Welcome to NFL Daily, where the two Lane Green Wave are a burgeoning college football dynasty. I'm Greg Rosenthal and beyond lucky today to be joined by Nick Shook, the other kid from Akron. And yes, I know, Nick, you have been playing EA College Football with the Green Wave as your team. How are you doing? Yeah?
Baby, Well, Craig, you know, not to spoil the surprise, but the two lane Green Waiver the twenty twenty four national champions.
My friend, let's go. I mean, two lane over indexes in coolness factor because of that. Those uniforms. Oh wow. Yeah. If you check us out on YouTube, you can see Nick has been doing it big. Not surprised. Nick is a budding gamer. We're gonna talk about that later in the show. He's been doing it for a while. He's got a Twitch stream, and we're gonna get Nick Shook's three minute review on EA College Football twenty five. That
is what we're wrapping the show with. I don't know why we're rapping, because usually you just bring the best stuff right off the top, and that's gonna be the best stuff we hear all day. Nick.
Yeah, I mean, obviously, how can you not be on board with two lane as your national champs.
Hey, they were close to it. They want to what do they call it? Power six? You know Bowl six Gate? What do they call that? On the New Year Game? A near six game a couple of years ago over Caleb freaking Williams. That was amazing. Also coming up in the show and is amazing is Ian Rapaport. So yeah, we're having our Insider weekly segment every week. It'll be ten to fifteen minutes with Ian or Mike Garafolo. They have a rivalry, so they don't just want one guy
to get all the shine. But this week it's gonna be Ian again. But before we do that, Nick, we are gonna do our segment today, and it's gonna be simple. We're gonna throw seg ideas back and forth overrated or underrated players, and it's as simple as it gets. It could be teams, actually doesn't have to be players, could be coaches, could be units. It's whatever you think is overrated or underrated going into the twenty twenty four season.
I'm gonna get started by asking you to go. I want you to start and give me, give me something underrated. Let's be positive, yes.
Way to pass it down you know what, Greg, I want to expand the boundaries of this exercise real quick. Not only could it be teams, players, coaches, whatever I wanted to be like theories, like just ideas, general trends that could also be overrated, underrated, And for me, I'm going to start underrated the Rams twenty twenty four draft.
And the reason that I say this is, look.
We all know what Kobe Turner did on the defensive line last year in Los Angeles, who was not a name that anybody was really paying attention to, and some people might have wondered how to be play?
You know?
Was it part of playing next to Aaron Donald? No, the kid's a stud. Well, then they just went and reinvested in the defensive line again twice. They go get Jared Verse, one of my favorite players in the draft, they go get his Florida State teammate Braden Fisk in
the second round. And then on the offensive side, they went and got Blake Korum, a running back at Michigan who did a lot in his time with the Wolfes, just savvy moves and coming off of a draft year prior in which they snagged Pooka Nakua and turned him into a phenomenal receiver. I think that Less needs two for two and we're all going to see it happen here this season.
Wow. I'm surprised, not that that's not a good draft, but didn't get a ton of attention. If anything, I think they got more attention for the guys they didn't get because it kind of came out that they they wanted to get Bowers at tight end. They were trying to trade up, which would have been really intriguing on that offense, which is already loaded enough, but the Raiders took them before they could do that, and then they
also wanted Byron Murphy, the defensive tackle. I think that the Seahawks got it, but sometimes that's how drafts work. You don't get the players you want and it works out better. I'm gonna stay in that front office tree and go to Detroit and talk about what they've been doing as a front office and go with the Lions off season as my first underrated option. I just feel like everyone has been sleeping on the fact that this is an organization that has done everything wrong for decades
and now they're doing everything right. And yeah, you can get it right. Hiring the right coach and the right GM, but are you gonna make the right personnel decisions and step up when it's time From an ownership level, and I think they have. Like on the defensive line, I like the Marcus Davenport move. You don't sign him when he's expensive and free agency, you sign him when he's cheap. You might get a really good pass rusher out of Marcus Davenport. DJ Reader also I think was a smart signing.
Might not be a big factor until later, but the defensive line bulks up. But the bigger thing was that they signed everybody, like all their foundational guys Aman Ross, Saint Brown, Panay Sewell to get them done along with Jared Goff, a contract I think worked for them but also can work for the team. And oh, by the way, they had a secondary problem all last season, and you trade very little to get Carlton Davis, who to me is a plus starter at cornerback, which are just very
difficult to get, and you draft Terry and Arnold. They attack their weaknesses aggressively. I just think they had one of the best off seasons of any team out there, and everyone's just a little tired of the Lions at this point that they were kind of the story of last year. But I think they've set the foundation shooky to get better than they even were last year when they built on their success from twenty twenty two.
Yeah.
Greg, I don't know if you know this, but I'm a football cynic and I always try to poke holes and things because I want to see where when is the other shoe going to drop?
You know, when am I going to get disappointed.
We actually discussed this on you know, shameless plug my podcast, the Griton Podcasts a couple nights ago, and in discussing this with my friend Karmen Vitalite from Fox Sports, who covers the NFC North, I'm thinking, I don't know what to tell you. This roster looks better than it was last year. Like they addressed their weaknesses. They went and got Terry and Arnold. Their secondary was probably the worst part of their defense, and they got better and they got deeper on that side of the ball.
This is a team that I think is built for a deep run.
So as much as because every year this happens, we get a team or two that was great the previous year that should be good and then falls off, we have you know, we know the turnover numbers from year to year, playoff appearances.
People. I thought the Lions might be that team last year that they were getting too much like going into the year.
And instead this is a team that I feel fully confident. I'm not saying they win the Super Bowl. I'm not going that far yet, but I feel fully confident them. I think they did a great job continuing to build this roster and those contracts, both those all three of those contracts not team friendly necessarily, but I mean make complete sense.
You're getting key players locked up, so I love it right.
And their defensive line, to me, was a little disappointing. I thought it was promising going into last year. It's deep. They still have a lot of gut. The guys they drafted Alee McNeil, On Wuzerique, Josh Pascal, like these guys, John Kaminski, you came in who they want to get better. But even if they don't, all the people that they've brought in from the outside I think are gonna set them up. Well. I'm gonna go overrated. It is hard to overrated in the middle of July and hope season.
No it's not.
But I'm going to pull your takes out. I'm going to start with your Browns. Then I just want to go hard and just push against you and just say the Browns defense maybe a little overrated. And here's why I think that when a new coordinator shows up like happened for Jim Schwartz a year ago, and he immediately improves them, like by so much, you usually expect a little bit of a decline the following year. They had an easy schedule last year, but they went from sixteenth
in DVA to first by a long shot. One of the best defenses we've seen in a long time, shook. And you look at where they're spending money. Warren Sharp put it out there today, one hundred and ninety million on their offense, the most expensive offense in the league. Not like I see a ton of holes in their defense, but I think it's natural that the schematic advantages that Schwartz brought last year aren't gonna necessarily carry over. You see this with defensive coaches a lot into year two.
Who knows, maybe it started to show up in that playoff game when they got smoked by the Texans.
Yeah, and that's partially because the bar was so low going into last season with what Joe Woods have left behind, the former defensive coordinator, just playing guys out of position. Guys didn't know what they were doing deep into week fifteen, sixteen seventeen of the season. So Schwartz coming in was not necessarily a calming presence, but an organizing present and an aggressive presence, which voted well for their talent.
But I totally agree.
In fact, that's one of the things I included in the camp countdown for NFL dot Com was, is this Brown's defense actually, for realer was last year a bit of an aberration. I do think they come back to earth. I don't think they're gonna be the best team, the best defense in terms of yards per game allowed in the NFL like they were last year. And you spoke about the soft schedule. I think about how they just
feasted against teams with bad quarterback. Clayton Tune got his only start in the NFL last year against this Brown's defense. Of course, you're gonna post gaudy numbers when you get a few of those matchups. So yeah, I'm not going to disagree with you. I'm a realist and I totally agree on this one.
The amount of professionalism is oozing from Shook. Not only did he plug his own podcast already, but he's willing to say his team's own defense might be overrated. And yeah, Shook hosts the only F one slash football podcast out there, So if you're into that, you should do it. Yeah, it was fun, It was fun doing the F one the grid Iron podcast are give me an over rated choice?
All right, Well, I kind of was going to go in the same line as this, because this kills me the allure of a new offensive coordinator. This kind of falls in line with what you were just saying about
the Browns and Jim Schwartz last year. I think back to the Ravens with Todd Monkin and how we heard so much about how they were finally gonna, finally going to throw the football effectively for the first time in the Lamar Jackson era, and yet they finished the regular season as the NFL's number one rushing offense.
Again.
Now, they did throw the ball better than previous years, but this is the time of year in which everybody gets behind that podium, they get behind the mic in front of all these reporters, and they say their offense is going to be juicy, and it's gonna be open, and it's gonna be high powered. We're gonna stretch the field, pump the breaks just a little bit. Let's pump the breaks a little bit. A new coach and a new
system isn't going to transform your team overnight. If you had one of the worst offenses in the league, it could get better, but it's not gonna be vastly better.
So let's not okay, So you're just you're just saying the general concept of a coordinator saving you because I would say Todd Bunkin did a great job to use that example.
Title game.
Well, you know, only one team wins, as the Saint Brown Brothers like to point out, I mean they still were the best team in the regular season. Lamar won the MVP. For the most part, I thought the offense made a lot more sense, and it's going to be more sustainable, and I'm hopeful that Lamar is going to take a step this year, even though the talent around
him in terms of the pass catchers aren't there. I think the model that they have is more sustainable on a year to year basis than it ever was under Greg Roman. But I hear you and I hear what you're saying about offense in particular, I think it's harder for an offensive coordinator to come in and make as quick and as big an impact than on defense, where I do think scheme can matter and overcome bad talent.
Like I've been listening to Dinard Wilson, the defensive coordinator in Tennessee, and the way they want to attack things, and he's, yeah, he's from the Baltimore School, but he's also from the Greg Williams school out there, and he just wants to go crazy and attack, and like that can fix you for a year or two if you're well coached. Like Brian Flores did not have a talented defense last year and he got them to the top for a while. I'm gonna go overrated next. I'm gonna
go Baker Mayfield's job security. And here's the thing, Like he got that contract and it feels like, oh, finally we've got the team that respects me and everything's great. And you just look at his career, Nick, I don't need to tell you this as a Browns fan of just every year is totally different. There's big ups, big downs. He's a streaky quarterback, and he's losing his offensive coordinator Dave Canalis, who to me was so vital. And then
you look at the contract itself. How much guaranteed money is into twenty twenty five ten million dollars. That's the type of guaranteed money that we've seen teams eat over and over. The Seahawks ate way more than that for Russell Wilson, But Derek Carr with the Raiders, for instance, like if he doesn't play well this year, who knows if that coaching staff is back. I don't really trust the coordinator. It's Liam Cohen, who did not have a great year when he was with Sean McVay in twenty
twenty two. If you couldn't make it work with Sean McVay, are you going to make it work with Baker Mayfield and Todd Bowles? Yeah?
I agreed very much again, and I don't I'd hate to not disagree with you for the sake of entertaining podcast banter. But I mean twenty eighteen, Baker, you know, turns the Browns around. Coming in as a rookie twenty nineteen, he's awful, and he's kind of overweight.
And just you know, thinks that everything's made for him already.
Twenty twenty he's back again and he's playing well. Twenty twenty one, not so great, leads the Browns to ultimately make the decision that they made. I mean, it's just been very up and down. Maybe he's just well, I would say an even the year's quarterback, but last year he had a pretty solid He had his best year
of his career. You know, I just railed against the fact that a new offensive coordinator isn't going to transform your team, but losing an offensive coordinator can hurt you very significantly, especially one who oversees the transformation like Dave Canalis did with Baker Mayfield.
So I'm on.
Board with you there as well. And it's not because I'm a Baker hater or anything like that. It's just that if you watch those a lot of those games last year, they were fun to watch, but they were also like living on the razors edge for a lot of it. The first seven weeks of the season last year just felt like Baker was dropping back and just chucking it to Mike Evans and hoping it worked out.
So it isn't a bad plan for errors. Slimmer than we think.
Right, he still is not going to be a guy who is able to create enough his arms. His arm is great if he's protected well, if they have a great offensive line, then all look stupid. But I think Canalis was really important in making him read the game, and maybe that's a skill set that's just going to stick with him now. But he got rid of the ball quicker, which to me is everything for Baker Mayfield. All right, give me something underrated.
Shuck, all right, underrated, let's go with a full season with Kyler Murray and Arizona. I feel like we're not paying attention. Not that we necessarily need to pay a lot of attention to the Cardinals, but the Cardinals were an afterthought from week one last year because they did not have Kyler Murray in the fold. If you watched them once he came back, they became kind of a
fun watch. That game they played against Pittsburgh with like three hours worth of delays was a fun watch if you got the short and condensed version didn't have to sit through the live broadcast. That's the type of team that I find interest in, not because they're going to win a lot of games, but just because nobody's talking about them, and I think Kyler with a full season
in Arizona. Now, Jonathan Gann's second season as a head coach, Drew Petching's second season as the offensive coordinator, I'm curious to see what step they take forward because they don't have a big excuse anymore, which last year was we don't have Kyler. We have Josh Dobbs and Clayton Tune and whoever else you got Kyler.
Now, let's see what you can do.
Now.
This is going to be a recurring tame on this show until we get the game started. Like I'm very high on Kyler this year and the development that he showed as a quarterback. He's still so young. He is that guy that you're like, I can't believe he's still only twenty seven years old. I like Michael Wilson as a two, and he showed something as a rookie. I obviously love Marvin Harrison, Junior Tree McBride. We had in the top five of the entire league right now as
a tight end. So I think they're going to be fun to that to me, is the most compelling division to watch. Sticking in the West, I'm gonna go Chargers offensive line as underrated, just weirdly like the Jim Harbor Chargers seven gotten a ton of pop this offseason. And to get Joe allt like in the first round of that draft and put him at one tackle and Rashaan Slater at the other. And I know you lost Corey Linsley who retired, but they did get ready for that
with the signing Bradley Boseman. We'll see how that works out. But I think they like Trey Pickens at guard like that is a nasty tackle combination, and I think they're going to get really creative in the running game in those two tackles especially, are going to be able to play football. I think the way Jim Harbaugh wants.
Yeah, you know, I think the Chargers are getting nearly enough attention and enough press. And maybe it's just the anti Harball situation where everybody's tired of hearing from Jim.
I get it.
I understand he's an abrasive figure, but we should be paying more attention to the Chargers because of all the changes they've undergone this offseason since moving on for Brandon Staley and hiring Jim Harbaugh and remaking their front office and everything else. Often you hear people that are you know, reporting on teams, covering teams, or following teams talk about bookend tackles. We got bookend tackles. Bookend tackles only matter and only you have significance on paper unless they are
actually playing like bookend tackles. And this is the first tackle Tanem I can think of in quite some time where I look at it on paper before they even go out and produce and think, yeah, those guys are gonna be there for the next five ten years, Like this is rock solid and exactly what Justin Herbert needs considering how much he got beat up last year. If those guys are healthy, he's gonna stay healthy and they're gonna flourish.
Yeah, I'm totally with you all. Felt like a weirdly safe pick. And I know we say that sometimes about tackles then it doesn't work out, but also steal with it with it is a steal. Yeah, an incredible ceiling. I'm looking forward that they got the training camp. It's just starting, like it's just happening, just just on Thursday, Nick, Like I listen to a practice report from an actual training camp practice tank. Dell was supposedly beating Kwame Lassiter,
the Texans second round pick, significantly. I would expect tinked out to beat basically any cornerback in a non padded situation, So I wouldn't get too carried up about that way with that. But I just felt I felt alive again that we're actually getting these reports now. All right, give me uh overrated, underrated, whatever you want. We're gonna run out of time, since give me give me your best.
Okay, overrated.
I'm gonna be drawing a lot of heat for this and I'll take it where JJ McCarthy was drafted. Not that he's overrated overall because he's got a great coach in Kevin O'Connell, which I tagged this with, but underrated Kevin O'Connell because he's the guy to help develop him. But my god, I know he won a ton of games at Michigan, and that was a fantastic program that Jim Harbaugh had built. They were a machine, especially defensively,
and he was a winner. But when we're scouting for more than it feels like a Baker Mayfield comparison to me, where it's.
Like that guy, he's a winner. He's won in Oklahoma.
His teammates loved him the whole John Dorsey, I watched Baker walk into the pro day and they he whistled and they all went who or whatever back to him. That guy's a locker room guy. I got the same vibe surrounding McCarthy.
And do you get these vibes because he's a Michigan guy and you're an Ohio State guy.
No, because I respect him and I hated watching him scramble for first down on third and eight repeatedly. And that's what you can do in college and you can do that in the pros too. But let's not act like this guy is in the same realm as some of the other top quarterbacks drafted. Give him time is what I'm asking for. Give him time to get ready to play, all right, that's it.
Yeah, physically like he has all the traits. So that got me back on board. But I'm totally with you. It is always a red flag when anyone going near the top of either the NFL or NBA draft uh starts getting lauded for their intangibles. First, Yeah, it's like it's like that's you know, we've we've been through Tebow. We don't want to hear about the intangibles. I want the tangiraft but I think JJ McCarthy has those. He's
just so young, doesn't have a lot of experience. My last underrated is going to be just Amiko Ryan's ability to make players better, make them money like that, to me is the ultimate test of a coach is you take someone that wasn't successful with other coaches and you make them successful. Blake Cashman got rich in Minnesota because he was on Demico Ryan's team. Stingley was a much better cornerback in his second year. He's on this top
ten cornerbacks list for ESPN because of that. Jonathan Gernard, I think they're believing that Tomiko Ryans maybe made him better than he really is. Desmond Kings, Stephen Nelson, all that really just guys that I think Tomiico Ryan made better than he is. One last thing, actually, I want to point out on that cornerback list, Nick, I don't know if you saw that the ESPN the executives rank
the top ten cornerbacks. They went through every position, and yes, Stingley was number ten on that list, which I thought was well earned for him and one of the guys said that, soas Gardner, who ranked third on the list, was the most overrated player in the NFL, and he actually ranked behind your guy, Denzel Ward. I was a little shocked by that. How is sos Gardner? To me is not overrated.
This is one of my overrated choices. Is anonymous offseason rankings. You're gonna slam somebody put your name on it.
Please.
Uh yeah, it's Sauce.
Gardner's a hell of a cornerback. And the numbers back it up, the tape backs it up. There's it's indisputable.
Okay, he would have been one on my list. I know Sirtanga won, but if I'm just betting on who i'd want for this year, it's Gardner. And one of the complaints is like, oh, he gets away with so much holding. Yeah, that's a skill. That's what I want.
You know, who has that skill? Who doesn't have that skill yet, who hasn't developed it yet? Joey Porter Junior gets tagged for holding all the time. Saft Garter knows how to get away with it.
That's the difference, right You know who had that in spades was like Stefan Gillmore when he won defensive player there, you know who had that, like Thrill Reevis, That's that's what the greats have, So that was that was a strange one. It just reminds me though, because I saw I read this list before, you know, along with all the other positions. I think it's I like it. It's catnip for me to just look at what the league thinks.
But cornerback had the most variation. Like, cornerback is the position where everyone's like, I don't know, like I don't know who we're gonna count on year to year, like, and some guys were just totally unranked and some guys were three, whereas there's consensus at other positions. It is the toughest position.
It's volatile though, Greg Like I mean, Ajterrell's listed as an honorable mention. He was one of my best corners two years ago according next to Gen's debt right and I was a dog.
And then he had a down year the next year.
So I would still put him in the top five or six, because you got you gotta look at the long view. But cornerbacks are very up and down. You are not up and down shooky. You're consistent as how you're properly rated, maybe underrated. We're working on that. You're going to join me at the end of the show and we are going to get that EA College Football preview in just three minutes from you. You can't go over three minutes. You could go under if you want.
But first we're going to talk to Ian Rapaport about those trades back up to this back on NFL Daily and it is that time a week where we bringing an insider, and you know Ian Rapaport, he's competitive, he's not letting these other insiders get into this weekly segment. It's the NFL National Insider. Yeah, yeah, you know Mike carefully, we'll get to him a little later in the show. Got some pop on Hard Not I don't know how you feel about that. We got Pallisero. I saw him
out here this week. He's doing Rich Eisen Show. He's doing all sorts of things. But you know, we go to the best to start and that's you, Ian, And I am curious for your thoughts about DeVante Adams's status being such a talking point in this total quiet part of the year and whether there's like anything to that, and even if there's nothing to it before the season that whether there could be something to it during the season.
You know, first of all, let me just say this. I've done this a long time. I think this is my thirteenth season, but I've counted properly with NFL Network, and one thing I will never do is say something is nothing right. Like I remember, we interviewed Dion Dawkins on Insiders that will air tonight, and he's talking about Stefan Diggs and it kind of brought me back to when everyone told me two different organsations that Stefan Diggs
was definitely not getting traded. Minnesota and Buffalo got traded both times. So I will never say never, not about Devontae Adams, but with literally anything, anything as possible. It's
the NFL things happen. I think the reason why it's being talked about now is because Aaron Rodgers said something to a reporter about looking forward to playing with Devinta Adams again or something like that, and then whoever's watch receiver can see that last year there was some discomfort and frustration between DeVante and Jimmy g and the Raiders. I don't get the sense anything is going on right now whatsoever at all with devint in the Raiders. He is going to be there. He is going to be
a Raider. If somehow the season goes terribly and they want to move on from him or they can get something real from him, I'm sure teams will be calling. I haven't gotten any indication at all that this is something the Raiders would listen to. I haven't gotten any indication that this is something that DeVonta Adams wants. But basically, what happens in the NFL is someone starts something and until it is literally dead. It exists in the world where people will call teams, like media will start a
rumor and about a player maybe getting traded. A team will then call the team that the players on and say, hey, is this true, and then it's like WHOA, this team received a trade call. It happens all the time. So I think that's why it's kind of happening with DeVante and it probably won't be dead until he retires a member of the Raiders.
Right, And I don't think that's going to happen. I mean, he doesn't make sense on that team. If they're losing games now, if they if they're winning, if they're competitive, it's fine. But he's thirty two years old and he'll be competitive. I think they will too. But thirty two years old, the contract is at such a point that they could trade him now and actually, you know, save
money someone you know Patrick. Throughout the idea on this show, that sounded just crazy enough that it almost made sense, Like what about Brandon Ayuk for DeVante Adams? Like who says, no, come on, let's have some fun, let's get like the NBA, and don't you just get jealous of all their fun stuff? No? No, But do you think it at all? Do you think
you could happen? Because I actually do think that would make sense for both sides, because the Raiders could you know, they would get something back for him, and you know they make DeVante happy and the forty nine ers are in win now mode.
Yeah, except I don't know why though, I don't know why either of those teams would do it, being totally honest, I mean, I guess the Raiders would sort of make sense. The hardest thing, first of all, those trades don't really happen in the NFL.
They just don't.
Salary cap is too hard, finding the value is too hard, Like we could workshop it, but like trying to figure out what that actually is worth. You have a young, in your prime star receiver like Brandon Ayuk who's very good, not justin Jefferson, maybe not I'm in Ross Saint Brown, but really super close, excellent, excellent, excellent player, young and about to get a huge contract near thirty million dollars whatever that ends up being at Adams, who is still
awesome but older with big money. Like, how do you actually value that? It's too hard, and I think you're the forty nine ers like, yes, getting a great player back would make sense, but then like how long do you have him for? And if you want a great receiver, why don't you just have the great receiver that you currently have and pay him what you would probably end up paying Devont Adams anyway.
Don't don't keep making sense, But I'm with you. I think I think in Adams trade would be more likely in the season than an Ayuk trade at any time. I don't really see the forty nine ers wanting to trade Ayuk. We're getting close to camp.
There's not a lot of precedent for that. I'm sorry, right, there's not a lot of precedent for great teams trading great players when you can't, Like if the forty nine ers trade Ayuk, which I do not think is gonna.
Hap would be one, but they won't be able, But that would be one.
But like the Bills are in probably a little bit of a different mode right now than the forty nine ers. The only comp I could ever see is the Patriots cutting their top defensive back right before the season. That would be the only one I could ever think about, But it almost never happens.
Do you think a Jordan Love contract happens before training camp, during training camp, or before the season.
I think it's so tough to say. My guess is probably yes. And this is based on not reporting, but just my sense of things. Because he's a really good player. He is only going like this, And from the people I talked to around the league, the people who really study and watch these things, like they feel who knows,
but they feel like he is on a rocket shit. Yes, And generally, if you have a player like that, then those guys get paid, if only because you're gonna pay him eventually, pay him now rather than pay him like sixty million or whatever it is, or sixty one million next year. So that is my argument, like, I think there was a while when people weren't sure what he was going to be, even the packers. He looks like he is going to be a really, really really good player.
I like it when you say that's not based on your reporting, because you know, I can almost hear the wheels turning. Ian has so much information and so much stuff, and he can only allow like a certain amount out and he has to like Pilfer and decipher what he can actually say publicly. We're gonna get it out of you. Ian, Why are you making that face these days?
Uh No, it's just so. The reason is because there's so much aggregation these days that God forbid you say something that's not like properly in one hundred percent source. It's like report Jordan Love extension will get done, which is like, not what I said. But no one listens to anyone anyway.
So anyway, I've got my eye on this Tyreek Hill situation before we let you go. Just that he clearly wants the new contract. He's he's got a couple of years. A new contract for him would be so much and I don't know if the Dolphins are going to prioritize that so it actually could be a situation where the two sides aren't very happy with each other. What do you get a sense of with Tyreek Hill?
Yeah, I mean I think they know that he wants some sort of adjustment. You know, historically, there's a way to do this without killing yourself, right. I mean, I think the Raiders did probably a really smart deal with Max Crosby. I think it was six million more they gave him. Didn't affect next year, just this year. Made a really good team leader, good guy happy.
And they just gave him more money. That almost never happens. That's shocking when teams do that.
Yeah, it, you know, but the way they did it happens where you take money from the back end of because I believe this is the way to take money for the back end of the contract. Move it up like that happens. So I think the Marshawn Lynch example is probably the most famous one when we all thought they were going to have a divorce and they just end up giving him more money. I think there are ways to do it for Tyreek Kill. But to me,
it does feel like the priority is the quarterback. Now that's not done, and you know, I don't know if it will get done. And again like there's some optimism, but nothing's done until it's done. But that's my sens is the quarterback is probably more of a priority. And then for Tyreek, I mean he's he's thirty, but he's still great and he's got a lot of years left. Like there are ways to do that without killing yours.
Okay, And just just wonder, not that I'm rooting for things to go to go poorly. I want that team to do well, but they got a lot to manage.
Aren't you always rooting for chaos?
I mean yes, in general, which is why I'm going to introduce this next sound clip of a deal that did get done. Ian you often are a part of these Hard Knocks episodes because they show the NFL network reports, and look they got they got an NFL network up all day. It's all Judy Batista, it's all Mike Careful, it's all Ian rapport. So let's actually listen in to a part of Hard Knocks where the Giants were watching our network report, the Brian Burns trade.
Carolina Panthers move on Giants, Land of Pass Rusher, Burns gets paid, all the things happen at the exact same time.
Let me tell you something.
You think this was stressful for Giants general manager Joe Shane.
Was stressful for this guy.
You gotta chill out, now, you got to relax.
He was so on a all day long. We were talking about this.
If you're watching or you have a chance to watch that clip on YouTube or on HBO Max, just the look of love from Joe Shane's face endearing to Mike Garafolo. Just are you jealous as an insider that he got that big of a reaction from Joe Shane.
No, because Mike is talking about me, and you can't really tell on the show. They kind of make it seem like he's talking about Joe. Mike's talking about me. Because that day I probably had a good feeling, let's just say, good feeling that the Burns trade was done, probably more than two hours from when I was able to report it firmly, officially agreed to my all sides and done, and like you know, it was great to break it. I'm very happy that it worked out that way.
I'm very happy that Hard Knock showed that clip. It was so miserable, it was so miserable and the amount of things that had to happen for that deal to get done and then for me to break it. It was one of the most stressful things. I mean, it was like a nine month saga, honestly, and I was tracking every bit of it, and you know, you want to win, you want to break the story. But the two hours where I was pretty sure was getting done but couldn't get it one hundred percent confirmed that it
was actually done. We're definitely some of the most painful I've had as a reporter. And then to get it was great. But that's what Mike's talking about this club, which I think Joe appreciates how absolutely awful it was to wait and make sure that it was done, so that's kind.
Of why he's just the look of affection to me was was something, But like, why do you put yourself through that? Ian? I think in our roles we all have some sort of emptiness inside of us that we're trying to fill, But like, why why put yourself through that? For what.
I like to deliver the people that follow very closely the news as soon as human I possible, I'll look it in and I like to tell people what I know as soon as I can, and when I don't get to do that, it really eats at me. I'm really just a man of the people, and I want to give them what they want, which is trades and contracts and news.
It just seems extremely stressful way to live that You're you're never off the clock, but that's stress. That's between you and you know, your therapist if you have one, or you and your wife. And you seem like you guys are doing great. You're doing great. You're you got back to back appearances here on NFL Daily. So I don't know what we might have to go to Garafolo next week, because you know, he seems like the insider.
Maybe you would resent the most if he got this coveted spot next time around.
I mean, Mike got a lot of buzz this week from breaking news on the golf course, so he deserves shining.
There we go, Thank you Ian again. Yeah, we're gonna have an insider on every week. Appreciate the insight. We're gonna wrap up the show just after this break with Nick Chuk talking a little e a college football.
It was my first year I'm bringing a TV, so I haven't brought a TV ever before, but INTUBLEA came.
Out and I'm gonna have to turn it on.
So I brought a TV for inch DOUBLEA in the Olympics. So that's my first year doing that.
That was Patrick Mahomes, of course, talking about EA Sports College Football twenty five. If you're on the internet this week, or if you played a video game at any point in the last fifteen years, this is not news to you. This is, you know, maybe the biggest sports gamer news. I don't know. And how long shooky you are a burgeoning gamer.
The biggest sports video game release ever. Wow, if not ever a close second. No game has gone dormant on hiatus for a decade that was so beloved and then suddenly came back with eleven years more of technology and authenticity and attention to detail and you know TLC that.
It needed like this, this is ever happened before.
I was in EA in Orlando at EA and in May in late May. In late May, we're playing this game and I could not drop the controller. I didn't want to move for four hours. So now you fast forward to here, we're getting tens of hundreds of thousands of people, millions of people who are so desperate to play this game. They've been playing a game at eleven years old for the last ten years with mods and everything. Now they get a new one. It's like Christmas for these people.
Yeah, and you're one of those people. I know you've already won that championship we showed. I'm very proud of the two lane Green Wave. But before I throw it to you, and I like that, you're sneaking in some extra takes before we even get to your three minute review, so you're really tacking on. I do want to just show the listeners who are watching on YouTube, but also for the audio audience obviously, just a taste of what Nick Schuk has been doing on his twitch stream, because yeah,
he is a major gamer. So this is what happens. We're gonna listen to Nick Shook when he scores a touchdown playing EA college football.
All right, first reads are one second read square, third readers pray.
They'll try to pass it in on third and goal.
Get in there, Tommy, Get in there, Tommy, let's go the first time. I don't care.
Oh okay, now Nick in his tank top is pumping his fist to lights on. I mean, how much is the production, buzzet budget. Here. The lights are flashing. That is amazing. I want to play that they're on right now. I want to play the every time where you're on the show. That is amazing.
Yeah, you can catch that at Twitch dot tv slash the Nick Shook, you can find it there. We are doing a Kent State rebuild. That was the first game we were playing. Pitt one star program. Kent State one of the worst in the Kingdom the nation, my alma mater who I saw nearly go to the Orange Bowl when I was in college. We fallen and we were never really up that high to begin with. But we are going to turn them around. Arting right now with my rebuild of Kent State over on Twitch.
Part of my enjoyment of the game.
I love it. I love the blinking lights, I love the tanked up. If you're going to put in all that work, like, really, what's the point? On some level, that's what I think, But that's the point. You got to show it off. You got to show those guns in the biggest of spots. All right, you have a three minutes to make your pitch talk about EA college football, and we are going to start right now and kick over three minutes's hooky?
All right, well, hopefully I have a time at Greg. Let me ask you something real quick. What's your favorite part about a sports narrative? Is it the destination or.
Is it the journey?
It's the journey.
It's the journey, and.
The journey is what this game is all about. People love college football for the journey, the story of a program being built, and you are in full control of that. With college football twenty five is dynasty mode, where you can choose any school. You could start as a coordinator. You can get a job somewhere else if you don't like your school. I just won with Tulane, Florida wanted to hire me, I take the job. Hell no, because I'm down for the Green Wave and Greg Rosenthal's ama mater.
We're winning multiple national titles. Games got worse in the off season.
And why should you play this game? Because you can have the same experience or your own experience. You could take your skills on the grid iron two online and play through you know, ranked matchups in college football.
With some of the best.
You want to play Alabama Texas in their first SEC matchup. You got it, and you got everything else and attention to authenticity. Years in the years, literally five years of work building this game from the ground up. And for those of you who say it's a Madden reeskin, you're wrong. I've played both, including the new one. They're different games in this game is enjoyable as all hell.
It's play the new Madden.
Yeah I have.
I've played tested it.
Breaking news any different, any different?
It is different.
There are some improvements, but College Football twenty five might be the best football game I've ever played.
In fact, I will go so far as the saying is wow, get yours now.
Wow. I didn't expect this to just be a full throated cell job of EA college football, but hey, that's part of being a reviewer. When you recognize greatness, you gotta you gotta bump it up, you gotta.
Yeah, there's a there's a few things you gotta fix.
The computer defense runs too much press coverage right now, and if you have a fast receiver, it's it's easy pickings. There's an issue with running into the kicker that pops up occasionally for people. I know it has not really happened for me, but my god, the experience, Greg, It's just it's like they took the last game, and they gave ten years of innovation to it, and they treated it with the proper love and care that everybody expected.
And it's a blast.
I love it.
I've ever I've everaged four hours of sleep this week.
Greg, Okay, the only complaint I've heard is like the defensive backs, their hands are way too good for for D one athletes or for any defensive backs. Like you should not be intercepting the ball that much that easily. Ah, that's awesome. I do know.
It's like that's on you for throwing bad passes. By the way, that's an internet criticism passing the blame.
It's such a big deal, and uh, I'm excited. My son's been begging me for it. I just don't know if I'm I'm in on like getting him two games a year now, so I've held off for now with the college football, but he loves building it. We'll see you've you've sold me pretty well, Nick Shook, And yeah, that's been our after dinner min today. Just a little something extra with Nick Shook and the video game world.
It's been a fun second week of NFL Daily. I really appreciate everyone who has been listening every day and checking us out on YouTube and giving us feedback and looks it's been great and it's only going to get better. Training camp is off and running. By the time we come back on Monday, Shook, we might even have some news, some like training camp flow of like practice so much. It's all happening, and we'll have it covered every day on NFL Daily until next week. And yeah, that Monday
show is going to be fun. We've got Jordan Roudrieg in the mix. We've got Patrick Claybun on the mix. We love Nick Shook back next week as well. Until then, talk to you next time.