Welcome to NFL Daily, where we're so big time we can wear shorts to work.
Yes, I'm here in.
The Chris Westling podcast studio with my partner Patrick Claybonn.
Who. Yeah, he is big time enough.
He's one of the only two people Eric Roberts has ever seen wearing short.
I'm shocked to hear that, yes, because honestly I'm not. I don't see myself as big time now nor definitely when I first came here for my interview, didn't wear shorts on my interview, But in that first year coming to work at three o'clock in the morning to do news shifts, I who am I am?
I dressing up for the walls.
That's fair, But now you got people getting in your grill. I think it was Dave Shott, who's in the news runs the news department, and in some way that the talent there, Like I think I wore shorts once and he yelled at me enough and he I've pretty yelled at you too that I never did any.
It wasn't yelling. I think that first interaction with Greg Rosenthal taught him a lesson. You don't come at Greg's and it maybe gave shot a little bit of a lesson on how to deal with people in shorts.
Well, it's a big show here, it's a pre super Bowl week show, and I told you guys before the show, it's just one of those days where you feel like you're always playing playing catchups. I feel like I'm I'm stuck in a one two count right now and I'm just I'm just fouling the balls off and barely surviving.
So I hope we deliver what's going to be a really fun show and we're including you our listeners in it because I asked on the old interwebs on Blue Sky for some questions, and so we're going to have a fun mail bag and then we're also going to do our calls of the year, and we don't know who's gonna win. Eric really took control of this process. He's putting on his big boy pants and covering up that those big leg tattoos, and I don't know what's.
I went back and clicked through every recap show of the season.
My Wow.
Listen to at least the opening highlight for every game of the year.
Wow.
So again, before you guys get mad and somebody thinks that your team is being slighted. Listen to what Eric just went through. He's already done the work to do those calls every single week of the season. He went back and listened to every single one of them. Your team has not been slided, he grinded for this.
Yeah, I had a list of like forty to start, so we have to We can't. We can't be here all day, guys.
Okay, that means we will get to the questions that you guys sent in again on Blue Sky after just a quick couple items.
They just want to throw out there. This is a daily show.
We want to keep everyone abreast of what's happening around the league, and these are just quick hitters. I noticed the Cowboys they extended their personnel chief, Will McLay. Nice move for them. Actually makes me feel a little better about what's going on in Dallas, as does the Eberflus defensive coordinator.
Things make sense pickup, I kinda I like that.
Because mcclay's contract was coming up soon, there was some question he's done a good job picking players along with the Joneses. Of course, we hadn't mentioned on the show that the Bengals found their new defensive coordinator it's Al Golden, who just did a nice job at Notre Dame, had previously been with the Bengals, and I believe when they fired lou An Arumo, the buzz there was they're basically
going to hire this guy, so he's their coach. They are not going to have their tight end Eric All for the entire twenty twenty five season, which is really disappointing. He had a great rookie year. There were some complications after his surgery.
And then I.
Saw some quotes down at Mobile the Parallel Universe of the NFL right now that was from Andrew Berry, and he said, we have no interest in trading Miles Garrett, and you can even assume that we want to sign Miles again to a contract in the coming days, in the coming months. The fact that he said it so definitively, actually I took that as that's real news.
That's good.
You feel like there's no subject future here and it's all obvious.
I think when you say on the record, we're planning to sign him to a contract, and he almost put a timeline on it, like it's going to happen this offseason, even though he has two years left on his deal. I feel like there's probably progress there, and he wouldn't just say that to say that.
Maybe maybe I'm wrong. No, maybe I think that's good news for you.
It seems it seems obvious, and that's a good thing. If people are going to do things that seem obviously and fore gone. It's when things go the other way they kind of get weird. Like signing a quarterback.
Yes, that was a problem. They need to go find a quarterback. Maybe they'll draft one of those quarterbacks in mobile. We're going to talk about the Senior Bowl on our laugh show of the week.
You'll hear that on Friday. I'm looking forward to that.
And the only other item of news is really the subject of our first skeet tweet. I like just calling him tweets, so let's throw him up there. This one is from Benoit's Smart Car. He asks, is the Saints' job the worst one this year?
The worst one this decade? Funny phrasing. There.
The news of the day, because yes, the Saints haven't hired their head coach yet, is that Kellen Moore did a second interview, And based on if you're reading between the lines of the local reporting, it seems like he's now the favorite to get that job, and they might be waiting until the Super Bowl is over to give the keys to Kellen Moore for the New Orleans Saints. What do you think about that and this question?
Well, I think in terms of what's available right now, and Kellen Moore is not the hot name that he once was. Considering the other options one in particular, and I've seen floated out there. I feel like Kellen Moore would be better than a John Gruden or some categorical failure in mistake.
Right, he never interviewed in the end, but it keeps us being out there. Y yes, praise God.
But ultimately, as far as the job, like the evaluating, I really don't think it's that bad. If you think that Loomis is, you know, has one foot out, if Gail is starting to look sideways at him, like if that's a particular thing, I don't know if it's that concern.
I'm looking back.
If we're talking about worst jobs in the last decade, Doug Peterson won a Super Bowl, he had all the cashit. Yeah, he got fired. He got fired by the same team that fired Andy Reid. Right he goes to Jacksonville, with Trent Balky, and they consistently get worse as time goes on. After that, that Urban fiasco where I'm looking at it and saying like, how great of a position was dug in?
Interesting?
And yes, I think with the way the Jaguars have got about this coaching search and they don't even have a GM right now, like they don't seem like they know what they're doing.
There was a couple of pre Demico coaching situations in Houston.
That was the first one that came to mind.
I don't think this compares to either one of those. I know we can do the cap Malfeason's thing and talk about projecting things into the future, and I don't necessarily think the cap prohibits you from being close. I mean, the team had an opportunity in the division this year, right it was in I think we have a referential question coming up later where we can get into specifics
on the twenty twenty four Saints. But this team was devastated by injuries all across the board and as well as coming in with Dennis Allen as your head coach again in twenty twenty four, where I don't necessarily think it's that bad of a job.
I think it's one of the worst jobs of the decade. I wouldn't say it'd be the worst. I would say those Houston teams were the first one that popped to mind. I think the girod Mayo, even though I was very harsh on him, entered a pretty.
Difficult situation last year.
Drake may arriving made that a little better, but at the time he got it, especially in the roster that he had, and just the situation there that was pretty rough. The Panthers pre Canalis, I mean just it's been a rough It's been a rough road. But this Saints job I think is uniquely bad because of the Mickey Loomis situation.
It really seems like he is staying and I think the way that he is run that team, it's just time and he is running it in such a way that he has as much power as almost anyone, and I thought he might get pushed out. And you see the different people that didn't want that job. Aaron Glenn literally talked about at his press conference how much he wanted the Jets' job compared to the Saints. He was in that building just five years ago, so he knows exactly what's going on. I think that should be a
red flag to Gail Benson. Joe Brady was in that building and the Saints were very interested in him. By all reports, he decides to stay in Buffalo. So these are two guys that knew the organization well. Ben Johnson was not in that building but worked with a lot of people that were. Dan Campbell, He's hiring a guy as his OC that was with Sean Payton in New Orleans.
There's a lot of connection there.
He didn't want to go there, and I think Mickey Loomis in New Orleans to me, is very similar to the Trent Balki situation. And you can say that the roster could be worse.
You're You're right. There are worse teams out there. For sure.
It's not a tough division, but the quarterback situation is is very tricky with what you're gonna do with Derek Carr. Do you if you keep them another year, then it kind of kicks the can down the road, and the salary cap is a problem. I think at some point, as much as I think it's been a little overblown, like you're gonna have to bite.
The bullet a little.
Bit and and start thinking about not just shooting for seven or eight wins. So that's a tough situation. I don't know if Kellen Moore is the guy to turn it all around. I don't even know if they eat. Like if you ask the average Eagles fan, like, they're not super pumped on Kellen Moore. I mean, I know, I mean, give it, give it a week and a half. Right, we'll see that's fair. Let's go to the next question. Uh, this one is from Los G's Los G's, which it's
just like a familiar name. I feel like, uh, I feel like we've we've crossed pass.
Here before it does it does feel familiar.
Halfway through the decade, which players are locks for the All Decade team? I love this question? He said Mahomes is the first QB. Which QB would be second, Allen or Lamar?
Well?
To answer the second question, first, it's clearly Lamar because he has two First Team All Pros this decade and probably two MVPs, So I think that's I think he's got a probably a solid lead as the second team quarterback right now. But we're only halfway through the decade and Josh has a chance there it's not like a huge gap. And Joe Burrow will be in that mix. Who knows Jayden Daniels might be in that mix.
Yeah, I fun fact.
In looking into that question, I had to remind myself that Tom Brady had twelve thousand passing yards since the start of twenty twenty, which was crazy to me, but like over like it wasn't even close, but.
Tom Brady was tom Brady with the Bucks was like incredible.
Anyways, it doesn't yeah, it doesn't make any sense, but he's not gonna have the longevity in the decade. Yeah, the first team really, I think the more interesting conversation because we can beat Patrick and Josh I mean now and Lamar to death. The running back discussion, oh with like what Saquon's doing now? Yeah, Derreck Henry I think, Yeah, as that first team case, okay so far, but it's it's gonna be a push. It's going to be a push here towards the finish.
It's a long way to go though, John Robinson, I think could could have a chance in the long run.
You got to get there.
So I took the question very very literally, and this was probably my favorite one I got because it speaks to what I get into these Hall of Fame cases, all this stuff. And I went and searched on Pro Football Reference, and you can sort by approximate value, which is just like a good way of like starts and awards. And then I just figured, well, you probably have to have one first team All Pro to even be considered
halfway through the decade. So I sorted it by that, And the question was, who are all decade locks only halfway through? That is an extremely high bar to be a lock halfway through. Why can't I say the word lock normally? And I think I came up with with one total lock, and that's Miles Garrett. He has four first Team All pros. I don't actually think there's a case for anyone as better at what he's done.
He's what I hear.
I hear the angry reprisal.
Okay, it's fair, good point.
T J.
Watt has three first first team All Pro so he's only one behind their approximate value. He was the highest non quarterback. He was actually third overall according to Pro Football Reference, behind Lamar and Patrick Mahomes, just in terms of their little metric. But I just think four and I think he's going to keep it going. To me, he's he's the He's a lock. Just about the other two that popped up to me have a really good case.
Chris Jones is at three, and I think with what he's done in the playoffs, even if it doesn't, you know, we'll see how the rest of the decade goes man, he'll be tough to keep off that. And then Fred Warner is interesting. He's done first team All Pro four out of five years now, so he's pretty up there. Those are the closest I found to locks. It's hard to make a lock halfway through the decade because you never know what's going to happen the next five years.
Even Mahomes isn't necessarily a lock. If some quarterback like Alan or Jaden or Burrow just go absolutely crazy and have the best stretch we've ever seen from a quarterback, that's possible.
But those are my locks.
Yeah, there's a long way to go.
I kind of wondered towards the front end, right because I was looking in to the Brady situation where because Tom doesn't qualify, but the guys who retired in twenty nineteen, I mean, excuse me, the guys who are set to retire right now, who's got those five years to get in and it comes it becomes a little tougher.
It's one of the things that's annoying about the All Decade Team, which I do like that there is just a randomness to it that when your career, like if you start at fifteen and end at twenty five, you have a less likely chance to make the All Decade Team.
And if you start at ten and then at twenty.
So Kelsey, I guess are both Kelsey's out.
They have chances. I wrote them down as like guys who would have have a chance. They both have a couple All Pros. But Travis I think would have a better chance. Certainly that he would be my pick at tight end for the last five years. Okay so far, but we got five more to go. Some other interesting names.
TJ.
Watt, he's got three first team All Pros. Trent Williams, you know he could get it done. Rokwan Smith has three first team All Pros. I don't know if he is he an All Decade guy.
He might be.
It would the linebacker group would lean with heavy bias towards guys in the middle and so like you may get that positional mail. Yeah, one's right, We're like Roque one's playing outside.
We'll see.
And then some guys who I think have a chance. JJ I think has a great chance. He has two first team opros so far, but he's got this whole rest of the decade to go. Tyreek and DeVante Adams both have three, and so they're in that mix, but they're kind of headed on the downslope. And then some younger guys Tristan Wurf's Pine Sewell both have a couple early, so if they can start stacking up numbers. Jamar Chase is another one. Aaron Donald, did you know pack in three?
Pretty great, That's what I'm saying. Yes, so fun question. I like, I like thinking about that. And it's not over at quarterback. You can always catch up to patri Bumps.
You never know. All right, Let's go to the next one. This is from the Red Shark.
It asks should the forty nine ers draft the quarterback there next year or this year?
Can they win a Super Bowl if they pay pretty Yes?
I mean yes. Can they ruin a Super Bowl with Rock Perty on the roster? Yes?
Can the can they construct the roster in the way that they need to. I think you have an advantage when you get a player that's good in show success early on that you don't necessarily have to play. I mean, Rock Purdy was getting paid more in the supplemental bonus in the play performance.
Bonthent right, they already could have won the Super Bowl. He played more than well enough. I think throughout that playoff run to win a super Bowl. If their defense played a little bit better, a few things happened, they win a super Bowl.
But I think right the way that we've seen these quarterback contracts grow over the course of years, where the percentage of the cap, I don't think you're going to have to give him cap percentage money like Tua gat or Trevor Win's got right, because it's just the way that these contracts line up in the timing of which who gets paid when they get paid. Yeah, you can get a number that would look crazy a few years ago, but percentage of the cap wise, I don't necessarily think
it's going to do the damage word. It's like, oh god, we got to play the quarter because like the guys that got paid were we just saw them in the playoffs, like these are the guys or you either were getting paid or you were a highly selected draft pick. It's these are the guys that it takes to win bron Perty's earned payment in my opinion, And I know that
there's a whole bunch of ass in on arguments. The guy's gone out there and played well and it hasn't been an abject disaster, So yeah, he deserves to be compensated.
Yeah, I don't want it to drag out all offseason. I think the forty nine ers have made a mistake handling it that way with so many of their stars. But people get so fixated on can you possibly win with a quarterback on your you know cap that big last year that four or five of the teams that had the highest dead cap in the entire league were in the divisional round. And so that's not just like paying fifty fifty million dollars to a really good player.
The Rams, for instance, who I think had a really good team last year. The Packers, who had had a really good team last year. They're paying sixty seventy million dollars in cap space to nobody, to Aaron Rodgers who was off the team, to Aaron Donald, who was off the team too, and they made it happen. Anyways, the forty nine ers even this year, like it's so much of their cap was in Ayuk and Debo and McCaffrey and those guys frankly weren't giving them that much this year.
Debo was mostly healthy and they were all smart investments at the time. But like teams spend fifty million dollars routinely in worse ways than an above average quarterback. So I think it's very possible. Does it get twelve percent harder? Maybe it maybe becomes twelve percent harder to construct your team, But I think it's people really overrate whatever that percentage is, almost to the extent.
That we overrate winning this one game a couple weeks in determining like how good is a team? Yes, everybody wants to win a super Bowl. It's great to win a super Bowl. It would be great for Rock Party had they been able to complete that pass where Chris Jones got in his face and they win the Super Bowl. But ultimately, in determining how good a team is and how capable they are, it doesn't necessarily because balls not round. Randomness dictates a whole lot of this, Yes, you can win with well.
This leads perfectly into our next question from Stage eight Final Boss. Shout out to the Blue Sky followers out there. I mean, I don't love that they suddenly get way more people because of events that are happening in the world. But good questions here, and this one is directly related to what you just talked about.
Patrick, I'll take it.
What is that that Howie Roseman is doing that other gms aren't. We've seen a miss on free agents, namely last season, I mean missed on some of this season, I mean Bryce Huff, But the cap situations that restrict other teams never seem to bother the Eagles. Related to perty, I think Jalen Hurts in this Eagles team is a perfect example that you do not need your fifty million dollars quarterback to be one of the five best quarterbacks in the league to construct a really talented team around
said quarterback. I've seen Jalen Hurts play better football than he did this. They almost won a Super Bowl with him playing net a ridiculously high level two years ago. He has not played consistently at that level this year, and yet front to back that they you know, these are the two best teams I think this year in the league that happened to make the Super Bowl this year. They deserved it. And so that's a great example. I'll let you go first on what you think how he is doing right Well.
There's there's been key points where the rest of the league failed right getting Saquon on this contract. Everybody should have been in on this. This This wasn't any particular genius level operation by Howie. This was a very good player in the division that they had seen plenty of times, and there was an opportunity to sign him at a reduced rate because overall the league's circumstances prohibited running backs from being paid what they should.
Well, and the Eagles were as influential and that happening as anyone, which is funny, and then they watched the price get so low that they realize like, oh, actually this would be great.
Yeah, spectacular move that that literally everybody should have made. Sequon parklation have him on everybody's radar. But it's also hitting on these high variance things where I don't know draft circumstance. I think a conversation surrounding Jalen Carter made it feel like that was a high variance thing, but it was known going in right that this was one of the best players in the draft, if not the best player in the draft, and he was going to
be there at eight. And so again I think that's another situation where everybody else's evaluation, regardless of how you feel about the situation, that the ability of the player. Right, if people had known that the player was going to demonstrate this level of ability on the football field, he wouldn't have been there for the Eagles to take right. So there's a couple of aspects there, and it's also getting out of things that aren't necessarily working because how
he has this, he has the success. He's not constantly trying to save his job or keep his job, where if there's a Hassan Reddic type situation, if there's a Carson Wentz type situation, it just.
Not going to be on this team anymore next year. They're just going to eat that as a mistake.
Like how he recognizes that sunk cost is a logical fallacy and just go if you can make a move it and he has the cachet to be able to do that because he's not constantly worried about his job.
Yeah, and that that's key that they have a defined setup. Now, it's not always that comfortable for coaches. I don't think the coaches there are empowered. I think they kind of view the coaches as temporary employees. They're a little fungible to them. And that's just the way they do it. And but they have been consistent with that's Jeffrey Lurry and their owner and Howie Roseman really run the team in that manner and he trusts Howie to do so, and it's consistent.
I think probably the number one number.
There's two things I think they do better than other teams is that they sign their own guys who are good early, like really early, like Jordan Mylatta. How many contracts has Jordan Malatta had? Like they gave him a second contract after he played like four games, They're like, oh my god, what did we find and then they gave him a third contract when it's just like, let's
get two years out in run of this. And if you look throughout the roster, like do you remember the AJ Brown Devanta Smith contracts that they got this offseason?
No, nobody does a J Brown.
No one even knew that he wanted a new contract because he was still two years away from it, but they wanted to make sure Devanta got his, and then they knew that might have played a certain way to the guy who's actually the best wide receiver on the roster, and they extended him, and so then of course aj Brown wants his numbers. But I think he's a happier productive Eagle when he's not getting his numbers because he feels like he was taking care of fairly. And you
can go up and down this roster. Josh Sweat is actually another great example, paid early and often not a super I'm not saying they've done this perfectly with everyone, but I do think they do that more than other teams.
And what that does is your window gets extended, right because you're not having to worry about about these decisions and all, so the price isn't going down like these.
Guys, right, they usually get ahead of it and they look good. Lane Johnson, like when when was the Lane Johnson contract? Like problems, it never happens. They're always two years ahead of it. And actually it's it's almost unfortunate for their players, Like it's not unfortunate because they're happy to get that money early. But like Lane Johnson never totally maxes out as like the best right tackle in the league like you should moneyways, But anyways, that's a good.
Yeah, And we see the exact converse of that down in Dallas, where it's like wait until the absolute last minute and pay these players, which again I'm I'm grateful if the player wants to take the risk and the team wants to pay out a huge contract to Micah or to Dak, yeah, I'm all for that. But if you make somebody an offer that they would like to have two years early, then you have the opportunity.
You don't have to wait.
And they take swings like Makai Beckton was a swing and Huff was a swing too, like they miss on plenty of the swings. Johan Dotson a little bit of a miss on a swing. I think they been better in general when you're talking about what teams could do to copy them.
They trade a lot.
I think trades are an underrated part to just try to improve your team, and some have really not worked for them. It's I don't know that their hit rate is like that much higher than other teams, but they have a philosophy they stick to it, and the philosophy is we will never stop signing and drafting linemen on both sides, and they never stop it no matter what the year is.
They're always just throwing in.
And they've been so consistent with that over a ten year period and it really has worked for them. Maybe other teams can have a different philosophy, but like they are really consistent with that. Let's go to our next one. As we just shower the Eagles in love, now we're going to go to one that I agreed with from Kyle Bruno here saying, why doesn't anyone talk about the Dolphins having a long suffering fan base, longest playoff wind drought?
No way, which is that? Surprised me that since two thousand and they have the longest one in the entire NFL. Did not know that, And I didn't know the Commanders had such a long one before this year too, and that was really long. The Raiders are the second most, second longest by the way, No Jets are third. No Super Bowl wins in seventy three, no AFC titles in ninety two. The owner got the team doctor first round pick for tampering. The QB is the face of concussions,
bad a lot of free agent signings. I don't know why fans all want to be recognized as a team that suffers the most pain, But you are right that Dolphins kind of slide under the radar. The reason is because it seems like it's fun to play in Miami and because they're always like a they're very often a seven to nine win team. But I would kind of agree with Dolphins fans who identify with that particular sort of pain because they're always just mediocre to average and
they never win a playoff game. That actually is a pretty good measure of like who's going through it the most, because a playoff win feels awesome, and it really in making.
The playoffs is great. But when you make the.
Playoffs and you just go one and out and it's it's like Skyler Thompson or it's or it's Tua in the cold not being competitive, it it kind of just feels like you really didn't belong there and you don't have that good one playoff win can feel great. And so I'm with you. I think that the Dolphins are sneaky up there.
I think one reason, right, because I think we've discussed all of these things, not the particular playoff drought, right, we saw that kind of shift with the Commander's run this season, but ultimately in that division, as far as bemoaned fan bases, people in New York are always going to get more attention for like whatever they got going on, and so I think that that is that's a particular reason that it doesn't get discussed now, Like throwing Tua having a brain in there is kind of unfair.
Yes, I wish I wouldn't read that out loud. I was gonna kind of mentally say it that, but that's my bad.
The The interesting thing is Tyreek Hill doesn't count as a bust free agent signing to me. I think the Tyreek signing was great.
Great, it was great. That's the most.
Yeah, they did right with these trades, right because you have to you have to make the pay to do it feels like a free agency signing, uh there. Other than that, it's tough to really think of like a great free agency pickup that the Dolphins have had.
Well, they had that one year.
They gave Mike Wallace and a couple other guys and they were like the off season winners they've done that quite a.
Bit, one that is not necessarily sneaky bad. But people forget that they they drafted Menca, they had Minca in.
There, Mica.
It is like a franchise stalwart in Pittsburgh where if things go right at the end of his career could be spectacular and they'll remember him as like a lifelong stealer.
But this was a guy that you shipped out.
So yes, we should appreciate Finn's fan misery, and I don't we talk about them as much as the other one.
More than anything, I think they're in an underrated fan base. I hope to see our friend Henry Hodson, the most famous of all offense fans. They're very knowledgeable, very passionate, and they've been going through it. Let's go to our next one. Zach Joseph asked, all the final four teams are top ten and running. Do you think it's going to be a trend of great offenses emphasizing the run and how defenses will just I.
Think we've beuld going this way for a while.
That's top ten and running depends what the metric is you're looking at, because you know, winning teams run more because they're ahead but I do think some of the trends we talked about going into the year, more two tight end looks, teams going heavier, they really have happened. And you're seeing the best running backs now. We're seeing kind of like the early Oughts when they were dominating fantasy. We had about five or six of those monster running
back seasons this year. There is something to it, and I think you're seeing more creativity in the in the running game. Like teams now don't just like run one thing, they run seven things, and they run a couple of them run it in insanely different ways. And now the run game is almost like how the pass game, how that evolution happened, where it's just you got to get yourself a cool run game coordinator, like like Matt Lafleur.
Yeah, it's it's all cyclical, right.
Yeah.
I don't think we're ever going to be done with a fundamental aspect of football. Kind Of like that discussion kind of seemed a little a little short sighted to me a few years ago, where it's like, yeah.
Why why run the ball at all?
It made me it made me think back to like those early days watching football as a kid where it's like, why don't they just run into people's backs three times? You know, it seemed overly simplified, and so yeah, I'm glad that, you know, because every coach comes in and gets hired. Yeah, we want to be multiple, we want to attack, and we say all these things. But yeah, it's a fundamental aspect of the game. It's all going
to be cyclical. We're going to see trends change over the course of years, and you're going to want to put If you have a guy that you're going to give the ball twenty to twenty five times a game, you're going to want them to be good.
And these teams have good players at that spot.
And I think there will be some teams that lean into it even more. In terms of size, I think it's notable that Phil Case are two of the bigger teams out there. I know it's a little random that, like these are the two teams that made the playoffs, I mean, made the Super Bowl. But Phil Alvey is a large team. Kansas City's a pretty big team actually as well. Detroit's a large team. There are physically, you do see some mismatch of just drafting size, and so
that might become a thing again. Our next question is from one of my favorite longtime listeners, Eric in Utah. Eric Utah, I guess we're calling him. He's got his own podcast, by the way, the End Zone podcast.
Shout out to Eric eighteen. That's how we know him.
On Blue Sky, he said, did Dan Campbell kill it with Zoc Higher a Peyton disciple paired with the intermediate receiving Kings of Sun God and Tim Patrick paired with an elite game? Well, that just sounds to me like the Lions are are elite paired with JMO taking the top off. John Morton was a really surprising higher. I was like, why is that name familiar? John Morton because he's not an up and comer. He was an offensive
coordinator for one season in the NFL. It was with the twenty seventeen Todd Bowles Jets, led by Josh McCown, Robbie Chosen Anderson at the time, and Austin Seferian Jenkins, so there not much was going on with that team, although McCown played sneaky good.
That was the best mccownce.
Yes, And you can't really blame more in there for getting swept out like all of Todd Bowles's offensive coordinators back then.
He lasted exactly one year.
I don't know if that was all Todd's choice or not, but I don't know if it's sneaky great. It was very surprising because I think people thought they would be doing this new cutting age guy on their own team and they dip into somebody he's familiar with. But at this point, Dan Campbell has completely earned my trust in
terms of his coaching tree and who he chooses. And he also chose Kelvin Shephard, a former Bills player who was once traded one for one for Jerry Hughes and was always in my mind as one of the worst trade of that decade because Jerry Hughes was incredible for the Bills. But Calvin Sheppard, now a defensive coordinator, I bet he'll be great too. So I don't know if you have any thoughts on John Morton and the Lions.
Well, I think right, because you get the Peyton tree, right, which is Dan Campbell is a part of there's familiarity there. I think a lot of the things we associate with Ben Johnson were the things that we could see right, because that's how our bias impacts, and we see a
team that's very aggressive. Dan Camill's gonna remain aggressive. I think the particular skill sets of the players lend to those trick plays, right, Like I think I'm on Ross Saint Brown is such a skilled receiver and Jared Goff is such an accurate passer that it leads to those hooking ladder opportunities to make those hooking ladder plays where I feel like the Lions are still going to run trick plays. I think that's still going to be an
integral part of the process. And Bears fans may be disappointed when they's like, Ah, where's the razzle dazzle, because it's the guys I think. I think that make you able to do that, and so there may be a fall off. But I still think the lines are going to store plenty of points because they got the guys that can score plenty of points.
Yeah, And I do think they need to start adding to that offensive line again, getting a little older, not quite as good on the interior either. I'm going to go speed round through a couple more of these. You could throw it up or not, Eric, but we'll just go through quickly. See him, Bailey asks what the home run swing at QB you'd like to see the Steelers make. There's really no home run swings out there other than Matthew.
Stafford, so that would be my yeah for the fence.
That's it.
We got one from N seven Thunder who asked should they Texans give Stefan Diggs a new contract or let them walk? I think it makes a lot of sense. They know him, he knows them. It's difficult for Digs that this is his free agent year coming off of an injury. I think it's best in those situations, it's good to maybe stay where you know.
If they do not go that way, I have some value options that oh, okay, great, we'll see j Shroud. Darius Slayton is incredibly underrated. He's been imprisoned in New York in the same way that Saquon Barkley has. I think Nick Westbrook could Keane would be a nice value signing in the division. Dimmie Brown is coming up on free agents. I don't know if the Commanders are going to let him go, and sneakily m VS, also set to be a free agent, also made a nice run towards the end.
You can bring Deontay Johnson.
Back, Well, we got.
One asking wanting some fantasy takes.
Who's a hot Dynasty trade based on coaching coordinator movement?
I think the Bears, you know, Caleb and Rome a good time to buy Drake May, c J. Stroud, by Low, Drake London.
Like whatever whatever price Bajon is, he would be my number one overall.
Like Dynasty.
Yeah, but nobody's letting go of Jon or Tremiir Gibbs right now. If you want to, if you want to vite vibe, check your league, see what the the Bryce Young value is at that people may be holding in that situation. It all just depends on who's on your roster and who you're able to get. But I'm with Greg buy Low on CJ all.
Day and our friend Jackson Bevans, who does the Cigar Thoughts podcast but also writes a great column Cigar Thoughts to ask about Kubiak in Seattle and whether last year New Orleans was on the injuries.
I don't know.
Kubiak's actually had a lot of chance. He's actually has looked pretty solid throughout, like he seems like he's not gonna hurt you.
I don't know.
About Gino Smith in a system like I want Gino to be able to make a lot of decisions, and usually that's a system where you're just kind of, you know, doing ABC. But I hope they can marry the system to make Gino like as Geno as possible.
Well, if anybody can take an ABC system and add a D, there we go and an E, it's Eugene Cyril Smith.
I do.
Because again, the Saints had the most unique offensive line combinations this season. Ten different offensive lineman had fifty or more snaps. So it wasn't just the injuries to those skill guys, because you know the are garfriend had mentioned the skill guys, Jackson, Yeah, it's there was a lot that went in New Orleans, including having the head coach that did at the start of the season.
Yeah.
The fact that they were all kind of in sync at the beginning of the year when they were healthy was a pretty good, pretty good sign. So I'm excited for that. Let's take a quick break. We're going to do the calls of the year right after.
This back on NFL Daily. It's all been leading to this.
One man put together the most thorough and researched and excellent candidates for Calls of the year it's ever been, and two men are going to sit here in the Chris Westling Podcast and decide what is the call of the Year.
I think that's the format.
Yeah, we'll do it. Yeah.
I don't think there's a reason to muddy this up.
Guys.
Okay, just listen, have some fun, look back, think about Hey, remember when the coldest off very much?
Remember when this is. This is as I said on the show with Mina and Colleen and Jordan when we were talking about the tiny table results, we were talking about the over unders. I feel like this is kind of closed the Circle week, like all the things we threw out there at the beginning of the year. We also have our All Pro team coming up. We closed the circle here. We we finished this season before moving on to the off season. We're gonna group this in
different categories. In the first category is just like that was fun, remember that, Like, this is a fun category of plays.
Let's go back to Week one to start.
Five and a half minutes to go, first quarter A Naples trails three to nothing, but they've got it now.
A first in ten on the round forty Richardson on play action backs to throw.
He slips on the turf, so peech a downfield looking for Aleck Pierce.
He's done.
My bomb sixty yards Anthony Richardson to Alck Pierce.
That's what you're.
Talking about in the deep game touchdown.
D Why Oh, I love it, Matt Taylor on w f N. I Rick fan Terry there in the booth.
Remember when I was trying to do Throw of the Year and then I just sort of forgot about it halfway through.
It's because that was the first one and I knew nothing, know On was gonna beat it.
Yeah, every throw, every deep throw. I think bo Nicks had the one late in the season.
I was pretty sweet.
That was.
But in terms of the total play, I think the call was was as good as good as the throw. Oh just the exclamation point of after Pierce catches the ball and goes in the end zone a bomb.
I think that was great, great execution. I love the play, love the call, I.
Love that analysis by you. And this is a real, a real pro with the pipes here Patrick. That throw one of the best throws of all time. It's not a it's not even a joke. It really is better than PJ.
Walker. PJ. Walkers is up there.
You're talking about those are two of those are two of the best throws of all time. It's it's okay, guys, like it doesn't have to win a Super Bowl to be one of the best throws of all time.
It really was. Uh, that's a strong candidate.
I'm gonna I'm gonna go ahead and say like, that's in the that's in the small circle of real contenders, although I'll probably say that after every single one because I'll get excited at new Let's go to week eleven and let's go to Nashville.
Let us in the shotgun six men said to rush. Let us Remy Senzo firing deep down field for Westbrook at Key's got it forty forty thirty twenty.
Ten fun inZone.
Touch shot tightens the longest touchdot pass of the year in the National Football League just went ninety eight years.
Oh, Mike Keith the Best wg f X sad news that Mike Keith is moving on to Tennessee the Volunteers away from the.
Titans, and so that means this may be our last chance to hear Mike Keith on this particular podcast.
And that is sad, but it's it was a.
Bad play by the Viking Stephens in an absolutely hopeless game where the Titans have done nothing. It was sixteen to three at that point, and just bad coverage leads to that ninety eight yard n WI touchdown. So the play, the call better than the play.
I mean the call, it's the yards, it's it's just Mike Keith's voice and the way he rolls that yards. That's another strong contender. Inner Circle. Let's go to week thirteen. I know it was tough probably for Eric to pick only one Bill's played, not that you had to limit it to one per team, But I'm looking at the sheet and I see that's kind of what you did.
This is this is the Bill's snow lateral Josh Allen Week thirteen, first wee.
Goal from the seven, Alan under center takes a snab quick hitter thrown.
Behind but somehow caught and now lateral to Alan entreating.
For the pylon.
Are you kidding me?
It's a touchdown?
Unbelievable on catch by Amari Cooper, a lateral to Josh Allen and he rubs the remaining five yards for the score.
Have you ever seen that one before? A great job by Chris Brown on wg R. What did he say there? Can you believe like a good a well time? Can you believe it?
Yeah?
Always hits.
And also it contextualize the fact because looking back, if we remember the Lamari pitch the ball to Josh, when you hear the call, you remember Amara had almost no business catching that ball. Yes, in the first place, it was thrown a full yard behind him on the slant and he reaches back and catches it with one hand. And then Josh's you know, call him for an insane play to be made, because that's Josh and that's why we love him. And and yeah, the call fits.
That great memories also probably the seed for all his little lateral thoughts and plays coming down the home stretch.
See the Amari Cooper trade was worth it. I remember that one time. It worked. Sorry, no one got my little little job there. It was no it was mean.
It wasn't mean mean. It worked out.
It worked out.
Just just forgiving us that memory memory. I hope you remember the good times of that Bill's season. There were there was some few dudes.
I had a fun time. There was fun ones.
Let's go to week four, Uh, it's Ben Johnson, it's Jared Goff.
It's a trick play.
Second and goal for the Lions from the seventh golf out of the gun.
Montgomery was right, Jared leans in, there's the snap.
Jared on the end a round gets it to Law.
He's gonna throw it to Jared.
Jared maybe on.
The receiving end of a pass from Robin Rock Take Brown, Oh, Bet Jonson, I see you too.
That is beautiful stuff.
That is Sunday Night match. Yeah, I love it.
Dan Miller, last year's winner of the Call of the Year w x Y T Lomas Brown. Dan Miller, I feel like has been as much a part of the Sunday Night recaps as anyone.
Yeah, because the team scores on stop points and it's hard to pick even the hard to pick a trick play, but that one in a score fest where you get the energy of the game. In the historical matchup between these Seahawks and Lions teams we've had these past few years.
There was a couple of boots where it was hard to like whittle it down to one. I mean, we'll have a little section later, but like some of these booths are just great at what they do.
They absolutely are.
One of those boosts is Paul Allen and Kfa n in soda. I'm curious which which one you picked here? This is This is from week sixteen, first and ten from.
The thirty nine three Kicky to go four to fourth ward, Sam steps.
Up, Sam Broz, Jefferson Town.
On the fan, find some moneymaker justin Jefferson.
Oh that's a great option right there.
And I see what you did here, Eric, You're kind of picking some great play plays that live up to the calls. And I like that because we're we're going down memory lane and remembering some of the best moments of this entire season. I would say that that was the peak of the Vikings season, but no, the next week they put it on the Packers right and they went up even another level. But that was pretty exciting back and forth. That was the comeback with in Seattle.
They were actually down for at that moment, and I.
Think it would stand some people to because we can all remember how it fell apart at the end. But Sam Darnold time and time again when they were placed to be made late in games or for a stretch there this season, he was making them like we can't take those away, all right.
Our next category of plays are from gentlemen who were on the program this year, and in no way do they get any favoritism. They're on the program because they do the damn thing facts in the first place.
Week one, Matt Money Smith to throw man has.
Him on the cross or it's McCaughey shuffle, shuffle, lever down, Oh Lad, ten yards toss. He broke two sets of ankles on that touchdown. Grab What a play for the rookie.
He hit the brakes, watch the plane fly right by, and then another plane.
Flew by and he skipped into the end zone.
To Paul of Maverick, Oh dang, that's another strong one. I mean we got we got some real options here, because that's a call you can't plan. I mean, that is all off the dome. It's the partnership between Money and DJ. I have to admit they have.
They have good chemistry and it led to the creation.
We saw Lad literally flying a plane in celebration later on in the season. Like that moment, just a moment where Bunny and and DJ are looking up at planes coming down landing at Lax. We have the shuffle in there because they're playing against the Raiders, right, so so money makes the shuffle call there.
It's just, of course, that's pretty perfect. That's going to be tough to be. Let's go to week eate our friend Andrew Ciciliano. This was in the aftermath of a of a tough loss for them. Tim Donovan, the longtime Browns play by play guy.
If you're the Cleveland Browns, one play to get a juge emotional wish you.
Got it to think.
Twenty four yards.
Let's go three seconds.
This is it for the wind makes some noise.
We're average.
You can hear the sounds about our voice right now.
Twenty four yard.
Line shun gun rounds up twenty nine, twenty four. Lamar Jackson has the football grounds rushing for Lamar flushed out, Lamar chase by zcenarios.
Lamark Jackson are points scenarios.
He's gotta throwing, directing traffic, pump fake now throwing end zone god quarter o.
Good cook. The Crowns win.
Twenty nine, twenty four.
You just do it, you do it, you felt it. So many things happening this game, they're unexplainable. Let it all ended up to a brown win. Miss once for you teknam.
M getting a little misty here in the studio. Awesome job by Andrew and Nathan Sigurra, and a reminder of something I try to keep in mind and voice on this show, which is that, like one game can be
pretty special. I know this was a miserable brown season, and yet I don't think that takes away from anything of the emotion of that win that was in that booth and the connection they had with Jim Donovan in the city and what an exciting just day of football that was against the team they hate the most in the world.
Too.
It helps a little extra beating the Ravens that they What a great call by Andrew and Nathan Zigurra, and.
Not just culminating the cultural context of the week and the loss of Jim right, but the fact that the game had built up to that point.
Yeah, Andrew highlighting so many.
Things that took place that didn't necessarily make any sense on a bad Browns team against the Ravens team that will ultimately contend in the playoffs, where yeah, sometimes all that stuff doesn't matter and on a Sunday magic can happen.
I should appreciate.
Yeah, it was that was awesome. Let's go to a guy who's who's on the mount rushmore of cause of the year. I think he was a runner up last year. Why are we even making runners up? Let's go Tyler Higbee week sixteen. His return to tight end.
Set with the strength to the ride of Matthew Stafford, who's under center from that right side hookah in motion play fake roll right, Stafford's pros caught Bye Higbee at the ten, big Rig Higgs to the goal line.
Touchdown, Tyler Higbee, welcome back, big Rig Pig touchdown.
LA.
I love it. JB.
Long, of course I forgot to say his name leading into There were so many fun JB. Long calls throughout the season on ksp N.
Yeah you feel the excitement. Of course we got another. We got some other plays coming up against the chest. But yeah, to see to have a player come back and to hear that in JB's voice and have him get in the end zone, it's it comes through, It comes through.
Good job too.
I was wrong saying that everyone only got one bite at the apple this year, because our next section is defense matters too. Only a couple of defensive plays in this show, and one of them was by our guy.
Andrew Van Ginkel back in week one, and.
Here comes Daniel Jones twelve to twenty two for one hundred and eleven yards victually twenty one to six. Jones touchdowns go fourth touchdown in and Grew ben Ginkle's career, and he read Daniel Jones like a book in that book had a happy ending.
That's a strong one.
Both of Paul's entries this year were absolutely fantastic.
That's my favorite of the two at the very least if we're doing a Paul Allen Brackett because to get to that stat with the quickness of Andrew Van Ginkles's career returns for a touchdown right there, to add the reading like a book, it.
Was just a great call. That was.
Let's go to another pick six. This was a thick pick and this is k I r O Steve Rabel.
Third down and seven from the Seattle nine. Glitch is coming throw.
Inside hits pick off. Leo Williams coming near side.
He's running like a racehorse on midfield, turns up field that blockers, Holy smokes, are you kidding?
Leo Williams.
He's gonna take it in for a touchdown. Seahawks. The Seahawks mess up a kick return. They dump it on the defense and Leo Williams says, I got you covered, picks it off as he drops back into coverage, comes up the near sidelines in front of the bench, picks up blockers, and takes it all the way in for a touchdown.
Are you kidding me? Great job there. They were going in to go up twenty eight to seven the Jets in that game that Leo Williams play turn the game around to a big play in that game, And I love how the voice cracked.
Yeah, the legitimate excitement, and that's what we want. Don't fake it.
Let's go to the Wolfly Brothers. I mean, I didn't even realize until this year that they were brothers. I guess I should have known. Uh, Craig and Ron. Ron's in Pittsburgh. Let's start there. Both these calls, by the way, are from week ten. Let's just play him back to back the wolf on wolf.
Say, break the huddle. Mike Williams comes to the left, three receivers split to the right, Warnt to the left of Wilson in the shotgun. Wilson settles back, raises the foot gets the snap back to pass looking could have floated up left for Williams and why.
In the end zone? Want to throw? Want to catch?
Mike Williams did his first game in a Steelers uniform, has holed in a thirty two yard touchdown strike from Russell Wilson.
Oh, he threw that ball wan Dang doodle down the sidelines. I don't think I've ever seen anything like this. First target, first catch could be a game winner. Carrier unbelievable.
Snapped to Murray, drop straight back, a fade right corner, the ends on Harrison.
Cole on a catch with one hand for a touchdown. Harvin Harrison Junior holds it in with his right arm.
Just a gorgeous drop in the bucket by Murray.
Spin the pig Kyler, spinens drop in sud dimes the drops into the buckets right over the shoulder.
Marvin Harrison Junior.
Spin that peg Kyler. I can't it hurts. I think there was a haiku in there that was amazing.
That's Ron Wolflee, by the way, and we should mention their play by play, guys.
Ron is the one in Arizona. I misspoke.
Dave pash is the play by play k MVP and yes in Pittsburgh it's Rob King who's the play by playgate, and then Ron Craig Wolfley rather jumps in for the Wang Dang do it all just wouldn't be the same on Sundays without the Wolfly brus And finally, it's a couple plays that we've played on this show a couple times because we just had on our guest Bram Weinstein last week, and yet we've talked about a lot in this show. I think the Commanders were kind of the
team this year. I don't know they were, just they were just part of so many of the best moments of the season. Let's listen to Bram and London Fletcher in the divisional round.
Snapped the golf steps off good pocket through a little bit Jeremy Chiz.
Got it, gets it celebrate like going to the NFF Championship game.
This is the Motown, the home of Motown. To tonight they'll be playing the pool Baby. I think I'm could hear them tap it up in the there's a call.
I think it might have been the Monday Night winner against the Bengals, where I think Bram mentions that London Fletcher punched him. Like he says, I just got punched in the booth and like I said, that's another booth where I had like seven Yeah, I love the trash talk too.
Immediately by London Fledger, that's an ex player thing that he like that he's immediately sticking in the lion's face a little bit. Bram does such a good job covering the team and making you just enthusiastic by listening to him that after talking to him, I flipped my pick to the commanders last week and now I'm mad at Bram about that. So to feel better, let's listen to Yeah, we gotta listen to the Hail Mary before we get out of here.
There's an eight deep form with the goal line. They bring three. Davie's backing up.
He's just gonna have the one fly goes to the right side, steps away, well, defenders gives themselves some time now steps up, fires heads towards the end zone.
It is.
Now, that's it.
That's why we do this, to to have that moment culminate where you can hear the booth absolutely losing it. I think that's what great about all of Bram's calls is the way he accelerates into the touchdown Washington and you can feel it, and fans will always remember this twenty twenty four season. They ultimately didn't get the ending result that they started to believe, but right there in those moments is why you believe. It's why we do all those things, and that's that one's tough to beat.
Greg it is, and yet I don't I don't like. I don't like having to choose one.
Maybe in future years, like we'll have a bracket or something, but it just feels like a slight to say anything is beating that moment with Andrew Ciciliano and Nathan Zigura that that was incredible, The Maconkey one by Money and DJ like, I loved it, The Higbee one coming out like the Paul Allen van Ginkel, the Hail Mary is
gonna stick with me. The Richardson throw I think you were really well said on that the play call was as good as the throw, and so I hope no one gets mad here, Okay, but I'm gonna give it to Mike Keith and his Week eleven call. And it's partly for that call, which was outstanding, and it's partly for the years of enjoyment that Mike Keith has given listeners in Nashville and hopefully on the Around the NFL podcast and on this podcast. And Mike Keith, to me,
he's the man. And since we won't get to hear him anymore, I guess I'm giving it. I'm giving it to Mike Keith.
It makes perfect sense a team that for some reason still wears those Oilers uniforms that instead of sticking into their identity in Nashville, and Mike Keith is that to me?
So he deserves honor.
I think, like in terms of technical and execution and summarizing things. Paul Allen, Oh, okay, we're given you know, franchise voice cornerstones, their flowers. I'd give it to him for Van Ginkel reading Daniel Jones like a book.
Love it.
And yes, I think that Hail Mary call will live forever. Which is that's better than any award.
The touchdown of lesson ten second Terry McLaurin to win the game. Uh, that would be a great brand call. You could legitimately have your own brand once once, Don Bracket.
I think that that Ceciliano call is going to live in the hearts and minds of a lot of Browns fans forever and spend that pig is gonna do it for me as well. Let's get out of here. We'll be back on Friday. I'm gonna have my friends Adam and Ryan from the Saints Block Party podcast. They've been boots on the ground in Senior Bowl this week. Like, oh yeah, NFL Network got Daniel Jeremiah and Charles Davis.
We got Adam and.
Ryan coming on the show to recap the week at the Senior Bowl. Looking forward to that, and yeah, let's let's end this with a little Mike Keith when when we're saying goodbye to a legend, you know.
Football is back. Let us in the shotgun.
Six men sent to Ruge Levis Ruby send zoneing deep downfield for Westbrook at.
Teen days, got it forty fifty, forty thirty, twenty ten five INDs of touchdown Titans, the longest touchdown pass of the year in the National Football League just went ninety eight years