NFC South 2025 Preview _ Super Bowl Predictions

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:42):
Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the On
the Sideline Podcast with Jackson and Kyle. I am Jackson
and I'm joined here as always by the man who's
ready to spend the next hour talking about Spencer Ratler.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
Kyle.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
Kyle, how are you doing?

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Uh? Doing pretty good. I don't have a lot of sayings,
to be honest, we can skip over them.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
Okay, now we'll talk about the Saints. I'll get accused
of being a hater if I don't don't talk about them,
which I so it's fine. Yeah, that's true. You're right. Okay. Yeah,
So only three teams to talk about today, so that'll
be fun. No, we will do. We will plow through
a couple of these teams, but we will cover the
entire NFC South. Kyle, we have a ton to get
to as well, because not only are we doing the

(01:23):
NFC South, but as always, we're going to give our
final predictions at the end of this because this is
this is it. This is our last preview show of
the offseas season. We are officially in regular season territory
after this week, so we're gonna give you know, m
VP picks defensive player to beer picks all those award stuff.
We're also going to say who we think is going
to the Super Bowl, who we think is going to

(01:43):
win the Super Bowl. I asked the community to have
who they think is going to win the super Bowl.
So we have a lot. We have that that we'll
get into. So jam packed show here, Kyle, jam Pack show.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
Lots to talk about, and we're kicking it off with
the best thing in the NFC South.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
Yes exactly, we really this is just me uh forcing
everyone to like listen to hear about my crappy division
before we actually get into the good stuff.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Hey maybe maybe maybe we got some uh, maybe we
got some sleepers here. Could there be a Super Bowl
contender lurking in the NFC South? You never know that
high Embryce Young. Well we'll get into it, Kyle. Let's
get into the list. Uh.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
I think I know where you're going with number four.
But uh yeah, go ahead.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
Yeah, it's not a strong division. I have at seventh
that evade overall. There there two There's one team for
sure that I think is going to be among the
bottom tier teams in the NFL, and that's where we're starting,
and that's the New Orleans Saints. Uh. For the credit. Like,
I like pieces of this team still. I like the secondary.
I think Chaseyon is a good player. I think to

(02:46):
Mario Davis, even at his age, is still a very
good player. But there's a lot of issues here, and
it starts with the unfortunate aspect of Derek Carr. You know,
not everybody loves Derek Carr, especially New Orleans, but he's
gonna better than the quarterback situation they have right now.
I think that's too tough to come back from. Not
to mention, I don't know if it's a strong offensive

(03:08):
line right now. We'll see what we get out of
the young guys there. The receivers. I mean, we're one
Chris Olave injury away from this being a really bad
receiver room. I think overall too and yeah, so all
that put together, I think the Saints are gonna struggle.
I think this is a bad football team with the
bad quarterback.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
Yeah, I mean we can we can just start there.
I mean, you know, the the Kellen Moore of it all.
I mean, I don't know what's gonna happen with that.
We'll give it tier four just because new head coach.
We'll see what happens but I mean the quarterback play
is really what this is all coming down to. I mean,
I don't know if this is a great team, if
they have great quarterback play. You have a situation where

(03:45):
Spencer Ratler has won the starting job. We assume Tyler
Shuck is gonna find his way into the line up
at some point, but you never know. We'll see how
this goes. But ultimately, again I'm not saying Rattler is
a horrible quarterback. He's a he's an NFL player, but
I don't know if he's someone you want, as you know,
a starter or even a high end backup at this

(04:05):
point in his career. So that's I mean, it's tier five.
It's one of the worst quarterback situations in the league
going into twenty twenty five, if not the worst.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
I mean, unless there's a leap here, He's a backup.
That's what it is. He's a backup. To me. I watched.
I mean, he had a forty point three QBR last season.
I mean, he had some moments, but a lot of
it was like I mean, if you just go through
his like ross stats, a lot of these games it
was like five four, five six yards per attempt, he's
not able to throw the ball downfield. The completion percentage
wasn't always there in those big games. I think he's

(04:36):
going to stick around the league for a little bit.
But I think it's really concerning that they had Tyler
Shuck in the building, and you know, Tyler Shuck was
the guy in the draft that was kind of like, oh,
he's the older prospect. He's had a lot of chance
to like improve and kind of figure himself out, and
he wasn't able to beat out Spencer Ratler for this job.
That's a bit concerning to me because I think Tyler,

(04:57):
I think Spencer Ratler's heading towards aily a long backup
quarterback career.

Speaker 1 (05:02):
Yeah. Uh, it doesn't get much easier when you get
through the I mean the rest of this roster maybe
has some has some question marks as well, right, Like,
this is not just this football more than one one
uh one player. You have the offensive line, which has
a lot of young players I'm interested in, like Police
Fuaga and Colvin Banks junior first on picks from each

(05:23):
of the past two years. Those will be their starting tackles.
Sizar Ruiz, Eric McCoy and I guess they're gonna complain
to try Trevor Penning at left guard. Uh, so we'll
see how that goes. They have often Memed will clap
under roster, so you have that. But you know, it's
even like Dylan Raddoons maybe like him in a new situation,
could work a lot of young players for this offensive line.

(05:46):
But I also don't know if they have great players
as of this spot. So I think I'm gonna just
kind of give it tier three and we'll see how
it works out. Maybe that's being generous. Uh. This receiving
core are also like listen, big Chrystal lave guys here
on this on this channel. But you know Chrystal lave Is,

(06:07):
he's had the injury history and and he's turned into
Christal lave one healthy. And when you look at the
rest of this receiving I mean, Brandon Cooks is currently
slotted as their number two wide receiver. You have Rashid Chaid,
who I like, like Trey Palmer who just you know
got wived by Tampa Bay is probably gonna be a
significant playing time with this roster, like the you know,

(06:28):
Juwan Johnston as the tight end one, Like this is
a Tier five receiving room on top of a not
great offensive line.

Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yeah, it's it's a developing offensive line. I mean, can
you believe there's four first round picks on this group? Yeah,
oh yeah, I mean they they've invested in this and
it has Yeah, it hasn't really come to fruition yet.
But that being said, like has got some talent. Like
you said, Kelvin Banks, you know, there are some people
that really loved him in the draft, and you could
say just as far as like, yeah, exactly, you could

(06:59):
say even just as far as like physical tools, he
was the most impressive offensive lineman in this class. I
do see scenario that he's going to be very good,
but yeah, I think like Eric mccoyz a pretty good player,
and then everything else is kind of unknown. You know,
Trevor Penning had good moments last season, but at the
same time, like we haven't really seen him put together
like that. So uh yeah, it's it's a whole lot

(07:21):
of unknown for me there. So that's that's a bit
of a curb. And then I agree with you, Like
I'm a big Shaheed fan. I'm a big a Lave fan,
but Shaheat is kind of a big play merchant. That's
kind of his thing, which is valuable, but at the
same time, you don't want it leading your receiver room.
And then a lave I mean, I mean, it is
what it is. He's had. He's had four head injuries
in his NFL career, and he had one in college.

(07:42):
So you know, you're you're hoping that he can stay
on the field, but it's it's a risky proposition, you know,
just concerned for the health at this point. At the
guy I want him to play. He is good when
he plays.

Speaker 1 (07:55):
Yeah, Also, everys I should have mentioned it at the beginning.
A couple brought up I guess apparently I accidentally he's
had this scheduled for noon instead of six o'clock. So
sorry to anyone who was here six hours early and
is maybe not watching this after the fact, not realizing that,
you know, when it was aired. I apologize, but you know,
you know, do what I can here. But yeah, Kyle,

(08:16):
let's finish up the Saints offense. Alvin Kamara is still there.
I think he's still good, right Like, I don't think
that he's the problem here. I don't know why you
wouldn't just trade Alvin Kamara just given the situation, the
state of the team right now, thirty years old, I'll
be nice, let's go tier two with the running back
of Room. Probably would like a better running back two

(08:36):
than Keanja Miller, but that that's where we're at, right Yeah,
I mean.

Speaker 2 (08:41):
Kamara is still a really good player. But yeah, he
just turned thirty and he had over He had just
a round three hundred touches last year between receptions and carries.
I mean, that's that's a dangerous number regardless. I mean
he's over fifteen hundred carries for his career, five hundred
receptions for his career. I mean, sooner or lady, you
think the legs are gonna start going it? You know,

(09:02):
when he doesn't have a great offensive line and they're
not respecting the passing game, it's just gonna get a
lot harder for him. So I think I could see
him having a poor season statistically, and it's just not
his fault that they they're just not going to respect
the downfield threat with Spencer Rattler throwing the ball.

Speaker 1 (09:17):
Yeah, uh, might not be a great offense, Kyle, you
brought up we can I think we can kind of
move ahead with the Saints just because of again the
situation right now. But uh the oh, I forgot to
put the banner up. Uh, here we go. Sorry, Saints fans,
We've been talking with your team for the past six minutes.
If you're just tuning in down, I'm sure they want
to see the banner. Yeah, maybe not Kyle. Uh. You've

(09:40):
brought up that you like this secondary. I like pieces
of this secondary, right. I think the safety stuff is good.
Julian Blackman, Jordan Howden, Justin Reid. I like Kloyd McKinstry.
I want to see what he can do. Uh in
a second season. I do think like the other corner
spot like and really you have a two corner spots.
I have something to servened, but you have Isaac. You know,

(10:01):
Aunte Taylor, who did play over one thousand STAPs last year,
was also PFF's lowest rated corner in those naps. You know,
I don't love the rest of this corner. They drafted
a guy in the fourth round. I don't love the
rest of this corner room. So I'm gonna go, I
mean again, Corner's weekly exploit Sport. I'm gonna go Tier
four uh with this, even though if they get one
corner to step it up could be a lot better.

Speaker 2 (10:23):
Yeah, that's fair. I mean it still is a bit
of it is the thing where he can get targeted.
But I do like mcintrey, I like Reid, I like
black Men. Even though you're losing Tyren Matthew, I still
think that's a pretty good starting spot there to work from.
But yeah, I mean they lose Paul Cindadebo and it
definitely seems like they could use another body there for sure.

Speaker 1 (10:43):
Yeah, you know they did. Good news is they do
have good, good linebackers. Tomoro Davis, one of the most
underrated players in football. Pete Warner as well is in there.
And I'm for to round out this defense to front seven.
You know, Chase Young Carl Granderson, two very good players
who probably don't get a lot of attention. Chase Young
kind of is written off as a bus you know,
he's only twenty six years old, Chase Young, He's still

(11:06):
he has, you know, still plenty of career left in him.
Perhaps Cam Jordan is you know, at the tail end
of his career, but still someone who can make a
big play if you need him to every now and then.
For the interior, Dathan Shepherd, Davon god Shay Byron Braci,
you know, not striking the not striking fear into your

(11:26):
hearts if you're going up against that currently tier three
pass rush, and I think I don't know, we'll go
tier four. Ron defense to do have good edge players
and good linebackers, but this is not a great team, Kyle.

Speaker 2 (11:39):
No, No, the defense still has some work to be done.
I mean, there there's a lot that's still in this
front seven has even been depleted at this point. And
I mean it's just an interesting thing. We've talked about
the Saints for a number of years now of why
are they doing this? You know, why are they? You
know they we talk so much about their cap situation,
how often they were kicking the can down the road. Well,

(12:00):
at least you could say, hey, we had a halfway
decent quarterback. You know, if we get to the playoffs,
we could see what happens, whether it was older Drew
Brees or whether it was Derek Carr. You know you
and then not to mention, you know, you have this
insanely good fan base that you want to have behind you,
and you know that that could just that I think
that means a lot to these this ownership group. I
think having these fans engaged and you know at least

(12:22):
a part of the situation is a big thing for them.
But I don't know, I just keep looking at this team, like, yes,
you don't need to sell every good player you have
when you want to tank, especially in the NFL where
things can turn in a hurry. But I just look
at the opportunities they probably had to sell some of
these guys, Like, how is Alvin Kamara still on this
team at this point? What is the value of having

(12:44):
a good running back on a team with this level
even doing for you, you know, to Mario Davis is
a really good player, and I think he would get
a lot on the market still even at thirty six,
or at least a decent hall in the market for
a thirty six year.

Speaker 1 (12:58):
Old play lace like a second round pick.

Speaker 2 (12:59):
Yeah, yeah, Cameron Jordan's still worth something. I think even
Carl Granderson I would consider putting on the table. All
those guys are on this team now, And you know,
I just even the most optimistic Saints fan has to say,
this isn't getting any further than like six seven wins.
I can't imagine someone saying this is a borderline playoff team.
I don't see the argument for it. And I just

(13:21):
feel like you're keeping all this aging roster, aging players
that have been with this team for so long, which
is great to see one team career guys, but like,
I just don't see the endgame here. What do you
want these guys for? And you know what is what
is the plan going forward for this franchise?

Speaker 1 (13:37):
Yeah, I mean the good news for Saints fans is
it seems like they finally should get like a top
five pick here instead of like just picking like, you know,
ninth every year. Like it seems like the year you
could potentially actually get another quarterback since since Breeze. That's
that's got to be the logic. And I think the
hope is maybe Shock or Rattler can develop. But yeah,

(13:58):
I mean it's it's a weird. They're not a good team.
I mean, is it is what it is? You're right,
they need to they need to be getting more draft picks. Thing,
even if youre getting like a fifth round pick for
Cam Jordan, Like that's still a draft pick who then
can be a cheap player for the next four years. Like, yeah,
there's they should be doing a bit more than they
are to rebuild.

Speaker 2 (14:18):
Probably, Yeah, it just feels like you can get a
little more aggressive. Like you said, this offensive line definitely
has potential. I wouldn't be surprised if this offensive line
actually plays really well and all of a sudden we're
saying at the end of the season, like, this is
one of the better offensive lines in the league. Headny
the next season. But that's still in theory, and you
can at least get behind that. You can get behind

(14:38):
you know, maybe some of these young receivers all that
kind of stuff. And then the other element of this
too is I'm not sure when he's actually supposed to
be back. You know, you're not getting that Taysom Hill
element in your offense to start the year because he's
still coming off that tor an acl and so you
don't even have that, and that's been a huge part
of your offensive success the last couple of years. You know,
all the memes about Taysom Hill, but he's a valuable

(14:59):
player to this team and now he's not there either,
So a lot of issues for the Saints I think
for sure.

Speaker 1 (15:05):
Yeah, two and fifteen is my prediction, worst worst record
out of any of these teams that we've gone over.
I just don't think that they're you know, it is,
it is what it is. Kyle. Let's guess the guests
the poll prediction. How many people are saying the Saints
will win the NFC South.

Speaker 2 (15:23):
It's got to be like four percent.

Speaker 1 (15:25):
Five percent kind of high for the Saints. Give give
Saints fans some credit. Five percent are still staying like,
yeah we got this.

Speaker 2 (15:33):
Yeah they're there. The fans are out in full force.
I give I give them the respects, but yeah, I
think it's I think it's gonna be a tough season
for that five percent.

Speaker 1 (15:41):
Yeah, Michael says, all right, guys, tell us why you
hate the Panthers. Michael telling us to move on. Let's
move on. Kyle, is it the Panthers or are you
getting bold? Do you have a different team finishing third
in the NFC South?

Speaker 2 (15:56):
Michael, You're gonna have to wait a little bit. Let's
Atlanta Falcons. I got the Falcons finishing third. Look, I
like James Pierce as a prospect they got in the
first round, and in a certain aspect, I like Jalen
Walker too. That being said, those guys, one of those
guys has to play like an absolute star. I think

(16:16):
for this defense to work out, and I'm not sure
I'm ready for that to happen just yet. I think
this pass rush is the worst in football right now.
I think this defense could be bad because of it. Again,
and then you're turning around and asking a young quarterback
in Michael Pennocks, who showed flashes last year played very
well in those last few games to end this season,
to basically carry a offensive oriented team to a lot

(16:36):
of wins. And I just don't see that happening. I
got the Falcons finishing third because of it. I think
this defense is bad and I think it's a sinking
ship with that, and also the aspect of I don't
trust the head coach for this situation and Raheem Morris,
so I got the Falcons third. I think there's too
many issues right now, even if I like the.

Speaker 1 (16:52):
Offense interesting, Okay, well we'll get into it. I mean,
I understand this is a you know, uh, this is
a team that has hastings going for it, hastings going
against it. You know, both of those things are in
the quarterback situation with Michael Panicks Junior, who really the
Falcons are doing whatever they can to not play him.

(17:12):
They did not you know, drafted him, intending to sit
him for a couple of years, even when it was
clearly the option, uh for to go to him. They
hung on to Cousins too long. Finally threw him in
there and he played well in three games. He's now
still not played preseason. I don't get what Rahee Morris's
deal is about not playing Michael Penicks in the preseason.
But nonetheless, you have to assume there's gonna be some

(17:33):
rookie mistakes there. You have to assume he's gonna be
a bit of a you know, there can be developmental period.
He also did look really good in those three games.
It's just three games, but like, uh, you know, for now,
I mean, if I have to give Penix a tier,
I guess like tier four because he's an unknown. But like,
there is a lot of potential with Michael PENNOCKX and
he could be a lot better than that. And this

(17:53):
team is gonna kind of live or die by the
young quarterback, who again I like coming out of college, uh,
and did show Washington his first season.

Speaker 2 (18:02):
He definitely showed flashes. I think there is arm talent
there and there's reasons to be excited. However, you know,
I don't want to play the schedule guy all the time,
or you know, I think it's a little unfair for
projection purposes. But you look at the schedule. Two, you
got Michael Pennix coming out, You're starting against Tampa Bay
week one, just under just over a week from today.

(18:25):
You got Minnesota, who's a playoff team of week two,
one of the best teams in football last season. You're
you're at Carolina week three, you get Washington week four,
who was a player the NFC championship team. You get
your bye week, and then you play Buffalo week six,
like you're you're throwing him into the fire against some
of the best teams in the league, and you know,
three of those teams have pretty good defenses, and then

(18:47):
Washington you're asking him to score with too. So he
has got to be you know, like you said, he's
not getting a preseason, which is bizarre for a guy
with so little snaps and so little opportunities. I think
in the NFL, I would have liked to see him
get some snaps because he is going in there and
he is going to have to come out guns blazing.
So that's what I'm really concerned about with that. But
I think he has talent and I'm okay with it.

(19:08):
I just think that the management of this situation has
not gone the way I would have wanted.

Speaker 1 (19:13):
Yeah, and weeks one two also, you know, uh Todd
Bowleson and Brian Flores. I mean that's that's just like
you're gonna see stuff that you know he's not used to.
Did he did? They didn't play the Commander's type. Remember
it came down to a a chance where it was
a weird time out management by Raheem Morris that kind
of cost them that game in a sense and maybe
would have let him get to get into the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (19:35):
Let's talk about games like that too. I mean it
ended up not meaning anything, but that Carolina game at
the end of the season they kind of botched too.
You know, they had that Los Angeles game the Chargers
earlier in the year they kind of batched, And they
had the Kansas City game they could have won at
the end too. I mean, like all of these put together,
I mean, you could have easily seen this Falcons seem

(19:55):
in the playoffs last season.

Speaker 1 (19:57):
But they also had a ton of weird wins though,
Like both Tampa Bay game were like like weird, like
there's an overtime game and then and then the uh
like Kyle Pits seemingly fumbled at the goal line, but
they didn't have an angle to show it, so like
the call stood, and like and even that Eagles game
or like they take one drops the ball. So it
just feel like felt the wrong team won every game
the Falcons played last year.

Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yeah, definitely. So yeah, it's a it's an interesting team.
But yeah, I think uh Raheem Morris has to prove
a lot to me this year, and I want to
see that happen.

Speaker 1 (20:28):
Yeah, I'm that. I agree. I don't think he's a
horrible game in and game out, but there's just too
many bad decisions that, you know, the that kind of baffling.
We'll see if he can see if he can get better.
I liked him when he was the coach of Tampa
Bay back in the day, so we'll see if he
can improve upon some of those things. Kyle. Uh, Yeah,
I mean, let's let's go to the let's go to

(20:49):
the clear positive with this team, the at least a
clear positive. The receiving corp is very good. Uh, Drake London.
Whatever you want to make of Kyle Pits, he's still
in effective receiving tight end. I don't know when you
should draft him in fantasy, don't ask me, but he's
he's so effective. Drake londons awesome. Drake London's a number
one receiver, like fringe top ten guy, maybe just straight

(21:10):
up top ten guy. He's really he's really underrated. Darnell
Mooney also was a really good number two option last year.
I mean I think that, like I would ideally like
one more guy before I put it into tier one,
but it's a high tier too, and even like Bijon
and Tyler Algier, can you know can catch also obvious

(21:32):
tier one running back room. So a lot of weapons here.

Speaker 2 (21:34):
Yeah, lots to work with here. And hey, Raray McLeod's
not a terrible third receiver. He had six hundred and
eighty yards last season. I think that's at least something
you could have too. Yeah. I like this group a lot.
Drake Lendon is a stud. This is someone I've been
very excited about. He had one hundred catches last year,
twelve hundred yards, nine touchdowns. Really the breakout season. It

(21:55):
seems like he came to his own and honestly, like
the biggest thing about Michael Pennix he said down the
stretch was Drake London was ridiculous. Those last three games
when Michael Pennock's played, he was really good, especially down
those last two games where he had over one hundred
yards in his final two games, including Week eighteen, one
hundred and eighty seven yards two touchdowns. So they didn't get
the win, but he was awesome. I really like him.

(22:17):
I like Mooney too as the number two guy. And then,
like you said, they have a bunch of other guys
across the roster that are pretty pretty interesting. Kyle Pitts
is fine, and then you have this running back room
which is debatably the best tandem in the league. I mean,
like you draft be John Robinson, and I think he's
been very good. You can debate the pick all you want,
but he's been a very good player. He's one of

(22:38):
the top five running backs in football. And you can
still give it to Tyler Allagier, who I think is
a very good player in his own right. So a
lot of skill position here and that's why this team's
gonna be fun.

Speaker 1 (22:47):
Yeah, Algier might be the best change of pace back
in the league of just like a big guy who
just tough after you finally can catch up. To beijon
that you can just put a guy who's gonna run
you over.

Speaker 2 (22:56):
Yep. Yeah, he's He's definitely gonna steal some touchdowns. He's
gonna make some plays happen. I think I think a
lot of teams would be happy with him as their
number one back.

Speaker 1 (23:06):
Kyle. On paper, this offensive line looked really good. Right.
You have Caleb McGary and Jake Matthews. Okay, that's an
awesome tackle tandem. Matthew Berger on Chris lynchdumb. Okay, really good,
Uh guard tandem, Chris lynchdum. He might be a Hall
of Famer when it's all said and none. He's really
a good player. Uh you know, Uh, Ryan Zoo is
the center. Okay, that's not the strongest spot, but you

(23:28):
can deal with an okay center if you have the
rest of the pieces. Kayleb McGary uh out for the
year with an injury. That just there's no getting about it.
That's tough. It was like Elijah Wilkinson. I'm assuming it's
gonna be the guy who's gonna h step in. He's
been a veteran player who's had okay season, but really
he's a he's a backup for a reason. He's probably

(23:48):
gonna give back up caliber snapps. That really hurts this
offensive line. So I think I'm gonna I mean, I
don't know, i'mich chops all the way down to Tier four.
I mean, you have two too too bad spots right here.
Even if I like the other three guys a lot
like that doesn't do much when it's the offensive line.

Speaker 2 (24:05):
Yeah, a couple a couple of hits in the armor
there that you were You know this, the script has
just been rock solid for the last few seasons. But
you lose your starting center in Dolmen and that was
already a weak link. And then, like you said, you
lose McGarry and that's a big question mark as well.
Chris Linstrom might be the best interior offensive lineman in
football right now, and I don't think that's necessarily a hyperblie.
I think he is that good and he is very

(24:28):
impactful for this team. But you know, like you said, this,
this is also a week link position, and there's two
week links now, and how are these other guys gonna
step up and make it happen. I think they got
a superstar in that position, but I just don't know
if it's gonna be enough.

Speaker 1 (24:41):
Right, and again, keep in mind, Michael Penick's you know,
left handed quarterback, So that means that the you know,
the the right tackle matters, that that's the left tackle here.

Speaker 2 (24:53):
Yeah, yeah, that's true.

Speaker 1 (24:55):
So that makes it even worse. Yeah, the let's talk
with the defense you brought to stop Kyle. Let me
put let me push back a little bit. Is it
possible this defense could actually be better than we're expecting.
You have Jesse Bates, who wasn't quite as good last
year as he was two years ago when he was awesome,
but still is a very good player. That draft Xavier Watts,
you have aj Terrell, and then there's players who was like, Okay,

(25:17):
could one of Mike Cues, d Alfred Clark Phillips the
third Could one of those guys be able to step
up and uh, you know, and and and just be
solid at the other corner position. Could his secondary actually
end up being better than uh, you know, certainly that
was last year.

Speaker 2 (25:35):
There's definitely a case for it. Mike Cues was okay
last season, right, and so that was a case for it.
But like, I don't know, he's always been kind of
with Hughes.

Speaker 1 (25:43):
I think they're gonna have him play outside here, right,
So I'm a little interested, and I think he's always
been at his best when slot. But we'll see how
that goes.

Speaker 2 (25:50):
Yeah, yeah, exactly. So I mean you have that and
you have A J. Sorell. I mean both of those
guys that you know. A J. Trell is not that
good seat last season. I mean, I don't think it
was his fault, but at the same time, I think
just individually in coverage, he had some struggles. And yeah,
I think that's the big question is like I think
Jesse Bates, no matter what, is solid. You got a

(26:11):
rookie at free safety, and then I think you got
two good corners when they're right. But at the same time,
those guys have both been kind of frustratingly inconsistent at
times in their careers. Even if you had the highs
of an A J. Trel who at times has played
like an elite corner, I think he's been up and
down in his career. And then Mike Cues has been
solid at times and then really bad at times. So

(26:32):
how how all that's gonna work is going to be interesting.
But yeah, I am I am a little concerned about that.
And you don't really have the linebacker support and coverage
I think to help it out either. Kaden Ellis is
a good player, but you know, it's just a little
too many holes for me and too many question marks.

Speaker 1 (26:48):
Not bing into Divine Diablo breakout season.

Speaker 2 (26:51):
Uh no, no, no.

Speaker 1 (26:53):
Okay, well maybe we'll see. Uh, the rest of the
fronts have it, Container Street, Zach Harrison, David Anyamata, also Ruro.
There's a lot of rows in there. Uh, you know,
and here is solid and Tier's actually maybe better than
people realize. The edge stuff obviously has been an issue,

(27:13):
like forever you have James Pierce Junior, you have Jaylen Walker,
two first round picks. Pierce Junior seems like kind of
more of an NFL ready guy. Walker is a total
developmental guy. So we're gonna see what we get out
of these guys. Leonard Floyd, Arnold Ebahetty. Uh that's fine
for for depth if Peerson Walker can be starters, but
can they be that right away? Seems like a lot

(27:35):
to ask of these guys stepping into things. So, uh,
Pier three run defense like the interior enough, Pier four
pass rush.

Speaker 2 (27:44):
Yeah, Tier four might be optimistic. Honestly, I I would
have a Tier five.

Speaker 1 (27:48):
I like, I mean, if if Pearson Walker can be something,
I feel it's better than you know. That's that's my thought.

Speaker 2 (27:55):
Yeah, I mean, that's definitely it. They have to be
something because Leonard Floyd is been the definition of fun
and our little epiquetty is just not my cup of teams. So, yeah,
you have those two options, and you have those two
young players. Those two young players have to be ready
to play though, and otherwise. I mean, this was a
tough group last season. I think it really affected the
secondary and I just I think you're asking a lot

(28:17):
for two young guys to step in and do that
right away.

Speaker 1 (28:20):
Yeah, you are, you are. But it's a lot better
than what they've been doing with at least there's an
option here with the Atlanta Falcons, Kyle, I don't I'm
not crazy, but it's Falcon's roster either. I don't hate them.
I'm just not two into them. I'm gonna go eight
to nine for this. I kind of agree with your assessment.

(28:41):
Of like there's a lot of question marks offensively and
the whole defense of the question mark right now, Like
this is a team that, you know, we talked about
the forty nine ers last week about how there's just
so many what if this happens, What if this happens,
What if this happens. But at least that it feels
like if everything hits, they're like awesome. For the Falcons,

(29:01):
everything hits, they're like pretty good.

Speaker 2 (29:04):
Yeah, yeah, at least if yeah, the forty nine ers
hitting involves like Christian McCaffrey staying healthy, right and like
Brandon and I you returning to form when he's healthy too,
Like those are things I'd probably bet on happening. You know,
they have some superstar talent in the skill position, but
like outside of that, like there's just too many unknowns
as far as the interior and the defense that you know,

(29:26):
it's not like you're saying, like if this superstar is
healthy and ready to go. They have a couple guys
that I think are absolute stars, but there's just not
enough talent on it to make up for it, like
a San Francisco could.

Speaker 1 (29:37):
Yeah, Kyle, guess the percentage of people who predicted the
Falcons to win the NFC South.

Speaker 2 (29:44):
Uh fourteen percent.

Speaker 1 (29:47):
Oh wow, yeah weird. It sound like you' about to
say seven and then doubled it.

Speaker 2 (29:51):
No, I was trying to I was about to say seventeen. Actually, okay,
I decided to dip it down a little bit, so.

Speaker 1 (29:56):
Fourteen was right, Yeah, fourteen right out of money again, Kyle,
You're you're amazing at this, Like you're at the point
where you have to start throwing some just soill people
don't think you're cheating even though you're not.

Speaker 2 (30:05):
Yeah, I got a finger to the pulse, man. That
is what it is.

Speaker 1 (30:08):
It's really it really is impressive at you how consistently
like right on you are.

Speaker 2 (30:13):
I'm not cheating, I believe.

Speaker 1 (30:16):
Yeah, I know, I know, I know. It's just it's
it's remarkable.

Speaker 2 (30:21):
Yeah, it is funny. But yeah, yeah, I mean, look,
if you're a Falcons fan and are more optimistic, I
see the argument. I think there is a case for
this team to be pretty good next season. Then that
it also just involves Michael Pennock's being very good, but
like we need to see it. And I think my
biggest thing when I was put them third in the

(30:41):
Panthers who I'm talking about next second, was that I
know spoiling. I trust Bryce Young a little bit more
right now. I think he played better for a longer stretch.

Speaker 1 (30:53):
Let's get into it.

Speaker 2 (30:54):
Uh yeah, I mean I think, you know, the two
most important people each organization.

Speaker 1 (30:59):
Date, I'm gonna go Tier three. He's great at getting
quarterbacks to that have him playing good. To play good,
we'll see how he can kind of do the rest
of it. The team was so bad last year. I
don't hold the record against him, but Bryce Young, I
think I'm gonna go Tier three. I'm not gonna get
too crazy to give him Tier two just yet, but
I don't think it's impossible that it happens. In fact,

(31:20):
I mean, to me, Bryce Young is of right now
clearly the second best quarterback in this division. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (31:27):
I mean, you just go from when they went to
that Munich game in Kansas City on to the rest
of the season. His his yards per at Tempal way up.
I mean he was going once again, it was close
to like three four. I mean, he had games with
three yards per attempt early in the season, and you
look at the second half of the season, it's all
like seven. You know, he's in the seventh range. He
had eleven touchdowns a three interception from that Kansas City

(31:49):
game on November twenty fourth to the end of the season.
Some really good games on the stretch. That Atlanta game,
down the stretch that I referenced, he was awesome, you know,
gave you know, Arizona to overtime and a win and
was awesome in that game. Just some awesome stuff down
the stretch and real development for a guy that you know,
it was scary at one point it looked like it
was on the way out, and he battled and he persevered.

(32:14):
And they haven't done him a lot of favors with
his receiver room, but he's managed to figure it out
and do the best he can in the situation.

Speaker 1 (32:21):
Yeah, let's just go right there, uh, to the receivers
because Kyle Jrashah tep Ncbellen really enjoy that. I think
he's a really good player. What's going on with this
Adam Delan thing?

Speaker 2 (32:34):
Yeah, I don't love it, uh, I mean it's hard.
It's hard to love it. I mean, like, look, you
could say the agent, you get a fourth round pick
for a guy who is older and probably not worth
a fourth round pick as it is, but at the
same time, like, you know, he was the most dependable
guy for Bricy on the last two seasons. So you're asking,

(32:55):
you know, you saw a little bit from Jalen Coker
last year. You get a little bit excited about that.
You've got a couple ends who you think can catch
makeups for the red zone stuff and Jatavian Sanders and
Tommy Tremble, But even then that's not enough to really
get you excited for what Adam Thielan was doing last season.
And like I said, he was the security at blanket
a lot for Bryce Young and that that sounds like

(33:15):
something that's contrived, but it's just it's not easy to
quantify that sort of impact, even if he's not like
an elite E leite player anymore, which.

Speaker 1 (33:22):
Is not Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I feel
like I've seen a thousand different explanations. I tweeted out
like I don't really love this move, and like I
got a lot of pushback. Surprise, and I didn't think
it would be that surprise. I kind of thought we
were all kind of I would agree with that. I
didn't realize that Panthers fans seemingly are okay with the move.
But but yeah, I mean they get a fourth back.

(33:42):
It's they also are gonna probably move back in the
fifth round because they're trading fifth round picks with the
Vikings and then are also giving up at seventh, so
it's a little less than a fourth. But but yeah,
I mean the main thing is, like, Okay, Ted McMillan
should be really good. He also is a rookie. I
like jillen Cocker will see what he can do. Four
hundred and thirty snaps last year did look pretty good

(34:03):
in them. Exavier la Get had over six hundred didn't
look great in those. You have David Moore as well,
and you brought the tight ends Tommy Trumble and Jatavian Sanders.
I mean, this is a on paper, this is a
Tier five receiving room. It has potential to be more
than that, but I can't just give you more. You know,
like they need Ted McMillan to basically be a Tier
one wide receiver right away. He might do that, and

(34:24):
that would change things a little bit. But even if
it does, I don't think that puts them ahead of Like,
I don't know, that's like maybe tier three if they
reached their potential, but probably still tier four, I guess,
unless Xavier Lagett has a breakout year two. Just on paper,
it's just I just think that, like having just another
guy who you can trust to do okay would have
been helpful. But maybe, and you know, maybe they don't
trust him to do okay anymore. I don't know, but

(34:46):
just in general, well, you know, not crazy about this
receiving room.

Speaker 2 (34:50):
Yeah, I'm not crazy about it either. I do like
Jalen Kocher a lot. I think he's a good player,
and I think McMillan has a ton of potential. You know,
he is that big a threat. He can make things happen.
So I like those two in theory, but like you said,
it's still kind of in theory. Jalen Coker was a
undrafted player last season who had a pretty good season,

(35:10):
so you're asking a lot for him now to step
into the number two guy on this team. So yeah,
I think it is still a lot of developmental aspects
of this, But I like him, I like I like
the tight ends. I think they can do a little bit.
If you get anything out of McMillan, that's a bonus.
And then you know you're hoping. I mean, there's still
a lot of young players on this theme too. Like
you look at like Jimmy Horn Junior. You know, he

(35:32):
he did some things in Colorado. You hope maybe there's
something there. Xavier leg Gett, you didn't get anything from
last season. You hope maybe there's something there. You gotta
hope one of these other young guys along with McMillan
has to hit. That's the first aspect, and you hope
one of these other young guys becomes a a dependable
third guy essentially.

Speaker 1 (35:50):
Yeah, a lot of a lot of question marks that
I just I feel like whatever value you're getting out
of you know, uh, you know, I thought you could.
You know, sometimes it's okay to not maximize value on
something to help develop your young quarterback. One thing that
will help develop this young quarterback Kyle is the offensive line,
I mean, the Keemigwane, Taylor Martin for the tackles, Damian Lewis,

(36:10):
Robert Hunt for the guards. You have Austin Corbett, who
has battled with injuries, looks like he's going to be
the starter, but you also have Brady Christensen and Kaid Mays.
If he does go down Tier one? Is that is
that too high? I like it a lot. I think
it's really good.

Speaker 2 (36:28):
Yeah, I really liked it. I really like this group
a lot. I think a Kwanu had a lot of
development last season. I think he's gonna be a good
left tackle. And then this interior is rock solid. And
you got Taylor Martin on the right who's also very good.
So not a lot of weak links there. You got
Martin who's a stud. You got Hunt who's a stud.
No notes. I think it's really good.

Speaker 1 (36:50):
Yeah, running back room's fine. I mean Chuba Hubbard, riy o'dowdell,
Jonathan Brooks, you know, not gonna light the one on fire, nothing,
but you know, solid players here.

Speaker 2 (37:00):
Tier three, watch out for Trevor et Man. I think
I think, okay, he's got some jews, he's got some jews.
I think he went I think he dipped in the
draft because his brother Is had had a frustrating time
in Jacksonville.

Speaker 1 (37:13):
Okay, well listen, uh maybe yeah fourth round picks from
this past uh past, uh, you know, draft, we'll we'll,
we'll see, but I'm not gonna bump him up for
that just yet. But we will see how it goes.

Speaker 2 (37:25):
Yeah, I'm just saying, keep an eye keep an eye out.

Speaker 1 (37:28):
Yeah. Well, uh, that is the Panthers offense, really unique
offense with some really good part pizzas and some not
so good pieces. Then you have the defense which does
have pieces here. You know, this is not something you
look through. This This is not a disaster. Uh. You know,
they we can talk about that they spend too much
for Treylon Morhigg and all that stuff, but you know what,
he'll be a fine safety for them. Uh, they could

(37:50):
probably use another safety you have, you know, uh, Nick
Scott slated as the other starter currently for the corners.
You have JC Horn, who's very good, and then it's like,
could you get something out of me? They added Mike
Jackson and it's like, could you get something out of
him potentially this year? Could you just get him to
be like a solid contributor to this secondary might actually

(38:12):
end up sneakily being okay this year if things work
out the way that they want him to.

Speaker 2 (38:17):
Yeah, listen, I know Mike Jackson can be a little
handsy at times, but no, I'm just kidding. Look, I
really like this thing. I like the idea of this
group I mean, this is the thing we wanted Washington
to do this offseason, right, Like, they had so much
cap spacing here, Like, you know what, you may overpay
for a few players, but just get better players in

(38:38):
the building and just start there, you know more. Murray
is a better player than what they had, so I
think it is at least a step in the right direction.
I like that for sure. And then I mean, I
really like j. C. Horn. I thought he was the
best corner in his draft class. I thought he played
He plays really well when he's healthy. But he's another
guy who's when he's healthy, So you know, you're gonna

(39:00):
have to see how that works out. But I think
there is potential there for this. The upside of this
group is definitely there. So I like that.

Speaker 1 (39:07):
Yeah, Kyle for the front seven, so Derek Brown's gonna
be healthy, and that's a huge deal. Derek Brown one
of the best players in football. He missed basically all
of last year. That was obviously a big part of it.
The issue is that for a front seven, you need
six other players, and that's where things get a little
bit shaky for the Carolina Panthers front seven. Don't love

(39:28):
this linebacking room of Dramon Wallace, Christian rose Boom. I
don't love this interior with added Tershaun Wharton, who again,
fine player, Bobby Brown, fine player, Ashaan Robinson, fine player,
but this is not, you know, nothing spectacular there. And
then for the edge players, they you know, Princey, you,

(39:48):
Nick Gornton, a couple of guys they drafted second and
third round pick and they probably are gonna need those
guys to play these significant playing time this season. I mean,
this is Derek Brown is good enough. I'll bump them
up to Tier three run defense with basically him alone,
and there are some other pieces here, but it's just
Tier five pass rush.

Speaker 2 (40:06):
Yeah, pass rush is gonna be a problem. They at
least have bodies in the interior, and I do respect that.
Like we've seen A'shawn Robinson, Robertson be a pretty good player,
right Robinson, what am I doing? Ashawn Robinson has been
a pretty good player in the interior. Like you said,
Derek Brown, Tershaun Warden, you got a few options there.
Like I think my vision for the Panthers is like

(40:29):
what if they're just good at a few things? Like
what if they're just good at stopping the run, running
the football using their offensive line, and then Bryce Young
continues to play like Bryce ang needed in the second
half of the season, use him in play action, use
them in different situations to get him moving a little
bit more, and then all of a sudden, it's like,
what if you're just good at a couple things, and

(40:49):
all of a sudden you can scrap your way to
seven minutes. That's kind of my vision here for the Panthers,
and I do think there's a potential there pretty run
defense with of course Derek Brown has to be healthy
because he is he is a he is a All Pro.

Speaker 1 (41:04):
Yeah. No, I don't think the Panthers will be horrible
this year. I'm gonna go seven and ten is my
prediction for them. I still think the Falcons are a
little better. I would have those two teams flipped. But
like again, I think that the I think the Panthers
are still probably a year away right here. I still
think they just need more in the receiving room. They need,
you know, a couple more defensive pieces. And all these

(41:25):
new defensive pieces aren't gonna hit as well as part
of the issue. So we're going to figure out more
question marks, but you know, they're they're in the rebuilding process.
It kind of sucks that they rebuild through the entirety
of Bryce Young's rookie contract, but like it is what
it is, like you're you're building up, and you know,
I'm a brace Young believer. I think people really do
not realize how good brace Young was once he came

(41:46):
back from getting benched last year. So we'll see. I
think I think they'll be much much more of an
exciting watch, and they're a pretty good watch towards the
end of the year. Last year with their bad defense
and good offense, I could see similar stuff happening.

Speaker 2 (41:58):
Yeah, I definitely the vision for this team. I like
them a lot, and I like I like pieces of
it a lot. I do think it is still kind
of a rebuild. It may just be end up being
that that was more of a Falcons thing than a
Panthers thing for me, But like, yeah, I mean, I
think you had the Falcons at eight wins and the
Panthers at seven wins, so like one win apart. I
don't think it's crazy, Like I think that they they

(42:20):
could very much be in the mix for the same
spots in the in the standings, and yeah, I like
Bryce Young and like if McMillan hits right away and
is at least a good steady receiver, then all of
a sudden, you've got a team that could be pretty
interesting offensively, and you know, has a few nice pieces
defensively to build around.

Speaker 1 (42:39):
Yeah, no, I I completely agree. What would you write?
What are your what give a record for these two
teams so you can kind of get where your head's at.

Speaker 2 (42:48):
I would go. I mean, I'd probably both have them
around seven wins. Okay, So it could just be down
to a tiebreaker. So let's go just because I don't
want to do ties because that's boring. Let's go eight
nine Panthers seven and ten five.

Speaker 1 (43:00):
Okay, I'll flip your predictions the the nearly five hundred
Carolina Panthers. Well we'll see, Kyle. How many people were
even higher on a Panthers than you and said that
they are going to not finish second NFC South for finish.

Speaker 2 (43:13):
First, it's got to be low. I imagine it's going to
be like seven eight percent.

Speaker 1 (43:18):
Eight percent. Kyle. There you go. Once again, no one
can do this like you.

Speaker 2 (43:23):
We're on fire. Yeah, I mean, but it's you still
have time to get on the Panthers' eight nine bandwagon.
I'm right there, baby, Okay.

Speaker 1 (43:32):
I'll go down stay at seven for now when I'm
a Panthers hater, so we'll see.

Speaker 2 (43:37):
Yeah, seven wins that I still feel like Panthers fans
would be pretty excited as long as Bryce plays well.
I feel like Panthers fans would still be pretty excited
with seven wins.

Speaker 1 (43:48):
Yeah, Michael says, I actually agreed with the vast majority
of this. Yeah, we try to be fair. I mean,
I feel like, you know, me criticizing the Panthers a
lot isn't because of It's because they because of what
they've done in the past ten years. They started to
do some good things this past year or two.

Speaker 2 (44:03):
Listen, if you want me to defend David Tepper's actions
the last few years, you're not getting in on this podcast,
that's for sure. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (44:10):
I always shot with ten years. Ten years ago they
were in a Super Bowl anyway, Kyle number one. Another
team that has been in the Super Bowl in the
past ten years, the Buccaneers my team. We both have
them finishing first. I guess I spoiled my prediction that
everyone knew what happened, Kyle, Why do you think the
Buccaneers will win the NFC South.

Speaker 2 (44:32):
I think this team's really good. I think they have
a lot of talent. I think they have one of
the deeper receiver rooms in the NFL right now. I
think they got four guys that could really depend upon
I think we saw Bucky Irving emerge into a really
stud running back. I think this offense should be top
five in the league next season. And you look at
the defense that had moments last season, endured a lot
of injuries. That happens. You got to overcome it. At

(44:53):
some point. They overcame it a little bit. But I
think that this defense went healthy is going to be
very good. And then you look at their biggest weekness
last season, which was getting after the quarterback. They had
a guy it's a risk, They had a guy in
Hassan Redick that I think is going to be very
good at that. So I have the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
not only winning this vision, I think they are a
super Bowl contender. I think they can win the NFC.

Speaker 1 (45:15):
Cool Well, I hope that you're right, Kyle. I think
the real bright spot of this team there's a lot
to talk about, but the Bigger Mayfield emergence with Tampa Bay.
I thought that he was really incredible last year. Did
put the ball in Harm's way too much, but also
really kind of you know, he's won Tampa Bay games
in these two years that he has been there. You know,

(45:37):
we discussed it a bit in our quarterback rankings, but yeah,
tier two quarterback for me, Baker Mayfield. He's not quite
the top tier obviously, but I think he's I think
he's better than the tier three guys because he does
seem like someone who can, even when things aren't going well,
find a way to drive an offense. That the criticism
is sometimes he can't, you know, like wild put Jaalen
Hurts ahead a bigger Mayfield onto power rankings because Hurts

(45:59):
can kind of say, okay, we need to you know,
I need to just hand the ball off and make
the save throws. Bigger doesn't always have that in him,
and that's kind of I think the knock. But he
can do everything else so well. Yeah, the Pier two
quarterback play for the Buccaneers, Yeah, I.

Speaker 2 (46:15):
Mean, yeah, I think he's good. I mean, like, look,
I mean you look at last season. He had over
he had seventy one percent completion percentage, forty five hundred
passing yards, forty one passing touchdowns. If you just said
seventy one percent completion percentage, forty five hundred yards, forty
one touchdowns and said that's the starting that quarterback, you're
probably just looking at those numbers in saying that's the
top five guy in the league. I mean, he was

(46:36):
that good last season. I thought he was terrific. I
thought he was a you know, he was outside the
top three or four guys for sure, but I think
he was a kind of fringe MVP candidate, if you will,
with those kind of numbers. I thought he was awesome.
And he does really well in this offense. Does he
have a lot of weapons that make it easy for him. Absolutely,
But you know, we're not going to apologize for that.
He's doing really well in this system. They've changed offensive

(46:58):
coordinators multiple years, doing it again, and he's still persevered
and gotten better year to year. So I really like this.
And they improved backup quarterback with Teddy bridgewatering, so I
like that too.

Speaker 1 (47:08):
Yeah, poor Kyle Trask. Derek in the chat says, uh
that I have put it seems like fifteen guys in
the Tier two quarterback tier. I've thoughte that with a
couple I think, like I think like offensive line. I
also have like a dozen tier ones there, Like I
don't know, don't don't no, please nobody count this because
I know some of it's gonna be weird. But yeah, uh,
Kyle Todd Bowles I've been critical of in the past

(47:30):
and probably too much so, or at least maybe he's
gotten better. I don't know, maybe a combination of the two,
because he does do a lot of really good stuff
with the you know, the the just the coaching aspect
of stuff, right, like he gets like that he develops
player as well, like he is I still think a
very good X as and O's guy, even if last
year was a mess.

Speaker 2 (47:46):
I put that more into personnel than him. Has improved
a lot with game management.

Speaker 1 (47:51):
Tier three head coach, Like you know, I'm I'm not
mad at Todd Bowles as my head coach or the
better coach is sure, but I'm fine with it.

Speaker 2 (47:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (48:00):
Any hiring offensive coordinators.

Speaker 2 (48:03):
Yeah, I mean that's the big thing for me, Like
if he keeps hitting on the offensive coordinators, because we
saw the year he didn't hit on the offensive coordinator
with byro one left, which it looked bad. If he
keeps hitting on them, then all of a sudden, this
is going to be It's going to be better just
by default. So I don't remember the name of the
new offensive coordinator off the top of my head, but uh.

Speaker 1 (48:23):
He Grizzard. I don't how to pronounce it, Grizzard or Gazard,
one of.

Speaker 2 (48:27):
The two, Yeah, something like that, but yeah, he, uh
you know, if if if they hit on that again,
then I trust Todd Bowles at least to to keep
the ship ship going in the right direction. That's all
that matters. Yeah, the uh, yeah, I agree. Let's go

(48:47):
to the wide receiver room, Kyle, which is you know
again banged up right now. That is the that is
the concern, and I do kind of have the factor
bad in. But Chris Goblin should be back sooner rather
than later, obviously. Mike Evans is Mike Evans. Uh.

Speaker 1 (49:01):
They added Mecca Agbuka, which, like you know, training camp
reports are not cannon, right, but like it seems like
every single training camp report is like Meca Agbuka is
the greatest player to ever play football. So uh, We'll
see how that goes. But he did look very good
in preseason. Jayle mcmillons banged up for the first half
of the year. He should be good for the second
half at the very least. Also, the Tez Johnson has

(49:24):
been the training camp the preseason hero seventh round pick.
I don't know how much you can have confidence in that.
Katett and a very good receiving tight end as well.
I mean it's it's it's yes, there's injuries, but this
is a Tier one receiving room.

Speaker 2 (49:37):
Yeah, there's a ton of depth here. You know, you
can survive even Jalen McMillan being out and he was
really good down the stretch of the year. Two at times,
you know you have Kaitott and who can catch the ball.
You have Evans, and I mean once you start with
Evans and Godwin, that's gonna be Tier three at minimum probably.
And you have good players at three, four, five, six
in this receiving room. Two. And that's not even getting

(49:58):
to my favorite player in this offense who is a
electric last season, and that's the running back who can
absolutely catch the ball and make plays out of the
backfield too. So that even adds this offense, you have five, six,
seven guys you have to put on your scouting report
to prepare for. And I think that's what's really dangerous
about this team.

Speaker 1 (50:14):
Yeah. Bucky Irving, as you mentioned, was so good last year,
not just being able to run, but being able to
you know, like create space for himself players that weren't open.
He was able to still find ways to get through.
You can't catch out of backfield. He could not block.
That is just not his game. But you have Rashad White,
who's a really good blocking and pass catching running backs.
They kind of they're perfect complimentary guys of Bucky Irving.

(50:37):
This incredible rusher, White great at the other stuff and
still can run so like, and then you have Sean
Tucker as the number number three running back on top
of it, it's tier two just because like there are
probably five running backs better than Bucky Irving, right, Like,
is he on Derek Henry's level? Okay, I guess not,
but like this is you know, really exciting stuff in
the running back round.

Speaker 2 (50:58):
Yeah. I mean, if he's over eleven hundred yards five
yards to carrying eight touchdowns again next season, I mean,
is he tier one? Is that crazy?

Speaker 1 (51:07):
No, it's not great. I mean, it's it's it's totally
in the car. So I just you know, again, I
think is he top is it top five right now?
I'm just gonna say no, but like, but you're right,
it's totally possible. They are losing Liam Cohen, who was
very good at scheming stuff open. But no, I'm expecting
I'm expecting to be very good this year.

Speaker 2 (51:24):
Yeah. Yeah, and like you said, even like Seawn Tucker
is a number three back, is not a bad situation.
So really good group overall, really good skill positions, and
that's where you get really excited. And yeah, with Baker
Mayfield running the ship and running the show and you've
been able to put your trust in him, I see
no reason to doubt this team as far as moving
the football.

Speaker 1 (51:45):
Yeah, offensive line Kyle h So, Tristan Worth's gonna miss
some time. I'm also not crazy about Ben Bradison, so
I'm not gonna go tier one. But lukad Ecki, Cody Mock.
You also have Graham Barton, who you know, I think
I'm hoping to see him improved in year two. But
I thought it was actually better than like you know,
p ff Adham has wanted a lower rated center. I
thought it was all right last year. So like, yeah,

(52:08):
I think tier two offensive line, which once it gets healthy,
can be closer to Tier one than uh, you know
than Tier two perhaps.

Speaker 2 (52:17):
Yeah, you definitely need Worfs out there.

Speaker 1 (52:20):
You know.

Speaker 2 (52:20):
I guess he was just activated, so I'm assuming he's
probably gonna miss the first game just to kind of
ramp up or be on the limited count. We'll see
how that looks, but I would guess it'd probably be
around three or four games he's gonna miss that, But
not based on anything, but that's just what I've been hearing. Yeah,
I guess that's not that's not shocky at all. But
you know, you you have the Jets in that mix too.
You should be able to win a couple of these

(52:42):
games even without him. And yeah, I think that is
a that's a really good group when he's out there.
I mean, he's a star. So when when he's out there, like,
you're gonna be fine. But yeah, it's still it's still
pretty good beyond that. Yeah, Yeah, the really good stuff
here of this offense.

Speaker 1 (53:00):
Offense was loaded last year. Even with injuries, it was
able to put up points. The defense was an issue,
and Canna an issue doesn't really begin to tell the
story of what it was. Because it was bad last year.
They have done a lot to improve upon this, not
with a first round pick, but with a lot of
other picks. Really, the second are I'm so fascinated by

(53:20):
because you have Zion McCollum and Jammel Dean, who, like
I think the criticism of Jammel Dean is he gets
paid a good amount of money, he gets put into
the corner one and doesn't always come out on top
when he's trying to cover the best guys in the league. Right,
he's probably better suited. It's like a great number two
corner than a number one corner. But he's still twenty eight,

(53:41):
he's still an effective player, and he also gets banged
up a ton. You know, it's not necessarily big injuries,
but seems missed the time left and right. So they
finally said, you know what, let's add some depth here.
Let's get Benjamin Morrison and also Jacob Parrish, who's going
to be the nickel corner third round pick out of
Kansas State. So you have and you know, again they
really like, hey, another one of those training camp guys.

(54:02):
Who it seemed like everyone's going crazy over we'll see
moving Christian is in to safety Anthon Winfield, who was
hurt all of last year, but we know what he
can do one healthy. I'm excited about this secondary, I
really am. And also Levonte David is in the mix
with like another linebacker here, but Pier two coverage for me,
I still don't know if they have a great lockdown
number one. And we still have some rookies that are

(54:23):
going to have to come in and play, so that's
some question marks. But a lot of good players here
as well.

Speaker 2 (54:28):
Yeah, you can definitely argue for Tier three for me,
just because, like when Winfield's probably the best guy. But
there's not really like a bona fide like stud beyond that.
But there is depth, Like you said, we like depth here,
especially in the cornerback spot. They have options to go
to Zion McCollum played well last season, to Jamel Dean
was a solid player last season, so they have plenty

(54:48):
of options there. I do like Benjamin Morrison a lot.
I thought he was awesome. I'm at Notre Dame. You
can go back and you know a couple of years
and watch his highlights against Marvin Harrison Junior. He held
up in that matchup. I thought he held up in
a few other matchups in big games. And I think
he's gonna be a good player. So yeah, you have
all that. And then also, like you said, it's not

(55:10):
quite the same advantage of having Fred Warner, but you
have a first you know, one of two first ballot
Hall of famers on this team right now in Leavonte David.
And he makes up for a lot still even at
thirty five. He's gonna make up for a lot in
the middle of the field by just being Levonte David
and being so good in coverage.

Speaker 1 (55:29):
Yeah, very good there there. And you know Tampa Bay,
they're gonna do a thousand different things to try and
confuse opposing quarterbacks. Kyle, Let's talk front seven now were
already wrapped the linebackers. Vitavea obviously one of the best
players in football. Then you have you know, Kleija Kansi,
who we're still kind of waiting on seeing if you
can take that next jump. As of right now, he

(55:50):
really is just a good pass rusher and a bad
run defender. Like can he get either decent at run
defense or like amazing at pass rush would be ideal
heading into year three. Great Gains and Logan Hall are
both effective depth pieces the they you know, they always
do a good jump of having edge rushers who can

(56:11):
stop the run. Todd Bowlds really cares about stopping the run.
You know, Yayadiabi is good at both run defense and
pass rush. Like even like Anthony Nelson can be a
good run defender. We'll see what we get out of
a Son Reddick. That's that's the biggest wildcard right now.
If he can step up and be you know, egos
to Son Redick, this looks like, you know, this is
an awesome defensive line. If he's not, this looks like

(56:31):
a blow average defensive line. They're gonna stop the run. Well,
Vidave and Vonte David alone are gonna do good you know,
good staffenders, not just them alone. It's a Tier one
run defense for me, but Tier four pass rush, which
is probably the biggest difference we've had with a run
defense and pass rush out of any of the teams
we've talked about.

Speaker 2 (56:47):
Yeah, it's really good against the run, and it could
be very good against the past. Like you said, like
with Kancy and with the Ambi like, it's not gonna
be a disaster pass rush. You at least have a
couple of guys there that you think can get after
the quarterback. And then, like you said, this team just
felt like it had a Shack Barrett sized hole for
the last couple of seasons that they've needed to replace.
And then they go and get a guy and has

(57:08):
On Reddiku they're buying low on. He didn't play well
last season and obviously had a whole bunch of off
the field things with the contract. All that played a
part in it. If you get Hassan Riddick back, you're
gonna have an elite pass rush, and then you're gonna
have that with a very good run defense. And then
all of a sudden, you're looking at a top you know,
potentially a top five offense in football on a top

(57:28):
ten defense in football, which is a rare thing to have.
So I the potential of this group is definitely tantalizing.
And that's what you're really excited about it for Tampa Bay.

Speaker 1 (57:40):
Yeah, and I am Tampa Bay, So I'm really excited, Kylein.
This is a lot of fun. I'm excited for this season.
I mean, this is one of the more excited, exciting
teams I have seen, I feel like since the obviously
I'm not too long ago, but like the outside of
those two Brady years that were amazing, he was there
for three years, two of them were amazing. This feels
like the most optimism we've had, uh here in Tampa Bay.

(58:03):
I'm in Orlando, but when I go to Tampa Bay,
it seems like there's a lot of optimism uh as
of right now, like this this could be a fun season.

Speaker 2 (58:10):
What what would you say is the What would you
say is the if you if we come back in
January And I'm not gonna say this team missed the
playoffs because I think they're gonna win the division, but
let's say this team fell below your expectations just in general.
What do you think the reasoning for that would be
in January?

Speaker 1 (58:28):
Good quer Let's let's say like they do what they
did last year of win the division like with like
ten wins, and then get knocked out round one and
it's not like a shocking upset round one lock. It's
just like a loss. I think probably the defense not
being able to you know, kind of being similar to
what it was last year. The young guys not stepping
up and maybe like Leavonte David getting older, uh, in

(58:49):
the you know, outside of injuries, that feels like the
main way stuff like that happens.

Speaker 2 (58:53):
Yeah. No, I think that's fair. I think that's the
right that's the right thing.

Speaker 1 (58:57):
So I'm going twelve and five full this Bucks team.
I think that they are. You know, we'll get into it.
But it feels like most people have the Eagles as
clear cut favorites, even my records show that. And then
it feels like there are several teams in the NFC
that are potential challengers. I think the Buccaneers are one
of those teams.

Speaker 2 (59:14):
Absolutely. I think they're gonna be in the mix. I
think that there are a few teams in the NFC
that are definitely in the mix. As you know, I
got some fun predictions. So we'll get into that and
see see where they end up in that mix.

Speaker 1 (59:27):
Yeah. Well, Kyle, we have finally finished the previewing each team.
Now let's get into the fun stuff. Do you want
to do the awards first and then do the final
like team predictions and all that stuff, or do you
want to do like, yeah, that makes sense right to
do it? That way. Yeah, I think.

Speaker 2 (59:43):
That's very fair. So yeah, we can do the awards first.
Do you want me to go first?

Speaker 1 (59:51):
Well, sure, let's go award by award. Why don't we
Let's uh, we'll save the MVP. I thought, O, Kyle,
I forgot to mention, but uh, I won our draft
when we did the free agency draft this week. That
happened because Amari Cooper went back to the Raiders and
I had that.

Speaker 2 (01:00:06):
Oh that's really funny.

Speaker 1 (01:00:08):
Yeah, so I saw my notes, I'm like, oh, I
won't anniverstil douglast sign of anyone we picked. So I
ended up winning that. Well, after the fact, let's do
the awards. I let's start off with just the weirdest one.
Let's go to the Protector of the Year award. Who
did you have winning that?

Speaker 2 (01:00:25):
I had? Creed Humphrey.

Speaker 1 (01:00:27):
Okay, that's the worst uh take you've ever had in
the show. Wow, Because of course he's going to deserve it.

Speaker 2 (01:00:33):
But like that doesn't, no one's gonna it's I have
pinay Sewel because obviously, like this award is not going
to be who is actually the best offensive line in football? Listen,
I agree with you, it's probably gonna be an offensive
tackle every year and whatever. I have to stay true
to myself. That's what I'm doing here. But at the
same time, like you know, the Chiefs are gonna be

(01:00:56):
on TV a lot if they win a lot of games,
and there's still a lot of dishtry us in that
offensive line, Like you're gonna have all that and you're
gonna have Creed Humphrey probably on TV and they're gonna
highlight Creed Humphrey a lot. So I think that is
probably why I'm going that way as a potential. If
you want to go outside the box a little bit,
not just take you know, offensive tackle number one, I

(01:01:16):
think that's where I'm going.

Speaker 1 (01:01:17):
Why not, Okay, Kyle, I'd be I'd be shocked. Actually,
if Creed Humphrey gets more attention than Taylor Swift this season,
well I.

Speaker 2 (01:01:26):
Didn't say she was gonna get that much, but I
think you know, you're you're gonna get.

Speaker 1 (01:01:31):
Is gonna get more attention than him?

Speaker 2 (01:01:34):
Yeah, that's I mean, Taylor's is gonna get more attention
than ninety percent of the Chiefs team.

Speaker 1 (01:01:39):
Okay, I think that the engagement itself will get more
airtime than Creed Humphrey will.

Speaker 2 (01:01:45):
That's probably fair. But look, I mean we're gonna have listen,
I my guys, Tony Romo on the call on the
broadcast during primetime. He's gonna be like, you know, it
was a great player making this happen, create Humphrey setting
up that block. I believe in you, Tony, Let's make
it happen.

Speaker 1 (01:01:59):
Okay, maybe maybe Lane Johnson and joined my latter or
my other two picks. Just because I figured the Eagles
offensive line is gonna be awesome, Like that gets attention, right,
So that's that's why I thought that as well.

Speaker 2 (01:02:10):
Yeah, yeah, you could go, you could go. This is
gonna be such a weird award. I'm gonna be very
interesting to see how it voted, because yeah, I mean,
there's gonna be a lot of a lot of good candidates.
You know. We mentioned, Uh, Chris Lnstrom is a guy
who I don't think will get any votes because of
where he is.

Speaker 1 (01:02:25):
He's like ineligible. He's like one of this like like
the Oscars where it's like he's made a cool horror movie,
like never is gonna get attention there, Like it's just
one of those like like yeah, it's great, but it doesn't.

Speaker 2 (01:02:33):
Matter he directed weapons, you know, yeah, exactly, Yeah, right,
that's exactly it. So yeah, I think that is uh
and it'll be interesting to see how that plays out.
But yeah, I think I got. I got. Let's ride
with Creed. Why not? Let's see what.

Speaker 1 (01:02:49):
Okay, I like it. I what Fortune favors the bold
defensive rookie of the year. I can't imagine either one
of us have any bold takes share We're both going
abdual Carter right.

Speaker 2 (01:03:00):
No, I'm going bold again.

Speaker 1 (01:03:01):
Wow. Okay, I thought this was like the worst, Like
I couldn't even think of a second option. So go ahead, give.

Speaker 2 (01:03:07):
Me of the Baltimore Ravens, Mike Green. Let's see it happen.
We're gonna get a pass rusher there, another guy. They
need him to be good right away because they just
don't really have the like elite pass rushers. Let's see
him in there, make some plays happen. Why not have
some fun with it.

Speaker 1 (01:03:23):
Okay, I don't think you're gonna be right about either
of these takes.

Speaker 2 (01:03:27):
Just wait and see, just wait and see.

Speaker 1 (01:03:30):
I think Ada Carter is like like he's only like
plus two hundred to win. I'm like that's insane, like
he should be like minus like a thousand.

Speaker 2 (01:03:37):
Yeah, I mean he's probably gonna win and it's fine.
Ed up.

Speaker 1 (01:03:41):
Let's let's look this up. Where is Mike Green in
the defensive Rookie of the Year odds? Let's see is
he on the list? Okay, there's like three hundred names.
He has to be one of these. He is not.
Uh wait no, here I expelled it wrong. Oh no,
he's there. Yeah, no, he's he's he's start. Okay, maybe
I'm maybe I'm being too hard.

Speaker 2 (01:04:01):
On you, Kyle third, here we go, we're in.

Speaker 1 (01:04:05):
Yeah, not expecting that. Why is how is he third?
What am I missing here?

Speaker 2 (01:04:10):
I mean he was a guy who fell in the
draft for off the field reason.

Speaker 1 (01:04:12):
It's like, oh right, because voters are definitely gonna not
hold that against him.

Speaker 2 (01:04:17):
Yeah exactly. I mean, look the Ravens another one. They're
gonna be on TV a lot. He's gonna have a
lot of big opportunities and you get the chance. What
what if kvon Thibodauz starts taking away all of Abdull
Carter sacks?

Speaker 1 (01:04:29):
That's that's true. Yeah, I guess maybe this not the
snap count? Uh?

Speaker 2 (01:04:33):
Travis Hunter is also second, which is like the most
insane uh take out there offense more than defenses.

Speaker 1 (01:04:39):
Yeah, I don't get that at all. Maybe it's like
the could he win both type of thing? Yeah, the
uh my other I did two candidates as well that
didn't when James Pierce Junior and Johnny Baron or my
other two. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:04:54):
I had James Pierce Junior on there too, just because, like,
I think he's gonna rack up sacks if he's good
or at least ma an impact because that defense needs it.
The other one I had was Maxwell Harrison, Like why not?
You know, I think, oh, there goes my dog. But yeah,
Maxwell Harrison, I think could be an interesting one if
he's he's he's an upside play, okay.

Speaker 1 (01:05:14):
Yeah, and Kyle with Mike Green and Maxwell Harrison has
a type with some of these picks. But let's go
to as Kyle sees if his dog will be starting
to be quiet. Let's go to the offensive Rookie of
the Year awards here who I went with for my candidates?
I went Ashton Genty and Mecca at BUCA. But it

(01:05:34):
has to be cam Ward, right, I mean, anytime a
quarterback who's a number one overall pick has a really
good year.

Speaker 2 (01:05:40):
It's always the quarterback who wins. That's clearly what you
went here too with Kyle. All right, yeah I had
cam Warden. I wasn't gonna get that bold, but yeah
I had. I had Gen t and then Travis Hunter
for this one as well. I mean, those are the
others who cannons that have But yeah, I think cam
woard just has to play pretty well or I mean,
he just has to play passable at this point to
probably win offensive for the year. And I think there's

(01:06:02):
a chance he's gonna be pretty good. So yeah, give
me a gimmey, cam Warden, give me the quarterback.

Speaker 1 (01:06:06):
Yeah. Uh, Kyle, Uh, head coach, where you go?

Speaker 2 (01:06:12):
Jonathan Gannon?

Speaker 1 (01:06:14):
Okay, your guy.

Speaker 2 (01:06:16):
I think there's a chance there, so yeah, let's go.
Let's go Jonathan Gannon as coach of the Year. I
think he's if the Cardinals makes some noise, like I'm hoping,
I think that he is gonna he is gonna be
In the conversation for Coach of the Year. I thought
about a few other guys, especially new coaches making the playoffs.
Pete Carroll potentially, or you know, could Mike Rabel make

(01:06:36):
the playoffs because one of those guys make some noise.
I think those are both teams. Those are guys exceeding expectations.
But we're gonna go with Gannon.

Speaker 1 (01:06:44):
Yeah not not not a bad take. I also thought
I was variable. I thought about Dan Campbell, thought about
Ben Johnson. Give me Kevin O'Connell. I think that, like,
I don't know, just feels like I think the Vikings
could be a surprise playoff team if that happens, Like
I could see this being like the Yeah, let's give
it him.

Speaker 2 (01:06:59):
Yeah, I like Kevin O'Connell lot. I wouldn't hate it
at all, So no issues there for me.

Speaker 1 (01:07:05):
All right, three awards left, MVP, Offensive Player of the Year,
and Defensive Player of the Year. Let's go Offensive Player
of the Year next. I'll start it off, Candice. I
think Jamar Chase is gonna get a lot of touches.
I think he could certainly win it. Derrick Henry is
Derrick Henry. But I just foxed take one behind the
best offensive line, and the league's gonna get a ton
of carries. Like feels like he should be the odds

(01:07:25):
on favorite.

Speaker 2 (01:07:27):
Yeah, you're gonna have your usual suspects. I think all
those guys are gonna play a part. I wrote down
Justin Jefferson, but then it's like is he one hundred
percent healthy? We'll see. But also I think the thing
is like, if you know, if I think if he
has a great season in Minnesota is a good season,
I think he's gonna get a lot of credit for
it with a young quarterback in his first season starting.

(01:07:49):
So I'll just stick with Justin Jefferson.

Speaker 1 (01:07:52):
Yeah, sure, Yeah. Again, there's like four guys where it's
like one of these guys probably will win it. I
can feel kind of similar for Defensive Player of the Year. Uh,
I have to say I was surprised, uh Aidan Hutchinson
the betting favorite to win Defensive Player of the Year.
I kind of get it because he was favored, like
you know last year, he's probably gonna win it until

(01:08:12):
he got injured. But like I don't know, Like I
like him a lot, I like Miles Garrett a lot,
but like I'm still just gonna go teach you Watt.
I just think that's the safe the take. He's the
guy who typically gets the most pressures, most sacks, Like
I'm just gonna go that.

Speaker 2 (01:08:25):
Yeah, not not a lot of complaints there. I thought
about Chris Jones too, but he doesn't usually put up
the numbers for this, but I did actually go with
the favorite I put Adan Hutchinson.

Speaker 1 (01:08:35):
Mm hmm. I think it's it's possible. I just I
feel like I trust T. J. Watt a little bit more,
and you know, those graphics are gonna show up if
if whatever stats Watt leads in he's the Steelers fans
will be out in force. Actually Steelers fans versus Lions fans.
That could be a really toxic online discourse if that happens.

Speaker 2 (01:08:53):
Uh yeah, I mean that's definitely going to happen. So
get your comments section ready. I hope you're you're excited.

Speaker 1 (01:08:59):
Yeah, that'll be fun.

Speaker 2 (01:09:00):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:09:01):
Kyle MVP. Last year famously I predicted Joe Burrow to
win MVP and predict the Bengals to miss the playoffs,
which almost came true. He got votes and missed the playoffs,
So I think that was a pretty good take. Kyle,
who do you have winning MVP into the twenty twenty
five seasons?

Speaker 2 (01:09:19):
I went between two guys mainly because I wasn't sure
if I gonna I was gonna put one team in
the playoffs, and I wasn't gonna pull a Joe Burrow
and Bengals missed the playoff situation.

Speaker 1 (01:09:28):
Uhh.

Speaker 2 (01:09:29):
I was going between Jayden Daniels and Patrick Mahomes. I
went with Patrick Mahomes. I think that they're going to airit.
I think they have to air it out more this season.
I think, you know, I know Rashie Rice is going
to miss some time, but they still have a pretty
good receiving room. I think they still got options there
to make it work and they could survive without him
six weeks. Then he's gonna come back. They're gonna have

(01:09:51):
a very good receiver room. I think. I think they're
gonna stretch the ball downfield. I think this defense is
a little more susceptible this season, So I think we're
going to see a return to four for Patrick Mahomes
as far as challenging teams with the vertical ball and
making some things happen with the speed he's got. So
give me, give me Mahomes in this spot.

Speaker 1 (01:10:09):
I don't think it's crazy, and in fact, at one
point I even put Mahomes as my pick on there.
Here's why I ultimately didn't. Is because the Chiefs just
run so many long drives, like they don't really push.
I think they'll push the ball on the field more
not they can actually protect Mahomes long enough to do that.
But like, I just don't know if they're gonna do
it as much. It's not gonna go back to the

(01:10:30):
Tyreek Hill days or even the first year Tyrek was gone,
but they still could block well. I don't think it's
gonna go quite back to that. They still like to
be very methodical offense. I think they won't have enough
possessions for him to get the bulk numbers. So I
was like, Okay, let's do Joe Burrow. And then I
checked my notes to see if he was a playoff
team again, and he's I don't have him as a
playoff team spoiler alert, So okay, don't do that again.

(01:10:51):
So it's gonna go Lamar.

Speaker 2 (01:10:52):
I also feel like there's something with Lamar of like
he probably should have wanted last year he was first
team All Pro, so like he's gonna put up numbers,
and like I think the voters be more likely to
give it to him this year because like they kind
of feel bad for just giving uh Lamar, giving Josh
Allen an MVP that he should have won two years ago.

Speaker 1 (01:11:08):
It's a whole like you know, they're on a to lie.

Speaker 2 (01:11:11):
Yeah, it seems like they're always correcting themselves with that stuff.
So do you see an argument for anyone outside of
if if I were to say, I don't want to
it's too boring to pick mahomes Lamar Burrow in Alan,
that's too easy. Do you see a case for anybody else?

(01:11:31):
Is it just Daniels or do you see anybody else
even beyond Daniels?

Speaker 1 (01:11:35):
Yeah, well, Drew says no shout out for James Dale.
Kyle gave Drew Dane Daniels a shout out. Yeah, I
mean someone's in a chat. But I think this is
like like Baker, I don't think that's out of the
question with the offense around him, if he can put
up numbers, like I think that's that's an option, kind
of like in a Matt Ryan style of of way,
Like yeah, I think it's I think Baker's probably probably
next on that list, right, Yeah, it even hurts.

Speaker 2 (01:11:58):
Like, yeah, you got to go through the Tier two guys, right,
Like could you see a like what if Stafford's just
hot the whole season, and then it's because he's got
DeVante Adams and pooping Nakula healthy right now? So what
if it's Stafford. I don't think Jared Goff's gonna get
enough love for it, Stafford Baker.

Speaker 1 (01:12:14):
What if? What if Goff's just awesome this year? And
like you could say, like, hey, you know Ben Johnson
offensive line not great, like like you know, what are
you gonna say?

Speaker 2 (01:12:24):
Now?

Speaker 1 (01:12:24):
Like I guess I could see something like that happening.

Speaker 2 (01:12:27):
Yeah, I could see it too, actually, right, So I
would say one of those four NFC guys though, for sure,
because those are probably gonna be the four best teams.
And then you're looking at those four guys, I still
would not go non quarterback. So yeah, but yeah, I
think it's gonna be you know, I still have Jada
as my runner runner up, But I think it's gonna

(01:12:47):
be all predicated on I still think he's a star.
It's just gonna be predicated on Ken Washington make the
playoffs again.

Speaker 1 (01:12:54):
Yeah, uh the you know, uh, you know Marcus has
Hurts of the winning MVP. He was second time people
in a couple of years ago. Let's not for the
don't let's not forget. It's not out of the question,
although I do not expecting to happen. Uh yeah, but Kyle,
that is the awards always fun to do that. Let's
get into the playoff prediction. So here's what I did.

(01:13:16):
I predicted the seven teams in each conference that I
have making the playoffs. I just just predicted. I didn't predict,
you know, the pathway or anything. I just picted the
two teams that will play in the conference championship game
then or I guess four teams don't play in the
conference championship, the two that will play in the super Bowl,
and who will win the Super Bowl. So that that's
how I did it. Should I just get into my
list and then we go from there.

Speaker 2 (01:13:37):
Yeah, go for it.

Speaker 1 (01:13:39):
Okay, here, let's do it this way. So I'll do
the the AFC A very boring AFC seven. For me,
it's just the same as last year where Bill's Ravens, Chiefs, Texans, Broncos, Chargers, Stealers.
Very boring. But that's that's what I ended up with
for my seven.

Speaker 2 (01:13:54):
Yeah, I see the argument for it. I just I
wanted to make some changes because it feels like year
to year there's always a couple teams in and out
for each conference. So I have the top five is
still the same for me. I have the Ravens, Bills, Chiefs.
I have the Texans at four. I think it's gonna
take a lot for them to not win the AFC South.
And then I still think the Broncos are the fourth
best team in the AFC right now. I think I

(01:14:15):
would take them right now as the five seed. I
went there was a lot of candidates for this. You know,
you mentioned the two teams that made the playoffs last year,
the Chargers and the Steelers. I think the Patriots are
gonna be in the mix if things go right. I
think there's a couple other teams that could be in
the mix if things go right, even if they're longer shots.
But I went to Cincinnati Bengals and the Las Vegas Raiders.
Let's see some things happen there. I think it's gonna

(01:14:36):
be fun. I think those are the best two quarterbacks remaining.
And I'm leading on the quarterbacks for this conference.

Speaker 1 (01:14:41):
Yeah, let's go, let's go, let's go Raiders. Let's let's
make that happen. I like it the Yeah, I just
I don't know, Kyle. I'm watching this preseason stuff and
the Bengals can't even get stops on these backup offenses
that are playing against them. Yeah, it's tough, I get it,
but you know they're gonna score a lot of points.

Speaker 2 (01:14:59):
Let's I just hope that they just need to get
to ten wins. Can they do that? I mean, that's
the hope. Can I mean, maybe nine wins is enough.
They can get to nine wins. I think anything is
possible because they are so good offensively.

Speaker 1 (01:15:10):
I hope, so they're fun to watch. Let's just stick
with the AFC and let's finish that, and then we'll
go to NFC for the two teams that I wanted
to have as my conference championship. I'm gonna go a
AFC rematch, but not out of last year two years ago.
Ravens Chiefs is my prediction.

Speaker 2 (01:15:29):
I have the same.

Speaker 1 (01:15:30):
Okay, all right, well then, Kyle, I'll ask you who
do you have winning the AFC championship?

Speaker 2 (01:15:35):
Gap is it too boring? It feels like it's picking
the San Antonio Spurs in the two thousands or the
Patriots in the two thousand. I have the Chiefs winning.
It's I mean, I picked the Bills to win last season.
I thought they had a great shot. I think they
exceeded even my expectations. But I think right now, until
I see another team actually beat the Chiefs in the
American Football Conference, I am taking the Chiefs to win again.

(01:16:00):
Give me the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. And look,
Taylor Swift's made the Super Bowl every year she's been
with Travis Kelce. The engagement's not stopping that. Baby. Here
we go.

Speaker 1 (01:16:09):
Yeah, sure, I guess. I guess You're not wrong, Kyle.
It is too boring to pick the Chiefs, but it's
also what I'm doing. I mean, I just I agree
with you. It's like I can't. I can't honestly, if
I'm picking the Bills or the Ravens. It's because I
want to have fun, Like, it's not because I actually
think that one of those two teams is gonna it
has a better chance of making the Super Bowl than
the Chiefs.

Speaker 2 (01:16:28):
Yeah. I mean, it's not the craziest thing because all
of these games come down to one or two plays, right, Like,
any one of these teams could eventually beat the Chiefs.
But we still haven't seen it happen, and it just
feels like we're talking about the Patriots in the past again,
and it's like, you have to be able to beat
this team when it matters most, and until somebody does
it like the coletson in two thousand and six, it's
just hard to envision that pathway. So yeah, I think

(01:16:50):
the Chiefs are the rightful, rightful rulers. I think that
they still have some questions defensively, We'll see how those
are addressed. I think that they're going to pass the
ball more though. I think when this team's healthy in
the playoffs, they got some suspensions to deal with, but
when they have Rice and Brown and Worthy out there,
I think that's going to be a really tough offense
to stop down the stretch.

Speaker 1 (01:17:11):
Yeah, I think so as well. Oh, I did the
I asked, I mean so, I mean polls for this
stuff as well, because I wanted to kind of see
what word the community was. Hey, we always get criticized
for our takes. I had to let get the community
on the record here. So I asked with the four
division winners, I put all those in a poll and said,

(01:17:34):
who is most likely to go to Super Bowl? To
AFC Texans, Bills, Ravens, and Chiefs. Do you want to
guess who won that pole.

Speaker 2 (01:17:41):
I'm gonna guess it's the Chiefs. I think it's going
to be the Chiefs at twenty okay.

Speaker 1 (01:17:47):
A little bit higher than twenty seven because the Texans
didn't get much so they were at they were at
thirty five percent, so were to Ravens a tie for first.
So I ended up just I wanted to then figure
who's going to it's I put them both in the
final poll just to figure it out. So it's them
and the winner of the NFC. Who will talk about
right now, Kyle? Who were your seven teams that you

(01:18:11):
had making the playoffs in the NFC?

Speaker 2 (01:18:13):
All right? I have the rain and Super Bowl champion
Philadelphia Eagles at first. I have Tampa Bay Buccaneers number two.
I have the Detroit Lions number three, the Los Angeles
Rams number four. Minnesota Vikings maybe the third best team
in the NFC or fourth best team in the NFC
in my opinion for the regular season, but they're gonna
end up here at the five seed because of wildcard.
I got America's team, the Arizona Cardinals at number six,

(01:18:37):
and then I have the Green Bay Packers at number seven,
so I do have the Washington Commanders missing out in
the playoffs. Wow, just don't trust that defense enough. And
I think that's one of the real that's probably why
that's I mean, that's why I don't have g and
Daniels winning MVP.

Speaker 1 (01:18:50):
Gotcha. Well, that's that's crazy to me. I mean, so
I have Washington and also had the forty nine ers
making it. I don't have the Packers or the Cardinals
making it. The Vikings are my five seed commanders or
no Vikings are my six seed? Commanders are my five seed?
That's surprising. I mean, like again, like they were in
the conference championship last year, that would be quite the

(01:19:10):
disappointing year two.

Speaker 2 (01:19:12):
Yeah, I just is regression really not that like crazy
of a take. Like I think the defense overperformed expectations
and still has a lot of issues. And I mean,
like I think they do a lot of things well,
but you know, I don't think it's necessarily guaranteed this
scrip's gonna be awesome.

Speaker 1 (01:19:30):
Again, it's not guaranteed. It's a bold take, Kyle. We'll
see how it goes. If we weren't an hour and twenty
minutes into this, I would dive further in, but for
the NFC, for the two teams in the conference championship,
I went to Eagles. Obviously, I also went with the
I want the Rams. I just think the Rams are, like,
I just think they're gonna be tough out once it
gets to the playoffs. I don't even have them as
like the number two seed, but I think, like, I

(01:19:52):
don't know, I feel like I trust them most. They're yeah, oh,
who do you have?

Speaker 2 (01:19:58):
Yeah? I actually do have been losing in the first round,
But I do agree with the take there. I think
the Rams are gonna be tough in the playoffs. You know,
once again fortune favors the bold. Let's go the Minnesota
Vikings and the Tivatay Buccaneers. Wow, okay, well championship, let's
get that one.

Speaker 1 (01:20:15):
That would be That would be again, I hope that happened.
I have the Eagles. I'm the most boring prediction ever.
I'm going to the Eagles Chiefs rematch. I just I
think that's what's gonna happen. Like, I just like I
can't look at these teams and say, like I think
that there's gonna be a different team, not to say, like, Okay, listen,
if you ask me, is it going to be a
rematch or not a rematch, I'll say not a rematch.
Like I'll take the field over either one of these

(01:20:35):
teams and neither of the conference. But like, I just
feel like they both have the highest thoughts right now.

Speaker 2 (01:20:40):
Yeah, they're they're the two most talented teams right now,
or the teams you trust the most, at least in
those spots. So I don't I don't hate the take.
I want a little more fun in the NFC, because
I do think it's more of a crap shoot. I
say this over and over again. I think you've got
to be really really bold to pick someone outside the
three in the AFC. I think you just are just

(01:21:03):
saying that just to say it honestly, Like, I think
those three teams in the ANFC are significantly better, and
the Chiefs have beaten the other two teams multiple times
in the playoffs, so it's hard to pick against the Chiefs.

Speaker 1 (01:21:13):
The NFC.

Speaker 2 (01:21:14):
However, Yes, the Eagles are the best team I think,
but there's a lot of really good teams. I think
you could talk me into five or six teams potentially
making the Super Bowl, honestly, and that's what I'm gonna do.
I want something a little bit different, So I'm going
to Minnesota Vikings in the Super Bowl over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Speaker 1 (01:21:30):
Okay, Vikings, Chiefs the team that has won four Super
Bowls versus the team that has lost for Super Bowls. Interesting,
I have Chiefs, Eagles, you have Vikings Chiefs. NFC. Believe
it or not, the Vikings did not win that pole.
They weren't eligible because they did not win lead their division.
Who do you think won the NFC? You probably have

(01:21:51):
a pretty good guess.

Speaker 2 (01:21:52):
Yeah, it's gonna be the Eagles, So I imagine they're.

Speaker 1 (01:21:54):
What way low, You're clearly not cheating, Kyle, because it
was a fifty seven percent Eagles. There was a it
was a blowout. Twenty six for the Lions, eight for
the Rams, nine for the Bucks. It was definitely a
blowout there. So the Eagles, Chiefs, and Ravens were the
final three. Eagles won the poll. Forty five percent picked
the Eagles, twenty seven percent picked the Chiefs, twenty eight

(01:22:16):
percent picked the Ravens. The Ravens technically we're the second.
We're to you know led the AFC, which is a
little surprising thought it would have been the Chiefs. My
pick is the Chiefs. I'm picking the Chiefs to win
the Super Bowl again. I think they had some issues
last year. They fixed those issues. I think the you know,
the whole the reports of the Chiefs demise are greatly exaggerated.

(01:22:36):
I think this team is it should be the favorites
to win. They're currently fourth in odds. Somehow the Ravens, Bills,
and Eagles are ahead of them. I don't get it
at all, Like, what are we doing here? The Chiefs
are the Chiefs, And yes it's boring, but it's also
what I think is gonna happen. Kyle, you got to
go out on a limb here, right. You can't pick
the Vikings to lose the Super Bowl?

Speaker 2 (01:22:57):
Yes I can. That's what I'm gonna do, Chiefs over
Vikings Super Bowl.

Speaker 1 (01:23:02):
I think we I think we've done this before. I
think we both picked the Ravens a few years back,
if I remember, to win the Super Bowl. But we
both had the same It's never as fine when we
both picked the same tame.

Speaker 2 (01:23:09):
I think last year we both had the Lions in
the Super Bowl.

Speaker 1 (01:23:12):
Yeah, I had them winning and the Chiefs losing.

Speaker 2 (01:23:14):
I remember, yeah, because I had the Bills over the Lions.
So so yeah, we we we've been in lockstep agreement
for a lot of these but yeah, so we have,
but the Chiefs both winning. Yeah, I think it's it
seems like it's it's getting borderline disrespectful. I was making
the argument for Josh Allen has been better than Patrick
Mahomes the last couple of seasons. But I think if

(01:23:35):
you're gonna say this team is now, you know, slipping
or in a downward trajectory, I think you're greatly exaggerating
the situation there. I think this team is still going
to be really good and still has a lot of
years to be really really good too.

Speaker 1 (01:23:49):
Yeah. I remember the let's just face it, the Patriots
aren't that good anymore. I remember remember this, guys, like
we've bet, we just went through this. We know how
this works. Like again, I'm not saying that Chiefs can't
fall off. I'm just saying that I don't think they
have this year. I think that like it's there, they
they they're still very good and they're still going to
continue to be very good.

Speaker 2 (01:24:11):
I agree, Yeah, I think they got a lot of potential.

Speaker 1 (01:24:14):
Yeah, Chiefs might be pretty good. That is our We
spent you know, eight podcasts of an hour and a
half each podcast, all to come to the Yeah, Chiefs
probably going to Super Bowl. Thanks everyone, Thanks, thanks for
thanks for tuning in.

Speaker 2 (01:24:24):
Yeah, glad you got all that, and uh yeah, thank
you for watching.

Speaker 1 (01:24:29):
Kyle. Let him know can find us on Twitter before
we head out.

Speaker 2 (01:24:32):
Yeah, make sure to follow him on Twitter that is
at Jackson Gruger. Make sure to follow me at by
Kyle Ronn and and make sure to follow the account
page at on the Sideline JK. That is at on
the Sideline JK.

Speaker 1 (01:24:40):
Of course, if you have aud you only podcast search
on the sideline podcast we're available there as well. If
you found us through those podcasts, you can also check
out the YouTube channel Jackson Kruger Sports if you want
to want to see my fancy new setup. That's how
you can do that. Uh yeah, Kyle, uh whatever. On
eight app pisodes. I think we both traveled out of

(01:25:03):
the country during this series, but here we are. We
made it through the off season. Next week Week one preview,
week GOE preview. We're ready to get into the picks
that's going to be exciting. And yeah, we're finally here.

Speaker 2 (01:25:16):
And you know, we're glad for everybody who sticks out
through the summer because that is a very long off season,
as we all know.

Speaker 1 (01:25:23):
Yeah, thanks to everyone who does tune in for those
off season shows. We do appreciate it because it can,
you know, sometimes be a little quiet in here during
the off season. Always a lot louder during the regular season.
But we appreciate those of you who are just tuning
back in getting ready for the season as well. Should
be a lot of fun. And Kyle, we've talked about
Shitur Sanders once look at us.

Speaker 2 (01:25:42):
Thank god. Yeah, I'm glad you brought up the background.
The setup looks nice. It does look like you're about
to duel Darth Maul. But it looks nice that.

Speaker 1 (01:25:51):
That's what I'm going for. Yeah, I think, yeah, yeah,
I'm all for it. Okay, good, good, Thank you everybody.
We do appreciate it. We'll be back next week six
pm Eastern, not noon. I don't if it says noon,
it's a lie six pm Eastern. Be on the lookout
for us there. Until next time, have a good one, Peace,