7/25 Football Full Circle Hour 1

Mike Blewitt and Goerge Kurtz have the latest news and notes from around the NFL and College Football

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sports grid dot Com Betting insights and entertainment at your
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sports grid dot Com. Hey, everybody, welcome to another edition

(00:21):
of Football Full Circle right here on the grid Mike
blew It along with my buddy George Kurtz. George heating
up this summer, heating up when it comes to returning
back to NFL training camps. But we got a lot
to talk about in that regard, Yes, we do, right
a couple of about a week we heard the rams today.
The rams are going to open up on July twenty,

(00:41):
even if the NFL okas it. So that's kind of interesting.
You don't hear that too often of teams not taking
advantage of when camp might open. Yeah. True. So there's
a lot to go through in terms of all the
business issues that are still unresolved. If you've watched this show,
you can't say that we haven't been talking about this.

(01:02):
We said it's going to get worse that we said,
they haven't figured the money out yet, and it is
now July twenty fourth, fifth, sixth weekend, and we haven't
figured out with the money. So one person I've been
you should follow on Twitter. I give a shout out
to him when anybody's doing good reporting like this is
Tom Pellicero. He's from the NFL network. He really has

(01:22):
been on the NFL business issues all during this and
all the COVID related business logistics issues, and that didn't
stop when it comes to some of the things that
we're dealing with now now, George, there are some testing
protocols in place, which is basically Chiefs and Texans earlier
this week were to show up, get tested, go home

(01:43):
UH for a day, find out the results, then come back,
get tested again, two false to actual negatives in a row,
then he can come into camp. That's the way it
was intended to be. That's the way most of the
camps are intended to be. Doesn't appear to be working
out all that smoothly because of all the business related
issues that you have remain unresolved to this point. Nothing.

(02:06):
We're all playing this by year in some ways, right.
What do we hear about in Major League Baseball? What
happened on Thursday one of the best players in the game.
One Soto tested positive for COVID earlier in the day,
and Aaron Budda the Yankees and says, hey, starting from
the Washington National players, they've been exposed to this. How
is this going to work in football? Same theory there,
What if the player tests positive on a Sunday morning.

(02:28):
You know I was with pregame stretching stay aways. There's
all their players, they've all been exposed, right, but you
don't know which one's gonna get it because what the
incubation vary is fourteen days, So no one knows what's
going to happen. We're all playing this by year, Mike
and every sport, there's gonna be weird stuff happened. You
and I talked before the show, and you were like,
you know that was gonna power through. You know, you
get it too bad, and that's probably You're probably right,

(02:50):
that's what they're gonna have to do. You get it
too bad, deal with it. You know it's that we
go back to that. Uh, it was the good flow,
the good Fellows line. You know you don't you're not
gonna pay any you know, F you pay me, F
you pay me, Well, it's football the same thing. Too
bad you're playing you look your whole offensive line. Too bad,
you're playing no cornerbacks. Don't care, You're playing fine guys
up the street. If you want to play this year,

(03:11):
this is probably how the mentality is going to have
to go. Yeah, I agreed, so Pella Sero on a
couple of business issues here, a couple massive issues. While
no one, as you can see his tweet here, While
no One has set a deadline to account for a
projected multibillion dollar revenue shortfall, which can equate to somewhere
in the neighborhood of ballpark fifty million dollars per teen

(03:35):
NFL owners, which will project towards next year's camp being lowered.
NFL owners want to finalize the deal with the NFL
p A before Sunday, when Chiefs and Texans rookies are
scheduled to begin strength and conditioning, sort of talking about
on they're supposed to come in, test everything else. What
happens if there's no deal by Sunday. The CBA contains
a no strikeout, lockout slash suit clause, but with no

(03:57):
camp schedule agreed to, the NFL could pretend atually informed
clubs that virtual work will continue indefinitely, so big a
few days ahead. We hope that even by the time
you might see this that something will have been resolved.
So go on to issue number two. We'll stick with
Tom Pellicero. Here. Negotiations are fluid, but NFL owners continue

(04:17):
to push for an agreement to lower the salary cap
in one proposals the NFL, p A and g MS
believe could lead to a rash of veteran cuts and
restructures before this season's sources say the last thing, George,
and then I'll let you comment. The nfl PA wants
to spread the financial hit through thirty rather than taking
it now, and he invent a ten million dollar reduction.

(04:38):
Ten not fifty, just ten in salary cap would be
quote too much at this stage, One GM said, rosters
are largely set, many teams would be scrambling to free
up money elsewhere. They want to lower the cap now
for this year. George, This is crazy to me. There's
obviously something's going on behind the scenes here. I think
the nhlpa's probably in the lp as probably and Felipa

(05:00):
is probably right here and that why don't you spread
it out? All the entire cb A right eleven years,
spread it out. You got the new TV contracts coming
in a couple of years. Anyway, they won't it won't
even be a hit. And once those TV contracts come in,
why now? And once again, I think what you said
before during the bub break before we started the show
is correct. I think the NFL the owners looking at

(05:22):
it like this is a great time to get rid
of some of those contracts. You know, we can restart
everything old. Everything has to start scratch now that we know,
no more forty million dollar quarterbacks. That's not gonna happen
because what's in you can for it that captain twenty
million dollars you're here to have a quarterback be a
third of your cap not gonna happen. So I think
that's what's going on here. This is the beginning of
what's gonna be a brutal fight. In my mind. We

(05:43):
saw it in baseball between the players and the play
Association of the owners. Now we're gonna see it in football.
Hockey got it right for whatever reason, they were able
to do it and get it settled here. The fact
that they sailed to help us, say the particles Mike,
but earlier this week that was the easy part. It's
always about the money, Mike, and that's gonna be very
divi up of both sides. Company know if those are
I don't even know if those health and safety protocols

(06:04):
are locked down you have it's like a trial and
error situation like what Baseball went through. A thirteen teams
actively have less than eleven million dollars in cap space.
That's a significant percentage of the league. They just doesn't
have the ten million dollars to just get rid of.
So welcoming in the radio audience as we UH sort

(06:24):
of wrap up this topic. Let me get this straight.
This is according to George Atala and nfl UH spokesman's
assistant executive director of External Affairs. Let me get this straight.
When players wanted to wait until safety protocols finished to
come in, management set reporting dates before that was all done.
Now that the coronas protocols are done, they leak a
threat to shut down because they don't have the players money. So,

(06:48):
as you said, George, bitter, fight ahead. As Tom Paala
Saro said, a big few days ahead. Hopefully we make
some progress, but I don't feel confident at this moment
that the Texans and the Chiefs can report on time,
I think that will get bumped back. Maybe that first
game gets bumped back or canceled, or if we play
any games right now, preseason is already off. So uh

(07:11):
a lot to talk about. We'll continue it on the
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(07:42):
sportscred get on the back on the grid. Thanks for
joining us on football full Circle. Follow us on Twitter
at sports Grid, on Instagram at sports grid TV. George,
who is the recipient of all hate mail for this show,
is at George Kurtz. I'm at like blue It. Please
send any niceties my way. So, um, all right, Green

(08:05):
Bay Packers gonna talk about them today. Our producer Brian
Rokowski just noted during the break that they're putting in
a bid for hosting the four NFL draft NFL Draft
one of those in any event, Um, I don't have
a problem with it. It's not a small town. They're
not going to get the crowds maybe that you would

(08:27):
get for other cities like Chicago is massive and Philly
was super popular. UM and other cities like Dallas and
those will be immensely more popular for hosting a draft event.
But if you're going to have it be a traveling circus,
I don't really have an issue with that. I don't

(08:48):
have an issue with it either. I don't care. Okay,
I don't care about all the pomp and you know
it was in Vegas this year they're gonna have players
what right in on a boat or something like that
across some man fountain. I don't know, maybe the blogs.
I really was rooting for it, so obviously I didn't
want to see anything serious happen. But come on the water.

(09:10):
I want to someone slip full and right, you know take.
I would have felt bad if it were the Draftee,
but if you know er sort of went in there,
I like, It's it's not the ocean, it can stand up.
It's a fountain. And if anybody's been to Vegas, you
know the Blagio Fountain, the show they put on at
night it's a great show. I actually enjoy watching that.

(09:32):
But I come to a close by the way there
they were they were gonna stop. I was there. I
was in Vegas last year, and I was I didn't
even know if they're doing it anymore. If they come
out of this, I don't. I don't think they'll be
doing it anymore, not for not for any concert conservation reasons,
but because that land is really valuable and they're putting
another building on it too bad. So I enjoyed that

(09:55):
last time I was was just two years ago. Whatever
what I said. When it comes to the drift, I
just want to see the player is be announced, all right,
That's what I'm looking for. I don't care that they're
coming in on a boat. What they're gonna do in
Green Bay? Coming on a snowmobile. I don't know. Whatever
they going to do here. I imagine where. I know
it's cold and Green Bay, but it's not snowing in
April's roll in on a wheel of cheese. I don't know.

(10:18):
I gotta got some stuff, cheese, chariot of sorts. I
don't know. I just think when it comes to this,
though we know what the NFL is about, it's about money.
If they put up the biggest money, that's raffle be
in green Bay, Alright, that that's what way they're doing.
If they're gonna rotate around all the cities, maybe green
Bay is not your first choice, which it probably is not,

(10:38):
you know, I imagined there's a lot of jo chiced
about that before that every big market. Right that they
may be close to the bottom of the list as
far as that, but money talks. Green Bay is a franchise,
been around forever. Right. If it's Lombardi, we'll get a
Lombardi Trophy. I think they'll get their shot eventually. I
don't know if he'll be twenty four. Okay, So let's
talk about the Packers. Not a lot of news or

(11:00):
is going on with the Packers individually other than that.
Obviously we talked about the business hell that the NFL
is in at the moment. But we're going through the
odds of every team. We've done this for just about
every NFL team. We did it. Uh, let's see, we
did it post free agency, we did it post draft,
and now we're doing it again. George, as we get
a little bit closer, I'd like to have a better

(11:22):
sense of how everybody is looking or playing football, or
getting news from beat writers on how Guy A looks
or Guy B looks. Just figure out some of the storylines.
But we're really left to the team that was drafted. Inside.
During the off season, the Packers did not make a
lot of moves at all. UH. The most major move
they made, obviously is drafting Jordan's Love, who will eventually

(11:43):
be Aaron Rodgers replacement. They interraft any skill position players
for him. Geronto y Allison left, who was a tertiary
wide receiver for them. Brian Balaga left and moved on
to the l A Chargers. H Really, they lost Blake
Martinez to the Giants as well as Kyler fact Roll,
so very minimal moves were made in free agency. The

(12:06):
draft comes and boom they they draft Aaron Rodgers replacement.
I was stunned. I do not think he will sit
as long as Aaron Rodgers himself sat when that came
up in two thousand five and far extended his career.
But it is what it is. Let's go over the odds.
UH to win the NFC North plus one seventy five

(12:29):
to win the NFC Championship plus thirteen hundred to win
the Super Bowl plus and the win total is a
healthy nine. Now it's the thirteen of three team last year.
George that you and I both think I could take
a step back, but that's a long fall back to
be under nine wins. Where the juice is right now
at nightus. This team sold their soul to win thirteen

(12:50):
games last year. I don't know how they did it.
They weren't that good a team. They got a role,
and I guess things went their way. I don't think
Aaron Rodgers played all that great lest year. I don't.
I don't think he had the weapons really to play
great for him. So I think the nine is a
much more realistic approach. I'm not saying they can't get
the nine. Maybe they can, but I don't think this
is anyway near a thirteen win team. I think this

(13:12):
whole division is kind of whacked where it's gonna be.
If anybody can get the ten games you win with division,
forget thirteen. You need tend to win this division, and
maybe not that. So I think it comes down to
question marks here. My first question is you mentioned the draft.
I'm not gonna talk about Jordan Love, all right. I
think we are for were supposed to be. Agree when
you look at the salary capit Aaron Rodgers, he's there
this year, he's there next year there after that. That's

(13:35):
what they can get out of that cap hell with
Darren Rode, So that's what we'll see love. But they
also drafted the running back right and so, and I
understand once again you did this because why Aaron Jones
Jamal Williams can both be free agents at the end
of this year. So you're covering yourself, best player available

(13:56):
you want to men, so you have a running back
but still he's you're not gonna red shirt him. Yeah,
can tell that. You know what, we'll to see you
next year. You're gonna sit on the bench. All yeah,
he's going to play. How's that going to be? You
know what? Aaron Jones had a great year. He had,
So that's my first question for the Packers will be
how do they divvy up the snaps for Jones, Williams
and Dylan. I've seen that Um Williams, Jamal Williams, who

(14:21):
I think it's sort of Aaron Jones has been so good,
scored so many touchdowns, it's just sort of been assumed
that Jamal Williams isn't very good. I don't think it's
been the case. He's been good in the limited action.
I'm not saying he should get big free agency money
or anything like that, but I've seen him mentioned in
rumors about potentially being cut at the end of this preseason.

(14:42):
I don't really see the reason for that personally, unless
there's things going on behind the scenes that we're unaware of.
Just because for him to not be a part of
a three man rotation, I think they should take advantage
of that. Now. I think A J. Dylan's a really
good back. I think he's better than Jamal Williams. Is
he as versatile as Aaron Jones. No, but he's a
really powerful running back. He didn't catch a lot of

(15:05):
passes at BC, but they also didn't really throw to him,
sort of like a Zeke Elliott thing early in his career, right,
we nobody thought he could catch. They didn't throw it
to him. They started throwing Zeke Elliott the ball fifty
times a year, and like, hey, z Kelly, it's pretty personal. Now.
I don't know what A J. Dillon's that, but I
think it could be a really good back in the NFL,
as evidenced by his second round draft status there. But

(15:25):
what worries me, George, is that's the same question. Right.
We got Davante Adams in here, Marcus Valdes. Scantling disappeared
last year. Alan Lazard kind of took his place, but
did he really in a forceful way. They need these
guys to step up. It is part that Aaron Rodgers
doesn't trust them. But do you think val this Scantling.

(15:46):
Certainly for fantasy owners, he can be an interesting value
because he's basically free. But Alan Lazard, um, I don't know.
Do you think one of these guys steps up to
be a real compliment to Adam? Sirs, it's somebody else
at tight end position. Well, someone has a step up.
Someone has to, because teams are gonna look to think
Adams out of the game anyway. They can double coverage,

(16:09):
triple coverage. Now, I think listen, I think Scantling mvs.
I think he's done. He had his chance chance last
year that did not work out. We've heard over and
over again that Raw just likes Lazard. I likes well
because maybe the close maybe their friends. Whateverybody likes to
in the wild Lazard. I think that happens. They got
Devin Funch just there as well, but he's really like
a tight end playing wide receiver. He's not guys in
a breakdown the field. He's a big target, big wingspan,

(16:31):
that kind of receiver. And you know, Jake Kumero, maybe
st Brown. Maybe you mentioned the tight ends, but we'll
wait for one of them to breakout as well. Stern
Berker is gonna get first shot at it. Maybe yes,
maybe no. The Guera after that, but that's the question, Mike,
who give me who? That's why I think it's a
little nuts for the Packers not to use Aaron Jones.
He is that guy who can at least keep the

(16:51):
offense moving here. If I had to bank on all
these guys, Mike, I'll go with Lazard, but I don't
have a lot of faith in it. I think the
Packers made a huge mistake a receiver strong draft to
pretty much forget about that position. They didn't draft one
at all. It was crazy, forget that Jordan's love and situation.
I thought not getting a receiver there at all was

(17:12):
really crazy. There were opportunities in the middle rounds to
just take that. Uh well, on the other side of this,
we'll break down their schedule really quickly before we get
into the vikings, because I think it's important to take
a look at that. As far as their defense is concerned,
I think there's plenty of talent there. I think they
ran out of gas at the end of the year
and the Niners exposed them, ran right over them. They'll

(17:33):
have to play better, but there's not a lot of
new pieces. George and I will talk more about the
Packers on the other side of this break on the Grid.
Come right back with us on FFC sports grid dot
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team covers the most important topics in sports wagering, real
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(17:54):
the edge than get on the grid sports grid dot Com,
a radio audience to join the TV audience, and George,
we're talking Packers here, so uh, look, we we we
have the question marks their defense. They didn't really make

(18:14):
any additions. They just frankly didn't. They have to seven
round draft picks. Uh, the big money that they spent
last year while they signed Christian Kirksey, they had spent
big money on Preston Smith and sa Darius Smith a
year ago. Those did work out. Their rash of signings
did work out. The defense did improve, but I think

(18:36):
it showed up against the Niners. They weren't quite a
match for them. Now we both expect them to regress.
Do I expect them to progress below nine wins? I
don't know right now. That juices to the U to
the under at minus one forty again on Fendel to
make the playoffs, yes is minus one thirty. Noah's plus

(18:56):
one o eight. So you have this weird thing where
people are expecting under nine but yes, to make the playoffs.
I don't know really how. You don't know really how
you bargain that. Personally, I think if they're under nine,
they're out of the playoffs. In the NFC, I understand
there's an extra team, but the NFC is stronger. We
expect a few stronger teams. But as you've said, this
division is pretty funky. Um, But let's go. Let's go

(19:20):
through the schedule a little bit so you can give
me your thoughts here. Ripping off that first month at
Minnesota Detroit, at New Orleans, Atlanta early bye week, so
that first month, and again we have to assume the
schedule is going on as is. We understand that there
could be mitigating circumstances in terms of the length of
the season and when the games are played, but we
have to go with what's in front of us right now.

(19:41):
We do and uh, I'm a little further them. Forget
the first one. Let's go the first eight games, alright,
that go goes through the bye week. Survive. You better
survive because it's a gauntlet. I mean at Minnesota, Detroit,
at New Orleans, Atlanta at Tampa, at Houston, Minnesota at
San Fran they get another mini but that San Fran

(20:03):
games at least the Thursday game, so you get that
eleven days. Uh. I mean in San Fran, that's not
a loss. At San franc crusted you, So it's a loss,
but at least you get the thirteen days at eleven
days after it. Um Man, I'm telling you, Man, I
think if you go four and four, you're thrilled. I mean,
if you go forward four, I think you're very happy
with what you did here because the schedule does get
easier in the second half. But maybe you can get

(20:25):
go on a six and two run something like that,
because I mean I can easily see them going one
in three in the first three games, one and four,
so that temp Bay. And don't think he's give me either.
You know, they played Minnesota. Always see the split in
Minnesota and that San Fran games a loss, So I
think they're gonna be thrilled they go four and four,
But three and five does not shock me in their
first eight. Yeah, it's not easy. They're having road games

(20:48):
at Indianapolis. Again, We're not gonna have fans or at
least big portions of fans that a lot of these games.
New Jersey, by the way, earlier this week announced that
there will be no fans at Giants or Jets games
or at Rutgers football games. Insert your jokes here on
the success of the teams and how many fans would
want to go see them. But MetLife Stadium is mostly
full every weekend regardless of how bad those teams are.

(21:11):
So um, maybe the home teams don't have as big
an advantage as normal. That being said, I find it
hard to believe that they won't be a playoff team.
I think he rogers as much as there are a
lot of people at proper Aaron Rodgers up. But I
think equally there are a lot of people that are
taking shots at Aaron Rodgers that are aggressive. I think

(21:33):
he plays it more conservatively than he used to, so
he's good to not turn the ball over. Is he
the Aaron Rodgers of twenty and before? No, But none
of these guys are. Tom Brady is not the same guy.
Drew Brees isn't the same guy. But um, I don't know.
I find it hard to believe they're gonna fall that

(21:53):
far back be an eight and eight team. I just
don't see it. So I would have them to make
the playoffs. Well you said it earlier. To make the playoffs,
they have to win with the vision because there's no
I don't see a wild card coming out of this division.
I just don't eat with the extra team. I mean,
either Dallas of philadel w b in the wild card
even on Noel's and Tampa Bay will be in the

(22:13):
wild card. You throw Seattle or San Franz. That's three
teams right there, and there are other teams. The Rams
will I think will make some noise. Arizona will make
some noise there. I think Atlanta is going to make
some noise, and the schedule is just brutal. To me,
It's just brutal here. And once again for the Green Bay,
I think they and he's selling their soul. Maybe a
little hard on them last year, but they they won

(22:33):
games they shouldn't have won. Things went their way here.
And how many gimme games do they have this year?
We go, yeah's gonna win this. I don't see one
gimme until Jacksonville in Week ten. You know, you give
it worth the Chicago at home, and I'll give you that.
That's a gimme. That's too Carolina. Okay, three, that's it.
But like the bottom line is, you look at this
roster from last year to this year. You absolutely can

(22:56):
make the argument this roster is worse. Oh I think
it absolutely is w So you defense, they got no better?
They got no, they did not get anything better out
of the draft. I didn't do much of Francy. They
lost players here. You'll never going to be other convince
me this is a better team than last year. And
I think last year was incredibly lucky. Here. It's where
I keep going over and over again, if there's one
team that was going to go worst the first I

(23:18):
think it's this. I think this is the division because
there's is no top team in this division. We're not
huge believers in Detroit, but you'll see wise we'll go,
we'll transition over to the next team. Now, Minnesota Vikings.
So the Vikings odds right now are Georgie can pull
those up on Fandel for me, Um, we'll go through
the Vikings odds right now. I'm going to go backwards

(23:39):
a little bit, so to make the playoffs. We have
the Vikings at minus one thirty yes, plus one oh eight. No,
that's the exact same odds as the Packers. So it
says a lot about the way the betting markets are.
And you'll see there's some other similarities as well. Here
Minnesota to uh for wins, they are a shade lower

(23:59):
than the Packers, so they're at eight and a half.
It's minus one thirty five to the over. The under
his plus one fifteen. So the betting market likes the
Vikings right now based on what we're seeing to edge
out the Packers right although that half that hook means
a lot. Packers getting to ten wins is a lot
different than the Vikings getting to nine. It's just different

(24:20):
when you're talking the the micro edges that you get
in terms of season long wagering, that does make a difference.
You're more like likely to bet on the team with
a half a win less. As far as their NFC
Championship odds, Minnesota sits at plus thirteen hundred, which is
identical to the Packers, and in terms of Super Bowl adds,
the Packers are at plus twenty hundred and the Vikings

(24:42):
matched that. So nearly the entire betting market for these
two teams is nearly identical, George, with the exception of
the eight and a half versus the nine wins. Yeah,
Minnesota gets there either. You know. Once again, I think
there're a solid team, but they've also had uh what
do you want to call them? Perfections? Guys who have
left during phrases that they really haven't replaced yet. The

(25:04):
evige of line has always been so. So what's gonna
happen with Dalvin Cook? Is he gonna follow through on
his threat? Mike, I don't know. I don't think he will,
but he might inside not the play out of the
card coach is good enough to do it all by himself.
They lost Stefan Dick, which I think is a huge loss.
I know they dropped Justin Jefferson, but you and I
go over and over and over again that it takes
time for a first year wireus he was to make

(25:25):
that kind of impact. Kyle Rudolph is more of a plotter,
you know, not a guy. He's not we're near like
a Grondkowski type or Travis Kils or anybody like that.
I think this offense is going to be in some
trouble if Dalvin Cook I listened. I like Madison, I do.
I think Masson's good back up running back and you
can start for a lot of teams, but he's not
Dalvin Cook. If Cook were to hold out, I think
this team is in a whole mess of trouble. Yeah,

(25:47):
that is a I think people are forgetting about this
right because he said it a while ago and nobody
has been around. And then when camp shows up and
dalond Cook's not there, but we're gonna be like, oh, yeah,
we got about that. Dalvin cooks. Theyre uh in terms
of their defense, so they drafted more players than any
other team. I think that hurts them a lot of
more six and seven the round picks. I get that,

(26:09):
but fifteen players drafted the most in the league. Mike
Szimmers obviously gonna want to work with a lot of
these young players. A lot of these young players came
in because of trades that were made and additional compensation
from free agents that had previously left, and they cleaned
out basically their whole defensive backfield this year. Now the
starters are the same. You got Mike Hughes, Harrison Smith,

(26:29):
Anthony Harris. He of the franchise tag that was rumored
in trades which was weird rumored in trades and extensions
in the same offseason, which I was like, I don't
think they're gonna extend this guy. If you were talking
about trading him all during draft night, I don't think so.
This is my calling, my intuition, but I didn't think
they were going to extend him. And Jeff Gladney was

(26:50):
their first round draft pick corner out of TCU, So
they drafted pretty heavy to the defensive side of the ball.
But again after the first round pick of Justin Jefferson,
they went pretty heavy defensively. Now the draft that had
left tackling as Or Cleveland to potentially take over for
Riley Rife. All Right, They are a team with a
whole bunch of good defensive players on it, George, and

(27:12):
there's no juice on offense. The juice left Adam Fineland
is really good. Dalmond Cook's a really good running back,
the type of guy that could actually get a pretty
big deal on the open market if he stayed healthy
again this year. Somebody could do it. Not a lot
of teams, but he's that good. He's one of the

(27:34):
few that might actually get a pretty big deal Minnesota.
They're not willing to do it right now. There. I
don't think any there's any way they're going to do
with all this uncertainty regarding the cap now especially it's
getting messier as we get closer. Derrick Henry, he probably
had his fingers crossed. That deal came in just in time.
Chris Jones too. All these mega deals that happened right

(27:55):
before the stuff hit the fan is pretty crazy. But
I think that's just where I'm at. Yours like, all right,
I guess they can make the playoffs. Good for them.
They made the playoffs. They beat the Saints. It's a
big upset. But do I think that they've made enough
improvements to challenge for an NFC Championship again, I just
don't see it. I don't see that. I don't think
they do make the playoffs and what's gonna their schedules

(28:16):
even and looks like might be more brutal than Green Bays.
But when I think of Minnesota, and it's all goes
back to Diggs. Yeah, when you think of the NBA,
you can't have a whole bunch of shooters. You need
someone to get these guys the ball and baseball. You
don't want to whole bunch of power hitters. You need
guys to get on base for the pallettes to drive in.
You know, in hockey he can't have once again saying
you can't have a hope with the shooters. Someone's gonna
get them the puck to be able to shoot the

(28:36):
other in the net. And for the Minnesota they have
the outlining players, Dalvin Cook, good running back. Couds is
a good enough quarterback, Feeling is a very good WI receiver.
I don't mind rid of a tight end who's gonna
blow a top of defense though, so have the Sayties
have to back up right now, there's nobody there. Those
staties are playing within ten twelve yards of a line
of scrimmig Devin. It's gonna affect Cook, It's going to

(28:57):
affect It's gonnafect the entire offense. They don't have that
player right now. I know Diggs drove him crazy, Mike.
I we all saw that last year. I don't want
to play for this team. I want to play for
this team. He has no I get it. He was
I don't want to say a basketba. He certainly wasn't
Antonio Brown, but he gave me some headaches here and this.
You've got great value for him in the deal. Well,
you haven't replaced them. And I'm not saying replacing the

(29:17):
top kind of player. You have a place what he
can do, and that is that's the Shan Jackson type
who could extend the field. You don't have that right now. Yeah,
you don't have to have the identical player. We both
like Justin Jefferson. Think he'll be a really could be
a really good NFL wide receiver. Does he have the
exact same explosive skill set as Stefon Diggs. I don't know.

(29:38):
I like Justin Jefferson a lot. I think they did
a nice job, but Stefan Diggs was a mid round
talent that became a star, and Justin Jefferson ain't there yet,
he's a rookie. What are you gonna do for one year?
We'll come back. We'll talk more about the Vikes and
then the Bears next on FFC sports grid dot Com.
Betting insights and entertainment at your fingertips as our team

(30:00):
covers the most important topics in sports wagering, real time odds,
predictive betting models, expert picks, and more. Want the edge
than get on the grid sports grid dot Com. Back
on the Grid, Mike and George talking about the NFC
North today. We're wrapping up the Vikings. How it's funny

(30:21):
the Packers and the with all the similarities in the
wagering market. Regarding the Packers and the Vikings, we sort
of feel the same way about these two teams, like, yeah,
they're pretty good. There's a bunch of talent on there.
Do I think they're anywhere near good enough to beat
any of the teams that are going to challenge for
a title in the NFC. No, we're talking about those

(30:43):
NFC East teams that were not inspiring at all last year.
George once obviously get knocked out in the playoff game.
The Cowboys are so bad that they had to fire
their head coach. And we think both of those teams
are more inspiring than are the Packers and the Vikings. Right,
we think the NFC East could be a two team
playoff division after being a total mess last year, and

(31:07):
that this NFC North Division, which places two teams and
the Bears really falling flat on their face and still
kind of scraping out a whole bunch of wins. Um,
we just think that division is gonna be far worse.
And maybe it's because of the schedule that you mentioned.
So the Viking schedule starts with green Bay at Indianapolis,

(31:28):
first Tennessee at Houston at Seattle. Atlanta got a couple
of swing teams in there, which we've used as a
generic term to talk about teams. Were like, I'm not
really sure. I don't know how good the Texans will be.
I don't know how good Atlanta is gonna be, but
that neither of those teams would stun me if they
made the playoffs. Neither would stun me if they went
six and ten. Right, I agree? I think, Well, my

(31:52):
bets though with those two two teams at Houston Atlanta.
You can probably go one and one. I don't think
you'll beat both. I don't think you'll lose the bath. Actually,
I probably would more lean towards I wouldn't be surprisedly
lose to both. There is another brutal schedule. I forget
the division games all right, that that those are what
they are. Indianapolis, Tennessee, Houston, Seattle, Atlanta. I mean, once again,

(32:13):
where's the game you go? That's a w I know
we're winning this game. They don't have that. They probably
once you can go to Week twelve, Carolina, that's probably
the game you're counting on winning. Carolina, bad team, bad defense.
You're playing at home Jacksonville the next week. Same thing.
Other than that, everything else is a grind. After the
bye week is when, which is in week seven, is

(32:33):
when they're going to have to try to make a
real push. They're gonna have three divisional games in a row.
At Green Bay, Detroit, at Chicago. Then they played Dallas,
which they would have to get a win if they're
gonna be any kind of a good team. Then Carolina
at Jacksonville at home. So that sort of six games
stretch there is when like, if they can get into
a five and one there, we know that the Vikings

(32:56):
are a pretty good team. Even at the beginning of
the season. Was like at the in three situations, you
know what I mean, Like, those are the types of
games that are gonna have to rip off a whole
bunch of wins, but it requires nearly sweeping the division
and everything else. They're going to close out at Tampa, Chicago,
at New Orleans, at Detroit UM again nine and seven. Yeah,

(33:18):
I feel better about their over than the Packers for
all the reasons we've been talking about for the last
couple of segments, George. It's just I think they have
a better chance to get to nine than the Packers
due to ten. That's why the odds reflect that right now.
It's why I believe I said this is this division
is the race to ten. If anybody get the ten first,
you'll win. I think you might win easy. It might

(33:39):
only take nine wins to win this division with this schedule,
with these teams, there were no great teams here. I
don't think any wild card team is coming out of
this division. I would be very surprised, even with the
extra wild card. If an extra team comes out here.
I think once again, as far as winning the division,
you better win the games you can win, you should win.
I should say, you know, those games have to be
ws there, and probably we take advantage of your division,

(34:01):
which means take advantage of Detroit, take advantage of Chicago.
The two things that we believe are still weaker, not weak,
but weaker than Minnesota and Green Bay. And the odds
are not crazy long on Detroit. I'm just saying, if
you want a six to one bet, that's a little
bit of juice there. That could be interesting. We're not
huge believers in Detroit, but they made a lot of changes,

(34:22):
more changes than anybody else. They still have a bunch
of cap room, which really reflects more on next year. Well, actually,
consider what we talked about in the first segment, maybe
it does matter. They have like thirty one million dollars
in cap space. I think only Cleveland has more, even
though that's fluctuated slightly. Well, their top five, they have
twenty two million dollars left in cap space, so you know,

(34:43):
it could play a role. I don't expect it to,
even despite the doomsday stuff that we talked about in
the first segment. That's why I think Detroit could be
the interesting pick because it's happened fifteen to the last
seventeen years. We like Detroit as potentially the team most
likely to go worse to first. Uh, let's switch it
over to the Bears. Boy, the Bears, it's a good team. Um.

(35:05):
I'm just gonna go with the big three questions. Is
Matt Naggy gonna survive the year after this year? Is
he the Bears head coach? I'm gonna say no because
I don't think they're gonna be I think because of
what we're going on here, this is not a great
division here that Minnesota Green Bay have taken steps back,
the divisions within grasp. If they don't win it, how

(35:26):
did they move on? Even if you believe that Naggy
should be giving more chances, it's not what we've seen
today's NFL. We just don't see it. There's been problems
here right. The Trabinsky didn't work out well. That that's
on Naggy all the the GM. He may be gone face.
I think I think it could be a house cleaning
after this year. Troubinsky, Gun, Naggy gone, Pace gone, gone,

(35:49):
gone gone. Yeah. Um, I tend to agree, and we'll
let's talk about their odds real quick to win the
NFC North plus three fifty, so odds aren't long there.
But as George and I were talking about prior to
talking about the Bears pre show meetings, they are a
public team. You always have to remember that with Chicago.

(36:09):
If you looked at Chicago's odds last year to win
the Super Bowl and everything else, right near the top
of the board. They were coming off a twelve win season,
They had the double jink to lose the playoff game,
and then there was a lot of positive momentum home
maybe Mitch and year two under Naggie, he'll be good.
Mitch wasn't good. The offense was terrible as a result

(36:33):
of quarterback play, and um, those odds fell apart. But
they were one of the top two or three teams.
And around this time last year it was New England,
the Bears and the Chiefs. Those were the top three
teams that were the betting favorites to win the Super Bowl.
Think about that a year ago. So anyway, plus three

(36:53):
fifty to win now to win the NFC Championship, plus
two thousands to win the Super Bowl, forty two one
and plus four thousand wind told is eight under minus.
So despite them being a public team, their betting market
is a fan of them to make the playoffs. Yes
plus one six no minus one. You talked about a
potential house cleaning. So the next big question, which everybody's

(37:15):
going to ask about this team right up until kickoff,
who plays more games at quarterback? I guess Folds will
give me the over under on Folds eight and a
half games. I think they're both going to play. I
do think they'll both start games. I don't think it's
been one guy or the other. I mean, I think
you're bringing Folds to be the starter. I'm not a

(37:39):
false guy. Anybody let's me, reads me or anything. I
am not a false believer. All he's done is play
well in Philadelphia, no play else. I understand last year
not really Fair got hurt early on. I just don't
think he's the man to lead this team out of
troubles here. I don't think they're correcting. The future is
on the roster. I didn't belive they only to go
out and get somebody next year. Folds over under and

(38:00):
a half. I'm gonna go the over, but barely. So
do you think Mitch starts the season or full starts
the season and they go back and forth, back and forth,
because then that team is going to be really bad. Oh.
I think the first question I need to ask is
this will be no spraw spring training. This will be
no preseason games, so we're not gonna see these guys

(38:21):
in games. I'm not so sure how much of training
camp we're gonna have. I think it's gonna be shortened
as well, but we're not gonna see many padded practices.
Rubinsky knows the offense either, he has the advantage to
start the season. I think pretty much Rubinsky starts it
and maybe Niggie wants to give him one last shot.
See what happens here, and then I think one thing
I'll give him as far as whoever starts, it's not
just Naggy too, it's Ryan Pace the GM. He moved

(38:44):
all the picks. He took Mitch over a guy that's
just got a half a billion dollars. It's he's tied
to it forever. But at the mistake was me. They
passed on Deshaun Watson and Pat mahomess uh ther first
couple of games Detroit Giants, Falcons, Indianapolis is Rough, Tampa,

(39:11):
Carolina Rams. These whoever starts the season for them does
have an advantage, and there have not all great Thursday
Night against Tampa two at home. Tampa might be a
far superior team, but you know they'll be on three
days rest. You get that advantage there. So I think
whoever does start for them has the advantage of you're
playing lesser teams before it gets tougher in New Wowns, Tennessee, Minnesota,

(39:33):
Green Bay. You know that that little stretch there in
midseason is not gonna be fun as far as the
defense as you're playing. But I think you would think
would be cool. I mean if you would ast you.
Three months ago, I thought it was Fold who was
going to start, because that's why you're signed Hi, that's
where you brought him on, right. Yeah, No, no more
faith that Trabisku received free from everybody. But now, because
of how this off season is gone, I think TIS

(39:53):
has a chance again. Maybe they do the battle out
in August and with a better player or whoever Naggie
believes the better player plays. I do wonder if paces.
I mean, he's got stakes of both guys. Right, he
drafted Robinsky but signed Folds. I don't know which oney,
if he's gonna sort of force mag you to play
one or the other. I don't know what ownership is
thinking here, you know, but I got think the pressure

(40:13):
is on all. I mean really, all these guys, including Folds,
play and play well. It's unfortunate because the Bears built
the team how the NFL was setting up to build teams.
Let's acquire all the defensive talent, will be really good
on defense, will drop. The young quarterback will be on
the cheap, and by his second third year will be cruising,
and we're gonna win the freaking super Bowl. It's what

(40:35):
Philly tried to do. It's and they won with Nick
Foles ironically not Carson Wentz. But here's where they are.
They they executed their plan and the one piece that
they really need to work isn't working right now. Buffalo
is doing it right now too. I don't know it's

(40:57):
gonna work there either, but they have tons of defend
to talent. They are acquiring weapons for the cheaper rookie quarterback.
I don't know if he's good enough. I really don't.
You and I have our doubts. But Buffalo is built
the same way that Chicago tried to build it. So
um they drafted Cole Comment. They had like no draft

(41:18):
picks the Bears. That's the other thing. Khalil Mack and
Mr Biski and all this stuff. It's just they had
virtually no draft picks. They have Jalen Johnson on the
defensive side of the ball, Cole Comment on the offensive
side of the ball. So they get a tight end
to add to one of their eight tight ends are
on the roster, one of whom they just released. Shout
out to Ben Bronncker. Uh. But they didn't really add anybody.

(41:43):
This is the team, So they added Folds. That's going
to be a can Naggie get the offense to work
with Folds better than he had it with Mitch. I'll
ask you two more questions as we wrap this up.
The first ones a big mots of ball. Well, first one,
I'll give an easy one. First, George is Alan Robinson

(42:03):
the most underrated wide receiver in the NFL. Oh, he
very well might be. What you think about keeping up
the numbers he put up last season with Mitch Drabinsky,
who we were killing right who we were killing because
he was so awful, and yet he put up those numbers.
Already plays on a slow field to light, slow turf
and the soldier of the field, and I'll tell you
the offers of turf. So if he's not Mike, he's

(42:24):
certainly top three, top five, right, So you got that.
Obviously got three Coo and David Montgomery backfield questions here.
I think it's good enough to produce yardage. We obviously
didn't like the production we got out of either guy
last year, the last one. I'm gonna let you take
this to the break. If Mitch goes in there, plays
well during the softer part of the schedule as you

(42:46):
set it up, and keeps the job, and it's like, yeah,
he's good enough. We don't need falls in there. Right now?
Do they keep Mitch around? Do they keep them? I mean,
are they signing him passed this year? You told about
cat situation that we've already talked about. If he okay,

(43:07):
that's that's a good If he Tanna hills it, uh,
Tania hills it, that probably means they win with division,
right because way I'm looking at the division's week, they
would win it. And in that case, they would wouldn't
get a top draft pick, right, they would not be
picking in the top ten. They might pick in with
twenties then, so yes, and I think you probably do
have the roll of the dice there. I think it
would be a contact that would be where they can
get out of it at the two years something like that,

(43:30):
where you might be a lots of upfront money, but
it's structure where they can they can move on to
two years in case they are wrong. But yes, I
think they would have to pay him because there'll be
no other options. What are you gonna stick with Folds
who couldn't beat him out in the first place. He
hartaly shows some progress franchise route, probably not not if
the owners win there this million dollars from I can't

(43:55):
do it. The Caps going down next year. I don't
like to watch Rome burn, but would love to see that.
I would love to see Mitch play great. I would
love it for many reasons. Come back. We'll close out
the hour name sports grid dot Com, Betting insides and
entertainment at your fingertips as our team covers the most
important topics in sports wagering, Real time odds, predictive betting models,

(44:17):
expert picks, and more want the edge than get on
the grid. Sports grid dot Com. M M, you're watching
Sports Green get Well, it wouldn't be an hour of

(44:44):
football Full Circle if we didn't talk about a controversial
topic at least this offseason. Now, um, the Washington Football clubs,
the Washington Football Club excuse me, has finally stopped using
their official letter head of the previous team named George,

(45:04):
and they've actually transitioned into They got a new Twitter handle,
the Washington at Washington NFL, the Washington football team. So,
as you can see in this tweet right here, it
begins here Washington old burgundy letters behind the gold background,
and that's what the uniforms are gonna look like. Actually,

(45:26):
So there they have decided. And look, people are banging
on them for not having a nickname. There's a lot
of trademarks and loyally stuff to go through to have
to try to approve a nickname, despite the fact that
people seemingly wanted him to do it in the next month.
I don't really have a problem with them going absent
a name for this season. Uh, they're sticking with the

(45:49):
colors that they've had forever. Just removing all logos, just
gonna say Washington on it. So sort of generic, the
type of thing he might have seen in a bad
football movie, like any given Sunday or something like that.
But that's it. They're moving forward, same color scheme, no nickname.
I mean, yeah, you're absolutely right it is. There's a
legality is going on here. A lot of these trademarks

(46:10):
were they were trademarked. A lot of the nicknames they
were trademark And this is going to back years. Fans
or people knew they were gonna eventually have to change
their name, so they trademarked the nicknames they might possibly choose. There.
They're gonna put the numbers of the players on the helmet.
I guess what I heard they're gonna do today. The
first thing I think of is, uh, he said, Washington
Football Team. So the abbreviation is w f T. Well,

(46:32):
you know, you reverse the efficity, reverse the eff want
to get the truth there, what's going on here? You know?
Asn't Well, you know, I'm gonna let people who know
the abbreviation for that when you do your little tech
thing figure out where I'm going with there. As far
as that is, we talked about their sexual harassment scandal
last week. Um, obviously they'll be reprimanded in some way.

(46:54):
They're doing an internal review the NFL seemingly allowing to do.
But whatever, the teams have it. But it's a dependent Mike, Yeah, right,
it's not independent when you're paying the bills. So anyway,
that's all we got. That's the team, Burgundy and Gold.
They're sticking with it. Name on the helmet's pretty old school.
It's not gonna look bad, George, No, look, you you

(47:16):
said it perfectly. It's like when it's in a movie
and the movie didn't have the rights. They don't have
the rights to will to use a certain name. Replacement,
the replacements or is that that's the Yeah, the replacements,
the one we count of reefs. Anyway, I don't know
what I'm talking about. That's it for this edition of
Football Full Circle. Behalf of Brian Rokowski and George Curson
Mike Blewett. Get on sports grid dot com betting insights

(47:38):
and entertainment at your fingertips as our team covers the
most important topics in sports wagering, real time odds, predictive
betting models, expert picks, and more. Want the edge than
get on the grid, sports grid dot com