, everyone's like one score regression. Uh,
they're gonna take a step back because they were so
lucky winning by one score. They were the most unlucky
team in the NFL last year they had the worst
one score record of all time.

Speaker 2 (34:01):
I just think with Mahomes, you're right.

Speaker 1 (34:02):
I thought when you were making the analogy earlier about
putting everything to the side and you're like, dang, what
do I have left here?

Speaker 2 (34:09):
What am I doing with this stuff?

Speaker 1 (34:10):
I thought you were just going to be talking about
the Chiefs roster, because when you look at it, it's
just like, oh, what is really here?

Speaker 2 (34:17):
But ultimately I.

Speaker 1 (34:20):
Just kind of Mahomes read washes most of it away.
But I also don't want to do the thing that
we do around Hall of Fame time or All Pro time,
where we're like he should be first team, like, okay,
but who are you going to move down? Or he
should be in the Hall of Fame? Okay, who you
taking out? And so like, who are you moving down?
If you're moving these teams up, I might move down

(34:40):
like the Cowboys, the Bengals, maybe the Bears a little
bit under some of these teams.

Speaker 2 (34:45):
But reasonable minds can disagree.

Speaker 1 (34:47):
And it really points out it's a season where there's
going to be some really disappointed fan bases out there
because we've already hit at least two three teams that
aren't going to make the playoffs, and there's high expectations
for all these teams. You mentioned all the forty nine
ers injuries. I did want to note Nick Bosa has
been out for a week. He had he didn't even

(35:09):
get to a normal practice. He didn't even get to
seven on sevens. He was just doing individuals on the side.
And then he had a setback that they're not calling
a setback that they're calling soreness coming off a touring
ACL that they said is actually the ACL that he
toured high school and not the one he toured last year.
It's like, that doesn't make me feel better if they
don't have Nick Bosa. And at this point, I guess

(35:31):
I'll believe it when I see it for a little while,
like that, that's a that's a big time loss. And
yet you know Shanahan plus insert quarterback here, Yeah, being
about the second best quarterback.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
In the league's behind Mahomes. It's great and.

Speaker 3 (35:42):
Last year they found a way to get it done
without Nick Bosa and Fred Warner, So like, you know,
you got to get respect in that area. But it
just there's a little bit too much dysfunction or just
a collection of bad luck at this stage. Before we
even start preseason games this week for me to be like, yeah,
I'm just gonna trust the process since they they've been
there so many times before.

Speaker 1 (36:02):
I agree with that, and they have overcome injuries, even
the year that they made the NFC Championship and the
Rams beat them like they were banged up that year.
They also had some pretty down years under Kyle Shannon,
and now that had to do with quarterback injuries. And
one thing I've loved to hear is that Purdy has
been very good in camp. He's been healthy, and so

(36:22):
I think Mike Evans is returning soon. Stribbling is already back.
There are positives to talk about with the forty nine ers,
but man, it just shows what a deep NFL it
is that we put the forty nine ers at sixteen,
the Lions in Chiefs, like those teams were the best
teams in the league just a couple of years ago,
and we haven't.

Speaker 2 (36:38):
Even gotten to the team that we visited.

Speaker 1 (36:40):
We'll find out where they're at, and I'm talking about
the Charges. Of course, after the break, let's get the
second half of the NFL and Shook's debut power rankings
in it.

Speaker 2 (36:57):
Back on NFL daily.

Speaker 1 (37:00):
Four teams coming up in the power rankings where their
fan bases they're not going to be happy because on paper,
the Chargers, Vikings, Colts, and Steelers seventeen eighteen, nineteen twenty
all feel like playoff contenders, above average teams, teams with real, define,
high level strengths. And yet I think, because the bottom

(37:23):
of the NFL feels so bad this season, that like,
actually average is pretty tough to get to, and you have.

Speaker 2 (37:31):
Them all as below average.

Speaker 1 (37:35):
Man that year three of Jim Harbough, He's won a
lot of games, shook, He's pretty good up front on
both lines. Why was it hard for you to not
put them higher?

Speaker 2 (37:46):
This was the last team that I was like.

Speaker 3 (37:48):
When I got to the Chargers at seventeen, I thought, man,
I really hate that they're at seventeen because I have
high hopes for them this year. But when I think
about the teams I put in front of them, I
couldn't really justify moving the Chargers ahead of any of them.

Speaker 2 (38:00):
Them.

Speaker 3 (38:00):
Now that can change quickly, because if Mike McDaniel can
come in and really establish an effective ground game, which
I think he's going to with a very diverse backfield,
they're gonna be a much better offense than they were
in previous years. They're also gonna if they have a
stronger offensive line, which means, you know, guys don't get hurt,
then they're going to be a much better offense than
they were in previous years. And we already kind of
know what they have. Defensively, they've established their identity and
they've established most of their contributors on that side. So

(38:23):
I'm thinking, okay, like overall, all right, I can see it.
I can definitely see them climbing, but as of now,
it's more about you got to prove it to me
than I can just you know, ride with Okay, Well,
they managed to win x amount of games and make
the playoffs and then wash out of the wildcard round.
I really really like offensively their tight end room. It's
very diverse. They're running back room. I'm Ario Hampton, community
of it all, Keaton Mitchell, all different types of backs

(38:44):
that I think can do a lot of different things
for you. You just gotta stay healthy upfront and they'll
be a very productive group. And and look, I mean defensively,
it's kind of the same usual suspects. It's Khalil Mack
it's Diane Henley, it's Tully Tulupilo too, It's it's you
know those types of guys. It's Derwin James in the back.
Like it's just all your usual guys that are going
to contribute. I just kind of needed all to come
together at a level that we've seen glimpses of it

(39:07):
coming together in past years.

Speaker 2 (39:08):
It just hasn't sustained.

Speaker 1 (39:09):
They were similar to the forty nine ers last year.
I think that they had so many injuries and they
still won eleven games. So that's a good sign if
they can stay healthy. And I really believe in the
coaching staff, and we were there at camp and they've
got a couple undrafted rookies in the secondary that I
kind of expect to make the team. They have a

(39:30):
rookie safety Day three in Genesis Smith who they're pretty
excited about. And they they've been able to like coach
up guys to produce. So I'd have them a little
higher because of the coaching stuff, But you're right, it's
just a deep NFL. The Vikings are an interesting team
because if we're just ranking rosters, I think the Vikings
and Steelers are similar here where you know I like

(39:51):
a lot about both their lines. Christ and Darra saw
healthy again for the Vikings. And then the upside of
the steel there's offensive line, certainly their defensive line. There's
quarterback questions, but these are I think they're pretty well
set up rosters. I put the Colts to the side
a little bit in this group, and I like the Colts,
but they're a veteran team as well, just with more

(40:13):
like variants and upside.

Speaker 2 (40:15):
But like.

Speaker 1 (40:17):
I look at what the front offices have done overall
in Minnesota and in Pittsburgh.

Speaker 2 (40:21):
I don't hate it. I don't hate it. Yeah, I
would agree.

Speaker 3 (40:24):
It seems to me, like I mean, when we talk
about the or the Vikings last year, the one thing
that we always come back to, at least if you're
a Vikings fan especially, is well, they won nine games
last year with no quarterback, no quarterback stability whatsoever. They
had nine games that they were able to win because
their defense is good and Brian Flores gets all this
money in the defensive quarter because he's very good at producing,

(40:47):
you know, an exotic scheme that really maximizes the town
that he has on that side of the ball. And
this receiving core with the Vikings, I think is one
of the stronger ones under the radar that we see
in the NFL with Jefferson Addison and Juwan Jennings. It's
just a matter of what are you going to get
from your quarterback play. Kyler Murray been named the starter,
we all expected it. Now he's got to go out
and produce and prove that he was just stuck in
a bad situation in Arizona, that he's actually a better

(41:09):
quarterback than that.

Speaker 2 (41:10):
I kind of think that he'll make some.

Speaker 3 (41:12):
Progress in that area and that they'll be a better team,
but as of now, they sit here because they have
yet to do it. I have a lot of faith
in this staff, and I have a lot of faith
in their potential, but you should never fall in love
with potential, right right.

Speaker 1 (41:26):
And my biggest concern from a broad perspective is just
that the defense, which has been so scheme dependent and
people forget, was a little erratic last year. The first
three months of the season when they were playing their
meaningful games, they had some stinker performances, and they got
super hot down the stretch after they were out of it,

(41:48):
basically and carried them to a great defensive ranking and
ultimately yeah, winning record, which which.

Speaker 2 (41:53):
Was crazy, but they are.

Speaker 1 (41:56):
If they suddenly go from like the second or third
best defense in the league to the eleventh, then I
don't know if the offense can make up for it.

Speaker 2 (42:03):
But I like the roster.

Speaker 1 (42:04):
I like the Colts roster overall, and the Steelers like
there are going to be so many disappointed teams in
the NFL because we are twenty teams deep and we
have not gotten to a city yet where the fan
base does not expect playoffs, and I think the Colts
maybe our fans are a little more realistic, but they'll
be wanting Chris Ballard's head on a pike if they

(42:26):
don't make the playoffs, and I think they absolutely could.
Let's go to our next group. You're kind of cheating.
I'll group the entire NFC South together. You did the
Jordan thing she had said on our preview of the
division that the floor for each team was eight and
nine and the ceiling was nine and eight. Is a
good bit, a good podcast bit. I respect it. Here's

(42:47):
what I would have recommended you do on the Power ringings.
You put Saints twenty one, Bucks twenty two Panthers twenty three.
Here's the stinker. You put the Titans pretty high. For
the Titans twenty four and then the Falcons twenty five.
Let's put the Titans to the side. If you're gonna
do this and almost just throw your hands up shook

(43:09):
about the NFC South, Just put them all in order.
Why you even throw the Titans in the middle. You
had a good bit going and you kind of ruined
the bit.

Speaker 2 (43:17):
Now that's the problem. It was an accidental bit. It
wasn't intentional.

Speaker 3 (43:20):
The one thing I wanted to do was put the
Saints in front of the rest of the division because
I believe in their potential right and I believe in
that in year two Tyler shuck Kellen Moore and what
can happen with this offense Jordan Tyson had to do
a group with Chris Olave.

Speaker 2 (43:30):
I love that potential, and I also have.

Speaker 3 (43:33):
Some concerns about some of their defense, But overall, I
think that this is a team.

Speaker 2 (43:36):
I think you said it on one of our recent shows.
They could look a lot better and still only win
like one or two more games than they did last year.

Speaker 3 (43:42):
That's still a success to me. But that's about this
range that you land in every other team this division.
I have legitimate concerns about the Buccaneers. Vibes were bad
to start camp. Baker Mayfield's in a contract year, which
should be good, except I feel like this is a
team that they've been an offensive team for the last
couple of years. I don't know if they're going to
be as effective offensive. This is the first year in
which their offensive coordinator wasn't hired away to a job.

(44:03):
Instead they just had to replace him, and they replaced
him with Zach Robinson. I don't know if you remember
what happened. Happened with the Falcons then offense, Zach Robinson,
the controls. It was not good. So I have a
hard time believing in this team. Panthers injuries. I mean,
they've just been crushed by injuries to start training camp.
It's been the most unfortunate camp I think of any
team in the NFL. And they won the division last

(44:24):
year with an eight and nine record, so it's not
like they're really that great to begin with. Not to
say that I don't believe in Bryce Young, but they
lost Chris Browsley, lost Nick Gordon. Their tackle situation is
not encouraging. Even though they tried to hedge against it
with their offseason moves of them in Roe Freeling and
Rashid Walker to kind of make sure right, well, at
least we have depth there, But I just don't feel
super confident about that by this time. And the reason

(44:44):
that the Falcons don't make it here is because I'm
a believer in the Titans.

Speaker 1 (44:48):
I know you said put yeah, let's do that separate.
I mean, you're not that much of a yeah. You're
not putting the Falcons too far down. In fact, them
and the Its are the first two teams on this
list that I just think it would be shocking if
they made the playoffs. For instance, I don't think they
should have realistic chances, And if you had put them

(45:09):
in the bottom four or five, I wouldn't have been
surprised bottom three, like I could see a case for
either of them.

Speaker 2 (45:17):
There.

Speaker 1 (45:17):
One thing I'll just mention with the Panthers is they
had a lot of injuries right away and it's like
they were the only team in camp, and so there's
a lot of focus on that.

Speaker 2 (45:28):
That's all true.

Speaker 1 (45:29):
It is all true, and you can only base these
rankings off the information we have. There will be more injuries, unfortunately,
and a lot more once the regular season starts. So
sometimes we tend to not overreact to what happened in
training camp. But just this is what we know so far,
and if they can just stabilize they haven't had anything
devastating across your fingers in like ten days or so,

(45:51):
then maybe they end up being just in a normal
range of injuries. My last thing on this division. We
previewed this division this week, check it out with Trevor Sikoma,
so we don't need to repeat all these teams is
just I strongly disagree about the Bucks. I would have
put them ahead of almost the entire last group. I
think you can make the case they could be top

(46:12):
you know, fifteen, very easily top twelve if we're just
talking players, Nick and lineman Tristan Wurfs, maybe the best
in the league. Luke Getticky like a guy who's earned
a long term contract. A good young interior group, and
Graham Barton and Cody Mock. That's your offensive line. Plenty
of depth that wide receiver, a quarterback you've won with,

(46:33):
plenty of depth at running backs, A really tough defensive
line we talked about this week. I think a deep
defensive backfield with varied talents in a nice safety tandem.
In terms of Antoine Winfield and Tyke Smith, I just
think they got players. I'm not like in love love
with quarterbacks slash vibes, slash coaching overall. And that's why

(46:56):
to me, they are probably knocked down from like ten
or twelve to fifteen or sixteen. But to me, I
think people are sleeping on how clearly ahead of the
rest of the division they are in talent, that's my.

Speaker 3 (47:07):
Opinion, right, and they largely were last year too, and
what happened. Yeah, and this is just completely illustrates my
lack of faith in his coaching staff. We've seen talented
teams under delivered with bad coaching staffs. I think that
this is one of those examples. I could be wrong,
because you're right, this is a very strong roster in
a number of different areas.

Speaker 2 (47:24):
But I could be wrong. The Titans, Now, let's make
your case twenty four do right.

Speaker 3 (47:31):
So let's think about projection trajectory where a team goes
from year one to year two with the number one
overall pick a quarterback, a guy that a lot of
us I think really kind of almost fell in love
with as a rookie. He was definitely good for throw
of the Week or Throw of the Year candidates almost
every week. And let's think about the situation he was
in last year. He was playing with a largely rookie

(47:53):
receiving group. This is a team that was devoid of
talent in a number of different areas. And what did
they do in the off season. They went and got
a new coaching staff. They went and got the ideal
offensive coordinator for Camboord's development in Brian Dable. They went
and drafted Carnell Tait number four overall in the draft.
They went and got Wandale Robinson coming off a career
year with the Giants. They paid Peter Skoronski.

Speaker 2 (48:12):
Everything.

Speaker 3 (48:13):
Offensively, I'm just very excited about because it's going to
be better than it was last year. Then defensively, who's
your head coach? Robert Solid known, effective defensive coordinator, defensive mind.
He goes and gets a bunch of his types of
guys to fill out that defense. I just believe that
where they came from last year and where they could go,
especially with an offensive blossoming potentially on the table, they

(48:34):
could climb up into this range where it's not too
crazy to put them where I have them, which is
at twenty four. You're still not in the playoffs, but
you're one of the fun teams to watch that misses
the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (48:43):
I like that take, kind of them as the best
of the worst. Yeah, it's a good take, and they
could be like a twenty twenty five Saints type of
team where you finished strong. What did the Saints win
last year in the end seven games, but you feel
good about how it ends and that you're headed in

(49:03):
the right direction.

Speaker 2 (49:04):
It's a good take. You've made me rethink.

Speaker 1 (49:06):
It, and I like where you put them, and I
like them ahead of the Falcons as well. Next group
is twenty six through twenty nine. Cardinals are at twenty six,
Giants are at twenty seven, Browns at twenty eight, Commanders
at twenty nine.

Speaker 2 (49:22):
We'll get to the Commanders in a second.

Speaker 1 (49:25):
You sent me your potential power rankings ahead of time,
asking for my opinion. I respect, and I'm glad. I
think it made a better show today that you pretty
much ignored. I think most of my take on my responses,
I made some changes I didn't I don't see them
except for I think I pushed for the Cardinals. You

(49:46):
might have had them thirty or thirty one. I was like,
that's the one thing you listened to me about. Potentially,
Did I have an impact? Did I change history by
getting the Cardinals up to twenty six, because I just
think they're stuck in the wrong division, But man, they
got some playmakers.

Speaker 2 (50:00):
Yeah, yeah you did.

Speaker 3 (50:02):
Look, I value your opinion greatly, and I also value
somebody cross checking me on things, because you never want
to operate in an echo chamber. So I was like, yeah,
I got to see what Greg thinks about these, because
I'm feeling good about some of this and not so
much in some other ones. In Arizona was one of
those ones where when I put him down there, I thought, God,
that's probably me undervaluing them just because their quarterback situation
isn't super promising, but they have so many playmakers around

(50:24):
their quarterback situation that they have to produce at some
sort of right. I mean, Jeremiah Love, you went and
redid your almost your entire running back room.

Speaker 2 (50:31):
You have two power backs, and.

Speaker 3 (50:32):
Tyler Algier and James Connor, guys that can really grind
it out. Marvin Harrison junior, he's got to take a
step and I think that this is the offense that
can finally help him take a step forward. Train McBride
nine to nine overall tight end in Madden arguably the
best tight end in the NFL right now. Huge target
vacuum got to be a big part of this offense. Again,
I don't know. Some people regard their offensive line a

(50:53):
little more highly than I do, and you know what,
maybe that'll bear out over the course of the season.
That's probably my one concerned on that side. Defensively, they
have some guys that I really like, but I also
think that they're a year or two away from putting
together a complete defense. I'm really hoping that Walter Nolan
makes it through the season healthy because I think he'll
be a big difference maker for them. But overall, like

(51:14):
I need Will Johnson to become the prospect that he
wasn't Michigan before he got hurt entering his pro career.
Mac Wilson has found a role there overall, But like,
this is a group that's still a few pieces a
way for me, So I look at it as a
team that could probably be very fun to watch and
not end up with a lot of wins and be
right in the thick of going after a quarterback that
they might want next year's draft if Carson Beck doesn't

(51:36):
end up on the field and you know changes that course.

Speaker 1 (51:40):
Look, a lot of these teams could make an argument
for what you did with the Titans kind of the
best of the worst.

Speaker 2 (51:45):
The Giants could things go right.

Speaker 1 (51:47):
Their offense has had an up and down camp, but
like the pass rushers adding Arvel Reese like there is
a ceiling there. The Browns have a good young nucleus.
We don't need to repeat our quarterback conversation with the
bread but they're good young nucleus. Could lift the floor
in a way that kind of the Cardinals lift the
floor for whatever their quarterback situation is. Although if I

(52:09):
was a Browns fan, I would take Jacobe Brissett in
a heartbeat over over day.

Speaker 2 (52:13):
They would do they would do to.

Speaker 1 (52:16):
The Commanders are the team that really stands out here
at twenty nine. I mean they were in the NFC
Championship game two years ago. They've made some big time changes.
That is the fan base I would expect to hear
a lot from maybe you already have, because yeah, they're
the only team here that's got a potential top ten
quarterback because he was one two years ago. And I've

(52:40):
been relatively down on them, but I would not have
been nearly this down on them. You know, I am
trying to be a man of my word. Who would
I put them ahead of? I would put them ahead
of the Panthers, the Titans, the Falcons, the Cardinals, the Browns,
the Giants, certainly maybe the Saints. So I would have
them around twenty one or so, it would be I

(53:00):
would have them.

Speaker 2 (53:00):
Okay, So a couple things here.

Speaker 3 (53:03):
I am actually banking on John Harbaugh getting something out
of these high draft picks that the Giants have spent
on defense over the last few years, which they just
haven't gotten the production that they need to out of them,
and that maybe raises their floor a little bit.

Speaker 2 (53:15):
And that's why they're ahead of Washington. And I also
want to say this.

Speaker 3 (53:19):
You know, I grew up a Browns fan, and I
spent so many off seasons wearing my brown and orange
colored glasses playing the what if game. Well, you know,
if this hadn't happened, or if they hadn't lost this
game by three or seven, then they got three four
more wins and suddenly they made these additions and they're
a better team. That's what Washington's doing right now. That's
what I can hear the Washington fan base doing, and
I just caution against that because it can be a

(53:39):
little bit too intoxicating and then distort your vision of
how you view your football team.

Speaker 2 (53:43):
That's not to say that Jayde Daniels isn't an awesome quarterback.

Speaker 3 (53:46):
I think he is. He just got to stay on
the field. We already discussed their receiver situation in previous shows. Yes,
they went and got Stefon Diggs. That's great. I don't
think that's going to fix all your problems. You lost
Larry Atns will do a torn triceps, which could be
the entire season. That hurts a lot, especially when one
of your main concerns is key being your quarterback healthy,
and that lowers the overall ceiling for your team.

Speaker 2 (54:03):
I like the running back room.

Speaker 3 (54:04):
It's better than it was last year, especially after they
lost to Austin Eckler to injury.

Speaker 2 (54:08):
It's not like it's the worst offense in the world.
It's not. The defense is a complete unknown.

Speaker 3 (54:11):
They were the worst team in the NFL defensively in
terms of yards allowed per game last year, and Dan
Quinn is your head coach, that's supposed to be his thing.
They went and tried to rebuild the almost the entire
starting lineup. They went and added a bunch of different guys.
That's going to fuel optimism, but it takes a while
for those guys to gel. I don't know if they
can over the course of a preseason and training camp
and be able to hit the ground running early this season.
And if I believe, they also have a pretty tough

(54:33):
schedule in terms of, you know, if you're going to
play the schedule game overall.

Speaker 2 (54:36):
So that's why I have them down this low.

Speaker 3 (54:38):
It's probably too low, and I admit that, but the
combination of the leaving Kunsil and having all these questions,
it makes me uncertain about them.

Speaker 2 (54:47):
You gotta be bold.

Speaker 1 (54:48):
I give them an edge over these teams near them
because it's not a first year head coach. It is
a head coach that's had success in multiple spots. It's
been a erratic success, but he's had success. It's year
three of this regime. There is veteran talent here and
so to me, their floor is much higher than the

(55:09):
rest of the team's here. Last two teams are the
Raiders and the Dolphins. Not a lot of disagreement in
terms of the Dolphins being last. The Raiders fans that
aren't happy there's a path to them being that Titans
team the best of the worst, like there is a path.
There is some talent, certainly on the defensive side, with
the investments that they made, and it comes down to, like,

(55:31):
can Clint Kubiak really deliver?

Speaker 2 (55:35):
We'll find out.

Speaker 1 (55:36):
But as a team that's thirty first ranked here and
the Jets are thirtieth. I should have mentioned as well
that there's a decent amount of talent here. But I
appreciate you not putting Gino in the Jets number thirty two.

Speaker 3 (55:49):
Oh, they weren't going to be thirty two. Thirty two
was just decided months ago. Oka was always going to
be thirty or thirty one. I think, yeah, look what
the Raiders there on the right path. I think after
years and years of dysfunction, you know, they've they've set
themselves on a long term path at quarterback and they
also have a short term answer. They have their bridge
veteran that Clint Kubiak won and they don't have much

(56:12):
at receiver, and I know Brock Bauers is going to
be their number one target again, and I know he
was hurt last year and I'm not undervaluing him at all,
but I'm just looking at it overall offensive ceiling potential,
it's still pretty low. They did invest in their offensive line,
which was undoubtedly the worst in the NFL last year.
I don't care what anybody else says. Watch the games.
The Raiders were by far the worst offensive line. They
went and got Tyler Linderbaum. You get Colton Miller back.
That's great. You didn't rebuild the entire group. I still

(56:34):
have a lot of concerns about that. Defensively, it's like
a hodgepodge of guys. You're like, oh, I could see
that working. I could see that working. Oh you went
and got the Georgia Bulldogs at linebacker, Nacobe Dean and
Kuay Walker.

Speaker 2 (56:43):
That's cool.

Speaker 3 (56:44):
Hey it's Quitty pay, Hey it's Eric Stokes. It's a
bunch of names that I recognized. Is it going to
come together?

Speaker 2 (56:48):
I don't know. Yeah, we'll see.

Speaker 1 (56:50):
They have I totally agree about as many questions as
any team. I think their floor is probably a little
higher than the Jets where things could could go wrong.
But we're just picking knits here as we wrap up
a couple of just minor injury items.

Speaker 2 (57:06):
I did want to know.

Speaker 1 (57:07):
That one of the dolphins best defensive lineman, Zach Seelers,
is week to week now.

Speaker 2 (57:11):
That's that's the last thing they need is to hurt
their depth.

Speaker 1 (57:15):
A Meccha Abuka left practice on Wednesday, so that's an
injury that we will be tracking. I mentioned the Bosa injury.
Will also be watching forty nine ers practice and this
leads to just something I wanted to do. I don't
know if anyone else cares, but we're we're gonna declare
a winner. Chook first for your power rankings. You won,

(57:37):
you know, first ever time doing it. Great job on that.
It was fun going through it. We'll do it throughout
the season at various points. But you're gonna have your
own show that we'll talk about in about a month,
you know, as the regular season gets going.

Speaker 2 (57:50):
But for joint.

Speaker 1 (57:51):
Practices over the last couple of days, Bucks Jets clear
win for the Bucks. The Bucks are one to zero
and joint practice season despite the Abuka injury. All reports
on the ground were Baker Mayfield fitness very strong, the
Jets offense erratic at best Bucks defense carries the day
Bucks offense does enough to win big first week joint

(58:12):
practice victory for Tampa Colts Pats. It felt like a draw.
Everyone said offenses won for both teams. There's a lot
of injuries for the Patriots defense right now. But in
the end, I'm gonna have to give the win to
the Colts because the very last play of practice in
the hurry up drill after the Colts scored in their
hurry up drill was a Drake may interception cam bying

(58:33):
them back and healthy again for the Colts. Colts with
a big upset road victory in Foxborough forty nine Ers
Titans sounded like the most one sided joint practice of
the week. Despite all the injuries. Brock Purdy was slanging
it out there. Forty nine ers get to win there
one to zero in joint practice season, the Titans with

(58:53):
a disappointing loss, although reportedly their offense was was okay,
like they weren't making big mistakes. They weren't just they
just weren't doing a lot. But their defense got hammered apparently,
and then the Rams and Cowboys. Depending on who you
asked here, sounded like it was very close. Surprisingly was
the opposite shook of Rams patriots, I mean Rams colts.

(59:13):
It was the defenses on both sides that just consistently
won and that the offenses were struggling. Now, Puka Nakua
left practice. That's not great, but overall it sounds like
the level of dominance from the Rams defense was actually higher.
The Rams defense is beating the Rams offense pretty regularly too,
And so I asked multiple people, including NFL Daily correspondent

(59:36):
Cynthia Freelan, who was there. She gave the edge to
the Rams. I'm gonna give it to the Rams as well.
They get the victory tight one though, good sign for
the Cowboys that it was back and forth. So those
are your joint practice wins and losses for the week.

Speaker 3 (59:49):
I love the idea of the Cowboys defense keeping up
with the Rams offense. That lads really well for Dallas.

Speaker 1 (59:54):
Now Puka left. You know, they hit a couple deep
throws apparently to Devonte Early. You know, there were some
people thought maybe then they kind of laid off the gas,
you know, like and then Pooka leaves with an injury
that doesn't help. But that's why I also kind of
gave it to the Rams defense because if you're if
you're holding down a healthy Cowboys offense, that is a
good sign. And their defense has been playing well at camp.

(01:00:15):
We'll have to check out their preseason game two because look,
we got a lot of starters playing throughout the NFL.
It's a new thing, shook. Not only are more starters
playing a little bit lately, a lot of them are
playing in week one of the preseasons. So like Joe
Burrow to a tongueo Bay Loa, Like, we're gonna see
some some good starters in week one of the preseason.
And well also see a lot of Ty Simpson for

(01:00:36):
the Rams, which I'm I'm curious to watch their first
round pick because you know, you gotta keep Stetson Bennett healthy.
I don't think they're going to play him at all.
It's just gonna be all Ti Simpson all the time.
Stetson's too important. Pressure makes diamonds or something. Yeah, yes, sure,
so I mentioned the preseason games. Nick Schuok and I
will be with you hit that music on Thursday evening

(01:00:57):
if you want to come hang out with us live.

Speaker 2 (01:01:00):
It's been fun. We take your questions.

Speaker 1 (01:01:02):
That'll be at seven pm Pacific, ten pm Eastern, and
that will be in your ears overnight, our final show
of the week. We'll also do some news as well
as recapping those preseason games.

Speaker 2 (01:01:14):
We'll cook up something fun. We'll see again