AFC West 2025 Preview

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:42):
Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the On
the Sideline podcast of Jackson and Kyle. I am Jackson
and I am joined here as always by the man
who has absolutely nothing bad to say about the loss
of Vegas Raiders. Kyle. Kyle, how's it going?

Speaker 2 (00:58):
Uh? Doing pretty good? I love the Raiders. We love
the Raiders on this podcast. This is a pro Raiders podcast,
So let's get into it.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
Yes, notoriously, we have specifically you, Kyle. I remember, I
think one of the first podcasts we did, because we
started during the off season, we did a preview of
the AFC West and you were like, oh, it's Raiders,
this team stinks and Derek Cars overrated, and the comment
section was not a fan of you.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
Yeah, I'm pretty sure they finished last in the Division two.

Speaker 1 (01:24):
I'm sure they did, Kyle. The Kansas City Chiefs have
finished first for seemingly forever. Can you guess the last
quarterback to win the AFC West that did not play for.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
The Chiefs Peyton Manning.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
Yeah, Peyton Manning and twenty fifteen when they won the
Super Bowl, that was the most recent time since then
the Chiefs have won the division. Even that year that
Peyton Manning won the Super Bowl, the Chiefs still had
eleven and five record in won a playoff game. They
beat the Texans thirty to nothing before losing to the Patriots.
That's how long of a dominance this has been for
Kansas City.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
Yeah, I mean they've been good basically since Andy Reid
got in there, and I mean even through the two thousands.
They've been a pretty stable franchise for a lot of years.
They've had good players come through. ESPN did this ridiculous
list of like greatest players, greatest team of the half century,
and like Priest Holmes was their first running back, which
like still blows my mind. Like, I like Priest Holmes

(02:21):
a lot, but they didn't have Ladanian, Tomlinson and Adrian
Peterson on the list. I was just like, just instantly
throw this in the trash. But anyway, this team's been
good for a number of years, is my point, and
since Andy Reid has taken over. You know, we talk
a lot about the Patrick Mahomes area, which obviously is
the air they start winning Super Bowls, But the stability
this franchise over the years, I think it's something that's
been understated because I mean it's been fifteen or so

(02:44):
years since his team's actually been bad or anything close
to bad. Like they've they've just been steadily pretty competitive
year in year out, and then once they got the
quarterback they became great. So they've they've been doing a
lot of good stuff.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
Yeah, in twenty twelve with Romeo Cornell as a head
coach for a day and ended up, Oh hello dog,
they they were two and fourteen. The dog has allowed
to say year if any red got there. In twenty thirteen.
They have missed the playoffs once in that time frame.
They still went nine to seven that year, so that's

(03:16):
just you know, talk about no losing seasons. Read since
being the Chiefs has only had winning seasons and only
made the playoffs, only missed the playoffs once. So that's
that's pretty impressive stuff, Kyle. We will get into all this.
We will see if the Chiefs can overcome you know,
can keep it going. I do have to say, though,
while we still all expect the Chiefs to win, I
think that's the conventional pick here. We'll get into the

(03:36):
poll a little bit later on. There is some real
competition this year. This is not a one team division
the way it has been in previous years. There are
two other teams coming off of playoff appearances. Both went
one and none, but they still made the playoffs. The
Raiders have a new coach and new quarterback, a new
running back. They've made a lot of adjustments that way.

(03:57):
This is a new this this is the team that.
This is a new look division here in the AFC West.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
It is a new look division. I think it is
the most competitive the division spen in the Mahomes era.
In fact, I have it as the second best division
in football this year. I think all four of these
teams can make the playoffs. I think they all could
be really good. So, you know, somebody has to finish
fourth in my predictions. So I don't want anybody to
take it negatively when I say they're going to finish fourth.

Speaker 1 (04:22):
Already doing some you know, preemptive trying to get the
Raiders fans off your back.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
Yeah, I'm trying to defend myself here. But look, someone,
someone in a good division is going to finish fourth.
And I think these could all be good teams. Even
if a team wins seven games, I think it could
be a good seven win team in just a brutal
division with some brutal luck. So I think it's going
to be very interesting to see how that plays out.
And you know, I thinks as we saw last year,
we saw two teams really overperform, and then we have

(04:48):
a fourth team here that is adding a lot of
pieces this offseason, looking to be more competitive.

Speaker 1 (04:53):
Who do you think will end up being the better
team the second best team in the NFC South or
the best team in the or the worst team in
the AFC.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
W West on paper or by record.

Speaker 1 (05:04):
By but not by record, but like who's like just
the better team?

Speaker 2 (05:08):
Uh? I would I would still take the best team
in the NFC South. I think Tampa's canna be better
than the worst team. But I think, you know, I
think it's it's closer than It's closer than people think
for sure.

Speaker 1 (05:21):
Okay, well let's get into the list. Kyle, you already
said it's a second ranked team. Who do you have
finishing fourth in the AFC West.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
Yeah, yeah, like I said, second ranked division. Somebody has
to finish last, as I said, and yeah, we need
some we need some spicy takes. I felt like last
show was a little Manila, pretty straightforward. I think, for
the most part, inside a second and third, let's go
Los Angeles Chargers.

Speaker 1 (05:47):
Okay, all right, that's that is not what I I did.
I I had I'll be honest, I you know, I
have to kind of I don't know where this is going,
so I had my Raiders notes up. Assuming that's where
you were gonna go, Kyle, I'm a little bit surprised.

Speaker 2 (05:58):
No, I got, I got, I got some spy he takes.
So let's go Chargers at four here. I think this
can be a very good team, you know, I think
they overperformed based on the talent on paper last season.
And I it's unfair to say to a team that
won what did they win eleven games last year to say,
prove it to me again. But yeah, I kind of
want to see it proven to me again. Like I

(06:19):
think that there's some awesome pieces of this team, justin
Herbert despite the playoff performances, which you know, playoff performance
last year which wasn't great, you know, still has a
still is awesome. You know, he's still an awesome player.
This tackle tandem is one of the best in the league,
if not the best in the league this next season
with Joe All being a year older. But outside of that,

(06:42):
there are still plenty of things that I want to
see get better or see proven to me that this
is a formidable group. You know, I think this team
really excelled in the secondary last year, and while there's
a couple of nice pieces in the secondary, I want
to see how those guys perform in back to back seasons.
The receiver thing has obviously been much talked about. I
don't think they got that much better at receiver. And yeah,

(07:02):
so I think along those lines, there are some questions
here for the Chargers that I still need answer and
I want to see it proven to me again before
I'm all in on this team.

Speaker 1 (07:11):
Yeah, I think I think it's interesting. Again. I think
that we'll get into all of this. I do think
that we can argue how much better did they get?
Did they did they maximize their draft capital with drafting
a running back instead of you know, with a different position,
all that stuff. But I mean, I think where I

(07:32):
will push where I'm a little bit surprised, is they
have you know, obviously Chiefs excluded they have. I would say,
then the best head coach and the best quarterback in
this division, you know, Jim Harbaugh, I would have as
a tier one head coach right now, Herbert. There is
just a ton of takes about Herbert now feels like
everyone's lost their mind. But justin Herbert, he is a
very good quarterback. He should not be put up in

(07:53):
the conversation of Lamar and of you know, Alan and
all those guys. But like he's to me a very
clear he's the face of the Tier two quarterbacks for me,
justin Herbert.

Speaker 2 (08:03):
Yeah, I would agree with that, And I mean, yeah,
I think everyone's lost their mind. He still has, you know,
just unspeakably good arm talent. He's accurate with the ball
over the field. I mean, he was the master of
play action last year. They completely changed his offensive game
plan and it worked for perfection. He was awesome in
a lot of stretches last season, especially down the stretch
when they needed to win some big games, and he
was able.

Speaker 1 (08:23):
To do it.

Speaker 2 (08:24):
So, yeah, this coaching quarterback tandem is really good. It's
probably you know, you said it's the second best of
the division. It might be the second best in football
as far as coach tandem. So it's really that good.
I think the question I have for this though, is
just like is that going to be enough? Again? You know,

(08:46):
we saw it over and over again that it is
a lot of times. But at the same time, you know,
we also said that was the thing for the Chiefs
and the Super Bowl. Well they have better coaching quarterbacks,
so they're gonna win. It didn't work. They got they
got beat up that one. And Yeah, I think that
Jim Harbaugh has an incredible for getting a lot of
players to overperform their expectations. But how long can you
continue to rely on that over natural talent? And I

(09:08):
think that's something I just want to keep seeing proven
to me. And it's probably unfair, but I think that's
something that's going to be graded out negatively on paper.

Speaker 1 (09:15):
Well let's go with the other real positive of this
team the offensive line. You brought up the tackles Joe
Alton Rashaan Slater. Doesn't get much better than that at
the tackle tandem. They also added McKay Beckton, who played
played eleven hundred snaps last year still and still missed
a little bit of time with injury. With that, you
hope you can get him healthy. You also have Zion Johnson,
who's just like the most like fine guard in the

(09:36):
league right Like he's just like like he does a job.
He's good, he's not spectacular. And then you have for centers,
they have Antre James and Bradley Boseman. So like, even
if they have an injury, they should be able to
mix and match a little bit. It's a Tier one
offensive line for me. It has depth, it has stars.
I'm all about this offensive line.

Speaker 2 (09:53):
Yeah, I do like in theory. I mean, the tackles
are what they are. I mean, they're fantastic, They're gonna
win a lot of battles one one. I have no
issues with them, ten out of ten. No notes. The interior.
I do have some questions about, Like, you know, Mgay Beckton.
Obviously I was a big fan of his the draft.
He struggled a little bit, dealt with some injuries, all
that kind of stuff played a huge factor in that.

(10:15):
But at the same time, like, how many times have
we seen guys leave Philadelphia as far as offensive linemen
go and just not be the same player. You know,
how is that gonna affect Beckton plus his health issues
in his health record, how is that gonna play a part?
You know? I just is there a point where this
interior offensive line becomes a huge problem for this team
because they're just not good enough in those spots, and

(10:36):
you know, Beckton gets hurt or reversed back to the meme.

Speaker 1 (10:40):
Yeah, it's it's a fair point. I do think that
the good side is it's not like you're going, you know, like, uh,
I'm blanking on his name now the guy who went
to the guard who went to Pittsburgh, where it's like
I thought, you're going from like a great offensive line
to a bad situation. You're going from a great offensive
line to another great offensive line. So I think I'm
a little bit less concerned, but it's it's totally fair
to bring up. Also, we should bring up the running

(11:02):
backs of drafted a mari and Hampton in the first
rounds that are expecting a lot from him. They also
have Naji Harris, who I thought was very good last year.
So again we'll see. I wasn't as high on Hampton
as other people were and Kyle. When it comes to
running backs, that's that's my position. Okay, everything else, I'm
so so on a best running backs I have down,
but you never know, Right, we'll see if he can

(11:23):
exceed my expectations. Still, I still think he'll be pretty good,
but ultimately, like I'm gonna go Tier three running back
room just because like it is a rookie. We'll see
how it works. I do like Najie Harris.

Speaker 2 (11:33):
Though, Yeah, Bcheon turned out pretty good. What's that b
turned into a bit of a star?

Speaker 1 (11:40):
Yeah, I had him. It's my number one running back.
I said, was pumped the brakes on him being Derrick Henry.
I think that was correct.

Speaker 2 (11:49):
Yeah, I guess fair. Okay, if the take was he's
not Derrick Henry, then yes he win.

Speaker 1 (11:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (11:56):
So, like I said, another one where it's like Najie
Harris had a career year. Can't he continue that? Or
is he going to be together averse to the mean?
That's another one that I kind of want to see.
Based on last season, though, do you think they upgraded
at running back from Harris or from Dobbins to Harris?

Speaker 1 (12:11):
I do. I don't think Dobbins was as good as
his numbers would suggest. I think that he was a
running back who got a lot of touches in a
run heavy offense. But I don't think that they were
getting like elite level running.

Speaker 2 (12:22):
Back live Yeah. Yeah, And that's not even adding to
the factor of Hampton, who can be a big play thread.
He is quick, he has elusiveness. He's going to be
fun to watch if he's at his best. And yeah,
I mean if he if he lives up to his
best in college, then I think he's gonna be awesome.
So we'll see.

Speaker 1 (12:38):
The downside of this offense is the receiving room. It
was a downside last year, and I think it played
a role in that playoff game. You know, obviously the
headline was how bad Herbert played because he just like
it was the worst he I mean, threw more interceptions
in the playoffs than in the regular season. It only
played one playoff game. But like, I do think that
that receiving Corpville was Lad McConkie doing it all. He was.

(12:59):
He's great like Lad mcconkiy a lot. You have Clinton
Johnston who can get open. He can't catch the football.
They did bring back Mike Williams to see what he
can do. They drafted Trey Harris, who some people do
really like coming out of the draft. I wasn't as
crazy about him either, But again, we'll see. You have
Will Disley and Tyler Conklin at the tight end position.
It's not a great weaponry. This is tier four. You

(13:20):
could argue, thats generous. I do like Lad mcconky enough
to put it up to tier four.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
Though, yeah, I like mcconky too, but you know, he
is a slot guy. He's not going to win a
lot on the outside, but he does a lot of
things well. He makes sense for what the offense in
the scheme they want to run is because, like I said,
it was a lot of play action last season, so
they do a good job of that and putting him
in positions to succeed. But this is still not quite
what you wanted as far as an upgrade. You were
kind of hoping this team would go in for a

(13:44):
little bit of a bigger weapon, whether it was through
the draft or through free agency, even if it was
adding a guy like a Cooper Cup who may not
be awesome, but you know, just as an upgrade at
the position he wouldn't have had to move or anything.
It would have been ideal. But they decided not to
do that. You know, it is what it is, but
I think it's still a bit of a downside. Like
they had some big games last season, no doubt. You

(14:05):
could point to the end of the season when they
let up the Broncos, the Patriots, and the Raiders. I
think back to back to back to end the season,
and they're gonna need that again because this is not
gonna be an easy division to navigate. Like I said,
I think the Raiders are much improved. I think that
defense is gonna be better too. And it's not like
you're gonna have any easy pickings as far as division

(14:26):
wins go. With these defenses, you're gonna face and you
need these receivers to be able to win on the outside.

Speaker 1 (14:31):
Some yeah, it's an issue again. They're gonna run the ball,
they're gonna try to get over the middle stuff, but
it's definitely an issue. This This secondary is weird, right,
I mean like it was one that punched away above
its weight class last year. It felt like every time
they played a great receiving core, like when they you know,
when they played Tampa Bay, they struggled, When they played
Cincinnati they struggled, like but when they played everyone else

(14:51):
they looked really good. They then lost pieces. So as
of right now, I mean, you have you have targeb.
Steele the NDA, your secondary should be good. Right of
tar Heeb still as the slot corner. The safeties of
Derwin James and Lowie Gillman. You know, uh, that should

(15:12):
that should work. You know, Elijah Molden as well for safety.
But in the corners, it's just like, Okay, so I
guess it's gonna be cam Hart and then is Dante
Jackson getting it is? Are we gonna get Benjamin Saint
jus reps here?

Speaker 2 (15:22):
Like?

Speaker 1 (15:23):
That's not ideal.

Speaker 2 (15:25):
Yeah, I'm worried about that spot. That's the biggest worry
for this defense is are they just gonna get thrown
on the outside? And yet maybe those safeties make up
for it, but it's still not great. Like maybe you
find a way to mix Tony Jefferson into the mix
here too. I just I don't know how exactly that works.
But it's not an ideal situation for me at all.
And yeah, I have some concerns about that. I think

(15:45):
that's really where you start to see some of the
struggles on this team is how do they get stops
on the outside against good receivers and good offenses. And
there's a lot of good receivers in good offenses they're
gonna face.

Speaker 1 (15:56):
Yeah, I do think they have. So they let Joey
Bosa go. They decided to keep Khalil Mack got kind
of a team friendly deal with Mac who Max's still again,
He's gonna be thirty four this upcoming season. We'll see
if he can still play at a high level. He
was playing at a high level at thirty three, though,
right like, this is still a very good player. You
have two Tupelopu Still I gotta learn how to say

(16:17):
his las name because he's gonna be in the league
for a while. But he's an effective enough edge rusher too.
I think you feel okay about that, and then you
know again, fine enough linebackers Dan Henley, Denzel Perrim and
Choi Die not household names, but good enough guys interior
tier at Hurt DeShawn hand like players that should be

(16:38):
effective enough. I do. I would like another edge rusher here,
as like a depth player, because again, are we getting
like Bud Dupreese, Are we getting another five hundred snaps
out of him? I don't love that situation. So I
think it's fine enough, but I'm not crazy about this,
to be honest, I think I'm still gonna go Tier
three pass rush and run defense personal because I don't

(17:00):
know how much pass rush getting from the inside. I
think it's gonna have to be a lot of Khalil Mack.

Speaker 2 (17:04):
Yeah, and it could even be lower honestly in the
run defense on the interior too. I don't think it's
an awesome group overall. And yeah, I mean it's definitely
gonna be a bit of a worry for me this
year as well. You know, if they can't if they
can't rush the passer and they can't defend in coverage,
like they got a lot of depth production from their
edge rusher group that was really impressive. Along with Mac

(17:25):
having another great year, that's gonna be the big thing
for me. It's just like, you know, is it guaranteed
that Khalil Mack is gonna be awesome again next season?
I don't think it is, Like I just think that's
one of those things where he's getting older and I
think it could. I think I think that's gonna be
a bit of a concern. So, yeah, there are a
lot of concerns I think for this Chargers defense, where
you know, this is still kind of like a bit

(17:47):
of a star driven team in a lot of ways,
but I just feel like there's a lot of places
to poke holes in this team and have some concerns
this is gonna be the Jim Harbaugh special. Can he
get those other guys to perform above their expectations, above
their weight and do an to let these stars really
shine and continue to dominate.

Speaker 1 (18:03):
And I think I'm gonna bet on that answer being yes.
I just think that we've seen Jim Harbaugh do this
enough that I'm gonna lean towards that happening. I still
think this is you get a bad coaching there. I
still think this is maybe like an eight win team,
you know, like a mediocre team. I think of Harbaugh
in there. I'm gonna go ten and seven with this
Chargers team. I agree. I don't know if they're like
a dominant Absolutely this is a you know, playoff team,

(18:25):
But this still feels like a playoff caliber team.

Speaker 2 (18:27):
For me, I could see it. Yeah. Like I said,
I think I think you're probably looking at maybe like
seven eight wins being the fourth place team in this
division at worse. And I still think all of these teams,
I see a realistic path for all these teams getting
ten to eleven wins. And obviously, you know, the team
at the top that continues to do well, year of
the year. So I think that is gonna be a

(18:48):
I think that's a realistic expectation for both teams, a
realistic goal. And yeah, I think it's gonna be just
a couple of games separate all these teams from final
playoff spots, and maybe all three of them make it.

Speaker 1 (18:58):
Yeah, let's do the guess the guess the poll here, Kyle,
how many people do you think where do you think
the Chargers? Well, I'll give this away just because it's
it's very unique how this has broken down this time.
Third and fourth place are tied, So I'll give that
away right away. Where do you think the Chargers ended up?

Speaker 2 (19:17):
I feel like they ended up second, and actually no,
I think they ended up third. And I think it's
gonna be about eighteen percent.

Speaker 1 (19:24):
You're high, endo percent, it's eleven percent. You are correct,
though they are. They're tied for tied for third. Uh,
you know with another team that we will talk about
later on. So the poll at least half agrees with
you because it has been them tied for last. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (19:39):
Yeah, I mean I think there's a case for it.
But like I said, I think you could I think
you could argue three teams to finish less than this division, honestly,
and it wouldn't be like that controversial. But that's just
because the strength is this division, not necessarily these teams itself.

Speaker 1 (19:52):
Yeah, Kyle, let's I forgot to put the banner up
for the for the Chargers. Sorry about that, but I'll
put up now. If anyone's looking Charges fans, sorry, if
you're scrolling through, we already talked about you, just if
you were the one we started off with. But yeah, Kyle,
that is the Charges. Why don't we move on to
number three? Uh?

Speaker 2 (20:11):
Yeah, So I obviously didn't have him number four, which
I think a lot of people were expecting, and I
have the Las Vegas Raiders number three. I think they
got a lot better this offseason. I think that this
could be a rock solid offensive line. I'm very excited
for this offense. I want to see a play out.
I want to watch it on the field because there's
a lot of interesting pieces of this. Never mind getting
Ashton gent in the first round. You could debate first

(20:32):
round running back that the kids a stud. He's a monster.
I think he's going to be awesome starting day one.
I'm excited to see him play. You look at this
This should be a over the middle merchant style team.
They should dominate the middle of the field in a
lot of games because they have Gina Smith, who is
a good throwing the ball over the middle field and
just a good quarterback in general. You have Ashton Gent,
you have Jacoby Myers who's great over the middle as well,

(20:55):
and you have Rock Bauers, who is maybe the best
tight in the league. After his rookie season, he was
absolutely awesome. I really like that group. I think there's
a by low aspect to this offensive line. I think
it could be rock solid, honestly, and you know, at
least firmly in the tier two for me for offensive lines.
And you look at the defense, there are a couple holes.
There are a couple questions I have specifically in the

(21:16):
back half. But still you're dealing with a player and
Max Crosby, who anytimes he steps on the field could
be a defensive player of the Year in the NFL.
You have Christian Wilkins next to him, who's a stud,
and you have Malcolm Koons that is as good as
it gets as far as a pass rush group, where yes,
we prefer in this podcast, we prefer developing secondary over
defensive line. But that's as good as you can get

(21:37):
on the defensive line to cover for your secondary. So
I'm high on this Raiders team. I think this could
be a playoff team. I think this could be a
ten win team for sure.

Speaker 1 (21:45):
Yeah, I'm also high on this Raiders team. Like I'm
I think this is a really good roster that. I
like that. They said, you know what, let's maybe not
due to conventional try and get a quarterback, like do
all that. Let's just try and be as good as
we can be this year. It will go from there, right,
let's maybe you know, do something like that. I like
this this team, and Kyle, uh, Gina Smith is an

(22:07):
incredibly underrated piece. Let's start there. I mean, Geni Smith,
I have a Tier two quarterback, I you know, even
here like on the poll. So a commenter was like, well, yeah,
well see if Gena Smith just doesn't lose games for them.
It's like people talk about Gina Smith as if he's
this this horrible quarterback, and uh, I just I disagree.
Is everything okay with the an alarm or something?

Speaker 2 (22:28):
Kyle, Yeah, yeah, we're all good. The micro waver rang
for some reason really it's all good.

Speaker 1 (22:34):
Okay, good. What are your thoughts. You're a big Geno guy.

Speaker 2 (22:38):
Yeah, I love Geno Smith. I think he makes all
the throws. I think he's athletic. I think he can
play on the run. I thought he was really good.
I think that he got a little turnover happy the
second half of last season. But at the same time,
I don't think all of those are necessarily his fault.
I think he did a fantastic job in the circumstances.
And I mean, honestly, he was behind a pretty awful
offensive line outside of Charles Cross last year. And even

(23:00):
if you're not high on this offensive line, which you know,
I think you could nitpick it if you have questions,
like this is still a pretty This is still a
substantial upgrade to what he was dealing with last year
in Seattle as far as offensive line goes. So I
think he's in a really good situation now too. I
think he's really gonna shine. And like you said, like,
I think he's gonna lift a lot of these outside
receivers because he is good throwing the ball downfield, never

(23:22):
mind what they have over the middle. So I think
he's awesome. Yeah, I think he can be. I think
he could be a floor razor for a lot of
teams for sure.

Speaker 1 (23:31):
We all talk about Pee Carroll again, this quest of
can we just be competent? It feels like he's I'm
gonna go tier three. I think he's kind of the
right guy for the job. I don't know if he's
like you know again, is he the top coach in
the league. But I think they need an adult in
the room, and he should at least bring that. We
could argue is he forward thinking enough with somebody ex's
and o's, but he should at least be an adult
in the room.

Speaker 2 (23:52):
I definitely agree with that. I like Pee Carroll for
a certain aspect. I think he is a culture setter
for this team, which I think was important, like I
think Antonio Brown was, or Antonio Brown, Antonio not Antonio Brown.
I think Antonio Pears was also a culture setter in
a different way, and they need a different style of
culture for this team. They needed someone who had experience
because I mean, outside of Brien and Gino Smith, this

(24:14):
just wasn't a team with a lot of experience last year.
It was a really young team, and I think they
just needed some adults in the room, and that's kind
of what it seemed like they prioritized early on and
then added the guys like Genino that to add some talent.
So yeah, I think adding a guy like him is
important for that. That being said, he's going to do
things that drive Raiders fans in you know, the media,

(24:37):
and people like that absolutely crazy. He's going to have
some decision making things that are going to drive you insane.
He's going to have some things where offensive scheme wise,
that are going to drive you absolutely insane. And yeah,
like once again, you know, I think everyone was ready
to say this was a slam dunk and all that that.
You know, Mike McDonald went to Seattle and had a
better year last year than Pete Carroll's season before. You know,

(24:58):
I think he he still has flo even though I
think he's the right man for the job in certain aspects.
So we'll see how he adjusts certain things. But I
think he did some certain things pretty well. I think
he's gonna do some certain things pretty well for this franchise.

Speaker 1 (25:11):
Look to the offensive line. You brought that up in
a second quick. They have Colton Miller, who's just an established,
very good tackle. DJ Glaize, who was a third round pick,
played about one thousand thaves last year and played all right.
Isn't a star, but is you know, played pretty well
again relying on a third round pick, but it went
okay last year. For the interior, I'm assuming the move

(25:32):
is to put Jackson Powers Johnson to his natural position
at center, now that that position has been cleared up,
and then you have Dylan par Him as the other guard.
I think the the final interior spot is where things
get a little hairy. Is it gonna be Alex Kappa?
Are we gonna put Jordan Meredith in there? I'm assuming
there will be a competition, but either way there there's
concern there and that's kind of what's keeping it from

(25:53):
in an awesome interior when you also factor in I
know Powers Johnson looked good as a guard in centers
with natural positions, so that it should be fine. There
is still your moving positions. Things can go weird there,
and like DJ Glaze is the monster at tackle, So
I think I'm gonna go and thin I'm gonna go
Tier three? Is that too harsh? Tier three?

Speaker 2 (26:10):
No? I think it's fair. I think that's probably where
most people would have it. I think the one thing is, like,
there's a case for me that Alex Kappa just like
plays better this next season, like he's had good years
before in the past, and I wouldn't be surprised if
he has a bit of a bounce back, And that's
probably where it elevates to Tier two because then there's
not a lot of holes. Your biggest question is Jackson
Powers Johnson, who, like you said, was a highly regarded

(26:32):
center before playing really well at guard last season. So
you know, if those are your biggest if that becomes
your biggest question, then yeah, I think they're gonna be
alright because I think that they have at least four
pretty good pieces, and then if Kapa regains his form,
this could be a very very good offensive line and
potentially bordering on Tier one. So yeah, I think it's
I think Tier three is fine with the question marks,

(26:52):
but I think there's upside here for sure.

Speaker 1 (26:55):
Kyle, you and I have been on the potential for
this team to dominate over to middle. First, that starts
with Ashton gen Dy, the you know, first round running
back who many people, including both of us, think could
be awesome and could be a star in this league.
Maybe a Marshawn Lynch type of player, Keel Severheen Moster,
who should be a nice change of pace back. And
then for the for the weapons, Jacobe Myers, Jack Beck

(27:17):
who they drafted as well, who's a really good over
the middle guy. And of course Brock Bowers not a
ton of receiver death. I mean, Trey Tucker does bring
something to the receiving room, but as a whole, this
is the receiving room that should do a very good
job at doing what it can. And again, if you
think of Bowers as a number one option, well, Myers
a pretty good number two. Jack Beck's a pretty good

(27:38):
number three. So I think I'm gonna go Tier two's
for both running back and receiving room. I can't go
tier one for a rookie running back. I just that's
not fair. I have to see you play in an
NFL snap. But I really like what they've built here.

Speaker 2 (27:51):
Yeah, and again it's a group of upside for sure.
So like, you know, Myers is going to do his thing,
He's going to be there and be steady, but it's
it's really the three men show Myers, Bauers, and Genet,
And like if Myers is your third option in that
We've seen Myers be very good in the NFL, so
that's nothing we can get upset about. Plus, you're gonna
add Jack back to that group. Like you said, there's

(28:11):
a lot to like about that team overall. You like
a lot. You know, you have Trey Chucker, who's going
to be a little bit of a deep threat. There's
just you want more depth, and I think that's completely fair.
But that being said, beyond Genet, there's team's also like
three running backs deep. You know, Raheem Moster a solid backup.
So sincere McCormick showed some flashes last year at the
end of the season, like that's a that's a very

(28:32):
very good running back room beyond the starter with you know,
insane upside like Genet has. And then you have those
two pass catchers and maybe you want a third one.
Maybe that's something they look if they start competing early,
they look to trade for a third guy in that group.
But you know, it's it's at least a start of
something for sure.

Speaker 1 (28:49):
Yeah, let's go on to the defense. We're talking with
a lot of positives here with this offense, but I
think the defense, at least on papers where I have concerns.
I mean, so first let's start with Max Crosby, who's incredible,
like you said, Defensive Player of the Year Canada every
time he steps on the field. Still just twenty seven too.
I think he feels older than that, but no, just
twenty seven years old, you know, and he's an every
down guy. So you have you're getting a lot of

(29:10):
snaps with him as well. But then it's okay, what else.
So Malcolm Coot's coming off an injury, same thing with
Christian Wilkins coming off an injury. You hope that they
can play as good, but we'll see. You have Tyree
Wilson who year three, that's kind of when those athlete
guys tend to hit, start to hit their stride. We'll
see what he can do this year. You have Adam Butler,
you know, Charles Snowden as the an edge rusher as well,

(29:32):
Jonah Leoatu another interior guy. I mean, there's there's not
a ton of there's just a ton of question marks
for me with this team. The linebackers should be okay,
Orlandon Roberts is pretty good. You have Jermaine Patt who's fine,
like the I guess I'm conflicted on where this can
go because I think it can go in a lot

(29:54):
of different ways. But I think as of right now,
I'm just when it comes to run defense, depth matters
so much. I think I'm just gonna go Tier four
run defense, I'll go Tier three pass rush. A lot
of that is Max Crosby doing stuff on his own.

Speaker 2 (30:07):
Yeah, I like it a lot more. I understand those
guys are coming off injuries, but yeah, I think Coonson,
you know, Coonson Wilkins are not like you know, old
players coming off injuries. They're still pretty young. I imagine
they're gonna recover. I guess if it's a wait and
see thing, you know, I can't argue it too much,
but they are. They are two really good players, you know.
I think that they can be. I think this could
be a really good group. And if you have those

(30:28):
three pass rushers, that would be as good as it gets, honestly,
because especially as you're talking a guy like Max Crosby
being as good as he is, and you know he's
if he's not the Miles Garrett JJ TJ. Watts here,
he's as close as they can get, honestly, So I
really like that group overall, and you know, I have
no reason to believe that Coonson Wilkins can't be back

(30:49):
at that level. Again.

Speaker 1 (30:51):
Yeah, it's I get it. It comes down to it's
it's there's no right answer, right, we just we don't know.
It's and if you want to bet on it, sure,
if you want to bet against it, or I can.
I can if if they are all again, if this
is Madden, this is a lot higher than what I'm
ranking right like that, because didn't just playing are good.
But I do think again, we just we've seen it
happen where guys come off injuries and aren't able to

(31:11):
do the same even when they're younger.

Speaker 2 (31:14):
Yeah, I mean there's potential for it, but I mean
it's it's definitely a wait and see mode. But I
think that that is a that is a group I
don't have a lot of worries about. I think they're
gonna be awesome, man. That I mean, they're hoping they're
awesome because they have too many issues on the back
half of this team. Like you said, I like that group.
I like the Land and Roberts. You know, Adam Butler
is pretty average I think overall for what he does

(31:36):
and that's basically you know, that's basically your team on defense.
That's what he that is. You have paid a lot
of money for those guys to be good. You have
to hope that they're awesome.

Speaker 1 (31:45):
And well, I think that's part of my concern is like,
what are we getting out like Christian Wilkins coming off
of an injury. We're not getting eight hundred snaps out
of him off an injury, right, prob I don't know.

Speaker 2 (31:56):
I mean, I guess if I guess, it depends on
how much he's recovery.

Speaker 1 (31:58):
Yeah, I wouldn't bet on it, is all I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (32:01):
Yeah, I mean that it's gonna be the question. That's
the question they have to answer. Else they're gonna give
up a ton of points. But they're definitely hoping for
one of those guys. I did not include Tyree Wilson
in my preview, to be honest.

Speaker 1 (32:12):
He was he I mean, he got playing time last year, right,
I mean again due to injuries. But I got five
underd snaps last year. He'll get probably around you know,
three hundred. He'll get three hundred and five hundred snaps
next year too, I think. But you're right, it's not
a not a game changer.

Speaker 2 (32:25):
Yeah, I mean maybe maybe he's throw him in on
third downs and just let him blitz.

Speaker 1 (32:29):
But we'll see the great overlap six to one eight
with a super chat final straw. You let Overlap on
the show for his expertise in parentheses, he has a
lot as a bod of this show show word or else. Yeah, Oh,
be honest, I just I don't want to have to
figure out how to get someone on the show. I
want to have you on the show. But it's like

(32:50):
it's sort of like there were times when I want
a haircut, but it's still want to have to actually
like go get a haircut. And that's kind of where
I'm at right now.

Speaker 2 (32:57):
Yeah. Yeah, I mean that's probably say.

Speaker 1 (33:00):
What's your favorite team? I don't I always forget what
what is your Do we need to maybe, uh can
we have you do your a segment with your favorite
team as the.

Speaker 2 (33:10):
Are we sure there's a lot of expertise there? When
he said is he has a lot of as a
lot as a mod of this showered like, I'm not
sure there's a lot of expertise there to begin with,
You're you're already having met doubt your expertise without tents.

Speaker 1 (33:24):
Yeah, Ki Ran says, due to pod over discord, that's
just not happening. I'm not that's it's like you're asking
like a grandpa to learn discord. Like I just it's
I just call it learned discord. Like this is like
this is where you're at, Like this isn't happening. If
I can figure out how to do it in a
simple someone can give me a simple explanation of how
to do it, then I will.

Speaker 2 (33:42):
Uh yeah, I got another for you, man. I think
it will get choice for you to get into streaming
in uh you know, no discord.

Speaker 1 (33:52):
Yeah, I just I don't know how this happened, Kyle.
I'm I don't. I don't do on TikTok. I don't
like how have I already like become the old man
I turned thirty. I'm not even thirty yet.

Speaker 2 (34:01):
Yeah, I don't even have I have a TikTok exclusively
because my family won't stop sending me them. Okay, to
the point where it's like you had to add the
app to watch the video. It's like, okay, I'll just
add this. I haven't been on it besides opening those
messages I get I.

Speaker 1 (34:16):
Don't even it's a clear and says, haven't sent in
a video? That could work if you could like record
something and then we could I could play that. I
don't do I can do that. Uh yeah no. Uh.
I just did a thing where when someone sends me
any video whatsoever, I just hit the laugh thing and
then I don't watch it.

Speaker 2 (34:32):
Yeah, that's like I'm like, right now, that's fine.

Speaker 1 (34:35):
Yeah, it just this is I don't don't send me
a video I don't want. I don't like watching videos.
If it's a if it's a meme, sure, but the
videos itself, I'm just I don't do it.

Speaker 2 (34:44):
YouTube video maker Jackson Kruger just not working videos.

Speaker 1 (34:49):
I don't like getting sent videos like I watch videos
all the time, or like, oh.

Speaker 2 (34:54):
Ors watching videos, that's what he said, or.

Speaker 1 (34:57):
Like if someone's like it, if you were to say, hey,
this is something you think you would like watch it sometime, okay, cool.
But I feel like there's an implication when you text
someone a video that they should drop what they're doing
and watch it.

Speaker 2 (35:07):
Immediately because of the implication as always.

Speaker 1 (35:11):
Yes, something like that. I don't know. We've gotten derailed.
Where were we with the we didn't talk about the
coverage of the Raiders and maybe Raiders fans are okay
with that. Kyle, This is a I mean again, just
throwing this out here right now. Eric Stokes is currently
slotted as a starter for this team and as an
outside corner. We'll see if that's that holds. But you

(35:33):
also have a Darian Porter as the other slaughter starter
for the corners. You have h Jackry and Bennett as
well at the corner position, and honestly, like, yeah, Eric
Stokes might be the best corner here, Like, I'm looking
like that, that might be what they what they have going.
He can at least play. Jeremy Chim's solid I like him.
Isaiah Polamu is the other safety. This is this is

(35:57):
an easy tier five Kyle.

Speaker 2 (35:58):
Yeah, it's right. This is definitely where you have problems.
And that's where, like I said, if you're gonna spend
this much on pass rushers, they have to be absolutely
awesome for this to work, because obviously you're spending that
money elsewhere. And yeah, if they're not absolutely awesome, then
this is gonna be a disaster because this isn't nice
enough of a group. So I don't know if you
remember back to our rookie Draft rankings NFL Draft rankings

(36:22):
for players I pick. Every year, I pick a corner
or defensive back that I like a lot, just because
I feel like I know the position pretty well. I
picked Antoine Winfield one year. I picked Jalen Pittrie for
the Texans one year. It's like my sleeper pick for
that position. If you don't remember, Darian Porter was my

(36:44):
pick this year. Okay, And he's a guy who really
liked in the draft. That being said, he was kind
of a one year wonder, like late bloomer that was
like a special teamer then became like an awesome player
for one season. This is a lot to ask of
him to all all of a sudden be corner number
two potentially for this team in year one.

Speaker 1 (37:04):
So might have to be Quarner one.

Speaker 2 (37:06):
Yeah. I really like him, And there's a lot of
like training camp buzz behind him too and potential, and
he was a guy I was a huge fan of
in the draft all that kind of stuff. But this
is a huge ask with this group for him to
be awesome day one. That mean said a lot of
training cam buzz. If he's awesome, then all of a sudden.
You got a guy in your hands that could be
pretty good and elevate this group. But you're asking a

(37:29):
lot of that guy because you know, Jeremy Chin's not
a stiff to me, like he's at the worst stafe
that you could have. Yeah, but you know, pull him out.
I'm not excited for Eric Stokes. I'm not excited for
and then you lost him. You lost Nate Hobbs, who
is your you know, your ace nickelback, which isn't the
most important thing, but you know we respectnaclebacks in this podcast.

(37:52):
Maybe not the band so much, but the position is important.

Speaker 1 (37:55):
So yeah, multiple times this offseason you have taken a
shot at the vandickelback, which am not against. I'm just
making an observation.

Speaker 2 (38:01):
Yeah, it's fine, it's just but yeah, it's you know,
not having oms up. Like if this group had an
eight Obbs, I'd be like, all right, at least there's
something they're good at. Yeah, they don't have anything right now.
If Jeremy Chin and Darien Porter are your best two
defensive backs, I can't get overly excited.

Speaker 1 (38:16):
The good news is secondaries are notoriously weird, and sometimes
things happen and maybe that'll happen here. But yeah, as
a whole, Kyle, I just I don't love this defense.
I do like real aspects of this offense, but I
also think it might take some time to come together.
It pains me to say I do have the Raiders
going seven and ten this season, but I think it'll
be a good seven and ten. I think this is
the team that, like they you know, they will earn

(38:37):
their seven wins. I think that they will like you know,
they'll beat the Chiefs once or something like that as
in tradition.

Speaker 2 (38:44):
Yeah, I think there's a case to this team scoring points.
Like I think it could be a team that I
don't think they're gonna light the world on fire, and
like they're not gonna lead the league in points per
game just because the way the offense is built, because
it's not like a lot of big play threats. I
think it could be a team though that like the
points per drive for this team are gonna be high,
and they're gonna bleed a lot of clock that way,

(39:06):
and they're gonna score on a lot of possessions. And
that being said, they're probably gonna lose a lot of games,
like twenty seven to twenty four or something like that, Like,
that's probably the bad scenario. I don't really see a
scenario this offense is bad outside of Pete Carroll being
Pete Carroll. And if they do that and lose a
bunch of games twenty eight, twenty four and still find
a way to win six to eight games, I think

(39:26):
that's a successful season. And then you add to this
defense next season and make it better. The upside of
it is definitely a ten win team where they're getting
a bunch of sacks, they're creating turnovers that way, their
pass rush is just as dominant as it should be
based on how expensive it is, and then all of
a sudden, the offense scores once again. Points per drive
for this team should be high, and they're gonna score
on a lot of their possessions, and that's that's gonna

(39:48):
be the successful part of this team, and that's where
they get to the ten wins.

Speaker 1 (39:52):
I think if Pete Carroll can get this off this
defense to be competent, which is like, in the realm
of possibilities, this is the playoff team. I really think
that that's like I don't I think there is a
real chance that this team ends up being not just
like competent, but actively good. Kyle, Uh, the guess the
percentage here for the Raiders. You know that there was
a tie with eleven percent. Do you think the Raiders

(40:12):
had one of those or were the Raiders somewhere else?

Speaker 2 (40:15):
I'm assuming they're in the tie for eleven percent. Even
with the fan base being you know, a big Jackson
Kruger sports fan, I'm assuming they're going to be the
eleven percent.

Speaker 1 (40:25):
Kyle, you fool. Clearly you've been doing this podcast for
how long? Of course, the Raiders are second, uh in
the in the community, not pull twelve percent, so they
have one extra percent than the other two teams, but
still Raiders already are a second according to the fans.

Speaker 2 (40:42):
Yeah, Raiders are Raiders. Fans are the best.

Speaker 1 (40:47):
Yes, exactly. It's very again, very interesting word. The Chiefs
have what they have, and then it's eleven twelve percent
for the other three teams. So I don't know if
we've ever seen something like that before.

Speaker 2 (40:56):
Yeah, definitely not. But it's certainly a certainly an interesting
division to talk about, for sure. But yeah, I mean that,
you know, that's almost disrespectful for the Kansas City to
put the other three teams at thirty four percent.

Speaker 1 (41:09):
Yeah, it's well, it is. That's it's a weird thing
where the Chiefs have much lower percent. They're at sixty
six percent, which is a lot lower than you would expect.
But it's just because there's three other competent options. Let's
talk about the third here. Let's go to the Denver Broncos.
Who'm assuming you have as your number two team here, Kyle,
I'm going to run to the bathroom. Why don't you
explain to the audience why you have the Broncos at

(41:31):
number two?

Speaker 2 (41:32):
All right, this is a bold assumption. I think for
sure to put the Broncos at to say the Broncos
are for sure number two, so surprised he's going to
have the wrong banner up. No, I'm just kidding. The
Denver Broncos are the second place team for me in
this division. But I think they're awesome. I think you
could look at if you took away receiver and quarterback
from this team, from all teams, you can say this
is the best roster in football. I think their offensive

(41:53):
line is awesome. I think this could be the best
defense in the world next season. I think they're fantastic
and as good as bo Knicks was last season, like,
he's still going to go into a lot of playoff
games in the AAFC as the worst quarter as the
lesser quarterback in that matchup. So I have some concerns
with those spots for sure, But that being said, there's

(42:15):
a lot to really like about this team, the upside
of this team, and if bo Knicks can take another leap,
then yeah, all of a sudden, you're looking at the
Denver Broncos as you know, a real force to be
recking with in the AFC, which is not an easy
thing to do because there's three teams at the top
in the Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens, the Buffalo Bills
that are very difficult for a lot of teams to beat.

(42:35):
And yeah, I think they're in a position where you
could argue this is the fourth best team in the
AFC behind that big three, and if bo Knicks takes
another leap and turns into a top twelve starter in
the league, then all of a sudden you're looking at
this team as they could be better than one of
those big three teams in the AFC. So I think
that there's a lot to really like about this Denver
team and a ton of upside outside of a few positions.

Speaker 1 (42:58):
I just got back. I'm assuming you're exp which is
that you're just so high on bon Next He's gonna
carry this team to uh to you know, championship attention.

Speaker 2 (43:05):
Absolutely, that's exactly what I said.

Speaker 1 (43:08):
I think, Yeah, makes sense, cal Bo next tier three
quarterback for me. I also have Sean Payton as a
Tier two head coach. Uh. You know, if it's my
fandom of his, it's not tier two. But that's I
don't factor that in. Uh. Some people would even argue
he could be Tier one head coach. Yeah. I mean
Bo Nicks is again those are that's kind of a
question of the whole knock on him is what is

(43:29):
his ceiling? What? How good can he get? Well? I mean,
we'll see if he can get get better this year.

Speaker 2 (43:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (43:36):
I think he was bad last year.

Speaker 2 (43:37):
Yeah yeah, yeah, and he was good for a rookie
last season. I think there's definitely some areas of improvement though,
And as I was just saying on the previous thing,
for the number two spot, you could argue definitely, you know,
we we continue to say, you know, you have to.
If you're gonna compete in the AFC, you have to
compare yourself to the Big Three, which is Kansas City, Buffalo, Baltimore.

(43:58):
Those are the big three teams in the AFC right now.
Those are the three you have to overcome, and they
all have elite quarterbacks and a lot of elite position
players at different positions. I think you could argue if
Bot Knicks is the same as last year as he
is this this year, you could argue this is the
fourth best team in the a f C on paper.
I think if he takes another leap and all of

(44:19):
a sudden he's in that like Kirk Cousins top twelve
range that we talk about so much, I think you
could argue this is a team that could beat any
of the three teams in the Big three of the AFC.
So I think that they're that close. I think this
tech roster is talented across the board, maybe besides another position,
but like this is all here for both Knicks and
he showed a lot of promise in your one.

Speaker 1 (44:39):
Yeah, I think one of the one of the real
benefits of you know, uh of the here. Sorry a
second to get my notes up, but Sean Payton is
also I think someone we have to talk about his ball, right,
we will talk about the issues in the you know,
betind Joe, concern of DIFFERCEI even corn all that, but
you just he is one of the few guys who
you're like, it's okay if the receivers aren't gret because

(45:01):
they have Sean Payton. But there's not many people you
can say that about.

Speaker 2 (45:04):
Yeah, And that's also you know, we did our coach rankings.
That's why I had Sean Peyton so highly regarded. I
think he's really good at coaching an elite position in
this game. You know, we we have talked about it.
How many times in this podcast. How many times have
you said the receiver is now second most important position
in the NFL. I think if you have a coach it, yeah,
if you're gonna I just think personally, and this is

(45:26):
how I evaluated my coach rankings. If you're gonna value
receiver that highly and you have a guy as a
head coach who could turn almost anybody in a receiver
room to competent, Like this group on paper was not
good last season, but they became competent at least because
of Sean. You know, it's something we just had to
point to Sean Payton's coaching. Like Courtland Sutton was a

(45:48):
pretty good player last year. I mean he turned into
a top thirty two receiver last season. You know, you
have a guy in Vid Ingram who can't catch balls
out of the tight end position. He's a good tight end,
you know. And even like if you just go across
the board, Von Vailey was the fifty ninth RAAK receiver
out of one hundred and thirty three in PFF, which
doesn't sound amazing, but that's pretty darn good. Marvin Mims
was sixty second, which, like you do the math, like,

(46:11):
if each team has two receivers, that's sixty four receivers
in the league. They have three receivers that were raided
in the top sixty four last season. That's not nothing.
Plus you're adding Ingram, plus you're adding talent to this backfield.
I think that's a really good job from Sean Payton again,
who just continues to do this receivers year after year
of the year.

Speaker 1 (46:28):
Yeah, well I agree. I also don't want this receiving
core U going into it. Like and while I agree
about the mems in the Bailey thing. One thing worth
mentioning neither had a ton of snaps last season. If
you have Marvin BIMs having one hundred receiver snaps, is
he going to be able to still be a competent
player or does he need to have those? You know,
doesn't need to be a special teams guy who can
do some receiving stuff. You got Troy Franklin last year

(46:51):
who just didn't do a lot. I do like Cortland
Sutton and he he fits this offense really well. I
like Evan Ingram. I think he fits this. I think
we'll see how he fits the stupent, but I think
on paper that that should work. Also, not crazy about
this running back room with JK. Dobbins, Julia mcgloffin and
then your guy R. J. Harvey, who again I'm not

(47:11):
as crazy, but they also have oddric estimate there. But
we'll see how all this goes. You know, I'm going
to go tier five receiving room in tier four running
back room. But again with the Sean Payton staff, how
much would I be elevated. We'll see.

Speaker 2 (47:26):
Yeah, it's definitely gonna be elevated. It's still the weakest
part of the team. For sure the skill positions, but
I do think it is better than even last season.
I still think Men's and Valley are pretty interesting depth pieces.
Evan Ingram is a solid tight end. And then, like
you said, Courtland Sutton has proven to be a solid receiver.
Even if he's not like an amazing number one option,
he's still a number one option in a certain regard,

(47:47):
and I think he has respect. Keep an eye on
Pat Bryant with this team third round pick, seventy fourth overall.
He is. He is big, he's six two to two
of four. He runs really well. He had twenty yards
per kik last year for Illinois. He had double digit touchdowns.
I think he could be a pretty interesting player in
this receiving room too. And it's also one of those

(48:07):
things if Sean Payton Valley is a receiver, I'm gonna
value the receiver a little bit too. So I really
like that group.

Speaker 1 (48:13):
R J.

Speaker 2 (48:13):
Harvey, He's shifty, He's gonna be there's a potentially he's
one of the more fun players to watch next season too.
I think he's gonna be awesome out of the backfield.
He can also catch passes. I think that's something I
really value with him too, where like Dobbins is probably
gonna be the guy to get the hard yards for
this team. So I think there's upside here for me
for sure. And like I said, I think it's better
than last season where they performed better than expectations as

(48:36):
it was.

Speaker 1 (48:37):
The other good thing about this is Bonus will have
time to have to get These guys got time to
get open because you have a really good offensive line here,
Garrett Bowles, Mike mclinchey as attackles quinner and it's spend
powers and Luke Wattenberg as in tieror. This is the
Tier one offensive line for me. Last year there were
just constant plays where Bonnicks had all day to get
the let the receivers get open and make things work. Again,

(49:00):
that doesn't always work in the playoffs, but in the
regular season. This should still allow this offense to continue
to have life.

Speaker 2 (49:06):
Yeah, really awesome group. Garrett Bowles is one of the
more underrated players in the league I think for sure.
Mcglinchy you know they paid money for him in the
previous offseason. He came in and plugged him right away,
was an awesome right tackle. I really liked that group overall,
Like you said, and yeah, I mean it was really good.
It was something they really needed for a young quarterback,
and a young quarterback who historically is at times when

(49:29):
the first option wasn't there for him in college. He
held the ball too long and tried to do too much,
and they needed that, I think, especially for a young
quarterback with those mistakes in his game. So it really
worked for them last season. I expect it to work again.
I guess. The one thing is, like, I mean, you
can't project injuries. You can't predict injuries. But like this
team stayed amazingly healthy on the offensive line last season.

(49:50):
Like I think all of these guys played like eight
hundred snaps or some number like that. Like that's the
one concern you have. Does that catch up to you?
But like, like I said, you can't predict an injury.

Speaker 1 (50:00):
Yeah, it's fair, That is totally fair. The defense was
the reason why this team was so good last year,
why they were a playoff team, and it may might
have gotten better. This was the number one defense and
points per drive last year, and the number one thing
they did this offseason was improved their defense. Patzertan coming
off of a defensive player of the year Canadacy. They've

(50:20):
also drafted Johnny Barron in the first round, a guy
who many people thought should have been drafted higher than
twentieth overall when he ultimately went. They still have Riley Moss,
who could be, you know, a guy who if he
has to come in at least shouldn't be a complete disaster.
Not someone you want as a starter, but not a
complete disaster. And I'm pretty safeties. You have Brandon Jones,

(50:41):
you have PJ. Locke, but they want Hufonga, the safety
that they you know, obviously has had. He's an All
Pro with d forty nine ers. I don't know if
he was the best sage in the league that year,
but he won the All Pro U. He is someone
who has had injury issues, and in fact, they also
went with Trey green Law, who has also had injury
issues out of the linebacking room. So they've done out

(51:03):
a couple places. But I mean, I'm just going to
your one convererence. This just this feels like it's gonna work, Kyle.

Speaker 2 (51:08):
It definitely feels like it's gonna work. I wouldn't be
surprised if Johnny barn starting on the outside of a
rolley Moss next season. And the most important thing for
me too is, like you know, Brandon Jones is another
guy who I think is also pretty underrated, and it's
mainly because he plays with Pats or Tan and it's
not really his fault. The big thing is, like you said,
they have depth. They have a lot of options, Like

(51:31):
you could take a chance on a Hufonga as far
as injuries go, when you have a guy like PJ
Lock behind him, you know, because it's not really gonna
fall off that far. You could take a chance on
a guy like Johnny Barron in the first round because,
like you said, even though Riley Moss isn't a perfect option,
like he's not the worst player in the world to
have his number two corner, especially when your number one's
Pats or Tan, like it just works that way, and
especially when you have Brandon Jones in the deep secondary

(51:52):
play in that free safety role. I think that really works.
And like I even like these linebackers, so if like
something happens to Dray green Law, you have options at
linebackers as far as depth goes, including guys like Drew
Sanders in the backup roles that can't step into the
positions and be successful. So not only are they really good,
they're back you know, their secondary and their linebackers, they're

(52:15):
really talented. They have depth at all of those positions.
I think they have guys they can go to too
with if somebody gets hurt, so they have the chance
to take chances with these positions. And now they're just
I mean, this is Eagles ask last season with the
depth that they have at these positions at corner, at safety,
and at linebacker and.

Speaker 1 (52:32):
A defensive line. I mean that's that's like, I mean
the defensive line you talk about death. I mean just
for the interior guys, Zach Allen, John frankly Meyer's DJ Jones,
Malcolm Roach, they're just interior guys. And then you know
for the edge, it's Nick Benino, who's elite cover guy.
Nick Benino. You have Jonathan Cooper, you have a DeAndre Tillman,
even Jonah Ellis who can get some snaps if nothing else. Again,

(52:55):
are any of these guys household names? No, but these
are like it's I don't think I can go year
one for either of these just because they don't have
that Max Crosby, right, they don't have the elite the
Khalil Mack, but this has they're so deep at all
this I'm gonna go Tier two for both run defense
and pass rush.

Speaker 2 (53:11):
Very good at both spots. Another guy who I think
is underrated, and I've been saying that since he was
on the Jets as John Franklin Myers. I think he's
a rock solid player. I think he does a lot
of things really well. Even if he's not elite at
anyone thing, I think he's just kind of good at everything,
and I think that's something that's really valuable. I like
him a lot. Benito is a really good player. And
you know that this was a team too that like
rebuilt this really quickly, Like they let a lot of

(53:32):
passwortchers go, they traded Bradley Chubb and they just quickly
just said, Okay, we're still gonna be awesome because we're
just gonna plug and play guys, draft guys like Benito
and make it work. And yeah, I think they're awesome
across the board. And if the worst thing you have
going for you is a Tier two run defense front seven,
then like I think you're gonna be okay.

Speaker 1 (53:50):
Yeah, So Kyle, you have the Broncos. Second, the Community
Notes has them tied for third. I not Communites Community Poll.
I agree with you. I have them at second. I'm
gonna go eleven and six. I still have concerns about
the receiving Corps, and I think that's just gonna be
an issue I have with the weapons in general. I

(54:11):
still am just I'm more. I think my concern about
the Broncos I guess is have they significantly improved from
what they were last year? Their defense is better? They
should their defense is already really good last year. They
should still be, you know, a contender. They I feel
they're they're at least I mean, last year they were
the seven seed who kind of squeaked in. This year,
I think they'll be like maybe like the sixth seed
that's like definitely in. But I still don't know if

(54:32):
they're gonna be much more than I still feel like
this is probably a one and done playoff team as
of right now. It's kind of where I'm at.

Speaker 2 (54:40):
There's potential for it. I wouldn't be shocked if they're
the five seed. It just kind of seems how it
sees how it plays out like. I still think the
Bengals probably have more upside, just because they have Burrow
Chase in t Higgins. But like you know, we talked
about the Bengals last week, there's definitely potential for that
team to fall off again with that defense. U Pittsburgh
obviously has plugged in play a lot of pieces that

(55:02):
could easily be the five seed as well. But like,
this team's gonna be right there, And I wouldn't be
surprised if, like you said, I think eleven wins should
be the expectations. I think this team can be that
because they had a lot of these similar issues and
overcame them last season. Obviously, every season is a little
bit different, but like you're gonna have a better bon
Nicks starting the year off, You're gonna have these receivers.
You have some upside with those receivers too. I think

(55:24):
there's a lot of potential for this group to be
really good. And I don't think like even eleven wins.
I think twelve wins is on the table. I think
thirteen wins is on the table. Like, I think this
team could really be that built on this defense, built
built on the upside of their offense still, and I
think they could be really good.

Speaker 1 (55:39):
I think for them to be a real contender. Bo
Knicks has to be more than just a game manager.
Mm hmm.

Speaker 2 (55:46):
He's going to enter that top twelve ish range, I
think for sure.

Speaker 1 (55:49):
Yeah, and yeah, if he can do that, I think,
and listen, the number one way we are wrong about
on these previews, it's saying, what as quarterback was this
last year and then they just get better? Like that's
the number one way we're wrong.

Speaker 2 (56:01):
Yeah, and you know, he exceeded expectations for both of
us last season. Yeah, and I definitely think he could
do it again. We're not asking him to do a lot.
We both wanted them to get another receiver for sure.
But that being said, like you said in Sean Payton,
I trust there. That's kind of where I'm leaning on
that right now.

Speaker 1 (56:20):
Yeah. I think I'd be shocked that they missed the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (56:24):
Yes, that is very much true. I think if I
were to bet on one of these three teams missing
the playoffs, this would be my last pick for sure.

Speaker 1 (56:33):
Yeah. I almost feel like I think if you would say,
you know, you do you tell me a team from
the AFC West that isn't the Chiefs wins the Super
Bowl next year. I think I put the Chargers over
to Broncos. But if you tell me only to make
the playoffs next year, I'm picking the Chiefs and the
Broncos at the two to make the playoffs. M I
just feel like the Justin Herbert, like, I just think

(56:54):
it's I'm going to take the better quarterback nine out
of ten times.

Speaker 2 (56:57):
I get it. No, that would be fair. I don't
hate the two. I think I might still lean to Denver.
I'm just really him on this team. Like I said,
I think I don't think thirteen wins is crazy for
this team next season, Like I think they're that good.

Speaker 1 (57:09):
Well, let me throw the other thing at you. Then
we're going along. But that's okay. We'll have a little
bit of long break so we can we can go
a little bit long here, Kyle. The other thing all
throughout you is we always talk about defense being notoriously
fluky and year in and year route it does not always,
you know, go to the same way. Pat Sertan, who
was coming off a defensive player of your award, has

(57:31):
had years where he wasn't this good, right Like that
can be fluky. And what happens if this defense is
okay next year, which is still something that we have
to talk about as a potential.

Speaker 2 (57:43):
Yeah, I mean, then that team will be worse, for sure,
that is the pathway. Is defense fluke enough for that
to happen. But at the same time, that's also why
I just value them adding so much players and adding
so much to their strength. Like if Patrick's if pastser
Tan is ten percent worse next season just by flukiness, or.

Speaker 1 (58:00):
Just because that would make sense because he's coming off
of a career year.

Speaker 2 (58:03):
Yes, I mean that is very much on the table.
Johnny Barron's probably going to be better than what they
had last season at his position, right, And you know
the upside of Hufunga and green Law is probably gonna
be better than what they had at that position last
year too, Right, So even if he's slightly worse, like,
they got better across the board in a lot of ways.
So I just I think that's that's part of the

(58:23):
reason why I love their offseason.

Speaker 1 (58:26):
Yeah, I agree. I think I think they did the
absolute correct thing of saying, let's not just sit on
our defense that was good, Let's still try to improve
areas we can. I think that was very smart. Kyle,
who cares about these other teams who cares about the
other thirty one teams in this league? This is it's
still the Chiefs League. They are coming off of Super
Bowl loss, a down year for them where they lost

(58:47):
in the Super Bowl. That's a bad season for the
new Evil Empire. Loo's look the colors for the Patriots
Evil Empire worked better, right, Chiefs colors are too far?

Speaker 2 (58:56):
Yeah, that Navy blue definitely kissed a lot people. And
then when it was really cool in New England, and
Brady would wear like the scuba suit and is like
this part of his face and he looked kind of
like a dork. Like that really made people mad.

Speaker 1 (59:10):
Yeah, and and and the Chiefs are too. I mean
they've tried to be more boring lately, but like they're
still kind of fun, like the like they're still fun
players like the Chi. The Patriots being also like the
most boring team to ever play football just really added
to the Evil Empire. Except for you, you probably had
a lot of fun, but for everyone else it was.

Speaker 2 (59:24):
I had fun. I don't know, I don't know what
that is.

Speaker 1 (59:27):
So I I enjoyed Brady went with the Tampa Bay
but I mean, just what you're the the the Death
Five thousand paper cuts not always the most exciting, Kyle.
We talked about Kansas City Chiefs tier one quarterback and
tier one uh coach, and we're gonna start there. I
don't know how long we want to go. Yes, Patrick
Mahomes is still awesome. I I will die on this hill.

(59:47):
I will be the last person off of the Patrick
Mahomes hill. Okay, Nick right, maybe uh right after me,
but that's it. Uh, other than I'll be a second
to last off of that hill. I think he's the
best in the league. If you want to argue second, fine,
But then also I thought Andy Reid was like really
good last year, Like I thought like the coaching for
the Chiefs was really underratedly like clever with how the

(01:00:07):
exs and L's went. Obviously, the questions about the Chiefs
are around Reid and Mahomes, not read them home. But
that's why we talk about this team as championship and
tender every year is because of those two guys.

Speaker 2 (01:00:19):
Yeah, I mean, twelve wins is the expectation at minimum
for a team with those two guys at the top.
And that just matters. Like, yeah, I look, i I'd
put Patrick Mahomes second in our quarterback rankings. That's strictly
off of regular season performance. I think Josh Allen has
been better for him better than him the last two
to three years in the regular season, but it doesn't

(01:00:39):
matter because when it comes down to it, Patrick Mahomes
fineswas to be great and when they need him to
be perfect, he is perfect in a lot of ways.
You know, we can go back to some of those
playoff performances where he was borderline perfect and helped his
team win games in that way. So you know, I'm
not gonna argue against Patrick Mahomes if you have him
first too much. I just think Allen's excellency and his
team's dependency on him being a was a difference maker

(01:01:01):
for me in that ranking off of regular season performance.
But Patrick Mahomes is still up there as the best
player in the league. He is a superstar, and they
added talent to his receiving room to help him for
next season. So there are things that I think you
can nitpick for the Kansas City team, and we're going
to talk about them, because you know what, when you're
paying quarterback fifty million dollars or whatever it is, you're

(01:01:23):
gonna have some things that you're gonna have holes on
in the roster. We're gonna talk about those. But this
could also be one of the more talented chiefs seems
what we have in a couple of years. And that's
a lot because they win a lot of Super Bowls.

Speaker 1 (01:01:32):
Yeah, it's crazy to say that when they're coming off
of three straight Super Bowl appearances, two of those were victories,
that this could be one of more talented ones we've
seen in the past few years. But it's not highly untrue.
I mean, I we'll talk about it. Let's go to
the receivers, which was a big conversation last year of
receiving corp that was below average, slightly below average, which

(01:01:53):
you know, that's thatat that I had of a below
average receiving corp not making the Super Bowl. That has
been because they made a Super Bowl last year for
below average receiving core. The good news is to get
receive Rice back, which he was awesome when we saw
him play two years ago. Xavier Worthy really came into
his own towards the end of the year. You hopefully
will get a full year out of Hollywood Brown. This

(01:02:15):
year they drafted Jalen Broyles. We'll see if they get
anything out of him, they're still Juju Smith Schuster there,
And I think this will help you're gonna get The
plan is to have Travis Kelcey play more of just
a receiving tight end role and have Noah Gray almost
get like tight end one reps to the point where
they're gonna essentially be like tight End one A and
one B next year. I think that's a smart plan.

(01:02:35):
So I still don't love this receiving core, but I
think it's a tier three receiving corps.

Speaker 2 (01:02:41):
Ooh, I think I would have a Tier one Tier one. Yeah,
tier one, that's.

Speaker 1 (01:02:50):
Okay, Yes, that's surprising. I mean again, Tier one like
Tier one is I think Cincinnati or Tampa Bay right
like these like, you know, elite level receiver, multiple elite
level receivers.

Speaker 2 (01:03:02):
Yeah, I mean look here here, I'm not saying you're wrong.

Speaker 1 (01:03:06):
I'm curious. Explain yourself.

Speaker 2 (01:03:08):
So look up. Until his knee injury last season, Rashie
Rice was playing like a superstar. I think he was
playing like an absolute star in this game. He looked
like he was on his path to being an elite
elite wide receiver in this game, at least in the
top ten category. Maybe not the top five group that
we talk about so often with the Justin Jefferson, Jamar Chases,
AJ Browns, all that kind of stuff, But he looked

(01:03:28):
like he was gonna be on a fringe top ten
category up until that point. And that was going from
the playoffs, where he was also awesome from January. So
basically from January twenty twenty four on through up until
his knee injury last season, he was on a path
that seemed like the very almost starred him. And I
think that was your first part Ze every word. He

(01:03:49):
got off to a very slow star for the Chiefs.
By the playoffs, he was on that same Rashee Rice
kind of trajectory where January, I mean, he was dematably
the best receiver in football the playoffs, like up there
in that category, he was really good. Yes, he got
some garbage time throws at the end of the Super Bowl,
but even beyond that, he was really good in a
lot of those playoff games. I think those two at

(01:04:10):
the top is a really good dynamic duo. They have
so much speed, so much elusiveness. I think they're both
gonna be really good. They both showed a lot of
development and that leaves you with you know, Hollywood Brown
and Travis kelce as your third options. That's a pretty
good spot to be in, especially with Travis kelce like
you said, transitioning into that receiver role kind of being
on ice. You have those options, you know, those are
your third and fourth options at that point. I think

(01:04:32):
you know you can nitpick obviously Brown, but like he's
a pretty good third or fourth option, and you're asking
Travis kelcey to be that third option on this team.
I think that's pretty awesome. You have Juju smith Suster
as a fifth guy at that point where you know
you can criticize Juju smith Schuster a lot. He's pretty
good in this offense. I really like him as a
fifth option. We can keep going through the depth. You know,
you have Noah Gray, like you said, in that kind

(01:04:54):
of pass blocking role doing some different things. He can
also catch the ball. And then, like you know, I'll
say this is a sneaky signing too. Like Robert Tunny
in a few years ago was a red zone merchant.
What if they just have him out there for red
zone possessions doing those funky Kansas City Chiefs shuttle plays.
I think this team could be six or seven deep
at the receiver position. At minimum, they're gonna be five

(01:05:15):
deep at the receiver position with a Noah Gray blocking.
I think that's a really good group overall.

Speaker 1 (01:05:20):
Man, Sure, listen, I agree for everything you said. I
think all those are all positives. I think the one
thing that I would push back on is just first off, hey,
Mike Evans had over one hundred receiving yards every playoff
game he played him, So I think he was the
best receiver in the playoffs last year. But I mean,
like A. J. Brown was really good, there were other
good guys. I do agree though, that Xavier Worthy was

(01:05:41):
fantastic in the playoffs. He also played his best two
games of his career in the Conference championship and into
Super Bowl, which I think is making maybe people think
he was better last year than he actually was. Uh
still a player. I'm excited to see what he's gonna
do in year two. And I agree for she Rice
you know was really good for injury also coming off
a knee injury, Like you don't just come back in

(01:06:03):
our one immediately every time, you know, uh I. And
then I just my concern is I like so much
of the step. I think this is gonna work when
you're playing against Denver. It's third and nine, it's man coverage.
Last year, the Chiefs were not getting open on those plays.
Will they get open this year? I still don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:06:24):
Yeah, And that's where that's where Rice and Brown have
to come in and be that next level guy that
we're hoping for. I think there's a case for it
because we just didn't really see it all coalesced, because
like they they wanted this slow play, this Kelsey thing,
and kind of give him some time to ramp up
towards the playoffs, because he's obviously a little bit older.
And then Rice went down and it was like, all
of a sudden, it's like, okay, we need to get
Kelsey going. And then Worthy came on towards the end

(01:06:46):
of the year and it was just different, right, and
then Brown obviously was never healthy. That was a big
part of it too. I think having all of those
pieces together is gonna make a huge difference between like,
this guy's out and this guy's out. We're reshuffling our
decks here. We didn't really see all four of these
guys on the field at the same time, and I
think That's something I really want to see, is all
four of those guys really playing and being pass catch options,

(01:07:07):
because I think those third and nine are gonna look
a lot better when you have you know, big crossing
routes necessarily from Brown and Rice across the middle of
the field with their speed, Chelsea sneaking over the middle
of the field doing different things. I think this was
gonna look a lot better.

Speaker 1 (01:07:21):
Yeah, I mean, we'll see I guess you know we're
going along. But like the flipside is, will we get
to see them all help you this year? Right? Like
I it'd be cool if we do, but I can't.
I'm not going to bank on that.

Speaker 2 (01:07:32):
Yeah, I mean that's the concern. But like I said,
you can't necessarily predict injuries. But I just I think
on paper, if you looked at those four to five guys,
that is a pretty talented group before all, where you know,
maybe Tier one's a bit you know, ambacious, but at
the same time, like I think it could be at
least a Tier two group for sure.

Speaker 1 (01:07:49):
Yeah, let's do do the offensive line as well, which
is the other concern that's fair to have. You have
Jowan Taylor, who is a player that people have opinions
about you. Neither want you or I are huge fans
of his game. He's not the worst tackle in the world.
But just you know, if he was getting paid seven
million a year, I think we both say, oh, yeah,
he's fine. It's just it's weird that he's getting paid

(01:08:10):
so much. They drafted Josh Shimmons in the first round,
who they want him to play tackle. They also signed
Jalen Moore to about fifteen million a year to be
I'm assuming just a backup tackle who maybe will compete
for the job. Still don't fully understand what I got
rid of Joe Toney. If they were gonna pay Jayleen
Moore the money they paid him, maybe they didn't realize
that tackle was gonna fall to them in the draft.

(01:08:31):
I don't know. At the end here here you have
Creed Humphrey and Trey Smith. Not as good of a
center right guard combo as you're gonna get. But then
there's the left guard question, which Kyle is it really Kingsley?
Sue and Tea? Are we doing this again? Is this
once again going to be a We're going into the
season with Kingsley suit Tea hoping that he can be
a starter. I'm not saying it's a horrible risk, but

(01:08:51):
I just look for this team, I'd rather them have
a like just an okay guard or Joe Doney maybe
perhaps instead of this situation. So I don't know. I mean,
it's it's as of right now, like, is it crazy
to just go Tier four even though they have Create
Humphrey and Trey Smith because of everything else going on?

Speaker 2 (01:09:09):
No, I don't think it's crazy. I agree with everything
and said, are there's still people that have positive Juwan
Taylor takes. I mean, I just don't. I think the
people talk about people have opinions on him, and the
opinion is that he's not very good. Like, I just
think you're like, I.

Speaker 1 (01:09:21):
Think you're probably right. I think at this point, I
think that it's it's, uh, yeah, that's probably the case.
We won.

Speaker 2 (01:09:26):
We won that argument. Okay, good that being said, I
guess like there are still different things to pick, like nitpick,
like is it Mike Kelliander or Kings of Asumitea. I
hate that idea. Juwan Taylor is obviously going to be
a bit of a problem on that right tackle spot.
No matter what, I'm not necessarily sure that that's how
it's gonna look though, Like I think Create Humphrey and

(01:09:48):
Trade Smith are awesome. I wouldn't be shocked if next
year it's Josh Josh Simmons and Jalen Moore both playing,
whether they're both on the left side or Jalen Moore
bumps over to the right tackle spot or something along those.

Speaker 1 (01:10:02):
It's interesting.

Speaker 2 (01:10:03):
Yeah, I think there's something along those, Like I think
there's something there to one of them plays. I think
they obviously would probably would have preferred to get one
of those. There was a lot of tackles in this
draft that looked like they projected to bump into guard positions,
and I think they would have preferred that. But Simmons
was there, and like he is a peer out and
out tackle, Like I think he's going to be a
left tackle. He's just that's based on his size. I

(01:10:25):
don't think he's someone that plays a guard. Could Jill
In more than play left guard, I think that's a possibility.
Could he just play left tackle all of a sudden
That looks a little bit better if you have those
two guys both on the field. Because I like Simmons,
I think he's you know, he had the injury and
it's a small sample size, but like when he played,
he was an absolute monster. So I really like that group.
I like Creed Humphrey and Trey Smith. Obviously if if

(01:10:46):
it is Sumtae and Jawan Taylor out there Week one, though,
I have a lot more concerns with this team.

Speaker 1 (01:10:51):
Yeah, yeah, uh, it's it's interesting for the running back
just to round out of the offense. Kraim hat Isia Pacheco. Uh, yeah,
I think it's pretty good, like Tier three.

Speaker 2 (01:11:03):
Yeah, I like him both. I don't love him both.
Like there's not much difference between Kareem hunt and Isamba Checko,
Like they're kind of the same player except for whenes
older and one's younger. So people like the younger player born.

Speaker 1 (01:11:17):
Yeah, coming up like pretty good last year. Like he's
like I think he was probably Kareem Hunts probably shown
more tense coming back than projected did.

Speaker 2 (01:11:25):
Yeah, I mean he's yeah, he's probably the better option.
But yeah, I think they're both fine.

Speaker 1 (01:11:30):
Yeah. Defense, So the one thing that you know we're
talking about, could this be the best Chiefs team and
all that? I still think that again, part of how
they won back to back Super Bowl was on the
strength of a great secondary, which they will not have UH,
or at least they will not have Lugarious Need, who
was the number one corner on that great secondary. But

(01:11:52):
there's still was a lot of really good secondary pieces here.
You still have the you know, Gsell, Jalen Watson. I
don't know what's going on, Josha Williams. I don't know
why benched him last year and what went on with that.
I still think he's all right. They added Christian Fulton,
who should be another good corner. You have Chamari Connor obviously,
Trent McDuffie, who is an All Pro who was still
really good as an outside guy last year, you know,

(01:12:15):
and then for safeties Jayden Hicks like Brian Cook. I
still think the question, I mean, you can have questions
about like we kind of brought figured this out prior
for the Super Bowl. They didn't play a lot of
deep receiver receiving corps last year, and they didn't like
the didn't get challenged too much on the outside UH
with like teams that had multiple good receivers, and when
they did against UH Philadelphia, they really shuggled. So I

(01:12:38):
think I'm gonna say because of that I'll go tier
two coverage, but like, this could easily end up being
Tier one.

Speaker 2 (01:12:45):
Yeah, I think it also ended up being like Tier three,
tier four. I think there's potential for this to go
either way. I like mc duffie's a star. Like you know,
I had questions about him last year, like can't he
go out to bounce to the outside and still be
They played nine hundred and fifty three snaps as a
wide corner last year. He was awesome. He was absolutely fantastic.
So I really like him at that point. You know,

(01:13:07):
if he moves back to the inside, I mean he's
still really he's amazing at that spot. He's an all
pro at that spot, So I have no issue with it.
Jalen Watson and Christian Fulton are solid, so I don't
hate that idea, you know, and just do some different
things with McDuffie. He could be impactful as a nickel
guy as also moving around the field, So I have
no issue with that. I don't love the safety room,
you know, cooking. Is it going to be Shamari Connor

(01:13:28):
back there? Is it going to be Jayden Hicks. I
just don't love that group, and I think that's kind
of where we have a little bit of our you know,
the false flags that were last season where like you said,
they didn't really you know, there are some numbers that
really liked the Chiefs defense in their secondary last year,
and it was kind of like they just played bad
teams at receiver and they accept for teams team had.

Speaker 1 (01:13:48):
Good receivers, always had injuries that thought.

Speaker 2 (01:13:50):
Like yeah, and like you know, there were flashes of
them just kind of getting torched and we kind of
ignored it for long stretches, like before the Saints had
all those injuries. In that game, they were kind of
throwing the ball over the yard in that Monday night game.
Then a couple of their guys got hurt. You know.
There's just a couple of things like that throughout their
season to where there should have been more red flags
that we were paying attention to, we didn't really notice it.

(01:14:12):
So those guys definitely have to play better.

Speaker 1 (01:14:15):
Yeah, I agree, Uh, it's that's that is a fair
thing to bring up. Also, to round out one thing
I mentioned, I should have mentioned as well, good linebackers
that can cover well Nick Bolton, Drew Frank will Leoschanel
that that helps Steed that does factor in the coverage
that will help also help the front seven, headlined by
Chris Jones, who can do it all himself. Mike Pando

(01:14:39):
is a good sort of you know, number two guy.
Don't love what else they have in the interior. I'll
be honest, if again we can significant Jerry Tillery snaps
that's not ideal. Uh, we'll see if we get anything
out of Felix and Duke Uzama out of the edge.
George Carloff is their best guy. They're Charles Amena Hugh
and Mike Dana, both guys who can play. So yeah,
I mean they did lose. They lost, you know, a

(01:14:59):
couple they lost some pieces last year. Uh what the
Panthers signed one of their defensive linemen. This still should
be pretty good. Though, I still think this is gonna
be I'll go I'll go Tier twos for both. I
won't go quite tier one. But I still think this
is I would like a little bit more interior depth
for me to feel great about it. But and I maybe,
but I think it's still something that's gonna be really good.

Speaker 2 (01:15:21):
Yeah, I agree with that. Like's, like you said, Chris
Jones is a superstar, and like I really love this
front flour, like when they're all healthy and playing like
this group's good, like Dana's Dana being probably their worst
defensive lineman of that four is a pretty good floor
to have, Like you have Dana Karloftis Penal and Chris Jones,
Like that's a really good spot to be in. You

(01:15:41):
have that g and yeah, I think that's a really
good spot. And then, like you said, the worry is
if any of those guys get hurt, because even beyond that,
like indukeue Uzuma is not even like an awesome option
that we've seen so far. It's still kind of projecting
some development. So there's just not a lot of options
in depth, even at the edge spots. So that's your concern.
But you know those four are good.

Speaker 1 (01:16:04):
Yeah, yeah, So as a whole, Kan City Chiefs are
probably gonna be all right this year. I think they
might make the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (01:16:12):
Good chance of that, and like you know, we obviously
don't talk about it with this group, but like you know,
Keiram is blaming up, Like the special teams is awesome too,
and their well coach, they do a really good job
on special teams, not even even beyond punter and kicker.
They're really good too, So they do the little things
to win a lot of games. That's how they win
a lot of games last season, and they're gonna continue
to be good.

Speaker 1 (01:16:32):
Yeah, I'll go thirteen to four with the Chiefs. I
think there is potential that another team could get the
one seed here. I don't think they're like a lock
for the one seed, but like, yeah, they're very They're
they're very good. I do think that the concerns about
I still have some concerns about the receiving core. I
still have some concerns about the offensive line, and I
still have some concerns about them still trying to replace
what Lugerious Need brought when they won back to back

(01:16:54):
Super Bowls. But I am not overly concerned about the Chiefs.

Speaker 2 (01:16:59):
Yeah, I'm not concerned. Like they're gonna win a lot
of games. Once again, if you're gonna nitpick the Chiefs,
it's about winning the Super Bowl. It's not about making
the playoffs. So that's the thing where it's like, yeah,
I have a little concerns about here. It's about playing
like the Bills, Ravens and whoever they play in the
a NFC. When they eventually win anyways. So yeah, not
a lot of concerns this team super Bowl of Us again.

Speaker 1 (01:17:19):
Yeah, I would. The Kancity Chiefs have sixty sixty six
percent of people say that the Chiefs will win the division.
That's down from seventy nine last year. I think a
lot of that is just how people view to the
other three teams than the Chiefs itself.

Speaker 2 (01:17:33):
Yeah, Raiders being better has their fans more optimistic.

Speaker 1 (01:17:37):
That's what it is. Yeah, so I still think the
Chiefs heavy favorites. Yeah, Kyle, That's that's our recap of
the AFC West. So what next week we will do? Yeah,
next week we'll go back to our normal time at Wednesday,
So on the sixteenth, July sixteenth, we will cover uh,
the AFC South, everyone's favorite division to talk about.

Speaker 2 (01:17:56):
Yeah, not not the best one, but uh, you know,
we'll get into it. We'll talk about it again. Could
be an interesting division. Let why not. Let's say it's
an interesting division we have. We have four quarterbacks that
we're all interested in talking about. There's no Will Levis
next year, so let's get into it. Let's talk about
it and yeah, fun stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:18:13):
Who are the four.

Speaker 2 (01:18:16):
Caim Ward CJ. Stroud, Trevor Lawrence, and I mean, I'm
still interested in Anthony Richardson. I am, okay, he's interesting,
Like there's still there's still moments where he throws like
an eighty three yard touchdown pass off his back foot
and you're like, oh my god, like this guy should
be awesome. So you know, I'm still going to bang
on the highlights and say, let's give it a shot.

Speaker 1 (01:18:37):
I think I actually uploaded film study on Anthony Richardson recently.
I'm the view count people aren't that interested. I think
maybe perhaps in Anthony.

Speaker 2 (01:18:44):
Richardson, he's a confounding player to me, man like yeah, like,
I just don't think we've seen a bad quarterback with
this much raw talent. Like it's not even like a
JaMarcus Russell thing where he's like doing drugs. Like this
guy literally had a back foot eighty yard touchdown pass
that he flung over a defensive lineman and it was

(01:19:05):
like perfect row. But yet the five yard out he
makes painfully difficult. Like he is so interesting to me.

Speaker 1 (01:19:12):
We will we will get into the Anthony Richardson of
it all again a week from Wednesday. I do have
to say a little behind the scenes things. So we
always try to do the divisions in a way where
at the end of the AFC is the Patriot Division,
at the end of the NFC is the Buccaneers division.
But it always make sure I start with the AFC
North and then go around that way because I don't

(01:19:32):
want to start at the AFCC. You can't kick it
off with the AFC South. We have to at least
have that be like, you know, after a couple of shows.

Speaker 2 (01:19:38):
Yeah, that's the right way to do it. You know,
you gotta, you gotta, you know, you gotta tease the
people with what they want, which is the AFC South.

Speaker 1 (01:19:46):
Right exactly. Can't just get spurn that right away, exactly.
Kyle Lemon can find us on Twitter before we head out.

Speaker 2 (01:19:53):
Yes, make sure to follow us on Twitter, that is
at Jackson Kruger. Make sure to follow me at by
Kyle gron and make sure to follow the account page
at on the sideline. That is that on the Sideline JK.

Speaker 1 (01:20:02):
Of course, if you like audio only podcast anywhere getting
podcast search on the Sideline podcast it should be available there.
A couple of shows were missing because I forgot to
clear the space on stream yard and then had no
download space, So I missed a couple of shows. Sorry
about that, but we're we're back and we're still uploading
them on the audio only feed. Uh so, and if
you ever see them missing, just let me know and

(01:20:22):
I'll make it available. But if I mess something up,
but yeah, uh Kyle, any foul thoughts are ready ahead.
I mean, uh, you know, there's there's no other sports
to talk about. His baseball.

Speaker 2 (01:20:32):
Yeah, baseball is on Yankee losing. Yankees stink now, which
is amazing. Red Sox, you know, they swept the Nationals,
which I guess means something. But you know, if they
can keep this going, we're over five hundred again. I'm
hoping for the best.

Speaker 1 (01:20:45):
Yeah yeah, and even the raiser in a playoff spot.
This is everything's looking up for you.

Speaker 2 (01:20:48):
Guys in the Blue Jays are good. It was surprisingly
good and then we did well.

Speaker 1 (01:20:52):
We we did We had just one us great run,
then we played like horrible teams. Then we kept losing
to the horrible teams. So now we're back to like,
you know a few games out of out of the division,
Like we we had a right in front of us
and had just lost to like the A's.

Speaker 2 (01:21:02):
Yeah, yeah, but baseball is weird. It's a long season
so and crazy things happen all the time, so it'll
be fun.

Speaker 1 (01:21:10):
Yeah, it is fun again. That is our show. Thank
you everybody for bearing with us as we do these
scheduling conflicts. We're trying to do our best. We can
move back to a normal Wednesday time next week, so
we'll be on the lookout for that and until then,
have a good one. Peace,