Welcome to NFL Daily, where we're just a bunch of Sikos staying up on a Thursday night to watch the last week of the preseason Bengals Colts. And there's no one I would want to talk about a Bengals game with more than Nick Westling, Who's the one who's really staying up late there. Look a little tired, but he's ready to go. Let's go, Nick Woo.
Yeah good.
Yeah.
I don't know what we learn how these preseason games. Yeah, And what I learned is Anthony Richardson hyped up pretty well for obvious reasons. He's got all the physical tools and looks amazing, but he missed a couple of bunnies and that's against a third team Bengals defense. So we'll see what happens. And obviously you're not going to show too much in the preseason. I don't think we really
learn too much about about things. But he's got to tighten some things up if he's going to lead this Colts teams to the playoffs this year.
No, I love that, Nick, you just jumped right into I was thinking of doing news first, but I brought up the game. You're talking game, let's talk the game, and yes, I just saw Bengals on the schedule primetime game, and I thought, what would make me happy, what would make our listeners happy? What would make us more happy than to just hear from from Nick Westling? Of course, and the visage. It's looking good, you look healthy, you look happy. It's always great to hear from you, my
favorite Westling in Cincinnati. You know, Phil's the old you know Phil's in Columbus. I'm not counting him and the other brothers. You know, I don't really hear from them as much, so you're in the top spot.
Nick, fine, you know it. Phels feels okay, but you're right, he doesn't live in Cincinnati. He doesn't count. Yeah, I mean, I'm not You said I look healthy. I'm I'm definitely not missing any meals. So we're feeling good here. Well, we'll see what happens with this football season. Obviously. I know you want me on because Westling brothers equal ratings, so you gotta go grab those while you can.
No doubt. Yeah, of course. Uh, all the fans and listeners back from the around the NFL days of Chris if you're watching on our YouTube show, I mean I have to admit it still happens to me, Nick when your when your face pops up on screen, it's just like, oh, the likeness is there. So that's not the only reason why I love you, but it is is an extra
bonus of why I love you. All right, let's just talk Colts Bengals then, because yeah, Richardson and the Colts played their starters for the first quarter and a half and we saw it all With Richardson, I thought in that first drive that he had, he goes right down the field, scores a touchdown. It's one of those preseason nights where if they just took them took him out after one drive, everyone and be like, oh, that's great, Like he is looking ready to go MVP, like sleeper,
here we go, because he showed some pocket movement. I disagreed with Kirk kurve Street. I disagreed with him a few times in this show. We'll get to that, but one of the times was you know he was saying Richardson asked the show he's a good decision maker, and to me, that's one of his good strength. I think he gets through his reads. He makes good decisions. But
he had a couple misses. He had a pick six on what I think was a miscommunication, but it was a couple miscommunications, and ultimately they had five drives and that was the only score. So that's not really what you want when you're going up against the Bengals third string defense or whatever they had out there.
That touchdown was easy. Again, you said third string the safety.
Stir It's not easy. He came across to like his second or third reads. His eyes start on one side of the field and he goes back. Give the guy a little credit.
Within six yards of him, I could have made that throw. Come on, man, I might not have been able to make that subtle movement he made to the left to get there, but I was sure he looked at you know, he put it on the guy and he jogged in for the touchdown. The play right before that, though, he had a guy wide opening the end zone, overthrew and missed him, went off the fingertips. So it's one of those things where it gets a little tighter in the in the in the regular season against a real safety
there instead of a third stringer. So we'll see what happens. I'm excited for Anthony Richards and I don't want want to take anything away. I'm curious to see. But let's not pretend like that was a world beating drive there. He was fine.
That was a good drive. All I mean is he got through his reads, like he went one to two to three pretty quick. So that was good.
The limited amount last year we saw. I thought that was one of the strains too. He was very quick through his accuracy issues and fumble issues. But other you know, he looked great when when he was playing.
It's just a reminder how little we know of this dude. I think there's almost an artificial expectation and I'm part of it. I'm excited for him because we only had two completed games last year, and then he had two more where he didn't complete it. And on average, those games which I went back and watched, had so many good moments that you just immediately project forward like, oh,
that's who that guy is. But it was like three games at the NFL level and he barely played at college and he was supposed to be one of the most raw prospects. So there are mystery Box. They are a team I'm excited about. This is an AFC South themed show. I don't know if you know this, Nick. I have Seth Payne, former Houston Texan, who I really like, who's down there as an analyst, who's on the show.
He's going to be talking Texans. And then John Shipley, who's I think one of the best beat writers out there, talking Jaguars. Because I'm into this division, it's not really about the Titans. I mean, as a last place team goes like I could watch the Titans levis is kind of fun. But it's these three teams with these quarterbacks. I just feel like this division has never had any juice, and right now I wanted to just have a show where we talked about their juice because we saw on
the rest of the field. Jonathan Taylor, I think he set up for a nice year, eighty Mitchell, he out snaps Alec Pierce, Tonight a good looking rookie, and a lot of good players on their defense too. Liatu Latu had a sack in this game. He was my favorite defensive pass rusher in this draft, So I think his Colts team could contend if Richardson is good enough. What do you think about the AFC South Do you worry they're coming for the AFC North Crown as the best division.
Well, I don't think that's the danger this year, but there is a lot of reason to get excited. There's still a lot of question marks with all four of these teams, I think. I mean, obviously the Texans look a little better than the other two, and you you mentioned mentioned the Titans. I'm a little little bit excited to see what they have, see if they have any juice this year. The Titans, I always thought they were well coached until the very end of last year when
they kind of fell apart. So we'll see if the new coaching staff can get in there and do some things. And and I don't really want to focus on them. I want to focus on the Jaguar. I'm sorry the Jaguars. YEA, make sure I say it without the Midwest accent there. But they looked like they were gonna be good, and then they just kind of came out and last year and we're average. The entire year, looked really bad in
some games, looked pretty good in some games. They're not getting talked about much this year, and I'm excited that they still have a lot of playmakers. I mean, we know Trevor Lawrence what is he? Is he a top quarterback? Can he be a top eight guy? I think he's got the tools that we haven't seen it quite yet though he's been more in that ten to twelve range for the most part of his career, and he shows flashes.
But we'll see what happens. That their defense should be decent and how much how many points can they score? We'll wait and see.
Yeah, it's it's a fun division and we'll get into all that later in the show. The last thing on the Colts that I wanted to get into it with Herb Street, you know, because he's listening. He really respects me a lot. I know the preseasons that these games are long, and I wouldn't even notice if he said that if someone didn't clip it and send it out
on Twitter. But he spent a part of the third quarter like speculating, well, you know, they know what they have and Joe Flacco, you just wonder And I was sensing some Richardson doubt from Herbstreet. It's usually very positive, so I don't mind him having a little criticism. He said, you know what if Richardson's struggles, what then will the temptation be to go with Joe Flacco. Who you know what you got there and you have a ready made roster, ready to win. I was like, what do you know
that you have? He's played ten games the last three years and they've been up and down. Even the Cleveland thing was fun, but like, let's not get carried away in no world, like they would put me on Amazon for Thursday Night Football in the Booth with al over Kirk kurve Street before they would replace a healthy Anthony Richardson with Joe Flacco. I will, I will, I don't know what I will do, Nick Westley, I will drive to your house in Cincinnati if they replace Kirk Herbs.
I mean, if they replace Anthony Richardson with Joe Flacco, if he's healthy this year, that is not happening.
That's not happening.
No.
I mean Flacco, great career, you know, good run last year. He I mean he's my age or your age or something. He can't play anymore. I mean he can still get in there and be a spot starter if you needed someone in an emergency and be efficient. And if you give him times, he can time the throw. He can still pick passes. But yeah, that's not going to be a thing.
I don't know.
If Richardson gets hurt, it's fun. You bring him in. That's the whole point. And he could fill in. He showed he can do that, but there's no chance. Wait, how I always forget that because Chris Westling five years older than me to the day, born on the same birthday. I always took a little pride in that thought. That was cool. Wait are you are you younger than me? Are you older than me?
No, I'm older than you. I'm about to be forty seven in a month.
Okay, So Bengals, Look, they didn't play Jermaine Burton, who is their third round pick until the very end. There was a little conversation from the broadcast that he had been falling asleep in meetings. That was news to me. So that explained maybe why they won't play him. A certain sort of maturity and a trust level maybe with Joe Burrow, whether he's in the right spot. But then every game they always put him against these fourth stringers
and he has lit up. Like one thing I've learned from the preseason, there is not a third stringer in the NFL that is any match for Jermaine Burton. He's just moss in them play after play. It's amazing.
Yeah, I mean that catch he made over a third string safety, of all things, So it wasn't even a corner. I don't know, like you heard a lot about this in college. I wasn't sure if Herbstreet was saying it was happening now or if it was it happened to college. I wasn't sure what that was. I hadn't heard anything in Cincinnati about that, so I don't know. But he's had problems with all the coaching staffs he had in college, and now it looks like maybe he isn't in the
good graces of the Bengals coaching staff will see. Obviously he's got the physical, physical tools. He looks great in preseason, but he's not gonna he's not gonna crack that top three. I think Yosivas has that third receiver position locked up.
And love Yohshavas. I mean, it might be their number one receiver to start the year if Jamar Chase doesn't end this Holden. This Holden's taken a little while considering. I mean, he's got he's got that fifth year option on his contract. The Bengals aren't gonna I don't think they're gonna pay him. So this is one that's a little a little diceier than most where I could see it going up to the very end, and I could
actually see in this case, him skipping a game. I never predict that you will be back, Trent Williams be back, Ceedee Lamb will be back. I actually think in this case, because he because he's just gonna be so annoyed that they won't even do anything, that he actually might skip a game or two. It's it's at least possible. With Jamar chasing.
Yeah, no one seemed worried about it until today. I hadn't heard anyone really talking about it much. I just assumed something would get done, they give him a little bomber, or he would just go away and go back to practice, just to you know, I don't know what it was all about, because you're right, I don't think he's going to get much. If he gets anything, I don't. I can't.
He's only going to sign if it's like the big Justin Jefferson type contract, And I just think they don't want to pay him this early because that's just what they just don't want to do it yet, and Jefferson didn't get that money till he was a year older. You know, he is a year older, so we'll see that.
It's just been a weird, quiet situation. The other preseason game tonight was was Chiefs Bears backups of plenty, so not much to talk about their Kadarius Tony, McCole Hardman are in this game heavily, which shows like they might not be a lock for this roster, which is interesting just because you know, Hardman had that Super Bowl winning catch and Kadarius Tony's former first round pick, so we'll see if either of them, at least one of them
will make the team. But the story of the preseason has been Carson Steel of the Chiefs, who every game he plays, he has a ridiculous highlight run. Here it is, give him the football again. Here you go, it's Clarkson Steel breaking exactly and if you're watch it on YouTube, Like, I love that we have the that we're able to show the highlights and stuff like he's doing this every week. Uh,
he's like the next Mike Alstatt. I hate to just compare him to like another white fullback, but he's a white fullback.
What was the a few years back? What was a guy from Cleveland that had that rund of like six or seven games?
Peyton Hillis he was? He was a tailback technically he was.
A bigger one and looked kind of similar in his running style. They got on the.
Cover of Madden, which was like one of the more racist things that's ever happened in my lifetime. Oh yeah, oh yeah, it's funny.
Congratulations, she had a great year. What you're doing on the cover of mad.
And I don't I don't know either. All right, we look I'm having so much fun. I'm taking longer than I expected. But we are going to do some news because there was some significant news. I was going to start the show with this because it was a big bit of a surprise, and if you're a listener to NFL Daily, it might not have been as big a surprise. Eric, Let's do some news, all right. John Dotson going from the Commanders with a fifth round pick to the Eagles
for a third round pick. The Eagles also sent to seventh in this deal, so the Commanders pick up a pick, swap up to the third and to seventh for their first round pick from a couple of years ago. Obviously it's a different regime there in Washington, with Ron Rivera out the building. They did not seem to have any
use for Johan Dotson. Your reaction Nick to this trait, and I'm saying it's not a surprise if you listen to this show, because I was just saying it did not sound like they were a fan of him and someone was going to give up a decent pick I thought for Johan Dotson, and they weren't going to cut him or anything, and they got decent value. It's telling they traded him in the division though they do not think this kid can play.
Yeah, I think he was drafted sixteen overall, just a couple of years ago. It was supposed to be a great compliment to McLaurin, and it just never really clicked for him. He was injured his rookie year and then came back and really didn't do anything his second year. They have to be massively disappointed by this because he looked looked like a good prospect coming out and he would at least be a you know, a borderline number one, if not an absolute number one there and it just
never never really panned out. Seemed like he got opened a lot when he was a rookie and couldn't get the ball delivered on time, and then last year he just didn't seem like the same guy.
You know.
I kind of thought he had way more production as a rookie until today when I went and checked, he had thirty five for five hundred and twenty three yards. But he did have seven touchdowns. And that's why I think I remember it because he had a couple of big plays down the field, and he was he's a smaller guy that tries to like win at the catch point, like make those crazy catches with guys all over him. That's a hard life to live as a smaller guy. But he's shown he can get open. You hit the
nail on the head. He can run routes at the NFL level if he just has a free release. And so in Philly he is there. What their fifth receiving option. You have aj Brown, you have DeVonta Smith, And now it was he was maybe the biggest gap in the NFL from two to three before at wide receiver they had a guy Britton, Covey and Wilson, a rookie who has taking snaps and like it was just a chasm. So now dots and fills into that that that position
and mostly you'll be in the slot. But I say fifth option because they're going to throw it to Dallas Goddard, They're going to throw it to Saquon Barkley, and so then I think, Okay as a role player, he's not getting that press coverage. He can run some routes and more than anything, he's a good backup because I did think they were in big trouble. There's such an offensive team. If Brown or DeVonta Smith, who have both been really durable ever got hurt. That just was a really thin room.
So it's a rare trade I like for both teams because I think Dotson is probably better than he showed.
It sounded to me Nick just reading the reports and reading between the lines with the coaches, like the effort might have not been like either he was in his own head and not confident, or just like it wasn't with the program, because whenever they brought up their receivers, they would always just say how the other guys were trying so hard and they finish every route and blah blah blah, and they were kind of leaving him out of that equation.
Yeah, obviously we're not on the inside there, but it seems there's something amiss there. He's just he's too talented to give up on this early, if you know, especially when you do it now, You're right, a different regime, different coaching staff. Maybe they they looked at him and said, nope, cut our losses. That's what it looks like.
Right, and they and to give it to Philadelphia. I kind of like that. That's a DJAF type of move. It's like, we just wanted the best pick possible, Like, yeah, he might be fine there, Like we're not worried about that. We're worried about twenty twenty five. Frankly, like that that's what they're worried about. They're getting picks, they're rebuilding, and they're doing it around their young quarterback. So I like
it fine for both teams. We'll see if that's and it wasn't the only move, by the way, the Commanders made today. Kadi York, the kind of busty Browns kicker from a couple of years ago, they got taken high in the draft. They traded a conditional pick for him and cut Riley Patterson so they have their kicker. I'm going to roll through just two quick contracts and then we'll mention Justin Herbert at the end. Nick aj Terrell got a contract from the Falcons a little more than
twenty one million dollars a year. They had me do the top fifty free agents of twenty twenty five on the site. It's the last thing I write before the season starts, the only thing I write in training camp. And I'm realizing I write it at a stupid time because they always sign these guys like a week or two later before the season starts. But aj Terrell was number six, Like he's probably a top fifteen to twenty cornerback in the league, maybe even top ten, And so
that was good business. And then they also gave money in Kansas City to their center, Creed Humphrey, by far now the highest paid center in the NFL. I had him number four on my top fifty list. And that's that's big news for the Chiefs because they have a couple offensive linemen that we're coming up now. They can use the other franchise tag on the other one. And they've done a great job protecting Patrick Mahomes. How sick
of you sick of the Chiefs. Are you on a scale of one to ten as a Bengals non fan, although you are a fan, and just as a football fan, are you getting sick of him?
I love watching the Chiefs play.
I love it.
I love watching the Chiefs play. I mean, my wife's in the other room and she can hear me say this, but she would say that, argue they always get all the calls. And maybe that's true to a certain extent, but I think they you make your own luck in the NFL. When you're making good plays, you're going to get more calls. So yeah, I've got no with the Chiefs. I love watching.
I just feel like the fatigue is there, and I forget that you pretend that you have absolutely no emotional attachment to the Bengals.
I've told you, I'm a casual fan of the Bengals. It's not I don't. I don't love your family.
I mean, I'm not a Rams fan, but I want my daughter to be happy, so I'm happy. Yeah, maybe it's the same. Maybe it's the same.
I'm happy when they do well.
Okay, that's good. Uh Yeah, I'm just feeling Chiefs fatigue all around. The country. Definitely in my house, like everyone used to love and by everyone, I mean you know my my family members who watch a lot of football too. They they still love the Chiefs, and now they're just kind of like, all right enough for the Chiefs.
Uh.
Finally, the team that I thought would be their main rival was Justin Herbert and the Bengal and the Chargers. Rather, I'll never forget uh. You know, the last season we had with Chris Uh, we watched the Chiefs chart Chargers game, actually at Chris's house and Lakeisha's mom UH was hanging out and came over and she was getting She loved she loved that Chiefs Chargers matchup, and she was going crazy.
That was a fun memory. And they always played them tight, but they always find a way to lose in the end. And now they're not even playing them tight anymore. I bring up all that just to say that Justin Herbert was back at practice, and according to Daniel Popper at the Athletic, it was one of the best practices he's ever seen Justin Herbert play quarterbacking at the highest level. It's a rare training camp report like that that actually influences me because I was so freaked out about this
foot injury. I thought this their season might be done before it started. Maybe I'll get hurt again. But hearing that that makes that makes me happy as someone that wants to see some fun football by the Chargers.
Well, let's hope.
So.
Yeah, I mean, the league's a better when when he's playing well because he's an exciting quarterback, doesn't mind throwing the ball downfield and into tight windows. So it's fun to watch the Chargers play when he's playing well. So let's hope it's good. And I mean, I don't know how many opportunities they'll get to throw on the tight windows this year, but.
What do you mean? I mean they'll probably all be tight windows unfortunately. Yeah, you just saying they're going to run the ball and they're going to be in trouble. Yeah, Chris. You know, Chris was a true believer in Herbert. He enjoyed he enjoyed watching him those couple of years, and I think I think he would have been surprised how the next few have gone. Not that Herbert's played poorly, but just that it's really he hasn't gotten any better, and the team around hims gotten worse facts.
I don't have anything to add to that. That was perfect.
I appreciate you what you said today. Everything was perfect to Nick, and it's always good to see you. I got to check the schedule see when the Bengals are on in primetime and get you on for those shows. But I like your analysis any old night, so we should have you back before then.
Even then, anytime, Greg.
All right, that was Nick. We're going to take a quick break and I'll be back with Seth Payne. We'll talk some Texans after the break back on NFL Daily. So you know one thing I'm excited about with this show. We're gonna cover every team, but we do have the space here with Daily to really get into certain teams I find fascinating in a given moment of time, and that's why I'm excited about this kind of AFC South
focused show. We talk Colts already. I'm digging the AFC South this year, and they're young quarterbacks, so we're kind of running out of time. Season's about to start, and so I wanted to set the table for what's at stake this season in this division. That's been an afterthought frankly for most of the time I've been at the NFL. But now you have a division with four young quarterbacks, three of them top five picks, all of them extremely talented. Let's be real, like one of them, c J. Stroud,
is above the rest. And one of these teams, to me, just in terms of being the team of the moment, is above the rest. And that's the Houston Texans. And that's why I'm excited to have on former Houston Texan Seth Payne, co host of The Pain and Pendergast on Sports Radio six ' ten in Houston Show and a man. Before I even let you speak, Seth, I'm gonna just you know, so the listeners know on YouTube just what they're kind of dealing with. Your your trim and fit now.
But this is what Seth Pain looked like as a rookie, uh in the NFL. I believe that's a rookie. That was Jaguars Man.
That's so much creating.
Oh my god, I really suggest anyone check it out. It's I get you gotta. I don't know if you want this. If I were you, I would want this being the first thing that comes up when you google the name Seth Pain, because this is pretty much it right here.
Yeah, that's all. I'm happily married, so I'm scaring off women. Doesn't bow bother me at all, gladly use That's not what I looked like when I met my wife. Yeah that was probably my rookie my rookie years. So yeah, that's that's different.
Yeah, Randy, But yeah, Okay, I was gonna say, I'm gonna feel intimidated and uncomfortable if you leave it up any any longer. But yeah, Seth now is down there doing awesome work. One of my favorite voices out there on any team. And you just came right off the field, so I actually I'll just start there. You had a joint practice. Those are always to me the most interesting days of the off season. Texans and Rams. Any takeaways just from today while you were there.
Okay, so they were practicing the Rams, which is cool. Matt Stafford practiced And I'll say the Texans defense has looked good throughout camp. They made a lot of off season additions and it looks like it it might be paying off. You never know until you get to the regular season. But the defense looked good. The offense looked weak at offensive line.
I think CJ.
Stroud looked great throwing to step on Diggs and Tank Dell and Nico Collins like that.
That's been a lot of fun to watch.
But the offensive line is a bit of a work in progress, and the Rams defensive line had their way with them a bunch of times. So like in the quest to be the San Francisco forty nine ers, that means elite passing offense and elite rushing offense. I feel like they are long ways off from the elite rushing offense part right.
Now, hmmm because of the O line. Yeah, and so Tunsl's back out there, right and yeah, paper they have, you know, a good, good tackle combo. I guess the question is in the interior. And yeah, I don't want to I wasn't playing in a start negative, but if if you asked me to be like, what could be the problem for this Houston Texas I guess that's it.
I hadn't really thought about it, but that that doesn't come together because yeah, you look at the numbers and they were one of the worst running teams in the entire NFL last year.
Right, Yeah, no, and that's trust me. Like We've had a whole off season of fun and frivolity, and it's been really cool to watch all of this come together.
I like CJ. Stroud is the real deal.
I try to step away and take off my Homer glasses as much as possible, but he's the real deal. And you know, Stefan Diggs, his history is the first two years he's anywhere. Everything's awesome, so I'm not worried about it. They got him on a one year contract, so I don't like, I don't foresee any issues on that side of things. I think the defense is going
to be very good rushing the passer. I just I like all off season long as I listen to people outside of Houston gush and heat praise and like I'm talking, you know, like the hardcore film watchers and everything heat praise. On the Texans, I did feel like they were whistling past the run game issue a little too easily. And
I like Joe Mixon. I'm glad he's here. You know, I don't think he's going to be you know, set records or anything like that, but the whole operation, the blocking of the offensive line and the tight ends and a fullback whose name will be determined later apparently right now, it's it needs to get better if they want to be genuinely elite, because they weren't that good in the red zone last year, and so far in the preseason it hasn't looked so great either.
Yeah, and it's interesting too because the Rams are young upfront, but they they could be They could be pretty good, better than people think. And that's interesting. These joint practices, I feel like, especially if you had a bad one previously, it's all the Rams have been doing is having Jordan practice and come out for the next one all fired up.
But that's good to think about. How did Mixon look, by the way, because he was on my radar that he missed so much of camp early and he's been a guy that at the beginning of each of the last two seasons, I'm like, Oh, Joe Mixon's back, and I love Joe Mixon just as a as a runner,
just his style of running. And then he was someone like if you watched him from week one and then it was week eight, just wasn't like, I don't know if his body was breaking down, he just wasn't the same guy by the middle of the last couple of seasons.
I think with Mixon, for one. Yeah, there's because he was gone for he practiced the first day my radio co host Sean Pendergast, so I'm kind of rubbing his squad after that practice, just as he was talking to a family member or something, and then, yeah, your soft tissue injury was gone for a couple of weeks. It's noticeably different when he's on the field versus other running backs. He's just you know how he is. He's way bigger when you see him in person than you expect, Like
he's a big, fast, athletic dude. He looks like Joe Mixon, and I think he'll be just fine. Us to get the absolute most out of him. The thing I'm curious about in the difference between being in Cincinnati and being here is that in Cincinnati they had kind of transitioned into being a team that was in shotgun all the time. And Joe Mixon is at his best when he's QB under center. He's seven yards deep in the backfield and he can just hit it. And this offense will do
that a lot. So as long as the offensive line can get in sync, I think he's going to be just fine. I just want to be able to maximize it. One little interesting part of that too, was with the Rams in town. I was talking to Jordan Rodrik, who covers them for the Athletic.
Daily too. Here we go.
Yeah, I love it.
I mean I was so excited fanboyd Over because I love that play Callers podcast, and like, cam Akers is with the Texans right now. So cam Acres comes to the Texans after a second Achilles tendon tear, and when they first signed him, I was like, Oh, don't pay attention. He just had his second Achilles tendon tear. It's just that's an experiment. The first day he was out there like, oh wow, I never would have thought that guy had a second Achilles ten and turned nine months ago. So
I was talking to Jordan about it, you know. And one of the things with cam Akers was that the Rams transitioned away from being an outside zone running team and it just not quite the same fit for cam Akers, whereas the Texans are an outside zone running team and cam Akers might be a better fit with the Texans. But also at the same time, we're watching Damian Pierce in the preseason game so far average one yard per carry on seven carries. It's just it's not feeling good
for Damian right now. And I think Cam might end up if he's healthy, et cetera, et cetera, like he might actually end up being a much better option than I gave them credit for when they signed him.
It's funny that camp in the preseason so long, and I'm doing this show daily, that it's long enough for narratives to turn in on themselves by the end of it. Because I was all excited about all like Damian Pierce, maybe this is the comeback season. He did something as rookie year. All right, let's get to the fund. Let's get to the reason why you were right. You said the people nationally. I don't know if you're including me in that, like the film watchers.
I'm part of the cool group.
No, I'm I mean I would take it.
I mean I am.
I am high on the Texans. How can you not be? They are the team to me at the moment, like they are. I thought they should have been in that kickoff game. It's crazy to say a game between Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes would be maybe more interesting with the Texans. But I guess when I think of the kickoff game, I like the idea of the champ versus like some new challenger, and the Texans are that team and they feel more real than even the Lions felt at this time of year ago when they were that
team and they delivered on it because of Stroud. And you've gotten to see, you know, this kid from from day one and the maduration and obviously he's got more than enough weapons around him this year, and kind of how he manages that as a leader, I think is interesting, but also just how you think he manages that and develops as a quarterback, because we've seen so many times quarterbacks really develop so much between one and two, and if you think about that with Stroud, that's just going
to be insane. Just kind of give me, give me your impressions. Being around him and this team for a year plus now.
The really cool thing about Stroud last year was you could kind of you could see the stages of development. So the first the first game versus the Ravens, they come out and Bobby Slowick and Bobby Slogan has basically said this much himself, did that classic first time coordinator thing where they tried to do all the good stuff all at once, and it was just a little bit
of overload. You know, they had multiple guys in motion and everything while they're playing with three backup offensive linemen, and it was a little too much. And then over the first the course of those first two games against the Ravens and the Colts, CJ took eleven sacks in those two games, and then all of a sudden, CJ didn't get sacked for several games in a row after that, like he figured out, all right, I got to get
rid of the ball. Sometimes, you know, you saw him really steadily learn what he could and couldn't get away with in terms of interceptions. Sometimes people look at his completion percentage, which wasn't sky high last year, and they think of that as like, oh, maybe he wasn't as accurate as he thought.
He was as we thought he was. No, he was super accurate.
It was he was very mature in terms of throwing the ball away or throwing passes that were either going to be caught or incomplete, but not interceptions. So like the ball and some of his incompletion percentage is actually due to his accuracy and his ability to throw to a safe place. So his you know, only throwing five interceptions on the year was something that developed over time, and like his ability to start to I think understand
and feel the pass rush was really cool. And it's one thing that they talked about they're working on this training camp is just the efficient pocket movement, you know, taking one step instead of three, you know, just moving in the pocket instead of scrambling. And and I think he's taken a step in that regard. So it's kind of like it's all this stuff that you hope your quarterback develops by year three so you can make a decision on whether or not to give him that quarterback extension.
I feel like he he kind of fast forwarded through a lot of those those processes last year, and and I honestly I tried to. I sought out every Kurt Warner, Dan Orlovsky, jt Osullivan, every former quarterback that breaks down film, just looking for guys to point out where maybe it wasn't actually that good, and like they're just they're universally blown away by how quickly he moved through that part of it. So that's that's a really cool thing. And yet at the same time he I think he remains
very humble about it. I know a lot of I know he talked a lot of smack on podcasts in the offseason, but he's like he's still got it. He's got the appropriate size chip on his shoulder. You know, it's not a it's not a John Man's El sized chip on his shoulder, and it's it's just the right size of chip to keep attention, to keep him focused.
Yeah, I could see that. He just seems like a guy you would want to hang out with. I mean, he's the guy that I think that makes you feel things. He makes me feel feel at watching him, And you
mentioned the pocket movement. I mean, to me, I'm sure he could get better at that, but just his natural feel that's tough to teach, and it reminds me a little bit of some of the greats I've enjoyed watching and just the style of quarterback I like, whether it's whether it's a Brady or a Rivers or a Geno even like on a lower level, but even just he reminds you of those guys and that he just obviously doesn't seem like one of those guys in terms of
how he carries himself. He does seem like a guy and you can speak to the all these weapons here that I think would be uniquely suited for a second year player to kind of handle and understand to keep everyone happy. Because look at by the end of last year was just Nico Collins as like a big time playmaker. Now it's Dell healthy again looking good. Steph On Diggs
is their Nego Collins and then they're deep. I expect them and we don't need to get into who this will be, but they have the best like wide receiver six and seven in the in the league. They have Noah Brown and Robert Woods and David Hutchinson, who is a good young player. And who am I forgetting metchy, Like someone's gonna get.
Treated started taken off? Yeah in the last come right.
Someone's going to get traded here. And I don't even need to it does it for our purposes? It's not that big a deal because they have so many stars, Like, how do you see him just like as a guy that's to me going to be one of the faces of the league and certainly the face of Houston Sports for the next ten plus years.
I think the the pairing of him and Bobby Slowick has been really good in terms of just the x's and O side of things. I think the pairing of Demico Ryans and c J. Stroud and their personalities and their commitment to kind of doing things a certain way.
I think that's where it could be really, really good.
And you know, you've got a defensive minded head coach, so at some point Bobby Slowick's probably going to get hired away to be a head coach somewhere. You're gonna have to replace that offensive coordinator. I think the biggest thing that I noticed about CJ away from the x's and o's is and I'll credit Ryan Day and the staff at Ohio State for a lot of this. He's he takes the leadership part of it very seriously and it's not just some stuff that he's read in a book.
Like he talks all the time, and you know, you see in his actions he really wants to form personal relationships with everybody on the team and really get to know them so that they trust each other and that everybody you know, is moving in.
The same direction.
And with that, you know, we saw him in training camp this year really start to take on more of
that actual captain of the ship mentality. You know, he's he's correcting guys he's calling him up when the practice isn't going well and he's doing all that, but it doesn't It feels very very natural because he took his time in building to that, and I think he feels more comfortable and he feels like this is last time this year he still didn't know if he was going to be the starting quarterback, where obviously this year he's the starting quarterback.
Right, and it's gonna be fun that that's such a fun week one game them and the Colts. You mentioned Demiko, and he just won another award from last year. I don't even know what this. It was some sort of coaching board and he.
Pro Football Writers' Association, that's something or other.
Yeah, and he did do a great job because I one thing I thought he did a good job was he took players that just weren't as good under other coaches, whether they were on the Texans or whether they came in guys like Blake Cashman, Christian Harris and various players, and he made them better. And like that's ye. Belichick always said, like that was all you got to do, is like if you can just show someone how to improve,
they're going to love you. And trust you. And obviously he's he's a great leader and everyone likes him as a person, but you also need that part of it. Now, it seems like he has a better roster. It feels like Daniel Hunter is an upgrade from Grenard. They tried to upgrade a little bit at linebacker. They drafted Kamari Lassiter.
Just feels like they're more talented. I've heard people who've come in and out of Houston this month, and people have seen a lot of training camps and everyone's just like, Wow, this seems so talented. There's so many good players everywhere. As a former defensive lineman, just give me a way or you're most excited, you're most impressed, you're most surprised out of this camp.
All right, good. You mentioned a couple of the big names.
Danil Hunter man, I'm guilty of this, like of not having really appreciated just like how freakishly good he is in a lot of ways. Are just what a physical freak he is. That dude's a that dude's a freak, and it's cool and fun to watch him work with Will Anderson. Kamari Lassiter is understandably I think flying under the radar in a lot of ways outside of Houston. He's had a really good camp and he's you know, he's got he You talk about teaching somebody to swim
by throwing him in the pond. He is out there from day one going against Stefan Diggs, Nico Collins, Tank Dell and and he's battled them like he's battled them. And today at practice against the Rams, it's like, every time I looked over to the defensive side of the field, he was breaking up a Matt Stafford pass. It was like, he's he's doing really really well. So isn't the regular you know, you've got to do it in the regular season,
but that looks really good. Al Shire is probably an under heralded signing because I don't think al Shire them the linebacker.
He's not.
He's not going to be an All Pro or anything likely, but he's he's Demiko Ryans in a lot of way, Like in terms of cause I played my last year in the NFL was Demiko's rookie year, and Demiko was this guy that came onto the team and you know, by you know, by by midway through his rookie season, we're calling.
Him cap for captain.
Wow, because that's like just and you try to explain it to people, and people talk so much about culture, and then it just becomes white noise because every coach comes in and says they're going to establish the culture and then usually they you know, they make exception here, they don't really follow the motivational poster there.
It's just this is just who Dimiko is.
He's one of the rarest individuals I've met in football, and it's hard to describe and explain sometimes until you see it. And it's really cool. This year, I think you start to see that. I think the team's taken on his personality and and that part of it. Like, I like, I'm as jaded and as cynical as the rest when it comes to talk about that stuff for all the reasons I just mentioned, But it's but Dimiko's just different.
What made he jaded? Just seeing a few different coaches that weren't weren't at Tomiko's level as a players. They Ah, there's been a lot of change. I gotta say I was kind of on the why let that Kissario pick another head coach who knows if he even really was one that picked Tamiko Ryans, but credit to the Texans because the Broncos wanted him and he chose the Texans and that changed everything. And and ultimately they've been proven right because Casserio's had a lot of good players brought in.
You know what part of it is, man, I mean, there was a lot of dysfunction in the organization for a couple of years.
And like part of it.
I don't want to get too deep into of all of this, but if you look at the Chiefs when they when they first transferred ownership, after I'm blinking on his name passed away, there was like a little bit of turmoil for a little bit. And I think I think after Bob McNair passed away and and Cal his son took over, there were a lot of different voices and a lot of different people kind of grabbing power, and it was an ugly situation. So like there was only so much David Cully or Lovey Smith was going
to be able to do. They fixed some of that and they righted the ship in a lot of regards.
And the thing about Cassaria was, you know, Casario took.
The job, you know, and without getting the timeline exactly nailed down, basically Casario took the job, and then Deshaun Watson requested a trade, and then all of the allegations came out against the show on Watson and meanwhile there was a salary cap mess because Bill O'Brien and Jackie should be went hog wild spending like they spending like hillbillies who just won the lottery, and so like Casario
had to clean that up. And I did think that, you know, Casario, he was very impressed with Demiko on the call. I do believe that it was going to be Casario's choice on making that higher.
A lot of people were skeptical.
That Demiko would want to come here, or that the McNair's would want Tomko because you know, Demiko had sued them for the field conditions.
A few years back.
There was that side of it, and then the Texans did not have good pr at the time. I just I knew from the beginning that Demiko and Casario were going to get along great because they're both They've got much different personalities, but they're both very focused on ignoring extraneous bs and like just caring about the podcast like them Yeah, yeah, any uh, the stupid media or just even like like old school coaching bs, you know, like there,
Casario's not trying to be Bill Belichick. Casario is just very much his own guy, and I think he pulled he pulled some really good things from New England. But he also understands that every organization is different and you don't want to go the way as some of those other like like head coaches have gone from out of New England.
Yeah, that's not Maybe you guys do do a podcast, but maybe they make it into back up. But that's four hours on the radio every morning. You know, I cannot talk anything about suddenly going daily when you're doing four hours daily. One of my favorites, Seth Pain. Let let's fly another pick of Seth Pain up here before we go, just so that's let the listeners know what they're dealing.
Yeah, be impressed, everybody.
I mean, I'm impressed. I'm impressed. Great career in the NFL and great career as a guy in the media. One of my favorites. And uh, look he lucked out one of his former teammates becomes the local head coach. That's perfect. That that can't be bad business. That's got to be great. Thank you for everything. This team to me, they are like they are the team right now, the Houston Texas amazing to think where they were where they are.
But we'll get you back on later in the season to see how they're doing.
Awesome, Man, I'm sorry I was negative. They just got to get the run game going.
No, you weren't negative at all. Come into it next after the break. We're gonna have John Shipley talking to Jaguars right after this. Very excited for my next guest, John Shipley, who writes for SI dot com about the Jaguars. He co hosts the Jaguars on SI dot Com podcast with Gus log who's also excellent and sounds a little too much like John Shipley at first. I want you to work on that for me, John, like I have
to figure out who's who. Well, we can get into what a good job you do, John, But I just want to start this way. You analyze this team from a very considered, intelligent, I would say, unemotional perspective. But what if I told you there's just something about this Jaguars team, like I don't know what to do with. They're just there, like they're not that great at any one thing, but they're not that bad at any one thing. So I start just asking you, like, what are the Jaguars.
Yeah, honestly, this is my six year covering them like that, probably like five out of six years, Like last year is the only year I've been around them where there were really expectations, And it definitely feels like how they finished last year, like they were the biggest collapse in football.
Last year.
You know, start eight and three, lose five your last six games. They lost the last five games Trevor Lawrence started, they'd probably lose their last six and they don't play you know, Bryce Young and to marry Bunch in Carolina in week seventeen. So definitely feels like a lot of the feelings around Jacksonville are rooted in how bad last year ended, and it's on to blame them. They've gone nine in eight the past two years. They just kind of feel like, you know, like if nine in eight
was a football team. It kind of feels like the Jacksonville Jaguars as organization right now, Like you said, not one of the worst teams, but nobody I think, even locally it's ex them to like threatening like the Kansas City Chiefs or Baltimore Ravens or anything like.
That, which is crazy because if you think about the trajectory of this team, you know, they get Trevor Lawrence as hyped up a quarterback prospect as there's been since Andrew Luck, and then they have the end of the twenty two season, they play the Chiefs pretty tough in Kansas City, like it felt like the start of something, and then the end of last year. You mentioned it, and I know Jaguars fans are probably sensitive about this that, like,
I guess this is the upside. Like if that was the Giants, who at the end of the last season, like that just would have been something the entire NFL and the media is talking about, you know, for the entire offseason and everything. But instead it's the Jaguars. And I look at this roster and I actually think there's more reasons for optimism than there has been, including going into last year. I was pretty down on the Jaguars going into last year, just that they you know that
they couldn't necessarily keep up keep it up. And they're interesting to me because they risk getting passed, you know, not just by the Texans and their young QB, but possibly the Colts and their young QB, So I kind of want to go back to Trevor because to me that the clear reason that might not be true that the Jaguars could win this division is just like, well,
what if our QB is the transcending QB. What if you know, in his fourth year he takes everything he's learned and the new weapons around him and like he's the best quarterback in the division. They have a chance to win this division. Kind Of where are you at just with Trevor and his development and everything that's led him here.
Yeah, It honestly like it's a pretty good microtism of like just how NFL media and fans I think consume the sport.
It's more like what have you done for me lately?
You know, like Anthony Richardson is the new shiny toy in Ananapolis, CJ Shroud, you know, he's pretty much on every top ten quarterback list you can think of. A shot con you know, met with local media uh Ale months ago, any more or less, was like it feels like deja vu with how the Texans are being talked about the same way the Jaguars and Trevor Lawrence being talked about a year earlier. But you know, somebody knew, somebody fresh comes in and does what people expect you to do, they're.
Gonna jump you.
So I think when I watched you know, Trevor Lawrence, you know him and CJ. Shradd last year, I think it was Week eleven in Houston when the Jaguars beat them, it was like if it wasn't you know, the Jacksonville Jaguars, and like if it wasn't like an AFC South Battle, I feel like a lot of more people would have came away from that game thinking like we just saw two like long time ten year franchise quarterbacks, like you get out for four quarters and then awesome back and forth.
I think Trevor and CJ. I'd probably lump them like in the same tier. And I think inside the building, you know, the Jaguars, the issues that they have with Trevor Lawrence are less about like, you know, him missing open receivers, his decision making. It's more about asking him to like tone it down a little bit in what he's trying to do and understand that, hey, you're the
franchise quarterback. Some of these things you're doing, you know, maybe that you did at Clemson, you can't do it because you have, you know, legitimately, like hundreds of jobs. They're relying on you and your health. It goes back to the Dampa the Bay game I think they played on Christmas Eve last year. They get completely destroyed second half of the game. I think it was like late
third quarter. They're down by like twenty plus points, and Trevor scrambles out of the pocket and he lows his shoulder against the defensive back while he's going out of bounds, ends up getting a shoulder sprain. Isn't one hundred percent healthy against Tennessee Titans two weeks later. Those are the kind of things I think internally they want Trevor to improve at, just that protecting yourself, having the more you know,
I guess situational and self awareness. But I think, you know, the Jaguars struggles last year, I think maybe little of it had to do with Trevor loren Is playing bad football, if that makes sense. You know, sometimes he definitely pushed the envelope too much, especially with you know, ball security,
trying to be superman on every play. I think a lot of reasons that they worrying three to begin with was with Trevor and going into this year, you know, you asked me to list of top ten concerns I have for the Jaguars, I'm not sure Trevor's you know, even on the list. So he's definitely you know, it's kind of a weird dynamic with him because he hasn't
met those expectations people set for him. But the expectations people set for him was like to be like Hall of Fame players basically, you know, after three or four years, and he's not there yet. But I certainly think he's a quarterback that you win because of and not in spotos.
Yeah, I agree with that, but I'm also part of the problem because you know, if I'm ranking the quarterbacks, we did that going into this year, it's like stroud to me right off the bat, And maybe I'm just getting too excited because to see a rookie do that, like I do put him up in that like has a chance to be top five or six this year, and like was close to that already. And Trevor is
obviously your quarterback. He's obviously above what we used to call the Dalton line of like he is a franchise quarterback. There's no question about that. I think it's just the range of outcomes of what his career can be. Is multiple time pro bowler or I think it's unfair to say, like one of the greatest quarterbacks ever, but a couple of tiers higher. So you watch him every day, and I do want to stay on Trevor just one more question,
because like, what what do we not like know about him? Like, first of all, how's he looked in practice in camp and then just sort of like a little bit behind the scenes of how he's kind of developed into this role of being like the most important guy in an entire franchise.
Yeah, I know, for sure, I think so. He definitely had a slower start to training camp this year. Kind of the mo or Trevor Lawrence and training camp the last couple of years has been he starts out right hot and its shed in the defense, and then as the defense catches up, you know, it normally slows down a little bit. There's kind of the reverse this year, and they went from practicing against Mike Caldwell's scheme where the corners are you know, practically ten year olds off
the ball. There's you know, easier windows or quick throws stuff, like that to you know, Ryan Nielsen's scheme where receivers are getting pressed at the line of scrimmage seeing a law too high coverage, and you could tell it was a big adjustment for passing offense. Like through the first I want to say four or five practices, I think he had four or five picks. He threw two picks to Andrew Winger in one practice, and you know it's a good like special teams player, but he should be
taking off your star quarterback twice in one practice. And then but also that it really seems like he settled into a groove. I'd say the last probably like two or three weeks is as consistent as I've seen, you know, Trevor Lawrence in training camp practices. I feel like skill room they have around him kind of fits his skill set a little bit better than the last couple of years.
Like Calvin Ridley is by far the best receiver he's ever had, but just looking at the whole room together, you know, he's never really had a pure deep threat like he has and BTJ. You know, Gave Davis is a bigger body than Jay Jones, a little bit better over the middle. They're not asking Marvin Jones to run vertical routes at like age thirty three anymore.
So things are a little bit better around him.
I think behind the scenes and even during practice, I think you're seeing him kind of take the reins more and be more vocal. They had joint practices against the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week and I had him. I think he was like sacked, like they weren't taking them to the ground, but it would have been a clear sack like six different times and team drills and by the end of it, you could see him getting you know, this is what frustrated and you know, tell on the offensive line more or less like you know, this isn't acceptable.
Whereas I think two years ago he's probably just silently, you know, walking back to the holidle in but in his mind he's probably thinking, you know, like what the heck's going on? But I think now you're seeing him kind of demonstrate that, you know, on field leadership a little bit more so.
You said Calvin really is the best receiver he's ever had, which is a failure I think for three, you know, three years of a young quarterback when you think not that Calvin really is a bad receiver. He's a good starting receiver, but I tend to think he's maybe just like a smidge overrated. Maybe it wasn't as consistent as you would want and maybe not in the right place,
whether that's coaching, whatever was going on last year. It's been interesting to hear you and Gus talk about it, and yeah, I tell people like the way to learn about teams, have listened to good team podcasts, and like I said, the Jaguars on SI podcast is one of the best out there. I just I learned a lot from it. One of the things I've learned this preseason.
You guys talking about how they're using Gabe Davis maybe a little different than you expected, as you know, instead of just this vertical guy, which maybe wasn't the perfect fit in Buffalo, he's doing more of the intermediate routes
and getting open and he's over the middle. And then you have my guy, Brian Thomas Junior, who I'm I'm very excited about because I'm a very basic NFL draft scout, where I just saw the way he moved and I was like, this has to translate, not just like I know he runs fast, but more the way he just like glides and can stop and start, and just I just I just thought it was rare move and I was like, there's the floor of what I think he could be as a pro is pretty high because it's
just gonna translate, and it sounds like that's been translating lately. So you have those two guys. You have Endavid Ingram's coming off a monster year. You have a great maybe not great running back, but it's certainly above average running back in ETN who I think is a little misunderstood. And I was like, this is this is a good group. I think it's better than it's been before. Uh. Just I guess just make me feel great about my Brian Thomas junior evaluate and I guess let's start there.
No, I mean really throughout training camp, I honestly, I'm not sure if I've seen like a single like here deep ball throne to gave Davis like it certainly does not look like he's being used like he was in Buffalo. And I think in Jacksonville you're going to see Brian Thomas kind of in the world gave Davis wasn't in Buffalo where they're just giving him, you know, the vertical passing game and saying, you know, you're the guy who's
going to get behind defenses. He definitely started off a bit slow, I think in training camp, which you'd probably expect, you know, rookies, they're doing a lot of thinking, you know, the first week of training camp. But ever since, like two practices before the first preseason game, when he caught that great, you know, one handed cradle catch against the Chiefs, you know he's really turned it on. He's Ronald Darby was locking him up like easily during the first week of camp.
Since then, you know, he has a couple of scores over Darby.
It looks like he's somebody who you know, no matter who you put in front of him, he's able to get behind the defense, and the Jaguars have drawn up some good concepts to get him behind the defense. He had one play against Tampa Bay where you know, he kind of did a little like stop and go route, you know, from the slot. And you know, a guy who with like legit four to three speed, you know, running vertical routes out of the slot, it's not going
to be easy to defend. So he's easily i'd say, the best deep threat Trevor Lawrence is had in his career, and Trevor Lawrence like he's kind of been neutered. I think, like especially last year in the scheme, you know, kind of almost Alex Smith like West Coast style where he's getting the ball and immediately throwing it. You know, Evon Ingram hasn't average. It felt like he had an a dot of like one yard at times last year where they're just trying to immediately get the ball out of
his hands. But Trevor Lawrence, I think, wants to play a vertical game and Bryan Thomas gives him a weapon he hasn't had, like he played with DJ Chark for like a coffee in twenty twenty one. But I've seen more out of Thomas in training camp as a deep threat than you know, I saw out of Chart back then. So I definitely think he's going to be heavily utilized. And I think I agree with you. I think he's
more than just a one trick pony. You know, he has the whole athletic skill set like he can be in my opinion, like as time goes on, a pretty good route runner. I mean, he ran a great route against Tampa Bay that little comeback on the Sadevine.
You've already seen teams respect to.
Speed, and it definitely feels like Lsu asked him to run like two routes pretty much and he's like like learning everything now that he has the physical ability to grow.
Into more than that.
So I think this year he's going to have like a defined role as you know, a field stretcher and a guy that do try to get the ball into his hands. But you know, moving forward, like long term, I definitely think he has, you know, big, big potential in I had some people yelling yelling at me online yesterday for sharing and I didn't say to quote, but you know Pete Prisco, long time Jaguars guy, he said he thinks he may be a Jamar Chase Justin Jeffson type.
So I'm not going to go that far, but it just shows you like the kind of momentum that he has right now that he's beating defensive backs badly enough that you know, it went for people being definitely concerned during the first week of training camp to now he's always getting these crazy you know comparisons.
Yeah, I love I love Pete, I love anyone who's you know overcome his lack of height like myself to have such a great career. He's right about the same, although he's much stronger, to be fair, But Pete Go's big with his predictions. I wouldn't even go that big. And I loved Thomas. I thought the Colts should have taken him and were those back to back picks. Those are like my two favorite players in the draft. Lot too and Thomas. No, they weren't back to backics, but so I like both picks.
I was.
I was cool with the Colts taking a lot too, But I'm gonna be kind of tracking those two guys over the next few years. And yet fantasy like fantasy implications, I'm not even that high on him. It's not about like his numbers this year. It's about that he's going
to help this offense. He's going to have some production, certainly, and I think long term he reminds me of DK Metcalf, not at all in playing style, but just in that I think, yeah, he's limited coming out, but guys can get better when when football is the only thing they're doing and they're getting NFL coaching, and I think he has this skill set to do it and he has just such obvious physical skills Lett and that's where I get the DK Metcalf part was like, that's going to
translate on some level and then they'll get better and better. So I'm excited for that. You mentioned Peterson and the kind of the short offense. You know, Doug Peterson's an interesting guy. He's a little off the radar nationally too, obviously, like a Super Bowl champion last year was weird. He's someone who elicits strong reactions actually from other people in the league. Some people think he's great, and other people are like Doug Peterson overrated? Like where are we at
with Doug Peterson and the Jaguars experience right now? He came in and obviously I think overall you'd have to give him like a B grade. He's done a pretty good job. But just where you at? What, like what's he like? He's been a little off the radar compared to when he was so much part of like the national discourse.
Yeah, no, I think, like, like I said, the Jaguars are like the team embodiment of the nine to eight record. Doug Peterson's probably like the head coach, and I'm like a record like that like he's definitely a solid coach, I think, But I don't think anybody's disagreeing singing him off like top ten lists or anything like that. And he's definitely done some good things in Jacksonville, Like he's raised absolutely the floor of the team, raising the ceiling,
getting them over the hump. I think is you know, the next biggest question. But he's definitely came in and especially that first year, you know, coach Urbin Meyer, like they legitimately had to be a lot of.
Like healing done.
There were a lot of people, especially inside the locker room, who their confidence was kind of fried by just getting you know, completely onslaught in my Urban Meyer. I know of at least you know, one player who you know, after overmyer tirade was legit like left to tears and I'm like the thrown man. So they obviously had to
build he had to build up confidence back up. I think last year, you know, he probably had to try to navigate you know, them reading too much into their own press clippings, and he himself said that they had an issue of that last year. That was probably a failure on his part. I think he's a solid you know coach, but there definitely is some questions, you know, in terms of what he's doing, in terms of how
he's operating a team, especially at play caller. Like me, personally, I don't think it's that big of a deal if Doug Peterson's not the press play caller and Press Taylor is, because Doug Peterson's still putting the offense together. You know, every week in meetings, Doug Peterson's hearing every play call.
You know, he's ultimately it's ultimately his offense. But some people absolutely do care, and that includes jag Warzona Shot Cohn, who more or less has said, like, I want Doug to call plays this year, but it's up to him.
That's I think would be the one concerning thing about Doug Peterson and Jacksonville, Like, let's Taylor's legitimately probably the reason he got fired in Philadelphia, you know, just his loyalty to Press Taylor and then he's running it back again in Jacksonville, and it kind of feels like, you know, a you know, Groundhog BA scenario where it's like, you know, you already did this, why go through this a second time?
So while it might not be that big of a deal, you know, in reality, it's a big deal to the most important person in the franchise. So I'm interested to see who's calling plays this year. If Press Taylor calls plays and they missed the playoffs, I think it could get interesting for Doug. I really did, which is kind of wild because I mean, you know, winning eighteen games in his first two seats, He's won more games in two seasons, and Gus Bradley won like four and a half.
So it's definitely an interesting dynamic wahing moving forward.
Yeah, Gus Bradley, that was That was That was kind of the era where, yeah, it's why I want to do a show focusing on the AFC South right now, because that was the era where you got the Jags Titans TNF game like during the World Series, like we know what you're doing, NFL, Like you're kind of sneaking in the bad TNF game like during the World Series, and like that's all you saw of the AFC South
all year on prime time. We don't have a ton of time left, but you guys were really drinking the Ryan Nielsen kol aid you guys were having a conversation about like, hey, what do we do if Ryan Nielsen gets hired as a head coach. I was like, it's may is he that impressive in the offseason? And then just along with that, I guess like give me, give me anyone on the defensive side, just maybe that people don't know as much about, but it surprise you or
look good. You just caught your eye between Neilson in the defense this this preseason.
No, I think the big thing with Nielsen is that guy guy's being used more to their strengths, you know, mainly Josh Heinz Allen and Trevon Walker. Mike Tolllin had a great quote about the Jaguards defense last year. He's like, they run a three four, but their outside linebackers are like defensive ends.
And I'm like, yeah, that's the entire problem.
You know, Like Trevon Walker, he is best with his hand in and dirt moving forward, not dropping in the coverage. So you're seeing more of that from Ryan Nielsen, a lot more detailed work, especially with the defensive line. Different I think just brand of football, and I think that's what has gotten a lot of people, you know, excited. Change makes people excited, so that's probably a big thing of it. You know, him and Mike Calwell's scheme. It's a complete one to eighty in terms of players that
you know, people should probably watch for. You know, I think that the staff has been really high on second round pick Mason Smith. You know, he missed a ton of time at LSU. That was a pick that was pretty blasted because he didn't really do much in college and they took him top fifty. You know, he's really impressed. He might even you know leap Roy Robinson Harris on the depth chart as Eric Arms steps back up, and then Antonio Johnson at safety, fifth round pick last year,
he's going to start this year. They really liked his blitzing ability and his ability to work, you know as a strong safety last year, and he seems like a good compliment to Andre Cisco in the back end. I think with more snaps with him, he could be a guy that kind of surprises people.
Yeah, that's a fun safety group. Cisco is another guy, you know. I know, you guys talk about as having a potential breakout year can be a playmaker and it's one of those where Nielsen can get creative and he was impressive with the Falcons last year. They didn't have great talent. Ultimately their production was it depended on what numbers he looked at, but it wasn't like amazing. But
again he was creative and it was fun. And you hope that the safeties can kind of make up for what to me is a little lack of depth behind Tyson Campbell at qrnerback. I think this team's more interesting this year than the last few years. I don't know if they're going to be good or not, but I do like that this division is so watchable. I'm going to be into all the AFC South games, especially Jaguars, Titans, and Colts, and I'm going to stay into listening to
you John and Gus. Got to give Gus a shout out here on the podcast, and thank thanks for stopping by. I appreciate you.
Man, Hey, thanks Man as always, you know, thanks for all the support.
Ah no worries. John really does a great job. And yeah, that's it for this week. This has been a fun week.
Man.
Next week we're going to do the same recap of the preseason games, but it might be more team notes with Nick Schuk that comes out on Monday nights because a lot of backups playing. And then we get into some of our predictions, and it's really the last week of the offseason. We are almost to twenty twenty four. Till then, see you next time.