Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Boy, does it feel good to be back in the saddle.
A lot of stuff to talk about.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
We're at a.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Very quiet part of the season. If you will, Draft
is over, free agency is over all. There is now
is to just sit back, watch the OTAs and mini
camp highlights and all that good stuff to get us
excited for the season. But we got stuff to talk
about here, going over every team's biggest strength post draft,
(00:25):
all that and more right here on The Football Function Podcast.
What's going on everybody, Guys and girls, Welcome back to
(00:47):
another edition of The Football Function Podcast, available on all
of your podcasting platforms, including on Patreon. If you prefer
an ad free listening experience. If you do prefer listening
on one of those podcasts platforms, do us a favor
and leave us a five star review if you feel
inclined to do so. That is definitely a way that
you can help us out. I certainly recommend Patreon as
(01:11):
the listening experience. But those of you who are listening
for the very first time, thank you so much. If
you're a regular listener, thank you so much as well.
It's been a long time since we've dropped an episode.
I think eighteen days to be exact, but this is
one of those down periods.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
I've already kind.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Of prepped you guys for what is to come during
the month of May. It's no out of the ordinary situation.
It just so happens to be a hibernation season and
you know a period of time where people can recharge
and kind of get themselves ready for the upcoming season
and you know, any type of summer tasks or anything
(01:48):
like that. But I am one of the hosts of
this show, Michael Ridder. You can find me on ext
Michael five Ritter or on Instagram at Michael Ridder five.
Looking forward to talking to you guys today. I've wanted
to come back, probably for like two weeks now and
record this episode, but you guys know, I mean, time
kind of gets in the way. Time just seems like
(02:09):
there's less and less of it the more you know,
you get older. I had a death in the family
and that is, you know, kind of another thing that
kind of threw my my schedule off for the past
couple of weeks. But yeah, I'm I'm ready, and obviously,
you know, the Celtics season coming to an in Jason
Tatum tearing his achilles there's been a lot of things
(02:33):
that have been transpiring over the past few weeks, so
bear with me for me to you know, kind of
get back in the swing of things. But we are,
you know, definitely excited to come back. You know, this
episode in particular, is going to be highlighting every NFL
team's strength, their biggest strength, I should say, post NFL Draft,
we're gonna do another episode and we're talking about the
(02:54):
biggest weaknesses. We're gonna look at some of the free
agents that are still available and kind of highlight that
for entire episode. So definitely some things that I have
highlighted and penciled in. It's just all about finding the time.
But I do believe that that's going to be, you know,
a situation that'll get handled very swiftly. But let's just
(03:17):
say I'm more than excited to get back. Time did
work out for me to kind of jump in and
get this episode recorded today. Going to do my best
to cover all thirty two teams in thirty two minutes
or less. If we run over, so be it. But
that's just kind of the task that I put ahead
of myself as a way to get through all of
these teams in a timely manner. So we're gonna start
(03:40):
with the Buffalo Bills. We're going to talk about their
biggest strength post draft, and the Bills, you know, looking
at their roster, despite being one of the better teams
in the entire league, you don't really look at their
team and think, oh wow, that position group is just
head and shoulders. With the top tier of NFL teams,
obviously the quarterback position the most important position. That's a
(04:02):
different story, but that's the sole one position group, you know,
So it's not like it's an offensive line or a
secondary or anything like that where there's multiple guys in
that group that have to work together. If one person
misses their assignment, then you know, things can go very
very badly. With the Buffalo Bills, I landed on the
defensive line obviously, Greg Russo, Dawan Jones, At Oliver and
(04:23):
newly acquired Joey Bosa, and obviously they have Larry Ogunjobi
as well, so they do have some depth. Ajpanessa coming
in as a rotational pass rusher. That's the strength of
their team, just given where they've let some guys go
where you know, players have.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Just kind of aged out.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
They've had strengths in other areas. I remember the secondary
was a big strength of them.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Back whenever they had Micah Hyde.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Damn, I'm not sure what the what the other one's
name was for some reason. I know they have Tradavius
Y obviously as a quarterback. They've had Stefan Gilmour as
a cornerback in the past, but they had Mike got
Hyde there and there was another corner or another safety,
and of course it is slipping my mind. I'm pretty
sure he ended up going to play elsewhere as well,
(05:13):
But nonetheless, defensive line is where I landed there for
the Buffalo Bills. So moving on here to the Miami Dolphins,
and it's kind of tough to narrow it down with
them as well, because obviously, you know they have a
pretty top heavy When you talk about the offensive side
like position a group with the wide receivers Jalen or
(05:35):
Jalen Waddle, Tyreek Hill, you want to look at that
and think that's probably the strongest area of their team.
But I don't necessarily think that it's the deepest, and
I think that if you look at some of the
other areas on the team, just giving like the front seven,
like I mentioned the reason why I have to not
just say front seven or slash, you know, defensive line
(05:56):
is because they run a three to four. So if
you were to just focus on the quote unquote defensive
line and you're only talking about the nose tackle position,
left defensive end, right defensive end, you're not really factoring
in the outside linebackers. But that's kind of subjective. You know,
defensive front, especially just like the base front, is very fluid.
(06:18):
You know, there's a lot of disguising that goes around.
So you could see someone who technically plays an outside
linebacker position, but he's lined up, you know, in the
a gap or something like that. You know, it's just
it all depends about or it all depends on the coverage.
That's what you really focus in on. Like when you're
studying a defense or if you're preparing to play a defense,
you look at their coverage tendencies because you know they
(06:38):
can they can disguise you all they want. Pre snap,
all right, we're gonna look like we're in cover two
and then we're gonna all of a sudden have one
of our guys bail, and next thing you know, we're
in a cover three. If you look at what they
run more often than not, and you prepare to beat
that specific coverage. Then I feel like you're you'll be
in a good spot just with audibles. You know, if
they're I guess showing you one thing and you know
(07:04):
you don't feel like that's a good play design that
you have called. Immediately break in the huddle, you can
call something that you know is going to beat that.
You know, whatever coverage they tend to rely on the most.
I feel like with the Dolphins the reason why I
went front seven. Obviously you have Jalen Phillips and Bradley
Chubb the two outside linebackers, so you could say, well,
their linebacker group, but they also just been a first
(07:24):
round pick on Kenneth Grant, so I feel like I
have to factor that in. He's going to be a
big time difference maker, probably gonna occupy a lot of
space and allow other players to flourish on that defensive line,
which could just have a net positive as a whole.
You know, it can make their defensive line more of
a strength, and not just the outside linebackers. So I
wanted to just highlight the front seven. They also have
Jordan Brooks there in the middle Willie Gay kJ Britt,
(07:47):
So they do have some depth there at the linebacker position.
Turning our attention to the New England Patriots, and I
had to land on the secondary for their biggest strength.
This is a team that added a lot of new starters.
Just looking at it, they have five new starters on
the defensive side of the ball alone, Kiris Tonga, Milton Williams,
(08:07):
Harold Landry, Robert Splane, and Carlton Davis. But Carlton Davis
is joining a unit that already has Kyle Duggar or
Bryl Peppers, Marcus Jones then obviously the big time playmaker,
and Christian Goanzalez. So I just felt like the secondary
as of right now, given you know what Mike Rabel's
walking into in his first year with the team, that's
probably the area that he can lean on the most.
(08:28):
Knowing that he's pretty solidified there in the back end,
if he can manipulate some pressure to allow those guys
to be even better, you know that the secondary that is,
and you know that's a win win. But I fink
the secondary is going to allow that front seven to
maybe play a little bit above their talent level, just
given the fact that they could allow the quarterback to
hold the ball longer, they're going to do their job.
(08:51):
The quarterback might not be so eager to throw it
in certain areas, might not want to target whoever Christian
and Zalez is guarding. So it'll allow their defensive line
to to get a lot better in their front seven
in general, adding a guy like Robert Splaine's the tackling machine.
So I think that the Patriots did a pretty good
job with their finances this free agency, finishing off the
(09:12):
AFC East with the New York Jets, and believe it
or not, I have the offensive line as the biggest
strength of this team.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
And you know, you look at it.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Obviously they have Gary Wilson, phenomenal player, But who else
is there in the receiver position that you actually worry about?
Running Back Breeze Hall didn't really look that good last year.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
They have Braylen Allen.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
That's not really a spot where I look at, ooh,
that's a big time strength, clearly not the quarterback position.
They did just draft Mason Taylor after already having Jeremy Rutgers.
So that's one area where you're like, okay, you have
multiple you know players there that are solid. But if
you look at the strongest part of the offense, it's
what they've invested a lot of draft capital into. You
(09:52):
look at the first round pick this year, armand Membu
first rounder twenty twenty five, first rounder twenty twenty four, Ohlufashan,
So that's their tackles that are already solidified. They have
the versatile interior offensive lineman in Elijah Vera Tucker. He
was their first rounder in twenty twenty one, second rounder
in twenty twenty three was Joe Titman. And then they
have John Simpson, who you know they got via Baltimore
(10:14):
in free agency, but he isn't new He was there
last year too, So the Jets have continuity there. They
have draft capital spent there. So there's definitely a lot
of pedigree in that specific area. You know, you look
at the defensive line as well, Will McDonald, Derek Nandi,
Quentin Williams, Jermaine Johnson. You continue on to the front
(10:34):
seven and include guys like Quincy Williams and Johnmyne Sherwood,
who obviously I told you guys that was going to
be a falcon in this free agency cycle, but I
just felt like the offensive line is a little bit
more like that can dictate so much like the Jets
have a decent secondary, Like they have a pretty good secondary,
(10:56):
actually enough to make the you know, the the defensive
line play a little bit better. The Jets offensive line
has no help. Like they are out there they're dictating
whether or not this offense is going to flourish this year.
And if I were to bat my money, I would
think that the Jets offense does have a pretty good year,
maybe a bounce back year. But continuing on here, we
are going to talk about the AFC West now, starting
(11:21):
with the Denver Broncos, and it's hard not to zero
in on that no fly zone the secondary there in Denver,
just looking at some of the players. They already had
Riley Moss and Patrick certain just holding it down there
on the outside. And now they have a nickelback nickel
cornerback that is, and John ay Barron first rounder out
of Texas. I think that's going to be just a
(11:43):
difference maker or needle mover there. On the defensive side
of the ball. They bring in Hufonga is a strong
safety from San Francisco. They already have Brandon Jones's the
other safety there. So it's hard not to look at
the Broncos and think, oh, obviously they remember what brought
them to the mountaintop. No pun intended the last time
that the Broncos were relevant, and it was that secondary,
(12:06):
the no FLI zone. Chris Harris the keep to lead, TJ.
Ward Stuart as the other safety.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
I think it was MJ.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Stewart if I'm not mistaken, I could be wrong there,
but you get it. Broncos have had strong secondaries in
the past and has led to them having extremely high
team success. And now that they have a pretty solid
offensive nucleus, just what they're building there with bow Nicks
and Courtland Sutton, I think that they're going to be
(12:33):
on the way to having a pretty solid team there
in the AFC West. Continuing on here, let's talk about
the Kansas City Chiefs, and it's hard not to zero
in on the front seven when you look at this team.
George Carloftus, Chris Jones, Mike Panell, Mike Dana and then
obviously Ju Trenk Will Nick Bolton, Like, you don't want
to just give it to the defensive line all That's
(12:53):
probably where I would go. The offensive line at one
point in time is definitely what would have gotten, especially
the interior year. But it's not the same Chiefs team
that we saw a few years ago, Like they have
holes now, They're not the Juggernaut. Despite going to another
Super Bowl, they're third in a row and going for.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
That three peet.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
The Chiefs, I feel like, are just right now reaping
the benefit of a phenomenal defensive coordinator, a brilliant head
coach slash offensive play caller, offensive mine, and then obviously
the best quarterback in the entire league, Patrick Mahomes. But
one of the other teams, I know this is kind
of the trend here in this division. We're going to
(13:38):
talk about another defensive line with the Las Vegas Raiders,
and I feel like this one makes a lot of sense.
I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but I mean
Max Crosby, Christian Williams, that just seems like an area
where you can immediately highlight and think, Okay, it's gonna
be tough beating that just in one position group. The
offensive line definitely not.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Yes, they brought Bauer.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Michael Mayer, that's a phenomenal time in pair tandem, but
still I don't think that they're reaching the peak that
their defensive line Max Crosby and Christian Wilkins are reaching.
And you know we're gonna see Ashton gent Raheem Mostert.
Maybe they could eventually put themselves at the top.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Of this list.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
But if you're gonna ask me right now, even though
it's not deep, if we're talking about biggest strengths, because
I have mentioned Tyree Wilson, who they're still hoping, you know,
they can get a little bit out of Malcolm Cootz,
another player that they drafted in the third round last year.
You know, if you're asking me what position group I'm
betting on being the biggest strengths for the Raiders this
coming year, it's probably gonna be that d line. The
(14:37):
final team in this division. We're gonna talk about Los
Angeles Chargers, and I'm looking at the offensive line here
Rayshawn Slater's Ion Johnson, Mackai Beckton at right guard, Joe
all at right tackle, and then Bradley Boseman is center.
That's a five for five. You got good starters, young
starters there that you can build around. When you have
a quarterback like Justin Herbert, you just drafted a running
(14:58):
back in Omarion Hampton. You brought it in Harris, who
I know. I mean, that seems like right there, Bam
Harris and Hampton, seemed like that could be one of
the biggest strengths. You know. They just brought back Mike
Williams to pair with Quinton Johnson. They already have Aladi McConkey.
So from an offensive standpoint, the Chargers are in a
good spot. But it just seems like that offensive line
and you know that that brings a smile to my
face just because that's a position group that I take
(15:20):
very very serious and you want to build it from
the inside out. Doing it the opposite way for the
Chargers having you know, phenomenal skill position players, whether it's
Keenan Allen or you know, the lifeless body of Antonio Gates, Hunter,
Henry Melvin Gordon, not having a phenomenal offensive line is
kind of what has been this team's Achilles Hill despite injuries,
(15:42):
no pun intended, just because you know, the Chargers notoriously
get hurt and they have terrible luck. But from a
you know, a twenty twenty five where we're at right
here in May, I think the offensive line is is
a very big bright spot there for the Los Angeles Chargers.
Let's take it to the AFC North. Now we're going
(16:03):
to start with the Baltimore Ravens. And I landed on
the secondary. Nate Wiggins first rounder last year, and Marlon Humphrey.
He was our first rounder in twenty seventeen, but he's
still playing pretty good football. So you have your two
outside cornerbacks solidified. He just brought in chadobia Wouse, who's
(16:24):
a free agent. You know he started off in Dallas.
I believe he's bounced around a little bit. But now
you know you brought in You brought in an experienced
veteran to play the nickelback position.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Cool.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
You already have one of the best safeties in football
and Kyle Hamilton, he's been first team All Pro already.
And now you spend your first rounder on Malachi Starks
from a prestigious school like the University of Georgia. He's
got the pedigree, like we've talked about, just being a
first rounder. Now you your secondary is littered with four
first rounders and an established veteran. Not to mention you
(16:53):
have a first round pick in Odafe Oway. Kind of
just sitting there ready to rock. You have Rokwan Smith
who was another team's first round pick, another experience veteran
Kyle van Noy, Matta Buquet who just got a pretty
big time deal. So the Ravens defense is why when
if you look at teams saying, why are the Ravens,
despite not performing, always being penciled in as a contender
(17:14):
in the AFC. Number one obviously Lamar Jackson. They have
a pretty good offensive philosophy and system that they have
that's pretty tried and true. And then I just listed
all their defensive playmakers, like first rounders all over the board,
and they always talk about the Ravens. You know, they
don't know how to get wide receivers. Wide receivers they
drafted in the first round don't really hit well. If
(17:36):
you look at the first rounders they spend on the
defensive side of the ball or on the offensive line,
you can identify why they're still a pretty damn good team.
The Bengals are the next team will talk about, and
this one's pretty easy. You know, it's obvious where their
biggest strength is in Jamar Chase t Higgins. That is
their identity, that is the backbone of their team, the
(17:58):
heart of their team if you will, you know, along
with Joe Burrow, but those two are really you know,
what does it if they have a bad game, Like
if t Higgins goes three for forty six and no
touchdowns and Jamar Chase goes five for seventy and one touchdown,
do you think the Bengals are winning that game? Like?
Who else is catching Joe Burrow's touchdowns? Because the Bengals
(18:19):
defense in years past hasn't been able to stop a nosebleed.
And even whenever we get big time numbers from those guys,
sometimes it's still not enough. So if they're not delivering,
you can almost count the Bengals out. And that's why
I feel like this is the biggest strength of their team,
because you know, if they don't show up, then the
Bengals are going to probably have a tough time pulling
it out that day. But luckily for them, they're two
(18:40):
of the best wide receivers in the league, the best
wide receiver tandem in the league. And you know that's
why more often than not they show up and they
get the job done. Cleveland Browns the next team will
talk about and you know, again, I kind of got
to go defensive line here, Miles Garrett. They brought in
Elite Collins. They just been a top five pick on
(19:00):
Mason Graham. I just think it's a good place for
them to be. They also signed Joe Tryon Choyanka, who's
a former first round pick. So Cleveland Brown's in another
good spot. Kind Of staying strong in the trenches is
what you have to do if you're going to survive
in the AFC North. And luckily for them, they've been
able to, you know, hold up that standard for at
(19:23):
least a decade and a half.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Now.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
The final team in the AFC North Pittsburgh Steelers, and
again not just solely defensive line, but front seven, and
that's just going to be a trend when you talk
about the AFC North, you know, that's just how they're built,
That's how they're wired. They just drafted Derek Harmon, They
already have Kean who bent in there as a nose
tackle the other side, Cameron Hayward, talk about TJ. Watt,
(19:47):
Alex high Smith, Patrick Queen, Payton Wilson, it's pretty obvious
Steelers have one of the best front sevens in the league.
And just like their AFC North counterparts. It's really how
they're wired and you know, really what allows their team
to grow. The Bengals are the only team in this
division that seemingly aren't built from the inside out. They're
more built outside in and more of a finesse team,
(20:07):
while the other teams were kind of like hard nosed,
if that makes sense, but you get it. Bengals are
a high powered, electric offense and these other teams are
more ground and pound trying to slug it out. But
that does it for the AFC North. The last AFC
division we'll talk about is the AFC South Houston Texans
(20:30):
up and I landed on the secondary with these guys
Derek Stingley Kamari last year. They played phenomenal last year
despite the offense having an off year. The secondary is
while the Texans were still relevant towards the end of
the year. And then obviously jal Jalen Petrie, who started
off his safety but now he's playing nickelback. And then
you have Chauncey Gardner Johnson who's just a matchup nightmarees
(20:52):
a tone setter. In the secondary, you have a feeling
Ronald Darby there is as a depth piece Jimmy Ward. Yeah,
definitely a stronger area of their entire roster is their
secondary Indianapolis Colts are next, and this was a tough one.
(21:14):
I don't really feel like they have like a extremely
strong strength. But if you had to narrow it down,
you'd probably give it to the wide receivers just because
they're the ones that make the plays the most on
this team. Alec Pierce, Michael Pittman, and Josh Downs just
their three starters. You could even go to ADENI Mitchell
if you're trying to get a little bit deeper there.
We'll see how big of a step back they take.
(21:34):
Given the presence of Tyler Warren there, maybe we can
have a bounce back year from Jonathan Taylor. It's not
like you had a bad year, but you know, it
wasn't as dominant as we've seen him be in the past.
And obviously it all starts with Anthony Richardson. And that's
what sucks is one of the biggest strengths is the
wide receiver position, but they don't if they don't have
a quarterback to get them the ball, then you know
(21:55):
what are we doing here? The Jacksonville Jaguars. I went
a wide receiver room. They did bring in Tami Brown,
but he's gonna simply, you know, get the targets that
are allowed to go his way. Given the fact that
they have a solidified starter in Brian Thomas Junior and
then a pretty high expectation type of rookie in Travis Hunter.
(22:16):
So this could be one of the more dangerous young
duos that we see grow together. One entering his second year,
one coming in as a rookie and has all the
confidence in the world coming from Colorado, just that whole
Deon Sanders system and all that. So I do have
high hopes for the Jags this year. Give him what
we saw last year, the fact that their coach, damn,
(22:41):
why is it slipping my name? I they just got
him from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I'm gonna go pull
the Jags right back up so I can get it,
because I cannot just let this slide. Liam Cohen, geez,
come on, Mike, you gotta pull your head out. But anyways,
you get it. Liam Cohen, ten Bay Buccaneers. He knows
how to use wide receivers, and I think he's going
(23:04):
to know how to use the wide receivers that are
already there in Jacksonville with Trevor Lawrence. I have know
high hopes for the Jacks. As I just mentioned, looking
at the Tennessee Titans, this was a tough one. When
you get the number one overall pick outright from your
own record, it's tough to just say, Okay, this is
a this is a team that has a lot of strength.
Sometimes you can like sometimes the team will get a
(23:25):
first overall pick, and they do have some areas that
are just solidified. But whenever I look at the Tennessee Titans,
it's hard for me to look anywhere outside of the
interior defensive line to and Andre Sweat and Jeffrey Simmons.
Saying those two are the straw that stirs the drink
on the defensive line of the Tennessee Titans is definitely
(23:46):
putting it mildly. That wraps it up for the AFC side.
We are going to move on over to the NFC
side now, and we're going to start with the NFC East.
So let's start things off here with the Dallas Cowboys.
And with the Cowboys, I went with the cornerback position.
They don't really have a lot of positions on their roster.
(24:09):
That are deep right, Like I personally feel like before
the George Pickens signing, a wide receiver was certainly not
a position that you looked at and thought, man, that's
a that's a position that the Cowboys can lean on.
You know, outside of Ceedee Lamb, there was a big
hole in the production side. You could even you know,
carry that over to the tight end position where Jake
Ferguson is their starter. Of course they have Luke Schoenmaker
(24:31):
behind him, but still there's not really you know, a
deep treasure chest of playmakers when you're talking about the
Dallas Cowboys. So I went with the cornerback position mainly
because of the established dominance that we've already seen from
these guys. Obviously you have Dravon Diggs. That's someone that
you hope can at least give you two more years
(24:51):
of you know, pretty solid cornerback one play before maybe
somebody you know of his skill set could possibly think
about moving to like a safe We've seen pretty good
cornerbacks do it over the years. I know Charles Woodson
is someone that is kind of the poster boy for
making that work. And then you know, we've heard Jalen
Ramsey's name be talked about for someone that could follow
(25:13):
a similar path. Travon Diggs is someone that I've always
kind of thought has a skill set that could really
thrive as you know, a deep safety, someone that plays
in maybe like a Cover one type where he's just
that center fielder overlooking the defense because of his speed,
because of the ground that he can cover, and obviously
his Ballhowking skills with a tremendous track record of picking
(25:34):
off passes, So you have him there. You also have
Droon Bland, who you know is a pretty big playmaker
in his own right, Kyer Elam who you just brought
in via free agency, but you also spent a third
round pick on Chevon Revel Junior and I really like that.
And you also have Andrew Booth, someone those pretty you know,
well touted coming out.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
C J.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Goodwin gives you free or special teams productivity. So if
you look at the cornerbackition, I feel like it's not
pretty far fed to say that's the Cowboy's.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Biggest strength right now.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
And of course, you know we are more than willing
to hear another team's or another suggestion from somebody else.
So talking about the New York Giants. I feel like
this one was pretty easy. I went with the defensive
line position. That's truly an identity for them now, just
given what they've done where they've made their investments over
(26:25):
the past few years. You have Dexter Lawrence, who is
an established veteran who causes havoc, a former first round
pick in twenty nineteen. You obviously have Brian Burns, another
first round pick in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Neither one of.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Those guys, or I should say, you know, Dexter Lawrence
obviously was drafted by the Giants, but Brian Burns was
drafted by the Carolina Panthers and they eventually brought him over.
But I like the addition of Abdul Carter obviously, right
like I'm not breaking any news.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
I also have Bobby o'kuerici. They also have.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Jeremiah Ledbetter, Roy Harris, Robertson or Robert Harris. I apologize.
I mean, they've they got additions all over the ball.
They also brought in Pulse on a debo and Javon
Holland in the back end. But if you look at
their identity, I feel like it's pretty obvious if they
do run this three four base the three four under
defense where you do have Brian Burns and Abdul Carter
(27:16):
is more stand up ed rushers. That works because of
the presence like Dexter Lawrence. He's gonna occupy offensive linemen
in the middle of that defensive line and it's going
to free up those you know, those two three four
defensive ends that are between Burns and Lawrence and obviously
the other side talking about abdual Carter, those two defensive
linemen to those two defensive linemen that are going to
be right there kind of lined up between the guard
(27:38):
and the tackle in that let's see, you know, that
four technique type. That's where you could absolutely see the Giants,
you know, butter their bread. That's where this defense is
going to really be pretty dominant, at least in my
personal opinion, just all the talent that you have there's
littered with talent, so it just makes all the sense
(27:59):
in the world. So that's going to be their biggest
strength and clearly their deepest position. Moving on to the
Philadelphia Eagles, kind of similar to the New York Giants,
I went with front seven because they're you know, they
have talent, just a littered everywhere. Obviously the Georgia Boys
with Jordan Davis, Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith. They also have
Zach Bond who's a phenomenal linebacker. Nikobe Dean, we all
(28:22):
know what he's done over the years, Joshua Ouce, Aziz Ojalai.
I mean, the list goes on and on. This is
a team that has done very well with drafting, developing,
bringing in players.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
The Eagles never have to rebuild.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
They simply reload, and that's just a testament to their
general manager, their coaching staff, and their ability to identify
what works and stick to it. They don't really ever
go too far off the grid. They're the true epitome
of what happens when you just draft good players from
big time schools. They just go like how many players
(28:57):
played for Alabama and played for Georgia on their team, Like,
they have a lot of good players and you know,
obviously led by someone who is Jalen Hurts, who has
the Oklahoma pedigree as well, and a lot of people
kind of get caught up in a recency bias when
you talk about the Oklahoma Sooners, But make no mistake
about it, that is a blue blood program that's truly,
(29:18):
you know, top, you know, top notch. I'm not saying
that it's better than any of those other top schools,
but when you talk about schools like Ohio State, Georgia, Alabama, USC,
Penn State, all the schools that if historically had success,
I put Oklahoma right up there with them. The same
thing with the University of Texas, supposed to be our rival.
Obviously it is our rival, but I don't view Texas
(29:38):
like I view the Saints, or I guess really that
the Saints are the only team that I really view
like that these days. You know, I have respect for
the Buccaneers because of what they've done in the division
and they actually handle it on the field, and they
have a right to talk crap. You know, won a
Super Bowl in the modern era, two super Bowls, if
we're being completely honest, but they've won one in very
(30:02):
recent memory. So that's why, you know, you can just
dislike them and despise them all you want, but you
have to give the Buccaneers respect. And that's kind of
the same thing with the Carolina Panthers. It's, you know,
from a like they don't necessarily have the production on
the field, and I know that their fans have been
kind of at the Falcons fans next here lately because
of that Week eighteen loss that the Falcons suffered to
(30:23):
the Panthers forty four to thirty eight. I've seen that
score so many times just on my timeline from Panthers
and Falcons fans just going at it. So they are
doing their best to, I guess, try to creep up
on the Saints there, but no one will ever.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Catch up to them.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
And I don't even remember what got me talking about
the Saints and how I can't stand their fan base.
Oh yeah, the way I viewed the Texas Longhorns. But anyways, Yeah,
the Oklahoma Sooners, they're pretty good program, historically good Jalen
Hurts he was a Heisman finalist there and he had
a pretty good season under Lincoln Riley.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
So take that for what it's worth. I just had
to get that out.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
And I know that we kind of took a little
bit of a detour and got off topic there, but
we're bringing it back here. Finishing up the NFC East
with the Washington Commanders and looking at their deepest position,
and I had to go with their past catchers, not
necessarily just the wide receivers or anything like that. I'm
just looking at where this team has their.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
True strength now.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Frankie Louvy, Bobby Wagner obviously pretty good pair of linebackers
right there, Dietrich Wise, Davon Kinlaw who has newly acquired
to Ron Payne, Duran's armstrong, pretty solid defensive line, their
defensive backs, like their corners, I feel like that's the
area where they're really going to want to get the
most improvement. I like what I saw from Saint Strol
last year. Who was their second round pick. They obviously
(31:44):
brought in Marshaun Lattimore. They have Jonathan Jones now as
the nickel cornerback, Noah Igbinoghany. So I'm a fan of
what they do have on the defensive side collectively, but
I don't feel like any of those position groups are
quote unquote stronger than what you can get from their
pass catchers. Starting at the top with Terry McLaurin, who
just give him five to ten targets a game. Five
(32:06):
to ten targets a game and you'll see what happens.
He's typically gonna make some plays and he's usually gonna
score some points. A lot of those catches that he
gets are gonna come in clutch, like the crunch time,
I should say, in the clutch, so you can always
count on him to make a big time play. Deebo
Samuel who was newly acquired. Obviously they have kJ Osborne
(32:26):
as well, Noah Brown. You go to the tight end
position with zach Ertz, who they brought back another year
with Jayden Daniels, so they'll get to improve that chemistry
a little bit more. And we saw that really payoff,
especially late in games. I unfortunately witnessed zach Ertz score
a touchdown on my Atlanta Falcons, a game winning touchdown
in person. I've seen zach Ertz play in person before,
(32:48):
whenever he was with the Philadelphia Eagles. Every single time
I've seen him play, it's always been very very close,
like I had second row seats both games, it seems.
But nonetheless, that will take us to another division. We're
gonna go the NFC West and we'll start things off
with the Arizona Cardinals.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
And you know the Cardinals.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
You want to talk about a team that's really tough
to find their quote unquote strength, they really don't have one,
if I'm being completely honest, they'll get one eventually. But
where I'm looking at right now, I had to go
with their front seven. Obviously, Josh Schwett, A, Keem Davis,
gather malc Wilson there at the linebacker positions, so you
know that they have some veterans, right like, they have
(33:26):
some some experience. That's not including Baron Browning, Dalvin Thomlinson
and Kalais Campbell there on the you know, interior defensive line.
Walter Nolan the third was their first round pick this year.
They got Cody Simon as well as a linebacker in
the fourth round. They had a second round pick, Will Johnson.
So I mean defense is where they clearly were investing
(33:47):
their picks. That's why I'm talking about Jordan Birch. So
pretty solid draft class from the Arizona Cardinals. But if
we're talking about depth, right like the biggest strength, that's
why I went with the defensive line, or I guess
I should say front seven, because I had to include
those linebackers to to really make it feel like a strength.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
I guess.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
Let's move on here to the Los Angeles Rams and
this one. You know, it's kind of tough another one
because it's another light defensive line slash front seven because
if you look at their linebackers, like they don't have
any linebackers that are really just.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
Jumping off the page. They brought in Nate Landman from
the Falcons.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
I don't think he's starting, But you also kind of
have to include the linebackers because they run a base
three four defense. And if you don't include the linebackers
and you're technically not including Byron Young and Jared Vers,
and then you throw in poona Ford, Braden Fisk obviously,
or Kobe Turner, then you know you can kind of
(34:46):
see where the Rams stay competitive. And you know, whenever
you are dominant on the trenches and on the defensive line,
typically you're going to stay in a lot of games.
That's just fact, you know, whether you have a different
philosophical belief with how to build a team up, I
just felt like that's kind of always been where true
strength lies is on the offensive line and on the
defensive line, and if you stay strong in those two areas,
(35:09):
then it's typically are typically going to lead to some success.
The forty nine ers kind of in another tough spot here.
I went with the backfield right and I'm not talking
about quarterback specifically running back or anything like that. I'm
talking about quarterback, full back, and running back because that's
truly just given the losses that they've seen. Now you
(35:29):
can add maybe defensive line on that, just given that
they've drafted mikel Williams, they just traded for Bryce Huff,
and they obviously have Nick Bosa, so now you could
probably say that their defensive line is up there.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
But I just feel like.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
Whenever you have a quarterback like Rot Purdy, running back
like Christian McCaffrey, and a full back like Kyle Uschek,
it's very rare that you can include all three. So
I will give the forty nine ers strength is their backfield.
And to finish up the NFC West, we're gonna talk
about the Seattle Seahawks here.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
And another one.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
You can kind of tell this is the trend in
this division. I went with the defensive line, Leonard Williams,
Byron Murphy who was their first round pick last year,
Jaron Reid, DeMarcus Lawrence, who they'd just gotten free agency
this year. So that's just where we are right now
with the Seattle Seahawks. They're getting back to that four
man rush, hoping they can create pressure and disrupt the
offense with only rushing four, allowing their secondary and they're
(36:23):
you know, not there, not their front seven, but their
back seven to actually you know, make a difference in
the ballgame. But that takes us to the NFC North
and we're going to start with the Chicago Bears, and
with their roster built kind of how it is right now,
I feel like it's pretty obvious that the wide receiver
position has to be their strength. DJ Moore, established veteran
(36:46):
Roma Dunes, a young player with a lot of potential.
Luther Burdens second round pick this year, is supposed to
compliment both of those players. They obviously have a Lamazes
Akias who made some noise with Washington last year for
more Falcon former Eagle, and then Devon Duverney who's been
around the league a little bit as well, more of a.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Speedy wide receiver.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
But they do have different types of wide receivers and
they could feature them obviously with Ben Johnson coming in
to call plays another year with Caleb Williams. So I
am all in on the Chicago Bears and specifically all
of their playmaking positions that takes us to the Detroit Lions,
and I went with front seven just because, I mean
(37:25):
it's kind of tough to go anywhere else at this point.
You know, you like what they have at the receiver position,
but is it really worth saying it's the deepest. Yeah,
like aman Rosaint Brown and Jamison Williams. Tim Patrick was
good in that scheme. Can we see him dominate in
another offensive coordinator scheme that's to be determined. But looking
at their defensive line, when you have DJ Reider, Ali McNeil,
Marcus Davenport, Aiden Hutchinson, I mean you're pretty much set up.
(37:49):
And that's not even counting to leak Williams. So you
just drafted in the first round. So you have a
pretty solid defensive line to say the least. And it's
pretty obvious that that's what Dan Campbell wanted. He wanted
to be a very strong team built from the inside out,
and that's exactly what he has there. Now moving over
to the Green Bay Packers, this one, I kind of
have to I have to double down and I have
(38:11):
to go with their front seven as well. Now, the
addition of a wide receiver like Matthew Golden, you could
say I mean, the Packers strength is their wide receivers.
They're not big time players, but there's so many of
them that you can just rotate them in, and that
truly is the definition of depth. A lot of people
might get confused about what depth truly means, Like they'll
see a team that's really top heavy, and their first
(38:32):
eight players on their roster are all superstars, So damn,
that's a deep.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
Team, right.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
Well, if one of those guys gets hurt, or if
one of those guys get down, and god forbid, two
or three of those guys go down, then all of
a sudden, you only have seven of those guys or
five of those guys however many, and now your team
isn't as deep. Whereas in my personal opinion, I've always
viewed depth as not being able to change what you
do if one of your stars, like you know, your
big time stars go down, like if you're linebacker, if
(38:59):
you're starting linebacker goes down, and you know he's pretty
good at covering, he's able to fly around, move sideline
to sideline, and just truly be that lynchpin on the
defensive side of the ball. If you lose him for
an extended period of time, and his backup can't cover
as well, he's not as fast, he's not as reliable
or as a tackler, and things like that, your defense
is gonna change. You're gonna have to call different plays
(39:21):
because you can't trust him and you can't put as
much on his plate. Whereas if your backup is a
reliable player and he can count on him to do
all the things X, Y, and Z that you need
him to do at that position, then your team is
straight You know your team. You don't have to change
anything the way that you do. You just have a
different name in there. And that is truly how I
view depth is whenever you have players behind the starters
(39:41):
that are able to come in and do what they're
asked to do at a relatively high level toy, you're
not seeing as much of a drop off despite missing
you know, X amount of players. But that's kind of
how I viewed the Packers wide receiver room. But if
I was going to go straight up depth or a strength,
I'm looking at their defensive line where we have Rashauan,
Gary Kenny Clark, Devonte Wyatt, Lucas van Ness. Obviously we're
(40:02):
looking at Eddrian Cooper and Kay Walker as their two
off ball linebackers. Cooper, who was their second round pick
last year, really making a name for himself as a
reliable tackler and just someone who probably going to be
a candidate.
Speaker 2 (40:13):
For a breakout player this year.
Speaker 1 (40:15):
If I were to bet just how or if I
were to have an early bet, and you can guess it,
it's kind of a trend here, but it will be
the last one. I will say this is the last
team where their biggest strength is their defensive line, and
I went with the Minnesota Vikings.
Speaker 2 (40:30):
I mean, you already have Harrison.
Speaker 1 (40:31):
Phillips there, you know, an established veteran that knows what
he's doing on that defensive side of the ball. You
have Jonathan Garnard and Dallas Turner obviously as ed rushers.
Andrew van Ginkel as well, but that's not even talking
about Jonathan Allen, Javon Hargrave. You made additions on this
defensive line that truly turned it into a strength, and
(40:52):
you know you're gonna have to play that style of football.
You know you have a new offensive coordinator in Chicago.
The Lions are who they are, and you already know
that the Packers would Josh Jacobs are going to try
to pound the rock. So you needed a strong defensive
line in Minnesota, and that's exactly what you did. You
made it a biggest strength on your team. So turning
the page over to the NFC South, the final division
(41:13):
that we'll talk about here, let's start with the Atlanta Falcons.
And this one really wasn't hard for me. It's the
running back position. And the reason why that's the biggest
strength is because what I just said, like, if Jon
Robinson goes down, God forbidding, I'm knock on wood. Right now,
we have Tyler al Year who's already proven that he's
a thousand plus yard back.
Speaker 2 (41:31):
He's a he's a punishing running back or bruiser. He's
an old school type of running back.
Speaker 1 (41:35):
So I am more than confident that you know, he
can handle business and our offense wouldn't necessarily fall off
a cliff if we lost Bjon Robinson. Now what it suck,
absolutely Bejon does things that don't show up on the
stat sheet. If you look, if you have you know,
actually pay attention to the all twenty two, see what
he does from a pass protection standpoint, what he does
just getting North and South making defenders miss. Obviously, I
don't have to sell you guys on Bijon Robinson. Everybody
(41:57):
who loves football knows how good b Jon Robinson is.
It's you know, it's just one of those things that
you know, even a blind person can listen to football,
and you would like listen to a football game be called,
and you would come away from that knowing damn. Like
they said, Bejon Robinson's name a lot and he was
making a hell of a lot of plays.
Speaker 2 (42:19):
I'm going over now to the.
Speaker 1 (42:20):
Carolina Panthers and I'm looking at their wide receiver room
and I get it right, Like people are thinking, huh,
the Panthers wide receiver, Like are you kidding me?
Speaker 2 (42:27):
But hey, hear me out. I'm a big teed McMillan guy.
Speaker 1 (42:29):
I was going into the draft and the fact that
he went to Carolina is a little bit like, you know,
I didn't necessarily want it, but I saw it coming
from a mile away, so I was able to kind
of prepare myself for it. I still like he's able
to get They picked him in the first round the
year before, and you know, you know, some fans aren't
necessarily high on him. Some fans might think he's just
(42:50):
kind of, you know, a stop gap until we get
another receiver to compliment Tep McMillan. But you did draft
Jimmy Horn junior. You do have a veteran in Adam. Obviously,
you brought in Hunter renfro. So now all of a sudden,
you have five or six guys that can play ball.
So it doesn't really sound too far fetched, especially with
Canalist there as your head coach. Obviously, Bryce Young, who
(43:12):
seemingly took a pretty good step last year. I don't know,
just call me crazy, but I think the Panthers is
gonna have a pretty good bideceiver room this year, possibly
even a whole you know, a good offense. If Cheeba
Hubbard in the offensive line, can you know hold up. Obviously,
Jonathan Brooks not going to be featured this year. They
put him on the pup list and he just he's
(43:33):
gonna be sitting out the whole twenty twenty five season,
so that's unfortunate. But moving on to the New Orleans Saints,
I went with the offensive line as their biggest strength.
They just drafted Kelvin Banks from the University of Texas
with their first round picks for with their first round pick,
I believe from what I've heard, is they're gonna put
Trevor Pinning at left guard, who is just you know,
(43:54):
he's pretty much a traffic cone as an offensive lineman.
He's not reliable, he's gonna drop penalty flags, and he's
just not necessarily a good pass blocking tackle. So having
him as your left tackle wasn't going to work. That's
why they drafted Banks, and they're kind of just moving
around Trevor Pinning, but they have Eric McCoy at center,
says Oar Mauiz at right guard, and then telisefu Wanga
(44:15):
at right tackle. So you could do a lot worse
than that as your offensive line. And just given where
they are, you know, at the quarterback position, with Tyler
Schuck seemingly being the starter there at least Pennsylvan right now,
I head a spencer rattler. I think they're going to
be probably a run heavy team, so it makes sense
(44:36):
that you want to build your offensive line to be
as strong as possible. But the last team we'll talk
about here on this episode is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers,
and I went with the wide receiver position. Mike Evans
and Chris Godwin. Look, they have my utmost respect until
the Cows come home. I don't view them as I
view typical other defensive or other rivalries in the division.
(44:57):
Specifically Mike Evans, I've always respected him tremendously, love what
he does, the type of player that he is. I
feel like he's the closest thing to Randy Moss that
we've gotten in the NFL since Randy Moss. And I'm
not talking about just from like a numbers standpoint. Just
watch them play. Just look at the way that they run,
Look at the way that they run their routes, the
(45:18):
way that they extend, the way that they could win
one on one matchups. I've always thought that was a
pretty safe comp Chris Godwin one of the best slot
wide receivers that there is. Jayalen McMillan, big fan of him,
just from watching the tape at University of Washington with
Michael Pennicks, Sterling Shepard, need.
Speaker 2 (45:34):
I say more.
Speaker 1 (45:35):
One of my favorite wide receivers in Oklahoma Sooner history
Ted Johnson, who they just drafted in the seventh round.
Extremely small, but who knows what he'll do. But I
know the wide receiver they drafted in the first round
a Mecca Egbuka.
Speaker 2 (45:47):
Get used to hearing his name.
Speaker 1 (45:48):
I have a film that Heap and Baker Mayfield are
going to make a lot of plays together, just given
his skill set and where he's going to fit there
and the person that's going to be guarding him, just
given who else is going to be lined up as
a wide receiver, I think the Bucks are going to
be pretty damn good this year. Definitely going to give
you reasons to be concerned.
Speaker 2 (46:05):
About beating them.
Speaker 1 (46:05):
But that does it here, guys, thank you so much
for your patience, Thank you so much for joining me
here on this episode.
Speaker 2 (46:10):
It is June.
Speaker 1 (46:11):
First, I want to give my dad a happy birthday.
Shout out obviously, shout out to the month of June
as well. I graduated high school on this day a
long time ago. I'm not gonna say how many years,
because if you don't know, there's no reason for you
to know. But uh yeah, it's just Sam Old. We
can just get that out of the way right there.
But uh yeah, So shout out to June. It was
a special month.
Speaker 2 (46:30):
Here.
Speaker 1 (46:31):
Shout out to the Pacers for advancing to the NBA Finals.
And knocking off those pesky knicks. But I do think
that the Oklahoma City Thunder are going to be the
one hoisting up that Larry O'Brien TROPHYBA. With all that
being said, guys, thank you so much. I appreciate it
more than you know. Back on some schedule or back
on a schedule, so we're gonna have you know, the
(46:51):
regular released programming coming, so stay tuned. A lot of
stuff is in store. Both all that being said, guys,
have a damn good weekend, have a damn good week
walk passionately in the direction
Speaker 2 (47:01):
Of your dreams, and will talk to you soon.