Welcome to NFL Daily, where we are staying in the race to the regular season. I'm Greg Rosenthal and beyond Lucky today, to be joined later in the show very soon by Jordan rod Riege of The Athletic and Patrick Claybah and we're going to do a segment called I Can Fix It about some reclamation projects.
But before that, I want to get you.
Caught up quickly on all the news that's happened over the weekend since we last taped. One of the reasons I'm so excited about this show being daily is training Camp. It is perfect for training camp because I want to have a spot for you guys where we can keep you up to date about what's going on with all thirty two teams. And look camp started. Texans Bear is half a weekend. Ravens Chiefs Full Veterans practice for the first time on Sunday. So Randy hit the music here.
I'm going to keep this quick, but let's get to things we learned over the last few days. Number one, biggest one, Shaq Barrett retired. This really hurts the Dolphins. You might not think this is that huge of news, but seven million dollars they gave him because they have no edge presence whatsoever. With Jalen Phillips and Bradley Chubb both coming off torn acls. They're on the pupig list,
like who knows when they're going to be back. Sorry for Shaq Barrett, really unique career, third edge rusher for the Broncos when they won the Super Bowl. Helped put that Bucks defense over the top and win a Super Bowl. They're really one of the best free agent signings of the last ten years at the edge position, really smart, and the Dolphins are thin there.
They have two healthy edges right now.
If you looked at who's at top their depth jar right now, it's rookie Chop Robinson and Moe Kamara. NFL Networks cam Wolfe said they will work out Emmanuel Ogba. I would not be surprised if that deal gets done because they were counting on Barrett to play big snaps. But I know that must have been a tough decision. He tragically to his daughter in an accident a year ago, decide to play one more season, but says he wants to be with his family and happy trails to Shack
Bear at great career. Sadly, another player whose career might be ending. We learned since we last tape was Ryan Ramcheck placed on the reserve pup list for the Saints. Right tackle who made three All Pro teams, one first team, two second teams, not officially retired, definitely out for this season, but it sounds like he is not going to play football ever again. Just could not get that back healthy. It's a shame and it's an issue for the Saints.
If you look at their offensive tackle position, they have no idea who their right tackle is, so that's a big problem spot. It might be Trevor Penning speaking of needing fixing, like he needs fixing the Saints. Their offensive line needs fixing. We'll get to that. The Saints did have other good news. This is my third item. Rashid Shahed signed a one year, five point two million dollar.
Extension over the weekend.
He was actually signed for twenty twenty four, so he's.
Just about the most.
Underpaid wide receiver in football now for twenty twenty five. That is an incredible bit of business. I never fault a guy for taking the guaranteed money.
I get it.
He has not made much money in his career, but man, he is going to be one of the best values in the league. In twenty twenty five, our fourth item, Jordan Love reported to training camp. Nice this big sigh relief for the Packers. We'll see if he has a hold in I kind of doubt it. If he's in camp, it probably is a sign they're getting closer to an extension. The Bears I mentioned have been practicing. They're my fifth item. They want to get Caleb Williams to get some reps
in the preseason. They are talking this up as a focus for them. So we are going to get to see the number one overall pick I think quite a bit in the preseason. That's going to make hard knocks better. Maybe he'll even be in the Hall of Fame game. That would be nice. The Chiefs and the Ravens are part of my sixth and seventh items here. They are practicing.
I mentioned their full teams are there. And if you happen to be on Twitter on Sunday looking out the other news in the world, the throw by Patrick Mahomes just absolutely preposterous, rolling left fifty to sixty yards down the field to Xavier Worthy. I'm not going to make that a news item every day, but that's one of the best throws in practice I've ever seen, and it's
a reminder. Xavier Worthy, who's been really active these first three or four days of training camp, is going to have a huge part of their offense.
I think he's a better football player than Rashie Rice.
So even with Rashie Rice out of the mix, I think Xavier Worthy, if he can stay healthy and he has been through the start of camp, is going to be a big deal.
And you know it's the NFL season.
When Lamar Jackson is out with an illness, I just want this guy to be healthy. He apparently was feeling sick on Saturday. Hopefully it's not anything too serious. The doctor has kept him out on Sunday. It's just something with him that is always the case, So I just thought i'd noted it. Part of the seventh note for me is all the players that are not practicing so far,
justin Reid Safety. For the cheap bit of a surprise there, Johnny Newton of Washington, he's on the NFI list, no surprise because of his surgery.
Mike Williams on the pup list for the Jets.
We'll keep an eye on him, but that's not a surprise. Eric Armstead been hurt a lot over the years. Big free agent signing for the Jaguars, Jaden Reed of the Packers, Marcus Davenport of the Lions, DJ Reader of the Lions, Brian Branch of the Lions. All guys on pup list. They can be taken off at any time, but those were some of the noteworthy names. And then just a couple of final items, not having to do with training camps. I don't know if you saw the Jaguars prowler throwbacks.
These are the best Jaguars jerseys. They're going to be wearing them this year. I was just absolutely loving those old Fred Taylor get ups. They are going to be wearing them this year, and I love it if they just made that their uniforms. And speaking of old uniforms, will rap with Corey Dillon finally making the Bengals Ring of Honor.
This is overdue.
Actually think he has a chance, if the right people get behind him, to make the Hall of Fame one day, because there's no running backs come in for the Hall of Fame for a while. Maybe marsha On, maybe frankcre If. Chris Westling was on this podcast with me he would agree. Corey Dillon is one of the most underrated and elite running backs of his era. I think we have to have different evaluations for running backs. They're not going to
pile up numbers like they used to. We have to adjust for era, kind of like we do for quarterbacks, but with running backs they have lower numbers.
Okay, that's it for me here.
You know, back in the day, Corey Dylon would have been a great candidate for our upcoming segment if we were doing it back in two thousand and four when the Patriots traded for him and they fixed them and they changed his career. Let's listen to this segment was a lot of fun. I can fix them. So yes, here with Jordan Rodrigue and Patrick Claybahn and I love this idea of a segment here, and it's from Jordan's you know, massive mind.
You can explain it to us.
But not what I thought you were going to say. But thank you for saying it that.
I don't know what thought I was going to say.
You know, it's that time of year where you look at different coaches, different teams, you look at them in a way that you know, maybe you look at them a little differently than past.
People did with them.
Yeah, and I think we've all been there, right, Whether it's the fixer upper house that you purchase, it's the car that you're going to save from destruction, it's the relationship you get into. I can fix him, whether it's the songwriters writing these these lyrics about you know, the person they genuinely tried with. You know, this is I think the NFL every year, this is Hope season right
pre training camp. We're heading into training camp. More training camps are opening this week, and everybody has got in their heads. I can fix them. I can be the one to fix him.
Right.
So, like if you put into words like maybe those words would be when you try your best but you don't succeed, when you get what you want but not what you need, when you feel so tired but you can't sleep, sing it no, I will never sing it.
No performances that that has to be.
Like I've heard that as like like a wedding song or like a wedding like that's a problematic wedding song.
That's a problematic prom song.
You don't want to be choosing fix you, But I do love it as a segment and I love it at this time of year.
Particularly Yeah.
I actually, speaking of wedding songs, I do have a friend that was at her ex's wedding and the song that they danced to was the Broken Road, which felt like commentary at her while she was there.
Oh is this the one? The Broken Roads?
Leading? Oh?
That was? Yeah, that's an awkward writing wedding song story? Is this me?
But but yeah, especially in the nfl R viewpoint where it's like if if some if some circumstance didn't work out, a lot of the times, especially as fans, we think, oh, well, this is the player, and so many times he changed the circumstance or maybe like if we're making the relationship analogy, you change the terms of the relationship, right, then you can actually get what you want out of somebody. Not
the relationship should ever be transactional. Not saying that, but it's something that works out for everybody, and it.
Happens, and you can always get what you want. But if you try something, there you go.
It happens.
I was thinking about it with Evan Ingram's recent contract, Like I wouldn't say he needed fixing, but Doug Peterson helped fix his career. I think he understood what Evan Ingram did well and what the Giants could never figure out in New York, and he fixed his He helped Evan Ingram with more work by Ingram fix his own career, and now he's got that big long term deal. So I want you to start with us. Jordan, it was your brain child. I can fix it, your baby, you can fix him.
Okay, I'm going to go with the Eagles in general. Okay, I'd like you guys to interject at various points because I am a rambler, and as I ramble on through this thing we called light call life, I'd rather not think that on this show. I'd rather be a little bit more succinct. But I'm gonna start with the offense, Okay, Kellen Moore, Jerry's still I think out a little bit
on what his factor is as an offensive coordinator. But the word that was sort of thrown around around Philly, despite all of the weapons that they have, was stale. They were the very last in the league at motion rate usage. Motion isn't everything, but it does help a lot. Especially defenses are smarter than ever, They see the field better than ever. They have more counters than ever before. Some of this pre snap window dressing needs to happen,
and Kellen Moore does a lot of that. You could tell he's got a lot of ideas, and I think that this is the big. This is the big I can fix him with the Eagles offense being the metaphor here bringing in a new offensive coordinator who, as Jalen Hurts said earlier this season, installed a ninety five percent new offense than what they were previously running. And I think this also helps Nick Sirianni maybe get more hands off,
maybe more CEO kind of mentality. They really made this move as a he can fix us.
So Kellen Moore is the fixer in this situation.
They hope he is.
They're fixing he's fixing the offense, He's fixing Hurts.
They hope he is.
Interestingly, he's maybe fixing Sirianni, because that was a guy who at the end of last season, in those press conferences, especially the one where look he was kind of being put in his place, looked a little dejected at the end of the year when they when they essentially explained their plan of we're going to take away what got you here in the first place, on some level play calling and how you ran this offense. So this is
like multiple levels of fixing. Are we confident Patrick that Kellen Moore is like the missing ingredient to save an organization that really hit the skids last year?
I'm kind of wondering if the Eagles and the personnel on offense may be able to help fix Kellen Moore in his reputation as well, because I think we've seen Kellen Moore in two places where he's had very very talented quarterbacks, like you know, top top half of the league or better quarterbacks, where it did they didn't necessarily get the results that they wanted. I think we saw the differences in the Mike McCarthy Cowboys where the run game did take a step back. And I wonder how
the personnel can affect last year the Chargers. You know, the quarterback Herbert loses both his hands at one.
Point coordinating the Chargers offense.
Yeah, And so I think right Philadelphia was very lost offensively, and we're coming off of this Steichen led Eagles team where there were world beaters, and then we see Shane have all that success with a questionable quarterback situation.
A rookie quarterback and Gardner Minshew.
Playing well in Spurts, where the focus on Sirianni and the microscope got super big.
I think this may be something that everybody needs.
Yeah, and then that's I'm so glad by the way, thanks forgetting it guys. These guys just understand the plot here. So like this. This is a multifaceted metaphor here, right, which love that big brain because it it is the head coach needs an infusion of new ideas. A lot of times you see head coaches hire sometimes outside of their system because they want pieces of what other people have, but they don't necessarily want to be the one to
overhaul their entire system. So I would I would imagine we'll still see some Sirianni system, some stich and we'll still see that.
Yeah, Sirianni for what it's worth, pushed back a little bit on Hurtz's ninety five exact statement and said, hey, we still got a lot of our stuff, which is part of a trend I would say, with Jalen Hurts and his own coach not always being on the same page totally publicly, which something to watch.
It is so nice that you said the thing that I was just about to I'm really glad. I'm really glad for.
Us, sorry about that. You need to fix me in my interrupting problem.
I can fix them, yes, so yeah, but I do think that this is potentially a mutual It's also another voice in the room, an outside perspective if there are dynamics that maybe need a little work shopping, a little couple's therapy. Maybe, like you know, you there is an
outside perspective in the room. There is somebody who you know, it wasn't super productive with the Chargers twenty point four points per game with a quarterback like that, that's unacceptable obviously, but a lot went wrong with the Chargers as well. And then in Dallas, you could also see, you know, like you said, an improvement when Mike McCarthy did take back over at the same time, really young offsive coordinator, and you could see some of the ideas that he
was trying to maybe evolve, evolve a little bit. It wasn't that it was always successful, but you kind of see the outline or the blueprints of who he's trying to become as an offensive coordinator, and this could be a really great spot for him. To do it so much is going to hinge around Cam Jurgen at center. That's like one of the most significant personnel changes on any team this off season in my opinion, replacing the
great Jason Kelcey. And then but I think that any offensive coordinator who's trying to find like what his identity is going to be and this is where it comes and maybe they can help, you know, fix quote unquote Kellen Moore a little bit too. You know, you have to figure out like who you are as a coordinator and a play caller and a concept designer as well.
Having the multiplicity of Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley together, I mean, that's a that's a dream for for any young coordinator who's trying to figure out like what his secret.
Sauce and and got her and a j Browne's and Jordan Malatta, like, these guys are there. They don't need fixing. They it's everything around it, and it's it's complicated. There's more questions on the offensive line than normal that we're
used to. They also have a new guard, Tyler stein Less worried about that that was a replaceable spot, but at center that is huge but they got to make this work because I saw this interview I think it was with a number of reporters that Sirianni did, but Zach Berman wrote about it well at all p HL Y and yeah, Sirianni saying how he's found joy this offseason connecting with the players, And I'm sure he is, but you're not going to really know how you're feeling
until the season's going. And he's not the one call in the plays, and no team in the NFL to me, has more importance in September of just getting off to a solid enough start because there's gonna be some bumps along the way with this much different in the offense and the defense, and this is a team that just feels like it needs to win a couple of games early or else that losing streak at the end of last year feels like it's still going.
That it's just a continuation.
Yeah, what he needs the deodoran of winning.
Yes, that was absolutely not there at the end of last year, and it felt like the wheels were falling off.
And of course everybody everybody could see like how good this team is and the things that they could do, and then suddenly it wasn't working, the quarterback was hurt, and there's there's there's reason for positivity, and I think no, like Kellen Moore, isn't this world beater football revolutionizer that we thought he was five years ago, but he's he's also not like not terrible, low replacement level play caller.
Yeah, I think there's a spot for everybody.
I just hope they don't lose Jalen Hurts' ability to pick up a first down in short yardage, which is the team's superpower. I don't know if they're going to do the tush push as much, but I'm just saying it's going to be a balance that you don't want to lose his ability to.
Run Saquan Squat's heavy plates too. So Okay, So I don't want to leave this topic without talking about the defense, because that became rather porous, especially on the back half, and obviously bringing in bringing back in Vic Fangio super super important. We've talked about this on previous shows as well, but CJ. Garden Johnson being back in the building, that personality and that confidence and like the know how and the knowledge, adding Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper dejen when we
were talking with Nate Tice. The concept of a shooting star a nickel, a star player that has some responsibilities that a nickel has, but also can be really a little bit more coverage, versatile and matchup dependent than a specifically a nickel player would be. That could be Cooper Degene and he could they could move him around everywhere. That's a huge learning curve. I think that Vic Fangio was hired to fix this defense. Vic Fangio is not
for everyone. Everybody is aware of that. Vic Fangio would tell you that to your face, and probably in a very even blunter manner than than I just did.
But what I'm really always be a little wary of people that are too proud to be like, hey, I'm not for everyone.
But he's very he's very open truth teller. Okay, well he's very He's very he's very open about like listen, like this is at this point, this is he is who he is, and I do think that he wants to be there. He's he's wanted to be there. And it also is really interesting to me because he actually you can kind of see him uh solving that aspect.
I think of himself a little bit because he brought in two young assistants that he's worked with in the past, Christian Parker and Joe Casper, and those guys were with him at previous stops, but they're like his guys, but they're also very player forward and they're gonna be in
charge of basically developing this young secondary. When Vic Fangio runs the type of defense he wants to run, he does really complex coverage structures, very versatile coverage structures, and then he lets the pressure packages be a little bit simpler and more straightforward other than some of the fake pressure that he presents pre snap like. It can really work as a back to front, but you need to have the players buy in, and you need to have
really good coaching at every single level. And I think that's why he brought in those coaches. So there's layers within layers within layers of the metaphor. We're fixing and fixing and fixing and fixing and fixing.
And maybe fixing the Fangio trees reputation.
Yeah, ooh, I love that, because.
Look, he struggled last year. It's not as in vogue. You saying that makes me think maybe we're going to see a little more out of I don't know, does James Bradberry actually make this team. Does Avonte Maddox end up being the slot over Cooper dejene. It's such a complex defense. Can you get Quinyan Mitchell, Cooper dejen I know they're high on kiey Ringo actually coming into this year.
He's had a good offseason. He could play a lot.
Sidney Brown like, it's maybe a tough one for young guys in the secondary to pick up.
I think they have enough talent.
We'll go through all the position battles, but yet both sides of the ball in the defense. Because let's be real, well, that collapse wasn't about the offense.
It never was.
It was always a top ten offense. It was the defense that completely collapsed. But the offense was stale too, as was the Panthers offense. I'm gonna go to Carolina and talk about Bryce Young and say the thing. I've gotta say the thing. Give me a chance here, I'm gonna say it. Look, there's nobody in the NFL I think that is better suited to say I can fix you to Bryce Young than Dave Canalis. This guy is just all energy, all positivity and he has the track
record because he's done it now. I don't think Gino Smith needed total fixing. He was always there and talented and ready for the right coach to take advantage of it. But Dave Canalis was that coach along with Pete Carroll in Seattle. Baker Mayfield very different quarterback, I think in
terms of skill set to Gino Smith. So the fact that he made it work with these two guys, Gino who's so good at seeing things ahead of time, and Baker Mayfield who's not, and getting Baker to anticipate and get rid of the ball quicker and Dave Canawis did a great job with that. And when you look at what Bryce Young should be able to be good at at the NFL level, it is that anticipation. It is that ability to see the field that is very tough for a rookie quarterback.
But it seemed like it was coming along by the end of the year.
And you listen to Canalis and we're going to take a listen to him at the combine this year and look, just listen to the man himself.
No plan to fix Bryce Young. I think for me, it's it's about building an offense that we can be proud of, something that something that is tough, something that is smart, that that takes care of the football. Number one, we got to create more explosives and then and then of course we have to minimize damage with exotic pressures and things like that. So I think just elevating the whole group and and really asking Bryce to just do his part.
Patrick, you watched a lot of Bryce Young tape over the year I did, and tough first year. What are you what are you hoping for here?
Well, Dave canel else, his task is to fix the Carolina Panthers, I think first and foremost, so we could see I believe in Bryce, but I can understand the people who didn't get a chance right to see him out here in high school or to see him in Tuscaloosa to see what other people believe in. But the offense itself was so bad that it was just impossible to evaluate the quarterback.
And so you see, like his.
Rating when targeting Adam Thielen was one hundred and two, right, Tommy Trimble one five. Like there's places where you saw Bryce be successful, but the overall product was so difficult for anybody to deal, and I struggle to think of a quarterback that we could just place in that situation year one with that team and say, hey, be successful. Of course, like the greats wouldn't be bad, but for a rookie, that was a heavy list.
He doesn't necessarily have like the creativity or the physical traits in terms of his movement or his big arm to just like wow you to get over that bad of a situation. But if you watch those last four games, I do think it got a little lost in the shuffle PFF's grades for the final four weeks of the season. He was twelfth in passing. I went and watched a lot of it, and yeah, the arm doesn't overwhelm you.
But he hit a number of deep sideline throws that showed anticipation, a guy that understood coverages, that was always throwing before the guy made his break, which you don't always see out of rookie quarterbacks, and putting it in the right spot, and a little bit of creativity more than you would expect, more than I would say you saw seeaut A two A tongue to a tongue of I loa And I bring up that name because I think if you just close your eyes and you watch
those four games, and for the most part, he looked like a real NFL quarterback. I see similarities with Tua of anticipating getting rid of the ball quickly putting it right on the money, and I think he can win in the same sorts of ways that Tua did. But he had a number of throws kind of running left, running right that was like, Okay, that's Pryce Young. And I think those four games should give him some confidence going into this year.
Yeah, it was a really interesting situation saying that kindly, and that we don't even still really know what his ceiling is, but that roster last year lowered his floor, and that was that was hard to watch at times. I remember so you brought up the Dolphins. I remember when Mike McDaniel was asked about him, you know, when the teams were about to play each other, and he just he raved about some of the same things that
he loves in Tua. And I think that so many times last year when when watching the Panthers kind of just get in their own way a little bit, you just thought, man, I'd love to see him like in an actual version of that system that the Dolphins are running, giving, getting weapons all around, helping the quarterback in a few different ways, but then also building confidence in the quarterback.
Let's not forget too is confident was shot too a couple of years ago, and they you know, it's it's about building the relationship with the coach as well, and with the entire coaching staff top to bottom. In hey, like, you can kind of gaslight yourself into thinking like maybe some of the problem. I mean, I'm not in therapy right now, but maybe some of the problem is me, like you know, and you can kind of if you're in that type of over and over week after week
after week after week. It just was was such a struggle you kind of convince yourself like maybe maybe it's you know, and yeah, he's got some things to work on. And obviously, you know, any rooky quarterback will and and we don't know still what the ceiling is or even
what he can look like in a consistent environment. And so I think that this is going to be really fascinating too much, not just on a schematic level or a quarterback level on the field, but also on a personal level, like can you come back from enduring that? And you know, you've you've talked to him, You've watched a lot of him over the years. And I met him at the nflp Rookie premiere out here in LA
last year, and flex I know, and I was. I wandered into the wandered into the coliseum, and it was I was, actually I was all of all of these young quarterbacks, Anthony Richardson and c J. Stroud and Bryce Young. I was really struck at how mature they all seemed to beyond their years, at really really ready for the moment. I don't think anyone could have been ready for what Bryce had to deal with last year.
No, And I'm glad you mentioned that, because that's why I think Canalis could uniquely be well suited to be a guy that can fix him.
Because I can fix him.
His Canallis has said it like his north star and what he wants to be as an NFL head coach is Pete Carroll, and Pete Carroll's have been the biggest influence on his life. He's talked about it in terms of his coaching method, and I think he is very much about building up the person and building up the quarterbacks specifically, and I think he did a great job. I think Pete Carroll did too. I think Pete Carroll has a hand in Gino Smith's success. Gino was always
a confidence guy, but they built him up. They did the same thing with Baker in the very different skill sets. I think Bryce is probably closer closer to Gino and I think Canals can work with that in terms of the route concepts and the anticipation, but also just as a human like he just seems like a bundle of positive energy NonStop, and man, Carolina could have used that last season. We can use it here. Although we've got
it going in this studio. Today, we're gonna listen to what Patrick or who Patrick maybe wants to right after the break back on NFL Daily, It's the latest episode of your favorite game show, I Can Fix You. It's not a game show, but we're trying to go around the NFL and we're trying to see what situations we can ameliorate.
Yes, and so much of everything is related to perception, and so I am going to fix one particular one and I feel like we've come a long way in doing it just by the fact that the scenery has changed.
And that is Calvin Ridley.
When you consider right the coming into the season, if you had told more people that Calvin Ridley was going to cross a thousand yards, like he was going to have these catches in these touchdowns, I think they'd been like, oh, you know, he's been gone, he's been out of the game, and now he's back.
That's respectable.
But then the way that the season played out for the Jags, it did not put Calvin Ridley in a light of what he can do. And I don't think he was being utilized. And you mentioned Doug with reference to Evan Ingram, I think it kind of went the other way with Calvin Ridley. And by the time they figured out how to use Calvin Ridley, like not as much far outside on the X, not in motion, that's when Christian Kirk went down, and so the utilization just
didn't necessarily add up. And now he's in a spot where they're not going to ask him to do those things in Nashville, and I think he can have a better season and change the way that we look at Calvin Ridley back to the way we used to when he was playing opposite Julio.
Titans Sneaky Brank all compelling this year I'm into it.
I'm into this whole division.
Has the AFC SATH ever been more interesting from a young quarterback perspective? Definitely not, But even the Titans.
I love it. I love the choice because I.
Think he just went into last year with unrealistic expectations. Maybe I had it for him to his issue, and I think Trevor Lawrence's issue and the coaching staff's issue is they just clearly weren't on the same page. He wasn't where Trevor Lawrence thought he was going to be at particular like moments in a given play or in a given game, and it just was up and down. But the physical skills are there, and you think he's
this great he is a great receiver. But I was reading, you know, ESPN did the executive polls and top twenty and honorable mentions, and I noticed Calvin Ridley and DeAndre Hopkins didn't even get into the honorable mentions. They were like on the also like ran sort of list. It was like twenty to twenty eight, And then you're like, wow, is is Calvin really and DeAndre Hopkins really down that low?
But there's just that many good receivers, but they have two of them, and they have a fun young quarterback.
I think they're going to be fun.
Yeah, it'll be fine. It's kind of like, you know, getting Calvin Ridley in this new situation and you know it's it's a new head coach, play caller, all of that, and you're going to see the quarterback has to grow up too. And I think having receivers who understand more of the league landscape, understand what things could be in different places, what things, the things that worked, the things
that didn't work so much. Having that perspective and then pairing those people with a young quarterback who does you know, showed some exciting potential but still has to grow, I think that's I think that's really kind of exciting and maybe they'll maybe they'll fix each other.
Yeah.
I think because when we view them perhaps separately, I think there's a difference in how the to receivers specifically in the way that you can utilize them on the field work out for each other, where the parts of their game where they don't overlap the other one can do for the other one. And so I think it alleviates a lot for Nuke on the outside to have Calvin inside on the slot and vice versa.
I'm excited to see it and we'll get we'll.
Get more intel on Will Levis and see like those flash spots where like, oh this is Will Levis, he's the yolo ball guy, or like was that him just because he's a rookie, right, And we just talked about we talked about earlier with Bryce, like the game can only come to you so much and you just go back to those I'll try to run somebody over, I'll try to throw the ball really far. And in this second year, with more around him, I think we can see some good stuff.
Yeah, I'm excited. I'm excited. Their offensive line should be better. Tyler Boyd's there trailing Berks. A lot of people need fixing in Tennessee. I'm going to New Orleans with my next one, and this is a mission for Clint Kubiak to look at an offense. Clint Kubiak, by the way, the offensive coordinator of the Saints, of all the big changes in the entire NFL, which is going to totally change, like in one side of the ball. I feel like
Clint Kubiak's got about as little pop as anyone. I get that the Saints are off the radar, but you want to talk about a stale offense.
Last year they were fine.
It's not like they were that bad, but it was just they had all these different things and Pete Carmichael's there, and they all didn't really work together. They were less than the sum of their parts, I thought. In New Orleans and then here comes Clint Kubiak, great lineage. Do I give him a better chance of fixing the Saints just because of his last name? I absolutely do. Like nepotism one atshell, yeah, like that's part of it. But
you know what he was in Minnesota. He took over for his dad there as the offensive coordinator that magical Jefferson. Justin Jefferson's season, Kirk Cuttins had a great season like that was with Kubiak. He got thrown into the Nate Hacket trump in Denver. That wasn't a lot of fun, but he was the guy who took over. Actually late in the season, the play calling upticked a little. I just feel like this offense, you're not going to get
Derek Carr to be a totally different person. But Derek Carr was at his most efficient and decisive and his best under John Gruden, and I see a lot of connection here that Clint Kubiak can bring that sort of offense. And the offensive line is a little bit of a mess, but there's there's fun. There's Chris Alave, There's Rashid Shaheed Jawan. Johnson needs to be better. He's coming off an injury.
Kamara and Kendre Miller at running back. It's not like he doesn't have some good players to play with, and I think it's just going to be more cohesive. And I start with the line. The personnel. I have questions about it, but coaching can make up for a lot. And when I think Gary Kubiak, I think really well coached offensive lines, really cohesive. And because Mike Shanahan kind of had a bigger presence in the NFL than him, he gets overlooked as like one of the more influential
offensive minds in the last twenty five years. We'll see if the Sun can be the same, but I'm just assuming it because of the last name.
I can't actually move forward with this episode until I share what I discovered. When I was on a different topic than the Saints, but I was doing some quarterbacks research for the show, and I was looking at like Sam Donald for example. We'll get to a little bit later, but then I was looking at how many Kubiaks were in San Francisco during Donald's year, which then in my notes I wrote a passle of Kubiaks. Then I started thinking, what are multiple things called in things like in groups?
And I came up, I have a whole list and the best one that I thought of for the Kubiaks. So a group of Hawks is called a kettle, so we have a kettle of Kubiaks. Anyway, I just get him like the Kubii kept I kept almost laughing as you were, because I kept.
Wait, there was other ones.
So so Clint Kubiak, to be clear, was he got a nice little dusting of the Kyle Shanahan magic as the passing game coordinator last year. I should have mentioned that too, that's where he was with the number one offense.
In the league.
Yeah, you know, the Kubiaks have been and will be. They'll permeate the league. And I was looking at like I said, I could not move forward with with any opinion until I shared that with you guys, that I discovered.
That how many Kubiaks were there. I didn't know there was other multiple Kubiaks.
There's there's three Kubiak children.
They all coach and their first and last well obviously their last name, but all their first names start with K, so they're all KK and so a title of Kubiak absolutely perfect.
I'm not into the whole keep the initial with the kids the same for every kid.
Now it's a little it's a little like look at.
Me, apologies to anybody who's done.
That, or if that's you, I just not for me Greg, not for Greg.
Like, yeah, Walker had no chance of being Greg. Oh, definitely not Junior. Greg is a dead name for a reason. Never like that name. But if you go and search, like you know, what are the most popular names or whatever, and they keep track of the top thousand, like Greg dropped off the entire list, Like, no one's naming their kid Greg.
That's done. It's never coming back either. I don't like junior.
Juniors are maybe juniors are okay, but it's more the same initial with the same letter.
We're way aft track. But I'm I'm compelled by this team.
I think they're going to be more interesting than they were a year ago because of Clint Kubiak, I have. I have high hopes that he can have a cohesive offense and this team has a chance to win that division, whether.
You like it or not.
Cohesive with a K.
Yes, they'll be down in Irvine. They're going to be great where the Rams used to be for training camp. You give us who you want to fix, Jordan.
Yeah, well, I've done the very subtle undermining of your topic in order to transfer it to my top.
Wasn't that stuff? He called it out?
New old quarterbacks, quarterbacks who have changed teams, quarterbacks who are paired with different things. So one of my hobbies is watching Chopped. I love the show Chopped on Food Network. Now it's all over on HBO. You can watch season on season on season of Chopped, and in every season, in every one out of every like six episodes, somebody tries to make polenta and it gets to a point like it's a thing over time. This is a long
series has gone on for our UK listeners. The series has gone on for like decades at this point, and still people who watch the show and our chefs come into the Chopped kitchen and they try to make polenta and you just want to yell at your TV and scream, you are not the one who is going to be the first to successfully make polenta in this kitchen. Your
polenta will be thick and you will be chopped. And I got to say, I think Kevin O'Connell might be able to make polenta, like I think he might be the one who can help Sam Darnold oh at least.
And I'm not crowning anybody, right, but I think that Kevin O'Connell, because of what he personally experienced as a quarterback and the way the language of his system works, I do think that he could be the one to at the very least raise a little bit of the level of play that we've seen in the past, certainly build what I have this like sneaking suspicion that they're doing, because they've been very open about they're going to give
JJ McCarthy time. I think they're basically installing all concepts around the quarterback who's not eventually going to be running them, but that guy will run them well enough in order to be successful himself and maybe earn a contract somewhere else, but then also show literal proof of concept not just to the younger quarterback, but also help the coaches troubleshoot those concepts, and also the skill players around as they get used to playing with the guy who they drafted
quite clearly to be the long term quarterback in JJ McCarthy. And I think that that's a really delicate balance. So is making polenta in the chopped kitchen. M m. She brings it for a full circle. I love it, and and that's but that's what I really do think. I do have a suspicion that they're basically installing all of the structure and having a guy who they don't need
him to be Kirk Cousins or anything like that. They need like twenty twenty two Rams Baker Mayfield, Like they need a guy who can come in and like be a good leader, be exciting, be able to execute these concepts, raise the offense just a little bit as the offense in turn raises him, and provide, like develop all of this structure around who the eventual plug in quarterback is going to be.
That all makes sense to me, and I think it's a great situation that he's entering. But he's lent for a reason, and like he was in a great kitchen last year, you know, he was in San Francisco. And I know it's only like fifty dropbacks or whatever, but he wasn't kidding, just like the real reps, like, yeah, look like the same guy. It's funny polenta to chop, this, risotto to top Chef.
You don't want to make risotta and top Chef.
I don't think you'd want to make Risota and chopped either, But.
Yeah, I need you to be an expert on polenta and ham Donald, right, I need you to be an ice cream machine expert if you're going to go in that chop kitchen.
And utilize the ice cream machine. Oh yeah, Patch, I don't want to see it over mixed, all right, And.
I'm ready to believe, Jordan, I'm I'm I'm ready to believe. But the skepticism is is very hard to let go, uh with mister Donald.
And I'm but let me be clear, I'm not I'm not crowning anybody. I'm not saying he's going to come light the world on fire or anything like that. I'm saying he's going to be able to basically be there to help this entire structure of this offense develop the way that it needs to, and then maybe he'll get
a solid contract out of it. And then and then JJ McCarthy comes in, and it's a ready to run offense and obviously superstars you know in a couple of especially a receiver, but like you're and you're also showing proof of concept. Basically you're showing what the chop chefs not to do. But then somehow they still do it. Because every coach thinks that they can be the guy to fix the quarterback. And that's kind of the you know,
Sean Payton Zach Wilson situation, like I can fix him. Yeah, it's a different connotation.
He is the king of this exercise. He is the I can fix you guy, and to his credit, he's done a good job with almost any quarterback he's ever had.
Yeah, it's kind of a case for Sam Donald to be the ideal bridge.
Yeah.
Yeah, everybody gets what they want out of it. We come in knowing like, hey, this is this is not your case. Keenum run where maybe we keep you an extra too long, like we already have the plan, do your bridge job, go somewhere else.
Good luck to you. JJ's our guy. It could work out for.
Everything, right, someone will pay you too much money because they still believe in that in that Cash profile that they wrote in twenty eighteen, like, no one wants to give up whatever they thought five years ago, even if Sam Darnold shows otherwise.
Let's wrap up with Patrick. Yeah.
I talked about the Cowboys running game from last season, and I think we can fix Tony Pollard. Yes, and I think time fixes Tony Pollard. Because Tony Pollard had he had the strap ankle surgery in twenty twenty three. He also was coming off of a fractured fibula, and of course, like the idea of Tony Pollard carrying more of the load, being the main driver in his yards per carry and everything else dropping off, I think him being hurt. What's the biggest driver in the yards for
carry dropping off? And so the home runs weren't there, and it's kind of like you have a home run hitter that can't hit it to the fence anymore, and like what do you do. I think Tony Pollard has plenty of gas left and we'll have a spectacular season for multiple Titans.
I'm all on board, baby, I love it.
Justin Graver is listening somewhere and thinking, like, yes, we're finally getting some attention on this show.
He's compelling.
I don't think he had confidence in the leg last year, and you do hope that returns. There's no guarantee at running back that you're gonna run with that same energy juice throughout your career. That's kind of what goes at some point when you get older. But he's not old to your point, and he's in a great situation with Tajy Spears where the two of them, I think you can keep them on the field for an entire drive
and then the other one can take over. They can both do everything, and I think they will compliment each other well. I think they're one of the best backfields in the league. And if you get Pollard of twenty twenty two with twenty twenty four Taj Spears, you're cooking with gas. I'd rather have that than Derrick Henry. As much as I like Derrick Henry, I'd much rather have that Doo.
I do think that's kind of a magic sauce you'll start to see moving forward. Is like running backs who can like sort of seamlessly take over for each other in a way that's both complementary and supplementary. Specifically to the fatigue and the exertion placed on the body, particularly coming out of injuries like that. I think it's a great situation for him. I also I am a fan of this of this backfield here, and I think, again,
help out the young quarterback. You know, the quarterback's got to make a jump year one year or two, and all of these players around him, including this run system that they're going to install there, it's like, help out the quarterback.
Yeah, so again, help us, help you.
We have fixed the Tennessee Titans. We fix so much around the NFL. It's that time of year. It's happening, folks. Training camp is off and running. It is really here. This is week three of the NFL Daily Podcast, and we really appreciate everyone who has been tuning in. And yeah, the news is going to start flying. People are going to start flying all over the cut Tree. Patrick will be going to inside training camp, but he will be
back later this week before he does all that. Jordan Rodrigue will be going to training camp and she'll be back on this show.
But until then, I'm Greg Rosenthal. See you next time.