Packers vs. Lions Preview: How Much Will Micah Parsons Play?

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
I woke up 1 morning just a regular schmo.
Green Bay was restless. The spirit ran low and then it
hit me. I had to let it show.
So shouting so loud. Go, pack.
Go. But the fans started roaring.

(00:38):
Lambeau Field shook from the very first moment.
That's all it took down the line.
If I told you, I could bear the thought.
Stealing a chance. Some soccer team God.
No need for a Viking to borrow June.
I choose out the power of the frozen monsoon, the absolute did

(01:05):
you viral line. But that's not my policy.
These words are all mine here. Go back gold.
Go back gold. Go back gold.
Go back gold hear that she's head spit go back go.

(01:33):
He was hot up and loud screaminggo back go.
Said no, we ain't no choir, go back, go.
So we shouted so loud, go, back,go.

(02:09):
Welcome back to. Derailed.
Happy to see the chat is alreadybooming.
Love it, you guys. What are you so excited about?
I mean, something big happened this week.
Come on. If it did, I mean, it would have
spent five hours talking about it for sure.
Five hours, Five hours. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
The rumors are that we stay up until 2:30 or three in the

(02:32):
morning my time live streaming this because, dude, it was going
down as we were starting our stream last week.
Anybody who missed it, you missed out five flipping hours.
It was crazy. And, you know, the whole time
we're doing it, Jake, you and I are thinking to ourselves, like,

(02:53):
are we just wasting our time? Like, of course we're wasting
our time. Like, of course it's not
actually gonna happen. But like, we believed in it
enough to go for five hours. That was.
I mean, what what was our previous longest live stream
ever? 3 1/2 hours and a half.
Yeah. Something like that.
Yeah. And and there was a point where
we're like, you know, kind of kind of wanting to wrap things

(03:15):
up, except that like the Micah Parsons thing is still going and
we're like, you know what, screwit, We just got to keep going
because it seems like something might happen like tonight, as
crazy as it sounds, right. And then and then before we knew
it, it was like, dude, I can keep can't even keep my eyes

(03:35):
open anymore. I'm so tired.
So that was so much fun tool over that says Ed mother love
and policy. And let me just say.
Preach. I I think I think there is a not
insignificant body of evidence. Pointing us to the.
Conclusion that this whole issueof #0 and #1 being off limits

(04:00):
for use was a Mark Murphy decision.
Love Mark Murphy on that issue. I think he was being a fuddy
Duddy. I I can appreciate everything
else he's ever done in his entire career for the Packers
and still call him out for beinga fuddy Duddy on that one issue.
And I appreciate this new era where Ed policy, the man, the

(04:23):
president, our president, wait. What?
What is it? PO Tap, president of the amazing
Packers, right? PO Tap Yeah, that he put zero
and one back on the table. I I think it is a not
insignificant body of evidence pointing us to this conclusion.

(04:44):
First of all, Mark Murphy leavesoffice for about 5 minutes and
immediately zero and one are assigned.
Now the granted. They are assigned to much more
deserving candidates than have ever been discussed for those
numbers before. All right, the Packers, I think

(05:04):
the last time the Packers tradeda first round pick for a player,
his name was Brett Farve. Is that correct?
Pretty sure that's the last timewe traded a first round pick for
a player. I don't remember anything else
like doing the pick swap. You know where we moved up a
little bit when we moved on fromAaron Rodgers to move from
whatever it was 15 to 12 or or whatever, we ended up at 13.

(05:28):
That doesn't count. I'm not talking about that
straight up trading a first round pick and getting a player
back. It was Brett Favre.
That's it. And then Micah Parsons.
And I mean, like, I think you could ask just about anybody who
covers the NFL in any capacity and they would say, yeah, Micah

(05:49):
Parsons sure seems like he's on a Hall of Fame trajectory.
It would be weird if you told me, hey, I come from the future.
He doesn't make it into the Hallof Fame.
You go, man, something crazy happened.
Yeah. So, you know, like, is Michael
Parsons going to be the only player to ever wear #1 before he

(06:10):
gets retired? Like, actually for him, like we
didn't. I mean, OK, there, there's two
players to compare them to and everybody's doing it, right?
It's Reggie White and it's Charles Woodson, right?
Like those are the two players everybody compares this this
move to all the time, right? We didn't we didn't retire Woods
number, but like everybody remembers him as a Raider.

(06:32):
Like he's not he is a Packer, but he's more of a Raider.
Reggie is a Packer 1st and then he's an eagle, right?
I think that's fair to say. So I think that it it's I think
it's going to have to do with number one.
Do we bring the Vince Lombardi Trophy back to Green Bay #2 you

(06:54):
know, is, is he, does he finish out the rest of his career here?
And like, do we basically look back and say like he is more a
Packer ultimately than a cowboy?And like we all agree, like the
decision to bring him in did panout and was good like that?
I think that's the criteria, right?

(07:15):
To retire his number? Yes, basically I think so.
Trajectory. Yes, literally too old for this
saying that clip of Golden Parsons dapping at the picture.
They gave me two. Oh my gosh.
As Matt Schneidman said, imagineseeing this pick in March.
How about imagine seeing this inJanuary?
You're like, wow, OK, we lost the Eagles, what do they need?

(07:36):
Well, I watched this Jalen Hurtsclip of him standing for 9
seconds back there. Like wow, nobody can get
pressure. And then wow all offseason, wow,
these Packers receivers, they can't catch the football.
Watson's the best guy catching the football.
He goes down with the ACL tear and it's like, OK, you're right.
Golden Parsons done. We'll do it with three first and

(07:58):
we'll call it a day. Yeah.
I mean, it's just a lovely time to give out zero and one for the
last time. I mean, I've.
Got to love that zero and one they're they're all the you, you
guys got to love that, that those two are dumbers.
That's it, That's it. After this, I'll call it.

(08:19):
I'm not scared. I I I buy it, I buy it.
Look, I mean, I've, I've been trying to decide what jersey do
I buy? All right, look, I'm a poor boy.
I can't either at this point. I can't get Golden and Parsons.
Yeah, they're all on back order.Pro shop.
They're all on back order. My goodness.
Although, you know, OK, the pro shop, they have another on
through our show, so I shouldn'tbe giving them a shout out, but

(08:41):
they are running a sale right now that I took advantage of.
I think I, I think I've talked acouple of times on here about
the, the big hoodie that I wanted from the Packers with
their new 1923 throwback collection.
And so, you know, they, they gotlike free shipping, 25% off,
blah, blah, blah. I really shouldn't be shouting

(09:02):
out the pro shop right now because they don't sponsor our
show. But listen, pro shop, I know
you're listening. If you, if you like the sound of
me shouting you out and you wantthat to continue sponsor our
show. It's not that hard.
It's a worthy cause. So.
I've so Speaking of finding those type of things as we're,

(09:22):
you know, getting into this, I, I got to think, I mean, you
know, if you're, if you're asking like, hey, what can I
get? You know, if I don't want a
jersey, I can help you with that.
OK, No, no, I said I do want a jersey.
I know, but if. But if you're looking, if you're
going, Oh well. All right, let's.
See what's you know, what's the budget look like right now type
of thing. You know, I don't want to I want

(09:44):
to splurge on the jersey. I splurged on the love jersey
recently and that's the only. One I want.
Let's see it. What do you got for us?
May I introduce to you a shirt that I think you would really,
really like? OK, cool.
If you want a Parsons one. All right, It is cool.
I think this is really good. I I ordered this.
I have to say it is very cool. It is a very sick that it

(10:09):
definitely gives like 90s and 2000s vibes for sure.
I mean, I I instantly think of the Reggie White Brett Favre
Super Bowl team when I see when I see that T-shirt.
And no question about it. You don't even have to stop
there. Now, I I think do I think
they're going to make the adjustment here?
Yeah, of course. But I did get this one already.

(10:31):
I feel like it's just going to be a novelty item anyway, you
know, whatever, it's fine. I think it's cool.
I think. I think you need to also get the
0. Version of it though.
Yes, of course, of course, of course.
I think you frame the 22 and wear the zero.
Yeah, yeah. Honestly, tool for this says
where's the link to that shirt? I like it a lot.

(10:52):
You can't have the link yet 'cause Jake has not yet set up
his affiliate code for whatever this website is.
I have somebody. You can use their code, though,
which would be much appreciated.So if you want that link just at
me on Twitter, I'll I'll send itto you.
I so I was looking. Let me share my screen real

(11:12):
quick again. You're really, really not
supposed to be shouting out to pro shop since they're not
sponsoring us, but I'm be I'm feeling generous because they
have. Micah.
Parsons on the team. So I'm I'm I'm feeling generous
and like, you know, the the Green Bay Packers make this
podcast possible by by existing.So I I wanted to I was kind of

(11:37):
thinking like one of the winter warning jerseys.
I never I never got any winter warning merch.
And. Then you can still get it on on
the shop, but I was trying to figure out like are the jerseys
still just our regular white jerseys because.
Like. They don't really have.
Jerseys in here that say winter warning and it just all just

(12:00):
says away. So like I'm trying to figure out
if it's the same. Is the winter warning jersey the
same? Because I don't think it's I
don't I don't think that the theold color rush was the same.
Yeah, I don't think no, no, it wasn't it was not.

(12:23):
I'm going to I'm I'm dropping that link in your where you
posted the the show stuff on Twitter and the folks can grab
it there. But yeah, it doesn't.
Yeah, I don't know. Here's I'll I will, I will show
you. This is the this is the hoodie

(12:49):
I'm come on load. It's the hoodie I'm getting.
It's no, it wasn't the first page.
I wonder if can't get this. Link to work?
Where is it? I already ordered it so I don't
have to worry about it being outof stock.

(13:09):
It's like the hockey hoodie. I'm so annoyed I can't see.
It now it's not that. Well, where the heck?
Is it? Maybe it was on page?
1 and I missed it. Here it is, this one right here,
so check. This out that's.
A nice hockey shirt. So this is the one?
This is the one I ordered. I like that.

(13:30):
Gorgeous I. Do so when it comes in I'll have
to wear it on the live stream, although I may wait for it to
get a little bit colder. It's still crazy hot here.
Brian Maffey says where is my 2026 mock draft We are
absolutely doing a mock draft tonight.
We are we have to OK got it, butbut the people have to sponsor
it just say it. I think we kind of did it with

(13:51):
the Venmo's Venmo's up there. You know what I'm saying?
I think we just say what 2 I think we gave two first in a
second, but like we gave two first and Kenny Clark.
We gave two first to Kenny Clark.
Did we is that we did we did something different.
I think last last week when we did it at the end of the show.

(14:14):
Oh, what we gave up. It was like, yeah, we gave up
one's A2 and probably another player.
I think I think it was 22 ones, 2 twos a player and a third.
I think it's what we gave up. So you know, I, I will, I will
say I got I got a lot of crap onsocial media for saying that I
didn't want to do the trade. But you guys who were here last

(14:35):
week for our five hour stream, you recall why we had talked
ourselves out of this was what we thought we were going to have
to give up to go get Micah. And like, Jake and I have joked
on here a bunch of times about like, dude, like how much draft
pick compensation where we have to give up to get somebody to

(14:57):
take the Kenny Clark? Contract up our hands.
Like, we joked about that a lot.That was kind of a running
weekly running gag for a while. You're.
Right, I can't believe that the Cowboys wanted Kenny Clark.
I'm like I'm I'm I'm just thrilled and like I get that a
lot of people are sad about likeKenny the human leaving for

(15:17):
sure. And and you should.
And I have a some sadness that Kenny, the final remaining
player acquired by Ted Thompson,is gone.
Yeah. I mean, like, it's it's
definitely elder abuse, taking advantage of Jerry Jones.
Yeah, that's the way we did. I don't think he could do that.

(15:38):
If he didn't say so many horrible things, I would feel
worse about it, you know? But it like every time he opens
his mouth, it makes me go listen, I'm glad we fleeced him.
Listen, he he plays up every possible thing for the headline,
the media storm, all of it. He always does it.
He says any publicity is good publicity.

(16:01):
Guess what, you know, you me sowing, aha, aha, me reaping.
Oh no, like that's 100% what just happened, unfortunately.
So you know, that's tough, bud. But you know, that was your
stance, that was your philosophyand and it kind of kind of

(16:23):
turned around on you and now you're stuck kind of looking at
like this half rebuild with lotsof money shelled out to a QB and
a receiver, you know, and they obviously just paid to Ron Bland
as well. Like it's going to be kind of
these weird pseudo rebuilds likeso that that'll be interesting
to see how how that all that plays out.

(16:44):
But they said he he said the presser, like, you know, we we
were look, only look at teams who had ADT that could give us
that they could give us right. And you know, I think that like
that was so interesting. I wonder did Jason Light like,
did they get a call or somethingthat Jerry called them and goes,

(17:07):
hey, yeah, we're, you know, we got some offers on the table.
Maybe you guys want Micah Parsons if you give us Vita Vea
and picks. And they were probably like, oh,
thanks though things that were going on because there's a few
things that I think they were were going on.
One is that the Cowboys have really struggled to run the ball
against the Packers. If you recall our last couple

(17:30):
games against them, they have really struggled to run the ball
against us and really had to getinto a shooting match.
And like, that's when our, that's when our, you know, DBS
really teed off and started getting, you know, taking the
game into their hands. And I, I, I think like, so
clearly we don't know the full picture, but this was not purely

(17:54):
a football decision for Jerry Jones.
I think they, I think he he clearly had some bitterness
toward Micah and seemed to have a little bit of interest in
sending him. To.
A place that, you know, in in the 90s and before, like people

(18:15):
around the league did joke aboutcalling Green Bay, you know, the
Siberia or the tundra and say like, hey, if you don't shape
up, I'm going to trade you to Green Bay like that.
Like that was a thing a long time ago and I think that there
was a little bit of that lingering in there.
And I also think that just therewere just other teams.

(18:36):
Who? Didn't really believe Mike was
actually available and the Packers were just beaten down
Dallas's door. And we we heard a little bit
about this after the trade. There was somebody in a front
office in the AFC who is not AGMwho was talking to I think it

(18:57):
was Ian Rapoport. Maybe it's time Palacero and
saying like we didn't really think this was really available
and if we had known that this isall it would take to go get
Micah, you better believe we would have made a bigger offer
than this. Like I kind of can't believe we
missed the boat on this one. Got some definitely have some
ideas as to who that probably is.

(19:21):
Any thoughts, JJ, before I before I throw one out, that's
who that might be. I want to hear your theory.
So I mean, I, I, to me, it goes back to like a team that would.
So maybe the bills, actually thebills is, is was one of the

(19:43):
contenders for sure, just because I think like, yeah, they
they brought in Joey Bosa. They're trying, they're trying
to do a bunch of thing. They they drive a ton of
defensive players, right? The the epinasses, the Gregory
Rousseau's, all that stuff did would you know, would they have
tossed Ed Oliver in there to make that happen?
I don't know. I don't know.
That would have been tricky to me.

(20:03):
I kind of think, as crazy as it sounds, I kind of think it was
the guy who has gone on, you know, with the team's media and
said, hey, listen, this draft isa crap shoot.
We have, we need lots of picks. You know we'll make lots of
swings because you never, never know.
To me, it was a guy who worked closely with that guy.

(20:25):
I imagine up in the, you know, Northeast, yeah.
You know where the where the youknow where there's a lot of crab
crab establishments perhaps thatwould 100% make a move like this
simply because they know what their window is right now and
they want that to stay open and to have three pillar defensive

(20:47):
players in Micah Parsons, RoquanSmith and Kyle Hamilton.
I think they I think they would like that.
I think they would like that. And I think Dacosta would have
no problem continuing to move back in the second into the
third to have nine fourth round picks every year so that he

(21:08):
could keep using it right. Like that's I think I think
that's the team because I don't know who the Chiefs have to
offer a defensive tackle. I really, I don't think it would
be the Chiefs like a Travis Jones on his final year of his
deal as a nose tackle, going to Dallas to help stop the run as
he continues his ascension. Kind of makes sense.

(21:28):
Well, Jerry said before he mentioned the defensive tackle,
he said our first priority was we were trying to find somebody
who could, who actually had the cap space to take on the
contract, which I, which I thinkrules out a team like the Chiefs
right away. Like they're probably, yeah,
they're they're pretty pinched at all times.

(21:49):
And like you look at the Packerswho are uniquely crazy young and
contenders. Yeah, you know, like, so the
Packers just reset the edge market by a lot with Micah
Parsons, made him the highest paid non QB in the NFL.

(22:12):
That was probably always going to be a demand.
Wait, what? You're telling me they made
perhaps the best young defensiveplayer the highest paid?
I'm I'm just saying like not doing that was never gonna be on
the table. I know for David Molgata, he was
never gonna let that not be a thing.
And so that means that when you get a team that doesn't have the

(22:38):
cap space to make that work, it's a non starter for Parsons
and Molgata's side, right? And so, so Molageta, I'm sure
had a short list of the teams around the league that he felt
was, was even worth talking to in terms of can they pay my

(23:01):
client? Like we, we know that that that
was Molageta's priority number one through #1 million priority
was get him as much money as possible.
And we're not, we're not giving anybody a discount anywhere
because we don't need to. So from there, you know, Jerry

(23:22):
Jones likes Kenny Clark and I, Ithink that I, I think that Kenny
to Dallas doesn't make no sense for me.
The big thing with Kenny is, is it's definitely you're
definitely gambling with the agefor sure.

(23:45):
The drop off seems to have already happened, right, That
it's already begun. And you know, like
schematically, I don't think it's a great fit, frankly.
Yeah, it's it's tough. Yeah, it's it's not great.
I I think the other team that maybe is in it like kind of

(24:09):
almost a unique situation who could have perhaps gotten away
with it is the Rams simply because Atlanta decided to give
up, you know, the the middle of the second round selection plus
A1 to go get James Pierce, who they hope is about right.

(24:33):
Atlanta goes and does that. The Rams have extra capital and
I know they need QB, but you're telling me that they, you know,
wouldn't pack on two first and alittle something extra for you
knowing they have that other extra 2026 first in their pocket
that they could simply then trade back again if they must,

(24:55):
like they did last year in orderto go get the QB the year after,
right? Like that would have been a
unique situation for sure for a team like that.
So, but yeah, obviously it was an AF CS someone in AFC for an
office. But as you said, like other
teams that were probably like walking out there going like,
OK, why what's going on? Why you didn't come to us

(25:19):
either? Like, and it's kind of like,
well, no, it's it's probably because Goody was like poking
them on Facebook essentially just kept poking them, right?
Like that's that's it. That's the deal for sure.
Also the the hackers big thing, right?
And so if you're not like actively going to ask, right,

(25:40):
you kind of think, oh, Jerry's just doing Jerry's stuff again,
right, because he he is. But then also he's like, well,
maybe I don't want to deal with this, this stuff, right?
And it and maybe people just didn't didn't buy that that was
actually like a thing because Jerry's always Jerry, right.
This is the second time in the last calendar year that a savvy

(26:01):
GM has convinced a Dallas team to part with a young, ascending
superstar by just convincing them that, hey, this older
player and a little bit of draftcapital are really what you need
in order to fix your franchise. Yeah, yeah.

(26:22):
The good news is they'll rig youthe number one pick, though, so
you're, you're not going to comeoff too bad here, dude.
They, they're going to be picking at #1 and #32 that's
crazy, that's crazy, that's tough for Dallas.
That was a great tweet, Chris says.
Someone tell me nothing is wrongwith number one's back or
anything else for that matter. From everything that we have

(26:43):
available to us, Micah's back does not seem like it's gonna be
a long term thing. Seems like this is something he
can play through and that playing through it is not
necessarily gonna make it worse,which is not how we feel or not
how I feel at all about the Jayden Reid foot situation where

(27:03):
Jayden Reid playing on his foot number one definitely should
hamper his productivity. And also you are dramatically
reopening the window for re injury.
I do not like the this plan of letting Jayden Reid go out there
and play Week 1 on this foot sprain.

(27:26):
Like I'm just saying the dude weare, we are entering A realm
here where what we are risking is like potentially really not
seeing Jaden Reed playing for the Packers again due to how we

(27:50):
are just very carelessly not playing it safe with this
injury. Like you go out there and play a
couple weeks on this, re injure it to the point where like you
already had one surgery on it, you very well may need another
surgery or no, no, no, he didn'tget the survey.

(28:11):
That's the thing. He didn't get the surgery.
Who did just get surgery? Oh, Nate Hobbs.
Nate Hobbs just got surgery, which which again, Nate Hobbs
makes me a little bit nervous too.
I think if Nate Hobbs just stayson the timeline recovering from
his surgery, he should be fine. His injury is not one where

(28:35):
you're that worried about it once he's had time for his
surgery to completely heal up. But with Jaden Reed, he didn't
get the surgery. He's going to go out there and
play on the sprain. Could very well potentially get
to the point where he's knocked out for the rest of the year.
Is this a contract year for him,for Jaden Reed?
No, I mean, I guess, I guess youcould say it technically is

(28:56):
right because, you know, you, you're eligible for that
extension after this. But so he he he would, he will
be a free agent. Yeah, he will be a free agent in
26. But again, yeah, I mean, it
knocks you out for a season and you're kind of in like a weird
scenario with Watson as well andDobbs not coming back and reads,
you know, well, he had all this injury stuff and it, you know,

(29:16):
we haven't seen what he can do since early 2024.
And like, there's there's a lot of that probably that would go
around. So, you know, would the Packers
go out and get somebody, you know, like Chris Bell from
Louisville for fun, you know, keep that receiver room churning
out there or, you know, Ryan Williams perhaps 27, you know,

(29:41):
so. Yeah.
I mean, Brian Murphy says Bryce Underwood.
Yeah. Bryce Underwood play Bryce
Underwood at wide receiver. I'm.
I'm good with it. Works for me play my pass rusher
every the entire broadcast said,Oh my gosh, she looks like pass
rusher. You can play defensive end.
Yeah, we'll do it then do it. You won't.

(30:06):
But yeah, I think I think the read thing is is a really not a
great situation to be and I agree.
I think knocking him out till whatever it would take.
What is it 678 something like that or is it is it longer if
I'm mistaken week 678 you're saying yeah, right.
Would that be, you know, if theyhad taken care of this, if they
had just taken care of it? I, I think you're probably

(30:28):
looking at a return by like week6 if they had just taken care of
it in the beginning. And what I don't know is like,
is this just a Jaden Reed decision to not get to not get
the surgery? Like, I mean, obviously, yes,
you know, he's in charge of his own health, but like, I, I

(30:49):
really wish that we had some insight into what do the doctors
say with the doctors recommending he get the surgery.
Was it kind of, you know, middleground?
You're not really sure what to do?
I, I, I wish we could know more because from all the available

(31:09):
information we have right now, Idon't like the thought of him
playing out there because it doesn't seem #1 like he's even
healthy enough to go out there and play well for us.
And then on top of that, like a whole separate issue is the
issue of re injury and like making it worse.
Like, yeah, I don't know. We I did want to like kind of

(31:34):
dovetailing with the Jaden Reed thing.
It's the Parsons thing. It seems like it's just
management of the pain at this point.
For Sunday Parsons, yes, yeah. But for Reed, obviously this is
there's a reason we're talking about Reed more right now is
because Reed is the one in the boot and it's not doing anything
and cannot do anything because he's in the boot and he's now

(31:55):
he's going to try to go out there, right?
Like that's I think really different thing, right?
Could they manage Parsons snaps week 1, not only because of the
back, but because of like, you know, not being in camp and
doing all the stuff because he was in the middle of this
negotiation. Possibly for sure.
And like that ramp up process could could happen, but he
certainly could be out there in in some sort of capacity.

(32:16):
But yeah, Reed, Reed's a really interesting one to watch just
simply because, right. Other than if he is knocked out
for a while, right, yes, OK, Miko Hardman, right.
I see that coming up in the in the comments about like, OK, he
will, he can do, they can just elevate him, right?
And then oh, well, you know, he'll be fine.
He'll be the same player. And it's like, it depends on

(32:39):
what It depends on what you think of Reed, right?
If you think of Reed, the second-half of 2024, I don't
think we want the same player. But yeah, the the speed element
does disappear just that much more, you know, from your unit
without Reed as well as Watson. Does it thrust, You know, it
could have fun thrusting Savion into a roll.
You know, that's certainly a choice that could potentially,

(33:02):
but it it probably again opens the door for for a lot more 12
and you know, I think. That's that, that's.
Everybody goes through these, right?
Doesn't derail everything. Ha ha, nice call back there for
myself. I'm going to I'm going to I'm
I'm the Obama meme of the medal on yourself type of thing there.

(33:25):
But yeah, it it'll everybody's going to go through this.
So it's nice that what it what looks like is going to be a
starting offensive line unit with the 6th man who can pretty
much backup anybody other than probably Elton.
So that's at least a good thing.And then obviously the hope that
that belt continues. But the receiver room, there's a

(33:46):
reason they drafted a couple guys.
You know, they they feel like there's some urgency that needs
to that needs to, you know, get going here as we enter your 3
for two of them and year 4 for another and 4th year that
hopefully begins at some point down the line, but not too
early. We, we have this latest depth

(34:08):
chart for the Packers and our starting wide receivers are
Romeo Dobbs, Matthew Golden and Jaden Reed.
So Wix and not listed as a starter.
I don't think that's really thatsurprising.
Seems I, I, I just need week 1 to get here.

(34:30):
I I I need to see Wix playing and figure out, like, where
should my emotions be on Wix? Because, you know, he kind of
looked good in camp. Vanished.
You know, he's been hurt, but just, you know, now he's not a
starter. Like what?
And it's not surprising that he's not a starter like you.
It'll be surprising if Dobbs or Reed were not starters.

(34:52):
Right. Yeah.
What's up, Jake? Well, the door is just creaking
open with this Reed injury, right?
JJ, us Wix. Yeah.
Absolutely. Holding on for dear life.
Like just just slightly opened right now.
So that's the positive note. Wix, you know, with if this
injury persists and Reid has to get surgery eventually and

(35:12):
that's it out for a number of games.
As we already said, would love if that had already happened so
he'd be ready to go. But you know, if if Wix is ready
to show something, now is the time.
It is time. It is time.
So I want to hit on a couple things on this, you know, depth
chart that I hate. There's a few things I hate on

(35:34):
here. Number one, so Jacob Monk hurt
right now, right? He's on he's on IR and Shawn
Ryan backup center. Terrible situation because Elton
Jenkins got a back issue right now.
We don't know if he's going to be ready to play in week 1 at
all. No idea.

(35:56):
I don't know about you. I do not want Shawn Ryan out
there at center. I know.
Very terrified about that prospect.
Number two thing that I hate wayto fix it.
There's there's one way that like you can.
I don't like it because it moves.
Yeah, it moves the best player to center.
I would much rather play Zach Tom, but dude, Zach Tom at

(36:17):
center, Morgan at right tackle, right Morgan at right tack.
I think it worked. No Morgan at left tackle.
And I'd rather I'd rather figureout with Rasheed or Belton at at
right tackle. I don't know if Morgan can play
right tackle. Belton certainly can.
I don't think Jordan Morgan can play right tackle.
I would rather Jordan Morgan or Anthony Belton at right tackle
like that. Just roll the dice on that one.

(36:38):
I don't think either one of themis.
I think can can play right tackle.
I think much rather see Rasheed Walker at right tackle than
Jordan Morgan. Or I would rather see Shawn Ryan
at right tackle than than see Shawn Ryan at center.
She'd ever play there. I think Rashid played left
tackle at Penn State, did he not?

(37:01):
I think, yeah, I I would assume,I mean, he drew votes for Morgan
at right tackle and Walker at left tackle.
I don't know what makes anybody think Morgan can play right
tackle. I mean, I'd far rather see him
at right tackle than at right guard.
I guess I don't want to see Jordan Morgan at at right guard

(37:22):
what he did for 29 snaps in 2019.
Let's see how that works. Coach Lynn says.
I want to see Belton at oops, Belton at guard.
I think, I think we all do, Drewsays.
What makes you think Walker can?I don't.
I don't think we have a lot of right tackles here.
Like Belton is supposed to be a right tackle, but we all think

(37:42):
that he's just not ready to play.
Shawn Ryan was supposed to be a right tackle, but you know,
every time we've ever seen him at right guard, he's been
terrible. But also, you know, usually if
you move a tackle in, the guard doesn't look good.
Yeah, Belton's another one, though.
That's like, he only played on the left side collegiately.

(38:07):
And I think the the tricky thingis, is I thought Belton was a
right tackle, no left tackle, 2200 snaps.
So it's essentially 3 guys. We got that totally back up.
Yeah. So it's essentially 3 guys who
have who really haven't got overthere.
And it's, you know, I, I think we got into this mode where it
was like, oh, it's no problem. It's not going to be an issue

(38:28):
for anybody. When you draft a guy to to kick
him over there and it's like, no, it is.
Some people like literally cannot do it.
Others had no problem with it. Like Joe Alt last season did
great right tackle, he flips over there.
And obviously probably this season now with Slater's injury,
he's going to flip back over to left.
But some guys just can't. So it's it's a tricky spot as as

(38:49):
with Sheed and Morgan and and and and Belton, you know, that's
it's not, it's not an easy deal.And I'm I'm double checking on
Morgan, but I don't remember if,if he did it all either.
That's going to be a no. It's going to be a no for George

(39:11):
Morgan. Actually, zero.
That's the lowest of any of them.
Not that Rasheed Walker's 29 snaps at right tackle against
Idaho in 2019 is something that we're like, oh, yes, definitely.
So Kennard did, I think a couplethings.
In the NFL, he hasn't played much, but he played right tackle
and left guard, and then he was a right tackle in college.

(39:33):
Yeah, right tackle, bunch of snaps.
I think he was at right. I want to say he was right
tackle every single year. Yeah, he was.
I mean, there was his first year, his first season he had
like, it was pretty split as faras 2018.
He flipped every every single week he flipped.
That's crazy. He never played the same tackle
spot two games in a row. Now, notice I specified games

(39:56):
because the weeks he played werethree and then eight, and he
played weeks 8 through 13. Yeah, weird little thing there.
It was kind of a flip back and forth.
But the rest of the time? He built up again an astonishing
23164 total snaps at right tackle.

(40:17):
So he's got the most experience over there.
But is that is, is that something you want to do Week 1?
Hopefully, hopefully it doesn't come to that and Cunard is for
everything. Cunard is listed as the backup
right guard, but I have to, I really suspect though, he's not

(40:37):
right guard one. I think that other guys who are
listed other spots on here are right guard one.
Yeah, like so Shawn, Shawn Ryan is the starting right guard, but
Jordan Morgan is not a is not listed as a starter.
And so I think if Shawn Ryan went down, you would see Jordan
Morgan in there, not not Darien Canard.
They just have Morgan listed as the starting left at the very

(41:00):
least. I think Morgan's the backup
probably in three spots at the very least on this thing, like
the presumed backup, but you have to, you can't put his name
on there 18 times, right? So they put Ryan's on there
twice. But you know, but yeah, Morgan
probably, presumably backup lefttackle, probably left guard as
well, and right guard at the very least, potentially right

(41:23):
tackle too. Very possible it's all four, but
it's almost certainly at the very least three.
So, you know, maybe Van Ness cankick over there while Parsons
play defensive end. Things we got to think about.
Well, I mean, Van I, I think it's odd that Colby Wooden is

(41:45):
listed as a starting defensive tackle on this offensive line.
I mean, I don't think that's going to happen.
Very much. To you, I think we're going to
see Lucas Van Ness out there. It's just that, well, he's a
defensive end. Well, I think he's bulking up to
play defensive tackle, which again, we'll see.

(42:08):
You notice that the guy listed behind Colby Wooden is Nazir
Stackhouse and there's nobody else listed there.
So like this second defensive tackle spot is your nose tackle
and they're just saying that Stackhouse isn't ready, which I
mean, I think that's for UDFAI. Think that's really like, I
think if Wyatt comes off the field, why it's not really going

(42:31):
to go off the field. But if Wyatt comes off the
field, you thinking they might just kind of push up to Wyatt's
and then Stackhouse comes in is what you're thinking
potentially. I also think that you're going
to see a hefty amount of Van Ness and Brooks in in there as

(42:51):
well, perhaps in passing downs. I don't love the idea of.
Van Ness. Being a three tech, especially
like when you when you have yourbase out there, I feel like
because I mean, he did this at Dallas a bunch.

(43:12):
Parsons is roaming everywhere, right?
Like he is he is doing like linebacker stuff, but he's also
the again with that jam front, he's basically an edge rusher
essentially when you get 5 on the line and it doesn't it
doesn't, you know, sacrifice anything in terms of Gary and
Van Ness being able to anchor and set an edge right.
So I think it's possible that they do that with Van Ness, but

(43:33):
I I imagine we'll see it way more on on 3rd downs than we
will on on early stuff just because I do think if that
happens, team start seeing that they will start picking on that
match up and probably should. But again, if if the the one way
it does work is if, again, whichthis defense does a lot of
right, is, is kind of attacking one gap, right?

(43:56):
Everybody's got one at a time. You don't have like your your
true nose in the 3-4 necessarilydoing the two gapping work,
right? That's not necessarily happening
as much here. But again, it's it can depend
though, on, you know, how Haffley wants to run things
versus others who have run this.So it can change.
But it seems like very often, right with Haffley, it's a lot
of this is your gap, this is yours.

(44:19):
Hey, linebacker, your gap is this right?
And and so that may be can help make it work, but it certainly
helps when you have somebody whocan eat a ton of that space.
So if Colby Wooden is ready to play here in what, year three,
that is fantastic. That solves a lot of our
problems. And frankly, I'm not sure.

(44:42):
You know, we had a question here.
Matt is asking how much will Kenny Clark be missed?
He's gonna be missed tremendously from the standpoint
of he just didn't miss time and he ate up a ton of snaps on this
defense. And, you know, a couple people
are mentioning like, hey, I'm not sure.
You know, so and so is in game shape.
So and so like and and by the way, like, this is a huge reason

(45:02):
to come in with some low expectations, moderate to low
expectations from Micah Parsons early on for sure.
Yeah, he's got the back thing. He has not been practicing with
Dallas, does not know our playbook, and is not in football
shape. Wait wait, you're telling me I
shouldn't expect 10 pressure 3 set game week 1?

(45:25):
I think you shouldn't expect himto be out there play playing a
sizable percentage of our snaps in week 1.
Like if he's only out there for 30% of the defensive snaps, I'd
rather see him terrorize Connerly on Thursday the most.
That would be a lot of fun. So but yeah, I know I, I, I tend

(45:48):
to agree. And I think, you know, I think a
lot of people, yeah, I mean, Brian, Brian bringing up it's
even fronts with a lot of 1 gapping, which yeah, that's,
that's what we saw a lot from athlete, I think in, in this
4/3. And I think it's going to be a
four three as much as it, you know, may at times if they go
into that jam front, it might look like a 34 a little bit
right. But I think some of the

(46:09):
principles will be, you know, kind of again, sticking with
this 4/3. I know this is a medium made
depth chart, but there's a reason that three linebackers
are on there because in base there's going to essentially be,
you know, kind of that Sam backer.
So I do think Parsons is going to take part in some of that,
even though it doesn't say that here just because having but
they undeniably have the personnel to be able to switch

(46:31):
between 3-4 and four three at will.
Like they're the biggest, the biggest question mark for them
is do they have the defensive tackles to run A43 without
having, you know, just do it doing a a front of Gary Wyatt

(46:52):
Van Ness or Gary Wyatt Parsons, you know, but if you go Gary
Wyatt Van Ness and then you got Micah screaming off one side and
the other side is either Edrin or Quay.
And I'm kind of happy with doingeither one of those options.
Yeah, I almost feel better aboutthat than if I do about trying

(47:14):
to figure out like, hey, how much can we rely on Colby Wooden
or Carl Brooks or one of our tworookies or Lucas Van Ness to,
you know, hold it down at at three tech or or whatever for
us. Yeah.
Well, I think and, and yeah, I, I think Coach Lynn hits on that
a little bit of like, there'd probably be a lot of nickel

(47:35):
probably all year, right? But I think the tricky part
about playing Detroit is that Detroit could live in that weird
11 1/2 personnel world, which makes it I think trickier to
match, right? They have, when you say 11 1/2,
you're talking about like Laporta is, is what makes that
11 1/2 or what Laporta and maybeeven Tesla too, because he

(47:59):
blocks so well. So that that kind of they, they
can live in that look like Gray area, right?
With yeah, if if LaPorte is the second tight end on the field,
right? With, with, you know, their
better inline player, like he's going to be, you know, he can be
attached to the line. He can move out to slot.
You know, he they can put him onthe boundary to get a favorable
match up in the slot if they want it.

(48:20):
Like they they can do a lot of that stuff where even when
LaPorte is on the field, if Tesla's the third receiver,
right? We know he can block really
well, right? I think, you know, we've looked
at the preseason stuff and it's it's nice, obviously that, you
know, it it the talent level's going to up for you right as you
go into regular season play. So it might he might not be as
productive as a receiver, but hecertainly blocks well enough.

(48:42):
And then and then he he has that, you know, bought in
mentality to where, you know, they asked him to do an insert
block. He's probably going to be able
to do it right. And you still have Jameson and
and Amin Ross St. Brown out there.
Like I think as coach Lan's asking if Tesla blocks that
well, yeah, I think the two things that were really like
favorable to Tesla in the process where his was his

(49:03):
blocking. And then also that athleticism
that he posted, right? That those testing numbers plus
what you see on on film of kind of the speed and fluidity that
he played with. So that was kind of the two
things with yeah, which the sizewas included in that, right.
But that's kind of where his, you know, OK, let's build this
guy into something. I think those were the two
drawings. So, yeah, the 425 they're

(49:25):
they're probably going to be some some areas where they could
get out flanks a little bit. And again, that's why it's nice
to have a guy like Edwin Cooper,who, you know, presumably should
be able to kind of neutralize some threats because of the
speed he has, right? There's a, there's a play, if
you haven't seen it at this point, where from last season,

(49:46):
if you don't remember, right against Jacksonville where he's
on the line of scrimmage and then he had to run the pole all
the way and he and he broke up the pass like just I, I one of
the craziest things you'll, you'll see from a linebacker.
And so having him out there certainly helps in a lot of
those situations. So yeah, I, I think, I think

(50:07):
it's going to be a really, really fun chess match between
Morton plus I think Campbell, right?
I think they're, there's some collab there, right?
It's, I don't think Morton's getting like every, every key,
right? He's not, you know, he may not
have the penthouse key, right, the apartment complex, but he
had probably has quite a few of them.
I think Campbell probably still has that and we'll see if he if

(50:28):
if Wharton earns it. But those two versus halfway, I
think is going to be a really, really, really interesting chess
match that goes on on Sunday. And I know we have somebody
who's in here who's a Viking fanand I want to get to him because
I know he asked about how much Kenny was being missed.
He also asked, you know, I got golden Fantasy.
How should that? How would that be?

(50:51):
And I think it'll be pretty good.
I, I think, I think that'll be a, a good deal.
So, but I think, I mean, when, when you, when you look at the
Packers wide receiver room and you're trying to figure out who
will be the wide receiver one intargets, it's hard to figure out

(51:16):
with Jayden Reid not being healthy.
It's it's hard to figure out whostands out as an obvious
candidate besides gold. Now technically last year the
guy with the most targets was Wicks.
And so you know, if Reed is not healthy and Wicks does get a lot
of playing time over him and plays well the way that we've

(51:40):
seen that we we know he can if he can just clamp those drops.
I still find him less likely to lead the team in targets than
Matthew Golden. You know, Jordan loves very
excited about him. He seems like he's, you know, in
in camp and in the preseason games Like he has it.

(52:01):
You know, he's here. Here's the thing with Matthew
Golden. We.
Knew about the athleticism. We knew the things that you
can't coach, right, the stuff that's like, well, here's why
we're drafting him in the first round, because you can't coach
the ability to go up and make this grab and you know, make
make this look effortless. But the stuff that you can coach

(52:25):
the route running. He looked really freaking good
in the pre season. I, I could not believe,
especially in that first pre season game, we were watching
how crisp he looked. Good release off the line of
scrimmage, his timing and his you know, where where on the

(52:51):
field he'd make his turns like he was, it was all crisp.
He looked way more seasoned thanI was expecting him to look in
year 1, let alone this early in the year.
And like that's the kind of thing you know, there.
There's a lot of a lot of thingsin the pre season where you're
like, OK, that was cool, but howpredictive is that?

(53:12):
Well. Being able to run a route the
right way, like going up againsta a starting caliber cornerback
versus the kind of guy you're going to see in the preseason.
That's. Not going to affect how well you
know what route to run and how to run it.

(53:34):
I'm, I'm, I am hoping that Golden can put up 1000 yard
season. I, I would like I to me, I think
the floor for like successful season from our first round
rookie is like 700 yards. The Packers wide receivers over

(53:58):
the last, you know, half dozen years here historically keep
putting up like 3 and 400 yard rookie seasons.
Like miss me with that crap. I don't want that out of Matthew
Golden. I want us giving him the
opportunities to where he can with ease put up 700 yards and
then at the end of the season you look at it back and you're

(54:18):
like, OK, there was some missed opportunities here where you you
do point to him being a rookie and saying, yeah, you could have
had 1000 and you're going to go back and grind the tape this
offseason. You're going to come back and
put up 1000 yard season in Year 2.
And we gave you the opportunities.
You did a lot with them for being a rookie.

(54:41):
I think if he gets less than 700yards, I would be expecting that
he had missed some time or else I would be frustrated with his
usage. I think he he just, he has the
talent that we need to be givinghim the opportunities as long as

(55:01):
he's healthy. That 700 is, is not a fanciful
stretch, you know, and, and, andlike you, you look at what
Justin Jefferson in his rookie year, he had what was it, 1600
yards or 1500 yards, something crazy like that.
It was like 141442. So like, you know, you don't

(55:23):
need to be, look now, you don't need to be putting up Jamar
Chase and Justin Jefferson's numbers in Year 1, you know, out
of fear of like, you know, hey, is this random freaking
podcaster gonna come on here and, you know, call your rookie
season a failure? But like I I, I think that 1000.
Yards is a pretty good bar. And again, as we've talked about

(55:45):
a couple times on here, the Mount Lafleur offense spreads
the ball around so much that like, even Devante really was
not cracking 1000 yards most of the time.
Yeah, he kept putting UP997999994 yards in a season.
You know, like just almost getting there and, you know,

(56:06):
sure, you know, like snag one more catch and it's it's not a
thing. You're over 1000 yards.
But like, even with as focal of a point as Devante was for the
offense, like you still have to,you know, you grade that curve
on this Matt Lafleur sort of spectrum of like they spread the

(56:26):
ball around so much that 1000 yards is kind of hard to get.
So that's why I like move that line down to 700.
But I I that's what I'd like to see from him.
How many yards for craft? That's a good question.
I'm trying to remember how many he had last year.
I have it right here. So really quick as you we moved
to craft a couple of quick things.

(56:47):
I think one, I think I'm not totally surprised that Golden
looked really good as a route runner, to be honest.
I thought the through brake transition efficiency was always
there. He could lull people asleep and
off coverage. That was really good.
I think the only thing was the of the frame for press, right?
And that's that was I think the biggest concern.
Can you can you combat it? Can you avoid it?

(57:08):
Right? All these things like that, I
think is what will continue to be the focus for him more than
anything. I Justin Jefferson did a 1400 as
a rookie on the dot. I don't think you need to expect
that 1000 for you know, you knowwhat?
And when they're 17 games isn't like an extreme hurdle to clear.

(57:34):
However, I do think like I'll put this number out there
because I think this is this is where I'm going to land.
If you're making me call it, I'mgoing to go 892 and 9 is what
I'm calling I think 9 touchdownsabout 892 in terms of the
yardage just because I think as everybody's kind of pointing
out, like one, they've got an absolute workhorse and Jacobs

(57:54):
who's going to take a lot of thecarries, right?
If they're successful running the football, you know, he'll be
he'll be a heavy part of that. I do think again, Dobbs isn't
going anywhere. Probably if Wicks catches the
ball, he'll be a factor. And of course, Tucker Craft,
Right. And so I think if you're making
me call it, that's where I'm going to be.
Right. What did I say?
8892 and 9 something like that is what I said we did.

(58:18):
Yeah. And Kraft had 700 yards last
year. And that's that's a big number
for him. Like that's a big number people
like I, I know it's, it's I think he'll put up about that
again. Yeah, He, he missed a tiny bit
of time last year, but I, I think he'll put up about that
many again. Yeah.
The other thing too, you know, people have said a couple times
here 17 games. I don't know why we're talking

(58:40):
about 17 games like we're going to be playing in at least 18
games. We're not they're just right.
No, I think they're just counting as like again, a
regular season, regular season get to 1000 type of thing is
what they're talking about was 17 right, Because it used to be
16 right. That was, it was kind of like,
OK, get 60 yards and you know, sure, the game and then, you
know, but I, I think the added game makes you kind of want

(59:01):
maybe over 1050 is the kind of the new bar to clear, quote UN
quote, right, rather than 1000. So I think that's why they're
saying it's a little easier. The other thing, right, is the
expectations, right? They could overwhelm you and,
and, you know, if we get too crazy with the expectations, you
know, don't, you know, don't maybe feel underwhelmed if he
gets like what I said, 892 and and 9:00.

(59:21):
But like, don't forget, like again, he was the number four
overall picks. We probably should have
delivered more than this. I I do think Kyler was Kyler is
part of the problem a little bitwith this.
But Marvin Harrison junior 885 and 8 as a rookie.
And it maybe seemed worse than that.
And it's probably because of theexpectation for him right now.
It seemed a lot worse. Yeah.

(59:41):
It it it really wasn't that Likethat's really not a bad rookie.
It isn't. It's that line.
But I think everybody who watched him felt like it was a
disappointing rookie season. Well, because of all the
miscommunication that was very, very evident from him in the QB
who has to answer his own questions this year.
No question. The other thing really quick is
if the is slow, don't be surprised, OK, I'm going to go

(01:00:04):
through this really fast so thateverybody understands the golden
trio last year in terms of, you know, 100 yard, you know, games
and all that stuff. I really want, I want to put
this out there now. Neighbors, you know, he's a
different cat, OK? He had 200 yard games.
Two of them in his first four, OK, that's not fair.
He's different, he's different beasts.
But the two others who had the late season surge right Lab

(01:00:27):
Mcconkey and Brian Thomas TJ LabMcconkey didn't have 100 yard
game until week 8. Till week 8.
He did not have 100 yard game. He opened with 3920640467 4346
before that first 100 yard game.OK, and and it was right around
there that I dropped him from myfantasy team and the guy who won

(01:00:50):
the league picked him up. Always wait for that late rookie
season surge folks for some of these guys.
But he he went on absolute heater down the stretch and then
obviously had nine for 197 and atouchdown in the playoff game.
Brian Thomas junior first. His first 100 yard game was at
week 5. His second one was in Week 15
week. 15. It was a second one.

(01:01:12):
No, it was it was way later. So yeah, he got to 80 a few
times in between that right? And he had 94 in his second game
that was on 2/2 catches. So but again, like he opened
4790440886, had the 122, then went back here.
Here's here's some fun stuff, 27896022128276 and then we'll

(01:01:37):
get on that heater down the stretch.
So don't be surprised if him right, not not to get to other
teams, but like, you know, Ibukamaybe doesn't start out that
crazy or anything like that. It took JSN time to get heated
up down the stretch, right. St.
Brown did the exact same thing. If you go look at his in 21.
It was like, Oh, lowly to sleep.Looks like he's a fine

(01:01:58):
contributor. Oh my gosh, what you got to
November? It was like, oh, he's just he's
turned into Cooper cup again. So that that second-half for the
rookies is where it's going to really take shape.
And so if he doesn't have a lot,if he doesn't have a lot early,
like don't panic for one, because I think that's but also
a little bit different situationof early.
We don't we just don't know who is even going to be available

(01:02:20):
for Packers honestly. That's fair.
We may have already touched on who will be the Packers leading
receiver in targets for the first month, might be Tucker
Kraft. Honestly, it's quite plausible
between him and and Romeo, if Romeo's able to, to stay healthy
and you know, maybe maybe he's taking Golden a little bit to
kind of get going. Coach Len asked where will the

(01:02:43):
room come from? From Musgraves, 500 yards.
Well, hopefully he can crack 500career yards this season.
He only had 45 yards last year total.
And so he would at that pace, hewould need to play three more
seasons to hit 500 career yards.So not expecting him to be a big

(01:03:05):
factor in this passing game. Maybe, maybe we'll see how many
games 22 yard, 25 yard a catch guy, right?
And and I don't know how many ofthose we're going to see, but he
had sake plenty. But so, so last year he had one
catch for six yards, one catch for three yards, 3 catches for

(01:03:29):
13 total yards, and one catch for four yards and then one
catch for 10 yards. So 10 yards was his longest.
Like, I know we think about him as this, you know, big chunk
play getter. He sure as heck wasn't last
year. Tool that says how many games
we'll need to be in a season fora Bears QB to hit 4K or 30
touchdowns. I mean, like, look, you know, if
anybody's gonna do it, Caleb probably has the talent to do

(01:03:53):
it. But like current pace, like the
number is like 25 games, frankly, because in 17 games
they're getting like 3/4 of the way there.
So I mean, you're, you're going to need to get like 2225 games
probably for them to be sniffingthose numbers.
This is true. We do have to turn our focus to
the Lions. I'm kind of trying to hurry us

(01:04:16):
that way a little bit because we, we, we hit the one hour mark
and we really, really need to get in on this.
Matt Dub said I'm a Vikings fan,but I'd be curious to hear you
guys opinion of JJ McCarthy. Minnesota media has him as the
next Drew Brees. Ah, that's where it comes from.
I've been wondering, OK, I have spent some time on Saints

(01:04:38):
Twitter recently and I have seenSaints fans getting into it with
my, with Vikings fans and they are pissed about the JJ
McCarthy, Drew Brees comparisons.
And I was really wondering wherethis came from.
National media has JJ McCarthy as the next Mac Jones.
What are your thoughts, Jake? I feel like I've, I've answered

(01:04:59):
this a couple times. Do you want to take it?
Sure. I mean, I think he landed in the
best situation possible, right? Like that it is absolutely best
situation possible. And then they driving a
Lamborghini. Yeah.
And they added a right guard in the center to the picture that
have been playing steady and have experience, right?

(01:05:21):
Like that's the best thing that they could have done for him,
maybe other than add another receiver, which they went back
and got feeling who was still doing enough to help Bryce
Young's career get in the right direction last season in
Carolina. So I think like for McCarthy, I,
I don't think he's mad about a Drew Brees comparison, right?

(01:05:44):
It's it's reversed. The Saints Saints fans are mad
about the Drew Brees comparison saying why are you talking about
Drew Brees with your freaking, you know, second year
quarterback who's never thrown apass?
Like keep keep Drew Brees's nameout of your mouth is basically
what? The same fans are saying.
Yeah, I think again, it's it's agreat system to have where now

(01:06:11):
they've got the end, they go getJordan Mason, they're going to
be able to run the ball pretty darn well.
And again, with Thielen coming back, you've kind of eased that
a little bit of that concern, You know, while Addison's out.
And I thought Naylor was also maybe fighting injury as well,
but maybe he's ready to go. Dubs left to let us know on that
one. But again, Jefferson, his the

(01:06:35):
ultimate. Like O'connell's got him in like
#1 in the progression, even on roll outs, right?
O'Connell does a great job designing easy buckets for the
QB, something that did not happen if you watch the North
Carolina game last night at all.No drawn up stuff for their QB.
Out there. To help him get a rhythm.
So that's the one thing that's going to be really helpful,

(01:06:57):
right, is, you know, you have the right play caller and
designer to give him some easy stuff, build a rhythm.
I do think, I do think McCarthy rips it over the middle.
Like he can RIP that sucker overthe middle.
And with a player like Hawkinson, that certainly helps
as well. You got Jefferson, who runs digs
probably better than anybody on planet Earth, which is super

(01:07:19):
helpful. And I think he's got enough of
the arm to, you know, thread thethread the honey hole plenty of
times, right When you see some cover too.
It's just really about for McCarthy is physically it's all
there, right, He's going to be able to run scamper around if
the knee is good to go, like allthat stuff.
And but it's it's going to come down to how how well, how fast
is he process, right, How how does the speed of the game look

(01:07:41):
to him when it's, you know, not the preseason and not at
Michigan, right, Like those are the two things that, you know, I
think you're going to make or break him, right.
That's where you go from Drew Brees or Mac Jones, right?
That's where, you know, Caleb's had the struggles right now and
Bo Nick's started to figure it out.
Jayden Daniels has it figured out.
He knows where he needs to go with the ball, right?

(01:08:01):
He's not hanging around, hangingaround waiting to see if this is
going to happen. You have to anticipate, you have
to be moving it at A at a speed that you probably haven't moved
before mentally. And so that's the thing.
He doesn't have a lot of experience, right?
In college, right? He didn't have a ton, a ton of
starts, right? He doesn't have Bo Nick's 61
starts. Purdy is 50.
Plus Daniels had a ton, right? Pennex had a ton.

(01:08:24):
So it's like he doesn't have that yet.
Cam Ward had a ton. So the good news is, is he in a
he's in a perfect spot where it's not going to be.
Everything is going to be asked of him to do all this, right?
He's not going to have to be JoeBurrow tomorrow or in in five
days, six days, I guess they play on Monday, right?
He's not going to have to do that.
So I think that's really beneficial to him and and truly

(01:08:47):
again, no, no ill will other onewere, you know, in between the
lines playing each other on Sundays or anything like that.
I'm interested to see how it goes because I think it's one of
the more fascinating storylines we're going to watch all year is
just because everybody else has shown some promise in some
capacity that has played from that QB class.
And it's like, wow, so are we going to see some promise again?

(01:09:10):
Are we going to get it from the 6th of 6 right.
So I think that's going to be fun to watch.
It almost feels like, you know, you know, that graphic of the
Washington Redskins coaching staff from, you know, back when
Kyle Shanahan was there. And it's and it's, but it's, and
then it's like every two years they update the graphic to

(01:09:32):
include a new hot young head coach.
And it's like, you know, four years ago when we were passing
this graphic around, there were only three guys on here.
And now there's 7. Like, you know, it's kind of
that thing. My, my, my huge concern with JJ
is that, like, Michigan didn't ask him to do anything at all.

(01:09:53):
Like, not one thing, which hurtsa lot of experience anyway,
Right. That doesn't help.
Yeah. They didn't put it up on your
plate in the limited amount of time you started there, which is
a difficult thing. Yeah, it's it's tricky.
But if, if, if I were to put faith in anybody to handle it,

(01:10:15):
O'Connell And then there's a fewothers that would be on that
short list. So he's on the short list of
like, hey, if I need to send this guy to somebody, who am I
going to like for your sake? And then the Vikings fan sake.
He's in great hands to do so, right?
If he doesn't do it, great news.You'll probably find some other
guy don't know Bryce Young, Anthony Richardson, you know,

(01:10:38):
Johnny Manziel, whoever probablydo just fine.
Johnny man. So afterwards.
Wait, how so does it really? How's Kevin O'Connell going to
get Bryce Young? You're telling me that he's this
is Bryce Young's breakout year. Caroline's going to be good.
I think it is. But I I'm just saying if if that
again, I'm not always right. Never never will claim to be so.
But if, if Anthony Richardson, obviously probably going to be

(01:11:03):
available, yes, you know, and, and like, OK, I was crazy high
on Anthony Richardson as as a prospect.
And I, I think it's safe to say that that was that it's not just
the Colts that that was a big miss by me.
I think that's pretty safe to say at this point that it's,
it's not just the Colts. It's more Anthony than the

(01:11:24):
Colts. Such an experience thing too,
right? 13 starts probably should have
gone back to go get at least 12 more probably.
And that would have either A given, I think people more
confidence or B, just kind of been like, OK, well, yeah,
there's just not enough here right now.
So I I that's true. Do not accept defeat.

(01:11:45):
Right. The Darnold stands were back out
in full force last year when he was cruising in Minnesota.
So it's it's never done, right? It's never done.
Dude. I was on stands.
Javon Baker stands. We're not done.
I promise we're not done. I'm not leaving.
I was such a massive Darnold believer the entire time he was
in New York. And then when he went to

(01:12:06):
Carolina, I pushed, I I pumped the brakes a little bit and I
said, I don't think anybody can succeed in Carolina.
And then he went to San Francisco and I was like, it is
on baby. It is on Darnold Season 4, Sure.
And when it didn't work out in San Francisco, I finally gave
up. And so, you know, when he

(01:12:28):
finally had his breakout year with the Vikings, I, I was off
the bandwagon. I had finally gotten off the
bandwagon right before it was time for that sucker to actually
get going. They were passing around the
Panthers photo of him and Baker in Carolina going like, what
happened? What happened here?
Hey, you know what, though? I will, I will say I never at

(01:12:49):
any point lost faith in Baker when he was in Carolina.
Well, he showed too much at no point, which it was just so
weird. Cleveland does what Cleveland
does, you know, kind of like Jerry does what Jerry does.
But you know, Baker to me is is so clearly a top five
quarterback in the NFL and he isso underrated by absolutely

(01:13:11):
everybody and it it just drives me crazy.
You ready to talk about about the Lions?
Yeah, let's do it. I want to highlight a guy who is
under the radar for non Lions fans or I guess OK.
Was was Hard Knocks in Detroit this year or last year or

(01:13:36):
something? Did Hard Knocks go there?
I I've never the only Hard Knocks season I ever watched was
the the Raiders one with Anthonyor Antonio Brown.
I still never, ever tuned into Hard Knocks this year, if I'm
not mistaken. Well, they, they went to
Detroit, I think, or something, or there was some, there was
something, some sort of a documentary about the Detroit

(01:13:59):
Lions. I think it was Hard Knocks.
And I guess the people who watched that have heard of this
guy. But Grant Steward is a captain
for them. 2022 they were there. I don't know if, I don't know

(01:14:20):
if. Steward was what year did he
come out of the let's see. So Steward.
Steward was the he was Mr. Irrelevant in the 2021 draft.
OK, so yeah, 2022. All right, so so he is a
captain. He was drafted by Tampa and then

(01:14:42):
he got traded to the Colts and then was cut and then signed
with Alliance. So he's a captain, as far as I
can tell, this is a special teams thing.
He's a captain, special teams. And I know there are a lot of
Lions fans who were like kind ofshocked that Anzalone was not a
captain. And they're like, why is Grant

(01:15:02):
Stewart a captain and Anzalone isn't?
And, and I think it's, I think it's Grant is a special teams
captain. But like, you know, maybe just
be on the lookout for Grant making some plays here on
special teams. Side note, I I can't stand
Anzalone. He's one of the few NFL players

(01:15:23):
I just truly dislike. I and I I like Jack Campbell.
No, I, I just can't with Anzalone.
I really can't. But so looking at this defensive
depth chart here for the Lions, one thing that stands out for me

(01:15:44):
right here is Tyleek Williams islisted as a as a starting
defensive lineman for him. I don't get the sense that
that's actually the case like that.
You might see more Roy Lopez early on over Tyleek in that
like the goal is to work toward Tyleek being more of a full time

(01:16:07):
starter, but you might see more Roy Lopez.
But I think that there's also a sense that, you know, they, they
may be playing some 3 down fronts out there with Davenport
and Reader and Hutchinson and, and, and just putting a lot of

(01:16:29):
DBS out there on the field that you get Reid and and Robertson
and Branch and Joseph out there and, and Terry on Arnold that
it's there. There's, there's going to be
some nickel looks out there where they are potentially only
trying to rush 3. And it's, it's very tough to get

(01:16:52):
a read on what the offense or defense are going to look like
since we have two new play callers.
And we know that Dan Campbell's just not that involved in that
standpoint. And so how much continuity can
we rely on from last year to inform what we think they're

(01:17:14):
going to do this year? I, I, I, I don't know and I
don't, I don't know that Lions media knows either that it seems
like week 1, everybody's going to be learning a lot about what
the 2025 Lions are going to looklike.
I think as, as Packer fans, we're, you know, a little
spoiled, very spoiled with how much coverage there is of all

(01:17:38):
the offseason programming that goes on in Green Bay that we
have, all this training camp footage and just feet on the
ground, boots on the ground. Reporters talk about what's
going on the whole way through. Like, that does not exist in
Detroit. And it's not that it's locked
down. It's just that there's not a lot
of media coverage there. Yeah, yeah, no, I agree.

(01:18:02):
I think a couple things defensively, right, Noah Lee
McNeil, which was huge on the huge what, what the timeline
looks like. I think he's I think he's on IRI
don't I don't think he's on PUP.I don't remember he he's on one
of those. But yeah, we'll see what the
timeline is for that. That's really why I think Ty
Leeks this obviously listed as the starter, right?

(01:18:23):
He would definitely not be if McNeil was healthy.
He is on PUP. He's on PUP.
OK. And then Mcneil's on PUP.
So along with Levi and Wuzurique, Malcolm Rodriguez
too. Wow.
Yeah. Different position, obviously
like, but like McNeil and and onWuzurique both being on pup

(01:18:44):
here. That's brutal.
And that's why, you know, like Isaid, you know who who knows
anything about Roy Lopez? Not many.
That's that's just not a household name.
No, it does sound like like he is going to be getting, you
know, rivaling Tyleek in in playing time.

(01:19:06):
I, I, I like DJ Reader's going to be out there the entire game
as much as pop physically possible.
Yeah. And so then how, how much is
Tyleek playing next to him versus Roy Lopez?
Yeah, I have I have questions about this defensive line and

(01:19:26):
like how much does Marcus Davenport have in the tank right
now is a a question I have as well.
Like there there's just there's so many questions about the
defense and like, OK, the early games do favor the defense.
Offenses are are sluggish at thebeginning of the year.
They're trying to get going. You know, the Bengals do the

(01:19:47):
test to that mistakes really favor the defense.
But like you go across this defensive line just question
after question, how healthy is Aidan Hutchinson?
Is he gonna is he gonna be back to form or is this leg injury
something that's gonna hamper him going forward?
We are just not gonna know. Nobody can know until we until

(01:20:09):
we see him. Seems like he's fine in camp.
Certainly. But who knows?
What do they have in Ty Leek? You know, Ty Leek was a very up
and down player at Ohio State, pretty fantastic run defender,
especially late in his career. But he was he was very up and

(01:20:32):
down. You know, Marcus Davenport, do
we think he has anything? And and then you got a couple
guys who are, you know, missing McNeil and Muzurique and
Rodriguez. And then, you know, that's not
even starting touching on the whole cornerback issue.
Like is Terry on Arnold going tobe an NFL starting cornerback

(01:20:56):
this year? Like he was freaking terrible
last year. And you know that that defensive
backroom is is is a little thin.Like if they didn't have two all
world safeties, I think you'd bepretty darn concerned about this
overall defense. Now it helps that like Brian
Branch and Kirby Joseph are, youknow, certainly top three safety

(01:21:20):
tandem in the league. I'm not I'm not as high on on
Brian Branch. But like Kirby Joseph is out of
this world. He was the best safety of
football last year. And is he gonna repeat he's he's
probably still gonna be crazy good this year.
How dare you say? That well, you know.
What what I like about Xavier McKinney is that he's, he's not

(01:21:41):
dirty. You know, Xavier McKinney is not
out there trying to hospitalize opposing offensive players
because he had a lot of picks. That's why Xavier McKinney had a
bunch of picks. Well, I'm I'm not saying
McKinney was the best safety in football last season.
That's not my argument. Are you saying Kyle Hamilton?
Yeah, Yeah. But that's that's one of the

(01:22:03):
funny notes of the offseason is people talking about like the
Lions, some of the Lions side ofthings of like, well, McKinney
can't do this. You know what happens to
McKinney doesn't create turnovers.
He create turnovers a lot last year and it's like, well, we can
just go know you with Kirby Joseph, my friend, you know, So
what are we doing? What are we what are we standing
here for? We're like those two dudes
giving each other the bird on the street, right, that video

(01:22:26):
right. That's essentially what that is.
You know, so I that's what's that's what's funny about that,
But I think you pointed out I think no, no, that's me.
That's me and Lions fans, since I live here in Michigan.
You are the. You're the.
Hey, what's your name? Tony.
That's you only from on the other side of the lake too.

(01:22:48):
That's true. I do walk out to the lake
sometimes and and and call out the folks across across in
Michigan. Hey, Tony, F you.
Yeah, but I think you, I think you holler the two things.
Yeah. What's, what's the interior
rotation going to look like, Right.
How's everybody going to look opposite DJ Reader?
And the other problem defensively for them is, as you

(01:23:10):
said, will teams be able to pickon Terry and Arnold again this
year? Will they be able to do that?
Because last year we saw, we sawwhat it was.
It was a lot of panicking. It was a lot of penalties.
Those 2GO hand in hand. When you don't trust the
footwork and you don't trust theathleticism and you don't trust
your discipline, you start getting out of control, panic.

(01:23:32):
And that's where the flags come in.
That cannot happen again this year with him.
Otherwise, you know, who knows, maybe Rocky Sin's going to get
out of the field, which is not something you want to hear
either. Unfortunately, no.
But I think that DJ Reed and Rocky Sin as your two starting
corners for like the bulk of theyear sounds realistic.

(01:23:52):
Now, the other thing to consideris do they put Brian back,
Branch back back at corner out of necessity?
Because they did that and I thought it went quite poorly.
Brian Branch as safety, pretty darn good.
Brian Branch, a corner, very notgood.
But they've had to play him at corner kind of a lot out of

(01:24:14):
necessity. And then, you know, you look at,
you know, Terry and Arnold was bad.
Ennis Raikstra was awful. And I don't know, is is he on IR
or something? Like what?
What? Why is he not even on this, this
list here? Yeah, he is.
I mean, I, I but like addition by subtraction.
Like Ennis Raikstra was awful season ending IR I was going to

(01:24:37):
search for him. Pretty sure.
I think I thought the show yeah,season ending knocked him out
for the season. I'm pretty sure, which is not,
which is not ideal, but but likeI said, which is why I don't
know how big of a loss that is because he's truly terrible.
I I I think that's why his experience thing is at 2 because

(01:24:59):
they assume he's already going to have two seasons under his
belt. Oh, that's interesting.
That's interesting. Yeah, I do see that.
Is that potentially why maybe that is interesting.
Maybe they say, yeah, what it makes sense his season is over.
So sure. That's what I mean.
I think that's what. And like, what's he, you know, I
think that's what makes sense. I think he'd have to go commit a
felony to get released between now and next year.

(01:25:22):
But it's also Detroit, so I don't know if that would move
the needle for him. Yeah, but that's it.
Because that's the thing with the Rachel, and you mentioned it
with Branch. It's like Branch is good at the
nickel when you can play match and zone principles, right.
When he's manned up because you have to send 5-6 guys because
you don't have any pass rush anymore, it's not going to look

(01:25:43):
pretty right. And that's what they had to do
down the stretch. And so Reid is, yeah, basically
they're they're they're ship steadier at corner at this
point. And if it's not him and he goes
down to an extended part of time, this is a problem again,
right? Look at this, clearly an issue
again. The DBS are they have zero

(01:26:05):
corners or, you know, just DB. Like they got two guys listed at
safety book zero corners on their practice squad.
Yeah. And then on their active roster,
00 corners on PUP. On their active roster, they
have five corners. They do have Avante Maddox, you
know, but he's 29 years old. Yeah.

(01:26:28):
And he was, I mean, this is right in Philly a lot.
So I don't imagine they'd want him on the boundary.
But you never know what he was. Didn't he play a lot of didn't
he play a lot of strong safety? I thought he played some strong
safety. I'm checking PFF right now.

(01:26:54):
Like you know people talk crap about the Packers cornerback
room. So 2000 in the box 885 at
outside corner 3:30 at free safety.
Most of that was year one. And then he has sprinkled in
some box reps, which I imagine would be listed as as strong
safety 370 snaps, but that couldalso be listed at that's where

(01:27:17):
that weird like like a box safety though yeah or it that
could even be a slot player thatthey their their designations
sometimes get weird when they put box in there.
I don't, yeah. I mean, you got a guy out there
playing star or whatever, like, you know, they don't know where
to catalog that, right. And so that's that's the thing.
But I I imagine Box in his case would be strong safety.
So he has done a lot of things, but very clearly the majority

(01:27:40):
have been in the slot. So again, yeah, I mean, it's
it's again, it's like Green Bay secondary where it's like with
Hobbs down, it doesn't look, it doesn't look good at corner, but
the safety room is good. Like it's it's a very similar
situation both sides of the ballin the secondary, which is you
know, where it's like, ah, yes, could the defense win out

(01:28:03):
because they're rusty? Yes.
Could big plays be a story of the game because the corners
rooms aren't, you know, among the best in the league?
Absolutely. Like it could be one of those
weird games where it's like, no,nobody scores 30, but you're
like, OK, some of the defense was good.
Some of the defense was like, man, we're letting up some big

(01:28:23):
plays because on a couple of these, the the the defensive
line, none of it could get home.And, you know, we don't have the
best units on the back end and the safeties can't cover, you
know, everywhere. They can't, they can't be
everywhere at once. Like, you know, let me answer
your question, right? You know what I'm saying?
Based on how last year went, whowould you rather have on your

(01:28:44):
roster today, Terry and Arnold or Javon Bullard?
There was a lot of talk, all things considered equal,
presumably there was a lot of chatter about the Packers trying

(01:29:04):
to trade up to go get Terry on Arnold.
And ultimately, obviously they did not trade up.
And I don't know, I don't know that I believe they were
actually trying to trade up on draft day.
There was talk that that they were specifically trying to move
up before draft day to position themselves for grab, Terry and

(01:29:25):
Arnold. Yeah.
Yeah, just like if, if Brad Holmes called up Brian Gutekins
and said, hey, one for one swap Terry and Arnold for Javon
Bullard, would you do that if Brad Holmes asked?

(01:29:46):
While you're thinking about that, Chris asks who's starting
Jeff Okuda? Last I heard of Kuda was a
Falcon. I think he's still a Falcon.
Jeff Okuda? No, he's a Viking.
He's this is interesting. Is he a Viking?
So he's a God. Every everybody's got problems

(01:30:13):
pre season week 1. He played for the Vikings.
Even even I forgot that he spenttime in Houston.
Well as well might be a season abig place.
Look at this Matt's talking about Vikings quarterback rooms
a real problem too real steam onsigning Stephane Gilmore and
that's not a good thing. Yeah, I kind of do remember kind

(01:30:34):
of us talking about last year oflike, wow, they just have like
they brought back Murphy and they kind of had to like, I
don't think there was any question based on what was what
else was there and what else they could do after that.
And so, and yeah, they just got rid of, they just traded Makai
Blackman to the Colts, right as well.
It as well as this is this is bleak.

(01:30:58):
Their starting quarters are Byron Murphy and Isaiah Rogers
and they have Dwight Mclothern and Jeff Okuda.
Yeah, this is in reserve. Gosh, they probably have to sign
Gilmore low key 'cause I'm trying to remember.
I think Jay Ward if I'm not mistaken.
If I'm not mistaken, I think he played some slot snaps at LSUI.

(01:31:22):
Think I could be mistaken though, I don't.
Know if I've watched? Jay Ward Yeah, that's that's
pretty bleak. This is what's with our division
right now. Yo, we got, do the Bears have
the best cornerback room in the division?
I bet I I would say they do. I mean Jalen, well, first of

(01:31:42):
all, Jalen is clearly, he's clearly the best corner.
He is best individual corner in the division.
Anybody else? It's not close, I mean.
They have Kyler Gordon playing slot and then Tyreke Stevenson.
Like this is easily the best cornerback room.
It did not have a good year, butKyler and Jalen, yeah, that's
that's good enough. Is easily the best cornerback

(01:32:05):
room. It is, yeah.
And like the Packers are are second best.
I would say I would take Nate Hobbs over anybody, the Lions.
And like Nate Hobbs versus DJ Reid, I think I would probably
take Nate Hobbs. I think just barely, but I think
it's pretty close. I, I do like the fact that the
bears are even kicking the tireson Jalen Jones, honestly.

(01:32:26):
So OK, this this makes me think that I was right.
Is 3 years younger than DJ Reed.Too, so there.
This makes me. Think I'll get right?
You're going to tiebreaker that one.
This makes me think DJ Reed willfall off before Hobbes falls off
from wherever he is now. It doesn't help that the rest of

(01:32:48):
the Bears defense, again, there's just really good
safeties all over in the NFL. I mean, not in the NFL, in the
NFC North, but not this one. Not this team, fellas, like like
Brisker is he's he's average. At least he's average.

(01:33:09):
At least he's not he's not great, but he's average.
Kevin Byard, I really liked whenhe was with the Eagles.
I can't remember did. Oh, he forgot to go look easy.
So he's been around a while. Titans, then Eagles for him.
Well, he's super old. He's 31 years old.
Yeah, 31. Yeah, no, he's 32 now.
He just turned 32 like last week.
Wow. Yeah, I thought so.

(01:33:31):
I thought so. Yeah, He he was right.
By the way, on Jay Ward. I looked he kind of felt a lot
of everything. 584 in the slot for Jay Ward.
Yeah, I thought so. I thought that was the case.
So yeah, he fired was not like got awful last year, but like it
was a huge question. You know, everybody was trying
to figure out, you know, which safety the pack was were going

(01:33:54):
to go sign a free agency. And I I liked the idea of Kevin
Byard, but like the age was so concerning to me.
And he did fall off last year inChicago.
Interestingly, if you just look at PFF coverage grade not the be
all and end all, but he did regress for four straight years

(01:34:15):
from 2021 through 202490.78170.3and then 61.6 this past year.
He allowed receptions on 71% of his targets.

(01:34:35):
NFL passer rating not terrible. NFL passer rating of 90.2 when
targeted. Had two penalties in the season.
Yeah. Anyways, but it was peek at
this, this whole division, honestly kind of glad we did
this. It's kind of a nice little look.
Not to interrupt you. My bad.
Is there anything, do you have any other lingering questions

(01:35:01):
about the Lions defense before we turn our attention to the
offense? We really have not talked about
the linebackers. I don't know that we need to
because it's the same. It's the same group that it's
been so like, you know what they're at.
They're they've been steadily getting better every year.
It's, it's, it's a, it's a pretty good line back in core
Anzalone, for as much as I really don't like him, he's,
he's turned into a certainly a fine starter, no question about

(01:35:26):
that. And then, you know, Jack
Campbell just kind of out of nowhere, just very, very, very,
very solid. And like they're even getting
good contributions from Derek Barnes.
Yeah, their 2023 draft continuesto to play out and it's like
we're not even thinking about Campbell's like nationally and

(01:35:46):
like, even, you know, you know, inner division wise, we're not
thinking about it as much because it's just kind of like
been solid, you know, super athletic 200 and 45250 LB
linebacker built for built for this this this cyclical shift
truly built for it would be a perfect compliment to to Cooper
right now if we had him that that Gibbs and Campbell first

(01:36:09):
round, it looks wonky, but it's worked.
And then obviously branch of theport in the second has been
tremendous for them. So it's if they ever get this
thing done and go win one, like they'll look to that Class A
lot. And, and certainly, of course,
the 21 with, with Sewell and andSt.
Brown. But it's yeah, it's, it's they

(01:36:33):
continue to find pillar pieces. It it, there's probably going to
be a draft or two that, that where that where this runs out
for them. But they've been on a heater and
they want Tyleek and and ratledge and then they obviously
make a big move up for for Tesla.
So we'll see how they can keep going.
You know, excited to see it. Chris said Detroit spent big on

(01:36:54):
those corners. And I'm, I'm not sure if he's,
you know, joking or being serious, but I did, I did notice
that the DJ Reed contract for a guy who was already in his 30s
or, you know, just hitting his 30s, he's 29 right now.
This is not a contract you love to see.

(01:37:15):
It's not, you know, from a dollar standpoint and length.
It's not too dissimilar to what we got going on with Nate Hobbs.
But Nate, Nate Hobbs is 3 years younger.
And so the idea of signing him to this longer deal, despite the
fact that neither one of them are like fantastic corner, it's
like, this is a lot scarier to me that a year from now, let's

(01:37:39):
say that he plays like crap in 2025 and you want to cut bait
with him, you're going to have 27 mil in dead cap for a very
pedestrian starting corner. I do think it's hilarious that
the Lions have both DJ Reed and DJ Reader as starters on their.
It's like Houston with all the Jaylens.

(01:38:02):
Like seriously? So it's like the Packers a
couple years ago with all The Smiths?
Yeah, yes, yeah, that is a weird, weird structure.
Got some void stuff going into 28.
Interesting. So this year the highest paid
corner is Amek Robertson and theLions and, and he only has a cap

(01:38:25):
hit of 6 1/2 mil DJ Reed is only4.7 this year, but that's
obviously not a very meaningful number because there's
32,000,000 dead cap if you needed to move on from him.
And I'm like, that is going to toll here.
So the fact that they have Terryon on that rookie contract,

(01:38:49):
that's huge, you know, but he, he needs to start playing
better. If I I think I think my stance
here on the on the on the Lions defense is the the biggest
question I have for them is whether Terry and Arnold can be
a reliable starter who is good enough that they can leave him

(01:39:13):
on the field. Because if they have to take him
off the field, they very quicklyget into a spot where they are
it majorly in due to because that means they have to move
Brian Branch off of safety and have him go play at in the slot,
which he's terrible at. You are taking the strength of

(01:39:34):
your defense, which is your two safeties, reducing it to just
Kirby. And then, you know, I don't know
Daniel Thomas or Thomas Harbour.I I don't know anything about
either of those guys. You know, they're certainly
going to be a huge step down from Brian Branch starting
opposite Kirby Joseph. I think your best bet would if
you if you had to take Terry andArnold off the field, I think

(01:39:57):
you'd be better served trying toplay Avante Maddox or Rakya Sin
over moving Brian Branch. But like we've seen those guys.
We know what they have left in the tank at this point and it's
not much. So if Terry and Arnold can just
be like, I would say Keyshawn Nixon, if he can be even be
Keyshawn Nixon, I think that that makes such a big difference

(01:40:19):
for this. Lion's roster and you know, they
have a bunch of superstars in Detroit they.
Do. But like, the window there is
going to start closing. If some of these young guys on
defense can't hit, especially especially in the cornerback

(01:40:40):
room, you need Tyleek Williams to hit.
DJ Reader, you know, absolutely out of this world run defender,
but very expensive. Yeah.
I think the reason you need Ty league to hit is simply because
readers in season 10 now and again, McNeil, you're you're
hoping McNeil is coming back at some point healthy.
It's not going to be immediate where it's like, oh, he's

(01:41:01):
himself again where he's ADT who's clogging up space but also
has kind of unlocked himself as a pass rusher.
Not at the Dexter Lawrence levelwhen it comes to nose tackles
because Lawrence is on another planet when it comes to that.
But he's doing enough to where it's like, OK, we can justify
keeping all of this on the field.
You know, all this size on the field on early downs because

(01:41:22):
they clog up the pressure. And we have somebody who
unfortunately is not available right now in Moosa Rica, right,
who can kind of wreak havoc moreas the past for sure.
That's what they were hoping Pascal could do, right?
Who is also, you know, injured to start the year.
I think he's the one guy who's on IR.
So it yeah, they kind of do needWilliams probably a little
earlier than they were hoping they needed him right at at this

(01:41:42):
juncture. But I do agree, JJ that I think
the biggest thing I'm looking atwith it with this team, right,
especially defensively is Terry and Arnold, right?
Like now corners a difficult position, right?
We all I think we all understandhow difficult it is nowadays.
It's very hard. Sometimes you some refs, you
can't breathe on a guy and it's a like it's a penalty, right?

(01:42:03):
They don't like you guys hittingeither.
They would prefer you not as well.
So it's it's tricky, right? Not to mention you, you know,
these athletes are getting better and better and you have
to be fluid, focused and coverage, right, especially when
you you're put on an island, right.
And so I think Quinjan Mitchell got a little bit of the benefit
of playing with Victoria Fangio,right?
That certainly helps. But he had a great season,

(01:42:23):
right? He had a really good rookie
season. Arnold did not And so you're
going to get comp to him all thetime.
Is it fair? Unfortunately, no, because I
think everybody Mitchell was probably the most consensus of a
lot of things in that draft of like he's probably corner one
and but you're going to get comped to him because you're
picked near him. Doesn't matter if you could or
not could have right. That's that's always what

(01:42:44):
happens. And so for him to it.
It's not always an easy. As I said, it's not easy right
out the gate. It took Jaycee Horn a few
seasons to really get things going and now he deservedly was
paid by Carolina. But again, he it was a little
slow for him. Not everybody certain out of the
gate, not everybody sauce out ofthe gate, right?
Like you, you sometimes it'll take time.

(01:43:05):
So he's going to have runway. But I think at this juncture you
have to see, you know, glimpses.You have to start seeing more of
like, OK, he's showing up against, you know, XY and Z
teams who have good receivers. And so maybe the play's still a
little more volatile, but the penalties are being cleaned up,
right? He's still tackling fine.
Like he's a fine tackler that the good news is at least that.

(01:43:28):
He's he's an. Exceptional tackler, absolutely
right. And you've seen like the
coverage in college. So you're hoping that, right.
It's not a situation where he's not doing well in coverage and
he doesn't want to give effort as a tackler.
So it's like now what do we do if he's not great in coverage,
this becomes a a true liability.It's like, no, just take the
step up required of you because we know you can tackle.

(01:43:49):
You've bought into what we want to do defensively.
Just take a step, right? It doesn't you don't have to be
certain tomorrow, right? It's more of like, you know,
this, this incremental progress.Well, let's let's talk about
what he what, what his rookie season did look like.
He played almost 1000 snaps, wasrelatively poor in coverage.

(01:44:10):
He had a lot of games where he was giving up 80 to 100%
completions when targeted and hewas targeted a lot.
He also had 10 penalties. And you know, like you look you,
you referenced Sauce Gardner, like Gardner was holding and
committing pass interference like every 3rd play for his

(01:44:33):
first two years in the league. It just really wasn't getting
called. And if you can, you know, just
be a little sneakier about it, like Gardner was and get away
with it. Wear white gloves when you're
playing at home. Yeah, Yeah, it helps a lot.
Possible for an advantage. Let's turn our attention to

(01:44:55):
Detroit's offense because obviously, like, this is the
strength of the roster. You kind of got.
Yeah, pretty darn decent stars. And we're across the board the
IT begins and ends with the offensive line, though.
So they're replacing Frank Ragnow.

(01:45:16):
Graham Glasgow, as far as we know, has locked down that
starting center job. It's going to be a a downgrade
from Frank because Frank was a top three center in the NFL.
Is the offensive line still gonna be good enough?
You have Tate Ratledge and Christian Mahogany both starting

(01:45:37):
for the first time at either guard spot.
I just would like to reflect to a year ago when the Packers
would play the Lions. This was more than any other
point in the season where I I really felt like our struggles
at the interior of the offensiveline showed up the most where it

(01:46:01):
was like those three guys were just constantly being beaten
just about almost every down when we were playing the Lions.
Especially in the first half of each of those two games,
especially the first half of that first game that our
interior offensive line couldn'thold up for even a full second
before somebody's getting through and getting pressure on

(01:46:23):
Jordan. And it was just a nightmare.
You couldn't run the ball. You couldn't throw the ball and
now I, you know, I'm not gonna. We haven't played a snap of
football yet in 2025. I'm not gonna come out here and
say, oh, look at that, table's aturn.
She was on the other foot. We don't know.
We got to see what Mahogany and Glasgow and Ratliff can do.

(01:46:43):
But the fact of the matter is they haven't done anything yet.
And that interior was such a strength for the Lions offense
these past 2-3 years. I don't think it's I don't think
it's fair to expect it to still be a strength.

(01:47:05):
But can it avoid being a liability?
And this is where, you know, thethe the Packers are going to
have to take advantage of the situation.
All right, you got Devante Wyattin the middle.
We are not entirely sure who's going to be next to him.
Maybe for Week 1. You kind of just go all out and

(01:47:27):
empty the kitchen drawer and really bring those linebackers a
ton and try and get pressure up the middle.
Goff is and always has been terrible when he's under
pressure. And if you can get pressure on
him, that's why Sewell was the pick all day every day, right?

(01:47:48):
And Decker and Sewell still, youknow, probably the best tackle
duo in the NFL, but now there's a big three man liability
potentially sitting right there,you know, and like, hey, maybe
this is a game where it would have kind of been nice to have
Kenny Clark because he was much more of a pass rushing defensive

(01:48:09):
tackle than a than a run stopper.
And hey, maybe we can make the Lions 1 dimensional by taking
away the passing game. Don't let Jira Goff be
comfortable enough to throw. And that's kind of a winning
formula for the Packers. You know, they're not really a
stop the run first type of team.They're more of a stop the pass

(01:48:31):
first type of team. And then, you know, just daring
the other team to give up on running the ball even when it's
working, you know, and that works when your offense is is
working. Yeah.
Yeah. I think the one thing that
benefits Detroit is, is simply experience.
Glasgow's been in the building along time.

(01:48:52):
Gosh, he was a third round pick in 2016.
That's crazy. He's played plenty of snaps over
8082 hundred. In fact, it is time in Detroit.
He has mixed, you know, the three positions on the interior.
You know, they he's kind of stepped up when called upon.

(01:49:13):
So there's at least some familiarity, continuity, all of
that. So I I think that is what's
going to be the most beneficial to them.
Now, Mahogany played well when he was on the field, but he was
on the field a lot. And Rutledge is a rookie.
I thought Rutledge was their best pick in the 2025 draft.

(01:49:34):
But I think that he still has toprove it on the field, right?
You can like him in the draft all you want.
Like we got it, we got to see it, right?
So I do think that's where you have to take advantage.
It's it's a very weird, it's a very weird weakness on weakness
game in this one with Detroit's interior line and Green Bay's
interior D line, right? In terms of especially in terms
of the depth, obviously, I thinkWyatt's got to take advantage,

(01:49:58):
right? This is kind of the portion of
Wyatt's career where we've seen the flashes of the past rusher
Wright when he's been healthy. So unfortunately he wasn't
healthy last year, but I think, you know, now it's time to like
really step up, right? They've the 5th year contracts
in the 5th year option is in in place for you.

(01:50:20):
Like they're they're choosing tobelieve.
And if there isn't a perfect honestly, two matchups for me
and it at least to start the season where you should be
taking advantage. I mean, what, what, what, what
is there right, like Detroit's interior, Washington's interior
to start the season, like those two Washington beefed up tackle.

(01:50:42):
There's no question, right? They got tonsil.
They they draft Connerly, but without cause me that interior
is is suspect. I Beatrice's experience, but it
doesn't mean he's excellent, right?
Like it's kind of the Glasgow thing where it's like a
steadying president who's playedin the league a while.
That doesn't mean great. So Wyatt needs to tee off here.
No question about it. I do think Hafley's going to

(01:51:04):
drop matchups for Parsons on these guys because he's proven
to win in a lot of those situations, right?
They put him head up on the center and he's one.
They put him up on guards. He wins because everybody's, I
mean, they're afraid of the athleticism, period.
Like that's just, that's just the deal.
And for the center, he could jab, step across the face and
dip underneath in an instant. And that's really difficult
assignment. So I think, yeah, it's all going

(01:51:27):
to come down to Green Bay takingadvantage of the interior,
making Goth uncomfortable because as you see elsewhere,
winning on the edge is going to be a difficult task unless
you're bringing plenty of heat to kind of mess with the
protection rules. Because Jameson's going to
Jameson found it 1000 yards on 58 catches under 70 targets or

(01:51:49):
something like that is nuts. That's just you don't see some
of that stuff. And and yeah, he he can, I think
he as far as deep threats go, one of the better ones because
he's got geared down ability to take advantage of of teams
respecting the speed on top of it.
So and Aman Rai, we know what heis right, he's next Gen.

(01:52:12):
Cooper cup and you know what Laporta is.
Laporta is working his way towards being the combo player
that I think they hope him to beand if he doesn't, he's still a
great pass catching tight end. So it's going to be a difficult
task for the coverage unit and that's why taking advantage of
this new look interior is a big deal because they also lost
Zeitler. Like I know right now is the

(01:52:33):
bigger fish that is is gone out to sea at this point right in
retirement. But Zeitler going is a big deal
as well. A lot of experience from that
Cincinnati, Baltimore and and what have you.
So so real quick, I accidentallybanned a user from the chat.
I was not trying to see Cole. I think I just re added you it.

(01:52:56):
There's not like a easy option to unban, but I think I added
you backed in back in as an approved commenter.
I was not trying to do that. I apologize.
I was trying to I was trying to pin your comment and I I just
missed and hit the I hit the putuser in timeout button when we
do it live and it didn't put youin a timeout.

(01:53:19):
It banned you and deleted your comments, which is a separate
button that I definitely did nothit.
It does definitely do that. I don't know why it does that.
I don't know why there's not yeah, I don't that's weird.
So if your Cole was. Making a lot of.
A lot of Fair points about like if you're still here, Frank
comments is much better than Green Bay.
Like I think I think that's veryfirst statement.

(01:53:41):
That's so many positions, right.I do think Green Bay would have
the edge if they kicked Tom overto left tackle.
Technically I think that's an advantage, but tackles,
receivers, tight end, I think could go either way.
I don't, I know most people wouldn't agree on that, but most
people are probably emphasize emphasizing the wrong thing
about what tight ends do. I I think Kraft is a better

(01:54:04):
blocker and they are both excellent receivers.
I is Laporta a slightly better receiver at at tight end?
I think so, yeah. So, yeah, I think you could make
an argument there. Gibbs is obviously, you know,
electric factory. I think Jacobs and Montgomery do
some similar stuff. So I think their room's deeper

(01:54:26):
quarterback you can haggle over if you'd like to.
I'm not going to. Jared Goff is a very average
quarterback in a very friendly scheme.
Now he does what he is asked to do pretty well, which is deliver
the ball to the right, read on time.
That's great. When things breakdown, he is

(01:54:47):
absolutely atrocious. And that's the thing we're like,
I'm I'm not going to hear any argument for anything else.
Pressure to sack, you know, avoiding sacks, right?
It was last year, it was Alan and Love at the top of the list.
But I do yeah, I think Goff has a firmer grasp on the floor of
operating the offense than Love does right now.
And I think that's fair to say. And and yeah, with C Cole says,

(01:55:08):
I mean, there's so many positions, right until Green Bay
just added Parsons, right edge with Hutchinson.
Now we want to see him back healthy and see how the leg
looks. But up until that injury, he was
clearly the best of any of theseedge players.
Now I think it's, it's a fun argument.
Defensive tackles a little thin between the two of them.
I think you could probably lean towards experience with Reader a
little bit more. I think Detroit's better at

(01:55:30):
linebacker because I just I think Kuwait, we're kind of
waiting for that that punch to be there.
And Cooper hasn't had that many snaps.
Safety. I they got 2.
Their 2 is better than Green Bay's two.
I'd stack McKinney up against anybody but Hamilton in this
league essentially right now. I think McKinney, Bates and and

(01:55:51):
Joseph are very similar game changing talents on the back
end. So yeah, I I don't think that's
an unfair statement to make thatthe Lions are unfortunately
better in a lot of spots right now and their rosters.
I think I would take got a little bit of a Green Bay's five
offensive lineman over Detroit'sfive offensive lineman, even
though Detroit has two better tackles than than the Packers 2

(01:56:18):
starting tackles. But I wouldn't say they have the
two best tackles. I think that Zach Tom is better
than Taylor Decker. I think Penny Sewell is easily
the the best offensive lineman in the mix and then Zach Tom and
then Taylor Decker. And then at that point you get
to Elton Jenkins. I was going to say, if you're
going total offensive line, yeah, Elton's probably the
fourth guy on that list, Elton and then and then and then

(01:56:42):
Rasheed at that point. And like, I don't love the guard
options for either team, but I would certainly take Green Bay's
center over Graham Glasgow as ofright now.
So I, I, I, I would take the five.
And then also, like with Shawn Ryan being out there, I'm not
the biggest Shawn Ryan believer,but he does have continuity with

(01:57:08):
playing next to Zach Tom. He's been in this system for a
long time. I would take his experience and
the chemistry they have working together as at least a plus.
It's a plus that he has that. And it's a negative that
Mahogany and Glasgow and Ratledge don't have that.
Yeah, I think it, it stinks because like on paper, to me,

(01:57:31):
this is tough because Mahogany Ithought was a tremendous,
tremendous value when they picked him and I.
But he's Rutledge, right? And so Mahogany played, I don't
know. I don't know how many snaps he
played last year. It was very it was very few.
He looked good in them. But I think I'm just going to
pull it up. But yeah, I mean, for Rutledge,
it's, yeah, it's the NFL now. It doesn't really matter what

(01:57:52):
you were as a prospect. Yeah, 144 snaps for Mahogany
last season. Got some at both guard spots.
Did it all right. I mean, at least according to
PFFII remember some of it against Chicago, where I thought
was was pretty good and and in the Washington game I thought

(01:58:13):
was was nice as well. But other than those two games
he had, he had 10 snaps elsewhere other than those two
games. But I I again, it's limited.
You never know, but it's at least a nice little start for
him. But he's still got to prove it
in my eyes, him and him and rattled.
So defensively, I I think the Packers clearly have the better
defensive roster. You know, we'll just go from top

(01:58:36):
to bottom like is Aiden is a fully healthy Aiden the best
pass rusher between the two teams?
Probably. Oh, well, I, I, I should say the
best is, is a fully healthy Aiden the best defensive end
between the two teams When you when you factor in just the, you

(01:58:56):
know, his complete game, but pass rusher?
No, but yes, Parsons and Gary and I would even yeah, Parsons
and Gary edge 2 for Detroit is pretty weak.
It's pretty weak. I, I would even say like Parsons
and I don't know, enigbare or Parsons and maybe Van Ness.

(01:59:21):
I, I, I would take over Hutchinson and Davenport, kind
of surprised. And then at, at defensive
tackle. That's a big question for both
teams. There's kind of 1 established
guy for both teams. Pretty big question mark for
both teams next to them. So yeah, linebackers, I would
give the edge to Green Bay. I think I, I, I, I would say I

(01:59:44):
like Quay and Cooper better thanCampbell and Anseloni, but it's
close. I think that I think there's
more variance with the Packers and more stability with the
Lions, but the ceiling is just not there with the Lions.
It's that weird. Yeah, it to me, the how you see
linebackers, definitely how I see QB, where it's like Goff's

(02:00:05):
floor to this point, running an offense, being more precise is
better. Love's more volatile.
His high highs are a little bit better.
I think you could definitely saythat a lot of backer room.
I do think when Rodriguez comes back, I definitely think the
Lions are deeper. When Rodriguez gets back into
this room, because you you obviously mentioned Stewart,
who's going to do a lot of work on special teams, certainly, but

(02:00:29):
they've gotten quite a bit out of Barnes, which is to me pretty
impressive considering day threepicks.
So yeah, I linebackers an interesting one to discuss just
based again on the the floor ceiling.
You know, if you're viewing it right now in terms of like, I
must give you the report today, I'll probably take the safer

(02:00:50):
option. But if you're giving me the
report at the end of the year, I'd be OK betting on on
Greenbays guys at cornerback, I think that Nate Hobbs is pretty
clearly a little bit better thanDJ Reid and I think Carrington
Valentine is pretty clearly a little bit better than DJ Reid.

(02:01:15):
So then for me, with having bothof those guys head and shoulders
above Tyrion Arnold, it is a question for me of where you
slot Keyshawn Nixon in there. And I would say he's in between
Reid and what Arnold was last year.
Yeah, Arnold's Arnold's again, in the kind of the same vein of

(02:01:37):
like a lot of guys going into Year 2, Cooper obviously showed
more and played better ball, butobviously we know what Arnold
was in college and could he reach that ceiling?
Yeah, absolutely. And that to me, if his ceiling
is reached, he's probably above everybody.
Unfortunately in Green Bay. I don't think we're going to
probably see that in in, in year1.

(02:01:58):
But yeah, I think it's again, I,I still kind of go to like Terry
and Arnold versus Javon Bullard like they're.
Yeah, that's, that's an interesting.
I think it is an interesting comparison because both of them
were quite good at really big SEC schools.

(02:02:18):
Both of them had some significant questions that you
know, push them to fall further,a lot further in the draft than
they were expected to go. And then they both were pretty
horrible in year 1. So I think it is a really
interesting it is especially because obviously Arnold's

(02:02:39):
playing outside corner. I don't think that's that's
going to change, right? Bullard is is kind of in that
weird flux where it's like, is he playing nickel where I think
a lot of people would rather seehim versus is he going to play,
you know, I actually just play at safety and they're just
giving up on the nickel thing all together.
Just very strange because we we're we're going to see Arnold.

(02:03:00):
How much of Bullard are we goingto see in year 2?
I think is is interesting. So, well, there's clearly an
opportunity for Bullard to get on the field 'cause we have so
many questions about the cornerback spots.
And like, who is gonna play nickel for us?
You know, how are Hobbs and Valentine actually gonna lock it

(02:03:23):
down on the boundary? Is, is, is Keyshawn going to
kind of get back to where he wasin like 2223?
Are we gonna get the 24 version of Keyshawn that we kind of saw
again this summer in training camp?
I, I tend to think that Keyshawnis washed.

(02:03:44):
I, I tend to think that, you know, age has caught up with
him, that we kind of got him at his peak.
Age has caught up with him. And I kind of tend to think that
he, you know, he's not going to be with the team next year and,
you know, may not really be playing many minutes for us by
the time we get to like, playofffootball.
So, you know, there's certainly the opportunity for Bullard to

(02:04:08):
work his way under the field. It seems like the Packers really
want him to be pushing Evan Williams, that they want him out
there. I'm not really that interested
in that. I, you know, I'm not saying that
I want Oladapo to push Evan Williams, but I'm kind of more
interested in seeing Oladapo on the field out there than I am
Bullard. So yeah, it's true, Sequel says.

(02:04:33):
What's wrong with? Chicago, they have a lot of.
Pieces, they do have a lot of pieces and, you know, like,
what's wrong with it? I just would say like they have
to do something, you know, like,let's actually see them put some
of these pieces to work. I'm I'm not talking crap about
the bears right now. I just, I need to see him do it.
Yeah. I think my questions are, are

(02:04:54):
the talent. Most of my questions are about
Caleb, frankly, Caleb, Caleb, but I like I think like not to
cold, cold. There's a lot of cope with Caleb
right now because he play makes out of structure.
Guys, we already we already knewhe could do that.
That's not like some shocking like revelation that Caleb can

(02:05:15):
play out of structure. Incredible plays on the move.
The problem is, and we saw it inthe preseason game against the
Chiefs, right diamond release win the slant for Roma Duns and
Caleb doesn't throw him the ball.
He's wide open. So like, I have no idea what
Caleb is seeing or not seeing out there right now.
Like Caleb has a slow processor.That was true in college.

(02:05:36):
He's been a slow processor. It he's part of what led to the
68 sacks, the third most sacks in NFL history with like very
little to no anticipation last year.
Just feel like he never had command.
And again, I get it that it a lot of unblocked pressures in
the offensive line. Listen, if boy, if the Chiefs

(02:05:57):
were right about trading Toonie and he hits the Cliff, like
Caleb's going to have to be again in a in a really big spot
because I I'm just not buy. I don't buy into Dome in a ton
personally, outside of doing like one thing really well,
which is blocking in zone. So I got I got questions like
Jonah Jackson's been hurt like we haven't we haven't seen a lot

(02:06:21):
of them recently. Left tackle.
I think's an issue right now. They're trying out Braxton
Jones. He's dealt with injuries.
They want Trapilo to be that guy.
He didn't he didn't snag it in in camp.
So I got concerns there. I'm not concerned about the
skill position players, althoughI think Swift kind of stinks.
I'd be interested to see how Manung guy does or if you trade

(02:06:41):
for somebody like. Swift is.
Swift has always been terrible, right?
And so like, but I, I wonder if they trade for like ETN or if
they, you know, check in on The Jets with Breece or something
like that to try to revive his career or anything.
I'm trying to remember. There's a different there's a
different running back that the Bears are kind of linked to

(02:07:02):
there. There's a running back that's on
the market right now. There was somebody else and
Brian Robinson like free agent or just free agent or just no,
no, like a trade. There was a trade trade.
Was it in Jacksonville? That might be it.
I know there's a lot of talk about Jacksonville potentially
moving the guy 'cause Basil's tome, that dude, I Caleb does a

(02:07:28):
couple things well, other than playing a structure.
He didn't he didn't put the ballin harm's way last year.
But again, that's fine. But you also got to be kind of.
I don't think they shouldn't move down from Coolio Harbor.
Yeah, no, they definitely shouldnot have done that.
I don't know why they I have no clue why that that was the case,
honestly. Like you're going to run a bunch
of zones. Dolman came into this building

(02:07:49):
like that. That was his.
That was his. That was his move.
Like that was what was going to keep it.
So left tackle concerns me And and the fact that left tackle
concerns me now concerns me thatCaleb is going to be worried
about the time he has a little bit.
And oh, Bears fans have been complaining about the offensive
line in Chicago for years, like going going back to the

(02:08:11):
beginning of the Justin Fields tenure there.
And and I think that just about every year the Bears offensive
line was much better than what they were given credit for.
And, you know, there was a lot of like, you know, hand wringing
over, you know, how many sacks the quarterbacks have been
taking. And it's like, OK, like the

(02:08:31):
pressures that they are under are pretty comparable to the
rest of the NFL. It's the pressure to sack ratio
that is killing you. But this might be the year where
the Bears offensive line actually is a huge liability.
Like it's it's it's not as good of a situation as it has been

(02:08:53):
recently. And Chris says, look at the
Bears cap allocation. It is hilarious.
So the highest paid guy, they have Montez Sweat, who's like
not worth that. And then DJ Moore, did you know,
like there was a guy who was hosting a, a goofy podcast about

(02:09:15):
a train or something. And he's like really big on
Northern college football. And he likes the Packers.
And all that I can't remember. What his name is, he got a big
beard who was not really big on going and getting DJ Moore.
And now Bears fans on social media are agreeing with him and
saying, like, DJ Moore not really sure if he can be the

(02:09:40):
Bear's number one wide receiver this year.
Like, not sure he's got this. He's always gonna be Roman
Madinze. Yeah, but but then you look at
the fact that DJ Moore is gonna count for 25 mil against the cap
this year and then 60 mil in dead cap.
Like, you cannot. No, nobody's taking that

(02:10:01):
contract up your hands. You know what's his name?
Bill O'Brien is not in the NFL anymore.
All right? He's not going to do this for
you. Andrew Barry?
Maybe, but Andrew Barry doesn't have a lot of cap space to play
with anymore. Yeah.
So then your fourth highest cap hit is is you're not good

(02:10:21):
linebacker. Like he's, you know, he's the
wrong guy. Or am I getting these back?
Am I? Can I get getting these mixed
up? No, I I no, TJ is the good one.
TJ Edwards is very good. TJ is the good one and Tremaine
is the the splashy one where people just focus on the splashy
the splashy place. Yeah, TJI like Tremaine.
I don't Tremaine 17 and a half million dollars against the cap

(02:10:47):
of this year. Yeah, that's insane.
So then, OK, you were talking about Jonah Jackson and that
situation there. Is he going to be able to play
all year for them? Yeah, I mean, no idea.
They got to hope Tony is is not at the Cliff, which I, if I were

(02:11:08):
a betting man, I would say he hasn't yet.
I think he's going to be rock solid for them.
But like, boy, imagine if he hasto take over at left tackle
'cause they're like, oh, we saw you do this in Kansas City when
they've like needed like massivehelp.
You know, he's like, could they have to trot him out?

(02:11:28):
He's trending the wrong way. I will say he's from PFS
perspective. Is that because he had to put
him at left tackle? Well, no question he got a lot
worse. A lot worse when they moved into
left tackle. He was playing OK at left guard.

(02:11:49):
Kind of a crappy run blocker. Pretty darn good.
Very good pass blocker until they moved him to left tackle.
Yeah, I I don't think he said the Cliff, but like again, like
you never know when that thing'scoming.

(02:12:10):
He might be fine for 2025. I will say I this is probably
true for now. Honestly, if you if you have me
betting on it, I think he's the third best wide receiver between
the two teams by year's end, is my thought on this.
You got him behind Odunze and Golden.
Yeah. And like, if you count Loveland

(02:12:30):
as a receiver, it might be, it might be 4th, truthfully.
But yeah, DJ Moore's in a weird spot because I'm sure that he's
going to get all the gadget looks and all that stuff, but I
don't. Yeah, it's it's very weird.
He's in a very weird spot. Like they paid it.
I mean, the money looks fine nowbecause of all the other deals
that by receiver ones are getting out.

(02:12:51):
He he was never to me going to ever be like the elite of elite
wide receiver ones when they went and got him.
Now they went and got him because they needed to see it
from fields, which is totally understandable.
They sold the pick, which I think, you know, probably turns
out fine. But you know, I think the it's
just that you're in a kind of a weird spot where it made it, it

(02:13:12):
made perfect sense to go get a guy like Rome.
Honestly, makes I've I've never been.
I like Luther Burden because of the rare movement skills that
you hope you try to capitalize on, right, to have him buy in.
And it's kind of like, well, you've kind of already got
potentially 2 guys. Plus if you're going to be in 12
with Loveland, come at where it's like, can you do more play

(02:13:33):
some running back, you know, type of thing because we're so
thin. Like it's going to be a weird
year. It's going to be a weird year
with these skill positions. I've, I've really never liked DJ
Moore's game receiver rooms all year, personally.
This past year, DJ Moore had less than 1 1/2 yards per out
run. More than half of his yards were

(02:13:58):
yak. And then he's, you know, like I,
I know Bears fans are not gonna care about this at all, but he's
a pretty crappy run blocker and kind of always has been.
And for a run first offense for for for a a run first offense

(02:14:19):
where Ben Johnson is your head coach, like Bears fans are gonna
say, oh, that's nothing. I disagree.
I disagree that it's nothing. Yeah, I, I think it's, I DJ
Moore, I have always said is a very high end wide receiver 2.
Now you got me. The Packers have a whole bunch

(02:14:40):
of high end wide receiver three.What he said is not incorrect
here at all. At this point in time.
I have no problem with that either.
Man. My, I've said on here 100 times,
my number one priority this offseason was fixing the Packers
wide receiver situation through whatever means necessary.

(02:15:02):
And I thought that getting a newwide receivers coach should have
been on the table. Doesn't seem like it was and #2
was fixing the offensive line, the interior of the offensive
line. They did some stuff at both of
those spots. Did they do enough?
I don't know. I'm inclined to say adding

(02:15:24):
Matthew Golden and, you know, getting, hopefully getting these
wide receivers another offseasonin the books, another year more
mature, could help the wide receiver situation.
I don't like that Jaden Reid is hurt.

(02:15:44):
Really don't like that 'cause I think he's really supposed to be
a big part of this offense. I don't know if we did enough at
offensive line. I, I, I don't know if we have
two starting guards. I don't like Aaron Banks, I
don't like Shawn Ryan. I don't like Jordan Morgan as a
guard. I'm happy to have him play left
tackle for us. I don't want to play in guard.

(02:16:06):
I I don't, I just don't think wehave guards on the roster like,
and to me, Anthony Belton, I think it stinks that we don't
draft guards, to be honest. I think the one time we drafted
a guard was Elton Jenkins. It was freaking a home run.
It's like, you know, I mean, I don't, I don't think Green Bay

(02:16:26):
was Nah. Now I got to look.
Now it's going to bother me. I just got to double check.
But Drew said Ryan polls is going to get fired after this
year and everyone will say he's the reason Caleb sucked.
That's, that's like you're, it'strue on both counts true that
the Bears fans are going to say that.
But I also think I also think that it's it's kind of been true

(02:16:54):
that Ryan Poles has not done a good enough job with the assets
that he had in acquiring talent.He had a lot of assets and he
got a little bit of talent. Now it's a lot more talent than
that, what they had a couple years ago.
But when you look at teams around the league and like the
Packers are prime example of like, hey, don't have a lot of

(02:17:16):
resources, but we're kind of maximizing them.
And you look at like the Lions had a ton of resources and
really maximized them. And that's why they are kind of
one of the NFL heavyweights right now.
The Bears had more resources anddid so much less than any of
everybody else with them. Yeah, No, I think I I think it's
fair to. I think it's to me, just real

(02:17:41):
quick back to the the Toonie discussion.
I do think I do think toonies inthe top tier of the left guards
right now. I think you can haggle over who
it is Toonie. This guy probably wouldn't have
been here a couple years ago because I think he took a
massive downturn, but I think he's back is quit Nelson and I

(02:18:04):
think you throw Dickerson and Tyler Smith in that kind of
upper echelon left guard conversation at this point.
I don't I'm trying to think if there's anybody else who would
be there. Maybe Betonio from Cleveland is
maybe the other name that's thrown out there right now.
I think oh, Skoronski might jointhe crew in a year or so.

(02:18:29):
I don't think he's there yet, but I think I think that's your
kind of upper echelon right now.So they they certainly if if
they get that that similar play,it's it's a home run move for
them where the chiefs had to clear some some space to try to
sign the younger guy and Trey Smith, right.
So I think that's a great addition.
It's just to me on the offensiveline, it's going to come down to
whether or not Dolman is going to do enough in pass pro.

(02:18:51):
And then what happens at left tackle to me.
And but again, as you kind of rub JJ Green Bay not addressing
offensive line enough, I think that's obviously a part of 2024
draft, which we kind of talked about of like kind of a weird
allocation in, in, in in some respects to what they did in the
offensive line, even starting atfirst ending, you know, down

(02:19:12):
there, I think the sixth round. So that's weird.
I do think, you know, the fact that Belton, Trapillo and
Rutledge all went within 4 picksof each other, I think it's
going to be fascinating to see how that pans out down the line
as well. So you know, those 3 will kind
of be tied together for sure, even though that they play a

(02:19:34):
couple positions, right? You could, because I think you
could argue Green Bay needed guard help, right?
And, you know, Trapilo has to try to kick over to the left
side where Belton has already played and and you know all
that. So there there's a lot that goes
into this. Could Trapilo have just been the
right tackle for Green Bay and Zach Tom would have just kicked
back over where he's played? Like there's a lot of
interesting storylines, I think just between those three players

(02:19:57):
that I think will be fun to to see how that pans out of the
rookie contract. So it is.
It is a very, very fun conversation, I do think.
As far as polls goes, I think, you know, Ben Johnson's going to
be driving the ship going forward.
I think the Loveland pick at 10 completely convinced me that
he's driving the ship. In terms of those decisions,

(02:20:18):
especially, especially especially if they're
considering offensive players, right?
Like if they're considering offensive players especially,
Ben Johnson is in on every conversation.
There's no question, right? So, you know, he wanted
Loveland. I I almost guarantee that just
because I think they already hadcommet and they maybe again, I
think Warren's probably going toend up better than commet, but I

(02:20:40):
think they saw some similaritiesa little bit more so with those
two rather than a guy who has legit speed fluidity, a a
sharpness to his game that Loveland does that that I think
Warren maybe lacks a little bit of.
So I think I think that I think gave me the key in on there.
And I think that they're obvious.
They're obvious interest in Travian Anderson, the obvious

(02:21:03):
interest of like, ah, shoot, we didn't get Henderson.
We'll punt for a while, right? That kind of thing.
So I think that's clear that that he's at least doing that.
So but yeah, and obviously they take Ozzy as well in the second.
So they they went offense heavy.I think that was clear that Ben
Johnson wanted to do that. And again, I think I, I honestly

(02:21:27):
see Cole, I, I kind of am still kind of in that like sleeping
giant mode with Chicago at this point that I think a lot of
people are going to clown him early because the Ben Johnson
offense will be complex. And he wants it to be.
He wants to derive that illusionwhere it looks simple, but it's
very complex. And I think it might overwhelm
Caleb a little bit early on because he was overwhelmed last

(02:21:50):
year. And again, the processing speed
has to get up to up, up to snuff.
So I don't think they're going to be quite there this year,
even though I do have some some Nuggets spilled around about
them being in the playoffs just to just cover myself.
But I think it's going to be toolate.
I think it's going to be too little too late.
I think they're going to be Catching Fire at the at the time
where they are just maybe just alittle bit too far out of

(02:22:13):
contention for a playoff spot. Obviously, if something hits
earlier, then I think that timeline is, is completely
changes and then they're in, youknow, they're in, you know,
potential driver seat for a playoff spot.
But I just think it's going to come too late this season.
I think 2026 becomes the year where you have to start worrying
about Chicago a lot, a lot more.Well, the the other thing too,

(02:22:36):
is that Ben Johnson didn't ask Jared Goff to do a ton.
And if he can simplify things, simplify what is being asked of
Caleb. Yeah.
And kind of. Beat it into Caleb's head to

(02:22:58):
deliver the ball with timing andprecision.
You know, maybe you let Caleb get settled in there enough that
the game can slow down from him and he can start working on
taking up that processing speed a bit.
And, you know, OK, sure, in 2025, he's probably not going to
be making his full field reads and moving defense, you know,

(02:23:22):
defenders with his eyes the way he needs to.
But if he can be working toward that and not continuing to learn
bad habits, like I would consider that a win in of itself
for Ben Johnson in 2025. Just like, start reversing the
damage that was done this past year.

(02:23:43):
By the heck was the Seattle guy's name?
Who was their offensive coordinator, Shane Waldron,
whatever his name was. And you know, and, and the whole
Matt Eberfuss crew just start reversing some of that damage
that was done there with like, you know, like I, I, I didn't
like Caleb as a draft prospect that much.

(02:24:05):
I was a lot higher on Jaden Daniels than I was on on Caleb.
I never thought that Caleb had much of A processor in college
and didn't show me a lot that indicated to me that he was
going to be able to develop that.
But also, you know, I never liked Jared Goff's game very
much. And Ben Johnson turned him into

(02:24:25):
an extremely productive passer and, you know, just just a a guy
who could steer the offense the way it needed to be.
And like, yeah, they are very different players.
And Goff's processor has always been better than what Caleb's
has been. But I, I, I, I do see some

(02:24:49):
similarities in how both those guys brains shut down when they
are under pressure. And Ben Johnson was able to
prevent that from ever happeningto, to Jared.
And that allowed Jared, Jared toflourish in Detroit.
So can he do that? And again, it's the way that

(02:25:11):
offensive line is very important.
But but I guess like Ben Johnsonis probably one of the guys that
I would trust to try and draw that up, you know for sure.
No, I agree. Yeah.
I think offensively, again, I'm just concerned about left
tackle, maybe a little bit of right guard with Jackson.
Obviously running back isn't very good, but the QB certainly

(02:25:32):
bears the burn of that. Defensively, outside of Edwards
and Jaylen Johnson and maybe Kyler Gordon, I don't think they
have much personally. I know they signed Grady
Jarrett. That's very fun.
I just don't know how much you're going to get out of them.
It's kind of similar to me to Minnesota, where they're trying
to do as much as they can, Jonathan Allen, Javon Hargrave,
where it's like maybe you still get a little bit of of of what

(02:25:55):
they've got left, but just feelslike that's kind of a an energy
drink a little bit of like give us a boost early, but are you
going to have enough in the tankfor 17 games?
So do like this, though, great conversation.
See Cole, bring in a ton of conversations.

(02:26:16):
Yeah, I appreciate you. Which is awesome, which is
awesome. That's why I appreciate it.
And and my apologies again for accidentally banning you.
So glad we. Were able to rectify.
That yeah, very fun. We've got a Vikings guy in here
and a Bears guy in here. We're talking about the whole
division, which I which is a lotof fun.
I mean, the plan was to do a lotmore talking about the Lions.
And I think if we had had a lions fan in here that we would

(02:26:39):
not have spent the time talking about the Vikings and bears that
we've ended up doing. But like, you know what, the
this podcast has always been very driven by the chat you guys
are in here and, and asking us good questions.
Like we're going to go wherever you guys want to go conversation
wise. That's just always been the way
it goes. We did have sequel once, once

(02:26:59):
the question again about Jake McCarthy.
So we we answered this right before you got on.
I think, you know, like jury's out on McCarthy.
But yeah, he has he has some tools and he's in the best
situation that he could possiblyhave landed.
It's kind of like like Jordan Love landing in Green Bay.

(02:27:21):
Like, he was a guy who needed todevelop so much and boom, he
went to a place where he wasn't gonna have to start for three
years. JJ McCarthy's going to a place
where the offense is not going to ask him to do very much, and
the defense is so good that the offense probably just needs to
not turn the ball over. And.

(02:27:41):
Like you probably can do a lot of hunting and still win a lot
of games. Frankly, I think again, it's,
it's a similar thing, right? I I, if you're making me bet on
it, I mean, statistically speaking, no, because there's
six QBs and they just, they simply statistically cannot all
pan out, but it'd be very cool if they did.

(02:28:04):
Again, nothing is truly set in stone yet other than probably
Jayden at this point. I'd say maybe Jayden and and Bo
Bo possibly. I guess Bo's maybe thing is just
there may not be the ceiling to match everybody in that
conference is probably the biggest thing where it's like,
but but that doesn't make him a miss if if he ends up being an

(02:28:28):
average NFL starter for a while that that's not a miss at all.
I mean, like he's probably what people thought Daniel Jones was
going to be for the most part. Like sure, athletic enough of an
arm on the deep ball. He was Jones was accurate on the
deep ball until he got that neckinjury.
But but Beau does that. Jones doesn't do is he doesn't
turn the ball over right. Jones fumble the lot always and

(02:28:50):
then that was always an issue for him.
And I think Beau is much more comfortable out there and, and,
and has the poise that Jones doesn't.
So I think he's more of the realized version of Jones.
I think May has it. I don't think there's any
guarantees that he has it yet, but it seems like he does.
Considering how often I need to see a lot more from from May.
I'm I'm not ready to pronounce judgement either way.

(02:29:12):
I don't think you should yet. So can, can we set the standard
at like who gets, who gets a, a big second contract from the
team that drafted them? Like can we agree that that is
the that's the benchmark? Like you're, you're, you're OK.
So I, I'm going to say I think Drake May and Caleb Williams

(02:29:36):
don't get big contracts from theteam that drafted them.
I'm going to say Henyx probably doesn't, but I don't hate the
approach they're taking with him.
I'm gonna say Bo Nix and Jaden Daniels do.
So that just leaves JJ McCarthy and I would say McCarthy.

(02:30:02):
But. With nothing to go off of, we
haven't seen anything at all shred shred but like.
Probably. Just being, you know what we,
what we expect that they're gonna ask him to do with what we
think he can do with how the Vikings like to spend their
money. He probably gets a contract.

(02:30:24):
Yeah, I guess if, if, if handingout three of 6 is what we're
going to do. Jane definitely gets it.
Beau probably does. As long as Peyton's around.
Because I think Peyton, you know, as much as we joked about
him calling Patrick Mahomes, which I think is a little
ludicrous on his part, but maybejust doing his work, gassing up
his guy to make sure he's got all the confidence on planet

(02:30:46):
Earth, which goodbye him if he'sdoing that.
As long as Peyton's there, I think Nick's will be there.
So I think that's probably goingto be the case.
I'd probably lean May to get thethird one personally, just
because I think he has. I think to me a lot of what love
had and what love had it in whatin year 1 or in Oh, I just mean

(02:31:15):
like that third love collegiate season where it was all systems
go, but let's work on a few moremechanically in structure stuff
is where I thought BAE was at. Love obviously kind of
progressed in the turnover wherethe turnover prone stuff is
final year. But I just think there's poise.
I think there's enough precisioneverywhere to where I think he

(02:31:39):
he carves it out because they'veactually got a lot like Caleb, I
think coming in a lot more structure and a lot more
dedication to putting A-Team outthere.
So Sequel says Chicago's a city you can play average and get
money at QB. Caleb gets a deal unless he
plays himself out of it. I don't know man.
Trubisky and Fields both didn't get deals.
And thus far, Fields definitely played.

(02:32:02):
We we saw more out of Trubisky to this point than what we've
seen out of Caleb. Field certainly played his way
out, There's no question. And I think, oh, absolutely he
did. But I think, I think, yeah.
But yeah, I know I got to get what you're saying.
He's he's got to show it. Like, I think Trubisky through
one year did more than Caleb didthrough one year did he?

(02:32:30):
That was his. It was his that that second year
was the big year, right for Trubisky?
I think so Drafted in. 1720. 18.Was right 2020 7/20/18 was 18
was the year I think so no 2017.I, I, I think 2017 was a pretty

(02:33:09):
promising year for Trubisky. I'll have to take a peek just
'cause I don't, I don't remember.
But like, he, he regressed as a passer in 2018.
He was a better passer in Year 1than he was in Year 2.
Well, yeah, in Year 2, he started running all over the

(02:33:30):
place. He also had a big, big game
against the Bucs, which coincidentally I had.
I had Mahomes and Trubisky that year is my QBs and that was the
Mahomes bye week was sick. That's hilarious.
I also had Mahomes that year. Oh man, he had that.
He had another really good game against the Lions that same

(02:33:52):
year. And then also he had a game in
2019. Who was it he he had another
crazy. I think he had like 3 crazy
games against the Lions in a twoyear span, 2018 and 19.
He just went berserk against theLions.

(02:34:16):
Let. Me see why is there other Lions
game? Did he not play?
Oh, he did and he missed the other Lions game in 2018 because
that was when what's the guy's name?
The the I can picture his face. White guy made himself so much
money as a backup quarterback. What the heck was his name?

(02:34:40):
Foles. Nope, no, this is before Foles.
Foles was there in 2020 I think.I don't know.
This is driving me, driving me crazy.
I can't think of it. I got to go to the Bears 2018
season and see who else threw for him because this is driving
me crazy. I still I, by the way, I still
believe in Caleb. I think at this juncture, I

(02:35:01):
just, we got to see, I'll see this.
The processing step must must occur this year.
It must, must occur. I just didn't.
I just didn't believe in him that much to begin with.
And I'm just saying his first year didn't move the needle for
me. Chase Daniel is the guy I was
thinking, oh, Daniel, not Glennon.
OK. Glennon was the year or two

(02:35:21):
years before Chase Daniel was there in 2018.
Man, Chase Daniel has been all over the place.
Saints, Saints Saints, Chiefs, Chiefs, Chiefs, Eagles, Bears,
Bears, Lions, Chargers. And I think that.
That's why they brought him intoDetroit in 2020 was 'cause he
had that good game against them in 2018.

(02:35:44):
Of course, you know, 2018 was like, you know, you're still
talking about like all time worst, you know, Bears unit for
a whole bunch of years there. But yeah, the Bears just teed
off on the Lions four times in two years there, from 18 to 20
or 18 to 19. Theresa's Glennon is the Cuba
that made me think 6 foot 5 and taller is the detriment to being

(02:36:05):
a Cuba. I mean, Paxton Lynch and it all
depends on how much that 6 foot 5 is neck, All right?
There's a neck to neck to body ratio that you gotta you gotta
hit. What up Joe?
What up homie? Sorry I'm late.
Yeah, I think we're gonna wrap up pretty soon here.
We're just talking some Bears, talking some Bears.

(02:36:26):
We got a, we got a Bears fan here who's talking a big game.
So we've been doing that. But Drew wants to know he's not
a Bears fan. Oh, come on, he's.
A Bears, says Houston, he said. Houston.
Dude, you should talk about. Houston More.
Talk about the. Bears an awful lot, Drew says.
Who wins Packers or Lions? I'm inclined to think the Lions

(02:36:51):
probably should be favored. They've played really well at
Lambeau the last few years and Ithink I think they should still
have enough continuity on offense.

(02:37:14):
I would think so that even with a different play caller and play
designer, they should still be well above average.
I I think that they're not goingto be pulling out all the crazy
innovation, obviously that Ben Johnson did.
Yeah. But I think I think it's still

(02:37:35):
going to be of the four units that are going to be out there,
I would I would have the most faith in the Lions offense.
And you know, so you know, if you're a Packers fan, I, I'm
going to say, you know, your motto should be in halfly we
trust. Like he needs to dial up.

(02:37:56):
I'm gonna say he needs to dial up that pass rush up the middle
really put pressure on those 3 interior guys.
Bring Van Ness and Micah and Edrin Cooper and Quay and
McKinney. Bring all those guys on some
stunts. Yeah, Coop needs to be involved

(02:38:16):
heavily in this one, for sure. He must be involved, I think.
Yeah, I think. I mean, I agree that Green Bay's
dumb if they rush Parsons again.If the injury is just pain
management, fine. If it's something that needs to
be taken care of, unfortunately,Green Bay does tend to rush

(02:38:37):
people back. And it's been funny hearing the
the dialogue on social media about that these past couple
weeks, like particularly in relation to Jaden Reed and Nate
Hobbs. And there's all these people on
social media saying like, well, you know, the Packers training,
you know, their their strength and conditioning staff are so

(02:38:58):
conservative. If they're letting him play, you
know, he's good. I'm like, they're not.
What year did you stop paying attention to this?
Like, that is a very old narrative.
Aktiari Elton. Yeah.
Bach Watson. Hopefully not Watson this time
around. Stokes freaking Eric Stokes.

(02:39:21):
That was that was probably the most egregious.
I mean, I I think that that theyabsolutely ruined his career
with how they mismanaged his injury and it it was on it was
in real time. It was unacceptable.
So, you know, the the fact that they are pushing Jaden Reed out

(02:39:43):
there this quick and we have questions about Elton and we
have a recent surgery for Hobbesand, you know, I don't know.
I don't know enough about Hobbes's surgery time.
Yeah, Alexander, But Hobbes now Alexander I.
Think. Jair is a case where the the

(02:40:06):
public perception is that the Packers were slow rolling that
one and that he was ready to play and the Packers staff was
either holding him out or just letting him not play.
And like, if you thought that, then, like, go pay attention to
Baltimore here. And that should that should you

(02:40:27):
know what's the word I'm lookingfor that should dissuade you of
that opinion. Yeah.
Like, Jair was not healthy enough to play.
Yeah, I have. I have no problem.
I have no problem bringing him along again.
There's so many like billions ofopinions out there right now on

(02:40:47):
the on the back injury. Everybody thinks they're doctor.
We can you're talking about Jenkins or oh, Parsons.
No, Parsons. And so, yeah, we don't.
Yeah, I don't. I'm not getting involved.
I'm not one people. The average person shouldn't be
getting involved and they yet yet they will because they they

(02:41:09):
want to get involved in everything.
So I'm going to leave that whereit should be and just say like,
again, this is not advice. I think the big difference
between that, like if he plays 15 snaps, that's fine.
I'm not OK, good. Manage the injury like I don't

(02:41:30):
you know, that's totally fine. Manage it on a short week and if
he's full go by week 3 because he's not been playing much,
that's fine. Like I'm I, I, I can't be
concerned about that. So like, this is a long
contract. It's a, it's a long game.
You're, you're you work persons around for a long time.

(02:41:50):
So I have no issue saying like, yeah, we, you know what?
We lose Week 1 because you're not out there enough.
You know, we, we handle enough business Week 2 where you don't
need to be out there a bunch. And even if you need to sit week
three against Cleveland, that's fine too.
But we need to go crush your former teammate in in Jerry
world on Sunday night week 4. So if that's when you're ready,

(02:42:11):
works for me. Don't rush it.
Although, although frankly, I, Ithink I don't think we need
Micah's help to win in Dallas. Probably not.
No, I'm sorry not, but it would be way better if we could just
win 47 to 9 like the Lions did. That game is at Jerry World,
right? Oh yeah, Oh, yeah, yeah.
Good. So I I love visiting Lambo S

(02:42:32):
like that's that's one of my favorite places.
This is yeah, this is the biggest thing.
We're 26. We don't we're not at the end of
a contract. This isn't Julius Pepper's right
where it's like, ah, we need himthis absolute moment in time.
This is a long contract to play out and and he's just way, way,
way too talented to rush him back to cause further issues and
make you look absolutely stupid for trading 2 ones because then

(02:42:57):
you didn't take your time with an injury.
And I think seriously, the Packers, Packers make him the
exception to what you've done the last five years.
Please, if it if there's any concern, please make him the
exception to what you've done. You rushed Love back.
We didn't even mention that Lovewas rushed back.

(02:43:18):
He's probably part of that was love himself wanting to play
understandably, but like just don't need to just don't need
to. Well, the the Packers are
clearly going to. I do think they need him.
I do think they, by the way, I do think I do think they need
him Sunday to win. But you're not playing.
You're not that's not the only game you're playing over the

(02:43:41):
next, you know, four or five years.
So I don't want that. I don't want that to happen.
What do you mean doesn't play? If he doesn't play, we're going
to pay that much for a guy who doesn't play.
Don't. What do you mean?
What do you mean we're not we'renot talking about come on, bro,
I I believe in you, man. Mike does not have a he's not
injury prone. He has an injury right now.

(02:44:03):
Also, he's not in football shape, has not practiced with
the Cowboys all year, doesn't know Jack about Green Bay's
scheme. So if they bring him along slow
for the first few weeks of the season, I think that's to be
expected. I think everybody should have
the expectation that like, listen, he's gonna be a big
factor come like October, November, definitely into
December and playoff time. Absolutely in September.

(02:44:27):
Give me a freaking break, guy who does especially, especially
with two of the two of the gamesare against Cleveland and
Dallas. Like we're going to have to
we're going to have to miss though.
The point there like it's it's simply heads will roll for 188,
I think, but it doesn't matter. Like I think like, oh, wait, is
he saying, wait a minute, Matt, are are you saying that if we

(02:44:49):
rush him back, then he'll get hurt worse and then we can't
play him long term? Is that what you're trying to
say? Maybe that's if that's what
you're trying to say. That's a smart that makes sense.
If you're trying to say anythingelse, then I apologize,
questioning how you got to that.But like, yeah, I just Parsons
is going to be a reason that this team is involved in January
and hopefully February, right. And you just simply cannot worry

(02:45:12):
about one or two September games.
And this is and this is where the J February, hopefully one,
it'd be awesome if it was twice right in February that you were
playing, but hopefully at least once to the point where, like,
this paid off because you didn'ttry to rush things like that is
what's crucial to this, right? So, yeah, I think that's the

(02:45:34):
biggest thing. And and I know he's been
training, but football's a different thing.
Yeah, I couldn't, I couldn't disagree with you more about the
football shape thingy. He is not ready to play last
year, right, Jacobs, the year before we paid him, held out.
It didn't look right. It didn't look the same out
there. And so Micah's going to be in

(02:45:55):
there on 3rd downs. It took they're going to bring
him along when he when he waitedto sign.
So like, it's Micah's going to be a massive part of this
defense in the second-half of the season.
We need to make sure like, it'llbe disappointing that he's, you
know, only out there playing 30 or 40% of the snaps.
But like, just this is a he's here for the long haul.

(02:46:18):
He's going to be he's probably going to finish his career here.
He's going to be a major factor in our defense for years to
come. And you're not going to
remember, oh, you know, the. First 3 or 4 weeks of the.
Season knew he didn't do. Very much because in 20 in the
February of 26 or 27 or 28 whenever, if it happens

(02:46:39):
whenever, it is one of those next three to four years.
Are you going to be concerned that he didn't play in September
of 2025 only two of four games? I don't I don't think so.
I I simply do not think so. So like, imagine the team traded
for again, imagine the team traded for for, for Garrett,

(02:47:00):
right? Like and was like, oh, well,
hold on. He's got it.
He's got an ankle sprain, like alow ankle sprain.
Let's not or, or calf for for goodness sakes, or he's got a
calf injury. Let's, let's what are we doing
right? We got Garrett for 3-4 years.
Let's not, let's not rush anyoneback, especially on like a calf
injury. Like we don't, we don't need

(02:47:22):
that right. Rodgers on the calf because in
2014 they, they had a good enough team to win everything,
right? And he had to play on it and
there was no like and there was no like question like this is
the this is a team that that cando it.
Like he's got to play period. And the calf is just can he
manage it right? And so I think just different

(02:47:42):
things. I mean, if you get super
conservative, you're willing to sit Parsons out a month, maybe
not opposed, not opposed to sitting out that long.
I just I would slowly do this right?
Sequel said. I worry about how to translate
from playing a Dome and going outside.

(02:48:02):
Especially doesn't produce at all in the playoffs.
I don't know about what the heckis your sample size produced at
all. Dell is barely made of playoffs.
Hold on a minute. 16/22/16 pressures one sack in the
playoffs in the 2022 season. I turned on that game.
That was the first thing I turned on for Parsons and he had

(02:48:23):
a TfL and he got a holding penalty called in the first 3
plays of the game. Like what do you mean not the
playoff? What do you mean?
Tell me you, you know, didn't watch anything and just saw a
tweet. I ain't worried.
This is a problem. I ain't worried about the sack
dog. The sacks, all sacks are not
created equal, my friend. Not talking to me about

(02:48:47):
pressures. You know, I'll I'll hear you
about pressures, not create created equal sacks is a is a
low football IQ point. We got it.
We got to get deeper than just sacks.
My goodness. Kyler Fackrell had 10 sacks one
season. We all knew that was fake,
right? 20/22 He was also like, who's

(02:49:10):
that 20/22? He was also a huge factor in
stopping the run as well. He had five tackles for loss in
those two games as well in 2022.Pressure percentage on 1st and
2nd down #1 since he came into the league, pressure versus
double teams, number one, right?So I mean.

(02:49:35):
Look. Sequel's just trolling at this
point. I think so.
Micah Parsons is not getting home.
This is the this is the argument.
This is the argument. I'm not even engaging at this
point. We can't be doing this.
We can't be doing this. We can.
You can keep to the raw countingstats.
Yeah, like cut, like literally. Kyle Kyler Fackrell got a 10
sacks. Sequel's point is that you

(02:49:58):
remember him is that in a samplesize of four games, there
weren't enough sacks. In a sample size of four games,
one of which his whole team justgot destroyed, there weren't
enough stacks. That's.
Yeah, I that's absolutely ridiculous.

(02:50:18):
I, I can't and simply can't withthe, I simply can't with the raw
counting stats. We are too.
And so from there, we're pivoting to saying Micah
Parsons, of all people, is not getting home.
Like Sacks is his thing. We are too, if you want to.
If you want to. Look at, you know, who all out
there does actually consistentlyput up the counting stats, which

(02:50:40):
are really not a big deal? Like in addition to actually
just being a good football player, he also has the sacks.
So like, that's just a silly point to even try and make, let
alone it's not the it's. Not the right one.
Do you see the Solak Parson tweet?
He's had a couple of them. Which one are you talking about?

(02:51:02):
Benjamin Solak. Benjamin Solak.
Parsons. He's had a few September 1st, so
yesterday. So this is a article he wrote.
He's tweeted a lot about Parsonsin the last few days.

(02:51:24):
Which one are you looking at? He's tweeted a lot about Parsons
in the last few days. Which tweet are you looking at,
Adam? Don't ask me, I see Sacre.
So now I'm to the point where he's not yet a Packer.

(02:51:48):
Yeah, Adam, let me let me know Like what the topic of the this
Parsons tweet was Pressure on 1st and 2nd down.
OK, that helps. That helps narrow it down.
I don't see this. Yeah, I searched.
Micah instead, probably. Is it pressure rant?

(02:52:17):
Pressure Let's try pressure. We'll search pressure.
See if he's tweeted that word inthe last couple days.
Jackson Dart comic chord. I don't see it, man.
Can you do you want to DM it to me on on Twitter and I'll pull
it up at that point? Pass rusher in the NFLI mean
it's it's certainly. Worth.
Considering, Oh, here we go. We got the OK, how do I copy

(02:52:40):
anything I got? No, I that's what.
Oh, no, that's. I retweeted this.
If that's what Adam's talking about.
Oh, yeah, here it is. Here's the reason I couldn't
find it. He didn't actually tweet any of
the words We were. Looking for it's just yeah, I
tweeted just come on Yeah, I bookmarked it all right, I'm.
Putting I'm putting it on screenright now.

(02:53:03):
My question is, is about the counting stats for Sachs.
I mean, do he he want? It do I dare do.
I dare get involved. No, no, no, we're not.
We're not doing that. But pressure rate on 1st and 2nd
down. 15.3. Percent 2nd 2nd place Trey
Hendrickson, I hear he's pretty good.

(02:53:24):
Miles Garrett, Nick Boza, Max Crosby.
These guys are good, aren't they?
I feel like. They're good.
Yeah, look at that 15% versus 11%.
That's crazy. I know.
Well, it it here. No, I, I simply must do this.
I'm sorry. Thank.
You I simply I just I just cut 6inches off of the other day.

(02:53:47):
I I simply must do. This for the culture.
OK, here you go. So we're talking about sax,
right? That's that's what we need to do
here. We're talking about sax.
I don't need to talk about sax. We're going to talk about Sax
for fun. So Pars had 12 sacks last year,
right? He's had that every year, at
least since coming into the league.
Reggie White's the only. Person who's done that in Four
Seasons. He also did it in 13 games, by

(02:54:10):
the way. And Garrett had 14, just two
more in four more games. OK, he had the same amount as
Daniel Hunter 12 in four less games.
So like, I don't, I don't. Know what?
What are we doing like? We played seven games.
He's probably #2 he's #2 to Hendrickson if he probably, most

(02:54:32):
likely if he plays 17 games. So you know.
Like like my. Problem is is people are going
to like. The problem is is now like then
OK, we got to. Keep that same energy for
everybody right when TJ Watt. Has more sacks than guys.
We got to talk about how he's better than all of them.
No, that's what Stephen A Smith and Colin Coward that we don't

(02:54:55):
need to do that on this. Talk to me about Nick Bose only
having nine last year then. Or is it just simply that you
know if? You have enough high quality
pressures on your on your. Resume you're going to it's.
Going to it's going to be. There.
Do you guys want us to do a mock?

(02:55:17):
Draft it's the same as the Exit V low.
Mock Draft. It's the same as the Exit V low
thing in baseball. That's why everybody's chasing
it. Because you got to chase home
runs, extra race hits, right exit V low.
I don't know a big sample size is going to get you where you
want to be as a hitter. That's why people chase it.
That's why people chase pressures, pressure percentage,

(02:55:40):
all that stuff. So and like, I ain't even mean
like he. I just don't know why we brought
the counting. Stats like I'm.
You don't. He don't have to tell me.
I'm with him on Daniel. I thought that Daniel was an
upgrade over Granard personally.If they want to just pass
rushers like he was clearly an upgrade there.
And I think Will Anderson continues to be talk, not talked

(02:56:01):
about enough because he only had11 last year.
But his pressure percentage is like 17%.
He's outstanding. So it kind of hurts his own 17%
is 17% is Von Miller 2015 good? And that that just doesn't
happen. And Parsons was 19 last year.

(02:56:21):
So along with Hunter and Henderson was right there too.
So but who wins? Who do you pick?
The Lions? I.
I. I think.
That it's more likely that the Lions pull it off.
I mean, it's like, no. Question.

(02:56:42):
The Packers have enough talent to do it, but they've only
actually shown up for a Lions game one time in the last
handful of years, and it was that Thanksgiving game.
And like usually when we play the Lions, the Packers get such

(02:57:03):
a slow roll started in the firsthalf they show.
Up so unprepared that it ends upjust being too.
Little too late. And so I'm just not gonna give
Green Bay the benefit of the doubt that they're gonna show up
ready to. Play until they.
Start doing it with some consistency, right?
Detroit, I think, is gonna show up ready to play.

(02:57:24):
I have a little bit more of a question about whether.
Detroit has. Enough talent on defense, then I
have questions about like Green Bay's level of talent, but I I
have a lot more trust in Detroitto show up actually ready to
play and motivated and with a good game plan.

(02:57:44):
Green Bay just keeps coming in with like not a great game plan
for stopping Detroit, not a great game plan for attacking
Detroit. So yeah yeah, I agree No, I
agree yeah, I think who are you picking to win?
I I think the Lions. I'm.

(02:58:05):
Gonna go 24. 20. I think.
I think I buy into, yeah, the consistency that their offense
is going to bring just a little bit more in an area where we
think the defenses will be aheadright early on in the season.
I just think their continuity and, and their health and, and

(02:58:26):
obviously consistency, right? We think Golden's probably the
best, most reliable receiver that they've got and he hasn't
played it down yet. And that's tough.
And that that makes it a lot more difficult.
So yeah, I'm I'm. I'm going to Troy in this.
One, I think I think Dobbs is more, I think Dobbs is probably
the most reliable guy that they have, which is tough considering
what happened last year with himwith the drops and and in camp

(02:58:50):
is has happened also. And and to start the preseason.
All these guys have always had and against The Jets in the
preseason, which is tough. So the betting line, the Packers
are favored by 2 1/2 and so the what is this the books are

(02:59:13):
expecting like? A20.
Roughly like a 20. 3. 26. Packers win, so my math which is
based on last year and which is not.
I, I I. Would say this math is likely to

(02:59:34):
be a little bit too. High scoring.
Because offenses. Tend to struggle early on in the
season. So like maybe maybe take these
same numbers but like drop them by like 3 to 5 points for both
sides and that would actually kind of put you in line with
what the betting market says. But my math says Detroit 30,

(02:59:57):
Green Bay 25. But that's still only giving
Detroit a 62% chance of 54. Sorry, 54% chance of winning.
So and and I, I would have it inlike near toss up territory
near. Toss up, but I would.

(03:00:18):
Give the edge to Detroit. So like I said, Green Bay is
favored by Vegas. I think if you wanted to bet
this game, I think the math saysDetroit and the and the the
sports books say Packers. So if you wanted to at least bet

(03:00:38):
the Lions. To cover.
Plus 2 1/2. That seems to me like a good
bet. Yeah, I agree.
Can I do you guys? Do you guys in the chat want us
to do a mock draft? Can I get a couple more?
Just curious. Can I give a couple more stats
for fun? You you can give out some stats

(03:01:01):
and while you're doing that, I want to see if if people want to
do a mock draft. You guys do want to do a mock
draft just just for at Venmo. Venmo is the way to do this.
As you should, as you should, good Sir, as you should.
You like the edge talent here inHouston.
They're excellent. They're awesome, they're sick.

(03:01:24):
They should be feasting. Should be feasting week 1.
Well, the the other offensive lines in the AFC S too, like
offensive line is not really a strength of that of that
division. No, it's not.
There's some pretty, pretty darngood pass rushers in that
division, but not not so much offensive line.

(03:01:46):
So yeah, a couple other quick. Things.
Brandon Thorne does incredible stuff.
Trench warfare sub stack, even if you don't pay subscribe,
there's still some Nuggets you can get on a lot of the stuff.
So he does total pressure rate, he does adjusted pressure rate

(03:02:08):
also does also categorizes pressures, right?
Low quality, unblocked coverage,all that stuff determining your
pressure. High quality is as a 1V1 win
right against is A1V1 win against a player right and then
a rare high quality is A1V1 win against a high quality offensive

(03:02:30):
tackle. So I believe from what I could
see here, as far as defensive ends, outside linebackers, the
edge guys, Parsons and Nick Bosawere second to Miles Garrett
last year in rare high quality pressures.

(03:02:51):
Garrett had 9 Parsons and Bosa had four.
In terms of the total rare high quality and quality pressures,
Chris Jones 48 Garrett 43 verse 34 Parsons. 34.
Also remember Parsons played in four less games than the guys

(03:03:11):
above him or tied with him when it comes to snaps per pressure.
Six guys under 7 snaps per pressure verse Garrett Highsmith
chop. Robinson, Nick.
Bosa, Micah Parsons. And then I'm still sad about.

(03:03:31):
Chop Robinson. And Jared Verse snaps per high
quality pressure last season. Garrett 10 1/2, Chris Jones
10.6, Micah Parsons 11.6. So yeah, thank you for the

(03:03:52):
stats, Jake. Also big shout out Chris Jones.
My bad. Just just dumping folks.
Energizer Bunny right on the interior.
What a. What a guy enjoy enjoy his
career while it lasts as well asParsons as well as Garrett as
well as verse. I think versus beyond the scene
very quickly. Both side would also in San

(03:04:12):
Francisco cause injuries have certainly hurt him quite a bit
at times. But enjoy high quality edge
rusher play and enjoy the ascending players that I
mentioned verse Will Anderson chop.
This guy's going to be studs fora long time.
Hopefully they stay healthy. So so as we've crossed the three

(03:04:33):
hour mark here, the viewership is starting to drop off a bit.
So I want to hit on our last couple of bookmarked comments.
And so first of all, Prince Capsaicin, if your live stream
lasts longer than four hours, you should see a doctor.
Does this count NFL draft streams?
Because if so, then I think a lot of us should see doctors.

(03:04:56):
Then I don't think there's any question.
Everybody's always known for a while that Jake, you're a true
sicko. You need a doctor.
You need a doctor bad. You right, You right.
I can't remember if we. If we.
Touched on this one from Coach Land.
Does Sam? Does person play Sam?

(03:05:16):
Do you think I'm? I'm.
Inclined I think it happens to say like sometimes yeah,
sometimes yeah and sometimes he's.
Here's my question is how much of the?
Time. Is he going to have his hand?
In the dirt, on early downs or. Late downs just.

(03:05:37):
Early, I'm going to say ever. Oh, plenty.
Yeah, but like, give me a, give me a percentage of the time that
you think he's going to 43. That's really.
High 37 to that's really high. I think 37 to 43 is the 2

(03:05:59):
numbers that came up in my head that that is a.
Lot than expecting. I wish I'd tracked it for.
For him in. Like the 708 hundred snaps I
watched. I wish I tracked it but.
I wouldn't I? Let's see.

(03:06:20):
I think so. 2020 What year? Let's see here. 2024.
He. Played.
Left end and right end a combined 400 snaps.

(03:06:46):
And then he played at linebackerfor another 200.
Of course he. Didn't play.
The full season, so the previousyear.
Get the freaking care about that240 snaps at left.

(03:07:07):
End. So this is in 2023, only 90 at
right? End A. 106 snaps in the box so
that's the other question is howhow often are they going to be
rushing him from inside is that something I'd like to see
halfway do a lot yeah frankly. And then he hit almost 400 snaps

(03:07:36):
at outside the. Linebacker in 2023.
So you know he's playing more than.
Half of his snaps. Or at least roughly half of the
snaps lined up a defensive end. Yeah.
So that's interesting. Very interesting.

(03:08:00):
Well, I think I think this is a a good one to.
Kind of finish on too, I don't think do we have any other?
Start ones I don't. Think that was.
There might be a one to finish one, but I, I think, I mean,
yeah, Parsons is going to be good.
It'll be great as a pass rusher.I think.
It's fair to ask if he's. If.
Green Bay gets over. The top just by adding him.

(03:08:21):
I think that's a fair question. I also think that I don't think
I trust them to find that prospect in the draft that gets
them over the top in terms of edge rushers to this point.
Not that Gary and Van Ness, yeah, it's not can't.
Not that Van Ness and Gary can'tbe useful players.
And Gary has done. A tremendous job fighting

(03:08:42):
through injuries. And stuff and getting back to
himself after it and, and hopefully Van Ness can take a
jump. I just don't think they had.
I just don't think they were doing a good job finding the the
the ace, the the closer everything that you could ask
Parsons to do or a Garrett or a Bosa or a Watt or, you know, any

(03:09:03):
of the young guys verse Anderson, right, And any of
these guys like I just don't. I just didn't think I had faith
in them finding it because one, they love the big, big edge
setters, right? And if they continue down that
path, it doesn't afford you opportunities to get a player

(03:09:24):
like this And and. Maybe verse would have fit.
That I think we both think he would have, but they never got
that opportunity. And so this feels like to me a
better swing at an opportunity to to have that versus trying to
continue to look for it. Because I don't think, yeah, I
don't, I don't, I don't think they were on that track.

(03:09:46):
And I think this is the deal, though winning is hard also, by
the way, that's why those Green Bay teams.
Didn't get it done. Because just, you don't know,
like they got it done arguably when 2010 when they were banged
up the most. Right and.
Found a way to do it like they got it done then versus I think

(03:10:10):
their best team 2014, their second best team 2020 years they
should have gotten it done and didn't.
You just never know. Like all you need to be is good
enough to be in a position to have a chance where you have
enough skill, you're not outmatched roster wise, and you
get a break or two in the postseason.

(03:10:33):
Not all of us, unfortunately, somuch are the Chiefs are the
Patriots. Look at that 2021 Rams team like
that was not. Even close to the best.
Team in the NFL and they no theyjust I I would say both of the
teams in in this bowl that year were clearly not yeah the the
Giants both the Buccaneers the year that they won it they were

(03:10:53):
a very scrappy team they certainly were not the most
talented team in the NFL the year that they want it so it's
like I I will say the the big question that I have about the
2025 Packers ability to navigatethe playoffs is I don't think
they. Have good enough cornerbacks?
And I think that when you are when you are getting into

(03:11:15):
playoff football and you are going up against the passing
attacks that you're going to face 100%, you had better have a
Parsons and Gary and Van Ness and Enigmare and Devante Wyatt
up front. And you better have Quay and
Coop screaming out of the linebacker position because you
do not have enough horses at cornerback.

(03:11:36):
You just don't. And you know, maybe they make an
in season acquisition. All right.
Like, you know, you look at what2021 when they found.
Rasul Douglas and he ended. Up like certainly being good
enough that like he he he he certainly was good enough to get
you through a a playoff situation.
Asante Samuel Junior is recovering right now from a a

(03:11:59):
neck surgery that he had to to fix a a chronic shoulder problem
that he's been having. He is not gonna be ready to sign
with anybody in play until afterprobably October.
You probably look at it Novemberbefore he's signing somewhere.

(03:12:20):
Is he a missing piece? Potentially, I think, I think
probably he's not going to be a huge factor in 2025, but it
could happen. Yeah, I, I agree.
I I think Green Bay teams definitely have more talent than
than this current one. But they've got Parsons for
several years. They don't have firsts, but I

(03:12:43):
also don't have any less confidence.
First, have a probabilities of succeeding a lot better, because
you know obviously when you skewit with the.
Top talent because usually blue chippers.
Are blue chippers and it's very difficult not to be.
There's still ways to build thisteam out through the first round
and winning in the margins and free agency, winning with

(03:13:03):
marginal trade, something Phillyhas done a phenomenal job with.
Is is also is another way to do this too, so.
To find guys who fit the. Scheme that maybe just needed
the right one, right? There are plenty of ways to do
this in the margins. Your second sentence on this one
is nonsense. They were already winning, but
you know, they were already winning.

(03:13:24):
But I I also just don't have anyless confidence in Jordan Love
in the playoffs than I did in Aaron Rodgers.
You know, you look at all the different Packers teams that got
knocked out of playoffs and in each one of those times, one
side of the ball just did not show up.
Sometimes it was the defense, sometimes it was the offense.

(03:13:46):
And like you can point to years where Rogers played at his usual
high level in the post season, 2010, 2016, I would say 2019,
even in 2020. And in in three of those four
years, the defense didn't show up.
In 2010, both sides showed up and they won a Super Bowl.

(03:14:08):
You look at a lot of the other years, like 2021, he was just
God awful in that playoff game against the Niners.
Like there were a lot of things that went wrong.
But the, the, the person who carries the most blame for us
losing to that 49ers team was Aaron Rodgers.
That was one of the worst playoff performances he ever
had. It probably was the worst one.

(03:14:30):
He had it, you know, 2012, he wasn't good and and there were
certainly other other playoff years where he didn't show up.
I don't have any less confidencein Jordan Love to be the guy
that we need to navigate throughthe postseason.
You know, and a lot of people who don't know crap, who are
just talking out their butts about Jordan Love in the

(03:14:51):
postseason, like, I'm sorry thatyou don't know how to watch.
Football I'm. Sorry that you are not very
familiar with Jordan Love. That's not my problem.
I'm not I I don't have to educate you on Jordan love and
who he is does not make. Me at all insecure.
How you feel about what you think you saw?

(03:15:13):
There's certainly there's certainly volatile play with
him, but when he gets on his when he when he got on that
teared end 23, I mean he was play he's playing outstanding
football. So you know, do we?
Do you think you? Can get that for three games I

(03:15:35):
don't see. Why not, right?
And so you only need it for that.
And yeah, if this full unit shows up for three games, can't
count them out, right? And so, yeah, Love is probably
the bigger swing than Parsons. I would definitely agree with
that. So but.
Again, this is, it's an aggressive move.

(03:15:57):
It's kind of the move they haven't made really, and they
kind of needed to do it and it was going to be again.
We. We never.
You know it's never you don't really get players like this in
free agency anymore, right? Because guys get guys get paid

(03:16:19):
early. Except for Dallas, people keep
their. Good players.
David McKinney. Yeah, people.
Yeah. Unless, yeah, I guess the Giants
too. But you people usually keep
their good players now and so free agencies kind of like a
trying to margin, trying to win in the margins a little bit,
even though there's a lot of overpays done.
So it's it's kind of picking your spots.
But you know, I think it was a move that, you know, they kind

(03:16:42):
of they kind of talked about in the pressors, right, of like,
you know, this is this is a player you don't often see be
available. So Speaking of players you don't
often see anyway. We've been on here a while
speaking. Of players you don't often see.
We have sailed past the three hour mark.

(03:17:04):
It's time for me to go to bed. I want to thank you all for
joining Vikings and and Houston.Fans, it's still.
Still, I'm not sure if I believeyou're a Houston fan, but I
don't know why. Thank you for showing up.
But we had we had a had a absolute blast with you guys.
And Speaking of players, the type of rare players you don't
often see show up. Yeah, in the Wards, the late,

(03:17:25):
great Reggie Blazer. Go, pack.
Go.

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