NFL Training Camp Takeaways for EVERY NFC Team

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to NFL Daily, where I am thrilled to be
back in the Chris Westleyan podcast studio with two of
my favorite people, Patrick Claiban and Jordan Rodrieg. Before we
get to them, we have to talk about the shooting
that happened at in around three forty five Park Avenue
in New York City on Monday. If you're listening, you

(00:25):
probably have heard about this. It was happening just as
we were taping out at Rams Camp on Monday, and
since we have learned from the police on the scene
that a man named Shane Timura killed four people, including
a police officer, before killing himself with a gunshot to
the chest. An NFL employee was among the many people hurt,

(00:48):
and official say Tomura had a documented mental health history.
That's a building, obviously that is near and dear to
everyone who works at the NFL's heart. I used to
work in that building. We obviously know so many people
that are there, and it's it's a huge building, and
obviously the tragedy goes beyond just the NFL scope. But
our thoughts are with everyone there and obviously we'll be

(01:10):
we'll be following this, but there's not much more we
can say other than we just hope everyone is safe
and everyone gets the help that they need. And there's
no great way to transition out of that. But I
am happy, as I said at the top, that you
guys are here with me on this show and that
it is one of my favorite formats to do. I mean,

(01:32):
I'm I'm a sucker for hitting a lot of teams
in one show. And who better to go and hit
every single NFC team with than Jordan and Patrick. You've
been on the road in the NFC West. You've just
been on the road. We missed you, Patrick, But welcome
back to NFL Daily.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, it's good. It's great to be back and here
in studio with you guys where I go out and
then I just become another fan. It's like I ask Great, like, hey,
do you need me to take the microphone? He's like, no,
we got it.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
That was a lot of pre taping, a lot of
top twenty five players, and like I said, yeah, we're
gonna go through each and every team, and we're gonna
start with a team that to me, I wrote more
notes on than any other team.

Speaker 3 (02:14):
I'm gonna be handling the NFC East.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
We each took different divisions and it's actually the New
York Giants, and I'll ask what you guys think here,
but like, I love that their biggest players are making
a lot of news.

Speaker 3 (02:25):
Unfortunately, one of them was Malik Neighbors.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
He left practice Tuesday with a shoulder injury, but it
does appear that he's okay, that it's not going to
be anything serious. One thing that's really struck me, though,
is their rookies. Abdull Carter, Like every rep that you
see of him and every report that you see of
him just seems like he's having an absolutely ridiculous camp
and it just it just absolutely pops.

Speaker 3 (02:46):
I listened to the Giants Nation.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
It's a good podcast Bobby Skinner, and he's like like
he knows it's camp, but you just are watching him
and you're like, he's better than Brian Burns and cave
On Tibodau. I mean just that like practicing like we
got to see in the games. But I guess it's
not total shocking, but he's just giving Germaine an illumin
or the right tackle all sorts of business. Who's a
good right tackle, and so I think you can get

(03:08):
excited about that. At the same time of understanding that
it might take Jackson Dart a little while to get going.
The practice reports the first few days of camp for
him were rough, supposedly like turning the corner a little bit,
making some quicker decisions after that. But in terms of
big time rookies that that was like the first takeaways
at Giants camp.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
And I think it's that it falls along which it
feels weird to say, falls along with expectations considering, right,
the pedigree of Ebitdole Carter versus you know, a couple
of other you know, highly touted edges that have been
in the league and haven't necessarily had the production to
match how we felt about it, especially pre trade Brian Burns,
like the first when we thought maybe Brian Burns is

(03:47):
going to get traded, you know, the production has kind
of fallen off since then, and for Jackson Dart, especially
with the the eye test and like I think maybe
like twenty twenty plus combined years of with their other quarterbacks. Yeah,
it's gonna it's gonna look a little bit different.

Speaker 4 (04:04):
I've been really not wanting to like be real takey
as camp started, especially because Pad's just came on this
week for most teams. I can't help myself because I
really think the Giants are gonna be one of the
best defenses in the NFL.

Speaker 3 (04:16):
I said it.

Speaker 1 (04:17):
I'm sorry, Okay, I like that. I think they get
Dexter Lawrence back in practice, bron Are you freaking kidding?
He's on a pitch count and Carter be next level
right away would just change everything. And he does have
a chance to be a Miles Garrett type of player
who has that sort of impact right away, and you think,
like Edge Rusher, like it shouldn't be really that impressive,

(04:39):
you know, impressive early in camp.

Speaker 3 (04:41):
If they're popping like that.

Speaker 1 (04:42):
It's like, you know who had like the best first
week of camp that I can think of from like
a rookie over the last five years where everyone was
going nuts, Aiden Hutchinson. Everyone was like, he's the best
player on the Lions defense already, and it was true.

Speaker 3 (04:54):
And you know who had a bad like first month essentially,
I can't like it was Trayvon Walker.

Speaker 1 (04:57):
Sometimes these things actually do tell you Trayvon Walker's become
a better player.

Speaker 3 (05:01):
Get off me, Jaguars fans.

Speaker 1 (05:03):
But rookie year, it started out a little so The
other thing interesting about their rookies there Camp Scattaboo is
like taking first team reps and by most accounts has
a chance to have like a major role, including starting,
and not like he's getting all of them, but just
looking at who's you know, performed the best at camp
so far, like it might be Skataboo. So like this

(05:25):
is to me just a fascinating team. The big downer
is Andrew Thomas has not been in there at all,
so it's like taking him like a little longer to
get going than you would hope. And to me he's
the lynchpin of that entire team. But you have like
a cornerback two battle with Deontay Banks and Cordeal Float
that's a real thing. Flot might actually win that thing.
But there's like a lot to be excited about that
this team might be different. Theo Johnson might be their

(05:46):
like second most targeted.

Speaker 4 (05:48):
Receivers a lot of passes right practice according to the
reports out of Giants, it's cool, Okay, Does anyone think
that Camp Scataboo is if Brian Dable could go back
and become a running back in another l it's just
a ball of rage?

Speaker 3 (06:02):
Are you just saying like he's white. There are many
of them.

Speaker 4 (06:07):
I literally just explained what I meant. He's a ball
of rage running at you.

Speaker 2 (06:11):
Attitude wise, every movement is violent. Yes, much in the
same way that Brian's Able might just start screaming at
a backup quarterback up.

Speaker 4 (06:19):
Yes, it says it's an annual thing. I follow, you know,
my colleagues Charlie Carroll and Dan Dugan out there and
I have notifications on and I because I always love
the first post of the of the year when Dan
Dugan says, well, it's the first annual Brian Dable freak
out here was the victim.

Speaker 1 (06:35):
Yeah, he has not like gotten any more chill and
Scattaboo is definitely not chill. He he seems like a
guy who at some point will get into a training
camp fight with one of his teammates. Uh, not like
that's a bad thing. There's just like there's those guys
on every team. We're going to get to one on
the Packers lately, Nate hops just like it goes as
like a little over the edge. All right, let's go

(06:57):
to the Cowboys and yeah, we're we're front the show
with a couple of teams I feel like I had
a lot of news.

Speaker 3 (07:03):
I mentioned at the end of our show with the Rams.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
Tyler Geyton is officially out four to six weeks with
a fracture. He is the left tackle of the Cowboys,
by all accounts, had improved so much and was looking
really good this offseason, and as part of the reason
why I kind of planted a flag on Cowboys optimism
last week, saying, like, man, this young offensive line, like
it could go wrong, but the ceiling is to have

(07:27):
a top like six or eight really young offensive line,
and kind of like the Bucks then last year, like
suddenly you think that team is much better Since then,
Terrence Steele, the right tackle, has gotten high ankle spring.
Tyler Guiton's out four to six weeks. Initially they feared worse,
So I guess that's good news, but not really. You're
gonna miss him. And then in theory you could move
Tyler Smith out to left tackle, but his primary backup,

(07:48):
Robert Jones, who they signed, is out for two months.
So I don't think they're gonna mess with the interior
from the buzz that's going out there, and they're just
going to have some backups at tackle, especially left tackle
for a little while. That that's concerning another injury Jordan
is Kaylan Carson, who had been lining up with the
starters at cornerback because they're so thin at cornerback, is
out four to six weeks. So I'm already like losing

(08:09):
my Cowboys optimism.

Speaker 4 (08:11):
I know you had, but you also I think I
want to have it.

Speaker 3 (08:13):
Overall, this is none of these are death.

Speaker 4 (08:15):
Flows, and you gave yourself it was the take expert cushion.
You gave yourself, you said. But their variance is among
the cre a lot of air in the entire league.

Speaker 3 (08:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (08:26):
My everything that I see reporting wise out of Cowboys
camp says that they do not want to move Tyler
Smith if they don't have to, because moving him from
left guard, kicking him out it's totally it's obviously totally
different footwork. But they're not sure locally yet how much
time Tyler Guiiten is truly going to miss. And so
if it's only a game or two, you really don't
want to mess with that continuity and flip flop guy's position.

Speaker 2 (08:49):
In my position, yeah, they've already dealt with enough, and
so you create this cascade of issues where you're creating
another that you have to solve if you move Tyler
Smith when you already do with enough of these issues
with Tyler Guiden's injury, and so it's you just have
to wait, Like you can't be overly reactive because now
you got to react to your reaction.

Speaker 4 (09:08):
You mean the Cowboys are trying not to create their
own issues.

Speaker 1 (09:12):
Well, first, I know it's crazy because Jake Ferguson got
that contract and I think it's quite team friendly, but
it's also weird because he's coming off a bad year.
But man, they have a lot of guys that are
up for contracts that aren't named Michaeh Parsons. It's just
like a lot's going on. Like Deron Bland, they're talking
about a new contract with him too. Tyler Smith is
going to get a top of the market or deserves
the top of the market guard contract. And then you

(09:35):
have Micah's there too, like Trayvon Diggs will see when
he gets back, he's not there right now. So like
when you're lining up at practice lately, it's been Kayer
Elam and it was Kayln Carson, and they've got some
undrafted guys. Kyer Elam was a guy who came in.
Doron Bland is back with the team, though supposedly at
running back. Like I thought this was going to be

(09:55):
a battle and we'll see, but it seems like it's
just Miles Sanders.

Speaker 4 (09:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (09:59):
I was listening to Love the Star podcast and they
kind of thinks he's actually looked good. He looked better
than they expected. I was reading between the lines. Javonte
Williams maybe not as much. And Jayden Blue is like
an exciting, young, explosive guy who had this crazy one
handed catch down the field and they want to get
him in the mix, but it's probably gonna be Miles
Sanders and then just the other like drum beat out

(10:21):
of there is a lot of Donovan Eziraku love, and
that's part of my Cowboys love, like that edge group.
If Ziraku pops and Sam Williams is out there and
he's back like Marshaw Nelan eventually like Cowboys are good,
maybe you'll become a Cowboys fan again.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
No, that's not happening, but I do think right the
reason for optimism, it's all there, And yeah, we could
we could couch it with some caveats and talk about Thinness,
but uh, let's be honest. Uh DA's there. Uh yes,
Like the offense will score points, Micah will be explosive. Eventually,
the deals will get done. The Cowboys will end up
paying more than they should because they should have done

(10:57):
them earlier.

Speaker 1 (10:58):
Like that, and then what I don't and then we'll
see it play Trevon Diggs and Sharon Revel who was
a high pick for them to get healthy, because like that,
their cornerbacks being heard, their offensive line being heard. That's
more the thing that I'm worried about. But George Pickens,
by the way, he was chosen as as the star
of the week. I believe it was by the Dallas
Cowboys dot com. But you know, they still got to
pick five guys and Pickens has come out there and

(11:19):
he's done something. Let's go to the commanders. Terry McLaurin
is back in the mix, but he's still on the
pup list, so he has an ankle issue he's working
through as he's trying to get that contract done. Speaking
of contract, I was curious, like what von Miller's contract
looked like. He got three million dollars guaranteed, so you
would think he like is actually going to be on

(11:39):
that team.

Speaker 3 (11:40):
I don't think there's much risk they would.

Speaker 1 (11:41):
They would cut a guy who got three million dollars guaranteed,
although it has happened before. He'd have to look pretty bad.
They had the lesser know Herbig retired. Nate Herbig, who
was an offensive lineman for the Steelers and was with them,
was coming off an injury, so happy trails to him.
One of those early retirements of camp. And it's been
a lot of debo. Remember everyone was getting on debo

(12:02):
in the off season because he kind of like looked
a little bigger on one of those well he did
like a Luka Doncic, because when you're seeing him in
camp he is looking sleek and everyone's just like, it's
a whole lot of debo.

Speaker 3 (12:13):
Sorry, are you feeling the debo?

Speaker 4 (12:15):
Love? I was last time. I said, Man, you do
not want that guy hitting you or running at you,
or catching the ball and running past you at any weight.
I don't care.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
Yeah, the all season weight concerns based on pictures are
always something that it's like, what are.

Speaker 1 (12:29):
We My concern is he's had weight fluctuations and not
looked as explosive consistently over the last few years because
of those injuries as he has, but I think right
now he's healthy, so that's great.

Speaker 4 (12:39):
Maybe he just ate some sort of inflammatory food that day.
You know that happens to the best of us.

Speaker 2 (12:44):
It's going to start selling tummy to you on TikTok
and like a little bloated.

Speaker 4 (12:47):
What were those things that went around and the era
when like the reality TV steroids started of the kardash
or whatever, it's like the weight train or the waste train.
They were like a thing that you had like a
freaking modern day course at what are we doing? What
are we doing to women? What are we doing to women?
And to Deebo, let's not do any of these things.

Speaker 3 (13:08):
Be happy body.

Speaker 1 (13:10):
One thing I noticed on Tuesday was like it was
a veteran rest day for Marshall Lattimore and Laramie Tunzel
and von Miller and zach Ertz and Cleveland Fair. And
that's all cool, Like you should have these veteran rest
days everyone see how business super veteran. But it was
just it's just a reminder this team is a little
older than most, so it's it's just it's something I'm monitoring.
And then finally on my preseason watch list, everyone is

(13:31):
loving themselves some Jacory Crosskett merit the running back youngster
for Washington, and that's what the preseason to me is
all about. Like every single writer in Washington is like,
this guy's been the most interesting guy in camp. This
like you know, bowling ball of a young running back.
So just someone I want to watch. We'll finish our
NFC East with the Eagles. I don't want to go

(13:52):
too deep because we're gonna have a deep dive into
the Eagles on our next show with our friends Bo
Wolf and Zach Berman.

Speaker 3 (13:59):
But Jalen Carter is back at practice. That's really good.

Speaker 1 (14:03):
And Jalen Hurts is still doing the thing where he's
kind of like cosplaying as Michael Jordan.

Speaker 3 (14:08):
What do you think about that it might be too hard?

Speaker 2 (14:10):
No, it's it's not. I don't think it's it's being
too harsh.

Speaker 1 (14:14):
Eventually, like he says his quotes and he wears the
Jordan gear and I don't know.

Speaker 2 (14:18):
Well, yeah, it's you know, so what, he's a fan,
you got a brand, right, But eventually people will stop
asking him, stop asking him stuff, like because a lot
of times it's like throwing Jalen a lob. Yeah, where
it's like Jalen h I saw an article from Eagles
smoke fan twenty seven dot com who said that you
weren't good. What do you think about that? And then

(14:39):
like Jalen will drop a quote like, you know, the
galaxy doesn't care about.

Speaker 3 (14:46):
Galaxy.

Speaker 4 (14:47):
He doesn't care about starts a thing.

Speaker 2 (14:49):
You know, it's it's just something random like that.

Speaker 3 (14:52):
You do that was good?

Speaker 2 (14:54):
Yeah, but because that's that's what it felt like. I
love I love Jalen, but at a certain like I
did too shout out to him. I just you know, yeah,
we didn't. We can let it, let it rock.

Speaker 3 (15:05):
We'll keep an eye on Devada. The smith was out
of practice.

Speaker 1 (15:07):
But like I said, we're gonna dive deeper into the Eagles,
So I think let's just save that conversation.

Speaker 3 (15:12):
A lot of a lot of moro O jamo talk.

Speaker 1 (15:14):
They're their young safety Andrew mccouba is out with an injury,
so that's that's a concern. Uh, there's a battle a
guy I've never given up on, a Dori Jackson, who
sneakily had like two incredible cornerback seasons. To me, he
is the picture of what a cornerback is the highs
are high, the lows are lows, and he might be
winning that first team battle right now at cornerback. All right,
let's go to the NFC West.

Speaker 4 (15:38):
Chaos is back, yay in a big way. All throughout
the NFC WES we talked about it a little bit.
I'm going to start with I think collectively the favorites
across the board, maybe not in Vegas right now, but
collectively across the board, the Los Angeles Rams. We were
just at training camp with them earlier this week. Matthew
Stafford still is not throwing. I'm personally eyeballing the joint

(16:00):
practices with the Cowboys on August fifth. If he's not
throwing by then, then I start to get actually worried.
But the thing about having Jimmy Garoppolo as the backup
is they're actually installing the actual offense, what we will
actually see from the offense. Obviously, your definitive three receivers
are Puka Nakua and DeVante Adams and two two out Well,
Puka and Davante are one A and one B. I

(16:20):
would not look at them as one and two. I
would look at them as like orbital players who are
going to rotate a lot and move a lot around
in the system. Terence Ferguson getting some first team reps,
getting worked in, and I think he will definitely be
more in those pass catching mismatches with Colby Parkinson maybe
taking up more of the backside blocking stuff. And Tyler

(16:40):
Higbee obviously is still the starter. Alec Jackson is still
the left tackle. He's still not practicing in full. Just
something to watch. DJ Humphries was taking announced the seas,
which is scary. He's in, yes and easy, there's more
of that. He's dealt with it before, and he is in.
He's receiving tree. I did talk to somebody at RAMS

(17:02):
who was feeling just really optimistic about his overall status. However,
obviously you're gonna wait. They are going to be adamant
about waiting until they know for sure it's safe for
him to be back on the field. So it is
DJ Humphries playing first team left tackle. You're seeing a
lot of motion, a lot of tight end usage, a
lot of DeVante Adams, a lot of Puka and Akua
on offense.

Speaker 1 (17:22):
So far, maybe better, you know, than they've had at
swing tackle in the past. J Humphries a little bit
of a boomer bus guy, but when he's healthy and
right has been a good player in the league.

Speaker 3 (17:33):
Yeah, it was.

Speaker 1 (17:35):
It was disarming to be there and see so many
first team reps for Kannada Mumpfield, a man I was
not familiar with, but it's getting a lot of first
team reps.

Speaker 3 (17:43):
Jordan Whittington.

Speaker 4 (17:44):
Back when somebody was a beat writer for the Rams,
somebody said, this is a player you need to watch
because he is a perfect fit for the Sean McVay offense,
especially when these other guys get arrest day. And also,
I don't think it's going to be easy for them
to keep Jordan Whittington off the field. He anytime he's
on the second team, he is so explosive. He just
doesn't belong there. He like, it is going to be

(18:06):
so hard for them to keep him off the field.

Speaker 1 (18:08):
Yeah, some depth, and as someone who usually goes to
one preseason game, you know some people I know that
I'll get to a watch.

Speaker 3 (18:16):
We'll see if the.

Speaker 1 (18:17):
Emmanuel Forbes reclamation project works out from Washington. I know
you know you were in Arizona, you were in with
the Rams. You were not in Seattle. Are you going
to be going to Seattle anytime.

Speaker 4 (18:30):
I'm going to try. I so far, I only have
until August's eighteenth planned in my life slash schedule, but
I'm going to try to get up there. It's super
interesting because it reports out of camp right now in
Seattle is that the defense is not only asserting themselves,
I would say politely, but also they have this identity

(18:53):
and this like vocal just assertion of who they are
and what they are. And I get it because of
how they have come along so far under Mike McDonald
and that first year going into that second year, the
ascension of all these players, there seems to be a
collective sort of identity within that group. And my colleague

(19:14):
Michael Sean Dugar was saying, actually saying, he's waiting for
someone on offense to take the role of the trash docker.
He's hearing it only from the defense and not vice versa.

Speaker 3 (19:23):
Sama.

Speaker 4 (19:23):
When the pads went.

Speaker 3 (19:24):
On exactly that with a lot of like what if
he became that though, or we're just going to dark Sam.

Speaker 4 (19:31):
Like if you just had like the let the let
the the you know, the demons out a little bit.
But the first, second and third string defense all quote
unquote one, the move the ball drills earlier when the
pads first went on, so that's when we actually start
to count things. But actually, I would say for Darnold's favorite,
there's been a lot of positive reporting about how he's played,
how he's managed kind of his new role the team.

(19:53):
They're still obviously working out what these receivers are going
to look like, and all things lead back to the
offensive line with this group and whether it will be
a detriment to what they're trying to do or whether
it will actually supplement and compliment what they're trying.

Speaker 1 (20:06):
To do with ken Walker, Yeah, they have battles at
center and right guard. I was a little surprised that
they're making Olua Timmy who without finished last season. I
was they well battle for that job and that that's
what's happening. It really seems like marcuz Veld the scantling
as their third receiver and they're making Jake Bobo and
the rest of them fight after that, which not in
love with.

Speaker 4 (20:26):
I think they're going to use the tight ends a
lot too, are you.

Speaker 2 (20:28):
I Mean, look, the late late season pushed from MVS
was was notable and you know, pretty much a hopeless
New Orleans spot. You know MVS made some plays down
the stretch. I don't know that. You know, you want
to build the whole plane out of MVS. Yeah, And
I don't think right if of all the coaching staffs

(20:49):
in the NFL, like if any coaching staff is going
to try to take things lightly on the offensive side
of the ball and like trying to make everything look
I don't think Mike McDonald's going to be a part
of that operation. So like, yeah, it could look rough
at spots in camp, and maybe a little bit better
when the same.

Speaker 1 (21:06):
And Elijah Royo, the rookie, is like so active they're
using him in the slaw all over, so maybe he's
really the I think they're.

Speaker 4 (21:12):
Going to use both of those tight ends A J.
Barner and Elijah Roya. I think in this Koubiak system,
you definitely want to use a couple, at least a
couple of tight ends. And Elijah Royo was one of
the more exciting prospects at the position coming out raw sure,
but also like high comp super high upside. One thing
injury wise to keep an eye on out of Seattle,
Ernest Jones. He missed the first padded practice due to

(21:35):
what the team was saying was a personal reason. But
just as notable for this this is he had the
knee surgery in the off season. He's obviously an absolute
star for them, especially in the run game and as
a blitzer, but he has not fully practiced yet missed
OTAs in mini camp. So just just something to keep
an eye on. Not no need for a huge concern
just yet.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
And this would maybe change this stance, but we're not
allowed here at the NFL to gamble or suggest gambling really,
although we have a show game debut where we do
pick games every week for what it's worth in the scores.
But if there was like a way that ahead of
time you could you could just pick who based on
the odds, you know, would be like a sneaky pick

(22:18):
to finish the season number one defensive DVOA.

Speaker 3 (22:22):
You know, I would like the Seahawks' odds.

Speaker 1 (22:24):
Because I would assume they wouldn't be in the top
five going into the season, and yet I think they
have like a higher chance than people would realize of
like literally being the best defense in the league.

Speaker 3 (22:33):
I think it's on the table.

Speaker 2 (22:34):
You mean, like playing the number.

Speaker 1 (22:35):
Yeah, I'm playing the number but I'm but I'm thinking
saying that I think they'll be in the top five,
you know, and I think they could be number one,
because because I don't know anything, it's hard to predict.

Speaker 4 (22:45):
Or I think their absolute rock bottom floor is still
a top ten defense.

Speaker 3 (22:48):
Right, which is that's a good place to start.

Speaker 4 (22:50):
Really hard to find a place to criticize or be
concerned about, truly, because even if you're worried about the
return from injury and you're worried about, you know, the
knee with Ernest Jones, you're they're not asking him to
do things outside of what he's best at, and they're
bringing safety help and help via the slot and Julian love,
help for him to not necessarily have to move latterly

(23:11):
in ways that would put him in harm's way. So
it's just smart. It's a smart defense full of talented players.
What could go wrong?

Speaker 1 (23:16):
Yeah, the combination of like, continuity, relative youth, all of it.

Speaker 2 (23:21):
I love it.

Speaker 1 (23:21):
I know you love the Cardinals. After idea, say you
love your guy Trey McBride.

Speaker 4 (23:26):
Yes, and got to talk to him in Arizona. Didn't
go in with really any expectations about how, you know,
the conversation or you know, sometimes you catch guys. This
was really high energy practice. You catch guys after that
you're not sure. Oh my god, just had the best
conversation with him, and really grateful for the time. Really
special special person, special player. I think he's one of

(23:48):
the best tight ends in the league. Not the best
right now. George Kittle is up there obviously always. So
this is a super interesting team because they've improved every
single year, and when I went to the practice, you
could really see they know where they're supposed to be.
There's urgency in practice. What I thought was the most
interesting two things that I want to note to you
guys that stood out to me about being there was

(24:11):
first of all, a lot of seven on seven red
zone install they obviously need to score more points, they
need to finish drives, and a lot of red zone
install a lot of different types of things with Marvin
Harrison Junior, trying to get him comfortable in a little
bit probably a bigger role. Still, this offense will still
funnel through the tight ends, but so far in training
camp that is a super key point of emphasis for them.

(24:34):
Little designed runs for Kyler in the red zone as well,
which I think would behoove them. I think that would
be a positive thing if they can sustain that through
and Darius Robinson. They won't have Walter Nolan because who
knows how long, because they haven't given a timeline for
the injury yet suffered the injury in camp. The first
round pick, who were all really excited about Greg's favorite
player in this draft, but they are really high on

(24:56):
Darius Robinson, and you can almost see, like the second
rounder line, you could almost see him like flip the switch,
understanding I have to be this guy and obviously looks
the part, fills out the jersey, but was really attacking
these practices and impressing teammates and having Kalais campbellback's great too.

Speaker 2 (25:14):
Yeah, it's the red zone work. Essentially, it made me
think back, not just for the Cardinals, but for the Rams,
the forty nine ers, and the Seahawks, especially the division
essentially came down to seven or eight plays executing in
the red zone, and of course the Cup has had
like the most notable and spectacular failure in the red zone.
But that was just one of those things that sometimes

(25:38):
happens with football, the ball not being round. But you
can right drill and practice certain scenarios to extent where
the execution can be on point, even if the result
isn't what you want, you can have that level of execution.
And I really think, like division wide, that should be
the focus.

Speaker 4 (25:58):
I love that about the NFC West. It comes down
truly to the margins, truly to the tiniest but most
important of you.

Speaker 1 (26:05):
They've lost two potential starters for the season and the
secondary we mentioned it's Starling Thomas, not a household name,
and they do have good depth, good young depth.

Speaker 3 (26:15):
Overall.

Speaker 1 (26:16):
I think their starting group is still strong, but they've
kind of lost that Wilgo room right off the bat well.
The other thing that stuck out to me just as
a fantasy guy, they tried they've been trying to like
ask Gannon about you know, is Trey Benson.

Speaker 3 (26:32):
Is he going to have more of a role this
or that?

Speaker 1 (26:33):
And the steady drumbeat is like, no, we want to
ride James Connor until the wheels fall off. So James
Connor workhorse season like it's not ending. I don't think
anytime soon.

Speaker 4 (26:42):
Yeah, it's interesting too. You mentioned the defense. I think
that our guy Will Johnson is going to really get
a shot at this, and he should. But that's the thing,
it's a rookie. Sometimes, coaches, we'll play rookies early, especially
in a defense like this. But I think it's going
to be a rotation with Ger Williams, Max Melton, and
Will Johnson. Then obviously Williams has outstanding experience in the slot,

(27:03):
so he can be sort of an inside outside player
and when they have three corners, you know obviously that
he would kick inside and maybe Will will Johnson goes
on the outside.

Speaker 1 (27:12):
All right, let's wrap the forty nine ers will be
the last team here before we take a little break.
The NFC West, Yeah, where they finally had some good
wide receiver news. Ricky pierceill back on the field making
some catches, so that.

Speaker 4 (27:25):
That yes, they did. Yeah, he's working his way back
into practice. Still pretty concerned about the overall depth of
that position group. But I you know, also would say
that I think the other news that was really really
good out of forty nine ers camp that I think
is the news coming out of forty nine ers camp
is Christian McCaffrey back to his old workout schedule previously

(27:46):
when he was sort of at the top before the
injury back to his his routine, back to these highlight
reel shimmys and shakes on his routes in practices. And
I think that because you have a healthy Christian McCaffrey
and a healthy George Kittle, you're going to use them
as mismatches so often in the passing game that maybe
you're not super worried about the fact that Juwan Jennings

(28:08):
is in a combination a little bit of a calf
issue sitting out of practice, and also there's a contract
situation brewing, and then also Brandon Aiyuk is not going
to be there for an unforeseen still amount of time
several months at least. If you have those two guys
actually in your passing game and supplementing them with a

(28:29):
healthy Ricky Piersol, hopefully they get another one of these
guys back, Cowing maybe then that could be exciting for them.

Speaker 1 (28:35):
Yeah, Jacob Cowings is like a young speedster that they're
hoping is going to have a big season, but it
is out right now. Yeah, they need Juwan Jennings back
because otherwise, like I mean, I forget who they were
like putting out there as a starter at wide receiver
in these practices, it was Hawkins, a man I wasn't
and I'm just like, wow, they are thinner than you expect.

(28:57):
And then at cornerback it's it's kind of a position
to watch their little thin there too. Like the former
Seahawk Trey Brown right now is lining up like the
secondary and the offensive line for me. For the forty
nine ers, it was Jordan Watkins, by the way, is
kind of like right now their number three receiver.

Speaker 4 (29:12):
Yeah, the local people love them, right, so maybe.

Speaker 1 (29:15):
Maybe he'll turn turn out to be great. It's just
like names we don't know as well. The entire secondary
safety is kind of wide open. It's the old Falcon.
Richie Grant is in the mix there. They have a
lot of rookies on the defensive line, just so much
uncertainty on this team.

Speaker 4 (29:29):
But a lot of these guys played for Robert Sala
and so he went out and found like Jason Pinnock,
who might be filling in in a big role, has
played for a cup of coffee for Robert Sala And
it's like it's these guys who it's like, you know,
you really would rather have Malik mustaff Up be on
the field.

Speaker 3 (29:46):
Right coming off a torn Aco.

Speaker 4 (29:48):
Yes, but he's still going to be recovering for a while.
And so now you have to plug and play with
these patch veterans. We've seen this work before for teams.

Speaker 1 (29:56):
So we are done with the NFC West here and
we you know, put the call out to you guys,
which divisions would you want to cover?

Speaker 3 (30:04):
At least I did that with Patrick.

Speaker 1 (30:05):
And he's built different because he had the number one
overall pick and he just goes, what did you say? Yeah,
give me the dirty NFC South. I mean he's built different. Literally,
he is built different, but we all are, but he's
built different. We will hit the NFC South right after this.

Speaker 2 (30:25):
It's a fun division.

Speaker 3 (30:27):
I love that no one at NFL network like, choose it,
get him.

Speaker 4 (30:32):
I would choose you every time South, get him in
the trenches.

Speaker 1 (30:45):
So if I heard it one time, I heard it
a thousand times over the month plus that Patrick was
not on the show, Like where is Patrick? The clay
Bon vivants we're saying the clay Bon Bonds were saying
it what the slave bonds?

Speaker 3 (31:07):
The clay Bony Bears. I don't know. We need a
nickname for the massive Patrick fan base.

Speaker 2 (31:14):
How's How's it any more than three people, the pat Pack.
The pat Pack, well that that that's that's so heart
enn it nick that good people would notice my apps.

Speaker 3 (31:24):
The clay Bon Voyages, Now, that wouldn't really make sense.

Speaker 4 (31:28):
I like the clay Bony Bears. I like that.

Speaker 3 (31:31):
I like the clay Bon Vivant, huge boniever fan.

Speaker 4 (31:34):
A really massive fan base, really in its feelings.

Speaker 1 (31:38):
I like that. I think I like the clay Bon Bonds.
The clay bon vivance is pretty good word that we
don't use enough in general.

Speaker 2 (31:44):
Yeah, I think because you know, the the dark period, right,
and then our first vacation in five years. Yes, my
daughter left California for the first time, oh in her life. Exciting, Yeah,
I kind of. But yeah, no, no concern to it
had to be seven people. Maybe.

Speaker 1 (32:04):
No, We've got a suggestion from the back room the
clay Hive. That's pretty good too. That's pretty good too.

Speaker 3 (32:11):
So we'll leave it to the people. Just let us know,
you know, just throwing.

Speaker 4 (32:16):
Just throwing pat Pack out there one more time, you know, I.

Speaker 1 (32:21):
Might, I might not allow that one. I've got final editorial.
I just like I like going off the name too.
I guess his name is Patrick well, that's true.

Speaker 3 (32:31):
I like it all. My son calls you, my son
calls you. Slave on.

Speaker 1 (32:35):
So we're getting to the NFC South A Division only. Patrick, Yes,
it would get down with but I did want to mention, sorry,
just a couple AFC items before because this is an
NFC heavy show. But we did have a couple of
injury items happen on Tuesday. I'll just fly through unfortunate
news and we can get into this more another time.
But Martin Emerson, who's a good starting young cornerback for

(32:58):
the Browns entering a contract year, tore his achilles on Tuesday.
So that's the strength I believe of their team, their
their cornerback position, and now they're losing obviously one of
their best players, and that's really unfortunate. Isaiah Likely is
reportedly out a few weeks the tight end of the
Ravens after getting carted off the field. The Chiefs had

(33:19):
three they're really their top three other than Rasi Rice.
Their receivers leave practice with injuries, but we'll see it
doesn't sound like any of them are serious. Christian Gonzalez
was among the people that left practice with an injury.
But it's always tough to know how just dropped into
your feet on that one. It's always tough to know
how serious these things are. But obviously at torn Achilles
and out a few weeks in terms of Martin Emerson, unlikely,

(33:41):
that's serious.

Speaker 3 (33:41):
That's unfortunate.

Speaker 1 (33:43):
Let's get to hopefully more positive news in the NFC South.

Speaker 2 (33:47):
Okay, well, well, eventually get to some positive news, all right,
but it is to hear about the the Emerson injury
is tough because we just talked about Loll McDonald with
the Cardinals in the last block and how he fell
down the draft board because of these concerns, and it's
just like injuries are going to be the one constant
thing in the league. It's got to get the player right.

(34:08):
You get the player and hopefully they have an opportunity
because injuries happened like Darnel Mooney, and the Falcons really
have not too many guys that can get open, like
Darnell Mooney had a shoulder injury. The timeline is two
weeks and then they're going to reevaluate, is what Rahee
Morris said on Tuesday. Ray May mccleoud got some reps
at the X when Mooney got hurt last year, positive note,

(34:31):
switching to to good news because so much of this
Falcon season, and really the entire Terry Fontina is a
good GM take that I had this offseason I will
have to wear for the rest of it.

Speaker 4 (34:42):
I can kind of mysteriously disappear from the show.

Speaker 3 (34:44):
For a while. I always I have the memory of
a goldfish, so I would have forgotten it.

Speaker 2 (34:50):
I'll never forget. I'll never let anybody forget that, whether
I'm right or wrong. I was banished went to the
Gulf of Mexico because that's the name of the body
of water.

Speaker 5 (34:57):
Yes, but either way, top ten GM. You had him
in our guest and James Pierce Jr. Is going to
be a whole lot people determine that, and he has
been solid in practice. He's gotten in a couple of
dust ups. We talked about training camp fights earlier. There's
a couple of different ways you can look at training
camp fights. Where Morris chose to say we like aggression.
They wanted a little bit of an edge. I guess

(35:18):
the couple on Tundra when they drafted James Pierce Jr.
They got that he doesn't like that it waste time.
In practice, they had to cancel.

Speaker 2 (35:26):
It development period because there were multiple dust ups, but
he did appreciate the way that he bounced back. It
was beef with Ryan Neuzl the center and Caleb McGarry
multiple times, but Leonard Floyd came in backed him up.
Everybody's fine, Leonard. They'll have an opportunity with a joint
practice with the Titans next month middle of next month
to hit somebody that's not in their uniform. Jeff Aldbrick

(35:49):
was talking about it, said they'd like to create a
culture a style of play which is violent and aggressive.
At times, they went a little too far and so
but the ports on James Pierce Junior have been good.
The other edge, the top pickt out of Georgia, who
is Jalen Walker, did not practice. There was a bit

(36:12):
of a management period over the weekend, which is something
that they are taking and evaluating, and I think it's
notable because he's a rookie and they're still kind of
managing some reps, which I think is a league wide thing.
With player performance and the data being so kind of ubiquitous,
with the way teams are going about things, there's not
as much of this hard line like, yeah, you got

(36:33):
to get out there and hit and be violent all
the time. If you notice a guy is starting to
lag a little bit, you give him some time to
manage their bodies, which which I think makes sense. And
of course from the fantasy perspective, everybody wants to know
Kyle Pitts. You know, is this I really think if you,

(36:53):
if you want to talk about volume the Mooney injury,
if it does become a longer term thing, there's just
more ball, some more availability to go out to the
tight end. But if you, if you're a Kyle Pits believer,
you just have to continue to believe at this point,
at which I do.

Speaker 1 (37:09):
And I think there are many left. I don't think, yeah,
everyone about we're starting to.

Speaker 4 (37:14):
See Kyle Pits headlines that also are included in the
headline for real this time. So that's where we're at
right now.

Speaker 1 (37:21):
He's reportedly as healthy as he's ever been, so that's good.
The main thing to me with Kyle Pitts, beyond like
them saying like he's looked good, is just there are
no issues. There's always issues for him injury wise, and
so when I point out, like I know he has
the name Kyle Pits and there's this idea that he's explosive,
but he actually hasn't been explosive actually on the field,

(37:41):
like maybe now he is truly healthy. Same same thing
with Kirk Cousins. He's still there. I just like to
remind people every once in a while, Kyle Kirk Cunins
is showing up to work every day and like throwing
passes and he's a quarterback on that team.

Speaker 2 (37:58):
And on the quarterback show Uparently it's a you know,
Kirk's feelings regarding the rookie that they drafted being better
than him, just being worn on his sleeve at.

Speaker 1 (38:08):
A certain interesting and it's I haven't made it that
far yet. I'm spoiling it. It's like a little bit
of a slog. Not even it is a slog. It's okay,
we can have television criticism on the show.

Speaker 4 (38:20):
It's not a pat Pack pick of the week for
your viewing it.

Speaker 3 (38:25):
I don't really want to trying.

Speaker 2 (38:26):
To make make it happen.

Speaker 3 (38:28):
The bon Vivans will, the Clay bon Vivans will.

Speaker 2 (38:32):
I'm just the fact that people notice my absence was
is heartening to me.

Speaker 3 (38:38):
To the Buccaneers anywhere anywhere you want to go okay, please.

Speaker 2 (38:42):
Yeah, start with the bad news. David Walker on Friday
towards a c L there was some hope that they
get him in the MRI machine and get out some
good news. They did not. Both said they still feel
like they have a lot of depth at Ed Rusher positions.
Uh Reddick and Yayadiyabi feel solid about that. One note
that was interesting to me, Christian Izian. The safety Todd

(39:05):
Bowles said, he made the team already interesting, there's no question,
like he laughed about it when the reporters in Tampa
Bay we're asking, you know about the secondary, it's like
he's made the team. I love what he brings to
the table and the way that he plays, way he prepares.
So he's good. A Mecca Abuka as intended like. They

(39:25):
asked Todd Bowles if he was surprised about his level
of production about a style of play. He said, no,
it was no surprise. He goes out there and makes plays.
In fact, I had to go out there and tell
him that everything does not have to be perfect because
he's he's just that guy. So, you know, as as
expected for you know, one of the the more NFL
ready receivers, which I think maybe that that tag did

(39:49):
him to disservice call him good.

Speaker 1 (39:51):
I think so too, because it gives you this idea
of a low ceiling, high floor guy. Also, whenever anyone
says NF already, I found that the scripture to be
no more predictive than anything else. Like I don't think
the average prospect that's said to be nflready is any
more NFL ready than anyone else.

Speaker 3 (40:11):
Sometimes they hit the home run with that.

Speaker 1 (40:13):
I like they asked Baker Mayfield about this season on
the New Heights podcast and they didn't even lead him
to a buco or like who's looked good, but they
just asked him about his season, like the season in general.

Speaker 3 (40:24):
He's just like, well man, Miko Buka is a total stunt.

Speaker 1 (40:28):
Like that was like the first thing that Baker Mayfield
said about like I'm so excited about this season because
in his words, he had yack potential out the wazoo
and pointed out, I think this is ball knowing. As
of course, Baker Mayfield is a ball no er, just
how he trusts his hands so much, like he never
leaves the ground and he always is so deceptive in
making the catch even if the cornerback is in a

(40:50):
great position.

Speaker 3 (40:50):
Baker just like, couldn't say enough and I'm in. I
know you're in.

Speaker 4 (40:54):
He's my favorite player in the draft. In fact, now
that we're making up band clubs, how about this e mecca?
Is it emica or because I've heard it pronounced both ways,
a mecca or I think it's a mecca? Okay, a mecca,
a boot club?

Speaker 3 (41:08):
Okay, Okay, that's good. Well they actually can and should
do that.

Speaker 1 (41:12):
If you're listening to me, whoever is involved in making
those big posters in the end zone for the Buccaneers
where everyone's got their own section, you know in Tampa.
You know what I'm saying. Yeah, I think there's a
charitable part of all of this, and I'll donate MC club.

Speaker 4 (41:30):
I'll donate because he he he's a joy, good, good
freaking football player. That's what should have been his draft tag.

Speaker 1 (41:38):
A lot of teds Johnson pop two man as if
they need another wide receiver, and this is the time
of year where like smaller receivers, we're going to get
to one with the Panthers to tend to shine the
most because there's not you know, as much tackling and
everything but it's been a good camp for Tess's that's
my trend piece, tes Walker in Baltimore, Tesz Johnson.

Speaker 2 (41:58):
And of course they're types very very different. Tess Johnson said,
you know, because they were asking him. You know, he
wants to make guys miss every single time he catches
the ball. That can be a detriment to some guys,
but in camp, you know, you're trying to make a team,
trying to make a name for yourself. Go ahead, try
to shake down six guys and go go for sixty yards,
which he's been trying to do. The Grizzard era has

(42:22):
had a nice start, according to Coach Bowls, and they
are going to have a nighttime stadium practice. They asked
thought Bulls what it does, and he's like, nothing other
than to get them prepared. They do have four night
games this year, and so they get a night time
prep schedule as well as there's some record breaking tempts
in Tampa, and so it gives them a chance to cool.

Speaker 1 (42:42):
And probably, like to be fair to Todd Bowles, I
doubt he came up with that plan, although maybe he did.
It was probably just like, hey, let's let's get the
fans in here and I it'll be cool and anything.
You know, fan forward, I'm all for. Are you want
to go Panthers or Saints next?

Speaker 2 (42:58):
I have Saints next, just because I don't know why
he did that order, but yeah, positives for Calvin Banks
had some opportunities to look good. Unfortunately, the Trevor Pinning
experiment might be running out of locations on the offensive line.

Speaker 3 (43:12):
I think he's starting he's a guard, but it is
there has.

Speaker 2 (43:16):
Been some like Brian Breesy had an opportunity and this
was this was pre Pads where there were some embarrassing
reps for Trevor Pinning at guard. Speaking of Brecy, the
Saints defense, both Chase Young and Justin Reid have mentioned
freedom within regards to Brandon Staley's defense, and I don't
think that's just folks taking a shot at DA although

(43:40):
there have been.

Speaker 4 (43:40):
No that's the same thing Jalen Ramsey said when he
played in for Brandon Staley for the first time. I
love that Justin Reid is in that system. Yeah, I
mean he's going to be that the do it all
conductor of that system. And I know Staley catches a
lot of heat, but like he's got a good plan
for his defense, and it maximizes players and it gives
them answers to the test that they're seeking and allows

(44:03):
them to play in a way that makes them feel comfortable.
And that that was what it was with with Jalen
and he said that all the time. And I love
that they're feeling that. I'm not. It's just it's cool
because Justin Reid deserves that.

Speaker 2 (44:13):
Yeah, And it's one of those places where comfort allows
you that level of aggression and confidence to play. And
that's worked for Granderson as well, where coach Moore actually
highlighted our Granderson a couple of times in camp in
the in the post practice speeches to the team where
they put Granderson tape up and they're like, this is
what we want as a New Orleans Saint. This is

(44:34):
the level of play and competition that we'd like to have.
So this this daily effect has been good. Over on
the offensive side, it's it's shuck, it's rattler. J Cayner
hasn't seen that many reps, but they're you know, they're alternating.

Speaker 5 (44:47):
They're playing football first team reps, and I've.

Speaker 3 (44:51):
Tried to get excited.

Speaker 1 (44:52):
It's early, Like supposedly the Bucks defense has kind of
been dominating too, so you just you never know when
a de fences dominating early.

Speaker 3 (45:01):
But all accounts, you know.

Speaker 1 (45:03):
I've been listening to the coverage and our friends at
the Saints block party podcasters we'll see down there at
Saints training camp and Irvine. I think the offense has
been rough overall, and that Rather's been better. That Chuck
is looking like a rookie, kind of like a Jackson
Dart type of thing where he's just holding on to
the ball and not making decisions.

Speaker 3 (45:22):
It is so early, I don't want to go too crazy.

Speaker 1 (45:25):
My bigger takeaway actually is the story, which seems like
it's just like a like one of those features that
means nothing, but I actually think does mean something. That
Kellen Moore was showing the Saints Pacers basketball footage. I
love a good cross sport comp That says a lot
to me about who he wants them to be. Like

(45:48):
the fastest paced team in the entire league by a
decent amount, that played their brand of football. Now can
they possibly pull that off with this quarterback? I don't know,
but I do think like Kellen Moore is banging the like,
let's get a lot of plays in let's play extremely fast.
It's risky, that's putting a lot on their defense potentially

(46:10):
too to be on the field more overall, but it's
in I find it interesting if nothing else, if they're
actually gonna play that way.

Speaker 2 (46:16):
Yeah, and it's tough to get the the image of
Hoghy going down in Game seven out of my head.
But you know, as far as like a comp because
this Saints team, especially wide receiver, is very very thin,
they're gonna need They're gonna need those guys to to
all make it through and perhaps you know, see how
things go, somebody that's probably a good football player is

(46:37):
going to be cut from somewhere else, and you know,
be on the lookout for the acquisition there because through
the draft, through free agency you waited, uh to try
to get some explosiveness there.

Speaker 3 (46:49):
And it's just it's all Shaheed baby, all the time.

Speaker 1 (46:52):
If I have a takeaway one, if I had to
pick one takeaway from Saints early Nick Underhill and Mike
Triplet who do New Orleans football, like, it's kind of
just Shaheed dominating everything like volume plus like he to
me is an early fantasy winner. Yeah, and I and
he's added weight in he's so fast that you don't
worry about him slowing down that like if he's the

(47:15):
one and a lot of if it's one A and
one B whatever, it's going to be like I am
buying my Shaheed stock.

Speaker 3 (47:21):
Although this offense, I know.

Speaker 2 (47:22):
As you should, as he made plays the literal first
time he got his hands on the ball in the NFL,
and the player that I will point to for the
rest of my chance to speak into a microphone. Ever,
as a failure of the entire draft process for a
guy who had his level of production at school, granted,
you know, at a lower level, whatever that means, he's

(47:43):
come out and produced ever since. And yeah, if you're
if you have hoop dreams or whatever.

Speaker 4 (47:49):
To try to another crossboard reference.

Speaker 2 (47:50):
Yes, it's like the systems in place to evaluate talent
utterly fail sometimes.

Speaker 1 (47:57):
Like in if everyone's worried to about the Saints offense,
thinking if if you get a ton of plays in,
you get more yards in such stowns, it hurt you know,
your defense.

Speaker 4 (48:07):
A little bit of a throwback Kellen Moore, Boise State, Kellen.

Speaker 2 (48:10):
Right, that's.

Speaker 1 (48:12):
Because everyone we're asking the question, what is a Kellen
Moore offense, and the Eagles, you know, played out a
good pace too. I think it's the single most underrated
part of why they destroyed the Chiefs in the Super
Bowl is they were playing so much faster than Spags
of all people was ready for. Like the tempo in
that game was awesome, and so maybe Kellen Moore bringing

(48:32):
that over all. Right, let's wrap up the South with
the Panthers.

Speaker 2 (48:35):
Okay, so the Panthers have their first day in Pats
on Sunday. Dave Knaalis loves his basketball team of wide
receivers where he's got the full spread. As you mentioned,
you have a team ac who they did note which
the team obviously felt because of where they drafted him.
The forty time concerns go out the window when you
see him actually playing football. He's been good. He's been solid.

(48:59):
Of course, the they've given Adam Thelen some of those
management days and times for him. And Hunter Renfro, who
his college coach Dabos when he was at camp and
made a comment about Hunter Renfro not really looking like much,
but then he puts his helmet on his Superman So
I asked Bryce about that, and Bryce was like, I

(49:20):
don't think it's you know, I have the right to
be talking about other people's bodies very dead pan, which
is like classic Bryce and hilarious.

Speaker 3 (49:28):
I think he's Yeah, I.

Speaker 4 (49:29):
Love him so much. Also, the Panthers have never once
drafted a Clemson player, and yet Dabo's there at the
brink they've never drafted.

Speaker 1 (49:37):
He saw an opportunity for one time they've never quote was, yeah,
I'm not the one who should be talking about what
a normal person's body.

Speaker 2 (49:43):
Literally.

Speaker 4 (49:44):
Good for Bryce, Gosh, I love that guy. Oh my god.

Speaker 1 (49:47):
I'm buying Renfro as a guy who's back in the
NFL and helps this team out in a position where
you're not really sure what you're going to get outside
of feeling like tech mill and I think is going
to be starting and I have faith in can be solid,
and then maybe Renfro has a bigger role than people think.

Speaker 4 (50:07):
I just really like the vibes of that room because
you've got Lagette, who's just a joy to be around,
it seems like, and you've got Tet, who, by all
accounts teammates loved, very chill guy, competitive, feelin sort of
the you know, driving the minivan to school with all
the younger guys in the back, you know, and Hunter Renfro,
who again by all accounts, is like great to be around, nice,

(50:30):
nice dude, and Bryce is an all time nice guy.
Like you want everybody to have some teeth once it's
time to play, which I expect they will, but I
just I like the vibes they say.

Speaker 1 (50:40):
Like, don't overreact to the one on ones. It's tough
on the corner back and everything in this setting. Of course,
Hunter Renfro is going to be good, and that's setting,
but you can take yourself out of that and actually
watch it and see Hunter Renfro like make j C.
Horn just like undress him in a way where the
footwork is like, oh, that's actually back to peak under

(51:01):
renfer where he gets opened by five yards within about
a second and be like ooh, I can see the pop.

Speaker 3 (51:06):
So I saw the pop.

Speaker 1 (51:07):
As long as he can stay healthy, like I think
they might have kind of some found money there. It's
like a third fourth receiver. I'm not getting crazy, but
someone that can help them out.

Speaker 2 (51:15):
Yeah, and there's still obviously not just based on what
happened last year, but defensively there's a waste to go
with regards to talent Acquisition, actually released Josie Jewel, who
of course had the brain injury last year. Still dealing
with that Christian rose Boom.

Speaker 4 (51:31):
We'll get an opportunity was the green dot in LA
last year, and so you know he'll have a.

Speaker 2 (51:36):
Chance to try to make something go on this defense
that doesn't really have a lot of reason to celebrate,
but you know, there's always a chance.

Speaker 1 (51:48):
Okay, So there's always a chance on these shows when
we hit all sixteen teams that we get a little meaty.
But I've heard from the people, not only do the
Claybond Vivans you know, miss you, Uh, they want to
hear from each and every team in the NFL. So
we're gonna take a quick break and then we'll wrap
up with the.

Speaker 3 (52:05):
NFC North.

Speaker 1 (52:21):
H y back on NFL Daily and uh, if you're
watching on YouTube like subscribe, they faded in with uh
Mike McDaniel and his glasses.

Speaker 3 (52:37):
And uh they were of a commentary on all the
frames rating back to me.

Speaker 1 (52:43):
Then, I mean we're both you know, smaller individuals. Certainly
Mike is for like an NFL coach, I would take
it though. These are new frames. So when glasses today
and I'm feeling.

Speaker 3 (52:57):
Good at it. Should forget Lasik. I likeses. That's what
I say.

Speaker 2 (53:02):
Your vision, your choice.

Speaker 1 (53:07):
Do I have the vibe of a Mike McDaniel like
I could aspire to? But I don't think so. The Lions,
Let's start with them. I feel like we need to
just do more on the Lions. I have a bat
I'm bad at self scouting, but I feel like the
Lions are almost under talked about for how like fascinating
and excellent they are as a team. So we'll try
to make your show right here. I know, but I

(53:28):
don't really even know if that's remotely true. I do
love hearing that Aiden Hutchinson is like the best player
on the deal, Like he looks like his old self.
There's no ramping up. Maybe that's a benefit of like
how early that injury happened and everything, But it's just
been by all accounts like full hutch He's back. Looks
like one of the position battles has already been decided.

(53:51):
Somewhat surprising that Dan Campbell kind of indicated on Tuesday
Graham Glasgow, who's been there as a as a reserve
kind of swing guy, like play you know a lot
of starting positions is probably going to be the center,
not the rookie Tate Ratliche, who had the first three
days of camp at center.

Speaker 3 (54:06):
So maybe they didn't go well.

Speaker 1 (54:08):
I don't really know what happened, but there's a good
chance Ratleige is going to start for this team anyways
at right guard. So it's just figuring out the right
equation and wanting to get as many reps as possible
I think in those spots. And maybe they just decided
the rookies not ready for center, but that he'll be
ready for right guard, which is obviously.

Speaker 3 (54:26):
Very important too.

Speaker 1 (54:26):
And this is a team weirdly as talented as they are,
Like I am really interested in the rookies on this team,
like Tyleek Williams.

Speaker 4 (54:35):
This.

Speaker 1 (54:36):
Big guy, and then like a fire hydrant like has
a chance right now because of injuries, like he is lining.

Speaker 3 (54:41):
Up as a starter.

Speaker 1 (54:42):
Some people thought that was a reach for them, but
a guy that they absolutely wanted and so far he
is starting right now. So even though they have so
many like great players, I think it is a team
where I'm looking at both the rookies and like the
development of some young players.

Speaker 3 (54:57):
We can get into that are really important to them.

Speaker 2 (55:00):
Well, everything you're concerned about, the development being that Aaron
Glynn as well as you know Ben Johnson or elsewhere. Yes,
developing players and both fan bases there in New York
and Chicago are feeling good about the level of development
where it's it's going to be different for the first

(55:20):
time in a long time, and knew what he's gone
and you just wonder what that process is going to
be like. But you just have to have faith and
Coach Campbell and I think I think our podcast as
an institution does respect yes and pay attention.

Speaker 3 (55:32):
To the no we do.

Speaker 1 (55:33):
I just like if I was like recording what teams
get the most, I'd like to actually get data on that.

Speaker 3 (55:38):
Can you go to work on.

Speaker 4 (55:39):
Yeah, I'd like to get down on that too, because
I actually believe that something that fans off and complain
about is not actually the case.

Speaker 1 (55:46):
What that we go to rams. But we did just
do a whole show, but it had been like like
a month before we doing training camps. Yes, they happen to.

Speaker 3 (55:52):
Be in the area.

Speaker 1 (55:53):
We do not, unfortunately have the budget to leave the area,
but we are able to drive to the camps that
are nearby and there.

Speaker 3 (56:00):
It was a great time.

Speaker 1 (56:02):
I loved hearing from Colton Pounty, who I think is
one of the best beat writers in the game. He
works for The Athletic that he thought Terry and Ardold
was maybe the most impressive player in all of their
training camp. But then on Tuesday we heard that he
left with a hamstring injury. That's obviously, like you know,
one of the least favorite things that you can hear
at this time of year, because that could be a
multi week thing to try to get him better. But

(56:25):
his development is really important. Hendon Hooker, I think his
development is important as like their backup quarterback, just just
in case they need it. And I mentioned like the
rookie class, I mean, like there are potentially some snaps
available for these rookies and Isaac Taslaw who was like
this total surprise third round pick. Some some like big
play pop and then everyone's doing the camp pipe thing

(56:47):
with this seventh rounderd Dominic love it. So I'm going
to keep an eye on him like in camp. But
like as if the Lions needed more weapons, I know,
I mean.

Speaker 4 (56:55):
They know what they like, right, They go after trades
of guys that they like Teslaw was certainly no different.
And even the late round picks, they go after these
traits of players and they say, Okay, we like you.
We don't really care what order we draft you in,
what round we draft you in. And I think people
were really expecting and hoping that Teslaw would pop in
camp because they were ready to. I think people were

(57:16):
ready to be excited about him. He seems like an
interesting it'll be interesting to see like where he fits
in specifically, but in like what positions he plays or I.

Speaker 1 (57:25):
Feel like he would be in the Jamison Williams track.
But Jamison Williams is obviously there, maturing and better each
and every year, using Jimmy or Gibs a little more,
maybe as a receiver, not that they didn't do that before,
but maybe even expanding that a little bit. Alex Aandzeloni
who wants a new contract and they're like chanting pay
Alex at Dan Campbell when he's doing interviews, which is

(57:48):
kind of funny. He's back, though, he's not going to
do a hold and he's going to practice. Let's go
to the Bears, another team where I think the rookies
are really interesting. Luther Burden, who they took high in
the second round. Has basically been day to day since May.
Like he's getting closer, but he is he is falling behind,
missing that much in mini camps and OTAs, and now

(58:10):
the first week plus of training camp.

Speaker 4 (58:12):
Was back as of the day we're recording this. Did
get into practice as of the day we're recording this,
which is a Tuesday.

Speaker 1 (58:18):
That's great to hear, and they've been trying to do more.
Caleb Williams under center. That's interesting to hear. Like they're
they're playing Ozzie Trapila, who they drafted.

Speaker 4 (58:26):
My second favorite prospect second.

Speaker 3 (58:28):
Round, Like that was a little surprising.

Speaker 1 (58:30):
Is their left tackle, but Braxton Jones has been hurt,
but he might get to start. Colston Lovelin is back
out there now. He was injured obviously in the in
the off season, and he's making catches. So that's great
to hear, but it's it's a lot of the Bears
often struggling. That narrative hasn't changed yet, so it's been
a little bit of okay, like take everyone, take a

(58:51):
deep breath, but like it hasn't been right off the bat.
Ben Johnson's offense just lighting it up in training camp,
which is normal.

Speaker 2 (58:58):
Yeah, it goes the process of trying to execute the
little things which aren't little, you know, they're they're very big.
But I think people have this expectation of, yeah, you know,
we're gonna run hooking ladders, jack backflips to you know,
Braxton Jones, and it's just that they're working on process,
getting plays and executing like all the things where it

(59:19):
really fell apart last year for the Bears. They're kind
of starting from the ground, which makes sense.

Speaker 4 (59:24):
Yeah, I think if Bears fans do not want to
panic about this or sky is following this, go back
and watch some of Ben Johnson's early games that he's
that he called for the Lions, some early offenses even
before he was in the the OC chair, when he
was still a coach there. Look At how messy some
of that stuff was. Look At how difficult some of

(59:45):
that stuff was. What I like hearing out of Bears
camp right now is they are stress testing Caleb Williams
because there are certain things that he is just going
to have to do better on a fundamental level, as
any quarterback who comes into this league has to know
and has to understand and Okay, so he happens to,
by the way, be a year behind on all of

(01:00:06):
these little types of things that will become the standard
in this building. It's not going to be this like
gorgeous piece of artwork immediately, and anyone who is expecting
that is fooling themselves.

Speaker 1 (01:00:17):
Well, then I think Bears fans are potentially fooling themselves.
I think the expectations are high. But I love that
compy made to that Lion's offense because that was a
bad offense for most of that season, and they really
took off in December, like suddenly you were like, oh,
like okay, this is totally but they were under twenty
points a game for three quarters of that season essentially,

(01:00:40):
and then they took off, and that happened.

Speaker 3 (01:00:41):
Sometimes.

Speaker 1 (01:00:41):
I think this team is more talented. I think they
don't have to have that big of a learning curve,
but they could. They should have won obviously they have
for a week. By the way, their second rounder Shamar Turner,
I mention mentioned in that rookie recap, is going to
be out a month. They are pretty deep at defensive tackles,
so I would say in terms of like early impact,
I don't think that's gonna hurt this year's team, but
Jalen Johnson, their their best cornerback, one of the best

(01:01:03):
players on their team, is missing several weeks of camp
with an injury.

Speaker 3 (01:01:07):
So you never like to see that.

Speaker 1 (01:01:09):
Don't like to see Justin Jefferson out with the hamstring?
Is there even like this, like the smallest bit of
concern that like a player that could when he's out
or I don't know, anytime Justin Jefferson, I know, because
it's like hasn't even been treated as a thing. So
it's like, I think people almost are so used to
players almost sitting out early in camp, but you know,

(01:01:29):
it's definitely something to monitor. You hope you don't look
back in November and think, like, oh, that's that's been
a nagging thing all year.

Speaker 2 (01:01:34):
Yeah, Like sitting out to manage workload is one thing,
but like having an actual injury. Yeah, it's definitely cause
for concern for one of the best players.

Speaker 4 (01:01:43):
Off tissue too explosive speed, soft tissue injury.

Speaker 1 (01:01:48):
It's yeah, favor to hear, Yeah, it's it's not great.
Lucky Jackson has been the one mostly replacing him, which
was surprised to hear. They're actually pretty deep at receiver.
I like their receiver.

Speaker 4 (01:01:59):
The reason why that's happening is because they're like, hey man,
this will never be a thing you need to do,
but we need someone out there. Like, and I say
that super respectfully, but you're not coming in and replacing Justin.

Speaker 3 (01:02:11):
Jefferson, right, keep everyone else.

Speaker 1 (01:02:15):
Tell him.

Speaker 4 (01:02:17):
Running those routes. That's all you are, Right.

Speaker 1 (01:02:20):
You have Jalen Naylor, who's kind of gonna be there
three most likely. You have Ty Felton, who was a rookie, Like,
keep him doing what he does. You have Rondelle Moore.

Speaker 4 (01:02:28):
Yeah, you're not trying to move all the other pieces
of the offense around.

Speaker 1 (01:02:31):
But who knows, he's like a third year undrafted guy
that that maybe is his earniest spot on the lucky break.

Speaker 3 (01:02:37):
You know. I like what you did there. I I
like this theory.

Speaker 1 (01:02:41):
I've I've heard from Purple Daily that what Jordan Addison
does well and Justin Jefferson I think said something interesting
that like, hey, Jordan Addison actually does some things better
than I do, like in terms of wide receiver play,
in terms of how quickly he can get open and
is like his package of releases.

Speaker 3 (01:02:58):
I don't think that was it specifically, but just I was.

Speaker 1 (01:03:00):
Like wow to say, like on the quick stuff that
maybe Jordan Addison not only is he one of the
better second receivers in the league, but that he fits
with JJ McCarthy is good at, which is probably the
quick passing like a little more naturally like McCarthy hasn't
always shown like the best touch on the intermediate throws.
It's like all fastball all the time. And that's where
Justin Jefferson does a lot of work. Obviously, you know JJ,

(01:03:22):
that the two jjs can get going down the field,
but that you might see a little uptick in maybe
like the production is like a little closer between them.
Obviously Justin Jefferson's a much better player, but that Addison
might even have a better fit with with JJ McCarthy
in this offense.

Speaker 3 (01:03:36):
He's going to get a lot of reps this camp.

Speaker 4 (01:03:37):
Yeah, I mean, I for one would like to see
more quick outlets, quick releases, things that you know, solutions
to pressure. I really would like to see that built
in more regularly into this offense. That's what killed this
offense last year was their line fell apart and they
didn't have enough answers to quick pressure, including the run game.

Speaker 1 (01:03:56):
You need it in practice when you're going against Brian
Flores because John tell Us is out there, who just
got his contract, and he's saying, like, we feel like
we're at the masters level now, like we have graduated.

Speaker 3 (01:04:07):
And it's true if you when I'm making that list
of the best so much.

Speaker 1 (01:04:12):
Yeah, when I'm making the list of the best defense
is like Seattle's my pick of like the underdogs to
pick it. But I think the most likely team personally
is the Minnesota Vikings, with all respect to the Broncos,
who was another good option, but I see it because the.

Speaker 3 (01:04:25):
Continuity and the talent is crazy.

Speaker 1 (01:04:26):
If they have a weakness, it's cornerback, where you love
Byron Murphy, but Isaiah Rodgers is their cornerback two coming
from Philadelphia, and right now Jeff Acuda is their cornerback three.

Speaker 3 (01:04:36):
Just something to keep an eye on.

Speaker 1 (01:04:38):
Makai Blackman is there, and for the third straight training camp,
we're hearing that Sam Howell is not getting a lot
done as a quarterback. So that's it's a little concerning
if if JJ McCarthy ever went down. Let's wrap our
sixteen teams with the Green Bay Packers and we haven't
had any sound on the show, so let's just listen

(01:04:58):
to Jordan Love with our friend Stacey Dales on NFL
Network talking about a good surprise from draft weekend.

Speaker 6 (01:05:06):
First off, I was definitely surprised, you know, going in
that first round, having the draft here in Green Bay
and hearing them, you know, Martin Murfield, they're talking about
for the first time since two thousand whatever getting a receiver.
So I was pretty excited about that. Bringing Matthew Golden
ring say uh from TCU and men, those are two
guys that I think are going to add, you know,
just a more dynamic threat to our passing game. But

(01:05:27):
like you said, we got a lot of weapons. We
got a lot of different guys, like you said, that
can do different things.

Speaker 1 (01:05:32):
Well, one thing I've noticed, like about the camp reports,
and you can hear from Jordan Love, there is like
they're throwing Matthew Golden into the deep end right away,
like that.

Speaker 3 (01:05:40):
End around first team.

Speaker 1 (01:05:42):
That's what I want him and Jaden Reid kind of
getting the most targets about what you expect.

Speaker 4 (01:05:46):
That's I mean, I said it when he was drafted.
I think he's going to be the volume one receiver.
It might not look like an X all the time,
but I do think he will ultimately be the volume
number one receiver on this offense.

Speaker 1 (01:05:59):
There's a reporter for them in Herman who who's been
banging that. Dontavian Wicks has been looking fantastic. He's gotten
a lot of volume too.

Speaker 3 (01:06:05):
You never know.

Speaker 1 (01:06:05):
He is a talented enough player where if your biggest
problem is drops, that's something that can correct itself.

Speaker 3 (01:06:11):
He does get open, He's explosive. He could be like
a nice three for them.

Speaker 1 (01:06:14):
I think he got hurt or at least left practice
on Tuesday, so we don't know if that's serious or not,
but it didn't It sounded a little more serious unfortunately
Patrick for their their backup running back Marshaun Lloyd, who
had a non contact injury. They were kind of careful
to trying to say that that wasn't the play that
Nate Hobbs ran into him and also kind of hurt him.

(01:06:35):
They were trying I think they were saying that that
that it was separate, But there's been some a bunch
of those Nate Hobbs plays to the to the point
where the coach had to like take him aside. And
say like come down, bro, like we don't want to
hurt anyone, but that's disappointing from Marshawn Lloyd, wh's a
young running back and maybe we'll see how that backfield
like looks like beyond Josh Jacobs.

Speaker 2 (01:06:55):
Yeah, and ultimately that's it's going to impact Josh Jacobs
as well because his workload was so exten so last season.
We saw the way that Lafleur was managing his workload
in the preseason early and then it's like all Josh
Jacobs all the time. Well, that's difficult to do, you know,
back to back years where it's you're gonna have to
get those carriers from somewhere and it puts more on agels.

Speaker 1 (01:07:18):
They did get back Elkton Jenkins, who is not going
to hold in. He's not going to hold out, and
he legitimately was just hurt and he said, like we
really tried, like we negotiated a lot and they're not
going to give me my deal. And he basically he
was like you know what, Like I get it. I
am focused on becoming a great center. I'm under contract

(01:07:41):
for a couple of years. I am going to be
like the best center that I can possibly be they
asked him for his permission actually to to change his
positions because that can affect your money too. And he
hasn't played center at the NFL level, and he's been
an awesome player at tackle and guard. It's he is
literally the most versatile offensive lineman in the NFL. And

(01:08:01):
he sold me he has a good attitude and I
love that offensive.

Speaker 4 (01:08:04):
I am always pro players getting paid, as I know
we all are on this show, but I can't help
but kind of go oh when I hear that, because
we need to figure out bottle whatever the Packers do
scouting wise, to find these homegrown offensive linemen year after
year after year, because not only is it a highly
highly talented group, but also they just sort of seemed

(01:08:27):
to be so for the team. Whatever the team needs,
they seem to be for just this very team first
all the time.

Speaker 1 (01:08:34):
In general that team is I totally agree, and I
think there are a greater than the sum of their
parts offensive line, Like year after year, there is something
organizationally to that.

Speaker 2 (01:08:43):
And with that perspective from him and the way he's
approaching it, it makes me wonder what the gap was, like,
what's the maybe it was huge's.

Speaker 4 (01:08:50):
What someone's gonna pay it.

Speaker 1 (01:08:52):
It was probably huge, and he's kind of like, I'm
going to get an All Pro season and then you're
gonna pay me a ton of money.

Speaker 4 (01:08:57):
I get and if not, someone will like guaranteed.

Speaker 3 (01:09:01):
Yeah, I also have kept an eye on that.

Speaker 1 (01:09:05):
You know, right now they have Keishaw Nixon and Nate
Hobbs outside and uh Bullard in the slot, who's like
a safety is at the best group.

Speaker 3 (01:09:14):
We'll see.

Speaker 1 (01:09:15):
They might have Carrington Valentine who's played a little better
on the outside, and then you move Hobbs to the
inside where he was good.

Speaker 3 (01:09:20):
We'll see, But.

Speaker 4 (01:09:21):
It kind of depends on I mean, I'm this, I'm
I've been on this beat for a couple months now.
Is like, listen, if you're you might want a bigger
player in the slot. That might be why they're trying
to do this, because look at all the tight ends
they're going to have to defend in their own in
the NFC North. I mean, all these teams are moving
these bigger players down closer to the unavoidable area of

(01:09:42):
the field so that they're in these matchups with the
tight ends more often because they're losing the math often
everyone is against these tight ends.

Speaker 1 (01:09:50):
It's a great final point to wrap the show on.
We hit it out of the park and we can
try to come up with more Claybonn fan base names.
No I think Pat we should marry up. No I
think bon Vivans Bonnie Bears could also be. What a
great show every team in the NFC. Uh. We are

(01:10:12):
going to be back in this studio Jordan and we're
gonna all the news of the day and do a
deep dive on the Eagles.

Speaker 3 (01:10:19):
Looking forward to that.

Speaker 1 (01:10:21):
For Thursday's show, Patrick, we we release you into the
inside training camp Wild Enjoy.

Speaker 2 (01:10:29):
Have a new intro cell this year.

Speaker 3 (01:10:30):
Yeah, the bon Vivants, they're represented. That's how you know
football is back.

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