Welcome to the NFL Report. I'm Steve White.
Here is my guy, James Palmer JP. We've got our debut show launching on the same day that the NFL season kicks off.
My brother, Yeah made in voyage. Here we go. And here's the funny part for everybody at home. We actually are friends and talk on a personal basis about that.
Yeah, we're actually good. You know, there's some shows and people have to worry about that. But me and JP were good. I mean, you know, JP's even so much of a superstar. He got to speak of his son's career day recently. Yeah, and I'm sure with a smash hit JP.
They squeezed me in between a lawyer and a and an ear doctor, but everybody was pretty awesome. I'm not gonna lie, Steve. The best question I had was what's my favorite chicken nugget? So I'm kind of curious what yours is? I said, Wendy Spicy chicken nuggets. And the second one was what's your favorite route? A kid was dressed in full football gear, shoulder pads. How everything he goes? Mister Palmer, what's your favorite route? I'm a wide receiver.
And I'm sure you hit him with a fifteen yard dig with a bang eighty going up that way. But anyway, enough of this NFL season is underway, James, And what's crazy. Normally we're talking about sleepers, we're talking about Super Bowl favorites, we're talking about quarterbacks. But this NFL season actually kicks off and we're talking.
About edge rushers. They are all the news, my man.
And look, we got to start right here with Nick Bosa of the San Francisco forty nine ers.
He holds out all.
Off season up until this week and signs a five year, one hundred and seventy million dollar deal, a buck twenty two guaranteed and fifty million at signing highest paid defensive player now and he's earned it.
Man, we could hit her lap I want. He's that guy.
He is him, he is He is that guy. And it's funny. I was in Denver right now, but I was at the Broncos practice yesterday. They're on the field when this deal goes down, they come into the locker room. It's media portion. You know, we're in there for forty five minutes with these guys, and all you can hear across the Broncos locker room is just like how much one seventy? How much guarantee? One twenty Like just screaming this at each other across locker room, just going like, Holy,
I can't believe that Nick Bosta just got this. It's funny. I went over to my fellow dude from the area in the Philadelphia AIA and Mike McGlinchey and also a former San Francisco forty nine er oo. I said, Mike, have you seen have you seen the deal yet? Have you seen Nick? Deely goes, what do you get? One seventy one? Was it twenty two guarantee? See? He goes, Oh my god, he deserved every penny of that. I
was like, you went against him in practice. He goes, I know, he's the best in the game, man, he deserves every penny of that. It was kind of cool to get his perspective. Yeah.
Look, I was in charges practice and I call over Derwin James.
He's signed a big deal last year and I was like, d you know, here's the numbers on the deal.
He's like, this just happened. I was like, it just happened.
He was like, yes, yes, another guy gets paid and this is what really cool, right, and this is this is really cool about what we do. This we're gonna bring you on the show. I mean, James and I we know people, we know this brotherhood. We're telling you about this, this fraternity that NFL players have. I mean, yeah, there's probably gonna be something people are gonna hate on him making the money, but most people celebrated because the next guy up is gonna get the next biggest deal.
And we're gonna have Brian Baldinger and DeMarcus where on later in the show to talk about who.
That next guy up is.
But James, you know, let let's talk a little bit about Nick Bosha and and why he is that guy and why he is so good.
And I'll tell you this.
You know, in that locker room, people see the videotapes of Nick, like I just want to sack him.
I'm kind of that sirve for dude. His signmates, his teammates love him.
I mean I remember talking to Deebo Samuel Guys on the Offensive sign like, this guy's different, right, Everything he does so meticulously to take care of himself is so different, and he's so good.
You hear former teammates Richard Sherman, these guys like we love Nick Bosa. We love Nick Bosa.
So they had to get him back, the Niners do. They had to get him back, not just because he is a great player, but because he's a great guy in that locker room. And James, you know, when we talk about this guy being in shape, he's probably gonna play. On that he's probably gonna play against the Steelers a little bit.
Oh, he's gonna play. He's gonna play. We'll get to Kyle Shanan's comments on whether he's gonna play or not in just a second, but you're right to speaking on it really quickly. What he is as an athlete, what he is as an irreplaceable member of this team. They don't get to the NFC Championship Game without Nick Bosa. Obviously wins Defensive Player of the Year. He was in a position Steve to have all the leverage this past offseason,
and we saw his brother do it before. And they've been very good at football, and they've been very good at the negotiating table. Those are two places that the Bosa family has to throw. And I'm curious when you mentioned the diet, you mentioned how in shape he is, if that made this dragon a little bit further. Listen to me, like it's the forty nine ers. Knew and John Lynch and Kyle Shannon, everyone involved that he was
going to come ready to play. John Lynch believes it takes a player roughly two three weeks to be ready for an NFL game. They didn't think that with Nick Bosa. I was curious if that allowed this to get even further in terms of both teams standing their ground and butting up right against the start of the regular season, because they knew he would arrive on time. If it took extra time to get this deal done, there was no fear of maybe really losing him on the first game.
Now obviously missing all this time. Who will see how many snaps he plays. But listen to Kyle Shanahan because he's playing and he knows the type of shape that Nick Bosa is arriving in. There any questions and at this point whether he's going to.
Be in uniform on Sunday, I mean there is question because we haven't seen him. But thank you guys know how I'm talking. Have to be I have to have a beer belly and be out of shape for some let's switch. That's not in in Bosa's DNA.
Yeah, he's playing off the jump, Steve.
Yeah.
The image, the image of Nick Bosa having a beer belly is like something I don't think any of us could even like, we couldn't even.
Draw a cartoon of it. Because this guy is absolute superman. I will say this.
I mean we've seen it before where guys coming late, they're in great physical shape, their specimens, maybe not like Nick Bosa, but you know they may get nicked up a little because they're hyped up. They want to come out and play. How about this factor.
They're going up to Pittsburgh.
It's supposed to be a rainy field on Sunday and the University of Pittsburgh has a game on that same field on Saturday. So I wonder if these field conditions and just maybe some of this, you know, you know, the the Niners might have to say, well, let's let's kind of figure.
Out how this is going. But it's not just Nick Bosa.
You know, they're gonna have to say, you know, the field conditions, whatever about because James the star power, the star power on the defensive lines, on the defensive side of the ball for these two teams, let's just let's just go through this. Nick Bosa, last year's Defensive Player of the Year, TJ. Watt, the previous years defensive player of the Year. You've got Cam Hayward, You've got Highsmith for the Steelers, and then you've got Javon Hargrave for the.
Eric Armstead for the four.
I mean, anyone who thinks there's gonna be more than like a combined thirty points score in this game might be out of their head because you look at the defensive fronts for these teams and where both of these teams have sunk their money. That is absolutely kind of dictates with this opener for both the Steelers and the forty nine Ers, two potential Super Bowl teams. That's where they that's where they rest their value.
I love you said sunk their money there because we're gonna transition this into Chris Jones in a sense, because I do think there's a real connection between these two. Early in the negotiations a couple months ago, I was kept hearing, you know, Nick Bosa's deal separate from Chris Jones. This deal, these do not connect with one another, right
won an interior pass rusher one an edge Rusher. But now that this deal's done and I'm starting to hear our premier defensive player market, the group that you would say, Steve is probably what irreplaceable for However, many games that you would play without them, you don't really replace a Chris Jones with anybody else in your ross. You don't replace or an Aaron Donald or a TJ. Watt or any of these guys in that top group. Now that the ceiling of that group has gone up, how does
that impact Chris Jones? Because what we're seeing is what the forty nine ers have done. They have come out with this contract and said what to us, Steve, we are putting all the chips on the table. We want to go to a super Bowl. This is our super Bowl spot. We paid George Kittle, we paid Trent Williams, we paid Deebo Samuel, even though that even got contentious at times, a way to get deals done because we
have players like Nick Bosa that are irreplaceable. It's a different school of thought with the Kansas City Chiefs right now with what's going on with Chris Jones' contract.
I thought Chris just wanted to raise you know, I just he said he just wanted to raise.
Now.
I wonder, as you mentioned the Bosa deal, might say I want a bigger raise than I initially told you. But the standoff JP to me also shows the discrepancies on where these teams lie. We have seen the Chiefs let tyreek Hill go, they let Orlando Brown go. I don't think they're gonna let Chris Jones go, But if they're not trying to pay him right now, that's them saying we are going to keep our salaries under a certain way because we've got a very high priced quarterback
so we can have sustained success. The forty nine ers are saying, we're gonna go out and give Nick Bosa all this money right after we paid defensive tackle Javon Hargrave a four year, eighty four million dollar contract, and we're gonna put all of our money in.
Look, the Niners have nine.
Guys making more than fifteen million dollars because you know, right now is their windows. It seems like the Chiefs are playing the fairways whereas the Niners are playing the greens. And look, it works for both teams, and right the Niners been knocking on the door while the Chiefs have been winning Super Bowls, so different philosophies, but it kind of shows where each team stands and where maybe how different each owner kind.
Of approaches this as well.
It is and I yeah, you don't want to question the Chiefs thinking, Steve, but you could think, is there a ben of Hubris here that we're going to keep flying closer and closer to the sun because we've gotten through it, as you mentioned, they've gotten through moving on from Tyreek Hill, which by the way, was a move that they were making to make sure they had enough money to pay Chris Jones, which apparently hasn't alleviated that situation, and they move on to two new tackles after winning
a Super Bowl. I think the thought there, honestly is, well, we have Patrick Mahomes, we have a Hall of Fame coach, and Andy Reid. We have the greatest tight end of all time. I think they have a very good offensive line. I think we can keep They've been drafting well, so there's almost maybe a thought that's going on there, like, well, maybe we could lose the next one and still be fine.
I think Chris Jones is one of those irreplaceable type of players that is, I don't want to say in the realm of Nick Bosa, but he's in the area. He finished third in Defensive Player of the Year. He's done stuff at the t tivin Taftas spot that we've never seen before. It's going to be interesting when he's sitting there at Arrowhead in a suite watching the Chiefs go out there and play against the Lions. I find
that very interesting. I'll leave you with this part. It is my understanding that he is very comfortable missing four games. This deal could get done tomorrow, This deal could get done anytime between now in those four games. But my understanding is he has no problem missing at least four games to prove his value. And right now it's a matter of who values who more.
JP.
He must be comfortable if he's got the type of bread to miss four games and those million dollars worth of all.
Right, lastly, before we get out of here, we started this conversation on Nick Bosa.
But have we forgotten about his brother Joey, who just a couple of years ago. Here's his Joey's deal he signed a couple of years ago, five years, one hundred and thirty million dollars, one hundred and thirty five million dollars with one hundred and two million guaranteed. He reset the market. Then he only played in five games last year. Jpi was out of Chargers practice. And you talk about somebody who's in like a different category.
You know.
We talked Earli about how the Niners players say how Nick Bosa is just all alone, how he takes care of himself and stuff like that. He's not all alone because Joey is the same way. This is somebody who is so determined to come out and redeem himself after an injury plague twenty twenty two, who alongside Khalil Mack, they could end up being the best pass rushing tandem in the NFL. We're not talking about these two. Why wouldn't they when they when the Charges acquired Khalil Mack
last year, that's what we expected. Both players got nicked up. They only played three games together last year. If they can stay healthy, we will be talking about them at the end of the season and the Chargers potentially challenging the Chiefs for a FC dominance.
Wow, I like it. I'm not gonna lie.
I did one of their games early, which is a game that they actually both played in I think it was against the Kansas City Chiefs Week two, and that was all the talk. When I talked to Derwin James at length, it was just, now, we're gonna have Khalil somebody who can close games in very favorable matchups because Joey gets just as much attention as Nick does in terms of a pass rush and in terms of what an offensive line needs to slide over and help out on.
And they thought this was gonna put Khalil Mack in a lot of favorable situations. They didn't get a chance to see that at all. Now they're gonna get a chance to have those moments that even though Khalil max in the second half of his career, they believe with Joey Bosa on the other side, Steve, he's gonna have opportunities in fourth quarters to end drives into end games because he's gonna have a favorable matchup because of Bosa on the other side.
Yeah. Look, and they open up against Miami Dolphins.
Their defense put some hands on the Dolphins last year, and now with Mac and Bosha, they'll have some opportunities. JP, why don't you get us to our next guest, because our next block, We've got a whole lot of things to make people think.
Listen, Judy Batista rode article. I think it has seven hundred thousand things about the NFL season in twenty twenty three. No, it's only fifty eight for super Bowl fifty eight, but three could alter the entire landscape of the NFL. Here what she has to say.
Next, Welcome back to the NFL Report, and as the season kicks off, here's the path to super Bowl fifty eight in Las Vegas.
You're seeing thirty two storylines as to how the season could play out some of the elite players. But our Judy Bautista has written a column that has shown up at NFL dot com this week on fifty eight storylines we should pay attention to in case we're drawing the line to Super Bowl fifty eight.
Judy, Welcome to the NFL Report and JP.
Real quick, you know, Judy and I have known each other since what Judy about nineteen ninety one?
Oh yeah, that suggests we're old, which well.
You should have asked Judy about that before we started the second.
Wait a minute, No, but I mean like we were Judy and I we used to work at the Miami Herald in the Fort Lauderdale Bar in the neighbors section JP covering community sports together. And now look at how big Judy. Judy's all grown up and she's granted enough time to share with us. But Judy, I just talked about your column on the fifty eight things to look out for, and you've got one in there.
It's number three on the list.
And this is about the running game, which really kind of blew my hair back, the little gray.
Hair that I have. And I read this, why don't you tell us about the rushing game?
So last year sort of incongruously, the running game took off in the NFL. I've got the stats, and I think what makes it so incongruous is, of course, we just came out of an off season which was just terrible if you were a veteran running back looking for new contract, right, the market just cratered on them. But last season teams averaged one hundred and twenty one point
six rushing yards per game. That's the most since nineteen eighty seven, which we all sort of think of as like the a day of the running game before quarterbacks just completely took over the league and teams averaged twenty seven point three rushing attempts per game. That was the most since twenty eleven. So again you're thinking like, how can that be, Well, this is how it can be.
It's because quarterbacks rushing accounted for fifteen point five percent of all rushing yards, which was by far the highest in NFL history. So it was not really a demonstration of the power of the running back.
It was rather a.
Demonstration of the different ways that teams generate the running game, which really doesn't do anything to help running back seeking contracts.
So Judy, at first, this is like a wolf in sheep's clothing, right, you were gonna tell us that running backs where now contracts are on the rise. Here we go, we're running the ball more than ever. No, Now, the it's funny. When I looked at it, and I looked and I started researching everything that you put out there, I was like, let me take a look at this.
And when you go and look down, like biggest rushes in terms of success rate, right, what you gain on first, second, or third down, a lot of those rushes are from quarterbacks in key situations. Quarterbacks are being used eve in the run game, and obviously the evolution of our game has played a factor in this. In the RPO and all those other sides, when there's a key third down and it's third and short, some of these quarterbacks are getting those instead of the running back.
Yeah, I do.
I feel bad for the running backs, right like you know. I mean, I think we all wish running backs were paid as much as they could get. But this, I think this statistic is sort of just a demonstration of how you can see you can still have a really proficient running attack, and it can be a big part of your game, but it doesn't necessarily have to come from a running back. And that is why teams when they're dolling out the contracts, just don't value the running
back position. They may value the running game, but they can generate those running yards from other positions, most spectacularly right now in the NFL, from you know, the quarterbacks that are just so dynamic, but they have as a result, caused a minimization of the role of the running back.
Yeah, here's what I'm interested to watch when it comes to that.
Though.
We've got three rookie quarterbacks starting right now. We've got Josh Dobbs starting a quarterback at Arizona. There are teams where the quarterback play is a little and all we're hearing is about is they need the support of a run game. And not all of these quarterbacks, I mean, only Anthony Richardson's the running quarterback of these rookie quarterbacks.
So I'm just kind of seeing if maybe the playing of the younger quarterback and maybe some of these other quarterbacks who aren't a mobile increase the role of.
The running back.
Knowing that the running game is important, here's another element where the running game could be important. And this gets to another element of your column. Duty scoring is down. Please explain, make it make sense.
Yeah, well, you can bet that this is not something that the NFL wants, and it's certainly not something that the NFL wants for two years in a row, but scoring went down last year. Averaged forty three point eight points per game in twenty twenty two. That was a five year low. Related to that is that it was also a drop in defensive pass interference and roughing the passer. And those are obviously the two calls that affect offense the most dramatically because they are such big penalties. So
not surprisingly so, it points of emphasis. They want officials to call those things consistently across all officiating cruise. That was their concern last year with roughing the pastor. I remember there was some early calls in roughing the passer that generated a lot of controversy. Well, what the league was really concerned about is it doesn't get called uniformly
across all officiating cruise. They want uniformity, and they also want those called the way they want them called, the way they think they should be called, because the last thing this league wants is a drop and.
Scoring real quick, JP, real quick.
And I want to go back to our previous point then, about the rushing quarterbacks. How can you call it uniformly when you don't know if Deshaun Watson is running or passing, or if Josh Allen is running or passing. And you may say the quarterbacks are runner, I can't call roughing the pastor on that.
That's what I'm curious about, Steve. Honestly, Judy, I think that we're seeing a rise in the quarterback carrying the football. I had to get this out of love the Steve went back. Listen to this twenty twenty, first time we've ever had eight thousand total rushing yards from quarterbacks twenty twenty one, first time we've ever had nine thousand yards from rushing from quarterbacks and twenty twenty two, first time
we've ever broken ten thousand yards from quarterbacks. So they're carrying the football, Judy, do you think the increase yards, the increase carries is because of the protection they're getting within the rules. I almost look at a dual threat quarterback now as possibly having a greater chance of a longer NFL career than say a dual threat quarterback twenty years ago because of the rules.
Yeah, there's no question that if you are a coach, you would not send your franchise quarterback out running this much if they were not getting protection from the officials.
Right.
I mean, if Lamar Jackson was getting clocked every time he ran the ball, right, John Harbaugh would say that's enough with Lamar. Just let him stay in the pocket and throw the ball, which he can also do really well. But yes, the rules are designed to protect quarterback. It is trying to find the balance, right, the tension between
You got to let defenders. If he's taking off, he's a runner, You've got to let the defenders take them out and tackle them versus you've got to protect the most important assets that the league has, the starting quarterbacks. So that is a fundamental issue. And again, the concern of the NFL is that it gets called the way it's supposed to get called, and that it gets called
the way they want it called across the board. So they don't want one crew offering more protection to Patrick Mahomes when on the same day Joe Burrow is not getting the same level of protection. Right, it's got to be the same, and that's the problem. But again, we've been around the league long enough to know scoring is the most important thing. That is the stat that they look at most closely, because they know fans love scoring.
They do not want scoring down. So you better believe we're going to see more calls go in favor of the offense because the last thing they want is a consecutive year of scoring going down.
And Judy, we're going to see fans continue to complain that Patrick Mahons is getting protected more than say their quarterback in terms of how the officiating crew is going about it. And the third one we want to hit is coaches upset about something. What I've never heard that before the new kickoff rule. Right, they are not happy with this kickoff rule for this season. And you're hinting there could be more changes coming after this season to
what happens on kickoffs. Please elaborate on that second part.
They're not just hinting that there are going to be more changes. I mean they have basically said this is just a stopgap measure. More to come. So the kickoff is the most dangerous play in football, right, Like, there's a disproportionate number of concussions suffered on the kickoff, and that is because of the speed of the collisions with the coverage team and the returner, right, and they just blast into each other. You've heard players describe it as
like running into a garage door. Obviously, the NFL is in an era where it is very concerned about head injuries and they need to do everything they can to address concussions. So what they can up with this year and the Competition Committee is if you fair catch on a kickoff, the ball automatically comes to the twenty five yard line, that's where your drive starts. The twenty five yard line doesn't matter where you fair catch it from
the twenty five yard line. In so if you were standing on a one yard line and you fair catch it, you're at the twenty five. Needless to say, coaches, especially the traditionalists in the group, say, are you trying to take the foot out of the game. I have been in meetings with the Competition Committee and special teams coaches for years where they've had this argument going back and forth. How do you keep the foot in the game while making it safer. So this is what they came up
with this year. They have been very clear they are not done changing the kickoff. They don't want to eliminate the kickoff, but they once it's positioned as a player safety situation, there are going to be more changes until they drive the number of concussions down. And one thing that they are looking at is the way they do it in the XFL, which is only five yards.
I have no problem.
If that's what keeps the kicker kick in the game, Sure, let's do it. It's only five yards, so you can't get the high speed collisions.
Sure, whatever about And let me just quickly explain the XFL rule because I love watching it.
Right, Okay, the kicker lines up at his thirty yard line.
The other ten numbers of the kickoff team lineup at the opponent's thirty five while the return team lines up at the thirty, so you'll get.
Five yards for the collision.
But we've also seen a significant amount of kickoff returns for touchdowns or big plays in the XFL, so it can work.
Judy, you got us thinking, we got to bring you back. What's the flesh?
Away?
These things out and some more stuff because we've got fifty five other things you wrote about that we eventually have to cover. And for more on Duty's column, go to NFL dot com slash Batista and coming up next, Class of twenty twenty three Hall of Famer DeMarcus where he's about to tell us.
Who is him? Back on the NFL Report. All right, JP, we are officially blessed.
Right now we are in the presence of Class of twenty twenty three Pro Football Hall of Famer DeMarcus Where d were what's up?
What is going on? Fellas? How y'all been?
We're good, We're good.
We're wonderful.
Man.
It's great to see that smile. I miss it. I used to see it in Denver all the time back in the day, and now I get to see it again. It's wonderful. I gotta ask you, do you whear like you went into pretty much every hall of Fame this summer. I think it was high school, college, Sunbelt, the NFL. You're gonna be in the ring of Like do you have a favorite? Do you have a favorite? What went on? Man?
You know what?
I I.
Don't have a favorite.
And the thing is I have favor And I think that's like the coolest thing to see all your hard work has really paid off and you're seeing that finally. So it's one of the coolest things that you know, you know, just to experience it from high school level, college level all the way to the ultimate Hall of Fame level in the NFL. And Wisch was there to take witness that and there it was. Man, that was a cool opportunity.
Yeah, from from from the door knock to the incredible Hall of Fame speech.
I want to circle back to the speech in just the second d where but as.
We kick off the season this week, we know we got the Chiefs and Lions and and everything kicks off. I kind of want to get your take on the two teams that you played for the Dallas Cowboys. You're gonna be defensive led team. And the Broncos with Sean Payton, the coach that you tormented a few times when you were playing.
For the Cowboys, Let's start with the Cowboys where.
You know the Cowboys. From what I see and have seen in the locker room and eating rooms, I've seen character for the first time. I've seen, you know, guys really wanting it. And I can actually pinpoint the captains. And when you can pinpoint the captains, you can pinpoint the tenacity of the team. And I think that's what's going to take them to where they need to be. And it's all about this thing healthy for the postseason. If they can, you know, stay healthy, they can go
a long way. And then the transition over to the Denver Broncos, I knew Sean Payton was going to be a great move. And you can see how they're scoring points now. They're not turning the football over, They're playing fundamentally sound football.
Pre season dware, it's pre season dware.
Listen.
But the thing is, if you play bad in the preseason, it can carry over to the regular side. But if you see glints is in the preseason some of it that can happen in a regular season, and I got to see.
Some of that, so I'm like, all right, all right, I see change. I saw change so change on both teams, and I can't wait to see what they're going to do this year.
I'm curious, do you think Michael Parsons breaks your Cowboys sack record? Does he have a chance to do that?
He has a chance to do that if he stays healthy, I stay healthy for eight or nine years and really really consistent. If Mike Coho can play like he's been playing, I mean he's been averaging what over you know, thirteen sacks a year.
It's hard to get double digit sat. So if he can do that, yeah, the.
Record will be shattered. And I know if he can get that pressure like that, but they'll end up winning the Super Bowl. I'm just throwing it out. I'm just throwing that nugget out there for Michael.
Okay, we got record chattered and super Bowl Okay, okay, okay, throwing it out.
Hey, DeMarcus, real quick, we're short on time.
I really would love to talk more about that, but I want to get to something that really stood out from that great Pro Football Hall of Fame weekend in Canton, and that was this moment from your Hall of Fame speech.
Let's take a listen.
This might sound crazy, but the NFL taught me how to forgive. First I forgave myself, and then I forgave my dad. Dad, all the times I didn't understand why you weren't there, it doesn't matter. You're here. Now, I've learned that guilt rocks in a person, and forgiveness heels. How can I expect God to forgive me if I don't forgive you? You once said it's two simple words to me. I'm sorry. I'm not sure if I was, but I'm telling you now on the biggest platform of my life, I forgive you.
The market size is blown away, then I'm blown away. Now what is your relationship now with your dad?
We've always had a close relationship, but we never talked. And it's one of those things where that was the moment for me to where I had to release something like I really had to release a lot of the anger that I had as a child towards my dad and that experienced that story and what I was trying to do and let the world know that you know what you have to let go sometimes to live and that was one of those moments for me. I mean, it still gives me chills because that was my first
time ever saying dad. And you probably notice how like quivered in my voice a little bit. But there was a moment for me, and I know everybody felt that, and there was a moment I know everyone's going to remember.
It was incredible. It's amazing if you were to see you move forward and move on. I want to move forward also to this season. I mean, what is your take on edge rushers now in today's NFL? Is it is it with the ball coming out so quickly?
What is it like?
Would you have to change your game? What is it like rushing from the edge with the ball out under two seconds? Now?
You know, I would probably have to change my game a lot, because you there's not a lot of five step drops anymore. It's you know, RPO, there's three step drop. There's a lot of screams to keep you on your feet, and so I would actually just really be in the cornerback room telling those guys, listen, I need one more second, you know, I need you out a bump and run. Okay, can y'all just bump and run, get back, give me
an extra second. That's why I'll be telling the defensive coordinators, hey, can we draft our corner some free safeties because I need more time. It doesn't matter the quarterback has he said throw the ball off and it doesn't matter what kind of pressure you get.
That's right.
You got to disrupt the timing of those receivers. Well, the markets, we know you're also here on behalf of Direct TV. What do you got going on with them?
You know, I'm with Direct TV for business and ever past media, and we're talking about football, right, Football on the Sunday ticket in businesses. And when you start trying to affect the masses, when you start thinking about football, you go into that restaurant, you go into that bar, and if they don't have the Sunday ticket, I'm walking out.
And so I'm just letting.
Everybody know that it's here, right, they got it with three hundred thousand locations and we're trying to do it big, just like the Hall of Fame. So I'm here and how to tell everybody that the NFL ticket is back. It's in the businesses everywhere, and go watch some football because it's about to get started.
There we go, Dware, We appreciate your time, and everybody remember and the words of Devarcus Ware save this tape that Micah Parsons could shatter his record and the Cowboys could go to the super Bowl.
Appreciate the Dware.
Can see to unreal from Dware Right there, he's got Michaeh Parsons right there breaking his sack record with the Cowboys. What cowboys going to the super Bowl? What about edge rushers in today's game? What about tackles in today's game? We have Brian Balding or Baldy coming up to break the trenches down. There's nobody better in the business. Stay tuned, Welcome back to the NFL Report, James Palmer, Steve Whitch
and the next guy, Steve. Our next guest needs no introduction, but I'll do it anyway because this is also a podcast. Baldy joins us. Brian Baldinger. I almost feel like I gotta go one more button down, Baldy to join you in the salad right there? What was your thoughts, because you know Dware you played with them, Like, what what did you take out of what what he had to say?
Well, I thought the most eye opening thing outside. He thinks that, you know, Micah Parson is going to break and shatter his sack record in jacks. But I thought I thought he said, for the first time in a long time, the Cowboys have the right character in the locker room. And that's something that reporters like yourself, analysts like myself, we can't always gauge.
We can kind of see it.
It gets revealed sometimes, but we can't really feel the locker room the way players and guys that are used to it see it. So I thought that was a good sign for any Cowboy fan out there. What Dwear had to say about that.
Yeah, hey, Bald, you know we heard him talking to him about edge rushers too. And I want to pick your brand because you work with so many, you know, you see so many. We know the great ones, right, we know Max Crosby, we know Cam Jordan, TJ Watt, Nick Bos, Joey Bosa, Miles Garrett, players like that. But who are maybe some of the players you've seen that are kind of on the cusp of kind of joining that club.
Well, I mean Brian Burns right off the bat, you know, I don't know what his contract status is in Carolina right now. I mean he's he's an electric player and you have to game plan for him. Rashaun Gary before he got hurt, was arriving in Green Bay. You know, he's he's a big edge rusher. He's two hundred and eighty two hundred and eighty five pounds. He has a
little size to him. And I know, I watched about ten or twelve snaps in the final preseason game of Tyree Wilson with the Raiders, and you just go, wow, Like he opened like he coming off of foot surgery, all this kind of stuff, Like you see his side, his length.
We saw it at Texas.
Tech, but now you saw it even in a preseason game. You go, there's something there. And then I think I think people recognize that Jalen Phillips could easily break out in Miami this year. He looks like he could be a really special player.
Hey, Roal quick bald, No, Chase Young.
I need to see Chase on the field. Steve, we haven't seen him on the field. You know, He's got to get on the field to get my eyes and to get my breakdowns. I love breaking them down. His rookie year. I mean, he's had seven and a half sacks, but he his speed and his athletic building change direction was there. He's got a sack in half in the last two years, like you know, and he's missed a lot of games. So I need to see Chase on the field. I know Warren Sapp was working with them
during training camp. He said, get your butt in a four point stance and a three point stance. Get be like a jet taken off. He rushed from a two point stance all the time. He's standing straight up like I don't think people felt his power. So I want to see Chase on the field. And though I want to see I want to see a better pass rush array of moves from Chase right now.
Boy, I'm stuck on this because we talked about it with d Ware. You heard it in kind of how today's game has evolved. I remember being in Philly during camp and talking to Brandon Graham, who's been around forever, right, and just talking to him about the frustration that you have as an edge rusher when the ball's just out and it's and it keeps coming out. You mentioned a bunch of different guys with different sizes skill sets. Is there a premiere size and skill set that fits today's
game better than maybe it did in the past. That you see a certain maybe body type or does does that not matter in terms of what guys can be successful with now?
I don't think it matters, you know. I mean, Dwight Freeney was different than Reggie White, was different than Michael Strahan.
You know.
Uh, but but they put up huge numbers.
Jason Taylor put up big numbers and he was long and lean, and I don't know that Jason Taylor Waite and I remember playing with Reggie and we had an electronic scale in Philadelphia back then, and sometimes in December, Reggie would get on the scale and he would jump off as it was rising past three thirty.
Five, like I don't know when to tip it off back.
So I think we're always you know, and really just not edge rushers either.
By you know, great football players will always come in different shapes and sizes. You know, their greatness is how they play the game, whatever they've been gifted with.
So Paul, let me let me ask you this. De wear said he'd have to change his game a little bit. I was talking to Khalil Mack at charges practice shows today about this quick passing game, and he said, it's so frustrating, you know, because you know, you just can't get to the quarterback. He said, but that's where you have to be patient because hopefully the defense keeps the opponent out of the end zone, the offense scores points. So at some point the opposing team you've got to
try to drive the ball downfield. I mean, what about the patients these pass rushers have to play with now?
And I asked to say question of Miles Garrett about a month ago, Steve when the Browns were scrimmaging against the Eagles, and he said, you can't pick and choose when the pass rush, like, you just have to go and then you know, if it's a if it's a bubble screen, turn and run and go make to play. I mean the screen game should be the defensive lineman's game, like flip your hips, turn and run like that's what you're expected to do. That's what the great ones do.
Go make to play, don't let it get started. Tackle before it does get started. But you you know, when you get to third and seven, third and ten, third and twelve, third and fifteen, Steve, I mean, it's like pin your ears back, all right? Did you know you might have fewer rushes because of the way the game is played now, but you have to maximize the rushes that you get. But if it's first and ten, a bubble screen comes out and they're throwing it to the sideline,
just run and chase. But if you're there trying to go, Okay, I'm gonna go harden this time because I think it's gonna be a deep set and then the you know, like you just you can't do that. You have to play hard every play and just react to what the play is.
But we had Judy Batista on a little earlier talking about honestly, teams are running the football more than ever, but the quarterbacks running the football are a big part of that because they're running it themselves more than ever. What does that do for offensive linemen in terms of now, more than any previous season, we're seeing guys take off and run or it's designed run, or it's an RPO, or it's just the mindset you have to have. I guess as an offensive lineman now that that part of
the game is just continues to grow. That the quarterback is going to carry the football.
Well Okay, a couple of things here, James, Because it's a loaded is a valid question, it is topical one.
The NFL can take it.
You're a reporter, James, you know the NFL can only take what the college game gives us. So it gives us Justin Fields, it gives us Jalen Hurts, it gives us Lamar Jackson. That's what it's given us. Okay, So now, okay, now we've now figured out how to incorporate. Right before he came on, I broke down the Patriots last year against Justin Field and Lamar Jackson. They were awful, like they hadn't seen raid option. They tried to spy them,
it didn't work. And here comes Jalen Hurts coming into town. So you have to defend all six basically skilled players on any given play, and your eyes have to be right.
And you can say, okay, well, it's just numbers. Somebody's got to pitch, somebody's got the quarterback, somebody's got to dive, all right, until you're in that position and you're Matt Judahon this weekend and Jalen Hurts is coming down the line with DeAndre Swift and you don't know who's got the ball where it's going and you just have to freeze for a second against these guys are right by it. I think we all remember that play of Justin Fields
against Green Bay last year. The entire pack or defense was chasing him into the end zone. It was too late by the time they figured it out. I think it's a problem and there isn't one answer for it. And you can drop all the defense you want. You can rush three, drop eight, you can do all this stuff. These guys are skilled running backs. Their vision tells them where to go. It's not like they're just running blind in a meathouse.
Like.
They know how to set guys up. They know where the pursuit's coming from, they know where the daylight is.
Like.
These are skilled running backs with the ball in their hands. And I would say just the three guys I mentioned amongst others. But you know, Lamar, Justin and Jalen this weekend be something to watch and just track how they perform this weekend.
Yeah, Baldy is a scrub outside linebacker. Had to play assignment football back in the Big Eight days. It is so tempting to take the dive back when you come and unblocked. But the next thing, you know, the quarterback pops out. Hey, Baldi, we gotta let you go. We got to talk about your interesting life. Because James Palmer spoken is on his career day. We want to see what it'd be like for you to speak at a
career day since you do fifteen million awesome things. We got to catch you next time because coming up next on the NFL report, is it prime time in Colorado? And could us see quarterback Kleb Williams actually when he might be the number one pick. We're back on the NFL Report, but right now we're going to talk some college football.
That's because the biggest story.
Coming out of last weekend is NFL or Pro Football Hall of Famer Dion Sanders coaching the Colorado Buffalo's to an upset victory forty five forty two over TCU. And oh boy, James, you know this because you live in Colorado. The sports world lost his mind. This guy coaching at Jackson State just went up there and took his team with an eighty percent roster turnover and knocked off the
team that played in the National Championship. I want to get your Colorado I view of exactly what the reaction was semi locally up there, and just kind of how Dion Sanders has been elevat into a credible head coach, even though he shouldn't have to be elevated he already was, but elevated to.
That degree nationally where he's created all this conversation.
Let's start with locally, Steve. It has been the dominant sports landscape conversation in the state of Colorado this entire summer. It really has. And we have Sean Payton coming to Denver, Kenny fixed Russell Wilson, major Broncos storylines in anything that I'm told locally. In terms of a discussion about Deon Sanders, this entire summer, ratings are through the roof and he's just up the road and Boulder, and everybody was curious how this opening week was going to go, because we
have to remember what Dion did, Steve. He went and did exactly what everybody in the college landscape didn't wantim to do, which is flip his entire roster. Which also be clear, he wasn't the only one that did that correct this past season, but he got most of the scrutiny, if not all of it for what he did and
maybe the way he went about it. But he goes out in that first game against TCU and being here in Colorado with the state absolutely exploding, when they go out and they knock off the horn Frogs, who were, even if they're not the same team, they were in the National Championship last year, and Colorado won one game a season ago. I think what happened most Steve is we had a chance to see Dion do things his way,
and what did he get in this first game? He got validated everything that he wanted to go out and do in terms of empowering his players, letting a player like Travis Hunter come and play both ways who wanted to come and play both sides of the football, That came out as a success. His son comes out and throws a football over all over the arm and throws her five hundred and ten yards and breaks the CU record,
all of that happening in a successful manner. I don't know if that just jettisons this into another stratosphere in what Dion's putting together at CU. Because everyone was watching, everyone in the NFL game was watching, everyone in college football was watching, and maybe most importantly, every high school rec cruit was watching, Yes, sir, and I think that's the biggest aspect of this.
That's a great point, okay.
And it's funny because I remember back when I was a scrub at University of Missouri, uh Colorado that multiple times.
Ye I was no good. I was no good. I mean that's how I ended up transferring and stopped playing football.
But anyway, Colorado comes down to Columbia and their old uniforms. They look like UCLA, right, they were blue and gold. We mopped the floor with them.
Bill McCartney comes in next year.
It's about nineteen eighty five because the black uniform starts turning over the roster and next thing you know, Colorado is a powerhouse. That's what Dion is doing. But here's before we move on. This is to me what Dion's biggest accomplishment is about to be. You mentioned SHITTERR. Sanders, you mentioned Travis Hunter, They.
Had a couple other players. Soon we're gonna be talking.
About his players and things other than Dion and the Colorado program. Once people stopped talking about Dion and they start talking about the players in the program, that's where Prime is really going to establish himself as a legitimate guy, because right now he's personality leading a program.
Which is unfortunate how he's viewed that way.
Once the program starts being the personality, that's when he gets a dumb Speaking of personalities, In a GQ article this week, Caleb Williams, the Heisman Trophy winning quarterback from the USC had his father come out and say that if he doesn't like the situation, he could potentially be drafted into in twenty twenty four.
He may return to USC. All right, GP, this is kind of crazy, not feeling it whatsoever. Don't want to get your take.
A couple of things jump out of me, Steve, the first one being I think the carts ahead of the horse a little bit. Here. Is this a preemptive strike to put this out prior to really this season up and going and three? You're really making a lot of assumptions about what you're expecting to happen. And that was a lot of what this article was about. Kayleb Williams himself was saying, I've really never had the choice out of my hands before. I've always had a choice in
everything that's going on in my football life. This is an opportunity. I wouldn't. I'm just fascinated by the idea of them just already knowing what's gonna happen. At the top of the draft. You made a couple of points to throw them out real quick at the top of the draft. Things can get a lot different each and every year, and things can change quickly in the NFL, very very quickly.
Right this year, she got Goa have the worst record, but Carolina came up and traded. You get the top pick to take the top quarterback. You maybe have a team all of a sudden, you have a new head coach. You don't know the situation of what you can be in. But I'm not saying it. But I'm saying it because in the article his dad listed, look, a player like Baker Mayfield went to a certain situation and then it
didn't work. A quarterback like Kyler Murray went to a certain situation where organizationally, it was a disaster.
Kyler Murray played for the Arizona Cardinals. Arizona Cardinals could have the first overall pick.
Who is Caleb Wims quarterback coach Clif Kingsbury, who no longer is the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals.
I didn't say it, but I'm saying it.
You did say. It's Steve and on the debut episode right here of the NFL Report Remembers tem fifteen Eastern every Monday every Thursday. We're also a podcast. Catch us wherever you catch your podcast. We're on the NFL channel to be broku Pluto to name it Steve, We're on it.