# Top 35 Position Battles You Should Care About

An episode of [NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/680904259), 20 Jul 2026, 1 h 00 min.

Audio: https://pdrl.fm/91be81/podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/claritaspod.com/measure/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/9ce11dad-e86a-444f-ba83-ae27003475be/e66cc448-5df3-4cac-a11f-b48d01447492/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=deff018f-4b51-4501-937c-ae27003475d1

Gregg Rosenthal and Nick Shook give you 35 training camp position battles you should keep an eye over the course of the next few weeks. Battles that include Kirk Cousins versus Fernando Mendoza, Tua Tagovailoa versus Michael Penix Jr., wide receivers looking for a spot with the Commanders, Giants, and Titans, offensive line battles with the Patriots, Lions, and Cowboys, and more! NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcasts See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:03] Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL Daily, where the real honesty was Argentina
[0:08] Speaker 1: is one hundred and sixteen minutes without a shot on goal.
[0:10] Speaker 2: I'm Greg Rosenthal.
[0:12] Speaker 1: I'm still in Massachusetts for one more show before I
[0:15] Speaker 1: returned to the West Coast, and we really get this
[0:18] Speaker 1: training camp going. You know who else is back from vacation.
[0:21] Speaker 2: It's Nick Chook.
[0:22] Speaker 1: No one else I would rather talk position battles with
[0:25] Speaker 1: on July.
[0:25] Speaker 2: Twentieth than my friend Shoppie.
[0:27] Speaker 3: How you doing fantastic? Happy to be back. Hopefully the
[0:30] Speaker 3: sunburn isn't showing if you're watching on YouTube, because I
[0:33] Speaker 3: spent a lot of time outside and now I'm happy
[0:34] Speaker 3: to be in front of the camera talking football with you.
[0:37] Speaker 1: We are team minus forty eight hours two days until
[0:41] Speaker 1: the first two teams show up for training camp. Those
[0:45] Speaker 1: are the Hall of Fame Game participants, the Panthers and
[0:48] Speaker 1: the Cardinals. On this show, we're going to talk position
[0:52] Speaker 1: battles and yeah, I mentioned the World Cup is over,
[0:54] Speaker 1: and so that means I think it's time to turn
[0:57] Speaker 1: our attention to football.
[0:58] Speaker 2: And I was thinking because I watched the World.
[1:00] Speaker 1: Cup Final and the Odyssey back to back yesterday and
[1:04] Speaker 1: it was about this same amount of time before Argentina
[1:08] Speaker 1: got a shot as it took for Odysseus to get
[1:11] Speaker 1: back to Ithaca. Now the movie's not over then, spoiler alert.
[1:14] Speaker 1: You know you got a little while more to settle things.
[1:16] Speaker 1: But that was about the same. I'm ready for I'm
[1:19] Speaker 1: ready for our football. You ready to make these position
[1:21] Speaker 1: battles interesting?
[1:22] Speaker 2: Show? Yeah?
[1:23] Speaker 3: Hopefully this is just theatrical and dramatic as the as
[1:25] Speaker 3: The osse was.
[1:27] Speaker 2: I recommend it. It was a great, great movie. It was fun.
[1:29] Speaker 2: Not much news.
[1:30] Speaker 1: Like I said, the last couple of weeks is the
[1:32] Speaker 1: quietest few weeks in the NFL news cycle all season long.
[1:36] Speaker 1: It's going to crank up this week really with all
[1:38] Speaker 1: the teams, the coaches, a lot of them are returning
[1:40] Speaker 1: to the office on Monday as we're taping, and so
[1:43] Speaker 1: the only two items of news that really caught my
[1:45] Speaker 1: fancy since Thursday when we last taped. The Ravens finally
[1:48] Speaker 1: signed a center, Ethan Posk, who spent a lot of
[1:51] Speaker 1: time on your Rams is I mean on your Browns
[1:53] Speaker 1: rather Shook is a very capable center now the favorite
[1:57] Speaker 1: to start there. And then an executive for the Cardinals,
[2:01] Speaker 1: their director of Scouting. Ryan Gold, director of college scouting,
[2:05] Speaker 1: was suspended for gambling. The Cardinals said they fully supported
[2:10] Speaker 1: the decision, and he is accused of providing confidential, non
[2:14] Speaker 1: public inside information regarding their draft selections before the picks
[2:19] Speaker 1: were announced, and also participating in parlay bets on the
[2:23] Speaker 1: NFL and college games. I mean, this is like, this
[2:27] Speaker 1: is a career ender, and I keep keep being stunned
[2:30] Speaker 1: by anyone would be dumb enough.
[2:32] Speaker 2: To get caught with this stuff.
[2:34] Speaker 1: But it really does seem like the NFL is trying
[2:36] Speaker 1: to make an example, and the Cardinals say they don't
[2:38] Speaker 1: have any problem with it.
[2:39] Speaker 2: They fully support the NFL's decision.
[2:41] Speaker 3: Yeah, and you're right. How can somebody, you know, think
[2:44] Speaker 3: that they can get away with it? Really? I mean,
[2:46] Speaker 3: as two people who undergo annual training and understand very
[2:49] Speaker 3: much the rigorous standards of the NFL applies to everybody
[2:53] Speaker 3: associated with the NFL when it comes to gambling, don't
[2:56] Speaker 3: even consider it. Just sit back and watch everybody else
[2:59] Speaker 3: place their bets everything else, and just laugh along with them.
[3:02] Speaker 3: And that's it. That's it, nothing more.
[3:04] Speaker 2: He's denying it.
[3:05] Speaker 1: His lawyer says his wife was in some ten dollars
[3:08] Speaker 1: picks pool and that he didn't know about the drafts.
[3:11] Speaker 1: There was another report that said he hit a five team,
[3:15] Speaker 1: five name parlay of the draft picks, which I think
[3:19] Speaker 1: would have been done before the draft, which would seem
[3:21] Speaker 1: almost impossible even if you were like the team owner
[3:25] Speaker 1: and the GM.
[3:25] Speaker 2: How do you really know who you were going to take?
[3:27] Speaker 2: I guess unless you put like a bunch.
[3:28] Speaker 3: Of different combinations, they can't all be as accurate as
[3:32] Speaker 3: I was projecting Jeremiah Love to the Cardinals at three. Sorry,
[3:36] Speaker 3: good job.
[3:37] Speaker 1: I mean you could be if you work for the
[3:38] Speaker 1: Cardinals apparently, but yeah, we'll track that story. Today's episode
[3:43] Speaker 1: is about the best position battles in the entire league.
[3:47] Speaker 1: I thought we would frame this about why you should
[3:49] Speaker 1: care about these position battles. We'll be previewing the season,
[3:52] Speaker 1: talking training camp throughout, so this is more of an
[3:54] Speaker 1: overview of the best position battles to watch. We'll see
[3:57] Speaker 1: how many we can get through. Wrote down about seventy,
[4:01] Speaker 1: but that's more for my own preparation. We'll use it
[4:04] Speaker 1: in other spots. We will not do seventy on this show.
[4:06] Speaker 1: Maybe about half of that. But let's start with the quarterbacks.
[4:09] Speaker 1: I ranked them roughly in order of interest for myself,
[4:13] Speaker 1: and so I started with the three biggest quarterback battles,
[4:16] Speaker 1: but to me, the number one battle is still Kirk
[4:18] Speaker 1: Cousin versus Fernando Mendoza. And the more shook that we hear,
[4:22] Speaker 1: and there's a new report, including one from rap Sheet
[4:25] Speaker 1: last week, that the plan is Kirk Cousins, not just
[4:29] Speaker 1: for Week one, but all season. It's like the more
[4:32] Speaker 1: you keep telling me that, like almost the less I
[4:35] Speaker 1: believe it.
[4:36] Speaker 2: It's like, we get it. That's the plan. We get it.
[4:39] Speaker 3: You're telling me you're a cynic, you're a skeptic. You
[4:41] Speaker 3: don't believe that they're pushing it that hard that it
[4:43] Speaker 3: might not unfold that way. I actually, you know, when
[4:46] Speaker 3: you just brought these up, I was like, this is
[4:47] Speaker 3: not the most intriguing to me, because I believe that
[4:50] Speaker 3: this is going to be the plan. And I believe
[4:51] Speaker 3: it because of the way Clint Kubiak framed it when
[4:53] Speaker 3: he essentially campaigned for the Raiders to go out and
[4:56] Speaker 3: add a guy like Kirk Cousins. I firmly think that
[4:59] Speaker 3: it's going to be a month to half of the
[5:01] Speaker 3: season before they make the transition, because what have we
[5:03] Speaker 3: seen in these battles in the past, Which is that,
[5:06] Speaker 3: all right, we have the veteran, We're going to start
[5:08] Speaker 3: the season with the veteran, you know, kind of just
[5:10] Speaker 3: slowly on ramp onto the season, and then within the
[5:12] Speaker 3: first month, either it's clear that the veteran isn't capable,
[5:15] Speaker 3: or you just decide, all right, now the young guys ready.
[5:18] Speaker 3: Sometimes that aligns with the bye week. Their bye week
[5:20] Speaker 3: is way late in the season, So I don't think
[5:22] Speaker 3: it falls in that range, at least as we stand
[5:25] Speaker 3: here right now. But I don't. I think that this
[5:27] Speaker 3: battle is more about getting Fernando, you know, acclimated to
[5:30] Speaker 3: the offense and getting ready for when he does take
[5:33] Speaker 3: the field eventually, because he will. Then it is about
[5:35] Speaker 3: a real true battle for the starting job. But you
[5:38] Speaker 3: know what, if you're sitting back thinking I don't believe you,
[5:42] Speaker 3: I mean that that makes let me make the case.
[5:44] Speaker 1: Let me make the case I should I should make
[5:46] Speaker 1: the case. And why you should care about it, because yeah,
[5:48] Speaker 1: you can put that out there. Well, first of all,
[5:50] Speaker 1: it's two players that I'm interested in. We spent a
[5:52] Speaker 1: long time with Kirk Cousins. I think he played better
[5:54] Speaker 1: football at the end of last season with the Falcons
[5:57] Speaker 1: and people realize and so I actually think either one
[6:00] Speaker 1: of these can provide fairly good quarterback play. But the
[6:03] Speaker 1: reason why I still think you should care about it.
[6:06] Speaker 1: I'm excited about this kid, for Nando Mendoza, and I
[6:09] Speaker 1: just don't believe any world where if he shows up
[6:12] Speaker 1: and he's awesome, And this is a guy who I
[6:15] Speaker 1: think as a prospect, you know, compares favorably to any
[6:18] Speaker 1: quarterback that was in last year's draft class, and is
[6:21] Speaker 1: pretty advance mentally and is great physically, and he's an
[6:25] Speaker 1: older kid that if he comes out and just looks
[6:29] Speaker 1: awesome in camp, and if he looks awesome in the preseason,
[6:34] Speaker 1: you can't tell me it's not a battle Like, I
[6:36] Speaker 1: just don't believe them. It's more about Fernando Mendoza. Now,
[6:40] Speaker 1: do I believe that the bar for him to actually
[6:43] Speaker 1: be able to play Week one or maybe he's really
[6:45] Speaker 1: battling against like a Week four version of Kirk Cousins
[6:48] Speaker 1: that's not doing well, is high. Is higher than it
[6:51] Speaker 1: would be for most number one overall draft pics. Sure
[6:54] Speaker 1: it is, but he might be able to clear that
[6:56] Speaker 1: if he's just awesome, like that to me is a
[6:59] Speaker 1: really interesting battle to watch because I think the Raiders
[7:03] Speaker 1: based on their quarterbacks partly and Koobie could be a
[7:07] Speaker 1: fun watch this year no matter who's at quarterback.
[7:09] Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree, and I think this is a good
[7:10] Speaker 3: pivot toward why the preseason is still intriguing for a
[7:13] Speaker 3: lot of reasons, and one being that if he goes,
[7:16] Speaker 3: you know, into this preseason and sees a significant amount
[7:19] Speaker 3: time because you think about it, Kirk Cousins isn't going
[7:20] Speaker 3: to play all that much in the preseason, I don't think,
[7:22] Speaker 3: given that he's a veteran, although you do want to
[7:24] Speaker 3: see how he handles the offense. Then that's where the
[7:26] Speaker 3: scales can till because the style of quarterback that Fernando
[7:29] Speaker 3: Mendoza is, Like, let's consider his journey to Indiana. He
[7:32] Speaker 3: was playing at cal Cal operating in largely irrelevance, you know,
[7:35] Speaker 3: out in the West Coast, just not being a very
[7:37] Speaker 3: strong program at this time. Nobody was really paying attention
[7:40] Speaker 3: to him. Nobody had him, you know, being the number
[7:41] Speaker 3: one pick in the draft, didn't even have him being
[7:43] Speaker 3: a first round pick. He kind of quietly goes to
[7:45] Speaker 3: Indiana and then takes the College Football World by storm.
[7:47] Speaker 3: How did he do it with his play on the field.
[7:49] Speaker 3: It's not somebody necessarily that you look at and go
[7:52] Speaker 3: generational talent and credible arm, all of that stuff that
[7:54] Speaker 3: draws that buzz. So you're not going to really get
[7:56] Speaker 3: got to get that buzz out of just regular training camp,
[7:59] Speaker 3: but you would get that out of preseason games if
[8:02] Speaker 3: he plays a significant amount of time, and that's where
[8:04] Speaker 3: the scales could tilt or it could get really interesting.
[8:06] Speaker 3: So I'm kind of buying in now a little bit.
[8:07] Speaker 3: You got me a little sold.
[8:09] Speaker 1: Well, Also, there's a chance, and I just said how
[8:12] Speaker 1: I liked how Kirk Cousins looked at the end of
[8:14] Speaker 1: last season. In one of these years, Kirk Cousins could
[8:17] Speaker 1: show up and just look kind of old, or he
[8:19] Speaker 1: could have some minor calf injury that keeps him out
[8:22] Speaker 1: for two weeks of camp and then it's just suddenly over.
[8:24] Speaker 1: So we'll see an injury is also part of our
[8:26] Speaker 1: number two battle. That's to a tongue of iloa, and
[8:28] Speaker 1: that's Michael Pennix. It's a truly open competition. We don't
[8:32] Speaker 1: know if Pennox is going to be fully ready to
[8:35] Speaker 1: start training camp, and these just feel like two afterthoughts.
[8:38] Speaker 1: They didn't make our top thirty two quarterbacks when I
[8:41] Speaker 1: drafted them around July fourth with John Ledyard. And yet
[8:45] Speaker 1: let me take you shup to make my case for
[8:47] Speaker 1: this one is number two to a distant time in
[8:51] Speaker 1: our past twenty twenty four.
[8:55] Speaker 2: Let's say we're a.
[8:58] Speaker 1: Little guy by the name Nick Shook, you know, just
[9:01] Speaker 1: finished his top fifty nine starting quarterbacks of twenty twenty
[9:06] Speaker 1: three season. Everyone that started who was ranked number nine
[9:10] Speaker 1: overall on that list.
[9:11] Speaker 3: Shock, Oh no, this is at the end of the
[9:13] Speaker 3: twenty twenty three season. Oh no, that was too. That
[9:16] Speaker 3: was too That was two law, That was two and
[9:18] Speaker 3: tuck of my law.
[9:19] Speaker 1: You know what quarterback was coming off a National Championship
[9:23] Speaker 1: Game appearance and was about to get taken as a
[9:26] Speaker 1: future franchise quarterback.
[9:28] Speaker 2: That was Michael Pennock. It wasn't Pennix.
[9:30] Speaker 1: That wasn't that long ago that we were thinking of
[9:33] Speaker 1: these guys in a much different way. And Tua specifically,
[9:36] Speaker 1: I think can work in the right system. Whether Kevin
[9:39] Speaker 1: Stefanski is that right system will see. But this is
[9:41] Speaker 1: a legitimately open battle. And look, I only need to
[9:44] Speaker 1: even bring it back twelve months ago to think when
[9:47] Speaker 1: we were much higher on Penix's potential. He you know,
[9:50] Speaker 1: he played through an injury, he didn't look great when
[9:52] Speaker 1: he was out there last year, but overall, he's not
[9:55] Speaker 1: that far removed from being a top ten overall pick.
[9:58] Speaker 1: So I think that some juice and some real intrigue
[10:00] Speaker 1: because I don't know who's going to win this job.
[10:02] Speaker 3: Yeah, there's plenty of intrigue there, given that do you
[10:04] Speaker 3: have a new coaching staff, You have two guys you
[10:06] Speaker 3: have no idea where they are in their careers right now,
[10:08] Speaker 3: and they both kind of feel like they're at a
[10:11] Speaker 3: gotta have it crossroads type of situation, which is that
[10:14] Speaker 3: like TWA is now on his next stop, he was
[10:16] Speaker 3: unceremoniously discarded by the Dolphins and needs to prove that
[10:19] Speaker 3: he can still hack it in the NFL, and Penick's
[10:21] Speaker 3: got to prove that he's healthy enough to play and
[10:23] Speaker 3: that the injury concerns that followed him from Indiana to
[10:25] Speaker 3: Washington to the NFL aren't as significant as some might
[10:29] Speaker 3: have thought them to be, and especially when he got
[10:30] Speaker 3: hurt last year. So like this is year three for him.
[10:33] Speaker 3: He's got to start to take control of this franchise
[10:36] Speaker 3: quarterback role if that's what he's going to occupy, Whereas
[10:39] Speaker 3: Tua needs to prove that he still belongs in the NFL,
[10:42] Speaker 3: and they're both going into a new system with a
[10:44] Speaker 3: coach who runs an offense that kind of favors two
[10:47] Speaker 3: his strengths, but he's still got to go earn it
[10:49] Speaker 3: and Penix's going to be healthy enough to compete. And
[10:51] Speaker 3: I think that this is one of those situations where
[10:52] Speaker 3: we're going to see both of them this season. At
[10:54] Speaker 3: some point, We're going to go from Tua to Penis,
[10:56] Speaker 3: or we're going to see Penicks start and maybe he
[10:58] Speaker 3: has some struggles and they throw to in there at
[10:59] Speaker 3: an act of desperation at some point. So it's really
[11:03] Speaker 3: really intriguing to see exactly how they start this season.
[11:05] Speaker 3: I lean toward Tua because I think if the Falcons
[11:08] Speaker 3: are being, you know, kind of cautious about this and smart,
[11:11] Speaker 3: they'll give Pennix more time to make sure he's fully healthy.
[11:14] Speaker 3: But then again, he could be ahead of schedule. We
[11:16] Speaker 3: just don't know that right now.
[11:17] Speaker 1: Right there's a big question of if Kevin Sevanski is
[11:21] Speaker 1: looking for a quick trigger guy to just distribute and
[11:24] Speaker 1: get the ball out, which he's had when he's had
[11:27] Speaker 1: his best offenses.
[11:28] Speaker 2: That is definitely toua.
[11:30] Speaker 1: Both guys are similar and that they've struggled kind of
[11:32] Speaker 1: thrown over the middle of the field, but Pennix is
[11:35] Speaker 1: much more drop back.
[11:37] Speaker 2: And throw it deep.
[11:38] Speaker 1: I mean, he would fit well on like a nineteen
[11:41] Speaker 1: seventy eight Raiders team or something like that, which does
[11:44] Speaker 1: not feel like the Kevin Stefanski Falcons. We shall see
[11:47] Speaker 1: our third one just because the name value is one
[11:50] Speaker 1: that might not last that long. We don't think JJ
[11:52] Speaker 1: McCarthy is going to really compete with Kyler Murray. But again,
[11:56] Speaker 1: we were only about a year removed from thinking they're handing.
[12:01] Speaker 2: The keys over to JJ McCarthy.
[12:03] Speaker 1: That bet kind of made sense at the time that
[12:05] Speaker 1: they get rid of Darnold and now he's here just
[12:08] Speaker 1: trying to keep his Vikings career really alive. I think
[12:11] Speaker 1: there is a scenario where he is not on the
[12:13] Speaker 1: team by the end of training camp if someone wants
[12:17] Speaker 1: to trade for him, and it's just clear that Kyler
[12:20] Speaker 1: and Carson Wentz, who's also on the roster, just make
[12:23] Speaker 1: more sense as a one to two.
[12:24] Speaker 3: Yeah, this one speaks I think too, where this franchise
[12:27] Speaker 3: is currently in their timeline, which is that they expect
[12:29] Speaker 3: to compete for a playoff spot, and they'll point to
[12:31] Speaker 3: the fact they won nine games last year with no
[12:33] Speaker 3: reliability at the quarterback position as the main reason for
[12:35] Speaker 3: them to have that sense of urgency. And it does
[12:37] Speaker 3: feel like Kyler's just going to end up winning this
[12:39] Speaker 3: job very quickly, and that the competition is more of
[12:43] Speaker 3: a charade than an actual competition. And I also like
[12:47] Speaker 3: to sometimes try to find some clues in the tea leaves.
[12:50] Speaker 3: Tea leaves being promotional photos and as what I most
[12:53] Speaker 3: recently saw, they're taking photos of both Kyler and JJ.
[12:57] Speaker 3: So not decided yet, but I think it's going to
[13:00] Speaker 3: be Tayler's job.
[13:01] Speaker 1: No, They're going to have to walk that line, and
[13:03] Speaker 1: it's going to be a really fun one to watch.
[13:05] Speaker 1: That's the thing is it's consequential. All these are consequential
[13:09] Speaker 1: because it's starting quarterbacks, of course, but specifically in the
[13:12] Speaker 1: case of the Vikings, there is a scenario where they
[13:16] Speaker 1: hit their peak this year, Like their number three wide
[13:19] Speaker 1: receiver is Juan Jennings behind Addison and Jefferson. Their defense
[13:25] Speaker 1: could be top five in the NFL. There is a
[13:27] Speaker 1: scenario where they're winning that division, where they have a
[13:29] Speaker 1: home game in the playoffs, where they're at three seeds
[13:31] Speaker 1: something like that, and so that obviously makes it more interesting.
[13:35] Speaker 1: But you never know. Maybe JJ McCarthy could shock us.
[13:39] Speaker 1: All all right, those are the quarterbacks. I'll leave the
[13:40] Speaker 1: other quarterback battles for a minute just to not only
[13:43] Speaker 1: talk quarterbacks at the top. How about the only guy
[13:47] Speaker 1: in one of our top thirty two rankings that's involved
[13:51] Speaker 1: in one of these early position battles Eagles Edge j
[13:56] Speaker 1: Loox Hunt versus Nolan Smith. I'm putting that as the
[13:58] Speaker 1: number fourgan position battle just because these guys are good.
[14:02] Speaker 1: Like I took Jalx Hunt at one of my top
[14:04] Speaker 1: thirty two pass rushers. He's not even guaranteed to necessarily
[14:07] Speaker 1: start because Nolan Smith played a lot of good downs.
[14:09] Speaker 1: You have Jonathan Grenard on the other side. It is
[14:12] Speaker 1: a very deep position. They also signed Arnold Ebachetti, Like
[14:16] Speaker 1: you have numbers there, but that's something I know Eagles
[14:20] Speaker 1: fans and certainly the reporters are going to be kind
[14:22] Speaker 1: of tracking who has the lead there between Hunt and
[14:24] Speaker 1: Nolan Smith.
[14:25] Speaker 3: As a starter, and it's really fascinating because there's so
[14:27] Speaker 3: many different elements involved. You speak about the depth, you
[14:30] Speaker 3: also look to the numbers in the production. Last year,
[14:33] Speaker 3: like Jalox Hunt played nearly two hundred and fifty more
[14:35] Speaker 3: snaps than Nolan Smith did. Last year, he had one
[14:37] Speaker 3: hundred and sixteen more pass rushing snaps, He had a
[14:39] Speaker 3: higher quarterback pressure percentage, He had more than twice as
[14:42] Speaker 3: many sacks. Run stop percentage was about the same. The
[14:45] Speaker 3: next gen numbers favor jalox Hunt. The PFF grades favor
[14:49] Speaker 3: Nolan Smith. So then you go, how do we drill
[14:53] Speaker 3: down on this further and figure out exactly what's going on.
[14:55] Speaker 3: Let's go to contracts, all right, Well, Nolan Smith former
[14:58] Speaker 3: first round pick Jalox Hunt, year later, third round pick
[15:01] Speaker 3: Nolan Smith do to make thirteen point seventy five million
[15:04] Speaker 3: dollars next year on the fifth year option. Jalox Hunt
[15:07] Speaker 3: a lot a lot more cost controlled at one point
[15:10] Speaker 3: seven nine million dollars next year. So if it becomes
[15:13] Speaker 3: a financial thing, where do we save money here or there,
[15:15] Speaker 3: or where do we have to spend more money or
[15:17] Speaker 3: because we've already dedicated that money to this guy, this
[15:19] Speaker 3: guy needs to play more. That becomes an important element
[15:23] Speaker 3: in this entire equation, or it becomes one of those
[15:25] Speaker 3: things where you just ride the hot hand. Maybe they
[15:28] Speaker 3: both have good camps in preseasons and you start one
[15:30] Speaker 3: here and you just hope that he plays well, and
[15:32] Speaker 3: if he doesn't, you rotate him in and out. Like
[15:34] Speaker 3: there's a lot of different avenues and directions in which
[15:36] Speaker 3: this could go. But it's a good problem for the
[15:37] Speaker 3: Eagles to have, especially given that you know they've kind
[15:40] Speaker 3: of turned over that position a decent amount over the
[15:42] Speaker 3: last few years. I'm excited to see how this one
[15:44] Speaker 3: plays out.
[15:45] Speaker 2: I sort of.
[15:45] Speaker 1: Forgot Ajpines is on that team too, so they have
[15:48] Speaker 1: like five different edges if you want to call.
[15:50] Speaker 3: A different guy than those two guys, though very different.
[15:52] Speaker 1: Nolan Smith is a guy who made a big impact
[15:55] Speaker 1: two years ago when they won the Super Bowl.
[15:57] Speaker 2: Made a big impact in the Super Bowl. So did
[15:59] Speaker 2: jalox Hunt, and the.
[16:00] Speaker 1: Fact that they picked up the fifth year option is
[16:03] Speaker 1: a show of confidence. But I think jay loox Hunt
[16:05] Speaker 1: is more likely to get that long term money than
[16:08] Speaker 1: Nolan Smith is, and I think it's more likely that
[16:11] Speaker 1: only one of them gets it. From them than both
[16:13] Speaker 1: of them, because it's just tough to pay everyone. Number
[16:15] Speaker 1: five on my list is a guy who I saw
[16:17] Speaker 1: on the news a little bit over the weekend, so
[16:19] Speaker 1: I just decided to move him up the board. It's
[16:21] Speaker 1: the Giants running back competition. People just assume in fantasy leagues.
[16:25] Speaker 1: It seems like the cam Skattaboo is going to be fine,
[16:27] Speaker 1: But that is a massive injury he's coming back from.
[16:29] Speaker 2: He's hoping to be ready for the start of training camp.
[16:32] Speaker 1: But Tyrone Tracy is there, Devin Singletary is there, and
[16:35] Speaker 1: they might split up the carries and it might be
[16:38] Speaker 1: more about just seeing if Skataboo is healthy. And it
[16:40] Speaker 1: doesn't make you feel great if you're a Skataboo guy
[16:44] Speaker 1: to see him doing a backflip that he can't even
[16:46] Speaker 1: land at the Fanatics disaster over the week and I
[16:50] Speaker 1: don't know what I call it disaffler just because Logan
[16:53] Speaker 1: Paul and Tom Brady are pretending like.
[16:54] Speaker 2: They're going to do a WWE fight, Just come on, Tom.
[16:58] Speaker 1: Disappointing scatabo thing though, cracked me out, but he's like,
[17:01] Speaker 1: I'm fine. The next day he said he's fine. But
[17:04] Speaker 1: you do wonder if this is the guy that's going
[17:06] Speaker 1: to be able to stay healthy.
[17:08] Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, I don't think any uh, any front office
[17:12] Speaker 3: guy is excited to see one of his, you know,
[17:14] Speaker 3: lead running backs doing a backflip at an event in
[17:16] Speaker 3: July somewhere and of injury. It was okay, but yeah,
[17:21] Speaker 3: that's fine. But it was as soon as I saw
[17:23] Speaker 3: him hit the ground hard and kind of fall over,
[17:24] Speaker 3: I was like, oh, no, oh no, let's not have
[17:26] Speaker 3: another injury, not off after what happened last season. But
[17:29] Speaker 3: it's a really interesting backfield, I think because there are
[17:32] Speaker 3: some parallels to the last time the Giants were really great,
[17:36] Speaker 3: which is the earth, wind and fire backfield of the
[17:38] Speaker 3: two thousand and eight Giants, which was you know, Brandon Jacobs,
[17:40] Speaker 3: Derek Ward and a mod Bradshot. Because I think this
[17:42] Speaker 3: whole backfield kind of could take on that identity with Skataboo,
[17:45] Speaker 3: Tyrone Tracy and Devin Singletary. Last year, it felt like
[17:48] Speaker 3: it was kind of Tyrone Tracy's backfield until the Skataboo.
[17:51] Speaker 3: I don't know if i'd call it emergence, but him
[17:53] Speaker 3: and Jackson Dart felt like they breathed new life into
[17:55] Speaker 3: this team until Scataboo goes down, then it really became
[17:58] Speaker 3: Tracy's backfield is in there as you know, an experienced
[18:02] Speaker 3: option that you know can do a lot of different things.
[18:03] Speaker 3: So I think that the depth is good for them.
[18:05] Speaker 3: They want it to lean on any of these guys primarily,
[18:07] Speaker 3: they'll be able to kind of do different things. Given
[18:10] Speaker 3: which running back they want to put back there, there's
[18:12] Speaker 3: an opportunity to run two back sets if they want to.
[18:14] Speaker 3: There's a lot of flexibility there, and so I don't
[18:17] Speaker 3: think I necessarily need to sort it out. I think
[18:19] Speaker 3: I'm more excited about the potential of the group overall.
[18:22] Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's the reason you should care is
[18:24] Speaker 1: probably more about fantasy. And Scataboo specifically coming off a
[18:29] Speaker 1: dislocation of an ankle in addition to the broken leg.
[18:32] Speaker 2: That's serious stuff.
[18:33] Speaker 1: And so that's a player I would be watching if
[18:36] Speaker 1: he gets some preseason reps or what the reports are,
[18:39] Speaker 1: just in terms of how he looks in camp.
[18:42] Speaker 2: I'm putting a cornerback battle, isn't it? My number six?
[18:45] Speaker 2: And Broncos fans.
[18:46] Speaker 1: Would probably rightly say that Riley Moss versus Jaday Baron
[18:50] Speaker 1: is not exactly a battle because Riley Moss is an
[18:53] Speaker 1: established starter and it'd be pretty shocking if he was
[18:57] Speaker 1: not the starter opening day opposite Patrick. Certain I buy
[19:02] Speaker 1: that to a point, but they took Today Baron in
[19:06] Speaker 1: the top twenty for a reason. And sometimes the biggest
[19:10] Speaker 1: jump you make is in your first real off season,
[19:14] Speaker 1: and that's what it is for Today Baron. Right now,
[19:16] Speaker 1: the Broncos have all but said they love Jakaon McMillan.
[19:19] Speaker 2: In terms of how he's played.
[19:20] Speaker 1: He's going to be the slot, so Baron is not
[19:22] Speaker 1: really playing that position and they have great depth at cornerback.
[19:27] Speaker 1: This is a great problem to have that you couldn't
[19:29] Speaker 1: get your first round pick on the field for more
[19:31] Speaker 1: than three hundred and four hundred snaps.
[19:33] Speaker 2: I just posit shook.
[19:35] Speaker 1: And this is why I think Broncos fans in and
[19:38] Speaker 1: regular fans should care about this too, because this is
[19:40] Speaker 1: a championship contender that if Baron comes out there in
[19:44] Speaker 1: plays to his absolute potential, and I know he fits
[19:47] Speaker 1: better maybe inside than as an outside corner, but they're
[19:49] Speaker 1: playing him outside like there has to be a world
[19:52] Speaker 1: where he's just a better player than Riley Moss and
[19:54] Speaker 1: they just want to get him on the field, and
[19:55] Speaker 1: it stinks for Moss, who's a good player and is
[19:58] Speaker 1: going to be entering his free agent year, But that
[20:00] Speaker 1: Baron just takes that job no matter what they're saying
[20:03] Speaker 1: publicly and in terms of all the reporting that's gone
[20:05] Speaker 1: on so far.
[20:06] Speaker 3: It's one of the higher pressure situations for a second
[20:08] Speaker 3: corner to enter in the NFL because you're playing opposite
[20:11] Speaker 3: patz Artan, which means you're going to see a ton
[20:13] Speaker 3: of targets. And Rally Moss saw the most targets in
[20:15] Speaker 3: the NFL last year at one hundred and sixteen, and
[20:18] Speaker 3: the numbers that he put up were pretty solid for
[20:20] Speaker 3: the most part. You know, he tied for first in
[20:22] Speaker 3: the NFL with Carolina's Mike Jackson. And passes defense at
[20:25] Speaker 3: nineteen ballhawk right was decent at sixteen point four percent.
[20:28] Speaker 3: Not as good as Mike Jackson, but that was a
[20:30] Speaker 3: completely different defense in situation that Jackson's operating in. If
[20:33] Speaker 3: you're trying to find some comparisons, a lot of man
[20:35] Speaker 3: coverage out there, which is where Rally Moss thrived. He
[20:38] Speaker 3: had a really good separation average separation window it was
[20:40] Speaker 3: like less than three yards. His tight coverage percent was
[20:43] Speaker 3: really good too, Like he was consistent in being in
[20:45] Speaker 3: tight coverage. But what he had a problem with was penalties.
[20:47] Speaker 3: Twelve penalties last year. It became, you know, a running
[20:50] Speaker 3: theme with him in this Broncos defense. And if you're
[20:52] Speaker 3: looking for another you know, say he piles up a
[20:56] Speaker 3: bunch of penalties again early in the season, Well you
[20:58] Speaker 3: have a guy that you can easily roll out there
[21:00] Speaker 3: to replace him. So I think what we're gonna get
[21:02] Speaker 3: is somebody in a contract year who they trust to
[21:04] Speaker 3: play a solid number two corner in Riley Moss, and
[21:07] Speaker 3: they're going to find every avenue possible to get Baron
[21:09] Speaker 3: out there. And I thought what Sean Payton said about
[21:12] Speaker 3: Baron during OTAs is interesting. He said, I quote, I
[21:15] Speaker 3: think there will be two things. A he has position
[21:17] Speaker 3: flex inside and out. Then there will be packages where
[21:20] Speaker 3: I'm sure he's in where I'm sure we're in throwing situations.
[21:22] Speaker 3: Vance and those guys are going to look at what
[21:24] Speaker 3: we're wanting to do with our people. But he said
[21:26] Speaker 3: he's out there in competing and doing good. He sounds
[21:28] Speaker 3: like he's high on him. He said he's wise beyond
[21:30] Speaker 3: his ears. All these things that are typical of a
[21:32] Speaker 3: second year player getting ready to make that jump. It's
[21:34] Speaker 3: just that we haven't been able to see him do
[21:36] Speaker 3: it last you know, so far he played thirty percent
[21:38] Speaker 3: of defensive snaps last year. He just wasn't on the
[21:40] Speaker 3: field all that much because they didn't need him to be.
[21:42] Speaker 3: So I'm curious, because of what you said about McMillan
[21:45] Speaker 3: and how they love him at the slot, do they
[21:47] Speaker 3: find a way to force Baron on the field or
[21:49] Speaker 3: eventually do they just say, hey, we got to get
[21:51] Speaker 3: you out there in Riley Moss's spot, given that Riley
[21:53] Speaker 3: Moss is on a contract year and you are our future.
[21:56] Speaker 3: So that's one that's going to be fun to watch
[21:58] Speaker 3: from the very beginning because I think going to see
[22:00] Speaker 3: a lot of both of them with the idea that
[22:02] Speaker 3: eventually this should be Baron's job if he can go
[22:04] Speaker 3: out there and take look.
[22:06] Speaker 1: And they are a team that's going to be among
[22:08] Speaker 1: the AFC favorites, and it's a good problem to have
[22:10] Speaker 1: they have.
[22:11] Speaker 2: They have a couple of safeties.
[22:12] Speaker 1: In Hufunga and Brandon Jones, who they love, but you
[22:14] Speaker 1: can you can use Baron in a few different ways,
[22:17] Speaker 1: so it's maybe not as simple as Moss versus Baron Dott.
[22:19] Speaker 1: I'm just saying, if a guy that talented the light
[22:22] Speaker 1: goes off, then suddenly he might be on the field.
[22:25] Speaker 2: All right.
[22:26] Speaker 1: Our next three are what I'm calling wide receiver more asses.
[22:31] Speaker 1: We you know, you don't really use that word more
[22:33] Speaker 1: ass how you pronounce it. It doesn't sound right, you know,
[22:36] Speaker 1: But it's just it's kind of like a confusing bog
[22:39] Speaker 1: of a wide receiver position at three different teams. I'm
[22:42] Speaker 1: going to throw out Washington after Terry McLaurin. Uh, there's
[22:46] Speaker 1: just a group of players. Treylon Burks, their rookie, Antonio
[22:50] Speaker 1: Williams free agent. They brought back Diami Brown, Luke McCaffrey's
[22:55] Speaker 1: relatively high pick that's been around for a while. Jalen
[22:58] Speaker 1: Lane is another one that's been around. Van Jefferson is
[23:01] Speaker 1: on this team. They just have to figure out what's
[23:03] Speaker 1: going on. After Terry McLaurin again, Shook, I'm going to
[23:06] Speaker 1: list a lot of names here the Giants wide receiver
[23:08] Speaker 1: situation until Malik Neighbors gets back on the field.
[23:12] Speaker 2: These are their receivers.
[23:13] Speaker 1: I've never listed so many players, you know, but you
[23:16] Speaker 1: have no idea if they're even going to make the team.
[23:18] Speaker 1: It's outrageous. Darius Slayton, you would figure, is pretty locked in.
[23:21] Speaker 1: After that, It's Malachi Fields, the rookie. Darnell Mooney's on
[23:25] Speaker 1: this team. Juju Smith Schuster's on this team. Odell Beckham's
[23:30] Speaker 1: on this team. Braxon Barrios is on this team. He's
[23:33] Speaker 1: a special teamer. Jalen Hyatt was a high pick pretty recently.
[23:37] Speaker 1: You never know he could bounce back. I threw an
[23:39] Speaker 1: Xavier Gibson, who is a pretty good return man for
[23:42] Speaker 1: the Jets for a while.
[23:43] Speaker 2: He's around.
[23:43] Speaker 1: Isaiah Hodgens has actually been their second or third receiver
[23:46] Speaker 1: at various and I mean, this is just an insane
[23:50] Speaker 1: group of receivers. And until Neighbors is back on the field,
[23:54] Speaker 1: this is all their receivers. And they basically have to
[23:57] Speaker 1: figure out with the new John Harbaugh Naggie's staff, what
[24:01] Speaker 1: is the order going to be? Can we really have
[24:04] Speaker 1: Odell be our third receiver? Like is Mooney like the
[24:08] Speaker 1: number one slash two? I just don't know as a
[24:11] Speaker 1: rookie gonna show up in terms of field. It's just
[24:13] Speaker 1: totally wide open in terms of their receiver. I'll stop
[24:17] Speaker 1: there because that's a lot of names between Washington and
[24:19] Speaker 1: the Giants, which intrigues you more.
[24:22] Speaker 3: I think that it's gotta be the Giants, just because
[24:25] Speaker 3: I have no idea how they're going to actually sort
[24:26] Speaker 3: all of this out, and because ideally their top two
[24:30] Speaker 3: once neighbors is back, is pretty set in stone, and
[24:33] Speaker 3: the rest of us just like figure out who's had
[24:36] Speaker 3: a good camp and who we believe in from the
[24:38] Speaker 3: short end maybe long term. We're also entering a season
[24:41] Speaker 3: with a team that has the same front office but
[24:43] Speaker 3: a new coaching staff. So you are thinking, like, Okay,
[24:46] Speaker 3: some guys like Jalen Hyatt, for example, typically in past
[24:49] Speaker 3: years with the same front office and coaching staff, there
[24:52] Speaker 3: would be a little bit more leeway. We have to
[24:54] Speaker 3: justify this pick. We give him more runway to prove
[24:56] Speaker 3: that he is going to be on this team, that
[24:58] Speaker 3: he deserves a place on this team. Well, now you
[25:00] Speaker 3: got the same front office but a new head coach,
[25:03] Speaker 3: so you're not in lockstep in that area. If the
[25:05] Speaker 3: coach says he's not cutting it, guess what, I don't care.
[25:07] Speaker 3: If that was a pick you made, he's not good
[25:09] Speaker 3: enough to make my team, He's out of here. So
[25:11] Speaker 3: I think his margin for air is much slimmer. But
[25:13] Speaker 3: you go through the rest of that group and you're
[25:15] Speaker 3: looking at like Malachai Fields and you're looking at that
[25:17] Speaker 3: like Darnell Mooney, two very different players, and there's places
[25:20] Speaker 3: in their career at this point. You look at Juju,
[25:22] Speaker 3: who I feel like has been on nine teams now
[25:24] Speaker 3: but continues to find jobs. Odell does he have anything
[25:26] Speaker 3: left in the tank? Why did they sign Odell and
[25:29] Speaker 3: Braxton Burios on the same day, Like, there's so many
[25:32] Speaker 3: questions to answer here and to figure out where they
[25:34] Speaker 3: fit into the system, and we don't really know that
[25:35] Speaker 3: much because it's the new staff. So I'm fascinated to
[25:39] Speaker 3: see how this plays out, and I have a tough
[25:41] Speaker 3: time projecting exactly how it's going to because a so
[25:44] Speaker 3: many recognizable names, all in different places in their career,
[25:47] Speaker 3: and I just don't know exactly how they're going to
[25:49] Speaker 3: work with Jackson Dart in this entire offense.
[25:51] Speaker 1: I checked the pronunciation at least from the dictionary, and
[25:55] Speaker 1: I think it would be morass morass, Okay, so.
[25:57] Speaker 3: We need like a flatter Oh yeah, but.
[26:00] Speaker 1: You can say the end of the word and yeah,
[26:02] Speaker 1: I'd throw the dolphins entire receiver group in the mix.
[26:05] Speaker 1: I just kind of grouped these three together because it's
[26:07] Speaker 1: just like three groups that are kind of a mess. Yeah,
[26:10] Speaker 1: from top to bottom, you have Jalen Tolbert who used
[26:12] Speaker 1: to be on the Colbert and the Cowboys. You have
[26:15] Speaker 1: Malik Washington who's been there a couple of years. You
[26:17] Speaker 1: have a couple of rookies, and Caleb Douglas and Chris
[26:20] Speaker 1: Bell who's coming off an injury, Taj Washington, Terris Marshall,
[26:24] Speaker 1: who knows what's going to happen there. Let's wrap up
[26:26] Speaker 1: before the break with the last two quarterback battles. In
[26:28] Speaker 1: terms of starters, I put your boys Deshaun Watson and
[26:32] Speaker 1: Shadarra Sanders here with Cleveland, and then the Arizona quarterback
[26:37] Speaker 1: battle is open Jacoby Brissett and Garson Beck and Gardner Minshew.
[26:44] Speaker 2: What do you think there?
[26:46] Speaker 3: I think the Browns are going to do everything in
[26:48] Speaker 3: their power and I think I've said this for a
[26:49] Speaker 3: while now to make Deshaun Watson give you one. And
[26:52] Speaker 3: I think that they're gonna say everything that they need
[26:54] Speaker 3: to say to push the propaganda machine in that direction.
[26:58] Speaker 3: And it's not until they take the field the preseason
[27:00] Speaker 3: where they're actually going to be held accountable for that,
[27:02] Speaker 3: and they have to be honest about where they are
[27:04] Speaker 3: in that battle. It's a low ceiling battle. I'm not
[27:07] Speaker 3: excited to see how it plays out. I just know
[27:09] Speaker 3: that's their best two options, and I'm pretty sure that
[27:11] Speaker 3: neither of them are going to be their option going
[27:13] Speaker 3: into twenty twenty seven, So it doesn't really matter all
[27:15] Speaker 3: that much to me other than the fact that it's
[27:17] Speaker 3: going to be what they have this year. I'm much
[27:19] Speaker 3: more intrigued by the Cardinal situation, not because that team's
[27:21] Speaker 3: going to be in a bit any better. I think
[27:22] Speaker 3: they're actually gonna be worse, but because we have a
[27:24] Speaker 3: nice little comparison between journeyman veteran who's proven to be
[27:27] Speaker 3: a very he's a plus backup, He's a guy that
[27:29] Speaker 3: you can count on. He's a guy that actually generated
[27:31] Speaker 3: more offense and more successful you last year than he
[27:33] Speaker 3: did with Kyler Murray versus Gardner Minshew, who's a backup
[27:37] Speaker 3: that I would like to have on my team, but
[27:39] Speaker 3: I'm not excited about starting him. And then there's the unknown,
[27:42] Speaker 3: and his name's Carson Beck, and nobody would have thought
[27:45] Speaker 3: that he would even be in the consideration for a
[27:47] Speaker 3: starting job at this time if he hadn't led Miami
[27:49] Speaker 3: to the National championship last year. And I got a
[27:51] Speaker 3: weird feeling that it's going to be Jacobe's job and
[27:54] Speaker 3: at some point in this struggle filled season that they're
[27:56] Speaker 3: about to embark upon Carson Beck's going to see the field.
[28:00] Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you should care about it because the
[28:02] Speaker 1: Cardinals are better than you realize. I think I think
[28:06] Speaker 1: if they were in the NFC South, you convinced me
[28:10] Speaker 1: that they could come in second place. I don't think
[28:12] Speaker 1: this is a bad roster. I think the offensive line
[28:14] Speaker 1: has potential. I think the skill position to group outside
[28:16] Speaker 1: a quarterback is good. And Mike Lafleur, it's a little
[28:21] Speaker 1: bit of an early test of his coaching ability. We've
[28:24] Speaker 1: seen coaches like Shane Steiken lift up Jacoby Brissett Frank
[28:29] Speaker 1: Reich like we've seen Jacoby Brissette put up numbers with
[28:32] Speaker 1: the right coach, and so if he's out there with
[28:36] Speaker 1: this talent, I think they could be an entertaining offense.
[28:38] Speaker 1: Their schedule is brutal. We talked about it on our
[28:40] Speaker 1: last show. That's the hardest schedule in the league, and
[28:43] Speaker 1: so they're not going to end up with a great
[28:45] Speaker 1: win loss record, but I think they could be watchable,
[28:47] Speaker 1: more watchable with Jacoby or Minshew for that matter, than
[28:50] Speaker 1: I think they would be with Carson Beck. But will
[28:53] Speaker 1: be tracking the rookies development in training camp too, because again,
[28:57] Speaker 1: when it comes to rookies, especially mid round guys, you're
[29:00] Speaker 1: kind of battling against. Yeah, the mid season version of
[29:03] Speaker 1: whatever Jacoby Brissett looks like. Is it worth taking a
[29:06] Speaker 1: look at Carson Beck. I think you're absolutely right. And
[29:08] Speaker 1: when it comes to the Browns and should like, hey,
[29:11] Speaker 1: surprise me kid, you know, I think he could at
[29:13] Speaker 1: least be more entertaining than Deshaun Watson would be. And
[29:17] Speaker 1: if look, if they're going to be talking about Shoulder
[29:20] Speaker 1: on ESPN every day, well we'll try not to over
[29:23] Speaker 1: talk about him here, but I'm gonna watch every game anyways, shook,
[29:28] Speaker 1: and so I want to be as entertaining and watchable
[29:31] Speaker 1: as possible. I think there's a better chance for that
[29:35] Speaker 1: with Schaudur this season for Cleveland. You never know, the
[29:39] Speaker 1: better the Browns are, the better the press conferences are
[29:42] Speaker 1: going to be for Todd Monkin, and I think that.
[29:44] Speaker 3: Would Oh, you know what, I like that. That's a
[29:47] Speaker 3: good reason to hope that they have a little bit
[29:49] Speaker 3: of success. I don't think they're going to, but that's
[29:51] Speaker 3: a good reason to want them to win some games.
[29:54] Speaker 2: All right, let's take a quick break.
[29:55] Speaker 1: We're going to come back and fly through the rest
[29:58] Speaker 1: of our top position Battle of the twenty twenty six
[30:02] Speaker 1: training camp. It's just a few days away. Back on
[30:13] Speaker 1: NFL Daily Cardinals Panthers Hall of Fame game. It's July twentieth.
[30:23] Speaker 1: If it feels to anyone listening like we should be
[30:28] Speaker 1: further along at this point, you're right. Training camp is
[30:31] Speaker 1: starting on like the latest day possible because of just
[30:36] Speaker 1: how the.
[30:36] Speaker 2: Calendar fell this year.
[30:38] Speaker 1: Now with the teams going over to Australia, those teams
[30:41] Speaker 1: are starting a little early. The Patriots and the Seahawks
[30:44] Speaker 1: are on a Wednesday, so they're coming earlier. But if
[30:46] Speaker 1: you compare it to last year, you know, teams were
[30:49] Speaker 1: already showing up for the most part. The rest of
[30:52] Speaker 1: the NFL will be showing up over the weekend this week,
[30:56] Speaker 1: some of the teams come and start training camp, but
[30:58] Speaker 1: it is about as latest as we ever had, which
[31:01] Speaker 1: gave us a little more time to prep this list.
[31:03] Speaker 1: I got seventy position battles written down, shook, I think
[31:07] Speaker 1: we'll get to thirty five that are maybe worthy of
[31:09] Speaker 1: mentioning on the show. This is where I started to
[31:11] Speaker 1: get dorky. I kind of am into a couple of
[31:13] Speaker 1: linebacker battles with the Dolphins. Jacob Rodriguez is a rookie
[31:18] Speaker 1: that I really am curious to see how he fits
[31:21] Speaker 1: at the NFL level. He could start next to Jordan Brooks,
[31:24] Speaker 1: but first he has to beat out either Tyrel Dodson,
[31:27] Speaker 1: who used to be with the Bills and has been
[31:29] Speaker 1: there for a little while, or Kyle Lewis is there,
[31:32] Speaker 1: who is also kind of an interesting prospect. I don't
[31:34] Speaker 1: know if you had any takes on the Indiana product,
[31:36] Speaker 1: but that's kind of a fun little group. I would
[31:38] Speaker 1: assume Rodriguez is the favorite there to start, but that's
[31:41] Speaker 1: something I'll be tracking.
[31:42] Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm curious to see exactly how they deploy Kyle
[31:45] Speaker 3: Lewis because he's like six feet like what is he
[31:47] Speaker 3: two hundred pounds two twenty and he kind of projects
[31:51] Speaker 3: more to me as kind of like a box safety
[31:54] Speaker 3: than a traditional linebacker, Like he worked out with the
[31:56] Speaker 3: linebackers of the combine. He's listed as a linebacker. I
[31:58] Speaker 3: see him as a sub package linebacker or not as
[32:00] Speaker 3: somebody who's playing you know, first and second down, although
[32:03] Speaker 3: the majority of defense is now operating subpackages, so I
[32:05] Speaker 3: guess it's kind of an example of the evolution of
[32:08] Speaker 3: the position, I think. But it's an interesting group on
[32:11] Speaker 3: a team that I don't expect to be very good,
[32:12] Speaker 3: but does have some intriguing players. Because Jordan Brooks is
[32:16] Speaker 3: a noted pillar of how they're going to rebuild this team.
[32:19] Speaker 3: Jacob Rodriguez would probably be a first round linebacker in
[32:22] Speaker 3: most other classes that don't include rvil recent sunny styles,
[32:26] Speaker 3: and so I think that he's actually going to come
[32:27] Speaker 3: in with some pretty high expectations, just a matter of
[32:29] Speaker 3: figuring out exactly how they all slot. And in Dodson
[32:31] Speaker 3: as a veteran who was pretty productive for them last year.
[32:34] Speaker 3: All things considered, I think it's one of the few
[32:36] Speaker 3: position groups so they actually have some pretty good depth,
[32:39] Speaker 3: and it's a good problem to have that they have
[32:40] Speaker 3: to sort these guys out, and I expect all of
[32:42] Speaker 3: them to play. I just think that Lewis will be
[32:44] Speaker 3: more in a specialized role than somebody is going to
[32:47] Speaker 3: see a ton of snaps.
[32:49] Speaker 1: Yeah, there are so many Dolphins positions that are wide open,
[32:51] Speaker 1: but this is the one where it's like, oh, these
[32:53] Speaker 1: I'm actually intrigued by these.
[32:55] Speaker 3: With these guys.
[32:56] Speaker 1: Yeah, cornerback is way down my list where it's just
[32:58] Speaker 1: a million guys that should not be competing to possibly
[33:01] Speaker 1: be their number one cornerback. The other linebacker spot that
[33:04] Speaker 1: intrigues me is in Dallas, where they're probably going to
[33:09] Speaker 1: start to marve on overshown as their middle linebacker and
[33:12] Speaker 1: have the green dot in this helmet, but it's not guaranteed.
[33:15] Speaker 1: And there's just an intriguing group there with him, de Winters,
[33:18] Speaker 1: who they traded for from San Francisco, Jayshaun Barram, who
[33:22] Speaker 1: was one of our guys, Ali Connelly's favorite draft prospects.
[33:26] Speaker 1: Chamar James is another veteran that's been around, and so
[33:29] Speaker 1: just shake all those up. It's a brand new offense
[33:32] Speaker 1: defense rather with Christian Parker, and I think sometimes with
[33:36] Speaker 1: new coordinators you have surprising results. So that's what I'm
[33:38] Speaker 1: going to keep an eye on. My next group is
[33:40] Speaker 1: a ton of offensive line positions, and I'll start with
[33:43] Speaker 1: the Cowboys who say that their first round pick from
[33:46] Speaker 1: a couple of years ago, Tyler Geyton, is going up
[33:49] Speaker 1: against Nate Thomas, who played some for them last year,
[33:52] Speaker 1: and that it is in open competition.
[33:54] Speaker 2: So whenever you.
[33:54] Speaker 1: Get like a left tackle spot that's open on a
[33:58] Speaker 1: quality team, to me, at Matt the Bears left tackle
[34:01] Speaker 1: spot is open. Braxton Jones is back and is probably
[34:03] Speaker 1: the favorite over Jedrick Wills and Theo Benedict who are
[34:07] Speaker 1: behind him. They just keep resigning Braxton Jones even though
[34:10] Speaker 1: they always wanted to replace him. And then the Panthers,
[34:13] Speaker 1: their left tackle spot is pretty open with Rashid Walker,
[34:16] Speaker 1: who was a free agent pickup, and then Monroe Freeling,
[34:19] Speaker 1: who was their first round draft pick. You would think
[34:22] Speaker 1: is the favorite, but you never know, they might bring
[34:24] Speaker 1: him along slowly. So those are three teams that are
[34:26] Speaker 1: trying to compete this year that have left tackle spots
[34:28] Speaker 1: open for you, Which one of those stand out to
[34:30] Speaker 1: you the most.
[34:31] Speaker 3: I think the Cowboys talking about Moble competition is them
[34:33] Speaker 3: trying to push Tyler Gutton to take the next step.
[34:35] Speaker 3: I don't think that it's actually a legit competition based
[34:37] Speaker 3: on what they saw from Thomas last year. Maybe I
[34:39] Speaker 3: could be wrong. Rashid Walker versus Monroe Freeling is pretty
[34:44] Speaker 3: wide open because Freeling comes into the NFL, you know,
[34:48] Speaker 3: with a pretty high reputation as a rookie, whereas Walker
[34:51] Speaker 3: was a guy who a lot of people thought was
[34:52] Speaker 3: going to get a pretty big deal in free agency
[34:54] Speaker 3: and did it and just lasted out there and lasted
[34:57] Speaker 3: and lasted and finally ended up in Carolina, which kind
[35:00] Speaker 3: of speaks to how the league views him versus how
[35:01] Speaker 3: maybe we view him. And I have no idea exactly
[35:05] Speaker 3: which direction that's gonna go, because they're also in a
[35:07] Speaker 3: situation where they're kind of just trying to figure out
[35:10] Speaker 3: who's going to play in place of ikey Ikuanu for now,
[35:13] Speaker 3: right maybe not long term, could be, you know, it
[35:16] Speaker 3: could be wide open long term, but for now and
[35:18] Speaker 3: then the last one the Bears. I don't think Jed
[35:20] Speaker 3: will is going to compete, seriously, he didn't play football
[35:22] Speaker 3: last year. His final year with the Browns was not good,
[35:26] Speaker 3: and I think that that's probably Braxton Jones's job. But
[35:29] Speaker 3: it's good for them to have some depth there, you know,
[35:32] Speaker 3: considering some of the injuries that they dealt with, upfront
[35:35] Speaker 3: last year and a team that comes in with high expectations.
[35:39] Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm kind of the flip side.
[35:41] Speaker 1: Another similar spot is the Lions right tackle, where Blake
[35:45] Speaker 1: Miller I assume was going to be penciled in as
[35:47] Speaker 1: their right tackle of the future. He's their first round pick,
[35:51] Speaker 1: he fits the profile in Detroit. I would consider him
[35:54] Speaker 1: the favorite, but the local reporting says that Larry Borum,
[35:57] Speaker 1: the veteran, will have a chance to win that job.
[36:00] Speaker 1: That's just something to keep an eye. You never know
[36:01] Speaker 1: which rookies are going to show up and just not
[36:04] Speaker 1: be ready for pro football. And so that's what training
[36:07] Speaker 1: camp is for. And then I threw in the Patriots
[36:09] Speaker 1: first round pick to Caleb Lomu, who's taken snaps at
[36:13] Speaker 1: right tackle in the off season, but also took some
[36:16] Speaker 1: snaps at left tackle, where Will Campbell is going to be.
[36:21] Speaker 1: And so it's Morgan Moses is the veteran there who's
[36:24] Speaker 1: going to have a lot of veteran days off. He's older,
[36:26] Speaker 1: and there's just a scenario where if Lomo looks awesome,
[36:32] Speaker 1: that they're ready to kick Will Campbell inside. I really
[36:34] Speaker 1: doubt that's going to happen this offseason. But it's just
[36:36] Speaker 1: kind of figuring out where Lomu fits for the Patriots.
[36:40] Speaker 3: I don't like to sit back and be like I
[36:42] Speaker 3: was right all the time, although I do it occasionally,
[36:45] Speaker 3: but I do feel like the entire football world needed
[36:48] Speaker 3: the Super Bowl to then get on the Will Campbell
[36:50] Speaker 3: move to guard train, and now they won't let it go.
[36:53] Speaker 3: And I think that even the Patriots drafted if with
[36:56] Speaker 3: that kind of in mind, like maybe this is what
[36:58] Speaker 3: we do long term by selecting Lomu. I would be
[37:00] Speaker 3: very excited to see him coming to camp and just
[37:02] Speaker 3: tear it up right away, like that would be awesome, man,
[37:04] Speaker 3: given his background, you know, Utah offensive line and that
[37:07] Speaker 3: sort of thing, Like, I would be very excited to
[37:09] Speaker 3: see that type of player just instantly make a difference
[37:12] Speaker 3: and then also solve this issue because we're going to
[37:15] Speaker 3: continue to hear about this and it's not really even
[37:18] Speaker 3: a knock on Will Campbell. I've always said solid average
[37:22] Speaker 3: to solid tackle, but could be a very very good guard,
[37:25] Speaker 3: and I think that's still his long term path. Maybe
[37:27] Speaker 3: this is the first step toward that. Maybe they delay
[37:29] Speaker 3: it for another year, like you said, but the idea
[37:32] Speaker 3: that having another talented young guy in there to make
[37:34] Speaker 3: that happen. That's always going to catch my eye.
[37:36] Speaker 1: Yeah, injuries will play a big part there, Like if
[37:39] Speaker 1: Moses suddenly goes down, then it's all set.
[37:42] Speaker 2: Lomo is that right tackle.
[37:44] Speaker 1: But Will Campbell believers will tell you that he was
[37:47] Speaker 1: coming off knee injury in that playoff run when it
[37:49] Speaker 1: didn't look quite as good. So he's going to have
[37:51] Speaker 1: to prove, you know, he's healthy and looking good. The
[37:53] Speaker 1: other offensive line battle I thought was most interesting here
[37:57] Speaker 1: was the bear center where it could be the rookie
[37:59] Speaker 1: Logan Jones or Garrett Bradberry, the former Patriot who they
[38:02] Speaker 1: traded for. So that's one to keep an eye on there.
[38:04] Speaker 1: Let's go to some running back ones. I had four
[38:06] Speaker 1: running back battles that I thought were intriguing. I'm going
[38:09] Speaker 1: to make the case of why you should care about
[38:11] Speaker 1: the Chargers preseason. There is an assumption, including by me
[38:15] Speaker 1: when I took Omari and Hampton very high in our
[38:18] Speaker 1: running back draft, that he is the next big fantasy back.
[38:22] Speaker 1: I think that's very possible to even likely, but there
[38:28] Speaker 1: were times during his rookie year where he was a
[38:31] Speaker 1: little tentative. It is a new offense with Mike McDaniel
[38:35] Speaker 1: and Mike McDaniel in the past has liked to rotate
[38:38] Speaker 1: his backs until one really earned being the guy. And
[38:42] Speaker 1: the other two players in that backfield are Kamani Videl,
[38:46] Speaker 1: who is one of the best past protecting rookie backs
[38:48] Speaker 1: you'll ever want to see and it was a tough
[38:50] Speaker 1: player and a guy who can eat carries. And Keaton Mitchell,
[38:53] Speaker 1: a speedster who they handpicked in free agency to have
[38:57] Speaker 1: a role. So to me, marian and Hampton is going
[39:01] Speaker 1: to have a role, a big role, likely the starting
[39:04] Speaker 1: role on this team. But I do think how quickly
[39:07] Speaker 1: he can pick up the offense and look in some
[39:10] Speaker 1: preseason work will impact whether he's getting the line's share
[39:15] Speaker 1: of the carries or maybe they're going to spread it around.
[39:17] Speaker 1: That's going to affect not just a really good team
[39:19] Speaker 1: with the Chargers, but a lot of fantasy drafts.
[39:21] Speaker 3: I hope that those who went to the Mri and
[39:24] Speaker 3: Hampton experience last year got a nice dose of reality
[39:27] Speaker 3: in the fantasy world, which is that stop spending high
[39:30] Speaker 3: picks on rookies who haven't taken an NFL field yet.
[39:32] Speaker 3: Please please stop doing it. I hear it every year.
[39:35] Speaker 3: I have my friends be like, what do you think
[39:36] Speaker 3: about this rookie? Don't take rookies high. It's a blind selection.
[39:41] Speaker 3: Please don't do it. Having said that, his tentativeness from
[39:45] Speaker 3: last season, I think could partially be blamed on the
[39:47] Speaker 3: fact that he started the season injured. Like had. He
[39:49] Speaker 3: battled health issues for a good portion of his rookie
[39:52] Speaker 3: season before he was able to really hit the ground running.
[39:55] Speaker 3: And so if you give him an entire offseason to
[39:58] Speaker 3: really get acclimated to this new offense, I think that
[40:00] Speaker 3: he could really flourish in it because what you described
[40:03] Speaker 3: and the two guys behind him in community Vidal and
[40:05] Speaker 3: Keate and Mitchell are two very different styles of running backs.
[40:08] Speaker 3: Hampton is the perfect blend between the two, where he's
[40:10] Speaker 3: got speed and power, and I think that he could
[40:12] Speaker 3: be a force in Mike McDaniel's rushing attack. However, I
[40:16] Speaker 3: like the strengths of this entire backfield as a whole.
[40:19] Speaker 3: I love a good Mike McDaniel backfield that relies heavily
[40:23] Speaker 3: on different types of running backs who can be rotated
[40:25] Speaker 3: in and out and just thrive behind good blocking schemes
[40:28] Speaker 3: because that's what he's always been a master of. So
[40:30] Speaker 3: I would really love to see this offense run the
[40:32] Speaker 3: football this year, and I don't care who it is
[40:34] Speaker 3: running the ball, because they love to run it. That
[40:36] Speaker 3: they tried to establish as their identity. Even when they
[40:38] Speaker 3: lost their offensive line mostly the most of the offensive
[40:41] Speaker 3: line last year and couldn't do anything offensively, you come
[40:44] Speaker 3: back with the healthy offensive line on all of these
[40:45] Speaker 3: different types of running backs there, Let's pound the rock, baby,
[40:48] Speaker 3: like the hat says behind me that you can't really
[40:49] Speaker 3: see even if you're watching on YouTube. Run the damn ball,
[40:52] Speaker 3: Run the damn ball in LA.
[40:54] Speaker 1: Yeah, I listed that one high just because I think
[40:57] Speaker 1: these players are intriguing and I don't think it's as
[40:59] Speaker 1: much of a cinch for Hampton to wind up with
[41:03] Speaker 1: three hundred touches this year, such good players around him,
[41:06] Speaker 1: and so.
[41:06] Speaker 3: That that's a similar good problem to have.
[41:08] Speaker 2: Though, yes, it is a good problem to have.
[41:09] Speaker 1: And so that's similar to the other three quote unquote
[41:13] Speaker 1: battles that I listed here. I put the Commander's bucks
[41:15] Speaker 1: in Seahawks running back situation. It's just ones to keep
[41:18] Speaker 1: an eye with the bucks. You have Bucky Irving coming
[41:20] Speaker 1: off a bad year. You have Kenny Gainwell, who's making
[41:24] Speaker 1: a good amount of money, who I think is going
[41:26] Speaker 1: to have a big role. You gave Sean Tucker a
[41:28] Speaker 1: pretty aggressive tender in restricted free agency, making sure that
[41:33] Speaker 1: he stayed home, and so those three guys are kind
[41:36] Speaker 1: of figuring out the mix with this staff. Rashad White
[41:39] Speaker 1: and Bill Krofsky Merritt in Washington are going to figure out,
[41:42] Speaker 1: you know, what they're going to do. And Jerry McNichols
[41:45] Speaker 1: is still there. And then in Seattle I kind of
[41:48] Speaker 1: mentioned the battle of Jenarian Price was drafted too starts,
[41:51] Speaker 1: so he's got to prove that he can be that
[41:53] Speaker 1: guy right away. They also signed a veteran, Emmanuel Wilson,
[41:56] Speaker 1: who was last seen with the Packers. You had George
[41:59] Speaker 1: Hallani who was taken snaps in the Super Bowl, so
[42:01] Speaker 1: ye know that's that's where something. And then Zach Charbonny's
[42:04] Speaker 1: health is just something to watch there. And because it's
[42:07] Speaker 1: the Seahawks and the defending champs, everything matters a little more.
[42:10] Speaker 1: But I think all three of those spots are fairly
[42:14] Speaker 1: open in terms of figuring out like what the in
[42:18] Speaker 1: terms of participation of each one of those running backs
[42:20] Speaker 1: are going to be.
[42:21] Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree, two of these three groups I'm excited
[42:24] Speaker 3: to see because they're well balanced and they have good
[42:26] Speaker 3: depth and they can do a lot of different things.
[42:27] Speaker 3: Like I like the role of Bill Krosky merit in
[42:30] Speaker 3: the second year after hopping on the scene but not
[42:32] Speaker 3: having to be the guy. Because Rashad White's also in
[42:34] Speaker 3: that backfield, I don't think there's quite as much depth
[42:36] Speaker 3: there as there is in Tampa where Bucky Irving, if
[42:38] Speaker 3: he has a bounce back year, you pair him nicely
[42:40] Speaker 3: with Kenny Gainwell, who was one of my favorite pass
[42:42] Speaker 3: catching backs last year. I think he can do a
[42:43] Speaker 3: lot of different things. Sean Tucker one of my favorite
[42:45] Speaker 3: just like classic powerbacks, guys that run hard, guy that
[42:49] Speaker 3: was even taking kick returns last year. I love the
[42:52] Speaker 3: depth of that backfield and what it presents the you know,
[42:55] Speaker 3: the options that it presents them. The Seahawks I'm a
[42:57] Speaker 3: little bit more cautious with because as much as I
[43:00] Speaker 3: like Jadarian Price coming out of Notre Dame, he has
[43:02] Speaker 3: a rookie and the depth there is a little bit concerning,
[43:06] Speaker 3: not just because he lost Kenneth Walker, but also because
[43:08] Speaker 3: Zach Scharbay is coming back from an acl injury that
[43:10] Speaker 3: he suffered in the playoffs, which means you know, he's
[43:12] Speaker 3: not going to be probably one hundred percent to start
[43:14] Speaker 3: the season. And like you mentioned George Lane playing in
[43:17] Speaker 3: the Super Bowl, Yes, but he was also a guy
[43:19] Speaker 3: that's at the bottom of that depth chart. Emmanuel Wilson
[43:21] Speaker 3: veteran like, there's just not as much quality depth there
[43:23] Speaker 3: that I can rely on at this point in the season.
[43:25] Speaker 3: That's the group that I'm more concerned about than excited
[43:28] Speaker 3: to see unfold.
[43:29] Speaker 1: And we'll be playing in the first game of the year,
[43:31] Speaker 1: and I would expect Zach Charbonay to be on the
[43:34] Speaker 1: pup list or short short term injured reserve. It's just
[43:37] Speaker 1: really tough to come back from the injury that quickly
[43:40] Speaker 1: at that position, and Price a rookie has never shown
[43:44] Speaker 1: he could be the guy.
[43:45] Speaker 2: I don't really think he profiles as the guy.
[43:48] Speaker 1: I think he profiles as a great compliment to a
[43:51] Speaker 1: guy like Zach Charboni who But in the meantime, I
[43:54] Speaker 1: am curious how that's going to look on opening Day.
[43:57] Speaker 1: I love quarterbacks, and so I'm put some backup quarterback
[44:01] Speaker 1: battles here in my top thirty five at the Mason
[44:04] Speaker 1: Rudolph versus Drew Aller versus Will Howard combination in Pittsburgh
[44:10] Speaker 1: is funny to me. And whoever wins that battle, you know,
[44:13] Speaker 1: could wind up playing if Aaron Rodgers got hurt and
[44:16] Speaker 1: we can kind of see who is Mike McCarthy's favorite
[44:18] Speaker 1: quarterback of the future. We have a Ty Simpson versus
[44:21] Speaker 1: Stetson Bennett qute unquote battle if Ty Simpson can't beat
[44:24] Speaker 1: out Stetson Bennett and they can't trust them to play
[44:28] Speaker 1: a little if something happened to Stafford, well what are
[44:30] Speaker 1: you doing taking them thirteenth overall?
[44:32] Speaker 2: And then you also just for uh, just for laughs.
[44:36] Speaker 1: I'm into the Sam Howell versus Joe Milton preseason that
[44:40] Speaker 1: we're gonna have for Dallas.
[44:42] Speaker 2: Those are those are my backups that I like.
[44:45] Speaker 3: Last throwing that left throwing so good because it's just like, really,
[44:50] Speaker 3: come on, but you're right, well.
[44:51] Speaker 1: This is why I do this exercise, Nick, because I
[44:53] Speaker 1: was going through each and every team, look at the
[44:55] Speaker 1: depth chart, reading some about each team, and I was
[44:57] Speaker 1: just like, oh, I kind of forgot Sam how on
[45:00] Speaker 1: that team.
[45:00] Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, and Joe Milton is still there.
[45:03] Speaker 1: I was just like, I just saw myself on like
[45:07] Speaker 1: Saturday night, August thirteenth, watching some Sam Howell Joe Milton
[45:11] Speaker 1: experience that we're going to end up talking about it.
[45:13] Speaker 3: And we're like, oh my god, Sam Howe is having
[45:15] Speaker 3: a Jared Stidham preseason. I'm just kidding, that's not going
[45:17] Speaker 3: to happen. The best of these three, I think it
[45:21] Speaker 3: most intriguing to me is Pittsburgh because this has already
[45:25] Speaker 3: divided people into camps. In Pittsburgh if you're really paying
[45:28] Speaker 3: attention to it, there are the Mason Rudolph diehards, who
[45:31] Speaker 3: are like, no matter what, you have to keep him
[45:33] Speaker 3: on the roster because god forbid Aaron Rodgers goes down,
[45:36] Speaker 3: the whole season's over, but Mason can save us and
[45:38] Speaker 3: keep us afloat, which he has proven in recent years
[45:41] Speaker 3: that he's capable of keeping you afloat. But then there's
[45:44] Speaker 3: also the Drew Allers, the future camp and we spent
[45:47] Speaker 3: a third round pick on him because he's going to
[45:49] Speaker 3: be that guy. And then there's that group of people
[45:52] Speaker 3: in Pittsburgh's front office who were leaking stuff or maybe
[45:54] Speaker 3: speaking on it publicly last year and then into this
[45:57] Speaker 3: offseason before the draft, they were like, will How's awesome.
[46:00] Speaker 3: He didn't see the field at all last year. But
[46:02] Speaker 3: we really believe in Will Howard so much that we
[46:04] Speaker 3: spent a third round pick on Drew Aller. And I'm
[46:06] Speaker 3: not a hater against Will Howard because he got my
[46:08] Speaker 3: team a national championship. But all three of those guys
[46:11] Speaker 3: are not going to be on the roster by the
[46:12] Speaker 3: end of camp. So it's just a matter of who goes,
[46:15] Speaker 3: and do you go youth versus somebody who's older and proven.
[46:18] Speaker 3: And Mason Rudolph, there's some who have a theory that
[46:19] Speaker 3: Rudolph's just not going to be on the roster. I
[46:21] Speaker 3: have a hard time believing that if you are really
[46:23] Speaker 3: guy I am that.
[46:23] Speaker 1: Guy Will, I would say he could make it to
[46:26] Speaker 1: the practice squad and you just pay it, you know,
[46:28] Speaker 1: you figure out some salary.
[46:30] Speaker 3: Somebody's poaching him from the practice squad because there are
[46:32] Speaker 3: worse backup situations in the NFL than Pittsburgh. And that's
[46:34] Speaker 3: why I'm like, I can't really see that as a
[46:38] Speaker 3: like a feasible option if you believe that you're going
[46:41] Speaker 3: to compete, because if Rogers does go down, granted he
[46:43] Speaker 3: rarely gets hit because he gets the ball out so quickly.
[46:46] Speaker 3: Then you're in a bad spot if you're turning to
[46:47] Speaker 3: Drew Aller or Will Howard to try to carry your team.
[46:50] Speaker 1: I'm most interested in Ty Simpson because they have traditionally
[46:54] Speaker 1: played their number three quarterback like all throughout the preseason.
[47:00] Speaker 1: You would think they would want to get Ty Simpson
[47:02] Speaker 1: some experience. I don't care how much you try to
[47:06] Speaker 1: lower expectations. He's a top fifteen quarterback in the entire draft.
[47:10] Speaker 1: I'm going to be very curious about the daily tramp
[47:13] Speaker 1: camp reports and also what he looks like in the preseason,
[47:18] Speaker 1: and you better beat out that's inbedded. Speaking of guy
[47:20] Speaker 1: you talked about a lot in the draft, Jermald McCoy,
[47:23] Speaker 1: I threw in an ear as my next position battle.
[47:25] Speaker 2: We're up to about twenty five on the list.
[47:27] Speaker 1: Jermal McCoy was practicing a little bit in OTAs it's
[47:31] Speaker 1: wide open there at the cornerback two spot for the
[47:34] Speaker 1: Raiders where Eric Stokes is number one.
[47:36] Speaker 2: I guess Darien Porter would be the favorite.
[47:39] Speaker 1: But McCoy has a chance to really prove the Raiders
[47:42] Speaker 1: right that they've had faith that he didn't need any
[47:45] Speaker 1: more surgery. He was a fourth round pick, but just
[47:48] Speaker 1: going to be tracking him because of his draft journey
[47:50] Speaker 1: and how talented he was when he was on the
[47:52] Speaker 1: field at Tennessee.
[47:53] Speaker 3: Fourth round pick with a first round status before his
[47:57] Speaker 3: injury at Tennessee, and somebody who I think if he
[48:00] Speaker 3: can get healthy, I kind of think about Will Johnson
[48:02] Speaker 3: last year with the Cardinals, where he was coming off
[48:04] Speaker 3: of injury and he wasn't quite the guy that you
[48:05] Speaker 3: thought he was going to be year two. After such
[48:08] Speaker 3: an injuries, usually when they get back to themselves that
[48:10] Speaker 3: they're ever going to get back to their former selves
[48:11] Speaker 3: at all, that's when it happens. So maybe it's a
[48:13] Speaker 3: little bit early for McCoy, but the fact that he's
[48:15] Speaker 3: out there on the field is encouraging. And it's a
[48:18] Speaker 3: team that, Look, we had a lot of optimism or
[48:20] Speaker 3: at least excitement with them last year when they got Geno,
[48:22] Speaker 3: and we saw how much of a nightmare that was
[48:24] Speaker 3: because their offensive line was the worse in the NFL.
[48:26] Speaker 3: I feel actually more excited about them this year because
[48:28] Speaker 3: I think they're actually doing a pretty good job of
[48:29] Speaker 3: rebuilding this team. And that's one of those underlying little
[48:33] Speaker 3: secondary storylines where you're like, oh, Gerald McCoy also a
[48:36] Speaker 3: guy that's the fourth round and ends up actually playing.
[48:39] Speaker 3: I kind of caution against being excited about his rookie
[48:42] Speaker 3: season because of the injury that he came off, but
[48:44] Speaker 3: he didn't play football last year, so this could be
[48:46] Speaker 3: year two and maybe we do see it, and that's
[48:49] Speaker 3: one of the ones that we'll be intriguing for sure.
[48:51] Speaker 1: We're starting our division preview series a little later this week,
[48:54] Speaker 1: and so we're going to talk Raiders more there. I'm
[48:57] Speaker 1: intrigued to of how they kind of shake out their
[49:00] Speaker 1: edge position wide receiver.
[49:02] Speaker 2: They have questions, but we'll leave it there for the Raiders.
[49:04] Speaker 1: A cornerback spot that doing research for this surprised me
[49:08] Speaker 1: a little was the Buccaneers cornerback spot. And so this
[49:11] Speaker 1: is going to make my top thirty five because again
[49:13] Speaker 1: a team I think is going to make the playoffs.
[49:15] Speaker 2: These are good players that they have.
[49:17] Speaker 1: At cornerback in terms of Zion McCollum, the second year
[49:21] Speaker 1: player Benjamin Morrison, Jacob Parrish is in that mix, and
[49:26] Speaker 1: those three are reportedly competing for two spots on the outside. Now,
[49:31] Speaker 1: McCallum makes a lot of money and it would be
[49:33] Speaker 1: the heavy favorite and it's expected that he's one of
[49:35] Speaker 1: those two spots that leaves Morrison in Parish, who was
[49:39] Speaker 1: great last year in the slot. And yet all the
[49:42] Speaker 1: reporting from Tampa suggests that the slot job is just
[49:47] Speaker 1: going to be handed to Keyante Scott, who was one
[49:49] Speaker 1: of my absolute favorites in the draft. I chose him
[49:52] Speaker 1: as one of my guys and he fell all the
[49:54] Speaker 1: way to day three, and yet they're saying now that
[49:56] Speaker 1: the slot job is going to be Conte Scott's, which great,
[50:00] Speaker 1: that's going to make me feel smart, although it's pretty
[50:03] Speaker 1: rare at a hand of day three pick a starting
[50:06] Speaker 1: job right off the bat. And if that's the case,
[50:08] Speaker 1: that's a good battle on the outside. And I'm curious
[50:11] Speaker 1: if Jacob Parrish, who is really good, can translate that.
[50:14] Speaker 1: So I know we're getting in the weeds here, But
[50:16] Speaker 1: this is a Todd Bowles cornerback group. I think this
[50:20] Speaker 1: defense has really high variants. I think they have top
[50:24] Speaker 1: five to eight potential, and like a lot of Todd
[50:27] Speaker 1: Bowles defense, it could look bad in a given week.
[50:29] Speaker 1: But man, there's a scenario where this is one of
[50:31] Speaker 1: the more intriguing cornerback groups in the entire league. And
[50:35] Speaker 1: then you have Antoine Winfield and the good safety group too,
[50:37] Speaker 1: and they can really be dangerous.
[50:38] Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that defense is ultimate ceiling comes down
[50:41] Speaker 3: to how effective Ruben Bain can be right away, because
[50:43] Speaker 3: they have lacked that edge rushing presence really since like
[50:46] Speaker 3: the final year of Shaq Barrett or final two years
[50:49] Speaker 3: of Shaq Barrett. Really, it's been a while since they've
[50:51] Speaker 3: had a difference maker at edge rusher because Sosan Redick
[50:54] Speaker 3: didn't work out there, right, But the strength of this
[50:57] Speaker 3: defense is that secondary and they felt so good about
[50:59] Speaker 3: it that they moved on from Jammel Dean, They moved
[51:01] Speaker 3: on from Christianizian in the offseason. They let them both walk,
[51:04] Speaker 3: and then they went and spent that pick on Keyante
[51:06] Speaker 3: Scott because they liked the group overall. This is one
[51:09] Speaker 3: of the ones that's I'm not necessarily so much fascinated
[51:11] Speaker 3: as I'm just excited to watch how they all kind
[51:15] Speaker 3: of settle into their roles and how they could be
[51:17] Speaker 3: moved around, because I think this is going to be
[51:19] Speaker 3: what they need to depend on, is the back end
[51:21] Speaker 3: of that defense unless that pass rush gets a lot
[51:23] Speaker 3: better than it has been over the last few years.
[51:26] Speaker 3: So it's good. It's just a lot of talent, and
[51:27] Speaker 3: you like it when you see a lot of talented
[51:29] Speaker 3: players in the back end of the defense.
[51:31] Speaker 1: They're pretty wide open in terms of their second linebacker
[51:33] Speaker 1: spot too, so I'll keep an eye on that. I
[51:36] Speaker 1: have the Titans wide receiver group up next, mostly because
[51:40] Speaker 1: I'm curious Calvin Ridley could be traded depending on how
[51:43] Speaker 1: training camp lines up. So follow my line of thinking here,
[51:47] Speaker 1: Shook Carnel Tate is locked in as one of their
[51:51] Speaker 1: top three receivers, Wandell Robinson, he gave a lot of
[51:54] Speaker 1: money to Brian Dables there he's locked in. And then
[51:57] Speaker 1: you have these rookies from a year ago, Elicio and
[52:00] Speaker 1: Tamar Dka, who both showed some potential. You have Calvin Ridley,
[52:03] Speaker 1: who took a reduced contract to stay and is really
[52:07] Speaker 1: talented and had great seasons in the NFL and could
[52:09] Speaker 1: be a really good number three. I just think, depending
[52:12] Speaker 1: on how camp looks, how the second year players are
[52:15] Speaker 1: improving and fitting a new offense, that either Calvin Ridley
[52:19] Speaker 1: could wind up leading this team in receiving as possible,
[52:23] Speaker 1: or he could wind up getting traded in camp. If
[52:25] Speaker 1: kind of the younger guys step up. And that's why
[52:28] Speaker 1: I'm just kind of keeping an eye on this Titans
[52:30] Speaker 1: wide receiver spot.
[52:31] Speaker 3: It's not that it's a team that's necessarily just for
[52:33] Speaker 3: cap space, but they could move on from him if
[52:35] Speaker 3: they wanted to. They'd save seven point seven in cap
[52:37] Speaker 3: this year, and it would make sense given that he's
[52:40] Speaker 3: thirty two years old and that he does have some
[52:43] Speaker 3: variants in his career. Obviously, only played seven games last year,
[52:46] Speaker 3: but after a thousand yard season, his second of you know,
[52:48] Speaker 3: second straight in the last two years, he had three
[52:51] Speaker 3: hundred and three yards. Like he just he was non
[52:53] Speaker 3: existent in this receiving corps, and it was a receiving
[52:54] Speaker 3: corps that desperately needed a player like that, given that
[52:57] Speaker 3: they relied so much on DK and on Iom Manner
[52:59] Speaker 3: last year for cam Ward. So this is part of
[53:01] Speaker 3: why I'm more excited to see the Titans this season
[53:04] Speaker 3: and just more optimistic about them, maybe not in terms
[53:06] Speaker 3: of overall record, but just how this offense is going
[53:08] Speaker 3: to function because I think finally cam Ward has some
[53:10] Speaker 3: you know, improved weapons around him. Wandiale. Robbinson was excellent
[53:13] Speaker 3: last year. I thought it was a great pickup for
[53:14] Speaker 3: them going into this season and Tate, you know, they're
[53:17] Speaker 3: taking a big swing on him at fourth overall, but
[53:19] Speaker 3: he's also a very good receiver and was the best
[53:21] Speaker 3: contested catchmaker in college football last season. I think that
[53:24] Speaker 3: translates immediately, so he's got better options. It's just a
[53:27] Speaker 3: matter of how do you sort out this group. I
[53:28] Speaker 3: think it's the four minus Calvin Ridley that you're going
[53:31] Speaker 3: to end up seeing on the field for the most part,
[53:33] Speaker 3: and I think that moving on from Ridley is very realistic,
[53:36] Speaker 3: especially if they feel like now is the time to
[53:38] Speaker 3: get the younger guys more reps and really push it
[53:40] Speaker 3: toward the future. But Ridley could have a bounce back.
[53:42] Speaker 3: He could, you know, be healthy and be the productive
[53:44] Speaker 3: guy that he was two three years ago, and then
[53:46] Speaker 3: it just adds more depth to the group. I just
[53:48] Speaker 3: feel like if there's going to be a time for
[53:49] Speaker 3: them to move on, it's probably pretty soon.
[53:51] Speaker 2: Sneaky old Calvin Ridley.
[53:53] Speaker 1: It's weird for myself, with you know, my increasingly gray
[53:57] Speaker 1: hair on the side of my head, to call a
[53:59] Speaker 1: guy that thirty one years old sneaky old. But I
[54:01] Speaker 1: just wouldn't have guessed that Calvin Ridley was thirty one already.
[54:04] Speaker 2: It snuck up on me.
[54:06] Speaker 1: The Bengals edge position is something I'm keeping an eye on.
[54:08] Speaker 1: I assume Miles Murphy will start opposite boy Mafe, but
[54:12] Speaker 1: I'm curious if they're gonna get anything out of last
[54:15] Speaker 1: year's first round pick Sjamar Stewart. I'm curious if they're
[54:18] Speaker 1: gonna trust Cashius Howell to just be a fireball off
[54:22] Speaker 1: the edge as an early second round pick, a pass
[54:24] Speaker 1: rusher I liked a lot, so I'm gonna keep an
[54:26] Speaker 1: eye on that. The Giants' cornerback situation has some names
[54:29] Speaker 1: I'm kind of interested in. Colton Hood was a second
[54:31] Speaker 1: round pick. Your old guy, Greg Newsom, who's bounced around
[54:34] Speaker 1: the last year from Cleveland to Jacksonville now to the Giants,
[54:38] Speaker 1: I would assume is the favorite there. And Deontay Banks,
[54:41] Speaker 1: their former first round pick, is still around. There's some
[54:43] Speaker 1: more wide receiver three battles that I like. Josh Palmer
[54:46] Speaker 1: and Kean Coleman is an interesting one in Buffalo. How
[54:51] Speaker 1: about a little Xavier Leget. Chris Brazzle, my two lane
[54:54] Speaker 1: guy in Carolina is kind of fun. And then New
[54:58] Speaker 1: England after Romeo Dobbs and aj Brown. It's pretty wide
[55:02] Speaker 1: open with good players, and I'm not sure they're really
[55:04] Speaker 1: going to figure that out in camp, but I think
[55:07] Speaker 1: they could wind up trading a guy like Kaishawn Boody
[55:10] Speaker 1: or Mac Collins, ord Mario Douglas.
[55:12] Speaker 2: I don't know. Kyle Williams is there as well. So
[55:15] Speaker 2: that's a lot of depth that wide receiver.
[55:16] Speaker 1: Do any of those wide receiver battles you strike your
[55:19] Speaker 1: fancy more than others.
[55:21] Speaker 3: Well, first, I want to say that, yes, we don't
[55:23] Speaker 3: know what we're going to see how the Bengals edge guys,
[55:24] Speaker 3: but they have more depth and more options than they've
[55:26] Speaker 3: had in like the last four or five years, and
[55:27] Speaker 3: that should be a reason to be encouraged if you're
[55:29] Speaker 3: a Bengals fan. So that that alone kind of just
[55:32] Speaker 3: tempers my or this way to some of my concerns. Right,
[55:36] Speaker 3: But when it comes to this receiver group, you're right,
[55:38] Speaker 3: and I when I look at the group for the Patriots,
[55:41] Speaker 3: I think, oh, well, now is probably the time to
[55:43] Speaker 3: move on for Mac Collins if you're going to you know,
[55:46] Speaker 3: store out the rest of this group. Well, where should
[55:48] Speaker 3: Mac Hollins go? Oh? He should go back to Buffalo.
[55:51] Speaker 3: Oh But that's an indivision trade. They would never do that,
[55:54] Speaker 3: but that's exactly where I would like to send him
[55:56] Speaker 3: because I don't like the Bill's receiver situation still, because yeah,
[56:00] Speaker 3: for coming down a number three between Joshua Palmer and
[56:02] Speaker 3: Keyon Coleman, and you think, well, that's not actually a
[56:04] Speaker 3: bad set of options to have, but behind that it
[56:06] Speaker 3: gets really thin again, just as where they've been over
[56:08] Speaker 3: the last few years, and I would like for them
[56:10] Speaker 3: to have a return trip for mccollins. But yeah, so
[56:14] Speaker 3: there's there's different situations. It's a not an embarrassment of rishes,
[56:17] Speaker 3: but it's a bit of a luxury for the Patriots
[56:19] Speaker 3: as opposed to the Bills, who would probably happily take
[56:21] Speaker 3: one of those guys. But I don't think that would
[56:22] Speaker 3: ever happen between these two franchises, given that they're competing
[56:25] Speaker 3: for the same division title. But in a perfect world,
[56:27] Speaker 3: if I could play matchmaker, that's what I would do.
[56:29] Speaker 1: It drives me crazy that the Patriots would be way
[56:32] Speaker 1: less likely to help out their division rival Bills by
[56:37] Speaker 1: trading mccollins. I totally agree with you. Then the Celtics
[56:40] Speaker 1: were to trade Jalen Brown to the seventy six Oh
[56:42] Speaker 1: sure here here Jalen Brown.
[56:45] Speaker 3: Well, well, did they kind of sell mccollins down the
[56:50] Speaker 3: river publicly when they tried to trade for somebody else?
[56:52] Speaker 3: Did they do it? Did they sell mc collins down
[56:54] Speaker 3: the river when they tried to trade for a J.
[56:55] Speaker 3: Brown and then actually did trade for a J. Brown?
[56:58] Speaker 2: It's ridiculous.
[57:00] Speaker 3: Help out your rival. Yeah.
[57:01] Speaker 1: The last one I have listed is another wide receiver.
[57:04] Speaker 1: One I just thought because the forty nine ers are
[57:05] Speaker 1: going to be competing to be one of the best
[57:07] Speaker 1: teams in the NFL, that's their hope. That just keep
[57:09] Speaker 1: an eye on Deshaun Stribling, who is their rookie wide receiver.
[57:13] Speaker 1: Christian Kirk is in that mix if we're looking at
[57:16] Speaker 1: depth to Marcus Robinson is still on that team.
[57:19] Speaker 2: And then I.
[57:19] Speaker 1: Also included just Ricky Pearsall's health. Obviously, Pearsall and Mike
[57:23] Speaker 1: Evans are going to be starters if they're healthy. But
[57:26] Speaker 1: Pearsall is just a guy that has not been able
[57:28] Speaker 1: to string multiple weeks of help together, especially in training camp,
[57:32] Speaker 1: and so if he can't, then Stribling's development, Kirk staying healthy,
[57:37] Speaker 1: just curious how that shakes out. With a wide receiver
[57:40] Speaker 1: friendly offense and a wide receiver focus coach in Kyle Shanahan.
[57:46] Speaker 1: I believe that's our thirty fifth and final position battles.
[57:49] Speaker 1: Are you excited about the forty nine ers camp? Do
[57:52] Speaker 1: you care about all these? Are you ready to go shook?
[57:55] Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah. This has been a good primer and I've
[57:58] Speaker 3: shifted from holding on to the final glimmers of summer
[58:02] Speaker 3: and I am now ready for football season to arrive
[58:04] Speaker 3: because of this exercise that we've gone through. And also
[58:07] Speaker 3: I feel a little more excited because some of the
[58:10] Speaker 3: guys that we mentioned. I did list on players I
[58:12] Speaker 3: expect to improve this season because the situation is surrounding
[58:15] Speaker 3: then Bricky Piercell, Treylon Burks, a couple of those guys
[58:17] Speaker 3: that come off the list off the top of my head,
[58:19] Speaker 3: so plenty of reason to watch. Training camp is basically here.
[58:24] Speaker 3: I am going to the Hall of Fame game, which
[58:25] Speaker 3: is around the corner. Come on, come on, set ready, folks.
[58:28] Speaker 2: August sixth not that far away.
[58:31] Speaker 1: I could release a position battles list, how about number
[58:36] Speaker 1: thirty six to seventy.
[58:38] Speaker 2: I just don't know if the interest would be there.
[58:39] Speaker 1: Maybe you have to sign up for our Extra Secret
[58:42] Speaker 1: newsletter to find out that Kaylin rutch Ledge Versus Jake
[58:46] Speaker 1: Andrews is number fifty seven on my personal list. We've
[58:49] Speaker 1: got Austin Booker and Dio Odengbo the Bears Edge battle.
[58:53] Speaker 2: Way down the list.
[58:54] Speaker 1: There are a lot of cornerback battles. I feel like
[58:56] Speaker 1: every cornerback two spot is wide open. We've got some
[58:59] Speaker 1: running backs, but we'll get into it all. That's what
[59:01] Speaker 1: we do.
[59:01] Speaker 2: On NFL Daily.
[59:02] Speaker 1: We have a daily show really starting Wednesday, We're going
[59:06] Speaker 1: to be going daily for the rest of time.
[59:09] Speaker 2: Sorry Eric Roberts out there, and thank you.
[59:12] Speaker 3: Thinking about pitches right now for your substack the regular
[59:15] Speaker 3: season dot substack.
[59:17] Speaker 1: Dot cost just like I don't know if people would
[59:19] Speaker 1: be that interested in the rest of them, but I'm
[59:21] Speaker 1: going to use it.
[59:21] Speaker 2: For my own preparation.
[59:23] Speaker 1: I wanted to say thank you to Eric Roberts, who's
[59:25] Speaker 1: back on the ones and twos helping to produce us
[59:29] Speaker 1: this week. He was gone last week, and Kyrie Douglas
[59:32] Speaker 1: did an incredible job manning the ship. So I also
[59:35] Speaker 1: wanted to send a big thank you to Quab and
[59:38] Speaker 1: to Kyrie Douglas for handling the audio and the video
[59:42] Speaker 1: last week.
[59:42] Speaker 2: They did a great job.
[59:44] Speaker 1: Like I said, we'll be back to daily really starting Wednesday.
[59:47] Speaker 1: Me Jordan Rodrieg back.
[59:50] Speaker 2: In the studio. It's not quite QB Island, but it's close.
[59:56] Speaker 2: You'll see.
[59:57] Speaker 1: It's a brand new edition of a QB Island. We
[1:00:00] Speaker 1: got spinoffs going on NFL Daily that's coming up on Wednesday.
[1:00:03] Speaker 2: We'll see you then,

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