Welcome to NFL Daily, where we're so smart we launched a new show in a completely dead week with no NFL news. Also smart enough to ask my friend Mina Kimes to join me today. Mena of course of NFL Live and the Mina Chimes Show featuring.
Lenny and Around the Horn.
And somehow, I swear Pablo Tori finds out like Daily, which is really great.
I enjoyed that it's Mina Kimes. Welcome.
I think the biggest NFL news of the week is the launch of NFL Daily, at least in my world. I'm so excited for this new venture for you. Obviously, it's at about the end of Around the NFL Amazing podcast. I was so excited every time I got to go on, especially kind of earlier, you know, when I wasn't doing as many podcasts, I didn't have my own. But Greg, just for people who are listening, Not only do I count you as a real life friend who I can
talk to about family stuff, books, life whatever. I think of you as someone whose opinion on football I not only you know value and enjoy listening to, but I'm actually nervous sometimes out presenting my opinions because if you disagree with them, I worry that I'm wrong. So and then if you and you do agree, I am delighted. So I'm excited to hear what you do in this space.
You're too nice. I appreciate it.
And yeah, I appreciate you saying that, because I know I've heard you on podcasts say you don't like at the top of the show what the Brits would call faff Yeah for five minutes, and we're doing that, So for you to say that, if it shows you really mean and yeah, we are friends, like we once ended a pavement show together. There is no higher form of
friendship than that. So I'm really excited to have you for the first week before you get ultra busy, although I know you're already busy now, and we're going to do a loose camp preview kind of look ahead to the season, just a way to hit every AFC team today. I just want to start getting takes out there, get to all the fan bases. We'll hit the NFC tomorrow with your friend Bill Barnwell, and we'll pick what's the most intriguing storyline we're looking forward to for each team,
So we'll split it up by divisions. I'll do the AFC East. I'll just get us going, no more faff and I'll start with the Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills, because Josh Allen is my most intriguing storyline. And by that I just kind of mean what Josh Allen we see this year, because I think we have this tendency with great quarterbacks that like, Okay, he's great, now he just stays there, Like Josh Allen's great, That's an accepted thing we know about him, and I do expect him
to stay great. But he's the type of quarterback to me that's gonna have different versions of great. And he's streaky even within seasons, within games. He talked this week actually about really changing his throwing mechanics, and I've thought about, like,
how does Joe Brady wind up making him better? And we know how the offense changed last year during the season, and now you look what they added and it's Kean Coleman, but it's a lot of yak guys, a lot of guys over the middle two tight end sets, I think
quite a bit, which I think will be fun. It's the running game, and like, how do they how does Josh Allen's development fit into all this, and especially as like a fan of his running at twenty eight years old, how does Joe Brady work in his you know, amazing skills as a runner. So just hit his development because
he's not going to stay the same. Some guys stay the same, like Drew Brees was always kind of the same, but most quarterbacks, even like at Aaron Rodgers, very different at different points of his career.
So what kind of Josh Allen are we going to see this year?
I think a good one. I think he'll be fine. And obviously it's not a bold take to say Josh Allen will be good, but part of the reason why.
Like what's in style? You know?
Yeah, well that's kind of why I'm confident in him and I think how he'll play this year because the offense you're describing, and that, to me is going to be one of the more fascinating things about the Bills generally is the transformation of this offense, which kind of started in the second half lest season obviously when they switch coordinators, but now with thigs gone altogether and both tight ends healthy, I think we will see the next
version of this what it calls for hypothetically, is you know, a little bit more.
Surgical quarterback play.
You talked about this, you know, Josh Allen setting up his receivers to get yards after the catch, working over the middle of the field, being patient and greg. Part of the reason I'm confident is we've seen Josh Allen do that, like we have seen him. I think there's this misconception out there that he's only good when he's just, you know, bombs away gunslinger. And yes, he definitely has the gunslinger mentality, and it has certainly been in him
at times. But I can think of many games over the last three years where Allan's average det the target has been sub seven and he's been deadly accurate, super smart, and super careful. I think the question is kind of okay, Well, is that a consistency thing? Will he get impatient? Will
he press? And that's certainly plausible. But when I think about this offense and what I expected to look like with the new skill players and coordinator and whatnot, it's not hard for me to imagine Josh Allen executing it.
Well. No, and it's just the details. And it changed so much last year. It was effective before they made the offensive coordinator change its own way and effective afterwards. But yeah, as averaged up, the target went way down when Joe Brady. So it's I thought it was interesting Hearum this week, you know, talk about the mechanics and stuff, and it's just a reminder to me, like I expect him to be in the Hall of Fame someday. But yeah, I also just like to see how these guys changed
throughout his career. And I don't don't want to totally lose the like prime Cam Newton running style.
All right, let's let's go.
When we first talked about this, we thought about just like camp storylines, and this one is a camp storyline. It's just how the receivers shake out. I know you had Taylor Kines right on your AFCPS pod cast, which was really good.
People should check that out.
And I was curious what he would say to your receiver question. He thought to Mario Douglas was maybe the guy to watch. To me, I'm thinking about like that, what's the starting group who's going to get the most snaps? Like I would guess it was kJ Osborne, Jalen Polk and to Mario Douglas, maybe not in that order. But yeah, why you're making a face.
Oh no, I thought your sentence was going to stop at kJ Osborne.
But just the top three, like they have like seventeen guys. They have Juju there. They have Kendrick Bourne coming off at ACL. Yeah, they still have Taekwon Thornton, who I don't know if he makes a team, But they just have a lot of guys and I'm curious how it shakes out.
They have a lot of receivers who if any of them were on the San Francisco forty nine ers, would be the guy who doesn't do much but then, like on third down in a key moment, makes a great play and everybody's like wow to Mario Douglas the wild card for this Niners team, right, But on a Patriots team where that's it, it's kind of a tough.
Build because isn't really a true number one.
And I say that as someone who really likes Jalen Polk loved Washington watching him pardon me at Washington, which is the college team I root for. I think his skill set aligns really well with Drake May whenever he takes the field. But as far as like, you know, if you're a defense playing them. There's no skill player who you circle and you say, okay, we're gonna tilt coverage towards him. We got to put our best cornerback
on him. I don't think they have that sort of playmaker, which you know is going to be limiting.
Like we got Hunter Henry back and you shouldn't say we. And I avoided talking about Drake May just because I know I'm going to talk so much about Drake May in the preseason.
There's only so much to talk about.
As you mentioned, this show is daily, so that's going to be an interesting challenge, and I'm going to talk so much Drake May that I didn't.
Want to say.
Austin Hooper is like on the NFL All Star Team of desperation streams in fantasy, where you're down like.
Two tight ends. You just got to field someone.
And you're looking at the waiver wires and they're just giving you Austin to Hooper and you just take it because you've got none else.
You're just hoping three for thirty to go Dolphins.
What I'm mostly Cheegbaye is McDaniel in September. It used to be that every season NFL dorks like me would be like, what's Andy Reid cooking up in September?
And he still does like he can.
But I think some of the idea that like Dolphins are bad at playing in cold weather, which is true, I'm not saying that that's not a factor. Is also just the Dolphins are awesome in September because Mike McDaniel provides schematic advantages that other teams aren't ready for and haven't stolen yet. Like we saw it with the speed in the space in a couple of years ago, we saw it with the cheap motion, and like that's partly why they're good, as teams have not adjusted and they're
so well coached, they're ready to go. And now you add OBJ to the mix, and you add the running back group which is deep and fast, and it's just I just want to see what he's got going because I kind of think they need a good September. There could be some rocky stuff with the contracts and everything like that, but I expect they.
Will, or Galaxy Brain might be.
Daniel saves it all temper and rolls out like a like the Dolphins come out.
It's Week one.
I forget who they're playing in Week one. It's I think it's maybe the chart. It's a good matchup. I think they're in an eye formation. There's just it's they're.
Just handing it off to do on Ahan on first out. Everybody's so confused.
People have prepared for high flying offense, all kinds of crazy motions, and then he saves all that or whatever next innovation he has for the end of the season.
That's one way to go. I mean, that would be next level thinking. I do worry about this team if they did that and they started like two and five, this is a highly likely team to I feel like, implode in many ways if that happened. I'm high enough on the Dolphin. They're playing the Jags by the way Week one.
I like that matchup. I'm with you.
I'm excited to see it.
I think, though, what's going to be hard, and what is often hard with this team is trying to figure out what stock to take and what we see because this has happened a couple of times. Also, you know, when we think about the Dolphins and their struggles late in the year, a lot of it has to do Some of it is just attrition through injuries. No doubt you saw that with the receivers at the end of
last season. But I think something that shows up time and time again is just the lack of investment in the offensive line and particularly that interior, which they do such a good job of shielding.
The quarterback shields it.
So much so I guess my question is, Okay, did you solve that in any way? Right? And from a personnel standpoint, it doesn't look like they did, but perhaps there is something schematically he can do to further protect what is the weakest position group on the team.
Right the Dolphins fan would say, well, they're no worse than they were the last two years, and they were pretty awesome in September. Offensive line wise, I don't know if there was Well, we'll see.
Did you really have to draft another fast running back? That's all I have to say.
I like it.
I like building strength and strength. I think he is going to do fun stuff with that. We'll wrap the AFCA East with the Jets. Mine is just what does Aaron Rod look like? I'm going I'm going big. I guess I haven't podcasted a while. It's like I want to hit the big stuff because I feel like there's this idea maybe I've been listening to too many podcasts and everyone is treating Aaron Rodgers like he's got to
be great. Aaron Rodgers from twenty eighteen, and I think everyone memory hold he was the worst Aaron Rodgers we've ever seen In twenty twenty two, like PFF had him seventeenth. I went back and looked QBR twenty sixth. I went back and looked at QB index on NFL dot comos Our friend Mark Sessler had him fourteenth for the season,
and it's like that was the thing that happened. And what kind of playing style is he going to have behind this offensive LINEBC He's always been a quarterback that's gone up and down but likes to hold on to the ball.
It got him in trouble in the.
Brief time he played last year, and like what kind of style, Like is he going to be able to adjust? Kind of like I talked with Alan about getting rid of the ball quicker and maybe not being as fun a quarterback, a little Peyton Manning late career adjustment.
I think it's gonna be interesting to see both him and Kirk Cousins what they look like post Achilles, because it's such a weird injury, and there's really not that many examples of starting quarterbacks coming back from that particular injury. And you could talk me into the idea that it won't affect Aaron Rodgers as much because at this point his career, he's not leaning as much on his mobility, and he's got like such a crazy release, he can
make throws from compressed pockets. He's still got a strong arm. Sure, I think I just kind of want to see it because I do expect his mobility to be limited. It's I expect cousins mobility to be limited as well. I mean, that is a brutal, brutal injury to come back from at any position. I think quarterback obviously have the benefit of not being on the move all the time. But if he is limited as a mover, does that lead to any adjustments in his play call or primely his
style of play. I'm curious to see that as too. I wish I had more belief in his play caller. I love a lot of belief. I like the offensive line they put together. I like the skilled players obviously and healthy, but yeah, I don't like I guess since so much of the offense will based on what he is capable of. It's probably good that the coordinator is someone who is just going to ultimately bend to his will.
But I don't know if he's going to solve any problems for him.
Right if I felt like he had had a coach that's going to give him a schematic advantage, great, and he believes that that's partly why he's there. And I also don't rule anything out. He is an upper tier all time great and sometimes with guys like that, you just can't be shocked if he comes out and balls out. So that being a possibility, which I think it's absolutely there, is what makes it intriguing to me. Or it could be really mediocre because he's a forty it's not just coming off an Achilles.
It's a forty year old coming off in Achilles.
Yeah. Do you think people are underrating.
The Hacket factor?
Yes, Okay, I mean because, like.
I just think at this point in his career, he could really use a schematic advantage and it's one of those teams that you worry and I don't think there's that many. I tend to think coaching gets overrated and there's just more in the middle, like most teams, it's not like a huge advantage of dispend but they're one of the teams on offense that feels like it could be a disadvantage and he does not need that.
Going against them. Yeah, the way he north your team these UPA I gave you homework.
Yeah, uh, any order or any order you want, you know, Okay, I know you said you don't want to overrate that. We tend to overrate coaches, but I've started with the Ravens and I am going with a coaching angle on this one. I just want to see how much the
defense feels the loss of Mike McDonald. I think from a talent perspective, While there's definitely some notable departures, J Davin Clown, who was excellent for them is gone, Patrick Queen is gone, Gino Stone, who was a surprising gem gone to a division rival gone, But I think there's still enough elite talent, particularly up to spind the defense to where they'll be fine. I like the cornerback they drafted, but we don't really know what to expect from Zach Orr.
Who's the.
Uh. I mean it's there were now old enough to where guys are becoming defensive coordinators who I think of as players, but not even just players, like I grew up watching players when I was in you know, college or whatever, and that's kind of disturbing in and of itself.
But do you like to know zach Orr's age, mina because kind of shocking because he's been a coach for more than a few years.
Here, he's thirty two years old.
Yeah.
Yeah, so they chose him, which is important because the whole coaching staff got plundered right by the entire NFL, and they they wanted zach Orr to be Mike beat On successor, which obviously.
Bodes well for him.
But while I think it's we can assume the defense is going to look pretty similar to how it has looked a lot of the same tendencies in terms of the simulated pressures and SPA safety coverages and.
All of that. In the disguise.
I thought McDonald had such a great feel for individual game planning. The Niners game comes to mind in particular, So you know, when we think of this defense and how good they were against elite offenses, that's going to be really tricky to approximate what he did.
Yeah, we're we're doing kind of a schematic.
Trend overview that's going to go up Monday with Jordan redrig and Nate Tyson. I just feel like this defense spreading everywhere is one of those trends. There's four teams now that are going to be running it, and just how does that affect Baltimore's effectiveness the fact the tape that they put out last year, and who knows, maybe zach Or has a lot of like really great ideas.
I'm with you that I tend to trust the raven that they chose him over two guys that got jobs as coordinators elsewhere, and so that's big, But they could really use Da Faioa to show up, and you know, Clowny's not there. They just I know they've made do without great ad dreshing. But that's just one area. But I go through this every year where I think the Ravens are going to be in trouble because they've had it's been quiet, but DaCosta since he took over, has
had so much turnover since he got there. And yet, for the most part, other than games that Lamar Jackson is hurt like, they are play like an eleven or twelve one team every year.
This is to me one of the underrated things that when we think about John Harbon, why he's one of the best coaches in the NFL. He is the I know, he's you know, he does a lot right, but he is a little bit more like the CEO coach because he's not a play caller, but he's such He's been so good historically at identifying talent amongst coaches, so you think about the HighRes he's made the decisions to move on from guys like your Greg Romans, Martin Dale's and
then the people he has chosen to replace them. I thought Monkin was fantastic last year, so I have a lot of faith in him as the CEO coach, but a little nervous you know, just a little bit nervous about about that. Okay, I'll go Browns next. I feel like there's only one choice for the Browns. What is Deshaun Watson at this point? I mean, have you gone back and watched any of his games from last year?
Do you have thoughts?
Because it's faster, absolutely, specially that last one, and that Browns fans are always in my mention saying he was so great and it was like none of the balls went more than six yards, and it's you know, to be fair, it's one of the reasons why Jacoby Brissett's numbers were so good for him too. It's like Stefanski when he's cooking, he cooks, and so that's going to help Deshaun Watson.
But he was.
He was sub mediocre in her and it's an injury that's still prevented him from practicing fully this offseason to this point. So I'm still leaving room even though I obviously like I'm not rooting for the man that he will have a moment again in his NFL career where he's excellent, but he's shown no evidence to say that that's gonna happen since he's come back, right.
Yeah, No, I mean I was not super impressed by the perormances last year. I thought he was definitely competent. In the Ravens game, I made a couple of throws that stood out to me as being like, Okay, that looks like a little bit like old Deshaun Watson.
But it's a really small sample size.
It's funny you talk about Kobe Brissett being propped up by this game, because when it's Watson. I'm like propped up when it's presette, I pretend I do not see its elite. I guess I'll just wrap by saying, like, if you take out the quarterback, I think the Browns have the best roster in the division, which is a very very good division.
And that's kind of why.
I would say the best division, by the way, if I had, you know, yeah, they had to choose one, maybe NFC North, but I'd probably go close this division.
All right, Bengals might be a little bit kurveball. Yeah, what the hell happened last year on defense with this team? Yeah, dropped from tenth in EPA pri played to twenty fifth. There's a ton of really really ugly metrics past defense, explosive plays.
I guess you can answer what the hell happened? Their secondary play was pretty atrocious.
But this is Big Lou right, he had been such a darling amongst our cohort, and I'm not blaming him, but this is a pretty pretty dismal performance. And so Joe Burrow's back, and they're immediately back in contention, and they're listed in the top ten and power rankings, and I think, bro, will you know, I think the offense is kind of going for a last dancing with t Higgins. I think they'll be about the same as they've been. I don't know about the defense though.
Yeah, I'm skeptical.
It's one of those things where we have this idea of how good Lou and Rimo is, and that's what I mean about sometimes credit with coaches, like, of course she's he is a good coach. But there's such a fine line, especially a defensive play, secondary play, and a team in Cincinnati that really relies on their red zone defense and short yardage defense. E've been so good in situations that if a few things happen, you lose it. But I look at them and like, I like it.
I like their defensive line. They have a strong candidate to bounce back. Logan Wilson and Jermaine Pratt like their linebackers really struggled last year and their their candidates to bounce back.
Like, I don't have huge concerns.
I'm more concerned that you know, the Titans looked at Tobia Wuzier and thought like that's a guy that deserves big money coming off that year. So there's a lot of reasons to believe the Bengals are going to be better this year, and to me, this is at worse than average defense.
Yeah.
I did like Gino Stone, who I talked about leaving Baltimore.
Von Bell didn't. He looked a little bit like a player in decline last season. To bring him back.
Oh yeah, it's asking a lot. If he's not maybe he's the third or fourth safety.
Yeah, it's it's it's a little bit tricky, but I think you're right that they'll be closer to average. Certainly.
I apologize by the way. You know, this is your first time on the show. It's just the two of us. I'll just cut you off there, and I'm like making you host essentially by introducing East team, but I will not make you throw it a break. We are overdue to take a break, so we're going to do one more team in the AFC North when we get back from the break, and then we.
Will hit the other two divisions back on NFL Daily.
You know, what do you think of us going heavy NFL films? I like it in the mood, and it's free and we have access to a million of these songs.
It adds a lot of weight to this July typing.
I know it's like I need I need the reps. We need the reps, and I was ready to get back to it. We uh have been talking about most intriguing storylines each team. It's probably going to annoy people who are like OCD about it, but we have one AFC North team left.
We had to get that break in Mina. What do you got?
It didn't annoy me, but I've been reeling over.
The last five I was just overdue. I was overdue to take it. I should have done it before.
Clock management, in my experience, is the hardest part of hosting. I was really the Andy Reid of podcast hosts for like four years. It took me that long to get it right. So you're fine, you're getting these reps in. This is training camp for you. Really okay, the Steelers. See again, I'm so discombobulate. I'm like, wait, scroll back up, scroll back down. This is I don't want to do too much coaching stuff, but.
Do what you want.
I am really intrigued by what an Arthur Smith offense looks like with either Justin Fields or Russell Wilson. And I know that the probably I'm being a little bit hipster because the correct answer is just who the hell is going to be Who's gonna win this quarterback competition. My suspicion is it'll be Russ at the start of the season and we'll see what happens. But the thing, the reason why I say either or is they're pretty similar quarterbacks and a lot of their tendencies, a lot
of their strengths and weaknesses. I think Fields gives you more upside, Russ gives you more consistency. That's not a controversial take. In some ways, I can see it dovetailing with Arthur Smith. We think about the hard play action, throwing deep, whatnot, but in a.
Lot of ways it kind of doesn't. So I don't know.
I like the skill players for his offense. I love this run game, I love what they've done with the offensive line. But I'm curious to see how he accommodates these two quarterbacks.
And he's going to want his quarterback to move to some degree. Russ does look trim, looks looks like he's in good shape, moved better last year certainly than the year before, which I think helped them in Denver. Yeah, I don't know. I think this team is I don't know if it's a sleeping giant. And I always worry about the teams that as this off season goes on. Maybe I didn't love them at the very beginning of the off season. Now I'm like, are the Steelers going
to win this division? It wouldn't totally shock me. Quarterbacks obviously the biggest issue, and the depth of the wide receivers. But even though they are similar in their strengths and their weaknesses, like one of them's fireworks and to me, and that's justin fields and he really might not be ready, and he might never be as consistent as you want to be. But one of them just authored one of the greatest, maybe the greatest running seasons by a quarterback ever.
It was just a couple of years ago.
And he's just adding such an advantage to me in what should be an awesome pulling running game that like that alone, I want to see it.
But maybe rest can take advantage of that too.
Oh, I would vastly prefer to see that.
I want to be clear, Like I mean, if I'm Arthur Smith, I think about what I did with Marcus Mariota on the ground, and when the Falcons had one of the most dominant runishing attacks in football that season, and I look at what Justin Fields is capable of, and like you said, what the rest of these the backs and the line. I mean, there's a recipe there for an offense that is really really annoying for defenses.
Yeah, and I don't think I think they can play conservatively because I think the defense is going to be really good. I know you believe you had them on your top ten defenses, right, yes, yeah, let's go to the AFC South the Texans. I'm just on digs honeymoon watch. Like I thought about some it's like run game concepts or Demigo Ryans' way of like taking average players and making them better. But just as like a guy that does,
I do enjoy the drama of it all. The fact that he said more nice things about Josh Allen and the Bills in that opening press conference, and I know this was on Bill's fans radars.
Then he then ever happened in Buffalo and it just and he did.
You think it was a relief for him to get out of there and he was happy and we see this receivers. I just think it's gonna be like an amazing honeymoon season. Not that I is that worried about
like his attitude or anything like that. But I still think he can get open and I think he's just gonna be a lot, and I think that team's gonna want him to be a lot, And I think the combination of him and Stroud off the field could be fun too, just like press conferences everything, And we've just seen this with great receivers that first year, and I think he's still good enough to take advantage is just
fun in front of the microphone. It's gonna be fun on the field, and he's gonna have great players around him that obviously helps him a lot.
What if it's week six, Nico Collins not only is the leading target getter in this offense, but he is the clear number one outpacing Staph two to one.
I mean two to one is dramatic. That would be a problem. Then the honeymoon is ending.
Yeah, then I'm like, how about this press conferences?
Now? How do we see that they won't let that happen?
And I guess I'm of the camp that Digs is not cooked, that he's killed. There's a variety of factors or even even that in that much of a decline, and so to me, I expect Nico Collins and Stephan Diggs to be in the same ballpark, But I actually think the coordinator the quarterback are too emotionally intelligent to ever let that happen, And Diggs is good enough that he wouldn't let that happen either.
Yeah, no, I hear you.
I think I just don't want his inclusion, and this sort of effort to feed him and make him feel wanted come at the expense of Nico Collins, who I think is really really good.
So if Diggs is as good as I think he still is, it's the best receiver in kank Delle's healthy. It's the best receiver trio easily, because I'm totally with you on Nico. He's a top twenty five guy. I thought that was maybe the best contract of the off season. It was really eighteen per It's just kind of crazy. Let's go to the Colts. My intriguing storyline. We'll see a little bit in camp. It's kind of how fast is this eighty Mitchell thing is going to happen. I
generally don't try to buy into any offseason hype. If you were making an article and I used to do this of like Ota Mini Camp winners, like he's on that list. Everyone that was there was like, okay, he was ready to go, and it was against air and not really you know every concept you want to think you see. But I think in terms of knowing what he was doing and what and just going up against NFL cornerbacks, everything that we heard from the Colts was
very positive. So there's a lot of reason to believe he'll start right away over Alec Pierce. And if he's actually a dude right away, that's not a bad trio either with Down's and Pittman, that's a nice one.
It's it's not just an average trio or even not bad. If Ad gets Ayara close to his ceiling, I think it's excellent because he would have a force multiplier effect. Everybody falls into the right role. Those three players, him, Michael Pittman Jr. And Josh Downs, they all fit really well together, working different parts of the field, very different skill sects. With Ad being your put typical number one, who can you know he can win deep, he has
great hands, he's got the athleticism. It just didn't have like the consistency as a prospect, which is why you think you fell. But if he hits where he's capable of, that is a really really fun group.
It just felt like it was maturity, maturity, maybe more just on the field than anything that was specific off that like teams.
Just it just helped.
It made him fall, Like a lot of receivers got drafted before Adie Mitchell considering how talented he was. But sometimes those guys when it's their livelihood and they can often be like he might be very NFL smart. It sounds like he can pick up concepts and stuff that that has nothing to do with that side of maturity.
And if he can do that, like he's gonna be great, like.
A George Pickens style arc.
Yeah, potentially, it's a good comp My Jaguars pick is about the coach. It's the defensive coordinator, Ryan Nielsen. I listened to the Jack on SI podcast used to be Jaguars Report.
It's really good. John Shipley is one of the good.
Yeah, heem beat reporters out there. He does an awesome job. And look they've been talking like Nielsen like he's come to save the day and he has exciting concepts, and I agree when you hear him talk and I think compared to their last defensive coordinator, there is a lot of reason to be excited. Can he add like a big time schematic advantage because I still look at the roster and I'm not I'm not thrilled if they're average,
like that's okay. And I know some of the numbers weren't bad last year, but I do think Nielsen was like a hipster favorite because he did a lot of cool stuff. And you know, it depends what numbers you look at. The Falcons overachieved, but some other ones they really weren't very good. He does fun stuff. He could be a guy that eventually gets, you know, some head coaching love. So it's like, is Ryan Nielsen as good as maybe Jaguars fans and NFL hipster's.
Hope he is.
I think there's a really strong opportunity for him as someone who if he wants to be a head coach.
I'm guessing he does.
Because unlike Atlanta, he's got all the talent in the world upfront in Jacksonville. But it's one of those teams kind of like Green Bay, where like everyone looks at them and they see the talent, but the talent hasn't played up to certainly a draft status. There's a number of guys there outside Josh Allen, Josh Heines Allen.
Sorry freaking news. Thank you. I'm glad you pointed that out.
I think just came out this week, Josh Heinz Allen, and one of the reasons was he's sick of being the other Josh Allen.
I feel like that's a w for quarterback Josh Allen. You get to keep the name, to be honest, but I mean for.
It to happen after the Josh Heines Allen had almost twenty sacks in the Monster Contract and really kind of made his name and.
He's still is giving it up. It's a nice moment.
He had nice family reasons for doing it. But anyways, Josh Allen's great. Outside of Josh Allen, a lot of underperformance on the defensive line. So I think for like Nielsen, if you can be that coach who's like, oh, he came in and he finally got you know, he found the right way to use Javon Walker and these linebackers.
Devin Lloyd is living up to his draft stats, which you know maybe happens anyways, with off all linebackers and later in there, you know, after the rookie season, then I think that this could be a unit and a coach that a lot of people are talking about, no doubt.
Yeah, the cornerback position is what worries me. Tyson Campbell's a good player. But after that, you know, they gave Ronald Darby day one free agency money to start a cornerback, which was surprising. They have I think a third round pick Ery and Jones might be the slot and so he's gonna he's gonna have to cook up some stuff.
But I'm watching that. Uh.
Last in the AFC South is that the Titans. And it's just the uh, the effect of Bill Callahan, one of the great position coaches of all time.
Why are you laughing cause you were.
Like, oh, we talked too much about coaches. I feel like half of your picks have been coaching.
Can I say that, I don't know. I just I didn't say we.
Talked too much credit to coaches.
Yes, that is one of my long standing takes that like there's more coaches.
In the middle.
They're all I'm saying, you know, they're all good, and it's like you we look at the results and we just put it all on the coaches and all the players.
It's like there's variants, there's players. You know.
Anyways, Bill Callahan, though, I mean, you've got to agree, he's a pretty big difference maker.
It's big.
I mean, because the offensive line is clearly the weakness of this team. It made the offense at times non functional last season. They obviously continued to invest in it draft the first pick, and it would be the thing that holds his offense back well aside from Will Levis, but he is a quarterback who we see affected by pressure, so you can use it as a proxy. It's a very talented group of wide receivers. I'm very intrigued by the combination of Well Levis and Callahan.
I'm intrigued by the fact that they seem to believe in.
Will Levis and they're betting on him with all the guy.
Yeah, Nate Tye, I mean I kind of do too. I see it.
He is the type of guy I fall in love with because his highs have been pretty exciting. I'm talking about Levis, not Nate Tye.
Of course, I'm in love with Nate Taste.
His sighs are exciting.
There's kind of a coaching treat too. With Bill Callahan.
Right now he's got his assistant or old assistant from Cleveland is now the Patriots offensive line coach. So they're just hoping that that Callahan magic can because he's installing some of the same concept Scott Peters can do it, but for real, like an offensive line coach when when Mike Munchak sorry was one of those guys. Is just one of the most valuable uses of money you can possibly have for like the quality that you.
Get out of it.
And these players aren't that bad like Scarronsky, JC Latham and Lloyd Cushenberry.
That center to the left side could be that could be pretty good. It would be pretty good.
I think there's nothing better to be from like a coverage standpoint than an offensive line coach. He's regarded as a guru because none of us know what we're talking about.
With offensive you can see it.
You're like, oh, the loss of Dante's grner Yell looms large, or oh the Mike munchhag effect or Bill Callahan, like once you once these guys become like dudes Aaron Cromer and Buffalo, we just remember and then when we see them playing well because I think, you know, there's a little bit of a binary.
Did they pasper hold up?
Did it not?
Are they getting pushed? Are they not?
You know, as opposed to like just technique or whatnot. I will give a lot of credit to a guy who I've heard it's good.
Like that's fair.
I like you poking at me, But how dare you besmirch the name of Dante Scarnacia. I don't know that it's only a couple of these coaches and it's like, yeah, the run everywhere he guys. So it's just how can you question it? Let's do one more break? It's nice and even after the division, we are going to wrap things up with AFC West.
And then just a little something sprinkled extra at the.
Just like know when the music swells that someone just broke a tackle and is running into the open field. When I hear that back on NFL Daily with Mina Chimes, going through the AFC and just what we're intrigued by heading into training camp next week, Texans are showing up, some rookies are showing up elsewhere.
Early in the week.
I think the Ravens might be the Weirdly the first team that do that. You're gonna help me out here, Mina by picking what you like in the AFC West.
I will start with the defending champs because sort of picking knits with them when you're looking for areas of concern, I mean, I go with something to be excited about, no doubt. I'm excited to watch their rookie Daviere Worthy. I'm excited to see the offense. But like as far as like things I'm intrigued by, I want to see how much the laws Lagerious Need affects this defense. I understand why they moved on. They essentially picked Chris Jones
to prioritize that contract. It makes sense, and I understand anyone who conviction in not only the young players who have gotten some gotten some decent run over the last few years, the young corners rather, but also the fact that they the fact that they have the best defensive coordinator in football is one of their biggest edges and a big reason why they have this dynasty. That said, I object to anyone who doesn't believe Lugarious Need was unbelievable last year.
He was an easy All Pro vote for me.
I thought he had an amazing season, the way they were able to deploy him against number one wide receivers, the way his ability to press impacted their ability to get pressure, and some of the types of pressures they ran. He was very very important to this defense. And I think they'll be finest. Also think they'll be very very good. But I'm just you know, I want to see what it looks like with him gone.
Okay, two responses there. Number One, do you have an all pro vote?
Reason? Yeah, I picked him.
I mean, I'm happy for you, You're my friend. But like that's like that is my dream. I can't get one, I think because I work for the NFL anyways, but I wouldn't.
I wouldn't have.
They might take away all my offensive line votes after my confessions.
Like I really want that.
If anyone, not that anyone is listening that I would, honestly, I'm so into like I want to be a Hall of Fame voter. I would freaking love that, and I think I would be good at I think I could do it. I've been doing this long enough, come on, give me that vote. But that's really cool. And then second, my second point is I'm not I'm not downplaying what sneed did I think he was better than Charvarius Ward
when he left for San Francisco. But I do just have ultimate faith in the system and that these guys who was a Jalen Watson, Josh and Joshua Williams were playing in the Super Bowl and they won. They won the Super Bowl because of their defense, and those guys were out there a lot. I remember it, and they had a guy in the Zay Johnson I believe towards
ACL during last year. So he's coming back Shamari Connor like, it's like they're always just finding guys under the couch and they develop, and so I think they'll be fine even if he has a big loss.
I think they'll be fine too.
But I think you can't underestimate how much easier it is for every other cornerback when you have like a true eraser.
And I love Trent McDuffie. I love him as a nickel personally, you know, on the wall.
So yeah, it's just I think very that's why you have the AP vote.
And I know, okay, and now I'm regretting ribbing you for the coaching stuff because I do have a couple of coach.
Ones here for the Chargers. I ask, this is very key.
What does a Jim Harbor offense look like? In twenty twenty four we haven't seen Jim Harbaugh on the you know, like we're coming into the season. I think correctly he was lotted as the best coaching higher.
His record is undeniable. I think what he did at Michigan it's.
Not just he just wins, baby, But like, the offense was creative, the defense was very creative too, So I like the mentor. I don't expect much from the defense here wide. Frankly, I could be wrong, but there's just a lot vels offensively though, Like twenty fourteen was this last year in San Francisco, that was ten years ago, you know, And so again, obviously he's been coaching, but
I want to see what it looks like. I want to see how him and Greg Roman build around the They obviously decided to invest in the offensive line, prioritizing that over receiver. Although I did love the lab of conking draft pick. Everyone's just like ground and pound.
I don't know right now, he's pretty creative.
And he was at Michigan, and the fact that he chose Greg Roman was a little bit of a curveball of Okay, what are these two kind of look like together after when we last saw them together? But I
have faith and I think that is the question. I think that's one of the biggest questions in the entire NFL this year, because I expected to be creative on the ground and throwing the ball, and I disagree a little bit about mintor just because man, I'm just I guess I just have takes that clash with each other because it is easier to improve defensively just with better scheme, like you.
Can take linebackers who are their starting linebackers who are their starting cornerbacks.
I get it.
Do these previews every year and we always overrate defense. Well, it's been a little more consistent the last couple of years, but it's just so inconsistent that like good scheme in Floris was a good example, and in Jesse Minter, they have been so good at picking defensive coaches. Obviously, now John Harbor and Jim Harbar like fighting over you know, the same coaching tree. But good defensive coaches can take average talent or take blow average out and at least make them average.
So I could see that happening, and you're right.
I think they're coming out with something we don't expect offensively, and I'm really excited as a as a Herbo fan.
Listen, those three games where Khalil Mack and Joey Bosa are both healthy will be electric. So pun intended with the Chargers, Okay, the Raiders by the side of the ball, I want to see how much of the defensive improvement we saw on the second half of last season is sustainable. I think there were things from that part of the year, basically once they made the coaching change whence Antonio Peerce took over, and the defense from that point on the
season was tremendous. Now they played some bad quarterbacks, there's a few regression signs, but when I look at the depth chart, they're pretty talented up front, particularly that defensive line now with Christian Wilkins.
Finally, but I.
Actually think some of the role players are pretty good too.
Malcolm Kunz, but Max Crosby's amazing Linebacker's played decently. Corners, you and I talked about Jack Jones.
They're just thin.
So I don't know how much I believe in the unit, but I think if they're all healthy. There's enough talent there for them to still be feisty.
But yeah, Raiders fans, you can clip that. I don't know how much they I believe in the unit at the end of the year, because no one, no one believes in them. This is not a unique take. Like they were not in your top ten defenses. I don't even know if they were in the.
They were mad about that.
I did.
I put them on in my outside looking at category.
Okay, so they were I get it though, because we're all trained to think that short of sample size and like you didn't see schematically anything that was like crazy. They just seem to play together and play harder. And there is something about defense, and I think this was true of lou Ana Roumo's Bengals defense going back four years. There is something where you can kind of see how hard they play on a week to week basis, play to play basis that can overcome some things and they don't.
And that isn't even consistent year to year. But they played their ass off last year. If Antonio appears can get them to do it again, they can. A lot of Raiders fans can clip off this podcast and others because yeah, I mean, I think average is a totally fine outcome for them. I'm surprised you didn't go with, you know, the one of the only true quarterback battles, Aoc Gardner Minshee, let's go.
I'm still holding out hope that they trade for Jacoby Jcoby Brisset would lead.
This offense to a top fifty.
You wouldn't do it.
I think he is like a no, he's on the no trade list, like he's untouchable. They want him to be the sense for for Drake May and they do not want Bailey Zappi anywhere near a football, you know, for them again, so he's untouchable.
All right.
I saved the best for last. Denver Broncos not the best. I actually really struggled with this one. I'm sorry.
We were trying to compare the Broncos to like teams outside the NFL. I'll I'll take the hit. I don't care if Broncos fans are right. They're like the Chicago Bulls to me of like of the NFL. It's just like why what I actually my.
The thing that I ended up coming over this actually it sort of ties to a like an ongoing question I've had, which is. I still don't. I mean, I guess the answer is just money. But why did Sean Payton pick this job to come back to the NFL? For it was very confusing to me, and that leads me to my question.
And he was struggling to get jobs. I think that was it. He was the third choice. They wanted Dad Quinn and Harbor and Quinn.
Okay, well, I'm still a believer in his brilliance, which is why I am making this my storyline. What do you got, dude, because I'm willing to write last year off as like a forced marriage. You clearly hated Russell Wilson. Uh and you called the bumper bowling offense who never you know, he basically was the most conservative offense in the NFL, So you obviously I don't know. I'm talking to Sean paytnon one assumes he had a hand in
picking Bonis to be their quarterback. I don't think that means he prefers Bonix over Drake May and Jay Daniels and kill mlliames obviously, but you know, I don't think they would have done that if Peyton didn't say, yeah, I can work with that. So Sean Payton again, we have seen you call competent offenses with a variety of quarterbacks. Game obviously Famo, the Winston Bridgewater. You know games hate Taysom Hill. Why not can you pull a rabbit out of your hat with this one? Can you build an
interesting and efficient offense with boon Nicks. I have some ideas of what I would like that to look like, but I kind of I landed on this idea pre draft, which is I actually think and I'm not comparing them, but I actually think bo Nicks has some similar qualities to Tua. He's got like a super quick release, he
can throw over the middle of the field with accuracy. Now, they don't have the skill players that Miami does, but I think you'd want to see an offense that has a very strong downfield RPO component with with bon X and put him on the move.
He can throw on the move really well.
Anyways, that's neither hereded there, but this is I just want to see Sean Payton, Like you've heard everybody talking like, come on, like show us something, you know, show us some creativity, show us some moxie, because.
You're one of the best coaches in NFL history.
Yeah, and they're gonna need to score. I just think the defensive talent is hoping to be average because I think the talent is below average and the upside is barely low for that defense, so they're gonna have to score. I think he did do a good job coaching last year, like you could see it, yeah, like the weighted DVOA because I was like the you know, they ended pretty
well last year. It was eighth on offense, it was nineteenth overall, so it was they had their moments and like he can still create efficient offense out of not much, but it's not that pleasant to watch. And I just don't know if he has the personnel. I like what you said about Bonicks. That got me thinking of like comps for him, because I've tried to warm up to it a little. Like it's not like he throws an unpretty pass.
It all comes out lightning fast.
Actually reminds me of a little bit of Teddy maybe, like who we loved, Like you know, just just a little bit of like an underrated pretty thrower.
But you canton thing. Yeah, he can move. Also, that's our divisions.
Well we did it nice and quick, I mean on the NFL Daily Feed so far, this week I've been doing after dinner min It's just like something nice to finish out the show. And used to have a segment at the end of the Mean Time show featuring Lenny where you ask questions to me, to everyone, but you know, I'm concerned about me and Lenny always submitted the last one and some of them and my stammering responses to them like live inside of my brain.
Literally I can remember. I don't remember anything.
I have the memory of a goldfish, and I remember some of these questions.
So I'm gonna flip it.
I'm gonna not trying to exact revenge, and They're not all going to be tough questions here, but I'm gonna throw a couple questions before we go.
Uh.
This is a fun one because you are quite possibly the pre eminent ball knower at the nexus of Ryan Grubbs and uh Geno Smith appreciation like you you are there and they are there together, and you know you're a U dub fan and obviously appreciate Gino. Just tell me get me excited about this combination because everything I read and see about Grubs is really exciting. But I can't say I watched like a ton of you DUB.
Yeah, well, i'd be sure when you watch some of the prospects past, So don't say you saw some of the reasons why people loved this U do of offense so much. It's interesting because schematically he it's not. I don't think he has like a very uh like clear cut identity. I guess you would describe it to spread offense, pro style, strong RPO component. The funny thing is everyone thinks about as being like bombs away and just attacking, attacking, attacking, But I really think that was a lot of that
was just a product of the talent he had. You know, a quarterback who could throw it all over the field and the best college group of college or receivers in college. He was an offensive line coach Ryan Grubb, and he will run the ball. And he's a pretty creative run game as well. And you saw that at times at UDUB when teams seeded the pass or probably seeded the run to them because they were so afraid of you passing. He was like, all right, great, I'm gonna handball off
to Dylan Johnson. We're gonna run a variety of concepts. But I think you know, going back to kind of that spread aspect. It's that coupled with some a lot of creativity in terms of personnel groupings and formations, ton of motion, and to that extent, I guess it's.
A little chief seat at times.
I mean, the Chiefs offense has gone through different iterations, but it's much more like that than I don't know, you know, the Shanahan Tree. It's not like that at all. I'm interested in seeing so in many ways that goes really well with Gino. I think because Geno can make
he can throw it all over the yard too. Unfortunately, the Seahawks offensive line is not comparable to the Husky's offensive line on a relative basis, right to compared to NFL players, the Huskies had one of the better offensive lines at football. So I think he's going to have to make some adjustments in that regard to help Geno
and help the line. But I'm excited to see it because I think it's we have proof of concept that he knows how to get the ball in the hands of playmakers, and Seattle still has a very good group of playmakers.
Yeah, the thing that you said that excited me the most is like, if they can just improve the offensive line, and that is where coaching in the NFL can matter a lot.
Just to be good enough.
That just that's going to mean everything for him because when he was protected and yeah, the scheme wasn't the issue last year, just wasn't happening for him when he had time. You know, it's been a sneaky big part of the off season on Twitter, I feel like.
Yeah, a couple of days every now and then there's like a day where all of the NFL film nerds just start posting, you know, clips like this is like a little outbreak and then it spreads quickly and that happened wild.
I feel like a proud father, Like I don't even need to say anything anymore about you know, like it's just out there. It's accepted what a underrated, incredible quarterback he is. And I can't believe we waited until day three to talk about him on the show. All Right, do you feel bad for making me feel bad because you produced a baby that's larger than me.
He's not quite there. You've met him, can you? Yeah? Like, what's your scouting report on maybe?
You know?
Well, I think he's going to be a team player, great attitude, big in the Hips, you know, in the Hips, I think like he's gonna be tough to move, nice anchor, you know, possibly an offensive lineman, possibly a tight end, but one that can block.
And yeah, he's massive, you know, he's massive.
He's absolutely in it.
As your Twitter you know, profile says taller than you think. That's true about Mina. But you and Nick are not, like.
Not big people.
That's not a tall couple. And yeah, it's impressive.
Thank you. You did the opposite of Lenny's question.
Lenny's question was always rude and that was self deprecating, which does feel on brand.
Okay, how about how do you feel how do you have so many friends?
Like?
How do you have so many friends?
And is it difficult for you that they all have podcasts?
Uh? You're all it's been quite the off season of NFL podcast free agency where everybody's it's kind of like an NBA hiring where all the coaches surface in new jobs and suddenly there's one guy's out and one guys in and listen, I just I just say, yes, oh, you're in a new podcast now?
Sure, all right, come on.
I do think it is your superpower.
I think people look at me and this is all true that you're so good at synthesizing, you know, the numbers and the film and putting it all in really concise ways that you know. I'm I definitely envy when you're on TV, but I think your superpower is you really do have like so many friends that I think have meaningful relationships with you. I feel like I have one, but i'm and it's impressive. I do ask that, you know.
I don't know how you pull that off. It just feels like it'd be so time consuming just sing with everyone.
You're with this new venture, Greg, you were about to deepen a lot of friendships very quickly because you're going.
To be asking a lot of people to come on this show.
And as I said texted you when you tant me the news, I think I owe you about twenty five appearances, So comeing in.
I will take you up on that. That is it for today's NFL Daily Hit the Music, Eric. I am really excited about Friday show, last show of the week, Bill Barnwell coming in will do the same conversation going through the NFC for me to chimes, I'm Greg Rosenthal.
We'll see you next time on it thought Daily
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