NFC West 2025 Preview

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:40):
Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the On
the Sideline podcast of Jackson and Kyle. I am Jackson
and I'm joined here as always by the man who
still isn't sure if a seahawk is a real bird
or not. Kyle, Kyle, how are you doing? Uh?

Speaker 2 (00:55):
Doing pretty good? Obviously a long time away, so how
are you doing? And yeah, happy to be back.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
Yeah, Kyle, what do you think of this new setup
I have going on?

Speaker 2 (01:04):
I was gonna say, it looks like you got a
new backdrop going, so looks pretty good. There is there
like memorabilia behind you or is that all blurred out
just because it's whatever?

Speaker 1 (01:14):
Yeah, I mean it's just well it's the it's the lens.
Has it more blurry? But yeah, I mean it's just
there's there's some stuff. There's like some movies on this
side and then some memorabilia on that said, I don't know,
it's it's what I had interesting in my office that
I thought would make for a good background.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
There you go. Yeah, it's like, uh, you got your
own Adam Schefter setup going.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
That's I'm always aspiring to be Adam Schafter, I think.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
I think so, Yeah, it makes sense.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
Yeah, who wouldn't want to be Adam Chafter? I mean,
are we all trying to be out of Jafter? Really?

Speaker 2 (01:41):
Uh? Are we? Know?

Speaker 1 (01:42):
I think? Yeah? Who? Also, who's who has a better
life than Adam Schefter?

Speaker 2 (01:49):
I don't know. I think that job is way too busy. Yeah,
you be like on your phone at all time and
probably have multiple phones. That seems that seems exhausting.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
Yeah, I think even one phone is too much for me.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yeah. Yeah, sometimes I definitely feel that way.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
Kyle. How is your trip?

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Trip was great? Uh? Went to the UK and got
to do some sight seeing, got the Oasis which was awesome,
and yeah, I had a lot of fun.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
Cool. Well, Kyle, it's been too long. Uh, I've missed
doing these podcasts. This is this is you know, we're
getting close to the end of this, Kyle. There's been
a ton of shouldar standers discourse that you just I
wanted to go to a different country during some of
this stuff, but but here we are.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
This is the This is why not watching pre seasons
a great thing. I don't have to hear any of this.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
I usually preseasons, okay, usually it's like a chill like
fun thing that not this year.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
Is this the most talked about backup quarterback since Tim Tebow?

Speaker 1 (02:47):
It has to be, right.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
I don't think it's close.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
I mean, yeah, and even Tim Tebow like had an
avenue to start. I guess shoulder standers eventually will start.
But like, yeah, yes, this is this is easily the
most talk about fifth round pick of all time.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
Yeah, it's a lot, that's.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
For sure, Kyle. I'm excited to do the NFC West today.
This is We've had some divisions that feel like it's
you know, we're just going through demotions with who's going
to be you know, in these rankings, this feels like
a wide open division. I think you can make an
argument for all four of these teams winning the division.
Where'd you have them ranking in your overall division rankings?

Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yeah, I think it's a really good division too. I
have them as the third best division in football. I
think that they are strong top to bottom. I see
a pathway for all four of these teams to potentially
make the playoffs. But I do have to rank it
one way to another, from four to one, so it's
not gonna be easy. Some people are going to disagree,
and that's what makes the spirit of debate fun. So yeah,

(03:43):
I'm looking forward to it. And I think that this
is a This is a really competitive division. This was
competitive last year and I think it will be again.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
Yeah, and I will I won't spoil the community notes Paul,
I will just say lowest percentage that a winning team
has had so far. I've covered seven out of the
eighth division. So definitely a wide open race. Let's just
gonna do it. Who do you have finishing eighth or eighth?
Who had finishing fourth.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
Eighth place in the nfc H This is tough. Like
we just said, we just we just prefaced that I
had the Seattle Seahawks finishing fourth right now. I think
that this team got a little worse this offseason. I
respect the idea of going younger in cheaper at quarterback.
I think that is a you know, it is a

(04:29):
ballsy thing we keep asking teams to do sometimes, and
they went ahead and did it. That being said, I
think Geno Smith is better than what they were giving
credit for. I would have paid Gino Smith personally. I
thought he was a good quarterback. I think they bring
in Sam Donald. I think that's a downgraded quarterback despite
what the performance was last season. I think he's gonna
get put behind a bad offensive line, and we've seen
Sam Donald really struggle with bad offensive lines in the past.

(04:51):
I think that's really gonna be tough. They lose DK
Metcalf or place him with Cooper Cup, I think that's
a problem. And then, yeah, I think that those things
going together, I think the Seahawks team could take a
small step back this season, even though I think the
defense has a chance to be pretty darn good next year.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
Yeah, the Donald thing is everything, right, and like I
don't even know if they got that much cheaper, right,
I have to remind himself of the contracts. But with
him and with Donald and Gino, I mean, listen, Sam
Donald was really good last year. Like we can see
what we want about how it fell off the rails
at the end. Like it wasn't just a well he
was like a case Keenum year. I remember Case Keenum.
It felt like every single pass he threw to the

(05:30):
other team, it would get dropped and then caught by
one of his own teammates. Like he just had like
some sort of like feather in his cap that whole year.
Like Donald was legitimately a good quarterback last year. How
are peable?

Speaker 2 (05:41):
Was it?

Speaker 1 (05:41):
And we'll talk about the offensive line. I think I
have to go tier three quarterback play to start things off,
just because like it's such a question mark right now.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
Yeah, and it's a huge I mean, saying Sam Donald's
a Tier three quarterback feels like a miracle, right, that's
how good it was last season. But I just think
it's a completely different situation he's stepping into. He does
not have the best receiver in football on this team.
He does not have two awesome offensive tackles on this team.
You know, they had a lot of stuff going for them.

(06:10):
You know, a very very good receiving back also on
that team last year, although they got some good backs
on this team. So there's just a lot last year
that he's coming into this team and it's it's not
quite the same thing at all.

Speaker 1 (06:23):
Yeah, again, we'll we will see, right. I think part
of it too is you had the coaching of you know,
of Kevin O'Connell last year, which you know, we talked
about a lot in our NFC North preview, but here,
I mean it still feels like a bit of an
unknown with the Mike McDonald. I mean, the Seahawks are

(06:43):
weird because like when I I had to you know,
when I do to poll, I always double check and
see I do it in order of how they finished
last year, and so I went to double check because
I couldn't remember who finished in second in this division,
and then I realized that, oh, yeah, the Seahawks were
tied for first, like they won ten games, like the
Grand the Rams rested their starters the last game of
the season. But still that's like it's like they were

(07:06):
kind of right there. Again, I think Tier three feels
fair just because it's a complete unknown right now.

Speaker 2 (07:12):
It still is a bit of an unknown, but at
the same time, like you could easily step away from
what happened last season and say, you know what, we
actually got an upgrade a head coach from what Pee
Carroll was. And Pee Carroll was a Super Bowl winning
coach with this team. Obviously, he did a lot of
good things for that culture and that that franchise. I
think a lot of the x's and o's at times
did get better. I think they did better stuff on

(07:33):
offense at times. I think they really maximized Jackson Smith
and Jigba as we're going to talk about with the
rest of this offense and then the defense. I did
think they took a step forward because this defense for
so many years, where at the beginning of the twenty tens,
this felt like the the trademark defense of the NFL. Obviously,
the legion to Boom was exciting, we knew all about them.

(07:53):
It was the defense of the NFL for four or
five years at that point. By twenty twenty four, it
really felt like it needed a facelift and this team
really needed to change on that end, and Pete Carroll
wasn't willing to change on that end and this so
then they go in and Mike McDonald makes a big change.
He was an up and coming defensive coordinator for Baltimore.
He makes this change defensively, and I think the defense

(08:14):
did play better. Even if there's still had some developed,
developing talent on this team, I think he did a
lot of good stuff with them.

Speaker 1 (08:21):
Well you know what, let's just uh, let's just go
there and then let's mix things up. Let's go let's
start with the defense. Usually go offense. But uh second,
you know this this safety or this secondary is still
full of good young players, right, I mean Tarika Wollen
and Devin Witherspoon. Two really good young corners, especially Devin Wetherspoon.

(08:41):
You have Shaquill Griffin as a as a third option.
I don't hate that. Still would maybe like a little
bit more depth here in the corner room. Julian Love
and Kobe Bryant, who's played well when he's played safety.
He'll play a safe play safety again this year. Okay,
linebackers here, I mean, yeah, it's it's it's very good.
I think tier two and that' she's told me because
I want to be stingy with the tier ones. But

(09:02):
like on paper, this could easily you could talk me
in to Tier one pretty easily.

Speaker 2 (09:06):
Very talented. Devin witherspin looks like everything you wanted. He
is a He's just a maniac. It feels like in
the secondary and the best way possible. He covers so
much ground. He's you know, he doesn't look huge, but
he plays big. He's fast, he does everything you wanted
from a cornerback position. I'm a big fan of his.
I love these Like I said, I like these safeties

(09:26):
a lot too. And then yeah, I mean I think
one of the big things we got last season with
McDonald is we got a resurgence from Tarik Wooland, who
struggled the year before and I think was kind of
lost at times this year before, and he came back
and had a much better season, and you know, it
felt like one of those things where you know when
you just see like a broken cornerback prospect and then

(09:47):
they ended up on the Ravens and had a really
good year, and it just felt like he kind of
brought some of that magic to the Seahawks secondary where
Wolan is a very talented player, didn't really have it
for a couple of years and then all of a
sudden he comes in and it kind of get Baltimore
raven fired a little bit with the with the coaching staff.

Speaker 1 (10:05):
Yeah, and it's it's not that dissimilar with a scheme obviously.
Uh you're you're you're correct, I mean, yeah, I agree.
The the front seven is you know, Leonard Williams is
the star here and then you have a lot of
players who like are are good. Jared Reid's still very good.

Speaker 2 (10:23):
Boy.

Speaker 1 (10:23):
Mofa is a good player you didn't have. You know,
Derek Hall is in the mix at the edge rush position.
I want to see more out of Byron Murphy the second,
uh this year, So you know, it's it's not a
loaded front seven, it really is. You have some stars
that make things okay. But I think as of right now,
I'm going, uh here, three run defense in tier four

(10:44):
pass rush.

Speaker 2 (10:45):
Yeah, I mean, it's just gonna be one of those things. Obviously,
DeMarcus Lawrence got hurt last year, but we really haven't
seen a good DeMarcus Lawrence since what twenty twenty two maybe,
And that's even optimistic, So like, can they can they
kind of like, you know, can they maximize him again
and get like, you know, you're not gonna get a

(11:07):
like peak DeMarcus Lawrence season, but can they do like
a Von Miller thing where they just get a few
good snaps out of him per game and really try
and maximize his pass rush opportunities because they're gonna need
something there because they they definitely are lacking the pass
rush beyond Leonard Williams. And yeah, I mean I'm still
optimistic about Byron Murphy the second. I think he's a
really talented player in college. I give defensive tackles and

(11:28):
nose tackles almost more leniency than any other position as
far as rookies go, and I think he's gonna get
better with time. So if you can get anything out
of DeMarcus, Lawrence, Derek, call any of those pass rushers
and then pair that with Leonard Williams, I think you
have something brewing there, but it's still gonna take a
little bit of time.

Speaker 1 (11:47):
Yeah, I agree the let's get let's put you over
to offense now with the you know we can you
want to go to the let's do the the weapons first.
So losing Dk Metcalf I think hurts. We can just
us how good or bad he is, but he's still
something that hurts. They do still have your guy jackly
Smith and Jigba along with Cooper Cup which I'm kind
of interested in how that's just gonna work of, Like,

(12:10):
you know, those are two guys who are primarily slot players,
which I guess you can run for wide receiver sets
and do it that way, but I'm just interesting. You
know again, I think they both have shown they can
when on the outside. That's just not where we usually
see them. So interesting on that goes you have Marquez
Vada Scantling in the mix. There's not a ton of
like you know, other stuff here. In fact, you know,

(12:31):
it looks like a fifth round and a seventh round
wide receiver might be getting some significant playing time here.
Don't love the the dapt fall, the you know, and
even tight ends. I mean a j Barner, Eric Salbert,
you know is Elijah Elijah Ario uh is coming in
as a rookie. I mean, there's not a ton of
depth here. And again I like Jackson Diffin Jigba. I

(12:52):
I don't know, I don't love this receipt. I'm gonna
go Tier four. I mean, I don't know what I'm
getting out of Cooper Cup. I like Jackson Diffin Jigba,
but it feels like that's really kind of it right now.

Speaker 2 (13:02):
Yeah, it really is it. And that's one of the
things I really didn't like about this offseason. I understand
the aspect at the end of the day. I understood
letting Tyler Lockett go because I'm not really sure how
an offense works with Smiston Jigba, Cooper Cup, and Tyler Lockett.
They all just kind of feel like they do similar
things in different ways. I think Smith and Jib is
a star in the making. I think he's an absolute stud.

(13:23):
And we've still seeing Cooper Cup on his day, even
at this stage of his career having pretty good games,
and I wouldn't be surprised if there's a little bit
of a resurgence, but it's just not the same caliber
of quarterback he's working with as Matthew Stafford. So I
think those are the big things. You know, we saw.
I mean, honestly, probably the best ball of Marquez Valdaz
Scantling's career last season, which is still hilarious to me

(13:46):
that he couldn't figure it out with Aaron Rodgers or
Patrick Mahomes, but with Derek Carr he looked like a stud.
So ken you you know it was I'm trying to remember.
I think it was it in the Spurts.

Speaker 1 (13:58):
Yeah, whyouldn't youre if that was after he car got injured.

Speaker 2 (14:02):
Yeah, I think he was still starting.

Speaker 1 (14:05):
Anyway, you could go ahead interrupted, No, No, you're good.

Speaker 2 (14:08):
But yeah, it's just like, you know, maybe he provides
a little bit of something on the outside and that's
what you're looking for and that's enough. But yeah, it
is definitely gonna be interesting because what I don't want
to happen is like Smith and Jigba is asked to
do things that he's not as good at When I
think he's operating the slot and dominating the middle of
the field, he's as good as anybody in that spot.
So I think he is an absolute star, and I
want him be in his best position rather than catering

(14:31):
to your lack of receivers elsewhere.

Speaker 1 (14:34):
Running backs, you have kind of Walker third Zach Charboney, uh,
both of fact that both have shown both have had
great games in this league. I think for kind of Walker,
you know, I know he was injured, got injured last year.
He also didn't have a ton of uh, you know,
the numbers weren't what you want them to be. I
think he had a great rookie year. It kind of
hasn't fully lived up to the hype since then, you know.

Speaker 2 (14:56):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (14:56):
And the Jack Starbonay is good. I don't know, it's
tier three. It's not bad, but it's don't know if
it's great either.

Speaker 2 (15:01):
Yeah, I mean it's a it's a lot of investment
for two guys that seem like okay, right mm hmmm.
I think that's the biggest problem. Like you spent second
round pick I think on both of these guys and
they're both fine. But yeah, none neither one of those
guys moved me. I think the skill positions here definitely
took a step back this season.

Speaker 1 (15:19):
Yeah, which is part of the Sam Darnal thing, right
of like you went from this great situation to maybe
not a great offensive situation and let's finish off with
the offensive line. Big Charles Cross fan, I think he's
gotten better every year he's been in the league. You know,
he was obviously a first round pick, a high first
round pick, and he's lived up to the billing at
this point, Abraham Lucas is he's in the Andrew Wiley
mode of like if he's your worst offensive lineman, vine Like,

(15:42):
he's not a bad player, he's just not someone you
want as like, you know, like a star or anything
like that as pretty for the interior you have. They
drafted Gray Zabel in the first round. They hope he
can bring something big, kind of big, high risk ky
reward type. I seems like he checks out the boxes,
but hasn't played at too high of a level of competition,

(16:04):
So we'll see how that goes. You also have a
lou uh alu Wa. I mean, oh look at you, Kyle.

Speaker 2 (16:13):
There you go.

Speaker 1 (16:14):
He said he's looked fine in the small sample size
that we've seen at center with him. Uh, how do
how do you know his name? How'd you get that?

Speaker 2 (16:24):
I honestly am guessing, but that's I would guess.

Speaker 1 (16:27):
Oh, okay, well you you you feel me?

Speaker 2 (16:29):
Yeah, I'm convincing, you know, just gotta you just gotta
say say yeah.

Speaker 1 (16:35):
Uh, Kyle, I have a feeling most of our listeners
would not be correcting me if I said it wrong.

Speaker 2 (16:39):
Yeah, that's fair.

Speaker 1 (16:41):
Maybe not. Uh. Anthony Bradford seems to be the other guard.
It's it's it's a tough interior situation when the highlight
is a rookie, right, uh, Like that's usually not what
you want, not a very good interior. Abraham Lucas isn't
spectacular and also coming off an injury like Charles Cross.
I don't know, it's tier four. It's not the worst

(17:01):
in the league, but it's it's probably bottom ten.

Speaker 2 (17:04):
Yeah, it's not a great situation when you have one
good offensive lineman and for pretty bad offensive lineman. At
least we would project right now, at least like Charles Cross.
You could say, you know that, like when you compare
this to San Francisco, who will talk about shortly, It's like, yeah,
Trent Williams makes up a lot of things, right, Charles

(17:25):
Cross is good. He's not Trenton Williams, though, he's not
making up for a lot of this. This had the
highest pressure rate in the league, which is also your
biggest concern with Darnold because he's just someone historically who
is not good under pressure. That is, I mean, most
quarterbacks aren't, but he is historically much much worse under
pressure than most even average quarterbacks. So that is a

(17:46):
big thing. And then, like, like you said, the great
is Abel thing. I like the draft pick. I like
the risk there. That being said, he's going from FCS
to the NFL in his first year. There's probably gonna
be a pretty steep learning curve there for him for sure.

Speaker 1 (17:59):
Yeah. So ultimately, there are things to like about the
Seahawks team, including their potential. You know, this this is
the year of potent, the time for potential, time for
saying everything's gonna work out and my team's gonna be awesome, right,
And if everything works out, the Seahawks seem really good.
If Donald is last year, Sam Donald, if Cooper Cup
can g have a resurgeen things can work out, Kyle.

(18:20):
I just don't know if that's gonna happen right here.
I think, like I don't know, Uh, excuse me about
to sneeze, so I'm trying to get through the sentence.
Uh the uh. I think eight nine feels right for
the Seahawks.

Speaker 2 (18:31):
Eight nine feels right, and honestly, I could see it
being a little bit lower, like seven to six wins too.
If you were to predict right now, Sam Donald's having
as good of a season last year, a better season
than last year, or a worse season than last year,
what would you predict.

Speaker 1 (18:47):
I'm gonna think you have to predict worse, right like
last year's his career year, and that would probably mean
the Seahawks are getting worse, because yeah, I think Gino
Smith was almost as good as him last year, even
though like there were a few interceptions all that kind
of stuff. Like I think in this situation, I think
Gino Smith did really well given the circumstances of he

(19:07):
was constantly under pressure with that team last year. This
this team is just it's it's not equipped to handle a.

Speaker 2 (19:13):
Quarterback that can't handle those situations.

Speaker 1 (19:16):
I think people would push back a little bit just
because of Gena Smith's box score Stats, which you know,
we're not not a huge box score stats podcast, but
the numbers definitely were better for darnld. I don't disagree.
I think there is similarities. I guess the uh the
one thing people would push back on as well is, hey,
this team won ten games last year. There's now more cohesion,
like in the secondary. These guys have played the scheme

(19:37):
for another year. Isn't it possible that they just they
their defense is good enough that they can, you know,
even improve upon last year.

Speaker 2 (19:46):
I could definitely see it, Like you can make the
argument for me, But I think I think it's still
a huge It's still you still need offense to win games, right, Like,
you can't all win on defense, and like you know,
if you're gonna play that way, you can't turn over
the ball, you can't make mistakes, you can't put your
defense in bad situations. And I just don't know if

(20:07):
I trust Sam Donald to do that.

Speaker 1 (20:09):
Well, Kyle, we will see. Let's guess the guest the
numbers here, how many people what percentage of people in
the Community Notes poll do you think predicted the Seahawks
to win the NFC West All.

Speaker 2 (20:20):
Right, So you said it's pretty close, and you said
everyone was just about even. So I'm gonna go Seahawks
a little bit.

Speaker 1 (20:27):
I said everyone's just about See I said that the
leader is the lowest that we have had so far.

Speaker 2 (20:33):
Okay, I'll go fifteen percent for the Seahawks.

Speaker 1 (20:37):
Okay, Kyle, you're you're you're close there, seventeen percent. Don't
want to tell you where to they finished? Or shall
I just shall we go?

Speaker 2 (20:45):
You know?

Speaker 1 (20:46):
Shall I feel that as we go?

Speaker 2 (20:48):
No, just tell me when they finished?

Speaker 1 (20:49):
Okay, third place for the Seahawks. Seventeen percent?

Speaker 2 (20:52):
Yeah, I could see that, so it'd be interesting. I
think I could see the I could see the vision.
Like I said, I think all four of these teams
are pretty close. I think we're about to get a
little bit controversial though. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (21:04):
Well let's continue again. Did she have they almost won
a division last year? That if Stafford didn't you have
the game of his career against the Bills, maybe it happens. Uh, Kyle,
who do you have finishing third in the NFC?

Speaker 2 (21:16):
Wist Yep? Once again, I think that all four of
these teams could win the division. I wouldn't be surprised
at all, I'm gonna go with the San Francisco forty
nine Ers for third place in this division. I was
pretty surprised, honestly, because I looked at the win totals
after I made my rankings, and I thought, like, should
I adjust things? This team is a ten and a

(21:36):
half win total, and maybe I see the vision. You know,
we've seen this team time and time again. When they're healthy,
they're good. When they're not healthy, they're bad. And last
season was another not healthy season. But that being said, like,
I don't know, like this is not the same forty
nine Ers defense I expect. I know Robert Salaz coming back,
and everyone's expecting all of a sudden the defense to
return to form. But at the end of the like

(22:00):
a defensive coordinator is important, don't get me wrong, but
you do need to have talent. And while Fred Warner
and Nick Boster are both really good players, they did
lose a lot of players as well in the meantime,
and they're hoping for a lot from guys who really
haven't performed at that level before around them. So, Kim Fred,
is Fred Warner great enough to make up for all
those differences? If he is, he should be Defensive Player

(22:20):
of the Year this year because I don't think the
roster's there on that side of the ball. Offense once
again went healthy, it's going to be very good. McCaffrey, Ayuk,
Juwan Jennings, Ricky Piersaw, George Kittle, Kyle Yuschik Brock perty
was good enough last season, and Trent Williams of course
obviously on the offensive line, all elite, elite, a lot

(22:40):
of elite players on that offense. They got to stay healthy.
And so I got the forty nine ers going to
third this season. I think they still have a lot
of issues.

Speaker 1 (22:49):
It's there's They're very fascinating, this forty nine ers team.
You know, last year they had you know, seventy nine
percent of people predicted the forty nine ers to win
their division, and last season that would be uh, that's
more than any of our poll more than the leader
of any of the polls have had. This year. People
were very high in them, obviously coming off to the

(23:10):
Super Bowl near victory last year, things go off the rails.
Let's talk. I mean, first off, I don't think I'll
get pushed back here. Kyle Shanahan's still a Tier one
head coach. For me, I know that he does have
his haters out there, but like, I don't know, this
guy's ex'es and O's are still among the best I've
ever seen. Very good head coach, and I think that

(23:31):
even if you have some critiques, like tier one still
feels fair. There's no head coach without that. You can't
criticize a little bit. The Black Party thing, you know,
I like Black Party. I think that I felt like
he was a Tier two quarterback when some people were
trying to say he was a Tier one quarterback two
years ago, and now I still think he's a Tier
two quarterback when people are trying to say he's like
a Tier three or four quarterback this year. I think

(23:53):
that again. I think that he played pretty well his
first year, and because of his first full year and
because of the situation around him, he looked amazing. I
think he played pretty well last year and because of
the situation around him, he looked only Okay. I think
that he's he's pretty good.

Speaker 2 (24:09):
Yeah. It's just funny to me, like we're reviewed as
the crazy ones for basically staying with the same consistent
take the whole time. But then you get like the
first take people of the world who are like saying
brock perty should be an MVP candidate one year when
he's like pretty good, and then like when he's like fine,
it's like, oh he's he was overrated and shouldn't get paid.
So you know, it's okay to like kind of say, hey,

(24:32):
this is kind of is who he is. Like, I
think he's a good player, but yeah, I mean, I
think they're gonna ask for more of him this season
because he got paid for it. You know, they still
have some issues with their weapons. You know, Brandon ayuk
As we're going to talk about receivers isn't back till
maybe week six, I think, is what I saw the report.
So yeah, he's gonna have to step up and be
kind of a He has to play like a tier

(24:55):
two guy, I think for this offense to be maximized,
because this isn't the same thing is the Super Bowl teams.
You know, they didn't have talent. They don't have the
talent across the board that they have in the past.
Even though there are still a lot of really good
players in this team.

Speaker 1 (25:08):
Right they don't have you know, uh Deebo Samuel anymore
who you know again, has not been Deebo Samuel that
we think of the past couple of years. But still
they don't have that. Let's get into the weapons room.
I mean you have Brandon Uk you mentioned I don't
know what to make of him. I don't know what's
gonna happen. And I think that the the people who
are predicting the forty nine ers to have very good,

(25:28):
a very good year this year are essentially just assuming
everything works out right. You know, Kittle's gonna be awesome.
You're assuming Brandon a Yuku can be good. You're assuming
a rookie Herschel can end up being a you know,
a nice player, which could happen. I didn't think he
was like outstanding as a rookie. He showed some flashes,
also got shot, so like, I don't blame him for
not looking out standing as a rookie, but like I

(25:49):
still need to see it first. John Jennings did play
really well. Uh They even had a rushl Gage in
a mixed who seems like he's like built the playout scheme.
Uh So, like, I don't know, it's just it's the
the brand, and Iyuk think is such a question mark
for me. Tier three feels fair for the receiving room
right now. I was gonna do Tier four, but I
just felt there's enough potential here that, like, if everything hits,

(26:10):
it might be Tier one. So at least go Tier three.

Speaker 2 (26:14):
I think that's probably fair. Like George Kittle is still
a fantastic tight end, one of the best in the league.
I'm a huge Juwan Jennings fan. You know, even before
his breakout season last year, it just felt like he
makes every big catch for this team At times. I
think he's just awesome in that regard. I like him
a lot. Look, if you were a Ricky Pierce all

(26:35):
believer in college and probably last year, you're looking at
those three games he was amazing and saying, this is
the guy he's going to be. And I'll give you
the credit. Like you said, he got shot last year.
You know, I think he deserves almost more benefit of
the doubt than any player who was a rookie last season.
I don't, as far as I'm aware, I haven't checked
the notes. Nobody else I'm aware of that was a

(26:56):
rookie playing last year got shot. So you know that
that feels important. But yeah, so I see the vision there.
I think he there's potentially he's really good, but like
you said, I'm still a brandon iive believer. I think
he's elite, elite when he's healthy, but he's not healthy
right now. He's not back to week six. So the

(27:16):
rest of these guys, like you said, there is potential there,
but they have to survive until IU comes back to
the number one guy. And that there's just not a
lot of receiving rooms that could really afford to lose
a player like that when he's uh and then still
kind of stay the course.

Speaker 1 (27:32):
Yeah, we'll see again, I can you. And again it's
better to miss the first six weeks than the last
six weeks if you can. If you can, you know,
get back to your your your spot, maybe you can
just get into the playoffs and good things can happen.
Running back room. Weirdly, they have multiple players who have
been shot on their team because they added Brian Robinson
Junior today, obviously, Christian McCaffrey will be the starter who's

(27:55):
also weirdly like the one healthy guy. That's not usually
what happens with Christian McCaffrey. You know, have Isaac I
know as a third back. I mean again, on paper,
Christian McCaffrey with Brian Robinson Junior as a change of
pace back that's not Tier one. That might be the
best in the league this year. But are we getting
seventeen games of Christian McCaffrey the question Fantasy football owners
have been saying all off season. Kyle, I'm gonna stick

(28:18):
with Tier two for now, just because of the injury
scarce stuff. Just just could it happened?

Speaker 2 (28:23):
Yeah? I mean it changes everything in this offense, right,
Like he you know, we mentioned the receiving room too,
but like Christian McCaffrey solves a lot of those issues
because he can catch the ball so well at the backfield. Yeah,
and like that solves that. And it also you know,
adds to the running game. I mean, he is that
talented of a player when he's healthy. But I think
one of the things you're talking about with the forty

(28:44):
nine ers is, you know, McCaffrey he's still under thirty,
but he is twenty nine, which you know is close
to the shelf life of a running back, you know.
And he's not like Derrek Henry Big even though he
you know, at his best, was really really good. You know,
can't can't can he keep it going at twenty nine,
you know you're relying on a lot of aging talent
on this team.

Speaker 1 (29:06):
Yeah, the one thing I'll say is maybe an underrated
offensive line if everything works out. Trent Williams is he's
still producing, although I almost almost wonder if he's in
like a Tyrone Smith area of his career where he's
like he's gonna play really good but miss like four
games a year, right, Like is that where he's at
Colton mckibbitt's actually had a pretty good year last year.

(29:28):
You also have Dominic Pooney as a guard, Jake Brendle,
who's a fine center, and then for the other guard
you have Ben BArch who is you know, we will
we will see with I don't know if they're I mean,
you know, we'll see how that goes. And again I

(29:49):
haven't even fully been checking in if he's actually gonna
be the starter, but that's what it's slated here. Fourth
rownd pick from a few years ago hasn't shown much.
Don't love that, but you could deal with four out
of five if everything works out. Still some question marks still,
but Pier three offensive line feels okay. It is definitely
a house of cards. But like, I don't think it's crazy.
This could be pretty good.

Speaker 2 (30:09):
Yeah, it's definitely not crazy. And when you were guy's
playing next to Trent Williams, it's going to make things
a lot easier too. So he is that good. I mean,
he's a Hall of famer, you know, he's probably first
ballot Hall of Famer. He is that talented of a
left tackle, but he has thirty seven and thirty seven
year olds get hurt, they wear now more. And also

(30:29):
that is a very physically demanding position, so it's just
not like a guaranteed thing. He's going to be out there,
so like that, that is also the scare I think
you're looking at for the forty nine ers is like
they managed to survive last year at times without Trent Williams.
Like you said, Pooney coming in and being really good
as a rookie really fixed a lot of those issues

(30:51):
and help boost this offensive line a little bit. But
it's still very much a Trent Williams dependent offensive line
to be good. I think I think it's low average
if he's not out there.

Speaker 1 (31:02):
Yeah, let's go to the defense now, cop, because you
kind of talked about that earlier. This secondary is fascinating
to me. So you have Ronardo Green, who came in
played over six hundred snaps as a rookie last year
and looked pretty good. Second round pick is is someone
who I feel like you can if you're a four
Ice fan, you feel like you can at least trust
to be okay, which is kind of what demandre Lenore

(31:26):
has been for most of his career. He did have
a you know, a good year two years ago. Mostly
has been like a solid number two corner. But this
is just always the thing, right is you see this
time and time again. You have a good number two corner.
Now you're asking to play number one corner minutes, so
to speak, and it just it's it's harder to do
safety is I just don't I mean, j Brown's fine.

(31:47):
Jason Pinnock might be the other guy. You also have
Malik Mustafa here. I don't know. I mean this is
this is on paper not spectacular. I still am gonna
go tier three because I caught linebackers for coverage and
you have Fred Warner in there who's just gonna help
out things a lot. De Winter should be the other
I'm assuming we will be the other linebacker. But I mean,

(32:08):
Fred Warner's gonna help. So I don't think he'll be
I don't think it'll be great, but don't think he'll
be a mess either.

Speaker 2 (32:12):
Yeah, they've just lost a lot of players in this defense,
especially the back you know, with the linebackers and the secondary.
You know you mentioned, I mean Fred Warner another one
who's a Hall of Famer. He's an absolute monster. He's
a stud and I mean maybe the premier coverage linebacker
of this era if we're being fair, Like he's just
so good at that spot, and just it's just amazing

(32:34):
what he does. It's just he covers so much ground.
He can cover running backs, tight ends, slot receivers, honestly,
like he's just so good at all of it almost
it's amazing. But at the same time, like like you said,
Rinondo Green had a very good first season. He was
really fun at Florida State too. You know, he's a
player I think I'd be pretty excited about. But this
is a team that had dra Green Launch or Various

(32:55):
Ward and tell Ao Whu Fong guy. I know a
couple of those guys got hurt last season, but those
are still pretty premiere players and obviously the the Travarious Award.
Thing didn't work out last year for a lot of
off the field reasons too, But like, those are still
guys that you were relying on last season that were
good in the past, and you know now they're not there,
and you know you're banking on a lot of internal

(33:18):
development and Robert Sala figuring figuring this out with less
talented players.

Speaker 1 (33:23):
Yeah. Yeah. The front seven is so this edge rush
group is really fascinating. Nick Bosa, who's obviously one healthy,
you know, one of the best players in football. You
didn't have Michael Williams, a first round pick who I
remember your take on him. I wasn't crazy about him
coming out of college. But we'll see what was still
a first round draft pick. And then the Bryce Huff Flyers,

(33:45):
I think is very fascinating, someone who weirdly, he's the
one guy who went to Philadelphia and couldn't They couldn't
figure it out. That's like the one miss Howie Rogan
has had these past five years. But we'll see, maybe
he can figure it out. With the forty nine ers
that could be huge. They still have utter Grosmatte there.
I think it's like a tier two pass rush with
with those guys, mostly with Nick Bosa just being a

(34:06):
you know, in theory and a thousands that player if
he can stay healthy. The interior though, you know, they
drafted like CJ. West to try and be a guy
who can uh sort of uh, you know, help with
that interior. Also Alfred Collins in the second rounds that
are you know, a couple of rookies might get significant
playing time in this interior and that makes it look
a little better because Evan Anderson, Jordan Elliott, uh, they

(34:28):
need they needed help there basically, So I don't know,
still relying on some rookies. I'm gonna go Tier four
run defense. I'll go tier three run defense again. Fred
Order just means so much to his team he can
bump them up a tier in both positions. Uh. And
then tier two pass rush.

Speaker 2 (34:44):
Yeah, I mean the tier two pass rush definitely feels
like a risk to me. I mean, like the Bryce
Huff thing is pretty interesting, Like he I don't know,
he only really had like one great season. Yeah, you know,
even with the Jets, like those first three years were
kind of like fine, and then all of a sudden
he had that big year. He got paid in Philadelphia.
Then it didn't work. It's a good risk I think still.

(35:09):
You know, even Michael Williams, like I was, I'm not
a I wasn't a huge fan of his, but at
the same time, like I understood the aspect of there's
not just many humans on earth who were like six
five and two hundred and seventy pounds, like like I understand,
and also can run, Like that's something that you kind
of just like, yeah, we'll see. But it's also like

(35:29):
he was just fine in college. So it's it's another
interesting one. Like it just feels like it's Nick Bosa
in the Island and Misfit Toys and the ope in
one works, right, it's Michael Williams, it's unigross Matos, who
hasn't really figured out anywhere he's gone, and then Bryce
hoff who had one kind of career year and that's
really it. So they need one of those three guys,
or maybe all three of them working together to compliment

(35:51):
Nick Bosa. I don't really like the pass rush beyond
that though. Nick Bosa's great, but I don't know, it
just doesn't feel like the same. They've had better players
next to him in the past.

Speaker 1 (36:00):
Yeah, including Chase Young, in that Super Bowl run. Uh
the Uh yeah, Kyle, this is the biggest wildcard team
I think in the league. I think that the the
upside with this forty nine ers team if they if
there's so many things that could go right. We always
talk about what could go wrong. There's any things that
could go right if you get a healthy Christian McCaffrey,
this offensive line stays healthy and is uh it just

(36:21):
if injuries are off, like, this is a really good team.

Speaker 2 (36:24):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (36:24):
Not to mention the secondary, I do think has potential
with Robert Salad there. I do think like, well, again,
we'll see with those uh you know, those edge rushers.
At least you do have two shots at that instead
of just one. And again, even if you don't have
get good play across with Bosa, it's still gonna be
pretty good because it's Nick Bosa. As long as he
stays healthy. I'm gonna go ten to seven for the

(36:45):
forty nine Ers. I don't can't go too much higher
than that, So I guess I'm still taking the under
underwin totals. But like, I don't know, this feels like
a team that has a good chance to make the playoffs.
But again, predicting what this team is gonna do is
I don't know it's predicting the stock mart who knows it.

Speaker 2 (37:02):
Definitely does feel like one of those teams again where
it's like the best version of this team could still
win the NFC. But I don't know, Like I just
feel like, personally, I don't know how many times we've
seen a team trend down so aggressively and then all
of a sudden fix it and like have its run.

(37:23):
Like I guess maybe you like, yeah, I just I'm
struggling to see the vision there. Like it just feels
like this team miss this chance, and I just don't
really know if a lot of those franchises really recover
that quickly. Like I just it just feels like this.
I don't think this defense is gonna be good next season.
I'll be the first to say I'm wrong if they're good,
but I just don't see it with this roster. I

(37:44):
don't think the talent's that right now. I see two
really really really good players, great players, elite players, and
then a whole lot of guys that I'm kind of
like just shrugging my shoulders at. And then I see,
you know, talented players on offense. But I think they
miss their window. I think they're going backwards.

Speaker 1 (38:01):
Interesting. I mean, I'll use this as the comparison. You know,
twenty nineteen, they make the Super Bowl, lose to the
Kansas City Chiefs, right, that's Patrick Mahomes's first ring. They
then go six and ten. The following year, they're you know,
riddle of injuries in twenty twenty, and then the following
year they end up going ten and seven, but you know,
beating the Cowboys, then upsetting the Packers and going to

(38:23):
the conference championship game. I think maybe like that could
happen this year. I agree that I don't really see this.
I think for this team to be a championship contender, again,
a lot has to go right. But I think that's
just only some stuff has to go right for this
team to be back in the mix in the playoffs.
And again, you know, they actually do tend to do
pretty well in the playoffs when they're not you know,
when they're not in the actual super Bowl itself.

Speaker 2 (38:42):
Yeah, I mean I see the vision. But at the
same time, like, you know, they paid the quarterback too,
Like a lot of this roster is getting worse because
of that. Situation and maybe brock Purty is pretty good.
Like like we said, I think brock Perty's fine, but
you not paid him to the point to where you're
gonna lose players on this team. And you know, I
just I see a vision. I see a scenario where

(39:03):
this is just going slowly and slowly downhill and you
can't fix you can't write the ship at that point.

Speaker 1 (39:09):
Well, we will see, Kyle. Guess the percentage of people
that predict the forty nine ers to win the NFCU West.

Speaker 2 (39:15):
Uh So the first one was third at seventeen percent.
I'm gonna go twenty five percent.

Speaker 1 (39:21):
Kyle, Right on the money, twenty five percent. That is
uh second most for the San Francisco forty nine ers. Ok.
No one has their finger on the pulse quite like you, Kyle.

Speaker 2 (39:29):
Yeah, and I haven't. I haven't looked at any of
these things, so I don't have it.

Speaker 1 (39:32):
Kyle. There's no way, there's no way you're taking that
you care about that much about this that you would cheat.

Speaker 2 (39:37):
Yeah, that's true.

Speaker 1 (39:38):
Everyone knows that you're being honest.

Speaker 2 (39:40):
Yeah, so uh yeah, uh listen, I'm a man of
the people, That's what it is.

Speaker 1 (39:46):
Yes, definitely, man of the people. Kyle, Yeah, uh, Kyle, Well,
two teams left, you know, two teams that we were
at times fighting for the NFC West. Do you have
the the RAGINNTY champs, the Rams winning or to Cardinals.
Who do you have finishing second in the NFC West
this upcoming year?

Speaker 2 (40:06):
This is my team this year. This is my NFC
team this year. I'm following this team. I'm all in.
They're making the playoffs this year. They are America's team.
I may say they are our team in the desert.
They are out west. The Arizona Cardinals are making the playoffs.
We will rejoice. We have talent on offense, we have

(40:27):
talent on defense. Now we have a coaching staff that
doesn't seem like it wants to get in its own way.
Let's go get the Cardinals in the playoffs. Here, we're
getting a Kyler Murray resurgencys in Marvin Harrison junior breakout year.
Year two, we got an elite tight end and Trade
McBride the most underrated player in the league in James
Connor at running back, the touchdown machine. We got an

(40:47):
improved offensive line with Jonah Williams healthy. We got Josh
wet the big money free agent signing Dalvin Tomlinson and
Kaleiis Campbell. My guys at defensive tackle. We are making
the playoffs this year. Give me the ten and seven
evid and six potentially Arizona Cardinals making a run at
this thing.

Speaker 1 (41:04):
I'm in, Kyle, I like this. I like this take.
I I don't know why you were speaking as though
you're like one of those like first take guys of
like this is what's gonna happen. But uh, yeah, I
give a hot take.

Speaker 2 (41:15):
I have to do it.

Speaker 1 (41:16):
You have to.

Speaker 2 (41:17):
You didn't.

Speaker 1 (41:17):
You need to. You need to yell more though the
volume was not It was like it's like you're Stephen A.
Smith in a library, is what that was.

Speaker 2 (41:24):
Well, I don't want to. Yeah, I'm also like sick
right now, so I don't know you can hear me
like breathing through the mic. I'm sorry for that, by
the way, but yeah, so trying to get through this
as I can. But yeah, America's team, the Arizona Cardinals,
Let's do it.

Speaker 1 (41:39):
Yeah, Okay, Well I don't fully get the America's team.
I also realize you said a team in the desert
out west, and I said, oh, yes, the Cardinals, and
I realized, I guess you could argue that's both of
these two teams, but I took one. What it's really
the desert. The other is I don't think Ellie doesn't
count as a desert right.

Speaker 2 (41:55):
LA is not a desert. No. I mean they're surrounded
by desert, but they yeah, more of a I'm trying
of the word if someone in LA wants to define
what it is. For me, it's like a oasis in
the middle of the desert sort of thing.

Speaker 1 (42:06):
Yeah, Kyle, you are Jonathan Gannon's number one fan. Famously,
you were very low on the signing when it happened,
but it's worked well. I liked what Jonathan Cannon has done.
I'm gonna go tier three head coach. And you know
what tier two quarterback play. Kyler Murray one of the
most underrated quarterbacks in the league. I think right now, Yes,

(42:27):
if you watch him on his worst day, it's not great.
But I don't know, I just feel like he's he
We got a full healthy season of him to get
outweigh too bad, still too much inconsistency, But I still
feel like he's maybe low tier two, But I really
like what I saw from him last year.

Speaker 2 (42:41):
Yeah, I agree with both of those. Like Jonathan Gannon,
obviously I was not optimistic over those Eagles playoff performances
when he was a defensive coordinator, but he came in
and he's done a pretty good job with this team.
I think he's managed to like get the best out
of the players, and you know, even when they haven't
had the most talent, it seems like they play their

(43:02):
ass off. And he's not as like raw Ro as
a guy like Dan Campbell, but it kind of feels
like a similar situation where he's just kind of trying
to change this franchise and make it more exciting and
getting the players to buy in and all that kind
of stuff. Granted, this team hasn't had nearly the same
sort of demise as the Lions historically, so it's not
that bad of a situation. But I do think he

(43:24):
is he is trying to get this team to turn
around in this franchise, even if it's slow. The big
thing is, though you know he's done the first he's
done the first job. You know, he's got them playing
more competitively, and that's what you want the first thing
to be done. The second job is now making them
a playoff team and then eventually maybe even higher than that.

(43:45):
Can can he do that? I think that is gonna
be the question. But you know, if you can make
that next step, he's gonna be very good head coach.

Speaker 1 (43:53):
Yeah. And honestly, the Cardinals aren't that far off from
what the Lions have been historically. Like outside of that,
when Kurt Warner miracle run like, it's not I mean,
this is this is definitely not the the franchise other
teams are trying to aspire to be.

Speaker 2 (44:06):
Yeah, I mean that's fair. They I was just I
was being fair because they had made a Super Bowl
like this.

Speaker 1 (44:11):
Yeah, it's it's it's far off in the sense that
like someone who's you know, like poor in America is
doing better than someone's starving on a deserted island.

Speaker 2 (44:20):
Yeah. Uh yeah, that's fair.

Speaker 1 (44:23):
Yeah, it's it's still right. Uh the Yeah, yeah, this
is this is fascinating. I don't know what is the
Kyler Murray thing. It feels like he's am I crazy,
Like I thought this is pretty good last year.

Speaker 2 (44:35):
He was, but yeah, I mean, I mean it is
fair to say that the low Lights were really bad
and that was the frustrating thing. And I mean, I
think the biggest problem you had if you're probably a
Kyler Murray hater or a Cardinals fan from last year,
is it felt like the biggest games where he was
most frustrated. Yeah, he was absolutely amazing in that Bill's
game that they almost won Week one. He had some

(44:57):
awesome games throughout the year. But then yeah, I mean
you look at you know, this season was defined by
those two Seahawks games, and then those two games. I
don't think Calamary was good enough.

Speaker 1 (45:06):
Let's talk weapons. James Connor. You already mentioned him, James
Connor with Trey Benson as a change of pace back,
that's just annoying to have to deal if that's gonna
wear you out over the course of a game, that's
Tier two for me. And then the receiving room. I mean, again,
the thing is, like you have to It's similar to
how we always talk about the Chiefs for the longest time,
where it's like the number one option is Travis Kelsey,

(45:27):
so like, don't look at their number one receiver as
though they are the number one receiver. Trey McBride is
the number one receiver even though he plays tight end.
That makes Marvin Harrison Junior a pretty solid number two guy.
Michael Wilson's done alright. I mean you have Greg Dortsch
in there as well, So you want to see a
year two jump from Marvin Harrison Junior, I think. But
he's still he was. He's a fine player. I think
he just hasn't lived up to the hype as as

(45:49):
of right yet. So I still like this weapons room enough.
I think everyone plays their role, so I'll still go
tier tier three for the receiving options.

Speaker 2 (45:59):
Yeah, the Marvin Harrison thing is so funny. Like I
do think that they need to work some things out
and get on the same page. And like there is
some times where it felt like Marvin Harrison was doing
something and Kyler Murray was looking for something else. I
think that's gonna work itself out. But at the same time,
like if you just said, hey, a rookie wide receiver
had sixty two catches, eight hundred and eighty five yards,
fourteen yards per catch, eight touchdowns like in forty three

(46:24):
first downs that mixed into there, you're probably saying that's
a really good player, Like that's a really optimistic player
for the future. But he had such high expectations that
all of a sudden, it's like, oh, that was really frustrating.
Like I think it's it's almost one of those it's
the rare instance where I think you need to look
at the raw numbers more and be like, no, this
guy was pretty good. It's just he wasn't the elite
guy we were expecting day one, and that's not fair

(46:46):
to him. I think he's got he's on the track
to being a very good player, So I like him.
I like Zay Jones as the number three guy. Honestly,
Michael Wilson to you know, you got Tred McBride, who's
an absolute monster at tight end. I love that group overall,
those four guys that think could really work, and you
got James Connor, who I'm just a huge fan of.
I mean, this guy is he is just misterconsistent at
this point in his what do we got here? One, two, three, four,

(47:08):
In his eight seasons of playing, he has seven hundred
and more rushing yards basically four yards per carry, and
all those in six of those eight years. He's got
basically eight to ten touchdowns a year or more even
at times in all of those years, and it's just
all reliable. It's boring. I get him in fantasy football
every year because he's just glossed over because he's boring,

(47:30):
and he's gonna get a bunch of yards. He's gonna
get four yards per carry, and he's gonna score a
bunch of touchdowns and he's good. Like that's just is
what it is.

Speaker 1 (47:38):
Yeah, I agree, And I think you know, with the uh,
the Marvin Harris Junior thing, it's like, listen, it doesn't
matter when he was picked right now, all he is
is the player he is, and like that's how I'm
evaluating to stuff. You know, you know again, would rather
have leaguighbors right now, probably, but I think it's still
you know, it's it's it's okay. The offensive line now
to move over there. Paris Johnson Junior had a very

(48:00):
good year last year. In year two. You know Jonah Williams,
who's had the most inconsistent career like out of all
offensive lineman ever. You also have Covin Beacham, though, who's
had like the most consistent career out of offensive linemans.
So you kind of have both ends of the spectrum
that way. For the tackles, we'll see exactly what happens.
You know, Evan Brown, Isaiah Adams, hij Frohold as the

(48:24):
three interior guys again slid across the board even you know,
uh uh maybe even leaning towards good for this stuff.
I think that overall, I like this offensive line if
you got five guys who can play and a little
bit of depth here on top of it, Like you know,
even like will Hernanas has had good years in this
league as a guard as well, Like I don't know, uh,

(48:44):
give me, give me Tier two for this offensive line.

Speaker 2 (48:48):
Yeah, I think it's good across the board, like you said,
like they got they were good last season and got
nothing under Joonah Williams. And now he's gonna step in.
And I think he's a reliable right tackle if anything,
like you said, a little inconsistent, but times I think
he's solid enough. So I really like this group. I
think I should take a big step forward. And yeah,
I mean Paris Johnson. You know, they traded up and
it looked aggressive at the time when they made that

(49:09):
trade to draft him in the first round. But you know,
if he turns, he looked like a budding star at
that position last season, and if he continues to play well,
you know, it doesn't really matter what you traded up
for him and all that kind of stuff. So I
think he's a good player, and I think that they
got a lot going for them.

Speaker 1 (49:25):
Let's get into the defense. Now we're running a little
long here, but that's okay. Let's start off with the
secondary with the addition of Will Johnson, who you know
had the injury concerns, fell back in the draft because
of that. You also have Max Melton, who should be
the starting corner across him. Garrett Wilson should play the
third corner role with Jalen Thompson and Buddha Baker as

(49:46):
the as the safeties in this situation. I mean, yeah,
you know, Garrett Williams PFF's third highest graded corner. Now,
slot corners are always rated higher than outside corners for
how it works. But still still saying something, Max Melton,
I think that you would uh, I mean, uh, I
don't think you loved what you got out of him
last year. I think that's reasonable to say, what the

(50:08):
second round pick, he's a young player. He still haves
Sean Murphy Bunting also in the mix that there's a
little bit of depth there really love to see these.
Like Will Johnson, there's just question marks here with this
coverage unit. So with the two corners on the outside,
and when your secondary has two question marks under both
outside corners, that's slightly concerning for me. So I'm gonna

(50:28):
go Tier four for the coverage unit. But again, well
we'll see this has has potential to be better there.
There's these are two good, you know, two talented young players.
If they can put it all together.

Speaker 2 (50:40):
Yeah, they are two talented players. I do think the
big dep letdown for this season so this offseason is
the you know, you mentioned teum Murphy Bunting, but he
is out for the year now because of that non
football injury thing. And that's a big letdown because at
the very least, like you could say, you have these
two young, talented quarters that you're optimistic about, but you

(51:00):
at least have someone who's reliable as that other option
like Sean Merricky. But Murphy Bunting isn't perfect for me.
I don't think he's the number one corner by any
stretch of the imagination, but he's at least reliable, And
now you're really going to be depending on these young guys.
That being said, like you said, they are very talented.
Will Johnson is a very talented player that slips in
the draft because of an injuries concern, and I think

(51:22):
he can be very good, So I think there is
something there to get with him. But I you know,
I think the one weakness you look at this defense
especially is the linebacker room, and I don't think it's
really helping this group and coverage. So these young corners
are going to be thrown into the fire and we'll
see how they will see how they mix it up.
I do think that they have some talent though.

Speaker 1 (51:42):
Yeah, I mean, if you're breakingly thing to make the playoffs,
this is how right you're saying that this secondary is
gonna work out.

Speaker 2 (51:48):
Mm hmm. Yeah, you have to. You have to be
optimistic about this, and you know, at the minimum, with
the safeties, I think you give yourself a safe floor.
I think that there's an opportunity that those guys can
make up for a lot of mistakes. Like you said,
Garrett Williams was a very good slot corner, even if
slack corners are kind of skewed in the PFF scale,
I thought he was a good one last season. And yeah,
I mean, if you get development out of Melton and

(52:08):
Will Johnson looks like the junior year Will Johnson and
comes back as a prospect, I think there's a chance
this turns into a pretty good group for next season.

Speaker 1 (52:18):
They've also done a lot to improve this interior, or
improve this defensive line in general, I should say, because
they brought in Josh Sweat, who was an awesome player
for the you know Eagles. He was in every snap
player for them. Zaven Collins, who's been a good edge
rusher for them, Like it's kind of funny that that's
like what they were doing last year, but honestly, he's
been fine and for number two role, not horrible there.

(52:40):
Baron Brown and can be the you know, the the
third guy there for the interior, Dalvin Tomlinson, Kalais Campbell,
Walter Nolan. This first round pick, I really like this
defensive line. I think maybe the one critique is do
they have a like an elite guy here, But they
have a lot of really good guys Tier twos for
both past rush and run defense.

Speaker 2 (52:59):
Yeah, I mean another one where it's like if he
stays healthy and all that, it's I mean, I don't
even think it's an injury concern, it's just an age concern,
Like Leis Campbell continues to turn out just awesome seasons,
like he is still a really good player at thirty
eight years old, and him and Dalvin Tomlinson, I think,
and Josh Sweat obviously they're big money free agent. I

(53:19):
think all of that put together means you've got a
formidable group at the minimum, And it could be great
with all three of those guys because they are good players.
Like you said, maybe not great, but they're all pretty good.
And I definitely see the vision with this group. So yeah,
I really like those three for sure, and they should
really help this defense that struggled basically at every position.

(53:40):
At least you can say now the Cardinals defense is
good at something. Yeah, it should be good at something.
And before it had two good safeties and basically nothing else.
Now they have a good defensive line in front of it.
I think they should fix a lot with just that.

Speaker 1 (53:53):
Yeah, So I like this Cardinals team. I don't love
this Cardinals team because of the secondary. I just I
have those concerns. You're asking a lot of young players
to be good today, and I think that this team
still feels like they might be a year away, which
is frushing because it feels like they've been a year
away for a bit now. But I could see the
team squeaking into the playoffs. I'll go nine to eight.
I think this is a bubble playoff team for me.

Speaker 2 (54:16):
I see it. Look I'm in. I think that they
got a lot of things going for them. I think
this offense is gonna be really fun. I think they're
gonna be great to watch in that regard, and maybe
the defense again struggles and they're still really fun to
watch because the defense is gonna put give up a
lot of points too. But there is a pathway too.
I think this defense being good next season. Maybe not good,

(54:37):
I think they'll be. There's a pathway to this defense
being fine next season, and a fine defense with this
offense can win a lot of games.

Speaker 1 (54:44):
I mean, I think there's a pathway for them to
be good if if Max Milton and and Bill Johnson
are both good, like that's probably I could see it
being like a top ten defense.

Speaker 2 (54:52):
Yeah, yeah, I mean I could see it too. Yeah
that's fair. I still have concerns about this linebacker because,
like you said, you're moving Zaven Collins a little bit
for the back potentially a linebacker when he was probably
as best as an edge rusher. I mean, how how
you manage all that? I think is going to be interesting.

Speaker 1 (55:08):
I mean I don't I don't play him a snap
at linebacker. I think I just keep him at edge
rusher at this point. I know that you don't. I
know that now who plays linebacker, but I just think
that's where he's.

Speaker 2 (55:14):
That best it is. But they also brought in like
a billion defensive line Yeah, so it's just like you
can how do you manage that?

Speaker 1 (55:22):
You could do what the Cowboys through of Meca persons
for a bit, not with the trying to nego shoot
without an without an agent nearby, but the uh the
playing him multiple different positions. Maybe that's what you do.

Speaker 2 (55:33):
Yeah, yeah, you got to figure something out there. But yeah,
I mean, I mean, in theory, for the contract, he'd
probably want to play edge rusher. You're gonna get paid
more there.

Speaker 1 (55:41):
So yeah, I mean a decent edge rusher gets paid
top tier linebacker money. Yeah, yeah, exactly, so he uh
you know, he's probably begging to play edge rusher. But yeah,
I mean it'll be interesting I'm very excited for this
Cardinals team. We'll see how they look. Like I said,
the defense is the big question mark. I I just
think at a minimum, this offense is going to be

(56:01):
good and I like that reliability. Yeah, I agree. I
think this is a team that can beat anybody. Kyle,
guess the poll. How many people agree with you or
I guess don't agree with you because you had a
different team winning the NFCU West. But how many people
think that Cardinals will? You are too low on the
Cardinals and that they will actually win the NFC West.
I guess it's I mean, it's obviously got to be

(56:22):
the lowest team here. So I'm gonna go with thirteen percent.
Too high. Eight percent, I'll say that most disrespected team
in the community notes Pole. Only eight percent have the Cardinals.
That's surprising.

Speaker 2 (56:34):
Yeah, there's a bunch of haters here. Don't worry, Cardinals fans.
I'm with you. You are my NFC team this season.
I'm rooting for you. I can't wait to watch Week one. Me,
me and the Knoles were ready. We're doing this play
week ones. I don't know, it doesn't matter.

Speaker 1 (56:49):
We're making the playoffs, Okay, let's see they played it.
Oh the Saints. Oh there you go?

Speaker 2 (56:54):
Yeah, no, no, want to know. Why do I get
lost in this schedule?

Speaker 1 (56:58):
Saints and Panthers to start this year? Okay, well that
this week is gonna that takes gonna age well for
two weeks.

Speaker 2 (57:03):
Kyle, Listen, they got the Titans mixed in there. I
mean this same the this is me the knowles here,
We're gonna be twelve and ozer by the time we
face a difficult opponent that Tampa game. You better watch out.
You're gonna face the undefeated Arizona Cardinals, America's team on
November thirtieth. You better watch out. It's coming for you.
This is an easy schedule. Yeah, this is the best

(57:24):
take I've had ever. This is the softest schedule I've
ever seen.

Speaker 1 (57:29):
Yeah, this is That's that's a good point. I guess
that the third place schedule in NFC West is not
a tough one.

Speaker 2 (57:35):
Yeah, we are, we are, We are rolling right here.
Say say some more nice things about the Cardinals. Guy,
I gotta let my dog outside real quick.

Speaker 1 (57:42):
Okay, well here, I'll move on at you. Let's go
to the well, I guess I can I go on
here to the I mean the Rams already next uh
pick obviously usually at Kyle's THIRDI but I cannot because
he has to let his dog out. Okay, Kyle's back, Kyle,
I did a horrible job killing time are your division?
But who you're predicting to win the division?

Speaker 2 (58:04):
How come this team is really good? And I think
they got better? Like I think that they get They
they revamped this entire defense last season, obviously with the
change of Aaron Donald retiring. They played incredibly well. I mean,
they got some really tough, young, talented defensive players on
this team, and the offense is still really talented. As
long as Matthew Stafford's healthy, I think this team has
a chance to not only win this division, but you know,

(58:27):
make and win the Super Bowl. Again, I think they
got better. I think Devanta Adams is an upgrade over
Cooper Cup at this stage of their careers, and Devontae
Adams is I mean probably always so yeah, I mean
DeVonta Adams is great.

Speaker 1 (58:38):
So yeah, you have that.

Speaker 2 (58:39):
You have a good offensive line, you have good running backs.
I just don't see a lot of holes in this
roster to be concerned about. Maybe there's a few maybe
you'll talk me down a little bit, but I think
this is this is probably the team, and they were
last year. They were the closest to beating Philadelphia in
the postseason.

Speaker 1 (58:54):
This is the team.

Speaker 2 (58:54):
I think it's the biggest challenge to Philadelphie in the
NFC right now. This would be my number two team
in the NFC. I think they're that good.

Speaker 1 (59:01):
Again, it's so interesting how these things go, right, the
Rams and Seahawks end up finishing the same record. Maybe
if the Rams played their starters, they would have won
that last game and they would have finished two games ahead,
But nonetheless they finished the same record, and yet the
Rams have the tiebreakers, so they go to the playoffs.
They then make a lot of noise in the playoffs,
winning a playoff game handedly and coming very close to

(59:21):
beating the Super Bowl champs the You know, that is
part of where this buzz is coming from. Also, Sean McVay.
You always have to respect the Sean McVay led team.
He's Tier one head coach. Let's just talk about Masks
Matthew Stafford for a minute. I mean, this is the
question mark, right of He's banged up, and I'm just
gonna be honest, Kyle, I didn't love I watched him

(59:42):
for nineteen games last year, or I guess eighteen games.
I don't think he missed anymore than the one he
set out. He was not great in eighteen games. He
was great in maybe four or five of those games,
but he was really good in those games, you know.
I ran I did a video where I talked about
every quarterbacks the difference between their actual turnovers and turnover ward.

(01:00:04):
He plays by far and away the luckiest last year
with Matthew staff That being said, he has a tendency
for showing up in the big moments. And I'm like,
regular season, he's a Tier three quarterback for me. Right now,
postseason he might be Tier one And I don't know
what to do with that, but that's how I view
him right now.

Speaker 2 (01:00:20):
Yeah, it is one of those things. He's definitely a
little inconsistent, But it's also one of the there's just
not many guys you can look at talent wise and think,
on their best day, they can be any they can
compete with any quarterback in the league. Yeah, and Matthew
Stafford's one of the rare cases of a guy who
can absolutely do that. I mean, you just go back to, like,
you know, a couple of those huge, huge games they

(01:00:41):
had last season, that Buffalo game in December eighth, they
won forty four to forty two. He had three hundred
and twenty yards twenty three to thirty passing, two touchdowns,
over ten yards per completion. You go to that one,
you look at the Minnesota game that he had four
touchdowns in, and just like that, it's like, on his
best day, he can he can compete with any quarterback
in the league. He can compete with the Josh Allens,

(01:01:02):
Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrows, Lamar Jackson's all that kind of stuff.
It's just you have the lot. You have a lot
of the bad games mixed in there too, So it
is a it is a rare thing. But I trust
Matthew Stafford. I just do like I trust him to
get the job done in those situations and play is
best when the Rams absolutely need him the most.

Speaker 1 (01:01:25):
Yeah. Uh, I agree with with all of that. The
receiving corps, which you talked about being an upgrade Devonte Adams. Uh,
you know, I think the only question is, like he's
bounced around on a lot of different teams right now,
what's he what do you still have left in the
tank and all of that. Phukanaku is awesome. I do
like to two at well in his role. I like
Tyler Higbee as a tight end and his role even

(01:01:46):
Kobe Parkinson, uh you know, uh, even Terrence Ferguson as well.
A lot of tight end depth here. I don't know,
is this is it too mean to say tier two
just because of the Devonte Adams switching teams, playing a
new scheme. Uh, you know, is an older player, Like
I think if he's if he's last year Devanta Adams,
I probably still want to say tier tier one, but

(01:02:07):
like I think it's if it's a question mark, I
don't want to give it tier one.

Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
I think it's tier one. I think he's gonna be fine.

Speaker 1 (01:02:15):
I really do have the Chiefs tier one, so you know,
you just thrown out tier one like Candy I am.

Speaker 2 (01:02:22):
But I mean, look, you have booking Tokoua and DeVante Adams.
And DeVante Adams can work a slot too. You know,
he can do a lot of the same things that
Cooper Cup did and like, look he's gonna step into
this offense. I think he's gonna be awesome. You know,
they have depth. We finally got a little bit of
what tow To out Well could be as that third
guy last season when they really needed him because they
just could not stay healthy between the COUA and Cup
last year. They had those guys they have. You know,

(01:02:43):
Jordan Whittington was everyone's preseason pick for like the sleeper.
Last year he wasn't great, but maybe year two that's
his time. You have Tyler Higbe, who's reliable on this team.
There's a lot of pass catchers on this team that
I'm I'm excited about. And it starts with the Coup
and Adams, who on their best are two top twenty receivers.
And they're just many teams that can say they have that,
and this team has three to four other guys that

(01:03:03):
you get excited about.

Speaker 1 (01:03:05):
Yeah, I mean, listen, I'm just saying, I'm not sure
if it's like a top you know, Pier one, I
consider like top five. Like there's a lot of good
receiving rooms out there. Not sure if it's quite on
Cincinnati's level, but it's uh, it's it might be again,
if Adams or T Higgins, Uh, today, I'd rather have
T Higgins especially in a scheme. I know he can
play younger player. Yeah, I'd rather have T Higgins.

Speaker 2 (01:03:27):
Yeah, I guess that's fair. I don't know. I still
think Davonte Adam. I mean they're they're both really good.

Speaker 1 (01:03:32):
I don't think there's a massive jump though, but I
definitely rather have Jamar Chase than even though POKAA is
still really good.

Speaker 2 (01:03:39):
Yeah, that's fair. Yeah, I can't. I can't debate that one.

Speaker 1 (01:03:42):
Yeah so that yeah, but but you're correct. This is
again we are we are splitting hairs here. This is
a receiving court that's going to be very good and
gonna be well schemed up. Karen Williams, I feel like
is the post a child for a running back who
gets a lot of carries. So some people go crazy
over I think it's good, Like I think it's like
Pier three running back room, like with Blake korm as
a backup. I don't think it's anything crazy, But I

(01:04:03):
don't know. There are people who are like Kyraen Illams.

Speaker 2 (01:04:06):
I mean, look, he's he's reliable, like I think you're
he You can't hate on a guy who it is
two years as a starter has last year he was
five yards per carry and or two years ago he
was five yards per carry. This past season he was
four point one yards per carry. He had over eleven
hundred yards both season, and he had twelve and fourteen
touchdowns like rushing and that's also with five past receiving

(01:04:29):
touchdowns in the last two years, Like those are all
really good numbers.

Speaker 1 (01:04:33):
Like sure, but my point is, if he gets a
season ending injury tomorrow, are you much more worried about Like,
how are you like, oh, the rams might not? Like
how much more worried about the Rams would you be?

Speaker 2 (01:04:45):
Yeah? I mean that's it's just a state of the
running back position exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:04:48):
That's that's all I mean, he's Yeah, I don't know
why I think it's a good player. I don't know
why I was negative, but like, yeah, that's just my take.

Speaker 2 (01:04:54):
Yeah, it's just one of those things like outs. I guess,
let's put it this way, outside of McCaffrey when he healthy,
Barkley and Henry, does any running back actually movie that
much that it changes things? Maybe maybe you go Jamior Gibbs,
James Connon, Yeah, I do like James conn Maybe you
go Jamier Gibbs, Irvins sort of thing. But I mean,

(01:05:15):
like even then, I don't even know if I put
them with those top.

Speaker 1 (01:05:18):
Three guys traveon Hen Henderson, Hey he's coming. Yeah, there's
there's a number. Yeah no he again. No, no, nothing,
nothing to worry about with the with the running backs,
with the forty nine ers, Let's go to the offensive line.
You know, Alaric Jackson and Bob Havenstein for the two tackles.

(01:05:39):
For the interior, Kevin Dotson, Steve Avila, uh and Coleman Shelton.
Also you know, Baula Mure as kind of a uh
you know, backup center there. Again, on paper, this should
be really good, you know, Uh, this is I don't
know it, and I'm struggling because, like I don't know
if they have like a souper star in the mix here.

(01:06:01):
But like I remember, between Tier one and Tier two, Kyle,
where would you go?

Speaker 2 (01:06:06):
Probably tier two because there's not like an elite player,
but there is a lot of really good players on
this team. So yeah, I like this starting five a lot,
and they even have a little bit of depth there,
so I like it a lot. I think Tier two
is really good for this group.

Speaker 1 (01:06:21):
Yeah, Tier twos, who feels fine let's let's let's go
of that. The secondary forty for the Rams. I love
to love the amount of players, a lot of depth here.
The players themselves, I'm not gonna say are horrible, but
I have some some question marks here. Color Witherspoon, Darius
Williams for the two starting corners, Quentin Lake as the nickel,

(01:06:42):
Cam Curl, Cameron Kitchens. Again, the good news is they
can kind of have an injury for any of these guys,
and and withstand that, I still don't know if I
love this either. So I don't see a scenario where
the secondary is like bat last year, which at times
it was bad early in the season or bad this year.
It wasn't times bad last year, especially early in the year,

(01:07:04):
and I think that's okay. I don't think the secondary
has to be awesome as long as it's okay. I
think it's good when it's awesome. But like, I don't know, uh, like,
like Tier three, does that just feel right when you
have like nineteen guys who are all all right?

Speaker 2 (01:07:16):
Yeah, I think that's definitely fair. I mean, this team
is definitely built on the strength of its front seven,
which is fine if you have a good enough secondary
to hold hold its own. I mean, yeah, I think,
like no one, none of these guys are amazing, like
you said, but like even then, like the best version
of Darius Williams is a really good player, you know.
I think even Witherspoon at his best has been a
pretty good player. I think Cam Croll at his best

(01:07:38):
has been a pretty good player. You know, I haven't
hated a lot of these guys when they've played. It's just,
you know, there's a lot of inconsistency with this group,
but they're good enough for what they what they're doing
with upfront.

Speaker 1 (01:07:48):
Yeah, I mean, like the best best version of Darius
Williams is the pretty good player. The best version of J. C.
Jackson is a pretty good player too. But like what
you know, are are we getting the best version of
Darius Williams this year?

Speaker 2 (01:07:58):
Yeah, it's just you never know with him, it feels
he is one of those like up and down guys
for sure.

Speaker 1 (01:08:03):
Yeah, we will see Jared versus awesome, borderline elite player
as a rookie. You know, could end up winning a
Defensive Player of the Year award before it's all said
and done. You know, Byron Young is the other edge
I think you'd still like some, you know, some more
edge stuff. They did draft Josiah Stewart in the third
round to try and help out with that. Braden Fisk

(01:08:25):
another guy they drafted another rookie last year who was
pretty good. Puna Ford's very good, uh, you know, Tyler
Davis at the other in here. And then of course
my guy Kobe Turner, uh the you know, the one
of the best in football, Kobe Turner. So, uh, he
helps out both in pass rush and run defense. Yeah,
pier DU's across the board, like a little more depth here,
but they do have a star on the in tier

(01:08:46):
and a star on the edge. Both those guys will
get a good amount of snaps as well. I mean
they were both over nine hundred snaps last year if
you include the playoffs, So I mean they're they'll be
out there. They can they can play a lot.

Speaker 2 (01:08:56):
Yeah, versus a monster Turner as a monster, those two
guys put together, I think are really good. I'm a
big Braiden Fisk fan too. It just felt like, you know,
he's not like a he's not a high high pass
rush win ry guy, but I think he's a good
pass rusher and I don't know, it's just I like
those guys who just seem to come up with the
big plays, and it just seems like when they needed
a clutch play, Braden Fisk was in the misk. It

(01:09:17):
wasn't always him, but it seems like when he wins
this defense, wins a lot. And I think he could
have a big year two leap. I think that if
he becomes a really good player with Verse and with Turner,
I mean you're looking at one of the best front
sevens in the league right there.

Speaker 1 (01:09:31):
Yeah, so, uh yeah, I agree. I mean this is
it's really good. I mean it's it's like there's a
lot of good stuff with this RAMS team turns out
having fourteen draft picks year after year, you end up
getting some good players.

Speaker 2 (01:09:43):
Yeah yeah. I mean the biggest hurdle you have for
Los Angeles is we just talked about how easy Arizona
schedule is. I mean they have the first place division schedule.
Now you play your division, which is tough, You play
all those teams twice. You also get Detroit in your mix,
you get Baltimore, you mixed, you get Philadelphia in the mix.
Like those are really tough games to draw for the

(01:10:04):
season too. So if they can, if they can navigate that,
I think this team, this guy is the limit for
this team. And as we saw last year, as long
as they make the playoffs, Yeah, you're gonna get the
best version of Matthew Stafford in the playoffs. More times
than not, you're gonna get the best version of Matthew
Stafford in those big games. You're gonna get the best
version of Sean McVay in those big games, scheming up

(01:10:25):
against those defenses, and they were giving Vic Fangio and
that defense look which looked impenetrable at times. They gave
that defense with Fangio and that that that talent around him,
they gave it a lot of fits in that game,
playing through the snow in terrible conditions. I think they
can go up against anybody and beat them in the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (01:10:43):
Yeah, especially at the end one uh, with say for
a great great Jal and Carter play that that come
back probably was gonna happen. Yeah, it's it's uh. The
Rams have a lot of optimism. I agree with you
about the first play schedule, especially with you you have
the Cardinals for Niners and Seahawks, it feels like one
of those teams is gonna win ten games next year,

(01:11:05):
and so it's like you probably have to win like
eleven to make sure you can keep pacing a tough schedule.
That's what I'm predicting now. I'm going to eleven and
six with this RAMS team, which is actually the second
highest I have an NFC team so far. We still
have the NFC South to go. So wait on my
Panthers prediction. Maybe maybe you know, they won't stay number two,
but like, yeah, in a wide open NFC, they do

(01:11:26):
feel like they could be the number one contender too
to rand champs, especially given how close that game was
last year.

Speaker 2 (01:11:31):
Yeah, I think I think that the talent of the
NFC is pretty good though, Like I think there are
some good teams. We're gonna talk about one next week.
I think for sure that could be interesting. You know,
we we mentioned the NFC North being really talented top
to bottom. You know, could Washington replicate it? And Yeah,
I think it's all really interesting. Like I said, I
wouldn't be shocked if this team ends up like ten

(01:11:52):
and seven and steaking into the playoffs, But they are
the last ten and seven team I want to face
in the playoffs. Again. We saw that last season, and
I think they could be again.

Speaker 1 (01:12:00):
Yeah. I thought you usual when people say, oh, that's
the ten and seventeam you don't want to play, It's like, no,
actually you kind of do, like every playoff team has
talent and like it's better to play the worst teams.
But like, uh, yeah, I agree that. This is actually
the example of that, Kyle. You can do the math
if you want to, if you want to guess the
guest the percentage of people who picked the Rams.

Speaker 2 (01:12:20):
So he had eight, seventeen and twenty five, so that
is twenty What is that twenty six five percent? No,
that's fifty percent, So it's fifty percent Rams. Here we go,
I can do that exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:12:32):
Exactly half of the people predicted the Rams, including both
of us, to win the NFC West. I guess that
would put put it slightly over half because if you
count our votes.

Speaker 2 (01:12:41):
Yeah, that's true. You know every vote matters.

Speaker 1 (01:12:46):
Yes, exactly, voting is important. That is what we're leaving
you with here, Kyle. Next week we have our finale
of the off season, one more off season podcast left,
and then we are getting into the the Week one preview.
The following week which means that not only will we
be previewing, uh the team with the division with my

(01:13:06):
uh favorite team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, we will also
be talking about who we have winning every major award,
which Kyle, that includes the Protector of the Year award.
Now we have a new award that we have to
predict who will be the Protector of the Year for
best offensive Lineman. Uh, I have to have to throw
that one in the mix.

Speaker 2 (01:13:24):
Is that actually an award? Now?

Speaker 1 (01:13:25):
Yeah? Yeah, it's actually where it's gonna drive me nuts.
I already know because like you know, it's just gonna
go to like just like like Lane Johnson, like or
like you know, like Pea Stuel no matter who actually
deserves it, Like how how are people going to actually
measure that?

Speaker 2 (01:13:40):
I think Jordan Myla would have won last year.

Speaker 1 (01:13:42):
I don't think he would have. I said something. He's
not even favored to win this year. He's a sixth.

Speaker 2 (01:13:49):
Every one of these writers has a PFF subscription they're
gonna end up giving me.

Speaker 1 (01:13:52):
That's that's probably true. It's probably like Tristan Wurf's I
think is still like third or fourth, and he's gonna
miss like the first month of the season.

Speaker 2 (01:13:58):
Yeah, I don't know, man, that that it feels like
too much. They should just really lean into it and
do like the college football thing where they give an
award for every position and then just I don't know
what a mess.

Speaker 1 (01:14:08):
Ye, No, I agree with that. I mean, I guess
that's the all pro. My take is, I think at
the awards show is when we should reveal all pros.

Speaker 2 (01:14:16):
Yeah, that'd be fair.

Speaker 1 (01:14:19):
Keyran wants to know, how are you dealing with the
Hammers going down this year? Isn't that what you're supposed
to do is not how you make a hammer work you.

Speaker 2 (01:14:30):
Yeah, listen, two games into the Premier League season, including tonight,
they have given up eight goals and have scored one.
That's not good for the numbers people. In case you're
wondering it looks rough, we'll see. I think they're better
than Burnley. That's all that matters.

Speaker 1 (01:14:47):
Okay, Romeo is making fun of you for saying for
your first guest being twenty six that I.

Speaker 2 (01:14:54):
Edited up right in the end. I got there eventually.
I'm not a math major.

Speaker 1 (01:14:57):
Let's calm down, Yeah, Kyle, next week we will also,
So next Wednesday we're back during normal time. Finally, we
will also be giving our prediction for who will win
the Super Bowl, so and also you know who's making
the playoffs all that good stuff. So be a long
show next Wednesday, so be ready for everyone. Make sure
you're ready for that. And other than that, Kyle, I
think we're you know, the Red Sox beat the Yankees.

(01:15:19):
That's good.

Speaker 2 (01:15:20):
Yeah, get to do it three more times this week
and then weekend and then we'll go from there. Yeah,
I'm excited.

Speaker 1 (01:15:25):
Yeah, all right, Well, Kyle again, I know you've been
driving a lot, so you're probably ready to get out
of here. But thanks again to everybody for watching or listening.
We do appreciate it. We'll be back this upcoming Wednesday,
so being looked out for that. And Kyle, you have
any foul thoughts? He are you good?

Speaker 2 (01:15:41):
No, No, let's get out of here. Looking forward to
Wednesday and like you said, wrapping up our preseason, so
let's do it.

Speaker 1 (01:15:47):
Oh wait, it's been so long. We have to do
the plugs. Let them know where can find us on
Twitter before we head out.

Speaker 2 (01:15:53):
Yeah, make sure to follow us on Twitter that is
at Jackson Kruger. Make sure to follow me at by
Kyle gron In and make sure to follow the account
page at on the Sideline JK. That is that on
the Sideline JK.

Speaker 1 (01:16:01):
Of course you feel like, oh, do you any podcasts?
Anywhere you get your podcasts, just search on the Sideline
podcast It should be available there. Thanks to again everybody,
we do appreciate it. And until Wednesday at six pm Eastern,
have a good one. Peace,