Welcome to NFL Daily, where we're a little too excited that the Texans veterans are reporting for training camp tomorrow. I'm Greg Rosenthal beyond lucky today to be joined in the studio by my friend Patrick Claybahn.
That's right. Football is back.
It's back, and a lot of people are back on their consoles for the first time in fifteen years, celebrating college football returning. But yeah, we're here, Greg, and I'm excited. Coming up later, we're gonna do some fake football steam, which is a perfect offseason thing. But yeah, this is real life. I got travel schedules coming up. This all escalated very quickly.
It is all happening. And yeah, you mentioned EA the college football game coming out. We have shook on later.
He is the video game expert at the company, so we might have to talk a little college football later.
You mentioned fake football.
It's not fantasy, although you are a fantasy expert, and we're definitely gonna hit fantasy. I was back in the day, and I'm back. I'm back in the fantasy game. I am in an actual league for the second time. I took about twelve years off and joined the league with a friend of mine last year, and so yeah, we'll talk fantasy throughout the season, but this isn't really that
kind of fantasy. This is an important moment on this show's history in which we're going to determine if you were going to take one player in the NFL and clone that player and put them at every single position on offense and defense, yep, to win the most amount of games, which player would you choose.
We're gonna have a little draft later.
It's gonna be fun.
I also, I am excited because the news is starting to pick up and today not all of it's great news, I have to admit, but every day this week, we're gonna be starting each day with the news and let's get going.
It would take it would take you six hours to download this podcast if you were doing dial up.
Shout out to anybody who remembers that.
By the way, I do, that was like late middle school and high school for me. And uh yeah, it's it's a little jarring to hear Joe Buck.
I have to get used to that, but I do like it.
I don't like what we're starting the news today, but it really was the biggest football item to happen over the weekend and into Monday, which related to Jordan Addis and the Vikings wide receiver who was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence on Friday near La x Here in Los Angeles. The California Highway Patrol Police confirm to our website NFL dot com they revealed that there was a disabled vehicle blocking blocking lanes on I one O five and that that was what they told us.
That an officer arrived to the scene, a white Rolls Royce was spotted with Addison asleep behind the wheel, and then he was arrested shortly thereafter. The Vikings released a statement saying they're aware of the arrest and this is the second consecutive offseason Addison's encountered a legal issue on the road. Last July, he was cited for speeding and reckless driving in Minnesota for going one hundred and forty miles in a fifty five mile an hour zone.
It should go without saying, don't drink and drive.
I think that's the easiest and most responsible reaction that a lot of people have right is anger and frustration. We lose people every day, and this is again, as you mentioned, the second incident. The first time, it was just speeding. He was driving one hundred and forty miles an hour. Jordan Addison has got to figure out how
he's going to comport himself in a vehicle. I would make the case that he shouldn't be behind the wheel of a vehicle at all at this point, not just from the standpoint of, you know, protecting himself, it's from a standpoint of protecting everybody. And we have seen time and time again that these situations, not just with him, but with so many people keep reproducing themselves that it
gets past the point of personal responsibility. It's kind of on everybody else that's in the vicinity of these people. If you're serving these people, if you're around these people when they're drinking, let's do everything you can to keep them from getting behind the wheel of their cars.
It's really frustrating. I really don't know what else to say.
Yeah, there isn't much to say other than this is where the NFL will begin to look at the situation and we'll see if there's any punishment. There was not last year off of that incident. Now this is two different incidents, and it's heartbreaking for it to happen just days after Addison's teammate Kyrie Jackson, a fourth round pick, died along with two high school teammates in a car
accident where they're struck by another car. That was a situation where the investigators they believe alcohol may have been a contributing circumstance in the fatal crash, and that remains under investigation. So our rip to Kyrie Jackson and we'll see what's next for Jordan Addison. But just considering what you know, where he is and in terms of his importance to that offense, that that really was the most noteworthy thing to happen.
Less noteworthy, but.
Very interesting has been DeVante Adams' summer really weak of just kind of getting out there, which I appreciate in the as we're.
Getting into training camp. He's given us a lot to talk about.
Let's listen to him on the Up and Adams Show with Fan duel with ky Adams.
Oh he's in that ear, that's for sure. He's in the ear. But you know it's not as it's not as easy as it. You know, obviously we can get together and talk about the old times and potential of doing this and that. But like I said, I'm a raider, so and he knows that. So we'll maybe in the next lifetime.
So people picked up the first part of this quote, which is about Aaron Rodgers, and she asked him, because there's just been a lot of conversation with these two ever get back together, even at the even at the golf tournament over the week in the celebrity golf tournament, is this going to happen? And if you watch that on Receiver, which I've only seen clips, but it didn't
seem thrilled with how last season was going. But it just doesn't feel like it's something that could realistically happen, whether Aaron Rodgers wants it to or not.
No, And there was a couple of moments in that interview, and you heard it in that clip where Davante said, as I said, it's a thing that he's saying, it's refrain I am a raider. He also said, you know, there's nothing I could do about it if they ship me off somewhere, But I am a raider.
Is the Davante Adams quote.
And if you do watch the Receiver, I think, did you see the clip that I saw, because I haven't watched the show either, but it's Davante again playing a lot.
He's running a lot of routes.
He is absolutely by himself on a corner route and Jimmy g airmails him and he goes to the sideline and he's like, this is ridiculous.
I've got to get out of here.
I think seeing those moments may make you feel that because DeVante playing the football game is different than him thinking about and making decisions right. I think the whole team was frustrated. It's a different situation. But in terms of her union, I don't think Devonte needs Aaron Rodgers. He just needs competent offense and quarterback play.
I don't know if he's gonna get that. But one of the most fascinating clips for that show was he was quoted saying, I signed off on that when Jimmy Garoppolo gets benched, and that's just the reality of it.
I mean, I'm sure they're just keeping him in the mix.
They're making that decision, but he said, I love Jimmy, He's a great guy. Something had to happen in order for us to have a chance down the stretch and for me to remain a raider in all honesty, and that's not in the moment.
No, that's that's that's later that week. So that's for me. He said, Jimmy Garoppol had to get bench for him to remain a Raider. That's corrected.
Well, anybody with eyes right, I could say that it wasn't necessarily working out with Jimmy and Las Vegas. And it just makes sense because DeVante has been a very productive player. The only season he's played more snaps in his career than last season was his first season with them.
Hmm.
Like he's playing a lot of football and the Raiders have been bad. So yeah, it's frustrating, but you can see a reason that he wants change. I think that would be obvious.
Yeah.
On a positive note, he seemed like a fan of Aidan O'Connell on that show from what I saw, and then he was on f S one Speak last week as well, and he said he thought it was Aiden's job to lose because he was there before and that's the way it was. He was running with the ones more talking about OTAs he says, until Gardner comes in and takes it from him. I think it's Aiden's job. I'm sure that's true. But him even saying that to me says, yeah, he likes it the kind of Aidan
O'Connell's jib. And I'm not surprised that Aiden O'Connell is a little more impressive in the off season environment. And if he wasn't a fourth round pick, if he was like a second round pick, we would have looked at his rookie year and been like, yeah, that's pretty good.
So but the red lettering to me on that quote is until right right. It feels like he feels like it has a chance at least.
Well he knows it's not up to him and Gardner Minch is making a lot of money, also making a lot of money, but maybe not as much as as he hopes As t Higgins. He did not sign his long term deal by Monday, so July fifteenth is normally a noteworthy day in the NFL calendar because it's the deadline for franchise tag players to sign their long term deals,
and he did not get a long term deal. He's due to make twenty one point eight million dollars under that franchise tag, not bad considering what he made over the last four years, but not great. Compared to what other receivers out there are making. The crazy thing Patrick with this deadline was he was the only franchise tag player who's still on the tag. Shout out to the NFL like front offosite, like I've always had a problem with the franchise tag that these guys are getting short change.
It's really not free agency.
And yet Josh heinz Allen we covered with Mina that Josh Allen for the Jaguars has changed his name in honor of the his mother's side of the family. Josh heinz Allen, Justin Mattabike, Michael Pittman, Jalen Johnson, Antoine Winfield all got long term deal, and Brian Burns and Lagerious Sneve got traded and got long term deal. So it's like, Okay, maybe this, if this is the new norm, that that's good for NFL.
Yeah, it feels kind of shifting in between the because it's it's it's always going to be a cost control metric, right and a tool to come.
They would do better if they were just free agents. Yeah, to be clear, a little better.
But it seems like it's reaching a mid ground between like, oh, this is purely to keep players from making more money, and hey, we we ultimately do want to keep these guys around. And I think the way that this played out, it kind of feels obvious that the Bengals would like to have T Higgins this year, They're not going to have him after that, and T recognizes that, and this was the most kind of obvious way for it to play out.
Yeah.
I saw the National reporter suggest this week, like, well, it's not gonna It's not as easy for the Bengals to get a deal done now after all these other receiver deals happened out there, and I'm thinking they knew where it was going, right.
They knew where it was going.
Questia Doova Mensa said at the combine, we are going to make Justin Jefferson the highest paid non quarterback in history. They knew all these receiver contracts were going. They don't want to pay it for them, which is their right, and he will get that money like Jesse Bates will elsewhere. I think there are Bengals fans out there that are hoping something else possibly happens, tagging him for a second straight year if you were the Bengals. Actually, isn't that
bad business, but would be unfortunate for t Higgins. But he just needs to stay healthy and he will get a crazy deal next year, more than he probably would have if if the Bengals were going to give him a long term deal this year.
And also if they were going to do two consecutive tags, then you could have packaged together an offer, right, right, it's two years that makes sense for both parties.
Right. They didn't.
It's what they've done in the past, and it's it's one of the difficult things with the salary cap.
It depends which team you are, but we're seeing this in the NBA too.
You do have to make choices, and Jamar Chase is going to get that big contract. In my mind, I believe he will, and it is tough to fit it all. In some Falcons news this week, I thought this was an interesting quote got a lot of pop. Zach Robbinson, the new offensive coordinator, was quoted saying Kyle Pitts is quote basically learning two positions wide receiver and tight end.
Is it finally the year for Kyle Pitts.
I think it's the year, and I know that there's people who are delving into the lineup stats, and they saw how much Kyle Pits liund up wide last year as twenty nine percent, and things didn't necessarily go great when he was lined out wide. But I think the important context there is Kyle Pits was hurt for majority of the season, and when you when that's your body type, a big, physical, fast guy, and he's out there doing something that people his size normally don't do when you're hurt,
it's more difficult to do that. And then we go back to year two and he had more uncatchable passes than anybody in the Empire NFL, and so it's more I think it's easier to see rookie year you're a thousand yard receiver Kyle Pits than it is to see the guy that we've gotten the last two years the outcomes because it's clearly the same person. But he was hurt and then the team was kind of in DISARRAYT.
Yeah, he just needs to be healthy because he also wasn't ye that mover on the field last year, and that's partably why I think it didn't go out. But this got popped for like, oh wow, he's got to be more of a receiver now. I just did the calculations while you were talking Patrick, although I was paying attention, he only was an in line tight end twenty two percent of the time.
Last year.
He was in the slot a good chunk of it, and out wide even more than he was an in line tenan. So he is a wide receiver and I'm I'm excited. I'm excited to watch him in that offense with a better quarterback who loves to throw the ball, two big targets, who loves to throw the ball inside as long as he's healthy. To me, that's just it, because he just wasn't moving the same as he did, but it already did happen.
It happened.
His rookie year is one of the best rookie year tight end seasons we've ever seen. A little bit of broadcast news before. We talk about Jacoby Jones and Monte Kiffin unfortunately passing way over the weekend. But I did want to just hit you with a couple of little things. Bill Belichick is joining inside the NFL. That's wild. It's gonna be Ocho Sinko, Chris Long and Ryan Clark and in the Fox announced their broadcast teams. It weren't like huge headlines here, but we know Greg Olsen moving down
to number two. He's gonna be with Joe Davis. Adam Amen bumped up to the three spot with Mark Sanchez. So Mark Sanchez bumped up. A little Disappointed for Kevin Coogler. I liked him on the play I play. He's down at five now with Daryl Johnston, so they're moving guys around. Kenny Albert and Jonathan Vilma is still at four. I'm into this stuff, so I just wanted to point that out. Little little love for Sanchez who was on the show here once he got bumped up a spot or two.
They contextualized the way the most people in the world engage with football and so it's important, it's important to them.
And it's also a depth chart which I just kind of liked that broadcast teams like have to tell is that for the last group, they have to tell Chris Myers and Schlaer at your six, you're number six, you moved up or down.
I don't know if that's necessary, but.
I know, yeah, why do we have access to that?
And yeah, it's weird.
It is weird, and I love that Belichick had to be part of this kind of like funny social clip. I'm curious how they'll use him, if he'll be actually in a studio with them, or if he has a deal kind of because NFL Films produces that where they just throw it to him and he's doing a really cool film session somewhere else, which would be awesome.
I will watch inside the NFL.
I was not a regular viewer last year, although I did kind of want to see how Jay Cutler's was doing and once at least, and I guess he's not on the show anymore.
So Belichick is replaced.
Bounced for Bill.
It's too bad. Finally I did just mention it.
Some sad news in the NFL this season lost a couple great individuals, Jacoby Jones and Moni Kiff. And let's start with Jacoby Jones, who died peacefully at the age of forty. His fan only released in a statement through the NFLPA played nine seasons four different teams, including five seasons with the Texans, who drafted him, and then three with the Ravens, where he was an All Pro and a Super Bowl in playoff hero.
Yeah.
Three days after his fortieth birthday, Jacoby Jones from New Orleans Louisiana had that kickoff return for a touchdown in his hometown in the super Bowl, of course, the miracle in Denver. He was such a big part of that Super Bowl run and a joy for everybody to talk to. And it's it's kind of a reminder that, you know, no matter how invincible we feel, we've you know, people
have got to got to stay up on everything. Not sure, not sure what happened, but we were robbed of a lot of years of Jacoby Jones.
Andrew Johnson, his former teammate, just called him the life of the party. And that dude was so Nola. He's so New Orleans. I rewatched this series it was called Stories with Master Tesfazian on Bleacher Report, and he did an episode where he was playing pool with Jacoby Jones. That was every episode where he played pool with him, and that dude is just so New Orleans. And you can see how everyone just loved that dude. And just for any listeners who don't remember that run, just quickly
putting it in context. Divisional round. Ravens are down seven with forty seconds to go. They have seventy yards to go. They need a touchdown. Jacoby Jones's speed is such that he just busts right through bracket coverage. I'm not going to call out those defensive players, I know who they were, but if they don't misjudge just this incredible speed, they very likely win that game. The raven Super Bowl run never happens. Joe Flacco, the beautiful ball gets it to
him seventy yards, they win in overtime. Then you get to the Super Bowl. Jacoby Jones in his hometown. This is a performance that would win MVP most years. I get why Flacko got I don't have a problem with that,
but it would normally win MVP. He's so open in the first half, he's able to fall down making sure he catches this pass that flacout couldn't get everything on because he's getting pressured, falls down to catch it to make sure he gets it, gets up and then makes a couple guys miss on the way to a fifty eight yard touchdown. And that is before the one hundred and eight yard touchdown. And that's just an incredible run. And that was the last touchdown they scored in that game.
By the way, it was twenty eight to six at that point. They almost did not win that game. If they did not get that touch on, they do not win that game. And yeah, all the memories of him and John Harbor had a great memory of remembering Jacobe talking to his mom in the end zone during a snowstorm against the Vikings, and right after he talks to his mom, he takes one to the house. He was a legend and Monte Kiffen was a legend too. Didn't want to miss this that he passed away at the
age of eighty four. Just one of the most influential defensive coordinators of my lifetime. Football outsiders has been measuring defense or I think they've gone back at least thirty something years now, and the two thousand and two Bucks were the best defense they've ever recorded. Here were their rankings, by the way in efficiency and Dvoway during that stretch. Second, fifth, second, first, that's the all time year. Yeah, third, couple more top tens, a couple more top sixes.
I mean, that is a long run.
And everyone that played for him just spoke of what a fatherly, great teacher he was and just what a presence and he definitely changed a game like only so many people change the game. I think he could be should be all Hall of Famer for what he did.
Yeah, Like Tony Dungee kind of laughs it off right when people credit the Tampa two. He's like, know, Bud Carson and Chuck Nole kind of brought it to me, and that's where me and Monty came up with this thing. But for most of us, like we hear Tampa two and we think Monti Kiffin and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and so just in the way that you know, going through the seasons and communicating with media, communicating with fans, it brought a greater understanding of football. Is like, it
wasn't just coaching the team. He was a part of coaching us as well. It's just a legend.
And a guy.
I was just appreciated from Dungee and Kiffen when Dungee left to go to Indianapolis because Kiffen stayed there. Of course with John Gruden that that wreck that number one best defense of all time was with John Gruden as the head coach in Kiffen at really running the defense. I just appreciated that they could handle one of the most personality filled locker rooms on Earth. They weren't afraid of that they embraced it like sometimes it got too much.
And then the but Simeon, Rice Warren Sapp and John Lynch and just that whole cl Ronde Barber like they welcomed everyone. They did a great job coaching up. So rest in peace to Monti Kiffen and Jacoby Jones. We're gonna come back after the break and we're gonna do one of the most important things we will ever do on NFL Daily.
Yes, back on NFL Daily, and we needed something regal, we.
Needed something that said, your life's about to change. We're going to solve one of the greatest questions you can ask, what player would you draft, of any NFL player right now if you had to clone them and put them at every twenty two every position on the NFL field and win a.
Game twenty two times, some one of them is going to have to kick, perhaps punt depending on your offensive strategy. And that's the that's the beauty of this completely preposterous hypothetical idea. Disregarding all the moral implications of cloning people.
No, yeah, we don't want to think about that.
But essentially, and because you know, I don't want to run a foul of any massive corporate entities. I will call this the prefaced right because again, apologies in advance, and I celebrate the entire fictional universe surrounding books, movies, and television shows and Star Wars.
I think people know.
Okay, so this is the large scale conflict between replicated individuals.
Okay, large scale conflict between because you can.
Call it a war, right, you can call them clones. Were just like the super Bowl. We're the only people that can say super Bowl and you have to watch cringe television where they call it the Big Game. I'm going to be extra safe because that's where I am.
Right now. We are going to run. We are going to draft. I'll give Greg the first overall pick.
Wow, you're just making that decision that I have the first pick. I like, you know you can charge. And this was Patrick's idea, and I thought, I want everyone to come to this show with ideas, and it is a perfect idea this week.
And I.
Okay, I am going to go first. I kind of wanted you do because I was very curious where you go. But I am going to go first. I should hide my draft boards from me over here. And again they're gonna you're gonna line them up on the offensive line. You're gonna line them up at tight end. You can you can go two tight ends.
If your offense is up to you.
But you're gonna have to have some line player. You're gonna have to have them at quarterback. And so my first pick in this Clone draft replicated individuals draft whatever,
Josh Allen and so here here's where I started. Number One, quarterbacks are still important in the game of football, in this game of football, and so to me, the ultimate player here, and I'm not gonna pick all quarterbacks that would be boring, but the ultimate player here would be a quarterback that also has size so that they can
hold up. They're gonna have to play defense, they're gonna have to play the offensive line, and they're gonna need some want to I'm gonna say, they're gonna They're gonna want to have to get dirty, and Josh Allen's gonna have to want to block for Josh Allen, and Josh Allen's gonna have to and I'm not talking about Joshua Hines Allen. Josh Josh Allen's gonna have to get off through the quarterback. And no matter what Clone team you
put against him, he's going to have to cover. And I just thought of all the possible options, and I went through different quarterbacks and maybe you'll draft one, maybe you won't. He wasn't the first one I thought of, but the more and more I thought about it, I thought he would have the desire. I thought, obviously he can play the quarterback. We're gonna need to run the ball quite a bit, and I think he could handle the other positions better in aggregate than any other quarterback out there.
He's my number one overall pick.
When we initially did this exercise, right, it was, I believe in twenty eighteen, and from twenty eleven to twenty nineteen, Cameron Drell Newton was the obvious answer. Yes, the obvious answer to this exercise. I think all time, Cam has a very good case. Josh Allen, is it right now? So you've taken my number one over.
Yes, mention.
It took me a while to get there. Look, the dumbest thing I've ever said on the show. Maybe not that dumb, because I was, like, I've said a lot of dumb things, but I first couple of years I kept saying, oh, Josh Allen could be a poor man's Cam Newton if he ever got there, and so I was thinking that way. Now I have to admit, even as a Cam Newton fan, he has gotten there and excelled and exceeded whatever I expected.
But very similar players. I think, the most similar to Cam of any player that's come a long since.
Yeah, and hopefully Bills don't don't run him into the ground, and he's got a busted shoulder.
His durability was part of it too.
I thought of other potential physical quarterbacks Jaalen Hurts and Anthony Richardson and stuff, and I thought, you know, at Josh Allen, I've seen him out there year after year and he's just always that dude.
Okay, And I had the potential again to have multiple quarterbacks, yes on my board, But I think for the sake of playing out this large scale conflict between replicated individuals, m I'm going to have to take a defender off the board. We see him in multiple sports.
Right.
The athleticism is there, it's clear, and I think our offense may suffer, but our defense is going to be very difficult, specifically for the Josh Allen teams. Right, you're Anthony Richardson teams to deal with some of my With the second pick in the large scale conflict between replicated individuals, I would like to take Miles Garrett the Cleveland Browns.
Yeah, he's on my board.
I think if you're running and I think you're gonna have to on offense, a triple option type of offense.
I mean, three Miles Garretts would be pretty crazy.
If you're hiking it to Garrett and he's got Garrett next to him and then Garrett on the other side, and you gotta have a lot of faith in your coaching. But this was gonna be my pitch because Garrett is on my board. It's funny we went in the same place. I just think because he's going to be almost impossible to score on.
But I do think that offense could work.
The offense could work.
Clearly, we're going to try to slow the game down depending on the matchup, right, because you go up against one of these ol teams, right, things get things could get very dicey. But but I do think think we're running the ball and it's it's man across the board. Yeah, we're just we're just gonna try to out athlete you If you watch the Miles Garrett basketball hollights, it's terrorizing, it's fear inducing, and so that that's why after you took my first pick, I will go with Miles Garrett.
I think the two scariest positions most impressive in real life when you see them in our defense or ultimately a great edgresher and then actually a great tight end. If you see them in real life, you're like, those are the two scariest, best best athletes, and so you picked the scariest and best athlete of them all at that position. I want to watch that team. I'm sad he's he's off my board. I'm scrambling, but I'm gonna take a Sewell with myck.
We spend too much time to go.
We've seen him. I mean, this guy can move. You mentioned the offensive line teams.
There's a couple options, but Piney Sewell is my first tackle that I would that I would choose because the hands are silky, they're soft.
We've seen him move in space.
Five pine Seels on the offensive line is just preposterous. We're going to be able to run the ball and I think pine Seuel could run the ball.
Yeah, And it creates difficulty for my potential cornerback teams because because I did think that there were some big corners. I don't know that they can compete with the Pinae Sewel team or the Miles Garrett team. But it becomes that much more difficult considering run scheme and versatility, and it makes me think about the absurd arm length conversations.
Well, if the rules are the same in the in the replicated individuals league, you know, you throw the Josh Allen team.
I don't know if there's a cornerback and wide receiver team.
I mean, it's still gonna be tough for Pine to get, you know, hands on those wide receivers. Now, can the can the Pinae quarterback have enough time to fight?
You know it's going to be an issue.
Yeah, well, is he throwing the ball? Is our second I guess he's not much.
It's probably not, and so it's it's one of those things and styles may fights. But but some of these teams aren't just good, They're just not going to be able to compete. And that's why with my second pick, Okay, and I believe it's probably gonna be on your board as well, I will take George Kittle of the San Francisco forty nine ers, because again, in this league, the run game is paramount, because there are several teams that just aren't gonna be able to throw the ball. I
don't know how much we've seen. There's social clips of George Kittle throwing the ball. I think he can get He could.
Get it out there. To George Kittle, I research very well.
But I also think it provides us with a well rounded team that may not be able to beat everybody, but they will be in games.
I agree the want to will be there.
I think he would embrace this challenge, you know, and him as a clone would also like his clones would embrace this challenge. And yet a lot of injuries coming off of core muscle surgery injury. Even right now, I don't know if that's part of this world. He is older. If you're giving me year two George Kittle, just some miles on him, I don't know if the speed is gonna be there for you. I actually am gonna go to one of his teammates. Then I'm gonna go Fred Warner.
So I did want to have and I won a pretty heavy offense, but I wanted to have one team that just had the best chance of locking you down on defense.
I don't know if that's Miles Garrett.
I think if you had eleven Fred Warners, what aren't you stopping? He's gonna get to the pass rusher. We know he's gonna be good in coverage. We've seen that his end to end speed is just insane. He has sort of solved a problem that about twenty eight teams have out there of like what do we do with the entire middle of the field. If you have Fred Warner,
you've solved it. Imagine having eleven Fred Warners. I mean, I don't know what he can do on offense obviously, but he's kind of in that middle range like a Josh Allen, where like he's big enough that he could protect for Fred Warner. He's fast enough he could move at the ball. And yet it's all about the defense. I think this is the number one defense in the replicated Individuals League.
It's a it's a tough bet to argue with.
I had a linebacker that was on my board as well, because the play recognition for Fred Warner is when he has ten people who are not Fred Warner on the field. What's it look like when Fred Warner's are just doing their job right and not covering for everybody else's?
Well, what does it look like when all eleven know what you're gonna do it?
But yeah, oh, Miles Garrett, Yeah, you're gonna fool me eleven Miles Garretts forget it.
Fred Warner knows.
But that's that's the beauty of that's the beauty of the triple option.
And and just what how perhaps perhaps Miles throws an option passing there the Fred Warners do have to score as well, which which makes things difficult and leads me to and you could say I'm cheating, right, and people say that it's cheating in the fantasy world. I think this discussion would be silly to not include one Taysom Hill of the New Orleans Saints. Did I get you? Did I snipe you?
I actually wish I took him earlier. I just figured there's no way this Taysom hater is gonna go with what's an obvious choice.
Some some of what might have felt like he.
Might have he might have gotten higher.
I perhaps some latent frustration wanting Alvin Kamara to get that, to get that seventh touchdown and Tasom for some reason scoring it.
Uh might have leached over a little bit.
That's a great pick.
But I think in terms of what we're doing, we are we are replicating individuals. Taysom Hill has done more in more spots than most people.
Gotta have them on my team.
I've loved the Taysom Hill journey. He's a player we argued about on around the NFL, Like the minute he came out, Chris just thought he was changing the game, that he was the most valuable player on the Saints, like in that in that playoff game against the Vikings, and he was up there, and I was like, I was maybe pushing back against some of the hype. And I gotta say, like, as the years have gone on and you've seen him do more and more, and yeah,
he was never going to be a quarterback. The only thing I was mad about was Sean Payton selling us a bill of goods that this guy wasn't. But what he is is freaking incredible and a guy that is unlike anyone else in the league. And we see him as a gunner, we see him as a returnment, we see him as a tight end, he's pretty darn effective in all those why not put him on defense? I'm mad he maybe should have gotten higher. I just thought
I could slide him through to the end. I'm going to take someone then, I don't want to fallow any further. It's Derrick Henry.
Yeah.
Look, it's going to be.
A running league, but you want to at least have the option to pass. You know who leads the NFL in completion percentage with at least nine throws over the last eight years, I got I guess it's Dereck Henry. He's seven for nine, fun with stats, four touchdowns. I mean, that's that's unbelievable. He's thrown a touchdown in almost fifty percent of his passes. He's hitting seventy seven percent. And I think he's still got the juice. I think we're going to be able to run the ball, and I
think I think he's got the agility. He's gotten better at receiver that he could hold up on defense. And again it's the want too.
Yeah, it's especially the way that the draft board has shaken out. I think some of your concerns with Derrick Henry on defense are kind of alleviated, and the offense. The potential, right, it is just a whole lot of different, especially if you coming off a win against you know, the taste against Piney Sewel and you're thinking, oh, yeah, we could stop the run. It's a whole different situation
playing eleven Derrick Henry's so it's again. It's one of those situations where four years ago, oh my god, right now it's it's there. He might have come back a little bit, but not that much. I think Derrick Henry still has some mileage left. I with this pick, I don't know how much more picks we're gonna do.
You're gonna have one more, one more, this, my last one, after this, after this one, Well, then I'll take it five each.
Okay, I will take my offensive lineman.
I will have Tristan Wurfs who ran that four to eight to Oho at three hundred and twenty six pounds.
I'm taking it.
Yeah.
I think this league is gonna be a lot of fun again, the last picks in the large scale conflict between replicated individuals.
Drafts coming right up.
But I love just how off o line Twitter would really embrace this league.
They would believe that they would come out on top.
And I think they'd have a better chance, Like they're over under is six and a half wins, and people might be sleeping on the Pinazool and Tristan Wurf's teams. I'm wrapping up my draft. You you really have taken a lot on my board. But who are the best athletes? I think it might be cornerbacks. So I'm just gonna go with athletes here, and I'm gonna go with Jalen Ramsey. And I wanted a physical cornerback that can hold up
at least enough. And obviously the weakness is going to be on the lines in going against some of these bigger teams. But in a league like this, you have eleven of the best athletes on the field. If I had to pick one position that's maybe just pure best athlete, I think it's cornerback.
Plus he'd be a little crazy. I just feel like the cornerback teams would be fun. I'm going to Jalen Ramsey is my last pick.
Yeah, and it makes so much sense.
And I do want to address like a travesty from last season where Will Levis runs into Jalen Ramsey and goes absolutely nowhere.
His I'm gonna say, his.
Momentum completely came to a stump, and the conversation was like, oh, will Levis trucks Jalen Ramsey go back and watch.
He didn't go anywhere he went down.
He just he went straight down. And so yeah, Jalen was on the board. And I'll follow with my last pick because I do think defensive backs I need love. I was going to take Jalen Ramsey, but I'll take another Florida State defensive back in Derwin James. And because kind of gets slept on, kind of forget about Durwin uh out here in Los Angeles considered the way that the defense is gone. But you just a big, fast, versatile defensive back. It's we got to have them in the league. And I believe it's.
Good for the league. I agree. Patrick Peterson maybe when he was younger, would have been a fun one.
He could throw the ball a little bit. I was trying to find guys who could maybe throw it. I don't know if Jalen Ramsey can do that.
I don't care.
This is gonna be an important exercise that we tracked throughout the season.
Yeah, come at come to us.
Let us know which a large scale conflict between replicated individuals. Team. I'll took all the shorter nights that you think did better, so we'll put that maybe out on social We you have the email address NFL Daily at gmail dot com.
It's been a pleasure, Patrick.
I'm gonna welcome in Nick Wesseling to finish out that show a little surprise, little nice, fun, little after dinner. I'm gonna say goodbye to you, but it's a big week for Patrick here on the show.
You will be back tomorrow, so looking forward to that.
I'll be buck.
We'll be back with Nick Westling after the break. Welcome back to NFL Daily. So excited for today's after dinner min Just that little little something special to finish the show out with my friend Nick Westling. Nick wearing the FC Cincinnati jersey.
I don't know.
We're taping here in the Chris Westling podcast studio. Nick, and you're obviously such a big part of around the NFL that I just wanted you to be part of this show too. And I knew, I you know, it's either you or Phil, and I love Phil, but I love having you on because you're gonna give Phil a ton of grief for the fact that you're on and he's not.
Well, yeah, I'm sporting the FC Cincinnati jersey because Columbus third place. Right now, who's at the top of the table, the real hometown team, FC Cincinnati.
No, nobody knows. That's not fair. MLS has a lot of fans.
But you know, our focus has been on COPA, it's been on euro It's let's be real, it's been on launching the show and my family and in Wimbledon, and I don't know, it just it makes me happy to see your face, Nick, And we've talked over the last couple of weeks, and so I wanted to talk to you on air because yeah, I want you to be part of this show and and uh, I know you'll be sporting the hell out of Dan and Mark two with what they do.
And it's cool to just see your face.
An't that we talk a little at Bengals because like Chris, and look, if you're a new listener or you came along late in the process. Obviously Nick's brother and my great friend Chris Westling is no longer with us, made a dossier giving up his Bengals fandom more than twenty something years ago, and like Chris, you pretend you're not really a Bengals fan, but your wife is a die hard fan, and you have the second coming in Joe Burrow and he's arrived, Like, what is the Bengals feeling?
And will you admit that you actually do care?
Well?
I mean, I do care. I would call myself a casual fan. I wouldn't insult the real fan by saying that I'm a fan because I wasn't there through all the tough times the way a lot of people in Cincinnati were. Now there's a lot to be excited about. I wondered how Chris would feel about this team. You got all the talent in the world, but they haven't been able to keep Joe Burrow upright. They get him
killed every year. It's frustrating to some extent, so you wonder are they going to be able to protect They've invested a ton of money into the offensive line. You know they have the talent around him. You know he's the guy. So what are we doing here? Is this going to be the year or not?
M you tell me.
I mean they have invested on the offensive line, They've tried, and I don't think that was really the reason he was struggling. Last year was all offensive line play, just a couple of injuries, didn't play well, and once he was playing well, he got hurt again. But you gave a lot of money to Orlando Brown junior, You're bringing Trent Brown, you draft a Mariusmims like those are three
monster tackles. The thing that worries me a little bit is something we talked about earlier in the show is like, you're doing the Bengals thing where t Higgins is playing one last year and not really many teams do that sort of thing anymore, and it does give you a little bit of old Bengals vibe. But this year also gives me a like, Okay, this crew is together for maybe one last year vibe.
Get it done now.
We left Sofi Stadium on the night of the Super Bowl, Nick, and you were in a great mood that night, and the feeling is like, Oh, they'll be back, and I think they will be with Joe Burrow, but this is the last time I think they'll be back with this particular group, especially Jamar and te together.
Yeah, it's disappointing. You would hope they could have gotten a deal done, but you know, financially, it doesn't always work out. You got to pay Chase obviously, Burrows signed the big deal. Do you have room to sign t Higgins? It doesn't look like it. They drafted Burton in what the third round, a megatalon the guy maybe wasn't always the most popular guy in the locker room or with the coaching staff. So we'll see how that works out. You know, you wonder if they have a guy that
can work underneath the two awesome receivers. Is that going to be Burton? It doesn't seem to fit any of the other guys. Trent Irwin did it a little bit, but I don't know if he's the real deal or not. You had Tyler Boyd he's gone. I don't know if the offense is gonna gonna be the problem here. Mina Kimes kind of stole my thunder a little bit last week. Beangles defense in last year it was a mess for most of the year. Early in the year, they were
making plays. Uh, the defense was to keep them in it even though they were giving up a ton of yards. I think you said it. Logan Wilson and Jermaine Pratt looked a step slower last year. But they still made a lot of plays. I mean you look at their stats and you're like, wow, they made a ton of tackles, They made a ton of plays. They played almost all the all the every game, every minute, every snap of
every game almost I wonder that. You know, there was a lot of reports of them both being banged up last year that could have that could have affected it. We know the defensive line is banged up last year. We'll see how all geils this year. I'm so worried about the secondary. The safety's got burned a lot. You know, can Taylor Britt looked the part, but outside of that, there wasn't much in that secondary to get too excited about.
So we'll see. I mean new year. You know you always say it's hope season, right, So I think the Bengals, you know they'll be in the mix for sure. You know, tough, tough division. Who knows what's going to go on with Cleveland. You never know what Deshaun Watson in that offense. Sometimes they look like what look lights out and sometimes they look terrible. You know their defense is going to be there.
They look against that's where that's where they look great.
They take care of the they take care of the banks and not everyone else. Yeah, it's look, Joe Burrow changed the city and change the team, and I gotta imagine the buzz is high just because it's gonna be right now. For every Joe Burrow you're there's still the third most likely team if you look in the desert, to make the super Bowl out of the AFC feels feels right. It's it's gonna be tough, but it feels about right.
Yeah, I think it's a Look, it's pretty wide open this year. You look at seven or eight teams that I think could be there at the end, i'd have to go down the lift, which we don't have time for, but we have. You know, there's gonna be seven or eight teams in the mix. I think again, the AFC deep a lot. You know, for years it was just top heavy, and then I think the Bengal showed a few years back that you know, if you just play smart football, good defense, and make big plays when you
need to, you can get there. And that's what they did in the in the playoffs that year, made kicks, made enough defensive plays and just enough offensive plays that year to get there, and there were a couple of Let's be honest, there were a couple of plays away from winning that Super Bowl. So the margins are thin in the NFL.
We know that.
Let's see what happens.
Yeah, I think they I think they have a good shot.
I also wanted to bring you on just you know, I appreciate you, Nick, Like we talked a few weeks back when all this was happening with around the NFL, and and I told you about, you know, my family situation and everything, and you you were a great person to talk to when it was a difficult time because in very whistling fashion, you were just like, well, I guess nothing, nothing lasts forever, you know that, Like it was great and sometimes this is life, but you got
to make decisions. And I always just yeah, I appreciate you. And I know how much this podcast means to to to you and obviously to me and Mark and Dan and Chris and and just wanting to hold on to that. But you also are like that that's life and and you can't. Sometimes things are out of your control.
A little bit.
Yeah, you know, I think it was a special thing you pore created, you know, Jordan hit on it a little bit the other day, and you know, May made me teer up a little bit that day thinking about what Chris meant to her. And I've had other people reach out over the years on social saying some similar things. Yeah, and it's it's very sad to see it go. And I think it was Mark on some podcasts I listened to outside of the around the NFL that would talk about,
you know, we know this isn't going as forever. At some point we are gonna, you know, it's gonna come to an end. Obviously, I wish you guys had a few more years running. But I'm excited to see what what what Mark and Dan have exciting. You're also a good start. You've had some good guests. I think probably number one on this list that's talking right now. Oh yeah, we'll see how. Yeah, we'll see how. And obviously I'd love to contribute to whatever you're doing in the future.
I love it that the unbridled confidence is why look, hey, the reality is when it came time for Best Man, there's Nick Westling, and I think it was just because for people that don't know, not only did do you look the most like Chris, you know, you're very different from him because he used to love you. You created your own It was like you created your own alternate universe, Nick, that that you live in and it's a it's a beautiful world. And I just like to be part of
this alternate universe. I know, uh, your brothers probably have mixed emotions about being part of it, even even your wife maybe something, but I know Keisha loves it and it is really cool. You guys went to the Reds game recently with Keisha and Lincoln in all six remaining brothers. So that, man, when I saw that picture reminded me of the super Bowl picture. Of course, your brother Mikey wasn't there. Eddie wasn't at the super Bowl. I don't believe either, and so is all the brothers.
And Eddie made it.
Oh he did, That's right, Yeah, he made it there and it was all the brothers and Lincoln and Keisha and so man, I just know at a Reds game, man that I know you must have felt Chris real strong that day. And it's awesome that that she's she's coming to visit you and that you guys come together like that.
Absolutely. Yeah, She's got a home any anytime she wants right here in Cincinnati. But she's doing great. She's killing it with her with her job and what she's doing with some of the media and editing. So I'm happy for her. I'm you know, obviously it was great to see her and Lincoln. Lincoln's getting big, big, fast, and he's a little athlete. I can't wait till you're talking about him post game on Sundays, you know, fifteen or
twenty years from now, that'll be pretty awesome. More may or maybe he'll be uh wearing the badge here right here, Okayni one day. He's a little soccer player, so he's let's let's hope he's he can keep keep keep that little athlete in him, and we'll see what happens down the road.
Built like a soccer player like you, like like like like Wes who who was great and uh yeah, when I saw him doing some some baseball drills, that just that that hard is beautiful. It's hard hard to put into one word all those feelings because it's bittersweet, but it's uh, it's amazing as well. Not bittersweet though, to talk to you, I I love the unbridled confidence, not just in your soccer team, and your great looks, but
also in your ability as an analyst. So we're gonna try to tap into that more throughout the course of the season, Nick, but it was great to have you on and uh yeah, that's it for this show. I want to thank Patrick Claybond for helping me out drafting all the uh the clones, the large scale conflict between replicated individuals, and thank you again.
Nick.
Absolutely heed the call, Greg.
Heed the call for sure to Wednesday. See you next time. M